The invasion of Khmet will take place immediately. Half a million shall be sent from the imminent Epan invasion force. Three spewers will be sent east, the expansion to the south shall be stalled momentarily, progress through melting the central mountains is slow anyway. It is agreed, Khmet cannot be allowed to become a staging ground. The destruction caused by Sokolowski’s Sledgehammer will undoubtedly be factored into its deployment, we can use this. The spread of information seems to be informal and uncontrolled as well. We can be certain that they will be wary to fire it through the populated centre in the north.

  A risk should be undertaken. The Spewer directly north of the central mountains should push further east and then north, even with its minimal support. The Empire may be researching ways to push through the Ashfront but they have shown no evidence of being able to cross it yet. We need to strike whilst we have the initiative still. If Ardan leadership wishes to negotiate, then it shall be done. Nevertheless assume Fortia, of Peace, and Maisara, of Order, are enemy combatants right now.

  Likewise, their Orders are to be attacked on sight. Massacres upon the civilians are to be kept minimal, standard procedure is to be followed. Do not engage beyond the Ashfront.

  Note: We have received reports by scouts following the trail of the unit that has destroyed our spewer. A detachment should be sent to finally eliminate them. Fifty thousand should be enough.

  - Joined Operation report written by Tartarian Leadership in charge of the Surface War.

  Admiral Callaghan watched Elassa float in the air above the INS Kassandora. Most of the fleet had been left behind at sea to patrol the eastern Eparika. Only the five largest vessels had been brought to Atny’s port of pale sandstone. The INS Kassandora, of course. The Imperial flagship had to go, she would lead the spearhead and cross first with Callaghan on board. It was his responsibility to take the risk.

  So the Goddess of Magic floated above the massive ship, she was dressed up in full battlemage gear. Rings of silver and platinum, each one with a glowing gemstone embedded straight through it so that it could her skin, all connected by rings. Her dress was a lighthouse in the air. When Callaghan had seen her at first, he had thought it pure decadence due to the amount of rare gems sewed directly into it. There was a belt too, that of course a colourful menagerie of the earth’s treasures. Her earrings had been capped off with gems, her neckline was deep to reveal the fattest diamond Callaghan had ever seen on her necklace. Even a tiara sat on her head, that too followed the pattern of looking as if it cost more than Callaghan would ever earn in his entire life.

  But then he had seen her start to glow, each stone becoming a tiny star, and he decided to never judge Divinity ever again. The Kassandora, which had been docked yet still shifting slightly in the waves, became terribly still as the very sea around it stopped moving. Waves froze mid-splash, as if Elassa had just decided the passage of time in the local area had needed to stop. Their tiny droplets fell back down into the water. A small amount of the crew remained on the ship, to keep the engines switched on so that turrets its massive turrets could be turned.

  Callaghan had no idea as to what he expected. Certainly, it wasn’t this though. The local boys in blue had pushed the civilian crowd away and given a whole quarter of the dock to the Imperial Military. Huge gemstones, carved into spheres and held on constructions that looked like artisanal scaffolding. Each one was held in place by rings of heavy metals, their legs ending in spikes. Laid out on the ground were thousands, maybe a million, small gemstones. “What is she doing right now?” Callaghan asked the mage besides him as the sea rumbled in the distance. It was deathly still and deathly silent here. The crew on the land were watching what was doing to their ship with hesitant wariness. The mages that had prepared everything for the Goddess stood in black uniforms, hands clasped behind their back, and waited. The crowd all murmured with whispers.

  “The conductivity veins are being installed.” Callaghan took a deep breath. If there was one thing he liked about magic, it was that it used standard language that was fairly intuitive. He knew what a vein was, he knew what conductivity was, he could put two and two together to make four. And he could pretend to understand.

  “Those small channels?” Callaghan asked the magician and pointed to where Elassa was working on the ship. The fellow was nothing special, in a crowd, he would not stand out. Brown hair and green eyes and a square face. The moment the fellow opened his mouth though, it was obvious he was Arcadian. They had that perfect flowery accent that was only bred in that school.

