The Dark Edge Chronicles - Clan War

Dragons of War

Silence descended on the passenger bay as everybody tried to absorb what had just happened. And the stunned former legionnaires most of all, as they considered their unusual promotion to the highest level of the vampire military.

All of them, except Naryan. She had kept her eyes on Lash while the change in command took place. And felt a thrill shiver through her body when she saw him nod and smile in satisfaction when she came formally under his command. Because she knew that, despite their friendship, he would be putting them into the thick of the most intense fighting they'd be facing on this mission. Fighting that she, and many of her legionnaires may not walk away from.

Even knowing that, however, there wasn't a vampire she trusted more with her life than the one she had grown up with. They were eternal friends and had solidified that friendship with a renewal of an intimate and emotional connection that had languished for far too long in a most delicious and delightful way.

After letting his eyes sweep over the stunned and silent passenger bay, Lash stepped to a certain spot that he knew on the floor. One with a connection to a holographic projector.

"Fordricht, are you online?"

"Reading you five by five, boss," the North African Ventru warrior replied.

"You caught our conversation with NachtFeuer?"

"Every word." There was a pause, before: "Galloway has already ordered the Vanguard legionnaires over here to remove their insignia."

"Excellent. Now, we've got a bit of a ceremony to go through next. Go into the passenger bay and find what appears to be a starburst on the floor, a couple steps in from the entry to the flight deck."

Again there was a slight pause. Then:

"Got it, boss."

"Wave your hand over it," Lash said as he followed his own instructions. And he smiled when, with a shimmer of light, a life-sized image of Fordricht appeared at the front of the bay.

"Looks like that worked, boss," Fordricht said with a smile, looking over at Lash.

"So it did. Now, I'm going to open a storage unit close to the flight deck entry. When I tell you, go there, open the panel which I will unlock remotely for you, and take out the two flat, black boxes within."

"Copy that, boss. Just say the word," Fordricht said as he took a parade rest posture.

Lash nodded then walked to a storage unit close to the entry onto the flight deck. A touch brought up a biometrics input suite and, after giving a retinal scan, a palm scan and a DNA scan of a drop of blood, the storage unit opened. Reaching inside, he took out a rectangular box in dark green lacquer.

With that box in hand, he walked back into the heart of the passenger bay where they all waited with bated breath. A thumbprint opened the box and he drew out an insignia, a dragon coiled around a lightning bolt, sitting on a small platform of velvet and polished African blackwood. Looking up at a suddenly wide-eyed Naryan, he smiled before sticking out his hand.

"Welcome to the Qos Viran, Captain Naryan Kingsguard," he said.

Naryan gave a start, then nodded, smiling, as she stepped forward to take his forearm in the traditional vampiric and accept the insignia.

"Thank you, Lash ... uh, I mean, Lord Commander!" she finished with a formal salute.

"At ease, Captain. Parade ground formality isn't important in the Qos Viran. Discipline and effectiveness in battle, is." Then he was stepping back to return the green box to the storage container before taking out two more long boxes, these in lacquered black wood.