Flash Fiction #451 -- Raiders/1

 

Note:  I have dropped in on Tana's little ship and her crew a few times before.  If you would like to read the sequence here are the previous flash fiction pieces:

Flash Friday # 106 -- The Replacement
http://zette.blogspot.com/2014/08/flash-friday-106-replacement.html

Flash Fiction # 141 -- The Outpost
http://zette.blogspot.com/2015/04/flash-fiction-141-outpost.html
 
Flash Fiction # 161 -- Illusion
http://zette.blogspot.com/2015/08/flash-fiction-161-illusion.html

Flash Fiction # 211 -- Teamwork
http://zette.blogspot.com/2016/08/flash-fictoin-211-team-work.html

Flash Fiction # 299 -- Catchin Can -- 7 Part story starts here:
https://zette.blogspot.com/2018/04/flash-fiction-299-catchin-canpart-1.html

Flash Fiction # 387 -- Catchin Bait -- 3 part story starts here:
https://zette.blogspot.com/2019/12/flash-fiction-387-catchin-bait1.html 

 

"We have raiders," Captain Dundas said as we came into the room.

I hadn't even had a chance to sit down, and now I wasn't sure that I wanted to.  The idea of raiders made me want to go get in my fighter and just attack things.

"Like we don't have enough trouble with aliens?" Lisel growled.

Being at Catchin, he had an impressive growl when he wanted to use it.  Mostly he kept that sort of sound to himself because humans got nervous when Catchins got angry.  Even as well as I knew Lisel, the sound still put all the hairs on my arms up at attention, and I had to fight not to move away from him.

A glance at Krisin saw the anger of his own, and it was probably not safe to move closer to him, either.  Captain Dundas had turned to stare at her computer screen, and from the growing scowl on her face, I could tell that this was not much better.

"I suppose it's too late to retire?" I said.

"You and your crew are going to go take shore leave on Dayer's Station," she said without looking up.  "And I expect you to have a good time."

"You expect us to find trouble."

"That's the same thing, isn't it?"

She looked up with a quick smile, but it faded soon after.  Something beeped on her computer, and she snarled at it, looking -- and even sounding -- like Lisel.  Then she looked at us and waved a hand.

"Sit down.  You need to know what is going on."

I really didn't want to know.  I could fight aliens.  I did not like to go up against humans because you just could never know which ones you could trust.  I trusted Dundas, Krisin, and Lisel.  That was as far as I was going to extend that feeling.

"Sit down, Tana," Krisin said and shoved me into a chair.  "We aren't likely to be this comfortable again for a while."

I didn't argue.  "What do we need to know?"

"Three stations in this sector have suffered significant damage with horrendous loss of life," she said.  I blinked, shocked by the news.  "It is not out in the lines yet, but it will be soon.  We are heading to Dayer because it has not been hit.  So ..."
"So we don't know if that means they are about to be hit, or if it means they are a base for the rebels," Lisel said.  He sat as well, his large frame nearly overflowing the chair.  "Do you really think it wise for me to go in?"

"You are our wildcard, Lisel," the Captain said.  She leaned back finally and shook her head.  "But I am not going to order any of you three into this trouble.  I just can't think of anyone else I would trust with learning anything helpful."

"That's a damned horrible thing to say to us," I said, but then I gave a quick laugh.  "Yes, I know.  We have a tendency to find trouble, so we are probably the best you can put out there.  What about the rest of the crew?"

"You three are going to be off on a job for me, ahead of the others.  While you are out, we are going to take an emergency run to one of the other stations, stranding you there."

I swallowed.  "How long?"

"Seventeen days, minimum."

We all stared at her in silence.

"We can't leave Belgium tied to the station," Dundas said.  "And we don't dare give a sign that we suspect any real trouble."

"Put our fighter off for repairs," Lisel said.  "Give us a chance if things go to hell."

"Not a bad idea," Dundas agreed.  "Can you fake a problem?"

"Yes," Krisin replied.  "I'll do a bit of 'repair' work of my own.  How long do we have?"

"Five hours."

I stood.  I wasn't sure if the Captain had meant to dismiss us, but we didn't have much time.  "Do you have reports for us to read?"

She keyed a chit out of her computer.  "For you three, only.  I don't want to panic on the ship.  And I don't want anyone who might have rebel tendencies to maybe make a jump to the wrong side right now."

I took the chit and looked at my two crew.  "We need to go check out the fighter and the trouble Kristin saw on that last flight."

Both of the crew nodded.  Dundas stood.  I had not expected her to offer her hand.  "I am sorry to do this to you three," she said and shook each of our hands in turn.  "Don't let me regret it."

Those were not exactly inspiring words.  I felt a new chill. Severe damage to other stations?  Rebels?  Was she certain of it?

