1

September 18, 4833

Solar System (V’kit’no’sat territory)

Earth

“Contact…northeast,” Arc Commando Viles said over the teamcomm.

Ben Dagran hefted his Dre’mo’don rifle a little higher as he waited behind a very thick tree trunk with his Commando team scattered nearby. None of them had the psionics needed to pick up the stealthed Zen’zat, but the addition of Viles had changed that. They were going to have to rely on him to engage the Zen’zat enough to make them visible…then it would be ass kicking time.

A ping on his battlemap from the Arc Commando highlighted the approximate location, but Ben couldn’t see anything out there. The trees were so big you could have parked a speeder inside one, yet they were spread out enough that you could move around freely, but seeing very far was a nightmare. He had maybe 80 meters of sightlines before the trunks blocked everything out, though the sensors from the warships overhead were adding their own vision down into the forest that now covered Greenland.

The few V’kit’no’sat cities on the island chain were gone now, having been blasted into oblivion after giving the denizens a chance to flee. Ben’s Commando team wasn’t near any of them, and this was the first Zen’zat contact that any of the teams out here in the wilderness had made. No one knew if the V’kit’no’sat were going to challenge their little construction project, but it had been assumed that they would use stealth infiltrators if they did…and now that theory was being proven true.

“Zen’zat team…three contacts. They know they’ve been hit and are fleeing,” the Arc Commando said as his dot on the battlemap took off running so he could stay in contact range. “Converge!”

Ben left his tree trunk behind and took off running on a route that would hopefully catch the Zen’zat at an angle a few minutes later. They were just as fast as the Commandos, and perhaps even faster, but the layout of the trees meant that nobody had a straight route to run and a lot of weaving back and forth was required…which gave the smaller Commandos a slight advantage.

Ben wasn’t 10 seconds into his run before he heard and saw a squadron of skeets zip past him…on his battlemap anyway. The canopy over his head was thick and blocking out most of the sun, allowing only a little glint of polished hulls to be seen as the aerial craft homed in on the location the Arc Commando had identified.

Thankfully the ground was basically clear of vegetation, so the Commandos weren’t getting tripped up on much more than the occasional fallen branch and wildlife here was virtually non-existent. Back before the V’kit’no’sat had taken Earth from Star Force this entire area had been underneath a glacier. Now it and both polar caps were long gone, having melted thanks to the terraforming the invaders had done to make the planet it more to their liking.

Even Antarctica was now green with forests and jungles and a massive amount of plants that were growing like wildfire now that the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere had gone up from 0.03% to 1.28%. Not high enough to bother anyone breathing, but a total game changer for plant growth…both for the bits left here after the destruction of Earth and for the varieties brought in by the V’kit’no’sat afterwards…including these giant Farbo trees.

But it wasn’t the carbon dioxide that was fueling the higher heat levels. It was the extra water in the air over the formerly ‘dry’ regions of the planet. Water vapor held in twice as much heat per molecule as CO2, and when the V’kit’no’sat had melted the ice caps they’d deliberately relocated a lot of that water to the land to fill giant lakes and conduits that the aquatics required beyond the oceans that they now primarily inhabited.

But those lakes and conduits also fed the forests and jungles, eliminating all the deserts and other ‘dead’ regions of the planet. Also gone was every last trace of Star Force infrastructure. It’d been wiped clean in the planetary remake, now replaced with the abundant greenery that many of the V’kit’no’sat races preferred.

It had been joked that where Humans had used to prefer grass lawns, the V’kit’no’sat version was full blown forests…and that’s what Earth was now. Green spread across every bit of land with numerous bits of civilization seemingly carved out of it. The difference was one walked on top of grass, but here you walked underneath the greenery that was well over 100 meters high.

The Greenland forest was so dense that Ben knew they’d lose the Zen’zat if they couldn’t stay on them, and the skeets opened fire down into the forest thanks to the lack of native wildlife…allowing them to free fire without hesitation hoping to hit…

Suddenly all hell broke loose as one of the skeets went down hard, with the battlemap updating as several large contacts were made out just beyond the Zen’zat, popping into view as their stealth fields dropped and they began firing on the aerial fighters.

“Kar’ka!” one of the other Commandos shouted, with Ben immediately turning left in response to battlemap waypoints hastily thrown up as golden Chi’parat shots started to blast apart the tree trunks ahead of them. Following the machine-gun like blasts came the Kar’ka, now fully visible, running awkwardly through the trees on their two legs that were each taller than Ben. Their bodies were covered in brown armor head to tail tip and the Chi’parat weapons they carried on their flanks were far more powerful than the rifles the Commandos had.

The firing rate combined with the firepower meant the Commandos were outmatched, but they had aerial support and naval support much higher up, but no warships in atmosphere at the moment…and when the Kar’ka were rushing them like this there was no way a warship could target them without the possibility of friendly fire.

His Commando unit regrouped as they retreated, firing little and mostly running while trying to stay out of line of sight and scattering when needed only to come back together again when the Kar’ka got too close and they had to fight.

Ben went far right, circling around and firing on one of the Kar’ka from the side as it tracked after their lone Arc Commando. Whether he was drawing its attention psionically or they were going after him because he had psionics Ben didn’t know, but for the moment he had a free shot so he took it.

He fired three blue Dre’mo’don orbs into the Kar’ka’s shields, then had to duck out of the way as another Kar’ka came up and shot in his direction. The blasts hit the tree two meters above his head as he circled around it, blasting out a large enough chunk that the whole upper part began to tip over. Ben was long gone from there by the time it came crashing down as Viles had them retreating again.

This time they got closer to the defense lines and he saw the first bits of metal ahead of them as some of the smaller mechs came out to them. The Commandos stayed away from their footsteps and disappeared behind the trees as the big boys began to lob weaponsfire at each other...after which Ben finally had time to look at the battlemap in a larger sense and saw that there were hundreds of Kar’ka showing up in the forest along with a handful of Era’tran.

How the Era’tran were moving through the trees without getting pinned down he didn’t know, but they were heading this way and Star Force was scrambling to get enough mechs and aerial craft here to stop them. Luckily the Commando team had detected the approach when they did, for that bought them some time to…

Ben’s ability to think strategically ended as his unit was almost overrun by Zen’zat coming directly at them. They were stealthed up until the last few meters, then the oversized Humans were firing at them and diving into hand to hand combat with Viles throwing them a warning barely two seconds before Ben took his first shield hit.

He fired back as he spun behind the closest tree trunk, then he met up with another Commando and double teamed the next Zen’zat to come at them, pouring shots into his chest as he barreled into the pair and knocked both down.

Ben grabbed at his legs, but a large foot knocked him away while an invisible hand tried to yank his rifle out of his hand by the barrel tip. Fortunately Ben held tight as he fell, but he couldn’t line up a shot as the Zen’zat kicked into his fellow Commando and landed several pointblank shots to his chest shields. The enemy broke through them as Ben got back to his feet, but his rifle didn’t want to point in the right direction. Fortunately the Commando on the ground wasn’t being held in place other than by a foot on his chest, and he twisted it out of the way and nearly took the Zen’zat down before it jumped away and fired on Ben.

He caught the diversion just before another Zen’zat punched him in the head from behind, realizing that the Zen’zat knew they didn’t have Pefbar so rear attacks would be the most effective. His battlemap tracking gave him a heads up though, just in time for him to peel himself in the direction of the hit and thus diminish its impact. Rather than knocking him to the ground it spun him around and he got a lazy punch into the Zen’zat’s side, but it barely nudged him.

Shots from another pair of Commandos intervened, and the 4v2 ended up with one Zen’zat down and two Commandos with armor damage…until the downed Zen’zat suddenly got back up and ran off, with Ben putting a few shots in his butt that failed to get through the armor.

“How many of these bastards are there?” he asked as they pulled back to another waypoint and he began readjusting his anti-psionics shield that for some reason hadn’t fully covered his weapon barrel.

“Too many,” the Commando said, referencing small dots all over the battlemap that were not Commandos or Knights. “And they can go invisible. Hardly fair.”

“We have a Uriti, so don’t complain about fair.”

“Not very helpful right now, is it?” another Commando commented, then they were back in the firefight again.

Ben didn’t last long, going down some 7 minutes later but the Zen’zat were too busy to stick around and kill him. He lay on the forest floor looking up at the stupidly tall tree branches overhead as the gel layer in his armor seeped into the hole in his chest, applying chemicals that would stop blood loss and assist in healing, but it wasn’t even close to the regenerators that the V’kit’no’sat armor carried. Even the Zen’zat had them now, but their armor wasn’t as strong as his Commando armor, and it had saved him for a few more seconds before the takedown hit got through.

His armor recognized the damage to him, citing that he had a damaged lung but the impact point had missed his heart. That didn’t really matter to Ben as the pain was so intense he wanted to jump up and run and do something…but he forced himself to play dead and wait, letting the gel do what it could to stabilize him, but he already was having trouble getting a breath in. His entire torso was clenched up and, had he looked, he would have seen his chest missing half a baseball-sized chunk of tissue. He had several other internal organs damaged and was of no use to anyone right now, so he just stayed put and tried to hang on as long as he could.

A very long time later another Commando appeared over him and he nearly vomited when the pain spiked to blinding levels when he was suddenly picked up and carried, his viewpoint shifting from the high up branches to the twig-covered dirt as he was bounced with each and every step. Tears seeped out as he tried to ride it out, then when he was close to passing out the movement stopped and he felt a blissful numbing effect hit his wound.

His vision cleared enough to see the superimposed icon of a medtech over him and the wall of the defense ring behind the armored Human, realizing he’d been carried all the way back to the construction site the V’kit’no’sat had been trying to get at from the ground.

“Easy fella, you’re safe now,” the medtech said, with her voice being calm and soothing. “You’ve dropped about 7 pounds of flesh, and I can’t replace that here, but you’re healing over. You’re going to make it. Whoa, lie still, the regenerator isn’t finished yet,” she said, placing a firm hand on an intact portion of his chest armor as Ben tried to sit up.

“Did we win?”

“They got through the outer wall, but they didn’t scratch the portal before we took them down. Seems like a huge waste on their part. They must be really ticked that we’re here.”

“Good. They’ve got it coming. How long before I can walk?”

“You’re walking to a medbay and nowhere else, but you should be up and moving in a couple minutes. What hit you?”

“Zen’zat.”

“Really? I thought you’d got hit by one of the big ones.”

“That huge of a hole?”

“You can pull up my helmet telemetry later and see. I’ve got a hover cart coming, so you won’t have to walk more than a couple steps.”

“Whatever,” Ben said, wanting to get back on duty but still leery from the pain. Most of it was numbed out, but there was no ignoring the damage that had been done and the rest of him was still feeling the effects of nearly dying. When the medtech finally gave him the all clear she helped him stand up and he almost tipped over the other way, catching his feet and taking a few laborious steps to the hover cart where he gladly laid back down. He was too weak to walk, and the new skin-covered cavity in his chest felt like it was about ready to rip apart at any moment.

He rode on the hover cart to the small outpost built near the portal on the edge of the defense wall the V’kit’no’sat had managed to break through. Further in were the construction crews putting the finishing touches on a gate into the planet, bored down into the crust with a shield cap over it. Underneath was nothing but a huge hole several miles deep, but after Ben got to a medical station that had enough biomaterial to allow the built-in regenerator to repair and replace all his missing tissue, he was waiting outside on the roof for a dropship to arrive and take him back up to a troopship in orbit. He needed a few days of training and testing to see how much strength he’d lost before he’d be put back into combat duty, but for now he was going to have to wait because all dropship traffic was temporarily canceled in and out of the outpost.

At first he thought that meant they were going to come under attack again, but that wasn't the case as he studied the battlemap inside a new set of armor. The airspace was being cleared because the portal was now operational and Morgan-063 wasn’t going to waste any time in bringing the Uriti down to the planet.

Ben had a very good view of the ‘small’ Uriti 1.7 miles long and shaped into a tip on the front end, making it look like a plump arrowhead. Its virtually imperious skin was a deep blue with a single red streak along the ‘upper’ side, and it was heading down to the planet tip-first.

The Commando watched as that small Uriti became huge before his eyes, only a few miles away with his helmet triggering a psionic alarm, indicating that it was blocking out a telepathic attack. Had he been inside the outpost the walls would have done that for him, but he was now very glad he had a suit of armor on that could protect him from it above and beyond his Ikrid block, for he’d heard that the sheer weight of a Uriti’s telepathic aura would give him, at the least, a headache as it pressed against the block.

Critters had no such defense, which was why everything inside the border wall had been removed. There wasn’t so much as an ant left, not that there had been many to begin with, and just in case a rare bird happened to fly into the area they were being kept away by light shields around the perimeter stretching up miles into the sky. They weren’t always in effect, but had swept the area a few minutes ago without Ben even seeing them. Now the Uriti was coming down and affecting everything around it without even trying, which was why Star Force had made sure to ‘clean’ the area beforehand.

Ben’s teeth ground together lightly, tensing against some disaster that was not going to happen. Papa Smurf was under the direction of the Archons in orbit, and the Uriti slid down into the cap shield without incident, passing into the 1.4 mile wide hole in the ground and disappearing from view as it dug its way down into the planet on its own after that.

The airspace didn’t clear before he saw the magma impact on the cap shield, which kept it from turning into a volcano in the wake of the Uriti’s entry all the way down into the liquid rock layers of the planet. Had it been a crack in the crust it would have sealed over on its own as the magma hardened, but a hole the width of even this small Uriti was another matter. Without Star Force’s construction of the cap shield it would have turned into a huge plume of material that would have reached half the way up through the atmosphere, for the pressures below the surface were extreme.

That pressure was now capped underneath the shield as the top of the red/orange magma began to solidify and turn black, but it would take weeks before enough of it hardened to repair the damage to the planetary crust, with the sidewalls of the tunnel accelerating that effect with cooling equipment.

This entire facility was a one-off, and now that the Uriti had entered the planet it would not be coming out through here again. It was going to snack a bit on the planetary material as it made its way down near to the core, then travel around it to the southern pole…where it was going to come up underneath the pyramid and do its damage there, where the massive Tar’vem’jic defense battery couldn’t fire on it.

2

Sess’met stood on the command deck of the planetary defense station, seeing both a small hologram on his cushioned pedestal and a huge one that filled the airspace above them of the Star Force commander who had contacted them. She was smug, as usual, but offering a warning to the V’kit’no’sat for them to evacuate.

“You have an estimated 3 days at the minimum,” Morgan said sternly. “After that the Uriti will emerge beneath the pyramid and destroy it from below. The magma discharge associated with it will probably destroy nearby buildings, so get your people out of the entire area. We’re taking the planet back via your deaths or your evacuation. Your choice. When the Uriti gets to your location we’re not calling it off if you change your mind at the last moment. Leave now or die,” she said in the V’kit’no’sat language, then cut transmission and her obnoxious form disappeared from the mile wide command deck.

They will do it, he said, speaking via telepathy to get across the distance between pedestals. We have no means of defending against a subsurface attack.

You want us to surrender? Dorchav asked neutrally.

I see no way to fight. And if you think they’ll stay their hand to preserve us you are mistaken. They have given warning and adequate time to evacuate. That will satisfy their scruples. If we remain here we will die.

I’m forced to concur, an Era’tran named Ollva said. He was one of the regional commanders, like Sess’met, who’d been kicked out of their invasion zones, and was learning a hard lesson that the Rit’ko’sor could see was starting to take root. We gain nothing by staying and dying. Destroy the Tar’vem’jic and cleanse the station of all data. There is nothing else we can do.

If we run here, where will it stop? a Voro’nam regional commander argued in lieu of Zyrnox, whose absence left no one in full command now that they were all pushed back to this last foothold in Star Force territory. If they come to another planet and do the same thing, will we run again or find a way to fight?

Do you have a suggestion, Sess’met challenged, or are you just wasting time with denial?

V’kit’no’sat do not run.

Then stay and die. I’ll take those with enough sense to avoid a hopeless fight and live to find a way to fight back later.

Typical Rit’ko’sor, the Voro’nam huffed. I have no idea why Zyrnox brought you here. You have accomplished nothing in this invasion and now you argue to give up a planetary defense station without a fight. We should have exterminated you when we had the chance.

You tried and failed, Sess’met reminded him, but Star Force will not be so sloppy with us here. They will send their Uriti at us from below, and we have nothing…NOTHING to stop it. Arrogance is not a weapon that will save you, so how do you intend to fight it?

Enough, Dorchav said before the Voro’nam or anyone else could respond. I’m making the decision and taking the responsibility in Zyrnox’s absence. Unless any of you can concoct a strategy to hold this location, I’m ordering an immediate evacuation, the Brat’mar said, telepathically touching each of the 6 regional commanders and forcing them to respond to him personally.

None had an answer, and he gave them a moment more to think, but no epiphanies followed.

Then we have no choice. Sess’met, you are to handle sabotage operations. Expect them to be able to recover anything we leave behind, no matter how badly damaged.

I’ll be thorough, the Rit’ko’sor said, accessing the interface on his pedestal and issuing orders to the army of V’kit’no’sat throughout the facility to begin the unsavory task of destroying their own equipment.

I expect this Archon to allow us to leave if we leave promptly, but I want the fleet covering the surface evacuation regardless. Pull back all troops engaged in combat and get them off the planet as soon as possible.

We’re abandoning all fronts? another Voro’nam asked, and Dorchav knew they were reflexively defending Zyrnox’s mission here, which was ending in utter failure.

We must adapt to the threat before us. We cannot accomplish our mission now, so our new mission is to preserve what resources we have. Staying and dying avails us of nothing, and taking down some Star Force ships is worthless. It is the Uriti that we have to discover how to counter, and other than observing its destruction of this facility we can do nothing beneficial here.

We need additional sensors in place when it surfaces, the Era’tran added.

See to it, Dorchav approved. Then join the fleet. We are leaving. There is nothing more to discuss.

Sess’met watched as the command deck cleared, not quickly, as many were visibly reluctant to go, but in the end he was the last one remaining as he organized the destruction of the Tar’vem’jic…which was not easy to do. Eventually he left the huge chamber as well, traveling deep down through the facility to where the power generator was and double checked the sensor modifications.

They needed whatever information they could get on the Uriti, and this was the first time they’d had a chance to see one below ground. Even now they were able to track its progress through the planet, but with little more than a location blip as it disrupted the inner planetary material while shoving its way through very thick, but liquid material as if it was nothing but water.

The tremors were visible even if the Uriti was not. Sess’met wondered how well Star Force’s communication with it functioned within the planet, but he doubted they would tell him if he asked. Regardless, they would get some data when it came close just before the sensors and the planetary defense station were destroyed. He’d make sure they had ships in orbit to get a close sensor scan of the impact, for he was curious to see how the Uriti fared against the Yeg’gor. He didn’t think it would break easily, and frankly didn’t know what would occur, but it was something they needed to know regardless…in addition to providing stark evidence of the threat Star Force now posed. Evidence that Itaru could no longer ignore.

Morgan stood in the command nexus onboard her flagship Gold Ranger, a brand new model only three months out of the shipyards and configured with a Uriti transmitter onboard. She was using it to listen in to Papa Smurf as a Wrangler on another ship was guiding it as it came up through the mantle beneath the pyramid, the very bottom tip of which dipped into the mantle and syphoned heat as a backup method of power generation.

