Phoenix Rising: The Covenant (Phoenix Rising Infinitology Book 1)

by Angela Timms

  The Prince had humour in his voice. “Your son is as charming as ever.” Joniel looked around at the three and put the mike on silent. “He’s no doubt been winding the Prince up, they don’t exactly see eye to eye since Jazz took a fancy to a dancing girl that the Prince was a bit keen on. That was back in the days when he knew nothing of his status and was free to do that sort of thing.” He flicked the mike back on. “I’m glad to hear it. How is it going? We can’t see much from here.”

  Jazz’s voice came back over the intercom. “The star bases are all neutralized received a managed to isolate the Follower contingency in town and they have been dealt with. All that remains is to eliminate those on the star bases and they should have a fairly clean kingdom. I think we can count that as a bit of a success, despite all the losses. I understand that they have been heavy. You have clearance to land. I’ll see you shortly.” The intercom fell silent.

  Joniel got up and strode to the back of the cockpit. “I would like you to be my honoured guests and we can see about some dinner. I don’t know about you but I’m feeling a little peckish.” He looked meaningfully at Kyla who glared at him.

  Kyla got up and followed him. “You have had quite enough from me for one day. I’m sure you have your own supply.”

  Joniel looked hurt. “And I thought we were getting on so well. Now I’ve got to go and be mean and moody with my people. Please, follow my lead and be careful. My people can be difficult. Kyla, I know, and there are shuttles going up to them as we speak. I’ve transcript message from the planet surface. They have I have some explaining to do.”

  Joniel got down from the Hopper first and showed them to an airlock which was brushed chrome. The door swished open to reveal a sumptuously decorated corridor. The carpet was deep pile and a rich burgundy complimented by matching drapes which hung in swathes along the wall. Dark and moody oil paintings lined the corridor and at the end the door was wooden, or looked wooden, arched and swung open with a sinister creak when they approached.

  On the other side of the door there was a large living room area. The huge black marble fireplace was the surround to a roaring fire. Candlesticks on the mantle burnt with an orange glow and the room was luxuriously decorated with heavy flock wallpaper, more of the deep burgundy carpet, ebony furniture and lit by pewter candlesticks. There was a large table, red velvet sofas and small tables. The room was well populated with men and women dressed in elaborate velvet evening wear, sitting in groups. The men wore lace jabots under velvet suits and the women slinky black velvet evening gowns.

  There was an air of nervousness in the room as they entered. All eyes were on them. The room was reasonably well lit and they could see a sweeping staircase ascending at the back of the room.

  The inhabitants fell silent as they walked through the room and they looked at each other within the groups nervously. Joniel looked around the room regally, his face stony cold. The crew had not seen this side of him before. He seemed taller, broader and definitely moodier.

  A well-dressed liveried servant stepped forwards and held out a silver tray on which there was a cut glass decanter full of a red liquid. Joniel took a glass and the butler poured him a generous measure. The butler offered the tray to the others but Joniel shook his head slightly and the butler took his lead, bowed and backed away. Joniel took a large sip of the red liquid and they saw his complexion visibly become healthier. He smiled slightly at Kyra who was looking very nervous and strode across the room. The three kept very close behind him. When they got a few steps up the staircase Joniel turned to face the room. The others stepped aside. “We have struck a blow today to ensure the safety of this planet, which is in our interests. Our alliance with the people of this planet will bring us riches and new technology. I trust all has been well while I have been away?”

  Various occupants of the room looked down at the floor and others looked accusingly at them.

  Joniel glared. “I can see that the usual differences of opinion have been playing out while I have been absent. It does not become you, we are in a time of war and our very race could be threatened if the Followers get a firm foothold. I do not have to remind you that they are fanatical and our people are considered an affront to their beliefs. Your internal wars are nothing in comparison to the danger we face.” He turned and seemed to glide up the stairs. The three followed him in silence.

  The stairs opened up into a huge ballroom. There were four intricately carved crystal chandeliers on the ceiling, the candles flickering with a warming glow. The floor was a polished wood, worn slightly by countless dancing feet. The carpet around the edge covered the distance from the dance floor to the wall and tables were set out around the dance floor on the carpet. Joniel didn’t stop, as he glided across the polished dance floor. “I had this brought from our palace on Septa Transverra along with many of the other decorations in this place. The planet was ransacked by the Followers shortly afterwards but they found very little that we had left behind that didn’t do them harm. We are now a nomadic people.” He strode to the door the other side without stopping. He threw it open and strode on through the corridor beyond. It was all they could do to keep up. Kel closed the door behind him and had to almost run to keep up with them. They turned a corner and entered a lift system which took them up and sideways to what looked like the Command Room full of control panels and screens. It was bustling with people going about their duties. It was noisy too with individuals calling out readings and reporting the status of the planet below.

  Jazz and the Prince were standing beside a panel covered in switches and buttons. Jazz was staring with an intensity at the console and occasionally he pushed a button or flicked a switch. The Prince was looking over his shoulder and seemed to be commenting occasionally and flicking a few switches of his own. They both turned simultaneously and Jazz stood to attention.

