Revenge of Tyrants. Dragons Destiny
by A.Krokhmal akaBagaturKhanFrom author:I havent speak about the another new story in my cycle "Revenge of Tyrants". But here you are.
This story is about the period of Achaeronian Galactic War, to say honest - its about the Pre-war period, end of 80 years of the XXVI century. Main hero is a dragonid species officer, who is taking part in the operation against the Khazaar agressive clan. I think, this story must be in this cycle.
To say fair, earlier, i wrote about almost the same plot in my oldest version of universe, but then decided to change completely the whole LORE and, now this story is fully reworked. Reworked and available for reading.
This story "Dragons destiny" can help the reader to understand many things in the universe, and the reason of the future Achaeronian Galactic War (2593 (2594) - 2596 AD)------
"The Khazaars.... The Khazaar civilization has existed for many millennia. They and the Unn-Chorr are divided by race. The Unn-chorr, ferocious four-armed creatures, consider themselves a separate species. The Khazaars are just as ferocious and long, but with two arms. It's often said in the galaxy that it's more likely that the Stars will turn into candy wrappers than the Hazaars and the Unn-chorr recognize each other as kindred, but for some reason in recent years they have begun to get closer.
Many mistakenly think that their cooperation began when the Acheronian League was formed. And it was then that the Khazaar kazir-ka concluded an agreement on an alliance with ayllus Olmek. Later, N-sai kakontsi joined them. But it was not so... No, everything happened much earlier, in the year that the earthlings call 2589, according to their own chronology.
Chaos reigned everywhere in the galaxy then. Many did not notice this, but in the eyes of the Draconian Allseers, the situation was different. Something was brewing. Something terrible was approaching us.... Something unknown and ominous.
The Khazars behaved rather strangely a few years before the war. Some of their clans declared war on kazir-ka Zindrope. Some of them Zindrope managed to calm down, but the Vilusa clan.... everything was quite difficult with him. If such superpowers as the Coalition almost did not notice the danger from Vilusa, then for Tratorius and the Draconian Empire they were known as a threat, and not the last one.
Everyone knows that the Hazaars have no homeworld. Their homeland, as they say, was destroyed as a result of a cataclysm ... or a techical disaster. Although, perhaps, everything is not so simple at all. Could their homeland have been burnt down, thanks to some trials? I have long understood that everything that happens is not an accident. Nothing happens by accident. There are no accidents. Thinking that randomness is real is a mistake. The Khazaars preferred to avoid talking about the death of their home world. Even when you have a friend in the person of a representative of this mysterious race, it is better not to talk with him about the fate of your homeland. Otherwise, you can pay dearly, and at least lose the very friend you have found. Since the time when the home world of the Khazaars perished, they began to live on their ships, turned into space nomads. And the ships became their homes. These were real palace ships. Fortress ships... For some reason they liked to call them "tumens", I don't even know why. It was said that "tumen" from the language of Khazaar means "legion". Perhaps due to the fact that each simple ship carried at least twenty thousand soldiers on board, including, of course, civilians. Although ... What is the civilian population of the Khazars? After all, they all fought, both men and women. Even simple merchants had powerful weapons for battle and a lot of protection. Everything they lived for was profit.. Robbery, profit and war. That's the whole point of their darned existence.
Khazaars were considered dangerous to almost everyone. For the Coalition, they were known not only as trading partners, but also as enemies ... Enemies even more often than partners. The Khazaars and their numerous clans often invaded the border worlds of Artandir or the Draconids. But Vilusa, who declared war on Zindrope, decided to launch a raid on everything that moves. The most extensive of their attacks was the invasion of Ser-Krasiel-5 in the border system from Tratorius. Krasiel Commander Ser'Chiratteli the Beautiful did her best. But apparently "everything she could" was not enough. Vilusa was torn apart by her Commander with Retribution. "Retribution", that's what they call their missile systems filled with atomic energy. Krasiel fell, the Khazars plundered the locals and took everything out of there, even squids. All the glorious host that defended the planet was waiting for an eternal kingdom in the Progenitor Worlds. After such a raid, the high-born naval commander Ser'Terazim even considered declaring war on the Khazaar. But Zindropa claimed that he had nothing to do with the raids, and that the ill-fated Vilusa and her bunch of renegades were behind everything.
