by Aer-ki Jyr
“How?”
“Maybe numbing them to it. I doubt they could reprogram them biologically. Not with their resistance. It’s got to be a mental thing.”
“How do we undo that?”
“We have to get inside his head.”
“We can’t do that.”
“I know. So we work it through indirect methods. A little cranial recalibration.”
“We hit him with an asteroid?”
“No, we use the Uriti.”
“And ram him?”
Ryen frowned, glancing to his right and away from the readouts for a moment. “No.”
“Then what did you mean.”
“Watch and learn,” he said, having a discussion with Sonic that Ellie was able to listen in to, then when they agreed on how to proceed they brought the other 28 Uriti in the system in on it as well. All of them were small ones, but they had telepathy too, and they needed to beat the drums as loud as possible.
“Here goes,” Ryen said, giving Sonic the go ahead as he raced ahead of Shunudrel just fast enough that no catch could be made, but the other Uriti wouldn’t peel off, seemingly obsessed with attacking him again.
Sonic lived up to his name in a different fashion than ever intended. Rather than spinning and smashing stuff with a kinetic attack, he began transmitting telepathic pulses so loud and strong it was as if he was yelling…but in a deliberate cadence. Soon the other Uriti began responding and mimicking it until the entire system was singing in rhythm, though the lag threw it off. The overlapping ‘pings’ constantly changed as the distances between the Uriti shrunk, then when all the small ones reached Sonic and clustered around his huge body, they were finally in sync.
And loud. It was beginning to give Ryen trouble even when he didn’t listen in using his gauntlet. The telepathic pulses were being felt by everyone in the system, with the nearby ships getting the worst of it. Had he not had an Ikrid block he would have passed out by now…or been enthralled by the pulses. Thankfully Star Force had been able to develop additional countermeasures to such things, and soon the bridge crew kicked in a shield modification that dampened, though didn’t entirely stop, the telepathic signals from getting to the crew.
Soon Ryen and Ellie were both reflexively mimicking the beats. Two repetitive ones then a slightly different yet equally loud one to follow. Two then one. Two then one. Boom, boom, clap. Boom boom, clap. That was what Ryen had instructed the Uriti to do, and soon Shunudrel began responding in kind, mimicking the hypnotic rhythm, and then the Wrangler urged Sonic to drift back into the edge of weapons range.
When he did Shunudrel did not fire, and Ryen told him to hold there and not push much further. Then they changed the rythmn. Three booms followed by a clap…and Shunudrel altered his to match. They went through several variations, drawing the Uriti together in mimicry, then Ryen tried the stand down order again…but it failed. Instead Shunudrel began a dialog with Sonic rather than ignoring him, and from there things slowly improved, all the while the rhythm continued, providing the link that reinforced that these were not Hadarak, rather they were Uriti like Shunudrel, and the natural herd-behavior they all exhibited was being drawn out and used to link them, though tenuously, together.
It took days, but eventually Shunudrel allowed Sonic closer in an attempt to remove the tentacle imbedded into his side. The two huge Uriti came close together and Ryen could feel Sonic using his grapple field to pull on the exposed part of the tentacle that was sticking out for 12 miles beyond Shunudrel’s body…but it wasn’t enough, even with the other Uriti pushing at the same time, so Sonic brushed one of his tentacles against the end of the severed Hadarak one and did something that fused them together.
Then he pulled, and Ryen could see a slight shift along with a spike of pain from Shunudrel. Lightning formed again, but when Sonic stopped pulling it gradually reabsorbed. Several healing lightning arcs emitted from Sonic to Shunudrel to sooth some of the damage his jerk had applied, but still the piece of the Hadarak body the Uriti had killed was still imbedded into him like a giant thorn.
