Star Force: Quenar (SF88) (Star Force Origin Series) Read online

  The Trinx hadn’t shown themselves since the big battle, but the convoy had picked up some hitchhikers from at least three other races. They were staying well away from both the Uriti and its defenders, but they were pacing behind the convoy at a respectful distance watching what was going on.

  He didn’t know what that meant. Maybe these other races, none of which they could identify, had heard about the spectacle. Paul hadn’t returned yet, and it was unlikely that he’d spread word of it in time for outsiders to get here, so it was curious to Jason how they’d known about the Uriti. Perhaps one or more of The Nine had leaked word of it beyond lizard territory, but none of the ships accompanying them had claimed knowledge of who these new ships belonged to. Jason didn’t know if he believed them or not, for the leak had to have come from somewhere, but it was possible that these ship captains had no idea who these races were while their leaders did.

  None of them had responded to comms, but given that they were keeping so far back Jason hadn’t gone after them. If they’d gotten closer he would have, but for the time being getting the Uriti back to Star Force territory was the priority and he’d finally accomplished that. It wasn’t the Uriti’s ultimate destination, they still had a ways to go to get to the Alamo System, but it was time for Jason to get a little more insistent that these trailing ships identify themselves.

  As the battlemap signals caught up from the lag Jason saw that there was a much larger fleet on the other side of the star, just having come out of its own jump. It was a Calavari fleet of warships, 19 in total, and Jason assumed they were reinforcements being sent to help them, though at the moment he couldn’t communicate to make sure until the lag bounces made their way across the system and back to get to the other side of the star or one or both fleets moved around to talk to each other directly.

  The mass of ships following Jason out of the jump drifted aside to make way for the Uriti that followed 27 minutes later. By that time the Calavari had orbited around into line of sight and they confirmed they were here to add extra security, as well as give a warning. Unidentified ships had been seen passing through the Occupation Zone over the past 2 months, heading in this general direction, but passing in and out of Star Force systems only occasionally. Even within the Occupation Zone there were more uninhabited systems than previously lizard held ones that ships could jump through, and unlike the ADZ, those systems didn’t yet have reconnaissance equipment to keep track of who came and went, meaning there were a lot of ‘dark’ areas ships could pass through.

  Meaning they could be right on their doorstep and Jason wouldn’t know it until they were here. The numbers the Calavari intel suggested were low. Individual or pairs of ships only, no fleets. That suggested they weren’t coming to fight, but someone had obviously got the word out and Jason felt that he was about to be the center of attention in a very unwanted way.

  “Do you recognize any of these ship profiles?” he asked the floating ball beside him.

  “I do not,” the Oracle said, “but their interest in the Hamoriti cannot be coincidence. They must be races that have prior knowledge, possibly dating back to the war.”

  “Then why wouldn’t you recognize them?” Jason asked Paul’s parting gift. His fellow trailblazer had made a copy of the Oracle program for himself, then when he was forced to leave the Excalibur had given it to Jason so he’d have an expert on the Uriti with him for those times when the Zeus wasn’t in contact range.

  “Developmental changes perhaps. Or it simply could be a fact of attrition. The original races could have been destroyed and their knowledge passed onto others.”

  “Possible,” Jason granted. “So what do you speculate these ships would want with the Uriti if they were acting off of knowledge obtained from others?”

  “Either to seek control of it or to deny you the same.”

  “We haven’t picked up any fleets heading this way yet.”

  “Scouts then. To confirm the reports. Do not assume warfleets will not follow.”

  “You sound sure of that.”

  “My programing indicates that such a response was expected. It was one reason why the Hamoriti had to be kept hidden. Let the galaxy know you hold the weapon at a specific place and they will get illusions of their ability to steal it from you. Keep its location anonymous and they can do no such plotting.”

  “So they might be here to make sure we don’t move it where they can’t track it?”

  “Most likely.”

  “How did the Ancients move them when they were sedated?”

  “Moving such a mass when dormant has its challenges, but it essentially comes down to a question of cargo. Moving a conscious one is another matter entirely.”

  “Meaning if it was sleeping we could hook it up to a jump cradle and save this long trip.”

  “Exactly. The Ancients acquired the Hamoriti after they were sedate. There were still considerations given its latent aura, but they pose no other special requirements. Can I assume you do not have the ability to order it to sleep?”

  “I doubt it.”

  “And sedation is out of the question?”

  “Also true.”

  “Then there is no other course of action beyond accepting this slow journey.”

  “Thank you, Captain Obvious.”

  The Oracle twisted its spherical body around to look more squarely at Jason with its one mechanical eye. “You instructed me to state all relevant matters.”

  A comm from the recently arrived Zeus interrupted him, with an image of Riley popping up in front of Jason. “I see we picked up some more ships.”

  “That we did, along with reports of more unidentified ships heading our way.”

  The trailblazer’s hologram frowned. “A lot?”

  “A lot of stragglers. None have shown up here yet.”

