by Aer-ki Jyr
“Here,” the Didact said simply. “Remember where you are standing, and remember that this above all places is where we should not be fighting one another.”
“He is unaware of the significance. His presence and his stupidity defile the Sanctum.”
“He was not the one who struck first, and the fact that he is still standing after exchanging several blows with you is proof of his worthiness. Now stand down.”
The Oso’lon blew out a gust of air through its nostrils, then reluctantly collapsed its armor back down into the thin, jewelry-like exoskeleton that ran the length of its spine.
“He speaks of protocol, yet his psionics are proof of his hypocrisy. He has taken those forbidden to him.”
“Forbidden by whom?” Mak’to’ran demanded, also retracting his armor now that the short battle had stopped. “Those who gave us the psionics in the first place were the Zak’de’ron, and betraying them goes far beyond breaking protocol. It is the single folly that continues to weaken us, and we must forever abandon it by recognizing our mistake and making amends.”
“Amends to who?” the Didact asked before the Primearch could respond. “The Zak’de’ron have been destroyed, and the Les’i’kron are nothing more than devolved cousins.”
“What is done cannot be undone,” Mak’to’ran said, looking back at the Oso’lon. “And there may have been some valid cause for the actions taken, but the breach of trust when we turned against the Zak’de’ron continues to poison us to this day, heightened even more by the Rit’ko’sor rebellion. If we can turn against our founders, then why should any race have confidence in our common bond? Why shouldn’t they be looking out to defend themselves against another such betrayal?”
“You were not even hatched when the Zak’de’ron were destroyed. Do not speak to me of events you did not witness.”
“I did not see much, but I was there at the end. And regardless of what secrets you keep, it matters not when the masses do not know them. They only see the betrayal, no matter how much rewriting of history you have done. Each act increases the poison that erodes our bonds, and the fact that I have amassed an alliance greater than your civilization is proof that the V’kit’no’sat want to be united. They cannot trust you or the J’gar, but they can trust me because I am untainted and I have a track record of loyalty, both to the V’kit’no’sat and the troops under my command. Your record is one of deceit. Are you so arrogant you cannot see that?”
“They are,” the Didact said, drawing a strong look for the Primearch.
“You had best explain that,” the Oso’lon said, clamping down on his reflexive anger until he had ample cause to act, for the accusation of the J’gar about the sanctity of this place was weighing heavily on his mind. He had crossed a line, but that did not excuse the actions of the Era’tran.
“You and I share respect across geography. You are of the land, we are of the water. The Era’tran are of the land, thus you see them as subservient. There is more competition between you than between us, and you do not see it. You expect them to obey you because they are of the land, yet you do not treat them as brothers. They may be lesser, but they are V’kit’no’sat. And I believe Mak’to’ran will agree that such treatment was part of the reason the Rit’ko’sor rebelled.”
“I cannot say for certain,” the Era’tran cautiously agreed, “but their aim was to hurt us. They knew they could not win, but that was not their point. They wanted to strike back.”
“And strike back at what?” the J’gar pressed, addressing the Oso’lon.
“You blame us for their betrayal?”
“We set a very good example for them to follow.”
“No. We succeeded in destroying the Zak’de’ron.”
“We had all the races helping us. They accomplished more on their own than any of us did singularly. They were far more powerful than we had given them credit for, despite the fact that they violated protocol to amass such numbers. The Era’tran is correct. The deeper poison within us is distrust. Terraxis is born from it. It is not the original source.”
“We did what was necessary at the time. I do not regret it.”
“Nor do I,” the J’gar agreed. “But we must own the aftermath, not deny it.”
“And you think that elevating the Era’tran will solve this?”
“No. The distrust will remain. We must make new bonds to replace those that were broken,” the Didact said, looking at Mak’to’ran. “We cannot do that quickly, but quick action must be taken. He is the temporary bandage that we must work beneath, but if we do not create the necessary bonds here and now, all other efforts will be fraudulent, which is why I find your position untenable.”
“We must become the Zak’de’ron,” Mak’to’ran added. “We must strive to attain their level. The Era’tran have already begun to do this, though we are far from achieving it.”
“What are you talking about?” the Oso’lon asked suspiciously.
“Secret projects, many of which I was not made aware of until recently. Usurping the mantle of the Zak’de’ron is not sufficient. We must earn it. If we do not, then we will never replace them and their void will haunt us.”
“You claim knowledge that the Oso’lon do not possess?”
“Some, yes.”
The Primearch looked at the J’gar. “What do they have?”
“Bits of research that even we have not attempted. It is not much, but it is a start. And with our assistance it will grow. Our three races must create in secret what we have claimed to possess in arrogance while he leads us.”
“The V’kit’no’sat do not have a leader,” the Primearch lectured with venom. “It goes against our very structure.”
“One race being destroyed rather than culled goes against our very structure,” Mak’to’ran spat. “We cannot rest on the accomplishments of the past. Your legitimacy is gone. We must take from the past what is valuable and adjust as necessary as we plot a course into the future…as I have already been doing.”
