Sending a radar ping to scan the crowd, the supreme leader merged the results with her passive scan. She identified twenty-four scouts besides herself in the assembly of bats. None of them had their stealth shields activated out of respect for the sanctity of the council cavern. Next to her own Power reserve, the reserve of the Long Wing representative glowed brightest. The reserve of the Blood Claw’s rep was not far behind.
“Twenty-five scouts counting myself are in this room,” said the supreme leader. “Each of you would recognize the scent of the remains of the virus we found. It is the same scent as that from the Hole.”
Hissing and flapping of wings erupted in the cavern once more.
“Impossible,” said the Long Wing representative, Charge-In-The-Face-Of-Great-Odds. “Our guards have secured the Hole ever since its discovery on the Blood Claw’s home world of Astaris a hundred thousand years ago. For generations our scout candidates have entered the Hole to prove their worth before being teleported to Velos for their DNA modification. Every hundred years, the best of our scouts have entered the Hole to ensure that the rift to the plane beyond cannot be used by the demons to come to our dimension.”
“Nevertheless,” said the supreme leader, “one did. It infected the master computer. At the peak of the battle for the Criterion system, the demon virus was destroyed, though we do not yet know how. What we do know is that the destruction of the virus left our strategic computers in disarray. The humans took advantage of our momentary weakness. Our techs have regained control of our computer network by using a backup master computer. Our part of the tele-network is functioning normally again. This time our fleets will overwhelm the human forces and destroy them once and for all.”
The Blood Claw rep, Spear-Through-Your-Heart, stood again and spread her wings, flapping them to get everyone’s attention. “Perhaps our fault was in not utilizing the demons and magic users to their full potential.”
Charge-In-The-Face-Of-Great-Odds bristled as she flapped her wings and gnashed her teeth. “Are you that foolish? Fifteen millions of my Long Wing tribe died on Estos due to the participation of the demons and their filthy magic users. Our younger generation relied on them instead of the abilities of our soldiers and sailors. The demons and magic users are the reason we suffered defeat instead of victory over the humans. That is why the first thing the supreme leader did after she was sworn in was order their termination.”
“Yes,” said Spear-Through-Your-Heart. “The few demons that provided the stealth shields for our fleets have been destroyed along with their mage caretakers.” She swiveled one ear at the supreme leader before turning it back to the Long Wing rep. “I argued against that action, but orders are orders, and so it has been done.” She furled her wings and tucked them behind her back as she wove her way between perches and made her way to the cavern floor. Once there, she spread her wings and faced the rest of the flock that was spread throughout the cavern. “However, I offer an alternative version of the Estos battle. I say the reason we failed was not because we used a few demons and magic users, but that we did not use enough. At the master computer’s suggestion, we kidnapped one demon from the Hole and forced it to summon a few of its kind to cast stealth spells around our fleets. We brought only enough magic users from their dimension to cast illusion spells on Estos to fool the Empire’s wizard scouts. I say the mistake was not that we used a few demons and magic users, but that we should have used more. If I had been in charge, every Crosioian regiment and every warship larger than a shuttle would have had a demon and a contingent of mages to supplement our forces. Then the trap would have worked. The Empire would no longer exist.”
Charge-In-The-Face-Of-Great-Odds spread her wings, demanding the attention of the crowd. “Have you not been listening? A demon infected the master computer. It was not one of the demons we allowed to be summoned. It somehow made its way into our galaxy on its own and took over our part of the tele-network. What the demons did once, they may do again. A hundred years have passed since the last indepth recon of the Hole. In six weeks, it will be time to do so again. We must be sure the rift is still secure before we launch our attack on the humans.”
“The rift is secure, as is the Hole,” said Spear-Through-Your-Heart. “The best of the Blood Claw tribe guards the Hole as we have guarded it since ancient times. Say the word, and I will personally enter the Hole and lead a team to recon the rift if you need that assurance. I consider it an affront for anyone to accuse my tribe of allowing a demon to escape.” She turned both ears on the Long Wing rep. “Is that what you are suggesting?”
