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  “Not that much,” Cal-com said from the back where everyone had forgotten he was. “But his potential for growth is massive. What he has lost is a little speed due to his new mass.”

  “Probably right,” Paul said, remembering something. “And you guys need to start overeating now, not later. I made that mistake and it made things…well, let’s say more ouchy than they had to be. I hit a point where I needed a lot of food for the size upgrade, and you need to take in more than you think, because it’s going to happen super fast. Almost Kich’a’kat fast. So be ready to pig out.”

  “Not an option,” Ivan warned. “I can’t keep much down as it is.”

  “That should pass…I think. Might be we’re all going to process this differently…”

  3

  “I still don’t see this massive empire transition you’re inferring,” Jason said three hours later into the discussion, with now 14 of the trailblazers unconscious in their chairs, including Kerrie, whom Paul had stolen his clothes back from as soon as she’d blacked out. “Some tweaks here and there, sure. Maybe it’s just my fragged mind, but I don’t see it.”

  “I don’t have a master plan to lay out,” Paul said, understandingly. “It’s more a sense of potential. Put it this way…one of the reasons the V’kit’no’sat used the Zen’zat so much was because of their versatility. Bipeds are simply better multi-taskers than quadrupeds, at least the bigger ones. They have their niche, but the quadrupeds are so bulky there is a lot they can’t do. And our Esquires serve the same role for the Knight races. It’s those Knight races that are our greatest strength, but they’re also limited. If we can shift the center of the empire’s capabilities to a race that has the strength, flexibility, and intelligence to surpass the others, then the quadrupeds’ skills can really shine as they can become specialists. That’s the primary shift I see, but I can feel the potential for a lot more yet to be developed or discovered.”

  “You’re still talking a bunch of newbs here. And we have no idea how this will shake out.”

  “Diversity is not our strength,” Paul emphasized. “The weaker races contribute where they can, but in a lot of cases they have to be protected more than they can help, and when they help it’s more in non-combat roles. If we get hit everyone at once, when we can’t move our elite combat units around to shield the weaker planets, how many and how well are they going to stand on their own?”

  “The Band-Aid problem,” Greg said, blinking heavily as he was trying to stave off his own blackout. This conversation was too important to put off until later, and they all felt the same way, despite the fact that a day or two wasn’t going to change much…but patience was a skill of the Archons, not an attribute.

  “Exactly,” Paul agreed, referencing an old problem that had the empire being held together by a few strong points and units while most of their territory was shielded by them and unable to stand well on its own. Threat of reprisal scared off many enemies, but the actual strength of Star Force was, if seen on a galactic map, was a patchwork of strength and weakness. Outsiders didn’t realize that, for most of them didn’t have the power to assault even one of the weaker worlds, but take a mirror image empire and throw it at them and Star Force’s weak spots would show, for there was no way a planet of Irondel could fight hand to hand with an invading force of Oso’lon. Mechs were their only hope, and could be effective, but the limitations of their race would always be an issue.

  The Bsidd and Paladin were much better off, but individuality is what they lacked, along with intelligence, as a starting point. The experienced ones were damn valuable and wise at this point, but it was the starting point that was the concern, for every population expansion didn’t start with veterans. It started with newbs, and what those newbs had to work with was critical when your civilization was placed under stress. Peace had a way of covering up the cracks and making you look impregnable even when that was far from the truth.

  “So your kids are going to become the new glue for the empire?” Kara asked from her new seat on the edge of the elevated stage to the right of Paul, who was also now sitting on the edge, after she’d moved there when they’d done some shuffling to better accommodate the sleepers.

  “Name something we can’t do.”

  “Swim well,” Jason quipped.

  “But we can swim decent with equipment. Can any other race master all areas as well as we can?”

  “I could give you a list,” Davis added, “but they’re all lacking the same thing. Temerity. And the ones who do have it usually have too much, or it’s skewed in some fashion. If we can craft a race even remotely like the Archons, it will be an asset. How much I can’t say, but I think I can see where Paul is heading with this. No reproduction allowed?”

  Paul nodded. “We’ll deactivate at birth, and only if they achieve great enough accomplishments will they be added to the gene pool. No civilian birth base.”

  “You’re talking some medical intervention then,” Morgan said, “because there’s no way I can produce that many eggs, even if you don’t have the same sperm limitation.”

  “A little cloning of the eggs isn’t hard, but if we are able to pass on some of our traits, do we want them watered down by a generation or two of slackers?”

  “We’ve never tried anything like that,” Wilson said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Paladin genetics are set from a base template, and they can’t even reproduce otherwise if they wanted. Do you plan to use the Clans?”

  “Yes. Obviously this is contingent on all of us making the transition, but with 88 males and 12 females we can get a different genetic strain for each Clan and keep it that way. And if we end up with some different abilities, I don’t think we should mix and match everything at the get go. There are too many variables in play already. So I recommend we each find a pairing we like and stick with it as we rework our Clans into more of a Battletech Clan with the non-Furyans eventually becoming sidekicks…though at first they’ll be the teachers and elders.”

