We were delayed on our way in, but it was more the logistics of diverting traffic. People had decided to drive away from St. Louis using both sides of the interstate. When a massive convoy of military vehicles started bearing down on them, I imagine there was a lot of freaking out. The convoy had shrunk from when it started. It turned out that the Colonel had left a few platoons worth of soldiers and gear at various exits along the way. They were trying to ensure that this artery would be viable for people fleeing invasion. We had lucked out that Fort Leonard Wood was the training base for the military police, though that wasn’t its only function. Clearing up all the offramps, exits, and towns that butted up against the interstate eventually allowed for better flow of fleeing civilians.
After the first hour and change enough time had gone by to identify something else. Mana recovery at just the first tier was putting my recovery rate at one point every 40 minutes. I was stuck as to which item to identify: the smooth runic stone or the other wand. I didn’t see the staff when I looked around so I figured I should ask. “Doctor, you didn’t happen to see a staff or long thick stick when you brought me into the vehicle?”
“I saw a young teenager holding one when we came to check on you.”
“Thank you so very much.” At least I still had the staff. I had no clue what it did, but some tiny bit of feeling from it felt right. I had to hope that it had something useful, but that feeling was tempered a bit by the fact that the lupin spellcaster didn’t bother grabbing it before chasing after Nora. With the staff issue settled I settled on identifying the stone. Before I cast Identify I decided to look over the stone in detail. Maybe there was a useful nugget of information that I could figure out. It had some weight, but not more than a pound. It was about the size of my iPhone with lots of intricate symbols covering it. Mostly they were done in some swirly pattern on both sides, but there was on the top of the stone that reminded me of other items. Maybe that was the symbol for arcane magic, but it was small and difficult to really discern the details. It was a many sided shape, but beyond that I wasn’t sure. With that minimal observation made I activated Identify. It was several minutes before I knew what it was, but when I did everything made way more sense. It was a phone.
Universal High Security Long Distance Transmission Device
This device was produced at the Long Distance Transmission Device Crafting Center(LDTDCC) on the planet Chameeris. It is used for secure long distance transmissions both locally and planetary. The stored mana need to be replenished once a week. It consumes 1 mana/hour whether in active use or not. Currently it is at 71 of 144 mana capacity. Attempting to force drain the device destroys it. The High Security improvement ensures that it is resistant to scrying efforts. Long Distance Transmission Devices have 2 functions.
Function 1: a short range magical sending one way to any named creature within 10 kilometers. These transmissions can be received by the recipient out loud or telepathically depending on the user’s desires. They simply speak the name of the person while holding the device and then say their message. Message length is up to 25 words. This is for one way communication only.
Function 2: communicate with another device bearer anywhere on the same planet. This device is most effective on the prime material plane. Simply speak the name of the intended recipient and message shall be verbally or telepathically sent to the other device. If the intended recipient is holding the device they hear said communication immediately. If they do not currently have it in their hand then the message is stored. The device can hold up to 100 messages before reaching capacity. Message length is 100 words. Once capacity is reached the device will store no additional messages.
This is exactly the piece of the puzzle that was missing on how they coordinated additional troops. So much more of the strategy made sense. They probably had a demon of some sort that could teleport a lot. This creature then teleported the spellcaster with his teleportation circle to the appropriate area. That creature then found a good spot and started teleporting in troops. The creature needed blood or sacrifices to power the teleportation circle. He would communicate whenever he needed more. This tactic is nastier than paratroopers. It is sneaky and hard to detect. We really need a teleportation scrambler or something. Or better yet, we needed a device that forces a teleportation into a solid object to kill the teleporter. We also really need to be able to disable one of those teleportation circles without destroying it. All the pieces are in places except the type of creature getting the spellcaster and the teleportation circle behind our lines.
I really wanted to talk to Nora about this, but I would wait until we didn’t have a military escort. I would save up my mana for now. It would be over 7 hours until I would be completely full on mana. I decided that rest was the best use of my time.
It was after 7pm before we got that last thirty minutes of travel in. I had stayed in the vehicle during the delays as I needed to decompress after all the insanity of the first half of the day. I was healing a little faster than 1 health every hour. So, I was now at 17 out of 33 health; I had made it to halfway. I had recovered 6 mana as well. I still kept those in reserve. I could have identified the other wand on the road, but delayed it for after we got out of this place. Besides, it wasn’t like I was already at full mana and was wasting opportunities to use identify. With that thought firmly in mind I got out of the back of the ambulance.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The parking lot was massive, way more massive than I felt it needed to be. America doesn’t really do parking garages unless it is absolutely necessary. I stood there in a parking lot being rapidly converted into a military base camp. The mall itself was probably going to be converted into a command center. I wondered if one of the department stores was going to get turned into a barracks or a shooting range. The mall and parking lot were a solid choice for a staging area, beyond the access to roads. I forgot that the mall was on the high ground and had a solid commanding view of the surrounding area. Though, now that I am really looking hard at it, the office building and hotel at the edges of the mall lot would have to be demolished as they ruined site lines. I have no idea if we will even have to leave the St. Louis area.
