Reclaimers Read online

  In his meditative reflections he found it best to keep some sound in the room, so he had a loop of soothing music playing that overcame any sound of footfalls in the hallway or the mechanical action of ship’s systems in the walls, ceiling, or floor. But the sound of a combat alert overrode it all, and the Deoglade immediately opened his eyes and shot to his feet before he realized what was happening.

  “Report,” he demanded calmly into his terminal that had a direct line to the bridge as he pulled on the upper half of his uniform.

  “Pafdreng in the system,” someone said, with the words coming through chilled as death itself.

  “Avoid all contact until I get to the bridge,” he said, cursing himself for underestimating their speed. He hadn’t expected them to get this far for another 4-7 Saoyen.

  The Deoglade dressed quickly, then ran through the ship until he got to the bridge and the guards there let him pass without delay, with the doors irising open onto a very calm bridge crew.

  No, they weren’t calm, they were in shock and totally still, with their heads barely turning to acknowledge him as they all stared at the main display.

  “Have any of you ever been in combat with Pafdreng?” he asked casually as he strode to his command throne.

  “I have, once,” a single crew member said.

  “How large was it?”

  “Bigger than this one. A lot bigger,” he said, finally having a coherent thought ping through his mind as his curiosity asserted itself.

  “As have I. This is one of their fragments. That means a larger one is nearby and has just birthed this new one,” he said, looking at the cloud-like entity that was currently swirled around one of the moons of the first planet with all manner of energy discharges occurring between them. “It is still just as deadly, but if the Neofan were here with a dozen of their Gjardans we would have a chance to kill it. They do die, just rarely, and you have to use a lot of Essence weaponry to do it. None of which we have,” he said as he sat down.

  “This system was going to fall the Hadarak or the Pafdreng, and there was nothing we could do about it. There is nothing we can do now. Engaging it would be a waste of our ships. We don’t have the firepower to do more than wound it, and that wound will not save the system. We continue on with our mission, and evacuate the worlds it has not reached yet onto every ship left in the system. Contact them all now, and order them to stay put and begin loading. I also want couriers sent to the nearby systems to bring back those that have fled along with any other transports they can find. Do so now.”

  The Deoglade said nothing further, waiting for his crew to act…and they did so, but slowly. The sight before them of the inhabitants being vaporized on the surface as the deadly fog overcame them was terrifying…as was the fact that firing projectiles into that fog would see them pass through it. There were no decks on a Pafdreng. No bridge. No engines. It was all energy, and those within it were incorporeal…or so the knowledge in his mind told him. It also told him they were harvesting the lives of those on the planet to steal their Essence…and their Cores. For these people were not dying. They were being enslaved within the Pafdreng to produce Essence for it forever.

  The Deoglade would have killed it simply to release the captives into death, but he didn’t have the firepower. The only way he would win this fight was by not engaging in it, and fortunately the Pafdreng didn’t concern themselves with ships or outposts. Only the areas with a massive amount of life, though the harvesting procedure often destroyed the planets in the process, sometimes with the rubble disappearing entirely. And even the knowledge in his mind did not know where it went.

  Some systems that were hit by a full sized Pafdreng were wiped off the map when they were finished, including the star. But most were raided for their living beings, and that was probably what was happening here, though he couldn’t say for certain.

  He kept his fleet orderly, and grew it with many ships that were already running towards them before his orders went out. They eventually ended up back at Shosta’tri’lak, for it was the 6th planet in the system and probably had a few more weeks, maybe months, before the Pafdreng got here. But the Deoglade had never heard of one leaving a system only half consumed, which meant everyone here was going to die that didn’t get onboard the few landing ships heading down to the planet.

  The Deoglade had to send troops with them to evac the list of people he gave them rather than have a free for all at public assembly points. That’s not to say that random people wouldn’t be picked up, but it would be by his troops’ choice and not a first come first to be evaced situation.

  He had to do it that way, or the Meerioss on the planet would stampede over one another to try and escape the Pafdreng. He’d seen it before, even amongst the most disciplined races. When sheer terror befell them, their true colors showed through, and most were not something you wanted to see.

  But more than people, the Deoglade needed supplies for a long journey of unknown length. He knew how far it was to the hidden gateways, but beyond that he had no knowledge of where Star Force was or how fast they could actually travel using Essence, for it wasn’t a matter of boosting one’s engines as his warships could. This was an entirely different form of travel, though one he wasn’t provided the specifics about for the simple fact that he did not need to know if his duties never took him there.

  Some Deoglades had been sent beyond the galaxy on missions, occasionally. He knew that because his master had told him so, while also telling him that he wasn’t going to be one of those Deoglades. He wondered if any were still out there, and if they were being killed as well.

  Three days into the evacuation the Pefdreng moved, having already consumed everything on the moons and first planet. It leapt out across space to the next closest…which was the third planet…like an marine animal extending a tentacle out, then the bulk of it followed, stretched out like a fat spear, and not using jumplines. It moved on untraceable paths and flew out ahead of the next planet, gathering itself there for a few hours before expanding outward like a great cloth that then wrapped itself around the planet as it tried to pass through it.

