Aer-ki Jyr [Jyr - Star Force

November 14, 128801

Vitroll Nemannis System (Hadarak War Zone)

Manchurra High Orbit

Kyra Junari Bensha Sovati watched from the secluded confines of her cloaked scout ship as the Hadarak invaded yet another system. Her mission was recon, not assistance, and if her ships technology was good enough no one would ever know the QuipNari had been here.

Kyra sat in the cockpit chair, surrounded by no buttons, levelers, or physical controls of any kind. The construction of her ship was entirely smooth and claustrophobic, with her having reset the gravity to 4 times normal to give her physical body something to strain against as her cyborg mind directed the ship and the large amount of passive sensors collected data to be returned to the PanNari, her mother race.

She, like the other PanNari, had been born into whatever genetic form was required of them. If the PanNari needed a quadruped, then they birthed a quadruped. If they needed an avian, they got an avian, and so forth. PanNari genetic technology was that good, but most of their population was born as a simple gelatinous mass without a mobile body. They were brains and support tissue that were interlinked into the Dominion where they gained their physical bodies.

Kyra was not connected to it now. The Dominion was home, and she was far from it. The QuipNari were the few that ever left it, but they had to in order to see what was happening in the galaxy. They had to venture beyond the protection of the Encapsulation to see, hear, and record what was taking place, and they had been for millions of years in small number until recently. Now, the number of QuipNari had increased by 1439%, because the PanNari needed to know what was happening in the Hadarak war, and it was spread across vast reaches of the galaxy.

This scout mission was her 14th, making her one of the newer recruits, and she almost enjoyed being out here more than in the Dominion, which were treasonous thoughts. Shed been chosen for the QuipNari because of her malfunction. PanNari were meant for the Dominion, but a few every now and then rejected it in some small way. When discovered they were reassigned to the QuipNari in order to put their desire to be elsewhere to good use. Kyra hadnt regretted the change at all, and was fortunate for it. The rest of her race was waiting for the day when theyd be unleashed against the Hadarak, but until Eldorat told them the time was right they must wait in seclusion. And most of the PanNari were happily content to live inside the Dominion without curiosity for the physical reality beyond.

But Kyra was curious, and this mission was more significant than most. She and others had been investigating the Hadarak war as well as those in their path. Her body had been fashioned as a biped form known as Human in order to infiltrate an empire known as Star Force. The female gender had been chosen to facilitate information gathering, for they were generally considered less of a threat due to their average size being smaller and their predilection for submission over aggression, but Kyra had discovered that that part of their genetic makeup had almost become obsolete due to their cultural alterations and limitless lifespans.

Most had learned to customize themselves and rise above their default programming, though there was still an undercurrent present that had made the choice of her female body the correct one. Due to security issues she had not been able to infiltrate any of the Star Force planets, both because she had no identity on record and the fact that her cybernetic arms and legs could not pass scrutiny. The QuipNari had underestimated the level of Star Forces most rudimentary security, otherwise she would have gone in with a fully biological body and not have had her arms and legs removed to add the upgrades.

Her mind could have been reconfigured as well if needed, but it was far more shielded and disguised given that most of it was biological. The artificial components had blended with her Lifeforce long ago, but a tight scan could still reveal them. Her first mission had not been deep infiltration, but just a periphery assessment of their civilization. While she couldnt physically set foot on one of their worlds without going through a security check, their empire was so large and had so many offshoots that she was able to find and interact with other Humans beyond their borders easily enough, and through them she had been able to gather a wealth of valuable information.

But this mission was not about Star Force. It was about their originators, the Vkitnosat. This system belonged to them, and the Hadarak were coming here to engage them in battle. That interaction she was tasked to document, as were others, but she was the only one in this system. QuipNari never operated together, always in isolation and creeping around where the risk of capture was limited. If Kyra was ever forced into that situation she was ordered to terminate herself and her technology so it would not fall into the possession of others. The PanNari had been chosen by Eldorat because they had advanced to the point where they were able to kill Hadarak. He had found them worthy enough to be saved from destruction, for the PanNari had no idea the level of threat they truly posed, and were fortunate Eldorat got to them before they could seriously piss off the Hadarak and trigger a selective purge of their race.

What Kyra was documenting now was far more than a selective purge. The Hadarak were engaged in what many assumed was a full galactic purge, but no one knew what the trigger point had been. The Vkitnosat had been in continual conflict with them, but they had not been very effective in the kills they made. Not nearly as much as the PanNari had been. And the galactic purge had begun before Star Force engaged them in battle, leaving the question of why this purge was occurring as an unanswered mystery, but that wasnt Kyras mission to discover. She was here to discover how much resistance the Vkitnosat were going to put up given the fact they were engaged in a civil war against their former masters.

Other QuipNari had been documenting that conflict, as well as the rumors that Eldorat had visited the Vkitnosat and attempted to offer them preservation. The Vkitnosat claimed they had killed the Zakderon, but no one believed he was actually dead. The Vkitnosat did not have the power to do so. More likely they had rejected his offer due to their immense ego and he had simply left them to die while pursuing other options.

But the larger question was how long Eldorat was going to wait before calling them into action. He had told the PanNari they could not defeat the Hadarak alone, nor could the others he had Encapsulated, which the PanNari knew nothing of. And all of them combined would not be enough to breach the interior defense lines to get to the closest of the Gates. They had to have the assistance of the Essence users inside the Temples at the minimum, but Eldorat had said even that would not be enough. They had to have help from his own masters or any assault on the Hadarak would end in failure and the waste of all that had built up in preparation for that fight.

So the PanNari waited inside the Dominion while the QuipNari were their eyes and ears within the galaxy as they prepared for Eldorat to return, and he had said he would not until the time was right, so they werent expecting to interact with him again. Hed given them what they needed, now it was their responsibility to patiently wait for the call to war.

But the war was already here, and Kyra didnt like not being a part of it. She knew her duty and would not waver from it, but the idea of a galactic purge insulted the PanNari. They were meant to save the galaxy from the Hadarak, but what would there be left to save if they didnt act now? Would the Veloqueen really let the Hadarak do this, or would they soon return to lead all in the promised war to rid this galaxy of the Hadarak?