Ryen and the other 318 Wranglers, who had all come out to the location to observe and help as needed, didn’t know why the tentacle had imbedded so badly, but they knew it had to come out even if it did a lot of damage to the Uriti. Shunudrel would heal afterwards, no matter how bad the damage was unless it had penetrated his brain at the center of his body. It wasn’t that far in, but it was sitting inside a lot of ‘delicate’ tissue, though for a Uriti that was still rock-hard material.
Eventually Sonic convinced Shunudrel to let the Star Force ships approach to help, though he didn’t understand how they could. They were gnats compared to the Uriti, and the bond between the herd and them was something that was going to take a lot of time to understand, for when the Zak’de’ron contacted him they did so with a joint hive mind that appeared just as large as a Uriti. Star Force did not and remained small, so even using the gauntlets and Chixzon enhancements, Shunudrel did not take them seriously save for the override, which he was still reluctant to follow. It seemed the damage done to him had the Uriti in permanent panic mode, and somehow that panic was enabling him to ignore the override.
So tens of thousands of drones gently drifted their way in near the two Uriti as all of them were still ‘chanting’ their telepathic beats. They hadn’t stopped once they started, and it seemed to be their way of including Shunudrel even after he decided to stop shooting them. Ryen had never seen them take to the ‘singing’ so well, but that was just one more discovery to add to the book, though right now the Hadarak tentacle was his primary concern.
All the drones worked their way around Sonic’s thick tentacle that was still physically bonded to the Hadarak one. He had tried to pull harder, and broke the link earlier, so now he had it reestablished and knew how hard not to pull. But in order to get it out they had to yank harder, so all the little drones that were equipped with mooring beams within the system had rendezvoused with the new Uriti and were latching on across a few kilometers with blue beams that looked like impossibly small strands of thread reaching up to black Legos.
When they had all locked on as firmly as possible, Ryen coordinated with the pilots and Sonic, then as one they pulled with a gigantic yank that sent so much pain through Shunudrel that he pulsed a concussion wave that destroyed most of the drones and knocked Sonic clear of him…but Sonic had the Hadarak tentacle still attached to his own, now pulled free of Shunudrel’s body, as gelatinous bits of goo spewed from the wound.
It wasn’t liquid, but rather flexible rock that quickly stiffened up when it hit the cold of space, and without being ordered to do so, one of the small Namis raced in to the wound after the concussion wave subsided and wedged her more or less round body into the gap, preventing more material from flying out into space as she surged healing lightning into the wound.
Ryen felt Shunudrel’s entire mindset shift. He was still in pain, but the worst of it had passed and a huge wave of relief flowed through him. His stats began to move back into the normal realm with rapidity, and over the matter of minutes he began to accept the override commands as if the ‘thorn’ had been what was preventing him from complying.
Ryen briefly wondered if it didn’t have a telepathic signature of its own, but he quickly dismissed that idea. It had to be the damage plus the inability to remove it and having that constant threat nagging at you that put him in such a dire mental state…but then Sonic corrected him, adding that there was indeed mental tampering by the Zak’de’ron, and as soon as he drifted back within range he added his much more ample healing lightning and began to break through the mental alterations ensnaring Shunudrel.
Ryen was very interested in those, and Sonic was happy to oblige as he stayed close to the new Uriti, as did all of them now that there was no longer any threat. Suddenly Shunudrel had become their best friend and very grateful, and all of the 29 Uriti were clustering around him and helping in his recovery and mental ‘retraining’ as they pulled
layer after layer of psychosis off of him, giving Ryen a detailed analysis of what they were doing.
And that gave him a pretty good idea of what the Zak’de’ron had done to be able to control them. It was impressive, actually, but also sloppy. They’d managed to tame the untamable, but their solution was not a long term one. The memories of recent battles showed clearly how their hold on them was slipping, and the more they fought the Hadarak against their instincts not to, they became more crazed and manic. It was not too unusual for mentally distressed individuals to embrace their problems rather than fighting against them, and in this case that meant the Uriti, who did not want to fight the Hadarak, became bloodthirsty for the combat once they were forced into it.
