Return of the Dwarf King Read online

  The weapon began to fold in on itself in impossible ways until it disappeared completely, leaving only the ornate handle.

  “Thanks for the drinks.” He smiled and tipped an imaginary hat to the open-mouthed bartender. Then he turned and walked out the door with a casual wave over his shoulder.

  Penny, on the other hand, nearly popped her shoulder out of its socket, she was waving with such enthusiasm.

  Out on the main concourse of the space station, they turned and headed for their ship, the Anthem.

  “You mind?” Finn presented the end of the cigar to Penny, who obliged him with a small flame that he greedily sucked into the rolled tobacco. Blowing out a plume of blueish-white smoke, he sighed in satisfaction. “Nothing like a good stogie after kicking some ass, eh, Penny?”

  The little dragon stood on her hind legs, her claws digging in to keep her steady, and crossed her arms. The look she gave him was like a full-body eye roll.

  “What? It was Winston. That jackass has been following us around for years. Plus, he shouldn't have said that about momma. That shit wasn't cool.”

  Penny at least agreed with him on the last part by giving a sharp nod. She pointed behind them and raised one of her eye ridges.

  Finn turned in time to see several uniformed security personnel piling into the bar. One of them spotted Finn, and pointed, shouting to his comrades. Two of them took off at a run in Finn’s direction.

  “I think that just about wraps up our stay here.” He turned and ran full speed for his docking port, the cigar still in his mouth and puffing like a locomotive.

  Penny hung on as best she could, but after a few jostling steps, she leapt off his shoulder and took flight, easily keeping pace with him.

  Finn had to dodge his way around cargo containers and lines of passengers to make his way. He jumped over a row of benches, scaring a halfling who happened to be lying on one of said benches, trying to catch a little sleep before his connecting flight. When the poor guy sat up to yell at Finn, his head clipped the foot of the security guard coming in hot on Finn’s tail. The two of them tumbled to the ground in a heap, making the second guard go around the benches.

  That gave Finn enough time to swipe his wrist over the ID pad and unlock the door to his ship’s berth. He slipped into the airlock and pulled the door closed just as the second security guard got close.

  Smacking the big red button on the wall, Finn started the airlock procedure, and atmosphere began to fill the small space to equalize the Anthem to the station. The guard pounded on the glass, but Finn just waved and stepped onto his ship, closing the door behind him once Penny was through.

  “Let’s go find us some treasure, Penny. The cupboards are looking a little thin right now.” Finn glanced at the account balance on his wrist display and grimaced. “Some cheap treasure.”

  Chapter Two

  Penny swooped down into the maintenance well, landing on Finn’s shoulder.

  “Cheep, cher peep!” She flapped her iridescent wings excitedly, interrupting his grunting efforts to loosen a bolt with an oversized wrench with a few quick jets of flame and a ladylike chirp.

  “Come on, Penny, I’m a little busy here. Just tell me.” Finn wiped sweat from his brow and pulled on the wrench for all he was worth. When that didn't work, he planted a foot on the bulkhead and added his leg to the pulling fest. All at once, the bolt let loose, throwing off Finn’s balance and sending him to the deck, ass first.

  Penny fluttered down onto his lap, her insistent mood not deterred in the least. She pointed out the top of the well to the main cabin. “Squee. Click click, squee!” she stomped a foot on his knee for emphasis.

  “Okay, okay. Let me just bolt on the refurbished temp modulator. You may be fine with the heat and humidity, but my dwarven bones can't take it anymore. It’s got to be two hundred degrees in here.” He mopped his brow with an already soaked handkerchief and stuffed it back into the pocket of his greasy maintenance suit.

  Penny didn't like waiting, but she let him replace the unit since the old one was already off, and she knew he was useless when it got too hot. But she still tapped her foot impatiently.

  “The tapping isn’t helping. But you could hand me the other two bolts if it’s not too much of an inconvenience, Your Highness.”

