Star Force: Reclamation (SF91) (Star Force Origin Series) Page 3

  The trouble was the timing. Karrach was rebuilding rapidly and the supply convoys coming in from the Nexus half of H’kar territory was fueling it to no end. Already Flynn had established feeder colonies in five surrounding systems to harvest local resources and funnel them here, while he likewise funneled trained personnel and equipment to them. The H’kar net was beginning to be stretched out and would only snowball going forward now that he’d eliminated the problem of the Royals. His Archons now ruled in their place in the distant systems and the H’kar populace seemed to appreciate the change.

  They were also aware of what was happening around them and wanted to hold on to their current systems in addition to reclaiming those that had been lost. If they could do that their empire would be far larger than pre-lizard invasion, not to mention with all the interconnecting systems between the two that Flynn needed to at least establish a link through. Right now those systems were still lizard occupied, though they really couldn’t do anything about convoys passing through so long as they were well armed.

  The rift between the two H’kar territories would shrink over time, but Flynn had a lot of empty systems to fill and too few H’kar to do it. Trained H’kar, anyway, for he wasn’t using their existing population for much more than resource production and fighting the lizards. Their military had already learned how to work under the Star Force system so he wasn’t overly concerned about them, but he knew if he just started mixing the standard civilians in with the new H’kar infrastructure that it would come back to bite him. In addition to rebuilding the planet he had to rework the H’kar culture, which meant putting everyone through indoctrination before they could take part in the activities here.

  All the H’kar working on Karrach were now Star Force H’kar, but the bulk of the H’kar population was still in Nexus mode and he only had so many indoctrination facilities to work with. More were being built in both H’kar regions and maturias were full to the brim as it was. Progress was being made, and being made rapidly, but digesting such a large civilization was not something that happened in a handful of decades. This was a century-long endeavor…at minimum, and that was assuming the trailblazer would troubleshoot effectively all the little snafus as they arose while simultaneously crafting a new identity for the very large and very proud race.

  There was a reason a trailblazer had been assigned this task, for no Duke, let alone an Administrator could have handled it…and he had many of the latter working with him already. His former Clan Marquis, Emma Triol, was now assigned to him as Duke Triol and tasked with helping him manage this mess of a transition along with half a dozen Barons Davis had sent his way. All of them were incredibly valuable, but he was in the hot seat and dictating the tasks they then went about carrying out. The fate of the H’kar was on his shoulders, but it was the rest of the surrounding galaxy that he was truly concerned about.

  Not only were there threats within The Nexus’s domain that they kept suppressed, there were also threats outside of it that were perched and apparently waiting to strike if they saw a weakness. Not to take down the entire Nexus, but to claim a chunk of their territory here and there. Defending the grid point system was The Nexus’s highest priority and a potentially fatal weakness, for if they lost one their empire in that region would inevitably crumble due to the sheer size of the territory The Nexus oversaw…and their enemies knew that all too well.

  Ironically Star Force now possessed a piece of that grid point system. The H’kar had built one, with the assistance of the stronger Nexus races long ago and now it was in the hands of Star Force. The link was maintained and traffic continued to flow, but the reports that kept coming in from his Archons in charge of the rimward territory were documenting an increase of traffic, some of which was not destined for H’kar worlds. They were transitioning through the lizard territories in order to get to the ADZ and the occupation zone expansions, taking the slow route given the fact that Star Force hadn’t taken up the Nexus’s offer of their allowing an addition to the grid point system to be created in or near the ADZ.

  Looking at the huge map that now covered all of Star Force’s territory and influence, it was painfully obvious what needed to be done. Absent the grid point system the fastest means of travel across chunks of the galaxy was to find clear space lanes between black holes. Star Force had several marked and used them infrequently to get to H’kar territory and from there access the rest of The Nexus, but they’d never laid claim to them. Given the increased instability within The Nexus, Flynn knew they had to take possession of several and begin establishing quicker routes from the grid point they possessed back to the ADZ, for going through the coreward part of H’kar territory was a big detour and that was where he was going to be developing the interconnectivity for the H’kar’s sake.

  Running through numerous permutations and appending the reports, Flynn composed a holographic message for Davis and sent it off through their piecemeal communications network via a courier that would get it back to the nearest firm link in the relay grid that would bounce it all the way back to Earth…or wherever else the Director might be at the moment.

  The Sety ambassador was escorted to the chamber via a single Knight straight from the landing pad in Atlantis to which he’d been summoned from their embassy in Epsilon Eridani. The tree-like alien walked inside expecting either trouble or something momentous, for it was rare to be called to Earth, from which he and the other representatives of foreign civilizations were banned.

  “You summoned me for a purpose,” the Sety said as he walked inside and over to the table where Davis already sat. “What is it?”

