41 The Coratians I
Inside the skull shaped spaceship, several figures watched as their laser weapon fell back into darkness.
One of the figures, a tall and slim bipedal with three meters in height with pale grey skin and four slender arms and massive black eyes, turned to a figure that had the same physical characteristics as him. Speaking in their native language, "Do you think it still lives?"
Zykar, using four of his arms to manipulate a series of controls, replied, "Unlikely, Krell. The energy output of our cannon was enough to destroy a small planet. There's no known mortal creature whom could have survived that. Whether it lives or not doesn't matter, all we need is a strand of it's DNA. Unfortunately, that attack took more than 80% of the ship's energy "
Krell tilted his head, his eyes reflecting deep contemplation. "If it did survive, then it's no ordinary being. Do we even possess the technology to replicate something so... advanced?"
Zykar emitted a sound akin to laughter, "You underestimate the advancements of the Empire, Krell. With the DNA of this being, we can not only create a clone but possibly enhance it, control it, and weaponize it. Imagine the power we would wield with an army of such beings at our command. Even the gods would fall to such might"
Kelly nodded in agreement. They had been watching the planet even before the creature had arrived, he had also seen what the creature was capable of. Throughout their long Civilization records apart from the gods and their descendants, there was no other known biological being with such power. If they were successful in cloning it. It would push the ambition of the Empire to unprecedented heights.
"If it did survive, how would we contain it?" Krell asked Zykar with a slightly apprehensive look.
Zykar's four arms paused in their work, and he turned to face Krell fully, a serious cast to his features. " If it does survive, Our initial strategy should be to prevent it from regaining it's strength. We need to drain its energy constantly and keep it weakened. That would not be an issue with our energy siphoning technology."
Zykar had already made back up plans, he had been mapping out this encounter for months , and had considered several contingencies. " Enough questions we must quickly recover the remains of the creature."
As he said that, the Massive Spaceship dissaperead once more, slipping through the folds of space and heading towards the asteroid belt. The spaceship's stealth capabilities were a testament to the Empire's technological prowess, allowing it to traverse space undetected, a necessary feature for missions of such sensitive and potentially dangerous nature. The asteroid belt loomed ahead, a chaotic graveyard from ancient celestial collisions, now possibly the resting place of their target.
The spaceship's seamless re-entry from its cloaked position into the physical realm near the asteroid belt was barely perceptible, a shadow reasserting its existence among the myriad floating remnants of creation. Zykar remained focused on the mission, his eyes scanning the readouts as the sensors pierced the veil of each rock and pebble floating in the belt.
"Adjust the spectral filters, we are looking for bio-signatures amid the cosmic rubble, anything that doesn't read as inert," Zykar instructed his crew, who moved in a symphony of efficiency only found in those bred for their roles.
Zykar plan was for the creature to collide with the celestial bodies in the asteriod belt. If not, from the sheer force of the blast, the inertia alone would have the creature eventually spiral out of the star system.
After a few minutes of sifting through the asteroid belt. A trail of dismembered asteroids created a pattern of rock and metal that stretch several thousand kilometers into the asteroid belt. "There," Zykar said, pointing to the monitor, "follow that trajectory."
The ship followed the path according to Zykar's command and at the end of the trail, they found their target. On the main display, the image started to come into focus. And floating among the drifting debris, illuminated by the cold light of distant stars, was a figure. It was motionless and battered, surrounded by fragments of rock that had been sheared off fragments by its collision with the asteroids.
Krell stared in disbelief, his voice hushed in awe, "It's... it's actually there. Intact."
he continued, "It must have gotten stronger, it wouldn't have survived such a blast several months ago."
Zykar and his team had watched when the creature blew up a large portion of Venus. And back then it was hurt from the blast. Their attack was several orders of magnitude greater, yet here it was, seemingly incapacitated but whole.
