Star Force: Fiddlesticks (SF65) Page 5

  Kara flew back up above the trees and searched on, reminding herself to mentally look before heading down again on an assumption. Eventually she found another pair 18 kilometers out and relatively isolated, already headed back on the trail. She didn’t bother to try and get a feel for them telepathically, breaking her own rule given that she was sure it was them this time, and dropped down to the trail a good 600 meters ahead of them. There she waited, arms crossed over her chest as her armor retracted back down into the clear jewel on her left wrist.

  Kara sent out a short telepathic ‘hi’ when they got close so they wouldn’t run over her, for they were moving at decent speed and the trail was anything but straight. She felt them slow a bit before they rounded the thick tree trunk ahead and came into view, with Karen almost skidding to a stop a meter and a half ahead of Travis who mimicked her sudden deceleration.

  “Where the hell did you come from?” he asked the mage.

  “Nice to see you too,” she responded with a genuine smile, looking at both of them in all their sweaty glory. In one sense they were peers, even beyond her when you took into account their battlemeld psionics, but in other ways they were still her two little younglings and she was proud they’d advanced their way up to the striker ranks by now, and well eclipsing their former classmates, most of whom were still rangers and acolytes.

  “Trouble?” Karen wondered, walking up beside Travis and gently brushing elbows with him as they filled up the narrow trail. They often did that, making physical contact where others would leave at least a few inches gap, and Kara assumed it was a side effect of the battlemeld, for they kept themselves linked together virtually round the clock in addition to their own lesser, but unique twin link that they’d had since birth, or whenever it had actually formed.

  The honorary trailblazer shook her head. “Just passing through enroute to Pagaliss, but I don’t have much time, otherwise I wouldn’t have interrupted you two out here. I only got word of the invasion a little while ago and if I don’t hurry I might miss the beginning, and I figure that’s where I might be able to make the biggest difference.”

  “More than on the ground? I doubt that,” Travis commented.

  Kara inclined her head slightly to the right, as if she was studying him, or perhaps his stupidity. “My personal warship kill count is now up to 87, and that includes two lizard assault pillars.”

  “I thought those were sneak missions, not during battle.”

  “Which is why I want to get there before the shooting starts,” Kara pointed out.

  “At least you got an invite to the party,” Karen said, disgruntled. Of all the Archons being rounded up for this mission from across the ADZ, she and her brother and their unique skills had not been included in the battle planning…nor much else over the last century aside from small missions that usually saw them doing some sort of short term or solo work. Nothing truly befitting their skillset.

  “And now you’ve got yours,” Kara commented, seeing both their eyebrows raise a tick, also in unison. “What, you thought I’d waste time just to drop in and say hi?”

  “Did they want us, or you?”

  “I am one of ‘they,’ and you’re wasting time. Get your asses back to the showers and get cleaned up. I want us out of this system and on our way ASAP.”

  “You could just fly us back,” Travis said as Kara stepped aside to clear the path and motioned them forward. Karen took off running, with him following a step behind.

  “I don’t like you that much,” Kara said as they passed, with their conversation coming to an end. They could have continued it telepathically and she could have ran with them, but there was really nothing else to say at this point…plus she could feel them accelerate and start to hammer the last section of their workout, and there was no reason to go with them and show just how slow that actually was compared to her skill level.

  Once they were gone Kara jumped up into the trees, with her Vorch’nas spreading out to cover her body as she zipped up through the leaves and into the sky again, keeping pace and following the pair from above given that she didn’t have anything else to do. They were the only reason she’d come down to the planet in the first place, and it wasn’t going to take all that long for them to work their way across a few kilometers of jungle, no matter how twisty these trails were.

  Her Vorch’nas had more than enough power to let her just linger in the air, lazily following from above but out of their sight. She even went so far as to engage her Kgat ability, which was essentially a cloaking mechanism for her mind. She couldn’t use any of her other psionics with it active, but it essentially took her off everyone’s mental radar, with their Ikrid unable to penetrate or even detect her shield. Likewise she couldn’t sense them, but it made for a very useful trick for sneaking up on people who didn’t already have their Pefbar active.

  She didn’t want the twins knowing she was pacing them, but she kept watch on them and the few others on the trails below with her armor’s sensors, which she attuned for a narrow scan on their pair of heat signatures, giving her more data and allowed her to ‘see’ them through the trees. Kara could tell from their movements that they were excited, which was another reason why she didn’t want them to know she was watching.

  They pushed hard all the way back to the city, which was when Kara left them for a bit after making mental contact and arranging a rendezvous point. They were there with some half-full duffels slung over their shoulders exactly 27 minutes and 13 seconds after they entered the city, which was about 18 minutes faster than she’d expected. Though she was sure they weren’t going to say anything, Kara knew they were aware of the gravity of the invite she’d just extended to them.

