Rise of Shadows by Vincent Trigili

information on his terminal. Then, seemingly without warning, he waved his hand, which opened the door and let in a rather plain-looking human.
    The human was distinctly average in all ways, except his steel-grey eyes. There was something about those eyes: it was as if they could see right through you, down into your very soul. They spoke of power and malice; they gave him the look of an arch villain from your worst nightmare. The human bowed before the old man and waited to be acknowledged.
    “Speak,” said the old man.
    “The Dust Dragon has easily defeated the first ambush,” said the steel-eyed human.
    “Obviously. They have proven no match for Shadow in the past,” said the old man.
    “True, but the pirates are gathering a large force to intercept them, far too large for even Shadow.”
    “They are but mundanes. The Dust Dragon will prevail. We have more important issues than this,” said the old man. “Spectra is aboard the Dust Dragon, as hoped. How close are we to reaching her?”
    “Very close. She would be ours already if not for Dusty.”
    “Dusty?” asked the old man.
    “Yes, he seems to be her anchor. It’s a tragedy to see such a dark soul mixed up with them, really,” he said.
    “Interesting. Can we reach this Dusty?” asked the old man.
    “He is teetering also, not as much as she is, but enough that we might be able to reach him.”
    “Excellent, we can play off them as one, then. Assign someone to make sure Dusty is reached also,” said the old man.
    “Yes, sir,” said the steel-eyed human.
    “What of the others?” asked the old man.
    “No way, they are too ingrained now,” he said.
    “No, I do not think so. Not yet,” said the old man as he stood and walked to the view port. With a wave of his hand it changed to show a space dock. The space dock was filled with bustling people from many different races. Some were walking briskly, eager with excitement; others were shuffling along, visibly depressed. Standing among them was a small group of people in rather plain uniforms who were carefully watching the other travelers. They would not have been noticeable at all except that the old man seemed to keep the view port centered on them. Occasionally one of them would break off from the group and approach one of the depressed-looking travelers. They would talk briefly, and then simply vanish.
    “Looks like another good harvest,” said the old man.
    “Yes, your plan is brilliant. Every year we are growing from the gems they reject,” said the steel-eyed human.
    There was a long pause and an awkward silence between them, until the old man finally asked, “Is there something else?”
    “Yes. The others are also likely to have seen this launch and will no doubt interfere,” said the steel-eyed human.
    “I am hoping they will,” said the old man.
    “You are?” he asked.
    “Yes, they need to be taught a lesson. This is my realm, and they are not welcome,” said the old man.
    That brought a smile to the steel-eyed human’s face, and he said, “Then we will have to make sure they get that message loud and clear,” he said.
    “Indeed we will,” said the old man.

Chapter Twelve
    Flame turned to me and said, “Shadow, we are ready to jump.”
    “Excellent. Everyone, be ready. The pirates have had almost six hours to prepare for our arrival, and we might have a much greater fight on our hands when we come out. Dusty, use your powers to hide us when we exit. Once I have an idea of what we are facing, we will decide whether to fight or flee. Until that time, keep us hidden. Everyone ready? Good. Flame, jump,” I said.
    Once we had cleared jump space our tactical alarms went off like crazy. There were a dozen light and medium attack cruisers waiting for us. They were spread out fairly far apart, which would mean we could only engage one at a time with our grand stave cannons, but their longer-range weapons would be free to pound us. “It seems they are very ready for us, or at