"Hang in there, Lily! We're almost there!" Killie yells over the intercom.

While I could hear her, I focused on my magic, which was keeping the air supply going around me on this wretched little shuttle. I couldn't answer her even if I wanted to, as the radio system wasn't working right. In the name of all the powers that be, how did I get into this situation?!

Breathe, I tell myself as my mind drifts...

--

"I know you're excited, Lily, but you need to sit still so I can get your new uniforms fitted."

"I can't believe it, Mama! I can't believe I am the first person in our family to get into The Academy of Witchcraft! Do you think I'll be a powerful witch?"

--

My seven-year-old self had been so excited.

I'm not sure why I tend to look back on these memories. It's only with age that I realize how sad my mother truly was.

The Academy accepts only the most powerful witches, and most end up working for the governments of the various planets, and not in a good way. It's supposedly a prestigious honor, but the school was being funded solely for this reason, and the witch families knew about it.

The thing was, if you get the letter to go, you go. There is no choice.

I sense a presence closing in on the ship. Please be Killianna, I think, while loosening the spell slightly so I can use some magic to get a better look at the newcomer approaching my floating space junker.

Nope. Damn it.

--

"Momma, they want me to kill a little mouse who didn't do anything to me," I whispered.

"Lily, don't be afraid to care. I know they are teaching you to follow orders without question. Please follow your heart and choose your ground wisely. I don't want you hurt, but I don't want you to do things you know are bad. Be careful, my love."

--

I feel the other ship anchor onto mine. They're coming for me.

Well, it seems some things that the cursed academy taught me are about to come in handy. I have no issue at this point in defending myself with my magic or whatever else may be accessible. I clench a heavy metal pipe in my right hand while my mind sorts through the spells at my disposal.

I hear footsteps coming onto the ship. From my hiding space behind the third set of seats, I pull on all my powers to feel what surrounds me.

"Come out, witch! It's time to pay for what you did!" yells a muffled voice, obviously talking through a face mask. The only air in this cabin is that which is immediately around me. Their sensors would have warned them of that.

My power picks up on two bodies moving about the small area. Someone will find me soon. It's time to take action.

Using my magic, I start tossing small things about the cabin at their faces.

"Did you really think you can get away using these parlor tricks?!"

Actually, no. While they were batting away at the annoying items, I was checking their oxygen tanks.

Aha.

There is an audible whoosh as I flip the switch that releases their air into the room.

"Shit!" one yells, as they scramble to get back onto their own ship.

It buys me a little time, but not much. I release my grip on the pipe momentarily as I lean forward and put my forehead against the back of the chair I've been hiding behind.

--

"Momma, I've made a friend at school who doesn't want to kill mice either! Her name is Isobel Gowdie, and she's really nice to me. She's not mean like the other kids. She was the first in her family to come here too!"

--

My first real friend. She was the first witch to be born into her family in seven generations. They believed the gene had died out because of all the marriages outside the community. Not only was she a witch, but one with crazy powers.

Isobel fought the system tooth and nail until the academy deemed her unhireable and asked her to leave after six years when they could not break her. Before she left, she enchanted a pendant of mine so we could communicate.

That pendant is the reason Killianna knows where I am.

I hear a single set of footsteps this time, but they pause at the door. Then there is a creak, as of rusty hinges complaining at being forced to move against their inclination, followed by a metallic rattle and clank.

A canister appears in the room, smoke emitting from it.

How totally unsurprising.

I pull my shirt up to cover my mouth - for all the good it will do. This is how they always subdue witches.

Bracing for the inevitable, I get up and move close to the door so they can get me out of here quickly once I pass out. The air my magic generates won't last more than a few minutes. Since help is coming, I truly hope the gas isn't toxic.

As my mind fogs and my eyes close, I realize the boss of these goons wants me alive so that he can kill me himself.

--

The halls of the Academy of Witchcraft were silent as Isobel and I snuck out of our dorm room. We were both starving as the last teacher of the day had refused to let us go to dinner, purposely keeping us in the classroom for hours, going over spells we weren't old enough to learn yet. He was a minion for a certain boss in the Andromeda system who was ready to kill off his current witch.

"Izzy, I can sense someone in the stairwell," I whispered.

"We can duck in here," she said as she grabbed my arm and opened the closet.

Once inside, we both looked at the back wall of the small space with confused expressions.

"You feel that, right?" she mumbled.

I summoned one of the many spells that the teacher had just forced on us today, instantly dissolving the wall and revealing a stairway. Using my powers to look closer, I realized it was another way into the kitchens. We wouldn't go hungry after all.

<><><>

"Someone got to her first, Major," Isobel stated sadly.

"Killie. How far away?" my boss asked, turning to me.

"45 seconds," I said, my eyes never leaving my screen. "They connected their small ship to the shuttle. If we blast them out of the sky, the shuttle will blow, too. I would recommend letting me bypass their systems so they can't leave. We can then tow them to us and board."

"Do it." The Major went to the keypad, pressing the ship intercom. "Harry and Oscar. Be ready to board that bastard's ship, fully armed and ready to take down anyone who opposes you. You know the drill." He then turned back to me. "Do your magic, Killiana. I want Lily on this ship within the next 15 minutes."

After ensuring there were no life signs on the shuttle, I began. It didn't take long to hack into their systems, as their ship was pretty basic. You would figure their boss would have at least given his lackeys good equipment, but it helped us, so I would not comment on that one. Time to board.

"Harry and Oscar. Comm check," I inquired.

"We hear you," Oscar replied.

"Charlie is ready on our side of the airlock. There are six members on board, plus Lily. I am shutting down their systems in three - two - one. Shutdown complete. We are coming out of stealth mode now. I am attaching the lock onto their starboard side."

