Star Force: Starchaser (SF69) Read Online Free Page B

pocket of the dark brown
tinted air that the Preema breathed. When the allotted time came within 30 seconds
a speck appeared in the sky above Cal-com that resolved itself into a trio of
small craft descending towards the platform, save for the fact that they
weren’t craft, but rather the Preema themselves.
    Cal-com didn’t realize that until the first of them came
within the atmospheric shell and its metallic wings folded up along its torso,
then the material molded into the body of the Preema and the front of it split
apart, revealing glowing white flesh that stepped out of the armor and into the
open. The other two landed alongside it but remained within their armor, much
as Cal-com had guards of his own with him, though they were stationed outside
on the planet’s surface and these two were on the platform itself.
    Cal-com wore the protective shields that his race
favored over armor, so he had a measure of defense if something in this meeting
were to go the wrong way that the Preema couldn’t see, though they might have
guessed from the small pieces of equipment he wore over his bodysuit.
    “ I offer our
greetings, Voku ,” the Preema said through some form of translation
software, for the words he heard in his own language were slightly delayed from
the sounds the Preema was uttering. “ We
are pleased you agreed to meet with us personally .”
    “ Why are you
here? ” Cal-com asked, getting straight to the point.
    “ It is customary
for us to make introductions when a race of sufficient caliber crosses through
the local region, though our purpose here is twofold. We have heard your
warnings of a primitive but dangerous race slowly approaching us and have
investigated the matter from afar. We know little, but enough to see that the
threat is not in sheer force, but through uncontrollable numbers spreading and
consuming more worlds than anyone can safeguard. If this threat is to eventually
make it to our borders, we would prefer to counter it sooner rather than later,
if possible . We are here to discuss
possible avenues to do so, ” the Preema said, sitting down on the ground so
that its head sat just a touch lower than Cal-com’s
    The Voku stared into its six green eyes and could feel
the physical power of the flying quadruped. Unlike others he’d come across,
this avian was not fragile. Light perhaps for its size, but far outmassing him with enough musculature that he could tell
it could handle itself in ground combat…and with the way its real wings tucked
in along its sides he wouldn’t have known it could fly had he not seen it for
himself.
    The ears were barely noticeable, mere pinpricks along
the sides of its large head and also six in number. Its skin was truly white,
but also seemed to glow a bit despite the overhead sun. Bioluminescent he
assumed, and the claws on its feet were just as pale, though they seemed less
luminous but razor sharp and the length of Cal-com’s fingers. It had two on
each foot, with the front pair sticking out between the Voku and the Preema’s head as it sat, giving him a good view of the
tattoo-like grooves carved into them.
    “ At present we
are simply trying to protect a designated region ,” Cal-com explained. “ A full victory over the Li’vorkrachnika
appears to be untenable short of eradicating them from the galaxy. We do not
have the strength or numbers for that, and it would be difficult to know that
we’d gotten them all. Their civilization appears to be redundant, and no matter
how small a piece of it survives can result in the regrowth of the whole. We’ve
seen this in small scenarios when a single ship takes possession of a world
then populates it entirely from local resources and personnel that they grow on
site. ”
    “ A worthy
opponent given their lack of technology .”
    “ A menace that
must not be taken lightly .”
    “ We do not take
anything lightly, Voku. And we rarely leave our own borders. The fact that we
are here discussing this now