by Aer-ki Jyr
“That can be arranged easily enough. We’re already friends with the H’kar.”
“We also are interested, on behave of certain members, in the possibility of trading for some of the now empty systems that you have taken in battle. If you do not intend on inhabiting them yourselves, there are those that wish to purchase select ones for their own use.”
“To fall under Nexus domain or my own?”
“That is one detail of many that we have come here to inquire about.”
Davis looked at the Sety, then in turn made eye or head contact with every one of the other races present, knowing that there were far more members in The Nexus than were here.
“Then let me say this. Star Force is fair. If you come to us and seek to negotiate honestly then we will listen. We might not always accommodate you, but we will listen. As far as interlinking our economies, there are many possible ways to do that, and several that I will not permit. If you wish to interact with my civilization you will do so on my terms, and as I said, we’re fair. We don’t seek to steal or cheat, and if you can benefit from fair dealings then there is a great deal for us to discuss…and I will say, that it is a discussion that has been long overdue.”
2
March 21, 3254
Krachnika System (occupation zone)
Michra
Paul’s dropship landed on the lizard planet again, coming down into a wide courtyard rather than one of the spaceports that Thrawn had rebuilt, and the pink armor-clad Archon walked out to find the largest of all the lizards waiting for him with his typical escorts bracketing his robed body.
“Due to your quick return I assume you have an urgent matter to discuss,” the mastermind said, looking into the opaque helmet that only at the last moment retracted to show the Human’s displeased face.
“We discovered the destination of the diggers, approximately where you suggested. An unclaimed system showing recent activity.”
“What were they recovering?”
“I don’t know. Our ship couldn’t take a close look, let alone send a team down to the surface,” Paul said as he produced a hologram between them showing the planet and the mass of ships above it. “They weren’t alone.”
“I recognize only one grouping of these vessels. They are Trinx, an enemy of the Li’vorkrachnika that we were never able to eliminate. The others are unknown to me.”
“We know of one other, called the Sety. They lead The Nexus, but the others are not Nexus members. And they’re all in league with the Li’vorkrachnika and ordered our ship out of the system. When it moved in for a closer look on its way out it was even fired upon, but easily outran the pursuit when they didn’t chase it far beyond the planet. They don’t want us there, and it has to do with this object.”
Paul zoomed in on the subsurface scan the Ma’kri had taken, which revealed little beyond solid rock and the tunneling that had been done recently by the lizards, for their infrastructure was showing in multiple locations plus a scattering of other add-ons not of their making.
“Look closely, and you’ll see the sensor readings are faked. It’s fortunate that we got even this little variation,” he said as he adjusted the display to highlight the region that was being hidden…an egg shape that extended for some 60 miles tip to tip.
“I have no knowledge of this,” the mastermind said.
“How often do you cooperate with other races?”
“Only when we have a specific need. It is likely that their new allies identified this location, otherwise it would have been discovered long ago. Show me which system it is in.”
Paul threw up a starmap and the lizard became more certain.
“We have nothing there and never have. They would not be investigating that worthless planet unless they were told to.”
“These races are far stronger than the Li’vorkrachnika. They wouldn’t need their assistance if they wanted this planet. They can move about at will. Why would they involve them?”
“The presence of the diggers suggest that they did not come straight to the planet. They had the Li’vorkrachnika locate this hidden object for them and have now come to claim it. Perhaps they did not know exactly what system it was in, and they have been searching for it in many places.”
“That sounds feasible, but I didn’t think you guys were all that generous.”
“We’re not. There must have been additional factors. How advanced are these ships?”
“Very.”
“More so than yours?”
Paul cracked a smile. “In some ways yes, in some ways no.”
“Even fight then?”
“Given that we’ve never seen 8 of these races fight we’re guessing, but they all look to be very elite…meaning that whatever this is down there is damn important.”
“While this could be a recent occurrence, there is the possibility that this was a continuation of a previous relationship that I was not aware of.”
“The tech upgrades?”
“It would make sense. We could not match your technological progression, thus another source beyond our own research was located. They could have struck a deal that involved searching for whatever this is. That fleet arrangement suggests cooperation, not enslavement. They are partners in this endeavor.”
Anger rose within Paul at the thought of the Sety feeding the lizards tech improvements…and then there was The Nexus’s reluctance to squash them like a bug when they were giving the H’kar all they could handle.
“Have you seen any other inklings of this?”
“The additional shipyard ring you mentioned. It was kept from my knowledge with no apparent reason. Coreward assets were supposed to be secret so you could not learn of them when you overtook us here, but anything of that size in the original holdings I should have known about.”
“Why would they need to build ships?”
“Find the location and see for yourself.”
