Star Force: Hamoriti (SF62)

by Aer-ki Jyr

  They really needed the Yisv down in those tunnels, for their close engagement skills would far surpass even the vassals against the minions, or so his analysis teams had told him. But no, the Yisv refused to come anywhere near the system the Hamoriti was currently in. Perhaps if it moved yet again they would offer to help clean up here, but that would still leave them losing ground and having to divide their forces up further. He needed the Yisv on the front lines, but their fear was holding them back, even with several years’ worth of information from the current battles to give them a feel for where they could safely insert themselves without having to go up against the Hamoriti itself.

  But no, they and the others were basically conceding the spread of the minions. Vowed to reduce and slow their growth once it happened, but only to buy time for their races to pack up and run. The stupid fools. The Ancients had said if the Hamoriti were to get loose the entire galaxy would be in jeopardy. There was no safe place to run to, and even if they could make a jump to a nearby galaxy spur there was no guarantee that the Hamoriti couldn’t follow.

  He appreciated the desire to survive, at least a bit longer, but he and the rest of the Trinx knew that the key to their continual survival was in stopping the minions from spreading in the first place, which was why his race was devoting their full resources to building vassals and feeding the Li’vorkrachnika the raw supplies they’d requested to help them build new worlds specifically for the production of ships and soldiers to devote to this fight.

  For all they’d done, and proved they could do, the Trinx felt betrayed to still be the only race with the sense to do what was necessary. When would the others wake up and see what had to be done before it was too late?

  The recent stirrings by the Hamoriti here had caused everything Nesfa was basing his containment efforts on to be questioned. How the beast had begun to wake up was still unknown, and worse yet the Oracle was unable to provide any data to corroborate with, for in all the history of this shell there had never been even the remotest glitch in the sedation. Had this been a technological malfunction he would have felt better, but both the Oracle and his own techs had confirmed that the shell was operating perfectly. What had awakened it was a mystery that was near to driving Nesfa mad, for it seemed like everything they had worked so hard for was being undercut, whether by The Nine or fate itself.

  A message prompt pinged a priority alert and the Prefect pulled up the new file immediately, seeing that it was another status report from the Hamoriti site…though he wasn’t due to receive a transmission for several more days. Immediately fearing more bad news, the Prefect opened up the holographic document and began to read through it with his hearts beat increasing on reflex.

  It had been routed to him immediately upon reception on Vikod, and his analysts hadn’t even gotten a chance to chew on it yet, but the Prefect knew instantly that the system-wide energy burst the Hamoriti had unleashed and used to disable the Li’vorkrachnika fleet was the cause of the disturbance here. Why the Oracles hadn’t been aware of this ability he didn’t know, and he was going to follow up on that immediately with another visit to the shell for a personal discussion with the Ancient program.

  It was clear to him what had happened. The Hamoriti had sent out a call for help, or some other form of location ping, almost assuredly needing to soak up some kind of resource from the star in order to power a spherical emission potent enough to stretch across star systems. The power needed for that sort of thing was off the charts, for while a star produced an immense amount of stellar output every second, enough to fry an unshielded ship that got too close, when the same output was spread out across lightyears it was reduced down to a tiny pinprick of light.

  The Hamoriti had to create something similar, and though he didn’t understand the dynamics of it the one here had received that call and begun to wake up.

  As bad as that was, at least now they knew what they were dealing with. Assuming minimum range, Vikod was the only other Hamoriti location within transmission distance, but there was no way to know for sure how far that signal had reached. He doubted it could get all the way out to the others, but he immediately sent a communique to inquire as to the status of the other Hamoriti before finishing reading the report. That message was immediately sent out through an interstellar comm network linking the Trinx to The Nine, but it would take days to get a response and Nesfa needed information sooner rather than later.

  If another Hamoriti had begun to awaken he didn’t know if they would be able to suppress it, for only this shell had vassals loaded with chemical as a backup plan in case the facility’s own measures failed. The others had their own systems in place, for The Nine had been too prudent to take chances after the near disaster with the Sety, but Nesfa’s people had only barely kept Rigall contained, so he feared for the others.

  His gut told him the Hamoriti’s signal couldn’t travel that far, but with the way his luck was going he couldn’t count on anything. And what made him worry most was the possibility that there was a 9th shell out there somewhere within transmission range, one that wouldn’t have guardians in place with backup measures. They still hadn’t gotten any answers from the Oracles as to why there had been an unknown 8th, and when dealing with an enemy as insanely powerful as a Hamoriti, information was the only real weapon one had.

  The Ancients had been wise to leave the Oracles behind with their knowledge of how to fight the minions, otherwise the Trinx would not have been prepared for this day. They’d been relying on the Ancients’ playbook in all of their preparations, trusting that they knew how to deal with this enemy, but these unknown factors that kept popping up, the latest being this interstellar transmission capability, made Nesfa wonder just how in the dark even the Ancients had been.

  The Trinx weren’t their match, nor was the entirety of The Nine. How the hell were they expected to manage this disaster?

