It was early in the morning and the kitchen staff was unloading the purchased food supplies. Iya and Kal walked shoulder to shoulder as they counted supplies and gear to move on. Their next and last destination was Toko. They were interrupted by a tall Sagen soldier who came down from the cockpit. With the letter in his hand, he approached his commander and captain with the message. Iya looked down a little shocked to be receiving a letter directly from the Star Council, this was the first time. The writing was fancy which made Iya read the letter slowly.

As she read the letter quietly to herself, Iya began to look confused. “I don’t understand… we’re being summoned home. The letter states we are to immediately seize all military missions for the time being and return to Sage.” The soldier that delivered the message stood nearby waiting for orders. Iya looked up at him and asked, “How far are we from Sage?”

The tall young soldier looked down at the scheduled route then replied, “About two to three days away. Toko was our last stop in the circle of ally planets.”

Iya looked down at the sent letter trying to make sense of it. Kal grabbed the letter to take a look and noticed he didn’t recognize the signature. “Whose signature from the Council is this?”

Iya starred hard at the handwriting, “It’s Cashius’s…” She softly whispered. Kal stood up straight then quickly was irritated when he heard his name.

“Hey at least we’ll get to celebrate the upcoming Warrior’s Solstice.” The tall soldier smiled ear to ear at his lead commands. When he noticed Iya nor Kal smiled with him, he quickly returned to his serious face.

“The Warrior’s Solstice… I forgot all about that.” Iya started pacing around thinking about the change in plans. Kal did the opposite and pondered on his gut feeling. He couldn’t get Gerok’s words out of his head. However, the strange feeling was towards Cashius. He couldn’t explain it nor could he put his finger on it. He was looking forward to returning to Sage and get more answers about the sabotaged terminals.

Jayce and Surra walked together down the main hallway. They saw Iya and Kal talking to the soldier. Surra recognized the soldier works in the cockpit with the pilots. She too could sense something unusual was going on. As they approached, they could hear Iya order her soldier to change course and head for Sage. “What’s going on? Why are we returning home? We have more one terminal to fix, I thought.”

“We do Surra however we’re being summoned to return to Sage. I’m not sure what’s going on but the mission to Toko is being put on hold.” Iya jerked her head in confusion, “This has never happened before… It says we are to return back to Sage immediately, by the orders of the Star Lord.” Iya nodded at the soldier as he was being dismissed. He quickly turned around and returned to head of war carrier. Moments later, they could hear the pilots changing course of their ship. The carrier slowly down for a few seconds and rebooted back up. Iya turned around and tried walking away before Jayce could say anything but it didn’t work.

“And this doesn’t seem fishy to you? How in the hell is he already the Star Lord? I thought he was going to Stella for training. Did they just hand him the keys to the freakin’ universe as soon as he got there?!” Jayce walked up to Iya and grabbed the letter out of her hand. He read it quickly and silently then crumbled it up into the ball. He started huffing loudly, “I’m telling you this right now, I don’t trust that guy! I don’t care who he is something ain’t right about him.”

Iya and Surra quickly shushed Jayce pulling him into a nearby room, “Be quiet you idiot…” Iya snapped back. “Like I said, I don’t have much of a choice. Besides it might be a good thing. We need to bury our dead. Their souls are trapped here on Lotus until we bring them back home. In the last storm, it rained for four days straight and flooded Nego. Only after it stopped raining and the flooding resided, we were able to collect their bodies. They all deserve properly Sagen burials.”

Surra nodded agreeing with her commander. “Come on babe, it’s different for us in the military. We do as we’re told. There’s always a good reason behind the summons. Besides the plus side is perfecting time for the Warrior’s Solstice. You were just asking if we were going to be done in time to attend. Well, here’s our chance…”

Iya quickly turned around and headed back out the door. “Well, there you go… We’re going home!” She walked pass Kal going out as he was coming in. He waited until Iya was completely out of hearing range before he spoke up.

“Jayce, I think you might be right about Cashius. There’s something I need to tell you, something Gerok told me…” Surra and Jayce looked at one another before returning their attention back to Kal. He told them about the conversation he had in Nego right before his battle with Gerok. He went on to explain all of the other pieces from the other ambushes. Together, they began to connect the pieces on the past events. There were still so many questions to this situation to have a solid answer.

