Star Force: Excursion (SF46) Read online

  With a simple signal sent to the bridge, Morgan gave the order to leave and Admiral Wilkinson got the massive warship underway as it chased the tail of the evacuation line over to the star, finding a few dozen still waiting to make the jump out when they arrived, surrounded by 6 warships and their fleets of drones that were now beginning to be recalled into their berths. Morgan’s command ship waited on them and let them jump first, meaning they were the last one out, which as fitting, since Morgan had been fighting on the Calavari front for a full century now.

  Over the days that followed the Green Ranger made slow jumps, following the long line of transports as they bounced their way from system to system and into the Star Force Calavari territory that was on the edge of the ADZ, but nearly all of the transports didn’t stop there aside for fuel and supplies. They continued down the conduit to various locations while Morgan’s fleet stayed behind, either reinforcing the defense line there or being redeployed out to the other 7 transitional worlds that were still operational.

  The Calavari worlds that the Protovic were diligently guarding were the only other Calavari systems remaining intact, with those on the far side of their former territory having succumbed when the Kvash and others abandoned their defense. Morgan had helped to evacuate as many of them as possible, but given the distances involved and the aggressiveness of the lizards and their Nestafar allies, few of those Calavari had survived, leaving only these two little bastions of defiance remaining, with the Protovic protectorate having been convinced to join with the Star Force Calavari.

  Taryn was there, facilitating the evacuation routes to that area and organizing their defenses as part of their population was being siphoned off to HTC for conversion training. Slowly, year by year, newly minted Star Force Calavari were being return to replace them, giving the new Calavari territory two clusters on the edge of the ADZ, with Leif heading up the defense and remaining evacuation efforts in the Drema-centered section, which had become known as the Rim sector, with the Calavari systems on the Protovic border likewise being labeled the Core sector.

  With a trailblazer overseeing each and the combat within the old Calavari territory all but over, Morgan’s time there was at an end, with her leaving the Green Ranger behind to become part of Leif’s fleet as she took temporary command of one of the older Warship-class jumpships and traveled the full length of the conduit back to Epsilon Eridani, where she spent several weeks getting caught up on Clan Ninja Monkey activities and assets there while she got in some much needed ground training.

  She’d spent so much time on jumpships that her ‘land legs’ were quite rusty, with Morgan relishing some long forest runs and the uneven footing challenge that they provided. While she had gone on surface missions from time to time those had been rare…and none of them were workouts where she could just relax and grind out the miles over the terrain.

  It took her a few days to begin to really unwind, not just from the outdoor runs, but by the change of venue. The personnel around her, from the Clan to the mainline Star Force colonies, to the workload, which was management, training, and creation, were suddenly back to what had been normal to her prior to going to the Calavari front. She’d been back for short stays on occasion, but it wasn’t until her mind began to release her responsibilities to the Calavari and turning that horrific situation into something positive did she realize just how much she didn’t like being cooped up on jumpships.

  Like any Archon, she’d adjusted to the circumstances at hand, but now she was realizing just how much she’d been missing, and after a few weeks of letting it all sink in she promised herself she wasn’t going to take on any more long term fleet assignments…if she could help it.

  It was a full month before she eventually got around to meeting up with Dakota, Tyr, and Kerrie at Corneria Prime, the planet’s command center and capitol of the system. She got to the briefing room last, with the other three trailblazers already engaged in a conversation with ArchDuke Hightower.

  “Well, well…look who finally showed up,” Tyr said as she walked in.

  “Shut up,” she said lightly, pulling out a chair next to Dakota and sitting down. “I had a mountain of Clan stuff to take care of. What did I miss?”

  “Not much,” Hightower said dismissively. “We were just arguing over production quotas.”

  “Clue me in.”

  “Warships vs. infrastructure,” Kerrie summed up pithily.

  “Infrastructure builds warships,” Hightower reminded them. “Corneria has a great deal of untapped resources that I want to exploit, but to do so at the pace I desire means we can’t be overrunning the shipyards due to lack of available material.”

  “Epsilon Eridani’s shipbuilding capability is beginning to exceed its resources,” Dakota explained.

  Morgan frowned. “Doesn’t matter how many shipyards you have if you don’t have the supplies to feed them.”

  “Exactly my point,” Hightower said, throwing a glance at Tyr and Kerrie.

  “Morgan, you know how badly we need more warships on the front lines,” she argued. “Aside from Sol we’re the major producer, and the Clans can’t field enough as it is. We have to have mainline production ramping up.”

  “The real question is how urgent is the need,” Hightower inquired with a raised eyebrow.

  “I need numbers,” Morgan prompted.

  Dakota tapped the tabletop a few times and a statistical hologram lit up between the five of them at the rectangular table, with Hightower sitting at the narrow end.

  The others stayed silent for several minutes as Morgan absorbed the production numbers and the proposed plan that Hightower was floating, which would reduce warship production by 32% in exchange for building MCV jumpships over the next 12 years that he would then use to amp up construction on the slew of smaller planets in the system.

