Part 1

18 years ago...

“The Queen is in labor… inform the King right away!” Screamed the doctor as he turned around to instruct the royal guards around them. The nurses circled the head doctor prepping him as if he was getting ready for surgery. The queen laid in a wide size bed nearby squirming and moaning in agony from the pains of childbirth.

“Hurry! Please! I don’t know how much longer I can hold back! AWW!” The queen let out a huge roar of pain which made the nurses scramble around even more. Moments later the head doctor was ready to catch the new twin members of the royal family. At the time, no one knew she was carrying twins. The doctor stood over the queen as he instructed her to keep pushing. As the queen was pushing out the first baby the king came busting through the doors, almost falling from running so fast.

“I am so sorry I’m late my love…” said the king as he hurried to the queen’s side as she continuing pushing and screaming through the pain. The nurses surrounded the king covering him with smocks and face covers to keep the environment as sterile as possible.

The doctor cupped the baby as he came out long, plum and healthy, “It is a boy your highness',” the doctor quickly sucked out the baby boy’s nose so he could take his first breath of fresh air. When the baby boy let out his first cry, the king hugged the queen and kissed her on the forehead.

The doctor then quickly wrapped the baby prince in a blanket then he gave the boy to the nurses for further cleaning, “Normally, my king, we would hand the queen the baby first thing once the baby comes out but this is something special sir. She is carrying twins. You are not done my queen.” The doctor, who was crouched down in between the queen’s legs looked up in between them and made eye contact with her. “You ready my queen?” The doctor gave her a big smile as he went back down ready to catch baby number two. Both the king and the queen looked shocked as the heard the news of the two for one deal but were both very happy for the last child will be their fourth born and their last child. The fourth child would be the next Commander.

The queen tilt her head back and began pushing for the second time. The king leaned over and kissed her on the forehead while holding her hand tight. Before the queen knew it, she had given birth to a baby boy and a baby girl. The royal couple was overwhelmed with joy for now their family was complete. They already had a son and a daughter, Jaron Jr. and Patrisha. As the nurses handed the queen the newborn babies, the king showered them all with kisses and love.

Just as the king and queen were enjoying their new bundles of joy a young guard stood in the doorway facing straight, purposely not looking at them for privacy sake. When the king saw the guard he sprung up standing in front of the three covering them out of instinct. The guard continued, “My king! My apology sir but there’s an emergency with Commander Jaycen something has happened to him, sir.” The king exhaled deeply as he hears the concerns in the guard’s voice. He looks behind him over his shoulder to look at his queen and his newborn twins. The queen was nursing and concentrated on the babies.

The king kneeled down and whispered in the queen’s ear, “I have to go my love, something’s going on.” He kissed his queen on the forehand and both of his newborns, “You got this, I love you...”

The queen turned her head and told the king she loved him back. The king then turned around to another guard standing nearby. He ordered the guard to stay close to his queen and the babies and never leave her side unless instructed. King Jaron left the Medic quarters with the young soldier straight to the Military quarters where he was needed. Once King Jaron reached the corridor he noticed the room was dark. He immediately started taking off his royal cloak and handed it to a maid nearby. “I made haste so what is it? My twins came into the world today,” As the King Jaron turned around to see where everyone was, he stopped midway when he saw the lifeless body laid on the long table at the end of the room. It was the king’s youngest brother Jaycen.

King Jaron walked over to the table slowly looking at his brother’s beat up and bloody body. Jaycen was still in his armor, nothing had been touched on him until the king saw him first. The king was crushed. As the oldest brother he took care of his siblings and Jaycen was his closest sibling. Looking down at his brother’s bloody face, he removed a braid that was draped across his face. The young soldier who escorted the king stood nearby in grievance over his commander as well. King Jaron slightly turned around and asked the young soldier where Gerok, the Captain was and second in command to Jaycen. Gerok was now the Commander.

That did not settle well with the king. Gerok was no Jaycen and he was known to be all for himself. Plus there was rumors that Gerok was a Saijerian sympathizer or the ‘Outsiders’, people who were not of Sagen blood or were exiled prisoners.

