Star Force: Extirpation (Star Force Universe Book 56) Read online

  “What the hell,” she said angrily, stepping into her command chair so she could receive the transmission from the Zak’de’ron ship. “What are you doing?” she asked the image of the gray dragon that appeared before her, intentionally speaking English.

  “Your mission is known to us. Be aware that we have attempted the same thing in the past and failed.”

  “I know. What’s your point?”

  “If you are going to attempt the impossible again, then I have been instructed to go with you.”

  Kara raised an eyebrow. “I don’t remember inviting you.”

  “An invitation is not necessary. We will follow your ship wherever you go. You have no weapons to prevent this,” the Zak’de’ron said with a disapproving tone.

  Kara ground her teeth, searching through a list of curse words but not finding any particular one sufficient. “Can you keep up? I’m not slowing down if you cannot.”

  “If we cannot, then proceed without us. If you can find a way to penetrate their defenses, we wish to also utilize this route. And you have no stealth technology. We do. We will not be a hindrance.”

  “You can’t hide from gravitational sensors,” she reminded them. “I can’t stop you from following, but if you’ve failed before, why do you think this will be any different?”

  “We do not think it will, but Star Force has surprised us before and we are willing to gamble one ship and its superior sensors on the chance you will find a path through.”

  Kara leaned back in her overly large chair. “So that’s it. You don’t think this ship is advanced enough to get good information?”

  “It is not as superior as ours. If you wish to board our vessel and guide us, you may leave yours behind.”

  “No,” Kara said flatly, and with a venom the Zak’de’ron did not miss.

  “You dislike us.”

  “Yes. Do you know why?”

  “I am told you almost died when you removed your Vorch’nas. Had you not violated your instructions you would have been unharmed.”

  Kara raised a hand and shot a bit of plasma from one palm to another, with the blue fire reflecting off her gray eyes. “The fact that you do not see the sabotage as dishonorable confirms my dislike of your entire race. None of you can be trusted. I cannot stop you from following, and I have no weapon systems to assist you with if you become disabled. I will not be responsible for you.”

  “We do not ask that you are. We simply wished to inform you that we would be shadowing your vessel, as a measure of respect.”

  Kara scoffed, laughing in a way that almost became a snort. “Respect my ass. How about you give me the method to undo the sabotage to my genetic code?”

  “I do not possess it.”

  “And how many of you do?” she asked curiously. “Come on, from one of us who is about to die to another, be honest. How many of you could undo this sabotage?”

  “It is a permanent bond with the Vorch’nas. It is not meant to be undone. I do not believe a method was ever created to undo a permanent bond,” he emphasized. “If it is possible, I do not know how and I am the only Zak’de’ron onboard this ship.”

  “You have no crew?”

  “Not of my own kind. I believe you are in a similar position.”

  “Mine aren’t slaves,” Kara pointed out.

  “Nor are mine, and both are servants by choice.”

  “You didn’t stick this on my arm by choice,” Kara said icily, “so don’t expect me to take your word for that.”

  “I did not come here to anger you. I came to assist as I was able, though I do not know how given what we face ahead of us.”

  “There is no ‘us’ because you didn’t bother to ask permission to tag along. How long have you been following me?”

  “I have not. It was anticipated that you would pass through this system. I have been waiting.”

  “Anticipated how?”

  “We know a great deal about what happens in V’kit’no’sat territory,” the Zak’de’ron said ominously.

  “Ah,” Kara said in an exasperated sigh. “Do you have a name?”

  “I am Pol’ake.”

  “Well, Polly, let’s set some ground rules. You do not precede my ship. You do not contact my ship insystem unless I contact you first. You remain cloaked and behind me at all times. I don’t want even a hint of double gravitational silhouette showing that could reveal my position on the system exterior to lesser gravitational sensors. You maneuver to avoid that at all times, understood?”

  “Terms accepted.”

  “I’m not finished. I want all the information you have, maps and otherwise, on the road ahead. I want everything, you hear me?”

  “And you shall have it,” Pol’ake said, with a data packet being transmitted a split second later, though the full file took quite some time before it was fully downloaded.

  Kara quickly skimmed it, using her Sav and mental interlink with the computer, then looked back at the smug dragon. “Why did you fail?”

  “Their systems are so densely occupied, we could not utilize stellar jump routes and their interception capabilities required us to flee backwards. We were not fast enough to avoid their swarm tactics. They would block the path ahead, and we could not cloak beyond their detection. We have since made improvements, but they will be of no use so long as your ship is obvious. I do not know how you can succeed where we failed.”

  “You’re used to operating out of a position of assumed dominance, not sneaking around just to stay alive. We have a lot of that experience,” she said angrily, “thanks to your former apprentices.”

  Now it was the dragon that frowned heavily. “They are not of our making. They destroyed all but one of us. If not for the threat of the Hadarak, we would be destroying their empire as we speak.”

  “You were that close to launching an attack?”

  “If there Hadarak were of no concern, yes. But they have always been there, and if we removed the V’kit’no’sat they would have been free to further harm the galaxy. For that reason we would have waited long enough so that we could replace the border guards as the existing ones fell. That would require a great deal more time.”