  “Indeed.” The magician said, Callaghan had not even asked his name although the man had not introduced himself even when the admiral came to stand besides him. There wasn’t even a salute. Elassa stopped, turned to where Callaghan was standing and cast her hand forward.

  “Is that to us?” Callaghan asked.

  “No.” The magician replied. Behind them, several thousand of the tiny crystals laid out on the grand launched into the air. The crowd of civilians, the ship’s sailor’s and the police all fell silent. The magicians all pulled out notebooks and started to write, even the man besides Callaghan.

  “What are you doing?” Callaghan asked.

  The reply was flat, direct and to the point, as everything else the man said. “Taking notes on fine manipulation.” Well, that left no room for discussion or explanation. Callaghan watched the lines of crystal touch the hull of the Kassandora, then the metal shift and wrap around them as if the Kassandora was having makeup applied to her.

  “So this is a class for you?”

  Once again, he answered the question and little more. “Correct.” Callaghan could only sigh. This is why people did not like magicians, and especially Arcadian magicians. The admiral gave up on talking, he clasped his hands behind his back and proceeded to watch the show that Elassa was putting on. She was finishing up with the veins of gemstones running up and down the Kassandora’s hull, then moved onto the central control tower. They were almost invisible after being melded into metal, save for that they glinted in the sun whenever it appeared from behind a grey cloud. Today was supposedly a cool day, although it rarely got cold this far south. Maybe it was the ash in the sky. The clouds were so dark they looked as if they were ready to call down the drums of thunder or unleash a torrent of rain on them, yet it was only a discolouring.

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  Next came the massive gemstones. “What are those?” Callaghan asked.

  “Batteries.” The magician replied as he was scribbling things down. Callaghan rolled his eyes and leaned over to see what the man was writing. He got no reaction from the mage, the fellow did not pull away or try to hide work, Callaghan’s eyes darted down to the paper: Instead of a single weave separated into parts, thousands of small weaves are used in the fashion of individuals. Largely stationary instead of moving, each one holds its own place and then passes the catalysts to the next one. The weaves are extremely simple, barely above beginner magic, it could be fashioned into practice lesson, the amount of power is expelled is grand, but it is very stable and not dangerous. Most likely, it could be scaled up.

  “Are you a teacher?” Callaghan asked.

  “I am rank of Mage.” The man replied. “I have a novice underneath me I have to tutor personally in addition to her lessons. Its part of the apprenticeship program at our school.”

  “Is she good?”

  “She’s talented.” The man replied.

  “Do you just see what Elassa is doing then?” Callaghan looked at the ship again as one of the massive gemstones floated above it. On the back of the ship, men ran around with bright glowsticks to indicate where Elassa should place them onto the ship.

  “I feel it, magic is invisible.”

  “But you know?”

  “Smells are invisible and yet you can smell the sea here. It is like that.” The magician and Callaghan sighed. The magicians assigned to his usual crew were more talkative, but then they had only attended Arcadia, Grand and not Arcadia, Imperial. The school’s reputation was slowly changing, for the better in parts. During the Archdemon assault, magicians from there had been brought in to support in the construction of the defences, and then they had gone straight back home to continue their education.

  “Will you bring your apprentice?”

  “No.” The man replied.

  “We have magicians on board.” Callaghan said.

  “We know.” And Callaghan sighed as the man kept writing. He let it go. Crews usually got along simply for the sake of how much time then spent together. If this lot wanted to form their own clique on board, then they would. As long as they didn’t demand special treatment, they could behave however they wanted.

  “Will you work with them?”

  “We will follow your orders Admiral.” The tone had not a hint of disrespect within it, but likewise there was no respect either. Callaghan imagined that he would receive the same reply whether he was sergeant or a king. He wasn’t being listened to because of any respect for hierarchy, he was because listened to because Elassa had told this magician to follow Callaghan’s orders.

  “What about training?” Callaghan asked. “Arcadia has a reputation.”

  “I do not know, they have combat experience and I do not.” The man said it so flat that Callaghan would have believed he had already seen a hundred battles.

