by Aer-ki Jyr
The others had tried many times to escape, but what little progress they made was always thwarted. First by their technology, and after the Neofan learned the bounds of what it could and could not do, the red tails stopped them personally.
All Nuv’ernor were supposed to be under the possession of the ruling House for just this reason. They were too powerful to be allowed even a limited amount of freedom, but the Neofan did not rule in this galaxy yet, and a number were known to exist within Star Force. The red tails was one of them, and every successful attempt they made to break out of the prison she was there to subdue them. They had tried to harm her, even a little, but she left them no openings to exploit, and it was said she never left the prison to do battle elsewhere. She was their constant curse, and the Neofan here hated her the most out of their enemies. If Kelmaran could trade his life for a chance to kill her, he would take it without hesitation…and many had tried, and failed, to do so.
Most had given up trying, but every now and then they’d attempt to escape just to fight the boredom. They were confined in a series of buildings they had free run of, given food and clothing if they wished it, but all the Neofan denied the clothing. They would not wear the Star Force garments, and only ate the food because they had no other options.
So they sat, or paced, with it seeming to be a failure of the Star Force prison system early on. There was no punishment, no interrogation, no labor, nothing of value to Star Force. They just kept them here for seemingly no reason, offering to teach them the Star Force ways but not attempting to compel it, but Kelmaran had been wrong. They had one powerful weapon here, and it was the boredom.
A few of the Neofan had cracked and started using the automated training facilities. At first they said it was for information gathering, and then they suggested that if they got access to other areas of the prison they might be able to find a way to escape from them. Kelmaran had agreed to help with that, and did enough of Star Force’s tasks to earn him access to a challenge course, but when he blasted a hole in one of the walls to see what was behind it he was denied entrance to it again for 3 months.
They had made up a mental map of everything they could, but in the end it was useless as they probed every avenue of escape and found that Star Force had them all locked down with countermeasures. They could tear up the levels they were in, but beyond them were shield walls and Essence-negating material that would soak in their attacks and feed them into machines that would fight back using their own energy against them.
So the Neofan had stopped playing along and sat…except for a few that continued to learn the lessons offered to them in the hope that something would change. The hope that they would have something new to do. Walking the halls in the same pattern, going the same places, day in and day out without even a night cycle to break up the time spent here wore on them. There not even any clocks to mark the passage of time. Only alerts when they were needed, and never any countdowns.
It was torture in a way that Kelmaran had never thought possible…and Star Force wasn’t doing anything to them. They were tricking them into doing it to themselves, for they even offered a way to leave the prison someday, if they converted to Star Force’s philosophy. The Neofan had to choose to reject it and any hope of escaping not only the prison, but the useless existence they were forced into.
And some of them had cracked under that silent pressure. None were embracing Star Force philosophy, for that would mean the end of their lives as Neofan. But they were doing some of their training exercises, if only occasionally, to break up the doldrums.
Others tried to provoke the red tails to come in and fight them…which proved more entertaining, but equally pointless. Most had grown tired of that as well, and had taken to squabbling with each other…but even their infighting was taken from them as the red tails would intervene. She was intent on destroying them in this void of freedom that no Neofan should be forced to exist within.
One of them had tried to kill himself to escape, expending his Essence to the critical level where his Core would detach…but the prison sensors detected it and rendered him unconscious before he could deplete himself to that level. And attempts to physically kill themselves were too dishonorable to contemplate, though a few had tried. The red tails had them revived, then punished them by putting them into semi-stasis in holding cells that kept them awake but unable to move.
Those did have a countdown in them, at the end of which they were released back into their normal confines. Apparently not being able to move was worse than their current state, for the suicide attempts stopped shortly after that punishment was experienced.
Lack of eating was also countered, as the red tails would not let them die. She intended to break their will, but Kelmaran would not oblige her. He would defy her to the end, and used what Essence he had to train with the others and gradually increase their abilities…but without recharge from the Vargemma or their servants they had to wait between sessions as their bodies rebuilt their previous Essence levels after each exertion.
The red tails rarely came into the prison without a reason, but today the main doors issued a summons pulse throughout the facility, and Kelmaran responded out of curiosity only. Whatever the reason was, it was unexpected, and the irregularity of the beacon sound was a breath of fresh air to his stagnant mind.
But when he got to the doors the red tails was not there. Instead there was another Neofan that walked through as they opened, and with him a small Hadarak avian flew over his head. Kelmaran was so surprised to see a Hadarak he didn’t take in the fact that he recognized the Neofan’s face until one of the others spoke his name aloud.
“Plausious?” one of them said in disbelief. “I thought you were dead.”
“A lie,” the former Reignor said. “The Diem marooned me on a Hadarak world I was engaging in single combat on. They expected me to die, as did I once they left me behind with no means of escape. But I did not, and when I found a way to return to Star Force I discover you launched an attack against them. Why must you be so helpless without my leadership?”
“Why is there a Hadarak with you?” someone else asked, drawing an intimidating glare from Plausious.