I have often heard the generals of the Empire speak of the advancing hordes of Vilusa. And not only the Empire. In Artandir, where I was lucky enough to stay and enter the service, Vilusa's threats were also said. Especially Fernand... Ex-President Asinius Fernand, a tall, white-haired female human, was one of those who had seen the Khazaar fury live. Her grandfathers and great-grandfathers faced the Khazaars a great many times. The Khazaars simply could not leave other worlds alone. If they did not invade our regions, they attacked others. Most of all, they liked to besiege the worlds that we call agricultural or fertile. They were not attracted to wild and desert planets with a population of just over two thousand. No... They were most attracted to fertile and at the same time, poorly protected worlds. Places where you can have a good time. It is known that not only Fernand and her forefathers fought with the Khazaars, but also my dear ancestors. More than five invasions were held back by my great-grandfather Ser'Vintari Nakhcherinsi. Everyone remembers the Battle of Mahur Mahinio... Two hordes-flotillas attacked the planet inhabited by the Xians suddenly... My great-grandfather, having received the blessing of the Council, gathered a fleet and rushed to save the doomed world... Fortunately, when Ser'Vintari flew to Mahur, he found that the planet was not completely plundered, and there were almost no dead at all. The Khazars set out to impose tribute on the peaceful Xians and take all the squids for themselves. But their great-grandfather destroyed their armada, killing their commander Traora Milicenti in battle. For this, he received a blessing from the Xians, and a Fire Symbol from the Council.
Many years and winters passed, and they claimed the lives of many warriors. Individual Khazaar clans continued to invade, of course, but their attacks were repelled by the frontier fleets. Armies from all over the galaxy held off invasions. But as I later found out, the reason for the appearance of Vilusa was the Coalition, which had not gained its power at all. And not even the Ouroboros fleet, famous for millennia.
And just now I remembered the day when I was summoned to an urgent meeting of the Artandir Security Council on Lenghir. I arrived there with an escort of adjutants and specialists. A number of warlords were already seated in their chairs around a large table with a holo-screen. Colonel-General Asinius Fernand replaced the absent sire Bedivere, she also headed the council. As it turned out, the noble Bedivere had left for Beljamonte on trade matters. There were many more representatives of the nobility at the council, including the illustrious Admiral Lucano del Salerno.
"A moment of attention, m`lords and m`ladies," Fernand's sonorous voice was heard throughout the meeting room. Everyone, of course, immediately turned their attention to her Excellency. Asinius ordered her two robot adjutants to activate the holo-projector in the center of the table. Only a moment passed, and a huge shining screen appeared in front of all of us. It represented one of the planets on the border worlds of Tratorius. These are the border territories between Artandir and the Fire Empire. I immediately recognized him as a Tratorius 4. A green exoplanet with incredibly beautiful forests and seas full of hearty red squid. Around the image of the planet, I then saw multiple scarlet dots. They clearly displayed the presence of the enemy. But what?
"Vilusa attacked again," Fernand said then. Her words made us all wince. General Sipotl felt especially perplexed. This huge arthropod ho-nari was counting on the most dangerous of the Khazaar clans to return again. His overweight body was located very close to one Nycomedian, who was introduced to me in the future as a captain of the 1st rank Shekharasinghe Tlalon.
"Vilusa's fleet, led by Clan king Mauna, attacked Tratorius, in territory subordinate to Artandir. The situation was complicated by the fact that local residents from among the Xian draconians went over to the side of the enemy and attacked the outposts. Our military units are stubbornly fighting the rebels, but they are there too little... Commandant-General Ser'Ternis asks for support. His army is on the verge of defeat... A little more and the whole world will go over to the side of the insufferable nomads." Then the images changed and began to show numerous scenes of battles. But it was not the bloody massacres themselves that shocked us... But the unknown reason for the Xians to go over to the side of the Khazaars. The Khazaar were known to enjoy using different creatures as slaves. There were only rare cases when the firefaces fought under their banners. Many of us all then thought it was just a joke. But then we saw how the locals under the banner of Vilusa shoot Ser'Ternis fighters left and right. It was then that we realized that the case smacks of something bad ....
"Destroy them all!" - Salerno's voice was immediately heard, "These are terrorists!"
The dragonian members in the council took this as an insult. Calling them all terrorists was reckless. Just think, Salerno has already exchanged the ninth decade, and stupidity is rushing, as if from N-sai.
"There will be a separate conversation with the Xians," I replied to his remark.
Salerno immediately shut up, realizing that the arguments are useless. And Fernand went on with her speech.
“We will smash the Khazaars to dust,” her voice rang out to the entire Security Council, “Our President wants to eliminate this threat .... He ordered to convey that Admiral Salerno will lead the operation. He will be joined by landing groups and a special squad of the commander of Ser-Naveja ... The rest or put the entire army of Artandir on alert on other planets close to Tratorius. It is possible that Vilusa threatens us with another full-scale invasion, and Tratorius-4 is just a distraction. Remember ... Remember, we are all responsible to the galaxy. To destroy the enemy you are given complete freedom of action. Report everything to me personally." That ended the short meeting. No one had time for unnecessary discussions. But to be honest, I was not too happy that I had to interact with this half-wit Salerno.
