by Aer-ki Jyr
And the citizenry wasn’t the only ones that needed improved skills. Mak’to’ran had once been an active member of the Hakja, the most elite of Era’tran warriors, but even they did not focus heavily on hand to hand combat, leaving only a small sect of the Hakja with that specialty, and those few specialist were now being called to duty both in ground combat missions and as trainers for the rest of the Era’tran population. Gor’nak was one of them, and he was taking Mak’to’ran’s training most seriously after a recent assassination attempt.
It had been another Era’tran, and one who had suicided before capture after his attempt at poison was thwarted by a loyal Kar’ka who happened to be nearby and able to interpose herself between the two of them just in time. She had died within a minute, and her built in Kich’a’kat had not been able to save her. Mak’to’ran, saved from the surprise attack, had then engaged and narrowly defeated the assassin despite the psionic advantage that he held. When security arrived the defeated assassin committed suicide, blowing himself up and taking part of Mak’to’ran’s armor with it. He’d been burned underneath, but it was superficial damage only. The fact that another Era’tran would have defeated him in combat without his psionics had jarred him as much as the fact of the assassination attempt, and he refused to have security with him at all times on their own capitol!
So despite his already considerable Hakja skills, he knew he needed to improve, and not just for the possibility of fighting Hadarak minions. If they had made one attempt on him there could be many more waiting in the future, and while he was now constantly wearing his armor in semi-defense mode with energy shields deployed constantly to keep objects from touching him except where he overrode it, he knew that if an opponent cornered him and defeated him, they could then deliver a killing blow through a wide variety of means.
As for what this assassin had used to kill the Kar’ka, it wasn’t biological. It was a technological poison that disabled the Kich’a’kat in the process so it couldn’t heal you. Then the poison self-destructed so it couldn’t be analyzed. There was no way to trace it back to the source unless some had survived, and none had. Nor were there any traces as to when this Era’tran assassin had been coopted. Mak’to’ran had more than a hundred suspicions as to who would have sent him, but nothing firm to go on. Many hated him, but they were irrelevant. The empire was solidly behind him as they fought the war of all wars, and only those who were truly treasonous would try to hobble that effort by removing him now.
The effort itself was not going well, but they were buying a great deal of time as the Hadarak advance continued. They’d been able to turn it back initially, but the continual stream of both new Hadarak and minions coming out of the Deep Core was now too much to handle. Victories now were in delaying their new minion growth and killing Hadarak when and where they could. To date they’d taken down 318 of the smaller ones, and in the past that would have been a tremendous victory, but now it was barely an afterthought. For every world they took back, ten more were being taken, often without Hadarak.
Star Force was engaging the roaming minion fleets with an aggression worthy of the V’kit’no’sat, but they couldn’t be everywhere and neither could his fleets, so minions were getting through and quietly dropping seeds on worlds, both inhabited and uninhabited, to very slowly grow an invasion force that, unless the world was advanced enough to send for help, would conquer systems without either empire even knowing of it.
The V’kit’no’sat had purged many such worlds already, but unless they had accurate information about when and where they were being infested there was no way to contain the spread at the rate the Hadarak themselves were adding new ones. They had to strike the visible targets when and where they could, meaning this was a losing fight unless the Hadarak stopped getting reinforcements from the Deep Core and they could somehow whittle down the Hadarak forces in the field now.
But even speaking of those, they had nothing that could touch the larger Hadarak. They hadn’t been able to kill anything larger than a tier 3, and only twice had they managed to drive off a tier 4. The largest ones were simply unkillable and in most cases untouchable, but the galaxy was so large they couldn’t subjugate it on their own, and if isolated down to just the large ones the V’kit’no’sat could win by moving out of their way and hitting the minions everywhere else. Even if they lost Itaru itself, the V’kit’no’sat would survive and the slow moving Hadarak would be nothing more than a nuisance…if they could eliminate the minions, and right now that wasn’t possible.
