Free The Phoenix Fallacy Book I: Janus by Jon Sourbeer Page B

Phoenix underestimated us – they underestimated the Adepts.’
    ‘ But it has always been that way,” Jennings added reflectively.  “Corporations believe adepts to be nothing more than clubs, brute force weapons like their armies of Security Troopers.”  He gave a hollow laugh, “And no matter what we say, or what we do, they will always think little of us.  We are merely an avenue to rid themselves of troublemakers.  That is why so often we leave so many people behind in our trades, like the group we left behind in Cerberus.  In the eyes of the Corporations, the best of the best are Executors, and everyone else is rabble.  But their arrogance plays to our favor, too.  Everyone here is a castoff from a Corporation, and fortunately for us, the Corporations have never realized the magnitude of their loss.  It is the reason Phoenix is the twisted heap you see now.  It is the reason they attacked SHADE.”
    “Is that another Adept Legion?”  Janus asked.
    Jennings avoided looking at him, “Was.  SHADE was destroyed in the battle.’
    ‘SHADE had come to engage in trade, but Phoenix launched a surprise attack upon them and their Avalon-class Fortress, the Elysium Fields.  Phoenix ambushed and killed the SHADE’s Praetor, who was engaged in the negotiations,” he paused to answer Janus’ unspoken question, “The Praetor is the leader and highest ranking officer of an Adept Legion.’
    ‘ No doubt Phoenix expected SHADE would quickly surrender with the loss of their leader and the prospect of total annihilation.  They might have been right if we—,” Jennings paused, “Mercenaries—were anything like the soldiers they believed us to be; the soldiers for hire of centuries ago.”
    He stared out at the last rays of the setting sun, and his grey hair suddenly made the man appear very old to Janus.
    “But Adepts are very different.”  Jennings eyes were piercing as he turned, the light casting his face in shadow.  “I know in the slums, trust is a luxury.  But it is a necessity here for the functioning of our units.  You will have to learn that quickly to survive.”  Janus was silent, strangely compelled to listen.
    “ We Adepts may sell our blades to the highest bidder, but we broke free of the Corporations for reasons very different from power and wealth.  And our Avalon fortresses are more than just mobile bases, they are the very homes that we hold dear.  Generations of Adepts have been raised in such places, and in many ways, Legions are giant families.  Phoenix did not understand that.”
    Jennings pointed back down at the wreckage, “ In the end, and knowing they were doomed, SHADE Adepts sacrificed themselves by the hundreds to break through Phoenix lines and into the deepest, most heavily protected sections of the Corporation,” Jennings was speaking reverently now, in awe of the courage of the overwhelmed men and women. “They exterminated the Executor caste of Phoenix and its leadership.  In one fell swoop, SHADE inflicted irreparable damage upon Phoenix.” 
    Janus returned his gaze to the blackened ruins.
    “Soon the other Corporations learned of Phoenix’s weakness and struck, wiping all traces of it from the earth.  This is all that remains of that once mighty corporation, a few blackened and twisted scraps.”
    Jennings shook his head, “ Many suspected Phoenix had plotted to forever alter the balance of power in the world with their attack on SHADE, and in the end, it did.  But not in the way it hoped.  After Phoenix was nothing but ash, two major declarations rose from it:  The SHADE Continuum, which stated that the Adept Legions, no matter what wars erupted between them, would band together to attack any corporation that attacked one of their own.”
    “And the second?”  Janus asked curiously.
    “The Phoenix Declaration,” Jennings grimaced, “A proclamation of treaty lines for corporate expansion and a set of rules to govern how Corporations attack each