FRONT COVER◄PROLOGUE►CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ARTWORK

Siva itself is a massive planet—almost fifteen-thousand miles in diameter, but is not very dense, and thus its gravity is fairly normal despite its large size. It has two moons. The innermost is a small captured asteroid only a dozen miles in diameter that orbits close enough to be visible to the naked eye as a speck of light that drifts across the sky at night. The outermost is a larger, silicate-rock and water based moon with an iron core that produces its own magnetic field, about four-thousand miles in diameter and is mined for its metal by the Crown of Siva. Mining fleets, escorted by naval ships, can be seen strafing across the sky at night as they travel to and from the moon.

The spectral types of the two stars are G1V for Zaket A—the Kindler—and K9V for Zaket B—the Watcher. The innermost planet—Anak—is an uninhabitable rock blasted by x-ray radiation from both stars. The next planet is Siva itself, orbiting about 1.1AU away from the binary suns. On it, there are few fertile areas as much of the planet is covered in rocky crags and endless deserts, but small pockets of fertility are here and there, notably in the polar regions. Half of the planet's food production comes from there, while the rest is synthetically grown and manufactured in larger cities.

Beyond this are two gas giants. orbiting The many-ringed Shiya and its ocean moon Tirag orbits 1.6AU away from Zaket A and B. Beyond that at 2.1AU is the single-ringed Sagathra, and much larger than its neighbor. Three of its moons—Yafo, Kalag, and Tzor—are much like Gefo, containing multitudes of rich minerals that are mined by the system's inhabitants. Namyet is its second largest moon, covered in thick forests and jungles and housing a multitude of flora and fauna. The largest of its moons—Rovoth—is a terrestrial world much like Siva, though hosting a whole slew of biomes that acted as the first colony of the system outside of Siva proper. It could almost be analogous to Earth in the real universe, but the life of Siva evolved faster and became masters of the non-sentient creatures of Rovoth long before any others.

Even further is the small planet known as Veketh, and is little more than a ball of rock and water ice. Orbiting it is a large listening post that scans the systems beyond for hopes of finding habitable planets in other star systems while also serving as a supply depot for vessels departing for the few colonies established on the dozen or so colonies on other areas of space.

The Sivathi are an anthropomorphic feline race that dwell upon Siva and inhabit the colonies established in the Zaket system, and a few beyond. They are separated by a strict caste/class system. The upper and middle classes are not as high in rank as nobles, but wield significant power in their own right. Many control great portions of the business, agricultural, mining, religious, and industrial sectors of the planet. They come from all walks of life, where they are artisans, metallurgists, merchants, entertainers, and more. The common citizenry are similar and retain many such positions, though they do not possess the same economic influence as their higher caste counterparts. Even so, they are separate from the slave class and encompass a multitude of Sivathi. Some own slaves, while others do not. What separates them mainly from the slaves is their free status.

Their military consists of vast Armies of technologically advanced, power armored feline warriors armed with gauss, ballistic, and plasma weaponry, vehicles like assault guns, light, medium, and heavy tanks and armored cars, and fleets of starships that roam their home system, defending it from alien attacks. Slaves are not permitted to join the military, as it is made up of conscription of the common folk and some of the middle class, who make up the ranks of the enlisted and NCOs, and a professional corps of officers made up of the middle class, upper class, and nobility. The navy and army themselves are used to keep many slaves in line. The army’s uniforms utilize a desert camouflage color palate in a digital pattern format, as well as on their vehicles. The starships are a purer white color, trimmed with the similar desert browns and tans of the ground forces.

The crown worn by the monarchs of Siva has two prongs, each representing one of the two stars in the binary system the Sivathi call home. The High Kings and Queens that have ruled the system for most of its history utilize their duke and duchess underlings to keep the common people and the slave population in line. A constant yearning for freedom has long lived in the hearts of the Sivathi slave class, and as this feline race prepares to embark into the cosmos, the subject of emancipation will bear heavily upon the head that now bears the Crown of Siva. Will centuries of tradition be uprooted by a cry for liberty, or will the iron fists of the monarchs continue to ensnare the downtrodden?