Later, in the late afternoon Lengheer time, one of the satellites attacked the pirate ship. These were not Khazaars, but crazed bradatus, goat-legged aliens who love violence a lot. Their missile corvette came out of nowhere and hit the combat satellite. Luckily no one was there. Not a soul. My shuttle sent three torpedoes and quickly dealt with the enemy's corvette. It's a pity that they didn't have time to take prisoners. If we could, we would get a lot of answers. After all, someone knew that we would be on Lenghir. Fernand surmised that the attack was planned on Lenghir Palace. It was there that the Security Council met. The satellite, controlled by the Orbital Center, tried to contain the blow, but failed. And that's when my attack came. Bradatus turned to dust. There was not a single particle left of them. Only some questions... Questions, devoid of answers at all.
"This is clearly not just an attack," Fernand said on the intercom late in the evening, "Khazaars bribed goats to bombard us with missiles." "Who knows," I replied, "But if you take Mauna alive...." Asinius flared up as if she was illuminated by the Progenitor. "You will," she rasped menacingly, "Mauna can provide answers."
After about 30 minutes, Captain 1st Rank Tlalon met with me. This Nycomedian immediately seemed strange and mysterious to me. Especially his sly smile, as if hiding something vile and vile. But still he served Fernand, and I could not think to somehow doubt his loyalty to the Republic. "It's better to take Mauna alive," he repeated the words of the Colonel General, "He knows a lot. And he can explain a lot." "Let's hope that everything will work out for us," I replied to this.
The next day, the battle fleet of cruisers and destroyers went into space on Fernand's personal order, approved by the government of the republic. I was in command of my Assassin-class shuttle as usual. This contraption, although it looked not so hot, could strike so that any enemy took to flight. Salerno commanded his armada of Tissalini mercenaries and natives of Beljamonte. He just loved to keep foreigners on ships. Even his officers were very often citizens of Beljamonte or Tramontina. He also couldn't stand aliens. Couldn't at all. He most often called people like us "scaly", contemptuously and angrily. And didn’t think to let any of the “non-humans” approach me. Therefore, the same hairless monkeys as he himself served on his ships.
Twelve hours later we were dropped straight into orbit on Tratorius 4. What was our surprise when we found there more than ten heavy ships - "tumens" belonging to Vilusa. Mauna, as we thought, was located on the flagship, which stood out in an ominous scarlet paint. The ships of the Khazaars were similar in shape to the Barbaricano dolphins, and almost resembled those of the Kinos Dominion, only their symbolism was clearly different. Mauna's flagship was painted all red, as if to commemorate the millions of unfortunate victims slain by the Khazaar. I advised Salerno to postpone a frontal attack, but the admiral did not listen to me at all. I still remember his words over the radio. "I'm not going to sit and admire these boats," his voice was heard in the devices, "We'll go on the attack and destroy them all." "But it's too risky," I replied. To which the naval commander snapped. "I don't need the advice of upright lizards, I'm an admiral and I know what to do," he growled at my trail, and then disconnected the link. I didn't like this attitude at all. I was about to say something insulting to him, but I stopped myself just in time. We all then had only one goal - the destruction of the enemy. The admiral had to make concessions.
The primary objective was to eliminate the Khazaar fleet in orbit around Tratorius 4. Salerno sent the first ten cruisers to attack. His personal flagship, of course, remained on the sidelines. The old gibbon was brave only in words, but in reality he preferred to sit behind a thick layer of armor. Captain 1st Rank Tlalon, who came to the battle with us, sent three torpedo bombers to support the Salerno fleet. And I knew... I felt it was a mistake. A damned mistake that cost the lives of many of Artandir's soldiers... But what are they for Salerno? For him, medals are always more important. Medals and orders, of which he has hundreds.
The Khazaars understood that we were going on the attack. No... to shoot everyone with atomic torpedoes from a distance. It is necessary to go into the frontal, to feel the full fury of the battle. But the Khazaars had a very bad surprise for us. Mauna's flagship went out of formation and headed straight for our ships. The Tissalinian captains of Salerno, including himself, were already overjoyed. They thought that the flagship went on a suicidal attack. After all, the scarlet ship of the leader Vilusa could be laid even with three cruisers. However, everything was not so simple. When Mauna's flagship approached the attacking cruisers, she immediately turned into a star. It turned out that its holds are literally filled with atomic charges. The detonation was instantaneous. The explosion was so powerful that the entire front line of the Salerno ships turned into space debris. It was lucky that my shuttle and Tlalon's torpedo bombers were not damaged. Although the shields were down by almost sixty percent.
"Salerno has gone mad!" - then I shouted in anger, "He never listens to orders. Our plans were discussed the day before. And he ruined everything, as always!" "That's his nature," Tlalon's voice came over the intercom. Yeah... I would love to do it, but Salerno has a long family history, and a lot of the military respect him, so this idea would be immediately doomed.
