Star Force: Rift Read online

  Their mobility was lacking in comparison, and Tevvaline thought of them as all around stable and reliable, without being exceptional. She’d helped Flynn armor over their weaknesses and had gotten their once lethargic race up to a 23% self-sufficiency rate overall with newer generations in the low 40s. That was far less than many other factions, but it gave her a core group of H’kar that would be around forever so long as they weren’t killed and over time their experience levels were rising to the point where they were becoming formidable.

  None had become Mavericks, for that wasn’t well suited for their physiology, but there were currently more H’kar Monarchs than any other race aside from Humans, who still dominated those ranks. There were currently 11 H’kar Barons, all of which Davis had assigned outside of H’kar territory in a variety of projects, promising that they’d be returned to Tevvaline when and if they were upped to Count rank. Davis needed to see how well they handled planets that were not H’kar, and the fact that he had chosen 11 of them so far indicated that he was seeing good results.

  How and why a person became a Monarch was still a mystery, for Davis selected all of them, but there were enough common threads to pick up on and the H’kar’s reliability seemed to make them more inclined to the task than other races. In fact, Tevvaline probably had some of the best Administrators in the empire, if taken as a whole, out of which she had no doubt that Davis would be selecting more Monarchs in coming years.

  But because Davis never announced such things ahead of time, no one could actually audition to become a Monarch. That left her H’kar focused on building their faction without ulterior motives, and what they’d accomplished was truly impressive despite half their territory now lying demolished in the Devastation Zone.

  Other races had had it worse. The Calavari, the Bsidd, Mainline, the Kiritas, the Kiritak, etc…all of whom had originated in the ADZ had all of their original territory taken away from them and had to rebuild in the Rim…but the H’kar had originated here, at least from their Nexus origins, so they had a lot of industrial output to fall back on and had made up a lot of ground on the other factions in comparison when they’d lost so much in the ADZ.

  That was not how Tevvaline would have wanted it, but it had happened none the less, and now the H’kar stood as the 4thk largest faction population wise after the Bsidd, Kiritas/Kiritak, and the Paladin. Unlike those three, overpopulation with the H’kar wasn’t a huge problem, and the Arch Duke had been pressing their slower reproduction rate so she’d have the necessary hands available when they got additional resources. In fact, as of present, they were overpopulated with regards to the number of work assignments, so a great many of the younger ones were assigned training duties until something opened up.

  That’s also why there was such a robust business class amongst the H’kar, for many did not want to wait through endless training to get to actual productivity. Now though, her population surge was paying off as she was able to redirect resources into many new projects that had workers waiting on them to be started…and workers with far more training than most of her veterans had ever received. That didn’t make the young ones better, but it did reduce the learning curve dramatically, and everywhere across H’kar territory they were building rapidly.

  Here though, it was more about bringing in resources and using the already existing factories to create components that would be shipped out to other systems for assembly or direct use there. Expansion here, with only 4 planets and 18 moons, had largely been completed, and Flynn didn’t want to pack in too much population only to have to evacuate everyone again if this system fell to the V’kit’no’sat. Too much population would mean a lot of people wouldn’t make it out, so H’kar territory was full of colonized planets that weren’t too dense for just that reason.

  What they had invested in were mobile factories located in orbit that could be moved once the warfront got too close. They couldn’t be moved fast, but unlike infrastructure on a planet these facilities could be repurposed rather than abandoned. It was a hard lesson learned after the destruction of half of H’kar territory, but the more they could diminish the industrial damage of losing systems, the longer the H’kar could survive as a fully functioning faction rather than being diminished into refugees supported by others.

  The H’kar were far from being that, but they were the next ones on the target list for the V’kit’no’sat and the Arch Duke had to consider these things. That was why, even as a large chunk of their warfleets were off fighting in the Rim, there were a massive number of drones kept here, both for their warships and system defense models, all of which were shaped as elongated squares, as if a perfect cube had been stretched out into a rod. It was a variation on Mainline drone shape, and only a few races in Star Force got to field their own designs, with the H’kar being one of them.

