Authors: Vincent Trigili
“Welcome back, you two. Please make yourselves comfortable,” said Master Shadow as we entered his office. Master Shadow was my direct superior and second-in-command under Grandmaster Vydor for military and magic matters; more than that, he was a good friend going back many years. He was built like a fighter and carried himself with a pride that came from knowing very few things could be a danger to him.
Grandmaster Vydor, Mathorn and Master Shadow were already seated around the meeting area. There was no conference table, just a collection of comfortable chairs around a central projector that could display any information needed.
“I trust you enjoyed your time away?” asked Grandmaster Vydor. Grandmaster Vydor was another navy vet like Shadow, and was built from the same stock. The same was true of most of the rest of the ranking wizards; Spectra and I were the odd ones out.
“Yes, immensely so, Grandmaster. I can never thank you enough for that.” Before becoming part of the Wizard Navy neither of us had much in the way of resources, and while the military paid well, it did not pay nearly enough to cover such a lavish honeymoon. We had been able to go to such an exquisite location only because Grandmaster Vydor had covered all the expenses as a wedding gift.
“I am glad to hear that. Kellyn has been urging me to take some time off. Maybe I will take her to the same resort,” he said.
“Oh, do, Grandmaster!” said Spectra. “The beaches, the air, the food … all of it was amazing!”
He smiled. “Excellent. Now, while you two were away we picked up a new colony,” he said and filled us in on the Cathratinairians and the hospital we had acquired. The Cathratinairians were a cat-like race, but bore no resemblance to Spectra’s race. She was delicate, sleek and fast, while they were massive and powerful.
“Karath? That's the guy we rescued a couple years ago?” Spectra and I had led an infiltration mission into a prison colony where he was being held. I never found out why he had been locked up, but it didn’t matter. He had helped Grandmaster Vydor, back when our nation was nothing more than a small group of immature wizards trying to learn their way. Grandmaster Vydor never forgot the help the Cathratinairian had given him, and that was enough incentive for us to break him out. Wizards take care of their own, even if they are mundanes.
“Yes, the same one,” said Master Shadow.
“He is currently out at the hospital helping with the transition of the Cathratinairians into our space,” said Grandmaster Vydor.
“Remember, when they were last awake there was no such thing as magic, and the Emperor ruled over all known space. They have some major changes to adjust to,” said Master Mathorn, who was Master Shadow’s mentor in spellweaving and a recent immigrant to our realm from Korshalemia. Since moving to our realm, he had become an expert advisor to both Grandmaster Vydor and Master Shadow. He was much older than any wizard from our realm. Unlike us, they had had magic for millennia.
“Currently the plan is to wake them in family groups, first choosing those best suited to planting their colony and assisting them to start building. As the infrastructure takes shape on their new home planet, we will wake more and send them to help,” said Master Shadow.
“How long will all this take?” asked Spectra.
“Many years, probably decades,” said Master Shadow, “during which time we will need to do everything we can to protect them. It will be a long while before they can stabilize and secure their future.”
“I would imagine so,” I said.
“That is where you come in,” said Master Shadow.
“How, Master?” I asked.
“The virus that almost eliminated them appears to be a highly-advanced and custom-made weapon.”
“Are you saying that someone tried to commit genocide?” asked Spectra.
“That is how it appears,” said Master Shadow. “What we want you two to do is to assemble a team to go out there and see if you can find out who developed this virus and why. We must stop them before they try again.”
“How much information do we have to work with, Master?” I asked.
“Not much, but I suspect you will find Karath to be a wealth of information and contacts to get you started. Doctor Leslie has been informed of your mission and will make sure you have all the access you need to the hospital records. Beyond that, you will just have to see where the information leads you,” said Master Shadow.
“Given the distance to the station, I am guessing we can’t take the Shadow Fox?” The Shadow Fox was our personal battle cruiser, and our home of late.
“No, that would take many years. We have established a gate, so you will use that to travel out there. Then you will need to buy a new ship for local transport,” said Master Shadow.