Jayce looked at his best friend and was sadden with concern. “The biggest question is if it is Cashius want does he have to gain from killing you Kal? It doesn’t make sense to why he would go through all of this? This is insane we’re even talking about our Star Lord… What is his end game?”

Kal had a simple answer to Jayce’s question. The answer he had known all along when he first started piecing this together… Kal replied, “Iya. It’s always been about her. Cashius is using Gerok for a different reason but we know he’ll do just about anything to make Iya his queen. Proving all of this is truly the issue. Most of all, we need to keep Iya out of this…”

Jayce stepped up confidently, “Don’t worry about that part. Let me worry about getting the proof. Iya is the only one who doesn’t see Cashius for the monster that he is. I agree for now we leave Iya out of it.” Jayce glanced at Surra who rolled her eyes then slowly looked away, silently disagreeing. “We should come up with a plan. I’m game…”

***

The small bugged eyed creature finished writing the message that came through on the computer. He reviewed what he wrote down then he quickly dashed towards the Morthan Medic building. When he entered the brown bricked building, he whipped through the hallways looking for Gerok. He turned the corner and almost dropped to his knees from exhaustion. Gerok and medical team was stitching him up all turned to look at the small green creature. After catching his breath, he sprung to his feet and tried to hand Gerok the message. “Sir! There’s a message that came through for you!”

The rundown Medic building barely had any light and only two windows. The lights on the ceiling flickered as the sketchy Medics for hire brought patients to the back. The dirty and un-sanitized building had a lot of illegal pressurizes occur for the right price. Mortha was notorious for everything sketchy and illegal. Gerok’s wound wasn’t healing too well and he needed the proper medicine. He snapped at the massager pushing the paper away, “Get that out of my face!”

“Sir the message came from Stella… no one signed it though.” He slowly handed the written message to his master.

Gerok was sitting up in the bed with his left arm slightly in the air. The medics surrounded him trying to seal his wound and clean the infection. One of the medics pinched him good while putting in the stitches and made Gerok jumped in pain. “OW! What the hell are you doing?! That shit hurt!” He turned the massager then looked over at Aiko to take the letter. She got up from her seat and grabbed the letter out of the creature’s hands. She read the letter quickly and look startled at the news. Gerok looked at Aiko waiting for her to read it aloud, “Well… what does it say?”

When Aiko finished reading the letter, she folded the paper in half and handed back to the massager. “It’s a warning from Cashius saying don’t to go to Toko… it’s a trap. The Star Council has ordered reinforcements to aid the Sagens. Looks like the big bad Sagens need help dealing with us. Anyway, at the bottom of the letter it says to go to Sage’s moon Blackius, to the Red Forest… What does that mean? This is crazy Gerok! Why would we go to Sage? They will recognize you and we’ll get caught, that’s suicide.”

Gerok starred into the distance as he thought about what Cashius had instructed. “Or it’s genius… The Star Council would never think to look for me there. If it’s a trap I’ll know. I already have a backup plan. The Council is obviously becoming desperate and they’re sending reinforcements with or without the Sagen’s knowledge. From here on out we must be smart on how we plan our next moves. I have a few people on Blackius in the Saijerian colonies who are still loyal to me. As for the Red Forest, Proctor owned some property nearby the colonies. It’s a little cottage hidden in the middle of the forest, obviously it’s still there.”

Aiko huffed, “The Sagens will see our war carrier Gerok… how will we get passed them?”

He sat up in the dirty bed trying to get comfortable, “If we stay far enough away, they won’t detect us. Only you and I are going down to Blackius. I’m not unloading my army until I know Cashius’s plan. Gather up everyone we’re going to the outskirts of Sage. We’ll see what our new Star Lord has in store for us…”

It had been fifteen years since Gerok last set foot on the Blackius or Sagen lands. The Saijerians colonies hadn’t changed much as he able to sneak in the same ways. It was still the same small market road in the front entrance. The community of houses were in the back grouped together in sections. It was easy to sneak into the Saijerian Colonies. The wall that surrounded the area wasn’t tall. It’s the boarder that separates the ‘outsiders’ from the Sagens. A few miles away was the Sagen prison took over the rest of the lands. That’s what Blackius was famous for. It’s large impregnatable fortress was surrounded by ten foot black walls and a water trench. Criminals went in and never came out… The Red Forest Cashius was speaking of was in between the prison line to outside the border of the colonies.

