Core of Confliction Read online

  Lassa Fifty years ago

  Halfar and his entourage had come visiting yet again to negotiate with Chardon some form of submission to his Armada. The cabinet members were angry but kept their tongues, all but one: Talas. Due to his outbursts, Chardon had ordered him out of the council chamber and the meeting adjourned for a little while. Sestis, Chardon’s mate, found Talas pacing in a full rage near the grain field.

  “You know this will end badly.” She said sweetly.

  Talas halted his pacing and regarded her with contempt. How dare that monster speak to me! He did not move an inch as she came closer. As revered as she may be, Talas knew she was capable of awful things. He just didn’t have any proof.

  “Our leader is going to get the entire race killed and all of you are going to let him.”

  “Better dead than slaves for that monster,” Talas spat.

  Sestis laughed. “It doesn’t have to be that way. I have a proposal.”

  “What is it, then?” Being in her presence alone agitated him.

  “I believe we can coexist. I propose there be a delegate to oversee our kind to ensure it continues.”

  “We have a leader.”

  “One who does not see reason and humiliates one of his own cabinet members in front of the enemy?” She shook her head looking mournful. Talas’ eyes went downcast and he clenched his fists at his sides. “That was uncalled for to say the least.” She moved closer to Talas. “I believe you can make him aware of his short comings.”

  “How?” Talas seemed uneasy. This was Chardon’s mate but did she really have their race’s best interest at heart?

  “When Halfar invades this world, I shall negotiate to appoint you and one other to rule over our race. Chardon will be at Halfar’s palace and no longer leader. That would put him in his place, don’t you think?”

  “You would do this?”

  “Of course. But, only if the invasion is a success.” Sestis walked off into the distance towards her entourage of handmaids, who were just released from the council chamber to fetch her, and smiled.

  Talas stood in the same spot for a long time, delusions of grandeur dancing in his head. There was only one person who was meant to rule with him and that was Kelin. He needed to convince him that Sestis was right about making the invasion go smoothly to avoid loss of lives. It took only a few months to do so.

  “You will not accept my proposal?” Halfar was livid.

  “No. I will not submit to your terms just so you can enslave my race.”

  “It is not slavery, just safe keeping from harm of other more powerful forces.”

  “That is not what you are doing!” Chardon turned away from him. He was not amused.

  “I can destroy you!” Halfar shook with anger.

  “And, that is why you will never win!”

  “You will regret this.”

  Halfar hurried off with his entourage to the gate escorted by Modas’ personal army. As they waited for the guardian to open a vortex, he saw Talas and Kelin nearby motioning him away from the not so watchful eye of the guardians towards them.

  “I take it didn’t go too well.” Kelin was not surprised.

  “It can still be accomplished.” Halfar had a monstrous idea in his head but did not reveal it. “If you can open the gate in three days, I can send my Armada through with directions to help you with transition.”

  “Transition for what?” Talas anxious.

  “For the cohabitation of course,” He replied sweetly, “and the naming of their new rulers.” Making sure to stare at them until they got the point.

  “Three days?”

  “Three days.” Halfar saw the gate had been opened. His entourage, and he, marched through.

  Once he arrived back on his own world, Halfar turned to his two generals, Rass and Kur, eyes burning with rage. They were surprised since he seemed to like that pathetic world.

  “Prepare a world ender. I want it sent through the moment that gate to their world opens.”

  Kur raised an eyebrow. “Is there a radius you wish to declare?”

  “NO! Scorch it all, the entire world.”

  “As you wish, my lord.” He headed for the arsenal to inform their scientists to prepare the bomb.

  “Are you sure?” Rass stopped not four feet from him and whispered it.

  “Get it done!” Halfar nearly ran to his chamber doors, flinging them open with such force, a gust of wind blew Rass back.

  “Are you sure this is what we want?” Kelin stood over the guardian he had knocked unconscious as Talas worked the console.

  “This is the best way to ensure our survival and plus, we will be able to rule over our race however we see fit. Chardon won’t have a say anymore.”

  “Let’s just hurry and get this done.”

  A vortex began to form at the center of the gate and they braced themselves for the armada that was sure to come in full force.

  With a jolt of fear and regret, Halfar sat up from his bed and gasped. “No, no, no!” He hurried out into the corridor and screamed, “Wait!”

  “What is it, my lord?” Rass came briskly to him.

  “Chardon! You need to get Chardon!”

  “I am sorry, my lord, but the planet destroyer is already traveling through the vortex.”

  Halfar grabbed Rass by the neck, lifting him off the ground. “You will do this.”

  He let Rass go and returned to his bed chamber. Rass stood for a moment trying to figure out why his ruler would request such a thing then gave up and went to see what he could do. There was a way, but he was sure Halfar would still be grateful, regardless of the outcome.

  Children played in the fields, warriors were in the middle of their daily training, the high council was in a meeting and the sun shone down on them all unaware that Kelin and Talas were opening the gates of Hell. Both stood proud ready to greet their new allies when Chardon felt the vortex opening while tending a fruit patch since he skipped the council meeting.

  The gate opened.

