by Aer-ki Jyr
“Do you think we’re looking at a network of infrastructure with multiple layers, and beyond the mag jumps we might have intergalactic Essence travel built in?”
“Possibly. Or possibly they just left mag jump locations across the intergalactic void so they could travel the old fashioned way. That would be my choice. Or even deposit gravity wells out there that you could steer on, even if not stop, so you could get really long jumps to land on an accurate point. There are a lot of options if you can use Essence to get out into the middle of nowhere and drop technology. I can see now why these facilities were never found. Without Essence you literally can’t get to them easily, or in some places at all. We’re lucky we got to Alpha the way we did.”
“Our engine technology is to thank, and few have comparable ships.”
“Few,” Morgan echoed. “But the few that do matter greatly. And the Lurkers can use Essence to enhance their own. Meaning the Temple network is safe from primitives, but not the major players. Hence the obsessive security.”
“It’s only obsessive if it’s unneeded. For all we know, a Temple or two might have been destroyed in the past. We are badly hurting for intel, and I am glad you are willing to do what you did to get the critical information.”
“I don’t like taking one for the team like this, but sometimes it’s necessary,” Morgan said, cringing again.
“You need to train, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“So what are you waiting for?”
“I want to go through everything the others found.”
“I’m not going to delete it,” the Calavari joked. “I promise. Go. Do what you need to do.”
Morgan stared at the map and the little details along with it, popping up a few more before giving in to the need to move. “Alright. I’ll be back,” she said, not walking, but running out of the room and disappearing in a blur out the doorway.
“Unable to stand still,” Gorva said with a shake of his head, for in his role as a Monarch one had to sit still for long periods of time sorting through data and brainstorming, with training being a daily activity that was a break from the norm. It was only now that he truly understood the segmented nature of Star Force. The trailblazers literally could not do his job anymore if they wanted to. Their combat skills had gotten so advanced they needed Monarchs to handle the mundane tasks that they were now too wired up to handle.
“To each their own,” he pronounced in a whisper, happy to leave the extreme combat to them while he plied the empire-building power of logistics to support them in their epic quests. They were the tip of the spear, to be sure, but a spear head had to have a shaft to be latched to, and as Monarchs went, he was the tip of the shaft that had the privilege of connecting to the living legends.
2
June 29, 128549
Krichkraw Nebula (Novatis Kingdom)
Alpha Temple
“Got it,” Cora-005 said as she and Steve-004 were flying low through the air over yet another of the limitless forests in the Temple trying to reach Paladin territory. They’d been flying for two weeks, taking as few short breaks as needed to recover and get a bit of sleep, which was a welcome change to the stagnation they had to endure to get here, but they were still thousands of miles short of transmission range to any Paladin facility in the Temple…fortunately though, a passing drone had come in range and Cora had successfully been able to piggyback her armor’s short range transmission through it to the Paladin.
“Finally,” Steve said as he got visual confirmation as the drone suddenly altered its patrol trajectory and headed directly for their position over one of the many uninhabited tracts of land in the giant sphere. But they weren’t the only ones that had taken notice.
“Crap, they’ve seen us or the drone,” Cora noted as the nearest Vargemma ships…which were pretty far off…began to race towards their position at the slow crawl that the limited gravity in the sphere’s interior allowed. And like most ships, they moved down towards the artificial gravity zone then skimmed the upper atmosphere in order to move faster, the same way the lone Paladin drone was doing.
“We can get there first, but it’ll be a race to get to a safe haven,” Steve said as he got a transmitted update on the bad situation in the Temple. “There’s only a handful of surface strongholds. The Vargemma have reconfigured their fleet’s weaponry for nonlethal applications and are bombarding everything within range. Our fleet is in pieces, but we’re still the faster without Essence enhancement.”
“They’ll use it and everything else they’ve got if they know who we are,” Cora warned. “Let’s get as much of a head start as we can.”
“After you,” Steve said, summoning a surge of energy through him as he turned Super Saiyan 2, which was configured to interface with his Yen’mer for higher strength flight options, such as lifting heavy objects into the air with him, whereas Super Saiyan 1 was built for quickness in flight with sudden redirects that hand to hand combat and evasive maneuvering entailed. But flying through thick atmosphere at high speed left a lot of pressure to fight, so Super Saiyan 2 was actually better for straight line racing.
Both trailblazers had achieved level 2, but Cora was slightly slower than Steve so he let her set the pace as they both accelerated in speed more than 5 times what they had been traveling before, cracking the sound barrier and then some, as they headed towards the distant naval drone racing far faster to get to them and plowing a wall of atmosphere ahead of it as it did so in a fiery meteor effect that made it appear as a rising sun on the inverted horizon.
There were also other little meteors further up the curve, and in multiple locations, as various Vargemma ships moved to intercept them, or more likely cut off their avenues of retreat back to Paladin strongholds. The sphere was massive, and the ships within it couldn’t get around all that quickly, but there were a lot of them and they knew where the few locations the trailblazers had to go to were.
