Star Force: Internecine (SF55) (3 page)

That frustration blossomed when he got to Jason’s logs
and personal messages. Not only was he eating through Archon levels like they
were a bag of Doritos, he’d somehow managed to join the tier 3 group that only
Morgan and Bo had attained to date…but he’d even one-upped them by attaining a
psionic that even the
Zen’zat
hadn’t achieved. That
was insane, and Paul wanted to be back training with them so much he nearly
punched the keyboard in front of him.

But he didn’t, for he knew Jason felt the same way
about being on the front. Both of them were where Star Force needed them to be
and doing what was necessary to secure the future, both against the current
threats and the big one looming on the horizon. Attaining a psionic that the
Zen’zat
hadn’t was HUGE, and Paul made sure to remind Jason
of that when he sent back a reply…and to remind him that as soon as the found
the trigger for it he was going to be the first one Jason shared it with.

When Paul was going through the training logs of some
of the other trailblazers posted to various regions within the ADZ a news
warning icon manifested itself with a recent update. Paul paused what he was
doing and pulled it up, with a notice that a Protovic system had just been
evacuated due to insufficient ground troops to hold the two inhabited planets
there. What few civilians remained had been successfully pulled out, but
despite there being two Sentinels in orbit and an adequate defense fleet
comprised of two Star Force
Warship
-class
jumpships
in support of 254 Protovic line warships,
they’d completed lost control of the surface.

Unable to prevent some troop and cargo drops from
occurring, the Skarrons were reinforcing their ground gains and littering the
landscape with missile turrets. They didn’t have the ships to even scratch the
Sentinels, but other than dropping them down near the atmosphere and bombarding
the planet, which the notes suggested the Kip was already doing, there was
nothing they could do.

Paul knew that his fellow Archon would kill as many of
them as he could, but the planet was now theirs and all they had to do was
build underground where sensors couldn’t see them and they’d have a safe haven
from the cleansing beams, which could drill down into the crust to a decent
depth, but without knowing where to shoot and having ground troops to follow
up, the Skarrons could establish strongholds out of Star Force’s reach.

His mood soured by the news of the loss, he mentally
cursed the stupid Scionate and went back to reviewing workout logs before
heading two bed. After a couple of days of intense training and some long sleep
sessions Paul would return to the surface and lose himself in battle, his
planet and campaign heading in the right direction, at least, due in no small
part to his personal presence there.

3

June 3, 2553

Sului
System
(Scionate Territory)

Favrrcor

“Jack, you better get up here.”

The ranger paused mid swing at the punching bag in
Balboa Lane as the voice broke through over the chamber’s speakers. He glanced
at the wall panel that held the
comm
unit and
telekinetically flicked a few switches.

“What is it?” he asked, knowing that only something
serious would warrant interfering with his training.

“Looks like the war has finally showed up on our
doorstep.”

“Who?”

“Lacvamat.”

“Damn. On my way,” Jack-81118 said, logging out of the
training sequence he was in and resetting the chamber to normal with all the
various objects retreating back into the walls as he exited enroute to the
command center in the outpost.

Favrrcor
was a primary
Scionate planet, the only one in the system but one of their major habitation
centers. Star Force had no presence in the system aside from a tiny outpost on
the surface that held some 5,400 personnel who were due to evacuate soon. They
weren’t a colony or civilian center, but a military outpost with one
purpose…controlling the single Sentinel in orbit.

It was scheduled to be removed, as were they, but they
weren’t first on the list and the jump cradles needed to move the big sections
of the station were hard to come by. Jack’s assignment to this post was really
a dead-end one, but there had to be a senior Archon in charge of such a massive
piece of weaponry, not so much to operate it, but to make decisions about who
to shoot given that there were no other Humans within the system.

They’d been deployed here as a courtesy along with the
Sentinel, as well as to make sure no one, including the Scionate, messed with
the control station. Most of the people he had in the outpost were defense
troops whose purpose was to safeguard the outpost, with the balance being a few
techs and other support personnel. The Sentinel itself was completely remote
controlled and sat in
geosync
orbit above them, a
tiny dull star amongst the others in what was currently the planet’s night
cycle.

It was a necessary deployment, but a boring one. Jack
and the others focused on training exclusively, with several commandos and
Knights having requested such an assignment strictly for that reason. A few had
seen combat on the lizard front and needed a breather, while the bulk of the
others were rookies getting some time outside of Sol. Jack’s time was split
between his personal training and drilling the others, of which only four were
Archons.

But today his assignment here was going to come
heavily into play.

