Whitmore Day Read online

  1

  September 9, 154960

  Leo Tra Nevir System (Grand Border)

  Kicho Brettinga

  “Your move.”

  Jarrod Jor’s face contorted as he thought, staring at the cluster of small holograms floating over the dirt of the forest floor. He was one move away from elimination from his unit’s pickup game of Hatrical, despite his best efforts to the contrary. He wasn’t very good at the game…at least not as good as the other four in his star, and he always got politely reminded that Humans just weren’t skilled at the game.

  Jarrod used his handheld pointer and maneuvered one of his three remaining pieces into a dead zone, thinking it was a safe play, then ended his turn with an audible ‘blerp’ from his pointer.

  “Always on the defense,” Hi’ro’ju said as his glowing Protovic eyes competed with the holograms in the dim light for dominance as a light breeze rustled the thin leaves on the evergreen trees that surrounded them. “I’ll let you live for that,” he said, using his own pointer and launching an attack on the battleboard against Kiimo.

  “Really?” the Calavari asked, seeing two of his primary units deleted from inventory.

  “Unwise,” the H’kar stated, whose turn was next…and used a portal to get the bulk of his forces behind Hi’ro’ju’s now broken perimeter. Zikova engaged every one of them in range, and nearly 2/3rds of all forces involved disappeared, with most of those remaining being Kiimo’s.

  “Was it?” he asked…then his eyes narrowed as the final member of their unit began his turn. The tiny Irondel used a pointer much smaller than the others, but it worked the just the same and the previously firm border between him and the Protovic was now not so firm.

  “Are you trying to get yourselves annihilated?” Hi’ro’ju asked as Yi’tri launched his own assault, which was not very effective, but against the Protovic’s diminished forces the result was about an even split.

  Kiimo nudged Jarrod with one of his four arms, then gave him a nod.

  The Human took his turn, sending two of his units not into combat, but into an empty node that Hi’ro’ju had evacuated when he moved against Kiimo. When Jarrod took possession, the randomizer spit out a new attribute for that hex on the map…with it becoming a super fortress that would protect his two units and fight aggressors until destroyed.

  “Why are you helping him?”

  “Because he needs it,” Yi’tri responded first.

  “And we don’t like you,” Kiimo added.

  “You mean you don’t like me winning,” the Protovic said, making his move into a better defensive alignment with his remaining units, knowing it would take many more turns to regenerate his strength.

  “Does that mean we all just teamed up against Hitop?” Jarrod asked.

  “Looks to be so,” Zikova declared as he shifted around in his awkward standing position that had his central torso touching the ground and his crab-like legs elevated near to his head to get him that low as the others were all sitting around the holoprojector…that suddenly went dim as a priority override displayed a message box above it.

  “Who’s that for?” Jarrod asked as Yi’tri toggled the interface.

  “Everyone,” he said, with the addresses being tagged as every single person within the Star Force empire.

  “What the hell?” Jarrod asked. “I’ve never seen a message intended for everyone.”

  “Perhaps this is it,” the Protovic suggested as he triggered the packet to open, with the holoprojector increasing in size to full as an image of Director Davis appeared, but did not activate, meaning it wasn’t an incoming stream from the planet, but a data packet meant to be viewed individually as time allowed.

  Another click of the pointer and the recording began.

  “We have lived in the shadow of the destruction of the Hadarak for some time now, and their determination to destroy us has not relented. As time progresses, their attacks become more fierce, though to date we have been able to defend the Grand Border each and every time. No penetrations have been successful, the Rim is still secure, but our time of defense is now over. As of now, we are beginning our counterattack against the Hadarak with the intent to eventually purge this galaxy of their presence.”

  “Finally,” the Calavari muttered.

