Star Force: Origin (SF24) Read online

  “If you have an intact defense station, which I’m assuming you do,” the dragon continued, “you should also have access to the information nets?”

  “No, they went down shortly after the colony was abandoned.”

  “The relays must have been destroyed then,” he mewed. “That means they truly have withdrawn from Tamprani…but then they’d have to in order to replace the Rit’ko’sor. Your scraps of a race may have more time than I originally assumed, but beware, they will return eventually to reclaim what they’ve lost. At present they are unable to do so, but once their numbers rise again they will push back out towards the rim.”

  “Why?” Kara asked, glimpsing something more there. “Why haven’t they taken the rim already? You said it was beyond their domain earlier.”

  “The V’kit’no’sat are bound to the core and expand when they can. Without sufficient strength the Hadarak will strike, as they always have, thus they are bound to the front.”

  “What are the Hadarak?”

  “A curse on the galaxy. Beasts without reason that live in deep gravity wells. They have the power to alter gravity and can use it to hurl themselves across the stars. They have no technology, all is biology for them, and it was for our mutual defense against them that we created the V’kit’no’sat to counter, much as you have done with your Alliance.”

  “We?”

  “You have not discovered even that much? You truly do not know who we are?”

  “There is a race known as the Les’i’kron that is similar, but there was no mention of Zak’de’ron. Mark thought you were a race the V’kit’no’sat had in the database that was exterminated, but that was before we could see your wings. I don’t recall what they were, but they were not listed as part of the V’kit’no’sat.”

  “Les’i’kron?” the dragon growled. “What do you know of them?”

  “Not much. They’re flyers, built like you but with a shorter neck and a double blade on the tail. Inhabit the coreward planets mostly.”

  “Vile betrayers!” he said, tilting his head towards the ceiling and eliciting a huge plume of what looked like plasma from its throat. The material of the ceiling partially melted, dropping in molten globs down to the ground, some of which hit the dragon and bounced off, cooling as they fell…though it didn’t seem to care.

  Kara didn’t say anything for a few moments, and waited till he’d stopped torching the roof before asking her next question. “Not friends of yours I take it?”

  “They are a perversion,” he said, pounding his forelegs into the ground again, which rattled the whole chamber, though the somewhat soft material dampened the vibration from traveling further out. “The blades you mention were a genetic upgrade the V’kit’no’sat tried to force upon us. We refused, as we refused most of their demands. Les’i’kron means ‘subjugated one’ in our native tongue,” he said before launching another plume of blue/white fire at the ceiling angrily.

  “They didn’t kill you, they…”

  “Corrupted them,” the dragon finished. “I am still the last of my kind, but the others live on as perversions. I swear on the pyres of my ancestors this heresy will not go unpunished!”

  “Who controls the V’kit’no’sat? Which race is dominant?”

  “In the beginning there were three,” he said, controlling his anger though it wouldn’t abate. “The ground dwellers were led by the Oso’lon, the water dwellers were led by the J’gar, and the air dwellers were led by us, though we also controlled many land dwelling races. We were the dominant of the three, and organized for adding many more secondary races to grow the strength of the V’kit’no’sat. As we fortified the core worlds the Hadarak were pushed back, contained to their gravity wells where we could not pursue. It is because of this the V’kit’no’sat cannot leave the core, nor can they leave it under-defended.”

  “Why then did they betray you? That would cut into their strength greatly, I would assume.”

  “Indeed it did, but the V’kit’no’sat grew beyond us. They developed a common culture, one which restricted and bound all together in common cause. We were too powerful to be coerced, and they resented that fact. All must yield to the V’kit’no’sat, or else must be destroyed…but you are also correct about their needing our strength, because it seems they recreated us as the Les’i’kron to fill the gap in their ranks. I require the information you have on them.”

  “Thinking about a rescue? I thought you were running.”

  “If they have done what I believe they have, then there is no one left to rescue…nor am I able, but I need to know exactly what they have done.”

  “What are the eggs for?” Kara asked, pointing in the direction of the other chamber.

  The dragon’s nostrils flared. “Have they come to harm?”

  “Not that I’m aware of, but I didn’t take too close a look. What are they doing here? What are you doing here and what is this place? The Nestafar seem to want it pretty bad.”

  “The Nestafar know nothing,” he said dismissively. “They foolishly seek to acquire technology they could never use. Given how we are pathetically lowered to equals in this circumstance, I will tell you why we are here, but the others will never know. That information cannot spread back to the V’kit’no’sat.”

  “We know how to keep secrets, as you can imagine.”

  The dragon huffed once, blowing out a few sparks. “You have not shared your find with the others in your little Alliance?”

  “We have not shared that secret with our own people,” Kara countered. “Only a few know…those that can be trusted.”

  “The Zen’zat were individually trained…though I would imagine yours reproduce wildly?”

