Spectra's Gambit

by Vincent Trigili

  “Look, right now he is making no demands on us and is letting us do as we wish out here,” I said. “There is no harm in waiting, and we have much to gain by letting the Kingdom take the blame for our actions. Let’s just coast it out for a while longer and take advantage of the situation.”

  She said nothing but kept on pacing. Her tail was thrashing so much behind her, I was worried that she might pull a muscle.

  “Please, Spectra: for me?” I asked softly.

  She froze, turned to look at me and sighed. “Okay. I’m going down to the practice chambers to burn off some steam. I suppose we can let the old man poke around one more time.” She forced a smile, which was a bit unsettling given her sharp, pointy teeth and angry demeanor.

  She cast one of her travel spells and vanished. Technically she should have walked to the practice room, as our rules stated, but there was no way I was going to remind her of that in her current mood. I dropped heavily into my chair and leaned back, trying to will the stress from my body. I desperately wanted to soak in my tank, but there was too much to do to get ready for Grandmaster Vydor’s visit.

  I spent a few minutes on the breathing exercises that Shea had taught me, and then went over all the reports on the progress of our teams. When they had joined us, they all had a solid grasp of the basics of their secondary power lines but knew nothing of their spiritual powers. Several had been experimenting and had come dangerously close to summoning things that should not be summoned. I felt this was strong support for our cause, and if I could stall Spectra long enough I could prove our case to the Wizards’ Council so that maybe we would not have to break away.

  The real problem was the Korshalemian wizards. If Spectra was right and this brought war to our realm, I would never forgive myself. I had to believe that she was wrong on this particular occasion. Her vision of the future was not as clear as Grandmaster’s vision, and even he had told me on several occasions that his foresight was foggy at best and he could understand general trends only rather than having absolute knowledge.

  Several hours passed before Spectra came back, but when she did she appeared calmer.

  “He will be here shortly,” I said.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “You have much to show him,” I told her. “You have done well training the new team. You can be proud of them.”

  “Hello!” sent Grandmaster Vydor. “Are you ready for me?”

  “Yes, Grandmaster,” I sent.

  When Grandmaster Vydor arrived we took him on a tour of the Nemesis. He was very complimentary throughout, and offered very few suggestions or corrections. He insisted in watching some of our wizards practice their spiritual line and even helped a couple of them with their spells.

  The crew, for their part, were very nervous around him, but they all managed to do well. He was attentive to each one of them, and if they had any comments he took the time to listen to them all. When we introduced him to Chrimson he never let on that he knew he was a spy, and treated him exactly like any of the other wizards on board. Eventually we returned to my office and settled down to hear what he had to say.

  “How long until you reach the station?” he asked.

  “We are holding one jump out,” I said. “We were able to make up some time along the route, so we’re a little ahead of schedule.”

  “Excellent!” he said. “I was wondering: how do you plan to destroy the station?”

  “Grandmaster, so far all the stations run by the Imperial Humans have been using an older version of the old Empire’s operating code base. Greymere is able to use that knowledge to obtain entry, and he is confident that we can get command access to this station. Once we do that we can remove all the electronic fail-safes on the self-destruction mechanism, and Chrimson believes he can handle the physical fail-safes. With a concerted effort, we should be able to cause the station to blow itself up. If that should fail, then I believe we have enough anti-matter in the missile warheads to do the job if we place them in key locations around the station.”

  “That sounds like a good plan. If it fails and you need more firepower, let me know and I will make sure you have it,” he said.

  He leaned back and took a deep pull from the coffee that Nanny had made for him. “Quite frankly, I am impressed. You two have done exceedingly well out here.”

  “Thank you, Grandmaster,” I said.

  “I was not here for your maiden launch, so these gifts are somewhat belated, but I hope you will like them nevertheless.” He pulled out a small bag and placed it on the table. “That is one of Mantis’ bags.”

  I knew that meant it held a ridiculous amount of stuff. Mantis loved the effect of either taking something impossibly large out of something tiny, or far too much material out of much too small a space. His wedding gift to us was a tiny bag like this; when I emptied it out, it filled three of my sleeping tanks with water and live aupessi.

  Spectra reached into the bag and pulled out a wand. With a slight gasp she said, “Spirit bolt!”

  “Yes. Kellyn made them,” Grandmaster Vydor said.

  Master Kellyn was a master-level spiritualist, and a wand made by her would hold tremendous power.

  “There are more wands in there, and some scrolls she made for both of you,” he said.

  “Wonderful! Please thank her for us,” said Spectra. She was clearly impressed by what she saw. Master Kellyn was probably the only person alive in either realm who could make wands and scrolls that Spectra would actually find useful.

  “I will. There is another gift here,” he said and pulled out a book.

  Spectra started to cry when she took the book. “Where did you find this?”

  “Mantis had it, and God only knows how he acquired it,” he said softly.

  “But …” she started and then stopped, choked up with emotion. She traced her finger along the writing on the cover, which was in a language I could not decipher. “This was my great-grandmother’s.”