*

The hustle and bustle of the planet Siva’s capital city—Shaleth—continued as usual in the blistering light of the binary signs of the Zaket system. None of the slave class, no commoners, and even none of the middle and upper classes knew of what was transpiring deep within the palace of High King Phaziah Ishigar, the ruler of the Zaket system and all its satellites.

Only Phaziah himself, along with his noble dukes and duchesses, knew what was playing out; they bore witness to it at this very moment. Within the great hall of the felid monarch’s palace, his nobles were assembled, surrounding a humble Sivathi house slave named Shiphra as she knelt in the center of it all with a small infant cradled in her arms. She gazed up at the High King, his golden fur as alluring and attractive as the moment that she’d been seduced by his charms.

That very seduction had given rise to the unintended consequence of a child created in the womb of Shiphra. She knew it could only have been the result of her affair with High King Phaziah Ishigar, and that the infant would be a mixture of slave and royal blood. Worse yet, there was nothing she could do to hide the transgression. Sivathi slaves did not possess the right to choose what became of their bodies or their offspring. Aborting the child was out of the question. Even if she had been able to, Shiphra couldn’t bring herself to do so. All her life she had never been permitted love, whether it was in the romantic sense up until her night with the High King, or amongst family or friends. She had nothing, and the night of wonder with Phaziah had seemingly given her the gift that she’d been robbed of. As her child developed in her womb, a mother’s love began to take root. It was clear that the High King had cast her aside without a second thought, and the innate bond of matriarch and child only grew.

Only weeks ago she had given birth to a daughter. The girl, while still retaining a shred of tan in the undercoat of her fur—a trait innate in many of the Sivathi slave class—still prominently showed the golden fur of the nobility as her main feature. It was impossible to hide the fact that High King Phaziah had mixed his blood with that of a slave, with Shiphra giving birth to a specimen that was an affront to the holiness of the Crown of Siva and its dual prongs that represented the Zaket binary suns.

It was a blasphemous act that had never occurred in nearly five-hundred years of the Ishigar dynasty’s rule. But blasphemy was something incapable of being bestowed upon the monarchs of the House of Ishigar. The High Kings and High Queens of Siva were always perceived as blameless and righteous, and unable to sin. They were bearers of the holy twin pronged crown that represented the binary suns of the Sivathi’s home system. Those suns gave life, grew crops, and provided energy. The wearer of that crown represented the essence of life itself, and thus could not be capable of sin.

Thus, the blame for this travesty fell entirely upon the slave girl, Shiphra. She prostrated herself before High King Phaziah Ishigar, his dukes, and his duchesses, begging for their mercy as she held the golden furred child in her quivering handpaws, outstretching her daughter like an offering. The faces of the nobles surrounding her in the great hall were contorted in disgust and revulsion, seeing the mixture of royal and slave genetics as a cruel mockery of life itself. They laughed scornfully at the desperate slave as she begged the High King to permit her to keep her daughter.

“Your Majesty,” the tan furred, lowly Sivathi slave pleaded. “I know my words hold no weight here, and I am sinning gravely to even put forth such a notion as sparing the offspring of royal and slave blood. But my daughter is the only thing that I have ever been permitted to love, aside from you. Oh, High King of the Zaket suns and all their light, I beg you to bestow your radiance upon us both! If not for me, then for our daughter!”

High King Phaziah Ishigar curled his lip in disgust at the mere mention of the girl before him being related to him in any way, shape, or form. He knew he was blameless in this matter. How dare this slave, lower than the lifeless ground of the badlands, even propose that this monstrosity was his?

“You’d do well to watch your tongue, slave!” one of the duchesses said, stepping out of the circular line of nobles to belittle Shiphra up close. “Another statement as blasphemous as that, and we won’t hesitate to cut you down in gauss and plasma fire on the floors of the great hall!”

Shiphra was not swayed by the words of the duchess that had reprimanded her. She would endure any amount of pain and torment if it meant sparing her child. Spiting the duchess, she continued to bow down before the High King, gently placing the sleeping Sivathi infant on the polished floor before her and holding out her arms, acknowledging that the child was all she had in the world. “Please, High King Phaziah Ishigar,” she said, her tears falling to the floor. “You are the very essence of life itself. You are gracious, and you are merciful. I beg you to give our daughter the blessings of the Zaket suns and permit her the gift of life.”