“We know the location…we think, but it’s a long ways off and didn’t want to bother with it until we could get our supply lines closer. Taking you guys down requires a lot of material expenditure.”
“In exchange for your lack of personnel expenditure.”
“Yes. Something I think you’re starting to learn.”
“So why not send a scout?”
“Because until now I didn’t think it was anything special, at least nothing that could match the core worlds we still have to take down. But if it’s related to whatever this is,” Paul said, pointing at the hologram of the planet, “then we’d better take a look.”
“Population,” the mastermind said, knowing that Paul would be inside his head.
“And ships to carry them where needed.”
“It is our greatest asset…and one that technologically advanced races might require.”
“Trading your lives for tech?”
“Until recently I would not have objected. They are a commodity.”
“And now?”
“If I were them I’d still make such a trade, for more could be accomplished from it. I can assure you that these are allies of necessity, and that there is no trust between them. Without their tech the templars know they are subject to a slaughter if they turn against them, and the only way to close that gap is by advancing their own technology, slowly through research, or quicker by trade. The lives of a small fraction of the population, which can be easily replaced, are more valuable than what they would be in combat against those same races.”
“Numerically I can agree with you. If you’re going to die, do it in a way that most hurts your enemy.”
“Yet?”
“Hard to say without knowing what deal they’ve arranged, but some of the options going through my head are downright disgusting.”
“What point is there in existing if you betray your purpose to accomplish it?”
“Something like that. You’ve had a change of mind since we last spoke?” Paul inquired, picking up on something else within the lizard’s mind.
“This world will fill up soon, and despite my efforts to increase capacity via infrastructure and your population control stipulations, we will exceed capacity before I am done conscripting worlds.”
“I know that.”
“And I doubt that I will get the answers I need from the templars if they are all gone from this region, unless those answers are somehow hidden within me. I cannot wait to learn their intent, I must have a course of action. Preserving and reorganizing those here is but a means to an unspecified end.”
“And what end have you determined?”
“What end do you wish for us?”
“You want to fight?”
“A worthy fight, yes. If our own judgement has been imperiled by these genetic blocks, then you could bypass that deficiency by choosing the fight for us.”
“Fighting just to fight is another means to an unspecified end. It doesn’t answer the question of purpose.”
“My purpose is to serve, to accomplish goals given to me. That is why I exist. Until recently those goals always held merit, now I am questioning their true veracity. I need to be accomplishing something real. No more lies or misdirection. What do you intend for us?”
“For the short term, containment. Beyond that is a wait and see.”
“You’ve surely considered options.”
“But haven’t settled on any yet.”
“We are bred to work, and while I can keep the minions busy with varied tasks I cannot do so with myself. Now I have work to do, but once the repair of this world is complete and it is filled with inhabitants that have no purpose, this civilization in a containment cell will unravel, and I first among it. I have known this was coming but forestalled acknowledgement of that fact because I did not know the truth of the templars. What knowledge they possess is critical in how I am to proceed…but the fact is I do not think I will know of them in time. I have to work, else I will self-destruct. This is not something I have encountered before, but it is a very real doom I am seeing on the horizon.”
“There is an old saying from my homeworld. A tiny, but powerful empire once said that it must expand or die, for all it knew was to conquer and grow. It could not maintain.”
“I am not designed to maintain save for that function in relation to a greater purpose.”
“Nor am I. We are constantly training and growing more powerful. Individually as well as an empire.”
“Could you handle not improving?”
“No, I couldn’t. Setbacks that I could fight against are one thing, but stagnation is an enemy that I will not allow to exist. I am entirely incompatible with it.”
“And what fate would you have us see?” the mastermind asked, and Paul could feel him almost pleading.
He didn’t answer for several seconds, looking him over visually and mentally. “I’ve never told anyone this before, but the stronger I grow, the wiser I become, the less I feel like I belong in this galaxy. Or rather, there’s nothing wrong with the galaxy itself, but the people in it become less recognizable. I am so far beyond most of them that it is like my success is ostracizing me. I have to become better than them in order to protect them, but it leaves me alone with a very short list of peers…and as others rise to that peer group I am leaving it behind at the same or faster rate. Unless I stop advancing I will never be one of them.”
“That’s just part of the job,” Paul continued. “And for you it’s similar. You have billions of your kin with you on this planet, but they are all beneath you in terms of skill and knowledge. There are no other masterminds here, and you’ve even said that you never interacted without exceptional need. The only peers you came in contact with were the templars…but you didn’t see them as peers, you saw them as superiors. They gave you a purpose. A place. I have no superiors within Star Force, unfortunately, so I have to chart my own course.”
“And now that I have none, I must chart my own as well?”
