Systems in Chaos: Dissention

By Shaun Robinson

The year is 2543 and humanity has expanded their civilization to several solar systems. And for many centuries humanity has lived in peace until the fracture. Humanity fractured into three powerful factions. The Zeuti Guardians, the United Alliance and the Hadi Empire. They were all once part of the United Alliance, but as the unique, evolutionary, powers of a new breed of warrior, the Zeuti, the fracture came. The Zeuti Guardians were the second faction to arise, breaking away from the authority of the UA, the Zeuti became a peacekeeping organisation and had sole authority over all biofeed capable humans. Biofeed, the essence of the Zeuti warrior.
The UA and the Guardians have worked as a union beside one another to keep the peace within the borders of Human Civilization, but peace was not enough for a segmented group of Zeuti. These power hungry fighters decided it was time for a change. Breaking an entire solar system away from the grasp of the United Alliance, the Hadi Empire was born.
These dark biofeed soldiers became secluded for many centuries, but in the year 2543 they returned with the full might of their military. Their invasion has began and the devastation is unparalleled. The United Alliance is on their own as the Zeuti Guardians refuse to help. However, a handful of Zeuti Guardians have gone rogue and decided to aid the last surviving planet in the Alpha Centauri System, they are led by Teran Artosis. They will do all they can to help. But nothing is as simple as that, and the situation back home is stirred up by the Terans old mentor, Galvin ElFinn. Vladimir Struganov is the last great Commander the United Alliance has at its disposal on the planet of Kalorin and he plans on bringing Hell to the Hadi Empire for invading his planet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Apr 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499000313

Shaun Robinson

Shaun P. Robinson was born and raised in Victoria, Australia. After five years of writing short stories throughout his High School years he has now turned to creating fictional worlds and universes in the form of novels. Shaun writes mostly about fantasy and science fiction. He enjoys writing for audiences with an interest in sword & spell fantasy and epic sci-fi knowing that they receive the same enjoyment out of reading it as he does writing it. Aside from his current work-in-progress trilogy, titled A Knights Realm, he is also working on a futuristic series, entitled Systems in Chaos. Support Shaun on Twitter - ShaunP_R

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Copyright © 2014 by Shaun Robinson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 04/09/2014

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

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CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Epilogue

Prologue

Tell me where they are! he shouted into the curdling scream of his prey as he pulled a burning hot poker from his victim’s arm. The torturer had a toothless smile as he drank in the pleasure of playing with another’s life. He opened the toothless pit in his face in a laugh as he spluttered drool into the prisoner’s face. We know you are a Hadi informant. We know you have been keeping in constant contact with them. He bent down close to the informant, his lips inches from his ear, Tell me, and the pain will stop, he whispered.

The informants head rolled from side to side in agony, trying to see where he was and if there was any possible escape. There was not. He was in a dark cellar, a room plated in steel sheets with no windows and only a dim light so that he could barely see the instruments of the torturer’s little game; pokers, chains, shackles, blades, hooks, nails and a great many other things that he had never laid eyes on, even in the Hadi Empire.

N-No… S-Stop please, I don’t… I don’t know an-anything, the captive begged. Tears were dry upon his face from the hours of suffering he had been enduring so far. He was about to beg some more before his captor tightened the brace over his wrist and the bolt twisted further into his arm, "Arghhh!" If there had been any tears left to cry he would be crying them.

The toothless man picked up a small knife, one that the informant had come to know well in the last two hours. The torturer had already taken fifteen of the twenty nails on his body, only one hand remained untouched. The torturer grinned, through the gaps in his teeth drool spilled from his mouth and fell to the floor. He sucked it back up with a loud slurp. "Pity, I really didn’t want to continue. Ha-ha-ha," he cackled at his own private joke as he pushed the knife under the nail of the victim’s thumb and pushed down, ripping the nail up. He informant screamed again, and coughed up blood as his throat was bled from the hoarse wailing.

Please! he begged, Stop! Stop, you Bastard! The Bastard raised an eyebrow and shook his head. Just for that he lost his last four nails.

The torturer walked away into the shadows, wiping a red stained rag over his knife. Why did you have to go and call me something like that for? He could hear the informant whimpering. Bastard walked the length of the table, eyeing and fingering each of the tools as he considered which to use next. The Hadi have long hated the Zeuti and the United Alliance, especially since you broke away from them. But what my boss wants to know is: why, after so many centuries, have the Hadi returned? He looked over to the man strapped to the table, bathed in dim light. He was shaking his head in disbelief and denial.

"Both factions have grown. The United Alliance has five planets and moons in the Home System colonised and two planets in the Centauri System; The Free Planets have built cities on three planets in the Tau Ceti System and then there is you. The Hadi not only have the triple planets in the Lalande System but have also colonised the Epsilon Eridani System, which we have learned you now call the Voruxi System. The Bastard stopped at a small sickle like blade. A small shiny tool with a wickedly curved steel edge. He picked it up and examined it in the murky light, the blade glinted just enough so the informant could see it. But this is all common knowledge. What I want to know is a little less familiar, outside Hadi space."

