Star Force: Liberation (SF56) (2 page)

Megan snorted. “Can’t kill tanks with that.”

“I did well enough.”

“What’s your full
crit
build
here?”

Paul shook his head. “Don’t have one. We’re scraping
bottom and need to consolidate our own troops. I think you’ve got Metropolis
buttoned up pretty good, but even if the Skarrons go turtle and don’t strike
out at any more Dvapp worlds there’s not much we can do about it on the
ground.”

“And
navally
?”

“I can poke and run, but that’s about it.”

“Isn’t that what ADCs do?”

“We have
so
got to bring that game back,” Paul commented, adjusting one of the star maps.
“What do you think of risking a Kiritak expansion here?”

Megan cringed, seeing him point to one of the formerly
Dvapp worlds the Skarrons had just evacuated. It wasn’t far from Metropolis,
but bringing the little guys up to the front wasn’t what she liked
doing…especially when they wouldn’t be able to defend them well. “A gamble.”

“Agreed, but if the Skarrons are going turtle then a
nearby supply base is viable…not to mention badly needed.”

“I’d rather expand Metropolis.”

“I meant do both.”

Megan tilted her head while she looked at the star map
and the planet that had once housed millions of Dvapp…all of which were now
dead or evacuated. “You sure they’re not going to want it back?”

“They’re licking their wounds too, but the resources
there are too valuable to pass over. Our mining technology is far superior to
theirs, so in order to get them the materials they need to regrow we have to go
after them.”

“Trade them the planet for materials?”

“Something like that, though I wasn’t planning on
asking. We currently hold the planet anyway…or did. Right now there’s no one there.”

“Still risky. They’ll be exposed.”

“The entire front is exposed.”

“I know. I think this could work, but if it goes wrong
it will go horribly wrong.”

“We can’t tolerate the long shipping lines,” Paul
reminded her. “The rebuilding effort has to be local.”

“I know,” she repeated. “I just wish your ship wasn’t
busted in case you need to go to ground again.”

“Well, it’s not that busted,” Paul wavered.

Megan raised an eyebrow. “You said the gravity drives
had been damaged?”

“There’s still enough to take it into the atmosphere.”

“Ok, you are officially nuts.”

“It’s not that big of a deal if you go
slow
. The tricky part is in the atmospheric calculations…and
this planet is low
grav
anyway.”

“Fine, you can still pull your stunts with a broken
wheel, but you’re not going to be camping out there are you?”

“No, I’ll be roaming.
Gotta
keep the Skarrons on the defensive. If they’re holding on to these worlds then
I bet they’re still
gonna
be trying to resupply
them.”

“Or they could be going all local if they’re really
turtling up.”

“Possible, but they don’t build that well. Last ditch
option, I’d say, and I’d bet a million credits they’re going to try some more
long flanking resupply runs over the coming years. I’d like to intercept those
before they get here.”

“So while you roam the Kiritak mine and build and hope
nobody comes in to shoot them? Can we at least get them a Sentinel?”

“Planned on that, plus a decent drone fleet.”

“Define ‘decent?’”

“Enough to hold out long enough for me or other
reinforcements to arrive.”

“Is the relay intact?”

Paul pulled up another screen and did a quick check.
“Yes.”

“Ok, we’ll try it. I’ll stay here and keep building up
Metropolis, then put down a colony after the Kiritak start the resources
flowing so we can avoid the trade lag. I’ll keep enough ships here to reinforce
with, but stay close enough that I can call for you if needed.”

“No promises there, but I am going to drop a few more
stealth relays in neutral systems so we can stay in closer contact. Actually,
we need to start hitting up every system in the ADZ.”

“That’s a lot,” she reminded him, with there being
2,373 star systems within their current borders as measured by a 100 light year
radius around Sol that made up the ADZ, with some deviations here and there,
mainly around Protovic territory.

“I know,” he said, mimicking her.

“I also get the feeling that we just became
responsible for carrying the Dvapp.”

“They fought well and bled the Skarrons dry, otherwise
we’d have already lost the front, so it’s a debt I don’t feel bad about
paying.”

