First Contact

Chapter 818: Ultimis Diebus Hominum

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The gathered Atrekna stared at the advertisement as the camera moved down a scintillating gown, lovingly moving down the train of the gown.

They all looked at one another as recognition dawned.

Dalvanak the Defiled One wore such dazzling raiment on many occasions.

That meant that the Defiled One, who had been vexing the Atrekna's leadership, must have acquired the raiment somewhere in the Terran worlds.

The Atrekna felt cold satisfaction at the discovery.

Dalvanak had shown up after the first archeoreversion, which meant that the amount of lemur Tomb Worlds would be limited. Even more limited would be the ones that could be reached from the systems that the Atrekna had held at the time.

Young Ones and Ancient Ones alike encouraged the Old Ones to search their memories, positive that this time they would be able to track Dalvanak to his lair and stop whatever strange experiments and plots the twisted and aberrant Atrekna could have underway.

Several worlds were possible.

The Atrekna chose carefully. They put together teams of skilled Atrekna, backed by servitors and slavespawn.

Powerful war materiel were unveiled for the attempt upon Dalvanak and the rogue Old One's gathered cult. War materiel that had been planned to be unveiled to throw back the furious attacks by the Inheritors of Madness.

The Atrekna felt cold satisfaction viewing the 'volunteered' Atrekna geared up and trained in the war materiel. Taking down Dalvanak would be a perfect proof of concept of the war materiel.

It would then be used to throw back the Inheritors and reclaim all of the systems, nearly two thousand by this time, that had been lost to the furious assault.

Portals were opened, allowing stealth ships to slip through time and space and arrive at those Tomb Worlds.

The gates were closed.

The Atrekna waited.

They knew that either Dalvanak would be present on those worlds, and would be eliminated, or he would not be, rendering the scouting moot.

Either way, the strike teams should return quite rapidly.

A week passed.

More systems fell to the Inheritors of Madness.

A month.

Half of the Spoked Offensive gains were either lost or the Atrekna were losing.

Two months.

Over half of the systems were firmly in the Inheritor's hands. The rest were heavily disputed.

Finally a portal opened up with the phasic signature of one of the strike teams members.

What came through hurtled itself through the portal, twisting in midair and throwing something behind it.

The Atrekna that had thrown itself through was sliding, on its back, firing a heavy projective weapon at the portal. It was screaming, but not in complete panic. It was communicating verbally, like a primitive.

"GET SOME! GET SOME, FUCKERS!" the Atrekna screamed audibly, holding down its finger on the trigger of the weapon till the bolt locked back.

The purple and gold snap of a phasic and chronotron jacketed fusion grenade sent those in the chamber reeling.

The portal collapsed.

The Atrekna collapsed back, throwing their arms and legs out, closing their three eyes, and breathing long and deep. It still held tightly to the lemur rifle.

Its stealth suit was gone. It was wearing lemur clothing, it had a harness around its torso that contained ammunition magazines and two more grenades.

The other Atrekna stared at the one laying on the floor.

No longer was its skin a shade of violet or mauve.

Its exposed skin was gray.

One of the Ancient Ones hovered forward.

**identify yourself** it demanded.

"Eat a dick," the one on the floor said, putting its hand on something on the harness.josei

**individual eatadick report on...** the Ancient One started to reply.

The grey skinned one sat up, pulling the rifle into their lap, and opened their eyes, staring at the Ancient One.

Its eyes were burning orange with purple slit pupils.

"Consume the sexual genital organs of a male of a random species," it verbalized. "And enjoy it."

The Ancient One and the others drew back from the grey skinned Atrekna as it slowly got up.

**report** another said, drifting forward.

"Where am I?" the grey skinned one asked.

The gathered Atrekna looked around. **research system naglatak-four** one answered.

The grey skinned one pulled a block from the harness it wore, slapping it into a gap in the bottom of the frame of the weapon. It pressed a button and the bolt snapped forward.

"Never heard of it," the grey skinned one said. "I left from Fortress System Astillgum-Twelve."

