Star Force: Shiva (SF98) (Star Force Origin Series) Read online

  April 30, 3602

  Solar System

  Inner Zone

  The Ari’tat gunships flew across from their Domjo to the Zen’zat station without resistance. The weaponry onboard it had already been destroyed along with the shield generators. The fight had been quick, for the station was barely 3 miles wide and had a paltry spread of weapons, but sensor scans were showing no one onboard. The Ari’tat didn’t know if this was a trick or meant that the weaponry had been controlled remotely the same way their unmanned ships had been, but all cautionary scans had been taken ad nauseum and there was nothing left to do aside from either destroying the station or boarding it…and they weren’t going to get many answers from analyzing debris.

  When the gunships came close to the hull, intent on cutting through to the interior, the hangar doors suddenly opened up. Nothing came out, but it seemed that they were being invited inside. The Ari’tat leading their own Zen’zat onboard the gunships held off, doing even more scans, but when they failed to detect any traps they sent one of their 7 gunships ahead to probe for threats up close.

  When it landed safely and subsequent scans from inside revealed nothing amiss, the others followed it in and set down on the deck. If the rogue Zen’zat thought they could vent the atmosphere and kill the boarders they were going to be disappointed, for all the Ari’tat and their Zen’zat came off the gunships fully armored and with adhesion traction enabled on their feet so a sudden gust of wind wouldn’t pull them out into space.

  But when Damni walked out onto the deck with his tiny steps taking forever, as he refused to hop in order to maintain constant traction, nothing happened. No emergency venting, no hidden weapons popping into view, no deck plates exploding…the hangar was just empty, without so much as a ship or crate in it aside from those the V’kit’no’sat had brought. Apparently this station had been abandoned before they arrived in system due to its lack of adequate defenses, but someone was obviously still in control of it else the hangar wouldn’t have opened on its own unless instructed to do so in some form.

  “Go,” he ordered to the four Zen’zat accompanying him, mentally pointing them to one of four exiting doors while the other two Ari’tat from his gunship did likewise with their towering Zen’zat. If there was going to be a fight the knee-high Ari’tat would not be at the center of it, rather staying back and shooting from their compressed Dre’mo’don that required charges to be gathered in order to deliver a powerful enough hit from their tiny armored suits. It was equivalent to what the Dre’mo’don mounted on the arms of the Zen’zat had, though theirs could fire rapidly. The Ari’tat could not given their small size, but they were not here for the combat, rather for the investigation of the station.

  It was a joke amongst many V’kit’no’sat races that the Ari’tat were weaker than the Zen’zat, but for this mission it was a blessing for the larger races would have had trouble moving about in the corridors that Damni now entered. They were clearly designed for Zen’zat to move around freely, but with a head height that no Era’tran could have endured without discomfort. For once the Ari’tat had an advantage as the others could only have sent their Zen’zat in, but Mak’to’ran had been wise in giving this station to the Ari’tat to plunder…to which end Damni had his team searching for any type of control center or computer system core.

  They had generic blueprints from the sensor scans, but now that they were inside the station it was clear that it was not V’kit’no’sat construction. Everything was different, though with a similar feel here and there. The technology used was V’kit’no’sat, but refashioned in an odd way that bespoke of blasphemy. These rogue Zen’zat were not just operating beyond their mandated borders, they were eschewing everything that was of their empire while still reaping the benefits of it…and that disgusted the Ari’tat to no end.

  Upon further exploration, the results of which all teams shared with each other and those watching from afar, the purpose of the station was quickly determined…it was a rescue/repair facility to deal with stellar traffic and there were many blueprints for vessels of both this Zen’zat make and others within their empire, as well as those of passing travelers, but none for the warships. Also, there were more blank spots in the files where the Ari’tat determined essential data had been removed. Somehow these Zen’zat had expected them to board the station, for the deletions had occurred days ago.

