by Aer-ki Jyr
“Team telepathy?”
“Precisely.”
“I thought we couldn’t do that?”
“It’s not battlemeld like I have, but there are ways you can create a pseudo version. You have to be fairly skilled as an individual first, which was why we haven’t delved into this before. I think you’re ready now.”
“When do we start?”
“Now,” he said, turning and heading towards the doorway while raising a hand and curling his finger in a ‘come’ gesture.
Octaviak smiled and followed him out, eager to learn more Archon telepathy secrets.
Brad walked into one of the new genetic alteration medical stations, separate from the one Vortison had set up long ago, with the line of Protovic younglings going wide-eyed when they saw him. All of them were 16 years old and knew of him through their lessons in the maturia, but none of them had expected him to show up here and now, nor had their handlers or the medical staff overseeing the alterations.
“How we doing?” he asked, looking at the lead medtech, one of the few with clearance to actually use the handful of these devices built for this specific purpose and placed within the newly built maturias.
“Just about to start this group,” the Human asked, surrounded by a room full of Protovic. “Is there a problem?”
“No. I was just passing by and felt like dropping in to observe. This is a big day for you guys,” he said, turning his attention to the 14 younglings present. Unlike the handlers and some of the medical staff, these Protovic did not have green bioluminescence. Where the others had green patches, these had Star Force blue signifying that they were the new generation of the race. Where their other color would have been these younglings had dull black patches of soft skin in addition to the exoskeleton of the same color.
The blue/black heads nodded their agreement but said nothing, all staring at him with glowing blue eyes.
“Are you planning to stick with the program or going civie once your basic training ends?”
“I’m staying,” one of the 9 males said.
“Me too,” the female beside him echoed.
Brad nodded. “Protovic maturia are now the longest within Star Force…not counting advanced training units. If you stick around until you make Final Form it’ll take a long time before you join the rest of the population. Think you can handle that?”
“We can’t come back?” another male asked.
“Yes and no,” Brad answered, crossing his arms over his chest. “If you choose to leave when basic is over, you can’t come back to this maturia. If you change your mind, say a day or even a century later, there will be another program you can enter that will complete your training. We never give up on anyone, but if you want to stick with your peers here you’re going to have to stay in the program and keep up. As I hear it, you 14 are top of your class?”
More heads nodded.
“Good for you, but be warned…even Archons do not advance at the same rate through every level. We go fast through some, slow through others. It all depends on the individual and where our aptitudes lie. You’ve done well to get here a little bit ahead of the others, but don’t assume you’ll always stay ahead or that they will always stay behind. Focus on your own progression and keep moving forward no matter what the pace, even if you get frustrated at times. For now though, you’ve earned your transition to second tier and it’s time you received your upgrades,” he finished, nodding at the medtech.
The Human pointed and one of the Protovic assistant medtechs, a Red, placed a glowing hand on one of the youngling’s shoulders and directed him into the machine where she sealed him inside with the arm bar and stepped back. The medtech gave him and the others basic instructions on what to do with his hands and not to move with Brad standing in the back and watching. The younglings’ attention was suddenly off him and onto their peer as the machine activated and they saw the soft black patches on his body come alive and start to subtly glow, getting brighter with each passing second until they were completely gone.
The black exoskeletal segments were still there, but now all of his soft tissue was aglow with the previous blue now added to with streaks of brilliant white. When the youngling opened his eyes they too had changed color, no longer blue but likewise white glowing orbs.
“You’re finished,” the medtech said with a grin. “Congratulations.”
The assistant removed the arm bar and escorted him out a step to make room for the next conversion.
“Feel different?” Brad asked.
“A little queasy,” the youngling admitted, with Brad and his glowing hands competing for his attention.
“That’s the genetic upgrade,” the Archon explained. “Your immune system just got beefed up and it’ll take an hour or so for your equilibrium to reset. Some people feel it, others don’t, but it’ll go away soon enough.”
The youngling stepped further aside as his peers swarmed around him, some poking the new white spots and others giggling with excitement as the second one in line stepped into the chamber. Brad stood back, watching them and judging their reactions, both visibly and telepathically. These were amongst the first generation of the new Protovic to get the tier 2 upgrades. None were old enough yet to have reached tier 3, but the rest of the maturias with unaltered younglings were nearing their end with only a few years left before they all graduated.
When that happened the new ‘Blues’ would take over, in that they would be all the new populations coming forth. Even the eggs from the older greens would be altered prior to their hatching, meaning that their offspring would also be the new Star Force Blues, whose blue patches were opposite the original Blues that had a green base. Blue was the new base for these younglings and would be kept all the way through to their Final Form, separating them from the rest of the Protovic across the galaxy and drawing a distinct difference from even their Purple skinned ally.
