Resurgence of Ancient Darkness Read online

  “That’s pretty much what Spectra said about the rest of our supplies, but the mission is time-critical. We are to leave at midday, ready or not,” I sent back.

  “Then, Master, it sounds like we both have a long night ahead of us,” she sent.

  “Yes, we do. We can sleep en route, I suppose,” I sent.

  I headed to engineering to see if I could help Spectra. I knew that this mission would be my biggest test since I accepted the role of head of black ops for the Battle Wizards. At first, I had wanted to turn down the position, but Spectra convinced me to take it; now I would have to prove that her confidence in me was not misplaced.

  Chapter Eight

  “Master Dusty, the station is in range,” said Rocky.

  It had been an uneventful trip out to the station, which was a nice change from the almost panicked rush of getting everything ready to launch. So far, my crew was performing remarkably well, but we had not yet faced any challenges. “Spectra, what are we facing?”

  Spectra was working at the science station just as she did while serving on the Dust Dragon. When we were filling the bridge positions on the Shadow Fox, I had offered her any spot she wanted. Without any hesitation, she said, “No need to change now,” and sat in the science officer’s seat.

  “Dusty, it seems most of our intelligence about the station is correct. Primary power is not online, and it does not appear to be able to defend itself. There are weapons ports all over the structure, but they do not appear to have any power. I do not see any operable shield generators yet,” answered Spectra.

  “What about the function of the station?” I asked.

  “It looks like a supply depot. Each of the three arms of the station appears to have space ports that could easily service a small fleet coming through here,” she said.

  “So the Council was probably right: this is an advance base. Any indication of who is building it?” I asked.

  “None,” she said.

  “Our mission is to destroy it, but I would sure like to find out who is building it first. Rocky, find a place to hide as close to the center hub of the station as you can. Spectra, you and I will slip on board and see what we can find out,” I said.

  When I had taken command of the Shadow Fox, Master Shadow told me that one of my key jobs was to start grooming magi for the captain’s chair. We needed to grow our fleet quickly, and to do that we needed more trained captains. The first person I thought of was Spectra but quickly decided against that, as I did not want her assigned to a different ship to the one I was on. Later when I spoke with her about it, she told me that she never wanted to be a ship’s captain and that she was happy to let me fill that role with her by my side.

  The next person that came to mind was Rocky. He was one of my former professors at the Academy, and I knew he wanted to leave the teaching role and fly with the Battle Wizards. His skill, experience, and reputation allowed me to place him directly into a sixth rank Battle Wizard slot, making him the third highest-ranking member of the crew after Spectra and myself.

  “Yes, Master,” he said.

  “Once there, start forming teams of wizards to teleport the ordnance we brought with us to key areas of the structure.” It would take a while to put everything in place, so I figured he would need a head-start. “Hold off on actually teleporting until you get the go-ahead from me.”

  “Yes, Master,” he said.

  Spectra and I cast the spell we had been working on together for years now, which we called Night Wraith Form. It was a step up from Night Form, but could only be cast if both of us worked together. Unlike Night Form, Night Wraith Form allowed us some limited interaction with the physical world.

  Once we were suitably incorporeal, we drifted onto the space station. We quickly split up and began flying in zigzag patterns around the station, using our telepathic link to make sure we covered as much distinct ground as fast as we could. After we had covered the central hub we moved down each leg of the station, moving at the speed of thought. We did not attempt to cover every nook and cranny of the station. We just wanted an overview to define the general status of the station and see if we could spot any hint of the station owners.

  What we found was a whole lot of nothing. Everywhere we flew there were robots working hard at building the station, but no sign of any living beings. Nothing had labels; there were no signs, not even a single access panel that a person could use to interact with the station’s computers. The only things we found were robots working and large stockpiles of supplies.

  “Weird,” sent Spectra.

  “Yeah, what do you make of it?” I asked.

  “It’s cold and empty. No sign of the living or the dead,” she sent.

  “No sign of the owners either,” I sent.

  “It’s more than just that: I can’t find any trace of life. It’s as if no one alive has ever been here, or at least not in a long while,” she sent.

  “That’s a bit odd. Someone had to commission this station,” I sent.

  “Yeah, but I guess there is no real need for people this early in the construction of a station,” she sent.

  “True, but this does help us,” I sent.

  “How so?” she asked.

  “Well, we do not have to warn them, nor give them time to evacuate, since they’re just robots,” I sent.

  “True,” she sent.

  “Meet me at the center of the station. I want to check again for some way to access the computers,” I sent.

  “Sure,” she sent.

  “Rocky, the station is empty of life, so send the teams in. I am sending a copy of the map we have made so far,” I sent.

  As we drifted into the central hub of the station I headed towards where we had seen the central computer core earlier. It was in a room by itself, and, strangely, did not have any robots working in it. It appeared to be the only section of the station not under construction.

  “There do not seem to be any access ports, control panels, or anything,” I sent after searching the room again.

  “We have not checked inside yet,” sent Spectra.