Charge-In-The-Face-Of-Great-Odds said nothing. Her continued silence made her opinion of the Blood Claw’s guarding abilities more than obvious.
The Blood Claw rep’s chest turned a deep gray.
“No one is suggesting such a thing,” the supreme leader said. “The Blood Claw tribe has ever been the faithful guardians of the Hole. But let us not forget that even though the Hole was found on your home world of Astaris, all tribes share in responsibility for its security.” She swiveled her ears at the Long Wing rep. “You know that as well as the rest of us, old friend. If a demon somehow slipped through the rift, all tribes would share equally in the blame.”
Charge-In-The-Face-Of-Great-Odds tucked her wings tightly behind her back. “As you say, Supreme Leader. Still, I must again stress our need for a recon of the rift. Demons must never again taint our fighting forces. We do not need them or their pathetic magic users.”
The supreme commander was not surprised by her friend’s heated defense against the use of demons and magic users. The words of her friend were aligned with her own thoughts. The use of any demons had been a mistake. As the supreme leader, she would not allow the same mistake to be made on her watch. Releasing a sonic wave, she touched every bat in the cavern. Both the Long Wing and Blood Claw reps lowered their wings as was proper. Once everyone was quiet, the supreme leader spoke.
“As my friend Charge-In-The-Face-Of-Great-Odds has said, the time for the next recon of the rift is due. I have no doubt all of you know there is a problem. Since the destruction of the DNA center on Velos, we have not had any new scouts. With the loss of the bottles of DNA gas at our research center on the space station Last Hope, any chance of creating more scouts has disappeared. Like the Empire, we have only those scouts that currently exist. There will never be any others. I mean no slight to those long-time scouts present when I say our best scouts have been lost. What scout remains that is young enough and strong enough to lead the recon into the rift?”
“It is true,” admitted Charge-In-The-Face-Of-Great-Odds. “The best of our scouts are gone. My own grandaughter died during the battle on Estos. The heads of two Empire scouts reside on my tribe’s Wall of Honor due to her efforts. She would have been our best choice to lead the recon.”
“Alas, as you say, she died during the battle as is honorable,” said the supreme leader. “Many others also died. Your grandaughter would also have been my choice to lead the recon if she’d survived. She was our best hope after the death of your daughter on Veturna in the Empire’s Drako system. The wizard scout and his allies destroyed the best of our best.”
At the mention of the hated wizard scout, the Long Wing representative and every other bat in the cavern hissed their desire for revenge.
Charge-In-The-Face-Of-Great-Odds waited until the hissing stopped before speaking. “Yes, my daughter was the best of our scouts and my granddaughter the best after her. The heads of five of the Empire wizard scouts are on the Long Wing’s Wall of Honor due to my daughter’s efforts. If she had lived, I have no doubt she could have taken a team all the way to the rift, as could have my grandaughter. However, they are gone. We must hold a tournament to select a new leader for the recon of the Hole. It will need to be done quickly. Our time is indeed short, and our need is great. I believe what our supreme leader says is true. The humans will be assembling their fleets to rescue their comrades on Estos soon. We must assemble our f
leets as well and prepare our trap even as we conduct the competition to select the leader for the recon of the Hole.”
The supreme leader nodded her head. “As always, old friend, we think along the same lines. Even now preparations are being made for the competition. The best of our remaining scouts are on their way to the Onstarian star system in the outer realms. Once they arrive, the competition will begin. Let us hope that we find a scout as good as your granddaughter to lead the recon team. It will do us no good if our recon team gets all the way to the rift in the Hole but is not strong enough to return with word of what they find. If the rift is opening, we must know it so we can find a way to block it once and for all.”
“That would be a mistake,” said Spear-Through-Your-Heart. “If there is an opening in the rift, we could use it to bring enough demons to our galaxy to conquer our enemies in one fell swoop. We could—”
“Enough!” the supreme leader said. “As long as I am your supreme leader, Crosioians will never again use either demons or magic users. We will speak of this no more.”