That meant when Papa Smurf finally made impact he was able to touch V’kit’no’sat technology before he touched solid rock, pushing up through it like a wedge and destroying everything above him through sheer physical pressure. The Uriti did not need to use any weaponry, merely pushing up from beneath and crushing the components on the lower levels.

Eventually he got high enough that the width of the understructure of the pyramid was wider than the Uriti, letting him move much more easily through the air pockets, snapping deck after deck until he rose all the way up to the widest portion just below surface level. Morgan saw him through the telepathic link, breaking up through the command deck like a mole coming up into his den with surprising ease.

Papa Smurf spun around, tearing out additional walls until he was free of all obstructions and leveled out beneath the Yeg’gor ‘tent’ above him as magma billowed up from below, turning the command deck into a superheated sauna that eventually filled up to the cap where the air inside was caught and compressed down to the point that it was turned into plasma that helped to burn through the structures above.

From the surface Morgan didn’t see anything but a few trails of magma pouring out of doorways that the V’kit’no’sat had left open behind them as they boarded their ships on the pyramid surface. The peak where the Tar’vem’jic was located was not open, and the Yeg’gor there was holding solid without even a leak of magma seeping through.

Papa Smurf did not come any higher, for Morgan didn’t want to breach the surface and create a supervolcano. That was why the portal had been created to allow him entry to the planet and an exit gate was nearly complete in Central America. Papa Smurf would be exiting there and not through the pyramid, for the original gate was now full of solidifying magma that, if pushed through, would break the gate and create the supervolcano they wished to avoid. Thus the portals were one-time use only, and while they were attacking the V’kit’no’sat structures in Antarctica, they didn’t want to wreck the landscape in the way they’d seen happen on some of the planets in the Preserve that had Uriti holes poked into their crust.

This was the first mission for Papa Smurf, and Morgan was pleased to see him hold position perfectly within the Pyramid to wreck the interior without breaking the Yeg’gor cap…then he eventually twisted over point first and headed back down through the hole he’d just bored through the crust and into the mantle. He got the approximate coordinates for the exit gate and headed off towards it, with Morgan losing track of him as even his telepathic power dimmed so much through the thickness of the planet that they couldn’t contact him at the deepest levels. A single tracking signal was all that was visible of the massive telepathic presence until he rose up closer to the surface again a couple days later.

But the Wranglers could handle that. Now that Papa Smurf was out of the area it was up to her and the other Archons to take possession of the planet again. They wouldn’t be staying and rebuilding, unfortunately, but they needed to take stock of what was left down there and many V’kit’no’sat cities to explore…and clear of potential booby-traps.

That’s why Morgan was going down herself as soon as she made sure the V’kit’no’sat fleet was gone. Some of their ships were still hanging around and she’d been tolerating them long enough so they could see the destruction of the pyramid, though it clearly wasn’t as awe-inspiring as they’d probably expected. Still, with their telemetry they’d have seen what was happening internally and how easy it was to take down their strongest footholds from within.

They couldn’t redesign their other planetary defense stations, which had taken ages to construct, fast enough to protect them against Star Force doing exactly this again. And even if they did there was no guarantee that the Yeg’gor could protect them. Morgan liked that doing it this way didn’t give the V’kit’no’sat a chance to see how well it held up to a Uriti, leaving them either in doubt or with false confirmation that it couldn’t break through.

She was pretty sure it could, but even if not it could have risen up and carried the entire umbrella-like shield up into space with it if it wanted, so she wasn’t worried about that…plus Papa Smurf was the smallest Uriti they had, though arguably the strongest ton for ton. The later Uriti designs had gotten more and more potent, and when this one ‘grew up’ it was going to be a terror beyond terrors…for the enemy.

A little over a day later Morgan was in atmosphere, flying around on her own power and looking at what the V’kit’no’sat had done to her planet. Antarctica was no longer covered in ice, but green beyond green, and it hadn’t suffered from Kara’s previous planetary bombardment. It hadn’t been touched at all save for the few small rivers of magma still seeping out of the pyramid, on top of which she landed on, finding the surface only mildly hot.

That was because the Yeg’gor ate energy with a ravenous appetite, including heat, and from what naval sensors were telling her the interior was still full of liquid magma. That meant she wasn’t going in, and even when it did solidify…if it solidified…it was going to be full of rock with nowhere to enter, making it a giant paperweight and useless to both sides.

But there were thousands of buildings around it that hadn’t been touched, and initial scouting parties were reporting nothing more than empty databases and some wrecked equipment. No booby-traps were being found, and hopefully that trend would continue, but Morgan was standing in the midst of a highly technological ghost town that made her feel eerily like the past hundred millennia had never happened and this planet had never been attacked by the Rit’ko’sor during the rebellion.

Everything looked like the V’kit’no’sat had been here forever and the Human inhabitation nothing more than a daydream. Even the pyramid, which looked the same from the outside, no longer had the familiar interior that she could remember. Now it was just molten junk, washing away everything she remembered save for the exterior that she now stood on.

Morgan could see with her Pefbar down through the Yeg’gor where the Tar’vem’jic emitters were…or used to be. Now they were fragments floating in a sea of plasma and magma, and she doubted that was due to Papa Smurf. The V’kit’no’sat had probably destroyed the weapon rather than let Star Force recover it if the Uriti somehow didn’t trash it. What she couldn’t see were the vital interior components, guessing that the V’kit’no’sat had taken them to be reused later. The exotic components were something that were hard to build, which was why Star Force hadn’t bothered to try.

The V’kit’no’sat used the combination of Tar’vem’jic and Yeg’gor to create fortifications that were almost impossible to overwhelm, which was something that Star Force couldn’t do. Even if they made an exact copy of the pyramid on another world the V’kit’no’sat could amass enough ships to overpower it, meaning the Star Force war strategy had to be mobile and expendable…and Tar’vem’jics were definitely not expendable.

Star Force needed powerful weapons that they could make a lot of and lose, and Morgan saw the irony and fear the V’kit’no’sat must be feeling now, for all their unbreakable battleforts were useless against the Uriti attacking from beneath. All the effort, time, and expense they’d gone to in building them was now a horrific waste of resources. That had to be driving them crazy, for they’d built the heavy defenses away from the core where the Hadarak couldn’t touch them. They were meant to defend the empire against other threats while the Mach’nel were the mobile teeth on the coreward front.

But now the Uriti were here on the rimward frontier and the V’kit’no’sat’s entire strategic setup was now thrown on its head. If there were any doubters they now had proof, and she was glad they’d decided to leave rather than stay and die. It made things a lot simpler, especially making the likelihood of there still being hidden V’kit’no’sat on the planet extremely unlikely.

Morgan looked around, seeing the unfamiliar landscape beyond the pyramid, and on impulse triggered her armor to retract down into a lump on the ground that she stepped out of, wearing the loose flowing Archon uniform beneath. They had many different versions now, but this one was her favorite and reminded her a little bit of a Jedi robe, though not nearly that sloppy. It was smooth as silk and almost body hugging, making it relaxed and combat ready at the same time.

It was the same uniform that she’d worn when first coming here back before they’d even met the lizards. Morgan slipped the shoes off, telekinetically pulling her socks away from her feet and stuffing them inside as she stepped on the warm, but not too hot, black/green Yeg’gor surface as she’d done so long ago, feeling the synthetic rock with her bare feet and remembering back.

Too many years of losses had weighed on her, pushing the older memories deep, deep within the recesses of her mind. Morgan closed her eyes, seeing only with her Pefbar that did not reach beyond the pyramid. She stretched it out sideways and above, so she didn’t see the magma beneath, and tried to reach back to the early years.

It took some time, but when she made the connection everything seemed to come alive again. Her toes didn’t lie, the stone had the same pseudo-soft feel to it that reeked with ancient importance. So much had changed since her first time here, so many revelations and truths discovered that it took a moment to unlearn everything she’d learned and see through her old eyes.

She’d come a long way. A very long way. So far that she hadn’t even considered it until now. She’d been living in the moment, as any good Archon would, but now she felt like…

“Victory,” she said aloud, finally opening her eyes. The landscape was drastically different, but it was the same pyramid and the same planet. Many things had changed, but this was in fact Earth and where it had all began. The unbeatable V’kit’no’sat had just been kicked out and were now running. They’d be back eventually, she had no doubt, but Morgan had just reclaimed Earth. It’d been stolen from them in a very blood fight so, so long ago…but she’d just taken it back, and now she stood on the top of the pyramid, with her bare feet confirming the fact that this was real and she was actually here again.

“The war’s not over by a long shot, but we finally won guys,” she said, speaking to the 98 trailblazers that were not here. Mark-099 was, out helping the scouting teams elsewhere on the planet, but the others weren’t. They were out dealing with the massive empire Star Force had created, and she was glad she’d been one of the two that got to come here and kick the damn Dinosaurs out. She hadn’t thought of them as Dinosaurs in a long time, but standing here was bringing back a lot of old memories.

“We thought you were extinct before. We won’t make the same mistake twice,” she said to the sky. “But Earth is ours, and don’t you ever forget it. Ours…you hear me? No Dinos allowed!” Morgan added, taking in a long, slow breath of air she hadn’t felt in ages. It was warmer now, and more humid, but it was Earth air just the same.

Morgan sat down, feeling her butt warm but tolerating it, then leaned back and lay looking up at the sky. Earth’s sky, as she’d remembered it from long ago.

“We’re home, fellas. We’re home…”

3

October 17, 4833

Tettio System (Unclaimed Territory)

Stellar Orbit (Trade Route to Terraxis)

Mak’to’ran’s Kafcha came out of its jump along with three others of similar class, the only ships he’d elected to bring with him as he traveled all the way out to Terraxis. They were having to move through the backwater systems now, having run out of black hole routes to save time on, and they were still several jumps away from their destination when they ran into a large V’kit’no’sat fleet sitting around the innermost planet.

Mak’to’ran hadn’t expected it here, but a quick query confirmed his suspicions…it was Zyrnox’s task force that was supposed to be attacking Star Force or at least holding on to the territory they’d previously gained. Now they were waiting for their commander’s return, reporting that even Terraxis had now fallen to the combination of Star Force and the Uriti.

The V’kit’no’sat leader brought his four ships out from the star and rendezvoused with them, then had all six regional commanders plus Dorchav join him and Zyrnox onboard his flagship for a debrief that he was sure he was not going to like.

“We should have fought,” Turo said, glancing at his fellow Voro’nam commander. “We could have at least destroyed some of their ships.”

“It would have been a waste,” Dorchav said, angered enough with this continued stupidity to speak despite his lingering shame for having lost a Mach’nel. “Only the Uriti matters, and we could not have damaged it sufficiently enough despite its small size.”

“We gained nothing from running!” the other Voro’nam regional commander, Haf’vo, said angrily.

“Do not let the strength of the enemy elicit sloppiness,” Mak’to’ran warned. “Better to save our ships for a useful strike than flailing like angry hatchlings.”

Both Voro’nam visibly recoiled, not wishing to argue with the leader of the empire, but he wasn’t going to allow them to retreat into silence.

“Do the Humans have the capability to replace lost warships?” he asked, telepathically directing the impetus to answer to the pair of Voro’nam.

“Their industry is formidable,” Turo said, “but it is declining with each world we take.”

“They are also adding more on the rimward side of their territory,” Sess’met bluntly added. “Our rate of conquest wasn’t fast enough to seriously hinder them.”

“If they can replace their warships, then eliminating a few more is pointless,” Mak’to’ran said evenly. “If we cannot eliminate the Uriti, we will not fight them and waste valuable resources.”

“They have a limited number of Uriti,” Bax, the Qua’cho regional commander offered. “If we strike their worlds by the hundreds simultaneously they cannot have one in each engagement. We draw the Uriti out with feints, disengage, and allow the other invasions to continue. We can pare down their industrial reserves without engaging the Uriti.”

“A prudent plan…assuming they do not strike our own worlds in retribution,” Ollva, the Era’tran commander said warily.

“It is galling to say, but we can suffer those losses. Star Force cannot. Once we eliminate their escort fleets we will be able to engage the Uriti directly. If we cannot peel those off I do not think any number of vessels will be able to counter them. They have the durability of the Hadarak plus weaponry of unforeseen magnitude. We have to isolate them if we have any chance of destroying one.”

“Dorchav,” Mak’to’ran said, drawing a shameful aura from the Brat’mar. “Is the capture method you suggested for the Hadarak not feasible here in some form?”

“I have considered that, and even if we could get past their escorts the weaponry the Uriti possess cannot be silenced. We can possibly negate their gravity weapons, but not their energy discharges.”

“So I had assumed,” Mak’to’ran said regretfully. “We have not been able to test the capture method on a Hadarak yet, but we will soon. However, these Uriti are clearly not Hadarak, and we have to find alternative methods in dealing with them. Even without their escorts, they will be immensely difficult to destroy, correct?”

“Depends on which one we are talking about,” Ivern said, with the Pas’cha’s long neck reaching up higher than both Era’trans’ head height. “Some have ranged weapons that only a Tar’vem’jic can outreach, and I do not believe even a Mach’nel can deliver enough firepower to seriously wound one before they have a chance to flee. I see few options in dealing with them.”

“What of the sedative?”

“We have the formula,” Zyrnox answered, “but if the Ancients’ data is accurate, any combat counteracts it. They had to sacrifice fleets in close range to continually deliver doses while not firing a shot in return. If there is even one Star Force ship in the area, they could shoot the Uriti themselves in order to wake it up.”

“If sedated, the capture technology would then become feasible?” Mak’to’ran asked Dorchav.

“For transport, yes, but the sedative has to be continually applied.”

“Does Star Force use it when they transport the Uriti?”

“No. The Uriti allow them to move them.”

“Interesting,” Mak’to’ran mewed.

“How so?” Sess’met asked.

“They are not claustrophobic.”

“Perhaps they like being away from gravity wells for prolonged periods of time even less.”

“What of their minions? They have not been used as of yet?”

“Not in the offensive combat,” Ollva confirmed. “They were used in the Preserve in a limited fashion. They appear to be less capable than Hadarak minions.”

“They are biological machines,” Sess’met corrected. “They require a Uriti to direct them, otherwise they behave stupidly. I believe the Chixzon wanted strict control and the ability to order the minions directly, without having to deal with the unpredictability of lifeforms. Their control over the Uriti appeared to be very limited in and of itself, and I would guess they saw traditional minions as a potential threat of disobedience.”

“That is Star Force’s opinion?” Mak’to’ran asked.

“It is my opinion, based on the information we have been able to gather from the various races with access to the Preserve.”

“Do you believe Star Force will not utilize them, or are holding them in reserve while developing them further?”

“The Uriti cannot carry them inside their bodies like the Hadarak can, so for space combat I doubt Star Force will use them for offensive operations. Their ship’s carrying capacity is equivalent to their own drones, except their drones don’t need to eat. They may employ them as a form of planetary defense, but I suspect that Star Force finds them too crude to deploy on anything other than uninhabited worlds.”

“They fear casualties?”

“Of indigenous lifeforms, yes. They took great care on Terrax to remove all lifeforms in the area around the Uriti’s entry and exit points, no matter how small. They do not like sloppy operations.”

“They care for the irrelevant,” Zyrnox countered, already irritated by the Rit’ko’sor speaking so freely to Mak’to’ran. “And it has hindered them on many occasions.”

“Agreed on the latter part, but not the former.”

“Explain,” Mak’to’ran urged, growing more curious with this Rit’ko’sor by the moment.

“I have found Star Force to be neither stupid nor inefficient. If they are taking action, I presume there to be a practical purpose. It has taken me some time to define what their parameters are, and I believe I now have a basic understanding of them.”

“I would like to hear it, in detail.”

“Despite what others say,” Sess’met said, throwing a glance at the other regional commanders, “I believe Star Force has decided to trade short term gains for long term plays, but not in a scoring sense. I believe they have a blind philosophy towards other lifeforms. They will aid another even if they cannot see a benefit from it. That makes no sense to us, for why waste resources if there is to be no gain? I believe they assume they are not knowledgeable enough to see all angles, so they play them all. Thus they do not bother with calculations, and that gives clarity and efficiency to their entire empire.”

“What do you mean by ‘blind?’” Dorchav asked.

“I believe they assume the galaxy will handle the calculations, so they can simply deal with all lifeforms in the same matter and receive the benefits from those situations that are advantageous to them without deliberately trying to elicit the benefit. In this way they collect benefits that, through analysis, would have been missed. Thus they maximize the potential benefits by not trying to quantify them.”

“How do you know it’s beneficial if you can’t do a cost analysis?” Haf’vo challenged.

“That is the practical reason, but I also believe they would do it regardless on moral grounds. They have combined the two seeming contradictions into a unified philosophy that is easy to employ, for they take the same actions everywhere. It can simply be summed up as ‘they sacrifice no one.’”

“The Uriti?” Mak’to’ran deduced.

Sess’met twitched his head in agreement. “They may not have ever intended to use them in combat, caring for them altruistically in the beginning, but also to keep them from going on uncontrolled rampages. Many races across the galaxy have brought theirs here to prevent that from occurring in their regions. I do not believe Star Force ever intended to use them as a weapon. But the weapon had other plans.”

“And in return for the care they received they have gained an unexpected benefit?”

“That seems to be what our spies suggest. I would also point out that the Uriti would not even talk to Star Force initially, but now converse with them regularly. Like the Hadarak, we are of no interest to them. We are irrelevant to them, as other lifeforms are to us. Because no one is irrelevant to Star Force, there is no dominance struggle. Also, we know the performance statistics for the Uriti have increased with Star Force training them, so they have given the Uriti a tangible benefit.”

“You’re saying their ability to make friends is an asset?” Ollva asked.

“That is a very simplified statement of a complex philosophy, but essentially you are correct. They hold a passive dominance that is displayed in their defense of others. Even those they conquer they subsequently uplift. They never destroy to destroy. This engenders them excessive good will to those with a brain to analyze it, while making them many enemies amongst the stupid,” Sess’met said, briefly glancing at his fellow regional commanders.

“How do you suggest we defeat them?” Mak’to’ran asked bluntly.

“They will not break, Uriti or not. We must either befriend them or destroy every last one. They will not relent, and given that they are using our own technology against us, we must bring the full power of the V’kit’no’sat to bear against them and accept the horrific losses. If we do not, and do so now, they will only grow stronger. Other civilizations weaken as they enlarge, and often crumble from within. Their rimward ally known as The Nexus is a perfect example of this. Star Force is, in fact, absorbing pieces of The Nexus that are crumbling, and the skill in which they are doing so suggests that there is no limit to the size their empire can expand to. If we wait, they grow stronger. We must act now.”

“Befriend them?” Zyrnox asked, aghast.

“I do not recommend it. I believe they must be eliminated. But I point out the option none the less.”

“You still retain some sanity then,” Turo sniped.

“Yet not enough to see clearly,” Mak’to’ran interjected. “Patience is something you also need to learn. I admit you are correct prior to the inclusion of the Uriti. If we had known how resilient Star Force truly was we should have eliminated them much sooner. Their ability to regenerate after catastrophic losses is impressive and unexpected. We erred, and we are now paying the price for it, but we will not pay it in haste. Sending our fleets to exterminate them en mass would be folly. We must find a better way to eliminate the Uriti. Until then we cannot act.”

