by Aer-ki Jyr
He’d punished them the day before when they pushed a little too hard, so they might be playing it a little bit more conservative now, but he suspected there was something else going on here and almost expected them to get more reinforcements soon. He still had some ships camping the other jumplines but most were now engaged or standing by near the battling ships to replace or screen for them when they needed to withdraw and recharge shields.
As soon as Paul returned to fleet command he immediately began making small shifts in positioning to set up for another exploratory push to gage the enemy’s reaction and potentially create an advantage to exploit, but he was also belatedly aware of the fact that one of the evacuation ships buried under the ice on Tauntaun had managed to escape. He got the full replay through the battlemap in a fraction of a second and his Sav-enhanced mind dissected it in under 2, after which he sent out orders for an intercept with them as they fled, sending a jumpship and a fleet of drones to a rendezvous point in near the star but away from the main battle. They’d peel that Domjo off and deal with the few other ships seeming to drift away from the main fleet.
Paul thought they might go after it as well, but so far they hadn’t jumped out of support position. They were getting closer to preferred jumplines in order to go after the Blockade Runner that wasn’t following any, rather cutting across the system in a huge arc that they could easily intercept if they picked the right point.
There was no way Paul was going to let that happen, so he sent some more drones out to either spook them into an early jump or push them back into the main group…that or they’d be destroyed, for he was sending more than enough firepower to eliminate them if they held position and decided to fight it out.
That was just one decision and set of orders he made in the following minutes out of thousands his well trained mind was facilitating, as well as having numerous conversations with other Archons and Admirals through the battlemap connection in the mental shorthand they’d learned to use long ago. Together, as a unit, they dissected V’kit’no’sat movements and explored options, with the others taking as much load off of Paul as they could, knowing that they needed to keep him as fresh as possible and not let the V’kit’no’sat wear him down, for he was their most potent weapon within the fleet, and both Star Force and the enemy knew it.
24
When the evacuation ship got near to the other approaching Star Force ships the crew gathered around various holographic maps throughout the Blockade Runner and Esna found herself once again looking at moving dots that quickly grew into starships, one of which was a gigantic jumpship that was bigger than even the Domjo chasing them. She knew a lot of it was empty space where the drones would park when not in use and the extra engines needed to carry them around, but it was still heavily armed and had a fleet of drones with it as her ship began slowing down for an intercept.
The drones didn’t stay put, they came forward into a screen that accepted the evacuees and finally seemed to be enough for the Domjo to give up the pursuit and turn back…but the drones went after it anyway, for sections of its shields were still down, apparently due to hull damage after the hours spent in transit had fully recharged the rest of its shields. Esna watched the dots go chasing as she sagged in relief. They were now rejoined with the tiny bit of the Star Force fleet and safe from their pursuit…though the system was still full of V’kit’no’sat.
The Blockade Runner began moving in formation beside the jumpship that dwarfed it and Esna thought they were going to dock inside but they never got that close. Instead they held position alongside as both ships began moving further away from the fighting around the star towards a jumppoint highlighted on the map, but other than that the pilot and Archon didn’t say anything to the crew, at least not that she heard. Nobody was wearing armor onboard, so she assumed there wasn’t some comm that she was missing.
“What are we doing?” she finally asked to the room as someone shifted the display to the main battle still ongoing outside of realtime range, but they were getting the constant feeds on delay none the less.
“Heading for a jumpline out of the system,” a tech said.
“Why aren’t we getting onboard one of the big ships?”
“Because they’re here to fight,” Rammak explained. “And we have a ship that can take us out of here.”
“And one with enough speed to outrun most of the V’kit’no’sat,” a Protovic added.
“That ship chasing us was catching us,” she argued.
“We made an emergency jump out from the planet. Probably wasn’t full speed. We’ve got so many engines on this ship that with a head start most of them can’t catch us. They might be able to match speed, but shouldn’t have enough engine power to run us down. And we just got our head start and an escort to make sure we keep it. We’re good to go now.”
“Going where? All the way to the border?” Rammak asked skeptically.
“I doubt it,” he said, his glowing face going blank for a moment, then his eyes resettled on the Calavari. “We’re heading four systems away to a rendezvous with another ship that will escort us to another hidden base. Tyrenk doesn’t know where, but the order came from the trailblazer.”
“How do you know that?” Esna asked.
“I just asked him.”
“When…oh, wait. You have telepathy too? I thought that was just the Mavericks.”
“All Protovic pink and above have telepathy, but it’s not as strong as what the Mavericks have. They have Archon telepathy.”
“Pinks?”
The tech pointed to the green patches of glowing skin amidst the blue.
“Our base color is blue, and the green is a rank. All Protovic in the Devastation Zone are green, which is the highest rank. When we’re younglings we start out with black skin along with the blue, then as we earn upgrades we gain abilities and the color changes. Pink is the last upgrade and gives us telepathy, beyond that there are 3 ranks that are skill based but don’t come with any enhancements. Yellow, Orange, and Green.”
