Reignor Page 9

  But he was a Reignor, and his vision of the future required action.

  He took one last look around, then followed the Ren’mak inside and sealed up his living ship. Then he launched it up through the atmosphere, out to system center, then jumped it out on the best jumpline he could find starting their journey to the Grand Border.

  After 298 jumps, fortune favored the Reignor. He was nowhere near the Grand Border, but when he came out of yet another short jump due to the limitations of his biological ship, it identified a convoy of vessels passing through nearby, coming out of an almost adjacent jumpline, and with hulls matching what the Reignor knew of Star Force vessels. Most were transports, he guessed, with a few having the telltale elongated Warship designs that his own vessel was patterned off of.

  But he had no comm system that could interface with the technological vessels…yet he did have telepathy and an Essence boost.

  Plausious calmed himself enough to focus, knowing he had to seize on this good fortune as well as avoid getting mistaken for Hadarak and attacked. He reached out as far as his telepathy would scan, finding it far too inadequate. He could yell in their direction, but he was not close enough to sense their minds even a small amount.

  When he added Essence he picked up minds, but not enough to scan them. Seeing where they were was enough, and he focused on one particular ship that was closer than the others, for it was moving out towards him, breaking off from the convoy.

  And it was a warship.

  Star Force vessel. I am Reignor Plausious of the Neofan. The biological vessel I am in has been confiscated from the Hadarak. Do not fire on it. I have been attempting to reach you, but I have no comm system. I need your help to return home.

  He repeated the same message, in the Star Force language, over and over again as the ship came closer, but no one responded. He kept transmitting until he realized those onboard the ship were exceptionally small, and not Human. By the time they were close enough for him to read, he was already within their weapons range…but they did not fire.

  Plausious pumped as much Essence as he could into his telepathy and picked out one mind, trying to link with it so he could have a two way conversation…and after a startled few moments, the random Irondel in the ship began to translate for their ship’s captain.

  Does your vessel have a dropship?

  No it does not. But you can send a dropship and put a seal over the entry hatch so we can meet face to face.

  That should work. Where is the hatch?

  Top side just behind a small rise on the hull. It is the only mound on the vessel.

  Will your ship allow it?

  It is a biological machine without a Core inside it. It has no mind of its own.

  Where did you steal it from?

  I did not steal it. I grew it. I have been gone for a long time, and much has happened. We have been living on a Hadarak world and surviving through combat most of that time. Recently I acquired the ability to command the Hadarak on a limited basis, and I had them construct this ship so we could escape.

  How many of you are there?

  I am the only Neofan. I have one other with me. It is a small Hadarak that chose to disobey their commands. I found it when they were trying to kill it, and it now serves me. It is not a threat. It is a rescued victim and my friend. I believe Director Davis will be interested in meeting it, but I must be clear with you. He is under my protection. If anyone attempts to harm him, I will kill them.

  How big is this Hadarak?

  Far smaller than a Neofan.

  What were you doing out here? How did you end up on a Hadarak world?

  I came to engage in personal combat against the Hadarak to test a theory. My crew betrayed me and left me behind to die. I survived.

  What did you say your name was?

  Reignor Plausious, head of House Atriark.

  The current Reignor is Truven, and we are currently at war with the Neofan. Well, a stalemate now, but we’re not friends. How long have you been out here?

  Plausious frowned as the warship continued to get closer. What year is it?

  158390

  Then I have been on the Hadarak planet for 3422 years. I need you to arrange transport for me and my companion to wherever Director Davis currently resides.

  We can’t promise that. We’re heading towards the Deep Core with supplies. But if we pass a convoy going the other way, we can transfer you to them…if you are telling us the truth.

  Scan my vessel. Board it. Search as you like. I have nothing to hide.

  You are bigger than us. Security is not easy. Do you understand?

  Once I get onboard I could kill all of you easily, I understand, Plausious said bluntly. I will submit to whatever requirements you make, but my companion must not be harmed and must not be separated from me. Those are my only requirements.

  We will send over a scout to confirm. Dropship is on its way.

  There will be no resistance. Thank you.

  Are you really the former Reignor?

  I am the current Reignor until my death or abdication. I cannot be forcible exiled. Truven is not the legitimate Reignor, and when I return there will be a reckoning…

  10

  August 18, 158390

  System 8221043 (Hadarak territory)

  Low Stellar Orbit

  Plausious stood inside a cargo bay on one of the Irondel cargo ships with the Ren’mak riding on his shoulder along with several crates of their food, for he wasn’t sure if they would have anything for his friend to eat. The rest was left on their ship, which was now sent to sit in a parking orbit further out into the system. The Reignor didn’t want to destroy it, even though it wasn’t a person and just a biological machine. Call it sentimentality, but he sent it with the proper telepathic codes so the Hadarak in the system would ignore it. And there it would sit for more than 100 years before it ran out of fuel, unless Star Force decided they wanted it and came back for it.

