Some deaths are pointless; no purpose is ever served, as if purpose could be served by death. Well perhaps it can, in the heroic death, killing for food or to end suffering. One such pointless death was on the Star Trek Next Generation story, Skin of Evil, when the character Tasha Yarr was killed off
This seems to be the case when the former member of the British Entity Affairs Directorate, Sarah Willows dead body has been returned to Quantico, after she was killed by the Lady Sharlane, an exact double for Doctor Charlene Henshaw, because she considered Sarah to be too low in status to be of use. The magic using humans are demanding the return of the captured Sir Timous in return for the life of Doctor Henshaw, unaware that he has been murdered by a secret member of the banned drow order, the Hadreth
+ + +
An undisclosed location
Washington DC
Janine Sedlacek sat at the table in the empty and deserted staff canteen staring into space, thinking of her former colleague Sarah. She had heard of the Brigadier General’s anger at how Sarah had been “hung out to dry” and how the Brigadier General regarded Janine, given what her father had done.
Janine thought it was best to stay out of the Brigadier General’s way, anyway, what use was she now?
A dark figure entered the canteen.
Janine looked up, it was Jaheel, one of the drow that had come to Earth to try and deal with the magic using humans.
“I did not realise you were here” Jaheel told her.
Janine looked up, with a tear in her eye, “I better go then” she replied to the drow.
“I did not mean for you to go” Jaheel responded, “I was meeting someone”
Another person entered the canteen from another door, a human female this time.
“What’s she doing here” the woman said with anger, it was former Corporal Tania McCaskey.
“We rescued here when that magic using human came after her” Jaheel explained to Tania.
“Do you not know who she is?” Tania asked Jaheel with incredulity.
Jaheel from what Janine could see looked confused, “She was a member of the organisation in the United Kingdom known as”
“She’s the daughter of Sir Sidney Gerald” Tania interrupted, “That b*tch should be in a prison cell for what she and her father did to me”
Janine looked up, it seemed there was nothing she could ever do or say to make right what her father had done when he had engineered Tania’s conviction before a Courts Marshall on trumped up charges. To add insult to injury her father then tried to make Tania confess to the crime on video as part of a deal to grant access to the Mystical Realms to the American government.
“I know that because of this Sir Sidney you were unjustly accused of a crime Tania” Jaheel replied to Tania, “But I did not know that Miss Sedlacek was the daughter of that particular man”
“She was his PA as well” Tania said accusingly
“And it was her who took down her father” came the voice of Major Bolak, the other drow, as he entered the canteen. “The real question Miss McCaskey is why you are here? I hope it is not to further entice Jaheel further into a relationship that is not expedient and fitting for a drow of his heritage”
“And why is that so wrong” Jaheel countered, “Tania has more honour than some of the drow females that my father tried to marry me off to”
“But she is not of the right heritage” Major Bolak insisted, “And although it matters not much to me who you sleep with”
“Excuse me” Tania interrupted,
Tania was ignored by Major Bolak as he continued, “It does however matter if that can be used by enemies of your father on the Drow High council”
“Who appointed you to act as his keeper” Tania countered
Major Bolak continued to ignore Tania, “There are those who believe that we must keep our bloodlines from being contaminated by other races, and there are some who believe your companion should be of good drow stock so drow houses can be united”
“Major” Jaheel replied, “I have always told my father that I had no interest in leading the Drow High Council or serving on it, so why should I not be with the woman I love”
“There are many and various reasons” Major Bolak countered, “But now is not the time to discuss them, I came to see”
Major Bolak stopped.
In the argument with Jaheel and the McCaskey female, they had not noticed Miss Sedlacek leaving the room.
+
Janine wandered down one of the corridors of what was once the American Inter Dimensional Entity Control building.
Unlike the former Entity Affairs Directorate in England, this place was above ground, and in its heyday apparently employees wore normal clothing, rather than paper smocks or nothing at all. They did not have the same paranoia about doppelganger infiltration that the Entity Affairs Directorate had.
Janine could not help thinking how the corporal had a point, what was the point in her being there?, Through her they had captured the leader of the magic using humans who had gained the foothold on Earth by capturing the United Kingdom, even though he had not survived the interrogation technique. So why giver her protection, when someone who had been a loyal and law abiding citizen all her life, who had never put a foot wrong, like Sarah Willows, had been abandoned, and as a result killed.
It was not fair.
+ + +
The Troll City of Power
The Manjura Empire
Strang was waiting in reception of the orc run research station when Mopal, one of the orcs, came out to meet him. Mopal had been Jankle’s deputy before he had been mysteriously killed. The official report stated he had been knifed by one of the magic using humans who had gated in to the facility. Strang suspected the work of Padow, The Lord High Troll, but he could not prove it.
“I hear you are now troll regent” Mopal opened with, “what brings you to our laboratory?”