  “Looking for something?” a voice said in V’kit’no’sat, prompting Damni to spin around seeing an unarmored Zen’zat standing behind him with the Ari’tat’s guards aiming their weaponry at him, both their forearm gauntlets and a couple of heavier rifles they’d brought, but a quick look with Pef’bar determined the individual to be nothing more than a hologram.

  “Identify yourself,” Damni said, trying to keep his tone neutral despite the anger surging through him, both at the previous ambush and the twinkling gray eyes of the hologram.

  “I am Ethan-014. And you are?”

  “Your death if you do not give me the answers I seek.”

  The rogue Zen’zat spread his arms wide in an impish gesture. “You’re free to try, Ari’tat, but you’ll find we’re harder to kill than you expect. Nonetheless I’m interested in talking. Let’s start with the part where you’re here to wipe us from existence and how no matter what we do or don’t do the result will be the same, thus making your threat quite hilarious.”

  “Do not mock your superiors, Zen’zat.”

  “Pointing out the truth of the moment isn’t mocking, and you’re an Ari’tat. ‘Superior’ doesn’t really suit you, now does it? They let you board the station because some of them wouldn’t fit, didn’t they? What exactly are you looking for before blowing everything up?”

  “I will ask the questions, Zen’zat, not you.”

  “I am not a Zen’zat. I am an Archon.”

  “Your pathetic delusions do not shield your identity. Who is your sponsor?”

  The Zen’zat’s eyes narrowed into a frown. “Sponsor?”

  “Who gave you this colony and technology?”

  “Gave us? No one gave us anything. We built it all ourselves. Did you think we were V’kit’no’sat?”

  “All Zen’zat are V’kit’no’sat. Where did you originate from?”

  “Here, and I believe we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. You’re here to kill us for some other reason, aren’t you?”

  “We are here because your presence was revealed by your enemies.”

  “Who?” the ‘Archon’ asked, obviously displeased.

  “Those called the Li’vorkrachnika attacked one of our worlds and are currently being annihilated for their audacity. We plucked the knowledge of your existence from them, though I will give you credit for successfully hiding out here so long. Did you really think you’d be allowed to operate with impunity forever just because you were beyond the border? That is stupid thinking even for Zen’zat.”

  The Archon’s shoulders slumped heavily and his face took on a look of disbelief.

  “They attacked you? First?”

  “Unwisely so.”

  “Those dumb bastards,” he said, pressing the palms of his bare hands against his forehead as he bared his teeth in obvious anger. “Of all the…son of a bitch!”

  “Who is your sponsor?” Damni repeated.

  “Oh my gosh, this is like the biggest facepalm in history! They actually attacked you? What, like a little world or did they just go straight to a big one and get wiped out?”

  “Answer me, Zen’zat.”

  “Why, if you’re just going to kill us all…and by the way, for the record I just did. You just don’t want to accept the answer.”

  May I? one of the Zen’zat asked Damni telepathically.

  The Ari’tat looked up, quite perturbed at her arrogance, but perhaps a different tactic would be advisable. With a thought he gave her permission, then the Zen’zat took a step closer to the hologram as her helmet retracted, showing a tattooed chin and stark red hair that extended ou
t a few inches from her extraordinarily pale scalp.

  “You claim to be born of this world?” she asked him.

  “I was,” Ethan answered, sizing her up. She was tall like all Zen’zat were, 7 feet 9 inches based off the hologram’s measuring system, but the markings on her face were unknown to him. Perhaps something added after the Rit’ko’sor rebellion…or she just liked the design.

  “What Zen’zat bore you?” she asked, with the treason of that very sentence rolling off her tongue awkwardly.

  “My mom wasn’t a Zen’zat. In fact, I can’t answer that question for you. The history of our world has been lost for some time. We only rediscovered the past fairly recently, but it’s a pretty safe bet to say that when you guys evacuated this world during the Rit’ko’sor rebellion you left a few Zen’zat behind. I’m guessing they didn’t like that very much, decided to break the rules and start creating younglings, for here we are now. If you have another theory feel free to present it, but we’re pretty sure that’s how it went down.”

