Star Force: Atonement (Star Force Universe Book 68)

  1

  January 9, 128822

  Castle 15 System (Tri’vor Region)

  Edge of High Zone

  Bran’cen was nearly here, and as he was about to begin his braking run the Era’tran rechecked his gravity drives, finding 8 of 12 were still fully functional, with the 9th intermittent. The other three were gone, blown away by the J’gar during their race across the stars ever since breaking out of the Jamtren System. His Kaeper had been the only ship tasked to go, while the others fought a costly battle to break the blockade for him.

  Mak’to’ran…who was still alive, thank the Elders…had requested his presence in what he thought was Garuva’s palace, but when the Era’tran pilot had got there the truth had been revealed. Garuva was long dead, and it had been a repaired Mak’to’ran, brought out of a lingering coma, who had been impersonating him to hide his true identity. For if Itaru realized he was still breathing they’d send every ship they had to destroy him, and Jamtren had barely survived the first assault. It could not survive another of such magnitude.

  No one else knew that Mak’to’ran was alive, at least not in any other system. He’d told Bran’cen that much himself, then he said that it was vital that Star Force send an appropriate representative to find him to discuss matters of the highest sensitivity. Mak’to’ran couldn’t risk leaving Jamtren, not for his safety but for the Era’tran capitol itself. Without him it could easily crumble on its own without any Elders left to guide it, and whenever the Zak’de’ron got around to collecting another assault force they’d be back to try and take it again, though this war had weakened their fleets perhaps as much as the Era’tran’s, and they weren’t in a position to try again…not yet anyway.

  How much time they had no one knew, not even Mak’to’ran, but he assured Bran’cen that another assault would be coming and that he was the only thing holding this system and several others nearby together. He could not leave without dooming Jamtren, but he had to speak with one of the Star Force leaders.

  Bran’cen had been entrusted to carry a message, one that he was not allowed to view, and physically deliver it to Star Force. No transmissions were allowed. It had to be delivered in person, and his Kaeper had been chosen for its lack of a cloaking device…in lieu of two additional gravity drives. Speed was his best weapon, against the forces of Itaru and the Hadarak, and thankfully his remaining gravity drives were enough to keep him ahead of his pursuit, albeit it barely.

  He’d made the jump out of the last system with them only a half hour behind him and slightly gaining due to the damage he’d taken earlier. They’d been trailing him ever since breaking the blockade, but they hadn’t managed to get ahead of him, for he was heading further into the Core and now Hadarak territory rather than try to move Rimward and head for the bulk of the Star Force worlds there. The J’gar would be between him and his goal had he gone that way, but by going in the opposite direction he only had Hadarak ahead of him, and they were not fast enough to catch his ship, even wounded as it was.

  But the J’gar were not giving up, and with each system he passed through they persisted, gaining a little on him depending on the state of his intermittent drive. When it was working he was gaining distance, when it wasn’t he was losing it. The J’gar had not passed him during this jump, so that meant he would be entering the system ahead of them, and once he got there Star Force should be able to protect him as long as his ship was able to decelerate enough and not ram the star.

  He’d risked extra speed on exit, knowing that if he had to he could slingshot around the star and risk colliding with something beyond the jumpline as he slowed down more gradually. He hadn’t gone so fast that was impossible, but if that 9th drive kicked out he was going to have a very hard time making it even with a slingshot approach, for such a tract was more inefficient as one did not push directly against their line of momentum.

  Right now the 9th drive was holding in ‘ready’ status, but there was no way of knowing what was going to happen when he put power to it. The computer would start the deceleration in 9 seconds, and if something went wrong he would have to alter the track quickly…

  His comm picked up a multi-layered message in different languages, including V’kit’no’sat, coming from the system ahead. It was faint, but still detectable this far out, and it was delivering a warning for all incoming ships.

  Hadarak threat on jumpline at given coordinates. Redirect immediately to safe zones.

  There was a small data packet with it, indicating where the Hadarak were blocking the jumpline and providing 8 different spots where an incoming ship could divert to that would be safe.

  Bran’cen picked one quickly, then input the new deceleration path a few seconds after the braking began, but early enough that there would be no problem. The divergence would not occur until the end, and right now he needed to keep his ship square on the jumpline to get maximum deceleration as his wounded Kaeper started to bleed off a little speed this far out where the gravity was only beginning to show marginal effect on the drives.

  The message kept repeating, warning any and all incoming ships, which meant the J’gar would get the same warning, but they wouldn’t know which of the 8 paths he would take, almost insuring he would not be caught unless they guessed right. And even then he should still have a head start sufficient enough to get to one of the Star Force ships in the system, if not the Castle itself.

  The Era’tran Kaeper slowed and slowed, picking up more gravity and increasing the rate of deceleration greatly as he got closer to the star…then he had to divert to the right and off the jumpline, losing some deceleration as that momentum was thrust laterally, pushing him farther and farther away from the jumpline and into the beginning of a slingshot loop.

