When I awoke I was lying on a hard, cold floor. It took a few moments to work my way out of the stupor left over from whatever they used to knock me out. Even after I recovered I did not open my eyes right away. I did not want to give any indication I was awake just yet, but I did put up my thought shield. If I got a chance to make a break for it I did not want to be tracked. Then I heard a gruff human voice say, “Sir, you can get up. There’s no use in pretending you’re asleep. You just dropped off our sensors.”
I decided to cooperate for now and see what I could learn, so I sat up and looked around. I was not at all prepared for what I saw: four men and two women in Imperial uniforms. Granted, their uniforms looked like they had taken a lot of abuse, but they were still recognizable. Then I noticed the patch on their sleeves. “So I finally meet the Black Adders,” I said.
“Yes, sir. I am Major Jerran, ranking officer of what is left of the Black Adders,” said a tall and burly-looking man. “Sir, we have to move. The Magi will notice that you’ve dropped off their sensors and move in on this location as fast as they can to get us. We can fill you in when we get to a safer place.”
“Lead on, Major,” I said. I was not sure I wanted to trust them yet. After all, one of the most viable working theories cast them as traitors. However, they had left me with all my weapons and gear, so they apparently trusted me, and this trust I could use to my advantage. We traveled very quickly through a maze of corridors that I did not recognize from the map I had studied. After a while the hard metal walls turned into rock, and all lighting ceased. I stopped to slip on my night vision goggles, as did the Black Adders, and we pushed on. Eventually we reached a wall of darkness so deep and dark that even with my goggles on the highest setting I could not see through it. To my surprise they slipped off their goggles and walked through, so I followed suit. After a few steps I walked into a well-lit room. Once my eyes adjusted I looked around at was apparently a makeshift headquarters. Weapons and supplies were stashed away everywhere, and in the center of the far wall was a set of screens that appeared to be linked into the colony’s sensor grid and security network.
“Welcome to our home, sir. We are about a kilometer below the colony, and as long as you keep your thought shield up we are completely undetectable to the Magi,” said Major Jerran. “Yes, we know about your shield. In fact, all of us here can do something similar. It comes with being a Black Adder, sir.”
“Okay, we are safe then. What in the Emperor’s name is going on here and where are the rest of my men?” I asked.
“Sir, I am sorry. Your squad was destroyed. They fought very valiantly, but we got there too late to help and they were hopelessly outgunned and outnumbered,” was his reply.
A wave of depression and shock hit me then. I had never lost anyone under my command before. To lose twenty-five all at once was just unthinkable. Depression slowly turned into a cold, burning anger that demanded revenge. “Jerran, you had better start at the beginning and tell me how we went from a loyal, peaceful colony to all-out war in its corridors,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Well, sir, I came here about four years ago straight from the Academy to take over the squad. The previous commander had disappeared and was presumed dead, though we had no idea what had happened to him. As you presumably know, the Black Adders were sent here to study psionic powers. Every member of the squad was a master of one or more of these powers. Our primary objective was to develop a means of defense against them. I was chosen to come here as leader because I am a master telekinetic, which is a very rare, almost completely unknown power. They believed this power would give me the fresh insight needed to break a long string of failures.
“When I arrived everything was fairly normal. The squad was continuing with their work, and there was no unrest amongst the civilian families that had come with them. But there was something odd. There were seven old men who kept turning up in highly secure places and I could find no record of them in our database. Whenever I would try to approach one to question him, he would just vanish. I was not at all happy with this, so I gathered thirteen of our best telepaths to search for these men. Individually, each of them failed, so I formed them into a telepathic lens …” he said.
“A what?” I interrupted.
“A telepathic lens. It is when a group of telepaths link their minds as if one and pool their powers and skills. It makes them far greater than any single telepath could ever hope to be,” he answered, and then he continued with his story, “That worked very well. Apparently when we chose to do this, the men in question were in a meeting discussing their plans. I didn’t get very much information, just a clear sense that they plan to destroy the Empire.
“Shortly after that connection was made, one of them appeared in the room with us, floating over the table. He called out, ‘Fools! You have no idea who you are playing with!’ and then used a wand to kill the telepaths. Because they were linked up, as soon as one died, they all died. He then turned his wand on me, but I used my telekinesis to grab a chair and hit him from behind with it before he could attack me. He crumbled and fell out of the air, but before I could do anything else two more of them appeared. I ran from the room under heavy fire from their wands. I ran to get help from the colony security force but found them already locked in combat with an army of green-skinned aliens.
