Star Force: Resistance (SF75) Read online

  “And 13 assault pillars,” he added. “No, we haven’t been able to get close. We can’t jump in on top of them with so many ships around, and we get swarmed when we try the front door. I think they’re going to mount an attack on our surface troops with the assault pillars, which is why we’re building additional bases out here.”

  “Explain that.”

  “We need resources to build our own anti-orbital battery.”

  Paul raised an eyebrow. “Why not request a Sentinel?”

  “I get the feeling the moment we bring one in we’ll invite a counterattack to take it out before it can be assembled. I don’t want to risk that until we can properly defend it. We need a strong point, at least one Keema battery that can reach out and pound an invoker or assault pillar and provide a pocket for assembly. Then we can bring in the Sentinels, several hopefully.”

  Paul thought about that for a moment as another pair of cruisers bit the dust to drones that had deployed mid microjump and cut them off on their run to a larger group of ships that were also beginning to pull back towards the stellar jumppoint.

  “You think we can build one without them knowing about it?”

  Liam nodded. “Totally subsurface. I’ve already got the site picked and being prepped, but the lizards are forcing us to use jumpship convoys to get the resources from planet to planet. Dropships are being chased down when we try, hence the chaperones you’re greeting now.”

  “And if we kill all these off they just replace them with more?”

  “At the rate they’re getting reinforcements we can’t piecemeal them to death. 100 cruisers, 1 drone, if they scatter most will get away and they’ll win the numbers game by the looks of it. We’ve made some deeper attack runs near the star, but those they will not relent on. If you want to do some hunting around the edges be my guest, but your ravagers are going to draw a lot of attention. They know now to focus them.”

  “Figured they would. I…damn,” Paul said as his mental update on the battle reports finally came to one particular entry. “They tried to ram an assault pillar into the planet?”

  “Thankfully Kiran saw it coming and diverted it. But yeah, they’re gonna use them as big missiles if they can.”

  A sick feeling crept into Paul’s gut. He knew the lizards were capable of this, but up until now their kamikaze tendencies had been smaller scale or a last resort. He pulled a bit more of his mind away from organizing the orbital hunt and left that to his bridge crew as he analyzed what had been an approach to the main planet. Kiran had taken his own command ship directly into the cruiser swarm behind a wedge of drones that had acted as blockers, ramming the lizard ships as necessary to get him through.

  But then the assault pillar had turned off, apparently realizing it wasn’t going to get within range to hit the ground…or at least not where it had intended, for the command ship could nudge it off course and land it on the lizard-held sections of the planet easily enough. That was one perk for only controlling a tiny sliver of the surface. They had to hit a very narrow target and even a bump at range could send them hundreds of miles off course.

  “You’re also worried about them ramming the Sentinels?”

  “Less so. They can move if needed, but I think they’ll turn into bug zappers with the cruisers going for them. Big pieces are a liability at this point. We need scores of drones to cover while we place them appropriately. I’ve also requested some special tech from back home, but will try to build some of it here. Right now we need raw materials, so any spare techs you have onboard please send down. We’re more short on hands than equipment at this point.”

  “You sent for more, I assume?”

  Liam nodded. “We’re building war colonies on these outer worlds while just trying to hold onto our piece of the main prize. That way they can’t take out everything we have in just one surface strike.”

  “We need kinetic shield generators…big ones.”

  “That’s what I sent off for, but if we’re going to block an assault pillar modular units won’t cut it. Right now a planetary Keema battery is higher on my want list.”

  “Why are we still trying to take lizard cities if we’re planning to build our way out of this?”

  “For as many reinforcements they have coming in, they’re still building and growing plenty on site. If we can take some of those factories offline, so much the better.”

  “And more ground for us to defend.”

  “Sara’s on it. We’re claiming a few strategic locations then torching the rest, capturing the cities long enough to gut them. If the lizards want to take them back they’ll find a few surprises waiting for them.”

  Paul smiled. “Bit of justified irony there.”

  “I know you just got here, but what are your impressions?”

  “That we’re fighting the war we thought we’d have in the core out here first.”

  “Not quite, but close. They know this will sever their empire in two and that any future convoys will be ambush bait. They either hold here or cellular divide into two separate entities. If we can split them, I think their pushing into Skarron territory will diminish without their industrial powerbase feeding it.”

  “It may slow them down, but I’ve been going over the Voku reports in detail and I think they’ve already prepared for that eventuality. They’re bulking up key worlds on the other side of the border in what looks like the outer reaches of a new core network. Not sure where it is yet, but I get the feeling it’s already out there and growing by the day. Too bad the Skarrons aren’t living up to their rep. Even with the light Preema support they’re not making any counter gains, just stemming the tide a bit. Cal-com even admitted that they’ve pushed near to the edge of the galactic arm coreward and beyond his ability to monitor.”

  Liam closed his eyes. “I didn’t realize it was that bad. I was working off the maps they’ve given us.”

