Star Force Perseverance (SF81) (Star Force Origin Series) Read online

  carefully, those of you with few…be glad there’s an opening,” he said with a

  bit of sarcasm.

  Po looked at his data even as he listened, finding

  that out of the standards for all the Clans he didn’t qualify for most of them.

  His ranger ranking wasn’t the issue. No Clan put a higher mark than Ranger 1 as

  a requirement for entry, because this was the point when Archons were meant to

  join Clans, but what they were looking at was subcategory scores, rates of

  advancement, etc. Po was a bit slow with regards to leveling up, at least

  compared to the average, and it looked like that disqualified him from some 13

  Clans.

  He adjusted the hologram again, touching the little

  energy spheres that doubled as buttons below the main screen to sift through

  the data. His commando scores were his lowest of the 5 divisions, meaning they

  were currently at Ranger 1. That eliminated him from some 39 Clans.

  The same came from swimming scores, aerial, naval, and

  mechs. Clans that were looking for specialists didn’t want him, meaning he only

  had generic options available to him. That left him with 23 options to choose

  from, and he looked through them closely.

  “Take your time and think this through, but you do

  have to choose now if you want to head out immediately. When you leave this

  room you either leave for your new Clan indoctrination center or you head to

  Earth and figure things out in the neutrals sanctum. I’d recommend you don’t go

  that route unless you have a good reason to. If you’re worrying about your

  decision and think you need a lot more time to consider it…well, you don’t.

  This isn’t overly complicated, it just needs some serious thought, and an hour

  or so here is more than enough. Look through your options and make your choice.

  If you have any questions or concerns, that’s what I’m here for…in addition to

  bidding you farewell.”

  When the leader of Clan Null stopped speaking Po took

  that as a sign to put his full attention on his choices. None of the Clans had

  sent him a person message, which was understandable. None of his scores stood

  out above the rest. He was a ‘grinder,’ which meant an Archon that often had to

  try something multiple times before they accomplished it. He’d get knocked down

  then get back up again, working his way through challenges and training through

  an undeniable will rather than an aptitude for certain skills.

  Of the 23 Clans that he could choose to join, only 4

  of them were focused on balance. The others all had specialties, some more than

  one, but allowed bottom of the barrel types like him to join and try to carve

  out a niche for themselves in their primary training programs or to fill out

  their secondaries. The part of Po that craved challenges wanted him to dive

  head first into one of those ultra intense training programs and fight his way

  into a position of prominence…which for a ranger meant just keeping his head

  above water and being one of the guys.

  Clan Sephiroth, headed by trailblazer Logan-036, was a

  Clan that prided itself on its Commando training, especially its swords

  subcategory. But unlike Clan Saber, which Po did not qualify for, all he needed

  to join their program was the base Ranger 1 prerequisite, nothing more. He knew

  the training would be insane, but the Sephiroths were ‘grinder friendly’

  whereas the Sabers were not…at least not in their Commando division.

  All Archons trained in all 5 areas, but each Clan

  apparently had training programs specifically designed to press certain skills.

  He assumed the other skills would be maintained and advanced in his spare time,

  how much he would get he didn’t know. For Clan Sephiroth it was stated that for

  their Commando specialty training there would be a 12 year focus on that

  discipline at the outset, meaning that Po’s skills, if he managed to keep up,

  would not progress in the other 4 disciplines much at all, but would shoot up his

  Commando ranking, in theory.

  He didn’t like that. Grinder as he was, he wanted to

  keep leveling up all areas simultaneously and not get any weak spots that would

  hold his overall Archon ranking back. Out of the 23 Clans there were only 13

  that allowed for balanced slots, but 11 of them required more than just Ranger

  1 average. His 5 division scores were M3, C1, A2, S1, N3…with the ‘S’ referring

  to aquatics rather than using another ‘A’ that would make it confusing.

  He’d been looking at these base numbers all of his

  Archon life, and these stats indicated that he was a balanced Archon. Some of

  the rangers around him in the room he recognized, some he didn’t, but one in

  particular sitting two rows down and one bank to the right he knew had an A18

  rating. He was a damn good pilot, but one of his other scores had to be level 1

  since Archon rankings were determined by your weakest division rather than your

  strongest or average.

  But the Clans were looking at your average with

  regards to balanced training programs. His was an even 2.0 and most of them

  wanted at least a 3.5 for entry. A couple were at 2.5, with only two that

  allowed the bottom of the barrel entries. Those were Clan Westley and Clan

  Noisy Cricket. Clan Westley was notorious for taking any Archons, no matter

  what their skill levels, and training them up into higher ranks. Their upper

  tier wasn’t as good, but their lower tier was the top rated within all the

  Clans and it was rumored that once their ‘special projects’ put in enough

  centuries of training that they’d have one of the deepest Clans skill wise, for

  it didn’t matter how long it took you to attain the skills, and a Mage 1 was a

  Mage 1 no matter if they were 500 years old or 1000.

