Saurians

by Timothy Manley

  “Soltyn!” Freyna's scream woke her from a deep sleep. “A mother ship has come!”

  “What do you mean?” Soltyn's mind was still clouded, but the idea of a mother ship was rapidly working it into action. She had been up late with Krishnae on one of his philosophical conversations. The fatigue still clung to her, fogging her mind. She was surprised at how little the Katsurani needed to sleep, especially when they grew excited.

  “I was on duty at the communications center when the message came in. A mother ship appeared near one of the out-system battle stations. They must not have known what the battle station was because they got close enough for all of its weapons to fire. One of their jump saucers got away, but everything else was destroyed.”

  “But one did get away?”

  “Yes, soon we will be rescued?”

  “I hope no more come.” Soltyn climbed out of her bed, her male rolling over to continue sleep.

  “Why?”

  “A scout ship, and now a mother ship, have been destroyed. They have killed too many. Let them be.”

  “But I do not want to be here forever.” Freyna sat down at the dining table, the only table in the small quarters.

  “Is your job that hard, or the conditions too stressful,” Soltyn asked.

  “No, actually they make nicer controllers than you.” Freyna smiled, but there was something else behind her joke.

  “I understand your meaning, Freyna. It is the same with all the others. It’s too easy. They enjoy their free time. The Katsurani make good masters.”

  “I am not one of the young ones, Soltyn. I have been to other systems besides this one. I know how slaves are treated. We are not slaves, they look to us as equals.”

  “How can you say that they view us as equals when they do not even consult us when they decide our jobs or schedules?”

  “We are not discriminated against. And besides, their Elder makes all the decisions for them. We live no differently than they. I have more time to spend with my mate and my children than before.”

  “Do you like their rule better then?” Soltyn's tone was sharp with anger.

  “Of course not,” Freyna's voice was forcefully quiet. “It's just not that bad.” Her voice dropped again.

  “Their society is much older than the ones you've seen. They learned long ago not to abuse their slaves so that they stay content.” Soltyn's tone was icy. “Content little pets.”

  “You're just angry because He likes you.” Her gaze was knowing.

  “What do you mean?” Soltyn's anger started to grow.

  “Everyone knows about your conversations with Elder, and how you choose to live here instead of accepting better quarters.”

  “My conversations with him are interrogations,” Soltyn yelled. “He tries to get every bit of data I have about my own people and any other race I know anything about. He is collecting military intelligence from me. That is all.”

  “I just do not want more death,” Soltyn said after a period of silence.

  “I don't either,” Freyna said. “I'm confused. Things are good and bad at the same time. We are not in control any longer. The Tecktons are not here to protect us.”

  “I do not think even the Tecktons could stop them.”

  “Especially after another solar rotation.”

  “What do you mean?” Soltyn's voice quavered.

  “I heard the memo. They've figured out anti matter.”

  “I thought we decided not to give it to them,” Soltyn yelled.

  “They're smart. They figured it out. What else can I say? They had a scout ship, and now they have a mother ship. They also don't tell us everything. They'll ask questions and not tell us why. A lot of us have helped them on weapons without knowing it.” Freyna's eyes fell to the deck.

  “I know. They're quite good at that.” Soltyn took Freyna's sharp chin in her hands. “Have you heard of Opeo?”

  “Only in their curses and insults.”

  “It's their God of evil. All of us have given ourselves to him.” She smiled, dropping her hand from Freyna's chin. She looked to her mate who still slept. “And it feels good.”

  Tears started to flow from Freyna's eyes. Soltyn gently kissed her and they embraced, crying.

  Chapter 3

  “We must move on the next system now,” Krishnae spoke without emotion. He seemed drained of energy, yet fully charged and in perfect control. The others felt his power. It had been a nearly two full standard years since they landed in this system. No further ships had arrived since they took the pirennie mothership. All that time left to themselves to learn, build and expand. Krishnae felt it had been long enough. You either strike while the prey is there or you starve in the den.

