Wizard Cadet (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 2) Read online

  Wizard Cadet

  Book Two

  Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles

  Rodney W. Hartman

  DEDICATION

  This book is dedicated to the memory of Susan Kelly Hartman. She was the bravest person I have ever known. A loving wife and mother; her greatest concern at the end of her life was not for herself, but for the wellbeing of those who would be left behind. The world is a lesser place without her.

  Books by Rodney Hartman

  Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles

  Wizard Defiant Book One

  Wizard Cadet Book Two

  Wizard Scout Book Three (Early 2016)

  Table Of Contents

  Chapter 1 – Freefall

  Chapter 2 – The Children

  Chapter 3 – Back into the Breach

  Chapter 4 – Change of Mission

  Chapter 5 – The Crosioian Scout

  Chapter 6 – A Ball and Chain

  Chapter 7 – The Invitation

  Chapter 8 – Wolf Pack

  Chapter 9 – Questions and Answers

  Chapter 10 – Northward Bound

  Chapter 11 – Recon

  Chapter 12 – The Village

  Chapter 13 – The Children’s Secret

  Chapter 14 – Ruins and Ambush

  Chapter 15 – The Gnome Priestess

  Chapter 16 – The Elf

  Chapter 17 – The Blue Dot

  Chapter 18 – For Good or Ill

  Chapter 19 – The Mother

  Chapter 20 – Abandoned

  Chapter 21 – The Allies

  Chapter 22 – The Dolgars

  Chapter 23 – The Algorithm

  Chapter 24 – Training

  Chapter 25 – The Children’s Task

  Chapter 26 – Success

  Chapter 27 – Invasion

  Chapter 28 – Relief and Rescue

  Chapter 29 – The Algorithm Completed

  Chapter 30 – The Oracle

  Chapter 31 – The Undead

  Chapter 32 – Only One Survives

  Chapter 33 – The Reunion

  Epilogue

  Copyright

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Chapter 1 – Freefall

  ____________________________________

  [Begin Transmission]

  “Thirty seconds to the drop point, Rick” said the shuttle pilot over the intercom system.

  “Thanks, Liz,” Richard replied. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

  At forty-one thousand meters, Richard had no doubt it was going to be one heck of a drop, right at the edge of outer space. He’d made a few high-altitude drops when he’d been in marine recon. But heavily defended planets like the one below were too dangerous for even marine recon to attempt a drop. A teleport insertion was out of the question as well due to the high-energy output. Standard procedures were to assign these dangerous types of missions to wizard scouts. Unfortunately, Richard was not a wizard scout. He was just a cadet on his first internship mission. What a difference a war made.

  The recon shuttle shifted hard to the right as the pilot, Ensign Elizabeth Bistos, lined up for a high-speed pass over the planet Veturna in the Drako system of sector five. Richard had a great view of everything strapped as he was to the outside of the shuttle. Only a clear force field stood between him and the nothingness of outer space. He felt the metal straps holding him to the side of the shuttle straining against the shoulders of his battle suit.

  “Don’t rush it on my account, Liz,” Richard said only half-jokingly.

  “I’m not,” Liz said. “I’m hurrying on my account. I’ve got two destroyers on my six. And there’s more waiting for a piece of my ship once I drop you off.”

  Richard silently cursed the officer from military intelligence who had briefed them before the start of the mission. While he’d told them the planet was heavily guarded with monitoring stations and large anti-ship weapons, the officer had assured them no enemy ships were in the vicinity. Unfortunately, the officer had been wrong. When Liz brought the recon shuttle out of hyper-drive, they’d found a fleet of twenty destroyers and light cruisers orbiting the planet. Richard was still surprised Liz hadn’t aborted her mission. She was placing her ship and crew in a near suicidal position in order to get him to his drop point.

