by Aer-ki Jyr
They were still inferior, as all were to the Zak’de’ron, but the dragon knew they were not so inferior to the others. He would have liked to have conscripted these rogue Zen’zat, but their shielded minds would prevent traditional conscription and he did not have the time necessary to absorb their race in the means that would preserve their usefulness. A pity, for he would very much have liked to teach them the ways of warfare and throw them back at the V’kit’no’sat…but that was not an option. His race’s survival depended on secrecy and flight. Perhaps one day, millennia from now, he would see to their revenge.
The Zen’zat were on their own and doomed to failure, but it was gratifying to see them making inroads of their own where the V’kit’no’sat had said they were totally inept.
The little ones’ battle station had done well to destroy so many of the Nestafar warships, but many still remained, including their jumpships that contained too many minds for him to overwhelm directly. Conscripting them all would take time, and he could not allow any of their ships to flee the system with knowledge of his presence…meaning he had to act quickly before they recognized the threat and ran for their lives.
8
Out of the ground another tunnel formed and an object hurled forth…this one much larger than the dragon and deep blue in color. It flew up to where the Zak’de’ron was hovering above the Nestafar LZ and impacted it, twisting around and transforming into some form of exoskeleton that covered the red armor scales and turned the dragon into a much larger beast 3 times its original size. Once the fluid machine had encased it the beast shot up into the sky, leaving the Nestafar on the ground to continue loading into their dropships as previously instructed.
The blue of the additional armor began to glow brighter as it rose up into space, ending with a flash of light that left it neon in color. From there it flew up to where the Nestafar fleet was waiting and passed them by, heading directly for the distant group of jumpships parked in a higher orbit.
The Nestafar warships tried to move to intercept the dragon, but it was far too fast…making them seem as if chess pieces it could run around at its leisure. Even the Valeries escorting the warships couldn’t keep up and before they knew it the Nestafar commanders had the image of a blue, glowing dragon staring down at them from outside their jumpships.
“You will submit,” the powerful mental signal shot forth to all those onboard the jumpship the dragon was perched over. There were thousands of individual minds onboard, all of which heard the dragon’s thoughts as if it were standing behind them and breathing down their neck as it spoke. “Or I shall destroy you. Disarm and stand down now. This world belongs to me and you shall not claim it.”
He could sense the reactions of the jumpship crew, mixed as they were, as well as their confusion…but the rest of the Nestafar fleet was not so affected and the warships that the dragon had blithely flown past were now catching up, with their fighters hanging back, probably because of the carnage they had witnessed on the surface.
From the minds onboard the jumpship the dragon drew much information, including the communications occurring between the ships, indicating that they were indeed going to strike.
“Submit,” he repeated, focusing on the minds within the jumpship as some of its weaponry was beginning to come online. Soon those batteries deactivated as he cherry-picked minds to assert control over and gradually the tide of sentiment on the ship began to shift into compliance as he bathed them in telepathic influence…but he could not fully conscript them before the warships arrived, so he linked the jumpship commanders’ minds to his and released the others, then flew off to intercept the approaching warships.
The glowing armor that the dragon was encased in increased in intensity drastically, becoming a harsh point of light rather than a shape, so fierce that it hurt all eyes that viewed it. It flew directly towards the leading warship and cut through it…passing into the front hull and exiting out the back as if nothing had stood between it, though the hole it tore straight through the core of the ship testified otherwise. It banked to the right and rammed another Nestafar warship out of the dozens that were approaching, coming down on one of the ship’s wings and tearing clean through, only to arc back up and go through the other one, leaving two giant holes in the ship as if playing with it as the dragon repeated its mental summons, this time stretching out so as to touch all the Nestafar ships in orbit.
“Submit,” he repeated as he lazily flew towards the next closest ship…but this one shut down its weapons in a hurry and the dragon pulled off, buzzing the warship but not damaging it as he felt its crew wisely relent.
Others did not and fired upon the dragon…or tried to. It was moving so fast that they couldn’t land any plasma on it and their missiles simply disintegrated when they hit the fierce point of light, never getting a chance to detonate.
Suddenly one of the other jumpships winked out, making a microjump away from the planet. On cue the attacking warships spread apart and fled, with all the other jumpships save one running away. Only three warships remained behind, all complying with the dragon’s mental demands, and then the Zak’de’ron suddenly vanished as well, with the point of light disappearing in a flash heading outward.
There was no more time left to try and conscript these fools, so the dragon abandoned its mental links and chased after the jumpships who were wisely heading separate ways, tugging at various planets in the system to spread themselves apart from one another as they all headed by circuitous routes towards the system’s central star…from where they hoped to escape the system.
He couldn’t let that happen, for knowledge of his presence would spread, not just from the stories told but from the images captured from the surface and in space. Those he could not let go or they would likely find their way to the V’kit’no’sat and all his years of sleep would be for nothing. He must maintain secrecy or all would be lost!
Catching up to the still accelerating jumpship was difficult, but soon he rammed into its hull and disappeared inside…with the gravity drives cutting off almost instantaneously. His glowing blue form punched out the port side, temporarily diminished in glow, then arced around tightly as it regained its terrifying brightness and punched back inside.
In and out the dragon traveled like a bee buzzing through a hive, tearing apart the giant ship until it was no longer capable of response…then he landed atop it and summoned all the power he could muster. The blue glow quickly disappeared, returning the dragon’s armor to its deep blue that almost disappeared against the blackness of space, then the ship began to move, towed along by the dragon as it changed its course and headed it into a spiral that would land it in the star. It took far longer than the dragon wished to yank the ship into the proper alignment and as soon as the proper mathematics were reached it released its hold and disappeared from view in a blur of motion as it shot off in pursuit of the next closest jumpship.
One by one it killed the fleeing jumpships, but could not redirect them all in the short space of time it had, so it left some of them free floating while it tracked down the others, then went back and pulled all of them into degrading orbits that would eradicate all traces of the dragon’s presence from their databanks when they burned up inside the star.
After that he tracked down and conscripted the fleeing warships, each of which was too weak to flee the system on its own, though two tried. He tracked them down over the next few days and destroyed them in transit between the stars, for he didn’t have enough power to redirect their masses at such a speed mid jump. He did have the power to redirect himself, however, and flew back into the system and rounded up the surviving warships and lone jumpship, corralling them into a low orbital zone and systematically wiping their memories and databanks of every trace of his presence.
The Nestafar ground troops were recalled to the jumpship, as were the warships, though there were too many left to fit inside. The crews of those ships that would have to be left behind were transferred over to the jumpsh
ip, then the dragon set it on its way, escorting it all the way out to the star and holding mental control over its bridge crew until the jump was made and the last of the Nestafar were removed from the star system.
After that he returned to orbit and began wiping the memories and records from the Alliance ships, though the Canderians were beyond his influence. The dragon was taking a chance leaving them alive, but they were at even more risk from the V’kit’no’sat than he was…and he needed the intelligence they had on the Les’i’kron. Their databanks, however, he did wipe. Interfacing with their computer systems remotely and scrubbing all applicable data before they even knew he had hacked in, then he covertly traveled back to the surface, not appearing on any of the ship’s sensors.
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 face
s, 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.
