Star Force: Bahamut (SF86) (Star Force Origin Series) (10 page)

“Were any of the attacked systems not destroyed?”

“Every system attacked by a Hamoriti was either
destroyed or heavily damaged.”

“Were any ever captured?”

“Define ‘capture.’”

“Did the Uriti ever take a world away and keep it?”

“The Hamoriti are beasts of destruction. They have
never conquered a world in the traditional fashion.”

“That location within it has the ability to grow a
city to put on claimed worlds. It creates a large mass that it then deposits on
a planet. That mass then continues to grow into a city that the Chixzon can
inhabit when they arrive after the fact without need for massive construction
projects. No one was probably ever alive to see them do
it.
The Uriti cannot reproduce. They have been engineered not to be able to.”

“How then are they produced?”

“By an even larger creature that they captured from
the deep core of the galaxy. They forced it to spawn, and its offspring were
heavily altered to become the living weapons the Chixzon wanted. That is why no
two Uriti look the same. Each is designed differently, as both weapon and
research specimen.”

“They were attempting new combinations with each
spawning?”

“Yes,” Riley said, cringing.

“The third aura draws near. It is where all others
have ceased functioning. Do you still want to proceed?”

“Give me a holographic field marking its location so I
can proceed carefully.”

In front of him a wall of glowing red energy appeared
and he walked up to it slowly. The edge was hazy, for it wasn’t a firm
boundary, and Riley stuck his arm through without feeling anything new. He
slowly moved his head in and felt a vice crunch down on his brain, but he
didn’t lose his ability to move.

He took a few long, slow breaths and focused,
summoning his internal energy that was a mix of psionics and willpower and
pushed back with considerable effort, giving his mind a narrow window of
opportunity to align itself.

“Damn that’s heavy,” he told the Oracle. “I can’t hold
this effort indefinitely. Is there a fourth aura?”

“No, but there are point defenses. They will not
activate against slow moving objects, so you are not a threat so long as you
continue walking. The data I am getting from you is truly remarkable. There are
two types of energy surging through your body that I cannot even identify.”

“Glad to make your day,” he said, pushing through the
holographic wall and picking up his walking pace slightly, realizing he was on
the clock. “Any reaction from
Bahamut
there?”

“This Hamoriti’s name is
Glaech
.
Is
Bahamut
the name given to it by its creators?”

“No. It’s the name given to it by me…right now,” he
said with effort as he walked steadily towards the crunched wing resting on the
floor.

“There is no need to proceed further. Maintaining this
position will give me all necessary data. The closer you get the further you
will be from the lesser impact zone, thus imperiling your escape should your
strength evaporate.”

“Noted,” Riley said as he continued onward, the Uriti
now a huge angled wall before him. He could see that the ‘skin’ of it was soft
as silk, visually speaking, but he knew from the records that it was harder
than any substance that Star Force could produce. It would bend, he knew, but
was a corovon-heavy substance that you could fire weapon after weapon into and
barely scratch…not to mention that the Uriti could heal itself if you did
scratch it, meaning it had renewable armor whereas a starship did not.

That and many other things about it impressed Riley,
but at the moment most of his focus was on defying its telepathic domination
through a mix of his Ikrid block and his own mental strength. Too much
pressure, even on a blocked mind, could physically burn out the components that
were sensitive to the signals…meaning that if this Uriti was awake, it could
kill Riley with a mere thought at this range.

Or just roll over and squash him.

Most people operated with minds that could be accessed
via telepathy, even if they weren’t overly sensitive to it, and Riley now
understood why telepaths didn’t want to get near this thing. Only someone whose
mind wasn’t telepathically sensitive at all wouldn’t be affected, and the
V’kit’no’sat had a long list of only 4 races that fit into that category…all of
whom they’d killed because of that fact.

Riley finally got to within a few meters of the Uriti
and looked straight up, seeing the ceiling beyond and the steeply angled wing
as it lay like a giant slide before him. Focusing on the moment, Riley
continued to resist the massive weight on his mind and use it like a training
session, getting a feel for its strength and his own before he was satisfied.

