“All of them?” she said, raising an eye ridge.
“Yes. Though there are none here who possess the higher tier ones, for we do not have the power output. But we can show you the more basic ones in person, and you can learn from our databanks the others, given time. It will not be a quick process.”
“I didn’t expect it would be, given that you’re marooned here. How long before you get a primary portal rebuilt?”
“One is partially complete now. Do we have permission to relocate to one of your Temples?”
“Director Davis has granted you that, and in exchange we will be sending a team here to oversee the rebuilding of this one…with a few redesigns. But for the moment I’m here alone. Where is the Reignor?”
“He is not in his ship. He is somewhere below ground, and moves around without our knowledge. He had done so since the beginning, and is working on things we are not privy to. We were ordered to collect you if and when you arrived.”
“Alright, consider me collected. Now what?”
“We will leave a message in the Temple systems for him, informing of your arrival. He will come to you.”
“And while we wait?”
“You may do what you wish.”
“Alright. First thing I want to see is the battle records of what happened here. All of it that you have. I want to see what caused this, and what led up to it.”
The first Neofan took a step to the side and gestured behind him. “This way, Nuv’ernor.”
“The name is Jasmyn,” she said, walking up to and beside the much larger biped. “When did you learn our language? You weren’t one of mine.”
“We have all been instructed to learn it, in our solitude here, in preparation for what is to come.”
“And what’s to come?”
“An alliance that gives you possession of all Temples as their caretakers, and within them we will strike back at the false Reignor and his zealots, ridding you of the annoyance.”
“And after that?”
“House Mutavi will eventually come. By then we must have consolidated and rebuilt our own House in preparation. The Reignor has foreseen our doom if we do not act swiftly. All Neofan will be purged from the galaxy in one form or another if we do not.”
“That’s the word on the street,” Jasmyn said as they entered a large hallway, even by Star Force standards. “All kinds of bad guys are going to start showing up to take a poke at us. Just make sure you guys pick the right side.”
“That decision has already been made. We will fight alongside Star Force, no matter what the outcome. To do anything less will insure our destruction. Only together do we have a hope of survival.”
“And why didn’t the zealots accept this?”
“There is a sickness in them that the Reignor is slowly purging from us. A sickness that he too once had, until your Director began the purge in him, and his exile on the Hadarak world completed it. The lightside is hard for us to understand, but we have been shown the way and we will dutifully follow it until we come to that understanding.”
“Zealots of another breed then.”
“Loyalists,” the Neofan corrected. “We trust in Plausious.”
“Who you already noted was previously sick. Was your trust in him then well deserved?”
“He saved us from the destruction of our home galaxy. Many other Neofan were left behind, but he arranged for us all to be evacuated here. He has said our culture is the sickness, and that he has to craft a new one before we will be free of it, and that will take time. It is something he is also working on now, as we wait.”
“Is that also why he wanted me here?”
“He did not say so, but you are a warrior of a lightside empire. And from observation we may come to an understanding of that which we have been grafted.”
“Grafted?”
“It is one form of learning for Neofan. The Reignor has given us a piece of himself, overwritten onto us. We can see what he saw, though we do not fully understand it.”
“Interesting. I wasn’t aware you could do a mind meld. How many other abilities have you hidden from us?”
“I cannot answer without knowing that which you already know.”
“Fair point,” she said, letting it slide. “I hope you have material replication the same as the Temple?”
“We do.”
“Good. Because I need some foodstuffs copied,” she said, pointing to her backpack, “before I eat them all. Mavericks have a high metabolism and have to eat regularly.”
“How often is regularly?”
“Every few hours,” she said, seeing his surprise. “How often do you eat?”
“Every few days. We will make available what you need on your schedule. Our food synthesis mechanisms are fully operable.”
“What isn’t fully operable?”
“Part of our offensive capability was destroyed, and our Essence reserves are nearly depleted. With no Vargemma here to refill them, we cannot enter combat again. And until our repairs are completed in another Temple, we will not engage the false Reignor’s ships. We have one chance to strike, and we must not fail. They do not know what has happened here, and when we inform them, we must rally all those still faintly loyal to our fight. If we show weakness, those wavering will not join us. To do so futilely would mean their execution.”
“They have to have someone to turn to that can protect them,” Jasmyn summarized.
“Indeed. Otherwise they will be identified and purged. That was not in our previous culture. Where this new sickness comes from we do not know, but it was spreading everywhere, and the false Reignor does nothing to stop it. And the Diem supports it.”
“When a civilization is built on lies, it will inevitably fall.
