Star Force: Scorpion (Star Force Universe Book 42)

by Aer-ki Jyr

  When that happened a Mach’nel was brought in and several holes were deliberately opened up in the Harthur to allow them to shoot through. When they did the Hadarak had no defense, for it could not flee while trapped within the IDF aura and its tentacles could not reach the Harthur. Bit by bit the Mach’nel and supporting fleet chewed into its body, taking well over 3 months to finally kill because they could not mass around it at close range, but dead it now was and with the fewest ship losses in V’kit’no’sat history.

  That was a deed that was giving the empire new enthusiasm about the never-ending war, and with its success Itaru had stopped resisting Mak’to’ran and decided to put their full support behind this new approach…but Mak’to’ran had insisted that only the Brat’mar be commissioned, and had made that stick despite severe protest. That, at least, was an honor he had gained for them, along with the responsibility for creating bigger Harthur, for the prototype had only been large enough to capture the smallest of them.

  To capture tier 2 and larger, the Harthur’s diameter had to be bigger and that required more robust IDF generators. Current designs were sufficient to snag a tier 2, and those were what was being crafted before him now, but tier 3s were too large and the emitters would have to be placed too close to the Hadarak’s grapple field range, allowing it to damage or destroy them despite the fact that the tentacles could not reach.

  And in that too was a threat, for the Hadarak captured by the prototype had begun lengthening its tentacles the same way it was creating more minions…by using internal stores of resources and cannibalizing parts of its body to feed the tentacle growth. Dorchav wondered if that was an emergency fallback or part of the Hadarak’s intentional design like the fat cells on his own body, though he kept his relatively low so not to inhibit his movement. These Hadarak didn’t move through quadruped motion, rather simply sitting and pulling on gravity to maneuver them about while their minions did the agile combat work, so perhaps they were designed with their own version of ‘fat’ to use as they needed.

  Regardless, if the V’kit’no’sat tried to contain one for a long period of time it was going to alter itself to try and escape, and with these Harthur designed to capture tier 2s they didn’t have that luxury. The range of their grapple fields would end just before they reached the circumference of the Harthur, and any alteration or upgrade would compromise the containment. It was up to the Brat’mar to build longer ranged IDF emitters, otherwise they’d never be able to capture a tier 3, let alone the bigger monsters that were the true fleet killers, and researchers across every race were now tasked with helping the Brat’mar figure out how to do it.

  But Mak’to’ran wasn’t waiting to figure it out. So long as they could kill level 1s and potentially 2s, he wanted Harthur to be built as quickly as possible so they could hold the Hadarak border with far less casualties than they were suffering now. That would require dozens, if not hundreds, depending on the Hadarak activity level…and how they would react when word of this new technology reached the others Dorchav did not know. Mak’to’ran was insistent that they delay that discovery as long as possible, pursuing couriers and all minion types that could potentially send such messages back to the enemy with extreme haste.

  If this new technology prompted a stronger surge from the Hadarak, then so be it. It was their first real advantage against them and they were not going to hold it in reserve…but they weren’t going to advertise it in a taunting fashion either. Simply making the Hadarak disappear for a while was preferable, but eventually one of their death screams…which the V’kit’no’sat still could not silence…would travel between systems and a passing Hadarak or minion would hear it and register the last communication, then copy it on to the others.

  That was how many defeats of the Hadarak were reported to their civilization, albeit with years of delay. The V’kit’no’sat moved much faster, but the sheer mass of their nemesis could not be ignored. When they came they did massive amounts of damage, and they always came at some point. Many times the V’kit’no’sat would have ample forewarning, but aside from massing their ships for a very costly battle there was nothing that time allowed them to do.

  Remote turrets had been created to assist in this, and they did help in the battles, but they could not maneuver well against the minions. Even the Rit’ko’sor could not fully use drone warships, for they had to have crewed ones in close proximity in order to have the necessary reaction speed to effectively fight the minions. Without it the efficiency rate dropped, and the Rit’ko’sor did not have the production capacity to replace the losses fast enough.

  The V’kit’no’sat did, and in system defenses along the border they had very large guns sitting in space that would add damage and, frankly, soak up minion attacks allowing the fleet to move more freely, but the V’kit’no’sat had never had a good way to fight the Hadarak.

  Now they did, with one kill already on the charts and Mak’to’ran taking the prototype out looking for another tier 1 to engage while the fleets continued to fight the larger ones in traditional bloody fashion whenever they encroached on V’kit’no’sat territory. Right now expansion into Hadarak systems was paused while the Harthur strategy was developing. Holding the line now was more than just a stalemate…it was buying them valuable time to build the Harthur, and pushing needlessly into bigger fights without them was something Mak’to’ran was not stupid enough to waste ships on.

  So now the entire war that the V’kit’no’sat had been created to fight lay on Dorchav’s shoulders, after a fashion, and he was eager to work towards that end, but every now and then a break was needed from the endless logistics that he was having to oversee.

