(Photo by David Kopacz)

For the past several hours, Conflagrator Fas had sat alone in her chambers staring at the cold steel wall before her. The room was unadorned, holding only the essentials. Her bed was currently tucked into the wall beside which was her desk and computer terminal. The only chair in the room was the one she sat on. Her wardrobe stood on the opposite side of the room from her desk, housing her uniforms, body armor, and a few choice firearms. A faint aura glowed from within, the telltale sign of the power imbued into the wardrobe’s contents

Fas had given the order that she was not to be disturbed unless it was absolutely necessary. Those that served beneath her were all capable of handling most situations that were likely to crop up and so she didn’t worry about having her thoughts interrupted.

A part of her wanted to be interrupted.

In her hands, Conflagrator Fas held her most recent set of orders she’d been given and it was these orders that had so consumed her thoughts. The orders were simple enough to carry out, but the implications were what worried her. Still, she knew she couldn’t stay sequestered in her chamber all day.

Tucking the orders into her sleeve pocket, located just above her elbow, Fas turned to her computer terminal and engaged her neural link. Most places she didn’t need the computer terminal but her chambers were secured in such a matter that no signals, technological or magical, could be sent or received through its walls. Information flooded her mind at once and she felt the familiar presence of the communications countless other minds similarly tapped into the network. With a thought, she announced that it was time for those serving beneath her to receive their new orders and that they were to gather in the assembly hall within the hour.

That done, Fas disengaged her neural link. As soon as the connection was severed she let out an involuntary shiver and rubbed the scar on the side of her head, just above her left ear marking where the implant resided that allowed her such access. In times past, she’d had no choice about when she was connected to the communications array, with orders and instructions being sent to her whenever her superiors had deemed it necessary. It wasn’t until she’d been promoted to Conflagrator that she’d been allowed to choose when she was connected or not. After nearly twenty years of being constantly connected, it was both a welcome respite and an unsettling emptiness. She’d been a Conflagrator for almost a year now and she was only now beginning to get over that initial shock and awe.

Fas ensured her uniform was in proper order before leaving her chamber and making her way to the assembly hall. She’d addressed her battalion before, but up until this point they’d only been running training exercises to build their cohesion and allow Fas time to become accustomed to her position. The orders Fas carried in her sleeve pocket gave the orders for their first real engagement.

When she arrived, Fas was greeted at once by Skith, one of the ten Igniters who served directly below Fas.

“Conflagrator Fas,” Skith spoke in his usual, formal tones. “The battalion is assembling.”

He saluted, bringing his hands together and bowing. The other nine Igniters followed suit and saluted, all of them holding their bowed positions with their clasped hands held slightly out from their bodies. Fas placed a hand on their hands as she walked past, showing her approval and allowing them to return to their soldiers. Skith was the only one who remained. Even though all of the Igniters were technically the same rank, Skith had held the position the longest and so was generally treated as a superior. Fas herself expected Skith to be promoted within the next couple years and so gave him greater responsibilities and autonomy in the same manner that she had been treated prior to her advancement to Conflagrator.

“Will you require anything for this announcement, Conflagrator?” Skith asked.

“Yes,” Fas replied while walking towards the front of the assembly hall. “A significant transportation will take place and I’ll need containment in case any magical resonance occurs.”

Skith raised his eyebrows. “How large of a transportation should I prepare to receive?”

“We won’t be receiving,” she told him. “The entire battalion will be transported to our new assignment during the briefing.”

Skith’s eyebrows raised even higher, threatening to disappear entirely. “An unusual event,” he noted, “but I’ll see that my Embers and their Sparks arrange the dampeners.”

With that, Skith turned and left to carry out the order. Fas arrived at the small platform where she would address the assembly. There was no chair or lectern for her to use and so instead she stood in the center of the platform and waited for the soldiers to finish arriving. Before long she saw Skith leading several groups around the assembly hall, positioning the dampeners. They wouldn’t be activated unless magical resonance began to occur. It wasn’t a likely outcome, but one that still warranted the precaution. The last thing Fas needed was to have swaths of her soldiers killed or mutated because of such an oversight. Magic was amazing in its ability to succeed where technology fell short but it certainly had its drawbacks. When technology broke, it usually just meant that the device stopped functioning. When magic broke, however, the results were usually catastrophic as the magical energies converted into physical ones, bursting outward as the magical containment failed.

