She shook her head, “It took me sixteen hours start to finish. Once I figured out the best way to make it useful long-term was not to focus on the space that was being cleaned, and to instead focus on what needed to be cleaned off of things inside a small field. If you want, I can furnish you with the spell’s workspace from my implant. You’ll be able to see the development of it and stages from day to day.”

  Cahill replied, “That’s remarkable. I believe you, cadet, but I would like to see it anyway. If only to get a better idea how your mind works and your approach to spell building. There are others that can build spells of moderate complexity that quickly, but they are rare.”

  She nodded, “Yes, maam,” and sent her the workspace file she’d made for that spell. It included all the knowledge searches and extractions, as well as the timeline of what it looked like after each session. She knew it wasn’t entirely necessary, she could have refused, but she saw no reason to. It wasn’t like she was going to go into business herself and sell the spell for extra credits.

  Plus, it was reasonable to doubt. No one liked their integrity challenged, but she was the one that made the spell, and she still hardly believed it’d come together so quickly.

  It was granted, a simple device, even if the spell was intermediate. They were learning devices that semester, and they got a whole lot more complicated than what cadets would be asked to do for a project. Her device didn’t have or need security, sensors, or multiple spells. Then there were networked devices that were all powered simultaneously from a master device, like the gravity systems aboard a warship. Point being, she already knew enough about devices from the first two weeks to easily assemble the basic kit and transfer the spell imprint, even if there was a lot left to learn.

  Cahill nodded, “Enjoy your day, cadet.”

  She received the authorization to pick up the kit from supply as she stood up and left. She could pick it up after weapons and tactics that late afternoon, assemble it that night, and drop it off on the way to fleet operations class in the morning. After testing it, of course.

  Crandall said, “Is it me, or did the café food get worse?”

  Daniel snorted, and he nodded in agreement.

  It really wasn’t that bad she didn’t think, beef strips and rice with onions, peppers, and mushrooms.

  Stacy said, “It hasn’t, and it is you, so I’m going to take that as a compliment toward my weekend meals.”

  Daniel snickered, “Fair, and probably just truth. So, what do you suppose is going on?”

  It was Friday of that same week. There’d been an announcement that their afternoon class was cancelled in favor of an assembly, they’d all gotten it on their implants between the early morning and late morning classes. All twelve hundred some odd cadets of all four years would be in the sport’s arena, as well as most of the staff officers and sergeants that weren’t in critical duty posts. She had no doubt they’d still be listening, if only in augmented reality.

  Jace interjected, “It could be anything, from a high muckity muck visiting, to telling us the Union just went to war and our training will be accelerated.”

  She nodded, “Too many options to guess, only one way to find out, and we’ll be there soon enough.”

  Ella teased, “Two ways, he could call dad.”

  Everyone snickered, and Daniel snorted.

  She really didn’t think it was that latter one, if it had been that important and dangerous then Daniel’s father would’ve called him. She was fairly sure of that, anyway.

  They finished up the food then headed out. She’d never been to the arena. She knew the fleet mages had sports teams, they’d be competing with the other academies in just eight weeks. It was a modest indoor arena, and it had seating for five thousand, so more than big enough for the afternoon’s use. The inside could be reconfigured for soccer, football, or lacrosse. The gymnasts had their own building and gym, as did the hockey team.

  Regardless, they were led by augmented reality directions to seats arranged by platoon, company, then year.

  She spotted Admiral Dougherty out in the field, who was in command at the base, along with a smattering of colonels and captains. She knew he’d spoken at the commencement address, before the start of the school year, which she’d missed. She hadn’t actually seen him in person before. He was old and wrinkled, but he looked more like carved granite than anything else. The admiral hadn’t let himself get soft, and appeared to still have washboard abs.

  When the crowd settled down the admiral approached the lectern.

  “Good afternoon, cadets, instructors, and staff. I’m going to get right to the point, we have a predator among us, and this briefing is an effort to ensure your safety. It is not usual procedure to brief you all on an active investigation, but in this case, we have a higher need.

  “This predator is using illegal magic to avoid being caught. They seem to be original spells and he’s hacked his implant because we’ve had no luck tracing it that way. He uses a concealment spell, so his victims can’t see him coming. He also uses a modified mage capture spell, and he uses illusion to hide his face. There are also signs of memory tampering. Lastly, he uses magic to make sure the scene is clear of DNA or fingerprint evidence. We don’t believe he can hack our security, the evidence found suggests he leapfrogs someone else’s valid entry, while concealed, when he takes his victims to his chosen spot.

  “He’s also consistent. For the last three Fridays since the commencement of the second semester, a young female officer has been found tied up, abused both physically and sexually, and in a place that seems unlikely. Outside of young and attractive, no one is in more danger than another, all three women had vastly different appearances. His only type is military. Our profilers believe either he hates women serving in the military, or the more likely reason is he simply despises the military and women in general. That the victims he takes are merely random targets of opportunity.