“He does not know all he should,” the Didact cautioned, “but he is the only hope for a quick reconciliation. It is not sufficient, but it will buy us time to reforge the unspoken bonds and attain the level of the Zak’de’ron in truth to match our lies.”
“We never should have lied in the first place,” Mak’to’ran added. “Keeping secrets is one thing, but lying puts a level of distrust between us. We must be bonded as a single civilization, not an alliance of races. The Zak’de’ron cemented that bond because they elevated us all. Now that they are gone, we must forge a new common bond.”
“You? I find that incredibly lacking.”
“No. I am temporary. An equity must be established, and one piece of that is allowing individuals of merit a pathway to additional psionics similar to the structure of the Zen’zat. One’s race will not hold them back from greater power, but one’s race will still set their default psionics.”
The Primearch looked at the J’gar. “You are in agreement with this?”
“The benchmarks are in question. The premise we agree with.”
“You wish to allow other aquatics Saroto’kanse’vam equal to your own?”
“We are not so fearful of it as you.”
“Such additions will unbalance the empire. That you should fear, J’gar.”
“What empire?” Mak’to’ran asked. “The old V’kit’no’sat have been destroyed. Do not delude yourself to believe otherwise. Cling to it, and it will only crumble further. You no longer control Itaru. That alone should be proof enough of the destruction.”
“Those traitors will be dealt with in time. Right now our primary responsibility is to hold back the Hadarak.”
“And how will you deal with them? Fight a costly war that will weaken all? That is not a solution.”
“It is a solution,” the Oso’lon disagreed. “Just not an inviting one.”
“You still distract from our true purpose. The Hadarak are not an inconvenience. They are the reason we exist
. We have not taken a Hadarak world in recent memory. Why?”
“You know how costly such invasions are. You have fought them directly. Do you not already know the answer?”
“The answer is because the Zak’de’ron are no longer leading. Those who usurped them are, and they do not hold the Hadarak as their primary focus.”
Mak’to’ran and the Primearch stared each other down after that, with no telepathic interaction due to the inhibiting fields that blanketed the Sanctum, and the J’gar let them continue without interruption until the Oso’lon finally broke the silence.
“You are unfit to lead, but there is some wisdom in your words.”
“The only leading I wish to do is where necessary. If the Elder Conclave does its job, I will not have to be seen or heard. I will be on the Hadarak front leading a renewed invasion as we were meant to do. Fighting the Hadarak is the purpose that binds us together. When we destroyed the Zak’de’ron and abandoned that mandate we were instantaneously fractured.”
“Neglected the mandate,” the Didact corrected. “Not abandoned. Had we done so, I have no doubt the Oso’lon fleets would be pummeling Era’tran worlds right now.”
“Possibly,” the Primearch added, matching the slight sarcasm in the Didact’s words. “But your point is taken. We do not, however, have the strength to resume invasions of the Hadarak. We are barely holding them at bay as it is.”
“Which is why we must unite through new bonds, not conquest,” Mak’to’ran pressed. “To preserve as much of the old empire as we can while we forge the new one…which I have already been doing.”
“We must continue his work,” the Didact agreed. “But it will take all three of us. Era’tran, J’gar, and Oso’lon.”
“We are still short aerial leadership. The Les’i’kron cannot take the place of the Zak’de’ron.”
“We do not need an aerial,” the Didact countered. “We need dominance. Two land dwellers of great power working together is a sign of dominance rather than subjugation and conflict. That will do more for unity than preserving geographical divisions, and the methods Mak’to’ran have been employing are working. We must learn from and expand on them as he and the Era’tran are enlightened as to what the V’kit’no’sat truly are.”
“What we are is broken,” the Oso’lon admitted, “and not because of recent events. The Zak’de’ron promised equity and never delivered, and the way they advanced us made us dependent on them. When we tried to take their place we had…difficulties.”
Mak’to’ran frowned, sensing there was more behind his words than the obvious.
“Specify.”
“They maintained balance in ways we did not understand,” the Didact answered. “The wars we fought after they were gone were no accident. They had established alliances and agreements with races beyond the V’kit’no’sat, and their mere absence caused chaos. They were holding together the galaxy in ways we did not know, and still do not fully understand. We initially did not press against the Hadarak because we were trying to clean up the inadvertent mess we created when we eliminated them.”
“But more than that,” the Primearch continued, “the way they treated the races within the V’kit’no’sat was not obvious. They held dominance in defiance of their promises, but they also managed to suppress the internal divisions. When they were eliminated the V’kit’no’sat became unstable and we were forced to take measures to try and preserve the illusion of unity so that we did not collapse in the aftermath. We have found that our skill in holding the V’kit’no’sat together is not the equal of those that created the empire, but if we admitted that it would only spur more rebellion.”
“What is this place?” Mak’to’ran asked.
“This is where the Zak’de’ron forged all our races. It is the birthplace of the V’kit’no’sat and where the leaders of all races conducted the most sensitive research. This is the heart of the V’kit’no’sat while Itaru is the operational center, and it is where the Zak’de’ron told us the truth of the Hadarak.”
Mak’to’ran’s head came up. “What do I not know about them?”
