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

  3

  December 22, 4851

  Ittini System (Preema territory)

  Ataercy

  Kara-317 stepped out of the dropship onto the open air plaza that had an energy shield covering it and containing the oxygen atmosphere that Humans and most races in the galaxy needed to breathe, but not so for the Preema. The atmosphere outside the shield had a black tint to it and was a mix of various hazardous substances that the Preema had to terraform into most of their planets.

  Kara’s Archon armor that she wore would have sustained herself in it, as would the Preema’s armor in theirs, but using the atmospheric bubble to allow each in their own native environment was much more diplomatic, and it was in fact the Preema that had requested Star Force’s visit, with them going to fairly elaborate lengths to welcome the Clan Ghostblade fleet that Davis had sent out to negotiate with them.

  It wasn’t all of Kara’s fleet, only 17 Warship-class jumpships plus her command ship, with the rest spread out beyond Star Force territory doing what they did best, but she’d made 4 other visits to races far beyond their borders who had taken significant interest since word of the V’kit’no’sat truce had spread to their worlds. Star Force was now the dominant player in this chunk of the galaxy, even more so than The Nexus, and a lot of races were wanting to at least make formal introductions.

  The Preema were not, for they already had a limited relationship with Star Force, so their request for a meeting was deemed as a higher level request warranting Kara’s presence…otherwise they would have politely said to make inquiries through existing Babylon stations like everyone else.

  Kara walked out alone, sampling the air, then caused her Archon armor helmet to retract so her purple/white hair flowed freely around her head, but didn’t quite come down long enough to touch her shoulders. There was no wind in the pocket of oxygen, and Kara was feeling a bit of a buzz because the Preema actually had the concentration at 50% rather than the normal 20-30% Star Force used in the otherwise nitrogen air. At least the Preema hadn’t put it at 100%, otherwise she would have kept her helmet on and let it filter the concentration down.

  She wasn’t wearing her Zen’zat armor, for her jewel was tucked into her arm in passive mode. If she was going into combat she would have, but no point in flashing it around for others to see. Someone might recognize the Zak’de’ron design, and she didn’t want to potentially out their existence, though they had to have known it would happen eventually. Why they’d given it to her then she didn’t know, but she had a feeling they might have been sending a message to the V’kit’no’sat in a very limited, almost plausibly deniable fashion, when they eventually conquered Star Force.

  That hadn’t happened, so she didn’t know what their plans were, but she was going to do them the courtesy of keeping it hidden today, and besides, it was better to be negotiating as Star Force’s representative in what was now their signature armor. The shiny plates that looked solid were not, now with micro-lines that would bend where needed to increase flexibility without having plates that slid over one another. The plates still existed, hard and unmoving, but their connections now flowed rather than overlapped, thanks to armor advancements that now put them on par with V’kit’no’sat armor technology, though with significantly different designs.

  When Kara got to the center of the atmospheric bubble three Preema walked through the boundary, coming out of their air and into hers. She’d expected them to stay on the other side and speak through the barrier, but apparently not. They weren’t wearing armor either, just a little mask barely visible, similar to what their former representative had worn when they were coordinating the removal of the Preema Uriti so long ago. They hadn’t wanted to wear combat armor onboard Star Force ships…and hadn’t been allowed to either, per security rules…and it seemed they were extending that same courtesy here on their own world.

  Their bodies glowed white, standing in stark contrast to the slightly dark ‘smog’ of the air beyond the shield, and the large, griffin-like aliens stared down at her from 6 green eyes each, making them a formidable and intimidating presence to most races in the galaxy…but not to Archons who could reach into their minds and freeze their bodies in an instant. The armor of those outside the atmospheric pocket were shielded from her telepathy, but those that had come inside were not.

  The Preema themselves were telepathic, so they understood the threats involved, but theirs was somewhat on the level of the Protovic, lacking the raw override power of Ikrid. Kara knew that they knew of her abilities, so them coming here unshielded was another gesture of trust…as well as suggesting they wanted something badly from Star Force, yet not badly enough to come and talk to them in person.

  “Why did you request we come here?” Kara asked bluntly, with translation equipment attached to the Preemas’ heads causing them to respond in English. That was an upgrade, for they weren’t vocally speaking their native language, and she guessed it was some sort of telepathic translator that kept their own words from overlapping with the translation.

  “We do not want to draw unwanted attention,” the Preema admitted. “The V’kit’no’sat will be back after the truce, and we do not want to too closely associate with you, for we do not want to draw their wrath. We would greatly prefer that you won your war against them, but we feel this is unlikely.”

  “So you’re not offering to help?”

  “We are not. We cannot and hope to survive. We have to remain neutral.”

  “Understood. What did you want to discuss?”

  “We need to establish our relationship,” another of the Preema answered. “We cannot fight with you, but we are not your enemy and will not pretend to be so. We would like to sign a non-aggression pact detailing our association for others to see.”

  “For what purpose?”

