Star Force: Internecine (SF55) (8 page)

Though she couldn’t see it, the Scionate on the ground
were ducking for cover wherever they could find it on the tree-dotted savanna
as the corpses fell more rapidly than the Lacvamat’s purple energy orbs. Both
races were falling out of the sky as the fierce aerial battle escalated, but it
was clear that the majority of those being killed were the Lacvamat, with their
heavier bodies
thunking
the ground and often the Scionate
as they got hit falling from above, whereas the Hammids fell softer, dotting
the landscape with burning feathers rather than seared flesh.

Unable to fire up at the maelstrom the Scionate were
left with nothing to do other than run and hide for fear of hitting their
allies…but that didn’t matter, they were grateful for the distraction and used
it to either get to nearby cover or to push ahead to the grounded Lacvamat
transports and hit them on the surface while the two aerial races were so
consumed with each other they virtually forgot about the troops on the ground.

Never before had these two races fought against one
another, but within minutes it was clear that the Lacvamat were at a serious
disadvantage. The Hammids had never been considered a serious military power,
with their starships and tech being on the lower end of the ADZ hierarchy, but
where the Lacvamat were usually the more agile and dominated the skies over the
groundpounders
the Hammids took that away from
them…and couldn’t function without it. So used to being nearly impervious to
infantry attacks high up in the sky they were completely caught off guard by
the Hammids’ agility and ferocity.

The normally tranquil race was coming at them with an
anger that could not be explained and that had rarely been seen before, and
they were showing far more skill in flight combat than they should have had
given their pacifistic racial philosophy. The Lacvamat knew they’d sided with
the Scionate prior to this invasion, but they hadn’t expected anything like
this. Being the larger and stronger of the two they’d expected to own the
little ‘birds’ in the sky, but that was not the case at all.

Within hours the Lacvamat began evacuating their
troops off the planet, completely unable to contend with the Hammids in the air
and attempting to go after their ships in orbit, but what was left of the
Scionate fleet guarded them intently, often sacrificing themselves to keep
their new allies safe, and together they pushed the Lacvamat invasion fleet off
the planet and out of the system, for while they still had more warships in
play they were so stunned by the reversal they became stupid and didn’t use
what they had available or they could have possibly retained control of orbit.

Though that wouldn’t have mattered if they couldn’t
make any gains on the ground, so they turned tail and ran…and ran hard, with
the Gnar going with them and being equally perplexed as to how they’d lost the
ground campaign against the ‘benevolent’ Hammids.

Admiral Victor watched all this from afar, not knowing
what was going on down on the planet, and being equally perplexed as to how the
Lacvamat had been driven off of Night’s Veil. He didn’t feel right about asking
the Scionate after his fleet had been sitting out the fight, so he didn’t discover
what had happened until months later when the rest of the ADZ was informed
through indirect means and word filtered back to the Skarron front where he was
taking the new warships into battle to help secure one of the remaining Dvapp
worlds under significant assault.

8

November 11, 2553

Solar System

Earth

When Davis saw the message packet come in from Donn he
skipped over the other items on his notification panel and pulled up the long
overdue update…which he quickly discovered was not an update, but a mission end
summary. The Director read through it slowly but eagerly, line by line
revealing the full nature of the bioweapon attack’s creators and financier,
who’d been the last individual that
Donn’s
team had
apprehended.

According to the report they’d made a clean sweep of
all 16 high level medtechs who were part of the privateer unit that had created
the bioweapon without the others being alerted, then finally they’d picked up
the Critel who’d paid for the attack, with all those involved taken to the
nearest Star Force prison facility for holding until they determined what to do
with them. Donn stated that he wasn’t going to get into that and the length of
prison sentence he was leaving to Davis along with all other loose ends as he
got back to the front…unless Davis required anything further from him.

Included in the packet was a thorough explanation of
the nature of the wayward medical unit and their activities, including several
assassinations that Donn had pulled from psionic interrogations. It was also
noted that the group intended to develop bioweapons for use against the
Skarrons and lizards, ostensibly for the defense of the ADZ, but even if that
was the case you don’t practice by killing your own people.

