by Aer-ki Jyr
Stan brought up the pictures they’d taken, looking down at the giant disc that was the galaxy from just above it and seeing the big bulge in the center. That bulge was where the V’kit’no’sat made their home, reaching out into the disc a ways, but it was that dense central region that had so many systems, so many worlds, and so much debris that it was a cluttered mess of navigational hazards offset by many short jumplines. If the galaxy could be divided into an urban and rural zone, Star Force inhabited the rural while the galactic center was the urban, which partly explained why the V’kit’no’sat had not pushed all the way out to the rim…besides the fact that the galaxy was truly so big that no one could conquer it all.
And yet, the lizards were well on their way to doing that if they weren’t stopped. Their version of conquest was that of a virus spreading to everything everywhere with no real conquest involved, only destruction and replication. Consuming the galaxy would take a very long time, but unchecked they could do it. They might not have command and control over anything given the size, but they could dominate it.
He guessed that was the difference between the lizards and the V’kit’no’sat. One wanted to dominate, the other wanted to conquer. To conquer meant you controlled, whereas in this context, domination mean pushing out all others and populating everything. Grass could do that, so it wasn’t an achievement that the V’kit’no’sat would deem worthy of their consideration. They chose to dominate by intimidation and taking out anyone they chose, leaving the bulk of the galaxy’s races as they were and knowing that they were no threat to their empire…one which was interconnected and knew what every other part of it was doing.
And looking at the visuals they had on record, Stan was very glad they were in that big bulge of the galactic core rather than out on the disc where Earth had the good fortune of being, marking the outer edge of the furthest expansion by the V’kit’no’sat and really no more than an outpost world like the few Star Force had set up on the disc’s upper edge.
Getting out there had been an achievement, to be sure, but it also meant the lizards couldn’t flank them from their coreward region. There was still a huge number of lizard systems left in their rimward hemisphere, more than half their number, but hopefully once their core worlds and their shipyard rings were taken away from them, the rest of the lizard systems would fall more quickly, potentially to others once they saw the unbeatable lizards’ homeworld go down.
It would be a very long time until the rimward hemisphere was taken out and their continuous expansion colonies hunted down, but once it was there was the threat of the coreward hemisphere spreading back out to their territories, and in order to prevent that Star Force was going to have to create a wall across the entire galactic plane from top to bottom and maintain it with the help of the Voku and any other willing allies.
The number of systems that would lie on that wall was insane, but Star Force was already beginning to throw up their detection net with these little lines of systems. Holding back the lizard empire once it’d filled out that region was going to be a constant pain in the ass, and Stan hated the idea that they had to let them get that large, but the trailblazers’ logic was sound. They couldn’t chase the lizards in close to the V’kit’no’sat. The fact that they’d been able to grow this large and not be found out testified to the size of the galaxy and their lack of knowledge this far out. But go closer and hit their sphere of intelligence, wherever it may lay, and it’d be like hitting a trip mine.
They couldn’t go after the lizards there, damn them, but they could make sure that they exterminated the buggers on this side of the line.
Star Force also had one line reaching down to the bottom of the galactic plane, passing around the edge of Voku territory rather than going through it, so right now Star Force touched one intergalactic ‘ocean’ to the other, spanning some 1,000 lightyears from which the net across the galactic disc would be stretched to hold the lizards back.
Trouble was, there was no lateral sides to that disc. The Preema held one side and, after giving up their hopes of wiping the lizards out entirely, had resolved to form their own boundary. So as long as they didn’t cave, that side would match up and keep the lizards boxed in, but the other ‘eastern’ side was wide open with no ally there to block them in down the road. Right now it was the Skarron empire poking out into that region, but the lizards were winning that fight and eventually would round the corner on the Star Force wall once it was put up, meaning that they’d have to keep extending it further and further.
The solution to that problem he didn’t know, but luckily he didn’t have to be the one to figure it out. His puzzle was the Rammus and where they would fit into all of this. Geographically they were near the outer lizard border, but that line was going to keep moving and the Rammus were going to be in safe territory.
They weren’t going to hold a border slot and they weren’t going to interlink with the ADZ…they were too far away for that. The trade routes would stretch out eventually, but they were sitting in a region of empty systems that had been taken from the lizards and there were no plans to recolonize them anytime soon.
So the Rammus were basically going to be on their own little island for the foreseeable future. They could relocate or expand elsewhere, but there was no need for that. Other factions had that covered, especially in this region with the Bsidd able to grow so fast and in so many variations.
What could these guys become? Down the road at least. Numbers wise they were tiny…not super tiny, thankfully, but with one world that was mostly busted up by the lizards it was going to be a fixer upper for sure, despite what the Rammus had maintained below ground, which was impressive. He and Sara had visited those cities extensively, feeling claustrophobic the entire time.
That was one item he was changing. All future construction was going to be big enough for Humans as well, which was Star Force standard anyway. Stan would make use of their underground cities during the transition but eventually they’d all have to be remodeled or abandoned.
