Of Myths and Legends (Emerilia Book 9)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Every time I think of these soul gem constructs, I just can’t think how it would be possible to do it without them,” Malsour said.

  “I know. Terra wouldn’t be at half of its progress, we wouldn’t have flying citadels lying in wait, or be able to create the places we have,” Dave said.

  “Do you wish for me to continue?” Jeeves asked.

  “Please do,” Malsour said.

  “Then we move to weaponry. There is no need for massive missile holding areas like the Jukal or the old Earth ships had. With the bags of holding and storage crates, each ship can store hundreds of missiles easily, each one armed with a fusion grand working warhead.

  “Same goes for the various cannons. They will be controlled by the ship’s AI, which I am currently undergoing training on and working with in simulations to improve the accuracy and abilities of the cannons. The cannons are based off Deia and Induca’s plasma cannon as well as the dwarven cannons, and information from the Earth archives and the Jukal fleets.

  “The cannons will use grand workings and their base unit will be similar to the dwarven artillery cannon, but more heavily reinforced and able to channel much more power through in order to reach near relativistic speeds.

  “It will be enhanced by magical formation and magical coding, similar to the cannons that Deia and Induca make out of their fire. While this will increase the power of the artillery cannons, it will also make it impossible for the ships to remain within stealth. Each time that they fire, they will also create these glowing sheet-like apparitions that the enemy will be able to see,” Jeeves said.

  “Are we still going with the stealth runes? I thought that would be impossible?” Malsour asked.

  “Not impossible but really difficult. But Jeeves—”," Dave, a grin on his face, pointed to the ceiling.

  “The problem with the stealth runes is that they make an entire area look as if it doesn’t exist and cuts it off from the outside universe. A Mirror of Communication will still work but everything else is dulled.

  “What we worked on was with the heat exchange system as well as the adaptive abilities of the soul gem construct, we can mimic the surrounding area’s heat, reduce our own and also fake the stars and other light sources around us. This will not allow us long, but with the increased speed that I am simulating out right now after yours and Dave’s discussion, I believe that it will give all of the battleships a much better chance at surprising the enemy. However, the destroyers will be unable to use this to such great effect.

  “Their ships, with their smaller power units and their more reduced design, would not have the power or the technological abilities in order to carry this out. However, they could hide in the shadow of a battleship to get in close with the enemy. The missile boats would be in much the same situation,” Jeeves said.

  “Okay, so the battleships will have massive cannons, a hell of a lot of armor and they can stealth pretty well until they fire and they will have the ability to jump between different locations.

  “The missile boats will be heavily armored, have good missile defenses and shields. It will also be able to pump out missiles like crazy. It won’t be too fast and it will need to rely on an anchor or a portal in order to move across solar system distances.

  “The destroyers will be able to move between atmosphere and space. They will have decent weaponry to deal with most threats. They will also be able to use Mana barriers. They are also faster than the battleships but they also cannot move between star systems without anchors or portals,” Malsour said.

  “Correct. However, the battleships, due to their mass, will have issues with slowing their momentum as well as changing their heading. Once they are going in one direction, it’s going to be hard to move in another. Unless you want to burn through the battleship’s energy like no tomorrow,” Jeeves added.

  Dave and Malsour both looked on the warships that floated above the workstation, turning around as they showed off all their sides.

  “Well, it looks like we’re going to have our fleet soon enough,” Malsour said.

  “As long as we can get the materials for them,” Dave said.

  “With current production and the predicted rates of expansion, we are well on our way to meet our needs,” Jeeves said.

  “Shouldn’t we be helping out the people with the flying citadels?” Malsour asked.

  “They know what they’re doing and they’ve done so many of them while we’ve been working on the designs and getting that sorted that we’re not really needed. They have a plan they’ve refined—we’re extra hands but here we’re needed to deal with the issues that crop up, not just build things,” Dave said.

  “You make a fair point,” Malsour said.

  “Which is why I could use your help in building something,” Dave said.

  “Didn’t you just say that we’re better at solving problems instead of building things?” Malsour said.

  “Why, yes, I did but this is a portal. The one I’ve been making in the asteroid base? Well, I finished it and we’re having issues with it.” Dave walked past the workstation and into one of the many workshops.

  There were people all around working on different projects, from cannons to flight drives and armor. Although they had the basis of what they wanted to make and Jeeves was working off of that, it was basic and simple: integrating all of these systems together—although theoretically possible—hadn’t been done before. They were trying to figure out any problems that might happen beforehand and solve them.

  Dave and Malsour entered a room where a portal rested, it was made from soul gem, with runic lines spiraling throughout the ring and the base of the portal.