  There would be more convoys passing through this enemy-held system, and any Hadarak units near the star that tried to get in their way would be destroyed by the warships escorting the cargo ships. No combat had occurred this time, and the transfer between ships had been a smooth one, but now that he was inside a technological ship again, the hard synthesized floor plates felt very foreign to his bare and now well-calloused feet.

  A small hologram of an Irondel appeared to his right, standing only a few inches tall…then it enlarged to match his own height, with the quadruped/biped sitting back on its rear legs as it looked the Neofan in the eyes.

  “Most of the quarters on this ship are too small for you to use, and the same goes for the corridors, but every Star Force ship has at least some accommodations for Archons to use and emergency quarters for anyone we need to take onboard. On the far wall,” he said, pointing with a furry hand, “you will find one such area open. We have adjusted it to Neofan biology, but we are unaware of what your companion requires.”

  “We have been living in the forest for some time, so as long as we have access to water and a means to dispose of waste, we will be fine.”

  “You spoke of food earlier?”

  “I have brought an ample amount with me for the Ren’mak, while I have eaten yours before. I will endeavor to convert what you have for him over the course of our journey.”

  “How will you do that?”

  “Biochemical alteration is one of the Neofan’s enhanced abilities that I possess.”

  “About that. I need your word you will not try to leave the area assigned to you, nor open the cargo canisters around you. I’ve agreed to take you onboard, so please do not make me regret it.”

  “I am an ally of your Director Davis. I will not cause you trouble.”

  “And him?”

  “I will stay here,” the Ren’mak said, causing the Irondel to cock back his ears in surprise.

  “I upgraded his vocal chords,” Plausious offered, “and taught him your language. But any requests or orders yo
u have for him, send them through me. He knows nothing of your empire, and was born on the world where I was abandoned.”

  “How did that happen? And where did you get that ship?”

  “As I told the warship, my people betrayed me and left me out here to die to the Hadarak. As for the ship, I grew it after I encountered one of the Hadarak hidden leaders. I killed him and absorbed his ability to command the Hadarak on a limited basis. I used that power to have them grow a ship for me that I designed.”

  “Are you saying you can give the Hadarak in this system orders?”

  “I can when I am close to them. I have not yet developed far enough to assert widespread control across vast distances or to leave orders for them to follow.”

  “Do the other Neofan possess this ability?”

  “No. I alone do.”

  “The Archons will want to know of this. It could be important.”

  “I will be of little use in a large scale war, Irondel.”

  “But if what you claim is true, then you can control some Hadarak and make them stop attacking us?”

  “In close proximity I can cause them to shy off. I can’t make them not regard you as an enemy.”

  “Does that one regard us as the enemy?”

  “It has broken free of the Hadarak hive mind, and now follows my orders. I do not control it. It is my friend, but Director Davis will want to know, and I must speak with him on other matters. I am told you are heading deeper into the Core?”

  “We are. I am the Captain of this cargo ship and have been assigned to carry you until we return, or until we meet another convoy in passing. Most likely we will drop you off in a safe system and you can wait there for another coming back, but there’s no way to know where the fighting is and isn’t at this point.”

  “Is the war going poorly?”

  “No, but the Hadarak are gathering around our primary transit routes. What you’re on now is one of our backups recently created. We have no comms here, and we have to keep changing them. Our safe systems are only recently cleared, and have very little in the way of support infrastructure.”

  “How many jumps until we come to one?”

  “18 from here. We might pass another convoy insystem, but most likely it would happen between stars. We’ll get you back to your people eventually though.”

  “Thank you, Captain, but I must see your Director first.”

  “That’s not something I can do. I can only send you along.”

  “Can you tell me of your relationship with the Veloqueen? I have no knowledge of galactic events beyond what the Hadarak overseer knew.”

  “They call themselves the ‘Dotra,’ and we’ve been picking up quite a few during the fighting, making predictions of galactic doom trying to scare us into submission now that their Hadarak are losing against the Alliance.”

  “Are you referring to Star Force when you say ‘Alliance?’”

  “You have been out of the loop for a while. What’s the last thing you remember happening?”

  “Star Force was beginning to accept refugees from our home galaxy of Utovi and had just begun pushing in from the Grand Border against the Hadarak.”

  The Irondel whistled. “I’ll give you some limited database access so you can catch up, but the Veloqueen found the trailblazers in the Core and wanted to talk to the Uriti. After that meeting was arranged, the beginning of an Alliance was formed, just Star Force and the Veloqueen at first, and they went after some of the big gravity wells at the center of the galaxy. Still fighting there, but we possess about a third of them now and have cut off reinforcements from several big Hadarak galaxies.”

  “The gateways,” Plausious clarified.

  “Or tethers. People call them both. After the first assault word got around the Core thanks to the Veloqueen, and most of the indigenous Heidoor there signed on to fight the Hadarak, or at least to not fight Star Force. Apparently that was a big deal for some of them, just to allow coexistence. Then the Jedein were added to the Alliance and your people flipped out. They attacked several of our Temples and got the Vargemma to do most of the fighting for them. We haven’t got all of them back yet, and the Neofan are hiding pretty good. You made the Temples hard to get to for a reason, and they’re using it against us, but we’ve got them contained. They can’t get out.”

