Later the headmaster of the Academy came by.“Vydor, you never told me your father was so ill. I had to pullsome strings just to find you. I would have let you skip theceremony to be here instead.”
“No, that would have broken his heart. Hewanted me to be there so badly. I think it is what kept him goingthese last few weeks. I am sorry, sir, for leaving withoutnotice.”
“Forget it, no one could blame you. How ishe?”
“I don’t know, sir. He was trying to tell mesomething, and then the alarms went off, and …” I could notcontinue.
“Stay here, son; I will see what I can findout for you.”
The headmaster was a gentle man, and he tooka personal interest in all his students. He never had any childrenof his own, and I think the school served as a substitute familyfor him.
“They are doing everything they can for him.That is all they can say right now,” he said and took a seat nearwhere I had been trying to get some rest.
A few hours later the doctor walked out towhere we were sitting and said, “I am sorry, we did everything wecould, but he didn’t make it.”
The rest of the night was a haze. All I canremember is that the headmaster took me home and told me that hewas giving me some time off before sending me on active duty.
I found the safe Dad told me about. He nevergave me the combination to open it, but I was able to guess itafter only a few tries. When I opened the safe, all that was insidewas a book, a real book, with paper pages. It looked very old. Itwas not in a writing I had ever seen before.
I brought the book to my language teacher atthe Academy. He said that he had seen samples of this writing butcould not read it himself. He cautioned me against showing the bookto anyone. He said that it could get me into big trouble. Herefused to say more.
My father wanted me to keep this book with mealways, so I decided I must bring it. The rest of my gear wouldhave to be practical, in case I had to carry it all on my back fora period of time.
Zalith knocked on my door, waking me from myreverie. I assumed the crew assignment was ready.
“Hello, Zalith, come in. I am just checkingmy gear one more time,” I said.
“Vydor, we don’t have much time, so I will bebrief. I am giving you twenty-five of my Dark Knights. They are thebest of the best. They have been fully briefed on what is to come.All of them have more experience in the field than you do. I don’tlike this mission at all.” He paused and paced for a moment. Idecided to wait and see what it was he wanted to say. “I have beenin this fleet for longer than you have been alive, and I have madesome friends in high places in that time.
“High Command does not expect you to returnfrom this mission. That really angers me. I know that I have beenhard on you, even to the point of saying you are under-qualifiedfor your rank, but you are my brother-in-arms here in the field.For this to happen to you is as if it happened to me. I am givingyou the best men this navy has ever seen because I want all of youback alive. I am also giving you the Dark Talon. It is the onlyship ever to return from a suicide mission with all the crew alive.A word of advice for you: let the Dark Knights lead most of thetime. They know what they are doing.”
With that he just walked out of the room. Inever thought he cared at all what might happen to me. I seemed tohave underestimated him in more ways than one.
Zalith was assigning me the Dark Knights, soI needed a minor gear change. The Dark Knights were an elite groupof Zalionian warriors who were extremely dedicated and deadly. Eachof them had decades of experience, all of it as a penetrationsquad. They specialized in the kinds of missions that often putthem deep within hostile territory with no support. This created aunique bond between them. Men who have served with them say it isas if they can read each other’s minds.
Their name came from the color of theirscales. Each of them had a permanent dye implanted over his entirebody. This dye was a very deep, flat black that made them nearlyinvisible in any dimly-lit situation; it also had a thermalreduction effect that made them just as hard to see withnight-vision goggles. They preferred to operate only at night whenon planetary surfaces, and this dye gave them a big advantage.
I put away my normal uniform. The Imperialblue would not work well for this mission. Instead I pulled out myown night gear, lightly armored and perfectly black coveralls thatwould give me similar characteristics to the Dark Knights’ scales.In addition to being the perfect camouflage for night missions, itwas also completely silent and had a ton of storage in small hiddenpockets. This allowed me to ditch the pack I had been planning tocarry. When travelling with a group like the Dark Knights, oneneeds to be light and fast.
I stopped for one last check in the mirrorbefore I left. I sighed as I caught a glimpse of my tightly-croppedhair. It was one of the minor things I disliked about my job, notbeing allowed more than half an inch of hair on my head, andabsolutely no facial hair. I never really understood thisregulation, and that made it harder to follow.
It was a short walk from my quarters to wherethe Dark Talon was docked. The Dark Knights would be making theirlast run though their pre-mission checklists. My biggest concernwas how they would feel about having me in charge. Of course theywere highly loyal, but I was an outsider. Worse than that, I was anoutsider with far less combat experience than any of them. I couldnot afford to have them second-guessing my orders.
As I entered the hangar, a docking bay workercalled out, “Senior officer on deck!” and everyone snapped toattention.
“Crewman, is the bay ready for launch?” Iasked the sergeant on duty.
“Yes, sir!’ was his reply.
“Then clear the hangar. I want only myselfand the Dark Knights in here.”
“Yes, sir!” he replied and immediately beganshouting orders to clear the bay. While he did that I turned to oneof the Dark Knights and said, “Gather up your team for finalbriefing.” Without a word he turned to the rest of them, and theyall came out and assembled before me. It really seemed that theycould read each others’ minds!
They were a very impressive bunch; theshortest of them was a half-meter taller than myone-point-eight-meter frame. Their uniforms were impressive despitehow plain they were. On these kinds of mission, no rank, namebadge, or insignia of any kind was permitted. If any of us wascaptured, especially myself, it would be best if the enemy did notknow whom they had.
“Computer, security lockdown codeDelta-Three, execute!” I called out. That guaranteed us privacy forthis conversation. What I was about to say to these men wasclassified, and I could not risk being overheard. I took a deepbreath and began my speech.
“I know that General Zalith has alreadybriefed you on the official line, and told you all that youofficially need to know. What I am about to tell you must never berepeated. Indeed, once you board that craft, nothing you say, do,hear, or see will ever be recorded. This mission is classified tosuch a degree that only High Command has the authority to know whatwe are up to. Our orders for this mission come directly from theEmperor himself, completely bypassing the normal chain of command.Not even the captain of this ship knows all I am about to say.” Icould tell they were not comfortable with this; heck, I was noteither, but it was not my place to question the Emperor.
“A hostile force, one that we have named theMagi, currently controls the planet we are heading towards. It isunknown what they call themselves so we will refer to them as theMagi until further notice. They are a very powerful group ofunknown size.