  Clan Noisy Cricket had a naval focus, but had allowed

  for bottom of the barrel entry as well. Four Clans that focused on balanced

  approaches wouldn’t take Po in that regard, but they would take him in either a

  naval or mech training program. It seemed that while they wanted balance, it

  didn’t require it in all their individuals, but rather the Clan overall.

  Po’s face scrunched up with debate. He could enter one

  of the balanced Clans and focus on his Mech or Naval skills and then hope to

  branch out into a fully balanced training program later when his skills met

  their minimum requirements. He wasn’t sure how long their base training was…so

  he pulled it up and frowned. The shortest of them was 8 years.

  He didn’t like that. Ever since he’d entered basic

  training he’d been wanting to keep all his skills close to one another, and

  while he could veer away from that philosophy, even temporarily, he didn’t feel

  like doing it. That meant he had two options…unless he wanted to go neutral.

  “A question,” he said aloud when someone else had

  finished asking theirs. “If we go neutral, are these the same requirements for

  entry at a later date or specifically for those of us coming out of the Nulls?”

  “There are three Clans that operate with Null-only

  requirements. All the rest don’t care wher
e you are in your progression.”

  “So if my scores aren’t high enough for a Clan I want

  to go into, I can go neutral and train until I raise them up enough?”

  “Correct…but your training would be mostly on your

  own. There are advisors in the neutral sanctum to help you, but there is no

  regimented programs like you’re accustomed to. Definitely nothing like what the

  Clans have.”

  Po nodded and returned his gaze to his options.

  Whatever Clan he went with he was going to stick to. He didn’t like the idea of

  switching around. If there was a reason for it, sure, but otherwise he was

  going to stay loyal to whomever took him in and he didn’t want to be hasty

  about this. Maybe going neutral was the best option for a grinder like him?

  But then there was Clan Westley who specialized in

  bringing the slower Archons along faster, or at least as fast, as others. While

  they weren’t passing up on standout individuals, they were focused on taking

  lower end Archons and turning them into an asset for the Clan. It was a bit of

  a knock reputation wise, and he really wished one of the balanced Clans would

  take his 2.0 average, but his progression had been too slow and steady for

  them. In fact, he was too balanced for them. They expected more variation, for

  a purely balanced Archon would have had a rating of 1.0 which made no sense

  whatsoever.

  “Remember,” Terry said, looking directly at Po, “this

  is a competition, for you to join a Clan as well as for the Clans measuring

  against each other. Pride is on the line, as well as resources for some of the

  larger trials. Find the niche you want, then be prepared to work your ass off

  for it like you’ve never done before. If you wash out of a Clan, and it does

  happen, you can take another slot in another Clan that you qualify for or you

  can go neutral. This is not easy street here. You’re going to have to crawl and

  claw to maintain your placement until you get your levels up considerably

  higher. Some of you won’t stabilize in a Clan for 50 years. Metal Gear Commando

  indoctrination typically runs that long.”

  Po heard someone whistle, and Terry nodded. “Choose

  wisely, and make sure it’s a choice you can live with, succeed or fail. You

  know by now that Archons don’t make it the first time at everything, and if

  anyone has training scores to the contrary please point them out, for not even

  the trailblazers have that clean of a record. When you take on hard challenges

  you’re going to fail, then learn from the experience. Do you want to go that

  route or choose a lesser challenge that you can probably succeed at and cement

  your place within a Clan? It’s up to you, and neither is the preferred way. How

  you progress in your training is a personal choice and it needs to fit you.”

  That stuck with Po, and as he looked at his two

  primary choices he realized he didn’t want to dive into a huge challenge and

  struggle to keep going. He wanted to keep grinding his way up the ranks as he’d

  been doing, and Clan Westley’s basic program was three times as long and

  rumored to be considerably difficult…but it was a way to really get a second

  chance for the ‘slackers’ within the Archons, though that term didn’t really

  apply to any of them.

  Po wasn’t in a hurry to advance, he just wanted to

  keep improving and help out Star Force when and where he could. He wanted to be

  an Archon, not always racing to catch up or outdo others. The higher the

  ranking one achieved, the less one would stay with their basic training peers.

  Archons advanced at different rates, some trained while others did field work.

  Everything got complicated and divergent, with the only important thing being

  what path would Po walk and how would he go about doing it.

