Star Force: Resolution (SF89) (Star Force Origin Series) Page 5

  “Hello. My name is Oni-081,” she said, taking her stool-like seat, “and I’ve been assigned command of the Trinx invasion.”

  “Has a plan of action been developed yet?” the cyborg asked.

  “More or less. I know how I want to approach the challenge, but I’ve only been planning using Star Force technology. What you can provide will allow for beneficial alterations once you make me aware of what your contributions will be.”

  “That depends on the battle plan.”

  “I can promise you that I do not intend to lose troops in this assault,” she said, picking up on his thoughts, partial as they were, split between readable biological brain sections and the blank mechanical counterparts as far as her telepathy was concerned.

  “But you cannot guarantee it,” the Jonstar said evenly.

  “There are never any guarantees in life, let alone battle, but I never attack a world in a way that expects losses. If this were a defensive engagement we might not have that luxury, but since we’re going to be going in when and where we choose, there will be no such sloppiness.”

  “What is your general plan of attack?” the tanky Breti asked.

  “Our objective is not to kill the Trinx, but to capture them.”

  “Capture?” Pattrel asked, somewhat shocked. “That may work against less advanced civilizations, but it will not work against the Trinx’s level of technology.”

  “Not without us taking serious losses in the effort,” the cyborg added.

  The Human shook her head. “They have only one system, and fortified as it may be, we can take it intact if we’re patient and persistent. The objective is to claim the system, not to do so quickly. If they engage us heavily we pull back, try to isolate individual ships or units and neutralize them. Once neutralized we collect and transport them out of the system entirely to a pre-readied facility where they will accept and begin to process the prisoners.”

  “To what end?” the quadruped Domu asked.

  “If the Trinx cannot be negotiated with, then they are too dangerous a foe to leave independent. Star Force will soon take the surrounding territory, and not knowing if or when they might strike us creates a problem, especially with their stealth technology. We have to remove the threat, and aside from killing them all, the only way to do that is to capture them.”

  “And what becomes of them after capture?”

  “We could exile them, denying them their system and forcing them outside our territory and yours, but I do not like that option for a number of reasons. Tactically, we couldn’t be sure that once they left they wouldn’t be back. And if they already have a grudge against us they’d have even more of one if we took their homeworld from them. The only way to neutralize the threat is to destroy their civilization. Star Force doesn’t do that by killing unless forced to, and there are so few Trinx that no matter how hard they fight we will still be able to neutralize and take them prisoner. Call it an added insult to their upcoming defeat. They won’t be allowed to die defending their arrogant pride.”

  “You refer to your extermination of the Li’vorkrachnika,” Pattrel noted. “You would really capture them if you could?”

  “Yes. But they kill themselves if captured anyway. We don’t think the Trinx will. Do you concur?”

  The 8 other races exchanged glances and some muffled conversation, then the Jonstar looked at the Archon. “We have never observed suicidal tendencies in them. They will die for a purpose, but they do not take their own lives. I would not hold that to be absolutely true, but we have seen nothing in our history with them to suggest otherwise.”

  “If we do manage to capture them and relocate them to a prison planet, what happens to them?” the Bpret asked.

  “The same thing we have done before. We separate the younglings and train them in the Star Force ways. They form a new civilization while we hold, evaluate, and train the current Trinx. If some of them change their ways they will earn a place in the new civilization. If not, they will remain comfortably confined until such time as they do or until they unfortunately expire. We cannot kill stubbornness, so we will keep trying to bring them around as long as necessary.”

  “You seek to annex them then,” the Sety said.

  “I believe it is the best option. Mad as we are with them, we don’t want to slaughter them.”

  “And you are going to take it upon yourself to decide their fate?”

  “I’m open to good suggestions if you have any.”

  “My concern is with members of their society that had no hand in the attack.”

  “They will be inconvenienced, no more. If they prove themselves they will be free to remain in the new Trinx civilization or leave, but to do so as individuals. The current group must be disbanded and this is a proven method to accomplish that.”

  “This civilization would be part of Star Force or independent?” Pattrel asked.

  “We’re not in the habit of building civilizations from scratch then saying ‘hey, you’re on your own now.’ If we do this we take responsibility for them. They will become a part of Star Force.”

  “Then I am content,” the cyborg said with finality. “They will meet a far more beneficial fate than some of them deserve.”

  “We like to err on the side of caution,” Oni quipped. “Punishing the innocent is unacceptable.”

  “Yet you are doing that by inconveniencing them,” the Sety pointed out.

  “It’s a transition, not a punishment. They have to unlearn what they have learned. Think of it as contamination that has to be scrubbed away. They might not see it that way, but if we just take them in then we run the risk of harboring an enemy in our midst. We will not risk that.”

  “Nor should you,” the Jonstar agreed. “I too am content with their fate and thank you for shouldering this burden. My questions now lie with our strategy for capturing them.”

