Star Force: Excalibur (Star Force Universe Book 41) Read online

“I would accept allegiance,” Mak’to’ran admitted, drawing a surprised look from Dorchav. “They are a testament to everything we have done wrong, and they have accomplished more against the Hadarak than we have ever done. I intend to study and learn from them as much as I can, and if at all possible avoid their destruction. They are too valuable for the future.”

  “Itaru will not accept their freedom.”

  “That is my problem, and their hatred of us is well deserved, but we must preserve their power over the Uriti. Having to destroy it would be a folly beyond measure.”

  “Then we must steal it from them. They will not give it freely.”

  “I am considering many options, but know that I will not blithely destroy them when the truce is over. There is too much at stake.”

  A thought occurred to Dorchav. “The Chixzon developed the Uriti from study of a Hadarak. Could we potentially do the same and learn how to communicate with the Uriti from this one?”

  Mak’to’ran’s lips slid apart in a toothy grin. “That is a possibility that has not eluded me. We have more to learn from study than destruction, but first we must know whether or not we can actually contain this one or if it will free itself. That is your first priority. Let me worry about the future, but I do want any and all ideas that you have, no matter how absurd.”

  “You will have them.”

  “Well done, my friend. Your honor has been returned to you. We must all learn from our mistakes and move forward. Do not look back on your loss of Dimu in any other way from now on. You have given us the Harthur and your legend has now grown. No more will V’kit’no’sat study only those who have flawless records. They will see a true commander who uses defeat to their advantage…and that is a lesson the V’kit’no’sat badly need to learn.”

  2

  April 2, 4851

  Axalon System (Pavana Region)

  Turok

  Aaron-010 stood above the tray of eggs, feeling the tiny Ikrid transmissions coming from each of them like a little beacon detailing their emotions. These eggs had already had their Ikrid blocks genetically inserted into them, as all new eggs were, and in a bit of wonderful irony the tiny minds inside the eggs were adapting to the blocks that prevented them from pulling information from each other the same way that the Twins had.

  They’d developed the habit of constantly transmitting in response to others doing the same. Batch after batch of eggs went through the same process, and as soon as one or two started to transmit even the littlest of telepathic bleeps the other nearby eggs would do the same in a chorus of camaraderie, letting each little raptor know that it wasn’t alone.

  Aaron was here now because the eggs were about to hatch, and one of the 6 trailblazers on the planet made sure to be present whenever it happened. Right now they were ready, but hadn’t started poking out yet, so the Archon gave them a little telepathic nudge and suddenly 250 eggs held in vertical position by a very low craters in the table began wobbling, with a few punctures popping through.

  The others followed, quickly learning how to break their shells from experimentation as well as information flowing from the others. It wasn’t complex, barely simple thoughts, but it was extremely important to these little ones, for it was a wealth of information from their point of view, and they were beginning to taste air for the first time in their brief lives.

  Ethan reached down and picked up one of the eggs that had half a head sticking out of it, helping to pull a piece of shell off as he stroked the slimy little raptor, bypassing its Ikrid blocks and easily getting into its mind…with a powerful reaction. It bonded with him immediately and he made sure not to overwhelm it with thought, otherwise he could accidentally damage it.

  He helped it get out of its shell then set it down on a nearby table with a high, clear rim that would keep it from falling off once it figured out how to walk…which would only be a few minutes. Aaron picked up another egg then, one by one, made physical contact with each of them as they got out of their organic birth crates and he moved them to the nearby choral.

  They weren’t quite chickens, considerably bigger but still very fragile, and when they bumped into each other half the time they’d fall as they learned how to balance on their tiny legs. He spent a few minutes with them, transmitting a few basic emotions before giving them their first instruction. Like clockwork, they all turned around and hobbled over to the small gate now opening in the back of the little pen that led to water and food, each on one of 250 tiny little serving tables.

  As instructed, each went to their own table and began to drink, then eat, as Aaron handed over telepathic control to a handler. Her Ikrid was pathetic compared to his, given to her specifically for her job, which had previously been in Axius maturias helping non-Humans learn English and a lot of other things not native to their biology. Telepathy was so useful in that regard that there was a lack of high level trainers with access to it, which was why many maturia across the empire were seeing more and more Protovic being recruited, for their telepathy was not restricted.

  This handler wasn’t Protovic, but one of the Humans that had her own reproductive systems disabled and her Ikrid unlocked, and Aaron knew that each one of the elite handlers were professionals focused on their job with no ‘social life’ to worry about where Ikrid could cause problems in the possession of unscrupulous people. And here it was essential, for the Raptors were born into generation after generation of telepathically-linked individuals, and denying that along with implementing Ikrid blocks would have been going too far.

  Aaron knew they could adapt, but it would be rough on them and that’s not what the 1s wanted. The Raptors’ sense of camaraderie was vitally important, given the fact these were not going to be treated as civilians unless they opted out. These were little Arc Knights in development, and what they would end up being down the road was still unknown, but that basic template is what they were starting with. The eldest of the hatchlings were only up to knee height now, but their training was already proceeding in a sloppy manner as Aaron and the others learned what the Raptors could or couldn’t do.