  Jazz was a tall thin individual who did bear a striking resemblance to Joniel. father’s

  forward. “Well done. You did a good job, very neat and tidy, exactly the right decision. “

  Jazz looked at the floor, he had not and didn’t seem to want to meet his father’s gaze. “Thank you sir. I can only take part of the credit, it was grandmother’s plan. She has asked me to tell you that she is pleased with what you are achieving and the way you have command of the houses on this ship. You can expect a visit from her in the next few weeks. You are expected to present yourself before the High King and mother is already on his battleship.”

  Joniel looked around the room at the assembled crew. “Good, everything is in order so I will retire to my rooms. My Lord, if you would like to join me.” He smiled at the Prince. “I think we have much to discuss. Kel, Kyla, Rennon, would you like to accompany me also? Jazz, can I leave you in command?”

  Jazz smiled. “Thank you father.”

  He was definitely younger and a lot thinner, he lacked his broad shoulders and confident demeanor. Joniel stepped

  They left the command room and after many corridors they came to a suite of rooms, similarly luxurious and decorated with the same dark and broody paintings, this time of pale faced men and women in elegant attire. Joniel saw them looking around the paintings. “My family is always with me, even though some of them are no longer physically with us.”

  Kyla was looking at a beautiful dark haired woman who smiled down on her from the heavy gold frame. Joniel stepped up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. “You have now met my wife Marikana, a dear sweet lady, a ferocious fighter and a loving mother to our seventeen children. She was a shrewd warlord and commander of the Northern Fleet. She departed this world many years ago. Sadly we lost my father in a Follower raid on our home planet before we realised the seriousness of their incursion.” He indicated a stately looking gentleman who hung in pride of place over the white marble mantelpiece. Next to him was a blonde haired woman, her hair intricately curled around her elfin like face. “And that is his mother, Ariansa.” He strode across the room to the far wall where a lar
ge landscape painting depicting a river valley was hanging. “This is my home world, now sadly ransacked but we will reclaim it when the Followers are gone.” He pressed the side of the frame and it opened away from the wall like a door. Behind it there was a recess. “Would you like a hot drink. I have Mendurian Coffee which is very good if you like the taste. Tea from Perusia is also very palatable. Or I have other drinks if you so wish.”

  Kel had been looking around in wonder and silence since they had got to the ship. He was currently standing in front of a somber looking stately woman who looked in her sixties with a kindly smile who seemed to watch him wherever he stood. He stepped left and right and then stood still looking at the painting carefully. “Coffee sounds good. Who is this?”

  Joniel turned and smiled. “That is my great grandmother, Ketariana. You may meet her one day. She is considered venerable even by our years but has not yet succumbed to the frailty. She is a formidable strategist. I spent much of my younger years with her and she taught me my trade.”

  Kel looked thoughtful. “So that sweet old lady is an assassin too? Why does she look so old when everyone else hasn’t aged?”

  Joniel laughed. “She was late taking the blood and when her husband died she grieved for him so severely that she brought the ageing upon herself. I suppose you could say that she is an assassin. But she would never dirty her hands with taking contracts like I do. They all look down a bit on my profession. I was the youngest of the sons, so my position within the hierarchy was not so defined as my brothers and sisters. Where I have got I have got by my own hand. Which is why I can make my own choices.” He smiled meaningfully at Kyla.

  Rennon was looking at a delicate glass candlestick. “So what is your position? I did wonder.”

  Joniel was pouring coffee for them all. “I am commander of this ship but as I have other affairs the day to day running of it usually falls to my son Jazrael and his wife Keeta. That leaves me free to handle other business. I’ve never been one for politics, I have my own way of dealing with problems but family protocol states that I must conform in certain ways and it suits me well.” He set the coffees down on an ornate gold leafed table and pulled up some similarly gold leaf design high backed chairs.

  Rennon took a seat. “You mentioned the houses?”

  Joniel smiled. “A constant battle between different families and clans for status is a way of life for us. It almost destroyed our people a few thousand years ago when it led to the Clan Wars. Out of that my family rose victorious and to prevent the war happening again laws were passed and agreed to unanimously that our family will be the ruling clan throughout the generations. That doesn’t stop the other clans fighting but it does leave us able to concentrate on other matters. Families are just that, those born to the same bloodline. Or those who join that family by virtue of being given to being as we are by that family.”

  Kel took a sip of his coffee. “Aren’t you challenged?”

  Joniel drank some of his coffee too. “No, it is the law and our laws set down by the ancestors may not be challenged.”

  Kyla was still looking around. “Do you marry within your own clan?”

  Joniel smiled. “Not always. Any marriage outside the clan has to be agreed by the High Council and has to have the majority of votes from the elders of each of the other clans. The other clans of course can marry who they choose.” A visible sadness came onto his face as he spoke and his eyes involuntarily wandered to a painting above a gold halfmoon table on the wall by the door. The painting was of a beautiful raven haired woman with bright green eyes. “My sister, Kyrianath. She was a rare beauty and a vicious warrior. She died by her own hand as her love was forbidden and her lover was forced to marry another. But, let’s talk of other things. That planet should be able to sort out its problems now and hopefully you’ll still get whatever they have promised you. My Prince, I don’t know how to put this but I’ll be blunt as there is very little I can do to dress it up. Sadly the princess was lost in the battle.”

