Star Force: Resolution (SF89) (Star Force Origin Series) (2 page)

“Meaning you can transfer to another ship with a
transmitter and we can go two places at the same time.”

“Exactly.”

“How long before we can test that?”

“Not long, assuming this wasn’t a fluke. It’s the
refining that’s going to take time.”

“Down to something handheld?” Riley reiterated.

“Or a forearm gauntlet, if you’d prefer. It’s going to
be a bit heavy at best, but you should be able to wear it.”

“Archons only?”

“Strong telepathy is required.”

“Protovic?”

Nefron considered. “I don’t want to start there, but
that’s a possibility.”

“Ok, so let me get this straight, just for the
record,” Riley said with a blossoming smile. “You just figured out how to
create a remote control for the Uriti?”

“As I said before, you cannot remote control it, you
can only give it orders.”

“Semantics. This device allows me to order it the same
way you do?”

“In theory, yes. All we have is a single test for
confirmation.”

Riley jumped into the air doing a twirl with a
triumphant fist raised. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

“It should end Star Force’s reliance on this ship…and
me.”

“Tired of being stuck here?”

“Tired of not being able to leave. A lot of my work is
going to be here regardless.”

“I hear that. We both need to be here right now, but
once this place develops I really don’t want to have to be stuck here
endlessly. Got asses to kick elsewhere.”

“I actually prefer that sentiment to others I was
considering.”

“So right now it’s you and me in the controller club?”

“You’re barely in it, but yes. It will take me a long
time to refine this for you and even longer to do it for another person. I
suggest we keep this quiet for now, else someone might realize they’re on the
clock to eliminate this ship and me before we create the redundancy.”

Riley cringed. “Good point. Guess we better hold off
on that split test then.”

“No, we can still accommodate it with some guile. I’ll
have to be transferred to another control ship while you take this one out of
the system with one of the Uriti. They will think the other is staying here
under orders, but I’ll be here to monitor it as a backup.”

“After you teach me how to drive with you looking over
my shoulder first?”

Nefron’s
eyes flashed green
ever so briefly. “Orders. Not control.”

“It’s more than point and click,” the Archon argued.
“I felt that moment of synergy.”

“It’s simply another means of communication. They
choose to follow the orders. You do not actively control them.”

“Noted. Will you help me run Bahamut through the course?”

“Let’s start with something
more
simple
while I analyze the interface. Link back in and I’ll set you up.”

“Simple how?” Riley asked, touching the panel again
and getting the equipment added to his mind like another room suddenly popping
into existence within a house.

“Star to planet and back again.”

“Alright, we’ll keep it simple,” he moaned
sarcastically. “Is this set up to make me look Chixzon or look like you?”

“I used my profile to speed up the process, but it may
be more advantageous to rework the interface from various personas tailored to
be compatible with the person in question.”

“Meaning my mind is more similar to some Chixzon than
others?”

“Of course.”

“Do you have others on file or would you have to
synthesize them.”

“Synthesis,” Nefron said regretfully, knowing how much
additional time that would take.

“Long project ahead?”

“Very, but a lot shorter now than I expected. I don’t
know if what I did was smart or just accidentally lucky, but it worked the
first time. Let’s see if our luck holds and it works again.”

“Teach me, Master Nefron. I is ready.”

“I do all the hard work and you get to have the fun?”

“Ha. Don’t even get me started on that. I know I’m
going to be bored out of my skull letting you calibrate this thing to me.”

Nefron smiled, a slight cracking of his rock-like
lips. “True enough,” he said, linking into his console and finding Riley’s
mental signature inside the programming link. “Let’s begin with the basics, my
young apprentice.”

2

May 2, 3285

Alamo System

Warden Station

Oro-2573 walked off the Star Force personnel ship
along with hundreds of other people as it sat docked to the Warden station
along with some four other ships. There were no tourists here, nor ambassadors
from other empires. All of them were located in other facilities in the system,
leaving the titan with high level traveling partners in the form of Archons,
Commandos, and a lot of techs that were being added to the station’s complement
of secretive staff.

Beside him were eleven other members of his graduating
class, all 2500s, which was very odd. There’d been a recruitment call put out
and he’d volunteered, but he didn’t expect to be paired up with so many
familiar faces again, let alone three other 7s. Jeen-2572, Hera-2574, and
Peter-2576 were only a few meters behind him as they walked across a line on
the floor and into zero g, then were grabbed by an IDF field and flown across the
stubby umbilical connecting ship to station and landed them gently on the other
side. They easily fell back into stride with one another almost as if the
millennia they’d spent apart had never happened.

The sight of 12 titans together drew a lot of curious
attention, but most people were polite enough not to inquire and the few that
did got the same answer from all of them…they didn’t know why they’d been
brought here.

All of them were wearing their casual Archon uniforms,
bone white with a single colored stripe running down either side. Their stripe
was gold, but an equally white uniform was waiting for them just inside the station
with a pink stripe, and standing next to it was the red/gold/white of a Duke.

