by Aer-ki Jyr
“Did you train them to be otherwise?”
“Stupidity is something that is meant to remain in the Ter’nat. Zen’zat should be better than that.”
“Yet you are in control.”
“Why are you smaller? Your Knights are proper Zen’zat size, but you are not. That means you have even less psionic tissue.”
“We do well enough.”
“But why?”
“Why haven’t you all gone Ultra?”
“But you are so much smaller than us. What advantage is there in going even smaller? Our enemies do not outsize us.”
“You have Ari’tat. Why not enlarge them to your size?”
“They are not built for it. We enhanced the Zen’zat without compromising their physiology. You can attain their size without negative side effects. You must know this from our records you obtained from Terraxis. So why?”
“Most of our enemies are not your size, and agility and speed are more important.”
“More important than psionic tissue?”
“We compensate for lack of tissue with skill. We may have less, but per mass it’s stronger.”
“You put yourself in a compromised position versus Zen’zat.”
“And you put Zen’zat in a compromised position by withholding psionics from them. Why not let them have all of them in order to fight us?”
“We do not alter our empire to fight our enemies. We adapt, but we do not alter. It would unbalance other areas and we would end up a nightmare of contradictions. Our psionic allotment is carefully constructed for longevity and stability. True dominance is not fleeting.”
“Battles are.”
“Which is why our psionics are closely guarded and rogue Zen’zat must be destroyed. We cannot let our enemies possess such strength.”
“Oops,” Oliva said, using the V’kit’no’sat equivalent. “Maybe you should have negotiated rather than attacked Terraxis straight off.”
“Perhaps so, but none of you are permitted to live. What negotiation could there have been other than the circumstances of your demise?”
“Good men don’t need rules. Your adherence to code is a weakness.”
“We have destroyed most of your empire,” the Brat’mar said, citing density of civilization rather than points on the map, for Star Force now had more of the latter than the day the war began. “It has cost us more than we imagined, but the end result will be the same and the losses are a stark reminder of why we cannot let rogue populations exist with our genomes. Where do you see our weakness?”
“You made us an automatic enemy. And after all you have done, we are not going to be forgiving.”
“You will be dead, so it does not matter.”
“You’d better hope so. Still haven’t taken the Uriti Preserve yet. What’s the holdup?”
Dorchav visibly altered while not quite growling, but it was obvious even to Olivia’s eyes that the mere mention of that failure annoyed him.
“Hide there if you wish, but we will return and finish off that bastion of strength after we eliminate the rest of your civilization. The bastardized Hadarak will be hard to kill, but we will eventually succeed.”
“You just lost the second Mach’nel in your history to us…or was there another to someone else I’m not aware of?”
“Mach’nel have been destroyed, but never captured. You are unique in that.”
“And you are overconfident.”
“The vast swath of planets in what you call the Devastation Zone is evidence to the contrary.”
“So is the burning hulk of your Mach’nel sinking in the star.”
“You are a worthy opponent, but we will still prevail. Our empire is too large and too strong to fall, and we will not coexist.”
“And we will not lay down and die.”
“I give you a measure of respect for that, but it will not stay my wrath. When the ceasefire ends, this system falls.”
“Ingrate,” Olivia quipped.
“Sparing me was a strategic mistake, but I do thank you for it.”
“Do you know how we got the Uriti to ally with us?”
“No, and I am deeply curious as to how you control them.”
“We don’t control them. We talked to them when everyone else decreed they had to be destroyed. Your empire is darkside, and that gives you some advantages. But Star Force is lightside, and that gives us some different advantages. Making allies is one of them. Instead of befriending us you’re trying to kill us and losing so many ships in the process that could have been preserved simply by talking.”
“Your existence is forbidden.”
“And that darkside decree keeps a firm hold on your populations and discourages competition…but when something slips through the cracks it becomes a weakness.”
“Your translation must be off. Your terms of ‘darkside’ and ‘lightside’ are not used properly.”
“You simply are unfamiliar with them. There is more to the universe than dominance. Some things are wrong, many things are neutral, and other things are good. I don’t think you understand good, which we refer to as ‘lightside’. The V’kit’no’sat are a mix of neutral and darkside, meaning you do bad things. You gain some advantages from those bad things, but the darkside is inherently self-destructive…and death marks are a tell-tale sign of it.”
“And you claim to have strengths unknown to us?”
“Yes. The Uriti are a prime example of it. If you ever figure out why, then you and I may no longer be enemies.”
“I thought we were beyond forgiving?”
“Your empire is.”
“But I am not? Do you favor me for some reason?”
“There is a truth to the universe, and those that can see it are inherently allies. You are ignorant, but have enough skills to suggest that you are not delusional. If you ever come to know and understand the lightside you will either be a virulent enemy or an ally. There can be no neutrality once your eyes are opened…and the delusional make sure they never see what they feel on the periphery.”
“I will consider your words, if for no other reason than the victory you have achieved here.”
“And I will apologize if I end up killing you later. You seem less fanatical than the other V’kit’no’sat. You’ll at least talk to a ‘heretic.’”