“I am here to instruct you to resume work on the new bioweapon”
“Of course regent we would eagerly comply” Mopal responded, “but the leader of the troll council ordered it to be shelved.”
“As troll regent” Strang replied, “while the Lord High Troll is away off world, I have the equivalent authority to him, and if I understand our constitution, that outranks the leader of the troll council”
“Does not the troll council have the power to overrule a Lord High Troll?” Mopal inquired suspiciously
Strang smiled, “Only on a unanimous vote” he said with a grin, “And I have already spoken to those on the council who support me and have not met with unfortunate accidents, lone muggers or some human attack. That troll council leader will not be able to interfere.”
“Very well Regent” Mopal answered back, “but the council leader said that a deal had been done with the drow on some other world where our kind use magic. A place they call the Mystical Realms. We pull out of their world and they take down the magic using humans who have been attacking us”
Strang snorted contemptuously, “I never trust anyone who uses magic, and neither does our Lord High Troll. In fact” Strang went on, “It was the Lord High Troll who appointed me to act as regent here while he stayed behind to see if those drow can keep their end of the deal. How do we know that these magic using drow will not switch sides? I heard while I was there, that the trolls on that other world had once formed an allegiance with the technological humans we recovered the virus from. They could easily make a deal with the magic using humans as well. That is why we need a backup plan.”
“Very well regent” Mopal replied, “We still have some prisoners I believe from that human world we obtained the virus. They were scheduled to be executed tomorrow, they will make excellent test subjects to make sure the virus is lethal against their disgusting kind”
“Keep me informed of progress” Strang told him, and then handed him a card. “This are my personal communication details, I would rather we kept the trolls council out of the loop, given their weakness and how they effectively allowed our world to be invaded”
A wilderness cave
The Walong Mountains
The Mystical Realms
Madron sat at the entrance to the cave fingering the amulet that long dead elves had once fashioned for him
It was supposed to ward off a dark space attack by drow, the mortal enemies of elves. It had been fashioned when Madron ruled as Lord Low Troll and so needed protection, as even back then there had been an alliance between trolls and elves.
But when Madron ruled, it had been difficult times and he had had to resort to tyranny to keep the peace as long as he could, before civil war broke out across the Mystical Realms.
The suspicion he had harboured, was that maybe the amulet would not work, because the elves of long ago would have thought it would be better if he was replaced with a Lord Low Troll or troll emperor who would not be as strict in their eyes.
This was all he had, for as soon as he slept, Madron knew that the drow he had scried and was aware of his scrying, would come for him, either physically or most likely by use of the drow dark space. The drow that Madron had spied upon was of that feared and forbidden order of drow, the Hadreth, and they were consummate masters of assassination by dark space, as it left no trace. Not even the humans be believed with all their forensic sciences could ever prove how a Hadreth drow would be involved
The two suns had now set and three of the world’s four moons could now be seen, the fourth one would not appear in the night sky with the others for a week, so he calculated. He listened to quietness of the wilderness as the nocturnal animals took over from the daylight animals.
Madron just hoped his son the Clan chief of the Manjura as he insisted on calling himself, and his adopted son of Meetal the kobold were well on their way into the heart of drow territory to warn the Drow High council of the danger. Madron knew he could trust Meetal, as in the alternate timeline he had sent Meetal on a mission to an occupied Earth, but his son the Clan chief of the Manjura, he was not so sure. He was worried that his son might try instead to rally forces to go against the technological trolls who had captured Central City and used their technological terrors to subdue the rest of the Mystical Realms.
Madron noticed his eyes getting heavier.
He forced himself to get up.
Madron left his cave and wondered over to his small garden and the special house he had constructed to keep various domesticated flightless birds that were used for eggs, and occasional meat. He normally locked the birds in for the night, but this time he opened the door. If the birds wanted to they could escape to the rest of the garden, and live on, should something happen to him.
Madron knew his end was near. Again he fingered the amulet he had been told would protect him from a drow dark space attack when the elves fabricated it for him when he was the Lord Low Troll. The only problem was, who the elves hated more when he was in office, him for what he had to do to keep law and order or the drow, their sworn mortal enemies.
If he was to sleep that night, Madron felt it should be in the open, under the stars, that way, when they found his dead body, well at least Meetal would not have to somehow clean the cave out.
Madron walked a reasonable way beyond his garden to a small rock, he would often come to, and there sat down.
Madron looked up into the night sky at the three moons and thought of all those he had had to have executed, especially those who had been innocent, like the second youngest younglings of those troll clans when he had to stop the Clan Chief of the Najav from becoming emperor. A troll he knew to be weak and indecisive, which would have led to the civil war a lot earlier than it actually happened. Only Madron knew the truth about that dark period of his life now and he had even kept it secret from faithful Meetal.
“I had to” Madron called out to the night sky, “There was a greater good that needed to be served, a greater evil that needed to be vanquished. I HAD NO CHOICE!”
