The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2

Part 25

"And we thank you, for both the suggestion and the service."

"Glad to be of service." Mark grinned. "We can have it done in a minute. After the work we did the other day, we're well practiced in casting the Gates."

"I will provide you with the required information in fourteen minutes." First Mauve informed him.

"Hmph." Amirgath went as he tossed his head a bit. "I had hoped that this would be a great accomplishment that I would have a leading part in, but it will still be a great accomplishment. The fourteen minutes will allow me to alert Kellaran to what is about to occur, so that we can properly welcome our visitors to our neighborhood."

With that, both gods vanished.

Mark's family smiled smugly at each other, then returned to the work they were doing. After all, fourteen minutes was too long to spend in anticipation when there was work to do. True to her word, First Mauve returned in fourteen minutes, with Visinniria.

"I'm here to give you the position and speed information psionicly." Visinniria explained. "The Triax want to be sure you have it right and have it down, and so would prefer that you're given the information psionicly. Since psionic communication between their gods and our mortals is still a problem, I'll be giving it to you and monitoring what you're doing for them, and facilitating communications."

She did so, and Mark's family Linked, considered and mentally rehearsed what they were about to do for a moment, and acted.

Val, Talia, and Alilia Translocated to where they'd collected power from the sun at sixteen times normal intensity, and cast vast collection fields. Fire, Karz, Povon, and Kragorram went to the void above Kellaran where the Triax fleet would emerge, to anchor the exit portal. Six and Mark Translocated out into the void farther than any mortal of Kellaran had ever been, beyond the orbits of the inner worlds, in the path of the incoming fleet and moving toward the sun. Though still distant, the vessels of the Triax fleet already looked huge and impressive.

Working together, they all cast the Gate with portals three hundred and twenty kilometers wide, just to be completely safe. They let Visinniria know where it was and where its edges were.

"One moment." Visinniria said as she appeared beside Six and Mark in the void. "The Triax are confirming the orientation of the Gate by sighting the stars that are visible through it. It's an impressive bit of surveying, actually."

A moment later she reported; "All right, everything looks good. Here comes the small test craft.”

A gray sphere about a meter wide approached the center of the Gate and passed through. Mark and Six had cast the Gate beside and in front of them as they flew toward Kellaran and let the fleet catch up with them, so they could watch the fleet going through. As soon as the little craft was through they could see it blaze with increased reflected sunlight.

On Amirgath's suggestion, the exit Portal had been located in The Triax's desired orbit in a place where it was in direct sunlight, while above a part of the world that was in the darkness of a cloudless night, so that Kellaran's new and temporary moons would be easily visible to those on the ground below.

Fire reported the arrival of the test craft above Kellaran, then The Triax reported through Visinniria that the test passage had been completely successful, and that they were proceeding with the passage of the fleet.

As it approached Six, Mark, and Visinniria, the fleet's great relative speed became apparent, then suddenly all sixteen mighty vessels were through in far less than a second.

"All right, they report that everything is good." Visinniria said with a big smile. "You can end the Gate."

"We might as well go through it first!" Six laughed, and then he and Mark became the first Kellarani to use a Gate in the void.

They emerged near Fire, Karz, Povon, and Kragorram, and were joined an instant later by Val, Talia, and Alilia, then they all had to accelerate hard for a minute to catch up with the quickly-receding fleet. By the time they had caught up there were already thousands of Kellarani in the void about the worldlets, many holding or casting great glowing banners that read; 'Kellaran welcomes The Triax!' "That was well done." Visinniria told them with great sincerity. "That was very, very well done, and we all thank you."

Despite all the Shielding and Void-Protections they were casting about themselves, she had no trouble giving each of them a divinely wonderful warm hug as easily as if they were all standing naked in air. Thousands of small craft emerged from the great Triax vessels and flew gaily but carefully among the Kellarani, along with hundreds of Triax gods.

Many of the elite who knew Mark's family appeared nearby, including First Mauve, some gods of Kellaran and other leaders of The Assembly. All the rest kept their distance with an almost elven decorum, though many waved and smiled when they were close enough to be seen doing so.

Over an hour they floated there and watched the first celebration ever conducted in the void. The communications functions of the new void-proofing spells made it seem that the air was full of music and conversation, feasts were served, billions danced and partied in clusters in a huge space around the fleet over three hundred kilometers wide.

Finally Falgaroth and Somonik appeared quite close, a smiling human woman wearing the glowing red jewel of a professional Revealer appeared in front of them, and First Burgundy approached with a clear twelve meter sphere full of liquid and two large mortal Triax, an aquamarine and a very light blue.

"Those in the sphere here are the two most senior mortal Triax." First Burgundy stated. "We would like to present you with gifts."

Visinniria began handing them two items each starting with Fire, who was closest at the moment, again unaffected by their protective spells.

The little alien god continued speaking as she did so. "We, the gods and mortals of The Triax and of Kellaran, present each of you with the first Orders of Merit awarded by The Kellaran-Triax Alliance, and they are Orders of Merit for Brilliance. Both of our peoples are very much safer and stronger because of your work today, and we all thank you.

"The plaques are made by Kellaran, the medallions are made by The Triax. There is an energy field in the medallions that The Triax can read, and they read the same as the plaques. More than thirty billion individuals from two worlds honor you, thank you, and celebrate you for your achievement."

"We were honored beyond measure by the trust that all of your people placed in us." Mark told him with a broad smile. "And to be fair, each of the sorcerers of The People of Morning who crafted the Gate spell deserve one of these too."

"You're right, and we'll see that it is done." Somonik told them.

"So, I imagine that the joint Triax-Kellaran training exercises will be proceeding soon?" Mark asked.

"Yes." First Burgundy told him.

"And am I right in assuming that The Triax have also been conducting similar exercises on their own, while waiting for their transfer here?"

"Always. Training is the key to safety and successful warfare."

"Good." Mark nodded. "We can exchange recordings of our recent exercises to facilitate the planning of our deployment."

"That has been planned." the Triax god agreed. "I look forward to joining all of you in the next exercise for gods and other highly powerful individuals. It shall be held in five days and six hours, by Kellaran reckoning of time."

"In two days and eighteen hours, there will be an exercise for Kellarani mortals who are Strike Wizards, have combat scores greater than five thousand, or who can fight remotely with Simulacrums and other methods." Somonik informed them.

"We'll be there, at both of those." Mark assured them.

"Well, now I want to work on getting ready for those!" Six said as he eagerly rubbed his hands together and smiled nastily. "Can we get recordings of the gods' previous exercises?"

"Certainly." First Mauve told them as she appeared at conversational distance. "I will give them to you myself, as I did when I last visited your beach."

"Good. We can record that into a Revealing for further study." Six nodded. "Do you have any advice for now?"

"Yes. Bear in mind that the exercises of the gods assume that among the demons there will be thousands of DemonLords, and that they are as powerful as the worst we've encountered. Some of these are so powerful that they can eat a god, consuming the essence of the god completely and enclosing it, if the god is weak enough."I