“They will only grow stronger in the interim,” Sess’met argued.

“That is where we must have patience, Rit’ko’sor. Do not sacrifice in the short term to obtain something much cheaper in the long term.”

“What do you see that I do not?”

“An opportunity. As dangerous as the Uriti are, they cannot reproduce. Correct?”

“All our information says that was deliberately eliminated from their genome by the Chixzon,” Zyrnox confirmed.

“Then they are limited in number, and when compared to the whole of the Hadarak they are the lesser threat.”

“Star Force itself is a threat.”

“It is, but I am more interested in using them as a means to defeat the Hadarak. We have never been able to communicate with one, and even though the Uriti have been altered they are still based on the Hadarak. I want as much information about them as we can get, and I do not think your spies will be able to provide what I am seeking, though they have provided much already. The true secrets of the Uriti I believe Star Force is concealing from their allies. I want that knowledge.”

“You wish to negotiate with them?”

“It is they who wish to negotiate with us, and I intend to give them the opportunity.”

“Have you received a message from them?” Zyrnox wondered.

“They have been sending messages for some time. Dorchav’s existence is one of them. They spared him to send a message to me, as they have many others. They were sending the messages as equals, which we assumed they were not. Now with the Uriti backing them they are equals, and I am here to negotiate with them as such.”

“I believe they are still in Terraxis,” Sess’met offered immediately, with the others stunned into silence.

“I need to speak to their trailblazers. Do you assume one of them will remain there?”

“There has not been a Uriti strike without one. And considering that they consider Terraxis to be their capitol, it is likely that they will have one defending there against a counterstrike from us. If not, I am sure there will be one roaming their destroyed territory nearby once contact is made.”

“Zyrnox will return with the majority of this fleet, leaving behind only those vessels needed for surveillance. We cannot allow them to believe that they can now reclaim all of their destroyed worlds, so we need a visible presence roaming our conquered territory…but we will not engage. Sess’met will be in charge of our presence here, and he will collect data…nothing more. The rest of you will be returning with Zyrnox, but first all of you are coming with me,” Mak’to’ran said, mentally contacting the bridge and ordering his four ships to depart the system. “We are going to face our nemesis and take the measure of them personally. That much, at least, they have earned. Die they must, but we can at least give them the credit they are due for such accomplishments.”

“To what end?” Ollva asked neutrally.

“They would not exist if not for a failure on our part. We left their ancestors behind in Terraxis. These Humans did not ask to be born. We cannot allow them to exist in defiance of us, but we can honor the warriors that they have become and learn from them. And I would rather learn from the living than trying to draw information from their corpses. Also, I want to squash this lingering arrogance within my commanders. We are dominant because of our skills and power, not because of our name. Right now Star Force possesses a power superior to ours, yet I feel a denial of that fact here. We will adapt and overcome, as we have done before, but right now, in this moment, we are the inferior…and when we do overcome that weakness we will be stronger for it. But we cannot grow stronger if we do not admit the weakness. I will tolerate no more mistakes made from underestimating our foe.”

“From now on, they are our equal and they have my full attention. Make sure that they have yours as well, and find me a way to fight these Uriti. That is our number one priority going forward, and we will stall as long as necessary in order to achieve it. Once we do,” he said, looking at Sess’met, “then we unleash our full power on them and wipe them from existence.”

4

October 26, 4833

Terraxis System (Star Force territory)

High Stellar Orbit

Mak’to’ran’s four Kafcha came out of their jump shallow into enemy-held territory, having traveled the last leg at reduced speed so they could brake to a stop in a position that was unlikely to have a blockading fleet waiting for them.

What the Era’tran saw when he arrived was worse. The reports of the size of the fleet that had been here to take the system from the V’kit’no’sat were either inaccurate, which he doubted, or they’d received far more ships since then. There were more than 120,000 of their jumpships here, but it was an even smaller vessel that immediately caught his attention.

Tiny in comparison, the Uriti known as ‘Vardonak’ to the Chixzon and ‘Papa Smurf’ to Star Force was sitting in its own orbit around the system’s central star, so close that other vessels would have to be running high shields to ward off the continual radiation, but the Uriti didn’t have that problem, for like the Hadarak, they simply absorbed the radiation and grew stronger from it.

Strange how such a tiny thing could be a superior adversary. A Hadarak of that size would be more dangerous than a starship, but something that the V’kit’no’sat could kill with ease compared to the others. None this small had ever been seen before, but Mak’to’ran knew this was no Hadarak. The weaponry it had displayed in the Preserve during their firing drills dwarfed the V’kit’no’sat’s largest Tar’vem’jic and had a similar range. Unlike most of the other Uriti designs, this one was meant to forego close in assaults on planets and simply destroy them outside the range of their defensive weapons. A change in tactics, to be sure, on the part of the Chixzon, but if they truly had lost two Uriti in ill-planned campaigns he could see the advantage of such a radical design change. Even with one as small as this.

He knew their size would continue to grow, as the Hadarak also did, but this Uriti in particular posed a serious threat to the V’kit’no’sat as is…and it was a shame he could do nothing about it today. The four ships he had brought couldn’t do more than scratch it, not that the defending Star Force fleet would allow them to do even that much.

Before their arrival was picked up on Star Force sensors Mak’to’ran sent out a message indicating they were here to talk, not to fight. He identified himself as the leader of the V’kit’no’sat and requested direct and private comm lines to the trailblazers here…whom his staff quickly informed him, based off of ship IDs that started to be cataloged, that there were now at least 7 present.

That number climbed to 11 by the time he received a return message along with a set of coordinates and a promise of safe passage so long as he didn’t try anything.

“As expected,” he said to Zyrnox, who was beside him in his private chambers. “They do not seek combat out of vengeance. They are meticulous in their scruples, and right now they sit on a site of victory.”

“Others would shoot us on sight if they held their current powerbase.”

“These Humans are not others. They are confident in their righteousness even in defeat, which is one reason why we cannot break them. If they are to be eliminated as a threat, it is we that must do it. They will not self-destruct.”

“So I have learned. Will they not try and eliminate you?”

“If I am lost the V’kit’no’sat will not be gravely harmed,” he said humbly. “I am important, but not vital. My loss would not be a death blow.”

“Others would disagree.”

“The wounds of the past are healing. We are not on the verge of another civil war, Zyrnox. Most who spurred the first one are now dead anyway.”

“You expect them to honor their word?”

“To the letter, which is why you will make sure our ships do nothing to provoke them while I am in conference. This could take some time, and I do not want our position here compromised by those overeager to defend our dominance.”

Zyrnox huffed once, sensing a mild rebuke to himself along with that warning. “You need not fear, Mak’to’ran.”

“There are things I must discuss with them that you are not permitted to know, so I leave command of my ships to you for the duration.”

“How you deal with their heresy is your prerogative. Do you expect them to keep the comm private?”

“Probably, though they have made no promise to that and I will not demand it. We are in the lesser position here, Zyrnox, and it is one that I do not believe you or the others are acclimated to.”

Zyrnox suddenly realized that Mak’to’ran had been in this position before, when he had been branded a rebel by Itaru and forced to continually flee their pursuit.

“I understand now, and you are correct. I do not believe I could tolerate their smugness long enough to do whatever it is you intend to do. I will be on the command deck if you require me further,” the Voro’nam said, sending a telepathic ping of respect as he turned and exited the private chambers.

It wasn’t long after that the ships came into orbit over a planet further out than Terraxis. The V’kit’no’sat only had a catalog number for it, but the Humans had named it ‘Mars’ and it still held the scars of ancient battle, for the V’kit’no’sat had no reason to erase them on a world they were not going to inhabit.

A large Star Force fleet was waiting nearby, but not at the rendezvous coordinates. Instead there were 13 of their command ships, and from the updated information his staff was collecting it appeared each of them held one of their rare and formidable warlords that the V’kit’no’sat had never been able to capture or kill.

Mak’to’ran activated his holographic transmitter and waited, eventually seeing 13 smaller images appear before him. He enlarged them as much as he could so it appeared they were standing before him in life size, though he had to make some appear in the air at head height to make them all fit properly. He wanted to see as much of their body language as possible, and as he looked at them he saw one in particular that he remembered.

“Ethan-014, this is the second time we speak here.”

“Still not dead yet, am I?” the Human mocked.

“Obviously not.”

“Well, we’re still born of Zen’zat and you’ve still got to kill us because of your stupid rule, so what exactly are you here to talk about? Last time you were searching for information before you launched your assault, but unless those four ships are really advanced I’m thinking that’s not why you’re here this time.”

“I did not come here to fight, and I was not eager to destroy you the first time, if you remember.”

“Seemed pretty eager to me…unless we were actually Zen’zat pretending otherwise, which we weren’t. You believe that now?”

“You are no Zen’zat. That I am assured of.”

“But we still have to die?”

“I was assigned to come here as Fleet Commander last time, and sparing you wasn’t a decision I could make. Now I come to you as the sole leader of the V’kit’no’sat, and I hold much leniency.”

“You’re going to revoke our death sentence?”

“The reason for the death mark remains. You have our power but are not under our control. You have stolen it from us…despite your claims as to having recovered it. I still do not know how you originated, but it is of little importance now. You are not Zen’zat, and you are not working for one of our races, that much I know, but there is still something about your origins that you are not revealing.”

“I’ll throw you a bone and confirm that much,” Ethan offered. “So why are you here, exactly?”

“You invited me.”

“Not that I can recall, no.”

“You have done so indirectly, and now you are in a position of minimal leverage. Thus I am listening.”

“It’s pretty simple,” Ethan said, speaking on behalf of the other trailblazers as they were all mind linked together and discussing things in private across the battlemap network. “Go away and don’t come back.”

“I cannot do that. The reason for the rule is more important than the rule itself. You did not create the power you wield, you took it from us. I admit you have done more with it than expected, and for that you deserve credit, but you cannot keep it. We tolerate no rogue races, even of Zen’zat. Once part of the empire, you do not leave it.”

“So you want us to join it?” Ethan asked oddly.

“I have a proposition for you.”

“We do hate your guts, just so you know, but we’re listening.”

“I do not take orders from Itaru, I give them, and they will abide by whatever agreement we reach here even if they do not like it…so long as the reason is satisfied. You cannot remain independent, but if you agree to join the empire we can end this war immediately and I can give you considerable lenience in your daily affairs.”

“Specify.”

“You are not Zen’zat, and therefore cannot serve as Zen’zat unless you forfeit the powers you did not earn in the proper manner. You will not do this and I am not asking it, but it means you cannot be part of the empire as it is. However, the V’kit’no’sat dominate the inner half of the galaxy and many have suggested we expand outward as well. We have been suppressed with stagnation for some time, so much so that we do not even know the major powers on the Rim unless they interfere with us. I can commission your civilization to work on our behalf in the rim, never crossing into our existing territory and intermixing with the rest, but you would be part of the empire and no longer rogue. That would allow me to remove the death mark against you.”

“I’m curious why didn’t you offer this before?”

“I was not leader of the V’kit’no’sat before.”

“I mean more recently.”

“I had thought we would destroy you and end the problem. Now that destruction has become extremely complicated.”

“No kidding,” Ethan said with a cruel smirk. “Why do you think we would agree to this now that we’ve finally kicked you out of our former territory?”

“Because you do not crave war. You seek to preserve life at every turn. If I am forced to bring our full might against you and your Uriti you will be destroyed, but it will be a bloody war on both sides, and if that can be avoided with negotiation then negotiation is preferable.”

“So you want us to work for you or Itaru?”

“For me personally. Itaru would not have authority over you. Only I would.”

“And if you were killed?”

“Safeguards could be made regarding that eventuality.”

“And what changes would you demand of us?”

“Few. You have unlocked potential in the Zen’zat genome that we have not, thus it follows that we allow you to continue on your path so that we may learn more to further enhance our own Zen’zat, but you could not run freely in all cases. I would give limited direction to keep you within bounds, but how you deal with the other races you’ve accumulated I care not.”

“And our Mavericks?”

“Those currently enhanced would be permitted, but the enhancing of others must end. If you need more Archons, breed more, but keep the powers to your own race.”

“Now that is a shock,” Ethan said, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re telling Zen’zat to breed?”

“As I said before, you are not Zen’zat. It would take time to define what you are within the empire, but I am not unreasonable. You have shown prowess in battle and strategy, and I would be a fool to ignore and bury it. I wish to turn your power into an advantage for the V’kit’no’sat, as well as to reward you for the accomplishments in battle that you have demonstrated thus far. You should not have survived a century, yet here you are persisting onward and growing stronger with the passage of time. I need the V’kit’no’sat to be as strong as possible, and letting you work on the Rim outside our current borders keeps the balance within us intact along with your own powerbase.”

“Are you aware of the events concerning the Rajch System?”

“I am.”

Ethan smiled. “Is that what prompted this meeting? Or were you close by when we took this system?”

“Rajch and the other assaults with Uriti made it clear that I could no longer trust in my subordinates to deal with you, so I came myself.”

“Did we get your shipyards? Roger hasn’t made it back yet, so we haven’t been informed.”

“You destroyed them all and exited the system with your fleet intact. Why has it not returned yet?”

“He had to take the long way to get there. You guys are camping on the fast jumplanes.”

“It was a well-executed strike, and the fact that you didn’t kill my people needlessly tells me there is a chance for us to collaborate. You are not out for blood, and I can cancel the death mark by reuniting you with us. The elaborateness of that reunion will not be well accepted, but I will make it fixed over time. I should have dealt personally with you prior to now, but my main concern has been the Hadarak. My main concern is still the Hadarak, and your knowledge of the Uriti is worth enough to compensate in the minds of others for the leniency I am showing you.”

“You try to murder us for more than a millennia and now you say you’re showing leniency? Your arrogance is astounding.”

“You may have datafiles on the empire, but you truly do not understand it. What may appear as arrogance to you is not. I know the arrogant, and have fought and killed many of them within the V’kit’no’sat. I do not come to you now with arrogance. I am here trusting in your word, offering an end to the war while putting myself in a vulnerable situation. You are honorable, and because of that I know we can come to an agreement that is mutually beneficial.”

“You know, I’ll admit your offer is tempting,” Ethan said honestly. “Not because of the reasons you think, but because The Nexus is collapsing and we’re trying to save as many people out there as we can…only we can’t because we’re having to fight you just to survive. The idea of turning our full resources to the Rim is tempting, and we do like negotiating…we like it a lot, actually, but there’s one factor you’re not considering.”

“And that is?”

“All of our friends you’ve killed. We won’t forget them, and their deaths mean that we will never join you, under any circumstances. If you want an end to this war, then simply leave. We won’t make a promise that we will not attack you, but as I’ve said we have a lot of people in the Rim that need saving and that’s going to occupy most of our time.”

“We also have an agreement with the Uriti,” Morgan interrupted. “They hate you, almost as much as we do…maybe even more, it’s hard to tell.”

“And what is that agreement, exactly?”

“We stop holding them back and let them help us fight you, up until this war is over one way or another. After which, if we survive, we take them to see their cousins in the Core. So your proposal won’t fly with them, and be honest, they’re the real reason you are here.”

“What I have said has not been dishonest. I truly do wish to utilize you on the Rim and learn from what others will call heresy. We have become too regimented over time, and you have broken free from it and gained unexpected power. I am interested in that, but you are correct in saying that my main concern is with the Uriti…but not just for the obvious threat they pose to us. They are born from Hadarak, changed as they may be, and you have the ability to converse with them. We have never, in our entire 6 million year history, been able to get even a moment of communication with the Hadarak.”

“We are…” he continued “the hunters of the Hadarak. Their destruction is the reason the V’kit’no’sat exist. Compared to them, you are nothing. If I can gain knowledge of the Hadarak from you, it will override any heresy you have committed, intentional or accidental. You underestimate how important this is to us.”

5

“We’re not going to join your empire,” Ethan said flatly. “And as long as you continue to put your own dominance above all else and refuse to learn, you will always be our enemy. Change your ways and that might be different, but if you did that you would no longer be V’kit’no’sat. Your datafiles are quite clear. You must be in control of everything, and that which is not under your control obsesses you. That is why you are consumed with the Hadarak, and that is why you are here now. You won’t hesitate to kill anyone that opposes you, even if they are in the right, and because of that we will always be enemies.”

“Then so be it. Even with the Uriti you cannot stand against our full might. I am offering you a chance to end the war and you are refusing it. Which of us is truly arrogant?”

“Can you bring our dead back to life?” Sara-012 asked.

“You have Kich’a’kat the same as we do.”

“The long dead,” the trailblazer clarified.

“We cannot. I cannot. But I can offer you a future.”

“We have a saying, Mak’to’ran. It’s ‘Death before Dishonor.’ It means there are more important things than simply staying alive. We will not betray our dead friends by allying with their killers. You are a threat that has to be stopped, and you can do that yourself by changing your ways, but so long as that threat exists, not only to us but others, we will not stop pursuing it any sooner than you will stop pursuing the destruction of the Hadarak. It is why we exist.”

“Our goals are not wholly incompatible, and with adjustment we could come to a resolution.”

“To do that you’d have to stop being the bad guys,” Ethan said bluntly. “I don’t even think you understand how to do that.”

“Life is important, but not nearly as much as you suggest. Sometimes death is needed to accomplish important goals.”

“And there you have it,” Sara added. “Death is only necessary for a threat that cannot be eliminated in another manner. If someone is not a threat, then death is not acceptable. Killing Zen’zat offspring is unacceptable, because you have the ability to remove their psionics. You never even bothered, did you? You just kill them because it’s simpler and creates a greater deterrent to disobedience.”

“Yes,” Mak’to’ran admitted.

“Killing for the sake of a deterrent is wrong.”

“There we disagree. If so warned and ignored, the death is warranted.”

“How were we warned about being born?” Ethan asked, with the trailblazers still relying on him as the point man in this conversation.

“Your progenitors were, and they made a choice. Blame them, not us.”

“That’s a dodge. You are penalizing us for their actions, with death. We were not warned. We did not disobey. You are killing us because it is convenient.”

“Your deaths are anything but convenient,” Mak’to’ran quipped.

“Because we have the power to oppose you. Those that don’t you just squash under your largess and think nothing of it. That is why you are the bad guys and why we will fight you until you are either dead or change. See, we give you an out. We give you an option that you don’t give others. And we only fight you because you are a threat to us and others. If you mind your own business we don’t bother you. You bother everything and everyone because you think it is your right as the dominant. And the dominant dictate everything, don’t they?”

“The dominant have responsibilities as well, and we cannot spend unlimited time hunting down code breakers and dealing kindly with them. The death marks are efficient and effective because they are a deterrent and an elimination of any who break the code, so they are not around to break other aspects of it later. This allows us to apply our strength where needed…which is against the Hadarak.”

“Unacceptable,” Paul-024 said. “Everyone has a right to live, and you’re ignoring it because they’re inconvenient. Well, a lesson about the Uriti…they considered us to be too small to talk to until we proved ourselves worthy. And if we don’t display care for those lesser than us, why should we expect them to?”

“I was told you were able to communicate through a Chixzon alteration?”

