Star Force: Marauders (SF63) Read online

  Star Force would find a use for it somewhere on the planet, in one form or another. That wasn’t Mandy’s concern, she was just here to dig and build, which right now meant playing in the mud.

  As one of the walkers came back by her it stomped on the road plates, leaving a trail of mud behind and smacking tiny bits of it up into the air with each step, some of which splattered Mandy’s faceplate. The energy shield covering it didn’t allow any of it to stick, but the rest of her green armor was already dotted with brown and she knew it’d get far worse as the day went on, especially given the rain clouds to the south that were slowly making their way closer.

  The tech sighed. At least on the inside of her armor she was clean.

  2

  Garen-248 was reading the display holos over his desk, noting the update ping that the construction of the Bsidd base had just begun, when something hit him in the back of the head. He spun around in his chair and saw a food cube on the floor, as well as sensing a familiar mind in the doorway. Before even looking at her he telekinetically picked up the cookie and flew it into his mouth, then left the chair spinning as he stood up.

  “Three second rule still applies, I assume?” he asked Victoria-243, who was holding and munching on a handful of the snacks.

  “Not on a clean floor.”

  “I wasn’t expecting you back. What’s up?”

  “New assignment. Davis didn’t like what you’ve been doing so he’s giving you the boot.”

  “If you’re going to lie at least make it sound genuine.”

  “You sucking sounds genuine to me,” Victoria said, stepping forward and giving Garen a friendly hug while carefully cradling her stash in her hand. She hadn’t seen him in over two decades. “I’m passing through, just wanted to stop in and say hi.”

  “Where to?”

  “Taking a fleet up the trade routes to do some patrolling. No more empire building for me, just pirate hunting and shooting other types of bad guys. How are you doing?”

  “You mean since I took over your job and all the others? Slow and steady progress.”

  “I still think you should have come back with us. The hard work was over.”

  “Some days I agree, but the Benoid is better off for me staying…and don’t argue that point. I know the Hevmaj better than anyone, and bringing in less familiar Archons to take the lead would have led to inefficiencies. We need the Benoid as a stronghold, both militarily and economically to stabilize this region, and the sooner the better, else the trade routes are going to get very dicey.”

  “They already are, which is why I’m here. I assume you’ve read the reports?”

  “The attempted hijackings? Yes.”

  “No, the successful ones.”

  Garen frowned. “When did we lose a ship?”

  “Not us, our trading partners. Their ships have been getting hit after they leave the commerce planets and its diminishing the incentive of weaker races to do business with us. I’m here to hunt the hunters and restore peace and justice to the galaxy,” she said sarcastically. “I’ll be stopping in for resupply from time to time. This is going to be my fleet’s port of call, so make sure your appropriations adjust adequately.”

  “Glad to have you in the neighborhood, but I don’t like the idea of you sucking up all my replacement drones.”

  “I don’t plan on losing many, but I would suggest you enlarging your prison facilities. I don’t plan to shoot everyone.”

  “Bringing some trophies back?”

  “Who knows, but I need some place to stash them if I do. And so far your multi-racial facilities are minimal.”

  “We only have one at present, and it barely gets any guests. Did Davis send you?”

  “Steve did, but he said Davis was urging us to push the trade routes harder. He really wants a connection to the Voku, more so than branching out first.”

  “We’re a long ways from that. What does he expect to get from them anyway?”

  Victoria smiled. “That’s what you get for hiding out here. Paul and Cal-com are working some master strategy together, and Davis is in on it. Star Force and the Voku are unofficially joining each other.”

  “Why hasn’t that been in any of the updates? I do monitor the boards you know, even if they are on a stupidly long delay.”

  “This isn’t public knowledge yet.”

  “We’re Archons.”

  “This isn’t known to anyone yet, and is traveling through word of mouth. We’re kind of still feeling out what a merger would look like.”

  “We?”

  “The trailblazers are asking for suggestions.”

  Garen huffed. “That’s a first.”

  “Not so much. What they’re talking about is a lot of low level interaction with the Voku, the sort of stuff they’d never get involved with. Us lessers do, so they want to brainstorm. Nothing official, and it’s not like they’re taking a vote, but they’re quietly asking around and Steve wanted me to have a chat with you about the Benoid while I’m here.”

  Garen looked over his shoulder and telekinetically dragged two chairs over, sliding one behind his fellow Archon. “We’re not talking militarily here, I assume,” he said, sitting down.

  Victoria twirled her chair around and straddled it, resting her arms on the backrest. “Davis wants free flowing commerce and travel permits between the two empires, but we can’t really do that until we get a trade route linkage set up. The Voku’s own convoys are shipping out necessary equipment and personnel, but there’s no civilian angle as of yet.”

  “I didn’t think the Voku had any civilians.”