Bioweapons had long been a sticking point with Star
Force. Many races preferred using them opposed to sending in troops of their
own, but history had showed that whenever they did and the enemy found out it
usually caused more trouble than it was worth because they’d be targeted with
an even harder reprisal. Now that was from races that fought each other
regularly and only did so haphazardly, not an all-out war like the Skarrons
were waging. Tick them off all you wanted, it couldn’t get much worse as far as
their intent was concerned.

Star Force didn’t use them because they and chemical
weapons were considered ‘dirty’ weapons by the Archons. Davis was less opposed
to using them in certain circumstances, in the way of disabling rather than
killing, such as gassing a target in order to render everyone there
unconscious, but the Archons were adamant that they weren’t going to fight that
way. Davis didn’t entirely understand why, but he agreed with them on most
points and bowed to their wisdom on the differences.

But Star Force did have a bioweapons program, and a
beefy one at that, so they could design and test defenses against the very
weapons they were building. The Archons knew the danger of such weapons and
they wanted as many immunities against them as they could get, but there was a
strict ban on ever using any of the bioweapons and likewise Star Force had
banned them from the ADZ as well. Davis knew that didn’t mean there weren’t
bioweapons out there, but the races or groups that had them had to keep them
secret else Star Force would come and take them away, along with instituting
heavy penalties.

But Davis knew the idea of creating bioweapons to
fight the Skarrons was going to be something many races would favor in lieu of
sending troops to the front. He wasn’t going to advertise that that had been
one of the aims of this rogue group, but he had to be prepared if it came out
anyway…or if the bioweapon attack gave others the same idea. He didn’t think it
would be an easy fix, for the Skarrons and lizards undoubtedly had the tech to
counter such weapons after the fact.

But it was the lingering thought that, with the
pyramid database, Star Force might be able to develop a neutralizing weapon
against the Skarrons that would cover the loss of the Scionate. Something they
could seed into the atmospheres of the contended planets that would render
those who breathed it in unconscious, and tailor it to the Skarron and Hobbit
physiologies.

It wouldn’t affect their walkers or aircraft, but any
unarmored ground troops would be neutralized shortly after landing. In fact,
the more Davis thought about it the better an idea it seemed, and as he was
writing up the press release for the bioweapon attack investigation results he
couldn’t shake that something was off. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but
there was something he wasn’t seeing.

There weren’t any trailblazers in Sol at the moment,
aside from those in deep training and he didn’t want to bother them so he held
off for a couple of days, trying to think it through on his own.

Killing through bioweapons was usually gruesome, for
people didn’t have an off switch and killing them required causing damage of
some kind despite myths to the contrary. But even if there was a magical kill
gas that just eliminated opponents without damage it would be an area of effect
weapon, meaning you just targeted an area and all those within it would be
effected…which meant you didn’t really know who you were killing, and that
inaccuracy was something the Archons would never tolerate, nor would Davis.

Bioweapons could be tailored to kill individuals,
either by genetic identity or through delivery method, such as a dart as
opposed to a gas. But again that left the question as to why you were fighting.
Star Force didn’t fight to kill, they fought to neutralize threats, which was
why so many stun weapons had been created to supplement their lethal ones…but
even the lethal ones weren’t kill machines. They could wound an opponent
without killing them, whereas a bioweapon just killed.

Then there was the surrender option. Star Force wanted
to neutralize threats, and if they chose to surrender or otherwise stop being a
threat that accomplished the goal and there was no need to kill them.
Bioweapons didn’t allow for that, essentially being a death sentence when
employed and unable to be rescinded if the situation changed. Even if a
counteragent was devised there would be a lag in implementing it, and that sort
of thing was needlessly sloppy to the point that Davis would have objected even
if the Archons hadn’t.

But that still brought him back to the stun issue…if
bioweapons could be made to stun and not kill, why not develop and use them?

