out of their way, clear?”
All of the ship’s officers nodded, Damien feeling a little intimidated. Rice didn’t help that feeling by focusing his gaze on Damien.
“Damien, you especially have to tread carefully,” he warned. “Corinthian isn’t an UnArcana world – magic is legal – but they don’t like Mages.”
“ I’ll keep that in mind,” Damien said quietly. “I should probably stay on the ship regardless – the last thing we want is Guild Mages looking at the rune matrix. I’m… not sure how legal my modifications are.”
The rune matrix woven throughout the massive freighter allowed a Mage like Damien to teleport it between the stars – but that was all they were supposed to do. Damien had broken that limitation, though, and used the matrix to amplify a self-defense spell to destroy the pirate who’d attacked them.
“ You don’t know ?” Singh asked.
“ I know they aren’t legal ,” Damien admitted. “But the thing about Mage Law… it’s vague, and the punishments aren’t spelled out unless you break them. The idea is to keep us from breaking them at all.”
“Then let’s make sure no one goes poking around the runes unsupervised,” Rice ordered . “On top of everything else, the last thing we need is problems with the Guilds!”
#
David Rice sighed in relief when the Blue Jay finally approached close enough to Corinthian Prime for the scanners to make out the familiar white pyramid shapes of two destroyers of the Royal Navy of the Mage-King of Mars. While they hadn’t seen any sign of the pirates since the attack when they’d left Sherwood, the Protectorate destroyers were always a sign of safety.
He watched carefully over Jenna’s shoulder as she gently adjusted the freighter’s course, aligning carefully on the immobile docking end of the cylindrical station, and brought up the communications himself.
“Corinthian Prime, this is Captain David Rice of the freighter Blue Jay out of the Sherwood system,” he informed them. “We are carrying a data download and several cargo contracts, but be advised that we were attacked by pirates and currently only have one functioning main engine.”
A few moments later, a traffic controller came on the channel.
“ Blue Jay , this is Corinthian Control. Message received. What is your maneuvering status – do we need to arrange a tow?”
“Negative, Control,” David told them after a long moment of thought and a glance at his XO . “Maneuvering thrusters are fully functional, we should be able to maneuver to dock without issues, but our acceleration is heavily reduced.”
“Understood Blue Jay , please proceed to Dock Seven,” the controller ordered. “It’s the most accessible for repair craft,” he continued. “Please contact your deliveries as soon as possible to arrange offloading. Welcome to Corinthian, Captain Rice.”
“Thank you Control,” he replied. “Maneuvering to Dock Seven.”
A tiny diamond appeared on his screen, bracketing the indicated dock as Jenna began to adjust the cargo ship’s course. Dock Seven, he saw, was designed for the much bigger heavy container ships. A Venice class ship like the Blue Jay would be surrounded by plenty of empty space on all sides – the best working space for repairs short of slotting her into an actual shipyard. Dock Six, right next to them, was of a similar size and currently contained the large module components of a pre-fabricated colony ship in the process of being assembled.
“The yards must be full,” he muttered aloud. A colony ship’s components could be assembled easily in a standard dock, but it was faster and easier to slot the cylindrical modules together in a real shipyard.
“See any issues getting us in?” he asked Jenna. “I think the neighbor is the biggest issue,” he added, watching the small swarm of repair ships guiding one of the modules in.
“ I could get us into that dock blindfolded with just the maneuvering jets,” his first
All of the ship’s officers nodded, Damien feeling a little intimidated. Rice didn’t help that feeling by focusing his gaze on Damien.
“Damien, you especially have to tread carefully,” he warned. “Corinthian isn’t an UnArcana world – magic is legal – but they don’t like Mages.”
“ I’ll keep that in mind,” Damien said quietly. “I should probably stay on the ship regardless – the last thing we want is Guild Mages looking at the rune matrix. I’m… not sure how legal my modifications are.”
The rune matrix woven throughout the massive freighter allowed a Mage like Damien to teleport it between the stars – but that was all they were supposed to do. Damien had broken that limitation, though, and used the matrix to amplify a self-defense spell to destroy the pirate who’d attacked them.
“ You don’t know ?” Singh asked.
“ I know they aren’t legal ,” Damien admitted. “But the thing about Mage Law… it’s vague, and the punishments aren’t spelled out unless you break them. The idea is to keep us from breaking them at all.”
“Then let’s make sure no one goes poking around the runes unsupervised,” Rice ordered . “On top of everything else, the last thing we need is problems with the Guilds!”
#
David Rice sighed in relief when the Blue Jay finally approached close enough to Corinthian Prime for the scanners to make out the familiar white pyramid shapes of two destroyers of the Royal Navy of the Mage-King of Mars. While they hadn’t seen any sign of the pirates since the attack when they’d left Sherwood, the Protectorate destroyers were always a sign of safety.
He watched carefully over Jenna’s shoulder as she gently adjusted the freighter’s course, aligning carefully on the immobile docking end of the cylindrical station, and brought up the communications himself.
“Corinthian Prime, this is Captain David Rice of the freighter Blue Jay out of the Sherwood system,” he informed them. “We are carrying a data download and several cargo contracts, but be advised that we were attacked by pirates and currently only have one functioning main engine.”
A few moments later, a traffic controller came on the channel.
“ Blue Jay , this is Corinthian Control. Message received. What is your maneuvering status – do we need to arrange a tow?”
“Negative, Control,” David told them after a long moment of thought and a glance at his XO . “Maneuvering thrusters are fully functional, we should be able to maneuver to dock without issues, but our acceleration is heavily reduced.”
“Understood Blue Jay , please proceed to Dock Seven,” the controller ordered. “It’s the most accessible for repair craft,” he continued. “Please contact your deliveries as soon as possible to arrange offloading. Welcome to Corinthian, Captain Rice.”
“Thank you Control,” he replied. “Maneuvering to Dock Seven.”
A tiny diamond appeared on his screen, bracketing the indicated dock as Jenna began to adjust the cargo ship’s course. Dock Seven, he saw, was designed for the much bigger heavy container ships. A Venice class ship like the Blue Jay would be surrounded by plenty of empty space on all sides – the best working space for repairs short of slotting her into an actual shipyard. Dock Six, right next to them, was of a similar size and currently contained the large module components of a pre-fabricated colony ship in the process of being assembled.
“The yards must be full,” he muttered aloud. A colony ship’s components could be assembled easily in a standard dock, but it was faster and easier to slot the cylindrical modules together in a real shipyard.
“See any issues getting us in?” he asked Jenna. “I think the neighbor is the biggest issue,” he added, watching the small swarm of repair ships guiding one of the modules in.
“ I could get us into that dock blindfolded with just the maneuvering jets,” his first
Similar Books