The Blood Claw rep nodded. “As you say, we will speak of it no more as long as you are the supreme leader.”
Chapter 5 – Telsa
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Rubbing her eyes, Telsa looked around at the dozen elf scribes hunched over stone desks littered with scrolls and tomes. Like her, they were poring over the aged parchments in an effort to unlock the secrets of their ancient ancestors, the Letian elves. She was tired. More than that, she was bored and growing more so by the hour. The dim light of the subterranean chamber located ten levels below Silverton’s main library wasn’t helping.
Glancing at the cavern’s roughly hewn rock ceiling ten meters overhead, she frowned at the bluish glow emitted from the dozens of magical light globes embedded in the ceiling. The glow from overhead provided enough light to see, but in her opinion, it did little to make the long hours of translating Letian documents into intergalactic standard an enjoyable endeavor.
“You obviously do not appreciate the elves’ magic,” said Raj in their shared space. “The light is designed to preserve the writing on the scrolls and books. It wasn’t designed for the comfort of non-elves.”
“So you’ve told me,” Telsa said. She wasn’t in the mood for her battle computer’s logic no matter how reasonable it might sound. She longed for the fresh air and sunshine located ten levels above the part of the library designated for the oldest of the elves’ books and scrolls. In her opinion, she’d already spent far too much time searching their most treasured documents for clues about what had happened to the Ecarian giants and their yellow gem. Even with the elf scribes’ expert help, they’d come up short.
Leaning back in her chair, Telsa gave a big stretch. She winked at the thin elf boy sitting at the desk next to her. “You know, if you all paid your electric bills once in a while, maybe you could keep it a little brighter down here.”
The elf boy, Therso, was one of the scribes at Silverton’s main library. He’d been assigned as Telsa’s liaison by the chief librarian. At Telsa’s remark, the young elf took his eyes off the manuscript he was studying long enough to look at her. “Elect…what?”
Telsa laughed at her little joke even if it did go over the elf’s head. “Never mind. I was just complaining about the lack of light down here. Not everyone has night vision.”
“All elves do,” said Raj speaking over the external speakers of Telsa’s battle helmet. “Besides, as your battle computer, I’m the one doing most of the translating. All you have to do is monitor our shared space. It’s not like you have to stare at the paper or anything.”
“Regardless,” Telsa said. “It’s nice every once in a while just to look around and see something besides dank stone walls.”
Therso placed his stylus on his desk before turning in his seat to look at her. “I will admit it is a little dark down here, but it is hardly dank, Wizard Scout. Our oldest scrolls and books are kept in these subterranean chambers. A few are over a hundred thousand years old. Even with the preservation spells the ancients cast on these storage rooms, the writing is gradually fading, not to mention the paper is deteriorating. Keeping the lights low helps to slow the aging process.” The thin elf boy leaned toward Telsa, “Or so I have been told by Chief Librarian Elisinsar. To be honest, I have often wondered how he knows for certain. Some of us younger scribes are of the opinion that bright lights do not affect the deterioration at all.”
“Hmm,” Telsa said, thinking of a half-dozen controlled experiments she could conduct to test the chief librarian’s theory. “Perhaps I could—”
“No, you cannot,” said Raj in no uncertain terms. “Wizard Scout Shepard assigned us here to translate the ancient Letian tomes in the hopes we could discover the location of another of those yellow gems. We have access to blue, green, and red gems on Storage. We are short the yellow gem. If we are able to find one, then perhaps the elves’ gate to the demonic plane can be closed permanently.”
Telsa glanced at the stack of scrolls on her desk. “Well, we aren’t having much luck so far. The last three documents I’ve translated have been content lists for warehouses long turned to dust. I doubt we’re helping much in the war effort.”
Therso shook his head. “That is where you are wrong, Wizard Scout Telsa. Each and every thing your computer and you have translated from ancient Letian adds to our knowledge. I dare say the two of you have translated more text in the past week than an army of scribes have in the last fifty thousand years.”
