Star Force: Paradigm (SF35) Read online

  No matter what genetic engineering had taken place, each of them was still a person with at least the option of making choices. If they didn’t exercise that option that too was their choice, but Sara wasn’t going to get in the habit of assuming every lizard was a bloodthirsty blockhead, though today wasn’t showing any evidence to the contrary.

  While she didn’t like slaughtering them, she wasn’t stupid enough to try and send troops over to capture the lizards crewing the stations in orbit around the planet. That would be putting her people in unnecessary risk. To date no lizard had willingly accepted imprisonment, and those that had been compelled had tried to kill themselves at every turn, either through kamikaze attacks on their jailers or through self-mutilation. When that option had been taken away from them, in the form of claw covers that latched onto their wrists like cuffs, they tried to starve themselves to death.

  There were still some alive, last Sara knew, having to be fed by IV as some of the trailblazers worked on trying to communicate with them. They could speak the language, but the lizards were mostly unresponsive. Greg had reported a few limited breakthroughs, but none to the point where they could trust them not to kill themselves.

  Given that situation, the taking of lizard prisoners by force had pretty much been taken off the table, though the voluntary offers were still par for the course.

  As she watched another of their communications stations bite the dust in a wash of blue plasma, Sara glanced over at the battlemap looking for surface activity. There were several small shipyards on the surface that had their doors closed, meaning there could be ships inside that were at least partially battle capable, but above that there were thousands of other smaller craft on the deck, ranging from kirbies to transports, and she was curious what they were going to do now that Star Force controlled orbit.

  The transports, at least, she thought would try and make a run for it, either to elsewhere in the system where their sensor stealthy armor would allow them to hide from the Humans, or over to Iradon to hide behind the battle stations in orbit there.

  No activity was tagged as of yet, which Sara found a little surprising. The lizards didn’t accept defeat, they tried to do everything they could to beat or confound you, so them sitting still and waiting for the rain to fall didn’t quite fit their MO. That suggested to the trailblazer that something else was in play, like perhaps reinforcements being whistled up from a nearby system. That would encourage the lizards to hunker down and weather the storm, but there shouldn’t have been any sizeable fleets nearby, not since Paul had put the final nail in their coffin over Atlantica.

  Living up to his moniker of ‘The Admiral,’ Paul had lead them into a total rout of the lizard forces in orbit once Star Force had received a steady stream of new fleets coming out from Sol and Epsilon Eridani. The lizards had also been receiving reinforcements, but the ones Paul, Sara, and the others on station were receiving were the newest models, giving them increased tactical options.

  Paul had stretched those options to their limit and worked a bit of his strategic magic, moving the enemy around the system as he wanted, setting up a hammer blow assault that cracked their strongest formations, leaving scattered remnants for the trailblazers to clean up afterwards. Sara had taken part in the fighting alongside him, but Paul’s genius in naval combat still outmatched hers, and she had no qualms in giving him credit for the winning strategy, though it wasn’t his efforts alone that won them naval superiority.

  The battle under the water was another matter entirely, but now that they’d cut off almost all lizard resupply runs to Atlantica Kyler expected that to change, given that the lizards didn’t harvest resources from the sea floor as easily as they did on land. Now knowing where the major lizard bases were on Atlantica, Star Force was working its way towards a major aquatics offensive, but now that orbit had been bottled up there was no need for multiple trailblazers in the system, so they’d split up to other tasks, with Sara taking one of two fleets out to harass nearby lizard systems and keep them on the defensive while Star Force continued to colonize new systems in the expansion zone that stretched out from Earth’s original territory around Sol to Namek.

  That ‘gap’ between Star Force and lizard territory was slowly filling in with side projects, some of which were Hycre, who’d been colonizing several systems. The area was vulnerable, which was why Star Force had pushed into the lizard lines, drawing the battles to Atlantica in order to keep the lizards from finding and hitting their more vulnerable areas. Those areas were now strengthening, so as long as the handful of trailblazers on the front could keep the lizards distracted for another decade or so, the weakness in the expansion region would diminish on its own.

  After Sara’s fleet finished up the lengthy process of demolishing the lizards’ orbital infrastructure around Epipo they made the jump across the system to Iradon and continued the eradication process there, which took considerably more time given that the planet had a larger lizard population. Once that process was completed Sara picked a single target on the surface and had it pounded flat with the fleet’s rail guns, obliterating a large lizard base/city before retreating from the planet.

  The trailblazer had her fleet pulled back into the Hawkeye and its 4 sister jumpships, which she then split up with orders to pinball around the system from planet to planet pulling scans and looking for additional lizard assets. They spent the better part of a week doing so before rendezvousing at the innermost planet, a small red gas giant that looked to be a few centuries away from being consumed by the system’s central star.

  Once back together her fleet jumped out of the system, heading back to Namek via several other systems well below the destination on the galactic plane.