The admiral himself soon got in touch and reported that ten of his ships had been destroyed. As it turned out, Mauna was not present at all on the flagship. Why would the Khazar leader personally sacrifice himself? He was hiding in a completely different place and not on a ship at all. Now Salerno already listened with might and main to my advice. Of course... He had just shattered his greatness in the eyes of the warriors. Of course, the old gibbon has a lot of support even now, but some still made the appropriate conclusions about it. He does not care about the lives of warriors - and this is an indisputable fact. But I don't... I have always considered the life of every creature a value. Great value... Maybe that's why I had a less than good reputation. It's always like this... If you do good to someone, they don't appreciate you and rub your boots against you, but if you do evil, then you're a hero forever. This law of the universe will never die. And forever it will exist, as long as there is intelligent life here. This is the sad truth...
After destroying ten ships of Artandir, I contacted Fernand and told her everything. She was furious. In wild fury. She ordered Salerno to sit still, threatened to file a complaint with the presidential headquarters. Already this would notably affect the reputation of the old macaque. And he, as usual, got cold feet. Now it's my turn to attack. I conspired with Tlalon about a new attack. "Let's do it" - I said to this strange Nycomedian, "You want to get a flotilla major, right?" The Nicomedian smiled at this, as always, in his half-gloating style. "And you're smart," he grinned, baring his long teeth, "They are right about you. You have the potential to lead the entire Artandir fleet." "Thanks for the flattery," was my reply quickly.
Soon the captain and his comrades-in-arms were literally bombarding the Khazaar vessels with shells. The torpedoes took off at the same moment and headed straight for the Khazaar vessels. Several enemy ships still turned on the missile defense systems and repelled the warheads. But some of the shells reached their target and made a great bang in the ranks of the enemy. Three "tumen" ships were left without engines and power shields. On one of the holes, there was a depressurization of the compartments. From all the instruments I watched hundreds of crew members fly out of a hefty hole in the hull of the Khazaar battleship. All of them were just thrown into space. There they remained, but already dead... Moments later, I ordered the torpedo bombers to attack again. They, as before, fired many torpedoes towards the enemy. The warheads flew there very quickly and made even more rustle. Now three "tumen" ships have turned into leaky troughs. Far more aliens have been thrown into space than I thought. The Khazaari warriors flew into the void by the thousands, turning into lifeless space junk.
Soon, the Khazaars were already tired of enduring the fiasco. They decided to send their entire fleet to us. The rest of the ships hovering in orbit changed their position and went to battle. They all advanced directly on our armada. "Get ready for a new salvo!" - ordered then Salerno. "Yes, Admiral," multiple voices were heard from all the radio devices of the flagship. A new batch of warheads flew out from our flotilla. As before, the Khazaar ships took heavy damage. But only ten minutes after the third volley, it suddenly dawned on me. The Khazars never fired a shot. Their first ship, Mauna's decoy flagship, didn't fire a single salvo. He simply stepped forward to meet the Salerno ships and exploded. For some reason, the Khazarians completely forgot what it is to shoot back. They were shooting at our fleet like some kind of suicide bombers. Without making a single volley, they kept moving and moving in our direction. "What are they doing?" - Salerno's bewildered cry was immediately heard on all channels, "Are they ... Reckless?" And at that moment I realized that it was impossible not to agree with this arrogant gibbon. The Khazars behaved unnaturally. They kept advancing like crazy. No matter how we fired at them with everything that was available, there were no return shots. Thus, we destroyed the entire armada of the Khazaar. As they moved towards us, their reactors and engines were torn apart by our torpedoes. The last ship approached my shuttle at a sufficient distance. And then I told the team to turn on the sawing laser. It was an experimental weapon based on Elfurr technology. "Soul Dispenser to battle!" - I then yelled at the top of my lungs. "Yes, lord," the cries of the crew were immediately heard. The atomizer worked great. He instantly smashed the captain's bridge at the enemy ship. Left without a control center, the ship simply went down, and along the way began to fall apart. We haven't gotten to it yet. So we already spent a lot of torpedoes in the battle of Tratorius. When the last of the Khazaar ships exploded, we knew the battle was won. Mauna's main fleet has been destroyed. Now there was a second goal - landing on the planet itself. There, we have to resist the local militia-draconians, for some reason who went over to the side of the enemy. It seemed to me then that Mauna was hiding there, among them ... But other questions immediately followed? What for? Why is this all? Why do the Khazaars act like suicide bombers? Why did they decide to send their entire fleet to the slaughter? After all, they have always been known as warriors and brave men!