**the inheritors of madness** one started.

The grey skinned one laughed. "Madness? Oh, no, you have no idea what madness is," it said. It closed its eyes and shuddered. "Madness is what I experienced."

**the inheritors wrested that system from us** another stated.

The grey skinned one nodded. "Yeah. They're a pain in the ass like that. They learned from the best, the biggest pains in the ass in the entire universe," it said. It looked around. "I need nourishment and refreshment."

An Old One drifted forward. **I will escort you to a relaxation cubicle so that you may adjust to your recent experiences** it said.

"I thank you, grandfather," the grey skinned one said.

The gathered Atrekna watched as the grey skinned Atrekna was led from the room.

After some time, the Atrekna of the Grand Convention of the system sent for the grey skinned one, desiring to discover what the grey skinned one had experienced.

The grey skinned one, and the Old One, were gone.

A surveillance crystal had caught it.

As they had rounded a corner the Old One had grabbed the grey skinned one firmly. Both had turned into vibrating strings and vanished.

The Atrekna of the Grand Convention ground their teeth in their throats.

Dalvanak had stifled their plans once again.

-----

It took nearly a month to prepare another set of expeditions to the lemur worlds. The only information had been from a half-mad Atrekna who had managed to return before being kidnapped by the Cult of the Defiled One.

Phasic enhanced biomechanical armor for the Atrekna, all of whom were skilled in psychic combat as well as using combat phasic powers. Slavespawn trained and bred to withstand the Mad Lemurs of Terra's rage and wrath. Servitors armed with the best weapons the Atrekna could field, wrapped in armor that was proof against psychic and phasic powers, with a high concentration of Substance-W to help deflect lemur weaponry.

The teams trained for nearly a week together.

They would discover which world Dalvanak had chosen to conceal itself in. They would root out the crazed Atrekna and destroy it.

Again, six teams boarded stealthy combat ships, entered jumpspace, and vanished.

The Atrekna of the Grand Convention rubbed their tentacles together in cold satisfaction.

Soon, Dalvanak and his Cult of the Defiled One would be brought to heel.

Soon.

-----

A single yellow star, highly energetic, with a stable rotation, good light pressure, and energetic stellar winds. Around it was fourteen planets. Seven of the outer eight were gas giants, two of them hypermassive ones. The furthest out was a solid planet whose gravity often pulled debris from the Oort Cloud down on it. The system had a thick asteroid belt, refuse from when the system slowly formed. Of the six inner planets, two were in the lemur green zone, two closer to the sun in the lemur yellow zone, the other outer two also in the yellow zone for lemurs.

Which seemed to be able to survive anywhere.

The system was largely industrialized. There were lattices around the smallest gas giant for building massive starships. The asteroid belt was full of refineries and transportation facilities, many of them automated to the point that they had continued their work until their hoppers and storage areas were at maximum capacity.

Four of the inner planets were largely settled, all of the terraformed to be comfortable to the hardy and adaptable lemurs. There were cities all over the continents, roadways and rail lines connecting the cities. Vast automated and manned farms were scattered across the continents.

All of the inner four planets were ringed by a complex system of satellites.

It was a system any modern stellar nation would be proud of.

Before it had died.

Now it was empty of higher life forms. Ships silently orbited the planets and gas giants or coasted on elliptical orbits around the star. The cities were dead and silent, only automated lights still working.

There were still transmissions. Automated news programs, subsidiary and satellite channels broadcasting the content of their larger parent corporations. eVI's hosted talk shows and weather reports to dead worlds.

The GalNet link was cut. The hypercom ansible was destroyed.

There were satellites in a carefully arranged shell around the system, broadcasting a warning to any who arrived and who would listen.

**!DANGER! BIOLOGICAL WEAPON ATTACK SYSTEM !DANGER!**

**!DANGER! TERRAN XENOCIDE ATTACK SYSTEM !DANGER!**

**!DO NOT ENTER! !DO NOT LAND! !DO NOT SALVAGE!**

**REENTER SUPERLUMINAL SPACE**

**NO RESUPPLY AVAILABLE**

**NO EMERGENCY SERVICES AVAILABLE**

**DANGEROUS SYSTEM HOSTILE TO LIFE**

There were plans to deal with the system once the Confederacy/Atrekna War was finished. It would require dedicated resources, vast military commitment, and an iron will of a star nation.