  “Unrestricted, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Then most possess abilities they did not earn. For that alone the V’kit’no’sat will hunt you down and destroy you. Every last one. You will not be able to run far enough, nor fast enough, to stay ahead of them. Secrecy is your only hope, as was it ours. While we fought and distracted our former allies we sought to hurt them, delving deeply into the territory of those who dared to defy us, but they were united and we could not turn one against the other, for their fear of the collective was greater than their fear of us.”

  “We knew that we were at a disadvantage, for their war caught us off guard. We did not share everything with the V’kit’no’sat, however, and our knowledge and power held them at bay for a time. Knowing that they would never let us live, we knew we either had to defeat them or escape them…so we planned for both.”

  “I was entrusted with the escape, and with me a future generation. The only way we could escape was to no longer exist, so here we disappeared. My mind could be detected from space, so I had to slumber in order to insure there was no chance of detection. The galaxy is far greater than you know, Zen’zat, and it is easy to hide when you know how. As good of hunters as the V’kit’no’sat are, the odds are always with the hunted due to the boundless playing field. Because of this I was able to slip away and remain safely here without their knowing.”

  “Until when?”

  “Until I am summoned by the victorious others…or until another has risen up to overcome the V’kit’no’sat. I do not believe the Rit’ko’sor have accomplished so much, but we can no longer stay here now that you have found us, and I would be a fool not to take advantage of our enemy’s temporary weakness.”

  “Wait, how were you supposed to know if the V’kit’no’sat were defeated if you were sleeping here?”

  “That is a secret I will keep, little one.”

  “So this whole place is a storage facility for you and your eggs?”

  “No, it is a repository of all that we are. A seed for us to regrow from. I contain the knowledge, this place contains the power. A power that the Nestafar will not gain…nor will your Alliance.”

  “Fair enough, not that we need it anyway.”

  The dragon huffed again. “The power stored here is greater than that whic
h the V’kit’no’sat wielded at the time I began to sleep, and I highly doubt they could have attained it since. We know all that they know, but they do not know all that we know. We only shared part of our knowledge.”

  “By knowledge you mean technology?”

  “By that question, you demonstrate how little you know.”

  Kara sighed. “If you can leave the planet, does that mean you have a ship down here too?”

  “Your primitive base will remain intact. I will not remove it.”

  “It won’t be our base for much longer, unless we can find a way to stop the Nestafar. I assume you can control their minds as well?”

  “Not all at once,” the dragon admitted, “but I can stop them. Will you give me access to your world’s knowledge?”

  “Will you help us unlock the parts inaccessible to Zen’zat?”

  “Though I think it will make no difference in your fate, I wish you to harm them as much as possible. We have an agreement, but knowledge of my presence must not spread amongst your people. I will only risk so much.”

  “Knowledge of your presence would betray our own secret. We will keep it quiet, though it will take time to arrange. Our world is far from here and the site is…buried.”

  The dragon spun around, swinging its tail over Kara’s head as it retreated to the back of the hibernation chamber. There it reached its four finger/claws on its right limb into a rack containing two rings, then it did the same with its left before walking over additional racks and doing the same on its back limbs. The eight rings in total began to glow cherry red in sync, clashing with the deep grey of the dragon’s skin…then all of a sudden the rings disintegrated and the powder-like material began to expand over its fingers and up its legs. Out of all proportion it gained speed and quickly spread across the dragon’s entire body.

  The powder then began to solidify into hard plates…thousands of tiny, hard plates looking for all the world like red dragon scales, even up and over its wings and down its face, making the giant look even more intimidating than it was before.

  “Stand aside,” it told Kara.

  She glanced at Kel’sad and saw him walking off as well, still in zombie mode, and chose to get out of the dragon’s way as it climbed down and sank its claws into the ridges on the floor, pulling itself along towards the exit and out into the corridor. The Scionate held position off to the side, but Kara gave his frozen form another glance before running off, hoping from one ridge to another as she followed the dragon off elsewhere into the underground caverns.

  7

  Ashley was partway down the long tunnel and just beginning to see activity in the distance when Ske’rar confirmed her suspicions.

  “They are ahead and waiting for us. Several dozen at minimum behind barricades and heavy weapons,” he explained, using his enhanced eyesight, though whether that be from biology or the advanced armor he wore the Archon didn’t know. “The digging machine is a short distance behind them. If we can get past these it is ours, but we will be running straight into their concentrated firepower. I can only block for you for so long, after which it will be up to you to subdue them.”

  “Bad plan,” Terry commented. “Ash, please tell me you have something better in mind?”

  In response Ashley slowed her decline-enhanced run and reached back to pull the compact rocket launcher off her back, exchanging it for her rifle.

  “That’s better.”

  “We need your weapons for the digger,” Ske’rar warned.

  “We need to be alive when we reach the digger,” Ashley countered when a comm line opened.

  “All teams engaging the Nestafar in the tunnel,” Kara’s energetic voice said, “pull back. Repeat, pull back. The Nestafar are coming out. Let them go for now, I’ll explain everything later, but it’s urgent that you do not get in their way or engage them. Pull back now.”

  “What the hell?” Ashley commented. “Ske’rar, hold up,” she said, raising a hand and skidding to a halt. The big cat did likewise just ahead and turned back questioningly, but Ashley was already contacting Kara.

