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were doing to their conquests, rather it was taken, as were the rest of the worlds, including Wendigama, though at the end of it all there wasn’t much left to claim. 97% of the V’kit’no’sat population in the system had been killed and there wasn’t an intact planetary defense station left operational to steal, but the Oso’lon and J’gar now had the prize of all prizes, and no one was in a position to exploit their weakness and take it back from them, nor to strike their own worlds. Everyone was depleted, making any major moves in the near future impossible.

The Urrtren had remained up in Itaru for the entire decade-long battle, but the day it finally went dark in that location was when a handful of Zak’de’ron ships arrived to take their place in the newly rebuild Elder Conclave. They held a joint declaration with the Oso’lon and the J’gar, declaring the original V’kit’no’sat triumvirate had been reestablished in the ashes of Itaru, and from it the empire would be reforged to fight the Hadarak and hold at least a piece of the galaxy for their own against the unrelenting wave of carnage creeping its way into the broken empire.

They also indicated that the V’kit’no’sat races were being recalled to join them, without penalty for past actions on either side. The Zak’de’ron were absolving all who joined them from their treachery in this war and the previous one that had nearly destroyed them, because of the present Hadarak threat. Fighting each other would leave them all dead in the end, and only together could they survive. Then one of the Zak’de’ron by the name of Nil’horn demonstrated an act of telekinesis…without using Lachka. Various sensors were there to make witness, though they could easily be faked and everyone knew it. Still, this Zak’de’ron was claiming to have rudimentary Essence skills, which was something no V’kit’no’sat had, and after witnessing what Eldorat had done with such power, the effect of the potentially fraud display gave them a glimmer of hope regardless.

The Zak’de’ron alliance with the Oso’lon and J’gar was now reforged, and the Zak’de’ron had access to the magical power of Essence where the V’kit’no’sat did not. It made sense, in a way, that if they were to fight the Hadarak…who had Essence powers…or fight Eldorat’s masters who had the same, then they would need to fight with it as well…or forever be helpless against them. The Zak’de’ron were claiming only a small potential, but one that would grow with time and training. It was hope, and either out of misplaced loyalty or despair, several races and fractions of others were answering the call of Itaru once more.

Mak’to’ran’s alliance, his true V’kit’no’sat, were crumbling and even being denied their name as the Zak’de’ron reclaimed it for themselves. But the bad blood in the galaxy could not be overcome with such diplomacy, and most of the V’kit’no’sat worlds were defiant. There was no more coordination between them, though the Era’tran tried to maintain some cohesion with their neighbors, leaving the war as a free for all with sections of the Urrtren going dark and forcing information to reroute around the blackouts, further increasing the data lag.

Mario’topa didn’t expect it would last much longer, but the Zak’de’ron were probably leaving up the remaining pieces so the V’kit’no’sat worlds would know they had no hope of winning or remaining independent. What little strength the new triumvirate had was very publically going out and picking off small defiant worlds and conquering them. These they did not destroy, but beat down the defenses and seized the planetary populations to conscript back into their empire whether they liked it or not. They hadn’t tried taking on a major world for lack of resources since Itaru’s fall, and perhaps that was because they didn’t want to risk a defeat, but now that appeared to be changing.

Mario’topa had just received intelligence reports from Zen’zat scout ships loyal to the Era’tran that the Itaru V’kit’no’sat were sending an invasion force to Jamtren, and the leading elements were only 18 jumps away. They would be here within a few weeks, and like they did with the Hjar’at, the Zak’de’ron were going to try and take out the heart of the Era’tran race by destroying or capturing Holloi, the most sacred planet they possessed, and one that they’d reclaimed and restored from the Hadarak long, long ago after a devastating loss. They’d vowed never to lose it again, and it looked like the Zak’de’ron and their traitorous cohorts were intent on making them break that vow.

It wasn’t going to be an easy fight for them. Not just Holloi, but the entire system hadn’t been touched in this war to date. The defense fleet was small, but the fixed emplacements were many and the planetary shielding was robust. They’d have to punch a hole in it and mount a surface invasion to take the rest down, for there was no way they had enough firepower to simply overwhelm the planet.

Mario’topa sensed this might be the end for him and his masters, but he did not think it would be a slaughter. This would be an actual war, unless Itaru had far more resources than his scouts had told him. They might even be overreaching on this occasion, though he doubted it. If the Zak’de’ron were pushing this forward they must have believed they had enough to win, though like Itaru it might be a war that stretched out a decade or more.

If that was the case then he and the others would kill as many of the Zak’de’ron and the traitors as they could before they fell. There would be no surrender, and the Era’tran would not submit to Itaru now. None of their worlds had, and perhaps that was why Itaru was targeting them first. They had to break their resistance before it could inspire others to do the same. If the