about that. At any rate, it had been clear that nothing had changed in Orin's mind either.
But his younger brother was alive on this Castai. It did not matter. To change course now would be a death sentence for him. He had betrayed his people to the Vorn and now the Vorn to the Baruk.
In the distance, scanners picked up the large vessel he had fixed the navigation system upon. The strider automatically slowed its pace as the docking bay of the Baruk vessel locked onto it and guided the ship inside. Kale prepared himself to give report of the battle. He pushed lingering thoughts of home and family as far away from him as he could and proceeded down the ramp to the waiting Baruk.
INSIDE Tiet's cabin, Ranul and Wynn discussed the events leading up to this battle at Baeth Periege. The Vorn cruiser under Estall's command was still in position guarding the city, but the Horva had fled hours ago.
Still, the western portion of the city was in ruins from the battle. The space port and surrounding buildings, including the main cloning compound, were devastated almost completely.
Tiet stood in the shower stall of the washroom, letting the hot water pour over him. He wished the steamy water could cleanse away the recent memories in his mind; even that he himself could be dissolved in it and washed away never to be thought of again.
When the heating cell in his quarters ran low on stored hot water the temperature began to change and so did his desire to stay there in it. He turned off the faucet and stepped out to dry himself. He noticed in the wall mounted mirror that his body was covered in cuts, scrapes and bruises.
These last few days had been the most exhausting and punishing experience of his young life. He stared into his own face reflected before him. Why had he lived while others had died? And did he really want to go on living without them?
He clothed himself in a simple garment and came into the other portion of the cabin where Ranul and Wynn were still talking. Tiet caught Orin's name mentioned before he entered the room.
'Who killed Orin?' asked Tiet abruptly.
Both men gave him uneasy stares, as though the answer was known but they weren't sure of whether to give it.
'Wynn, I saw your face when Orin said the name. He said Kale killed him. Kale was my father. But he could not have meant my father. You seemed to know who he meant by your expression.'
Ranul looked at Wynn also.
'Ranul, do you know who this person is? I think the time for secrets is over.'
'You're right. You need to know the truth. The person Orin named is not your father, but your brother.'
'What!?' Tiet could hardly stand at the statement. 'Wynn, I don't have a brother!'
'Actually Tiet, you do,' confirmed Ranul. 'He's your older brother.'
'Why have I never been told these things? Why didn't Orin tell me this?!'
'Three years after you were born there was an incident,' said Ranul. 'While under Orin's command, your brother was to guard a certain village of three thousand people with a squadron under his command. He had always been a brash young man and given to conflict with his superiors.
'Kale decided that there was no real threat to the village and took the majority of his fighter squadron onto the battle front, while leaving only a few to guard the people. The Horva attacked during that time and almost two thousand men, women and children were killed as a result of his irresponsibility.
'Orin was furious with him and petitioned your father to remove his rank as a warrior. Your father was ashamed of him and did so and Kale was dishonored before the people. Shortly after those events, he disappeared; he was nearly eighteen years of age at the time.'
'I still don't understand why he killed Orin,' said Tiet.
'About five years later Kale was found to have conspired with the Vorn military. He gave them the information on the effects of the Transdimensional Rift upon your people and how they were greatly weakened by its random collapsing. It was all they needed to know to mount an appropriate and devastating campaign at the Barudii's weakest time.'
Tiet dropped his head into his hands as he sat down upon his bed. 'Does any of this get any better?! My father and mother and my people massacred by the Vorn conspiring with my own brother! And now Dorian and Orin are dead because of all these things!! I do not think I can bear to know anymore of it!' shouted Tiet.
They got up to leave. 'I cannot say I know how you feel young master,' said Wynn as he put his hand firmly upon Tiet's shoulder, 'but I'm here for you. You must go on despite what has happened. Your father the king is dead…but you, the heir to the king…you live on and our people live on with you. I hope you will not let their legacy die now after all that has happened.'
He followed Ranul out the door, leaving Tiet on his bed to ponder all that had happened. It was so horrible. Everything was worse in reality than he could have ever imagined in his worst nightmares. Yet he was still alive. Now what am I supposed to do?
He thought of Orin. Back when they lived in the cave far in the wasteland, when he had taught him to be a man and a warrior, he had told him that to resolve a difficult problem or situation, resting the weary mind was the best way to clear one's thoughts and be able to approach the situation with new vigor.
He thought upon those lessons for some time. Orin had always been very wise. He wondered if his own father had perhaps imparted his wisdom in some way to Orin. Now both men were gone, but their wisdom was still living in his memory.
He got up from his bed and walked to the portal window of the chamber. He could see over the city of Baeth Periege below. Much of it lay in ruins from the battle with Grod and his army.
Wynn had said that these people, the civilians, had longed for peace, and had hoped for it even through years and years of oppression under their own military government. That government was gone; defeated by Grod's Horva. Grod appeared to be dead, the Horva were defeated and fleeing from Baeth Periege. Maybe, just maybe, he thought, there was something left that was good after all.
X
DATE: The Year 9028 (planet: Castai III-Rex)
THE bright red glow of the binary star Casiss glided across the surface of defense probe #2041. Its mission, to hold a position in this quadrant and maintain continuous long range scans toward the home system of the Baruk, had been uneventful for the last six months since its launch. The probe sailed through a vast sea of silence. Casiss was calculated at nearly one quarter of a light year away, with none of its uninhabitable planetary bodies visible to the eye, save the electronic eye of probe #2041.
Something entered into its sensor band one tenth of a light year away from the probe. #2041 closed in on the object with its sensors to distinguish whether it might be a naturally occurring object such as a meteor. It had been the case fourteen times already since the probe took position there.
The object was quite large, but it was not following the normally erratic flight pattern of a natural space body. Quickly the sensor field was penetrated by even more similar objects; fifty in all. Each of the objects followed virtually the same flight path, putting the group on a direct course for the planet Castai.
WYNN walked through the courtyard of pools outside of the newly appointed combat training facilities. The artwork was pure Vorn from different eras he was unfamiliar with. He took note of the rich detail present in the forms; some of natural things such as native animals, and some of the Vorn race. As he came through the serene area into the main courtyard, he could hear the sounds of battle. He saw hundreds of warriors from among the Vorn race intermingled with many Castillians from nearly every tribe that had migrated across the Rift after the battle of Baeth Periege eighteen months ago.
The migration had been rather unexpected, but there had been a rally cry to join the Barudii king. The Vorn had been defeated on Tiet's home-world by Estall. The people had begun to refer to it as Castai-Ori, for origin. The twin Castai here across the rift had similarly begun to be referred to as Castai-Rexus, illustrating the presence of the Barudii King. There was at present, no king at all, but Tiet being the heir to that throne had chosen to remain on this side of the Transdimensional Rift following the battle at Baeth Periege. His desire was to remain on
