by Aer-ki Jyr
“A day ago the round was still live,” she reminded him.
“A lot can happen in a day,” he said, turning his attention back to Stosur. “You’ve succeeded in earning your place at the big table, but you’re going to have to keep improving and upgrading your nation in order to stay there. To facilitate that purpose I’m reopening full access to the Star Force markets and returning the resources and credits we syphoned off from you over the past year. It is your responsibility to see to it that Australia doesn’t become dependent on the markets.”
“Furthermore, as now a full part of Star Force our weapons tech will become available to you, but it is only for the purpose of your security forces. You will not share it with others, and you will not permit it to be leaked or stolen as you build a properly equipped military to supplement Star Force’s fleet in the defense of your territories here and elsewhere. A police force is not sufficient. You must become a war-capable nation like the others.”
“Understood,” Stosur said, matching the steel in Davis’ voice as he sensed the importance of what the man was saying.
“Your economy is still weak, as is your industrial and shipbuilding base. You must strengthen them and all other aspects of Australia. Do not depend upon private industry for anything. Allow it to exist and use it in the interim, but you have to transition all necessities over to government production, leaving only luxuries for the private markets, along with redundant production if they wish. Your economy will stay linked and open with the rest of Star Force, which is different from the others. Use this to your advantage, but waste the opportunity for growth that I’m giving you and I’ll rescind your sovereignty.”
“You are far behind where you need to be,” Davis said bluntly. “Maintaining the status quo isn’t enough. You have to grow and grow fast, which is why I’m letting you keep permanent access to the markets and private industry, both in your nation and throughout Star Force’s colonies. The Clans and Canderous will still keep their economies private, but under certain necessary or emergency conditions trading with them is permitted. You won’t have contact with the Kiritas or Calavari in the foreseeable future.”
“What exactly do you envision us becoming?”
“Someone I don’t have to keep looking over their shoulder to stay on task.”
“What can we do to help the war effort?” Stosur asked more directly.
“Keep yourself from becoming a liability,” Davis said, ticking that item off on his thumb. “Protect your own territories so we won’t have to devote ships to them, become an exporter of resources and tech that can feed the line troops, Canderous, or the Clans on the frontier while being safely within our protected zones, increase your population as much as you can support, and begin colonizing new territories as I make them available to you,” he finished on his pinky finger.
Stosur nodded. “You want us to step up to the plate as much as we can.”
“As little as that will be in the overall picture, yes. I want you to become an asset to Star Force.”
“Then that is what we shall become,” he said confidently.
“Make it happen, Regents or no,” Davis said with a nod. “Now, what about you?”
“What about me?” Jessica asked.
“Are you planning to stay with Australia, return to New Zealand, or work for me?”
Jessica raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize that third option was on the table.”
“It is as of now. I know how integral you were in keeping New Zealand in play for as long as you did, and despite that failure you proved yourself adept and useful, then used those skills again to assist Australia who, despite several useful talents, tends to have a hard time thinking outside the box…especially the Regents.”
“Point taken,” Stosur admitted.
“And what would I be doing for you?” Jessica asked.
“Star Force has differing methods, as well as different resource opportunities that you’ve not had available. We’re starting up new colonies in other systems, and if you wish, I’ll appoint you to head up one.”
Her eyes narrowed. “How big and in what system?”
“A full planetoid and several options, all of which are a considerable distance from here.”
“Frontier?”
“No, edge of the Core Region.”
“The frontier inside the frontier?” she asked.
Davis responded by activating his desk’s holoprojector and giving them a glimpse at the master map of all of Star Force. He zoomed in to show the Core Region where nearly all of Humanity resided, with seven systems around the edge being highlighted.
“I’m expanding out into these systems, each of which has multiple planetoids tagged for habitation. Some are environmentally friendly, others are not. Canderous and the Clans are also taking part, but the bulk of the colonization will be regular Star Force colonies. If and when Australia gets itself in a strong enough position, they will also be given a planetoid or two to colonize…if there are any left by then.”
Stosur cracked a smile. “Challenge accepted.”
“Do I get to pick?” Jessica asked, only half sarcastic.
“You won’t be the first insystem. There will be a Duke present to oversee all system activities, based in another colony that will have a head start on yours, but it won’t be able to offer much in the way of help in the beginning, so you’ll have to make do with the cargo shipments as they come in and work towards setting up your own production infrastructure, with the ultimate goal of becoming self-sufficient.”
“You really should say ‘self-sustaining,’ so as not to confuse the meaning with biological self-sufficiency,” Jessica noted.
“You’re not the first to suggest that.”
Jessica chewed on her lower lip for a moment as she thought quickly. “Will I become a member of Star Force or will this be contract work?”
“A member.”
“What level?”
“6.”
“So no pay then?”
“Is that a problem?”
“Depends how long I will be there.”
