Gauntlet Wars: House Phoenix (Star Force Gauntlet Wars Book 3), page 1
Prologue
“Are you here to execute or exile me?” Truven asked as he sensed a presence behind him as the Neofan looked out a window across the surface of one of their many Temples in this galaxy.
“Neither,” Reignor Plausious said, resplendent in his golden armor that covered him from booted feet all the way up to his midsection, leaving his chest bare, but with gauntlets and a crown upon his head that was far more than ornamental.
Truven turned around to face him, wearing nothing but a thin robe. His own regal armor had been taken from him when he’d been captured years ago.
“Then why come to me now after all this time?” he asked, a mix of anger and shame. “To visit your pet? Do you mean to keep me here forever?”
“I have been waiting,” Plausious said, pacing slightly before the former Reignor as his armored heels clicked on the hard surface of the quarters that Truven had been assigned to house arrest within.
“For what purpose? To further humiliate me?”
“You refer to capturing you alive as humiliation?”
“There cannot be two Reignors,” Truven said painfully. “I stand here a fraud. What greater shame can there be? Killing me would be a mercy that you have not granted.”
“If you truly wished to die you could do it yourself simply by expending all your Essence,” Plausious lectured calmly, “so do not coddle me with fanciful lies.”
“Why are you here now rather than speaking to me before?” Truven reiterated.
“A warrior from House Mutavi named Vikarathe has declared himself Reignor of a new House Phoenix that he is building from what is left of our people.”
Truven snarled. “Mutavi will hunt him down and kill him for that sacrilege.”
Plausious frowned at him sympathetically. “Has no one told you?”
“No one comes to speak with me at all.”
“I left orders they could,” Plausious said apologetically. “I should have expected them to avoid you, but I thought you still had friends, if not allies, left in our House.”
“My friends are dead and I was but a puppet at the end. There is no one left to speak with me, though I had thought you would, at least to gloat.”
“Truven, Yenoiv is destroyed. The Mev drove House Mutavi to declare war on all other Houses and they annihilated each other. Vikarathe has traveled there to gather what survivors he can and is recruiting exiled Neofan, any that he can find that have not already come to me. We are on the edge of oblivion.”
Truven stared at him for a moment but said nothing.
“I need every one of us that still lives,” Plausious finally said. “Including you.”
“Why?”
“Because we have no time to reproduce and rebuild. The Gauntlet War is upon us, and those who created and unleashed the Mev are now trying to destroy Star Force. If they succeed, they will have little trouble finishing us off afterwards. Our time is now. We must join with Star Force and defy our would-be executioners. I will not waste any living Neofan, no matter what their condition is. I do not care for the old conventions. They are dead now. House Atriark lives, but is severely weakened, and House Phoenix is being born from the remnants of the others. We cannot afford to kill each other for any reason, and we rarely did before, or do you not remember those times?”
“I do…barely,” Truven said, half turning back to the window. “But there cannot be two Reignors, and I cannot step down. Exile or execution is the only option.”
“You could choose another path and accept the demotion, but I know you will not, and others that are clinging to what heritage we have left would have difficulty accepting you as anything other than a Reignor.”
“Then what is it that you were waiting for before confronting me?”
“I do not care what you and the others have done in the past. There is no way to know how much of it was you or the Mev. So we are starting anew, and with Star Force’s ability to cleanse us of the Mev, we have a second chance that our enemies did not intend for us to have,” Plausious said, reaching into a pocket in his armored pants that appeared out of nowhere, from which he drew a small green pearl.
“This is what I was waiting for. Star Force promised me they would be able to create it…or recreate it…and now they have done so. It draws the energy created by all life and uses it to purge the Mev from any within its radius. It does so slowly, but it will allow us to cleanse any remaining individuals without having to call upon Star Force’s few individuals capable of doing so. We have our independence again, Truven. These devices will protect us against reinfection if the enemy attempts to destroy us in the same way.”
“What enemy exactly?”
“Their masters are called the T’fen, and their servants are attacking this galaxy now. We suspect one of their servants created the Mev, but we do not know which one. The T’fen are synthetic, not flesh and blood, so it is unlikely one of their machinations.”
“You said war was upon us. How does it fare?”
“The T’fen are sending in multiple races from distant galaxies. They are not all here yet, but with the Hadarak, they have three. The Asferja came across the galactic void using a transport technology that allowed them to land in the Rim. Star Force knew they were coming and have bottled them up. They are a swarm race, and are colonizing a nearby galaxy to grow new troops to continually send in assault. Star Force and Vikarathe went there to distract and delay them using the Vargemma, and it is there that he will establish House Phoenix. This galaxy belongs to House Atriark. We will not share it with other Neofan. This is the new order Vikarathe and I have agreed upon. If you will accept it, I have a mission for you to potentially create a third House.”
