Gateways, Aer-ki Jyr [sci fi books to read .TXT] 📗

version once onboard, but for now the battlemap interlink in the headpiece was enough to keep him connected with the incoming information, much of which was being transmitted via telepathy given the signal disruptions near the black hole. Telepathic energy was not affected, and technological transmitters helped to skip information across the system near it rather than having to bounce around the perimeter with increasingly annoying time delays.

Mak’to’ran didn’t have any Xaviers in the V’kit’no’sat yet, though several candidates were in training. If he had, he could get instantaneous updates of limited information across the system from ship to ship, but so far only a handful were actually deployed in the galaxy as the training required was tedious even by Star Force standards. As for the location of the Praxium that was responsible for their development, not even he knew where it was, for the powers of the Saiolum that Star Force was just beginning to delve into were their secret weapon, and no one else in the system even knew they existed.

The rest of Star Force and the galaxy was the same, with knowledge limited to a handful of individuals, but when the time came for additional recruits Mak’to’ran had been informed to help choose them, as well as being made aware that very advanced individuals could even communicate in real time across galaxies.

That seemed absurd, for as vast as this system was, the distance between galaxies made it appear insignificant…yet he was already having to deal with large time lags in the data coming in to him through the battle map, with the first brief analysis of weapons data intriguing him.

The new arrivals were using physical attachments to their targets to transmit an unstable energy conduit that did not destroy the destination node, but did obliterate their targets. The output was larger than a Tar’vem’jic, but only when emitting from what appeared to be their larger control ships. Smaller versions were using similar weapons, and while they may have been effective against the Megaloids they were mercilessly hunting down to clear their arrival point, it wasn’t going to be the same against V’kit’no’sat shields or Veloqueen technology…let alone their Essence.

Mak’to’ran boarded his flagship, the DinoThunder, just as he began receiving data on the Veloqueen rising from the darkness of the black hole to engage the new arrivals. They were each small, only a few miles long, but in addition to their massive Essence wells and skillsets, each was covered with armor of their own invention. Their empire in their home galaxy had been crafted out of technology, with many Socani in their employ and enhanced by that technology. Few Megaloids had the ability to craft such things, but the telekinesis the Veloqueen possessed had allowed them to rework the world around them, and they had developed technological augments that made Mak’to’ran wary of ever engaging them in battle.

The first few encounters with the new arrivals went as expected, with the Veloqueen tearing through them and their weapon nodes that would fly as independent ships until attaching to their targets. The Veloqueen were actually smaller than the largest of the nodes, and so nimble there was no chance of them latching on, but it was unclear of whether or not they could attach to energy shields, for the Veloqueen were covered in them as well, emitted from their armor.

Mak’to’ran got the DinoThunder under way as he saw the Veloqueen take down their first big target, ripping through it with ease as the number of the invaders began to increase. Their spacing was very, very close for such a long journey. Abnormally so.

With the Megaloids in the area scattering to get out of the combat zone, and the Veloqueen covering them more than fighting the invaders, the first V’kit’no’sat ships arrived in sector 8 from one of the other planets in the system, getting there 43 minutes ahead of the fleet that had been stationed around Zatria. Mak’to’ran couldn’t give them orders at this distance…at least none that would arrive in time to matter. He had to trust they knew what they were doing, and for the most part the engagements were clear kills, but eventually a Kafcha got tagged by a node, followed by a massive discharge that blew through their shields in one shot…but only scratched the armor beneath.

The node itself took some fire from nearby turrets, but Mak’to’ran immediately saw the tactical advantage of such a latching maneuver…for it got within the firing range of most of the ship’s weaponry and allowed it to survive longer than expected. But the V’kit’no’sat typically hunted in packs, and the nearby second Kafcha that diverted to assist burned the node off the ship before a second discharge could be channeled through it.

Whoever this enemy was, their ships were not well protected. It appeared they were counting on the power of their weapons to dispatch enemies before their weaker shields and armor could be exploited, but the V’kit’no’sat were not so easy to dominate, and soon the first line of ships engaging them were shredded by the myriad of weapons the Kafcha carried, and none were using the limited Essence Materia they carried.

Because this enemy simply wasn’t strong enough to require them.

However, there was a great deal of them arriving and no way of knowing how many more were coming, so Mak’to’ran set up a standard ‘welcome’ formation and knocked them down as they came in while ordering a few ships to be captured rather than destroyed, then dragged back near the black hole and around to the far side where they were out of the way of the intergalactic jumplines…

Iren’tar was an Era’tran Hakja stationed in Gateway #12, otherwise known as the Zechronia Muen System. There weren’t many here, given that their expertise was personal combat and Gateway duties were almost always naval affairs, but when ships needed boarded it was up to the Zen’zat to do