Star Force: Hamoriti (SF62) (3 page)

This planet was far from either of those locations. Furthermore,
this Hamoriti didn’t match the descriptions of the others. Each was unique and
this monster was something altogether new.

“
How can this
be?
” the helmsman asked, not even caring about the proximity reports as
several Li’vorkrachnika ships were closing to weapons range.

Gosfu
ignored the question,
but he was thinking the same thing as he watched one of the cruisers down on
the planet get hit with a beam of pure blue fire emitting from the Hamoriti’s
head. It passed through the ship like it wasn’t even there, puffing out a huge
explosion when the material vaporized, leaving only bits and pieces to fall to
the ground afterward.

The other Li’vorkrachnika ships continued firing some
form of physical slugs at the mass that exploded on contact, but
Gosfu
knew how futile that was. The Hamoriti ate corovon,
with their bodies being the most potent armor the galaxy had ever known…but
what he didn’t understand was why this one hadn’t killed all the enemy ships
attacking it. After the single blue beam it did nothing for a long time, then
seeming to summon up a great effort, it released another beam that hit a second
cruiser.

This wasn’t right, for a Hamoriti should have been
capable of destroying all of them on a whim.

“
Is there an
Ancient facility on the planet?
” he finally asked, knowing what this meant
for the galaxy if his eyes weren’t truly deceiving him.

“
There’s a
subsurface structure similar to the one on
Vikod
, but
I can’t confirm make from this distance.
”

Gosfu
lowered his head,
trying to quiet his nerves. “
Take us into
the atmosphere and do a close scan of both the creature and the cavern.
”

All the bridge crew turned from the live images being
displayed and stared at him, knowing that such a thing was a death sentence.

“
There is
something not right here
,” he explained, wondering if this was the right
course of action or not. “
It is fighting
the Li’vorkrachnika but only tentatively, almost as if it is weak. If it is not
destroying them quickly, then we should be able to get in and out with the
information we need
.”

Gosfu
looked up at them,
pleading in his eyes. “
We have to know if
there is an Ancient shell down there.
”

“
We’re dead
anyway
,” the helmsman said, turning back to his controls with a flurry of
headtails spinning about. “
Might as well
know the particulars
.”

“
No!
” one of
the other crewers yelled as he stood up. “
Go
near that thing and we’re dead! You know we will be. This is suicide!
”

Gosfu
jabbed a finger at the
image of the Li’vorkrachnika ships surrounding the creature, though the vast
majority of their fleet was still in orbit, some of which were even now
shooting on the scout ship with their primitive plasma weapons. “
They’re not dead. Not yet. And if we have a
window of opportunity I am not going to waste it!
” he yelled ever louder
than the other had. “
We have to give our
people as much information as we can. If this one is weak, or a cousin to the
others, or what I don’t care, but if there’s even the smallest chance of
surviving it we need information and I’m not going to waste this. Do you
understand me? We cannot waste this!
”

The other Trinx shook its head adamantly, not
listening to the logic and consumed by the fear instilled in them since birth.
“
No, no we can’t!
”

“
Helm, get us
moving
,”
Gosfu
ordered, feeling the same fear but
not letting it totally consume him. “
Get
every bit of data we can on one pass. We’re not going to risk two
,” he
said, pointing at the vocal crewmember before the next scream of protest came.
“
And you will be silent…or removed
.”

Two others nearby walked up next to the Trinx and
stared at it, not saying a word, then it finally buckled and sat down, holding
its head in its hands and muttering to itself how they were all going to die.

3

August 24, 2723

Paquat
System

Vikod
(Trinx homeworld)
           

Nesfa walked with a trio of Regents,
each a longtime guardian tasked with defending and monitoring the sleeping
beast hidden beneath the surface of their capitol. There were other inhabited
planets in the system, but
Vikod
was the most densely
populated and heaviest defended of them all to insure that no one could gain
access to the Ancient shell. The native population knew it was there but only a
handful actually had access to it and this was the first time that Nesfa had
gone in person to the location.

The artifact was buried deep within
the planet, with the Trinx learning that was by design to supply it with
continuous geothermal power in case its own power reserves ever failed, as well
as to continually recharge them as time passed. The shell also gathered
resources from the surrounding rock layers that were partially molten, which
had made the facility difficult to access initially when the Trinx took
possession of this planet, but their technology had advanced so far in the
millennia that had passed that the conduit they’d built down to reach it was in
no danger of breaching.

The main shaft didn’t lead directly
to the artifact, but rather to a small city they’d built adjacent to it. There
they kept a permanent staff ensuring that any minute twitch from either the
machinery or the beast would be measured and an alarm sounded, but in all the
recorded history of the Trinx guarding this Hamoriti there had not been one
such occurrence. The Ancients had constructed their prisons well, and so long
as the Trinx kept outsiders from interfering it was believed that the beast
could be kept safely sedated for all of time.