  The red-haired Zen’zat exchanged a glance with the Ari’tat, then looked back at Ethan’s hologram.

  “How have you advanced so far? You must have had help.”

  “You mean these?” Ethan said, pointing to his eyes.

  “Among other things, yes. How old are you?”

  “1581.”

  The Zen’zat’s face scrunched up in confusion. “How have you achieved Mvor in such a short length of time?”

  “A combination of heavy training and sharing psionics.”

  “Sharing?”

  “We learned how on accident, but so long as one of us can gain it naturally we can do some telepathic tinkering to symmetrically trigger the same ascension in another. And don’t bother to call it treason, because we’re not V’kit’no’sat and we’re not bound by your rules, and yes, we know, you’re going to kill us all for that, blah, blah, blah. My question to you is why you’re bothering to search our stations rather than just blowing them apart?”

  “It is believed you were put here by a sponsor race to cheat the boundaries and rules regarding Zen’zat.”

  “Oh we’re cheating the rules, that’s for sure, but we’re doing it on our own. You lost all authority over us when you left our ancestors here to die, so we’re charting our own course now.”

  “How do a few Zen’zat know how to build all this? I couldn’t if I was left behind.”

  Ethan smiled. “You’re a much better diplomat than your short friend there. Ari’tat do seem to forget that we can kick them across the room at will, don’t they?”

  The Zen’zat’s stern demeanor broke ever so slightly as a curve of a hastily suppressed smile broke her face.

  “They have more territory than others, and for good reason. If there is combat needed on the ground that is what we are for. So you claim to have built this entire empire by yourselves, including the advanced weaponry used to shoot the ship I came here in?”

  “Yes, and I would apologize for that…except for the fact you came here to kill us all. Knowing that, I have no regrets about destroying as many of your ships as we just did.”

  “There are far more where those came from.”

  “We know. I admit our records aren’t up to date, but we know the approximate size of the V’kit’no’sat empire. And if you choose to leave now we promise not to follow you back there.”

  “Now who is being arrogant?”

  “Not arrogant. Simply stating that unlike those idiot Li’vorkrachnika we had no intention of attacking you. I know you don’t care about that and we all still have to die, yadda, yadda, yadda, but it’s worth noting anyway. You’re coming onto our territory to kill us, not the reverse.”

  “What is ‘yadda?’”

  “It’s a generic term used to represent other stuff that you don’t feel like taking the time to detail.”

  “Zen’zat serve the V’kit’no’sat without exclusion. If you do not hold to that duty then you deserve to die.”

  “Except that I was born from Zen’zat, and I’m denoted as having to be destroyed regardless of any decision I make. If we decided to come back and report ourselves to the Ari’tat or others, say a year ago, what would have happened?”

  “That is not for me to say. I serve, I do not lead.”

  “You know the answer though. We would be exterminated, even if I didn’t have these eyes.”

  “Do you think they will save you?”

  “If I had to fight you personally, perhaps. Though at the moment I think I’d much rather kiss you, but your little sidekick superiors wouldn’t allow for that, now would they?”

  “I wouldn’t allow for that.”

  “Hard to get, huh? Don’t worry, we’re not the settling down type. It’s all training and fighting for Archons. The rest of the Humans…that’s what we call ourselves since we’re not Zen’zat or Ter’nat…do the reproducing. We’re too busy getting stronger to bother with it.”

  “Then Archons are your warriors?”

  “Best warriors. We have others, of many races too. And we’re all going to kick your ass every chance we get as you try to exterminate us, so expect heavy losses even if you succeed.”

  “Your technology is impressive, but it’s not up to date.”

  “Close enough to get the job done.”

  “How much did they leave you with? I thought the planet’s colony had been destroyed prior to evacuation.”