  “Inside?” I asked.

  “Yeah, let’s see what’s behind that wall,” she sent as she floated towards the exterior of the computer.

  I followed her through the wall expecting to find just the boring innards of a computer, and at first there was just that, but after traveling only a short way we found a hidden room.

  The room was some kind of workshop that looked like it was used to build robots. It was in a state of complete disarray with parts of machines lying all over the place, chairs knocked over, and piles of debris everywhere. As we searched the room further it became clear that there had been a fight in here. There was dried blood from unknown creatures or people around the room, and there was damage to the walls consistent with blaster fire.

  “This does not fit in with the emptiness everywhere else,” I sent.

  “No. Now what?” she asked.

  “This room appears secure, and that terminal over there looks like it’s still functional. I’m going to drop into Shadow Form and try to gain access to it. Be ready to gate me out,” I sent.

  “That sounds like a really bad idea,” she sent back as I transitioned into Shadow Form.

  In this form, I was still physical, so I could interact with the room. “It looks like life support is offline,” I sent back. It was a good thing that I had snapped my helmet on before casting Night Wraith Form, as it was the only thing keeping me alive. “No breathable air, and it is a nice cool 200 degrees Kelvin in here.”

  I walked over to the computer and hooked up a datapad. Once it was connected I started downloading everything it had. Shortly after I did that, Spectra sent, “Look out!”

  I turned and saw one of the broken robots start to stand and pull itself together. Quickly I cast my Ice Bolt spell several times at it, slamming it into the wall, but then other robots started to assemble. “Get us out of
here,” I sent as I grabbed the datapad.

  Spectra canceled Night Wraith form, appeared in the room, and opened a gate while I continued to cast Ice Bolts at everything that moved. Once she had the gate open, we ran through it and came out on the bridge of the Shadow Fox.

  “Rocky, give the order to detonate the explosives as soon as they are ready,” I said.

  “Yes, Master. It won’t be long now,” he said.

  It seemed like ages until Rocky gave the order: “Detonate.” Then on the screen, we watched as the station was torn to pieces by our expertly-placed demolitions.

  Chapter Nine

  “Master Dusty, something is coming out of jump space,” came a call over the Shadow Fox’s comm system.

  “On my way,” I replied as I headed towards the bridge.

  It had been over a week since the station had been destroyed. I still wanted to know who was behind it, so I had decided to stay for a while. I figured if we waited long enough a supply ship would come to bring it more parts or whatever else it needed for the construction.

  “Spectra, what do you see?” I asked as I entered the bridge.

  “It appears to be an automated supply ship. No life signs at all,” she said.

  “Bah! Okay, Rocky, bring us to zero on its hull and engage the tow hooks. I don’t want this vessel getting away,” I said.

  “Dusty, I’m picking up a transmission from the supply ship. It appears to be calling home,” said Spectra.

  “What is it saying?” I asked.

  “Nothing much, just continuous scans of the area followed by a numeric code of some kind. My guess is that it is asking for new orders,” she said.

  “Rocky, get us locked on to it. When it jumps out, I want to go with it. Spectra, any indication that it has seen us?” I asked.

  “No, Dusty,” she said.

  “Good, let’s keep it that way. Attach us to its hull as quietly as you can, and keep our EM profile as low as possible,” I said.

  “Yes, Master,” said Rocky as he gently brought us down on the hull of the supply ship. A slight lurch followed as the magnetic clamps locked us on to the enemy vessel. Now wherever the hauler went we would go also.

  “Spectra, any change?” I asked.

  “Nothing. As far as I can tell, the hauler did not detect our attachment,” she replied.

  “Excellent, now we wait. Monitor everything that we can, and let me know the moment something changes,” I said.

  Now we wait, I thought to myself. This was the life of a black ops vessel: waiting. Waiting and watching. After the hectic pace of live combat that marked my tour on the Dust Dragon, I relished this slower, more civilized pace. That life suited Phoenix, Flame, and Shadow well, but neither Spectra nor I was ever able to get used to it.

  As we waited, the hauler just kept up its scans. There was never any indication that it found us, but it was sure looking hard. I assumed it was looking for us, or more correctly looking for any signs of why the station was destroyed. Since it was automated it would only have a limited set of actions it could take to handle an unknown situation like this. I assumed that it would soon give up and return to its sending station, since it could not fulfill its original mission.

  After several hours passed, Spectra said, “Dusty, it looks like there is a reply, but it’s encrypted.”

  “I’ll take care of that,” I said and cast my spell to reveal the message. “Rocky, get us out of here, max speed!” I called out as I finished reading the message. “It’s a command to self-destruct!”

  I felt the Shadow Fox leap into motion as the clamps released and the powerful primary engines fired. The inertial forces from the sudden lurch temporarily overpowered the gravitational stabilizers and threw me back into my captain’s chair. Moments after we started our run the hauler began to explode.

  “Full power to shields, give it all she has,” I ordered. I was sure we could not outrun the explosion, but I hoped that the shields would hold and allow us to ride out the shockwave.

