Star Force 82 Hradeiti (SF82) (Star Force Origin Series) Read online

  Paget kicked aside a datapad lying on his floor in frustration, seeing it bounce off a wall and spin around on the smooth, hard floor for a few seconds before becoming still. The sound brought his broodmates running, but he calmed them down with a twitch of his lumpy head and headed for his private room, not interested in talking with any of them or his children, though he did request they send him some food.

  While they ran off to work on that he sealed himself away from the noise of his growing family and sat down behind his comm terminal. While he was a high ranking official within the Gnar and one of the most senior on this planet, room here was scarce and even his ‘luxurious’ domicile was small compared to what his station deserved. He had 6 broodmates and 38 offspring at this point, but for a Gnar that was barely a good start at a proper family. Try as they might, the old traditions were hard to maintain on this cramped world and Yavit, his homeworld, was not much better off.

  Those living there were maintaining the old traditions, but every city that had been rebuilt was full to capacity and new constructions were consuming up the available landspace as fast as the population was growing…leaving no room to repatriate Gnar from offworld. Paget was here because he was assigned to function as an intermediary with Star Force, who would not be allowed a foothold on Yavit for an embassy even if they asked, which they hadn’t.

  Paget’s duty was here…and here he would stay until he completed it. If he failed he wasn’t going to the homeworld and he’d be forced to live out his remaining days cramped up here as the Gnar population had to be forcefully restricted. That was a huge insult to his people, but logistics were finite. He’d arranged several land purchases in his career over the past 73 years, one region on this world and some bits and pieces on others. It had been costly, but those bargains had given the Gnar a little more breathing room…which they quickly consumed.

  He knew everyone was having population growth problems, save for Star Force, but it made no sense why they couldn’t expand to the empty worlds the lizards had left behind. No sense at all!

  And it wasn’t an issue of price. Star Force wasn’t entertaining any bargains unless a race impressed them, and the Gnar had long been an adversary. It was true, they relied on Star Force markets more heavily than he wanted to admit, but the Gnar were mostly independent with their own economy and industry. Trade with other races was fair to heavy, but with all prices concerned they had to use the Star Force transit network for most of their shipping.

  They had not allied themselves with Star Force though. No formal trade deals or bargains of any kind. What business they did with them was simply as customers…aside from the deals Paget was trying to strike now. He was trying every angle he could to get a hold on another planet, let alone a system. If and when he did he could move there and live like a king or go back to his homeworld and live far better there than he was here, though most Gnar on Mothere had to make due with far less.

  Paget logged into his secure system and filed his report. Failure again, though it wasn’t a surprise to anyone. Star Force could not be manipulated, they’d learned long ago. They held to their own reasoning, and while somewhat unfair they were at least notoriously consistent. It was said it was just a matter of finding that special deal that would suit both parties, but even when the Gnar were willing to pay a ransom for a single planet Star Force would not even discuss the matter other than to politely say ‘no’…and that cocky politeness was infuriating on its own.

  Paget found something on his desk to grab and throw into a wall, not caring what it was. He hated Star Force, as well as his inability to find a way to give them what they wanted in exchange. For it seemed they wanted nothing at all, and had the military power to hang onto those empty worlds for as long as they chose.

  Some would say they deserved it for doing the impossible, but that didn’t help Paget. The ADZ was packed full of people, with the Gnar only being a small sliver of that whole. They had to expand at some point, whether Star Force liked it or not, else there would be a catastrophe in the making…or a revolution, if only that were possible. Paget would have pursued that agenda if possible, desperately wanting to, but he knew as well as everyone else how dominant they were. There was no way to beat them, militarily, economic, or otherwise, and the few small groups that had been so arrogant as to try had been quickly and hilariously slapped down.

  That was where Gnar had gotten one of his small territorial acquisitions from. The Traxloni had openly rebelled, and as a result had a third of their territory confiscated. They’d been lucky that Star Force hadn’t outright annexed them as they had done others, but they were so small and pathetic it probably hadn’t been worth their time.

  And they could do the same thing to the Gnar in the ADZ too if they chose, but Paget knew them well enough to not have to worry about that. Don’t cross them and there was no danger, but he had to find some way to get his people, or at least himself, out of this population time bomb.

  By the time his food was ready he hadn’t had any epiphanies as to how to do that, so he ate with that not improving his mood much, but at least his stomach was no longer empty.

  Two weeks later he traveled back to the neutral zone between regions and to a different Star Force city, against his liking, but he needed to meet with a contact that preferred to operate out of the Star Force facilities, citing they were ‘cleaner.’ Paget almost blew him off for that reason, but at this point any leads on available new territory were too important to pass up so he accepted the solicitation and went to meet with him in one of the many public courtyards.

  His contact was a Critel, but one not working for their government. He identified himself as Crojack and requested a less public location to talk within, with the pair agreeing to relocate to nearby restaurant where they could get a private booth. Crojack ordered an expensive beverage but Paget declined, not wanting to bother with adjusting his mask to accept liquids, and he wasn’t here for social niceties anyway.

