Star Force: Rammus (SF83) (Star Force Origin Series) Read online

  2

  April 5, 3159

  Shemtala System (lizard territory)

  Yametren (contested world)

  Jaina-61004 jumped to a branch above her head, grabbing hold and hauling herself up on top before repeating the process. She gradually worked her way to the top of the tree, branches scraping harmlessly over her dark blue armor as she got above the tree line enough to poke her helmet out. From there she could see down into the valley and the river below, beyond which there were several smoke plumes…but she didn’t think these were damage related.

  The Archon made a quick check of the battlemap again, seeing no lizard assets in the area, at least as far as aircraft and known ground troop deployments were concerned, but there was always a chance you’d run into the little buggers roaming the forest at the wrong time. If they moved quick they might get there before those smoke plumes drew the wrong attention.

  She slid down between the branches, falling in spurts until she finally hit dirt with her Protovic unit waiting patiently nearby. With a mental command they all started moving along with her, following in a line 25 people long as the Archon led the way at a run. All were armed and armored with supplemental packs on and had been in the field the past 5 days trying to hunt down survivors from a lizard attack on a Menbati outpost.

  For 733 years the Menbati had held off the lizards, having no orbital capability but living in caves and small surface bases often hidden within the terrain, having their population gradually reduced while causing the lizards numerous casualties over the long haul…and Jaina would be damned if she let the lizards get to this group before she.

  The Archon ran hard, but not so hard that she’d leave her troops behind. They weren’t too slow, but they were young. All of them were Star Force Blues, having graduated from their maturia at ‘full color,’ which was how the citizenry had dubbed those that stayed in long enough to earn all of their upgrades. None had earned any of the three additional colors and none would for more than a century, for they operated like Archon ranks, totally skill based with no additional abilities, and were damn hard to earn. As it was these Blue/Pinks were the highest ranking individuals within the Protovic that had their abilities.

  The old school Protovic were fighting elsewhere, helping with some of the Core World invasions while the new Blues were pressing into less hazardous lizard territory in conjunction with the H’kar. Right now there was a large H’kar fleet in orbit that had fought through the lizard fleet with the help of a handful of Star Force ships, but they were wisely leaving most of the hand to hand fighting to the Protovic.

  The lizards had about 3/4s of the planet when the allied invasion had finally got to them, and in the past 2 months they’d cleaned out half a continent of lizard bases…but the lizards obviously knew their days were numbered so they were making full out assaults on anything Menbati, trying to eliminate as many of their long term nemesis as they could before Star Force wiped them out. Trouble of it was, now that help had arrived, the Menbati were coming out of hiding themselves to fight the lizards head on. Star Force had warned them not to, but given that they’d only just met and communication was sketchy, they weren’t listening.

  Lots of Star Force troops were not available for invasions this small, given the amounts needed elsewhere, but the Protovic Blues needed experience so Brad had them out on the ‘smaller’ frontier worlds getting a feel for combat with their new skillset and learning how to make use of it outside of training and challenges. Jaina was one of many Archons here leading the way and watching over them, but 99% of the troops were Protovic with unimpressive levels of combat experience.

  They weren’t incompetent, far from it actually, but compared to some mainline units that had been fighting the lizards for over 500 years these Protovic were barely past being newbs and she knew she couldn’t expect too much of them. Throw in their cocktail of abilities that not even Brad had fully come to grips with yet and these invasions were part experiment, part training mission, and part ass kicking…with an added part rescue thrown in on this one.

  Jaina broke trail, pushing through the vegetation and grabbing what bits of paths were available all the way down to the river with the Protovic in their brilliant blue armor trailing close behind her, but not so close that they’d trip over her or each other if someone suddenly stopped.

  Which she did at the water’s edge. Able to communicate telepathically with them both ways given their own limited mental skills, this unit hadn’t said a spoken word since they’d left their dropship and started searching on foot through the vegetation that had a very high sensor reflectivity value…which was probably why the Menbati had been able to evade the lizards for so long.

  Anything above the trees was visible enough, but duck below and even Star Force’s comm range dipped lower than normal. Her unit could still use short range comms and battlemap links if they stayed close, but the nature of this planet made things interesting and Archons excelled in interesting…especially whenever it brought things back to old school. The lizards couldn’t use comms worth a damn out here, but with her range she could telepathically communicate and track her team at a good distance and have them able to answer back at shorter, but workable range.

  This wasn’t her first mission with Protovic, and some of these she’d worked with in past weeks, but after 5 days together they were getting used to each other and the telepathic shorthand that Jaina and other Archons working with the Blues had agreed upon using. Even though they’d been around for three centuries, the Protovic were still very raw in some respects, due in no small part to their recent conversion to Blues. That aspect of their faction was still being worked out, and as a result just about everything else had to adjust as well.

