Star Force: Mak'to'ran (2) Read online

  3

  Mak’to’ran and the Era’tran watched tensely as Yaquik and those Hjar’at loyal to him quickly secured the visitors. After the first few charges were stopped by the Era’tran no more got through as many Hjar’at ran up to and spun around in front of them, forming a second wall of bodies with numerous telepathic insistences that the Era’tran stay out of what was a Hjar’at fight. They promised they’d be responsible for their security and, true to their word, no more attacks made it through to Mak’to’ran’s defense ring.

  The Hjar’at around them didn’t stand still, constantly moving in a larger circle on patrol and probably throwing some Ikrid attacks at those closest, but none of them used their Saroto’kanse’vam…save for some of the attackers. Mak’to’ran didn’t understand the full significance of that, but it seemed no one wanted to make kills as the Hjar’at being defeated were wounded but not gutted as they easily could have been.

  Still wary of his own security and that of his escorts, Mak’to’ran tried to keep alert while studying what was happening. Numbers wise there looked to be less than half of those present engaged against the Era’tran…or rather were, for now they were fighting other Hjar’at and not being nice about it. Several lacerations on what Mak’to’ran thought were defending Hjar’at were visible, but Yaquik was roaming about in the fight and targeting those doing the most damage.

  The sight of the 3 million year old Hjar’at sent a chill down his tail. Some elders often lost their fitness just shy of compromising their self-sufficiency as they shifted away from combat to advisory roles, but Yaquik was quite the opposite. Mak’to’ran had fought alongside Hjar’at many times and studied their past battle records, but he had never seen one fight so effortlessly…and without his Saroto’kanse’vam. No one could harm him, and more often than not those that came under his attacks simply submitted after a blow or two or tried to run.

  He chased a few, but seemed content to scare off some from their targets as he single-handedly turned a more or less even fight into a total rout.

  But that was only here, and soon Mak’to’ran began picking up not just telepathic signals broadcast openly, but comm signals suggesting that fighting was breaking out beyond this chamber. Now that the Era’tran were out of reach one would have expected the fighting to taper off, but everything Mak’to’ran was seeing and sensing told him this battle was about to explode into a city-wide affair…if not larger.

  The Era’tran held position for several more minutes, then Yaquik dashed over to them as the last few Hjar’art attackers in the chamber were subdued and taken into custody with several guards over them and holding them down telekinetically. Mak’to’ran saw no physical bindings, but then again they wouldn’t have had any on hand in a safe location like this unless they’d predicted a fight breaking out and all indications were they had been blindsided by this.

  “Regarding those two days…” Yaquik said as he lightly skidded to a halt in front of Mak’to’ran.

  “We will leave now.”

  “No…you will not. Do not run from these traitors. Stay as long as you please and I wish to speak with you in private later, but for now I am needed elsewhere. Fighting is breaking out across the planet. Hamob was right to send you here, for it has drawn them out and we must purge this corruption now. I will leave escorts for you that can be trusted. You should not have to fight again.”

  “I am not so certain,” Mak’to’ran said, though he telepathically signaled his acceptance of remaining on the planet. “And my ship…”

  “I have already sent word. It will not be touched. I apologize this for heresy. It shames all Hjar’at and will be dealt with swiftly. Remain here until this building is secured,” Yaquik said as he spun about and ran towards one of the ramps that would allow him access to other levels in the building, but before he got to it another Hjar’at, this one fully armored, came towards him and telekinetically tossed a package it had been carrying between its spine rows to him. Yaquik caught and applied it to his body, with the golden armor plates spreading over his gray/green skin like a wave of liquid before hardening into the protection that the elder Hjar’at probably didn’t need…unless the fighting elsewhere was involving weapons beyond the biological.

  Did you see this coming? Mak’to’ran asked Dagobeth.

  Not at all. Do you know what is happening?

  I believe so. We will remain here until their prisoners are dealt with. Be on guard for isolated attacks, he added, transmitting to all his Era’tran as he took a few steps forward and broke the full ring.