  Currently there were 14 main planets, one of which belonged to the Hycre, all of which were heavily populated, but there were hundreds more tiny ones in odd orbits at great distance from the others. Some of them had already been lightly inhabited by mining and construction crews, but there were far too many to get to in a short period of time with their current production slate…and Morgan wasn’t sure why they’d even want to, given their small size.

  She glanced up from the holo and looked at Hightower, who technically was in command of all non-Clan infrastructure in the system, meaning he could tailor the production quotas as he liked, but he knew better than to mess with warship production without the Archons’ approval.

  Morgan shook her head. “I don’t see what you’re trying for here. These planets are far too small to worry about right now. Surface facilities on the current ones should field more resources in the near future.”

  “It’s not the near future that concerns me. It’s our rate of growth. Individually these planets are not significant, but combined they will be the equivalent of two more Class E planets. The trouble is getting facilities built that can service them all. The spread out nature of the resources they contain is the issue, which is why I need smaller development platforms. A temporary reduction in warship production will yield a higher rate of production down the road once the resources from these planets are added into the supply chain. Plus the MCVs can be deployed to other systems afterward. With so many planets going to other races, we’re going to have to be savvy to get what we need in future expansions.”

  “Yet we have to survive long enough to get there,” Kerrie countered, “hence the problem.”

  Morgan groaned. “We need both.”

  “Exactly,” Dakota agreed.

  “Where’s the Kiritak supply level at?”

  “Holding steady, but it’s limited by the amount of cargo traffic available. Most of our local production is fed by local resources, and even if we had Kiritak supplement it wouldn’t scratch the surface of what we need. Epsilon Eridani has to be self-sufficient, and it has to be able to provide the fleets that the rest of Star Force needs. That need is growing, and if
our ability to provide it doesn’t also grow we’re going to limit ourselves in centuries to come.”

  Morgan looked at Kerrie, then Tyr, and finally Dakota. “You’ve been here longer that I have been. What do you suggest?”

  “Keeping to the production schedule,” Tyr said firmly.

  “How bad is it out there?” Dakota asked.

  Morgan sighed. “Bad enough, but it’s only going to get worse. The lizards aren’t to the Rim sector yet, but when they get there we’re going to need every ship we can get.”

  “Or Sentinel,” Kerrie added.

  Morgan looked at Hightower. “Are you building those here?”

  “Just the ones for our own use. We’re not exporting any. That’s Sol’s turf.”

  “I hate to say it, but…”

  “Time to rip the band-aid off?” Kerrie finished.

  Morgan nodded.

  “Now that’s a reference I haven’t heard in a long time,” Hightower commented.

  Dakota frowned. “Meaning what?”

  “We go all-in and build his MCVs as fast as possible. Full production.”

  Hightower raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.

  Tyr shook his head. “That’s not going to work.”

  “If we have two bad options, might as well get it over with as quick as possible,” Morgan explained. “This way the onus is on us being able to hold the line with the ships we have, not on him,” she said, pointing at Hightower, “to build more ships than he is capable years from now. The war is only going to escalate, so if we’re going to take a production hit now is the best time to tackle it.”

  “Wars,” Dakota corrected.

  Tyr looked at Hightower. “How long with full production?”

  “I haven’t run those numbers because I didn’t think it was a realistic option, but if we go full-in on both military and cargo lines I’d guess 2 years, 3 max, with a delayed implementation as we finish up the current slate.”

  “And that will give you what you need here?”

  “As well as the ability to expand to other systems not currently possible, though those projects wouldn’t be under my command.”

  “This is a bad idea,” Tyr reiterated. “But I agree that things aren’t going to get any better in the future. If this gets us more ships down the line, then it’s worth doing…so long as we can hold out. As it is, I’m not sure any of us know how hard we’re going to get hit and where, which is why I’d prefer having every ship we can get.”

  “I don’t disagree,” Morgan told him, “but I know if he’s asking then there’s a significant need.”

  “Thank you,” Hightower said, bowing his head slightly. “I promise I’ll make this work to our advantage if you can hold out.”

  “You better,” Kerrie joked, “or we’ll bust you back down to Duke.”

  “If I don’t I’ll bust myself down.”

  “Ok, next item on the list,” Dakota said with a straight face. “Morgan, what level are you at?”

  The striker gave him a bemused look. “54.”

  Tyr whistled, and Morgan saw him and Kerrie exchange a glance.

  “What?”

  Dakota reached over and put his hand on Morgan’s consolingly. “Paul is at 55.”

  “Oh, hell no…”

  “Afraid so,” Kerrie confirmed. “He’s been on a training tear ever since he got back to Earth.”

  “Last update I got said he was at 52. How’d he jump 3 levels?”

  “We were curious about that too,” Dakota said. “Seems he had a weak score holding him back that he had a breakthrough in.”

  “Let me guess, swimming?”

  “Yep.”

  “Damn him,” Morgan whispered. “How’d he jump three levels?”

  Dakota dug into the interface and eventually brought up the Archon training scores…at least the ones most recently updated, given how spread out they were across various star systems.

  “Not three,” he said, pointing to the jump in swimming scores.

  Morgan’s jaw dropped. “19?”