Then Madron recomposed himself as he gazed out into the wilderness. Those were darker times and he had to be darker to keep things together. Only Meetal and some drow understood that. Not his son. His son had it easier, after all a boil had been lanced by the civil war. It had been a bitter civil war that Madron had sat out whilst his twin brother paid the ultimate price, making everyone think he was dead.
Slowly Madron’s eyes grew heavier
And then it was over.
Madron was asleep.
+ + +
An undisclosed location
Washington DC
Walter Quentin looked up from the old desk up at Janine, “What can I do for you Miss Sedlacek?” he asked.
“That should have been me on the slab, not Sarah” Janine squeaked out, “I was the one they wanted”
“What makes you think that?” Walter asked
“They blamed me for the death of one of their number when our clean up squad attacked them in London” Janine replied, “Sir Timous blamed me personally”
“A mere human blaming others for their lack of adequacy” Major Bolak’s voice interrupted, from behind. “You are a hard person to track down Miss Sedlacek” Major Bolak continued.
“I didn’t feel like flavour of the month back there” Janine replied weakly.
“You must not let that corporal get inside your head” Bolak answered back
“But she’s right” Janine protested.
“NO” Bolak retorted sternly, “I knew of your father, even from Moscow. If he were of the drow, he would not have been out of place amongst the old Hadreth order. If you had not done his bidding, someone else would have. He also like the Hadreth, got careless, and trusted you, if I heard rightly; you played on that trust right up to the time you took him down”
“I did what had to be done because of what he did to my mother” Janine replied with guilt in her voice.
“A noble motive for patricide if ever I saw one” Major Bolak beamed.
“Is there something you wanted?” Walter interrupted, “We are kind of busy trying to track down that nuclear submarine before we end up in a nuclear war with North Korea and their allies”
“Well” Major Bolak replied, “You have nothing to worry about from Russia as I have spoken to them”
“I thought you were persona non grata on account of your assassination of Vabalavich” Walter answered back.
“Fortunately before he died Ambassador Tragal sorted that misunderstanding out with the Russians” Major Bolak replied, “The fact that I spared Moscow being obliterated in this revised time line may have had something to do with it. They assure me they will be putting whatever diplomatic pressure they have on the North Koreans not to retaliate should any of those British submarines fire upon that realm”
“Which is not much” Walter mused
“Unfortunately I have to concur with you Vice Admiral” Bolak replied with a note of resignation in his voice, “Meanwhile I need the services of Miss Sedlacek”
“What can I do?” Janine asked
“Well for a time you did manage to replicate a wormhole generator” Bolak replied, “And you helped maintain your father’s artificial universe prison. I have been in touch with the local constabulary to request the services of one Peter Smith”
“You have no authority to do that” Walter said as he stood up at his desk, “You are just a visitor here”
“Sent by Marshal Dacron of the Drow High Council to deal with these magic using humans if I recall” Bolak replied in his characteristic smarmy voice.
“Aren’t you supposed to be using magic to do that?” Walter asked
“We are” Bolak replied, “But back in the old days of the UK Inter Dimensional Entity Control when they had that policy of Incarcerate, Interrogate and Exterminate they used certain technologies to track the gateways to our world.”
“I thought Sky-Guard was taken out by the technological trolls” Walter interrupted
“Indeed it was” Major Bolak replied, “But there were more localised scanners as well. It was such technology that the late Timothy Zachary, an employee of that agency, used to calibrate the first artificial generator that you later came to rely on”
“I am aware of the history Bolak” Walter said with irritation, “But they had limited range”.
“It is better than nothing Vice Admiral, but returning to your point about using just magic, would it not be prudent to use a technological solution as well?” Bolak asked, “If those magic using humans are using some kind of magic orbs, similar to ours to get between this world and theirs, would it not be an idea to calibrate one of your devices so we can take this war back to them”
“From what Brigadier General Peters says those technological trolls tried to take them on and they’ve been losing a war” Walter protested
“But they do not have our drow magic” Major Bolak grinned, “And after we have dealt with those magic using humans, we will press with the technological trolls to leave this world in peace”
“But it’s been a while since I last worked with that technology” Janine interrupted
“I’m sure it will come back you” Major Bolak replied, “Since we no longer have the services of Doctor Henshaw, you will have to do”
“Are we not going to use it to try some kind of rescue?” Janine asked
Walter shook his head, “There will be no rescue. The joint chiefs have considered such a mission too risky. That’s why the Brigadier General is not here, he’s off to try and change their minds. He muttered about not leaving anyone behind and it being a marine thing, I don’t think he knows Capitol Hill like I do”
+ + +
The edge of the Waylong mountain range
The Mystical Realms
The troll Clan Chief of the Manjura and Meetal were just about keeping pace with one another, although it was becoming obvious that Meetal the kobold was beginning to find it hard to keep up, especially as night fall was upon them.
