Beyond?

“Individual 626-oD-23503 has shown exceptional magical skills, knowledge and is ruthlessly following its goals. Facing the current political and military problems, it would be highly dangerous if the motivations of 23503 change. Currently 23503 is working in favour of the royal family, but we suggest to have a very close eye on 23503. Should 23503 ever change its modus operandi and act against the royal family we suggest the immediate termination of the subject.”

-Military report 666-66-66.

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Azir***

Of course we immediately assembled the higher-ups and informed them of the situation when it became clear that we are facing a full blown invasion fleet. We are all sitting together in a conference room of Helen's palace. That includes Nict's royal family, the Great Shaman and one of his advisers, plus King Novak and his son, Leon. Louise also accompanied us to this meeting, since she is the most familiar with our drone project.

One of our best military advisers and analysts just finished explaining the situation to us. He belongs to a branch family of the Siorda. To my astonishment he threw himself on the ground in front of Louise when we entered the room. Apparently he is one of her admirers, even if she doesn't seem to be happy about it. She never mentioned him to me or Stella.

“There are just too many of them. Your few fortresses can never catch or intercept all of them.” King Novak slumps down in his chair, watching the formidable fleet of magitech warships. They look like they are built to be able to land on water as well. Though they may not be very efficient at sailing through the waves of an ocean.

Helen shakes her head while studying the numbers. “Twenty thousand ships. There is just no way to stop them with our nine fortresses. The fortresses may be an unstoppable force, but they can simply split up in smaller groups and ignore them. We made a mistake in putting quality before quantity.”

“It's okay, dear, we are new at this kind of warfare. It could've happened to anyone.” Lucas grabs her hand to reassure her.

The Great Shaman shrugs his shoulders. “There is nobody to blame. The fortresses are working great against ground based targets like armies and up until now that was our greatest concern. It was clear that our enemy's war preparations are decades ahead of us. The fortresses were needed and are still a great defence, even if they are slow.”

Louise starts playing with her fingers and her eyes start flicking across something which can be seen only by her. “Our drone factories for simple drones were running day and night since we found out about our enemy. If we put some effort into it we may be able to make about ten thousand of them ready for battle.”

Lucas arches an eyebrow. “I thought that their range and weaponry are very limited?”

I take up on Louise's idea. “That may be right, but we just have to equip them with a heavy weapon. We can use the fortresses as carrier platforms to bring them to the battle zone. Once the enemy ships get into range we can launch them.”

“Even so. How big are your drones? Three metres? Those ships are two, maybe three hundred metres long.” King Novak gestures at the map which is displayed by the light sculpture in the room. “That reminds me, how much of them can you take down with your satellites?”

“Unfortunately they are moving a little too fast and are hard to hit. We already tried it nonetheless and learned that their barriers are able to take a hit. We have to hit the same target repeatedly, which makes it impossible to reduce their numbers in a meaningful way.” Our strategic analyst raises his hand. “But it may not be as bad as it looks.” He instructs the light sculpture to show us another figure. The sculpture changes to display four different looking ships. “I analysed the high resolution pictures of our satellites and talked about them with our technological staff. It looks like the enemy fleet is composed of different types of ships.”

He points at the first one, which seems to be the smallest. They are slim and seem to be the most seaworthy of the four types, being formed the closest to a working ship. “Those don't seem to armed very well. They are also moving much faster than the rest of the invasion fleet and have to wait from time to time for the others to catch up. I dubbed that class as scout for the time being. I don't think that they have much fighting potential on their own, since their crew is very likely limited to fifty to seventy people. There are five hundred sixty seven ships of this type in the enemy fleet.”

Moving on to the next ship, which seems to be a scaled up version of to scout, his expression turns a little grimmer. “Those seem to be a bigger version, carrying up to five hundred people. We are calling them warriors for now. I think they are the main fighting force since there are definitely cannons deployed on those ships. The good news is that we counted only five thousand three hundred of them.”

“Oooh... that makes it much better. So we are just facing a little less than six thousand dedicated warships. What are the rest?” Stella's sarcastic voice stops the analyst's enthusiasm.

“Ahem...” He points at the third ship, which is just a bulky oval with a few sails. Putting those in water might end up with them floating around, but they certainly won't move anywhere on their own. “Those don't seem to be armoured very well and there are no recognizable weapons on them. They are also very slow, which strongly suggests that they are just some kind of troop transports. They make up most of the fleet with approximately fourteen thousand ships.”

Helen nods her head at the last ship, which is also a very bulky, round leviathan. It's U-shaped and while it may float, I am certain that those things won't sail anywhere in water. “And those?”