"Why did they decide to kill themselves?" - followed the question of one of the dragon females on my ship. "Why? Do they consider this senseless death heroism?" She literally read my mind. I didn't want to answer her at that moment. I myself was in thought, and least of all I wanted to talk in vain on this subject. We soon discussed with Salerno and Tlalon the landing on Tratorius 4. The old baboon thought it wise to bombard the anti-aircraft positions of the rebels. We were now confronted not by the Khazaars, but by the traitorous Xians. We also contacted the commandant. Ser`Ternis was in good health. He closed himself in one of the bunkers and continued to sit there while his draconians fought off the attacks of the "mermen". Me too... Brave officer... He was always cowardly. I never liked this cosatti. Personally, I think that as he was unworthy, he remained so. But still he thanked us for our help... He thanked us from the bottom of his heart. I still remember his growling voice coming from the instruments. "The Progenitor truly sent you," he then praised me in front of all his staffers, "I already thought that we were dead ... The rebels continue their offensive. But soon their attacks will bog down." "Sit in the bunker and keep your head down," I said coldly, "We'll be there soon." After that, the communication session was terminated. Salerno immediately launched his bombers and missile shuttles. I watched everything on the holo-projector in the flagship's bridge. I've seen Artandir's heavy bombers tear apart enemy defenses. Salerno decided to ride through the fortresses that had passed to Wilusa. In a matter of minutes, the positions of enemy air defenses were destroyed. They did not even have time to use their missiles. After all, the admiral had the best spaceships of Artandir! The bombardment continued for an hour. Of course, we did not forget about the damned coward Ser-Ternis and cleared his territory of enemies. Now this cossatti could boldly stick his head out of the bunker. The enemies that surrounded his team, we exterminated to the last. The rebels suffered a number of crushing defeats. However, they still continued to operate. They weren't about to give up. In some way, they seriously resembled those very Khazaars who went to their death without any doubt. So did the rebels.... They continued their attacks all over the planet.
The capital of Tratorius IV was a major city. It was called very modestly - Tratorin. According to scans, no less than a division of Xian rebels is located in the capital. They guarded the commandant's palace, which has now been turned into a revolutionary headquarters. Local leaders met there and planned further actions. Salerno suggested bombing the rebels' headquarters as well, but I was terribly anxious to find out their reason for moving. And for this it is necessary to take prisoner one of the leaders of the rebellion. Since the task with Mauna seemed to me a failure, at least one of the rebels would be useful. That is why I insisted that the old gibbon save us only from air defense, and leave the rebel regiments as a snack for my soldiers and Tlalon fighters. Without thinking twice, I personally led the landing and spent it three kilometers from the planetary capital. I myself flew on a huge glider equipped with shields and rocket launchers. I was guarded by at least ten Tlalon helicopters, against which the rebels had no chance. Walkers and infantry launched an attack on the city. The rebels almost did not have enough weapons. Yes, and their equipment was extremely scarce. In their hands, these sharks were not even holding blasters, but primitive lightguns. With such a weapon, going against the professional soldiers of Artandir is at least unreasonable. I expected the rebel leaders to finally surrender and fly white flags. But nothing like that happened. As soon as our soldiers approached the city, all this rebellious pack rushed into hand-to-hand combat. They didn't even know what they were getting into. And as if those very Khazaars, the rebels stumbled upon the shells of our soldiers. Walkers and paratroopers immediately opened fire on the rebels. The rioters in turn continued to move forward, brandishing their light guns like maces. None of these madmen managed to reach ours. All of them died overnight from shells.
Tlalon launched the legendary 'Cleaver' on them. If anyone remembers, this is a huge walking drone tank, shaped like a praying mantis. It was made back when Artandir was waging a stubborn war with Ara-Nii. And in order to defeat the bugs, we actually beat the enemy with his own weapon. The huge praying mantis moved slowly, emitting a firestorm from its mouth. That mechs creature did his job too quickly. Fast and deadly.
I remember how I flew around the entire battlefield in a shuttle, and saw only the corpses of enemies. None of ours was ever hurt during the fight... But what a fight it is... A real massacre. A fight is when they fight on equal terms. What is here? Just shooting almost unarmed rebels. That's all .... It's a pity that they were their own ... Once upon a time.
The Xians betrayed the draconians. Betrayed the Republic. They betrayed everything they had. But for what?
The rebels fell to the last man. Salerno issued an immediate air order to fly to the commandant's palace. The palace, as I already recalled, was turned into the general headquarters of the uprising. Very soon we were already in front of the building. The rebels even fired at us reluctantly. Some fired not so much from light-throwers, but even from simple crossbows designed to hunt Tratorin stingers. What fools... They went to their death with complete confidence. With every second of our approach to the rebel headquarters, it began to seem to me that the Khazaar suicidal spirit appeared in these madmen for a reason. After all, everything was planned from the very beginning ... We did not waste missiles on these fools. They just mowed everyone out of the anti-personnel turrets. Ten minutes later, the entire square in front of the palace was simply littered with the corpses of the Xians. Terribly battered pieces of bodies lay everywhere. I gave the order to land the shuttle on the roof of the building. I was not going to sit on the ground and force my specialists to indulge in vomiting ... No, it would be a truly vile sight.