  “Took you long enough,” Kara quipped sarcastically as she turned and walked ahead of them down the connecting tunnel to a tram station that led to the spaceport where her dropship was waiting…or rather the dropship that she’d arranged to have waiting, for she’d just hopped out an airlock in orbit and came down to the planet in her armor. That was one bit of freedom she relished, and was more than grateful that the dragon had been arrogant enough to slap the Vorch’nas on her wrist without asking permission first, which at the time she would have flatly denied.

  “What are we going to be doing?” Karen asked after they got situated in the dropship, with Kara sitting back in one of the seats with her feet up on the headrest of the one ahead of her, with no one else onboard save for the pilot.

  “I’m not sure what I’m going to be doing, and I’ll defer to Morgan’s preference when I get there, but I expect that you two can assume a lot of ground work after the orbital battle is completed…unless you think you can find a gunner with lesser skills to boot.”

  “The general information we got didn’t say much beyond we’re taking back the old Calavari capitol,” Travis added. “I’m guessing your closed files said a bit more.”

  “Did you see the reconnaissance reports?”

  “No,” Karen answered for them.

  “Whether out of pride, spite, or some logistical concern, the lizards have built up Varasiss more than the other former Calavari conquests. A lot more. The planet isn’t as developed as some other lizard worlds that have been around longer, but it’s going to be the strongest one we’ve hit to date and will open up a huge chunk of territory around it once the supply lines go down. For that reason alone, we’re expecting multiple reinforcement fleets to arrive while we’re hammering on them. With their new phaser-type weaponry it’s going to be one hell of a naval battle before any of you set boots to ground.”

  “You said Morgan was leading the invasion?” Travis asked.

  “There are going to be at least 5 trailblazers involved, so it’s more accurate to state that they’re leading the invasion.”

  “Why’d you say Morgan then?”

  “She’s Morgan,” Kara said with a ‘duh’ look on her face.

  “Are the Calavari going to be part of this invasion? I assume they would be,” Karen adde
d.

  “Just about everyone is invited to this party,” Kara pointed out, “but we’re keeping it to a Star Force only affair. The H’kar will stick to other engagement sites. This one is personal.”

  “Hycre?”

  “They’ve got plenty on their hands reclaiming their own conquered worlds, and the Voku are busy causing trouble elsewhere. This is going to be in-house.”

  “Assuming we can take it, are the Calavari relocating there or just adding it to their collection?”

  Kara smiled. “Oh, we’ve got big plans for that.”

  “Care to share?” Travis asked.

  “Why do we only produce Sentinels in Sol or Epsilon Eridani?”

  “Biggest industrial systems we’ve got,” Karen answered.

  “Pagaliss is slated to start producing them too.”

  “Damn,” Travis whispered, realizing that without a lick of infrastructure there now it was going to take some massive construction efforts to get them to the point where they could build Sentinels with any regularity. Sol was chucking them off a virtual assembly line like they were lego bricks, but they’d had 700 years to build up that industrial capacity, while Pagaliss was starting from scratch. “They’re ambitious bastards, I’ll give them that.”

  “We, youngling. We.”

  “We doesn’t usually include us,” Karen pointed out.

  “It is this time. And for crying out loud, you’re just strikers. Don’t expect to be running things. Even without my armor I could snap you two like twigs…simultaneously,” Kara said, exaggerating a bit.

  “We’re catching up,” Travis said defiantly.

  “Just quit assuming that the trailblazers should treat you as equals. They’ve been doing a whole lot of stuff way over your heads, and was doing it before you were even born.”

  “Why do you treat us differently then?” Karen asked a lingering question that had never come up before.

  “I happen to like you two arrogant pricks…”

  “Why do people always call us arrogant?”

  “Because you are. There’s a line between confidence and arrogance, and you live on the far side of it. You literally ooze it, which was one reason I insisted that you shower before we left.”

  “We do have the best battlemeld skills, trailblazers included,” Karen pointed out, “and we’re the reason the trailblazers even have them.”

  “But they can still kick your ass. Until you can hold your own you shouldn’t be talking like you can.”

  “We did break their record.”

  Kara smiled. “That alone is reason enough for Paul and Jason to stick it to you every time they can. You should take that as a compliment, by the way, not an insult.”

  “And how should we take getting passed up for all the important missions?”

  “Ah, hate to break it to you there, but we recruit the best available and our favorites for the missions we’re in charge of.”

  “What’s your point? We are the best,” Karen said as if that should have been common knowledge. “Within our area,” she added belatedly.

  “If you’re local they’ll use you. They won’t waste your skills. But if you’re out of system they won’t call for you unless they have to.”

  “Why?”

  “You don’t have a Clan.”

  “So?” Travis asked. “There are others that don’t.”

  “No one else rejected their Clan stating that they were too important to Star Force to be involved in one.”

  “Our battlemeld research was top priority…or am I missing something.”

  “Your Clan affiliation wasn’t hindering that. You ditched it to state you were on the level of the trailblazers, not a subordinate…which is pretty much like flipping them off. The fact that you haven’t hooked up with a Clan since then is going to keep you on a lot of people’s black list, and when they’re recruiting favorites, well, that ain’t going to be you.”

