Naero's Valor

by Mason Elliott

  But then disaster befell the brave Laral.

  Two other hyper-aggressive alien species, more technically advanced than them, fell upon them from the Delta and the Beta Quadrants. The invaders were the wolf-like Jath, and the amphibian-based Fraxukeen.

  No matter what the Laral tried, they and their allies hurtled toward the brink of annihilation, pursued by foes determined to wipe out their military forces and enslave those of their species who remained.

  In desperation, the Laral turned to the only power that they thought could save them—the Darkforce.

  Up until that time, they were aware of the Darkforce somewhat, but they did not fully comprehend the risks of making use of its negative plane, anti-life energy effects.

  No one used the Darkforce.

  The Darkforce used them.

  By the time the Laral did realize their error, it was too late.

  The Darkforce had changed and mutated them so much by that point that they no longer saw their fall as an error.

  They saw it as a rise to true power and glory.

  Suffused now with the destructive power of the Darkforce, they proceed to sweep away and defeat their former enemies.

  The outcome of that war quickly reversed.

  The Jath and the Fraxukeen were not merely defeated—they were utterly consumed to the last of their kind.

  The Laral, who by now were no longer the Laral, had transformed into something far different, something twisted and wholly changed by the Darkforce.

  Not only did they dismember and devour the flesh, blood, brains, and organs of their victims, but they absorbed their essences—their souls.

  They became soul eaters.

  The Laral began referring to themselves as the Gullarc.

  Then they quickly turned upon their lesser allies and consumed all of them as well, becoming a far greater threat than the other invaders ever were.

  It took the Gullarc hundreds of millions of years, but they eventually consumed all other sentient species in their galaxy, except for the species they chose to uplift and breed as their shock troops to send before them.

  They hissed in rage, lashed out, and fought among themselves because there were no new worlds or sentients to devour.

  When they used the Darkforce to continue to evolve and raid other galaxies, they eventually became feared as the G’lothc—the most lethal, and dangerous hyper species of sentient energy beings ever known to exist.

  Countless races fell before the advancing might of the Great Adversary.

  The untold loss and waste of so many cultures was beyond measure. Their lost wisdom; their history; and all of their many accomplishments–eradicated like garbage. The vanquished ceased to be.

  The G’lothc did not merely serve the Darkforce—they became one with it, and very quickly they existed only to destroy all forms of life in the universe.

  By doing so, they became enmeshed with the Cosmic Prophecies, driving the Darkforce to eventually create the Great Destroyer, or so they hoped. That powerful Cosmic entity would destroy the known universe.

  The End of all Things.

  The Great Adversary and its servants spread their war like a plague across seven galaxies and counting, until they came up against the steadfast Drians.

  For the first time, they faced an opponent who could stand against them and hurl them back in defeat.

  They trebled their efforts, until even the courageous Drians grew afraid.

  But then the G’lothc made the mistake of attacking a new race of smallish, unimpressive, ancient reptilians that seemed peaceful, weak, and ripe for conquest.

  From the moment the G’lothc made war upon the harmonious Kexx, the former’s great defeat was written and sealed.

  No matter how long it took, the Kexx were far from weak and together with the Drians, confounded the G’lothc and crushed them at nearly every turn.

  For what the G’lothc could never fully understand, was that they and the Darkforce only had the power to destroy, and in the end, that strategy had many disadvantageous limitations.

  Sentient beings rightly saw the quest to extinguish all life in the universe as the madness and insanity that it was. Who would not? Liberty, peace, harmony, freedom, and enlightenment were much more desirable–and practical goals by far.

  Those gifted with wisdom, enlightenment, and the yearning to live free would always rise to the occasion and fight far beyond what many would think possible. It was part of what they were. If they did not do so for themselves, they did so for their progeny, and for their species.

  Coupled with the very powers of Creation itself, the Lifespark, and the great mysteries of the Flame Eternal, the great battle of the Cosmic Prophecies was joined.

  No matter the terrible death and destruction sustained by the G’lothc and their slaves, the long march to victory over the Darkforce began. Life in the universe was allowed to continue.

  Now, in her current near-G’lothc form, Kozzeth felt the pull of the Darkforce very strong and keen. Part of her actually wanted to turn against the Alliance and everyone she loved, betray them all to the Darkforce, and watch them suffer and die.

  Baeven felt that as well. The temptation to give in to this evil was very strong.

  Fortunately for the two of them, they had resisted the pull of the Darkforce all of their lives, and would continue to do so.

  Now they understood more fully just how the Laral had been infected by the Darkforce and warped into the G’lothc, despite the fact that they had done so willingly.

  They could go back and continue to study the biomancy and the Cosmic energy flows of it all.

  They were the only two who could perhaps comprehend it all at every level and then process that complex information in order to be able to explain it to others. Both of them were experts on the Darkforce in both resisting and suppressing its wildly destructive capabilities.

  The Darkforce was a force of nature. It existed. But it was not the only power at work by far, and it could not be allowed to dominate and destroy everything that existed.