But what could these guys do other than patrol the local region? That was always needed, given how many empty systems Star Force had to watch over and make sure no one else took from them. Both he and Sara saw potential in these guys, but how was Stan really going to make them distinctive and able to contribute outside of massive numbers and infrastructure that would be centuries, if not millennia in the making?
They were diggers, and Star Force didn’t have many of those. Not in a distinctive way, at least. Star Force built underground too, but these guys could literally do it by hand. They could burrow down even through loose rock thanks to a retractable claws on all four limbs, and even survive cave-ins thanks to their natural armor…from which they’d just dig their way back out given time. They even had a special fatty tissue that stored oxygen that they could burn away slowly to survive in bad atmosphere or limited atmosphere underground.
But what did that matter to Star Force? Their mechanized diggers were far better, and aside from chasing lizards into tunnels too small for Humans to easily go there wasn’t any combat advantage that he could see to it.
Out in the open they had a speed advantage in wheel mode, but nothing he couldn’t outrun. These guys were eager, he’d give them that, but biologically speaking they didn’t have anything that really bespoke combat except for their armor…which wouldn’t stand up all that well to plasma strikes. Fabricated armor was much better, so where did that leave them?
Stan didn’t know and it was beginning to bother him. He’d discussed all this with Sara but she hadn’t had any firm solutions, citing that he’d have to get them adjusted to Star Force ways of doing things before he could really evaluate what they were capable of.
And that meant years of training.
So that was his first task. Get an advanced training group going so he could build a standardized basic program for the rest of them and enough of a starter program so they could start filling out maturias. Getting those facilities b
uilt was going to take time, but he had to have the plans first so that when the first structure was ready to go they could start putting infants inside immediately. As long term of a process this was, he couldn’t afford to waste months. The Rammus wanted to be Star Force, and he needed to take advantage of that before they could change their mind or subsequent generations could be born and grow up free of the lizards…which could incline them to different ideas.
All that meant he had to make the transition for them now, as soon as possible, and get them working towards goals even if he didn’t have enough infrastructure to house them all. So what goals could he given them right off the bat?
Raw materials, obviously. They were diggers, so mining was an easy option even if they didn’t have Star Force’s level of tech. So that was one big item he could add to his list. But what else?
Picking up after the lizards. There was a lot of their infrastructure that had to be removed and recycled. If he had them bring the pieces to the Star Force recyclers that would give them something to do and allow him to use his limited offworld personnel for other tasks. About a third of those were Human, with the rest being a mix of Kiritas and Bsidd.
Wait a minute, this isn’t about what the Rammus can do, but what does Star Force need?
Or more accurately, what could it use, more of as a luxury or an enhancement, because it already had everything it needed.
Then an epiphany struck him. He thought it through with as many variations as he could imagine, settling in on an uncertain course of action but one that he knew would lead to something of merit.
He looked up from the panel he’d been working on for several hours by now, with that time having flashed by rapidly once he’d gotten on the trail of a good idea. Stretching his back a bit as he sat up, he looked at the forward vid screen that showed the planet below them from their low orbit.
He nodded at it, imagining one of the Rammus standing in front of him.
“Ok,” he whispered with a smile, then got up and left the bridge to confer with the Administrators assigned to him in order to get the ball rolling.
6
January 3, 3193
Unnamed System (lizard territory)
Planet 12
Jaina picked up a Protovic with her Lachka and threw him into a mess of lizard infantry, his blue armor balled up into an improvised wrecking ball that docked down more than a dozen of them. Plasma shots flew across over top of him, nailing lizards all around as he stood up, punching one back while two more shot him from pointblank range as his shields snapped back into place.
A third lizard jumped and looped his thin arms around the Protovic, dragging him backwards off balance as two more jumped on top of him, knocking him to the ground as a rush of lizards moved forward to fill the gap that he’d made, some of them piling on top of his blue armor as they tried to get some more rifle shots into him.
He dropped his already weakened shields, letting the lizard bodies make contact with his armor…
Suddenly the mass of them jerked, recoiling without thinking and letting him go as he sent an electrical charge through his specially designed armor that allowed him to channel his natural ability. It wasn’t a strong charge, especially spread out through so many lizards, but it was enough to get them to loosen their grip and give him a little maneuvering room that he used to get a strong kick into one that knocked it back into two others.
From there he went about punching and kicking, disrupting the lizards enough that Jaina and the others were able to mow down a lot of them as they worked their way back to him. Another blue ball shot by, landing a few meters ahead and taking more pressure off of him. Together they disabled more than killed the lizards around them fighting hand to hand, then the wave of Star Force troops rushed around them and shot the lizards they had knocked down.
The Archon clapped one of them on the shoulder as she passed, with both of them knowing to fall into the rear and get their shields recharged over their pitted armor. They’d taken far too many hits, but it had been worth the tradeoff to get the lizards out of the urban cover they’d been taking in the debris of their own city.
