Star Force: Excursion (SF46)

by Aer-ki Jyr

  This made the Mssot useful to Star Force, with them acting as a subservient part of the overall empire while their future as a group remained uncertain…with their individual liberties remaining intact and with the same travel permissions as any other secondary Star Force citizen, below the tier 1 status that the Humans, Calavari, and Kiritas maintained. They could travel to any ‘open’ system, while the rest of the citizenry had a restricted list. Visitors had very few travel options, with the colony Davis and Morgan now stood in being off limits.

  The market transactions took place here, but with relays up to vendor stations in orbit where the physical transactions would occur, facilitated by Humans, leaving the Mssot isolated in the colony, which most of them preferred. Also, with their future uncertain, Randy didn’t want them mixing with the general population that the Alliance was quickly forming. They could go out and mingle in the communal colony, which was located elsewhere on the planet, but no other races could come here aside from the tier 1 citizens, with no Calavari or Kiritas having reason to do so.

  Do you feel it?

  Davis reached out with his Ikird, trying to sense the minds of the Mssot around him and getting little but jumbled thoughts. “Feel what?”

  Pride. It’s stronger here than in other places, because this is their contribution to Star Force. Some of these materials are only available here, with them being shipped out to other planetary markets. We can produce everything for our own purposes in other facilities, but as far as the open markets go a lot of these are specialties…which you already know well.

  “I didn’t know they took the production so personally?”

  It gives them a purpose and a leg up on the other races. They know their progenitors’ history, and how we don’t hold them accountable for it, but they still want to prove they’re different and valuable. This allows them to do that, and it’s displayed prominently here, as they earn credits that go to Star Force, whom they identify partially as their saviors. They were born into our system, so they don’t know anything other than it, but most of them realize they wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t made a place for them and they want to return the favor.

  “Some of them?”

  They’re individuals like all other races. There will always be rogues, and that’s not a bad thing.

  “And the lizards?”

  Their individuality is being suppressed, but it’s there. We just haven’t been able to reach it in an effective way…yet.

  “You still hope to find a way to save them.”

  We kill them because we have to, not because we want to. Those lizards being born now have no choice, bound together by a combined will woven into their genetic code. If we can break that hold we may have a chance.

  “How would that work? The ones you’re fighting are still being born in a lizard lab.”

  We’ve discussed that at length. Right now it’s more about not falling into the trap of disregarding them as individuals and labeling them as an automatic enemy.

  “Which they effectively are?”

  Yes, they are. But in a way they’re also prisoners, slaves to the collective will. We don’t want to ever forget that…but we’re not going to be suckers either. It’s a very narrow perspective to keep, and finding a way to undo the genetic suppression would help immensely, even if we never find a way to implement it on a wide scale.

  “I understand,” Davis said, looking at the economic figures being displayed and updated in real time…whereas the ones he got back on Earth were delayed by more than a week. “Are there areas where the Mssot have a natural environment?”

  Only their personal quarters and the lounges connecting them. That’s one of the issues on the table.

  “Downside?”

  If they go independent, no. If they want to remain a part of Star Force in some fashion then we lose a communal atmosphere. We won’t be able to go in there without special equipment, and if we can’t insert Archons at a moments’ notice that opens up a whole slew of defensive weaknesses.

  “We’d have the same problem if the Hycre join…worse, actually. Even in armor you can’t stand their environment.”

  Is that in the works?

  “No…just thinking through probabilities. Sort of a habit of mine.”

  A useful one.

  “Can you show me the atmospheric transition point?”

  Sure.

  “This way?” Davis said, pointing to the right.

  Morgan nodded, glad that he’d taken the time to familiarize himself with the colony map beforehand.

  The next day they visited another of the colonies on the Nexus world, one of 6 that Star Force had created to house irregular populations. They weren’t refugees as far as the Alliance was concerned, nor did they contain territory slots like the Alliance worlds did. They were completely Star Force owned, with the races/groups contained within them being wards of the empire, having come to them through a variety of situations.

  This one held a race known as the Zevveks, who had agreed to give up their homeworld to Star Force in exchange for a position within their society. They had been a primitive race, with only minimal space travel, similar to Earth in the early 2000s. They had managed to build three space stations and had been planning to expand to the nearby moons around their planet when Star Force had made contact with them in Beta Region.

  A simple survey of their planet had showed significant corovon deposits…something that the Zevveks regarded as a worthless ‘heavy’ metal that they discarded, not having the technology to be able to mold the traces they’d mined into anything useful and unable to get at the deeper deposits within the planetary crust. When Star Force had approached them with an economic offer to gain access to the corovon, they’d responded with an atypical request…which had been to join with the Humans as the Kiritas had, for they had learned through intermediaries of the growing power in the region and they wanted to align themselves with it.

  Randy had agreed, but on the terms that they abandon their homeworld entirely and relocate to a Star Force colony…which they had eagerly agreed to. Morgan and Davis were now in that colony, which housed their entire 552 million avian population.

