(Photo by Melissa Mayes)

Insef was a somewhat unique world, as far as habitable planets were concerned. Its rotation was such that one side always faced the star it orbited. That sort of orbit tended to make the star-facing side unbearably hot with the back side of the planet perpetually frozen. Insef, however, was far enough away from its star that the warmer side was habitable. The far side of the world was still frozen but that hadn’t stopped people from expanding out into the dark, pursuing the many rich mineral deposits locked beneath the ice.

Fas had never particularly liked the cold and was glad that their assignment was on the warm side of Insef. As she stood in the Cyph’s loading dock she looked down on Insef through one of the few, small windows. They were still a good distance away from the world and Insef looked no larger than her fist at this range. As before, Fas and the others would be transported by the mages. The difference this time was that her battalion knew it was coming. Those who suffered under the influences of magic would surely be less than thrilled by that prospect but there was nothing they could really do about that now.

The mages were already in their positions, surrounding Fas and her battalion. Their chanting, murmured so low that it was nearly inaudible, thrummed through the air. It was always easier to feel the chanting than it was to hear it. The walls and floors of the loading dock had lines of magestone set into them and they pulsed along with the rhythm of the mage’s chanting.

Looking out over the assembled soldiers she could easily pick out those who had suffered the worst from their time in stasis, their faces drained of much of their color and many of them standing unsteadily. Fortunately, their resolve and training were proving sufficient today and they all did their best to maintain their composure while they awaited their transportation.

They’d been standing there for a few hours now and Fas could tell they were only minutes away from being transported. She wondered how many of her soldiers were similarly aware. Some people had an innate sense for such things, though like most skills anyone could make a study of it and gain such awareness.

As though on cue, dampeners were brought out and placed into position around Fas and the battalion. By their very nature, dampeners made it more difficult to channel magic and so they were only moved into position once the majority of the channeling was complete. A certain rigidity swept over the assembled soldiers as they began to brace for transport.

Sure enough, just a few minutes later Fas began to see the rising aura. She stopped breathing and waited. In a flash, she was no longer aboard the Cyph, but was instead standing in a wide field, her soldiers standing at attention before her. A handful of soldiers collapsed, as was to be expected, and they were immediately carried off by a medical team who had been waiting for them on the planet’s surface.

Fas nodded to the Igniters and they quickly moved into action, directing Embers who, in turn, passed the orders down to the Sparks. For the first couple of hours, they would be busy setting their barracks in order and learning the layout of the base.

“Conflagrator Fas,” a familiar voice said and Fas turned, saluting the elderly woman who had approached her.

“Immolator Gres,” Fas said, holding her salute until Immolator Gres tapped her hands.

“Your soldiers don’t look very accustomed to magic,” Immolator Gres noted, counting quietly the number of soldiers who had needed to be carried off the field.

“This is the first assignment for many of my Sparks,” Fas explained. “I expect they’ll adjust soon enough.

Immolator Gres nodded and then turned away from the field to instead face a large warehouse that stood not that far from them. Fas followed her lead. The warehouse doors were wide and nearly as tall as the warehouse itself, no doubt to accommodate the heavy machinery that would normally be moving in and out of the space. Currently the doors were shut and a squad of eleven soldiers stood guard.

“Is that where you’re keeping them?” Fas asked.

“It is,” Immolator Gres replied. “Your suggestions and insights have been invaluable in keeping them contained for this long and I’m interested to see what else you can do with them.”

“How many of them are there?”

“Interestingly,” Immolator Gres said, cocking her head slightly to one side, “there’s thirty-one of them.”

“That’s really good, to have only one more than what you started with after all this time. When did the new one appear?”

“Last week. I thought we could try learning their names and so I had some of the soldiers begin asking the Ka’Raks what they were called. As soon as the thirty-first Ka’Rak provided its name, the soldiers had the presence of mind to stop, even though they were pretty certain there were others still waiting in line to provide their names.”

“You’re sure there aren’t more than thirty-one, then?”

“Reasonably confident. We did as you had suggested and reminded them all that there were only thirty of them and that the new one was a new addition, brought in that morning but that no one else had been brought. We did a recount later that evening and there were only thirty-one of them.”

“That’s a relief.”

Immolator Gres nodded her agreement.

“I’m going to need at least a week for training my soldiers on how to interact with the Ka’Raks, before we can begin in earnest,” Fas said.

Immolator Gres turned, a look of mild surprise on her face.

“I would have thought your battalion would already be the most experienced in dealing with Ka’Raks, considering your background.”

“Like I said before,” Fas explained, “most of my Sparks are fresh and needed to focus on their basics. I did assume that an assignment like this would be coming, but I didn’t expect it to be our first one.”

“Command doesn’t often act so quickly but in the case of the Ka’Raks I can’t say that I’m surprised. And unfortunately for you and your battalion,” Immolator Gres continued, “the battalion you were sent to replace has already left, transported aboard the Cyph at the same time you and your battalion arrived so you’ll need to jump right in and get to work.”

This was another unexpected blow to Fas and it took much of her restraint to keep from showing her frustration. It wouldn’t have been Immolator Gres’s decision to handle the swap in this manner and so complaining to her would be futile.

“If I’d known your battalion had yet to be trained,” Immolator Gres said, “I would have requisitioned enough supplies for the Cyph so your soldiers wouldn’t have needed to be placed into stasis. Then you would have had those months for training.”

“We’ll do our best,” Fas stated. “I’ll keep them to just basic guard duty for now until they’ve been trained more fully. In the meantime, I’ll handle the Ka’Raks myself.”

“Being alone with the Ka’Raks is a good way to wind up dead,” Immolator Gres warned.

“I won’t be alone,” Fas assured her. “I’ll have enough soldiers with me to keep the Ka’Raks in order but I’ll be the only one directly interacting with them.”

“Very well,” Immolator Gres nodded her agreement. “See that you connect to the network and access the files left for you by Conflagrator Vark. He was fairly meticulous in his notes and seemed to be making some progress with the Ka’Raks.”

With that, she dismissed Fas and strode off towards the administrative office. Fas would join her there eventually as well but for now she needed to see to her soldiers and get her own affairs in order. Without Immolator Vrak and his battalion to handle things while Fas got her battalion up to speed she’d need to work quickly and efficiently. Ka’Raks were a species that could quickly get out of control and even a few days of relaxed structure could lead to disaster. Whether the high command underestimated Fas and the value of her past experience, or if there was some concerted effort to see her fail, she didn’t know. Regardless, though, this would most definitely prove to be either her moment to rise or to fall.