“This Hadarak is my loyal companion. Anyone who harms it I will kill instantly. I want that understood clearly so there will be no mistakes. This Ren’mak is more valuable to me than all of you combined.”
“Are you a prisoner?” Kelmaran yelled out from behind a row of other Neofan who were all crowding into the small room to see the new arrival.
“I am not. I am here to free you.”
“You defeated the red tails?” someone else asked, only to hear a faint laugh from far off past the still open doors, and everyone knew her voice as synonymous with utter contempt.
“Director Davis is my friend and ally,” Plausious said firmly. “When I was betrayed by the Diem, I was in the process of negotiating an alliance with them. I was also learning from them, and have since learned a great deal more in my solitude on that Hadarak planet. I have seen the Endgame, and I know now we were wrong about the preborn. We are not the trigger, merely useful tools in the attempt. The Endgame can only be achieved by those who are lightside, and the darkside inherently tries to stop them, rallying and combining their strength temporarily until the lightsiders are taken down, then they return to destroying each other. The Natural Order is their attempt to preserve themselves against their own nature, and the Neofan have been chasing a hollow goal. We have been darkside, and as such the Endgame was never reachable by us. But Star Force is near to triggering it, and I intend to give them the chance. There is much you have to learn, and much you have to change. The future of the Neofan lies in the lightside…or in death. There is no other option,” he said, pulsing out an aura of Essence to give the others some idea of his new power level as the Ren’mak flew down and landed on his right shoulder.
“You have joined them?” Kelmaran said in disgust…then flinched when he remembered who he was talking to.
“No, but he offered to take us into his empire. We are not worthy of it, and I declined. We are far older than them, and in many ways we are superior. But with that superiority comes a responsibility that we have failed to uphold. We should be their superiors, but we are not. We are inferior, and I will not let that inferiority stand. I must destroy Neofan culture in order to save our race, for unless it is built back up in the lightside, we are as good as dead already. I see that now. You do not. You are blind to our atrocities, our laziness, and our cowardice. The Endgame is upon us, and I will not allow us to stand by and allow others to determine its fate. The Neofan will rise to the challenge and dominate in the war to come, or we will be ground into dust by either our enemies or ourselves. I will not allow the status quo to continue, for we are on the wrong side.”
“How can you say that?” someone else asked, although more respectfully than Kelmaran had.
“I say it because I have a responsibility as Reignor, and I have previous failed you. When I began to learn from my mistakes and adjust course, the Diem betrayed me. I did not see it coming. But I see what is coming now, and we are not ready for it. Star Force will ignite the Endgame war, and succeed or fail, they will draw all darkside races to them. They will come here, and try to destroy everything Star Force has built, and they will run over us at the same time. The Natural Order will be abandoned, and even if Star Force is defeated, all the darkside races will be in the same place at the same time…and our nature will ensure our quick erasure.”
“But I have seen more than this, both in vision and in person. The Endgame has happened before, billions of years ago, and it was completed. A lightside civilization triggered it, and out of it a new race was birthed. One far more advanced than us. A few of them are still alive, and their memories of their beginning make one thing clear. They were spawned by the lifesprings into a galaxy that was devastated. The lightsiders were nowhere to be found, nor were the darksiders. All that was left was rubble, and my vision tells me that this will happen again even if Star Force succeeds in achieving the Endgame. Our mission is not to trigger it, or to stop it. Our mission is to survive it when all other civilizations are destroyed…and the only way we can do that is to work together with our natural allies. The lightside bonds all together. There is no Natural Order to be maintained. And as such, our fate is now intrinsically linked with Star Force’s. We live or die together, and I intend for us to live.”
“I have asked Director Davis for you, and he has given me possession of you to do with as I please. If you choose to embrace the path I put before you, you will return with me to our Temples and begin learning the power of the lightside. If you do not, then you were hereby ordered to travel to the nearest Zotav and leave this galaxy…either into exile or to travel to Yenoiv and beg House Mutavi to take you in. Their anger with me will be so great they might accept you into a reformed House Atriark, but if you choose to go to them you take your chances. If you stay here and oppose me, you will meet your doom, for I will suffer no more delays and treachery. I have seen the path our race must take, and all those who will not walk it must be removed. If I am not swift in making the necessary changes, we will not be ready for the Endgame war, and it could be upon us sooner than even I anticipate, for I do not know what the initial trigger is.”
Plausious looked at all of them, crowded together naked and with looks of horror and relief mixed together. “You look stunned. Speak your minds freely.”
“The Diem would not remove you unless you were compromised,” Kelmaran said.
“I no longer care for our useless rules,” Plausious said dismissively, which seemed to cement his treachery in the faces of many of the onlooking Neofan. “But if you care, then you should remember that a Reignor cannot be forcibly exiled. I must leave voluntarily or be killed in combat. The Diem broke our rules when they marooned me.”
“They said you were killed by the Hadarak because you insisted on single combat without help from the warship you traveled there on,” another said.
