Beyond?

by Andur

  Zana starts playing with her fingers. “Actually Helen said that it's very easy.”

  Zadkiel and I perk our ears, placing our whole attention on Zana. Having acquired our interest Zana continues. “She said that we just have to hide something called contrac- con- contraceptives, which are small white pills. Then we need to sting the condoms with small needles.”

  I pull my eyebrows together. “The white pills are easy, I saw Mom taking them once. But what are condoms?”

  Zana shrugs her shoulders. “I don't know.”

  Zadkiel gets to his feet. “Let's ask Ivy. She has those books and isn't as prude as Mom. Surely she knows.”

  105. ~Waiting.~

  “If you want to trick your enemy, it's best to show him what he wants to see.”

  -Knowledge.

  Stiran Archipelago, Southern Ocean, The Shield of the Emperor

  Azir

  “Mmmh! Mmmmh!” Jeremiah Draco writhes in a corner of the control room, bound and gagged. His presence is a security risk and a nuisance, but I may need him if the ship has any additional hidden safety mechanisms.

  Using him to gain access to the Shield's security functions was relatively easy. After we placed him in the command chair I simply hacked the control panel with Ivy's help. With the two of us it was just a matter of minutes to have all the rights transferred to me.

  I massage my temples, taking another look at the mess of cables and magical circuits which is hanging out of the chair's controls. “Can't someone shut him up? Nine hours of flight time and he is still making a fuss! I would like to put everything back together before the enemy finds us.”

  “Any more gags and he might suffocate.” One of the guards at Jeremiah's side looks at their prisoner with concern. The way they are treating Jeremiah is certainly violating some of Nict's basic human rights. How lucky that the founders of the Free City States excluded certain individuals from their treaties. Including mass murderers of innocents, check, enemies of the state, check, and people who assaulted the royal family, check!

  “Bah, Ivy. So far you are the only one who didn't try to shut him up. How about silencing him for a few minutes?”

  My maid bows and walks over to Jeremiah. She will surely find a way to deal with him.

  I return my attention to the satellite images. If everything runs according to plan the enemy should spot the Shield of the Emperor any minute now. Our only hope is that they really recognize it, which would support our theory that the Master is really the second Draco brother.

  Luckily the Shield is faster than any of our fortresses, so we arrived with plenty of time to spare. This ship was truly created by a high-tech civilisation. It pains me when I think about how far they fell after having achieved so much. I almost wish that we could find a way to preserve this ship instead of using it as bait.

  The archipelago under us is a group of twelve islands. Quinn's three inhibitors are well hidden on three of them and the Shield is hovering comfortably in the middle of the triangle which is encased by them.

  To make the whole trap even more believable we positioned ourselves above an island which we filled with fake facilities. Barracks, hangars, watchtowers, we thought of everything. The only thing that's real are the starting ramps for our drones and the barriers which shield the island.

  To someone who takes a look from far away this island looks like a huge unfinished military base. The eleven flying fortresses, which are hovering around us, are here to substantiate that assumption. But even the fortresses are just improvisations. We created them on-site, since the other assets would never reach the scene in time. Though we have nineteen complete ones inbound on this position. They'll arrive just in time to mop up the remaining enemies, should they fall into our trap. Or they'll get simply annihilated by the full force of the enemy fleet should we fail.

  At least the fortresses aren't a pure piece of scenery. They all have offensive and defensive capabilities. We just saved our time in the engine department and crew quarters. The gravitational generators which we installed are barely enough to keep them floating.

  My stomach cringes when I think about such a hasty job. The fortresses up until now were patchwork solutions, horrible abominations, but at least we put some thought into them.

  The things which are floating around us are just big rocks with tons of barrier spells and offensive weaponry which we teleported in from Quinn and Dwem.

  But we don't expect them to survive our trap anyway. The discussion between us and the strategic command was long and nerve-racking. The whole issue was about whether we should keep them in the air until the last moment, or if we should try to land them before the inhibitors activate.

  Even if the fortresses are just improvised, unfinished versions, they still pose a huge investment of resources and manpower.

  In the end we decided to keep them floating with a skeleton crew until Quinn activates their inhibitors. The enemy ships are smaller and more manoeuvrable, so it's very likely that they will manage to land faster than the fortresses. But we want them to fall out of the air and shatter to a thousand pieces. That's the whole point of the operation.

  Bringing in the workers and mages to build everything and pulling them out in time was a logistical masterpiece by our military.

  The worst case scenario would've been if the enemy had seen us working hastily at the structures of hollow buildings. Everyone gets suspicious when your adversary builds a barrack with only four thin walls and a hastily attached roof.

  That's why we had to finish the construction works before the enemy scouts arrive. But I am pleased with the looks of our Potemkin base. It really looks like an unfinished, large scale bridgehead for future operations against the second continent.

  I sigh and try to think of something else. The worst thing about this whole plan is the damned waiting. My thoughts wander to this morning's conversation with Stella.

  We are still lying in our bed, hugging each other when Stella asks me a question. “Do you know what happened to my contraceptives?”

