The Deian War: Conquest

by Trehearn, Tom

  Gaia smiled, but her dark green eyes gave little away. “I know, but there’s nothing to forgive. It’s only natural that we should all have our disagreements, I should know”.

  Raina nodded, the feathers on her helmet waving softly in the light wind. She turned to gaze back upon what had thrust her into reflection before. The two of them stood on the crest of a hill, but it quickly descended into field after field of crops. The promising yields had been mostly flattened by the grounding of a score of legionary ships, but it took nothing away from the beauty and rightness of the sight the two Apostles were given.

  The battle for Fernus was over, but there was little time for rest. The legions had regrouped and amassed on the southern continent’s rich agricultural lands to be embarked on the carriers and Blackstars that would take them to the next world. From where Raina and Gaia stood, it looked as though thousands of ants were crawling around plated beetles. They both knew the truth, however, that the legions were nothing like insects to be herded and thrown at an enemy target.

  The Black Guardian legions were a deadly weapon, but required precision and care. They had not the numbers for long, drawn-out warfare, but they excelled at decisive strikes and swift counter-offensives. Of course, there would inevitably come a battle where a long-term strategy was required and brutal tactics were needed. Sometimes they just had to be a hammer against the enemy and crush them with force, but the war had spread them so thin that such actions were almost impossible now.

  In the beginning, it had been different. The Apostles had learnt many things from Pheia, but it had taken almost a year for them to realise that Solitaire had been right; the enemy did want to destroy everything, everywhere. The dark god didn’t want to aim straight for Gothica and tear out the heart of the humans that way; he wanted to be unpredictable, taking the Empire apart piece by random piece, which meant the Chosen had to part ways and divide their forces.

  Yet, at the start, when they were still together for a time after the tragedy at the Frontier, war had been glorious and easy for them. With hundreds of thousands of legionnaires at their command, the Apostles had used their numbers to deadly effect. They had met the enemy with full strength across a dozen worlds, creating an impenetrable buffer. The waves of Phantoms would crash against the Guardian lines like waves upon a beach, threatening to overcome them but always pushed back. Eventually, however, the Phantoms found ways to get around their cordons. The war that Solitaire had insisted they needed to fight had become the only one available to them.

  On the hilltop, it seemed Raina and Gaia were both thinking about how different things were now as they watched the legions being marshalled by the Commanders with practiced efficiency. They would be off of this world within a few hours, with the final vestiges of humans safely evacuated and sent on their way towards the Meridian Sector to be secure for the remainder of the war. For a long moment, neither of the Apostles said anything, too aware of the rare opportunity in the lull of fighting to forego seeing the guardians getting ready to redeploy. They were content in the knowledge that, for now, they were safe.

  Eventually, it was Raina that spoke. “Strange, isn’t it?” she muttered, almost to herself.

  Still, it was enough to catch Gaia out of her own reverie. “What is?” she asked.

  Raina didn’t turn to look at her. Rather, she carried on staring at the bustling activity before them as she explained herself. “This…moment. It feels like the time when you are about to rest, to fall asleep. You know not what your dreams will bring you, but you know that you are safe for a time. You are in limbo because you are about to enter a world of complete and unlimited possibility, yet you cannot say whether what will happen will be good or bad. Like now, we are safe; the enemy has been beaten and the closest threat is a day’s journey away by their capability, but now we venture onto a journey where anything could happen.”

  “Hmm,” Gaia began, caught off-guard by Raina’s thought-provoking perspective. “Do you fear the nightmare or the sweet dream more?”

  Raina took a while to think. “Surely the sweet dream, for though it is luxury, it cannot survive reality. A nightmare, on the other hand, is something you can escape. It is better to face a trial and bear the fruits of it than to be given a gift and have it torn away” she replied. “Though, in either case, you can still have the memory of it, as clear and vivid as a real experience. I suppose it drives some mad to remember a great thing that never really happened”.