The roof of the palace was ideal. We sat down successfully, and immediately jumped out of the apparatus. I put on heavy draconian armor, the same as worn by the fighters on the ships of the Ouroboros. Perhaps with this armor, I seemed much more fearsome than usual. The guys of Fernand, subordinated to Tlalon, worked with me. They had long served in Artandir's starfleet and were reliable warriors. I trusted them even more than myself. Moreover, they all came from families of hereditary warriors.
In general, the stormtroopers and I jumped onto the roof of the building. They jumped off successfully, no one broke their legs. In less than two minutes, we were already running through the corridors of the palace, intent on finding and arresting all the rebel leaders. Perhaps they would have been able to reveal to us the long-awaited truth. Reveal to us the reasons for such a strange behavior of the Khazaars and all the traitors... Why did they go on such suicidal attacks? We searched the building for a long time. It seemed that it took and was empty. Everything we found didn't belong to anything alive. Some dead Xians. They lay lifeless in many rooms of the palace. There was just something wrong with these.
It doesn't look like our warriors killed them. They did it themselves. They themselves shot each other... With every second we were approaching the ominous solution to all this madness. Finally, we reached the conference hall. In this majestic spacious room, meetings of the commandant with military leaders used to be held. Ser-Ternis sat right here and instructed his subordinates. But at that moment, Cossatti preferred to sit in a bunker and calmly surrendered the city to the rebels. So we did not find any traces of the symbols of Artandir there. No... No symbols of the republic. There was something different here. All the walls were covered with mysterious terrible words. At what they wrote here clearly not with scarlet paint, but with real blood. "The true God is near"... - that's what those strange inscriptions said. These inscriptions were everywhere. Even someone managed to fit them on the ceiling. In the center of the same room stood a long wooden table. There were no less than ten Xians on the seats, clad in copper armor. These were the very leaders of the rebels ... They were not alive. I carefully examined them, completely and completely. Not a single scratch. But at the same time, everyone is dead. No one shot at them, no one chopped them or stabbed them. Death was truly mysterious. But why then was it necessary to start all this rebellion? What to fight for? All my warriors were perplexed, looking at the terrible pictures. We expected to see everything there, but not this.
"Why would they do that?" - followed the question from one of the Tlalon fighters, "Commander Ser'Naveh. I don't understand... What were they fighting for? And why? Artandir did not establish a dictatorship on the planet. “I myself want to find answers,” I said honestly, “I don’t see any logic in their actions. As if they succumbed to witchcraft ...”.
Witchcraft... It really looked like magic, and not very kind. For a moment I imagined how evil sorcery enslaves thousands of minds, dooming them all to reckless death. That's just the source of this sorcery, I would like to explore, and find out its origin. At that moment, I did not notice that one of the corpses was not at all a representative of the Xian species. It was a hazaar. As soon as I noticed a foreigner among the dead officers, I immediately started up. "In the name of Caelus!" - a fighter from the Tlalon detachment shouted furiously, "Get the bastard!". Starfleet soldiers immediately opened fire on the khazaar, who decided to set up a death trap for all of us. But this khazaar was not so easy to kill. He moved so fast that it would seem that the shells flew through him. The alien constantly teleported in different directions, and then, having shown everyone his tricks with acceleration, he decided to go on the attack. He turned my first fighter to dust with a wave of his hand. The other two were thrown back a considerable distance. The unfortunate ones flew into the air and broke through the walls with their bodies. They flew far beyond the palace and in the blink of an eye turned into bloody cakes. Four more he hit with purple lightning. The poor fellows are roasted in their own armor. There was a terrible smell of burning meat throughout the hall, which almost made me sick. The hazaar bastard killed all my fighters. He destroyed all our guys with whom I went through the Tratorian battle. Khazaar knew what he was getting into. Without any doubt, he was going to leave me alone... But not for a snack. He wasn't going to kill me... I didn't even think about it. When the alien sorcerer dealt with all my guardsmen, he turned into a bright flash and in a second he was already next to me. Then I was able to see it completely. The sorcerer was dressed in thick black armor. His long head was uncovered, and his feet were shod in tight boots. He had no weapons with him... Naturally, it would be stupid for such a strong spellcaster to carry a pistol with him. Khazaar looked at me not with hatred at all. His violet eyes gave off incredible anxiety. Pale skin was covered with an unhealthy yellow coating, clearly hinting at aging. I still remember his look... I will never forget it... even if the universe collapses thousands of times... I will still remember that look forever. A look that spoke only of desperation.