  Heat shot forth past Kelin and Talas, scorching the ground and air behind them. Screams were short lived as many were incinerated on contact. Ganna knew instantly that their race was about to be extinct so she coordinated with other council members to rescue as many as they could while she opened alternate gates with random destinations. Anywhere was better than what would now be a dead planet.

  Chardon rushed to the console to try and close it but it was too late. He felt his core ripped out of him as his body was sucked into the vortex. Jaron tried to reach for him but the same happened to her along with Talas and Kelin. The last thing they saw before their souls died was the bomb going off in the distance, scorching the entire planet along with the remaining population black.

  Truth Sets You Free

  Chardon thought hearing the truth would make him more objective, he was wrong. His heart raced with an emotion of hate, despair and shame all rolled into one. But, he knew there was one responsible for it all and that was his mate, Sestis. Talas and Kelin were just pawns.

  “How stupid can you be?” Jaron had come back to hear the confession. “You thought the two of you could RULE over us?” She moved to strike, but Modas stopped her, shaking his head. It was not worth it anymore.

  “I..,” Kelin began to say.

  “Don’t.” Chardon raised one hand up. “Loving someone doesn’t mean following them blindly. You should have had the common sense to deter Talas from such deceit.”

  “I understand.”

  “Do you, Kelin? No matter, what’s done is done.” He got up from his sitting position on the floor and made eye contact with everyone in the room. “None of this leaves here! The last thing we need is our people hearing that Sestis had a hand in this.” He left as did the rest of the cabinet members, leaving Talas and Kelin alone to think about what they wanted to do next. Atonement was not going to be easy.

  Chardon paced the length of his chamber, doubt welling up inside him about how to deal with Talas and Kelin.
Somewhere deep in his core, he knew that he was to blame for their actions to some degree. His race would have been enslaved, probably, and the death toll, although intolerable would have been minimal. Most of their race would be alive instead of nearly extinct. He had been unwilling to submit to Halfar under any circumstance and this was the result.

  Back then, Sestis acted like a tyrant when she visited other worlds to establish their place among the galaxy, spouting her own agenda without asking anyone’s opinion. His passive aggressive, power hungry mate never turned away from new ideals because it kept her in high standing with the other councils. It should have been obvious what kind of manipulative female she was, but he was blinded by some sense of accomplishment. It fell apart when he met Halfar at one of the interplanetary conferences. How could he have let all this happen?

  He looked out the window when it came into view as he slowed his pacing to a stop. Children played as if nothing was wrong. Workers tended the fields in silence with small smiles on their faces. That weak, dull sunlight muted the colors of everything on this planet. Some of the people’s eyes were beginning to change in compensation for it. This was not how it should be.

  He laid his palms flat against the walls on either side of the window shifting his weight to them. So much damage had been done. Even if Talas and Kelin had not betrayed their race, he believed the outcome would be no different. Condemning the pawns for the sake of the leader’s reputation is not something Chardon was willing to do.

  Eyes a dull bluish grey the color of a dark, cold, churning sea reflected back at him through the window pane. On Earth, his eyes were a dark blue and even then they seemed cold. He let out a deep sigh, hanging his head for a moment before pushing off the wall to stand straight. This time he would make better choices and right now, he needed to find a way to fix this planet for longevity. They would run no longer run from their enemies.

  Modas stood behind him silently and Chardon jumped with fright as he turned to leave nearly running into him. Such stealth in someone so massive still amazed him.

  “Modas, please refrain from entering my chamber without permission.”

  “My apologies. I felt it would be better to come unannounced to clarify what you intend to do about those two.”

  “Absolutely nothing.”

  “Not even an apology?”

  Chardon begin to shake a little. “I can’t do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because then they would ask me why!” Tears started to form in his eyes but he refused to let even one drop. “I will make it right in my own way.”

  “You can’t make it right, Chardon, and you can’t keep secrets forever.”

  Modas stepped aside so Chardon could flee out of the room before him. He was the only other one who knew the reason for what happened thus far and would keep it to himself as long as Chardon wished. There was no need to cause more chaos and distrust among their race. He headed back to Talas’ temporary chamber to break the good news that all was forgiven.

  Unlike Chardon, he held the two of them responsible for the simple fact that they opened the gate for Halfar’s Armada. Chardon may have wounded Halfar’s ego, the outcome possibly the same, but there was no way that planet bomb would have succeeded without a doorway to go through. For Modas, Chardon’s conscience was clean, Talas and Kelin’s were not. He knew Jaron felt the same way.

  “Really?” Talas jumped up from the bed with an expression of joy. “We are forgiven?”

  “According to Chardon, yes. You can both regain your status as cabinet members.”

  “But not by you.” Kelin could see it in his eyes.

  “No.” Modas left the room.

  Talas was left standing with an awkward half opened smile on his face. He closed his mouth and sat back down. It occurred to him that would be the case. Their race needed them but Jaron and Modas could care less. Most of their children were dead: no cores or vessels remained.

  “Kelin.”

  “There is nothing we can say or do to make this right. We need to come up with a plan to get this planet right for our race and find a way to defeat Halfar because he will not stop at Earth for conquest. He knows we have a new home and if he is still angry, he will come after us out of spite.”

