Star Force: Resolution (SF89) (Star Force Origin Series)

by Aer-ki Jyr

  “Ah…that it does,” Trew said with a touch of gratitude. “Will you be returning to collect the produce or funneling it through me?”

  “It’ll stock pile here until I pick it up. Don’t concern yourself with it…this is just an independent operation that just happens to be camping out in your backyard. Your duties here have not altered save for the bonus material you’ll be getting and any side deals the two of you set up. Their oversight is Clan Saber responsibility.”

  “Very well, then. I won’t pry and we’ll stay out of each other’s way. Will they be reclaiming any other orbitals?”

  “No. Just this one ring.”

  “Just,” Keery repeated, citing the irony in that given how massive a construction it was, and drawing a glance from Paul. “I don’t have a problem with it. We’ve got too many of them to use anyway. It’s basically just sitting here collecting dust.”

  “Good,” Paul said, clapping his hands once in finality. “Introductions made, now let’s all get busy. We’ll be converting this chamber and everything in a 1.5 mile radius around the closest hangar into a transitional area. I assume you have no assets to remove anywhere near that?”

  “No. Nothing within a thousand miles, actually.”

  “Then there’s no reason to delay, unless there are other questions. Koch, I do need you for something else though, so stick around.”

  The Baron looked at his Administrators. “You heard the man. Back to work,” he said with a sarcastic drone.

  “Welcome to the neighborhood, Thrawn,” Keery said, offering him a nod that wasn’t returned as the four men walked back towards the door they’d entered through.

  “You don’t like us, do you?” the tech asked the mastermind.

  “Like is irrelevant. I am here with a mission.”

  “Do we annoy you?”

  “You’re starting to annoy me,” Paul interrupted. “I need your appraisal of something.”

  “Sure,” Koch said, a spark of interest at suggested work.

  “Follow us,” Paul said as he and Thrawn headed for the same door the others had just left through.

  The tech frowned, then did as told and followed the pair, noting the tail swag of the lizard that dwarfed Paul’s small body. If he hadn’t been an Archon Koch would have been a little worried about his safety. It looked like this Thrawn could kill him within a few seconds through brute strength alone if he wanted, not to mention the claws he was carrying on both hands and feet, which were bare despite the ornate robe he was wearing.

  Eventually they worked their way to the hangar that had the lizard Kirby sitting in it along with several other lizards that put Koch even more on edge. They were standard variants, and to his surprise they did have weapons. Handheld ones anyway, but Paul walked towards them as if they were no different than Star Force Commandos.

  Then as they approached another lizard came out, this one a scientist variety that he’d only seen pictures of, though most of the lizards he’d personally encountered were dead ones pulled out of rubble, but he was fairly sure this type wasn’t one of them.

  But what was even more odd was the fact that it wasn’t green, it was dark shade of blue.

  It carried a large case that it set on the ground in front of them and opened up, out of which came the familiar sight of Star Force tech. The trailblazer pointed down at it.

  “Inspect these.”

  “What am I looking for?” he asked, keeping a wary eye on the lizards as he knelt down and pulled one of some 28 components out and held it in his hand, twisting it around and easily identifying its purpose. It was a power transfer conduit that was used in just about every building and ship Star Force manufactured. There were several varieties that he had come into contact with over the years as improvements were made, but this looked to be one of the most recent model.

  Spinning it about and hefting it in his hand he tried to spot any irregularities and found none, so he put it down and picked up another item that he saw to be a micro structural brace used in walls to support add-ons to the primary frame. It and several of the other varied parts all checked out until he came to a flat structural panel sample that looked to be about 9 inches square. He tapped on it twice, then tried to bend it. That felt about right, but his gut said something was off so he pulled a multi-tool out of his pocket and touched a resonator to it as he altered the frequency of the vibrations that he was sending into the material.

  12 seconds later it shattered in his hand, falling into more than a dozen pieces as Koch looked up at the lizards, then back at Paul. “They built these, didn’t they?”

  “Yes, but apparently not well enough. What did you just do?”

  “Exploited a little known weakness that we had to compensate for. The crystalline structure that gives the rigidity is linked to a bendable polymer in a lattice that is very resistant to vibration. This gives the paneling extended life because it reduces the range of impacts that will fracture it on both a macroscopic and microscopic level. But…we discovered there was one particular frequency that the crystal segments practically melted under and we had to make a slight alteration in their alignment within the polymer. Solved the problem, but we didn’t actually change the material any. Just reconfigured it. I’m guessing you gave them the theoretical blueprints to work off of and not the factory notes?”

  “Guilty as charged,” Paul said, though not showing any shame. He was actually a bit impressed, Koch thought. “I didn’t want them copying our manufacturing facilities, only the final products, so I had them figure out how to do it on their own.”

  “Are they going to be making more of these here too?” he asked as he picked up another component and began an equally thorough inspection.

  “Yes, but for our use. The ships they’re building will be lizard tech.”

  “Reparations?”

  “Assistance,” Paul corrected, “to Clan Saber.”