  “He hasn’t bothered to note how that happened, but we have a few guesses,” Tyr commented.

  “What’s the leading theory?” Morgan asked, going through his subcategory list and seeing several swimming scores that were now above her own.

  “He cheated and grew gills,” Dakota remarked.

  “We’re guessing he finally fixed whatever his drawback was,” Kerrie translated. “Maybe made a correction with the V’kit’no’sat medical station.”

  “Why wouldn’t he have done that before…assuming there was something wrong with him. I just thought he was slow.”

  “He’s not slow,” Hightower commented, having been his former Clan Marquis.

  “He’s not fast in the water either,” Morgan countered. “Do you know something?”

  “Afraid not. Other than communiques I haven’t talked with Paul in years.”

  “Well has anyone bothered to ask him?” Morgan wondered.

  “Message sent, still waiting on a reply,” Tyr told her.

  “Well do share when it comes in,” Morgan said, now thoroughly miffed. She’d held top Archon status forever, and she definitely didn’t like Paul pulling some magic out of his ass to suddenly jump ahead of her in the standings.

  “Aren’t you due for a check-in with him and Jason anyway?” Kerrie asked. “You still haven’t gotten the battlemeld yet, I assume?”

  “I’ve been busy.”

  “So go ask him yourself,” Dakota suggested. “And send pictures.”

  “I think I will,” Morgan said, having planned to get there eventually anyway.

  “If that’s settled,” Hightower said politely, “we have personnel transfers to orchestrate.”

  Kerrie could tell by the look on his face that he considered such things to be painful, given that each time it occurred he had to ship out some of his highly skilled subordinates to other systems that were starting up or expanding into larger colonies. That couldn’t be helped, for the most talented people were either here or in Sol, meaning this is where the brain trust had to be siphoned from.

  “That we do,” Kerrie agreed, being the one that would be setting up a trio of new colonies in Delta Region through Clan Ahsoka that would eventually become mainline run Alliance Worlds. Her people would be overseeing the supply lines that would feed the startup costs, but it was mainline personnel that would be running them, meaning that they needed both skilled and experienced leaders that Hightower was going to have to part with. “What have you got?”

  Hightower brought up the short list he’d assembled and began making his recommendations as Morgan stewed, thoroughly ticked at herself for letting Paul pass her up, despite the meteoric rise his swimming skills had undergone.

  5

  June 23, 2505

  Solar System

  Earth

  Davis looked up from the datapad he was reading as he heard footsteps entering his office late at night. He was just about to call it a day himself, then was suddenly glad he hadn’t when he saw an old friend climbing the stairs into his office with the gentle grace that made her almost silent, and Davis was proud to have even noticed her approach.

  “Now that’s a face I haven’t seen in a long time,” he said, setting the datapad down and standing up.

  “Figured I should drop in while I had the chance,” Morgan said as Davis came out around his desk to meet her, then wrapped her up in a big hug.

  “I never had a chance to thank you for the work you’ve done with the Calavari,” he said, stepping back and waving her towards a chair. “You’ve saved a race…and one very important to Star Force’s future, I think.”

  “Not enough of them,” Morgan countered, sitting down and remembering back to the first time she was in this office along with Paul and Jason as the secrets of ambrosia were spelled out to her.

  Davis nodded, knowing better than to argue the point with her. Archons didn’t like losing anyone, and no matter how ma
ny she saved her mind would be focused on the failures rather than the successes.

  “Are you back to stay?”

  “We’ve evacuated everyone we could find, save for those who didn’t want to go. We’ve actually been pulling more from other races than Calavari in recent years. If there are any more out there I don’t know where they’re hiding. We’ve sent a scout into every system that was formerly Calavari territory and evacuated everyone we found. The other races in the region have already evacuated, save for those who chose to stay, so my time there is over. Leif and Taryn are staying in the new Calavari sectors to organize their defense, leaving one trailblazer too many, so I’m cycling back to catch up on Clan matters and soak in some sun. Didn’t realize how much I missed planetary atmosphere.”

  “Where are you heading next?”

  “I’ve got some business in the pyramid, then I’m a floater until I find another mission. Don’t suppose you have anything for me?”

  “Nothing worthy of your skills, no,” Davis said with a light laugh. “You’ve earned a vacation. Why not take it?”

  “Being off a jumpship is vacation enough, and I had several weeks of downtime on Corneria already.”

  “Typical Archon.”

  Morgan raised an eyebrow. “When’s the last time you had a vacation?”

  “I’m not involved in combat.”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  Davis sighed. “Probably before you were born.”

  “More Archon than you give yourself credit for.”

  “Hardly,” Davis said dismissively. “But seeing how we both have an aversion to off time, how about you bring me up to speed with what you guys are working on.”

  “Something specific you want to know about? We usually keep you in the loop.”

  “Not your current projects, but where you’re thinking ahead. The stuff I suspect you talk about with each other prior to solidifying any plans. You guys run the frontier regions, just want to know where your heads are at.”

  Morgan studied him carefully. “You’ve got something of your own in the works and you want to make sure it doesn’t conflict with what we’ve got running?”