  It was already bigger now than it was when the Deoglade’s fleet had arrived, and would get bigger with every feeding…yet it had no mass. No gravity signature. It didn’t exist, and yet it did. Sensors could see it, bounce energy off it to confirm it was there, but particles would go right through it, as the third planet slowly did, but the Pafdreng moved with it and wrapped it up like a blanket too small for its owner.

  And under that blanket horrors wrought.

  A day later a few ships returned, meaning some more people would be leaving this system onboard them as the Deoglade’s troops raided the system’s storehouses and took what they needed at gunpoint if the locals refused or demanded to be taken with them. Those supplies were filling his cargo holds while the passenger decks were being stacked with living bodies as tightly as could be managed.

  No one complained, for they were immensely grateful to have even a small corner onboard the ships that would take them away from here, but the Deoglade knew he couldn’t overload his carrying capacity, or they’d starve on their way, and he had no guarantee of resupply between here and the Outer Rim, though he was going to try at what was left of it, for the Pafdreng had come in on multiple vectors and were nibbling away at the galaxy’s systems in all major areas…except where the Hadarak were the most.

  At the Core.

  Or at least that was the case earlier. Now reconnaissance was non-existent. That’s why this Pafdreng had managed to get here without him being notified, and he wondered how many more pieces of the original were in neighboring systems. When they eventually returned to the galactic void they would rejoin into a few massive objects the size of nebulas, but for the feeding process it was more efficient to do it this way…or perhaps there was some other reason in play. Regardless, he might find himself jumping into systems with them in it quite often, and unless they were consuming the star he preferred that situation to a Hadarak siege fleet.

  Weeks continued to go by until his fleet was full to the brim of supplies and people, and by that time the Pafdreng had scrapped the living beings off four planets and 18 moons, including destroying one of the moons and only leaving crumbs behind. The Deoglade tried to monitor what it was doing with the rubble, but sensors didn’t work well inside it. Only a faint echo of the rock maintained inside the cloud…up until it came towards its center, then it disappeared entirely.

  The cloud didn’t get bigger. No energy discharges were seen beyond the norm. It appeared that eating the moon itself did nothing, and yet there had to be a reason.

  The Deoglade considered these things while his crew did not. Their fear drove them, and he had to channel that fear into doing their duty, else they would have gone as mad as those on the planets remaining had. Fires raged on many, set by the inhabitants as they fought each other over this or that. Anything to possibly survive what was coming, or to indulge in one last moment, or to avenge one last grudge.

  It was not an honorable end, and the Deoglade was glad he didn’t have to stay around any longer to watch his people tear themselves apart before the Pafdreng finished the job…though, in their defense, it was probably better to die and have your Core set free in the Essence realm rather than to become a slave, though he doubted that was why the fires were raging.

  His fleet, with the warships at the fore and aft, led the makeshift convoy back to the star and out of the system, escaping the horror of the Pafdreng and the Hadarak for a short time at least. They had many months of travel ahead to get to the galaxy’s edge, and he hoped they would not be contested.

  But he wasn’t counting on it.

  8

  March 13, 154967

  UTOVI GALAXY

  System 83392-98311

  Low Stellar Orbit

  “Take some of them with us,” the Nu’avi said to the Deoglade as their convoy moved around the star towards their outgoing jumpline amidst the clutter of ships around the system, most of which were refugees from others, plus the native Nu’avi whose system couldn’t support them all.

  “We can’t have them all following us,” the Deoglade cautioned from the observation deck onboard the warship two levels above the bridge. It was all holograms, but made it appear you were riding on the top of the ship with nothing but the hull underneath your feet. “And all it will take are a few coming with us for the others to get the idea.”

  “There is a Tru’ak in this system. Do you understand the significance of this?”

  The Deoglade turned away from the sea of ships to look down on the smaller biped, who was now fully recovered from his starvation on Dragiel.

  “Every Nu’avi I take with us is less Meerioss I can save.”

  “There are no guarantees will find other intact Meerioss systems like the last two. Those with ships are probably long gone to places like this hoping to find refuge. Take the Tru’ak and her guard. That is enough for us to rebuild from.”

  “Where the Tru’ak goes, the rest of them will follow,” the Deoglade said, gesturing to the sea of ships they were having to navigate through, for not all were getting out of their way. “How would you suggest getting her here?”

  “She will have her own vessels. A rendezvous in another system, with her jumping the opposite way and catching up, would lose these slower vessels. It could be arranged.”

  “On your word alone?”

  “I would have to go to her. A message would not be convincing enough.”

  “If she declines you will be stuck here. I’m not stopping the convoy.”

  “Nor am I asking you too. I will take the risk if you will allow her to join the convoy.”

  The Deoglade sighed. “Tell her she may come if she brings with her a large amount of Essence. I do not know how much is required for intergalactic transit, but if she can pay her way then she may travel with us by means of the rendezvous you mentioned. But she must not follow our jumpline or allow other ships to track her.”

