“Mantis, war is upon us. I have foreseen thearmy we are about to face and it is a great gathering of darkness,greater than has ever amassed before. The sorcerers are makingtheir move now on this realm, and using all their might.”
He looked surprised at my statement and said,“Then they have found the weapon?”
“No, Mantis, you did. But it was not aweapon; it was this Council. They knew that if we were created theycould not face both of us. They wished to strike us down before weever got up,” I replied.
“Vydor, you have grown tremendously sincelast we met, but how can you know this?” he asked.
“I have met with the same man of light thatyou told of in your history lesson, and he revealed much to me, andopened my eyes to what I already knew,” I said.
The look of surprise that passed over hisface was priceless; I had never had the edge on him before, andwould have enjoyed it if not for the desperate times we faced.“Mantis, I have summoned you here to formally request anyassistance your realm can provide. Even if it is just a handful ofapprentices to scatter through our armies, anything would be ofgreat help. We fully expect to fight the Seven in this battle andwill not be able to lend our power to help the Imperial Navy.”
He slumped his shoulders and said, “I amsorry, but we cannot help at this time. In fact, I was instructedto ask you for help; it seems they are making a move in both of ourrealms. Our forces are already committed to battle. I do not knowwhere they suddenly got the numbers from to achieve this, but itseems they are calling our bluff on the two-front war.”
“And they only need to win one to take itall,” I said.
“That is why you must not lose. You mustbring everything you can to this fight. Both our realms depend onit.” He paused and looked around the room before continuing. “Youare by far the best students I have ever seen. I have faith in yourability to win this. No matter how big their armies are, there arestill only seven master-level sorcerers, and we have fourteen now.They will have to choose a place to make their stand, and it islikely to be here because they will underestimate the power youhave acquired. When that happens, their power in our realm will dipconsiderably and we should be able to win on our front and thensend reinforcements here, if you have not won already.”
“So we really just need to keep them busyonce they arrive,” said Kellyn.
“I fear help will not be able to reach us intime. If we see the enemy, we must engage them to the fullest,” Isaid.
“Yes, Vydor is right. If they know you arestalling they will exploit that to their own advantage. Now,Grandmaster, with your permission I need to bring this news back tomy realm and rejoin the fight,” said Mantis.
“Go forth, Mantis, and I expect to see you atthe victory party,” I said. He smiled, winked and disappeared.
“Commander, please come to the observationlounge for pre-battle briefing,” I said over the comm.
When he arrived I said, “Commander, when wecome out of the jump we need to be in full stealth mode. We willnot be joining the opening moves of the battle. Once the two armiesare locked in battle we will move to hit their primary center ofcommand. It is a space station that will be in the center of theirforces. I want you to lead three groups of Dark Knights topenetrate and conquer the station. Once your men are on the stationand actively fighting, I will send in the Council of Wizards andthen follow to open a fourth front inside the station. Control ofthat station is key to this battle. Each sorcerer killed there willweaken the forces outside the station, and if we kill their leaderstheir whole army falls apart,” I ordered.
“It is a wise plan, Grandmaster, and we willgladly give our lives for it,” he said.
“Thank you, Commander. Go and prepare yourmen. Once our time to fight is at hand, speed of execution will becritical.” As he left to carry out my orders I went over to my commstation to call the captain. Kellyn came over and set up the callfor me, then took a seat beside me.
“Hello, Master Vydor,” the captain said as heappeared on the screen. With him were several important officers,including Zalith.
“Pardon me, Captain, but his proper title isGrandmaster Vydor,” interrupted Kellyn.
“My apologies, Master Kellyn. I will make anote of that,” said the captain.
“Captain, I am aware that we do not have alot of time, but we need to go over the battle plans before wejump,” I said.
“Definitely. We have been expecting yourcall. Since you know the enemy best, why don’t you tell us what youhave in mind?” he replied
“Master Andreya, I need you,” I said,speaking aloud for everyone’s benefit. When she came over I askedher to show them a vision I had in my mind of the upcomingbattlefield.
“As you can see, there is a large forcewaiting for us, grouped around that station. That station is key toour victory,” I said. “What I will need your forces to do is toengage their fleet with everything you have.”
“If the station is the key, it would makemore sense to push through and destroy that,” said one of theofficers.
“In a normal battle, yes, it would, but inthis case that would grant them victory. That station isinvulnerable to any attack this fleet can muster, but that is wherewe come in. Once you have them fully engaged, we will move on thestation. You must keep their military engaged so that we can get onthe station and take control.”
“What of their powers?” asked Zalith.
“Their powers will be tied up in creating andcontrolling the army that you fight. That is why you must keep themengaged. Once we are on the station they will have to startdividing their power between controlling their forces and fightingus, and you will start to see sections of their forces fall apart.It is important that you keep up the pressure on them so that theycannot bring their full strength to bear against us. If either yourfleet or our men have to face their full might alone we will lose.It is only through this joint attack that we can overcome them.” Ipaused there for a moment, and memories of the first squad of DarkKnights I ever led came rushing back to me. “If something happens,and there is an opening in the shields on that station, you mustdestroy it regardless of who may still be on it.”
“Your plan sounds wise, Vydor. What can weexpect to be fighting?” asked the captain. I knew that I couldtrust him to follow through with that order. He would not like it,but he would not hesitate. He had too much combat experience to dootherwise.
“Master Andreya, please show them this,” saidKellyn as she started mentally picturing all kinds of horridcreatures. As they were being displayed one by one to them, shesaid, “They are immune to most physical attacks, but your energyand particle weapons will work well. Many of them will have shieldsaround them, but they can be overpowered. Just keep increasing yourfocus fire until you break through. I am just showing you a sampleof the kinds of beings they have available to bring to bear, butthey can all be defeated the same way. You just need to overwhelmtheir defenses by coordinating your attacks. Their primary weaponswill all look very different, but in the end they are all pureenergy-based attacks, so your defenses should be structured to takethat into account.” Then she privately said to me,
“Do you have this data in a form we can loadinto our computers and share with the fleet?” asked Zalith.
“No, it is all in real books at present. Ifwe had a couple of months to transcribe them, maybe, but we donot,” answered Kellyn.
“Captain, as far as I know they have onlyfought wars on planetary surfaces before this, so the battlefieldstrongly favors us,” I said. “Have you been able to call in anyhelp?”
