Star Force: Counterstrike (SF18) Read online

  “Orbital sensors have picked up an approaching ship, high velocity headed towards atmosphere. It is not one of ours.”

  Paul frowned. Lizard ships weren’t detectable on sensors unless they were damaged…or unless this wasn’t one of their expeditionary force vessels.

  “Where’s it heading?”

  “We can’t tell, it’s arcing its trajectory. It may be going for an orbital insertion, but it’s definitely coming in hot.”

  “Alert all bases and have them get skeets in the air, loaded with shipbusters…and give me position updates as they come in. It’s going to be a while before I get back to a nexus.”

  “Trouble?” Jason asked after Paul finished. He’d left his exterior mic on, so Jason was able to hear his half of the conservation.

  “Incoming ship, on sensors, not one of ours.”

  “Coming here?”

  “Don’t know yet, it’s still in space.”

  “Get going,” Jason prompted.

  Paul shook his head. “It’ll be hours before I can get back. I’ll help you finish up here first. Go grab some guys and extra ammo,” he said, pulling his plasma rifle off his back and looking for a release switch on the nearest pod.

  The mystery ship didn’t stick around long. After settling into a brief orbit and launching an object down to the surface it left as quickly as it had arrived, moving so fast that none of the Star Force warships could have intercepted it had they tried. The meteor-like object fell to ground 37 kilometers outside the main Star Force colony, blasting an impact crater into the forest that was hard to miss. After skeet reconnaissance confirmed a single object in the crater a ground team was organized and deployed to investigate the nature of the projectile.

  Initial reports indicated a large sphere with ablative plating, the contents of which were uncertain. Close range scans indicated a mechanism underneath the partially charred plating, and after carefully removing the excess material the survey team discovered a latch that opened up what appeared to be a container.

  By that time the next day Paul had arrived on site and was present when they finally cracked the case, revealing numerous objects inside, all of which stood in stark contrast to what they knew of lizard technology. The yellow/tan motif was not present, nor was the rough, tough exteriors of most of their tech. Instead there were crystal-like items, partially or totally clear, stacked together in thick, flexible, grid-like straps that had apparently protected them from the impact.

  “Doesn’t look like a bomb to me,” Greg commented, standing next to Paul.

  “Doesn’t look lizard either,” Paul said, reaching in and pulling out one of the items. He turned the shard-like object over in his armored hands for a moment, then passed it to Greg as he reached in to pull out another much larger crystal brick from the center slot.

  As soon as he did all 16 pieces began to glow pink, then the shard in Greg’s hand took on a mind of its own and jumped into the air, meeting up with the brick and attaching itself to it as Paul let the larger piece go. It hovered in the air as all the other pieces flew out of their containers and connected to each other, assembling into a crystalline spike ball that finally settled down to hover half a meter off the ground, perfectly still.

  “Ok,” Greg said as a hologram materialized around the object depicting the surface of the planet, easily recognizable by the pole to the pole forests and distinctive snowcaps on top and bottom. To that image 7 widely spaced dots appeared on the planet, along with 38 tiny squares. Two of the dots began to pulse rhythmically, drawing a pointed finger from Greg.

  “Are those what I think they are?”

  Paul pulled off his helmet so he could get a better view. The hologram was faint, keeping the crystal projector visible beneath it, but the complexity of the surface features was intense, making the map look almost like a live image of the planet rather than an artificial construction.

  “The squares are our colonies and outposts, and those two flashing dots are the lizard bases we just took,” he said, his eyes drawn to the other five dots, “but those…”

  “If this isn’t lizard tech, and that wasn’t a lizard ship that delivered it,” Greg said slowly, “then it’s possible someone else just tipped us off to five more lizard bases on Corneria.”

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