Star Force: Rajamal (SF97) (Star Force Origin Series) Read online

  “But they were not granted choice of targets?”

  “No. That is being left to the Zen’zat, and to you.”

  “Has there been any new data recovered?”

  “One of our ships managed to capture and interrogate the crew of a Li’vorkrachnika jumpship. Oddly, they killed themselves rather than submit to imprisonment.”

  “They were revived?”

  “As needed. From them and the ship’s computer we have determined a larger portion of their local geography, but all indications still point to them having a very large expanse of territory that is continuously in flux. Both with expeditionary acquisitions and losses to the Skarrons.”

  “Tell me of these Skarrons,” Rajamal said as they hit an interior ramp and headed downward.

  “Moderate size, quadruped, four arms, no head, sturdy and aggressive. They’ve incorporated two smaller races into their empire as servants, one for technical duties and the other for light infantry. They make use of large mechanical walkers, some that can surpass the mass of starships. The Li’vorkrachnika were winning a slow war against them until they decided to counterstrike en mass. Now they are obliterating them in every system they come across.”

  “Sheer numbers or a change in strategy?”

  “I’m told the losses are egregious, but the end result is what they want.”

  “Their ultimate goal?”

  “Eradication.”

  “Then we will not have to destroy all their systems.”

  “We still don’t know how many for certain there are, nor where their primaries lie. Information control seems to be in effect within the Li’vorkrachnika ranks. Even their base computer programming is deliberately sparse.”

  “How do they function then on such a wide scale? Factions? Bloodlines?”

  “There does appear to be a ruling bloodline that stays anonymously behind a wall of safety, but for operational duties they supplement technology with an extensive amount of genetic memory. It also allows them to reproduce full adults within a matter of weeks.”

  “Combat capable?”

  “Yes, though their fighting abilities are minimal.”

  “I do not expect the galaxy to ever be on our level,” Rajamal lightly corrected him. “But if they have grown their empire to such a large size then they must be more than competent.”

  “Their methods appear inadequate, but as you say, their results speak for themselves.”

  “What of the second Zen’zat?”

  “His fate is in his own hands now. He must train his way out of the damage and has been removed from the ranks until such a time that he succeeds in doing so.”

  Rajamal stopped walking down the ramp, causing a passing Voro’nam to almost trip on him, but the bigger V’kit’no’sat jumped to the side at the last moment to avoid hurting the little Zen’zat, though Rajamal didn’t even bother to look at him.

  “That can be a fate worse than death. How did his injuries occur?”

  “He was in the impact zone when their ship was deliberately crashed into the infantry battle.”

  “Underneath or beside it?”

  “Beside, but close enough to be hit by the blast and debris.”

  “Did it penetrate his helmet?”

  “No, but he bled out and wasn’t recovered until staggering amounts of mental decay occurred. He was fortunate to have survived at all.”

  “I doubt he feels so now. Can he speak?”

  “Not much, but he understands his current situation and what must be done.”

  Rajamal closed his eyes for a moment before walking on, wishing his fellow Zen’zat as much luck as the galaxy could bestow upon him…but if he could recover then the grinding ordeal he must now pass through would be worth it when he returned to the Zen’zat ranks. If he did not, then events would take their course. The Zen’zat would not let one of their own suffer without cause.

  “Are these Li’vorkrachnika aware of their impending doom?”

  “We suspect not, though a messenger was sent. It was intercepted mid jump and destroyed.”

  “But not captured?”

  “It was traveling too slow to match. It was not one of their jumpships.”

  “Then we need to make them aware of why they are about to die, and through them others will learn as well and take heed not to encroach on our worlds again.”

  “The council does not wish to advertise the death of a Zen’zat for fear of it emboldening others.”

  “No. We will not hide from this. They struck a blow at us and succeeded. Let the galaxy know, and let them see what that small victory will cost the Li’vorkrachnika. I need pertinent data packaged for release within the day.”

  “I will have to clear that with the council.”

  “I am in command now, and until this campaign is complete you work for me. As do all the Zen’zat and races contributing troops. Get the information assembled personally, then I will amend what is needed. Do not leave anything out.”

  “There may be some backlash from that, but I will do as you request.”

  “See to it now. I know my way.”

  “As you wish,” Garras said, reversing direction on the long ramp and heading up it at a run to get to the Zen’zat level near the top of the pyramid while Rajamal continued down to the lower levels. He eventually branched off on number 16 and crossed to the long bar of a chamber that ran the entire width of the defense station at ground level with openings on either end to admit the I’rar’et and allow them to fly through the narrow confines at speed.

  He accessed the Wind Hall via smaller support infrastructure that lined both sides of it for their Zen’zat to use and climbed up to one of the top perches where half a dozen of the flyers were working in simulation nooks with a variety of holograms thrown up around them. One of them walked over to him on its short, stubby hind legs with its wings tucked in along its sides, which still left it taller than him.

