Yup. Very long next chappie coming up. Another very long next chappie after that.



Once in hyperspace, Copper turned to the Shadorian. He hadn't said anything once they had reached the Phantom Eclipse.
"Well, they won't get us now. Thanks for ... dealing with that Desekan."
"Mind control," the Shadorian said softly. "It's a specialty of mine."
"No wonder the Kiyrenin want to get their hands on you. Though how they'd keep you is beyond me, except if they used those drugs on you, and then you wouldn't do them any good. Well, we'll figure it out one of these days.
"I could probably help you there," the Shadorian said dryly. "I'm Radium. I owe the success of my escape to ...?"
"Coppertop. If you can help, I'd be very glad."
"Okay. First, the Kiyrenin are looking for mages. They drug them so they're neutralized, then brainwash them. By the time the drug wears off, the mage is a devoted Kiyrenin, ready to help catch more mages."
"So why would they want to attack me? I'm not a mage."
"They didn't want you. I'd say they were after your telepathic friend over there," and he nodded at Shinyso. Copper blinked, startled. "I'd never thought about that. Those guys on Kilanphor did concentrate their efforts on you, didn't they?"
"Concentrate on who?" Claw demanded, coming into the cockpit. Copper nodded to him.
"Shinyso. Radium here says they're after mages, so it's a good thing that neither you or I are magically gifted, Claw."
Claw's gaze flickered. "Radium? Well."
"Claw. Some kind of coincidence, I hope."
"I'd say."
"I take it you two know each other?"
"We've met," Claw said tersely. "At the time we were trying to kill each other. We nearly succeeded."
"I'm given to understand that you weren't quite sane at the time," Radium admitted. "In that case, I'll forgive you."
"Your kindness overwhelms me. Mages, huh. Better tell Wild Angel and Ducky to watch out."
"Done," Shinyso said a moment later. He glanced over at Radium curiously. "You're not a true Shadorian, I can tell. What are you?"
"He was a fire elemental when we met," Claw said. Radium winced.
"Another reason why the Kiyrenin want me. I'm a shapeshifter. Comes in handy."
"Mind control, shapeshifting. What other unrevealed abilities do you have?" Copper demanded.
"Quite a few," Radium admitted. "I'm a Chaos Mage, a rather good one. If they could get their hands on me and successfully brainwash me, they'd be unstoppable."
"I see. So now we've got two people they want. Any others I should know about?"
"Electrik and Evaluator," Radium said immediately. "They don't have to be mages, just unusual. Ducky would be sought after as well."
- As long as she stays in the Tavern she'll be safe. - Evaluator commented. - As for me, they'll have quite a job catching someone who can vanish at will. -
"Good point, Eval," Radium agreed. "But Electrik is still a liability."
"Just how do you know this? Their names, who they are," Copper demanded. Radium flashed her a grin and brushed his silver mane out of his eyes.
"Trust me, you don't want to know."
"Right, Chaos Mage. I forgot."
"Don't forget again," Radium said in mock seriousness. Copper snorted and turned away. Evaluator commented, - Sensors show blockage in hyperspace path. The Eclipse is coming out of hyperspace prematurely. Collision prevention programming has been initiated. -
"Flames of Gyron, not now! Can you override? No, no, stupid question. Start calculating an alternative route. Initiate when we come out into realspace."
- Done. Would you like dinner with all that? -
"No, that'll be fine. You're better than a capital ship's AI."
- Excuse me, - Evaluator said indignantly. - I am offended to think that you could even compare me to an AI. -
"My apologies. Time estimate until realspace?"
- Twenty seconds. -
There was a silence. Copper noticed that Radium was no longer a Shadorian; rather, he was now a green and black rabbit with red eyes, much like Claw's. His hair was still long and silver, and he was still clad in his mage robes. He looked pensive and tense. She didn't blame him. His very existance hung in the balance, for she had no doubt he would die before he was captured. He stiffened suddenly.
-danger-
Something was wrong, dreadfully wrong. Her eyes widened and she flung herself into the pilot's seat. Claw reacted immediately, at the gunner's station before she could say anything.
-danger-
The Phantom Eclipse shuddered, then shuddered again. The starlines stretched, then snapped into the normal points of light. Evaluator's message glowed on her screen.
- Program override! Cannot initiate alternate route! -
"I can't believe this," Copper breathed. "This is impossible. How could they get ahead of us, track us?"
They were completely surrounded, boxed in by three capital ships. Fighters were already deploying. THe only way out was - well, extremely dangerous.
Radium spoke up. "They will not shoot to kill. That's their handicap. Take advantage of it."
"I will if I can," Copper and Claw said simultaneously. Copper threw the Eclipse into a dizzying spin, angling down towards the relatively unprotected belly of the ship directly ahead. She pushed it up to full throttle and added laser power to the engines. She didn't dare bleed power from the shields or they would be easy prey for any stray ion blast.
Claw said nothing, merely fired a flare that exploded in the face of a pursuing starfighter. By now no tractor beam could have stopped them; their speed was far too great.
Streaking under the flagship, jinking left and right to avoid turbolaser blasts, the Phantom Eclipse sped by the pursuing starfighters as though they were standing still. A lucky shot impacted with the bow shields, rocking the Eclipse violently, but not stopping them.
With the enemy ships receding rapidly behind them, Copper blew out a long breath. She was about to relaz and release the control stick when -
-danger-
- suddenly the scanners registered three fighters coming out of hyperspace in front of them. Copper dipped the ship's nose, 'diving' beneath them and rolling to throw off any missile locks. Despite that, Claw managed to vape one. Then, with a touch of a button, they entered hyperspace again.
The sense of danger vanished, as did all other outside feelings. Copper felt only her own relief. She turned to face Radium and Shinyso.
"I knew something was wrong," she said slowly. Shinyso raised an eyebrow.
"Perhaps the presence of three capital ships and horde of fighters tipped you off?"
"Ha, ha. No, I mean before then. I knew there was danger before we even came out of hyperspace."
"Yeah, you were in your seat as we dropped into realspace," Radium agreed. "So was Claw."
"I felt it too," Claw admitted.
"It wasn't me," Copper went on. "It came from outside. So what I want to know is, was it you?"
The pair glanced at each other and then back at her. Shinyso shook his head.
"Not me. I can sense when I'm projecting, and besides, I didn't know until we came out of hyperspace."
Radium shrugged. "It may have been me, but certainly not consciously. Things like that can get you in trouble, especially when an assassin droid starts feeling irritation or resignation. I'm shielded against leaks."
"Well, whichever one it was, we owe you our lives."
"You're welcome," Radium and Shinyso said, Shinyso a little before the Chaos Mage. Copper rolled her eyes.
"I can tell you'll be a great pair."
"Where are we headed?" Radium asked in an abrupt subject change. "Vanargala isn't the best choice. Firen would be better, the magic of the Faders will cover my own traces."
No asking how he'd known she intended to go to Vanargala. With a shake of her head, Copper began to reroute to Firen.

Hah! 8022 characters long! Beat that!
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