Chapter One
Kalquor
Dramok Rorix fought not to gape at Emperor Clajak.“A Coydidakfleet, my emperor?”
“Of a sort.”The muscled Kalquorian royal, his shoulder-length, steel-sheened hair tucked behind his ears, offered a grim smile.“One hundred fifty ships of varying design.A new explorer-class flagship for you to captain, four dozen marauders, a hospital ship, several raiders, and various other decommissioned vessels we pulled from stockyards.None except the flagship and marauders are new, but the older vessels are being modified and updated for your use for deep space exploration.You’ve been lobbying the Imperial Clan and the Royal Council to allow your group to do so for years.”
Rorix, for once in his life, found himself at a loss for words.He glanced at his companion sitting next to him at the low table across from the Dramok emperor.
His Nobek clanmate of almost twenty years looked dumbfounded from his cross-legged position on the seating mat.It was an expression Rorix couldn’t remember seeing on Signis’ handsome but typically stoic features.Signis’ gaze met his, his almond-shaped eyes damned near round in shock.
Rorix had indeed campaigned for the Coydidak, a band of Kalquorian space wanderers, to be given the means to explore the outer reaches of the known galaxy.For the last four years since being voted by the Council of Elders as the Coydidak leader, he’d made intermittent speeches to the three emperors and their empress.He’d also appealed to Kalquor’s Committee of Exploration, expounding how the empire had a ready means at their disposal...namely the Coydidak...eager to find new planets and precious resources for Kalquor to capitalize on.
The Coydidak, a name which loosely translated to “blown about,” were a faction of mostly men who had no interest in putting down roots on Kalquor or any of its moons, stations, or colonies.For various reasons, they preferred to live on a motley ensemble of ships, visiting inhabited areas where there might be money to be made.
Merchants, entertainers...and opportunists, according to their detractors...the Coydidak were the nomads of the Kalquorian Empire.Their members were incapable or unwilling to stay in one place for any amount of time.They lived by their own rules for the most part and eschewed what they saw as the typical Kalquorian lust for rank and promotion.
Rorix had been born among them.His mother’s parent clan had essentially stolen him as a toddler from her and the Coydidak to raise him as a “decent” Kalquorian.Unable to shake an inbred wanderlust and hatred for regular society’s rules, he’d emancipated himself and returned to the wanderers and his parent clan at the age of fourteen.
He now sat before one of the four Kalquorian rulers in Clajak’s official office, having been summoned as soon as his ragtag caravan of spacecraft had entered orbit.They’d shown up on Kalquor in hopes of scoring supplies for the next leg of their wanderings.Clajak had invited him to visit.It was a welcome change from Rorix begging for an audience to renew his plea for the imperial assignment that would grant his people sustained funding to live free as they wished.
He was aware of the figure he cut.It was impossible to be otherwise when in the presence of the formally purple-robed emperor, his longtime aide Dramok Korkla in his impeccable blue uniform, and the red-armored Royal Guardsmen surrounding the fine table where the visiting Coydidak pair sat on floor cushions.Rorix thought the cushions alone probably cost more money than the Coydidak had seen in six months.
Rorix’s loose sapphire blue shirt, open at the chest, and his snug black pants were hardly business attire.Signis was less appropriate in a screaming scarlet sleeveless tank top, which showed scarred and muscled arms.He was easily a physical match for any of the royal bodyguards watching them with murder in their eyes.
The Coydidak pair were out of place amid finely carved furnishings, rich fabrics, state-of-the-art technology, and no doubt priceless artwork.As casual as the emperor’s corner seating arrangement attempted to be, it was still an opulent setting.
“Why now?”Rorix managed, suspicion lending him the strength to recover from his shock.“After four years of me telling the empire how perfect the Coydidak are to search out resources and new worlds, why are you suddenly dumping ships and supplies on us and telling us ‘Do it’?”
Clajak grinned.Rorix was reminded of the stories of the emperor’s youth, when he’d been a prince running about the galaxy, getting into life-threatening scrapes.The Coydidak elders loved to tell of Crown Prince Clajak’s escapades, because he’d seemed so much like their people.He’d been a true adventurer, unable to sit still even for duty, honor, and empire.
The emperor wore the smirk of such a man, his purple eyes glinting pure mischief.“I won’t pretend I don’t have an ulterior motive, Captain Rorix.Thanks to the Darks, the Coydidak are in the best position to become the empire’s insurance policy.”
“You want us to fight the aliens who took over the Galactic Council?”Signis didn’t hide his disbelief or disdain.His tone was downright rude.
Clajak appeared to take no offense.“Hell no.If you knew the odds we’re up against and how unlikely it is our military fleet, the best in the GC’s membership, can pull us out of this mess...”
The boyish smirk disappeared and Rorix was shocked to see how old Clajak suddenly appeared.The emperor was only fifty-one years old, nowhere near Kalquorian middle age.His steel-colored hair was from a mutation, not the onset of years.
“This is why I called you,” he told the visitors.“The All, the entity dispatching pieces of itself, which we refer to as the Darks, appears to be bigger than two planets.Because it exists between two dimensions, there’s no weapon we currently possess that can fight it off.It has the Galactic Council of Planets under its control.From all indications, it’s coming for the entirety of the membership.Even beyond, to the worlds unaffiliated with the GC.Not to defeat or enslave, but to eradicate.”
“Like it did to Bi’is.”A weight settled in Rorix’s stomach.The Bi’isils’ extinction had been total despite their advanced technology, a match for Kalquor’s.The end for the species had come so quickly, no one had been aware of it for some weeks.
“We haven’t given up hope,” Clajak said firmly, his expression set in determination.Rorix wondered if he’d spoken to reassure them or himself.“However, it’s best to be prepared for the worst.I have a mission for the Coydidak, and I trust you’ll see it for the win-win outcome I do.”
“I’m listening.”
“The empire will outfit your people, as I’ve described, for deep space exploration.Permanent deep space exploration.Ships, food, supplies, and the means to generate both as needed.You won’t come back to the known galaxy...at least not in the current generation’s lifetime.Nor probably the next.”
“An exile of sorts?”Rorix’s brow crooked upward.
“An attempt to guarantee sentient life continues in this dimension, should the All succeed in wiping out the rest of us.You’ll be much like our distant ancestors, who escaped their planet and its exploding star to settle here...and those ancestors who were unwillingly diverted by enemies to settle the original Earth.You’ll travel as the Coydidak do, but you’ll go beyond explored space.It’s my hope you’ll escape the All’s notice.When those who wish to settle on planets far from here are allowed to do so, they’ll give rise to new civilizations.A remnant of who we were will continue to survive, thanks to you, if all goes well.”
Rorix sat under the baleful glare of the Royal Guards and the expectant gazes of Clajak and Dramok Korkla, his thoughts whirling.
Signis leaned forward.“We won’t answer to the Kalquorian Empire at all?”
“Once you leave our space, you’re on your own.When you’re out of our reach, past the few portals capable of bringing you home, there’s no other option.I believe the Coydidak have established a government of sorts?Captain Rorix as its elected head, supported by a council of your elders.Each elder represents a particular number of people, typically family groups they’re part of...am I correct?”
