They could not hold the line, but they were doing a damn good job of delaying the Hadarak’s advance. Yet with every world the Hadarak held, the more minions it produced that were now beginning to fly between systems on their own and assault new worlds without the Hadarak’s assistance and Mak’to’ran knew that facet of their warfare, never seen before, would increase exponentially over time. It was a matter of centuries before they reached the nearest V’kit’no’sat worlds, perhaps millennia if they did a good job of slowing their pace over the coming years, but they would get there eventually, and with a massive army even without the Hadarak being involved.

  And yet there were more and more of them coming out of the Deep Core, and some so massive they were literally planets in their own right. The V’kit’no’sat could not fight a tier 5 or tier 6. It was impossible even with their biggest weapons, because no matter how much damage they did all it accomplished as a small scratch. It was like trying to park his fleet around a moon and destroy every bit of it with weaponsfire. You could decimate the surface, but vaporizing all that rock was next to impossible and Hadarak flesh beneath their outer coating was the consistency of rock, only with an ability to heal itself.

  Mak’to’ran did not think even Star Force’s Uriti would stand a chance unless they gathered all of them together into a single battle. Even then he did not favor their odds of actually killing one of the monsters, only perhaps driving it back. Right now the most effective weapon the V’kit’no’sat had for the larger Hadarak was the Disruption Arrays, but many of them had been damaged trying to interfere with tier 4s and larger, as the Arrays would be overloaded with so much mass that they’d burn out in a second as they tried to grapple and shield the small planet-sized Hadarak from gravity. But even those that did burn out achieved a bit of their objective, enough to detail how much they were lacking and give the V’kit’no’sat the numbers they needed to overlap Arrays in order to get the necessary coverage.

  That meant their ability to really ram the Hadarak into stars was diminished, but Mak’to’ran was producing more Arrays at a rapid pace and had managed to trip up several tier 6s on passage, causing them significant damage that had delayed their passaged by months…as well as causing novas in the stars they collided with, some of which burnt the lifeforms off nearby planets that they were trying to protect.

  Mak’to’ran didn’t care. They were as good as dead anyway and couldn’t be used as food for the minions if they were destroyed in a few seconds during a nova. Thankfully no supernova had been triggered and Mak’to’ran had been able to preserve most of his Arrays, but no amount of collision with a star had been able to kill a Hadarak, just damage them, making these juggernauts truly unstoppable.

  It was a war worthy of true warriors. One that was impossible to win and one that offered never-ending combat. A fitting end for an empire, if there had to be one, but one he could not happily accept. V’kit’no’sat did not exist to fight, they existed to win, and he wasn’t going to stop searching for a way to do so. Not now, not ever.

  So when he received word from Director Davis that the Zak’de’ron had contacted him and wanted to arrange a 3-way meeting in a neutral location, he was both perturbed and relieved, for he knew the Zak’de’ron were more advanced than the V’kit’no’sat…no matter how much it burned him to admit it…and maybe, just maybe, they might know a way to fight the Hadarak more effectively than either the V’kit’no’sat or Star Force did.

  As soon as he received the message he left orders for the people on Itaru, then boarded his personal Kafcha that he rarely used and left Wendigama and the system entirely, enroute for a system near the Star Force evacuation branch only a few weeks distant that was shuffling refugees out to several holding worlds while transit out to the Rim was slowly being effected by masses of cargo ships from nearly all the Star Force races.

  It was an impressive operation to see, and the trailblazers that had been on Itaru had left years ago for their own temporary worlds established near the Hadarak Zone. He didn’t blame them for that, for he wanted to be on the front himself, but with the Hadarak assaulting the entire galaxy there wasn’t one focal point to be at and he had found he could coordinate better from Itaru than in a ship fighting in a system without an Urrtren link.

  The rendezvous system he was traveling to now had none, as was expected, and Mak’to’ran had a fleet of 284 ships with his command ship just in case the Zak’de’ron wished to take their vengeance on him directly. He expected no treachery from Star Force, for they were as reliable as one could get even if they weren’t totally an ally, but the Zak’de’ron he would never trust again after what he had learned of them since gaining access to the full records of the V’kit’no’sat.

