by Aer-ki Jyr
Cal-com nodded gravely. “It was wise you sought my assistance. I have other assets in the immediate area on assignments. I will recall them here immediately. How far behind does the Uriti trail?”
“About 28 minutes back. I’d recommend keeping a safe distance at all times. We’ve had no incidents, but we haven’t approached it too close either.”
“I understand. I am eager to set eyes on this beast. If others are the same, then we must establish a policy for this system.”
“Keeping the watchers out is going to be difficult, so I’m going to let them pass through and look if they want. If they do more than that we’ll have to act. Be warned, their tech level is extremely high. Possibly even beyond yours or mine.”
“That is disturbing. How long have they been observing?”
“I would guess some time since this Uriti broke free of its containment. There hasn’t been enough time for word of our actions to spread unless someone already watching took notice.”
“Logical. What are your immediately plans?”
“We’re going to tell Nami to take a dip in one of the stars and recharge, then we’re going to keep her here surrounded by warships as we try and find a way to talk to her. So far all we know is that we need a bigger transmitter. We’d started building one before the attack and haven’t had time to begin fabrication on another with the damage to the Zeus eating up available resources for repair. Even then, we’re going to need some specialized components that we can’t easily make in the field.”
“Do you require assistance?”
“We’re keeping the Chixzon tech a closely guarded secret, my friend. I would guess that may be the reason why we’re getting so many prying eyes.”
“They would have to know of it.”
“I don’t know how much word has leaked out through The Nine. I’m simply preparing for more trouble.”
“My condolences on your losses. I reviewed the battle. Your forces fought remarkably well to deny the Trinx the claim or destruction of your key vessel.”
“It never should have happened in the first place. The Trinx were supposed to safeguard the Uriti while looking for a solution to the containment problem, not try and destroy that solution when it presented itself.”
“They fear your control of the beast.”
“And I’m assuming others will as well. Jason went back to the ADZ to get more reinforcements.”
“What of the other Uriti still imprisoned?”
“The newest site is weak, but without our ability to issue the Uriti orders there is no rational reason to try and release it. Others may claim it in order to blackmail us against their release of it, so we have to help The Nine secure it.”
“Shall I send a conglomerate there now?”
Paul shook his head. “This is the danger zone, and I’d prefer having as many of your troops here as possible. There should already be a defense fleet there, but if we get into long term strategic maneuvering on the part of these shadow observers we may need to fortify that system.”
“I understand. You will not be bringing it here?”
“That’s option number 2.”
“Preferred?”
“Depends whether or not we can talk to them and come to terms.”
“I also have a message for you from the Preema. They want to discuss recent events and have a ship nearby. They did not want to be waiting here when you arrived.”
“Did they say why?”
“They wanted a quiet conversation. Beyond that they would not say anything, nor would they send a ship directly to you.”
“Did they want us to come to them?”
“No. I believe they are being overly formal and do not want to intrude where not welcome.”
“I do wish to speak with them. Tell them to come here and I will hear them out.”
“I’ll send a messenger immediately. As for the favor you requested, that message was also sent.”
“Thank you. Now, tell me if any of these ship profiles are familiar,” Paul said, sending him files on the ships that had been trailing them.
Cal-com took his time analyzing them, but in the end he only could identify one.
“The Corbrini. We have diplomatic contact with them, at the most basic level. They are truly distant from here. I am surprised they would…” he cut off as the Uriti slowed to a halt at the jumppoint.
“Little thing, isn’t it?” Paul scoffed.
“Perhaps,” the Voku offered, his tone indicating that he was thoroughly impressed. “But to see a being that can travel the stars without need of a ship is a rarity in this galaxy.”
“Not so much if you head further into the core.”
“Where is it going?”
“To a holding orbit designated prior to the jump. It’ll wait there until the control ship arrives and gives it orders.”
“We are detecting strong telepathic emissions.”
“Yes. Are they a problem for you?”
“Not at these levels, but our equipment is designed to detect them should they become perilous.”
“Some other threat out there I should know about?”
“A few,” Cal-com admitted. “Have you had issue with the Uriti’s aura?”
“Only at extreme close range. Riley tested it and got quite the headache, but he was able to touch another one as it slept. The aura amps up considerably when they’re awake.”
“And you said there are many such Uriti imprisoned across the galaxy?”
“We think so. We know of only a handful at the moment, and have personally laid eyes upon only the two.”
“Combat capability?”
“If we are close enough it could destroy every ship present here, but for a starship it’s dead slow and not a threat if you keep on your toes. A planet, however…”
“An impressive weapon indeed. Where would you like our ships positioned?”
“Somewhere they can be seen and close enough to respond to trouble if it arises.”
The Voku nodded. “If distant empires have been monitoring this Uriti from afar, they will undoubtable come here when they realize it is the final destination point. We have much to prepare for, my friend. This is…
I must speak with you privately, a voice pounded inside Paul’s head so hard that he couldn’t even hear Cal-com. He squinted and the Voku stopped speaking, sensing something was wrong. The Archon held up a wait finger as he tried to trace the telepathic presence.