“We can,” Ethan answered, “but that’s more like ordering. We’ve learned to talk to them as well when they don’t have to obey. We, and even your big ass, are considered ‘little beings’ by them. They do not care about little beings, but we’ve proven to be helpful to them and even close to being friends. However, if we come between them and the Hadarak, we’re pretty sure they will choose the Hadarak. And you’re killing the Hadarak. Starting to get the picture?”

“You’re saying the Hadarak won’t talk to us because we are not helpful to them?”

“Possibly.”

“Despite the number of them we have killed?” Mak’to’ran asked in disbelief. “Surely that would gain their attention if they hold a bond to each other as your Uriti seem to suggest.”

“There’s your problem,” Paul added. “You’re trying to be the dominant one. You’re not, they are, so when you try to speak to them from a dominant position…well, how did you respond to us? You said you’re here to talk to us now because the Uriti got your attention. You didn’t bother to come before because you were busy with more important matters. Maybe the Hadarak are busy and see you as nothing more than annoying ants that need to be stepped on.”

“A curious metaphor when your civilization goes to great length to remove even ants from your path,” Mak’to’ran pointed out with some scorn, but he was listening. He’d learned more about the Hadarak mentality from this conversation than all V’kit’no’sat throughout history, so his mind wasn’t as closed as the Humans probably thought. “What would it take from us to end this war?”

He saw varied reactions from all 13 Humans, but it was Ethan that spoke again.

“Number 1, you leave our territory and never return. Not even with scout ships. Number 2, you rework the V’kit’no’sat into something that isn’t an abomination so we don’t have to come to your territory to solve that problem for you. We’re not the type of warriors who stand behind a line on the map when bad things are happening on the other side. We go where the trouble is.”

“And if I could arrange for both, could you restrain the Uriti from attacking us?”

“We could order it, but we will not. We have an agreement with them.”

“But if you did order it. They would obey?”

“Probably. There are no guarantees.”

“So in order for there to be peace between us, your philosophy must conquer the V’kit’no’sat?”

“Our philosophy is based on reality. It’s not a frivolous thing.”

“The structure of the V’kit’no’sat is also based on reality. A portion of it that you seem to eschew…but I will confess you seem to have found another corner of reality that we are unaccustomed to, and it may have enabled you to communicate with the Hadarak where we have not. We learn and we adapt, but we will not turn our back on lessons learned. That is what you ask of us, to become like you and forgo our wisdom. Teach us something new, if you like, but we will not release the gains we have made…including the use of death marks. If one is in error I can remove it, but the practice itself is valuable. Reality has taught us as much.”

“And we will always oppose you because of that,” Morgan said with a note of finality.

“Even if you operate in the Rim and we the Core?”

“We will not hold to a line and allow people on the other side to suffer injustice,” Ethan said flatly.

“You underestimate us if you think you can ultimately win that fight…but that is your fate, and your prerogative. If that is how you decide to die, then we will honor that choice and pay the necessary price for our error in allowing you to exist in the first place. However, I am willing to give you an advantage in that fight if you will agree to a lesser, temporary arrangement.”

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“I care about defeating the Hadarak more than I care about your destruction. My offer of your inclusion in the empire still stands, for now and into the future if you reconsider, but I do not want you to die and take the secrets of the Hadarak with you. I cannot afford to waste such an opportunity, so I will agree to a temporary ceasefire as well as safe passage for you and any number of your Uriti that you wish to travel to the Core and meet directly with the Hadarak.”

That caused all the Humans to stir, with sufficient body language that Mak’to’ran did not need telepathy to register their surprise.

“You’re hoping the Uriti will stay there and leave us vulnerable?”

“A possibility that I have considered, but my purpose in allowing the meeting is to gather data. You share everything you learn about the Hadarak, keeping what Uriti secrets you wish to yourselves, but share all you learn from the Hadarak and I will grant you a Sarma of reprieve from our attacks. I will not promise you will not be surveilled, but we will not attack you in any form for the duration. You will have time to reconsider my original proposal, but even if you do not accept you will have time to rebuild your worlds and increase your fleets. This will make it much harder for us to defeat you, but it is merely an inconvenience when compared to the otherwise unobtainable information on the Hadarak that you will be able to provide us.”

A Sarma was a V’kit’no’sat time measurement, equivalent to 243 years, give or take a few months, and all the trailblazers knew instantly how much of an advantage that would provide them in the war.

“The Hadarak are that important to you?” Ethan asked.

“They are.”

“And if we don’t get the answers you want?”

“I only ask that you give me everything you discover. Whatever it is, it will be more than we currently have. Is it true you can telepathically connect to the Uriti?”

“Yes.”

“And can you listen in to their conversations between one another?”

“No, but we can monitor their stats and determine various reactions. If we want to know what they’re thinking we have to ask.”

“And they share this knowledge with you of their own accord?”

“They do. We cannot force it, for the Chixzon did not wish to communicate, they only wished to point them at a system and say ‘destroy’ while sitting back, feet kicked up with a good view.”

“Do you believe they would share information they obtain from the Hadarak.”

“Probably, but I can’t guarantee it.”

“Can you guarantee that they would never tell us?”

Ethan smiled, seeing where Mak’to’ran was going with this. “Pretty much.”

“Then it is a gamble I will take. You have a habit of honoring your word, and if you promise to reveal everything the Hadarak give the Uriti, or anything you learn through the Uriti about the Hadarak, then you will have your Sarma of Armistice so long as you do not attack our territory for the duration. As much as you might like to, as you said, you have other priorities on the Rim to deal with in the interim as well as preparing for our future attacks if you do not accept my annexation proposal.”

“And if the Uriti don’t want to hold to this agreement?”

“Then I only ask that you do not accompany them when they attack us. We will not hold their actions against you unless you are complicit. And it shouldn’t be hard to make them understand that the war will be coming soon anyway, and that it is in your best interests to wait while you build more ships. Or am I misunderstanding your relationship with them?”

“Their minds are odd compared to others, and not always predictable to those unfamiliar with them. They have never met a Hadarak before, so I’m not going to guess as to how they will behave afterward.”

“Honor your part and I will honor ours. That is all I ask.”

“You’ll give us access to the black hole routes of our choosing?”

“Yes, though I would suggest you let us suggest the meeting spot. We know more about their movements than you could with outdated files.”

“How long will it take you to get word to all of yours ships to stand down?”

“Those connected to the Urrtren will be so instructed prior to your potential arrival even if you left tomorrow. I will escort you there myself if you wish.”

“No. I don’t want your ships anywhere near the Uriti. Right now the one we have in this system is asking for permission to attack you. He doesn’t understand negotiation. You are the enemy, so he wants to smash you every time he sees you. The Uriti trusts our judgement to a point, so they allow us to deal with other little beings as we wish, but if not for our suggestion he would be attacking you now. Having V’kit’no’sat ships traveling with us is a bad idea.”

“Then I will proceed you and clear the path of your choosing. Do we have an accord?”

“The Sarma will begin when we leave the Core, but you will stand down your attacks as of now.”

“So agreed, contingent on your revelation of the data. I assume when you meet the Hadarak our presence would also be a hindrance?”

“Yes.”

“Then I will clear your path and leave the matter to you. I will give you a temporary access code to the Urrtren so you can deliver the data in any system that you wish. Once I personally receive it the Sarna will begin.”

“Agreed. You will also make sure our path is clear of other hostiles.”

“Of course,” Mak’to’ran added, knowing full well the intricacies of such deals, but he would have dealt with other races harshly on his own anyway, for he did not want anything spoiling this opportunity. “I have more of an interest in this meeting than you do. Yours is curiosity. Mine is a multi-million year war.”

“When ready we will meet you in the Bmakaen System. Our leading ships will arrive first, the Uriti last, so you can wait for us there then depart before they arrive. Our transit will be slower, because we have to make occasional stops for them to star dive. They are patient in their carriers, but that patience has limits.”

“We will wait in each system until the first of your vessels arrives, so not to leave you behind. Is this accord firm, or do you have to confirm it with Director Davis?”

“It is firm. He will be in agreement, and even if not we share power. We have the authority to make this decision. It is official as of now, so long as you are able to speak for your empire.”

“I do, and we are now in accord. The fleets you have been fighting in this region have already been withdrawn. I will instruct them as to the particulars of this deal personally, then await you at Bmakaen.”

“Expect some delay in us getting there.”

“So long as it does not become stalling, I am not in a hurry. But I understand the diplomatic issues between you and the other races in your Preserve. However, there can be no veto or renegotiation of this accord.”

“They are obnoxious observers. They do not give us orders.”

Mak’to’ran huffed his approval. “Bmakaen then,” he said, ending the comm.

Ethan watched from the command nexus onboard his flagship as the four V’kit’no’sat Kafcha promptly left Mars orbit and headed back to the star…while Star Force reminded Papa Smurf to let them go, not that he could have caught them anyway.

“Guys?” Morgan asked as the 13 of them were still in holo-conference with each other.

“Did not see that coming,” Jason-025 admitted.

“Does anyone else think he forced our hand with the Uriti?” Bo-065 asked.

“He did,” Paul agreed. “We made an agreement with the Uriti and he knows we’ll honor it. We just don’t know if the Uriti will come back with us afterward.”

“So we’re not taking all of them?” Morgan asked.

“Not a good idea, transport wise,” Paul agreed. “Plus we need to leave some here just in case Mak’to’ran breaks his word.”

“And if they all want to leave for the Core after meeting the Hadarak?” Sara asked.

Ethan cringed. “I think Mak’to’ran would think that an even better trade for a 243 year pause in the war.”

“Do you think he was serious about the other offer?” Trent-092 asked.

“I think he was,” Morgan answered, “but I think there was a lot left unsaid about the ‘restrictions’ placed on us. He’d probably be generous from his point of view, but not from ours.”

“Anyone actually considering it?” Jason asked, receiving unanimous ‘no’ shakes of their heads. “Good. Just checking. So…who’s going to Dino Land?”

6

March 3, 4834

Narkeem System (V’kit’no’sat territory)

Black Hole Orbit

When the Star Force armada began to come through their very easy deceleration into the black hole system they found the huge gravity well at the center nearly devoid of ships. That was very odd, because this black hole linked to 6 others on long jumplanes that the V’kit’no’sat used heavily, but per Mak’to’ran’s promise he’d cleared the way for the armada even at this massive of a traffic nexus.

The ships were nearby, or at least as ‘nearby’ as one could get in a system of this size. There were four other stars that orbited the black hole and a total of 284 planetoids mixed in amongst them, all in stable orbits. That made the system very odd, and from the naked eye looked more like 4 star systems very close to one another, but take a gravity sensor and you’d quickly find that the dominant force amongst all of them was quietly invisible in the center.

The black hole was the focus for the traffic, due to the immense acceleration and deceleration potential it provided. Had Star Force not come here, the next leg of their journey would have required 18 different jumps and a total of a month and a half going passing through ‘normal’ systems, but that same distance to another black hole, straight shot, was going to take them only 4 days and Paul could see more ships entering the system on this side of the gravitational mass that bent sensor signals enough to be a problem, but it was large enough to physically block out what was on the other side as well, just as a star would have.

The incoming V’kit’no’sat ships were mostly civilian, and soon after each arrived they flew off out to the stars and planets where millions of others were waiting. A lot of them were native to this system, but at least a good portion of those visible were temporarily stuck there to clear way for the Star Force fleet…which was odd, given how huge even the innermost orbit around the black hole was…but the idea was to keep the enemy as far away from the Uriti as possible.

As Paul’s sensors worked themselves around the disruption he saw a mobile mining platform leaving the black hole, guessing that Mak’to’ran had probably ordered it away as soon as he arrived due to the fact that the 5 Uriti Star Force was bringing with them were going to use this system as one of their rest stops. Star Force had no black holes in the Preserve, and one of this size was too tempting a playground for the Uriti to pass up.

By the time the first of the Uriti transports came out of their jump there was already over 82,000 Clan Ghostblade jumpships here with their bays fully loaded with drones, and Kara had already arrived in the Yi. Only those two trailblazers had been sent, sending their best naval Archons in the form of The Admiral and the Queen of Diamonds who, above all others, had the most experience moving and hiding ships. If the V’kit’no’sat didn’t honor their word and tried to ambush Star Force, the other 99 trailblazers would be unaffected and, with the rest of the Uriti, would start lighting up the enemy empire in response.

That was why this wasn’t seen as a vacation with a third or more of the trailblazers going, though they all wished they had. Paul didn’t think Mak’to’ran would betray his word, but they were bringing enough warships to make sure they had plenty of disengagement options if necessary…and if they had to run, they’d have to take the long way back and Paul would have to keep the fleet alive pulling every trick in the book, which was why he wanted Kara and her fleet with him.

So far there had been no trouble though, starting with their rendezvous in the Bmakaen System and the 12 jumps since then. This was going to be the first big black hole jump the fleet was going to make, though they’d already caught one smaller one prior to arriving in V’kit’no’sat territory to save time now that they weren’t trying to be sneaky and could afford to draw attention.

As for the Preserve Council, they’d been heated when Star Force told them they couldn’t come along. Paul had no doubt that the Knights of Quenar were pacing them, under cloak that even Star Force’s fleet couldn’t see. He really wished Tennisonne had a Ghostbane sensor package operational, but the MasterTech said his functional prototypes were not up to snuff yet and he had to make a plethora of refinements. He knew Tennisonne was probably right, but he hated flying blind to their sometime ally’s presence.

He did know that the Bocadeem were trailing them, and suspected others were as well, but the Bocadeem were so close that Star Force was able to pick up occasional sensor blips despite their own cloaking devices. Their stealth was not as good as the KoQ’s, and he’d warned them not to follow because the V’kit’no’sat had sensors that could defeat their cloaks. He hadn’t elaborated on the particulars of that but had delivered the warning nonetheless, and knew for a fact that the Ghostbane could pick up the KoQ vessels, for he’d had Tennisonne send one of his ‘crappy’ prototypes to the Preserve to check on that and it had indeed been able to pick up some of their vessels at extreme close range.

So if their little toy could do it, the much better V’kit’no’sat sensors probably could at decent range. How many of those things they had Paul didn’t know, but if he were them he’d have one built in each system in addition to their scout ships as a matter of prudence. He’d also warned Mak’to’ran that there might be hitchhikers under stealth pacing them, because he didn’t want the V’kit’no’sat to think Star Force was trying to pull something. He needed this mission to be as obvious and simple as possible, and he didn’t want these idiots screwing it up by passing through V’kit’no’sat systems without their permission.

So Paul had warned both sides and essentially washed his hands of it. Mak’to’ran, if he decided to attack the cloaked ships, wouldn’t be blaming Star Force and if the Council races did come under attack Paul wasn’t going to defend them because he had told them specifically not to follow him. It wasn’t a good situation to be in, but he’d organized his neutrality the best way possible and if his ‘allies’ got killed it’d be their fault.

And the thing was, he probably wouldn’t even know it if they did because they were trailing behind his fleet and if they were going to be jumped by the V’kit’no’sat they’d do it after the Star Force ships had all jumped out, but Paul had a feeling the KoQ weren’t trailing, but intermixing with his fleet. Doing so was tricky with the packed nature of the jumps the convoy was making, but he didn’t feel that they’d be comfortable in the back without being able to see what was happening and they’d never had a collision before…meaning they were damn good navigators.

As for Paul’s own stealth ships, none of the Ma’kri were running with their cloaks up. They were all visible for the fact that they were permitted to be here. There was no need to hide them, especially given that the V’kit’no’sat could see them with the Ghostbane sensor anyway, and he really didn’t like the idea of the KoQ being here and being visible to the V’kit’no’sat making it look like Paul had something to hide.

But so far there had been no visible fallout, and when Bahamut’s transport arrived and released him to space there was no sign of any V’kit’no’sat within millions of miles…as had been agreed. So far Mak’to’ran was honoring his part of the deal, and Paul had a feeling that his war against the Hadarak was his primary concern above all else and that he needed the intel from this mission badly. If there was going to be any conflict it’d be after he got the intel, not on the trip into the Core.

One by one the other transports arrived staggered within the warship convoy, depositing Nami, Devastator, Godzilla, and Apollo lower into black hole orbit as the fleet casually gathered above them, forming a more or less symbolic barrier between them and the V’kit’no’sat as all 5 Uriti disappeared down into the black hole. It wasn’t known, even to Nefron, if these five had ever been at a black hole before, but he’d assured Paul the gravity as actually beneficial to them rather than dangerous. The super black holes at the center of the galaxy and a few rare other locations might be dangerous, might not be, for the Chixzon had never bothered to experiment on such things when all they wanted the Uriti for was to rip apart the planets of their enemies.

The Hadarak typically spawned in the super black holes where the V’kit’no’sat could not attack them, and even this smaller black hole could be used as a spawning ground if the Hadarak ever came out this far, but for the Uriti it was something much different and Paul was getting a constant update from the 8 Wranglers he had in the fleet.

The Uriti were absolutely giddy, or whatever their equivalent emotion was, and the initial data the Wranglers got before they disappeared beneath the third event horizon and sank down into the ultra thick material of the black hole itself, was showing a surge in various tissues that had not been previously recorded. Whatever effect the black hole was having on them was something new to Star Force and Paul quickly calculated that they needed a relay system in order to fully study it with them submerged, but that wasn’t going to happen here. They’d have to scrape what little insights they could off the entry and exit data, but it was clear that there was something going on here that the Chixzon had not known of…or at least hadn’t included in Nefron’s genetic memories.

As for the selection of the Uriti, that had happened automatically. Bahamut had been selected by the Uriti themselves, with Star Force picking the others. Given the fact that the Hadarak were much larger than the Uriti, Paul had elected to bring the biggest two they had…Devastator and Godzilla. Devastator was the widest with Godzilla being the most massive. Both were star shaped, with Devastator having 4 arms and Godzilla having 3, so they’d be, size wise at least, the most similar to the Hadarak.

Apollo was the roundest and most similar shaped to the Hadarak, while Nami was very small. Paul wanted to see how they’d react to such a small one, plus she had a disruption weapon that would at least mess with V’kit’no’sat systems even if didn’t completely take them down as it did to most races’ starships prior to the main concussion blast she also released. That weapon was better suited to use within an atmosphere, but it could do considerable damage at point blank rage to starships as well.

And bringing the two largest Uriti Star Force had also would make Mak’to’ran cringe if he intended to attack them at some point. Paul knew their weakest position was during transit, which was why he was keeping the Uriti in the rear portion of the convoy so they didn’t have to enter a system into potential trouble.

Paul also had two extra Uriti transports with him, just in case the others were damaged, as well as 4 MCVs so they could make repairs or even build new ones in the field if needed. What he did not want to get into was a situation where the Uriti would have to travel under their own power with Pauls’ fleet essentially being stranded in escort of them as they creeped their way back to Star Force territory at painfully slow speed.

He also didn’t want to draw out these rest stops too much, and the Uriti were eager enough to get to the Core themselves, so after 14 hours of black hole bathing all 5 came back up and boarded their transports and the convoy began to jump out of the system ship by ship in a long snake-like line with Mak’to’ran’s much smaller convoy heading out just before they arrived at the exiting jumppoint.

Paul had Kara go first, with him coming in about halfway through the convoy and still with a decent gap between him and the first Uriti transport. The jump itself wasn’t a long one, save for the distance traveled, and when they arrived at the exiting black hole they didn’t stop to take a dip in it. They directed to another jumppoint that led to a smaller black hole that required them to hold back on their engine power, else they’d over accelerate and not be able to stop at the far end.

