The Index -|-

Kpleeb opened his eyes when the squeaking reached an abnormal volume.

[The incessant chattering; I can’t think like this!]

He turned his head and saw Hiro standing with two other Hkkli. Kpleeb was no expert on the strange, rodent-like Hkkli, but it seemed like Hiro was being verbally assailed by the other two.

“Listen- Hey!!” Three Hkkli heads swiveled to surveil Kpleeb’s shaggy hair and annoyed face. “Would you just leave him alone and just shut up?!” Kpleeb stood gruffly and stalked away toward the Greki. When he reached the doorway, he climbed into the dark opening.

The air inside was cooler, and the doorway into an interior hall slid open. Kpleeb could hear the two Hkkli ramp up Hiro’s verbal lashing again just as the door closed. The lights in the hall increased in luminosity indicating that he was the first entrant in the last few moments.

[The Hkkli are so excitable. No wonder they are always at war. Poor Hiro.]

Kpleeb settled down on a sling in the command center and prodded the red tiered device in front of him. The data cloud that appeared above the device said it all. His fleet of Xi ships were near Jorqu. Three of the larger XC ships moved slowly outward from the planet’s orbit followed by five of XF configurations. The Greki and Hsstak were the only ships left on the surface.

He pressed a protrusion. “Zara, are you ready?”

After a long moment, Zara’s voice replied. “I think we’re ready, Da. I’ve just closed the outer bay door.”

“Great,” said Kpleeb, tapping his console a few more times.

“This is the Builder. The Greki is taking off in two minutes. closing the outer door now.”

The door to the command center slid open and Oiitr entered followed by Nairo. Oiitr settled immediately in front of its own console and began checking the Greki’s systems. “Everything is in order,” it said with a slight lift of its chin.

“Nairo, are your troops ready?”

The rotund Hkkli chittered something squeaky and Zara translator device replied. “We have ten of the best Hkkli warriors on board, sir.”

Kpleeb nodded and turned to watch the external view as the ship lifted away from the clearing in Jorqu’s endless sea of foliage. The sky darkened in another minute and then became pitch black as the view rotated forward and zoomed in on his fleet.

The ships were tiny, gleaming dots that slowly increased in size as the Greki accelerated toward them.

“Here we go,” Kpleeb muttered nervously. He stood and walked toward the door. “Oiitr, I’m going to work.”

The Xi did not respond.

###

Kpleeb stirred from his sleep when the chime sounded. “Yeah, yeah,” he muttered irritably, reaching out to press a protrusion next to his sleeping pad. “What do you want?”

Oiitr’s voice spoke concisely. “We are approaching the terminal now. Estimated arrival is ten minutes.”

Kpleeb scrubbed his eyes with his palms and rolled to his knees and then to his feet.

[Finally!]

Kpleeb stepped into the command center within a few minutes. “Are there any Xi ships nearby?”

“No sir,” said Oiitr with a downward tilt of its chin. “The terminal seems clear of any traffic.”

“Where is it?”

The external view that showed on dark space peppered with distant stars began to zoom at Oiitr’s instruction. Quickly, there appeared a silvery pyramid shape that floated idly in space some distance away. “This is the terminal.”

“It seems… underwhelming somehow,” said Kpleeb. “How does a ship use the terminal?”

“The ship issues a command to the terminal and identifies itself and its desired destination. The terminal opens a gateway and the ship approaches and is coalesced into the gateway. When the transfer is complete, the ship exits the same gateway at the destination.”

“Hmm.” Kpleeb tried to picture the process and the resulting gateway, but his mind only produced images of sticks woven with reed-cords into rough shapes in the way Ullipt use contain his muskrats back home in the river canyon. Finally, he just smiled and looked Oiitr. “Fine. Destroy it.”

Oiitr lifted its chin and tapped its console. The external view pulled back as the Greki spat four bolts of twisted, blue fire toward the pyramid. In a few long moments, the bolts impacted and the pyramid disappeared in a flash of debris that was quickly consumed by a vortex that folded in on itself and disappeared.

“That’s it?” Kpleeb shrugged.

“The power integrated into the terminal is tremendous,” said Oiitr. “but terminals are linked in such a way that any energy release is spread across the network and used to generate gateways.”

“And no other ships can come through this terminal?”

“This terminal is completely destroyed. It cannot be repaired, only replaced.

“Well, okay. Let’s visit Juma then.”

###

Kpleeb worked and slept and waited for a few more days, and finally Oiitr called him to the command center. When he arrived, Oiitr and Nairo were there observing the view that was projected into the air on one side of the room. It was mostly filled with Juma, which was a golden orb that had a certain sheen to it. Large, blue-green bodies of water dotted the surface.

“Sir,” said Oiitr pointing at the display. “There is a large village below. The Jiti has come back from circling the orb and reports that there are no other sizable villages on the surface.”

The external view zoomed to show the village that Oiitr indicated which was located near a body of water. Due to the top-down view, the scale of the village was not readily apparent, but it appeared to be a thousand times more massive than the largest village Kpleeb had ever seen. The buildings were mostly triangle and varied in footprint and height. Their surfaces gleamed in the light of the local star.

“Oiitr, are the villages made of lak? I was once held captive in the lak house on Phaedro and remember how shiny it is.”

Oiitr tilted its chin downward slightly. “Lak is primarily used in manufacturing higher technology such as the terminal, but the buildings that make up a Xi village are coated with the by-products of lak refinement to protect them from the weather. This is what gives these structures the shiny texture.”

“Da,” came Zara’s voice over the radio. “We are ready to attack at your command.”

Kpleeb paused and considered the plan. Oiitr, Viinox, and Tiiwr had all confirmed that every Xi inhabited orb was guarded by a sensor system that detected vessels in their orb’s vicinity. There were no active defenses because the Xi had no real challengers, but a warning would be issued to the office of the Iteek – the orb’s designated outpost leader. The Iteek’s office would respond by passing a warning along to the First Terminal, which would eventually result in the arrival of Xi vessels.

Kpleeb and Zara had determined that the attack would be most effective as a surprise. They knew that the surprise would be useful one time or maybe two depending on how quick the Xi were to respond. The Xi empire was not stupid, it was merely complacent and had never been challenged, so Kpleeb could not afford to take lightly what they were about to do.

Kpleeb grimaced and thought about Thoka. He remembered his life back in the river canyon, and his time imprisoned aboard the Xih ship. He thought about the prisoners on the Hsstak: Kanta, Rog, and the Hkkli. His anger rose as it often did when he pondered what he had lost and how the Xih treated the inhabitants of so many orbs.

[What I know of the Xi is probably just a fraction of the suffering caused and that still continues. The Xi will pay. I’ve always said it, and I mean it. It is time.]

“All ships fire simultaneously as planned. Begin countdown.”

Nairo tapped the weapons console with his chunky-clawed fingers, and the external view flashed a timer showing fifty vertical bars that began to disappear in a regular cadence.

Kpleeb tried to judge Oiitr’s mental state, but the Xi was emotionless as usual.

Soon, the last bar blinked out and a flood of projectiles were released from all of the ships in Kpleeb’s fleet. There were hundreds of blue bolts, and more appeared every second. It was as if time slowed to imprint the full destruction into Kpleeb’s mind. The Xi village erupted in a cloud of flame and debris, and a shockwave rippled over the nearby body of water creating a steam cloud.

The command center was quiet. Kpleeb clenched his fists, smiled grimly, and witnessed the destruction.

[A little bit of pay back. Time to see what a Xi village looks like.]