  “How can you tell?” I asked. Spectra was an orphan; she knew nothing of her family.

  “Traces of the aura of my family line are on the book, mostly covered by that of Mantis. Knowing him, it’s been sitting in that library of his untouched for years, which has allowed her aura to remain.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “It looks like a hand-crafted spellbook, but that isn’t possible. Magic would not have existed while she was alive,” she said.

  “Unless . . . ” I wondered out loud. “Unless she lived in Korshalemia.”

  She sat there hugging the book, a piece of her past that had been stolen from her and finally recovered. I sensed unfathomable depths of emotion in her. As far as I knew, she had never before possessed anything from her past.

  “I am glad it has come home,” said Grandmaster Vydor. “Now to business. I am extremely impressed by the progress of your group, and you have more than proved yourselves. I hereby promote both of you to the positions of the very first journeyman-level spiritualists this realm has ever seen, at least in the past 10,000 years.”

  It was really amazing how big Spectra’s eyes could grow, but in this instance my own were probably just as large. By promoting us, he was announcing to all that he supported us in the training of spiritualists, even though this was forbidden.

  “But, Grandmaster, what about the treaty?” asked Spectra.

  He chuckled. “The treaty has no bearing on these promotions.”

  “But in it you promised – ” she began.

  “No. I know what you are thinking, so let me explain,” he interrupted. “Have you ever played chess?”

  “Not in a very long time, Grandmaster,” said Spectra.

  “You should try it again. It is a wonderful game,” he said. “One of the secrets to winning is to start well, so over the generations people have spent a lot of time studying the opening moves of the game and coming up with specific sets of moves that would put them in the best position for
the rest of the game. These became famous over time and were known by the name of the player who discovered them. For example, if you were a famous chess player and you always made certain opening moves, these would become known as Spectra’s Gambit.”

  Spectra, still cuddling her new book, was listening intently to every word he said. That book had broken something down between them. A barrier was gone and he was speaking directly to her soul.

  “When the treaty was being written, they assumed I was a young fool who could easily be manipulated, but they were wrong; it was part of my gambit. The treaty does not forbid me from training spiritualists, not at all. I had that language changed under the guise that Kellyn was one. Instead, it forbids me from training necromancers.”

  I looked over at Spectra and back to Grandmaster Vydor. “Then we are not forbidden by the treaty?”

  “Not at all, but that has not prevented them from trying. My gambit is coming to the end of its usefulness now, and they have realized they are in trouble.”

  “How is that?” I asked.

  “They fear us and our technology. They thought by implanting their teachers in our academy that they could control our realm as well as theirs. They also installed me as grandmaster, assuming I would be their puppet,” he said.

  Spectra laughed out loud. “You, a puppet? Sorry, Grandmaster, but that is the best joke I have heard in a long time!”

  He smiled. “Yes. I let them think it for years, while slowly recruiting their elite wizards to come over to our realm.”

  “Like Mathorn,” I said.

  “Exactly,” he said. “Well, now that they can see my full play, they are angry and alarmed. They have threatened to end the treaty on several occasions, but I keep demanding that they point out a single place where I have violated it, which they cannot do.”

  “But won’t promoting us make things worse?” I asked.

  “They cannot be worse,” he said. “Understand, the fate of the treaty was sealed the day they realized I was not their puppet and that they had no control over wizards in this realm. Even if spiritualists did not exist, the relationship would have degraded just as quickly. It is merely an excuse on their part.”

  “Will there be war?” I asked.

  “I hope not. I still have a few pieces to play which I hope will prevent that, but any thought of an ongoing alliance is definitely sunk. I intend to make one last attempt to retain it, but at this point I am convinced the treaty is defunct.”

  “What does this mean for us?” I asked.

  “It means congratulations are in order,” he said. “I am promoting you, Dusty, to be head of the Wizard Spirit Corps, a division separate from the Wizard Navy. From now on you report directly to me and the council, and Shadow will be your peer.”

  Spectra was rocking in her seat, holding that book even more tightly. I could see the confusion and conflict in her mind reflected in her face. “But, Grandmaster, all those lessons in the school, the polices – ” she started to say.

  “- were all products of the teachers and the headmaster from Korshalemia. I had to let it stand until we were ready to stand alone. Now, we must still be careful. As you well know, training spiritualists is dangerous; so no spiritualist will be permitted to train outside of your organization.”

  “But I thought – ” once more her sentence trailed off.

  Grandmaster Vydor smiled. “You remember that my wife, who sits on the Wizards’ Council, is a master spiritualist, right? She would have loved to lead this corps herself, but she is needed for too many other tasks already, so I persuaded her not to. Until God blessed us with you, Spectra, we had no one that could administer that training.”

  She tried again to speak, but her voice failed. After a steadying breath, she asked, “Are you really saying that Dusty and I can train all these spiritualists with the full support of the Wizard Kingdom?”

  “The council is fully behind me and both of you. There may be some prejudice to work through among the transplants from Korshalemia and those whom they influence, but yes - you have our full support.”

  “I don’t understand,” she said quietly. “I saw so clearly that we would have to stand alone.”

