Waking from his dream, Knight-Commander nhBreen hurled himself from his bed and ran barefoot from his quarters across the parade ground toward the command bunker. He ignored the startled guards and leapt headfirst into the jump shaft. The safeties adjusted for the added speed of his launch and prevented him from crashing messily into the bottom of the shaft thirty armlengths below. The next set of guards barely had time to raise an eyebrow as he burst into Central Command.
His second, Vice Commander Karhle, half rose from his seat. “Sir...?”
“Bulletin to all stations!” nhBreen barked. “Evacuate the city!”
Karhle spun and began firing orders to the other officers in the room. nhBreen’s prescience was legendary; any warning from the Knight-Commander was not to be questioned. Consoles about the terraced room flared as pre-configured coded messages flashed. The massive alloy doors of Central Command closed behind nhBreen with a great crash. The same sound echoed distantly as other armored doors throughout the underground complex sealed themselves.
The Knight-Commander did not pause. “All Bastion personnel to attack shelters! Abandon all perimeter defense posts!”
Karhle threw nhBreen a glance at that last. Standing Orders required the manning of the anti-flyer posts of the Bastion at all times and under any circumstances. But Karhle had served with nhBreen for a decade and had utter faith in him. The orders went out.
nhBreen took a long breath. “Collapse the Wards.”
Karhle tensed, but then his shoulders dropped marginally, and he turned to nhBreen for unnecessary confirmation. At nhBreen’s quick nod, he turned and spoke to the Chief Warder, seated to his right and one level down.
“Chief Warder Dhavif, collapse the Wards to the outer wall--”
Chief Warder Dhavif was a gray-haired veteran with four decades service and he did not hesitate as his hands moved to perform an action that would leave half a million citizens unprotected. Everyone in the Defense Service had always known that trying to defend the entire populace was unrealistic. The Wards had never been designed to shield the outlying towns; political expediency had forced that decision on the Council.
“No, “ nhBreen interrupted. “Collapse the Wards to the Bastion!”
Chief Warder Dhavif’s hands froze.
Karhle whipped about to face his superior officer in obvious shock. “Sir...?”
“This is the end, Karhle.” nhBreen pronounced without emotion. “We cannot save the city. The Wards will fail catastrophically if we try to defend it. I have foreseen it. We may save the Bastion, but the City is doomed.”
Karhle dropped to his chair, as if his knees had buckled, his expression one of utter horror.
nhBreen stepped past his paralyzed second and down to Chief Warder Dhavif’s console. “Chief Warder, collapse the wards to the Bastion, no interstitial.”
Dhavif did not move. “Sir? Are you certain?”
“Yes!” nhBreen snapped. “Collapse the Wards now!”
Duty and training warred in Dhavif’s face. Duty won. The Chief Warder pushed himself away from his console and stood, grim. “Sir, I cannot obey that order.”
“You are relieved. Place yourself under arrest and report to the lower bunkers.”
Dhavif braced to an exact salute, with only a tightness about his eyes betraying the emotions that raged in his heart, and then marched stiffly toward the drop shaft. nhBreen dropped immediately into the dismissed officer’s chair, hands flying already in control sequences he foresaw but did not fully comprehend.
A chair overturned with a clatter as a young ComSpec shot to his feet, ripping off his headset. “Sir, my family is billeted in Ol’Lighton!”
“Dismissed!” nhBreen fired off, knowing that he would never see the junior officer again, but that the man would somehow survive the cataclysm. The ComSpec grabbed at his port bracelet and vanished.
“Any others?” nhBreen called out without raising his head.
Several men and women, of various grades and specialties, ported out, leaving exactly thirteen people in the room, including the two infantrymen assigned as guards. Thirteen was the fourth of the Hidden Significant Numbers. Some authorities claimed the emergence of thirteen would doom any endeavor.
nhBreen’s hands stilled, the necessary actions complete. He got up, took a step back, and cast a master level ward of his own devising upon the console. The ward was a keyless infinite loop and nhBreen knew that none of the other officers present had either the finesse or brute power to break it. The terrible deed was done and it could not now be undone.
