“Lead on, Major,” I said. I was not sure Iwanted to trust them yet. After all, one of the most viable workingtheories cast them as traitors. However, they had left me with allmy weapons and gear, so they apparently trusted me, and this trustI could use to my advantage. We traveled very quickly through amaze of corridors that I did not recognize from the map I hadstudied. After a while the hard metal walls turned into rock, andall lighting ceased. I stopped to slip on my night vision goggles,as did the Black Adders, and we pushed on. Eventually we reached awall of darkness so deep and dark that even with my goggles on thehighest setting I could not see through it. To my surprise theyslipped off their goggles and walked through, so I followed suit.After a few steps I walked into a well-lit room. Once my eyesadjusted I looked around at was apparently a makeshiftheadquarters. Weapons and supplies were stashed away everywhere,and in the center of the far wall was a set of screens thatappeared to be linked into the colony’s sensor grid and securitynetwork.
“Welcome to our home, sir. We are about akilometer below the colony, and as long as you keep your thoughtshield up we are completely undetectable to the Magi,” said MajorJerran. “Yes, we know about your shield. In fact, all of us herecan do something similar. It comes with being a Black Adder,sir.”
“Okay, we are safe then. What in theEmperor’s name is going on here and where are the rest of my men?”I asked.
“Sir, I am sorry. Your squad was destroyed.They fought very valiantly, but we got there too late to help andthey were hopelessly outgunned and outnumbered,” was his reply.
A wave of depression and shock hit me then. Ihad never lost anyone under my command before. To lose twenty-fiveall at once was just unthinkable. Depression slowly turned into acold, burning anger that demanded revenge. “Jerran, you had betterstart at the beginning and tell me how we went from a loyal,peaceful colony to all-out war in its corridors,” I said throughgritted teeth.
“Well, sir, I came here about four years agostraight from the Academy to take over the squad. The previouscommander had disappeared and was presumed dead, though we had noidea what had happened to him. As you presumably know, the BlackAdders were sent here to study psionic powers. Every member of thesquad was a master of one or more of these powers. Our primaryobjective was to develop a means of defense against them. I waschosen to come here as leader because I am a master telekinetic,which is a very rare, almost completely unknown power. Theybelieved this power would give me the fresh insight needed to breaka long string of failures.
“When I arrived everything was fairly normal.The squad was continuing with their work, and there was no unrestamongst the civilian families that had come with them. But therewas something odd. There were seven old men who kept turning up inhighly secure places and I could find no record of them in ourdatabase. Whenever I would try to approach one to question him, hewould just vanish. I was not at all happy with this, so I gatheredthirteen of our best telepaths to search for these men.Individually, each of them failed, so I formed them into atelepathic lens …” he said.
“A what?” I interrupted.
“A telepathic lens. It is when a group oftelepaths link their minds as if one and pool their powers andskills. It makes them far greater than any single telepath couldever hope to be,” he answered, and then he continued with hisstory, “That worked very well. Apparently when we chose to do this,the men in question were in a meeting discussing their plans. Ididn’t get very much information, just a clear sense that they planto destroy the Empire.
“Shortly after that connection was made, oneof them appeared in the room with us, floating over the table. Hecalled out, ‘Fools! You have no idea who you are playing with!’ andthen used a wand to kill the telepaths. Because they were linkedup, as soon as one died, they all died. He then turned his wand onme, but I used my telekinesis to grab a chair and hit him frombehind with it before he could attack me. He crumbled and fell outof the air, but before I could do anything else two more of themappeared. I ran from the room under heavy fire from their wands. Iran to get help from the colony security force but found themalready locked in combat with an army of green-skinned aliens.
“The battle for control of the colony lastedonly a few days. Our security forces were just no match for them.Most of the Black Adders fared better as we used our powers to holdsome secure ground, but it was not long before we were forced intoa full retreat. We decided to make a stand at the central computercore and try to get a message out for help. That decision cost usdearly. We got the message out, but only the six of us survived. Wethen went deep underground and built this headquarters. Our planwas fairly simple at this point. Survive until help could come.
