Meanwhile, that was the most negative scenario, and the Mage Diviner expressed a hope that we were heading into the more favorable scenario. Nevertheless, we probably would be encountering some mages on the occupied territory. According to Imeer-Toh La-Gorr, the number of these mage observers varied day by day from ten to twenty-five, but they were always strong experienced wizards who could control a crowd and suppress any attempts at disobedience.
Meanwhile, for the last four months there hadn’t even been one attempted uprising, and it wasn’t because the Canadian and American players lacked fighting spirit. No, it was much worse than that. Powerful psionics had manipulated the memories of their vassals, not only squeezing all kinds of information about our world out of them, but programming player behavior and planting false memories as well. So the Human-8 Faction had no memory of the fact that, four months ago, they lost a fast-paced war and ever since had been obediently carrying out their victors’ will. The players didn’t even suspect they had ever met anyone from the parallel magocratic world and didn’t notice the strange people with ash-gray skin in their lands. However they did obediently carry out their every order.
It was fairly hard to believe the ghoulish story Imeer-Toh La-Gorr told about the psionic enslavement of the Human-8 Faction. However, unfortunately, the captive mage was telling the truth. The La-Varrez Faction mages came to the conclusion that the best chains for keeping slaves on the plantation, were those that they didn’t even notice. Of course the defeat and war were the explanation for the Human-8 Faction’s stalled development. The mage masters thought a large number of players would be hard for them to control, and having fifty free slots in the Human-8 Faction and empty virt pods in the corncobs on the military base in New Brunswick essentially gave them a highway into the parallel world.
So far they’d sent four agents into our world, all very skilled in psionic magic. One of them, Imeer-Toh La-Gorr had already been exposed and defanged but three were still at liberty and freely moving about the planet, easily passing any police document check or passport and customs control points. And not knowing languages was no impediment to them, because they could just communicate mentally. Anyhow, strong Astrolinguistics and high Intelligence allowed them to learn languages quickly and the agents had studied the most common languages of our world while preparing for the transfer.
Imeer-Toh had told me the names and descriptions of his coconspirators, but there was little to be gained from that. Every one of the dangerous mages was acting alone, operating only on instructions from their homeworld. All the agents were in the dark about one another’s plans. So those three mages could be anywhere right now, from Los Angeles to Paris, from Bagdad to the Antarctic. Meanwhile, we had provided channels for communication between them. The Internet and advanced technology allowed us to communicate secretly with any part of the planet via messenger or satellite phone so, when needed, messages could be sent and received. However, the agents were only allowed to do that in extraordinary circumstances because it was thought to be too easy to trace. Imeer-Toh had given me contact information for the other mages in our world so now let our intelligence services bust their brains over how to use this information and catch the agents. Their biggest vulnerability was the fact that they had to return to a pod on a military base in Canada and enter the game at least once every seven or eight days. That gave our special forces good chances to track down and capture these dangerous enemies.
Cartography skill increased to level sixty-nine!
The pop-up message distracted me. Yes, tonight’s antigrav flight was having a very positive effect on both Cartography and Eagle Eye, so my overall progress bar was filling fast. And in that it was expected to be a long flight — another hour and a half or so, I was hoping to get to level 84 before the Sio-Mi-Dori reached the shore. Princess Minn-O La-Fin sitting next to me was awake and staring pensively through a loophole-viewport. The Geckho brothers Vasha and Basha Tushihh weren’t sleeping either, having unpacked their Na-Tikh-U board in the far end of the landing hold and once again trying in vain to best the Jarg. But all the others were getting some rest.
It was very unusual not to see the H3 Faction symbol on Gerd Tamara and Roman Pavlovich’s armor as they slept. Plus their character descriptions looked strange:
Gerd Tamara. Human. Faction [undefined]. Level-103 Paladin.
Roman Pavlovich. Human. Faction [undefined]. Level-97 Grenadier.
