by Aer-ki Jyr
Neither happened, with everyone eventually laughing as Paul kept getting clobbered by the little bits, many of which ended up on his clothes and in his hair.
“Guess this is what I get for bragging,” he commented, releasing his shield blades and having them dissipate into non-existence…then he concentrated for a moment and formed a shield along the skin of his head and hands. With a slight effort he pushed it out, straightening his hair as all the little pieces and liquid blew off, though his uniform was still covered.
“Quite the mess,” another voice said from the doorway. Paul had seen him come in a few moments ago, but the others had apparently missed it, having their backs to him.
Jack and the others turned around, shocked to see Davis standing there. “When the hell did you get here?”
“A few hours ago. I didn’t want to disrupt your workouts,” he said, walking up to the group as Paul likewise came forward to join them…stepping on apple bits half the way up.
“If you needed something why didn’t you call?” Dina asked.
“Same reason,” he said, standing eye to eye with the others and looking nearly identical to them, save for a less sculpted body and a different uniform, his being a plain black while the trailblazers all had on their white with black stripe striker versions.
“What’s up?” Paul asked as he stepped up beside Wes.
“Trouble that we have to deal with immediately. Gamma 6 found a meat farm outside the ADZ that has been making shipments into Scionate territory and distributing it from there. It’s a purely independent operation, comprised of a number of mercenaries and freelance shippers, but under Ikrid interrogation Bri discovered that they were commissioned by the Scionate in order to create plausible deniability.”
“Meat shipping in the ADZ is still illegal,” Ben pointed out. “We can nail them on that, regardless of whether it’s their territory or not.”
“We don’t need proof,” Davis said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “We know they’re responsible, and they know it. I’m not playing any games with them, but if they want to shrug it off and dare us to make an issue of it, I need options.”
“Have you informed them?” Dina asked.
“No. We’ve confiscated the facility, taken the workers prisoner, and are in the process of sending ships to evacuate the herds. The Scionate don’t know anything yet, nor does anyone else.”
“What kind of a response are you wanting?” Paul asked.
Davis sighed. “I’m guessing that the Scionate will double down, expecting us to not be willing to start a war over this, which we can’t, I assume?”
“Well, we could…” Jack said halfheartedly.
“Their fleet is larger than ours and mostly deployed in defense of their own words,” Paul differed. “Our tech is better, so I wouldn’t count us out, but we’d have to pull our fleets in from other deployments and leave the frontier vulnerable. That’s something we cannot do, and if the Scionate know that then they probably think they’ve got us pinned to a rule we can’t enforce.”
“Which is why I need other options,” Davis concurred. “I can throw a host of economic trouble their way, but if they’re willing to violate the agreement we had, I wouldn’t consider them to care much what we do to them. They’ve got their worlds now, behind our defenses, and they, like many others are probably considering, might be thinking that they can just do as they please without regard to the colonization agreement that they entered into in exchange for those worlds.”
“We have to drop the hammer,” Dina said without hesitation.
“Short of using the fleet,” Wes added.
“To what end?” Ben asked. “Are we bluffing or ready to take them out if we have to?”
“That,” Davis said, holding up a hand, “is what we need to impart to them. Killing for food isn’t something that we don’t like seeing, it’s something that we won’t tolerate in the ADZ even if we have to fight every single one of the races here to stop it. I’d prefer not having to fight a war to prove it, but I fear talk at this point isn’t going to be effective unless they know it’s backed up with power. I don’t want to involve the Hycre or Protovic in this, this is our edict that they’ve broken and it’s our place to enforce it. Tell me how we can do that.”
“Go in and trash their meat distribution network,” Dina suggested. “Did Gamma 6 backtrack it?”
“They uncovered some leads that Beta 3, 4, and 8 are following up, but I won’t know for more than a month.”
“I agree,” Jack said, crossing his arms over his chest as he thought out loud. “Target their illicit activities and tear the crap out of them…and do it under the radar. That way they’ll know we know and that we’re pissed, as well as shutting them down.”
“And if they have more than one of these shell suppliers?” Wes floated.
“We have to track down them all,” Paul said firmly.
“That means trashing their stuff and sticking around long enough to ask questions,” Alden continued the train of thought.
“What if they’re smuggling more than meat?” Dina asked. “What if we find farms inside Scionate territory?”
“We’d have to confiscate and evacuate the herds,” Paul said offhand.
“Easier said than done…plus that leaves us just cleaning up their messes. If they do it again we confiscate again and the cycle continues. This isn’t contraband we’re talking about, it’s lives. We have to take care of this now, and permanently.”
“Permanently is unlikely to happen,” Paul disagreed, “but if we are going to have chance of it we have to hit them hard, and in a way that is going to make them remember...plus anyone else who learns of it.”
“Without the fleet not sure how we do that,” Wes said, hoping the others would have suggestions.
“We need a beat down,” Alden said, his eyes closed to near slits.
“That’s what the fleet is for,” Wes reminded him.