“The battle for control of the colony lasted only a few days. Our security forces were just no match for them. Most of the Black Adders fared better as we used our powers to hold some secure ground, but it was not long before we were forced into a full retreat. We decided to make a stand at the central computer core and try to get a message out for help. That decision cost us dearly. We got the message out, but only the six of us survived. We then went deep underground and built this headquarters. Our plan was fairly simple at this point. Survive until help could come.
“When Lieutenant Tom’s forces arrived we planned to join up with them and give them all the info we had, but they never made it to the colony. As soon as they landed and began to move out, several of the enemy came out of hiding and slaughtered them. The firepower they wielded was incredible; nothing could stand in their path.
“They must have had a telepath among their number because as soon as the squad was wiped out they used Lieutenant Tom’s personal communicator and security codes to send a distress call. Once they got the message out, they set up the light shelters at the landing site. We didn’t know at the time why they did all this, but it is now obvious it was to lead you here.
“When your team landed we were sure you would be killed just as Lieutenant Tom’s force was, but not only did you survive the opening attack, you made it into the colony. We knew if we could not get to your team you would not last long against the sheer numbers here. Our plan was to convince you to retreat, but by the time we made it to your squad, you were the only one we could save. Seconds after we pulled you out, they turned their big weapons on your squad, killing all of them, and most of their Greenskins too.”
“Why do you think they wanted to lure me here?” I asked.
“Well, not you personally, but your fleet. As I recall, you were recently assigned to the Dragon’s Claw. Made big news out here because of how young you are. Well, the stated goal of our enemy is the destruction of the Empire, so I assume they plan to make their first strike against the Dragon Claw. If successful, it would have a demoralizing effect across the entire Empire. Sir, it is important that we warn them not to come close to the planet. If they come within range, they will be wiped out,” was his reply.
“You think the Magi can destroy the Dragon Claw and her fleet?” I questioned.
“Sir, we have studied them as much as we could while waiting here, and I fear that they can. Our transmitter will not reach the fleet from here, but I assume your ship is still out there somewhere cloaked. We could get a message to it and the ship could relay it to the fleet,” he said.
“Yes, we could. Before we get to that, please call out your names and ranks. I will need them for any report I send,” I said. I was stalling while I decided how to proceed. Getting a message to the fleet was a darn good idea, but also a direct violation of orders. They might very well disregard it as fraudulent. I felt I could trust the Black Adders, and while I did not think I had all the answers yet, I did think what they told me so far was true.
“Certainly, sir. I am Major Jerran, master telekinetic,” he said.
A young woman with a slight build and long, dark hair was next. “Sergeant Kellyn, master healer.”
A short man with bright blue eyes described himself as “Sergeant Darnath, master telepath.”
Next came a stocky man with brown hair who said, “Sergeant Luke, master telepath.”
A brick house of a man was next and said, “Private Gafar, master telepath.”
And finally a brawny woman. “Private Andreya, master illusionist.”
“Thank you,” I said as I pulled out my recorder and encrypted the conversation for transmission.
“You recorded all that?” Jerran asked.
“I have recorded everything that has happened on this mission since we left the fleet,” I said. “Do not look so surprised. I am in Intelligence, after all,” I said with a slight grin. “Now, where is your transmitter?”
“This way, sir,” said Kellyn as she walked to the computers on the back wall.
I encrypted all my logs using a key that I had previously arranged with the captain in case I needed to make a mid-mission transmission like this. There really was no decision to make. I had to try to get this information to the fleet. I established a link to the Dark Talon, and set it to record and relay the information to the fleet. “Captain, I know this is a breach of the mission orders, but I have to get you this information. I am sending everything I have learned in the sub-channel and relaying this via the Dark Talon. The mission is a complete failure, and I am now the only survivor from my team. I have established contact with what is left of the Black Adders and I would like their records marked that they have served the Empire well and did not betray its trust as we first feared. Captain, I cannot leave this line open too long for risk of getting caught. Move immediately to the final stage of our mission plan. Do not approach the planet; I repeat, do not approach the planet. Captain, I suggest you execute your plan from maximum range, without delay.”
Jerran looked at me and asked, “They plan to bombard the planet, don’t they?”
