“But is that not exactly what the genetic encoding was designed to do?” asked the aide.
“Yes!” he barked.
“Then why not wait and let it work?” suggested the aide.
“Because these are magi! They do not follow the normal rules in any respect. They bend nature to their will, so we cannot be sure the encoding will work!” responded Jashier.
One of the other men said, “Forgive my interruption, but the fleet is getting ready to deploy. Are you positive you want to carry this out?”
Jashier settled into a chair at the head of the table and took some deep breaths. He did not speak for a while, but sat there focusing on his breathing. “How long till we are in range?”
“Less than twelve hours,” the other replied.
“There will be no turning back if we go through with this,” said his aide.
“I have no intention of turning back now. The old guard has grown weak with age, and it is time for new blood to take control. What is the status of their defense?” asked Jashier.
One of the other men walked over to a screen and brought up a map showing the location of a space station and the region around it. “They are gearing up for the attack. Someone must have tipped them off to our approach.”
“How?” asked Jashier. “They should be evacuating as part of the purge.”
“I do not know, sir. All I know is that they have been gearing up for a fight. Supplies are being rushed in and no one is pulling out.”
Jashier leaned back in his chair, pressed his fingers together and did not speak for several moments. He looked up at the man standing before the battle plans and said, “Then it is already too late to pull back. Call in the second fleet and execute the attack plan.”
“If they are ready for us, perhaps we should select a new target?” asked the aide.
“There is wisdom in your words, but we need to take this station. It is the key to wresting control of this sector from them,” said Jashier.
“If we wait for the second fleet to arrive, it will alter the timeline to sixteen hours instead of twelve,” said the man standing by the screens.
“Then we will wait. I will not rush into a fight without sufficient forces,” said Jashier.
“What about the rumored magi ship?” asked the aide.
“What magi ship?” asked Jashier.
“There have been reports of a covert ops ship from the Wizard Kingdom operating out here,” he said.
“That seems odd. What are they doing out here?” asked Jashier.
“We do not know, but they have appeared in a few random places, most recently Hospital Station where two magi met up with a trade fleet and purchased some supplies, including a spacecraft,” said the aide.
“Very interesting, but at present that is nothing but a distraction from the imminent battle. After we’ve won this engagement, get some people to find out what they are up to,” said Jashier.
“Yes, sir,” said the aide.
“And once you know, kill them,” said Jashier. “Dismissed.”
The other humans all quickly left the room. When he was alone, Jashier smiled. He walked over, picked up the broken datapad and chuckled. “How easy it is to bend the simple-minded to one’s will.”
He walked over to one of the computer screens and brought up images of various humans in different control rooms. “Very soon your fate will be sealed and only then will you realize that you have been duped, when it is too late to do anything about it.”
Chapter Forty-Five
I watched through my false window as we approached the station. Spectra was nestled at my side and in my hand was the cracked datapad with orders for the transfers. “Greymere and Saraphym should be on their way by now,” I said.
“Yes, they will have a long wait out there,” she replied.
“Makes me kind of jealous,” I said. “Just the two of them drifting alone with nothing to bother them,” I said.
“Sounds blissful,” she said.
As I thought more about the road that Spectra had steered me on to, I wondered again if this was the right way to obtain what we both felt was needed: a safe place for spiritualists to learn and grow. I knew that we needed to do something, but Spectra’s plan was drastic.
As we stood there, I knew Kymberly’s team was about to deploy. They would be locking on their helmets and doing their final checks. Along with them was the spy, Chrimson. “Chrimson is conflicted now.”
“Yes. He loves this new life we are giving him, but he is not the type to easily break a bond. He still feels loyal to Henrick,” she said.
“That is what you wanted,” I said.
“Not quite, but it is a step on the way there. You see how poorly he’s been trained. We can make him great,” she said.
“And turn him into a double agent,” I said.
“Yes, that would be a nice bonus,” she said. “But I am sure he will be a loyal member of our group who will stick with us through thick and thin, eventually.”
“You can judge all that from his aura?” I asked.
“There is more to it than that, but sort of. As you make progress in our skill, you will learn to see a lot more than a mixture of colors floating around a person. There are many more layers to look through.”
I looked at the names on the datapad. “Are you sure these are the best ones to seed our group?”
“Yes. I have studied them closely for years,” she said.
“Is that why you hid in the corner of the lunch room all that time at the Academy?” I asked.
“Not exactly,” she said.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Oh, Dusty, I wasn’t planning this all that time, if that is what you’re getting at. It was just survival at first. I studied everyone,” she said.
“And me?” I asked.
