I sat there quietly for a while just thinkingabout everything I had been told. I had never in my wildest dreamsever expected to have a conversation like this with a respectedofficer. On one hand, all my training and schooling was screamingat me that he was a traitor and it was my duty to kill him beforehe could tell more people what he told me, but on the other hand Iknew he was right. Something about all of this was calling me, anddragging me to that planet. I could not fight it. I had to followthis through and reach the planet.
He leaned forward in his chair and lockedeyes with me and said in a low tone, “Vydor, listen to me verycarefully. You must avoid Larath until you launch. If he discoversyou broke this memory block, it is his job to put it back.”
His tone implied so much more than his words.“That will not be easy. I am scheduled to meet with him at 0600tomorrow. He promised to teach me a defense against the Magi’s fearweapon.”
“You’re already able to beat that weapon.Just use the same thought shield you use when you drop intopuzzle-solving mode, without going into the mode. You will thenbecome completely immune to the Magi’s fear weapon and Larath’sempathic powers …”
“Wait a minute, Doctor, I never mentioned athought shield. How did you know that?” Just how much informationwas he withholding? As I pondered that he got that look on his faceagain. When he came out of it I said, “Let me guess, another memoryblock?” I paused as he nodded, then pushed on. “It seems our pastsare heavily intermingled and someone did everything they could toprevent us from knowing it.”
“It would appear so,” he said as he turnedand entered something in on the computer. “Either way, that thoughtshield is how you will block all the psychic powers. You areprobably wondering why I did not mention that in our briefings.That was because Larath was present at all of them. If he suspectsI have made progress on cracking my memory blocks — well, let’sjust say I would probably have an unexpected retirement party.”
“I really do not like casting Larath as anenemy,” I stated, but it was worse than that. It seemed like theenemy might be the Empire itself, but that could not be true!
“Nor do I, but really it is much worse thanthat. If both of us have had our pasts tampered with, what aboutthe rest of the senior staff? It would seem a given that if Iretired and came back as a different person they should haverecognized me.” He paused there, and then said, “One has to wonderhow deep this cover-up goes, or should I say, how high?”
“So where do we go from here? Obviously, Ihave to get to that planet, at any cost. I do not want to believethat this is how the Emperor wants it to be. I would rather believethere is some evil force operating inside the highest levels ofcommand which is orchestrating all this.” That was such a cop-out.I could see where all the evidence pointed, but I just could notbelieve the Emperor would betray his loyal servants like this.
“In any case, we can be assured that whoeveris behind this means to stay hidden at any cost. The first thing weneed to do is to arrange for you to be ordered off duty, to restand recover from your ordeal. Then we need you to leave a day earlyon your mission, in fact at 0500 hours tomorrow would be best,” hesaid.
“Assuming that could be done, that would tripsuspicions with my team since they are expecting me to make anannouncement at 1800 hours,” was my reply.
“Well that is simple; contact yourreplacement shortly before 0500 hours, saying that the mission wasmoved up, and that he has to take over as of 0515. It would not bethe first time a mission timeline was moved up. No one would bemuch surprised by that,” he stated.
“And how are we going to pull this off? Icannot just leave early; I am still waiting on a squad and shipassignment from Zalith,” I pointed out.
“I can handle that. Zalith and I have had avery good relationship ever since I saved his son’s life. I willsimply tell him that we have reason to believe that the mission hasbeen compromised and that we think the Magi know the missiontimeline. That way he will see the wisdom in stepping it up a dayso that you arrive long before they expect you. He may suspect heis not getting the whole truth, but he trusts me enough not to askquestions.” He turned back to his computer and a smile crept acrosshis face. “It seems that about ten years ago you had a faintingspell which was attributed to working too hard in school andneglecting your diet. They put you on medical leave for a fewdays.”