The informant shuddered, Please, please… he whimpered, weeping dry tears. The toothless captor looked at him and he felt dread grip him, Alright… Alright, I-I’ll tell you.

The torturer cocked his head to the side, Good… I wouldn’t want to have to use this. He brought the sickle into the light so it could be seen more easily, Do you feel the same? The informant nodded quickly. Why are you here?

To see if the Zeuti Guardians have made any advances in Biofeed techniques or in stormsword technology, he said softly, avoiding eye contact with his captor. A small laugh caught his attention and pulled his eyes towards the Bastard.

How many times have I told you not to lie to me? You are here about the Zeuti, that much is true. But that is not the reason… a long, dismal sigh came from the man’s toothless mouth. I said I didn’t want to… but you have left me no choice. He stepped forward with the blade in hand and placed the tip against the informant’s skin. The Hadi Agent stiffened at the touch of the cold steel. I was just kidding, the torturer said and the agent relaxed. That was foolish. About not wanting to do it. I really do. He smiled and slobbered all over the informant’s body as he slid the tip of the sickle beneath the agent’s skin and began to flay him. It took a dozen seconds for him to remove the layers of skin from the informant’s left breast, leaving only burning muscle in its place.

The agent cried and screamed for a long time after. The exposed tendons and muscles burned like nothing he had ever experienced before. As the Bastard was moving the sickle to the right breast the agent cried out, We need to find out how many Zeuti Titans want to go to war! He breathed heavily as he spoke A-And why they chose to abandon Fathom and Kalorin, we need to find out if they are weak or not!

The toothless Bastard stopped and nodded. The Zeuti did indeed abandon the planets in the Centauri System to the Hadi Empire . . . but so did the United Alliance. He rubbed his chin as he considered for a moment, and the Titans . . . the ten most powerful Zeuti in the Guardian Order. Sure, if they wanted war, the Hadi would need to tread more carefully. Keep him company for a moment, he ordered the guards as he opened a secret panel in the back of the room which led him to a small communication hub. He hit a small shape on his orange holographic computer terminal, in a moment the image of a phone showed up on the screen as he began his call. When it was answered no one spoke. I am beginning to get something out of him. I… he was interrupted by a loud crash coming from the torture chamber. He quickly switched the terminal screen to the security feed.

A large man was in the room, he was holding a stormsword. It had a bright red glow and crackled with grey lightning. The super heated, artificial, stormtron particles inside the sword had allowed the Zeuti Guardian to burn through the steel plated door like a hot knife through butter. The guards were able to get a few shot off with their storm-guns, firing off a few short and a couple long bolts of lightning. The Zeuti deflected them with ease by using his sword. Through the screen, the Bastard could barely make it out but, he could just see the ripples in the air around the Zeuti as the warrior built up biofeed within his body. The robed Guardian threw his hand out a moment later and a forceful push blasted through the air and threw the two guards back against the wall. The Zeuti made quick work of them before silencing the prisoner. The Bastard swallowed hard and blindly hit two keys on the holo-terminal to send the recorded feed to his boss.

I don’t think I am going to make it, boss… I… the terminal’s power cut off as the robed figured melted through the secret door with his swords. Why is a Zeuti doing this? Aren’t we on the same side . . . ?

That was the last thought through his head before the shrouded figure marched over to him and put the burning stormsword through his throat and left him in a pool of blood.

Chapter 1

A shrouded figure hunched over his desk in the darkness of his room. The only light illuminating his face was being emitted from his terminal screen. His brown eyes were blood shot, strained from both the lack of sleep and staring at the near-holographic computer in front of him for hours. He had two bags under his eyes, which attested to his tiredness. His figure also gave away the state of the man, with a hunched back and a low hanging head. Titan Galvin El’Fin had been awake for almost three straight days and he was a wreck.

As sluggish and as drained as he was, mentally and physically, he couldn’t get any sleep. He had tried but his head would always keep wandering to thoughts he did not want to think about. As long as his mind was occupied those thoughts would stay silent in the back of his mind, so he decided he would simply stay awake until his body could handle it no more.

He sluggishly moved his finger over to the screen and opened a folder. Several images scattered across the holographic screen allowing him to see which files were what. He thought about opening one of the files but he couldn’t be bothered moving his arm again.

Open Early 23rd Century history, he commanded, however quietly. Responding to the voice activated command, and without delay, the screen cleared all the images of the files and replaced it with a history e-book containing text and 3D pictures.

Galactic Expansion, he commanded again. The text quickly flicked over to the history section of its reader’s choice.

Reading history was always one of Galvin’s favourite pass times. He had read almost every major and significant event in human history. Events dating from what had only happened just a few weeks ago, in the year 2543, all the way back to the ancient Aztecs and dinosaurs of Earth.