“My name is Mauna,” the khazaar spoke in a bleating voice, never taking his purple eyes off me, “The demons will return, they are close. They are already very close". Mauna .. He called himself Mauna ... He was the high leader of the Vilusa Khazaars, whom we were looking for. And his words touched my heart. He spoke like a real fanatic, and not just a fanatic, but a mad terrorist, ready to destroy anyone for the sake of his idea. “With all due respect, but you are a murderer,” I replied then, “You unleashed a war ... You turned the whole planet into a battlefield. But I don’t understand your ideology ... Khazaars were considered warriors from ancient times .... You even fought having lost limbs... And now you are killing yourself indiscriminately... What is all this for? I would have asked more questions to that khazaar, but he had already read my mind. This sorcerer knew everything... He foresaw the threat of the end even then.... "Darkness is coming, my friend," Mauna answered me, "Darkness from such dark regions of the universe that it is better not to know. But I saw! I saw the future, Ser'Naveh." We never met him, but he already knew my name. This wizard was clearly not an ordinary one. He possessed truly great power. It was only now that I began to realize how far he had seen.
"So what?" - then I asked, "What is the future? Did you really decide to deliberately bring your people to death? But what about your desire to survive? For thousands of years you wandered like nomads in all areas of the universe. After all, your world was destroyed by a cataclysm!". "Not a cataclysm," came the answer, and it was not comforting to me, "His name is Marfur-Nirari ... That's what our ancestors called him ... He destroyed our world and turned our race into nomads, and turned others into Unn-Chorr, depriving them of the Empire of Atsavizotl, and subjugating them. Do you think why the Khazaars began to sail the seas of stars? Marfur-Nirari offered us to become his tribe ... His people. But we refused. And then he said that every world, where we take refuge will be destroyed. That's why we roamed. Recently, I heard a call... A call of horror and fear, coming from the very depths of another universe. This call only grows every time. The Khazaars can no longer hear it. But we don't die like cowards. We fight... That's why we attacked you. You.. the Artandirs are our enemies. And there is nothing more beautiful than to die in battle with enemies. I want to warn you, Ser'Naveh. Soon Marfur "Nirari will prove himself. I have seen what will happen soon.... I have seen the split. Only darkness and doom awaits you. But we won't see it again. We will feast in the gardens of our Gods. You can blow up your own planets so as not to see the horrors that will soon come here. This will be the best outcome...." As he spoke, tears dripped from his violet eyes. thrust thousands of blades... When he spoke of horror... I seemed to feel it inside. I felt the greatest cold deep in my soul. This cold began to grow.... "Remember," came the last words of Mauna, who was called the great Khazaar leader, "It is better to destroy ourselves... than to survive what is to come. You have to convey these words to your people... Tell them. Tell them that the Vilusa warriors died for a reason!". As soon as he finished speaking, he instantly burst into the brightest flame. It was like a small supernova explosion. I quickly recoiled from him, closing my eyes and trying not to look at this glow. It continued for another full minute , and only then completely evaporated. When I opened my eyes, I no longer saw anyone in front of me. Mauna burned himself alive in a mighty witch's flame. Not even a small piece remained of his body.
"A beautiful death," a strange voice suddenly rang out from behind me. I turned around and drew my blade from its scabbard.
Behind him stood that mysterious nicomedian Tlalon. There was no armor on him, only a blue military uniform and golden shoulder straps. But in his hands the pistol was clearly visible. One such shot, and my head would immediately fly off my shoulders. And by the way, he kept me at gunpoint. The Nicomedian smiled, as always, in his malevolent style.
"Do you think I'll let you stay?" - rasped Tlalon, "No one should know. The old Khazaar bastard will not get his own. He will choke on grief and dishonor in the next world." “I didn’t like you right away,” I admitted, without throwing the blade to the ground, as it should, “So you knew?” "I knew everything," it was the turn of the nicomedian's confession, "I knew it would be so. Vilusa betrayed the Gods. Betrayed Him." "You are talking nonsense," I angrily hissed at these crazy words, "You are a damned terrorist!" "Arthandir will fall," the otherworlder chuckled maliciously, "All worlds will fall. All states. The galaxy will be engulfed in flames. And your pitiful lizard-like appearance will disappear. Like all races! For He wants it so! The True God!" At that moment he tried to shoot. My soul almost hit my heels. But the bastard got stuck with his darned gun.
