“Yes, I did, but it requires a very strongmind and a dedication that I would say fewer than ten percent ofthe Imperial forces can muster,” was my reply. I let that sit for abit. I needed to prepare myself for the hard part: our resignationand request for recognition as a separate nation. Every life in theEmpire depended on me pulling this off; I dared not fail. I wastempted to reach out with my powers and force the situation to playout the way it needed to, but a voice deep down inside me that Ihad not heard in a very long time cried out against that. I couldbarely hear it, but I knew it was right.
“Honored One, if this was the end of myreport, it would be a sad day indeed for the Empire, but there ishope to be found. We successfully contacted a second group ofaliens, known as wizards, and through them we learned much aboutthe sorcerers, namely that they are currently locked in a very longand closely-matched war with the wizards. It seems that thesorcerers are in our realm looking for some new weapon which theybelieve is here, and they believe that weapon will grant them theneeded edge for victory in their realm.”
“The enemy of an enemy is a friend,”commented the Emperor with a smile.
“Well spoken, Honored One. A representativeof the ruling Council of Wizards who simply goes by the name Mantiscontacted us. He is the one who showed us how to create the shieldthat just saved your life, and how to fight a sorcerer likeLarath.” I paused here to think about what I should say next.However, before I could formulate my thoughts, the Emperor stoodand raised his scepter. I knew that meant he was about to speakofficially and whatever he decreed would be law.
“I have heard enough. I can see how the restof the story plays out. Do not be surprised, there are after allseven of you,” he said with a smile, and then a serious look cameover his face.
“By the power vested in me, I hereby grantVydor, Kellyn, Andreya, Jerran, Gafar, Darnath, and Luke honorabledischarge from their positions in the Imperial forces, and releasethem from their citizenship. Let the record show these men andwomen are worthy of the highest honor and respect for theirdedicated service. So let it be written, so let it be done,” hedeclared.
“The High Command witnesses this declarationand shall obey,” came the reply from the chairman, who looked veryconfused.
“By the power vested in me, I hereby grantofficial recognition to the Council of Wizards for our realm as ledby Grandmaster Vydor, and his ruling council comprised of MasterKellyn, Master Andreya, Master Jerran, Master Gafar, MasterDarnath, and Master Luke. I also grant full ally status to saidcouncil and commit the full resources of the Empire to supportthem.”
“The High Command witnesses this declarationand shall obey,” came the reply from the chairman, who looked likehe had finally caught on.
Well, he might not have been my childhood godany more, but he sure could still shock me! This really made nosense. How did he make that leap so fast? I wondered if it would beconsidered proper for me to grill him a little about this.
He sat down, indicating that his officialruling was complete. I promptly said, “Thank you, Honored One, yourgenerosity and insight is without measure.”
“High Command, please leave us. I must speakand plan our defense with the Council of Wizards,” ordered theEmperor. It was a mostly forgotten custom that the Emperor directlyhandled planning with allies, mainly because the Empire hadassimilated all of its allies, but the High Command seemed toremember it since they left without complaint.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Once they were gone, the Emperor laid hisscepter down next to his throne and said, “Please relax, we areequals now. No need for such formality.”
Jerran took that as a cue to telekineticallylift some chairs and bring them to us. We all sat in them, and Ilowered my hood. It seemed the Emperor wanted to talk aboutsomething but was worried about how we would take it.
“I owe you all an apology, it seems,” hestarted. He seemed really distraught. “You see, many years ago Iordered the Black Adders to be formed and all who showed promise tobe sent to Arken IV. The official reason, as you know, was todiscover and perfect a defense against their powers, but thatrapidly changed.”
He paused there, and I could feel thesurprise ripple through everyone. What could he mean? I did notdare interrupt him. I just sat in silence.
“I was warned almost half a century ago aboutthis threat, and I was told their first move would be on Arken IV.At the time my plan was simple. By packing that planet with peoplewho had what I thought to be great power, it would make our Empirelook much stronger than it was, and hopefully deter any attack. Ifthat failed, I believed the Black Adders would be able to defeatthe invasion. To that end I expanded our search for anyone withpower and made the base a permanent residence for them. It seems Igrossly underestimated the power of our new enemy, and a lot ofgood people died because of it.”
He stopped there and seemed to be waiting fora reaction. I could barely think for my surprise, but I managed tosay, “Who warned you?”
He smiled. “Mantis, of course.”
That sneaky old fool! He could have told usthat, but no; he probably enjoyed how worried we were over allthis. In fact, I would not have been surprised if he was watchingus at that moment and laughing.
“Mantis is also the one behind you, Vydor,”he said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“While the situation on Arken IV wasdeveloping, Mantis contacted me again. It was the first I had heardfrom him since his original contact, and he insisted that I assignyou to the Dragon Claw and send the fleet in.”
“So he has been behind all the oddcoincidences, then,” I said. “That ties up so many loose ends.” Irealized then that I had inadvertently stopped using the Emperor’sformal title. I was truly speaking to him as if he was one of myshipmates, not my god. Then a crushing thought rocked my world. Ifthe Emperor was not a god, who was? I did my best to put thatthought away for later. I had more important business to attend toin the present.
“I take it that he also told you of his planto make us the Council of Wizards for this realm?” I asked.
“No, that much I guessed by your show ofpower,” he said with a grin. “I must say you did very well. You hadHigh Command ready to follow you to war. Though I have to ask, whywould a wizard hit someone on the head with his staff instead ofusing a more civilized blast?”
It was my turn to grin. “Easy. He knew how tofight against bolts of energy, but had no clue about hand-to- hand,or in this case, staff-to-head combat,” I said proudly.
The Emperor laughed and said, “Mantis made awise choice.”
“We have a favor to ask of the Empire. Weneed a vessel to operate as a mobile base,” I started. “Since weare already familiar with her, we would like to keep the DarkTalon.”
The Emperor thought about it for a momentthen said, “I appreciate the humility of your request, but thatship is far too small to support your operations acrossinterstellar space. I do see your need for a ship though, and Ihappen to have a Raven Mark II here ready for its maiden voyage. Ithink it would serve you much better.”
The Raven was a cruiser class vessel, muchlarger than the Dark Talon, and was designed to run solo missionsacross interstellar space. It was a far more powerful vessel than Ihad any right to expect, and I was thinking of humbly refusing theoffer, but then an image came to my mind. I pictured how we couldredesign the Raven to have sections dedicated to meeting our needto study and grow, and since it was equipped to grow food for itscrew we could travel great distances without support.
“A Mark II? I never heard of such a model,” Isaid. I was stalling; I needed more time to think about this. Therewas the problem, of course, that none of us had a clue how tooperate a Raven, but we had solved that before with the DarkTalon.
“Yes, this prototype is a new version of theRaven. The old design is to be retired soon, and this will replaceit throughout the fleet,” was his answer.
Over our connection I asked,