  The Zak’de’ron had deserved to be betrayed, but the betrayal was beneath the V’kit’no’sat, so both were to blame for what happened, and Mak’to’ran wasn’t going to let it occur again. The V’kit’no’sat would fight with honor or be destroyed. He would not let them descend to the Zak’de’ron’s level, nor become a manipulation thereof. They would stand alone and independent up until the Hadarak destroyed them. That at least Mak’to’ran could guarantee his empire no matter what happened.

  When the V’kit’no’sat fleet arrived at their destination there were no planets, no nebula, no nothing in the system at all. It was completely empty save for a single small brown dwarf star and two massive Star Force vessels. They were the Borg ships that served as flagships for the trailblazers and were more powerful than the Mach’nel that both empires wielded. Mak’to’ran envied them those vessels, but knew that the smaller the ship the more effective they would be against minions assaulting different locations. A Mach’nel could only be in one place at one time, which was why Mak’to’ran had ordered no new Mach’nel produced so they could maximize regular warship production and keep the minion waves suppressed as long as possible.

  But still, those two Borg ships were more than a match for the entire fleet Mak’to’ran had brought with him, and he knew even the Zak’de’ron would be stupid trying to take them on with anything other than their Uriti.

  The two vessels were home to Jack-020 and Randy-021. Mak’to’ran had only met Jack once, but he knew most of the trailblazers were somewhere near the Hadarak Zone with only a handful left in the Rim as safeguards against a Zak’de’ron or Chixzon attack there. He also knew that they truly didn’t have a single leader among them, so speaking with any of them was as if speaking to them all, with only Director Davis being their superior, though he highly doubted the man had left the Rim to come here, for there wasn’t enough travel time possible given the dates on the messages flowing back and forth across the galaxy between the two empires…or rather three.

  As soon as Mak’to’ran’s ships moved into a holding orbit a few hundred miles away from the Star Force ships that dwarfed the viewscreens even at this range, a number of additional ships appeared on sensors as the Zak’de’ron fleet deactivated their annoyingly good cloaking devices and deposited several hundred ships of equal size to Mak’to’ran’s Kafcha on the far side of the Star Force behemoths.

  Scared of us, are you? Mak’to’ran thought to himself. Good. We cannot afford a war between us now, and if you want to use Star Force as an intermediary, then so be it.

  Mak’to’ran engaged the prompts for a three-way holographic session and activated the dampening screen around his command deck platform, ensuring that this would be a private conversation.

  10

  The image of the two trailblazers was familiar to Mak’to’ran, but the sight of a living Zak’de’ron resplendent in grey scales that sharpened to the point of spikes swept backward indicating their avian nature was infuriating. When he saw Mak’to’ran’s image the dragon unfurled his wings and beat them twice in an angry gesture before tucking them back in again.

  He growled automatically, feeling the urge to ignite his Saroto’kanse’vam claws, but he checked the reflex. He couldn’t strike a hologram, but old memories of that ancient war were becoming fresh again.

  “Ah good, you’ve met,” Jack quipped in V’kit’no’sat. “Family reunions are so nice.”

  “If it were not for the Hadarak, our reunion would be in their blood,” the Zak’de’ron all but hissed. “Yet we have a greater duty to attend to. One the V’kit’no’sat once swore to. Do you still hold to that oath, Era’tran, or will we be forced to fight a pointless war while the Hadarak sweep across the galaxy?”

  “Your name,” Mak’to’ran demanded.

  “I am Zeno’dor, last of the original Zak’de’ron. You killed all of us but one, and that mistake would have meant your destruction were it not for present circumstances.”

  “I was not involved in those decisions, Zak’de’ron. I was barely hatched during the war, but do not pretend you were blameless. You created the V’kit’no’sat, and the inherent distrust you sowed in us was reaped in your near destruction.”

