Star Force: Hamoriti (SF62) Read Free

out the interference. It was labor intensive calculations, but it
allowed the Chamra to continue functioning on a low level as they ran by the
Sety statues that were gradually starving to death where they stood.
    There was no time to save them, and as the cyborgs
came closer to the creature a few lightning arcs emerged, not so many as
before, but enough to begin killing them by the handful as those that were not
immediately hit were starting to get to the spilt chemical seeds. They picked
them up individually and ran forward, smashing chemical packets against the
side of the creature then retreating to pick up more. Moving with an enhanced
speed that was typical of cyborgs, they rushed to deliver as many chemical
seeds as possible before they were cut down.
    The other 8 leaders watched from the control room as
thousands of Chamra sacrificed themselves to deliver the last of the chemical…coming
up just short before all of them were killed, but the Yisv quickly confirmed
that the psionic field had shrunk, and if it was as low as it was when the Sety
first breached the shell then the sickness should have replaced it.
    Desperate to finish the task the Sety, Trinx, Yisv,
and every other race of The Nine pulled all personnel on site and sent them into
the shell, with many taking sick the moment they got near the creature. Many
dropped to the ground within a few seconds, with the Yisv being completely
compromised and catatonic, but some stronger willed individuals in the other
races persisted long enough to get to the seeds and smash a few more, though
often it took two weakened individuals combining their strength to break one
open.
    Most of the individuals in that assault lived through
the next hour then died over the coming days, but the Oracle was quick to
inform them when sufficient chemical had been applied and the suicidal charge
was recalled. Those Sety that had been turned into living statues did not make
it out, dying from the sickness within minutes, but their bodies were dragged
out all the same and the Oracle oversaw the final stages of the repairs,
finally resealing the monster to its fully dormant state.
    Of the leaders of The Nine on planet, none survived,
for they had gone in the final wave as well to maximize their window of opportunity,
but those who were left alive in the aftermath reported what had happened and
relayed the warnings of the Oracle to their distant leadership while continuing
to ply it with questions. Coming to grasp the horror they had narrowly avoided
The Nine immediately took up custody of the planet and quarantined it under
heavy guard to ensure that no one could intentionally or accidentally breach
the shell again.
    The galaxy had been spared a fateful blow, and The
Nine intended to protect the work of the Ancients indefinitely, no matter what
the future costs, for they would be nil if the creature was ever to wake again.

 
    2

 
 
    May 3, 2723
    Haphchap System
(lizard territory)
    Unnamed planet

 
    Four Li’vorkrachnika rushed down one of their angled
tunnels, descending lower into the bedrock as the three standard variants
escorted a larger ‘tech’ that had approximately the same body type but was
reserved for dealing with scientific matters. It had been grown along with a
few others when the highly dense corovon deposit that they’d located deep
underground had been found to be housed within an artificial construct of
unknown origin.
    The tech variants had been analyzing it and given the
go ahead to begin cannibalizing a section of the outer hull, for while it
wasn’t the source of the majority of the corovon readings it still held an unusually
high concentration of the valuable element. As it was, there were three
different breaches in the hull that were being expanded upon as an army of
lizards were surveying the interior, learning and collecting whatever bits of
technology they could get their hands on.
    Another team had been delving deeper trying to get to
the source of