  The Star Force Director waited until the diplomat took its seat on the other side of the very small table that he’d ordered put in for this occasion. When the Knight shut the door only the two of them were left in the otherwise large chamber with Davis leaning back in his chair in a stiff but somewhat irreverent manner.

  “I need to know what’s really going on in The Nexus.”

  “A great many things, as always. To what specifically do you refer?”

  “Your crumbling control…and do not deny it, I can see into your mind. You may not be told everything, but I need to know what you know.”

  “If I cannot hide secrets from you, and the purpose of my coming here was to give you the chance to peer into my mind, why bother with my explaining?”

  “My skills are not that advanced, though I can bring in someone whose are if needed. That shouldn’t be necessary between neighbors and business partners.”

  The Sety shifted in its seat, crackling its rough skin as it bent. “As you said, they do not always tell me everything, but from what I know it does not concern Star Force and is merely an interior matter.”

  “I have reports to the contrary. Explain what you know and we’ll take it from there.”

  “It’s simply a matter of logistics. Too few patrol ships mean we deal with the greatest threats and don’t always have time to get to the little ones. As a result there is always some level of lawlessness within The Nexus’s domain. Recent times have seen an increase in this.”

  “Have you seen the reports of traffic flow coming into our territory?”

  “Should I have?”

  “They’re increasing. Not dramatically, not yet, but you and I need to come to an arrangement before what could be a flood of refugees head this way.”

  “You make it sound like you believe The Nexus is on the verge of collapse.”

  “Is it?”

  “Most assuredly not.”

  “As a whole?”

  “I will admit some small regions are in disarray, but the mass of Nexus territory is secure.”

  “One of those small regions surrounds the H’kar.”

  “When they withdrew their memberships our patrols in that region ceased. We no longer have a claim to it and rightly pulled back our forces to help secure other locations that still remained within our domain.”

  “Sloppy.”

  “Nece
ssary,” the Sety countered.

  “How many other regions are you pulling back from?”

  “A handful that I know of. As you said, I’m not informed of everything. I’m told what I need to know regarding this assignment and what happens involving Star Force territory. Our recent acquisitions here are progressing smoothly, that I can assure you.”

  “And our handling of the H’kar grid point?”

  “I’ve received no complaints. Are you implementing a change in policy?”

  “No, I’m not. I wanted you here to discuss future problems. Is this instability within The Nexus expected to continue?”

  “The cause is a lack of necessary fleet strength. Until that is resolved, we will not be able to regain full control.”

  “What is causing the lack?”

  “Attrition, pure and simple.”

  “Is there a plan to counter this?”

  “I’m sure there is, but I’m not privy to it.”

  Davis waved a hand and a holographic map formed between them. He telepathically scaled it down to the region desired with the H’kar making up a small block in an otherwise hefty rectangle that extended almost from the top of the galactic plane to the bottom.

  “I believe this region is seeing a large amount of unrest, correct?”

  “I don’t have a full accounting of disturbances, but there are several hot spots within this area.”

  “My sources tell me your major Nexus fleets have reduced in size by more than half here, leaving the denizens quite upset. Many of which have already expressed interest in joining Star Force.”

  “You believe we’re prematurely withdrawing from the region?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you going to accept their petitions for membership?”

  “Possibly.”

  “And you wish us to maintain our fleet strength to safeguard them until such a time as the transfer is made?”

  “No. I want to help you get out early.”

  The Sety was taken aback. “Why?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? I don’t want The Nexus to fall apart and leave the outer rim in chaos. The Sety and the other major races save for the Gfatt have no worlds there, and they have only one. The Tolsoi are a moderately strong member, if I read your civilization disposition correctly?”

  “They are the pillar on which this region is based.”

  “But they still require outside backing to handle the current local threats?”

  “Most subregions do.”

  Davis adjusted the map again, highlighting the black holes within both Star Force territory and the near side of The Nexus. Not all of them held jumplines to others, for matters of distance, size, or stuff being in the way. Some were useable by Star Force and not by others now that their gravity drives were nearing V’kit’no’sat levels of speed and accuracy, but others were highways used by thousands of races regularly. Some were guarded by local races while most were unclaimed.

  “I need you to start routing all Nexus traffic coming into Star Force territory through these two trade routes,” Davis said, highlighting a few of the black hole lines and connecting them with regular jumps that seemed pathetically short in comparison. “We will be securing them shortly in order to preserve transit rights, rather than to constrict or tax them. As it stands now a lot of your ships are moving through lizard territory and we’re starting to hear that some aren’t making it through. Whether these are lizards picking them off or others simply poaching in their territory we can’t confirm yet, but as more and more traffic is starting to come this way we need to channel it properly and protect whoever it is moving back and forth between our empires.”

  “Reasonable,” the Sety agreed. “Though slightly longer in distance traveled.”