  If this was going to be his way, then he’d walk in the

  door with the lowest threshold to maintain his balanced training…and that meant

  Clan Noisy Cricket. He wasn’t going to be a star recruit or on a primary

  training program, but he would work his ass off to earn his Clan appointment

  and devote his loyalty to them. Being an anonymous Archon amongst all the

  others and just going about and doing his thing on his timetable appealed to

  Po, and the more he thought about it the more he realized this was the choice

  for him.

  He thought it through a couple extra times to make

  sure, then he selected the training slot he qualified for within the Noisy

  Crickets and locked in his selection. His display accepted the anointment with

  a symbol of a tiny pistol emblazoned over a silhouette of a cricket in the

  background and spun it in place for several seconds, with a text prompt appearing

  below it that told him to report to hangar bay 8 in 2 hours and 43 minutes with

  his duffle of personal belongings packed and ready to head to another star

  system.

  Po stood up, nodded to Archon Terry, and took his

  leave as several other rangers had already done. Apparently there was no

  additional fanfare, and he appreciated that. This was all business, and the

  importance of the moment wasn’t lost on Po. He was transitioning into a whole

  new realm within Star Force and he was eager to get at it, with the quick

  departure being a good thing. He didn’t want to linger here any longer now that

  he had a course charted for him. He wanted to get to the Fiora System and Clan

  Noisy Cricket’s capitol of Blade Waltz that it shared with six other Clans, not

  knowing exactly what awaited him but eager to find out.

  August 1, 3106

  Menchet System

  (lizard core)

  Tess

  A Falcon-class

  dropship flew across the gap between the troop jumpship that had brought it

  here along with another contingent of reinforcements, coming in to a captured

  hangar bay on the lizard ring that Star Force had been making use of for more

  than a year now. So far they’d managed to take control of a little less than a

  third of the massive shipyard that encircled the entire planet, including

  seizing and blocking off 139 of the 487 columns that connected down to the

  surface.

  Those were no longer sending troops up to fight them,

  meaning the controlled areas of the ring were safely Star Force territory now,

  and with a sizeable warfleet outside guarding the ring from naval attack the

  only way the lizards could hit them was sending ground troops up the remaining columns

  they controlled, for the ground-based anti-orbital weapons couldn’t reach the

  ring itself, and to date they hadn’t fired on any of the connecting columns.

  That meant the ground war that was grinding on inside

  the ring would continue, for Star Force wasn’t going to destroy it either, and

  if the lizards should start shooting out the supporting columns the gravity

  drives on the ring itself would be more than enough to keep them aloft in its

  nearly geosynchronous orbit. The lizards apparently understood this to be true

  as well, for they were continually spamming millions of troops up the columns

  they controlled and sending them in massive waves
against the Star Force

  lines…both of them, for the controlled segment had two ends that were miles

  wide and high, making for ample locations to hit and get hit at.

  Those two front ‘lines’ were constantly moving forward

  with hunter teams moving out beyond them and taking down lizards, then the

  fortified positions would surge forward here and there, sometimes no more than

  a few dozen meters, and resettle to survive the next surge of troops. As it

  was, clearing out the dead lizard bodies was becoming a chore, with Star Force

  having brought in incinerator factories and set them up inside the ring in

  order to dispose of them all…with Archons checking to make sure the bodies were

  actually dead before they got reduced to ash.

  It was necessary to do that in order to keep the

  corridors and chambers mostly clear, for the lizards kept pouring

  reinforcements at them in suicidal fashion, hoping to wear them down or,

  perhaps, just to stall their advance. Regardless, Star Force had a huge ground

  war on its hands that was painstakingly making progress. More troops were being

  brought in from the ADZ, some to replace others rotating out, but a lot were

  here to increase the number of combat troops to facilitate a quicker rate of

  progress.

  Along with those Regulars came this one dropship

  carrying a special assault team. When it landed on the hangar deck there was

  already a circus of activity, with Bsidd unloading by the hundreds and filing

  off to receive orders and placements without everyone bunching up into a

  chaotic crowd. Star Force had handlers there to direct everyone and keep the

  hangar deck orderly and processing quickly, with unloaded dropships heading

  back out to return to the jumpship and pick up more troops and the supplies

  necessary to sustain them within the ring.

  When that dropship opened up, a murmur spread amongst

  the deck staff as well as the Bsidd troops. Everyone nearby paused what they

  were doing and looked as a group walked out, packed together tightly in a

  column two wide but with a casual gait that wasn’t symmetrical. They were not

  Bsidd, but rather Humans…the giant variety. They were Knights, all of them, but

  they weren’t wearing their traditional white armor. These were wearing black