Team Savant {Unknown Chapter 3 of 3}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe.
Click HERE for the previous chapter
 

The hologram of Proteus studied the damaged area. He turned to James and Martha Devereaux. “I will send a clean-up crew here in a day—if there are any expenses; do not worry. We will compensate.”

“Thanks Pro,” James said.

“You are welcome…Jay.” He turned to Nathaniel. “Impressive amount of chaos, cadet.”

“I take full responsibility,” Nathaniel said.

“I was a willing participant,” Isis said.

“I ordered her,” Nathaniel said.

“Do not lie to protect me,” Isis said. “I chose to be by your side.”

James chuckled. “Son, you better keep her.”

“Let him graduate from college before you give him away,” Martha said.

  Proteus held out his hand. “The others are here.” The rest of the team showed up in a small shuttle. It landed in front of the house and transformed into a grey and red Earthian vehicle. A van? Deragon remembered Nathaniel speaking of Earthian vehicles shaped like a box—maybe a train? Deragon dismissed the thought.

The cadets stepped out gingerly—weapons in hand. “Put those away,” Proteus said.

Zorn stiffened. “Yes sir.” He ducked back into the vehicle. The others followed.

Proteus turned to Nathaniel. His dark eyes narrowed. “Admittedly, the program for the robots is evolving. They are ill-equipped to distinguish between friend or foe…. So, what did you do wrong?”

“I attacked first,” Isis said.

“No,” Nathaniel said. “I came in prepared for combat. I approached like…”

“A soldier,” Proteus finished. “And if you were a soldier fighting a battle, what you did today would be something remarkable.” He paused as Nathaniel’s complete crew rushed forward. “But the part of you that is a soldier is only a small part of who you are.” He sighed.

His fellow Datrevian stepped forward. “Sir,” Zorn said, “there is much I don’t know, but if you were aware of the battle, couldn’t you initiate the kill sequence?”

A small smile appeared on Proteus face. “Very astute. The robots were destroyed before the kill sequence reached earth. I am communicating via tachyon interface, but the sequence was sent through subspace transmission. We don’t have the budget for more tachyon controls. We don’t have the budget for most things. Thus cadets like you must act as enlisted soldiers.”

“We understand,” Nathaniel said. “But we wish to remain active, I will accept punishment, but please don’t punish my team.”

Proteus shook his head. “No, you will not be punished, but you will be forced to go on vacation for a week. Some place where you will stay out of trouble.”

“With all due respect,” Jon said as he covered his third eye. “Trouble tends to follow Earthians and we have two on the team.” The Triclopian shifted his feet. “No offense.”

“Offense taken,” Angela said.

“I have chosen a planet for you, where even you will not get into trouble.” He paused. “You must remember that you are future leaders—there is a place for diplomacy. Right? Cadet Captain Nathaniel Devereaux Diplomat of Earthia.”

Nathaniel looked down. “Yes sir.”

Proteus nodded and the image disappeared.

Angela punched Nathaniel in the arm. “You couldn’t wait for us?”

Nathaniel rubbed his arm. “Sorry.”

Deragon shoulders tighten as a hand patted him on the head. “Thanks for helping us,” Nathaniel’s mother said.

“Martha…” Deragon swung his head away. “I—I was just doing as I was told.”

“Still, thanks.” Martha walked away and joined the rest as they studied the broken robots.

Jon held up a head. “Fifteen credits say this is Isis’s handiwork.”

“It was a joint effort,” Isis said.

Deragon walked over to Nathaniel who appeared lost in deep thought. “Tell me,” Deragon said. “How were you able to fight robots are use a sword with enough efficiency to block lasers? Your ability to see patterns and read body languages cannot help you against a robot.”

Nathaniel shrugged. “Everything has a pattern. Every program has a pattern. It took me a moment to discern the pattern of the robots hand to hand fighting style. The difficulty was the laser fire. I suspected they would use long range attacks once their probability generator dropped below forty-percent success in hand-to-hand combat. I use the likelihood they would fire for a vital area, the width of my blade, and my own martial arts training. I surmised that I had a sixty-seven percent chance of blocking their lasers, a two percent chance of reflecting the shot back and a zero point zero, zero, one, five percent chance of taking out another enemy.”

“Insane. I am stuck in the head of an insane cadet.”