They still had about two or three day’s journey to make it to the edge of the drow enclaves. From what Meetal knew of them and this part of their world, they still seemed to be on track, although Meetal was still worried that the son of his master the former Lord Low Troll, would go against his father’s wishes and divert to the city of the Central Plane to take on the usurper who looked like him and claimed to be the Lord High Troll. Meetal also worried that this particular troll would kill him for what he perceived as crimes carried out during his master’s reign as Lord Low Troll
The lack of speech between the pair spoke volumes.
They were now at a stream that was on the edge of the wilderness. Its appearance of tranquillity just served to underline how desperate their situation was in a strange kind of way. It looked to Meetal so peaceful as the water made its way down the river at this point, but further downstream with other small streams it was a raging river with rocks and many waterfalls. Just like how the Hadreth drow operated according to his master, they would be the appearance something familiar and innocuous but further along, they would be an unstoppable force.
According to his master it had been the Hadreth in the other timeline who had assisted in the overthrow of the governing bodies not only on Meetal’s world, but also the world of the humans.
“We cannot go on much further” The Clan Chief of the Manjura announced, shattering Meetal’s thoughts, “We make camp here”
Meetal wanted to go on if he could, he was afraid to sleep, what if the drow that his master spoke of came after him in a dark space attack after finding out about their mission. Meetal suspected even his master might not be able to resist the attack of a drow master.
“What about the Hadreth?” Meetal found himself whimpering.
“What about them” The Clan Chief of the Manjura snarled at Meetal,
It was obvious that the danger of a dark space attack had not entered his mind
“The Hadreth drow” Meetal whined,” They might use a dark space on us?”
“They would not dare” The Clan chief of the Manjura snarled back
Meetal thought best to bide his words, this troll was so full of hate for his father and for Meetal, that he was blind to the danger that Meetal was only too well aware of.
Meetal unpacked his back pack and took out a blanket, just as the troll did the same, placing them near some rocks just above the stream and as out of sight as possible.
The Clan Chief of the Manjura did not seem to bother with and end of day meal, Meetal was unsure why, but given the reaction to his concern about dark space, he thought it was best to go to bed hungry, wondering if he would die that night, either at the hand of the drow, or the Clan Chief of the Manjura himself.
+ + +
The Drow High Council chambers
The Mystical Realms
Dacron lay on the bed in his chamber next to his new personal assistant, Quittox, holding her hand. Both drow were fully clothed. Something that felt both strange and pleasant to Quittox.
They were about to enter a dark space again to deal with what Marshal Dacron said was a loose end.
“My lord” Quittox asked, “I though Councillor Kay-Vlar said trolls were immune to psychic attack?”
“That my dear is what they like to think” Dacron replied.
Suddenly Quittox found herself standing naked next to her master Dacron on a black plane, identical to the one she had been on when Dacron had dispatched some human that his arch nemesis Major Bolak had been trying to interrogate.
That time it was to embarrass a known enemy of the Hadreth and ensure the humans on that world were lined up for Dacron’s master plan. This time, they had to deal with someone that Dacron said was a potential threat and also instrumental in the demise of a Hadreth victory.
Dacron looked at Quittox’s naked figure on the dark space, shook his head and laughed. “You are not that used to clothing are you?”
“Sorry my lord” Quittox replied and then looked down, “A bonded drow female does not deserve clothing and carries out her servitude naked” she whispered.
“But you are no longer a bonded drow” Dacron smiled as he lifted up her head, “That is a part of your psyche you must eliminate, you are a proud Hadreth. Remember your heritage, remember how that was taken from you. Discard that feeling of servitude, embrace the anger that should be running through your veins. Remember those children who were slain because their parents were Hadreth, remember the fear you had that you might be discovered, use it to burn that psyche of a pathetic bonded drow to dust.”
Quittox gazed into Dacrons eyes. She of course knew they were not really his eyes but his projection into the dark space. They blazed like pools of fire, and then the emotions he mentioned hit her.
The total injustice of the slaughter of Hadreth, even down to the younglings. Years of faithful service forgotten because one member was deemed to be a threat when all he was doing was making the drow strong again after their side-lining by the elves and the trolls.
A searing pain went through her and she screamed.
Suddenly Quittox was back on the bed lying next to Marshal Dacron.
Slowly he opened his eyes.
“Sorry my liege” Quittox apologised
“No need to apologise” Marshall Dacron replied, “I should have dealt with this before we went onto the dark space. Let us try again”
Quittox closed her eyes and once again she was standing on the infinite dark plane with Marshall Dacron, but this time she was fully clothed, just as she was in real life.
+ + +
An undisclosed location
Washington DC
Brigadier General Samuel Peters brushed past Walters PA as he entered into his office.
Walter looked up at Samuel, “I see you got nowhere”
“That’s a damned understatement if ever I heard one” Samuel shouted back, “We don’t leave people behind!” Samuel continued, “those b****rds have decided to write Doctor Henshaw off as dead”.