First Gerok had to pay a visit to an old friend. There was a small weapons shop with an even smaller stand by the outside door. An elderly man with light brown winkled skin was sitting outside the stand. He had on a loose white button up shirt, light blue pants with brown sandals. He was rocking back and forth in his wooden chair while reading a paperback book. His glasses were hanging off his nose as he looked down to read.

Gerok and Aiko walked quickly to the elderly man’s shop and stopped right in front of him. Gerok’s dark blue cloak over his head blocked the old man’s sunlight with his shadow. It made the older man have to look up. When the old man looked up squinting his eyes to focus, his eyes widen. His face quickly turned shocked as he looked around to see if anyone else had noticed Gerok’s presence. Once he noticed the coast was clear the old man whispered, “Have you lost your mind? If the guards see you walking around over here, it’s my head boy! Get in here…” Gerok smirked at the old man as he turned around to look at Aiko. He nudged for her to follow him as they went inside the small wooden shop. “Your face is plastered everywhere on wanted posters. They’re encouraging anyone who even might see you to turn it in. How did you get in here anyway?”

“Like I always do Joseph, I sneak in… Those young guards wouldn’t know it was me even if I was standing right in front of them.”

Aiko looked around the store and was amazed at all the weapons that the owner collected. She had recognized some of them and they came from the outskirt planets. For Gerok, it brought back many memories. This was the first place he’d bought his own custom-made knife. It was hand carved and made with a unique metal found very far from Sage.

Joseph walked his special guests to the back of the store into an office. He quickly closed the door behind them and stood back the door. “Why are you here Gerok? You shouldn’t have come back here.” He glanced at Aiko wondering who she was, “And where’s Naru, your wife?”

Gerok caught his glance and introduced Aiko, “This is one of my daughters, Aiko. She’s my ace one. I’m here because I need my weapons… I told you one day I would come back from them. I don’t trust what’s about to happen and I want my old gear back. Including my jet pack… I had to come back for it.”

At first it seemed Joseph wasn’t sure if he wanted to help. He contemplated Gerok’s request. Joseph huffed while he dug in his hand into his right pocket to pull out some keys. He searched through the many different keys and found the correct one. The old man then hobbled his way over to a picture on his wall. The picture opened from one side revealing a safe behind it. Joseph opened the safe with the old copper key and stood back to let Gerok take a look. He walked over and looked inside the safe to see all of his belongings he had left behind fifteen years ago.

Gerok started pulling everything out, his old jacket, a couple of small guns and knives. The main two items he was there for were his Electric pulse shotgun and his jet pack. The sawn-off shotgun was personally made and designed by Joseph. It shot balls of electricity to neither neutralize or kill… He was so happy to see his old stuff, he felt like a kid in a toy store. Gerok geared up putting on everything the way he did back in the day but nothing fit right. The jacket was small and the jet pack was a lot heavier than he remembered. He took off the jacket and handed it to Aiko which she was happy to take. Gerok was satisfied with his other two toys…

Joseph let out a heavy sigh, “This will be the last time I see you. If I ever see you again…”

Gerok didn’t turn around as he replied to Joseph with his back turned, “I know… Aiko we got what we needed. Let’s head out to the Red Forest.” As they walked out the office door Gerok turned and faced Joseph for the last time, “Be well Joseph…”

His old friend nodded and replied, “Be well Gerok…”

Gerok and Aiko hopped back over the wall into Sagen territory. The forest to the side of the colonies was where the Saijerian territory ended and Sagen’s began. The forest was thick with beautiful trees that had white bark and they only produced bright red leaves. Hence the name, the Red Forest. The Sagens believed the Red Forest was a sacred place. Very few trees are ever cut down in the forest to preserve it’s beauty as much as possible. Proctor however made an exception to that rule.

