Death Mark

  1

  June 2, 128812

  Kolorik System (Midzan Region)

  Jono Trade Corridor

  The battle had been longer than most. The J’gar had ambushed the Brat’mar convoy before all of their vessels had emerged into the system, with the first few hit taken down quickly. The others that followed had maneuvering options, but rather than scatter they held together and fought refusing to leave the rest of the convoy to be easy pickings as they entered the system.

  4 warships in all, plus another 28 cargo vessels made up the convoy, and that was about as small of a group as anyone would try to move through the region nowadays. The Jono corridor was supposed to be relatively safe due to the clusters of defense ships in each system that had been donated by the surrounding systems to allow for some trade to get through. Right now most systems were having to fend for themselves as the J’gar navy was everywhere in the empire poaching small warships and whatever cargo ships dared to move outside a protected convoy. And since the Urrtren went down for keeps 6 years ago, nobody had any idea where they were or weren’t, effectively isolating systems that weren’t brave enough to travel across the stars.

  But some were, and this sector had done a better job than most at sticking together. There were 38 inhabited V’kit’no’sat systems here, and 6 of them had links to larger worlds outside the sector. All systems here had donated a few of their precious warships to put small guard fleets in the empty systems that had to be traveled through to get from oasis to oasis, but the 7 ships that had been stationed in the Kolorik System were already disabled or destroyed, with the remains having been towed further out into the system where a pair of J’gar cargo ships were busy boarding and salvaging whatever they could.

  The ships in the Brat’mar convoy were also being taken mostly undamaged. Nobody wanted to waste good ships that could be repaired and repurposed nowadays with so few new ships coming out of the remaining shipyards spread across the galaxy. The loss of Itaru alone had been felt, but many more large vessel exporters had seen their slips destroyed rather than surrender them…and the Zak’de’ron had not been so careful to preserve them in the beginning, but now everyone was scraping for whatever resources they could find, with nothing being wasted.

  The Brat’mar had done well and disabled 3 of the attacking 12 J’gar warships, none of which was larger than a Domjo. Most were Ti’mat and Wur’ki, both of which were less than 5 miles long. The Brat’mar had sent one Domjo and 3 Ti’mat to assist the cargo ships, which had some armament of their own, but the J’gar had calculated accurately and now the entire convoy was in their hands.

  Rajamal didn’t care about that. He and his cloaked Zen’zat Kaeper couldn’t save them, nor was he here to. Ever since the edict decreeing that all Zen’zat were to be killed, many V’kit’no’sat races had done nothing to protect the Ter’nat worlds that produced their Zen’zat. Others had, and Rajamal had been working with them intermittently, but in large part the lightly defended Ter’nat worlds were being targeted by the J’gar and obliterated from orbit where capable, for none had standard planetary defenses.

  Ter’nat were a breeding population, nothing more. They had their own defense fleets, all with inferior technology, so that they could get experience and provide protection against the lesser threats in the galaxy so the V’kit’no’sat wouldn’t have to babysit them as much, but they were never intended to possess anything that could harm the V’kit’no’sat. When this war took the turn for the worst, the guardian V’kit’no’sat warships looking over the Ter’nat worlds were dispatched elsewhere, leaving only the Ter’nat ships remaining and the few V’kit’no’sat caretakers onboard them to defend the weak colonies when the J’gar ships came hunting them.

  Some systems held, surprisingly, but most did not. The J’gar didn’t seem to want to spend much resources taking the worthless worlds, and were more interested in exterminating the Ter’nat when they had the opportunity to do so with impunity, but some more heavily armed excursions were popping up across the galaxy targeting the larger Ter’nat colonies, and there was nothing Rajamal and the other Zen’zat could do to stop it.

