“I have requested and received permission todisclose information regarding the Empire’s research into theplasma weapons.” I paused to begin handing out the briefing papersI had received. “There are only two plasma weapons in the Empire,and both of them have about a seventy-five per cent failurerate.”
“Just what are these weapons?” questionedLarath.
“They are at present the most powerful weaponwe know of. Right now, we only have two prototypes, and nobattlefield-ready units. Still, the two prototypes are ten timesmore powerful than any single weapon on this ship.” I let that sinkin for a minute, and then I continued.
“The data we retrieved from the probe showsit was hit by three bolts in rapid succession. Each bolt wasexponentially more powerful than the first. The final bolt that hitthe probe was of a magnitude that could disintegrate a smalldestroyer. That is three shots in less than thirty seconds. Ourprototype plasma weapons can’t come close to that rate of fire.”That drew a lot of shocked looks and muttering.
“Why would they fire three shots? At thatrange there is no way they could have known that the first shotfailed to destroy the probe, at least not that fast … unless theyknew the first two shots would not destroy it in advance,” beganZalith.
“Sounds like a fear tactic to me. Once againour enemy is proving they have the upper hand. They know a lotabout us and are using that information to put us on edge,” thecaptain answered.
Time for my biggest bombshell yet. “It getsworse. Intelligence estimates that any race capable of the featsthat our Magi have accomplished are a hundred years or more aheadof us.”
“One more thing, Captain,” said Zalith.
“Yes?” the captain responded.
“I have been poring over the reports from theprobes and have found something that Vydor missed. The Magiapparently do not have advanced sensor technology.”
“What leads you to that?”
“Well, both of the probes were picked upright around two hours from the planet, which is about the range ofthe planet-based sensor array that was there before they took itover.”
I jumped and grabbed a copy of the reports.“Captain, he is right,” I began. “Even the digital pattern matches.These probes were scanned with our own planetary-based equipment.”I blew it. I should have caught that.
Everyone must have been wondering what thismeant. I certainly was. On one hand, the enemy’s plasma weaponsmade them look extremely advanced, but on the other hand, theyapparently didn’t have their own advanced sensor technology.
“If they are using our equipment then we canjam it,” stated Zalith. “This gives us the opening we need.Captain, let me take some of our battle cruisers and teach thesealiens what it means to mess with the Empire.”
“Zalith, as much as I can sympathize withthat plan, it is not something we can do at this time. I calledthis meeting because I received classified orders from HighCommand. I was hoping Vydor’s report would make me feel morecomfortable about them, but it has not. This is not how I wouldchoose to run this mission,” began the captain.
“High Command has ordered that we are toposition the fleet in the asteroid belt and begin collecting largeasteroids for bombardment operations. From that position we are tosend a small squad to the planet to attempt to penetrate theirdefenses. Once there, they are to collect all possible informationon the situation and establish an advanced base to operate from.The orders go further than that. They state that Vydor will leadthe mission.” The captain paused here, as if to decide whether heshould continue, then went on.
“We are approaching a known hostile planet.We should be trying to make contact from the fleet, not sendinggood people to a place that has killed many people already. HighCommand has informed me that the Emperor himself decreed all theparameters of this mission. This is the first time in my career inthe Imperial Navy that this has happened. Something very strange isgoing on here. My orders are to have Vydor lead a squad toinvestigate and make the mission a code-one stealth mission. Theonly control I have is choosing the soldiers that will join him.”The captain paused again. Taking a breath, he continued, “Quitefrankly, I don’t like this at all. I have every reason to believethat High Command estimates their safe return to be unlikely.”
Zalith broke into what I was sure was vulgarlanguage, but in his anger he used the Zalionian tongue of hisyouth. I knew him well enough by now to know that he much preferreda direct frontal attack and despised the games, as he called them,that High Command would play. A fierce gaze from the captainsilenced him, but judging by his posture his silence did not changehis opinion of the situation.
No else one piped up. This was very bad.Code-1 stealth meant that once we launched there would be nocommunications with anyone for any reason until the missionsucceeded. There was no provision for failure. It seemed as if HighCommand was very afraid of something. But why wouldn’t they tellus? Why not just destroy the planet and be done with the Magi?Nothing made sense any more.
“Captain, you could override the order; thatis your right as commander of the flagship,” stated Dr. Rannor.
When I first learned of this provision, Ithought it was odd that an officer was able to override the order,but it was explained to me that due to the large size of theEmpire, sometimes local conditions would not be fully known by HighCommand, and the various captains would have to make a judgmentcall on any orders they received.
“Well, Doc, I thought of that. But in amission of this apparent magnitude they would strip my command andfind someone else to lead. They have made this clear to me.Whatever we are on the edge of here is big. My hands are tied onthis matter.”
The room erupted into various discussionsafter that. The captain sat quietly by, as if he were just lettingthem talk out everything he had already debated in his mind. I tookept quiet; I had nothing to add. All their talk centered on waysout of the orders. It seemed that no one thought the orders were agood idea. I had absolute faith in my Emperor, but this was tryingthat faith to the limit. There was no logic behind this that Icould see. So many things did not make sense; it was as if thefoundations of my beliefs were being chipped away.
Someone suggested I should merely refuse theorder, which would have led to me being thrown into the brig, butwould have made the mission impossible. I did not like that optionat all. As Chief of Intelligence it was not normally my honor tolead a vanguard mission like this, but I wanted to meet the Magi inperson. The more I studied them, the more I felt an attraction ofsome kind. I could not understand it, but I knew it was my destinyto meet them face to face. But why did the Emperor choose me forthis? Since he chose me, I must have been the best choice, but Iwas one of the least experienced members of the crew.
I decided it was time to speak up for myself.“Good sirs, if I may speak on my own behalf? I do not need a wayout of this. If these are the Emperor’s wishes, then I will proudlyserve.”
The room fell silent at my remark; a look ofsurprise fell across everyone, except Larath and the captain.Larath was as stoic as ever, and the captain just smiled as if thatwas exactly what he had been waiting to hear.
“I would prefer not to take my team, though.None of them has any real combat experience and most are onlytrained in processing reports, not frontline data collection,” Icontinued.
“So be it then,” stated the captain. “Zalith,I would like you to hand-pick a team for Vydor. I want to be surehe has the best possible chance of success, and I know you are thebest person to assure that.”
“Absolutely,” stated Zalith. Somethingabout the way he said this told me that he already knew who tosend.
“So what do we really know about the Magi?Other than that they appear powerful enough to scare the entireEmpire. Do we have any unofficial leaks on them?” questionedCommander Jones.
“None of my normal contacts have told meanything. Heck, I cannot get half of them to talk to me. They areall running scared. I have one … umm, unofficial is a good word …source who says, ‘The secret to the powers of old is hidden on thatplanet.’ That is it, nothing more. I don’t know what he means byit,” answered the captain.
“The powers of old? What in the Emperor’sname is that supposed to mean? Are we going to find old projectilehandguns down there?” I asked.
“I don’t know. That was his last message tome. He is dead now; apparently his space cruiser had a freakaccident. Vydor, you have complete authority over this mission. Youhave excelled in all your tasks and have certainly proved able tocarry your own weight, but I suggest you lean heavily on your moreexperienced crewmates. You will have two weeks to create a securefoothold. If you fail, our orders are to bombard the planet andensure
