trusted me, and this trustI could use to my advantage. We traveled very quickly through amaze of corridors that I did not recognize from the map I hadstudied. After a while the hard metal walls turned into rock, andall lighting ceased. I stopped to slip on my night vision goggles,as did the Black Adders, and we pushed on. Eventually we reached awall of darkness so deep and dark that even with my goggles on thehighest setting I could not see through it. To my surprise theyslipped off their goggles and walked through, so I followed suit.After a few steps I walked into a well-lit room. Once my eyesadjusted I looked around at was apparently a makeshiftheadquarters. Weapons and supplies were stashed away everywhere,and in the center of the far wall was a set of screens thatappeared to be linked into the colony’s sensor grid and securitynetwork.
“Welcome to our home, sir. We are about akilometer below the colony, and as long as you keep your thoughtshield up we are completely undetectable to the Magi,” said MajorJerran. “Yes, we know about your shield. In fact, all of us herecan do something similar. It comes with being a Black Adder,sir.”
“Okay, we are safe then. What in theEmperor’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 andthey were hopelessly outgunned and outnumbered,” was his reply.
A wave of depression and shock hit me then. Ihad never lost anyone under my command before. To lose twenty-fiveall at once was just unthinkable. Depression slowly turned into acold, burning anger that demanded revenge. “Jerran, you had betterstart at the beginning and tell me how we went from a loyal,peaceful colony to all- out war in its corridors,” I said throughgritted teeth.
“Well, sir, I came here about four years agostraight from the Academy to take over the squad. The previouscommander had disappeared and was presumed dead, though we had noidea what had happened to him. As you presumably know, the BlackAdders were sent here to study psionic powers. Every member of thesquad was a master of one or more of these powers. Our primaryobjective was to develop a means of defense against them. I waschosen to come here as leader because I am a master telekinetic,which is a very rare, almost completely unknown power. Theybelieved this power would give me the fresh insight needed to breaka long string of failures.
“When I arrived everything was fairly normal.The squad was continuing with their work, and there was no unrestamongst the civilian families that had come with them. But therewas something odd. There were seven old men who kept turning up inhighly secure places and I could find no record of them in ourdatabase. Whenever I would try to approach one to question him, hewould just vanish. I was not at all happy with this, so I gatheredthirteen of our best telepaths to search for these men.Individually, each of them failed, so I formed them into atelepathic lens …” he said.
“A what?” I interrupted.
“A telepathic lens. It is when a group oftelepaths link their minds as if one and pool their powers andskills. It makes them far greater than any single telepath couldever hope to be,” he answered, and then he continued with hisstory, “That worked very well. Apparently when we chose to do this,the men in question were in a meeting discussing their plans. Ididn’t get very much information, just a clear sense that they planto destroy the Empire.
“Shortly after that connection was made, oneof them appeared in the room with us, floating over the table. Hecalled out, ‘Fools! You have no idea who you are playing with!’ andthen used a wand to kill the telepaths. Because they were linkedup, as soon as one died, they all died. He then turned his wand onme, but I used my telekinesis to grab a chair and hit him frombehind with it before he could attack me. He crumbled and fell outof the air, but before I could do anything else two more of themappeared. I ran from the room under heavy fire from their wands. Iran to get help from the colony security force but found themalready locked in combat with an army of green-skinned aliens.
“The battle for control of the colony lastedonly 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 holdsome secure ground, but it was not long before we were forced intoa full retreat. We decided to make a stand at the central computercore and try to get a message out for help. That decision cost usdearly. We got the message out, but only the six of us survived. Wethen went deep underground and built this headquarters. Our planwas fairly simple at this point. Survive until help could come.
“When Lieutenant Tom’s forces arrived weplanned to join up with them and give them all the info we had, butthey never made it to the colony. As soon as they landed and beganto move out, several of the enemy came out of hiding andslaughtered them. The firepower they wielded was incredible;nothing could stand in their path.
“They must have had a telepath among theirnumber because as soon as the squad was wiped out they usedLieutenant Tom’s personal communicator and security codes to send adistress call. Once they got the message out, they set up the lightshelters at the landing site. We didn’t know at the time why theydid all this, but it is now obvious it was to lead you here.
“When your team landed we were sure you wouldbe killed just as Lieutenant Tom’s force was, but not only did yousurvive the opening attack, you made it into the colony. We knew ifwe could not get to your team you would not last long against thesheer numbers here. Our plan was to convince you to retreat, but bythe time we made it to your squad, you were the only one we couldsave. Seconds after we pulled you out, they turned their bigweapons on your squad, killing all of them, and most of theirGreenskins too.”
“Why do you think they wanted to lure mehere?” I asked.
“Well, not you personally, but your fleet. AsI recall, you were recently assigned to the Dragon’s Claw. Made bignews out here because of how young you are. Well, the stated goalof our enemy is the destruction of the Empire, so I assume theyplan to make their first strike against the Dragon Claw. Ifsuccessful, it would have a demoralizing effect across the entireEmpire. Sir, it is important that we warn them not to come close tothe planet. If they come within range, they will be wiped out,” washis reply.
“You think the Magi can destroy the DragonClaw and her fleet?” I questioned.
“Sir, we have studied them as much as wecould while waiting here, and I fear that they can. Our transmitterwill not reach the fleet from here, but I assume your ship is stillout there somewhere cloaked. We could get a message to it and theship could relay it to the fleet,” he said.
“Yes, we could. Before we get to that, pleasecall out your names and ranks. I will need them for any report Isend,” I said. I was stalling while I decided how to proceed.Getting a message to the fleet was a darn good idea, but also adirect violation of orders. They might very well disregard it asfraudulent. I felt I could trust the Black Adders, and while I didnot think I had all the answers yet, I did think what they told meso far was true.
“Certainly, sir. I am Major Jerran, mastertelekinetic,” 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 describedhimself as “Sergeant Darnath, master telepath.”
Next came a stocky man with brown hair whosaid, “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 myrecorder and encrypted the conversation for transmission.
“You recorded all that?” Jerran asked.
“I have recorded everything that has happenedon this mission since we left the fleet,” I said. “Do not look sosurprised. I am in Intelligence, after all,” I said with a slightgrin. “Now, where is your transmitter?”
“This way, sir,” said Kellyn as she walked tothe computers on the back wall.
I encrypted all my logs using a key that Ihad previously arranged with the captain in case I needed to make amid-mission transmission like this. There really was no decision tomake. I had to try to get this information to the fleet. Iestablished a link to the Dark Talon, and set it to record andrelay the information to the fleet. “Captain, I know this is abreach of the mission orders, but I have to get you thisinformation. I am sending everything I have learned in thesub-channel and relaying this via the Dark Talon. The mission is acomplete failure, and I am now the only survivor from my team. Ihave established contact with what is left of the Black Adders andI would like their records marked that they have served the Empirewell and did not betray its trust as we first feared. Captain, Icannot leave this line open too long for risk of getting caught.Move immediately to the final stage of our mission plan. Do notapproach the planet; I repeat, do not approach the planet. Captain,I suggest you execute your plan from maximum range, withoutdelay.”
Jerran looked at me and asked, “They plan tobombard the planet, don’t they?”
