As more smiles and celebration filled the altar chamber, Magesecond Fenix tipped his head in acknowledgement toward Pax. He even had a rare but small smile on his face, what passed as a huge grin by his standards. “You’ve done well, student Pax Vipersworn. Keep this up, and you’ll make a fine light mage yet.”
Pax grinned, his confidence bolstered by his tremendous success. He leaned in to be heard over the surrounding noise. “Thank you, Magesecond Fenix. I couldn’t have done it without your help and that of everyone here.”
That acknowledgement seemed to satisfy the old mage. He shifted to hover near Solani 2-nine and the two of them looked over the celebration with a proprietary air. It still took a few minutes before the festivity wound down.
When it got quiet enough to be heard, Solani 2-nine tipped her head toward him with a wry smile. “Well, now that you’re the new boss, Commander Vipersworn, what orders do you have for us?” Despite the smile, her tone was both serious and deferential.
Her question quieted the others instantly. By some of the expressions he saw, Pax could tell he wasn’t the only one who hadn’t fully thought through the consequences to the altar appointing him as the base commander.
He flushed. This kind of deference wasn’t what he wanted at all. “No, Solani 2-nine. You and the managers know so much more than I do. I’m not going to boss you around. You’re the ones that need to help me know what to do with all of this.”
She was already shaking her head. “That’s called advising you, which all of us are happy to do. But only one person or group can have the final say in what happens here in the headquarters. And that person is you now. What did you think the title of Commander would mean? Whatever you tell us to do, we’re bound to obey. It isn’t a suggestion for myself and the other managers. It’s part of the very magic that our creators built into us. We actually can’t disobey an order by a recognized superior unless it directly conflicts with the official laws of the guild or the empire. The guild commander even has the power to destroy a manager, should the need arise.”
As she explained, Pax’s concern grew, his head shaking in denial. With her last words, Pax blanched and lifted a hand to wave off the idea.
2-nine’s expression softened in sympathetic understanding. Next to her, Fenix frowned in consternation, looking as if he hadn’t thought through Pax’s sudden change in station either.
Pax understood. He’d always wanted power, but not in this way. He’d never wished to have life and death power over his friends, even if they were disembodied copies of ancient mages created solely to run a vast place like this.
“Now, see? That expression right there and your repugnance for so much power over others is exactly why my sister and I decided to help you claim the power over the headquarters.” Solani tipped her head toward him with a satisfied look. “What do you think one of the rebellion leaders would do in your position right now?”
The idea made Pax pale further.
“Exactly. Based on how they treated Solani 4-five, I expect they’d jump right into passing out orders for us to help them claim the rest of this base without asking for any direction or advice from us. You won’t do that, right?”
“Of course not.” Even the idea made Pax angry. The two Solanis and even Fenix 3-one had all helped him and his crew when they needed it the most. Without the quests from the Solanis and the aid from Fenix 3-one against Graybrew and his henchmen, Pax and his friends wouldn’t have survived, much less emerged from the ruins with extra powers and abilities.
She turned and smiled at Fenix, who was looking more and more disgruntled. “I think he’s going to be a great boss.”
“Boss?” Fenix sputtered, outrage flaring to life on his face.
Pax heard multiple people around him stifle chuckles. Amil actually shifted away to hide his response. Pax bit his cheek to keep a smile from forming. “Don’t worry Magesecond Fenix. You’ll always be my light mage instructor, and I’ll value everything you’re willing to teach me. I’d never have made it this far without your guidance.”
He looked mollified by Pax’s answer, muttering something that sounded like, “You’d better.”
Pax glanced around at the others and toggled his Strategist skill again. “Everyone ready to get to work? The altar is waiting for orders. I could use some help making a priority list.”
“Where’s the armory and can you open it?” Amil asked.
“Is there a treasury with coin and scrolls?” Dahni’s eyes lit up with excitement.
“Can you activate the big golems again?”
“Are there workshops with ancient equipment?”
“Any training rooms for warriors instead of just mages?”
“Did the ancients Tame beasts? Any records on that?”
“Yeah. What about a library?”
“What about the base protections? Are they powerful enough to stop empire troops?”
In the flurry of questions, it was the last one that splashed an icy wave of reality over everyone’s excitement. The chamber quieted for a long moment as everyone considered the implications. A beat later, more questions and suggestions flew, overlapping each other and making it difficult to distinguish who said what. Pax enjoyed everyone’s enthusiasm, which boosted his own anticipation of the power waiting for them when they finished renovating the ancient base.
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Tyrodon raised his hand, waving it tentatively to get Pax’s attention. Pax called out for quiet, but everyone was too excited as multiple conversations popped up discussing the various possibilities.
Astra’s wings buzzed in with an ominous sound that cut through the din of the many voices. The alarming sound worked to halt the conversations. When it was quiet, Titus waved a hand for Pax to go ahead.
He turned to his friend. “Tyrodon. Do you have a suggestion for what we need to do first?”
Tyrodon looked pleased to be given the opportunity to speak until he saw everyone was looking at him. He paled and took a couple of tries to get started. “P-power. We’ll need power first before we can work on any of the other ideas.”
“Smart kid.” Solani 2-nine gave him an approving look after spending the last few moments watching and listening to the clamoring discussion.
Pax sent Tyrodon an encouraging nod to continue. “Explain.”
“Everything we want to do needs power. So much of this place is offline with unknown dangers like the Glitterflare Hive, growing out of control. Just think of the crazy stuff we found when we first explored here.”