  But Jaina knew it was worth it. She could work with these Pink Blues in ways she couldn’t even work with Human Commandos. Having telepathy work two way and having her troops be able to spot nearby minds themselves was a huge advantage, not to mention their default running skills that gave them enough of a head start that they could keep up with her at a decent pace…along with other tricks the Archons had been learning.

  Jaina planted herself on the river’s edge and mentally coordinated with those behind her within a second. The nearest Protovic came out of the forest at a full sprint with her giving him a telekinetic lift as soon as he came within a step of the water, adding her power to his momentum to throw his blue armor all the way across. He landed on the dirt feet first then tumbled through a somersault as his center of gravity was too far forward. He recovered quickly and got to his feet just as the next Protovic was flying across the river behind him.

  One by one they all came across without too much of a gap in between, though the last two barely made it. Jaina didn’t have unlimited telekinetic power and sending 25 across had nearly overtaxed her, but the Archon knew her current limits well enough considering how many times they’d done this already as they crossed the countryside looking for Menbati survivors.

  Once she got the last one across she dropped into a crouch then tapped into her powered armor and jumped, getting about a third of the distance across before landing in water and having to trudge her way across as the Protovic rushed on ahead of her as instructed. When she got to the river’s edge and back onto dry ground she took off far faster than any of them could run and started to make up the gap while staying in telepathic communication and guiding them as to which way to head.

  Steering from the rear, so to speak, she eventually caught up with the end of the line and started passing them agilely, working her way up to the front of the line and retaking her place. Not long after that she sensed Menbati minds and adjusted their heading. Tearing through the forest she led the Protovic on, wondering when their luck would end and a lizard wisp or transport would show up on the battlemap that was cutting in and out whenever they passed under extra thick tree cover.

  When they were almost on top of the Menbati she slowed down, with the Protovic silently matching her speed
all the way into the camp. Jaina reached out and made mental contact with one of the locals, letting him know someone was coming and forcing him to calm down and realize it was a friend before they burst into view.

  Her dark blue armor slid through a bush and into a sub-canopy clearing that had the brush removed but not the overhead branches. Inside was a group of tents and a campfire that was leaking the smoke up through the trees, with dozens of Menbati getting to their feet as the Archon appeared, followed by sets of brighter blue armor that casually walked out behind her.

  She could sense other camps nearby, with probably some 200 or more survivors within her telepathic range. “We are Star Force and were sent to collect you,” she said, using the hastily compiled translation software. It wasn’t that detailed, but was sufficient for basic communication. “We are friends.”

  The little armadillo-like Menbati were standing erect about 1.2 meters tall and pointing weapons at the Archon. They were clearly agitated and afraid, but Jaina wasn’t and tried to spread calming vibes into their alien minds.

  “Why are you here?” her helmet said a split second after one of the Menbati spoke in a series of guttural spikes that sounded like sharp coughing.

  “To find you and bring you back to the others before the enemy kills you,” she spoke, trying to use simpler words for the program to latch onto. With a thought she made sure that the Protovic slung their weapons onto their back racks so they didn’t appear as threatening and that they did it in full view of the Menbati.

  “How did you find us?” another one asked.

  “Smoke. How many of you are here?”

  “At least 900,” a Menbati commander said as it rolled through the others then unfurled itself to stand before her, apparently not afraid. She searched his mind, finding bits and pieces that she could decipher, along with the knowledge that he had been aware of Star Force’s efforts in other parts of the planet and the fact that they were here to kill lizards…along with an ambiguity about what else they might do afterwards.

  “Gather them here,” she said with a frown, trying to extend her senses out far enough to catch them all and failing. Where the others were she wasn’t certain, but if she could sense more than a kilometer they must have been pretty spread out. Plus she hadn’t noticed any smoke further away, “and we will fly you away.”

  “Where are your flying craft?” the commander asked, looking up at her opaque helmet.

  “We will call for them now,” she said, sending a mental command to one of the Protovic in the back that was out of view to climb a tree and send a message in the clear, highlighting this position on the global battlemap and calling for dropship pickup, “but all of you must be here when it comes and we must cut away the trees so it can land.”

  Technically they could go back to the river, but she didn’t feel like trying to move the Menbati at all at this point.

  “We are spread out so the enemy cannot find us.”

  “How far away are the others?”

  “They are guarding *****, and cannot leave. Others can.”

  Jaina frowned. The buzzing she’d heard indicated a word that didn’t have a translation. She tried to search this one’s mind for the meaning but got lost in the jumble of unfamiliar thoughts.

  “All must come before the enemy sees your smoke.”

  “There is no smoke at *****. They will not find it.”

  “Your word is unknown to us. Describe what they guard.”

  “It is important. We cannot leave it.”

  “Can it be moved?”

  “No.”

  “Show me where it is.”

  The Menbati hesitated and Jaina could feel all of their minds defensively wall up.

  “No one is permitted to see *****. You cannot.”

  “What if the enemy finds it?”

  “We will defend it.”

  “They will number more than 900.”

  “We will defend it.”