  Penny narrowed her eyes, but grabbed a bolt in each hand and flew them over to Finn’s waiting glove.

  “Thanks.”

  Penny went back to tapping, this time at double tempo, with her arms crossed.

  Finn knew better than to comment and just worked faster.

  After attaching the ‘refurbished’ unit (it was actually just the old one, which had been going out intermittently before Finn had replaced it with the current one), he switched the power on and sighed in relief when the air vents started pumping out cool air once again.

  The unit flickered and went out, shutting off the cool air, along with its indicator light.

  Finn growled and hit the bulkhead Fonzie-style, sending the unit into flickering fits before it powered up once again.

  “All right.” He pulled himself out of the maintenance access and slid the floor panel closed. “What’s so important that you needed me to come see?”

  “Squeech click.”

  “A signal? So what? We get random signals all the time.” Despite his naysaying, Finn was making his way to the bridge.

  The Anthem had seen better days. Old parts no better than scrap littered the workbenches. Only about half the lights still worked, casting a gloomy feel over much of the ship, and the ones that did still work flickered randomly.

  Finn hated to admit it, but the old girl was on her last journey if he couldn’t find the parts to overhaul her real soon.

  A static-filled transmission came out of the speakers on the bridge. Finn cocked his head and listened. There was something familiar about the pattern, but he couldn't place it.

  “Does the readout give us a clue who it is?” He sat down at the navigator’s station and began to scroll through the data associated with the rhythmic sound. “There’s nothing here. It’s like whoever’s sending the signal didn't know how…” Finn sat up straighter, a faraway look on his face. “Wait. I know that pattern.”

  “Squee!” Penny was jumping in circles with excitement. She knew exactly what it was, but she wanted him to figure it out on his own.

  “That’s the sound of an Organicum Industria Core engine.” Finn’s wide eyes made Penny do a backflip and shoot a jet of flame into the air. “Those are the same engines used in the terrestrial class super cruisers. The only way we could pick up this signal would be if one of those ships was running, and all five of the others are either out of range or decommissioned. That leaves one ship in the entire universe that could possibly be using those engines.” Finn scooped Penny up and held her in front of his face, their combined excitement making the two of them nearly vibrate. “We found the Earth!”

  “Click scree!”

  “Oh, man. You said it. Have you been able to pinpoint the location?”

  Penny gave a toothy grin and a nod.

  Finn tossed her into the air with a “Whoo!” letting her catch herself with her wings as he jumped into the pilot’s seat. “Put in the coordinates, Penny. We’re going to go find us a relic of history.”

  Penny fluttered down to the navigation controls and started inputting numbers. She gave a complicated series of squeaks, clicks, and grunts as she worked, casting a wary eye Finn’s way every once in a while.

  “It’ll be fine. I know the old girl’s on her last legs, but she’s got at least one more good jump in her. Besides, we need to get the parts to fix her, and there should be plenty of them on Earth if the history books are correct. Even if we go to the closest station, we can’t afford to buy what we’d need to take off again. This is our last chance.”

  Penny frowned but gave a squeak of acceptance and hit the enter button.

  Finn smiled over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.
I promise.”

  After a second’s consideration, he buckled the five-point harness and tightened the straps.

  “Squee?”

  Finn shrugged. “Better safe than sorry.”

  Penny gave him the stink-eye but crawled inside his jacket and reached a clawed hand out to zip it shut. There was a muffled “Krick,” and Finn felt her tap his chest to indicate she was ready.

  “Really? You’re not even going to stick your head out? Don't you want to see this thing when we get there?”

  After another second’s hesitation, a claw poked out the collar of his jacket and zipped it open just enough for her to slip her scaly blue head out.

  “Right. Let’s do it.”

  Finn hit the warp button.

  The Anthem shook and shimmied. Loud tearing sounds echoed from below the deck plates, and the lights flickered even more wildly than normal. The controls were dead in Finn’s hands, along with the whole bank of sensors.