“Insanity is relative,” Zorn said. He placed his hand on Nathaniel’s shoulder. “Don’t be so down on yourself. Proteus was proud.”

“He was also worried.”

“We should be worried,” Jon said. “If old Datrevian Proteus is sending us on a relaxing vacation to a planet of his choice, I know exactly where he is sending us.”

“Where is that?” Zorn asked.

“Planet Hela…”

Isis squealed. “That is an excellent planet. They have singing, games and stuffed animals and rides where you just go in a circle all day long!”

Jon pinched his nose. “It is a place for little children.”

Isis glared. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Angela pounded her fist. “I owe you one for the trouble remark.”

“Now. Now. Girls,” Martha placed her hand on Angela and Isis’s shoulder. “We have had enough violence for today. “Come on, you ladies can tell me all about your adventures while I prepare enough food for everyone.” She walked past them and toward Nathaniel. She slapped him gently on the face. “We love you too, but next time call first.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Come on James,” Martha said. “I need your help.”

James followed behind Isis and stopped in front of his son. “Nice moves back there. Heh. My son’s a ninja.” He walked away, and quickly rounded the corner of the house.

Jon followed for a moment and stopped. He turned around. “Are you coming?”

“I am going to start cleaning up my mess,” Nathaniel said.

“I will stay and help too,” Zorn said.

“I as well,” Deragon said.

All of the cadets turned toward him.

“My abilities would be useful in this situation,” Deragon said. “Besides, I would like to stay out in the real world for a while.”

Nathaniel smiled. “Sure, I will increase your range and you can roam the area.”

The smile caught Deragon off guard. “I don’t want your pity. I am just a tool that you use as you see fit.”

“No. Deragon, you are not just a tool. I apologize for making you feel that way.”

Deragon looked away. ”Whatever.”

“Ugh, what do I do?” Jon asked aloud. “Angela and Isis are plotting to kill me and the two of you are about to have a romantic moment.”

Deragon growled. “Moment? You might as well live your life with no regret." He purposely narrowed his eyes. "As soon as I escape Savant... Jon, you are the first one that I am going to eat.”

Jon mumbled and walked away.

He sensed Nathaniel’s gaze as he used his telekinetic power to lift two of the robots. “What is it?” Deragon continued working.

“Nothing. I just thought about what Proteus said. That we are not just soldiers, but that is our environment. Are we a product of our environment or is our environment a product of who we are? Something to ponder.”

“Sounds like a bunch of kravitz to me. “

End of Unknown

Next Time: Big Trouble in Little Hela
Team Savant is on break next week, but will return soon after. In the meantime, you can check out some of my older stories on this website.

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

Team Savant {Unknown Chapter 2 of 3}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe.
Click HERE for the Previous Chapter



Deragon’s psionic heart quickened. Savant and Isis were locked in combat mode. Nathaniel’s mind focused solely on the dangerous robots in front of him. Deragon did not doubt that the Earthian would die and because he was tethered psionically to him, Deragon would die too…

As the robots lined up in front of the two cadets, Nathaniel’s parents banged against the shielding. They turned to Deragon, but he had no reason to listen to them. Death was knocking at his door and two older Earthians pleading for their son’s life didn’t register high on his—what do the Earthians call it? Bucket list.

Deragon cringed as Isis shuffled forward and struck down one of the robots. Two of the others immediately attacked her, while the other one charged Nathaniel. To Nathaniel’s credit, he was smart enough to keep his distance. While Isis pushed forward, Nathaniel slid back, to the side and then to the other side. He practically danced his way to safety, ducking around a tree and leaping for the porch. He cut through the supports of the roof of the porch. Large pieces of the roof fell in his wake, hindering the pursuing robot.

Isis did well against the robots. She was smart enough to prevent two of them from grappling her, but in her attempt to avoid being grappled, it gave a third a clear shot. He held his hand as a child would a finger gun and fired. Nathaniel appeared in front of her almost as if he had anticipated the shot. He blocked the laser blast with his sword, deflecting the shot. The errant shot struck the fourth robot as it emerged from the destroyed roof.

Deragon’s heart lifted. A renewed respect for Savant gave him hope. Maybe, he would live today.

