by Aer-ki Jyr
“Think they’ll fight?”
“I think they’re paranoid about something, and paranoid people can be unpredictable. I’m glad you brought this many ships.”
“If we can spook them into talking so much the better, but if we have to throw down with The Nexus and friends, I want it to be a lasting lesson. You want to chew them out?”
“Go ahead. I’ll take second seat on this.”
“Alright,” Riley said as more and more warships continued to come out of the convoy jump behind them. He activated the communications systems and set them for The Nexus’s protocols, knowing that at least the Sety would be receiving the message, though he knew the others would as well. Whether or not they had translation protocols for English was the question.
“Attention, Interlopers,” Riley began, his voice deep with sarcasm. “You’ve encroached on the rightful territory of Star Force that we are currently in the process of stealing from the Li’vorkrachnika. If you wished to help rid the galaxy of these vermin we’d welcome the help…yet they seem to be sitting quite comfortably in orbit with you. Seeing as how there is no weaponsfire being exchanged and their not being blown into smitherines, I have to assume they are here with your permission. Well, they don’t have our permission to be here, and they have to go.”
“Furthermore, your ships fired upon one of ours that was having a look around this system. We really don’t like that, and if you’re looking for a fight we’ve brought you one that will offer a greater challenge. If that’s what you want, we’ll be happy to oblige. If not, you’d better start explaining things real fast. We’ll be in orbit shortly.”
Riley cut the comm channel, knowing there would be a lag until the message got to the planet, but already feeling the ticking clock counting down. This was going to come to a head very fast, and he didn’t know how these guys were going to respond.
“Nicely done.”
“Thank you. Not too much sarcasm?”
“I’m not sure how much they’ll pick up anyway.”
“Sad to waste it on unknowning ears.”
“If they have ears,” Paul added, seeing the first stirrings in their fleet formation coming in on the long range sensors. “I think they’ve seen enough to realize they’re going to be outnumbered.”
“They don’t know how badly yet. I hope they squirm.”
“Where do you want to enter?”
“Backside, then circle around. They’re staying in position over that surface location.”
“Give them a little more time to think it through?”
“Yeah.”
“We’ll need to make a detour.”
“That’ll give them a little more time too.”
“Wanna split?”
“Yeah, why not. Let’s enter at multiple spots. How many jumplanes do we have?”
“Five easy ones,” Paul said, looking at their navigational options if they bounced off nearby planets, “two more with a mild delay.”
“Five is good. Let’s make as good of a show of this as we can…and if they think to intercept one jumpline they’ll have four others to worry about covering as well.”
When Riley’s command ship decelerated into planetary orbit he brought with him a fifth of the combined fleet and had them stacked into a 3x3 formation given the slow jump. That meant there were 8 jumpships arrayed around the Zeus in a square, then following them were additional squares packing the massive jumpships in together very closely with only a handful of kilometers to spare in between each.
When they arrived at their destination point the jumpships fanned out and his command ship took center in what quickly became a blockading wall. Each additional square formation that came in split up and added to that wall until all of his 206 ships arrived. Likewise there were other formations at four different points around the backside of the planet from where the opposing fleet was stationed.
1031 Star Force jumpships for the 1031 ships in the opposing fleet, not counting the lizards, which would pretty much pop like confetti when hit. Some of the unknown vessels were larger than even the Star Force jumpships, but most were far smaller and no matter what their technological advantage might or might not be, they were single warships…not carriers.
When Riley’s fleet got themselves arrayed to his liking, the wall of jumpships slowly moved around the curve of the planet towards the waiting fleet while still holding their drones in their berths, not having released them yet, and each jumpship held between 50 and 100 of them…meaning that despite some of their impressive tonnage, the Sety-led fleet was almost comically outmatched.
He just hoped they thought so as well.
“We’re here,” he transmitted again, this time within range of realtime communication. “Care to respond before we get within weapons range and one of your ships does something really stupid?”
An image of a tree-like Sety appeared in holo before him, with the computer handling the translation. “You are trespassing. Any questions concerning this system should be directed to the representative we have sent to your capitol.”
“I just came from there. He said he had no idea what you were doing here, so we figured we’d come here and get some answers directly.”
“This planet belongs to us. You have no claim on it.”
“I didn’t say whether I was laying a claim on it or not. I said we’re here for information. Explain yourselves, starting with why the Li’vorkrachnika are here.”
“They are here with our permission and are not organizing against you.”
“That doesn’t answer why, and if you’re giving them safe haven that does concern us.”
“Their business with us is private.”
“They’re supposed to be the enemy of The Nexus. What business do you have with them other than fighting them?”
“That is our concern.”
“And who are you? You and your friends. They’re not Nexus members, are they?”
“They are not. Our association with them is a private matter.”
“Look here, Treebeard. Either you tell me what I want to know or we’re going down to the planet to have a look for ourselves.”