“Sam, I sympathise” Walter replied, “I really do, but what can we do?”
“Send in a team” Samuel snapped back
“Let me remind you Sam” Walter answered back, “We don’t have a good track record of rescue missions, even when confined to ops on this world, let alone a completely different world none of us have ever been to.”
“I have” Samuel interrupted, “So has Miss Sedlacek, we have a fair idea of the layout of their Castle Lodinium”
“Assuming Doctor Henshaw is being held there” Walter cut back in, before continuing, “Need I also remind you Sam, we are in the middle of a war between these magic using humans who have taken Doctor Henshaw and those technological trolls who have taken a large number of people from a UK defence base and by your own intel captured IDW01”
Samuel continued to glower at Walter. “And we should be getting those people back as well” he muttered.
“Against a technological foe, almost equal to us in ability” Walter said with incredulity in his voice, “We have no idea if those people are still alive”.
“We have two drow and a number of pixies” Samuel insisted, “We have magical back up to mount one”
“We can’t spare them” Walter interrupted, “As the people on the Hill will have told you, we have a British nuclear submarine possibly on it’s way to start World War three with North Korea”
“We go in Walter” Samuel replied, “We capture that Lord Samail and we make them give up its location” Samuel pleaded.
“He may not know” Walter answered back, “That knowledge may have died with Sir Timous, and we only have Major Bolak’s word that it was some other party who must have killed him”
Samuel was silent for a few seconds, “Even though he is a drow, he has proven he can be trusted more than some elves or senators”
“Really?” Walter questioned, “Didn’t he leave you stranded on IDW02 while he captured a certain Mr Andrews to trade with the Lord Low Troll along with the late Mr Vee?”
+ + +
The Castle Lodinium
(The alternate human world)
“I wonder why the heretics are taking so long.” Lord Samail asked out loud as he sat at his banqueting table, waited upon by naked daughters of nobles he had under his control.
Lady Sharlane of the Henna Shores looked up from the other side of the table. “Maybe I overestimated the worth of our heretic prisoner” she replied, “They may consider Sir Timous of more value than her”
Lord Samail stared at one of the dishes on the table for a moment, “There is another reason I suppose. I suspect they do not wish to appear weak”
“I see your point Lord Samail” Lady Sarlane replied, “If you were to yield to heretics to retrieve even a son, you enemies here would consider you weak for giving in to them and use it as an excuse to move against you”
“And you would know who such war lords are my lady” Lord Samail challenged.
Lady Sharlane feigned surprise and shook her head, “I speak only of what if my Lord Samail” she replied, “I can think of no one would have you deposed”, she lied, “I would abandon my own flesh too if circumstance demanded it. Besides my lord, if your Sir Timous was foolish enough to be captured, is he really someone to have as your right hand man?”
“He has served me well in the past” Lord Samail retorted, “and has been very loyal”.
“And yet according to your own Quaylong he was captured going on a personal vendetta” Lady Sharlane replied back with an evil grin
“He told you that?” Lord Samail asked with surprise slightly evident in his voice.
“Even a magic user’s mind can be an open book, especially if they are male” Lady Sharlane answered back. “If I were you my Lord, if the heretics are foolish enough to have him returned, I would make an example of him for his recklessness”
Lord Samail glowered at Lady Sharlane, “Sir Timous was acting out of honour to a fallen comrade whose death was precipitated by a heretic female”
“This comrade you speak of was a mercenary” Lady Sharlane said in angry rebuke, “Sir Timous could not stand the fact that a woman got the better of him.”
Lord Samail thought for a moment, “When will you be reporting back to the other war lords?”
“Eager to get rid of me?” Lady Sharlane questioned
“They sent you here, I wondered when you would report back to them that I have all matters in hand over our war with the trolls”
Lady Sharlane shook her head, “I am not convinced you have Lord Samail, We were supposed to be fighting one adversary and yet the war opened a dangerous front onto a world of heretic technology using humans, and you now say there is another world of magic using trolls?”
“Elves” Lord Samail corrected Lady Sharlane, “In that place they call the Mystical Realms the trolls use elves as mercenaries, well they did until our enemies the technological trolls wiped them out when they took that world”
“You make my point Lord Samail” Lady Sharlane continued, “Our enemies have a source not only of a possible weapon against us, but possibly access to magic.”
“I doubt the trolls will try and use magic from that world” Lord Samail rebuffed, “They are so dependent on their filthy technology, just like the heretic humans we have come across. And both deserve the same fate. Annihilation”
Lady Sharlane looked pensive at Lord Samail. Lord Samail did not need to be a mind reader like Lady Sharlane obviously was.
“There is one difference Lord Samail that makes the human heretics even more dangerous” Lady Sharlane ventured
“How could they possibly be more dangerous than the trolls?” Lord Samail scoffed, “Compared to the trolls and the orcs, and even the elves, humans without magic are no match for them. That is the edge we have and why we most likely will win this war with the troll enemies”
“The heretics have also used magic” Lady Sharlane uttered.
