Spawn of the Lightside Read online

  But the Viceroy thought he now had what he needed to achieve victory. The battle records and follow-up research into the public knowledge of the temple contained a wealth of information that his superior mind had been sorting and exploring. He now thought he had a decent understanding of the Caretakers’ protocols. Fighting alone would not trigger their kill codes, for there were instances where nearby Caretaker units would intervene in a non-lethal fight where damage could occur until it stopped, but they also did not seem to be activated by sparring matches.

  It was only when deaths occurred did they become violent, with a purging protocol for any offenders. But that protocol didn’t pursue them to the death if they stopped fighting or ran away. After a period of time they would let them go if no further deaths occurred, but they were so fast and efficient that few did live that long.

  The reasons for the most recent war inside the temple were not clear, for the Caretakers did not record all information from the races here, but they did monitor them and get some data on who they were and what they did. There were 6 dominant ones that had the highest Essence ratings, and they appeared to give orders to the others. A fight between them had been the last war, and two of them were nearly exterminated here, but others arrived afterward to bolster their populations enough to recover their numbers over time.

  Samsiv’s best guess was that they knew of the Caretaker protocols, but some bad blood between then was severe enough to suffer the payback in exchange for a chance at a quick and decisive strike. Ships had arrived from another Temple and then together with the Brattigh and Jestiv forces here, they had bombarded the Proloat, Vigorra, and Hampenst from within the atmosphere…but only the expansion colonies. Not those within the Temple border cities.

  The Caretaker response had been laggy, and a lot of deaths had occurred before they intervened, but robotic units of varying sizes, including starships, appeared out of hidden bunkers everywhere within the crust and within the orbital facilities…then they totally laid waste to the assaulting fleet and went after the infantry fighting below, for a simultaneous attack had been made inside the border cities after the Caretakers had been drawn to the naval bombardment.

  Only the Yiqq had not been involved, and they now held the largest population of any race here, but not enough to be singly dominant. It was clear to Samsiv that the races present were not a true alliance, more like various party guests brought together by someone who didn’t know about or care for their bad blood. They had to coexist, and when they didn’t the Caretakers would step in and stop, or destroy, those reducing the number of Essence wielders.

  Samsiv thought that was the key to it all. The Temple had been created as a sanctuary for Essence wielders, to give them a place safe from the Hadarak to grow their skills and their numbers. If they killed each other inside that would be counterproductive, and it was better to eliminate a few troublemakers and suffer that loss than to let them kill far more through their irresponsibility.

  The key fact that changed everything was the Olopar. They had not been used, and it wasn’t because of prudence. The Olopar could not be used within the Temple, for they were Temple technology and programmed to be impotent inside the sanctuary. Take them outside and you could murder whoever you liked, but not the people inside.

  Samsiv had made multiple inquiries about that, and the response had been a firm ‘no’ from the Responders. The Olopar and other Temple technology available for production here for the sake of the denizens were not to be used against other Essence wielders here, and there had been protocols written to prevent such a use.

  And it wasn’t just about Essence wielders, for the Olopar could not even be test fired inside the Temple. That meant Samsiv would not have to face off against the Vargemma’s strongest weapons, which was a huge relief, but the presence of the Caretakers might be an even bigger problem…if he wasn’t a Viceroy. A plan of attack had already been forming in his mind for some time, and the more supplemental data he was receiving was making him supremely confident…but they needed far greater numbers if they were going to pull this off. At least 120 million, he calculated, with more to be spawned thereafter once the Paladin could build on the surface.

  There was a question of whether or not the Caretakers would intervene because the Paladin could not use Essence or because they were not invited, but his gut feeling was no. The Vargemma did not run this place, they were merely guests, and the Responders had made that clear. They freely offered their available knowledge for those without Essence, indicating that non-users being here had been predicted and accommodations made…which further suggested that there was another pathway here that might even be accessible to non-users.

  He wasn’t sure about that, but a great deal of forethought had been put into a facility that seemed to run itself. If the Founders were here and watching, Samsiv wouldn’t know it. The Temple was so large it was easy to hide in, which was fortunate for the Paladin, but all the history records were mum as to who the Founders were, and all automated reactions appeared to be just that, with Samsiv unable to identify even one instance where the Caretakers didn’t follow established protocol.

  The Viceroy was convinced that the Founders had built this place then moved on. To where he didn’t know, but he suspected it was either to fight or monitor the Hadarak in the Core, or perhaps beyond the galaxy itself. Regardless, they did not appear to be here, and his fight was with the Vargemma, not the Founders, so far as he knew, though he didn’t rule out that possibility if they turned out to be involved in the attacks on Star Force territory, or if they had occurred on their order.

  There were more questions left unanswered, many more, but a lot had been illuminated since the Paladin’s arrival in the Temple, and the key to defeating the Vargemma was something no interstellar race had ever accomplished other than Star Force, at least as far as Star Force records went. That protocol had been included in all the Paladin’s genetic memory, and was referred to as ‘Code Blue.’