It would be the work of years, if not decades.

Not that the four ships that slid into the Oort Cloud, beyond the Resonance Zone. Exiting the higher bands of jumpspace. The ships moved away from their entry point, going into full stealth. They slowly approached the system.

All of them were a blending of biology and technology.

They moved forward, the slavespawn and the servitors in stasis pods full of fluid and shielded from any phasic leaks or life sign traces. The Atrekna crew watched the phasic crystals as the four ships slid through the space.

They received the transmissions from the satellite web, but ignored them.

They were here to hunt a traitor. Dead lemurs were nothing to worry about.

The ships moved through the gulf of space, the planets at different orbital azimuths so that no two were lined up. They came from high up on the plane, avoiding the asteroid belt, heading for the largest of the settled worlds.

The protocontinent had broken up some time in the past, resulting in four large continents on a world that was 53.5% water.

There was some broadcasts from below.

The Atrekna listened to them impassively for any clue as to the traitor and its organization.

The broadcasts were pleas for rescue, warnings to stay away, unintelligible babbling, or automated systems.

The Atrekna disregarded them just as they disregarded the satellites and space stations around the planet.

There was no beacon at the massive starport, but the Atrekna could recognize it from orbit.

Their ships slipped down, landing at the outskirts of a massive megalopolis, at the spaceport.

The Atrekna had reasoned that by following the basics of lemur protocol, automated defenses would not alert the traitor by opening fire on the four vessels.

They knew better than to discount the lemur defenses, even automated ones.

It had largely been accepted that the Mad Lemurs of Terra that the Atrekna had discovered had to be some kind of warrior caste. They were too aggressive to form any type of society, keep any type of social or cultural cohesion. Whether it was birth or training, the Atrekna did not know, but they had determined that logically, the Mad Lemurs of Terra, on their own worlds, would be much less dangerous.

But they had also decided to move forward with the acceptance that 'less dangerous' did not mean 'harmless'.

The ships settled down, squishing slightly as the bioengineered landing gear mated with the ferrocrete of the landing pads.

The servitors were woken, the slavespawn were revived, both removed from the liquid filled membrane sacks of their stasis pods.

The Atrekna donned their combat and protective gear.

The doors opened on all four ships at the same time.

Slavespawn with sensitive organs scuttled out, their antenna and cillia waving as they slowly spread out, their iridescent shells sparkling in the harsh white lights of the landing area.

They reported back no sign of coherent thought.

The Atrekna waited for a bit, then ordered the servitors out as the Atrekna readied the combat globe platforms. The combat globes represented an improvement over the old design that had been used in multiple dimensions, multiple universes, to protect the Atrekna and allow them to dominate the battlefield.

The fact that the combat globes had to be redesigned was a point of burning annoyance to the Atrekna, perceived perfection found to be lacking and forced to be altered to survive.

The servitors moved into the large structure, the crystals embedded in their helmets allowing the Atrekna to view the area around the servitors in a 360 degree view. They held tight to their weapons, no trace of nervousness in their confident movements. They were accompanied by slavespawn with delicate senses that would warn the slavespawn of any attackers or anything living more complex than an animal.

The Atrekna watched as the servitors moved into the large building.

It was empty of life. Just strewn about objects that the Atrekna were not worried about.

At the Atrekna's orders, one servitor moved up to a public information terminal. It entered the context menu and quickly navigated to the goal of the Atrekna.

N'MakTulmaw's Wedding & Bridal Shop.

The same name as had been spotted on the finery of one of the traitorous Cultists.

The servitor downloaded a map and transmitted it back to the ship in a quick burst of phasic energy.

The Atrekna used their phasic power to order the servitors back to the ships, to mount the vehicles that were a blending of biology and technology, while the slavespawn were disgorged from the biomechanical ships.