  “Safe is better than fast, and it’s a far shorter route than going through H’kar territory to avoid as much lizard space as possible. We’ll cut safe corridors through ahead of the rest of the invasion, but I need you to see that they’re used.”

  “I can only relay the request, but I see no reason why it wouldn’t be heeded. We have a growing investment in Star Force territory and maintaining secure transit pathways is essential without the presence of a grid point to expedite matters.”

  “We’re not going to go to the expense of building one when we have so many other projects that require current resources,” Davis reiterated an old sticking point, “and I know neither the Sety nor The Nexus as a whole is going to fund the creation of one. As it is, I don’t think you’ve built an addition in a very long time.”

  “As you said, it requires a great deal of resources.”

  “That you need for warships?”

  “Among other things.”

  “While we are not going to build one, we will go to the expense of moving one…or rather a pair, as it were.”

  “Move one?”

  “Let’s just be blunt,” Davis said, pointing at the map. “You’re getting out of this entire region sooner or later. You can’t outright abandon it because of your member states, and if you did that’d send a signal to all the other ones that they might also be on the chopping block. You’ve based your alliance on the necessity of backing each other up, but you’re finding yourselves unable to do that on an adequate level everywhere so you’re trimming off forces here and there and trying to make up for the shortfall.”

  “You have a suggestion to make?”

  “You need a plan of action, and I have one…a bold one.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “I know the Meintre lost a valuable system.”

  “They did.”

  “And I suspect that entire subregion is about to be lost.”

  “No. My information says we’re mounting a countering force sometime in the near future. The Meintre are too valuable to let fall.”

  Davis pointed at the Star Force section of the map. “Bring them here.”

  The Sety looked confused. “I don’t understand. You want the evacuees?”

  “No, relocate their entire civilization here.”

  “The loss of existing infrastructure…no, that is insane.”

  “You’re going to lose it anyway in battle soon enough,” Davis pointed out, then remained silent to let that sink in.

  “You do not strike me as unwise or unreasonable. Speak your plan.”

  “A lot of your most advanced warships are used to guard the grid points. You can’t let them fall or entire regions will be cut off from quick reinforcements. You don’t have the local industry for them to support themselves so your powerbase flows out of the strongest regions and you use the grid points to carry it to wherever needed. If the grid point in Meintre territory is moved, then Star Force will take responsibility for its protection, thus freeing up a huge amount of your warfleet to put to use elsewhere.”

  The Sety considered that for a moment. “But that would also require stranding the Meintre…or moving them here. The cost of doing that will be so expensive that the Meintre will be gutted just as assuredly as they would be if they were destroyed.”

  “Not true,” Davis said, holding up a finger for emphasis. “They will be weakened, but they will be able to regrow under our protection and send ships back to The Nexus to assist in securing other regions. I am not asking them to join Star Force. I am offering them territory within ours…subject to standing agreement protocols…and the protection of our fleets. The grid point will become our property, located in a nearby system with easy access for the Meintre, and the other end of it will be located in H’kar space.”

  “Giving Star Force territory its link into the grid point system,” the Sety said guardedly.

  “Which will allow you greater access and provide a quick means of support from the Meintre once they rebuild. It will take time to see benefits, but the clock will be in your favor.”

  “We will have to abandon the Meintre region altogether.”

  “From the reports I’m seeing, you’re going to lose it anyway. And we might end up ge
tting the refugees from it eventually, though it is quite far from here if the grid point linkage goes down. But I’m not finished yet,” Davis added. “All these member races and their subregions,” he said, referring back to those along the H’kar border and easily doubling the total territory Star Force controlled/oversaw to date, “will be annexed by Star Force simultaneously. We don’t have the resources to safeguard them, but we do have the Archons. They can take command and use the local defense forces to better effect than you are, and we can supplement them in some small ways while The Nexus forces that are not local withdraw to other assignments…such as helping the Meintre hold on long enough to evacuate.”

  The Sety looked at him disbelievingly. For The Nexus that piece of territory was a mere crumb compared to the rest, but it was a huge territory grab for a civilization as small as Star Force…and he didn’t think they had a chance in a million of holding it.

  “The Archons can,” Davis insisted, peeking into his thoughts.

  “You think your commanders are that good?”

  “I know they are, and a lot of these races have already expressed some level of interest, officially or unofficially, of either joining us or forming some type of alliance. They see The Nexus’s ability to safeguard them crumbling, and I think it would be better if you backed out on good terms rather than pulling out as the region collapses.”

  “To help us save face?”

  “If your reputation is holding other threats at bay, then yes. It’s a weapon you can’t afford to lose.”

  “And you said you would cover the cost of relocating the grid points?”

  “While you cover the cost of the Meintre relocation. We’ll provide the planets cost free, but the rest is up to you to build or relocate from their existing worlds.”