Star Force: Crusade (SF93) (Star Force Origin Series) Read online

  They accepted that, but the Knights of Quenar were still a dangerous enigma that Peter never knew if or when they’d stab him in the back. Star Force had gone through a lot of precautions to make sure they couldn’t sneak into various places, but so long as the Uriti were kept safe here the KoQ didn’t interact much with them and the other races. The preserve was still a hot crossroads that many powerful races wanted representation in, but some of the novelty had worn off now that Star Force had proved that they could successfully contain the Uriti.

  The haters had moved on, unable to stir up the ruckus they’d hoped for, but the preserve had also become a major tourist attraction drawing in ships from so far rimward that they didn’t even belong to The Nexus, and even some from coreward that knew of the V’kit’no’sat by reputation, though thankfully not by race, for they hadn’t identified the Humans as Zen’zat or Ter’nat.

  And now that there was a new ‘attraction’ it was sure to garner more attention, though Peter didn’t think it’d be trouble so long as this new one didn’t cause trouble on its own accord.

  Within a few hours of arrival Riley, who’d come back for the occasion, signaled what the new name of the Uriti would be.

  Devastator.

  Peter thought that was appropriate, and hoped the indoctrination of this one wasn’t going to be an issue, but as had happened before the other Uriti were one step ahead of the Archons and started taking Devastator through one of the nearby training courses before Matti even ordered them too. The Archon got the first run ‘sanctioned’ and they had a good two weeks of mingling and light training for the newcomer, then it was Peter’s turn when he took all the Uriti out of the system to the next leg on their circuit, practicing a combined jump with the new guy included.

  He didn’t have trouble with it, and when they arrived in the Titran System they got access to the more intense training courses, for the Alamo System was the simplest of them all and more of a ‘rest’ stop for the Uriti than anything. It was also home base and where all additional incoming Uriti were introduced, which also provided a spectacle for the observers, for it was the only system they were allowed in unescorted.

  Titran was a lot less outfitted with ‘hospitality’ facilities and had only three such stations. Everything else was training equipment, and when the Uriti were involved that meant some pretty big constructs. Rule number 1 was that it all had to be produced locally, so not to draw down resources from other needs, but they had a decent army of workers spread throughout the preserve mining and building what they needed, and most of the targets had been constructed so to absorb the Uriti attacks.

  That didn’t always happen as planned, for they often exceeded instructions and attacked with an ability that wasn’t intended, but for the most part they were cooperating and trying to do as told. One thing Peter had learned though, was that they easily got carried away. An analogy to dogs wasn’t quite right, and was really a disservice to the Uriti, for they were far more…more. He didn’t have a word for it, for there was nothing else to compare with, but holding back wasn’t one of their strong suits.

  When he introduced Devastator to one of their firing courses that involved a lot of weaving and moving around ‘no touch’ targets while firing on others, he took to it eagerly and moved his massive bulk through the course with decent skill, but he was far less impressive than the others…and that wasn’t because of his greater size. Peter was taking that into consideration, but like all the Uriti when they first arrived, they’d never done anything like this before. It was like having a person run who had only walked and crawled their entire life, and the duties the Chixzon had them do was little more than walk up to a planet and wreck it.

  Devastator was getting frustrated by his lack of comparable skill, which was evident in his mental status. Peter didn’t know what he was thinking, but anger and frustration caused telltale spikes in various categories, all of which was punctuated when he came to the first target sphere that was the size of a small seda. He was supposed to fire his pinpoint beam weapon from one of his arms only, but instead he flew up to the sphere, wrapped his body around it, and crushed the thing like a toy ball with a massive force field.

  “Oooouuccchhh,” Peter winced, not only at the loss of the target but the sheer destructive power that it had so easily wielded. And he was really glad that hadn’t been an actual seda…or ship.

  “Ok, remember to never piss him off…check,” he said as he connected with Devastator and ordered him to continue on with the course and to not do that to the other targets, reiterating a single beam attack.

  When he got to the next one a topaz beam skewered the target, impacting and absorbing into the shields for a full 12 seconds before it finally penetrated and began to burn through the construct that was also seda sized.

  “Stop,” Peter said, trying to keep some of the target salvageable. When he was trying to figure out what to do next he felt Devastator’s mind contact his and got his first glimpse of what the Uriti truly was.

  Which was remarkably calm.

  It asked without using words if it had erred, citing its previous mistake but that it had not done the same thing again. Peter figured out how to construct a response in images detailing that it had been his mistake and that he had underestimated the Uriti’s firepower. In order to avoid destroying the other targets he told Devastator to navigate the course but not fire on them until they could get recalibrated.

  Then the Uriti responded with an image of reduced beam intensity, which Peter then haggled with him over until he thought it would be adequate. He chanced another expensive target being destroyed, but when Devastator got to it he blasted away like he had the last time…save he only attacked it for 3 seconds. That wasn’t enough to penetrate the shields, preserving the target, but it wasn’t what they’d just agreed upon.

