Spawn of the Lightside Read online

  1

  November 1, 128540

  Dyson Sphere, Krichkraw Nebula (Novatis Kingdom)

  Station 001

  The hatch on the underside of the Paladin growth pod cracked open, then the hinges swung both sides of it free quickly, dumping a mass of goo and a fully grown Skirmisher to the floor below. The blue reptilian hit the solid ground hard, instinctively fighting back against the impact as if it were an attack in its disorientation. Getting to its feet and stopping the ‘assault’ by the ground took enough time to help clear its mind as the genetic memory began to take hold in association with the newborn’s senses fully coming online.

  Its four fingered claw-bearing hands scratched on the ground as it looked around, ready to pounce, then it finally stood up on two legs in a mundane posture as it saw a number of floating drones around it. They were automated caretakers used to assist in the birthing of Paladin, but where were his kin? They should have been here to assist him.

  He tried to breathe in deeply, but coughed and bent over, hacking out some fluid from his lungs as they tasted air for the first time. The pod above him was his spawn point, where he had been grown out of genetic material and where his Core had entered his body at some undetermined time during the growth process.

  But he was not meant to remain here. This was where he began, but the mission lay beyond. He had to find his briefing…

  The skirmisher looked around, scanning the immediate area and seeing an orientation terminal only a few steps to the left and imbedded into the wall. He took a step towards it and was hit by a force field being emitted from the drones, pinning him in place.

  He resisted it, but it was too strong. That didn’t stop him, and he struggled against it futilely until his mind remembered that there was a deactivation code.

  “I am Ironman,” he spoke aloud, then the drones released their fields and withdrew to another area of the hatchery, for he could see other growth pods beyond his stretching for hundreds of meters, yet his was the only one that had been lifted into release position. The others were still on the ground and plugged into the nutrient delivery systems that fed them the material necessary for the Paladin to grow to maturity in a state of coma until it was time for them to be born.

  Now free of his invisible restraints, he walked to the indoctrination terminal and stepped onto the silver circle at the base, activating the series of neural uploads that were not part of his base template. Included in those were mission data and check programs that would be run within his mind confirming that his development had been successful. His mind responded naturally, almost as if it was talking to the computer without his control, which was close to the truth.

  When a tone sounded he knew he was complete and ready for assignment…but there was no one here to give him one. He understood the basic mission parameters, but there was no commander on site to assign him a work detail.

  A hologram appeared before him, with a notation indicating that it was a recording, and he knew from the odd red eyes on the blue/green Paladin that this was Supreme Viceroy Thrawn.

  “If you are hearing my voice now, then you have successfully infiltrated enemy territory. Neither I nor any other member of Star Force can directly assist you. The shield barrier is beyond our technology and will wipe the mind of anyone crossing it, lifeform or machine alike. All you see around you has been built by crude methods of communication with drones constructed on the far side by memory locked devices. You are the first person on the inside, and to date we believe that our presence has gone unnoticed. It is imperative that remain so as we build.”

  “Your assignment is to assist in the birthing of the first wave of Paladin and expand Station 001 into a level 2 facility, at which point a Viceroy will be early birthed to lead. We cannot risk his template being captured, and if you are unable to remain hidden then this mission will fail. Expand, grow, and do not rise to the surface of the Sphere. You have temporary command until an Administrator is cleared for safe growth. Scout the perimeter. Check all automated systems. Report their status to me using the existing relay system. Realtime communication is impossible.”

  The hologram shut off, and the new Paladin now had his orders. The knowledge in his mind was sufficient to tell him what the current extent of the underground facility was at to date, as well as giving him a familiarity with the surrounding area and even the surface above, which he had been forbidden to go to. He understood that order, for if hiding was imperative then rising to the surface could jeopardize that…even as he realized drones had already been up there and there were many passages cut leading to now camouflaged hatches within the jungle environment.

  But all this had been accomplished by drones without remote control, and that meant important details could have been overlooked. Fully automated drones were good in known environments, but unreliable in new ones. He was the solution to that, so the Paladin left the indoctrination terminal on his bare, clawed feet and walked across to a familiar hall, though he’d never seen it before in his few minutes of life.

  He rounded the corner, then went down two more sections before coming to an equipment room. Typically he didn’t require clothing when indoors, but since he was the first in an unknown environment he stepped into an open skeleton of an armored suit, with it sealing around his body and enclosing him from neck to foot claws in a matte blue shell equal in tone to his skin.

  The helmet was retracted and out of sight, but he could summon it at a moment’s notice. When the internal life support stabilized, he realized it was cooling him a bit more than the air. That prompted him to do a check of the station’s life support systems by walking over to one of the redundant controls hubs placed throughout the growing station. He confirmed his suspicion and found the internal atmosphere running 8 degrees warmer than programmed.