“No, we need to make it personal. Find the meat network and smash it, but also find the Scionate leaders and beat the crap out of them, in person, fist to claw. I think that will send the message we need.”
Davis considered that. “How difficult would that be?”
“Very,” Ben emphasized. “We’d have to get past their defense fleet to get to the surface, avoid any anti-air defenses they might have set up, go by foot through the city, find the bastards, say hi, then get back out again.”
“So what’s the hard part?” Paul asked.
“Sounds like you’re volunteering,” Dina said, glancing at him.
“If you guys can handle the network trashing, I’ll play meet and greet with their leaders…along with an assistant or two.”
“Don’t look at me,” Jack said, putting his hands up in front of him as if to ward off the selection finger. “Fighting a few dozen kitties is fine, but bringing an entire planet full down on your head…a bit out of my league, and yours, by the way.”
“We’ll make it work, and I wasn’t referring to any of you here. I do think extraction will be the hardest part, for both missions, especially if they have smuggled herds to their worlds. We’d almost definitely have to use the fleet to get them out.”
“Unless you made their leaders say uncle,” Dina pointed out.
“Perhaps you should hit their meat network first,” Davis suggested. “That way you know what to talk about when you say hi later.”
Ben thumbed towards Davis as he looked at the others. “Someone been giving him sarcasm lessons?”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Davis said genuinely. “And whatever you arrange, I need to know the timetable so I can coordinate diplomatic elements from my end. I’m going to make sure everyone else knows what’s happening, even if the Scionate try and cover it up.”
“And if they get pissed and feel like attacking us?” Wes asked.
“Then they’re going to incur the wrath of the ADZ…as well as our new allies.”
Paul locked eyes wit
h Davis. “That’s our ace in the hole?”
“Even if it wasn’t we’re not going to tolerate a meat market, even if we have to wage all-out war with our former allies. Make sure they understand we’ll escalate as far as necessary to stop this.”
“I’ll deliver the message,” Paul promised.
“I trust you all will handle the rest and keep me informed,” Davis said, looking at each in turn then focusing on the bag behind their feet and telekinetically bringing up his own apple from the few intact ones that remained. He grabbed it out of the air and held it up in his hand for emphasis. “But before you get at it, explain to me what you were doing with this…and how.”
Three weeks later…
Morgan’s warship jumped into a system just inside the ADZ border that held 6 planets, all uninhabited and uninviting. With scans of the system being clear, as far as their limited sensors could determine, she ordered her ship out to the 4th planet, then over to its 18th moon. The tiny pebble of a planetoid was only 300 miles wide and covered in water and moss beneath an unusually thick atmosphere for such a small gravity well…yet it was still too thin to breathe, meaning that Randy’s base hidden there had to be completely self-contained.
It was one on another of the clandestine networks, this one running throughout Beta Region, and Morgan’s drop off point for the Aronsic passengers she’d been collecting from behind enemy lines. Sam and Mark were doing likewise, with their expeditions using one of the three drop off points that Morgan had available to her. Neither of their ships were here, for such drops occurred only rarely. It wouldn’t do to advertise the location of the base, plus it was hard finding enough of the Hobbits willing to switch sides to fill a jumpship.
That said, it was getting easier now that they knew where to look, and Morgan quite liked plucking new allies out from under the enemy’s nose. The Hobbits she would be dropping off here would eventually make their way back through the circuit via cargo ships until they reached a Nexus world where they’d be making their new home under Star Force training and control, with the Skarrons not knowing what had happened to them.
When Morgan’s ship established contact with the base they exchanged message packets, passing along whatever updates either party had come across last, and in this case Morgan had a message from Paul waiting for her. After overseeing that the transfer of her guests got underway without incident, she retreated to her quarters and began going through her mail and status updates, pulling up Paul’s message first.
After reading it she contacted the Captain and gave him new orders. They wouldn’t be returning to enemy space, nor any of their Beta Region colonies. She was needed for a much more important mission and the warship was going with her, it being the fastest means possible for her to return back to the Core Region and rendezvous with the others. It seemed there was a bit of a trailblazer reunion going on, and given the party itinerary she didn’t want to be late.
7
July 17, 2534
Corvio System (Scionate/Star Force territory)
Admat
Morgan was sitting quietly on the couch in her quarters, legs folded up into a crosslegged pose doing some light psionic drills meant to increase her Ikrid sensitivity as well as probe for new abilities when she felt Paul arrive outside. Without a word she telekinetically pressed the open button on her door and let him in, slowly opening her eyes and ending the drill.
Her fellow trailblazer walked in, his eyes a bit more intense than usual, and stopped a couple of meters in front of her. “Just got word.”
“And?”
“They busted up the hub and exposed a huge network. They’re going after the other pieces, but there are no interior farms, so we’re good to go.”
