Star Force: Resolution (SF89) (Star Force Origin Series) (3 page)

“Both Nami and Bahamut are too crude to be used in our
style of warfare, but it is somewhat possible that we could train them to the
point where we could retreat a fleet back to them and dare the enemy to follow.
Right now we kind of expect that the Uriti would kill both fleets if we told
them to attack, but if we could arrange to have a fallback position of that
magnitude it would be worthwhile.”

“Against the V’kit’no’sat?” Oro wondered.

“And others, but yeah, that was our thought. We’re not
going to put the Uriti into harm’s way in an offensive, but we suspect that if
the V’kit’no’sat ever find the Uriti they’re going to mark them for destruction
anyway, and if we could fight together it would be a huge advantage.”

Hera smiled coyly. “Damn you. Always thinking of the good
ideas before us.”

“We need more good ideas,” Pryon added. “Brainstorming
improvements is going to be one of your primary tasks. The Uriti control is
something you’re primarily going to sit on until a situation calls for action.
When we get the Sety Uriti we will have to split up, and Riley is going to stay
here while Nefron is going to help insure that it stays sedate during
transport. One or more of you will go with him to observe and help if needed
while the others stay and, quite frankly, just start learning. We’re all
building this Preserve from scratch and having to adapt as challenges present
themselves.”

“Who’s all we?” Eaton asked.

“Myself, Dukes Yetti and Ander, who handle the
diplomatic and tourism side of the Preserve, Riley, and Nefron. Davis chimes in
from afar as do some other trailblazers, but this is primarily our show and I’d
really appreciate your guys’ help.”

“I’m in,” Oro said, with the others nodding or
offering pithy agreements.

“Good,” a voice from behind a wall said that was lacking
a mental position. A moment later Nefron walked into view, chilling the 12
titans for a moment on reflex. The Chixzon were intimidating to behold, even
for those who knew his true origins. “Am I really that ugly?”

Riley pointed to the halo on his head and Nefron
reflexively pulled it off. “Oh…guess there’s no better way to freak out an
Archon than to block your mind from view,” he commented. “It’s a mobile relay
that allows me to stay in contact with the transmitter on this station or
onboard a ship much like your gauntlets will do, except there is no mimicry
needed. It also doubles as a telepathic shield in case an infiltrator with
powers like our own makes it to me.”

“How many of those are there here?”
Matti
asked.

“We don’t know for sure,” Pryon answered. “At least 17
are telepathic, based on our guestimates, and we truly don’t know what the
Knights of Quenar are capable of.”

“Those we have to be extra careful with,” Riley
warned. “Right now they’re working with us as limited allies, but their minds
don’t register to our telepathy, so don’t
ever
trust them and always watch your back.”

3

December 1, 3286

Prenthor
System (Sety
Capitol)

Qitor

Nefron stood inside the Uriti chamber looking up at
Nedrasil’s
mass of red lobes. This one was older than the rest,
having been 19th in the production line, and thus was going to probably be
harder to control than the others…though to date they hadn’t had any trouble
with the pair in the preserve. Right now it was doing good, slumbering while a
mass of robotic workers from The Nexus literally tore apart the shell
surrounding it and rebuilt it into a mobile pod without ever touching the
Uriti.

The sedative feeds had to be rerouted, but so far the
trickle going to it had been enough to sustain its sleep and the work hadn’t
aroused it. Right now they were a few days away from completion, so technically
Nefron was standing inside the pod as he watched the little machines crawling
all over the inside of it to deliver the last parts needed to create a shell
within a shell. They were built by The Nexus but operating under his orders,
for the last thing the Sety wanted was this Uriti to wake up and threaten the
impressively dense infrastructure covering the planet.

It had been evacuated just in case. A major expense on
their part but Star Force was glad for their caution even though Nefron assumed
it would be unnecessary. So long as the Uriti wasn’t provoked in some way it
shouldn’t wake up, and thus far the machines’ activity hadn’t been sufficient
to even elicit a peep in the monitoring statistics that Nefron was getting
through his ‘crown’ that also doubled as protection against the telepathic aura
that otherwise would have been overwhelming him.

Due to its age, Nedrasil was also larger than the
other two Uriti. It measured only 32 miles in width, but unlike the others it
had no legs, wings, or other body parts. It was more or less a roundish mass
with dot-like lobes sprouting from it. The Archons had already named it ‘Toad,’
citing it looked like an ugly mushroom, but Nefron wasn’t going to indulge in
their names. These Uriti had been around for so long with the same names there
was no point in changing them, as well as the fact that it was somewhat
disrespectful. He didn’t fault the Archons for it, for they didn’t have the
memories he had and could never understand the full significance of what the
Uriti were…and had been to the galaxy.