  The others did likewise, but did not stray far as the Hjar’at moved with them. They only had Yaquik’s word that these were loyal, and if the elder Hjar’at hadn’t seen this coming he might be blind to other aspects of it.

  “What faction is doing the attacking?” he asked the nearest of them.

  The Hjar’at turned and glared at the Era’tran, not answering for several seconds and obviously very angry until he simply said, “I do not know the cause of this insanity.”

  “It is not unique to the Hjar’at,” Mak’to’ran offered. “The I’rar’et killed their own upon a previous visit of mine when they refused to attack me, and I fear there are hidden traitors in many races across the empire.”

  “To what end?”

  “I do not fully know, but there are lies that they must protect.”

  “Such as what?”

  “Many things, but this ‘collective’ is rooted in the lie that the V’kit’no’sat are invincible. We must earn our victories, and they do not want to hear that.”

  “So they commit heresy to cover a lie? You do not understand Hjar’at at all.”

  “What am I not seeing?”

  “You are the heretic. Era’tran are not allowed to possess Saroto’kanse’vam.”

  “Under normal circumstances I would agree with you, but what we have done is in response to this lurking threat. It is destroying the empire, and no loyal V’kit’no’sat will sit by and let it fall. We fight and die with honor if necessary, but we will not yield to the traitors…nor will we let them weaken us with rules stemming from Itaru.”

  The Hjar’at huffed angrily, and it was clear that he wasn’t just going to dismiss the psionics violation that would otherwise have resulted in Mak’to’ran’s death, but it was clear this one wasn’t going to overstep Yaquik.

  “What did he mean by ‘Itaru has betrayed us?’”

  “They have not allowed us to reclaim our forward rimward territories, and I suspect they have purposely canceled exploration beyond, keeping us blind to powerful races that are now conspiring with those responsible for the Star Force heresy.”

  “They kept us blind?”

  “It would seem so.”

  “That does not warrant your own heresy.”

  “There we will disagree, Hjar’at.”

  “Lucky for you that I have orders, otherwise you would not survive that disagreement.”

  “I do not expect you to like my defiance of Itaru, but it is necessary.”

  “Given what has just happened I will reserve judgement on that.”

  “I will not,” another Hjar’at said. “We do not attack one another in such a manner. It may not be a violation of Itaru but it is abhorrent. If you are aware of this corruption within us and are taking matters to counter it, I do not fault you. However, your claws are pathetic. They might give you an advantage against other races, but they will be of little defense against us.”

  “It is not for the Era’tran to decide.”

  “Then who will?” the two Hjar’at argued as they almost faced one another, but kept enough of a stance to still be in a loose defensive posture of those they were tasked to defend. “The Oso’lon? The J’gar? One of them is the traitor.”

  “Enough,” a third Hjar’at said. “We have combat before us. Save your bickering for later. These Era’tran are under our protection no matter what they have done. Focus on keeping them intact and let Yaquik deal with other mat
ters.”

  “Indeed,” another Hjar’at said, then without warning his Saroto’kanse’vam flashed into brilliance as he jumped towards Mak’to’ran.

  There wasn’t time for the Era’tran to move fully out of the way, so he took a step back and with a thought pushed his armor shields full forward as the twin rows of spines came down at him as the Hjar’at rolled across its neck, tucking its head underneath and sinking its neck spines into the floor as the largest part of its body came forward into the Era’tran, but thankfully at a much slower speed due to the lack of a run-up.

  Mak’to’ran’s shields held for a moment, then when the physical pressure increased along with an energy discharge the solid spines broke through and almost hit his armor, but a wave of Nakane flooded over him and soaked up even more energy as the other Era’tran combined their Lachka and pried the Hjar’at off, leaving Mak’to’ran unscathed but with his armor shields completely drained.