“When Lieutenant Tom’s forces arrived weplanned to join up with them and give them all the info we had, butthey never made it to the colony. As soon as they landed and beganto move out, several of the enemy came out of hiding andslaughtered them. The firepower they wielded was incredible;nothing could stand in their path.
“They must have had a telepath among theirnumber because as soon as the squad was wiped out they usedLieutenant Tom’s personal communicator and security codes to send adistress call. Once they got the message out, they set up the lightshelters at the landing site. We didn’t know at the time why theydid all this, but it is now obvious it was to lead you here.
“When your team landed we were sure you wouldbe killed just as Lieutenant Tom’s force was, but not only did yousurvive the opening attack, you made it into the colony. We knew ifwe could not get to your team you would not last long against thesheer numbers here. Our plan was to convince you to retreat, but bythe time we made it to your squad, you were the only one we couldsave. Seconds after we pulled you out, they turned their bigweapons on your squad, killing all of them, and most of theirGreenskins too.”
“Why do you think they wanted to lure mehere?” I asked.
“Well, not you personally, but your fleet. AsI recall, you were recently assigned to the Dragon’s Claw. Made bignews out here because of how young you are. Well, the stated goalof our enemy is the destruction of the Empire, so I assume theyplan to make their first strike against the Dragon Claw. Ifsuccessful, it would have a demoralizing effect across the entireEmpire. Sir, it is important that we warn them not to come close tothe planet. If they come within range, they will be wiped out,” washis reply.
“You think the Magi can destroy the DragonClaw and her fleet?” I questioned.
“Sir, we have studied them as much as wecould while waiting here, and I fear that they can. Our transmitterwill not reach the fleet from here, but I assume your ship is stillout there somewhere cloaked. We could get a message to it and theship could relay it to the fleet,” he said.
“Yes, we could. Before we get to that, pleasecall out your names and ranks. I will need them for any report Isend,” I said. I was stalling while I decided how to proceed.Getting a message to the fleet was a darn good idea, but also adirect violation of orders. They might very well disregard it asfraudulent. I felt I could trust the Black Adders, and while I didnot think I had all the answers yet, I did think what they told meso far was true.
“Certainly, sir. I am Major Jerran, mastertelekinetic,” he said.
A young woman with a slight build and long,dark hair was next. “Sergeant Kellyn, master healer.”
A short man with bright blue eyes describedhimself as “Sergeant Darnath, master telepath.”
Next came a stocky man with brown hair whosaid, “Sergeant Luke, master telepath.”
A brick house of a man was next and said,“Private Gafar, master telepath.”
And finally a brawny woman. “Private Andreya,master illusionist.”
“Thank you,” I said as I pulled out myrecorder and encrypted the conversation for transmission.
“You recorded all that?” Jerran asked.
“I have recorded everything that has happenedon this mission since we left the fleet,” I said. “Do not look sosurprised. I am in Intelligence, after all,” I said with a slight
grin. “Now, where is your transmitter?”
“This way, sir,” said Kellyn as she walked tothe computers on the back wall.
I encrypted all my logs using a key that Ihad previously arranged with the captain in case I needed to make amid-mission transmission like this. There really was no decision tomake. I had to try to get this information to the fleet. Iestablished a link to the Dark Talon, and set it to record andrelay the information to the fleet. “Captain, I know this is abreach of the mission orders, but I have to get you thisinformation. I am sending everything I have learned in thesub-channel and relaying this via the Dark Talon. The mission is acomplete failure, and I am now the only survivor from my team. Ihave established contact with what is left of the Black Adders andI would like their records marked that they have served the Empirewell and did not betray its trust as we first feared. Captain, Icannot leave this line open too long for risk of getting caught.Move immediately to the final stage of our mission plan. Do notapproach the planet; I repeat, do not approach the planet. Captain,I suggest you execute your plan from maximum range, withoutdelay.”
Jerran looked at me and asked, “They plan tobombard the planet, don’t they?”
