A small burst of fire shot from Dorian's outstretched hand, launching through the air and into the small waterfall that was inside of the Mystic's cave lair. He felt the familiar sensation of dizziness as his vision narrowed, but he managed to force himself to remain conscious. For the past two weeks he and Callie had remained with the grey-skinned Mystic.
"Very good Dorian, the dizziness you feel when using your powers will decrease the more you train and build your strength." she said, her golden tattoos matching her glowing eyes as she watched her apprentice.
"Well I'm not passing out anymore but a little flame isn't going to be very useful." he responded as his vision returned to normal.
"Have patience. You've already far surpassed what I can do, it won't take long until you're able to use your power in a practical way. However, that's enough for today." the mystic said. She turned and walked over to the lounge area. She was still completely naked, allowing him to see her perfect curves.
He followed her over to the couch that he had impregnated her on. She sat down and put her hand on her belly. Her pregnancy was already beginning to show due to his genetics speeding it up.
Dorian sat down next to her and put his hand on her leg, enjoying the fact that his child was growing inside of her. "You know, I haven't asked yet, but how did you know that I'd find out about the artifact? It's a big galaxy, it's possible that I could have never found out about it."
"Well like I said, your father granted me a vision of us meeting. I saw that you'd meet your crewmate Callie, so I leaked the information about the artifact to her sister when the time was right. Now that we've met, I don't know what the future holds. All I can do now is help you by passing on my knowledge."
He began massaging the Mystic's thigh as he considered her words. He had gone his whole life not knowing that his father had put a plan for him into place. He felt both grateful and overwhelmed, having so much revealed to him in such a short time. "When will I be ready to see the artifact?"
In the past week of training with her, Dorian had never been allowed to see the artifact left behind for him by his mysterious father. He would have been tempted to search her cave for it while she slept, but she had informed him that it was secured in the temple of the cult that worshiped her from the town at the bottom of the mountain. She explained that it was much safer there since the cult would give up their lives to follow her orders.
"Soon, when you've mastered this aspect of your power. There are other aspects besides fire, but my knowledge of them is very lacking. The artifact will lead you to knowledge that I'm unable to teach you, but only when you're ready." she replied.
***
Callie was on her way back from the village, running hard. She had spent most of the week inside of Dorian's ship The Chimera, which was still in the middle of the farmer's field. While the main reason for staying inside of the ship was to give her captain some privacy while he learned to use his new powers, she also felt more at home aboard the steel vessel than in the cave or the rustic village at the base of the mountain.
The days had been quiet, and she spent her time monitoring frequencies in case her sister figured out where the artifact was. Unfortunately, it seemed that she finally had, since the Chimera's sensors loudly alerted Callie that several small fighters had entered orbit and were heading for the village.
Since there was no way to alert Dorian besides telling him in person, she was running as fast as she could. There was no way to land on the mountain, so she was forced to go on foot.
The journey took much longer than she had hoped. Just the run from the field to the village had taken several minutes, which didn't even compare to the long hike up to the Mystic's lair. By the time she reached the door to the cave her short strong legs were burning.
Dorian has his hand on the grey woman's pregnant belly, listening to her explain how powerful their child could potentially become, when Callie burst through the door.
"Captain...my sister...is here...!" She said, breathing hard from running nonstop.
***
Hehra commanded her fighters to land in the forest. Since the ships were small and carried only one passenger they were able to fit between the trees.
They all landed and got out of their ships. There were twenty of them, all female, and all incredibly beautiful. There were a few men in the gang who were ordered to remain at their base and guard, but all other members were female.
Hehra lead them through the forest and into the village. She looked similar to Callie, with her orange-red hair and her bright eyes. She was taller though, and looked to be in her early twenties. She wore skin tight black pants that looked to be the bottom of a bodysuit, but the upper body portion of the suit had been cut off and replaced with a bra that both matched her pants and held her medium sized breasts nicely. A long black jacket hung behind her, reaching her knees.
