Gateways by Aer-ki Jyr (world of reading txt) 📕

The Lurkers were in a similar position, using Essence far more than the Wardens’ single use recharge capability. At Star Force’s urging, one of the few remaining Lurkers in the galaxy was captured during an attack and restrained rather than killed after most of its Essence was depleted. The Veloqueen kept it suppressed and absorbed its continually weaker attacks as the Jedein examined it telepathically, discovering the kill on sight orders it had regarding the Jedein that were encoded into its basic genome rather than being a recent addition.

So either there were more Jedein out there, or the people who had subjugated them and turned them into Hadarak feared their return in some fashion.

That knowledge had led the Veloqueen to begin a search and question expedition amongst the other Megaloids…but none had ever seen the Jedein before, nor anything like them, leaving such questions for other galaxies that none in the alliance could afford now. Reshaping this galaxy and removing the remaining Hadarak still occupied almost all their efforts, for the Jedein were few in number and the ongoing battles were not going to pause until they could travel around to all systems and remake the Hadarak.

And when they did, it took a great deal of time. Not just in the conversations with the Wardens and their eventually conversion into cocoons that then had to be guarded by Star Force, but the transformation of all the minions into either completely new forms or reformed brains with their instincts rewritten, or in many cases a hybrid of those two options, took years to accomplish for a single system, and Star Force was doing far more Warden catching and transport to the Jedein than they were bringing the Jedein into enemy systems.

Director Davis had made it clear that the war was not going to stop, nor were they going to contain the Hadarak until all could be converted, but they were also going to save as many as they could as they secured this galaxy…along with the warning that more enemies were coming, and they didn’t have time to corral the Hadarak.

Not that they could be corralled. They were still launching attacks against the portions of the Grand Border that butted up against their dwindling territory, and Star Force had deliberately not annexed the surrounding regions for that reason. Better to have them assaulting the strongholds than the weaker expansions, with most of the captured territory being further in towards the core and spreading out along the transit corridors that were long ago solidified with infrastructure and reliable communications lines to the Deep Core where Mak’to’ran and the elite V’kit’no’sat were now stationed.

Zatria was one of some 713 worlds they possessed here, with many more to be added in the future. Not all had world brains, and not all were created by the Veloqueen, but several were that had to be in specific locations, and Zatria was one of them, for an obvious reason.

As Mak’to’ran looked up into the sky he saw two stars, one white and one blue, that provided light and heat to this system, knowing that there were three more obscured by the planet. All five stars, however, were in orbit around the supermassive black hole at the system’s center that appeared as a perfectly dark circle in the heavily starry sky that was common in the galactic Core. It appeared that they were suffocating in stars, some close enough and bright enough to be seen as dull pinpricks of light even during daytime here, which lasted 29 hours out of a 34 hour day. And the brief night was never dark, with very little blackness visible between the stars…except where the black hole was.

There was no matter around it in turmoil to be seen, nor any geysers emitting from the magnetic poles like others. This black hole was simply sitting there quietly as distant stars and planets orbited it, making it the biggest system gravitationally and geographically that Star Force possessed…or rather existed within, for there was so much space here that they could not lock it down. The gravity well was so wide that jumplines could not be blockaded, nor predicted, given the numerous surrounding stars. Anyone could be coming in from anywhere, but the certain section of sky that was slightly less crowded was the direction the intergalactic travelers would come from.

Fortunately the crowded sky was not nearly as close together as it appeared, with enough void in between the stars for ships to move through, even if they had to weave and bob on approach towards the black hole that was called by some a ‘tether,’ ‘gateway,’ or ‘galactic port.’ Regardless of the names for it, the gravity signature was so massive it could be seen from travelers on approach, and then veered towards as they sought enough gravity to stop their insane momentum that had carried them across the intergalactic void.

If they tried to brake on one of the smaller stars they would ram into it, for their engines were not strong enough. Only a black hole of sufficient mass could stop them safely, and there was no way to aim for a specific point from another galaxy. Other stars would get in the way, but they could be dodged on approach, making the final jumplines unpredictable…which also meant the threat of collisions.

The planet Mak’to’ran was on was not safe, and could see an incoming ship hit it if they didn’t detect the gravity silhouette…which was the primary reason the planet needed to be bigger. But a ship floating out there had no such warning, and already since being here there had been 6 cases of Megaloids colliding with incoming travelers, though thankfully no Star Force ships as yet.

That had to change, and Star Force was already setting up a beacon system that denizens of this galaxy could use to navigate off of,