  The fact that they still had the Hamoriti effectively contained to this point, as far as its minions were concerned, was shocking even to Nesfa, but they had been holding the line despite the assertions of hopelessness from the others. The Trinx hadn’t expected to actually stop the Hamoriti, but they had felt obligated to try and, as strange as the galaxy was, had somehow managed to do it up until this point. Every day hinged with uncertainty, and fate seemed determined to break them, but for the moment everything was holding together and he intended to make that last as long as possible.

  When he finished reading the report he headed off to get transport over to the shaft that led down to the Ancient shell, taking the data file with him and hoping that the Oracle would be able to figure out how they could shield the facility from the Hamoriti’s transmissions before it happened again.

  10

  August 21, 2729

  Pleissa System (Jonstar capitol)

  Havbret

  “I still don’t think this is a good idea,” Breeso said as he walked beside the war commander, with the pair of Jonstar headed to the exterior landing pad. “One misstep and you’ll be killed.”

  “I am well aware of that,” Nicktori said evenly as the pair of quadrupeds came to an ascension ramp. They stepped on it and allowed themselves to be slowly dragged up to the higher levels of the military complex, giving the pair only a few minutes before the war commander would depart. “But the Trinx have proven that the Hamoriti can be contained. For how long I do not know, but every year we can buy gives our people more time to prepare for relocation…and if it is possible to maintain the containment indefinitely then it’s an avenue that we have to pursue.”

  “I still say this is foolishness,” the civilian leader admitted, “but if anyone can make it work it’s you.”

  “That’s why I’m going,” Nicktori said, sweeping his horse-like head to the left to throw Breeso a sarcastic look.

  “We’re going to need you here, so don’t take any unnecessary risks.”

  “This entire mission is a risk.”

  “Please don’t be difficult, I�
��m trying to instill some wisdom in you before you depart.”

  “You have been trying for years, little brother, and still continue to fail because you do not realize that I am wiser than you.”

  “Says the one going up against a Hamoriti.”

  “It’s minions, not the Titan itself.”

  “You think it’ll just stay put and let you trash its spawn points? It’s going to come after you.”

  “If it does we will run. The Hamoriti have never been fast.”

  “Their area of effect weaponry don’t require them to be. They just have to get close, and your Degars aren’t exactly nimble craft.”

  “You are not telling me anything that I do not already know,” Nicktori said as they reached the top of the ramp and stepped off onto a wide promenade that had the exit doors to the landing pad on the far side. In between those and the two Jonstar were more than a dozen others, all of whom were security save for two, one of which was kin to them. “Final farewells?”

  “If you can spare a moment?” their father and defacto ruler of the Jonstar asked, though most of the critical functions of running their empire fell to Breeso, Nicktori, and others.

  “We can.”

  “I hope this is not the last we see of one another, but if it is I want you to know that I will see to it that the time you buy us will not be squandered. Furthermore, there has been a small lead turned up. I am sending Yesvo to follow it. I do not hope, but it must be investigated regardless.”

  “What kind of lead?” Breeso asked, this being the first he’d heard of it as well.

  “Previously unknown coordinates of an Ancient world found in the local lore of a race that predates us. It was an obscure reference, but we’ve managed to calculate the system in question. It is in unclaimed space beyond the Frektordan. Perhaps we will discover something of use there, perhaps not.”

  “Hopefully not another Hamoriti,” Nicktori said, glancing at his closest advisor who was waiting along with his father. “Are we set?”

  “They need another hour and a half, then we’ll be fully provisioned.”

  The war commander turned to his brother. “Make sure the supply convoy is assembled quickly. I do not know how rapidly we will expend our ammunition, and I know you have more pressing concerns to deal with here…”

  “You’ll have what you need,” Breeso interrupted him. “Fire at will…and a keep a tally of the minion kills for your reports. The people need to see that we can indeed fight back, even if not against the Hamoriti itself. Please don’t make me have to tell them you died in a vain attempt.”

  “Your confidence is underwhelming,” Nicktori said sarcastically.

  “None since the Ancients have fought these beings,” their father said with caution. “Learn, adapt, and do not hesitate to fall back. An unfamiliar enemy can often win the day with the element of surprise…and we are also unknown to the Hamoriti.”

  “Well said,” Nicktori agreed, lowering his head slightly. His father did likewise and they touched the thick, natural armor there in a quick gesture of respect and kinship. The war commander kicked his brother in the leg, then winked as he and his advisor walked the remaining steps to the doors that would take them outside to their waiting transport.

  “I hope he knows what he’s doing,” Breeso said warily.

  “With the Hamoriti loose there are no certainties anymore. He is playing a gamble, and even he does not know how it will turn out.”

  A month and a half later...

  A fleet of Li’vorkrachnika cruisers descended from orbit, passing through the still warm atmosphere from the latest tsunami attack. A third of the small firebases they’d set up on the surface to facilitate the teams fighting underground had just been taken out in a handful of seconds, but there was no time to waste with concern. The Hamoriti had gone back underground again and two of the as yet untouched minion spawn sites had grown to the point where they were building small connecting tunnels to the surface.

