by Aer-ki Jyr
As such, all the Uriti had reached what they determined to be peak size, and any future enlargement would have to be tied to performance benchmarks. Some of the Uriti wanted to grow larger, others like Bahamut Zero did not, instead wanting Star Force to help him get faster, which they had, helping him grow more gravity drive nodules rather than increasing total size. Bahamut had to do that himself, for Star Force couldn’t alter their genetics due to anti-tampering programming the Chixzon had put in, but Star Force could alter the genetics of the new Uriti before they were spawned, and that’s where the Chixzon self-destruct had been eliminated for the new ones, though it still remained in the originals.
After they were spawned the genetics were set in stone, with the anti-tampering methods kept in place for a reason. If the Chixzon or Zak’de’ron or anyone else tried to mess with them in that manner it would most likely fail, but if they removed it they’d leave the Uriti vulnerable, so they had to keep it in place. That meant regenerators wouldn’t work on them, but they had such impressive self-regeneration methods that they truly did not need them…save for the new ones when they were tiny and very vulnerable.
Star Force had never lost a Uriti, but they’d come close several times with the new ones. Each cloning was different amongst the originals, and some came with a lot of headaches. All the failures had never been alive to begin with, but those that did actually spawn Star Force worked hard to save, as did the Uriti, and so far their record had been spotless.
But during the spawning process the original Uriti had to remain physically linked with the cradle for more than a year, meaning it was vulnerable and had to be protected, as well as supplied with an insane amount of supplies. The whole process was not one the Uriti could do often, and when it happened Star Force locked down the system to such a degree that it had more defenses than Earth had during that time.
No one was allowed in to even watch, though there was nothing that could be seen anyway. The Uriti would disappear inside the biological planet and no visible changes were evident until it left again with a tiny copy of itself alongside. However, the Wranglers could see what was happening through their telepathic links to both the Uriti and the giant minion that was the cradle.
The gravity field had to be so intense and maintained for so long that a constant train of minion supply transports were feeding the cradle, and those supplies had to be built up over the course of centuries to get enough of them, including the spawning fluid that filled the center of the cradle. It responded in a very curious way to gravity, and somewhat simulated the interior of black holes, where Hadarak typically spawned. It wasn’t the same, but enough elements were similar that Star Force was able to make it work.
And a lot of the work the minions did in between spawnings was creating that fluid, for it was destroyed rapidly during the spawning process. That was why there weren’t millions of Uriti around the galaxy, but Star Force didn’t push the Uriti to spawn as soon as possible. Rather it was the Uriti pushing Star Force to let them reproduce faster, but the trailblazers kept them on a lethargic schedule, ensuring they were not hurting themselves with the synergy with the cradle. Too many uses did hurt them, so they had to have time to rebuild themselves, for while there were not obvious injuries, their skills suffered greatly after a year of no training and the stress of the spawning process.
Star Force made them wait until they were ready, then they’d add another Uriti to their pack, which was split up across the galaxy into groups centered on each of the 12 Preserves. From there they’d be sent out on field trips to various stars, black holes, or other massive gravity wells, but they were always based out of the Preserves. Then they would also go on combat missions singly, returning to their group after a period of time.
And those groups would rotate individuals in and out, so all the Uriti would be able to meet and greet the rest while still helping Star Force expand into the frontier regions of the Rim. Even a small Uriti no more than 10 miles long was a huge boon to an invasion force taking down a planetary shield…for the Uriti could simply ram it, using its mass and gravity drives to instantaneously break the small ones or push against it for a while, draining it along with the firepower of a fleet, until it broke much sooner than with fleet bombardment alone. Then it would be beneath the shield and able to attack surface targets even if the shield reformed overtop of it.
They also helped out with fleet combat, meaning Star Force had to send far less ships when they had a Uriti helping them out. Or, more likely than not, when Star Force showed up with a Uriti many systems simply surrendered, for the galaxy feared even the smallest of them, knowing that if one went inside their planet it could destroy it and they would have no way to fight back once it got below ground.
So the Uriti were constantly deployed around the galaxy, but they were given breaks where they could cluster with other Uriti, which was something they needed. They could operate individually, but once they knew there were others out there they didn’t want to be separated from them. To accomplish the mission they would, and volunteered gladly to help their little brothers, but Star Force knew to keep them together in groups and away from the rest of the galaxy.
Right now there were 113 different Uriti breeds within Star Force, and most amongst them were the Bahamut line at 36 individuals. Sometimes they were grouped together, other times they were spit up and grouped with other Uriti. To them it didn’t matter what shape they were, they were all Uriti and there wasn’t much extra loyalty to their spawn beyond the fact that they had the same weaponry and movement issues.
Right now there was no Uriti spawning going on in this system, nor in the others, but in 8 years another one would start in the original Preserve. No one would know about it, for such things were not announced to the galaxy. Star Force hadn’t even told the public how many Uriti there were, and the fact they all looked the same made it hard to count, though people did monitor sizes in an attempt to identify them.