  Malsour’s sense spread out to the portal. His eyes opened with a blue light as he activated his arcane sight. “Impressive. Your power regulation is way off, though, and your runic lines are so close in places that they might have overlap.”

  The two of them moved forward to the portal. As Malsour talked, Dave used his soul smithing art to change and transform the portal so that it would work out the kinks.

  ***

  “Listen up and listen good, because if you mess this up, then it’s not going to be you turning into meat paste but the man or woman beside you! And they’re a hell of a lot more useful than you!” Deia barked as she looked at the forces in front of her.

  None of them dared to say anything.

  Party Zero had become the trainers of the different citadel crews. They had brought with them the trainers Deia, Quindar, and Anna had worked with in Devil’s Crater to get the DCA army up to their current standard.

  The DCA were regarded with great respect by their peers; their fighting skills and their tactics weren’t any less than other groups. Coupled with how they fought and their supporting abilities, they had earned a place within the hearts of all the soldiers within the Terra Alliance. Nearly no other force had been so active: many times, the DCA aerial forces provided support and the DCA ground forces lay down traps and went out into the no-man’s-land between castles and searched out creatures around towns and cities to finish them off and give the people peace.

  “We have been training within the Mirror of Communication for a number of weeks. All of you have come to understand your gear and your roles. Obviously we have not trained in real life with the flying citadels. Today, we will be lifting Citadel One. We will move it near to Citadel Two. We will be going through practice drops throughout the day. Make sure that you follow your training and follow the orders of your leaders. We’re here to get you used to dropping and carrying out your various duties. Safety is paramount. I don’t want any screw-ups. If you see something going wrong, I want you to point it out immediately. If you don’t, I’ll have your damn asses and by the time I’m done with you, I’ll have you jumping out of those citadels in your nightmares.” Deia looked to them all.

  A few made snide comments to one another about being around Deia. She was a good-looking elf and many held her in their eyes with interest. So
me of their peers shot them dirty looks while others gave them looks of pity.

  Deia and Dave were completely devoted to each other. If Deia was to hear their comments, then many of the people would wish that they had died from the training that she would put them through.

  “Once you are down on the ground, you will move to Citadel Two, where you will move through the ono back to your citadels. From there, you will go over after-action reports on what you did well and what went wrong. We will be doing one drop per day this entire week. If we can, I want to get to two or three for next week. Get used to the drop backpacks and the platforms! After this training, we will be using them to directly attack the enemy,” Deia said.

  The officers and the training staff looked over the twenty-five different citadel groups that were arranged in rows.

  There were five dwarven War Clans, a unit of ten thousand mounted, two thousand mages and two thousand archers, followed by forty-five dwarven artillery gun crews, four hundred Aleph controllers and their four thousand automatons, and then a flying force of a thousand. There were sixteen flying citadels under construction right now. The nine extra units were there so that if the citadels needed reinforcements, they could assist without needing to be familiarized in the middle of battle. They could also completely switch out with citadel fighting forces, rotating units that had been fighting from the citadel outward without any problems.

  It had been a pain to deal with everything but Lucy and Florence had kept everything organized and equipment flowing. They were still waiting for some gear but the industrial complexes of the Terra Alliance were rushing to meet their needs. The flying citadels could alter the balance of the war, after all.

  “Okay, let’s get going. Citadel One crew, you will be up first, moving down through the crews. While waiting, I want everyone doing drops within the Mirror of Communication,” Deia said. “That’s all I have to say. Citadel commanders, I turn them over to you.”

  The different forces started to disappear as the citadel commanders talked to their people and disseminated information to their leaders and their troops.

  Party Zero, as well as Quindar, exited the Mirror of Communication, finding themselves in the command center of the first citadel.

  “Captain Farul, take us up please,” Deia said.

  “You heard the lady. Flight?” Farul looked to the woman in the flight chair.

  “Yes, Captain. Power is looking good; flight drive is looking good. Power retention at eighty percent and charging. Ready to push off. Powering up the drive to five percent.” The flight officer’s hands moved across the different buttons and the screen in front of her.

  The citadel started to shake slightly.

  “Shaking free the dirt and rubble.” The flight officer increased the power to the flight engines.

  Around the citadel, the grass, trees, and dirt was pushed away as power pulsed out from the citadel. For a few moments, it seemed to pause before it lurched upward slightly. Then it gradually rose up above the massive crater below.

  The citadel’s polished walls shone in the early morning light. The runes and the soul gem that had grown through the wall lit up even in the early morning sun. Dirt and debris fell from around the outside of the citadel as the soul gem base was revealed. Glowing with motes of light, the citadel rose upward.

  “We are free. Moving to altitude of one kilometer and moving toward Citadel Two.” The flight officer said, her voice sounded both nervous and excited at the same time.