  What they could do was run, with Scionate-like speed. Aaron could still outrun them for now, but once they got full grown he wouldn’t be able to, and even this newly hatched batch was showing physical skills far beyond what a Human infant could ever be expected to. The superiority of the Raptors was evident even at this early age, but the trailblazer knew it was only a head start, not a guarantee of success. If life was a marathon, Humans got to start at the 1-mile mark while the Raptors got to start at mile 3. That was no guarantee that they’d run faster over the long run, but in terms of numbers across a huge civilization, that much of a head start was mind boggling, making it clear why the V’kit’no’sat empire had such strength even when they didn’t try that hard.

  That said, Aaron knew several Mavericks coming from races that didn’t have their advantages and had to start back at mile 0. They’d had to come much further than the others, but the individual person inside the body had made up the gap, just as the trailblazers had. Would any of these little hatchlings ever catch up to them? Unlikely, but if they did they wouldn’t have as large of a gap to cross as others would.

  Outstanding individuals could overcome any gap. Aaron had learned that over the course of his life, and if there were biological blocks, well, Star Force could take care of those now, freeing up a path for everyone even if their base biology prevented it. The Szisson were the most glaring example of that, having been one of the smallest Nexus races to join Star Force. They were an avian, but insect-like race with a lifespan of only 3 years. When they entered the fourth phase of their development their digestive systems literally shut down, allowing them only to survive on fat reserves for a period of 2 weeks…but during those two weeks their 4th form was highly superior to the others, physically speaking, making them very deadly in combat up until they just keeled over and died from starvation.

  That was biology that the individual could not overcome, and
Aaron hated the idea of a no-win scenario. If he had been born into a Szisson body he would have died no matter how hard he trained, for the ‘game’ was rigged. Star Force hated rigged games and had reworked the 4th phase of Szisson development so that they could actually eat, and now their lifespan was technically unlimited, though most didn’t make it past 5 years. Aaron knew of two that were now over 400, and both Mavericks, but they had a very hard time maintaining self-sufficiency without heavy training. Fortunately heavy training was an easy day for Mavericks, so they had a path forward, but it was a very hard path.

  The Raptor path was so easy in comparison it almost seemed unfair, but each Raptor still had to earn their advancement. Strength didn’t come naturally, nor did self-sufficiency unless you were a Hadarak. Laziness was still a threat, but a minor one for a race as advanced as the Raptors. The group telepathic bond would virtually eliminate that so long as the majority of the Raptors were hard working, and having handlers that were telepathic who could set an example was critical, with Director Davis currently working on recruiting more for Ikrid upgrades from across the empire in preparation for the population spike that would be forthcoming when they released the Raptors from their population controls.

  They couldn’t do that until they had the necessary infrastructure in place, and even today Aaron had many more batches of eggs to welcome into the galaxy before he began his own morning workouts.

  Zak-015 would be here shortly after he left, so that hatchings could occur every few hours. The 1s had made it a priority to personally imprint on these Raptors before anyone else did, and it was already showing in the older ones, for they all had sporadic contact with the trailblazers, and each time they did they regarded them as the pack leaders above and beyond the handlers and trainers they spent most of their time with.

  Aaron would be with them later in the day for about an hour, but after he got through his morning workouts he would be heading over to the other side of the planet where the converted Raptor adults were going through much harder training and the 1s were figuring out how to make use of their various skills, as well as identifying their weaknesses.

  Number one weakness was their arms, which had little reach and less strength than a Human’s, but their tail power more than made up for it. It took longer to wind up, but if they landed a tail hit it would literally throw Aaron across the sparring ring, given the amount of mass and force involved.

  But if he stayed in their face he had an advantage, and some of the Calavari trainers they brought in were proving to be a nightmare for the Raptors, for if they got within grapple range they’d lock on with one arm and prevent the spinning that a tail strike required…then they had 3 other arms to beat them senseless with. A weakness they had against Zen’zat was made all the more obvious against the Calavari, and Aaron was working with them to develop techniques to combat the four-armed monsters prior to getting new psionics that would help greatly in that department.

  But most of the time the Raptors were being sent through challenge courses the likes of which Aaron had never seen before. Because of their speed, they had to be large ones similar to what the Scionate used, but add in their psionics and the courses were literally monsters. Aaron had been able to beat them, mostly, save for where leg speed was involved. Half the time his superior Human speed could match him evenly with a slower Raptor, but the requirements for the better ones he simply couldn’t match.

  That would have been annoying if not for having encountered this before. Ikrotor were one of the first giant races Star Force had encountered, and they’d fully joined Star Force after the move out of the ADZ was made. They were so big and strong that Aaron couldn’t beat some of their basic challenges, and the Ikrotor’s tree-like proportions made it clear that he never would be able to match their muscle strength.

