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

  “Each of you, if you’re willing, will take on the task of building another Clan of Ninja Monkeys using personnel that do not currently qualify for our standards. Many want into our Clan, so there should be no shortage of recruits, and if and when they grow more experienced they will transition over to this Clan or opt to stay and strengthen the feeders. The point is that there is a lot of work that can be done by people that are not up to our standards. Work that we need done. Building, patrolling, lower level combat, and with that experience the recruits will develop faster here than they will elsewhere in Star Force.”

  “Those in the Rim Region aren’t coming. The need there is too great, so all we have to work with is the defensive units in the ADZ and surrounding areas and the volunteers coming from those not involved in the now excessive combat taking place out there. I admit, I’m a bit envious of it. I thought I’d erred and committed us to a lesser fight, but when I got word of the potential Crusade I knew that we were going to be in the thickest of the fighting and that we had a chance to prepare for it in a way we’ve never had before. The Crusade won’t be on our doorstep tomorrow, and even if it launched now it has so many lizard systems to cut through first we’ll have a lot of time to prepare.”

  “That is our fight. Others will deal with the defense of the ADZ and the annexation of the Rim Region. We are to be the shield that gives them the opportunity to continue doing what they need to do. If we fail, they have to come back and a whole lot of people die. We cannot allow that. We have to hold firm, and to do that we need more numbers and we need to dig in…but not in a way that makes us obvious targets.”

  “There is another secret I will tell you, and this one must not go beyond us nor go into any sort of records being kept,” she said, eyeing each of them. “There are not 100 Clans, there are 101. Saber and Sangheili spawned another in secret known as Ghostblade. They hold no territory and are based off a moving starfleet. All their industry, population, warships…everything is in ships and therefore they have no base of operations to target. They move about like ghosts and have been feeding off the lizards for a very long time. They are the Clan that no one knows exists and our secret weapon, but we have to do better than that, and we will.”

  “We can’t be that invisible, but their ships are what gave me the idea for the flying cities. We have to be less of a static defense and more of a mobile threat coupled with fixed emplacements that will draw enemies here so we can thin their numbers. We have to expect to lose those emplacements, but if we do our job we’ll take so many enemies with them it’ll be worth it.”

  “I’ll be designing everything, so that’s not your concern. What I need from each of you is a new Clan, part of the Ninja Monkey pact, but definitely inferior. Yours will be learning Clans until their strength increases, but it will be learning through action and you will be building them on the fly.”

  Morgan looked to San. “You will form Clan Tigerzord, with an emphasis on logistics. Bror, Clan Falconzord. Focus on movement. Patrols, asset transfer, escorts, mapping, ganks. Cressie, Clan Ultrazord. You’re getting the weakest recruits I’m allowing and you’re going to get them in bulk. I need a comprehensive Clan with no specialties. You’re not quite going to be the lizards as far as spamming go, but when I need 1,000 things done it’s going to come down to your Clan.”

  The trailblazer pointed to Todd. “Clan Morphzord. You’re going to focus on creating our mobile tech, starting with the flying cities and then adding a lot of other designs we’re working on. You’re mass producing them and coming up with any good ideas on your own. You’re going to be tech heavy, but all the Clans are going to be fully fleshed out, even if some of you only have a very limited combat wing.”

  “Andria, you’re the opposite. Yours in combat focus. When the Ninja Monkey’s need a lot of backup, it’ll be you. You come when called, and appropriately so, you’re Clan Dragonzord, though I can see you don’t get the reference,” Morgan said disapprovingly. “Look it up. Your Clan color is green, by the way, but all of you are going to have black as your secondary color, because you are part and parcel of the Ninja Monkeys, but you’re also separate. This is something new we’re doing, and I need the five of you to make it work.”

  “Ninja Monkey troops will clear out all the necessary systems. Your focus now is to build and get these greenies into working shape. They’re not going to be up to our standards anytime soon, so you’re going to have to develop your own Clan standards, inferior as they are, while I keep my Clan in righteous trimness. You don’t get in the way or crimp our style, but you add to our strength by forming associated entities. Distance is kept, and when individuals merit Ninja Monkey status they come over to us unless you can convince them to stick around. You are feeder Clans, but you’re not benchwarmers. You have to be ready and able to fight if the fight comes to you, or if there are too many enemies for the Ninja Monkeys alone to handle.”

  “You’re going to make our Clan bigger by training these newbs, and at the same time develop into Clans that will someday rival the others. That will take forever…but it’s on the to-do list. You are the supports, Ninja Monkey is the ADC. Any questions?”

  “This system?” Andria asked.

  “The home base of us all. As we expand, Ninja Monkey systems and worlds will be sprinkled around in defensive alignment and your Clans will fill in the gaps as needed. But note, you are expected to work with each other as you develop specialties. You are not standalones. We’re a team in this. Ninja Monkeys take the lead, but do not think that you’re outsiders or inferior. Well, you’re inferior, but you’re family, and that makes you superior via association.”