“What is the political situation out there?” asked Spectra.
“The same as everywhere else since the fall. Various local groups constantly fighting for power, and no stability in sight,” said Master Shadow.
We talked a bit more about the mission, and then Mathorn asked, “Dusty, how are your studies going?”
“Well. I have had to set aside that book you gave me so that I could focus on getting my new spell line up to speed, but I was finding it very helpful until then.”
“Excellent. Let me know if you need any more help with either of your spell lines. I happen to have some tomes on your new power as well. They are not likely to be used by anyone else, so they are yours should you want them.”
My secondary spell line, which was the same as Spectra’s primary spell line, was a banned art among wizards. It seemed that most of those who followed it ended up turning to darkness and embracing the art of necromancy. It was a temptation that Spectra and I were familiar with and would not let each other succumb to.
Spectra and I were in my office back on the Shadow Fox. We were trying to come up with a plan of action for our mission.
“So, Dusty, who are we going to bring with us?” asked Spectra.
“Darkstone?” I suggested.
“Hmm, perhaps. He has come on several missions with us and has done well.”
Darkstone was an Ice Elementalist who had been with us since the beginning. He was loyal, trustworthy and enjoyed working under cover of darkness. This made him a perfect fit for our team.
“Although his cold spells do not really give us much of an advantage. They are too close to our line. We should find someone who complements us a bit more to add to the mix,” I said.
“Yes, but if we bring Darkstone then he will want Cymeion along, and his earth and electrical lines would widen our scope a bit,” she said.
“And his skills with computers might come in handy, since we will need to acquire information that we know people will want to hide from us. I wonder why they are so close?” I mused.
“You don’t know? They grew up together, alone on the streets, closer than any brothers could ever be,” said Spectra.
“I knew that, but I didn’t think that could account for how close they are,” I said.
“Adversity draws people together in ways blood relationships can’t,” she said.
I thought about that, and how close Master Shadow’s inner circle was. We had faced the worst of all possible enemies, and we were more like family than any actual
family I knew of. “We should probably bring Shea also.”
“No,” said Spectra.
She said that a bit faster and sharper than I was ready for. “Why not?”
Spectra hesitated a bit and then said, “This is a black ops kind of mission, not well-suited to her.”
“But she is our most trusted medical expert, and we are tracking down a virus. Who could be better than she in these circumstances?” I asked.
She hesitated, then sighed. “I don’t know anyone better, and I love her dearly, but she is not the kind to sneak around and break into places where we do not belong. I think she would be a hindrance to our success.”
“Maybe.” Spectra had never before resisted bringing Shea along on any mission. Something was up, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to press it right then. “We can come back to that slot. Anyone else?”
She looked pensive for a bit and then said, “Yeah, I would like to bring Kymberly.”
“Kymberly? She is not even in the black ops division.”
“I know, but she should be under me,” she said.
“Under you?” I asked.
“Yeah, I guess I just think that maybe we need to change our focus,” she said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, I was thinking that maybe we should consolidate all the spiritualists under a single structure. We could call it the ‘The Spirit Corps’ or something,” she said.
I thought about that for a bit. She had resisted command positions many times in the past, so this seemed out of character for her. “Is this something you would lead?”
“No,” she said right away. “I was thinking you could, and I would be by your side where I belong.”
“But why?” I asked.
“It's just that the wizards of our realm have started to follow the lead of the Korshalemian Realm and strongly discourage all magi from studying the spiritual line of powers. This leaves magi like Kymberly lost and alone.”
“True. So you think we can help them?” I asked.
“Sure; even at your level you’re far more knowledgeable than any of them. We can make sure they stay on track and don't turn into necromancers like everyone fears we will.”
I thought on that for a bit before responding. I liked the idea in some ways because Kymberly was a bit lost, and seemed like such a nice girl. As a white dwarf Zalionian she was an outcast among her own people, and as a spiritualist she was becoming an outcast even among the wizards.