  It was better, sort of, and it seemed like this Uriti didn’t have too much trouble rewriting orders as it saw fit. That could be a serious problem down the road, but it wasn’t something unexpected. He’d dealt with this to a lesser extent in the others, but given that this was one of the earlier Uriti he was going to have to work with it more in order to get a proper relationship established where both sides knew what the other expected. Fortunately he had the other Uriti here setting an example, and in subsequent runs they didn’t deviate from orders…which had him breathing a huge sigh of relief, for he didn’t want them picking up bad habits from the new guy.

  As he learned later, that’s exactly what they viewed Devastator as…the new guy. He was larger and far more powerful, but he was the junior here in the pecking order and on some level he accepted that. Peter thought it was probably just reluctant acceptance given the fact that he’d never been around other Uriti before and was therefore not inclined to compete against them, rather to show off for them. And in this context that meant completing the course as instructed.

  Maybe Bahamut was explaining it to him, for he seemed the most vocal of them all with the Archons and often would be the one with the most registered telepathic activity. Peter didn’t know how much help he was getting from him and the others, but whatever was occurring it was working. After only a few months on the circuit he felt that Devastator had integrated himself into the group and accepted the Archons above and beyond the built in obedience that he seemed capable of modifying.

  Peter knew that building respect was the key to keep him from doing that, but as an Archon he knew that adaptation was important so he didn’t just want Devastator to just ‘shut up and do what he was told.’ That would be counterproductive, for all the others had gotten in the habit of offering suggestions about how to modify things in the preserve, and sometimes they had ideas that event the Archons hadn’t thought up.

  One such obstacle course went down in and through a star, which the Uriti found challenging due to the density of the material that they liked trying to race through. It was never predictable, with cross currents and upwells, and it was by far one the most taxing of
the drills that Peter had them do, but they still wanted more. More challenges, tougher challenges, and new skills to learn. They wanted to grow more powerful, and it always came back around to the distant threat that wanted to kill them.

  For some reason they never challenged this assertion, though the Archons had no proof to give them of the V’kit’no’sat or what they’d done to fight the Hadarak. Peter wasn’t even allowed to tell them of the Hadarak, but the Uriti knew the threat to them was real. Perhaps that wasn’t too unexpected when their entire lives had seen people attacking them. They’d never had an ally, always being the single point of strength thrown into system after system of enemies. They’d had minions grown, but they were mere tools, not peers, and now that there were multiple Uriti together they seemed hell bent on getting as strong as they could in order to protect the others.

  It was all about the others for them, and they feared them dying more than themselves. They’d never realized they had brothers and sister before, yet there was always an instinctual connection that had never been fulfilled up until now. And the preserve was where that happened, making it their home, their sanctuary, and their turf.

  And they wanted Star Force to teach them how to best defend it.

  7

  June 30, 3480

  Zordon System (Ninja Monkey territory)

  Alpha

  Morgan stood in the still smoking ruins of the largest city on the recently captured and claimed planet, renamed ‘Alpha’ along with the system after Power Rangers lore. The Ninja Monkeys had taken two planets and four fairly well developed moons in a little over 3 months. Two entire planets full of lizards were now nothing more than toast with a few roaming hunter teams looking for survivors to capture, or more likely kill, to make sure that their victory was a clean sweep.

  The lizards didn’t stand a chance, not only for the now massive technology gap and the elite nature of Morgan’s Clan, but because she had devoted a significant portion of her forces to this assault behind enemy lines. Well behind, in fact. It was in the middle of the region she planned to conquer, bypassing dozens of others in typically arrogant Morgan fashion. The lizards couldn’t stop her, so there was no reason to go after the systems in order of which was closest. The Zordon System was going to be the center of her defensive wall against the Skarron Crusade if it manifested, so it made sense to take it first and get construction under way as soon as possible.

  It wasn’t going to be on the front lines, but rather the focal point of her expansions. The largest and strongest point of defense that she was going to work everything else around…but right now it was just a system full of dead bodies and ruined lizard infrastructure that had to be cleaned up and recycled. But that wouldn’t last for long.

  “Take a look around,” Morgan said to the five other Archons with her. San-1299, Bror-4398, Andria-7337, Cressie-10001, and Todd-11933 stood perched on various pieces of rubble around a loose semi-circle, each with several meters of gap between them. She’d called them down here after the final assaults, with no one else within miles, lizard or Star Force.

  “This is it. This is where we break from the other Clans. We’re better, we all know that. Not necessarily in naval, or mechs, or commandos, or aerial, or aquatics…definitely not aquatics, but we are better. You can feel it. It’s in the very air we breathe, from Archons down to basic workers. We aren’t here to enjoy the view or live our lives in comfort. We’re here to push the limits, day in and day out. No other Clan does.”

