Vincent Trigili - The Enemy of an Enemy

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.

“Recently a class-three task force was sentto this planet to bring it back under control. This task force wasled by Lieutenant Tom.” I was surprised to see a look ofrecognition on some of their faces. Good, that would make the nextpoint all the more powerful. “The Magi defeated the class-threetask force before they could get a foothold. As far as we know,there were no survivors.”

The Dark Knights were a stoic bunch bynature. If not for my training in intelligence gathering I mighthave thought they did not react at all to that news, but I couldtell they were all shocked. Again, this was good because I neededto keep them just a little off-balance so I might be able to gain adegree of trust from them.

“The Magi have two primary weapons that weknow of. Both of them have already been brought to bear against us.The first is a plasma cannon. I will not waste our time with allthe technical details; just be aware that it is a weapon muchgreater in power than anything in the fleet. Indeed, one shot fromit could potentially destroy the Dark Talon.” The Dark Talon wasvery heavily armored, and it was hard to imagine anything powerfulenough to take it out with a single blow, so that made it a perfectexample.

“The second weapon is far more subtle, and inmany ways far more deadly. This colony used to house a secret squadcalled the Black Adders. They were trying to develop a new weaponfor our arsenal: psionics. Their progress with this is unknownbecause we lost communication with the colony over a year ago. Webelieve the Magi have wiped out the Black Adders, but it ispossible that they are one and the same. If they are, it will meanthat you might be required to terminate all of them.”

I paused a moment while I let themcontemplate that. No one liked the idea of turning our weapons onour own people; but if they were the Magi, they drew first blood,and we have no choice but to fight back.

“Now, the logical question is: What ispsionics? The honest answer is that we do not know. However, outhere even when we were still days away from the system, we began tofeel its impact. You must all have sensed it, that scent of fear onthe ship and the crew; that gnawing specter of doubt in your mindsthat you cannot shake off. It is not at all natural for hardenedwarriors to feel this way, but nonetheless you do. That is theimpact of the Magi’s weapon. It is becoming more intense the closerwe get to the planet.

“Fear will cause you to hesitate, to doubtyour own judgment and senses. Fear will cause you to underestimateyourselves, and overestimate them. You are all battle-hardenedwarriors. You know how to deal with fear, and this is no differentexcept in its magnitude. You will have to force yourselves to fightit. We do not know how this weapon works, and have no defense forit, so you must steel your minds and deal with it in your ownmanner. Remember it is not a natural fear; it is far more dangerousand crippling. You were chosen for this mission because GeneralZalith believes you are the best of the best. I assure you no oneless than that will survive this mission.”

I paused to gather myself for the next order.This was not an easy command to give, as it meant complete trust inthese men, whom I had never served with before. I looked each oneof them over and was impressed again with the power they radiated.These truly were the best the Empire had ever produced.

“The Empire has good reason to be worriedabout this colony. As of now, they believe the Magi are all on thisplanet. Two weeks after we launch the captain will destroy theplanet, whether we make it off or not. We simply cannot risk themspreading out. This could be our only chance to eliminate them. Whywait two weeks? Well, that is where we come in. Officially we aregoing to make contact with the Magi and attempt to make them partof the Empire. Obviously that is not the real mission, at least notthe orders we will be operating under. Our primary objectives areto learn how they are able to control fear as they do, and to stealone of their plasma cannons. Anyone, alien or not, who gets in ourway is to be eliminated. No attempt at communication will be madewith them. I must stress that these orders are extremely secret.Only the Emperor and ourselves know of them.” I could tell theywere very unhappy with that. They were hard-core military, and tothem the chain of command was sacred. To bypass it completely musthave left a foul taste on their forked tongues.

Now for the hard part. “As you know, I am ina position which gives me access to extremely sensitive informationthat could be very dangerous in the hands of a hostile force. If itshould happen that I am taken prisoner and you are unable to rescueme, you must kill me, even if you have to give your own lives to doit. We cannot risk even the slimmest chance that they mightsuccessfully break me and gain access to what I know.” This broughta look of respect from them.