  Like the Mssot colony, this was also a mix of Humans and the bird-like creatures. Whereas the Mssot had huge road-like walkways and open air ‘canyons,’ the Zevvek colony had circular pedestals inside of large domes connected by small walkways for the Humans but allowing a lot of clear air and perches for the Zevveks, which were about the size of a dog. They had four wings and a rounded, beak-bearing head, with a flight style that mimicked hummingbirds, only at a slower wing flap.

  As Davis watched his step to stay on the railless paths, he looked up, seeing a few of them flying to and fro from small compartments that looked like bird houses, not all of which could be accessed by the Humans, save for concealed ladders for emergency situations…though more often than not they’d just grab a jump pack and head up directly, and Davis could see that several of the Human personnel were in fact wearing the packs so they could move about quicker than the pathways allowed.

  Davis, in his Archon armor, walked up to a booth with a blue-uniformed Star Force attendant and caught her attention.

  “What can I do for you, Archons?”

  “What do you do here?” he asked, keeping his helmet on just in case he’d be recognized.

  “I’m one of several hundred liaisons that communicate with the Zevveks regarding their needs. They’ve learned English, but their dialect is hard to understand if you’re not used to it. So if you need a translator I’m your girl.”

  “That won’t be necessary. Tell me your impressions of them. This is my first time on this world.”

  “Well, they’re a bit skittish. I think they requested to join Star Force for our protection, along with other reasons. They can fight if they need to, but they’re not good at it, so their personalities have developed around evasion and caution, but they’re very industrious. Now that we’ve given them the tools…or r
ather created the tools for their forms to utilize, they’re cranking out all sorts of products. They specialize in foodstuffs and other organics, but they’re also making a lot of small parts and personal…um, what’s the word?”

  “Accoutrements,” Morgan offered.

  “Yes,” the attendant said, not sure if that word was sufficient, but settling on it none the less. “Accoutrements that go on the body. Clothing, backpacks, harnesses, holsters, and other things, not just for themselves but multiple races. They like tinkering and coming up with improvements. I’ve modeled several things for them…though they always want me nude to do it. At first I balked, but since there weren’t any Humans watching I agreed. Kind of fun, actually,” she said, winking at Morgan. “The dry air in here feels good after a long day of work.”

  Beside Davis one of the Zevveks flew up and landed on the rim of the desk the attendant was standing behind, gripping the cylindrical railing with its clawed feet, which was when Davis saw that it also had a pair of small arms extruding out from its chest, much like a T-Rex from the old days, which Humans guessed to have spindly little limbs, based on the skeleton…though now they knew that wasn’t the case.

  “Hello, Chaavrakka,” she said, with the Zevvek nodding its beak respectfully.

  “Veeseetors?”

  “Archons,” she clarified, looking back at Davis, despite the fact that he was the lower ranking of the two, but because he was the one who spoke to her first. “Is there something specific you wanted?”

  “Just exploring a bit,” Davis said, looking at the Zevvek, resisting the urge to ask it if it wanted a cracker, then belatedly realizing that some of Morgan’s sarcasm was starting to rub off on him…or maybe it was a side effect of her being in his head so much.

  “You nid gyd?”

  Morgan glanced at the attendant. “Are there some spare jump packs lying around?”

  “Yes there are. Would you both like one?”

  The trailblazer nodded, then the attendant hurried off to a back room, leaving the two Archons with the Zevvek as two more flew in and landed a respectful distance away, staring at them with their three tiny eyes.

  “How is your training progressing?” Davis asked him/her, for he couldn’t tell the difference between the genders, though he did know from the files that they did have them…and laid eggs.

  “We arre neerin feef levl. Whin we reech seevin we git starsheeps.”

  “Have any of you reached self-sufficiency yet?”

  “Naht me, boot twow hayv.”

  “Two people?”

  “Yis.”

  “Could you show me to one of them?”

  “Fahr froom her, boot I can.”

  Good call, Morgan agreed as the attendant came back with two bulky harnesses.

  Davis took one and swung it over his armor, finding several latches that matched up with reception points on his red plates while Morgan snugged up padded straps to fit her smaller frame.

  “They’re fully charged,” the attendant said as Davis pressed the on button and experimented with a small jump that took him two meters up into the air before floating him back down.

  “Thank you,” Davis said, looking at the Zevvek. “Lead on.”

  In the following days the pair visited all of the colonies on this Nexus world, including a well hidden group of Nestafar that had been relocated from a planet near the Calavari border that seceded when their race backstabbed the Alliance. They hadn’t broadcast that change of sides, but had quietly informed their Calavari neighbors that their tiny little colony wasn’t abandoning the Alliance. They had lived in anonymity for many years after that, but after the Calavari territory was whittled down to almost nothing their dropping off the grid was discovered and they were forced to flee their own people, originally taking refuge with the Protovic before Star Force gave them sanctuary.