Lisel and Krisin said nothing as we went out into the corridor and headed for the lift.  We had it to ourselves, a long, slow drop down to the bays.

"If either of you wants to drop out of this," I began.

"And leave you out there on your own?  The station wouldn't stand a chance if you got angry," Lisel replied.

Coming from a Catchin, a species known for their rages, that was amusing.  I laughed.  Besides, I had come to suspect that the Catchin Rages were a myth they created for themselves to keep humans from bothering them.  Humans meddled in everything.  They had made the Catchin race itself, but sanity had stopped them short of making the species too powerful for humans themselves to survive.

The bay master glanced our way and frowned but didn't question us.  Trillin was used to seeing us and had learned not to interfere.  We were the Captain's darlings.  That came with help and with a price.  We could go and do what we liked, but others in the crew often resented us.

But we got things done, and we'd saved the ship more than once.  We just didn't work well with others.
 

Flash Fiction # 450 -- The Fae Underground/27

 I tried to hold to the power I used for the wall as I turned, but I could feel it weakening even more.  Whatever rushed in behind us would easily breakthrough.  There wasn't even time for Sylph and Lycan to escape --

I threw more power into the matrix.  It seemed to pour out of my blood, out of my breath.  I felt as though I would become nothing more than magic and lose myself in the wall.  Maybe that would not be so bad.  I could be the magic that kept all the others safe, and perhaps that wasn't so bad.

Everything seemed to be going dark around me.  I thought I must be failing.  My legs gave way, and I went to my knees, but I still tried to hold on while the roar of noise rose around me, burying me in this place I didn't understand.

Then I felt power.

Fae power, spreading all around me, pushing back against the Chaos.  Colors appeared in my darkened sight and gradually transformed into the lines of magic made by fae of many types, working together.

I didn't understand.  Had I lost track of time?  Had I lost my link to the world and only now came back?  Was I even where I thought I should be?

King Pixie led a mass of color and shapes, a roll of magic that took me several heartbeats to sort out and realize that this was not an attack.

The fae came from the cavern where they'd been hiding.  Not all of them -- there would have been too many -- but enough that their magic brightened the darkness, formed up with more of our dark allies, and made a wall that pushed out into the Chaos.

King Pixie shouted orders and directed the others into groups.  He seemed to understand the entire situation at a glance, and while I watched, he wove a massive wall of such lovely magic that I stared in wonder.

The battle was not done.  If there was a sign of intelligence in the Chaos, it showed itself now.  Something seemed to push back, and for a moment, I almost felt as though I sensed something watching us, testing, moving --

I reached for it.  I think I felt something like surprise, as though it had not realized there was intelligence on our side, either.  We did not understand each other.  We could not, really, reach a point of understanding.

Not yet.

The Chaos began to retreat even as I watched. White and dark moved, spun in circles, spread out, and pushed. I let my own little magic slip out of the matrix and stayed where I was on my knees, with Lycan and Sylph still standing guard over me.

The Queen of the Fae and the King of the Pixies directed the enterprise, and even the dark creatures around us listened to them and obeyed as best they could.  I tried to pay attention, but what I finally learned was that they had not only stopped the spread of Chaos, but began pushing it back out of this realm.

"We'll push it out of all the other realms as well," the Queen promised when I finally limped over to stand by her.  The darkness and the wall we'd made moved forward by unexpected bounds so that I found myself standing in the light of the sun without having to walk very far.

The Queen -- my mother -- unexpectedly put a hand on my arm, her fingers tightening.  "You did well, Cowan."

"Oh, you do know my name," I said with a quick smile.

"Yating told me."

I laughed.  I supposed I was a little lightheaded still, or I would not have made such a joke.  I tried not to tremble with weakness, and I mostly wanted to go home...

Home to my place in the human world?  Or back to the fae lands?

"What is going to happen with the humans?" I asked.

"They are already telling tales about miracles, magic, and tricks.  We'll help spread rumors of all kinds until even those here will be confused about what they saw.  We've already made certain that only a few pictures survived.  No video from surveillance cameras will show anything helpful.  Yes, Cowan, I have been reading your reports.  Come now.  Time to go home."

I stared at her, stunned by the words. Really go home?  I had started considering it briefly but then thought about all the work I still hadn't done here.

"I should stay --" I said and almost shook my head, but I feared the world would move if I did, and I wouldn't stay to my feet.  "There is so much I haven't done--"

"You'll be back."

"You need rest," Slyph said.  She leaned forward and stared into my eyes, startling me.  "You did well.  We will meet again."

She dropped into the ground with a little brush of dust.  I stared at my feet for a moment and then looked at Lycan.  He gave a single nod and walked away. I could see a crowd of his own people not far away.