And now on top of that he had to worry about assassination attempts. A lesser Era’tran would have crumbled under the stress, but Mak’to’ran took it all in stride and made progress when and where he could. The Elder Council relied on him more than ever to maintain a steady hand, and without his singular leadership they would have cracked by now and splintered up into the various races to deal with the Hadarak as they saw fit.
Mak’to’ran wasn’t hiding reports of what was happening. He was letting everyone see the battle results, despite the earlier request of the Elder Council to censor it. They feared it was too much for the empire to handle, and they had nearly been right, but this was Mak’to’ran’s empire and as long as he stood firm the empire would line up behind him because they expected him to find a way to fight…and knew if he was still fighting then there was hope.
The addition of the Zak’de’ron to the war made many wary, wanting to play defense and guard against a backstab. That said, the Zak’de’ron had stayed clear of the V’kit’no’sat whenever possible. Mak’to’ran had some scouts out monitoring them, and the ferocity that they were employing against the Hadarak gave him hope. They were going all in, and spending lives the way they used to do with the V’kit’no’sat, only exponentially upgraded. He could see the full horror of how they did not care for those that were lost, and understood more now than ever how they had poisoned the V’kit’no’sat while giving them the strength that they had now.
He had tried to diminish their negative effects without compromising that strength, but the truth had recently dawned on him. If the V’kit’no’sat were going to survive this, they had to learn more from Star Force than the Zak’de’ron…and yet the Rim power would not employ their greatest weapon directly against the Hadarak. They were withholding their Uriti for support operations only, and useful as they were, it made no sense to him. He knew they wouldn’t sacrifice the V’kit’no’sat to weaken the Hadarak before they got to the Rim. Star Force was smart enough to know by that time the Hadarak would be unstoppable with all the territory they were infesting and consuming.
No. He suspected they had another plan in mind, and yet he couldn’t see it. All he could see was the Zak’de’ron and how effective their bloody trades were. Mak’to’ran wasn’t going to let it go that far with the V’kit’no’sat, and the Harthur were the first step to changing that. They were responsible for most of the Hadarak kills they’d made, while the others were, in Zak’de’ron fashion, paid for in blood.
But he had been learning subtleties as well from Star Force, knowing that the sneaky options often existed where people would not look, and he’d been developing and employing several new ones, to various levels of effect, but nothing that would turn the war, only slow it further.
“You must learn to feel your opponent,” Gor’nak said, pivoting on his feet and swinging his tail around in a slap that Mak’to’ran dodged. “You don’t have the luxury of thinking the way you do on a warship. This happens too fast. It must be instinctual, and the way you develop instincts is to familiarize.”
“Other than experience, how does one do that to a sufficient level?”
“You wade into it and…it happens, or it doesn’t. I think with you it will. I know it already has in naval areas, amongst others. No one has done what you have with the V’kit’no’sat, and I do not believe it was because you had a plan from the beginning, or am I in error?”
“You are not,” Mak’to’ran said, running a
few steps ahead and stomping on the floor, resetting his feet, then rolling forward with his shoulder into Gor’nak’s legs…or he tried to. The more nimble Era’tran hopped backwards, missing contact by a claw, then he stomped on Mak’to’ran’s tail as he tried to reverse and get to his feet.
“I did not know that was coming,” Gor’nak said, holding him down with his right foot. “I felt it as it happened and adjusted. It must become natural for you, not stiff calculation.”
He let Mak’to’ran up, but before they could continue a tiny Zen’zat ran out to them and stood just beyond the perimeter of the sparring mat.
A Star Force Borg ship has arrived, she said telepathically and directed only to Mak’to’ran. One of their trailblazers is requesting to speak with you in person.
“Regarding what?” Mak’to’ran asked aloud.
She did not say.
“Where is the vessel currently?”
“Enroute to Wendigama. It should arrive within the hour.”