Truven spun his head around suddenly, as if he could not have heard correctly. “From what? If this Vikarathe is taking all the survivors…” he broke off suddenly as he understood.
“Not all of them. We know there are probably many from all the other Houses still waiting for transit to Yenoiv in Utovi. They may all have been destroyed by the Mev, but I doubt the Hadarak and Pafdreng could have destroyed all our Temples there. It is possible there is no-one left to rescue, but if you can find even a single one, you will become a new Reignor of a new House, and House Atriark’s predicament will be solved. There will be only one Reignor again.”
“How will I get there?”
“I will give you a small vessel with enough Essence to travel back home. After that you are on your own, and must gather whatever is left of our people, and our former servants, to survive in that galaxy. Play dead if you must and wait for the enemy to pull back. I do not think the Hadarak will continue coming into Utovi in mass when they are needed here to further weaken Star Force. You must be coy. Can you do this, Truven? Or was your ascension totally that of a puppet?”
“I do not know about my ascension. The Diem orchestrated it all. But if there is a chance to regain my honor…I will pursue it.”
“Why did they fake your death? Was it to draw me in? That seemed counter-productive.”
“Did you not ask them?”
“They are all dead, and not by our doing. The Mev consumed them in ways I do not even want to recall after we captured them. We got no information from them.”
“They did not arrange it,” Truven admitted, sitting back on the armrest of a large throne-like chair. “I did.”
“You?” Plausious asked, surprised.
“I knew I was a puppet all along, but I thought I would still be a Reignor in part. By that time they had assumed so much power I was taking orders from them. I was a fraud. I meant to escape them, so I faked my death and fled into the nether regions of the Temple and traveled to another. They tracked me down eventually, and used my supposed assassination attempt as cause to further slaughter our people. I became ‘injured’ and unable to command until healed, at which point I became their prisoner just as I am now yours.”
“I was told they had killed you, then later that you were still alive. I wish we could have come sooner, for I did not expect anything like this Mev to even be possible. I thought we had time to reconquer Atriark responsibly.”
“You have nothing to be ashamed of,” Truven said dismissively. “You saved our House. I helped to usher in its destruction.”
“Then redeem yourself now,” he said, handing him the pearl. “It is a pathway, however small, that you can pursue.”
Truven took it from him, but sensed no telepathic interlink. “How does it operate?”
“It’s always active. Place it near those affected and it will gradually eat away at the Mev. More so in highly populated areas.”
“And this new House’s name?”
“It does not exist until you rescue at least one,” Plausious urged. “But it will be called Sovarsti,” he said, referencing an ancient legend of a deposed prince who eventually regained the throne after a long, arduous quest, “and our offspring will be trained by Star Force. That is not negotiable,” he said at Truven’s sneer. “They are already in possession of House Atriark’s, and will be of House Phoenix’s as well.”
“Why do you seek to tether us to them?”
“It was the construction of our offspring that the Mev was introduced through. The talismans were contaminated with it. Star Force’s new race, the Furyans, are much like we were a long time ago. They are nearly our peers, and they have overcome the difficulties in
“I have no place to argue, though I find it distasteful.”
“It will not matter if we do not survive this war. At least you will be traveling far from it.”
“That is no comfort,” Truven said, referencing the purging war still playing out in Utovi that the Neofan had retreated from millennia ago, leaving their servant races behind for lack of ability to transport even a tiny fraction of them between galaxies.
“Others I would ask to accept a graft, but it is inappropriate for a Reignor,” Plausious said. “You will have to learn on your own. Learn about our bonded ally. Learn about the path of true honor. They showed it to me, and I have shown others through the grafting. It is our only hope to have a destiny beyond oblivion.”
“They are an inferior empire to us. They cannot even build a single Temple.”
“In time they will. Until then, we must make sure they survive.”
“And what of the Bond?”
“The Veloqueen have already engaged in combat alongside them. The Denogi are remaining neutral. The Bond is uninvolved except in Andromeda, where they are under attack from the Asferja.”
“They are targeting the Bond of Resistance as well as Star Force?”
“No, the Klix are simply in the way and the Asferja need their worlds to grow more troops. They are being stepped on, nothing more. Our opponents are beyond us in many ways, Truven. But together with Star Force and the Veloqueen, we may be able to survive. I want as many Neofan that can be found gathered together, so we may face this with the utmost strength possible. We cannot waste any survivors, for we cannot replace them quickly enough to matter.”
“Are we to survive, or is this an honorable way to die?”
“It is too early to tell, but the binary assaults in the Rim and the Core have been blunted. The Jaegers coming through in the Core are commanding planet-sized craft, Truven. Yet Star Force and the Veloqueen have met them and have not yielded the arrival system. It may fall eventually, but the fact that they cannot take it easily with all their assembled might should send a message to the T’fen that this galaxy will not fall easily. It is our job to strengthen them as much as we can, and our Essence skills are far beyond theirs…save for their Nuv’ernor, which we can put to far better use than they can.”
