Star Force: Probe (SF42) Read online

  As the Blue Ranger got its sensors back into alignment a host of Star Force signals popped up on the battlemap, some of which belonged to Taryn’s fleet, which was a day from leaving, having just finished resupplying. In addition to them were a host of warships designated to help the Calavari protect the planet/system, as well as a huge number of cargo jumpships bringing supplies up the conduit and taking Calavari back to HTC.

  Two new additions were Star Force defense platforms. Each was a remote-controlled space station, similar to the drone warships, but designed to sit in orbit and fire at anything that came close with both short and long range weaponry. Each platform had a cleansing beam and an insane number of missile racks, not to mention plasma and mauler cannons. Morgan immediately felt safer, knowing that Jenna was stacking the deck in terms of planetary defense, and saw several other new additions to orbit as well, first among them being a storage/repair yard.

  The massive cube held the facilities to repair, refit, and replace her drone fleet, which had become extremely battered over the past 3 years. The original repair yard still floated in orbit, and was at the moment attending to a jumpship, with the much larger cube on a lower orbital track with dozens of Taryn’s jumpships sitting nearby. Morgan immediately queried the computer systems for an inventory count and was relieved to see that there were still replacement drone warships available, though far less than the entire station could hold.

  There was enough to reequip her fleet, with more coming up the conduit by the month. At first the Calavari on Drema had been resistant to Star Force establishing a permanent presence, especially when they realized that Morgan’s people were taking Calavari refugees back to Star Force territory, but as the condition of the Calavari empire deteriorated their resistance slackened, and when it became clear that Drema could not take on any more refugees, the local government graciously facilitated their transfer out of the system, encouraging many who were skeptical to go with their Human allies.

  The number of jumpships traversing the conduit had increased exponentially over the last three decades, so much so that there were ships coming in and going out almost daily, with those coming in sometimes containing Star Force Calavari. Equipped with warships and weapons that were a combination of the two races’ tech, they became the best recruitment tool of all, pulling experienced warriors off the battlefield and convincing them to go down the conduit to receive the same training, then come back and help the Star Force Calavari carve out a new empire in the rubble of the old.

  To date they had, with the Humans’ help, secured two neighboring systems in addition to Jasne, and in all three they had established small colonies that were using the Calavari techs returning through the conduit to begin expanding their infrastructure in a typical Star Force manner. One stipulation was that no native Calavari would be welcome in the colonies until they’d gone through Star Force training, something that the ‘new’ Calavari were insistent on…which was something the others couldn’t understand until they saw the battle records from Nanten.

  The system was far from Drema and the conduit, but it was the first place the Star Force Calavari had gone into battle on their own terms. The Star Force fleet had engaged the Nestafar occupation forces on a pair of planets, clearing them from orbit, with the mainline units ground landing on one to assist the natives with the destruction of the Nestafar troops while the Star Force Calavari got their own exclusive mission on the other planet with the same objective.

  The documentation of that assault and successful retaking of a world from the Nestafar, small as it was, filtered out through the remains of the Calavari empire. After a few years Calavari ships started showing up at Drema looking for these converts and either offering their assistance in battling the Nestafar/lizards or wanting to join them. As it was, Drema’s high orbit was cluttered with abandoned Calavari ships that were either being refitted or recycled by Star Force, as their crews had already been shipped back through the conduit for training.

  Some stayed in Star Force space, helping to grow the new Calavari empire on HTC, but many more returned, not wanting to abandon the original Calavari territory altogether. Three systems may not have been much, but word had spread of there being other holdouts, and the resistance gave the Calavari hope…and more importantly, an objective to fight for, rather than just rolling from one defeat to another and hoping to make the next transport so they wouldn’t be left behind.

  But so many still were. As many planets as Star Force evacuated, there were hundreds more that had been caught between severed supply lines, Nestafar invasion, or simply deemed inconsequential, with their small defense fleets being pulled off to pool together to protect more valuable locations. It was a sad, depressing, and overly demoralizing combat theatre that had once been a great race, now reduced to a large population spread across disparate systems with no central controlling factor.

  Star Force, the Protovic, and other benefactors were stepping in to fill part of that roll, but it was the Star Force Calavari that garnered the most response from the war torn planets…for they weren’t only revitalized and reequipped, they had naval assets on par with Star Force, whose fleet, while small in comparison to what the Calavari originally had, had always been superior. Naval was the Calavari’s weakest area, but these new Calavari touted it as their strength…something that seemed impossible within Calavari society.

  With their empire effectively dead, many had given up hope and consoled themselves to holding out and trying to weather the storm until the day of their destruction finally arrived, but when word spread of the Star Force Calavari, along with recorded proof of their limited battle history, those who still had a spark of defiance left in them took up a new battle cry. That battle cry was to survive the enemy until they could get to Star Force, or Star Force could get to them, precipitating a mass exodus for those who had jumpship access…and long coast phases between star systems for those ships without.