Yes, to me it came as a great surprise, but the former leader of the Second Legion wanted to leave the Dome and our world forever and resettle in the First Directory. She had made an official request to join the La-Fin Faction, and its leader Gerd Minn-O La-Fin had already approved it. And now little Tamara had been working as my junior wife’s bodyguard for the better part of a day, defending Minn-O from magical attacks. I had to admit, after Tamara said we might never meet again in the real world, I was expecting much worse, so this was perfectly fine with me. Reassuring even. Roman Pavlovich, as promised, came with his adoptive daughter and had also left our home faction. Both high-level newcomers had received exoskeleton armor suits from the La-Fin Faction. They weren’t as huge as the refit Geckho armor, but they were very tough and functional.
“My husband, something isn’t right!” Minn-O broke away from contemplating the night sea and shuddered in alarm, her eyes suddenly wide in panic.
I personally didn’t sense anything unusual and certainly not dangerous, however, I was used to trusting Minn-O’s presentiments. My wayedda’s Danger Sense was much better leveled than mine. So I quietly stood up and headed for the cockpit past the peacefully sleeping friends on either side of the corridor.
The aircraft was piloted by Dmitry Zheltov, which was a bit strange because the main Sio-Mi-Dori pilot was San-Doon Taki-Bu, a highly experienced level-90 Pilot. He had many months experience ferrying Leng Thumor-Anhu La-Fin around on a high-speed antigrav, and was well versed in atmospheric flight. But still there was nothing extraordinary in handing the helm to the copilot. Dmitry was nowhere near a beginner in these matters. No matter how you looked at it, he was a level-77 Starship Pilot and could stand to level the specific skills for flying inside a planet’s atmosphere. No, the cause of the trouble, and I had already begun to sense a growing panic myself, was something else.
Successful Perception check!
Eagle Eye skill increased to level eighty-one!
In the night sky, twelve miles to the left of our group, there were three barely visible spots moving in parallel to us. Unfortunately, they were too far away to identify but here over the ocean, one hundred twenty miles from the nearest shore, it was probably no coincidence they were here.
“Minn-O, wake the others!” I ordered, whispering for some reason as she came up quietly behind me. Realizing that I could speak at full voice, I loudly commanded: “Combat alert! Denni Marko to left gunner position! And the right…” I mentally ran through my options and realized I didn’t have much choice. “Gerd Tamara to right gunner position! Dmitry, stay on main pilot. San-Doon Taki-Bu, I need you to get in touch with the Sio-Mi-Dori and warn them of the danger. To hell with stealth already! Enemy ten miles to the right! They’re attacking!!!”
Whew! I realized after the fact I said these commands in three different languages, easily adapting depending on whom I was addressing. Cool, of course. Although ideally I would have my crew learn one common language at some point. For example Geckho, which was more relevant in space.
Danger Sense skill increased to level sixty-three!
Bunches of bright lines streaked off from the unknown aircraft in the night sky, headed in our direction. Rockets!!! And seemingly homing rockets based on how their trajectory shifted to match ours.
Surprising as it was, when he saw the oncoming death, our Pilot just gave a happy laugh and turned to his partner Dmitry Zheltov:
“Dmitrrr, how little they know of the Sio-Mi-Dori! Fools! We have excellent electronic warfare systems! Fighting your military, we had no other choice.
You were constantly shooting smarter and stronger rockets at us. Like it or not, we had to adapt.”
I couldn’t say whether the Starship Pilot understood anything of the magocratic native’s words but he did give a laugh as he watched the rockets rushing in. And in fact, before they made it a quarter mile, all thirty of the rockets exploded in midair without so much as grazing us. And the return fire from our seven Sio-Mi-Dori laser cannons, was more effective: two enemy aircraft caught fire and fell out of the sky. The last eventually came so close I could read its information:
Paeen-Ro. La-Varrez Faction atmospheric fighter.
