Star Force: Hamoriti (SF62) (10 page)

It had been routed to him
immediately upon reception on
Vikod
, and his analysts
hadn’t even gotten a chance to chew on it yet, but the Prefect knew instantly
that the system-wide energy burst the Hamoriti had unleashed and used to
disable the Li’vorkrachnika fleet was the cause of the disturbance here. Why
the Oracles hadn’t been aware of this ability he didn’t know, and he was going
to follow up on that immediately with another visit to the shell for a personal
discussion with the Ancient program.

It was clear to him what had
happened. The Hamoriti had sent out a call for help, or some other form of
location ping, almost assuredly needing to soak up some kind of resource from
the star in order to power a spherical emission potent enough to stretch across
star systems. The power needed for that sort of thing was off the charts, for
while a star produced an immense amount of stellar output every second, enough
to fry an unshielded ship that got too close, when the same output was spread
out across lightyears it was reduced down to a tiny pinprick of light.

The Hamoriti had to create something
similar, and though he didn’t understand the dynamics of it the one here had
received that call and begun to wake up.

As bad as that was, at least now
they knew what they were dealing with. Assuming minimum range,
Vikod
was the only other Hamoriti location within
transmission distance, but there was no way to know for sure how far that
signal had reached. He doubted it could get all the way out to the others, but
he immediately sent a communique to inquire as to the status of the other
Hamoriti before finishing reading the report. That message was immediately sent
out through an interstellar
comm
network linking the
Trinx to The Nine, but it would take days to get a response and Nesfa needed
information sooner rather than later.

If another Hamoriti had begun to
awaken he didn’t know if they would be able to suppress it, for only this shell
had vassals loaded with chemical as a backup plan in case the facility’s own
measures failed. The others had their own systems in place, for The Nine had
been too prudent to take chances after the near disaster with the Sety, but
Nesfa’s
people had only barely kept Rigall contained, so he
feared for the others.

His gut told him the Hamoriti’s
signal couldn’t travel that far, but with the way his luck was going he
couldn’t count on anything. And what made him worry most was the possibility
that there was a 9th shell out there somewhere within transmission range, one
that wouldn’t have guardians in place with backup measures. They still hadn’t
gotten any answers from the Oracles as to why there had been an unknown 8th,
and when dealing with an enemy as insanely powerful as a Hamoriti, information
was the only real weapon one had.

The Ancients had been wise to leave
the Oracles behind with their knowledge of how to fight the minions, otherwise
the Trinx would not have been prepared for this day. They’d been relying on the
Ancients’ playbook in all of their preparations, trusting that they knew how to
deal with this enemy, but these unknown factors that kept popping up, the
latest being this interstellar transmission capability, made Nesfa wonder just
how in the dark even the Ancients had been.

The Trinx weren’t their match, nor
was the entirety of The Nine. How the hell were they expected to manage this
disaster?

The fact that they still had the
Hamoriti effectively contained to this point, as far as its minions were
concerned, was shocking even to Nesfa, but they had been holding the line
despite the assertions of hopelessness from the others. The Trinx hadn’t
expected to actually stop the Hamoriti, but they had felt obligated to try and,
as strange as the galaxy was, had somehow managed to do it up until this point.
Every day hinged with uncertainty, and fate seemed determined to break them,
but for the moment everything was holding together and he intended to make that
last as long as possible.

When he finished reading the report
he headed off to get transport over to the shaft that led down to the Ancient
shell, taking the data file with him and hoping that the Oracle would be able to
figure out how they could shield the facility from the Hamoriti’s transmissions
before it happened again.

10

August 21, 2729

Pleissa
System (Jonstar capitol)

Havbret

“
I
still don’t think this is a good idea
,”
Breeso
said as he walked beside the war commander, with the pair of Jonstar headed to
the exterior landing pad. “
One misstep
and you’ll be killed
.”

“
I
am well aware of that
,”
Nicktori
said evenly as
the pair of quadrupeds came to an ascension ramp. They stepped on it and
allowed themselves to be slowly dragged up to the higher levels of the military
complex, giving the pair only a few minutes before the war commander would
depart. “
But the Trinx have proven that
the Hamoriti can be contained. For how long I do not know, but every year we
can buy gives our people more time to prepare for relocation…and if it is
possible to maintain the containment indefinitely then it’s an avenue that we
have to pursue.
”

“
I
still say this is foolishness
,” the civilian leader admitted, “
but if anyone can make it work it’s you
.”

“
That’s
why I’m going
,”
Nicktori
said, sweeping his
horse-like head to the left to throw
Breeso
a
sarcastic look.

“
We’re
going to need you here, so don’t take any unnecessary risks
.”

“
This
entire mission is a risk
.”

“
Please
don’t be difficult, I’m trying to instill some wisdom in you before you depart
.”

“
You
have been trying for years, little brother, and still continue to fail because
you do not realize that I am wiser than you
.”

“
Says
the one going up against a Hamoriti
.”