Paul spread his arms wide, gesturing to the planet around them. “You control one of the most densely populated planets in this region of the galaxy. There is so much here to do that most people would be overwhelmed. You’re so good at it that it almost bores you, and that gives you time to look around and ask yourself…what is the point of all of this? In the past, following the orders of the templars was your point. It was your purpose. You didn’t have to think beyond that and you consumed yourself in carrying out those orders. You were a facilitator, not a leader. Not a trailblazer, anyway. There’s a significant difference between the two.”
“I was not designed for that.”
“No, but you are intelligent enough to become one. You already have in some respects.”
“I have no wish to be one. And what changes you have seen are me identifying weaknesses and addressing them. They are inefficiencies and therefore must be eliminated. That does nothing for me with regards to setting goals, only in achieving them.”
“I didn’t always know my purpose. At least I never understood it in the beginning. I’d get bits and pieces of meaning out of various things, but it wasn’t until I was past 300 years that it truly dawned on me why I exist. It’s not something I decided, or swore an oath to. And it’s not genetically encoded, I can assure you of that. It’s what happens when I see something bad happen. An injustice. When I observe one something inside of me snaps. I cannot tolerate it. It is instinctual, and in that moment I have a purpose. Whether it to be to prevent something bad from occurring, or occurring again, or avenging that which took place. I cannot…will not, tolerate injustice. It’s the very fiber of my being that makes me incompatible with it. This is something I had to learn, but something that I always knew from the beginning of my existence.”
“That’s what you mean by ‘peacekeeper’ then?”
“An inadequate word for a very real motivation that I cannot fully articulate.”
“And what happens when you don’t have an injustice to deal with?”
“I train to increase my power so that the next big one I encounter I can deal with.”
“And if all threats in the galaxy are neutralized, what do you do then?”
Paul shrugged. “Travel to another galaxy.”
“And if all conflict everywhere was ended. All was at peace. What then?”
“I don’t think I’d have a reason to exist.”
“That is the doom approaching me.”
“You said you wanted to fight…why exactly?”
“To do something of worth rather than simply sitting here and existing.”
“But is it fighting or killing?”
The mastermind considered that. “To fight against an opponent and achieve victory. That does not always involve killing. It is the act of accomplishing something worthwhile that is what drives me. The means to do so are immaterial.”
“Define worthwhile.”
“I cannot. I know it when I see it, but I cannot define it.”
“You’ve tried before?”
“Many times. To me it had always been carrying out the templars’ orders. Now when I seek an alternative I cannot fabricate one. No matter what I try it always ends up hollow and does not match my drive.”
“You are a soldier who is interested in fighting a war, not picking a war.”
“It is the challenge itself that drives me…so long that there is cause behind it. Challenge without cause is a waste of time.”
“We call that training.”
“Your training has a cause.”
“But we train by facing challenges without causes in order to practice them via experience. We create meaningless challenges just to spite them. You can’t learn spite without an opponent, and if you wait for real ones you’re going to usually be inadequate to the task.”
“Yet underneath it all you still have a purpose.”
“Yes, but therein lies a difference. You want something real every time. You don’t want training. You want to fight and ascend through combat and experience gained. That’s how all of
you have existed for your entire lives.”
“All needed knowledge is given via genetic memories.”
“Not all. You’ve gained a lot of experience that wasn’t given to you.”
“Most then.”
“I have a fellow peer that thinks somewhat like you. She doesn’t dislike training, but would prefer actual combat to it if possible…though real combat often isn’t challenging enough for her, so she has to create challenges sufficient to push her limits.”
“Therein we are alike, though I did not have that luxury. Here on Michra, before you arrived, there was no combat. My tasks generated troops and ships that would be sent out to fight, so it was not without merit, but such things are well beneath my limits.”
“So you need to feel challenged?”
“I would prefer it. Need is not required so long as I am serving…my civilization.”
“And it comes back to that again. That core purpose you’re lacking.”
“So it seems.”
Paul sighed, and suddenly the standard variant Li’vorkrachnika flanking the mastermind froze in his peripheral vision. He turned at the minor, but significant alteration, staring at them for a moment before look back at the Human.
“What have you done?”
“They can’t hear us anymore. Nor will they remember anything. They’re asleep yet frozen in place while I control them. I have something to tell you that they can never know. And I need your word on that.”
“Keeping secrets from them is easy enough.”
“None can know, not even a few details. This is for you and you alone.”
“Agreed.”
“You asked what I would do if there were no longer any threats. The truth is, I’ve never had to worry about that. I’ve got more to deal with than I can handle, and that’s not going to change any time soon.”
3
“Your dominance over the Li’vorkrachnika is not at issue. It is simply a matter of time until your victory is complete.”