Magic Destiny, Book Three: Counterattack

By Michael Townsend

It's the 25th century, and the human race has begun to establish colonies outside the solar system. The first was established on Destiny, amid an alien culture of primitive but paranormally skilled human-like natives (Book 1). The Earth colony must deal with a rogue native wizard who attacks the colony by kidnapping its children. A second alien race threatens to enslave Earth people, kidnapping a senior officer. The officer is rescued, and a counterattack on the alien spaceport is launched. A third alien race helps defend Earth colony ships from attack; but it turns out they are vectors for a religious virus that threatens to take over the Earth and Destiny.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Townsend
• Release date: Jun 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9780989445559

Michael Townsend

Michael Townsend is a retired high-technology business consultant who has served clients such as Xerox, Rockwell International, TRW, National Semiconductor, Apple Computer, and others. He lives in Southern California with his wife, Mary, and their Plott Hound, Gina.

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Magic Destiny, Book Three: Counterattack

Copyright © 2013 Michael J. Townsend. All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ISBN: 978-0-9894455-5-9

Smashwords Edition

Prologue

Clatha was a wizard, a tall, dark-haired woman who would have looked ethereal were it not for her voluptuous figure. Her thin silver robe was tossed on a chair; she was naked, in bed with Belgado, who was tall, heavyset, bald and also naked. His blue robe lay on the floor of the bedchamber; it was covered with self-congratulatory decorations from the time when Belgado was president-for-life of the adjacent country of Y'Mrene, one of the countries on the planet Destiny, in the Tau Ceti star system.

Now, in exile in the country of Pilander, Belgado took Clatha to bed to celebrate the capture of seven children from the Earth colony of New Albuquerque, which the army of Pilander, under Belgado's direction, had invaded.

The bedchamber was ornate, its walls covered in weavings made from the multicolor secretions of the kronworm. A large pompesette carpet lay on the floor; the high bed was made of pompesette lumber, its mattress and bedclothes from woven pompesette fibers. Overstuffed furniture was scattered around the dimly lit room.

The invasion Belgado celebrated had otherwise not gone well. The soldiers of Pilander had been protected by a spell cast by Clatha, making them invulnerable to the stun weapons of the Earth colonists. But recognizing that their stun weapons weren't working on the Pilander troops, the colonists had reset their burners for a lethal level of discharge, which burnt through the spell and either killed the invading soldiers or rendered them deeply unconscious. Dozens of soldiers had been left strewn around the periphery of the Town Center, and in outlying farms.

Belgado had issued orders to the troops that were assigned to the New Albuquerque farms: bring back child hostages. As the soldiers brought back the hostages, they teleported (jumped) to Belgado's compound where the hostages were to be kept.

The seven children ranged in age from three to thirteen; four boys, three girls, from four different families. All were scared; all were dressed in what they had been wearing in bed when Belgado's soldiers came banging on the front door of their family farmhouses in the middle of the night. In most of the cases of attack by Pilander troops, farmers had been able to defend their homes with their lethal burners, but in confronting four families the soldiers had been able to overcome the adults before they could bring their weapons to bear. They brought the children of those families to Belgado's compound as hostages.

The children were being held in an anteroom adjacent to Belgado's bedchamber. He and Clatha could hear the younger children crying, along with the muffled outbursts of the guards as they tried to keep them quiet.

It may be that our invasion was unsuccessful from a military standpoint, said Belgado to Clatha, but at least we have these children as hostages. With them we'll be able to lever concessions out of the Earth people that will keep them from supporting the Y'Mrenian rebels, when we attack Y'Mrene and regain our throne.

Will you have enough troops, Excellency? The Earth people seem to have killed or captured a good number of the Pilander army.

It doesn't matter. We'll be able to replace them with men and women from Y'Mrene once our campaign to restore us to the throne becomes widely known. By now they'll have had their fill of this so-called democratic reform, and will be ready for a strong leader once more.

You seem very sure of the likelihood of future support by the Y'Mrenian people, Excellency.

They have been in thrall to the Earth people and their way of organizing government; but as soon as we appear in Y'Mrene at the head of a strong army, they'll forget all this Earth nonsense about representative government.