“Follow me,” Nathaniel said. He ran quickly toward the robot that fired, the first shot. “Split left.” The robot fired another shot where the two cadets used to be. Nathaniel stepped kick and sailed toward the robot. A quick slash partially severed the robots neck. Isis, who had performed the same move maybe an instant after Nathaniel; grabbed the robot’s head and removed it from his body.

“Yes!” Deragon said. The psionic saber tooth tiger regained his composure. “I mean…wonderful tactic cadets.”

“Look, Derrick,” Nathaniel’s father said.

“Deragon. And leave me be—I need to concentrate on this fight. Your son may need me to save his life at any moment.”

“But that’s just it,” James said. “He shouldn’t be fighting.”

“I don’t know, if he has a choice,” Martha said. “Those things are trying to hurt him.”

“But they are not supposed to,” James said.

Deragon cut his eyes from the fight. “What are you two on about?” He listened to their story and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter now. I can hear what he hears. However, this shield is sound proof and Savant has cut his mind off from me to concentrate on this fight…”

Nathaniel and Isis had downed two and had two more to go. Unfortunately, the other two realized close combat was a specialty for Team Savant and lay suppressing fire down from a distant. The two were separate now, but somehow he knew Nathaniel had a plan. A short time ago, when Deragon had a Templusian body, he used his powers to suppress Nathaniel and his team. It did not end well for Deragon--that day he lost his body.

Nathaniel sent hand signals to Isis who nodded and stood up. She was using a tree for cover. She climbed the tree as Nathaniel scuttled toward the robot with a hole in his head. He somehow found the strength to lift the robot with one hand and charge the two remaining robots on an apparent suicide run. The robots fired upon the body of their robotic friend and just as he was beyond the point of no return, a sky blue Aquarian landed on top of the robots smashing their heads with simultaneous hammer fists. The two robots dropped to their knees and fell forward.

Deragon smiled. “I hate those cadets.”

Still on alert, Isis and Savant surveyed the area. She nodded and Nathaniel gave the all clear to Deragon. Isis wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tight as Deragon released the barrier around his parents. “That was a wonderful battle,” Isis said.

“I—Isis…crushing me.”

She released him. “Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.” She dusted him off.

Nathaniel turned to Deragon, simultaneously opening his mind to Deragon’s thoughts and knowledge. A look formed on his face that brought a smile to Deragon’s face. “Proteus?” Nathaniel raised an eyebrow.

Isis turned toward Deragon and then to Nathaniel. “What about Headmaster Proteus?”

“He sent those robots,” Martha said. “To protect us.”

“Protect you? Why didn’t he tell me?” Nathaniel asked.

“Why don’t you ask me yourself?” A hologram formed over one of the sad broken robots…a hologram of the head master of Union Academy. His face was grim.

Today was a good day.

The End of Chapter 2 of 3

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

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Team Savant {Unknown Chapter 1 of 3}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe.
To see the previous story click here {Voyage home ch1}



Deragon’s world quaked. Not that he was concerned about the mindscape he inhabited; the mind of Savant was uniquely powerful. He was neither telepath nor telekinetic, but he possessed a will strong enough to crack the world. Fortunately for the rest of the universe, the young Earthian didn’t realize his full potential.

There were moments he tapped into the wellspring of his ability. One such moment led to Deragon’s capture. In truth, if the child hadn’t taken his mind from his physical body and trapped it in his own psyche, Deragon would be dead now. Killed by his own people. For that, Deragon was somewhat grateful. However, to be beaten by a team of teenagers and trapped in the mind of their near-powerless leader…no words could describe his dishonor.

But he learned a lesson about the individual, Savant. If one wanted to draw out his true power, one only needed to threaten what was important to him—the people he cared about.

The strength of will threatening to shake the replica of the African plains apart, suggested someone or something had threatened Savant’s loved ones. Deragon jumped down from his rock, he closed the gap to the edge of his artificial world and the vast space of Nathaniel Devereaux’s mind. “Nathaniel!”

The Earthian opened his mind to the Templusian. Now he saw what his host saw. No words were spoken, just a short-termed memory. An alarm, instrument check and confirmation—his parents were in danger. A chill traveled down Deragon’s spine. He flexed his muscles—the sinews of his saber tooth body taut. Why did he care? Sure if the boy died, he would die too, but the lives of his parents were meaningless.

“Nate, we are in earth space,” Angela said.

