Aunviry

Ah’ared watched as the knife shaped Terran ships slipped into their hanger and turned away in disgust, since when did they have such a large fleet? During his stint in the Femeri sector he only ever heard word of the Astaroth, there was rumor of a second ship like the Astaroth, but nothing was ever confirmed. And now there were four ships like the Astaroth, along with many smaller vessels, and three armored freighters. Just one of those ships would have served as a powerful flagship, and they roll in with four! And from his preliminary examination Astaroth didn’t even appear to be the most dangerous of the four. The central grey ship that moved in tandem with the white ship had some sort of massive cannon embedded in its bow. The pulse cannons these Hellworlders equipped there ships with were already comparable to the cannons on a type 8 battleship! Whatever weapon they had created to take up most of the bow surely must be impressive.

The smaller ships alone were comparable to his own flag ship the Venom, the rest out classed his small pirate band a few times over. Cold dread sluiced over his neck. This was trouble. He had promised his boss that the Hellworlders wouldn’t be a problem before he got the go ahead for his sneak attack. Now they had arrived with a force that would make even Kazlum cautious.

A Cék’ek female approached Ah’ared “Your presence is demanded by Kazlum, obey or else” it clicked slowly.

Ah’ared didn’t have much experience with Cék’ek, he considered them to be wholly cowardly creatures that weren’t worth his respect. But before him stood Sk’tharc, the man eater, her reputation for cold calculating brutality was legendary among other pirates. Cék’ek were one of very few core world members who developed to be carnivores like Ah’ared. Their long stick like legs made coastal scavenging easy, and their long-serrated beaks were excellent for cracking open crustaceans and mollusks and getting at the soft meat within. But rumor had it that Sk’tharc had a taste for other types of soft flesh, hatchlings and other younglings.

Ah’ared was a murderer, a slaver, and a pirate, but before this cannibal he felt only dread. His stubby tail curled inward in a sign of submission as he obeyed Sk’tharc the man eater and followed her to meet a much more terrifying being.

They walked through the busy and bustling open bizarre that had sprouted up in what used to be the super freighters cavernous cargo bay. Catwalks and rickety shops were suspended above him with frayed steel cords, they jostled and swayed from the motion of hundreds passing over it. A thousand different sounds and scents assaulted his nose, an impressive feat given his poorer sense of smell when compared to other creatures. They walked until a majority of the shops were attended by Egh’ahds, Ceshix, and Cék’ek, a signal that they had approached Aunviry territory. They walked until they came to a wall of the cavernous room were two Ceshix guards stood vigil.

Ceshix were gray skinned bipedal mammalian creatures with a thick calloused skin covered in pointed spines, they were herbivores and would have been a prominent member of the Union if it wasn’t for the twisted pantheon of mutilated gods they worshiped. Gods like Krell the god of vengeance, Bizoth the god of torture, and Arnhoth the god of subjugation, all made the Ceshix fringe members of the Union. Often pushed to the edge of civilization.

They exposed their broad flat teeth, but an annoyed click from the Man-eater silenced them. Ah’ared glowered at them as well, he was supposed to be second only to Kazlum, these lowly guards had no right to demean him like this. But of course the Ceshix didn’t care, as far as they saw it Ah’ared served their master, and since they were their master’s enforcers that made them above Ah’ared.

He passed the irreverent guards and walked across the causeway to the heart of the Aunviry marauders, the Igrathoth. Named for one of the Aunviry’s elder gods, the ship had once belonged to Kazlum’s uncle before Kazlum slew his uncle and took his place. It had once been just a simple freighter, but after years of upgrades the vessel was now comparable to any Union battleship. Advanced armor plating, antimatter reactors, layers of shields, and extensive pleasure facilities, this ship was the personal palace of Kazlum. Ah’ared’s own Venom paled in comparison.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Sk’tharc lead Ah’ared through familiar lavish halls, bedecked in platinum and kilometers of fine Valisian silk, to stand before the throne of Kazlum. The creature before him towered above Ah’ared several times over, his pale green skin was slicked with moisture and his massive black beady eyes focused on Ah’ared unnervingly. Ah’ared had no idea what kind of world gave birth to the creature before him. In fact, no one did. The Aunviry simply burst out of the void one day and began their reign of terror on the core worlds, Union fleets had had flung themselves at the Aunviry menace for years before some internal politics turned the Aunviry on each other. Kazlum was descended from their great warlords and had been building his pirate empire for years.

“Ah’ared, your troublesome Hellworlders have arrived in force, and they appear to be a dangerous foe. Did you not inform me that they wouldn’t dare come here? Didn’t you tell me they didn’t have the might to challenge us? Didn’t you tell me that you had dealt with their leader personally?” Kazlum asked coolly, his voice was like nails scraped over steel.