“Agreed, but
it’s
one more
item on our plate.”

“Good thing we’re used to eating a lot.”

Megan smiled. “True. Just keep your donut around for a
while, ok?”

“Need to get it patched up anyway, so deal.”

“We don’t have a big enough slip here.”

“That’s why I said patched. I need it too badly to
send it all the way back to Earth. She’s still fighting capable so we’re going
to work out what repairs we can out here.”

“Scrappy…good. How soon you going to bring the Kiritak
in?”

“Give it a year to see if the Skarrons really are
going turtle, but I want them prepped to move when we give the word.”

“Going to need a good sized transport fleet for that.”

“Saber and Canderous will come through on that one.”

“Alright, I’ll make it work from this end. I just hope
we don’t get
ganked
.”

“Same here…but we really don’t have any choice but to
try.”

“I know,” she repeated, this time without any
merriment.

2

February 19, 2555

Belar
System (Bsidd
Capitol)

Hassnve

The Cajdital fleet escorting the invoker into middle
orbit was met with a swarm of Bsidd warships, countering numbers with numbers
as they wisely targeted the escorts and not the fleet killer, for so long as
they were in close proximity to the enemy cruisers the invoker was harmless to
them else the Cajdital risked killing their own ships. However, there was
nothing to prevent the invoker from moving up next to the numerous stations
circling the planet and incinerating them with its wild, multi-colored energy
arcs. One by one it was chewing apart both defense platforms and habitats, with
the Bsidd fleet unable to do anything more than engage the enemy escorts and
hope to whittle them down.

But as much whittling as they accomplished it was
useless. Like they had across the rest of Bsidd territory, the Cajdital had
outwitted and outnumbered them at every turn, and even now groups of enemy
reinforcements were coming in to replace the escorts lost almost as if the
enemy was playing with them by not showing their full hand up front.

The capitol was the only major planet left, with its
defense force cobbled together from surviving fleets and the permanent
defenders in order to make a last stand. They had no hope of surviving given
the strength of the enemy, but without anything else to do they might as well
make them pay as high a price as they could to wipe them out.

There were a few other planets that hadn’t fallen, all
minor, with some Bsidd scattering to the unexplored regions of the galaxy to
try and escape, but word was the Cajdital were pursuing at least some of them
though it hardly mattered. They had nowhere to go even if they got away, but
even a small chance of survival was more than the inhabitants of
Hassnve
had. They were doomed and knew it, with nothing
more than regrets about what could have been had the Nestafar not betrayed the
Alliance.

None the less the remaining jumpships left to the
Bsidd were loading in low orbit. Where they could go even if they managed to
get past the Cajdital was a curious question, but it didn’t matter for the 56
billion Bsidd on the planet. They couldn’t fit even a small fraction of that
population inside, with those on the surface digging in and preparing to make
their last stand, literally, by carving out subsurface hideaways and tunnels
where they stood a better chance of engaging the Cajdital given their air and
naval support couldn’t get to them.

Those jumpships, however, held one tiny hope for their
race…almost an afterthought. There were a few surviving Alliance relays still
operational and linked to Bsidd territory and recently they’d received a
message on them, prompting the Bsidd to prepare to evacuate a few key personnel
and equipment on the off chance that the communique had been legit, let alone
feasible.

The loading was still taking place as the invoker
broke through the middle orbit defensive ring and began trashing the Bsidd
shipyards like a giant, angry energy cloud devouring everything in its path,
with such destruction taking a long time to execute. While that was happening
another group of jumpships emerged at the system’s star and released yet more
warships…but these weren’t Cajdital.

Before long the ongoing brawl containing Bsidd blue
plasma orbs and Cajdital green added a few white streaks as the Hycre fleet
moved in and engaged, small in number as they were, but used their range
advantage to contribute damage while taking none of their own. They didn’t
touch the invoker or go anywhere close to it, focusing instead on the escort
fleet and trying to help the doomed Bsidd make a few more kills before it was
all over.