  The Prince looked as though he had been shot. The colour drained form his face and he stared at Joniel as if he didn’t believe him. “How did it happen?”

  Joniel looked him in the eye. “She was with her parents in the Royal Tower when it was hit by a blast from the first Star Base to be taken over. It was a well-planned strike aimed perfectly to take down the tower. I got you out and went straight back for the royal family. I got there just as the bolt struck. I got in the way and saved the King and Queen but, she had been caught under a large piece of falling masonry. The attack was in full force by then and a second blast hit the tower. I was able to shield the King and Queen and I got them out before the tower fell but many in the lower levels lost their lives.”

  The Prince looked down. “She was a lovely lady, her loss will be deeply felt in their kingdom. I spent but a brief time with her but even in that short time I know she would have made a fine wife and mother to my children. Sadly it was not to be.”

  Rennon put his cup down. “We were all saddened to hear of your loss.”

  The Prince smiled slightly. “Thank you. We have all lost so many people in this war already but I hope that it never gets to the stage that we have lost enough that we feel nothing for their loss. It will have to make me fight harder now won’t it.”

  Joniel looked serious then seemed to lighten up. “And now you’ll have to go through all those fathers trying to convince you to marry their daughters again.”

  The Prince frowned. “Indeed.”

  Joniel pushed his empty cup away. “So, what next?”

  The Prince pushed his empty cup away too. “Now we have to start formulating a plan. We know more about the Followers now and sorting out this incursion has given us a big morale boost and hopefully given them something to think about. I have prepared a compilation of the information we have which I would be pleased if you would convey to your people Rennon. I’m going to make it available to any planet that wishes it. I think spreading the information about what the Followers are really like could be our only way of fighting them. We’ve won the battle and we should celebrate that but winning the war is a long way off. Sadly we will lose many more people before the Followers are gone. That is the problem with fighting a belief, it is hard to kill and whether it is right or wrong, if people believe it to be a just cause they will fight for it. In their eyes that puts us in the wrong.”

  Kyla looked into her empty cup. “But surely losing free will and being drugged into believing in something is wrong.”

  Joniel choked. Kyla looked awkward and smiled nervously. Joniel raised an eyebrow.

  The Prince smiled. “As with politics nothing is ever as clear cut as that. There are many who believe that the Followers offer a just and righteous option to the regime that has been offered to them in the past. Those are the planets where we will have the greatest difficulty. There are some tyrants out there who actually needed dealing with as they treat their people abysmally and their living conditions are close on impossible. What we do have to get them to understand is that we would deal with the tyrants as much as the Followers will and that we will offer them the freedom of a better life. The more I travel and see planets I realize that there is another way if we can get them to accept it. The Followers filled a void and fulfilled a need. That was the secret of their success.”

  Kel smiled. “Well that made no sense to me so could you explain it a bit clearer.”

  The Prince moments. “Every technology. So their needs are different. In some societies certain things work and everyone benefits, in others there needs to be a different way of sorting things out. Mostly over the years this has evolved naturally and the people are content, well they are never content, but they are best off with what they have. There are places where this has not happened because individuals have stepped in for their own gain without considering the long term plan. There are certain basics that have to be addressed. The first is that people need to eat and breathe. That by its very nature should
secure a firm agricultural base for each planet that needs oxygen as its breathable gas. Some races do not breathe oxygen so their planets are very different. I am also firmly of the belief that to provide a firm base for growth each planet where there is a single ruler should be self-sufficient. It is possible that with the technology we have, if we share it, that each individual area can achieve this. I’m talking about the basics here, what is needed to feed the people on a day to day basis. Anything that is only provided by an individual continent or country should then provide the basis for trade.

  I can see why the Followers have such appeal to certain planets. They offer a coherent rule which has never been seen between the planets and galaxies before. They offer a basic level of technology which will limit some and bring others up to the same level and they offer a controlled food supply so that nobody goes hungry. It’s what they also offer that is our problem. They wish to enforce this regime whether it is wanted or not.

  As you will have already seen, the planets are very diverse and have developed their own level of technology. If the Followers are allowed to take over then there will be an uniformity between the galaxies and culture and the vitality that makes the planets individual will be lost. The truth of it is that if we had all looked to the problems of our own needy earlier they would not have been able to gain a foothold so fast. I am firmly of the belief that there should be a change in any case. We shouldn’t have to enforce it, but we should be able to suggest it. A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.”

  Joniel smiled. “And I suppose you have a plan for that?”

  The Prince smiled. “Each planet is different but what I have looked around the planet is different room and thought for a few and has a different level of seen is the more we develop certain technologies the worse it gets for certain people. What I’m saying is not all progress is good progress and that looking to the need for people to be able to earn a living and to have pride in feeding their families should be more important than rationalization and providing