"We need to move fast," Zykar announced, the urgency clear in his voice. "Prepare the retrieval drones. "Initiate the containment protocol. We will bring it aboard, but no one is to interact with it directly until we have fully contained it."
Krell nodded, quickly relaying the orders to the rest of the crew. The ship buzzed with activity as drones were deployed into the vacuum of space, navigating the debris field towards the figure. The whole operation was a delicate balance of speed and precision.
As the drones approached the figure, their sensors worked overtime, confirming the life signs of the creature. The sensors displayed a constellation of data across the screen, revealing that the creature's vital functions, though diminished. it's vitality was rapidly increasing.
The retrieval drones, latching onto the creature with energy tethers, began to drag it back towards the ship. As they did so, the creature's form twitched, muscles spasming in what seemed like a reflexive response to being constrained.
The crew watched through the drones' cameras as the figure was brought into the cargo hold, a place that had been transformed into a high-security containment area. But as soon as the drones left the zero gravity of space and into the ship they ran into another problem. They were no longer able to move the creature.
The gravity within the ship mimicked that of a terrestrial environment, translating the creature's inertial mass into significant weight.
As soon as the creature entered the ship's gravitational field, the retrieval drones strained against the sudden force. "Increase power to the antigravity compensators," Krell ordered, and the drone engines hummed louder, adjusting to the new requirement.
Krell's swift command to enhance the antigravity compensators was an attempt to negate the effects of the ship's artificial gravity on the creature. Despite it's small size, its density made it extraordinarily heavy.
As the hum of the engines grew, the compensators kicked in, creating an opposing gravitational field around the creature. This effectively reduced the gravitational pull on it, making it manageable for the drones to resume their task.
The drones guided the creature into the containment unit, a reinforced room made up off the toughest material known to the Coratian Civilization. In the containment room gravity could be adjusted independently from the rest of the ship. The drones placed the creature in the center of the room where specialized apparatus emerged seamlessly from the floor.
This device, a product of the Coratian Empire's most advanced technology, was engineered with one purpose: to drain the creature of its monumental energy reserves.
Zykar, overseeing the procedure, remained vigilant. "Activate the energy drain," he commanded
The machine activated with a low hum that quickly escalated into a resonant thrum. Bands of luminous energy coiled around the creature, pulsing with the rhythm of the extraction process. The creature's energy started to slowly drop. Looking at how slowly it's energy was dropping Zykar realized that their estimates about the creature's resilience were conservative. The being's energy signatures were not only massive but also incredibly dense and complex.
"Intensify the energy draining to maximum."
The technicians did as Zykar commanded, The energy drain intensified but the progress of extraction wasn't up to Zykar's standard.
"The creature's energy levels are declining, but the process is still too slow," one of the technicians reported, the technician continued, " But on the bright side, the energy from the creature is being converted into energy for the ship, by estimations we can be back at full power within the hour."
Zykar looked at the display showing the creature's status, although its energy was slowly going down, its vitality kept on increasing. If it keeps going it would only be a matter of minutes before it regained conciousness.
"Pour in all the reserved sedatives into the containment room and increase the gravity to the maximum the containment room can take."
Krell's hands moved across the control panel with trained precision, dispatching the commands to flood the containment chamber with sedatives and to escalate the gravitational force. The walls of the containment room could withstand substantial stresses, but there was an inherent risk in pushing the limits. Too much gravity could potentially damage the ship's internal structure or the containment systems.
The containment room is built around a miniaturized gravitational field generator, which can localize high-intensity gravity fields, and the gravity could be manipulated up to 1000 times that of Earth's standard gravity.
Inside the containment cell, the once gasious sedative were forced into a viscous liquid state by the immense pressure. The containment unit's environmental control system adjusts the pressure and temperature to ensure the sedative condenses into a liquid form around the creature , which lay motionless without the slightest movement. Seeminly unaffected by the conditions that were placed upon it.
