Star Force: Temple Wars Read online

  Reignor Plausious had never been so capricious, and Fero secretly wished he was back in command of House Atriark…but there was no way he could survive the troops Fero had brought with him. He would have been remiss to bring any less than overkill, but a part of him still didn’t like this, and that’s why he wasn’t staying to see it through to the finish.

  His barge had gone far enough he could no longer hear the sounds of combat, but he could still feel the telepathic screams when someone was killed or gravely injured…and there were many of them, which meant the Reignor must be putting up a good…

  Fero shook as a shockwave hit him as the sound of an explosion rang in his ears. He turned back, seeing a huge plume of smoke rising from the platform. None of their weapons were capable of that, and nothing in the platform itself could be detonated with such force.

  What had just happened?

  Fero swung the barge around and began heading back, sensing more combat within the smoke, but as he got halfway there he started to notice it lifting to reveal a few Neofan on their knees with a fist raised over their head in a statue pose…which was the sign for subjugation.

  They just knelt there silently as the rest fought, perhaps unwilling to fight the former Reignor for their own reasons. That would have to be dealt with later, though he wouldn’t execute them. There had been far too much of that going on lately, but disobedience wouldn’t stand under the scrutiny of the Diem, and Fero would be the one punished if he didn’t deal with this.

  More telepathic screams were heard as the fighting continued, then they abruptly stopped. Fero telepathically searched for Plausious, expecting that to have been his last moment of combat, but the lifting smoke revealed quite a different story.

  Dozens…no, hundreds of Neofan were kneeling with their fists raised, and in the center of them all Plausious still stood, with his retched avian Hadarak flying over his head, as the bodies of the fallen littered the broken pad that now had 5 distinct thin smoke plumes rising from the previous detonation points.

  And around those points were many burn bodies.

  Fero stopped the barge before he got there, and instead looked at Plausious across the wide gap, seeing only a tiny silhouette, but he was close enough for a proper telepathic conversation.

  What do you hope to gain from this? Plausious asked Fero. You should have known I would not come unprepared.

  What did you do to them?

  You did not come quickly, so I made some alterations to the landing pad. The survivors are wisely relinquishing combat. Are you?

  I did not want to fight you, but this is not a winnable scenario. You can’t take on all of us in the Temple.

  I gave you a chance Fero, and I give you one again. Serve me as you once did.

  That would be a death sentence from the Diem.

  Do we no longer exile those who disagree? Where is the respect a proper Neofan shows?

  Gone when you disappeared, Plausious. I fear there is no going back now.

  No, there is no going back. Only forward. You can join us, or you can choose exile. Do not force me to kill you in combat.

  Us? Fero asked.

  I did not kill them all.

  Suddenly those kneeling stood in unison and turned to face Fero with their arms held defiantly across their chests, making their telepathic intentions quite clear. They were rejecting his command and that of the Diem and the false Reignor Truven. They were now loyal to the legitimate Reignor Plausious.

  You will all be killed, Fero warned.

  Only as many as needed, Plausious amended. I am here to save the Neofan, not destroy them. How many more die is up to the rest of you. I recommend you head for the Zotav now, and take as many of the others with you that will not swear allegiance to me. We do not have to be enemies. We can simply part ways.

  It is not that simple.

  It is, you just do not see it yet. Tell me, my old apprentice, would I come here without a plan for victory? Or do you think me truly insane?

  Until a moment ago I did. You should be dead now.

  I warned you I was more powerful.

  Not enough to claim this Temple.

  I intend to claim the Neofan race, Fero. Not just this one Temple.

  And do what then?

  I will end the war with Star Force and begin rebuilding us into a far greater power than you can conceive. We have been tricked into wearing the blinders of the darkside, so we cannot see what we lack. I will rip those blinders off and force us to see the universe as it is, and the doom that pursues us. Then and only then will we be able to face our destiny and find a pathway through it to our survival.

  We will not be welcome in Yenoiv.

  Then stay on the Zotav until you receive orders from House Mutavi, or travel to other Zotav. But leave this galaxy and do not return unless you wish to serve, or you wish to die.

  Fero sighed. There is a warship coming.

  I know.

  It will destroy you in a single shot.

  Then you had better get out of the blast radius.

  Don’t throw your life away, Fero pleaded.

  I’ve already been ordered killed. Are you rescinding that order?

  I’m not the one who gave it.

  Are you in command here or not?

  I thought you said you were?

  Stop evading, Plausious lectured. Does the Diem rule or does Truven?

  Technically Truven.

  Did he assign you here?

  Yes.

  Then command the warship to stand down, Plausious said as a small ball appeared over the horizon and was steadily growing larger.

  They won’t obey the order.

  Why not?

  Because the Diem runs everything, and their spies are everywhere. Disloyalty will not be tolerated.

  And Truven allows this?

  He is so scared of being declared tainted he will do whatever the Diem wants and everyone knows it. He is a puppet, Fero said, feeling fear at saying it out loud, as well as relief in finally admitting it. Run back to the portal while you still can.

  I am staying here. You go.

  Plausious do not die here.

  Why do you care?