Their numbers were dropping fast, and before long it
was going to turn into a total rout. That little bit of time that remained was
going to be put to use as the remaining Bsidd queens were evacuated up to the
jumpships along with their necessary minions as their troops and civilians
bought them time with their lives. A few Hycre warships flew down and
intercepted the roaming Cajdital vessels looking for targets of opportunity,
with the rest sniping the enemy fleet while the Bsidd continued to get hammered.

The evacuation didn’t take long, for there weren’t
that many Bsidd jumpships to fill. Nearly all of their previously massive fleet
had been expended in the war and even now the jumpships were being filled up
with transports, leaving the loyal warships behind to die providing them cover.

When the time came the Hycre redeployed into a
protective wedge and fought the Bsidd clear of the planet, micro-jumping with
them back to the star and leaving the capitol behind to die. They encountered
another enemy reinforcement group coming in, with the Hycre jumping on it
immediately and killing half of their ships, including two jumpships, while the
Bsidd fled on the jumpline the Hycre had given them.

Once the last of their ships were out, the Hycre
executed a fighting withdrawal back to their own jumpships and followed the
Bsidd out, catching up to them at the next system and providing an escort
across what was now Cajdital-dominated space to the closest intact Hycre world.
There they were safe behind a much larger Hycre fleet, all equipped with
cleansing beams and maulers, for a short stay. Eventually they began to
transition from one Hycre world to another, moving with escort at all times as
they gradually made their way across what had formerly been Calavari territory
and into the ADZ.

By the time they arrived their capitol had long since
been annihilated, leaving the small fleet of jumpships as the only cohesive
remnant of their once great empire. They were led up into Delta Region to an
Alliance World still in the making, with only two functioning Star Force cities
on the border strips. The Bsidd were quickly given one of the regions on the
high
grav
world to begin colonizing, with them
immediately sending an ambassador to Earth to discuss the future of their race
and their place within the Alliance they had previously abandoned.

Davis met the Bsidd in one of Atlantis’s sister
cities, not sure what to expect. The Bsidd had insisted that they be allowed to
speak to the Star Force leader, and given their previous status he’d been
inclined to indulge them…but not on Atlantis. That was Star Force’s core and
sanctuary, and no one else was going there unless they had special permission.
Davis wanted to keep it that way, hence the short hop over to
Mediterranea
via Mantis where the gangly alien was waiting
for him after having arrived on a Hycre jumpship carrying a Star Force
transport from the Alliance World.

The inclusion of the Bsidd into the ADZ had been at
the Hycre’s request. Star Force had written them off long ago, along with the
Kvash and others. According to the Hycre the Kvash
empire
had already fallen, and now the Bsidd, but with their queens surviving the
insect-like race could repopulate quickly, and given their formidable
technology the Hycre suggested that they could be a valuable addition to the
communal defense in the future.

Future was right, for at the moment the Bsidd had
nothing aside from a handful of people and some key technological elements.
Impressive as the latter were, Star Force had already pulled ahead of them in
most areas, though there was always an element of design unique to each race
that was sometimes valuable. The Bsidd had better tech than anyone else in the
ADZ, save for maybe the Elarioni, and in time that could be an asset, but the
Bsidd were still on Star Force’s black list after what they’d done to the
Nestafar capitol and essentially abandoning the other races in the Alliance to
fight the lizards on their own.

Davis wasn’t going to turn them away, but he wasn’t
going to give them the status they probably wanted within the ADZ and expected
this meeting to be more of an argument than anything productive.

And he wasn’t disappointed.

He met the tall, multi-limbed alien in a conference
room with two Knights flanking him should it not play nice, and after two hours
of ‘discussion’ had melted down into the Bsidd making demands for resources and
inclusion in ADZ decision making committees the Star Force Director had
exhausted his patience and finally laid it out plainly for the ambassador.