“What do you mean?” Lord Samail asked, “I have interrogated trolls and elves myself before running them through with a sword, they despise magic, they prefer their technology because it is something they can understand because to them it is rational and does not upset their puny understanding of things”
“That may be the case for the trolls” Lady Sharlane replied, “But when I was in the mind of that abomination that looks like me, and in the pathetic one I killed, I saw memories of them using magic items. Sometimes carrying out what they call reverse engineering. That abomination even had memories of handing to some heretic youth a talisman and using a dimension door spell. It seems my Lord that these heretics unlike the trolls we are fighting, are more pragmatic and will use magic if it suits their purposes”
Lord Samail shook his head and looked down at the table, before looking back up at Lady Sharlane, “Probably the influence of that Mystical Realms place. Did I not say that the trolls from the Mystical Realms had been acting as allies with the heretics?”
“Yes you did” Lady Sharlane answered back, “I hope for all our sakes that Sir Timous’ plan to deal with the heretics comes to fruition. Did he say how he was getting these heretics to use those super weapons you spoke of against themselves?”
“He was not very clear on that detail” Lord Samail answered, “Maybe Quaylong or Jamaal may know what Sir Timous’s plan is”
“That would be a good start” Lady Sharlane agreed, “especially if the heretics would prefer to sacrifice their warrior for Sir Timous. Should I dispatch her my Lord. Her very existence is an affront to me.”
Lord Samail smiled, he suddenly guessed the reason for the antipathy Lady Sharlane had shown for her double walker, when he himself had only intrigue for his double walker, the heretic known as Brigadier General Samuel Peters. “Is that my Lady, because as she looks exactly like you it gives others an image of what you would look like in chains and in utter defeat?”
Lady Sharlane glowered at Lord Samail,
He was right!
“No” Lord Samail then spoke up, “The heretics may very well decide to trade Sir Timous for her. I think I will hang onto her, just for the moment”
+ + +
A dark and infinite plane
Location Unknown
Marshall Dacron and Quittox approached the figure of the elderly troll.
“This should be an easy kill” Dacron reassured Quittox, “Imagine a large energy bolt forming from your hands, remember all those wasted lives, how your family were slaughtered because this troll meddled in things that were not his concern”
For a moment Quittox hesitated, she had been with her master Dacron when he killed that human in the Realm of Humans, the others called Earth, but she had never actually taken a life.
For a moment Quittox saw youngling drow as they were slaughtered for no reason, all of them crying in terror as the carnage was watched over by an approving Bolak. As before she felt a range and an anger burn in her again.
She found herself pointing both hands in the direction of the troll, who seemed oblivious to their presence
Suddenly a fire ball erupted from her hands and flew at the troll.
She then felt drained
Quittox watched in awe, fascination as the giant ball of fire flew at the troll, slowing as it approached him.
Then it seemed to stop, and then it started to return.
Quittox watched in terror as the ball of flame came towards her and Marshal Dacron.
She did not notice the hand on her shoulder as she stood fixated on the returning fire ball.
+ + +
The Walong Mountains
The Mystical Realms
Madron woke up
He had not expected to live through the night once he had fallen asleep
It was clear that the elven fabricators, even if they hated him for what he did as the Lord Low Troll, they were bound by codes of honour. An amulet against drow dark space attacks was requested, and that was what they delivered. For the elves to deliver otherwise would have been seen as deception, not in keeping with what the ethos the elves wanted to promote for themselves over their mortal enemies amongst the drow. They always maintained that they stood for some mythical moral high ground, and yet when it came to it, not one drow had threw their lot in with the Magnus Timor cult, something he heard that the elves never talked about, although the drow had no compunction in mentioning it whenever they could.
There was probably also some pride, as if he had been assassinated while in office by a drow dark space, whilst wearing it, then the drow would have made capital over it, claiming how weak and ineffectual the elves were against the superior drow magic.
Madron silently apologised to the probably long dead elves who had given him this amulet for doubting them. Even if loyalty to him as Lord Low Troll was not a factor, there had been other forces in play back then that led to the failure of the attack.
Madron thought back to the brief time he was aware of the dark space, it was definitely carried out by the drow he had scried, but who was the female drow that was with him, who had actually tried to carry out the death blow?
Madron remembered that the elf who passed it onto him had told him that should a drow try an attack, the force of the attack would be turned upon the drow doing it, with possible fatal consequences for the drow. Maybe that was why this drow had got a female to do his dirty work, if something went wrong, he had a sacrifice so he could try again. Typical of the drow, especially of the Hadreth order
Madron looked around at the night sky, he must have been asleep for what the humans called two or three hours.
He was not sure if the drow would try a dark space attack again that night, but now they knew he had a magic item on him when allegedly they should have all been surrendered. This Hadreth drow could organise some kind of visit in the real world.