“I am going to do a halo drop,” Nathaniel said. “We don’t want to disturb the atmosphere by dropping this ship too quickly.”

“What do you mean, I?” Jon turned to him. “We are doing this as a team. Your family is our family.”

“I am acting as the first wave of the attack,” Nathaniel said. “I can get down there faster. Zorn will lead a team for back up.” He turned to Zorn. “Can you maintain a telepathic connection?”

“I will try, Nathaniel, but you haven’t even called Deragon and your mind is already creating psychic static.”

“I am trying to remain calm—“

“And we understand,” Isis said, “but for the same reason. You should not go alone. I will go with you. Angela has to fly the ship, and I can survive the fall, if anything goes wrong.”

“I don’t have to fly the ship,” Angela said.

Isis jerked her head toward Angela. An understanding passed between them. “Yes, but if we have to hit hard,” Isis said, “I am the one to do it.”

Deragon smiled. The Aquarian loved the Earthian. She loved Nathaniel enough to put herself in harm’s way for him. Nathaniel loved Isis just as much. Both of them too dumb to tell one another how they felt.

  “It is a good idea,” Nathaniel said. “We are going in weaponless—can’t risk going in and giving away Union-sanctioned technology. Zorn, after assessing the situation, do what you think is best.”

“Understood,” Zorn said.

Nathaniel exited the bridge, followed closely by Isis. They marched to the docking bay and placed on their space suits. “Nate, we are in position,” Angela said.

Nathaniel used Earthian sign language to signal level three. Deragon’s artificial world de-materialized and was remade into the real world. He stood between the two of them. Nathaniel turned to him. “Do you understand the situation?”

“Of course I do,” Deragon said.

Nathaniel nodded and hopped on Deragon’s back. Isis climbed on behind him. “Open bay doors,” Nathaniel said.

The doors opened and the tiger and his passengers jumped into the silence of space. A field of energy formed around them, protecting them from the heat as they pierced Earth’s atmosphere. Nathaniel placed his hand at the nape of Deragon’s neck—maintaining contact with him. Truth be told, they were bonded in ways beyond physical touch. Deragon couldn’t cast him off, even if he wanted. Isis on the other hand, gripped both Savant and Deragon with a powerful grip. A grip that would have normally crushed their young leader, had it not been for Deragon’s field strengthening his body.

As much satisfaction as he drew from the boy relying on his power, he drew even more from the fear of Isis. Whatever you are thinking Deragon, don’t try it. I am not in the mood, Nathaniel said in Deragon’s head.

I am only recognizing that you are using my power and the girl fears me. It makes this prison you placed me in a little bearable.

I don’t have time for this, but you would do well to remember that you imprisoned yourself when you attacked my friends.

Deragon thought better of responding. He focused on the jewel of a planet rushing at them. He followed Nathaniel’s directions and increased speed, approaching the land with an ever evolving curve. The left splintered trees and a crater where they landed. Deragon bounded out of the crater, his passengers unharmed. They were fifteen miles from their destination, flying above the trees to a rustic area.

“I can see your parents,” Isis said. “They do not appear distressed. They are eating outside. Is that normal?”

“Since moving near grandma, they have picnics more. Do you sense anything?”

Deragon shook his head. “Nothing but your parents. This is a false alarm.”

Nathaniel tapped his ruby red lensed glasses. “All stop.”

Deragon hovered.

Nathaniel studied the house, no doubt using his ability to catalog and predict patterns. “The sequence of the flower petals…it should be Fibonacci. God doesn’t play dice.” He dropped his hand. “No time to waste. Isis, send a level eight alert to Jon. We will execute hostage plan A-1.”

“This is foolishness,” Deragon said.

“Don’t get neutered,” Nathaniel said with a coldness that caught Deragon off guard. Fear crawled down his spine.

“I am blitzing,” Deragon said as he steeled himself and broke the sound barrier. He appeared right in front of Nathaniel’s parents, who were enjoying an Earthian meal.

James Devereaux dropped his rib. “Nate?”

Deragon created a new energy field that encompassed all of them in a barrier strong enough to withstand a nuclear attack. Deragon turned to the flowers planted in front of the house and stared. “I see.”

Nathaniel climbed down. “Mom, is my replica of Mace Windu’s light saber still in my room?”