  Richard turned his head to look behind the shuttle. He could just make out two destroyers vectoring in for an attack. Using his passive scan, Richard sensed other warships maneuvering in an attempt to cut off the shuttle’s possible escape routes. Even if Liz could get the shuttle to the drop point in one piece, Richard seriously doubted she would make it past the nearest moon before the ship was destroyed.

  Ensign Elizabeth Bistos was a friend of Richard’s from the Intergalactic Wizard Scout Academy. They’d had the bad luck of being pitted against each other as cadets during a ‘one stays, one goes’ training scenario at the Academy the previous year. He’d stayed, and she’d been dropped from the Academy. Richard hadn’t thought it fair then, and he still didn’t. She’d have made a great wizard scout. Richard had been surprised to discover she was assigned as his shuttle pilot for the drop. He’d been even more surprised to discover she’d volunteered for the mission.

  “Fifteen seconds to the drop point, Rick” said Liz over the drop tube’s intercom. “The Crosioians are trying to lock onto us with their ground weapons. We’re coming in hot. I’m going to have to keep a low angle and skip off the atmosphere. Sorry, wizard scout. That’s the best I can do.”

  “Roger, Liz” Richard replied. “It will be fine. Thanks for everything.”

  Richard wasn’t sure what else to say. It wasn’t Liz’s fault they’d been spotted.

  Don’t get distracted, said Nickelo. It’s time to get back to work.

  Nickelo, or Nick as Richard called him, was the battle computer built into Richard’s helmet. But Nick wasn’t just an everyday, run-of-the-mill battle computer. Nickelo was a one-of-a-kind, advanced prototype that had been issued to Richard in his freshman year at the Academy. Richard still didn’t understand why he’d been issued such an expensive and advanced battle computer, but he was glad he had. During his freshman year, Richard had been sent by a strange entity known only as ‘the One’ on a mission to help an elf priestess retrieve an item from a demon. If not for Nickelo’s help, Richard had no doubt he would have died several times during that mission. But that had been last year. This year, he was a sophomore cadet at the Academy, and he was currently on a top-secret mission with a special operations detachment. Although this was going to be a dangerous mission in its own right, Richard was thankful it didn’t involve demons and magic. He’d had enough of them last year.

  I’m ready, Nick, Richard said. At least this time all we have to worry about are real-live soldiers trying to kill us with high-tech weapons. It should be a piece of cake.

  Richard rarely prayed, but he said a silent one now for Liz and the rest of her crew. Liz’s face came to the forefront of his memory. Her blue-steel eyes, short-blonde hair, and freckles made for a nice combination. While they hadn’t spent a lot of time together while training for the mission, they had found the time to spend a glorious weekend together on Velos before shipping out. Just the memory made Richard smile. He forced the memory aside. There was work to be done.

  So much for surprise, Nick, Richard said to his battle computer. I thought TAC Officer Myers said this was going to be a milk run.

  TAC Officer Myers thinks everything you do is a milk run, said Nickelo. But you knew this mission was going to be tough. Commander Stevens b
riefed you on the dangers when you reported for your internship. By the way, you are five seconds from the drop point.

  Commander Stevens was the leader of their special operations detachment. She had not been thrilled to discover she had been assigned a partially-trained wizard scout cadet instead of the experienced wizard scout she had requested. Richard didn’t blame her. Commander Stevens’ task was to take her detachment and rendezvous with a defecting Veturnian scientist. Her detachment, which now included Richard, was to escort the scientist back to an Empire capital ship located a quarter of a light year outside the solar system. Although neither Commander Stevens nor Richard had officially been told why the scientist was so important, Nickelo had discovered some pertinent information. According to his battle computer, their VIP was a temporal physicist. Richard had no idea what a temporal physicist did, but Nickelo told him the scientist worked with deep-space weapons that were theoretically capable of destroying entire planets. While Richard personally doubted such weapons were possible, apparently the High Command was convinced otherwise.