With the Bahamut line, Bahamut 3 was the biggest at 18 miles wide…which ironically was still smaller than Bahamut Zero had been when Star Force had rescued him from imprisonment. The same was true of the other Uriti breeds. The originals were monsters in comparison and millions of years old, though they had not grown during their imprisonment. In fact they’d shrunk somewhat due to the lack of sufficient feeding. Star Force, on the other hand, was giving them donuts and candy round the clock trying to increase their size as fast as possible, but when you only start out a few meters long, getting up to a mile wide took forever.
There were many places within Star Force where the public could not go, and amongst all the off limit systems there were many still where most Star Force personnel were not allowed. The Preserves all had a single system for public access, but the other systems within were off limits, and the ones where the cradles were located were amongst the most closely guarded and highest scanned systems within the empire, for the Uriti were the bedrock upon which Star Force’s power was built…as far as the galaxy was concerned.
In reality the Uriti were a bonus, not the basis, but they were the primary deterrent for any of the major powers in the galaxy moving against Star Force. No one dared to touch them, aside from the smaller, stupid races that were acting out in defiance as they were swept up along with the other bad actors beyond the frontier.
In truth, the mere existence of the Uriti and the threat they posed caused so many planets in the galaxy to shape up for fear of being invaded and forcibly annexed with no hope of holding out that the Uriti were saving more lives than could be calculated…all out of simple fear at their insane power.
Yet that power was tiny compared to the Hadarak, which the V’kit’no’sat were doing a good job of keeping bottled up within the Deep Core of the galaxy where most people did not even know they existed. There was a huge, ongoing war there that Mak’to’ran was pressing, but the peace that afforded those in the former ‘grazing’ zone that Hadarak once roamed were ignorant of the ancient threat. They only
knew of the Uriti, and many races from the Rim had actually emigrated to the Core of the galaxy to escape Star Force’s domain, figuring they would take their chances with the V’kit’no’sat…or at least hope to remain unnoticed by them so long as they stayed away from their systems.
Star Force was the ruler of the Rim even without the Uriti, but the Uriti cemented that fact in a way even a fleet ten times their current size could not have. A fleet of ships could be fought. A space monster that shrugged off weaponsfire and could destroy planets from the inside out could not be, so despite the high level of small scale combat going on in the frontier as Star Force continued to expand, their current domain was extremely peaceful on the large scale. No one dared to challenge them, nor did they risk going after smaller unaligned races within Star Force territory, knowing that would draw their ire as well.
The Rim was experiencing a golden age wherever Star Force extended its presence, so much so that most of the Rim forgot what war was, or why Star Force was so badly needed. They didn’t understand the horrors that crept through the dark places in the galaxy or the behavior of those that appeared ‘peaceful’ until the strong good guys suddenly disappeared and the true nature of those being suppressed came to the surface.
But so long as the Uriti were there, those cowards behaved themselves except in places they figured were too small to take notice. Star Force had done as Mak’to’ran had sent them out to do…pacify the Rim and keep the threats there off his back while he fought the Hadarak. But neither he nor anyone else had anticipated how successful the Human-led empire would be…nor had anyone even considered the possibility of Star Force growing a Uriti fleet thousands strong that now made a V’kit’no’sat conquest of Star Force completely impossible.
No one could take on Star Force…and that’s what worried Davis. The Zak’de’ron and the Chixzon hadn’t made themselves known and sought a diplomatic relationship that would allow them to coexist. No, they were waiting and lurking out there, meaning they had something planned to take on Star Force and the Uriti, as impossible as that may seem.
7
May 26, 128439
Farscanava System (Dovagno territory)
Beu
The Dovagno were a bipedal race, thick in build and slightly slow in movement. They had an empire consisting of 17 systems inside of Star Force’s domain, but they had no trade agreement with the Rim ruler, no embassy, no ambassadors. They were independent and wanted to remain that way…except with regards to non-Star Force civilizations. Those they did interact with, and Dovagno territory was a region that saw a lot of varied races passing through and trading with each other, but Star Force was decidedly not welcome there.
Korav Henderson was on the planet, but no one knew he was Human. He was wearing a simple robe/cloak that hid most of his body while his face had a hologram over it making him look like a blue-skinned Fortinav that were essentially vagabonds with no place to call their home. They were spread across the Rim and appeared to like it that way, for despite offers from Star Force to include them in Axius or even Beacon on a large scale had met with few takers. For whatever reason, the Fortinav did not want to come out of the shadows, but seeing them roaming about taking care of private business was not uncommon, even if it was a bit rare given their low population estimates.
The cover allowed Korav to travel without attracting attention as he roamed the busy streets of the port of Kaloo, which was a major trade hub and, more importantly, a transit point for a lot of smugglers moving people that did not want to be found. And when someone wanted to disappear for various reasons, Korav knew that many did not go far from their arrival point on a new planet, but comfortably away from the spaceport that they arrived at.