  “And after you finished with the V’kit’no’sat, you would come after us because you will not tolerate peers,” Kara accused.

  “Perhaps,” Pol’ake admitted. “Do you wish met to deny it?”

  “I wish you weren’t backstabbing, arrogant, darkside monkeys.”

  “I do not understand your monkey reference.”

  “The other three items should have been sufficient to get the point across.”

  “We were nearly wiped from the galaxy once. We won’t risk it occurring a second time. With your Uriti naval assets, you are currently the dominant power in the galaxy aside from the Hadarak, yet you hold them in reserve…”

  “While you nearly squandered the only effective weapon we have against the Hadarak because of your mismanagement of them. And that mismanagement stems from your darkside nature. That is why you are inferior, and always will be. The lightside is more powerful, when given a chance to fully develop, and that’s why the darkside is always trying to deny it that chance. If you were truly superior you’d build in parallel to us and others, not try and take them down before they can exceed you. Those are the actions of the fearful, not the dominant.”

  “Do we not have a right to be fearful after what has transpired?”

  “Not if you claim to be superior.”

  “I was told your thought processes were perplexing. We do not understand how you have come so far, even with access to the V’kit’no’sat legacy. Perhaps you will be able to enlighten me during this quest.”

  “Are you going to keep blocking my route ahead, or do I have to go around you?” Kara quipped.

  “I merely wanted your attention,” Pol’ake said, with his ship drifting closer to the star and out of the Hail Mary’s path. “I will not delay you further.”

  Kara accelerated the moment the Za
k’de’ron ship moved, eager to get to the jump point and into the coast phase where she could analyze the data packet and see if there was anything truly useful in it.

  “How many Hadarak have you killed, all time?” she asked on impulse.

  “183,299,” he said without hesitation.

  “So why are they so pissed now?”

  “Most likely your Uriti.”

  “The Lurker didn’t go for the Uriti, it went for the Ysalamiri. I was hoping you knew something we did not.”

  “We know a great deal more than you, but amongst that knowledge is not the provocation that began the galactic purge attempt.”

  “Attempt? You are arrogant.”

  “Do you intend to lose?”

  “No,” Kara admitted. “But we make this up as we go along. Do you have a plan for victory?”

  “You did not invent adaptation,” the dragon casually reminded her. “And we knew of the weapon we gifted you. It is ingratitude that you will not share the technological version with us now.”

  “That ‘weapon’ is a person that you abused badly, and if we gave you that weapon you could use it to destroy the Uriti. If you were in our position, would you give away such an advantage?”

  “I would not. But you would not have the weapon without our blessing. Remember that in coming days.”

  “And the weapon would never have been created if we could not talk to the Uriti, for it was Shen that explained to us how it worked…at least enough for us to figure out how to replicate it. You obviously couldn’t, and that’s because you see the Uriti and all other races as tools rather than people.”

  “I do not see you as a tool, Kara. If I did, this conversation would be occurring in a far different manner.”

  “Then stop pinging my Vorch’nas trying to access it.”

  The dragon huffed. “My apologies. That is disrespectful, but we learned long ago to take advantage of any opportunities that present themselves, and if I could access your mind directly we could avoid the inefficiency of vocal conversation.”

  “We can avoid it by not talking as well. What is it you need to learn from me?”

  “You are not making a fool’s mistake in launching this mission. What do you know that we do not?”

  Kara smiled, but it wasn’t a pleasant smile. “Watch and learn, newb.”

  “That is why I am here,” he said neutrally.

  “You are here to watch. I highly doubt you will learn,” she said, cutting off the comm as she sat in her chair staring at the wall ahead fuming.

  “Kara?” one of the Irondel on their counter-level stations meekly asked.

  She turned and looked at him, but apparently her glare was a little too harsh and her expression made him jump.

  “Sorry,” she said, letting her facial expression slacken. “I really don’t like Zak’de’ron.”

  “Are there any security precautions we need to take?”

  Kara sighed. “No. They can’t hack their way in, and if they want to board us our only option is running. Either way, if they mess with us he’ll have to deal with me. And whether he knows it or not, I can kill him if need be. I’m our security precaution. Just make sure we don’t bump into their ship.”

  “You want us to use Ghostbane?”

  “Yes, until I tell you otherwise. I don’t know if the Hadarak can detect it, so we might not want to use it when sneaking, but for now I want to know where that bastard is at all times…and if he disappears at any time let me know immediately.”

  “Understood,” the Irondel said, turning back to his station and the tiny stool on which he sat with his tail hanging off the backside.

  Kara turned back to staring at the wall, having promised herself not to leave the bridge until they jumped out, but she didn’t feel like reviewing the data packet or anything else right now. She knew better than to throw a temper tantrum over events that she could not alter, but other than turning around and going back, she couldn’t stop the Zak’de’ron from shadowing her ship unless the Hail Mary turned out to be faster, and she doubted that. They would have sent their fastest, and given the size and make of the vessel they had done just that. She could recognize Zak’de’ron technology as easily as Star Force’s, and while there were some minor alterations to the hull, this was definitely a scout built for speed.