“Welcome,” Pryon said graciously to the arriving
titans.

“Duke,” Oro greeted evenly, then he glanced at the
ViLord. “Riley.”

“Follow me,” the Duke said as he turned and began
walking. The Archons fell into line behind him and the fourteen of them made
their way through what was obviously a very empty station despite the number of
people coming and going. Eventually they came to an armed checkpoint with a
ranger and a squad of Commandos visible. They let the group through, then the
Duke took them into a dead end hallway where he input a code into a locked
door. It opened by sliding into the wall and allowed them all inside through
the small opening.

“A lot of security,” Eaton-2503 commented as mist
dropped over them in the long, narrow corridor they were forced to pass
through.

“When several of the civilizations represented in this
system have adequate or better stealth technology we have to be careful. Two
years ago we stopped a tiny probe from infiltrating this facility because a
passing Archon happened to have their Pefbar deployed. Since then we’ve created
safe zones where we tightly screen everything passing.”

“Who’s was it?”

“The
Fajanni
. Duke Yetti
made them pay for that, but there had been earlier attempts at security
breaches and apparently they hadn’t been deterred, so we have to make sure this
area remains locked down no matter what.”

None of the Archons said anything more until they all
passed through the misty hallway and got the last of the little robots flushed
off them on the far side with a wall of wind that would have made
Yasuo
proud. When a door slid over the scanning hallway
Duke Pryon let out a slow breath.

“Safe to talk now,” he announced, checking with a nearby
tech that gave him a thumbs up indicating that the scan was clear.

“What’s all the secrecy for?” Oro asked.

“Up until recently only Nefron was able to give orders
to the Uriti. He was our weak link and knowing it the other empires have wanted
to get access to him…either to recruit or kill. While this system appears to be
tranquil, I can assure you it’s not. Tensions are running high underneath it
all and only our leverage is keeping things in order. The Uriti are powerful
weapons that we’re not using, but a lot of people don’t like us having that
ability and would deny us our controller if they could get access to Nefron,
even if it would mean the Uriti would roam free and destroy what they like.”

“Was?” Hera asked.

Pryon glanced at Riley.

“There are now two of us that can control the Uriti.
I’m the second, but no one knows that yet. As far as the intergalactic
community out there is concerned, Nefron is still our weak link. We’re going to
make him redundant, and if they know of our plans they might act to try and
stop them, for once many people can control the Uriti they will no longer have
the option of mounting a swift strike to take out Nefron if needed. So our work
here has to remain secret until we have all of you up and running.”

“How can you control the Uriti?” Logan-2522 asked with
a curious expression on his face.

Riley looked to his left and a device floated through
the air over to him and landed in his hand. He slipped it on over his wrist and
snugged up the forearm gauntlet that looked decidedly V’kit’no’sat in its
chrome surface and jeweled accessories, one of which glowed yellow as it
touched Riley’s skin.

“With this. You can thank Nefron for the brainstorm.
Only Chixzon can control the Uriti, and this makes me look telepathically like
a Chixzon as far as the Uriti and the transmitter are concerned. Note the
yellow light,” he said, pulling the gauntlet off and tossing it to Oro. “Put it
on.”

The Archon caught and slid it onto his own left arm,
seeing the light go red.

“Red means you’re not compatible. Yellow means you’re
close. And green means you’re good to go. I have to modify my own telepathy
into a certain range to turn it green thanks to the fact that we’re more
developed than the Chixzon in that department. I have let go of a lot and think
simply, but in a very specific way that took me a long time to learn to do.
Bigger ones can accommodate the alterations necessary, but we didn’t want
people having to wear a backpack so we skimmed it down to the point where we do
part of the adjusting ourselves and the gauntlet does the rest,” he said,
signaling for it back.

When he got it he slipped it on again and closed his
eyes. The yellow light, coming from a small jewel on the surface, eventually
turned green. He opened his eyes and looked at the others again. “I have to
focus to keep in alignment, meaning that if you’re going to talk to
a
Uriti you need to be in a safe place. I can’t use Pefbar
or any other psionics or it’ll knock me off the mark. Remember this, because
you have to basically blind yourself in order to make it work. I can’t do much
more than talk to you right now, and even that is a bit of an effort,” he said,
letting the light go back to yellow.

“When you’re green you can connect to the Chixzon
transmitter remotely and it will work anywhere on the command ship. This
station also has a transmitter, which is one reason why people want to sneak in
here. While Nefron highly doubts any of them could rig up their own order-giver,”
he said, preemptively throwing the Chixzon a look, “considering the lengths it’s
taken us to develop these, we’re not going to take the chance. Transmitters and
especially these gauntlets don’t go to anyone else,
ever
. The transmitters are big and stationary, but these are not.
Don’t misplace them. Don’t leave them in an unsecured site. Don’t let them out
of your sight, even if you’re in the shower. Wear them in with you and just
hold them telekinetically in the air while you wash your arm.”