“Some kind of support and repair vessel, also completely unarmed. It's shape is perfect to use it as a dock for the other three types and those cranes back up this theory.” The analyst answers with confidence.

Lucas scratches his forehead. “That just means that they are coming with the intention to stay. Having those docks with them means that they can repair their ships on the  .”

I smile at him, forming an idea in my head, and gesture at the ships. “That's true, but those ships have a weakness.”

The military analyst nods to confirm that his department also thought about something. “Azir is right and our department already thought of a way to take them down.” He recalls the tactical map from earlier and points at a small group of islands between the main continent and the approaching fleet. “We have to be fast and intercept them here at all costs! This may work only once and we have to get them before they split their forces. Once they reach the main continent we can't be certain of their movements, but from their direct route so far we are certain that they'll pass those islands very closely.”

King Novak nods. “Yes? And?”

“We'll mine those islands. All we have to do is to give them a proper reason to change the course of their fleet just a little.” The analyst grins broadly, having reached the exact same conclusion as me.

I smile. “King Novak. Quinn doesn't happen to have a spare magic inhibitor? And I am not talking about the small ones. I am talking about city size?” Their big inhibitors can cover several dozens of kilometres. Their capital is huge and if it were covered by a network of inhibitors I would have found it during my tour through the city.

Leon forms an 'O' with his mouth and starts smiling. “Of course we do. If we place three of the bigger ones in a triangle we could cover the whole group of islands. But what could we offer those bastards to encourage them to change the course of their whole fleet?”

The analyst drops his head. “That's the weak point of our strategy. We are intending to teleport to those islands, a stepper disc is already in place. Our department took the freedom to create a network of them wherever we could place them. Just in case something happens to the only one who can teleport around as he wishes.” He takes a guilty look at me, but I don't feel insulted by it. In fact I am happy that the military does some smart things on its own.

“We intend to place as many facilities as possible on those islands. If we move all available assets there we could raise about twenty improvised fortresses out of the ground. But without something that really draws their attention, they might just send a part of their dedicated fighting vessels while moving on with the rest of their fleet.” The analyst shrugs his shoulders, not being able to offer more.

Taking out a big part of the invasion fleet will help a lot, But I see in everyone's faces that they know that it isn't enough. If a sizeable amount of those troop transporters reaches the main land we have a big problem and the enemy surely won't send all his transports to attack a small group of islands. Even sending two hundred of them would be overkill.

What would be big and important enough to make them change the course of their whole fleet? I honestly have no idea.

The silence in the room stretches out for several seconds until Chuck drops his totem onto the table. “Dwem might have what we need.”

His advisor gasps. “We can't reveal-”

The Great Shaman shuts him up with an angry gesture. “If those ships reach the main continent Dwem's biggest secrets won't help much in the long run.”

Chuck takes off his mask, revealing his face like it wasn't a big deal. The silence in the room is even more profound now. Chuck's face belongs to a man in his thirties, which means that Chuck must be a lot older when you take into account that he is a very strong mage. He's clean-shaven and has clearly defined cheekbones which underline his independent personality. His whole face is covered in strange tattoos which merge with each other.

Taking a flat crystal, which was attached to the inside of his mask, he places it on the table and presses his thumb onto it. A light sculpture appears and Chuck gives a series of commands until a ship appears. It's a broad, flat design, which sharpens at the edges and gets pointier towards the prow. “Three point six kilometres long, two point two kilometres wide. Ten layers of barriers and packed with weapons. This leviathan is Dwem's biggest secret and most powerful technological artefact. Once those bastards see it, they'll swing their whole fleet around to face it. Given that the so called Master is really the second Draco brother, he'll recognize it.”

The analyst squints his eyebrows, inspecting the monster of a battleship with sceptical eyes. “What makes you so sure of that? Isn't it just another fortress to them?”

Chuck crosses his arms in front of his chest. “Because that's the Emperor's Shield! It went down in Dwem during the great war. We secured it and repaired everything to the best of our knowledge. That's why we kept so much of our technological knowledge. The database of this ship was very helpful.” Chuck tilts his head in dismay. “The only problem is that we can't control it, even though everything seems to work properly.” His eyes wander to me. “But maybe our techno-mage genius can push the right button?”

“Oh, yes. We have time pressure and your three point six kilometres long, two point two kilometres wide cell phone died! Now I have to find the problem in a few days? Aren't you a little too confident in me, Chuck?” I gesture at the 'thing', which really looks like a shield upon a second glance.

Chuck shrugs with his shoulders. “Surprise me.”

.