Star Force: Retribution (SF60) (11 page)

Hope was powerful enough, but give people actual
results and their hope quickly became belief, then belief became confidence as
the list of star systems being reclaimed from the Li’vorkrachnika began to
grow. That list was eventually displayed at the monument in the form of small
pedestals, with each conquest labeled and arranged in a rough map of enemy
space around the sky needle.

The trend caught on, with each addition pumping more
adrenaline into the H’kar…with someone even going so far as to paint the spot
where the pedestal for the original H’kar homeworld would go should they ever
get that far.

The mark hadn’t been official, just some hopeful
graffiti added by an overzealous citizen, but the thought of one day returning
and reclaiming their old worlds spread like wildfire throughout the H’kar, with
even the Royals genuinely getting onboard with the idea and fully setting their
entire civilization towards that goal, despite the fact that Star Force was
nowhere near to them and was in fact on the other side of the Li’vorkrachnika
core worlds.

That didn’t matter to the H’kar, for even if they were
inching their way forward they now saw a way to one day reclaim what was lost
to them, and even if they didn’t live to see it happen they were committed to
doing their part in the here and now to make it happen for their
descendants…with their legend leaving them the blueprints for how to do it.

And it was those final orders from Vedja that
ultimately transformed H’kar society, for prior to them the H’kar were always
the one that carried the battles. They were the focal point, the strong arm
that did the heavy lifting and took on the biggest battles…but Vedja had made
it clear that they couldn’t beat the enemy on their own merits, nor could they
lead others to victory. No, the ultimate victory over the Li’vorkrachnika was
rooted in the H’kar becoming a support empire and their doing all the auxiliary
tasks that they had previously ignored out of a mix of tradition and arrogance.

But that no longer was the case, with their pride now
rooted in supporting Star Force.

Vedja had said that given enough backing the Human-led
empire would one day, in the distant future, lead the H’kar to ultimate
victory…and with the initial results seeming to confirm his predictions the
H’kar went all-in in their new role, with the single focus of their
civilization becoming the reclamation of their true homeworld, and them no
longer settling for mere survivor or anything less than full and final
retribution.

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