Chapter 10: The Grork

Planet Grorkin, Capital Reftufessel, Albos (Galaxy of the Tyrannosaurs):

War Council in the office of the Pericles.

Attendees:

Grork and Schlogg:

Yemsor Jeloos — Pericles of the Grork; Chairman and Schlogg host Lessmor Schmerl.

Gremson Jellimor — Senior General, Intelligence; Grork and Schlogg host Gresly Schumiel.

Fester Jelliamus — Senior Admiral; Grork and Schlogg host Mismy Ssyymon.

Independent Schlogg:

Messmor Schmergel — Senior Admiral.

Fessmor Scheffel — Senior Admiral.

Ordreg:

Greffecht Leptomor — Warlord.

Karvosk Nordreg — Senior General.

Lachtmort Vomet — Senior Admiral.

Dhoom:

Slyming Griley — Senior Admiral.

Wymon Leptovar — Senior General.

Ghouls:

Grylish Yemenesh — Senior Admiral.

Gen. Namenal Kabilaqua — Senior General.

Accompanied by a series of aides from intelligence, fleets and armies.

The chairman, Yemsor Jeloos; Pericles of the Grork mounted on his host rose at the table and spoke telepathically.

“I would like to welcome all of you to this assembly of our supreme war counsel. There are two major items and several sub-items on our agenda for us to agree upon and take action.

“First, the Parzool need our consideration. Those reptilian monsters and their Queen Lynas Parayekt and her father before them have long been a festering abscess in this galaxy that needs to be expunged.

“Secondly the Una are ripe for the plucking. The sooner we move the better.

“Before we begin, we need to update each other. We have discussed combining our intelligence findings. It is incumbent we apprise each other of what we have discovered. I suggest we begin with the most recent action of the Ordreg,” said the chairman.

Greffecht Leptomor, Ordreg Warlord rose imposingly to her feet. She was a full eight feet tall with legs like tree trunks that filled her suit and had six muscular arms that bulged as she moved in her closely fitting environmental suit. Her face was much like a Pterosaur. Her skin was thick and armored on the parts of her face that could be seen. Her voice was loud and gruff. She could be easily heard through her clear domed helmet.

“Pericles, ladies and gentlemen. We set a trap to catch a single Ancient battleship in trans-dim space. We used an engine suppressor provided by the Grork/Schlogg. Your drone scout was not seen by them as far as we can tell. The ambush worked, but we lost three hundred and seventy-five ships as we faced unknown never previously encountered weapons. We escaped as my ship was far lateral to the other ships and cloaked,” she said and demonstrated the battle on holo-projection. The group watched the battle with great interest. She rewound to prior events — “We were chasing a cruiser of the Zaos, prior to the ambush, which inflicted severe damage on two battleships and four cruisers, without us having any effect upon it. It simply disappeared.” She sat down on her seat, which creaked ominously.

Adm. Grylish Yemenesh of the Ghouls stood and looked at the others. “This bad news adds to our bad news. Three hundred ancient ships rose from the surface of the planet Patu in Universe Mespa 49. We do not know why they were there. They must have been cloaked on arrival as we did not see them. They destroyed the surface of the planet and flew off. Later the planet was obliterated by three missiles. The power of these Uzliumbax ships is undiminished, and they were formidable in the past and now they may be even more dangerous. They have cannons that work effectively in many universes and dimensions, and missiles that are similarly customizable. We do not know why the ancients returned in force and what their purpose was in Mespa 49. The Mezra of Patu were going renegade but were a primitive people. Their destruction worsens our own situation.

“The ancient ships paused to visit the Una and then went to the Azayal in Recta 6. One ship remained with the Azayal and the rest moved to Nasta 9 and disappeared. We tracked them no further. One of our scouts believes they saw a similar fleet of the ancients a half day later in Bekta Delta. The fleet was fast and at the limit of the scout sensors.

