Star Force: Resolution (SF89) (Star Force Origin Series) (7 page)

“I expect no less from those scoundrels, but not all
of our military will follow them if allowed another path. I have no contacts of
merit in orbit, but on the surface we are organizing and growing quickly.”

“Enough to lower a section of your planetary shield?”

“We have not attempted to do so yet, for such an
assault will be very costly. They are bringing the fight to us for the moment
and killing their brothers and sisters out of a sanity that I cannot fully
comprehend. If we surrender to you, what becomes of us after this holding
facility?”

“Annexation.”

“Into your empire?”

“Yes.”

“What of this star system?”

“It was to be completely evacuated, assuming your
people would resist us with every effort. If that is not the case then the
dynamic is changed.”

“What does annexation mean to you?”

“You will surrender your younglings to our training
facilities as well as all future births. They will know only Star Force, thus
severing the connection to your current society and allowing it to die. The
Trinx will be reborn anew as we have done with many other races.”

“And what happens to those of us that are already
here?”

“You will be confined until such a time you can prove
your worth. During that time you will train and we will teach you what you need
to know.”

“You have facilities to house all of our population?”

“Yes.”

“And if we prove our worth, we will return here under
your banner?”

“Possibly. If you can surrender this world to us we
can facilitate a less abrupt transition that keeps many of you here.”

“What function would we serve in your empire?”

“That would also depend on your merit, but make note
that we do not hold future generations responsible for the actions of the
current ones.”

“There would be a penalty exacted upon us then?”

“Other than the revocation of your sovereignty, no.”

“No?”

“We are here to neutralize a threat. If you choose to
neutralize yourself then we have no need to penalize you. This system will be
ours, the Trinx will be annexed, and no part of you will be allowed to escape
to exist independently and threaten us again. Those are the terms I’m
offering.”

“What of the Hamoriti?”

“It will be removed. Preferably still sedated, but I
have a controller here that can order it away from the planet if it wakes.”

“Your invasion takes more care to safeguard our lives
than our own leaders.”

“That’s because we’re the good guys.”

“I do not understand the depth of most of which you
speak, but we have very few options and you are offering us an alternative
other than death. Given the betrayal our leaders exercised upon you, I can
understand if there are more lethal feelings on your part, and I thank you for
staying your hand. Will the other members of The Nine abide by your terms?”

“They have agreed to follow my lead. They are here to
assist, then they wish to wash their hands of the matter.”

“And rightly so. Our entire race has been shamed. You
brought salvation and we sought to destroy you for it. I hereby offer the
surrender of all forces aligned with me, though given current circumstances we
cannot get to you at the moment. I will make what contacts I can in orbit and
try to secure the surrender of some of the facilities there while we gather our
strength for an assault on one of the shield generators. I do not know how long
it will take. Things are very much in flux down here, and your intent to annex
us will alter them much more so.”

“We’re not in a hurry,” Oni offered. “Take your time
and keep as many people alive as you can.”

The Trinx bowed. “You do us an honor we do not
deserve.”

The Archon summoned up a holo conference with the
fleet commanders, knowing that it was going to take some minutes for all of
them to assemble. “Now that we have come to an understanding, let’s get
everyone on the same page so there are no miscommunications. Then we will find
a way to deal with your insane former leaders.”

7

August 1, 3290

Paquat
System

Vikod
(Trinx homeworld)

Onnet
ran through the Trinx
streets as explosions blasted apart the building to his right above the
centerline. Large chunks of it flew out laterally, then the whole top crumbled
and fell towards him. The Yisv knew he couldn’t get out of the way in time so
he ran towards the underside of the falling building and tucked up against the
wall as the rubble came down, blurring his body out of physical mode and into
the ethereal wisp that splashed apart with the first piece of building to hit.

His mind disintegrated with each hit, leaving him
unable to move or think other than through base instincts. He couldn’t see much
at all, merely a numb awareness of the material his body was contacting. He
wouldn’t move through the solid building rubble like he could the thin
membranes in a Yisv city, but he survived in the cracks and random shafts
created in the pile that continued to build up as the Trinx structure came
down. He wasn’t aware of that or anything else, but slowly he felt out the
cracks and pulled the scattered pieces of his body back together, and with each
reunion his mind began to reform.

He was stretched out across several dozen meters by
the time he finally regained adequate consciousness, which he used to snake his
way into a larger cave underneath an angled slab. Once he pulled himself in
there he was back to normal, shaken but fully functional, though he couldn’t
retake his physical form due to lack of space.

The sounds coming through the rubble were lessened,
but the battle outside continued to rage on. The Trinx zealots were punishing
their population as much as they could for rebelling against them and were at
present bombarding this section of city with aircraft that both Star Force and
the Chamra were busy trying to contain.
Onnet
was one
of many Yisv scouts searching for enemy infantry, for they’d been sending in
random living teams to slaughter both rebel troops and any civilians they could
get their hands on away from the main vassal deployments. He’d found one such
group just before the aerial bombardment began, but they were probably long
gone by now.

