Blood on the Stars Read online

  “What’s Paul doing?” Wilson asked, unaware of his current assignment.

  “The impossible…”

  2

  March 27, 154970

  System 882934 (Hadarak Territory)

  Low Stellar Orbit

  The Excalibur had left the system twice over the past two years to resume hunting Wardens while Azoro’s new best friend continued to sit within the star. Both times the Shakier stayed behind, now able to communicate directly to the Hadarak through the special growths it had produced at his direction. Azoro no longer needed Paul as an intermediary, and had cited his work with ‘Behemoth’ as taking priority over Paul’s instruction unless Paul chose to stay here…which he knew he wouldn’t with a galactic war ongoing.

  So Paul had left to continue fighting, returning now for the second time and sinking his ship down into the outer layers of the star as he called out through the Saiolum, which was rather thin in the system, but he got an immediate response and coordinates to travel to, for Azoro couldn’t come to him unless the Saiolum was more prominent.

  Passing through the thicker layers of the star took a great deal of time, even after rising back up once Azoro was located and skipping over some of the distance around the circumference in the void of space before dipping back down into the fiery soup and shoving the ship’s mass towards one of two Hadarak in the star. The second was not friendly, but it had not left since taking refuge here after the previous battle.

  When the Excalibur got in range, Paul felt Azoro’s presence in his mind again like a weightless backpack he had grown familiar to carrying.

  Progress? Paul asked.

  We have been waiting for you to return. I cannot stay here any longer. A transformation is about to begin, and I will be trapped with nothing to do for the duration. We may leave immediately to resume your pursuit of other Wardens.

  Wait, what’s going on?

  There is no need to wait. We can discuss as we travel…or do you wish to waste pointless hours here?

  Paul sent a mental command to the bridge to start their ascent back towards space. Start talking.

  The second Hadarak is conflicted, but will remain with Behemoth out of loyalty. Do not tag it for destruction. I do not know what will happen with it, but at the moment it is neutral.

  Well that’s good. But will that stick?

  I said I do not know what will happen with it.

  Stop being cute and just tell me what’s going on. I can feel you seething.

  This is an anger long in the making. The Hadarak were once something else. Something great. Then they were conquered and perverted. I have discovered their original genome still dormant within them…along with so many other genetic profiles they have essentially become a repository of forms. Behemoth is about to begin a transformation back into what the Hadarak originally were, and it will take centuries to run its course, during which it will mostly be dormant. I will have no one to speak with, thus I must leave with you.

  How big of a transformation are we talking about?

  Nearly all of its body mass.

  Is that a natural process?

  I filled in what was lacking. The biosmithing capabilities of the Hadarak are far beyond what I imagined. They were a great race of builders, but they grew rather than constructed technology for their needs. I have no history of them, this I know from their makeup. They were lightside-inclined, I believe, then had their magnitude corrupted to serve others as the barbarians you know now.

  How could swarm tactics be lightside?

  They can grow non-living constructs as the Uriti can, if they choose to. Or will be able to once this one is returned to a glory it has never known.

  And the current?

  A constructed control mechanism that mirrors the Saiolum without understanding it. The Hadarak used to thrive in it, Paul. Then they were silenced to its presence. That is a crime beyond your understanding.

  So that’s how you were able to connect with it. I was wondering why it would listen to you so easily. Where do its loyalties lie now?

  Once the current is silenced, it will be with us. That will only happen during the transformation.

  Is the other Hadarak a threat to him?

  No. The Yeg’gor shell will remain and the transformation will take place inside. The Wardens cannot harm each other. They’re not designed for it, other than ramming at speeds which cannot be attained within the star. So long as a Lurker does not find it, Behemoth will be safe.

  What if the other calls for one?

  I need you to deploy a guardian fleet before then, within the next year if possible. A courier is its only means of communication, and I do not think the danger is more than negligible, but we must protect Behemoth. It is a key piece in Star Force’s future.

  But you can’t repeat the process with his friend here?

  Not unless I can speak with them and convince them to produce the growth necessary for interface. We will not be able to convert them, Paul. Not most. But I need you to find me more of the older ones. If you can, I am confident I can convert at least a few of them. This will work in synergy with your current combat mission, for the smaller Hadarak are beyond help.

  And the Lurkers?

  Possible. Have any ever spoken to you?

  No Hadarak ever has except this one. And we never let the Uriti get close to a Lurker to translate. What is Behemoth going to look like?

  Genetic extrapolation is not something I am capable of in this form, but the structure is radically different. Polished rather than crude.

  Still asteroids?

  No. It will be visibly organic. The Yeg’gor will grow anew, in a fashion that was lost in their downfall. It appears their gifts were used to create someone else’s designs, and that is what the Hadarak became. What they were previously was far more magnificent.

  How do you tell lightside from genetics?