  There was no way he could stop on this side of the star now. He’d have to move around to the far side and reverse pull to slow his momentum, for once he got lateral to it there would be no slowing his forward momentum other than pulling on some planets, and that wouldn’t do much depending on where they were.

  Bran’cen began looking through the map in the ship’s databank as well as what was being transmitted by the Star Force beacon. He ran the calculations and saw his stopping point was going to be far away from the Castle, but at least he wouldn’t be…

  The Era’tran’s head froze in place as he saw the updated Hadarak positions on the transmitted map now that he was close enough to pick up the second weaker, yet more complex data packet that showed where all the safe zones were in the system, navigationally speaking. They had to plot planets, asteroid fields, other debris, and starships. The latter included Hadarak, and he couldn’t believe the numbers indicated.

  His sensors were useless right now, so all he had to go on was the information being transmitted. He had to avoid them and get to Star Force…but first he just had to slow down before spiraling out of the star system into deep space.

  His 9th drive was spurting, meaning it was working for a few seconds, then not for a few more before coming back online again. That made predicting a path hard when the acceleration was not constant, but the ship’s computer was making constant adjustments and updating him as he had to choose where to go. Bran’cen rode the controls all the way around to the far side of the star where the ship’s engines could finally bring him to a stop, but before that happened the ship’s sensors began to update the map and confirm what the beacon message had been transmitting.

  There were 129 Warden-class Hadarak here, two of which were tier 5, plus 4 Lurkers in addition to scores of their mainline warships and clouds of minions so thick they appeared on the sensors to be small nebulas. They were broken
up into 83 main formations spread across the system at the primary jumplines in blockade formation, but the largest grouping was near the Castle, though out of weapons range by far.

  That was where he needed to go, but first he’d have to get there, and even ignoring the J’gar wherever they were, the nearest Hadarak forces were already diverting to try and chase him down…or in this case head him off as they anticipated him going to the only active Star Force base in the system. The Hadarak owned everything else, including the planets that were infested with growths so large his sensors were already picking them up.

  There were Star Force signals from ships all over, but the only stationary position was the Castle, which appeared like a giant spherical spider web with little mass to it…though that was an illusion given its size. The tiny specs caught in the web were Mach’nel sized structures, and the entire diameter of the Castle was nearly 120,000 miles…though it appeared some small sections of it were now gone.

  Bran’cen waited for the sensors to update as he got underway, plotting his best course to the nearest Star Force ship that was already enroute to his position. He hadn’t gotten a transmission yet, but when he did he expected them to give him directions on how to approach the Castle. Until then he wanted as much information as he could get, and thankfully there were a plethora of sensor signals bouncing around the system, so he didn’t have to wait for his own to get all the way there and back again to see the battle damage already done to the Castle.

  But it was minor compared to the size of the construct, and Mak’to’ran had given him a thorough lecture of what it was that he was running to. It was a giant weapon designed to deliver the power of Legion to the Hadarak in a transmitted form…but whose range was nowhere near a Tar’vem’jic or a Lurker’s disintegration range. Therefore it required a spindly structure to transmit along, bouncing from one node to another, before launching towards the target. That would keep the weapon itself out of harm’s way, cheating the distance limitations of the blast, and making the Hadarak fight their way through it to get to the generators near the heart of the Castle…and it appeared they’d been trying, and failing, to do so.

  “V’kit’no’sat vessel, identify yourself,” the Star Force warship demanded as it approached, meaning the transmission was on a time delay.

  “This is an Era’tran vessel on a courier mission from Jamtren with a priority message from the Elder Garuva for Star Force’s leaders. I am not allowed to transmit. It must be physically delivered for security reasons. A group of J’gar ships have pursued me ever since we broke their blockade. I cannot allow them to overtake me. I request instructions on how to deliver this message to your trailblazers or your Director. No one else is allowed to access it.”

  A small lapse occurred, but it was tolerable and Bran’cen knew it would diminish quickly as the distance between the two vessels reduced.

  “Alden-031 is present in this system. You can deliver your message to him after necessary security checks. Advise on your engine status and other damage-related navigational issues.”

  “Three gravity drives have been destroyed, 8 remain intact with one intermittent. Navigational computers and sensors fully operational.”

  “The Hadarak have disabling units with significant closure speed. If they can tag you with disruptive goo, it will allow their slower units to catch up and obliterate you. The only way we can assure transit is with superior speed or superior firepower. The Hadarak want engagements beyond Castle defense range, and they know we will not abandon any ship, so they are desperate to catch any they can to draw our fleet out. An 8 engine Kaeper might be sufficient to get through, but I don’t want to risk it. Will you allow your ship to be boarded?”

  “I can carry the message on my person if need be. My ship is irrelevant once my mission is complete.”

  “I don’t need you to abandon it, just let my crew board and secure it. My warship can carry your Kaeper inside our drone hold, but I don’t want to do that with an unknown entity, so my crew will have to take control of your ship temporarily.”