“So your skin is blue with the art on it?”
“It’s not art, it’s my skin. Protovic naturally are two colored. The patterns just look artistic.”
“When they go aqua you know you can’t wrestle them anymore,” a Gustov added.
“Why?”
“They get their shock upgrade.”
Esna looked at both of the two Protovic in the room. “Shock? How many abilities do you have?”
“More than Humans.”
“Not counting Archons,” the tech said in his race’s defense.
“Obviously,” the Protovic replied as the dots on the map continued to move in an arc around the star towards their jumppoint that was maybe an hour or two away.
“Shock to kill or stun?” Esna asked.
“Depends.”
“They have to be charged first,” Rammak explained. “When they get hit with energy blasts they’re able to absorb a little of it. Helps reduce damage, but they can also store and use it offensively.”
“So if I hugged you, you could shock and kill me?” Esna asked with an odd look on her face.
“No,” the Protovic said, laughing. “I don’t carry enough charge for that. I’d have to take in a lot more than the lights and heat provide. If I don’t use it, most of it will dissipate slowly. You don’t have to worry about bumping into me either. It takes a conscious effort to release what little I have.”
“It’ll still hurt,” Gustov added.
“Never said it wouldn’t.”
“Wish I had that,” Esna commented.
“I wish I had a protected mind,” the other Protovic said. “If the Zen’zat got too close they could have made me do whatever they wanted.”
“Your suits didn’t…”
“They don’t have countermeasures,” Rammak said. “Only combat armor does.”
“Oh,” she said, realizing how disastrous that could have been. “How far away do you have to be to be safe?”
> “Out of sight.”
“The greater distance the more difficulty the Zen’zat have,” Rammak explained, knowing this subject matter better than techs did. “But different Zen’zat have different Ikrid strength levels, so you never know for sure.”
“Ikrid is the Human telepathy,” the Protovic added. “That’s what Zen’zat and Mavericks have.”
“What about Protovic Mavericks? Can their minds be…”
“No. They have your immunity. I have the ability to shock. Feel like trading?”
“Rather have both,” Esna said honestly, drawing a few laughs.
“Typical Human,” a Kiritas said.
“Indeed,” Rammak added proudly.
“Meaning what?”
“You’re always seeking improvements,” the Kiritas said as half the eyes in the room were drawn to the holograms as a more significant fleet movement began to take place.
“What is Paul up to?” someone else asked.
“Winning, I hope,” Gustov said. “I don’t think we’re going to stick around long enough to find out.”
Esna and Rammak stayed and talked a bit more, then ended up going their separate ways as the ships continued to head to the jumppoint. When the time came and the Blockade Runner aligned itself on the exact corridor that ran between the giant star behind them and the tiny prick of light in the distance that was their destination, Esna was alone in a small cargo room half full of unopened crates. She didn’t see the jump, not that there was much to see from a battlemap perspective anyway, but had she wanted to she could have been watching the external cameras, for the transition past lightspeed was an interesting little spectacle in and of itself.
But right now Esna just wanted to get some time alone, and without a set of quarters to do that in the best she could do was a quiet corner of the ship where the Human just decided to hang out for a few hours and think about everything that she had gone through and what it all meant.
Her time on Forso seemed more like a dream than her past, especially her time spent on Yammar’s farm. Even her brother seemed distant, though there was a part of that relationship that she’d never lose connection to.
So much had changed over the past few months. She was now with other Humans, something she had never expected beyond her brother. Not only were there Humans, they were Humans with superpowers and an empire full of a lot of other races, some of which had superpowers of their own.
Not only that, their empire had almost magical technology and training, along with a wealth of information that she hadn’t even begun to scratch yet. Her entire world had been turned upside down ever since her brother had been killed, and this was the second time she had escaped death…with the help of others. She wasn’t totally helpless, but against the V’kit’no’sat she could do nothing on her own.
But in stark contrast to that was how much she’d grown. Not in height, for that hadn’t changed, but she was a different person now.
No, that wasn’t true. She was still Esna, but Esna had been ‘upgraded’ considerably. Ignoring all the superbeings around her and how small she was compared to them, Esna tried to remember back to Forso and compare to those standards…which weren’t much. It was a rough survivalist environment with more things going wrong than right, but there had also been a lot of solitude on that ruined world. Solitude spent with her brother, yes, but apart from the rest of the limited society there. It had seemed so big back then, but Star Force dwarfed it so much that it was making her reevaluate everything.
And what did she find? She wasn’t sure. A new purpose where before she had had none. That was something important, but that wasn’t all of it. When Rammak had found her she had been a wreck, but he’d said she was special and had risked his own life trying to keep her safe. He was still doing that, but now that she was with Star Force she wasn’t special anymore. Quite the opposite. Everyone was tolerating her but she really didn’t belong here.