  “This rapist is a predator. We will stop him, it’s only a matter of time, but in the meantime, there will be some changes.”

  She was a little shocked to learn that Brianna had been the second victim, there’d been one the Friday before and one found earlier that morning, that had triggered this briefing assembly. Investigator Brennan and the MPs hadn’t let on at all, that there’d already been an active investigation and hunt for a rapist going on.

  He cleared his throat, “Because it can be any young female officer that is a target of opportunity, while the hunt continues and until he is caught the buddy system is now absolute on base, same rules as if you were signing off base for time in the city. You will do nothing alone,” He turned toward another part of the crowd, “The rest of you are now on the buddy system, the same one we use to keep our cadets safe from predators in the city now applies to all staff and instructors. This measure will be a burden but it’s a necessary one.

  “The predator is not perfect, there are active avenues of investigation being pursued, just not the usual quick ones. In the meantime, your job is to keep yourself safe and not let yourselves become a victim of this monster. You will all be notified via implant message when the rapist is taken into custody, and normal procedures are to be resumed. Dismissed.”

  The admiral walked off, and he headed toward one of the field exits.

  She blew out a breath, as they all got up and started for the exit.

  Ella asked, “Did you know?”

  “Not a clue, I thought the lieutenant I found was the only one. I did know about the modified spells though. I also figured out he was destroying any evidence with magic, when they didn’t arrest anyone the next day off of DNA evidence.”

  It was more than distasteful to think about the logistics of the monstrous crime, but the mage capture spell wouldn’t be conducive toward tying someone up or rape, with the arms stuck to the sides and legs stuck together both heinous actions would be severely hindered. His version of the spell must just focus on the mind to prevent magic, while he depended on drugs to keep the victim unconscious and unable to fight physically, until he’d reached his chosen spot and had trussed them up.

  His assertion that base security wasn’t compromised was also reasonable. The simulators were open twenty-four seven, and people were going in and out of the place all the time. She suspected the other spots he’d chosen to pose his victim to be found the next morning, also had at least some light traffic in the later hours. It was also a subtle boost to morale, as all the women would feel safer going to sleep, knowing the rapist couldn’t enter their houses or dorm rooms.

  Of course, that comfort was mostly an illusion, since nothing would stop him from piggybacking their own entrance while concealed. It was good enough for her however, with her magic detection spell it wouldn’t be happening to them at all, and once they were inside for the night, it would stay secure until morning while they slept.

  Sadly, she was almost sure that’s how he’d get it done, next Thursday night. If she could figure that out minutes after being briefed, then the predator would too. He would be far more motivated than she was, to find the weak spot in the new rules.

  That said, all the housing on base, save the admiral’s, was within range of her spell from her house. All the other houses and dorms, at least on the military side of the city sized base. But the civilians weren’t in danger. Point being, if she felt a conceal spell Thursday night she’d act.

  Of course, Brennan wasn’t stupid, perhaps they’d left that gap on purpose, and Janine and the other inspectors would be doing the same thing she planned to do. That was even likely, but would he figure out that it was a trap too, and go for a less obvious gap?

  He’d been taking the path of least resistance, but it wouldn’t be that hard for him to drug two women if he timed it right, his target and her buddy, and leave the buddy passed out on the ground while he stole away his sick prize. She shuddered at the thought.

  Ella glared at some idiot male cadet who asked his buddy why they all had to be restricted, when it was clearly only young women that were in danger.

  She snorted, “Ignore it, not worth the paperwork involved, then there’s all that time in the stockade for assaulting an officer.”

  Stacy giggled, and Ella snickered.

  Morale would certainly be affected, but the admiral making it a general order for all would encourage solidarity in the ranks and it’d be a much smaller hit to the morale of all, rather than making young women feel like isolated victims which would be a narrower but also a far more significant morale issue.

  The cadet wasn’t entirely wrong either, she bet most guys at least entertained the selfish thought for a second out of annoyance if nothing else. She wouldn’t blame them for having the brief thought, but it showed a lack of empathy and understanding to stupidly to say it out loud before realizing what a bad idea it’d be.

  Stacy smirked, “It won’t affect us that much. We do everything together already.”

  She nodded. Save the rare times she’d gone to supply alone that was just true. It was why the three victims had been staff, since only they really travelled alone through the base.

  Crandall must’ve followed a similar thought process, because he said, “The new plan isn’t going to work. They should give everyone the detect concealment spell for the duration.”

  “You’re not wrong, but they won’t do that. I think they’re setting a trap by narrowing the gaps and watching them. If we make it too impossible, he might just cut his losses and get away with it.”

  Daniel shook his head wearing a distasteful look, “You’re saying they’re using young female officers as bait?”

  She titled her head, then said, “Yes. We all swore an oath, and we’re not civilians to be protected and coddled from such risks. The admiral must’ve sent many people to their deaths in battle over his career to preserve our way of life and the people. If anything, this is less extreme, even if not a typical risk of sacrifice to serve and protect the people of the Union. I know I’d take the risk, to take down this monster.”

