Rise of Shadows

by Vincent Trigili

  “Parrinian Delight? What is that?” I asked.

  “Shadow? You can’t be serious? You don’t know what Parrinian Delight is?” said Flame.

  “Well, it looks like some kind of soup … ” I began.

  “Oh my! Well then, Shea, make sure you save him some for dinner. This must be fixed!” said Flame.

  “Definitely, Master, we can’t let this stand!” said Shea while barely holding back a chuckle.

  “Yeah, yeah, I will try some later, but now we need to find some breakfast,” I said.

  Flame and I took some food and headed over to a table to eat. Flame did her best to distract me with talk, mainly about the plans for the wedding. I was only half listening. I could not shake the feeling I was missing something. I knew there was some clue staring me in the face that, if I could just see it, would make sense of many of the questions I had. Shea joined us after a short while, and she and Flame started chatting about all kinds of random topics. The two of them were a perfect match, as they both loved to hear stories of faraway places. I had a hard time following their conversation as they both chatted away, seeming to feed off each other’s stories. Occasionally they would ask me something to try to pull me into their conversation, but for the most part, I just listened.

  “I was thinking, Shadow. I think I want Shea and Spectra to be part of our wedding,” she said as we left the mess hall and headed to the ship’s exercise area for a light workout.

  “Huh? Oh, yeah, sure,” I said, trying to catch up with the topic change.

  “Who do you plan to have?” she asked.

  “Have? What do you mean?” I asked.

  “In your wedding party, Shadow,” she said.

  “At the party? Oh well, I suppose everyone on the Dust Dragon,” I said.

  “No, not at the party. In your party,” she said.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Yeah, you know, the men that will be by your side for it?” she said.

  “Um, I do not know. What qualifications do they need?” I asked.

  “Qualifications? None,” she said.

  “Well, then how do I know who to pick?” I asked.

  “It is customary to pick those men who are closest to you,” she said.

  “Oh. Well, let’s see; you picked two ladies, so um, Dusty and Phoenix?” I asked.

  “Sure! They would be great! How is it that I know more about your culture’s wedding customs than you do?” she asked.

  “I never had reason to care before,” I said.

  She smiled broadly and said, “Aw, that's sweet of you to say!”

  I decided not to contest that, even though there was nothing sweet about it. I really never had a reason to care before. I spent my life either in the navy or Alpha Academy. I had never seen a wedding before. I am sure they happened around me, but I never bothered to notice. I had been too focused on my career, but it seemed I would need to brush up, and fast.

  Chapter Sixty-One

  During the following few days Master Shadow and I took turns at command on the bridge, but nothing happened, so the Dust Dragon mainly flew itself. Most of my time at command was spent with Darius telling war stories to Spectra and myself, which sounded so much more glamorous than what we were currently doing in this war.

  When the day came to make the last jump that would put us in range of the pirate base, there was a high level of anticipation around the ship. Master Shadow was worried that it was a trap of some kind, but we had to follow up on this lead. Darius speculated that it was possible that the sorcerers had discovered another tear and placed their star base around it so that they could tap it directly. I was not so sure about that since it would take a massive star base to cover a tear, one much bigger than I imagined the pirates would have resources for. It would have to be on the scale of a small moon to completely enclose a tear and leave room for the star base around it.

  I joined Darius, Shea, and Spectra in the mess hall for one last meal. We would be jumping soon and would not be likely to get a break together for some time. Once we were all seated I asked, “So what do we think we will see?”

  “Master, if the data we have is correct there should be a large star base and two or three battle fleets,” said Darius.

  “Yeah, that's the problem, though. Master Shadow does not believe the data is legit,” I said.

  “That’s not quite right, Dusty. He thinks it was planted, but it still could be true,” said Spectra.

  “Yeah, but if we assume it’s right that means the pirates have quite a fleet out here, so why have they stopped their raids?” I asked. Ever since that fleet was destroyed by the Aleeryon surprise attack there had been no reports of pirate raids.

  “Master, I suspect they are amassing their forces for a counter-strike,” said Darius. “They have taken a beating out here, and to continue to operate they will need to break the back of the navy.”

  “So you think they will make a push for Aleeryon itself?” asked Spectra.

  “Yes, Master. They will fail but will probably do enough damage that the Aleeryon Navy will be too crippled to threaten the pirates out here, allowing them to rebuild their power base,” said Darius.

  “Then we should call in all of Alpha Academy and take them out while we have the chance,” I said.

  “No, Master, that would not be wise. If we bring our full power to bear here, they could counter-attack back at the school,” he said.

  “I see, but if we were to just bring one master out here, that would be enough,” I said.

  “No, because then they could bring all of their masters here and take him out. Master, war is a game of balance and strategy. You have to know when to commit and how much of your forces to commit. It becomes a game of out-guessing your opponent,” said Darius. “There may even be times when you deliberately lose a given battle if it will lead to an opportunity to win the war.”