Is that where the idea for the Knusht came from, Excellency?

"Well, no, the Knusht existed before we retreated into exile; it's just that until the Earth people arrived we were able to ensure automatic agreement with whatever we had decided was best for the country.

Now enough of this, Clatha. Turn over and get on your hands and knees.

Clatha did as she was instructed; Belgado scrambled around behind the woman and entered her brutally. She buried her face in a pillow and clutched at the sheets in anger, her breasts mashed against the bedclothes. Belgado grunted as his pace quickened. He was close to a climax when yells came from the anteroom holding the hostage children. He swore and pulled back.

I can't believe that those guards can't hold seven children… he trailed off as he climbed from the bed and reached for his robe. His face was flushed and he was out of breath. As Clatha watched from the bed, he quickly pulled the robe over his head and lurched angrily toward the door of his bedchamber, carrying a large knife. As he got to the door, Clatha climbed out of bed and donned her silver robe.

Belgado flung the door open. Clatha could see, beyond him, that the guards were lying on the floor of the anteroom and that several Earth and Y'Mrene people were standing over them, holding burners.

What is the meaning of— shouted Belgado. Clatha saw a young man in a blue Y'Mrenian robe turn to look at the dictator. The young man raised his weapon and, recognition showing on his face, quietly shot Belgado, who collapsed immediately.

Clatha's instinct told her that Belgado, who had not been protected by her spell, was dead. An era had come to an end. She rushed forward and grabbed the knife from Belgado's lifeless hand.

Before the young Y'Mrenian man could react, Clatha jumped from the bedchamber to the forest outside Belgado's compound. What had happened was obvious: the Earth people had jumped inside the building and rescued the hostage children. It had been widely believed that the Earth people were incapable of jumping, but here was proof to the contrary. Certainly, they would now be jumping with them back to the colony. Even had Belgado lived, his dream of a return to Y'Mrene had ended.

She stayed behind a tree and watched as T'Neth, the leader of the Pilander army, ran from Belgado's villa to an outbuilding; in a moment he returned with C'Tropid, the former minister of defense for the country of Y'Mrene who had joined Belgado in exile. Clatha could imagine the scene as C'Tropid gazed in horror at his dead leader.

Clatha made a brief jump to the presidential palace of Pilander's president, H'Arth. There she found the president in his own bedchamber. He was just wakening. He was a middle-aged man with a strong body, light-colored eyes and hair, and a short beard. He gazed up at Clatha in surprise.

Clatha, what brings you here— he started to say, but Clatha placed the large knife across his throat, silencing him.

You are a pig, H'Arth. This is for having to seduce you to get access to your army. Clatha had done that under Belgado's orders. She leaned heavily on the sharp knife, pulling it forcefully backwards as she did. A gaping wound opened on H'Arth's throat, gushing blood. He twisted in bed, trying to get away from Clatha, but his movements quickly subsided and he died.

Clatha dropped the knife on the bedclothes and jumped again.

This time her destination was a hillside about 20 kilometers from Belgado's compound. In the hillside, hidden from view by a pile of fronds from the local pompesette trees, was the entrance to a cave. She moved the fronds aside and stepped into the gloom. An oil lantern lay on the ground; she picked it up, passed her hand over it, and a light gleamed out of it.

Inside the mouth and through a tunnel was a spacious cave that receded into the distance beneath the hillside. The underground stream that had carved the cave had dried up, leaving the cave dry and comfortable, smelling of dust. As she walked into the cave it opened up in size, until it was a chamber about twenty meters on a side. There was a bed, a table, additional lamps, cooking facilities and food—all that was required for Clatha to live indefinitely. There was also a cage made of iron bars at the back of the cave.

As she was lighting the lamps, she felt something furry rub against her leg. She looked down and saw F'Rrl, a cat-like native of the Destiny forest. Back from hunting, F'Rrl stood about two-thirds of a meter high and weighed about 30 kilograms. He had sharp teeth and large, retractable claws. F'Rrl was a pompesette cat, rare on Destiny; they lived on nerfl and other herbivore game. He had become attached to Clatha, eventually serving as her familiar.