The assembly hall filled gradually. Sparks, the lowest rank in the battalion, filled in the seats. For every ten Sparks there was one Ember who stood on one side of the seats. For every ten Embers there was one Igniter who stood on the other side of the seats. In all Fas led one thousand Sparks, one hundred Embers, and ten Igniters. Not a terribly large force, but not insignificant either. Certainly it was larger than for most newly promoted Conflagrators.

As soon as the assembly hall was filled, the doors were shut and the lights dimmed, and Fas looked out over the crowd. She was reminded of the first time she’d attended such a meeting as a fresh Spark. That day felt like a lifetime ago and the countless battlefields seemed to stretch out before her in the dimmed assembly hall.

Now wasn’t the time for such distractions and Fas pushed them to the back of her mind.

“We have been nominated for a field assignment,” Fas began in a loud voice, “Upon consideration of the assignment I have deemed our training and preparations adequate. We will therefore be transporting immediately to the orbiting fleet ship Cyph. From there we will travel to Insef where we will oversee Ka’Raks who have been taken captive.”

As she’d expected, some whispering among the Sparks began to pass amongst the crowd and she paused while the Igniters and Embers silenced them. Such breaches in decorum were still, unfortunately, common among the Sparks in her battalion and she made a brief mental note to increase training to overcome that shortcoming among the ranks.

“We will not,” Fas continued when the whispers had died away, “be acting as simple prison guards. While overseeing the captive Ka’Raks we will be tasked with studying them, their language, their culture, and most especially their technology and magic.”

No whispers were uttered this time but Fas could still feel the wonder and curiosity, not to mention the fear at having to oversee such creatures as the Ka’Raks. It was no secret that no one had yet figured out the secret to their technology or magic, or even if those terms applied to what the Ka’Raks used. It also was no secret that every previous attempt to contain any significant population of Ka’Raks had ended in failure.

The room began to hum and the familiar aura began to glow around them all. Far above them in orbit aboard the Cyph, no fewer than one hundred people were channeling the magical force needed to transport Fas and her battalion to the ship. They would have needed to begin their efforts several hours prior and would need twice that many days to recuperate from the effort. Still, it was more efficient to bring the battalion aboard this way than it would have been to fly the dozen ships down to the surface that would have been required to bring so many personnel up to orbit.

Breathing became impossible. It was a normal aspect of being transported and Fas kept her mind calm. A few Sparks weren’t handling things as well and had to be restrained. Some people hated magical transportation so much that they would do all they could to avoid it, hence Fas’ decision not to tell them until it was too late for them to leave.

All sound dropped away and the room became hazy. Pressure built up in her ears until, with a crack and flash of light, she found herself on the wide loading dock of the Cyph. Her soldiers materialized moments later, a few of them suffering convulsion but nothing too serious. Last to arrive were the dampeners she’d had Skith put into place. To her surprise, one of them had been activated. It was impossible to know what catastrophe she’d avoided. She watched as several Sparks took note of the dampener as well, their expressions darkening.

“Conflagrator Fas,” a thick voice said from behind her. “Welcome aboard the Cyph.”

Fas turned and found herself facing Novae Kyrn who commanded the Cyph. Fas saluted, though her rank was comparable to that of a Novae, and was saluted to in return.

“I’ll let you see to your soldiers,” Novae Kyrn said, “and then I will host you and your Igniters.”

Fas ended her salute and Kyrn left her to tend to her soldiers. It would take some time to get them all situated into their new quarters, not to mention the task of placing the Sparks and Embers into stasis. She wasn’t sure if the Cyph used magical or technological stasis but knew whatever the answer was that she’d have at least a few Sparks who would resist. Thankfully, the Igniters were already busy organizing the soldiers and seeing that those who were suffering the worst side effects of the transportation were taken away for treatment.

“Skith,” Fas called and the man hurried over. His face was pale and there was sweat on his brow but he did not act out of sorts.

“Conflagrator,” he saluted and Fas tapped his hands to allow him to stand and face her.

“See if we can give the soldiers a day or two before putting them into stasis. I’d like to give them some personal time.”

Skith nodded and hurried off to where the Cyph officers were standing. Considering the task that lay before them, Fas knew it would be important to keep morale up and with how the transportation had gone, with the activated dampener and the sickened Sparks, she wanted them to go into stasis feeling more positively about the endeavor. A few days of relaxation wouldn’t fix everything, but it could help. It would also likely be the last such days of relaxation that any of them would get for a very long time.