  The other Hjar’at spun on the traitor, but Mak’to’ran didn’t just sit by and wait. When the other Era’tran pushed the Hjar’at off him he pried himself forward on his two powerful lower legs and headbutted the Hjar’at as its neck rotated back around and brought his armorless skull into view. The collision was so hard the quadruped staggered as its balance was hindered, and in that moment Mak’to’ran rotated around in what looked to be a tail whip, but instead he reached out prior to that with his right hand and flashed his red Saroto’kanse’vam into action and ripped his 3 claws down half the length of the Hjar’at’s neck.

  He didn’t dig them in all the way on purpose, but he did more than scratch as the Hjar’at screeched in pain, then Mak’to’ran’s tail finished its rotation and slapped the Hjar’at so hard across the wound and the front half of his body that he knocked it over into the Hjar’at on the other side who had to flash its own Saroto’kanse’vam to keep from getting skewered.

  The two propped each other up for a moment as the energy domes on top of them crossed, then the wounded Hjar’at was mentally assaulted to the point where it was crippled, but two more Hjar’at came in and interposed themselves between it and Mak’to’ran, intent on keeping him from attacking it again.

  “Anyone else want to challenge me?” the Era’tran declared loudly with his armor cranking up the volume so that everyone in the chamber could clearly hear as he waved both sets of glowing red claws in the air a moment, then when no one responded he cooled them off and his armor flowed back over top, full encapsulating them in the protection the Hjar’at had not had.

  The first Hjar’at he’d spoke with glared at the Era’tran so hard he wondered if he was going to attack him as well out of rage, but it slowly subsided as they stared one another down. Behind him the other Hjar’at broke out into a frenzy securing the traitor while cautiously regarding each other, wondering who else might be a sleeper assassin.

  “This is madness,” one of the Hjar’at roared as he stood over the injured one. “What are you trying to do? Start a war?”

  “He must be destroyed,” the mentally ravaged one said now that the attacks had stopped and he was no longer trying to get to his feet. “Those claws are all the proof you need of his heresy. Itaru demands that he be killed, yet you stand by and do nothing!”

  “Yaquik will decide, you traitor.”

  “Yaquik does not lead the V’kit’no’sat, Itaru does, and he cannot overrule them. Anyone with unsanctioned psionics must be destroyed without exception,” he said as the cauterized furrows in his neck cracked and oozed fresh blood.

  “Then it will be a sanctioned execution, not an assassination you scum,” one of the Hjar’at said, sending a mental Ikrid spike that was the equivalent of a gut punch. “For all you know Itaru did sanction it. And how stupid are you to attack without armor?”

  “I would have had him if not for the Nakane. Yet another heresy.”

  Mak’to’ran growled loudly, having had enough of this and took two steps forward, but the other Hjar’at blocked him immediately.

  “He is ours to deal with,” they warned.

  “And how many of you will deal with him? Or are you his allies in disguise?”

  “Can you not feel what is going on around us? We have friend and foe to sort out everywhere, but it is our task and we will handle it.”

  “As you handled him?”

  “We will extend a perimeter so that any attacker will declare themselves by their movements. If any more of us are not sane you will not have to find out the same way,” the Hjar’at said as the others began spreading out to create a neutral zone around the Era’tran, and they even shoved the traitor out as well, with him dripping a line of sickly green blood until he finally got a telepathic hold on the damaged lashes on his neck and held the leaking fluid there.

  “It’s spreading across the city,” another Era’tran told Mak’to’ran as both races put some distance between one another. “Whatever the rift here is it’s significant, but not a majority.”

  “What are they attacking?”

  “Not infrastructure. I would guess they are going after specific individuals,” he said as Mak’to’ran started to monitor the same Hjar’at comm channels as his escort fed him the appropriate links.

  “We stay here until this settles, one way or another,” Mak’to’ran declared, with the Era’tran repositioning and sitting down on the floor in a looser version of their previous defense ring as they kept their biological eyes and Pefbar on the surrounding Hjar’at that were supposed to be here to protect them. Mak’to’ran studied what free signals the Hjar’at had transmitting through the city, though he knew he wouldn’t have access to their secured network. Still, there were enough raw camera feeds to give him a good idea of what was happening.