“Inform the trailblazer that I will come onboard her ship when it arrives in orbit,” he said, tilting his head to Gor’nak. “You are dismissed.”
The other Era’tran bowed his head respectfully and turned to walk off, with Mak’to’ran telekinetically picking up the Zen’zat and putting her on his back, then jogging across the training facility faster than the Zen’zat could ever hope to move. He dropped her off at a point outside with specific orders, then he quietly managed to slip away and secure a drop pod without anyone knowing. He got to orbit just ahead of the Star Force ship arriving, then quickly flew onboard the massive vessel before anyone realized that he had left the planet.
When he walked down the boarding ramp a single Archon was standing there with her armor retracted and her short blond hair making it clear that this was Sara-012.
“I’m surprised you came onboard,” she said, looking up at the much larger Era’tran.
“I have my reasons and I suspect this is urgent. Why are you here?”
“Straight to the point, we have a weapon that can kill Hadarak…in theory. We need your help to make it work.”
Mak’to’ran’s eyes narrowed considerably. “Explain.”
“One of the Uriti that the Zak’de’ron turned over to us has an odd weapon. It’s modular, and some of the settings can shred Yeg’gor. Or, well, damage it more than anything else we have. We’re trying to replicate it on a large scale, into a one shot weapon that will do enough damage to be worth it, but we’ve hit a wall. We can probably solve it given time, but as you know we don’t have time. I’m here to request your best weapons scientists to assist us, and if successful you will have the same designs to create weapons of your own.”
“How much more effective?”
“It’s not a beam, but roughly compared to a Tar’vem’jic, it has a penetration rate 3,200% better, give or take.”
Mak’to’ran huffed in utter shock. “The Zak’de’ron had this?”
“Yes, and it must burn them up that they had to give it away. We don’t think they were able to replicate it, because we had to do a lot of talking with the Uriti to get the details.”
“Are you involving them in the research?”
“We’d prefer not to. The war between you and us is over. The war between us and the Zak’de’ron hasn’t yet happened. That said, we’re more inclined to trust you, though we would have developed this on our own if we could.”
“Irrelevant. If a weapon can be devised that is effective against Yeg’gor, then who creates it does not matter.”
“If we survive the Hadarak it will,” Sara said ominously.
“I do not care,” Mak’to’ran declared. “Such things are fiction unless we can win this war or unless others are so stupid as to pursue personal vendettas while the Hadarak encroach on us.”
“I wouldn’t rule that out completely, but the weapon isn’t much more effective against traditional armor. Just against Yeg’gor and the similar versions we’ve created. It is a weapon that can be used to kill Uriti, so I do not make this request lightly.”
“Then let me put your mind at ease. We will assist you with its creation and you may keep the designs for yourselves so long as you assign some of these weapons to our fleets. We will gladly play a support role if it means the destruction of the Hadarak.”
Sara’s eyes widened. “Why so generous? I am speaking to Mak’to’ran, right? I thought the V’kit’no’sat collective ego was the size of a tier 6 Hadarak?”
“And Star Force’s arrogance is the size of the Galactic Core, but as V’kit’no’sat my primary purpose is to be a hunter of Hadarak. Their deaths are our victory, even if we not the ones to inflict the most damage. Screening for the weapon that can destroy them will be enough to satisfy our ego.”
“Assuming we can get a suitable weapon built, done deal.”
“What is holding up your replication?”
“It is a combination weapon and we need it much larger than what Shen can produce. Range is also an issue. It’s an arcing weapon. I’m hoping your scientists know a few tricks that we don’t know.”
“As do I. We shall find out. Where are you conducting this research?”
“Epsilon Eridani, adjacent to Terraxis. This is a secret project, so I’d prefer to bring your people back with me on this ship and not bring a V’kit’no’sat fleet in tow.”