“That they cannot be defeated,” the Oso’lon said firmly. “They can only be contained.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“You were not meant to. The empire had to believe it was possible in order for us to retake what the Hadarak had claimed, but the heart of their territory is a place we cannot go. We can never defeat them with finality, but if we hesitate, if we do not pursue them vigorously, the attrition will wear us down and they will eventually spread again, undoing all we have worked for. The V’kit’no’sat must believe that there is a way to end them, otherwise we will not fight hard enough to contain the menace.”
Mak’to’ran paced to the right a few steps, then flipped his tail around as he walked back, creating a long circle before he looked at both the J’gar and Oso’lon.
“That was the balance that was lost. They maintained the illusion so we would be focused, but once you realized the truth you were not so eager to waste resources on a hopeless effort. That is why we have not continued to take worlds from them, because there is no chance of ultimate victory. They created us to do their fighting for them, for they could not have the same zealotry while knowing the truth. They needed us…they needed both of you…to remain ignorant and committed.”
“Else the Hadarak would resurge and we would be destroyed or forced to flee to the rim,” the Didact admitted. “They told us what we needed to know, not the truth. We did not have the strength of will to face the truth, but we did have the strength of will to pursue a distant victory. They maintained the illusion to get us to do what was necessary where honesty would have failed. They required us to be inferior, and had they shared their full knowledge with us we would have become unable to fulfill our purpose.”
“The V’kit’no’sat cannot be a union of equals,” the Oso’lon said firmly. “We inherited a lie, and we have not had the same success with it as the Zak’de’ron did. They were master manipulators, and our proclivity to equality has proven to be disastrous in their absence. We have assimilated some of their methods, but we are not them. The best we could do was try to hold the empire together and keep the Hadarak from regaining any additional territory. We are ill suited to press further into them knowing that there can be no final solution.”
“Why?” Mak’to’ran demanded. “Why is the final solution impossible? Do you assume the Zak’de’ron knew everything? Perhaps the solution lies beyond even them. They are gone. This is our galaxy to defend now, so we do not need to follow in their footsteps. We can hold the line…that has been proven. We can take worlds from them, regardless of the cost. It is simply a matter of patience and consistency. That leaves the question of a final solution. The Zak’de’ron may have lied to us, but it was a lie that encouraged us rather than weakened. It was a way to make us stronger, so tell me, after we had pushed into the deep core what would they have done?”
“Hold the line there,” the Didact answered.
“Do you know that for certain? How do you know if you discovered all of their plans?”
“We found enough records to indicate why they created the V’kit’no’sat initially,” the Primearch said with a deep sadness. “It was a promise based on a lie, and one created to make use of our naivety.”
“But it succeeded,” Mak’to’ran pressed. “The Hadarak have been driven back. Forget the Zak’de’ron then. We are the V’kit’no’sat. Perhaps created by a lie, but a lie we have made into a reality. If the Zak’de’ron did not think the Hadarak could be defeated, then our path forward is clear. We must not only rise to the level of the Zak’de’ron and assume their mantle, we must exceed them in order to find the final solution to the Hadarak. If you assume that is not possible then you are admitting they are forever superior to us.”
Mak’to’ran looked at both individuals who were far older than him, only now realizing the burden they had been carrying. It had been poisoning
them, this lack of hope. This betrayal of purpose. And now he saw how essential not only the Era’tran were, but that he was in the future of the V’kit’no’sat.
“I will lead,” he said firmly. “Not because I am wiser, or elder, or superior. But because I have not lost hope. The Hadarak are strong and numerous, but they are not immortal. They can be eradicated from the galaxy. How to do that we do not yet know, but the answer lies out there for us to find. The purpose of destroying the Hadarak bound us together before and it will do so again now…only this time it won’t be a lie. The others need not know of the Zak’de’ron’s treachery. Let them remember the promise they made of one day destroying the Hadarak, but we three must admit to ourselves that there is a chance, even if it is a small one, of ultimate victory. You do not have to lead the search for it, I will, and in that function I alone will replace the Zak’de’ron.”
“You will facilitate the lie?” the Primearch asked. “And hope that we will fall prey to it again?”
“No,” Mak’to’ran said flatly. “I admit that we are currently inferior to what the Zak’de’ron were, but I do not assume that we will forever be inferior. The Era’tran are working now to catch up to where they were. If and when we get there, do you assume we will simply accept that parity and not press forward? We are V’kit’no’sat, we live and breathe dominance, so start acting like it. If we are not dominant now we must become dominant in truth. Abandon the lies and set yourself on the course to attaining the strength you pretend to now possess, then when we actually accomplish it we will do something the Zak’de’ron never did.”
“We will actually try to destroy the Hadarak once and for all,” Mak’to’ran said with such sincerity a part of him was surprised when the words were not etched into the stone beneath his feet.
The Primearch and the J’gar exchanged glances.
“He believes, but is it based on a lie or a potential truth?” the Oso’lon asked.
“We cannot be sure of a potential outcome, but I think he is right in assuming we don’t have to be. We must be loyal to the cause of pursuing it with no promise of success.”