“You are no heretic. You were simply born into an illegitimate line. And I do pity that, but the death mark remains and I do not have the authority to suspend it. Only Itaru does.”
“Might want to have a talk with them about that before they send another Mach’nel our way.”
“I doubt they will after this debacle.”
“Why the change after so many years?”
“A shift in strategy.”
“By your new campaign commander?”
“Yes. And that identity will remain a secret.”
“Is he going to get into trouble for losing the Mach’nel?”
“Far less than I will.”
“Are they going to kill you?”
“No, they will not. I am too valuable and your new technology was unpredictable.”
“Just us thinking logically rather than relying on legacy.”
“A rebuke?”
“I’m a trailblazer. I have no one’s example to follow. I have to chart our path forward where you look to others that came before you. Expect the unexpected with us. We’re not using the V’kit’no’sat playbook.”
“So noted,” Dorchav said as his fleet’s sensors picked up the Star Force snareship racing out from the star in a different position too fast for his fleet to intercept. “Keep your ship as a trophy. You most likely will not see another victory of this magnitude going forward amongst your string of defeats.”
“Trophy? I’m going to use it to shoot you guys,” Olivia said with a sarcastic wave as she cut the comm while keeping a close mental eye on Spaceball One’s progress. That conversation had been more revealing than she’d expected, but she wasn’t stupid enough to believe
that Brat’mar was going to cut them any slack. If he didn’t violate the agreement and attack early, then that would be the only payback in exchange for saving his life and Olivia wasn’t assuming even that much as she resumed part of the control duties for her fleet and got them moving around the system but keeping their distance from the V’kit’no’sat.
When the fighting started again she was going to peel off what enemy ships she could, but Dorchav was right about one thing. Requiem was going to fall and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop it.
18
January 13, 4814
Jennizeren System (Star Force Front)
Zulu
Two months had passed and Paul was still nowhere close to winning the fight for the Jennizeren System. Three of the 6 planets remained intact, but the three under assault were in bad condition. None of them had fallen completely, but the orbital bombardment of sections where the planetary shield had fallen continued and Paul was helpless to stop it.
But he was making gains, in the form of ship losses. He’d destroyed in small attacks 13% of the enemy fleet, or rather what remained after they had assaulted Ennvor, Tardon, and Zulu. They’d lost 16% of their fleet and saw damage equal to another 11% spread over ships still in the fight during those shield breaching attacks. That didn’t sound like egregious losses, but they were considering the original 7,449 ships the V’kit’no’sat had brought into the system.
Over 7,000 ships ranging in size from 2.5 miles up through 36 miles wide. Other locations were getting hit with more, especially Karthus, and reinforcements had to go there. Paul had picked up a few dozen more jumpships that had come in from odd places, but he knew this fight was going to mostly occur with what he had here already, and right now he had to get the enemy ship count low enough that when they hit the other three planets the anti-orbital batteries would massacre them.
Assuming there weren’t more coming for the V’kit’no’sat, which Paul wasn’t. If there were then he’d fight this battle as best he could, but right now he had to face the situation before him and the fact that the V’kit’no’sat were already beginning eradication bombardment on Zulu before the entire planet had even been conquered was making him angry.
Angrier than normal, anyway, for watching people die was never something Paul could tolerate. Most Star Force personnel were moving ahead of the fight, but not all were making it out and those fighting the V’kit’no’sat directly on the ground were getting hit hard and not every fallen mech or aerial craft had their pilots survive. On top of that Zen’zat were moving out ahead of the larger V’kit’no’sat and probing everywhere with assassination and sabotage missions.
And Paul couldn’t get to them. He needed his warships in the atmosphere pounding the enemy ground troops, but even the smaller fleet over Zulu had him blocked and he’d been chipping away at it for the past 6 days. Already some additional ships had been sent over from the other two planets to reinforce this enemy fleet, keeping Paul stuck with skirmish work only while the planet continued to get hammered.
What was worse was the fact that Paul could take them. The fleet over Zulu anyway. He could full on attack that fleet and basically cancel them out, losing all his ships while taking out theirs. But then the other two fleets would own the system and the three intact planets would have only their shields and anti-orbital weapons to defend themselves with, which were substantial, but having a mobile fleet that could backdoor any bombarding fleet made the required number of ships to penetrate the shields much, much higher.
So Paul had to play the long game, preserving most of his ships while making kills and some trades against the V’kit’no’sat that were advantageous, as word came through the relay grid from one of the scouts on the far side of the Devastation Zone. Another large V’kit’no’sat fleet had been seen passing through a system and heading this way. That meant another month, maybe two before they got to the front, and Paul doubted it was the only one coming.
But he had his own reinforcements coming, some of which should be here within the month, which meant the gains or losses made within the next few weeks would set the stage for the main event forthcoming, and Paul needed to make sure the three intact planets stayed intact until then…but at the rate the V’kit’no’sat were conquering Zulu and the others they might finish early. The ground troops had to hold the shield generators long enough, so Paul made a bad choice.
