The Enemy of an Enemy

Chapter Twenty-Six

It had been over a year since our firstmeeting with the Emperor and we had just finished refitting the newRaven to be our mobile headquarters. I was on board for one lastvisit to what had been our home. Today we would officially moveinto the Raven. I had decided to call it the “Nevermore” after anancient poem. It seemed fitting, as I would never again see theuniverse and the Empire in the same way.

I looked around the Dark Talon knowing thatthis would be the last time I stood on her bridge. I would missthis little ship. “We should repair all the recording systems wedisabled,” I said.

“Aye, we can work on that during the flightback to the Dragon Claw. It should not take long,” repliedLuke.

I sighed. Even though we had all been livingon the Nevermore for some time now, something about the fact thatwe would be launching the next day seemed to finalize thetransition from the Dark Talon to the Nevermore. Over the last yearso much had changed. When we came to this station we were all stillImperial soldiers at heart, doing the best we could to be the bestImperial soldiers we could be, and now we were leaving as theruling council of a new nation. The move from the Dark Talon to theNevermore seemed to symbolize that change in a way that wasdifficult for me to express.

I powered down the craft and made sure thateverything was properly stowed one last time. Soon the robotic armsof the station would be loading this vessel into the launch bay ofthe Nevermore and she would not fly again until we rendezvousedwith the Dragon Claw and her fleet. It would be good to return herto her family; there were still many Dark Knights left who wantedher back. I wondered what new impossible missions she would fly andif I would ever command her again.

“Vydor, just a reminder that you need tocontact the fleet soon,” came Kellyn’s sweet voice in myhead.

“Yes, you are right. I will go over now.Please meet me on the bridge,” I responded. I took one lastlook around, then left the Dark Talon and headed towards the liftthat would take me to the Nevermore.

This ship was much larger the Dark Talon, andmuch more intimidating to behold. Its shiny, black saucer-likeexterior with almost no external lights would normally make it hardto see in its native arena of interstellar space, but here in thebrightly-lit station its lack of color made it stand out. Most ofthe other craft here were silver and had prominent accent colorsand designs showing the pride of each crew. The bold statement madeby the lack of color on our ship made it feel almost alien, as ifit, and by implication we, did not really belong here.

As I passed the various men and woman workingon the station they all tried not to look, but failed. I knew manytales had been spread about us, and there was an uneasy sense offear in everyone around us. It did not help that most of the timewe stayed in our ship studying the books that Mantis had provided,but in the end I do not think that mattered much. We were justfreaks of nature to them, very powerful ones, but freaksnonetheless.

In a way I missed my old life, just being anormal officer with normal officer worries. These people whostopped and stared would never know the burden I carried asgrandmaster wizard. They would never know what it was like torealize that one mistake could spell the death of millions in thewar with the sorcerers. Indeed, the only one of the non-magi thatcould seem to understand was their Emperor, and he spent most ofhis time alone.

Even he could not truly understand myposition. He warned me against having any close relationships atall, as they would hinder my judgment at a crucial point, but howcould I do that when I was in constant contact with my six closestfriends via a pure and unfiltered telepathic link? The bond weshared was more than any human could understand. We were wizards,those called out of society to protect it.

Any further philosophical thoughts would haveto wait since I had finally reached the bridge of the Nevermore.Kellyn was there waiting for me and beamed a large smile as Ientered. That helped to lessen the sadness of the lonely walkthere. After a pleasant exchange of greetings we took our positionson the bridge. I sat in the captain’s chair, and as always she tookthe spot closest to it.

“Okay, Kellyn, I am ready.” Isaid.

Since we were docked in a secret location,all our communications had to be routed via the station’s systems.This meant that we had to schedule time in advance for any externalcommunications. My position gave me more leeway than most with thetimes, but in the end we all had to work within the limitations ofthe system. Eventually the call was put through and the familiarface of the captain of the Dragon Claw appeared on the screen. Ihad not spoken directly to him since we left the fleet, so I wasnot sure what to expect from him.

“Hello, Captain,” I said. Because of all theencryption and routing being done there was a slight but noticeabledelay in the conversation. It was annoying, but if you learned totake turns talking it was much less noticeable.

“Hi, Vydor. It has been too long since welast spoke.”

“Indeed it has. I hate to skip thepleasantries but we are limited in how long we can use thischannel, so I will get right to the point. I know that you arepresently heading to investigate a situation developing on theremote base Terathan XV. Based on all the reports that I haveaccess to, it sounds very similar to the situation at Arken IVbefore we arrived there. We plan to rendezvous with your fleet andjoin you in this investigation. We should be ready to launchtomorrow, and based on your last reported position it should takeus about a week to reach you.”

“A week? Then you have certainly upgradedyour ship from the Dark Talon.”