Madron had another thought, what if occurred to this Hadreth drow to look for his son and his former servant as they journeyed to the drow home lands. What if an expeditionary team from the drow, coming to investigate stumbled upon Padow and Meetal.
But then if the drow who had done the dark space wanted to send an expeditionary force, would he not have to explain to the drow high council why?
Madron knew only one thing, when it came to the Hadreth, as the humans put it, all bets were off. The only hope lay with his son and Meetal making it to the Drow High Council to warn them of the rise of the Hadreth.
Madron would therefore have to find a way to distract this Hadreth drow from his Son’s mission, even if that meant drawing the drow after him. For a moment that sounded similar to something he had read in human literature, massive armies creating a diversion while two small creature crept in to perform some deed that would be lethal to the main enemy in the story.
Madron headed back to his cave, he had work to do, even if it were to mean sacrificing his own life.
+ + +
The Drow High Council chambers
The Mystical Realms
Quittox sat up on the bed looking shamefully at the floor, she half expected a beating from Marshal Dacron. Something she felt she deserved for messing up what Dacron had told her would be a simple kill.
Quitox started to undo her dress before Marshall Dacron took hold of her hand.
Quittox looked up at Dacron with eyes streaming down her face, but I do not deserve clothing my Lord, I failed you.
Dacron shook his head, no my dear, it is I who underestimated the former Lord Low Troll. He was devious back in his day when he was in power, I should have known he would be harder to kill than the average troll.
“But the dark space attack?”Quittox protested, “I failed somehow”.
“No! There was nothing wrong with your attack method” Dacron went on, “You chose fire, if you remember when you were with me and we were with that human that Major Bolak was trying to interrogate, I used lightening. Both styles are valid Quittox. You happened to be both unlucky and lucky”
Quttiox looked at Dacron with confusion
“Quittox” Dacron continued, “You were unlucky in that he must have been wearing a ring, talisman or amulet of some kind that protected him from a dark space attack, and you were lucky that I was there to bring you out before your own fire ball consumed you. A true master of the dark space such as I, can break it instantly should something like that happen.”
Dacron then looked embarrassed, “And a true master when he is, as the humans say on top of his game, should be able to tell if a target has protection like the Lord Low Troll has. I should have looked for that as soon as we found him. I won’t make that mistake next time”.
“Are we trying again?” Quottox asked.
Dacron shook his head, “We need to accompany those fools Kay-Vlar and Cholan from the Drow High Council on our mission to the Central City. Once they are dispatched with the blame passed onto Bolak and Jaheel, then we can link up with our Hadreth brethren there and deal with that troublesome troll once and for all”
+ + +
An undisclosed location
Washington DC
There was an uneasy atmosphere in the laboratory between Janine and Pete, it was after all her father who had set his wife Sue-Lim up as a traitor and then sent an unwitting Celeste to pass on a booby trapped scarf that made all who handled it loose hope and seek to use it to commit suicide. Sue-Lim almost succeeded had not Celeste intervened.
Pete picked up a scanner, “Who would have thought I would be handling one of these for all the good they will do” he said out loud, although not directed at Janine.
Janine did not know what to say, both of them knew that even at full strength a scanner only had a range of thirty metres in order to detect the signature generated when someone was gating to or from this world, by either magical or artificial means. As far as Pete was concerned this was just whistling in the wind, what they needed was a satellite system like they had with Sky-Guard, but that had been taken out by the technological trolls and it would be months before even one replacement satellite was ready.
Janine looked at the scanner she was working on, “Do we need to calibrate these to identify wormholes coming from worlds other than IDW01” Janine asked
“I thought you knew how these things worked?” Pete said contemptuously
“I know that it measures the trace of decay products caused by the mixing of neutrinos and gamma rays” Janine replied defensively, “but wormholes from IDW02 have a slightly different flavour of neutrino to those from IDW01”
“These were designed to just to detect wormholes Janine” Pete replied gruffly, “Not say where they came from. The deuterium saturated piezoelectric crystals don’t differentiate between flavours”
“But if you add tritium saturated crystals you can tell” Janine insisted
“We never heard about that one at the IDEC UK or US” Pete answered back, “It was never considered a possibility or until now needed, so how do you know about that apparent modification” he accused Janine.
For a moment Janine was silent, and then answered, “It was something my father got me to work on, to detect anyone else using an artificial universe, and then it was picked up by the EAD for a while. We only ever had three proto-types”
“It is a pity that place was taken out so” Major Bolak interrupted as he came in to the laboratory. “Maybe if we get hold of these Tritium crystals you speak of then we can augment the scanners even better than I had hoped.”