  “We found some buried stuff not long ago. Everything else had been wiped from the surface. It’s taken us quite a while to figure out how the technology works…and we’ve made a few improvements. One of which you experienced on the way in.”

  “That was basic IDF technology.”

  “Which was never applied in this manner, correct? Or have you made some strategic upgrades lately?”

  “Your new technology will not work a second time, for we now know it exists.”

  “It served its purpose.”

  “So it did. And if there was ever any doubt as to your fate, the losses you have inflicted upon us have now sealed it.”

  “Oh come on, our fate was already sealed. We have nothing to lose and you got your ass kicked, just admit it.”

  “How did you know we were coming if a sponsor didn’t inform you?”

  “We have interstellar communications, or did you not bother to notice them on the way here?”

  “But that was recent. Why did you construct these IDF devices earlier?”

  “Because we thought they might come in handy someday.”

  “You expected to be discovered?”

  “We did eventually, which was why we didn’t pursue those dumbass Li’vorkrachnika closer to the core. We needed as much time to advance and grow as we could get until you came back to claim your lost colony…and just out of curiosity, were you guys ever going to do that or had you permanently abandoned the old frontier worlds?”

  “They exist beyond the mandated boundaries, so you were safe here in anonymity. Pity your attempted purge of the Li’vorkrachnika pushed them in our direction, else you might not have been discovered.”

  “Pity from a Zen’zat? Almost sounds like you’re rooting for us?”

  “It’s a pity you didn’t have time to grow stronger, for no matter what happens in this battle the wrath that you have incited will flow out from our territories and wipe you from existence with little effort. As a warrior I would prefer a bit more of a challenge. Fortunately here and now I do not expect us to wait for reinforcements. We have sufficient strength to destroy you, though it will be a contest rather than the expected slaughter.”

  “Just curious, how old are you?”

  “18,923.”

  Ethan tilted his head back and forth as if mentally weighing that figure.

  “Not bad. What skill level?”

  “Zardaku 24.”

  This time Ethan’s smile was so wide it showed all his teeth.

  “That’s it? Damn, you guys really do slack off with no one to fi
ght, don’t you?”

  “And what is your level, or do you not even measure by those standards?”

  “I’m aware of them, but we don’t use them. I’m an Archon ViLord 498. In a year or two I’ll hit Frieza 1, though I’m not sure how much of a delay our fighting is going to cause me. We actually advance slower in combat than we do pure training. As for where that would put me in Zen’zat levels, somewhere around Tamrenor 84.”

  The red-haired Zen’zat’s eyes widened, and Ethan nodded his confirmation.

  “Not lying, sweetie. I’ve been training all my life to prepare for the day you guys came back to kill us, and I’m not the only one. Leave now and we’ll let you go. Press your attack and you’d better hope we feel like taking prisoners. We usually do, but with you guys it’d be pretty hard to pull off without getting more of our own people killed. That said, we do like a challenge, so there’s a tiny chance you and I could get together for a little interrogation date later…but no promises.”

  “If you have questions, ask me now. I have no need to lie.”

  “Alright. What did you mean by sponsor?”

  “We worried that one of our own races was on the verge of rebellion and had been creating an army of rogue Zen’zat beyond the border to assist them. If you are speaking the truth then such fears were baseless. If you are lying, we will discover who the sponsor is eventually.”

  “So that’s why you’re looking for information.”

  “Some of which you deleted prior to abandoning this station.”

  “Personal rule, never give up more than a kiss on the first date…though I don’t actually date, so that’s more like a theoretical personal rule. Yeah, theoretical personal rule. I’m sticking with that.”

  “You certainly don’t speak like a Zen’zat.”

  “Too much awesomeness? I’ll admit to that.”

  “How many psionics do you have?”

  Ethan smiled. “You’ll have to find that out the hard way.”

  “So be it.”

  “Do you have a name?”

  “I do, but it is of no use to you, for you will not live long enough to need it.”

  “Are you saying our conversation is over? I was just starting to like you.”