The Zak’de’ron had actually told Shunudren to break off from a tough fight, but he had refused and succeeded in killing a level 3 Hadarak…but not before it had speared a damaged spot on his body, bypassing the hardest outer layer and skewering him. Shunudren had twisted and turned, eventually breaking off the tentacle before killing the Hadarak, but it was clear the Uriti were more and more waging the war the way they wanted it and not listening to the Zak’de’ron.
So that was why the Dragons had wanted to make a deal with Star Force. They were losing control anyway. Had they not been, they never would have given up their Uriti. They probably thought they had suckered Star Force, but Ryen knew that wasn’t true. Recovering this Uriti, even in his damaged state, was worth the cost in materials even if not from a combat standpoint. The Zak’de’ron only cared about what the Uriti could do for them, but Star Force had long ago decided to save the Uriti for the Uriti’s sake, and from the waves of relief and gratitude coming from Shunudren, Ryen considered this a huge victory…and not a bad bargain.
He just hoped the other two Uriti, wherever they are, were not in such bad shape. And he wouldn’t know for many more weeks what had occurred with them until the comm network filtered those reports across the galaxy. But when all was said and done, and all three Uriti were brought back into the fold and began their long journey to full health, Star Force’s hatred of the Zak’de’ron grew, but their understanding of the Uriti and Hadarak increased greatly.
And they now had a new weapon, perhaps something the Chixzon did not realize they had produced, for a yet to be determined attribute of Shunudren’s main weapon could effectively damage Yeg’gor-style armor.
And it must have truly burned up the Zak’de’ron to be forced to give that up to Star Force, hence there was already a bit of Karma payment, but the treatment of the Uriti was not something that Star Force was ever going to forget, and it was just one more item added to the grievance list that would have to be settled if and when the threat of the Hadarak ever ended.
And right now, that seemed wishful thinking at best.
6
February 11, 128484
Solar System (Home One Kingdom)
Earth
“Hello Vochem,” Davis greeted as the four-legged, spider/wolf that was the Knights of Quenar ambassador walked into his office along with an Archon handler. Back in the day they never would have let the KoQ in the same room without an energy shield separating them, but the more powerful Star Force had grown the less paranoid they had become, though they still didn’t trust them. Hence a far more powerful Archon than Davis was required every time the ambassador needed to discuss something in person with Davis, and that didn’t happen very often.
“Director. What is the current status of the new Uriti?” he asked, sitting down on a stool while the Neo-level Archon stayed a step behind him and to the right, making sure there was no subterfuge involved.
“Stable.”
“Has the method of their evasion of the override been determined?”
“More or less. It will be some time before we can trust them enough to move them, but I’m told the threat of another attack is slim so long as they’re not interfered with.”
“We would recommend their destruction, but given the damage the Hadarak are doing to the galaxy…”
“No,” Davis said firmly, slamming the door on that line of thought. “You have no say over the Uriti. They are our responsibility, our wards, and our problem.”
“…but since the situation is so dire,” Vochem continued as if Davis’s comment hadn’t occurred, “and destruction is going to occur anyway, we wish to know how you plan to use them against the Hadarak, for we have no knowledge of them going into combat against them yet.”
“And I have no knowledge of your fleets going into combat against them either,” Davis countered. “If you have the ability to kill Uriti then you should be able to kill Hadarak. If you’re not willing to assist, why should I even bother explaining our strategy to you?”
“Your empire has grown large, but you are still young and there is much of the galaxy you do not understand. If we are to survive this we must work together, or there is no hope at all. We have a vested interest in the outcome, and since we allowed you to possess the Uriti, their use is our business.”
“They are people, not warships, and they will not be used as such. They will not be fighting the Hadarak except in self-defense, and probably not even then given that the Uriti are faster.”
“Not use them? They are the primary weapon we have against the Hadarak…”
“No, they are not yours. They are Star Force’s ally, and we will treat them as such.”