  “Which are no longer accurate. The lizards have not only surpassed our coreward border, they’ve also spread beyond the Voku’s detection range and apparently even the Preema have not been able to keep up with them with Skarron intelligence. There’s word of tendrils shooting off everywhere and cherry-picking going on rather than just a massive wall moving forward. All unsubstantiated, but Cal-com shares such rumors with me. It’s against his nature to report on anything that could be inaccurate, but he trusts me to be able to sort things through myself.”

  “Still don’t know why he’s taken to you more than the rest of us, but I’m glad he’s sharing. No help here though?”

  “He offered some light assistance, but I told him to make use of it elsewhere. If the lizards are pouring all this here, more so than I realized at the time, then there are worlds out there that won’t be getting supplemented. He’s going to hop the lines a bit too and hit some bigger targets. If he pulls some heat off of us so much the better. If not he should take them a lot easier than previously expected.”

  “Assuming we survive this, good call.”

  “The lizards aren’t the only ones who can fight in multiple places at once.”

  “The Nexus really should have killed these guys when they were weak and small.”

  “Agreed, but at least they’re finally pushing back a bit on the H’kar border.”

  “Small victories,” Liam conceded. “If you let me handle the Grand Admiral role here, you’re free to go hunting with your ravagers. Just leave me a few extra defense ships if you can.”

  Paul smiled. “You know me too well.”

  “You designed the crude things, go use them,” Liam scoffed.

  “Slight offense taken,” Paul said as the transmission cut out and he was left with his Sav-enhanced mind running through the battle reports, which now increased in pace even as he watched the status of the orbital pursuits that were dwindling down. The lizard ships were slower than theirs, but they also knew that and were taking the scattering technique to heart. Paul was going to have to poke them somewhere they were willing to fight, which mea
nt either the main planet or back at the star.

  To that end he finished up reviewing the reports and then began to pick out his best hunting grounds, intent on starting to rack up his own kill count in this massive campaign, hoping that a lot more Star Force ships were on their way and trusting the other trailblazers to scrounge up what was needed, even if it meant abandoning other war fronts. This was a must-win system for the lizards, meaning they weren’t going to pack up and run. They were going to hold to the last, and with their industrial capability that ‘last’ might never come. If Paul couldn’t eventually gain control over stellar orbit he had no doubt the reinforcements would continue to pour in indefinitely.

  8

  January 2, 2936

  Gvaris System (lizard territory)

  Inner Zone

  Sen Legat Remmington-A002-92 watched from the command deck onboard the King Kong-class seda RTL as the massive battle station made its slow deceleration into the Gvaris System. Slow because the gravity drives were ill-equipped to move something so large at jumpship speeds, made only worse by the ponderously slow transit required into this particular system in order to avoid the lower stellar orbits. As it was they were going to arrive perilously close to the lizard fleets guarding the star, but he’d been promised support upon arrival if he could time it close enough.

  And the Canderians had not failed in that regard. They were arriving within 20 seconds of the allotted time, a few early in fact, with the RTL being first in line of a long convoy of sedas and drone warships. If the lizards were waiting for them, so be it. He could fight his way through them if needed. This system had becoming the largest campaign in Star Force history, and now that they’d received permission to come Canderous was going to do their part.

  The hyper-accelerated light coming into the seda’s sensors was being toned down by the defense shields, but a piece of it was allowed through to give them a visual regardless. That image of the central star grew steadily larger as Remmington watched, then when its size began to stabilize the color returned to it along with a host of tactical data as the seda’s speed matched that of the system and the battlemap signals became recognizable…as did the signatures of the hundreds of thousands of lizard ships waiting directly ahead of them and currently engaged with a much smaller Star Force fleet that had cleared the path for their arrival.

  “Helm, move us off the jumpline but drift towards that engagement. We’ll be the fulcrum with the rest of the fleet redirecting. Bring warships into escort formation as they arrive, but keep them behind us,” he ordered even as the big spherical station began to reposition and the visual displayed across the entire forward wall of the chamber showed the ongoing firefight. “Initiate battle spin and give me safe targeting lines. We’re going to clip a few enemy ships if we can.”

  The RTL wasn’t the largest Seda in Canderous, but it was the second largest by class and the biggest being brought into this system. At 72 miles in diameter it was far larger than a Sentinel, though somewhat less powerful weapon wise. What it made up for in combat was its bulk and its ability to act as an instantaneous placement of an orbital colony, complete with all facets of industry, bioharvest, military, population, and everything condensed down into a nearly self-sufficient system that could anchor a campaign like this.

  But Remmington wasn’t here just to feed supplies to the rest of the combined fleet. He was here to fight as well.

  “We have navigational orders from trailblazer Paul,” one of the command deck staffers said aloud. “Outbound vector to one of the smaller rim planets.”

  “Get the fleet moving there immediately, but we lag behind as rear guard,” he said as another seda, this one Donkey Kong-class, emerged from just behind a fleet of some 24 warships. Each was bigger than the drones Mainline and the Clans used, though small for a jumpship. They were all unmanned, like a Sentinel, and flown by remote pilots within the seda. “Do we have a targeting lock?”