  When their preset time as near-G’lothc was up, both Orean and Neveab were both grateful, and exhausted.

  They needed to take some time to regen and recover once they emerged, on levels they had never considered before.

  “I should have known that the G’lothc had been human once,” Naero said, hours later. “When I fought Elazethrek in that alternate dimension where both of us had de-evolved to our base, sentient forms—she was just as human as I was. Too bad I couldn’t have killed her there.”

  “The way the Darkforce took over the Laral,” Baeven said, “it infected them like a Cosmic disease.”

  “That’s exactly what the G’lothc are,” Naero noted. “They are a Cosmic disease, just like the Darkforce itself; they’re one with it. They’re just like it, only sentient in different ways. I learned that much when I defeated the Dark Emperor when he tried to murder Shetharra with his strain of the Cosmic sickness. The Darkforce is sentient and predatory as well, as we just learned.”

  “Every sentient species needs to be on guard against this process,” Baeven said. “If this can happen to the ancient Laral, it can happen to anyone, and that includes us. Especially us, Naero.”

  Naero shook her head. “We’ll need to go back in, many times, in order to fully understand the process. Those are just some of the perilous secrets that the KDM recorded for us. Once we fully understand them, we can take steps to avoid similar fates. We cannot let the Darkforce consume us, take us over, and turn us into more of the G’lothc. The risk of that is all too real.”

  Baeven shook his head. “We’ve only just begun to learn about the many deep secrets of our great foes. But the real constant danger is in losing one’s self. Naero, this could be one of our biggest challenges yet.”

  9

  Naero and Baeven received urgent distress calls from some old friends in their current vicinity.

  Unexpected calamity flared up on the border between the
Alpha and Beta Quadrants.

  Large numbers of fleets of near human invaders struck hard along the vulnerable colonial areas without warning.

  These invaders apparently came from somewhere deeper within the Beta Quadrant. They called themselves the Jalleth. Their skin tones were yellowish in hue within a certain range from pale to bright. They had dark blue eyes and tendrils of the same color on their heads and down their backs in place of hair, which they decorated to display social and military rank.

  The Jalleth were from an aggressive warrior culture, which lived for conquest. Their tek was formidable, slightly behind that of the Alliance and the Great Adversary. They fielded large numbers, and their goals of conquest seemed to be bent on capturing several key border systems and taking full control of that region.

  If the Jalleth succeeded in doing so, they could block off the growing human expansion out that way and dominate or extort anyone they wished.

  The GSA did not, unfortunately, have enough available fleets to fully deal with them at this time.

  Somehow this invasion had to be crushed before the aliens fully entrenched themselves, and enslaved the highly populated worlds and resources of those regions.

  Naero wondered if the Great Enemy was behind this invasion in some way, even though no traces of their influence were reported or could be found.

  “Uncle, is it dumb luck that we just happened to be nearby, or do you think that this is another enemy trap?”

  Baeven grinned viciously. “Does it matter? You know we’re going in. Jaer and Bodii and their people are in serious trouble. They’re already engaged, centered around the strategic world of Zungo-5.”

  Jia announced, “We’re already on intercept, arrival on scene in seven hours, perhaps less. Our forces are gearing up for quite a fight.”

  Together, they rushed to the rescue of their friends in question. On the way in, Naero reviewed and updated the status of their local allies.

  A large group of mercenaries and their various allied systems lived free on the rim of the Beta Quadrant and had become a positive force in those areas. Most recently, they had fought beside the Alliance outposts in those far flung regions during the last few major interstellar wars. They were also known allies of Joshua Tech.

  These same ex-military personnel had fought bravely and with distinction during the High Crusade, when all of humanity had been threatened with extinction.

  When the Spacers did arrive to take on the Ejjai Invasion by storm, on over thirty embattled worlds along the border, they found the Wellington Irregulars already engaged onworld, fighting toe to toe with the attackers. Up until then, the Irregulars were part of the only fleeting hope that those lander worlds had.

  Although many called them mercenaries, they were mostly ex-soldiers and naval personnel who were still very good at what they did.

  During the High Crusade, they fought without pay or contract for the survival of the species.

  Like many, they knew full well what was at stake. Humanity had its back to the wall, and a consuming fire in front of them.

  The Wellington Irregulars stood before those flames, and fought like tigers, absorbing heavy losses.

  They recruited from many worlds and helped arm the local militias and populations of systems that would have otherwise remained defenseless.

  It was true that they readily seized whatever was at hand and made good use of it. And if they kept huge amounts of appropriated enemy warships, weapons, vehicles, and gear for their own use, no one said anything against it at the time.

  They did what they needed and wanted to do in order to take the fight to the invaders.

  During that terrible war, their ranks swelled into huge numbers, and they commandeered and converted countless enemy ships and entire fleets for their efforts.

  Their many fleets became feared, and their mercenary armies fought to victory and dispatched the foe on countless worlds that would have otherwise fallen.

  After the High Crusade ended over half of their ranks retired from naval service and soldiering. They returned to trying to live normal civilian and colonial lives.

