Point Zero by Aer-ki Jyr (christmas read aloud TXT) 📕

requested be sent up to his otherwise normal Warship-class jumpship that he chose to lead his fleets from rather than a donut-shaped command ship.

The Saiyans agreed to send them up…after removing their sabotage nodules and doing mental scans to confirm they knew little about where the rest of the Chixzon were…but Tyver was interested in knowing why they had surrendered. And what interested a Grand Admiral was not something to dismiss off hand.

The Human walked into one of the four separate holding cells, intent to talk to them separately, with him separated from the larger, nearly all black Chixzon who was situated behind an energy shield powerful enough to stop even the advanced cutting technology of their biology, though there were four guards in the room as well in case he did somehow find a way to break through.

“What is your name?” Tyver asked, clasping his hands behind the small of his back two feet away from the shield barrier as he looked up at the gargoyle-like face before him.

“Muen-ti.”

“Why did you surrender when the others chose to kill themselves?”

“I wish to live.”

“A good reason. Why didn’t they?”

“It is not our way to subjugate.”

“Why the change of mind, in your case?”

“I wish to live.”

“And how do you see that life progressing in the future?”

“I will be taken to one of your indoctrination centers and held there for the rest of my life or until I convert to your ways. My life as a Chixzon is over. I wish to start a new one, even if it is in Star Force.”

Tyver studied his subtle body language for a moment. “You didn’t have a choice previously?”

“We do not. Chixzon act as one. I am dead to them, and wish that they do not find I am alive. They will kill me if they can.”

“Not in our custody they won’t. Can you tell me where the others are?”

“I do not know the specific locations, but most are on roaming ships designed to last until the Hadarak purge the galaxy, then the Chixzon will rebuild afterward. At least, that was the plan. They did not anticipate your level of resistance. The Chixzon empire will not rise again.”

“And you wish to switch to the winning side?”

“I wish to choose my own path, eventually.”

“Why not come to us earlier?”

“How? I had no ship. I was never alone. The others would not have allowed it. And even mild suspicion of treason is investigated and punished. I never considered it until now, when the option presented itself. Am I wrong about your intentions for me?”

“They are accurate. I’ve been told that it was the Chixzon that started the Hadarak purge. How did you do that?”

“Knowledge gained from Hadarak experimentation. I do not know the specifics. I was hatched from the first generation that contained genetic knowledge. I do not have the same knowledge of past eras.”

The Grand Admiral raised an eyebrow. “Why were you not all given the same starting point?”

“It is not our way. Rebirth demanded maximized odds. After that was accomplished, reproduction returned to original methods. Knowledge and power must be earned, not gifted.”

“And it bothers you that so many were gifted it, without deserving that power.”

“You can see it in my mind as well?”

“No, I’m not telepathic. Just observant.”

“I did not think Naval members were, only Archons and Mavericks.”

“And a few others, but you are mostly correct. We restrict power to those who earn it as well. And you can begin your new path by earning your fresh start rather than simply being gifted it by those who agreed to accept your surrender. Tell me something of value I do not already know.”

“Are your mind readers not thorough?”

“Knowledge and wisdom are not the same things, nor are memories and skills. Tell me something of value.”

“They envy you.”

“Why?”

“You have surpassed them, and proven their methodology is inferior. You have also taken their Uriti and made them more powerful through training. All our efforts are on biology and control, not upliftment. They had assumed it was negligible. They were wrong.”

“Have you always thought of ‘them’ and not ‘us?’”

“I did not choose to be born Chixzon, nor did I choose to be born into a race of failures. I can do better on my own.”

“Do better by giving me some knowledge I can use.”

The Chixzon thought hard for nearly a minute of silence, then his eyes flared green for a moment as his head came up. “There is a planet they wish to go to, but cannot access. It holds ancient knowledge that we were supposed to retrieve after being reborn, but many died in multiple attempts and we were told it was untenable. No one knows what it contains, but we were tasked with going there. I can tell you where it is.”

“What is guarding it?” Tyver asked warily.

“We do not know. Those who went in never returned. It is in a gas giant, on a floating construct hidden within. It is easy to get there, but nothing came back out. When we sent drones, they came back with images of the dead on the exterior entryways. They were each cut in four pieces. One line down the center, the other horizontal across the waist. Each of the dead was exactly the same. No battle wounds were visible, and whenever the drones tried to pass the archway they were disabled. It is a death trap, but we were tasked to go there. Yet another failure.”

“What system?”

“Your records call it Shi go Zu Mata’ki, in the…”

“…Jumangi Kingdom,” Tyver finished. “That’s an Oso’lon world, is it not?”

“One of their degenerate splinters now. Previously it was inhabited by smugglers. Neither used the gas giant, nor are they away of the construct. It is hidden within 167