  “Well, seems that it works at least,” Anna said.

  “If there is one thing that those guys can do, it’s build things,” Induca said.

  “Yeah, it’s a pain in the ass to get them to do anything else.” Deia sighed.

  “You’ve been training people the entire time,” Anna rebuked.

  “So, have you and Alkao, but you’ve still been sneaking off together,” Deia said with a sly smile.

  Anna turned red in embarrassment. “Well, that’s none of your business,” Anna muttered, hip checking him and looking around shyly, at complete odds with the commanding force she was on the training grounds.

  The forces of Citadel One were roused from their different barracks and quarters. Mages and ranged forces moved to the various casting balconies, as well as weapons. The Aleph automatons manned repeaters along the wall. Dwarven artillery crews checked their guns and made them ready for battle.

  Mages stepped onto the specialized casting balconies that were inscribed with runes that would allow them to recover their Mana faster and make it harder for them to go into Mana fatigue.

  Aerial forces moved to the new flight deck that had been added to the main tower. Here people could launch and land from all manner of beasts. Runes were used to create a jet stream that people could drop into and use to reach impressive speeds right from launch. The other sides were landing areas that didn’t have any wind to make it easier to land.

  DCA forces lined up within the tower, ready to throw themselves into the launcher runes.

  Dwarves and their mounted compatriots moved out from their barracks and to the different areas where they could drop from.

  The mounted actually took large lifts through the soul gem underneath the castle to large bay-looking areas. Off to the side, there were racks of metal plates with runes and a fence around them. The creatures stepped onto these plates, now trained to get past their original fears.

  A gravity field encompassed them as they moved over the bay doors so that it didn’t even feel as if they were flying.

  The dwarves were split up between groups that marched onto this landing platform to others that were ready at chutes buried deep inside the soul gem island that the Citadel rested on. These were basically slides that the dwarves or other single-person forces would jump in, the slide guiding them through the soul gem construct and out below the citadel.

  Then they would use their teardrop-shaped backpack to guide themselves to their drop zone.

  All over the place, there was training staff. All weapons and armor had been removed so that they couldn’t get in the way. Here, they were just doing the basics; later they would get into holding weapons and more complicated maneuvers like the kind that they might need to use if they were getting attacked at range.

  The massive flying citadel crossed the sky. The other training forces in the different citadels looked upward, staring at the monstrosity in the sky.

  The only floating creations they knew of were the Per’ush Islands. To see an entire citadel flying across the sky— even though they had seen it in the Mirrors of Communication training—was much different in real life.

  The citadel came to float near the second citadel’s location so that forces, once they were done, could pass through the ono to allow the next citadel fighting force to move through.

  Trainers who could fly took to the air around the citadel, looking about to make sure there were no threats and ready to intervene if any issues arose.

  “We are hovering outside of Citadel Two,” Flight said.

  “Good. Keep us on a hover. Make sure that we get the information on crosswinds to the groups dropping today,” the captain said.

  His command crew did their tasks with economic movements. Nervous at first, they relaxed more and more, getting used to their roles. They had practiced for weeks in the Mirror of Communication. They knew how to work their stations; it was only the pressure of practicing it and then actually doing it in real life made their nerves hit an all-time high.

  Deia, Anna, Quindar, Steve, Lox, Gurren, and Induca were within the command center.

  “So, anyone else want to jump off a perfectly good flying citadel?” Steve rubbed his hands together.

  “We’ll go check on the different ground forces.” Lox indicated Gurren and Steve at the same time.

  “I’ll check in with the aerial forces quick,” Anna said.

  “I’ll join,” Quindar said.

  “Want to go and help those on safety?” Induca aske
d Deia, looking to the people who were floating around the citadel, making sure that no one got into too much trouble and that everyone got to the ground in one piece.

  “Sounds good to me—be able to see just what they get up to.” Deia smiled. She was nervous as the people who were doing this for real for the first time. If something went wrong, it would reflect back on her. She’d got a lot of help from Anna and the others but this was her show; she was the training commander of everyone here.

  They took elevators from the command center heading to the different parts of Citadel One.

  Deia and Induca took to the sky, twin fireballs as they moved.

  “I’m surprised that Dave and Malsour aren’t here,” Induca said in a private chat with Deia. Talking with the air rushing past would have been impossible.

  “I know. They probably wish that they were here too, but they’ve been wrapped up in their own projects. It seems that everything has just gone mad in the last couple of weeks,” Deia said, her voice quiet. She missed spending time with Dave. It felt like a lifetime ago that they had let loose and relaxed in Per’ush.

  Deia shook free those thoughts and smiled at Induca. “So after Malsour showed that he was actually a dragon, how have people been?”