I looked over his shoulder and saw therecord. I knew that matched the memory I had just unblocked, butuntil that time I had had no recollection of it. “That settles it,we will go with your plan. And since I will be leaving on a stealthmission, I must conveniently turn in that faulty medical alertpatch.”
“Yes, and since it is faulty, there is noreason for me to keep it.” With that he tossed it in the trashdisposal that would quickly recycle it back to raw materials.
“There are many questions still to be asked,but I do not think we would get anywhere tonight. I must get backto my quarters and get some rest; it might be a while before I getanother chance,” I said. After exchanging well-wishes, I left andreturned to my quarters.
As soon as I entered my room, I noticed I hada message waiting from High Command. I went over and played it.
“Commander Vydor, this message is for youonly, direct from the officer of the Emperor. You are not clearedto share this with anyone except your strike team. These new orderssupersede all previous orders. You are not to attempt to contactthe Magi in any way. You will lead your team to steal one of theirplasma cannons and any information you can get with about the fearweapon you reported. Once you have that, you are to get off theplanet and it is to be destroyed. The captain will be told all heneeds to know when the time is right. When you return you willreport back all that you learned only to High Command. The Emperorsends his blessings for a successful mission.”
Great, orders to not speak with the Magi. Howwould I get any answers if I did not? This might turn out to be oneof those orders Dr. Rannor would tell me should not be obeyed.Well, there would be plenty of time to think about that on the tripto the planet. Now I would have to get some rest.
Chapter Ten
As I woke very early the next morning, thefull weight of the mission I was about to undertake hit me anew.This was no longer merely a puzzle to solve but a real mission torun with real lives on the line. It had been easy to ignore thehuman factor but now that would have to change.
What does one take on a suicide mission? Isupposed there was a chance of success, but it did not lookpromising. There really was not much I needed to bring. All I ownedwere a few dusty old books that had been passed down through myfamily for so long that I had no idea where they had come from. Ihad been told one of them was very important. I couldn’t read it;it was in a language that I had never seen in all my years atschool.
I remember the day that my father gave it tome. I had just graduated from the Academy at the top of my class,and I received a message that he needed to see me right away. Hewas suffering from the final stages of Betalian’s Syndrome. I wentas fast as I could. I knew there was very little time left.
Betalian’s Syndrome is one of the few fatalillnesses that we cannot cure. No one really understands what itis, or what causes it. The body just starts to shut down, one organat a time, until the patient dies. It can take years. Transplantsand cyber-orgs only delay the process.
When I arrived at his hospital room, helooked bad, worse than I had ever seen him. I knew that the doctorshad no tricks left to try. “Dad, how are you?”
“Not well, son. I can see the end of the linecoming. It won’t be long now. The doctors tell me my brain isstarting to shut down. I hear you graduated with the highest scoresever in the history of the Academy. Congratulations, my son, youmake your old man proud. Have you chosen your path yet?”
I had to strain to make out his words, as hecould barely talk. I knew better than to try to stop him; he wouldjust waste more energy arguing with me about it. “Yes, Father, I amgoing into Intelligence.”
“Ah, yes, you were always one to
play withpuzzles. I never found one you could not solve. Look, I know Idon’t have much time left, and there is much I wanted to teach youyet. In my room, back home, look under my bed. You will find asafe. Inside it is my most valuable belonging. Keep it with youalways. I wish I had time to teach you what it is. Just rememberone thing, the Emperor is not … BEEP BEEP BEEP …”
Suddenly all the alarms were going off. Thedoctors rushed in, and I was forced out of the room by theorderlies. I spent the rest of the night pacing, waiting for newsfrom the doctors. Someone from the Academy called, wanting to knowwhere I was. I had left the ceremony before the end, withouttelling anyone. I did not take the call, I just asked the nurse tohandle it for me. She was a nice older woman. “Don’t worry aboutit, son, I’ll take care of it. You just get some rest, okay?”