  “Is it wise?” Laitru asked, extending his neck, “To put our forces in such a risk?”

  “I am confident that we can secure any objective we are landed against,” Rifnae said. He blinked and looked back from the sand. He wished that Krishnae would close the shutters. The billowing patterns were so distracting.

  “We know of their superior capabilities,” Litee said. “Meeting any of their war-vessels would bring downfall onto our forces.”

  “It is time to move on.” Krishnae looked out the window at the clouds of sand, shadowy forms came from the depths of his mind and manifested themselves in the dust. Rauntuntun's image flashed before him.

  “You,” Krishnae turned his head back and looked directly at Laitru, “must make sure that we are victorious. Corbis is the next inhabited system. We will muster the current fleet for a complete attack, leaving system defense ships here for protection.”

  “Conquest,” Laitru whispered, staring into the sand.

  “To success!” Rifnae raised his arm.

  “To success!” Litee joined in.

  “To success,” Krishnae said, narrowing his eye slits in a satisfactory smile.

  One hundred thousand orbits of the counter since the last battle. Teckton history was long. Their wars were fought while their race was very young. Master Teccktattei sat in the center of the circular cabin. Twenty Opsttiettei sat at stations surrounding her. Her mind was theirs, her thoughts the whole. Tactics from old were programmed. Her thoughts sent the voice to the others.

  Blocks of sheer metal, forty honeycombs, moved with daring purpose toward the blue gas giant, Corbis VI. Thoughts were one. Ships moved in unison. No creature had been in this time, in this reality. They marveled at the uniqueness of their situation.

  They were alone in their lives. No creature was before the massive power of their ships. Saurians thought linearly, their actions easy to predict. The technology leap was unexplainable. The Pitteanttie hadn't determined the race capable of this. They had travelled faster and farther than originally assessed. By the standards set by Pitteanttie there should be three hundred more rotations of the counter before even the Pyrinni discovered the race.

  Disruption of real space announced itself to them. One hundred Saurian warships appeared in the now-time. Master Teccktattei gave the thought. Forty ships moved as one, beams arcing over vast distances to burn the attackers.

  Pain travelled to them. They couldn't continue. The horridness of the reality injured them while the other beings fought on. They ignored their intense maladies and launched torpedoes, small missiles that travelled much faster than the larger craft. The technology increases were too fast, unexpected. Then, more of their ships came into real time. There existed far more than the first wave.

  Master Teccktattei gave the thought, the ships moved. Death was the new reality, and pain ignored. They had predicted the linear thoughts of the Saurians too much. Master Teccktattei never realized the versatility of their underdeveloped minds. The thought was too late. Superior numbers of ships encircled the whole, encapsulating them while their beams slowly burned until no thought was alive.

  Black space was bathed in red light by the giant blood sun. Four small spheres orbited in a helpless eternity, waiting for the day that their star would die
. The small tan ball closest to the weak rays rotated through the peaceful quiet. Most of its inhabitants had left, in anticipation, rescued by the Tecktons.

  Out of the void came the marauders. Ships swarmed about the small honeycombs that moved as one like insects onto the dead. Many were lost, but victory was evident. The system became theirs within one one-hundredth of a rotation.

  Rifnae landed with his troops and walked among the empty streets under the dull white dome. He narrowed his eye slits in satisfaction. This system was the first conquest of the Tnassiup.

  Industry on the worlds was already in place. Supply ships started running within one standard month, and within three the battleships were done. Twelve of the most powerful vessels ever to have crossed space. They turned Corbis into a fortress system, and Paulos as well. The new battleships rivaled even the power of the stars themselves.

  Movements were then swift. Eggs hatched and young grew to their positions. True conquest began.

  “Unlimited power?” Krishnae narrowed his eye slits, smiling.

