by Aer-ki Jyr
Epilogue
April 5, 4815
Terraxis System (V’kit’no’sat territory)
Terrax
Dorchav arrived in planetary orbit in a small Ti’mat, having returned from the fighting now that his fleet had been disbanded and reforged with other surviving fleets as they were pushed back from the systems they were assigned to destroy. Some had finished their tasks and moved on to secondary ones, but Dorchav had been forced out of the Karthus System before the last few bits of Star Force civilization were eradicated.
He’d held onto orbit, fighting head on the massive reinforcements that had come out of nowhere until he’d been able to evacuate his ground troops just shy of completing their task. Had he not they would have been slaughtered, for he couldn’t hold the system with the ship counts arrayed against him. Had he still had a Mach’nel it would have been a fair fight, but by plucking that key asset from him Star Force had managed to retain the planet…though there wasn’t much left of it.
Still it was another defeat, and here he was returning to V’kit’no’sat territory in shame while the other fleet commanders continued to hit what systems they could, but Star Force was quickly regaining control despite the losses they’d suffered.
When Dorchav left the Ti’mat the ship departed immediately, for it wasn’t assigned to him other than for the transport back to Terrax. Where Dorchav would go next wasn’t determined, and he may have to wait on the planet for months before finding a ship to head back to Iguar on, for he knew his fellow Brat’mar would want answers for why their Mach’nel had been lost. He would, if he was in their place, but first he had to report to the campaign commander.
It wasn’t until he was on the way down to the planet that he noticed the damage to Terrax. Entire cities were missing and in their place ruins with construction crews combing over and devouring them. His view from the drop pod quickly rotated around the planet to the southern hemisphere where it began its landing sequence over the green and untouched southern continent.
It was pristine, with the planetary defense station at the center of a reshaped landscape. Star Force had it buried beneath their own city originally and the planet was so far gone that it was covered in ice. Once the proper owners had reclaimed it they’d built the climate managing stations that had been destroyed during the Rit’ko’sor rebellion and returned Terrax to its warm, humid, natural state. Gone were the offensive polar ice caps and the primary continent was now filling with infrastructure again.
But it was the infrastructure elsewhere that concerned Dorchav. He’d been in his private quarters for the entire trip and had not received any news reports, but something had happened here. He didn’t question the Zen’zat piloting the drop pod, rather waiting until they landed and he stepped out into the planetary air in view of a small honor guard of Voro’nam waiting for him.
“Dorchav,” one of them said respectively. “We are to escort you to Zyrnox.”
“What has happened here?” the Brat’mar asked as the drop pod sat on one of the flat tiers of the pyramid-shaped defense station with its black/green Yeg’gor armor beneath them. “I saw damage elsewhere on the planet.”
“You weren’t told?” one of the Pachycephalosauruses asked in surprise.
“I have not been. What happened?”
“The rogue Zen’zat raided the system and destroyed everything not within range of this defense station.”
Dorchav’s eyes narrowed angrily. “How?”
“Our defense fleet was thinned to a few hundred vessels. They arrived with tens of thousands of their carrier ships. We were horribly outmatched.”
“The shipyards?”
“Gone. All orbital facilities were destroyed. Please come with us. You can better discuss the matter with Zyrnox.”
Dorchav huffed with increased displeasure, but it wasn’t directed at the Voro’nam. “Lead on.”
The dome-headed bipeds turned and led him inside the defense station then down through the various levels until they came to the area reserved for the legendary Voro’nam commander. His accomplishments dated back to the Zak’de’ron war where he had several notable victories that had propelled him to a prominent position in the fight against the Hadarak that had followed. Him being assigned to this campaign along with Dorchav and other veterans by Mak’to’ran himself was a sign that the V’kit’no’sat were going to tolerate the remains of the rogue Zen’zat no longer…and it galled Dorchav to have to personally answer for his failure regarding the Mach’nel and his incomplete destruction of Requiem.
The honor guard stopped outside a closed door, saying nothing, and the Brat’mar assumed he was meant to go in. He searched for the telepathic node in the frame and toggled it, peeling the door open to reveal a modest command deck with four individuals inside.
Dorchav knew this was going to be unpleasant, but he wasn’t going to hide his shame. He had lost a Mach’nel and there was no getting around that, and because of it the invasion had been hampered considerably.
Two of the others were also Voro’nam, but the fourth was a Rit’ko’sor, tiny in comparison, but his presence here was unusual. Their race was still undersized in population, and what help they’d been to the empire during their rebuilding had been focused on the Hadarak where they had ample experience. None, as far as Dorchav knew, had been assigned to the Terraxis campaign, nor did he recognize this Rit’ko’sor, but he did recognize the other Voro’nam. Both were senior commanders, one of which he had assumed was still on the Star Force front heading up the ground campaign in the Camille System.
“Dorchav,” Zyrnox greeted him neutrally as the door resealed behind him. “Come forward and join us. We have much to discuss.”
“I have failed,” the Brat’mar said bluntly. “What more is there to discuss?”