He began by reading how the human race expanded beyond their solar system. It was fascinating. By the late 22nd century the human species had colonised several planets and moons in their home system, ranging from the Moon and Mars to Europa, Jupiter’s moon, and even Pluto. The state of natural resources on Earth had become so bad that, for over thirty years, every country in the United Nations had put together their only available resources to develop the technology required to settle other planets. By the end of the 21st century they had been successful and within that time to the year 2120 more than one quarter of Earth’s population had been relocated to the Mars or the Moon colonies. By 2190 Pluto and Jupiter’s moon, Europa, had been colonized as well.

Technological advancements, once corporations and governments had access to the resources of the Moon and Mars, went by quickly. They developed spacecrafts that could reach Pluto from Earth in just six days. The space tourism company Spread Galactic developed a metal out of a, previously unique, ore found on Mars—dubbed Marsonium—to create living complexes that would protect the occupants from the cold of space as well as create and trap heat, allowing Pluto to be colonised.

During the mid years of the 23rd century plans were being made to expand throughout more star systems. With the five colonized planets and moons, the abundance of resources, and, for the most part, interplanetary peace, the prioritized space research progressed overwhelmingly fast. It was said that back in the early 21st century people were amazed that in the time period of sixty years man had accomplished so much, including flying and going to the moon for the first time in the previous century. In just half that time humanity expanded to the far reaches of their home system. By 2296 ships were ready to travel to a new star system, but the expansion mission did not go ahead until mid 2297…

Groaning and pushing away from the desk he left it there and stumbled over to his bed. Exhaustion was starting to take over and he was asleep before his face hit his pillow.

Zeuti Titan Galvin dreamed when sleep found him, unfortunately they were dreams about the exact things he had stayed awake for more than three days trying to avoid thinking about. The dream took him back only a few weeks, to the start of the Hadi invasion. He had been serving as one of the three Citadel Seat Members on Fathom, the capital planet of the Centauri system, orbiting the Alpha sun.

*     *     *

The dream was vivid. The Titan knew he was dreaming, and he knew what was happening. But it was like he was trapped behind the eyes of himself, locked away inside his head. He was only able to peer through a window in his mind. He could hear and see everything, but he could not control himself nor alter anything that was about to occur.

Teran! You know that it is against the rules of our Order to develop feelings for someone, much less someone whom is in the Order also! Galvin was yelling at his young friend and former student.

Galvin sighed, You are a Zeuti Lord now, and you are not a Learner anymore. You know that you and Sasha cannot meet like this again in the future. He swept his hand through the air, making the statement final. You were both very promising students; ever since she came to the Order to be train at age four and you at seven. His eyes were filled with pity nonetheless.

Inside his head, in the dream, Galvin could feel the tears being held back behind his eyes. He could feel the redness in his cheeks and the blood boil all over his body. He could feel everything that had he had felt or had suppressed that day. But he could not control these emotions now, not here in this dream. Not when this ended up being the one thing in his life he wished he could go back and do differently. To say the exact opposite of what he had. To encourage rather than forbid . . .

His pupil, Teran, had excelled at his training, surpassing those whom were even years ahead of him in a very short period of time. He had pure determination to become a great Guardian. By the time he was thirteen he was beyond capable of becoming a Learner under the guidance of a Lord. There were only two others who were able to keep up with him; one was Sasha. His pupil was gifted in both the art of stormsword wielding and biofeed.

Biofeed development had come into existence once humanity’s new generations were being born on different planets and a jump in human evolution occurred. Children were starting to develop powers. Not many children, even in the year 2543 only one in thirty million people are born with these powers, but it was occurring.

Children were beginning to use an invisible power, a power which had been fictionalised many times in the past, but had now become reality. If these children concentrated and focused themselves they were able to move objects, push and pull them, suspend them in the air and in more extreme cases to even go as far as tearing them apart.

These children were quickly taken to the Research and Development sectors of the military. It was discovered that it wasn’t something unnatural; it was just an anomaly. It was an oddity and unexpected development in evolution and in the abilities of an individual. They were able to generate and store varying quantities of biological feedback and were then able to release this energy in the form of strong invisible, almost gravitational, forces and focus them on a singular or multiple objects.

This Biofeed was an electrical charge, relatable to a super version of a static shock. Most children had no control over the generation and release of these bodily charges. During testing and development, these rare individuals learnt how to control these powers and soon developed others. In addition to the invisible forces, a child could learn to sense small waves of feedback in the air and in the ground. It gave them heightened senses; quicker reflexes, faster movement and a deeper perceptive ability.

In more recent times, during the late 25th century, biological feedback amplifiers were perfected, which enhanced an individual’s powers even further. These bioamps were placed in the person’s temples and along their spinal cord. They were tiny and could be implanted through the use of slim needles. These allowed them to feel biofeed signatures in others.

Galvin often wondered, as many with their gifts did, what it would be like to be one of those people whom didn’t have these kinds of powers. Although, it probably wasn’t as fun having the abilities as it used to be anymore, not with all the rules and regulations of ethics, but at least he was lucky enough to be counted among those rare group of humans.

The children whom were discovered to have uncontrollable or latent biofeed abilities were sent to an academy to join a ‘break away’ branch of the United Alliance Military called the Zeuti Guardians, named after the ancient Greek god Zeus.