  Word had gotten around to the Nestafar as well, who’d come looking to squash the Star Force ‘hope’ that some of the Calavari worlds were rallying around, but on multiple times they’d been repulsed from Morgan’s turf, though often it was Taryn’s and Leif’s fleets doing the fighting while Morgan pressed further out into the war zone, picking up survivors and spreading the word.

  And the word was Rebirth.

  So it wasn’t altogether surprising how many Calavari ships Morgan saw parked in orbit around Drema, but it was still an impressive sight. Even more so were the number of Star Force jumpships, which to her meant more badly needed supplies flowing in, among which were foodstuff shipments for Drema and the Crecchon and Tarvis systems. It wasn’t much compared to the need, but it kept the Star Force Calavari supplied while they established their own bioharvest facilities, as well as adding to the limited foodstuffs that Drema had available for the swarm of refugees populating its surface.

  The 3,412 Calavari ships that Morgan had brought with her began deceleration braking behind the Blue Ranger one and two at a time, with the bulk still being several days behind. Her other warships had stayed back with them, ensuring the Calavari didn’t get the jump on them at the previous system before all were away. The Calavari jumpships had been sent on ahead weeks earlier, leaving Morgan to shepherd the slow convoy at a snail’s pace, but after several months they’d finally arrived at their destination, safe and sound.

  Give her ships a couple of weeks to resupply and they’d be heading back out to round up more Calavari, picking them up wherever they encountered them as they limped their way towards Drema. So far the Nestafar hadn’t hit it directly, but Morgan figured it was only a matter of time, which was why she’d left a considerable warship presence behind, which it seemed Jenna had been adding to nicely, based off the ID tags on the battlemap, which included several new models that the Ninja Monkey had apparently been holding out on Morgan.

  They’d have a little chat about that later, but protecting Drema was Jenna’s primary mission, so Morgan wouldn’t h
old it against her too much. That said, there were a lot of assets showing up in orbit, meaning the trailblazer was going to have to do some administrative work before she headed back out…and if Taryn was still insystem she wanted to discuss the situation with her personally.

  A day later she met both Taryn and Jenna onboard the partially operational Calavari seda in low orbit that was still under construction, but in typical ‘death star’ fashion the pieces of it that had been built were habitable, with the rest of the building effort being held up for lack of supplies. Its weapon systems weren’t up and running yet, but the interior was large enough to accommodate well over 1,000 Calavari, who found it a great honor to have all three Archons, let alone two trailblazers, use it as a summit point.

  “We’ve been seeing a lot of activity here,” Taryn said, pointing to the star map. “Nothing large, but a lot of Nestafar smaller ship traffic. No conflicts as yet, but they’re moving through the system, I think to around here,” she said, making a circle with her finger around a cluster of star systems. “I think they’ve got a resupply base or colony in there.”

  “Damn,” Morgan whispered, chewing on the end of her finger.

  Jenna raised an eyebrow. “You think they’re coming for us?”

  “Not much Calavari left around here to target,” Taryn answered, “unless they’re trying to sweep up scraps, which I doubt. They may have more of their empire intact, but they’ve been hurt nearly as bad as the Calavari. They don’t have resources for auxiliary campaigns.”

  “I agree,” Morgan said, nodding once. “There are a lot of small systems out there that they’ve passed over for annexation. They’re out to kill Calavari and are focusing on their major worlds. There’s a cluster here,” she said, pointing into the central region of Calavari space, which ran up and down on the 3d map further than it did side to side, “that they could be staging for a future campaign, but I’d put my credits on us.”

  “How do you want to play it?” Jenna asked.

  Morgan and Taryn exchanged glances, with the redhead answering.

  “If we waste time or resources hunting this base down it means recovering less Calavari. That’s our primary mission, so we’ll let the Nestafar come to us.”

  “That sounds like a…bad idea,” Jenna admitted. “If they’re setting up a stronghold, best to hit it before it gets too developed.”

  “Normally I would agree,” Morgan said, a frustrated look on her face, “but when there are billions of Calavari out there needing to be saved, we can’t waste time on maybes. We’re not due to probe that far out anytime soon, and we’re not going to divert…no matter how much I want to.”

  “If they are coming here, we need a battle plan,” Jenna noted. “More than I’ve got set up, anyway.”

  “What have you got?” Taryn asked.

  Jenna adjusted the hologram, pulling it out to a system-wide view.

  “I’ve got sensor stations around all the planets, so if they poke in for a look we’ll know. Right now I’ve got 13 fully loaded warships stationed around J-19,” she said, pointing to the outermost planet in the system that had no name. “They don’t have binary drives, and that’s the most remote position that I can place them for easy recall. If the Nestafar are counting ships in orbit, these won’t show up. I’d planned on stationing more further out, as we get reinforced, but I don’t want to leave orbit naked.”

  “How are you organizing the Calavari fleet?” Taryn asked.

  “The abandoned ships are just parked in high orbit with a few drones guarding them. The Calavari refuge fleet I’m keeping within distance of the defense platforms, so they’ll have a place to run to if necessary. The Calavari warships we’ve accumulated are spread out in pairs guarding the orbiting infrastructure. They’re not a match for the Nestafar, but they can delay them long enough for help to arrive…or drive off a single ship trying to poach targets of opportunity.”