  Looking at the progress of the first tier 2 prototype allowed him to put his mind at ease while also offering a chance to consider the irony of the fact that for 6 million years the V’kit’no’sat had not conceived of this idea and it had taken the ingenuity of an illicit splinter faction to prod his own into coming up with this tactic. Without them he doubted it would have occurred to him, so why should he be getting the praise and they still be marked for death? Was not this new tactic worth their independence? Was the collective dominance of the V’kit’no’sat more important than the war against the Hadarak that was their very reason for existing?

  Or were the V’kit’no’sat comfortable with stealing merit from others. Dorchav did not like that idea at all, and wondered if Itaru wanted Star Force dead because of the many accomplishments they’d made using the V’kit’no’sat tools they’d inherited. Some of which were more impressive than what the empire had. Did Itaru want them gone in order to rewrite history, or was it the threat they posed?

  It was no longer Dorchav’s concern, yet it still haunted him to this day, for in his case, he was the inferior that had been spared by the superior cleverness of the Humans.

  His solitude on the observation deck was interrupted as another Brat’mar dressed in the golden/blue robes that engineers wore hastily trotted in and came up behind Dorchav’s tail, though he could clearly see the smaller Brat’mar with his Pefbar, so he did not turn around.

  “Is there a problem?”

  “No, Dorchav. I apologize for the interruption, but I assumed you would want to know immediately.”

  “Know what?” he asked, shuffling his feet so he spun around in place and looked into the horns of the engineer.

  “News. From beyond the rimward border of the Chadfre Region. A sleeping Uriti has been found.”

  Dorchav’s eyes narrowed sharply. Mak’to’ran had told him he’d been sending out a massive number of Era’tran search parties despite Itaru’s border restrictions looking for the remaining Uriti. According to the Humans there were 118 created by the Chixzon. 2 had been destroyed, leaving 116 hidden in captivity after they were successfully neutralized with a sedative that the V’kit’no’sat had procured and tested on the Hadarak…with no success whatsoever.

  But it did work on the Uriti, and of the 116 hidden there had been 73 discovered
, revived, and now in Star Force possession until the recent addition of a 74th brought to them by the Knights of Quenar, who seemed to be the ones hunting the galaxy for the hidden beasts. That meant there supposedly were 42 more out there somewhere, and Mak’to’ran had been adamant about finding them before the Knights of Quenar could.

  “In containment?”

  “Yes. Buried on a planet full of primitives. They are being eradicated and we are claiming the system. The Uriti is still dormant, so we will have a chance to study it up close.”

  “How large is it?”

  “I do not know. At the time of the message they had not reached the chamber, but the telepathic aura was impossible to miss from orbit. I believe they want to pacify the planet before attempting to breach the containment chamber.”

  “Wise,” he said, with the words ‘but bloody’ sticking in his throat. Securing the planet was obviously a necessity, but the Humans had never slaughtered native populations to secure their Uriti…though stories of what the Knights of Quenar had done were another matter entirely. “What else?”

  “That is all. Should I not have disturbed you?”

  “It is a worthy disruption, but it does not alter our work here.”

  The other Brat’mar understood the implicit dismissal and simply bowed his head. “I will leave you to your thoughts.”

  Dorchav spun back around as the engineer left, wondering what Mak’to’ran was going to do with the Uriti. He doubted they would try to kill it. While that would deny it to Star Force and give the V’kit’no’sat a test case for killing them, it would be very costly even if they tried to kill it before it fully awoke. Data from those who had captured them indicated that the sedative was negated by even the slightest of damage, and the Uriti had the fortitude of the Hadarak, meaning they would not be killed quickly.

  And Harthur would be useless against them, for the Uriti had weaponry that could easily destroy the containment shell. No, Mak’to’ran would study it as it slept while guarding the system. It was now a race to find the remaining 41 before Star Force’s allies could, and though there had been some hope that communication could be established with them Dorchav now doubted it. The captured Hadarak had been bombarded with every known communication method the V’kit’no’sat had and it had ignored them all.

  He doubted the Uriti would be any different, for they saw the V’kit’no’sat and other races as mere vermin, and Dorchav granted they had reason to do so. The Hadarak were such a different race that they literally outscaled all others. Their minds were so large that they had a telepathic aura around them that ship crews had reported feeling when in close combat, and despite that obvious presence there was no response to the V’kit’no’sat’s own telepathy. Dorchav had even tried himself, shouting across the distance with his Ikrid from the edge of the Harthur and even using a booster to try to amplify the power and range, but neither he nor any of the others could make contact…not even get the slightest of twitches from the Hadarak.

  Either they couldn’t understand or didn’t care, and Dorchav suspected the latter. How the Chixzon had engineered them to obey their commands was such an enormous feat that Mak’to’ran had also begun sending out search teams to try and find any traces of their former or current existence. Star Force had obviously found something, but what that was had not been revealed to the public and the V’kit’no’sat spies hadn’t been able to discover it. But if they had found something, then there might be more out there to be found, and Mak’to’ran was right to go after it.

  Itaru had disagreed with that as well and seemed to be stuck in the protocol of the past. Perhaps this discovery would jar them out of their complacency, for even the smallest possibility of being able to find the technology to capture and reprogram the Hadarak to obey the V’kit’no’sat was worth any amount of search effort. Why Itaru could not see that Dorchav did not understand, but thankfully the empire now had a leader who did, and who was going to drag Itaru and the rest of the less wise into a future of hope whether they permitted it or not.