They were called this because they, traditionally, used a new type of melee weapon: storm-weapons. Weapons such as stormswords and the very uncommon thunderaxe. Galvin was a Zeuti Titan, a master of biofeed and storm weapons, extremely powerful and sat in as the fifth seat of the ten Zeuti Titans at the Guardian’s citadel on Europa.

These weapons were given their name for their use of a new, artificially developed, particle called a stormtron. It was a particle that literally harnessed the power of lightning. They were capable of causing something to move close to the speed of sound.

That was something that always baffled Galvin. Although this particle harnessed the power of lightning, it wasn’t able to move as fast as lightning.

These particles could also become super charged which allowed themselves to be able to fuse with a hologram to make the object physical, as long as the object had a constant stream of stormtron particles. Stormswords and thunderaxes used super charged stormtrons which allowed them to absorb, deflect or melt away other objects. A super charged particle gave the object the properties of having the temperature of the sun and being electrically charged. The handles of these weapons had two stages. The first was to emit a hologram, and second was to provide a constant stream of stormtrons to turn it into a physical and property-enhanced weapon.

While any person could use these devices, the only people who could use them effectively were individuals with biofeed. With their heightened senses they could react swiftly enough to use them in combat, even against multiple opponents using guns.

For the purposes of military use these particles were also used to create a new type of gun. But they did not use, or could not use, super charged stormtrons. Storm-blasters shot beams of lightning, ranging from a one centimetre to a five centimetre long beam. The smaller the beam the faster it went and the faster they could be shot from the gun, however they were also weaker compared to the longer, slower, and more powerful beams. These lightning shots moved between eighty-five and ninety-five percent the speed of sound. However, since they acted as lightning, the shots were somewhat unpredictable at range. Some soldiers preferred the weapon that was perfected in the late 21st century, the rail gun. It was a gun that shot tiny objects which were the size of a rice grain at extremely high speeds. The rail gun was quick, powerful and accurate. However, significant time went into researching and developing armour that could not be penetrated by the grains, making them somewhat obsolete.

In the seven years being together Galvin and Teran had developed a father-son relationship. But, ever since they had met in the lower levels of Talon City on Mars, there had been a festering hole of darkness inside the boy; a hole that only Sasha had been able to fill, unfortunately it was against the rules. It had taken Teran quite some time to persuade Sasha to break the rules of the Guardian Order about infatuation between people, but he did it and, ever since then, neither of them had looked back.

They met in secret, every chance they got. The two of them knew that many of the students in their age group, some of the mentors, and each of their Lords knew about the two of them, but everyone acted like no one knew and that it was a big secret. At first they were worried about the knowledge, but soon after they just didn’t care and it had to be dealt with.

I’m sorry, but this is for the best. I will come and unlock your room in a few hours when we are ready to leave for Europa. Sasha and her former Lord will not be coming along. Galvin stared at the back of Teran’s head. The young Lord refused to look at him.

Teran had passed the trials only two weeks ago; he had passed them a week before Sasha and a week after the other promising student. When Teran became a Lord, Galvin himself was also accepted as one of the ten Titan ranked members of the Zeuti Guardians, he was now serving as the fifth seat in the citadel.

Locking that room was the worst mistake Galvin had ever made. He had made wrong decisions that led to the wrong people holding power; mistakes that had caused the deaths of a few people, and many others. But, he never regretted any mistake more than this one. And he has payed for it every day since, even as he tried his best to keep the thoughts of this day at bay.

The Hadi Empire made their first, unpredictable and unexpected, return to UA space this day. They came out of FTL speeds just outside of Fathom’s high orbit. They attacked almost instantly, and they struck the Guardian’s academy first.

The fracture between the Zeuti Guardians and the offshoot, the Hadi Empire, took place after the First Alien War. It was when humanity had begun expanding again. By 2460 new technologies had been made, others were in the making, and new star systems had been colonised. The stormtron particle was created and the bioamps were perfected. But the most significant event was the fracture of the UA.

The military branch of biological feedback users broke away from the UA to form an independent organisation of protectors. With the development of storm weapons they called themselves the Zeuti Guardians in homage to the Greek god Zeus, whom used lightning as his weapon. The Guardians and the UA were on good terms, but the United Alliance had no control over the Guardians, instead they could only petition for aid when needed.

The Zeuti Guardians tried to be peaceful, and only acted as peacekeepers not soldiers. There weren’t many of them compared to the UA army; there was less than two thousand, including children and those whom were still learning. They tried not to get involved in politics too much, but nonetheless had great influence over several political parties. They looked down on using their powers aggressively except when absolutely necessary.

However, as the years went by a new strand of biofeed made itself realized. Shadowfeed turned the traditional energies of biofeed into a dark, shadowy version of the normal sort. It was the opposite of biofeed, which fed off the serenity, calmness and good will, and instead grew more powerful through anger, hate and aggression within the user.