  “There must be some information network in place that we’re unaware of. This is too much common knowledge for such a short span of time.”

  “Agreed. Now that we’re back inside our territory, I’m going to lag behind and have a chat with those ships following us. I’ll catch up later.”

  “You, or you and the fleet?”

  “Just my command ship. The rest, including the Calavari, go ahead of Nami as usual. I’ll leave Brayden in charge.”

  “What if they don’t feel like talking?”

  “Then we get to see how fast their ships are.”

  Riley smiled. “Have fun. We’re blowing through this system, so if you wait here you might be able to intercept them on arrival. If they know our pattern, they’ll know they have to get here quickly to see which jumpline we take out.”

  “Good idea. I got the rear. Move along.”

  “Moving,” Riley echoed, cutting the comm line.

  “You seek a confrontation?” the Oracle asked.

  “More like a greeting,” he said, adjusting the commands to the fleet and his bridge with a few thoughts. “But I intend to get a response this time.”

  Jason watched the Zeus move around the curve of the star and out of sight as the Sanguine Blade picked up small amount of arrival deflection, the super-accelerated light coming off the star and hitting the approaching ships, picking up their speed and sending it back into the system faster than naturally possible. It was a very small amount, but enough to give him a heads up that they were coming about 20 seconds before they otherwise showed up on sensors.

  Or rather the first ship. It was long and spiked with cross bars, a design that Jason had gotten used to seeing in their wake. It came to a halt only 3,281 kilometers away from the command ship, with Jason immediately signaling to it.

  “Attention unidentified vessel. You are now within Star Force-controlled territory. Identify yourself.”

  It didn’t respond before the second ship arrived, nor when the third got there less than a minute later. Jason didn’t know if that was because they couldn’t understand the message, which he’d transmitted with copies in every known language, or if they were just
ignoring him, but none of the ships moved past their braking position. They held at the jumppoint, staring down the command ship, until the third ship finally responded with a text message written in Ancient.

  We are monitoring the path of the Hamoriti.

  That was something, but it wasn’t an identification.

  “Identify yourselves,” Jason repeated, then waited for a response as the first ship suddenly took off.

  With a though, the Sanguine Blade went after it. Accelerating for all it was worth around the star at a bad angle but keeping up with the ship as it raced around the curve of the gravity well to get into sight of the convoy just prior to it jumping out. With it now under sensor surveillance as the Uriti approached the outgoing jumppoint with the Zeus trailing behind it, the unidentified ship decelerated and let the command ship catch up to it gently, with Jason coming within 20 kilometers and letting the mass of his ship dwarf the 1300 meter destroyer analog that was apparently content with having identified the outgoing jumpline.

  Jason eased the ship closer and closer, with it still not responding to comms as the other two caught up and joined the pair. When Jason got within range he activated the IDF field and pinned the ship in place, cutting off its gravity drives from their source of pull and trapping it within weapons range.

  “Identify yourself,” Jason repeated. “You obviously want to know where they’re heading and now you do, but you’re not going anywhere until I get some answers, so start talking.”

  But the first ship still sat silent, not opening up so much as a peep of communication as the third ship decided to respond again.

  We are watchers sent from afar to monitor the Hamoriti.

  “Who specifically?”

  There was a short delay, but a response was forthcoming.

  We are commissioned.

  “By whom?”

  A distant consortium that wishes to remain anonymous. We are tasked with data collection. We intend nothing more than passage through your territory to see where the Hamoriti goes and what it does.

  “What is your origination point?”

  A map in the form of the Ancients measurements popped up with an area indicated in the Orion arm anti-spinward and opposite the border with the Preema…except that the location specified was some 14,000 lightyears away and well beyond the region Star Force had explored to date.

  “How did you get here so quickly? How were you informed of the Hamoriti’s movement?”

  It has been under watch for some time. When your ability to control it was witnessed, word was sent out to many. The other two ships here are not with us. We watch passively and do not interfere with one another.

  “I have been told more ships are heading this way. Are they also watchers?”

  Many will come to verify the stories.

  “And after they see that it is true?”

  Unknown. We were tasked with data collection. We do not know the plans of those who employ us.

  “And what will you do if I do not allow you to proceed further into Star Force territory?”

  We mean no offense, but you do not have the ability to stop ships on the periphery. We did not expect you to be at the jumppoint when we arrived. Next time we will make accommodations so you will not make contact again.

  “I have no issue with you passing through our territory so long as you do not interfere with anything or anyone in them, but there may come a time when we prevent you from going any further. Do you speak for the other two ships?”

  We agree to only observe. We do not speak for the other ships.

  “Do you know why they have been silent?”

  We cannot speak for them.

  “Identify yourselves so that we can log your ship profile into our systems.”

  We are the Neshmiraken. An independent organization unaffiliated with any system or race.

  “So noted. You have permission to proceed and watch from afar until otherwise stated. Do you know the identity of the other two vessels?”

  One is the Scmat Confederation. The other is the Partrel.

  “Do they also know the Ancient language?”

  They do.