Pax’s friends nodded. Tyrodon was making excellent points, and the others took note.
Their response boosted Tyrodon’s confidence, and his voice strengthened. “All the ideas everyone suggested need to have power restored to get the most out of them. To do that, we need to clear out any blockages or beasts who’ve moved in along the way. Once it’s safe, we repair any power connections that are damaged or missing. Only once that's done can we maximize the benefits.”
Amil wasn’t the only one that groaned as Tyrodon’s words made it clear that Pax’s elevation to commander wouldn’t suddenly restore the entire base to working condition.
“So, what’s first?” Pax included everyone in his question. “Let’s make a list now, from most critical to least, so we can get started and also have a reasonable plan to present to the rebel committee.”
Tyrodon didn’t hesitate. “First, we need to repair the connection between the altar and the main power station below. It sounds like Solani 2-nine can get a minor one working through the back channels used by the managers. That’ll allow the altar and its controls to connect to everything the rebels have got working so far. So, that’s the atrium and the surrounding areas they’ve cleared out and made functional.”
“And you need to do this before anyone in authority can move quickly enough to stop you.” Solani’s words added another dose of reality to the earlier excitement. “Sure, they’ll eventually recognize that the altar’s powers are necessary to make this base run, but that doesn’t mean someone won’t let pettiness motivate them to stop a student mage from taking control of this place.”
“How long will the initial connection take you and the other managers?” Pax asked her.
She smiled, her eyes going out of focus for a moment as she checked in on something. “I’m close enough to Solani 4-five that the power of our crystals can establish a short-range connection. She’s connected to Fenix 3-one and both of them have been working on it from their end. So”—she glanced between Pax and the altar with a hopeful look—“if you’ve regenerated enough mana to help me establish the link from this end, we should be able to do it within the next hour.”
An excited murmur spread through the chamber at that news.
“We can boost you, too, if it’ll help make it happen,” Dahni stepped up, the field of his buff pulsing with more energy.
“Thanks.” Pax grinned and focused on Solani and his hand on the altar. “Let’s get this done. Show me where you need my light mana.”
“Happily. Tyrodon, if you would?” Solani gave him an expectant look.
He appeared confused for a moment before lurching forward and carefully picking up Solani’s crystal. He set it gently in the second depression on the surface of the altar.
“I’ll send a thread of my energy down from the storage crystal to show you where you need to send your mana.” She looked down as she spoke. “Make sure you give the altar its commands, too. Then it can use the mana you’ve added to the storage crystal to help. Be certain you instruct it to always conserve enough energy for basic functions for, let’s say, a week?”
Pax looked around at the others to see what they thought.
“I’d go with at least a month,” Titus said when no one else spoke up. “It shouldn’t be a problem once we hook it up with the main power station, but if something bad happens, we don’t want the altar shutting down again, especially when we get the defenses repaired and all back online.”
“Agreed. So, I’ll bump that up to two months.” Pax nodded. “Considering how fast this war has been going, that should be plenty of time for us to get back here and fix things if we have to leave and stuff breaks.”
Pax looked around one more time with brows raised, to see if anyone had other suggestions. He thought of something himself and turned to Solani. “The altar should have a diagnostic system, right? I mean, it would know exactly what the base should look like when it’s fully functional?”
“Of course.” She nodded. “That’s a main reason for the use of the altar system. It helps leaders keep track of all the complicated systems that go into running a base this size.”
“So, if I give the altar a command to run a diagnosis of the system as soon as it has energy to spare, we could find out exactly how much work we have ahead of us with the base?”
“Yes.” She nodded, looking delighted by his suggestion. “You’re a natural at this. It’s definitely a good idea to have additional tasks waiting in the altar’s cue so it doesn’t waste any extra power.”
Her approval made him feel better about his ideas and plans. He glanced over at the others. “Sounds like we need an itemized list, so the altar knows what to work on and in what order. How about how about the rest of you make a list of the critical systems we need to get online and rank them while I get busy with the power? When I’m done, I can enter them into the altar’s task list. Plus, it’ll give us an already accomplished plan to present to the rebel committee. I expect they’ll be waiting for us when we get back.”
Tyrodon bobbed his head in excitement before whipping out a notebook from his inventory and opening it on his workbench. The others nodded, looking thoughtful and gathering around Tyrodon’s bench to help.
With a grin, Pax gave Solani 2-nine a nod, closed his eyes and dove back into the altar where he found the prompt asking for a command still waiting patiently.
***
First command: Conserve enough energy in the altar storage crystal to maintain functions for a period of two months.
Second: Make it a priority to establish a connection to all power sources, starting with the main power station that has been repaired and made functional in the headquarters’ basement.
Third: As soon as power is reestablished, start a full diagnostic of all systems and report status and approximate power and time to repair each system to full function.
Fourth: Until I register a list of priorities with you, use any extra power to repair critical systems, starting with the ones most important to the functionality and security of the Light Guild Headquarters.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
***
The altar responded promptly.
***
Authorized commands from Commander Vipersworn recognized. Initiating process to connect to power sources by most efficient means. After successful connection, the remaining commands will be executed. Unable to estimate time to completion until further diagnostics are completed.
***
As he read the positive response from the altar, Pax sensed the moving thread of Solani’s power pulsing down through the altar toward the still mostly empty storage crystal.
He dismissed the menu, harnessed his mana and followed. With any luck, they’d have the altar tied into the restored sections of the base in no time.