  Jaina sighed. “How many will join your others far away?”

  “These here. More nearby.”

  “We will take down trees there,” she said, pointing to her right just south of this tent camp. “We will clear the area for the ship.”

  “We will help,” the commander said, with six of the Menbati behind him suddenly running over to where Jaina had pointed and began digging into the roots. She stared at them for a long moment until she realized they weren’t just digging, but also tearing into the wood with their teeth like a beaver.

  “Do you eat the trees?”

  “We eat many things. Trees bad, but we not starve.”

  A few Protovic headed over and started pumping rifle shots into another one a little further away as Jaina got a telekinetic feel for the trunk even from where she was standing. “Do you have hurt people?”

  “Some.”

  “Bring them first.”

  The Menbati turned around and had a conversation with the others that Jaina could only get bits and pieces of translated, for several were talking over one another and messing with the computer analysis that couldn’t yet pick out one voice from another. Maybe they all sounded alike or the software just didn’t have that ability activated, but when they all talked it basically cut out her ability to understand any of them.

  Soon two of the Menbati started running on two legs away from the Archon then leaned forward and fell into a roll that didn’t stop. Forming a rough circle with their armored backs, the Menbati moved like a wheel through the forest with their arms and legs tucked inside. The perfect circle wobbled, throwing weight and shape in the forward direction to continue propelling itself in a way that was inefficient on its own, but was more than adequate of maintaining and increasing momentum once underway.

  Combine that with their natural armor and they could roll through brush with ease, and once out in the open could gradually accelerate up to vehicle speeds while carrying their short rifles and equipment pouches across their center like an axel that stuck out to both sides.

  Jaina figured she could outrun them, but they were impressive little things. Especially considering that they’d frustrated the lizards for so long. That spoke volumes for their indirect combat potential, despite their smaller size. Altogether she figured the one who had been talking to her was probably a little heavier than her out of armor, with the weight differential maybe evening out when she was fully equipped.

  The sound of plasma stopped and Jaina telekinetically pushed, leaning the tree away from the Menbati with several Protovic also pushing with their hands and bodies at the base as the very tall tree came crashing down through others. Shortly thereafter one of the Menbati had gotten through enough roots for his tree to start leaning over, though it held firm at an angle until one more root snapped, then it came down to about a 30 degree angle from the ground, sticking on something further up in the canopy at its top.

  One of the Menbati jumped on top of the trunk and walked up into the leaves, then the sound of teeth rubbing like a chainsaw resumed while the Protovic swarmed around their own tree and lifted it up with the arm power of some eight of them while two more traveled the length of it shooting off branches. Smoke from that added to the campfire, but soon the trunk was more or less plucked and the Protovic walked it off into the nearby forest and dumped it out of the way, then came back to collect and haul off the branches before they started on the next tree.

  Trouble.

  What? Jaina asked as a battlemap update was relayed from Protovic to Protovic then to her through the trees beginning with the scout now up above the canopy. Nothing was visible nearby, but in the very far distance there was a squadron of wisps heading in approximately their direction.

  She also got an ETA on the dropships, noting that they would be arriving in approximately 2 hours and 18 minutes…which meant if these lizards had seen the smoke or would come close enough to spot the smoke that they would be in for a forest fire of strafing runs, and the materials in the leaves that blocked sensor and comm signals woul
dn’t be stopping phaser blasts.

  3

  Jaina ran over to the nearest Menbati and got its attention, not sure which one was the leader given how similar they all looked.

  “The enemy is coming by air. Stop the smoke.”

  There was no response to her, but the Menbati did start chattering with each other for a few moments before several took off into the forest while another two went over to the nearest campfire and began kicking dirt on it. Jaina extended her hand towards it and put a bioshield over top, catching the smoke and holding it in a growing ball as they got it covered, then she pulled the ball towards her and started running with it, gradually squeezing out little bits and spreading it into the forest in too small of amounts for it to rise up and attract attention.

  Keep working on the clearing, she ordered as she made her long trek out and back, with her hopping up into the tallest tree she could find on the return and climbing to the top. From there she got a view on the distant wisps and could tell that they had in fact seen the smoke, for their heading was directly towards where the puffs were dissipating. At least by the time they got here they wouldn’t have markers to target the camps with. They would have the clearing to spot, which meant they’d be coming on a direct line from their current position to…

  Jaina marked that position as a waypoint and in her memory before dropping out of the tree and ran hard across the forest to a position about a kilometer ahead of the growing clearing and climbed another tree, racing to get to the top before the wisps got here.

  She barely made it, poking her head up just in time to see them fanning out and beginning to fire into the forest randomly, intending on carpeting the area with phaser strikes given their sensors’ inability to pick out the Menbati, though there were several Protovic visible ahead once they got into a high enough angle to see down into the tiny clearing.

  They might also be able to spot her, though most of her body still had some leaves covering her armor. That didn’t matter, for if they came to her so much the better. She needed them to get as close as possible…