"Where there is light, there is also darkness. The two walk hand in hand. Without one the other cannot exist." That is what the Zeuti Titans and Lords teach the Learners. They teach them to realise which is which and how to avoid the shadow. Because, as one gives into the darkness of shadowfeed so does their soul. By that, the meaning is; once someone uses shadowfeed the raw power of the darkness is overwhelmingly seductive. Once a user is in the grips of the shadowfeed it is almost impossible to get out, and even less possible to use it controllably and not be tempted.

The comparison between biofeed and shadowfeed was made to that of a sun and a black hole. One is powerful, but may grant life. The other can do nothing but destroy it. At least, that is what is taught.

Soon there was a power struggle between two different branches of the Guardians. One of which was located, and, for the most part, was in control of the planets and the sector of the Lalande system. While the other was located on Europa, Jupiter’s moon, in the Local system. The struggle between the seats was on the issue of whether shadowfeed should be used or not, whether it was morally right to use something that fed off dark energy. Soon the shadowfeed users on Lalande’s most advanced planet Karnos broke away from humanity completely. The three fully colonized planets in the Lalande system broke with them, to form the Hadi Empire. It was named after Zeus’ dark underworld brother Hades, to show its defiance to Zeus’ Zeuti Guardians.

Thereafter the use of shadowfeed was outlawed and forbidden to be used within United Alliance territory, and the space that the Guardians operated.

There were many disputes between the factions, but nothing aggressive, yet. The Hadi Empire also controlled the bulk of the human armada. Over time, the Hadi Empire became secluded and did not make any appearance outside of the Lalande system, nor did they let anyone enter.

And that was how it stayed for many decades. But then they attacked, and perhaps it was chance or fate that they had attacked on the day he had punished his student for his rule breaking. He could never know for sure…

Galvin was watching Teran from above, not in reality but in his dream. His connection to his newly graduated student was strong and he was able to sense, and almost see, what Teran was doing at the time. And now, in his dreams, he was watching what he was distracted from that day. And now he was feeling what Teran had felt, and watched as his own decision dominoed events for the worse.

Teran could hear the commotion outside his room. He could sense shadowfeed energies all over the academy. He also knew that a battle had started between the Zeuti Guardians and the Hadi Empire in the main courtyard of the academy, he could sense it. He tried to open the door to help, but he couldn’t crack the lock. He didn’t have his stormswords either, they were taken away by Titan Galvin and the biofeed protection device was active on his room so his abilities couldn’t help him get out either.

As he was pacing a strike of fear blew through his mind and he stopped instantly with his eyes growing wider as he realised what it was. He was sensing someone’s fear, Sasha’s fear. He dared not pull his concentration away, he followed her every movement and every emotion in his mind. They had become somewhat linked in their time together. He could feel her running through the corridors towards his room; he could feel two shadowfeed energies behind her. Hadi Berserkers they felt like. A type of Hadi warrior who focused on using channelling all their energy and abilities into physical combat, unlike the Hadi Sorcerers whom relied on the use of shadowfeed to fight with.

Teran raced to his door as Sasha reached it. He could hear her calling his name, telling him that she would get him out. But, she couldn’t, she didn’t know the unlock codes. Before either of them knew it the berserkers were upon her. She fought as best she could, even taking one of them out, but she couldn’t stand up against two Hadi.

Teran could feel tears running down his face as he thumped his fists against the door and screamed her name. His mind went blank the moment before she died, when in his head he could hear her voice. She said three words before her life force faded. I love you, was all she said.

At that moment Teran had exploded, he screamed again, but instead of shouting in desperation he yelled with pure hatred. He unleased the very first ability he had learned, back during the moment he realised he had latent powers. He unleashed the very same shadowfeed ability he used in the lower levels of Talon City, at the age of seven, when his parents and his lifelong friend, a girl named Kilah, were brutally murdered in front of him in a confrontation by gang members in their own home. Kilah’s death caused the hole in Teran’s heart, and now, with Sasha gone, that hole had reopened.

His scream unleashed a wave of dark energy; the power of it was so great that it was visible. A black and red smoke-like smog of energy burst from his body. The visible shadowfeed energy blasted the room around him. His steel desk and chair, though bolted down, were ripped out of the floor and shot up against the wall. The single person sleeping pod in the corner, bounced around the room, rebounding off the floor, ceiling and walls, like a rubber ball. Everything in Teran’s room was flung everywhere. But the biofeed protectors of his room prevented it from escaping or doing any damage outside the room. Even still, it had been used.

Galvin whom had been fighting against the remainder of the Hadi invaders felt the surge of shadowfeed from Teran and raced off to his room. He saw Sasha’s body lying outside his door and knew immediately what had taken place. Some of the other Learners and Lords had killed the second berserker, but that was of little concern to him now. He unlocked Teran’s door and the young Lord immediately ran to her body.

In the two hours that followed the Zeuti used their brief window of opportunity to evacuate from the planet, leaving it to its fate at the hands of the Hadi Empire. They returned to Europa where the United Alliance asked for Guardian aid but was refused. The eight remaining seats of the citadel concluded that it would not be wise to lose more Guardians in a battle that could not be won in the Centauri sector, and instead both the Guardians and the UA should protect the Local system.

