by Aer-ki Jyr
Those fortunate enough to flee in the direction of the ADZ were welcomed in by Star Force, so long as they agreed to a code of conduct. Many came in small numbers, while others moved as united factions or entire races once the word spread that there was sanctuary to be had. Wiox was the 17th Alliance world to be colonized, with far more than that now in existence. The planet was lifeless on its own accord, with Star Force having established its usual ring of colonies separating the 8 regions and facilitating their development through the availability of their resource and service markets.
The A392 was carrying both passengers and cargo to be deposited on the planet, as well as the neighboring two in the system. Star Force didn’t have a full colony world of their own insystem, but they did have the scattering of surface colonies on all three, orbital facilities, and mining sites throughout the other planets that they used to funnel resources to the ‘client’ races.
Laying claim to all systems in the ADZ, Star Force didn’t permit the Alliance races from expanding to nearby worlds without their permission, with the Hycre and Protovic backing them up on that. The Protovic already had their own territory on the edge of the ADZ that Star Force had no part of, and the Hycre likewise had worlds throughout the ADZ that had predated its inception.
That had created friction as well, for it seemed Star Force would let the Hycre continue to expand as it pleased, though it was also argued that since they colonized gas giants where the other races could not there was no reason to limit their expansion…yet as far as mining rights were concerned, they also got special treatment.
The Calavari also backed Star Force, but for most purposes didn’t interact with the other races. As far as they were concerned they now were Star Force, so they let the Humans handle most of their Alliance affairs while they concentrated their efforts on the warfront. The lizard excursion forces had finally started to probe the new Calavari borders, with the promise of heavier fighting coming in the near future. Right now there was a bit of a land grab going on between the two as the Calavari secured a handful of additional systems around them, both to deny them to the enemy and to give them room to expand as more of their now growing population coming off of HTC wanted to stake out a claim.
They had enough room on their current systems, but knowing what was coming their way and out of a sense of sentimentality they wanted to retake a few of their old worlds before digging in. That would provide them room to grow later, which was why the Archons were onboard with it, despite the fact that those new worlds would require even more Sentinels to defend.
That left the once great Calavari race squarely in Star Force’s pocket, and two of the five founding members of the original Alliance backing the Humans. That kept most of the dissenters suppressed, but Star Force’s unwillingness to budge on any of its stipulations created an enormous amount of animosity amongst the races with cultures that ran counter to Star Force philosophy.
Those cultures kept to their own territory slots, only marginally restricted by the terms of colonization that were agreed upon before they had been permitted into the ADZ, but in order to operate elsewhere in the Alliance additional restrictions and requirements were added. This meant that if you wanted to become a more predominant member of the Alliance you had to take to Star Force’s ways…if not, you had to keep to yourself and leave your fate in others’ hands.
The only exceptions to this were the systems where Star Force had no reigns. The Scionate and Lacvamat had been given systems rather than planets, meaning that aside from a handful of shared systems that Star Force used to keep a resource and transit link to them, those races had the privacy to expand as much as they sought within those systems…and invite others in as they so chose.
Travel, while now mostly facilitated by the ADZ transit network, was not restricted. If you had a jumpship you could move almost anywhere within the ADZ and come and go from it as you chose. This freedom saw many races with political and economic ties outside the ADZ on worlds yet to be challenged by the lizards or Skarrons…though they weren’t the only predators roaming about, for many other belligerent races were taking advantage of the chaotic situation and making assaults on more local levels that escaped public view aside from the stories passed on by travelers.
Outside the ADZ Star Force’s rules didn’t apply, and the ‘kids’ went out there to play and let off steam while the more patient ones stayed inside the protected borders and planned out their rise to prominence. There were many players, but one of the most determined amongst them were the Reen. They utilized the transit network and Star Force markets heavily, intent on building their way to dominance as they took the territory slots they’d been given and crammed as much infrastructure into them as they could afford.
They did this to facilitate their population, which had mostly evacuated prior to the lizard invasion of their now forfeited worlds, as they pressed their reproduction capacity to its logistical limits all the while searching out more Reen beyond the ADZ. Their race hadn’t been confined to a specific territory, but had spread out across a very wide region that went more coreward and spinward of the original Calavari territory. When the lizard front inevitably came into contact with them many fled in those directions, either in a coordinated way or on their own.
Now those populations were being sought out by Reen scout ships, which they were busy building by the dozens, as they traveled far outside the ADZ to spread the word of a safe haven and the need for numbers to increase their stature amongst the Alliance.
So it wasn’t surprising that when the A392 entered planetary orbit that it decelerated near to a large fleet of old Reen jumpships in the process of sending dropships down to their two territorial regions on the world. Their green-hulled scarabs were visible throughout the spinward bulk of the ADZ, moving to and fro as they brought refugees in and went back out in search of more, invariably bringing back more ships with them that added to the retrieval fleet they’d mustered.