  “Another contract?”

  “Something along those lines. We’re going to expand the production list beyond these items in this facility and I need you to do quality checks on the new models as they come out. If their manufacturing origin can be determined to be anything other than a standard factory they fail.”

  “Well, these other items are good as far as I can visually tell. Need to put them through some more rigorous tests to be sure though.”

  “Do so to your satisfaction. When one meets your approval log it with a message tag for me as well as telling him, then he’ll begin mass production.”

  “Can never have too many spare parts,” Koch said approvingly as he put the last item back in and stood up. “Can I have these?”

  Paul nodded. “If you find any other flaws, let him know that too.”

  “Standard comm grid ID?”

  “Yes. He’s the only lizard contact in there.”

  “Should make him easy enough to find. Do you want me to help them with the paneling problem?”

  “Just give them the frequency to adjust for.”

  “12,883.6 hertz. Do their translators have an equivalent measurement?”

  “Yes,” Thrawn answered, having heard it in his native language.

  “Alright then,” Koch said, grabbing the case. “Send any more prototypes down the columns with Star Force’s cut of resources and I’ll inspect them and get a report back to both of you. Anything else, Archon?”

  “Not today. And thanks.”

  “Always a pleasure to work with prototypes,” he said, cracking a smile as he left and glad to get some distance from the lizards.

  Thrawn waited until he was gone from the hangar before speaking. “My apologies for the flaw.”

  “It’s my fault. I didn’t know there was one that had to be compensated for.”

  “Never the less, it slipped by us. That should not happen,” he said, glaring at the blue scientist.

  “We replicated and tested within the parameters given,” it said without defiance. “We should begin extraneous testing to search for defa
ults on our own.”

  “Do so from now on,” Thrawn said, miffed at the stench of incompetence on the threshold of a grand new opportunity.

  “Well,” Paul said, throwing his arms wide and gesturing to the shipyard in which they stood. “All yours now. Feel free to redecorate as you like.”

  10

  February 2, 3301

  Alamo System

  Stellar Orbit

  There were no Uriti in the system when the Preema fleet arrived by the thousands escorting one very large cargo ship that contained their sleeping passenger. Waiting for them instead was a small Star Force fleet and a scattering of KoQ ships, with the remainder keeping all other traffic within the system far away from the convoy as it redirected further out into the high zone to an isolated area where they began unpacking the Uriti.

  The transport ship started peeling off in segments, not per some grandiose design, but being the result of explosive releases built into the single-use transport. Inside through the gaps the new Uriti owners got their first glimpse of the green, snake-like Barratim where it was coiled up in a ball of flesh less than 2 miles wide that was crisscrossing itself in a multitude of what looked like uncomfortable bends.

  As the transport continued to peel away the sedative feeds were cut off, but no signal came to wake the beast up prematurely. Rather, the artificial gravity was cut out and the Uriti was allowed to float in place as the ship segments were removed from around it, eventually allowing it back into the freedom it once knew while still asleep, though a few visible twitches were beginning to occur.

  The salvageable part of the transport flew away to safety as the nearby control ship sent its first communication, prompting a violent lurch as the uncomfortable bends tried to right themselves and the Uriti got caught up on its own body. It took several minutes until it regained enough consciousness to smoothly pull itself apart and stretch out to its full 39 mile length. It was only 700 meters wide, but contained within that apparently narrow body was enough kinetic weapons emitters to physically propel anything around it back at an incredible rate, sending attacking ships outside their targeting range if they managed to survive at all.

  A small burst of such energy manifested from the ‘front’ end of the simple shape that had a slightly narrower tip than the ‘tail.’ That energy appeared as an emerald translucent wall that expanded out like a nuclear blast and sent fragments of the disassembled transport ship careening away at high speed and in small chunks, for it hit them as if the field was itself solid, but no further outbursts came as the Uriti got itself oriented to space again while the command ship made contact and gave it its first orders.

  It complied with the redirect, twisting around and stretching out its length onto the new course given to it as it headed in towards the star. With that first simple exchanging being a success, it was immediately entered into the indoctrination program that the Sety and Trinx Uriti had gone through upon arriving, though by now the process was somewhat more streamlined.

  Several weeks later, still without negative incident, the Zeus and the escort convoy for the Uriti came into the system along with their charges. The four Uriti immediately took notice of the newcomer and vice versa, with the order for them all to meet in a specific location being sent before they could try and move out on their own. Nami moved the fastest, getting there ahead of its three familiar siblings and considerably ahead of the newcomer, then she waited patiently for the others to arrive.

  That was a good sign, for unexpected stimuli like this were a longtime worry of Nefron’s. The more he studied the Uriti the more he began to realize just how little control over them the Chixzon had had. Their notes and knowledge bequeathed to him through his genetic legacy had not told the full truth…that the Uriti could easily disobey their commands if a higher priority arose. He’d known about issues regarding feeding and damage, but apparently boredom and joy could also supply the basis for an override.