  “Except for you, it seems,” Karen pointed out.

  “Oh, I completely agree with the others. You two are unbearable,” Kara said deadpan. “I just happen to like you anyway.”

  “Thanks, sis,” Travis said with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

  Kara pointed a finger at him to her right, and suddenly he was bodily slammed across three empty seats and into the wall by her telekinesis. She turned to face Karen with an apologetic look on her face. “Sorry. Was channeling Paul there for a moment.”

  6

  February 27, 2755

  Numar System (Calavari Region)

  Sashneo

  Kara’s jumpship entered the system to find a long stream of vessels in the process of making the microjump out from Sashneo and pooling around the exiting jumpline headed to Pagaliss…meaning they’d got here just in time to catch the convoy before it left.

  The honorary trailblazer watched from the command nexus as she sent a waypoint to the ship’s helmsman indicating where she wanted them to converge. Once they were in close enough range for realtime transmissions she got a line to the Megazord, with a hologram of Morgan materializing in front of her from the waist up.

  “You’re late, youngling.”

  “Couldn’t be helped. I was out of comm range for a long time.”

  “Heavy fighting I heard.”

  “Very,” Kara emphasized. “The lizards might be moving the line in their favor, but the carnage is pretty even. We’re lucky neither of them is focusing that level of attention on us.”

  “They couldn’t get past the Sentinels without being eviscerated first.”

  “Agreed, but we couldn’t be pushing outward like we are now, tech advantage or no. I really think we’ve been put on the back burner. They’re having to fight hard against the Skarrons, but the territorial gains are huge compared to what the ADZ would offer.”

  “They always have focused where others are weak.”

  “I wouldn’t call the Skarrons weak, but they are kicking their ass right now.”

  “As big as the lizards’ empire is compared to us, the same is true for the Skarrons compared to the lizards. They’re not going to beat them, especially if we start cutting the heart out of their territory here.”

  “I wouldn’t make any bets at this point. Did you read the full report?”

  “No, I just skimmed.”

  “When you get some free time look at the Broongal invasion. We camped out there for two weeks, with recorders running the entire time.”

  “I’ll add it to my list. Are you coming in that jumpship or do you want to transfer over to my command ship?”

  “We’ve still got a full complement of drones to add to the melee, so I don’t see any reason not to bring it along.”

  “I meant where do you want to ride.”

  “I brought the twins with me, so I’ll be staying here unless you want them on your ship.”

  Morgan laughed. “I may not like them, but I’m not banning them from my ship. Transfer over before we jump and I’ll add your warship to my fleet group.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “Where are you planning to throw down once we get there?”

  “Are we ramming down their throats, or do I have some time to sneak around first?”

  “The bulk of the ground troops are coming on a three day delay, but I am sending a few ships ahead of the main body to pull scouting data so we’re not blind when we arrive.”

  “If they’ve got an invoker or assault pillar I’d like a crack at getting onboard before they go on alert. If not I can at least take out a dreadnaught for you.”

  “I envy you that. But I’m not sure how secret we can keep our arrival.”

  “I just need a few hours head start. If I can’t get onboard so be it, but I’d like to try regardless.”

  “Alright, I’ll take us to the front of the line and make sure we get there ahead of the others. When I release the scouts to do their thing you can hitch a ride on one of them. They’ll be paying attention to the donut, so you may be able to slip in a back door.�
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  “That works for me. I doubt they’d send one of the big ships out to deal with a single command ship.”

  “Not without a support fleet, no. But we’ve been kicking the crap out of them so bad that they’re bound to find a new wrinkle or two in their tactics to make it harder on us. I didn’t check earlier, but what’s the phaser distribution like on the Skarron front?”

  “Oddly enough I didn’t see a single phaser-equipped ship. They’re doing everything with their plasma tech.”

  Morgan raised an eyebrow. “So they ignore us with the bulk of their fleet, but start sending their most powerful ships after us and not the Skarrons? That doesn’t sound right.”

  “It may be that they’re just burning off the old vessels rather than trying to upgrade them, and doing so against us won’t gain them much in return.”

  Morgan considered that. “Well put.”

  “I’ve had some time to think on it. How many are you seeing out this way?”

  “Their roaming fleets seem to have all switched over, but the planetary defenses are still mostly plasma. Not sure what we’ll find in Pagaliss, but give the lizards a few decades more and I think their plasma weaponry is going to start being a rare find.”

  “Their turnover can’t be that great.”

  “Might be upgrades too. The hull designs are identical, so if they want to take the time to swap out the interior it might be more prudent than building entirely new ships.”

  “Save for the places you know you’re going to lose a lot of them anyway.”

  “If they’re beating the Skarrons with plasma, then why not send your best ships to somewhere they’re more needed? I just hope the techs get the bugs in the Keema worked out soon. I want our range advantage back.”

  “We still have the cleansing beams,” Kara pointed out.

  “If Paul were here he’d smack you right now,” Morgan said with a smirk.