“Is that the lie they told you?” Plausious asked rhetorically. “Interesting. Did no one want to see my body recovered?”
“They said it was eaten by the Hadarak before they could intervene.”
“And did they show you it happen?”
“Yes. We all saw you die,” someone else said.
“But it didn’t look right,” another added. “You didn’t fight the same way as before.”
“Did they show you the entirety of my combat there?”
“Yes they did. It is known to all Neofan. Your death was legendary.”
“It was faked,” Plausious said, stating the obvious. “And I do not expect them to kneel down before me when I return. If you choose to come with me, there may be a war between Neofan to fight. If you do not wish this, then go to Yenoiv and I will not consider you enemies. But I will be summoning all Neofan from Yenoiv here, along with all exiles, to rally to the Endgame war. As of now, I am disbanding House rule and assuming personal command over our entire race. That may anger Mutavi enough to accept you in Yenoiv. And they may travel here to destroy me. If so, then I will fight them here and I will fight all that I need to, but I will free our race from the darkside legacy that shackles us. You have a choice to make, but you will make it as free Neofan, not in this prison…unless you want to stay with Star Force and join their empire. If you do you go with my blessing, for they are wise and you can learn much from them, but I have greater things for us to accomplish and need all who remain loyal to swear allegiance…and all those who are not loyal need to simply leave this galaxy never to return unless you do so to submit yourselves to my lightside rule.”
“What is this lightside?” someone asked. “Will it take us out of alignment?”
“I imagine I have gone far outside alignment, and it is that measurement that shackles us to the darkside. It forces us into apathy, and through apathy we are dragged into a state of horrors without even knowing it, for apathy is a dulling of our senses, and our internal warnings. Mine are clear now, and I see the dangers before me and in my past, but I am no longer bound to the darkside. My marooning on the Hadarak world allowed my eyes to be opened, and though I nearly died thousands of times, I discovered what the lightside truly was.”
“It is superiority incarnate,” Plausious said with such awe and reverence booming in his voice it had a visible effect on the Neofan. “And it is the only power that will allow the Neofan to survive what’s coming. We must harness this power before it is too late, and I have seen the way to do this. The changes will be radical, yet I will not kill anyone who wishes to walk another path. But you must do so outside this galaxy. Not because I condone what you do, but because this is where the Endgame will be fought, and I will not have time to travel to Yenoiv or elsewhere to deal with the misdeeds there. I must deal with those here and now and ready us for what’s coming. Lightside does not kill lightside, and in this basic principle is its greatest strength. And because of this I can trust Director Davis and Star Force fully, for they are lightside, and it was he who taught me the first lessons of it, and those lessons are what allowed me to survive the Hadarak.”
“And this one,” he said, pointing to the Ren’mak. “It chose to defy the Hadarak’s orders, and because of that they sentenced it to immediate death. If it can find the courage to defy their will, what excuse does a Neofan have for the cowardice to reject the path I have placed before you?”
That insult rattled many of them out of their stupor, and the fact that they had never seen a Hadarak that would not attack them on sight made this whole setting seem even more surreal.
Plausious raised his left hand and the Ren’mak took to the air again, hovering above him as the Reignor pointed to the side wall…then disintegrated it, pushing the debris outward so it did not cloud the chamber within.
But when the dust cleared the other Neofan saw it was not just that wall…but every wall between them and the outside, with the open air now visible thr
ough all the rubble as he shoved the last of the dust outside more than a half mile away. Even the Essence-absorbing armor had somehow been pushed through.
“Go to the portals. Star Force will not stop you. If you choose to follow me, go to Installation 0193. If you do not follow me, go to the Zotav and leave this galaxy, for if you seek to oppose me here, I will not be as merciful as Star Force was. Go now, and make your decision along the way.”
The Neofan barely moved at first, almost as if they didn’t believe they could leave…or that Plausious was truly alive. Some feared this was a gigantic illusion set up by the red tails to mock them, but once a few began to stagger step their way towards and through the first hole, the rest eventually followed, with Plausious being the last to walk out.
Then in a long line they ran or walked across the desert, finding the closest information terminals and getting their bearings, then heading off in a few different directions to the portals of their choosing, deciding to scatter in case Star Force would be following to round them up again.
Plausious let them all go ahead of him, then he and the Ren’mak made their way underground and into Caretaker territory as they reprovisioned for the journey ahead, and what would most likely be a fight to come…for he had inquired of the destination of the portal activity, and more than a third of the Neofan had not taken his warning and traveled to other Temples.
Meaning that if and when he encountered them in the future, they would be enemies and he would have to kill them on the spot rather than risk a second betrayal that he did not see coming.
6
The journey through the portals was boring for the Ren’mak, having to float there without anywhere to fly to, but Plausious knew the calm would end when they reached their destination. He had sent the others ahead so the Neofan in Installation 0193 would know he was coming and assemble…but he wasn’t going to be where they thought he was, for Plausious was using one of the backup portal locations that had probably never been activated in the Temple…and one that could not be blocked from their end given the codes he possessed.