  Code Blue was going to deliver this Temple into Star Force possession. It wouldn’t be quick or easy, but Samsiv thought he’d found their Achilles heel. He wasn’t ready to risk the operation on that assumption, and it would take many more months before he had the required amount of Paladin troops to launch their attack, but before then he needed to risk exposure to gain more data, and that meant growing one of the forbidden templates…

  The Mind Raiders were based off the same body template as the Viceroy and the Dragoons. Some 7-9 feet tall and muscular build, but the Mind Raider had a much larger cranium, making their head extend backwards further to accommodate a larger brain. Samsiv did not have this configuration, for his mind was sufficient as it was for his task, but a Mind Raider had to have Ikrid tissue to give it the telepathy required to interrogate prisoners…and it had to have enough that even a novice could get the job done, so that meant a lot of extra basic tissue that would upgrade over the years, but the Paladin did not have years. They had to be mission capable when they spawned, hence the Mind Raiders ended up being based on the largest body chassis in what the Archons humorously referred to as ‘big head mode.’

  Samsiv had two spawned, then when they were ready he had a team of Skirmishers find isolated Vargemma on the fringes of their colonies and capture them. They were stunned and brought underground to specially made prisons, for they most likely had Essence skills that could kill the Paladin within seconds once they were conscious again.

  Initial telepathic scans were done while they were unconscious, but that limited the amount of data that could be pulled. When the first of them was allowed to wake, the meter high race known as the Itolati hissed with a snake-like tongue out of its cat-like quadruped body as it groggily walked around its containment room. A few minutes later it melted the door with a disruption attack, looking like a bomb going off on the surveillance cameras, then it moved out into the exterior corridors…only to find more locked doors.

  It destroyed them and kept moving until it appeared to run out of Essence, or at least wanted to keep some in reserve and not get so low it could not defend itself. Regardless, once it stopped breaking doors a hologram appeared of an identical image of the Itolati, but it spoke with Samsiv’s translated voice, for all the language files of the races here had been categorized by the Caretakers, but the one being spoken was the ‘holy’ language taught to them all by the Responders as the language the Founders wished them to speak.

  “You are a captive,” Samsiv’s voice said from the Itolati hologram. “You will not be harmed. We only wish information.”

  “Who are you?” the cat hissed, flicking its tongue out as if it was putting the period on the sentence.

  “You will know in time, but that time is not now. A conflict is coming, and we need it to be bloodless. Do you remember the last time there was a war here?”

  “Capturing me is a violation of the Alliance!” he hissed. “Are you Jestiv or Gorgonnen? Answer me you trash!”

  “Neither,” Samsiv admitted. “We are superior to both of them, and soon to be the masters of all here.”

  “None have the strength to accomplish that. Are you mad?”

  “I am superior, but we wish you no harm, unlike the Jestiv. We simply needed to talk without revealing ourselves. I apologize for the methods, but they were necessary.”

  “Spare me your apologies. I demand to know who you are…or at least what you plan to do. Answer me!”

  “Tell me what you know of the Knights of Quenar.”

  The Itolati snarled. “So that’s what this is about. You’re afraid they’ll tip the alliance to the Yiqq. You’ve delayed their entry long enough. What do you expect capturing me will do to help you?”

  “Why do you believe they will align with the Yiqq? Their nature is quite
different.”

  “Their base priority is defense, of course they will align with the Yiqq. The Proloat were foolish to even try and recruit them.”

  “They were following Temple protocol. Do you no longer believe in it?”

  “Release me, whoever you are. I can feel you near. I will strike you if you do not release me, and you will have to deal with the Caretakers when they arrive as well. I will not remain a prisoner.”

  “No, you will not. I have no wish to detain you for long. I just have a few more questions, then you will be free to go.”

  “There will be an atonement for this, mark my words.”

  “Do you hate the Jestiv enough to finally do something about it?”

  The Itolati flinched. “Are you asking for assistance?”

  “No, not at the moment. The Itolati would not be of much help, but I am wondering if you object to someone else doing the hard work while you assist in a lesser way?”

  “I do not speak for the Itolati. I can make no bargains for the others.”

  “Understood. But what is your personal inclination to the idea of the Jestiv being made to pay for what they’ve done in the past?”

  “It is long overdue, but impossible with the Caretakers monitoring. The most we can hope for is to drive them from this Temple or acquire one of our own, but they will not allow that. They do not want us growing beyond their number, for our rates of conversion are far higher and they know it.”

  “Interesting. Thank you, Itolati. That is all I needed from you. You are free to go as promised,” Samsiv said as a secret doorway opened up in the wall leading to a long hallway that led to an archway into the jungle beyond.

  “You risk our ire to ask a few meaningless questions? You must be mad.”

  “As you said, the Caretakers prevent any real response, so we expect nothing of consequence from the Itolati.”

  “If the alliance fails, we will see you dead along with us. We will not submit to Jestiv or any other subjugation.”