  But many more stayed on, and there was still a great need of them on the fringes of the colonial expansion areas in the Beta Quadrant.

  Many considered them the only rough force of justice and order there.

  Some small degree of order and stability was better than nothing.

  Almost three hundred fringe worlds became recruiting hubs for the Wellington Irregulars. Half of those systems were considered informal merc homeworlds by the loose confederation of trade and non-aggression pacts that all of those free worlds agreed to operate under.

  Some of those worlds were notorious for being very wild and lawless. But if things got too far out of hand, or some uppity warlord tried to carve out his or her own kingdom in some backwater place, the Irregulars would go have a chat with them, and set things right, one way or another.

  High spirits, a little wildness, and some minor vices among Irregular forces were tolerated throughout the growing number of fringe worlds that remained in badly need of protection.

  They eliminated tyranny, gross injustice, corruption, and genocide.

  Security, justice, and protection were in high demand, and the famed ranks of the Irregulars continued to grow on many free worlds.

  The Irregulars helped maintain such limited forms of order by the very presence of their power. It was an imperfect system, but it seemed to work, overall. This kept people mostly free to live their lives without too much interference, as long as there wasn’t a lot of trouble or violence anywhere.

  High General Jaerex ‘Jaer’ Samson Sherman, originally of the Wellington-3 Army Group, ran the Free Alliance Regulars with a mix of discipline and what he called ‘flexibility.’

  The flexible element allowed his naval people and ground forces quite a bit of liberty at times that many regular forces would find unacceptable, even possibly shocking.

  Jaer’s command had swelled a hundredfold or more during The High Crusade, and only reduced down to about half thereafter. This made his forces the largest known single military power in the fringe area, until the fleets of the Jalleth rampaged in from out of the unknown.

  The top general of the Irregulars was respected as a brave leader, a superb strategist and overall–a good man. He and his courageous forces had bled themselves in defense of humanity and in defense of all of the sentients of the Alpha Quadrant, without fear or hesitation.

  Jaer tragically lost his wife and their kids during the war to the Ejjai on their homeworld.

  Just recently, he had taken up a new wife according to the reports, a torrid love match with a brazen warrior queen of the Iceni, near human amazon women, from yet another warlike race.

  Boadicea ‘Bodii’ Javahenna Iceni seldom left Jaer’s side, and advised him on military, political, social, and other matters on a regular basis. He valued her counsel greatly. Together they made a good pair–a strong love match in fact.

  The Iceni were an advanced humanoid species in their own right, each of them two to three times stronger and faster than normal humans, yet without any psy abilities.

  Iceni women and men made up elements of some of General Jaer Sherman’s elite commandos and shock troops. They were fierce fighters.

  Jaer’s many fleets in service were commanded by their good friend, High Admiral Alphonse Q. Weingart. Al had served with Joshua Tech as far back as the Annexation War. Naero had heard of him, and even met him briefly once, but she did not know him personally, much like Jaer.

  During wartime, it was hard to meet and get to know everyone. The distances between all of the warzones were simply too great. No one could be everywhere at once.

  Yet the Irregular military records and their reputations were very high on courage and achievement. That was impressive to anyone.

  President Nathan Joshua of Joshua Tech had also recognized them, and recommended them and their military forces very highly.

  Al
l of that was more than enough for Naero and Khai to form friendships with them along the way.

  Now these friends stood in dire need.

  Baeven updated Naero and the relief force on the military situation they charged into. “The Jalleth are experts at military strategy and tactics. They are accomplished campaigners and conquerors. Anyone with a brain can see that Zungo-5 is the key to this entire region. It’s heavily populated on every continent and rich in all of the vital resources. If that system falls to the Jalleth, they could throw up a planetary defense screen, and this fight could go on for months.”

  Naero added, studying the combat reads, “While the invader is free to bring in more reinforcements from who knows where, destabilize the entire area, and we don’t have any other forces to spare to root them out, pursue them, and throw them back.”

  “Precisely,” Jia said. “Zungo-5 must be saved, and currently, it’s about to fall to the invaders. They’ve concentrated their best and heaviest forces to taking that key planet, both onworld, and up in the black.”

  Polly asked another important question. “Zungo-5 currently has a population of around fifteen billion humans and other sentients, spread over five continents, five gigacities, and dozens of megacites. What’s happening to all of the civilians and colonists? And there are over twenty starports.”

  Baeven frowned. “That’s where it also gets worse. When the Jalleth subjugate a world, they pursue their military objectives with extreme prejudice. They care nothing about what happens to the natives and kill all who get in their way. Sending large populations of terrified refugees fleeing across the planet’s surface in all directions is a vital part of their ground strategy. That causes chaos, floods transportation systems, and then the invaders can use the refugees as shields to fight behind.”

  “Their ground forces are somewhat unique,” Poly said. “They use cyborg combat meks and huge android battle monsters to augment their infantry and armored units. So far these forces have been very efficient at attacking the large cities on Zungo-5 and driving large fleeing populations of refugees out into the countryside. We’d better all study these specs.”