“They are giving them to us?”
“No. We will never enslave them again. We are working with them to teach them what they do not yet know.”
“Giving away our secrets,” Truven said regretfully.
“We cannot survive alone. What else would you have me do?”
“I am not fit to advise. I was never a true Reignor.”
“It takes more than an anointing. If you can rescue the others and survive in Utovi honorably, then you will deserve the title.”
“And what do you mean by honorably?”
“That is what you must learn from the materials I will be sending with you. Study them closely during your journey. This is my final order as your Reignor.”
“Then this could very well be exile and execution,” Truven said, standing up again.
“Only if you fail. If you and we succeed, the Neofan will become the Essence guardians to Star Force, and we will symbiotically claim multiple galaxies. We have the potential to rise further than we ever have before, Truven. I rarely think of it now with the challenges we face, but it is there in the background. We possessed one galaxy in full. We are no longer bound to that one.”
“It seems I am now…but I never liked leaving in the first place. House Mutavi were cowards, Pafdreng or no.”
“Good. You still have some fire left within you.”
“Fire was never the issue, Plausious. You know that.”
“Are we still adversaries, Truven?”
“I do not know that we ever were. The revelation of the Mev has me questioning everything we did going back to when we were in Utovi. Did we fail to secure it because of the Mev?”
“Probably not. I am told it scales slowly, so our stupidity would not have been as great back then. But it could have played a role in it. There is no way to know now.”
“Then we must rebirth our race from the moment of our cleansing,” he said, kneeling before his Reignor. “I am not a Reignor yet, and never truly was. Whatever is past let it be past. I will honor your request, if for nothing more than to assist you in preserving House Atriark. If they discover I am in Utovi, they may divert some of their resources there.”
“That is not what I want.”
Truven’s head came up, but his knee stayed on the ground. “No?”
“You must be cunning, not obvious. Do not let them know you are there. Stay in the shadows.”
“If I am to gather our servants, how can I do that from the shadows?”
“You must find a way. Drawing attention will doom you. Do not try to conquer Utovi, try to survive within it.”
“They will never stop assaulting it until the purge is complete.”
“They cannot see everything everywhere.”
“I do not know what you want of me now.”
“Learn from Star Force. Learn how they survived against the V’kit’no’sat, who was wholly superior to them. Star Force was smarter. And they survived until they had an opportunity to do more. You may not be able to see a way to exist long term in Utovi, so do not concern yourself with one now. Focus on the immediate future, and you will only be able to do that when you see what is going on there now. Stay alive, gather others, gain strength. Do not try to take on the Hadarak or the Pafdreng directly. That is not your mission. You are to defy them by refusing to die.”
“Give me what information you think I need, then send me on my way. Whoever is left there will be diminishing with every day. I will not waste a single one here dithering over my confusion. I will learn on the journey. I am to travel alone?”
“Yes. You must craft your new House beginning with one member and by recovering what you can of what was lost to build something anew. It is the greatest challenge a Reignor could ever be given.”
“Yours now is greater, Plausious.”
“Not in scope. I inherited power. You must build and collect it from the remnants of what we left behind…if possible. There may not be enough left, or you may not be able to find it. Communication was down before we left. You should begin in the Temples and go from there.”
“With a ship to keep?”
“Yes. I am not sending you on foot.”
“What of your agreement with Star Force to not use servants?”
“House Atriark will not. I suggest that any you find still alive you consider to be lesser allies. Use the history that still lingers, but treat them better than we did. Again, look at how Star Force incorporates other races, even the most pathetic of ones, into their empire in a useful way, yet they treat none as expendable. They have made it work. Use their example and build on it.”
“Make sure I have all the information I need, then send me on my way.”
Plausious reached forward and put a hand on Truven’s head. “I am not sending you to fail. I am sending you to somewhere that you are likely to fail. Defy the odds, and you will become a legitimate Reignor…one of three. And if we do not survive this war, we will be the last three.”
“I am not one yet.”
“The next time I hear from you, you will be,” he said, releasing his head. “Now rise and go. Utovi will not be completely destroyed by now, but it will continue to burn. Save who you can and forge them into a shield. Atriark and Phoenix are the swords. If we are able, one day we will join you and fully retake Utovi…but we must win here first.”
“I believe I understand. I am not the solution, I am the preserver.”
Plausious nodded. “Your ship is ready, all the materials are onboard. Platform 18. May fortune find you and the others that remain.”
Truven held up the pearl. “Is this the only one?”
“It is self-replicating. Place it in a nutrient bath with the necessary materials and it will double. The instructions are onboard. But do not lose it. It is the only one I have to send with you. The other we must keep to replicate more from.”
“Star Force only gave you two?”
