We found them setting up for their push. “Darkstone, fall back a bit and make sure Lythiran does not show up like he did last time.”
Phoenix did not yet have his shields in place, so Spectra and I quickly slipped into their group and stayed hidden until they began their march. Once he had all his shield walls in place, they would be practically impervious to assault. Phoenix’s focus was completely on building the shields, and the other two were watching behind and in front of them, so none of them saw us appear in the middle. Three quick blasts from our staves brought an end to their turtle strategy’s undefeated reign.
“Team one eliminated!” came Shea’s voice over the comm.
“Blast! Good one, Dusty!” sent Phoenix as his team teleported out of the arena.
As we slipped back into the shadows, we heard “Team four eliminated!” over the comm.
“I guess Lythiran got Cymeion,” sent Darkstone. “Now the real fun begins.”
“Last time they set traps in the HQ when it was just us left. They will probably do that again. I suggest we make a beeline right for it and catch them in the act,” I sent.
“Sounds good. They won’t be expecting us to rush,” sent Darkstone.
We moved as quickly as we could towards the HQ, right down the main corridor. As we turned a corner to approach it, we saw one of the Dark Knights standing guard in the corridor.
“Easy picking,” sent Darkstone.
“No, wait. I’m not falling for that again,” I sent. “Behind it on the floor is a holographic projector.” It was cleverly hidden, but not cleverly enough. Not this time.
“Ignore it, and push on,” sent Spectra.
“Agreed,” I sent.
We passed dozens more of these holographic Dark Knights. The rules of the games stated that a team could use any technology that they could carry in, but only the Knights ever took advantage of that rule. It seems this time they exploited it to the maximum amount possible.
“Wait!” sent Spectra as we were about to pass through another grouping of holographic Knights.
“What?” I asked.
“The center Knight has an aura,” she sent.
“Tricky. They almost lulled us in to sleep with all the fake targets,” I sent. “Darkstone, take him down.”
Darkstone stepped out of the shadows at a sharp angle to the Dark Knight as he lowered his staff and fired a mage bolt. The Knight swung his gun around, but not in time to get off a shot. The mage bolt hit him, and his chestpiece lit up, indicating he was dead.
“Well-spotted,” he said with a salute and left the arena.
“That gives me an idea. Let’s collect these holograms,” I sent.
Once we had collected a dozen of them, I had Darkstone reprogram them with our images. “Now let’s place them all around the HQ, each one in an easy line of fire.”
We still did not know where the other two knights were, which forced us to move slowly and check every hologram before proceeding.
Once they were all in place, we stopped and watched the entrance to the HQ for a moment. “They know we are in the area by now. So they must be someplace that has an easy shot into the HQ,” I sent.
“I’ll slip around to the corridor on the left. I’m betting one is crouched down there,” sent Darkstone.
“Wait,” I said and grabbed one of the Dark Knights’ holograms and tossed it into the HQ doorway. A blaster fired and took it out before it reached the HQ. “There!” I sent, and we moved on that Knight’s position.
By the time we reached him, he was already in motion, but it was too late for him. A quick mage bolt meant it was just the three of us versus Lythiran now.
“Lythiran is in the HQ,” sent Spectra.
“How can you tell?” I asked.
“I saw him briefly as he tried to get a shot at our current location,” she sent.
“Darkstone, make us a barrier out of ice, and Spectra and I will cast over it to draw him out,” I sent.
Once the ice wall was up, Spectra and I used our staves to fire mage bolts into the HQ. Lythiran slipped out from his shield wall and returned fire.
“This is his game. We need to play a different one,” sent Spectra.
She was right; he was slowly and surely advancing on our position. “Darkstone, Spectra, keep pressing the attack. I’m going to slip around behind him.”
I cast a decoy spell that made it look like I was ducking behind the wall, while I slipped away under darkness. The decoy did not last long, as it was quickly hit by a blast from Lythiran’s blaster.
Once I was in position, I activated all of our holograms, and soon it appeared that Lythiran was surrounded by a dozen more of us. In the momentary confusion that it caused, I stepped out of the darkness behind him and eliminated him with a mage bolt.
“Team three has been eliminated! Now Dusty’s team just needs to take the HQ to be declared the winner,” said Shea over the comm.
I paused just outside the doorway as Spectra and Darkstone rejoined me. “It would be too easy to just walk in here,” I sent. I went back down the hall and grabbed one of our holograms and rolled it into the HQ. Soon blaster fire erupted from the back corner as a sentry robot marched out.
“How in the Emperor’s name did they carry that in?” I sent as we dove for cover.
“No matter. Ice bolts should cut it down easily,” sent Darkstone as he cast, this time using full force instead of the weaker bolts we used on live targets for this match. The bolts slammed into the sentry, pushing it back against the wall.
The three of us rushed in and finished it off. Just as we thought we’d won, a bright flash went off in the room and Shea said, “Team two has been eliminated; there is no winner!”
