by Aer-ki Jyr
The Itaru forces attacked using lethal weapons to hit targets, but stun for when they got in a position to make a kill. The Era’tran, however, did not. Forgoing the current belief that the Stun War was an acceptable way of fighting without seriously hurting the overall strength of the V’kit’no’sat, the Era’tran fought tooth and claw every step of the way and started inflicting massive casualties, forcing a pullback on all the worlds until their commanders decided what to do.
Even using stun weapons they should have been doing better given their numbers, but the preparations made to the landscape and the cagey way the Era’tran were fighting were making this a far more even fight than expected. As a result 7 of those attacks were withdrawn and the fleets instead established a blockade of those systems. The others eventually decided to attack with full weaponry, those some pieces of their assault forces refused to push forward, not having previously agreed to kill in order to remove the Era’tran from these systems.
Even without their assistance the Itaru forces held a significant advantage, led by the arrogant who held all dissent against Itaru as an offense worthy of death, and that’s what they wrought, at extreme penalty to themselves, as they tore through city after city. The Era’tran fought a moving retreat, utilizing their Sav-enhanced minds to outthink their opponents on multiple occasions, but the number of troops involved was too great and they couldn’t hold them back forever when they the enemy was willing to take losses of this magnitude.
Three systems were totally overrun, those being the ones with the smallest amount of Era’tran territory. Those with larger amounts took longer to overcome and allowed reinforcements to arrive, at which point the blockading naval fleets went at it with no holds barred. The Era’tran were incensed, knowing that this was the first move in an effort to cull them and responding appropriately. Itaru would claim an overreaction on their part and a betrayal of their V’kit’no’sat bonds to be killing one another over territorial disputes, but few were listening beyond the arrogant as the entire empire caught its breath, suspending many of their own conflicts as they watched to see what would become of this…and which side they should come down on.
This wasn’t the Oso’lon or the J’gar, this was Era’tran versus Itaru, and most people did not fully understand that dynamic. Memories of the Rit’ko’sor rebellion came back with a short-lived panic…until they realized it was Itaru initiating the fighting and not the Era’tran. The Era’tran were on the defensive only, not hitting any other worlds and not even attacking the neighboring races in the systems under assault. The latter were essentially neutral observers taking holos and broadcasting them across the Urrtren while this ‘small’ conflict sorted itself out.
In the end the Era’tran were removed from 10 of the 18 systems and pulled out what few people they had left on two others rather than leave them totally exposed. The remaining six held onto at least a foothold long enough for the Era’tran fleets to start showing up en mass along with, surprisingly to many, Hjar’at support as the two races fought the Itaru forces and killed most of them that failed to flee. Prisoners were taken at the end, and while the Era’tran had been forced out of 12 shared systems that was but a small wound to their overall civilization…but it also proved that Itaru had misjudged them greatly, and with both the Oso’lon and J’gar staying out of it entirely for fear of bringing more ire their way, the prospect of fighting a united Era’tran and Hjar’at scared off so much support that Itaru failed to raise a second assault fleet to finish what they started.
Rather they began organizing a defense of the key, huge multi-racial systems where their support was the greatest while essentially relinquishing massive chunks of the empire to the various factions that had unofficially broken off…and that decision only emboldened the chaos to come, for Itaru’s symbolic rule of the V’kit’no’sat was now also at an end.
What was left was not an empire, but a power vacuum with the two strongest races paralyzed by their potential Terraxis taint, unable to get involved save by proxy, and their surrogates did not hold the same intimidation factor, nor the same amount of fleet resources.
The result was everyone went their own way, pursuing defense, offense, alliances and rebellions. Some races held together and others fractured into pieces, some all the way down to individual systems, as cries came through the Urrtren to Mak’to’ran and his rebel fleet for some form of leadership and protection as the Stun Wars increased in volume, with the only saving grace being that beyond Itaru’s arrogant no one pursued their conquests with full aggression and prisoners were simply relocated to another world of their choosing. Territory was the objective, not the deaths of other races, but what Mak’to’ran had feared came to pass as almost all the races withdrew their Hadarak border fleets to defend their own territory against internal aggression.
8 races kept troops there in addition to the Oso’lon and J’gar, whom the Era’tran and Hjar’at quickly negotiated with to send nearly their full fleets there to fill the gaps. That would be a temporary solution that could not permanently persist, for even the occasional combat with Hadarak was costly in terms of resources that no two races could replace fast enough even if they suffered no personnel losses.
But the two primary V’kit’no’sat races agreed, because they knew the need to hold the line more than the others did, having been part of the trio that created the V’kit’no’sat for this very purpose…but moving their fleets away from everyone else was also a calming factor, for if they were busy holding the line they couldn’t be poised to start a civil war to overthrow the empire…not that there was much of one left. In fact it was a perfect opportunity for the traitors amongst them to act, but whoever it was didn’t overtly, perhaps fearing a rallying cry against them reuniting everyone again.
