by Aer-ki Jyr
“Has the coding quietly changed since then?” an I’rar’et named Ollo asked dangerously.
“I have nothing to compare to,” Hamob said, not having thought of that possibility.
“If they’ve been active for the past two millennia, and have cloaking technology that we can’t track, they may be setting us up for a massive fall and taking their time to quietly do it. Maybe they didn’t need a failsafe in the Urrtren back then, but what’s to stop them from making one now?”
“They understand those systems far better than us,” Vono warned.
“They had no clue we would ever betray them,” Yaniel reminded the other elders. “Their ego could not comprehend the possibility that we could ever pull it off. That was one reason why they were taken off guard.”
“We also attacked simultaneously when we set up the blockades,” Hamob added. “There wasn’t a lot of useful information they could have gotten from the Urrtren anyway.”
“And we were using those back channels to communicate,” Yaquik noted. “I don’t think we ever stopped during the war. That could be why.”
“Everything sensitive went via courier then,” Keesa remembered. “But I do not believe we can fight a war like that now. Not when we don’t know where they are or how many ships they have.”
“No, we cannot,” Hamob agreed. “The only advantage we have is that they don’t know we are aware of their presence. Do we gain more by concealing that or revealing it?”
“We should tell everyone,” Yaquik said firmly. “Even if it does us no good. They deserve to know.”
“They have a Uriti now,” Yaniel argued. “If they can crash the Urrtren, and if they can control the Uriti, they can use it to crush systems before help could arrive, then flee before they get into too large of a fight. A Uriti means no long blockades and fleet engagements. Just a short, very lethal fight to break through planetary defenses, then easy bombardment of the surface. They will eradicate us, not conquer us. And if we have no Urrtren, there is little to stop them from cloaking a transport vessel and disappearing with the Uriti again. We are facing a nightmare situation if we lose communications.”
“One Uriti could destroy us all, given sufficient time and fleet backing,” Wenni said sadly. “The Harthur will not work against them.”
“And we can’t pool ships in every system,” Yaniel added. “Itaru would be safe, as would the other major systems, but the bulk of our territory could be assaulted quickly and efficiently before we even knew of the attack to send reinforcements.”
“Or they could attack, let us reinforce, then hit the system that the reinforcements left,” Yaquik warned. “We have to have a functioning Urrtren.”
“Which is why we have to keep this a secret until we can build another one,” Hamob said with finality.
“Agreed,” Yaniel said along with a chorus of telepathic pings gesturing the same.
“Won’t they realize what we’re doing?” Gavi wondered.
“I do not believe we could keep it secret for long,” Faer suggested.
“Upgrades,” Vono said, seeing the perfect subterfuge. “Incorporating the Neavi sensor. We add redundant ones to those systems that already have multiples, not discarding those that exist, as well as expanding out into currently empty systems to widen the grid. We have a Uriti on the loose now, so we need more vision. We don’t destroy or deactivate the existing ones, but we use our own software on the new ones. Hopefully Hamob has some functioning models by now?”
“They are less useful, but functional. The Era’tran have already built several units.”
“Speed?” Yaniel asked.
“Unchanged. It’s the data sifting that is lacking. If we only use them as transfers and let the current Urrtren do the sifting, I agree that we can quietly string together an emergency grid within the existing one. Civilian traffic would still be shut down, but basic communications would remain. Vono, you are beyond wise.”
“We use such relays in bad water, so it is not such a foreign concept to an aquatic.”
“Then our official reason for building them will be the Uriti?” Yaniel asked.
“And the Knights of Quenar,” Yaquik added. “Their cloaking technology is formidable, and has even defeated the Neavi sensor. We cannot allow other races to move freely through our territory unnoticed. The Knights of Quenar will be a wake up call, and even if we cannot track them, we need to track other developing races that are gaining cloaking technology. Once stung, the V’kit’no’sat have a history of hitting back, and this will be no different. We will shore up the Urrtren with added Neavi, and expand it as well. We must get a better grip on our domain, and these Neavi relays must have massive capability. Yet another reason why we won’t use full Urrtren systems.”
