Star Force: Resolution (SF89) (Star Force Origin Series) (8 page)

Nesfa
stood up on wobbly
legs and punched the screen, but his fist only bounced off the thick,
transparent material.

“
So get used to
your current situation…or not. From this point on I don’t care. I’ve provided
you with a path to freedom while sparing your lives. That is the extent of my
mercy. What becomes of you from this point forward is up to you. You’ll be kept
safely away from anyone you could possible hurt, so you’re no longer a threat.
Your planet is now mine and also not your concern. Unless you earn your freedom
you won’t be seeing it or anything else again aside from the prison you’re
heading to
.”

“
Fortunately a
lot of your former people saw reason and surrendered. We’ll deal with them in
varying ways. We’re not giving up on anyone, but we can’t make anyone change.
Only nudge you along a bit. The boredom you’re about to endure if you refuse to
cooperate will be that nudge, but ultimately if you don’t choose to try then
this is where we part ways, never to see one another again, and I say a very
heartfelt ‘fuck you’ and end this message
.”

The Archon winked and the screen switched over to an
options menu.

Rage boiled over inside
Nesfa
but he didn’t strike the screen or anything else again. It would do no good. He
was so angry it literally seeped through his body without an outlet, for he
knew he’d already lost everything. His people had rebelled, his planet was
lost, the Hamoriti which had been the sole focus and purpose of his
civilization was now in the hands of the enemy, and he was a prisoner helpless
to do anything about it. Even if he could somehow escape and summon an army it
would do no good. Once they awoke it there was no way the Trinx could reclaim
it. Their only hope of that lay in advancement that was now out of reach with
the loss of the Ancient shell and its captive.

Now he was the captive, not even having been allowed
to die in defense of his people and holy cause. He was…spurned, and every
second that passed he found his anger was all he had left to cling to.

8

February 26, 3292

Paquat
System (Star
Force territory)

Vikod
(Trinx homeworld)

Oni strode down one of the Trinx streets, the invasion
of
Vikod
long over and the mop up operations on the
other planets nearing their end. There was no weaponsfire incoming, just odd
looks from the red-skinned, twin
headtailed
people
rallied in protest. They were not going to mess with her, knowing her
abilities, but they and the rebel leaders were why she had come down to the
planet and they all knew it.

Her brilliant pink armor clashed with their deeper red
as the wall of Trinx parted to allow her access to the building they were
protesting around. The armed guards there had not been firing back, merely
keeping their kin out, but they too did not try and hinder her passage.

Once inside she proceeded to a familiar location, the
headquarters for the interim government that was holding Trinx society together
while Star Force began to rework it, though she’d only been here in person on
two previous occasions. Most ‘visits’ were holographic in nature and the
occupants of the chamber she entered were going to wish that had been the means
she used to communicate to them regarding their refusal to comply with one of
her orders.

A pair of partially repaired vassal guards parted for
her at the entrance, with her quietly walking inside rather than making a storm
of flying bodies and broken walls. Rather, she simply walked up to the three
Trinx seated at a far too large table and stared at them through her helmet,
saying nothing. She kept that pose until it began to unnerve them, with Chosan
finally standing and facing her, not knowing what she was going to do.

“
How do you wish
to proceed?
” he asked tenderly, knowing she could snap him in half if she
so wished.

“The order will be followed, one way or another. The
question is how you wish to proceed,” she said through the opaque faceplate
with her armor translating.

“
We cannot give
up our newborns
.”

“Can and will,” Oni said defiantly.

“
Not willingly
,”
he said, matching her tone.

“I accepted your surrender on the agreement that you
would follow orders. You are not following them now, so where does that leave
you?”

“
Why must you
take them from us?
”

“So they will start out fresh in Star Force. You know
the reasoning.”

“
It does not
justify this kidnapping
.”

“Rescuing,” she clarified. “They’re better off in the
maturias.”

“
Taking them
away from their parents is not better off.
”

“Your civilization failed, and is now being destroyed.
Indoctrinating these younglings into your ways then forcing them to change
rapidly thereafter is both inefficient and cruel. Better that they learn from
the beginning rather than put them behind schedule.”

