by Aer-ki Jyr
And then they were moving to the head of the line as another drone shot to scout position and ducked under the shield. Tyree’s destroyer followed, plowing up a bit more sand as it squeezed its larger mass through, then the buildings of the lizard city were visible kilometers ahead on sensors, though the dust cloud in here was still omnipresent. A few streaks of pink were lighting it up, with sensors indicating the scattered perimeter defense turrets as the source.
“Take out those turrets then blast us a course to that big gun. I don’t care how long it takes or how many buildings need to go down. We’ve got them in their blind spot now.”
Scooting less than 100 meters under the shield plane, his destroyer fanned out to the left, zapping the sand in front of it to probe for more booby traps, to allow the following ships to form a line that would allow them all to get into firing position. Once in, all the ships began cutting apart specific buildings to give them adequate maneuvering room up to one of the center streets in the much larger city that would lead directly to the big gun.
Once they were through to that Tyree sent a drone on ahead. It took out a couple more interior turrets that were better suited to defend against mechs than ships, then started chipping away at the big gun from where it couldn’t shoot back. The roadway wasn’t big enough to fit another ship, and Tyree didn’t want to get his fleet pinned in any more than they already were. Eventually the big gun came down, literally, as a chunk of it fell off the southern side as the support frame was melted away by a cleansing beam hit, opening up some interior shots that ended any question as to the gun’s functionality.
That drone then pulled back as another one was already nearing the shield generator. It was more heavily defended, but the attackers had time and the one drone was enough to gradually chip through the lateral shields and get to the armored plates…after which it was just a matter of time until the entire shield plate failed and the city was now open to the air, with a gust of wind coming now and brushing the dust cloud away and returning visuals of the city to the bottom feeding warships.
“Everyone get altitude and start junking cityscape. Orbital fleet, come down to bombardment range and help us toast these bastards. This planet is ours. Let’s get to work cleaning up and the less the ground troops have to do the better. Just leave them someplace to walk afterwards.”
Six days later Commander Tyree was onboard a cruiser that he’d claimed as his flagship, happy to have completed the assault but sorely missing the crews that had been lost, especially Bra’shom. After all he’d done to build up this military it wasn’t fair for him having been taken out in the first battle, but that’s the way the lizards played. Give them any room to backstab you they would, often in ways you didn’t expect, and forcing the battleship up into big gun range had been an inspired tactic, but one that wouldn’t have worked had the battleship crew been quicker witted.
They should have pancaked the cruiser with their more powerful gravity drives, for they were the larger ship and the drives were of Star Force jumpship manufacture, hence top of the line. But they’d hesitated, perhaps not even sure what was going on, and in that moment of indecision the lizards had landed the fleet commander a fatal blow.
Saddened by that and the fact that such a small lizard fleet had given them so much trouble, Tyree had a wariness about him amidst the joy of actually taking a world from the lizards…for he knew their estimates of their own abilities had been greatly overstated. Like him, many of the Hradeiti had been in the Star Force military previously, but for some of them that had been a long time ago. He’d left some 28 years earlier, then been serving in active mercenary units since then, keeping his edge sharp while it looked like others had gotten complacent and forgotten just how dangerous the lizards actually were.
Had the Hradeiti engaged one of the worlds that had originally been their targets…they may well have lost the entire fleet.
That was a silver lining to the losses here, and one that Tyree was going to make sure the Hradeiti did not waste, regardless of whether or not he would retain fleet command in Bra’shom’s absence.
“Incoming ships,” his sensor officer called our warily. “They’re registering as lizard.”
“Where?” he asked, the pit of his stomach sinking as the orbital map showed microjumps ending near the stellar jumpline but well away from the planet. They were lizard cruisers, already at least 20 of them, with more still incoming.
“All ships form up around my position and enter combat matrix 7. Drones to the front and overlap firepower as much as possible. Do NOT individually engage or we’re going to be hurt badly. Get in position quickly and make them come to us.”
The bad feeling he was getting only got worse as more and more cruisers arrived, all holding position near the jumppoint until they numbered some 238 strong. There had to be jumpships near the star that had offloaded them, but they hadn’t delivered them all the way to the planet. Either by design or accident.
Just as well. He didn’t want to have their weaponry added to this mix. They were going to have a nasty fight on their hands even though they outnumbered them 4 to 1.
When the lizards started moving towards the Hradeiti fleet they came in a tightly packed swarm, longer than it was wide, with the obvious intent on making a strafing run and taking out a handful of ships instantly, and he had a gut feeling they would be going for their only remaining battleship or the two drone controlling-jumpships.
But before they could get into firing range a ship winked into existence alongside them, as if in formation but slightly trailing to the starboard. Then another showed up beside it. Neither had microjumped in, they just suddenly appeared on sensors.
Two more did the same to port, and suddenly the lizard formation broke apart and turned on the contacts as weaponsfire broke out against the much larger quartet of ships.