  Three weeks later the Hawkeye decelerated against Nevarsor’s central star, arriving behind the other four warships that took up low orbits around the large yellow/orange sphere waiting for their command ship to arrive. Once Sara’s flagship did they made micro-jumps in series out to the 4th planet in the system, then across to the 7th that was Namek.

  There they encountered a slew of orbital infrastructure, but sparse in number compared to Earth or Corneria. That said, the puzzle pieces that Paul was back to constructing were usually larger than a jumpship and equipped with enough shields and defenses to hold out on their own for a short period of time before the planetary defense fleet arrived.

  Those ships, all drones controlled by the local comm grid from command centers either on nearby stations or from surface command centers, were sprinkled around low and middle orbit like the colored namesake on donuts, giving all orbital infrastructure at least some ships within quick response range should the lizards show up again.

  The two moons that orbited the planet were barren and rocky, both in high orbits. Those also had a few orbital stations, connecting back to Namek via shipping lanes as they brought additional raw materials and manufactured goods produced on or around the moons back down to the planet for use in the ever growing infrastructure there.

  What Paul had built in orbit paled in comparison to what was on the surface. It had been 30 years since they’d first set foot on the dry world, and in those three decades Paul had built one enormous city rivaling those on Corneria. Shield generators of massive size protected the city from orbital bombardment on a scale that even Sara’s five warships wouldn’t be able to penetrate even if they rained rail gun slugs down on them all day.

  It was what was called a ‘strong point,’ around which other infrastructure could be built and people could evacuate back to if needed. There were hundreds of small outposts scattered across Namek, mainly resource gathering operations, but the population and industry was all within the city, safe beneath the shield that could even hold back a kamikaze cruiser falling from orbit.

  A kamikaze jumpship was another matter, and as impressive as Star Force’s shield technology became, there was always a way to penetrate it…with that being adding more mass.

  That was why Paul had devoted
a great deal of resources to the planetary defense fleet, so it could intercept any kamikaze ships before they could make a run on the city. There was no such thing as an impenetrable target, but Paul had done a good job of making one very difficult colony for the lizards to crack, and apparently the enemy had thought so too, for after a few sniffs of combat at Namek they’d given up the attempt, focusing their efforts on Atlantica instead.

  Sara’s fleet accessed the local grid and plotted a course to one of the storage/repair yards that orbited nearby a shipyard, both of whom were located on the boundary between low and middle orbit, which put their full revolution at just under 24 hours, given that Namek had slightly less mass than Earth. The ships took their time getting there, conserving fuel and bouncing their way in between stations as they pushed against both planet and moons to adjust their trajectories until they got around to the side of the planet where their target currently was.

  The station dwarfed all five warships, given the fact that it was mostly empty space inside, but it was still an impressive and intimidating perfect cube, even more so as the primary bay doors opened up, giving Sara’s fleet enough room to fly inside if they wished, but that wasn’t the plan.

  The Hawkeye and other warships disconnected their damaged drones, some of which had already underwent patch work on site, and flew them out away from the fleet while replacement drones came out of the massive construct. The controllers in the fleet exchanged ships with the controllers in the repair yard, though the handoff occurred without any visible twitches, and within an hour Sara’s fleet was back up to full strength, minus the ordinance they’d expended. That they’d have to pick up along with foodstuffs and other supplies via dropship shipments which were already being scheduled by her command staff that worked silently on the bridge while she opened up a commlink to the surface.

  “Welcome back,” Paul’s hologram said upon popping into view. “Any problems?”

  “Not really,” Sara said, almost disappointed. “There was less resistance than we thought. We eliminated all ships and orbital infrastructure, then took out a base before bugging out. Surface activity was nil, which made me think they might have been holding out for reinforcements, but none arrived before we left the system. I pulled a survey run before we left.”

  “We lost a cargo jumpship,” Paul said bluntly. “Bad jump.”

  Sara’s eyes narrowed. She knew well the dangers of interstellar travel, but so far Star Force’s record had seen only a handful of accidents over the past three centuries. The mathematical calculations and drive control technology were critical to making an accurate jump, but such things had always been well within their engineers’ ability, making her wonder what had happened.

  “Where?”

  “Here we think. It was part of a convoy from Corneria. 18 jumpships left, 17 arrived. We also picked up stellar disturbance that coincided with its arrival ETA, so we’re pretty sure it hit the star.”

  “Braking malfunction?”

  Paul shook his head. “The disruption pattern on the star was widespread.”

  “Damn,” Sara said, closing her eyes. That meant the jumpship failed to decelerate, not due to a shipboard malfunction, but because it’d been damaged/destroyed mid jump…meaning collision with debris on the spacelane. “Which route were they taking in?”

  “Hadren,” Paul said, naming the system the convoy had jumped from in order to get to Nevarsor. “I’ve flagged it as yellow, given the other 17 ships made it through in the same timespan.”

  “Where was it in line?”

  “5th.”

  “Any damage to the others?” she asked, knowing slower moving bits could have collided with the ships behind, or hit the ships ahead when they decelerated and the debris did not.”