Whoever was responsible was still playing the waiting game, or perhaps was behind one or more of these emerging factions, but they wouldn’t have the power of the J’gar or Oso’lon to help them, if indeed the list of traitors did include at least one of them. So the desperate move to reinforce the Hadarak border brought badly needed ease to the paranoid fears that had been plaguing the empire and focused very real fears on the Stun Wars that were already in play…and would not be reined in now that the two largest fleets were out of the equation, save for the pieces of them that quietly began migrating to Itaru-loyal worlds to increase their defenses.
Mak’to’ran saw that as the arrogant assembling themselves and consolidating their power…which hopefully would draw them out of the vast reaches of the empire and leave those systems unplagued by their stupidity. Unfortunately there were numerous other motivating factors driving the Stun Wars, but having this one at least reducing was a help in the short term.
In the long term, however, Mak’to’ran saw a bitter fight coming if the V’kit’no’sat were ever to be whole again. Right now that didn’t matter. The empire was dead, and whatever he was going to reforge wasn’t going to be located on Itaru. It was going to be built wherever loyalists could be located and recruited.
“I have included the full prospectus with this message. Delete it after committing it to memory,” Hamob’s hologram said. “As it pertains to you, I have need to ask you for an even greater responsibility than we had discussed before. The Era’tran cannot become conquerors. If we are to reforge the V’kit’no’sat we must do it now, not after we secure territory. An alliance between Era’tran and Hjar’at is still suspect to those influenced by lies. They must learn the truth via our actions, and our actions must be of steadfast defense.”
Mak’to’ran growled approvingly, sensing where this was going.
“We cannot assert ourselves in order to combat the arrogant and otherwise unscrupulous in other races sufficient to the task before us. The empire is too vast. We must help to guide our brothers back to purpose, but we cannot force them. The Era’tran cannot force them. You, however, are another matter. You wield influence and leadership as weapons along with a multi-racial fleet, and I would encoura
ge you to continue utilizing agents from the races you are attacking as overseers afterwards. We must dispel the myth that greed is fueling our actions, and I fear that any conquest by the Era’tran or Hjar’at will be seen as driven by such.”
“We are and will continue to hold our territory and defend those in alliance with us, but you must be the change agent. You will lead the assaults where necessary, and if applied appropriately I predict you will be able to conquer more worlds through diplomacy than direct action. I trust in your judgement. Continue to use it to full effect, for every year that passes the idea of the V’kit’no’sat diminishes. It is becoming a lie of the past, and we must demonstrate that the lie was a betrayal of the arrogant, not of what the V’kit’no’sat truly are.”
“You must become our sword and rally the systems, individually if necessary, to us. We are maintaining our territory in Itaru, and currently it doesn’t look like we’re going to be fighting there. If it should happen, that is not your concern. We will deal with it. But indications suggest that it is going to be neutral ground as the arrogant try to ply their lies and wage a war of propaganda. They know they can’t forcibly rule the empire, so they are moving to secondary agendas. That leaves you free to operate and go where you will. Stay evasive, but I believe you are now beyond their attempted reach. Assassins would be their likely attempt to get to you. If that happens, the V’kit’no’sat could be lost. You have a legitimacy that cannot be gained by another given present circumstances. Do not allow yourself to be destroyed or we are severely hindered.”
As Mak’to’ran read through the plans the Era’tran had cooked up, which were lengthy and encompassed a lot of areas he hadn’t even begun to delve into, the impact of what Hamob had said about him being destroyed began to sink in. He knew he was a symbol and rallying point for the rebellion and an ambassador for the Era’tran, but that’s not what Hamob had been referring to.
It took some self-reflection to realize that he’d become more important than that, perhaps a great deal more. Mak’to’ran couldn’t know, looking from the inside out, so he heeded Hamob’s warning. If he was becoming such an intense focal point Itaru would gain greatly from eliminating him. He’d always assumed they would if they got the chance, but from what Hamob had inferred they might be willing to sacrifice an entire fleet of ships on a suicide run to get him…and that meant he was going to have to rethink a lot of his activities.
No, he wasn’t going to hole up somewhere and lead from afar. He had to be up front and personal, but there were ways to add layers of security and the most important of them all was not letting other people know where you were going. That meant they’d only have the local assets and agents in place to use against him, assuming he left before reinforcements could arrive. Mak’to’ran had been operating that way already and it appeared that it was going to be necessary indefinitely.
He was also going to need an anonymous set of armor…or one that he could toggle on/off with his identification. He had to be able to move around the surface of planets if needed without drawing attention, and as long as other Era’tran were in the rebel fleet he could disappear as the leader and become one of them. Such a thing was risky, almost to the point of recklessness, but his experience had taught him that the safest place to be was where the enemy didn’t see…even if that was standing right beside them.
