Essel was a small planet of little relevance, other than its physical proximity to Vratis.; it was one of the planets directly under the control of the warlord, simply because it was situated in the same system as his ruling city. The child with magic had been found in one of the farisles, off the planet’s southern hemisphere, but when the reports had come in, the authorities had brought him to the main city.

After landing, Kai made his way to a small pub he knew, where the ale flowed freely and tongues ran just as easily. He got the whole story within half an hour.

The prison wasn’t well secured, thankfully. Just a dozen guards, some of them chilling in their break room, others playing chess.

It should have been easy. It wasn’t.

Walking into a prison didn’t require any particular skills; walking out with someone you’re not meant to take with you could prove problematic, he’d soon learn.

Kai was lucky enough to start with. The official at the reception desk was particularly dense.

“Hey, do you mind if I fill out an application form? Always wanted to wear one of your exosuits.”

The soldier puffed his chest. “There’s a little more to being an enforcer than wearing a cool exosuit,” he said, all the while opening a drawer and fetching an application form.

He had really fallen for it? Kai stared, speechless. Who actually wanted to be an enforcer?

He observed the area behind the reception desk as the guard was distracted. A light control panel. New tech flap doors, no doubt set to only open to authorized personnel. Cameras. Floating surveillance drones.

He bit his lip.

“There you go.”

Kai took the pile of forms and the pen the guard helpfully handed him, before walking away.

What now?

He thought back to his own stay in the warlord’s prison. The child had reached into his mind and talked to him. She’d knocked out the guards. Damn, she’d be handy right about then. Still, he might not be able to do anything like that, but he had other skills.

Kai discreetly slid a command control down his sleeve and placed it atop his pile of papers. He began entering codes, typing so fast the screen blurred.

He smirked. The security around their server was downright laughable. The lights, along with every other machine in the building, shut off.

“What was that?”

He smirked as the buffoon behind the desk got to his feet, looking around. “No clue, mate. A bad fuse?”

“Maybe. Let me call someone.”

“Sure. I’ll stay right here,” Kai lied. The second he’d disappeared, Kai got to his feet and made his way toward the back of the precinct.

Turned out, quiet, irrelevant planet or not, they were busy in Essel. Almost every cell was occupied with at least two or three inmates, all of whom cheered and called to him. Kai ran through the long corridors, looking over his shoulder, expecting guards to be alerted by the commotion any second.

He found the child in the last cell. There was no doubt that it was the boy he sought; no child of twelve or thirteen would have been imprisoned for any reason but magic. Besides, the boy watched him with resigned eyes, not even crying in fear.

He knew that look. This was a mage living on borrowed time.

“Hey, look, I’m here to get you out, okay?”

The boy’s expression was shocked, more than anything else.

Kai didn’t have time to try to convince him. He was locked away behind a console meant to be opened with fingerprint identification.

“Shit,” he cursed, hearing fast footsteps behind him, approaching at high speed. “Okay, step away from the doors.”

The boy obeyed carefully.

“Here goes nothing….”

Kai hadn’t used magic in so long, he didn’t even know if he still could. But the moment he decided to, the moment he breathed, just breathed and reached down inside, he found it.

Just like he had years ago, his hand reached out as he called to the energy around him and used it, firing directly at the cage. The console exploded, pushing the door off its hinges. Every other door in the entire precinct opened, as well.

Good thing. The guards were going to be busy.

Right then, the lights turned back on and a high-pitched alarm resounded through the building.

“You’re okay?” he asked the stunned kid who looked at him like he’d grown horns and a tail over the course of the last half second.

“You’re a mage.”

He was, although it now seemed like a strange fact, too long ignored.

“So are you, I hear.”

The boy nodded, his expression terrified at the very prospect.

Kai wanted to tell him it was no big deal, that his ability to use energy didn’t define what kind of person he was. But even if he had been any good at sharing feelings, they didn’t exactly have the time for a heart to heart, so he simply said, “Let’s get out of here.”

But that proved to be difficult, with every exit blocked and more guards surrounding the building at every instant.

They found a service staircase; he considered going down to get out, but figured any male called in would arrive that way. Instead, they headed up to the roof. A bad idea. Second mental note: prisons generally had a security droid posted on their roof, and when they were on alert, they also had fighting drones firing away. Kai grabbed the kid up and danced away to avoid the blasts coming at them from all sides. Good thing the machines weren’t that great at aiming. That, or he wasn’t bad at avoiding their shots.

Finally, there she came. The red lights of his beautiful Lotus, heading toward him thanks to the beacon he wore on his wrist. The ship was so responsive, she could practically think. It started firing at the drones, which turned their attention to her, rather than carrying on trying to kill Kai and the boy.

“Listen, what’s your name, kid?”

“Wench,” the teenager replied. He shrugged. “I’m small. Pa says I should have been a girl, so he calls me Wench.”

Fucking stupid father. “Right. Well, how good are you at jumping?”

“Errr….”

“If it’s jumping or dying.”

“Pretty good. I’m pretty good at not dying.”

Clever boy. Kai dropped him at his side, grabbed his arm, and they ran hard to gain some momentum, then they jumped together toward the boarding platform and open trapdoor underneath the Lotus. The ship closed the entrance as soon as they were safely inside.

Kai couldn’t believe they’d somehow gotten in there without getting shot, given his poor-ass plan.

“Get us out of here,” he ordered. The ship acknowledged the voice control and sped away from the danger at high speed.

Sky awaited him, lying down next to the captain’s chair. He could have sworn the wolf was shaking her head at him. Still, she licked his hand when he passed her by.

“Wow,” the boy named Wench mused. “That was literally insane. And have you seen this ship?”

“Trust me, I have.”

“And is that a wolf?”

Boys. Kai managed a thin smile; everything seemed to delight the impressionable teenager.

“Meet Sky. Touch her at your own risk.”

The she-wolf bared her teeth to punctuate that statement. Wench didn’t take it personally, too busy looking everywhere in wonder.

“This ship is going to be wanted throughout the galaxy after today,” the boy said, and Kai nodded.

“Yep. Which is why we aren’t flying her through the galaxy.” He pointed to the small freighter now coming into view. “The Zonian. She’s pretty plain and easily cloaked.”

“And no one will think that you’re hiding a freaking beauty like this inside that old dumpster.”

Kai glared.

“Call her that again and you’ll walk.”

No one insulted his ship. Or Krane’s, anyway.

The old male and four wolves were waiting for them when they got back.

“You managed, then.”

He inclined his head. “Only just.”

The male nodded. “We’ll be better prepared next time.”

And they were. The next time and the time after that.

After a few months, Kai started to wonder what he was supposed to do with the dozens of teenagers and slightly younger boys and girls who now inhabited the Zonian. There was just enough room for them, and every month, their numbers rose. Soon, the ship would be crowded.

That’s when the first of them turned up. An adult, actually older than Kai. He’d heard about a rogue who risked his skin to save mage kids.

“I thought it was just talk at first. Legends. But someone I trust swore it was happening. I knew it was time.”

Lawer was a transporter specializing in high-risk cargo, legal or illegal. He also was a mage who’d managed to hide it for longer than Kai.

He wasn’t the only one who sought him out.

A year later, Kai had a fleet. Seven larger ships, three dozen fighters. A small fleet, but a fleet nonetheless. There was no other word for it.

That’s when he took over his first planet, in the year 1214—almost by accident.