“Prudent, though your movements here are easily monitored. Allow me to collect those individuals and transfer them to this ship at a single rendezvous point in an uninhabited system. If you are able to create an effective design, how long will it take to fabricate the weapons?”
“We’re not working on warships designs. We’re working on something bigger than a Mach’nel. A lot bigger.”
“Do you truly believe you can kill a Hadarak in one shot?”
“No, but we intend to deliver one massive attack rather than inflict damage over time. To do that, we need massive energy capacitance. Anything less wouldn’t scratch a tier 6, and we at least want to be able to hurt them enough that they delay their movements. Repairing a massive body like that will take more time than a smaller one, proportion wise.”
“I had never considered that, for we cannot damage them to any legitimate extent. Did the Zak’de’ron use this weapon against the Hadarak?”
“We think so, but the Uriti adjusts the mixture for each target. It attacked another of our Uriti, which is how we learned of it. A different mixture might have been used, but we assume Shen did some serious damage to the Hadarak.”
“It attacked another Uriti? Do you not have control over them?”
Sara sighed. “Long story, which I will fill you in on later, but bottom line is the Zak’de’ron messed them up enough that they could disobey the override. As we heal them the override is reasserting itself, but the method the Zak’de’ron used caused the Uriti to go mad, and they even started disobeying them. That’s why they had to give them to us, or lose control of them altogether. Ordering a Uriti to attack another Uriti or Hadarak drives them mad. It’s a violation of their core programming.”
Mak’to’ran’s chin raised sharply. “Then that is why you are not using the Uriti against the Hadarak?”
“Primarily yes. They will fight in self-defense if needed, but offensive assaults will shred their unit cohesion. The group is everything to them. They can’t comprehend fighting against each other, for they are one and the same.”
“How do the Hadarak manage it?”
“They declare the Uriti to be abominations, and therefore not true Hadarak. They have no hesitation in attacking the Uriti, but the reverse is not true. That is an untenable situation for a fight, and only self-defense or defense of another Uriti is enough to incite them to fight the Hadarak.”
“I am very glad,” Mak’to’ran said honesty, “that my initial attack on Terraxis failed. If you can create an effective weapon against the Hadarak, then you will have done more than we ever have, and the V’kit’no’sat will gladly support you in t
heir destruction, to our deaths if need be.”
“So you really don’t mind us taking the lead on this?”
“So long as you do not share it with the Zak’de’ron, I am content to let you keep the weapons as your property, though we may try and create upgrades to our warships with what we learn. Our production will focus on mobile fleets and leave the massive weapons to your construction.”
“I heard you had stopped building Mach’nel.”
“They are of no use against an enemy such as this. We need ships in every system. Guarding a handful only will result in our irrevocable defeat.”
“Assuming your people can get us past this development hitch, we’ll gladly build the big guns…but our crews will still man them, even if they fight with your fleets.”
“As I would expect. If you can kill the Hadarak, the V’kit’no’sat will clear your path.”
Sara crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at him with a cocky grin on her face. “And we’ll do more than the Zak’de’ron ever did, won’t we?”
“That, my little Archon, is a bonus not lost on me. The V’kit’no’sat must rise beyond the Zak’de’ron, and we are no longer reluctant to accept help in that regard.”
“Allies are an asset,” Sara acknowledged. “Are we allies? Or are you guys still clinging to the darkside?”
“I am your ally,” Mak’to’ran said firmly. “As for the rest of the V’kit’no’sat, I will purge the last traces of the Zak’de’ron from them in time. But now, I need them to be as effective as possible, and we cannot afford to undo what is effective. If we survive this war, you will not find it necessary to invade us, as you suggested you would long ago. We will prove our legitimacy to you, so I have no problem leaving the most powerful weapons in your hands. The Hadarak are our nemesis. Our relations can be dealt with after the fact.”
“Sounds like a plan. How many of your scientists can you give me?”
Mak’to’ran looked down at her as if she were a stupid hatchling. “All of them.”
