Read Star Force Perseverance (SF81) (Star Force Origin Series) Online
Authors: Aer-Ki Jyr
was indispensable, obviously. This colony had gotten along fine without him to
this point, but taking it forward was his responsibility and there was no way
of knowing when someone out here might come sniffing around and find them.
And if they were a superpower like The Nexus, well,
Jeyron would have little to defend this system with…and the number of planets
alone would be reason enough for someone to take it from them if they found it.
Calling for help would be pointless, for they’d be
dead before a message could make its way back to the ADZ. No, the defense of
this system would lay, for the moment, in the Archons and warships sent here to
watch over it, but in the long run it would come down to what defenses and
ships that Jeyron could build from local resources. Archons would come from the
Earth and always would, but commandos, naval officers, pilots, techs, etc could
be ‘grown’ locally out of the population. Maturias would be established and
freedom of movement would be retained via the sporadic convoys, so no one would
be stuck here if they truly wanted to leave…but by the same note volunteers
would still be coming in to supplement this system’s population.
Fast forward centuries and you’d have a large enough
population that you’d see people staying here rather than leaving, meaning that
this little piece of the Star Force empire was going to be almost entirely self-contained,
and it was up to Jeyron to design, build, and manage it. That was a monstrous
task and one that he was kind of glad was going to take a while, because he was
going to have to learn as he went, as all Monarchs did, though the Director had
given him some notes for him to make use of going forward. Notes from Davis
himself that he’d compiled over the years that Jeyron had virtually memorized
on the trip out here.
“Count, there’s an incoming message for you,” Captain
Jihadia said, startling Jeyron out of his daze.
“Go ahead and put it on the main display. It can’t be
my mistress all the way out here,” he said with a sarcastic wink.
Jihadia snorted a quick laugh, then the holographic
image of an Archon striker appeared out of armor, but with the telltale
identification stripe on his uniform that Jeyron could just barely make out.
“Welcome to Shangri-La, Count Jeyron,” the man said
with a polite bow.
“Klevin, I presume?”
“I am. I’ve gotten this system up and running, but it
needs a Monarch’s touch and I’m glad you’re finally here.”
“Situation report?”
“Still empty space around us. Scouting teams have
found a few more native civilizations, all pre-grav drive tech. If there are
any significant powers out here they’re not right on our doorstep.”
Jeyron visibly sighed. “That’s a relief.”
“Quite so.”
The Count winced, trying to find a non-accusing way of
asking this. “I didn’t notice any shipyard construction yet?”
“Priorities,” the Archon said apologetically. “Getting
the base industry established was more important, thus I had resources focused
on giving you as many building blocks as possible. We’ve got enough ships at
the moment, so a full shipyard was unnecessary.”
“Support craft?”
“Dropships are being built in a surface shop within
the city.”
“Ah,” Jeyron said with some pleasure. So they hadn’t
built a proper shipyard, but they did have a tiny one for the smaller craft up
and running. That was most welcome news. “I had hoped for as much. I trust I
can leave the security of the system in your hands while I get to work?”
“Always. We’ll watch your back while you build.”
“If so much as a piece of debris floats within 10
lightyears of this system I want to know immediately, I just don’t want to make
a habit of checking surveillance reports myself.”
“I’ll make you aware of anything that pops up, but
thus far it’s pretty dead out here.”
“I hope for our sake it stays that way. I can’t turn
this place into Epsilon Eridani overnight.”
“I’ll give you a week.”
“Gracious of you,” the Count replied with equal sarcasm.
“Though I suppose I should also inform you now that a detachment from Clan
Sangheili is within the convoy. They have orders to establish a separate
presence here, a pure startup of their own. I don’t know where that leaves your
chain of command.”
“Sangheili? Interesting, but not a problem. I’d been
told you were in full command?”
“I am, but you know how the Clans like to do their own
thing.”
“And Sangheili likes to be the first to jump the gun
whenever possible,” the Archon said with some chagrin.
“And you are what Clan?”
“Clan Joanna. The rest of the Archons here are a mix
with no official Clan function on this mission. May I ask who made the
addition?”
“The Director added it at the last minute before we
left.”
“Well then, no arguing that. He must have something
good in mind.”
“He always does. They have a padawan with them. Will
she take lead or will you retain it? I can work either way, I just didn’t want
to make assumptions.”
“A padawan? No mage?”
“No, but she’s already completed her apprenticeship.”
“Baby mage then,” Klevin mewed. “If her duties are
Clan specific then I’ll maintain operational command. If not we’ll figure it
out. We don’t actually bicker about that sort of thing.”
“Arm wrestle?”
“No,” the Archon said, shaking his head slowly. “I’m
glad there’s someone here now that’s stronger than me. It’ll give me a
challenging sparring partner.”
“If anyone other than an Archon said that I’d assume
it was innuendo, but with you guys I know better.”
The Archon smiled. “Sorry, Count. We won’t be helping
you boost the population numbers…though others are doing an admirable job of it
right now.”
“A population surge request?”
“No, I gave none. They’ve volunteered themselves to
it.”
Jeyron cringed. “It’s that boring out here, isn’t it?”
“I can’t speak to that. My work is essentially the
same everywhere I go.”
“Diminished workforce?” Jeyron asked, knowing that if
a lot of the female population were pregnant they’d be incapacitated for at
least a short period of time.
“Yes, but nothing too worrisome. Filling out the
maturias sooner rather than later seemed more prudent, so I didn’t interfere.
Most of the women are being responsible about it and taking breaks in between
pregnancies, so we’re not losing whole chunks of population. They’re
coordinating an alteration pattern on their own.”