  “You are expanding your borders greatly. There are those races in your eventual path that question their safety.”

  “We are expanding into the remnants of abandoned Nexus territories. I thought that was obvious?”

  “You are conquering everything in your path, Nexus or not, and that leads others to worry. They know you are born of V’kit’no’sat heritage and they worry that your ultimate intentions will mirror theirs.”

  “Even though we’re about to be destroyed?”

  “You can do great damage before then,” the third Preema noted.

  “Are you worried about us attacking you?”

  “No, we are not. We are seeking to insulate ourselves from V’kit’no’sat backlash while helping you with diplomatic stability.”

  “How so?”

  “If we firmly establish Preema territory as safe from Star Force expansion, we anticipate others will seek you out for similar assurances. V’kit’no’sat do not make such deals, they simply go where they want and do what they want. You have inherited that reputation, deservedly or not. We can help counter that appearance by signing an agreement the V’kit’no’sat would never entertain.”

  Kara frowned. “I thought our reputation would speak for itself by now.”

  “To those with personal experience, perhaps, but those far from your current borders know little but rumor. Three facts reach them…you have a temporary truce with the V’kit’no’sat. You have their power and heritage. And you are expanding rimward by leaps and bounds. With only that information, what would you conclude were you not of Star Force?”

  “I see your point. How far away does this concern reach?”

  “Well beyond The Nexus’s former territory. There is talk of forming alliances against you to stop your advance. Some of this talk is out of ignorance, others from real threats. We believe we can help stop the ignorant from attacking you out of fear by establishing a precedent that others can follow.”

  “Your point is noted, however, we do not tolerate bad behavior because of a line on a map or an agreement made. The V’kit’no’sat offered us a deal as well, and we turned it down. We will fight anyone who deserves it, Preema included, i
f warranted. We will not let predation occur when we can stop it, and any such non-aggression pact would have to stipulate that.”

  “What deal did they offer you?”

  “Limited independence if we rejoined their empire.”

  “And you rejected the offer?” the Preema asked, aghast.

  “Of course we did.”

  “They gave you a chance to live and you spurned it?” another said.

  “They are our enemy, and we would rather die fighting than become the enemy.”

  “We have never known the V’kit’no’sat to offer any enemy such accommodations,” the third said, his emotions more stable than the disbelief Kara was sensing in the others. “They must truly fear you.”

  “They want the Uriti,” Kara said simply. “If they kill us, they can’t gain control over them.”

  “Interesting. They will compromise their protocol in order to seek greater power. That is not a part of their psyche that we were aware of.”

  “Because we have known of no greater power,” another Preema amended.

  “Their first priority appears to be the Hadarak,” Kara continued. “They see the Uriti as a way to fight them, so they’re willing to make compromises, because compared to the Hadarak, Star Force is relatively unimportant.”

  “Do the V’kit’no’sat actually think they can destroy the Hadarak?”

  “That is their stated ultimate goal.”

  “Then they are fools. No one can hope to do more than contain them in the Core.”

  Kara smiled. “They’re still trying, and I don’t think their ego will accept anything else.”

  “Is there a way for them to obtain the Chixzon knowledge you acquired?”

  “Not from us, no.”

  “But from another source?”

  “A very remote possibility. In fact, I’d probably feel safe saying no. I just don’t like to rule out the implausible. I’ve been on the receiving end of it a few times,” she said, personally referencing the jewel on her wrist, though the Preema had no knowledge of it. “What else did you want us here for?”

  “A sensitive matter. One that will draw the V’kit’no’sat wrath if they discover it.”

  “Go on.”

  “We have harbored fugitives from them for a very long time. They have not discovered them, and we have relocated many to the far Rim. Others have stayed within our borders, for they had nowhere to go and did not have the ability to rebuild in any sufficient manner. We still have remnants of those races under our care, and so long as we do so we hold a potential reason for the V’kit’no’sat to take interest in us. We would like to remove this liability.”

  “By sending them to us?”

  “Some are already trying to leave to join you, and we do not wish to hold them prisoner. They see hope where previously there was none.”

  “And the ones that are not trying to leave?”

  “We have sheltered them long enough. We would like you to take all of them into your Beacon and Axius factions, as you are doing for many other races. Under your care and guidance, we believe many of these races would add considerable power to your empire, for they were all formidable opponents that the V’kit’no’sat defeated, and an echo of that power remains.”

  “We have more refugees than we can handle already and are scrambling to assimilate them all. Why would we take on more that you are already caring for?”

  “It is part of a package deal we seek to negotiate with you.”

  “What parts do you think we would like, because that sounds like us taking a burden off of you?”

  “We cannot fight against the V’kit’no’sat through conventional means, but we have defied them and survived because we are beyond their borders. This allows us some flexibility, but we cannot go too far without drawing their attention. We seek to offload the refuges that we have sheltered because no one else would, but now you exist and any such refugees will seek you out, not us, because you are the visible opponent to the V’kit’no’sat. This would aid us greatly, but as you know such races incorporated into your empire, over time, strengthen you. They do not strengthen the Preema. Our strength comes from purity, and our wards are a burden.”