Martha Devereaux frowned. “Yes. Are we under attack?”

“We believe so, Mother Savant,” Isis said.

“Cadet,” Deragon said, “before you is a Grade A hologram. Your pattern ability works on living things. Let me—“

“You will protect my parents. Isis and I can handle this.” He stepped forward. “Make a hole.”

Deragon opened a door in front of Isis. Nathaniel glared at him. Isis placed a hand on Nathaniel’s shoulder. “He is right. I am more durable and I heal faster.”

Nathaniel nodded. He followed Isis out of the field. Deragon closed it behind them. Nathaniel held his wrist monitor to his mouth. “Password,” Nathaniel said. “Mace Windu Lives.” A slender metallic cylinder flew out of Nathaniel’s room’s window. He held his hand up and caught it. It was like the hilts of a medieval Templusion sword, but no blade.

“You don’t have to hide anymore,” Isis said. “I can smell the polymer, oil and metal.”

The four bushes dropped their hologram and four bronze robots stood up. One alone could kill Nathaniel’s entire squad. What could he and an Aquarian do against the four of them? Deragon would need to save them for self-preservation, but he was bound by Savant’s orders.

Nathaniel pressed a button on the cylinder. Guards extended from the side of the hilt of the sword and a slender antenna extended from the hilt itself, for a little over a meter. It ignited with purple energy into a fully functional light sword. Nathaniel cursed the robots in Gnornian. “You picked the wrong family to mess with.”  

The End of Chapter One of Unknown

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

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Team Savant {The Voyage Home Chapter 4 of 4}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe.

The next day Katra was on her way back home to earth. The administrative part of the journey was the least dangerous thing she did in her time with Savant. Sign some papers and boom, she was an official officer of the Union Forces.  The job was only slightly embarrassing. She ranked lower than a cadet. However, this wasn’t any cadet. Her official title was Special Assistant and her pay wasn’t much in the scheme of things—but beggars can’t be choosers.

She sat on the bridge on the way home, still holding on to the weapon they gave her. If something else happened she would protect them. That is what adults are supposed to do—protect the children.

Nathaniel acted as captain, since Kagome stayed at the academy. The big silver bird they flew in was a ship full of kids, but they weren’t kids. They were super kids with more heart and courage than any adult she ever met.

“Katra?”

Nathaniel’s voice brought her back to reality. “Yes dear?” A flash from Isis made her re-think that dear part.

“We should be back in earth space within an hour.” Nathaniel smiled. “I am putting you in charge as soon as we return to earth. I am going to visit my parents for a while and then I am going to return to space with my friends. We are low on troops and the full team is needed to help.”

“I don’t like the idea of you going out and doing something so dangerous.”

“We have each other Katra, and we take on the responsibility to protect the people we care about…together. We protect one another. One day the universe will be at peace.” He paused and focused on some distant star. “One day, Angela is going to be president; Zorn will be the greatest scientist in the universe. Isis will be a beautiful Queen. Jon will be the CEO of a huge company and I will be….”

“A general in Union,” Zorn said.

“No way. He would hate the paperwork,” Angela said. “Some type of interplanetary secret agent would fit.”

“He will be my king,” Isis said. Everyone turned to her. “If he says yes—and my parents accept him—and he defeats all of the princes in front of him…but I am confident he will be victorious.”

Everyone laughed.

Finally Jon chimed in. “Well he won’t be a designator because he is terrible at designating names.”

“I didn’t name this ship,” Nathaniel said.

“You could have had the name changed a while ago since it is an Academy registered ship. I mean really? Starship Savant? Next we will wear Savant uniforms. Savant underwear. Let just call this ship, Quagmire because this is—”

“Katra,” Nathaniel said. “What would you name this ship?”

“It’s really not my place.”

“Please,” Zorn said. “We discussed this earlier and we decided to let you give us a name since Nathaniel says you are creative.”

“Oh, that’s sweet.” She lowered her head and cocked it sideways. “Well, the ship is silver and is shaped like a bird. So maybe the Silver Falcon?”

They looked at one another and nodded. “Perfect. But I must ask you one more thing.” He pointed to the weapon. “Why are you holding on to that?”

“Kaytoo gave it to me after I asked for a weapon, when you guys jumped to the pirate ship.”