They alternated between black hole routes and regular jumps between those preferred endpoints as they cut across the Centaurus and Norma galactic arms and came to the ball-like construct of densely packed systems known as the Galactic Core. Unlike the arms that were more or less flat when view from afar, the Galactic Core was basically a sphere with systems orbiting the gravitational center of the galaxy on a wide variety of paths. The galaxy itself had outliers all the way out to the rim, but the bulk of the systems orbited around a band that made the pancake-like shape. The few systems that did not were highly isolated, some unable to jump to because of the distances, but here in the Core there were so many so close together that jumplanes were not only accessible, they were shortened to only 2-3 lightyears in some places.

That meant in the Core you couldn’t get long jumps, making travel even slower. The few routes that did allow for longer ones were heavily coveted, and the V’kit’no’sat controlled virtually all of them up to the Hadarak border. According to Mak’to’ran they had tried to hold onto the other ones deeper inside, but the Hadarak intentionally attacked them to drive them off rather than just randomly patrolling the area that still held many indigenous races and civilizations that the Hadarak stomped on more or less accidentally. It was the V’kit’no’sat that they targeted intentionally, and to this day Mak’to’ran still did not know why.

Or rather he did not know why they would go for them in certain areas then basically ignore them further out until they got around to another probing attack. Between the two of them, Mak’to’ran and Paul agreed on a system in which to try and make contact with the Hadarak that was on one of their more frequent patrol routes.

Paul watched with interest the level of infrastructure in each system they passed through on their way there, comparing it to the data they’d originally gotten from the pyramid back when Star Force began and the bits of updates they’d been able to steal from damaged V’kit’no’sat ships over the course of the war. Some were more developed, others less, but the closer they got to the Hadarak border they began to thin down considerably in terms of civilian presence while the military equipment remained steady up until the last few stops, where it increased exponentially.

The final V’kit’no’sat system they passed through was Horanja, and it was essentially a fortress. There were so many weapon platforms around the central star that it made Paul’s fleet feel extremely small. He couldn’t have even scratched this system if he’d wanted to without the Uriti’s help, and even then he wasn’t sure what the outcome would be, for beyond all the fixed or semi-mobile weaponry there was a defense fleet that dwarfed his own. He’d known the V’kit’no’sat were created to fight the Hadarak, but this was even more buildup than he’d imagined…and far more than had been present at the time the Rit’ko’sor rebellion had begun.

Maybe this was just a hot spot that needed extra reinforcing, but according to Mak’to’ran it was standard…and the reality of just how powerful the V’kit’no’sat were began to sink in. He’d known it previously, in an academic sense, but despite everything they’d thrown at Star Force they really were just playing with them this whole time. They had the power to destroy the rogue Human civilization if they wanted to, but what Paul was seeing here made it clear that the Hadarak were far more dangerous a threat to the V’kit’no’sat, and the galaxy as a whole, than Star Force would ever be.

Mak’to’ran’s focus was here, as it should be, and Star Force, for the moment, was the key to gaining intel on the V’kit’no’sat’s nemesis, making this temporary alliance logical despite appearances to the contrary…along with Mak’to’ran’s other offer for inclusion in their empire as a rim-only force. Mak’to’ran just wanted to get the Human problem dealt with so he could focus on the real threat, and from the level of buildup here it was clear that he hadn’t been spending too much effort and resources on Star Force.

And Paul’s fleet wasn’t staying here, they were going beyond this system further into the Core where what this fortress system was built to defend against roamed freely. They went where they wanted, attacked who and what they wanted, and left all those systems in the Core at their mercy. Paul had seen the data from the time before the V’kit’no’sat had pushed the Hadarak back this far, and it wasn’t pretty, but the Hadarak didn’t seem to focus on any race. Much like the Uriti, they found the ‘little beings’ irrelevant and fought them whenever they pestered them, but operated how they wanted regardless of what was done or not done to fight them.

Until the V’kit’no’sat arrived. Now the Hadarak were strategically fighting them, but in an odd way. Part of the time they seemed to work against them as an enemy, other times they seemed to ignore them as the ‘little beings’ that they were. Mak’to’ran had gone as far as to give Paul a lot of recent data on them, hoping he could find a pattern, but so far Paul could not. The Hadarak were a continually perplexing mystery, and the more Paul studied them the more he realized that Mak’to’ran needed Star Force to be successful on this mission, in any way, shape, or form, so the V’kit’no’sat would have something to analyze.

Part of Paul didn’t want to bother with the Hadarak now, for Star Force had plenty to deal with already, but another part of him salivated at the new challenge before him and the level of defense the V’kit’no’sat had arrayed against them only stoked that drive within him further. Archons craved challenges, and this may have been the largest challenge the galaxy had ever faced…and one the V’kit’no’sat had been working on for 6 million years without solution.

And that made it all the more tempting for Paul to dig his teeth into, but that wasn’t why they were here. They were here to make good on a promise to the Uriti and to deal with the fallout of their heritage. He didn’t know how this was going to go down, but it was something that needed to happen.

Still, he had a bad feeling about this…

7

June 17, 4834

Itium System (Hadarak Zone)

2nd planet

Paul was in the Archon sanctum onboard his ship climbing up a wall in high gravity when Admiral Baeren interrupted him via comm, noting the arrival of a Hadarak in the system. The trailblazer let go of his precarious handholds and floated down through the air at an angle to drop him off at the exit doorway where he then headed straight to the bridge at a modest run, his body relaxing now that he was back in normal gravity.

When he entered the bridge he walked past the numerous work stations that had the command chairs for the Admiral and Paul at the center, though he rarely used his. He preferred to use the more robust battlemap interface that the nearby command nexus offered even for small things, so he walked through his elite bridge crew and into the nook on the far side that put a single wall between him and the others as he walked up onto the shallow pedestal, linking in and getting an active sensor feed directly into his mind.

Holograms popped up as well, though he didn’t need them. He was so good at using the interface that he could pull the holographic feeds and translate them into mental images, though letting the ship’s computer handle that during high stress situations was best and he’d just got in the habit of flicking them on regardless.

And on them was a 215 mile wide Hadarak. Paul had seen images of them before, but now that he was here he got an odd feeling immediately…only to realize it wasn’t him, but the telepathic auras of the nearby Uriti washing over him.

He immediately checked the anti-psionic shields on his ship, finding they were in fact intact, but somehow the Uriti were getting something through.

He got a complex forwarding of the Wranglers’ interface with the Uriti, indicating that they were sending out unbelievably strong emissions that were part telepathic and part something else they’d never seen before, but it was obvious to them all that they were responding to the Hadarak…the question was how?

“What do you make of it?” Kara asked, popping up in front of Paul in hologram.

“They didn’t do this with each other, so it may be something buried deep within their genetic code. I don’t think the Chixzon ever planned on having them meet, so we’re in uncertain waters here.”

“Are we waiting for it to notice us?”

“It already has, if it bothers to passive scan,” Paul said, still interfacing with the Wranglers rather than plugging into the Uriti himself. He needed his mind clear to maintain the naval situation. The V’kit’no’sat were not here at all, unless they had stealth ships present, and he presumed they did, but Mak’to’ran had not come on the final leg to this location. This first contact was Star Force’s responsibility, and the V’kit’no’sat were wisely staying out of it…or so it looked. Paul had to guard against something happening from them, and he couldn’t do that if he was trying to translate Uriti thought himself.

“I’m going in, just in the Excalibur,” he told Kara. “You have the fleet here, I’m taking Bahamut alone. Keep your eyes open.”

“Will do, Cap. Go make us some new friends if you can.”

“I wish,” Paul whispered as he cut the comm with Kara and told Hera-2574, who was on another deck inside the Excalibur, that he wanted only Bahamut to approach first so the Hadarak didn’t get spooked with all 5 Uriti coming towards it. In response he got a lot of gibberish that she was feeding him, mind to mind, with the Uriti behaving oddly. It seemed even they did not know what was happening, other than that they were receiving some type of signal from the Hadarak on an almost subconscious level starting from the moment it arrived…too soon for it to have noticed them.

There was also confusion and a bit of argument between the Uriti that they were letting the Wranglers’ in on, but as soon as Paul’s suggestion/order was transmitted via Hera they seemed to settle, with Bahamut approving and moving ahead to pace the much smaller Excalibur as they both headed in towards the star at a creeping pace as far as the starship was concerned. Bahamut was moving at moderate speed, making a microjump at less than full speed, and Paul guessed that he was taking this in stride rather than running towards the Hadarak like an ignorant youngling.

“Paul,” Hera said with some trepidation in her voice, “something is wrong. Bahamut feels it. The Hadarak are not what they expected.”

“How so?”

“There’s a vibe coming from it, a passive signal I’d guess. Maybe a telepathic medium like an open comm channel that the Chixzon eliminated when they created the Uriti. I’m guessing right now, but whatever it is, it’s bugging the Uriti like fingernails on a chalkboard.”

“They still had chalkboards when you were born?”

“You’re not that much older than me, bub. Plus the metaphor lasted a few centuries longer anyway.”

“Can you feel it?”

“Through them, yes. I don’t think it’s the same thing the Uriti were sending out, unless they’re so sensitive to it that we’re missing it.”

“Starting to regret not bringing Nefron,” Paul noted.

“Yeah, me too. If the Hadarak deploys minions, what do we do?”

“Stay back and let Bahamut handle it. We just need to stay in active telepathic range.”

“Got it. I’ll let him know. He’s agreed to let me listen in.”

“Good. Key in the recorder.”

“I’ve had it running since the Hadarak arrived. So long as he keeps sharing, we’ll have fresh data to study indefinitely.”

What she meant by that, Paul knew, was that they wouldn’t have to rely on Hera’s own memories, which she could transmit to others telepathically, but she wasn’t going to remember everything and even with all the Archons’ mental skills, memories had a way of fuzzing into inaccuracy. The V’kit’no’sat had developed technology to record memories so they could be viewed later, even millennia later, with no degradation. Star Force didn’t use that technology much, but had a few applications tucked away for a rainy day, and studying new behavior by the Uriti was one of them.

It took a few hours to reach low stellar orbit, with Bahamut still registering the odd passive transmission from the Hadarak. When they arrived the Hadarak was not where it had been previously. It was waiting for them at the incoming jumppoint with a swarm of minions around it. They remained stationary until Bahamut slowed enough to engage in telepathic contact without the ‘words’ getting all blurred by the speed compression.

As soon as they started to talk to each other the minions moved forward, heading towards Bahamut slowly…not nearly at combat speeds, but they were definitely moving to engagement range.

“Hera?”

“Standby,” she said, sounding pained.

Paul kept the Excalibur several thousand miles behind Bahamut but off to the side enough that they could get firm sensor readings on the Hadarak without the Uriti’s mass blocking them.

“No, no, no…” Hera said over the open comm, but it was clear she was talking to herself and not Paul. He didn’t interrupt her, studying the sensors as much as possible as the minions got closer to Bahamut and accelerated to attack speeds.

The Uriti took it in stride, not firing until they got to its ‘flesh’ and began ramming it in some cases and attacking with energy weapons in others. Bahamut didn’t tolerate that and cascades of red lightning followed, scraping the kamikaze IDF-laden minions off itself by vaporizing them and all the other minions within a few miles radius in chain-like effects that in some cases reached even further than its proximity defense range by jumping from one minion to another as they were vaporized.

The Hadarak also began to move towards the Uriti, perhaps not understanding that its minions were not pinning it in place or perhaps not caring. Bahamut held his ground even as the Hadarak came within grapple range, extending Lachka-like energy fields to hold the Uriti in place and even draw it towards its gravity generators that had a much shorter range, reflecting inside a pass-through shield matrix to enhance the effect and not pull on everything else in the universe.

As the Hadarak got closer, orifices on its surface began to open up and the tips of its giant tentacles crept out and into space. Paul counted 4 on the near side, then saw tips of at least two more coming out beyond the horizon on the huge Hadarak. It dwarfed Bahamut in size, and maybe it thought it could actually kill the Uriti, but right now Hera wasn’t giving him any information as to what was happening between the two of them.

But what Paul could see was the reaction of the other Uriti. They were too far away to see the attack yet, but they were already moving…all four of them…and heading towards Bahamut. They wouldn’t get here soon, with Nami being the fastest of the four and her ETA at no less than an hour and a half, but judging by their speeds they weren’t just coming in for a look, they were racing to help Bahamut as fast as they could.

They probably saw the minions move, and a message from Kara confirmed that they were under the impression that the Hadarak was going to attack Bahamut and they weren’t going to hold position any longer.

He sent a message back indicating that she should trail them at a distance with the fleet, but he wanted it close just in case they needed to take action as the Hadarak finally got an energy field grip on Bahamut. Hera was still sending telemetry to him, and he could feel Bahamut’s capture and resistance as he tried to pull away…which he did, easily, since the minions were not generating IDF fields to immobilize him.

The Hadarak didn’t relent, pouring fourth more minions and following Bahamut, who began striking down the minions as soon as they got within a few miles range.

“I know you’re busy, but I could really use an update…”

“It’s happening so fast, Paul. I’m just trying to keep up. The Hadarak are not accepting the Uriti and Bahamut is arguing the point. I don’t think this is going to end well.”

“Keep me updated when you can,” Paul said, letting her continue to monitor without pestering. “So much for making new friends.”

As he continued to watch the Hadarak closely, Paul saw additional orifices on the surface of the moon-sized lifeform open and pour out more minions…far more, making him think it was emptying every hangar it had to release a swarm that blotted out the sunlight behind it as they swirled around the circular mass of the Hadarak and moved in towards Bahamut. The Uriti swatted down many of them, but couldn’t get them all fast enough before he felt through the telemetry that its grip on the gravity well of the star had just diminished.

The Hadarak accelerated towards it quickly, almost making a microjump of its own, and Bahamut couldn’t match the acceleration at first, getting back within energy grappling range of the Hadarak before it began to break free again…then the Hadarak did make a microjump and nearly slammed into the Uriti as Paul moved the Excalibur out of the way and paced them as the first of the tentacles began to wrap around Bahamut’s left wing. The Uriti was pulled in even more by the localized gravity fields that could grasp the Uriti but the Uriti could not push off of due to the IDF goo of the corpses of minions that had rammed it and had not yet been burnt off.

Many were, as there was a constant cascade of red lightning arcs, but the swarm kept depositing more and more on them.

“Get back,” Hera warned. “Withdraw now,” she said, and Paul knew that wasn’t her warning but Bahamut’s.

Moving the Excalibur was easy, for compared to the two massive lifeforms it might as well have been a bolt of lightning. He tripled the distance to Bahamut, but continued to pace it as the two grappled on a random course further out into the system but off from the incoming jumpline the other Uriti were incoming on.

An update from Hera told Paul that Bahamut’s wing was damaged, being crushed by now two tentacles that were wrapped around it…but even as she sent that telemetry over to him he saw the pre-emptive flash of light indicating that Bahamut was about to discharge his main weapon, the Torronna that his wings generated.

When the big bang came it was larger than anything Paul had seen recorded by Bahamut, guessing that he’d been able to dig down a lot deeper now that his own life was threatened in a major way…and probably with a lot of anger too. Regardless, the yellow/white discharge was so large that it nearly obscured the entire Uriti from view and overloaded the Excalibur’s sensors so Paul couldn’t see what had happened until several seconds afterward.

Out of the aftermath Bahamut flew free, no longer entangled in the Hadarak’s tentacles and freeing himself from what remained of the minion good on his body with additional red lightning arcs as the Hadarak chased after him, now faster than before, but he couldn’t catch the slight faster Uriti even as the two accelerated so fast Paul worried about them being able to stop before careening out of the system.

When it became clear that the Uriti was uncatchable the Hadarak began to slow, pulling on the star even as the gravity well began to weaken and decrease its maneuvering power. Bahamut did likewise, but arced further away to get clear entirely.

Paul watched both maneuvers as he headed closer to the Hadarak, wanting to get a good damage reading as he noticed one of the tips of the tentacles was missing. Sensors found it shortly thereafter back in a lower stellar orbit before the chase got underway, and the closer the command ship got to the Hadarak the more he could see the massive damage that it had suffered…but nothing more than a good punch to the stomach, with its outer hull still partially intact in places and only a few small punctures around the orifices that were naturally less resistant to firepower even when closed.

Another two tentacles were partly broken, but not severed. They were just as tough as the main ‘hull’ of the Hadarak, but since they’d been touching the Uriti they’d taken the brunt of the attack and were slowly reeling back in, but doing so at a rate that he knew from V’kit’no’sat data meant they were too fragile to move any faster.

Bahamut had nearly blown apart three tentacles in one attack, but most of the Hadarak was still battle capable and the fact that it had chased Bahamut as far as it had was not a good sign. It could have been panic, but Paul guessed that the damage done, while significant, was nothing even close to a kill shot and the Hadarak’s sheer bulk meant it wasn’t something the Uriti could easily kill. He imagined that Bahamut would have to poke at it for days, if not weeks, to finally kill it, and he was sure Bahamut could due to the Hadarak’s inability to create addition minions as fast as the Uriti could destroy them.

Still, to have an enemy that could stand up to Bahamut’s Torronna and not only live, but keep on fighting as if it never occurred, was sobering. He didn’t know if Bahamut thought that way, but it underscored just how much damage the V’kit’no’sat fleets had to do over time to kill these things.

“Hera?” Paul finally asked as he pulled the Excalibur away from the Hadarak and headed back to where Bahamut was still decelerating from his escape jump.

“He’s hurting, badly, but only part of it is physical. His Torronna discharge bled into the crack in his own wing, burning it, but he’ll heal. The emotional damage…I don’t know. It’s rocked him to his core and he’s talking nonstop, to both me and the other Uriti even though they’re too far away. He keeps wanting to know if he did something wrong, what they could have done different, did they deserve this? He’s very disillusioned right now and he’s looking for answers.”

“What actually happened?”

“A lot. Too much to sum up, but it comes down to this…the Hadarak are going to pursue the Uriti until they’re dead. They’ve just become enemy #1 with the V’kit’no’sat a distant second.”

8

“Explain,” Paul demanded as Bahamut slowly changed course to rendezvous with the other Uriti, and vice versa, as the Excalibur flew in the gap in between them and the Hadarak.

Hera sighed, having mostly disconnected with Bahamut during his fleeing, and was now able to focus on bringing Paul up to speed.

“I think I know how the Chixzon solved their spawning problem. I’m surprised Nefron didn’t know.”

“Know what?”

“The Uriti are not Hadarak, they’re minions…really big minions. I think they used a Hadarak body and put a minion core in it.”

“How do you know that now?”

“The Hadarak told Bahamut. Told him he was an abomination that had to be destroyed. The Hadarak have a hive mind…that’s the odd signal that was irritating the Uriti. Bahamut doesn’t have it because he’s not a Hadarak, but he can sense it because his body is partially Hadarak…but his body is also partially minion, so there’s a massive confliction, like a feedback loop, that is giving them a headache. Part of them says they’re Hadarak but they don’t fit into the hive mind, another part says they’re minions and they’re supposed to be subservient to the hive mind. It’s all mixed up, but the Uriti are totally rejecting the hive mind.”

“The Hadarak think he’s a minion and not following orders?”