“How is that possible?” I asked.
“Lythiran set a trap on the sentry that activated an explosion as you destroyed it. None of you survived,” said Shea.
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Lythiran, Spectra, Phoenix, Cymeion, and I met for dinner after the match. Once we were all settled, Lythiran said, “Well done, Master Dusty! But tell me: how did you defeat Phoenix’s turtle defense?”
“We tried a new strategy: attack fast and hard,” I said with a grin that I did not feel.
He laughed. “Yes, that is definitely new for you, Master! How did you beat his shields, though?”
“We knew that Phoenix had to get to the main corridor to push his attack, so we beat him to it. When he arrived and started to set up for his run, we simply hid inside his group. Once there, we waited for them to be tied up with casting the shields to build his turtle defense and then attacked,” I said.
“So that is how you did it!” Phoenix called out. “I spent all this time trying to figure out how you got through my shields, when you were inside them the whole time!”
We continued to talk about the match for a while, which consisted mainly of each of us telling the others the strategies we had planned and Lythiran offering pointers on how to improve them. Overall he was very impressed with us and kept telling me that. The only real advice he offered me was to learn to look for multiple layers in an opponent’s strategy.
Eventually I excused myself from the conversation and headed to the observation lounge. It was quite late, so the room was empty. It would be several more weeks until we met up with the Nevermore II. I knew that Spectra would want me to talk to Shadow about our marriage as soon as we could. The pressure of my position and relationships kept mounting. I needed some time by myself to think, and here in front of the vastness of the universe seemed like a good place to be alone.
I was not sure I could continue down the path I was on. This time in the Dragon Guard was turning me into a lethal warrior, which could not be further from where I wanted to be. The games that Lythiran set up were really bringing out the warrior spirit of my crew. They loved the competition, the adrenaline rush, and the challenge of them. I had to agree with Lythiran’s plan; they were the perfect thi
ng for my crew, but I was less sure they were suited to me.
Something inside me was breaking under this pressure to become the one of best killers in the military. I couldn’t carry on like this; I didn’t want to see myself broken in that way, but what could I do? Master Shadow needed me, and we were trying to bring peace to the realm once more. What could be more noble than that?
I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. “Are you all right?” came Shea’s soft voice.
“Would it work to lie to you?” I asked.
“With tears running down your face? It might not go well, but you could try if you wanted to,” she said with a gentle smile.
“Shea, what do you think of Lythiran’s games?” I asked.
“Do you want my personal opinion as Shea, or my opinion as chief medical officer on the Shadow Fox?” she asked.
“I guess as chief medical … no, both, I think,” I replied.
She sighed and said, “As chief medical officer, I think they are excellent. Overall the crew is improving in all their medical targets, they are bonding better as a team, and the games are dispelling the morale issues that we usually see in the long, dry travel periods of these missions. I have asked Lythiran to come up with some new battle options where we have multiple teams working together, to help teach more people to work together in larger groups. Overall, I highly recommend them and plan to talk to Master Shadow about expanding them to the entire Dragon Guard when we get back.” She paused there and looked out the window.
“Well, as ship’s captain, I agree and support your recommendation, but what does Shea think?” I asked.
“Honestly, it is hard, Dusty. As ship’s doctor I am here to heal and to protect, but the people I am healing and protecting are here to kill and destroy. The games make them better at that, making me feel a bit hypocritical every time I run them.”
We were quiet for a long while, then I said, “As Dusty, I agree with you. How did we get here, Shea?”
“I seem to recall you rushing my attackers and sweeping me off my feet,” she said.
“Yeah, and I recall you hijacking my gate home to get away from your overprotective brother,” I said.
We both had a good chuckle and were quiet again for a while after that. She finally broke the silence with: “Master, I know why I am here. The Light wants me to reach this realm for its own purposes. Somehow, that involves me being chief medical officer on this ship. I don’t know the details beyond that, but I don’t need to. Following Light gives me purpose and direction. I know I am doing the right thing.” She gently pushed on my shoulder so that I was facing her and asked, “Do you?”
“I don’t any more, Shea,” I said quietly and turned back to the window.
“I see. Have you talked with Spectra?” she asked.
“A little, here and there,” I said.
“What does she say?” she asked.
“Oh, that she would follow me anywhere and support whatever. For example, she throws herself fully into those games because she knows that it is important for the captain to do well in them. It’s a bit scary, really,” I said.
“Scary?” she asked.
“Yeah. You’re following your deity, and she is following me. How do I know where to lead?” I asked.
“You know Light would love to guide you, but we have talked about that before. All I can say is you need to seek your path as a couple and not as a lone wolf,” she said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“She should not be following you blindly; you need to involve her in your decisions. If you are to succeed as a couple, it will only happen as a team,” she said.
“Shea, do you think our marriage is a good idea?” I asked.
“Absolutely,” she said. “The first time I saw you two together I knew that you were a match.”
