Star Force: Return to Earth

by Aer-ki Jyr

“Oh, that. Honestly, I’d just kind of gotten used to it.”

  “I haven’t.”

  “It’s easier for me. I’ve got you to key off of. As long as you stay lightside the galaxy doesn’t seem so dark.”

  “True,” Paul agreed, but didn’t share the fact that Kara was showing she wasn’t totally a trailblazer. In some ways she was, in others she wasn’t, and in this case she wasn’t. She had someone who outranked her that she could key off of, but the trailblazers didn’t. They had to look out into the galaxy with everyone behind them and no one in front. He had the other trailblazers side by side with him, but they were peers. They weren’t someone higher up to learn from, to pattern off of, to take the lead when the pressure got too much for him.

  No, they were the trailblazers and they had to face the constant burden of being the lightbearers in a galaxy of darkness. And today, at least, the Uriti were not echoing that darkness and wanting blood. They didn’t want to fight the Hadarak here or anywhere, still feeling they were in some way their kin, and Paul was thankful for that. The Uriti weren’t lightside, but they weren’t bloodthirsty either.

  And in a galaxy of constant bloodshed, he wasn’t going to squander the learning moment for them. Letting this Hadarak go might start Armageddon, and if it did, so be it. He was leaving here with friends and allies, the latter of which was showing far more wisdom and restraint than he’d hoped for. That was a significant victory he intended to run with and leave the Hadarak menace to the V’kit’no’sat…for now.

  Mak’to’ran was waiting when the Star Force fleet emerged from Hadarak territory in the same system they’d left, with Paul-024 transmitting a basic report of what had happened along with the promise of delivering all of their data on the Hadarak when they got to the other side of V’kit’no’sat territory. The Era’tran preceded them back, clearing the way and keeping V’kit’no’sat assets away from the Uriti transports…especially in lieu of the battle data that the Archon had included in the first report.

  Never had Mak’to’ran seen that kind of damage done to the Hadarak so quickly or so effectively. They had to pound on them over and over and over to just scratch a little damage into a true wound, and when they did the Hadarak usually ran for a star where the V’kit’no’sat could not follow. What the Uriti had done…with Star Force backup keeping the minions busy…was eye opening.

  Here was a way to effectively fight the Hadarak, yet it was in the hands of the enemy that he was forced to destroy, and along with it the very living weapons that were superior to the Hadarak, though far smaller at the moment. What they could grow to in a million years was so tantalizing that just before they left V’kit’no’sat territory Mak’to’ran asked for another meeting with the trailblazer, imploring him to accept his offer of inclusion in the empire or make a counter offer on different terms. Mak’to’ran desperately wanted the power that Star Force had gained for the fight against the Hadarak, but the trailblazer was adamant that the rift between them could not be reconciled.

  The death mark and all the destruction inflicted upon Star Force meant that they would never rejoin the empire that had unwittingly spawned, then spurred them. It was irony, perhaps, that the V’kit’no’sat’s actions to stomp out this heresy was denying them the weapon they needed to destroy the Hadarak, but at least Mak’to’ran wasn’t coming out of this empty handed. The data Paul delivered to him as they parted ways was more intel than the V’kit’no’sat had ever had, by far, and put to rest long held speculation about why the Hadarak did what they did.

  Key to it all was the fact that they were looking for something…and the fact that the Uriti weaponry was not unfamiliar. It was clear in the notes that these two things were not linked, for one resulted in combat and the other a withdraw from combat. That meant there were two massive forces out there someone, one an ally or neutral, the other an enemy far stronger than the V’kit’no’sat.

  That did not sit well with Mak’to’ran, and made their reluctance to explore the Rim all the more damning. What was out there that the Hadarak were looking for? Or no, not looking for…waiting for. They didn’t know where it was, they were just patrolling and making no big push towards the Rim. The V’kit’no’sat had pushed them back considerably, but according to the Rit’ko’sor there were much larger Hadarak further in that had never bothered coming out to fight them.

  All of this suggested a lot more that Mak’to’ran could only guess at, but he finally had real data gleamed from the mind of Hadarak and Star Force had done a good job of keeping the Hadarak talking for days. What had not been a good job was their letting the Hadarak go. Star Force, along with some help, had stopped the couriers from leaving with the knowledge of the Uriti’s existence. According to the notes that would have resulted in a massive war with the Hadarak coming straight for the Preserve because the Uriti had told them where it was.

  That was bad, but the change in the Hadarak’s behavior prompting Star Force to let it go was far worse. Mak’to’ran feared they may have just struck a blow against the V’kit’no’sat by inciting the Hadarak to come out and fight them in far greater numbers. He didn’t know if there was enough time to stop the Hadarak, but as soon as he learned the full context of the encounter he sent word through the Urrtren for the closest V’kit’no’sat fleets to move at all speed to try to intercept and destroy the wounded Hadarak before it could spread word of what it had discovered.

  If it had formed and released another courier it would be too late, but if it had launched all it had, as he believed, then it wouldn’t have spent resources to make another with such massive injuries to heal, so they might just have a chance. If not, he wouldn’t know soon, for the Hadarak moved slowly, but he imagined that if word got through to the other Hadarak, he’d see the start of a massive push by them prior to the ending of the Sarma that had just begun.

  If that was true, and it was intentional on Star Force’s part, then it was a masterful stroke of tactical genius. The V’kit’no’sat were going to have to pay a very heavy price to hold that line if it happened, perhaps so much that they would have to ignore Star Force for an additional millennia or two, perhaps longer, but the V’kit’no’sat would not relent. They would hold the line no matter what, and in the end, it would still be a victory for them.

  And it would be a victory because Mak’to’ran now had information on who their enemy truly was, and that was something that not even the Zak’de’ron had possessed during their long, dominant reign. And in that, the V’kit’no’sat and the Era’tran had just surpassed their founders.

  The war against the Hadarak was theirs now, not the Zak’de’ron’s, and Mak’to’ran had just attained more progress in this deal than had been made throughout their 6 million years of existence.

  That was worth any losses they’d have to suffer in a potential Hadarak surge, even if it was one of never before seen scale, for they were now one step closer to finding a way to accomplish the impossible and one day completely rid the galaxy of the Hadarak plague.

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