“Will physical contact wake it?”

“Only damaging efforts. You are incapable of any such
thing.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, but it’s good to
know,” he said, reaching out his armored hand and placing it against the pale
yellow wing and pushing slightly. It did not give under his pressure, feeling
like an incredibly solid glass structure.

“Coup counted,” he said for the benefit of the
universe, as if it were keeping score. He was tempted to take his glove off and
make physical contact, but if this thing’s skin was sensitive to his physical
Ikrid hacking, which he doubted, the feedback would probably kill him.

“Ok, I’ve seen enough,” he said, turning around and
walking a few steps before breaking into a jog with the Oracle keeping pace
effortlessly.

“Are you in danger of succumbing?”

“No, but I don’t want to linger here.”

“What is a coup?”

Riley smiled as he put his helmet back on, finding it
didn’t help one iota as he ran towards the boundary line of the third aura.

10

November 25, 3254

Unnamed System

(Uriti/Hamoriti
location)

“There it is,” Nefron said on the bridge of the
Warship
-class jumpship he rode on.

“I can’t feel anything,” the Archon mage standing next
to him said with a frown.

“It is very faint from this range,” he said as they
drifted lower into planetary orbit, having just come out of their microjump
deceleration, “but I know what to look for. Cardosan’s energy is greatly
reduced, but I can feel it even from here.”

“How do you know which one it is?”

“They all have a different telepathic signature,” the
Chixzon said as he saw the massive fleets arrayed in orbit…both Star Force and
the self-appointed planetary defenders, though the lizards were nowhere to be
seen. “This is Cardosan. Their 67th production.”

“Easy to control?”

“Easier than others, harder than some. The message
indicated that we were not to wake this one up, only to inspect it.”

“That’s what they want,” the Archon scoffed. “Do we
want to wake it up?”

“Not when there is another one already running
rampant. If they were all dormant, then yes, we would need to awaken one, but
there are things I can learn from the other without tampering with the sleep
this one is confined to.”

“How do they survive so long sleeping?”

“They are remarkably resilient. Had it not been for
the creation of the chemical sedative, the galaxy would not have been able to
stop them.”

“I thought two were destroyed.”

“Through mismanagement, yes. They can be killed, but
it is a great feat to do so. Time alone cannot kill them. They are immune to the
worse effects of stagnation.”

“Archon,” the ship’s captain interrupted. “The
trailblazers want Nefron taken to the surface immediately. They will meet him
at the Uriti site.”

The mage nodded and turned towards the bridge exit.
“Let’s go.”

Riley met the pair on the landing pad, monitoring the
reactions of the eight representatives with him as they saw Nefron walk off the
dropship along with the dark blue armored Archon after it landed directly in
the atmospheric pocket next to the cupola. There was no recognition, but there
was a great deal of trepidation. Nefron looked ghastly in an intimidating way,
and the effect didn’t lessen as he approached.

“About time you got here.”

“My apologies, Riley. It took some time to gather the
necessary materials. We assembled it enroute to save time.”

“You’re forgiven,” the Archon said sarcastically.
“Come on inside and meet
Bahamut
.”

“
Bahamut
?”

“I named him.”

“As you wish.”

“You don’t approve?”

“I am unfamiliar with that name.”

“Comes from a kickass video game series called Final
Fantasy. Look it up when you get some spare time.”

“Another of your antiquated classics?”

“You say that like you don’t care,” Riley said
deadpan.

“Call him what you wish.”

“Thank you,” the trailblazer said, gesturing to the
nearby races. “These are the guys that have taken up stewardship.”

“What is the
Uriti’s
condition?” Nefron asked bluntly.

“Still sedate,” the cyborg said, sizing him up. “You
are an expert on the Uriti?”

“I am.”

“How do you intend to control them?”

“I have a transmitter that will send the necessary
control signals.”

“Untested?”

“It was built from the design of those who originally
used it. This particular one was just constructed.”

“You don’t intend to test it here?” the Sety asked.

“No, I do not.”

“Then what is it that you need to see?”