“Yes, that was the plan from the beginning.We only had a short window of time to try to regain control of thecolony. If that failed, the Emperor ordered that the planet bedestroyed,” was my reply.
“Sir, how much time do we have?”
“Well, hard to say for sure. Three or fourdays at least,” I answered. As the ranking officer they would belooking to me now to lead them. I was not sure I was ready to leadagain after losing the Knights. I looked around at them, and itappeared that Kellyn wanted to speak, but dared not break rank todo it. “Speak freely, Sergeant,” I said.
“Sir, we know a way off this planet. Well,more accurately we think we know how the Magi got here, and wemight be able to use that to escape the upcoming bombardment,” shesaid.
“Go on,” I prompted.
She continued, talking fairly rapidly, “Well,sir, originally we could not understand how they got here. I mean,there are over a thousand of the Greenskins and more and morehumans kept arriving, yet we have not detected even a singlespacecraft landing anywhere on the planet. During the fighting withthe Magi, we discovered this tunnel system that we are in now, andit was not on any map. From what we can tell the Magi have beenhere a long while digging these tunnels. They seem to be searchingfor something, but we do not know what for, or if they found it.The tunnels go much deeper than we are at present, severalkilometers in fact. Well, we never actually measured it but it’ssomething like that, you can tell because …”
“Kellyn, you are off track …” came a gentlereminder from Major Jerran.
“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. I will try to focus.In our exploration of the tunnels we found a room that has a bigstone circle standing vertically against one wall. It is adifferent kind of rock from the rest of the cave wall. While wewere trying to figure out what it was, a blue swirling glowappeared in its center and grew to fill the circle. Then Greenskinsstarted marching out of it, like it was a big door. We quicklyfound cover to prevent our discovery from being known. Since thenwe have seen the Magi and their lackeys go back and forth throughthe circle. I think it is some kind of gate,” she said, almostbreathlessly.
“Okay, everyone, pack up. In one hour I wantto move on that gate. Our primary objective will be to destroy it.Hopefully we can make it through the gate before it’s destroyed,but it is more important to trap the Magi here. Based on yourstories it sounds like they are amassing their forces here. If so,it is best that they stay for the bombardment,” I ordered.
I watched them pack their gear, and none ofthem took any of the guns or other normal weapons they hadstockpiled. Instead they were grabbing what looked like bundles ofthose wands and stashing them in various places in their uniforms.Major Jerran brought me a package of the wands and said, “Sir,shortly before Lieutenant Tom’s raid we intercepted a shipment ofthese weapons. We do not fully understand how they work but we doknow how to use them. Each one has a command word inscribed on itsside. As long as that word is glowing, the wand has a charge. Wehave not yet worked out how to recharge them, nor do we have anyidea how many shots are left in a given wand. This bundle of wandsall uses the same command word, ‘Rathshiran.’ To use it, merelypoint the wand at your target and say the command word. You controlthe strength of the blast by the intensity of your focus on yourtarget. You can only target what you can see clearly. The wandsappear to have a range of one hundred meters,” he explained.
Then he handed me a large staff that wasabout two meters long and appeared to be made from a type of smoothblack wood. “We also captured several of these, which we canrecharge. They work exactly like the wands, except they are muchmore powerful. They have the same line-of-sight limitation, buttriple the range. Both of these weapons easily penetrate theirpersonal shields.”
“What do we know about these shields?” Iasked.
“Not much. They appear to be powered by a boxthey wear at their waist, and only seem to operate when they arestanding still. We have not spent much time worrying about them, asthey are ineffective against their own weapons,” he replied. “Butthey have another kind of shield that does block these wands. It isa large oval-shaped device that they hold like a knight from achildhood fairytale. We have been unable to capture one of thoseyet.”
I stowed all the wands, being careful toseparate the one I had taken earlier, since it used a differentcommand word. “How long is the trip to the gate?” I asked.
“Sir, it will take us most of a day to reachit from here,” Major Jerran replied. “It looks like everyone isready, sir.”
