The higher Zakana lives several million light-years away from Kryok and even our homeworld Xatholorna. Usually, such distances can be covered for hours through the current technology. Space is vast and infinite and there are lots of areas to go around our patrol, but a huge horde of higher Zakana is just impossible to hide.
Higher Zakana is our usual term for the Zakana aliens that appear and possesses greater traits than your common Zakana. These higher creatures can either be elegant, brutes, or just straight-up merciless killers. Some of them wield otherworldly powers just like our ancient powers and can be great threats if goes unsupervised. Neither the Krygstek nor the Arkula knows about their existence. While they were busy hiding on their planets our empire travels and explore the empty dark void of space.
Obviously, we needed a better plan in dragging these higher Zakana to Kryok. Using technology for this task will take time just like Lurza'Far said, so she suggested using her own powers to do the plan. As I mentioned before, higher Zakana are scattered into different planets, but I'm thinking that she should just take from the very home of these creatures.
A long time ago, an expedition was sent by Laren'Sha in orders from Lord Kantala to the galaxy where these aliens originated from. This expedition was the only capable group of our warriors who are experienced in diving into the unknown without the entire army behind them. They are hand-picked by Laren'Sha and so Lord Kantala agrees that they should do the expedition. They led the Narukh'za into a huge mission of identifying these higher Zakana that we've never seen before.
Their greatest discovery in this expedition is the home planet of every Zakana. They told us that the planet is ominous and dark in nature, and is overpopulated by Zakana. The expedition entered this planet silently to conduct research and investigations. Being the planet of the Zakana itself, their stealthy entrance quickly ended when a group of roaming Zakana encountered them. What made them think that the planet they are stepping on is the home planet of the Zakana is the strange behaviors of the aliens on it.
The whole time we were fighting the Zakana up until that point, the aliens were always rabid and wild. They are disorganized and often attack in hordes. But the Zakana they encountered was the opposite of these behaviors. They recalled them to be 'vigilant, cautious, and coordinative'. They voluntarily stayed for a few days on the planet, always on the run, to observe more of their strange behavior. When they were done, they came to the conclusion that they were 'possessed' or that they were being controlled by an individual hence the strange coordination between the creatures.
Krygstek and Arkula thought of these facts as fictional and calls them 'Hive Minds' where they believe that everything that has consciousness is connected together and acts like one. This 'fiction' of theirs is not far from what the expedition has observed so we used it as the base of our further investigation of these higher Zakana. After some thorough discussions, none of the Loyalists wanted to name the home planet and galaxy of the aliens, and thus the expedition team temporarily assigned a name 'QX-49' for their home and 'Xathek' for their galaxy.
Lurza'Far should be able to do her part on her own. Even a small outpost team could alert the entire planet, and we have no idea how far their 'consciousness' expands. Distracting higher Zakana with her energies should be an easy task. When chaos erupts on the sands of Kryok, I will pretend to be desperate and ask them to aid us against the aliens. It is a shameful thing to do, but through this, I get to test their belief in peace between our societies. This little plan of mine became harder to pull off because of Lurza'Far's persistence. I don't want to be seen standing beside the Arkulans against the Zakana.
As I think about it, Lurza'Far's words came to my mind. It is the trust we have in each other. I wonder if she would still trust me if she sees me interacting with Arkula. She will be in for a big surprise that I was planning on peacefully approaching them this whole time. And I can only hope that she would keep this despicable act from the empire. I can imagine thousands of ways to my punishment for treason. My body shivers whenever I thought of it.
Still, the determination I have still pushed me toward my goal. I already had this set on the field and I will finish it.
After I'm done testing them, I will settle everything down, I will help the Arkulans destroy the remaining higher Zakana on the sands and I will immediately pull away from the planet and lay low for a while. It is nothing but a simple test once you understand the whole thing, the only difficult part of this is it would require a great amount of ancient powers to warp the higher Zakana to the planet and the potential energy leak that can be detected by any Loyalists and Lord Kantala herself. If I pull this off, it will just be another day of Zakana aggression, and the empire wouldn't notice my antics with the Arkulans. "Hm..." I chuckled slightly as I imagine the scenario that will be unveiled.
Meanwhile, in Xatholorna, a heavily fortified fortress stands in the very center of the planet. Inside the fortress is Kantala Rukh'Van's enormous throne hall. Just like what the Narukh'za have, her castle is decorated with black walls, gray floors, and red linings on them. It carries a very sinister aura. The highest-ranked in Kantala's personal army is stationed to guard the castle and its surrounding areas. At the far end of the hall is the Lord's throne. The throne shares the same design as the rest of the Narukh'za, the corners of the throne extends upward into a circle, and in the middle lies a bright red gem full of energy.