  The loyal V’kit’no’sat were not attacking to kill or even wound, but rather cause the rebellious ones to submit. They clearly didn’t intend to destroy them, but the others were not so kind. A few Hjar’at were badly wounded here and there as some of the attackers were mindlessly ravaging whatever was in view. He started to see some structural damage, but then realized it was demolition to create terrain blocks to assist in combat rather than an interest in causing damage.

  As Mak’to’ran continued to watch via his armor’s internal displays he began to see a pattern. Many of the older and higher ranking Hjar’at were being targeted, and Mak’to’ran instantly knew what that meant.

  This was a softening attack designed to strip away strength. Whether it was a secondary option now that Mak’tor’an was beyond their reach or a primary objective being accomplished simultaneously he didn’t know, but the Hjar’at recognized the tactics as well and immediately set about countering with great effect. Very few targets were effectively hit, and those that took heavy damage or died looked to be recoverable as the fighting in this city and others eventually tapered off after several hours.

  But still the same insanity was here. Members of the same race with no visible animosity towards one another suddenly snapped and attacked with an intent to kill. Was this a reaction of their mindset or preplanned attacks? And if the Hjar’at had broken some internal rule regarding their Saroto’kanse’vam being used against one another, what did that entail? These couldn’t be genuine dissenters angered over Mak’to’ran’s illegitimate psionics, because they wouldn’t commit equal…or as the one guard had said…an even worse violation within the Hjar’at.

  The depth of this collective was beginning to scare Mak’to’ran. He knew it was serious, but this was becoming crazy. A handful of I’rar’et he could somewhat understand, but the fighting going on here was that of more than just a few individuals. This was systematic and he didn’t, couldn’t understand what that meant within a society that valued honor above all else, for they were behaving as if they had none and he was pretty sure the Saroto’kanse’vam violation fell into that category as well.

  It was another hour until they finally saw Yaquik again, returning with a few battle scars on his armor but they didn’t hinder the compacti
on protocol as he retracted it in front of Mak’to’ran in a gesture of trust and apology that was accepted in a glance and quick telepathic conversation between the two of them.

  “Follow me,” the elder Hjar’at said, with Mak’to’ran and his escorts getting to their feet and slowly forming a line that walked across the now cleared chamber toward one of the exits.

  4

  “I had wondered why the Era’tran would give you such small Saroto’kanse’vam,” Yaquik said once the Era’tran had reached another building in the city that had been thoroughly secured and in which he and Mak’to’ran had found a private chamber to talk while their escorts waited outside. “They are not particularly useful in combat…at least not against us, but they do provoke a reaction in the zealots. Hamob sent you here to prove to me that they existed, and you have accomplished that mission,” he said with a sneer of respect and disbelief.

  “If that was his intent, he did not share it with me.”

  “Yet you expected trouble?”

  “One does not defy Itaru lightly.”

  “One never should…if Itaru is as it should be. If this madness has pervaded our ranks it could be everywhere, but it is not linked to the treason of Terraxis. I searched the mind of one of the defeated, and he had no knowledge of any conspiracy. He was reacting out of ideology, one that has been apparently encroaching without my notice. They have taken no visible action prior to this, but there are hundreds that we have had to subdue.”

  “And more wise enough not to have reacted instantly,” Mak’to’ran added.

  “Yes. I heard about your attacker. He will be keeping the scars you gave him as a reminder of his inferiority. No Hjar’at should allow you to get within range to use those short arms.”

  The Era’tran flared his nostrils, but he sensed just enough sarcasm to let the comment go.

  “Still, he almost succeeded in damaging you. Your Nakane was a wise upgrade if this is going to be the typical reaction to your movements across the empire…which I assume you will be continuing in order to draw more of the traitors out?”