“Unlikely” Pete replied, “Even the deuterium saturated piezoelectric crystals are hard to come by. You have to get your normal crystals, drive off
the water of crystallisation and then reform the crystals in the presence of heavy water. Tritium is rarer and more unstable”
“Maybe if we made a few short cuts with magic” Major Bolak suggested
“And they will let you draw resources away from hunting for that submarine?” Pete challenged
“Perhaps not” Major Bolak admitted, “They are not that happy we are even doing this project since they are focused on that submarine the magic using humans have commandeered. Still, the idea of a scanner that differentiates different origins of wormholes is intriguing”
“Like I said major” Janine nervously ventured, “There were only ever three prototypes made when my father was in charge, and as far as I am aware, when I…”
“Killed him” Major Bolak interrupted
Janine was silent for a moment, “Yeah, after I metered out to the b****rd what he deserved, the EAD took over his empire and I presume they took charge of the prototypes”
“And the EAD never made use of them?” Pete asked with incredulity
Janine shook her head, “We had Skyguard then, hand held scanners were rarely used, and when we did we used the old ones from your UK IEDC. I suspect the prototypes were destroyed when that Sir Timmus ordered the flooding of the EAD”
“No matter” Major Bolak replied, “It would have been nice to determine the origins of a wormhole, but these will suffice”
“For all the good they will do” Pete muttered
“Meaning?” Major Bolak asked
“With all due respect Major” Pete went on, “they have a limited range and in an urban environment that range is degraded by interference from electromagnetic compatibility issues and sometimes you can get interference from radioactive materials in modern buildings from things such as smoke detectors and medical scanners”
“I am well aware of their limitations” Major Bolak snapped back, “But what you all fail to realise, is that our enemies may be aware of our control centres like this. There have been a number of incidents, two in you UK and one here in DC where your centres were penetrated. It makes sense to make sure where we fight back against both the technological trolls and the magic using humans is as secure as we can make it against those adversaries.”
Pete put his work down, “If that is the case major, then this should already have been done. The old IDEC had detectors in it to detect incoming wormholes”
“And yet they failed to work one time and a doppelganger almost murdered the late Kathryn Cooper” Major Bolak responded,
Janine switched on the one she had been working on. “This one’s ready” she announced.
Major Bolak came up to have a look at the scanner. “Even though your colleague here is sceptical as to its value, I’m sure”
The Major Bolak stopped, “That’s giving a positive reading.
“You’ve botched it” Pete spat back at Janine, “Probably picking up the radioactive isotope in the smoke detectors in the corridor” Pete turned to the drow, “I told you, these things were never that great in an urban environment, let alone indoors. Used outdoors in rural areas maybe.”
“I know how to screen out smoke detectors” Janine said defensively before she could stop herself.
“How close is the wormhole” Major Bolak asked
“This is stupid” Pete protested and switched his on, “This will show that…”
Pete’s voice faded as his scanner also showed a positive result.
Major Bolak pulled out a two way radio he had been given and keyed it, “Code Red penetration by wormhole.” He yelled into the radio
“We need to find where they are landing” Bolak shouted to Pete and Janine as he held open the laboratory door.
Pete and Janine left carrying the hand scanners and checked in the corridor where the signal was strongest. It pointed in the direction of where the director’s office once was.
That was where Jaheel and a few pixies were trying to use a dowsing spell to locate the nuclear submarine that might be due to fire on North Korea.
“That figures” Major Bolak remarked, “They are homing in on magic”
By now the base alarm was sounding and Pete and Janine followed Major Bolak as he rushed to the director’s office.
What they could do, Janine had no idea.
+
Walter and Samuel were watching on as Jaheel and two pixies where trying to use a crystal pendulum to locate a British submarine on a map. The area the map covered was around the Korean peninsula. It was a vain hope, so the Brigadier General thought, that they might find the British submarine, en route to fire it’s deadly payload at the North Koreans. As far as he knew, the magic using humans who had set this off may have used magic to prevent such detection as Jaheel and the pixie were attempting.
The satellite tracking was not helping either, the weather was against them in the area, so cloud obscured most of the area, even to the infra-red satellites. Plus, the Trident Submarines were designed not to be found.
Just then the alarm sounded.
Samuel pulled out his side arm, that alarm could only mean one thing, base penetration.
The door burst open and Major Bolak rushed in followed by Janine and Pete with wormhole scanners.
“It coming into this this room” Pete yelled.
Suddenly there was a green dot floating in mid-air which turned into a swirling vortex.
As the vortex grew a number of armed soldiers arrived with weapons trained on the wormhole.
Then out stepped a drow with his arms raised.
“I understand the alarm you may feel” the drow called out, “but I am here to help you”
All Major Bolak could say was, “YOU!”
Brigadier General Samuel Peters looked at the drow, his face was well known to those of the alternate time line, and so he pointed his gun at this drow.
“Please” the drow pleaded, “I am unarmed and I come in peace to help you in this unjust war you have with the trolls”
“Really” Walter replied, “and who do we have the pleasure of addressing?”
“His name” Major Bolak growled
“Is Vabalavich” Samuel completed, “He is the drow that led the Hadreth drow to capture Earth in the alternate timeline”
To be continued