by Aer-ki Jyr
Once there he began wiping clean the memories and sensor records of all Alliance personnel and equipment, including Star Force’s, leaving the minds of the Zen’zat with the only traces of his existence as he roamed about in the catalyst below their base, inspecting the eggs and seeds under his care and insuring that no harm had come to them. Several days later the Zen’zat he had spoken with before came down to the tunnel that the Nestafar had dug and stood over the spot that had once led down into the catalyst, which the dragon had since resealed.
“What do you want, little one?” Kara heard its voice speak inside her mind.
“We’ve repaired the orbital transmitter and sent a message requesting transit back home, but it will take some time before a jumpship arrives,” she said aloud to the tunnel. “And even when it does it will take months for one of us to return home and make preparations for your visit.”
“So I assumed.”
“Will you be staying here or traveling with us?”
“I will travel by my own means. You need only give the time and location.”
“Will you speak with Mark?”
“Concerning what?”
“The V’kit’no’sat.”
“You need not concern yourself with those you cannot defeat when you have another war before you. The Nestafar have not only attacked this world, but many others in your neophyte Alliance. Yours are too far away to become targets, but your allies were to come under attacks simultaneous to this one. They have sided with those you call the Cajdital, in exchange for a guarantee of safety when the war escalates. They intend to disrupt your Alliance, sabotaging your growth and coordination so that the Cajdital will have less of a challenge when they bring the full might of their pathetic forces against you. Concern yourself with these things, not the V’kit’no’sat, or you won’t even live to see your inevitable doom.”
Kara considered that revelation for a moment, knowing how screwed up it meant the Alliance had just become. “Will they be coming back here?”
“Those I sent back will discourage it, but they may. I will not be here to save you a second time, so prepare.”
“Out to the rim then?”
“To Earth…from there is not your concern.”
Kara laughed. “And here you had me thinking I could keep that from you. We did notice the hack, by the way. Very subtle.”
“Your memories will be all that you keep. Nothing else of my presence will be allowed. Not here, and not on Earth. Make sure your Mark understands this.”
“Tell me this…when your race returns to the galaxy, will we be enemies?”
“You will not survive that long, so it is a pointless question to ask. Take your people and run to the rim, far from the core and these Cajdital and hide yourselves away from the galaxy. Do that, and I can promise you we will never cross paths again. You will have no need to fear us.”
“We are warriors,” Kara corrected him. “If we run and hide it will be for strategic advantage, not out of fear. We will not be dominated.”
“Nor shall we, and we learned our lesson of trusting allies.”
“No, you just chose the wrong ones.”
“You are not in a position to judge, Zen’zat. The Nestafar betray you and several others are poised to do the same if the situation alters. Build your own strength, do not rely on your allies for it.”
“What do you mean, others?”
“I have seen their minds. A common enemy has brought you together, but that bond will not last once your worlds start to burn. The Calavari will not betray you, but trust no others. I would recommend you conscript them soon, before the Nestafar wipe them out, for it is they that the hammer blow will fall the hardest on. The Nestafar will hit them from the core, then at a chosen time the Cajdital will strike out from the rim and crush your ally, leaving the others untouched, confused, and scattered. Your Alliance is doomed, your enemies have planned well. Take what knowledge I have given you and use it to survive what is to come.”
“How soon is this to happen?”
“When the Calavari buckle, the Cajdital will come. If the Nestafar cannot accomplish this on their own their agreement with the Cajdital will be nullified, thus they will push as hard as they need. You know your ‘ally’ better than I, so make your own judgment as to the timeframe.”
“Anything else we need to know?”
“Many things, though I do not have the time.”
“Catching up on more sleep?”
“There is much work to be done, for us both. If the need arises I will summon you.”
“Bye then,” Kara said in her best impression of a 15-year old girl, sensing the short conversation had come to its climax. She sighed and began to walk away when the ground in front of her opened up a tiny shaft, peeling aside as if the dirt and rock were but blankets to be unfolded. Out of the chasm a small, clear jewel appeared, floating up into the tunnel seemingly under its own power.
Suddenly the left glove and gauntlet of her acolyte armor disconnected and pulled off, levitating beside her…then the jewel shot out and attached itself to the topside of her wrist, burning into place and depressing into her flesh. The pain passed as quickly as it began, then her floating armor pieces jumped back onto her arm and relocked into place as the hole in the ground resealed.
“A gift,” the dragon’s voice droned in her skull, twice as powerful as before. “I miscalculated and did not leave sufficient defenses around the catalyst. This world was empty when I set to slumber and the entrance concealed in rock. Your Calavari carved through the rock and opened the access way, though in their ignorance sealed over it during the construction of your base. The Nestafar reopened it during their attempt to create a covert entrance to the base from which to assault it from. Had you not awoken me, they or your Alliance would have plundered the catalyst.”
“What you carry now is the same augmentation that the Zak’de’ron’s Zen’zat possessed. They were stronger than the rest because we trained them to be so. You are not so skilled, so with the emblem I have given you genetic knowledge that will slowly unlock as you earn it. Do not attempt to remove the emblem or copy it, it is protected from both.”