“You will not be permitted to do so. If you try to do so you will be fired upon.”
“Have you counted how many ships we have?”
“It matters not. We are tasked with defending this planet and that is what we will do, to the last, if need be. You are not permitted here. Leave.”
“Make me,” Riley shot back. “You think you can shoot at our ships when they’re alone. Try it now.”
“Your vessel was told to leave and did not. The fault is its own.”
“Well now I’m telling you to leave. If you do not, will the fault be yours?”
“This is our planet. You do not have the right to order us to vacate it.”
“I have the guns to do so if necessary, but I’ll settle for a really good explanation. If you don’t give me one, I have to assume your presence here, in our invasion corridor, in association with our enemy, is nefarious and deal with you accordingly. So start talking.”
“Any inquiries should be posted to the representative we sent to your capitol.”
Riley looked at him with scorn on his face. “Do you really think that by saying that you’re going to get me to turn around and leave to go ask them again?”
“What you do is not my concern.”
“I’m making it your concern. Shall I tattoo that message on the hull of your ship so that you can better contemplate it?”
“Be advised that the ships we possess are more advanced than yours. You do not have a position of leverage here.”
“Oh really?” Riley asked, his tone light. “We got a pretty good scan from our scout ship, and while we don’t know exactly what all of them can do I think we guessed pretty good. Those big boys there have a dueron cannon each, but that won’t do much good against a fleet of our size. There are too many ships to target, though it would do a hell of a lot of damage if it hi
t something big. Too bad we didn’t bring anything that size. And your pheeron converters…they pack a punch, but you’ll find our shields have been calibrated to resist that type of weaponry. I could go on, but suffice to say that we’re aware of most of your tech even if we haven’t faced off with you before.”
He couldn’t read the Sety’s mind over a comm channel, but his demeanor shifted in what Riley guessed was either surprise or dismay. After all, they didn’t know Star Force had a galaxy’s worth of technical diagrams of every known piece of technology that the V’kit’no’sat had come across to pull reference from.
“Be advised, that if you engage us here, you will reap that betrayal elsewhere. All the races present will lay a vendetta upon you that you will not survive.”
“The Li’vorkrachnika already have one on us, and we’re surviving it just fine.”
“They are minor partners. Do not mistake our strength as being as small as theirs.”
“Partners, huh? That’s odd. I thought you were enemies. So, did you sell out the H’kar? Because we really like them, and if you did, that’s just going to tick us off even more. Lying about it now will only make things worse, so the best thing for you to do is answer honestly and bluntly before this escalates even further.”
“And the best thing you can do is turn around and leave before you start a war you cannot win. We are honor bound to defend this planet at all costs, and that is exactly what we will do.”
“Then defend it by providing me the information I need and there won’t be a fight…unless you really are our enemy, in which case there’ll be a fight regardless. But if you’re not, just answer my damn question and there won’t be any need for conflict. Which is more important, keeping your secret or keeping that planet? Because if we do fight I’m taking it, and believe me when I say that I have a lot more ships in the region to call on for reinforcements to make sure we hold it long enough to do a thorough investigation of everything happening on the surface…so are you going to make me find out the hard way, or are you just going to tell me what’s going on?”
“We have our duty, and will carry it out.”
“If you’re really that dumb, then The Nexus is so screwed that I can’t even…” Riley said, stopping as Paul’s mental voice entered his head via the intership comm systems.
Do you feel that?
What?
On the planet. Open your mind and screen out everything on your ship. Tell me what you sense.
Riley did as instructed, ignoring the Sety for a moment while he pulled most of his mind out of the computer network and back into his physical senses. It took a moment to find what Paul was referring to, but once he did it stood out immediately. It was a low hum, a telepathic hum, and it was coming from the planet.
Whatever that is, it’s huge.
And coming from the coordinates of the excavation. It just popped up once we hit line of sight, but I was getting an uneasy feeling before that, so some of that telepathic field must have been making it through the planet.
What has a mind that powerful?
Pretty obvious now, isn’t it? And that object is about the right size.
It’s too small to be a Hadarak, and… Riley cut off as it finally clicked.
Nefron didn’t think they’d be easy to destroy, Paul added, finishing the thought for him.
What the hell do these guys want with it?
Let’s ask them.
Riley pulled his mind away from the monstrous hum that now seemed hard to miss and turned his attention back on the Sety that hadn’t bothered to speak when Riley cut off. “Are you the commander of this fleet?”
“I speak for them, yes.”
“Are you the commander?”
“We are an alliance. We have no single commander. I have been elected to communicate with you.”
“Then start communicating. Now that we’re close enough, I’m able to feel the presence buried within the planet. You have a Uriti here, and if you damn well want to live you’d better not mess with it.”
This time the Sety looked horrified, and given his alien persona that only underscored how big of an emotion was swirling through his otherwise hard to read features.