“Despite my attempts to be alone, you kept coming over and chatting with me, so I got an even better look and liked what I saw.” I could feel her purring gently at my side. The subtle vibrations sent a warmth rushing through my body.
“Me too,” I said softly, enjoying the moment.
We’d been quiet for a long while when Nemesis reported that Kymberly’s group had left the ship.
“We are too far from the hospital. If I send this transfer request now, it will be a long time before they can come aboard.”
“Oh, I have a solution for that,” she said.
“You’re going to gate them through the Spirit Realm?” I asked.
“Yes, after we do our station run,” she said.
“Speaking of which, it is our turn to head over,” I said and set the datapad down. It was too soon to tip that hand. I knew that once we had brought them on board we would begin the next phase of her plan, and then there would be no turning back. She had handpicked everyone with the highest likelihood of staying with us through all that might happen. I felt that this was the opening move of a master chess game, the board of which was invisible to me; I had to trust Spectra blindly.
We donned our armor and locked on our helmets. When we were dressed, we cast Night Wraith Form, which changed us into spirit form so that we could simply fly through the walls of the ship and over to the station.
“Nemesis, we are leaving. Find a place to hide where you won’t be caught in the crossfire and wait for our signal,” I sent.
“You’re like me, now!” he replied.
“Yes,” sent Spectra. “But this is only temporary. It allows us to travel over there undetected.”
“But that is bad! Did you die?” he asked.
“No, really, we’re fine,” sent Spectra.
After a few more assurances to Nemesis that we were all right, we flew through the walls of the ship and out into space. Approaching the station, I noticed something odd. “The station seems more active.”
“Yeah, there is a lot more life on that station than we expected, going by the other stations,” se
nt Spectra.
“Kymberly, are you on board yet?” I sent.
“Yes, Master. We are hiding in one of their docking bays right now,” she sent.
“Anything in there with you?” asked Spectra.
“Yes, Master. It is packed with war ships, and there are soldiers everywhere. We have not had much success in making progress into the station because of it,” she sent.
“Hold there while we investigate,” I sent, then spoke privately to Spectra. “Do you think we have the wrong station?”
“Let’s get on board and find central command. There might be some answers for us there,” she sent.
We drifted through the station, completely invisible and intangible. Kymberly’s observations in the docking bays seemed to describe the general situation. The station was overloaded with military forces and equipment. The corridors were partly blocked by overflow from the storage areas, and soldiers were constantly bumping into each other when trying to move about. There was no way the station could sustain that level of occupancy for any length of time.
“Do you think they have been falling back so that they could make a stand here?” asked Spectra.
“That seems like a good guess, but the fleet can’t be far. Why are they all inside?” I asked.
“To disguise their numbers. A single scout ship could approach unnoticed, but a fleet of that size will be seen long before it arrives. By waiting till the last moment to launch, the attacker won’t know ahead of time what they are facing,” sent Spectra.
“That seems reasonable,” I sent.
We moved through the station toward the center where the schematics told us we could find central command. Once there, we drifted in and hovered in the center of the room. Military men and women were coming and going nonstop, and a core of human males was gathered about a round table that was effectively one large tactical display.
“They have mobilized a second fleet, sir,” said one man.
“Then they know we are waiting for them,” said an older man that was sitting. He appeared to be their leader, as everyone showed him deference. “How much time before they are ready to attack?”
“The primary fleet is here,” said the other man as he pointed to a place on the map. “And the secondary fleet is here. It looks like they will attempt to attack along two opposing vectors at the same time. If that is the case, I expect we have about ten hours.”
“When will we know for sure?” asked their leader.
“When they arrive, but I am confident we will have at least a five-hour warning,” was the reply.
“Then at five hours deploy the first wave of the defense, but hold the rest. We don’t want them calling a third fleet.”
“Understood.”
They moved on to less interesting topics dealing with troop assignments and other matters that were desperately important to them.
“They are definitely planning to make a stand here, but why?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but we can’t let this interfere with our plans. We still need the database,” she sent.
“True, but with all this activity we will have to adjust our plans. The station isn’t likely to use the self-destruction tactic with all these people on board, so Kymberly’s team’s objective is invalid,” I sent.
“Tell them to get a copy of the database from where they are. Chrimson will be familiar with those kinds of system and he may be able to get the data quickly,” she sent.
“Should they wait for the first fleet to launch?” I asked.
“No; the more distracted everyone else is, the better,” she sent.
I sent a message to Kymberly, telling them what we had learned and giving them their new assignment, and then sent to Spectra, “Okay, that is done. Perhaps we should try and get a copy of the database too. That way, if either team is interrupted we have another copy to work with.”
“Sure. We can slip into the back of the data center easily enough and no one ever goes back there, even on a station this crowded,” she sent.