“Indefinitely. Several decades at minimum.”
“And how long do I have to decide?”
Davis glanced down at his wristwatch/communicator. “Say about 5 minutes.”
“5 minutes?!”
“If it’s something you have to think through, then you’re not the person for the job. You’ll be building everything from scratch, making it up as you go, so the only thing to consider is whether you want to accept the challenge…or not. That shouldn’t take more than 30 seconds.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” Davis echoed, watching her closely.
She didn’t say anything for a moment, thinking hard about various possibilities…then she took the Director’s suggestion and just let all the details wash from her head and look at the offer from a fresh perspective.
“An entire planet?”
“Or moon. It wouldn’t be shared, with all the territory and resources yours for the consumption.”
“You really think I’m qualified for that?”
“Everyone has to take a leap at some point, and you’ve shown me enough skill and improvisation over the past years to make me willing to trust you on this.”
“Coming from someone so methodical that sounds almost reckless.”
“Risk is our business,” Davis said, using one of the Archons’ favorite quotes from Captain Kirk.
“What would my title be?”
“Baron.”
“A level 6 Baron?”
“No newb is going straight to level 7,” Davis said with an incredulous look.
“A what?”
“Newb means rookie.”
“She’s not exactly a rookie,” Stosur chimed in.
“She is as far as Star Force is concerned,” Davis explained. “She has to learn our methods and procedures. As it is, no one from the outside has ever been appointed Baron, and I’m only
doing it because I think she’s quick enough to handle the learning curve without it being a detriment to the colony.”
“That doesn’t exist yet?” Jessica asked.
“Not a single ship has landed, other than survey teams.”
“And you don’t even know the location?”
“We can choose now, if you’re onboard?”
Jessica sighed. “As far as presents go, no man has ever given me an entire planet…or moon…before. I don’t see how a girl can say no to that.”
“Then let’s pick out one, shall we?” Davis said, pulling up the seven systems’ individual maps side by side. “The blue ones are where we currently have startup colonies. The green are your potentials.”
Jessica saw there were many, from 2 possibilities in the Therion System to some 12 in Nirrel.
“Which are Earth-type habitable?”
“8 are marginal, with only 2 similar to Earth conditions,” Davis said, bringing up the two planets, one in Nirrel and the other in Merkle. The one in Merkle was a heavy grav world, marked as 2.3g, which made it an absolute monster that would require artificial gravity to make it habitable, meaning one couldn’t go walking around the countryside, but they could have exposed city tops and open air parks so long as the inertial dampening fields covered them.
The other was the reverse, being a small moon with a gravity of .45g. That would also require artificial gravity to make it habitable, otherwise her population would grow weak from muscle atrophy…but they could roam the countryside freely and live without worry of being crushed should the AG fail.
“I’ll leave the big one to your people, but that moon looks right about my size,” she joked, putting her ring finger up underneath it as if it were a gem.
“That one doesn’t have a name yet,” Davis told her as he brought the small icon up to full size, showing her the moon. “Care to do the honors?”
Jessica looked at the sparse lakes and thick forests, up through which rose several steep mountain chains, with her imagination quickly running back to a childhood story of a magical planet inhabited by elves and dragons.
“I think I’ll call it Adria.”
“Adria it is then,” Davis said, inputting the name onto the map, with the update immediately going out across the comm network to every other linked map, eventually making it all the way out to Namek some weeks later, along with several other small updates, messages, and news packets. One of those packets was a forward from the Alliance relay system, having gone through Epsilon Eridani and then shuffled out through the Alpha Region interstellar relay network to the lizard frontier where Paul was still stationed.
Activity along the border had been up and down over the years, with every lizard push having been thwarted by a Star Force counterattack, along with the Humans managing to take a few lizard systems here and there, but the boundary line remained much the same, for Paul didn’t want to extend it too far past Namek and the other strongholds he was setting up against the eventual lizard onslaught that Kara had warned them about.
In between Namek and the Core Region was the vast Alpha Region, the outermost third of which Paul was dotting with new colonies and bases, thickening their band of resistance against the lizards and allowing for reinforcement options they previously didn’t have given the remoteness of the area. Every year that passed Paul, considered to be one of Star Force’s ‘master builders,’ metaphorically dug in deeper, extending their ‘wall’ against the lizards in 5 directions…up, down, left, right, and backward in the hopes of blocking the enemy’s advance, given that the galactic plane was so thick that there was a mass of star systems above and below them.
Those systems were an inroad for the lizards, so Paul was stretching out Star Force’s reach further into them, blocking tendrils of lizard territory that were poking in that direction and forming a massive ‘shield’ around the end of Alpha Region. That barrier, as it was, couldn’t stop the lizards from moving through, for space was vast and a jumpship only stopping in a system for a redirect was hard to detect, let alone intercept and stop before it made its next jump out.