“
I thought that
you were going to allow us to keep this planet?
”

“The Trinx will keep it, yes, but they will be
my
Trinx. And my Trinx do not ignore my
orders. The infants will join the younglings in the maturia as planned.”

“
Will you not
even allow them a single year with their parents?
”

“No. They will begin in the maturia immediately.”

Chosan bit his lip, obviously containing his anger but
knowing that there was no way to force her hand. “
So we are just supposed to help you slowly deconstruct our society
piece by piece
?”

“Yes.”

“
How can you be
so cold?
”

“Cold?” Oni said, anger beginning to seep into her
voice. “We are helping you ungrateful bastards that murdered my brothers and
sisters and killed far more of our allies over some stupid ego trip. We also
removed your corrupt government for you, not to mention are giving you the very
big honor of joining Star Force. We are doing you a huge favor, but we are
going to do it our way, in every single circumstance. There is no compromise,
no negotiation, and your present freedom is dependent on you willfully
complying, otherwise you will go to the prison facility and handle your
conversion training there rather than here. What part of that is not easily
understandable?”

“
You spared us,
and for that we are in your debt, but you are also destroying us in another
form, and that we cannot tolerate
.”

“You will tolerate it.”

“
No
,”
another of the Trinx leaders said, also standing, “
we will not
.”

“Fine,” Oni said, falling silent for a moment as she
accessed both of their minds and rendered them unconscious. As they fell she
telekinetically grabbed them and pulled their bodies across the table, dumping
them next to her feet as she looked at the third leader. “How about you? Prison
or work with me?”

“
Even if I agree
to do so, the crowds outside will not permit the infants to be taken. Handing
over the younglings was tenuous enough, but that was in the aftermath of the
fighting and everyone was reeling from wounds, emotional or physical, and
didn’t have time to fully think things through. They were just happy to still
be alive and not in a prison. Now that some normalcy has returned they are
thinking, and they’re thinking that they cannot give up the responsibility of
their children to Star Force. To do so would be dishonorable, and after all the
dishonor we have suffered to add to it would be an even greater tragedy
.”

“At least you can talk,” she offered. “All of Star
Force raises its younglings in maturia. They are not the responsibility of the
parents after birth. The annexation of the Trinx means you will also operate
under these protocols. I made that clear over a year ago.”

“
Yes you did.
People are rethinking the wisdom in complying
.”

“Fortunately for those infants I’m not giving their
parents any say.”

“
If you force
this, the planet may well revolt
.”

“If it comes to that, so be it. At least then I’ll
know who are really serious about working towards a new future and those who
are just paying lip service to it. I originally planned to ship every one of
you off to the prisons and let you work your way out of them gradually, and I
still have that option. The transition will go more smoothly if you comply, but
it will go more rapidly if you don’t.”

“
You still
require our assistance if you want the secrets to our technology.
”

“And you want to use that as leverage to force a
measure of compromise?”

“
If necessary. I
do not want to end up fighting my own people again
.”

“The answer is still no.”

The Trinx raised his hands helplessly. “
Then we are at an impasse
.”

“Wrong again,” Oni said, blacking him out and pulling
his body through the air until it landed on her left shoulder. She
telekinetically picked up the other two and placed Chosan on her right shoulder
before stacking the other guy on top of them across both her shoulders. Using
her arms and Lachka to hold them in place she began walking back the way she’d
come and passed by the vassals who took immediate objection to what she was
doing and attempted to help the Trinx as per their programming.

A few telekinetic pushes and pulls resulted in
scrambled internal circuitry and two recently formed statues that she left in
her wake carrying her sleeping cargo out to the main doors. When she got there
the guards parted again, this time not knowing what to make of the situation but
fearing what would happen if they dared to strike her.

“Listen up,” she said, not bothering to stand still
and give a speech, so she just talked with vocal amplification on her helmet as
she walked out into the crowd and away from the building. “These interim
leaders are no longer in command. They refused to follow my order and are now
being taken to the prison planet. If you don’t want to end up doing your
conversion training there then stop defying me. I’m looking out for the
wellbeing of the younglings, not your egos, and I don’t care if I have to go
around and stun every single one of you on this planet and the others
personally, you will not be calling any of the shots from here on out. I give
orders, you follow them. Anything else results in you becoming baggage like
these three and a ticket to isolation to rethink the wisdom of your actions.”