His fleet was spread out around the planet, forcing the V’kit’no’sat fleet to equally spread so Paul couldn’t run help down or evac ships out, and was constantly in motion probing with light attacks and withdrawing until he had a mismatch that he pounced on. But now was different, and as he mentally sent out orders the ship movements visibly changed and the V’kit’no’sat were fast to react as he launched a massive assault in 11 different locations.
He didn’t use his entire fleet, and as those 11 battles started to show significant damage to the V’kit’no’sat ships the others in blockade formation rushed out of position to aid them…which was the point. As the carnage increased Paul sent 9 smaller groups in on flanking attacks, all of which was to obscure the single small group that accelerated hard towards the planet and entered the atmosphere so fast they lit on fire, draining their shields heavily, but they needed the speed as some of the V’kit’no’sat ships attacked from range and moved to intercept them.
But they didn’t make it. Some of the drones had their shields breached, then the friction with the atmosphere burnt away at their hull armor, but it was the additional weaponsfire that downed more than half of them before they hit the intact shields below that Paul had briefly lowered just long enough for the intact drones to pass through. It was then reformed just before the falling pieces of the destroyed ones hit, crushing against the energy shield and splattering like metallic water balloons as visible ripples formed in the otherwise clear shield.
The energy necessary to repel the ramming debris wasn’t near enough to overstress them, and the subsequent weaponsfire from the ships above were absorbed as the V’kit’no’sat ships turned and ran back up to higher orbit as 8 of them were hit by anti-orbital fire from the ground batteries, for Paul had made the run down over an intact section of the planet. A section that typically had V’kit’no’sat ships very high up to intercept his skirmishers before they could get low enough to get an assist from the planet’s weaponry.
The massive battles that were now underway had pulled enough ships out of position for Paul to get 12 intact drones and 5 damaged ones through and under the planetary shields, with him immediately recalling the rest of his fleet up to higher orbit. They had to disengage before he lost too many of them, but already he had the ships underneath the shield skimming the surface as they headed towards the shield generators closest to the fighting.
He needed more than that down there, and higher up, because he couldn’t get good firing lines past buildings when the drones were so low and pinned there because of the planetary shields, which he had raised 3 more miles to assist, but still the firing had to be lateral unless you were right over the targets and the drones couldn’t go out beyond the shield coverage or they’d get pounded by the V’kit’no’sat fleet.
To make matters worse the edges of the planetary shields had to be tilted down enough to keep V’kit’no’sat warships from getting underneath them as well, so the places where the fighting was the heaviest had an even lower ceiling, but the troops on the ground would welcome the corvettes and destroyers he’d slipped down, for as big and dangerous as the V’kit’no’sat ground troops were, even an Era’tran was small and vulnerable compared to a warship.
But Paul knew massed fire could take them down, and all three planets had multiple Ultras with them that were currently withdrawing from the front lines, knowing they’d be the easiest targets for the warships. In fact the ground combat was shifting immediately and relieving the hardest hit areas, but Paul knew they were merely shifting their attack from a full force mode to a more subtle multipronged
attack with smaller units that the warships could not target when they were inside or below buildings.
The larger V’kit’no’sat were pulling back within range of their own mobile batteries, for they no longer sent down troops without the ability to defend themselves against low riding warships…at least a few of them anyway, which meant Paul couldn’t race his drones out after them without risking damage or losing one or two of them.
What he’d just done was slow down the V’kit’no’sat and maybe stop them in a few locations, but the warships couldn’t stop an army of Zen’zat from moving through the cityscape. They had to have troops on the ground to do that, but Paul could do some things to make their movement harder.
Evacuation alarms sounded around several key locations on Paul’s order, with holographic markers leading the people in those areas out as Paul selected buildings around the shield generators and the undercity beneath them as targets. When they were clear he fired on them, destroying part of the Star Force city all the way down to the bedrock over the next few hours of continuous pointblank bombardment so his limited ground troops would have less approaches to defend, for beneath all the surface buildings and streets was another world entirely, and one that the warships couldn’t assist.
The ‘undercity’ existed in most Star force infrastructure purposely to give denizens cover against aerial attack, but being outnumbered like this it gave the enemy a movement advantage even when blast doors were sealed off, for the V’kit’no’sat could cut their way through with time. Now they’d have piles of rubble hundreds of meters wide to dig through…and if they were detected to be trying Paul could fire on those locations again, making them a death zone if the enemy crept into them.
No, now they would have to go through specific approaches, for Paul had left many so his own troops didn’t get cornered, and kept a drone over top of each shield generator to shoot down aerial attack, for there were plenty of I’rar’et and other V’kit’no’sat fliers in the skies. They were all wearing armor with weaponry included, making them a match for Star Force’s own aerial craft, but they had a movement advantage while Star Force had a firepower and shields advantage…for most of the mass of the V’kit’no’sat fliers was made up of their bodies, with the skeets and other Star Force fighters being made up mostly of equipment with smaller pilots.
