“Approaching Hyper-Shift point, Leader,” the astrogator reported.
“Sound the bell,” Laitru ordered, narrowing his eye slits. A klaxon sounded, the crew prepared itself for combat.
“Crew reports ready, Leader,” the communications leader said. Laitru leaned back on his tail, resting against the brace of his command chair. He widened his eye slits and ordered: “Point out and combat.”
Stars danced in the vastness of empty space, one brighter than the rest. The star system was near, but far enough away to make detection improbable. A patch of space wrinkled and a ten kilometer long tubular ship appeared, changing its existence into real time. Behind it appeared the rest of the fleet, each transiting into real-time one after the other.
“Engage,” Laitru ordered.
Engines rumbled and warped the fabric of space. Blue plasma streaked from the aft end of the first ship. The lead ship edged forward, followed by the rest of the fleet. They thrust across the apexes of the warp, cutting the distance travelled by two thirds. Gravity from the acceleration made Laitru feel more at ease. He hated zero gravity. It made the deed about to be accomplished no less weighty.
“Extreme range,” the weapons leader reported.
“Engage.”
The quarter kilometer long missiles flamed and eased forward. The missiles moved through warped space on a course aimed at the sixth planet. They moved at rates of acceleration unbearable by any living creature.
“The battle has begun,” Laitru turned to Krishnae.
“Send word to the assault ships, Captain, to ready themselves for landing.”
“Yes, Elder.” Laitru nodded towards the watching communications station. The katsurani there turned and obeyed.
“Soltyn.” Daylna turned in her chair to her controller. “I have encountered a strange communication,” she said, confused.
“What is it?” Soltyn walked over to Daylna's station.
Daylna flipped a switch putting the recorded sound on the speaker. Strange voices in an alien language garbled from the speaker for a few seconds and then ceased. “That's all there was. It's on a regular radio frequency but I cannot find any more.”
“Do you know from which direction it came?” Soltyn asked, genuinely interested in the mystery.
“No, I wasn't scanning for that. Our sensors just picked it up and alerted me. But I think it came from within this solar system.”
“That's odd. Kyla,” Soltyn turned to another station, “scan for spacecraft please.”
“Yes, Soltyn.” Kyla turned to work her equipment.
“Daylna, can the computer give us a translation?” Soltyn turned back to her.
“No, it said that this is no known language.” Daylna looked up to face Soltyn who was leaning over her shoulder looking at her screen. “I'm sure that the Tecktons probably have something on them, though.”
“I’m sure they do. But we do not have any Teckton data in our system.”
“Perhaps if we transmit it to Corbis they can send it on to the Library and get it analyzed?”
“Do you know how long that will take, Daylna?” Soltyn looked at her as if her suggestion were foolish.
“Yes,” Daylna said, “but it would only take a little while to transmit to Corbis and they do have a Cyclopedia.”
“Go ahead. But if it is really in our system we may find out what it is before Corbis can tell us.”
“Soltyn!” Kyla yelled spinning in her chair. “There is a warping of space.”
“What?” Soltyn rushed over to her station.
“Yes, warping of space!” Kyla looked again at her sensor readings.
“I don’t know of anyone that uses that means of transportation,” Soltyn said.
“I know, Soltyn, but it's there. Look for yourself.” She leaned over so Soltyn could get a look at her screen.
“No, you are better than I at reading your sensor screen.” Soltyn crossed her arms and looked perplexed. “It's alien, I'm sure. But how did they get here? With warp technology it would have to be either a probe, a breeder ship or an extended. Do you detect gravity fluxes?” She turned back to Kyla.
“No, but there are two different points of warp. One thousand are about to enter our orbit and there are over two thousand farther away.”
“About to enter orbit?”
“Yes.”
“Are the station's meteor shields raised?”
“No, Soltyn, I didn't think it necessary.”
“Raise them anyway, just as a precaution.”
“Alright.” She spoke softly to her monitor and received an answer. “It's up.”
“Soltyn,” Daylna spoke without looking away from her monitor, “those objects in orbit are emitting radar waves.”
“What's going on?” Kyla asked.
“I don't know,” Soltyn said. “Maybe we're going to be contacted.”
“That's ridiculous,” Daylna said, confused. “There's nothing out this far.”
“Evidently that is not true.” Soltyn went back to her own chair.
“Soltyn,” Kyla said, “the little ships have just launched smaller ships. They seem to have no life on them and I'm reading a lot of radiation.”
Soltyn's expression changed from one of curiosity to one of fear as the realization of what was happening hit her. “This cannot be true.” She spoke to no one. “I've only seen this in training data.”
“I don't understand,” Kyla said.
“Daylna, tell everyone to run to the mines!” Soltyn screamed, the realization striking her. Daylna jumped and, herself, became afraid. But it was too late. The electronic equipment sparked and went blank.
Soltyn stood and waited for the rumble she knew was to follow. The data she had seen always showed a rumble and then everything melted.
The rumble never came. She sat clenching the arm rests of her chair, her knuckles straining until her body’s support fluid drained from them. The lights of the equipment came back on as the secondary systems started operating.