  The fact that Nami and the others had not gone straight for the new Uriti indicated that as long as they thought they were going to get what they needed they would still comply, even if it was inefficient. But what would happen if they ordered them to go different ways without meeting up? Based off neural readings it’d be a coin flip as to whether or not they’d side with orders or giving in to the moment, so it was absolutely necessary to construct orders as compatible with their desires as possible to insure they remained in control.

  And with the newcomer heeding the order as well, that meant it wasn’t just a learned obedience. Nefron was fairly sure the others were, in fact, learning new tricks and techniques, and it was easy to lose perspective when you had them here and were working alongside them. Some things they simply did because they were routine, or so the theory went, and he was glad that this one wasn’t going to be a problem and had accepted the conflictory order without hesitation.

  When the five of them met up the ships stayed well back, and almost immediately there was a cascade of lightning between them traveling from the four originals to the newcomer that the Archons officially labeled ‘Zolom.’ From the readings it wasn’t in pain, and in fact its status as viewed by Nefron, troubled as it was after so long under sedation, was improving greatly. The lightning was actually washing out the remaining sedative from Zolon and sharing data at the same time. It was more than just telepathy, but more like a direct download, and of what no one knew for sure, but when it happened the situation always seemed to improve.

  Riley had referred to it as ‘scratching the dog’ and whatever purpose it served was a binary one, for Nefron was fairly sure they couldn’t summon the affect alone. As he monitored the interactions he began to catalog the wide array of damage done to Barratim and plan out an individualized training program to start it on the path to recovery, including a ‘supplement’ of various rare materials that Star Force would occasionally feed them. They could get most of the same stuff from the stars and planets in the Preserve, but the ingots that Nefron had dispatched to another location in the system were much more concentrated despite the fact they were only 2-meter wide cubes of various alloys.

  When two such cubes were placed he ordered Barratim to travel to the location and consume them, again proud that the other Uriti didn’t chase after it or go after the materials themselves. Whether it be training or nature they were behaving themselves, and despite the inability of Star Force to find a way to directly communication with them, Nefron was establishing secondary and often crude means of collaboration that at least allowed them to be able to predict one another.

  Even before the order was given, two of the Uriti had drifted out of position as far as their orders would allow closest to the beginning of the obstacle course that he was just about to tell them to move to. When he did finally let them go they rushed to the starting point, almost as if they wished to show off…or perhaps show the newcomer what it was supposed to do?

  That was another interesting possibility, and while Nefron had very few concrete answers he had a lot of research capability to avail himself of with these five and several others planning to be moved here as well. All of The Nine’s Uriti would be coming, plus one more from far across the galaxy that the KoQ would be escorting along with a small Star Force contingent that contained a control ship just in case the transport that was being built failed and the Uriti was released prematurely.

  Fortunately that hadn’t happened with this one, but given the power these beasts possessed you couldn’t afford to take chances.

  Getting the Uriti here wasn’t his problem. Learning about them and their interactions was, with the goal of true communication not having been abandoned. It was simply going to take longer than anyone expected, and there was no way to guess how long it would take before they discovered or stumbled on the means by which to get the Uriti’s attention without using the inbred control methods.

  For right now though, he had his own herd of Uriti to study their interactions with each other, for he was certain if he could figur
e out how they achieved even minimal exchanges from the others he would stand a chance of finding a way to imitate it, so the more Uriti they could get here chatting with each other the better.

  That, and it was best to keep them out of the reach of others’ hands, whether they be responsible ones or not.

  Tennisonne watched the reaction levels closely, making sure the 16 injector ports were functioning in a stable manner before creeping the rates up. What he had brewing inside the kilometer-wide test facility in Venus orbit was a dangerous beast of a machine that he’d been chasing for centuries, but right now it seemed to be holding steady. The trickle of power coming from it was considerable, but nowhere near even low levels of designed output. That in itself was an achievement but not a satisfactory test. He had to reach at least 15 terawatts and achieve a stable reaction to be able to proceed to phase two of this project, and whenever he amped up the reaction rate is when he’d lost it in recent decades.

  But with each failure came knowledge, or at least speculation, and he and his advanced team were at it once again with another set of calibrations. The reason they weren’t on Earth wasn’t due to the fact that they didn’t have room…for there was still plenty of ocean floor left to colonize if need be…but rather the fact that if Tennisonne really screwed up, he and this facility would go boom and take anything nearby with them. V’kit’no’sat power generators such as this were small, some the size of half a Sparrow-class dropship, and they had safety mechanisms within them that would collapse the reaction if a failure occurred.

  Tennisonne couldn’t even get a proper reaction to sustained, let alone had the ability to control an errant one, thus this station had been built to insure that if he spectacularly failed no one other than his research team would die.

  But there was no risk of that now, for when they planned a test such as this the facility was evacuated and they were handling it remotely. It was when they were in actual hardware mode and building and tweaking the equipment that there was danger. Right now the only thing in jeopardy of dying was the reactor itself, and if this test run got away from him in a bad way they’d lose it and have to start all over again.