“No. No, no, no,” Hera said, her holographic head shaking. “The Hadarak are following orders. Some sort of purity code. Bahamut registers as a minion telepathically, but doesn’t respond to the hive mind. He’s like a virus, and one that’s pirated a lot from the Hadarak. It’s like the Hadarak view him as one of them, but whose voice is that of a minion who doesn’t speak like a minion. Sorry, this is hard enough for me to understand, but the bottom line is that the Hadarak sees Bahamut as the greatest threat to the Hadarak in existence and pushed him to the top of their kill list.”

“An actual list?”

“Yeah. The Hadarak aren’t just roaming and stepping on everyone in their way. They’re operating on orders, from what source I don’t know, but the hive mind is like an identification mechanism between Hadarak. If there is any anomaly detected it is purged, and Bahamut is showing up as the mother of all anomalies.”

“The Hadarak kill each other?”

“If they’re not pure enough, yeah, I got that impression…at least that they would. Based on the reaction, though, it might not have happened in a very long time, or perhaps ever. There is a rigid unity within the Hadarak and Bahamut is deemed an outsider. But not a stranger. He’s an altered form of them, and for that he has to be purged with extreme prejudice.”

“Well that’s just peachy,” Paul said, irritated to no end. “How’s Bahamut responding?”

“Shock. Utter shock at both the rejection and the attack. He also doesn’t understand the minion thing, because his minions aren’t people. They’re biological drones. So the Hadarak just called him a ‘non-person’ and he’s taking that as a huge insult on top of the rejection. I think he was expecting the Hadarak to be another type of Uriti, but it turns out they’re something very, very different, and not in a good way. He’s not going on a rampage, but he’s rudderless right now.”

“Provide as much of one as you can.”

“We are, and the other Uriti will be soon once they can get within closer range and talk it out. I can already tell they’re pissed that Bahamut is hurt, not to mention shocked that something out there can damage them that easily. All the ‘big people’ they know are friends, so this betrayal is messing with them too, despite them not knowing the details yet.”

“Are they going to want to strike back?”

“I have no clue, Paul. We’re way beyond any precedent here.”

“Is the Hadarak coming after us?”

“Yeah, but he’s empty right now. Thankfully we got some more speed into Bahamut, because if the Hadarak can’t catch them they have to use minions and he’s got none left to speak of. I’d guess he’s gonna eat and grow some more, and it looks like he’s angling towards the first planet.”

“And once he’s full?”

“They’re coming, Paul. Bahamut told them enough in their conversation that the Hadarak know where we live now. They’re coming for us, as an afterthought along with the V’kit’no’sat. Star Force is now higher on their kill list because of our involvement with the Uriti.”

“Is this kill list a metaphor of yours?”

“No, it’s not. These Hadarak are exterminators. That’s their purpose.”

Paul frowned as he saw the sensor data. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Couriers I’d bet,” Hera said angrily. “Going to tell their buddies about us.”

“Is there any chance of negotiation with the Hadarak?”

“Zero,” Hera said firmly, with the Excalibur suddenly accelerating at insane speed towards the four globs of material the Hadarak had just released and were moving in towards the star at starship-level speeds. “Are we going to kill the big one too?”

“Buying us some time,” Paul said, bringing the command ship to battle stations. “I assume the Uriti aren’t going to mind me blasting those couriers to bits?”

“Just do it, Paul. I’m not sure about anything they’re going to do from this point on. Are you sure we can get them all?”

“If they stick together, yes. There’s not much armor on them.”

“They’re moving stupidly fast.”

“We’ll catch them,” he promised, goosing the jump drives further and further. He had almost unlimited speed if he wanted to run the drives up to interstellar jump levels, but that was moving directly away or towards the star, with lateral movement options being much more limited. He was having to use both movement components to close on the courier minions, each of which were nearly a mile long…save for one that was about half that.

Paul knew from the V’kit’no’sat data that the size determined their range, and he guessed the Hadarak had sent all it possessed, with the fourth one being only partially grown. If it knew that it would have less range, then that probably meant…

“Damn,” he said as he saw them start to split up and head to different jumplines.

“How many can we get?” Hera asked.

“At least two. I don’t think I can get them all,” he said angrily.

“We need to send other ships to track them down,” Hera insisted. “We cannot let that message get through.”

“Done,” he said, sending a message to Kara to deploy several jumpships to follow them through whatever jumpline they exited on while he focused on reeling in the closest one. It took some time to get to it, but eventually he got within firing range of his Ardent beams and began to light it up…only to see the giant minion make an abrupt course change and head directly for the star, accelerating so fast that it left the Excalibur behind.

Paul adjusted and went after it within a second, but it was already out of firing range. There was no way the Hadarak could have given it orders that fast from this distance, and for the first time he was seeing firsthand the advantage of having minions that were living beings who could think and react on their own. This one knew it couldn’t get to the jumppoint, so it was drawing Paul away from the others.

If Paul let it go it’d just swing around and head back on its original course or head to another jumppoint, so he had no choice but to pursue it. When he got back within firing range again the courier ducked a second time, altering course violently, but Paul was on top of it this time, managing to get a few shots in as both ships zigged and zagged, draining the Excalibur’s capacitors precipitously but with plenty of power left for insystem maneuvering. If he needed to make an interstellar jump he’d have to wait for them to fill up again, otherwise he’d have to limp through the jump, and he knew that the maneuvers were at least as taxing on the minion for the same reason.

That would limit the number of jumps it made before dying, for they were ill suited to eating. They could survive on their own in a system, but they couldn’t refill their power reserves without a Hadarak, so they’d go as far as they could then stop and go into survival mode until a Hadarak eventually found them. This chase would limit how many systems this courier could travel through, but that wasn’t going to matter. The Ardent stings that were hitting at range, while not many, were doing enough damage that the minion’s movements got sloppier and sloppier until the command ship was able to get some better accuracy on it and rip it to pieces.

Literally, because there were no explosion of metal or atmosphere, only a splattering of biomatter until the hole-riddled minion ceased all propulsion. Paul moved in closer and ended any hope of it still surviving, then shot his ship off towards the next closest one, seeing that the other two were going to get to their jumppoints before he could intercept.

The ships that Kara were sending didn’t have a chance of catching them here, but they’d record where they went and follow them, maybe intercepting them during the coast phase of the jump and blowing them up enroute, but at the minimum they’d travel faster and arrive at the destination ahead of the couriers…then blown them to bits when they came out of their jumps.

Paul didn’t like sending a few ships off on their own away from the fleet, but Hera had been insistent that this was necessary and he didn’t doubt her judgement. Whatever had just happened with the Uriti and Hadarak was something they did not want to let word get out about, so these couriers had to go down.

Paul’s command ship caught up to the second a few minutes before it arrived at its jumppoint and dispatched it with ease. It didn’t try to evade, rather goosed its speed a bit further trying to get to the jumppoint, but it didn’t make it. Paul began to go after the third, knowing it was probably going to get away, but didn’t want to give it a jumppoint of its choice if there were preferred ones to locations where it knew other Hadarak were.

Whether it was the one it wanted or not, the minion arrived at its jumppoint and began to decelerate to align with the precise jumpline out, with Paul wondering how accurate their interstellar navigation was when a much larger ship appeared out of nowhere nearby it.

It was decloaking, but it wasn’t the KoQ vessel that Paul hoped it would be. Rather it was a V’kit’no’sat ship, and from the size and shape the ship’s computer tagged it as an I’rar’et Dak’bri-class battlecruiser larger than his own command ship, and as he watched there were tiny objects being launched from it at high speed, moving out to intercept the minion.

The courier immediately altered course, abandoning the jumppoint and heading in towards the star, but the little objects were not to be denied…with Paul seeing once they got closer that they were not ships, but rather I’rar’et in their K’lak’tal combat suits. They were free flying through space in order to outmaneuver the slippery little minion that outmassed them greatly, stinging it continuously until it also began to slow. After that point it was just a matter of time before they finally killed it.

When Paul got closer he received a comm prompt from the ship, with a hologram of what used to be called a Pterodactyl appearing before him sitting on a perch with its wings spread wide in an agitated stance.

“Remain here,” it ordered. “We will track down and destroy the other. You must not travel without your fleet.”

“That courier must be destroyed,” Paul insisted. “If it gets through you can expect a wellspring of Hadarak coming out from the Core.”

“What has transpired?”

“The Hadarak have put a death mark on the Uriti,” Paul said, using a term the V’kit’no’sat were well accustomed to. “And they’re now more interested in destroying them than they are you. I think they’re taking the Uriti’s existence as a personal insult.”

“Mak’to’ran will want all data.”

“He will get it.”

“Deal with the Hadarak. We will kill the courier,” the I’rar’et said with finality, then both he and the ship disappeared as it recloaked and hopefully came through on its promise to pursue the minion…but Paul wasn’t worried. The V’kit’no’sat didn’t take the Hadarak lightly, so he didn’t expect…

It was a great distance away by this point, but the part of Paul’s mind that was tracking the other minion saw a second ship decloak a short distance behind it, closing fast with a speed not even the Excalibur could have matched. It’s hull was even more sensor resistant than the I’rar’et ship, but the limited image he was getting back showed a cascade of sparks out of the blackness of space, then a ship almost equally as black was there, with tiny strips of light accentuating its shape.

Paul recognized it as one of the KoQ ship varieties, and by the speed it was traveling it was going to get to the minion before it could escape…meaning the V’kit’no’sat pursuit wasn’t going to be necessary.

Paul watched until the courier destruction was complete and the unannounced ship disappeared, wondering if the V’kit’no’sat knew they were here or not. Either way they did not contact Paul again, with both cloaked vessels having disappeared from system view, making it look like it was just Star Force, the Uriti, and the Hadarak in an otherwise empty system.

“Problem solved,” he told Hera, who was still on another deck as he remained in the command nexus. “It’s nice to have somewhat psychotic friends.”

“Are you talking about the Knights of Quenar or the V’kit’no’sat?”

“Yes,” he said simply as they altered course and headed to the location where all 5 Uriti were now camped. “Looks like you were right. The Hadarak is going for a snack.”

“It’ll take a while,” she said as it began a slow descent down towards the surface of the innermost planet in the system…one that had a nice thick atmosphere but was nothing other than rock beneath. “We’ve got some time to think about this.”

“Seems we have two choices. Let the Hadarak go and suffer the wrath of them all, or kill this one and hope the others don’t wise up to it.”

“You’re worried about their death scream?”

“It’s data transmission. It can’t be much, but they can send limited messages that way.”

“Only if someone is in the nearby systems a few years from now to receive the message. We could arrange that they be clear.”

“If we have to,” Paul said noncommittally. “We didn’t come here to kill Hadarak.”

“I don’t think we have a choice.”

“Fill me in some more then. What is this purging?”

“It’s their purpose for existing. They’re looking for threats, which the V’kit’no’sat are, so they pay attention to them. It jives with what we’ve learned about the Uriti. They don’t take notice of anything unless it affects them, and we had assumed they were kind of apathetic because of their size, but I think they’re lacking something that the Hadarak have and it just left them kind of blah. If it wasn’t for the Chixzon communication protocols engineered into them I don’t think we’d ever have gotten their attention.”

“Specify this purpose.”

“I can’t. It’s just a feeling and a lot of Uriti context I can’t put into words and you wouldn’t get even if I shared it with you. Some of this may be intuition on my part, but I get the feeling that they have a unified purpose that drives their very being. They’re looking for something, not just waiting for it to come to them. And it’s a fight, not a friendly or a possession. They’re looking for stuff to destroy. They are literally destroyers. That is their purpose.”

“Did Bahamut bring up the V’kit’no’sat?”

“Yes he did. He asked them what the V’kit’no’sat had done to them, and the Hadarak referred to them as ‘resistance’. Not as if they were a person, but a nuisance they weren’t allowed to take seriously.”

“Allowed?”

“It’s their hive mind. It sets a lot of rules for their behavior. This Hadarak actually apologized to Bahamut before he attacked him, saying that it wasn’t Bahamut’s fault for being born as he was, but that he had to be destroyed. Minions even in his form could not exist outside the…for lack of a better word, the ‘collective.’ That’s not totally accurate, but there’s a lot of new stuff I just got blasted through that doesn’t have vocabulary to match.”

“Apologize why?”

“In some way it recognized him as family, maybe only in a minion sense, but it was a ‘you’re defective’ reason for destruction rather than ‘you’re an outsider’ justification. They consider every star and planet their property, with the little beings vermin too small to worry about eradicating. They just step on us when we get in the way. The V’kit’no’sat do more than get in the way, but rather than seeing them as a worthy enemy it’s more like a failure on behalf of the Hadarak who died to them. They’re killing V’kit’no’sat because of the threat, but they’re basically using the combat as training as well. They could squash them if they wanted to, for most of their population is still in the Deep Core and the V’kit’no’sat are not sufficient reason to bring them out.”

“Are the Uriti?”

“That’s what I’m worried about. I think this Hadarak has to die or we could be seeing a plague unleashed on the galaxy. I know you don’t like that, and neither do I, but he’s already declared us as needing to be squashed along with the Uriti, so…”

“We have time,” Paul said firmly. “We came here to talk, and so long as he doesn’t send out any more couriers, we’re going to talk some more. Explain to the Uriti that I need to talk to the Hadarak through them in order to figure this out. We’ll stay at range so no combat occurs, but…”

“It won’t talk to you, I’m sure of that.”

“Then I can feed questions through the Uriti, unless the Hadarak clams up. I need this link, Hera, and you said Bahamut was looking for answers. Convince him that I can help.”

“No promises, but I’ll try...”

9

June 26, 4834

Itium System (Hadarak Zone)

1st planet

More than a week had passed since the Uriti vs. Hadarak fight, and fortunately the Hadarak was not ignoring them while it was planted on the surface of the planet and its minion workers were digging into the crust at an alarming rate, returning vital materials to it that were probably going towards the repair of its tentacles and the development of more naval minions.

Bahamut, after two days of talking to the Hadarak, had gone to bathe in the star to help regenerate its injuries while the other four stayed with the Star Force fleet over the planet and continued to converse with the Hadarak. Even though it had declared them as needing to be destroyed, it oddly had no problem talking. It couldn’t kill them right now without minions, so as it waited to grow more it coldly kept talking in an almost casual manner.

The Uriti were not so cold. They were angry, and even after 9 days that anger had not abated. They were conflicted about what to do with the Hadarak, wanting to attack it but not wanting to at the same time. Despite its rejection of them they still felt a loyalty to their ‘kin’ despite the frustrating hive mind signals that the Uriti were naturally rejecting.

The Uriti had allowed Paul and the Wranglers the ability to talk through them, though the Hadarak didn’t know it. The Uriti operated as translators, so they were asking the questions, and the vivid apathy of the Hadarak was galling. It was rooted, Paul had discovered, in their utter refusal to acknowledge anything other than themselves as a ‘person,’ though that term didn’t truly translate. It was as if no other lifeforms counted for anything except the Hadarak, and the fact that this one could talk to the Uriti freely and even acknowledge that they were alive, yet completely disregard their right to exist was sickening.

It wasn’t unique in the galaxy, unfortunately, but Paul had never seen anything worse. The only shred of consideration for the Uriti came in the way of a heartless apology that they had to be destroyed, as if they were Hadarak that had strayed across a line and thus stopped being Hadarak…yet it talked to them as if they were. The dichotomy was appalling, and the Hadarak made it clear that as soon as it was capable again it was going to attack and destroy the Uriti and their Star Force ‘minions.’

And what was the most blatant thing about the Hadarak stance was the lack of anger. It wasn’t mad at the Uriti, or Star Force. They simply had to die. It was as if the Hadarak were just out mowing the grass…except grass wasn’t ‘alive.’ It was a biological machine, not a person. The Hadarak didn’t seem to consider anything to be a person, and Paul wasn’t even sure how they regarded each other, but had a suspicion that they didn’t identify other Hadarak as separate lifeforms, rather an extension of themselves. He couldn’t confirm that without another one present, but the feel of the hive mind was so strong he would have felt comfortable placing a bet on his guess.

So to the Hadarak the galaxy was theirs and there was no one else in it. All other living beings were a different class and theirs to kill if they deemed it necessary…and the code they lived by decreed that the Uriti had to die, so this one was going to kill them without blinking an eye. Just like that, without any remorse, anger, hatred, or frustration. Even its failure to kill Bahamut and the damage it took didn’t seem to anger it. It was simply going to heal, refuel, and go at it again, confident that the superiority of the Hadarak was unbeatable. It didn’t seem to identify itself as a…

Paul’s thoughts cut off as he felt a presence nearby in the sanctum onboard his ship. He couldn’t converse with the Hadarak non-stop and the Wranglers were better at it, so right now he was holding a handstand pose while lost in thought with a few other Archons present in the massive training facility packed within his command ship…but now another mind had been added to them, and a powerful one at that.

“You know we have to kill it, right?” Kara asked, walking up to Paul and sitting about a meter in front of his face, crossing her legs, and slightly leaning forward to look into his upside down eyes.

“That’s not what we came here to do,” he said, casually holding his handstand.

“Why did you kill the courier minions then?”

Paul sighed, then did half a cartwheel over onto his feet, collapsing down into a cross-legged sitting position in front of Kara.

“They were going to go whistle up reinforcements.”

Kara’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t like having to kill them?”

“They’re not drones like the Uriti minions, they’re people.”

“And?”

“And all those four were doing was relaying a message. They didn’t attack us.”

“So why’d you do it then?”

“You know why.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“It’s the first time we’ve met the Hadarak or their minions, but I’ve been studying the V’kit’no’sat data, both old and new, so I have an understanding of how they operate. We’ve also seen this before with the lizards. They throw away lives so casually it’s sickening and they don’t surrender. I don’t even know if the Uriti can communicate with their minions. We definitely can’t at the moment, and if we could they’d probably just ignore us. We need answers to those questions, but those couriers weren’t going to wait until we got them.”

“Why not disable them?”

“They’re not in ships. The only way to disable them is to kill or so seriously wound them they can’t move. I have no idea how much damage it would take, and even if we did stop them they’d be lingering in agony. That’s not disabling in my book, and this fleet doesn’t have any weapons to disable biological ‘ships’ a mile long. Interdictors would be the best bet, but none were in range and if I had used the Excalibur at best I could catch one, not all four, and even if I did catch it I’d have to hold onto it indefinitely…”

Kara held up a hand for him to stop. “I get it. You didn’t like being forced to kill them, but you had to or let them run off and tell the Hadarak we exist, the Uriti exist, and they need to come kill us both. They can’t do that here, we’ll be gone before they could arrive, so you’re worried about them coming out from the Core en mass after us. That threat hasn’t changed. If this Hadarak lives and goes to tell the others himself, the same thing happens. We have to kill it.”

“Not sure the Uriti will be too happy about that. They still feel the Hadarak are family, and that’s not going to wear off with a single attack. They still can’t understand why it’s doing what it’s doing.”

“I don’t like it too much either, but we can’t let this Hadarak go back and tell its friends. You already killed the minions to prevent that, so why are you hesitating with the Hadarak?”

“I was caught offguard.”

“How so?”