  “We were fools to trust you. A mistake we will never make again. This is not a reunion. We would rather see the V’kit’no’sat destroyed than rejoin it.”

  “We have accomplished more victories against the Hadarak under my command than we ever achieved under yours, or can you not read map?”

  “We never trigged an apocalypse.”

  “So you deliberately held back?” Mak’to’ran accused. “You lied to us knowing the Hadarak could never be defeated? Admit it now. The animosity cannot grow any larger.”

  “We were patient, but we knew not to press too far too fast without a true weapon against the Hadarak.”

  “We have one now.”

  “One that you stole from Star Force,” Zeno’dor said, looking at the Humans.

  “I was wondering when you were going to bring that up,” Randy confirmed. “And I’d like to add that you stole yours from us as well, and if we’re ever in the same system with your three Uriti, we’re using the override and taking them back.”

  “I’m curious,” Jack added, “how you manage to work with them without it. Or have you unlocked the Chixzon knowledge and attained the override codes?”

  A burst of fiery blue plasma shot out from the dragon’s mouth, more like a cough than a weapons strike, but it was clear that the Archon had hit a nerve.

  “Your purge of the galaxy was total. We could not collect all the strands of the Protovic necessary to produce a Chixzon. We had to establish a different relationship with our Uriti, and you will not be allowed to get near them, or it will be your death.”

  “Glad we got that cleared up,” Randy said quickly. “And the next time you try to get near our Uriti birthing cradles we’ll be sure to kill you too. Fair is fair, after all, and you were trying to discover how we did it, weren’t you?”

  “You speak as if you are enemies as well,” Mak’to’ran interrupted. “I assumed you were on better terms?”

  “They are arrogant,” Zeno’dor spouted, “beyond measure.”

  “Kara,” Jack said firmly. “What you did to her indicated your true colors, so let’s just all admit that we’re never going to be friends and get to the point where we discuss the best way to die together.”

  “Death is the most likely outcome,” Zeno’dor admitted. “But we are not helpless against the smaller Hadarak. It is the larger ones that we have no recourse against.”

  “It is the minions that are the larger threat,” Mak’to’ran argued. “They can be on thousands of worlds simultaneously while the Hadarak are slow and can only assault one world at a time. The minions are the other half of their threat and they are beginning to grow beyond our ability to eradicate. The more worlds they claim the faster they will sweep the galaxy. If we wait to fully oppose them, we seal our fate. They will not even need the Hadarak to destroy us.”

  “Speak for yourself, Era’tran. We can survive this if we wish. It was you that forced us into seclusion. Our population is fully mobile, so we can avoid and persist as the galaxy dies, but our servants cannot and we would be fools to assume the Hadarak will withdraw after the eradication. We will not be in a position of power without the ability to colonize worlds, and if all worlds in the galaxy are infested by minions, any attempt at gaining a foothold would quickly be overwhelmed. The Zak’de’ron are not content with mere survival. We incorporated lesser races to assist us in this fight long ago, and while your betrayal means we will never do so again in the same manner, we admit this is not a fight we can win alone. Perhaps if we occupied half the galaxy that would be different, but our numbers will never become so large, so we must coopt with others to find a means to permanently destroy the Hadarak.”

  “Why?” Randy asked. “Why can’t your numbers get that large? You’re egg layers, it shouldn’t be difficult given enough time.”

  “Sacrifice is a necessary part of warfare, and we are too valuable to be used in such a manner,” Zeno’dor explained. “That is what lesser races are for.”

  Mak’to’ran ground his teeth together hard. “And that is why my forbearers decided to destroy you.”

  “You believe you have found a better way,” Zeno’dor said, ignoring Mak’to’ran and focusing on the trailblazers, “but you have not. You are effective because you have the luxury of building and choosing your battles. When you are inundated with enemies your methods will become cumbersome. You will not be able to save all, and you will be forced to make choices. Choices you do not want to make. Some must die, knowingly so, to save the others. If you choose that no die, then you will ensure that all will.”