  “What it is that you have to offer?” Paget asked directly, and in English, given that that was annoyingly the widely accepted trade language within the ADZ. His version included a synthesizer in his mask that gave his words a more intimidating resonance that was by no means an accident of technology.

  “A large financial risk with potentially great reward…in the way of new territory to colonize.”

  “Such things are hard to come by in the ADZ,” Paget floated warily, expecting to get nothing out of this, but having to pursue all leads regardless, “and Star Force is locking down all former lizard territories aside from those going to their allies and pets.”

  The Critel inclined his head dubiously. “They did give the Gnar not only a world, but a full system.”

  “That was ours to begin with,” Paget all but hissed.

  “The lizards may have never colonized it, but they did drive you from it and you never returned on your own.”

  “We couldn’t until they were gone.”

  “Then the lizards possessed it by defacto. Star Force took it from them and gave it to you.”

  “If you’re here to sound the trumpet to the generosity of those hoarders then this conversation is already over.”

  Crojack held up a hand to forego any such theatrics. “I merely point out the truth. We work with Star Force well, so long as we remember their motivations. They deal fairly, without exception, though it does take some thinking to be able to see that in all cases.”

  “Who are ‘you’ exactly?”

  “We are an organization of…entrepreneurs who have a host of business acquisitions. We collectively call ourselves the Hradeiti. Perhaps you’ve heard of us.”

  “Vaguely,” Paget said, remembering a few rumors of a powerful faction that had been working through shadow corporations and across many different races’ borders.

  “We like to keep a low profile, but we’ve had some up front dealings with Star Force in the past. Including acqu
iring a single world in a system they control in what used to be Nestafar space. From there we’ve been doing a great deal of scouting, particularly along the lizard border that oddly Star Force won’t touch. We haven’t been able to determine why, though we have asked them directly…and received a direct reply.”

  “They won’t go any further coreward,” Paget said, already having heard that.

  “Yes, odd as that is. Perhaps they’re being prudent and not trying to expand too fast, but they have assured us that that border is essentially fixed and they do not intend to go any further. Not even if they should be able to conquer every lizard system from here to the rim.”

  “I highly doubt the truth of that.”

  Crojack shrugged. “Perhaps, perhaps not. The indication is clear that they’re not pushing in that direction any time soon, but will keep the lizards from encroaching on this side of it…and all without charging us denizens for that protection, I’ll remind you.”

  “Do you have a point in this?”

  “Yes, I do. My organization is building an army and navy and require financial and material backers. We’re not asking the Gnar devote soldiers or ships, though if you were of a mind to we could have a different discussion. No, we’re seeking financial assistance to build up a significant enough force that we can take a system away from the lizards.”

  It was a good thing Paget hadn’t gotten a drink, for he would have choked on it at hearing that.

  “Are you insane?”

  “Savvy, we think. We’re gathering the resources and personnel to do just that, costly and risky as it will be. But if we succeed we will have access to new worlds that will be divvied up amongst our investors.”

  A server came to their boost and dinged, with Crojack opening the privacy door and accepting his drink. He took a sip and closed the translucent panel again.

  “The lizards are technologically stronger than ever before. How do you expect to take a system from them now?”

  “We have cleansing beams.”

  Paget was taken aback. “How?”

  Crojack shook his head. “You don’t need to know that. But I can assure you we have the blueprints and are currently producing said weapons to outfit our new ships with.”

  “And you think Star Force will let you use them?”

  “Actually, we’ve already informed them and got their blessing.”

  “What!”

  Crojack nodded. “We acquired the designs through a, shall we say, black marketer and developed them to an adequate level with our own prototypes, at which point we reported the transaction to Star Force, showed them what we’d built, and asked for their counsel. With our information they tracked down the technological leak and sealed it off. That’s beside the point, but while they are still adamant about no one getting that technology from them or their allies they gave us an opening. It was a gamble, but we had hoped for as much.”

  “Do they know what you plan to do with it?”

  “Yes, we fully informed them. They laid down a strict set of rules and the penalties that would incur for even the slightest violation…but that’s just normal for them. You know how they work. We have their permission to use them against the lizards and no one else. Aside from the single system we possess and anything beyond the border, we’re not even allowed to move those warships through ADZ space, nor conduct operations with or against any other race. Like I said, they were strict on the provisions, but they gave us a window of opportunity.”

  “To attack the lizards? More like an opportunity for suicide.”

  “They pretty much said the same, but they’re willing to let us try. They also said we will get no help from them whatsoever…unless we succeed. They said any system within 50 lightyears of the border, if we’re able to take it, will be extended into their protective bubble.”

  Paget couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  “I know, it sounds crazy, but it’s true. They may not be going after the lizards in that region, but it seems like they’re in favor of someone else doing so. We don’t stand a good chance, but if we can mount a large enough force and take a system quickly, before the lizards can call for reinforcements, it will be ours and Star Force will keep lizard reinforcements from coming in and smashing us.”