“Three weeks ago, we attacked the Azayal after thousands of years of infiltration. Their ships were old and derelict. They neutralized our special forces on the ground and they destroyed our fleet with minimal damage to their own ships. They were joined by several ships from the enemy on Nasta 9, but the force was small defending Recta 6. They were aided by the Una.

“We need to take the Una in Bekta Delta out of the equation as soon as we can. Greffecht what assets do you have left you can you allocate to the fight with the Una?

“I lost ninety percent of my fleet. I can give you thirty ships at the most and if we participate that leaves our core planets undefended. The Zaos can attack us in Bekta Delta for the first time and win. Our ships can assist in Bekta Delta but not against the Parzool in Universe Nasta 9. Grylish, I understand you are in a similar vulnerable position to us?” the Ordreg Warlord asked.

“Yes indeed, but we can field fifty capital ships at a push, two hundred including support ships and troop carriers” said the Ghoul admiral. “We have lost twenty-five million troops, but we can field a similar number of soldiers against the Una. We have ample reserves of troops. I cannot see us participating against the Parzool in Galaxy Albos in Nasta 9. We have had no success in Nasta 9 and our major allies the Coven have fallen. We cannot overextend ourselves, while we are vulnerable.

“We are expecting imminent retribution from the ancients. We have also faced an ancient devastating foe the Gromelix, that infests us and drains us with their eggs. We fear the ancients are punishing us for our betrayal. Despite these setbacks our queen remains determined but optimistic. She intends to lead the fleet against the Una, despite losing her daughter to the Azayal.”

The chairman looked towards the Dhoom warriors dressed in their golden armor.

Slyming Griley, Senior admiral of Dhoom slowly rose to his feet. He spoke telepathically. “We need to pick off the enemy one by one. They have dealt us a series of blows and are moving against us in Cang Deithina our galaxy. We have recently used diverse biological weapons against them but faced ruthless retaliation. We have attempted to use these weapons against the Warriors, the Empire and the Collective. They destroyed three of our planets. Daily we are losing ships. The combined industrial capacity of our enemies is killing us all slowly and the recent setbacks of ours and our allies are unsettling. We lost half our fleet in the attack on the Collective, another ten percent near Earth in the Milky Way and we lost nine percent of our remaining fleet last week. We are down to thirty percent of our original fleet. We have four hundred and fifty ships, and that includes those that are defending our planets. The Coven has joined the other side and that adds to the pressures we all feel. This news of ancients and ships with great power is disquieting. Might we face them if we attack the Parzool? Mr. Chairman, what resources can you bring to bear on the Parzool and the Una?”

“Friends, we have substantial assets. We have seven hundred ships we can contribute to the endeavor. No one will have any idea we will attack the Parzool.

“We know why the ancients are here. We had a major success against the Safion in Norbut 18. During a battle with them, one of our ships exploded which led to an explosion in a Nebula. The enemy were hiding in the nebula and were destroyed. The ships you have seen are the last of the ancients. We have won the greatest battle in our entire history. This was at enormous cost to us, but it means one of our greatest foes has been defeated. Our biggest challenge is to find a suitable alternative species to whom we can transfer and live with in happy cooperation,” said the chairman. “The enemy ships are not adapted to Nasta 9 and will not last long.”

“Why can you not simply transfer your consciousness to an AI chassis or grow a biological being and in the early stages move your consciousness?” Adm. Slyming Griley asked.

“We, like the people of Dhoom have the greatest difficulty in moving our consciousness. This increases our vulnerability. In our original galaxy we had our origins in symbiosis with another species with whom we had a very happy very long-term association, that extends back tens of millions of years. Finding a similar association with other early sentient species has not worked well for us in other universes. We have our best relationship here, but it is unfortunately coming to an end. We have attempted direct consciousness transfer in the ways that you have suggested, but the nature of the organization of our mind is not suitable for independent living. It is for that reason that we cooperate so well with partners as we have not increased our population size for a very long time. More of us are being forced to go into stasis all the time.” Replied the Grork.