The Knight-Commander glanced at the soldier manning the next console, quickly reading his nametag and insignia.
“Warder Third Lyrh, what is your range?”
Warder Third Class Lyrh was only six months into his first term of service. He gaped at the warnings strobing on his console, which was now and forever locked into Maintenance Only mode.
“Uh, I, I don’t ...”
“Attack Source Detection!” the Chief Skryer suddenly sang out in a breaking baritone. “Seventy Three Degrees South by South West of City Center! Nature:......unreadable....Magnitude:.......off the scale!” The single word “Confirmed!” followed in seconds from the Chief Skryer’s deputies.
“Lyrh! Your range!” nhBreen commanded.
The Warder Third jumped. “Sir, three armlengths, Sir!”
Abominable, but it would serve. “Lyrh, place yourself at the edge of your range and operate your console. You must maintain the Wards at maximum strength. Do not make contact with your console or move any closer. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir!”
The remaining officers in the room had begun verbalizing status reports.
“Bastion locked down and sealed......All personnel accounted for.....Nature of attack: undetermined, repeat, undetermined...Flux Reserve: Maximum....Tenth Mobile Flyer Group Ported to Reserve Position...Query from Army Group Command...Second Naval Squadron requests order confirmation ....Query from Municipal Government...Query from--”
“Disable all auxiliary comm links,” nhBreen directed.
Disbelieving eyes pinned the Knight-Commander. He got to his feet and raised his fist, the fiery glow of Orghon’s Wrath forming about it. nhBreen was a master sorcerer of the eighth rank. He could summon enough raw power to incinerate a human body.
The several skry glasses about the room were powered down hurriedly.
nhBreen lowered his hand. His orders would be obeyed.
“Karhle, are you fit for duty?”
The Vice-Commander raised his head from his hands, and then took a long breath, straitening his jacket.
“Yes, Sir. I crave the Commander’s pardon.”
“Granted. Never speak of it again.”
“Yes, sir. Your orders, sir?”
“Emergency shut down of all systems save the Wards and CentCom. Drain all flux potential into the Ward Reserve.”
“Yes, Knight-Commander.”
Karhle’s hands flew about the command console. The air stilled and grew heavy as the circulation ceased and then the lights went down, plunging the room into darkness. Groups of consoles went dark, in stages, until only those of Vice-Commander Karhle and Warder Third Lyrh remained active. An officer on the fourth tier opened a pocket beacon, spraying the room with white light. A skryer just beyond Lyrh opened another.
“Kill those!” nhBreen barked. The room went dark again.
“Vice-Commander, general order to all personnel. All self-powered mags to be neutralized or oublietted immediately.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Everything, Karhle. Chronos, calc boards, comm devices, hand weapons, everything. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Sir. Everything means everything.” He began pitching orders into the small skry glass on his console.
nhBreen looked toward the door. He could not really make out the guard stationed there in the gloom. But he could foresee him.
“Sergeant Jhelkl, come here.”
Jhelkl marched for
ward with parade ground precision and snapped to attention. “Sir!”
The sergeant was bearded, grayed, scarred, and had thirty years experience on the front lines of the wars.
“Make a light, sergeant.”
“Sir?”
“I said, make a light. You can do that, can’t you?”
Jhelkl reached for the beacon at his belt.
“No, sergeant. MAKE a light.”
“Sir!”
Jhelkl cupped his palms, his forehead furrowed in concentration. After a moment, a blue glow appeared between his hands and then blossomed abruptly to fill the room.
nhBreen looked pointedly at the other guard. “You! Come here.”
Jhelkl’s junior companion was younger, taller, bigger, and, despite the pinned up sleeve of an amputated left arm, probably deadlier. He had the patch for Special Group Commando, and therefore no nametag, and three citations for bravery among the decorations on his jacket, including the Blaze of Glory, which to nhBreen’s previous knowledge had only been awarded posthumously.
“Take the sergeant’s equipment, including his sidearm, and gather every other portable mag device from this room and oubliette it. Understood?”
“Yes, sir. Understood.” Instead of moving away, the soldier undid the two large buttons of his jacket, shrugged out of it, and offered it to nhBreen.