  “We’re about to blow the hell out of their digging machine,” she argued.

  “No need, kiddo. It’s coming out too.”

  “Quit calling me that, I’m as old as you. And what do you mean it’s coming out?”

  “They’re breaking off the assault and don’t ask me why, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. For now just get out of the way.”

  “Copy that,” she said, reattaching the rocket launcher. “Can you see any movement up there?”

  The Scionate turned around and stared off into the distance. “Nothing we can exploit. Why have we stopped?”

  “We’ve been called off. Apparently the Nestafar are withdrawing from the tunnels.”

  Ske’rar did a double take. “Has some form of an agreement been reached?”

  “I don’t know, but something is up. Can you tell whether or not they’ve stopped digging?”

  “I can still feel the vibrations, can you not?”

  Ashley rolled her eyes, unseen beneath her helmet. “Ok, dumb question. Can you see anything else going on up there?”

  “Nothing. They are holding position behind their barricades and the machine continues to advance…”

  “What’s happening?” Terry asked.

  “They are walking out of cover,” the Scionate said as the audible vibrations began to wind down. “And coming up the tunnel.”

  “Armed?” Ashley asked, straining to see the tiny figures in the distance.

  “Yes, they are carrying their weapons, but their movements are slow. They are also disassembling the heavy weapons…and the digger appears to be reversing direction.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Ashley whispered. “Let’s stay ahead of them,” she said as they began to walk back up the tunnel. “Less, Chase…where you at?”

  “Heading out, you?”

  “We’re in pretty far and pacing the digging team on its way out. What’s happening up there?”

  “They stopped fighting a minute after Kara’s message came through and just started walking out to the surface.”

  “What about the protomechs?”

  “They haven’t showed up yet. We’re trying to beat them out just in case.”

  “Meet you outside,” Ashley said, accelerating into a jog. “The rest of their troops are retreating out of the tunnels,” she told Ske’rar.

  “This is very odd,” he commented.

  “No kidding, but as long as they’re not digging forward let’s play along. Kara knows more than she’s saying.”

  “Agreed. Are you fatigued?”

  “No,” Ashley said with confused look under her helmet.

  “Then I suggest we increase our speed and get to the surface as quickly as possible.”

  “Go ahead,” she prompted. “We’ll catch up later.”

  The Scionate huffed, a sign of agreement, and tore off ahead of them eager to find out what was going on.

  Boen lugged Mark around one last piece of engine that he been flung from the crashed ship, climbing up the shallow ridge that it had cut into the ground on impact and stepping across a narrow line of ashes…then they were back into the grasslands that covered the planet and finally out of the debris field.

  “Put me down.”

  “Gladly,” Boen said, dropping the trailblazer onto his good leg and helping him stand in place with a firm grip on his arm.

  “You see anything?”

  Boen looked around the perimeter, but there was nothing aside from grass and mountain ahead of them and debris behind. To the south they could see the edge of the Nestafar encampment, with the walkers barely registering as dots.

  “I don’t want to jinx us, but I think we’re clear.”

  “Call it in,” Mark prompted as he lowered himself down to the ground, grimacing as his broken leg was forced to bend an inch or two. “See if they’ve got that mantis repaired yet, though if I have to I can ride on the top of a sk
eet.”

  “Not a half bad idea,” Boen said as he activated his comm, thinking that whatever pilot they had fly out here could change places with Mark and let him fly back, then he and Boen could head in on foot rather than risk a dropship. The one surviving mantis had been hit badly, and he figured it wouldn’t be fully operational any time soon. The idea of sending it out wounded to get them was problematic, considering the protomechs and rocket launcher-toting infantry the enemy had in the area.

  Mark pulled off his helmet and keeled over to the side, throwing up as the pain finally won out against his stomach. Fortunately there was no blood in it, but his insides now felt almost as messed up as his leg.

  Boen looked down at him, but knowing there was nothing he could do short of organize his extraction he didn’t comment.

  Mark spit out what gunk was left in his mouth then his arms started shaking. For a moment he thought it was due to his weakening condition, perhaps shock setting in, but the vibration in his arms was also in his half numb leg, making it complain in an entirely new fashion, which was when he realized it was the ground that was shaking.

  “What’s that from?” he asked, not in a position to get up and look around.

  “I don’t know, but it’s close.”

  The tremors increased until a section of hillside below them disappeared. Mark couldn’t see it well, hidden in the grasses, but a tunnel mouth appeared with no dirt or debris being thrown about. As if by magic the hollow formed, out of which a red-scaled dragon climbed and stood upon the grasses, stretching out a huge set of scaled wings.

  “What the hell?!” Boen asked, taken aback. “That can’t be the one…”

  With a wicked flap of its wings and a muscular leap off the ground the dragon took flight and rose up a short distance, thereupon it stretched out its wings to their full grandeur and hovered in place, looking down on the Nestafar camp, the debris field, and everything else in view as it rotated its long neck around.