The key was, Paul knew, to make the lizard supply lines so long that any assault force they sent past the Namek area was doomed to fail, either in the initial invasion of whatever system or world they chose, or in the quickly ensuing counterattack that Star Force was gearing all of their systems up for with dedicated fleets strategically positioned for just that type of mission should the need arise.
They didn’t have nearly enough yet in Alpha Region to establish a proper defensive line, but Paul was working on it, even as he monitored the events on the Calavari front, and kept updated with news from the other regions, including Davis’s long overdue annexation of Earth.
One of the message packets that came through with the map update got the attention of one of the Archons on Namek immediately, who took it via datapad all the way into the sanctum where Paul was running his pace laps and all the way out onto the track, handing it to him as the Archons ran side by side for a few steps.
Paul kept running until he saw the contents, then gave the acolyte a telepathic reassurance that he had been right to interrupt his workout. The ranger coasted to a stop and hopped off to the inside of the track where he read through the full Alliance report detailing activity on the lizard border of Calavari space.
5 star systems had fallen in the past three months, with another 8 currently under assault, all of which formed a short knife blade into the gut of Calavari territory, despite the Kvash fleets that had been positioned in that area. They’d been run off due to overwhelming lizard numbers, and the lightly defended Calavari worlds had seen their defenses obliterated before they had the chance to evacuate more than a handful ships, barely enough to get the word out as the lizards hit the local relays, beginning to sever links in the Alliance’s communication chain and split the Kvash and Bsidd off from the Hycre and Star Force.
Paul stared at the little knife blade of quickly captured systems, seeing a great deal more vulnerable worlds around them that the Calavari wouldn’t have a hope of defending with their fleets having been drawn away to fight the Nestafar…and even if they had been there, the outcome would have been the same, though somewhat delayed, for the lizards were finally coming for them in force, now that their treasonous ally had finally weakened them near to the breaking point.
“It’s starting,” Paul said to the acolyte as he handed him the datapad and stepped back onto the track just in time to catch his pacing marker as it came around for another lap. He took off running again and locked into its speed, with his mind going strategic and sifting through the various implications, all of which led to one conclusion.
The Calavari empire was doomed.
Commando
1
May 22, 2458
Solar System
Earth
Rio Jakson sat atop one of hundreds of short skyscrapers in Riverside, California with his back resting against a monument pedestal dedicated to someone who did something a long time ago with no real significance. The letters were mostly worn off, and in truth no one cared about the small monument, but it did make for a good spot to sit on the rooftop garden/park and look out over the city, for all of the buildings were bumping up against the mandatory height restrictions, meaning there was nothing taller in this area to obscure your view of the sky.
The 17 year old sat a few meters from the clear fence that surrounded the pentagon-shaped building that was both his home, school, grocery store, fitness center, and all around prison. It had been designed to give the residents just about everything they needed indoors in an attempt to diminish the amount of traffic that plagued the area, and to Rio that meant he was virtually a prisoner, for security wouldn’t let the ‘children’ outside the building without their parents’ permission.
The open air up top was his only reprieve from the claustrophobia inside the building. His parents weren’t rich, nor were they poor, but land space was at such a premium that
every building in the U.S. was designed to maximize internal space…or at least every building in the metropolitan areas, which in California’s case covered pretty much the entire state.
He, like many other teenagers, tried to push the boundaries of the residential complex, and had found that this roof was the best option they had, and as such it was usually crowded. This particular spot along the edge Rio favored because it was away from all the recreation areas, giving him a more or less peaceful spot to relax, though he could still hear the sounds of a pickup volleyball game going on behind him in the ‘sand box’ that covered the central portion of the roof.
“Hey,” Nadia said, coming up from behind Rio on his left and dropping a long, flexible tube in a wrapper in his lap as she sat down next to him and scrunched up against his bare arm despite the oppressive heat that was only now just beginning to cool with a stiff breeze.
“Hey,” Rio answered his girlfriend back as he tore open the sugar stick, pulled it out and split it in two, giving her the bottom half that contained the cherry and grape flavoring that she liked, while he kept the lime and strawberry sections for himself as he got a whiff of her marine-scented perfume as she turned her head and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before gnawing into her half of the foodstuff.
“They sure aren’t wasting any time,” she commented, gesturing to the half-constructed tower in the distance that had already risen above the height restrictions of the other buildings. It was several miles away, but it was so large that it was impossible to miss and dominated the local skyline.
“Star Force doesn’t mess around,” Rio commented, drawing a look from Nadia.
“What’s wrong?” she demanded, poking him in the chest for emphasis.
Rio sighed. “How do you always know?”
“I can hear it in your voice…now spill.”
“You’re not going to like it,” he warned her.
“Now you have to tell me,” she said, scooting away just enough that she could turn and face him. “What’s wrong?”
“That’s what’s wrong,” Rio said, pointing out into the city.