  “They don’t have lazy ass freeloaders, but they do have independent ventures. It seems only their top tier is dedicated to the empire round the clock, with the rest supporting it more like a hobby. That leaves a lot of down time that they fill with other things. And no, that’s not in the database, just word of mouth I’ve got from Steve. Davis wants the Voku to be able to access our transportation grid and involve themselves as much as they like within our society, and if we can do that the Benoid is going to be on the primary trade route connection.”

  “What do the Voku want with this?”

  “Their empire is split in two, and rather than try and colonize a string of worlds across the gap they’ll just use our infrastructure.”

  “So we’re a rail link for them.”

  “Will be, eventually. But Davis wants to make it more personal than that. ‘Teammates’ was the word that was used.”

  “Territorial acquisition?”

  Victoria shook her head. “I don’t think so. At least not within our borders, but you never know going forward. That’s why they’re looking for input from local commanders like you. I assume you’re still going to stick around here for a while?”

  “I don’t like other people playing in my sandbox.”

  “Star Force is our sandbox. You’re just sticking to a small corner of it.”

  “Point taken. Other than self-defense, what is Davis looking to get from the Voku here?”

  “Nothing specific. He just wants to open the link up and see what develops. But we’re all encouraged to make use of any opportunities that arise to include the Voku where beneficial.”

  “So the Benoid is going to become a way station and you want to set up some stores to take advantage of the traffic?”

  “Metaphorically speaking, yes.”

  “And you’re here to plow the road for more colonies to be established.”

  “I’m here to mow the weeds. Others will do the plowing.”

  “Are we pulling back the extensions to the other trade route branches?”

  “Not pulling back, but the Voku line is taking priority. Once we get that established we’ll branch off of it heavily.”

  “That’s a change of procedure, and is going to hinder our ability to get out ahead of the lizard creep rimward of here.”

  “I know. Steve thinks this is the better tradeoff.”

  “Warship traff
ic?”

  Victoria nodded. “Once we make a connection and Voku ships are moving along the route it’ll be a lot more secure than through just our own efforts. That’ll allow us to build it up faster…”

  “…and then we branch out. I get it, but we’re still going to be losing systems to the lizards that otherwise we could have saved.”

  “You think we shouldn’t then?”

  “I think the Voku should build our way as well.”

  “Not happening. They’re pouring their resources into what used to be Nestafar territory. Word has it they’re getting ready to hit Orica.”

  “Ambitious bastards.”

  “Their new toys are rather impressive. I’m told that most of them are staying in their home territory, but a few have made their way out with the reinforcements. They severely outclass us now.”

  “What kind of toys are we talking about?”

  “They’re still using the transformative tech, but the components have gotten smaller. The new ships and mechs have been dubbed ‘sandmen.’”

  “Weaponry upgrade?”

  “They have chimra now.”

  Garen frowned. That sounded familiar.

  “Look it up later,” Victoria said. “It’s in the database.”

  “I know I’ve seen that word before,” Garen said impatiently, swinging his chair around and scooting it across the floor until he got back to his desk. He accessed the secure Archon files while Victoria rolled her eyes and scooted her chair as well, pushing it with her feet until she came up beside him.

  “That’s right, ignore your guest.”

  Garen typed in the word and it went straight to the V’kit’no’sat weapon system. It wasn’t one of their primaries, more like an older model they’d retired, but it was something that they’d used rather than just cataloged.

  “Tri-beam?” he said, reading the statistics that were still listed in V’kit’no’sat. The Archons preferred them that way, not always trusting in a translation. “That’s hard to target.”

  “But incredibly damaging if you can,” Victoria added. “So far we haven’t seen them use it in combat, but I’d wager they know what they’re doing.”

  “Where are they getting all this stuff anyway?” Garen wondered, for this was a huge step forward in their already impressive tech.

  “The big shots are still mum on that.”

  “Think they found their own V’kit’no’sat leftovers?”

  “Not according to the map. They’re way outside the old borders.”

  Garen stared at the database records a bit longer, getting a good grasp on the weapon system that he must have come across at least once earlier, then he spun around to face Victoria. “I can see why Davis wants to make friends.”

  “We’re already friends. Steve says that they want us to become brothers.”

  “Sharing brothers?”

  “I doubt it. Not like we need it anyway.”

  “In the short term we could.”

  “Hardly. We already have the blueprints for the chimra, it’s the prerequisites we lack.”

  “They could give us a few and we could glue them onto the hull,” Garen offered sarcastically.

  “I think we’re doing well enough with our own tech, but if you can get them to sell you some then go for it.”

  “How soon until I start seeing Voku on my doorstep?”

  “The route they’re using now is more of a straight line to Achkor, but they’re having to convoy up heavily and only have so many ships available. If we can link in they can forego most of their military escorts and begin shipping cargo on our jumpships as well.”

  “As strong and fast as they are, why the need for heavy escorts now? I know they’re brushing up against the Skarron advance but they shouldn’t have much trouble blowing through systems.”

  “Would you send one of ours out without protection here?”

  “Of course not, but I don’t see how a longer detour will be that much of an advantage to them.”