Nefron stayed in the Ancient shell until construction
was completed, then he headed back up to orbit and boarded the
Zeus
where the ship’s crew would be
taking control of The Nexus’s creation. They were gladly turning over all
responsibility for the Uriti to Star Force, saving themselves the cost of
maintaining such a large fleet in this system that could be redeployed
elsewhere, so they hadn’t balked about taking on the construction costs for the
custom made carrier despite the enormity of the project.

But then again, The Nexus was much larger than Star
Force and had ample resources to draw on if it so wanted. This obviously was
taking priority for them, and while they might be shortchanging other systems
Nefron knew that the removal of this Uriti from their care would probably bring
a touch of stability to the teetering civilization. A long term, unsolvable
problem was getting resolved and despite the expense in the short term they
knew that cost cutting going forward would be significant.

Right now there were over 8000 Nexus ships in the
system not counting the civilian traffic. A little less than half of that had
been here on permanent guard while the others had come from various Nexus
members to assist with the security regarding the removal, for it was quite the
spectacle and races from all over The Nexus were coming to see the now
publically acknowledged beast taken out of their territory.

But more than that were the outsiders arriving to
witness it. Some had come specifically for this so there had to be an insane
amount of security. One ship on a kamikaze run that got through could crash the
transport pod and wake the Uriti, which was another reason why Nefron was here.
If that occurred he could order it away from the empty city and other resources
that The Nexus didn’t want smashed, but he’d also have to begin the very slow
journey back to Star Force territory under its own power that would take
decades of travel to accomplish.

The Nexus didn’t want Nedrasil in their territory any
longer than necessary and neither Star Force nor the Knights of Quenar wanted
someone going after Nefron, so all three parties had a large fleet present,
though the KoQ had most of their ships invisible and prowling where no one
knew, save for a few sitting close, but not too close, to the
Zeus
to remind everyone that they were
in fact here and ready to throw down if provoked.

That threat, Nefron had learned recently, had been
forestalling a lot of problems back in the Preserve, and that wasn’t
speculation. He’d heard it was being discussed by various outsiders amongst
themselves and had the telepathic assurance from the Preema representative
standing next to him onboard the
Zeus
that the discussions were accurate, numerous, and often quite agitated.

If this operation went smoothly the Preema were going
to transfer their Uriti to the preserve as well, which was why the trailblazers
had allowed them one representative here onboard the ship rather than having
them send a fleet. Their involvement with Star Force was known, as was the fact
that they had
a
Uriti, but when the time came to move
theirs they didn’t want anyone else knowing about it, so an arrangement was
made for one of them to tag along and have access to Nefron…though in truth it
was the other way around.

Nefron was able to use his limited telepathy to get
inside the
Preema’s
head, which it voluntarily
lowered its mental defenses to allow. It was an expert on the Uriti they had
and between the two of them they were finalizing the arrangement and details
necessary for building a similar pod that could be flow from star to star to
avoid the immense distance lag of having the Uriti fly itself to the Preserve.

But even in a pod it was going to take a lot of time
to get it there, meaning they had to be escorted by a fleet and the longer it
took the more time that fleet would be tied up babysitting. Their Uriti, named
Barratim, was considerably smaller and therefore could be transported more
easily and faster than Nedrasil, but for some reason it had a tendency to wake
occasionally for reasons their Oracle couldn’t identify. Additional sedative
was always applied before it could gain full consciousness, but compared to the
other Uriti that Nefron had studied thus far in their imprisonments, Barratim
was unique in its level of resistance to the sedative’s effects.

That was a potential disaster in the making for the
Preema, and so long as they could effectively transfer it to the Preserve…and
the Preserve would actually work to neutralize the threat…they were willing to
commit the resources to building their own transport pod and entrusting Star
Force with the living weapon, but they needed more than just promises. They’d
been observing the two Uriti in the Preserve for some time now and were
sufficiently convinced in Star Force’s ability to corral them there, but the
part involving moving an Uriti without waking it was another matter entirely.

So they needed proof and Nefron needed information,
which was why the Preema was here now with plenty of nearby Archons should he
feel like getting out of line, though that wasn’t really necessary. A Chixzon
could take a Preema 1v1 fairly easily.

“Are we ready?” Oro asked from
Nefron’s
right.

“I am. I’m leaving the disposition of the fleet to
you.”

“The fleet is ready and the observers are…observing.
The Sety say they’re good to go and have relinquished control of all systems to
us.”

“Adequate,” Nefron said as he connected to the transmitter
in the ship via his crown just in case it would be needed. “Bring it up.”