  “All the attacking ships are cruisers. It seems their larger vessels are not engaged in this battle and beyond weapons range. However, the smaller ships are coming to us around the flanks of the Mainline fleet.”

  “Target the densest clusters and fire at range. Launch all starfighters and give me some initial kills. Orders to pilots to not go deep into their lines. Just engage the periphery as it pushes towards us. Warships to interspace between them and us leaving beneficial firing lines for our main batteries. Fire at will.”

  Remmington remained silent for the next few minutes, watching more sedas and warship fleets coming out of their deceleration jumps and pivoting around to move off the jumpline, then back out to the edge of the system that seemed to nominally be Star Force territory, but in addition to the hundreds of thousands of enemy ships engaged ahead, there were literally millions indicated on the battlemap spread across the system…along with over 300,000 Star force ship icons ranging from the tiny Cutter-class drones to full blown jumpships.

  There was not a Sentinel in play yet, and the reasons for that had been explained to him by trailblazer Greg when he’d accepted the Canderians’ request to participate. At present there was not a safe location to set up a Sentinel, and they feared that any attempt to do so, even on the system’s edge, would draw an immediate attack to deny the segments from being assembled. In the past that wouldn’t have been an issue because the lizards had lacked binary gravity drives. Now Star Force no longer possessed that advantage and the enemy could get to wherever they went, albeit a bit slower.

  His sedas, however, were fully operational upon arriving, evidenced by the super-heavy Keema batteries sending slightly distorted, yet clear beams of raw destructive energy into the lizard cruiser swarms and piercing ships at distance, sometimes two or three at a time. Even the misses destroyed ships when the beams lost cohesion and fanned out, for their power was so intense that even the ‘spit’ was dangerous for a distance afterwards.

  This seda carried the largest Keema built for space, equivalent in yield to what a Sentinel had, though less of them. Only planetary defense batteries were larger, one of which was said to have been under construction. Not on the main planet, but one of the smaller uncontested ones without an atmosphere, though by ‘uncontested’ he knew that meant on the ground, for he could see even now that there was considerable naval activity around the planet where he was sending his fleet.

  But there was a Star Force arrival committee there as well to insure they didn’t get ambushed, though they’d make any attackers pay if they did.

  Remmington was one of only 72 Sen Legats in Canderous, which equated to their leadership cadre of regional commanders. In some ways they were structured like the Archons’ trailblazers, without a single head position and made up of peers, but it was beyond rare when 2 Sen Legats were in the same system at the same time, and today was no exception. He did have 6 Kit Legats with him, each of which was accustomed to leading the affairs of an entire star system worth of sedas. This campaign was deemed essential enough to bring them all with him, and there had been a waiting line a mile long full of volunteers.

  He was going to need them, though, for the Canderians were not just here to defend orbital slots. They’d brought their armies of infantry, aircraft, and mechs along with them, intending to take the fight to the lizards on the ground when and where the trailblazers allowed. Remmington fully expected Canderous to be fighting in half a dozen different locations simultaneously going forward, and he couldn’t oversee all of it at once…at least not to the degree of detail his men needed, hence the Kit Legats had been brought in to enhance the leadership effect when the already chaotic scene escalated further.

  Right now the Kit Legats were transitioning with their sedas and the convoy away from this battle, but after several minutes of holding position and lightly engaging the enemy cruisers that stupidly dove towards them, an unusual prompt flashed on the main screen…one that the Sen Legat had only seen twice before.

  “Paul is requesting control of this seda,” a staffer inf
ormed him unnecessarily, for the trailblazer’s icon was emblazoned on the link-in request. Canderous warships and sedas had their own sovereign control system and shared data with the larger Star Force battlemap network, but remote control could not be taken externally without internal overrides being enacted, which the trailblazer was now requesting.

  “Give him control,” Remmington ordered. “Pilots, do us proud.”

  A few seconds later the wall-sized screen changed, gaining a golden trim that was instantaneously followed by commands being issued to the Canderian pilots, with their warships being ordered forward into the space brawl…then the Sen Legat realized that the seda was also moving forward.

  “That’s not me,” the helmsman said, raising his hands in the air for emphasis. “He’s assumed navigational control directly.”

  “Main batteries too,” another Canderian said, sitting back in his chair now without a task to deal with.

  “My friends, stay at your posts and await the moment he relinquishes control, for it may come at any time,” Remmington said wistfully. “But make no mistake, we are to be used here and now, not as a space station, but to kill as many of the enemy as we can. Paul has sensed an opening and is taking it. Mark my words.”

  The trio of command ships before them grew steadily larger as the seda accelerated forward, then suddenly Remmington saw the Keema batteries go offline. He frowned for a moment, ignoring similar glances from others as he sought to find a method to the madness…with the answer coming as the shield generators received the additional power and the invisible shell around the seda grew steadily stronger as they approached the trio of donut-shaped ships, each the size of a small seda themselves.

  The three realigned their positions into a triangle, with his seda heading for the center and the Canderian warships being flown into the shadow of the artificial moon. Remmington ground his teeth together in anticipation, thinking he understood what the trailblazer was doing.