“Rumor has it Aiko, Proctor built this hidden cabin without permission from the king. This was King Jaron’s father I’m talking about and he was much different. According to the story, the king arrested Proctor and brought him up to his cabin.” Gerok walked a little ahead of Aiko as they spotted the medium sized white cabin ahead. It was tucked away and surrounded by thick layers of trees. “The king handed Proctor an axe and told ordered him to tear down the cabin piece by piece. He didn’t care how long it took him to take it down. With Proctor being Proctor, he somehow convinced the king to let him pay for it. He offered him a year’s worth of wages as a payment. The king agreed to payment, Proctor made a lot of money. Remember he was the lead Third born who basically fathered today’s technology on Sage.”

Aiko always wanted to know more about Sage and Gerok’s back story. He never talked about his life on Sage to anyone. “Why did this Proctor teach Cashius how to work technology and not you?”

“When I was a boy, Sage was very strict and we stuck to our laws. I am Fourth born, I belonged to the military to moment I came into this world. My mother died in childbirth with Shakiya and I… Our father was never the same since her death. My father was a member of the Sagen Council and my eldest brother after him, once he passed. My last sibling lives on Ospice and works in the farms on the Second born farming moon. I’m not sure what has become of her anymore…” Gerok poured out stories of when he was child. It was something he needed to release, he brought him a sense of clarify and peace.

As they reached to the door of Proctor’s cabin he stopped and faced Aiko. She looked into Gerok’s eyes and saw a different man. This person she’s never seen before… coming back to Sage brought something out in him that was hidden away. This whole time Gerok just needed closure to everything that had happened to him in his past. “I was meaning to ask you earlier, what did you mean by you don’t trust what’s about to happen?” She assumed Gerok trusted Cashius but obviously that’s not the case anymore.

He grabbed Aiko by her shoulders and whispered, “It’s cause I don’t... Let me do all the talking okay.” She nodded at his request as Gerok slowly turned the door knob to open the door. Gerok took off the jetpack from off his back and set it by the door. As they walked inside memories came flooding back for Gerok. Nothing had changed inside the cabin. The same brown couches in the living room were covered in dust. The large tan rug laid in the same place under the glass table. The two-story white cabin was still in pretty good shape for how old it was. Proctor used the cabin as a vacation home. What most Sagens didn’t know was the cabin was his secret place to meet with the Saijerian supporters. The cabin was where they would plot and plan to make their moves against the Sagen Council.

Gerok and Aiko heard ruffling towards the back in the kitchen. As they moved through the cabin they heard, “Back here!” Cashius was standing by the patio door looking at the back window. He was sipping a glass of ale as the two walked up behind him. He chose to have a Stellan armor custom made for his new status. Cashius would be damned if he wore monk robes like Tyannitus did. He was far from a monk anyway. His custom armor was crème color with the gold engravings and the symbol of the Star Council on his chest. A circle with twelve points and each point had the symbol that represented the queen’s home. His cloak was made of a beautiful white fur with black stripes. His hair was freshly groomed into a buzz cut fade. It helped his halo crown fit perfectly on his head. Cashius looked elite, wealthy and powerful.

“You look like the King of Kings…” Gerok wasn’t surprised at Cashius’s emperor like attire.

“Come sit down and have some ale… this is truly a celebration. I don’t have much time, the Sagen Council are nosy people. I’m planning a special celebration for this Warrior’s Solstice.” As he turned around to greet his guest, he poured ale in the two glasses on the table. He handed one to Gerok and the other to Aiko. “Toast with me… Everyone is so busy with your sister’s arrival Gerok. It was too easy to convince the Council to let me meet and greet elsewhere.” Cashius raised his glass in the air. The others followed slowly as they cling their glasses together. “To victory… our plans are working perfectly.”

Gerok didn’t share the same excitement. “I’m Public Enemy to the Star Council. I don’t see a victory for me…”

Cashius huffed while he smiled, “Relax Gerok, I have a plan that will fix all of that. Don’t you worry… I’m guessing the captain is still alive, correct?”

