Star Force: Liberation (SF56) (10 page)

For the lizards there was a few of their worlds coming
into Star Force possession, but not enough to truly matter. On that front Star
Force was mainly being defensive and not threatening the lizards in any major
way, leaving them a threat they could deal with later as well…though they were
never completely left alone. There was still continuous fighting going on, but
the bulk of the lizard fleet was headed elsewhere, leaving only their second
line for Star Force and the Hycre to contend with.

It wasn’t a golden age by far, but compared to what
they had been facing the ADZ was doing well and more or less stable. Larissa
knew that was only temporary, but it was giving everyone a much needed respite
to catch their breath and rebuild, with the fronts being flooded with Sentinels
and the new
Ma'kri
patrol ships, though those were
still more or less a secret that Star Force was keeping from public knowledge.

But the ADZ was huge, and most of the ‘border’ was
unsecured. Most of it lay in areas where the lizards or Skarrons hadn’t been
pressing them, and huge swaths of Epsilon, Gamma, and Delta Regions were Star
Force territory on map only, with many more outposts and colonies needing to be
built to get a firm grip on the spherical region they’d laid claim to. In those
‘wild’ regions there were other races that weren’t part of the ADZ Alliance
that had to be dealt with, either left alone or fought when they took actions
against their neighbors.

Freeing of slaves or hunting down pirates had become a
common practice for some of the other Archons, with them slowly weeding the
wild areas and making them more civilized…not to mention scouting out the areas
beyond the ADZ, including their every growing line of bread crumbs headed in
the direction of the galactic Rim.

There was a lot going on and Larissa didn’t know where
she’d end up eventually, but as the dropship rendezvoused with a transport in
orbit she had no doubts about where the next few years would take her, barring
an emergency. The cargo ship would be taking her to a nearby system where she’d
get on the ADZ transit grid and make her way back to Earth rather than tying up
a warship with the unnecessary trip. Once she got back to her first home she’d
be joining the other 54 trailblazers and a host of second gen in the long
running advanced training group that had already spawned several mages.

Larissa was only a level 58 padawan and was still
missing a few psionics whose triggers had been unlocked since her last brief
visit. She intended to stay with the group permanently and make up for lost
time, as well as reconnect with her brothers and sisters who’d she’d been apart
from for what seemed like forever.

She and the other trailblazers might be rogues, but
they still preferred operating as a team…and when they got together good things
always happened, often in unexpected ways, and it was high time Larissa got
back to pure training and see what she and the others could accomplish
together.

That, and she was just sick of falling so far behind
in her levels.

10

February 2, 2633

Solar System

Earth

It was late, but Davis was finishing up some planning
files for a theoretical program to be implemented in the Lacvamat colonies that
he was going to shoot off to the trailblazers for some feedback tomorrow at the
latest, so he was spending an extra hour or so watching the stars come out
through his panoramic office windows when an update icon flashed on a
holographic display to his left.

It was the 19th update in the past 10 minutes, but it
was flagged with a selective tag that Davis had put on it earlier, reminding
himself that he wanted to see it as soon as it came in. The Director paused the
planning and set it aside for a moment as he read through the Bsidd population
statistics.

Another 1.3% increase in the past 6 weeks, as far as
egg hatchings were concerned. Included in the batch of statistics were the
graduation rates from the maturias and the number of personnel attaining ranks
in the various disciplines within their society…including a breakdown as to
which were which variants. More and more they were mixing as a talent pool
formed, still very inexperienced but now at the point where Star Force could
really ramp up their population numbers to the amount he needed.

That didn’t happen overnight, nor without the proper
infrastructure in place, but ever since Larissa had given him the green light
he’d been pumping resources and construction crews into Char to flash build
more colonies than they’d previously had…all with the intent of utilizing the
Bsidd’s
population growth potential to add some additional
stability to the ADZ, among other things.

The original Bsidd leaving had been welcome news, but
the rest of the races were growing at such a rate that Star Force’s hold on
their percentage of the ADZ’s population was mainly due to the Kiritas/Kiritak.
Davis was stoking Human growth as much as he could, with a great imbalance
still existing on Earth, which had too many, and the rest of the Human colonies
outside of Sol that had too few to fuel the expansive growth that he wanted.

That he needed. Star Force was large, far larger than
he’d ever imagined it becoming back when he’d begun the organization in what
seemed like an altogether different world, but it was still tiny compared to
the major players out there, and the more reports he got from the
lizard/Skarron war the more he realized just how outclassed they were in terms
of resources and population. Star Force needed to get larger, and Human reproduction
rates weren’t enough.