  “Not so much as a scratch.”

  Sara’s mind was flipping over, trying to wrap her head around the danger. “So what do we do, call this a fluke or tag it as impassable?”

  “We’re rerouting convoys through other jumplanes, but I wouldn’t recommend red flagging it entirely. For whatever reason 17 other ships got through, though losing even one is enough to warrant a redirect.”

  “What’s it been, 50 or 60 years since the last one?”

  “53,” Paul said, already having looked it up. “Andres to Palora.”

  Sara recognized the names of two of Star Force’s inhabited systems with a direct line between them…no stopovers or redirects needed. That spacelane saw an enormous amount of traffic, and despite the lost jumpship the route had never been flagged. Then again, they didn’t know what had happened to it. It hadn’t been part of a convoy, but a single transit that simply didn’t show up on arrival. Questions still hadn’t been answered, and there were a number of people who suggested that the ship had misjumped and missed the target star entirely, doomed to be lost in space as it coasted through the interstellar void hoping to stumble across a gravity well to brake against.

  “No chance of a misjump here?”

  Paul shook his head. “Doubtful.”

  “How much time does that add to our convoys?”

  “13 lightyears distance, as for time that varies depending on the how new a jumpship you’re talking about,” he reminded her.

  “I was afraid it would have been more than that,” Sara commented, knowing that there were already several red flagged spacelanes in the expansion region, and tagged as such because of either the Hycre maps labeled them as dangerous or because of Star Force’s own exploration, which saw them sending out computer-controlled survey ships. When several of the tiny jumpships didn’t return from a target system, they labeled the route untenable and searched elsewhere.

  As a result the quickest routes geographically weren’t always available, meaning the distance from one system to another varied widely. Also, with every new generation of jumpship, the distance they could make a single jump across accurately was increasing, opening up new, longer spacelanes than Star Force had previously been unable to utilize…though ones that the Hycre used regularly.

  “We got lucky,” Paul admitted. “I sent a courier out around to warn incoming ships, but it shouldn’t have arrived just yet. After that it’s heading back to Corneria to request a boatload of survey ships. I’d rather not lose that spacelane if we don’t have to.”

  “Not losing all of them makes me wonder too.”

  “You sticking around or heading back out?” Paul asked, changing subjects.

  “I’m going to rotate crews out and give the regulars a bit of time planetside. You have another target for me, or am I going back for seconds?”

  “Nothing definite, but a few probables have shown up. We also have a diplomatic envoy on the way out. Seems the Hycre have found another race that’s sticking it to the lizards.”

  Sara arched an eyebrow. “Really?”

  “Primitive bunch,” Paul said before she started to get any ideas, “but they’re really big.”

  “How big?”

  “Remember Lord of the Rings?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Think Ents.”

  “Who pulled that assignment?”

  “Emily.”

  “That should be an interesting debrief to read.”

  “My thoughts exactly. You up for some challenge runs?”

  “Always. Psionic or regular?”

  “Thought we’d go old school.”

  Sara smiled. “I’ll be down within 24 hours.”

  4

  April 22, 2432

  Ventross System

  Albo (lizard territory)

  Kara sat on her hands and knees in utter silence, adhesively attached to the hull of a drone cutter as it raced towards the yellow planet’s atmosphere with a host of lizard warships in pursuit from multiple angles, but given the approach speed it was mustering it was going to beat them all to the insertion position, then slingshot around the planet and hopefully return to the single warship in extreme high orbit that had brought it and the Archon here.

  Sitting
inside both the shield boundary and the inertial dampening field of the ship, Kara felt nothing as the drone made several navigational tweaks, then decelerated hard against Albo’s gravity well. Inside her Zen’zat armor’s scale-like second skin she monitored the telemetry being fed to her by the drone and awaited the arrival at the drop off point…or rather the point she was going to drop off from, given that the ship wasn’t going to stop.

  As had been programmed prior to its released from the Broadsword, it inserted into a very low orbit at high speed, belly down…with Kara riding on the underside so that from her perspective the large, yellow planet was above her and bracketed by clusters of bright stars in constellations unfamiliar. On her back was a large bump that her armor had expanded to cover, inside of which was a pack of supplies attached snugly to her spine. She didn’t feel the weight, nor any weight, given that riding on the exterior hull of the drone there was no gravity, real or artificial, to pull on her. All that held her in place were her hands, knees, and booted toes that gripped the Adamantium hull armor in a bonding mechanism that Star Force had yet to fully understand.

  When Kara’s telemetry indicated that the drone had reached the proper position a countdown appeared on her HUD, which rather than appearing in front of her eyes, which was an option with the V’kit’no’sat tech, it appeared within her mind, given the Ikrid link between person and machine.

  When that countdown expired she walked her feet up underneath her and mentally severed the adhesive link to the hull, then using the power of her legs and the powered nature of the red, scale-like armor she wore, Kara jumped off the hull, passing through the shield perimeter and falling towards the planet’s atmosphere below.