“My mercy does not extend to lowly slaves, no matter how much royal blood they may possess in their veins,” the High King said. “Semblences of any immorality on the part of the Ishigar dynasty cannot be allowed to persist, even if it means denying life itself by the decree of the herald of the life-giver.”

Shiphra’s eyes widened at what the Sivathi monarch was implying. She knew that she had no voice in the matter, and if death was to be the decree for both her and her child, there would be nothing she could do to prevent it. The stainless prestige of the Ishigar dynasty and its noble underlings was so immense that a slave such as herself could never hope to challenge their ultimate decisions. Her only hope was that deep down, the High King would find it in himself to show clemency and forgive her for her sins.

“However, the child is innocent of any wrongdoing; she has not chosen the circumstances surrounding her birth,” Phaziah said. “But you have, slave. You chose to defile the name of the Crown of Siva the moment you joined me in my bed. Thus, I shall now decree the fate of the girl and your own destiny, here and now.”

Nested deep within her heart, Shiphra knew that the High King was just as much at fault for the conception of the infant. It had been Phaziah who had seduced her and lay with her, intent on seizing her beauty for himself in a single night of debauchery. The potential consequences of such a union and the High King’s disregard for them demonstrated just how little regard the Sivathi slave class was held in by the nobles, the upper and middle classes, and even some commoners. Worse yet, the fact that all blame fell upon the shoulders of Shiphra accentuated this disregard even further. Even though common sense pointed towards the High King’s involvement, it was physically impossible for him to do any wrong.

“She shall be sent away to the farthest corner of Siva,” Phaziah Ishigar said, pointing to the swaddled child on the floor before him with his glimmering, jewelry adorned claw. “Where her noble blood will ever be hidden from her and be attributed to a freak genetic mutation. She will be sold as a slave, just as her mother before her, and left to toil in the deepest of Siva's wastelands, far from the capital of Shaleth."

The dukes and duchesses in attendance gasped aloud, baffled that the very herald of the Zaket suns was actually considering sparing the monster that Shiphra had given birth to. They knew that death was the only way to erase the mistake of Phaziah’s infidelity and preserve the prestige of the Crown of Siva; That the High King was even remotely putting forth such a notion caused an uproar in the great hall. Shiphra looked to and fro fearfully, knowing that her role in all this was the cause for the infighting that was breaking out. What would future generations of nobility think of the Crown of Siva if the mixture of slave and noble blood was allowed to continue?

“I am not without mercy!” High King Phaziah Ishigar bellowed out with a roar as loud as a lion’s. “This child has done no wrong, other than bear the scourge of mixed blood. Therefore, she will not be put to death. Unlike her mother.”

An uneasy but content silence then spread throughout the great hall as it was clear that the High King would still be intent one exacting some sense of traditional Sivathi justice against the accused. Shiphra cowered fearfully, taking solace in the fact that Phaziah had found it within himself to extend his mercy to their daughter, but terrified for what would become of her.

“Chain the slave to the Pillars of Purification, where the outskirts of Shaleth meet the dunes of Siva’s infinite deserts,” Phaziah proclaimed, pointing his claw at Shiphra. “It is the most severe punishment that can be afforded to the condemned upon Siva. Naked and hopeless, the burning light of the binary Zaket suns will be your only companion while you are left to the unforgiving elements and the mercy of scavenging creatures, until death claims you. You will suffer this punishment for daring to tarnish the pristine repuration of the Ishigar dynasty, but know that even in this act, I am not without mercy. I shall permit your daughter to be escorted with you to the site of your execution, where you will be permitted to gaze upon her one final time before she departs for her future. This is the decree of the Crown of Siva!”

“Captain Yanat,” one of the duchesses in attendance spoke up, calling over to the captain of the Ishigar household troops that stood with his detachment at the doorway to the great hall. “Take this slave and her abomination child away! Remove this refuse from our sight!”

Shiphra’s tears reached a climax as she realized that her world was crumbling around her. The rough, yellow painted and power-armored arms of the High King’s household troops grabbed her by her flowing hair, dragging her painfully as she kicked and screamed out of the great hall. Captain Yanat stooped down, picking up the child in his arm to take her away as well.