“Yes, Captain, but do not worry. We will bebringing her along to return to the Dark Knights.”

“Very well, I will hold on here and send ourexact location to you before you launch. It will be good to haveyou back for this. What route do you plan to take?”

Since jumps were dependent on missing largegravity wells, they had to be carefully routed well in advance. Atone time every trip started with a group of experts poring overmaps, trying to plot the best series of jumps to clear varioussections of space. Over time that changed and a vast database ofall known safe routes was built.

“Now, Captain, I have a full day yet to plan.What makes you think I have any idea yet what route I will take?” Isaid.

“You’re right, I should know better than toask you about planning ahead,” he said with a chuckle. “You mightwant to avoid the Batialan route, as there are reports of anuprising at the prison colony there.”

The colony that he was referring to was aplace where the absolute worst of society was kept and put intohard labor in the mines there. While this allowed many to escapethe death sentence, life in such places was fairly grim. This meantthat they felt they had nothing to lose, so every now and againthey would try to rise up and take over the colony. The Empirealways dealt with it in the same way; the military was called inand anyone who resisted them was killed. This meant the entire areawould be under a tight lockdown, and any ship traveling through itwould be delayed and probably searched. Since our ship was notImperial property or lands, I could refuse such a search, but therewas no avoiding the delays that would cause. It was best to take adifferent route.

“Thank you for that warning. I willdefinitely choose a different route.” After that we got the warningbeep from the station telling us our time was almost up. They wouldnot dare to interrupt one of my communications, but I learned longago that cooperation with the system tended to get you moregoodwill when the time came that you most needed it. “It seems ourtime is up. It will be good to be off this base and free from theselimitations, but now I must go. Thank you, Captain, and we will seeyou in a week.” With that we both signed off.

“Kellyn, I am going to tour the ship onelast time then go to dinner. Would you be available to join me insay, two hours?”

“I would love to. See you then.”

It was customary for a captain to tour theship, visiting every section before any mission. I was not sure howone did that on a ship as large as the Dragon Claw, but on theNevermore it was much more feasible.

The bridge was in the center of the ship, soI decided to take the lift to the topmost level to start my tourthere. The top level was my favorite level. It contained ourentertainment areas, a large, observational lounge and the ship’smess hall. The observational lounge was a room of my own design. Ihad had them rip out almost all the walls on the floor and put incouches, recliners, and other comfortable seating. There wereseveral food preparation areas scattered around the deck whereanyone could make themselves a full meal or a light snack. The mainfeature of the room was the extensive view it had of the outside.The ceiling and walls were covered with high-resolution viewscreensthat were tied to external cameras, so it gave the impression ofstanding under a glass ceiling looking at the night sky. In realitywhat was behind the viewscreens were many layers of extra-thickarmor plating, but it was easy to forget that and believe you wereout there in this room. Since we were inside a space dock,presently the screens were displaying a view from outside thestation instead. So looking up I could see the blue-green ball thatwas the planet we orbited.

I briefly wondered what it was like to liveon a planet, being stuck anchored to a star with scenery that neverchanges. I thought it must be lonely and claustrophobic to betrapped like that. I much preferred the openness of space and theconstant change of travel.

Also on this level was the mostly unusedfitness and exercise room. I knew it was important to have one, andmy years of service in the Navy ingrained in me a need to use itregularly, but I seemed to be alone in this belief, and that madeit too easy to fall out of the habit. Not only did I need to forcemyself to use the equipment more often, I knew I should encouragethe others to use it too. A healthy body was important, even for aMagus.

From there I went down to the next levelwhich contained our library and research areas. The library wasfilled with all the books that Mantis had given us, which was a lotmore than should have been able to fit in the chest they came in.One of the things we had learned about him over the last year wasthat he enjoyed things that should not work, such as taking verylarge objects out of very small containers, or in this case a lotof books out of too small a box. Even with all these books, thelibrary shelves were mostly empty. I had big dreams of amassing agreat amount of knowledge to store there, and used most of thatlevel for the library. Throughout the library I had a mix of littleprivate reading nooks and large tables to accommodate groupresearch. Most of our time lately had been spent in there studyingall that we had, and trying out as much as we could.

Also on this level was the Crystal Room. Thiswas a secure room with no physical doors, and no one other thanMantis and the seven of us had seen it since we had ordered thestation’s workers to seal it off. The last they saw of the room, itwas completely empty. They thought we were nuts for wasting thatspace. The room did not stay empty for long, thanks to somedonations from Mantis.