“We have maneuvering superiority. We don’t have to fight the Hadarak if we don’t want to, and the minions that attacked Bahamut could always turn around and leave. They choose to engage and die. But when I learned about what the Hadarak were going to do and this one sent the couriers off, I was stuck. The couriers weren’t attacking and I only had a limited window to act. Without the help of the V’kit’no’sat and KoQ two of the couriers would have gotten away and we would have had to go after them.”

“You think fast,” she countered.

“Yeah I do, and I came to the same conclusion you did. They weren’t directly attacking us, but they were going to bring others to do it for them. If they were just carrying a report back I would have let them go, but this Hadarak made it clear that there was no room for negotiation. They’re going to try and kill us all, and those couriers were carrying the information of our existence back as if it were a weapon. Like the lizards, they aren’t making choices for themselves, I assumed, and I didn’t have time to figure out if that was true or not.”

“But there’s no rush now,” Kara said, beginning to understand.

“I don’t like fighting sloppy…and I really don’t like it when I’m forced to by circumstances.”

“So what do we do?”

“We came all this way to talk, and since the Hadarak isn’t holding back in that regard, we pump it for information. Unless another Hadarak or courier enters the system, knowledge of our existence remains here. We have time.”

“But you know what will eventually happen, right?”

“Consider the possibility that the Hadarak have never been able to communicate with anyone in the galaxy before. Mak’to’ran said they’d never had so much as an inkling of communication, and if that is true it might be that they can’t communicate with others. If all they’ve ever known is their own minds, then their solid wall of unity might only be that firm because they’ve been unchallenged.”

“Might explain why this one is so talkative, but he’s not coming our way any.”

“He hasn’t flinched…and I want to find out if we can get him to. Even a little.”

“So we camp out here, do the talk thing, and then the Hadarak decides to leave and go tell his buddies we’re here. What then?”

Paul cringed. “I don’t think that will happen, but if it does we’re screwed.”

“You won’t kill it?”

“If it disengages, no. If we give it a choice and it decides not to attack, then we let it go.”

“Even though it’ll do the same thing the couriers were?”

“Not true. The Hadarak are going to attack us everywhere we are, almost mindlessly. If this one decides to leave it’ll break that mold…which is why I don’t think it will.”

“You think it’ll fight us until either we’re dead or it is?”

“Yes.”

“Even if it sees a mismatch?”

“It hasn’t left the system yet, it’s just restocking.”

“And they don’t care if they live or die?”

“The individual dies, the community continues. Again, much like the lizards.”

“So you think they’re tactically stupid?”

“I think they don’t care for tactics because they don’t see us as a worthy threat.”

“Even after what Bahamut did?”

“I would expect this one to learn, but I’ve sensed no change in it. Its mind is like a solid wall that I need to find a crack in.”

“And if it attacks us again, do we just pull back and play cat and mouse?”

“Luckily we got the Uriti speeds up enough that they have that option. I don’t know, Kara. I’m still trying to find my way through this. Right now it’s sitting, chewing up an uninhabited planet, and talking. There’s no call to attack it now.”

“The Uriti seem to agree with you. Me, I’m thinking of the lizards too and how we need to nip this in the bud. Take this one out, keep our existence secret, run home and deal with the V’kit’no’sat now. Keep this fight for a million years later.”

“If they chase us they have to go through V’kit’no’sat territory,” Paul pointed out.

“You wouldn’t do that even if you knew they’d only go through Vik systems, which they wouldn’t. And you don’t want to poke that bee hive either.”

“I kind of do,” Paul admitted with a devious smirk.

“I’d like to know how many are actually in the Core too, but we’re playing with doomsday here. I don’t want to provoke the Hadarak out to keep the V’kit’no’sat busy and away from us, even if it were effective. Enemy that they are, the Viks are doing something beneficial by curtailing the Hadarak patrols.”

“We’re not going to kill it if it retreats,” Paul said firmly. “If it attacks again…we’ll have to play it by ear.”

5 weeks went by before the Hadarak finally left the planet. 5 weeks of talking and talking and talking while it grew minions at an alarming rate. V’kit’no’sat notes had said Hadarak always kept an army of tiny, partially developed minions in stasis within them so that when they received material influx they could gorge and grow to full size within days for the smaller variants, weeks for the larger ones.

The Uriti and the Star Force fleet were holding position high above the planet, and the Hadarak came straight up at them claiming they had to be destroyed and lightly apologizing to the four Uriti there for the death it was about to bring to them. Paul put the fleet in reverse, staying ahead of the Hadarak as it traveled with clouds of naval minions coming not from its own internal hangars but the ship building growth yards on the surface. Those were still creating more on their own with an army of workers digging more resources out of the planet, but they’d helped scale the production of the living beings as if they were little more than machines.

Paul knew they weren’t, and he also knew they would probably be in total agreement with the Hadarak. He needed to capture some and get them out of the telepathic aura to be sure, but right now he was just trying to buy some time until Bahamut could get to them. He was still in the star healing up his injuries, not to mention thoroughly pissed at the Hadarak now that the shock value of the betrayal had worn off.

He’d come out of the star multiple times to talk to the other Uriti or the Hadarak, but it was going to take a while before he was fully healed. Paul knew he was combat ready now, but there were still structural weaknesses on his left wing that would require a lot of specialized material that Star Force would usually provide them, but the fleet hadn’t brought any Uriti ‘snacks’ along, expecting them to just graze on the stars as they went.

As the fleet moved Paul saw Bahamut emerge from the star and begin to head in their direction, with the trailblazer arranging a rendezvous point in stellar orbit, ordering Bahamut to wait for them there as the Hadarak trailed them at a slow, but methodical pace.

“What about now?” Kara prodded from her own command ship.

“It gets the chance to run. If it attacks again, we teach it a lesson.”

“It won’t stop even if we seriously wound it.”

“We don’t know that yet, though you’re probably right. Hera, are the Uriti ready to kick its ass?”

“They’re willing to follow your lead. Not sure about Bahamut yet, but I doubt he’ll be any different.”

“Get them to warn it again. We’re holding the rendezvous point with Bahamut. If it wants a fight it can fight us there, but we’re not moving. If it changes its mind it can run and we’ll let it go, but if it’s going to be intractable make sure it knows we can kill it and our patience is running thin. We’ve got the upper hand here and we’ve been very nice. If it attacks us again that niceness is going to evaporate.”

“About time,” Kara commented, tapped into the same command channel that all the Wranglers were included in.

“Easy dragon breath,” Paul cautioned.

“Hey, I can take a punch to the face with a smile the same as any of you, but I draw the line when someone kicks my dog.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Hera agreed.

“It’s as simple as that, huh?” Paul asked neutrally.

“It is to me.”

The Wranglers all agreed too, but not in words. Linked into the battlemap system they sent mental agreements backing Kara up, leaving Paul with a sarcastic sigh.

“Anger and aggression, Yoda once said…”

“You told me you thought Yoda lied about that.”

“He was talking to the Jedi as if they were kids who wouldn’t understand an accurate analysis, thus he just said anything dangerous was bad. I don’t want you guys, especially the Wranglers, in a fury that will seep over to the Uriti. If the Hadarak picks a nasty fight then decides to run at the very end, I want to make sure the Uriti will let it go as promised.”

“Noted,” Hera said. “We’re not going feral, we just want some payback, and the Uriti are more reluctant to fight than us.”

“But they will fight?”

“They will. They just don’t like having to do it against their own.”

“Well, we’re giving the Hadarak an out. That’s as fair as we can get without turning tail and running. Just make sure that out doesn’t disappear. I trust you guys, but this is new for the Uriti, so keep your minds as calm and focused as possible.”

“What about me?” Kara asked playfully. “I’m not talking to them.”

“No training wheels for you. Just no sloppy fighting when we control the battlefield.”

“I’m not going Sith on you, but this bastard has to die.”

“Not if it opts to retreat.”

“He won’t.”

“We still give it the chance, even if that will be really inconvenient. Clear?”

“Clear. I’m just saying that he isn’t going to back down.”

“We’re about to find out. I have a feeling the Hadarak is a bit delusional, and when we kick its ass it may have an epiphany. If not we end this.”

“Fair enough,” Kara said, her hologram winking out but with Paul still feeling an open connection to her. It was going to be at least a couple hours before the Hadarak caught up to them at its present speed, but this confrontation was going to happen. He felt like Kara did, but he had to play the long shots just in case there was an opportunity to avoid killing the Hadarak.

As for the minions, there wasn’t much hope for them unless they turned around prior to the first shot being fired…

Paul stood in the command nexus, his mind interconnected with the large Star Force fleet and the Wranglers, the latter part of which was the unusual component. He didn’t have direct control over the Uriti, or even a direct line of communication to them. If he had it would have diminished his ability to control the fleet, so he was having to relay battle commands through the Wranglers and the delay there was annoying to say the least, but the Uriti were so huge that he didn’t need to give them split second commands to be effective. Still, the lag gnawed on him.

There wasn’t anything he could do about it as the minion swarms reached out to attack anything near them. There wasn’t any coordinated assault, more of a ‘move over we’re here’ mentality that had them meeting up with the Star Force drones first, and Paul’s ships were getting hammered along the thin front line, for the Hadarak had grown so many in the previous weeks it could literally cloud out the stars from view.

But space was huge, as were the Uriti, so while the swarms continued to surround the Hadarak he ordered Bahamut to make a fly-through against the minions…staying away from the Hadarak’s grapple range as he did so. The Uriti plowed into the swarm, knocking many aside and getting gooed in the process as his maneuvering capability failed. He lit up his red lighting arcs and began vaporizing those closest, along with the goo, but he was more or less pinned down on a ballistic track that the Hadarak was now accelerating towards.

But as the swarms focused on Bahamut they mostly ignored the drones, allowing Paul to begin getting free shots off at the smaller biological weapons, each of which was a person rather than device, but they were clearly acting off of control signals from the Hadarak, for many didn’t even bother to return fire on the drones that were killing them.

Paul thought it must be some sort of override, taking control away from the minion itself or giving it such a high priority that it chose to act stupidly. The Hadarak obviously valued attacking Bahamut more than the tiny ships…which is what Paul had expected.

Before the Hadarak could get to it Bahamut lit up his primary weapon, vaporizing minions above and below while Paul’s drones were safely in the lateral arcs. The attack didn’t kill all the minions, but with them congregating on the Uriti a lot more got hit than otherwise would, taking out more than a sixth of their total number in a matter of seconds.

Once that Torronna blew, Devastator moved in on the far right flank, firing all four of its pinpoint beam cannons as the arm/tentacles bent over to all point in the same direction. The blue beams struck the thick hide of the Hadarak, vaporizing the outer layer but not penetrating any further. Devastator held position, cycling his firing one arm at a time like a very slow machine gun adding damage with each hit…and vaporizing any minions that happened to get in the way as the massive beams burned right through them.

The Hadarak didn’t veer off, still heading directly for Bahamut as Godzilla fired its arm beams, which were much more potent power wise, against one of the Hadarak’s tentacles that were emerging. The wider green beams struck it at its base, putting smoking divots in it as it further extended. When it eventually got all the way out the Uriti focused on its base, putting shot after shot into it from the left flank, probing its strength and finding it to be extremely durable. Godzilla stopped firing and rotated over until its flat belly showed between the three thick starfish-like arms that were no longer pointed at the Hadarak.

An equally green glow appeared in the center of the ‘triblade’ Uriti, growing in intensity until finally a huge beam leapt forth, tracking on a similar trajectory and smashing into the Hadarak slightly off target but still hitting the base of the tentacle. Vaporized material blew out everywhere in a cloud as the tentacle reached out towards Bahamut…and continued to reach beyond all expectations as it floated forward, now totally severed from the Hadarak.

When that happened Paul signaled for Apollo to head in, but the Wranglers were already a step ahead of him. The rough spherical shape of the Uriti flew past Bahamut at close range, smashing through more minions and entered the grapple range of the Hadarak. The energy fields encompassed it and pulled it closer, but that’s where it wanted to be anyway. It fought the redirection to the left and focused in on the point of the severed tentacle, landing on that portion of the moon-sized Hadarak with its 30 mile wide mass.

The two collided with such force that both their bodies rippled with the impact…too much for the Hadarak to take, as those ripples bent its ‘skin’ beyond stress limits and caused cracks wherever they couldn’t hold. Apollo was also hurt, but less so as he was situated between the other tentacles in a location that made it difficult for them to reach it. He wasn’t out of range entirely, but there was no way they could coil around him as they had done with Bahamut before.

But beyond that, he had no wings or other body pieces that could be leveraged against or tore off, making him essentially a giant water balloon that was starting to ooze material on its surface as if it were leaking…but it wasn’t damage. Apollo was another Uriti designed for contact combat, with the glowing energy goo being a very advanced version of the Hadarak’s own point defenses. Its own corrosive material leaked out from its skin, but was neutralized by Apollo’s as it ate through and began dissolving the Hadarak’s outer hull as if it were acid…all the while seeping through the cracks and down into more vulnerable layers below.

Devastator continued firing from its perch, but Godzilla did not. Instead he redirected towards Bahamut, plowing through minions that barely slowed his mass, then wrapped Bahamut in a gentle grasp and pushed him out of the way of the Hadarak that was nearly on top of him. Its tentacles nearly got to both Uriti, except that Apollo wasn’t just an ugly tick on its surface. He pushed back with his own biological engines, shoving the larger Hadarak the opposite direction and stalling its approach to Bahamut entirely until the Hadarak eventually responded and surged forward.

Godzilla had Bahamut out of the way in time, with the Hadarak not being able to turn fast enough to catch them both. Paul’s drones scattered out of the way like a school of fish evading a shark, as did the minions who now turned on what seemed to be their own initiative and began fighting the drones again.

Meanwhile the Hadarak began using its grapple fields to push Apollo away. It even reversed its localized gravity generators to do the same, but that didn’t help since Apollo could use them in the reverse to get closer. The Hadarak kept switching between gravity and anti-grav, trying to shake him loose and gaining a small gap between the two, but Apollo kept pushing back until the tentacles finally reached it and slipped their ends underneath…then threw him away like a baseball.

Their strength surprised Paul, along with their speed, which appeared to exceed any reports from the V’kit’no’sat. Then again, no ship that had ever got grabbed had made it out intact, let alone been thrown out, so this was a new application that he doubted the Hadarak had ever bothered to use…unless they fought against each other, for he figured they were too large to crush with each other’s tentacles.

The thought passed through Paul quickly, for he didn’t have much brain power available for speculation as he continued to diminish the number of minions in play. On their own they were pesky, but not too hard to fight. Their strength was their swarm numbers, which Paul was very acquainted to fighting after the lizard war, but their primary usefulness was disabling ships and allowing the Hadarak to pull them in, though right now the Hadarak was busy with the Uriti.

The crater that Apollo left in it was badly damaged, which huge cracks in the dense outer layer exposing the innards. Those were tough by any other standards, but far less resistant to weaponsfire than the hard defense shell that the V’kit’no’sat had partially copied to make the Yeg’gor armor their Mach’nel and planetary defense stations sported. And with that heavy defense compromised, the arm shots from Godzilla were getting through in about a 2/3 ratio and doing significant damage to the guts of the Hadarak.

Paul kept checking with the Wranglers, making sure that Nami kept bugging the Hadarak with surrender requests, but so far it hadn’t said a word other than ‘you must die’ and varieties on that theme. And while the damage to its outer ‘hull’ was serious, the Hadarak was 215 miles wide and per volume they’d only scratched it. Paul knew this was going to take forever if they wanted to actually kill it, and maybe the Hadarak knew that too, which was why it wasn’t interested in surrendering or running away.

When Godzilla got Bahamut far enough away, the other Uriti took a while to cleanse itself of minion good, then it spun around and headed back into the fight, passing Apollo who was done for the moment and sporting injuries of his own. Once Bahamut got by him the tip of his neck/head began to glow, then he shot his own long range beam into the crater and hit a seam. That blew a chunk of the Hadarak’s armor off from it into space…but it didn’t go far, being pulled back down to the surface to land like a slow moving asteroid thanks to the Hadarak’s localized gravity field.

That surprised Paul, but then he saw the chunk move laterally. It had to be using its grapple energy to move it, and when it slid into one of the larger cracks and roughly blocked out the incoming weaponsfire on it from some of the drones, he realized the armor didn’t have to be fixed in place to be effective. It just had to get in the way of the weaponsfire, and as he paid closer attention to the sensors he saw much smaller pieces rolling across the surface to land in other gaps, as if the Hadarak were using damaged pieces of itself like bandaids.

Those pieces could probably be reincorporated later, or at least digested and the material used to grow new armor, giving this monster more longevity than Paul had expected.

Fortunately the trailblazer had a gut punch up his sleeve, for all this time Devastator had still been attacking the same spot on the Hadarak and tearing a hole in its armor there. When it broke through the armor it didn’t fire on the weaker tissue beneath, but rather continued to expand the hole. Soon it had reached a width of more than a mile, at which point Paul signaled for Nami to ask for surrender or withdrawal one more time.

The Hadarak calmly declined, saying it was still going to kill them all, then Paul gave the go ahead for the fifth Uriti to enter the fight. Nami didn’t have any significant long range weapons, just enough to flick the flea-like starships off. No, she was another melee-combat Uriti but ill-suited to fighting a Hadarak so much larger than her at only 2.1 miles long. She’d doubled in mass since arriving in the Preserve, but was still one of the smallest Uriti and pathetically small compared to the Hadarak.

But this fight wasn’t a 1v1, it was a 1v5 and Devastator had just blasted a hole in the Hadarak large enough for Nami to enter through.

The Uriti raced towards the Hadarak, maneuvering to align with the hole even as the Hadarak fought to pull her to the side. Two tentacles began reaching out to cover the hole, but they didn’t get there in time and Nami slowly slammed into the ‘soft’ tissue underneath and half disappeared from view like a golf ball being stepped into the wet grass.

The inner material was hard enough that it wasn’t like diving into water, more like diving into sand, but Nami pushed further, using her biological gravity drives to drill herself into the Hadarak as much as she could without breaking her own armor in the process. Once she got herself fully inside she dug in another half mile or so, leaving only a tiny bit of her dark blue body visible from space, then Paul got the telepathic warning from her.

He immediately moved the drones further away, enacting the shield alteration that would protect them from the disabling field she was about to emit. If he didn’t do that the drones wouldn’t go dead like other machines would, but they’d be hindered and right now he didn’t need to give the minions any free shots. So as the weaker shield modifications were enacted he flew the drones away and played a game of cat and mouse to buy some time as a tiny bit of the disabling field flew out from the gap in a cone-like trajectory that barely hit any of the drones.

It didn’t affect the minions at all, but it was merely the precursor for the detonation wave that followed. When in atmosphere it was able to create tsunamis that would wreck hundreds of miles of a planet’s surface without digging down into the crust. But here, fully encompassed by living rock, most of the wave had nowhere to go and was reflected back on itself multiple times over, enhancing its destructive power exponentially.

Paul saw the surface of the Hadarak swell up like a pimple for a few long seconds before it broke, with a 20 mile section blowing out like a shower of asteroids followed by globs of the ‘soft’ tissue. There wasn’t much of a bleeding effect, for the Hadarak didn’t have blood, but there were magma-like liquids oozing out of it along with a lesser amount of true ‘soft’ tissue and fluids as the new crater held its shape with Nami no longer in it. The blast had propelled her outward, moving slower than the ‘asteroid’ chunks of armor, but still careening away from the Hadarak at a decent rate as Bahamut and Devastator now targeted the huge wound with their ranged weaponsfire.