  They’d known that early on, so rather than sitting and waiting in various systems to fight when the attacks came, they’d decided to go on the offensive. They were now hunting the hunters, without the permission of any of the V’kit’no’sat races. The empire was leaderless, the Urrtren was down, and other than local events no one knew what was happening to anyone else. The Zen’zat had been refitting their ships with cloaking devices and other banned technology to try and keep some semblance of communication going, and they were doing so with the help of several wisely governed V’kit’no’sat planets, most of which were Era’tran, but even they were now leaderless with the fall of Jamtren. Word of the attack there had come through near the collapse of the Urrtren, with Holloi being invaded and most of the inhabitants dead before everything had gone down.

  Other races were assisting, but not because their leadership ordered it. The V’kit’no’sat races had been scattered across the galaxy by design, and that now meant none could effectively communicate with their own planets. So they either operated system by system, or they cooperated with their nearest neighbors. To say the empire had become fractured was an understatement, and in the fog of war created by the downing and then destruction of the Urrtren by the J’gar fleets, there was disaster and opportunity everywhere…including in the ambushing of this convoy.

  “Now,” Rajamal said calmly from the bridge of the scout ship that had some 372 Zen’zat waiting in the rear compartments in addition to the ship’s crew of 23, which were accelerating the vessel away from the battle towards the two limping J’gar warships that had been heavily damaged in the fighting.

  They had already withdrawn from the combat and were still moving away to avoid any last shots doing damage to their interior now that their shields were down and chunks of their hulls were missing…but they were still mobile and combat capable, and the J’gar had no wish to lose those vessels that could still be repaired.

  One was a Ti’mat, the other a Domjo…and the Domjo was the more heavily damaged ship. The Brat’mar had focused on it almost exclusively, trying to destroy it to deny the J’gar the heavier ship for future use. In the past a Domjo was seen as a medium class vessel. Now it was the dominant ship in most engagements, with the larger versions of V’kit’no’sat warships being almost extinct, now held to system defense or destroyed in the massive battles of past years. Nowadays this was the size of combat that dominated, and the assault here was about as bold as anyone got. The J’gar must have really wanted to shut down this trade corridor, for normally they wouldn’t have allowed this much of a fair fight to occur.

  The smaller Kaeper headed for the Ti’mat, which had two solid holes in its hull but was otherwise intact. Many of the weapons batteries on one side had been plucked away to weaken the ship before they started to pound into the bulk of the hull, but it appeared to still be 30%-60% armed based on battle analysis. Under cloak an active scan was impossible, but they’d monitored the battle as they paced the convoy, with Rajamal hoping they’d catch an ambush as it happened.

  This wasn’t his first such operation. He’d been on 13 different ship capturing missions similar to this, and so far he was 12/13 with the only failure being due to pursuit after the fact. The already damaged Domjo they had snatched from the Oso’lon had been so badly crippled that a few more well placed shots had taken out the engines and Rajamal had to abandon it. He’d cut that one too close and lost some 18 Zen’zat on the mission. He expected to lose more on this one, but that’s why he was going personally. This wasn’t a time to send your weakest Zen’zat and have them die to threats the veterans could handle, and more than a third of the Zen’z
at onboard the Kaeper now were what he classified as veterans, all having served at least as far back as the Star Force war…the one they’d never finished.

  Mak’to’ran had said pursuing their destruction was a mistake and sanctioned their existence. Perhaps he was right, for they were stronger than ever and now doing the work of the V’kit’no’sat fighting the Hadarak while the V’kit’no’sat empire was a shambles. He’d heard rumors of worlds in the Olobiv Region being annexed by them on request, but so far Star Force hadn’t taken sides in this war against the Zak’de’ron, Oso’lon, and J’gar traitors. Part of Rajamal resented them for that, but he was also glad they had not chosen to take the opportunity to oppose his empire. If they had, the combined might of the traitors and Star Force would have meant the V’kit’no’sat’s utter destruction as opposed to this never-ending grind.

  Rajamal didn’t even know who was winning at this point, only that Ter’nat and Zen’zat had a death mark on them imposed by the Zak’de’ron, and he intended to strike back in whatever way he could.