  “What’s their definition of take?” Paget asked, still not believing this.

  “Full naval control and a stable foothold on at least one planet. Enough to know that we will eventually take it if no reinforcements arrive.”

  “That’s a huge task in and of itself.”

  “But doable if we pick the right system, and we’ve already been scouting out the region.”

  “How did your ships not get destroyed?”

  “We’re careful, and our gravity drives are Star Force models. They still won’t sell weapons, but we can put the two together ourselves. We have three targets in mind that are soft enough that we think we might have a chance at, but we need backers, the right backers, to build enough of a military force to take it and take it quickly. That is the biggest risk, but the reward would be immense.”

  “How many pieces will the planet be cut into?”

  “We will be dividing surface area into 32 regions, water or not. With sufficient backing from the Gnar, I can offer you one of those and up to 5 if you’re feeling very generous.”

  “Water does us little good.”

  “We haven’t settled on a target yet, but we’re not counting water regions. Those we’re retaining unless someone specifically wants one. But remember, it’s not just the surface. It’s orbit as well.”

  “I’m well aware of that. Who are the other backers?”

  “For the moment I’m keeping that to myself, and none of what I’ve told you is public knowledge. I’ve come here because I know the Gnar have had bad blood with Star Force and you’re anxious for new territory that they won’t trade to you. While Star Force has promised to extend their protective envelope out within that 50 lightyear region, they will have no presence there other than orbital defense assets if they so choose to locate them there. This will not be an Alliance World. There will be no economic tug of war. It’s a chance to get away from Star Force entirely…defense considerations aside.”

  “Surely they made you agreed to a code of conduct?”

  “They did, which we will enforce, but they will have no infrastructure present. This will be entirely our world to do with as we please, and to share with who we please.”

  “If you can take it, and that’s a big if.”

  “Yes it is. I’m not disputing that. We’ll have one chance to take the system, and must come in with overwhelming numbers. If we fail, we’ll not have enough backing to try again…unless you guys get even more desperate for new territory.”

  “A one shot operation then?”

  “Indeed. Is that something the Gnar would be interested in considering?”

  “How much time do I have to think on it?”

  “Plenty. We can’t build a military overnight. This will take decades to plan and prepare.”

  “It’s worth looking into, though at first glance I’m not comfortable with the odds. Cleansing beams or not.”

  “Fair enough. We’re not optimistic either. It’s a challenge to overcome, but we think it’s doable with enough resources and insight.”

  “Let me run this by my homeworld, along with any additional information you can provide.”

  “There is none…as of yet. We don’t want to advertise this unless we succeed.”

  “And if you do you’ll try for another system?”

  “Only if our wishes come true.”

  “And Star Force has sanctioned this?”

  “More like not interfering with it.”

  “They truly expect it to fail?”

  “They’ve said as much.”

  “And if our military wanted to assist?”

  �
��We can’t supply cleansing beams, but we can potentially incorporate you if you’re willing to adhere to our rules. A sloppy assault is a failed one. We have to be professional about this, so we can’t take chances. That said we’ll incorporate everything of benefit that we can.”

  Paget signaled for the menu and ordered a drink for himself, cautiously feeling optimistic. “Tell me more of this world you’ve already secured.”

  5

  March 3, 3139

  Utia System (Occupation Zone)

  Ventress

  The Gnar convoy of 18 small jumpships ended their slow microjumps into planetary orbit, seeing only a single, but sizeable starport in orbit. Further off, three additional planets were full of Star Force infrastructure, yet this planet was mostly barren. The starport was of standard Star Force make, as were pieces of the cities on the planet below, but the ships in orbit and the rest of the infrastructure was a mix/mash of different tech cobbled together in seemingly random fashion.

  Paget hoped that wasn’t a bad sign. He was wagering everything on this endeavor, not just his people’s resources and a good chunk of their treasury, but if this scheme didn’t pay off his position within the governmental ranks of the Gnar would be over. The potential return on investment was too good for him to pass up though, so here he was, far from even his cramped home on Mothere, intent on making a personal inspection of the Hradeiti operations. It was too late to back out now, but for his own sanity he needed to see that this wasn’t a colossal blunder.

  He wasn’t impressed with what he saw from orbit as the convoy was guided into a parking slot near the starport. There they waited for necessary docks to open up before the shuttles could start hauling over their cargo, and it wasn’t until they’d orbited around to the far side of the planet that he noticed a very large region had been colonized.

  Using the jumpship’s sensors, which weren’t great for surveillance but adequate for navigation, he saw several large cities in addition to huge swaths of construction. What they were building wasn’t obvious, but he guessed there had to be millions of people down there. The Gnar had done a full investigation of the Hradeiti before they’d agreed to this deal, but none of the reports that Paget had read mentioned anything about this…then again, maybe they’d never actually come out here to do any checking.