  “Thank you. Is there anything else you would like to inquire about?”

  Can you truly control the Hamoriti?

  “We can direct it. The limits of that direction are not being tested at present, but we have succeeded in stopping its rampages.”

  Be warned. Such knowledge will bring many others to you. For good or ill. We will proceed in the shadows from here on.

  “Thanks for the warning,” Jason said, already getting that feeling but having it sink in even deeper as these newcomers confirmed it. He attempted to contact the other two ships again with no response. The pinned one stayed where he had it in its grasp, but the other was parked nearby and didn’t move of its own choice until the Uriti jumped out. When the Zeus followed, the ship zipped off at high speed along with the Neshmiraken.

  Oddly enough, the trapped vessel began moving too. Not nearly as fast, but it motored away from the Sanguine Blade then made a microjump out of range as soon as it passed through the boundary of the IDF, leaving Jason’s jaw hanging open.

  “Son of a bitch,” he said, reviewing sensor scans as he moved the command ship to follow them to the jumppoint. It didn’t take long to narrow down the possibilities, but in the end he didn’t have a confirmed answer, though his gut told him enough. These guys had a secondary engine system, and he was all but sure it was a mag drive.

  Magnetic propulsion was extremely erratic for making jumps, which was why The Nexus had to build gigantic artificial emitters to provide a stable platform to jump off of rather than the unpredictable magnetic fields of a star…but one could use those fields in a low power setting to move around orbit where pinpoint accuracy wasn’t needed. The IDF field was designed to screen gravity, but it didn’t stop incoming objects nor did it interfere with magnetic fields. These guys had just sat inside Jason’s trap knowing it couldn’t hold them, then jetting off as soon as they felt like it.

  That told him one thing…these guys were here on business and they didn’t feel like taking orders from someone as weak as Star Force tech apparently was compared to theirs. Maybe they didn’t have full knowledge of what his ship could do, for he could have had a magnetic drive put into the Sanguine Blade if he wished, but there was no reason to do so in place of the…

  Suddenly he wondered if there was another reason they would have two different engine systems. Having a thrust based backup was understandable, and a lot of older Star Force ships still had emergency thrusters to make small course changes if the gravity drives went down, but his command ship was so big and fat that the thrust required to move it around even a little bit would have required an enormous amount of fuel that just didn’t make economical sense.

  Now, a mag drive was another matter entirely, but so long as your gravity drives was functioning why have an alternate that had far less range of operation? It could only work in the presence of magnetic fields, meaning some planets wouldn’t provide propulsion and the workable band around a star was very narrow compared to the feasible grav jump range.

  One answer would be that there were other transit systems out there similar to what The Nexus had built and these ships could utilize them on their own without having to hitch a ride on a jumpship. But the thought that there might be something else, another reason he wasn’t aware of, scared him even more. Maybe some enemy used IDF as a weapon and these ships had been built to counter it? Or maybe they had some form of propulsion that was unlike anything he’d read about in the V’kit’no’sat database…thought to be fair, he hadn’t exactly memorized the whole thing.

  A chill ran down his spine with the knowledge that whoever had been watching the Uriti, whether it be one of The Nine that had informed others or some hidden watcher, had sent word out to a lot of extremely advanced races across at least this portion of the galaxy that had the engine power to get here this quickly. A tech level
of that height meant equal to or superior to Star Force’s current level of technology.

  And that meant something big was going to go down. They probably had some time, hopefully enough to get Nami to Alamo, but whatever it was that these other races wanted with the Hamoriti was going to come to a head. Hopefully it wouldn’t mean another fight, but Star Force was going to have to get ready for this, no matter what happened.

  To that end Jason entered the jump for the destination system at full speed, accelerating up as fast as his ship could go within the system then drifting off the jumpline to pass by the convoy and the Uriti while sending Riley a message as he passed telling him what was going down and that Jason was racing back to the ADZ to rally the troops and inform Davis…

  3

  May 19, 3256

  Alamo System

  Stellar Orbit

  Paul’s warship came out of the deceleration jump along with the rest of the escort fleet that he’d rejoined previously, seeing that there were far more Star Force ships waiting for them around the smaller of the two stars in the binary system than were arriving. That gave him a sense of relief, not to mention the pair of Voku conglomerates holding a slightly higher orbit nearby, and when the signal lag finally caught up he discovered that Avery-040 was also insystem, but no Jason.

  Before his fellow trailblazer could contact him, he got a signal from one of the Voku conglomerates which resulted in an image of Cal-com appearing over the nexus control board.

  “You arrive at last. Is the Uriti trailing you?”

  “It is. We have the control ship and a few others trailing it to make sure it doesn’t go somewhere else.”

  “Has that been an issue?”

  “Not yet, no. But as you’ll see soon enough, we’ve got 8 ships following us at a distance that are unknown to me. A few have identified themselves, and all seem to be from very far away. Watchers monitoring the Uriti. I get the feeling many more are going to be coming, and perhaps to do more than just watch.”