“All ships hold fleet position and center on my flagship, engage with cleansing beams when we come into range. Helm, move us forward casually. Let’s not draw too much attention.”
“Sir?” another officer said, not fully understanding. “Who is that?”
Tyree raised an eyeridge. “You don’t recognize those jumpships?”
“No, sir.”
“Anyone care to enlighten him?” Tyree asked mirthfully as his fleet began gaining altitude while staying in formation, heading towards the brawl that had the lizard cruisers swarming like bees around the four ships that were undoubtedly going to tear them to shreds, perhaps even before the Hradeiti got to them.
“Those are Ma’kri-class jumpships,” a Duramitte said with both awe and respect, having served in Axius for a number of years. The lizard-like grey biped flicked a silver tongue in an odd gesture of respect that Tyree was only starting to get used to. “Star Force was here all along watching us.”
“Where’d they come from?”
“The Ma’kri are rumored to have stealth mechanisms.”
“Consider that confirmed,” Tyree said with pleasure as the lizard ship count dipped below the halfway point. It seemed they were far more interested in doing damage to Star Force than they were the Hradeiti.
“Are we going to help them?” someone else asked.
“We’re on our way, but if my guess is right they’ll be finished before we get there.”
“We can go faster.”
“Yes we can, and as much as I’d like to rack up some more lizard ship kills, do you think it’s worth the risk of them turning on us and taking out a ship or two before they all were destroyed?”
“I suppose not.”
“We’ll help them if this drags on, but I don’t anticipate it will for much longer and the lizards know they can’t outrun those ships. If they turn on us at the end be ready to kill them quickly, but otherwise we’re going to let Star Force do its thing…with our thanks.”
The lizards weren’t completely destroyed by the time the Hradeiti fleet entered firing range, so
they got off a few cleansing beam strikes and knocked out two cruisers in killsteal fashion, but when Tyree opened a comm channel to the Star Force ships after the fact they oddly didn’t respond. Just as he was beginning to frown and wonder if there was something wrong with his ship’s comm systems the four Ma’kri accelerated quickly away from the debris and dropped off the sensors save for a pair of tiny specs that disappeared with distance.
“Are they angry with us?” the comm officer asked.
“We did make a mess of this,” Tyree admitted, “but I think they’re sending us a message. This is our assault, not theirs. We’ve staked our foothold and they’re abiding by the terms of the agreement to defend this system against outside aggression, but we’ve still got troops on the planet and lizards to mop up and they’re not going to hold our hands doing it.”
“Orders, sir?”
“We finish what we started and wipe every last lizard off this planet. Then we send a courier back to Ventress and inform them that we have a new planet for them to divvy up…after we collect some of that lizard tech for study.”
10
February 19, 3151
Velcor System (Hradeiti territory)
Adrak
Paget rode into orbit on the first Gnar transport, seeing to his disgruntlement that they hadn’t been the first to arrival at the newly created ‘Communal World.’ It had been given that name intentionally to differentiate from the ‘Alliance Worlds’ that Star Force had set up and on one of which Paget had been living for a long time. The Hradeiti were in sole possession of this planet and star system, and per their business arrangement with their investors a piece of Adrak now belonged to the Gnar.
It wasn’t a large piece, given the size of the planet, but in and of itself it was sizeable. Resources beneath the surface had yet to be determined, but there was plenty of land available to begin colonizing…land that had not been available on the Alliance Worlds anymore. The Gnar colonies there had filled every last square kilometer of their territory right up to the Star Force border strips that would not be present on this planet.
There were some very narrow neutral zones, barely 2 kilometers wide, that would separate Gnar territory from their neighbors, but there would be no Star Force cities there. In fact, there would be no Star Force presence on the planet whatsoever, which Paget took as a refreshing change. They did have one of their seda stations in orbit and a small but visible defense fleet in the system…which was the only reason the Gnar and other investors were willing to take the risk of crossing the old border and going ahead to colonize their investment earnings.
The world was one form of barren after another, but it was empty and that was the main point. The Gnar needed territory to expand into, and while this wasn’t a huge addition it was the first new annexation that they’d been able to make in some time while other races more favorable to Star Force had been growing steadily with new planets given to them on a slow, but regular basis.
But now the ‘not so favored’ had a route to gaining more territory, with the first fruits of the Hradeiti’s labor now visible for all others to see, and the Gnar taking a much more heavy investment in the organization before that new fame drew others in to stake their claim. This was only the first of what would be many lizard worlds taken, and the Gnar wanted an ever increasing share of future conquests.
But for now Paget had a new home to build, with plenty of room for his broodmates and whomever he wished to invite here. The construction would take time, of course, but he was in full control of this new colony and would not be living under the crush of overpopulation here. He was already planning ahead with immigration quotas that would draw off some of the existing Gnar population from their crowded worlds without bringing the problem to his new doorstep, as well as negotiating with the Hradeiti to acquire mining rights for other locations in this star system.