The two little Archon missiles eventually met up with the ‘+’ shaped drone, passing through its defensive shields and attaching themselves to the hull as it briefly came to a stop to pick them up, then whoever was piloting it lost control as Steve asserted command priority and began flying it remotely from his armor’s interlink.
Now that he had the drone’s larger transmitters and receivers, he and Cora got all the updates they needed, as well as a direct line of communication to the Paladin Viceroy, though his location was still being masked. After a brief conversation via text messages, they both agreed that they were going to have to fight to get the trailblazers to base, for the Vargemma were sending far too many ships to intercept two Paladin infantry…meaning they had to know, or at least suspect who they were. Had some of the others been discovered on a different Temple and alerted the Vargemma here? The Paladin said no one else had arrived here yet, meaning Steven and Cora should have the element of surprise, though that seemed to be a moot point right now.
“03 seems our best bet,” Cora said as she reviewed the tactical situation while Steve drove…though in truth he could do both at the same time with his Sav-enhanced mind.
“We can’t predict their navigation with Essence enhancement. We have no idea which ships are better at it, or how much they have onboard.”
“The Lurker was limited, but yeah, we’re just guessing. We gotta get to the fleet first and group up…or do we scatter so they can’t hit us with a disruptor?”
“The Viceroy says the Olopar are not active, so the question is how much Essence weaponry do these bastards have in their ships and how much are they willing to use? If it’s just stun weaponry, we group up.”
“If we get to the Paladin its game over for them. Do you think they know that?”
“If they do they’ll kill us on sight, Caretaker response or not.”
“They haven’t retaken the shield control room yet. If they knew why we were here I think they would have by now.”
“Point,” Steve admitted. “Maybe they’re just eag
er to catch any Paladin out in the open.”
“And they don’t have to hold back against our drones because there are no people onboard. Should we say hi to make sure they know we’re on this one?”
“They know, but maybe they don’t know who. Let’s not give away that bit just yet.”
“Assuming they haven’t hacked the battlemap signals.”
“If they can do that they’re way ahead of the V’kit’no’sat, and I don’t think Essence assists in hacking.”
“I hope not,” Cora said, tapping her fingers against the armored hull of the drone while her elbows and knees were locked onto it despite the fact that they were inside the IDF field and didn’t feel any of the acceleration or shield drag from the fiery atmosphere passing a few meters above their heads. She continued to sift through information, with the turn of events becoming clear. With a drone fleet, the Paladin ships were susceptible to the Vargemma’s conventional and Essence weaponry. In the beginning they didn’t know which were manned and unmanned, but when they realized the Paladin were using an all drone fleet they’d brought in reinforcements and reclaimed naval superiority.
Likewise, the Paladin couldn’t use normal weaponry against manned ships…and all of the Vargemma ships were manned. They’d turned the Paladin strategy against them in space, and with the weapon rework the Vargemma had undergone, they now had a plethora of stun and technological disruption weapons that could be used in space or against ground installations. Most of the lightly defended Paladin outposts had been disabled and overrun by troops, which had captured many Paladin.
But like the lizards before them, they didn’t make for good prisoners. They’d been rebelling at any and all opportunities, and the Vargemma couldn’t kill them in view of the Caretakers. Reports indicated some had gone missing and were presumed dead, but most were being held in prison facilities and were being tortured…but not enough to put their lives in jeopardy. Cora doubted any of them would voluntarily give up information, but some of the Vargemma were telepathic, so they were undoubtedly getting a lot of data on Star Force tactics and technology, though none of the sensitive stuff because the Paladin were very careful to keep their leaders hidden…unlike the trailblazers who liked to go in heads first to every situation possible.
“We’ve got a lot of payback in the queue here,” she said, seeing some of the reports from rescue teams that had plucked a few of the prisoners back from Vargemma custody.
“Not without the fleet. We’re in a mismatch now.”
“I know, but still…these bastards have to fall, and fall hard. Get me into a mech.”
“Working on it,” Steve said, monitoring the position of the encroaching Vargemma ship formations…as well as the Paladin drones leaving the strongholds and headed to various points on the path ahead to provide a reverse gauntlet intended to protect them and punish any who encroached on it…and some were already fighting Vargemma ships trying to stop them from doing so. “We have to go faster, or we’re going to lose half the fleet here.”
“You want me to get out and push?” Cora scoffed.
“Just break the wind a little, unless you want to drive?”
“I’ll drive,” she said, taking control of the drone as Steve unlocked from his position on the hull as Cora raised the shield perimeter a couple of meters, adding to the drag a tiny bit but allowing Steve to stand up and run along the hull.
There was no artificial gravity generators in the drone, so within the IDF field they were essentially in 0g, with his feet gripping the hull on contact only, meaning he had to run without leaping, because his Yen’mer was equally useless unless they left the confines of the shields, and if he did so he’d be brushed off the ship and unable to catch back up again.
But the awkward stride was fast enough, allowing him to head towards the front of the drone, where he ran into the center of the ‘+’ like an old style wizard and held position, raising his hands and pulling on both his psionics and his Essence. He created a bioshield far away from his body, then locked his armor into a rigid position and set his shields to transition through his body, making them far more powerful than if they were free floating and physical impacts wouldn’t be fed back to the transmitter.