“You lost a Mach’nel, and that will be attached to your reputation for the remainder of your life, but the data returned to me shows no fault on your part. I too thought they had rebuilt Kamenor, and had that been the case your positioning was correct. To allow the fleet to engage another Mach’nel while Dimu sat back would have been folly.”
“It is still a loss that I bear, and had it not occurred the destruction of Requiem would be complete.”
“Why did the Archon spare you?” the Rit’ko’sor asked.
“And you are?” Dorchav demanded.
“Sess’met,” the Rit’ko’sor answered simply, for that name was one that Dorchav recognized vaguely. He was one of the senior commanders tasked with keeping their race alive within Hadarak territory, but not the most senior.
“She sparred me to gain time for her troops on the ground and to evacuate some of her people from the planet. I found such a delay unimportant, thus I made the bargain.”
“Odd that it was offered,” Zyrnox said, “but I agree. You and your crew were far more valuable. The Archon erred.”
“So I told her at the time,” Dorchav growled.
“You are not the only one to be spared,” Sess’met noted. “There haven’t been many, but Star Force has returned other people to us previously and on multiple occasions during this renewed invasion.”
“In exchange for what?”
“They sent a message,” Zyrnox explained. “Several, actually, and nothing of consequence. It’s their way of gloating over victories that they never should have achieved.”
“Did I not warn you?” Sess’met asked, looking up at Zyrnox.
“You did, but even you were wrong about their numbers,” the Voro’nam mildly shot back. “Fortunately we incorporated contingency plans.”
“May I ask what?” Dorchav wondered.
The campaign commander glanced at one of the other Voro’nam.
“While you were fighting we had several smaller fleets hunting down comm relays so we could blind the rogue Zen’zat…”
“Star Force,” the Rit’ko’sor corrected, reiterating an ongoing dispute between the advisor and the command staff.”
“The vermin
,” the Voro’nam said, choosing a third option, “now have uninhabited regions of their territory that are disconnected from their comm net. Within them we have established three separate footholds where we are constructing defenses.”
“What fleets?” Dorchav asked darkly.
“The bulk of this system’s defenses,” Zyrnox admitted. “It was a gamble that we lost.”
“What specifically happened? I did not view a report on the way in.”
“A fleet of Star Force vessels arrived en mass,” the Rit’ko’sor said with a sneer. “Ships that have never before been seen bearing this marking…”
A hologram appeared showing an inverted sword swathed in purple and white coloration and backed by a sphere.
“Correction,” Zyrnox interjected. “It has been seen before, but only on a few rare occasions.”
“It is unfamiliar to me,” Dorchav noted. “Where have these ships been seen before?”
“During shipping raids. Twice escort warships have been attacked never to be seen again, but the transports they were guarding escaped with incomplete battle reports that showed Star Force vessels with this symbol. I am assuming that other missing ships may have fallen prey to them, but never during the fall of their worlds has the fleet that hit us been seen. Why, we are unclear. There is no data from our spies concerning this symbol, and the technology used matches their ‘mainline’ fleet.”
“So they had a phantom fleet standing by for the right moment?” Dorchav wondered.
“And when we compromised the defenses here,” Sess’met added, “they took advantage of our lack of caution.”
“This makes no sense,” Dorchav said before Zyrnox could respond. “These Archons do not let people die when they can save them. Holding back a fleet that could be used to repel our attacks makes no sense. Their sense of ethics would forbid it.”
“Perhaps they are more duplicitous than you give them credit for,” the Rit’ko’sor countered.
“We knew of the Paladin,” he countered, not about to be lectured by this little imp no matter what shame he bore for losing Dimu. “We did not know of their numbers, but we did know they were engaged in fights further rimward. How did we not know of another faction large enough to raid Terraxis? How many ships did we have left to defend it?”
“814 warships,” the other Voro’nam supplied.
“And how many did this phantom fleet bring?”
“103,622 of their jumpships, all appearing to be fully loaded.”
Dorchav fell silent, long enough for Zyrnox to nod approvingly. “You and I have both been surprised by unexpected strategy.”
“How could they hide that many ships…why would they hide that many ships? Even if we lost everything in this system aside from the planetary defense station I do not see the value in it. Have they also hit the Grid Point?”
“No, and we have an Urrtren relay link established there now. We received a test signal from the new Bocharak System two days ago as well, meaning we will be receiving regular updates from the front…”
“Assuming Star Force doesn’t hit our relays,” the Rit’ko’sor amended.
“And we will have links to the other two established shortly,” the other Voro’nam continued, ignoring the ‘advisor.’ “We are going to hold all three even if we have to withdraw all fleets to them.”
“Are additional ships coming?” Dorchav asked, looking to the campaign commander.
