So even if they could somehow break through the Hadarak surge and assault the galactic Core, the enemy could conceivably receive extra-galactic reinforcements forever. And even if Star Force conquered the Core, the Hadarak could reinvade forever. The battlefield was so stacked against them it made sense for the Founders to establish the Temple sanctuaries, for there was no one to conceivably fight back with a chance to win. They only had the ability to slow down and irritate the enemy.

  But Star Force had something the others did not, and that was the Uriti. Thanks to the Chixzon and the trailblazers’ ability to befriend the formerly terrorizing monsters, Star Force now possessed Hadarak of their own. They might be the lowest level of Hadarak, but they were of the same breed and power, and that was something that had never been noted in any of the Temple material the Paladin had come across. No one had ever taken the enemy and turned them against themselves, or maybe it had been tried and failed and that record was buried in the Essence-only files.

  Samsiv badly needed the Archons here, but as the reception committee kept the arrival chamber secure month after month, no one ever arrived. They were getting so late that Thrawn inquired as to the status of the portal, indicating that they should have arrived by now. It wasn’t until months after that until word arrived via very long courier routes to connect to the Star Force comm relays that the Archons had hit a snag at the Bridge endpoint that was going to delay their arrival considerably…

  10

  June 19, 128547

  Uncharted System, Galactic Edge

  23rd planet

  Jack-020 and Randy-021 had been sent out to find the closest of the 4 Bridge endpoints to the now Paladin-occupied Temple, with the system in question being quite large and on the very edge of the galaxy, meaning there were no stars beyond it to be seen. Look back and you got the normal starfield view, but rotate around and the twinkling lights suddenly stopped…only to be replaced with the view of other galaxies.

  The little spirals and other types of swirls were larger, yet the gaps between them were darker. It gave one a very eerie feeling when looking out there, as if you were literally on the edge of nothing, but now the Archons knew there was definitely something out there in the darkness. Something far worse than the Hadarak. And now the galaxy didn’t seem such a welcoming place, rather a giant dinner plate waiting to be feasted upon once it was filled up.

  The other galaxies out there were the same. The largest visible ones were the nearest ones, and those were full of Hadarak as well. Which ones of the others were Holdouts? Which ones had not yet met the Hadarak? Jack and Randy didn’t know for sure yet, but they all seemed to be the butt end of a massive joke, just waiting to be devoured by something else lurking out there. Something so terrifying it had to be fiction, but if it was what kept the Hadarak from fully conquering galaxies, then it had to be real.

  Star Force was back to being vulnerable again, and not just against the Vargemma attacks. They’d originally lived under the threat of the V’kit’no’sat discovering they existed and coming to wipe them out…and here they were again, escaping certain destruction because they hadn’t attracted enough attention yet. After all the work they’d done in this galaxy, it seemed they had barely scratched the surface of what needed to be done to actually safeguard it. It was enough to make most people just give up and live what kind of life they could while ignoring the threat, or maybe just get what they could before the certain doom came, but those loserisms weren’t in Archon vocabulary.

  They were drawn to challenges, craved them, and the more terrifying something was the more they’d set themselves to facing it. But this? This was something that truly would separate the real warriors from the pretenders, and it seemed the Hadarak wanted nothing to do with this epic and very one-sided confrontation.

  But now that they knew about it, Star Force would not ignore it. Right now, however, they had their plate full of enemies to deal with, so their only hope against this dark mystery was to avoid it…which would come down to the Hadarak knowing not to try to consume everywhere in the galaxy with an unstoppable minion expansion spree.

  The trailblazers thought they could fight the Hadarak and potentially whatever else they had in the Deep Core right now. Removing the Vargemma so they could effectively do that had been the mission, but it was becoming clear that the Temples held greater weaponry and knowledge designed specifically for fighting the Hadarak. That meant securing it and using it to enhance Star Force’s capabilities were now tops on their to-do list.

  Unfortunately the attacks on Star Force were not ending. If anything they were increasing now that the Vargemma knew they had invaders. They weren’t launching from the occupied Temple anymore, but the others were frantically launching attacks and doing a great deal of damage, perhaps in a stupid effort to make Star Force relent, but it was obvious that was not going to happen.

  Star Force was going to have to fight, Temple to Temple, until all of the Vargemma were neutralized…and they were going to have to do it with stun weapons or they’d have to fight the Caretakers as well. In order to do that they’d have to learn how to operate the portals and open the shield that was keeping the fleet out. Once inside they’d quickly start spreading to the other Temples, but the Paladin couldn’t open the door. Only an Essence wielder could, and there wasn’t a Paladin template for that, so Jack and Randy were the two who’d won the mini-contest as to who got to go on this little field trip amongst the trailblazers, and now they were finally here.

  The star system was inhabited, on three of the planets, but the one they were interested in was not…but it did have visible Caretaker presence as well as the remains of previous cities surrounding the continent resplendent in Founder technology.