  “Shit! We’ve lost everything. Penny, get in there and see what you can do.” Finn opened the small hatch they had cut into the side of the flight console and secured with adhesive strips.

  Penny darted into the hole. After only a few seconds, she let out a triumphant squeak, and the main viewscreen lit up.

  Finn pumped a fist. “All right! Wait. Something’s wrong with the image. It’s all orange and flickery.”

  Penny stuck her head out of the hole. “Squee, click scree?”

  Finn looked at her, then back at the screen, his eyes going wide. “Oh, shit. You’re right. We’re in atmosphere. I need the throttle control, at the very least. And fast.”

  “Eep!”

  Penny darted back into the console. Random banging and scraping noises emanated from the hardware, followed by a jet of flame and a small puff of smoke.

  The ship was shaking even more violently now that they were getting into the really thick atmosphere and still hadn’t hit the brakes. The flames in the viewscreen had turned from orange to white, and the interior of the asteroid ship was beginning to grow warm despite the new temp unit. A loud bang and a clatter told Finn that things were starting to fall off the workbenches.

  “Anytime, Penny.” Finn gritted his teeth and tried the reverse throttle once again. Nothing. “Actually, I take that back. Now would be better than anytime.”

  An angry series of clicks followed by a steady jet of flame from Penny told him she was working her tail off and not to interrupt.

  The scanner flickered to life and drew Finn’s attention. Apparently they had warped in just a little too close to the surface, and had been caught in Earth’s gravity well. They were coming in hot right in the center of a medium-sized continent. It looked like they would land at the edge of a mountain range.

  Unless Penny didn’t fix the damn throttle—then they would impact on the edge of a mountain range. The altitude numbers, coupled with the speed numbers, were not painting a pretty picture for the Anthem and her two passengers.

  “SCREE!”

  Penny shot out of the hole and started hitting switches to reset the controls. Finn joined her, speeding up the process by a few seconds. Flipping the last switch, Penny unfolded her wings and dove across the console to wrap herself around the throttle control and jerk it back as far as it would go.

  Finn was slammed into his five-point harness, the air forced from his lungs. He didn’t know if they had braked early enough, but he did know he needed to get hold of Penny before they touched down. This was going to be a rough landing all the way around.

  He was able to pry her from the throttle, but a glance at the scanner told him there was no time to secure her properly. Instead, he clutched her to his chest as tight as he could, hoping it would be enough.

  A great rending sound came from the guts of the ship, and Finn was thrown sideways in the restraints as the ship clipped the edge of a stone outcropping. The viewscreen had finally started showing something other than white-hot flames, but ridges full of trees and stone were not a much better sight.

  Finn tried to steer as best he could with one hand, but the controls were sluggish. He was able to tilt the ship just enough to miss the outcropping in front of them, so they just ricocheted off the stone instead of cracking open like an egg. He aimed them toward a lush, green valley at the bottom of the mountain they were practically skidding down.

  They were jolted once again as the asteroid ship bounced once, sending splintered trees and hunks of earth and stone into the air. They hit again, this time sliding a little longer before the ground fell away in a cliff, letting the Anthem sail another quarter mile before it finally plunged into the soft soil of the valley below, sending up a rooster tail of dirt and vegetation.

  Finn still held onto Penny, his hands sweaty, and his breath coming in ragged gulps. The harness had done its job, but it was going to leave some bruises, and he might have broken a rib.

  He released Penny, who wobbled a little before plopping down and shaking her head. Hitting the release button, Finn shimmied out of the harness and promptly fell out of the pilot’s chair. It took him a second or two to understand that the ship was sitting at an extreme angle and it wasn’t him that was leaning over too far.

  “Well. That could have been worse.” Finn shook his head, pulling himself to his feet while keeping a hand on the pilot’s chair for support.

  The Anthem groaned as it settled and pinged metallically as it cooled from re-entry.

  “Let’s see what’s left of the old girl, and set up the cloaking crystals before the locals come to investigate.”