  Commander Stevens had informed Richard their primary mission was to escort the scientist to safety. Barring that, they were to terminate the scientist to avoid exploitation by the enemy. That part of their orders did not set well with either Commander Stevens or Richard, but it was part of their mission. They were soldiers. They would perform their mission to the best of their abilities. Richard was determined to make sure the ‘plan B’ part of their mission would not become necessary.

  Three seconds, said Nickelo.

  Richard looked at the continent far below. It was dark except for pinpoints of light which Richard knew were cities. The planet was coming up fast. Liz hadn’t exaggerated. She was coming in hot and at a low angle. Liz’s approach was at the extreme limits of mission parameters. His respect for her piloting skills increased. The low angle was going to give him problems during the descent, but with two destroyers nearly in firing range, Liz was giving him the best chance for survival she could.

  You’re sweating, said Nickelo. Should I adjust the temperature?

  Richard didn’t bother replying. His battle computer knew why he was sweating, and it had nothing to do with temperature. Richard’s own mission was to go in ahead of the special operations detachment and recon the area around the rendezvous location. Intelligence had indicated the area should be clear. But then, intelligence had also indicated there wouldn’t be an enemy fleet surrounding the planet.

  Two seconds, said Nickelo.

  Richard took a deep breath. He caught the flashes of explosions from the rear of the shuttle. The destroyers were in firing range. Richard felt the shuttle zig hard to the left. He glimpsed an explosion just to their right. It had been much too close.

  One second, said Nickelo.

  “Execute. Execute. Execute,” said Liz over the intercom. “Good luck, wizard scout.”

  Richard had no time to reply. It didn’t matter. He knew Liz didn’t need one. She’d done all she could for him. Now she just needed to get her ship and crew out of there as fast as possible. He wished them well.

  The force field in front of Richard disappeared, and a blast of pneumatic air shot him away from the shuttle. Liz wasted no time hitting her afterburners. Richard felt their heat through his battle suit’s insulation.

  Richard arched his back and extended his arms and legs in a spread-eagle position similar to one used by skydivers on his home world of Earth. The classic skydiver position spread out his personal force field in a manner to catch the almost nonexistent air of the mesosphere. The planet’s gravity began pulling him downward at an ever increasing speed.

  Marine recon used jump-jet packs for their high altitude drops. But, jump-jet packs were too easily detected by ground-based sensors. As the detachment’s wizard scout, Richard was making the drop wearing just his normal battle suit supplemented with a low-yield, force-field generator.

  Portable force field activated, said Nickelo.

  Richard sensed energy from the force field surround him. Without it, Richard knew he would burn up during the initial stages of his descent. The duration of the force field was short, but that was intentional. It only needed to last long enough to get him down into the stratosphere. Besides, the shield’s duration had to be short. Otherwise, one of the monitoring stations located on the planet would pick up his location. If one of them did, Richard had no doubt the last thing he’d see would be the trail of a high-speed, anti-personnel missile headed his way.

  She brought you in too fast, Rick, said Nickelo. You’ve got to slow yourself down or you’ll skip off the atmosphere.

  Liz did the best she could, Richard said slightly irritated his battle computer was criticizing his friend. Nevertheless, he knew Nickelo was correct. Their approach speed was significantly faster than their practice drops had been. Richard wrapped himself in Power and used telekinesis to give his body two quick taps as a braking force.

  Careful, said Nickelo. Four shorter taps would have been more efficient than two longer ones. With your best stealth shield up, you don’t have any Power to spare. And, your speed is still too fast, you need to slow down more.

  Richard spread his arms and legs even farther. As the leading edge of the force field heated up, it took on the appearance of a faint, glowing ball just below him.

  Using the magnification of his battle helmet’s visor, Richard confirmed the area above his drop zone was clear of all but a few wispy clouds. The lights of the cities on the ground were growing noticeably larger even without magnification. Richard glanced at the heads-up display on the inside of his visor.

  I’m at twelve thousand meters, Nick, Richard said. Should I ditch the force field? If I get much lower, they might pick it up on one of the monitoring stations.

