“Yes, that was the plan from the beginning.We only had a short window of time to try to regain control of thecolony. If that failed, the Emperor ordered that the planet bedestroyed,” was my reply.
“Sir, how much time do we have?”
“Well, hard to say for sure. Three or fourdays at least,” I answered. As the ranking officer they would belooking to me now to lead them. I was not sure I was ready to leadagain after losing the Knights. I looked around at them, and itappeared that Kellyn wanted to speak, but dared not break rank todo 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 wemight be able to use that to escape the upcoming bombardment,” shesaid.
“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 morehumans kept arriving, yet we have not detected even a singlespacecraft landing anywhere on the planet. During the fighting withthe Magi, we discovered this tunnel system that we are in now, andit was not on any map. From what we can tell the Magi have beenhere a long while digging these tunnels. They seem to be searchingfor something, but we do not know what for, or if they found it.The tunnels go much deeper than we are at present, severalkilometers in fact. Well, we never actually measured it but it’ssomething like that, you can tell because …”
“Kellyn, you are off track …” came a gentlereminder 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 bigstone circle standing vertically against one wall. It is adifferent kind of rock from the rest of the cave wall. While wewere trying to figure out what it was, a blue swirling glowappeared in its center and grew to fill the circle. Then Greenskinsstarted marching out of it, like it was a big door. We quicklyfound cover to prevent our discovery from being known. Since thenwe have seen the Magi and their lackeys go back and forth throughthe circle. I think it is some kind of gate,” she said, almostbreathlessly.
“Okay, everyone, pack up. In one hour I wantto 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 yourstories 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 ofthem took any of the guns or other normal weapons they hadstockpiled. Instead they were grabbing what looked like bundles ofthose 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 ofthese weapons. We do not fully understand how they work but we doknow how to use them. Each one has a command word inscribed on itsside. As long as that word is glowing, the wand has a charge. Wehave not yet worked out how to recharge them, nor do we have anyidea how many shots are left in a given wand. This bundle of wandsall uses the same command word, ‘Rathshiran.’ To use it, merelypoint the wand at your target and say the command word. You controlthe strength of the blast by the intensity of your focus on yourtarget. You can only target what you can see clearly. The wandsappear to have a range of one hundred meters,” he explained.
Then he handed me a large staff that wasabout two meters long and appeared to be made from a type of smoothblack wood. “We also captured several of these, which we canrecharge. They work exactly like the wands, except they are muchmore powerful. They have the same line-of-sight limitation, buttriple the range. Both of these weapons easily penetrate theirpersonal shields.”
“What do we know about these shields?” Iasked.
“Not much. They appear to be powered by a boxthey wear at their waist, and only seem to operate when they arestanding still. We have not spent much time worrying about them, asthey are ineffective against their own weapons,” he replied. “Butthey have another kind of shield that does block these wands. It isa large oval-shaped device that they hold like a knight from achildhood fairytale. We have been unable to capture one of thoseyet.”
I stowed all the wands, being careful toseparate the one I had taken earlier, since it used a differentcommand word. “How long is the trip to the gate?” I asked.
“Sir, it will take us most of a day to reachit from here,” Major Jerran replied. “It looks like everyone isready, sir.”
“Everyone, come here for a moment,” I saidand 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 theminimal combat training required by the Empire for service. On topof that, they all looked worn out and ready to give up trying.
Instead of the “barking orders” tone that Iwould have used with the Dark Knights, I decided words ofencouragement might be a better idea. “Okay, you all know moreabout the Magi and these tunnels than I do so I am going to needyou to speak freely. I will be depending on your information andexperience to get us to the gate, and survive whatever lies beyondit. You have all done extremely well. Not only have you surviveddeep within enemy territory, but you also have managed to succeedin the mission I was sent here to accomplish. Because of what youhave done, we have a chance to strike a blow to the heart of theMagi’s forces while getting critical information back to theEmpire. Now we can safely assume the course we are about to take isa very dangerous one, so I need you all on your top game. You haveoutsmarted and outmaneuvered the Magi many times over the past fewmonths while you have been down here. We will do it again.” Ipaused here to let that sink in. “If you would have me, I would behonored if you would think of me as one of your squad instead ofjust another ranking officer. Now, before we move out we need aplan to destroy the gate when we get there. Do we have anyexplosives?”
“No, sir, but I know where we can get some,”answered Major Jerran.
“Go on,” I prompted.
“Well, sir, the Magi are using explosives tocreate these tunnels, and we recently found out where they arestoring them,” he answered.
“Excellent. How far out of our way must we goto get them?” I asked.
“Sir, it will probably take a couple of hoursto get there and back. It is in the opposite direction to thegate.” He paused there. I gave a slight nod to prompt him and hecontinued. “Sir, it is likely to be guarded and if we move on itthe guards will call the Seven.”
“I understand, but we have to destroy thatgate and trap them here. If we fail, perhaps we will succeed indistracting them long enough to prevent them from escaping. Thinkof all your families, friends, and classmates out there …” Igestured at the ceiling and continued, “If we can stop this warhere, they have a chance to live. Otherwise, war with this powerfulan enemy will reach them, and many of them will be called tobattle. You have already seen the power of the Magi; we cannot letthe Empire down. We must make our stand here and now. Now, are youwith me?” I asked. I wondered who the “Seven” were, but thatquestion would have to wait.
“Yes, sir!” was their reply.
“Excellent. Then lead the way,” Iordered.
“Sir, before we go we should explain to youhow we avoid detection by the Magi. Darnath will go in front of us,just a hundred meters or so. Luke will trail behind the samedistance and Gafar will be with our group. With the three of themstrung out like that we get a good coverage of telepathic scanning,allowing us to detect the Magi and their troops long before theysee us. When one of the telepaths detects a Magi scan passingthrough, you will see us all freeze. It is important to take yourcue from that, sir, as there will not be enough time to warn youverbally. When you see us all freeze, you will have to rely on yourthought shield to keep you hidden. If we are detected they willattack 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, andonce there we all put on our night vision goggles so that we couldsee. The group moved rather slowly. Calling it a fast walk would bea stretch. Jerran explained to me that they had to go at a gentlespeed in order to focus on their telepathic scanning. This slowtravel allowed me time to pick their brains a bit. “Major, I have afew questions for you while we walk, if you do not mind, while itis safe.”
“Certainly, sir,” he replied.
I wondered where to start. I decided it mightbe best to start with simple, practical questions. “Okay, you toldme the command word for the wands; I assume that means you can readthe writing on them?” I asked.
“Yes, sir, and so can you,” he answered.“Sir, these wands and staves are controlled by force of will. Youaim them by looking at your target and willing the wand to hit it.You control the strength of the bolt by how forcefully
