Free Star Force: Perquisition by Aer-ki Jyr Page B

the Archon
cohabitated with on a daily basis.
    Jarod was a level 96 acolyte assigned as security to
this massive pancake-shaped commerce station in orbit of Wexfa ,
one of the member worlds in the Benoid, which was a miniaturized version of the
ADZ situated between that huge bulk of worlds and the distant Voku territories.
It was situated out in the middle of nowhere and the main watering hole on the
trade route between the two and other branches heading off into the surrounding
regions giving Star Force at least a small presence out among the mostly
overlooked stretches of this galactic arm that had not yet encountered the
lizards or the Skarrons.
    There were no major powers out here, but a lot of
lesser races that were using the Star Force infrastructure to strengthen
themselves and their economies. This commerce station sat next to the original
that had been built in this system and was now woefully inadequate. Dozens of
others had also been built in orbit, but this was the largest and the primary,
linked to a number of starports that would facilitate any travel down to the
planet, but most people weren’t here to land on the surface, merely passing
through or conducting business on the station.
    It had become the economic watering hole for many
nearby races and a stop off for travelers passing through, so it wasn’t unusual
for Jarod to see new races popping up now and again. Whenever he did he made a
note to check the database with his helmet cam recordings or, when he was
without his armor, pulling up the hallway monitors so he could familiarize
himself with everyone who was visiting his station. He was chief of security,
in fact if not in name, and he wanted to be kept aware of what all their
visitors were capable of just in case he had to take action.
    Normally that wasn’t necessary, but now and then you’d
get people here who weren’t familiar with Star Force and their protocols and
he’d have to break up a fight or stop someone from killing someone else. That
was one of the hazards of dealing with the masses coming in from the wilderness
to get a taste of civilization and why this station was here…to screen out
people who didn’t belong from accessing the planet or other orbital
installations, making this the hotbed of activity and warranting a pair of
Archons onboard in addition to Star Force security.
    After letting the bulky quadruped pass, Jarod stepped
back into the traffic and made his way out onto one of the main promenades that
circled the station’s center like concentric rings. These were much wider and
had hundreds of people passing each other every second, coming in and out of
kiosks and making for a chaotic, yet mostly tranquil intermixing of races.
Jarod was making a patrol, just out walking the grounds to let his armor be
seen and to get a feel for what was going on while security manned all the
checkpoints and monitoring stations. Jarod was backup, but could take the lead
whenever he wanted while his partner was busy training, soon to switch
positions in a few hours.
    As he walked through the crowd scanning them visually
and with his Ikrid, he sensed so many minds so fast that his first days here
had given him headaches, though his skill had increased so much in response
that his Ikrid levels were now well beyond the rest of his marks. He wanted to
make ranger bad, though was one of the slower developing Archons. He prided
himself on the fact that his Ikrid was all the way up to ranger level 77, for
before coming here it had been one of his weaker areas.
    Walking through the crowd he picked up a mind that was
unusual, given that he didn’t see many of them out here. There was a Protovic
somewhere in the crowd that he couldn’t see, and he made a point of heading in
that direction and easing through the traffic to get a look and pull a tighter
mental scan. He could just be a lone individual on private business, but Jarod
wanted to know if he was Star Force or maybe from the independent