Chasing them wasn’t an option anyway until he could
get out of this mess. Abandoning his little cave he let his mind diminish as
his cloud-like body turned into a stream that flowed out through various cracks
searching for fresh air. He couldn’t keep track of time like this, only follow
a single impulse that he’d made himself remember prior to dispersion.

Keep moving
until you find your way out.

When he did, the Yisv manifested his full height on
top of a rock with his soon to be solid feet standing at an angle. As soon as
he put pressure there he slipped, his hand falling to brace on a jagged edge
and cutting himself. It hurt but it wasn’t real damage. He got his footing then
looked at his hand and blurred it, reforming his unblemished form. There was a
little bit of material lost, but he doubted that even with the falling rumble
that he had lost more than an inch of his height, and it would be replaced
within a few days with the proper supplements.

But that didn’t matter. He was alive and had he been
anything other than a Yisv he’d have been crushed to death instantaneously…or
left to linger in agony as he slowly died.

There were some side benefits to not being able to
carry a weapon into combat, and this was one of them.

Onnet
took a few steps up a
larger piece of rubble and jumped, transitioning into his ‘ghost’ mode and
floating/coasting across about 40 meters of distance before he reformed and got
his footing. He repeated the process multiple times until he got out of the
rubble field, staying low to avoid attention, only to see that there were more
buildings coming down nearby as the Trinx fighters targeted them. He saw a pair
of Star Force skeets flash past overhead, indicating that the aerial battle was
still underway, but there was nothing he could do about that now. He had a job
to do, and that meant getting back into motion.

Finding a bit of clear street
Onnet
took off running, using his telepathy to find nearby Trinx minds and assess if
they were friend or foe. The foes stood out with a blood thirst as they were
sent here to
kill, kill,
kill
while the rebels were more focused on protecting
and killing in order to meet that end. It was easy to misread, but
Onnet
wasn’t having any difficulty when he came across a
group of five on the other side of the building to his left.

The Yisv turned at the next available corner,
launching himself into a coast/jump over a small pile of rubble from a crater
about 120 meters up on the building that had been blown out, then he reformed
and kept running until he got near the targets, hearing the sound of their
infantry weapons shooting inside the building.

Onnet
didn’t hesitate,
running into the nearest door and heading straight for the attackers and the
panicked, desperate minds inside that were being gunned down. A few were intent
to fight back, but they were disappearing from his mental view as they were
among the first to die.

When he came into sight of them the solid mass of his
body blurred and shot straight for them, wrapping around one soldier’s arm and
shifting into a liquid/gel state where he could take about any form he wanted.
He yanked the weapon free as he rotated around the Trinx, spinning him like a
tornado and throwing him into the nearest soldier, knocking them both down as
his wispy cloud remained behind, taking two shots from the others that were now
focusing on the Yisv.

Staying in cloud form he drifted over to them, then
snapped back into physical mode when he was only inches away, punching both
apart for a moment as he extended his arms back out as gel and latched onto
their weapons, turning them away from his solid body before he got one wrenched
free. He tossed it to one of the nearby rebel Trinx who was laying wounded on
the ground, then spun one of the soldiers around and threw him closer…where he
was gunned down from two meters away.

Flashing back into a cloud he avoided massive damage
from another pair of shots, but with each that passed through he lost body
mass, though it wasn’t going to matter for this small engagement. Continuing to
use his agility and evasiveness to his advantage, he worked the remaining 4
Trinx soldiers over and eventually killed them all with their own weapons.

Onnet
reached down and
picked up two of the rifles with gel-like limbs and gave them to the nearest
rebels/civilians.

“
Stay here and
stay alive. Give us time and we will free the planet
,” he promised before
heading back out on the streets to hunt down more extermination squads.

4 months later…

Prefect
Nesfa
stood behind a
wall of guards, the last left as he, and a few Regents as they held within the
Ancient shell. They’d retreated here as the rebels and the invaders took
section after section of the planet away from them. It seemed right that if
they were going to make their last stand that it should be here, in the
presence of the Hamoriti they were sworn to protect and in the presence of the
Ancients’ legacy.

He stood with the others ready to fight, knowing that
fleeing further into the shell was pointless. This was where he would meet his
end, and do so with his loyal kin.

When he heard the defensive emplacements outside open
fire again he knew the invaders were here, meaning it was time to move forward.
He wasn’t going to give any orders from this point on, there were infantry
commanders better suited to that. Now he was just one Trinx out of many, and
that both humbled and freed him to the purpose of doing as much damage to the
enemy as possible before he died.

