by Aer-ki Jyr
She was part of a rebel faction that abhorred the indentured servitude placed upon them by the Urunneg and the corrupt Jhar leaders that allowed it. They’d rather fight and die than live with the dishonor, but had no chance of beating the technologically and physiologically superior Urunneg. Their only advantage was their telepathy, and that was of no use against warships in orbit that could obliterate a city at will…which had happened in the past when the Jhar had failed them or showed resistance.
For that reason the rebels were hunted by the Jhar themselves, forcing them to go into hiding and become mostly sleeper agents. Octaviak had revealed herself trying to help the Humans escape the dishonorable kidnapping/murder attempt, and from her Kip had learned that there were many more of them out there, scattered throughout this city and others in small numbers. How many more were sympathetic but unwilling to even talk about dissention was unknown, but it was suspected that a sizeable chunk of the population was unhappy with the arrangement with the Urunneg, just too fearful to even think about doing anything about it.
That was why Kip was bringing Octaviak with him, hoping she could make contact with the other rebels so they could get them off planet first…but right now he had to throw his weight around and essentially take the place of the Urunneg and hopefully bully the Jhar into submission. If they resisted they were back to the Veliquesh again, though he very much hoped living sacrifices wouldn’t be in their battle plans.
With their orbital defenses meekly complying with Kip’s demands, he was hopeful that the surface would comply as well. Despite their sealing of the dome, once the mechs broke through there was no resistance as they landed in the open spots on the pads beneath. Kip had theirs set down on one nearest to the Tajak’s renplex, which translated into ‘governor’s office,’ or whatever the equivalent was within Jhar society. Kip hadn’t spent much time on that himself, knowing that if they were successful their culture and society were going to be wiped out anyway, so there was no use in him getting that well acquainted with it.
When the rear hatch opened there was no incoming weaponsfire and Kip walked out freely with Octaviak beside him, making it clear she was with him rather than a prisoner. His team stayed with the dropship and the others nearby while he moved off with her alone and into the city…a gesture of trust, they might assume, save for those that had fought against him the last time he was here. They knew he wasn’t making a gesture of trust, but one of contempt, for he most definitely didn’t need an escort with the powers he possessed.
His golden armor stood out, for it was the only one amongst the invasion force, and he assumed the Jhar would recognize it as well. Kip didn’t know how long their restraint would last, but they were allowed all the way up to the renplex before they met up with a wall of guards. Kip raised a hand and an invisible wall formed between two of them, spreading out and pushing them aside to give him and Octaviak room to move through.
Not knowing what was happening and being thwarted with such a casual gesture broke the confrontational mood, with the pair moving through the dozens of armed guards without so much as a look behind them. The guards followed, keeping close but out of arms reach, as the Human and his Jhar companion worked their way through the building and up to the Tajak’s edict room rather than his abode.
That seemed to make the guards even more confused, up until Octaviak walked up to the podium and began messing with the controls. An invisible wall from Kip kept the guards back from her as the rebel accessed the city-wide broadcast system and set it to address every terminal on emergency protocols. Halfway through her prep the Tajak himself burst into the room through the guards, yelling more at Octaviak than the Human.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
“This planet is now in their possession,” she explained without looking at him or delaying her setup work. “They have supplanted the Urunneg and are now our masters…or at least that’s all your primitive brain needs to comprehend. The truth is more complex and I’m about to instruct the city on the details.”
“You are forbidden.”
“I don’t take orders from you.”
“You cannot do this! Step aside,” he said, rushing past the guards. Kip let him get within half a meter of her before physically stepping up and grabbing him by the armored arm.
“You tried to kill me the last time I was here. Don’t give me a reason now to return the gesture,” the trailblazer threatened, with the translation software handling the language barrier adequately.
“How dare you,” the Jhar said in such twisted tones that it sounded like hissing after processing. “You have no idea what you have done. What you’re doing. You’ve doomed us all.”
“Actually, we’re here to save you. So shut up and stand back,” he said, tossing the Protovic into the guards with a flick of his arm. He nearly knocked two of them over, and it was clear that that the Archon’s physical power was just as impressive as his mental ones. “I’ll give you instructions later. Obey and I won’t have to render you unconscious.”
“Ready,” Octaviak said, righting herself behind the podium.
“Begin. I’ll make sure they stay quiet,” Kip said, making a mental link with them all that forcefully broke through their mental blocks and suppressed their ability to utter so much as a word of complaint.
“I am Octaviak, member of the Ishta. For too long we have been slaves of both the Urunneg and those of our own that used that excuse to further their own dishonor. As of today we have been conquered again, by those that came here as friends from far away seeking to unite us with our wayward kin. They took me back with them by mistake, thinking I was one who was trying to kill them. Those that did are still there, imprisoned, but I am here now because they searched my mind and discovered the truth. I am not their enemy. The Ishta are not their enemy. Any loyal Jhar are not their enemy. The true enemy is the Urunneg and those that serve them, telling us that we will be destroyed if we do not fully submit.”