  “Are you saying it might be better for us to lose this fight?” I asked.

  “No, Master, but if the pirates charge for Aleeryon they will lose that fight, and yet that battle will still give them control of the shipping lanes again. Assuming they have smart leadership, they would know that as well as I,” he said.

  We talked for a little while longer on various strategies of war. Throughout it Shea listened intently. She appeared to be extremely interested in the conversation but never once offered any input or asked any questions. I would have to ask her sometime what had her so captivated.

  Once we wrapped up our meal, we headed to our stations. Darius went to engineering, Spectra and I went to the bridge, and Shea joined the doctor in sickbay.

  After Spectra and I took our seats on the bridge Flame said, “It sure is nice to have everyone back at their posts again.”

  Master Shadow smiled. “Yes, it is. How long until we are ready to jump?”

  “We are ready now, Shadow,” said Flame.

  Master Shadow activated the ship-wide comm system and said, “Everyone, in a moment we will be jumping into what could very well be a hot zone, so be ready for possible combat. If the information we have is right, we should come out of jump space several hours from their star base. That should be far enough away to keep us from being detected. Our goal is to verify this information and get out, but if we are discovered, we will fight.” Then he turned off the comm and said, “When we come out, Dusty, make us disappear. Phoenix, be ready with the shields. Flame, put us on the best course to the station that you can; keep us at about fifty-percent power. Everyone ready?”

  Once everyone indicated that they were ready, he gave Flame the command to jump. As the calming azure of jump space wrapped around me, I tried to focus and prepare for what was coming. Immediately after we came out of jump space I wrapped the Dust Dragon in shadows. If anyone was watching, we just faded out of existence before their very eyes. Flame slowly accelerated us away from the jump exit as Master Shadow asked, “Spectra, best guess: were we spotted?”
<
br />   “No, Master, I do not think so,” she said.

  “Good, we should be careful with magical probes on this pass, as we can expect sorcerers to be here. We will fly blind for a while, at least until we are in close enough range for the passive scanners to start giving us good information.”

  “And thus the waiting game begins,” said Phoenix.

  He was a man of action, so I doubted he liked this kind of mission, but I felt more at home doing this kind of thing than I ever did in battle. Combat was fast, furious, and constantly changed so that you could never really get your bearings on what was going on. In contrast these stealth missions were a contest of control and precision. They developed slowly and, if you were successful, never got furious.

  I looked over at Spectra and could see she was carefully studying her terminals, looking for information on what we were about to face. I knew this to be up her alley too. I wondered, given that Darius was on my team, what he thought about these kinds of missions. His personality was hard to judge in the few days that I had known him so far.

  “Master Shadow, I’ve got something,” said Spectra.

  “What do you see?” he asked.

  “Looks like we are approaching an active scan field. We should be able to slide through it undetected and, once beyond that, we should be close enough to start getting an idea of what is out there,” she said.

  “Flame, slow us down to thirty percent just in case. Dusty, everything still good?” he asked.

  “Yes, Master,” I responded. “The field will not give me any problems.”

  “Good, just be careful that there are no surprises hiding out there,” he said.

  At this range, there was nothing they could do that would detect us, I was sure of it, but I knew that Master Shadow was right. It was possible that they had some trick planned to catch us, possibly an advanced scout with a sorcerer on board, which could be a problem; especially if that sorcerer was skilled in the concealment arts. I carefully maintained my cloaking spells around the Dust Dragon while watching for anyone that might be looking for us.

  “We will be passing through the active scan field shortly,” said Spectra.

  I could sense it approaching, and felt it as it passed through us.

  “Okay, we are clear of the field, and data is coming in now. The scan field is apparently acting as some kind of dampener because data is now flowing in through all of our passive scanners,” said Spectra.

  She then proceeded to report on what was there. There were at least three complete battle fleets, and the space station was exactly as indicated by the information we had. As more data came flowing in it became apparent that all the information we had taken from the carrier was real, which concerned Master Shadow even more.

  “Okay, Flame, take us out of here. We know enough to contact Bill,” he said.

  “Sure. I take it you want to fly all the way back out to where we jumped in?” she asked.

  “Same distance, but go in a different direction, just in case they are watching there now,” he said.

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Once we cleared jump space I said, “Flame, please set a course that will put us on a completely different angle of attack to the station than either of the two we were just on. Spectra, please raise Bill on a secure channel.”

  “Sure, Shadow,” said Flame.

  A few minutes later a very excited Bill appeared on the comm and said, “Shadow! We have been trying to reach you for days.”

  “Sorry about that, Bill, but we have been under deep cover, following up on some intelligence we collected. What did you need from us?” I asked.

  “Well, Shadow, I’m not sure you’re going to believe this; heck, I’m not sure I do,” started Bill. Bill then went on to tell me about an old man who visited him in a bar. The old man gave him a datapad filled with highly detailed information about the pirates and the location of a major star base. He also told us about sending an elite wing of stealth bombers to investigate, and they verified that the information was real.