I immediately took advantage of the situation. Quickly charged at the Nicomedian, blade drawn. Without thinking twice, I lunged and hit him right in the chest. Tlalon did not have time to defend himself. He also could not dodge the deadly blade. The blade pierced his chest and exited from behind his back. The Nicomedian didn't even howl. He smiled at me, and as maliciously as he had ever smiled before. "He'll find you all," he hissed through gritted teeth. Blood was already starting to trickle out of his mouth. After this, the traitor died before my eyes. I instantly yanked the blade out of his body and took another look at him. The Nicomedian also knew what he was getting into, just like the Khazaar leader. He carried some frank nonsense, crazy words of a fanatic. But there was one difference between him and the King of Vilus. Mauna stood up for his Gods and dreamed of dying. And this piece of Nicomedia litter fought for terror and terror. It was necessary to find out what made him encroach on the life of the Artandir officer, what made him betray Artandir. As far as I knew, Tlalon did not have the citizenship of Nicomedia. He was an Artandir citizen, a starfleet warrior. But why did he betray everyone? Why did he commit treason?
I stood in that room in silence for about twenty minutes. He tried to make sense of every single phrase the Nicomedian said. But alas... I didn't understand anything completely. After standing in that room for long minutes, I nevertheless took out a walkie-talkie and called for help there. Helicopters immediately followed me and loaded me on board. When the soldiers and officers asked me what happened in the palace, I replied that I simply killed the Khazaar sorcerer and then eliminated the traitor Tlalon. I also spoke about the death of my comrades, whom I felt extremely sorry for. But I did not say a word to them about what I heard from Mauna and Tlalon. Not a single word... Of course, I was immediately taken to the flagship. The operation on Tratorius was considered a success. The Khazaars of Wilusa were completely defeated and no longer posed a threat. I immediately returned home to Lenghir, where I was honored as a true hero. However, Salerno was also praised, although he essentially did nothing sensible. I was awarded for a successful operation in front of the entire command staff. The Speaker of Congress personally shook my hand and stuck a gold medal on my spacesuit. I stood and listened to all these praises of countless politicians. Many military leaders applauded me. Fernand herself patted me on the back and called me an example for all the draconians of Artandir. You will be surprised, but I even bothered to get a boast from the president himself at the very end of the awards ceremony. Only he himself did not personally appear at the ceremony, but sent his henchman, a black-haired kinos named Salati. I still remember how this wolf-like approached me, saluted, and then timidly shook my hand. "You are the pride of the galaxy," he then said right to my face. He told me this as if he himself was the president. “I am pricelessly glad that you are proud of me,” I immediately replied. Although at the same time, I knew that the cinema was very jealous of me. I saw it clearly in his yellow eyes.
But in the evening after the ceremony, a serious conversation with Fernand was coming. After it turned out that Tlalon was a traitor, all his apartments and dachas were searched. He was almost completely clean. 90 percent. But 10 ..... 10 percent just gave him away.
"Tlalon knew about Vilusa's attack," said Asinius Fernand, calling me to his office at Lenghir's headquarters, "He planned everything." I stood with interest and listened to what was uncovered during the searches. As it turned out, the security forces refurbished all his dwellings. A communication repeater was found in one of them. Surprisingly, he worked on a long-forgotten technology. The race that invented such devices has been dead for thousands of years. And then they found his diary, in which he wrote about his communication with a certain cossatti. "He was given orders," Fernand reported to me, "He carried them out. He followed us, the admirals, the committee of staff. His diary told everything. It was this piece of paper." "And what was the name of that cossatti?" - I asked with interest, "Togo cossatti, who forced him to commit betrayal." Asinius took a sip of coffee from a cup beside her. Then she looked at me... with a very intense gaze. "Ser'Kiraani," her answer soon came, "Judging by the name, it's not him, but she." I shuddered involuntarily. The name seemed terribly familiar to me. But I couldn't remember why. "We will look for her," Fernand continued her speech, looking away from me thoughtfully, "And we will find her. We will make her pay for everything she has done. She will be brought before the court of Artandir."
Returning to my room, I plunged into a long abyss of research. I never told Asinius what I heard from the khazaar and Tlalon. And I heard about something that was not intended for my ears at all. I realized that all this is not just. The mysterious attack of Vilusa, the betrayal of Tlalon, the death of so many Xians. The Xians were a race related to the Cossatti and the Draconians. They were our blood. But all these creatures safely turned their backs on Artandir and the Draconian Empire. I had to understand what was and what is to come. These studies seemed gloomy and obscure to me.... But I simply could not do otherwise. I had to find the truth... I had to reveal everything. I studied every ancient little book, even the most shabby ones. I've been looking for everything that's ever been called "Marfur-Nirari". This is the name I heard from the lips of Mauna. I studied everything alone, sometimes staying up all night, spending time in my own office. I had to do it... I had no other choice. And even when I did manage to fall asleep, I kept seeing that creepy room... That creepy conference room filled with Xian corpses. That eerie hall where I first met him... Mauna... The harbinger of things to come.... The last of the great kings of Wilusa... The hall where I encountered Tlalon and his treachery. Sometimes it seems to me that he is alive. Tlalon. He is alive and still watching. Watching and waiting.... The coming of that ancient power that he talked about so loudly on Tratorius."
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