by Aer-ki Jyr
Mak’to’ran finished his shield penetration and stepped within 20 meters of his fellow Era’tran…then in a blur of motion shot himself forward and head butted into Hamob’s chest…but he didn’t hit squarely, for the other Era’tran dodged to his right, causing the impact to spin him around to where he flanked Mak’to’ran. Hamob continued his awkward spin and whipped his tail in the direction of his turn to smack the attacking Era’tran in the flank…but another Jumat blast responded a split second later, much larger than before, and sent Hamob flying dozens of meters to where he hit the incline and rolled down into the pool dragging bits of furniture with him.
“The V’kit’no’sat cannot be rebuilt on foundations born of treachery,” Mak’to’ran lectured with an angry voice. “Tew’chor came to me in confidence, and I brought him to you in the same. He is dead because of my miscalculation. He is dead because I trusted you.”
“No!” Hamob said, equally angry. “He is dead because someone else wished it, and they altered the Urrtren records to put the blame on the Era’tran.”
Mak’to’ran stopped walking forward, frozen in an angry confusion. “Explain.”
“I knew of Tew’chor’s death before you did, and have been frantically trying to figure out what happened. I had to go to the Bastik System personally to inspect the Urrtren relay to find evidence of tampering after confirming the location of every warship we possessed. None were unaccounted for, and somehow the Urrtren relay was told to mark the attacking ship as Era’tran and overwrite its passive sensors. It was not an Era’tran vessel that killed Tew’chor.”
Mak’to’ran’s Sav-enhanced mind worked fast. “Define ‘told.’”
“Bits of transmitted sensors from the Les’i’kron Wur’ki made it through and were amended seamlessly. Only upon inspection of the machinery was I able to pull a tampering imprint, carefully designed not to show on any transmitted status records from the relay. I do not know how that is possible, but it was done. I have no answers, which is why I did not contact you, but I have been tracking down any potential corruption within the Era’tran and have found none. Few knew of Tew’chor, and none of them broke security. That much I have confirmed.”
“Someone obviously knew,” Mak’to’ran countered, holding his position.
“The skill level of the relay hack is something Era’tran cannot accomplish,” Mak’to’ran said ominously.
“The deep traitors show their hand again?”
“I cannot say for certain, but that possibility is weighing heavily on my mind.”
Mak’to’ran deactivated his Ikrid jamming and retracted his armor, with Hamob visibly settling.
“Do not apologize, your response was appropriate,” the Elder said, obviously frustrated. “We are both being played for fools.”
“Were you able to recover debris?”
“Yes. It is consistent with a Les’i’kron Wur’ki, but it was thoroughly pulverized. Whoever attacked wanted to make sure none survived to be recovered, nor sensor records. There was no debris found from the attacking vessel and nothing of use from the Wur’ki.”
“Have you tracked the Era’tran ship?”
“It left on a jumpline and traveled to an Era’tran world, but no vessel arrived. The records were phantoms, but perfect ones. Only our own equipment confirms that the entry record is faulty. Anyone else studying the Urrtren data will confirm that we are responsible and not believe any arrival data provided by us.”
“This reeks of Itaru, but who has the knowledge to accomplish this?”
“The vessel had to be stealthed to avoid detection upon leaving and entering, for while there was a phantom leaving the system there is no trail of one arriving when backtracked through the jumpline. This is not sloppiness, but a message. We are being played, and anyone intelligent enough to discover the Urrtren manipulation will know it. Those who do not will either take the data at face value or believe us to possess a stealth warship.”
“Do we?”
“We have held to protocol. Nothing larger than Wur’ki is so designed. If we fight, it is out in the open and boldly so, but others will doubt us now.”
“Who is spreading this?”
“Oddly none are. Only the Les’i’kron have directly accused us.”
“Itaru has said nothing?”
“The Les’i’kron world Tew’chor came from is part of the Non-Aligned Confederation, and they do not share information with one another.”
“Then someone wanted him dead more than us discredited.”
“That is too simple an assessment. This treason is complicated and deep. Deeper than I can currently fathom. I had hoped to have more information before you arrived, but I do not.”
“Who can do this?”
“Someone who has advanced more than us in secret. I do not have any warranted suspicions.”
“I would like to hear the unwarranted ones.”
“Only the two obvious ones…which cannot be the culprits.”
Mak’to’ran’s body tensed sharply, then he threw his head back and yelled a long, loud rumble of frustration. “How do we fight what we cannot see!”
“We cannot until they reveal themselves, and they will not do so until it is to their advantage. We must progress regardless and weather the taint.”
“The taint must be removed if we are to reforge the empire.”
“Thus our enemy wins with a simple assassination.”
Mak’to’ran snarled. “Can you learn anything of the method of hacking?”
“Only narrow down what was not used and theorize. So far we have no working prototypes for replication.”
“What of the proximity sensors?”