Sage was currently going through a dilemma with the Saijerians. More and more Sagen people especially those who live on the moons orbiting the Sage have joined the cause of the Saijerians. Their home was on the biggest Sagen moon, Blackius. Sagens built colonies for those who were seeking refuge.They are supposed to be a symbol for free living unlike the Sagens who believed in strict traditions and values. The Sagens were elite, strong and loyal to the Star Council. The Sagens liked the way their cultures were and had no plans on changing their values. For King Jaron making Gerok Commander jeopardized the integrity of Sage. The king knew he was going to have to keep a watchful on Gerok. He needed to know what’s going on.

A few moments later a messenger came in through the doors and walked over to the young soldier who was closest by. While the messenger was speaking to the soldier the news made him turn around and look the messenger in the eye. He whispered back he understood and rushed over to tell the king the news. “My king there is news of Gerok and he has been hurt. He’s in the Medic quarters down the hall sir. There is something else my king. Sir, there is news that Artemis, the leader of the Third Born under Princess Jaleah, will become Gerok’s second.”

“Artemis? Where are the Generals? I must speak to someone in the Military quarters.” said the King who was furious.

“Sir, all the Generals fell in battle. The role and responsibility falls to Artemis sir. The Commander must have a second in command.” The young soldier tried his best to explain the magnitude of the disaster of what happened. The news made the king stand up and turn around with shock.

“How can that be? There is no one left within the military of high ranked who survived?” The king was getting furious, why wasn’t he getting informed about any of these right away? He thought to himself. Sagens don’t fall. The king needed to know what exactly was going on.

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This was something that was never done before. A third born sitting in as a captain to the commander. That place was always and has been for the fourth born children only. The captain was also responsible for training the next cohorts of the upcoming generations. Artemis, however, was the king’s best friend. King Jaron didn’t want to sacrifice anymore of his loved ones. The king turned to the young soldier and asked, “Who is responsible for the attack? Who would be strong enough to take us out like this?” The king waited for the young soldier to answer, but for some reason he hesitated, “Well? Speak soldier!” The king’s roar made the young soldier jump a little.

“It was confirmed sir… it was the ‘Zou the new Leader of all barbarian clans’, ‘The Barbarians of the Caves’, ‘Salvagers of the Waste’, the…” The king interrupted the young soldier from naming all the nicknames to the worse enemies the Sagen army has ever encountered, “They were carrying out a mission on planet Toko sir when they were ambushed. The soldiers who were in the front line were taken out first. Only a few who were in the back survived sir. They were lead in by a nearby enemy and trapped in the middle of a valley sir. We lost a lot of soldiers today.”

“That’s impossible! They are not powerful enough to take us out like that. They aren’t smart enough to pull that off alone…” The king walked over to his brother’s body and placed his hand down on the table. “They killed my baby brother, the Commander of the Sagens and all of his generals…” King Jaron began to sob but only for a few seconds before quickly picking his head up. He began to turn his grievance into anger and wanted revenge. No one does this amount of damage to an elite army like the Sagen Army and not expect to get away with it. He felt in his gut that this attack was unusual and something else was at play. King Jaron turned to the young soldier one last time and asked him to accompany him to the briefing rooms at the other end of the Military Quarters. He needed to gather all of what’s left of his military and gather the fallen for proper burials.

In the Medic Quarters Gerok got up from the bed in the clinic, “AWWW! THEY SCREWED ME OVER!” Gerok screamed and yelled a lot roaring in anger. He started picking up furniture and items around the room throwing them against the wall, “This was NOT supposed to go this way! This was NOT what me and Zou talked about!”

Gerok’s good friend and most trusted ally Rolin stood nearby as he watched Gerok explode. “At least on the bright side, you’re the commander now. Rightfully so I might add sir…” Rolin said proudly because he was grateful to be on the winning side.

“Bright side?! There isn’t an army left to command! I will have my revenge against that Zou bitch! They played me Rolin… they don’t know who they messed with. After we rebuild and the next generation of soldiers are ready we will destroy every last one of the Barbarians of the Caves. In the meantime, we get back to building the strength of the Saijerians so we could execute our true plan of overthrowing the king and taking Sage for our own. Without the barbarians as our allies.”

Within the next few weeks, King Jaron had a lot of work to do to piece together his broken military. He swore in Gerok as the new Commander as well as Artemis who was honored to take the position as Captain to Gerok. Even though Artemis was a third born he was the head of Military Affairs and the well-being of the soldiers anyway. He ensured the king that he would have the next generations of the soldiers ready to go and ready to for the Sagen Army to get back to work.

