Disciple of Aughere

Taibanenthris Enarburashmos was getting impatient. He tried contacting Verax again, keeping a calm exterior and pressing the button with his usual cold calculation. I would write about what he was thinking at the time, but his mind was inaccessible to even the strongest mind reader, even the Alteriians, anyone other than... well, a god, Bane supposed. Not that Bane personally knew any gods, and seeing that none of them had ever tried to impose on his business, he thought he mostly had nothing to worry about.

Thinking about gods... Bane knew he was reconciled with his god. Each Dahnue chooses a god when they come of age, it's a ritual that had been passed down through every generation and one that Bane would continue if he ever had a child. Even though the Dahnue gods were probably long gone right along with their race. But if any of them were still around, one of them had to be Bane's. The god Bane had chosen at his coming of age ceremony had been one that he would never regret choosing: Entheraughere. He was the god of mists, of life, of honesty and truth.

Those were the things Bane stood for. He lived the values that Entheraughere taught. He might have seemed like a cutthroat, like a liar and a traitor. But in truth he was none of these things. Bane had never killed. He had never directly been responsible for the death of a single person. He believed in life, and believed in honesty and loyalty. He would never betray someone who had trusted him, even with smallest secret. He did not work with his employers in order to start conflict. He worked with his employers for a reason that could not be explained in words and could not be described by religion. It was Bane's secret, and that was what it would always be.

Some would say that by working for Verax he was betraying life. But Bane was a believer. There was a price for life, that was another thing that Bane believed. There were prophecies, countless prophecies that the Dahnue people used not to predict, but to explain. Each prophecy of the Dahnue was a situation, something that could never not happen. They were definites, certainties, things which the Dahnue people used to teach others. And Verax. He was something that the Dahnue people knew. And Bane was prepared to play his role as the disciple of Aughere. He was to serve Verax, or the Kaosa, the Chaos, in order to preserve Bizitza, Life. Chaos would fight Darkness to protect Life, and as the disciple of Aughere, Bane's role was to serve and assist Chaos.

So that's what he was doing as he pressed the button to attempt contact with Verax once again.

His cape swishing from side to side, with a new found sense of urgency and determination, Verax, in an act out of usual character, calmly, but with an obvious sense of duty and purpose, slowly walked into the command bridge. Each step thundered, his armor sending silent shock waves that resonated with the hearts and minds of those watching him. Without a word, or even a glance at anyone else, Verax stepped to his throne, slowly turned around, and reclined into it. Bringing up a holopanel, and pressing a series of buttons, he opened up communications.

"Bane," The Dreadlord spoke, his voice slow, pained, but focused on the task at hand. "I believe I have insulted your skills and delayed the fruits of your work long enough. Before we go on, tell me two things, one, if my usual strategy of just overwhelming the my enemies with numbers and power will work, if yes, the Leaders are idiots, when you say no, you will share with me the information you have found, the microscopic fractures that I shall blow open and strike at. Second, you will tell me what you know of a man named Verize. After this we shall discuss your next task."

His voice was respectful, but it had become distracted, as if the news was less important than what he would do with it. "Please hurry, I understand we both have little time we can afford to waste."

Bane paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts as briefly as possible. Verax was all business today.

"I do not believe that your typical strategy will work, Dreadlord," Bane began, "due to a few game-changing factors which were no simple task to discover. These developments have come, most surprisingly, from the Somnis Empire, lead mainly now by General Kenzeron Redmond." He paused again, pulling up the designs up and forwarding them through a hidden, private connection to the Dreadlord. "These are the designs for something that they call the Pentad. It is a team of five ships, each with individualized, detailed AI personalities which provide them with the traits necessary to carry out a specific purpose, and the actual design of the ships also follows that logic. They are, in order of creation: the Custodian, designed to carry large numbers of refugees; the Fabricator, a factory ship where the other ships will receive any necessary repairs; the Aegis, a ship designed to protect the Custodian and Fabricator in their moments of need; the Vigilante, designed to be the main offensive ship; and the Accomplice, whose purpose I was unable to uncover, perhaps because its purpose has not yet been decided. From its design, I would guess some sort of combat oriented ship."

Bane sighs slightly, continuing. "You may or may not be aware, but you have already been, in a way, fooled by this Pentad. Though the first three are the only ones to have been created as of yet, if you were to scan the surface of Pluto--which is in a dimension I understand you have claimed--you will find it utterly empty. It was evacuated, I believe a short time ago, by the Custodian. All of the Plutonian refugees now dwell in this ship, as well as the little that is left of the Somnis people."

The designs appear on Verax's console, and the structure of the ships confirms Bane's information. "As for the personal positions of the leaders themselves," Bane went on, "General Redmond is intent on taking out as much of your Empire as possible. But be warned: he is a man who does not fear death. It would not surprise me if his entire plan is to take as many of your ships down with him before he goes, and to leave the Somnis people in the hands of the Pentad. Be prepared for a fearless attack on his part.

"High-Druid Archelaus' standpoint on you and your affairs has not changed. He opposes you ferociously, and I predict that when the two of you engage in inevitable confrontation, only one of you is likely to emerge alive. The Alteriian fleets share his sentiment, and even if the High-Druid should surrender to you personally in a duel, his people would not be likely to follow suit.

