I stopped my hoverbike and disembarked just as he landed. Instead of coming towards me, Bane walked towards the edge of the chasm, his transparent wings with lethally sharp edges strong enough to chop an enemy’s head right off, resorbing into his back. Without a word, I followed in his wake, stopping by his side as we gazed upon the graceful movement of his young siblings in the air.
Further down, along the water’s shore, a few human families appeared to have settled down for a picnic and to admire the Dragons flying. A pang of jealousy flashed through me at the knowledge that we would never inspire such fascination and respect from the broader population who would forever consider us as monsters. No one would come to Skogoth simply to admire us from a respectful distance.
“What trouble brews in the great realm of the Vanguard that you would seek me?” I asked, my gaze remaining on his young siblings.
“None yet,” Bane replied casually. “But we are preparing for the most epic battle of them all. And we will need your help for that.”
“Oh?” I said, turning to face him, my curiosity piqued. “What kind of trouble? And how can I make it even greater?”
Bane snorted and gave me an approving sideways glance. “When it comes to causing mischief, I always know I can count on you.”
“Always,” I concurred, unrepentant.
“The true war against the General will take place in a few months if things continue to move according to plan,” Bane said, sobering. “If we are to take the battle to Kryptor, we must prepare. The entire planet is tricky to navigate for those unfamiliar with its unusual terrain and constructions. None of us Dragons have ever set foot on that planet. The Kryptid Queen would have had us executed for merely existing. But the Mimics have been there quite a few times. I would like you to work with them to make the Vanguard and the Coalition more ready than they’ve ever been before.”
This time, he truly had my attention. In the near two and a half years of our presence here on Khepri, and as ‘tolerated’ members of the Vanguard, we had mostly served a support role during missions, being informed only moments before battle of what our purpose would be. We couldn’t take offense about it either as we knew it would be a long time before they could fully trust us considering how many Warriors and psychic females had been lost to the earlier Scelks.
To be involved from the onset, assisting in preparing both the Vanguard and the members of the Coalition could finally give us the opportunity to earn, if not their respect, at least a greater degree of acceptance for my people. And maybe, just maybe, it would open the door to a potential future as welcomed equals for our young.
“How can we help?” I asked, annoyed that my voice betrayed the eagerness I felt.
“I want you to work closely with the Mimics, mainly Silzi, to recreate as lifelike as possible a Dream Walk where you can pull in units to run simulations of a raid on Kryptor,” Bane said matter-of-factly, although I didn’t miss a sliver of tension in his tone.
I ever so slightly narrowed my eyes at him and tilted my head to the side wondering what had caused this. Once more, I had to fight back my instinctive urge to read his mind. I could do it without him or any other target being aware of my trespass. But he had sacrificed much, taking many risks and putting both his future and that of his siblings on the line so that we would be accepted along with them within the Vanguard under the promise that we would follow their rules. And so I did… We all did.
In truth, I didn’t give a shit about their propriety standards. I did not consider reading minds as an invasion of privacy, although I understood why people would perceive it as such. For me, it was merely survival of the fittest. It was their burden to protect themselves of their weaknesses, not for me to deprive myself of a talent that could prevent me from harm or being conned. That didn’t stop me from using it from time to time, just rarely with him.
“What are you not telling me?” I asked.
“I have not brought this proposal to Legion or Chaos yet,” Bane said calmly. “I wanted to run it by you first to make sure that you can and are willing to do it.”
“Of course, I can do it,” I snarled, feeling slightly offended. “Have you already forgotten the Dream Walks we created for the farewell to your mothers?”
I kicked myself as soon as the words came out. The love he had borne his mother transcended words. I hadn’t meant to revive something I knew to be sensitive for him. To my surprise, he didn’t flinch or otherwise express any sign of distress.
“That is precisely why I came to you about this,” Bane said. “But this is going to be on a much larger scale, over a far longer period, and with some people who may be reluctant to work with you. You aided us with our mothers out of friendship for us, to which we are eternally grateful. You have no obligation to do this—”
“Since we’re not officially part of the Vanguard, you mean?” I interrupted, once more aggravated with the bitterness seeping out of my words.
The slightly triumphant glimmer in his eyes pissed me off. He had set up a trap, and I had walked into it, headfirst.
“The Scelks have become permanent members of the various missions we have been performing of late,” Bane continued, ignoring my slight tantrum. “You have proven yourselves, over and over again. You already are part of the Vanguard. But if officially becoming a division of the Vanguard is what you seek, then this is your opportunity. However, if it is not, then as a friend, I would ask you to consider my request.”
And this was how he always got me, the clever bastard. He knew of my pride, misplaced though it often was, and was sparing it by giving me the excuse of being kind hearted by helping a friend rather than being sorry for not being fully acknowledged. Deep down, he knew I wanted to be, personally and for the greater good of my people.
“What would be your schedule then?” I asked. “We create a first couple of simulations, show them off to the co-leaders of the Vanguard, and then expand?”
Bane nodded. “Yes. The goal would be to create a first simulation that can support a full unit of at least six to eight people on a mission to infiltrate the Queen’s Palace. As with the mission on Zekuro, we do not intend for our women to be on the ground. These simulations should focus on making the Warriors and the pilots familiar with the terrain and with the types of defenses they will encounter. This will be especially critical for pilots to be able to fly within psychic range of the females looking after the Warriors. And as you will soon discover, Kryptor is not your usual landscape.”
“This sounds like a lot of fun,” I replied with a predatory grin. “How could I refuse the opportunity to torture the Warriors willingly entering my playground?”
Bane snorted, a similar evil grin stretching his lips. “I will take great pleasure in defeating all the traps you will set for us. Do your worst.”
We spent the next twenty minutes further discussing the details of the task he wished my brothers and me to accomplish. But my brain remained stuck on a single part of his message: we would be training the pilots. And there was one in particular I was truly looking forward to spending time with.
Chapter 2
Linette
I settled in the Gathering Hall of the Vanguard HQ Convention Center. I could not remember the last time I had set foot in this place as we rarely made use of it, at least in my role. The place was packed, not only with every single psychic female of the Vanguard HQ, but also countless Warriors, Dragons, and many of the representatives of the Coalition Outposts. Wrath and the others had been completely mum about the purpose of this meeting. Such mystery wasn’t standard and made me wonder at what was brewing.