  “Looks like they couldn’t play well with others,” Jack noted as they flew down to the surface in a dropship along with a heavy escort of drones and skeets as Caretaker craft took to the skies as well to pace them, but none were firing.

  “I supposed nobody thought to place a sign that said ‘No Killing’ for the neighbors’ benefit. I’m seeing several different architectures. This place has been a hot spot for a while.”

  “Can’t put a doorway in and hide it at the same time. People have to be able to find it.”

  “True,” Randy agreed as they headed for the single largest building that rose up into the sky like a fat obelisk, and sticking out of one side was a ‘small’ landing platform only 2 miles wide and barely noticeable from afar, for the entire Founder civilization on the continent contained very large structures everywhere, making Randy wonder just how big these guys were.

  “If it’s not in there, we’re going to have a hell of a time finding it.”

  “It’s there,” Randy said assuredly. “They want it to be found.”

  “By the right people,” Jack added. “And they’ve got plenty of guns to discourage those who aren’t.”

  “It is the universe language. I bet there’s a Responder or something like it down there. There’s gotta be some instructions.”

  “Yeah,” Jack agreed as they curved around to land facing the entry doors set into the side of the slightly sloped wall of the massive building. The naval drones stayed back a few miles and the skeets continued to circle above them, leaving only the pair of Archons to set foot on the platform…and as expected, just shy of the closed, massive doors, was a small green crystal-like obelisk waiting for them to approach.

  “There it is,” Randy pointed out. “Let’s go have a chat.”

  When they approached the obelisk grabbed and scanned them, with the sensation being a bit irritating, but not damaging, as it tried to get past their Ikrid blocks and eventually did so, since it was a machine interface and not true telepathy, but it took a very specific technology to do it…and the fact that it hacked their Ikrid blocks in a couple of minutes was damn impressive.

  “Greetings,” the obelisk said in English. “Your language has been assimilated to facilitate communication. I am the automated interface for the Bridge portal, designed to educate and test those who are…,” it said, cutting off as both Archons triggered an Essence Rush that did nothing more than surge their Essence beyond their bodies and flare it a bit.

  “Essence use confirmed. Access to the Temple is granted. Those who are deemed worthy are invited to increase their skills with the knowledge beyond. The Temple awaits those who wish to take up the challenge of fighting the beasts at the Galactic Core, and those who have achieved the most basic of tools to do so…the ability to manipulate one’s own Essence. All that you require will be provided to you in the Temple, you need not take anything other than yourself. Only those that possess the skill may travel to the Temple through the Bridge. If you wish to bring other servants, you must do so through another means to be found within. Do you wish to travel to the Temple now, or do you have questions that need answering?”

  “When was the last person sent through the Bridge?” Jack asked.

  “None have passed this portal since its construction. No Essence users have ever been detected on the planet. You are the first to arrive.”

  “What is the estimated travel time to the Temple?”

  “Two hours, 17 minutes, 21 seconds.”

  Randy whistled.

  “Damn,” Jack said, glancing at him. “26,000 lightyears in 3 hours. That’s one hell of a cheat.”

  “I’ll say. What is our method of travel?”

  “An Essence bubble will carry a travel orb with you inside it. The orb will provide life support for the transit.”

  “How big is it?”

  “Slightly larger than your arrival vessel.”

  “Subway then,” Jack confirmed. “How many can it carry?”

  “It will be large enough for the both of you. Are there other Essence users you wish to travel with?”

  “Not at this time. Are there any instructions for us regarding the transit or what occurs thereafter?”

  “Simple enter and, when ready for transit, touch the blue orb at the center. Transit will occur automatically and cannot be canceled en route. When you arrive, all that is necessary will be explained and further knowledge will be granted based off your Essence skill level.”

  “What is the purpose of everything else here?”

  “This facility is designed to preserve and protect the Bridge against all threats. That requires a large amount of preparation.”

  “It has a sense of humor,” Jack quipped.

  “We are ready to travel now,” Randy told the obelisk. “May our escorts remain here?”

  “They cannot interfere with this facility, its operations, or engage in combat against others. Doing so will result in their deletion. Presence is acceptable so long as no interference occurs. This is typically difficult for races to maintain, thus the permanent presence of non-travelers is requested to occur beyond the boundaries of the facility on other areas of the planet.”

  “Understood,” Jack said, relaying instructions to their escorts and the fleet of warships in orbit. “We wish to enter the Bridge and travel to the Temple now.”

  The obelisk didn’t respond, but the large doors behind it did, cracking apart into four pieces then melting back to reveal an internal chamber that had numerous ball-like craft inside that appeared to fit just within the dimension of the circular portal that was set into the ceiling.

  One of the travel orbs detached from a wall niche and floated down to ground level, then it split in half and opened up for the pair of Archon with numerous compartments within designed to accommodate different body sizes…of which the Humans were apparently on the small end.

  The pair climbed up a small ladder and sat down on padded benches around a smooth gray table as the orb gently resealed. There was no visible connection to the other chambers, but the trailblazers could see with their Pefbar that there were concealed tunnels that connected all of them, probably as a backup option in case of emergency or a way of linking compartments if the travelers were of different sizes.

