Free Star Force: Backdoor (SF53) by Anal Backdoor

in the games and had an average ranking,
given that it wasn’t his specialty. That fact that he could hold par impressed
those with more experience than him in that type of combat and he liked to mix
it up with them in the games, both to gage their capabilities in order to know
how to best assess what they could and couldn’t do in missions he’d be
assigning them, as well as to push his own skills and learn from those superior
to him in their fields of specialty.
    When it came to fleet operations he had few equals, so
it was usually him instructing and training others, including those on his
advisory staff. This cycle there was none of that, with them focusing on the
mission prep, so Cal-com satisfied himself by indulging in the games for many
hours up until his 79 hour day was complete and it was time he returned to the
rest ward.
    When he returned to a random tube he sealed it over
him and deactivated the gravity with the sound suppression canceling out all
exterior interference. In a well-practiced mode, Cal-com retreated within his
own mind, cutting out most sensory stimuli and slipping into a vulnerable yet
deep rest. The armor plating on the tubes and the internal locking mechanisms
insured that no one could mess with him other than offering a soft tone to get
his attention. Not having to worry about physical threat the Voku could lower
their mental barriers and engage in a healing trance that allowed them to
recover far quicker than had they attempted to do so on the battlefield. In only 15 hours Cal-com woke again to a soft, preprogrammed
chime which brought him slowly back to reality and barely 30 minutes away from
system entry.
    Refreshed and fully prepped, Cal-com returned to the
oracle just prior to the deceleration of the massive conglomerate against the
star, dropping them out of their drifting interstellar jump inside the
Skarron-held Achkor System. He triggered his own command center to rise up out
of the floor, containing a number of different control stations around which
his advisors situated with him taking center position and inspecting the battle
feeds while allowing his staff to handle the more basic organizational
tasks…leaving him free to watch and react as necessary.
    There were no ships in orbit around the star…at least
not on the visible side, which meant their entry would go down without
incident. Cal-com’s conglomerate was the second in line to decel ,
with the first having arrived some 20 seconds earlier. Both vessels moved in
closer to the star to clear the spacelane for the others to arrive and began a
slow transition around the perimeter of the star towards the primary jumpline
in to the planet of Zenniza , as the Human charts
referred to it.
    If there were any hidden Skarron reconnaissance assets
they’d see the ships prepping to go in on that line, but as the others came in
some of them deployed elsewhere, jumping off to other planets as Cal-com got
additional updates from the scout ships that were already in system and now
transmitting their updated intelligence to him rather than the burst
transmissions they’d sent back along the incoming jumpline to his approaching
fleet.
    These reports gave him nearly up to date positions of
the Skarron fleet and the Voku commander began tweaking his mission
assignments. At the moment the conglomerates were still together, but with new
orders going out a few tiny pieces began to break off and make microjumps of
their own elsewhere in the system. Cal-com wasn’t going for a blunt, break the
door down type assault. No, he was much more cagey than that, and was going to work this attack from multiple angles.
    So when his conglomerate finally did make its
microjump into the planet he had them come out in extreme high orbit, getting
their first live sensor feeds and seeing what they were up against.
    As expected, there was a huge Skarron fleet spaced in
clumps around orbit that was no doubt intended to transition on into the ADZ
and supplement