“No. Not as we now require. Regular reinforcements will be sent, but they will not replace the losses we have suffered, nor will suffer if we press forward as planned…thus we are not. We have done considerable damage to 39 worlds, 16 of which were completely cleansed, and we cost them far more ships than we lost. The Mach’nel, however, is a significant victory for them,” he said, looking down at the Rit’ko’sor. “And as has been pointed out, if Star Force can hide fleets of this magnitude from us, and have the patience to wait until the right moment to use them, they could still be holding onto a rebuilt Kamenor to deploy against us later. The ruse they used implied that they thought we suspected them of having it, and they would be fools to have disassembled it, but so far we have not seen any Yeg’gor production from them.”
“We assume they have the knowledge at this point,” the other Voro’nam said while the third remained silent. “The fact that we have not seen any may suggest that they are using whatever production they have to repair the Mach’nel.”
“Even if they did not,” Dorchav added. “Conventional armor placed over the exposed areas in excessive amounts will suffice. That is what I assumed they did with the fraud, covering the entire ship and shielding it from sensors so we could not identify and target where the damaged areas were.”
“Possible,” Zyrnox agreed. “And so far they have not used their altered Hadarak against us save for defensive operations, but they are rumored to have been designed specifically for system assault.”
“Do we still have scouts watching for their departure?”
“Yes. Those have not been compromised, and I am well aware that Terraxis would be the primary location for such a strike, but I did not expect them to use convention fleets that we did not have reconnaissance on. The raids on their hidden bases were meant to draw any such fleets out. The one that hit here is an annoying mystery, and one that I want you to personally uncover.”
Dorchav’s head raised. “I am remaining?”
“You are too valuable to send back, and after such a loss you will be uniquely motivated to look for deception where others would not. Your shame will always keep you on guard, and as we have been instructed, we have to take Star Force far more seriously than even I predicted.”
The Rit’ko’sor knew he was being referred to, for he’d worked long and hard with Zyrnox on planning this invasion, but even he hadn’t expected this much resistance.
“We have been blunted and embarrassed, but the gains we made are significant,” he added, addressing Dorchav. “Terraxis is no longer our most forward colony. We have three to draw their attention away from here, though the loss of our shipyards is going to be a problem. We were expecting to use them to repair damage from the recent battles. Now we will have an addition two to three months travel time one way for those vessels to get to the necessary repair yards. We will have to bide our time or attrition rates will eat us alive, but we have gained ground and we are going to expand upon it. We simply have to be more savvy than our enemy, and the contingency plans we built in have prepared for this unexpected turn of events.”
“What else has been done that I am unaware of?”
“While we will not be getting many additional warships, we are going to be receiving immense cyclical cargo fleets that will allow us to construct our three new colonies in short order. Those must be protected at all costs, and if they are, and we pull back and bide our time while construction occurs, we will be able to base off of those systems for deeper incursions against targets of our choosing, for they have too many to defend. It is simply a matter of drawing them away from our true targets and quickly getting to them. We cannot do so from here.”
“If we had overwhelmed them as anticipated,” Zyrnox continued, “we would still be establishing one new colony to further our supply chain. Unfortunately they are not in retreat, which will make this campaign even harder. We have a worthy fight on our hands, rogue Zen’zat or not, and I am preparing myself for further surprises. We will suffer them and take worlds through the losses. Eventually they will be unable to build replacement ships as fast as we can destroy them.”
“But it takes much more from us to penetrate their planetary defenses,” Dorchav argued. “If we cannot gain regional naval superiority we will kill ourselves on that attrition without the Mach’nel.”
“Agreed, which is why its loss is so significant, but this invasion is still viable. I will not ask for a replacement Mach’nel, for I know the request will be rejected despite the irregular circumstances regarding the loss of yours. We have made gains
along with the losses, but make no mistake that this is our fight to win or lose and we have the bulk of the fleet available to us. How we use it will determine whether or not we are superior. If we are not, then we deserve to be replaced with someone who is…and if this group cannot find victory here, I question whether any within the empire can without devoting our full might to snuff out the remains of this foe.”
“Which would be wise,” the Rit’ko’sor added, “while the Hadarak are in remission.”
“We have already been given an unprecedented number of vessels,” Zyrnox reminded him. “And the incoming supplies will enable us to build what we need. Replacing the shipyards is simply going to take time.”
“Time that Star Force will have as well.”
“We will not remain idle, but we will continue to be cautious,” he said with both threat and acceptance in his voice. “And the one who believe he knows warfare better than the rest of us will be given the chance to prove it.”
Sess’met’s head poked upward. “How so?”
“Dorchav will oversee the convoy protection and search for this phantom fleet. You…I am giving battlefield status and command of the fleets operating out of the Medforjet System.”
“A regional commander?”
“Yes, and I will give you considerable lenience within my overall orders so you can probe the enemy as you like. I will suffer no more of your counsel. Do as you recommend or fail. Time to prove your worth.”
The Rit’ko’sor snorted once merrily. “Itaru will not be thrilled to hear that.”
“They will not know unless you succeed. If you fail I will bear the responsibility. I am trusting your assertions are based more in knowledge than ego.”
“Was I wrong about Star Force?”
“You were not.”
“Then trust without worry. They will be a difficult opponent, but compared to the Hadarak they are nothing.”