  It was a point of pride, and high above the planet Tevvaline was on she could see the clouds of those drones patiently waiting and defending the system. They were too far away to see the shape of up there, but every now and then another one would rise up from the surface shipyards and fly by her tower command center enroute to orbit…in fact they buzzed her tower on purpose as a mark of pride, giving her a chance for a quick visual confirmation even when she wasn’t actually in the building.

  The H’kar were Star Force, but they were also their own slightly different version of it, highlighting the fact that this was indeed an empire rather than a monolithic civilization. Harmful differences between the races were eliminated, while beneficial ones were cultivated and enhanced. The Arch Duke thought of them as puzzle pieces, none two identical, but all fitting together to form the smooth picture of a proper civilization…and one that had no size limitations, unlike The Nexus that had grown too large without the necessary apparatus to sustain it.

  She was proud of the H’kar faction, and aside from a few aides and Archons, she never really interacted with anyone that wasn’t H’kar. Some people would have found that lonely, but she didn’t. Tevvaline wasn’t H’kar herself, but she worked seamlessly with them to the point that sometimes she forgot she wasn’t.

  And the H’kar didn’t resent her for being Human either. She was an Arch Duke, race not withstanding, and their Arch Duke, just as they saw Flynn as their trailblazer, and both were pushing the H’kar hard to make the most of this truce with the V’kit’no’sat before the war came back at them again…and probably with greater force than ever before. She doubted that Mak’to’ran would just shrug off the improvements Star Force was making in their defenses and send similar sized attack fleets after them unless he was stupid, and there wasn’t any real hope of that.

  No, he had to send more or none at all, meaning this the war, when it resumed, was going to ratchet up to insane levels and the H’kar were going to take the brunt of it straight off.

  But Tevvaline was not prepared for the V’kit’no’sat returning today, with the tell-tale alarm that had first informed her of their arrival in Star Force territory oh so long ago sounding throughout her command center where she was tinkering with production quotas at a table-top workstation along with half a dozen H’kar.

  The sound drove a spike of fear through her the likes of which she’d never forget, but the holographic map quickly identified the source of the alarm…a single ship had decloaked in high orbit over the planet and was in the process of sending a transmission on repeat as it held position with the clouds of drones moving to intercept it.

  “What they hell are they doing here?” she said aloud while mentally kicking Tennisonne for not having the damn Ghostbane sensor system working yet, for this stupid Rit’ko’sor ship had made it all the way here without being detected, and that bothered her to no end.

  “The ship is stating it is here on a diplomatic mission, requesting to speak personally to either a trailblazer or a Monarch at a moment of their convenience.”

  “Convenience?” she said with a sarcastic laugh. “Why the hell didn’t they just go to Earth?”

&n
bsp; “The message does not say.”

  Tevvaline bit her lip. “Ok fine. They want to talk, then I’ll talk to them. Tell Randal I need to be on a command ship up there. I don’t want them getting anywhere close to the planet,” she said, referencing the highest ranking Archon in the system as she stared at the image of the Domjo-class warship shaped like a flat ‘S’ along a vertical plane. The forward section had the hump on the top and it splayed out a bit, kind of like a cobra-hood, and the reverse side ‘tail’ was flatter and didn’t hold such a steep curve, ending in a bulge that contained half the ship’s weaponry.

  “Terminator,” a H’kar said, referencing the name of one of the command ships in orbit.

  The Arch Duke headed for the nearest door, walking at an annoyed pace in her signature uniform variant that had her right leg fully exposed but with a shoulder cape that came down to cover it, giving flashes of skin with each step only to be swallowed up by the cape again and again.

  Tevvaline did not like this. Not at all. And something told her that their two century truce was about to be cut short in some way, shape, or form.