“Supplements and scouts, I like it,” Tweva, a Kret’net, declared.
“So we play for time,” Hamob finalized. “And that means not telling the others, unfortunately. What then do we do about the pressure to fully attack Star Force? It will be a costly war no matter how it plays out, and right now they are an ally against the Zak’de’ron with a fleet of Uriti. I would prefer not to waste that.”
“They are still a threat to us,” Yaquik reminded him. “A small one, but given time it will only grow larger.”
“That’s what we need,” Gavi argued. “The more powerful they become, the bigger a problem they are to the Zak’de’ron. One Uriti compared to the 74 that Star Force has. The Zak’de’ron cannot ignore that, no matter how much they hate us.”
“I doubt they care,” Yaniel said, siding with Yaquik. “The Uriti are of no use unless you have an identified system to smash, and we do not know where the Zak’de’ron systems are. Even if we did, I would expect them to flee. So long as they are the hunters the Uriti are not a threat to them. They only become a threat when the Zak’de’ron try to reclaim dominance and hold fixed territory. They will come for us first, not Star Force.”
“What are you saying, Yaniel?”
“I’m saying that we should use what time we have, get rid of Star Force now, then prepare for the Zak’de’ron. Two millennia is not enough time to build enough ships. Not on the number they need to reveal themselves to us. We have time and Star Force is our enemy. We need to eliminate them now, and steal the Uriti if we can. Not to mention whatever Chixzon knowledge they possess if we cannot find a source of our own.”
“Mak’to’ran will not agree to that.”
“He does not hold all decision making power,” the Oso’lon reminded Hamob. “The question before us is not what Mak’to’ran wants, but what is best for the V’kit’no’sat. We face our destruction, not just from the V’kit’no’sat, but from Star Force, the Knights of Quenar, the Chixzon…we have never had so many technologically powerful rivals all in contention simultaneously. The Zak’de’ron are the greatest threat, and even if it was them alone I would be fearful. We must eliminate one of these immediately. We cannot find the Knights of Quenar, nor do we know how large they are. The Zak’de’ron are hidden and the Chixzon might not have been revived yet. The choice before us is clear. If we wait, our opposition grows stronger on all fronts.”
“We are growing stronger as well now that the population limits have been eased,” Wenni pointed out. “Maintaining the least combat while we build is preferable. Star Force will gut our fleets, but they cannot take many of our worlds even if they tried. The defender has the advantage here, even with the Uriti.”
“So long as the Urrtren stands,” Yaquik reminded the little Ari’tat.
“All the more reason to wait while we build a grid the Zak’de’ron cannot take down with a single command.”
“It must be Star Force first,” the Lir’nen Aron agreed. “I do not like what it will cost us, but they are the only threat we know we can eliminate. Any secrets we can steal will be a bonus, but we must take them out.”
“How do we deal with their Uriti?” Gavi asked.
“We do not fight them. We only attack systems we
re they are not. If they arrive, we withdraw. We do not invade the surface any more than necessary to bring down shield generators. We obliterate from orbit and do not worry about the scraps. We hit fast and move on before the Uriti can come to us.”
“No,” Tweva said angrily, “we do the exact opposite.”
“Leaving them alive is too great a threat.”
“I agree with you on that, but your methods are wrong. We should avoid the Uriti, but we do not bombard. We do not eradicate. In fact, we remove their death mark entirely…and absorb them.”
Aron looked at the Kret’net oddly. “To what gain?”
“We preserve most of their people, and their subjugated races, and add their strength to our own. Mak’to’ran wants that, by their choice. If they refuse, we make them join by force.”
“They would not use their Uriti against captive populations,” Yaniel added thoughtfully. “We could take their worlds without worry of bombardment beyond shield generators. They would have to fight on the ground to retake them, and their civilians would be the living shield we need to forestall the wrath of the Uriti.”
