The Powers That Be by Aer-ki Jyr (best pdf reader for ebooks txt) 📗

that I will return their generosity with results others would not achieve. I have your Ikrid, whereas the others of my race do not, though their natural ability has been enhanced greatly for those Elarioni that serve Star Force. The lesser number who do not are now an inferior bloodline that do not mix eggs with us. They have their own worlds, protected by Star Force’s dominion, but they do not seek to serve any but themselves.

You sound displeased with them?

There is lingering sadness, but most Elarioni have heard the call of the empire, and our race is now of Star Force. The others are little more than an afterthought.

So it was those of the superior bloodline that rescued me?

The others would not care to fight the Hadarak unless they appeared in their waters.

I did not observe much, but your forces were efficient in fighting the Hadarak minions. I hope I can repay my debt here, in your service. The threats you have shown me I can handle. Do you wish me to explore the wilds?

Not at the moment, but soon. I am told your race possesses great wisdom. Is this true of you?

We are more intelligent than most, but not wise. Our race has been making foolish decisions throughout our history in the V’kit’no’sat, and we have been suppressed because of them. We never rose above it, and now stand scattered and with no worlds of our own. I could not even come to Star Force when your Trailblazers offered annexation. I was fortunate that combat brought your empire to me so I could join it.

Nevertheless, I wish to use your outside perspective to my advantage. Those within Star Force tend to think alike due to identical origins. Yours is far different, and I hope you will see things I do not.

What is it you wish to ask?

Follow, Ariel said, slowly swimming away as the giant Joor’nak unfurled and swam behind her as she remembered to take the largest pathways out to open water, for he would not fit through most of the others.

What we have built is but the seeds of the future, and I am still designing that future, she said as they swam through the corridors. I am tasked with making this system a true aquatic one. Most worlds that have oceans regard them as a dumping ground for the air breathers or the refuse piles for the air-dumped waters to cleanse the land. Where civilizations have coexisted, it is the land that has gained the dominance and reached into space while we prefer to stay in our waters. Is it different in the V’kit’no’sat?

Much different. The J’gar are of the founding Triad, and they represent aquatic dominance in the waters of the deep and the greater waters of the universe.

You refer to the void as another water? Yet you cannot swim in it?

Our vessels allow us to swim in it, and it is the greatest of oceans that encompasses all land. Land is tiny and rare, the great ocean is all-present, and in it those of the water, the land, and the air are equal in our inability to reside in it without our ships. Only the space dwellers can, and there are none in the V’kit’no’sat. Are there any in Star Force other than your Uriti?

None that are more than wards, and those do not possess technology or civilization. They are embraced by the nature of the void, which I heard is mostly solitude with few predators.

They remain a mystery to me, but they can live in the great ocean where few others can. Does Star Force have a bias against aquatics?

No, but we are mostly separate from the air breathers, and all the leaders of Star Force are air breathers. They protect us, help us clean and protect the waters, and the Archons swim with us. They alone are the bridge between the water and the air, and they are few and gone to the war. There are none here, so the design of this system is mine to make, or mine to fail, and I wish to find a way to do more in the void…in the ‘great ocean’ than they expect of us. The Hadarak threaten the waters the same as the land, yet most of the defense of our empire comes from the air breathers. I do not like them carrying so much of this burden, but confining ourselves to starships is not in our nature.

I spent much time onboard your ships, and they lack that which no ship can have when designed for the necessities of war.

What is that?

Ample space. There are always walls, whereas we and the avians require freedom more than the land dwellers. They like walls. They give them comfort and protection. I do not understand the avians, for they are more vulnerable, yet they prefer the airy tops of buildings that offer no protection. The water embraces us unlike the others, while the air feels cold and cruel. We do not wish to give up this comfort, and it can be maddening to think what is beyond the walls of a starship. That we cannot flee if needed, nor move at all even encased in protective armor when thrown out into the void…what is it?

Ariel had already led him out into open water and they were moving away from the city, yet not past the shield walls when her attention was diverted to the left and upward. Bio’bo scanned that way with his psionics, but could detect nothing of interest there, though there were many swimmers in the area.

Little one? he asked again, this time getting a casual response.

I don’t know, Ariel said, staring at something he couldn’t see, but to her it was obvious. It was an Essence Rush, but one at extreme range. Too extreme. Almost as