  A check on the systems that were supposed to keep that nominal were showing external heat competing with inadequate cooling systems given that they didn’t have the option of a surface vent at this time. The magma layer of the Sphere was too close, and while the temperature range was acceptable, it was not prime, so he ordered the construction drones off their current assignments and reworked the growing station blueprints to include an auxiliary life support station to accommodate for the excess heat.

  That would delay other portions from needed infrastructure, but a proper base of operations had to be established.

  He reviewed the remainder of the construction orders, found them to be acceptable, then began a tour of the existing 1,309 acres of facility doing his assigned checks and finding a few anomalies. He corrected those then sent a report back across the automated system that would send a signal down through the connecting tunnel that passed through the magma layer to the solid outer shell, then the message would be encoded onto physical crystals that would not be wiped when they were sent through the field to a receiver on the other side that would decode them then transmit the message in traditional fashion.

  If the Supreme Viceroy sent a return message, it would take approximately 1 hour and 12 minutes to get a response. That was painfully slow, but workable, as the Paladin got a series of updated orders from Thrawn over the coming days as he got the station up to proper status prior to the spawning of the first wave.

  There were 99 others that all came out of their pods within a space of 20 minutes. He was there to give them a familiar face and help them through their disorientation periods, then the workforce spread throughout the infrastructure and began expanding it rapidly. The drones were still used, but other equipment had been sent across waiting for manual use, and the Paladin took to the semi-automated tools and began traditional mining, material fabrication, construction, food production, etc.

  It was the beginni
ng of the bee hive, and several waves of reinforcements were grown and birthed over the coming months before Thrawn gave the go ahead for an Administrator variant to be added.

  The genetic material for that individual was not present in the station, so it had to be passed across the Essence shield barrier in a cargo sled that had no computer power whatsoever. A receiving mechanical claw that had been built on this side caught the sled and allowed a 3 man crew of workers to unload it onto a drone that then sped up through the magma layer umbilical to the station carrying several crates of supplies along with one tiny palm-sized canister that contained the Administrator genetic material.

  It was loaded into a growth pod along with the specially designed biogel, which was another rare gem within the Star Force tech tree that they didn’t want others to obtain. It had originally been patterned off Li’vorkrachnika technology, but had been highly advanced since, allowing spawning times to drop considerably. 1st Triad body types were now grown to adulthood in only 19 days thanks to the advanced biogel, but the genetic profiles inserted into it were the true secret of the Paladin and guarded accordingly.

  Sending the skirmisher genetic code in without any guards had been a risk, but a low one considering the Star Force incursion had not yet been discovered. Following it had come the worker and medic templates, but the Administrators were far more advanced. That was why it was coming in now, and only one, for you couldn’t just take a skin sample from a Paladin and grow a new one from it. The genetic samples were specially designed micro-eggs that would form a fully grown Paladin…but the fast growth genetics would disappear upon adulthood.

  It was another safety feature added to the Paladin, as was the fact that they would only grow in Star Force produced biogel. So if someone did manage to steal some Paladin genetic profiles, they wouldn’t be able to grow them unless a very narrow band of conditions were established.

  But with a properly configured genetic sample and the biogel, the Administrator grew to maturity in only 12 days. He was of a smaller frame than the skirmishers, but came out of his pod much the same way…though from a shorter height, for his muscle mass was not as robust.

  All the Paladin were capable of working as individuals and as a team, no matter what variant they were, but as soon as the Administrator was acclimated…which took only a matter of minutes…he took control of the station colony and started doing what he had been designed for…which was organizing and running operations.

  He chose which other variants to grow, and when to grow them, requesting and getting the appropriate genetic profiles from the other side as Thrawn let the colony grow along standard lines without him micromanaging it. It took several months before a level 2 facility was finished, which required full self-sufficiency of material production, foodstuff growth, and defense to allow it to survive without external supply. That didn’t mean it could produce everything in the Paladin catalog without specialty equipment and imports, but it had enough to maintain and grow from here on out alone, which was really the most basic status of a Paladin colony, equivalent to one of their landing cruisers which they hadn’t had the option of employing here.

  Once the level 2 status had been achieved, Thrawn ordered a redundant assessment of all tunnels and minimal scouting above the exit hatches on the surface. When that did not draw any obvious response, he sent over the Viceroy genetic profile while holding all others in reserve until Samsiv was operational.

  All Paladin were given numbers for identification purposes except the Viceroys. They were given names, given how rare they were, and the newly spawned one came out of its larger growth pod already knowing his, though he was perplexed at the green skin he bore. Paladin were supposed to be dark blue, but as he looked around he saw the nearby medics were also green.

  “Why are we…” he said, coughing out the last bit of biogel from his lungs, “a different coloration?”

  “Camouflage, on the order of the Supreme Viceroy,” a medic said, looking of almost identical form to the skirmishers with only a few small adjustments to the same 1st Triad body frame. “We are situated beneath a jungle environment.”