La-Varrez. Our worst fears were confirmed. The enemy knew about our attack and had taken countermeasures, trying to intercept and destroy our aerial landing group before we reached their shore. Yes, the enemy had significantly underestimated the technical capabilities of the dangerous and well defended La-Fin Faction assault-landing antigravs. However I feared they would not make the same mistake twice.
The last of the three fighter planes tried to escape, hiding in the dense clouds. At the last moment, I managed to stick it with a targeting marker and belatedly sent the Small Relict Guard Drone off to chase it, but I wasn’t especially counting on the drone reaching its target in the dense cloud cover and first rumblings of thunder. So it was all the more pleasant a minute later to receive another portion of messages:
Targeting skill increased to level thirty-one!
Machine Control skill increased to level eighty-one!
You have reached level eighty-four!
You have received three skill points (total points accumulated: six).
Great! Let that be a lesson to my enemies! I hurriedly tossed my six stat points where they needed to go. Three went into Mysticism, raising it to 39. Having more mana and faster regen was very important to a Listener. Another three into Mental Fortitude brought that skill up to 90. I could easily be walking into an encounter with enemy mages and increased defense against their attacks would come quite in handy. Just then, Major Filippov came into the cockpit, alarmed:
“Someone gave us up. I say we change our flight route, making it more unpredictable than a simple direct flight. Otherwise they might catch us in the air again and this time with enough forces to take us out.”
“But we’re going almost maximum speed now, and our flight time is synchronized to line up with the arrival of the two landing parties arriving by sea!” Dmitry Zheltov objected hotly.
The Military Academy graduate was accustomed to strict discipline. The very thought of deviating from upper leadership’s plan for a combat operation plan horrified him. The experienced military strategist, although still just a level-43 Bard, answered gloomily:
“Dmitry, if we get shot down in flight, we won’t be any help to our guys. So better to hold back a bit but get there alive than not to show up at all. Also... it’s up to Leng Gnat here.”
They both looked at me. I then kept silent in furious thought. The fact that the enemy knew about our route and even the approximate location of the antigravs was a very bad sign. It was evidence that the Human-3 Faction’s mole was still active and had found a new handler. Or it meant there was just as serious a leak of secret information from the La-Fin Faction. And if the La-Varrez Faction was aware of the seven Sio-Mi-Doris, they surely already knew about the ferry landing party, so they would be disembarking into a fiery hell. Regrettably, the most negative possible line of fate had come to pass...
Could another hundred soldiers help change the course of the battle? A complicated question, but the answer was probably no. So then, what to do? Not, indeed, turn back. Although... Wait... The balance of forces was painfully reminiscent of the situation before Dmitry, Imran, Anna and I made our suicidal push into Dark Faction territory to distract their main forces. But this time it wasn’t just four players on a flimsy “Starship,” but a full hundred soldiers with seven assault aircraft. And that meant we could choose more interesting targets than sown fields and comms towers. I could even choose a target that would make enemy leadership forget everything and urgently call all their troops back.
“Attention all! We’re changing targets! We’re going to the central node of the La-Varrez Faction!”
Major Filippov figured out my plan in an instant and in the silence that took hold, gave a demonstrative clap of admiration. But I had to explain it for the rest. Especially Eduard Boyko, who was screaming in hysterics: “We can’t do that either, commander! In half an hour our brothers in arms will be dying and expecting help! And they’ll never forgive us if we just abandon them like that!” But I managed to quickly reassure the Space Commando. Eduard even apologized for his lack of restraint. However, Gerd Mauu-La Mya-Ssa the Medic injected the warrior with something calming nevertheless. And the huge Space Commando sat back in his seat with a dumb and blissful smile on his face.
San-Doon Taki-Bu sent new coordinates and a strict order from the leader of the La-Fin dynasty to the other vehicles: “From this second, no one can leave the game. Any external contact is forbidden. Those who disobey will be immediately killed both in the game and the real world.”