Inside the room was a round table made ofpure, polished amethyst surrounded by seven thrones. In the centerof the table was a diamond sphere that we used to communicate withMantis. The room was not only sealed physically, it was also sealedwith the most powerful magic locks we could muster, and whenever welearned of better spells we upgraded them immediately. This was ourofficial council chamber where we met to make rulings and plans. Itwas sealed off from the noise of life so that we could focus on thetask at hand, and secured so that no one could monitor ourdiscussions.

From there I went down to the next level,which contained the crew’s quarters. This level was mostly emptysince the ship was designed to carry one hundred and fiftyfamilies, and there were only seven of us. With all this space tospread out, we ended up choosing seven rooms that were all in acluster together. The rooms were all very similar. They eachcontained a sleeping section, a bathing section, and an area foreating and working. The ship had a larger room that was typicallyused for captain’s quarters, but I decided to make it into a guestsuite for entertaining official dignitaries. Each of our rooms hada telepathic seal on it so that we each had a place to retreat to,a little bit of solitude to help balance the constant close contactthat our powers caused between us. This was something the othersinsisted on, and I did not understand at first. They had spent mostof their lives living with their minds in virtual glass houses, andI had only just begun to experience the openness of it all. Forthem these rooms were a lifelong dream, and for me it almost seemedlike a step back to my previous life. Since it was so important tothem, I did not fight them at all on it. Now that I had spent moretime in that glass house with them, I was beginning to understandthe need for these sanctuaries of peace.

Below that level was the central core of theship. All the critical ship’s systems were here, including thebridge, central computer core, engine rooms, and medical wing. Themedical wing was a bit superfluous for us, since Kellyn’s was farsuperior to any mundane medical treatment, but Darnath pointed outthat someday Kellyn might get hurt and we might need it.

When the council was formed Mantis had saidwe would all need to learn all forms of magic, but that seemed tobe impossible. Each of us knew the basics of all the powers, butcould only excel in one or two areas. Any of us could heal basicwounds and sickness, but if it was serious only Kellyn could healit. The same was true of Gafar’s ability to probe minds. When Iquestioned Mantis about it he just laughed, and never did answer.Mantis, for all his desire to help, was often a bit hard to makeout.

The ship’s machine shop and fabrication roomswere on this level too. There we could make whatever parts orequipment we would need, assuming we had enough raw materials onhand. Everything on the ship was designed to be recyclable so thatin a pinch we could rip out nonessential parts and reuse them tomake repairs to crucial systems.

The next level was taken up entirely by theship’s gardens. Here was the source of all of our food and oxygen.A large force of robotic workers maintained most of it, but Kellynhad staked out a plot of her own. It produced no food; she justwanted a place to grow some pretty flowers. Since most of what wasgrown we could never have begun to eat, giving a small plot to herwas a luxury we could afford.

The lowest level on the Nevermore was mostlyunused at this time. It was the area designated for teaching andtraining new wizards. Jerran was often down there practicing hisspells. He had a real affinity for explosive and fire magic so heneeded a safe place to work where he would not be in danger ofdestroying anything. In fact, it was during one of his practicesessions we learned just how much Kellyn’s healing power wasgrowing.

Luke, who also had an affinity for elementalmagic, often came down here to practice his art too, though his wasmore centered on electricity than fire.

Andreya had it much easier, as she couldpractice her powers anywhere. Andreya was undoubtedly the master ofillusions, such that even the master wizards of Mantis’s realm wereimpressed by her skill. According to Mantis there were very few whocould match her, and he knew only of one to exceed her, and thatwizard was a member of their council!

Kellyn had a lot of opportunity to practiceher healing arts during the refitting of the ship, as many workersthroughout the station learned to come to her first for treatmentof any serious injury. Her skill grew at a phenomenal rate. At onepoint I personally witnessed her cause a man to grow a new arm thathe had lost in a blaster misfire many years before. After a while,we had to set specific hours during which people could come to herfor treatment, just to prevent her from getting overworked. Thestation workers might have feared us, but they were sure to missher.

Darnath also would come down here to practicehis art. We were a little surprised that Darnath turned out to bethe one to have an affinity for summoning magic. He could callforth all kinds of creatures to help us in our tasks.

The shuttle bays were on this level, and soonthe Dark Talon would be parked in one of them. The Nevermore wastoo massive to be practical for use in reaching the surface of aplanet, so I requested several small ships similar to the DarkTalon to be used for that purpose and for other times when weneeded small vessels. The Emperor gave us three such craft, whichwas less than I wanted, but more than I expected so I guess itworked out for the best.

That completed my tour of the ship so Iheaded for the mess hall to meet Kellyn. She naturally knew when Iwas coming, so the fact that I was thirty minutes late was not anissue. As I arrived she was just finishing laying out a nice steakdinner. I smiled as I saw her; she was stunning with her long, darkhair and slender build.