“They were not compromised in the same method. Either they were wiped in such a way that I could not determine, or the overrides were sent via comm and then deleted after the fact. I suspect the latter but cannot confirm.”
“Then the entire Urrtren is suspect.”
“Yes,” Hamob said simply, though the implications of that were beyond reckoning. It was the Urrtren that bound the empire together, and without it they could not effectively function as an integrated whole. They’d devolve to factionalization no matter what loyalties they held. Communication was essential, and sending courier ships was too slow to facilitate the interconnectivity that they needed. The Urrtren was so important that nobody was sabotaging or destroying the relays, treating it as a piece of infrastructure to be fought over and a spoil of war rather than a target to be eliminated.
“Whoever has done this either learned of Tew’chor from the Les’i’kron, from his contact with us, or by monitoring the Urrtren…and if it was the latter they had to know what to look for, meaning they were probably the ones who helped engineer the degeneration of the Zak’de’ron and fear it being undone.”
“It cannot be undone in whole.”
“Are you certain of that?”
“Totally.”
“Why?”
“Parts of the original Zak’de’ron genetic code were made dormant and could be reactivated, but other parts were deleted. Those cannot be rediscovered.”
“Unless you had access to the original code.”
“The original code was purged from databases.”
“What?”
“During the rewrite Les’i’kron code replaced Zak’de’ron code in all databases to hide the alterations. How much so I do not know, but I have found discrepancies in my previous studies.”
“You told me you were studying Zak’de’ron code?”
“I am.”
“Where did you procure yours?”
“Various sources, but even they had deletions. There is still a wealth of information in them, but they are not complete.”
“Two?”
Hamob nodded. “That is what I suspect. One by the V’kit’no’sat, and an earlier one by the Zak’de’ron themselves that no one ever realized.”
“Then the Les’i’kron coding is…”
“Potentially flawed.
”
“The initial revisions were corrections?”
“That had to be covered up when the flawed ones were eliminated. It is possible that Tew’chor had a flaw they did not pick up that circumvented their suppression. Our geneticists are still unclear about that, but we have actual samples to study rather than relying on Urrtren data. That much is secure in multiple places and we will not lose it.”
“Are there parts of his coding that don’t match Les’i’kron norms?”
“Yes. And they don’t match his official genetic code either.”
“How does that work with genetic reconstruction?”
“Devices sample the genetic code directly rather than relying on a saved profile except in select situations. I have been going back over records and finding genetic anomalies in Les’i’kron throughout history above and beyond any other race. I believe it is technological in source.”
“They sabotaged them because of the inaccuracies.”
“It would seem so.”
Mak’to’ran half spun around as his mind raced. “Are any other races showing symptoms of this?”
“I have people checking the others, but we at least are clean.”
“The cost of lies,” Mak’to’ran noted.
“I will pursue this and all other paths that unfold. You need to return to lead the culling against the Garas’tox. You do not know how much your victory in Teqwisor has altered the state of the empire. There is a legitimacy with you born of dominance, and that dominance must continue. Let me grapple with the elusive traitors while you lead us back towards unity.”
“While the Les’i’kron remain enslaved?”
“They are diminished, not enslaved.”
“It is a form of slavery.”
“And one we cannot rectify in the present. Once the empire is reforged it is something we can deal with.”
“Except we won’t, because we may end up unleashing a former enemy. Be honest in that our enemy has done you a service.”
“I gave my word and intended to honor it. The Era’tran did honor it. But to the honestly you request, yes, they did us a service. The Les’i’kron are stable and loyal to the V’kit’no’sat. Free their minds and there is no knowing what will become of them. Also consider that they are stable in the current form. Uncovering what is suppressed may not be enough with the deletions. We could cause the death or rebellion of many by tampering with their current state. The Les’i’kron are not the Zak’de’ron and we should not try to recreate them. If there are any more individuals in the same condition as Tew’chor we will deal with them privately.”
“Assuming they aren’t killed by the other Les’i’kron first.”
“It is not our problem.”
“I lead the V’kit’no’sat. Therefore it is my problem.”
“Then I suggest you prioritize, for you can’t deal with all problems simultaneously and there is nothing about this one you can do now.”
“And you wish me to pursue the culling?”
“Do you believe your time is best spent elsewhere?”
“I can multi-task,” Mak’to’ran said, spinning around with disgust as he headed out of Hamob’s residence and back into his drop pod, promptly leaving both the planet and the system.
Mak’to’ran didn’t return to the rendezvous point with his culling fleet, but instead used the speed of his enhanced Kafcha to travel to Tew’chor’s former world of Toyva. When he arrived he was not met with a warm greeting, but rather a fleet of Les’i’kron warships that were more than a match for his own vessel, though none of them had the maneuvering capability to run him down. He sat in stellar orbit at a distance exchanging messages until Tew’chor’s replacement agreed to hear him out.
The two did not meet in person, but Mak’to’ran’s ship was allowed to move into low planetary orbit so the pair did not have to suffer time lags in their private holographic transmission.