He was going to hit the ground running, so to speak, and it seemed other races were attempting to do the same thing. Tiny surface bases were already springing up across the planet in addition to the single working colony that the Hradeiti had already established, though even it was still in its infant stages. Only the Star Force seda was fully intact and operational, and Paget knew they had to have hauled it here from somewhere else rather than building it on site. Star Force had some impressive construction rates, but not even they could have constructed that large of a station in so little time since this world fell.
Which meant this was also a race to see who could outshine the others, gain hold of what would be the developing economy, and try to tap into the trade routes that were already running beyond lizard borders. If many of them linked here then this location could become a very important one, and the Gnar wanted to be at the forefront of that if at all possible. And if not, they still wanted their piece of the action…so long as it didn’t involve direct military engagements.
The Hradeiti would be taking all the military risks and casualties, while Star Force would be defending this system like all others in the ADZ along this border. That meant with the hard work of keeping the lizards at bay not an issue, the Gnar and others could focus on the opportunities presented here…and the massive cost of their investment in the Hradeiti looked to be an ongoing blessing rather than a risky business venture.
Whatever would happen with future Hradeiti assaults, the Gnar and others still had their first tidbits of new territory to absorb, with the legitimacy that brought with it fueling the Hradeiti into a much larger organization practically overnight.
Fleet Admiral Tyree was summoned to the Executive Council’s chambers as was occasionally the norm now that he was back on Ventress, with the fleet once again in building mode. Both he and the other surviving commanders from the Velcor invasion had unanimously agreed that they were not ready to take on a larger lizard target, but with all the new investments and recruits pouring in there was talk of potential targets already arising and the upgrading and strengthening of the fleet was being rushed as much as realistically possible.
He wasn’t letting them get reckless, but the need for building a proper fleet was painfully obvious. Good against mercenaries was one thing. Good against the lizards…that was something else entirely. The Hradeiti had their first victory against them, but Tyree had made sure the Executive Council was fully aware of how ill prepared they were to take on a larger lizard force.
But they weren’t backing down, rather rising to meet the challenge, though they had a long way to go before they were truly battle ready.
“Fleet Admiral,” the single Lacvamat councilor greeted him as he arrived.
“Councilors,” Tyree greeted as he noticed a few extra bodies in the chamber. Two Calavari and a short Bsidd. He was used to seeing the really big ones, though this one was obviously an Alpha, their middle sized variety that typically didn’t serve in their military.
“You’ve been inquiring about the possibility of acquiring some higher level ex-Star Force recruits,” a Critel said, then gestured towards the three newcomers. “Fortuitously there have been some very high marks within the volunteer lists. May I present Admiral Nashtek, Knight Renkor, and Administrator Tikkito.”
“Formerly,” Nashtek corrected. “When we left Star Force those ranks were left behind.”
“Why did you leave?” Tyree asked, knowing there were many different reasons, having been in the same position himself previously.
“A chance to become trailblazers in our own right, even if on a much smaller scale.”
“I would not go so far,” Renkor said, looking down at the shorter Calavari.
“I meant no disrespect. I merely seek a different challenge.”
“I too,” Renkor agreed. “I can teach your people much of assaulting lizard cities. The ones you took were weak. Others will not be. You cannot rely solely on naval power to defeat them.”
“That I am keenly aware of,” Tyree said with a bit of dark sarcasm.
“If their anti-orbital batteries had been more advanced, the depression rate would have been enough to prevent anything from approaching over 150 meters at the lowest point. That will block your use of naval ships on lateral approach. You must get your ground forced under that line and into the cities directly.”
“Fortunately our ground troops were not thoroughly tested,” Tyree admitted, “but we did lose a fair number of them in the cleanup efforts after bombardment. Many lizards survived, and they were quite vicious and inventive maneuvering around in the rubble.”
“Coordinating with other Star Force Calavari is easy,” Renkor all but boasted. “Training your rabble into a proper assault force will be a significant challenge. I am here for that challenge.”
“Fair enough,” the Protovic agreed, purposely not taking offense at the rather candid remark. He hadn’t had much to do with the ground troops’ training, but he knew they were in bad need of improvement considering that most of them were not Star Force trained…aside from basic combat skills drilled into them in their maturias. But some of the recruits were not from Star Force at all and lacked even that minimum skillset. “And you?”
Tyree had addressed the Bsidd, who shifted its multi-appendaged body around like a bush with the wind blowing through the branches.
“I am here on a temporary basis. One day I will return to Star Force. That is who I am and where I belong. But I also see the opportunity to gain field experience with the Hradeiti that I will not get within the well-polished Star Force structure. The Hradeiti are raw and badly in need of proper organization. If I can succeed here it will be because I have upgraded my skillset considerably.”
“And what exactly do you plan to do here?”
“You are gaining a lot of new material and resources. The larger you get the harder it will be to manage it all. If you are going to develop a proper military, you will need a proper logistical division supporting it.”