As the Prefect walked through the
monitoring facility he got reports of no activity from this shell. That
shouldn’t have surprised him, but he half-expected this one to be waking up
too. He didn’t know why, because they were completely disconnected from one
another and spread out across different star systems with no interlinking
communication functions, but never in recorded history had anything like this
happened aside from the initial incident with the
Sety’s
Hamoriti. They’d barely been able to contain it then, and it hadn’t so much as
twitched.

Now there was one free of its prison
and doing battle with the Li’vorkrachnika that had awoken it…but it shouldn’t
have even existed. Everything the Oracle had told them indicated that there
were 7 Hamoriti. The only possible explanation was that one of the two that The
Nine didn’t have guardianship over had been moved, but even that wasn’t
possible. The descriptions of all of them were vivid in the Prefect’s memory,
and the newly discovered one was unlike any of the others.

Nesfa didn’t know what was going on,
and fearing the doomsday warned against he was going to the only source of
knowledge on the Hamoriti that The Nine had ever had. That being the Oracles.

The quartet walked through guard
station after guard station, with a formidable amount of weaponry set up should
any outsider make it this far underground in the unlikely circumstance that
someone got by their surface defenses. A direct attack had been unlikely, but
what had worried the Trinx more was an infiltrator sneaking past and gaining
access to the artifact, with these weapons emplacements, troops, and sealed
doors intending to deny them even sight of the Ancient prison.

There were a number of procedures to
pass through, time locks and such that prevented any quick access, with Nesfa
waiting patiently while the Regents handled all that was required. Once the
last measure had been passed the doors behind them closed, obscuring the final
defensive emplacements from view, before the much smaller opposite single hatch
pulled open revealing one of the actual entrances on the shell’s surface.
Initially they had been nearly impossible to find, but after the Sety had
unwittingly damaged theirs when trying to cut their way in the Trinx had made
sure not to make that mistake again and had spent many centuries looking for a proper
way inside before finally finding one.

Two of the Regents stayed in the
defense cupola while Nesfa and the other walked inside, transitioning off of
Trinx infrastructure to the floor built by the Ancients so long ago. In all
this time no one had learned what had happened to them, and the Oracles only
possessed knowledge regarding the Hamoriti and their imprisonment. They had not
tried to directly access the Ancient computer systems for fear of unwittingly
releasing the creature, so it was possible that the Oracles knew more than they
said. Nesfa wasn’t going to risk unleashing this monster, but he was going to
try and get whatever shreds of an answer he could out of this one.

A short hallway led to a series of
maintenance shafts that spurred off a central command area, with other
redundant structures spread around the gap between shells. The Oracle could be
accessed at any of them and many other smaller stations, and as the pair of
Trinx approached its hologram appeared in the center of the chamber and ‘flew’
towards them, speaking in the native Trinx language that it had deciphered long
ago.

“
Greetings,
Regent and guest
,” the tri-tipped icon said aloud, with all three spurs
spinning around their focal point and looking like an eviscerated pyramid. “
This facility’s status remains unchanged
since your last visit
.”

“
I
am Prefect of the Trinx
,” Nesfa identified himself, “
and I have questions
.”

“
You
may ask
.”

“
How
many Hamoriti are there?
”

“
Seven.
All were neutralized and imprisoned in separate facilities
,” it said,
flashing up a slice of the galactic map beneath it with seven pinpricks pulsing
with a pink glow. “
This one is known as
Rigall and is unique from the others. They are called…
”

“
Only
seven?
” Nesfa repeated, cutting off the long spiel that they’d heard many
times before.

“
Correct
in number, but not significance. A single Hamoriti is powerful enough to
decimate the galaxy if unchecked
.”

“
We
have discovered another, and it has been released from its shell. How is this
possible?
”

“
Location
please
,” the Oracle said, creating a solid holographic control board in
front of Nesfa for him to manipulate the map with.

The Trinx set its two-fingered hands
onto the energy-based floating panels and worked the Ancient coordinate system,
first identifying the local region and scaling the map down to it, then
manually picking out the correct system by sight rather than imputing the long
numerical code.

“
There
is no facility located in this system, nor is it a possession of the Ancients
.”

“
Mere
months ago a Hamoriti was released from a prison built akin to this one, though
of smaller size. The Hamoriti is also smaller and of a shape unlike the seven
you have shown us
.”

“
There
are no other Hamoriti beyond the seven
.”

Nesfa glanced at the Regent, who
took the data device he was carrying and walked it over to a station in the
command center. It had taken a very long time to be able to build a device that
could interact directly with the Ancient technology, but the Oracle program had
been designed to be intuitive regarding new races and had accepted data in many
other forms previously, but at a slow and often tedious pace.

The device the Regent plugged in
delivered the full intelligence packet within a tenth of a second and the
Oracle updated the map accordingly.