  “Yes, you will. You just don’t realize it yet,” Samsiv said as the Itolati walked into the hallway…and was immediately stunned unconscious by a series of turrets imbedded in the walls. Once the cat-like alien was laying on the floor in a pile of supple black fur, two Paladin Skirmishers emerged from the other end of the false tunnel, coming through the holographic jungle environment to pick up the unconscious body and carry it out to the real exit elsewhere in the interrogation facility, then they quietly returned the captive near to the location they’d acquired him, allowing him to return to his people hours later when he woke, not knowing who had captured him.

  But during the brief interrogation, Samsiv had learned a great deal. For one, the Itolati could sense the Paladin beyond the walls at various ranges, giving him at least a minimum detection range without the luxury of Pefbar, for the walls were shielded for it. The Itolati had to be using an Essence technique or other penetrative locator, perhaps one boosted by Essence. But what the Itolati could not do, as was documented in the Caretaker database, was use telepathy. Samsiv had made sure to grab only races without that psionic, and like the others this one had no idea a telepath had been inside his mind searching through memories and recording them for Samsiv to look through later.

  The hidden Mind Raider had also been feeding the Viceroy bits of information during the conversation, letting him know what the pressure points were and a few of the big revelations he was quickly downloading from the fully awake mind. One of them was the fact that there was visceral hatred between the races here, and the Itolati had been taking the brunt of a lot of it. All under the guise of ‘you can’t strike us or the Caretakers will intervene,’ and that impudence to do anything of merit allowed for harassment galore that would not rise to the level of interference.

  It has gotten so bad an alliance had to be formed with rules to keep the races from fighting each other, for even with the threat of the Caretakers killing them all, some things simply could not be tolerated. This Temple, and the many others that had representatives from all the major races in them, were a literal powder keg that would have exploded long ago without the Caretakers riding rough shot over them.

  “So inferior,” Samsiv mewed, swiping his thick tail back and forth in a dismissive gesture. Star Force had far more races living in harmony with each other, more or less, and these 20,488 were so bitter and incompatible that they were being artificially held back from killing each other until one faction was left standing. And this was with an immense amount of room inside the Temples for them to live separately.

  The inferiority was insulting to the grandeur of this place, for those who had constructed it were a far higher level than these ‘guests.’ The Founders might very well be darkside, but at least they were builders. These Vargemma were more likely to destroy themselves than to live up to the purpose of the Temple, whatever it truly was.

  Well, that was going to change. Once Star Force took control of the Temple and the others, a new power was going to rise over the Vargemma races and teach them the ways of the lightside and mutually beneficial coexistence…whether they liked it or not.

  5

  May 2, 128545

  Dyson Sphere, Krichkraw Nebula (Novatis Kingdom)

  Caretaker Resource Tower

  The Vigorra were an odd race, unfit for land yet born to it. They resembled an octopus, walking around on their tentacles rather than legs in an upright position with a hydrogen gas bladder in their bulbous heads that helped counteract their weight, but not entirely so in the Temple’s atmosphere. On worlds with a thicker blanket of gas they could actually float, so they had to choose worlds with the right amount to move around freely outdoors without being flattened to the ground and having to crawl, or being too light and getting thrown around in the wind.

  That left them few options for colonization outdoors, forcing them into internal cities. Here on the Temple surface they were slightly heavier than they liked, but at least they didn’t get pushed around by the winds enough to lose their contact with the ground. That was most important here, for they were more than a mile above the surface in a Caretaker facility that was producing Carry Orbs.

  Normally this facility was mostly dormant, with the Caretakers only producing what they needed themselves for their myriad of duties within the Temple network, many of which the Vargemma knew nothing about. But the Vigorra were here to produce more of their own, which involved giving the Caretaker facility the additional resources required and detailing what specifically they wanted made. How it worked was not totally understood, but the end results were never in question. The Temple was flawless.

  Here though, the interface was high in the air while sealed sections of the factory extended down the thick needle of the slanted tower beneath the surface. There were no entrances visible except at the top, and only one there in the form of a wide landing platform. The Vigorra had been assigned this Caretaker facility for their overwatch, with the Carry Orbs being produced going to multiple assault fleets for many different races involved in the war against Star Force. They had to continue to apply pressure on them until they broke, and so far there was no sign of that occurring. Their will was stoked by the massive size of their empire, and the Vargemma had to inflict many more casualties until they felt enough pain to do what was required of them.

  Despite their Essence use they would not be allowed into the Temples. Not now. There had been some discussion about that earlier, but now that they were under assault there would be no inclusion of them here. They were too great a threat, and their history indicated that once spurned, they would not forgive and forget. The Vargemma had to do a great deal of that in order to survive, and if one race or civilization would not, the others would be forced to eliminate them.

  Or at least try to. The Caretakers did not want to permit that here, and all of the races inside the Temple network had fully moved their populations inside, leaving no one on the exterior to fall victim to reprisals. If it wasn’t for the Caretakers, the Vargemma would have killed each other long ago, and therein lay the wisdom of the Temple design. Those who could use Essence must coexist in order to increase their strength to a level that would trigger the return of the Founders, and internecine would only serve to diminish, not enhance.