Nathaniel shook his head. “Kaytoo mirrors Kagome’s kinder side. She must have given it to you to make you feel better.”

“This isn’t some type of blaster?”

Nathaniel grabbed the slender cylinder. “No, what we have here is a karaoke microphone.” He held the microphone to his lips and sang as smooth as Sam Cook, a singer only Katra was old enough to remember. He spun the mic in his hands and gave it back to her. “Go ahead.”

“Holy—“ Angela frowned. “Nathaniel?  You can sing?”

Nathaniel shrugged. “I never stuttered when I sang.”

The computer beeped. “What is that?” Angela asked.

“An alarm.” Nathaniel moved to the origin of the beeping sound. “I built monitors—satellites that monitor earth.” He studied the signal, ran to the helm and frantically typed on Angela’s keyboard. “We have an emergency situation.” He moved back to the captain’s chair. “Top Speed.”

Angela pushed the accelerator forward and glanced down at the screen. “Nate, this is—“

“My parent’s new residence,” he said, eyes straight forward. “Something just shot from space and landed in their back yard. Please get there as fast as you can.”  

The End of The Voyage Home

Team Savant is on break next week, but will return soon after. In the meantime, you can check out some of my older stories on this website.

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

For email updates, please click HERE and feel free to leave a message.

Also, feel free to comment below and follow me on Google and Twitter @ Frank_D_Rogers

Team Savant {The Voyage Home Chapter 3 of 4}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe.

The four of them waited for Isis to rotate the ship. Her soft voice lit up the radio built into their space suits. “Opening bay doors.”

Angela and the rest of the team activated their booster packs and flew to the dead ship at break neck speeds. Of course, if Angela broke her neck, her bones would just pop back into place and heal. Not so for the others, but because she was so durable, even in stealth situations, she took point.

She flipped and slowed with retro rockets as she approached. Her friends did likewise. Outside, Kaywon manually opened the bay doors. Once opened, Angela entered first, did her ninja slash cheerleading slash free running thing and found cover. She checked for danger and gave Nathaniel and the others a hand signal. Jon entered next, his third eye, wide open. His sight existed on a spectrum beyond most humanoids. In theory, he should have been the first in, but as reckless as Nathaniel was with himself, he was always careful with the team, unless he didn’t have a choice….

Once the full team was inside, Kaywon manually closed the doors and the oxygen dispenser activated. Nathaniel was the first one to take off his helmet. He formed a signal with his hands. “Level one,” he mouthed. His super high-top fade changed from a deep dark brown to a tightly curled white. “We have hostages here,” he said, “and an entire crew of pirates.”

“Can you knock them out?” Kaywon asked.

“I could knock all of them out,” Nathaniel said, “but I can’t be sure it wouldn’t kill some of the older passengers.”

“Suggestions.”

“We get a visual and you report to Kagome,” Nathaniel said. “Jon, we need your visual powers. You take point.”

“I can see well enough,” Angela said.

“Don’t worry,” Nathaniel said. “I will take the second position. You watch our backs.”

Angela nodded. “All right.” She activated her power baton and held the wand in the ready position. She relied on her senses to keep the rear safe as they followed Jon. Truth be told, Jon was the right call. The problem lay in the fact that she deeply cared about the three-eyed guy. She understood the danger of mixing relationships. But despite the problems, she was happy. Was it the same for Isis and Nathaniel? She had warned her—

A sound from above.

Angela twisted and pointed her baton. Something fell down and slashed her leg. She fired and slammed her baton into the creatures head, smashing it. Only a robot, thankfully. She moved quickly to help her teammates, but their battle was already done.

Nathaniel stood over two maybe three twisted robot bodies. “I should have brought Clip. Come on. I can sense them; they are a deck below us. We have been compromised—typical smash and grab.”

“But—“ Jon began.

“No time for buts. Jon we are depending on your pinpoint accuracy. Face this way.” Nathaniel motioned with his hand. “Targets are at ten, two, six, seven and nine. Multiple targets, twenty humanoids and seven robots. Angela and I will take targets at six, seven and nine. Kaywon, back up Jon. Everyone got it?”

The team nodded.

“Level two,” Nathaniel said. He jumped high in the air, charged his weapon and smashed a hole in the floor. He fell to the floor below. As smooth as ice he rolled out of Jon’s way. Jon immediately opened fire when his feet touched down. Angela followed and jumped into the air. Yes, she was reckless too, but she could afford to be.