Seventy-three B stood in his harness. He was one of the younger ones in the landing shuttle. Sex determination had come to him while in Hyper-Shift. He was the only unnamed one in the landing and hoped to prove his worth to the Leader.
The craft rumbled and the light turned blue. It was almost time. Voices came through the comm-set in his helmet. He checked the power systems of his armor and responded, they were ready.
Vibrations rocked the landing craft and the sensation of falling stopped. Seventy-three B hit the release on his harness as the front end of the craft opened. He was third out.
Gravity was light. Power grew in his limbs as he felt his strength. Yellow surrounded them, swirling and dancing in patterns that cut their vision to a few meters. Standing before his team was a partially buried complex, a series of domes. They were all grey and nearly vanished in the swirling sand. Commands sparked from the comm-set in their helmets. They jumped in staggered formation, coasting through the air and landing near the wall of one of the many domes.
His unit was a shredder, with two of their ten carrying plasmas. These plasma units fired and melted a large hole in the wall before them. Sub-Leader entered and Seventy-three B followed along with an older named warrior, Krapit. Heavy sand swirled about them and following them in, tendrils of sand wisped around their feet as they took heavy steps. His helmet read a different pressure than outside. The complex compensated for the hole and he saw the wall healing itself. He was transfixed, amazed at the wall slowly closing the burned hole. Figures moved and surprised him. Seventy-three B fired his weapon as he spun to face the motion. Hundreds of steel spikes filled the room and tore the small creature's bodies apart.
“Secure and contain.” The order came through his comm. Paring with his partner, Krapit, and standing to his right flank Seventy-three B moved to the door.
The metal rooms were small. Katsurani filled the room, making it seem even smaller. They crouched, their heads banging and scraping the ceiling. The door was
much too small for them. Krapit placed a charge near the wall and jumped back, Seventy-three B stepped aside to avoid the bleed-over from the directional blast. The explosion ripped a hole in the wall and blew apart a section of the ceiling. Sand flowed in like water.
Krapit moved in, firing his shredder, with Seventy-three B behind. Before them stretched a small corridor. Seventy-three B dropped to his knees and crawled in.
“Kranietz,” Krapit said on their personal link.
Seventy-three B crawled and the hallway narrowed tighter. He reached a point where he was stuck. He couldn’t reverse direction and couldn’t go forward. He cursed himself silently for doing something so foolish. He angled his weapon and pressed its muzzle against the wall next to him. He pressed the trigger stud. Bolts pierced the wall. He could see through the holes. He pressed his hand against it. The wall felt weak so he punched. His fist crashed through the soft metal. It folded about his arm, like a thin membrane and began closing. His suit's register showed slight damage to his right arm unit. He jerked his arm back, and then slammed his body into the hole. He pressed with his powerful legs and he forced himself through the closing hole.
Standing before him was a group of tiny creatures, each about a meter in height. Their pale skin gave them the look of a corpse long dead. They were biped, with no tail and short, small necks. Their heads were large and carried no fur. They wore body-suits much the same color as their slight frames. Seventy-three B fired his weapon and drug it across the room. The creature's bodies were spread across the back wall. A greenish-black ooze bathed the wall and then slowly dripped to the deck.
“Soltyn,” Daylna spoke in a small voice while she read the information on her screen. What was occurring was incomprehensible to her, she had no knowledge or experience to help her understand what was happening. “I can see everyone on Junta. I can see many of us dying. “
“How many?” Soltyn gazed off into space, focusing on nothing.
“Three hundred twenty three.”
“There are more objects falling into our orbit,” Kyla said, her voice empty of emotion.
A light flashed on an unattended console and Soltyn rose to it. She pressed the communicator button and said, “Yes.”
“There are large creatures here.” The voice was unknown to Soltyn. “They are gathering us into groups. They kill anyone that tries to run away.” The voice on the other side was frightened, but she managed to hold herself to a professional manner.
“Commendation for you,” Soltyn whispered and turned to face her two crew. “Send the message to Corbis.”
“What message,” Daylna asked, tears began budding near the outer edge of her eyes.
“That the Junta Materials Production Facility has been captured by an unknown force and species.”
“Elder!” The young ground warrior ran breathless and kneeled before Krishnae while still in his full battle armor.
“Yes?”
“The leaders of the planet have been isolated.”
“Lead.” Krishnae internally screamed his exaltation. He felt his fertilization pouch expand in his excitement. The entire planet had been taken with few more than three hundred enemy casualties and no Katsurani wounded. The soldier started through the maze of tiny corridors toward the center.
The corridors were made of a lightweight material that Krishnae had never seen before. He tried not to openly marvel at the simple yet advanced design and construction. He still found it hard to believe that a race more technologically advanced than his could have been defeated so easily. He refused to believe it.
