I returned to the captain’s seat while Iwaited for us to clear the wake.
“Vydor, before we jumped last time youmeditated, and when I finally came out of the post-jump effects Inoticed that you were already in control of the ship. Doesmeditation somehow help you come out of it faster?” askedAndreya.
“Yes, it avoids almost all the impact ofthe jump. I would have told you but I promised the Dark Knights Iwould keep it secret,” was my answer.
“So this method is not generallyknown?” asked Kellyn.
“No, it is their secret weapon that givesthem a big edge in combat,” I said. “As far as I know theyare the only ones ever to figure it out.”
“Well then, we shall all keep theirsecret,” stated Kellyn, and the others nodded in agreement.
“Vydor, we are clear of the wake and canjump when you are ready,” said Luke.
“Give a five-second countdown and thenjump,” I said.
“Jumping in five … four… three…” wasall I heard as I slipped into a trance. The post-jump beep of thecomputers alerted me to the end of the jump and this time everyonebut Kellyn was awake. “Do not look alive just yet. It would bebest if they do not know how fast we can recover,” I said. Iwaited until I saw Kellyn come out of the post-jump hangover, andthen announced our presence to the planetary defense network.
“Dark Talon, please relinquish control ofyour craft. We will take you into the meeting point,” was the onlyreply. Their security codes checked out, so I really had no choicebut to comply.
“Luke, do as they ordered,” I said.Then I responded on the radio, “Acknowledged.”
Soon the ship was dropped into full stealthmode, and all viewing screens were turned off. They apparently didnot want anyone to know where we were going, not even us. “Do wehave access to any sensors?” I asked.
“No, sir, all controls are offline, andbecause we are in stealth mode I cannot even probe for someoneoutside that can see us,” responded Darnath.
“Well then, enjoy the ride, I guess.”It made sense that they would keep the location of the High Commanda secret. I just did not like not being in control. Not onebit.
“Okay, everyone, here is our plan. You areto hide wands on your person, but leave your staves here. I will becarrying mine just in case, and to add to the effect I am goingfor. When we disembark, everyone is to have their hoods up, and tostand tall and proud. Do all that you can to look as powerful aspossible. Show not even the slightest fear or worry. Instead, actlike you are in complete control of everything. We want to make astrong statement for our first impression,” I said. “When wewalk, I will lead and you follow. Form up double-file behind me. Donot let anyone break our group, and prevent any security measurefrom seeing you.”
As I finished saying that I felt the shipcome to a landing. That was much too fast to be on the planet; wemust have been in a station in orbit. I threw up my hood andgrabbed my staff. The lights came on in the ship and the systemsreturned to normal. “Darnath, see to it that the ship is safewhile we are in there. If all goes badly we will return here andfly her home to the Dragon Claw.”
“Dark Talon, please disembark from yourvessel now,” came the order over the radio.
I waited a full five minutes, and then openedthe airlock. I felt Andreya wrap a subtle aura of darkness aroundus to help create the effect I was looking for. We walked down theramp. Instead of an honor guard like there had been on the DragonClaw, we were greeted by heavily-armed and armored security forces.I walked fearlessly up to the head of the squad and said, “We areready.” I could tell that shook him a bit.
“Sir, I need to take your staff,” hesaid.
“No, you will not,” I said and laced my wordswith a bit of fear. I hated to manipulate him like that, but Icould not risk losing the staff when we would soon be facingLarath.
“Follow me, then,” he said.
We followed him to a high securitycheckpoint. He stopped to get clearance to enter, but I ledeveryone right through the security screens without triggering asingle alarm. Once clear, I stopped and without looking back waitedfor him. I could hear them mumbling in shock, as we did not evenshow on their scanners. After a minute I said, “Corporal, the HighCommand is waiting.”
“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir,” he said and resumedleading us down a long corridor. When we reached a large door heheaded to the commpad, presumably to request that the door beopened.