  “The Ti’mat,” he told the bridge crew before leaving for the rear areas where the rest of the strike force was geared up and waiting. Rajamal joined the other 7-9 foot tall warriors who were ironically carrying stronger armor than they’d ever had access to before in the V’kit’no’sat. Since essentially going rogue, Rajamal had used his network of contacts to ensure upgraded armor was being produced and passed out to as many Zen’zat as there were to receive it. Armor the type of which he had been occasionally given for missions against specific V’kit’no’sat.

  That was armor designed to deny psionics their sting. Zen’zat had been given an immunity to Ikrid, but they were not allowed greater defenses except on special occasions, and the templates for those armors Rajamal did not have. What he did have was many sets of captured Star Force armor from the past war, and he’d wisely had them analyzed and copied long ago in addition to storing some away in dead drops.

  He hadn’t been ordered to, but after living through a brief V’kit’no’sat civil war prior to that he knew the Zen’zat had to have other options that Itaru did not want them to have. And he hadn’t been the only Zen’zat to think that way. Most of the others had not survived this most recent war, but he had. Not because he was superior, but because he was never in the major battles. He was an elite Zen’zat, and putting him onboard a starship was a waste of his skills, as was system defense. He worked best on the attack in small scale situations, some of which had been in the aftermath of the big battles, and he knew his role well. Others had succumbed to the desire to make a last stand, and so they had. He knew he had to survive to be useful, and dying fighting was nothing more than a way of quitting.

  And Rajamal didn’t quit. Ever.

  The cloaked Kaeper headed towards the two J’gar ships, both of which were egg-shaped, though now there were cracks in their smooth hulls and the Domjo was trailing a stream of smoky material that the crew had not yet managed to extinguish. Rajamal wished they would split up and move to different locations in the system to lick their wounds, but they were not. That was going to complicate this mission, but he still deemed it feasible, and he had no intention of repeating past mistakes.

  His helmet was off at the moment, retracted down into his firm armor. Zen’zat had never worn such before, but Star Force did and they could put a lot more tech into it without having to worry about it being able to break down into nanoparticles and reform into forearm gauntlets. It was clunky to wear around when waiting, but his team was going to need all the firepower and tricks they could get when boarding an aquatic vessel.

  He wished this was an Oso’lon ship, but it wasn’t. Most of the pirate activity was the J’gar’s doing, and not the loyal few who still opposed the Zak’de’ron. Last he had heard most of them had been targeted for destruction or annexation. It seemed the traitors didn’t want any of their race operating against them, and Rajamal admitted that not having clearly defined races on opposing sides was confusing, but he’d never fault V’kit’no’sat for following their duty…even if most of their kin had become heretics.

  Then again he was called a heretic for defying the will of the original triumvirate. They were back, but so much had happened since the old days that that meant little now. Especially since they were killing V’kit’no’sat so effectively. Recent blood lost was far more important for vengeance than old scores, and right now there were few star systems not affected by the war, either by direct damage or having lost troops assisting in other fights. And everyone had been hit hard when Mak’to’ran was killed. That had sucked the life out of the empire, and without the immediate war to follow he wasn’t sure what would have become of them without his leadership. But when you lack leadership, vengeance is an easy and available path to take. The price for that vengeance, however, is not always so easy to pay.

  Rajamal walked to the very back of the ship, which wasn’t far. This one wasn’t designed for Zen’zat specifically. It was a conversion of a Rit’ko’sor vessel, and thus S-shaped. It stretched approximately 2 miles long, but was narrow without much width. It was a true starship, not a gunship or insystem craft, but it was designed for scouting and not naval combat or troop transport. Fortunately Zen’zat were tiny and the interior was spacious enough to be reconfigured for their needs.