Yes they were harsh measures. But the success of our mission depended on the element of surprise. And I didn’t know another surefire way to avoid another leak.
I had to talk separately with Minn-O. The Princess looked very upset. It was plain to see. And she quickly told me why:
“My husband, until now our actions could have been taken by the factions of my world as simply unneighborly, nothing beyond the pale. But a direct attack on the capital of the La-Varrez Faction with hundreds of soldiers, ninety percent of whom are from the La-Fin Faction... that’s a declaration of war! And knowing the hot-headed nature of Onuri-Unta La-Varrez, war will be declared not only in the virtual game but in the real world! Our First Directory will have to fight with at least the Fourth, and most likely also the Seventh and the Eleventh!”
A very serious threat! At any rate, I assured my wife I was doing everything in my power to avoid open war between the great La-Fin and La-Varrez dynasties. But if I couldn’t, I’d try to land a blow with such force that the La-Varrez Faction would need a long time to recover! Destroying a developed level-five hexagon, then restoring my starship and taking out all the other hexagons of the La-Varrez Faction would be a serious possibly knockout punch. They would be simply forced to make concessions!
* * *
“Remaining flight time three minutes! I’ve got eyes on the enemy citadel!”
But I had already seen all that, watching the approaching shore through the IR Lens. It really was a very developed node. A sea of lights, just like a megacity. A large port, dozens of ships. Powerful on-shore artillery batteries capable of staving off an invasion by sea. High-speed roads with headlights running both directions. A coal carrier, working even at night. Lots of factories. Gardens, expansive sown fields. An airport with antigravs at the ready. And a huge dark fortress providing a reliable observation point over the ravine, which contained the only road leading to a neighboring hexagon.
I offered command to Major Filippov, but the Bard was categorically opposed. With such a large distance and in the dark he couldn’t see much, so he simply asked to be assigned to give out bonuses. I had to take the Targeting System myself and show each division where to strike:
“Second vehicle, land a party right here,” I placed a marker all my soldiers could see. “Get rid of the guards and blow up the crude oil storage. After that, take the aircraft out to port and sink ships, and have the soldiers fight their way to the citadel to help with the assault.”
Authority increased to 63!
Targeting skill increased to level thirty-two!
“Vehicle three, I want your landing a party to block the highway. These bridges,” I placed markers, “are to be blown immediately so the enemy can’t send reinforcements. Careful! There’s an anti-air base just over a mile away. I’m marking it too, just in case. You’ll have to fly extremely low to the gro
und. After you complete the mission, go to the port. Fire at will. Destroy whatever you think necessary!”
Targeting skill increased to level thirty-three!
“Vehicles four to seven go to the citadel and land your parties at this point. After that, all Sio-Mi-Doris go to the airport and wipe it off the face of the earth. And have the landing party try to get inside the fortress at any cost!”
“And what should we do?” asked Dmitry Zheltov, still in the head pilot’s seat.
I answered loudly so everyone in the vehicle could hear:
“We’re gonna first pass over the factories and warehouses, sowing chaos and destruction. Tamara and Denni, to the side guns! San-Doon — you on the nose cannons! Open escape hatches on both sides. Basha, Vasha and Eduard turn on the rocket-propelled grenade systems and fire on everything that can be destroyed! Roman Pavlovich, T’yu Pan. You both do the same! But everyone buckle up so you don’t accidentally fall. After the Small Relict Guard Drone destroys the enemy AA, we’ll fly over there and attack that building,” I placed another marker on the map.
“What’s in the palace?” a few soldiers at once asked in surprise.
I gave a predatory smile, taking out the Annihilator, which Kirsan returned to me yesterday, and installing a fully charged battery. Now not only had the effective firing distance of the ancient weapon grown, I could also use interchangeable rechargeable batteries instead of rare ancient Relict batteries. And I said:
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