Star Force: Nexus (SF57)

by Aer-ki Jyr

  But they were dead if they didn’t try, so he set course and hoped they’d get to the jumppoint before the enemy did.

  “Go extra slow,” Nizzi said. “Save fuel.”

  “Right,” the pilot agreed, beginning to revise his jump calculations.

  “I’ll see how much food we have,” another said, trodding off.

  Nizzi cursed silently. He hadn’t even considered that.

  The rest of the Ollofan waited in the cockpit, crammed inside so they could watch the sensors as they transitioned across stellar orbit to their jumppoint with the Li’vorkrachnika cruisers racing hard to catch them, but once again Nizzi’s luck won out and his ship got to the jumppoint before they did, holding there to align as precisely as they could, then the underpowered gravity drive launched them out through the system on a very slow interstellar jump, out of the reach of the enemy.

  “3 months, 2 weeks,” the pilot said, studying his readings intently and making a minor tweak in their trajectory as they passed a planet on their way out, trying to keep them on the jumpline as much as they could. Once they got out into interstellar space the gravity would be so low he’d only be able to get a touch of movement in any direction, and the same went for the backup maneuvering thrusters.

  “We’re alive,” another said. “That’s what matters. Let’s see what’s left in the ship for us to use.”

  As it turned out there were more than enough supplies for the 18 of them. The ship had been stocked with enough foodstuffs to last a much larger crew, sad to say that not enough of them had survived to need it. Those with Nizzi would, however, for the normally quick transition between systems that a jumpship provided was going to take them forever in their tiny transport, assuming they were able to goose the accuracy enough to even arrive. The line they were drifting on was decent, but some heavy thrusts had to be made on several occasions as they got closer to their destination and found that they were veering off, not because of any new movement, but of not being able to accurately measure it in the first place.

  They had to use quite a bit of fuel to make those adjustments, but when they got close to their destination and saw that they would in fact make it a discussion was brought to a head…that being where they were supposed to go?

  None of them knew where the jumpships had gone, for all they had been told was that they were evacuating, not to where. The enemy, as far as they knew, had been heading towards their planet for some time with many other neighbors having falling to their advance. The Ollofan had hoped to go overlooked, given that they lived underwater, but apparently they too were targets for the rolling mass of what had been called a galactic plague.

  When they studied the maps they had a whole section of space ruled out, for that was where they knew the enemy to be. Systems close to their former home were also ignored, for the Li’vorkrachnika could be there already and there was no one they knew of that could stand up to them. It was either run or hope to be ignored. In that regard the Ollofan had not been so lucky.

  And to make matters worse they only had so much fuel and not a lot of jumplanes short enough for them to try to make, giving them few options. Eventually they decided to head for a known commerce planet and beg for help…while hoping that they too hadn’t been overrun.

  That planet was in a system four jumps away, which would take more than a year for them to get to and exhaust their fuel supply to the point that they could go no further, or perhaps one small jump after, meaning they were going to be stranded if no one offered them assistance, and given the state of the galaxy and the mass evacuations occurring ahead of the enemy advance there were no guarantees. Problem was Nizzi and the others had no better options, with only hope to rely on, though they did have plenty of time to think, stranded on their transport as they limped their way across the stars.

  When they finally arrived in the Kattremon System they nearly missed the star, hitting it off center and propelling themselves laterally as they braked. Fortunately there was a gas giant nearby that they were able to pinball off of, and from there to some other nearby planets bleeding off momentum and keeping them in the system. That extra effort bled their fuel reserves nearly dry, making them incapable of doing anything more than some slow microjumps insystem.

  Being very grateful to be alive and having dodged yet another catastrophe, Nizzi’s ship headed to the commerce planet and arrived in orbit just in time to witness a firefight ongoing. His little chest tightened up when he saw the enemy ships chasing down a much larger transport that was shooting back, ineffectively, with him realizing that with nowhere to run they were going to die. It might be in an hour or in a week, but they were stranded here and if the enemy had already gotten to this point there wasn’t going to be any way to evade them.

  As all of this weighed on his mind a small black elongated cube moved into close sensor range and headed for the transport under attack. The enemy ships immediately ignored their target and went for it, and to the Ollofan’s amazement the smaller ship attacked the enemy 1 on 3. At first Nizzi thought it was a sacrifice play to save the transport, but as the big ship ran off leaving the little one behind to fight he saw that it was beating the crap out of the Li’vorkrachnika ships.

  It wasn’t long before one of them had its shields down, and when it happened a bright beam fired into it and the hull exploded on contact. Whatever weapon it was repeated the attack many times until the ship was inoperable, then it turned its attention to the other two that were hammering it with plasma nonstop, including their potent plasma streamers, yet the smaller ship’s shields held up until it tore the second enemy ship apart.

  Finally the third ship got through the black ship’s shields and began making hull hits, but it didn’t seem to matter. The resilient little thing held up and systematically tore apart the enemy that never even tried to run. Nizzi didn’t understand why nor did he care, for never had he heard of anyone who could stand against the Li’vorkrachnika, let alone dominate them in such fashion.