  I don’t…I don’t want it to end this way. We are too old to die like this.

  Leave or pick a side. The Gjardan is nearly here.

  I can’t call them off. I had to leverage them to meet you in person first. They wanted to fire on you before even hearing you out. The fear of the taint is that…strong, Fero said, realizing he would be marked for just being in proximity.

  Insanity has no bounds, and it is the true taint.

  In that moment Fero knew his position was now gone, and his chances of being allowed to live were slim. Plausious was right, his only chance now was to run, and with the Gjardan growing larger on the horizon the Neofan spun the barge around and accelerated at maximum speed away from the landing pad enroute to the closest portal he knew of.

  “Goodbye, Fero,” Plausious whispered as the Ren’mak continued to flap in a hover above him. “Find the survivors and secure them. Do not let them bleed out.”

  The Neofan around him broke apart and searched through the dead for the dying as the spherical warship rapidly approached, but Plausious did not run. He merely called the Ren’mak down to his shoulder and stared at it as it approached, eventually blotting out the sun directly overhead as it became a large white moon above them.

  Eventually a landing craft descended from it and docked on the edge of the now cratered pad, with two Neofan walking out amongst a phalanx of guards…with one of them in shackles.

  “Greetings, Reignor,” Commander Yuer said, shoving the bound male towards him. “What do you want done with this one?”

  “Another Overseer?”

  “The Diem has them planted on every ship to make sure we do not begin to show taint.”

  “Clearly I have failed,” the bound one said, hesitant to look in Plausious’s direction. “How long have you planned this mutiny?”


  “From the moment I heard the true Reignor was still alive,” Yuer admitted. “And I won’t be the only one.”

  “We will all die for this,” he warned.

  “Commander, see to the wounded, but do not trust them.”

  “And the others?”

  “They have made their choice and serve me once again.”

  “What’s with the Hadarak?”

  “He is my new traveling companion. In all the history of the Neofan/Hadarak war, have you ever heard of one changing sides?”

  “Never.”

  “Now you have seen one,” Plausious said proudly. “And I return with more knowledge of the Hadarak our people have never possessed, along with the ability to control them the way their masters do. That is how I managed to escape.”

  “Then you control this one?”

  “No. I don’t have to. He is my friend.”

  “What’s this I hear about the Endgame happening now?”

  “We are on the cusp of it and ill prepared. Star Force is triggering it, though I am not sure how and neither do they. The lightside will trigger it when sufficiently advanced, and it will draw many enemies here. We will not be that enemy.”

  “Good. This has been a wasteful war. Will they accept a truce?”

  “No, Commander. They will accept nothing less than full allies. I have Director Davis’s full confidence and friendship. As long as I am leading the Neofan, the war is over and we will both prepare to face the Endgame war.”

  “You are not the Reignor,” the Overseer sneered, only to have the Commander kick him in the back of the knees and force him to the ground.

  “Take this one and all others that refuse to obey, or who wish to leave, to the portals and send them to the nearest Zotav. Out of respect they will not be killed, but I want them out of our way.”

  “What of Truven?”

  “Where is he?”

  “Hiding in your quarters and rarely comes out. The Diem moves around giving the orders and daring you to question their authority to do so. They deserve to die, Reignor.”

  “Is there one here?”

  “I don’t think so. We’re stationed here to prevent Star Force from taking it back, but otherwise this entire Temple has been tainted with the stench of failure. It’s where they send those of us who don’t enthusiastically follow orders the moment they are given. Do you wish to come onboard?”

  “No, but I do need Essence. My personal well is nearly depleted.”

  “Most impressive, Reignor. Even I thought you were outmatched.”

  “I want an accounting of every Neofan here. They serve or they leave. Who else is in the Temple?”

  “A lot of Vargemma, but we were told to execute all Star Force personnel. Some escaped into hiding, and when I have occasionally spotted traces of them I’ve ignored them. I don’t know how many, but most are dead.”

  “Secure the Temple first. I expect a reprisal to hit us before we can spread to another Temple, and I don’t want to have to worry about who is loyal and who is not. We need to find out now, and fast.”

  “Then you need to make an announcement to the entire Temple and declare your return. I’ll be able to sort out after that which ships are loyal and which ones will have to be taken, but I think we can avoid a lot of unnecessary fights if we display the recordings of what happened here and you make your demands known immediately…but not while you’re an easy target out in the open.”

  “Agreed. I’ll travel in the catacombs until the fleet is secured, but I’ll transmit from your landing craft.”

  “Give me a moment to set it up,” he said, kicking the overseer once more for good measure before turning around and heading into the ship.

  Plausious lifted the Overseer to his feet with the wave of his hand, then looked the other Neofan in the eyes from only a few finger lengths away.

  “They will not submit,” the Overseer warned.

  “I don’t expect they all will. When you get to the Zotav, know this. If one day you lose your insanity and wish to rejoin the Neofan, you are welcome to do so along with any other exiles. I now wonder how many good people we sent out there simply because we did not understand that we were in the wrong. I have a lot of blood on my hands from the past, but I am clean of it now because I have chosen another path and acted on it. You always have that choice, no matter where you go or what you do. Never forget that.”