High King Phaziah Ishigar watched as the forms of his household troops and the struggling slave girl grew smaller and smaller in the seemingly never-ending passageway that led out of the palace. As soon as they’d reached the doors that led to the outside world and into Shaleth, the blinding light of the Zaket suns hid them in their flares as the palace’s holo-gates opened. As far as Phaziah was concerned, it was symbolic of his power blotting out the insignificant Shiphra and her offspring in the brilliance of his divinity. Thinking little more of the matter, he swore to himself that it would be the last he would hear or see of his illegitimate daughter.

It wouldn’t be.

*

The bright yellow power armor of the Ishigar household troops stood out like a sore thumb against the tan landscape of Siva as Captain Yanat and his men led Shiphra and the child further and further towards the edge of the desert, where the Pillars of Purification awaited her. They were life guards of the High King, and weren’t outfitted to be carrying out a mission in the wastelands of Siva’s deserts. This was a job for the common soldiery, not elite troops such as themselves. Several in Captain Yanat’s detachment were making their opinions known on the matter as one of them dragged Shiphra along by the chain bound to her wrists, her naked body already suffering immensely under the punishing binary Zaket suns.

“Why are we even doing this, Captain?” one of the lower ranking troops asked as they approached the Pillars of Purification, which were now in sight. “You heard how the nobles reacted to the High King’s decree. We should have just gunned her down with our plasma rifles then and there, along with her child!”

Captain Yanat grasped the now wailing Sivathi girl in his arm, a modicum of compassion tugging at his heartstrings as he draped his cloak over the infant to shield her from the binary stars. Glancing behind him at the naked Sivathi slave being led behind them, her bare footpaws hardly able to drag across the sand, he couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit of sympathy for Shiphra. The bodies and genetics of all Sivathi were attuned to survive in the sweltering heat and sunlight of Zaket’s suns, but not for days on end without food or drink. They’d been traveling by footpaw for forty-eight hours now. With nothing to clothe her and no sustenance to satisfy her hunger or quench her thirst, she was suffering immensely.

Cries for justice and liberation of the Sivathi slave class had been vocal for several generations now, but as a member of the High King’s household troops, he had seldom questioned the abuses thrust upon those less fortunate than him. Now that he was seeing this brutality with his own eyes, the first pangs of hesitation began to arise far down in his soul.

“It isn’t our place to question the decisions of the High Kings and Queens of the Crown of Siva. You know that,” Captain Yanat said, stopping in his tracks as he stood before the crumbling pillars of ancient Sivathi civilization before him. They had finally arrived at the site for Shiphra’s execution.

Captain Yanat quickly motioned to the nearest pillar with his power-armored handpaw, commanding that his troops strap Shiphra’s chains to the cracking alabaster stones. It was an eerie feeling. This place shared its ground with the long dead remains of soldiers from dozens of years prior; their corpses picked clean by scavengers amidst the hulking wrecks of assault guns and tanks that were destroyed in a great siege that surrounded Shaleth. It had been one of the most horrifying battles of the rebellion instigated by a rogue duke, during the rule of Phaziah Ishigar’s grandfather. Now, Shiphra’s body would be the newest addition to this macabre graveyard.

“Chain her up,” Captain Yanat said, emphasizing his prior command. He didn’t want to linger here any longer than he had to. Even with the bioenhancements of the power-armor he and his men wore, complete with internal cooling systems and water retention supplies, the binary stars high above were still brutal. Moreover, the spectacle the Sivathi soldier was bearing witness to was beginning to weigh heavily on his heart.

His men shared the same sentiment, though perhaps not for reasons of soft hearts. They simply wanted to return to the palace and leave this line of work to others. They quickly got to work, dragging the already weakened Shiphra up to the base of the pillar and running each of her four shackles diagonally, spiking the links down into the ancient stone pillars until she was trapped in an X-shape. For good measure—or perhaps further humiliation and insult—the remaining excess chain was looped around her torso and the entire circumference of the pillar, ensuring that she couldn’t move even a single inch.

She hung there, exposed to the relentless suns and the harsh winds that swept across the desert. Her skin was already blistering and burning, her thoughts consumed by her daughter as the sandstorms of Siva bit into her body. She knew that her baby girl was being taken far away from her, destined to live a life of hardship and obscurity as the offspring of a slave and a noble, forever denied her true heritage.

