D.S. BROWN - THE HAVARIAN GENOCIDE - CHAPTER 8

“3^rd Supremor’s purview has been doubled,” Hiakalite smiled, thinking of the 1^st Supremor.  “Numerlen has been keeping a secret.  Urendil, fleet production has increased exponentially.  I don’t know where the resource allocations have been coming from, and it’s my job to know these things, especially when they’re a secret.”

Hiakalite smiled in admiration.

“1^st Supremor Numerlen has been operating in the black, executing even better than I might have.  There will be a new Third Fleet, a Tenth Fleet, and a Minus One Fleet, something he calls Negative Fleet.”

“Negative Fleet?”

“Assigned to the Intelligence Directorate.  Totally black.  Off the books.”

“But, the Intelligence Directorate already has a fleet.”

“Not a fleet of Capital Ships.  Not a fleet able to undertake a full scale military campaign.”

“Capital Ships?”

“Yes, Capital Ships, and one Neastar Class vessel.  I’ll get confirmation and instructions after the orders for Tenth and Third Fleets are announced.  

“Well, it would seem 3^rd Supremor Hiakalite has been given permission to save The Great Majestic.  Assuming it’s really worth saving.”

Hiakalite dismissed the wizard’s sarcasm.  “How’s the weapon?"

Urendil closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.  “Very timely.  With one hundred percent certainty I’ll be able to release and load by the time we arrive at District 45.”

“Excellent.  The ship will be waiting.”  Haikalite pulled up a holoscreen and checked their flight information.  “We’ll be landing very soon.”

Urendil opened his eyes.  They glowed.  “Yes, very timely.”

Haikalite noted a bright red glow in the corner of the holoscreen, first one, then two, then a host of alerts appeared.  They were all priority messages.  One of the signals indicated his aide signaling him from the cockpit.  Haikalite lowered the privacy screen.

“Sir,’ said Aakate.  “Priority message for you from Alliance Command.  Several messages from Alliance Command.  Sir, I’m picking up increased comm traffic on all channels, military and civilian.  Something’s happened.”

“You’re right, Aakate.  I’m receiving alerts on my personal lines.  Let’s see what’s so urgent.”

The 3^rd Supremor looked at the host of signals.  One of the messages was encoded and processed through the Neoshorite Hyper Cluster.

The Neoshorite Hyper Cluster was a state of the art communications ship that roved through hyperspace.  It was one of the Intelligence Directorates most important assets, and provided the only always-on communications conduit to their Fifth Column Allies in the Zradgen Empire. 

Haikalite accessed the message.  A thin, harried Zradgen appeared on the screen.  This was cause for concern.  Haikalite did not know this sentient, and he knew all the sentients who had access to the cluster. 

“For whoever receives this message, by now you should know what has occurred.  In the Empire, the Havarian are like dust in the wind.  Our cause has been discovered.  Klaksor Ahmbien is dead, along with almost all the Havarian. The mad Emperor has attempted complete genocide.  Thankfully, some survive.  We have managed to broadcast a wide area hypersignal into Alliance space.  We will contact you again when we can.”

The message ended.  Hiakalite looked at Urendil.  The Emir looked shocked.   

“Klaksor Ahmbien is dead?”

“It would appears so,” said Hiakalite.  “Along with almost all the Havarian.”

“Genocide?  Truly Kdifoc has lost his mind.”

“We’ve always known that.  Only a madman would try to create a god.”

Hiakalite accessed the wide area broadcast.  The cabin was filled with a holographic recording of the Daaneen system.  The images were prefaced by commentary.  The voice sounded like that of the anonymous Zradgen they had just heard.”

We have sent you, the sentients of the Majestic Alliance this log of the events that occurred in the Daaneen star system.  Many lives were lost in getting this account across the line. The Column has been devastated.  Yet we feel our deaths are worth the cost.  The galaxy must know about the horror.  The Emperor wishes to drag us into the darkest of days, and beyond.  He has done unspeakable things, and must be stopped.  He is the truest evil, an apostate who stands against life itself. What you are about to see is an abomination.

The false Emperor Kdifoc has transformed his brother into a terrible new space god.  This antigod destroyed the entire military force of the Daaneen system.  Over the course of the attack, Kdifoc ordered the genocide of the Harvarian species. 

After the initial attack, Krakoth went from planet to planet raining destruction on all that remained.   Those that survived were doomed.  Before he left the system, Kdifoc loosed Weapons of Planetary Destruction on the star Daaneen.  The Daaneen star system is no more.  Your own scientists, both military and civilian, will no doubt notice the new supernova.  This living abomination, this horror, this act against nature must be stopped. Kdifoc and his foul antigod brother, Krakoth, must be destroyed.

What followed was a visual account of the attack.  Hiakalite and Urendil watched in horror as Krakoth blazed a path of wonton destruction through the star system.  They watched him kill, and kill, and kill.  Then they watched Kdifoc order the destruction of the star, something that had not been done since the Great War with the Amengalish. 

“Unbelievable,” said Urendil.  “I guess we won’t have a problem getting anyone to believe us now.  The politicians will have to act.  The constituents will demand it.”

“Yes, they will.” said Hiakalite. 

As the holographic account ended, the voice spoke. 

We can do little.  It is up to you and time is of the essence.  Kdifoc has dispatched the abomination to the Young Princess.  The antigod is to destroy your Kha’ahmpionic fleet, and either capture, or destroy the Kha’ahmpion itself.