“
It’s
minions, not the Titan itself.
”

“
You
think it’ll just stay put and let you trash its spawn points? It’s going to
come after you
.”

“
If
it does we will run. The Hamoriti have never been fast
.”

“
Their
area of effect weaponry don’t require them to be. They just have to get close,
and your
Degars
aren’t exactly nimble craft.
”

“
You
are not telling me anything that I do not already know
,”
Nicktori
said as they reached the top of the ramp and
stepped off onto a wide promenade that had the exit doors to the landing pad on
the far side. In between those and the two Jonstar were more than a dozen
others, all of whom were security save for two, one of which was kin to them. “
Final farewells?
”

“
If
you can spare a moment?
” their father and
defacto
ruler of the Jonstar asked, though most of the critical functions of running
their empire fell to
Breeso
,
Nicktori
,
and others.

“
We
can
.”

“
I
hope this is not the last we see of one another, but if it is I want you to
know that I will see to it that the time you buy us will not be squandered.
Furthermore, there has been a small lead turned up. I am sending
Yesvo
to follow it. I do not hope, but it must be
investigated regardless.
”

“
What
kind of lead?
”
Breeso
asked, this being the first
he’d heard of it as well.

“
Previously
unknown coordinates of an Ancient world found in the local lore of a race that
predates us. It was an obscure reference, but we’ve managed to calculate the
system in question. It is in unclaimed space beyond the
Frektordan
.
Perhaps we will discover something of use there, perhaps not
.”

“
Hopefully
not another Hamoriti,
”
Nicktori
said, glancing at
his closest advisor who was waiting along with his father. “
Are we set?
”

“
They
need another hour and a half, then we’ll be fully provisioned
.”

The war commander turned to his
brother. “
Make sure the supply convoy is
assembled quickly. I do not know how rapidly we will
expend
our ammunition, and I know you have more pressing concerns to deal with here…
”

“
You’ll
have what you need
,”
Breeso
interrupted him. “
Fire at will…and a keep a tally of the minion
kills for your reports. The people need to see that we can indeed fight back,
even if not against the Hamoriti itself. Please don’t make me have to tell them
you died in a vain attempt
.”

“
Your
confidence is underwhelming
,”
Nicktori
said
sarcastically.

“
None
since the Ancients have fought these beings
,” their father said with
caution. “
Learn, adapt, and do not
hesitate to fall back. An unfamiliar enemy can often win the day with the
element of surprise…and we are also unknown to the Hamoriti.
”

“
Well
said
,”
Nicktori
agreed, lowering his head
slightly. His father did likewise and they touched the thick, natural armor
there in a quick gesture of respect and kinship. The war commander kicked his
brother in the leg, then winked as he and his advisor walked the remaining
steps to the doors that would take them outside to their waiting transport.

“
I
hope he knows what he’s doing
,”
Breeso
said
warily.

“
With
the Hamoriti loose there are no certainties anymore. He is playing a gamble,
and even he does not know how it will turn out.
”

A
month and a half later...

A fleet of Li’vorkrachnika cruisers
descended from orbit, passing through the still warm atmosphere from the latest
tsunami attack. A third of the small firebases they’d set up on the surface to
facilitate the teams fighting underground had just been taken out in a handful
of seconds, but there was no time to waste with concern. The Hamoriti had gone
back underground again and two of the as yet untouched minion spawn sites had
grown to the point where they were building small connecting tunnels to the
surface.

Out of those tunnels small minion
flyers were emerging, even smaller than the Li’vorkrachnika wisps, but armed
with a potent energy weapon that emitted from their heads. They had ambushed a
few transports headed to ground with more troops, then the Trinx had ordered
the continuous convoys pulled back just prior to the Hamoriti surfacing and
toasting their bases in the southern hemisphere. With it now gone again, leaving
a magma spewing geyser a half mile wide in its wake, the minion fliers had to
be dealt with before the transports could fly troops in to the surface entrance
to deal with the base itself.

At present there were 18 different
minion spawn sites that were known about, with the Hamoriti spending most of
its time deep within the planet and bouncing around from point to point,
harvesting resources it was assumed, but other than a crude position fix they
didn’t know what it was doing down there. Once Trinx and Li’vorkrachnika ground
troops engaged a minion site the Hamoriti didn’t involve itself, probably for
fear of damaging the minions at the same time, but if it could catch the
invading troops on the surface it would do so, coming up anywhere within a
thousand miles and releasing a tsunami.

That meant the troops heading down
to fight below ground had to get there quickly, and without the firebases the
Hamoriti had just wiped off the map that was going to be even more difficult.
They hadn’t been situated near any of the minion sites, and to date that had
kept them off the Hamoriti’s hit list, but apparently no longer. Every time
they adapted to the creature the creature adapted back, turning this growing
war into an unstable and unpredictable affair.