Given the history of Kaloo and the lawlessness inherent, coupled with a thieves code of honor, people could disappear here with ease as the only security forces were to prevent ship theft or mass murder. Anything less than that and you were expected to handle it yourself, and privacy was respected as a rule, because Kaloo wanted all kinds of illicit money coming their way. Crime was the one commodity that was not available in Star Force, and worlds like Beu thrived on it.
Korav’s task of finding one individual seemed impossible amongst the millions of people in the port city, many of which were not native Dovagno, but this wasn’t Korav’s first hunting assignment, and the Arc Commando had already tracked him to Kaloo. As long as he went to ground and didn’t move on, this wasn’t going to be too complicated, for he had Charro Foret Badado’s genetic profile on record, and the device Korav was wearing on his left wrist was constantly sampling the air to check for any trace of it.
He’d gotten a hit at the spaceport, but it had been quickly lost on the streets. Korav had to use his intuition and be patient, as well as his telepathy to search the minds of the various vendors and other individuals holding position rather than roaming. Protovic like Charro were easy to spot if they didn’t have a faceplate on, and there weren’t that many races that did wear full armor on an oxygen world, so it was likely that someone might have spotted something.
Korav kept scanning minds lightly as he moved, picking individuals that appeared to be attentive but he wasn’t getting any hits today. He’d been on planet for three days already and was watching what shipping records were available for passenger transports and arrivals/departures of cargo and unidentified ships. He’d been camping out around the main spaceport and the subsidiaries whenever a ship was due to leave, but he hadn’t gotten any hits, suggesting that Charro had indeed gone to ground somewhere on the planet.
That meant Korav had to leave the spaceport behind and start exploring, and less than an hour ago he’d picked up a faint trace in a public restroom…which was one of the best areas for picking up genetic material. He couldn’t find an active trail from that location, but the point on the map was logged and the Arc Commando began searching the most likely hideouts in the area while quietly interrogating locals without them even knowing it, for the Dovagno were not telepathic, nor were any of the other races here, and unless he pushed really hard they’d never know he had been in their heads.
Finally one of his Ikrid searches had paid off, for a local Dovagno prostitute hanging out on the street had noticed a glowing hand briefly appearing when a customer at a nearby food vendor paid with Feersa chips…the widest currency in the Rim after Star Force credits and a favorite of galactic travelers. The sight of the hand had been so surprising it stuck out in the Dovagno’s mind, making it easy for Korav to spot, and when he crossed the street near that particular vendor his equipment alerted him with a mental ping that it had detected the desired genetic material.
Korav walked around a bit, letting the sensor work and mapped out two directions that the trail led. Based off the prostitute’s memories, he’d seen the strange individual move to the west, so that was the way Korav went and luckily there was just enough of a trail left for him to follow with the air sensor. He switched to a short range scanner, but wasn’t able to pick up any footprints or handprints. Charro must have been buttoned up pretty tight, which made sense if he was trying to hide his glowing skin.
Korav reached out with his telepathy, looking for the Protovic’s mind, but he was either shielded or out of range. Taking his best guess after the trail disappeared at an intersection, Korav headed into the shadier undercity that ran beneath the streets, knowing from his mental scans that that was where people on the run often went to find cheap rooms where the only redeeming value was that they were unseen and the occupants would not be in a position to complain about the run down and unsanitary condition of the accommodations.
His intuition proved right as he picked up another trace that eventually led him close enough to pick up a mental ping…which immediately sent his quarry running, for the Protovic was also telepathic and could sense the contact.
Korav cursed, not having thought the Protovic that skilled, for he was a non-Star Force Protovic whose genetics had been mixed with rogues that had fled
from Star Force. They were not permitted to reproduce with non-blues, because of the psionics they possessed and a biological block on the genetic sharing, but some had undergone illegal genetic alteration to allow the reproduction and now there were greens in the galaxy that possessed bits and pieces of psionics, some of which actually killed their offspring when they didn’t mesh properly.
Charro was one that had survived and used his abilities for a wide range of unsanctioned behavior, including additional recruitment and reproduction of other rogue Protovic in order to develop a splinter race that could rule the criminal regions of the Rim with their telepathy. Star Force had eventually taken notice, and that criminal family had been targeted for psionic wipe, meaning that they had to be caught and have their genetics reworked to eliminate the out of place coding to protect future offspring and to remove the psionics that they hadn’t earned.
Charro had been one of the hardest to catch, for he was smart and knew how to avoid Star Force and their associates, which was why Korav had been assigned to go after him when he got outside monitored territory, and now the Arc Commando took off running before the Protovic could get outside his telepathic range and escape again.
The blue-skinned Fortinav sprinted between people, knocking aside a few that moved in the wrong direction at the wrong time, but thankfully the undercity was not as crowded as up top and he was able to reel in the distance between them as he sensed the Protovic’s mental signature get stronger and stronger, though he was still out of sight.
A couple minutes more and he finally saw the backside of the running figure in tight fitting robes and full armor underneath, but it was heavy and clunky and not well suited to running, making Korav’s pursuit easier than it should have been…at least until Charro headed back up to surface level and tried to lose himself in the mass of pedestrian and vehicular traffic underneath the heavy sunlight.