When Teran had heard this, he was outraged but was told to calm down by Galvin and the other Titans. They told him, this was why Guardians could not love.

Another mistake on my part. But what followed none of us could have predicted. It seems that there was much that we could not predict, that had in fact come to pass.

The second Teran was out of their council room he found that friends of his were waiting for him in the lounge.

In the few days that followed he had gathered many friends from his age group whom had trained with him, as well as others who felt it was right to fight. More than thirty Guardians, Learners and Lords alike, stood behind Teran for leadership, and he gave it to them. He led this small force back to battle; he went to help the other planet in the war torn sector. While Fathom was now under control, the planet Kalorin was still resisting and they were going to give them aid.

After that Galvin’s dream ended abruptly, just as it always did.

This was the nightmare that had dogged Galvin for two months now. Because of his actions that day, his own Learner, someone that had looked up to him as a father, resented him and went against the ruling of the Titans becoming a renegade.

Galvin El’Fin woke with a start, he was sweating and hyperventilating. He looked at the clock; he had slept for ten hours. He fell back into his sheets, I wonder if he is still alive, he thought to himself as he stared at the ceiling of his ship room. I still have two days till we dock…

Chapter 2

Teran ‘Tec’ Artosis tensed his jaw as he looked down at his feet as a small branch snapped with a loud crack under the weight of his boot. He was trying to be quiet, just not very well it seemed. He wouldn’t be able to hunt very well if he kept this up, but he was so tired and the very limited five o’ clock morning light wasn’t helping very much either. He was also too tired to use his senses or his biofeed.

The last few nights for him had been restless. The Hadi had started to systematically sweep sections of the forest. Not near his camp, at least not yet. But, soon they would be found, it was just a matter of time. Though Teran wasn’t sure where else they could relocate to. They had already been forced to move camp three times in the past two months. It had been wrecking his brain as of late.

The men were also hungry. Every time they had been forced to shift their camp, they wasted and lost supplies. That was why Teran was now wandering the forest at five o’ clock in the morning, and he had already been out in the woods for almost an hour, to try and find something to cheer everyone up with.

Looking back up from the broken twig down at his feet he took in his surroundings. Tall pine trees and large oak trees filled the forest and barely left enough room for a hover car to get through, should one have to. This forest was very dense, which was why it made a good base camp. It was in the middle of spring at present and the forest trees were lush and extravagant. Their tall trunks reached high into the sky and their broad and plentiful tree tops left little space for light to creep in from above. Thick as the canopy was light from the sky did manage to find its way down to the forest floor.

In this morning light Teran viewed the wood through a thin blue haze. The mist early in the day was thick and gave the entire place a sense of foreboding and death. It made the forest look deathly cold, and very creepy. The long and stretched shadows created by the sunrise’s light coming in from the south west just added to the atmosphere of this place. But Teran didn’t worry about such things, and the fog, at this hour, was starting to fade down to a thin, barely visible, layer. In a couple more hours there would be no mist at all and would stay that way until the next night.

Movement out from the corner of his eye brought Teran back into reality. Pulling his gaze away from his surrounding scenery he focused on the moving creature. He crept forward, slowly and quietly, making sure he didn’t step on any weak branches or twigs this time. As he peered through some of the large ferns and shrubs that littered the forest floor he saw his prey. Something that looked akin to a large pig; the boar-like creature, was nuzzling at some bright, fresh, green grass.

Finally, Teran thought I have found a reasonably sized animal.

Mustering up his control over his body’s biofeed he thrust his hand out towards the pig. Teran felt a slight ripple flow through the air and could just see a near invisible current move in the space between them. He could sense it getting closer and closer to the boar. He waited for the wave of invisible power to hit his target, it only took half a second but the anticipation made it feel as if over a dozen had passed. Teran heard the pig squeal as it was hit by his Biofeed Push. The pig shot up into the air and was sent flying backwards. In this dense forest there was only one outcome for an uncontrollable, flying pig. The boar hurtled into a large pine tree. One of its tusks penetrated the bark of the tree and drove deep into its trunk, however the force behind the pig was too great and its tusk was torn from its face.

Teran now moved quickly, eager to not only succeed in killing the pig but to put it out of its pain also. He hastily made his way through the bushes, pushing the long thorned leaves of ferns out of his way as he did. A sharp pain made its way from his arm to his brain. Teran winced at it and looked down to see a large thorn sicking in his arm. It was large enough to not only have itself firmly lodged into his flesh, cutting him up his forearm as he’d moved, but to be long enough to still be sticking out of his brown cloak. It was more like a large spike than a thorn. He shook his head, damn alien plant life.

He quickly pulled the barb out and continued over to the pig, doing his best to simply ignore that small throb near his inner elbow. He was prepared to kill the pig right away but the boar was still alive, and very angry. It had had one of its tusks ripped from its face and it was in a murderous mood now. Teran stared at the large hole in its jaw and wrinkled his nose in disgust.

What an awful sight. Must hurt a lot, he thought to himself as he slowly made his way towards the boar. He was being a little more cautious now.