  “I’m waiting for the part where this is mutually beneficial to us prior to the end of the truce…”

  “We also wish for you to give us the necessary knowledge to engineer an immunity to the V’kit’no’sat telepathy.”

  Kara raised her eyebrows. “Oh you do, do you?”

  “In exchange we can offer many things, but given the distance between our realms supply assistance for your war is not logistically feasible, plus it would leave a connection that the V’kit’no’sat could backtrack. Thus we are offering that which is small, rare, and can be transported and transferred quietly.”

  “Solari?”

  “Yes, but much more than that, depending on your needs. We can also produce whatever technology you wish to share with us, and save you the expense of doing so yourself.”

  “Specifically what are you referring to?”

  “There are many options, which is why we needed you here to discuss and negotiate, but we have been told you possess the technology of the V’kit’no’sat, but you do not produce their highest models, which they refer to as Yeg’gor and Tar’vem’jic. Is this because of the manufacturing process?”

  “Partly. They’re also not that effective in a war of attrition.”

  “While you fight a war of attrition, the Preema have the time and resources to develop these technologies and anything else you wish. We can establish a secret trading relationship underneath our public one that will yield mutually beneficial results.”

  “You assume too much. Giving you that level of technology would be a security breach. Our relationship may be amicable, but you are not a close ally…and even a close ally we would not trust with that level of technology.”

  “What if we allowed some of your personnel to guide and operate our manufacturing facilities? You could keep your secrets while utilizing our industrial assets outside your warzone.”

  “Which you could easily steal at your convenience. Again, trust takes time and experience. We are mostly strangers.”

  “Strangers who gave you our Uriti.”

  “That was for your benefit more than ours,” Kara reminded them. “Outside our control the Uriti are a menace you were glad to rid yourselves of. But that aside, why do you wish for telepathic immunity if you are not going to fight the V’kit’no’sat?”

  “We cannot guarantee that one day they will not seek to dominate the entire galaxy, and we do not like harboring this glaring weakness. We cannot study it because we do not possess your Ikrid to test against, so we cannot develop even a rudimentary block of our own. We do not even know how you are capable of taking control of another mind so completely.”

  “You are asking much of us while offering little in return. It is the kind of deal that assumes our eventual destruction, leaving you in a very advantageous place.”

  The Preema in the center spread its huge wings wide, draping them in a way that was conciliatory in their culture, and fortunately Kara caught that sentiment telepathically, for the basic look of it was more intimidating than anything.

  “We are open to negotiations. What can we give you of equal value to what we request?”

  Kara sighed. “If you don’t want to fight, then that’s a difficult question. An Ikrid block is defensive, so there’s a small possibility that we could come to an agreement there. Tar’vem’jic are out of the question. Yeg’gor…”

  “What if we were completely out of the manufacturing and simply hosted a planet of yours within our borders, to which we supply all the constituent resources required. You simply handle the assembly, so your secrets you would keep.”

  “Some of the requirements for those technologies are probably beyond your ability to produce.”

  “Then teach us what we need to know. If there are more rare resources beyond Solari, we will collect th
em for you once we know what they are.”

  “I bet you’d like to know what they are,” Kara scoffed. “What I hear from you is that you think we’re going to be destroyed in a few hundred years and you’d like to get what benefit you can from us before we’re wiped out.”

  “If doing so increases your chances of survival, would it not be worth entertaining a discussion?”

  “You’d have to offer a shitload of resources for us to even consider that.”

  “How many is a ‘shitload’?” the Preema asked, with Kara sensing that the word hadn’t translated.

  “An exuberant amount.”

  “We are not currently at war, and we have the production capability to produce your shitload if needed. You have technological and biological knowledge that is valuable for us. If we can attain something that we would not otherwise have for millennia of research, and perhaps not even then, the amount of resources is inconsequential in comparison. State your requirements and we will most likely be able to meet them.”

  “There’s also the possibility that you could misuse what we give you. We don’t like making potential enemies stronger.”

  “We have never been your enemy.”

  “We have to worry about such things even with our allies, and you’re not quite on that level.”

  “Is there no arrangement that can be reached? Even if you tailored it yourself?”

  “Your territory is so far away from ours that it would have to be a damn good deal for us to even consider it.”

  “And what if we were to reduce that distance?”

  “How…” Kara said, seeing the only real possibility a split second later. “You want to build Grid Points?”

  “Star Force has never built one, for lack of resources, we assume?”

  “We can, but we have more pressing needs for the materials.”

  “We have the luxury of such projects where you do not. If we were to construct Grid Points for your use, would that be of value to you?”

  Kara didn’t hold back, diving into his mind and easily pushing past his rudimentary defenses…which he had expected, for they truly wanted to establish a deal and wearing telepathic-blocking armor would have eliminated that point.