Oni didn’t say anything else, just continued to walk
towards the landing zone she’d signaled the dropship to come get her at, but
the crowd didn’t stay silent. They were hesitant to verbally poke at the
Archon, but once a few started the others followed and soon there was a
deafening roar of protest.

She just ignored it and kept her focus on the area
immediately around her, ready to knock down anyone that tried to interfere with
her taking the three prisoners but ironically the crowd didn’t want to help
them, for they were also on their black list for having been carrying out her
other orders.

Oni could tell that from their minds, which she
sampled here and there as she walked. A bunch of ungrateful, egotistical
bastards…rebels or not. These Trinx were Trinx no matter what their position
concerning the ambush was, and it was probably better if she just called down
the stun teams and started…

The Archon stopped walking and looked into the crowd,
which visibly jerked back when they thought she might be taking too much notice
of them. Inside it was a single mind, wildly different from the others. It was
angry, not at her, but at the crowd.

“Come here,” she said out loud and telepathically as
she used a bit more of her Lachka to make a pathway through the crowd up to the
single Trinx that she’d taken notice of. When he froze in place she simply
accessed his mind and forced him to walk out to her, then she released his body
back to his own control.

“
Deervan
, come with me
please,” Oni said as she turned and started walking again, leaving the Trinx
with a moment to make a choice.

Fortunately he made the right one and after a twitch
of hesitancy began walking behind her as she parted the crowds ahead as needed
with her psionics. None of them were too eager to get close to her, but when
they were massed together they got more reckless, thinking the numbers would
insulate them from her wrath. One actually threw a rock at her, but it stopped
in front of her helmet. She nearly walked into it, but a split second before
her armor made contact it was shot back the way it’d come, curving through the
air to hit the individual who’d throw it and put a good knot in his forehead.

A few hundred meters later she saw the dropship coming
down but didn’t revise her coordinates to bring it directly to her. She left
another half mile of brisk walking and visible defiance of the crowds as
Deervan
quietly trailed behind her. Oni made sure he didn’t
get hit by anything either, then when they got to the dropship she dumped the
three sleeping Trinx into the air and held them aloft before shooting them like
slow moving missiles into the cargo hold under the care of a Knight.

“Do you see that?” Oni asked, standing beside
Deervan
a few meters away from the boarding ramp as she
pointed back at the crowd that was still complaining loudly and in so many
words that her armor couldn’t translate it all. “That is why I have to take the
infants. So they don’t end up like them. If they raise them, they’re going to
try and teach them to be like them, whether on purpose or just through
association. The infants have to be separated at birth so they never know this
stupidity.”

“
I do not
disagree
.”

“I know you don’t. I know you dislike them as much as
they dislike me. Take this moment to soak it in and remember their stupidity
and ingratitude. From here on out you’re my liaison to this planet, and we’re
going to figure out how many people down here need to be removed and how many
can learn the easy way.”

“
Me?
”

“I’m inside your head,” she said, pointing an armored
finger and gently touching his temple as she deactivated her helmet and locked
eyes with him. “You have the best interest of your people in mind, therefore I
can trust you. Come with me to orbit and we’ll get you situated somewhere that
we can control before we send the collection teams in.”

“
For them or the
infants?
”

“Both,” Oni said, placing a hand on his shoulder and
directing him up the ramp. “If we stall, the infants lose precious days and
they don’t deserve that.”

4 weeks later…

Deervan
sat in a nearly
empty building in a small sector of the largest city on
Vikod
as he read through another information packet from Star Force. It was for his
personal instruction, and knowing that he’d have to pass various tests later on
in order to remain here without having to go through indoctrination in
isolation, he dedicated a significant portion of each day to study after
attending to his newly minted duties as coordinator of the loyalist faction.

At least that’s what he and some of the others were
labeling his position, for there was no official title. Archon Oni had simply
put him in charge and he’d been helping her to recruit likeminded, sane Trinx
to bring into this sector in order that they could be put to work. Star Force
apparently didn’t intend to permanently use the Trinx infrastructure, planning
to replace it with their own sometime in the distant future, but they were not
wasteful and wanted to salvage as much as they could during the transition
process.