“Yes, what’s this?”
“Perhaps the Commander would like to make use of this to cover himself?”
Wordlessly, nhBreen took the jacket and tied it about his waist as a sort of kilt. It was his habit to sleep unencumbered by clothing of any sort; he contended that this state eased his transition into the dream plane. Regardless, up to this point he had been stark naked.
Unconcerned, nhBreen turned toward CentCom as the soldier saluted and began gathering and destroying the mags. “Vice-Commander.”
“Sir.”
“Status.”
“MSG: Priority One, from Double-C. Attn: Orders...”
“Ignore.”
“Query...”
“Ignore all queries.”
“MSG: numerous units, Emergency: Strategic Ward Failure Detected, Emergency Protocol Nine enacted, Local and Tactical Wards deployed.”
“Command Priority Override,” nhBreen injected, casting his voice into the floating comm that appeared before him. “To all units: Incoming attack targets all magics, repeat, all magics. Wards ineffective. Repeat: Wards completely ineffective. Disable and neutralize all flux reserves immediately. Emergency shut down all wards and weapons. All flyers: Ground immediately. All naval units: Abandon Ship, repeat, Abandon Ship. Survive at any cost. Attack expected within --”
“Eighteen minutes thirty,” Karhle supplied.
“-- Eighteen minutes. Survive at any cost. Again, survive at any cost.”
nhBreen paused. “Acknowledgments?”
“Two, three....a dozen, small units, logistics, clerical... 4th Special Group Commando... Eighth Light Armored Tortoise Brigade...Warship of the City Raging Fury reports scuttled ...”
“Total?”
“Close to ten percent of all forces responding. No other capital ships, no flyer units, no major commands.”
The Vice-Commander skipped a beat. “Command circuit signals now encrypted and we have been locked out of the loop.”
“Broadcast similar message on civilian emergency circuit.”
Karhle made adjustments and began speaking slowly and clearly into the comm on his console.
nhBreen raised his voice. “The rest of you! Up here now!”
The mag officers ceased milling about and rushed instantly up to the level of the CentCom. The tall soldier returned, but took a post behind the rest. Some of the officers were obviously frightened, some stoically calm, and one appeared amused. They composed the normal mix of graveyard watch standers, junior and senior officers, all mags, though one Warder had a line officer pip. As one, the eight of them saluted.
“Split yourselves up.” A natural seeming division occurred.
“Right. You four with Sergeant Jhelkl. You others to Warder Third Lyrh.” nhBreen centered his attention on the latter group.
“I want you each to generate a personal ward for Lyhr, weakest to strongest in layers. If your ward fails, the backlash will kill you. If Lyrh dies, the Wards will fail and we all die. Understood?”
He received two nods, a fatalistic grin, and a stiff affirmative from the senior officer. “Get to it.”
Jhelkl had not moved from nhBreen’s side or changed his pose. Sweat had begun to bead upon the soldier’s forehead, but his light had not diminished.
“Your job,” the Knight-Commander advised the remaining mags, “is to channel overload flux away from the sergeant’s light. Everything that penetrates the wards will home on it first. It is the strongest source of manipulated flux remaining in the Bastion. As long as it shines, CentCom and Warder Lyrh will be safe.”
The men were of an age, obviously comrades of long-standing. They swapped almost imperceptible glances, struck reversed fist to reversed palm in the archaic salute, and chanted in unison “WE FAIL NOT!”
nhBreen sent them with Jhelkl to the lowest tier of the room, which was as far from Lyhr as the dimensions of the chamber would permit. His foresight informed him that they were indeed Academy classmates, that they would surely perish today, one by one, but that they absolutely would not fail. Jhelkl would live.
nhBreen looked left. The nameless commando had moved silently to his elbow.
“Karhle, time.”
“Seven minutes twelve.”
“Summarize civilian status.”
“Less than one percent of urban populace evacuated to distance of forty leagues. Most appear to have disregarded warning to abandon mag equipment. Local Wards of various strengths erected in all precincts. Level 5 Tactical Ward deployed on Government Hill--”
“Fools.” nhBreen said quietly.