“Correct… One of his generals sacrifice himself.” He put his head down as he remembered driving his sword into Marcus’s chest. It was something that would haunt Gerok for the rest of his life.

“No worries, it was fate that kept him alive. I have another suitable plan for him anyway. Everything is happening the way it’s suppose to my friend. The Star Council are desperate to find the Sagen who sabotaged the terminals. They want to know who has been helping you all along and I have the perfect person… Captain Kalvanius.”

Gerok laughed as he put his glass down on the table. “They would never go for that Cashius. The Council knows all Fourth borns don’t do technology. Only a small few are selected to even learn how to fly their war carriers.”

The super confident Star Lord smirked at the comment, “It will work… trust me.” Cashius poured more ale into his glass as he continued with his plan. “Now about you becoming king. I will need more time… Your sister is the one who pushed for you to be deemed Public Enemy. I wasn’t counting on that happening so soon. It’s just a minor bump the plans, no worries.”

“No worries? What exactly is your plan Cashius, I’m not following.”

“It’s simple really, I have to make room for you. The less you know the better. I already have some Sagen Council members wrapped around my finger. Everything must take place before this Warrior’s Solstice is over. I will be returning to Stella right after the festival ends.”

Gerok immediately felt his heart drop. His gut was screaming at him again. It left him with little time to figure out Cashius’s plan completely. He only had a week… this is not what he wanted. Of course, he wanted to be king but hurting his sister was not the solution. “This was not the plan! I wasn’t supposed to be the face of this. What do you plan on doing at the Warrior’s Solstice?” Cashius’s mistake was taking Gerok for a fool. He was much more experienced in manipulation than he counter part. A light bulb went off in his head that he couldn’t ignore. Gerok remained silent, he didn’t need to say anything else. He knew Cashius was playing him. Only plan that came to mind was to kill the royal family.

“Relax Gerok… my plan will work. I thought this is what you wanted anyway. Trust me okay, I will make you king of Sage and the ally planets. After I make Iya my queen. She will have no need for the throne here on Sage anyway. You did find the proof of Iya and the captains affair, right? That was the least thing you could do.” It seemed Cashius cared more about Iya and Kal’s affair then trying to keep his end of the bargain towards Gerok.

Aiko spoke up with an outburst, “They’re married… Iya and her captain are secretly married.”

“Aiko!” Gerok got upset as he told her remain silent.

Cashius spit out his ale, spraying it all over the floor. “What in the hell do you mean? I’ve heard of no such announcement! It is illegal for them to be together, how can they be married?”

“It’s called hand-fasting. It is a symbolic way of binding yourself to a person you love dearly. It is not the same as a real marriage but it’s something real to for those who do it.” Gerok cut his eyes in Aiko’s direction. “It was irrelevant for Aiko to tell you that. You plan on killing the captain either way…”

Cashius became very upset. His good mood quickly changed to anger when he heard the news. He was looking out the patio window so they see how upset he was. Aiko noticed and walked towards to him placing her hand on his shoulder. He jumped and turned to face Aiko who jumped back with him. She couldn’t help herself. “Cashius please… Iya would do anything to stay with her captain. Can’t you let her go?”

Cashius smiled gently than softly caressed her cheek with his hand. “Oh, my sweet Aiko… I’m counting on just that. I want her to do just about anything for him… She has to be mine first before I can look elsewhere…” His comment towards Aiko made Gerok jumped up in anger.

“Aiko will never be your concubine, she’s too good that.” Gerok cut his eyes at his Star Lord. It took everything in him not to end Cashius’s life right then and there.

Cashius laughed as he gathered his things. He was preparing to leave, “I don’t know why you’re so upset. Your sister would kill you in heartbeat if she had the chance… Be more upset with her than me. I will keep you informed of the plan when needed but until then relax. Enjoy Proctor’s cabin. This place brings back more memories for you then it does for me.”

Gerok didn’t care it was his sister to put the target on his back. He still didn’t want her to be slaughtered like an animal by Cashius’s hands. That wasn’t the main problem for him at the moment though. “We will wait stay here for the night; I will need full details of the plan tomorrow.”

