The Enemy of an Enemy

I headed back to my quarters, planning to getsome rest. When I entered my room I saw the book on my shelf. Ithad been over a year since I had first cast the spell which allowedme to read it, but I had not yet opened the cover. Something insidetold me I was not ready yet, and still warned me against it.Logically there was no reason to worry; it was just a book, but Icould not get past that feeling that it was not yet the right time.Yet I knew in some way that this book had the answers I needed.

Just as I decided to sit and read it, I hearda voice come over our intercom. “Vydor, I just got off the linewith the Dragon Claw, and we have a nice data stream coming inupdating all of our navigational data. It seems likely with theupdated maps we can be clear of this field in six hours and shouldmake it to the Dragon Claw’s present position in about three days.”It was odd to actually hear a voice on this ship and it took me aminute to place it as Darnath’s. He had to use that to contact mebecause I was in my quarters.

“Thank you for the update, Darnath. As youheard the captain say, we need to get there as soon as we can, sotake whichever course is fastest. I am going to get some sleep. Asksomeone to wake me before the next jump,” I responded.

“Sure thing, Vydor,” he replied.

I looked again at the book. It was not veryremarkable from the outside. In fact, compared to the books fromMantis, it was downright plain. I thumbed through it brieflywithout really reading it and it seemed to be a collection ofshorter books. Well, that would have to wait until after thismission. I could not afford to be distracted by a new project justyet.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Vydor, this is our final jump. It shouldput us only ten minutes from the fleet,” came Darnath’s reportas I entered the bridge.

“Excellent,” I replied. The last fewdays since we spoke to the captain had been fairly uneventful.Kellyn and Andreya talked constantly about wedding plans, and Imostly stayed in the library studying everything we had on thesorcerers.

We all took our positions for the jump, whichnow entailed everyone except Darnath being in physical contact withme. The dark specter had not tried again since the first encounterhe had with all six of us, but he stayed close by, ready for anyopening. I knew that he had grown too powerful, and that alone Icould never stand against him, but he was no match for the six ofus. This jump was no exception. He stood and waited, again givingthe impression of saying, “Time is on my side. I can wait.”

When we came back into normal space, on theviewing screen in front of me was the fleet. I had forgotten howmassive it was. From this angle we could not see all of it. Itspread out far wider than our viewing screens could reach.

“I had better contact them before we dropout of stealth, just in case they are a bit trigger- happy,” Icommented. Kellyn brought up the connection on the main viewer, andsoon the captain appeared.

“Greetings, Captain, we are about nineminutes from your wake at present, and are about to drop out ofstealth,” I said.

“Excellent. As soon as you can, establish thegraviton link and pass navigation over to us for the next jump.There will be about a day and a half on the other side of the jumpwhile we skirt around a black hole, so we can have your celebrationthen,” he said.

Our ship’s engines would not be ready to makeanother jump for hours yet, but relative to the fleet we were soinsignificant that they would just drag us along.

“Darnath will get that link up as soon as weare in range. Captain, why don’t you, Dr. Rannor and Zalith join usfor dinner after the jump?” I asked.

“That sounds like a great idea, say at 2000?”he asked.

“2000 it is, then,” I said and we ended thetransmission.

After the jump Darnath ran up to the messhall to start cooking. He came from a long line of chefs and wepersuaded him into volunteering to cook all the major meals. Kellynand I also went up to prepare the table and make sure all was inorder.

Gafar offered to stay and watch the bridgeduring the dinner. Out here in interstellar space it was unwise toleave the bridge unmanned. There were too many unknowns to dealwith.

“Thank you, Gafar, but this is going to bea problem during the wedding tomorrow. I do not want anyone to haveto miss it,” I said.

“Well, maybe the captain can spare somecrew members to stand watch so that we need not worry aboutthat,” offered Kellyn.

“That is a brilliant idea,” I said. Iwas a bit annoyed I had not thought of such a simple answer.

While waiting for dinner, I went to theship’s library and focused on crafting the scrolls I would need forthe battle. I was deep into this preparation when I heard Gafarsend from the bridge, “Vydor, the captain’s shuttle is on itsway.”

“Okay, I guess we are ready. Land them inbay two.” Zalith would no doubt want to see the Dark Talon, soit was easiest to have them dock in the same bay. We went down tomeet them. As soon as the bay was pressurized, we entered it.

Zalith was the first off the shuttle. Iwalked right up to him and gestured at the Dark Talon while saying,“Hello, old friend, the Dark Talon is ready for you to fly her homeafter the meal.”

“Thank you, Vydor, but I took the liberty ofbringing two Dark Knights to take her home now.” As he said that,they came off the shuttle. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach.I was worried what they would think of me, since I had ledtwenty-five of their squadmates to their death.

One of them walked right up to me and lookeddirectly into my eyes. He was a good half-meter taller than me, butI looked up and held his gaze. I knew that was what he wouldexpect.

“Vydor, we reviewed the logs and journals ofyour mission, and we are impressed at your honor and valor in theface of death. The battle was won because of your leadership,” hesaid and handed me an emblem.

I had to break his gaze to see what it was,and I barely held my composure. It was the emblem of the DarkKnights. The significance of this gift was not lost on me; I knewwhat it meant. They now numbered me as one of their own. Using aminor bit of magic I attached it to my staff, which had become thesymbol of my rank. “It will be an honor to fight with the DarkKnights again,” I said with as much pride in my voice as I couldmuster.

He just gave a slight nod, and they went overto the Dark Talon. I saw that the captain and Dr. Rannor haddisembarked from the shuttle. “Well, if I know the Dark Knightsthey will be asking for clearance to launch right away, so let’smove out of the bay,” I commented. As we exited I told Gafar togive the Knights clearance to launch as soon as they wereready.

Once we were out in the hall, propergreetings and introductions were exchanged all around. Kellynseemed to be a bit embarrassed over the compliments she received,but she deserved them all and more. As we walked through thetraining rooms on our way to the lift I noticed the captain waslooking around. I wondered what he was looking for. Soon we got tothe lift and were on our way to the top deck, and the observationlounge.

On the ride up, the captain remarked, “Youknow, Vydor, for some reason I was expecting strange things, but sofar your Raven looks, well … normal.”

I just smiled and opened the door to theobservation lounge with its wide-open view of the fleet around us.Our visitors caught their breath as they walked out under it. Theydid not say anything for quite some time, and we just let them takeit all in. I finally could not resist any longer and said, “I thinkyou were saying something about how normal the ship was?”

“This is an awesome view, Vydor. It is easyto forget what is out there when you spend your time moving fromone office to another on the Dragon Claw,” said the captain.

“Yes, we eat most of our meals up here underthe stars. It is quite humbling,” I responded.

Darnath, Andreya, Jerran and Luke joined usand we moved over to the table to eat. For a while the conversationover the food was mostly small talk, but eventually it moved toquestions about us. Dr. Rannor began