She cleared a path to Nathaniel. And soon they were back to back fighting men that were stronger than men. “Are you calling Deragon?”

“In this situation? Not a good idea,” Nathaniel said.

They fought in synch. Their movement mirrored water, easy and natural. Nathaniel carried the mantle of a grandmaster of the inter-galactic martial arts, due to his natural ability to see patterns. She would soon be a master because of her natural ability to hit things.

Jon and Kaywon held their own, but out of the corner of her eye, she spied pirates getting ready to ambush the two of them. “Jon! On your six!”

Jon wheeled around and with two power batons blazing, he caught the pirates unaware. She sighed and relaxed just before something hit her like a truck. She rolled several times. Her body healed near instantly, but not before, the next attack. The next attack flew down from above—an android falling down upon her at a height of nine or ten feet. Given that most androids weigh more than three-hundred pounds, she suspected that healing this time would be very painful. Something blurred next to her and caught the android by the under carriage.

Nathaniel.

He pressed the android and sent him flying through the air. “Jon,” he said.

Jon slid under the flying lump of machinery and placed holes in the android. He continued sliding until he was next to her. “Love, are you all right?”

He was pretty cool too. “Of course, I am.” She attempted to sit up.

Nathaniel held her down. “This battle is over. Rest and heal.” He turned to Jon. “Any pirate that is down. Hit them again. I don’t want any surprises. Any android—“

“Blow their CPU’s out—got it.” He stood up.

“Kaywon. Can you find the lights?”

“Already working on it. I have also contacted Kagome.”

“Please don’t tell her that we got into a firefight.”

“All ready did.”

Nathaniel looked down at Angela. “You are too fast to let anyone hit you with a right cross. When we get back, we are going to discuss your fighting style.”

“You will appreciate my fighting style when I defeat you.”

“Surely, you can think of easier ways to obtain grandmaster rank,” Nathaniel said.

“Yes, but it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.”

See you next Saturday

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

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Team Savant {The Voyage Home Chapter 2 of 4}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe.

As soon as Nathaniel heard the word mission he straightened, pushed up his glasses and walked forward, immediately pushing toward the command deck. “We will need to run simulations before we get there. Katra, I am going to need you to stay in your quarters if it gets dangerous. Jon I want you on the weapons array. Zorn, you are on tactical. Angela and Isis you are our helmsmen. I have been out of action so long, Kagome, I think it is best that I serve only as a second—if that is all right with you.” He stopped once he made it to the command deck and turned around to see his friends sniggering. “Did I do something wrong?”  

“Hold your horses,” Kagome said. “This is a simple repair mission. There is a cruise ship stranded near sector 137. Their communications went out ten minutes ago. We are to provide support until a proper repair team comes.”

“Oh,” Nathaniel said.

“Don’t sound so disappointed,” Jon said. “You can get a ton of glory on your own time. Some of us don’t like running head long into danger.”

“Hush,” Kagome said. “In a time of war it is important that we remain ever diligent. On the other hand, you must protect the part of you that can shine during a time of peace.”

“A time of peace?”

“Yes, have you considered what you will do, once this war is over?”

“Yes, the Union forces are peace keepers. I am sure I will find a place.”

“There is more to life than serving others,” Isis said. “There must always be balanced.”

Nathaniel rubbed the back of his head. “Yes ma’am.”

“Now,” Kagome said. “We will go with Savant’s orders, with some modification. Katra, you can stay on the bridge with me.”

“I would love to,” Katra said.

The flight to the cruise ship was short. Shortened possibly by Jon’s stories about growing up on a farm. Angela had similar stories while the others remained largely quiet. Isis spoke of her childhood in private moments, like when they went on a bicycle ride down the Triclopian Hills of Dundar. Or fishing in the seas of Rigellia. Zorn too didn’t talk as much. He after all was engineered to have telepathy. He spent most of his childhood under his parent’s thumb. Nathaniel had no such problems with his parents. Coming home was a dream. It was the hours upon hours of being among insensitive kids in school that made his life difficult.

When they made it to the ship, it looked like a scene right out of Scooby Doo—in space. The lights were off. The ship rotated slowly as if some huge hand had spun it like a top. The engine appeared damaged by an outside force. Why wasn’t that in the report? There was something more going on.