“Wait a second, I didn’t agree…”
“We are finished. Aside from providing the coordinates for my arrival on Earth, we shall have no further contact.”
“What the hell did you just do to me?” Kara asked, pulling off her armor’s glove and looking at the tip of what looked like a large, flat diamond set into the bone just shy of where her hand lifted up. She wiggled her wrist around, finding that it didn’t hinder her movement, though it did press up on her armor’s gauntlet a bit.
There was no answer from the dragon. His voice had left her mind and she would never hear it again.
“Wonderful,” she said, apparently talking to herself. “I hate jewelry by the way!”
Kara pulled her gauntlet off and tossed it on the floor, then pulled off her helmet, ignoring the harsh air as she looked over what the idiot had just done to her body. The skin around the edge wasn’t bleeding or charred, which surprised her because she could have sworn it had sealed thermally. Her pale flesh met up with the edge perfectly, and the jewel was centered on top of her bone. It had no sharp edges, but several faces, the center of which was a septagon, ringed by dozens of other tiny shapes. It was beautiful to look at, but as she pressed the side of it with her other hand she confirmed that it was firmly attached and not going anywhere.
“You punk-ass dragon! Take this off!”
But there was no answer, and there never would be. She would wear the jewel on her arm, despite several attempts to remove it, for the rest of her life.
9
February 8, 2400
Jartul System
Daka
“Quit smiling,” Mark told Boen as they were running the halls of the Alliance base.
“Can’t help it. I like beating you.”
“Technically…we’re even…right now,” he said, huffing
in between words.
“That won’t last long,” Boen promised. “As soon as we hit that turn it’s game on. I’ve given you a month to get back in shape, now no more coddling.”
Suddenly Mark elbowed him in the gut, causing him to stagger for a few steps as the trailblazer sprinted off towards the turn.
“Cheater!” Boen yelled with a smile, pressing to try and catch up with him before the turn…but it was no use. Mark had timed his ambush perfectly and got to the sharp bend in the hallway that led back towards the Star Force complex elevator entrance first, rounding the corner and accelerating a bit more as he disappeared from Boen’s view for a split second.
The other Archon followed him through, finding his quarry a few more meters distant than he’d expected, but he dug down deep and sprinted evenly, catching up centimeter by centimeter down the long hallway and eventually pulling even with Mark. No more elbows were thrown, as the trailblazer was moving at maximum speed and a delighted Boen found that he had just a little bit more left in the tank. He pressed himself up to maximum sprint and pulled ahead, smiling as much as his straining body would allow.
He flashed by the elevator entrance a good two meters ahead of Mark, then gradually decelerated in a long, triumphant runoff, circling around and jogging back to where his friend was bent over and breathing heavily.
Before he could gloat Mark stood up straight and touched his earpiece, apparently getting a message.
“Go ahead,” he said heavily, still trying to catch his breath.
“Are you ok?” Sandra asked.
“Running…what’s up?”
“Hycre fleet just arrived in orbit. Warships and a jumpship ferry for us.”
“Good,” Mark said, relieved. “Tell them we’ll be ready to go within 24 hours.”
“Copy that.”
Mark deactivated his earpiece and looked up at Boen. “When I get back, I am so gonna kick your ass.”
“Promises, promises,” the second gen Archon mocked. “Until then this victory stands. So please…take your time. Assuming that was a call about the Hycre arriving and not just you going to get a snack?”
Mark nodded. “Warships and jumpship just arrived.”
“I hope some of them are sticking around.”
“I would imagine so. This facility is too important to lose.”
“What are you coming back with?”
“As much as I can,” Mark said, starting to walk over to the elevator. “And another thousand pilots, at least.”
“How many are rotating out?”
“Just six, and those are special cases.”
“Including Kara?”
“Yeah, I hate to lose her, but she wants a more in-depth analysis of her trinket. Can’t say I blame her.”
Boen and Mark walked into the elevator as the doors opened. “I’ve got final packing to do. Send someone down to tell the dragon the ETA is 6 months.”
“How’s he going to fit?”
“We’ll have to do some remodeling over the entrance shaft,” Mark commented as the elevator whisked them down into the Star Force complex.
Paul kicked hard, using the prosthesis linking his legs together into a mechanical tail to propel him through one of the underwater hoops with his arms pointed over his head to break the water. As soon as he passed through he tore his hands apart from one another and used them to anchor him in place as he rotated around and dove straight down, kicking hard until he reached the bottom of the lake and tagged the finish pedestal. A holographic number appeared in the water next to him, indicating his time was a multiple of 2.3 of Ariel’s recent course run…meaning she won, again.
His goal was always to pull inside of twice her speed, but today she had done remarkably well, improving her best time by more than 2 seconds and leaving him with even more ground to futility try to catch up with.
“A decent attempt,” the Elarioni said as she swam up beside him, seemingly effortlessly, as he floated at the bottom of the lake holding onto the pedestal for orientation, “but you are still rigid.”