  “This will not occur quickly, or easily, but the time is now and we are launching our offensive along the Grand Border at times and places of our choosing. This is essential, because until we drive the Hadarak from this galaxy we are in great peril. The Grand Border has sustained us thus far, but it necessitates that we are spread thin to guard it all. If we can drive the Hadarak back to the Deep Core, we can concentrate our defense there against their intergalactic reinforcements. This is our eventual aim, but not immediate goal. We have a sea of enemies to fight through to get there, and I am telling you that this fight begins now.”

  “All Kingdoms and Regions will be supporting the invasion with logistical assistance and warfleets. This will continue and expand upon local shortages and wait times for services. Consider it a small price to pay in exchange for our military keeping the Hadarak off your doorstep. I do not like the measures, but we are forced to work with what we have available. I would like to continue building and storing up resources, but the Hadarak are doing the same and the real question is when will we be ready. The answer to that is now. So we are going now and forcing this fight because it needs to be done. The status quo is not good enough. It will either be us or the Hadarak controlling this galaxy. There will be no coexistence. They have made that abundantly clear. So the only way to safeguard our future is by diving into the danger headfirst now.”

  “Most of what happens will be unknown to you, but we will send back updates and visuals when we can. Know that our warriors are carrying out the fight even if you cannot monitor them, and that this fight is going to be the hardest and longest in Star Force history. But we intend to win, and that victory begins now with the first battles. The Knight races will go first, and the rest of us will follow as needed. It is for a time such as this that the structure of Star Force was designed for. Self-sufficient Factions, systems, and planets are not a luxury, but a necessity. Our worlds will have to fend for themselves for the most part, while the bulk of exports will go to the war effort.”

  “This is what we’ve built for, and now is the time to test our merit again. It is not our first war, but it is by far the largest and grandest this galaxy has seen in a very long time. When the Hadarak came here, however long ago that was, they defeated the strong and allowed the weak to live on in the Rim while they dominated the Core. Every time strength rose against them, they crushed it…as they are attempting to do to us now.”

  “We will not be crushed. As of now orders are going out around the entire Grand Border, with forces from all our Factions being summoned to the fight along with many allies who want to do their part. Together, we will be launching the largest naval assault in recorded history…though not in numbers. The Hadarak numbers dwarf our own, but their ships are weak in comparison to ours. Our strength is quality, theirs is numerical advantage, but we also have a numerical advantage. We are devoting more ships to this fight than any other race, empire, or alliance has attempted against the Hadarak in this galaxy. An armada so large it can’t keep track of itself. Battles fought in one area of the galaxy will be unknown for months, if not years, from the other parts.”

  “But we’re good at fighting like that. The Hadarak are not, and we’re about to exploit that weakness. We train to fight as individuals, and individuals do not need constant direction. You point them where they need to go and they figure out the rest. We excel in this, and despite the massive ship counts we are sending, each battle will be fought by the individual. None sacrificed. None expen
ded. We will not trade lives with the Hadarak. We will not succumb to the darkside in order to survive. We will live on, with honor, and show the galaxy and all those watching from beyond the true power of the lightside.”

  “As of today, I am declaring this galaxy…in its entirety…to be the property of Star Force. Every system, every planet, every floating rock and grain of dust. We are assuming dominion over all of it, not to conquer and terrorize, but to uplift and protect. We’ve been doing so for many pieces of it, but not all. We haven’t grown far enough for that, and with the Hadarak beating on our doorstep we’ve been rightly distracted. But no longer. We are on the warpath, and any that employ the tactics of the darkside will become our targets, in the Core or the Rim.”

  “To our neighbors who have coexisted with us peaceably, you have nothing to fear as long as you reject the darkside. But to those who have exploited the shadows where we cannot see, this is also a call to war against you, for while the bulk of our forces are going after the Hadarak, a smaller force is going after the blank spots on the map in the Rim. As we claim possession of this galaxy, patrolling it also becomes our responsibility. And we are not going to wait until we are done with the Hadarak to deal with the rest of the Rim that is behaving badly. We will not tolerate a single murder under the guise of ‘sovereignty’ that many of you bastards claim. If we are going to clean this galaxy of the Hadarak filth, then we’re damn sure not going to allow any other versions to remain as well.”