“
You have no
control here. Not in any way, shape, or form. The Alliance you were formerly
part of has been dead for some time now, with a new one growing in its place.
The Hycre, Protovic, and Star Force make the decisions here, for we carry the
burden of the ADZ’s defense. You have nothing to contribute to that, hence you
have no decision making privileges. Your past empire’s greatness no longer
matters. You are what you are now…a handful of refugees seeking a new home. I
will and have granted you that, but everything you get from this point on
you’ll have to work for, and you’ll have to abide by our rules or you’ll lose
your sovereignty…do I make myself clear?
”

“
You will not
dictate to us, Human
,” the Bsidd said stiffly.

“
I am, actually,
right now
.”

“
We are still
the technologically superior, and the wiser. Your race is young and immature
.”

Davis smiled, born of frustration rather than
amusement. “
You might want to have a look
around before you start making assumptions like that. A great many things have
changed, and you’re alive right now because we’ve carved out a sanctuary that
we are defending with our technology. The Hycre rescued you using weapons that
we gave them. We have succeeded, to date, where you have failed, so do not
think that you are in a position of power here.
”

“
You will give
us the resources we require to rebuild. The Hycre have guaranteed it!
” the
Bsidd said, almost in a yell.

“
Not without
compensation, and the Hycre have guaranteed you nothing other than foodstuffs
and other basic necessities to keep you alive while
you
rebuild
.
We will not do it
for you, nor provide you the resources in any way that differs from what we
offer to the other races via our markets.
”

“
You will not
subjugate us to minority status. We are a founder of the Alliance, you are not
.”

“
We are the
founder of the new Alliance, you are not
,” Davis countered. “
And we alone dictate all territorial
allotments within the ADZ, and the Protovic and Hycre back us on this
.”

“
The Protovic
are minor, only the Hycre and Calavari are to be concerned
.”

“
The Calavari
are now part of Star Force. I speak for them
.”

The Bsidd looked taken aback…or as close as Davis
could guess based on his thoughts, for his ‘facial’ expressions were nearly
impossible to read.

“
The Calavari
would not submit to you
.”

“
They didn’t
submit, they joined with us, as have many others
.”

“
We will not do
so
.”

“
You don’t have
to, but you will have to earn your place in the ADZ and rebuild your
civilization from scratch. Use the resources in the region we gave you or trade
for them with us or another faction
.”

“
We have nothing
to trade and you know it!
”

“
You have
technical knowledge that others lack. Start there
,” Davis suggested.

“
We will not
give away our secrets, Human!
”

“
Trade, not
give. It seems like I’m the only one that gives anything away nowadays
.”

“
You would be
wise to treat us well, for once we regrow we will remember your actions
.”

“
Then remember
that we took you in when you had nowhere else to go
,” Davis said, standing
up and causing the two Knights to shuffle, ready to move if needed. “
It seems you’ve wasted time and resources
coming here, for you expect us to cave to your whims and that is not going to
happen. Go back to your people and begin rebuilding at whatever pace you can
sustain. We will keep you alive with the necessary foodstuffs in the interim.
You need not fear dying, but as for your empire’s glory, that’s on you to
reestablish…not me.
”

Davis pointed at the door and a Star Force personnel
relations attendant and a trio of security officers came up and prodded the
Bsidd towards it as the Director left the room via another entrance while the
alien ranted in its native tongue. Davis stopped a few steps out into the hall
after the door was shut behind them, rubbed his chin for a moment,
then
belatedly glanced up at the Knights.

“Dismissed,” he said, backtracking a few steps and
heading the other way while they headed off to wherever they needed to be.

Davis had a thought, then rapidly developed it into a
plan causing him to accelerate into a jog and race towards the nearest lift,
which he took to the closest security station. He had them locate the highest
ranking Archon within the city and get her to the spaceport
asap…
along
with a medical team.

The ranger in question, following Davis’s order/suggestion,
intercepted the Bsidd before he boarded the dropship to head back to orbit but
did so in such a way that she froze him in place using her
Ikrid
and dulled his senses. She wasn’t skilled enough to erase memories, but she
messed up his senses enough then released them back into normalcy that the
Bsidd didn’t realize what had just happened and after a bit of disruption and confusion
walked on into the dropship and headed back to his people without being any the
wiser.