  Daniel nodded thoughtfully, but he didn’t look happy about it.

  Crandall scowled.

  She almost patted his arm, but managed to stop herself, “Don’t worry about me. I don’t need to cast a spell to turn him into a bloody smear. Or did you forget?”

  Ella blinked, “Damn, I didn’t consider that. A mage capture spell wouldn’t be able to stop you.”

  She shook her head, “Nope, so if I ever go rogue crazy sorceress, you need to keep me unconscious. Mage capture would stop me from doing mage spells, until the caster was down and loses the spell, anyway. Granted, I wouldn’t be able to focus the spells very well after activating them, but when it comes to plasma close enough counts.”

  It certainly wasn’t her first choice though. Because she’d still have to endure the drugged, stripped naked, and tied up parts, before she woke and took him down. But with her magic detection spell, she’d see him coming and it’d never get to that anyway. She only mentioned the worst case to calm Crandall’s protective anger.

  She also didn’t want to have to kill the rapist, but she would have little choice if her mind was compromised in that situation. She’d much rather take him down, and let him suffer a whole lot, for the rest of his life behind bars. The severity of his assaults might even warrant the court having him chemically neutered, so he’d never have sex again. Not even with his palm. After what she’d seen, the idea of him living a long full life while emasculated, powerless, and confined was an attractive one, because he’d surely rail and weep against such a fate.

  Daniel tilted his head, “Want to experiment? I’m not sure mage capture would even work on you at all, given your enhanced focus and powerful mind.”

  Maybe not while in disorienting pain, but drugged and unconscious it surely would work, and she wouldn’t be testing that part of it anytime soon.

  “To really test it, you’d have to ring my bell hard.”

  She wasn’t a masochist by any stretch, but it might be useful to know her limits, and the gods knew she’d suffered a lot worse than a powerful right hook and a little vertigo in her early life.

  Crandall snorted, “Not happening.”

  Daniel made a face, “I guess I didn’t think that through far enough in my excitement at the idea, never mind.”

  She was both relieved and a little annoyed at their protectiveness, but it was probably just as well. She hadn’t been looking forward to the idea.

  They headed back to the house and started doing all their assigned work, to make sure Saturday was freed up for fun only, and most of Sunday save dueling practice as well. The workload was heavy, but they were able to get it done by later that evening.

  There was a country music battle of the bands going on in central park that weekend, and she didn’t even pretend to protest anymore. To her disgust, she was a convert, and could no longer deny she enjoyed the music.

  The five of them were sitting on the grass eating a lunch from a vendor. There were several tents set up, both with temporary bathrooms and a little further away food and drink stands, as well as pretzels, falafels, ice cream shakes, and cotton candy.

  The current band was singing a song about how the guy’s wife left him for his brother and took the kids and the dogs. His shuttle was repossessed, and the house was being foreclosed because an accident at work had burned out his magic and he couldn’t find work.

  It was a ridiculous song full of endless woes, but a catchy tune that had her bobbing her head in enjoyment, and the singer’s baritone was flawless and compelling.

  “Shield and move,” she said as she jumped to her feet.

  They’d been half expecting there to be a Harbinger terrorist team on the ground waiting for them the next time they were in the city, so her friends didn’t hesitate as they rose and followed her, each of them shielding as she did.

  “Eight of them, power level ten shielding.”

  They were all shielded at level eight, which was about half their Solis limit, and a little more than that for her. Between telekinesis, levitation, and her detection spell that was another thirty, leaving her just around forty Solis. Which was only enough for a power level eight attack spell.

  They were outnumbered by three, and they didn’t have weapons when the enemy surely did, but not necessarily outpowered. Despite being in their second semester of the first year, it was unlikely all eight of the enemy were among the most powerful of mages like they were. They probably planned to use their weapons offensively, but they would find out soon enough how many of the eight outpowered them.

  In short, she was hoping they’d finally learned their lesson from the previous failures, and they were focusing most of their magic into defense.

  The important part was not facing them in the park, where there were tens of thousands of people walking around in the open. She was quite sure a minute later, that the eight-person shielded team was tracking them somehow, maybe a drone in the sky, as they were unerringly following them through the vast crowd from a couple of hundred yards away without line of sight.

  Once she was sure it really was a team after them, she also requested support at that point, but she knew this would probably all be over in the ten minutes it’d take for it to arrive from base.

  “We need to be able to fire force level twelve spells. Anyone not have sixty Solis left?”

  They made it to the edge of the park, and they moved into a parking garage and she headed for the lower level.

  “Just me then?”

  They all chuckled.

  “Okay, here’s the plan. We need to split them up into two groups of four or we might be overwhelmed. Stacy, when they reach the bottom level, you’re going to toss up a force level three shield wall between the two pillars, cutting their team in half. The rest of us are going to take down those four with a level twelve blunt force spell, and then mage capture them.