  “That is very interesting, Bill. Seemingly we have a similar story about that same station,” I said. I then filled him in on the datapad we had and what we saw when we investigated the location indicated in the data.

  “You are not helping my disbelief of this situation,” he said.

  “Then let me make it worse. Judging by your description, the old man who gave you that datapad is known to be a high-level sorcerer, and one who has been meddling in current events,” I said.

  “A sorcerer? Why would he be helping us, then? Unless it is a trap?” asked Bill.

  “That is what I have been pounding my head against for days now. The odd thing is that one of the last times we saw him, he was killing off three powerful sorcerers known as necromancers. Now he gives us both intelligence on the location of what is likely to be a major sorcerer stronghold. I do not like this one bit,” I said.

  “Sounds to me like we are being pulled into a coup,” said Bill.

  “Of course!” I said as I jumped up. I should have seen that before. “That is exactly what must be happening! We know there is a leadership problem among the sorcerers since they have not yet decided on a new grandmaster, and I bet this old man is making a power play for that position.”

  “Which means if we carry through with the obvious course of action and attack the pirate stronghold, we are helping the old man achieve his goals,” said Bill.

  “True, and if we do not, then we are helping his enemies, the rest of the sorcerers,” I said.

  “Exactly. Horrible position to be in,” he said.

  “Then what do we do?” asked Flame.

  “Unfortunately, we find ourselves helping the old man, and I bet he knows it,” I said.

  “Yeah, we take out the pirate base and deal with the faction that wins the coup, as soon as we can find their base,” said Bill.

  “You mean we help the old man?” asked Flame.

  “Yes, regardless if it helps the old man or not, we have to if we are going to reclaim this space for Aleeryon,” I said.

  “Right, so what is your plan?” asked Bill.

  “Based on the reports we both have, I think the best idea is for us to take out the station, while you destroy their fleets,” I said.

  “Sounds like a plan we have tried before,” said Bill.

  “Yes, except this time that station is deadly in and of itself, so you will not want to get close to it until we can take out its defenses,” I said.

  “Then I suggest we send in several fleets of bombers first. They will not be able to harm the station, but if we can keep the advantage of surprise, we should do some serious damage to their battle fleets. In response, their war ships will scatter, and we can intercept them outside the range of the station with our own fleets. That should buy you time to get in and work your magic,” said Bill.

  “Excellent plan. When can you be ready?” I asked.

  “I need eight more days to finish assembling the fleet and get them into position,” said Bill.

  “Good, then you move as soon as you are ready. We will take our cue from the bombs. Until then we will be in hiding to prevent tipping our hand,” I said.

  “Good luck, Shadow. I expect to see you and my baby sister at the victory party,” he said and closed the communications channel.

  I chuckled and said, “He was always one for subtle hints. Flame, set a course back to the station under maximum cloak.”

  “Sure, Shadow, but won’t that put us in range of the bombs?” she asked.

  “Yes, however ,I plan to hide inside the station’s shields. Once in there we will be safe from the bombs and in position to launch our surprise attack while they are still scrambling to respond to the Aleeryon Navy,” I said.

  I wanted to call Grandmaster Vydor and let him know what we had discovered, but we were too close to the pirate base. I did not want to risk the communication being detected and tipping our han
d to the sorcerers that were sure to be on the station. This area of space was often home to many mundane communications, but telepathic communication was still rare. Such a call to Grandmaster Vydor might stick out like a huge fire in a dark room. Of course, the old man knew what we going to do, but he was the one who set the whole thing up, so there was no hiding it from him.

  This apparent coup explained a lot about what has been happening out here. The old man left just enough clues along the way so that we would help him, while making it look like he was trying to stop us. It was a subtle and ingenious plan on his part, which was what we have come to expect from the sorcerers. He must have planted the information on the datapad. Since Dusty spent most of the time around him under a charm spell, it was possible that the old man pulled it off without Dusty being aware of it.

  It did not fully explain why the balance of power in the realm was still slowly sliding towards darkness, though. A coup should, at least in the short term, weaken the sorcerers, but it seemed they were getting stronger. There must be another layer to peel back in these plans yet, but what was it? The only thing I knew for sure was that a shadow was rising across the realm, and light seemed to be falling back from it.

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  It took us a full day to slip past the assembled battle fleets and inside the shields of the station. Once there we spent another full day learning what we could about the station without alerting them to our presence. With less than a week left, I called my command team into the officers’ conference room to start coming up with a plan. I also invited Darius because of his war experience.

  The station was massive, on the order of magnitude of a tiny moon. It had many layers of multiphasic shielding and would likely be able to completely withstand most attacks. Based on an external visual inspection, it was heavily armed with many weapons turrets. Our best guess is that it could withstand an attack against three complete battle fleets without any trouble. We could not probe for life signs, but the sheer size of the station meant there could be hundreds of thousands of people on board.