Be wary, Deragon said in his head. Nathaniel didn’t question the tiger’s motive. After all, he was a psychic entity, connected to Nathaniel’s life.

“It’s a trap,” Zorn said, echoing everyone’s sentiments.

“Hold position,” Kagome said to Angela.

Angela immediately stopped the ship. Nathaniel stared beyond the ship.

“If they wanted to attack us, would they have already done so?” Isis asked.

“Not, unless the attack was dependent upon how close we got to the wounded ship,” Jon said.

“But there are people aboard,” Kagome said. “We should negotiate with the captors. Open a hailing frequency.”

“Commander,” Nathaniel said. “There are only a few empires capable of cloaking their ships. In either case we should see a distortion in space.”

“We don’t have the technology.”

“But Jon was born with the talent,” Nathaniel said.

Kagome nodded. She turned to Jon. “What do you see?”

Jon removed the headband, revealing his third eye, and stared at the screen. “Pull back, please.”

“Angela.”

Angela pulled the ship back. “Tell me when.”

“When,” Jon said.

The ship stopped.

“I got nothing.”

“But it is a blatant trap,” Zorn said.

Nathaniel nodded. “It is done by amateurs.”

“Pirates?” Isis folded her arms.

“Make’s sense,” Kagome said. “But still an unnecessary danger. We can let the professionals handle this.”

Isis’s screen lit up. “We are being hailed, by the cruiser.”

“I guess they their communications are fixed. Put them through.”

Isis pressed a button, and the Captain of the ship appeared. He was stiff with worry lines all over his face. “This is Captain Hitsuru. We could use your help immediately. We have a—“

He glanced to the side at some one. Perhaps it was the man that the shadow belonged too. “Pregnant woman who needs immediate attention and countless that are hurt.”

“We are experiencing some difficulty,” Kagome said. “Please hold on a bit longer.” She signaled to Isis to end transmission. She stood up. “Cadet Captain Devereaux, you have the bridge.”

“You know I can’t let that happen,” Nathaniel said.

“Don’t get full of yourself,” Kagome said.

“It is regulations,” Zorn said. “The senior commander shouldn’t go into a precarious situation and if he must, he or she must take an adequate team.”

“An adequate team would require stealth, but power may be needed for back-up,” Nathaniel said. “Jon, Zorn and Angela would be the best for stealth, but in terms of pure power—“

“I know the make-up of this team, Cadet. I put it together.” Kagome rubbed her chin. “I will send Kaywon with you. We will go with a balanced team. I want you to get in there, assess the situation, and we will plan accordingly.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“A team of four: Kaywon, Savant, Jon, and Angela.”

“I wish to go,” Isis said as she swiveled around.

“I gave my order,” Kagome said as she stood up. She clasped her hands together. It was similar to the pose Nathaniel took when he released Deragon. “Infiltration Team; be careful. It’s dark and I am sorry but we are short on supplies. No night visor. Only weapon available are the power batons and power staffs.”

“But—“

“Princess Isis,” Nathaniel said. He walked over and placed his hand on his shoulder. “If you are on this team, then I can be on this team. We represent the power for this team. You, Zorn, Kaytoo, and Kagome are needed on the recovery team.”

Isis nodded. “I understand. My apologies Commander for speaking out of turn.”

“It’s fine.” Gelatinous tissue formed on Kagome’s skin. It multiplied and formed two versions of her. Kaytoo, once fully formed, attempted to rush Nathaniel, but Kagome quickly grabbed her and set her down on the floor.

Kaywon stepped forward and looked at Nathaniel. “Let’s go. Once we make contact, you are the field leader.” She turned to Isis. “Don’t ever question Kagome.”

She turned away from Isis and toward the exit.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the hand of Katra go up.

Nathaniel stopped. “Yes?”

“Okay, I know I am a guest and all of that, but I am hoping to live long enough to be employed by the Earth ambassador…well you. That would make me an employee of Union. And—I know I sound like I am rambling, but can I get a weapon, ‘cause I am listening and it feels like things are about to get real.” 

See you next Saturday

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

For email updates, please click HERE and feel free to leave a message.

Also, feel free to comment below and follow me on Google and Twitter @ Frank_D_Rogers