Star Force: Essence (Star Force Universe Book 51) Read online

  It was a drastic tactic and one that had been debated for a very long time, but now there was no other possible method of defeating both the V’kit’no’sat and Star Force. Even if the V’kit’no’sat got to the outer defense ring and triggered a response, it would not reach to the outer Rim where Star Force was now dug in. The only way to take both of them out was a total galactic purge.

  Compared to what the Chixzon had survived previously this was easy, requiring only a vast amount of patience…which they had. It was the end result that mattered, and for some unspecified reason the Hadarak seemed to think that the galaxy would eventually repopulate with little beings. The Chixzon did not know how that was possible, but then again they did not know the origin of life in the galaxy either. Regardless, they would preserve enough servant races to slowly repopulate the Rim with after this was over, but now all that mattered was starting it.

  The Chixzon ship continued on its fast approach to the star, then coasted a while as the minions closed in. They used the coast to charge their capacitors back up to full, and when they reached that level banked as hard left as they could and headed straight for the 3rd planet in the system.

  They did not get within range before the first of the minions caught them…or more precisely got in their way and made them zigzag their approach. The swarm got so large they couldn’t avoid some collisions, so they dropped their ineffective cloaking device and put all their power into their shields and engines, plowing through the small collisions as each one slowed them further.

  The Chixzon modulated their shields to remove the IDF-laden goo that was eating into their engine power, cleaning it off like a windshield wiper and restoring propulsion as more hit and smeared onto the shields again and again…but the Chixzon did make it within transmitting range and cut their engine power by 13% to get full effect from the transmitter.

  It wasn’t a single pulse, but a recurring transmission similar to the beating of war drums. They kept transmitting until they picked up the deafening mimicry by the organic transmitters in the minion colony, at which point they altered course and gradually plowed their way out of the minion swarms, though they were loath to let them go.

  Shields were hit and miss and there were multiple hull breaches by the time the Chixzon ship got outside the mass of the minions and made a slow microjump towards the star, leaving most behind and trailing them, but when they eventually got to the star the Chixzon ship dove through the converging swarms there and into the outermost layer, burning multiple spots on its hull, including some interior decks, along with the clinging minion goo. They emerged back into space clean of it with full engine power minus one gravity drive that had been damaged, but that was more than enough to run faster than the minions could follow around the curve of the star until they found a hole in the overhead swarms and jumped out at an angle heading for far orbit.

  It was 50/50 whether they would make it or not, and there were so many minions around the star that there was no way they were getting a clear jumppoint out, but if they could make it to the outer reaches of the star system they could make a slow jump that would take months to get to the next star and try to stay alive…but ultimately it didn’t matter. The mission was a success, the war drums were beating on all 4 planets now and transmitting to the Hadarak within the star and across interstellar space where other colonies would pick them up, spreading the call for a galactic purge in to the center of the galaxy and whatever lay there.

  How soon the purge would begin was unknown, but it was now coming and nothing could stop it. Dominion of the galaxy would not be won by warfare, but rather by those who managed to survive the coming apocalypse.

  And amongst all the races in the galaxy, the Chixzon were by far the best survivors, as well as the only ones to have already prepared for nightmare…

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