Yating had taken his place back at the Queen's side.  He looked more startled than relieved.  I felt about the same.  Things had changed too quickly.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

The Queen looked at me.  "We go home, Cowan.  We go back to the castle, and we plan on what we will do next.  This is not the end of the war, you know.  Too many things have changed.  We are at a crux, and I can't be sure that we can keep the knowledge of our existence away from the humans much longer."

I shook my head, but it was not really dread that I felt this time.

I wondered if the humans might not need a little magic.  Maybe I'd bring it to them.

After I rested.

The End ... for now.

Flash Fiction # 449 -- The Fae Underground/26

 Yating grabbed my arm.  "Back," he ordered.  "Back to better cover."

I looked at him as though I didn't understand the words.  He yanked me backward, and I almost fought him off, but something in my head knew he was doing the right thing.  Sylph was doing the same with Lycan -- a far more dangerous ploy since he suddenly growled.

"Shut up, you stupid dog!" she said in pure frustration.  "We need to get out of the open!"

When he blinked and went with her, I decided I should do the same with Yating.  We moved too quickly, though.  Between the line of dark and light, I felt overwhelmed, everything swirling, and I went to my knees with a gasp of pain.

"Up," Yating ordered, but he sounded apprehensive this time.  "Up so that I do not have to give bad news to your mother.  We are under attack Prince Cowan!"

I was not used to anyone using my title and name -- and to do so where enemies might hear, and use the name against me, was a break in trust that I had not expected --

Oh, but it did work.  I stood up and faced the guard.  Yating's face had gone pale, and he lifted both hands in a gesture of appeasement.

"My apologies.  I could think of nothing else to get your full attention."

I realized he had been trying to draw me back before he used my name and title.  I glanced around, wondering if any of the others had heard --

And I realized that it didn't matter.  I trusted the others -- even our odd, dark companions who still hovered nearby.  

I stood slowly, ice cracking against my armor.  The others seemed as dazed and worried as me, which made me feel less weak but didn't help the situation.  We retreated back a few steps, welcoming the cold rather than the chaos.

"If you have any thoughts," I began.

They all shook their heads.

"Nothing," Sylph said, her voice uncommonly soft and her eyes worried.  "How can we fight such a power?  There was nothing to attack.  Nothing we could take in our hands."

I nodded.  I looked back at the opening with a touch of desperation.  I thought the darkness must have caught on that we could not help.  I felt a rippling of power and what might be despair.

Then I realized it came for a different reason.

"It comes!" our dark friends said.  "It comes!  Back!  Back!"

The chaos began eating at the edge of the darkness.  I saw it peeling away pieces of dark and chaos surged through the opening, destroying everything it touched.

I could have run.  Instead, I turned and threw out a powerful shield, an almost automatic reaction.  I knew it would not hold the enemy, but there was nothing else I could do.  It didn't help that I was weak besides, having used considerable magic lately.

I spread out my shield anyway, trying to do my best to protect my friends and my dark allies.  The magic glittered where it touched the chaos, and I could feel it pressing in at the wall I put between us and it.  I could not cover all the darkness, but the chaos seemed to be concentrating on this area where we had made the hole.  It wanted through.  I was not going to step aside, and as long as I held --

Something odd happened.  I felt more power join with mine, but not like any I'd ever known -- and then I realized that our dark companions had magic of their own and that they were trying to work with me.

I didn't fight it away.  I didn't understand the magic, but I let it blend in with mine as best I could.  I discovered something else, too.  The power of chaos came from many things -- including magic that I could use, though I had to be careful.

The wall the darkness and I made was bright and shadowed, solid, real -- and it held back the chaos.

"Oh, well done," Yating said at my side.

"Chance and panic," I replied and steadied my arm.  "We need more, Yating.  I can't do this on my own."

"Yes."  He started to lift his own hand.  "No!  I have an idea.  Sylph, if you would watch over him?"

I heard Sylph agree.  Then I realized that Yating had started to run away.  I almost protested, but I dared not take that much attention away from the magic.  He must be going for the Queen.  I didn't want her here, but I did need the help.  She would know best how to handle this problem.

I just had to hold on, and that was proving difficult already.  This entire madness had drained me, and I wondered how I had managed to end up here.  I could not be the one saving the world -- the realities -- could I?

That thought made me tremble, but Sylph put a firm hand on my shoulder.  She asked nothing of me.

Did our dark companions suffer from the same weakness?  I thought not.  I suspected that the darkness had links to each of its parts.  They seemed to draw on a central power source.  I let my thoughts play along the edge of that link, but I didn't try to follow it.  I had enough trouble with the feel of chaos.  It seemed to be pushing straight against my fingers, and I shivered, wanting to pull away.  If I did that --

If I failed, I wasn't going to be the only one who died here.

"You need to go, Sylph --"

"No."