  “No. Why should I?” I stir in my sleep, still not completely awake.

  Stella shrugs her shoulders. “It's just that they are gone... and they were replaced by some chocolate candies instead. It was strange, so thought maybe you had taken them?”

  “Why should I switch your contraceptives for chocolate candies? That's a bad trade for me.” I open my eyes and stare at the ceiling. “But now that you mention it... someone put needles into my condoms!”

  “Really? Aren't you always using them to silence the screeching lath under our bed's mattress? You should really repair the bed properly when you have time. Get some oil or something.” Stella snuggles closer to me. “Luckily we aren't using them for obviation. If we do it with defective goods...”

  “Oil doesn't work with wood. No, you don't understand.” I reach for my bedside locker. “The needles are still stuck inside the condoms! Whoever did it didn't bother with removing them.” I pull a condom out to show her. “I poked myself when I reached for one last evening! Someone mistook them for pincushions! It's good that you invented a contraceptive spell. My whole stock got perforated.”

  “Now that's really strange.” She takes the condom with three needles stuck through it. “Do you think it's related to the kids? They wanted a sibling.”

  “Who else?” I grumble.

  “I told you that explaining it in such detail isn't good.” She snorts and drops the rubber back into my locker.

  I raise one finger. “It's better than inventing stories about flowers and bees. A kid has to know how the world works and a parent has the responsibility to educate their offspring. A child has to know where the meat on the plate is coming from and why it's not allowed to do certain things. Knowledge can't harm you, the more blunt you are about the reality of things, the better. It's ignorance that causes problems.”

  Stella kisses my cheek and slides on top of me to whisper into my ear. “Though you certainly understated the ~feel go
od~ part.”

  “Ahaha! You are her! You are my beloved- Mmm!”

  I return to reality... just when it got to the feeling good part! Turning around I glare at Jeremiah, who is in the process of being gagged again by Ivy. “Why is the gag not in his mouth?”

  Ivy shrugs her shoulders. “I just wanted to confirm something since it seemed like he was trying to get my attention, but it turned out that he just mistook me for someone from his past. He went on and on about eternal love and being soulmates.”

  She taps her index finger against her forehead. “Valda is right. Erasing his memories and letting him start anew is probably the most humane option.” The soldiers who are guarding Jeremiah nod.

  I raise one eyebrow, looking down at Jeremiah. After a moment of contemplation I use the mana net to send Ivy a secret message. Such things don't have to be discussed where others can hear them. Even if the personnel in the room is military.

  TheCreator: What if he really knows you? You know? I mean your body.

  SexySpider: No. He thinks that I am his first love. He was very clear on that point.

  TheCreator: Hm. That offers certain possibilities.

  SexySpider: no.

  TheCreator: What?

  SexySpider: ... my answer is no.

  106. ~First exchange.~

  “If you really want to hide important knowledge from the common folk, then write it into a book.”

  -The Great Technomagus of the Free City States of Nict.

  Stiran Archipelago, Southern Ocean, The Shield of the Emperor

  Azir

  I watch Ivy who is sitting on top of Jeremiah and polishing her nails. The poor guy is tied up to a neat bundle like a caterpillar. Somehow she acquired some duck-tape and wound it around his head to cover the mouth. “And you are sure that you refuse to listen to him?”

  “Yes.” She smiles charmingly at me.

  Shrugging my shoulders I return my attention to the tactical display. Unfortunately our strategy isn't adaptable at all. It's either winning the great prize and holding out as long as we can, or being found out.

  The door to the bridge opens and Chuck enters the room. “All done.”

  I nod. “How did it go? Is everything set up?” I ask him tentatively. Chuck got the most important role in this game. He and his assistants went down to the staged base under our feet and filled it to the brim with the illusions of soldiers who are going about what soldiers do at military bases. Things like marching in neat, orderly lines, picking their noses, cleaning guns.

  My friend smiles and gives me a thumbs up. “We had to sacrifice a few herds of cattle to get the ritual done, but I think the effect is worth the effort. Once those bastards get to see our base their eyes will pop out. They'll think that we are about to launch a full scale invasion of our own. No way that they don't use a sizeable portion of their fleet to counter us right here and now.”

  “Hoh?” I manipulate the controls of my captain's chair to zoom in on the island. Chuck didn't lie. The whole base is filled to the brim with soldiers. They are working or doing other important seeming stuff. “That's a great illusion spell. How did you manage to make it that organic? I hope you thought about the royal bloodline's ability and concealed the spell somehow?”

  Chuck snorts. “What are you thinking of me? We made it look like the whole base is under various strength and endurance enhancing buffs. In fact a few of my assistants did nothing but apply buffs to the corpses of the cattle which we hid behind the illusion. The whole place is brimming with magic! When the Master takes a look at it he'll see nothing, but a whirling chaos of spells. It was lucky that you found out about their weakness when you fought with Jeremiah.”