“Rocky or Darkstone could head up the black ops, and we could focus on the spiritual corps,” continued Spectra. “Either of them is quite capable, and didn’t you pick Rocky specifically on the premise that he would take a command position at some point?”
“I did, but …” I began.
“Perfect! Place Darkstone under Rocky and we can move on,” she said.
“Just how long have you been thinking about this?” This was starting to sound too well planned for something she had just begun considering.
“Oh, I haven’t been, really; just maybe a thought here and there,” she said coyly.
I was unconvinced. “If you really want to do this, then maybe we should alter our plans for this mission.”
“How?” she asked.
“Well, maybe we should bring Kymberly and two or three other spiritualists along with us as a test run.”
“Oh! That would be wonderful! Let’s do it!” she said.
“Easy now. I will have to run all this by Master Shadow,” I reminded her.
“He will grant whatever you ask, Dusty; you know that,” she retorted.
“Maybe, but we still need to run it by him, and he might want to talk to Master Kellyn about it,” I said.
“Hmm, good point. Maybe she will want to join us!” she said mischievously.
“Hardly!” I laughed. Master Kellyn was on the Wizards’ Council, and married to Grandmaster Vydor. She was one of the most powerful magi in the entire realm.
“I think that Jade would be a good choice, then. He is young yet in magic, but has had a lot of experience with the mercenaries we are likely to have to deal with.”
“What about Saraphym?” I asked.
“She is a good choice, too. Neither Jade or Saraphym are even as advanced as Kymberly, but all three of them have stuck with the art, regardless of the naysayers.”
“Yeah. How many do you think we could get into your little club?”
“Little club?” She playfully smacked me. I was grateful she’d remembered to leave her claws retracted for that smack. “I think there might be as many as a couple dozen; probably not much more. It’s a pretty rare spell line. Not quite as rare as spellweaver, but nowhere near as common as the elemental lines.”
“Do you think that Kymberly, Jade and Saraphym would make good leaders?” I asked.
“Maybe. Why?” she asked.
“Well, if they’re the first three, it would be natural for everyone to assume their superiority as we add numbers,” I said.
“That’s a good point, but I don’t know yet. I think we will know more after this mission.”
“None of them is currently in the black ops division. I wonder if they will even want to come on this mission.”
“Kymberly will. She has been trying to get a transfer for a while now. The other two we will just have to ask, I guess.”
“Let’s do that, then get some supper. We can meet with Master Shadow in the morning to discuss your plan.”
Later that evening we met Shea for supper so that we could talk about the possibility of our having children together. I was hoping that Shea would tell us we couldn’t, as that would make things simple for me.
“Given your past, I really think you two need to work on your marriage before you think about children,” said Shea.
“Oh, I know, but we are about to leave on a long mission and I just wanted to know before we left,” said Spectra.
Shea leaned back in her chair. “Do you know where the various races came from?”
“I assume, well … no, not really,” I said.
“Ages ago there were only humans in all of known space. They built an ever-expanding empire but for all they could tell they were alone. As their technology got better, so did their weapons. Without an enemy among the stars to fight, they turned on each other and many major wars broke out. It was a dark time for this realm, with a death toll in the billions,” she said.
“Yes, I read about this in history back at the Academy. But what does that have to do with us having children?” asked Spectra.
“Everything. Do you know what happened next?” asked Shea.
“Only that the humans were scattered among the planets and, as they rebuilt the empire, they discovered the various races and unified them,” I said.
“That is partly correct. These wars did scatter the great empire of humans, and many groups were isolated in less than hospitable areas. They had to adapt to survive, but some were in places that were far beyond normal adaptation to handle. At first, those colonies simply died off, or otherwise disappeared.
“Other colonies did not want to face that same future and turned to science to help them. They began altering their bodies so that they would be hardier, faster, and more adapted for the environments they lived in. It is out of those genetic alterations that most of the races that you know today came from,” said Shea.