  “I like it,” Carlo-062 said. “But how much are you willing to bet our future on this new race?”

  “More than I would on genetically altering existing ones, but it always comes down to the individuals in the bodies. We know how to find and train them. Consider this just better starting equipment.”

  “Psionic deactivation if they want to go civilian?” Jason asked.

  “We’ve already learned where to put that line for the Knight races. We have the experience molding and troubleshooting other races, but do we have a primary in the empire?”

  “Do we need one?” Carlo asked.

  “That question isn’t do we need one,” Morgan said evenly, “but does the empire need one? We are the glue that’s been holding everything together, and I don’t mean Humans. I mean Archons and Mavericks.”

  “Humans were surpassed a long time ago,” Davis casually noted. “And while we could deactivate all reproduction in the weaker races while allowing the stronger, perhaps even one superior race, to reproduce in order to strengthen the empire in the distant future, my instincts say no…though there is a caveat. We can’t get too bottom heavy, and right now we are if we come up against a superior opponent that can target our vulnerabilities better than the Hadarak. They’re a bulldozer, but an assassin-minded assault could pick us apart in many ways you are not even aware of. Technology and training can accomplish much, but the biological starting point at birth isn’t something that can be ignored.”

  “If we knew everyone was randomly inserted into an avatar at birth, then stopping reproduction in the weaker races would be helping them out more than ourselves,” Morgan noted. “Anyone remember the Vicar-ni-shi?”

  “No,” Devan-000 said.

  “They are nearly extinct now. Only a few thousand left in one of our Ward colonies. Nasty temperament, poison that would kill you in seconds. Their entire mental makeup was so messed up we decided to stop any reproduction and try to help the individuals as much as we could, but we weren’t going
to let any more be born. It wasn’t fair to them to start out in such a darkside-tilted body.”

  “No race can do everything,” Davis reminded them. “But we do need a glue to hold the others together, more than just our philosophy and technology. I’d wager hardly anyone knows all the different races we have in the empire, including those in this room. I do, and we keep adding more every decade as we discover them. Human is a race they all know. Humans are the psychological glue for the identity of the empire, and where you see a Human you see Star Force. But Humans are not the best genetic template we have. The Knight races are. And we hardly see any problems with them. Their slackers make the average Human look lazy, and it’s not because the individuals inside are better. It’s because their default programming is better.”

  “Limiting reproduction is wise,” Wilson said, “but eliminating it is folly. We could be throwing away advantages that will occur down the road in some of the weaker races as they advance. We need quadrupeds for a lot of things, and avians, and aquatics, etc. But while they can help each other as a team to cover each other’s weaknesses, the empire needs a spine to which everything else can attach. A spine that may not be the best in everything, but a spine that has no weaknesses to exploit. A spine of steal that will support the specialists in the empire and let their best attributes shine. If we split up by races, as we have on many planets, we can be blindsided. The Zen’zat were small, but could they ever be blindsided? We need a central race, one who is dependable and resilient, and right now we do not have one.”

  “We need a ubiquitous one,” Jason said, then raised a finger as his eyes began to roll. “Talk to you later.”

  He slumped back in his chair intentionally so his head was supported, then he too passed out, unable to stave off the next upgrade any longer.

  “Ubiquitous is the right word,” Wilson said, looking at Davis. “And if we do expand to other galaxies at some point, we need a control rod.”

  “Way ahead of you on that problem,” the Director said, also leaning back in his chair, but only to get in a more relaxed position, for along with Kara and Cal-com, he was not at risk of blacking out. “Training is only so good by remote. Some things you need to interact with others to learn, and if we expand too far we could end up with the telephone distortion of what the lightside actually is, and we cannot allow that.”

  “Telephone?” Paul asked.

  “Old game, before your time. Tell one person a word only once, then they tell the next and it continues on down the line. By the end the word that is spoken is usually not the word that began it, because of mishearings down the chain of succession. We’ve prevented most of that with the use of recordings and standards, but we cannot let Star Force be watered down into a symbol with no substance, and every new race and planet we annex that is exactly what happens. We manage because there are other planets firmly Star Force, and by osmosis the new ones learn over time what cannot be learned through their indoctrination training. Human is what Star Force is, and other races have assimilated to. But what if we have a galaxy with no Humans in it, and the new races have to pattern off the Bsidd or Calavari?”

  “It gets watered down,” Paul said, seeing the problem. “Maturias should fix most of that, but if you’re integrating them into an existing population there’s going to be a melt factor involved.”

  “Not just that,” Davis corrected, “but each race has its own proclivities. Will avians go into the water to save aquatics? Can aquatics take to the air to help avians? Will races that have little empathy really embrace the lightside, or will the overly aggressive ones pull back enough to not squash all the lessers in their path? Humans are the control rod, and as you know, our Human population is rather pathetic despite all the improvements made over time. From them we pull individuals that become the spine of the empire, but if we’re going to have a large enough spine to support far larger expansions, we need to skew the odds in our favor more than you realize.”

