by Aer-ki Jyr
“Your transport is waiting. Dorchav will take over your duties here. Now go, and do not make a fool of me.”
“You will not be disappointed,” the Rit’ko’sor said, lazily running in the annoying hopping motion of the smaller races as he left the command deck.
“I am grateful for your faith in me,” Dorchav said when he had left and the doors resealed.
“I am not angry with you,” Zyrnox said, almost growling. “I am angry with those assigned this extermination before us. They have failed and allowed this heresy to grow to this point. Their territory has been savaged, but they have grown stronger and bolder because we did not act strongly or quickly enough.”
“The Hadarak played a role in that.”
“A role, but not the primary one. Mak’to’ran should have snuffed these rogue Zen’zat out long ago rather than assign lethargic fools that continually underestimate them.”
“I am one of those fools.”
“You have provided me a valuable lesson. This is not an enemy to fight with singular strengths. They are to be fought by the masses, ship to ship, planet by planet, and ground into dust. We trusted too much in the Mach’nel and they found a way to neutralize it. We must decentralize in order to defeat them.”
“Hence the three new colonies?”
“They will not be the only ones. If and when we can push further we will establish more. Our territory must extend rimward in order to defeat our enemy. We cannot arrogantly hold to old habits. We must adapt, and so we will. You will organize your new fleet from here, and they will be largely made up of damaged vessels. Do not call for the supply convoys until you are confident you can protect them. What we have on site will be sufficient for now. The additions will only spur development further.”
“We need Urrtren surveillance along the resupply routes or we could be sending them into a trap if that phantom fleet is still out there. Have they been seen since?”
“No. They have not reinforced those currently fighting.”
“Then we must build a proper detection net. We cannot use scouts alone.”
“I agree, but it will take time and I will leave you to it,” the Voro’nam said, motioning with his head towards an empty platform.
Dorchav spun and walked towards it, stepping up on the padded surface and placing his feet on the few silver metallic spots that gave him a physical connection to the computer systems. With a thought he brought up a wealth of data in holographic form as well as direct input into his mind, allowing him to see in detail the raid on this system and everything else that had worked its way back from the front.
He wasn’t returning in shame as he had assumed. He’d been given another task and another chance…but not just because of Zyrnox. It was because of Olivia-051. A Zen’zat abomination that should not even exist. She’d given him a second chance and here he was using it to help kill her and all of her kin.
Something about that didn’t sit right with Dorchav. He should be dead now, and it felt like everything he did from this point on he didn’t deserve, but he had a task and he wasn’t going to fail it…but he also wasn’t going to assume victory. Zyrnox was right. He would forever be on guard now, taking nothing for granted as he began designing his convoy security protocols.
Every ship that was going to pass through the Devastation Zone was going to be vulnerable to assault, and his goal was to not lose a single one. He didn’t know how Star Force was going to respond, so he had to plan ahead and try to think like them…or rather think about what could be done that was not expected.
It was not an easy task, but it was his now and he was going to have to adapt and grow stronger in order to acquit it…otherwise the devious Archons would find a way to best him again.
And that could not be tolerated.
"Imperial March"
"Kill the light"
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