by Aer-ki Jyr
He dropped down behind cover as Jason rolled out to the side and fired back at Paul with a pistol, but his aim was off and Paul got a single good shot on him, clipping his shoulder as he scrambled to new cover while futilely throwing shots Paul’s way.
The Saber smiled and continued to harass him while his teammates continued to reposition and start owning the course. A flurry of shots from Megan peeled Emily off her approach to climb up to Paul again, keeping him in the prime position as the challenge end lights flared red all across the ceiling.
Megan looked at him with a perplexed expression and he returned a shrug as he got to his feet and walked a few steps over the peak and looked down at the entrance to the chamber where a man in a naval Admiral’s uniform stood.
Paul threw his arms wide in protest. “In the middle of my backswing?!” he yelled down at him.
“Priority message from Earth,” Admiral Franken shouted back. “All trailblazers are to return immediately if possible for a summit. Davis’s recall order.”
What the hell is that about? Jason asked him telepathically.
We’re not the only ones with secret projects, Paul reminded him. “All of us, or all of us?”
“The message was sent to all 100. No further information was given.”
Something big then, Emily said as she hopped off a soft cube and dropped a couple stories down to ground level somewhere below Paul.
Any objection to us getting underway now? he asked all 9 of them.
Your ride is fine, Randy said. Just give me time to leave instructions before we jump out.
“Set departure time at 2 hours, Admiral,” Paul yelled down.
Franken nodded/bowed and turned to leave the 2s to their continued training, though none of them was in the mood as they all gathered at the base of the tallest mound.
“Anyone have an idea what’s going on?” Megan asked.
“Not lizard related if he’s calling in everyone,” Brian noted.
“If it was the V’kit’no’sat he’d tell us,” Jason said with a frown. “Sounds like he’s come up with another brainchild that he needs help with.”
“Or a problem to solve,” Emily suggested. “He wouldn’t need all of us there unless it required a lot of work that can’t be done by relay, and if he had a new idea one or two of us would be enough to vet it.”
“She’s right,” Paul agreed. “And I don’t think this is another trial. Something big is going down. Get orders to your fleets and I’ll handle Thrawn. Second gen can stand watch in our absence, but I want to get moving immediately. Most of the others are closer to Earth than we are.”
“On it,” Megan said as she headed for the door at a run a couple steps ahead of the others. They all followed piecemeal heading for comm stations so they could get orders out to their Clans insystem, with Paul sending a return message through the relay system telling Davis that they were on their way.
When they got back to Earth and down to Atlantis they were instructed to head not to Davis’s office or a briefing theater, but to a new chamber that had been repurposed into a bridge-like command center with numerous worktables and so many holograms set up above them and around the perimeter it looked like a Christmas festival when Paul and the other 2s walked in to find most of their peers and dozens of Monarchs split up into groups and running through mounds of data.
“About time you primadonnas showed up,” Morgan said, sporting a set of glowing facial tattoos that reminded Paul a little bit of a Protovic, though hers were few and far between and glowing Ninja Monkey red. “We need lizard data.”
“For?” Jason asked.
“We’ve got a worthy challenge to tackle,” Sara said, walking up to Paul and lightly punching him in the shoulder. “And we need to know how much they can contribute. The more the better.”
“What challenge?” Randy asked.
Rafa walked up to them and pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “Papa Smurf cut a deal with The Nexus to keep our border with them from disintegrating, but it’s going to double our current territory and have us annexing 21 of their member races and peacekeeping the surrounding regions.”
“What?” Megan asked, half laughing.
“I’m not a Smurf,” Davis said as he brushed past Rafa. “And the information here doesn’t leave this room. Sorry to keep you in the dark, but I don’t want word of mouth to spread and I needed you all here anyway. How we’re going to tackle this is a work in process, but we’ve got some of the leg work done already. We need to know how far you can press the lizards without it coming back to bite us.”
“What do you need them for?” Paul asked, trying to get up to speed as he glanced around the maps floating in the room.
“To do what they’ve been doing to us for centuries, only in reverse.”
“How badly outmatched are we?” Jason asked.
“We don’t have a fraction of the resources needed to do a proper annexation, so we’re going to have to rely on the local forces. They’re currently inadequate and the region is destabilizing. The Nexus is going to withdraw their support patrols to other regions, which will only make the matter worse. I’ve promised them that with Archon leadership we could hold on to the region, and in addition to other trades made they’re giving it all to us in the near future. I need some of the trailblazers to go there and take direct command of the Nexus members that are switching sides, some of which are as big as Star Force, and make better use of their fleets and resources than the Nexus can. Myself and Hightower are also going to support you.”
Emily half choked as he inhaled. “You’re going?”
Davis nodded. “We have to do this or the situation in The Nexus is going to destabilize and we’ll be in a far worse position. Right now, if we get involved early, we can use the locals to our advantage. If we wait they will crumble and we’ll have this region to deal with one way or another, not to mention a tsunami of refugee traffic that we’re already beginning to see a trickle of.”
“How bad off are they?” Jason asked.