  “Well bargained. Shall I ask for a pickup?”

  Before the Deoglade could answer a hologram of one of his bridge crew appeared beside him.

  “Apologies, but we have discovered 7 Meerioss vessels within the system. We have inquired to their identity and personnel load. All are freighters, with double to triple their normal crews, but most of their holds are full of fuel and ammo.”

  “Military supply craft?”

  “Confirmed. They never made it to their destination. It was destroyed before they could arrive. They grabbed a few personnel off stricken ships before abandoning their destination.”

  “What was their destination?”

  “Targish.”

  The Deoglade grimaced. He’d once lived there, briefly.

  “Have a number of our ships moved out to them and top off with fuel. When they return to the convoy, the freighters will accompany them. Slow convoy speed to one third current velocity.”

  “It will be done,” the crewer said, disappearing from view.

  “Take one of our Interlopers,” the Deoglade told the Nu’avi. “I assume you can pilot it yourself?”

  “I can manage.”

  “If these new vessels joining us don’t provoke a stampede behind us, we will travel slowly to Yem-mark-adva. You will have to beat us there, for we will not wait.”

  “How many jumps is that from here?”

  “Six.”

  “With your permission I will depart now.”

  “Go,” the Deoglade said, with the Nu’avi trotting off the deck through a hidden door that had him vanishing into the starfield above the hull. That left the Meerioss alone to view the mass of ships that had nowhere to go. Many showed battle damage, light, but obviously Hadarak. The people onboard these ships would have limited supplies, and may very well be starving to death before him as the four planets here could not, or would not help them.

  But out there, around those planets, the Deoglade could see a haze of even more ships surrounding them. Many more. And all were going to be helpless when the enemy arrived. They’d either run to another system, or be stranded here as target practice.

  And there was nothing the Deoglade could do to save them. But at least he could pull the Meerioss out with him. Had there been a significant number of the ships here, he would have had to leave them behind as well.

  Fortunately that wasn’t the situation, and depending on what kind of ammunition was onboard, his warships would be thankful for the resupply, because they’d used most of their pre-packaged rounds at Dragiel, and then some more in that skirmish three jumps ago whose system he could not remember the number of. There were no planets there worth naming, but it had been a good raiding position.

  They’d simply tried to raid the wrong fleet.

  The Deoglade had made sure to destroy their ships, which was a mercy rather than leaving the Ueni floating helpless. A quick death was the most the people in this galaxy could hope for now.

  Hay’mei flew the odd shuttle crudely at first, but as he got to his jumppoint for the capitol planet he had gotten somewhat accustomed to the purple/red control color scheme. Purple was for navigation, red for weapons, and the buttons, dials, and levers were spread out in no recognizable configuration. But at least they were labeled.

  Hay’mei had not brought the other Nu’avi with him. He didn’t want to risk their lives on his gamble. But if the Tru’ak was still here, and he could convince her to leave, then the Nu’avi would not be exterminated with the rest of the galaxy, for a Tru’ak was the source of all Nu’avi live births. A queen, of sorts, and far larger than Hay’mei could ever hope to grow.

  When he neared the capitol he got a myriad of warnings telling him to stay away or to transfer to another planet, but when he didn’t follow those orders nothing happened. There were so many other ships here disobeying that it looked like orbital gridding had broken down, and only a ring of warships in very low orbit was keeping the rest above them and off the planet, though most weren’t built for landing.

  It took him a while before he saw the orbital habitats, for they were surrounded by vessels, some docked, some waiting to dock, and others being fired upon that were getting too close. It looked chaotic, and he wondered what those ships were trying to do. If the Hadarak or Pafdreng got here, there would be no safe havens anywhere.

  Then he finally figured it out. There was food onboard, and if these ships were starving they were going to force their way onto the stations to get it. That or sit and die in the sight of those who had food.

  Hay’mei flew well away from those areas, moving up towards the northern pole and tried to contact one of the warships holding position there.

  “This is a priority courier requesting permission to land on the planet. The content of the message is with regards to the Tru’ak’s safety.”

  He didn’t expect a response immediately, or at all, but he was transmitting on Nu’avi standard frequency and speaking their native language rather than the communal Neofan, and whoever it was, he got a response.

  “Permission denied. The planet is currently quarantined. No one in, no one out. Your message will have to be transmitted.”

  “Can you guarantee it will reach her? Timing is critical.”

  “I can guarantee it will be forwarded to the palace. What they choose to do with it is beyond me.”

  “Very well, I can send a small part of it. The rest must be discussed face to face. I have been sent by a Deoglade and require an immediate audience to discuss relocation.”

  “Relocation where?”

  “I can’t send that on a comm channel.”

  “Are the Neofan still holding territory somewhere?” the voice demanded.

  “I do not know. I have been given orders to speak with the Tru’ak on behalf of the Deoglade. Please pass along the message quickly. I have little time.”