By the time he reached the small control center the
Lacvamat fleet had already jumped into orbit in numbers that stunned even Jack.
There were no troop ships or other transports…it was a massive fleet of
warships that were already pouring down into low orbit and literally hunting
the Scionate defense fleet. It had been reduced by about 30% to send relief to
the other worlds under attack, but even had it been at full strength he doubted
they could have handled the Lacvamat fleet he still couldn’t believe he was
seeing. They outnumbered the Scionate ships 12 to 1.

“What do you want to do?” one of the remote gunners
for the Sentinel asked.

“Bring the shields up on the Sentinel and lock down
the outpost. If anyone’s outside call them back immediately. We’re going turtle
and watching how things play out.”

“We’re not going to defend the planet?”

“This is their fight, we’re to stay out of it…since we
don’t have a means to stop it.”

“What if they come down here?”

“We’ll jump off that bridge if we come to it, but
right now I’m not seeing any transports.”

“They could be holding them back for later.”

“True,” Jack agreed, “but by the way they’re deploying
I think they’re just here to target the navy and orbital defenses. If they wipe
them out then the Scionate either have to leave the planet unprotected or pull
ships from elsewhere to cover, leaving less to engage them in the invaded
systems.”

“Uh oh,” another gunner said in a nearby seat as all 4
of them in the control room saw a chunk of the Scionate fleet begin to
run…right up towards the Sentinel sitting on the boundary between mid and low
orbit.

A split second later the
comm
lit up with an incoming transmission prompt.

“Damn you,” Jack swore, sitting down and tapping the
activation button with a hologram of the front half of a Scionate materializing
next to the tactical
holo
.

“
Archon, we
request fire support
,” the ship Captain said as numerous little icons began
winking out across the map as Scionate ships were being destroyed as packs of
the Lacvamat’s boomerang-shaped warships hunted them down no matter where they
went with slightly better gravity drives that gave them a maneuvering edge.

“
Negative
,”
Jack said stiffly. “
We’ve been ordered
not to interfere. This is your fight
.”

“
You were put
here to defend the planet, and we are under attack. Acquit your purpose
.”

“
We’re pulling
out the Sentinel and evacuating this outpost as soon as we get the necessary
transport. Until then we’re just spectators
.”

“
Please. One
warrior to another. This is not a fight, it is a slaughter. We can’t outrun
them and there are too many to fight. They have the star blockaded and mean to
hunt us all down no matter where we attempt to flee. Your Sentinel is the only
safe haven available to us
.”

Jack chewed on his lower lip, his gut twisting up
inside. The Scionate was right, the Lacvamat had them beat and they both knew
it. As he watched other ships try to flee some didn’t make it, while others
made
microjumps
out of orbit with packs of Lacvamat
ships jumping after them. If the star was blockaded as the Captain suggested
then the system had just become a giant death trap for any non-Lacvamat ship.

Jack was about to suggest they flee down to the
planet’s surface when he saw others doing the same with the Lacvamat ships
following them down there as well, right into the face of surface defenses in
order to get to the ships and make the kill. If the enemy was eager enough to
get the Scionate ships that they were willing to turret dive the surface
defenses then there really was no safe place for the Scionate to go, leaving
Jack to tell the Captains of the ships headed towards him that they simply had
to die.

But that’s not the way Star Force worked, and there
was a reason a ranger had been assigned to this station.

“
Surrender
,”
Jack told him.

“
We have tried,
they will not accept one. They are here for our blood
.”

“
No, surrender
your ships to Star Force. We’ll take possession of them so they can’t be used
against the Lacvamat later and preserve your lives in the process
.”

The Scionate hissed, an involuntary reaction that
quickly faded and transitioned into reluctant acceptance. He didn’t want to
give up the fight, but faced with all but certain death he understood the
escape route the Human was offering.

“
Agreed. What
are your orders, Archon?
”

“
Bring all
surrendering ships within a radius of 60 kilometers, but not within 10
kilometers of the Sentinel. Power down weapons but keep shields up and cluster
together to perverse the station’s firing lines. I’ll inform the Lacvamat of
the transfer of possession of the ships. Any of you coming within said radius
will automatically be surrendering. If you try to leave again we’ll fire upon
and disable your ships. Understood?
”

“
Understood and
thank you. I will pass along word to the others
.”

Jack switched off that
comm
channel and searched for one to connect to the Lacvamat fleet. “
Power up the weapons and get the seats full
.”

One of the gunners nodded and started bringing the
massive defense platform to life as well as putting out a call throughout the
outpost for the other gunners to report to the control center so they could get
more hands on the controls, with it being established protocol that the less
multitasking you had your controllers doing the more accurate and effective
they would be.

