[Jmenschenfresser]

2419.7
Raeghar's Demise

The great metal bLast door to Governor Pellwain's inner office slid open silently. A face she knew well walked solemnly into the room holding a disk before his person as if it were holy or royal. Pellwain looked up at her personal guard and lover, Gulkar, knowing full well her face looked hollow and pale.

"Have you seen the latest reports?" Gulkar asked?
She just nodded.
"The remnant of the Guarding Fleet is heading to rendevous with the incoming Moon Templars. Surely their combined might will not let this...this horror remain."
"My brother is dead, Gulkar. What is left is only the dream before death. Is that?..."
"Yes, Pellwain. Your brother's book, incomplete, The History of the Norak."
"My brother would never leave anything incomplete."

He handed her the disk and left the office. Now was the time for sober, independent thought...not tearful remorse. He left and headed straight for a barrel of booze.

Pellwain set the disk into the read and within seconds her brother's manuscript popped up before her eyes. He'd sent it to a friend on Xiban with the instructions to send it to her in case of his death. She quickly flipped to the Last page and began reading.

"We've passed into Sallega space. I smell death. Our fleet quickly dispatched an aging guard standing over the warp point his teeth revealed like a primitive unaware of his certain death. Of course the poor crew knew they were going to die, but they fought for their homeworld. I watched from the bridge, and after it was over I returned to my quarters and balled my eyes out. Their death, not the thousands in Cephedri, a system stained from end to end with blood, was the turning of a key to a door that cannot be closed. 'The belly of the beast,' he's said. The heart of the Sallega empire was not the reference, but the heart of the Norak empire. The closer we come to ultimate destruction, the bloodier our right hand becomes, the closer our left is to pricking the wall of our own black heart.

"We had little information coming into Narcisston. Apparently, there's a large fleet stationed over a distant planet. I am not sure if it is headed this way. I sit most of the day in my office talking to Elgart, my assistant, praying and meditating.There's little to do. Few of the crew come to see us. The Tribunals have taken the salt out of our religion. It is more a law of government than spiritual volition and obedience.

"Jumping quickly from planet to planet our fleet destroyed two of their worlds. I again watched from the bridge as our beams ignited their atmospheres. There was little resistance. As the fleet then began its journey to the third Sallegan world, the distant fleet was now just two sectors away and on an intercept course. Fleet commander Igar-Fil decided it best to try and flank the fleet, so we redirected to the Sallegan homeworld near the warp point leading into Organtrix.

"That night I had a dream, and in my dream I relived the ancient Plain's Wars of Xiban our homeworld. I saw as we rode great terara beasts into battle. We rode for their center. I listened and heard the might of our force as it rumbled over the rolling hills. Dust covered the size of our onrush. Primitive cries roared above the thunder of our attack. I felt that were we to stop we might well carve a gorge into the country side. I saw then the front lines of the enemy...yards back from where they were just minutes ago. We rode into what was effectively a corral of guns and cannons. I saw then the wings of our mighty calvary veer off and flee, and that brought me great distress. I watched as those brave idiots who rode into the trap fell in waves, their great beasts howling from the triple digit wounds they received before their thick hides and outer layers of bone could protect them no more. And the great attacker. The conquerer. The Kings of the North dwindled and warred amongst themselves to the point of chaos. No one lived but those who fled. And I saw them grow old and die in lands hewed by their own hands.

"I awoke and knew our time was at hand. I ran straightway to Elgart's bed and woke him. The Sallega fleet was not far off when I finally got him into a shuttle pod. In the two months I'd known him, I had grown fond of the young monk. Perhaps this was my Last deed. The Order was on the verge of extinction and I knew someone had to see and survive. Someone had to lead the Order and the Faith into the era beyond. I, Raeghar, having given two decades to the expansion and population of the galaxy must stay the course and ride in with the great warriors. With me dies the old order.

"So I gave Elgart a faked transfer and an excuse that one of the mine sweeper's priests had taken ill. I knew there would be no time for him to return before the battle. I pray I have done the right thing.

Pellwain closed the file. The words of her dead brother left her eyes dry. 'There's nothing to lament' she thought. She stood and looked out of her window at the city below. Her brother was right. The Continuum and the Sallegan Empire would not survive this. All that mattered was protecting the future. Deep inside Farzah space, she knew here they could hide. She could hide her millions from the destruction of the 'old order.' She turned quickly, hit three keys on the comm pad and waited for the ever grumpy voice of the Lord of Knoglam of the Farzah.