“Yes, that was the plan from the beginning. We only had a short window of time to try to regain control of the colony. If that failed, the Emperor ordered that the planet be destroyed,” was my reply.
“Sir, how much time do we have?”
“Well, hard to say for sure. Three or four days at least,” I answered. As the ranking officer they would be looking to me now to lead them. I was not sure I was ready to lead again after losing the Knights. I looked around at them, and it appeared that Kellyn wanted to speak, but dared not break rank to do it. “Speak freely, Sergeant,” I said.
“Sir, we know a way off this planet. Well, more accurately we think we know how the Magi got here, and we might be able to use that to escape the upcoming bombardment,” she said.
“Go on,” I prompted.
She continued, talking fairly rapidly, “Well, sir, originally we could not understand how they got here. I mean, there are over a thousand of the Greenskins and more and more humans kept arriving, yet we have not detected even a single spacecraft landing anywhere on the planet. During the fighting with the Magi, we discovered this tunnel system that we are in now, and it was not on any map. From what we can tell the Magi have been here a long while digging these tunnels. They seem to be searching for something, but we do not know what for, or if they found it. The tunnels go much deeper than we are at present, several kilometers in fact. Well, we never actually measured it but it’s something like that, you can tell because …”
“Kellyn, you are off track …” came a gentle reminder from Major Jerran.
“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. I will try to focus. In our exploration of the tunnels we found a room that has a big stone circle standing vertically against one wall. It is a different kind of rock from the rest of the cave wall. While we were trying to figure out what it was, a blue swirling glow appeared in its center and grew to fill the circle. Then Greenskins started marching out of it, like it was a big door. We quickly found cover to prevent our discovery from being known. Since then we have seen the Magi and their lackeys go back and forth through the circle. I think it is some kind of gate,” she said, almost breathlessly.
“Okay, everyone, pack up. In one hour I want to move on that gate. Our primary objective will be to destroy it. Hopefully we can make it through the gate before it’s destroyed, but it is more important to trap the Magi here. Based on your stories it sounds like they are amassing their forces here. If so, it is best that they stay for the bombardment,” I ordered.
I watched them pack their gear, and none of them took any of the guns or other normal weapons they had stockpiled. Instead they were grabbing what looked like bundles of those wands and stashing them in various places in their uniforms. Major Jerran brought me a package of the wands and said, “Sir, shortly before Lieutenant Tom’s raid we intercepted a shipment of these weapons. We do not fully understand how they work but we do know how to use them. Each one has a command word inscribed on its side. As long as that word is glowing, the wand has a charge. We have not yet worked out how to recharge them, nor do we have any idea how many shots are left in a given wand. This bundle of wands all uses the same command word, ‘Rathshiran.’ To use it, merely point the wand at your target and say the command word. You control the strength of the blast by the intensity of your focus on your target. You can only target what you can see clearly. The wands appear to have a range of one hundred meters,” he explained.
Then he handed me a large staff that was about two meters long and appeared to be made from a type of smooth black wood. “We also captured several of these, which we can recharge. They work exactly like the wands, except they are much more powerful. They have the same line-of-sight limitation, but triple the range. Both of these weapons easily penetrate their personal shields.”
“What do we know about these shields?” I asked.
“Not much. They appear to be powered by a box they wear at their waist, and only seem to operate when they are standing still. We have not spent much time worrying about them, as they are ineffective against their own weapons,” he replied. “But they have another kind of shield that does block these wands. It is a large oval-shaped device that they hold like a knight from a childhood fairytale. We have been unable to capture one of those yet.”
I stowed all the wands, being careful to separate the one I had taken earlier, since it used a different command word. “How long is the trip to the gate?” I asked.
“Sir, it will take us most of a day to reach it from here,” Major Jerran replied. “It looks like everyone is ready, sir.”
“Everyone, come here for a moment,” I said and then waited for them to gather. This was not going to be easy. They were not fine-tuned fighting machines like the Dark Knights. This was not a surprise since they were researchers with only the minimal combat training required by the Empire for service. On top of that, they all looked worn out and ready to give up trying.