“
This
is indeed a Hamoriti. Like the others it is of unique composition and therefore
I have no records of it or its abilities, but I can deduce a fair amount given
the recordings you have made of it
.”

“
How
can there be an 8th that you didn’t know about?
” Nesfa asked. “
We could have safeguarded it easily if we’d
only known of its existence!
”

“
I
have no data regarding this Hamoriti. Speculation indicates that either the
seven Hamoriti imprisoned were able to reproduce another in secret before their
capture or that there were other Hamoriti not accounted for when these
facilities were created
.”

“
This
one was contained within an Ancient shell. How could you not know of it?
”

“
Confirmed.
The prisoner structure that previously held this Hamoriti is of Ancient design,
but specifications are not identical. Speculation suggests that this prison
facility was built in a time period after the original 7 and that this program
was not updated with such knowledge
.”

“
Is
this new one weaker than the others?
”

“
Speculation
again, but no. Not in terms of ability strength, however if this one is younger
than the others it may not have the battle experience to fully utilize its
strengths. The more you fight it however, the quicker it will learn.
”

“
Why
is it so much smaller?
”

“
Size
of Hamoriti is due to developmental choice. They can grow to any given size,
but if nutrients are scarce such size will require weaker bodily structures. If
this is a younger Hamoriti it may not yet have gathered the necessary elements
to achieve greater size
.”

“
But
it is weaker because of its smaller size? How could it not be?
”

“
Capabilities
of Hamoriti are judged by external observation. The truth behind their inner
workings are unknown. The combat data you have provided is minimal. No such
judgements as to capabilities can be made, and as prudence dictates we do not
risk understatement
.”

“
Is
there a way we can recapture this one? And if we can, can you show us how to
build or repair the existing shell?
”

“
Doubtful
and no. If the damage to the other shell is not critical the Oracle, if it has
one, should be able to make repairs if provided with the necessary raw
materials. Based off the data you have supplied, I estimate a 6% probability of
the Oracle maintaining sufficient machinery to execute such repairs.
”

“
Speculate
on the odds of us being able to destroy it if it is young and weaker than the
others
.”

“
None.
Your technology is inferior to that of the Ancients. If they could have
destroyed it they would not have imprisoned it
.”

“
Could
it be weaker from the imprisonment itself?
” Nesfa asked, grasping at
straws.

“
The
Hamoriti will not have an army of minions, but the creature itself will not be
weakened. The prison facilities are constructed to supply it with necessary
nutrients, else any such withering effect will cause a reflexive awakening. No
amount of sedative will counteract this. Assuming this undocumented prison
functions under the same principles, this Hamoriti will have emerged at the
full strength that it was captured at
.”

“
What
can we do then?
”

“
Maintain
the dormancy of the Hamoriti here. The undocumented Hamoriti is beyond your
control.
”

“
We
have to do something
,” Nesfa insisted.

“
Unless
the Ancients can be located, or another race with equal or greater power, all
you can hope to do is delay the Hamoriti’s expansion. You cannot stop it
.”

18 days later a massive Trinx fleet
arrived in the Haphchap System and moved to the planet that was ground zero for
the Hamoriti’s emergence. There they found a much smaller Li’vorkrachnika fleet
in middle orbit and the scattered remains of the rest showing up in pieces on
the surface. Not wasting any time the Trinx attacked and destroyed the
Li’vorkrachnika, securing the system against further outside influence and
establishing a loose blockade/monitoring spherical formation around the planet.

On the surface the Hamoriti had
moved off from the much
more shallower
shell and the
crude conduit that the Li’vorkrachnika had dug down to it. That hallow had been
expanded upon when the Hamoriti had
came
up, but it
was still within 1000 kilometers of the Hamoriti’s present location and it
being deemed too dangerous to attempt an insertion. The Trinx doubted enough
would be left of the shredded Ancient facility, but given they had no hope of
victory they were going to press every lead they had.

While they waited for the Hamoriti
to move further off around the curvature of the planet before attempting an
orbital insertion, they monitored closely what was happening, seeing several
large holes in the path the creature had taken. Presently it was walking across
the forested landscape leaving lake-sized footprints in a trail easily visible
from orbit. The large holes, however, had burrowed down into the bedrock and
were now covered at the base by formerly molten rock that had
resolidified
.

Though it wasn’t doing so now, the
Trinx knew from the Oracle that the Hamoriti had the ability to externally
digest rock in its molten state, essentially soaking in the various elements
they required while leaving the excess material outside its body. Each of the
big holes in the ground were burrowing points where it had been going after something
it sensed below the surface, possibly corovon or other raw materials that it
required.

As such, any potential physical
restraints on the beast would likewise melt off when it activated this ability,
with it also possessing the means to disrupt any energy based alternatives. The
Hamoriti were mountain-sized juggernauts that you couldn’t stop no matter how
hard you tried…and they contained biological anti-
grav
,
meaning they could fly across terrain if needed, and even through space.