It bugged Davis so much that he went ahead and sent a
message to Jason, not knowing if or when he’d respond given the intense
training he was undergoing, but not wanting to wait for the delay that sending
a message out of the star system would entail.

It took all of 9 hours before Davis got a response
that, in typical trailblazer fashion, cleared up the ambiguity that was
plaguing him.

IT’S ABOUT CONTROL. ALL OUR WEAPONS ARE TAILORED TO
OUR ABILITY TO DECIDE WHEN AND WHERE TO USE THEM AND OCCUR IN A SHORT AMOUNT OF
TIME, MEASURED IN SECONDS. A BIOWEAPON IS NOT UNDER OUR CONTROL AFTER RELEASE,
NOR CAN WE RECALL IT. IT IS ESSENTIALLY POISONING THE LOCATION RATHER THAN
ATTACKING, AND WHEN YOU DO THAT YOU ARE HOPING THAT FUTURE EVENTS ARE TO YOUR
LIKING WHEN YOU NO LONGER HAVE CONTROL OVER THEM.

THE POISIONING COULD AFFECT SOMETHING ELSE, OR COMBINE
INTO A NEW COMPOUND WITH NEGATIVE RESULTS. IT IS UNPREDICTABLE IN THAT IT IS
NOT 100% PREDICTABLE. BIOLOGY IS BASED ON ADAPTATION AND CHANGE, AND ANY
BIOWEAPON PRODUCED WOULD HAVE A SIMILAR EFFECT. CHEMICAL WEAPONS WOULDN’T, BUT
THEY CAN CHANGE AND ALTER BY ACCIDENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS. A SMART ENEMY
COULD DELIVER A COMPOUND THAT CHANGES YOUR OWN ENVIRONMENTAL POISONING INTO A
WEAPON AGAINST YOU OR OTHERS.

BOTTOM LINE IS WE’RE NOT GOING TO USE WEAPONS THAT
COULD CAUSE MORE HAVOC THAN WE INTEND THEM TO. AS FAR AS STUNNING ENEMY TROOPS
EN MASS, USING ENERGY-BASED STUNS IN LARGE SCALE IS IN DEVELOPMENT, BUT THE
POWER REQUIREMENTS ARE HEAVY. WE CAN’T TAILOR THE ENERGY TO ONLY AFFECT CERTAIN
RACES, BUT WE CAN INCLUDE DESTUNNING ELEMENTS INTO OUR ARMOR SO WE COULD, IN
THEORY, STUN AN ENTIRE CITY AND HAVE OUR TROOPS WAKE BACK UP WITHIN MOMENTS
WHILE THE ENEMY REMAINS DOWN FOR HOURS.

SATURATION IS THE CURRENT ISSUE, BUT USE ON AN OPEN
BATTLEFIELD WOULD NOT BE AFFECTED. WE ARE DEVELOPING A DROP POD FOR THAT BUT SO
FAR IT’S NOT LOOKING TO BE ECONOMICAL ENOUGH GIVEN THE SIZE OF THE TECH WE’RE
NEEDING TO USE. EVENTUALLY WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO DEVELOP STUN NUKES, BUT THE
LARGER THE RADIUS THE MORE POWER IS REQUIRED AND THE MORE THE ENERGY
DISSIPATES.

WE CONTROL THE STUN ENERGY, BUT WE WOULDN’T CONTROL A
STUN BIOWEAPON. IT WOULD LINGER WHERE THE ENERGY DOES NOT. THAT COULD PROVE
ADVANTAGEOUS IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, BUT OUR SPIDEY SENSES ARE TINGLING WITH
POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS THAT WE DON’T WANT TO MESS WITH, SO WE’RE STICKING WITH
CONTROLLABLE WEAPONS.

Why Davis hadn’t seen that earlier he didn’t know, but
after reading it he mentally
facepalmed
, shaking his
head and eternally grateful for having the trailblazers to help him run Star
Force. They had a clarity of vision and purpose that complimented his
perfectly, and now it was time for him to make good on his half of the
equation.