  “Well I’m sure you can teach each other then.” Callaghan replied. Whether he was ignored, or whether the man was just watching what Elassa was doing with the crystals, the admiral did not know. The crystalline sphere moved, lowered, men on the deck cleared the way. The Kassandora silently sat on the unmoving waters, even the Imperial tricolour was frozen, constricted by solid bonds of air. Elassa floated in the air above, her hands turned. Metal merged with metal as the bonds around the huge gemstone joined the hull. At first, Callaghan had thought they were being welded together but there was no heat, no flash, no smoke that came from burning. She was fusing the materials together to make one solid whole.

  And then, with no fanfare whatsoever, she was done. Callaghan only realised it when the next gemstone cast itself off the ground behind him and came close to Elassa. Then the third. And the fourth. And it was done. Elassa flicked a finger, her crystals sparked, the veins of gemstones along the ship started to glow with an artificial, bright white light, was that the test? Whatever it was, it seemed to satisfy Elassa.

  Callaghan’s straightened his back when he saw the Goddesses’ blue eyes settle on him. For how carefully she moved with the augmentations onto the Kassandora, she was extremely quick in crossing the distance. A quarter of a mile was covered in the span of a few seconds. Callaghan felt the force of the wind almost knock him over. He had to tilt his head up to meet her eyes. His face only reached up to her stomach.

  “That is your ship done.” She spoke quickly, her tone low, as if this conversation was just a waste of time for a Divine of her stature. “You have been assigned four mages to activate and deactivate them during the crossing. I assume you will have accommodation on your ship, treat them as you wish, they are not royalty, I will scold you if you treat them as such. They will study on your ship, if they get in the way of standard operating procedure, I expect you to enforce discipline.” Without giving Callaghan a moment to speak, she continued in that clipped tone. “I have made the batteries, four is overkill. You should be able to manage it on just two, nevertheless, understand they need to be recharged. I’ve given them the basic ability to leech from the air, the Tartarian atmosphere is rich in magic, if you need to hastily fill them up, smother them in ash that is freshly fallen from the sky and not that which has already set on the ground, although the mages I have given you will assist in that. The shield will cover the ship and cut off at the water, it will not go under the surface. Understand that if you do use it in the case of battle, it will not protect you from strikes underneath.”

  “I…” Callaghan tried to get a word in.

  “The bottom of the ship has been enchanted to resist heat.” Callaghan’s eyes bulged. When did she do that? The mage at his side began to write even faster now. “Likewise I have a small spell to repel electricity from when lightning strikes nearby. These enchantments burn out eventually, but if they are unused, they should last for two years. Do not grow dependant on them.”

  “Of course.”

  “That is all.”

  “Thank you Goddess.” Callaghan replied with as much a demure demeanour as he could manage. Elassa took a deep breath.

  “How many are left?” Elassa asked.

  “Four.”

  “Tremali said a pair.” Callaghan blinked. That… That wasn’t what they agreed on.

  “My apologies Goddess.” Callaghan spoke slowly and carefully, the weight in his throat under Elassa’s blue gaze was more uncomfortable than walking through a minefield. He held his ground though. “I gave the Grand Marshal instructions for five.”

  Elassa smiled. “They do make Imperials out of sterner stuff, don’t they?” She asked no one in particular. “No, you are correct, I was wondering if you would call me out on it. The Kassandora is the largest ship I presume?”

  “Yes Goddess.”

  “Good, the others will take less time then. I am a busy woman, the mages I leave in your care will take care of the tests. Everything has been explained to them, they know what they are doing.” She turned to the other ships. The Zawitz and the Kaczaw, both entirely Lubskan. Both battleships of the first generation, before the INS Aris and the SkySweepers changed shipbuilding doctrine to be more centred around missile cruisers over big guns. The Hallin would support them, as well as the Gnydia, the last one was another Lubskan ship, the only heavy cruiser they were taking and not a battleship. Entirely with a Lubskan crew once again. The Gnydia had volunteered for the borderline suicide mission to save their Goddess.

  There was a part of Callaghan that wished Elassa would take two months to finish the entire shielding process. She took less than two hours.