  Gaia thought it sounded like an answer she had rehearsed privately many times, hoping that someone would ask the question that would allow her to express it openly. “Well, there’s a lot of both nowadays…though I’m not sure the memory of them validates their reality” she said, hoping Raina would hear her caution.

  Whether she did or not, Gaia would never know, because instead of continuing the conversation Raina finally turned to her again and asked, “How does Eve fair, sister?”

  Gaia took the question without being phased by the sudden change in topic. Raina was hard enough to pin down for a heartfelt discussion at the best of times, so it was no surprise that she ended it abruptly. “There are golems in the Ardenne forests, for reasons I cannot fathom…I’ve been told they appeared out of nowhere, with no Phantom fleet even close to Eve. It could be the prelude to a full assault, I fear”.

  Raina knew when to let others take their path, even if it was Gaia’s. She felt a natural affinity with her, despite the tension they had when it came to talking about Lupus. The years apart from her sister Apostles had hurt. Raina had always seen that Gaia was able to understand each and every Apostle, so it was no surprise to her that they were close despite outward appearance. The battle for Vale, situated at the desolated heart of the Frontier, had proven that.

  “You should go; I cannot suffer to make you stay when Eve is endangered. With all the fortune I could wish you, make haste and spare no creature’s life when you get there” Raina told her, giving the slightest bow of her head in respect and goodwill.

  Gaia returned the gesture and made to leave. Before she went, she asked “Where will you go next? I should like to fight at your side again once Eve is cleansed”.

  Raina shrugged, the singular most unusual expression Gaia had seen from her given her psychic powers that usually granted her certainty. “I am unsure. Solitaire has yet to receive my communications, but there are few worlds left in this sector with humans to be evacuated from”.

  After a moment of silence, where the two regarded each other with both unspoken concern and optimism for the future, Raina added “Perhaps I will go to Byzantium. There is a small Gothican fleet stationed there; if I can prevent the loss of it, I will not truly be alone if Solitaire isn’t coming after all”.

  With that, Gaia seemed satisfied. “Wise plan, sister, wise indeed. Retyr Auranair”.

  “Long may She live among us” Raina replied and the two of them departed ways.

  GAIA’S STORMFALCON TOOK her into the orbit of Fernus minutes after she had said farewell to Valkyrie. During the journey to her Blackstar above the salvaged human world, her mind drifted back to her sister. She found it curious how she would call Raina by her human name, rather than her Apostolic title. She knew that Raina fought against the truth of her ancestry and subconsciously, maybe she would avoid calling her Valkyrie to remind her sister of the truth that she was, like all of them, once human.

  Each of the Twelve had a slightly different stance on the Gothicans. Whilst some of them had similar perspectives, they each felt a unique feeling towards them that was stronger than the rest; envy, love, hate, contempt, hope, ownership. These were but some of the emotions that the Apostles held for the people they used to be part of. Gaia had spent enough time with Raina to know that her attitude was a little harder to understand than everyone else’s.

  Though the matter troubled Gaia, she had greater concerns now. Her world was under attack by the Great Enemy. She had to focus on Eve first and foremost. It might be selfish to withdr
aw herself from worrying about the others, but her conscience reassured her that they could take care of themselves. Raina was the only one alone, at least for now, but Gaia sensed something about her that was powerful beyond measure. That sensation was enough to protect her from guilt for abandoning her sister in a time of need. The truth was, Gaia’s need was greater.

  “We are approaching the Blackstar my Grace” Ria said next to her.

  The Commander’s voice was gentle, but loud enough to bring Gaia back to reality and out of her thoughts. She thanked the legionnaire and took the opportunity to look at the command ship of her legion. The Achillean, though a ship designed to utterly destroy its enemies, was a piece of art. Where the hull of most Blackstars was Spartan in both purpose and appearance, the Achillean was beautiful. Its armour plating was curved and shaped into giant leaves, the supporting ribs like thick roots. The weapons batteries stood out like buds of a flower, whilst the hangar bays hugged the side of the vessel like petals afraid to blossom properly.