  Penny gave a trill and took a few wobbly steps before giving him a thumbs-up and falling off the console. She bobbed up on flapping wings before hitting the tilted deck and heading toward the maintenance closet.

  Chapter Three

  “Most of this, we can repair.”

  Finn “sat” on the wall and leaned back on the deck plates. Penny was on his knee, looking over the list he had written out on an old slip of paper.

  “I would like to replace it all, but worst-case scenario, I think we can get the Anthem limping along with repairs. However, the warp drive and the main controller circuit are toast and need to be replaced.”

  “Squee. Cheep skee cheep,” Penny said, accompanied by a small puff of smoke.

  Finn rolled his eyes. “I know the rest needs replacing eventually. I’m just saying that at minimum, we can repair. The cargo holds on Earth were stocked pretty well, but I’m afraid that over the years, most of those parts have been used. I’m just keeping it real. Besides, if we can snatch a few artifacts before we go, we will be able to afford a retrofit of what we need at the closest station.”

  Finn rolled to his feet, one hand on the deck to keep himself steady.

  “Come on, we need to get to that city we saw coming in. That will be the best place to start. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find a Huldu right off. Those guys like to make trades, and I’m sure we have something in the hold that would interest them.”

  Penny fluttered into the air and gave him a look that said he was dreaming. “Squeek?”

  Finn picked his way to his room and pulled himself through the door, and onto the wall of the small compartment. “They could be there. Just because they worked in the engine rooms doesn’t mean they don't come out sometimes. It’s not like they need to be doing a lot of flying if our readings were right. This ship hasn't done anything but orbit this star for a while. I’m sure they’ve incorporated themselves into society by now.”

  Finn was able to climb his dresser and bed to reach his closet. He quickly changed into his adventuring gear: a black shirt and pants, and the harness he kept all his tools in. The brown leather harness ran over his shoulders and chest and had two straps that looped through his belt. It held the haft of Fragar, his dwarven-made axe, in a holster at the small of his back, and several healing potions in molded leather pockets on the straps. He pulled his jacket back on and jumped off the bed, then slid out the door.

 
Penny followed him to the airlock—a process that took a good twenty minutes, with the ship half on its side—and climbed in with him. He hit the button, and the inner door closed, then the pressure equalized with the outside atmosphere, and the outer door slid open.

  The smell of fresh air billowed into the small space, making Finn smile.

  “It’s been a while since we weren’t breathing recycled farts, eh, Penny?” He took a deep breath through his nose, savoring the smell of fresh-turned soil and pine.

  The opening was half-covered with dirt, but Finn was able to crawl out across the still-warm soil. Once he was far enough from the curving rocky surface of the Anthem, he stood and walked a few dozen yards, then turned to see the damage.

  The asteroid the ship was made from was buried nearly halfway into the soft earth. Steam and smoke wafted into the still night sky, thinning out and dissipating as the air above the sheltered valley stirred it into thin clouds.

  The ship itself was still in one piece, and he didn't see any cracks that shouldn’t be there. It took him a good ten minutes to walk the perimeter, see the ship from every angle, and to make sure the cloaking rods had been properly placed by Penny.

  Not that he thought she had done it wrong, but it was always better to double-check.

  “Were you able to cover the plowed-up ground behind the ship as well? Wouldn’t want someone to see that. It just ends where the illusion ends.”

  “Chirp chee,” Penny said indignantly.

  “Hey, I’m just thinking about that time on Reint Prime.” Finn raised an eyebrow at her fluttering blue form. “If I recall correctly, it was you who forgot about the scorch marks our landing jets left across that field. Nearly got us killed.”

  Penny huffed, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes as she said, “Screip chip chee.”

  “I know you’re sorry, I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad. I was just checking.” He smoothed his beard, taking a good look around at his surroundings for the first time. “It’s not like you don’t save my ass all the time,” he mumbled to himself, but the grin on Penny’s face told him that she had heard.