  “Do what is necessary. I am alone in this vessel and my only task is delivery of my message packet. If you wish to board, do so quickly,” Bran’cen said, seeing the Hadarak units racing towards the two ships as they matched speeds and direction.

  “Dropship enroute.”

  The Era’tran lowered his shields and opened his single hangar bay, allowing the small winged chrome ship inside, then he set the helm on autopilot to match the Star Force warship before heading back to meet the boarding team. He kept his armor retracted into the body-spanning jewelry that his race preferred over simple gauntlets, and within one of the many jeweled points he carried the message crystal, for he couldn’t risk it leaving his person under any condition.

  When he opened the interior hangar doors four boarders were waiting, but to his surprise they were not small. They were Hjar’at, adorned in Star Force armor, which he assumed meant they were of the Knight race and probably born into the Rimward empire rather than defecting there like so many others had done in the past.

  “Hjar’at, is that your warship or a Human one?”

  “It is ours.”

  “Why then is your captain a Human?”

  “He is not. We typically use a translator voice for non-holo communications. It is more apt to your dialects than having us try to speak directly.”

  “You speak well enough.”

  “We learned,” one of the Hjar’at said, walking around the taller Era’tran. “We need to secure this ship now. The Hadarak are on their way.”

  “It is yours. Take me to your trailblazer.”

  “That will be up to him,” one of them said as the other three disappeared into the ship’s large hallways, though there were not many of them onboard a Kaeper. The fourth Hjar’at stayed with Bran’cen as a guard, which was prudent, and soon his ship was being swallowed up in the rear bay of the Star Force warship as drones were spewing out of it into flanking positions to make room.

  The Era’tran was able to watch remotely from his armor as he stayed in the hangar along with his guard…then his hangar doors opened to reveal an extendable walkway pushing through the containment field.

  “Come,” the Hjar’at said. “You will have a better view from our ship.”

  “View of what?” he said, plodding along just wide of the swaying spiked tail ahead of him.

  “They are not going to let us pass without a fight. You are the first ship that’s come here in four decades other than our own.”

  “Where are the J’gar?”

  “Do not worry about them. They’re already gone. They don’t want any part of this.”

  “Is the Castle holding?” Bran’cen asked.

  “It’s too costly for them to wear down gradually, so they’ve decided to taunt us out with a blockade. They don’t want us using this as a base of operations to hit their vulnerable backwater, but they can’t keep us in. Keeping us from getting there is easier, because they know where we’re going. What’s so important to come all the way into this hell hole? Why didn’t you head Rimward?”

  “The J’gar are there. It was deemed safer to come here,” he said as he walked across a shield enveloped bridge, able to look down and outside the ship to where the starfield was visible. It was a bit disconcerting, but he felt no momentum.

  “For what purpose?”

  “I am a courier. I am not allowed to view the message I carry.”

  “Is it onboard the ship or your person?”

  “You will not have it,” Bran’cen said forcefully. “My orders are to deliver it in person.”

  “I’m not here to take it from you. Just wondering what’s so important.”

  “The future of the V’kit’no’sat empire.”

  “Which one?”

  The Era’tran growled at the insult, but the Hjar’at didn’t seem phased as they walked into the interior of its warship.

  “There is only one true empire. Itaru is possessed by tr
aitors.”

  “They created your empire, and now they’re referring to themselves as V’kit’no’sat and calling you the traitors. It can be a bit confusing when you’re both using the same name.”

  “Is it too much for a Hjar’at mind to handle?” he shot back.

  A single arc of blue energy bounced from neck spines all the way down to his tail where it disappeared.

  “Know your place, Era’tran. We are rescuing you, not the reverse.”

  “You are escorting, not rescuing.”

  “If that’s what you think, you are lucky we got to you first. You never should have come here so unprepared.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s best if you see for yourself. It will be starting soon. The Hadarak the V’kit’no’sat fought before you started your war with the Zak’de’ron were not their true forces, merely their skirmishers. We’ve got their mainline ships out there, and some of them have Essence enhancement. Including some engineered for speed boosts.”

  “How much faster are they than their standard minions?”

  “These aren’t minions. These are durable, small, and smart interceptors that we call ‘pod racers.’ They’re a support unit that you’ve never had to deal with before, and they’re everywhere here.”

  “Can this ship exceed their speed?”

  “Over the long term, yes. But they can generate a few seconds of acceleration far beyond any ship Star Force has created. That is, any ship that isn’t also Essence enhanced. And there’s a formation of the bastards getting between us and the Castle right now. We’re going to have to run through them,” he said as they walked through the halls with an occasional small Esquire moving about. Their version of Zen’zat, though these came in all manner of body shapes.

  “Does not this ship come in and out of the Castle regularly?”

  “No. We haven’t been there since we arrived 3 years ago. It’s easier to resupply elsewhere than to run in there. Nobody has made any runs in or out in the past 4 months, and the Hadarak keep bringing in more of their big ones to lock it down more tightly. If we get you in, I can’t guarantee you’ll be leaving any time soon. Especially with all that engine damage.”