He was still continuing to surge Kiritak expansion,
but their small size made them ill-suited to some tasks. On the contrary, the
different variants of Bsidd made them skilled in just about everything,
relatively speaking. That was judging them based on their race’s default
attributes and not the skills of the individuals, which Star Force based its
entire structure on, but he knew there was a great deal more potential in the
Bsidd than the Kiritak, though he doubted the larger race would ever outwork
the energetic little guys to whom Star Force owed a lot.

Davis didn’t want to replace them, at all, but he
wanted to add to them and with the Bsidd he could add a number of different
aspects to Star Force…but only if their population grew to similar levels.
Right now it was only a few billion, but as the new facilities came online Char
was going to be seeing a population boom like no other. Even now there was an
army of more than 150 million Star Force engineers and construction workers on
the planet and a never-ending flow of cargo ships coming in and out of the
system delivering the raw materials they required for the sudden and massive
expansion.

He knew that such growth was dangerous, which was why
he was monitoring every little fluctuation in the numbers as they filtered in
through the relay network. As he skimmed through the report the recent batch
looked to be right on with what he expected, including the construction rates
which were still staying ahead of projections. Cargo shipments were growing a
surplus of foodstuffs and other materials on planet which he intended to add
to, having had prefab warehouses built across two large plains on the planet.

Those were increasing as the need arose and were now
easily visible from orbit as a flat sheet of artificial construct standing in
stark contrast to the harsh landscape. The various colonies stood out as small
dots, underscoring the size of the warehouse facilities and the scope of the
project that Davis was rushing along. So far everything was proceeding as
planned, but he intended to keep it that way by overseeing it from afar rather
than relying on his staff. He trusted them and their skills, but something of
this size he needed to handle himself just to be safe.

Once he saw that everything was in order he set the
update aside and returned to his planning for the Lacvamat. They’d not taken to
annexation well, and even the younglings that had been born and raised in
maturias didn’t acclimate as they should after graduation. There was something
significantly lacking in the structure of their new society and Davis was
brainstorming what that was and how to make adjustments.

Part of the problem was that the Lacvamat were flyers
and that most of Star Force was made up of groundpounders. They weren’t the
only flying race, for Star Force had several as wards, but those had been
adapted to Human-style colonies in a hybridized form that the Lacvamat just
weren’t taking to. They were becoming very stagnant, more so than other
civilian aspects of races. It was always assumed that there would be slackers,
just as a byproduct of individual choice, but the percentages were sky high in
the Lacvamat. So much so that Star Force was pretty much having to babysit them
with very few in terms of their overall population actually working to assist
in their own survival.

Davis had spent considerable time researching other
flying races and trying to get inside their heads…literally in some cases, and
had thought he had a solution that involved a mix of infrastructure changes as
well as a societal restructuring that involved the creation of what he was
loosely calling ‘flocks,’ something that he’d tried to discourage in other
races. It seemed the Lacvamat needed a group mentality, at least in some small
part, to provide them motivation to act and Davis was intent on giving it to
them in a Star Force fashion.

Like the Clans, he knew that beneficial competition
was the answer, but he had to craft it in such a way to stoke their energy
without inducing resentment and the kind of blind hatred that had seen the
former Lacvamat tear into the Scionate. It was a delicate balancing act, but
again something that wasn’t new to Davis. The competitive aspects he wanted the
Archons to tweak, as well as troubleshoot the rest and maybe come up with some
additional or better ideas.

He was feeling the need to sleep dragging on him, but
got the gist of his ideas down and did a little streamlining before going ahead
and sending it off through the relay network to all 100 of the trailblazers,
knowing they’d vet and discuss it amongst themselves and send back something to
him in a few months. With that task done he left the rest of the incoming
updates till tomorrow morning to deal with.

Davis took a casual glance out his window, seeing the
nighttime lights of the city and the normal traffic flows in the sky. Yawning
out of reflex he realized he was a bit more tired than he thought and put aside
any thoughts of doing anything other than going straight to bed once he got
back to his quarters, else he’d regret it when he got up for his morning
workout.

He headed for the spiral staircase and worked his way
down through his staff control level, which was always active with rotating
crews, and informed them that he was going dark…meaning that he’d be off
comm
until further notice. With a few last instructions he
was off on a casual walk through the city and lift system back towards his
waiting bed.

Davis was nearly to his quarters when a security
officer came running up to him in the hallway, brushing past two other people
and nearly knocking them over in the process. The Director sensed him coming
before he got to him, as well as his mental state, and turned to face the
slightly taller man.

“What is it?”