Paul responded through his mask, which both gave him air to breath and acted as a translator for the mermaid’s native language. “That’s because my back doesn’t bend like yours does.”
She stared back at him with her glowing gold eyes, made all the more intimidating in the near darkness so far away from the sunlight. “Stretching…now,” she insisted.
“Ugh…I had to open my mouth, didn’t I?” he said, using his arms to ratchet his body around into a plank position horizontal to the lake bed while he held onto the pedestal with his hands. Ariel swam up and pressed her forearm down on the small of his back while prying up on his knees. Paul felt a joint pop, then the all too familiar tension as his body was forced to contort in a manner it didn’t like.
She seemed to like doing it to him, however, because he often caught her smiling as she did so. He figured it was payback from all the workouts he had her doing to maintain her self-sufficiency, though she had previously said it was interesting to get her hands on such an awkward and rigid swimmer and that she just felt compelled to loosen him up a bit.
Paul had concluded that she’d picked up a bit of his sarcasm over the years, because she often made fun of him for being so awkward in the water. She, on the other hand, was a virtual gumby. One day she’d had him perform the same flexibility drill on her and he was dismayed when he literally was able to wrap her body up in a ball, with her just looking back and smiling at him as he did so. Then again, having cartilage instead of bones did give her a decided advantage.
“Ow,” Paul moaned as she pushed a little farther than his back wanted.
“Now kick,” she instructed, loosening up slightly on her prying. He managed a weak flicker of his bound legs and she pushed in on a precise spot of his back with two stiff fingers. “Quicker now.”
Paul felt something pop, then his legs loosened up considerably and his micro-kick became fluid and regular.
“There, that’s better,” she said, holding him in place. “Practice the small motions correctly and they will build into the larger ones.”
“You know I’m never going to be able to swim like you, right?”
“Just as I knew I would never live this long,” she countered. “Now kick, a thousand reps. I will keep count, just focus on maintaining the proper movement.”
“Kill joy,” he mumbled, but she only smiled at the complaint while maintaining a firm grip on his waist and upper legs, limiting his range of movement while using her tail to maintain her attitude in the water. He worked through the exercise diligently, trying to keep his movements within necessary rhythm though Ariel had to pry him back into alignment several times. Eventually he reached the 1000 mark, after which she released his legs and pulled him upright.
“Arms,” she ordered, with him putting his wrists back over his head for her to grab with one hand while still holding onto his waist with the other, then she pressed her chest into his back and pulled with both arms, bending him out like a bow, during which he felt another couple joints pop. “You are so inflexible.”
“Not…built…for the…water,” he reminded her amidst the strain.
“That’s no excuse. Taryn is much more flexible. In fact, you’re the worst of all your brothers and sisters.”
“You haven’t…met…all of them.”
“They say you’re the worst, and I believe them.”
“I think…Ian…is in competition…for that title.”
“Would you agree with that?” Ariel asked.
“Agree…with what…myself?”
“No, Paul is by far the worst,” Mark said, swimming up to them skillfully. “He just doesn’t like the water for some reason.”
“Who…is that?” Paul asked, unable to see from his position but vaguely recognizing the voice being transmitted through the commlink in their breath masks.
“One of your brothers that I have not seen in a long time…and one of your better swimmers,” Ariel said,
releasing Paul from the stretch and swimming over to embrace Mark. “It has been too long.”
“Sorry I don’t visit more,” he said, feeling her slick hair brush over his neck as she pulled back.
“What brings you back?” Paul asked, awkwardly swimming over to the pair as he massaged the small of his back with his left hand.
“What’s the latest you’ve heard?”
“About what?”
Mark raised an eyebrow. “I thought the Hycre would have gotten word to you by now.”
“The Bsidd are dragging their feet getting the relays built, so we’re still five links off the grid. What’s going on?”
“The Nestafar have allied with the lizards and are attacking Alliance worlds, Daka included.”
“What!?” Paul asked so fiercely that a few extra bubbles escaped his mask.
“I’m told they’re specifically targeting the Calavari, and that when they’ve got them weak enough the lizards are going to come in for the kill, splitting the Alliance apart and taking the rest of us down piecemeal.”
“How do you know that…wait, you said Daka was hit, how bad?”
“Pretty bad, but we only had a few Star Force casualties. We did lose Vitor and Enrich though.”
“Status of the system?”
“In Alliance control. The Hycre brought in a defense fleet and the seda is still intact. The base was damaged but we held it just long enough to get some extraordinary help.”
“What help?” Paul asked, swimming up within a meter of Mark and all but forgetting that Ariel was beside him listening in.
Mark turned to the Elarioni. “I’m afraid I’m going to need to steal Paul away for a few months. We have to take a trip back home.”
“If you must,” she acquiesced.
“Just out with it,” Paul insisted.
“Kara invited a dragon to the pyramid,” he answered bluntly.
Paul looked at him through the water as if he had gone nuts. “What in the world are you talking about?”