I heard a strange sound overhead and saw rockets flying through the air from a mount on a vehicle a couple hundred yards to the west of me. The rocket flew overhead, and I followed its trajectory. It went up several hundred feet before leveling out and dropping precipitously through what had to be a portal on a hilltop overlooking the interstate we had been travelling on. The hilltop was off the side of the eastbound lanes, so at least it wasn’t a massive concern for people fleeing the city just yet, but it would be. It also completely messed with the overpass going over the interstate. The portal wasn’t exactly see through, which was a problem. I was looking at a flaming mist within the portal, so I wasn’t sure if it was showing the other side of the interdimensional gateway or not. I didn’t see an explosion, but the sound of one reverberated from the portal.
It was at this time I was greeted by my team. Billy was in a wheelchair, and Frank had his shield arm in a sling. None of the rest of them looked worse for wear fortunately. Nora had a look on her that made me want to pull her aside and have a private conversation, but that didn’t seem possible with the Colonel and some of his staff coming over to join us.
“Neal you look a lot better than you were.” The Colonel looked confident and a little bit happier than he was in every other conversation we had. I wasn’t sure what to read into that, if anything.
“I hope so, I’ve seen a lot of action today. It really exhausted me. I can’t wait to get down to my district and get sworn in with a judge. The next few days of pulling my citizens back from any active portals in my district will be essential for me and them.”
“That’s excellent. You will be free to move south, but roadways aren’t exactly clear everywhere you go.”
“We are aware that it might be difficult to get down there, but I am confident we will get there before the night is over.”
“Good. You also might want to be on the lookout for those portals like the one behind you.”
“Yeah, that thing scares the crap out of me. I guess that portal is primarily your responsibility.” The answer was clearly a yes, but no harm in asking.
“That one as well as 9 others in the area. There are several in West County, North County, and St. Charles County. The General is covering the rest of St. Louis and as well as the I-55 and I-44 corridors. I have I-64 and I-70. It is going to be difficult. Doesn’t your district overlap with I-44?”
“It does overlap from well inside the I-270 loop around most of the city all the way until just before I-44 runs int highway 141 going north and south. It is a good stretch of road. I am going to be responsible for all of it. Kind of worries me actually. Those roads are our lifelines, in and out of the city. There are businesses all throughout, but much of that is residential. The evacuation plan is going to be cumbersome.” Overall, the area was pretty large, and while not the largest in the St. louis area it was significant. I’ll be giving that a ton of thought later.
“Are you still planning on leaving tonight?” I’m not sure why this was even a question. I needed to go 20 miles. I know that it should take 30 minutes, but it would take a few hours.
“Yes. If you could give us an escort to wherever your forces hand off with the general you mentioned, that would be appreciated.” He nodded
“We can do that. I just needed to let you know that Dennis there isn’t going to be going with you. I am commandeering him into the army. We are in serious need of additional abilities.” And there it is. He was leading up to something. I knew there would be betrayal between people. There would be jockeying for power and position, and it would be more blatant in the current circumstances. Fuck!
I was going to maintain my positive demeanor and agreeable tone. I couldn’t afford to get pissed off with him. “I don’t agree with that, but I don’t really have time to argue with you. In this case, for the continued goodwill between us I will agree to handing over his services to the United States Army. I am assuming you are conscripting him into federal forces immediately?”
“Yes, we will be doing that tonight. I’m happy that you were amenable to Mr. Manning staying with us.”
“You haven’t given me much of a choice, but I will remember it and expect your help if things get really bad where I am at.”
His angry face returned. “We’ll see.”
“Well, in that case we’ll get in our vehicles and be on our way.” I nodded my head slightly, shook his hand, and promptly turned to find my SUV before he changed his mind and somehow wanted more. The whole time Dennis Stood there stunned. I wasn’t going to give him a chance to realize that he just got sold out to the army. I wanted him with me, but not at the cost of antagonizing a man with an awful lot more weaponry and my own shaky grounds for an argument.
We had to change up our driving pairs. Brett went with Joe up front, I had Brittney with me in the middle, while Nora had to drive both Billy and Frank. I had to drive this time, so it made doing any of the things I wanted to do impossible. With those bad vehicle matchups in mind we got down the road with our military escort.