  V’kit’no’sat did not discuss the futility of fighting the Hadarak, for such was deemed treasonous, but many felt it. It was the war that would never end and could not be won, but now Mak’to’ran was changing that. The Harthur were changing that. And Dorchav was grateful for both, though he had to admit some credit was due to those that he was pledged to destroy…and who had not destroyed him when they had the chance.

  And in sparing him they had delivered the Harthur to the V’kit’no’sat.

  That did not sit right with Dorchav, and a part of him suspected that it never would.

  5

  October 2, 4855

  Unnamed System (far side of galaxy)

  Unnamed Planet (Uriti Shell)

  Hamob had to lean forward and crawl on his belly, wiggling his way forward to get through the entrance to the Ancient facility that held the newly discovered Uriti, but once he was through he was able to stand up and avoid ducking in most locations. It was clear that the shell facility was not designed for visitors of Era’tran size, with the V’kit’no’sat using Zen’zat almost exclusively on the location…both for their small frames and their Ikrid blocks.

  The Uriti’s passive telepathic presence was affecting Hamob already, but he pushed it aside with mental strength forged over the more than 2 million years of his life. It would get worse the closer he got, but right now he was alright holding out against the constant pressure. What would happen if he let it through was unclear, but he knew there was a zone of proximity further in where any biologicals would become compromised and rendered inert. That range differed based on an individual’s strength and their race, but it had already been confirmed that the Zen’zat could briefly tolerate that zone all the way up to the dark grey, almost black skin of the Uriti contained within.

  The Oracle interface had been most helpful to the initial research team, learning their language and answering questions freely after the perimeter defenses had been destroyed. It seemed that containment was the priority for the computer system, and once someone got inside such containment hinged on negotiation and enlightenment.

  The name the Ancients had given this monster was Bulmuthal, and it was a large one. The first created by the Chixzon and one of the last to be captured. It was over 200 miles wide, but did not have a thick center of mass like other designs. It was essentially a large net with six thick strands running parallel in one direction and four crossing the other. They were fairly flexible, and right now the Uriti was bent on top of itself and crammed into the shell’s interior that was only 93 miles in diameter. There was a buffer zone around the Uriti of 18 miles, meaning it was constricted down to only 57.

  Hamob hoped he could lay eyes on it himself, but as he walked through the facility and got closer to the epicenter the pressure on his mind increased, along with several active attempts to penetrate. It was unlike anything he’d ever felt before, and it was obvious to him now that even in this sedated state the Uriti was still partially active. It might just be autonomic reactions, but his mind was definitely received hack attempts even at this range.

  “Hamob, welcome,” an I’rar’et researcher said as it scuttled across the floor, unable to fly with the low ceilings, and looked up at him with its long beak-like face. “I am glad you have arrived. The scale of this facility and what it is meant to contain is staggering. These Ancients were a formidable alliance, though not on our current power scale. The Uriti, however, is another matter entirely.”

  “Hello, Gardef. Have you been able to make contact?”

  “Not at all. Its telepathic aura is unresponsive and omnipresent. You should be wearing a telepathic inhibitor, Hamob. Prolonged exposure, even for us, is problematic.”

  “I just arrived. I will weather it for a while. How is the sedative being produced?”

  “Impressive automation that draws resources from the planetary crust along with a magma tap. It also has a stockpile to compensate for unforeseen complications. We
are secure against it waking.”

  “Good. What have you learned of the Chixzon?”

  “Much, but little of consequence. The Ancients did not know how the Uriti was created, nor were they able to reverse engineer Chixzon technology…at least as far as the database here details. We are learning stories, and fascinating stories at that. Star Force did not reveal as much to the public as we had thought.”

  “I am not surprised at that,” Hamob said, ducking to get underneath an archway as the pair walked. “Where is the Oracle?”

  “Integrated into the entire facility,” Gardef said, then he turned his attention to the infrastructure around them. “Oracle, a question.”

  A hologram of an odd symbol appeared floating beside them as they walked.

  “What is your inquiry?”

  Gardef gestured to Hamob.

  “What is the combat record of this Uriti?”

  “As I have informed your colleagues, it is called a ‘Hamoriti’ and Bulmuthal has one of the most impressive war records, though one full of smaller conflicts. The galaxy’s strongholds were not targeted with Bulmuthal and reserved for future Hamoriti. It was believed that after two Hamoriti losses that the originals were tasked with bulk work, moving from system to system of lesser magnitude and cleansing vast tracks of territory. This Hamoriti has the most planetary kills on record, utilizing an assault mechanism that…”

  The Oracle continued on like that for many hours, with Hamob asking a variety of questions before finally deciding to test his strength against the Uriti. He arrived on the periphery of the main chamber where no other V’kit’no’sat would go and flanked by more than 50 Zen’zat. They were having issues, but minor ones, with the telepathic pressure, and were here to assist him if he required it. Hamob began to walk towards the mountain of folded, rock-hard flesh as he fought the telepathy that was trying to take control of his mind.