Instead of the “barking orders” tone that I would have used with the Dark Knights, I decided words of encouragement might be a better idea. “Okay, you all know more about the Magi and these tunnels than I do so I am going to need you to speak freely. I will be depending on your information and experience to get us to the gate, and survive whatever lies beyond it. You have all done extremely well. Not only have you survived deep within enemy territory, but you also have managed to succeed in the mission I was sent here to accomplish. Because of what you have done, we have a chance to strike a blow to the heart of the Magi’s forces while getting critical information back to the Empire. Now we can safely assume the course we are about to take is a very dangerous one, so I need you all on your top game. You have outsmarted and outmaneuvered the Magi many times over the past few months while you have been down here. We will do it again.” I paused here to let that sink in. “If you would have me, I would be honored if you would think of me as one of your squad instead of just another ranking officer. Now, before we move out we need a plan to destroy the gate when we get there. Do we have any explosives?”
“No, sir, but I know where we can get some,” answered Major Jerran.
“Go on,” I prompted.
“Well, sir, the Magi are using explosives to create these tunnels, and we recently found out where they are storing them,” he answered.
“Excellent. How far out of our way must we go to get them?” I asked.
“Sir, it will probably take a couple of hours to get there and back. It is in the opposite direction to the gate.” He paused there. I gave a slight nod to prompt him and he continued. “Sir, it is likely to be guarded and if we move on it the guards will call the Seven.”
“I understand, but we have to destroy that gate and trap them here. If we fail, perhaps we will succeed in distracting them long enough to prevent them from escaping. Think of all your families, friends, and classmates out there …” I gestured at the ceiling and continued, “If we can stop this war here, they have a chance to live. Otherwise, war with this powerful an enemy will reach them, and many of them will be called to battle. You have already seen the power of the Magi; we cannot let the Empire down. We must make our stand here and now. Now, are you with me?” I asked. I wondered who the “Seven” were, but that question would have to wait.
“Yes, sir!” was their reply.
“Excellent. Then lead the way,” I ordered.
“Sir, before we go we should explain to you how we avoid detection by the Magi. Darnath will go in front of us, just a hundred meters or so. Luke will trail behind the same distance and Gafar will be with our group. With the three of them strung out like that we get a good coverage of telepathic scanning, allowing us to detect the Magi and their troops long before they see us. When one of the telepaths detects a Magi scan passing through, you will see us all freeze. It is important to take your cue from that, sir, as there will not be enough time to warn you verbally. When you see us all freeze, you will have to rely on your thought shield to keep you hidden. If we are detected they will attack us within minutes. We have been doing this for a while now, and we should be able to make it all the way there undetected,” Jerran said.
With that we headed out into the tunnels, and once there we all put on our night vision goggles so that we could see. The group moved rather slowly. Calling it a fast walk would be a stretch. Jerran explained to me that they had to go at a gentle speed in order to focus on their telepathic scanning. This slow travel allowed me time to pick their brains a bit. “Major, I have a few questions for you while we walk, if you do not mind, while it is safe.”
“Certainly, sir,” he replied.
I wondered where to start. I decided it might be best to start with simple, practical questions. “Okay, you told me the command word for the wands; I assume that means you can read the writing on them?” I asked.
“Yes, sir, and so can you,” he answered. “Sir, these wands and staves are controlled by force of will. You aim them by looking at your target and willing the wand to hit it. You control the strength of the bolt by how forcefully you will it to be, and you read the command words merely by willing them into a language you can read. Try it, sir. Take out a wand and focus on the writing, and will it to be understandable.”
Well, that did not seem logical, willing words to be readable, but it did fit everything else they said about the wands. So I pulled one out and attempted to do just that. It took a few minutes but suddenly the writing was clear and I could easily read the command word. “Incredible,” I said with a slight gasp.
In response I heard a slight giggle out of Kellyn. “Sir, that was exactly my reaction.”
Excellent; not only had I learned how to read the command words on the wands, I had also managed to crack the ice a bit in this group. “Well then, something does not make any sense. If the wands are this easy to use, why did the young Magus I fought in the corridor appear shocked when I used the wand on him?”
“Well, sir, you’re right. Something does not make sense and it has bothered all of us,” was Jerran’s reply. He seemed to catch himself, and the look on his face indicated that he had not meant to say that out loud.
“Go on, Major,” I prompted.
