“Surprised to see me, Fero?” Plausious said in the Neofan language when the pair walked up near him then stopped and just stared.
“I am trying to determine if you are a clone or some other subterfuge of Star Force. And that Hadarak…”
“It is under my protection. Any who harm it will die. Is that clear?”
“Why bring it here?”
“It is of value to me, but only alive. Did you not find the tale of my death odd?”
“I did, but you were behaving oddly before you left. The Star Force taint is still upon you.”
“Why did Truven invade?”
“It was a miscalculation. The Vargemma should have tipped the scales and allowed us to seize all the Temples. We did not anticipate Star Force being able to corrupt them…nor you.”
“You claim I am corrupted. How then would you describe the Diem?”
“They ensure our purity.”
“By violating our laws?”
“Is that what truly happened? They showed us pictures of your death. How am I to know you are really Plausious?”
The Reignor’s chin tilted up slightly, and suddenly a Men’shua ensued between the pair. A telepathic struggle that they had often undertaken to test each other’s strength, and as a means to teach the younger Neofan his weaknesses and how to guard against them being exploited.
Plausious knew all his weak spots, and went for them in series as Fero tried counterattacks where his former master was the least strong. It was better than any genetic fingerprint, for a clone or imposter would not have the same mental makeup, nor the familiarity with the other’s mind, and when Fero finally succumbed to the superior onslaught, Plausious sensed he was convinced, but his companion was not as she tried to intervene and stop the momentary subjugation, but her skills were far less than either of the males, making Plausious wonder why she was here.
Fero answered in a manner she could not overhear, saying that she was a watcher assigned by Reignor Truven to ensure that the Neofan in this Temple did not become contaminated by their contact with Star Force. And if they did, she would deal with the contamination by whatever means necessary to protect the rest of the Neofan.
Plausious scowled, and to Fero’s dismay he pointed to the female and lifted her off the ground in a stranglehold.
“You let this insanity persist?” he accused Fero, as well as the others in the barges looking on as the escorts reached out with their own telepathy to break Plausious’s hold on her…and succeeded.
She dropped back to her feet, with an evil look in her eyes.
“He is full of taint. Kill him before he infects the rest of us.”
In that moment Plausious had a choice to make of how to handle this situation. He knew Star Force would handle it in a different manner, and probably be more successful in the long run, but the Reignor knew his people and their culture better than Davis’s empire did, and other than imprisoning them all indefinitely and claiming the young to train properly, he knew there would be no willing conversions. The Neofan would become a burden long before they began to be of use, and Plausious knew this galaxy did not have that much time.
Without even sending the Ren’mak off his shoulder, Plausious waved a hand in the direction of the Overseer…and cut her head off with an Essence blade that he extended out across the gap between them with her feeble attempts to stop it being negated easily with a suppression technique.
He did it so fast the guards were caught dumbstruck as her head fell and rolled across the ground while her body remained rigid and standing for several seconds before finally tipping backwards and falling with her Gorvaj catching it and propping it up halfway as they too went rigid.
“Unless you all want to die,” he bellowed vocally and telepathically, “you will abandon this madness. There is no taint in myself or in Star Force. It is a lie of the Diem, just as my death was. You know the rules. A Reignor cannot be exiled unwillingly. So if I stand before you now, how can the Diem be intact? How can they be untainted if they break the very basic tenants of our society that have kept us from killing each other into extinction like the younger races. Where is the respect for those that have lived millions of years and will live more? They left me on that Hadarak world to die without even the benefit of a warning. No questions were asked. No review was made. I was betrayed. So tell me truly, who is tainted? Me? Or the Diem?”
No one spoke, and no one moved, but Plausious sensed many on the verge of attacking.
“Explain how the Diem can be untainted. Any of you? If you are about to move against me, let it be for solid reasoning and not unintelligent zealotry. How can the Diem be truthful if I am still alive? How can they guard our society when they break its laws? They are supposed to guard against the law breaking, and yet it is they who do it? Answer me, Fero.”
“We saw your body eaten by the Hadarak.”
“Then how am I here now?”
“I do not know.”
“Insufficient response.”
“You do not understand the…changes that have occurred since your death.”
“I can guess. How many Neofan have been killed for this taint rather than exiled?”
“The Diem said it cannot be allowed to spread across the galaxy. Exiling the tainted would contaminate others.”
Plausious’s eyes filled with rage. “How many?”
“Thousands,” Fero said, breaking eye contact in shame. “And