“What has been done to the
Uriti.
It has been incapacitated by those that do not fully understand its function. I
do. I need to confirm its status and diagnose any unforeseen problems.”

“The Ancients have successfully kept these beasts in
check since their capture. Their systems function perfectly if not disturbed,”
the cyborg stated evenly.

“I need to confirm that.”

“What do you fear?” the Trinx asked.

“Many things, but I am hoping all is well.”

“Be specific,” he reiterated, standing between Nefron
and the lift that would take them down into the planet.

“They can communicate with each other. If the other
gets close enough, it may be able to wake this one. I need to see just how
sedate Cardosan is.”

Riley coughed.

“I said you can call it what you want, not that I
would reciprocate.”

“Fair enough,” the Archon surrendered with a smile.

“You have studied the Chixzon intensely?” the
shapeshifter asked.

“I possess their knowledge.”

“Do you know why they created the Hamoriti?”

“To dominate the galaxy…no less.”

“They sought to destroy everything?”

“No, they sought to intimate. They destroyed only
those who would not submit, and to give visible examples to others so that they
would. They would rather rule by extortion than conquest.”

“Let’s take him inside,” the small
Dati
suggested. “Perhaps he will have some more pertinent questions for the Oracle.”

“It’s locked us out of the Uriti chamber after I went
in,” Riley explained. “It doesn’t trust us enough to let us sightsee.”

“But it let you in earlier?” Nefron asked as they
stepped into the lift.

“It said it wanted to study my resistance to the
telepathic aura.”

“It is quite strong. How close did you get before you
had to turn back?”

Riley smiled. “I made it all the way.”

Nefron looked at him closely as the doors shut them in
and they began to descend.

“It hurt,” he admitted. “A lot, but I was able to hold
it together long enough to get to it.”

“What did you do?”

“I touched it.”

“You touched it?” Nefron said quizzically, then a
surge of worry ran through him.

“No, I didn’t connect to it. Figured that might kill
me before I knew what was happening.”

“You probably couldn’t get through its armor anyway. The
Chixzon could never get within touching range of them. They had to craft them
from afar.”

“They made them so dangerous even they could not touch
them?” the Sety asked.

“Their power was craved, thus safety requirements were
not considered relevant. They were never meant to cohabitate systems. They
would be kept outside Chixzon worlds and released into target populations. They
did not trust them anywhere near their own colonies, but they did utilize their
minions for defensive purposes.”

“Are you feeling alright?” the mage asked.

“I will be able to sustain its presence so long as I
do not come within 3 kilometers. I may be able to sustain outside of 2, but I
do not want to test that theory. Already my mind is numb from the
reverberations.”

“You are telepathic?” the cyborg asked.

“I am,” he said, standing next to the Archons with the
other races keeping a little space between themselves and his black, rock-like
armored body and his dangling spear-like limbs that were bracketing his head.

“What is your position within Star Force?” the Sety
asked.

“He is a Chixzon specialist, as well as one of our
leading geneticists,” Riley answered when Nefron telepathically deferred, not
wanting to say something to give away the secret the trailblazers wanted hidden
from The Nine.

“What is the range on this transmitter?” the cyborg
asked after a moment of silence.

“It will not reach between star systems, but will
reach everywhere inside one. Intensity will increase as the range shortens, and
how much is required depends on which Uriti you are dealing with and what its
current state is. During combat they do not listen well.”

Another silence followed, then the lift doors opened
and they walked out beginning their hike across the hollowed out chasm with the
red shell of the Ancient Hamoriti prison visible the moment they stepped out.
They got halfway to the aperture lift when weaponsfire sounded up at the
aperture along with several flashes in the otherwise dark upper reaches where
the small lit platform resided.

“What are they firing at?” the Trinx asked quickly,
accessing a
wristbound
communicator and retrieving
information. Several other representatives did likewise, but it was the cyborg
that answered first.

“The internal defenses have activated. Our guards are
being driven out of the shell.”

“What caused this?” the Sety demanded.

Riley groaned. “Come on, Nefron. I’ll get you in even
if I have to bust the door down myself.”

“The internal defenses are not to be trifled with,”
the Trinx warned.