  “We will have a control ship just in case the Uriti is released, accidentally or otherwise. We will not call it forth, but if they try to set it loose to kill us along with them we will shut down that attempt before it can manifest. We won’t be able to sedate it again, but we will be able to draw it off the planet and to a holding orbit while we fight.”

  “How do you plan on dealing with their conventional defenses?”

  Oni put a slew of holograms up in the air above the open center of the ring that they all sat around. “From what we know, and please speak up if I’m wrong, the Trinx have five primary weapon systems. Two beam systems with good range, one of which delivers engine inhibiting residue. Missile systems that can self-navigate to avoid targets while tracking others, an area of effect damage field, and a short range orb launcher.”

  “That matches our known inventory,” the cyborg said. “Though they also have cloaking systems and a variety of countermeasures.”

  “Yes, we noted that our drone control systems were being challenged. Fortunately our comm systems are redundant enough to not have gone down.”

  “They have a solid military structure,” the Sety offered. “I see no weaknesses to exploit.”

  “If there are no existing weaknesses, then you have to create some,” Oni explained. “The biggest challenge is going to be their planetary defense guns. We have some weaponry that can reach them beyond their effective range, but with their shield strength and redundancies it will take a very long time to take even one down and I fear that unless we put more firepower into a specific location than I’m expecting to bring with us they might have a chance to weather the storm.”

  “What weapon do you refer to?” the cyborg asked curious.

  “A siege weapon. Power, long range, and very hard to build. We have one that is available. If we need a second this invasion will have to be delayed. Do any of you have something to counter those big guns with?”

  The Domu looked around. “I do not think any of us possesses a weapon that can outrange their Yamshu.”

  “Our colosat can take them down,” the Jonstar offered, “but we
will pay a heavy price getting in close enough to use them.”

  “If their shields are fully deployed, they will destroy many of our ships before we breach them,” Pattrel said regretfully. “We must infiltrate the surface before we attack.”

  “How?” the Sety asked.

  “We must open up a hole to land troops through, even if it means braving their defense fire while we run them down to the surface. In order to do that we must sabotage several overlapping shield generators.”

  “But how do we get down to the surface?”

  “We must sneak in.”

  “You?” the cyborg asked.

  Pattrel nodded. “It will be risky, but I can see no other viable alternative.”

  “Fortunately that’s why I’m here,” the Archon said quietly, drawing the attention of all 8 representatives. “As I said, we have a siege weapon that may or may not be sufficient to slowly breach a point in their shield grid. If we do need a boost and none of your weapons have the necessary range, we can achieve it through other means, costly as they will be.”

  “What do you refer to?” the Dati asked.

  “Kinetic bombardment.”

  “Clarify please,” the cyborg said.

  “We can construct heavy masses, perhaps explosives if needed, and run them down to the surface to stress their shields. It’s simply a matter of figuring out how many are needed and constructing them.”

  “Won’t the Trinx orbital defenses and fleet intercept them?” the Sety asked. “They have auxiliary defense shielding to protect against a suicidal ship jump onto the surface.”

  “Those shields are extremely specific as to how they repel the matter. We can create a customized weapon to partially defeat them and get some mass to their primary shields. It will add stress if delivered, but we will have to remove the Trinx fleet and conventional defenses because a high speed ram is out of the question. That’s what their shields are probably set up to defend against, therefore we can’t hit them in that manner.”

  “Why can’t we send unarmed ships or masses into them repeatedly until their energy is depleted?” the Dati asked.

  Oni shook her head. “Do any of you know the full strength of their power systems? We can’t try that unless we have a target number to hit.”

  “Unfortunately the Archon is correct,” the cyborg said. “We will not know the full depth of their power reserves. If they are expecting bombardment they will have ample redundancies.”

  “Which is why we have to defeat their kinetic shielding rather than facing it head on.”

  “Defeat how?” the Bpret asked.

  “Strike to weaken and bypass it, not deplenish its energy.”

  “And you have the technology to do this?”

  “We have some, but no way to bypass their shields entirely.”

  “We can get to the surface,” Pattrel reiterated. “We can make this problem irrelevant.”

  “If it’s going to get your people killed, I won’t allow it,” Oni said.

  “We are willing to assist, but that doesn’t mean we take orders from you. No disrespect intended.”

  The Archon stared him down. “Unless we work as one, this invasion will not happen. I will not have you or anyone else doing your own thing and potentially upsetting the plans I have in place. Such confusion often gets people killed.”

  “How can you get your people in?” the Sety asked, deflecting that point of contention for the moment.

  “We take our time and infiltrate the planet using their own ships. We can hide within them without the Trinx knowing.”

  “How do you get to their ships in the first place?” the cyborg asked.

  “That is what we must determine, and it will probably come down to exploiting a moment of opportunity once in the system. We will have to arrive under guise or stealth to get into position to make use of an opportunity.”

  “And what will you use to destroy the shield generators?” the Dati asked.

  “We have our ways,” Pattrel said vaguely.