“Unidentified ships have entered the system. A lot of
them.”

A spike of fear shot through Davis’s body, but he
didn’t let it show as he turned around and headed back to his office,
accelerating up into a run with the security officer rushing ahead and playing
blocker, clearing his path when necessary.

“Earpiece,” Davis said on the run.

The security officer took his out and tossed it to
Davis, who telekinetically plucked it out of the air and inserted it into his
left ear, then went through the rerouting process so it would register his ID,
after which he contacted defense command.

“Talk to me,” he said to the Archon on the other end
while still running through the moderately crowded hallways en route to the
nearest lift terminal.

“Director, we have at present 126 ships of unknown
origin in stellar orbit. Their hull configurations do not match any known
profiles and as of yet there has been no attempt at communication.

“Not V’kit’no’sat?”

“Not unless their tech got a whole lot crappier, no,”
the striker said.

Davis felt a huge relief flow through him in a wave of
goosebumps, but he still kept running. “Why kind of ships?”

“Warships…and another two just came out of the braking
maneuvers. They’re about half the size of our jumpships, but we don’t have
close enough eyes on them to determine what type of weaponry.”

“Where do we stand?”

“Defense fleets are moving to contain or engage, and
the trailblazers are being notified. I think this warrants interrupting their
training.”

“Let’s hope not. Civilian traffic?”

“Rerouting. They came in on an odd jumpline, so
there’s not much in the immediate vicinity.”

“Which?”

“Westley.”

Davis frowned. That star system was on the other side
of a thin nebula that Star Force always routed around. Their shields were
strong enough now to go through if needed, but there was no sense in taking the
chance other than in emergency situations…and that suggested that whoever this
was didn’t have accurate star maps of the region, not to mention strong enough
shields to survive the trip, making Davis wonder exactly how advanced they
were.

“Define crappy.”

“None of the really sweet toys we know the
V’kit’no’sat swear by. Right now my best guess is plasma variant weapons with
some others thrown in. Maybe some missile racks. I’m looking at the updating
sensor feeds now.”

“They’re staying put?”

“For the time being, yes.”

“I’m heading back to my office, set up a tactical feed
there with
holo
.”

“We’ll keep you in the loop, but if there is a fight
to be had it’s going to be a quick one.”

“Copy that,” Davis said, deactivating the earpiece and
pulling it out as they rode the lift through the city. “Thank you,” he said,
giving it back to the security officer. “I can find my way back from here.”

The man nodded and waited out the rest of the transit
in the car beside him, then stayed inside when the doors opened and Davis ran
out. The Director worked his way back towards his office, blowing through the
various security checkpoints and hitting his staircase without bothering to
confer with his staff, knowing they’d have everything he needed to know sent up
to his desktop.

When he got back up on his office floor there was a
lifesize
hologram standing next to his desk, which he
immediately recognized as Roger-009. Davis triggered and stepped onto his own
holopad
, with the trailblazer now able to see him from his
end.

“No change as yet, aside from more ships coming in.
Count now up to 138. They’re staggered pretty wide. Either that’s a conscious
choice or their navigation systems suck.”

“Confirm they’re not V’kit’no’sat.”

“Not a chance,” Roger dismissed. “But I have no idea
who they are…whoa.”

“What?” Davis asked, just before seeing a new contact
on the system map floating beside him enter stellar orbit. It decelerated just
as the others had, but it was easily 10 times their size.

“Some type of carrier or command ship. Big sucker,”
the trailblazer commented offhand, though Davis could see it wasn’t as large as
a
Melee
-class.

“Maybe it will talk,” Davis wondered/suggested.

“I’ve got a repetitive inquiry going in every known
language. If that doesn’t work we’re going to go up and knock on their door. I
don’t see any repositioning for a second jump, so I doubt they’re just passing
through.”

“Combat formation?”

Roger’s left eye half closed. “A little, but they’re
not looking like they’re here to fight…or they’re really stupid and they don’t
know what they’re up against. They’re not moving to match our incoming ship
trajectories.”

“Sensor lag?”

“No, I meant those already in stellar orbit,” he said
as a few
more smaller
unidentified ships came out of
braking maneuvers.

“Best guess?”

“They took a wrong turn somewhere.”

Davis laughed humorlessly. “A single ship I could
understand, but a fleet of that size doesn’t go roaming about through the ADZ
without knowing where they are. Our maps are widely available.”

“Maybe they don’t like closed systems and wanted a
peek at what we’ve got.”

“Came a long way to get it,” Davis mewed.

“Unless they’ve got a lot more coming there’s no real
threat here…unless they have something sneaky planned.”