Star Force: Origin (SF24) Page 10

  “Good point,” Paul said, trying to figure out some pattern to the morphing holograms surrounding the front side of the dragon. “Does he have a name?”

  “Not that Kara knew, no. And he wasn’t talking to anyone else.”

  “Why isn’t she here?” Taryn asked.

  “Because she’s pissed off with him for sticking that jewel on her wrist without permission,” Mark explained. “And the fact that he won’t take it off.”

  “He said it contained genetic knowledge?” Greg asked.

  “Something about that. Kara didn’t completely fill me in on that part.”

  “You could just ask him,” Jason pointed out.

  “Woo,” Morgan exclaimed happily, “yeah baby! We now have core access.”

  “That was fast,” Taryn said, stepping over to Morgan’s console and seeing the familiar holographic structure of the database…along with several new tendrils added.

  “As agreed,” the dragon said, finally turning to face the tiny Zen’zat, “you now have full access. This one will show you how to use it. I require more time for my own purposes, and I do not seek further questions. Take what I have given you and learn from it.”

  With that the dragon’s head twisted back up towards the holograms and a series of new display nodes appeared as it began researching the Les’i’kron and other matters pertaining to the history it had missed out on while sleeping.

  It stayed there for several hours, investigating much more than it had planned. There was a wealth of data stored within the database that post-dated his slumber, including some subsequent reports on the Rit’ko’sor rebellion that continued to be logged up until the communications net had been taken down. Included were several reports of massive Rit’ko’sor fleets that the V’kit’no’sat had not been aware existed, and as such the little vermin had succeeded in catching the other races off guard along the periphery. Wisely they had not tried to claim star systems, but rather simply destroy all that they came across, wiping the V’kit’no’sat from several regions before a counteroffensive could be organized.

  Shortly after that point the net had been severed and the defense station had no further records, but the last few entries pointed to a massive war with nearly even casualties on either side, which truly surprised the Zak’de’ron. His estimates for the V’kit’no’sat reclaiming this region of the galaxy had been overly optimistic, and now he saw that the Rit’ko’sor rebellion might have even caused a forfeiture of the central band.

  If that was the case he had a significant opportunity before him…a pity he hadn’t awoke sooner, but he hadn’t anticipated a rebellion from within weakening the V’kit’no’sat. Frustration at lost time aside, he needed to get the catalyst into position and begin their regrowth. Vengeance was on the distant horizon and the time for slumber was gratefully over.

  Using his rings the dragon downloaded and transmitted a wealth of data off into space where the catalyst lay, then it closed down the system and retreated off the pedestal, ignoring the few questions the Zen’zat asked of it. He walked back to the ramp, gracious enough not to step on their crude structures along the way, and headed back to the exterior entrance.

  With a thought he activated his rings, which spread back out over the dragon’s body in a sea of red plates, fully obscuring his skin and giving him the anti-grav boost he needed to easily climb up the crude tunnel the Zen’zat had dug. When the opening appeared above him he leapt up, wings tucked, and tore through the hole and into the sky, not bothering to look back at the forgotten colony. He headed straight up into space, lingering only long enough to hack into and jam the sensors of the ships and stations in orbit so that his passage would go unnoticed.

  He flew out to high orbit around the planet where he rendezvoused with his exoskeleton. The blue material formed around the red armor and obscured it from sight, then in a flash its gravity drives shot him off to the edge of the star system where the catalyst lay waiting. He merged with it and made a short jump back in to the system’s star, then from there he launched himself and his precious cargo out towards the edge of the galaxy and far away from both the V’kit’no’sat and the rogue Zen’zat.

  A month later Kara was still on Corneria, taking the opportunity to undergo some heavy training while she waited for transit back to Daka along with a host of other pilots. Star Force and the Alliance had decided to heavily reinforce the system rather than abandoning it in light of the new war they were having to fight against the Nestafar. Sales of the Valerie to the enemy had stopped, of course, which meant that the more of the fighter craft they were able to kill the weaker the Nestafar starfighter corps would become…and given that that was their greatest weakness, it was deemed an even greater priority for the Alliance to increase its starfighter acumen, which it would need to counter the formidable Nestafar armies.

  The Calavari had all but elevated the Humans to peer rank in the Alliance to replace the Nestafar, so far as Daka was concerned anyway, and Star Force was ready and willing to step up into the position of co-leadership on the starfighter front…even though they only used aerofighters, but even that was no longer a concern, given the defensive effort they’d mounted against the Nestafar to secure the Alliance base.

  In their allies’ minds the Nestafar had seen they were outmatched and capitulated, leaving the system in favor of a much larger assault later or never to return again. Either way it was a significant victory, despite the betrayal and the losses suffered. No mention of the dragon or the subterranean caverns was ever made, for he had indeed removed it from their memories. Star Force didn’t fill their allies in on the truth, but chose to keep it to themselves. If word did somehow leak back to the V’kit’no’sat that a dragon had been spotted it could hasten their return, and that was something they could not afford to have happen.

  As such, the aerial theatre of this growing war was becoming more and more Star Force’s turf, and Mark had asked for much more in the way of resources and personnel be sent to Daka to spearhead the effort. Kara had chosen to return because of this, knowing that on Daka she could probably do more to help the war effort than anywhere else…at least until Star Force decided to start pushing back against either of their enemies, in which case she’d be among the first to transfer to the front lines.

  While she waited for transit she focused little on flying, taking the opportunity to train with the commando and mech experts in the system and use them to really push her to the limits, as well as to get their critiques and advice on how to advance her skills to the next level. It was during one of her commando training exercises that involved her dodging tiny bouncy balls that really stung when they hit that she got a glimpse of the ‘gift’ that the dragon had stuck her with.

  Not able to dodge all of the balls and seriously regretting the ones that she let get through, Kara began twisting evasively while trying to catch or deflect the ones she couldn’t miss with her hands rather than let them hit her head or chest. When one came in on her left, headed for about neck level and her body was already moving the wrong way from dodging another, she brought her arm up to block it but didn’t feel the impact sting. Thrown a bit by what must have been a near miss she continued dodging the next few that came in until her eyes went wide with shock as she noticed the large piece of red covering the back of her hand.

  She got hit several times by balls she didn’t block, one of which was particularly painful that caught her on the right cheek, before she deactivated the training scenario with a voice code. No longer having to worry about the tiny little pain inducers, she stared down at her arm, getting a two second examination of the scale-like armor segment before it retracted back into the jewel.

  She held up her arm and stared at the thing, mentally trying to make it come back out but failing.

  “Ok, you just got a lot cooler,” she said as her mind raced through various training methods she could employ to prod the thing. “Now let’s see if I can get you to do that again.”

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