“Of course, I’ll come back in the morning. I have to go make sure some others things are in order.” Cashius gathered up his white striped cloak and placed it back over his shoulders. Gerok and Aiko watched as Cashius left in a hurry out the back door to a small one-person silver carrier.

Gerok waited until Cashius flew away before he started gathering up his stuff. “I know it’s around here somewhere…” Gerok started ransacking through Proctor’s old belongings until he found a small silver key. “Got it… we’re not staying here.” He continued to walk around the cabin gathering other souvenirs that held value. “Gather up your things Aiko we’re leaving.”

Aiko looked confused but she could sense something was also wrong, “I can feel it too… It’s Cashius isn’t it? What are you thinking?”

“He has no intention in making me king of Sage. It’s over for me Aiko. He doesn’t have enough control to change my status of Public Enemy. Therefore, I’ve become useless to him. Instead, he’s going to use it against me… If we stay here tonight, we will die. My guess he’s ‘making room’ for Iya. If he takes out the rest of the royal family, Iya will have no choice but to take the throne. I’ll be the one to blame for their deaths in order to cover his tracks…”

“Why kill you before killing the royal family? He said ‘she would have no use for the throne’. That doesn’t make sense.” Aiko threw her bag over her shoulder. She watched as Gerok went to the kitchen and turned on the faucet on high. He ran over to the bathroom and did the same, plugging up the drains. The water filled and started to pour over on to the ground.

“Dead men tell no tales… After I’m dead he can come up with any story to make himself look good. He’s going to say I took them out… It makes perfect sense. It’s cool though two can plan this game. We have to get into Sage tonight. The Sagen army should be arrival within a few days and I have a plan of my own. I need to speak to a certain captain…”

Gerok and Aiko ran out into the dark forest and hid behind an area of bushes next to the trees. They snuggled close and watched their surroundings. Aiko still was a little confused to why they were still hanging around the cabin. “What are we waiting for Gerok? It’s getting really dark and creepy out here.” Nocturnal animals started stir, coming out of hiding to search for their next meal. They could hear the howling of the creatures of the night.

Gerok pulled out his sawn-off electric shotgun and looked up just in time. Two ships landed near the cabin in between the trees. The ships came down silently and hardly noticeable, they would have surely missed the ships being inside the house. Gerok turned and whispered, “Told you… my hunch was right.” When he saw who jumped out of the small carriers, the feeling of betrayal had doubled. Two Blue Claws and two Moonback Barbarians slowly approached the cabin. They had their weapons drawn as they surrounded all the entrances. Gerok waited until all four were inside before making his move.

“Are those Barbarians? Those assholes turned on you!” Aiko was shocked to see the ‘loyal’ Barbarians had chose to follow another so quickly.

“Shh… stay hidden. The Barbarians blame me for Cain’s death, the leader of the Red Beards. They feel that will share the same fate. Cashius convinced them to turn on me… They follow who can keep them alive. It’s in their nature.” Gerok knew now he could never return to his war carrier without being killed. He slowly started walking back to the cabin. He needed to send Cashius a clear message. As he crept behind the first Barbarian, he grabbed him from behind and snapped his neck. The others were already inside looking around when they saw Gerok standing at the door. He charged his shotgun to full power and pointed it down at the water on the floor. The Barbarians looked down at the standing water with no idea what was about to hit them. “Give Cain my regards, motherfuckers!”

He shot two electric balls of energy into the water causing the whole floor to light up with blue electricity. Gerok jumped up in the air and turned on his jetpack. It kept him floating above the water as it continued to fill the house. The Barbarians jerked around and caught fire, dropping to floor smoking. The jetpack was old and hadn’t been turned on in awhile. It started to sputter and bounce around it was running out of gas. Gerok kicked the side of the house angling him sideways, making him fly away from the house. He landed on jetpack crushing one of the thrusters. The outdated flying device sparked and started smoking. Gerok took off his old jetpack and walked away, it had served its purpose.

All four of the Barbarians laid death in Proctor’s old cabin. When Cashius returned in the morning he won’t be expecting this, thought Gerok. He found this to be a fitting end to this partnership. With no regrets, Gerok and Aiko left the cabin and disappeared into the night.