“Wise of them.”
“They’re Star Force. Should you expect less?”
“Perhaps not, but I’m also used to dealing with raw
civilians who are less…insightful in their mating habits.”
“We don’t have any raw civilians out here…save for the
younglings.”
“How far along is the first maturia?”
“They’re 8 years old.”
The Count nodded. “A good start then.”
“I assume I can officially relinquish master builder
activities?”
Jeyron smiled. “I officially relieve you, Archon. You
can get back to full training now.”
Klevin bowed gratefully. “Much appreciated. I’ll meet
you at the spaceport when you land and give you a proper tour.”
“Looking forward to it,” the Count said as the
transmission cut off…then he noticed the Captain giving him an odd look. “What?”
“Mating habits?”
“Sounds more professional than fucking.”
“Sounds like something you shouldn’t need to worry
about.”
The Count shrugged. “Population statistics are
something we have to keep our eye on.”
“Is that what your interest in me has been then?”
“Unless your trim figure is somehow hiding it, I don’t
think you’ve chosen to go that route, so the answer is no. This trip has been
unbelievably boring and you’re the one thing that has made it bearable, so
thank you for that, Captain. I don’t know how you crewers handle these doldrums
on a regular basis.”
“Some of us prefer solitudes, and the Archons don’t
seem to have your boredom problem.”
“Training is useful, but for a Monarch we need to be
active in a practical way.”
“So ‘mating’ with me was just to keep you busy?” she
asked with a rueful smile.
“Busy no. Break up the boredom occasionally…yes.”
“How flattering,” she said, neither offended or
amused. “It seems you’ll have a lot more prospects to keep your attention down
in the colony.”
“Afraid not. I’m going to be too busy doing real work.
I only let myself relax when I have nothing else to do.”
“So now I’m ‘relaxation?’ A promotion of sorts, I’d
imagine.”
“And I was?” the Count asked, curious.
“A feather in the cap,” she said honestly. “Never
bagged a Monarch before,” she said with a devious smile.
Jeyron made a ‘tsk, tsk, tsk’ sound as he slowly shook
his head, looking at her petite and trim figure as she sat in her Captain’s
chair. “Oh the perks this job would have if only I were corrupt.”
“Which is why Monarchs are virtually impossible to
nail. You’re quite the score for me.”
“If that’s what alleviates your boredom,” he said as
he stood up and made ready to leave the bridge and the ship. “Have a dropship
readied. I’ll be taking my leave of you and your ship now. Make sure to keep
that feather properly fluffed and cockily displayed.”
“It’s been a pleasure,” she said honestly.
“Likewise, Captain. Likewise,” the Count said, leaving
the bridge to gather his belongings and head down to his new planet that the
cargo fleet would be departing as soon as it had unloaded.
Another bridge crewer threw the Captain a glance after
the Count had left. “He doesn’t know about the scoreboard?” she asked.
Jihadia shook her head. “No. I took it down before I
plucked that feather. It’s going back up as soon as he’s gone.”
The crew member smiled. “A Monarch, huh? Didn’t think
any of us would actually get one of those. They’re as hard as getting an
Archon.”
“Archons are impossible,” the Captain stated flatly.
“Anyone who claims to have done one of them is lying.”
“What if they did them before they became an Archon?”
Jihadia looked at her navigational officer, not ever
having considered that possibility before. “Technically that wouldn’t count as
an Archon, but it’d still be scoreboard worthy.”
March 31, 3102
Menchet System
(lizard core)
Tess
Tavarini reached down with his armored mandibles and
picked up yet another lizard body, throwing it over the railing to the pile
below to clear the small area of cover behind a bulkhead on the walkway the
Bsidd were holding. The last assault had nearly choked them out, leaving them
with too many bodies and not enough room to put them. The next wave would be on
them any second and he needed to get behind cover as much as possible, hence he
and the others were chucking the warm corpses wherever they could.
The walkway they were on was small, barely 8 meters
wide, but it had a lot of nooks and openings into other areas, with a railing
beside the bulkhead that opened to another larger promenade below. It didn’t
connect to the upper level directly, and this damn lizard shipyard ring was a
maze of connecting tunnels, ramps, and ladders. Almost all of the fighting was
being conducted in small groups at extreme close range, with the lizards
literally crowding out every available open space with a flood of bodies
running at you and firing at pointblank range.
Their rifles and pistols were annoying, but it was the
det packs that were the biggest concern. They’d cornered many Bsidd over the past
two months and blasted through their armor. A handful had died, but most had to
be evacuated with mangled bodies. This type of fighting was different than he
was used to, but at least the lizards couldn’t throw hundreds of phaser shots
against your shields at once…but the downside was that you didn’t have anywhere
to run when one of the little bomb carriers found his way through the others
and ran up in your face.
Hence every square meter of clear floor was precious,
and as he grabbed another lizard body…or rather the upper half of one that had
been cut in two with a plasma rod…he chucked it over the side ignoring the
blood splatters on his armor. His shields were down on his mandibles for the
moment, and the purple battle plates were already covered in lizard gore. It
was something he’d gotten used to, barely even noticing now as his mind was
focused on the next engagement.
A ping on his battlemap told him that was going to be
on them soon enough. Star Force had already managed to conquer and secure a small
slice of the shipyard ring, but they were having to defend it on both sides
across miles of interior terrain, both up and down, as the lizards poured
combat troops up the elevator shafts from the planet’s surface and continued to
send them against the invading troops.
The promenade below was a battleground that had