Vincent Trigili - The Enemy of an Enemy

While watching the dance, I heard the captainspeak a single word over the intership communication link:“Deploy.” That was all that was needed. Suddenly all the largeships moved to the back of the line and the smaller attack vesselsmoved to the front. The fleet then arranged its pattern into a verysolid and aggressive attack formation. I knew this one well. It wasthe subject of one of my papers at the Academy. Once the ships werearranged he issued another one-word order: “Launch.”

Suddenly Ravens, Falcons, and all other kindsof craft started launching from the larger ships. Everything fromsingle-pilot fighters up to the biggest war vessels that could becarried in a ship’s bay was launched. They all moved out to form aline in front of the fleet, and it was an impressive show offorce.

I felt fear coming from the enemy as thecaptain skillfully moved the final pieces of his attack plan intoplace. The enemy’s forces pulled back into a tighter, moredefensive stance. Memories of a speech the captain gave to my classcame back to me. In that speech he explained that he was never init for the long run. A battle is won by bringing your full might tobear all at once in the opening move. He went on to say that anyonewho has a long-term plan for a battle is a loser and a failure. Hisrecord backed up his boast; he never lost.

Then the final order came: “Attack.” And theentire fleet moved forward with every weapon firing. As they did, Ifelt Kellyn cast her power over the fleet twice. The first time wasa protection magic of some kind. It bolstered their resistance tospiritual and magical attacks. The second one increased the powerof their weapons against spiritual creatures. Somehow, with thosetwo spells she increased the overall power of the fleet bytwenty-five per cent.

“Commander, move us in close to the stationand hold us there. Time your men’s entry on to the station tocoincide with the second fleet’s arrival,” I said via the comm.

“Yes, Grandmaster,” he said.

The Dark Knights were already aboard theirthree ships, and the bays were already depressurized. They werevery anxious to bring the fight back to those who had killed theirsquadmates. I could sense the eagerness and anticipation emanatingfrom them.

Around us the battle raged on. The captainwas using a lot of different methods at once to attack thecreatures, most probably trying to determine which was mosteffective. “The fools think they are fighting on theground,” I commented, as I noticed the enemy formation wasfairly linear. The captain must have noticed this too, because heforced his own formation to match.

Any ensign looking at the battle would havebeen baffled at the captain’s arrangement, and screaming for him totake advantage of the enemy’s weak formation, but they would havebeen wrong. Right on schedule, the second fleet came out of jumpspace, not behind the enemy, but on a plane perpendicular to thecaptain’s attack, catching the enemy completely off guard.

Although every one of their crew would havebeen out of commission for a while after the jump, the ship’scomputers were already linked to the Dragon Claw’s and theyautomatically began targeting and firing all weapons. Once the crewrecovered from the jump they would take over control.

I checked the station on our tacticalmonitors and I saw the Dark Knights already punching a hole throughthe outer layer of the station and pouring in. Excellent, so farall was going as planned. I turned my attention back to the battle,and the second fleet had begun deploying their fighters and smallercraft. The enemy still greatly outnumbered us, but the numbers weremuch closer now. I felt Kellyn cast her beneficial magic on thesecond fleet and they, too, grew in power.

“Everyone, prepare for our attack on thestation. This is how I want it to go. You will break up into groupsof two and each pair of you will drop in to assist one of the DarkKnight squads. You will be facing mostly lower-level sorcerers atthat point, and you should have no problem. Once the six of you arefully engaged I will land on the station to hunt their primarycontrol group. Our presence there will do one of two things. Itwill either grant us victory, or draw out the Seven. Since theythink we are still too weak to beat them, I am counting on itdrawing them out. When that happens, all come to me and we willstand against them. If in our attack we end up weakening theshields enough for the fleet to destroy the station, then everyonehuddle close to Darnath and he will shield us until we can jump outof there.” Each of them indicated that they understood, then Isaid, “It is time,” and they all disappeared.

Via our link I was able to track theirmovements. As they hit the station I saw a chunk of the enemyspirits disappear from the army. Good, we got their attention. Iwaited back on the Nevermore. I knew that my entry into the battlewould have a drastic impact on the outcome and I wanted to time itfor maximum impact.

All three groups of Dark Knights were pinneddown under heavy fire from what appeared to be a mix of journeymanand apprentice sorcerers. I watched as Kellyn and Jerran joined thefirst group. Kellyn got right to work healing the wounded, whileJerran took a moment to evaluate the battle. Soon he stood up andcreated a wall of fire between the two forces. Then with a pushfrom his hand the wall went traveling towards the sorcerers withgreat speed. They tried to turn and run but were too late and thefire consumed them.

Luke and Gafar were with the second group andI looked over just in time to see something I had not expected tosee on a space station. A dark cloud had formed over the sorcerers’heads, and then suddenly lightening rained down from the clouds andcompletely wiped out the enemy position.

When I looked over to Andreya and Darnath’sgroup I saw that Darnath had summoned creatures made of pure stonethat were mercilessly pounding the sorcerers.

Outside the station, the third fleet arrived.It was the Crusader and her support fleet. She was an older shipwith a smaller fleet, but it still gave the Navy forces a boost innumber of about twenty-five per cent.

Back on the station, Kellyn and Jerran’sgroup met up with an elite sorcerer, much more powerful than whatthey had fought before. He chanted a command and slashed his handthrough the air, leaving a blade-like arc of energy behind, whichflew at Jerran. Jerran was undaunted and blocked it with his staff,then fired a blast from his staff in return. The blast hit theelite sorcerer square in the chest, but had no effect.

“Fools, you are mere children to me, nowdie!” he shouted at them and began to weave a deadly spell.

Then Kellyn jumped to Jerran’s side and said,“I do not think so!” and placed her hand on Jerran’s shoulder.Jerran grinned, and with their powers combined he blasted thesorcerer again, this time ripping through his shields and killinghim.

Then across the station Andreya and Darnath’sgroup came across a group of three elite sorcerers. I became veryworried, as I knew they would be no match for three, but before Icould go to them, I appeared in the corridor. This sent the enemysorcerers into full retreat. I laughed as I realized that Andreyahad tricked them.

I judged the time had come for me to join thebattle. Soon the enemy would begin assembling their elite sorcerersto bring against my wizards, and that would turn the tide of battleback in their favor. I scanned the station and found what I waslooking for: a group of elite sorcerers completely focused on thewar outside the station. They were in a shielded room in a remotearm of the station.

Before leaving I sent Rannor instructions onwhere to find the box of training materials, just in case he wasthe only survivor. I stressed to him the importance of carrying onno matter what happened. Then I wrapped myself in power andteleported directly to the elite sorcerers that I had found, easilypassing through their defenses.