“That may have been true, but for the Ishta and myself I can say that we do not care. Better to die honorably than live as a scoundrel. For this we have been hunted by our own people and forced to hide among them simply to survive. We meet in secret, when we’re able and bold enough, taking some small actions of defiance that ultimately have amounted to nothing more than preserving our sanity. Today we have another option. Our new conquerors are not here to use us for their own agenda, they are here to free us and bring us into their empire so that we will be free of the Urunneg and all those who would kill us for our telepathic abilities.”
“Their abilities far surpass ours, so they do not fear us. The other Jhar with them, whom they call Protovic, do not have our abilities. Nor do most of the many races that are part of their empire, but their leaders, their Archons, are far more powerful than you can imagine. Some of you saw what happened here, when two of them were ambushed by both the Urunneg and our dishonorable security forces. They were not even armed and they tore through them all. They did not need my help, rather they helped me by showing me a better way, an honorable path, and a chance for true freedom.”
“That freedom must be earned, however. We must leave this planet behind entirely. The ships in orbit are both warships and transports brought here to carry us, all of us, away from this retched existence to a world with our kin. We will have to learn their ways, their language, and prove ourselves worthy, but if we do so we will join them as equals…not outcasts.”
“That is why I am calling on all Ishta to come forward, now, boldly identifying yourselves and moving to the locations where there are Star Force landing zones. You need bring nothing with you but yourselves. I will meet you there and we will discuss things further. For everyone else, both those too cowardly to act and those who have acted dishonorably, I bid you farewell. You will not see me again, nor the rest of us. Your path will be a different one laid out by Star Force. And I can honestly say I hope you resist them, and that they let me watch as they put you into submission.”
“Brothers and sisters come with me now, and let us be done with this world,” Octaviak said, backing away from the podium and walking out of view rather than turning it off directly. The Human put a hand on her shoulder, mentally telling her that she had done well, then took her place in front of the podium as he held his captured audience both still and quiet before him.
Meanwhile, true to her word, Octaviak moved off, heading back to the landing zone to meet up with the other Ishta that were bold enough to reveal themselves. She expected that many would not, fearing this was a trap, but Kip had wanted her to try so they could be spared the prison sentence awaiting the others. The Ishta would still have to go through indoctrination, as would she, but they could do so without the penalty phase that was necessitated by the attack on the Archons previously.
She wondered if she was going to be jumped on her way back to the dropship, keeping a sharp lookout for nearby minds but none approached, singly or in groups. In fact, she was given a wide berth the entire walk back, then saw two other Jhar standing with the white armor of the Humans. As she approached she saw their ID tags on her HUD, but knew one of them by his mental signature alone.
“Havrel,” she said, running up behind him and giving him a big hug when he turned around.
“This had better not be a trap,” he warned.
“It isn’t, and if you suspected it was you wouldn’t have come.”
“I came trusting in you. Your words were…clean,” he said, referencing her lack of code words that would have suggested coercion.
“I have been to their empire and seen the other Jhar there. We will be welcome once we earn our place.”
“How so?”
“Training. I have begun mine already. There is so much they can offer us. This is what we have long dreamed of.”
“We dreamt of independence,” another Jhar said, walking up to them.
“This is better. Search my memories,” she offered, lowering her barrier to them. “I am not lying.”
“But are they?” Havrel asked, beginning to pluck images from her mind.
“We are coming with them one way or another,” Octaviak confided. “They are allowing the Ishta an easier transition. The attack on them is not being forgiven. The dishonorable and the apathetic will have a more difficult path to travel to earn their place. Those of the Ishta bold enough to come forward now will be rewarded. Those who do not believe me will be lumped in with the others.”
“So they punish all who do not reveal themselves?” he asked, glancing at one of the dull white helmets a couple meters to his right.
“We betrayed their trust and tried to kill them. If the situation was reversed would we be so accommodating?”
Havrel huffed. “I hope you’re right about this.”
“You will see,” she said, closing her mind again as a few more individuals made their way out of the shadows and onto the pad, with all others staying far away from the alien soldiers but looking on from what they felt was a safe distance.
“How long will they wait?”
“I don’t know,” she said uncertainly, seeing far fewer faces than she’d hoped. This wasn’t the only landing site, but she knew for a fact that there were more Ishta in the city than the few here, and suspected many more that she had no contact with in order to preserve their anonymity. The true number of Ishta was unknown to everyone, for they were united by scruples and literature, not an organizational structure. When several hours had passed and there was only 9 others that had appeared at their location the soldiers instructed them to board the dropship, with the others they’d brought down now being unnecessary.
Octaviak went onboard with the others, knowing that she’d be given no further special treatment and sent into indoctrination along with the other Ishta. She had a head start on them, but would endure the isolation process as well after a transitional group period, earning her way into the Protovic like the others hopefully would.