  Once sealed, a blue orb rose up out of the table and hovered in place, waiting for the travelers to touch it and activate the transit.

  “Here we go,” Jack said, reaching out his bare hand and placing his fingertips on it…with the orb pulsing blue light and rising up into the ceiling where it stuck until an Essence wave rushed over them all. A moment later it turned red, and that was when they left the planet behind and entered the Essence realm enroute to their destination.

  “You know,” Randy said, glancing around at the clean and pristine interior as his Essence sense could see through it into the blankness beyond. “I wonder…”

  “…if the apocalypse monsters are in this realm and not the intergalactic void.”

  “It would make some sense if they’re linked to the Lifesprings.”

  “Let’s hope not. I really don’t want to be snacked on enroute.”

  “Me either,” Randy agreed as he sat back and waited. There was nothing to do as they traveled, no map to watch to monitor their progress. They just had to trust that the Bridge was legit, because they were entirely at the mercy of the alien technology…and if the Essence bubble broke, they’d be spit back out into space with only this ball of a ship and their retractable armor to sustain them. And that wouldn’t last long enough, for marooned in deep space was a death sentence for the simple fact that no one could get to them to execute a rescue. At least no one that Star Force knew of. Maybe the Founder technology had a way, but he doubted it.

  So the two Archons sat and did nothing for the trip, counting down the time on their armor’s internal clocks…and exactly as stated, 2 hours 17 minutes and 21 seconds later, an Essence wave hit them and the orb above shifted back to blue and dropped down into the table where it disappeared.

  “No return trip?” Jack wondered just before the travel orb began to split in two.

  “Maybe needs a reset…or maybe it wants us to stick around long enough to figure out what’s going on.”

  “No reception committee,” Jack said with a frown as he reached out with his senses to find emptiness around them.

  “I don’t sense the Paladin either,” Randy said as he hopped out through the widening crack between the halves and got his shoes on the hard floor. He walked out into the open and saw the reception chamber with the murals on the walls, then he spun around and saw the circular portal behind them. The wall beside it opened up and swallowed the travel orb, resealing over it and denying them their pathway back.

  “Well…”

  “I’ve got nothing on comms. Either we’re being blocked or they’re not here.”

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

  “Vargemma?”

  “No. Worse.”

  “At least we’re here,” Randy noted. “Let’s see what these murals have to say to someone with Essence.”

  “Be my guest. I’ll look for the exterior door.”

  “Deal,” Randy said, walking over to the wall that showed the apocalypse monsters. It wasn’t too specific, as he’d seen in the records transmitted back to Star Force, but there was something missing. It felt like a void there, and after several minutes of staring at it and the permutations he threw some Essence on it at a specific point…and then the mural came alive and shot out into the chamber in some form of a realistic hologram.

  The vague image changed into something far more accurate, rotating in place several meters over Randy’s head and extending further out into the chamber. There were several, actually, but one was huge compared to the others and they all looked like sea creatures with thick tentacles. Black as black could be, and a little glossy, then the big one split apart…but it wasn’t being destroyed. It was just changing into smaller pieces that matched those surrounding it…then after a pause those pieces recombined with all the others and created a much larger single creature that then began to take on different configurations.

  “Damn it, you’re a shape shifter,” Randy said to the thing. “And a colony hive at that. But what can you actually do?”

  Randy felt some more little voids in the shape, realizing they were interactive ‘buttons’ and pressed another one with a flick of Essence. The monster shrunk in size, then several different sized planets and stars flew out of the mural to line up with it…showing that the larger version monster was wider than Sol’s Jupiter and far bigger than any known Hadarak could even aspire to be.

  A little more mural surfing and Randy got sizes on the smaller versions, with most being planet or moon sized. Eventually he found one display that showed them ‘eating’ a planet, with them seeming to melt and cover it in an ocean of black goo…then when they were finished the monster was much larger and the planet was gone, absorbed into it, which would then split into two or three more.

  That meant a planet death was the way these things reproduced. But what did that have to do with population? Were these things tasked with reducing it or did the people on it serve some other purpose? Essence collection maybe?

  It was clear there was a lot more information in the murals than the Paladin could have figured out…but that still left the question of where they were. Randy got through about half of the options on the monster mural before Jack finally called to him telepathically to get over to his location, but he didn’t offer any explanation.

  Randy ran across the chamber to where there was now an open doorway leading to the outside. A wave of cold air hit him before he got there…painfully cold, prompting him to activate his armor and cover his entire body with the thermal protection as he came up on another Archon armor suit standing in the opening and staring out on a long, flat plain covered in nothing but snow and ice.

  “Oh shit,” Randy said, knowing that they were supposed to be in jungle-covered mountains. “It sent us somewhere else.”

  “It’s also not night,” Jack said, referring to the very dim light outside similar to moonlight, which the Paladin Temple had none of since it was constantly lit.

 

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