Chapter 6

I didn’t get a good look at the naval base through the pouring rain. I could make out the vague outlines of large, squarish buildings, but I couldn’t guess their purpose.

We finally stopped in front of what Zack declared to be central command. The limo company had been kind enough to provide umbrellas, and we rushed into the stark and imposing concrete building while avoiding the worst of the downpour. It wasn’t any more decorative inside, and there were barely any windows. Once we passed the reception area and a metal detector, it felt like walking through a mine shaft.

Zakariah took point. I say Zakariah because the anglified Zack seemed to vanish, his demeanor shifting into something more martial, and he switched to Malaysian as he talked us through the security. I missed the Nagoya Academy’s translation magic. I didn’t understand their rank insignia, but I could tell the officers’ place in the pecking order by how much or little deference he showed them.

We passed through a few more layers of security. The guards at the last checkpoint insisted on taking my and Lieutenant O’Connor’s fingerprints and retinal scans for future reference when they realized we were wizards.

“Is this really necessary?” I asked. “I showed you my ID.”

“Sorry, miss,” said the guard, a stout, solid-looking man. He looked local, but I didn’t want to assume. “It is a new regulation. After those terrorist attacks in Japan, we cannot trust our eyes or cameras anymore with magic users.”

Darned disguise magic. At least he was polite as he waved us through.

“I hope this isn’t where I’ll be staying,” I said. “I don’t want to go through a dozen checkpoints every time I take a shower.”

“It is the League Allied Navy’s Central Command for the whole Northern Border Sea,” said Zack, raising an eyebrow. “Our enemies would kill to get someone in here. I don’t blame them for being paranoid.”

“Oh, you guys renamed the old South China Sea?” O’Connor asked, wearing a bemused smirk.

“Why not?” asked Zack. “If we do retake China, it’s not going to be under the old management. Why use a name that reminds us of them?”

“When,” said O’Connor, the humor vanishing from his voice in an instant. “It’s never if. It’s when we kick those bastards out.”

“I like your attitude,” I said.

“And to answer your question, Rose,” continued the American as we wound through another maze of hallways, “the other buildings here aren’t quite as locked down. You probably couldn’t see through the storm, but it’s roomier than Fort Flamel. Not that you’ll be here for long.”

“I won’t be?” I asked.

“Wait for the briefing,” said O’Connor. “I don’t want to say it twice. We’re already here.”

Zack and O’Connor led me into a mostly empty meeting room. A lanky, aged Japanese man wearing more medals than I could easily count from the Anti-Demonic League Allied Navy looked up from his tablet as we entered. He stood and bowed, which Zack and I returned. O’Connor only nodded before taking a seat opposite the admiral.

“Ah, good,” he said in lightly-accented English. “You are right on time, O’Connor.”

“I don’t want to keep a Kaishou-Ho waiting,” he replied. “I know your time’s valuable.”

“Rear Admiral,” Zack whispered to me.

I nodded; I already knew that rank, but I figured Zack was being helpful. Before I could mention it, the senior officer’s gaze turned to me.

“Is this the weather wizard?” he asked.

“Yes, sir,” I said. “Cadet Rose Cooper, student at the Nagoya Academy.”

“Lovely to meet you,” he said. “I am told that English is our only common language, so excuse any misunderstandings.” I wondered if that meant O’Connor only spoke English? That was always the reputation with Americans. “I am Kaishou-Ho Abe Rintaro. I am sure you will be able to help us; Nagoya was a good school.”

“It still is,” I said back, a little testily. Just a little.

Read Admiral Rintaro nodded without comment. “Lieutenant O’Connor, there have been some developments since we last spoke.” He tapped a button on his tablet, projecting his screen onto the wall at the front of the room, showing a map of Labuan, with Borneo to the south and a scattering of miniature islands to the north. “What have you told the Cadet and the Leftenan?”

“Nothing yet,” said O’Connor. “I don’t like repeating myself, and you never know who could be listening in.”

“Very true. Speaking of which…” He slid a small fabricata across the table to me. “Cadet Cooper, would you please activate this for me? I saw in your dossier that you have impressive magical reserves.”

“Of course,” I said. I grabbed the disc-shaped artifact and willed its runes to life. “What does it do?”

“Anybody trying to record this meeting will get a bunch of white noise instead,” said O’Connor.

“A useful invention,” said Rintaro. “It is a shame that non-wizards cannot make use of it.”

“That’s why they pay us the big bucks,” said O’Connor.

“The big what?” asked Rintaro.

“Money,” the American said, almost keeping the annoyance out of his voice. Almost. He rose to his feet, striding over to the map. “Rose, Zakariah, it goes without saying that everything you’re about to hear does not leave this room. Am I clear?”

“Absolutely,” I said. I didn’t like secrets, but I took pride that an intelligence agent thought I was worthy of his trust.

“Say hello to the Spratly Islands,” said O’Connor, poking a section of the large screen. He pinched it, zooming in. “They’re tiny little specks of rock that nobody would have noticed if the major trade routes of Asia didn’t pass right through the area. Back in the Pre-Horde days, everybody in the area had a claim on ‘em. Vietnam, Malaysia, China, if they had a boat to put in the water, it was theirs. China even started making artificial islands to build up their stake. Then the Horde showed up, and everyone had bigger problems.”

“The Horde tried to fight for them too, right?” I asked, remembering Zack’s book.

