Star Force: Liberation (SF56)
Page 2
“That’s why I said patched. I need it too badly to send it all the way back to Earth. She’s still fighting capable so we’re going to work out what repairs we can out here.”
“Scrappy…good. How soon you going to bring the Kiritak in?”
“Give it a year to see if the Skarrons really are going turtle, but I want them prepped to move when we give the word.”
“Going to need a good sized transport fleet for that.”
“Saber and Canderous will come through on that one.”
“Alright, I’ll make it work from this end. I just hope we don’t get ganked.”
“Same here…but we really don’t have any choice but to try.”
“I know,” she repeated, this time without any merriment.
2
February 19, 2555
Belar System (Bsidd Capitol)
Hassnve
The Cajdital fleet escorting the invoker into middle orbit was met with a swarm of Bsidd warships, countering numbers with numbers as they wisely targeted the escorts and not the fleet killer, for so long as they were in close proximity to the enemy cruisers the invoker was harmless to them else the Cajdital risked killing their own ships. However, there was nothing to prevent the invoker from moving up next to the numerous stations circling the planet and incinerating them with its wild, multi-colored energy arcs. One by one it was chewing apart both defense platforms and habitats, with the Bsidd fleet unable to do anything more than engage the enemy escorts and hope to whittle them down.
But as much whittling as they accomplished it was useless. Like they had across the rest of Bsidd territory, the Cajdital had outwitted and outnumbered them at every turn, and even now groups of enemy reinforcements were coming in to replace the escorts lost almost as if the enemy was playing with them by not showing their full hand up front.
The capitol was the only major planet left, with its defense force cobbled together from surviving fleets and the permanent defenders in order to make a last stand. They had no hope of surviving given the strength of the enemy, but without anything else to do they might as well make them pay as high a price as they could to wipe them out.
There were a few other planets that hadn’t fallen, all minor, with some Bsidd scattering to the unexplored regions of the galaxy to try and escape, but word was the Cajdital were pursuing at least some of them though it hardly mattered. They had nowhere to go even if they got away, but even a small chance of survival was more than the inhabitants of Hassnve had. They were doomed and knew it, with nothing more than regrets about what could have been had the Nestafar not betrayed the Alliance.
None the less the remaining jumpships left to the Bsidd were loading in low orbit. Where they could go even if they managed to get past the Cajdital was a curious question, but it didn’t matter for the 56 billion Bsidd on the planet. They couldn’t fit even a small fraction of that population inside, with those on the surface digging in and preparing to make their last stand, literally, by carving out subsurface hideaways and tunnels where they stood a better chance of engaging the Cajdital given their air and naval support couldn’t get to them.
Those jumpships, however, held one tiny hope for their race…almost an afterthought. There were a few surviving Alliance relays still operational and linked to Bsidd territory and recently they’d received a message on them, prompting the Bsidd to prepare to evacuate a few key personnel and equipment on the off chance that the communique had been legit, let alone feasible.
The loading was still taking place as the invoker broke through the middle orbit defensive ring and began trashing the Bsidd shipyards like a giant, angry energy cloud devouring everything in its path, with such destruction taking a long time to execute. While that was happening another group of jumpships emerged at the system’s star and released yet more warships…but these weren’t Cajdital.
Before long the ongoing brawl containing Bsidd blue plasma orbs and Cajdital green added a few white streaks as the Hycre fleet moved in and engaged, small in number as they were, but used their range advantage to contribute damage while taking none of their own. They didn’t touch the invoker or go anywhere close to it, focusing instead on the escort fleet and trying to help the doomed Bsidd make a few more kills before it was all over.
Their numbers were dropping fast, and before long it was going to turn into a total rout. That little bit of time that remained was going to be put to use as the remaining Bsidd queens were evacuated up to the jumpships along with their necessary minions as their troops and civilians bought them time with their lives. A few Hycre warships flew down and intercepted the roaming Cajdital vessels looking for targets of opportunity, with the rest sniping the enemy fleet while the Bsidd continued to get hammered.
The evacuation didn’t take long, for there weren’t that many Bsidd jumpships to fill. Nearly all of their previously massive fleet had been expended in the war and even now the jumpships were being filled up with transports, leaving the loyal warships behind to die providing them cover.
When the time came the Hycre redeployed into a protective wedge and fought the Bsidd clear of the planet, micro-jumping with them back to the star and leaving the capitol behind to die. They encountered another enemy reinforcement group coming in, with the Hycre jumping on it immediately and killing half of their ships, including two jumpships, while the Bsidd fled on the jumpline the Hycre had given them.
Once the last of their ships were out, the Hycre executed a fighting withdrawal back to their own jumpships and followed the Bsidd out, catching up to them at the next system and providing an escort across what was now Cajdital-dominated space to the closest intact Hycre world. There they were safe behind a much larger Hycre fleet, all equipped with cleansing beams and maulers, for a short stay. Eventually they began to transition from one Hycre world to another, moving with escort at all times as they gradually made their way across what had formerly been Calavari territory and into the ADZ.