  “And what happens to you,” Oni asked, “after your presence on the planet has been revealed?”

  “The infiltrators take their chances. Our ability to move through walls that the Trinx can’t will give them a possibility of survival until our main ground forces arrive. They will simply have to run and hide once the deed is done.”

  “I could go down myself and take out a shield generator,” she said with a hint of anger. “But I won’t try because even if I succeed it would most likely be a one way trip. I will not allow troops to be sacrificed to attain an objective. This invasion must be an honorable one. Getting through the shields from orbit will be difficult, but with proper planning and construction it can be done. I am confident of that.”

  “And if you are wrong?” the Yisv asked.

  “Then no one dies and we blockade their planets while we look for another way.”

  “I am fairly confident the Yisv could succeed,” the Domu said. “But I do not think they could do so without losses.”

  “More to the point,” the Dati interrupted before Pattrel could respond. “The Trinx know we’re coming and they’d be stupid if they didn’t develop some warning system or countermeasure to your abilities. You could be walking into a trap.”

  “We will do our part in this invasion,” the Yisv said firmly. “We have not been able to do much in the past, but so long as this Uriti is sedate we will risk planetfall to achieve this objective.”

  “So all the Trinx have to do is wake it up and you’re all neutralized,” the Sety pointed out.

  “If they do so the shield generators will be compromised and we will have our entry corridor.”

  “Not worth it,” Oni said, holding up a hand to forestall further comments, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t want your skills. I just want to save them for situations where you can dominate the enemy.”

  6

  May 19, 3290

  Paquat System

  Vikod (Trinx homeworld)

  Oni brought her fleet into upper orbit of the planet after having received no challenge at the star. The warships came out of their microjump high and began spurting drones as a handful of Trinx ships raced to engage them, hoping to use the moment of opportunity to take down a few of them before the Star Force fleet could get itself organized, but with Oni’s command ship leading the way and actually initiating the combat, she was able to draw fire to her and give the leading warships the time they needed.

  Soon a swarm of the little boxy rectangles moved forward and intercepted the Trinx vessels before the command ship’s shields fell. Battle continued briefly then the Trinx retreated back down to a lower orbit leaving a handful of partially intact ships behind. Oni tagged them for retrieval and rescue operations after some precision weaponsfire plucked their remaining weapon systems from use even before the allied ships of the Chamra began to arrive.

  There were a fair number of them, but when combined with the ships of the other seven races, including only the three warships the Sety had managed to provide, they massed nearly half again the strength Star Force had brought with them and when all were visible in orbit they made for an impressive display.

  But just as impressive were the orbital defenses. The Trinx had a small fleet here, either held back from the previous assault they had launched or created since then. Immediately Oni saw a weakness and turned her ships towards a position in mid orbit, highlighting several defense platforms to neutralize without totally destroying as she sent surrender offers that were promptly ignored. Her drones went in while the allies stayed behind, on her order, so no living crews were lost. By massing drones Oni was able to keep her equipment losses to a minimum but oddly the Trinx fleet did not redeploy to intercept them.

  Not that it would have mattered, but they were sitting lower in orbit near to other facilities while Oni was successfully surrounding their primary shipyard. As soon as she had the fixed defensive emplacements knocked down she called in their allies and they beg
an boarding operations as she moved on to pluck a few more defensive installations from the Trinx arsenal here and there on the fringes of their primary cluster. She wasn’t going to make the mistake of diving in and slugging it out, but was content to take on a handful while the boarding parties began capturing the surviving Trinx crews.

  Taking out the weapons shooting at them was one thing, but simply blowing away the defense stations was quite another and had been strictly banned on Oni’s orders prior to arriving in this system. So far the other races were sticking to plan and following her lead, but there were so many defense stations in orbit of their capitol planet that it was going to be like chopping wood to get through them all…not to mention the lesser defenses around the other inhabited planets in the system.

  But the Trinx fleet, aside from that initial attack, did not move to engage. They could not win, and it was obvious, but they didn’t come to the aid of their defense stations and the crews on them. Rather they simply held position and Oni was beginning to wonder what their angle was.

  Right now the planet was covered in layered energy shields, sealed up nice and tight against whatever the attacking fleet could throw at it and ready to punish them if they got too close with a host of ground-based batteries. Oni had her Bra’hem-equipped Devastator still parked back at the star with an escort fleet to keep it out of the fighting until called for, which wouldn’t be for weeks, if not months, as they slowly picked away the orbital defenses. Then they’d get their chance to start pounding on the planetary shields, but right now the Trinx fleet, consisting of some 228 visible vessels, was a wild card.

  What were they going to do and why hadn’t they done it yet?

  With the shipyard boarding parties reporting back that they were successfully incapacitating the crew with a mix of Star Force units and Yisv skirmishers, only to be collected and imprisoned by the other races, a prompt in her command nexus brought her attention to activity on the planet’s surface. Barely a minute after that warning the Trinx fleet suddenly moved…down towards the planetary shields.