The boar was alert, angry and terrified all at the same time. It knew that its attacker was close; it knew he was behind it. The large brown pig had blood all over its dark hazel fur and on a patch of its longish grey hair. The boar turned and charged with lightning speed when the hunter was within three meters of it. It caught its attacker by surprise and almost succeeded in skewering the Zeuti with its one remaining tusk, but the young Lord managed to dodge at the last second.

Teran quickly picked himself up off the ground. He drew one of his two stormswords as the pig turned for another attack. The boar started running back, aiming to strike, bowling through shrubs and almost disintegrating a fern stump as it smashed a path through to its foe. Teran waited for the furious, stampeding pig to get close. He reached out with his enhanced senses, he focused his bio feedback into is brain to increase its activity dramatically. Using the ability called Bio-Sight he enhanced his vision. Using what was referred to as a ‘third sight’ allowed him to see the world around him react from a different perspective. He was able to see ripples of movement from everything that lived. It allowed him to pick up the subtle vibrations in the air and ground around him.

He could feel it getting close to him. Closer and closer it came. When the boar had reached less than two meters from him Teran opened his eyes and the world seemed to slow. Seeing through his third vision it allowed him to see all the small ripples caused by the rampaging pig. Ripples that flowed through the ground and down into the earth, it flowed through the plants nearby, and its energy flowed through the air towards him. Teran thrust out his hand to use another biofeed attack. He used another push, but only to slow it down, and not powerful enough as to send it flying again. It was time for him to end this ordeal. As he pushed out with his energy he flipped to the side, almost cart wheeling without using hands, and as the pig went by him he flicked on his stormsword and cut off its head before he even finished spinning through the air. Once his feet were firmly on the ground his bio-sight dissipated and the world seemed to return to its normal pace. He looked down at the headless body of the pig near him and he decided that he should gut the creature now. So using the sword still in hand he ran his emerald storm blade along the belly of the pig. The innards of the beast spilled onto the ground and Teran made quick work of pulling it all out and dumping it on the floor. Though, he made sure to turn off his sword first. Flicking a switch the super charged stormtron particles stopped flowing through the blade and it returned to its normal holographic form before that too was turned off and disappeared.

Staring down at the headless and gutted pig Teran couldn’t help but feel good about himself. During the last few days all the men had had to eat were rabbits, edible plant roots and other assorted ‘military grade’ supplements. Teran had already caught two rabbits and a snake this morning which weren’t nearly enough, but this boar made up for the last few days of horrid food that he had been forced to endure.

There’s nothing like fresh pork. Can’t wait to get this baby on the fire tonight, he said to himself quietly. Bending over he hauled the carcass up and slung it over his shoulder. As he stood up his eyes almost popped out of his head in effort. Next time . . . I’ll kill a smaller pig.

He made his way back to where he had placed the other animals he had caught, picked them up and went on his way. He travelled back through the forest towards the base camp.

Freeze! shouted a husky, tired voice. A soldier approached Teran as he made his way back past the sentries.

Who are you?! the man shouted as he made his way down a small dirt mound, from behind a tree.

Relax, it’s just me, Bors, Teran told him, slowly turning. The soldier immediately realised who he was talking to and stood at attention.

Sorry, Sir! Bors fumbled out a sloppy saluted.

Teran simply waved him off and turned to start walking again. We are going to have a nice meal tonight, he said light-heartedly as he petted the carcass on his shoulder while he walked off. Bors looked at his commander’s catch and all of a sudden his sentry duty didn’t seem that boring now he had something good to look forward to at the end of the day.

As Teran made his way into the camp another soldier approached him. He was a tall man, not all that built but he was strong. The man towered above Teran, standing more than eight inches higher than he but only weighed around ninety kilos. His face was covered by his long, black hair that dangled around his head, shielding his greeny-blue eyes from view. His features indicated that the man was around thirty years of age but no one really knew for sure, not even the man himself did. He wore worn heavy armour that looked like it had been through hell and back, and it probably had. Although the armour was heavy, it looked like little more than light armour. It had some scattered plating that the soldier had added over time for more protection, but other than that the armour didn’t have much distinction about it. The man was also holding a rifle, he never went anywhere without it.

The soldier walked up to Teran and relieved him of his burden. Good catch then? Nice work, Sir, he praised as he lifted the boar over his own shoulder.

Thanks, Vladimir. It should lift some moral tonight, Teran agreed smiling and placing a hand on Vladimir’s empty shoulder.

You are wanted in the battle tent. Everyone is waiting for you, Vladimir explained, sighing.

Teran sighed as well and breathed out exasperated, Great. Alright, thanks Struganov, see you later. Taking a deep breath and composing himself a little Teran walked over towards the large brown and green tent that was serving as their meeting place.