“You claim you did not have him killed?” Jaas’me asked irreverently.
“I did not. He sought me out to track down potential treason by Itaru and I kept knowledge of his arrival a secret. He returned to you unharmed, correct?”
“Then when he traveled back to meet with you again you had him killed.”
“He never reached me.”
“No. An Era’tran vessel intercepted him enroute.”
“All Era’tran vessels have been accounted for. It was not one of our ships that killed him.”
The Les’i’kron sneered. “We have the Urrtren records.”
“Upon considerable inspection, we have discovered a level of technological tampering that is beyond the ability of the Era’tran.”
“What sort of tampering do you refer to?”
“Altering of the sensor recordings to indicate an Era’tran ship where there was none.”
“Are we to assume Tew’chor’s vessel destroyed itself?”
“No. There was another vessel there that attacked and killed him. They altered the records to put a false generic identification over their own.”
“Who?”
“Unknown.”
“Why come here to tell us this?”
“Because the level of technological knowledge necessary to produce this alteration in the Urrtren is akin to that used at Terraxis to unlock the planetary defense station and give the Humans full access.”
Jass’me hissed again. “The Oso’lon or the J’gar?”
“I do not believe it could be either. I have no answer to the mystery of Terraxis or this assassination.”
“You come to us, taking time away from your Garas’tox culling, to give us no information?”
“I would prefer to have answers, but I do not. Tew’chor came to me with a request and I was unable to protect him. All I can do is tell you as much of the truth that I know. You may not believe me, but I am giving you my word for whatever you think its worth. Tew’chor was valuable to me. His death is a loss that I did not order nor did the Era’tran execute.”
“What was the treason he spoke of?”
“Something involving your hatcheries. He returned to investigate it. I assume he was coming to me with additional information gathered.”
“What specifically was he concerned about that involved you?”
“He believed the Les’i’kron were under surveillance and needed an outsider to deal with the situation, so he came to me.”
“To do what?”
“Get answers. Some I was able to provide, but they led to more questions that he returned here to explore in private.”
“Why will you not speak of what he was after? Do you doubt my loyalty?”
“If he did not wish to speak of it with any Les’i’kron, then that is a choice I will honor. His reasons were his own, do not expect me to know them.”
“And what would you have me do with this limited information?”
“That is not my concern, but I will offer you a warning. Tew’chor believed that Itaru was going to move against this system eventually. We believe they want all Les’i’kron under their command and will not respect your sovereignty.”
“That we are already aware of, Era’tran. You did not need to come here to point out the obvious.”
“One side effect of his death and framing the Era’tran is a distrust of the reborn V’kit’no’sat. If the Non-Aligned Confederation fails and you do not trust us, then Itaru is your only other path forward, correct?”
“You suggest they framed you to drive us back to them?”
“I cannot say for sure who is responsible, but the results are the same regardless. We are not your enemy, and if you choose to leave the Non-Aligned Confederation you are welcome to join us. I am not asking it of you, I am informing you in person so you will know that that pathway is not closed.”
“Our leader is killed and you come here recruiting! How gullible do you think we are?”
“Very. Itaru has played you for a long time.”
“And you seek to continue their ways?”
“No. I am simply giving you the facts as I know them. What you decide to do is up to you. If Tew’chor were here we’d be having a very different conversation, but he’s not. There’s just ignorant you. Do what you wish. Without Tew’chor I have little interest in your world, but the offer to rejoin us stands,” Mak’to’ran said, ending the transmission.
But a few moments later a comm prompt caught his attention and he reestablished contact with Jass’me.
“Tell me, Era’tran. If you truly wish to rebuild the empire, tell me what treason you discussed.”
“A possible manipulation of the Les’i’kron to keep them loyal to Itaru…and one that they wouldn’t want to be exposed.”
Jass’me hissed again, but it was part satisfaction that Mak’to’ran had actually answered his question as the Les’i’kron ended the transmission this time, after which the Era’tran vessel promptly left the system and headed back to the culling fleet that was waiting for his return before they launched their next major assault.
7
August 30, 3678
Varlo’sop System
Tunha
Mak’to’ran was in the middle of his fourth major culling attack against a shared world where the Garas’tox dominated the oceans and a combination of Brat’mar and 4 minor races owned the two small continents that made up 22% of the surface. The invading V’kit’no’sat forces had no quarrel with those on the land, but they had taken a few foothold bases on the shoreline to mount their underwater assaults from that were grinding forward at an agonizingly slow rate because Mak’to’ran wouldn’t force combat in areas where his troops were at a disadvantage.
The techniques he’d used in previous attacks had been learned from and defenses formed, making his job harder now despite the fact that he’d attracted double the amount of aquatic population to the new V’kit’no’sat than he had before. Taking down the Garas’tox as he had on Naviyo had broken up the mostly solid block the J’gar had formed around aquatics and the destruction of the myth that land and air power couldn’t effectively fight them beneath the water.