“Neither am I,” the trailblazer said as he, the mage,
and Nefron began running ahead of the representatives. When they got to the
base of the lift it wasn’t accessible, already halfway up and coming down, so
the trio hit the stairs and began climbing the height the slow way. The
representatives assembled a slew of personnel and came up the lift a bit behind
the Star Force personnel that were standing on the edge of the platform and
blocking lightning flashes being emitted from the perimeter of the aperture
that had since closed.

Before the Trinx could order his pair of vassals
forward, the dark blue armored Human darted forward and opened fired on the
point where the lightning was coming from and covered it with blue plasma. That
didn’t stop the weaponsfire at all, and eventually another point sent a
lightning cascade towards him. His shields took the brunt of the attack, but
his weapon was also hit and it exploded, knocking him backwards and onto the platform
while most of the lightning attacks were still being directed at Riley who held
position in front of Nefron and was blocking for him.

The mage got up and sprinted to the door, ducking
under the point where the lightning was coming from and seeing if he could draw
a shot at extreme close range. Either he couldn’t or the Ancient facility
didn’t see him as the most valuable target, so he took his advantage and
focused his Pefbar inside the wall…then began telekinetically twisting the
parts to the lightning weapon until something popped and the weaponsfire from
that point ceased.

Three more suddenly appeared around the aperture and
shot him, getting through his shields and melting streaks across his armor. A
split second later he was dragged backwards across the platform by the
trailblazer’s telekinetic grasp as Riley sprinted forward, swapping places with
the mage who got to his feet and stood up in front of Nefron while deploying a
bioshield to cover the gaps between arms and legs where his armor would not
block.

Two mechanical soldiers passed him by as the Trinx
sent his vassals up past the charred remains of the previous ones that were
lying scattered on the platform.

“Enough of this,” Nefron said with a snarl, running
out from behind the mage and taking temporary cover behind one of the vassals.
It blocked one lightning blast as Riley got to the wall and took out another
weapons battery with his telekinesis, then two more new ones opened fire and
zapped him with four shots in total, with his bioshields adding enough
resistance to his mechanical ones to keep him in the game as he disabled
another one.

Nefron ran around the much taller combat machine as it
opened fire on one spot, catching a lightning blast in biologically armored
chest and feeling the pain…but he did not fall. He yelled in a fury, catching
two more lightning blasts that partially absorbed into his body. As he covered
the last few meters to the wall six more lightning blasts hit him, ignoring
Riley briefly as they focused all their available firepower on him.

He dropped to a knee as the energy rippled across his
body, then he willed himself to stand up and surged forward with his eyes and
his spike mandibles sparking into a luminous green.

When he got to the wall he jabbed one of them directly
into the firing point of a weapon that was discharging. The lightning arcs
covered him, but as soon as the glowing green tip of his biological spear sank
into the armored wall the energy ceased. Another fired from his left, but the
mage came up and interposed himself and took half the attack before Nefron
shoved him aside and jabbed another glowing spike into it, repeating his attack
multiple times until he and the two Archons destroyed all of the point defense
weapons around the aperture.

Nefron groaned, then stood up straight and flexed
before quickly punching his left fist into the red armored cocoon and
discharged all of the energy that he had absorbed.

The shockwave was so loud most of the people present
at the back of the platform were stunned, ears left ringing, and both Archons
were knocked down while Nefron alone remained standing. He couldn’t sustain
that much energy inside him for long, and the wall seemed the best place to get
rid of it. Had he hit the platform he might have injured or killed those standing
on it.

Where the red armor had been was now a three inch deep
smoking hole charred ashy grey, and as the chaotic fight suddenly transitioned
into panicked calm, he stood there with the representatives and their people
crawling out of the lift and the troops they were hiding behind, whether they
be vassals or armored version of their own races, and looking at him as the
green glow left his body and he returned to pure black.

Everyone took a deep breath, then finally the cyborgs
came forward, some six of them, and inspected the aperture, the damaged
weapons, and the shallow crater Nefron had blown into the wall.

“What triggered this?” they asked, looking to the
surviving guards that had fled the facility.