I watched my monitors as I tapped into their camera systems. As soon as their systems shut down, except for the two on the bridge, the others all went into the stateroom that held an unconscious Lily. The enemy probably assumed she was the one who disabled their systems. I certainly hoped that was the case.

It was easy enough to attach to their hatch, and once I pressurized the small entrance, I opened the doors for my team.

"You are a go. Two on the bridge and the rest in the starboard stateroom."

"Can you lock the pilots on the bridge?" Oscar asked as they entered the small corridor.

"Already done," I responded.

"Open the stateroom door," Oscar ordered once they stood on either side.

I watched the screens as my teammates waited for my command. The crewmen all looked towards the door, but no one moved at first. One motioned to another to check it, and they all pulled out energy pistols.

"All individuals have weapons. One person is heading for the door. Three yards, two, one..."

Harry grabbed his arm and twisted it, turning the man back the way he came - without his firearm. He then positioned himself behind the man, ensuring that if a shot were fired, it would hit the crewmember.

"You need to decide if you wish to die today," Harry menacingly said in a gravelly voice. "It's your choice."

A shot went wide as Harry moved to his left. Oscar was behind him in a crouched position, shooting the offender.

The others looked at their dead comrade before looking back to the two giant soldiers. Harry had a pistol at the head of the person in his hold, and Oscar had a pistol in each hand, trained on the two left in the room.

"Decision time," Harry said again.

The answer took only a few seconds.

"She ain't worth dying over," one voiced as they lowered their weapons.

"Put your weapons on the bed, move over to the far wall, and stay there," Harry intoned while pushing his hostage in that direction. Oscar drifted himself into a position to keep watch on them as Harry picked up all the pistols and tossed them out of the doorway.

Lastly, he came back and picked up Lily.

"I thought we were going to kill her here," Oscar asked as Harry got to the doorway.

"Nope. A last-minute change of plans. She's going to suffer a bit first. Mathias will bind her powers and then send her to The Dorm. He's making an example of her."

I hoped that small lie would keep the Andromeda boss busy while he checked out the facts. Mathias had seemed a good name to drop, as someone known to be hard to get information from, if he could even be found.

As soon as Oscar backed out, I locked down the door. Once my people were back on board, I disconnected the ships, then turned their life support systems and internal comms back on. I set a three-hour timer to revert everything back to their control, undoing everything I did.

Seconds later, we sped away towards the galaxy Mathias was known to have his base in, just in case the enemy could track our direction.

"Mission complete," I said through the comm to the Major. "We are now en route to the Epsilon sector."

"Good work. Conduct a full medical check on our new guest and, if possible, Isobel. Keep them in the same room together, so Lily isn't scared when she wakes up."

"Understood, boss!"

<><><>

"You know what they have planned for you," Isobel said as she was packing.

I was almost 21, and yes, I knew. I was to be the next stooge for the Andromeda boss. They had tried to take me early, but the headmistress had told them I wasn't ready. She knew I would end up rebelling and getting myself killed. She was told to break me so I wouldn't fight back. That idiot professor teaching us things we shouldn't know had taught us spells to eavesdrop on others, thinking we would use it on other students; however, that wasn't what we did.

The plan was to remove my only friend and turn the other students against me. They wanted me to be submissive. I was determined not to let that happen.

"I know."

"Do you have a plan?" she asked, turning to see my face.

"I will let them believe they are succeeding in their goal. Once I have the chance, I'll run." My breathless voice betrayed my feelings.

"Where will you run to? Do you have a plan?"

"I don't have a plan, or know where I'm going. I just know there is no place for me in this world they are pushing me into." My tears came without my consent. "The only thing they teach you in this horrible place is how to be a servant to a master. I don't know what will become of me. I only know I don't belong there."

--

I wake to the sound of a machine beeping. I hope that Killianna is still following me. I reach up to see if I'm still wearing my pendant.

A voice I know well but haven't heard in months opens my eyes in a flash.

"Long may you live and high you fly, smiles you'll give, and tears you'll cry."

My answer is automatic, as it had become over the years.

"Leave, but don't leave me. Look around and choose your ground." I repeat from memory as we both continue the chant in unison.

"Don't be afraid to care."

Those were the last words my mother had spoken to me before she died. I was told it was an accident, but knew it wasn't. They wanted to make sure I had no one to lean on so I would become the perfect stooge.

I hug my best friend with all my might.

As she pulls away, her smile is bigger than I've seen from her since we were little, when we used to sneak to the kitchens.

"I am so happy to see you away from that academy, but what were you thinking?!"

Tears of joy mixed with sorrow fill my eyes and trail down my face. I had held so much in for so long that it all seemed to release at once. Isobel crawls into the bed with me and holds me as I sob. The people at the academy had killed my mother and strategically removed every friend I had.

"I just wanted to get away, Izzy!" I manage between sobs. "I didn't mean to hurt the other witch, but she tried to kill me!"

"She knew they had brought you in to replace her, and she would be killed. You saved her life by putting that spell on her to run away. She would have never run on her own. I made sure she was picked up and taken to a witch's hospital for therapy. Hopefully, she can be rehabilitated from the school programming and what they put her through."

Did I save her life? Maybe the powers that be are looking out for me after all. As my cries slow down, I look at Isobel.

"What's going to happen to me? I have nowhere to go and don't know how to do anything but magic."

"Actually, I think Killianna may be tired of being the only girl..."

(2460 words)

The Fabulous Spec-Fic Smack Down Round 1-2

Prompt: At the age of 7, Lily was looking forward to witch's school. But now, at 21, she has to find her place in the world, and that's a challenge no one prepared her for. 2500 words maximum.