  That was fine, and if he needed to take down an Ikrotor he could, but through other means, and during the fighting against the V’kit’no’sat in mech combat the Ikrotor had proved very effective once encased in battle armor…which made them look like mechs, but they weren’t. There was an advantage and disadvantage in that, and versus an Era’tran they didn’t stand a chance, but they had taught Aaron a lot about the limitations of one’s body. He knew he couldn’t solo many of the V’kit’no’sat races, for they were just too big and powerful, and while that annoyed him to a point he realized that what he couldn’t do individually he could do in a mech, or with a team. Ultimately the fight was Star Force versus the galaxy, and in that fight he saw no limitations.

  But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to keep pressing his personal skills, and the extra Ikrid tissue he’d received after sacrificing his Ensek was allowing him to reach all time high training scores in that discipline, but he knew he’d hit the wall again eventually. His skull only had so much room in it, and if he was going to kick the crap out of his advanced enemies he was going to have to do it with guile and teamwork…which meant gaining more allies and helping them learn to kick ass using their race’s strengths, while also helping them armor over their weaknesses.

  And the Raptors were going to add a lot to Star Force, Aaron could see that already, most notably their eagerness for combat. The training they favored the most was against the trailblazers, with the Raptors trying over and over again to defeat them, throwing more individuals together into a team to take down one of them…which also allowed the trailblazers to get a type of training in they’d never had before. It was a win/win situation, and the craving for challenge is something they were showing in greater group amounts than anyone in Star Force other than the Archons.

  The Raptors were relentless, and with some help the 1s were going to shape what the V’kit’no’sat had turned into cruelty into an asset for the lightside. Already many of the adults were learning, and learning fast, but it was going to take time to undo millennia-long established habits, and what one did in training and what one did in the field were not always the same, but progress was being made…in droves.

  And through it all Aaron was learning more about the V’kit’no’sat than the pyramid files had contained, particularly how they had suppressed the Rit’ko’sor. Not by asking questions, but in seeing how they responded to various things. The Raptors were genuinely surprised by how much knowledge the 1s shared with them, and with how the Archons would pull back during combat rather than injure their opponents. Aaron got the feeling that the V’kit’no’sat viewed injuries as a learning experience, or perhaps a punishment for inferiority, and he suspected that might be why some Zen’zat didn’t advance as rapidly as the Archons had. If you were constantly getting injured your improvement rate would tank like crazy.

  The more Aaron opened up with the Raptors, both in knowledge and in not holding back his skills in combat, the more the Raptors responded in kind. It was like they’d never operated as a true team, always having to look over their shoulder for some kind of betrayal. Maybe that was just how they interacted with other races, but that hesitance was melting away as a mutual respect was formed.

  It was almost as if the Raptors had expected Star Force to be better than the V’kit’no’sat, but not the real deal. Now that they were realizing that it was the real deal, their enthusiasm level was through the roof and they were relentless in their training in a way he’d never seen before in others. They needed no prodding, and they were already the most elite group of non-Archons he’d ever encountered.

  Then again they were thousands of years old, some more than a million, and that was a dynamic that Star Force had not yet experienced…yet another reason why the inclusion of the Raptors was going to be a major change. Aaron and the 1s were actually younger than those they were training, which was a refreshing irony.

  As he did every day, at the end of training he headed straight back to his quarters to eat and sleep and then get back into the heavily packed two day grind, for he only needed to sleep every other day with the non-training hatchling duties included, but before he slept he always went through the
trailblazer message board, keeping up with what everyone else was doing across Star Force territory.

  There wasn’t much being updated on a daily basis, so it didn’t take him long to get to bed, but today there was an update from Greg-073 titled ‘About Damn time.’

  When Aaron opened it up he saw a few other similar exclamations from those trailblazers who had received the message board update before him, days ago due to the relay lag, and he shared their sentiments. Project Lee Sin was finally active in the Savoria System, and had successfully detected every cloaked ship Star Force sent through it.

  Project Lee Sin was Tennisonne’s ghostbane sensor incarnated into a massive detection grid focused around a star. There was a weakness in that, for a ship could slow jump and brake far away from the star, but the bulk of all traffic would come within range of the ghostbane pings that were now going out at a rate of one every 32 seconds.

  That was quick enough to detect a ship moving through, even if not to track it all that well. There was a lot of prototyping refinement to do, but at least Star Force had a functioning system rather than a hope for one, and he saw that three more additions were scheduled for construction in major systems after a few necessary tweaks were made in Savoria.

  So far no V’kit’no’sat ships had been spotted in Star Force territory, or the Devastation Zone for that matter. Aaron didn’t know if that meant they weren’t here snooping around or were just so good at evading detection that they were and hadn’t yet been noticed.

  Well, now Star Force had a way of finding out. It would take more than a century to get such systems established in the majority of Star Force systems, let alone the uninhabited ones, but every year that passed would see more and more detection coverage.

  The days of the V’kit’no’sat, and others, sneaking around inside Star Force territory were soon to be over, and it was about damn time, as Greg had so eloquently said.