The combat globes, slavespawn, and biomechanical vehicles moved out of the spaceport, the Atrekna scanning around themselves with their phasic power, the delicate phasic senses of the slavespawn searching for any danger, the servitors holding their weapons and paying attention to their scanners.

They moved through the dark streets. At first they wove around the abandoned vehicles, many of them damaged or burnt out, until they reached a wall of vehicles that seemed to surround the spaceport.

A single blast from the combined power of the three Atrekna in the lead combat globe blew a hole in the crude wall and the Atrekna strike team moved down the boulevard. The lights clicked on around them, the first few times the servitors firing their hypervelocity shard guns at the lights, turning on ahead of them and extinguishing behind them.

The Atrekna paused in intersections several times to scan with their formidable psychic powers, looking for any threats.

There were pools scattered about. Still pools of thick viscous stains.

The Atrekna checked the data crystals they had been given.

The pools had been encountered before.

Where a Mad Lemur of Terra had died.

They adjusted their psychic senses to ignore those pools of dark, still, cold viscous phasic stains and kept scanning.

The servitors held tight to their weapons, nervously looking out of the clear chitin bubbles next to them, straining to see through the darkness as the biomechanical vehicles purred down the street on hundreds of legs.

The goal came into view.

A large building. Nearly six kilometers long, a kilometer thick, over fifty meters tall. The building was dark even through the tarmac around it was lit by isolated light poles. Vehicles were scattered around and the wind made an eerie sound as it moved over the twisted and damaged vehicle frames.

At the orders of the Atrekna, the servitors exited their biomechanical vehicles.

The Atrekna conferred with one another. The combat globes would not be able to enter the building silently.

It was agreed that the Atrekna would move into the building without the combat globes.

The base of the globe, which looked more like a crown or a jewel setting than a mechanical platform, settled on the ground. The crystal of the globe pulled aside and the Atrekna inside drifted from the globe.

All of them wore biomechanical combat/protective suits, crystals across the shoulders, down the spine, on the elbows and knees, on the knuckles, over their eyes. The phasic crystals glimmered in the darkness.

The Atrekna felt confident that nothing could stand before them as they gathered the smaller slavespawn around them with the servitors on the outside.

They moved up to the dark doors.

It took one of the stronger slavespawn to wrench open the doors with the shattering of some kind of glass that landed in cubes instead of jagged shards. The frame screeched as it was twisted out of the way by the over-eager slavespawn.

The Atrekna strike team entered the building. They could sense Atrekna phasic energy residue inside.

They knew that it had to be the Cult.

The dark building swallowed the group.

The last servitor paused, just for a second, at the doorway. It turned to look back, its eyes glowing blue from the biomechanical night vision system, the phasic crystals around the lenses glimmering.

Before it could do more than half-turn, the Atrekna forced it back into following the group.

It paused, for just a second, as the darkness of the building enveloped it.

It had heard it again.

It tried to tell the Atrekna but was silenced. The Atrekna had heard nothing, even with their senses stretched to the max. The servitor stated it seemed to be atmospheric disturbance at roughly fifteen decibels.

The Atrekna scoffed, lashing out with their phasic power at the servitor to discipline it, even as they drifted into the building.

They stared at the interior.

It was a vast chamber, the interior open, with walkways and elevators and ramps on the sides. The sides were nothing but smaller cubicles that were obviously used for storage and display of material goods.

The servitor stated that it heard the audible noise again. Still in the fifteen decibel range.

The Atrekna scoffed.

The servitor was left behind to guard the access point and the others moved further into the building.

"Can't I come with you?" the servitor asked. It looked around. "I am sure I heard something. We may not be alone."

**no stay behind since you are so needlessly nervous** was the answer. **there is nothing more advanced that warm blooded mammal scavengers the size of your shoe**

The Atrekna floated away on their disks of phasic energy, the crystals on their armor glowing softly. The servitors gave him a 'whatcha gonna do?' look and the slavespawn just hustled to keep up with the Atrekna.