I approached the door and cast a minorunlocking spell and then pushed the door open with telekinesis. Theguards looked on in shock. From their perspective I merely waved myhand over the door and it opened. We then walked into the chambersand I saw the members of High Command sitting around a U-shapedtable. Larath was in the center, as if they were grilling him. Whenwe entered they all stood. Andreya’s illusion of power around uswas working perfectly; they were on their feet before theyremembered who it was that we were. Larath turned to look at me andI immediately reached out to see what he was up to. He sent onelast message back to his master: “He is definitely the one,”then did all he could to lock down his mind.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The chairman gestured for the others to sitand said, “Welcome, Vydor. We have reviewed all your reports, andheard Larath’s testimony about you, but we are a bit baffled as towhy you are here. We sent no order for you to come.”
“I sent the order,” a voice said from behindus. I turned to look and saw the Emperor himself walking in. He waswearing his regal black robes of office, and carrying the scepterof authority in his right hand. He was much older than I hadexpected but still had a powerful stride and a confidence built onthe might of the Empire itself.
“Greetings, Honored One,” I said as I made asmall formal bow. The rest of my wizards mimicked my bow in perfectunison.
“Sire, I apologize, but I was not informed ofthis order,” said the chairman as he and the others scrambled totheir feet.
“That is fine, please remain seated. I wantto hear Vydor’s report,” said the Emperor as he took his seat onthe throne.
“Get shields up on everyone but Larath,especially the Emperor,” I said to the wizards via our link.“I am about to tip our hand and things could get ugly.”
I walked a few steps towards the Emperor andsaid, “Honored One, I cannot, for a traitor is in our midst.” Thisbrought a gasp of surprise from several members of the HighCommand.
I turned and looked right at Larath, butbefore I could make my next move he pulled out a wand and yelled,“Your feeble Empire is no match for us!” He then fired three boltsright at the Emperor in rapid succession. The bolts hit Darnath’sshield and burst into harmless light.
I moved towards him and he lowered his wandat me. Before he could fire the wand flew out of his hand, thanksto quick thinking by Jerran. As I neared him, my anger over theloss of the Dark Knights welled up. My voice was dripping withvenom as I said, “I have a message for you to send to yourmasters.” I saw fear pass over his face just before I swung mystaff, battering him in the side of his head with great force. Hecrumpled to the ground. I picked up his wand and finished him off.It took me a moment to regain my composure, but thanks to Andreya’sillusions no one knew.
Before I could say anything, security forcesrushed into the room and surrounded all the members of High Commandand the Emperor.
“The situation is under control. Dispose ofthe body, and stand down,” ordered the Emperor.
They moved to comply with great precision andspeed. Once they were gone, the Emperor said, “Now would you shareyour report?” I was somewhat surprised at how fast he could moveon.
“Sire, I would like to know more first aboutwhat just happened,” said the chairman.
“I fully expect that to be part of Vydor’sreport,” stated the Emperor.
As was the proper custom, I faced the Emperordirectly before speaking. This put my back to where High Commandwas sitting, which felt a bit rude, but that was not for me todecide, I guess.
“Yes, Honored One. War has come to the Empirefro
m a new quarter. A group of aliens who call themselves sorcerershave already invaded our realm and attempted to set up a base onArken IV. This attempt was defeated by the combined efforts of theBlack Adders and the Dragon Claw’s fleet. The sorcerers wield greatpower, and have already infiltrated our highest ranks with theirspies. Larath was one of five known spies in top consular positionsthroughout the fleet. These positions give them access to sensitiveinformation which no other position in the Empire could give.” Ipaused here to let that sink in a bit. “Larath’s attack on theEmperor was uncharacteristically drastic for them, but I blame thaton the fact that he was only an apprentice, and relativelyinexperienced in his art.” Since Larath was so highly respected forhis skill, I wanted to make sure I cast him as weak amongst hispeers to give a proper respect for the power of our enemy. “HonoredOne, with your permission I have a visual presentation to betterillustrate who our enemy is.”