On the planet’s surface there was a deep tunnel dug into
both the dirt and the rock below that led straight to the Ancients’ prison, and
up through that passage a bluish/green cube arose. It passed above surface
level and slowly began to ascend into orbit so not to mess with the very
unaerodynamic
silhouette in the thick atmosphere. As it
thinned, its speed increased all the way up into a holding orbit without any
reaction from the Uriti within.

“No response from Nedrasil. It’s still fully sedate,”
Nefron said with a glance to the Preema. “So long as the sedative levels remain
steady I don’t think there’s going to be a problem.”

The Griffin-like alien nodded its head as it watched
the wall-mounted displays intently. “
Good.
Very good
,” it said via a small headset that acted as a translator, for the
Preema had no armor on given its position as guest onboard the Star Force ship.

“Looks like that observers are keeping their distance,”
Oro noted dryly. “The Nexus fleet is falling into alignment and reiterates that
they’ll stay with us to the edge of their territory…after which they’ll say
goodbye and good riddance.”

“I assume you’re paraphrasing?”

“Reading between the lines on the second part.”

“I don’t doubt your deduction.”

“
Did you expect
them to travel the full distance to your Preserve?
” the Preema asked.

“That would be prudent,” Nefron agreed, “but their
willingness of only escorting us through their territory says that they’re
eager to be done with this matter and return their fleet to other uses. Even
though it’s their capitol, I don’t think they’ll keep it so well guarded
without the Uriti present.”

“
We will not
conduct ourselves in a similar manner
,” the quadruped promised. “
We will see it through the entire journey
assuming this one goes well
.”

“It will on the Uriti’s part. I can’t guarantee
anything regarding outside interference.”

“
It is the Hamoriti’s
part that concerns me. We will have enough ships to guarantee security
.”

“Jumpline,” Oro insisted, with Nefron nodding his
agreement. While the ship’s crew had remote control of the transport pod they
weren’t going to do anything with it without the Chixzon’s approval for fear of
disrupting their extremely dangerous cargo.

With the order given, the crew began moving the
transport out to the jumppoint and orchestrating the escort fleets to match
with about half the Star Force ships preceding it along with what were assumed
to be KoQ ships while the rest of them and the masses of observers were to
follow behind. The
Zeus
took up
position just in front of the transport and had it following in its wake as
they made the jump out to the star and repositioned around to the interstellar
jumpline.

From there they exited without incident, traveling the
first of 4 legs until they came to a grid point where an even larger ship
cradled the transport in its grasp while the host of Star Force ships and
observers were loaded up into other mag drive jumpships that had been assembled
for just this task. One by one they shot off the gigantic dish like a slingshot
and headed across Nexus territory far faster than
grav
drives could take them, let alone the slow crawl of
a
Uriti’s natural speed.

“
You have done
well
,” the Preema told Nefron as they both watched the new Uriti fly across
the Alamo System and rendezvous with its two kin. They grouped together and
began exchanging a lot of telepathic communication, once again reinforcing the
fact that they weren’t going to start fighting each other, making it clear that
the Preserve was a viable option for dealing with the threat they posed.

“We’ve done what was necessary.”

“
At great cost
for little visible reimbursement should you never utilize their combat
capability.
”

“It is necessary.”

“
Agreed, but we will
not be as ungrateful as The Nexus. You will be compensated for taking this
burden off us
.”

“You are granting your approval then?”

“
I am.
Construction will begin as soon as I return. What is the best means for us to
deliver suitable compensation?
”

“I have a few suggestions, but those matters will be
handled by one of the Dukes or trailblazers.”

“
Of course. Is
there anything you personally require?
”

“Knowledge of where the other Uriti are.”

“
We have already
told you what we know, but we will search for leads. Star Force has a
reputation for trustworthiness. It would be best if all the Hamoriti were
deposited here. Others would not hold to such scruples given the ability that
you possess. Is there anything else?
”

“I have everything that I require.”

“
Is there
anything that you desire?
”

“Are you trying to bribe me?”

The Preema laughed. “
I would not even know how to begin to go about doing that. Your
allegiance to Star Force is solid. I am simply offering our gratitude but do
not know what form in which to package it
.”

“We haven’t removed your Uriti yet.”

“
No, but you
have given us a viable solution. That in itself is worthy of some reward?
”

“I am doing this because of a responsibility, not for
reward.”

“
Still, is there
nothing?
”

“No, there is not.”

The Preema nodded. “
Very well. If something comes to mind later please inform us. I will
stay here a few more days then depart to begin making preparations for our
Hamoriti’s relocation
.”