  Morgan raised a warning finger. “But we do not accept slackers…ever. We’re taking in weaker individuals in order to train them up, but if they’re not motivated you give them the boot. That aspect of the Ninja Monkeys isn’t getting watered down. We’re just slowing the train a bit so a lot more wannabes can grab hold and go along for the ride, but it’s at our pace and if they can’t keep up they get sent back to the ADZ until they train themselves up and have another go at it. No slackers. No babysitting. It will take time for your Clans to develop our edge, but it will happen in time and I need you to make sure of that.”

  “We are now 6, but we fight as one. We are officially the Power Pact…and no, that name is not renegotiable. This is where we draw the line,” she said, raising her hands to the air and taking in the whole of the world they stood upon, “and if anyone dare step over it, it has to be like they’re stepping on lava. We are the shield of the ADZ and our fellow Clans are going to mind our flanks, but expect the biggest hit to come squarely at us. If it doesn’t on its own, we’ll taunt it our way, so don’t underestimate what’s coming. If the Crusade lands here, in some ways it’ll be worse than what the Rim Region is facing, and we have to prepare accordingly. So, are you in?”

  The Archons glanced at each other then walked into the center of their rubble field, putting a clenched fist in and touching the others, leaving a hole for Morgan’s.

  She smiled, but didn’t say anything else as she walked forward and added her own pink armored hand to the other identical ViLords. A shimmering occurred over hers, then soon the others joined in creating a light bending vortex that they then released as one, blowing their hands back and sending out an invisible wave of Jumat energy that blasted back the smaller rubble around them but left the six armored supersoldiers standing exactly where they had been.

  And with that, the Power Pact was born.

  8

  January 25, 3481

  Sirius System (ADZ Core)

  Orion

  Palo Montoya came back into his quarters after yet another training session with his commando unit doing integrated drills and running through two more challenges today after a long morning session of individualized workouts where he’d put in a 10k run followed by sparring drills, weapons work, and agility training…the standard bread and butter of a commando’s sustenance when not engage
d in combat duty.

  He’d pulled three tours in the lizard war, which wasn’t much considering how long it had lasted. Most of his time had been spent in the Star Force core worlds, providing system defense and backup should other areas require support. A lot of Human troops got cycled through such duties needing the extra training, a ‘respite’ from combat, or time to just veg out while slowly increasing their levels. Aside from some occasional pirate activity, the ADZ core worlds were as quiet as you could get. That was to be expected, and the number of ships and troops they had defending them was part of the reason for that, but it was also the rings upon rings of other systems further out providing insulation for the heart of Star Force that kept it so secure.

  And every time the empire expanded the core got safer and safer, but they would not send their defense forces away for more than temporary relief. Right now the Rim Region was where all the action was at, yet so many troops were just sitting in Sirius and the other core systems that some people speculated/complained about them not being used.

  Palo had learned a long time ago that this is what it meant to be a commando and part of Star Force’s combat troops in general. Defensive duty was what let others have the freedom to go out to where the fighting was and keep it from working its way back here. Strip away most of the troops, most of the warships, and you left a weakness others could exploit. Keep an insanely strong force holding the home front and nobody was going to mess with it, meaning you could use it as a reliably stable base of operations from which to reach out and exert your will on the rest of the galaxy.

  Not even all the Clans had gone out to the Rim Region, with more than half not having anything to do with it. Those that did were kicking ass, as far as the news reports indicated, but the wealth of new territory out there was so wild and in so much trouble some commentators were speculating that Star Force was hording its strength to the detriment of others and that worlds like Orion didn’t need the high level of defense that they had, especially in terms of ground troops. How could anyone get past the fleet and the shields to even get in a position to mount a ground assault?

  But Palo had seen enough lizard combat to know never to take anything for granted. They were devious bastards and there were still a lot of them out beyond The Line that several Clans and others were holding. His unit was all Human troops, elite in their own right, but not on the level of the Clans. He’d been called out on several short term missions down into Gamma Region over the past century whenever that little extra touch of Human presence was needed to supplement other troops and his being stationed here allowed for that flexibility.

  Take them all away out to the Rim Region and there wouldn’t be anyone to call on when unexpected situations occurred.

  But he had to admit his lifestyle here was boring in a certain way. Training kept him busy nonstop, but if one didn’t have a liking for it they would burn out real quick. Those people never made commando, but even still there was something annoying about sitting and training while other people were out on the front fighting to save a lot of other people from dying. That’s why he’d volunteered for combat missions before, but never made it a permanent thing. Always cycling back to one of these defensive positions.

  Some commandos didn’t want to fight nonstop, day in and day out. They wanted to be saved for the right situation, while other ‘grinders’ wanted combat and nothing else. Those often stayed on the front lines permanently, but rarely ascended through the ranks due to their lack of training time. Fighting slowed your progress because it wasn’t sculpted to give you the necessary stimulus that you needed, and often would wear you down to the point where you lost levels if you got injured or pushed yourself too far.