Kantala is sitting on the throne using her ancient powers to show a vision of some Narukh'za somewhere outside. "My Lord, Lord Laren'Sha has arrived" One of the guards called out. "Let her in" With her permission, the guards by the door opened them and Laren'Sha came in. She stopped and bowed down before the throne. "Lord Kantala, my fleet is ready to go. My warriors are thirsting for a bloodbath. We're now patiently waiting for your orders to go to Zatorna" Kantala giggled at her. "I can hear your anticipation" She noticed the excitement in Laren'Sha's voice. "Yes, my Lord" Laren'Sha nodded with a smile.
"Zatorna does not only have Arkulans as the population. There are traitors and Krygstek as well. They might have countermeasures against our ways of invasion" Kantala warned. "Yes, I have heard of it, my Lord. Countermeasures they might have, but we greatly outnumber them. No annoying countermeasures or anything else will stop my wrath" Laren'Sha confidently replied. Kantala chuckled. "I like your boldness, as always" She fixed her posture to focus on Laren'Sha. "I feel like I don't have to say this but... You can assure me that you will take the planet without any hassle, right?" She asked. "Of course, my Lord. You can rely on me and my warriors" Laren'Sha replied with a nod.
Kantala leaned back on her throne, crossed her legs, rested her right elbow on the armrest, and leaned her chin on her fist. She stares at her with a smile. "Then you are ready to go. Invade Zatorna for me... and have fun" She said. In excitement, Laren'Sha looked up at her with a sinister smile. Kantala was amused at the sight of her and thus the two exchanged evil smiles.
Back in Khedaran Khan, inside Karuga's Great Bastion, the Khan's flagship. The First Loyalist came back to the ship, steadily heading towards Karuga's room.
The door was knocked twice and a voice followed. "Karuga, I'm coming in" Before I could turn to look at the door, Lurza'Far already made it inside. She closed the door behind her and approached me.
"I'm ready to go" As she said that, I noticed an extra amount of energy in her. How in the Lord's name did she do that? I've never seen her do that... "Hey, I'm feeling something a bit off about you" I asked her about it. "I know. Whatever you're thinking, it is true" I can feel her struggle a bit when talking. Is she going to be fine? "You sound like you won't make it to the alien planet in one piece. I already told you, I'm going to give you my energy once you're done. You know what will happen when-" "-It will corrode our body, yes I'm aware" She cuts me off to prove that she's aware of what I'm saying.
When a vessel of the ancient power carries too much of it, their body won't be able to withstand the raw energies and it will eat away or corrode their body. It will be very shameful if a Loyalist ends up dying this way, irresponsibility and carelessness are one of the worse things you can see from a Loyalist. "I've never done this, but that doesn't mean I can't. I will make it there and do what you wished" She gave me her confidence to herself. There's nothing much to say, she's the first Loyalist. She pretty much beats me when it comes to using our ancient powers. Also, it seems like she's trying hard to prove that I can trust her. It's only a hunch, but she's giving me that kind of energy right now, especially with that extra energy in her.
"I want you to pick from their home planet instead. That will save you much more time than having you go from planet to planet" I told her to focus on the aliens' home planet. "Are you looking for a specific race of the higher ones?" She asked me. I shook my head. "No. Any kind of higher Zakana will do, just take as many as a small invasion would take" I said. "An amount of a small invasion?" She repeated my words and thinks. "About a thousand?" After a pause, she spoke up with a guess.
"Maybe... I'm guessing five hundred? That should suffice" The Arkula won't have any problems dealing with the higher Zakana with that count. A thousand might give them a hard time, in this scenario, they are supposed to be the ones helping us, not the other way around. It will mess up the whole thing. "It's like you're giving them some kind of handicaps... Just what are you doing, Karuga?" She became curious when I lowered the number of aliens. Despite her not knowing the full reason behind all this, she was still willing to do it for me. Part of me is glad, but the other part of me is concerned. I wonder if she's doing this for the sake of the 'trust' she kept blabbering about before or is it because she can just turn against me if she finds out that I'm about to engage with the Arkula peacefully?
"When are you going to tell me?" She asked. There's no avoiding that question now. I've let her into my preparation and there was no going back from this point. "Just... wait for it to happen. You're free to see for yourself once it all plays out" I felt anxious saying that. The First Loyalist is about to witness her fellow Loyalist interact with their enemy without the permission of the Lord. It will be quite a troublesome explanation to her afterward.
"I just hope whatever that is, is worth it, Karuga" She sighed deeply. I felt obligated to reply to those words. "It is worth it" My most genuine reply to her. My eyes suddenly fixated on hers when I replied, it was a bizarre feeling. We both stare for a second. She broke it off with a smile. "Then I'll gladly do it" She said before heading towards the door. "Safe trip" I said and she raised a hand and waved. I watched her step out of the room until she closed the door. I'm positive that this is all worth it, no matter if others hear about it, as long as I can have my answer, I can take whatever happens next.