  “Engaging jump drives,” called out Rocky, and soon we were wrapped in the calming azure of jump space.

  I had not considered jumping out, and I was glad that Rocky had. We were far enough from any gravity wake so that we could safely leave normal space. This allowed us to completely escape the shockwave. It was not what I had ordered, but it was the right thing to do. It was at times like this that Rocky proved his worth as my second officer, and very likely he had saved us from damage and injuries. I needed people like him on my crew, and I knew it. Command was still way beyond me. The only reason I had my own ship was due to the rush to build a Battle Wizard Navy, and I knew it had nothing to do with my abilities, no matter how much Master Shadow insisted otherwise.

  Once we were back in normal space I said, “Good call, Rocky. Head back to the wreckage and let’s see if we can salvage anything.”

  “Yes, Master,” said Rocky as he set a course to bring us back.

  “Spectra, can you tell where or who that ship was communicating with?” I asked.

  “No, I can only tell the direction, and there are many possible systems along that line,” she said.

  “Well, keep digging and see if you can find anything that would narrow it down for us,” I said and headed down to engineering where I had set Skryth working on the datapad that I had brought back from our jaunt on the station. I had been able to get some information from the computers before the robots had forced my retreat, and I was hoping he could make some sense of what was there.

  “Hey, Skryth, any luck?” I asked as I approached his station.

  “Master Dusty!” he said with a start. Apparently he had been deep in thought and had not seen me come up.

  “Sorry, I did not mean to startle you,” I said.

  “No, Master, it is fine. What can I do for you?” he asked.

  “I was hoping for some news on the datapad,” I said.

  “Ah, yes,” he said. “Master, there was very little useful on it, just the beginnings of several files. Some appear to have been logs, and others may have been status reports.”

  “Anything to help us narrow down who built the station?” I asked.

  “Yes, there is, Master. Well, in a way, at least,” he said and activated a display screen containing what appeared to me to be completely random data. He gestured to the screen and continued, “As you can see, the data was not encrypted at all, but from your description you were probably at a master terminal of some kind, so that is not surprising. The data you downloaded was mostly useless, but your video recordings of the fight with the robots may have yielded a clue.”

  “How so?” I asked.

  He worked the controls and the screen soon showed my fight with the robots. He watched it very carefully for a few moments and then froze the image on the screen. The frame showed one of the robots just before I hit it with an Ice Bolt. He enlarged and enhanced the image until the robot filled the screen. “There! Master, do you see?”

  “I see an ugly robot ready to kill me.”

  “Yes, Master, but look at that robot,” he said.

  “Skryth, you’re going to have to help me out here. I don’t know what I’m looking for.”

  “Well, Master, that design is typical of the Thelthron Tribe.”

  “Great, and they are?”

  “Master, they are a high-tech tribe that lives quite far from here,” he said with a tone of triumph in his voice.

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Yes, Master!” he said, as if he were astonished I would ask such a thing. “But even if I was not, I did find some supporting evidence in the logs.” He paused and brought some text data back up on the screen and said, “There, see?”

  “Skryth, this might surprise you, but I never studied robotics. What should I see?”

  “Sorry, Master. This is a partial log of ship operations, and the data format of the log is also typical of the Thelthronians.”

 
“I see. Can you show me where this tribe is located on a star chart?” I asked.

  “Sure, Master,” he said as he brought a chart up and pointed to a system on it. “Right there.”

  “Computer, overlay known path of communications from the hauler,” I said. The computer beeped and drew a line across the star chart that went nowhere near the place that Skryth pointed.

  “Interesting,” he said, lost in thought. “So the Thelthronians were apparently not in control of the supply ship, so that means that probably they were not in control of the station.” Then he turned to me and said, “That robot and those logs are definitely Thelthronian, Master. So either they are behind this, or they sold the technology to the people that are.”

  Chapter Ten

  The old man stood in his office looking out his view port overlooking a grassy meadow. He stood there silently as if watching something, but all that could be seen through the view port was an endless, empty sea of grass. For no obvious reason, he suddenly turned to face the door and said, “Come in.”

  A rather plain-looking human with steel-grey eyes entered through the doorway and stood before him in silence.

  “Speak,” said the old man.

  “Dusty has eliminated the station,” said the steel-eyed man.

  “Yes, I expected he would. They were not ready for them yet.” The old man walked over to his desk and waved his hand over it. Soon a map of the galaxy appeared with sections highlighted in various colors above it. Numbers and symbols appeared and disappeared around the map at what seemed to be random intervals. He studied it for a while and said, “Soon Shadow and the Nevermore II will be finished with these training exercises and will depart on their first real mission. I wonder what it will be.”

  The steel-eyed man said, “I imagine they would try and find the owners of that station.”

  “No, that is probably the one thing I can say they won’t do.” He moved around the map, manipulating it as he went. The map turned and twisted, revealing differing levels of detail as he studied it.