These Star Force Protovic would also be far more powerful, given the Orange upgrade as a default then earing the other 5 with telepathy coming last. There would be three more color upgrades following that, as rank indicators similar to his golden armor, but with the telepathy they will have reached Final Form and their very long maturia process would come to an end.
Most of that process was still theoretical, with only a small group of tier 2 Protovic ahead of these. Brad was watching their progress closely, wanting to troubleshoot any difficulties or new advantages as quickly as possible. For so long this faction had been in flux, even before they’d realized that the hidden transformation was within them, and he felt it necessary to get them cemented now, even before they had a chance to probe that mystery further. If they needed to add something later they could, at the end of the maturia phase through special training similar to how the Archons received their psionics after transitioning through the adept ranks, but Brad wanted the civilian base of the Protovic established and codified now so their future would not be in doubt.
As for the existing Protovic population, they were being given access to auxiliary training programs so they could earn their Star Force Blue if they chose, but many weren’t. Some of those were civilians and others were techs and military. That was fine with him, for they were different, in their origins at least, while these Blues were the future of his ever growing Protovic faction. One that would be more powerful than any other within Star Force if his expectations came to fruition. Not in size, but in skill and potential, even more so than Humans.
Archons would still vastly outmatch them, but no other race would have this many abilities at their disposal, especially for a civilian population. The catch was these younglings had to stay in the maturia when they had the option to leave it. How many that would thin from their numbers he didn’t know, but he expected there to be far more Protovic telepaths than there were Archons in short order, and how that dynamic and their other abilities would change this faction he didn’t fully know. That was one reason why he was still keeping this system off limits to normal
Star Force traffic and tourists, and it was going to stay closed until these changes worked themselves out.
Then there would be the issue of how these new Protovic affected the rest of Star Force, especially Axius. Davis had been in regular communication with Brad over the changes going forward and brainstorming with him potential problems and advantages. While it didn’t look like much right now, this was going to be a huge transition for the empire down the road and one they had to stay a step or two ahead of at all times.
But the other big thing with these Star Force Blues was that they didn’t have the mystery genetics within them anymore, so there was no chance of them being affected by whatever it was, good or bad. The fear of a faction-wide epidemic sweeping through the Protovic if one began to spontaneously change and spread it to others was no longer a concern for anyone with the Blue base skin, and as their numbers grew the potential problem would lessen. The Greens had already been altered so to not produce activation material, but they hadn’t had the mass of code removed. Doing so with an adult was still a bit tricky, but Vortison had managed it with a few people thus far.
The process was so lengthy that it wasn’t worth putting the full population through just yet. Plus they might need it later, because as Vortison had said, putting it back in was probably going to be harder than taking it out, and to date he hadn’t tried.
Brad knew that Humans would never be given psionics as younglings, nor would the general population for that matter. That had been settled for a long time and this wasn’t going to change that. Protovic having an advantage over Humans didn’t both Brad either, for all of these younglings were pure Star Force, same as the Humans. They were brothers and sisters, and Humans didn’t have to be top dog in every category. As it was they were already punching bags to the Calavari, but Humans still made up the core of Star Force.
As time went on that was evolving a bit, for now there were much older individuals from other races rising through the ranks, both military and tech, that were taking their place in the upper cadre of Star Force leadership. Even a few Monarchs were now non-Human, and put in that position because Davis thought they merited it rather than misguided notions of ‘diversity.’ There had been complaints for a long time within the ADZ about Human domination, but those within Star Force knew there was no basis to the whining. The Humans were older and wiser, hence they held the leadership positions. Now a few others were working their way into that group, and rightly so, but Humans would always be top dogs.
And that came down to their V’kit’no’sat legacy. The Ikrid block was more important than anyone realized, and even with a lot of Protovic telepaths entering the population they wouldn’t be able to read Humans. Also, only Humans could become Archons, Arc Commandos, and Arc Knights. Brad knew they were going to have to develop a fourth category for the advanced Protovic that reached Final Form, but he was waiting on that until Vortison figured out what the mystery coding was and if there was any of it that they could use, but even then the Protovic would never be able to become Archons.
The new Protovic ‘ultras’ might be physically superior to Archon adepts, or even acolytes at similar ages, but there was no matching the raw power woven into the Zen’zat genetics and Star Force wasn’t going to give Protovic the title of ‘Archon’ if they couldn’t fully be Archons. They would find their own niche, and a powerful one if Brad’s speculation was correct about their potential, but the military leadership of Star Force would always be the Archons.
As for the Monarchs, Davis would always be tops and the generation that had developed Star Force along with him would never be superseded…save for the possibility of a Grand Admiral Thrawn type rising up through the ranks. If that ever occurred Brad would be very interested to see how that played out, but he knew that would be a rare individual and not a mass transition.
Humans would dominate the upper Monarch ranks for the same reason the trailblazers were still the top Archons…they got a head start on everyone else, and there was no replacing or duplicating the experience they’d gained building Star Force from the ground up.