By the time they arrived their capitol had long since been annihilated, leaving the small fleet of jumpships as the only cohesive remnant of their once great empire. They were led up into Delta Region to an Alliance World still in the making, with only two functioning Star Force cities on the border strips. The Bsidd were quickly given one of the regions on the high grav world to begin colonizing, with them immediately sending an ambassador to Earth to discuss the future of their race and their place within the Alliance they had previously abandoned.
Davis met the Bsidd in one of Atlantis’s sister cities, not sure what to expect. The Bsidd had insisted that they be allowed to speak to the Star Force leader, and given their previous status he’d been inclined to indulge them…but not on Atlantis. That was Star Force’s core and sanctuary, and no one else was going there unless they had special permission. Davis wanted to keep it that way, hence the short hop over to Mediterranea via Mantis where the gangly alien was waiting for him after having arrived on a Hycre jumpship carrying a Star Force transport from the Alliance World.
The inclusion of the Bsidd into the ADZ had been at the Hycre’s request. Star Force had written them off long ago, along with the Kvash and others. According to the Hycre the Kvash empire had already fallen, and now the Bsidd, but with their queens surviving the insect-like race could repopulate quickly, and given their formidable technology the Hycre suggested that they could be a valuable addition to the communal defense in the future.
Future was right, for at the moment the Bsidd had nothing aside from a handful of people and some key technological elements. Impressive as the latter were, Star Force had already pulled ahead of them in most areas, though there was always an element of design unique to each race that was sometimes valuable. The Bsidd had better tech than anyone else in the ADZ, save for maybe the Elarioni, and in time that could be an asset, but the Bsidd were still on Star Force’s black list after what they’d done to the Nestafar capitol and essentially abandoning the other races in the Alliance to fight the lizards on their own.
And he wasn’t disappointed.
He met the tall, multi-limbed alien in a conference room with two Knights flanking him should it not play nice, and after two hours of ‘discussion’ had melted down into the Bsidd making demands for resources and inclusion in ADZ decision making committees the Star Force Director had exhausted his patience and finally laid it out plainly for the ambassador.
“You have no control here. Not in any way, shape, or form. The Alliance you were formerly part of has been dead for some time now, with a new one growing in its place. The Hycre, Protovic, and Star Force make the decisions here, for we carry the burden of the ADZ’s defense. You have nothing to contribute to that, hence you have no decision making privileges. Your past empire’s greatness no longer matters. You are what you are now…a handful of refugees seeking a new home. I will and have granted you that, but everything you get from this point on you’ll have to work for, and you’ll have to abide by our rules or you’ll lose your sovereignty…do I make myself clear?”
“You will not dictate to us, Human,” the Bsidd said stiffly.
“I am, actually, right now.”
“We are still the technologically superior, and the wiser. Your race is young and immature.”
Davis smiled, born of frustration rather than amusement. “You might want to have a look around before you start making assumptions like that. A great many things have changed, and you’re alive right now because we’ve carved out a sanctuary that we are defending with our technology. The Hycre rescued you using weapons that we gave them. We have succeeded, to date, where you have failed, so do not think that you are in a position of power here.”
“You will give us the resources we require to rebuild. The Hycre have guaranteed it!” the Bsidd said, almost in a yell.
“Not without compensation, and the Hycre have guaranteed you nothing other than foodstuffs and other basic necessities to keep you alive while you rebuild. We will not do it for you, nor provide you the resources in any way that differs from what we offer to the other races via our markets.”
“You will not subjugate us to minority status. We are a founder of the Alliance, you are not.”
“We are the founder of the new Alliance, you are not,” Davis countered. “And we alone dictate all territorial allotments within the ADZ, and the Protovic and Hycre back us on this.”
“The Protovic are minor, only the Hycre and Calavari are to be concerned.”
“The Calavari are now part of Star Force. I speak for them.”
The Bsidd looked taken aback…or as close as Davis could guess based on his thoughts, for his ‘facial’ expressions were nearly impossible to read.
“The Calavari would not submit to you.”
“They didn’t submit, they joined with us, as have many others.”
“We will not do so.”
“You don’t have to, but you will have to earn your place in the ADZ and rebuild your civilization from scratch. Use the resources in the region we gave you or trade for them with us or another faction.”
“We have nothing to trade and you know it!”
“You have technical knowledge that others lack. Start there,” Davis suggested.
“We will not give away our secrets, Human!”
“Trade, not give. It seems like I’m the only one that gives anything away nowadays.”
“You would be wise to treat us well, for once we regrow we will remember your actions.”