“It’s just that … well, sir, don’t take this wrong, but you should not exist,” was his reply. He paused to gather his thoughts and I waited for him to continue. “Sir, as you no doubt know the Black Adders are a group of master-level psionics sent here to determine if there was any way to protect against or block psionic powers, especially telepathic powers. What you may not know is that we are not merely one group; we are all that there is. That is to say, anyone who ever reached any degree of significant psionic power was sent here. You see, the colony doubles as quarantine to protect the Empire from us. Sure, there are much lesser psionics out there, such as Larath on your ship, a low-level empath.They pose no real danger to the Empire, unlike us, apparently. The problem is, sir: given what you can do, you should have been sent here a long time ago. Not only that, but your thought shield is what we were sent here to discover, and failed to do.”
“What do you mean, ‘failed?’ You seem to successfully hide from the Magi.”
“Not like you do, sir. You turn completely invisible to all sensors. We merely trick the sensors into thinking we are something else. In addition, your thought shield completely blocks our telepaths’ ability to read you, something no one has been able to do before, not even the Magi. You asked if we would accept you as one of us, when in reality you should have been one of us to begin with and imprisoned here long ago.”
Just when I thought I was getting somewhere, they had to toss all this in. The colony was a prison disguised as a psionic research center disguised as a bioresearch lab? No wonder they seemed a bit reserved with me. Based on what they were saying, I should have been locked up with them, not be a ranking officer on the flagship of the Imperial Fleet. “Well, I assure you that I knew nothing about this, but what you said does raise a question. If you never succeeded in creating a thought shield, how did you know that I could do it and what I call it?” That question seemed to catch them all off guard. It was like catching a child with his hand in the cookie jar.
“I am sorry, sir,” started Gafar. “When we pulled you from the fight, I probed your mind to make sure you were on our side. Of course at that time I could not read you because you had your thought shield up, but later when you were just waking up I was listening for your thoughts, and your first one was, ‘I need to get my thought shield back up’ and then you disappeared from my ability to read you.”
“Good work, Gafar,” I said. I did not like the idea of being probed like that but I needed to keep the unity of the group. “I would have done exactly the same in your position.”
Suddenly they all froze in place. I remembered what they had said about that back when we started out so I too froze, and made sure my thought shield was as effective as I could make it. Then I saw a thin wall of light coming down the corridor at great speed. No one moved, so I too stayed put. As the light passed over each of the Black Adders I briefly saw them turn into little pebbles. Then as the light passed over me I saw myself completely disappear. The light passed through me as if I was not there, not even a shadow. As soon as the light passed out of sight I turned to Gafar and asked, “Did they see us?”
Gafar looked a bit surprised at the question, but answered, “No, sir, not at all. But I did sense that they are fervently searching for you. Apparently you have them greatly worried. I expect we will see the Greenskins increasing their patrols looking for you. Sir, if I may be so bold, how did you know when to ask that question?”
“That is an odd question, Gafar. I merely waited until the light from their scan passed out of view,” I responded.
“Light, sir? There was no visible light. Sir, are you saying you can actually see their scans?” asked Gafar.
“You cannot?” was my feeble reply.
“Sir, if you do not mind, can you tell us exactly what you saw?” asked Major Jerran.
“Sure. There was a very thin wall of light that came down the corridor and passed over us. As it passed over each of you, you briefly turned into pebbles. When it reached me it passed over me as if I was not there at all. It continued down the corridor and out of sight. What did you see?”
“Nothing, sir. The telepaths can sense it coming, but none of us can actually see it,” answered Major Jerran.
As we started walking again I asked, “If you could not see it and only Gafar, Darnath and Luke could sense it, how did you know when to stop?”
“Sir, Gafar warned us telepathically. He cannot warn you the same way because of your shield, and it is too dangerous for you to lower it at this time,” was Jerran’s reply.
So that explained why they were so quiet unless I was talking to them. They communicated telepathically. “Okay, so how does this all relate back to the wand? And how come I was not sent here with you?” I asked.
“Well, sir, your second question we cannot answer, but the first is simple. You see, only either a master-level psionic or a Magus can use the wand. The ability to focus one’s willpower is an extremely rare knack that one must be born with. The Magi thought, as we did, that all the people in the Empire that could pull off such a feat were already here. When you pulled out and used the wand, your attempt should have failed.”
“Perhaps that is why the Magi attacked here first,” I said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, it sounds like the Black Adders are the greatest single threat to the Magi, and as such a surprise attack on them in the first battle would be the most logical move,” was my answer. “The Magi must be wondering how many more Black Adder cells are out there, since I apparently shattered their idea that you were all that existed.”