  “Like we haven’t heard that bullshit before,” Randy quipped.

  “In time you will see the truth in this, but because you were banished to the Rim you are in the best situation of the three powers here. You will not feel the hammer of the Hadarak upon you until the V’kit’no’sat empire is reduced to flesh for minion consumption. We cannot allow you to learn that lesson so late, so we will teach it to you now.”

  “We are not abandoning the evacuation plan,” Jack said, crossing his arms over his chest. “And don’t even think about interfering.”

  “The resources gained from the newfound slaves are insignificant compared to what you could be collecting by merely expanding your Kiritak and Paladin.”

  “You’re missing the point, Puff. We’re saving them because they’re people in need. The resources gained are a bonus, not the objective.”

  “We cannot afford such waste. We three must throw our full might against the Hadarak now, before their minion army grows larger,” Zeno’dor said, glancing at Mak’to’ran to acknowledge his point. “We cannot wait until we develop weapons to fight the larger Hadarak. We must oppose them now with full force, allowing the ones we cannot fight to go where they will while we kill the others. Hadarak do not grow fast, and while we do not know how many are in the Core, if we can kill the smaller ones we will prevent them from growing beyond our ability to deal with. Our races’ reproduction rate is far greater than that of the Hadarak. We can win this war through attrition, but it will only be achieved through much bloodshed, and that bloodshed must start now before their minions scale out of control.”

  “I agree,” Mak’to’ran said.

  Jack and Randy exchanged glances, then both shook their heads no. “Bunch of newbs,” Randy said dismissively. “You always fall back on the bloodshed route. Haven’t you figured out yet that the Hadarak are better at that tactic than you? Blood for blood and their minions will win. We have no idea how many worlds they have in the Core producing them, so assuming their production now in conquered worlds is their weakness is reckless. They have held back before, and I would bet you there is an enormous amount of minion infrastructure buried in those unexplored regions.”

  “Probably more and even bigger Hadarak,” Jack added. “I still don’t think they’re throwing everything at us, and you want to fight head on trading lives in the hope that we can outgrow them? It is you both that are arrogant. It seems that is the Zak’de’ron way, passed on to the V’kit’no’sat, but thankfully Star Force, while born of V’kit’no’sat heritage, did not get trained by either of you. We had to learn on our own as you tried to kill us. We are born of thinking outside protocol. Outside of culture. Outside of the expected. We stand here now because we are superior. We had to become superior in order to survive. Now listen a moment and we will share some of that superiority.”

  “First off,” Randy said, taking turns speaking with him and Jack mentally linked through their ships’ battlemap programming since they were too many miles apart physically to be psionically linked, but it still meant they could read each other’s thoughts. “I need to know if the Zak’de’ron have Essence skills, or if you know of any others that do?”

  “I am not familiar with that reference,” Zeno’dor added.

  “It is the energy that binds your Core to your body, and can be manipulated to do some damn near magical things. Do you have this ability?”

  “I have never heard of it, nor possess it.”

  “Nor do we,” Mak’to’ran added.

  “I already knew you didn’t,” Randy said with a smirk. “The Chixzon did not possess it, but they were aware of it. They’d detected anomalies in some other races, where physics seemed to break down and they were performing above physical capabilities, but they never learned to duplicate it. We have.”

  “Explain this power,” Zeno’dor demanded.

  “No,” Jack answered, “but we will summarize. Only a few of us have achieved it. Most Archons have not and we cannot predict who will break through to the point where we can manipulate it, even slightly. Once we do it’s a simple matter of training to increase our power. It’s the breakthrough that is damn near impossible to achieve. Once we do, we can see others with it, and they appear to glow. The Uriti can sense this glow, as can the Hadarak. They have instructions to destroy it immediately, in any form or amount. The Uriti nearly killed us when we first used it nearby them and we had to use the overrides to stop them. The bottom line is, the Hadarak fear Essence with a passion. Thus there is someone out there that has it, had it, or will have it, and it can kill them.”

 

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