“--High traffic on all civilian comm circuits. Municipal Guard on alert. All civilian defense organizations have mobilized.”
Karhle looked up from his console. “They are simply waiting.”
“Time.”
“Six minutes forty-two.”
“Status of the League?”
“All cities east our position have ceased contact. All cities west our position have mobilized.”
“Time.”
“Six minutes thirty-one.”
“Vice-Commander Karhle, give Witness.”
Karhle came instantly to his feet. “I, Karhle, House of jKeeih, Officer of the Defense of the City, Give Witness To All That Is Done Before Me.”
nhBreen faced the nameless commando. “I, nhBreen, House of Zhet, Heir of nhBryr, at this moment name you as my son and heir, as if you had been born of my house, and award you the name nhBrenl. I hereby bequeath you all my lands, titles, and possessions, wherever they may be and whatsoever state you find them.”
“I, Karhle, Give Witness.”
The expression of the newly minted nhBrenl did not change.
“I, nhBreen, Knight-Commander of the Defense of the City, under the authority of Emergency Ordinance Eighty-two, sub paragraph H, in the face of the enemy and imminent disaster, promote you to the rank of Sub-Commander.”
“I, Karhle, Give Witness.”
“Time.”
“Five minutes twenty-two.”
nhBreen rushed on. “Authority aforesaid, I promote you to the rank of Vice-Commander.”
“I, Karhle, Give Witness.”
“Vice-Commander nhBrenl, give Witness.”
nhBrenl did not hesitate. “I, nhBrenl, House of Zhet, Officer of the Defense of the City, Give Witness To All That Is Done Before Me.”
nhBreen swapped his gaze to Karhle. “Authority aforesaid, I promote you to the rank of Commander.”
“I, nhBrenl, Give Witness.”
“Four minutes fifty-six.”
“I charge you both, individually and in concert, to preserve and defend my command
.”
Karhle struck fist to palm. “I fail not.”
nhBrenl bit the heel of his hand savagely and spit blood onto the floor. “I obey, my father, my lord, my chieftain.”
nhBreen sighed. It was done.
“A second and final strike – a conventional tectonic weapon of unprecedented size -- shall come two days hence. The City, what remains of it, will be submerged beneath ten fathoms of ocean. Refuge, of a sort, lies to the north. This is all that may be revealed.”
nhBrenl said nothing. Karhle nodded.
“Four minutes twenty-seven.”
“Commander Karhle, deactivate but do not disable CentCom. You will need it later.”
“Sir.” CentCom went dark.
nhBreen looked at both men. There was only one thing further to say.
“Goodbye.”
nhBreen turned his back on the two before they could speak and hurried toward the stairs adjacent to the disabled jump shaft. He took the steps three at a time.
As a command officer of the City Defense, nhBreen possessed almost a score of miniaturized mag devices, including a comm and a port, implanted under his skin. As an heir to a Council Seat, he had infinitesimally small magical signatures bonded into his blood. As a Sorcerer, he was permeated with the residue of every spell he had ever cast.
The weapon unleashed by the Khyvhnhe Republic was an ingenious breakthrough. It targeted and destroyed by generating cumulative positive feedback in flux fields. The tactical and personal wards about the City would channel and magnify the power of the assault, consuming what they were intended to defend in a blazing holocaust. All other magical devices and persons would be subject to unrestrained overloads that would simply result in their immediate annihilation.
nhBreen had been unable to project any combination of actions that would result in his continued existence. In all lines of futures, he simply vanished at the instant of the attack. It was certain that he would be annihilated along with his city.
Not, as it were, that he had any desire to continue to exist. By the actions he had just taken, he had betrayed every oath he had ever sworn. He may have saved a few thousand here in the Bastion, but he had condemned nearly a million men, women, and children to sudden destruction.
Nor did it bring him any solace to know that the Khyvhnhe Republic and her allies would be destroyed by the unforeseen consequences of their own weapon, which would not expire as predicted but would circle the world in six days to consume them as well.
Key to Magic 01 Orphan Page 23