“You would risk much on your assessment of what they would or would not do,” Vey said icily.
The Oso’lon looked down on the very flat and wide Ansot. “They maintain the loyalty of their servants via a strict code of behavior that they have not violated once during our destruction of their prime worlds.”
“We didn’t take their worlds then,” Wenni pointed out. “It is an unknowable situation.”
“I do not approve, but I concur,” Hamob interjected. “They will not kill their own people in order to get to us.”
“Exactly,” Yaniel pointed out. “We can take their smaller worlds before a Uriti can arrive, then if we hold them the Uriti can only blockade. They do not have the precision firepower to not kill specific targets. Star Force would have to mount a surface attack to remove us.”
“They could still claim orbit and their warfleet could do the pinpoint shooting,” Gavi noted.
“And we can bring our fleet down to the surface if that occurs,” Yaquik countered. “They will not shoot down our ships so they can fall and crush their own people. I am liking this strategy…plus it will make the arrogant left among us realize that we are not the superior here. We will treat Star Force as a worthy opponent, not vermin to be eradicated. And perhaps if we stop blasting every building they possess we will have more luck in plucking their secrets from them.”
“The Era’tran will not take part in this,” Hamob said angrily. “We have the Hadarak to fight as well, or have you forgotten?”
“I never forget,” Yaquik responded with a growl.
“We have to fight them while fighting Star Force, the Zak’de’ron, and everyone else that comes to join the cataclysm before us. Do we pull our fleets away and let the Hadarak spread or do we try to fight with less than our full forces against the Zak’de’ron?”
“All the more reason to eliminate Star Force quickly, before the Zak’de’ron are ready to hit us,” Yaniel argued.
“That doesn’t answer the question of what do we do when the Zak’de’ron do strike?”
“Or what we do about the Hadarak if we lose the Urrtren?” Wenni added.
Hamob saw the body language of almost everyone change, save for him. That painful thought had already occurred to him.
“We cannot hold the line without the Urrtren,” he said flatly. “If we are blinded, Hadarak will be able to get past our lines before we can identify them and rally a response. They won’t penetrate too far, but it will take more ships searching to maintain that. We will lose territory, at the minimum, even if we make the maximum effort.”
“We abandon our fight with the Hadarak,” Yaniel said softly, “or we end it permanently with our defeat. We cannot fight them and the Zak’de’ron simultaneously. We have no choice, as repugnant as it is. And the situation only becomes worse if we have to contend with Star Force and the Zak’de’ron simultaneously.”
“Do we? Or can we come to an arrangement with them?” Gavi pressed.
“Based on what? Even if we can, what do we tell the empire that will satisfy them?”
“We cannot fight a war based on a lie,” Hamob said firmly. “None of us should die for a lie.”
“Please tell me another solution, for I do not see one,” Yaniel requested.
“We ally with Star Force in some measure, even if it is just one of mutual exclusion, and we both prepare for what is coming. As for those needing to fight…I do not care.”
“That will not stop them.”
“The Era’tran will not go. Is your race so belligerent they cannot obey a stand-down order?”
“They must understand the order. Blind loyalty to Mak’to’ran is not as much of a virtue as you believe.”
“Will they not take your word for it?”
“They might, but I believe we should eliminate Star Force for a variety of reasons. This war against the Zak’de’ron is not going to be soon or quick, though I do worry about the Uriti in the short term. They are playing a long game, and if Star Force has both our technological knowledge and that of the Chixzon, I fear them growing too fast and too far. We cannot let another rival of such magnitude come to be. They have been allowed to grow so much already, and I fault Mak’to’ran for that. He should have sent more ships initially and crushed them before they could rise to this level.”
“If he had, we would not know about the Zak’de’ron now,” Yaquik argued.
“An accidental benefit.”