“Unless they have learned to disobey your override like the others, then they are your property and you can command them to do whatever you wish.”
“We won’t. And you can tell the others that for me, since they are reluctant to come themselves.”
“I speak for all the Knights of Quenar.”
Davis eyed him closely. “I wasn’t speaking only of them. You’re also here at the behest of others who do not want to show themselves. They want us to use the Uriti while they sit back and watch, hence they are using you as an intermediary.”
Vochem’s normally stoic expression darkened deeply, and Davis knew he’d just scored a significant victory.
“You have chosen to be the visible power in the Rim, but the true powers do not take such an obvious stance. We lie and wait in the shadows until needed, for we know if we push too far the Hadarak will surge forth to destroy us, then retreat back into the Deep Core. You and the V’kit’no’sat are behaving as fools playing with a power you cannot possibly survive. And now you have done something to provoke a reaction never before seen. We do not know what you did, but you have doomed us all, and you have the gall to suggest you are not going to have the Uriti combat the Hadarak? If need be, we will take them from you and…”
“Like hell you are,” the Neo said, telekinetically clamping down on the KoQ’s body and smashing him further onto the stool.
“Did you come here to fight?” Davis asked, “or do you have an offer to make?”
“I did not come to fight, but if he does not release me I will be forced to.”
Davis waved a hand dismissively and the Neo released his telekinetic hold. “What did you come here for?”
“The Hadarak threat is unlike anything ever seen, and you and the V’kit’no’sat are the ones currently fighting it. Our scouts report much, but not all. The Uriti are the key advantage we have. I do not believe you are going to keep them out of the fight entirely. What are your plans?”
“What have your scouts told you thus far?”
“You are using them to destroy minions, not the Hadarak.”
“Did they tell you how?”
“You are bombarding the planets from space and then implementing your own minion colonies to resist reconquest.”
“You’ve missed the key then. I’m disappointed that a race so advanced would miss the obvious.”
“And that is?”
“The fact that they weren’t shooting back.”
The wolf-like face twitched. “The Uriti can control the Hadarak minions?”
“Not quite. We tested that, but the range has
to be so short to override the differences that it isn’t effective beyond 100 to 150 miles for the larger Uriti. But we can use them to send a jamming aura that renders the minions sluggish or entirely inert until they take damage, then they respond to their attackers. But if we can vaporize them with single shots, the effect is we can retake planets with ease so long as there isn’t a Hadarak in the system. Their control supersedes that of the Uriti.”
“So you intend to reconquer the devastated areas and force the Hadarak to retake them rather than push forward.”
“That’s a plus, but the truth is we don’t know how to kill the larger Hadarak. The Uriti cannot do it, and until we have an effective weapon we have to avoid them. Unless you or your friends have any suggestions?”
“There are many ways to fight, but none that can win. To do that you would have to take the Deep Core, and none can. Hiding and surviving is the only option. You must learn this or you will be destroyed.”
“We’re all going to be destroyed, or do you know otherwise?”
“In the past the Hadarak have retreated once they have destroyed their objective, but this systematic purge is new. We do not know their objective.”
“We do. They have told the Uriti they intend to purge the entire galaxy.”
“So you say.”
“How long are you going to wait before you assist us?” Davis demanded.
“We also do not know how to kill the largest Hadarak.”
“But you could kill some of the smaller ones?”
“At great cost, but yes.”
“So get at it. We saved you that cost when we took the Uriti peacefully. Time to pay up.”
“Not when you refuse to have them fight much easier battles. But we are willing to assist them in those battles.”
“No.”
“What do you gain by their inaction? You fear their loss?”
“No. We could engage with them and not lose any. But to the Uriti the Hadarak are their brothers, and they do not fight their brothers. Part of the reason the new Uriti are so messed up is that they were tricked into doing so. The result is not a good or reliable mental state.”