  “I hope House Mutavi burns this entire galaxy down.”

  Plausious leaned in even closer. “They are welcome to try.”

  8

  The fighting didn’t take long to escalate elsewhere in the Temple, and almost as soon as Commander Yuer returned to his warship two others were redirected to his position with orders to his crew to relieve him of possession of it.

  That didn’t go over well, and the few that tried were quickly subdued but not killed, with Yuer bringing his ship to battle status and authorizing full use of reserve Essence…something that was never done, given how precious it was. Even in the retreat from Utovi the warships rarely risked deplenishing their full reserve to the point of nothing. If they did so, the ship would only be able to fight using conventional weaponry and conventional defenses…but in this situation his going to full burn would force the other ships to do the same, else they would be easily defeated.

  Gjardans had been designed to fight the Hadarak’s Essence-capable units as well as their swarms, and in order to do so they had to have significant burst capability in order to take out targets before they could exchange damage. This was also useful against most other races, but the longevity wasn’t there for their maximum output, which was why Yuer and the other fleet commanders had been taught to only draw on their Essence reserves on a limited basis as necessary, and missions that required a deep draw were hardly ever assigned.

  That’s why his ship powering up to full on weapons and defenses shocked the two approaching ships into a slower closing rate as they were most likely querying the Truven’s command staff that ran the Temple about how to proceed. That may or may not have included Fero, but the intercepted messages to the two warships had not gone out under his name, so it was possible that he had in fact fled the Temple.

  The return messages were also visible, for no direct line of sight transmissions were being used…perhaps because House Atriark had never engaged in ship to ship fighting before and they didn’t think about encoding the message to hide them. It was rare between Houses, for the Gjardans were so powerful that they garnered a respect that made them prizes to be won rather than instruments of internal conflict.

  But Yuen knew what was going on now. Before he had left he had requested that the Reignor explain his aura alteration, for it was disruptive. He did not feel like a normal Neofan, and Yuer wanted to know the reason for the change without challenging him. He’d already made his choice, but he wanted clarity going forward.

  Plausious had given it to him in the form of a mind meld, which was something that only Neofan possessed. Of all the races they had encountered and cataloged, none had the ability to graft one’s aura onto another. It would be done forcefully as an overwrite or lightly as a way to inform someone of lessons learned beyond their years, and was rarely used given the vulnerability both methods required, but Yuer trusted Plausious, and he needed to know what he had learned that had changed him so.

  The Reignor had agreed, and over the course of a few moments the light connection had taught him the lightside, bits of Plausious’s history since his ‘death,’ and his vision of the future where he foresaw the Neofan’s existence hanging by a tenuous thread. That last part was the reason for the alacrity, and why Yuer had brought his ship up to maximum burn. They had to act now, and any delay would snowball to their enemies’ advantage here and afar.

  Yuer was now changed himself, and he could not go back. He could not unsee what Plausious had showed him, and as he had boarded the landing craft to return to the warship he saw others requesting the same of Plausious, with him
repeating the delicate process with several of them.

  It wasn’t a command or a rewrite, but it showed him how Neofan society was flawed, holding them back, and put them on the wrong side of history. It made him sick to think about it, so he didn’t try. The graft was meant to offer conclusions rather than data for analysis, and Yuer was not going to contest the Reignor’s knowledge. He was going to act on it.

  And when the order came for three more Gjardans to rendezvous with the stalled two, he didn’t hesitate to give the order to attack while calling on all loyal ships to join him.

  That was some time ago, and right now he was running through the corridors on his ship carrying a negation staff as multiple hull breaches had allowed boarders to get through into the outer shell, for the Gjardans were built with multiple hulls, almost as if they were ships inside of ships inside of ships. There were 7 of them, each with its own armor, shields, and weaponry, but the Essence reserve sat in the center, or near to there, for the internal components could be shifted about depending on which side the heaviest attack was coming from.

  But the ship was designed for the crew to be able to move from shell to shell even when the defenses were up, so once holes were hammered into the outer hull, troops from the attacking warships were able to transmute into the outer shell, but no further. They’d have to physically pass through the interlock sections to get further inside, meaning possession of this ship was now being contested internally.

  With the outer shell’s weaponry and shields mostly disabled or destroyed, the ship couldn’t use the others without discarding the outer shell, which Yuer had ordered not to do. The other ships would have to blast their way through it to get to the next shield, and it was obvious they had no intention of wasting the power needed to do that as the naval fight was continuing to escalate beyond 20 vessels involved. 13 were still loyal to Truven, 7 to Plausious, but only 3 of each were still actively battling at nearly full power. All the others were damaged, disabled, or had troops onboard vying for control of them.

  And none of them had chosen to jettison their outer shells to continue the fight. Destroying a Gjardan was unthinkable, and the damage already done was something Yuer would never have agreed to if Plausious’s graft had not been given. And right now that gave him an advantage, for the enemy was very hesitant to fully fight, and that had allowed his 7 ships to go even with 13, but right now possession of his Gjardan was going to be won or lost with hand to hand combat, and that’s where he was headed.