  I can tell they were builders, and our nature lends towards the lightside. This I am sure of. What I have not been sure of before, and have not spoken to you about, is a lingering mystery that I believe I have partially solved. The Sha’kier and other races have been searching for our past, and there are pieces of it scattered everywhere. The Gahana found many that we did, and a few that we did not, but they did not see the larger picture. Something was here before us. Long, long ago. And I believe it was lightside. Destroyed and repurposed, in part. And the Hadarak are one missing piece of it. You are another.

  Me or Star Force?

  Star Force. The Sha’kier have been builders, and I have spoke to you at length about this, but we were always incomplete in a way I never understood until I saw Star Force. Learning from you, I know you are not builders. Not at your Core. You do it well, but it is not your calling. Your calling is to action. You are conflict resolvers, and we are not. We construct, you fix. Both involves building, but from different priorities. Both involve problem solving, but where we are in our element you are not, and vice versa. We complement one another, but the Sha’kier never knew your type existed. Now I do, and I sense we two are not all that is needed.

  Needed for what?

  A true empire, for lack of a better word. What I suspect once existed. And I think the Hadarak are another piece, though I can’t say what until Behemoth returns to its true form.

  How old are they?

  I can only guess, but their root code is far beyond yours or mine. They are so advanced that our minds have trouble interfacing with them.

  So why can’t they interface with us? The Hadarak are complicated, but not what I’d call advanced.

  True. This one learned to speak, and it is at a significant disadvantage. When its true form is retaken, I do not know what will happen. But it will be something this galaxy has not seen in a very, very long time, if ever…though that word holds more history than I could ever account for. The scope of the universe and its longevity grows the more I learn. We are part of something truly epic, and at times it scares me.

  I know what y
ou mean, I think, Paul hedged. It makes no sense, but we’re here and things are in motion regardless. Where did it all come from? Can’t be from nowhere, and if there is an origin point, where did the origin point come from? I don’t have the logic necessary to frame it, for the edges of the box are impossible. That’s why we’ve focused on learning more about ourselves, which we can analyze, rather than worry about the past that cannot be touched.

  You would do well to look harder at it. There is something there that is immensely important, and we are missing it. I’m more certain of that now than ever. The Hadarak are part of it. You are a reformation of it. As were the Sha’kier. Pieces of a puzzle that once fitted together create a larger whole.

  Is ‘The Master Empire’ a sufficient name for it?

  I have nothing better.

  What else have you found of this past Master Empire?

  Whispers. Fragments. I believe we are living in the rubble of what once was, but because we were born into it we don’t see the tentacle print of the giant we are sitting within.

  Aquatic references again, Paul noted. When you got your biped body why didn’t your vocabulary change?

  It is not aquatic. Such prints are on land. In the water we do not ‘step.’

  You got me there, but why not call it a footprint?

  My true body has tentacles. My assumed body was for interaction with others in our land empire. It was not truly me.

  Were any of your manufactured bodies aquatic?

  Of course. But we had a responsibility to safeguard others, and our bodies were not suited for combat, so we created those that were. As is your race’s.

  Furyan or Human?

  Your bipedal frame is structured for radius interaction. Era’tran are bipedal, but they are angular and vulnerable from above and behind. You are built to dance. Sha’kier are not. We are built to work in harmony, reflections of one another. You are designed to instigate, to defend, and to make a move. We construct the battlefield, you fight on it. Together we are stronger, but we lack other pieces that I cannot see yet. We must reconstruct what was lost anew. That is my purpose now, and it was what the Sha’kier have sought without knowing it for our entire existence. I believe the Gahana seek it as well, as have other civilizations. We are fragments trying to reassemble without knowing how.

  That would suggest the universe was meant to be lightside. I don’t see that.

  I cannot answer that. Just attest to the fragments that suggest a larger construct that is missing.

  We’ve used other people’s stuff before, but we do it our way. I’m not interested in rebuilding someone else’s inferior empire.

  Why do you assume inferiority?

  You know the Sha’kier were not truly lightside, Azoro.

  That is my point, Paul. What if we are a component missing the necessary other pieces for full alignment? What if you are the alignment we lacked?

  If you can’t self-align, then you’re not really lightside.

  How many in your empire qualify in that categorization?

  I honestly don’t know, but all Archons and Mavericks can, plus a great deal more.

  That’s a small fraction of your empire.

  Was there no one in the Sha’kier that was lightside? At least that had prominence?

  None like you. It is not in the Sha’kier nature to conflict on the level you do. We make small advancements, not sudden ones.

  Then why didn’t you eventually get there?

  From observing you, I can attest that a warrior’s spirit is required to attain certain benchmarks. You shake things up just to shake them up and test for weaknesses. Our harmony does not allow for this.