  Out of those tunnels small minion flyers were emerging, even smaller than the Li’vorkrachnika wisps, but armed with a potent energy weapon that emitted from their heads. They had ambushed a few transports headed to ground with more troops, then the Trinx had ordered the continuous convoys pulled back just prior to the Hamoriti surfacing and toasting their bases in the southern hemisphere. With it now gone again, leaving a magma spewing geyser a half mile wide in its wake, the minion fliers had to be dealt with before the transports could fly troops in to the surface entrance to deal with the base itself.

  At present there were 18 different minion spawn sites that were known about, with the Hamoriti spending most of its time deep within the planet and bouncing around from point to point, harvesting resources it was assumed, but other than a crude position fix they didn’t know what it was doing down there. Once Trinx and Li’vorkrachnika ground troops engaged a minion site the Hamoriti didn’t involve itself, probably for fear of damaging the minions at the same time, but if it could catch the invading troops on the surface it would do so, coming up anywhere within a thousand miles and releasing a tsunami.

  That meant the troops heading down to fight below ground had to get there quickly, and without the firebases the Hamoriti had just wiped off the map that was going to be even more difficult. They hadn’t been situated near any of the minion sites, and to date that had kept them off the Hamoriti’s hit list, but apparently no longer. Every time they adapted to the creature the creature adapted back, turning this growing war into an unstable and unpredictable affair.

  The Trinx campaign commander watched from orbit around another planet, feeding instructions to the ships on site and to the Li’vorkrachnika while staying safely away from the Hamoriti. Chosan was one of the wisest of the Trinx generals, and Nesfa had personally entrusted him with this never-ending task, but the Hamoriti was demonstrating considerable strategic skill. More so even than the Ancient records had indicated, though back in those days the minion swarms were the main nemesis they had fought, with the direct Hamoriti conflicts reserved for the last days of that great war.

  As valuable as the insights were that the Ancients had left behind, Chosan was having to write a new book of engagement as time progressed, and he was afraid the learning curve was allowing the Hamoriti to gain ground. It wasn’t much, but whereas before they’d been dealing with one minion spawn site, now there were many. He was probing some of them with orbital fire, burning straight down through the rock with pinprick attacks, but those didn’t do much more than cut tunnels for his expeditionary vassals to move down through, and more often than not those had to cut out other tunnels to allow the Li’vorkrachnika down.

  A quick look at the cruisers and Chosan ordered one of their few vassal warships to catch up to them before they engaged the flyers. Dropping like a rock it shot down from orbit and into the atmosphere, creating a fireball in the process that lit up the ashy sky in a long plume. When it eventually slowed the friction on its shields lessened and view of the red hull plates returned just in time for it to drop in above the cruisers as the minion flyers were coming up at them from below.

  Little lines of blue energy, looking impossibly thin from a distance, began shooting up and hitting the cruisers as much larger green plasma orbs fired back down at them. Almost all of the Li’vorkrachnika ships sent to fight the minions were still equipped with their old weapons, but while the plasma was not as potent as the Vichsam it was still effective in such large amounts. One hit would have killed a wisp on contact, coming from a naval battery, but against the minions it would take five or six such hits to drop them out of the sky, making the tiny flyers extremely resilient.

  The vassal warship was another matter. Its weaponry was varied and built specifically for killing minions in all their forms, including a large number of small klixon cannons that were one hitting the flyers and taking down dozens per second once the ship entered the fray and took point. The tiny blue beams from the minions only scratched its shields, but they racked up con
siderable damage to the cruisers’ protective energy barriers, eventually taking them down and slicing through the yellow/tan hull armor with each pinprick strike.

  But the cruisers were warships, far outmassing the tiny flyers, and even as primitive as they were they did not go down quickly. That said, there were tens of thousands of the minions coming up out of the surface tunnels and heading towards them, with the first Li’vorkrachnika cruiser going down some 12 minutes into the fight. After that they began dropping like rocks as the attrition damage mounted, but they were likewise killing so many of the minions that the single vassal could handle the rest without being overwhelmed itself.

  Chosan watched the battle along with reports coming in from others below ground, which was how he spent most of his days. He slept as little as possible, for fear of the Hamoriti pulling another bit of strategic magic and gaining an advantage. When he was out of touch with current events his juniors took over, and while he would have trusted them with virtually any other opponent, facing a Hamoriti was the stuff of legends and he couldn’t bring himself to relax even when he was attempting to rest.

  That constant pressure was taking a toll on his body, but there was no way around it. This campaign had galaxy-spanning implications and, without hyperbole, was the most important duty his race had ever undertaken.

  A signal from the Sety ships in stellar orbit informed him that there were incoming jumps to the star, which drew only minor attention, for the Li’vorkrachnika had jumpships coming and going constantly now that their planet had been effectively taken over by the Hamoriti. None of their people left on the surface were still alive, save for those currently fighting underground and stationed in the remaining firebases. How long those would stay operational Chosan didn’t know, for all it would take was the Hamoriti popping up and repeating the last attack. Why it didn’t take them out already might have been a question of resources, or maybe it just hadn’t noticed them there yet.