Free Star Force: Empire (SF58) by Aer-ki Jyr Page A

labor
intensive, but the Tanazi branches provided three
major foodstuff components used across Star Force and were grown virtually
everywhere. This bioharvest facility was different in that it only grew Tanazi , with the intent being to export the products off
planet after all local needs were met.
    Those needs were exceeded by other facilities, with
this one and others like it being the Nestafar’s means of contributing to the empire on the whole. They were ill-suited for
combat, at least when armored up to Star Force’s standards and taught to fight
in honorable ways that didn’t involve massive risk and sacrifice, but in truth
most of the Nestafar here weren’t interested in fighting. Those few individuals
that were had left long ago, to where Naru didn’t
know, but virtually all of the others simply wanted to be left alone and live
in peace, with foodstuff production allowing them to help repay Star Force for
all they’d done and were continuing to do for them.
    And Star Force seemed happy with the arrangement, for
they made no demands on the Nestafar. They expected them to produce what they
claimed they would, but beyond that there was no pressure put on them to do
more or other things. Regular shipments of the Tanazi components would be seen leaving via dropship almost round the clock, but other
than the cargo ships there was virtually no orbital traffic. The Nestafar and
the other wards on the planet were kept isolated and secure, with Naru and the others glad for their little bit of
tranquility in an otherwise chaotic and violent galaxy.

 
    7

 
 
    August 3, 2652
    Solar System
    Ganymede

 
    Arvil Netherson was walking
down one of the main promenades in the Clan Saiyan capitol city, heading to
catch a few friends at the theatre for a newly released vid when he passed by
the 9 foot tall statue of Vegeta that marked one of
the city’s status boards. More like a wall, the glowing panels held up to date
information on the Clan and its rivals and Arvil swung over to it, knowing he
had a few minutes to spare. He worked in the fabrication division of the Clan,
building structural components that techs would later use to create new
infrastructure, and their output was continually monitored along with the rest
of Clan activity.
    On the status board he went to the fabrication panel
straight off, knowing its location by habit rather than reading the tiny icons
on display, for there was a huge amount of data being presented with everything
from naval ship count to the latest trials results on display…all of which was
translated into points that made up the power ranks that the Clans obsessed
over. It was friendly competition, but it drove them to be better than the
rest, keeping the Clans ahead of the rest of the empire despite their smaller
size.
    Arvil saw that in overall fabrication rank the Saiyans
were still sitting in 36th position, but their lead over Clan Mantle had
diminished, due no doubt to the new production facility the rival Clan had
built in the Istar System. Numbers from outside Sol
were always laggy , but the small jump in their output
score was no coincidence. The new facility must be up and running, adding a bit
more industrial muscle to Mantle, but the question was, was it fully
operational yet?
    Arvil didn’t like the idea of them slipping any
further than they had. 8 years ago they’d held the 31st position and were 18th
in infrastructure production, which his division directly fed. Saiyan
operations hadn’t lessened, in fact they’d slowly been increasing both the
efficiency of the facility that Arvil worked in and were adding a handful of
others, bumping up their score but falling behind a few other Clans that were
growing faster than they were.
    Some were doing it, he knew, simply by building a slew
of new facilities. On Ganymede that wasn’t an option, given that most available
land space on the moon had already been exhausted. It was mostly one endless
cityscape now shared by