“The Nexus will survive, but it’s going to have to shed territory to do it and anarchy is already breaking out in numerous spots across their territory. The idea is if we exchange this region they can take resources from it and apply them elsewhere to stem the instability.”
“What’s causing all this?” Emily asked.
“Attrition and races waking up to the fact that The Nexus isn’t as strong as they pretend to be. Some races have called their bluff and achieved victories that are emboldening others. It’s starting to snowball and territory losses are already beginning to happen, but it’s going to get a lot worse and force them into making bad choices. We need to grab the piece of The Nexus closest to us and lock it down, but we have very little of what we need to work with and we cannot delay the lizard campaign. That leaves us with what assets we can reposition to the region, and the biggest one available is…”
“…our lizards,” Paul finished for him.
“What can you give us?”
Paul exchanged glances with Jason. “That depends on what you need.”
“Assume we need everything.”
“Military is dicey,” Jason answered, “but used as builders we can spam them far faster than the Bsidd or Kiritas, and they can produce Star Force material using their own tech.”
“Can they construct our tech beyond mere parts?”
“Full cities?” Paul asked.
Davis nodded.
“No. They can do a lot of the work but we’ve still withheld certain aspects from them. There’s no depth of experience with our tech yet. Tell me what you need them to do and I can give you an estimate.”
“How trustworthy are they?” Rafa asked.
“The new ones are fully committed to our Clans,” Megan answered.
“And the others?” Davis asked.
“They obey Thrawn and the other masterminds,” Paul answered. “And they obey me.”
Jason coughed.
“More than o
thers,” Paul reminded him. “They’ve accepted Archons as replacements for templars, but Thrawn and I have a special relationship.”
Hightower walked up next to Davis, both of which were wearing Arch Duke uniforms, for Davis had never gotten around to designing one specifically for the position of Director.
“How close are you to being able to unleash them with minimal or no oversight?”
“To fight?” he asked his former Marquis.
“To do everything.”
Paul mulled that over a moment as he heard Dan quietly swear behind him. “They can’t with the efficiency that we demand, not yet, but Thrawn is an experienced scrapper. If we have to make this up as we go there’s a possibility that we can do it without crossing into dishonorable tactics.”
“We’re going to have plenty of those to deal with,” Greg said as he joined the group along with pretty much everyone else in the room, “from the races we’re annexing. We can’t sideline them while we rework them, and I’m willing to bet the lizards you’ve got will be more reliable. The thing of it is those races are already in the hotseat and fighting, or soon will be, to save themselves. We’ll be aiding them as they fight, but bringing the lizards into a scenario not of their own making is what requires a careful analysis of where they stand and what they’re capable of.”
Davis looked carefully at Paul, saying nothing until he saw the Saber crack a devious smile.
“I like that look. What are you thinking?”
“Thrawn may not be indoctrinated into our ways, but he’s learned too much to go back to dishonorable tactics. He won’t sell out his people, but he won’t relent until he’s victorious…and this is just the type of challenge that he and the others need. They were bred for combat, and while the new growths are cutting their teeth on training challenges he and the other originals know a different training method that I’ve been trying to integrate into Star Force, but there’s no substitute for an actual war.”
Jason put a cautionary hand on Paul’s shoulder. “I know what you’re thinking, but it depends greatly on what we’re up against. How powerful are the regional threats?” he asked Davis.
“Too many to categorize, but a lot of the instability is coming from small ones that there simply aren’t enough forces to task for. They’re able to operate with impunity while the patrol fleets go to counter the big threats.”
The 2s exchanged glances with each other, suddenly in agreement. “If we’re talking about secondary combat,” Randy said for them, “then our lizards will own them even if they’re not fully ready. It’s the fair fights that they can’t win yet without reverting to spamming tactics.”
“And Thrawn would if he had to,” Emily reminded Paul.
“He’d go down fighting,” Paul half agreed, “but he’s not going to be purposefully inefficient.”
“We don’t have a full system in place yet.”
“Thrawn used to fight with far less, and the masterminds are almost as good at adapting as we are…and more than that, they want to fight,” Paul said, facing Davis again. “If I go with them, I can give you a substantial force initially…a bit light on warships, but with the potential to snowball in growth if given the opportunity and attrition isn’t too high.”
“Good. That’s what we thought, but we needed to hear it from you to be sure.”
“How close to the existing lizard border are we going to get?” Jason asked.
“Not very,” Rafa said. “Your secret won’t get out if we’re careful about the transit, and we’re already cutting secure routes to Nexus territory.”
“When does this handover occur?” Megan asked.
“It’s far more than a handover,” Davis said. “Break up, each of you to a different group, and help us with lizard numbers while you get caught up. We’re all working different angles here and running as many theoreticals as we can before we decide on a plan of action. As for the timetable, we’ve got a couple years before anything big starts to happen, but I want Archons taking the reins of the local militaries before that if possible.”
“Paul,” Hightower said, motioning him towards one of the work tables.
“Jason, with me,” Davis said as the rest of the groups started grabbing a 2 to work with them. The Sangheili went with the Director over to one of the tables and saw a much more detailed map floating low over the tabletop that outlined the freakingly huge mass of territory in play along with what would become the new Star Force borders.