As the chains clinked and clanked against the stone pillars, the pitiful cries of Shiphra grew louder, echoing through the desolate landscape. Her tan fur had darkened from exposure to the sand and filth of the desert, and her body glistened with sweat and dirt. She was a broken creature, her spirit crushed by the cruelty of her fate.

Captain Yanat couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of unease as he watched the degrading spectacle. He had been a loyal soldier of the High King for years, carrying out his orders without question. But now, as he gazed upon the suffering of this helpless Sivathi slave, he couldn't ignore the injustice of it all. A sense of guilt and empathy welled up within him.

“C-captain…” Shiphra barely managed to say as her raspy voice escaped her parched lips and throat. “Please let me… see my daughter… let me name her… before you go.”

Captain Yanat knew that he shouldn’t fulfill the request of the slave. Per Sivathi tradition, it was strictly forbidden for the children of the slave class to be named by their parents; that designation was decided by their master or mistress. But this was a unique circumstance. The child had no owner as of yet, and moreover, Yanat felt the guilt beginning to crush his heart as if it were in a vise. Shiphra had never been permitted to love another or be loved. Granting this poor woman this one final chance at giving her child a name that would carry a mother’s love for the rest of her years was the least he could do.

Hesitantly at first, Captain Yanat stepped up, lifting the infant Sivathi girl up high in his arms to come face to face with her mother. With tears in her eyes, she desperately wished she could reach out and hold her daughter, but the chains binding her prevented her from doing so. Innocently, the baby reached up with her tiny handpaw, placing it on Shiphra’s nose and muzzle lovingly.

“Talitha…” Shiphra said sadly, doing her best to crane her neck and head forward and into the touch of her child’s paw. “I name her… Talitha. Please make sure that… whoever buys her… knows that her name is Talitha… Captain Yanat…”

“Captain, what are you doing?” one of the soldiers began to say as he observed his superior stooping so low as to give this slave girl a sliver of peace and comfort during the time that was supposed to teach her the ultimate lesson in defying royal power.

Captain Yanat ignored his subordinate. Instead, he nodded his helmeted head slowly, peering at the sad face of Shiphra through his UV tinted visor. He gently withdrew Talitha from her mother, causing the baby to instantly begin crying at being separated from her parent. Had the clueless infant known that this would be the last time she would be together with Shiphra, the tears might have lasted forever. But they would soon be replaced by the call for sleep and rest. Indeed, the same call would soon come for the Sivathi slave chained to the Pillars of Purification. Hers, however, would be a permanent sleep.

“I promise, Shiphra,” Captain Yanat said. “Though I cannot spare your child from the fate that awaits her, I will ensure that she is known by this name you have bestowed upon her.”

Knowing that there was little time to linger, Captain Yanat furled his cloak back over Talitha to shield her from the rays of the Zaket suns—a privilege that could not be afforded to her poor mother—as they began to turn away from the Pillars of Purification and head back towards Shaleth. They had a schedule to keep to get back to the capital for the departing dropship that would take their detachment to the southern pole of Siva, where Talitha was to be sold away for good. There, her noble blood forgotten about and the identity of her mother a mystery that would be shrouded in secrecy. Perhaps some other slave couple would act as surrogate parents in Shiphra’s stead, and be forced to go along with the lie that her golden fur was to be explained as the result of genetic mutation.

As the heat waves of the desert began to blur and quiver on the horizon, the forms of Captain Yanat, his troops, and Talitha grew less and less recognizable for Shiphra. Overhead, scavenging Necroptera Vultures were already circling the perimeter of the Pillars of Purification. It had been the first time in many years that they’d returned to these scourged battlegrounds, for the bodies of dead soldiers had long been picked clean. A new victim was about to sacrificed and left for dead, and the animals would make sure there would be little left of her to find.

But Shiphra smiled to herself in spite of all that had transpired. She knew at long last, the love she’d been robbed of in life and falsely given by her single night with High King Phaziah Ishigar was real at last. A mother’s love for her daughter had sparked in the harsh deserts of Siva, and the name christened upon the daughter of a slave and a king would echo into eternity and across the Zaket system. Shiphra’s final blessing would not be in vain.