Six more people came into the control room in a rush
before Jack was able to get through to the Lacvamat, with a hologram of one of
the perched avians coming to life beside the tactical map that showed more and
more Scionate ships altering course and heading for the Sentinel.

“
We’ve been told
not to interfere in this stupid fight of yours
,” Jack began, letting a bit
of anger cross over into his trade language accent, something that he’d have
had a bit of trouble doing a hundred years ago but he’d become fluent enough in
it now that he had little trouble transmitting the appropriate emotional tones,
“
but we’re not going to sit by and let
you slaughter their fleet. Those ships coming within range of the Sentinel are
surrendering to Star Force. Their crews will be removed and we will retain
possession of them, not to be returned to the Scionate to use against you
later. You can consider them out of the fight, but we will not let you kill
them. We can’t stop what you’re doing elsewhere in orbit, but here they will be
safe and out of the fight
.”

“
If they attempt
to leave the zone around the Sentinel we will fire upon and disable them,
ensuring that their surrender is legitimate. Likewise, if you come within
firing range we will defend those who have surrendered. Unless you also want to
surrender your ships, stay outside of Sentinel range
.”

The Lacvamat bobbed its thick head back and forth
angrily. “
So you side with the assassins?
”

“
We’re not
siding with either of you idiots. Both of you should be fighting the Skarrons,
not each other.
”

“
Tell that to
our dead
.”

“
I don’t know or
care what happened elsewhere. Here, now, the Scionate are surrendering to Star
Force and their ships that do so will be of no threat to you. You have my
promise on that, as they have my promise that they will be allowed to
surrender. I will hold to both promises, so keep your distance.
”

“
We will not be
denied our kills
.”

Jack smiled dangerously. “
You have a lot of ships insystem, but your fleet is no match for a
Sentinel.
”

“
We will not
attack your station, but if you think you can keep the Scionate from us you are
wrong,
” the Lacvamat said, ending the transmission.

One of the gunners raised an eyebrow and glanced at
Jack. “Tell me he just didn’t…”

“He did,” the Archon confirmed, pulling up a targeting
prompt so he could operate part of the Sentinel’s systems. He started with
defining a ‘line in the sand’ distance range from the Sentinel and began an automatic
transmission that was sent out into the clear along with a brief message he
recorded also for
autoplay
, informing everyone on the
planet and in orbit what the ground rules were. Scionate inside had to stay
inside and would be safe, Lacvamat had to stay outside or be fired upon.

As the first Scionate warships and civilian transports
began arriving Jack began tagging parking zones and pinging the ships as to
where to go, hoping to line them up so they didn’t interfere with the
Sentinel’s weapons batteries and give the Lacvamat blind spots to approach from
if they were so stupid.

“Jack?”

“I see it,” he said as a trio of Lacvamat ships were
nearing the line as they continuously pounded on a larger Scionate warship that
was throwing back some weaponsfire but otherwise was overwhelmed.

Jack dialed down the power on one of the large
cleansing beams as low as it would go and lined up a shot, waiting to see if
the Lacvamat would cross the line and hoping the Scionate ship would survive
that long. It was already taking hull breaches, but momentum alone would bring
it across the ‘safe’ line within the next 20 seconds.

A large explosion blew out a chunk of the ship just
prior to the line, then the four ships passed it…with the Lacvamat continuing
their attack and ignoring the distance markers.

Jack fired immediately, sending out a very pale white
beam that hit one of the boomerang ships on the shields and sucked some 22% out
of them. He fired on the other two in turn, giving each a warning shot but to
his gall the ships didn’t turn back. They had the Scionate ship nearly
destroyed and he realized they were going to try and finish it off regardless.

With a roll of his thumb he dialed up the intensity on
the beam and fired a brighter lance out from the distant station and punched
through the weakened shields, burning a short line into the hull. He did the
same to the other two, rending them vulnerable to the few weapons batteries
still firing from the Scionate warship as it moved further within the safe
zone…just as his
comm
lit up with an incoming
transmission from the Lacvamat.

“Sorry, busy,” he said as he dialed up the intensity
again and put a
hole
straight through the starboard
side of one of the boomerangs where he knew a gravity drive was. As soon as he
did the ship twisted as the intact drive that was operating under minimal power
to stay with the limping Scionate warship pulling that side around and the dead
‘wing’ fell backwards.

Still the three ships wouldn’t let the Scionate
warship go and it was near to being destroyed, already with hull breaches in
numerous areas.