Later the headmaster of the Academy came by.“Vydor, you never told me your father was so ill. I had to pullsome strings just to find you. I would have let you skip theceremony to be here instead.”
“No, that would have broken his heart. Hewanted me to be there so badly. I think it is what kept him goingthese last few weeks. I am sorry, sir, for leaving withoutnotice.”
“Forget it, no one could blame you. How ishe?”
“I don’t know, sir. He was trying to tell mesomething, and then the alarms went off, and …” I could notcontinue.
“Stay here, son; I will see what I can findout for you.”
The headmaster was a gentle man, and he tooka personal interest in all his students. He never had any childrenof his own, and I think the school served as a substitute familyfor him.
“They are doing everything they can for him.That is all they can say right now,” he said and took a seat nearwhere I had been trying to get some rest.
A few hours later the doctor walked out towhere we were sitting and said, “I am sorry, we did everything wecould, but he didn’t make it.”
The rest of the night was a haze. All I canremember is that the headmaster took me home and told me that hewas giving me some time off before sending me on active duty.
I found the safe Dad told me about. He nevergave me the combination to open it, but I was able to guess itafter only a few tries. When I opened the safe, all that was insidewas a book, a real book, with paper pages. It looked very old. Itwas not in a writing I had ever seen before.
I brought the book to my language teacher atthe Academy. He said that he had seen samples of this writing butcould not read it himself. He cautioned me against showing the bookto anyone. He said that it could get me into big trouble. Herefused to say more.
My father wanted me to keep this book with mealways, so I decided I must bring it. The rest of my gear wouldhave to be practical, in case I had to carry it all on my back fora period of time.
Zalith knocked on my door, waking me from myreverie. I assumed the crew assignment was ready.
“Hello, Zalith, come in. I am just checkingmy gear one more time,” I said.
“Vydor, we don’t have much time, so I will bebrief. I am giving you twenty-five of my Dark Knights. They are thebest of the best. They have been fully briefed on what is to come.All of them have more experience in the field than you do. I don’tlike this mission at all.” He paused and paced for a moment. Idecided to wait and see what it was he wanted to say. “I have beenin this fleet for longer than you have been alive, and I have madesome friends in high places in that time.
“High Command does not expect you to returnfrom this mission. That really angers me. I know that I have beenhard on you, even to the point of saying you are under-qualifiedfor your rank, but you are my brother-in-arms here in the field.For this to happen to you is as if it happened to me. I am givingyou the best men this navy has ever seen because I want all of youback alive. I am also giving you the Dark Talon. It is the onlyship ever to return from a suicide mission with all the crew alive.A word of advice for you: let the Dark Knights lead most of thetime. They know what they are doing.”
With that he just walked out of the room. Inever thought he cared at all what might happen to me. I seemed tohave underestimated him in more ways than one.
Zalith was assigning me the Dark Knights, soI needed a minor gear change. The Dark Knights were an elite groupof Zalionian warriors who were extremely dedicated and deadly. Eachof them had decades of experience, all of it as a penetrationsquad. They specialized in the kinds of missions that often putthem deep within hostile territory with no support. This created aunique bond between them. Men who have served with them say it isas if they can read each other’s minds.
Their name came from the color of theirscales. Each of them had a permanent dye implanted over his entirebody. This dye was a very deep, flat black that made them nearlyinvisible in any dimly-lit situation; it also had a thermalreduction effect that made them just as hard to see withnight-vision goggles. They preferred to operate only at night whenon planetary surfaces, and this dye gave them a big advantage.
I put away my normal uniform. The Imperialblue would not work well for this mission. Instead I pulled out myown night gear, lightly armored and perfectly black coveralls thatwould give me similar characteristics to the Dark Knights’ scales.In addition to being the perfect camouflage for night missions, itwas also completely silent and had a ton of storage in small hiddenpockets. This allowed me to ditch the pack I had been planning tocarry. When travelling with a group like the Dark Knights, oneneeds to be light and fast.