  Gaia felt pride flood through her. Her legion, the 505th, were one of the best not because they were militarily superior, but because they were more than soldiers. They were people and they celebrated that fact. Above the others, they dared to hope for a life more promising than war. They took after Gaia and favoured the splendour of nature in all things, whether it meant a floral look to the legionnaires’ armour or a more extravagant design for their ships, like the Achillean.

  As the Stormfalcon approached the main hangar and the viewing time was over, Gaia heard the pilot announce their docking status. “Ria, as soon as the hatch opens, I want to speak with Corvus and Fabius.”

  “Of course, it shall be so” Ria replied.

  The Stormfalcon touched down on the deck floor of the hangar bay and its rear door hissed open almost immediately. The legionnaires that had accompanied Gaia left the transport in drill formation, but she lingered unexpectedly behind.

  There was a sheet of glass near the entrance to the cockpit, a mirror of sorts with a purpose that she was still uncertain of. When she caught her reflection in it on her way to disembark, seeing her green body in her constant Apostolic form, she felt nothing and somehow everything imaginable at the same time.

  She had rarely seen herself with her own eyes since the Blessing. Part of that was because she had never wanted to see what she looked like now, especially as she could never change back to a human form. Gaia had tried to do that, just the way she had seen Whitewolf shift from one state to the other with apparent ease, but she had always failed. The fact stung her.

  Though her body was quite clearly supernatural, her mind retained much of its human self. Perhaps that was another reason why she hadn’t often let herself view her own form. It wasn’t because she hated who and what she was now, in truth she loved it, but she would never be able to fully accept that her life had been changed and determined out of her control. Avoiding mirrors allowed her to focus on what hadn’t changed since the Blessing; her heart and mind.

  Casting her eyes away from the glass and ordering the pilot to store the transport in a waiting bay, she turned to leave and re-join the legionnaires that had already left. When her bare feet touched the decking, the Stormfalcon behind her was pulled gently into place by the pilot and hangar crew. She didn’t turn to see it rise into its nest. Instead, she focussed on the immediate presence of the men she had asked for.

  Corvus and Fabius had arrived in the hangar moments before she descended the transport ramp. She could tell Ria hadn’t ordered them down; there simply hadn’t been the time for them to have come all the way from the bridge since Gaia expressed her desires to see them. They must have sensed the inevitable and come down without instruction. Their autonomy was something else Gaia admired about the 505th; they always seemed to know what she wanted.

  “What news of Eve?” Gaia asked as they approached. The legionnaires from the transport stood to her side in a respectful huddle as the captain and recon master came to a halt and saluted with a hand over their chests.

  “Golems still rampage through the forests of Ardenne, my Grace. We have avoided excessive force as per your last instruction, but what few troops we have there are finding it a challenge to engage the Phantoms” Fabius answered. He was constantly aware of everything that the 505th were involved in, as per his function and Gaia was pleased to have the fact proven once again.

  “Very well, then it is best for us to be on our way immediately” she told the Recon Master. Then she looked at Corvus. “How soon can we leave?”

  “Give the command my Grace, and it shall be done” the Captain replied.

  Gaia’s eyes glowed with the barest hint of satisfaction. “It is given” she said.

  Moments later, the assembled fleet of the 505th made its jump to the Tempest Sector. They were uncertain of the enemy disposition by the time they would get there, so they could not afford to increase their speed by sacrificing shield power, but they would endure the long journey if it meant the salvation of Eve.

  The 505th were returning home, but not for a reason any of them would ever have hoped.

  AN HOUR AFTER Gaia’s departure, Valkyrie took her leave of Fernus as well. Before doing so, she had tried once again to make contact with Solitaire. Having boarded the Nimerian again, with the legions under her command fully mobilised and ready to jump to Byzantium, she called the Recon Master of the 402nd over to her on the bridge.

  “Basilius, are you able to connect us to the Harlequins yet?”

  The recon master, with his armour tinted blue and gold in the fashion of Valkyrie’s own, wore a stony expression. He spoke only when he had to, preferring silence in all things so he could focus on what was important; his objectives. “The connection is hazy, but it exists.”