  Not yet, Rick, said Nickelo. Give it another thousand meters. I’m worried about your Power reserve. I want to hold off using your telekinesis as long as possible.

  Wizard scouts had a lot of abilities that were almost magical in nature, but those abilities required Power. Every wizard scout was connected to a Power reserve. Richard had been reminded many times by his Academy TAC officers that his Power reserve was the smallest of any previous or existing wizard scout or cadet. Consequently, he often had to rely on his technology more than most other wizard scouts.

  How’s my stealth shield holding up, Nick? Richard said.

  A wizard scout’s stealth shield prevented their residual Power from being detected by enemy sensors or even by the enemy’s equivalent of a wizard scout. Richard had three levels of stealth shields. The lowest shield used very little Power, but it allowed some residual Power to escape. The highest stealth shield made Richard nearly undetectable, but it used slightly more Power than he could regenerate. Determining which shield to use was always a balancing act for Richard. He was currently using his best stealth shield. If he was detected by the enemy, he’d be dead regardless of how much Power remained in his reserve.

  Your stealth shield’s fine, Rick, said Nickelo. Don’t worry about it. I think it’s time to ditch the force-field generator. Its isotopic battery is nearly empty anyway.

  Richard pulled in one arm slightly in order to roll over on his back as he plummeted through the air. He turned off the force field generator strapped to his chest. A blast of wind forced his legs up higher. Richard felt Nickelo move the battle suit slightly to compensate for the wind. His legs moved back into their proper position. Unclipping the small generator from his chest, Richard shoved it off to one side. Without the resistance of the force field, Richard’s airspeed picked up significantly. The glow of the generator’s force field was quickly lost from sight in the dark sky above. Richard rolled back onto his stomach. He could feel the pressure of the wind as he fell through the air, but it was not uncomfortable. The seventeen thousand plus sensory needles connecting him to his battle suit allowed him to feel as if his suit was a second set of skin. However, the suit’s filters kept the sensations from being painful.
r />   Airspeed, Nick? Richard said.

  Three hundred and thirty kilometers per hour, replied Nickelo. Recommend you widen your body position. You need to slow your airspeed more. The air on this planet is thinner than on Velos. You’re going to come in a lot faster than your practice drops.

  Understood, Richard said as he tweaked his body position slightly. He noticed the airspeed indicator on his heads-up display reduce slightly. His nervousness increased the closer he got to the ground. He’d never dropped from such a high altitude before. Logically, he knew height didn’t matter all that much. Once he hit terminal velocity, he’d remain at that speed regardless of height unless he modified his body position. The denseness of the air was important, not the height of the drop.

  Incoming missiles, said Nickelo. Check your eight o’clock.

  Richard glanced to his left rear. He saw two streaks of light below approaching fast.

  Anti-aircraft missiles? Richard asked.

  Negative, said Nickelo. They are too small. They’re some kind of anti-personnel missile. They’re locked onto the force field generator. They should pass twenty-five meters to your left.

  Richard held his breath as the missiles came ever closer. Although he trusted his battle computer, his eyes told him the missiles were heading straight towards him. A tense two seconds later, the missiles passed to his left. Two seconds after that, Richard heard the report of loud explosions as the missiles made contact with the generator. A few stray bits of shrapnel hit his battle suit, but their momentum wasn’t enough to penetrate the tough armor. Not for the first time, Richard thanked the Empire’s technicians for making the best scout armor in the galaxy.

  Richard let out the breath he’d been holding. He took a moment to monitor the recommended path on his heads-up display. He was ‘on course and on glide slope’ as the air controllers would say.

  Richard didn’t pat himself on the back too much for the good tracking during the drop. He could feel his battle computer making minor adjustments in the suit’s body position. Richard wasn’t insulted. Nickelo was undoubtedly the best battle computer in the Empire. He was lucky to have him.