  “I’m not completely sold on that either, but Davis is and that’s good enough for me.”

  “Just wondering, or is Davis wanting me to head up this route expansion?”

  “No, he just wants you to integrate with it as much as you can when it happens. Offer up any suggestions that come your way.”

  “Keeping my ears and eyes open, check. Now tell me, what big baddies are floating around out there to warrant you getting the patrol assignment?”

  “I spent a lot of time with the Denshur building up the Benoid too,” she reminded him. “I want to clean up the neighborhood so I volunteered.”

  “Missed me that much, huh?”

  “Actually, yeah, but I could have just visited. This needs done and I already know the region. Seemed like a good fit.”

  “How long you staying?”

  “A few years at least. There’s no fixed timetable, but I may end up roaming around the route endpoint as it extends toward the Voku. We only have their maps to rely on, and there are still a lot of uncharted systems with who knows what lurking out there.”

  “I wasn’t aware of any holes in the map between us and the Voku?”

  Victoria glared at him. “Not as in missing star systems, but as far as not knowing what’s in them. Damn, Garen, you sound like a newb.”

  The Archon spun back around to his desk without saying a word, then pulled up a map of the huge region between the Benoid and Voku space, all of which sat below them on the galactic plane. He zoomed in on the area in question and gestured towards all of the system tags that highlighted where each race was located.

  “Looks filled in to me.”

  “What the hell?” Victoria said, scooting closer and taking over the controls. She’d just looked at the map three days ago.

  “Seems you can’t read a map, newb.”

  “Wait a second,” she said, pulling up a panel with map statistics. A moment later she turned and punched Garen in the shoulder. “These are unconfirmed.”

  “So is most of the galaxy.”

  “No, I mean these are traveler logs compiled by races we’ve had contact with. They’re unreliable.”

  “Reliable enough to spot any big threats,” Garen countered.

  “Not if those threats keep to themselves or a single star system.”

  “If they keep to themselves they’re not going to be a threat to us.”

  “Unknown means potentially dangerous. We can count on the Voku charts, but everyone else’s are suspect. Why do you use that map anyway?”

  “Unconfirmed maps are more useful than blank ones, plus I don’t need them for anything here. The surrounding area has been confirmed, which you know.”

  “Well, I do need to know if I’m chasing thugs in those areas. Don’t flash your junky maps at me again, boy. You can give a girl all kinds of wrong ideas.”

  “Feel free to update them while you’re out there. Until then I’ll use what I’ve got instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.”

  Victoria just shook her head. “Reckless is he.”

  “Don’t quote Star Wars to me.”

  “Surprised you caught the reference.”

  “After spending all that time with Dennis how could I not?”

  “True…”

  “Ok, bottom line. If and when the Voku end up here I can give them a comfortable stay, but right now I’m not sure how to further integrate them if they’re only interested in passing through.”

  “I don’t think anyone does right now. Davis is just looking for suggestions.”

  “Why does he want us to bond with them anyway…other than the fact that they could kick our butts right now, technologically speaking?”

  “Steve says they consider them to be worthy of a deeper alliance. Probably has something to do with Paul.”

  “What’s the Grand Admiral up to nowadays?”

  “I don’t know. He bounces around so much he’s practically a ghost. And what was that about making Star Wars references?”

/>   “Don’t you get the feeling that there’s something bigger going on that we’re not being told about?”

  “Yeah…I do.”

  “Six years.”

  “What?”

  “Six years is all that separated me from the trailblazers.”

  “Our class started 4 years after theirs.”

  “I know, but most of them are 6 years older than me. If I’d been the same age then I’d have been one of them.”

  “They’re also kicking our butts in the levels, so stop your whining.”

  “I’m just saying, I wish they’d quit keeping secrets from us.”

  “Like that’s ever going to happen,” Victoria scoffed.

  3

  December 9, 2734

  Orica System (lizard territory)

  Inner Zone

  Gahmorn Pro-zel stood behind his command station on the oracle of the conglomerate he commanded. It was one of the older models, as were all of the 178 conglomerates currently under his command. The few new warships had gone with Cal-com, as they should, leaving him with the ‘secondary’ forces to deal with this lizard rabble.

  His fleet was still emerging from their braking runs against the large red star in the binary pair, though this system actually sported three stars, with the third situated in a high orbit around the central two. Around them all was 134 planetoids, of which 83 were currently inhabited, making this one of those rare golden systems that contained a small empire’s worth of territory in a single location. Originally this had been the Nestafar’s capitol, which the old Human alliance had massacred in retaliation for the Nestafar’s betrayal to the lizards. Oddly, Star Force hadn’t been involved in that, yet the system had been wrecked regardless.

  The Nestafar had begun to rebuild, only to have the Skarrons invade and take it from them…along with the rest of their territory. Knowing the value of such a location, the insanely vast empire poured significant resources into Orica to develop it into a stronghold of their own, only to have the lizards attack and a very long battle ensue that would see the system fall yet again.