“Then remember that we took you in when you had nowhere else to go,” Davis said, standing up and causing the two Knights to shuffle, ready to move if needed. “It seems you’ve wasted time and resources coming here, for you expect us to cave to your whims and that is not going to happen. Go back to your people and begin rebuilding at whatever pace you can sustain. We will keep you alive with the necessary foodstuffs in the interim. You need not fear dying, but as for your empire’s glory, that’s on you to reestablish…not me.”
Davis pointed at the door and a Star Force personnel relations attendant and a trio of security officers came up and prodded the Bsidd towards it as the Director left the room via another entrance while the alien ranted in its native tongue. Davis stopped a few steps out into the hall after the door was shut behind them, rubbed his chin for a moment, then belatedly glanced up at the Knights.
“Dismissed,” he said, backtracking a few steps and heading the other way while they headed off to wherever they needed to be.
Davis had a thought, then rapidly developed it into a plan causing him to accelerate into a jog and race towards the nearest lift, which he took to the closest security station. He had them locate the highest ranking Archon within the city and get her to the spaceport asap…along with a medical team.
The ranger in question, following Davis’s order/suggestion, intercepted the Bsidd before he boarded the dropship to head back to orbit but did so in such a way that she froze him in place using her Ikrid and dulled his senses. She wasn’t skilled enough to erase memories, but she messed up his senses enough then released them back into normalcy that the Bsidd didn’t realize what had just happened and after a bit of disruption and confusion walked on into the dropship and headed back to his people without being any the wiser.
The ranger came back to Davis in the security station with a smile on her face. “Easy peasy.”
“Thank you,” he said as she handed him the small vial that contained the genetic sample she’d had the medics take off the Bsidd while he was disoriented.
“Anything else?”
“Always something else to do…but not for you.”
“Call if you need me,” she said, retreating out of the station and back to whatever she had been doing which, judging by the casual tank top and shorts she was wearing had been a training session.
Davis let her go and looked at the genetic sample in his hand, or rather the container, for the actual sample was microscopic and something the Bsidd wouldn’t notice missing. Their files on their race hadn’t included a full sample, and were so sketchy that a lot of the data was little more than rumor, one of which was how they reproduced. It was said that all Bsidd originated from a small number of queens, but unlike some other known races they weren’t directly birthed or hatched. They came from subqueens in various forms.
The exact details were lost, however, for the Bsidd didn’t share such secrets with outsiders. With analysis hopefully the medtechs would be able to shed some light on the truth of their reproductive systems, which was important if Davis was going to assimilate them. He’d been skeptical about their inclusion into the ADZ from the beginning when the Hycre had requested it, but this meeting made it clear that the Bsidd had a one track mind and if he let them develop, or redevelop, with their current disposition then they were only going to be trouble going forward…and the ADZ had enough of that with the ongoing civil war that now included 6 races.
He would have just broken them up by individuals and incorporated them into Axius, scattering them far and wide and essentially ending their civilization right from the beginning, but if they could only reproduce through queens that gave those queens a firm hold over their society, and anywhere they went they could start to rebuild their numbers and that wouldn’t work with the Axius maturia setup…and he didn’t want the Bsidd reproducing off the grid and causing havoc that way.
Which was why he needed to know exactly how they reproduced. If the Bsidd were going to be a problem then it was one he was going to deal with from the get go rather than let it grow. If Axius wasn’t feasible for the Bsidd then Star Force could incorporate them as a ward of the empire, but only if they had full control of their race. If the ‘minions’ couldn’t reproduce on their own and only the queens could, he couldn’t separate biology from culture the way he had with others and that lingering ta
int could cause problems, though it would fade over time.
He didn’t want to take that risk and hoped there would be a way to annex the Bsidd without them becoming more trouble than they were worth. If not…then he’d have to keep them contained and under his thumb while he tried alternative ways to influence them. That wasn’t something he wanted to do, especially given all the bad examples floating around the ADZ for them to pattern off of. He needed to isolate and teach their offspring in order to cut the cultural cord…but queens was something new.
He wasn’t sure how to deal with them and hoped his genetic experts would have some answers for him now that he had something more than rumor for them to analyze.
3
December 22, 2555
Solar System
Earth
Davis flew in a mantis across the landscape of Antarctica, now devoid of snow given that it was the summer. Most of what was below him, visible through the datapad that he was browsing on during the flight, was cityscape with large, almost mountain-sized buildings rather than the smaller versions seen in warmer climates. There were roads and rail lines crisscrossing everywhere, but most of the infrastructure was subsurface with the ‘ground’ being comprised of rooftops and other artificial constructions that didn’t collect and hold the native snow well.
During the winter the cityscape would be covered regularly, but for now the once white continent was just a chilly cityscape basking in partially cloudy skies.
The continent held a considerable population, in excess of 12 billion, with the rest of Earth being similarly choked with people, though Davis had seen to it through restructuring that the heavy population was no longer suffocating. The planet might be crowded, but there was still ease of movement given sufficient and proper infrastructure…not to mention huge buildings like those seen below that could pack in more population per square mile when they themselves were more than a mile high.