But the additional attention was a double edged sword, one that he could use to greater advantage if he could get a handle on how he was being seen. It wasn’t a matter of manipulation, but in determining how much credibility he had and how much leverage that would buy him in negotiations…leverage that could avoid fights and further loss of materiel and lives, for despite Itaru’s apparent pullback the reports of assassinations had not declined and they were not fully revealing themselves in any one circumstance. They were operating in pockets, waiting to be dislodged and detonated like a bomb in most cases, but Mak’to’ran had also discovered evidence of more surgical removals of isolated individuals rather than attempts at short term, massive purges.
There was a long list of victims that was going to be getting even longer, but on many worlds where that insanity had already played out unity was returning along with functionality. Now though, with Hamob’s recent revelations, Mak’to’ran was going to have to take his efforts beyond a rebel fleet and start organizing a true alliance.
Industry, safe trade and travel, and securing the Urrtren relays was going to take priority, though fortunately no one had struck at the Urrtren yet, but he sensed that would be coming soon. What little grip he thought he’d had on the flow of events had just been shattered with the news that the devolution of the empire was progressing far faster than his limited intelligence had informed him. If Hamob had not been feeding him periodic information, what tidbits he’d been getting off the Urrtren would have left him unprepared for what was coming.
“Not enough time,” he mewed, reviewing the mass of data again before finally deleting it. “Not enough time.”
6
January 14, 3636
Vviot System (Fi’ti territory)
Navirashonmety
Mak’to’ran’s rebel fleet didn’t encounter any resistance when they entered the system, for all the Fi’ti warships were in orbit of the single world they exclusively held while their Zen’zat operated some mining operations on the others that were airless save for one, Dargonziat, but the air there was dry and they’d left that to their Zen’zat as well. It held a sizeable shipyard for the smaller vessels that Zen’zat operated and were built specifically for their diminutive size, all the way up to Domjo-class warships.
The Fi’ti lived on the waterworld of Navirashonmety, which had all of 2% of its surface area occupied by land and those scattering of islands were covered with airborne infrastructure in addition to many other spires rising out of the oceans that held small cities on top of them, though most of the Fi’ti civilization was beneath the waves.
Unique amongst the V’kit’no’sat, the Fi’ti were the only race to straddle the aquatic/avian divisions. The seal-like swimmers had skin patches that concealed massive wings that they’d unfurl once above the waves and take to the air with, looking like giant kites and slow moving until they pulled in their wings and dove for the waves. They were very quick descending and could use gravity to their advantage, angling into decent agility then struggling to gain altitude again.
That made them almost a joke to the other avians, and as far as aquatics went they were undersized. Given that they lived on waterworlds they had found their allegiance with the aquatics in most cases, but they were reluctant to share worlds and as a result had less territory that the other races, but most of what they had was theirs and theirs alone.
This system only had a Dak’bri and 4 Wur’ki assigned to it, with the latter ships being less than 3 miles wide and manned exclusively by the Fi’ti Zen’zat, probably having been built in this system along with others that had been sent out to their other systems. Natural resources here were plentiful, but narrow in selection. Imports were necessary for some requirements of starship production, but the bulk of the raw materials were available here and the Fi’ti’ had made good use of them so far, save for the fact that most of the ore in the system had yet to be collected. The mining operations were sufficient to supply what they needed, but had the system been under Era’tran control a much more aggressive industrialization would have been pursued on the extraneous planets.
The reverse was true beneath the waves of the primary world. Era’tran didn’t expand much in the water, but the Fi’ti did and the sensor readings coming from the planet indicated heavy work going on beneath the seafloor as the population of some 3.9 billion Fi’ti and nearly 10 times that number of Zen’zat had been beefing up the planetary defenses in recent decades, and wisely so, for the loyalists here had taken control of the system and been recruiting others. Now it stood as a bastion of stability and sanity…but in the V’kit’no’sat’s current state that seemed to dr
aw trouble more than repel it, so they’d reached out to Mak’to’ran and asked for his assistance.
With this fleet came more Fi’ti vessels from other parts of what used to be the V’kit’no’sat empire that had joined recently at Mak’to’ran’s request. He’d made his intentions for the Fi’ti clear and they’d abandoned their other worlds in order to travel with him here, in what was going to become the rebels’ official capitol system.
That had shocked many, for they rightly saw the flaw in that logic…the rebels had persisted because they couldn’t be located and overwhelmed. Tying themselves to territory was a massive mistake, and Mak’to’ran would have agreed before, but things were different now. Itaru had withdrawn nearly all influence back to what they saw as their core systems and other races/factions now held sway over local regions. This system was not too far from the Hjar’at, but was still outside their domain.
But it was very close to a black hole that was the intersection point of 7 different major traffic routes…and over the following year the incoming traffic would be heavy with Zen’zat ships, for Mak’to’ran had sent word throughout the galaxy that any Zen’zat wishing to serve the V’kit’no’sat rather than a racial faction should make their way here, where the empire was going to be reforged one system at a time if necessary, but the disunity plaguing the V’kit’no’sat would not be allowed to exist any further.