  “They would disagree with that, but they’re wrong, and for reasons that they probably don’t fully understand. Most of their pressing in training, and as far as training scores go a lot of them surpass us. I brought this Clan to the border so we didn’t have to fully train. We needed a real enemy to fight, for it is only when our lives are actually on the line do we gain an element of sharpness that training alone will never create, and it comes from the knowledge that we are the last line of defense. There is no one watching our back. It is on us to succeed or fail, and failure usually means death.”

  “This has been lost on most people within Star Force, for the empire has become so large and strong that they don’t think in the same terms we do, and that is the reason why I have created such damn hard training simulations and standards. It is to drive that complacency out of us and keep it out. Do not misunderstand me…I am not anti-training, and you all know that.”

  Cressie laughed, noting the understatement of the millennia, but neither she nor the others said anything, letting Morgan have her moment of monologue.

  “But there is something critical missing in training alone. We take safety precautions so no one dies in training, and rightly so, but when you survive and prevail in a situation where there are no safeties you gain something. Something unspoken, but you know it’s there. You’ve stared into the abyss of death, sometimes passing within inches of it, and if you do it enough you come to not fear it. Rather you flip it off and mock it, and that is the essence of the Ninja Monkeys. We have that edge, that advantage, and that is why we are better. And now Star Force needs that strength.”

  “We are still too small to tackle the threat of the Skarrons on our own. Had I increased our population by other means it would have meant watering down our standards, which would have killed our edge. We would have been powerful, but only like the other Clans. That is not something to sneer at, but it is not enough for me. We have to be the tip of the sword, to go where the other Clans will not or cannot. That comes naturally for me, as a trailblazer, and you five have come to know this as well given the responsibilities placed upon you over the years. Responsibilities that had you in full command and the fate of many others relying solely on your judgement.”

  “We have to draw a line in the sand and hold it. If we don’t, the others will be vulnerable. The ADZ will be vulnerable, despite its current strength. I’ve been reviewing the force projections that Cal-com sent to Paul and the spamming capability of the lizards does not hold a candle to what they think is coming our way. This is the Skarrons’ ultimate weapon, and one of last resort. They empty virtually everything they have in order to beat the opponent they can’t beat, knowing that if they persist in limited warfare they will lose via attrition…so they stomp it out, coming in with so much firepower and numbers that an opponent cannot stand against them.”

  “They leave the rest of their empire vulnerable, willing to suffer whatever losses occur in order to get the main threat out of the way. This is why there have only been 3 recorded Crusades in their history. It is not a reliable tactic. It is not wise. It is desperation, but it is also them going all-in and they believe it will give them victory in any and all circumstances. The arrogance of this is what the Voku think will have the Skarrons going after them and us after they finish the lizards, or perhaps simultaneously. When you’re bringing Thor’s hammer out of the armory, you might as well smash anything and everything you can with it before you have to put it back again.”

  “It could very well be make or break. Depends on how stupid they are. If they pull back after one objective is accomplished and they can’t get the others…that would be wise, but if they are so arrogant to believe the need to smash everything in view they could end up destroying their own empire in the process. Fear of their vulnerability might also drive them to this, needing to take out the opposition before they see how weak they are after the Crusaders spread back out and the empire’s local strength is considerably diminished with what will be massive losses.”

  “I can’t tell you how this is going to go down, or even if it is going to happen. The probability of it happening is strong. I don’t think the Voku would be preparing if it wasn’t. And they take orders from the Zak’de’ron,” she said, getting a startled reaction from the other Archons who’d never heard that before. “Yes, the dragons lead them secretly, since long, long ago. They warned them of something coming their way, and the Skarrons seem the likely cause.”

  “But even if they don’t mani
fest, we are still taking this region and creating the wall. One day the V’kit’no’sat are going to come back, and I intend to fight and confound them right here. We are taking no civilians. Every world will be a battle world, designed to fight and bleed the enemy before it is taken. We have to be the distraction to keep our enemies away from the ADZ. If they go straight there we make their lives hell basing out of here and hit and run until they come to take us out. We become a nuisance if nothing else, but we have to have a home territory. A place where we have an advantage. I’d greatly prefer to have a Uriti or two with us, but that’s not going to be an option. So other than the preserve, I want this,” she said, gesturing around them to the rubble they stood in, “to become the biggest death trap our enemies will ever see.”

  “To do that we’re going to design differently. Some of our infrastructure is going to be permanent, as is necessary, but the core of our cities are going to be mobile. Pick up and go mobile. The add-ons we may lose, but we can move and land elsewhere as needed preserving our core industrial base. It’s also how we’re going to build up this territory faster than ever seen before. One flying city will land and expand, then leave the expansions to continue on while it moves to another region, planet, or system. I’ve already got a design team working on it, and we’ll have our first prototypes out within the next 2 years.”

  “But that’s not why I’ve brought you here. We have a fundamental problem, and that is size. We can build infrastructure, but we can’t build experienced personnel as fast as needed and we can’t water down the Clan with new blood. We have to maintain our standards and I will not compromise our edge. But in order to take control of this region without calling upon more Clans to assist, we’re going to have to create more Clans of our own.”