The servitor glumly noted that the darkness seemed to almost be hungry in the way it swallowed the group, even the glimmer of fully charged phasic crystals vanishing.

The servitor stood alone and looked around, feeling more and more nervous as it stood and shifted its grip on the shard rifle.

The rest of the group moved deeper. Their target was almost at the center of the building, on the third floor.

There were living plants in stone planters scattered all through the building. Several times automated sprinkler systems kicked on, once a slavespawn screeched and backed away, spitting acid onto the plants, the misty droplets startling it.

The Atrekna disciplined it quickly with psychic lashes.

The screech seemed to echo through the massive building.

They reached the center of the building.

One Atrekna lifted itself up to the third story, looking at the 'bridal shop' with all of its senses. The other Atrekna hovered at various heights, holding tight to their weapons. The slavespawn whipped their antenna nervously even as they shuffled.

The servitors looked around in the darkness, which seemed to deepen, holding tight to their weapons even as they shuffled their feet.

The bridal shop was dark, the macroplas windows mirrored. The doors were closed.

The Atrekna moved forward, lifting itself over the railing, and stopped in front of the doors. At its order four other Atrekna moved up with it, two per side. The servitors and slavespawn backtracked and ran up the unmoving escalators, ran down to the next set, then hurriedly moved to where the Atrekna waited.

The Atrekna could feel the slight tang of Atrekna phasic energy from inside.

The middle Atrekna raised its arm.

The servitors knelt down.

The slavespawn tensed.

The Atrekna lowered its arm and pointed at the door.

The five Atrekna in the middle lashed out with their phasic powers, shattering the windows and the doors.

Dozens of figures dressed like the Cult were revealed!

The servitors fired their hypervelocity shard weapons into the darkness of the shop. Slavespawn reared back and spit acid mucus into the shop. The figures fell over, shattered when the hypervelocity darts hit and exploded, burst into flame, or melted under the assault of acid spittle.

The offensive fire petered out.

There was a long moment of silence.

The Atrekna all heard it. Even the servitors and the slavespawn heard it.

The servitor's voice was slurred, thick, bubbling.

They all turned to look.

The servitor was staggering. Its face mask was pulled away. The servitor's skull was visible, its eyes missing, its fleshless grin streaked with gore.

Klaxons and ringing bells suddenly sounded out, the cacophony echoing through the vast building.

A screech answered even as the bedlam got louder.

Figures rushed through the darkness of the store, hunched forward, their faces leading, their eyes a dull red, their jaws clacking as they knocked aside racks and displays.

Half of the Atrekna turned to face the oncoming assault.

The rest stared at the servitor standing alone in a pool of dim light.

Its jaws clattered as it spoke again.

"Can't I come with you?"

The Atrekna blinked, confused, even as the alarms rang and wailed.

The lemurs bounded out of the store, tackling servitors, slavespawn, and Atrekna alike. The force of their charge carried most of their victims, screaming, over the guardrail, falling to the floor below. The ones that withstood the first found another, then another, then another, tackling them.

They two were flung off.

The Atrekna in midair found that the lemurs were willing to jump into space to reach for them.

Half of them fell, multiple lemurs holding onto them.

And biting.

Their jaws ripped through Substance-W doped chitin, tore through phasically enhanced cloth. Their hands deformed metal, ripped crystals from the foam settings.

Atrekna, servitors, and slavespawn all screamed.

Panic broke discipline, the Atrekna trying to get distance, lashing out with phasic powers. The servitors opened fire. The slavespawn threw themselves into the attack, lashing out with phasic enhanced claws and whiplike antenna.

The lemurs didn't care.

They just screeched and kept charging, their jaws clacking.

The lone servitor stood and watched with fleshless eyes as the strike team was swept off of the walkway.

It turned and looked at the few Atrekna who had managed to get their psychic shields up in time, their phasic barriers, even as they had thrown themselves backwards into the wide open area.

Its jaws were clacking as it stared with empty eye sockets at the Atrekna hovering in midair.

"Can't I come with you?"