by Aer-ki Jyr
“Your leadership is tolerated, and is no more than that. Itaru still holds power.”
“They can delude themselves with such thoughts if they wish, but if they challenge me it will start another civil war.”
“We cannot afford that. Star Force would survive and only grow stronger.”
“And what of the Hadarak? Have you lost sight of our true enemy?”
“They will remain, as they always do. We can seek to destroy them after we deal with other matters.”
“That perspective is why we have made no progress in such a long time.”
“Many people tire of Star Force’s existence and see it as a direct challenge to our dominance.”
“If we were dominant, the extermination forces I sent to end them previously would not have failed. I regret not returning myself and assessing their truth strength, but my fight is rightly with the Hadarak and if others cannot handle the extermination of a small rogue faction then we have no claim to dominance.”
“What do you wish done with Star Force?”
“We honor the truce. That is non-negotiable.”
“And beyond that?”
“That is up to them. I have offed a path for their survival. So far they have refused.”
“What path?”
“The same one you pushed for the Rit’ko’sor.”
Hamob was taken aback. “You offered them membership?”
“Of a sort. Again, your focus suggests you are one of the arrogant, not the one who fought to destroy the arrogant. The Uriti are an invaluable asset we should not discard lithely.”
“You do not need to tell me this in light of recent events.”
“Did you make any headway into communication or control?”
“None.”
“The only ones that can command the Uriti are Star Force, and I do not believe we will be able to steal their secrets from their corpses.”
“Do you think they will actually help us fight the Hadarak?”
“If framed in the proper way, perhaps.”
“They despise us.”
“Why should they not? We have been trying to kill them.”
“And you think you can change that?”
“We have negotiated a deal once. They are not blindly filled with hate. Their hate comes from a legitimate source. I can negotiate around that. I already have once.”
“And they maintain the ability to do great damage to our empire if they choose.”
“Which is why we work out of caution, not fear. The dominant do not fear. You are rattled because you encountered a worthy opponent and lost. Itaru fears Star Force because they are the same. They cannot hurt us in any appreciable fashion through offense, but they can cost us far more ships if we attack on their territory and have to face their planetary defenses. Realize our advantage and stop panicking.”
“I am not panicking over Star Force.”
“Then go to Itaru and direct their ire where it belongs. You were the one who suffered the attack. It needs to come from you and the Era’tran.”
“And will you lead the search?”
“No. My place is fighting the Hadarak. We finally have a weapon against them. I will not be distracted. Do you have what you need to create the Ancient sedative?”
“The sedative, yes. Do we have a delivery system…no. I cannot fathom how they used it in combat. It has such slow adhesion. Without direct physical proximity over a prolonged period of time, the systems in the Ancient shell are worthless. They must have used something different for capture. We do not have a weapon to use against Star Force’s Uriti. Even if we did, we would have to fight through Star Force’s fleets to get to them, and the sedative is quickly countered by any damage.”
“What did you learn of consequence?”
“That the Chixzon possessed a knowledge of genetics far superior to our own.”
“You were able to retrieve samples?”
“We did. The coding of the Uriti is in a language we haven’t been able to identify. It does not match Hadarak genetics in any recognizable way. I believe they have kept their strength but rewritten it their own format.”
“How is it different?”
“The genetic coding molecules are different and incomplete. There is no functional possibility that we can derive from them. There must be another missing component we have not yet identified.”
“Interesting.”
“Disturbing,” Hamob countered. “I truly hope the Ancients were successful in killing them all.”
“It’s been millions of years and we have ascended to dominance within the galaxy. I think it’s safe to assume they are gone or have devolved into a form that is not a threat to us.”
“Or they’re hiding until they can find a fix to the Uriti weakness.”
“Noted.”
“I agree that we cannot lose focus on the Hadarak, but we cannot allow others to weaken our strength. We need it to hold the line, so we must prioritize our growth rate over Hadarak kills.”
“Star Force only costs us ships when we attack them. The Knights of Quenar are another matter.”
“I view them as a lesser threat. They wanted the Uriti. They do not want to fight a war against us.”
“Leave Star Force to me.”
“Do not overestimate your reputation.”
“Do not trifle me with reputations.”
Hamob huffed. “I will go to Itaru and do as you have requested. You must find a way to unite us further before you propose more radical ideas.”
“We adapt or die. I will not coddle the incompetent.”
“I wish the empire were in the state you wish it to be, but it is not. We need time to heal it. Do not push too hard too quickly or it will fracture again.”
“All the more reason to honor the truce. And we wouldn’t want to let the Knights of Quenar think they can attack us with impunity. There must be a reckoning.”
“That Itaru will agree with, but the lack of a viable target is problematic.”
“Scouts have already been dispatched. We will locate them sooner or later.”
“Depending on how well hidden they are.”
“We were able to track down the Zak’de’ron that fled. I think this will be no more difficult.”
“It will take time. Itaru will want blood now.”
“They will have to wait for a legitimate target. I will not tolerate a fake one. Those who attacked us must pay. We will not let them slide and blame another...”