  “What just happened?” he asked in the stunned silence.

  “The Li lost,” another said, equally perplexed.

  “Follow that ship.”

  “Good idea,” the pilot said, slowly accelerating to follow the very fast ship as it moved off. They kept track of it on sensors and saw that it eventually made its way up to a higher orbit where a much larger ship jumped in and it docked with it. Then they noticed others nearby, some different sizes but all elongated cubes colored pitch black so that they almost disappeared against the backdrop of space, save for the reflective sheen from the sunlight.

  During their lazy pursuit they were contacted by traffic control, cycling through various languages until they found one in common that they could use, that being Darfar, a trading nation that the Ollofan had relations with. Through not so good grammar they identified who they were and their circumstances…with a surprisingly accommodating response. As it turned out a lot of the ships in the system were evacuees from neighboring worlds, some a lot further out than the Ollofan had come from, that were here to parlay acceptance as either individuals or even entire races into a distant region where the Li’vorkrachnika could not go.

  Nizzi’s group was told that there was an alliance that was successfully holding back the enemy and protecting a region of space where they were welcoming in those that could not defend themselves. The ship that they were following belonged to that alliance and was here to protect the system while facilitating the processing of evacuees and making arrangements for their inclusion into what they were calling the Alliance Defense Zone, or ADZ for short.

  The Ollofan didn’t understand ADZ, for it was an acronym in a language they didn’t speak, but they learned the name regardless and everything else they could, begging the Star Force ship that was here to grant them sanctuary. They were given a provisional slot, with them having to wait in line until sufficient slots became available and transport arrived, but they were told so long as they agreed to the provided terms they would b
e accommodated.

  Nizzi didn’t know if that was the truth or just a pleasant lie to keep everyone from panicking, but as the months passed by he and the others saw ships come and go, seeing those that were waiting with them being taken away periodically. As their food supplies dwindled this Star Force made arrangements with the planet to provide them replacements, ostensibly in exchange for the protection they were providing if not some other arrangement, and while being bored out of their minds Nizzi and the other 17 Ollofan were alive and safe onboard their ship in orbit, which was far more than he’d thought possible not long ago.

  He didn’t know where the rest of his people were, or if he would ever see them again, but what mattered right now was that he was alive and needed to find a place in this ADZ where at minimum he could survive, though some of the stories coming out their way said people weren’t only surviving but prospering inside the well-defended borders. He wondered how much truth there was in that, but like always without options they had to take what was available to them, and he desperately wished that this wasn’t false hope.

  Then the day came when their turn in line finally became pole position and their transport was given instructions to dock with one of the Alliance’s giant jumpships, this one belonging to a race called the Hycre and by far the largest ship Nizzi had ever seen. They were tucked up alongside many other ships, some more damaged than their own, then they were transported across the system to the star and jumped out into the unknown, en route to a destination they only knew of in the information packets they’d been given and the rumors circulating. What this ADZ was and why they were so welcoming of outsiders was a huge mystery, but it was one Nizzi and the others were going to have to explore, for right now this Alliance was their only chance of survival.

  7

  May 25, 2641

  Paxxila System (Delta Region)

  Akali

  Nizzi’s jumpship took them across what on the map was a very long distance in only a handful of days, bringing them out into a star system that was stated as being on the border of the ADZ. The Ollofan’s ship was dropped off in orbit around one of the planets there and was directed to move to a set of coordinates, first high up in orbit, then down to a starport set just above the atmosphere. During the layoff and then the zigzagging orbital movements Nizzi and the others looked on in awe at the sheer number of ships and stations in orbit…not to mention their size.

  There were huge round ones that looked like artificial gray moons while others were elongated like giant pillars. The information broadcasts indicated that those were ‘no go’ zones and defense platforms called ‘Sentinels’ and for the first time Nizzi began to understand why the Li’vorkrachnika had never made it this far.

  The ADZ defense platforms were huge and spread all over orbit. The traffic map had a total of 93 spread around the system with 58 here. Some were low orbit, others at higher altitudes near what were tagged as shipyards. He didn’t know what kind of weapons they had, but just the sight of them was enough to scare Nizzi into staying away, and he hoped the same would be said of the enemy.

  In addition to those scary stations there were thousands of warships in system, tagged so everyone flying a ship knew what and where they were. On top of those were 50 times more transports of varying sizes, though most belonged to what the IFF was saying was ‘Star Force.’ In fact, as Nizzi and the others digested the available information, after getting it translated into Darfar, which thankfully the local systems supported, they saw that the planet itself belonged to Star Force with four of five continents being fully cluttered with infrastructure, but only a few sprouts on the fifth.

  To his delight he also saw that there were water cities set on the sea floor and surface of 16 different oceans, but that’s not where they were being diverted. Their instructions were to land at a spaceport in one of the cities on the smallest continent, which is where their pilot took them, down through the atmosphere and into the blocky, tall buildings to a wide open area in between, setting their transport down where instructed then waiting for someone to tell them what to do next.

