looked very old. Itwas not in a writing I had ever seen before.
I brought the book to my language teacher atthe Academy. He said that he had seen samples of this writing butcould not read it himself. He cautioned me against showing the bookto anyone. He said that it could get me into big trouble. Herefused to say more.
My father wanted me to keep this book with mealways, so I decided I must bring it. The rest of my gear wouldhave to be practical, in case I had to carry it all on my back fora period of time.
Zalith knocked on my door, waking me from myreverie. I assumed the crew assignment was ready.
“Hello, Zalith, come in. I am just checkingmy gear one more time,” I said.
“Vydor, we don’t have much time, so I will bebrief. I am giving you twenty-five of my Dark Knights. They are thebest of the best. They have been fully briefed on what is to come.All of them have more experience in the field than you do. I don’tlike this mission at all.” He paused and paced for a moment. Idecided to wait and see what it was he wanted to say. “I have beenin this fleet for longer than you have been alive, and I have madesome friends in high places in that time.
“High Command does not expect you to returnfrom this mission. That really angers me. I know that I have beenhard on you, even to the point of saying you are under-qualifiedfor your rank, but you are my brother-in-arms here in the field.For this to happen to you is as if it happened to me. I am givingyou the best men this navy has ever seen because I want all of youback alive. I am also giving you the Dark Talon. It is the onlyship ever to return from a suicide mission with all the crew alive.A word of advice for you: let the Dark Knights lead most of thetime. They know what they are doing.”
With that he just walked out of the room. Inever thought he cared at all what might happen to me. I seemed tohave underestimated him in more ways than one.
Zalith was assigning me the Dark Knights, soI needed a minor gear change. The Dark Knights were an elite groupof Zalionian warriors who were extremely dedicated and deadly. Eachof them had decades of experience, all of it as a penetrationsquad. They specialized in the kinds of missions that often putthem deep within hostile territory with no support. This created aunique bond between them. Men who have served with them say it isas if they can read each other’s minds.
Their name came from the color of theirscales. Each of them had a permanent dye implanted over his entirebody. This dye was a very deep, flat black that made them nearlyinvisible in any dimly-lit situation; it also had a thermalreduction effect that made them just as hard to see withnight-vision goggles. They preferred to operate only at night whenon planetary surfaces, and this dye gave them a big advantage.
I put away my normal uniform. The Imperialblue would not work well for this mission. Instead I pulled out myown night gear, lightly armored and perfectly black coveralls thatwould give me similar characteristics to the Dark Knights’ scales.In addition to being the perfect camouflage for night missions, itwas also completely silent and had a ton of storage in small hiddenpockets. This allowed me to ditch the pack I had been planning tocarry. When travelling with a group like the Dark Knights, oneneeds to be light and fast.
I stopped for one last check in the mirrorbefore I left. I sighed as I caught a glimpse of my tightly- croppedhair. It was one of the minor things I disliked about my job, notbeing allowed more than half an inch of hair on my head, andabsolutely no facial hair. I never really understood thisregulation, and that made it harder to follow.
It was a short walk from my quarters to wherethe Dark Talon was docked. The Dark Knights would be making theirlast run though their pre-mission checklists. My biggest concernwas how they would feel about having me in charge. Of course theywere highly loyal, but I was an outsider. Worse than that, I was anoutsider with far less combat experience than any of them. I couldnot afford to have them second-guessing my orders.
As I entered the hangar, a docking bay workercalled out, “Senior officer on deck!” and everyone snapped toattention.
“Crewman, is the bay ready for launch?” Iasked the sergeant on duty.
“Yes, sir!’ was his reply.
“Then clear the hangar. I want only myselfand the Dark Knights in here.”
“Yes, sir!” he replied and immediately beganshouting orders to clear the bay. While he did that I turned to oneof the Dark Knights and said, “Gather up your team for finalbriefing.” Without a word he turned to the rest of them, and theyall came out and assembled before me. It really seemed that theycould read each others’ minds!
They were a very impressive bunch; theshortest of them was a half-meter taller than myone-point-eight- meter frame. Their uniforms were impressive despitehow plain they were. On these kinds of mission, no rank, namebadge, or insignia of any kind was permitted. If any of us wascaptured, especially myself, it would be best if the enemy did notknow whom they had.
“Computer, security lockdown codeDelta-Three, execute!” I called out. That guaranteed us privacy forthis conversation. What I was about to say to these men wasclassified, and I could not risk being overheard. I took a deepbreath and began my speech.
“I know that General Zalith has alreadybriefed you on the official line, and told you all that youofficially need to know. What I am about to tell you must never berepeated. Indeed, once you board that craft, nothing you say, do,hear, or see will ever be recorded. This mission is classified tosuch a degree that only High Command has the authority to know whatwe are up to. Our orders for this mission come directly from theEmperor himself, completely bypassing the normal chain of command.Not even the captain of this ship knows all I am about to say.” Icould tell they were not comfortable with this; heck, I was noteither, but it was not my place to question the Emperor.
“A hostile force, one that we have named theMagi, currently controls the planet we are heading towards. It isunknown what they call themselves so we will refer to them as theMagi until further notice. They are a very powerful group ofunknown size.
“Recently a class-three task force was sentto this planet to bring it back under control. This task force wasled by Lieutenant Tom.” I was surprised to see a look ofrecognition on some of their faces. Good, that would make the nextpoint all the more powerful. “The Magi defeated the class-threetask force before they could get a foothold. As far as we know,there were no survivors.”
The Dark Knights were a stoic bunch bynature. If not for my training in intelligence gathering I mighthave thought they did not react at all to that news, but I couldtell they were all shocked. Again, this was good because I neededto keep them just a little off-balance so I might be able to gain adegree of trust from them.
“The Magi have two primary weapons that weknow of. Both of them have already been brought to bear against us.The first is a plasma cannon. I will not waste our time with allthe technical details; just be aware that it is a weapon muchgreater in power than anything in the fleet. Indeed, one shot fromit could potentially destroy the Dark Talon.” The Dark Talon wasvery heavily armored, and it was hard to imagine anything powerfulenough to take it out with a single blow, so that made it a perfectexample.
“The second weapon is far more subtle, and inmany ways far more deadly. This colony used to house a secret squadcalled the Black Adders. They were trying to develop a new weaponfor our arsenal: psionics. Their progress with this is unknownbecause we lost communication with the colony over a year ago. Webelieve the Magi have wiped out the Black Adders, but it ispossible that they are one and the same. If they are, it will meanthat you might be required to terminate all of them.”
I paused a moment while I let themcontemplate that. No one liked the idea of turning our weapons onour own people; but if they were the Magi, they drew first blood,and we have no choice but to fight back.
“Now, the logical question is: What ispsionics? The honest answer is that we do not know. However, outhere even when we were still days away from the system, we began tofeel its impact. You must all have sensed it, that scent of fear onthe ship and the crew; that gnawing specter of doubt in your mindsthat you cannot shake off. It is not at all natural for hardenedwarriors to feel this way, but nonetheless you do. That is theimpact of the Magi’s weapon. It is becoming more intense the closerwe get to the planet.
“Fear will cause you to hesitate, to doubtyour own judgment and senses. Fear will cause you to underestimateyourselves, and overestimate them. You are all battle-hardenedwarriors. You know how to deal with fear, and this is no differentexcept in its magnitude. You will have to force yourselves to fightit. We do not know how this weapon works, and have no defense forit, so you must steel your minds and deal with it in your ownmanner. Remember it is not a natural fear; it is far more dangerousand crippling. You were chosen for this mission because GeneralZalith believes you are the best of the best. I assure you no oneless than that will survive this mission.”