“We all underestimated Star Force,” Wenni admitted. “But we crushed their capitol and tore through the heart of their territory. No one suspected they could rebuild so fast or so repetitively. Nor did we know they possessed Chixzon knowledge, which probably aided them greatly. And we also did not know they could use the Uriti, for they did not for such a long time. Regardless, I do not blame Mak’to’ran. He saved us from destroying ourselves, and his focus is rightly on the Hadarak now. Star Force doesn’t want a fight. We should just leave them alone…let them have the Rim, all of it if they want, while we focus on the Hadarak and the Zak’de’ron. As you said, that is more than we can handle already.”
“If we do not destroy them now, we will regret it later. I can promise you that. They are not our ally. Not after all we have done to them.”
“Which is why we absorb them,” Tweva reiterated. “So we can gain something from this heresy as we stamp it out.”
“Agreed,” Bennak said with a nod of his long neck.
“You will need our full strength to destroy them,” Hamob warned. “And the Era’tran will not help.”
“We cannot risk another civil war over this,” Wenni said, vexed. “Or we will not need the Zak’de’ron. We will fall apart before they even strike us.”
“Can we beat Star Force without abandoning the Hadarak front?” Yaniel asked, glancing at Yaquik.
“I believe so.”
“Easily?”
“Fairly, but we will be vulnerable elsewhere should we be hit by the Knights of Quenar. We still do not know how many of them there are.”
“They ran from us,” Hamob reminded them. “I do not think they are looking for a fight. Only the remaining Uriti. And you will not defeat Star Force easily.”
“We are making the same mistake again,” Gavi pointed out.
“Which is why we do not hold back, except for the Hadarak front,” Yaniel insisted. “We send our full might…and if we do not have the Era’tran, we will be weakened. We must fight as one.”
“Perhaps we can,” Wenni said as inspiration hit him. “If the Era’tran do not want to fight Star Force, then trade us. Use your forces against the Hadarak so the Oso’lon can pull their fleets back. That way the number of ships we send against Star Force doesn’t change. The amount of ships on the Hadarak front doesn’t change. We just exchange assignments, and we avoid a civil war.”
“Yes,” an Uvbor called Neien said emphaticall
y. “We do not want to waste our ships in the face of the Zak’de’ron threat, and I believe I could convince the others to take the place of another race on the Hadarak front. With more Harthur being built, our losses will go down dramatically…and if those races attacking Star Force fail, they will be the ones to take the losses.”
“And if they fail,” Gavi added, “then we give Star Force the Rim and waste no more time and resources on them. Call it a trial of worthiness.”
“You doubt our combined ability to destroy them?” Yaniel asked, almost as if it were treason the Bez was suggesting.
“If the races that do not fight them declare so prior to the invasion, we may gain Star Force’s assistance against the Hadarak, at the very least with the translation offer they made.”
“I would not count on that,” Hamob warned.
“Perhaps, perhaps not,” Gavi offered, “but if we tell them that we are removing the death mark, and that if they can survive this new invasion we will grant them autonomous status within the Rim we lose nothing, assuming Yaniel is right that they can be destroyed. If by some chance Star Force surprises us again, then we still have some diplomatic relationship with them. To be truthful I am concerned about the Uriti, and I do not want any Bez vessels fighting them unless absolutely necessary.”
“Our primary fight is with the Hadarak,” Keesa reminded them, “and they are not in the Rim. We do not need to be their either, unless we anticipate massive failure and the loss of all our territory. Let Star Force have it if they can earn it one more time. If not, we will preserve their people and incorporate them into the empire and they will operate on the Rim under Itaru’s direction. They have earned the removal of the death mark, in any case.”
“Can we at least agree on the removal of the death mark?” Hamob asked, not entirely liking where this was going.
They all exchanged glances, along with a few private telepathic comments between individuals, and it appeared the decision was unanimous.
“Alright then,” Yaniel stated. “We will have the death mark removed. The war will be one of subjugation. We will need as many resources after the fact as we can get to fight the Zak’de’ron, and if we can gain from this, Itaru can be convinced to remove the death mark without our explaining the threat of the Zak’de’ron.”