In Star Force maybe, but not with this group. They were ‘Clan’ and that meant they were the best of the best. Even Rammak said he didn’t rank high enough to be assigned to that base and that group of elites. Esna guessed she felt a little guilty for being baggage they had to carry around and protect, but down in the tunnels at least she had been able to do something to help.
Now up here she was totally useless. Even the techs and warriors had nothing to do right now. Everyone was just waiting as they traveled through space, and while her thoughts should have been on what was ahead of her they were stuck in the past.
What had she just witnessed? What were these V’kit’no’sat? Hearing stories was one thing, but this was so big she couldn’t understand it all. She felt like a tiny little speck in this huge galaxy and owed everything to Rammak and Star Force without a way to repay them. They didn’t need anything from her, but not being able to return the favor just made her feel even more inconsequential.
Back down on the planet there had at least been an objective. To survive. That made sense, but now that they were safe again it was lost and she was just a passenger, going where she didn’t know. Rammak had told her she could do basically whatever she wanted after she finished her basic training, but that wasn’t helpful. She didn’t even have a clue what she should be trying for.
Esna didn’t want to lose Rammak. He was her only stable point in this crazy life and once they got where they were going they were going to split up. Her to her training and him to his. How he wasn’t fit enough she didn’t know, but that’s what he claimed. From what she’d seen he could hold his own with the other Commandos just fine.
But even if that was true he’d be off to fight somewhere else and she’d still be parted from him…meaning she had to figure herself out here and now. Once Rammak was gone she’d have to steer her own course forward and that thought scared her. Not because she thought she’d be in danger, but because she simply didn’t know what to do.
Esna flinched when the door opened and the mildly tan Archon walked in wearing a white uniform with a single golden stripe going down either side. Other than that it was pure white and gleaming, which fit his persona perfectly.
“Bored yet?” he asked.
“Just thinking. Am I in your way?” Esna asked, standing up from the crate that she’d been sitting on.
“I’m here for you, actually?”
“What do you need?”
“Other way around. You weren’t with Rammak and you’re not running or sleeping, so what are you doing? Thinking about what?”
“Everything. Nothing,” she said, shrugging and sitting back down.
“Well I am bored, as are most of the others. We can get some training done, but there’s nothing to do between workouts,” he said, finding another crate and hopping up on it lithely. “You all healed up?”
“I wasn’t injured this time.”
“That’s right. This is the second time you’ve had Zen’zat chasing you. Does it get any easier?”
Esna snickered. “No.”
“What was it like back on Mace? Before Rammak found you.”
“I don’t know how to describe it. I can see it in my mind, but I’ve changed so much I don’t know what to make of it.”
“Show me,” he said, holding out his bare hand.
“You want to read my mind?”
“Asking. Not ordering. You didn’t strike me as the shy type.”
“I’ve heard that before. Guys said I didn’t strike them as the shy type so they just said they wanted to mate with me.”
“And did you?”
“Sure. I hadn’t done it before, but I liked it.”
“Well that’s not what I meant. Sorry. Archons don’t have sex.”
Esna frowned. “Why not?”
“It causes us to go into a mental mode incompatible with training and fighting. You have to be willing to face pain in both of those, whether they be injuries or stress, and pleasure is a completely different mode. How are your legs doing after all that low gravity?”
&nbs
p; “Bad.”
“They’ll readjust. But the low gravity is a lot like sex. Very easy, even fun to move around in, but when you get used to it you’re less able to handle normal gravity. Let alone high gravity. We need the constant challenge to keep us strong and sharp, so we don’t seek pleasure in ways that will weaken us, so no sex. Occasional flirting, yes. Sex no. On that note, you are kind of cute. Just for the record.”
“Thanks, but I know I’m not. I saw what the other girls look like naked…in the showers. I’m not in their league.”
“Fit is sexy. The fitter you get, the hotter you get. But even now you’re attractive, and if you don’t mind, you look like you could use a hug and a thorough mind filter.”
“Mind filter?” she asked as he stood up and walked over beside her.
“You’re trying to think things through. I can help if I can get inside your head, but it’s your choice.”
“Ok,” she said, holding up her hand. He took it, then slid up on the crate behind her. Straddling the crate, he wrapped her up in a hug and pulled her back against his chest with her red hair rubbing the side of his face.
“This alright?”
“If I lie you’ll know, right?”
“Yep.”
“You feel good.”
“That’s the idea.”
“Do I feel good?”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t that weaken you? The pleasure I mean.”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Sex creates a pleasure mode that overrides the rest of your senses. Holding you doesn’t do that, it just feels good. Taking a nap after a long workout feels good too. Don’t think we want to feel pain all the time, because we don’t. We just want to avoid weakness.”
“Does this count as flirting?”
“Could be. Or you could just say it’s a friendly hug. Labels don’t matter.”
“And you’re doing it to read my mind without making me nervous.”
“You are nervous, but not for that reason.”
Esna blushed. He really was in her mind.