That fleet was taking more than 2 years round trip in some cases, and was staggered so that Reen jumpships were a common sight amongst the Alliance, while their warship count amounted to a big fat ZERO…so far as defense fleets went. The warships they had were part of the retrieval fleet, having been restructured to haul a few additional passengers as well as to protect their civilian ships, both of which nestled up into their moderately-sized jumpships and now, for the sake of expedient transit, were disengaged from them so they could open up their individual landing bays and begin the mass exodus down to the surface.
And yet more Reen were aboard the A392, having purchased passage on another Alliance world where the retrieval fleet had dropped them off, with their government feeling that was more economically viable than delaying their own ships from heading back out again immediately. The Reen were a common sight onboard the Human-built Alliance jumpships that facilitated all the races, yet still belonged to Star Force. Their large size had been accommodated into the design, given that they were the second largest race in the Alliance, biologically speaking, after the Ikrotor.
The six-legged bluish/green giraffes were larger than the Skarrons but could hunch down and walk on their spider-like legs at low height, curling their necks low like a snake and allowing them to move through walkways and rooms that a lot of other races used, but that wasn’t an issue onboard the Alliance jumpships, for the main areas had plenty of ceiling height.
That said, with so many Reen onboard space became tight when they wanted to get out and about in the communal areas, but the crew and passengers had managed well enough. They did require larger dropships to debark upon, but most of the passengers onboard Alliance jumpships didn’t head straight to the surface. Instead they got off onto a starport that the jumpship actually linked to directly using an umbilical. That was uncommon, with the umbilicals usually reserved for emergency situations, but it had become a common enough practice with the Alliance jumpships as they found it was easier to move the Reen and other large species directly rather th
an sending wave after wave of jumpships across…so long as you had a good pilot to null out the drift.
Fortunately the starport was bigger than the jumpship, which also had carried a few other races’ ships inside it, now releasing them out into the system save for two that were moving on to the next stop. More ships would be hopping on for the ride out, as well as more passengers boarding, with the jumpship sticking around a few days and a second coming in before it left. As was usual, there was at least 1 insystem at all times, with certain transit routes landing five or six there simultaneously, making a lingering connection to the rest of the Alliance and an opportunity for quick departure…should you have the credits.
And it was Star Force credits that ruled the ADZ, not by the choice of the denizens, but for the fact that Star Force markets accounted for over 90% of all natural resources being consumed. Some races chose to live the self-sufficient lifestyle, but those that did saw small growth as their own industries proved inadequate to match the pace of what the markets provided, meaning that for those races vying for position, they had to deal with the Star Force markets, which only dealt in credits and raw materials, making the other races’ currency pointless outside their own colonies.
Add in that Star Force maintained fair prices and didn’t engage in gouging, and you had people actually wanting to do business with them rather than their own governments. And when they wanted to trade with Star Force they needed credits, not local currency, so they put pressure on the resistant governments to switch over to full Star Force currency…which many eventually did, though there was a considerable lag in getting the actual currency in their hands/claws/tentacles because Star Force didn’t hand it out generously.
Physical credits were still used commonly in local areas, but most transactions occurred electronically, but because Star Force wouldn’t accept other currencies it had become quite the chore for a race to switch over completely…with those that did finally achieving it through a massive game of shuffling resources, ending up with an economic boom that further encouraged others to make the switch.
The Hycre and Protovic did not, for they dealt with Star Force on their own terms, with private trade deals off the public markets. That also was a point of complaint, with it making it clear who the major drivers in the Alliance were. The Big 3, as they came to be called, were the foundation upon which all the other races built their renewed empires. Star Force was the economy, the Hycre were the navy warding off the Cajdital, and the Protovic were the army holding back the Skarrons.
That wasn’t the full truth of the situation, but that’s what the ADZ populations came to think of them regardless. Those contributing to the fighting on the fronts knew better, with the Protovic fielding a huge, well-equipped navy and Star Force being the key to everything, despite their small size. The Calavari were seen as an anomaly, with the public unsure where they fit in, and reduced to a pair of points on the perimeter, their once massive military now reduced to scraps. With their deliberate seclusion from ADZ affairs, most people forgot about them entirely, with their focus going solely to the Big 3.
The Hycre were the Hycre, virtually untouchable and alien, not having a huge influence in Alliance affairs save for where they wanted to. Most things that concerned ground-pounders didn’t affect them, so there was a disconnect there. The Protovic had their territory intact on the edge of the ADZ, with the Skarrons having been pushed out and them resorting to hitting weaker targets, some well inside the Protovic border before they were quickly met and repulsed by a combined fleet.
Further incursions continued as the Skarrons probed the ADZ, with even a Scionate world getting hit, reminding everyone of the danger and the fact that there was no ‘wall’ to hide behind. Still, the Protovic were distant from the Alliance Worlds and mostly unconnected to them, socially and economically.