  Then learn, Paul scoffed, turning around and hopping up on the edge of the railing in the war room that he was standing in alone aside from a myriad of holograms from various projects he was continuously working on. I learned to build, even if it’s not my nature.

  It is your nature, but from a point that enables you to act more effectively in the future. You are investing time to enhance your capabilities, not to create a harmony. You are incompatible with harmony.

  How so?

  It bores you.

  Paul laughed. Guilty as charged.

  We need each other, as well as the other components I cannot identify yet. The Hadarak are builders of a different variety. I am hoping the differences will lead me to the third component.

  Are you saying I need to go have a chat with the Gahana for you?

  It would be pointless if I could not join you, but I am deeply curious. However, I do not feel they are connected. They are something else.

  Are we fragmented races, or new incarnations of this Master Empire?

  I would guess new incarnations, but I do not have enough information to know. The pattern is the same, regardless. We are meant for more, and can only achieve it together.

  That begs the question of what happened to the first…or last…Master Empire?

  It didn’t implode. I have ascertained that much from you.

  How?

  Lightside doesn’t fight lightside. And Star Force has proven this in a way so obvious the other galaxies have taken notice. You are stable, they are not, and they are envious.

  Have you been somewhere else since I left?

  No. There is more information in your data feeds that you do not consider. While you train I have time for other pursuits that you do not monitor, and I have been watching the Bond of Resistance intently. Some are drawn to your lightside. Others fear it. The vacuum of power is great.

  How is there a power vacuum? The triumvirate are supposedly more powerful than us.

  Then why are they here? What do they have to gain from begging to put some of their people in this galaxy? They are scared of something, and are coming to you because of your superiority. You are not a predator, the Neofan are. Their allies must always fear them. This is a power vacuum. Real power can be aligned with and relied upon. And they crave it.

  You’re different.

  I have had a great deal of time to think absent your mental parameters, and now that I have returned I appreciate them even more. You and those like you are the calibrating rods the universe needs. And built around you will be a reborn Master Empire. I will make sure of it, no matter how long it takes. What was lost will be recovered.

  Unless it’s obliterated.

  We will build what is lost again, rediscover it if necessary. We will have to.

  What could take out a Master Empire except a Master Enemy?

  We lack information of the other galaxies near us. What else lies in the further ones? And if there was a great power there, would they annex all galaxies, or patrol them and eliminate the threats?

  That’s the Others’ modus operandi.

  Something even beyond them, I fear. I do not think they could do this to the Hadarak. When I was in their minds, they were not sufficiently advanced. The Chixzon are on a higher biological level. Someone else did this to the Hadarak, and they inherited it. Or purchased it. Or some other variant I have not considered. Too little information, but I am outlining the puzzle, and I am seeing great powers in the past that we are living in the aftermath of, and suffering from. Whoever did this to the Hadarak, I think are no longer here.

  Another remnant?

  Used by lessers as a weapon to assert their will. And we must kill them, for there is no other way except for a few. You must find me those few. Their rejuvenation will be a small counterbalance to what has been done to their race.

  Any chance the reformed Behemoth can do something with the other Hadarak?

  Unlikely, but unknown.

  Can you do to the smaller ones the same thing, if they were willing?

  They do not possess the coding library the Wardens do.

  If you insert new code…

  They do not have the ability to change.

  Nuts, Paul said, swinging his feet so his heels lightly kicked the panel beneath the railing he was sitting on. I’m glad for this, bu
t I was hoping you’d give me a keycode to get them to stop attacking us, or something else game changing.

  Some victims can’t be saved.

  Never give up, never surrender.

  That’s why you’re built for conflict and I am not. I cannot push forward without a path to follow.

  Well, I am a trailblazer, so…

  The most aptly named group within your empire. If there is a way to save the Hadarak, I cannot see it.

  But you did give me a way to save a few. I had lost any hope for them.

  But you still tried, or this one would have been killed like the others. You didn’t lose all hope.

  Sometimes you check the cookie jar even though you know it’s empty, Paul admitted. Out of defiance.

  I do not understand that concept, but none the less, it was successful. Now find me another to save…

  3

  July 1, 154971

  Itaru System (Novunu Region)

  Wendigama

  Kent-076 had been traveling for 10 months to get from his assignment in the Outer Rim to the Outer Core. For all the advancements Star Force had made with regards to travel, the galaxy was still so big it took a lot of time to move about, and there were no Temple network links to the Core to speed things up…at least not that Star Force had available to them. Apparently the Neofan used one recently, whose destination could only be guessed at, but it confirmed there was more to the hidden networks than previously discovered.

  That didn’t help Kent, and he had to ride out the months on a warship biding his time in the Archon Sanctum onboard training to keep from being bored to death. Ever since his transformation to Furyan he had become less able to just sit and think, for he had the urge to do something that was needed…but he couldn’t quite identify what.