  “As will the fight with the Hadarak, this second war will take time and draw on more resources, but when finished we will have a united galaxy under our sole protection. Allies are always welcome, but we will not depend upon them. The mantle of responsibility holds that we must take the burdens upon ourselves, and that is what we intend to do. And when we defeat the Hadarak, make no mistake, we are not just taking back our galaxy from these bastards, we are also sending a message to the other galaxies full of them. To the other galaxies with the Neofan, Veloqueen, Denogi, and countless other powers out there.”

  “This galaxy is ours, and the lightside will rule here. It will protect the denizens against the annihilation of the Hadarak and any other forms of darkside tyranny. We are fighting for our right to live, to exist. Today is the day the civilized galaxy declares in one voice, we will not go quietly into the night, we will not vanish without a fight. We’re going to live on. We’re going to survive. Today is the day we declare our independence and pick the biggest fight conceivable. There is no going back now. No hiding and hoping to live through this. No running to another galaxy. This is our home. This is our past. This is our future.”

  “This is our Independence Day, July 4, 154960, and will be hence forth marked as Whitmore Day…the day the war of liberation began, and the day we step forth and take the mantle of responsibility for this galaxy. Good luck to those fighting, and may the Force be with us all.”

  The hologram winked out, replaced by a blinking marker indicating a code prompt was needed to continue.

  “There it is,” the Protovic said evenly as he stared at the air where the Director’s image had just been.

  “I don’t have my armor,” the Calavari said. “We need to sign in.”

  “I have mine,” Jarrod said, pulling up the sleeve on his wrist to reveal the small gauntlet he wore. It wasn’t a commando suit, but more of a survival armor if he ever needed to bail out of his mech. A little mental interlinking prompted it, then the Human walked up and waved the gauntlet through the holo prompt so it could positively identify him in order to release whatever sealed information was inside.

  The tiny blinking marker spilled out so many holograms that the entire campsite in the forest was flooded with them, and in the center of all of it was a massive galaxy hologram detailing all the logistical endpoints on the Grand Border for the upcoming invasion…and there were so many they all bled together into one constant line ringing the Core with foreboding.

  This wasn’t going to be several surgical strikes headed for the galactic tethers. This was a full on front against the entire Hadarak territory.

  The Irondel pulled up one side hologram that contained their unit’s orders and opened it, spilling out more information…and a deadline. This message had been updated when it passed through the system computers. They were being recalled from their extended training mission and set to board a troop ship in a leisurely 9 nine days when it arrived. Then after that they were headed to a rendezvous with Clan Kai’sa to assist them in the cleansing of a not so nearby border system categorized as Red 2991. It was three jumps off the Grand Border itself, but it wasn’t until Yi’tri opened up the intel on that location that he saw why it was so important.

  “38 planets and 91 moons, all occupied with Hadarak,” the H’kar noted.

  “And it looks like the fleet will just clean out orbit,” Jarrod said, reading the lengthy brief. “Kai’sa will be responsible for claiming each planetoid, and the Pterodactyls are going in as added firepower.”

  “They’re not very good in naval combat on their own,” the Irondel said. “Better as ground assault. And it gives us a chance to fight with them rather than being held in reserve.”

  “I don’t think any of the Knight races are being held in reserve,” the Calavari Esquire said, towering over all the others in his mech star. “We’re going to be deployed wherever there is fighting. This is not just going to be a naval war,” he said, smacking his top two fists together in a satisfied gesture. “Nevar wasn’t lying.”

  “You thought he was?” Jarrod asked, referring to the Pterodactyl that commanded their ‘galaxy’ of mechs, though he wasn’t a mechwarrior himself given his avian biology. Rather he organized and assisted from the sky as he commanded the Esquires on the ground.