  “Our Calavari,” Jenna continued, “have two fleets insystem. One is stationed here, guarding the seda until it’s operational, and the other is patrolling high orbit. If the Nestafar do jump in, they can come in behind them and cause trouble. Our mainline fleets are sprinkled around low orbit, ready to reposition as needed.”

  “Valeries?” Morgan asked.

  “We have a lot, actually, but most are atmospheric only. The starfighters have been mostly obliterated in naval combat, but their aero-only versions have been popping up regularly, a lot in handfuls scrounged from evac zones, but they’ve been accumulating. They’re standing ready in surface bases to try and intercept Nestafar dropships on the way down. If they get their walkers on the surface things will get real bad, real fast. The Calavari have a formidable army on station, but their hovertanks are crap against the walkers.”

  “Believe me, I know,” Morgan said, staring at the locations of the surface bases, of which a few more had been added since her last visit. “How many mechs have we got?”

  “On the surface, we’ve got two galaxies, all Calavari. All mainline mech units are still on their jumpships waiting to go out with you,” Jenna said, using the Battletech-inspired unit system, in which a ‘galaxy’ was 500.

  “How many of the Calavari mechs are mauler-equipped?” Morgan asked.

  “About a third.”

  Taryn shook her head. “Mauler is the only weapon that works well against Nestafar armor. Have we given them any heavy walkers?”

  “Not that I know of yet,” Jenna said, unsure of what was going on back in Alpha Region where the Calavari were being trained and equipped, with Jason and Jace making the decisions there. “All we’ve received are scale 1.”

  “You’ll want to put together all-mauler stars to take on the bigger mechs,” Taryn said, speaking from experience. “Use plasma for the giraffes and missile heavies for support. Let the maulers strip the armor off and the others to finish them. Fastest way I know of,” she said, glancing at Morgan.

  “I concur. Do we have any air assets on the ground?”

  “Only Calavari, and they’re Star Force Valeries…with a few gunships thrown in, but the native Valeries far outnumber ours. How much you expecting the Nestafar to throw at us?”

  “There’s no way of knowing,” Morgan said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Nor when. We just have to lay out as much defense as we can and work the problem when it happens.”

  “That’s cheerful,” Jenna quipped.

  “The only other option is to pull in one of our fleets,” Taryn explained, “which we are not going to do.”

  “I know, I know. If we sit on our hands the Nestafar win by default. I just wish I had more ships to work with, but everything that comes through needs to go to you three, so I’m in a tough position not knowing what to prepare for.”

  “You got any more of those defense platforms on the way?”

  Jenna looked at the pair of trailblazers, then over to Morgan. “You don’t know?”

  “Know what?”

  “Who sent them.”

  “No. Should I?”

  “They were a little gift from Clan Saber, with three more on the way. Jason said he’s sending something a bit bigger, due in 5 months or so.”

  Morgan frowned. “What are those two up to?”

  “I don’t care,” Jenna said, “so long as they’re sending toys our way.”

  “Don’t they have enough to worry about on the lizard front?” Taryn asked.

  “Couple of no good schemers,” Morgan mumbled. “They’re still vying for IlClan.”

  “IlClans,” Taryn corrected.

  “What’s that?” Jenna asked.

  “Something between trailblazers,” Taryn scoffed. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Now I want to know.”

  “Just them doing their power twins routine…again,” Morgan half-explained. “One war front isn’t good enough, so now they’re playing in two.”

  “And that’s bad?”

  “No,” Morgan frowned, “it’s a good thing.”

&
nbsp; “Which is what makes it so frustrating,” Taryn finished.

  “Are we really caring about this right now,” Jenna asked, “with the Nestafar on the prowl?”

  Taryn rolled her eyes. “Still a newb.”

  “It’s called multi-tasking,” Morgan explained to her fellow Ninja Monkey. “When you get as good as we are you can deal with doomsday scenarios and compete with your fellow Archons at the same time.”

  “I thought that only applied to sarcasm,” Jenna joked.

  “’Multi’ means more than one,” Morgan reminded her. “I’m still kicking their ass in ranks.”

  Jenna looked at Taryn. “Are you all like this?”

  “Pretty much,” the trailblazer confirmed.

  “You guys must have been nuts in basic training.”

  “We still hold most of the records,” Morgan reminded her.

  Jenna set her elbows on the holoprojector. “My point exactly.”

  3

  May 31, 2467

  Ghanis System (Beta Region)

  Ettiana

  “Captain, we have a system-wide warning flag!” a Kiritas crewmember shouted excitedly on the bridge of the H132 jumpship in its high pitched voice.

  Erica Sorvela looked up from the datapad in her hand and uncrossed her legs as she rapidly sat up. “Show me.”

  One of the Human bridge crew brought up the holographic text in front of her command chair, along with the tags on the orbital map, indicating enemy warships on approach. She took a moment to read the brief message, then even longer to analyze the map, noting that the incoming Skarron ships were not on a jumpline near her ship, meaning she had a few minutes at least to work with.