  That didn’t take long, for there was an attendant at the foot of their ship within minutes. Nizzi and the others opened up their boarding ramp and went down to the surface of the alien world, nervous almost to the point of twitchiness, and made no more easy by the very dry air they encountered, which irritated their water-loving skin.

  “Hello,” a Human said in Darfar, “and welcome to Akali. There are 18 of you, correct?”

  Nizzi and the others exchanged glances, then when he saw no one was volunteering to talk he hop/stepped forward and looked up at the alien that stood nearly twice his height.

  “Yes, 18. You speak Darfar?”

  The Human smiled, showing very white teeth that made Nizzi flinch back until he realized the gesture was friendly rather than intimidating. “We speak many languages, Darfar is one of mine which is why I’ve been assigned to you for your indoctrination. You’ve been granted sanctuary status, which means you can live on this planet without compensation for as long as you like so long as you agree to follow our rules. What they are and where you’ll be living are things that I will cover, but first let’s get you inside where we can see some holos. Your ship will be safe here. Follow me please.”

  The Human waved a five fingered hand at the Ollofan, who exchanged more looks with the others who only understood about half her words, and gradually followed her across the landing pad after shutting up their ship. The short blue, fish-like race wore no shoes and found their feet hurting by the time they got to the far side, but once they entered one of the nearby buildings the ground smoothed out and no longer rubbed their soles with the dry, rough textured surface.

  None of them said as word, staying close together so not to get lost as they passed a lot of different races, though most of the people they saw were the pinkish/brown skinned Humans. Following their guide Nizzi stayed right beside her and was led into a small compartment that turned out to be a transit car. All of them moved inside and sat on the seats lining the walls save for two, who stood along with the Human as the door closed and they started to move inside the building.

  “You’ve been assigned aquatic quarters, which will be a mix of air and water, including hallways. You’ll be able to swim between some locations or walk, your choice, but most of the public areas will be air only. We Humans can swim, but not all that well, and this colony was built for us. We’ve been growing it and accepting in newcomers like yourselves, so we’ve done some remodeling. Food is available in communal areas and you can eat as much as you like, you just can’t take it with you.”

  “What kind of food?” one of the others asked, with Nizzi wondering the same thing.

  “Many kinds. Given how many different races we have here, we’ve had to develop foods that Humans won’t eat but others will, and we’ve gotten quite good at it. On the small chance that there is nothing of ours that you can tolerate we’ll make something new, so don’t worry.”

  “Thank you,” Nizzi said, looking up at the woman as the door opened.

  “You’re welcome,” she said, leading them out into a wall of humid air that made Nizzi shudder with relief.

  “There are three other aquatic races living in this area, so we’ve adjusted the communal areas to a neutral environmental setting. Your individual quarters you can reset to your liking,” she continued as an even smaller alien walked by them. It was about as tall as Nizzi’s shoulders but was quadruped with a very finny tail. It looked over at him with big black eyes but said nothing, passing the group of Ollofan by as it headed off somewhere.

  “Here we are,” the Human said as they came out into a much larger chamber, this one with several ponds in it separated by walkways and kiosks. “This is the center of the quarters habitat. Food is over there, down that hallway, but it’s in an area outside of this humidity. That booth there,” she said, pointing a slender finger to the right, “will give you information about whatever you d
esire. The other rooms are entertainment zones, with stores being located in other areas of the city. This is more or less a lounge and a place for you to interact and rest outside of your quarters…which are this way.”

  The Human led them across the ponds, in which they saw a few individuals swimming lazily about, one of which actually looked to be a Human. Two more he saw were lounging on the side of the pool, laying on the dry land for some reason. What they were doing here he didn’t know, but most of those he saw were clearly waterborn. He had no idea what race they were, but intended to stay away from them for now. He just wanted some place to hide away and get settled, as did the others.

  The Human walked down a tall hallway and stopped in front of an equally tall door with a lighted strip running from top to bottom.

  “Touch the light to open,” she said, pressing a hand against it, with the spot she touched changing color, “and input your access code. Right now it’s just 000. You can reset it to your liking later.”

  With three touches of her finger the Human opened the door and motioned for them to go inside. Nizzi followed the others in, seeing a darkly lit room with a small pool in the corner.

  “It’s small, but designed for a single person. The water entrance has a door of its own and is operated in the same way with the same code. There are a few lounging areas down there that I can’t take you to without a breath mask, but you can explore on your own later. Over here is a cleansing chamber, sleep area, and personal information terminal. It’s not as user friendly as the one back in the lounge and will take some time for you to learn, but you can communicate with anyone else in the ADZ through it.”

  “There are a few storage areas here,” she said, pointing to some cabinets on the second level, which was little more than a catwalk along the ceiling at the top of a ladder. Obviously this room had been designed for a shorter species than the Humans and seemed to fit the Ollofan well, though the sleeping area was not wet, which would be bothersome, “and a holographic display here. Clothing and other small items are available as needed, but everything else you want has to be bought with credits that you don’t have. These are what we call luxury items. They are not necessary for living, but can make it more comfortable.”