Tec could hear a lot of talking inside as he drew near to the tent. It sounded like they were debating something, furiously. Almost as if they were in a real heated argument. Teran waited outside for a time, before heading in, to try and figure out who was arguing with whom and why. Tec felt tired, he really did not want to argue. He was in no mood for an argument, and for the sake of those in the tent they had better not start with him. Still, he rubbed his eyes to try and wake himself up a little and then he felt someone nudge him in his right ribs. He turned his head as he yawned to see who it was. His gaze fell upon a soldier’s chest, and his faded armour. Cranking he head up he could see Vladimir grinning, obviously eager for something that was to follow shortly.

Alright, let’s get in there, he said, and wasting no time he pulled open the flaps of the tent and strolled in. Teran sighed again and followed.

There were five people inside the tent. Four of them were Zeuti Guardians and one was a trooper commando. One of the Guardians was Teran’s good friend and old class mate when they were learners, Vrik Bane. He wore a long brown guardian cloak, like Teran’s. Underneath he had his medium combat armour equipped. The armour looked like brownish-gold carbon fibre, but Teran knew, from his own armour, that it was far stronger than that. Vrik wore a breast plate, armoured leg guards and arm guards. His armour was flexible and did not constrict his use his biofeed too much. But as Vrik was classed as a vanguard, he specialised in melee combat using his two blue stormswords to fight, however his armour did restrict his use of the bio energy more than he would like. Though Vrik wasn’t as apt at using bio feedback energies as Teran, but he did have superior reflexes.

Teran did not suffer the same negative effects with his gear; instead he sacrificed protection in favour of light armour that allowed him to use biofeed at his full potential. The light armour also allowed Teran to be quick and agile, just the way he liked to be when fighting with his emerald blades, for when the green stormsabres were either split into two or joined together as a double-bladed by connecting them at their hilts.

Vrik was a Zeuti Lord same as himself, he passed his trials only a week before Teran, but he was a full year older than Tec, at the age of twenty one. Vrik had been the only one in their age group that could keep up with Teran and his ‘secret’ girlfriend, Sasha Fen. Vrik, like most other students and even some Lords, knew about the two of them. And, like many of the classmates that survived the attack on the academy, he grieved for her when she was slain by two Hadi berserkers. But his pain for her death was paled in comparison to what Teran felt. His friend had suffered through hearing and feeling her body, through their close bond. Screams of horror and death at the hands of the vile Hadi warriors right outside his dorm room door, which had been locked by Titan Galvin beforehand. Vrik and Teran had always been close friends, and when Teran called for Guardians to follow him to aid the United Alliance Vrik was the first to stand by his side. And even now, after everything they have been through, there was no one he would rather die for.

The man had his hand pushing through his light blonde hair. His bright blue eyes were wide with anger and frustration. He was clearly in a very heated argument with the other two gentlemen. The red in his young pleasant face showed how his blood was currently sizzling just under the surface.

Teran nodded to Vrik and then to one of the other guardians in the tent, an older Lord. Zeuti Lord Baron Durr was one of the more senior members of the Guardian order whom had followed Teran. At the age of forty six it was surprising to all that he left for war. Though, if one didn’t know any better they would think Baron was at least seventy. His face was aged with lines, his hair was greyed and thinning and the weary look in his dark brown eyes made his appearance jump years ahead.

Baron wore light brown robes, with no armour underneath. Baron hated wearing anything weighted. Teran was sure that he would fight naked if he didn’t feel shame. The hood on his robes was half torn and there were scorch marks on the loose flows of the cloth. Places where he had been hit by blaster fire, though not as harmful to him as they would have been only to hit his robes as they flapped behind him as he’d moved. Baron was standing between Vrik and the other guardian with his arms raised. Obviously he was trying to calm both of the hot heads.

When Baron saw Teran, though he was pleased to see him, a concerned look that said "why did you have to come now?" crossed his face. That immediately gave Teran an idea of what the argument was about.

Teran took note of the distressed look over the aged mentor, which brought his gaze over to the other man who stood opposite to Vrik. This man had his face in a snarl, his nose was scrunched up, his teeth were showing and his grey eyes pierced into Vrik’s. Lord Karem Narl’s white hair was short and shaved with a small pony tail at the back of his head. This man was the complete opposite of both Vrik and Teran. He had already been on Kalorin when the attack came from the Hadi Empire, and when Teran showed up with his force of rebelling Guardians Karem was furious. Karem was as self righteous as they could come. Karem was a Zeuti that stuck as close to the code as he could. He followed the code as fiercely as he despised Teran. Like Tec he was a born leader but with conflicting ideals and morals, so, naturally, Teran and he would argue and fight over almost everything. But it wasn’t just how Teran led the men, it was that he’d had the gall to disobey the Order, and that he had misled more than two dozen Guardians off to war.

But it was also the fact that Karem himself had feelings for a woman who did not feel the same way about him, and that even if she did he would never act on it as Teran had done with Sasha. The code forbade it, so that was how things were. But when someone whom had been taught the same things as he had and broke the rules, and practically got away with it simply because he was exceptional at using biofeed and at combat, really pissed him off.

It was apparent that though he had been a Lord for a few years, at the age of twenty six, he still did not know how to be one with his feelings, or even accept them in most cases.

It gave Teran a slight heart ache to know