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April 2, 154956
Szequat System (Voku Capitol, Home One Kingdom)
Nergthen
Lord Hightower stood next to a very large red dragon in front of what he guessed were some 6 million Voku lining the courtyards and streets and every rooftop within view of the elevated platform he and their Elder were standing upon in the sky looking down on the city around the Zak’de’ron’s now deconstructed lair on the planet. The pullout had begun quicker than Star Force expected, with whatever had transpired inside the Neofan Temple between them and the dragons having resulted in a rush to relinquish their holdings and leave this galaxy.
So far the leaving hadn’t happened yet, but the near abandonment of their servant races was progressing quickly as they pulled back their leadership and retreated to their own worlds…which were also undergoing deconstruction, for it seemed the Zak’de’ron did not wish anyone to inherit their technology or structures. A cleansing of the galaxy of their presence was ongoing, and soon they would be reduced to nothing more than legend as they were when Star Force began, only this time of their own choosing rather than a nearly complete purge by the V’kit’no’sat.
The Voku here didn’t know this, but the red dragon speaking to them on their departure and how they were assigning Star Force to take care of them in their absence along with a lot of other half-truths was actually one of their lowest ranking members. The red scales were those of the adolescent, with the more mature ones already having abandoned the Voku and the other servant races. Fortunately they had coordinated with Star Force for the handover of them all simultaneously rather than just leaving and letting chaos ensue, but it was clear this Zak’de’ron had drawn the short straw and got to be the last to leave the ‘primitives’ behind, as they had been called by the Zak’de’ron in the meeting that Hightower had attended where the details of the handover were ironed out.
He and many other Monarchs had been there, for Director Davis had been planning for this for only two decades when they had assumed they would have hundreds of years, but the Zak’de’ron had not caught them off guard. Star Force was ready, and it was clear the Zak’de’ron no longer wanted to be here and were eager to disappear from their failed galactic domination and do something else…though that something else neither they nor the Neofan would speak of, citing it to be Bond of Resistance matters, and since Star Force refused to join, there would be no discussion of it other than how Star Force was going to supply the necessary Essence for the Zak’de’ron travel to another galaxy.
That handover wouldn’t take place until they were ready to leave, and Star Force would be there to witness it as a condition of the agreement. No, right now the dragons were pulling back and isolating themselves, and this one here was the last the Voku were ever going to see.
Lord Hightower, along with most of the other Monarchs, had decent telepathic abilities, and what he was sensing from the crowd was so strong even a novice could not have missed it. They were bound by duty, but there was immense sorrow at the Elders’ leaving of this planet, their race, and the galaxy as a whole. But there wasn’t a single voice, moan, or movement to be spotted. Every one of them was silent, still, and listening as the dragon’s amplified voice boomed across the otherwise silent landscape, speaking in the Voku’s native language.
Hightower had learned it in preparation for his assignment here, as had the other Monarchs going out to the thousands of servant races the Zak’de’ron had revealed themselves to have. And right about now they were all getting the same message.
The Elders were departing for another galaxy and putting Star Force in charge of affairs in this one at their direction…making it seem like this was all part of their plan when in fact it was abdication and abandonment, and Hightower wasn’t going to let the lies stand, no matter how much trouble that would make for him in the near future.
The dragon finished his explanation without a word of thanks or appreciation to the Voku for their loyal service. He simply ended with his order that Star Force orders be followed, and without even looking at Hightower he walked across the platform a few steps as his toe rings melted and covered his entire body with equally red armor, then he took flight with a flap of his huge wings and rocketed into the sky, heading for his ship in orbit and leaving the planet and the entire Voku race behind permanently.
“Prick,” Hightower whispered as he walked up towards the edge of the platform and looked down on all the Voku assembled, with not one of them moving as they waited for his orders, but he could feel their well-controlled despair waft over him, for even those who were not telepathic gave off certain energies in a very crude sense when strong emotion was present, and right now this city was choking with it even when Hightower did not intentionally try and search the minds below.
The Star Force Lord stood in his Monarch’s uniform with his personal armor concealed on his forearms beneath it, but a small rivulet poked up from beneath his collar as he mentally triggered it to produce a microphone linked to the platform’s transmission equipment and local speakers so he could address all here and across the planet, with copies of this historic event being transmitted out via great lag to all other Voku systems.
“I did not want to be here,” he admitted. “Leadership of your race should belong to Cal-com, previous Dafchor who was exiled by the Elders…who I will now refer to by their given name of Zak’de’ron. They sent him away because he started