  The large Paladin cracked his neck to the side, flexing muscles that had never moved before, as he saw a smaller Administrator approach from a nearby hallway and walk up directly in front of him.

  “We have activity on the surface.”

  Samsiv growled, knowing he needed to get his indoctrination update, but time did not always allow for procedure to follow course. “Explain.”

  “Passive sensors indicate aircraft will pass within 60 miles of our surface exits. Their trajectory does not match our location, but the proximity is concerning.”

  “Has there been any recent activity, ours or others, to precipitate this?”

  “None noticed, but we do not have full scanning capability due to…”

  “…the nature of our assignment,” he finished. “We have no defenses on the surface?”

  “None other than anonymity.”

  “Then preserve it. Take no action and inform me if the aircraft alter course or otherwise do not pass by as anticipated.”

  “There is a message packet waiting for you from the Supreme Viceroy. It arrived two hours ago.”

  Samsiv ignored the Administrator, who did not need a reply, and moved to the indoctrination station. He got his mental downloads of recent data, then pulled up the hologram from Thrawn…whom his own genetic memory had been patterned off of.

  “This is our moment, brother. Star Force has no stealth entry options beyond the Paladin, and a direct assault is questionable, for we do not understand the nature of the shield protecting the Sphere. You must disable it if we have any hope to mount an assault from the outside, but do not do so until you gather sufficient knowledge of our enemy within. We are at a great disadvantage, and only through supreme intellect can we hope to overcome this challenge…”

  The Supreme Viceroy went on and on, for nearly a full hour, detailing much of what Samsiv already knew, but explaining subtleties to his genetic memory that were critical. Samsiv would not have been assigned this mission if another Viceroy could have been sent, but even if they had survived the crossing of the barrier…which was not even certain…they would have had to revert to base template anyway, so sending one of them would have been counterproductive.

  That meant Samsiv was in charge, though with a lifeline to Thrawn, who was situated just outside the barrier to facilitate the fastest communication possible, despite the risk to him if the entry location was discovered. This enemy had the ability to pass through both the barrier and the solid structure of the sphere, emerge outside the perimeter, and attack at will. So far that had not happened, but they were continually hitting other Star Force installations and it did not appear that was going to relent until something else drew their attention.

  But that could not be Samsiv. His incursion had to remain a secret, though the ultimate success of this mission was the only thing that was going to protect the Star Force worlds, for the power of Essence defied full comprehension and allowed these…Vargemma…to bypass both armor and shields.

  That was both curious and frightening, but the Viceroy was designed to counter hard problems and find a solution, and so long as he had time and anonymity here he would find a way to let the rest of Star Force in.

  But Thrawn wanted more than that. He did not just want the enemy destroyed, but possession of the Sphere, for it was suspected that it was created by a far greater power in the galaxy and now inhabited by a lesser. Star Force needed that power, so Samsiv’s mission was even more important than protecting the empire. It was about securing a future beyond what they currently possessed, and because of that great mandate, Thrawn was sending the forbidden templates.

  They were the Paladin templates that were not allowed to be grown except on special order by Thrawn or an Archon or Maverick, because they possessed psionics. It was an upgrade possibility that the Paladin had earned long ago, but they were not allowed to emplo
y them for standard operations. Most races in Star Force were forbidden psionics unless an individual obtained them for himself, with the exception of the Knight races. Paladin were not a Knight race, nor ever would be. They stood alone as something else, but the trailblazers had known long ago that standard tactics would not be enough in some circumstances, so they created and refined the forbidden templates keeping them in reserve just in case of an emergency such as this…and they had kept those individuals previously grown separate from the existing Paladin and everyone else, though where they were nobody knew.

  Samsiv wouldn’t grow them until needed, and right now he did not. What he needed was to grow and expand beyond this one station, for if it was compromised he could not risk all Paladin on this side of the barrier to be located and destroyed. They had to spread out, as far and wide as they could, creating multiple small colonies and begin to learn about where they were, who was nearby, and how best they could be killed…or if they needed to be killed. The possibility of non-combatants hadn’t been ruled out, but at this point it was assumed there were none and that any individual encountered would be hostile in some extent.

  So the Paladin had to remain hidden while they grew and explored. That would take years. Years that Star Force did not have. But the empire was so large that entire chunks of it could be lost and Star Force would continue to thrive, even with the Hadarak front creeping outwards towards V’kit’no’sat territory.

  Star Force did not like losing people, but when there was no other option they could weather it. Samsiv would not delay, but he could not rush this operation. They were only going to get once chance before they were discovered, and when that happened they had to be ready. And they would be. He may have been born today, but he was a Viceroy as much as the others, and patient, precise planning was what he had been designed for, and even now he understood the privilege of his Core landing in this body. He did not know if there was a purpose in it, or if his arrival threw this spawn point was random, but he was here now and he had the weight of a galaxy-wide empire on his shoulders.