I stopped for one last check in the mirrorbefore I left. I sighed as I caught a glimpse of my tightly-croppedhair. It was one of the minor things I disliked about my job, notbeing allowed more than half an inch of hair on my head, andabsolutely no facial hair. I never really understood thisregulation, and that made it harder to follow.
It was a short walk from my quarters to wherethe Dark Talon was docked. The Dark Knights would be making theirlast run though their pre-mission checklists. My biggest concernwas how they would feel about having me in charge. Of course theywere highly loyal, but I was an outsider. Worse than that, I was anoutsider with far less combat experience than any of them. I couldnot afford to have them second-guessing my orders.
As I entered the hangar, a docking bay workercalled out, “Senior officer on deck!” and everyone snapped toattention.
“Crewman, is the bay ready for launch?” Iasked the sergeant on duty.
“Yes, sir!’ was his reply.
“Then clear the hangar. I want only myselfand the Dark Knights in here.”
“Yes, sir!” he replied and immediately beganshouting orders to clear the bay. While he did that I turned to oneof the Dark Knights and said, “Gather up your team for finalbriefing.” Without a word he turned to the rest of them, and theyall came out and assembled before me. It really seemed that theycould read each others’ minds!
They were a very impressive bunch; theshortest of them was a half-meter taller than myone-point-eight-meter frame. Their uniforms were impressive despitehow plain they were. On these kinds of mission, no rank, namebadge, or insignia of any kind was permitted. If any of us wascaptured, especially myself, it would be best if the enemy did notknow whom they had.
“Computer, security lockdown codeDelta-Three, execute!” I called out. That guaranteed us privacy forthis conversation. What I was about to say to these men wasclassified, and I could not risk being overheard. I took a deepbreath and began my speech.
“I know that General Zalith has alreadybriefed you on the official line, and told you all that youofficially need to know. What I am about to tell you must never berepeated. Indeed, once you board that craft, nothing you say, do,hear, or see will ever be recorded. This mission is classified tosuch a degree that only High Command has the authority to know whatwe are up to. Our orders for this mission come directly from theEmperor himself, completely bypassing the normal chain of command.Not even the captain of this ship knows all I am about to say.” Icould tell they were not comfortable with this; heck, I was noteither, but it was not my place to question the Emperor.
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“A hostile force, one that we have named theMagi, currently controls the planet we are heading towards. It isunknown what they call themselves so we will refer to them as theMagi until further notice. They are a very powerful group ofunknown size.
“Recently a class-three task force was sentto this planet to bring it back under control. This task force wasled by Lieutenant Tom.” I was surprised to see a look ofrecognition on some of their faces. Good, that would make the nextpoint all the more powerful. “The Magi defeated the class-threetask force before they could get a foothold. As far as we know,there were no survivors.”
The Dark Knights were a stoic bunch bynature. If not for my training in intelligence gathering I mighthave thought they did not react at all to that news, but I couldtell they were all shocked. Again, this was good because I neededto keep them just a little off-balance so I might be able to gain adegree of trust from them.
“The Magi have two primary weapons that weknow of. Both of them have already been brought to bear against us.The first is a plasma cannon. I will not waste our time with allthe technical details; just be aware that it is a weapon muchgreater in power than anything in the fleet. Indeed, one shot fromit could potentially destroy the Dark Talon.” The Dark Talon wasvery heavily armored, and it was hard to imagine anything powerfulenough to take it out with a single blow, so that made it a perfectexample.
“The second weapon is far more subtle, and inmany ways far more deadly. This colony used to house a secret squadcalled the Black Adders. They were trying to develop a new weaponfor our arsenal: psionics. Their progress with this is unknownbecause we lost communication with the colony over a year ago. Webelieve the Magi have wiped out the Black Adders, but it ispossible that they are one and the same. If they are, it will meanthat you might be required to terminate all of them.”
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