When the wall of bodies before him moved forward he
went with them as the noise of weaponsfire intensified. The defensive batteries
that the Trinx had installed just outside the aperture were adding to the
shell’s own defenses as the infantry were firing from just inside the Ancient
facility so not to get caught in the crossfire. When one of the Trinx in front
of him fell, the Prefect could see what was occurring ahead and he stepped forward
shoulder to shoulder with the others behind a low barrier as Star Force troops
were falling back, several of which appeared to be injured.

Two physical shields of their larger soldiers blocked
for them, then there was a pause as the batteries fell silent and both sides were
out of vision of the other. He knew there were more enemy soldiers just beyond
the entrance, but how long they’d wait before making another assault was the
question. He was sorry to see that, once again, the only bodies on the floor
were his own people, and he adamantly committed himself to killing at least one
of them before this facility was taken.

In the silence a soft set of footfalls was heard,
echoing into prominence before the source came into view.
Nesfa
wondered what it was coming their way, for it didn’t sound like the grouping
they’d need to get through the defenses. Then, in casual disrespect, a single
Archon walked out at the end of the hallway and stood there looking at them.
The Trinx didn’t fire yet, wondering what was happening, and the Archon stood
just outside the range of the shell’s weaponry, creating an awkward silence
until the set of pink armor began to lightly walk forward.

Nesfa
and the others opened
fire with their infantry weapons a split second before the larger cannons let
loose, but the Archon just kept walking as the energy was stopped by a
translucent wall before it. A few more steps up and the shell defenses kicked
in, adding to the torrent that the individual was weathering. As it continued
to walk forward it reached behind its back and pulled out two narrow cylinders,
one in each hand. When the shield wall fell a lot of the energy strikes missed
the Archon’s narrow frame with the others hitting a different shield covering
the pink armored plates.

Both cylinders suddenly extended into poles, and after
another casual step the Archon bolted forward, dodging some of the larger
energy blasts as it closed ranks.
Nesfa
didn’t think
it’d stand up to much more damage, but it was the only enemy soldier coming. He
kept firing as fast as he could, only managing a few hits before he lost
control of his body and dropped his weapon as he fell twitching to the ground.

A moment later he stood up grasping for his rifle.
When he got it he saw the pink armor flashing around in front of him, slashing
at the troops with some kind of swords and taking them down with single hits.
It was within the doorway now, somehow having gotten past the barricades
outside. Knowing this was the end he fired another shot, cursing the single Archon
that simply
…would…not…die
.

He got two more shots into its armor, gratifyingly
seeing one hit and blast a puff of material away instead of hitting shields
before the Archon dashed forward and whipped one of the swords into the side of
his head.

Then all was blackness.

When the Prefect woke it was to his great surprise
that he was still alive. Despite the numbness pervading his body, he was
thoroughly confused as to his whereabouts. He wasn’t in the Ancient facility or
the corridors outside. He was inside a small room of alien manufacture and
laying on a cushioned platform.

He sat up, suddenly finding himself in different
clothes, also of alien design. His head was tingling and it didn’t occur to him
that they were of Star Force make until a screen on the wall suddenly activated
and an image of a Human appeared.

“
Hello. This is
an automated message triggered by your waking
,” an image of an Archon appearing
outside its armor said.
Nesfa
could tell by the
uniform it wore, and it had the same disgusting pink identification stripe as
the one that he’d thought had killed him. “
You
Trinx scum are now prisoners of the exalted ass kickers known as Star Force. We
didn’t feel like killing you, so we took your planet from you while preserving
your lives.
You’re welcome, but don’t
mistake the fact that we know this is also an added insult. You wanted to die,
so we denied you that, thus preserving your life and spiting you at the same
time. That’s how Star Force rolls
,” the Human said with a disgusting smile.

“
Now, so you’ll
be aware of what’s happening, we’re giving you a chance to earn your freedom.
Not easily, but it’s there if you want to pursue it. We didn’t spare you just
to stick you in a cage and see you rot to death, so you’re going to be given
access to training facilities and challenges, as well as instructional
material, once you arrive at your final destination. At the moment you are on a
transport ship heading there and will remain in this small room for the
duration. Using this panel you can view a variety of information to pass the
time, but physical training will have to wait until you arrive due to space
restrictions on the ship
.”

“
The purpose of
this training is for you to prove yourselves worthy to be released. If you wish
to just sit there and slowly wither away that is your prerogative, but we are
not going to kill you. Right now you may be defiant. If not that’s good, and
you can get on a fast track to eventual release, but if you’re someone who
needs some convincing then the isolation you are going to endure may act as
motivation.
”

“
Your journey
onboard this ship will be a solitary one, but so too will be your prison. From
this point on you have no civilization. You are an individual, and your
training will require only yourself. Others would be a distraction and a
hindrance. You have to stop being Trinx and aspire to something more. If you
don’t care for this that won’t change your situation. You will die here, alone,
unless you train to attain self-sufficiency. In that way you will eventually kill
yourself or you’ll learn and change so that you’re no longer our enemy. Either
way, the Trinx civilization that we came here to destroy will die.
”