  But Palo had also learned a lot from frontline fighting and was stronger for it, though a balance needed to be maintained if one wanted to slowly climb up the ranks. All commandos dreamed of such a thing, but many were not ready for the demands of the higher level positions and Palo had been one of them. Like others, he’d retreated back to the defensive assignments to catch his breath and train some more, then he’d test himself again when he felt ready with another combat assignment. It’d taken him some 350 years before he’d finally got himself kicked into higher gear and now he was eagerly wanting not only combat, but to join a Clan…which was why he was here in Sirius, training nonstop to improve his skills to the point where he would make the entry requirements for one of the small, elite factions.

  He was getting close to the minimal requirements for 2 of them, but they never stayed the same, for every now and then there would be a change. A tweaking of the requirements here or there in some particular subdivision per what one Clan needed at that time, then they’d raise requirements again once they’d got their quota. None of them had lowered down to the level Palo was at, but he kept checking the notice boards constantly hoping to find one and register his request before the slots filled.

  He was already in the filing system with a ‘Clan desired’ marker on his profile so that anyone searching the database would know that was where he wanted to go, but he hadn’t marked any specific Clan. Just Clan in general, meaning that any of the 100 Clans would do, but he still hadn’t quite gotten his skill set high enough to match any of the current base templates.

  So when he set down at his quarter’s terminal after taking a shower, he was shocked when he had a notification message from one stating that he had been transferred into their ranks.

  “What the hell?” he asked, seeing the name. “Clan Ultrazord?”

  He did a double take and checked the system, seeing that the list of Clans no longer numbered 100, but now 105.

  “When did that happen?” he asked, pulling up the information on the new Clans and seeing that they were all being founded by members of the Ninja Monkeys. In fact, these new Clans were part of something called the ‘Power Pact’ that linked them to the Ninja Monkeys.

  Palo read on further, seeing that these were new creations linked to an expansion of Star Force territory beyond The Line. The Ninja Monkeys, the most experienced of all the Clans when it came to frontline combat, were expanding…but they weren’t watering down their own standards to do it. Palo had come nowhere close to making it into their ranks, but they were spawning new Clans that he’d made it into somehow…

  He pulled up the standing requirements for Clan Ultrazord and what he saw surprised him. His comprehensive level was still too low, but there was a special category reserved for those with a sharpshooter rating of 16 or better. That was his second best itemization in his codex, but typically Clan requirements dictated groupings of skill levels rather than just picking out key ones. For whatever the reason this new Clan wanted him for his accuracy with firearms, and he wasn’t going to argue the point.

  He felt like cheering, but the energy inside him couldn’t get out. He still couldn’t believe this was happening, so he continued to read up on all the press releases and commentary. A lot of people were also shocked at what was happening, but they had very little from trailblazer Morgan explaining it, so they speculated to no end and Palo listened to what they had to say until he finally decided that this was, in fact, happening and he wasn’t imagining it.

  His transfer order was already logged, which meant he was an Ultrazord now. He could bow out if he wanted, but since he’d marked his file previously that was taken to mean he automatically accepted. And to that end he had orders to report to a newly added system to Star Force territory out beyond the old Line, which apparently was recently taken from the lizards and now renamed the Zordon System.

  “Wow,” he finally said, then cautioned himself. If this was a Ninja Monkey expansion, then it was going to be damn difficult. If he wasn’t ready for this he’d get booted out quicker than water would evaporate in the desert. Was he ready this time?

  Palo gave himself a thorough self-assessment and nodded with a sense of confidence. He was ready to go all in. The old him wasn’t. He might have been eager, but there was no way he could
hold up to the day after day after day sledgehammer of intense training that the Clans were reputed for back then, though now as different. He was stronger and knew what was coming…even if he didn’t know what was coming. He was going to have to become a grinder, and he’d been experimenting with his own training here to see if he had what it took.

  He had a chance. That was as far as he’d go. He knew he was going to have to adapt and grow in order to stay in this new Clan, but he was ready to face the challenge and see if he was good enough. There was no cheating the Clan requirements, and if they said he had the necessary skillset that meant he did…to begin. He’d have to earn his keep in order to stay in the Clan, but as of this moment he was Clan, and that was something he’d been working towards for a very long time.

  Yet it was a brand new Clan with no history or stats to study…and he’d be one of the founding members it seemed. That was something that blew his mind, but if it was a branching off of the Ninja Monkeys he doubted there was going to be much of a learning curve involved. In fact, he expected them to know exactly what they wanted and how to get it when he arrived, meaning he was just going to have to dive in and go with the flow.

  There was nothing else to do here, for his transfer had already been logged, so he jumped out of his seat and quickly packed up a duffle with his few personal belongings. Most of his equipment and clothing was provided on site, so there was only a few mementos and luxury items he’d purchased that he took with him from place to place in addition to his armor. On top of those he added some basic clothing as backup and secured the duffle, swinging the strap over his shoulder as he straightened up his now former quarters a bit. Someone would come in to clean and repurpose them after he left, opening up a slot for another commando of lesser rank in the defense forces on Orion…a position that he had worked hard to achieve long ago, and now that the cycle was seeing him move on he felt almost nostalgic about it.