Almost immediately after that huge kick in the ass the minions went crazy. They no longer moved in organized groups or attacked specific targets. All of a sudden they lost cohesion and attacked anything within range, whether it be drones or Uriti, as the Hadarak suddenly began to pull back on a trajectory headed towards the star.

Paul focused on the minions while telling the Wranglers to order the Uriti to do the same, and it wasn’t until sometime later that he got an update from the Wranglers as to the Hadarak’s reaction. The blink he’d been looking for had happened, for while it was essentially cursing the Uriti for existing, gone was the arrogant superiority that it had shown before. It knew it was in trouble and if it stayed it was going to die, so it was running to the safest place it knew possible…the gravity well of the star.

To a damaged starship a star was the last place it would want to go. The wound on the Hadarak, had it been a machine, would allow the star eat it from the inside out like the way Olivia-051 had destroyed a Mach’nel. But he knew that wouldn’t happen. The greater the gravity the more the wound would squeeze closed, compressing down to where the true soft tissue and fluids would not be able to reach the surface. In fact the entire body of the Hadarak would shrink in the heavier gravity well, and in that compression they healed the best. It seemed counter-productive to most forms of biology, but the Hadarak were something entirely different.

It needed food from the rocky planets, but as far as healing went, if one was damaged, they needed gravity…and the more of it the better.

Paul ordered everyone to let it go, and thankfully the Uriti didn’t argue the point. The minions didn’t leave, however, and had to be destroyed. The Uriti helped with that, drawing their attention away from the drones and taunting them to go kamikaze or get within their point defense range, but Paul made sure to capture the last few. That wasn’t easy, and he hadn’t brought the necessary equipment along with them to take permanent possession, but with the Hadarak withdrawing he wanted to get some of them alone and see if the Uriti or even the Archons could make telepathic contact.

So he consumed himself with that task as they watched the Hadarak limp off to the star and sink down within it…but not so far they couldn’t track it. Until basic repairs were made it could only go so far in, otherwise the burning effect of the star would kill it, but after it ‘scabbed’ over a bit it’d go all the way in to the stellar core where it would be safe from the ‘little beings’’ fleet as well as most of the Uriti’s weapons.

“Ok,” Kara said in the aftermath as Paul and others dealt with the last bits of minion combat and weren’t too distracted. “Guess I called it wrong. He did wuss out.”

“That’s good. It means they’re not totally unreasonable.”

“Yeah, but what do we do now? If we let him live he goes back and tells the others…”

“We may have to face that, but if he can learn that we’re not defeatable, it might be able to learn other things.”

“You think we have a window for negotiation?”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but it did blink. That’s a crack in their kamikaze mojo that may be able to be widened. This is the first time they’ve encountered the Uriti, so I’m not too surprised that they didn’t understand what they were dealing with.”

“Yeah. So does this mean I have to turn in my trailblazer credentials?” Kara asked with a cringe.

“No, because you weren’t wrong. We are in a bad situation if it goes and reports back to its buddies. We just can’t go to the darkside to solve our problem.”

“If he attacks again, do we have to let him retreat?”

“No. If it attacks again we kill it. We’re not playing games here and our Uriti took damage. If it attacks again it won’t live to repeat its mistake a third time, but I get the feeling it’s not going to without backup.”

“So it’s Armageddon then?”

Paul shrugged. “Let it heal up a bit, then we’ll ask it.”

10

August 15, 4834

Itium System (Hadarak Zone)

Stellar Orbit

Another three weeks passed before the Hadarak came up out of the star. It hung in the very outer edge, sort of peeking out, with the missing chunk of it smaller but still obviously present. The smaller injuries were much better healed, but it seemed that the Hadarak was going to take a lot more time to fully heal, and probably would require some raw materials that were difficult to find within some stars.

The Hadarak was eerily silent for nearly a day, just sitting there in the upper edge of the star, and the Uriti were not talkative either. It was almost as if they were staring each other down, but eventually the Hadarak broke the silence by inquiring where they had obtained their weapons.

The Uriti had already shared their origin and the story of the Chixzon, but the Hadarak didn’t seem to understand. Its very rigid targeting system was now in conflict, for the Uriti were not Hadarak, they were not minions, and the idea of them being malfunctioning versions of either now seemed to have been ruled out. The weaponry the Uriti possessed had got its attention in a ‘that’s not fair’ way, as if the Hadarak were meant to automatically win and suddenly this one was faced with a no-win scenario.

That was making it reassess, and Paul could feel through the Uriti that the Hadarak had never done that before. Everything was rigidly defined for it and having to think outside the box wasn’t what it was designed for. The Hadarak was a hunter, but now its prey analyzer wasn’t giving it an acceptable answer.

But it wasn’t the danger of the Uriti that was rattling it, surprisingly. Paul got the feeling that it didn’t have trouble with dying. It didn’t fear death, or rather it valued something more than life…and that was staying true to the Hadarak mandate. What that was, exactly, Paul couldn’t ascertain, but it was some sort of mission in which they knocked down threats while looking for something else more dangerous. As if the V’kit’no’sat were so insignificant that they weren’t any more dangerous than a colony of ants that the Hadarak stomped under their boot whenever they got in the way.

After all the damage the V’kit’no’sat had done to them Paul couldn’t accept that…unless there were way more of them in the Core than anyone thought. That did worry him, but it was this odd recognition of the Uriti’s weaponry that attracted his curiosity. The Hadarak wasn’t regarding it as a threat, more of a ‘why are you here’ perplexion.

At first Paul wondered if they had had contact with the Chixzon back during their time, but he quickly ruled that out because the Hadarak didn’t recognize the Uriti. It was a similarity that was now stalling its attack drive, leaving it in a limbo it was not able to break out of.

It also realized it couldn’t beat them, and it wasn’t going to go kamikaze for no reason…superiority complex or no…and that jived with what Paul had learned from the V’kit’no’sat. They did fall back when losing, but only to come back at them again later. Right now though, the Hadarak wasn’t interesting in fighting them. It was conflicted and searching for some way to categorize what the Uriti were. The Star Force ships it didn’t care about and easily dismissed as irrelevant akin to the V’kit’no’sat, but it needed to figure out what the Uriti were in a galaxy they were supposed to have all to themselves.

The Uriti wasn’t what they were looking for. Paul could be sure of that. But there was something that didn’t add up, because Hadarak and their minions were not supposed to have those weapons…but someone else was? It felt to the Hadarak like someone had mixed pieces of several different things that were incompatible with each other, thus an impossibility that it did not have a preprogrammed answer for.

Paul got the feeling that everything about the Hadarak was preprogrammed, as if they had a manual to cover every possible situation and their fight with the V’kit’no’sat was outlined in a small chapter of it. The Uriti, however, were not listed on any page and the Hadarak didn’t know what to do…and simply erasing them from existence wouldn’t cut it. It needed to find an answer but couldn’t, and after another two days of talking it finally made a decision.

It pulled out of the star and headed away from it and the Uriti, traveling around the glowing sphere and heading towards one of several jumppoints that led deeper into the Core.

“Paul,” Kara said, contacting him as the Hadarak fled at a turtle’s pace. “It’s now or never unless you want to trail it a while.”

“I know,” he said, faced with a dilemma. If the Hadarak was going for help and was assured to launch a massive attack from the Core then Paul should kill it now before it could whistle up support, for it wasn’t running away to live, but rather to regroup and attack. That meant leaving was in essence an offensive action and by killing it now he would blunt their planned future attack. He didn’t like doing that, but the logic was sound. The Hadarak was an enemy and going to effectively strike at the Uriti, Star Force, and whatever slice of the galaxy got in between them if this one delivered the message. That wasn’t the same as one fleeing a battle just to survive. This one was carrying the knowledge that would ignite the others and it knew it. It knew, and had told them what would happen, so it wasn’t a helpless victim caught up in the actions of others. It was complicit.

Except now it wasn’t. It wasn’t bent on their total destruction. It was perplexed, and that left Paul with a problem. Something about the Uriti’s weapons had changed that, and he got the feeling it wasn’t Bahamut’s. Maybe a specific one the others had, but the Hadarak hadn’t responded to questions concerning that. This might just be a coincidental familiarity of someone else the Hadarak was aware of, perhaps an ally? Because of that the apocalypse that had been promised before might not occur…but then again it might. If Paul let the Hadarak go he could be allowing it to start now, when hiding the existence of the Uriti from the Hadarak was the safer play.

But if this Hadarak wasn’t sure about what to do about the Uriti, they might not turn out to be enemies…or maybe no more than the V’kit’no’sat were. The certainty of utter destruction the Hadarak had been blaring before was now gone with a big question mark in its place, and it was up to Paul to make a decision.

He knew the Uriti were angry, but they didn’t have a desire to destroy the Hadarak. If Star Force asked them to fight they wouldn’t want to, but they were so disillusioned right now they didn’t know what to do either and were relying on Star Force to help guide them…which left this squarely in Paul’s lap.

There were no guarantees either way, which is what made this hard. And not hard because of the choice being made, but hard because of the consequences that could occur if he chose wrong. The safe bet was to kill the Hadarak regardless, but was that the right thing to do? And even if it wasn’t, was one wrong better than the potential slaughter of people across the galaxy if the Hadarak got ticked and came looking for a fight? After all, they weren’t just innocent bystanders. They stomped on anything that got in their way, this one included, so why not kill it for the damage it had done and slip out of the Core before any more of them found the Uriti.

But Paul wasn’t a rookie and he saw the logic trap in that. If one went with the punishment route, and tracked back all offenses, you’d end up having to delete virtually everyone in the galaxy because actions and misdeeds built on each other, and when you pushed on one domino all the rest began to fall as well. The Hadarak had done so much damage, but then so had the V’kit’no’sat who were formed to fight the Hadarak. If the Hadarak didn’t exist the V’kit’no’sat wouldn’t, so do you punish the V’kit’no’sat for responding to the atrocities of the Hadarak with their own? They were, in essence, protecting the galaxy in their own way, and even their death marks had a cold logic to them with regards to maintaining the dominance of their empire in order to avoid any other threats growing large enough to distract them from the pressure they needed to keep on the Hadarak just to hold the line against them.

But regardless of why the V’kit’no’sat did what they were doing, it was wrong. The ends didn’t justify the means, and survival, while extremely important, was not the top priority in life. Even the V’kit’no’sat and the Hadarak somewhat understood that, for they were willing to die fighting for their ‘team’ even when it conflicted with their individual survival.

Star Force’s team was the good guys, and if it meant being bad in order to survive then the choice before Paul was clear…it was what might, and probably would happen later, that was making him cringe.

“Let it go,” Paul told Kara. “It might come back to bite us later, but we’re not going Sith and killing it for the convenience. If it was still hell bent on our destruction and running to get its buddies to help kill us, I’d agree with you. But right now it doesn’t know what to do. It might only be a temporary reprieve, but in this moment it’s not an enemy.”

“What about the minions on the planet?”

“The Hadarak is probably leaving them to die. If they don’t have enough resources down there they’re toast without the Hadarak to support them.”

“Do we put them out of their misery?”

“No. They might survive, they might not. We release most of the minions we captured over the planet and keep the few we have the supplies to sustain on the trip back. We’re done here, so let’s slip out quietly.”

“You’re not happy.”

“No, I’m not. The Hadarak throw away lives as easily as the lizards do, but they’re worse. The lizards at least see their population as an asset. I think the Hadarak consider their minions as almost irrelevant. Like the rockets in the rocket launcher. They make what they need, and leave behind what they don’t want. It’s not just dishonorable, it’s sloppy and very…” Paul said, finding himself at a lack for words.

“Disrespectful,” Kara finished for him.

“It’s worse than that. It’s the assertion that life doesn’t matter. That those minions are nothing more than machines, and we know they’re not. Even the Chixzon were not that cold.”

“I think they were more concerned with people ignoring their orders when they crafted the Uriti minions.”

“I’m not talking about their motivations, but the end result. If that planet doesn’t have everything they need they’ll starve to death. They can’t leave. They can’t build what they need. Lizards, at least, were outfitted with cruisers that could do just about anything with enough time and raw materials. These minions rely on the Hadarak, and I don’t think the Hadarak built enough industry down there to sustain them. It just up and left them.”

“Which is why it might be better if we killed them now.”

“It’s a maybe, Kara. If they’ve got even a tiny chance of making it until another Hadarak arrives, we’re not going to deny them that.”

“And you don’t want to kill the Hadarak for stranding them here?”

“Not today,” Paul said, knowing she had a good point. “Let’s consolidate the allies we have here. With that hive mind I don’t think we’re ever going to change the Hadarak, but the Uriti are learning. If we order an attack on the Hadarak now, in their current state, without it being self-defense…”

“Deal,” Kara said, seeing his point. “We let this bastard go and head back, making it clear we’re the only family the Uriti have. If we survive long enough for them to get big, they’re the key to defeating the Hadarak. In the extreme long term, that may be the best play of all.”

“The thought crossed my mind.”

“What else is?” she asked.

“Plenty,” he said, sending the order to the fleet and the Uriti to let the Hadarak go.

“What’s bothering you the most?”

“Why does it seem everyone else in this galaxy aside from us is endlessly bloodthirsty?”

“Oh, that. Honestly, I’d just kind of gotten used to it.”

“I haven’t.”

“It’s easier for me. I’ve got you to key off of. As long as you stay lightside the galaxy doesn’t seem so dark.”

“True,” Paul agreed, but didn’t share the fact that Kara was showing she wasn’t totally a trailblazer. In some ways she was, in others she wasn’t, and in this case she wasn’t. She had someone who outranked her that she could key off of, but the trailblazers didn’t. They had to look out into the galaxy with everyone behind them and no one in front. He had the other trailblazers side by side with him, but they were peers. They weren’t someone higher up to learn from, to pattern off of, to take the lead when the pressure got too much for him.

No, they were the trailblazers and they had to face the constant burden of being the lightbearers in a galaxy of darkness. And today, at least, the Uriti were not echoing that darkness and wanting blood. They didn’t want to fight the Hadarak here or anywhere, still feeling they were in some way their kin, and Paul was thankful for that. The Uriti weren’t lightside, but they weren’t bloodthirsty either.

And in a galaxy of constant bloodshed, he wasn’t going to squander the learning moment for them. Letting this Hadarak go might start Armageddon, and if it did, so be it. He was leaving here with friends and allies, the latter of which was showing far more wisdom and restraint than he’d hoped for. That was a significant victory he intended to run with and leave the Hadarak menace to the V’kit’no’sat…for now.

Mak’to’ran was waiting when the Star Force fleet emerged from Hadarak territory in the same system they’d left, with Paul-024 transmitting a basic report of what had happened along with the promise of delivering all of their data on the Hadarak when they got to the other side of V’kit’no’sat territory. The Era’tran preceded them back, clearing the way and keeping V’kit’no’sat assets away from the Uriti transports…especially in lieu of the battle data that the Archon had included in the first report.

Never had Mak’to’ran seen that kind of damage done to the Hadarak so quickly or so effectively. They had to pound on them over and over and over to just scratch a little damage into a true wound, and when they did the Hadarak usually ran for a star where the V’kit’no’sat could not follow. What the Uriti had done…with Star Force backup keeping the minions busy…was eye opening.

Here was a way to effectively fight the Hadarak, yet it was in the hands of the enemy that he was forced to destroy, and along with it the very living weapons that were superior to the Hadarak, though far smaller at the moment. What they could grow to in a million years was so tantalizing that just before they left V’kit’no’sat territory Mak’to’ran asked for another meeting with the trailblazer, imploring him to accept his offer of inclusion in the empire or make a counter offer on different terms. Mak’to’ran desperately wanted the power that Star Force had gained for the fight against the Hadarak, but the trailblazer was adamant that the rift between them could not be reconciled.

The death mark and all the destruction inflicted upon Star Force meant that they would never rejoin the empire that had unwittingly spawned, then spurred them. It was irony, perhaps, that the V’kit’no’sat’s actions to stomp out this heresy was denying them the weapon they needed to destroy the Hadarak, but at least Mak’to’ran wasn’t coming out of this empty handed. The data Paul delivered to him as they parted ways was more intel than the V’kit’no’sat had ever had, by far, and put to rest long held speculation about why the Hadarak did what they did.

Key to it all was the fact that they were looking for something…and the fact that the Uriti weaponry was not unfamiliar. It was clear in the notes that these two things were not linked, for one resulted in combat and the other a withdraw from combat. That meant there were two massive forces out there someone, one an ally or neutral, the other an enemy far stronger than the V’kit’no’sat.

That did not sit well with Mak’to’ran, and made their reluctance to explore the Rim all the more damning. What was out there that the Hadarak were looking for? Or no, not looking for…waiting for. They didn’t know where it was, they were just patrolling and making no big push towards the Rim. The V’kit’no’sat had pushed them back considerably, but according to the Rit’ko’sor there were much larger Hadarak further in that had never bothered coming out to fight them.

All of this suggested a lot more that Mak’to’ran could only guess at, but he finally had real data gleamed from the mind of Hadarak and Star Force had done a good job of keeping the Hadarak talking for days. What had not been a good job was their letting the Hadarak go. Star Force, along with some help, had stopped the couriers from leaving with the knowledge of the Uriti’s existence. According to the notes that would have resulted in a massive war with the Hadarak coming straight for the Preserve because the Uriti had told them where it was.

That was bad, but the change in the Hadarak’s behavior prompting Star Force to let it go was far worse. Mak’to’ran feared they may have just struck a blow against the V’kit’no’sat by inciting the Hadarak to come out and fight them in far greater numbers. He didn’t know if there was enough time to stop the Hadarak, but as soon as he learned the full context of the encounter he sent word through the Urrtren for the closest V’kit’no’sat fleets to move at all speed to try to intercept and destroy the wounded Hadarak before it could spread word of what it had discovered.

If it had formed and released another courier it would be too late, but if it had launched all it had, as he believed, then it wouldn’t have spent resources to make another with such massive injuries to heal, so they might just have a chance. If not, he wouldn’t know soon, for the Hadarak moved slowly, but he imagined that if word got through to the other Hadarak, he’d see the start of a massive push by them prior to the ending of the Sarma that had just begun.

If that was true, and it was intentional on Star Force’s part, then it was a masterful stroke of tactical genius. The V’kit’no’sat were going to have to pay a very heavy price to hold that line if it happened, perhaps so much that they would have to ignore Star Force for an additional millennia or two, perhaps longer, but the V’kit’no’sat would not relent. They would hold the line no matter what, and in the end, it would still be a victory for them.

And it would be a victory because Mak’to’ran now had information on who their enemy truly was, and that was something that not even the Zak’de’ron had possessed during their long, dominant reign. And in that, the V’kit’no’sat and the Era’tran had just surpassed their founders.

The war against the Hadarak was theirs now, not the Zak’de’ron’s, and Mak’to’ran had just attained more progress in this deal than had been made throughout their 6 million years of existence.

That was worth any losses they’d have to suffer in a potential Hadarak surge, even if it was one of never before seen scale, for they were now one step closer to finding a way to accomplish the impossible and one day completely rid the galaxy of the Hadarak plague.

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