  7

  Tevvaline arrived in orbit via dropship, flying into the hangar onboard the waiting command ship Terminator that then took her further up the planetary orbit to the position where the single Rit’ko’sor ship was surrounded by a sea of Star Force drones and three other command ships, all of which were keeping a respectful distance back.

  The Domjo sat there silently until the Arch Duke sent a comm prompt after she reached a private chamber just down the hallway from the bridge. Now that the Terminator had crept in closer than the rest of the defense fleet, they were only 200 miles apart and the bit of lag that would have resulted had she tried to communicate from the planet was gone…but that wasn’t enough for the Rit’ko’sor. They requested a secure channel directly to the Arch Duke, which she granted, sending them a tight beam transmission along with using a cypher code the Rit’ko’sor sent directly to her ship.

  That meant no other Star Force ships, or anyone else trying to listen in, would be able to eavesdrop, and once those conditions were met a single Rit’ko’sor appeared in hologram before her and Randal-6994, who had come aboard just before she did.

  “Arch Duke,” the Rit’ko’sor said in their race’s melodic cadence, but to the shock of both the Monarch and the Archon, it was speaking in English…which the V’kit’no’sat had never done before. “Archon. I will begin with informing you that this vessel does not belong to the V’kit’no’sat, nor do we speak for them. We only speak for ourselves, and we are not hostile to you.”

  Tevvaline and Randal exchanged glances, with the Archon being the one to speak first.

  “Are you defecting?”

  “No. You misunderstand. When I said ‘we’ I was referring to more than just the crew of this Domjo. Are you aware of the Rit’ko’sor rejoined the V’kit’no’sat?”

  “We are.”

  “Those that did are traitors, and mostly our hatchlings. Many of the elders refused the reunification, so our race has split. The majority rejoined the V’kit’no’sat. Those of us that still hold our honor were forced to flee. We left our kin in peace, but when we next meet it shall be in battle, for the V’kit’no’sat do not tolerate splinter civilizations of any race in their empire. We are now hunted, and have been living beyond their borders in exile from both their territory and our refuge in the Hadarak zone. We hate the V’kit’no’sat. We are not V’kit’no’sat. And if they ever find us, they will try to kill us.”

  Tevvaline whistled, quickly realizing how big this was. “So you coming here is outing your presence?”

  “Inconsequential,” the Rit’ko’sor said evenly. “This ship can move, our worlds cannot, and it is those that we must conceal.”

  “Why are you here?” Randal asked. “And why are you speaking our language?”

  “We do not hold you with contempt. In truth, we have great respect for you and what you have accomplished. Learning your language was necessary so we could communicate with you as equals.”

  “Thanks for that. What did you want to communicate?”

  “How much do you know of our history? Our rebellion?”

  “Much. We recovered files from the planetary defense station left behind on Terraxis after you destroyed it.”

  “Then you know how the rebellion began, but not how it ended?”

  “We have recovered some addition data from damaged V’kit’no’sat ships and interrogations. It was thought you were all destroyed.”

  “We knew that we could not win,” the Rit’ko’sor said gravely, “but we would have our freedom either in life or in death. Breaking free of the V’kit’no’sat was necessary to regain our honor, but it cost us much. We knew we could not win, so we damaged them as much as possible while allowing a few of us to run and hide. They expected that we would flee to the Rim, and some of us did…unsuccessfully. They tracked down and destroyed all those Rit’ko’sor who sacrificed themselves as diversions while we evacuated key personnel into the Hadarak Zone. We do not regret our actions, and I tell you this so you understand that there is no longer any association between us and the Rit’ko’sor who rejoined the V’kit’no’sat. Those traitors are no longer our kin.”

  “What do you mean by ‘regain your honor?’” the Arch Duke asked.

  “We joined the V’kit’no’sat at the request of the Zak’de’ron. Do you know who they were?”

  “Yes.”