Within the next four next years the fears King Jaron and other of the Sagen council members came true in regards to the Saijerians becoming more powerful in numbers and wealth. The Sagen economy was based off mostly of trade and the payments from the Star Council after policing the neighboring habitable planets. It was brought to the king’s attention that there has been a huge issue of stealing and smuggling exports coming in and out of Sage. Priceless artifacts made that are exported have turned up missing. Less and less revenue seemed to be coming in and money for seeds or exported goods also seemed to running thin. King Jaron had his suspicions from the beginning about Gerok. He knew he was responsible to the shifts in power and wealth.

King Jaron asked Artemis to personally keep an eye on Gerok and all of his transitions. The members of the Sagen Army and certain politicians were the only people allowed off the planet unless you had permission from the Sagen Council. No one knew who was all involved in the smuggling but everyone knew the Saijerians and their secret loyalist were responsible.

Everything was going great for the young, arrogant handsome Commander Gerok. He also wore long locks. He was relatively short but his build was buff. Being the Queen’s twin brother had its perks, until he let the power and sneaking around of living two different lives get to him. He wanted it to end. His sister, Shakiya the queen, was receiving a very special, very rare gift from the race of special people who helped the Twelve Queens of the Star Council construct the Universal Order of Peace.

Gerok knew if he could get his hands of something like that, the sketchy people who loved stolen items would buy it quickly. He would have enough wealth build up to be able to start his attacks on the kingdom. The Saijerians have already made Gerok their leader. He felt like he had to follow through now, he was tired of sneaking around he wanted to be with his pregnant Saijerian wife and take his place on the thrown of it all. That night he would make his move…

In the middle of the night, Gerok proceeded in sneaking into the queen’s quarters where she slept along with the twin toddlers. He thought for sure this would be an easy steal, an easy win for his so called people. What Gerok wasn’t expecting was for the queen to be expecting him. Without the knowledge of the husband, King Jaron, she also had the same gut feeling the infamous thief and smuggler was her brother.

Everything was quiet, everything was still. The night was his perfect cover. Gerok crept into the bedroom from the outside balcony, slowly and stealthy. He made it all of the Royal Vault where the most valuable Sagen possessions are kept. He knew the combination but never needed to use it before it was too risky for him to steal out of there. This time he was willing to make an exception.

Just before getting to the vault, he heard a noise coming from behind him but when he turned around no one was there. When he got to the vault he heard the noise again but this time Shakiya was standing behind him holding up a power blaster gun. Gerok slowly put his hands up in the air pretending to surrender to his sister, “You aren’t going to shoot me sister… are you?” He was sure he could talk his way out of this one. He usually does.

“So it’s true then? You are the infamous smuggler we’ve all been looking for… What the living hell Gerok? You would steal from your own niece and nephew? Your people? You are the greatest disappointment known in the history of Commanders, you disgrace.” Queen Shakiya was deeply hurt by her brother’s betrayal. She knew if she had to she would end Gerok’s life. He honestly didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to hurt his sister but he knew he had to get away if he had any chance of surviving.

Gerok slowly started bringing down his hands while looking his sister dead in her eyes. He had to wait for an opportunity to jump out of the window that was behind her. Queen Shakiya never lowered her gun off of Gerok nor took her eyes off of him until one of the toddlers awoke from their sleep and started crying. That made Queen Shakiya look in the crying toddler’s direction taking her eyes off of Gerok. In that moment, Gerok lounged at the queen making her fire a shot in the air. Gerok grabbed his sister by the arms and pushed her on to a chair that was in the living area of her room. This made the queen fall back as she tried to stop Gerok from escaping. He stood on the balcony of the and jumped off of the ledge, shooting off into the sky with his jet backpack he stole off of a soldier from planet Ren. Gerok got away but he knew he could never return as Commander Gerok.

He knew his plans for any successful rebellion had failed now that they know he was the smuggler helping the Saijerians. He knew if he had any chance every again he would have to move his Saijerian followers somewhere else other than one of the moons Sage governed. That was his plan b anyway and he did exactly that. By the time King Jaron and the new Commander Artemis gathered up enough military forces to evade the moon Blackius everyone who followed him would be gone. Everyone.

This would not be the last time King Jaron or the Sagen people would hear of the Saijerians and it was definitely not the last time they would hear from Gerok.