“That’s right, we’re telepathic. Or had you forgotten that?”
“You are not…” it began, then suddenly there was a delay with his image remaining. He was talking to someone else but the words weren’t being transmitted. Riley waited it out, then another hologram popped up beside the one of the Sety…with a mist-like apparition coalescing into an indistinct body and face.
“You can feel the Hamoriti as well?” it asked, obviously using a similar translation program that the Sety were using.
“They’re called Uriti, and yes I can.”
“I am unfamiliar with that word. What knowledge of this do you have?”
“Plenty. More than you, I’d imagine. For starters, there are a lot more of them left over from a war millions of years in the past. Who are you? I am unfamiliar with your race.”
“We are Yisv, and telepathic as well. Are you aware of the danger this god possesses?”
“I am acutely aware. What is its current condition? How is it being contained?”
“If you do not know the answers to those questions then you do not possess as much knowledge as we do. If you do not know then you are ignorant.”
“Far from it. If this Uriti awakens and roams free, we’re the only ones with a means to control it.”
“Control it?” the Yisv asked, with a quiver of mist that was unreadable. “Of what do you speak?”
“A secret we possess, and one that I am not inclined to share with those who will not even do me the courtesy of explaining why you fired on my ship.”
“We cannot let anyone awaken the Hamoriti. We will keep all away from this planet no matter what the cost.”
“Why are the Li’vorkrachnika involved?”
“They helped us locate this one.”
“This one? You’ve found others then?”
There was some hesitation as the Sety and probably others were conferring with each other, but the Yisv pressed on anyway. “Yes we have. We know the dangers they possess and are committed to protecting the galaxy from them. The Li’vorkrachnika’s assistance was necessary.”
“Even though they’re the enemy of The Nexus?”
“That is immaterial given the greater threat.”
“How many have you found?”
“Nine.”
“How many are on this planet?”
“Just one. The Ancients would not risk imprisoning two at the same location. How can you be so ignorant and possess this knowledge?”
“Who are these Ancients?”
“The ones who imprisoned the Hamoriti long ago.”
“Our knowledge comes from those who created them.”
That revelation hit like a bomb, and both the Yisv and the Sety were completely frozen. Before they could speak more holograms began popping up in front of him until nine different races were visible.
“Who created them?” a twin headtailed alien that Riley recognized as a Trinx asked.
“A race called the Chixzon. We have recovered considerable knowledge from their…remains.”
“How many Hamoriti did they make?” a small triped alien asked that he didn’t recognize.
“Spread across the galaxy, there were a total of 118.”
A string of curses that didn’t fully translate were uttered by half of the aliens, but it was the Yisv that responded the most calmly, though that was largely a false demeanor, for its words betrayed its dismay and worry as well.
“One has been released, and we are doing everything in our power to keep it from spreading its minions across the galaxy at great cost to the nine races represented here. We needed expendable troops, for which the Li’vorkrachnika were commissioned for, but we cannot imprison the god. We can only hope to kill its minions as it produces them and follow it as it travels from system to system, destro
ying all in its path. If you have knowledge of the Hamoriti, I beg you to give it to us. We are helpless to stop the god on our own.”
6
“Commissioned…how?” Riley asked, realizing the probable answer even before the Yisv could respond.
“They provided us with expendable soldiers and ships in sufficient quantity to defeat the minions soon after they were created. None of us could have kept up with the level of production necessary to accomplish that.”
“And what did they get in return?”
“Technical assistance.”
Riley glared at the hologram of the Yisv, then at the other 8 races. “You gave them tech upgrades that made them far more deadly. Do you have any idea how many people have died because of that?”
“Far less than would have perished had the Hamoriti’s minions run rampant across the galaxy,” the Yisv explained unflinchingly.
“Did you have a plan? Or were you just going to continue feeding them technology until they reached your level?”
“We did what we had to do to preserve future options. Doing nothing would have meant disaster. Combating and losing our own forces would have seen the Hamoriti run free eventually. Only with the Li’vorkrachnika’s assistance have we kept it contained to a single system.”
Riley noted a Star Force jumpship breaking off from Paul’s fleet, then a quick personal message from the trailblazer informed him that it was going back to get word to Earth and send for Nefron.
“And what did you plan to do when we destroyed all the Li’vorkrachnika’s worlds?”
“There are two they constructed specifically for the purpose of supplying us with the troops we need. We were not going to allow you to destroy those worlds. If you have a way to deal with this disaster, please share it with us. For the sake of the galaxy, something must be done beyond the stalling that we have maintained.”
“A Uriti can only destroy one planet at a time,” Riley said angrily. “The Li’vorkrachnika can savage thousands at once. You wrongly presume the greater threat.”
“If you had fought one, you would not say such things. They cannot be defeated, the Li’vorkrachnika can, as you’ve demonstrated.”