Zak’de’ron? Paul asked back along the still active tendril.
Yes, we are here. Hidden. We must remain so, but it is imperative that we speak.
Where and how?
Open your main hangar.
Paul raised an eyebrow. Your stealth tech must be very good if you’re that close by.
We will remain hidden until you close the doors behind us. Our mental proximity you will be able to trace.
I understand. 20 minutes?
Satisfactory.
The presence in his mind disappeared and he blinked away the pressure he’d felt, now very glad he had an Ikrid block in place.
“I’ll talk to you later,” he told Cal-com. “Your boss is here and wants to speak privately.”
He saw the Voku flinch, but no other reaction followed. “I will be available when you wish to speak again, via com or in person, whichever you choose,” he said, cutting off the signal so the Human could attend to the summons.
Paul walked out of the nexus and onto the bridge, catching the Captain’s eye.
“Clear and evacuate the main hangar in the next 15 minutes, then open the outer doors. We have a hidden ship coming onboard. When I give the signal close them again and wait for further orders. Keep everyone else away from the hangar.”
The Captain snapped her fingers and her bridge offers got to work executing his order. “Trouble?”
“I don’t know yet,” he said honestly.
“And you can’t tell me who it is that’s coming onboard?”
“Dragons
,” he said simply, walking away as her eyes widened.
Paul stood at the back of the hangar, which had been cleared of ships and cargo by pushing them over to the side and leaving the entry point in front of the massive bay doors clear as he waited and felt outward with his telepathy. It was past 20 minutes by a hair, but he didn’t sense anything coming as a shimmer crossed through the containment shield and the complex light that was coming from the floor, walls, and ceiling got bent in ways it wasn’t meant to.
Still he could feel nothing, then when the mass landed just inside the entrance a powerful mind manifested itself, making it clear to Paul that it could decide when and where it was felt. He had the same ability as well, Kgat, though he couldn’t be sure if the Dragons had it or if the ship itself was built to conceal their ability.
“Close the doors,” Paul said into his comm, then turned it off as he waited for the armor plates to slide over the starfield and have their image wrinkled through the ship’s camouflage. It was reassuring that not even the Zak’de’ron could produce a fully functional cloaking device, though for mimicking starlight it would do more than adequately, meaning that if it also absorbed all sensor signals like the Ma’kri did, there was almost no way to detect it moving through space.
Passing through atmosphere or a nebula was another matter, but with this configuration you could snoop around just about wherever you wanted if you were careful, and they’d successfully gotten up within telepathic range without Star Force’s sensors even picking up a blip of signal.
When the doors fully closed the camouflage faded away, revealing a compact, but rippling hull full of undulations and ornate markings. It looked more or less like a turbine hat, with no visible weapons or other equipment that had to have been concealed beneath armor plates. Given the transformable tech that V’kit’no’sat had, he didn’t imagine it was difficult to sculpt a hull such as this to conceal whatever you liked beneath layers of protection.
Yet one more area Star Force had to catch up to them in, navally speaking.
As he watched, part of the hull melted away and turned into a ramp from which a red dragon walked out, followed by a yellow one of about equal size, barely larger than a horse but with a much longer tail and its wings tucked in at its sides so you almost didn’t know they were there. Following them came a much larger one the size of a house and colored deep grey, with Paul fairly sure this was the same one he’d seen before on Earth.
“Cu sen’a dench mit harmen asc,” the big one said, speaking in V’kit’no’sat. “What you have brought here is immensely dangerous.”
“I assume you were not previously aware of their existence,” Paul replied in kind as the two smaller dragons walked around to flank him on either side. He gave the red one on his right a glance, then looked back up at the big one in front of him as it sat on its hind legs with its tail looped around on the floor in a somewhat odd position, making it look far less intimidating than normal.
“We were not, but these Chixzon your message spoke of explain several unanswered questions in our history. We have never known of anyone to coopt a Hadarak, nor to rework their biology to their advantage. The one here is small, but it is immensely dangerous even without the upgrades you detailed.”
“I’m well aware. What do you know of the races it is drawing to it?”
“Little. Our presence in the galaxy is still small. There is much happening that we are unaware of, and the entire history of these Uriti is beyond our knowledge. Where is this Chixzon you spoke of?”
“On the control ship. His loyal is not in question.”
“How were you able to override the genetic rewriting?”
“We helped him break free from within.”
“Then his loyalty should be in question.”
Paul shook his head. “He can’t shield his thoughts from us. We’re certain that he is the original and not the upgrade…though he’s chosen to maintain his current state to give us the knowledge and capabilities of the Chixzon.”
“A perilous link if you are unable to produce more loyal Chixzon…or have you found a way to circumvent their control restrictions?”
“Working on it, but through a different route. Have you or the V’kit’no’sat ever tried to talk to the Hadarak?”