  “I thought he might be exaggerating. But an invasion such as this?” Kiimo said, gesturing with his lower right arm. “This is what we were trained for, not garrison duty on Border worlds.”

  “Agreed,” the Protovic said, studying all the holograms closely. “And we have a rendezvous point to get to. They’re not sending dropships to get us out here.”

  “All the training units are assembling in the highlands,” Jarrod said, eyeing the distance. “That means we’ve got 19 hours to get there, and 15 hours of travel time. Anyone sleepy?”

  The H’kar stood up, cracking his joints loudly, though that was normal for his carapace. “Let’s go.”

  The holoprotector shut down and flew off the ground into one of the Calavari’s hands with a telepathic jerk, then the packed dirt of the campsite they’d been using the past 3 days was abandoned as tents collapsed and were packed up as the five Pterodactyl Esquires climbed into their mechs parked in a small clearing nearby. Three were biped, the other two quadruped, and all powered up as soon as their mechwarriors were inside along with their camping cargo. The 20-40 meter high machines trudged off with very light steps due to their anti-grav enhancement, making only soft imprints in the ground as they avoided the trees and followed the rivulet of the clearing out to a much larger grass plain that they began running across in a line, with the H’kar Nlin-class mech leading the way.

  Jarrod followed fourth in line in his Neo, with the running being pathetically easy aside from monitoring his footfalls so he didn’t step on any indigenous wildlife that froze at their approach rather than running away…for the mechs were still quite noisy even with the anti-grav-assisted steps.

  But Jarrod wasn’t bored. He pulled up a copy of the message packet and reviewed it as they ran enroute to their distant rendezvous point, his mind ablaze with anticipation, worry, and an eagerness to get into the fight along with the first wave rather than come in as backup. It looked like that was going to be the case, but other than the orders for his unit there wasn’t much detail about everyone else.

  That was to be expected, and he’d get further information once he returned to base and linked up with Kai’sa. But still, this was really happening, and the mechs were being deployed straight of
f, not held in reserve as cleanup crew. That’s what they all wanted, and it looked like the fleet was going to be spared the lengthy task of planetary bombardment so they could move on to more systems with maximum speed.

  That was Jarrod’s thinking, and it put a lot of burden on the groundpounders to finish the job that the warships easily could do…aside from subterranean issues. But the Human Esquire wouldn’t have it any other way. He wanted to pull his weight as much as any of the rest of them, and if they could relieve the fleet by taking work off their hands, so much the better. They needed to focus on the reinforcements coming across the space lanes anyway. That was their fight.

  The Hadarak on the ground were his, and Red 2991 sure had a whole lot of them.

  2

  November 8, 154960

  Leo Tra Nevir System (Grand Border)

  Low Stellar Orbit

  Captain Sheev’nora of the Kvash battlecruiser Gamma 39987 stood on the bridge as his ship was entering the system in a long convoy line having originated from deeper in the Rim. They’d left within 3 days of hearing Director Davis’s call to war and had been traveling through Star Force territory all this time, collecting more ships as they went, but nothing he had seen previously in his 45,923 year career prepared him for what he saw when he finally got to the Grand Border.

  There was no fighting here. Rather there was staging going on, and as his ship’s sensors caught up as the Gamma 39987 fell into line with the other Kvash warships that were redirecting out to a parking orbit, Sheev’nora couldn’t believe the number of ship icons already present, many of which were in the process of leaving the system, but most were sitting in tight formations away from the major jumplines waiting for sufficient ships to arrive to begin their incursions into Hadarak territory.

  Sheev’nora didn’t know what they were waiting for. Already there were more than 400,000 warships present, plus more than twice that in support ships. And most of the warships were at least 15 miles long, if not larger. His battlecruiser was 30 miles long and shaped like Thor’s hammer, with very few hangar bays and equipped for melee combat primarily. Other Kvash vessels were similarly equipped, along with the standard drone-carrying warships.