Free Rise of Shadows by Vincent Trigili Page B

that countless hundreds had died trying. If this is the kind of ship we could expect to see out of them, then the war with the pirates was as good as won. Still, it was just one ship, and this battle was being fought by two competing navies on an interstellar scale.
    “Where is the Dust Dragon now?” I asked.
    “They have just joined the Third Wing and are heading to intercept that battleship fleet,” he said.
    “Excellent. As soon as that mission is complete, ask them to join me,” I said.
    “Yes, sir,” he replied.

Chapter Sixteen
    “Dusty, as soon as we come out of jump space make us disappear,” said Shadow.
    “Okay, Shadow,” I said. Shadow continued to give instructions to the others, but I stopped listening. I knew we would be in jump space soon so I had to prepare my mind for casting. Entering jump space would break any spell that was cast, so I could not start casting until we came out the other side. In order to get the spell off as soon as we exited jump space, I would need to be focused and ready to go.
    “Shadow, I have us locked into fleet control. We will be jumping in less than a minute,” I heard Flame say somewhere behind me.
    I took a deep breath as the azure energy of jump space flowed around me. It was a very pleasant feeling, but I did not understand why. I reminded myself that I had to keep my mind on the task at hand. This was not a time to be distracted. Soon we were exiting jump space, and I immediately cast my cloaking spell. Casting the spell was easy; the hard work was in keeping it going while the ship operated. It would get harder the more power the ship expended, but as we were just cruising I could afford to pay attention to my surroundings once again.
    “Shadow, we are clear of jump space, and the fleet is moving towards the pirates,” said Flame.
    “Looks like they call themselves the Scorpion Gang,” said Spectra.
    “Shadow, I have the cloak stable, and it appears that the fleet we are approaching is the same one that we attacked yesterday. There are no additional targets, at least,” I said.
    We followed the fleet, completely invisible. It seemed odd to me that Shadow wanted us cloaked when we were the only ship in this group that could cloak. The Scorpion Gang would clearly see the whole flight coming, so I did not know what we had to gain by this.
    “Shadow, they appear to be demanding the surrender of the Scorpions,” said Spectra.
    Shadow chuckled and said, “Standard operational procedure. Show up with an obviously inferior force; demand surrender, and when that fails bring in the rest of your force to destroy them. Some things never change.”
    “That seems a bit underhanded,” I said.
    “Oh, it is, but everyone knows that is what goes on so it becomes a gamble for everyone,” he said.
    “A gamble? I don’t understand,” I said.
    “The enemy knows that we have more forces hidden, so they have to take a gamble on what we might be able to bring, and it would be a safe assumption for us that they have help on the way, so we are gambling we can win before help comes,” said Shadow.
    “This much deception seems more fitting for sorcerers than for us,” said Flame.
    “I had not thought about it that way,” started Shadow. “But it is just the way war is fought. Both sides play the game, each hoping to outmaneuver the other.”
    “I guess it’s not really deception if both sides are in on it,” said Spectra.
    “Shadow, they are launching drones and fighters!” I called out.
    “Then it is showtime. Flame, bring us on an attack vector for that drone control ship, but keep it easy for now. I do not want to drop our cloak just yet,” said Shadow.
    “Shadow, the Aleeryon forces have moved to attack,” I said. Just as I finished saying that, tactical alarms started going off as weapon fire erupted around us.
    “That is our cue! Drop the cloak and engage that drone control ship,” said Shadow.
    The Dust Dragon jumped forward as Flame brought us up to