With now 5 races involved in this growing internal ADZ
war he needed to stop the others from jumping into the mix, and there were
rumors of several being on the fence in that regard. He highly doubted those
already fighting would stop when he revealed the truth about the bioweapon, but
hopefully a little light shed on the true course of events would restore some
sanity.

But Davis also realized that this conflict might need
to run its course. He’d kept the various races bottled up within Star Force
restrictions to the point where he knew there was considerable hostility
between them beneath the surface and it seemed like now that they thought they
had an opening with the front limiting Star Force’s ability to intervene they
were going to make up for lost time and have it out.

The more they did so the weaker the ADZ became, but it
could also be turned into an advantage in the long term…if they managed to hold
the Skarrons and lizards off that long. Axius was already taking a bite out of
the multi-racial dominance in the ADZ, increasing Star Force’s population by
leaps and bounds while attracting many of the best individuals from the varying
races to what was proving to be a better way of life. Also, until recently, it
had been the place to go if you wanted to fight and had attracted a lot of the
top warriors…who to their credit hadn’t abandoned their posts and were still
fighting on the front.

That said, Star Force was still only 11% of the ADZ
population and several races, such as the
Reen
, were
multiplying so fast that the dynamic was always in a constant state of flux.
Already they had contacted Davis requesting what he wanted them to do to help,
for they had no military of their own, and were eager to curry favor in return
for more territorial allotments. They assumed that the penalties being handed
down for those fighting would include territorial losses and they wanted in on
the redistribution if possible.

They knew the key to dominance in the ADZ was
population growth, and to accommodate that they needed more territory. Star
Force had asserted that all worlds within the ADZ boundaries were theirs to
divvy up, regardless of whether or not they’d colonized them, and to date
they’d made that assertion stick with the backing of the
Hycre
and Protovic, otherwise there would have been an insane territorial grab with
more fighting happening over that, he imagined. He didn’t trust the
Reen
, who obviously had their own agenda, but for the moment
they were behaving themselves and playing by the rules, hoping to gain
advantage in this chaotic war.

And they weren’t the only ones. There was a huge shift
undergoing and a lot of it depended on what Davis would do to the Lacvamat and
Scionate. At the moment there wasn’t much he could do with the Archons busy to
the point of breaking, but as always power was more than just military might,
with the economic arena just as important.

Now that he knew the Scionate weren’t responsible for
the bioweapon attack that put their fighting down to self-defense. That didn’t
excuse what they did during the pullout or how they were fighting the war, but
it made the Lacvamat as the ones who were in the wrong. He suspected that would
not matter to them, and they’d probably cite Star Force as being allied with
the Scionate, but it did mean the penalties on the Scionate would be less than
had they actually instigated this whole mess.

They’d already lost 2 systems to the Lacvamat and were
on the verge of losing a third with four more now under varying levels of
attack. So far most of the fighting was occurring on Scionate territory rather
than Lacvamat worlds, and it was entirely likely that at least one of the
worlds the Lacvamat had taken would not be returned to the Scionate
afterwards…but that was just thinking ahead. Without the Archons and their
fleet to enforce any of his edicts he was going to have to work this from a
different angle for the time being, and to that end he decided to open up
another Alliance World.

There were four already in the planning stages, none
of which had been assigned regional owners, but with so much material being
used to boost warship production the additional of new worlds and their
construction required some heavy Star Force infrastructure that was lagging
behind. And if he couldn’t curtail the fighting between those races involved,
he could reward those that were staying out of it…as well as getting them to
supply the resources to get the Alliance World up and running.

The
Reen
had wanted to help,
and now they’d get their chance. He’d offer
them
3
territorial slots out of the 8 available in exchange for a number of materials
that he’d negotiate later, then open up a similar arrangement for several other
races who had resources to spare. Being as territorial hungry as they were, he
could bring additional resources into Star Force’s coffers, perhaps even more
than needed for the construction of the planet, while giving those less
belligerent races a boost in the internal power struggle…as well as hinting
that more would be coming in the future for those who played ball.