“Everyone, come here for a moment,” I saidand then waited for them to gather. This was not going to be easy.They were not fine-tuned fighting machines like the Dark Knights.This was not a surprise since they were researchers with only theminimal combat training required by the Empire for service. On topof that, they all looked worn out and ready to give up trying.
Instead of the “barking orders” tone that Iwould have used with the Dark Knights, I decided words ofencouragement might be a better idea. “Okay, you all know moreabout the Magi and these tunnels than I do so I am going to needyou to speak freely. I will be depending on your information andexperience to get us to the gate, and survive whatever lies beyondit. You have all done extremely well. Not only have you surviveddeep within enemy territory, but you also have managed to succeedin the mission I was sent here to accomplish. Because of what youhave done, we have a chance to strike a blow to the heart of theMagi’s forces while getting critical information back to theEmpire. Now we can safely assume the course we are about to take isa very dangerous one, so I need you all on your top game. You haveoutsmarted and outmaneuvered the Magi many times over the past fewmonths while you have been down here. We will do it again.” Ipaused here to let that sink in. “If you would have me, I would behonored if you would think of me as one of your squad instead ofjust another ranking officer. Now, before we move out we need aplan to destroy the gate when we get there. Do we have anyexplosives?”
“No, sir, but I know where we can get some,”answered Major Jerran.
“Go on,” I prompted.
“Well, sir, the Magi are using explosives tocreate these tunnels, and we recently found out where they arestoring them,” he answered.
“Excellent. How far out of our way must we goto get them?” I asked.
“Sir, it will probably take a couple of hoursto get there and back. It is in the opposite direction to thegate.” He paused there. I gave a slight nod to prompt him and hecontinued. “Sir, it is likely to be guarded and if we move on itthe guards will call the Seven.”
“I understand, but we have to destroy thatgate and trap them here. If we fail, perhaps we will succeed indistracting them long enough to prevent them from escaping. Thinkof all your families, friends, and classmates out there …” Igestured at the ceiling and continued, “If we can stop
this warhere, they have a chance to live. Otherwise, war with this powerfulan enemy will reach them, and many of them will be called tobattle. You have already seen the power of the Magi; we cannot letthe Empire down. We must make our stand here and now. Now, are youwith me?” I asked. I wondered who the “Seven” were, but thatquestion would have to wait.
“Yes, sir!” was their reply.
“Excellent. Then lead the way,” Iordered.
“Sir, before we go we should explain to youhow we avoid detection by the Magi. Darnath will go in front of us,just a hundred meters or so. Luke will trail behind the samedistance and Gafar will be with our group. With the three of themstrung out like that we get a good coverage of telepathic scanning,allowing us to detect the Magi and their troops long before theysee us. When one of the telepaths detects a Magi scan passingthrough, you will see us all freeze. It is important to take yourcue from that, sir, as there will not be enough time to warn youverbally. When you see us all freeze, you will have to rely on yourthought shield to keep you hidden. If we are detected they willattack us within minutes. We have been doing this for a while now,and we should be able to make it all the way there undetected,”Jerran said.
With that we headed out into the tunnels, andonce there we all put on our night vision goggles so that we couldsee. The group moved rather slowly. Calling it a fast walk would bea stretch. Jerran explained to me that they had to go at a gentlespeed in order to focus on their telepathic scanning. This slowtravel allowed me time to pick their brains a bit. “Major, I have afew questions for you while we walk, if you do not mind, while itis safe.”
“Certainly, sir,” he replied.
I wondered where to start. I decided it mightbe best to start with simple, practical questions. “Okay, you toldme the command word for the wands; I assume that means you can readthe writing on them?” I asked.
“Yes, sir, and so can you,” he answered.“Sir, these wands and staves are controlled by force of will. Youaim them by looking at your target and willing the wand to hit it.You control the strength of the bolt by how forcefully you will itto be, and you read the command words merely by willing them into alanguage you can read. Try it, sir. Take out a wand and focus onthe writing, and will it to be understandable.”
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