There you are, F'Rrl, expressed Clatha to the big cat. The time has come. I had Belgado right where I wanted him, under my control, but he was killed by the Earth colonists and their Y'Mrenian allies. I cannot permit this to go unavenged. You will help me, and we will find retribution .

Chapter One

Matt Logan, a tall blond man in his mid-thirties, was captain of the colony ship Galaxy Colonizer, a three-hundred-meter sphere that floated in synchronous orbit above the Town Center of the Earth colony New Albuquerque on the planet Destiny . This afternoon Logan was on the ground; he met in the Town Center with his chief defense officer, Jenna McKinley; the chief administrative officer of the colony, Norman Burkhardt; Burkhardt's chief defense officer, Andrew McCullough; and a young colonist, Mark Markham.

Well, we’ve survived three attacks, said Burkhardt, a middle-size stocky man with a partial head of grey hair and a dark complexion. Two against us by Belgado, who's now dead, and one against New Beijing by Tintile's group in Y'Mrene, with Tintile in custody. We owe a debt of gratitude to you, Andy, and to your work also, Jenna. McCullough was tall and rangy, with dark hair and eyes and a penetrating stare. McKinley was an attractive, dark-eyed brunette in her late twenties.

The question is: is that it? Are we safe from further attacks? asked Burkhardt.

For the time being, Chief, said McCullough. One of the lessons we've learned is that we need better intelligence on what our friends in the native countries are doing. I've added three people to my staff, and they're busy making contacts in Y'Mrene, Farnham and Pilander. We're also coordinating intelligence with New Beijing; they're building a capability of their own. We may not be able to head off another attack in the future, but we've got a pretty good chance of not being taken by surprise.

Speaking of surprises, said Logan, have we gotten any word on how it happened that the soldiers in Belgado's second attack were seemingly immune to the stun settings on our burners and projectors?

We know a little bit, said McCullough. Our surviving captive soldiers were pretty mad about being vulnerable to burners and projectors that had been set for lethal discharge. They blame it on Belgado's wizard, a woman named Clatha. They said her spells for individual soldiers worked for ordinary stun settings, but evidently no one, including Clatha, thought that we could, or would, set our weapons to lethal. It's just an example of how deficient their own intelligence was. You'd have thought that if they had a wizard capable of casting a spell like that, that they'd have had better insight into what we could do.

Do you think she could have come up with a more powerful spell, one that would have made them invulnerable no matter what our weapon settings were, if she'd known about the problem in advance?

There's no way to tell. I asked Logan's friend Benetra what she thought, and she wasn't able to help; I take it that each wizard is unique, with his or her own unique spells with strengths and limitations.

It sounds like Benetra, even though she's a wizard, too, wasn't sure that she could concoct a spell that would make soldiers completely invulnerable.

That's a little surprising. Surely something like this has come up before.

Benetra said that no one's spells are any good against projectiles, like arrows and stones. Too much physical damage is involved. But our burners are special weapons that don't inflict a lot of physical damage. Somehow Clatha came to understand that her powers were up to dealing with our stun weapons.

Well, in any case, said Burkhardt, it doesn't look like we can afford to lower our guard. Andy, keep up the intelligence gathering. And that brings me to why I asked Mark Markham here.

The others turned to look at Markham, a tall, slender young man with sandy hair who had just turned 20. He lived with his family on a farm about ten kilometers from the Town Center.

We were alerted to Belgado's second attack, continued Burkhardt, when Mark came to me—you were there at the time, Logan—with a story that I frankly found incredible at the time. Why don't you tell the story, Mark?

Yes, sir. It happened when I was with my girlfriend, Narwyn, on the porch of our house—

Galrad's sister? That Narwyn? asked Logan.

Yes, sir, that Narwyn. Anyway, we were on the porch of our house and Narwyn noticed a chunk of green rock on the ground. I picked it up and was fooling around with it and held it up to my forehead, and I got a vision. This is an example of that stone. Markham reached into his pocket and pulled out a bright green rock.

A vision? asked McCullough.