  “If it works the way you hope,” Morgan cautioned.

  “If I’m disappointed what is the downside? Do we have an Elf problem?”

  “Not since you stopped their reproduction too.”

  “And those that are still alive we helped teach them to be more individualistic. We betrayed no one.”

  “But we’re still responsible for the Elves being Elves,” Morgan argued. “It was our mistake.”

  “Do you want to randomly take what the universe throws at us? Or do you want to try and do better than that?”

  “It’s not our fault if we don’t mess it up.”

  “That doesn’t help the people in those messed up avatars,” Davis lectured. “They’re still stuck, and while I used to share your caution, I’m sick of the universe screwing people over in its massive version of the Hunger Games. I’ve been trying to fight the game itself, and these new upgrades…if they are derived from the customizations you have all done to your own bodies…should be better than anything the universe will provide. We’re not going darkside on this, so what are you concerned about?”

  “We don’t have an instruction manual,” she answered pithily.

  Paul looked at her with an ironic eyebrow raise.

  “Yes, yes I know,” Morgan deflected. “We don’t use them anyway. I’m just used to the universe causing the damage and us helping to improve people’s lives. I don’t like the idea that we might be the one causing the damage to helpless newbs.”

  “We’re not talking about altering the genetics,” Paul reminded her. “Just regular reproduction minus the sex.”

  “But what if the newbs can’t handle our level of…fury? What if our avatars are too advanced and we cause damage that way? You said before that legends would have a person come back changed and then they would mate with a regular to produce enhanced offspring. That had to water down the power level mightily. You’re not talking about that here. You’re wanting two enhanced people to reproduce a fully enhanced offspring. Might that be a source of trouble?”

  “No,” Wilson said firmly, shocking everyone still awake. “Not a problem at all. In fact it’s more of a blessing…assuming you know how to train properly. The other Master Trainers and I can handle it. Don’t worry about that.”

  “Why are you so sure?” Morgan asked.

  “You guys didn’t become Archons on your own,” he reminded them. “I did a lot of pushing, as did the Black Knight. I know what people need in order to grow, and I’ve done it with more races than I can count. It won’t be a problem. I promise you that.”

  Morgan put a hand on her head. “Maybe I’m just loopy, but it still worries me. Can we wait on the breeding stuff until we all get clear heads?”

  “We’re talking decades from now, Morgan,” Paul reminded her.

  “Right,” she said. “Sorry, that was stupid. My head feels so tight I can’t think straight. I’m going back to my bed,” she said, standing and walking out of her row as others moved out of the way, though she didn’t make it very far out the door when a soft ‘thud’ was heard just down the hallway.

  “Like I said, Furyans,” Paul reiterated. “We never know when to stop pushing and just sit still, but that’s what we have to do now. We’re not taking any actions with race crafting until after we’re through this and see what we have to work with, though we’ll continue brainstorming throughout. I’ll grab Morgan, those of you strong enough get the others and everyone head back to bed. You can do your thinking there and we can collaborate via message board. But the key is to rest and let this happen, and eat a lot,” he said, hopping off the platform and walking past the others.

  “Paul, I want you and Wilson in my office later today,” Davis said, pointing his finger towards the back of the amphitheater. “But I want you there now.”

  Cal-com stood up when he realized he was the one being pointed out. “As you wish, Director.”

  “Unlike the rest of you, I still have the Zak’de’ron removal to coordinate. Originally I wanted you involved, but not now.
The rest of us ‘normals’ will handle it. You guys just chill out.”

  “And me?” Kara asked.

  “Keep using Essence and training. We don’t want you transforming and having your siphon silenced.”

  Kara cringed. “No. Definitely not. You think it would?”

  “Until we know why Paul lost some stuff, and how your Vorch’nas would react, and even if you are able to since you didn’t go Saiyan…too many variables right now, and we’ve got a lot to work on. If you can change, delay it indefinitely. Please.”

  “No problem. You want help with the Zak’de’ron angle?” she asked as the room cleared with Cal-com waiting at the exit for Davis.

  “No. I want you to stick with Paul and vet him inside and out. If there’s any hint of manipulation by this Azoro, find it.”

  “And if he can remote control his body, I’m the only one who has a chance of stopping him now that he’s buffed up?”

  “I hope it’s not that bad, but I want you with him even if everything is fine. He’s gone through a lot of change, and the others aren’t in a position to help much right now. Just make sure Paul is on solid footing. If he is the key to our future, we can’t afford any newb mistakes.”

  “Paul is hardly a newb, even in an upgraded body.”

  “Did you see how he walked out?”

  “A little wobbly.”

  “It’s not his same body, Kara. It’s a new one built off the old. Everything is out of sync physically. Care to guess how he is mentally?”

  “Right. I get to be his stabilizing girlfriend,” she said, heading out.

  “Is that a complaint?” Davis asked to her back.

  Kara glanced over her shoulder but continued to walk. “Depends how much training time I lose…”