  “We betrayed them, to our shame, and then the Oso’lon and J’gar changed the nature of the V’kit’no’sat. The Rit’ko’sor were suppressed so we could never achieve parity, and we were often given assignments where they knew many of us would die, sparring their own. We all had sworn to fight the Hadarak, but they did so less and allowed the ‘unimportant’ races to fight more, thus strengthening their own power base while diminishing ours and forbidding us to increase reproduction to compensate. The Zak’de’ron had never treated us in such a manner, and we regret turning against them. It was a huge miscalculation that we have suffered greatly for.”

  “And you felt you were regaining your honor by rebelling?”

  “In manner, yes, but more so it was simple vengeance. We wanted to hurt them, and badly, but we knew we could not win. You, however, have something that we did not have. That no V’kit’no’sat race has ever had. You command the power of the Hadarak. You have withstood their purging attacks. You have forced them into a temporary truce. You have a fighting chance, but when they return they will be adamant about destroying all that you have built up during these years of peace. It is said that Mak’to’ran values knowledge of the Hadarak more than the lives of the V’kit’no’sat, but he is no fool. He will take from you everything you are gaining, and he will do so with a vengeance, for he can give you no more time than already allotted. You will grow too strong, so the death blow will come when the truce ends. You can count on that as assuredly as the stars burn.”

  “We expected as much,” Randal agreed.

  “Many races have been establishing diplomatic contact or requesting membership since the revelation of the truce, correct?”

  “Yes. Our standing in the galaxy has increased greatly,” Tevvaline answered.

  “I assume you are using this to strengthen you civilization in preparation?”

  “We’re working on many projects to increase our strength,” she said neutrally.

  “It will not be enough for what is coming. I was one of the few that survived our rebellion against the V’kit’no’sat. I speak from experience. The more you anger them, the more powerful they become. They have treated you as inferiors previously, and that is the only reason you have survived. You will be given their full hatred now, and they will fall upon you with a vengeance you have not yet imagined.”

  “Mak’to’ran offered us a place in the V’kit’no’sat,” Randal said, throwing that bit of information out on a gut feeling. “We refused.”

  The Rit’ko’sor sn
eered. “He seeks control of the Uriti, nothing more. Had you not possessed them, he would not have bothered to speak with you at all. Killing you will not grant him that control, or do I misunderstand your control mechanism?”

  “It cannot be replicated by the V’kit’no’sat,” the Archon said without giving away the secret of Nefron.

  “Then he has more to gain from annexation than destruction. Why did you refuse?”

  “The V’kit’no’sat have killed so many of our people that there is no possibility of us ever joining them. We’d rather die fighting than spit on the graves of our fallen brothers and sisters.”

  “You do yourself honor spiting them, but you are still not aware of what is coming for you.”

  “Are you here to educate us, then?” Tevvaline asked.

  “I was sent here to do more than that. Our leaders have studied you closely, even before the truce, and they have determined that you annex without suppressing the races you acquire. Instead you enhance them, as the Zak’de’ron once did with us, except that you fully integrate. You take worthless races and find a purpose for them, so that your empire and that race benefits. You do so with such casual ease that we ask if you would entertain negotiations with us.”

  “Are we not negotiating now?”

  “I am simply establishing contact. We are wary to trust others, especially considering the betrayal of our former kin, but our leaders wish to entertain negotiations with you if you are willing.”

  “Negotiations for what, exactly?”

  “Some form of merger into your empire.”

  Randal frowned. “You’re saying we’re going to be wiped out by the V’kit’no’sat, but you want to come out of hiding to join us in time so you can get your asses kicked too?”

  “We never had a chance to win. You have a small one. If we can come to agreeable terms, those of us who saw nearly our entire race destroyed in our rebellion wish to continue what we started…even if it means our deaths. We have no wish to live as exiles. We would rather die fighting if there is something worth dying for, and some of us have never accepted our survival as sufficient. Our war with the V’kit’no’sat has never ended, and will not end until either we are dead or they are. You offer us a potential hope, so I ask if you will entertain negotiations with our leaders?”