“I’ll meet you two in the hangar,” Morgan said with a nod as she stretched out her legs. Paul nodded and walked out, closing the door behind him as Morgan walked over to the spot on the floor where she’d left her clothes and pulled them back on, then made a quick stop in the restroom before opening her closet. She brought out her striker armor and stepped into it, fastening the various clasps starting at her slender legs and working up to her neck before finally sliding the helmet in place and hearing it click into its atmospheric seal.
She breathed normally through the mask/grate, open to the outside air as it was, and left her quarters enroute to the hangar with a quick stop off at the local armory. The Star Force colony wasn’t her normal home, but as per protocol all of them had Archon supplies on hand should they be needed, which in this case was a jump pack that she attached to her armor. The harness-like device was neutral gray, clashing with her black motif but that didn’t matter. On top of the jump pack she attached an equipment rack that snugged up to the new outline perfectly, and on top of that she added various weapons, all of which were stun.
Morgan also swapped out her armor’s power core with a fresh fuel rod, one of three that the striker armor ran on, opposed to the normal two that the other variants used. It was rechargeable, both in the field and in the colony, but she needed to go in with full power and not have to worry about how much juice she had, for the gloves she’d brought with her were stun equipped as well, and would draw off the armor’s power source rather than an energy clip like her weapons did.
Once fully geared up she left the armory enroute to the colony’s hangar bays, heading for a small, private one reserved for their exclusive use. When she got there she passed through a pair of Knights guarding the entrance so that no one could get inside and sneak a peek at their ride.
It had been Paul’s idea, and she’d agreed, breaking standard protocol but given the situation it was a good call. The star system they currently were in held 1 Star Force planet and 6 Scionate ones, including their new capitol. Some people had been surprised that they’d located it in a system that had an outside presence, but all of the other Scionate systems held 2 inhabited planets at best, with those here being amongst the most preferable…which was also why Star Force had claimed one for themselves in order to put down roots for the ADZ transit grid, making this not only a major system for the Scionate but a link for them to the rest of the ADZ through Star Force if they chose to use it.
And they did, somewhat, but there was far more traffic here coming from other races, making Corvio an economic hotspot, but oddly enough not the meat market entry point. Apparently the Scionate hadn’t been stupid enough to put it right under Star Force’s nose, but she was sure some of it was getting here through other means, undoubtedly being smuggled on other vessels not originating from outside the ADZ.
Getting over to the Scionate capitol wasn’t going to be hard…getting down to the surface undetected was, and while Star Force had a measure of stealth technology, getting through a cluttered orbit and into the ruling city would have been damn hard to do unnoticed, and Morgan knew the key to this mission was surprise. Paul had given them a 50/50 chance of pulling it off before suggesting an alternative…which sat off to the side in the hangar bay, outside of which Paul was waiting fully armored.
Morgan walked over to him and the V’kit’no’sat gunship just as the third person in their little raiding party came into the hangar behind her, running to catch up.
“Sorry I’m late,” Kara offered, wearing nothing but her standard uniform whose cuff draped down over her wrist, partially covering her clear Vorch’nas.
“You’re not,” Paul said as he turned and walked into the side access door.
“Still going with the faceplate?” Morgan asked, following him in as Kara brought up the rear.
“It’s what I’m used to.”
“Not going to get used to the new one unless you use it,” she pointed out.
“I’ll wait for the new armor before I make the change,” he said, hanging a left and walking down between the two rows of seats and over to the lower cockpit.
Kara closed the door with a thought and followed the other two up to the cockpit, but rather than sitting down in one of the three seats she climbed the sm
all ladder up to the command post. It was a single seat with a ring of holographic controls, all of which were instantaneously familiar to her. She pulled up several specific diagrams, one detailing sensor beam intensity/reflection, knowing that even with the sensor stealthing that all V’kit’no’sat craft seemed to have they were going to have to be sneaky…which was her responsibility while Paul flew the ship.
“Ready up here.”
“Did you bring them?” Morgan asked, suddenly remembering one important item that she didn’t have with her.
Paul stood up and reached into the pack on his back, pulling out a small sack with a flip-lid mouth. “Didn’t think you’d want one until we got there.”
“I don’t, I just wanted to make sure you brought them. What’s the dosage?”
“Each bean is 200.”
“Ouch,” Kara said from above. “That’s one hell of a headache.”
“You’d be surprised how much the shields eat up,” Paul said, activating the gunship’s anti-grav…which like all other advanced versions was silent. “Anything we need to do prior to leaving the bay?”
“Just come out slow so I can get a reading.”
“Slow sounds bad,” Morgan commented, sitting in the seat to Paul’s left and looking at her own holographic displays along with a handful of physical buttons.
“I just need to see how this responds to the local sensors. I don’t need altitude, just stick our nose out.”
“Will do,” Paul said, activating his helmet comm and linking in to the colony bay control. “Open the door, we’re ready to leave.”
“Doors opening,” the controller replied.
Paul waited while the ceiling door irised open, revealing blue sky and open air. He flew the ship over to the center of the hole and raised it up evenly, stopping once it cleared the roof by a meter or two.