Yes, a vision—I saw my sister, Alexis, who was fourteen at the time and driving a farm truck, have an accident: she was dodging a nerfl and drove the truck into the ditch by the side of the road. Narwyn and I rushed up to the road and got in another truck, hoping to head Alexis off before she got in her accident, but we were too late; we saw her drive the truck into the ditch. It was an exact repeat of what I'd seen in my vision. Fortunately, she wasn't hurt, and she was able to get the truck backed out of the ditch. But there was no question that I'd seen it happen, in advance.

What was this vision like?

It kind of momentarily narrowed my regular vision down, like I was looking through a tunnel or a telescope; all I could see was my sister driving into the ditch. When I took the stone away from my forehead, the vision went away and my eyesight returned to normal.

So, tell them why you came to me, said Burkhardt.

That was another time, another vision, said Markham. We were out in the corn field picking up green rocks—which the lab tells me is cuprotungstite, incidentally, a mineral that's known on Earth—and I held the basket of the stuff up to my forehead, and I saw another vision, this time of the Town Center. That was when I saw Belgado leading his troops on the front steps of the Center.

And that was when you came to see the Chief? asked McCullough.

Yes, and Captain Logan was there, too. I told them both about the vision, and they brought me to see you and Chief McKinley.

"I remember. I also remember being skeptical about anyone's ability to see into the future. But I have to admit I was wrong, because Belgado did attack and if we hadn't been prepared for him, he'd have fulfilled your vision. So evidently your vision showed what would happen if you hadn't had the vision—or hadn't done anything about it, which comes to the same thing.

I wonder whether anyone else can get these visions, or is it something that's special to Mark?

For what it's worth, said Markham, Narwyn says she things I'm an adept, and she's been teaching me how to jump.

That brings me to why I asked Mark to sit in on this meeting, said Burkhardt. What I'd like you to do is to hold that green rock up to your head, or whatever you do with it, and tell us whether you're getting any vision now.

Markham held the green rock up to his forehead, got a faraway look in his eyes, then quickly took the rock away from his forehead and blushed mightily.

What's the matter, son? asked Burkhardt. Did you see anything?

Well, yes sir, I did, but it's kind of personal.

What do you mean, personal? asked McKinley. Does it also involve the colony?

No, Chief, said Markham. It just involves Narwyn and me.

Oh, said Burkhardt, smiling, I guess we don't need to pry into the details of your personal vision, Mark.

Seems like the key thing here is that Mark is not foreseeing another attack on the colony.

I wonder how reliable this is, said McKinley. Maybe the strength of Mark's personal vision is enough to override something like the Belgado vision?

I don't know, Chief. I didn't have the vision involving Narwyn and me until after the Belgado attack was over and done with. I guess I only get them one vision at a time.

We've run tests on a number of other people, including people Narwyn thought were adept, and even if they're psychically adept, as you are, Mark, other people don't seem to get the same results with this cuprotungstite. So I guess you've got a monopoly on fortune-telling, such as it is.

It's not like something I have any control over, Chief. It's just that these visions just sort of happen to me.

Well, you be sure and let us know if you see anything that looks like a potential attack on the colony, won't you?

Sure, Chief.

***

Clatha stood in her cave, contemplating the cage that sat in the corner. It was made of iron bars and had four sides, a top and a bottom. It was specifically designed to hold someone who could jump; the iron would keep them secure. F'Rrl rubbed against her leg.

Clatha had spent considerable time since her escape from the Belgado compound thinking how best to punish the colonists for the death of Belgado and for her humiliation. She had been so close to power; she had reveled in her influence over Belgado and H'Arth, and had looked forward to the time when she would be the power behind the combined thrones of Y'Mrene, Farnham and Pilander.

Her strike at the colonies would have to be subtle, something that the technology of the colonists could not protect themselves from. It would have to be repeatable, so that the colonists would never know when she would strike again. And it would have to be extremely threatening.

What she planned to do would create a state of panic among the colonists. In the end, she would chase them back to Earth.