“Proceed, Vydor,” said the Emperor with atone of curiosity.
“Andreya, please show the fleetdemonstration,” I said aloud, then across our connection, “Canyou make an illusion of this?” and sent her a series of mentalimages.
“Sure, Vydor, but next time how about abit more warning?” was her reply across our connection. “Yes,Master Vydor,” she said aloud with a tone of extreme respect. Ourgroup then spread out into a circle. Jerran helpfully reached outand lowered the room lights a bit as a 3D image of the DragonClaw’s fleet appeared in the center of the circle, high enough upin the air for all to see.
“Honored One, what you see here is the mostpowerful arm of the Navy, the Dragon Claw and her fleet,” I said.Then the image shrank a little and off in the distance we saw asmall shuttlecraft. “Here is a single, simple shuttle to representthe number of sorcerers needed to completely defeat the DragonClaw. Now watch how it plays out. Andreya, play it through to itsconclusion without stopping.”
“Yes, Master Vydor,” she replied.
The scene that followed brought gasps fromall of High Command and a look of worry on the face of the Emperor.What I had Andreya show was the fleet turning on itself, shipagainst ship, and crewman against crewman. It was a bloodbath, thelike of which had never been seen in all of history. When theillusion finished, the lone shuttle was left flying through agraveyard of destroyed ships.
“Honored One, that is what will happen whenthe sorcerers decide to move in force against the Empire. What yousaw there was one of their simpler but devastating attacks. This isnot a theory or a guess; they have already used it on us once. Itis a combination of a fear weapon and a hallucination weapon. Inshort, they can turn us against each other completely eliminatingany chance for an Imperial victory,” I explained, then over ourconnection I said, “Andreya, can you display the invasion ofLieutenant Tom’s forces?”
“No, I did not witness it, but I did seethe final battle of the Dark Knights. Would that work?” sheasked.
“Yes,” I said with some hesitation. Iwas not sure I was ready to see that yet, but this was tooimportant to stand in the way. Aloud I said, “Andreya, please showthe final battle of the Dark Knights. Just bring up the initialscene and hold it there.”
“Yes, Master Vydor,” was her reply.
Upon hearing her say that it occurred to methat I was not speaking to the Emperor as a lowly soldier, for Iwas speaking now as an equal, a fellow ruler. The formal title ofmaster which everyone would have to use to me now scared me alittle. Instead of executing orders, I would have to give them. Theburden of that was starting to weigh on me as I realized that thefuture of the Empire might depend on my presentation right now.
“What you see before you is the best of thebest, the Dark Knights. At the start of this battle there weretwenty-five of them, heavily armed and ready for combat. Earlier inour mission we had discovered how to block the fear andhallucination weapon. What you are about to see here is how easilyour elite forces were defeated. Andreya, let the scene play out,” Isaid.
They all watched in horror as the Knights’weapons proved ineffective against the shields of the sorcerers. Inoticed Andreya had left me completely out of it, which I wasthankful for since I did not want to distract from my presentationby explaining how I had lived through it. As she got to the end ofthe battle I saw for the first time how they had died. One of theseven appeared. Unlike the other sorcerers, he stood tall and didnot hide behind a shield. Instead, he walked forward, completelyimmune to all the weapons being brought against him. He casuallylowered his staff and fired a single blast. Andreya masterfullyshifted the scene so that everyone’s eyes followed the bolt ofenergy right down to the center of the Dark Knights’ position. Theresulting blast ripped a hole right through to the outsideatmosphere, sucking any who might have survived out on to thesurface of the planet to die. The sorcerers were safe behind ashield wall, but the Greenskins all perished, as they were with theDark Knights. The scene faded and everyone was silent.
“Andreya, please bring up an image of thatmaster sorcerer just before he blasted, and nothing else,” Isaid via our connection.