A few eyebrows raised, but Riley shook his head in the
negative. “I’m not overreacting. Give those guys a shot at one and they may
take it. We’ve kept this system from seeing any real fighting by keeping
security tight and not giving them an opportunity to strike. Show weakness,
even one lapse, and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone does. And as we noted,
they are trying more subtle methods of learning how we control the Uriti.”

“So we’re all going to learn to give orders to the
Uriti?” Matti-2548 asked.

“Yes you are,” Pryon continued. “Nefron and Riley
aren’t going to stay here forever, and keeping Nefron in an anonymous place is
preferable to having him on a known ship. If someone could capture him they
could conceivably build all of this again on their own. He wouldn’t help them,
but they don’t know that and we can’t completely rule out someone’s ability to
extract information from him. The V’kit’no’sat, for example, could simply rip
the memories out of him. We can’t be sure that others don’t have the same or
similar ability, so we need
Nefron’s
location kept a
secret, perhaps not even in this Preserve.”

“And we all know how second gen,” Riley added, “like
to think they can do whatever the trailblazers can do.”

“Damn straight,” Oro agreed.

“So you’re going to be my relief,” the ViLord said
with a smirk. “The twelve of you are going to get a unique gauntlet that Nefron
will tailor to make your telepathic fingerprint look like a Chixzon with all
the right access codes. Unless you’re nearly identical you won’t be able to
share them no matter how much internal focus you have. This is another reason
not to lose them. They’re going to be custom made with no blueprints stored in
any database for someone to hack and copy. If you need a replacement, Nefron is
going to have to make you another one.”

“But remember,” Pryon insisted, “without a transmitter
these gauntlets will do no good. It’s a two part system. Think of these as the
access keys. And once you’re into the system, giving orders to the Uriti is far
more complicated than it sounds,” he said, letting Riley explain what only he
and Nefron had experienced.

“It works like a telepathic handshake, not a text
message. There’s a bouncing back and forth that is required, so even if you’re
on the other side of the star system you’re going to have some lag before an
order can be given. The handshake is an extra security precaution the Chixzon
made so that if someone monitored the signals and was able to reproduce them
they still wouldn’t be able to have a password conversation that the Uriti
would accept. There are a lot of layers of security involved so this isn’t
something you can learn to do in a day, and fashioning the gauntlet to your
personal telepathic signature takes weeks.”

“What will we be ordering them to do?” Ryan-2547
asked.

“The twelve of you are going to hold the power to
control the Uriti, first and foremost,” the Duke explained. “Who you are will
not be advertised, but within Star Force word will get around. You can hide the
gauntlets under your sleeves to some extent, but don’t be bashful about them.
We assume that eventually your identities might be discovered, but we’re going
to make the competition earn that knowledge rather than by trotting you out and
introducing you…though Duke Yetti has suggested we do exactly that.”

Riley shook his head. “We have to let them know there
are multiple controllers, but we’ll do it through demonstrations rather than
introductions. Two of you will be getting command ships of your own while one
of you will be doubling up with me on the
Zeus
.
Eventually, when we have the available resources, there will be twelve command
ships with transmitters. We’re going to let them think that only the command
ships can send the control signals, but we already have several warships that
have been outfitted with a redundant transmitter. Four of you will be going to
those and laying low as backups while the rest of you will bounce around from
place to place in the Preserve. As we build more facilities there will be more
opportunities to hide out and do your thing…which is something else we need to
go over,” he said, deferring back to the Duke.

“There won’t be a lot of work as far as giving actual
orders to the Uriti, even when we get the Sety one next year, so what I need
from all of you is to assist me and the other two Dukes with running the
Preserve. I need you to be ghosts roaming about looking for trouble, designing
improvements, and doing your usual Archon thing. You all know each other given
that you went through basic training in the same class, so cooperation should
come naturally. Right now there are 37 locations within the Preserve that have
a public presence, spread over 3 systems. That will eventually rise up to more
than 1000 and cover all the Preserve systems aside from the neutral zone.”

Kacie-2512 whistled. “What exactly are you driving at?
Tourism?”

“That’s a minor benefit, but from what we’ve learned
thus far the Uriti minions have a great deal of potential. We’re going to be
exploring that in depth on a pair of planets. Weapons demonstrations and other Uriti
activities give the observing civilizations something to analyze and study.
Embassy facilities allow the various and widely spread races to interact on
matters that are not restricted to the Uriti. It may not look like it at first
glance but this Preserve is a magnet for attention, and with that attention
comes all kinds of leverage and power…power that others want, or want to deny
to us. We are doing this for the sake of the Uriti and to protect them as much
as to protect people from them, but with their presence comes those who are
attracted to the power and danger they represent, so we’re going to channel as
much of that into constructive means as we can. And to maintain it all I need
your quiet assistance.”

“What are we planning to use the Uriti for?” Hera
asked, suspecting there was more to it than that.

“Defensive leverage. If we’re the ones keeping them
contained to the Preserve, people will think twice before trying to strike
against us.”

“That all?”

Riley cringed. “We have been discussing other options.”

“Like blowing stuff up?”