Other races would add to and grow Star Force’s population and strength, but the Humans…the elite Humans anyway…would always be the tiny eye in the center of the storm that guided everything else, while the hurricane that the empire had become was, and would continue to be, mostly made up of non-Humans.
But like with these younglings, they might not be Human but they were fully Star Force and his brothers and sisters. So there was no contention between them. Each had their strengths and their niches to fill, Brad’s niche just happened to be a very exclusive one.
10
February 27, 3092
Aphat System (Bsidd Region)
Nym
“You sure about this?” Kip asked. “Last chance to back out.”
Nefron turned his glowing red eyes on the trailblazer a few steps shy of the medical station. “You keep repeating yourself. My mind hasn’t changed.”
“We can reverse the process at any time if needed,” Vortison reminded them from the control board. “Say the word and I’ll end it within 60 seconds of getting you back in the machine.”
“Be sure,” Brad told the Red-skinned Protovic volunteer, one of the oldest amongst the Protovic faction. “We still don’t know all that this will do to you. Your mind especially.”
“There’s only one way to find out, so let’s get to it.”
The two trailblazers in the room exchanged glances, then Kip shrugged. “He’s right.”
“Alright then, let’s jump into this,” Brad said, pointing Nefron into the station. When the green/red Protovic walked inside he telekinetically lowered the bar to lock him in, leaving the three other men outside with no one else here to view this moment. This medical station had been built specifically for this test with an adjacent sterile living quarters and small workout center for Nefron to be confined within during the transformation, for this was going to have to be a gradual one. The physical changes could be activated and rushed via the machine, but Vortison didn’t want to risk complications with the mental side, so they were going to see this process run its course naturally.
Vortison flicked a button and a blue energy shield cut off the medical chamber and the rooms behind it from the control station and the three Humans. Nefron would be of no danger to them, but once the process was activated the medtech feared he might be able to infect other non-Blue Protovic and trigger them to transform as well, thus this experiment had to be conducted in isolation.
“Releasing activation material now,” Vortison said, with a mist from seven special canisters releasing above his head and flowing down over top of Nefron. “Just stand still and wait it out, I want to monitor the process with the scanners as long as possible.”
“Take your time,” the Protovic said as he felt the cool mist drape over him. “I take it you two are watching my mind?”
“We are,” Kip confirmed. “But don’t hesitate to talk. We’re recording images and audio as well, so if there’s anything important, or even trivial that you want to mention, do so.”
“Nothing yet,” Nefron said as the mist plumes continued to fall onto his shoulders and then onto the floor where they were beginning to form a low cloud that extended all the way out to the energy shield.
“It’s already happening,” Vortison said in awe. “All slots have been filled and the prime code is activating. I can see it in progress.”
“I don’t feel anything,” Nefron said.
“It’s prepping you for changes. I don’t know how long it will take before they actually begin to unfold.”
“What about the genetic memories?”
“Also prepping. I have some idea of what you’ll be transforming into, but I have almost no clue what the process will be or what timetable it will take. We’re just going to have to wait this out.”
“Should I…ah,” Nefron said, leaning slightly forward and putting a hand over his abdomen. “That’s new.”
“What?” Vortison asked.
“A sick feeling in my chest that’s spreading out through the rest of my body.”
Vortison studied the holographic displays for a moment, altering several until he found what he needed. “Transition material is being formed. It’ll soak up nutrients and other vital components you’ll need later like a sponge. It’s forming tiny tendrils right now through your entire body…microscopic, but it isn’t wasting any time.”
“Should I start eating now?”
“Give it a few minutes, I need as much data as I can get and the biomonitor is not nearly as effective as this device.”
“You still thinking this will take days?” Brad asked.
The geneticist nodded. “Yes.”
“I’ll take first watch,” he told Kip.
“Alright. I’ll be around if you need me.”
“We should go opposite each other,” Brad added as Kip turned to walk out. “That way we’ll be less likely to miss something big.”
“I’ll get Terry to relieve you in 3 hours,” he told his fellow Archon, then turned back to look at Nefron. “Hang in there buddy. I think you’re in for a wild ride.”
“I’d be disappointed if I wasn’t.”
Kip smirked and threw him a two fingered salute as he headed out, leaving the medtech and the Archon watcher in place as they both monitored his transformation and would continue to do so round the clock going forward.
Twelve hours later Kip returned, finding Vortison still there along with Amy-12199. He was sitting on a stool watching his monitors while she was on the floor in a meditative pose with Nefron nowhere in sight, though Kip could sense him in a nearby room.
“Tag,” he said, walking up behind the mage.
She stood up silently and turned around. “He’s in considerable pain, but weathering it well.”
“I can feel that. How long has this been happening?”
“The past 7 hours,” Vortison answered.