Telsa shrugged. “Maybe, but it’s still boring.” She pulled a scroll off her desk, unwound it, and scanned the first couple of paragraphs. The ancient Letian writing passed through Raj’s translation program, appearing in intergalactic standard in the shared space of her mind.
“Take this, for instance,” Telsa said holding up the scroll to the elf. “It’s a report of some kind for a mining company. Looks like something about rafts.” She grinned. “Now why would a mining company need rafts?”
Therso frowned. “Rafts? Are you sure?”
When Telsa handed the scroll to the young scribe, he rolled it out. Then he placed a translation sheet Raj and he had been creating on the desk next to the scroll. After thirty seconds of peering at the parchment, Therso laughed. Taking his stylus, he changed a symbol on the translation sheet.
The elf looked over at Telsa. “I am afraid your battle computer and I made a mistake in our earlier translation of this symbol. I see the problem now, thanks to you. The word is rifts, not rafts.”
“Rifts?” Telsa said getting out of her chair to peer over the elf’s shoulder. “What kind of rift?”
The elf shrugged, adding a smile before he spoke. “My specialty is translations. I pretty much leave mining questions to dwarves. They are the experts.”
Telsa sat back on her seat. “I don’t suppose there’s any dwarves hanging around Silverton, is there?”
“Nay, I am afraid not, Wizard Scout Telsa,” said Therso. “A few of their emissaries visit from time to time, but it has been a good decade since their last visit.”
Smiling, Telsa straightened up the stack of books and scrolls she’d been studying. “Well, too long to wait for the next visit, I’m thinking.” She looked at Therso, catching his eye. “By the way, I told you to call me Telsa. Adding wizard scout to the front makes it sound too formal.”
“As you wish, Wiz—err, Telsa.” The elf returned her smile. “Are you leaving?”
“Yep. I think Raj and I have done all the damage we can here for one day. I promised Terrie I would try to make time this afternoon to see how the new Academy of Healers is coming along.” She winked, giving the elf a smile as well. “I think he just wants to brag a little, to tell the truth.”
Instead of smiling, the elf’s face took on a serious expression. Actually, he looked sadder than anything. Telsa wondered why her attempt at humor had fallen flat.
“Wizard Scout Terrie and his bond—err, I mean wife, Angel
a, have done more for our race than I think you know. Almost all other races on Portalis are able to be healed magically. My elven race has never been so blessed.”
Before Telsa could speak, Therso said, “Please do not get me wrong. Elves have been blessed in so many other ways that I have no room to complain. Plus, our medics can do wonders with herbal healing. Still, many elves that could have been saved over the years have died due to our inability to be healed magically. What Elf Friend Richard and Wizard Scout Terrie have done for us is beyond anything we expected.”
Telsa thought back to the battle in the Presence of the Lady. Rick had healed several elf children who by all rights should’ve died. Combined with Terrie’s healing abilities, the elves were appreciative to the point of embarrassment. Their appreciation even affected the way they treated her since she was also a wizard scout. She’d tried telling them her specialty was Power projection and not healing, but the elves of Silverton paid her no heed.
“I’m sure you’d have done the same for us,” Telsa said.
Therso shook his head. “To my shame, you are wrong. Prejudices against humans have run deep in elves for tens of thousands of years. Thanks to the elf friend and Wizard Scout Terrie, those attitudes are changing, especially among the younger elves. Nevertheless, my race still has a long way to go before all humans are accepted.”
Telsa didn’t know what to say.
The young elf looked at her. “My father and mother were killed in an orc ambush a century ago. Our medics did all they could to save their lives, but it was not enough. Once the first batch of healers graduate from our new Academy of Healers, then perhaps other elf children will not be faced with the loss of their parents as was I.”
Telsa reached over and touched the elf on the arm. “I hope it all works out. Terrie’s the best wizard scout healer I’ve ever known. If anyone can train your healers, he’s the man.”
The elf nodded his head without speaking and turned back to stare at the parchment on his desk. Telsa noticed something wet fall on the aged paper. Beating a hasty retreat, she turned and made for the stairs.
Wizard Defender (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 8) Page 5