“I did kill her!” Ah’ared pleaded “I pumped a thip full of Vathikk and then blew it up!”

“AND YET SHE STILL LIVES!” Kazlum roared from three toothy orifices under his beard of tentacles, his mouths were shuttle sized maws lined with thousands of arrow like teeth. Tentacles that dangled from below his bulbous head extended themselves down to the floors and wrapped around Ah’ared and lifted him off the ground with ease. “You have brought trouble on to my doorstep Ah’ared, you have brought a fleet of angered Hellworlders to wage war on me. Even if the Confederacy doesn’t approve of their request for war they can rain hell down upon our clients. They already destroyed Gaw the Bloodborn, and they will relish in destroying our other buyers. Why should I not kill you right now?” Kazlum asked with cold rage.

“Becauge I have footage of her invading my priged ship the Coiled Thrike, we can claim that the Hellworlderg tharted the attack. If we attract otherg to our side then we could unite to dektroy them. If Atharte ig left alone thee will only become a bigger problem.” Ah’ared blurted out as fast as he could, the pseudopods ceased their tightening but didn’t release him.

“So, you want to make it seem like the Hellworlders began the attack and attract their enemies to our side?” Kazlum’s eyes pierced Ah’ared.

“Yegg, they are upthartgg, and have many enemieg”

There was a tense pause before Kazlum slowly let Ah’ared back to the ground and retracted the pseudopods. “Your proposal has merit; but I do not need allies. I am Kazlum, I will destroy her on my own. For now I will permit you to live, inform your ilk that they are to confine themselves the Aunviry quarter, I will not have any of them ruining our schemes by starting a fight they can never win.” He ordered coldly and Ah’ared turned to leave swiftly.

He feared Kazlum and his rage, but one day Ah’ared would make him and Sk’tharc regret ever demeaning him.

~~~*~~~

Sk’tharc clicked disdainfully “Why do you bother with such a pitiful creature?” she said in her native cawing speech. She only ever relaxed enough to speak in her native voice around Kazlum, because of all the marauders only Kazlum had the fine-tuned ears to piece out her words. His own people spoke in a tri-tuned frequency that appeared to the other lesser species as inarticulate screeching. It was such a pain to dumb his speech down to galactic common for the rest of his peons.

“Because he is a useful puppet, he attracts the swarms of vile Egh’ahds that we need as fodder. Without them I wouldn’t have any soldiers to sacrifice as I needed. And besides, their eggs have such a delightful texture” he said as he reached into the bowl of fertilized Egh’ahd eggs, the eggs were just old enough to have a soft formed lizard in the center that Kazlum enjoyed to crunch down on.

Sk’tharc trilled in laughter “Indeed, but I thought we had decided to aid the Hellworlders. Isn’t that why we voted in favor of their war on Greyson?”

“That was before they eliminated Gaw, began targeting the Guthulu cartels, and wiped out our Kruhur allies in Femeri. They made themselves our enemy by destroying our allies. I only approved of Ah’areds idiotic sneak attack because he was confident that he could destroy the Hellworlders in one fell swoop.”

Sk’tharc clicked in disdain “Gaw was a fool too obsessed with vengeance; if he waited to do things our way he might still be alive. And are we really sure about the Kruhur? We leaked the station’s location four times for them, and they failed to touch the confederacy each time, let alone disrupt it enough for us to take over. If the Terrans can so easily destroy our allies why not ally with them instead?” she asked.

From anyone else Kazlum would have slayed them for such disobedience, but he allowed Sk’tharc to challenge only in private because Kazlum knew very well that he needed someone to temper his ideas. He knew he wasn’t infallible and that he sometimes made the wrong choice. It was why he kept her around.

“The Hellworlders have proven themselves to be smart, resourceful, and fierce. Look at how far they have come in just a few short years, when they warred with that whelp Greyson they only had two ships. And now they have a mighty fleet behind them, I have heard word from the Bedona conflict that they destroyed a type 9 battleship. There may still be a chance that we can turn Ah’ared over to them and make peace, but why do that when they could serve as a good distraction. For now I will pretend to play by the confederacy’s rules and use these arrogant Hellworlders as bait to lure the Council members out of their holes. Then we will crush all our enemies at once.” He explained casually. He had supported Astarte and Lucile before because Greyson had dared to insult him on the assembly floor. When they had requested formal permission for a war of elimination against the Terran pirate Kazlum had seen the fire in that little girls dark eyes and knew she would be Greyson’s ruin. And now that little girl had turned into a powerful rival that he would crush or make into a pawn for his own ends. He just had to move all pieces into position.