“Sounds good. You lead,” I sent.
We floated through the secure walls around the datacenter and headed into a back corner that would be completely hidden by the racks of equipment around us. Once there, we canceled the Night Wraith spell and returned to our physical forms. I wrapped our position in shadow so that even if someone looked directly at us all they would see was darkness. Their minds would filter it out as normal, and we would not be detected.
Once in place I tied the datapad into an open port and ran the software that Greymere had given us, which would work its way through the system and obtain the data in some fashion. I was glad to have him on the team, as my computer knowledge was sorely lacking.
“I wish we could get word of this development to Greymere,” I sent.
“There’s no need. Their plan does not change at all,” she sent.
There was nothing to do while the scripts ran but wait.
Chapter Forty-Six
Saraphym and I were idly drifting through space, enjoying each other’s company while waiting for the fleet to arrive. This was my home, the hard vacuum of space, and I finally had someone to share it with.
“Greymere, I thought the station was abandoned?” asked Saraphym, as the station started launching its defensive fleet.
“That was our expectation, but that station is packed with defenders,” I sent back.
“How can you tell?” she asked.
“Look closely at the fields around the station. By their color and depth, you can tell something of their relative strength. Those fields are the waste products of the power being used on the station itself. From them, you can make an educated guess to the amount of power the station is actually using and the amount of energy it is expending to stay operational. It is well beyond what I would expect for an average station of that size, never mind one that should be empty,” I sent.
“Oh, does that mean the others are in trouble?” she asked.
“I might not know Master Spectra and Master Dusty as well as you do, but I think they can handle themselves just fine.” Master Dusty, at least, could go anywhere he wanted and it seemed impossible for anyone to know he was there, even less stop him. I had not seen Master Spectra in combat yet, but the way everyone talked about her I expected the station had more to fear from her than from the fleet we were expecting.
“But what about Kymberly’s team?” she asked.
“By now they know the situation better than we do, and we haven’t heard from anyone, so we continue as planned,” I sent.
“I guess you’re right,” she sent back.
I understood her concern. This situation was not what we had expected and our plans were built around the assumption that the station would not put up a fight when attacked. I watched the pattern in which the defenders were arranging themselves and noticed a new issue. “There will be two attacking fleets.”
“What? How can you tell?” she asked.
“By the arrangement of the defenders. They are setting themselves up to defend on two separate attack vectors,” I sent back. “Let’s move so that we are between the two incoming fleets.”
“How long do you think we have?” she asked.
“Since the station is deploying their first line of defense, I would guess only a few hours. They would want to wait as long as they could before tipping their hand, but they need their fleet in place before the attackers arrive,” I sent back.
We waited for some hours before the incoming fleets started jumping in. I expected the command ships to be among the last to arrive, so we waited for them to fully deploy before we made any move.
“There are a lot more attackers than defenders,” sent Saraphym.
“The station has only begun to deploy. They will probably wait until the battle is underway and the attackers fully engaged before deploying the rest of their defense,” I sent back. This would be an interesting battle. The attacking fleet
s were large enough to overcome what was deployed, but I suspected that the station had a lot more still to call on.
“Which ship is our target?” she asked.
“Good question. Usually the command ship will be in a well-protected position and act as the hub of the communications network. The energy from communications is easy to spot because it will be in tightly-packed beams,” I sent. I could easily discern the target ship, but I decided to wait and let her look for it.
After a while she sent, “There! That one looks like the center of a spider’s web! Is that it?”
“Yes. Good work! Let’s get on board and see what we can find out,” I sent.
We slipped aboard the ship, using our habitual method of entering through an exhaust port. Once on board we found some uniforms and pulled them on over our armor. We planned to avoid being noticed, but the uniforms would help us blend in better if we were.
The ship’s crew was a surprising mix of cyborgs and normal humans. “Very odd. Cyborgs typically hate anything or anyone that is not one of them.”
“They seem to be getting along fine here,” she sent.
“Yes, and that worries me.” I led her down some maintenance tunnels until we found what I was looking for: a place where the data feed for the primary data core ran through an access panel which I could open without alerting anyone to our presence. “Okay, we just hook up this datapad, close the access panel, and hide for a few hours while it works.”
“What if someone detects it?” she asked.
“Then they will come here to retrieve it, and I’d rather not be around when they show up,” I sent. “We will check on it later. Meanwhile, let’s find a place where we can observe the chief officers.”
We stayed in the maintenance tunnels and moved as quietly as we could until we found a planning room where a human sat at a tactical display and called out orders. Around him cyborgs worked silently, presumably carrying out his orders.
Spectra's Gambit Page 27