The corridor ended in a small doorway. Krishnae barely fit inside, some of the warriors while in their armor couldn't fit through the door and waited in the hall. Inside were three of the strangest creatures. Bipeds, they stood in a group near the far wall. Their bodies were appeared so frail, fragile and easily broken. They were completely without fur with strange and ugly faces, shaped sharply with large eyes. He noticed that they must be staring at him with as much awe. How did they breathe? They had no air slits. And how did they show emotions? Were they without emotion?
“Leader,” Krishnae called over his shoulder.
“Yes, Elder.”
“Is the objective secure?”
“Yes, Elder.”
“Then call the research teams.”
“Yes, Elder.”
“Elder?” The voice disturbed him. They had occupied the new world for half a standard year. It was difficult adjusting time to the new planet’s rotation and orbit. Everyone still thought and acted in the old time. During their explorations of the many domes they found an observation hall, small by their standards, but giant to the aliens. The entire ceiling and walls were made from what appeared to one sheer piece of very strong glass. Krishnae had taken this room and turned it into the Elder’s chamber.
He had been staring out of the observation dome into the sandy horizon of Junta. The winds never ceased and the sand blew through the sky as if clouds had descended from heaven and walked the ground. He turned to see who had intruded on him.
“Yes?” It was Litee, his research leader, a title-less male. He thought of changing that and creating titles for all that would shape this system's society. At least Litee had earned a name.
“I've just discovered that a message was sent when we landed forty rotations ago.”
“You just found out?” Krishnae narrowed his eye slits in anger swishing his tail. The ramifications could prove disastrous for the entire expedition if a military force should arrive before the system was ready. No escape, the home system could not be compromised.
“The language is difficult. And they were unwilling to talk. It is only due to the diligence of one of my assistants that he overheard a conversation.”
“How far is it?”
“I estimate about thirty light years.”
“Tell the yemen to summon the Leaders.”
“Yes, Elder.” Litee extended his neck without bowing and left. Krishnae blew his air slits in a chuckle, this one has issues with formality.
“You come back too,” he said not looking at him.
“Yes, Elder.”
The technicians had brought his massive chair down from the flagship. They placed it per his command at the edge, near the great wall viewing outside. He went and sat in his giant chair. The controls on the handles enabled him to connect to any data source and communicate with any individual. It could also swivel so that he could turn his back to the visage of the alien landscape. But Krishnae didn’t do that. He turned and stared out into the sand.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed. The sand seemed to draw him in and he lost track of time. His leaders waited until they were all assembled and then the buzzer on his chair alerted him that they were ready. He pressed the button and the door opened, all of them flowing in.
“We have a problem.” Krishnae turned in the chair and stood, the massive bay window behind him. “They managed to transmit a message before we could block their communications. Evidently, they have systems much more powerful that what we have.”
“Litee, how much longer until we can integrate their technology onto our warships?” Krishnae asked, looking directly at him.
“I'm afraid that absorption of the Pale's technology is taking a very long time. Many of them seem helpful enough, but who can trust a spartzitz for too long?”
“We are just able to now understand some of the instructions printed directly on the equipment,” Jetvuea said. “They have no direct transferable technologies. All of it must be learned.”
“How long until our own production facilities can ensure our safety?” Krishnae asked the group, his gaze floating over all of them, including the five military leaders.
“Potentially two standard years,” Litee said.
“Not soon enough.” Krishnae stood, his hands flat on the table has he had seen Trarnif do so long ago. “Time is something we do not have.”
“Elder,” Litee extended his neck, �
��it would take radio waves hundreds of years to reach the nearest star. And we may not even know if there is anyone there.”
“You know this for sure?”
“Yes, Elder, it is standard physics.”
“You have seen their radio?” Krishnae looked around table. “Do they have communications on our level when they are above us in every other level?” Krishnae puffed his air slits in dissatisfaction. “Litee, I want you to find this out. Discover how they communicate.”
“Yes, Elder,” Litee said, bowed and extended his neck, leaving the room. His assistants did the same and followed.
“Everyone leave, you all have duties to perform. I want production active in less than one standard year.”
“Yes, Elder.” Many voices sang, and many necks extended toward him as they left.
“Not you Laitru.” Krishnae sat down.
“Yes.” Laitru sat too.
“Thirty light years is not that far for them.”
“I know.” Laitru narrowed his eye slits in worry.
“They could defeat us easily. Their technology gives them that.”
“My technicians have been experimenting with some of their mining beams.”
“How so?” Krishnae's eye slits widened with interest.
“The beams seem to be significantly more powerful than our ship's plasma beams. They take less energy, but have a shorter range.”
“Not a viable weapon?”
“Not now. If we could perform some research we could modify them to suit our needs.”
“I do not think plasma will be fast enough.”
“I don't understand, Elder.”
“They do not use warp technology. They have something better. Something that makes their ships much faster than ours.”
“If we had one of their ships we could do a lot more.” Laitru stared into the sand. It was so hypnotic.
“We don't, so we will have to outnumber them instead of out fight them. We shall overwhelm them as the tnackse does the kratzitz.” Krishnae turned and looked out the window again.
“We could have a thousand more warships built in less than a year if Litee doesn't try to constantly install new technologies,” Laitru said.
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