Space Knights: The Arrival Gregory Samuelson (superbooks4u .txt) 📖

a very rare flight pack for a Muster Type 18B. This feature was so unique that only three other Muster Types had a flight pack available. Type 19D, Type 20E, and Type 23B were the other three. The flight pack could be attached where the saddle was and had wings and powerful jets to provide flight. True, it wouldn’t fly nearly as well as a full-blown winged horse, yet it could take to the air and fly.

The most exciting innovation Trance made to Odin was to increase the horse’s firepower. One weekend when Kyle had the day off the two brothers had gone to scout out more parts at some local used military stores. They were about to leave the last one when Trance spotted something very rare and unusual.

It was a complete pair of rotating crossbow cannons from a very old and huge warhorse known as a Type 14TR. The crossbow cannons had four crossbows on a side, set in a square. The crossbow on top of the square was set to shoot. When fired the square-shaped shaft would rotate toward the body of the horse and bring the second bow to the top, ready to shoot while the first bow now nearer the body had a small hydraulic piston push the bowstring back into firing position.

After the second bow fired the shaft rotated again and now the second bow was near the horse’s body and having the bowstring pushed back into firing position and the first bow was now at the bottom. A small swift mechanism took a crossbow bolt off a chain belt and loaded it up into firing position and a small catch swiveled to hold the bolt into place. On the next shot the first bow would now be on the outside waiting for the following shot when the rotation brought it back on top and ready to shoot.

Trance was blown away by the ingenious weapons and very carefully collected them and all of their parts. The cannons were in remarkably good shape for being found in an old military store. He had to slightly modify Odin’s weapon bays to accommodate the cannons and the loading chain belt. The standard warhorse carried twenty to thirty bolts per side, but the cannons he’d installed had a forty bolt capacity belt per side.

To increase the firepower of the cannons Trance found four micro compound bows from a couple of newer warhorses that had been just recently dumped in the scrapyard. Almost nightly Trance had his dad take him out there to find four more micro compound bows. He found three more four days ago, and he hoped to find the last one either tonight or tomorrow so that he could have the cannons completed.

He wouldn’t need Odin for a couple weeks, but he was trying his best to have him ready to go a week early so he’d have a chance to practice with the horse before the jousts started. Trance had done his best to upgrade Odin to such a high level, higher than he even knew. He even found upgrades for Odin’s eyes and ears. He polished the horse and inspected it every few days to ensure that he’d installed everything correctly and made sure everything operated as efficiently as possible. His prayer was that he’d done enough that Odin would pass all inspections and be his warhorse.

Trance was excited this afternoon. His dad was going to take him out to the scrapyard this evening so he could find the last compound bow he desperately needed. He was excited that he had Odin almost fully ready to go. Trance had even found and installed stronger pistons to arm the compound bows. On his test runs the weapons had performed magnificently. Odin seemed to have become more upbeat and excited about being upgraded. That morning as Trance had done a little more work on him before he left for school Odin spoke.

“Master, will you be able to finish my new weapons before your first contests with me?” Odin spoke with a crisp anxious voice. It wasn’t a nervous anxious but an excited anxious. To Trance the voice sounded like a young soldier excited about his first mission talking to his superior officer.

“Yes,” said Trance with a grin on his face. “It depends on whether or not I can find that last compound bow for your cannons.” Trance patted the horse one more time before he left the garage and shut the door. He walked to school and felt rather proud of the work that he’d done on Odin. All he needed was that one last bow. Could he find it tonight?

The day seemed to drag on today. He had three tests, one quiz, and one report to give. He thought that he’d done well on his quiz and on two of the tests, yet he wasn’t so sure about the third test and the report. He did have a little enjoyment during the day. Between classes and during lunch, Trance spent time with Corena and their friends.

They sat at lunch and talked about their teams’ records and about the upcoming field competitions. Gracer and Zam were impressed that Trance had a warhorse, and they were astonished to hear the story of how Corena had given it to him. It seemed that Trance was full of surprises. Trance even told them about what had led him to the town where he met Corena and her Golden Griffin escort and the events that were the reason for him getting the horse.

During the knight class Trance, Zam, and Gracer learned more about the upcoming schedule for the field competitions. They would face almost all of the same schools they had met during the castle competitions. Trance started to plan field strategies for his team. He had earned their respect with his castle strategies and because he had led them to such great success so far they listened rather closely to what he had to say.

Near the end of the