That left Star Force as the only big power on the ‘inside’ that the other races had to contend with. The Reen more than others had been pushing for some level of peerdom, and as a result had received more territorial slots than others, proving that they could and would make good use of them, as well as bringing in a lot more people from outside the ADZ, increasing their need for more territory.
Others had seen this as well and were trying to outgrow their neighbors in terms of population, but Star Force hadn’t given in to that tactic entirely, favoring those who built wisely as opposed to those who scattered their territory slots with sparse infrastructure to fill it up quickly then demand more. Star Force insured they had what they needed, but they weren’t ones to be fooled. Given the Reen’s approach, they had gained considerable advantage over the others during the ‘learning curve’ that happened, upping their stature considerably.
Those Reen that departed the A392 remained on the starport only as long as necessary to arrange transit to the surface of Wiox, accomplished through a mix of surface to orbit craft of Reen manufacture, saving them the credits that would have been necessary to purchase transit down to the planet. The dropship tickets were cheap enough, requiring very little for an individual to get to orbit, or even around the ADZ transit network, but when you were dealing with the movement of billions of individuals per year even the small amounts added up, with the Reen saving credits by fielding their own craft for this last leg of the immigrants’ journey.
Once they landed at their own spaceports the Reen were taken into a processing center patterned off of Star Force’s own facilities and quickly got their people integrated into the population, with a good number of them going to supplement the mining teams harvesting resources from their territorial slots. Those resources they didn’t have to pay Star Force for, meaning the more workforce they had the more material they could harvest…and the more material they could harvest, the more equipment they could build/buy, creating a snowball effect.
That snowball effect was occurring across all the Reen territories, but not just with them. The other races that had seen the writing on the wall and gotten a head start on the others were building quickly, gaining additional territory slots and increasing their population and influence in the ADZ…with the others scrambling to catch up by following their example.
In this way, Star Force was remaking them without giving a single order or threat. Simply by setting up the playing field and letting the races do as they like, they were channeling them towards economic responsibility, proper infrastructure, and population growth…with those not getting onboard being left to their isolation as they were gradually overshadowed by the rest of the ADZ races.
But still, tricked as they were into the general direction Star Force wanted them to go, they were not onboard with the Humans’ agenda, merely willing to work within their system with the intent of walking it back later on. That approach may well have worked if their own populations didn’t see the truth of it on their own streets and how Star Force had better living conditions and greater opportunities, for both individuals and groups.
A good portion of those ‘enlightened’ individuals made their way to Star Force in one form or another, with the bulk of those who proved themselves worthy ending up in the Axius colonies, which under Star Force’s direction was growing more rapidly than most of the other races, population wise, and faster than them all infrastructure wise.
And of those people who left their previous races, few ever returned, in body or spirit, for after just a year or two living amongst the Axius inter-racial community their viewpoints changed greatly with the experience, no longer having to rely on hearsay or stereotypes to get an idea of what was beyond their own borders.
But above and beyond that they got to experience what Star Force really was and the genius behind every facet of it…right down to ceiling heights and drinking fountains, which were designed to accommodate all of the various biologies, not to mention their focus on individual sovereignty…something that was sorely lacking among the other cultures that predominated the local region of the galaxy and now had been brought into the ADZ.
That close proximity and interaction created a cultural war that Axius was surging to the forefront of as it siphoned off the races’ own population…and since freedom of movement was one of the stipulations for receiving territorial slots, they couldn’t officially close their borders and force people to live under their dominion.
That meant they either had to cheat or entice people to remain…and doing the latter meant becoming more like Star Force, whether they wanted to admit it or not.
8
While at Wiox the A392 also had the distinction of picking up the Omnigame delegation from the planet and those from the other Alliance Worlds in the system, which the jumpship would eventually deposit on Califret, the Axius colony near the edge of the Core Region that was hosting the biannual competition.
Each delegation was comprised of highly skilled individuals from each Alliance World and the Axius colonies, with the teams competing in a variety of competitions ranging from mathematics to biathlon to mech warfare. Prizes would be handed out in each category in the form of a small amount of credits to the participating individual/squad and a lump sum of credits accounted to the world they were representing…on a scale that would mean significant infrastructure expansion. The account was only good for local purchases, split evenly amongst the 8 territorial regions on an Alliance World, which was a significant enough reason for the various races to push participation in the games.
The biggest prize came from the overall standings, in which the top 5 worlds got a huge load of credits on top of the category prizes. With the societal war fueling a population boom, infrastructure expansion/upgrades were critical and those worlds winning the previous Omnigames had surged ahead of their completion with each victory. The trick of it was, for both the Alliance Worlds and the Axius colonies, no one race controlled them, meaning your best chance of victory was by fielding a combined team, forcing those races greedy with their own advancement over the others to seek out assistance on their local worlds in the hope of winning and splitting the prizes…for there were no participation prizes, and you had to earn your way to the credits.