She marched down the street silently, her gang following her lead. To her right was Mihoko, her second in command. She had become Hehra's lover shortly after joining the gang. Mihoko had light skin and black hair that was held back in a loose ponytail. She wore green clothing that consisted of a tight top that showed off her midriff, and pants that ended at her knees. She had a harness that went over her right shoulder and connected with another wrapped around her toned waist, where an energy sword hung from her hip. The sword was in the style of a katana, a design that was said to originate on the lost planet known as Earth, though no one knew if that was true or just an old story.
They reached the village's inn, knowing that it was the best place to start their 'investigation' as any. When the large group of armed girls entered the small inn, the owner took one look at them before deciding that it was time for him to take a sudden break, quickly finishing up with customers before ducking into the back room.
Hehra glanced around. The village was populated with a bipedal species that had four arms, most of which seemed content with living a quiet and peaceful life. Unfortunately for them, that was the opposite of what she was going to give them.
She raised her blaster and shot the ceiling, blowing a hole that continued through the upper floors. Everyone froze.
"Alright here's how this is going to go. I need information. If you give it to me, and quickly, then we'll be on our way. If not, then we're going to have ourselves a problem, won't we?"
***
Dorian, Callie, and the Mystic all raced down the mountain and through the forest. It had taken just as long to reach the village as it had for Callie to leave it, so they were running out of time.
They reached the village and immediately knew that they were too late. A huge smoke cloud was coming from someone near the center of the town.
"Oh no...that's where the temple is..." the Mystic said, her voice sounding defeated.
"Come on then! We have to hurry!" Dorian said as he charged towards the source of the smoke.
They had to go down several dirt streets before they were able to see the temple. While all other buildings were a mix of wood and steel, the building in front of them was completely made out of stone. It looked half collapsed, obviously damaged by explosives and blaster fire. Several of the blackcloaked members of the cult were laying in the street, their crude blades clearly no match for the gang's modern blasters and energy swords.
The Mystic looked at the deviation. "I..failed you Dorian...My duty was to protect the artifact for you...and I failed..."
"Damnit...they've got to be around here somewhere. If we hurry we might be able to catch them before they get away." He looked at the destruction, knowing that anyone who could tell them which direction they went was either dead or unconscious. The villagers all had their homes locked up tight, and he doubted that any of them would be willing to come out and give them directions after hearing use a large battle.
Wanting to be useful to her captain, Callie spoke up. "Let's spit up and head in different directions. We might be able to catch them if we're lucky. We won't be able to fight them by ourselves, so we'll use these instead." She pulled out a couple of palm sized metal disks. "I grabbed them from The Chimera when I saw that my sister was coming. They're tracking devices. If one of us finds the fighters, we'll throw one of these onto the surface of a ship and we'll be able to track them."
Dorian considered her plan. "Well.. we already know where their base is, but if we can track one of them down while they're alone, we might be able to capture them and find out how to get the artifact back. Great job Callie, let's hurry."
They split off into different directions, taking two tracking devices each.
***
"So what even is this thing?" Mihoko asked as she tossed the apple-sized metallic cylinder from one hand to the other.
"Careful, that's worth more than everything we've ever stolen combined." Hehra told her as she took it from her lover's grasp. They were walking back to their ships, feeling pride at their easy victory.
She studied the object as she held it. It looked to be an electronic device of some kind, though she had no idea what it was used for. All she knew was that the material that it was made out of was extremely rare and valuable.
***
Dorian reached the edge of the forest after a few minutes of running through the village. When he began making his way through the trees, it didn't take long for him to realize that he chose the right direction, as he began hearing the sound of ship thrusters warming up. He picked up the pace, and reached the area where the small fighters were landed.
He wished that he could send a message to Callie and the Mystic, but he had no way of doing that. He made a mental note to buy some communicators as soon as this whole mess was over.
Careful to remain hidden, Dorian moved from tree to tree, getting closer to one of the ships. There were a few members of the gang out of their ships talking to each other, clearly sure that no counter attack was coming.
He reached the closest ship and looked around to make sure he wasn't spotted. When he was sure that no one had seen him, he carefully placed one of the tracking devices on the fighters steel surface.
Dorian waited for a few more gang members to board their ships before he moved to the next one. He placed the second tracker on the ship, feeling it stick firmly.