  “Did you?” asked Grandmaster Vydor softly. “I have some experience with visions, and they are rarely as clear as we wish them to be.”

  “Shea,” started Spectra. “Shea knew somehow. She knew all along.”

  “Oh?” asked Grandmaster Vydor. “Perhaps she is better at seeing the future than either of us, then. I always enjoy my visits with you two, but I must get back. I have risked staying away too long, and it would not do for any of our other enemies to find my post empty.”

  “Please send my love to Master Kellyn and the others,” said Spectra. I had never before heard her use those words with respect to Master Kellyn.

  Grandmaster Vydor blessed us and left, and Spectra fell into my arms and sobbed long and hard. I could barely make out her words through the tears. “I almost threw it all away!” she cried. I held her until we fell asleep there in my office.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  The morning after Grandmaster Vydor’s visit, Spectra, Greymere, Kymberly, Shea and I met in my office to plan our attack on the station. We were parked, cloaked, on the exterior surface of the station, and as far as we could tell no one had detected us.

  “Dusty,” said Greymere, “I can slip onto the station alone and get the data, but if you want me to train Saraphym, this would be a good time to bring her. As far as I can tell the station is not on high alert, and its power signature suggests only a normal crew complement. That should make the data extraction easy and safe.”

  “Are you sure you can pull this off?” I asked.

  “I won’t know until I try, but going by what we have seen so far it should be simple,” he said.

  “What about destroying the station?” asked Kymberly.

  “That will be harder. This station is newer than the others we have visited, and the captain might have a failsafe that we can’t bypass,” he said. “The Empire added a deadlock failsafe after an attacking force had exploited the weakness which I was planning to exploit, but they had not completed the retrofitting of all the stations before the collapse. I was hoping this station would be from the same generation as the last one so I could be sure, but no such luck.”

  “We can always use our antimatter,” I said.

  “Yes, but without a supply to replenish our stockpile, I am not sure we should,” stated Greymere.

  “Replenishing it will not be a problem anymore,” I said. “It will still take considerable time, but our supply is secure.”

  “Oh?” he asked.

  “I think this would be a good time to make my latest announcement,” I said. “Nemesis, please broadcast what I am about to say throughout the ship.”

  “Sure, Master!” he said.

  “Attention, everyone! As you know, we had a visit from Grandmaster Vydor yesterday, and he stayed until late. I have some great news to report as a result of his visit. First, he wants everyone here to know that he is very impressed with the progress you are making and that he is proud of each and every one of you. Second, he has officially sanctioned our operation and promoted me to head of the new Wizard Spirit Corps. That’s right: our kind or magic is no longer banned by the Wizard Kingdom!” I paused a moment to let that sink in. “The only limitations on our movements are that we must adhere to the wizard code and that no one is allowed to train the spiritualist line outside of our ranks.” When I had finished speaking, I told Nemesis to stop broadcasting.

  “Well!” said Kymberly. “We don’t have to break away from the Kingdom?”

  “Nope!” said Spectra. “Our family is standing with us! All the way!”

  “That’s wonderful! I hardly know what to say,” said Kymberly.

  Shea leaned back with a smile on her face. She had the look of someone who was trying not to say “I told you so.”


  Once the celebration had died down, Greymere said, “Given that new information, I suggest we move directly to Plan B and use the antimatter. While Saraphym and I are over there, you could send teams to remove the warheads from the missiles and plant them around the station. I am sure Nemesis can work out the best placement for the explosives.”

  “I would like to see one warhead placed directly inside the biological containment labs, just to be sure,” said Shea. “And that one should be placed by a human, just in case.”

  “What is our risk of exposure to these viruses?” I asked.

  “High, if we are discovered. It would be the easiest way for them to defend the station from us; just flood the corridors with all the viruses and wait for us to die,” said Greymere.

  “That would not be very effective,” said Shea. “If all the viruses are similar to the one that struck the Cathratinairians, then they have a very long dormant period. You would all die, certainly, but it would be years from now.”

  “Still, they could use it as a deterrent,” said Spectra. “Maybe it would be best if Greymere goes over alone to get the data, and after he returns we send humans to plant the explosives. That would reduce our risk of exposure.”

  “No, I think that shouldn’t be necessary,” said Shea. “Even if we send over only humans, they could still flood the station with the viruses and then our humans would become carriers of the viruses. I still think it is highly unlikely they would do that. Once their viruses are out, they would risk losing their stockpile and have to grow more.”

  “If they do release the viruses, how do we counter that threat?” asked Kymberly.

  “Spirit Walk,” said Spectra.

  “What do you mean?” asked Greymere.

  “Everyone who goes over will be in their full armor, so they will not be directly exposed but their armor will be. If we have reason to suspect they have been exposed, we can bring them back via the Spirit Realm. There the viruses will be harmless, and we can take the time needed to sterilize their armor before returning them to the Nemesis,” said Spectra. “A trip to the Spirit Realm could be dangerous for the trainees, but if they are exposed it will be their best chance.”