  “Yes, Elder,” Litee's excitement was contagious, “the power plants are much smaller than our current fusion drives, and the power makes a cruiser as powerful as a battle station!”

  “What will become of them then?” Laitru mocked in good spirits.

  “Something more powerful than anything our planners have ever imagined. A battle star.” His eyes turned to the flowing sand, the ideas and images flooded over him so stimulating.

  “Battleships, Elder, is what we need now.” Laitru half stood, extending his neck to make sure that his forceful tone was not misunderstood as disrespect. “We have a powerful enemy, a true warrior race. They will send larger, more powerful ships now that they have tested our capacities.”

  “I think that they believed their force to be a full scale attack.” Rifnae spoke, taking his gaze from the sand. He was thankful that the old seats had been replaced, his comfort caused his eye slits to narrow in a semi-permanent smile.

  “Nonsense,” Laitru puffed his eye slits in a scoff. “No force of that size could have been anything but a scouting survey of picket ships!”

  “Your tactics are good,” Krishnae spoke, “but the logic behind them does not apply. Soltyn tells me that they do not have space faring warriors. The combat ships we have engaged have been old, so old.” Krishnae looked out the window.

  “You believe a spartzitz, Elder?” Laitru's voice still carried the mocking tone.

  “You doubt my judgment, Group Commandant?” Krishnae narrowed his eye slits. If blood oaths were needed he knew of the perfect Arena.

  “Of course not, Elder!” Laitru fully extended his neck. “I meant no disrespect.”

  Wind wound about the structure creating eddies of sand. Out of the shadow came the figure Opeo, his scales metallic grey, a great black sword held in his hands. Scales? The Katsurani were mostly smooth skinned, fur covered the rest. Only the lower developed species had scales. The thought intrigued Krishnae. Had his people had scales at one time? The fossil records had no way of determining. It was assumed not simply because they did not have them now. Then he saw what lay at Opeo's feet, the Katsurani homeworld.

  The original reasons for conquest returned, but he could not start feeding resources back to the home system. That would endanger his island of impenetrability, a liability that could jeopardize his new world and the new eggs' home. He saw two worlds then, his and the old. The old had sent them out so that the race could grow and become more powerful. In just under three standard years he had come farther than any one of the Elders could have dreamed. Opeo held the black sword to him. He knew that he must cleave the ties with the homeworld. They would be enemies now. The entire galaxy lay before him. The vision came, the banner of Krishnae, the first clan of the Katsurani. What had Soltyn called them, demons? That sounded like them, demons to purge the galaxy. The wars of conquest would be like never before. History would now begin to be written with Krishnae at the head.

  The door buzzed and Soltyn entered. He could never read their faces, they changed in the same patterns, but the structure was too weird for him to interpret. She sat down in the oversized chair and stared at him. Something was wrong with her eyes, they were red. Was she diseased? He knew so little. Litee would have to conduct some research on the matter.

  “Why have you summoned me, Elder?” Her voice was mocking and contemptuous but went unnoticed by Krishnae.

  “I need to know about all the races in your empire. I need to know their capabilities, both militarily and economically.”

  “You need not fear, Elder. My people have nothing to combat you with. Neither have the Tecktons. All the worlds lie at your feet with necks outstretched.” She spat the words, contemptuously, and felt safe in her knowledge that he didn't understand her voice inflections.

  Riaaur-no-Crrio stood with his father, Riirar-no-Crrio, and watched the large insect, covered completely in a billowing white robe, walk into the entry chamber with a smaller figure at its side, a little hairless biped dressed in a tan jump suit.

  “We are truly honored to meet with the Pyrinni and Teckton representatives.” Riirar stepped forward, his black Leader robe flowed about his black and grey fur. The silver stripes inlayed into his robe glinted and outshone all in the room. “To what does my small Rirft owe to this pleasure?”