As she boarded the dropship and the ramp began to close she knew she was looking at this world for the last time, then a firm hand directed her away from the hatch and into the personnel section beyond. There she watched on camera as the dropship took off and passed many more coming in. What exactly was going to happen she didn’t know, but she was glad she and at least some of the Ishta were getting out ahead of it. She’d been told of the Veliquesh and how they’d been rescued, and hoped it didn’t come to that, but she knew that one way or another the others would be taken from this world as well and put into the prison facilities in Star Force territory.
And unless they changed their ways and completed their own training they would stay there, away from the Protovic, for the rest of their lives…meaning she was now done with the dishonorable bastards permanently, and that mere thought was a breath of fresh air to a mind burdened by years of persecution.
6
April 2, 3065
Aphat System (Bsidd Region)
Nym
Octaviak walked into the chamber not knowing what to expect. Over the past year since she’d breezed her way through indoctrination she’d been spending her time training in an advanced maturia and living with the rest of the Protovic on the planet. She’d been the first to make it through, and even now there were only three ‘Pink skins,’ as they were nicknamed, within the free population. They’d been welcomed in with the rest of the Protovic, despite the fact that they had telepathy and the others didn’t.
She tried not to cause any disruptions by using her abilities save for select circumstances, but the more she talked and became one with the other Protovic she realized they were all used to the idea of having a telepath in their minds because their Archon leaders routinely interacted with them that way…and they were far more powerful than Octaviak would ever be. She wasn’t an Archon, so there was a little bit of animosity there, but the mere idea of having someone poking around inside your head wasn’t seen as offensive, because these Protovic had already adjusted to the idea of not having secrets.
That made for a very open community, and as the days passed she allowed herself the luxury of sampling others’ thoughts. They had no blocks to prevent it, save for the Humans which were a total stone to her abilities, and for the first time in her life she didn’t feel that being telepathic came with a curse. It was a great asset and allowed her freedom that she was only now able to explore.
Octaviak didn’t mess with anyone and just kept her forays in the observation category, but by doing so she learned so much more about the Protovic and Star Force than she had during her indoctrination. Not data wise, but the feel of it and what it meant to be a part of the empire. She’d come to think of this as home and had gotten used to her daily training routines when she’d gotten a summons to a special training program. It wasn’t a command, but rather a request and an opportunity she wasn’t going to pass up because it came directly from an Archon, but as she walked through the doorway into the huge chamber in a part of another city that she’d never even set foot in before, Octaviak had no clue what to expect.
“Welcome,” a purple skinned Protovic said in English, which she could now speak well enough without translator equipment. She wasn’t wearing armor anyways, and rarely did now. That was another thing about this planet that was vastly different from her former home, because she could see everyone and their multi-colored glows.
“Hello,” she answered back, looking across a courtyard that had trees blocking her view of what lay beyond.
“You’re Octaviak, I presume?”
“I am.”
“My name is Prentha. Please follow me,” he said, turning to walk away and waiting for her to match his stride.
“No one has told me what I’m doing here yet.”
“Training…experimental training. You’re the first Protovic telepath we’ve had, but everyone here has special abilities. Mine are sensory, like all the other Purples. The Oranges have a strength and speed advantage, which you probably already knew.”
; “I heard that. What do you mean by ‘sensor?’”
“Sensory means I can sense things you can, or rather I can sense them in better ways. It means I’m very hard to sneak up on and it is the special skill that Purples have in our genome, but only a few of us have been unlocked. All the Oranges came here or were born here unlocked, but the rest of us are not, save for, now, the Pinks, of which you’re the first,” he explained as they walked a dirt path into and through the trees. “We’re learning to unlock the others, or rather the Human geneticists are, and this program is for us to train and to be studied as both we and the medtechs explore what we’re capable of. Do you understand?”
“I don’t understand what you mean by ‘unlocked.’”
“Hidden skills that will develop or turn on eventually on their own, maybe thousands of years from now. The geneticists are finding ways to advance that and turn them on directly, one individual at a time.”
“And each Protovic color has a different skill?”
“Yes. We’re learning here how to develop them and incorporate them into our civilization, hopefully to advance our faction and give us more power to work with. Do you know how small we are compared to the rest of Star Force?”
“Yes, I learned that. Not the smallest, but far from the largest.”
“And many of the best people eventually leave to join a Clan. Right now most Protovic are choosing to stay here and help us advance, but some have already left. The Clans are an honor, for they are the best of the best, but until we figure out these abilities and how to use them even the Clans want to know what we’re capable of, hence they have sent representatives here to help us experiment and train.”
“The Clans are here?”
“Many are, and not just Protovic members. We are being tested heavily, with the experts telling us what to do. It’s hard work, but we don’t have to think too much. They figure out new drills and weapons for us to use while we work on developing our individual skills. It’s a very exclusive program, and one that you’re not to discuss with others.”