"Listen to me," I said, my voice cracking with strain.  It must have shown in my face.  I could see Sylph turn to me, concern evident.  "Sylph, I fear I'm going to fail.  I can't hold this much longer --"

She started to say something but turned abruptly.  I could tell why.  Something -- many somethings -- were charging at us from behind.

Flash Fiction # 448 -- The Fae Underground/25

 

The darkness was not utterly black.

For the first few steps, I focused on the light ahead of me, so far in the distance that I couldn't guess how long it would take us to get there.  I could only see it as a distant point of brightness.  Maybe it was just tiny.

Like we'd had that kind of luck so far.

Then I noticed that the facade that I had thought was a solid black shifted in design and hue.  Blues and reds, so dark it was hard to see where they melded into the black, were the predominant colors.  Purple was a rarer thread moving in thin lines on both sides.  I had the feeling that beings moved there in shapes I would not recognize.  I found the designs enthralling, but I was glad when Lycan tapped my shoulder and drew me back.  Forgetting where I walked could have been far too dangerous.

"Someone is coming," he said with a nod over his shoulder.

I looked back, fearing to see the Queen -- but it was not her.  Instead, Lady Snow moved at a jog to catch up with us.  I wondered how she had found us in this realm -- and then realized she had not hunted after her former companions.

"Lady Snow," I said with a bow of my head.  "You have come back to the place where you had last tracked your daughter."

"Yes," she said with a narrow-eyed glance at the darkness around us.  "And she is near."

I hoped that was good news.  It didn't give me much hope for our survival still, but something nice happening wouldn't hurt.

I had started looking at the wall of black again.  Sylph got between me and it and shook her head.  "Move on, Fae.  You are worn, and your mind wanders -- and I think you do not want to be leading this group.  But we trust you.  Go on."

I knew she was right, but at the same time, I thought that knowing something about the darkness would help us in this battle.

"How does the dark fight back the chaos?" I asked.  I wasn't certain if I would get an answer from our allies or not.  I did note that I seemed to have gotten their attention.  "We don't know what tactics to use.  What weapons."

"We will learn," I heard from more than one voice.  The others did not slow, but it reassured me.  We could communicate.  They worked to discuss problems with us.

Only a few steps later, something else gave me more hope.  I saw a white spot ahead of us, but I didn't know what it might be at first.

"Mama!"

We got out of the way, all of us including our dark counterparts.  Lady Snow changed to her giant polar bear form and charged ahead.  I could tell that the tunnel opened up wider as she moved.

I heard childish laugher that changed to happy bark-like sounds as the two collided.  The rest of us slowed.  I imagined it would not be any safer to go among them now that they were happy.  Eventually, they calmed, though.  I was glad to move again since it was growing increasingly cold.

They walked back to us, and both changed as they came -- a mother with a child who looked about seven or eight.  They held hands.  I thought they might stay in this form just so they could keep hold of each other.

"I must --" Lady Snow began.  She looked at her daughter, her eyes wide with worry --

"You must take her and go stand the ground with my Queen," I said.  "Or, if you can, take her home.  You have done your part, and we want you and your child to be safe."

She stared at me, her eyes blinking.  Lady Snow looked at her daughter without love and fear --

"Go," I said softly and dared a hand on her arm.  "Go and be safe; if not here, escape to elsewhere.  Warn others if you can."

Those words might have hinted too much that I didn't expect us to survive.  I did not say the words outright, though.  My people know too well the power of ill-spoken omens.

Lady Snow gave one more look around, then put a hand on my arm and nodded.  She led her happy child away.  I hoped that they had long years of joy together.

Then I turned away and began moving toward the distant end of the tunnel again.  I didn't look much at the walls around us now.  At least moving helped to hold off the cold a little longer, but even Lycan pulled his collar up, and Yating did the same.  I didn't bother.  It wouldn't help.

"What are we going to do?" Sylph finally asked.  I didn't think the cold bothered her much.

"Take a look," I said, trying to come up with a plan.  Then I shrugged and felt how the cold had stiffened my clothing.  "Before we do that, I can't see how we can make any decisions."

No one argued.  So we kept walking.  I saw with some relief that the opening did appear to be closer.  Maybe we wouldn't freeze before we found answers.

I shouldn't have been so optimistic -- not about freezing, but about answers.  I should have considered what we were walking to see.  Chaos.  By its very nature, Chaos does not have enough coherence to facilitate finding solutions we could use to deal with it.

As we stood on the very edge of the tunnel, I looked out into something so utterly wrong that I couldn't find words to encompass the sight.  It was bright and dark and every shade between.  None of it stayed long enough to name.  Colors and an absence of colors swirled and rippled, producing a plethora of shapes in their wakes.  I stared.  My companions did as well.

I realized one truth:  You cannot fight Chaos...