“Their instinctual drive is too strong to overcome. They ignore all communication.”
“But an attempt was made?”
“To further study them, yes. A failed attempt.”
“What size of a transmitter did you use?”
The Dragon looked at him oddly. “You seek a different path and inquire as to our past efforts to validate something that was not tried.”
“Pretty much. The telepathic signals from the Chixzon have to be amplified and produced in a very specific way for the Uriti to take notice. All other forms are ignored. But the Uriti can talk to each other, and there is evidence that they can call to one another over great distances. We speculate that it may simply be a matter of making our telepathic voice strong enough to mimic another Uriti before it will take notice of us. So I am asking, did you ever produce a telepathic aura of a size comparable to a Hadarak?”
“I am uncertain. My knowledge of such things is limited. A check through our database may yield the results you seek, but I do know that no success was had in attempted communication or any form of negotiation. The Hadarak expand relentlessly and without pause unless restricted.”
“About that. Why didn’t they consume the galaxy before you were there to stop them? The Chixzon knew of them and kept clear of the inner galaxy. It seemed they rarely came further out. When you say they expand relentlessly, I think there should be a qualifier there.”
“It is true that they do not seek to expand to every system. They choose those that have deeper gravity to spawn within, but they can consume any that have the resources they need.”
“If they only spawn in the core, why can they not spread across the entire galaxy? If there was nothing keeping them in check before, are there not patterns to their expansion?”
“Such things have been asked before, though we did not have a historical record as far back as these Chixzon date. Perhaps it was wrongly assumed that they had spread as far as they had been able when they were holding to a pattern of some making…though it is confirmed that they were expanding. Perhaps a cyclical event or another factor was involved. Regardless, they do not hold to any boundaries that we or the traitors have detected. I have seen nothing to suggest otherwise in recent years.”
“How often do they travel alone?”
“Rarely. Why there was an isolated one for the Chixzon to capture is beyond my knowledge. They travel in packs and are very difficult to kill because they assist one another. That is not an issue here with this single Uriti, but the minions it can produce are. I would not recommend experimenting with them, even if this Chixzon claims to be able to give them commands.”
“He tells me the original minions were people. Is that true?”
“How do you define people?”
“Did they have a will of their own?”
“They are more than biological machines, but the distinction is small. They serve and obey the Hadarak from more than choice. It is bred into them.”
“The Chixzon claim they stripped them of this, utilizing only their bodies and minds and preventing any true reproduction. They altered the minions from people into biological machines so there could be no chance of disobedience.”
“What other alterations did they make?”
“Many, to both the Uriti and the minions. Each is unique, both a production model and a prototype. More recent versions are more advanced and better able to control. I’m told the same is true of the minions they produce, though the control aspect is always present with them.”
“We can kill this one if you bring it to an isolated system,” the Dragon offered, “but we cannot do it here. Such a battle would be difficult, and it could not be concealed. There are too many eyes here.”
>
“There is another way to kill them, but that is not our aim,” Paul said, sensing a flinch in the smaller Dragons. “We wish to free them.”
4
“Explain carefully what you mean,” the Dragon said icily.
“I mean we’re not going to kill them unless needed,” Paul replied in kind, looking up at the big Zak’de’ron and ignoring the smaller ones. “They’ve been slaves since they were born. We’re going to see if we can salvage them.”
“You intend to turn them into weapons of your own use.”
“If you could find a way for us to do that consistent with our battle practices, please point it out,” Paul said sarcastically.
“Do not quibble with me, little Zen’zat.”
“Archon. I’m not a Zen’zat.”
“It is your legacy that you have inherited and made use of to build your feeble empire.”
“Zen’zat serve the V’kit’no’sat and are not allowed to reproduce. We are illegitimate offspring to them and must be destroyed. Do not confuse us with those savages. If they come here we will be fighting the Zen’zat. I am an Archon. You were once V’kit’no’sat. Do wish to still be called as such?”
The large Dragon reared back slightly, but it was only him adjusting his seated position.
“You have developed considerably since the last time we met, little one. Sadly, it will not be enough to save you if they do discover your existence.”
“Further than you know. Why the dreams?”
Paul saw the barest of twitches in the big one, and with his Pefbar he could see neither of the small ones reacted to him, but they both noticed their elder’s reaction.
“What dreams do you speak of?”
“The ones that give us access to the fourth tier of psionics.”
This time he hissed, not in anger but surprise. “What has transpired?”
“One of my brethren has pierced the barrier and attained Choratrik. From the records we have, no Zen’zat has ever achieved this, nor do the V’kit’no’sat even know it exists. You gave Kara a Vorch’nas, including in it extensive information that has aided us greatly. You seem to have been helping us, but I think you’ve been testing us. Seeing what we could achieve on our own. Based off the V’kit’no’sat knowledge we have, we’re leveling up far faster than Zen’zat typically do and we’ve attained psionics they have not. Also, did you know we’ve found a way to share abilities?”