"Princess Zyria is intent on saving her people. Unless you should choose to hunt down the Custodian, you will not face any threat from her race. Even then, it is more likely that the members of the Pentad would be those who would face you. She is of little concern currently."

Bane looked into Verax's eyes through the holoprojector for a long moment, and then said, "As for Commander Robless... he and the NSI are currently stationed in Crenel, and have rebuilt and fortified the old prison planet. He is, currently, only slightly hostile towards you and your Empire, and should remain so until you act against him. Currently, he is more concerned with another enemy... and this ties in with your final question. Verize. I know little of him, and for that I apologize. But he is an extremely elusive figure. I know that he has taken control of the Stalkers--originally a group in rebellion of the NSI, who stand for the principles that Robless fought for while under the influence of the Thel-ghan'che. Verize is their leader, and is stationed in the Interdimension... no one but the NSI still have the technology to reach that division of the universe."

Bane looked down slightly. "I must say that I have not done extensive looking into Verize because there simply is nothing to be found. I don't know where he comes from, his family, his past, even his race. He seems to have appeared out of nowhere. None of my contacts know anything about him, though I have inquired."

Bane looked back up, but bowed his head slightly in respect, "Is the the information I have provided satisfactory, Dreadlord Verax?"

"...Yes. Thank you......" Verax stared off into the deep unending void of space. "Tell me. If I were to invade Crenel now, with full force, could I take the station?" He was already calculating many things, how fast it would take to locate targets, difficulty of capture, response time, shield delays, every tiny fragment of information that could be of use to him. "And to make this short, once you've answered, I want you to go to Crenel, and sabatoge any quick-response systems, I want you to severly delay any and all systems and actions once I warp into the 1st." Verax waved his arm towards his advisors. "Ready the Empire to jump to the 1st on my signal."

Tam.... Aya.... Forgive my earlier actions. But you know... if you have something you don't want to lose..... Verax turned towards an antique, an actual physical framed photograph of Lurinia, and smiled weakly.

You should keep it at a distance.

His gaze, hardening back to steel, returned to Bane's.

Bane quickly did a few mental calculations on Crenel's state of warfare readiness, and determined that "Yes, Dreadlord, I believe that taking Crenel should result in a victory for you with... somewhere around thirty percent losses. More or less." Bane paused, considering the difficulties of entering Crenel undetected, and then said quickly, "I can assure you that I will be able to do what you ask. If there is nothing else..." Bane increased power to the jump drives, "then I am on my way to Crenel now."

Bane caught a very brief glimpse of the mixed emotions in Verax's eyes but knew it was not his place to say anything about it. And so he simply outwardly pretended that he hadn't seen it, while internally, due to his habits, he began to process reasons and inferences that could be made and speculated on regarding Verax's mental state. But that was essentially on low heat on the back burner of Bane's brain, and what was on the front burner was the intense process of slipping through the minuscule gaps in NSI security.

Verax nodded, a fitting task, he thought, for someone of Bane's skill. 30 percent...... I'll take it. We'll make a miracle if I play it right. "Then go. Go as fast as you can, send me a notification, no message, just a little blip when you're ready." Verax's voice was very calm, very steady. He flung his arm out in front of him.

"Prepare yourselves! We could leave at any moment. The longer we idle, the greater the chance of spies spoiling us and enemy preparation advancing. We will take Crenel and capture Commander Robless. Both targets are of equal priority. Prepare to field our gamma-stage testing combat units. I want this entire damn Empire ready to shoot, scramble and satisfy at a snap! " He returned to looking comfortably out at space as his advisory scattered around madly, hastily preparing themselves. At a sudden thought, he sent a message to Bane. "I plan on capturing Robless, should I put Zevon, Vabin, or both in charge of that part of the operation?"

"Well, Dreadlord... You would have the best odds of succeeding with the least casualties if you were to send both. Two strategists, two minds, two commanders... typically two is better than one. Vabin is mostly loyal to you, though his motives could be questionable since he wants the god you call Shade to come into being." He is a Disciple, like me... Bane thought, but he's the Disciple who can't be trusted. He is Shade's Disciple. Bane wondered if he should mention this to Verax, but continued. "He will act in the way that will most benefit Shade. If you believe that will put his goals in a similar enough place as yours, then you can be assured he will get the job done. Zevon, though powerful, does have a softer heart than Vabin, at least. Vabin would exterminate every soul in Crenel other than Robless if he got the chance... well, that's how it seems to me. You could send Zevon in the hopes that he would balance Vabin out for the time being... but that could also bring about conflict."

Bane paused, considering. "Due to Zevon's history with you, I would actually be inclined to think that he is far more loyal to you than Vabin is. I would say... either send Zevon alone, or send them both but with knowledge of the possibility of conflict should they disagree."

Verax nodded. The time to act was now, no later. And so, with this final thought, the mighty army of the Dreadlord warped, straight to the 1st Dimension, its silence once again soon to be broken by the sounds of screams and fire.