Jaina pushed forward for another two kilometers, cleaning out more narrow points where the lizards were trying to mass their numbers and kill any of the Protovic that they could. She either had the option of waiting or pushing forward, either of which would be to the enemy’s advantage. Protovic units were assaulting this section of city from multiple angles, working their way back to what had been labeled as an area that contained subsurface entrances. They’d hit as many as they could find from orbit and then close in with air power, but there were obviously some that they had missed and the only way of finding them was going in on foot.
She wasn’t going to make the mistake of chasing them down their tunnels, at least not with so much of the surface still left to cleanse. They’d find the holes and seal them, leaving any subsurface warfare until later and knowing that while her troops weren’t in a lot of danger up here so long as they kept their heads and fought smart, the lizards were succeeding in grinding down their supplies. Ammunition was low and their armor was getting chewed up. Before too long they’d have to pull back or find themselves in a situation where the lizards could kill them.
An upgrade to their armor let her check not only the status of everyone in her unit at a glance, but it also linked with the weapons they carried and let her see how much ammo they had remaining. They were all getting low and would need to cycle out or get resupplied, and while they were on the move that wasn’t easy. Bringing in a dropship was doable, but the lizards might have more of their little missiles launchers nearby, and while one wouldn’t be a threat to a dropship’s shields, multiple ones could be. With air cover they could take them out, so dropship reinforcement was doable if needed, but fortunately they’d come up with an alternative means of resupply.
She hit her beacon, then continued pressing forward and not giving the lizards an opportunity to regroup. After a while several new contacts popped up on the battlemap, coming from behind their lines and not lizards. They were moving erratically, surging forward quickly then almost stopping again. They didn’t move like troops nor aircraft, and she knew better than to anticipate their arrival, instead waiting for it to happen with a piece of her mind as she and her Protovic continued fighting even to lower levels of ammunition that she wasn’t too concerned about.
Surge and stall, surge and stall…the contacts kept getting closer, and she knew that the varied terrain was the cause. Give them a stretch of open road and they could get up to good speed, but maneuvering through the rubble required them to move slowly while coming out of wheel mode.
Soon the first of the Rammus came up behind them and into view. Jaina stopped and reversed course immediately, being the first to go back and meet the dark green mass of armor as it sped forward like a wheel then unraveled into a standing quadruped within a few meters of her. Across its chest was a pole that contained supplies that would become a stubby axel when it balled up again. Also, around the edges of its back were pouches built into the armor, each separated from the next to keep the flexibility required to provide propulsion while moving.
The Rammus held position, standing as tall as it could as she plucked out two ammo containers and began reloading her weapons, then pocketed some more into her own pack. Another Protovic came up and relieved the Rammus of the rest of what he was carrying, then both Archon and Commando headed back to the front lines as more began to fall back in singles or pairs while the group continued to press the attack into the lizards.
The Rammus, now with empty cargo pouches, turned around and balled up again, jumping into a roll that then accelerated by bending his otherwise circular shape. Stretching and flexing at the proper moments he gained speed, traveling down a straight section of road and passing two others coming the opposite way. When it got to a blockage it had to slow and unfurl, climbing over some chunks of building and around a turn until it found another flat sec
tion, where it then went back into wheel mode and accelerated heading back to the nearest supply depot to pick up another load.
Jaina headed back to the front lines, taking a short moment to grab a bit of ambrosia out of her pack in M&M form and slipping it into her mouth as she mentally retracted that bit of helmet. Her shields extended momentarily to include her arm so they didn’t block the little pellet as she popped it into her mouth. As she crunched and swallowed it her shields reset and her helmet reformed, then she was back within firing range and added her plasma rifle shots with the others as an automated program in her armor began selecting other Protovic along the line and ordering them to fall back whenever a Rammus got near.
That had taken some time to work out, but now both the Rammus and the Protovic had gotten good at making the exchanges fast and efficient, with the little guys marking themselves as ‘empty’ on the battlemap so no Protovic would be erroneously sent back to them and have to wait. The system kept everyone in fighting mode except when they needed to pick up supplies.
The exchange happened efficiently despite the random nature of the debris, then about ten minutes later Jaina’s troops got stopped cold as a group of tanks suddenly appeared from underground. She ran towards and leapt up on top of one of them as the Protovic scattered, doing what she needed to in order to take it out as skeets were diverted to hit the rest of the tanks…then had to pull out as hundreds of infantry-sized missiles shot up towards them.
Breaking up, the skeet squadrons began zooming around the perimeter trying to draw missiles in smaller numbers towards them and gradually deplenish the lizard ammunition, but for the moment they couldn’t get near the Jaina’s troops, which she quickly ordered to retreat. The Archon followed as soon as she got the first tank killed, using the pilots inside to open the hatch then chucking a grenade inside to render the controls inoperable after obligingly dragging the pilots out and tossing them safely to the ground…though she did land one with a stern kick on its way down.