  Four rows of Zen’zat were standing in the main hallway outside the rear hangar bay, and they parted in the middle enough for him to walk through. All had the pitch black armor that was now the unofficial Zen’zat color. They were fighting for their own as much as for the other races now, and there were few V’kit’no’sat that faulted them for doing so. They all wanted their help, and whatever other help they could get. No one had a strong hand here, and the few that came close were probably high on the Zak’de’ron’s future hit list. They’d taken out the strongest first to intimidate others into capitulating, but to their credit very few races had. Most were demanding the Zak’de’ron come and take their worlds, for they were in no hurry to surrender them. Not this time.

  What had occurred since the blackout he didn’t know much of, but the time of fearing the Zak’de’ron was over. Too much was known now, and as powerful as they were they were often using inferior troops to do their bidding. Partially due to the fact that most Zak’de’ron were now dead, and with the burnt worlds stretched across the galaxy with their corpses on them, nobody revered them anymore. They were a powerful enemy to be sure, but they were not omnipotent. Not even close, and now everybody knew it.

  “Standby,” the bridge crew said into his helmet rim, which Rajamal active with a thought. It slid up and partially formed of nanites over his head, keeping it somewhat more rigid than full nanite armor but still dexterous enough to come on and off when needed. “Adhesion gained, no response from either ship. Aperture clear.”

  “Begin,” Rajamal said to everyone as he walked forward with the group as the column continued out into the hangar bay where other Zen’zat were already stationed with add-ons to their armor. They were not meant for fighting, but rather for boarding, and the first few disappeared underneath their own cloaks as they ran up to and jumped out of the hangar bay.

  Rajamal couldn’t see them, but he didn’t need to. Everything was well scripted at this point, and the next few followed a moment later with the expected spacing as they flew through vacuum a few dozen meters to the damaged section of the Ti’mat that the Kaeper was now latched on to. If not for the damage the cloak probably would have been detected this close, but the pilots knew how to match speeds and vectors in the most opportune of areas, and to their credit the J’gar crew didn’t have a clue a ship half as long as theirs was had soft docked to its hull.

  Rajamal’s armor lit up with options, and he engaged all of his psionic countermeasures, one of which would hide their mental presence so the J’gar couldn’t track them once they left the Kaeper, which was itself shielded against such intrusion. It wouldn’t matter what the sensors said if the crew could feel the at
tacking Zen’zat outside, and right now they were well hidden, but they couldn’t just come up and knock on the exterior doors.

  Rather than pick an intact section of hull and try and drill through an airlock or other port, they were going in through the damaged sections, which had been sealed off in a variety of means, most of which were pressure doors further in. The first few Zen’zat sought out the best entry options, and those were definitely not those into the water levels. Facing J’gar in their own environment was horrifying, and while Zen’zat were not helpless in water the J’gar were so fearsome even without armor that that would be a quick and easy way to get his entire team killed.

  But J’gar ships had air corridors for their Zen’zat crews to operate in…or rather their former crews. Their Zen’zat had probably all been murdered before they even knew of their masters’ displeasure with them. Now the J’gar ships were manned by Bo’ja servants supplied by the Zak’de’ron, which also made it virtually impossible for the J’gar or the Oso’lon to betray their new alliance. Why they would have agreed to that Rajamal didn’t know, nor did he care. The Bo’ja were inferior and more hated than even the Zak’de’ron by the Zen’zat. The triumvirate had betrayed them, and through all the wars and internal strike it was the Zen’zat who had always remained loyal. Which made the betrayal that much more humiliating.

  But they were the same race as Star Force, and if their genetics could produce a rival to the V’kit’no’sat then the Zak’de’ron wanted them gone before it could happen again. Rajamal couldn’t blame Star Force for that. The Zen’zat were what the V’kit’no’sat had made them to be, and if they left some behind on a Rim world he didn’t completely fault them for reproducing there. It was a violation of their duty, but leaving Zen’zat behind was a violation of their masters’ duty and the situation would never have existed had they not been so sloppy.

  But it had happened, and there was no going back. The Zen’zat were not docile enough for Itaru to trust, so now they had to be destroyed, and were being annihilated with great efficiency across the galaxy.