  I lean back in my chair, appreciating the work. When I fought with Jeremiah I realized that the Emperor's ability isn't flawless. When there is too much energy and magic in one place they get blinded. I also verified it with my children. If I overload an item with magic and instruct Sariel to look at it, all she sees is white. It's like looking directly at the sun or at a bright light. That's why Jeremiah couldn't read my time spell in time.

  One of the analysts in the control room points at a small map in front of him. “The first enemy scout ships should be reporting back to their fleet by now. We expect a course change any minute now.”

  Hitting a button on my seat, I call up the tactical display on the front screen. “Operating this thing is still a largely intuitive thing to do. I feel like a barbarian who is randomly hitting buttons, hoping that something happens. We are lucky that the creators of the Shield made it largely automated.”

  “It can't be helped. We were never able to take this ship out of the dock for a test flight before you came along.” Chuck crosses his arms in front of his chest. “I think we should be glad that we have enough control to tell it where to fly and to activate the shields and barriers.”

  I grumble, scratching my chin and looking down at the many buttons on the console at my side. “There have to be some real weapons though. So far Sariel only managed to activate the air to air plasma guns by mashing buttons. The huge magnetic field which is generated by this ship must have offensive capabilities.”

  I flip an orange switch which looked like it was attached to some kind of power system when I had the console opened. The lights in the room go out.

  “Nope. That was the wrong one.” I set the switch back to its original position and the lights return. “It's too bad that we can't hack deeper into the system. If only we had more time!”

  Ivy stirs while sitting on top of Jeremiah. “Master, I suggest to not mash any buttons whose function wasn't verified. The old technology of the Empire seems to consist entirely out of hard coded logical circuits. If something goes wrong we have no chance of correcting the mistake.”

  I hit my fist onto the side of the console. “Fools. Were they afraid of artificial intelligence? It's a huge effort to build and control something like this ship with purely logical circuitry. It's like building a mechanical computer with punch cards to program them. I am sure that they were capable of building better devices. It was the same with the Light of the Emperor. That was an annoying piece of technology. I'm glad we blew it out of the sky. They could have at least labelled the buttons better.”

  Chuck shakes his head. “I think you should give them a little more credit. Building their military devices in this manner is a great safeguard against them being tampered with and turned against you. So their decision to do it like they did is still proving to be working. After all even you can't simply take over their devices. And you have much more time at hand than an attacker in a fighting situation would have.”

  “A part of the enemy fleet is changing course!” The analyst draws our attention to the big screen in front of us. “Four hundred ships changed course.”

  “Not enough.” Ivy mumbles, lying down on top of her pillow. “Maybe the Master isn't one of the brothers after all?”

  The analyst points out another part of the enemy's formation. “Now this group changed their course too. It looks like they are trying to arrange their ships into attacking waves.” He mumbles for a few moments. “Actually that makes sense. Our islands are relatively small targets compared to their fleet and stacking their ships too close together would be utterly stupid. If they send a thousand ships to cover each of the islands they have to use eleven thousand ships. Then a big group for our base. If we are lucky they'll commit some reinforcements too, sending the main part of their fleet to the encounter. Any more wouldn't be just overkill, but causes more trouble to their own units than it would help.”

  My head turns to the analyst. “Do you think it'll be enough? Seems like that group didn't change course.” I point at the screen. A group of the enemy fleet is parting from the fleet, obviously completely unperturbed by our existence.

  The analyst starts mumbling again, counting the ships and their type through his satellite link. Now I get to see why the Siorda are one of the big clans, despite not being the best w
arriors. They are on par with an artificial intelligence and fast enough to count huge numbers within seconds. Quick judgement and correct information is the most important thing in a battle.

  A moment later he is done. “That group largely consists of the mobile docks. I also count a few of the warrior class ships and troop transports, but there are only about eight hundred of them. They left less than five percent of their fleet as escorts for the docks. We didn't expect them to commit their mobile repair docks to the fight, so their actions are within our calculations.”

  Kneading my hands I watch the group which is still heading on towards the main continent. “Those are still a lot of ships and they have enough fighting power to cause us trouble. Do we have a chance of catching them with our fortresses?”

  The analyst shakes his head. “They'll always be able to outrun our fortresses if they want to. But we have their movements covered with our satellites. Whichever direction they choose, we should be able to move enough forces there to counter them. And even if they manage to outmanoeuvre our fortresses we can teleport a huge amount of anti-air cannons from Quinn and Dwem directly to where they hit land. We set aside a few transport drones with stepper discs solely for that purpose.”

  I arch an eyebrow. “If we have that kind of capability in reserve, why don't we create an iceberg in their path and place the guns on top of it. If we conceal it with a good shroud or fog spell, they won't know what's coming until they are right above it. The iceberg will be destroyed very quickly after the guns start shooting, but it'll be a good trade if a handful of guns destroys a ship. You just have to make small enough platforms, so that they aren't taken down all together.”

  The analyst looks at me with a blank expression for several moments. Then he turns away, obviously contacting someone over the mana net. “I'll have someone look into it.”