Free Star Force: Internecine (SF55) by Aer-ki Jyr Page A

could.
    But if they were trying to kill their allies and doing
a good job of it, well, the kid gloves would come off fast enough. Bottom line
was, Archons would let you stop being an enemy, and would always give someone
that option…but if you chose to be an enemy then they would treat you as such,
with their dislike for killing quickly disappearing when you put someone else’s
life in danger.
    They were warriors and took on the role of slayer in a
heartbeat if necessary, and right now, with the Skarrons pressing hard against
the inhabited band of the Protovic planet, slayers were what Travis and Karen
had to become…and they were very good at it.

 
 
    7

 
 
    October 23, 2553
    Evelynn System
(Scionate/Star Force Territory)
    Shadow Isle

 
    “Report please,” Admiral Victor asked when walking
into the moon base’s command center.
    “A large Lacvamat/Gnar fleet has arrived insystem and
is moving to assault Night’s Veil. Information is still updating, but I would
guess they’ve already begun combat.”
    “Damn, they are getting bold,” Victor said, sitting
down in his chair and accessing his personal holos with information coming in directly from the insystem relay network. Though
Star Force had no presence on the Scionate world they did maintain a number of
surveillance posts throughout the system, including planetary orbit, though at
present Night’s Veil was on the other side of the star from Shadow Isle, which
was orbiting a large, uninhabited planet full of valuable resources cloaked in
a noxious atmosphere named Widowmaker.
    It and the three moons surrounding it belonged to Star
Force, while the rest of the system was Scionate property. Shadow Isle wasn’t a
transit grid nexus, but rather a more private Star Force colony used as a
military staging base that doubled as a storage depot, collecting both
shipments of supplies from other systems as well as a scattering of mining
outposts on Widowmaker, though those operations were mostly remote operated
from the moon, with only a few hundred personnel on the planet to facilitate the
machinery and handle the quiet excavation of subsurface tunnels that Star Force
was creating without anyone else’s knowledge.
    To the Scionate the moon was just a little backdoor
Star Force outpost recently created since the transfer of ruling bloodlines and
an added bit of penance on the part of their race…while also serving to bolster
the system’s defense as Star Force kept a decently sized naval force there to
service both Beta and Gamma Regions with reinforcements as needed. Most of that
fleet had since been dispersed, but 3 warships and several hundred drones were
still present around the moon as a defense fleet.
    So far the Lacvamat had stayed away from Star Force
worlds, even going so far as to avoid transitioning through one of their
systems given the bad blood resulting from the Sentinel incident, but now they
were hitting a Scionate planet right next door and Victor wondered just how far
they were prepared to push this…and if the Scionate were going to flee to the
moon to seek sanctuary.
    Admiral Victor was the senior commander on the moon,
given that it was primarily a naval way station, with a handful of lower
ranking Archons on site for security reasons but no high level ones.
Technically they outranked him, but given his experience they let him handle
the security of the moon and planet below while they worked on their training
and dealt with any odd problems popping up. They were stationed here primarily
as backup, and Victor hoped they wouldn’t be needed in the coming days.
    A new fleet of six warships was due to arrive within 2
weeks, fresh off the shipyards in Epsilon Eridani, and he truly didn’t want to
have to waste any of their drones with this mess that was about to unfold, but
so far the Lacvamat hadn’t shown any signs of strategic sensibility…though
their tactical acumen was proving to be significant. They were handing the