  Valkyrie frowned slightly. “What’s causing the interference?”

  Basilius shook his head slowly, purposefully. “I do not know, my Grace. Perhaps it is the distance, or maybe the 109th are engaged in a battle and their communications equipment has been damaged. I am confident the issue is not on our end”.

  “Very well. Patch me through here”. She gestured to the holo-podium that stood near Vita’s command throne and Basilius moved over to activate it. He became luminescent as it whirred into life, a ball of light projecting a foot above it waiting to take the form of whoever would answer on the other side.

  After a few long moments and exchanged looks of uncertainty, the ball resolved itself into the form of a legionnaire. Even in this artificial form, they could tell a lot from his fuzzy expression. The technical fault seemed to confirm Basilius’ suspicions that the 109th Harlequins were currently fighting the Phantoms and could have had their communications disrupted.

  “Commander Jestarr,” Valkyrie acknowledged him. His face was as refined as it should have been for only a few seconds before it became distorted again. “It is always you who answers”.

  Jestarr looked over his shoulder at something the crew of the Nimerian couldn’t see before turning back. “Apostle Valkyrie, it is a constant struggle to answer at all in our current situation”.

  Valkyrie raised an eyebrow. “One that would explain why my sister never deems to answer calls that are meant for her attention?”

  Basilius, and Vita nearby, could both see and hear the tone in her reply, but the effect seemed lost on Jestarr. She wondered if it was because of his stoicism, or if he simply was too distracted by the battle he mentioned to notice it. “It would be a reason, yes. She is currently preoccupied with fending off an Oblivion class vessel, no easy feat I’m sure you know. If I pull her away for even a single moment, we will not be able to reinforce the Apostles Phoenix and Waterfox in time and Kraxus will be overrun”.

  The term surprised Valkyrie. “Overrun? I thought Kraxus was in a stalemate”.

  “It was,” Jestarr replied. Another figure appeared briefly to pass him a message, one that those on the Nimerian could not overhear. “Something changed. There’s a new form of Phantom, a co
mmand archetype. They are proving to be the test of our skill and patience.”

  “Kraxus cannot be lost” Valkyrie told him bluntly. Jestarr gave her the barest hint of a look that said he already knew that and didn’t need reminding. “I had been hoping for your legion’s support here in the Abodian Sector, but I can see now that could be a long way off.”

  Jestarr now looked genuinely rueful, but they both knew there was nothing he could do about it. “With any luck, my Grace will outwit the enemy quickly as she has always done. I will inform her of your request, however. I hope we will be able to assist in due course.”

  Valkyrie bit back the temptation to be insulted by what some could have detected as superiority in his meaning. “Very well. My thanks, Commander. Leave none alive”.

  “We never do” he said, but the smile that should have accompanied the fact was replaced with a seriousness that spoke of loss and weariness. His hologram blipped out of existence and the bridge of the Nimerian was noticeably darker for it.

  “What do we do now?” Vita asked.

  Valkyrie gave her a sharp look, as though the legionnaire was a student speaking out of turn. She was thinking; she didn’t need the demands of others to interrupt her. “Kraxus is under siege, Eve is being violated, Erebos is invaded and the Shield has stolen my truest sister from me while Hydra and Seraphim wait for the war to come to them. We are alone now and the help that was promised to us has been delayed” she answered, the statement aloud allowing her to face the situation with her legionnaires openly.

  Severus had joined them now, but it was Basilius who was the first to speak and for that reason, he earned the complete attention of everyone. “We can ill afford to relieve Byzantium, my Grace. The Phantom presence elsewhere is too heavy to ignore to save a handful of humans. We would be better used in the Tempest or Orpheus Sectors”.

  His opinion was blunt and cold, but it had truth to it. Valkyrie was close to abiding to it. “You’re right, Basilius, but neither can we run away from our current duty, the one we are already committed to. It is the final human world of any worth here, the last the enemy has any interest in ravaging. We must help with the evacuation, in any way we can.”