The Trinx campaign commander watched
from orbit around another planet, feeding instructions to the ships on site and
to the Li’vorkrachnika while staying safely away from the Hamoriti. Chosan was
one of the wisest of the Trinx generals, and Nesfa had personally entrusted him
with this never-ending task, but the Hamoriti was demonstrating considerable
strategic skill. More so even than the Ancient records had indicated, though
back in those days the minion swarms were the main nemesis they had fought,
with the direct Hamoriti conflicts reserved for the last days of that
great war
.

As valuable as the insights were
that the Ancients had left behind, Chosan was having to write a new book of
engagement as time progressed, and he was afraid the learning curve was
allowing the Hamoriti to gain ground. It wasn’t much, but whereas before they’d
been dealing with one minion spawn site, now there were many. He was probing
some of them with orbital fire, burning straight down through the rock with
pinprick attacks, but those didn’t do much more than cut tunnels for his
expeditionary vassals to move down through, and more often than not those had
to cut out other tunnels to allow the Li’vorkrachnika down.

A quick look at the cruisers and
Chosan ordered one of their few vassal warships to catch up to them before they
engaged the flyers. Dropping like a rock it shot down from orbit and into the
atmosphere, creating a fireball in the process that lit up the ashy sky in a
long plume. When it eventually slowed the friction on its shields lessened and
view of the red hull plates returned just in time for it to drop in above the
cruisers as the minion flyers were coming up at them from below.

Little lines of blue energy, looking
impossibly thin from a distance, began shooting up and hitting the cruisers as
much larger green plasma orbs fired back down at them. Almost all of the
Li’vorkrachnika ships sent to fight the minions were still equipped with their
old weapons, but while the plasma was not as potent as the Vichsam it was still
effective in such large amounts. One hit would have killed a wisp on contact,
coming from a naval battery, but against the minions it would take five or six
such hits to drop them out of the sky, making the tiny flyers extremely
resilient.

The vassal warship was another
matter. Its weaponry was varied and built specifically for killing minions in
all their forms, including a large number of small klixon cannons that were one
hitting the flyers and taking down dozens per second once the ship entered the
fray and took point. The tiny blue beams from the minions only scratched its
shields, but they racked up considerable damage to the cruisers’ protective
energy barriers, eventually taking them down and slicing through the yellow/tan
hull armor with each pinprick strike.

But the cruisers were warships, far
outmassing
the tiny flyers, and even as primitive as they
were they did not go down quickly. That said, there were tens of thousands of
the minions coming up out of the surface tunnels and heading towards them, with
the first Li’vorkrachnika cruiser going down some 12 minutes into the fight.
After that they began dropping like rocks as the attrition damage mounted, but
they were likewise killing so many of the minions that the single vassal could
handle the rest without being overwhelmed itself.

Chosan watched the battle along with
reports coming in from others below ground, which was how he spent most of his
days. He slept as little as possible, for fear of the Hamoriti pulling another
bit of strategic magic and gaining an advantage. When he was out of touch with
current events his juniors took over, and while he would have trusted them with
virtually any other opponent, facing a Hamoriti was the stuff of legends and he
couldn’t bring himself to relax even when he was attempting to rest.

That constant pressure was taking a
toll on his body, but there was no way around it. This campaign had
galaxy-spanning implications and, without hyperbole, was the most important
duty his race had ever undertaken.

A signal from the Sety ships in
stellar orbit informed him that there were incoming jumps to the star, which
drew only minor attention, for the Li’vorkrachnika had jumpships coming and
going constantly now that their planet had been effectively taken over by the
Hamoriti. None of their people left on the surface were still alive, save for
those currently fighting underground and stationed in the remaining firebases.
How long those would stay operational Chosan didn’t know, for all it would take
was the Hamoriti popping up and repeating the last attack. Why it didn’t take
them out already might have been a question of resources, or maybe it just
hadn’t noticed them there yet.

He doubted that, but without minion
scouts across the planet there was a question as to how much sensing capability
the Hamoriti had. Chosan chose to assume a lot, but he didn’t order the
Li’vorkrachnika bases evacuated. So long as they were operational they were
serving a purpose, with flocks of their little transports hauling troops over
to the access shafts they’d cut to get down to the other minion sites.

When the information on the incoming
fleet crossed his screen he didn’t even bother to look at it, focused as he was
on the minion flyer battle that was costing the Li’vorkrachnika dearly. He was
considering sending in another vassal, but since this was the first engagement
against this new type of minion he didn’t want to risk a second one just yet.
If there were to be any surprises, let the Li’vorkrachnika’s pathetic ships
take the hit. His vassals were too rare and powerful to waste on uncertain
strikes.

He’d only sent the one because he
suspected the Li’vorkrachnika fleet couldn’t handle the task on its own…at
least not without sending 20 times that number of ships, and he didn’t want to
waste them in such a manner without sufficient cause. He knew well that only a
joint war would be effective, and sending the Li’vorkrachnika in on their own
in most cases would just end up with a no value slaughter. As it was they were
dying left and right to accomplish even minor gains, but those gains were
setting up the Trinx to accomplish the primary goals and root out the minion
spawning sites, forcing the Hamoriti to begin them again and taking away their
ability to reproduce on their own.