  Davis found them to be the most unusual of the races he’d encountered thus far…which was saying something. Not because of their flight capabilities, but because of the way their minds worked. Morgan had found that odd, for she had no such feelings regarding them, but to the Director they were the most odd, even when he piggybacked on Morgan’s Ikrid for a closer look.

  After they left Nexus 4 they traveled to another system, this one containing an Alliance world that was split into 8 territorial zones, each of which was ringed with a thin strip of Star Force territory that separated the denizens. Here Star Force was not in control, merely acting as peacekeepers and providing a resource market, for the various races were essentially sovereign nations, save for the few stipulations that they agreed to operate under in exchange for the territory slots.

  Morgan wasn’t allowed to visit all of them, but they did get permission to explore a newly started Urik’kadel colony…or rather the portions of it that a Human could fit inside, for a lot of the residential sections had ceilings too low for them to walk through upright.

  Davis spent a lot of time on this Alliance world, not so much to explore as to investigate, for he was able to interact with the multiple races in the Star Force facilities where they mingled. He asked questions…lots of questions, getting some answers and generating even more questions. This new interracial dynamic was vastly complicated, but as he chased various society and cultural threads he began to get a sense of the various races he encountered, as well as the common ground most of them had, resulting from previous interactions that had formed a slight multi-racial culture that he was beginning to pick up on more and more.

  To explore that even further, the next stop on their trek was Bolo, which held the closely compacted and most diverse interracial population within Star Force territory…which also made it the most dangerous.

  10

  November 30, 2506

  Mensolon System (Beta Region)

  Bolo

  Morgan and Davis walked through the wide city streets, all of which had been built by Star Force but now customized by the various denizens into a collage of multi-cultural imagery. Both Humans wore full armor, Davis in his borrowed red and Morgan in her black, as they mingled about in the pedestrian flows that held very few Humans. There were hundreds of races present, with the majority in this sector being Critel, though they accounted for barely a quarter of the people he was passing by.

  The Critel were notorious traders, with those here on Bolo acting on behalf of themselves, various corporations, or perhaps even their nation, though it had no official standing here, nor did any. All citizens of Bolo were welcomed as individuals and had to operate under a loose Star Force code as they set up their various establishments…some for industry, some for entertainment, and some that Davis didn’t fully understand yet.

  Star Force owned the kiosks, but the denizens filled them with personal property and outfitted them as they liked. A very loose hand had been given to the business side of planetary affairs, and he knew that was due to a lack of oversight potential. Star Force owned the planet, but Randy didn’t want to have to babysit it, and had developed a…or more accurately had let develop a mostly tranquil commerce zone with a strong Star Force security presence to discourage the unruliness, and if necessary exile the disruptive individuals from the planet.

  That had kept things orderly, but Morgan knew that there was a lot going on in the shadows, and even if there weren’t any riots or uprisings taking place that there would be more quiet dangers. The security detail wasn’t large enough to police the denizens in typical Star Force fashion, so there was a ‘wild west’ element here that was tolerated so long as things didn’t escalate.

  That said, Bolo had accomplished what few planets had before in that it brought together so many races, many of whom did not like each other, and had them living side by side without any bloodbaths breaking out. That in itself was an accomplishment, but Davis feared that this ‘wild west’ environment was what the ADZ was going to turn into…or worse.

  But one thing that Davis had learned in his recent travels was that as strange and varied as these rac
es were, there was an element to them that made them ‘people’ like everyone else, and that was something he could use. Self-defense, advancement, pride…these were present in some form across the board, along with many other themes, but the trick was they were twisted by biology and culture into strange combinations, like a rope wrapped up into a huge knot that he had to patiently unravel.

  Today, like yesterday, Morgan and Davis just walked through a section of the ever-growing planet. Star Force insisted on everyone using their infrastructure, but in many cases Star Force engineers would build roads, rail lines, markets, and substructures topped off by flat, ground-level clearings that they then let the denizens build their own structures on, linked into a mutual power and utilities grid. In other cases Star Force would build huge shell structures, allowing entrepreneurs from other races to construct their own facilities inside them.

  Those builds were off limits to the public, but technically Star Force security and the Archons had access to them whenever they wanted. Morgan and Davis dropped in on a few key ones, but for the most part they just made themselves part of the traffic flows, losing themselves in the anonymity of the crowd as they circulated about, observing and learning. While individuals coming to and from the planet had to pass through strict security checkpoints, once they were permitted inside the Bolo network they were free to roam about and conduct business as they liked, making the planet a large, wild pool of strange alien life that Davis was fascinated with.

  Not for the normal reasons, but for the economic and social ones. For most of his life he’d been schooling others in what to do and how to do it…but here he was the reverse, learning how other races conducted business and their philosophies, many of whom had been in practice for thousands of years. The economics were the easier of the two to grasp, for supply and demand were universal constants, with the societal wrinkles making for a truly eye-opening experience above and beyond what he’d had on his tour stops to date.