Seeing all his preperations for the creature were in place, Zykar could finally put his other part of the plan into motion, he turned to Krell and said, " Make sure to keep a close eye on it. Inform me immediately of any changes."
With that Zykar left the command room and returned to his private quarters. Although he was the commander of this fleet and had a say in whatever went on in this star system, he still had higher ups to answer to if he wanted to leave the star system or any other actions away from the borders of the star system. Zykar used his comminicator to contact his direct superior, Admiral Varyx. The device emitted a series of subtle beeps as it connected through the vast distances of space, relaying encrypted signals that would be rerouted multiple times before reaching the High Command.
Seeing the screen finally flickered to life, Zykar quickly took a knee before the image of his superior.
"Commander Zykar, report," came the voice, not unkind, but devoid of any warmth — a voice accustomed to obedience.
Zykar quickly reported on the past 20 years his fleet has monitored the solar system. Admiral Varyx nodded in acknowledgement, " How has the research on the god seeds progressed?" he queried, steering the conversation towards one of the Empire's most secretive and critical projects.
Zykar responded with caution, " We haven't been able to make the anticipated progress on the God seeds, Admiral. Their abilities don't seem to function through ways that our knowledge of science can understand."
"Is that so?" Varyx's tone was tinged with disappointment, but not surprise. "If there was no breakthrough with the God seeds, why have you contacted me?"
"We have encountered a being with power nearly rivaling that of a god, I have already sent you the data we have acquired from ship's extensive surveillance from the past 6 months."
Zykar waited for Varyx's response in silence, Varyx finally spoke "I take it, you are requesting reinforcements?"
Zykar straightened slightly, his gaze firm and resolute. "Not reinforcements, Admiral. We have been able to succesfully capture the creature. I made contact to require permission to return to the empire."
Varyx's already large eyes expanded a bit more an unmistakable sign of his intrigue and astonishment. "Captured, you say?"
Varyx's took another glance at the information he had recieved. Noticing the disbelief of the Admiral, Varyx quickly stated with a bit of excitment in his voice, " It was a plan made on the observations of the creature, from the behaviours to its resiliance. It took several months of planning to bring all together."
There was a moment of silence before the Admiral responded, "Permission to return is granted. Ensure that the creature remains contained. I will arrange for the High Science Division to be prepared for your arrival."
Just as Zykar was about to thank the general, Krell burst into Zykar's quarters, his eyes wide with urgency. Zykar immediately sensed the tension in his subordinate's posture.
"Commander, the creature... it's resisting the energy siphoning machine. I think its waking up."
Zykar followed Krell back to the command room at a hastened pace, his mind racing with possible scenarios. The floating image of Admiral Varyx followed silently behind them.
As soon as they reached the command room, Zykar went straight for the status board. The vital signs had stabilized and the energy that had been declining had now completely stabilized.
Knowing the situation could spiral out of control, Zykar quickly gave an order, " Prepare to eject the containment unit and get ready for an emergency space jump."
The urgency in the command room was palpable as the crew scrambled to follow Zykar's orders. Alert sirens blared, a cacophony of sound and warning lights to inform the rest of the crew on the ship.
Zykar stared at the direct surveillance of the creature, hoping the sedatives could keep it in a comatose state.
"Status on the ejection mechanism," Zykar commanded, his voice cutting through the din of alarms.
"Ejection mechanism is primed. We can launch on your command," a technician reported, his four arms flying over the controls.
"Status on the emergency space jump?" Zykar pressed further, fully aware that timing was crucial. Never taking his eyes off the surveillance display.
"Space jump is ready to initiate on your mark, Commander," another technician confirmed, his voice steady despite the tension that filled the room.
Zykar gave a curt nod. "On my mark, eject the containment unit and initiate the space jump."
Inside the containment unit, Verlin laid submerged in the pool of sedatives. The attack from the ship had nearly killed him, and his body needed time to recuperate. And it had just completed its recovery, and in the next moment. His eyes snapped open.