“Oh my god you’re crazy,” he whispered, soaking up as much information with his eyes as he could.
“Archons like a challenge,” Davis said as Lens, Nash, and Tyr returned to their positions around the perimeter of the table. “The Tolsoi are the strongest race that we’re getting and easily outnumber the Bsidd, but their strength is spread out into a lot of territory and their fleets even further trying to quell the nearest insurrections. We’re working out how best to utilize their strengths, but first, know that we’re eventually getting a grid point moved to this system and that The Nexus is going to be given these territories,” Davis said as he highlighted a tiny dot of systems back within the occupation zone that he had to zoom in on to bring any definition to.
“Whoa, what are they doing coming to us?”
“One of their major members, the Meintre, is losing territory. Given enough time they’ll fall entirely. Before that happens they’re going to evacuate as many of them as they can to this region along with a number of other major members setting up work zones where they can produce new fleets without worrying about their shipyards coming under attack. We’re providing security while they build and eventually send reinforcements back into The Nexus to help stabilize it.”
“While we’re left holding the bag for this entire new region?” Jason asked, aghast.
“But we get to keep it if we can hold it, and we get a grid point link into The Nexus that will benefit us both. Add on top of that the number of ships they can redeploy from guarding the Meintre grid point and suddenly they’re going to have more forces available than their enemies expect.”
“To slow the hemorrhaging,” Jason said, catching on. “Damn it, Davis. You’ve really dove in head first this time.”
“The alterative was worse in the long term.”
“And the reward is high if we can manage to pull this off,” Lens added. “We’ve been going through this for some time now and I can confirm there is no other way. The Nexus is crumbling. Without our help it may or may not fall, but the rubble it’ll leave behind will cause enough trouble on its own. Disaster is coming our way and the sooner we start managing it the better.”
“Not to mention the combined military forces of every race we’re annexing,” Tyr added, “are greater than the sum total of what we currently possess.”
Jason raised an eyebrow at him.
“Ship wise,” Tyr amended. “Quality is a separate issue.”
“That’s better,” Jason said, massaging his wrists in turn. “You do know how to keep us from getting bored,” he told Davis as a resigned smile crept onto his face. “Alright, let’s all dive in together. Bring me up to speed on what you’ve worked out so far.”
7
May 1, 3431
Krachnika System (Occupation Zone)
Michra
Paul’s dropship landed in the lizard city almost as soon as the Archon arrived back in the system. Thrawn had to hurry in order to get there before it, and when the boarding ramp lowered he saw an agitated Paul walked out towards him holding an object in his hand. The mastermind waited patiently until the Archon got to him, simply looking down at his hairy head while allowing the question to linger in his mind.
“Not something wrong,” Paul clarified. “Not with regards to you.”
“There is a fire burning in you regardless,” Thrawn pointed out. “What has happened?”
“Incompetent rulers.”
“Within Star Force?”
“No. Within The Nexus. They have overreached
and now their empire is crumbling.”
“What have they done?” he asked, wondering about the Uriti Preserve.
“No, no,” Paul assured him. “They have done nothing to us. Our relationship with them grows stronger as they try to hold on to as much territory as they can, but even under the most favorable predictions they are going to lose parts in order to sustain others. Those regions that we now border near the H’kar are already destabilizing. We have struck a deal with The Nexus to cede us the entire region before it falls.”
“How large?”
Paul held out the device in his hand and a holographic map sprung to life between them with the relevant data. Thrawn looked at it carefully, not grasping the implications until his mind registered just how large the lines were indicating. He thought the map was of a geographical region in which the allotted territory was being shown…not that the whole region was the subject matter at hand.
“I am unaware of strength dispositions for half of those races, but if they cannot hold on to their own territory against other threats what can you do to help on that scale? I do not know your full strength but this appears to be an overreach on your part.”
“It’s a gamble. If we don’t act this region will fall anyway, then we’ll have to deal with the aftermath on our border that we’ve yet to firmly establish. Already we’re getting a trickle of refugees coming in and the major fighting hasn’t started yet.”
“Who is the aggressor?”
“There isn’t one, but many. A power vacuum that has been carefully hidden by The Nexus is being revealed and all manner of suppressed conflicts are arising.”
“Most of The Nexus’s territory is not their own. Their enemies are within their own borders?”
“Indeed.”
“Where did they err? You also have others within your borders.”
“I don’t know the full story, and I don’t think they’re interested in talking about it, but they’re getting hit in many places, and not all of them are small. The Meintre is under direct attack and losing territory. We predict that they will fall given enough time, so we’ve struck a deal to give them sanctuary in the occupation zone, not as part of Star Force, but behind the protection of our borders. They’ll transfer what population and equipment here that they can and begin rebuilding with the goal being to supply ships to help stabilize the rest of The Nexus. To that end several other Nexus members will be constructing worlds here where they do not have to worry about enemy reprisals. Our distance from the fighting is an asset they are going to exploit for their long term strategy.”