“Honored One, the sorcerers break up theirforces into seven ranks. They are prospect, student, apprentice,journeyman, elite, master and grandmaster. Each level isexponentially stronger than the previous level. We do not have acount of their total forces but we know there are six mastersorcerers and one grandmaster who make up their ruling council.This man here is one of seven known to be on their ruling council.As you saw, his power is far greater than any of the others and hedoes not care how many of his own troops die, as long as he wins.The hard truth is that the Empire presently has nothing that canstand against him, and he is but one of seven,” I explained.
“Vydor, what about the Black Adders?” heasked.
“Honored One, they fought hard and well,killing many of the sorcerers, but when this one and the other sixarrived on the scene, they were outmatched and almost all of themwere killed.”
“Vydor, you said that you found a way toblock their hallucination attack, so we should be able at least toprevent what we saw in your first video?” asked the chairman.
“Yes, I did, but it requires a very strongmind and a dedication that I would say fewer than ten percent ofthe Imperial forces can muster,” was my reply. I let that sit for abit. I needed to prepare myself for the hard part: our resignationand request for recognition as a separate nation. Every life in theEmpire depended on me pulling this off; I dared not fail. I wastempted to reach out with my powers and force the situation to playout the way it needed to, but a voice deep down inside me that Ihad not heard in a very long time cried out against that. I couldbarely hear it, but I knew it was right.
“Honored One, if this was the end of myreport, it would be a sad day indeed for the Empire, but there ishope to be found. We successfully contacted a second group ofaliens, known as wizards, and through them we learned much aboutthe sorcerers, namely that they are currently locked in a very longand closely-matched war with the wizards. It seems that thesorcerers are in our realm looking for some new weapon which theybelieve is here, and they believe that weapon will grant them theneeded edge for victory in their realm.”
“The enemy of an enemy is a friend,”commented the Emperor with a smile.
“Well spoken, Honored One. A representativeof the ruling Council of Wizards who simply goes by the name Mantiscontacted us. He is the one who showed us how to create the shieldthat just saved your life, and how to fight a sorcerer likeLarath.” I paused here to think about what I should say next.However, before I could formulate my thoughts, the Emperor stoodand raised his scepter. I knew that meant he was about to speakofficially and whatever he decreed would be law.
“I have heard enough. I can see how the restof the story plays out. Do not be surprised, there are after allseven of you,” he said with a smile, and then a serious look cameover his face.
“By the power vested in me, I hereby grantVydor, Kellyn, Andreya, Jerran, Gafar, Darnath, and Luke honorabledischarge from their positions in the Imperial forces, and release
them from their citizenship. Let the record show these men andwomen are worthy of the highest honor and respect for theirdedicated service. So let it be written, so let it be done,” hedeclared.
“The High Command witnesses this declarationand shall obey,” came the reply from the chairman, who looked veryconfused.
“By the power vested in me, I hereby grantofficial recognition to the Council of Wizards for our realm as ledby Grandmaster Vydor, and his ruling council comprised of MasterKellyn, Master Andreya, Master Jerran, Master Gafar, MasterDarnath, and Master Luke. I also grant full ally status to saidcouncil and commit the full resources of the Empire to supportthem.”
“The High Command witnesses this declarationand shall obey,” came the reply from the chairman, who looked likehe had finally caught on.
Well, he might not have been my childhood godany more, but he sure could still shock me! This really made nosense. How did he make that leap so fast? I wondered if it would beconsidered proper for me to grill him a little about this.
He sat down, indicating that his officialruling was complete. I promptly said, “Thank you, Honored One, yourgenerosity and insight is without measure.”
“High Command, please leave us. I must speakand plan our defense with the Council of Wizards,” ordered theEmperor. It was a mostly forgotten custom that the Emperor directlyhandled planning with allies, mainly because the Empire hadassimilated all of its allies, but the High Command seemed toremember it since they left without complaint.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Once they were gone, the Emperor laid hisscepter down next to his throne and said, “Please relax, we areequals now. No need for such formality.”
The Enemy of an Enemy ltop-1 Page 17