He used his Essence to increase the range far beyond what psionics would normally allow, even beyond the needlepoint of the drone’s own shields, to where his were a few hundred meters ahead of that point…then he created a tiny physical shield cone, no more than half a meter wide, and held it firm there.
The drag on it tried to crush his bones, but he started out with a tiny spec and enlarged it to less than half a meter to be safe, taking some of the friction off the ship’s shields but still transmitting the drag to the drone via his body…but then he used his Essence to make his shield as powerful as possible before converting part of it to ‘floating’ status. That required far more power, because he was effectively throwing energy forward to counteract the incoming momentum rather than redirecting it through his feet to the ship.
When he did that, Steve’s body stopped being crunched so much, but the pressure didn’t totally relent. He wasn’t strong enough for that, even with Essence, but for the drone the point of greatest pressure over the tip had diminished, with the partial vacuum behind it easing drag considerably while the outer edges of the drone were still getting the full force of the air.
It wasn’t a perfect solution, but the drone’s speed through the air did increase by a good 12%. Steven figured he could maintain this binary shield for a few minutes at least, but it wasn’t enough to reach the fleet. He succumbed to psionic exhaustion before his Essence ran out, with him dropping to a crouch on the front of the ship and locking on as the shield needle took over again and a pressure wave slammed into the ship, slowing it back down in a sudden and jarring nature that the IDF kept the trailblazers from actually feeling.
“That’s it, I’m out of juice.”
“Almost there.”
“No we’re not,” Steve argued.
“They’re setting up skipping stones. We’re almost to the first.”
“Good,” he said, looking ahead and seeing nothing but a fiery blaze all around him. He had to use an interlink to the drone’s sensors to see anything, but up ahead there was a massive amount of combat going on in a lot of different places along their trajectory. Behind the Star Force blockers were a series of drones beginning to accelerate ahead of them in the same direction…and as they did so, they dragged some of the upper atmosphere along with them.
The closer their drone got to the slipstream, the less resistance there was and that allowed their speed to accelerate. When they caught up to the slower moving drone ahead, it peeled off and the heavy slipstream faded into the slight slipstream of the next one ahead, which increased as they began to catch up to it.
It then peeled off, revealing a line of 394 more leading to Base 03, and the Vargemma were desperately trying to disrupt the line, but many drones above them were going kamikaze and ramming the Vargemma ships to keep them from firing their Essence weapons on their chosen targets. Many were actually latching onto the enemy ships over their weapon ports, while others were pushing ships out of alignment rather than trying to destroy them. Even a few seconds delay was enough in some cases, but Steve and Cora got through 279 of the skipping stones before a group of them ahead were blown apart as a fleet of Vargemma ships raced into their path and disrupted the high speed course.
“Shit,” Cora said, diverting them hard right and out of the gauntlet as the Paladin drones reset immediately to cover them. The entire fleet acted like it was under the control of a hive mind, but neither trailblazer was controlling them. It was the Paladin in the surface bases doing so, and it was a coordination level that the Vargemma could not match, so when Cora made the hard right turn the Paladin reacted to it faster than the enemy, and that was enough to create a clear path ahead, but one without any slipstream help.
But they didn’t need it. All they needed was time, and with
drone wreckage raining down all across the Temple surface, the only one that mattered slipped through the heavy defense shields covering Base 03…shields that the Vargemma fleet had not yet been able to breach, meaning the trailblazers were finally in safe territory.
More drones followed them in, allowed through the shield while the enemy was not, but many never returned and littered a long line visible on the upward curving terrain, testifying to how important these two passengers were…and to the danger they posed to the Vargemma.
Cora and Steve rode the drone as it decelerated, then jumped off and flew down to one of the small landing pads next to the nearest entrance to the small fortress city’s command center, with several high ranking Paladin coming out to meet them as they set down, but not the Viceroy. He’d never show himself on the surface in a combat area.
“Thanks,” Steve said, peeling back his armor as he glanced up at the cascade of weaponsfire hitting the high altitude shield as the Vargemma made another attempt to breach it…while ground fire from the Paladin shot back up, but only the ship disabling weaponry, which was far less effective than their big guns. “That’s gonna hold, right?”
“Easily,” an Administrator answered as one of the Vargemma ships far overhead was hit with multiple white/blue orbs and began to fall out of the sky. Just before it hit the shield hundreds of mooring beams grabbed and stopped it…then began to shuffle it laterally and over the hump of the shield towards the ground where it would be dropped and then invaded by ground troops as an extension of the main shield would cover over it without allowing it access within, like a tiny bubble being added onto the main bubble that would allow its crew to be taken prisoner without any casualties…on either side.
“We have to get to the Temple shield control room,” Cora insisted. “And get me a mech. A big one.”
“For later,” Steve amended. “We have to let the fleet in.”
“We’ve left the controls as they were, but I have no way to know if they’re still operational or locked down.”