  “Don’t be so sure about that,” Plausious warned. “Who are the Jedein?”

  “Paul-024 met a Warden that talked back, then somehow he was able to get it to transform back into what it had been before somebody messed with their genetics. What came out of the cocoon was damn impressive. Totally biological, but not with the whole rock look of the Hadarak. It got a lot smarter too, and somehow still had its genetic memories from long ago. Why they weren’t wiped I don’t know, but now there’s a few Jedein and whenever we find a Warden that will talk, we capture it and bring it to them…then it gets converted and added to their population. Only works on a few of them, so maybe what you can do will help in some way.”

  “Is ‘Jedein’ their original name or something given to them?”

  “I don’t know. It’s not a reference that I’m aware of, but the Archons have a lot of tricky names you don’t realize come from something else. All I know is that when they showed up your people went crazy, and not long after we got them contained, the Bond of Resistance started reshuffling with a lot of the races realigning loyalties. The Veloqueen have a lot of weight to throw around, no pun intended. But you’d know that better than I do.”

  “I can suspect a great deal from that statement. Was the Neofan attack only House Atriark, or did more Neofan come from other galaxies?”

  “I think it was just the local group. No big armies showed up from outside. They did most of their damage with the Vargemma.”

  “What’s the status of the Core now?”

  “We’re winning, but the Hadarak had such a head start setting up colonies it’s taking forever to root them out, plus they’re still getting reinforcements from the outside. We have to compensate by shipping supplies in too, so we’re in a bit of a logistics competition and on the losing side of that. We’ve got to take more territory and get to mining it before we have a chance of catching up. But the help of the Heidoor has sealed the Hadarak’s fate. A lot of work to be done to finish it, but the eventual winner is no longer in doubt.”

  “What of the Denogi?”

  “They’re not here.”

  “Are they part of the Alliance?”

  “No. It’s the triumvirate plus tagalongs. But the tagalongs aren’t doing any fighting. The Veloqueen are working with them on stuff in other galaxies. We are too, but I don’t know what. The Denogi and Neofan have been somewhat upstaged. Is that going to be a problem for you?”

  “My loyalty is to the lightside, as first shown to me by the Director.”

  “You’ve met him?”

  “I have.”

  “Well then maybe he will see you. Would you like to compose a message to be sent to him? It’ll get there far before we do, and we can pass it in interstellar space to another convoy if it’s not too much data.”

  “I would prefer he knew of my existence as soon as possible.”

  “I’ll make arrangements for that. How did you survive all this time? Every system out here is Hadarak controlled. Did you find somewhere to hide?”

  “No. I had to fight constantly. I do not know how I did not die,” he said candidly. “I’ve lived millions of years, and what took place there seemed just as long. Three millennia seems far too short.”

  “I’m not sure what is customary for a Neofan, but do you wear clothes?”

  “I once did. They were destroyed.”

  “We can have something made to fit you, and your friend, if you like?”

  “Not today. I am finding the changes disconcerting enough.”

  “Are you carrying injuries?”

  “Not of the physical. But this exile has changed me, and I am realizing I did not know how much.”


  “You’re not the first person lost in Hadarak territory to be recovered. Some of the stories they tell are mind boggling. Is there anything you need?”

  “Transit…and time to process. Will you make available your records on the Neofan?”

  “What I have access to,” the Captain promised. “When you go back, will you be able to end the war?”

  Plausious frowned heavily. “When I go back, I’ll be starting a new one…”

  17 months later…

  Plausious stepped off the dropship, leaving behind the chain of cargo ships he’d been traveling on somewhere past the Grand Border, but still far from the area of the Rim where the Temples resided. However, he was met here by another ship. A command ship that would take him wherever he needed to go.

  Or at least that was what had been promised, but now as he walked down the ramp into the hangar bay of the vessel he saw a small Human waiting for him there, suggesting this was more than just transit.

  “I am still in awe that you’re alive,” Davis said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “As am I. I owe you a great debt.”

  “How so?”

  “You taught me the lightside, but I did not truly understand it until I was lost. I relied on your words to guide me, and without them I would not have survived the first day. I fought because fighting was preferable. A Neofan would have accepted his fate and died with more poise than someone scrambling to survive by every ounce of strength he had.”

  “Your people do like to avoid the direct fights.”

  Plausious hung his head apologetically. “I am deeply sorry for what they have done to you. You did not deserve it.”

  “They never said why. They never even spoke to us. Can you tell me what they are attempting to do?”

  “They are foreign to me now, but they know the immunity of the Temples well and attempted to reclaim them from you. Their arrogance most likely told them they could succeed and turn all the Vargemma against you. I tried to tell them of the lightside, but they were not interested in hearing it. Then when I was vulnerable, they abandoned me to die. Perhaps I do not understand them as well as I thought.”