Mak’to’ran left Hamob several hours later, not entirely satisfied. The elder Era’tran did not seem his normal, confident, wise self. Mak’to’ran had been on the losing side more than most V’kit’no’sat had, other than against the Hadarak, and this was the first time he had seen a crack in Hamob. Perhaps he was too used to winning, and perhaps that was part of the reason why some V’kit’no’sat were not eager to fight the Hadarak unless needed.
Mak’to’ran saw things differently. The Hadarak begged to be fought, and the V’kit’no’sat he had sworn loyalty to would not retreat from that fight. It was the reason they existed, and Mak’to’ran was going to pull them back to it or pull the empire apart. There was no relinquishing this duty, and better for the V’kit’no’sat to end than for it to continue on in a treasonous form…for to ignore the Hadarak was a betrayal of the very foundation of what it meant to be V’kit’no’sat.
And for Itaru to want to destroy the very weapons that could be used against the Hadarak was stupid beyond measure. Star Force was an asset, though one Mak’to’ran hadn’t yet figured out how to make full use of. The truce was as much about the exchange of information as it was to give Mak’to’ran time. He did not want the Uriti destroyed, and in truth, he didn’t want Star Force destroyed anymore either. They had proven their mettle through survival, as well as their cunning and honor, twisted as it might be into passivity.
But that passivity meant they were not a threat to the V’kit’no’sat. Not right now, at least, and the knowledg
e of the tier 6 Hadarak at the inner Core of the galaxy was pressing foremost on Mak’to’ran’s mind…though it seemed to be absent from most of the others’. Until they could find a way to beat planet-sized Hadarak, their squabble with Star Force, the Knights of Quenar, or anyone else was irrelevant…and the Uriti might be the key to figuring out a way to fight the real Hadarak nemesis that had never bothered to show themselves to the V’kit’no’sat.
The more years that went by the more he was certain that Star Force was the key to their ultimate victory over the Hadarak, but he didn’t know how and he couldn’t let Itaru destroy them before he figured it out. If he did, the V’kit’no’sat might not have a chance like this for another 10 million years, if ever.
8
March 23, 4861
Unnamed System (Beyond V’kit’no’sat territory)
Stellar Orbit
Soronera was commanding the leading scout vessel in the Knights of Quenar convoy as it came out of its jump into yet another uninhabited system. His ship had a several minutes lead on the others, and it was his job to make sure there wasn’t opposition or obstruction waiting at the end of the jump as the KoQ moved through more uncharted systems as they took the long way around V’kit’no’sat territory to get to Star Force’s Preserve.
The scout ship could move much faster than the transport vessel, and they’d already spent 3 years in transit and weren’t even half their way to their destination yet, but traveling through the inner half of the galaxy was just too dangerous. The KoQ fleet had taken significant losses against the V’kit’no’sat, then even more against the Uriti while they were sedating it. They still had a significant force left, some 72,000 ships, but if the V’kit’no’sat were able to locate them they could bring millions to bear against them.
The KoQ knew the V’kit’no’sat had recently acquired a new sensor that could locate active gravity drives or artificial gravity generators. The KoQ could block those sensor pings, but they were blind while doing so because they used the same technology to navigate by when fully stealthed. They’d had to mark the positions of the V’kit’no’sat ships from afar when they attacked the Uriti system, then navigate in the blind to where they were in order to spring the trap. That had been dangerous, for if the V’kit’no’sat ships had moved they could have collided, but it was the only way to defeat the higher level sensor system.
If the KoQ wanted to travel while fully stealthed, as they were now, they had to use that sensor to detect ships in their path…but that wouldn’t do anything to pick up asteroids or other debris. So they had to have conventional sensors sometime, which was the scout ships’ job. They looked, charted the course, then transmitted data back to the fully stealthed ships via fluctuations in their own gravity drives. It was a low volume means of communication, but enough to send short messages and navigational data…and only those with the high level sensor technology active could read them.
That meant if they encountered a V’kit’no’sat scout ship they were vulnerable to detection, and even a single encounter would highlight their approximate area and more enemy ships would flood into the region, eventually pinning them down and forcing a fight. They had to stay hidden, and that meant moving around the galaxy the long way to stay amongst the uncharted systems the V’kit’no’sat did not patrol.
When Soronera’s ship finished its deceleration it maintained partial stealth and scanned the region, both actively and passively, finding no immediate ships or objects to obstruct the convoy’s incoming jump. He sent the information back as two more of his 12 member crew came into the control atrium. During the jump they had been hibernating, with him awake in case something occurred or a message was sent, but now that they were in a system and the relatively safe jump was over, they needed more crew to fly the ship, for they didn’t want to overtax a single individual and miss a sensor contact, no matter how small.
So the three KoQ shared duties, overlapping and double checking each other as a few other scout ships emerged and spread out in multiple directions around the central star, checking out what was on the other side while Soronera’s ship held station and relayed their data stream to the convoy as some of the scouts disappeared around the curve of the star.