  “I’m not so sure.” Talas leaned toward Kelin. “Did it seem odd to you that Halfar was not too interested in the bloody mess going on in that throne room?” Kelin thought back on it. “I think he wants to get the whole conquest over with, leave it to his generals and abdicate.”

  “We could use that to our advantages.” Kelin had ideas swirling in his head.

  “That ‘we’ better mean the entire council and not the two of you doing something stupid on your own, resulting again in the destruction of our race.” Jaron came in as she slammed the door open with such force the bang echoed throughout the compound, making them both jump back in fear.

  “Of course not,” Talas mumbled under his breath.

  “What could be at our advantage?”

  Kelin explained the killing ritual they witness in the throne room. Ganna, Modas and the other council members had returned right after Jaron. They all listened, their stomachs made ill. He left nothing out because he wanted them to know just how frightful a creature Halfar really was.

  “Disgusting. That is their idea of entertainment?” One of the council men shivered.

  “If he is so detached then it may be possible to actually negotiate with that monster.” Jaron rested one elbow in the hand of his other arm and tapped his fingers to his lips. “We first need to know what it is he seeks.”

  “Chardon,” Modas blurted out at the same time the man himself entered the room. No one realized his blunder except Chardon and his eyes narrowed at him.

  “Yes, I am here.” Chardon used the opportunity to shy them away from it.

  “I wish there was a way to sneak onto Earth and take them all out quietly but he can sense a vortex opening anywhere in close proximity.”

  “The problem is those enforcers are kept partially evolved therefore they have no real mind of their own. Whatever their leader orders they obey.” Chardon could still feel the wounds that were no longer there. “To stop the enforcers, we must first stop Rass and Kur.”

  That was an unpleasant thought for everyone in the room. Hideous creatures, the both of them, in their true forms and deadly. Maybe more so than Modas in close combat. Nothing, short of tearing them apart, would suffice as victory.

  “No way do we get to Halfar without doing that. How many warriors can we have within the next two to three Earth years?” Talas knew it was a short timeline.

  “With our dwindled population, possibly two hundred.” Another female council member calculated.

  “That’s plenty.”

  Kelin was shocked by the number. He was expecting somewhere around Fifty.

  Chardon looked up at the ceiling contemplating something. All eyes were on him. When he looked back down at them he made a proposal. “We send only fifty to Earth and the rest will stay to defend this planet if necessary. The fifty will be split into four squadrons surrounding Halfar’s palace from all sides.”

  “That’s an odd number for a four corner enclosure.”

  “No, it’s not. Ten for each squadron and we will go into the main entrance to confront Halfar.”

  “We?” Jaron tilted her head.

  “You, Modas, seven warriors and I.”

  “Do you think that wise?” Ganna interjected.

  “It was started with Halfar and I, so it must end that way as well.”

  And the four squad leaders?” Kelin was curious but could feel it in his gut.

  “Jaron, Talas, Ganna, and you.”

  The rest of the council’s heads bobbed collectively in agreement. Better this way than the recruitment of council members with no combat experience. They would stay on the planet and oversee everyday expectations. Bloodshed was not their forte.

  “We must go through the vessels that were save
d and see how many match the cores in the garden. All the ones that do not have one or the other should be made compatible to ensure every core and vessel is consumed. From there, we can have a more accurate population count.”

  Ganna did not like that last suggestion. Forcing a core into a vessel not naturally its own could be dangerous. At the same time, having empty vessels and homeless cores was not an option either. “I will oversee that myself until it is time for deployment to Earth. Come,” she gestured to the other council members.

  “Modas.” The tone of Chardon’s voice was a warning and a beckon. Modas went to his side.

  Kelin and Talas sat back watching Modas and Chardon whisper to each other while Jaron, still elbow in hand, paced staring unwavering at them. Kelin saw the cold rage in her eyes as her gaze fell on Kelin and deepened as she caught Talas’. She had every right to wish them dead so he did not flinch this time and neither did Talas. It was clear that if she had the means to murder them without the wrath of Chardon coming down on her, she would do it.

  “Jaron, let’s go.” Modas was done talking with Chardon and they both waited for her to leave with them. She hesitated at first. “We have work to do.” Modas insisted.

  As the room cleared once again, Talas let out a deep breath releasing tension. Kelin seemed perplexed. They were both silent for a long time, Talas broke it.

  “What are you thinking about, my love?”

  Kelin glanced sideways at him. The “my love” sounded condescending at best. He chewed his lower lip for a moment. Something was amiss.

  “What do you think Chardon and Modas were discussing earlier?”

  “Who knows,” Talas shrugged, laying his head on Kelin’s shoulder.

  “I think it had something to do with Halfar.”

  “Mmm.” Talas was falling asleep.

  Kelin remembered what Chardon said about all of this starting with him and Halfar. It hit him as he also remembered Modas saying Chardon’s name when no one knew he had entered the room yet. Could it really be that Halfar wants Chardon? Why? What were the terms of the negotiations that the council was not privy to? All these questions were going to get answered one way or another, he counted on it.