***

I think it's inescapable, said Burkhardt, we have to do something about this wizard, Clatha. We have to make it abundantly clear that we won't allow hostile actions to go unpunished. Belgado had two chances, and his death ensures that we won't hear from him again. And as I said, Tintile is in custody. And H'Arth is dead, although his act was less hostile than Belgado's—with Clatha in the picture, he evidently didn't have much choice but to lend his army to Belgado. Judging from what our sources tell us, Clatha is capable of bending an individual, even a strongman like H'Arth, to her will.

So that brings us back to Clatha. What can we do about her? asked McCullough.

What do we know about where she is? asked Logan.

I don't know, said McCullough. I've repeatedly asked every source of intelligence we have, and no one knows where she lives. We don't even know which country she comes from.

Someone must have known her before Belgado's preparation for his invasion.

No, evidently not. As far as we can determine, she sought out Belgado directly, and somehow convinced him of her power. She just appeared one day at Belgado's side, and in his bed. And he introduced her to H'Arth, who was immediately seduced.

Is it true that she killed H'Arth?

That's what the people in Pilander believe. They think that she exacted revenge on H'Arth because of the failure of his army to overcome the colonies.

Bloodthirsty devil, isn't she? commented Burkhardt. I still think we need to make a concerted effort to run her down and see that she doesn't use those powers of hers against us again.

What do you have in mind, Chief? asked McCullough.

I want to place a reward for information leading to her capture or death. A substantial amount, one that will get everyone's attention.

So you plan to make this reward available to the citizens of Destiny, as well as to people in the colonies?

Absolutely. They're most likely to dig her up.

How are you going to fund it? Colony credits won't be all that useful to Destinians.

There had yet to be established a formal currency exchange between New Albuquerque, New Beijing, and Farnham and Y'Mrene, from which, respectively, the two colonies had been carved. Much of the commerce between the two countries was done on a barter basis—Y'Mrene, for example, sent pompesette lumber and fronds, and pompesette-derived food, to Farnham in exchange for refined metal and glass—and a formal currency, the Farnham credit, was only used occasionally. There were no fixed exchange rates between Farnham and colony credits.

Burkhardt named a number of Farnham credits that caused Logan to blink. That's a pretty stiff reward, Norm, he said. I don't know where we'd get that many Farnham credits if someone brought us Clatha—or her head. I think the amount you named is the same order of magnitude as what passes between Farnham and Y'Mrene in a given year.

We can raise the funds by selling excess crops and farm animals. The way I see it working is that New Albuquerque will buy farm products from farmers using colony credits, and turn around and sell those products to the Destinians for Farnham credits. That will allow us to accumulate a sufficient supply of currency to fund the reward. Of course, if it is one of our colonists who finds Clatha and kills her or turns her in, we can reward them directly with colony credits. In any case, colonists readily use colony credits for discretionary spending at the Town Center store. The store had been stocked with a variety of goods brought in from Earth.

It might work, Chief, said McCullough. He thought about it for a while. I can put the word out in my network, and we can run a notice in the colony newspaper and in that newspaper the Farnhamians are just now starting to put out. He paused again. I think if you give the reward for her death, you're practically signing a warrant.

That's probably a good idea, said McKinley. She turned to Burkhardt. What about New Beijing?

I don't think they're organized enough yet to be part of this, said Burkhardt. I'll get Janine Breem on the comm link and sound her out, see if she wants to contribute, but I'm willing to bet that they don't have the means to be officially part of this yet. Of course, the reward would still go to a New Beijing colonist who blew the whistle on Clatha.

I think we should go for it, said Logan. But I think there's another step we can take. Let's ask Benetra if she can make contact with Clatha, and find out what she may be planning to do, if anything.

***

Jenna McKinley and Matt Logan walked out of the Town Center and headed to the small New Albuquerque spaceport, about a kilometer and a half away. Their shuttle, Destiny 3, awaited to take them back to Galaxy Colonizer.

This is really frustrating, said McKinley, looking up at Logan.

I agree, said Logan, but I don't know any other way to handle it.

Neither do I. It's just that I miss our time together. At least before you became captain, we could sneak off and meet clandestinely. Now we can't even do that.

And yet our bond seems stronger than ever, doesn't it?

It does, but that contributes to the frustration. I got used to expressing our love physically, and I'm having a hard time putting that on the shelf.

"I promise that when we