Everything appeared to be fine, just another quiet jump like the hundreds they’d made over the past years, but once the first of the convoy ships began to arrive fully stealthed they came under immediate attack.
Suddenly ship silhouettes started to appear everywhere around Soronera’s ship, firing a mix of energy weapons that the KoQ couldn’t all identify. They also didn’t recognize who was attacking them or how they had been able to stay hidden, but they were clearly waiting for them and hitting the convoy as it came through a few ships at a time.
Soronera’s ship didn’t last long before it was targeted and quickly destroyed, but he lived just long enough to see one of the twisted enemy ships unfurl and shoot a cylinder-like tube out from its central structure and into one of the larger KoQ warships that had just lost its shields under a mass of firepower. The tube didn’t hit the hull…it broke right through and several others followed as the enemy ship barely a third the size of the KoQ battlecruiser drew even closer and slowly ripped the vessel apart, completely severing the forward section of the cone-shaped ship and setting it adrift from the rest.
Sononera didn’t see anything else, for the energy weapon orbs being fired on him could move and track like missiles, following the evasive maneuvers the KoQ made, including an emergency microjump, and hit the ship several million miles away. There were more than 40 of them, and it didn’t take that many to puncture the shields and rip through the hull…but they didn’t explode on contact. They burnt through and met up inside the ship, forming into a much larger orb that finally did detonate, blowing the ship into oblivion while the rest of the KoQ fleet continued to jump into an ambush they could not avoid.
Some of the ships got a short heads up and were able to alter their final arrival point, but there were enemy ships everywhere waiting for them and chasing down those that tried to flee, with the KoQ forcing the enemy to either let them go or split their forces, giving the incoming ships a better chance of survival. The attackers chose to pursue, but had so many ships waiting that it didn’t matter. Eventually the KoQ ships began to build up, so large they couldn’t be killed fast enough to keep up with the convoy rate, and a pitched battle ensued. The KoQ had rarely met an opponent superior to them, but this unidentified race clearly was. Their weapons were so alien and potent that the KoQ would have had a hard time fighting them straight up even with a slight numerical advantage…but being ambushed in this way, they didn’t stand a chance.
When the Uriti transport arrived it was immediately swarmed with more enemy ships decloaking and ramming it. They got through the shields quickly then attached themselves to the hull…but they didn’t damage it. They stuck there like ticks, cutting entry points that allowed boarding parties in with remarkably little delay.
The KoQ didn’t have much in the way of crew onboard the transport, but they did have a small battle division just in case the ship was boarded. They responded immediately, all 20,000 of them, to the multiple breaches that were spread out over different areas in the transforming ship that was now 129 miles wide and 58 high to accommodate the twisting the Uriti had done while sedate. That was a huge amount of territory to cover and defend, though most of it was an empty interior shell that held the Uriti.
The KoQ troops wore full body armor, looking like a cross between a commando and a spider/crab, and skittered out on their four legs to meet the invaders, immediately sensing telepathic contact and attempts to override their minds. It was strong, but the KoQ had long ago made themselves immune to such interference, so when the first of the armored quadrupeds appeared they were still in their right minds.
But their opponents were huge and possessing many powers beyond telepathy, including telekinesis that they used to pick up and crush pieces of the ship that they then threw at
the KoQ while the defenders fired tiny bolts of energy so fast it appeared to be a rainstorm of destruction. The first of the invaders withstood it long enough to knock down and partially crush 9 KoQ, but there were hundreds of them here and all targeting the long tailed quadruped encased in flexible red body armor.
Behind it eventually came two more, one of which had silver armor, but they all that the same powers and when they eventually realized their telekinesis wouldn’t work on the KoQ they switched to attacks that could not be blocked, primarily in the form of semi-invisible energy waves that rippled through the air and scattered the KoQ like bowling pins save for the few that reacted quickly enough to lock their feet to the floor.
The first attacker’s shields eventually dropped under the coordinated firepower, but as it began to take armor hits they were up and on top of the tiny KoQ, physically stomping them when they could and knocking them around with the energy waves only to finish them off one by one with an arrogant attack. They opened their face armor to reveal a few hard scales around their mouths that then released a large amount of raw plasma in a stream, apparently biologically generated. It was an inferior attack, and only effective when the KoQ defenses were already down, and the enemy was using it as a finishing move that opened them up to a counterattack at the same time.
The KoQ tried to take advantage of that, but they couldn’t. The attackers were too good and while it looked reckless, they did not allow their momentary weakness to be taken advantage of. Not even once. And these KoQ didn’t last more than a few minutes against the combined might of the three unidentified quadrupeds.
The Zak’de’ron strike teams had to work quickly. If the Uriti didn’t stay sedated they couldn’t claim it, and the V’kit’no’sat had already released it once to spite their attackers. However the Knights of Quenar had resedated it was beyond the Zak’de’ron’s knowledge so they had to take the ship before that happened. Fortunately the crew was more interested in fighting the invaders than they were in sabotage, but it was a huge ship and all it would take was one individual ending the sedative flow or attacking the Uriti in some way.