“A match? We are not even the same species,” I said.
“Oh, the irony of you being from a fish race and she from a cat race is not lost on me, but you’re still a solid match,” she said.
“But what if something happened to her under my command?” I asked.
“Does marrying her change that?” she asked.
“No, I guess not,” I said.
“Life is hard, and bad things happen. We can’t live in fear of that which may be, or we will miss that which is. Embrace your relationship while it is still today, for no one can stop tomorrow from coming,” she said.
Chapter Seventy
Over the next few weeks, I did my best to stay out of the games. I knew that I would have to participate from time to time in order to make sure they remained successful. However, I figured I could safely delay long enough for us to make it back to the Nevermore where, if Shea’s advice is taken, the games would be absorbed into the larger context of the entire Dragon Guard. Now that we were about to rejoin the Nevermore, I felt a sense of relief that the pressure of the games would lift from me for a while.
“Master Shadow, we will be jumping in a few minutes. Is the area secure?” I sent over the comm. Normally there was some blind faith needed with jumps since we lost our cloak in the process, but the Nevermore II was already at the rendezvous and could tell us if it was safe.
“It looks clear, Dusty. Come through when you are ready,” he replied.
“Navigation, jump when ready,” I ordered.
“Yes, Master,” he said.
Soon the cool azure of jump space wrapped around us. There was something inviting and friendly about jump space that made the cares of life fall away briefly as we crossed through it. It was as if we suddenly understood that none of the little stuff that bothered us mattered in the grander picture, and we were able to relax; but it was all too brief.
“Navigation, contact the Nevermore and get us docked,” I said after we reentered normal space.
Docking is one of those events in life that is extremely dangerous and complex, but so routine that you barely think about it as it happens. Time, speed, and motion in space are relative to the observer. This means that putting a smaller ship inside a larger ship requires complex mathematical equations to accomplish it safely. Our computers do almost all the work, so this dangerous maneuver becomes a push of a button, and the danger is forgotten even though it is still very real.
Once docking was complete, my command staff and I met with Master Shadow to officially debrief him on the mission, and he updated us on the plans that had come out of his recent meeting with Grandmaster Vydor. When that was done I asked him for a private talk, and we retired to his office.
“What can I do for you, Dusty?” he asked.
I was nervous about this request, but I reminded myself that, in the end, Master Shadow was a good friend and pushed myself just to come right out and say what I had come to say. “Master, Spectra and I would like to get married and have Shea perform the wedding,” I said.
“I knew this day would come, but I had hoped I would be more prepared for it,” he said.
“What do you mean, Master?” I asked.
“First, let me say: congratulations! I think you two make a wonderful couple, and as your friend I could not be more happy for you,” he said.
“Thank you, Master,” I said. He seemed uncomfortable, and I knew that to be a bad sign.
“Now, though, we have a problem. I sit here as a hypocrite to tell you this, but when the Wizard Navy was officially formed shortly after operation Show of Force, we had to codify some operating rules. One of those was that a senior officer is not allowed to have a relationship with anyone under him,” he said.
“What are you saying?” I asked.
“If you two get married, then one of you has to resign,” he said.
“I see,” I said. That simply did not seem fair, but I did not know what to say.
“Now, I will state it again: I am being a hypocrite here because I am married to Flame. However, our marriage legally predates operation Show of Force, so we are grandfathered in. Even
so, if or when we ever have children, she will resign and resolve that issue,” he said.
“Still, that doesn’t seem fair to us,” I said. I hadn’t thought about kids. I wondered if that was even possible for Spectra and me.
“I could see why you would think that, but I am sure you can understand why the rule is needed,” he said.
“So now what?” I asked. I didn’t really understand why the rule was needed, but it was pointless to argue with the existence of a rule.
“Well, I will file a request for an exception for you, if you want me to. I am sure it would be approved, considering your service record,” he said.
“And if it’s not?” I asked. If one of us resigned, that would mean months, maybe even years apart while the other served out here.
“We will deal with that if it happens,” he said.
“Master, what would you do if it was you and Flame, instead of me and Spectra?” I asked.
“I would file the request for an exception before I worried about anything,” he said.
“I see,” I said. I knew that he would do just that. He was very much in favour of following procedure, but that didn’t make it any easier for me.
“Look, I know how hard this could make things for you, and I want you to know that I am here for you, no matter what,” he said. “I will personally see that your request for an exception is heard by the Council and do everything I can to convince them to allow it.”
“There is another problem, Master,” I said.
“That is … ?” he asked.
“Well, you know how Phoenix listed us as family so that we can make medical decisions on his behalf?” I asked.
“Yes, a practice I would rather not see repeated,” he said.
“Well, it seems that Phoenix is not the only one with extra family,” I said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Due to a series of miscommunications, according to the official record Spectra and I are already married and have been since Operation Show of Force,” I said.
Resurgence of Ancient Darkness Page 24