Rintaro nodded. “Correct. We concluded the islands are too close to the mainland and not worth the trouble to protect. That is why nobody lives there anymore, though some ships pass through. Thankfully, we have always had absolute naval superiority, since the Horde’s shipbuilding is stuck in the gunpowder age.”

“It helps that we can spot any of their shipyards from a satellite and blow ‘em to heck with a good bombing run,” said O’Connor. “We can’t win on land, but they can’t win at sea. It’s why we’re basically stalemated.”

“The strength of their magic and sea monsters can’t compete with a good barrage from a destroyer in open water,” said Zack, the navy-man’s chest puffing up with pride. “A meridraken’s a tough son of a bitch, but they’re only dangerous if they can sneak up on you.”

“Then why would they try to take the Spratly Islands?” I asked.

“Search me,” said O’Connor.

“Our operating theory is that they do not much worry about the lives of their orc and goblin chattel,” added Rintaro. “We also noticed that they would launch an attack a few days before they tried for the Straits of Malacca, to try and draw us off.”

I frowned. “I’m sorry, my geography isn’t the best.”

“It’s what separates occupied mainland Malaysia from the island of Sumatra,” said Zack.

“Which brings us back to the mission,” said O’Connor. “I’m sure you heard about the big attack the Horde just launched on Sumatra that we stopped.”

I nodded. “We saw the videos at the school. We slaughtered those demonic bastards! I bet the sharks ate well. The Holy Brotherhood tried to slip some propaganda about it being close in the broadcast, but we can’t trust them.”

Rintaro and Zack exchanged a nervous glance. “The Horde did a bit better than the official reports might suggest,” said the Rear Admiral, his tone neutral. “However, we repulsed them.”

“I can tell you, it wasn’t easy,” said Zack.

“The good news is, the Horde is pretty predictable,” said O’Connor. “They’re real cautious after a screwup. Our best intel suggests that when a commander botches an operation that big, they get removed, one way or another.”

“Executed?” I asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. I don’t think anyone would blame me, after what those monsters had done.

“That might be the kinder option; they are demons, after all,” said O’Connor. “Whoever just got elevated is going to wait to rebuild his forces before he tries again, so we can spare some ships for the to-do list, and this one’s been on it for a while.”

Zack stood and made his way over to the projector. “In 2044, an Australian vessel, the HMAS Hercules, sank in this area.” He used his finger to draw a circle around the southern end of the map. “It was carrying an experimental fabricata made by a wizard who died in the Madagascar wars without writing down any notes. We aren’t even sure what it did, since everybody who knew went down with the ship. It was all top secret. It was being transferred to a magical academy in New Guinea for study, yeah? We’ve been trying to recover it ever since, but it seems like the area is cursed.”

O’Connor rolled his eyes. “Not this again. Look, curses aren’t a thing. At least, you can’t curse hundreds of square miles of open ocean.”

“Then explain the weird reports,” countered Zack. “My uncle told me all about it. Storms appear out of nowhere, ships and planes simply vanish without a trace all the time, and there are even reports of sea serpents.”

“You ever heard of the Bermuda Triangle, kid?” O’Connor continued before Zack could respond. “There were all the same reports there, too, and y’know what it was? A few famous lost ships in a few years, and the media figured they could sell more papers if they made it a mystery. You draw a circle around any part of the sea that gets regular traffic, and you’ll get just as many lost ships and planes.”

“That is not entirely true,” said Rintato, adjusting his glasses. “It seems to strike valuable targets more often. There is something odd going on there, but what it is, we cannot say.”

“I think it’s strange that a wizard is so skeptical,” said Zack.

“It’s ‘cause I know what magic can and can’t do, and that ain’t it,” he replied.

“I see,” I said, trying to cut them off before they could keep arguing. “Where do I come into this?”

“We think we’ve found the wreck of the Hercules, but every time we get close, a storm comes out of nowhere, as if by magic,” said Zack, putting special emphasis on the last part.

O’Connor rolled his eyes again. “See what I meant, Cooper? We need you to keep things sunny for the crew while they get that fabricata.”

“Would it even still be there?” I asked. “The circuitry would be destroyed by now, right?”

“It was shipped in a watertight container,” said Rintaro. “Even in the worst-case scenario, we can study the indents of the runes to reverse engineer it.”

I nodded. That explained why O’Connor had said it would be an easy mission; he didn’t think anything was wrong. If I was above decks watching the skies, I really would have plenty of time to work on my tan. Zack and Rintaro seemed less sure, which was worrisome.

“Now that you know your mission, I trust we can count on you?”

I shot to my feet, snapping Rintaro my smartest salute. “Of course, sir!”

“That is excellent,” he said. “I have to say, though, after what happened to the last wizard, I am concerned about sending a cadet.”

“The last wizard?” I asked.

O’Connor deflated slightly. “It was a tragedy, but Rose here was made of stern stuff. All the Coopers I’ve met are. You’d barely know it happened.”

I cocked my head. “That what happened, Sir?”

O’Connor and Rintaro exchanged a look. “Your recent loss,” said the Rear Admiral.

“You mean the attack on the school? Some people died, but they were all traitors.” I felt like I was missing something plainly obvious. An oppressive mood descended over the room, and the senior officers looked on me with pity. Zack looked just as confused as me.

O’Connor came close, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. The sardonic man’s eyes were filled with real warmth, which was almost as unsettling as the next words out of his mouth.

“Did nobody tell you about Albert?”