  “I am Rajamal,” he stated simply as a few other Zen’zat assistants were visible moving in and out of tiny doorways in the walls. “Where is Ha’chet?”

  “You are smaller than I expected,” another I’rar’et said, turning away from a short perch and walking over next to the other of its kin and looking down on the Zen’zat, “for one with your reputation.”

  “Speed has its advantages. You are the I’rar’et commander?”

  “For the duration of this campaign, yes. I estimate 19 days before our forces will be assembled, though I have not been able to determine an estimate on supplies. They are being procured outside of military channels.”

  “19 is sufficient. What I want to know is why you’ve volunteered.”

  “I was assigned.”

  “The I’rar’et,” Rajamal clarified.

  “I have been studying our foe, and this is not so small a mission as others might have suggested. There will be a challenge here.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “Speed of conquest.”

  “Ah,” the Zen’zat said, understanding their angle now.

  “While the others may be effective enough, we anticipate they will be inefficient. Assuming they cannot take worlds quickly enough, we will provide you with alternatives to alleviate that problem.”

  “Making the Lir’nen earn their priority slot?”

  “Failure should not be rewarded.”

  “No, it shouldn’t. But they should be allowed an opportunity to right themselves. If they do not, then I will not hold back the campaign while they take their time.”

  “We thought not.”

  “And?”

  “The speed of the Li’vorkrachnika’s growth is concerning. If we do not move quickly enough they could replace every world we take and put this eradication in perpetual limbo without us suffering a single loss. I do not think the others understand this, and we are here to make sure the job gets done properly.”

  “What do you have for me?”

  “Six full Klaedons and a partial seventh made up of naval a
ssets only.”

  “You’re expecting significant ground combat?”

  “We will seek it out if it doesn’t present itself. How we destroy a world is irrelevant so long as it occurs in a timely manner.”

  “Orbital bombardment is usually the quickest way.”

  “The Li’vorkrachnika need to be eliminated, but we wish to offer our younger troops combat that does not involve the Hadarak.”

  “So this is a training mission for you?”

  “In part. The Klaedons are young save for the 7th. It is made up of veteran crews.”

  “And what of occupational forces?”

  “We were told they would be arranged from races outside the V’kit’no’sat, but no timetable has been established.”

  “We will need temporaries, for I am not going to wait until arrangements can be made.”

  “Survey teams are going to be dispatched independently to study their remains. Those will have escorts sufficient to hold the first few worlds taken. If the Brat’mar have not made accommodations by that time, then you will have to deal with them.”

  “Violently?”

  “That would be preferred, but how you deal with them is your prerogative. We will do our part in this campaign, and accept your leadership of it, but there are private motivations in play.”

  “Acceptable so long as they do not hamper my purpose here.”

  “They will not. May I ask a question of another matter?”

  “Yes.”

  “How did it feel?”

  “To what do you refer?”

  “The Rit’ko’sor. How did it feel killing so many on their homeworld?”

  Rajamal stiffened, and his dislike for the question was plain on his face for both I’rar’et standing before him to see.

  “It was an abomination…but one that was necessary. They forced it upon us, but I was not proud to do it. They were meant to be one of us, and killing your brothers is abhorrent no matter what the situation.”

  “When they rebelled they were no longer V’kit’no’sat.”

  “Yes they were,” he said, and the reactions of all the I’rar’et in the chamber and those secretly watching elsewhere was one of treason. “Do not let yourselves be deluded otherwise. They chose to rebel, but that did not end our blood ties. We were forced to do something that should never have occurred, and I will not let you or anyone else rewrite the history concerning that. Our own struck at us, and in response we destroyed them en mass. A reconciliation should have been attempted, but it was not my decision to make. I carried out the task given to me, but I will tell you unabashedly that the decision to fight a total war against the Rit’ko’sor was due to the fact that they successfully destroyed so much of the empire in their first wave of attacks. It was shame that spurred the call for their annihilation, not wisdom. They wronged us, but then we also wronged them. I am not proud of that.”

  “Yet it is what has gained you great renown.”

  “I am a warrior. When told to fight, I fight. But I hold nothing beside contempt for those that forced me to fight those I had sworn to die protecting previously. It is a stain on the empire still.”

  “And do you seek less than total warfare with our current foe?”

  “They are not blood. They are not V’kit’no’sat. And they have decided their own fate. Do not equate them to the Rit’ko’sor.”

  “You served them previously?”

  “I did.”

  “And that was why you were so effective in killing them?”

  “So some say.”

  “And what do you say?”

  “I am skilled, and that skill has afforded me command of this campaign. There will be no further questions concerning the Rit’ko’sor or anything other than the matter at hand until our work is completed. Understood?”

  “Your commitment to duty is noted, Zen’zat. We stand ready for our invasion corridor when you are capable of providing it.”

  “Show me the most current map we have.”

  A few mental commands to the equipment brought up a huge starmap that spanned half the room/nook and was easily visible from the Wind Hall. Rajamal walked into it as he studied the various points with information tags attached, then pointed at one in particular.