  “There is a problem that all of your people must be warned about,” Styllia said, her noseless face so strange in the reggf society. “Your Rirft is on the outskirts of the Reggf Cluster and the danger threatens you first.”

  “Are you talking of war?” Riaaur said, nodding his head in the manner he had seen his father do many times before, the manner that showed that those you spoke to were of a lesser status.

  “Invasion,” the Teckton spoke in her clicks that roughly imitated the reggf language, “and your people will all be destroyed.”

  “I thought that there was nothing else out there besides our three societies,” Riirar said.

  “When you first met our ships,” Styllia said as she moved to the tapestries, looking at their work, none of them native to the reggf people, she knew they were from conquests, and she knew that Riirar was lying, “we left your people alone. You were too aggressive and violent then. The Teckton estimated that your military expansion would stop after a while and that there would be no need for intervention.”

  “I understand that,” Riirar said stepping up behind the Pyrinni trying to impress her by his greater size.

  “Then you understand the weight of the situation that now forces us here today.” She turned and faced him, looking up into his eyes. She knew that her almond shaped eyes, lacking a recognizable pupil, would make him nervous. He had nothing to stare into for intimidation.

  Riirar lifted his left lip, showing the large canines. He never liked the Pyrinni, especially this one, and would have enjoyed nothing more than tasting her blood.

  Styllia smiled, an action deemed a threat, she knew, by Riirar even though she had no teeth. She knew they rarely ate real meat anymore. They were no longer true carnivores, time and pressures of economy causing them to alter their diet, changing to a substitute food. She was not going to be intimidated. Those teeth, however, still looked potent.

  “You need our help,” Riaaur said as he stepped next to his father, showing his bulk, muscles rippled under his glistening black fur.

  “Each of us needs the other's help.” Styllia walked back over to the Teckton. “If your cluster falls there are thousands of inhabited systems peopled with races none near your level of technology.”

  “Thousands?” Riaaur said, astounded, mulling over the concept of thousands of worlds, all weak and ripe for plunder.

  “You would give us higher technology?” Riirar seemed hopeful. New weapons could give him a larger control area.

  “Our level of technology in the weapons field is equal. The only difference is the manner with which we propel our ships. Your gravity based system is too different from ours,
it would be too long in refitting to do any good. One thing we can give you, however, is tachyon communications.”

  “So?” Riirar snarled.

  “This would give you the ability to communicate with your ships in real time,” she leaned closer to the two, “no matter the distance.”

  Riirar was about to snarl but Riaaur sniffed and got his father’s attention. He stepped in and put his nose close to his father's ear.

  “This is more than we need,” He whispered in a hushed tone that even other reggf, with their incredible hearing, could not hear. “We can defeat this enemy and spread throughout our own people and then into these thousands of inhabited systems. You, father, will be the Reegarf of millions of planets.”

  Riirar closed his eyes and saw the vision. He would be the first of all his people to control an area that large. He nodded his head just enough for only a reggf to notice its meaning.

  “When can you install them?” Riaaur turned back to the Pyrinni, raising his eyebrows in a grin.

  “I've brought all the needed technicians and material with me. Is now too soon?” She looked at both of them and smiled.

  Krishnae sat in his private chambers watching tapes of the home system. It had been four full standard years since they arrived and he missed sky, grass, and the trees of the parks. He looked from his reader out the window into the flowing sand. He realized that it had been hypnotizing him and his people. Production faltered because of it. He had issued an order to have bulkheads built covering all windows. His room was the only exception. He turned from his tapes and started reading the reports. Already young ones were calling this planet home. They knew nothing else. He was glad. There was no loyalty to the home system in the new breed. They knew nothing but space and conquest. He turned from his thoughts when his door buzzed.

  Litee entered. “Elder, I have just returned from Corbis.”

  “Report.” Krishnae turned his chair to face the larger research leader.

  “Work on their systems has been completed. Their production facilities are fully operational and on-line. We will have the first wave of ships produced within a standard year.”