Chapter 145: 147: Spaceships And Magic

After my admission the three aliens in the cockpit had agreed to surrender their ship to us for our mission. 

I told them that they should seek out Akash or Fal on the main ship for new assignments, that or they could choose to take things easy while we had command of their vessel. 

Before they went they also ordered the immediate withdrawal of any ship hands or ground troops that were on board the Sloop at the time. It took a little bit of time, but eventually, the only ones left on the vessel were myself and Yr'Arl. 

"So, I figure the reason a Sloop like this would travel in a bigger capital ship is because they don't actually have the required engines for bigger jumps through Hyper," I mused out loud after the command crew had left. "How're we going to get where we're going?" 

"Your assumptions are correct, Squadron Leader Jacob Lyre," Yr'Arl replied, "Ordinarily this ship would not be able to channel the amount of power to travel through hyperspace to the Temple, but fortune shines on us." 

I was unsure what he meant by that, I had no idea how fortune was going to get us from here to where we needed to be. Fortune wasn't a power source. 

"Sorry, I'm not sure I'm following," I said, hoping that would be enough to get Yr'Arl to tell me what he meant. 

"Well, with your level of power Squadron Leader Jacob Lyre, you will be able to act as a temporary drive stack for the ship, cycling power through to the engines at a level the ship would not usually be able to channel," the feline alien explained. 

I blinked at the explanation. 

"So let me get this straight," I said slowly, "You want me, with my incredible levels of unstable power, to move an entire ship through hyperspace. I thought going to this temple was supposed to help me control my power, isn't this a little premature?" 

"I will not lie and say there is no level of risk, but I have faith that you will be able to power this vessel and now… well… make it explode," Yr'Arl finished lamely. 

It was all well and good that he had faith in me, I knew that was a seriously big deal among his people, but did he have to make certain death seem so certain?

"Allow me to levitate you into the command chair, Squadron Leader Jacob Lyre," Yr'Arl said, "I would allow you to get into the chair yourself, but I am concerned that if you tried to use your propulsion abilities at this junction you would only end up flying straight through the viewscreens." 

He was probably right about that, and then I'd have to explain to three very angry aliens why their ship had been destroyed before we'd even left the hanger bay, and that would be a very awkward conversation indeed. 

<It'd be a funny story to tell in the future though,> BB snorted at the thought. 

Oh yeah, very funny. Do you remember that time the commander of an entire battleship couldn't control his manna so much that he just sent himself flying straight through the front windows of our highly prized sloop of war? Ah, what fun times we had back when the galaxy was in mortal danger from both Null Space invasion and the rising threat of the Mordekash. 

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No, I'd rather not give them the time to worry about anything quite like that. 

"Alright then," I replied to Yr'Arl, "I'll try very hard not to feel like some sort of grandpa while you fuss over me like this." 

"Grandpa?" Yr'Arl queried, "I have not heard this human term before." 

"Uh, the senior male in a family group, the father of the father," I replied. 

A look of understanding flitted across Yr'Arl's feline face, "Ah," he said, "No, you are definitely not some sort of… Grandpa." 

Hearing the word come out of the alien's mouth was funny, but considering how serious the situation was at the moment I kept my laughter under control. 

Yr'Arl raised his palms toward me and started a slow chant under his breath. 

Before long a mellow white glow traced itself around his fingers and gently spread over to me. It was like being covered in a warm blanket, if that warm blanket was also sort of… fizzy. The tingling sensation spread over my entire body until I was ever so gently lifted out of my hoverchair and into the sky. 

<I could get used to treatment like this,> BB remarked, <It feels like we're a king being waited on hand and foot.>

Meanwhile, I couldn't wait for this treatment to be over. 

Even back on Earth I'd been the sort of person who liked to do things by myself. I wouldn't say I was a control freak, I just liked things being done in the way that I liked things being done. Was that so much of a crime? I didn't think so. 

It was one of the reasons I had always been so distant with people, and was probably why I'd taken the leadership role so many times instinctively since I'd first arrived on Prespian City. 

Fortunately, people here were much better at following my instructions than people back on the world I had previously called home.

I drifted lazily through the air, buoyed by Yr'Arl's magical powers. He directed me over to the command chair, like many of the other chairs I'd seen it was a sort of beanbag that would allow any member of any species to sit in it with comfort, firming up around their different bodytypes. 

I was settled onto the beanbag chair gently and then felt the fizzing warmth from Yr'Arl's chant slowly dissipate as the grip of his power left me. 

"Right then, never flown or powered a ship before," I said, rolling my shoulders to work a few cracks out of them, "But hey, spaceships and magic, what could possibly go wrong?"

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