Somewhere along the line we gave up any hopeof hiding our growing relationship. At first we both tried to denyit, even to each other, but none of the others believed us. Whyshould they have? After all, we all had basic telepathicpowers.

Because of the pace of life — her clinic, thework necessary to get this ship ready, and the intense study — wehad not had a lot of time to spend together over the last year, butwe made it a point to meet for dinner like this as often aspossible. The others always seemed to find something else to dowhen we met up, for which we were grateful. Of course, the onlytime we were truly alone was when we visited each other’s quarters.This was a special dinner, though, and I did everything I could tomake sure she did not guess it. That was not easy considering howdeeply she knew me, but I believed I had been successful.

Our conversation at first was very casual andwandered around from topic to topic. Then she mentioned how nice itwould be for me to see my old shipmates on the Dragon Claw again.That was the opening I was looking for. “That will be nice,especially to see the captain again,” I said.

I paused and reached into my pocket andpulled out a small box. She gasped when she saw it. Before shecould say anything, I opened it and showed her a diamond ring.“Kellyn, would you accept me as your husband?”

She broke down in tears; I was not expectingthat reaction. Unsure what to do next, I just sat there. Then,speechless, she held out her hand and nodded. I placed the ring onher finger and said, “I would like the captain to marry us whenwe meet up with the fleet.”

She could not get any words out but theemotions overwhelming our connection were clear, a mixture ofshock, joy and love. When she could finally talk she said, “Andall this time I thought I could predict your every move!”

After we had talked for some time, Andreyafinally lost her patience and barged into the room to congratulateus. Kellyn asked her to be her maid of honor, and Andreya let herknow that there was no way she would let Kellyn even think ofgiving that position to anyone else. From then on all the excitedtalk was about where and how to have the wedding. Andreya suggestedthat she should do all the decorations, and Kellyn said she wantedto hold it down in the gardens. After a while I left them to workout the plans. I knew that a man’s place in such affairs was justto smile and nod, so I left to get out of the way.

I headed to the library to read, and was metby Darnath, Gafar and Luke in the lift. After their playful kiddingaround Gafar spoke up and said, “Okay, Vydor, how did you keep thathidden?” Gafar, being a master telepath was a bit put out by thefact even he had not known.

“Easy, I am the grandmaster wizard,remember?” I said.

“No, seriously. I never even saw you buy thering. You must let me in on your secret.”

I smiled an evil smile and tried to come upwith my best Mantis impression, “That’s simple, because you did notknow to look.”

“I guess a bachelor party is out of thequestion,” commented Luke.

“Yes, I think that would be a horrible idea,”I said as quickly as I could, which brought on more kidding fromthem about me being henpecked already, until we all heard Kellynremark how terrible it would be if she just let us suffer the nexttime we got sick.

Once I finally got away from the jokers, Iwas able to get to the library to study. The first thing I wantedto do was resync the ship’s database with the station’s database sothat we would have the most accurate information possible before weleft the next day. That would take several hours, and probablygenerate a few complaints from the station administrators, butsince I would be gone tomorrow I was not too worried about theirwrath.

While that worked I started digging throughwhat we already had. I wanted to see if there were any legends ormyths that could explain the dark specter. Tomorrow would be thefirst time we reentered jump space in over a year, and I was notlooking forward to another contest with him. In fact, I was worriedabout it. Sooner or later I knew he would win, the question waswhen. He seemed so much closer and more powerful the last time Isaw him than ever before.

While I searched I felt Kellyn’s familiartouch as she ran her fingers through my hair. She wanted me to growit out now that we were free from the Imperial requirement of shorthair, and I was glad to oblige. “Vydor, you are scared. I cantell.”

“Yes, I cannot hide that from you. Tomorrowwe will face him again.”

“I will be with you, and we are much greaterthan the last time we fought him. We have both grown considerablyin power; he does not stand a chance. With your awesome might andmy healing, how could he win? You are no longer a helpless mortal;you are the grandmaster of wizards!”

“You are right, of course, thank you. Butthere is something else I need to tell you, something you shouldknow before we get married.” As I said that I pictured myfather on his deathbed, and his father before him, and so on.

To my surprise she just smiled and said,“Oh, Vydor, I know about all that. The reason medical sciencecannot cure it is because it is not a physical illness.”

“What do you mean?”

“The dark specter that chases you is thecause of it. It is a dark curse on your family line going back moregenerations than I can imagine. When we beat the dark specter, thatwill be the end of the disease too, and until then I can keep youhealthy. Now, I am off to bed. I hope to get an early start andmake one last pass through the hospital before we leave,” shesaid, then gave me a kiss and left.

If I was the grandmaster wizard, why did Ifeel like a child playing at being god? I shut off the terminal andheaded for bed. I would need my energy for the next day, that wascertain.