  “This is the largest identified?”

  “Thus far, yes.”

  “Then your first task is to take it…intact. I want data retrieval as the highest priority. You may launched immediately.”

  Ha’chet twitched his long neck, shaking his angled beak in a noticeable gesture of surprise.

  “The Lir’nen were given priority. Should they not make the first strike?”

  “I need information. This is reconnaissance. I trust you will not destroy that which I require in the process?”

  “What you require is a bigger map to plan from before you divvy up corridors?”

  “If you want to think of it that way, yes.”

  “And how do you think of it?”

  “I am in command and the divvying up of targets appropriately is my concern, not yours. See to your own assignments and I will give priority in the form I design.”

  “While handling the backlash if others’ expectations are not met?”

  “The only backlashes will be my own if anyone under my command does not acquit their duty. I am not answerable to your Sector Council, nor do I care about your trivial internal contests. My task is to eradicate the Li’vorkrachnika and anyone who hinders that will have to deal with me personally no matter what their station is.”

  “I have heard that you’ve achieved Jumat. Is that correct?”

  Rajamal raised a hand that subsequently blurred with invisible energy coursing around it.

  “It befits your station, Zen’zat. So long as you hold no bias and acquit your duties, you will receive no interference from us.”

  “Then take your young troops and get them some experience in capture. There will be plenty of time for slaughter later. I need information, because in its ignorance the Sector Council has decreed the destruction of a civilization that we know very little about, and that means we do not have force expectations or a timetable to work off of. I need that problem eliminated and you are the most reliable of the six to see to it happening without my direct oversight.”

  “Why not assign your Zen’zat?”

  “They will not be assembled so quickly. Some are coming from the other side of the galaxy and it will take time for them and their supply lines to form. Part of which is supposed to be originating from you.”

  “I personally have no control over that. You will have to deal with the Council if they do not deliver.”

  “I need to know how many supplies to demand, and in order to do that I need to know how many planets we have to take and how well defended they are.”

  “Logical. Though in the process you also snub the Lir’nen. Is that intentional?”

  “They are not your equal and are attempting to use this situation to supersede you. If they wish to do so they will have an opportunity to accomplish it in the field. They will not accomplish it through negotiations.”

  “Will we be deployed to the same systems?”

  “Unlikely. But people will be keeping score and I will be supplying the numbers for that so there is no matter of opinion required.”

  “You seek to control their greed by streamlining it into a proper contest.”

  “An unofficial one, but those who meet my mission requirements properly and quickly will be so noted.”

  “And your Zen’zat?”

  “They will school you in how warfare is meant to be conducted.”

  The I’rar’et in the nook all hissed in a way that was a laugh for them, but Rajamal had not been joking.

  “At the moment the Li’vorkrachnika have no heavy assets. So where do you believe your advantage will come from?” he asked Ha’chet.

  The I’rar’et’s head tilted to the side quizzically, but also in a nod of respect.

  “You have a
point there, Zen’zat. If speed of conquest is the measuring stick for this campaign, then our obvious strengths may not be required. I think we shall find the coming years most interesting. Are there any other notable Zen’zat joining you?”

  “Most who do not currently have other assignments.”

  “Most? Such as who?”

  “Daemon, Proarch, and Teor have already contacted me, and I assume other responses will arrive shortly,” he said, referencing Zen’zat that were equal to or higher ranked than him.

  “But you are the one who has been given command.”

  “They are not here to supplant me. They are here to fight.”

  “Why?”

  “Because we take the death of any Zen’zat seriously. And these vermin are not small in number.”

  “Is that not a waste of your collective skills?”

  “Do you believe you are the only ones who desire combat for training purposes?” Rajamal said with a mild tone of disappointment. “The Zen’zat are coming and filling the slot we have been given, and if you wish to outperform us in the invasion you will be given fair opportunity to do so…and I am giving you the first strike. So make it happen without further discussion.”

  “You are the eradication commander, Rajamal. We will carry out your assignment with all due haste.”

  “Feel free to impress me,” he said, turning around and heading for the Zen’zat passages that would take him back to the main access ways, and then from there to the military commanders for those of the other 5 races involved that had already arrived here. Rajamal was not going to waste time while troops assembled. He had tasks that needed done now, and anyone that thought this was going to be a lazily executed campaign was going to learn otherwise today.

  And he was going to keep score, both as a means of suppressing the latitude the races under his command might try to exercise on their own volition, and because it was not often that Zen’zat were equitted a campaign slot of their own. They were mad about the fate of the two Zen’zat and wanted vengeance, but they also wanted the opportunity to expose some of the inadequacies within the empire and the best way to do that was to shame the ‘superior’ races by outperforming them.

  And that’s why he was going to make sure the ‘score’ was precisely measured and made public across the galaxy. There would be no hiding here, and anyone who did not perform up to their reputation was going to be outed.