  And like it or not, the Zak’de’ron still had better technology than Star Force in a lot of areas, and the only way the Hail Mary was going to outrun them was if she got very, very lucky…and historically her luck sucked, so unless she’d already hit the total quota of bad luck for her life, she was going to be stuck with a dragon following her deep into Hadarak space.

  6

  February 12, 128535

  System 2911834 (Hadarak Zone)

  Stellar Orbit

  Kurt-074’s Fishbones Borg vessel was leading the convoy of warships escorting the Ysalamir Black Pearl through a transfer around the massive white star at system’s center enroute to attack a tier 2 Hadarak four jumps away. Now that they had Keychain’s position marked, they were once again using the Ysalamiri to go after select Hadarak, but none of the remaining 8 superweapons were going into combat without a trailblazer, or at least a Borg vessel, along with them. Where there was one Lurker there might be others, but until they confirmed that they weren’t going to sideline their greatest weapons on the threat alone.

  The escort convoy was fairly tightly packed together, but there were also fringe ships pacing them. There always were nowadays, and Star Force couldn’t keep them away if they had the engine capability to stay with them. They stayed far away, beyond weapons range, and watched wherever the Ysalamiri went, much like people had once done with the Uriti, though their numbers had grown so large you didn’t have permanent scouts watching them.

  But a lot of people across the galaxy wanted to know just how effective the Ysalamiri were, and where they were at all times, so there were always some high tech ships shadowing them, but they knew to keep their distance.

  Today, however, one did not and it breached the outer ‘safe’ zone that Star Force had decreed no ships should cross within. It was a large buffer, at over 1 million miles, but as soon as the cloaked vessel crossed within it a drone was sent on an intercept course, as was standard procedure. Wave off warnings were transmitted in thousands of languages, but since the ship was cloaked Star Force couldn’t get an identity on it, just a position, as it continued to approach. Much closer and they’d be able to get some sensor readings on it aside from Ghostbane, which every Ysalamir fleet was now carrying, but the drone got to it before then and got in its path, slowing and making it clear the approaching ship was not supposed to proceed.

  Kurt was aware of the encounter, and there had been others previously where a drone was needed to scare off someone who thought it wise to violate the safe zone around the convoy, but this was the first time the drone actually exploded.

  Kurt immediately assumed command and dispatched several hundred drones off the rear of his column-like Borg vessel that had a full complement of the attack ships attached as he saw the unidentified ship continue to approach at speed. He had the warships redeploy into defensive formation around the Black Pearl as the few drones got within weapons range of the target and opened fire.

  They got some basic silhouette information from the weapon strikes, then the cloak went down entirely. At first he thought it was from damage, but the alien ship was showing none other than diminished shields as it accelerated further, weaving around the blocking drones and trying to make a kamikaze run at the Ysalamir.

  But it didn’t get far. The warships had joined together to produce a massive dampening field wall around the Black Pearl, which caught the alien ship like glue well short of ramming it or even the warships. Its engine power cycled down rather than trying to claw into that invisible sand and getting nowhere. Kurt was about to send a personal message ordering the ship to surrender itself or be destroyed when he caught a flash of Essence from the vessel.

>   He immediately set his fleet into action, with several drones lightly ramming into the unknown ship and using their mooring beams to start pushing it further away as a few more got in close and emitted IDF fields so the ship couldn’t fight the pushing. It didn’t fire back, nor do anything other than continue to emit a very small Essence rush, almost as if it was a signal flare.

  Then suddenly multiple ships appeared out of nowhere around it, following by hundreds more, just popping into space with the drones and the nearest warships exploding, though the latter weren’t destroyed all at once.

  Kurt cursed himself for not paying more attention to the first drone’s destruction, for he knew now that it had been destroyed by an Essence attack, because all the ships were glowing in it now as they attacked a portion of the defensive screen around the Ysalamir.

  He moved it immediately, withdrawing from the fight as the whole block of drones on the back of Fishbones disengaged and flew like a swarm of angry bees towards the attacking ships, but the enemy ignored them and pursued the Ysalamir, even through its own emergency jump, with several of them finally ramming it…except they didn’t destroy themselves. Rather they punched right through, glowing in Essence like hot metal, and did just as much damage.

  They then turned and flew back through it again, boring long holes in the massive ship that allowed others to get inside as well without cutting more of their own, and once a fair number were inside there was no way to evade them.

  Kurt brought his Borg vessel into close range of the Ysalamir, ordering it to stop fleeing and bathing the surrounding area with his drones and those from the warships. Several of the alien vessels, which were all around 6 miles long and shaped like hourglasses, were disabled or partially destroyed, but they would not engage the drones. They were totally fixated on the Ysalamir, and from internal sensors he could tell that they were using conventional weapons to rip apart the ship from within.

  So he sent drones down through the bore holes, only to have them disintegrated when they got to the alien ships. It was another form of Essence attack, and right now he knew he was going to lose the ship. What mattered now as getting as many of the skeleton crew out as he could.