Read Online Star Force: Empire (SF58) by Aer-ki Jyr - Free Book Online
Authors: Aer-ki Jyr
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as they could, all the while more and more
refugees fled both the lizard and the Skarron offenses and continued to pour
into the ADZ by whatever means they had to get there.
6
June 19, 2652
Unnamed System
(Beyond the ADZ)
Point 6
The seda decelerated against the gas giant’s gravity
well, with the massive jump cradle surrounding it like a spider grasping its
prey as it slowed the medium-sized station down using its considerable engine
power. Already in orbit, having arrived a few minutes ahead, was the Canderous
fleet some 18 ships strong with another 34 on the way, trailing slightly behind
the seda in loose escort formation.
None of them were jumpships, or in the case of
Canderous, jump ‘rods’ for the spacefaring civilization had forgone the
traditional Star Force model and rebuilt their fleet based on the Skarron navy,
in which each individual ship was capable of making slow jumps between star
systems. Now every Canderous ship from cargo hauler to warship was interstellar
jump capable, with only their sedas requiring a lift. Those were meant to be
stationary, but their fleet wasn’t, and the idea of a number of ships getting
stranded in a system because their jumpship malfunctioned or was destroyed was
something the Canderians weren’t too keen on.
They lived in space, operated in space, and only went planetside to gather resources or to fight…with this
current mission being right up their alley, for there wasn’t a habitable planet
within the unclaimed system that was situated beyond the Alpha and Epsilon
Regions. The gas giant the seda was being placed into orbit around had a slew
of moons and there were six other sizeable rocky, yet barren worlds without
atmosphere for Canderous to harvest resources from, but there was nothing here
even remotely capable of housing a standard civilization.
Star Force could have built colonies on the worlds,
contained within sealed cities like they had in many other locations, but this
system was to be Canderous only with no ADZ resources devoted to it. The seda
had within it all the necessary crews and factories required to build another
just like it…and many more. Right now it was isolated and alone, with only a
handful of warships to guard it against threats in the region, but those
threats were minor as far as Star Force’s scouting reports indicated. No,
Canderous was here for another reason beyond colonization.
While others built up the defenses within and around
the ADZ Canderous had been tasked to go beyond it, into the expected expansion
path of the lizards and build up outposts that they could monitor the local
areas from and hopefully pick off small scale invasions before they grew to the
point where the mainline fleet would be required. So many systems were falling
to the lizards simply due to the fact that no one was around to fight them,
with them picking up valuable planets with almost no resistance at all.
Sure, there were major battles being fought elsewhere,
but the lizards were assaulting so many systems that neither Star Force nor anyone
else could counter them all, let alone detect them. Even with their relay grid
and progressively faster communication between star systems there was always a
lag, and that relay system didn’t extend beyond the ADZ save for a few
locations, meaning outside the ADZ the lizards were gobbling up easy targets,
some of whom Star Force only learned about from survivors fleeing their way.
While lizard territory was too vast to contain,
Canderous had been tasked with slowing them down. To that end they were picking
29 widely spaced systems and putting down roots, in this case a seda in each,
and developing those systems while scouting out the surrounding area and
establishing permanent patrols once they built up their fleets. Each location
was well ahead of the lizards current lines, with the intention to be that
Canderous could be firmly established in their outposts and fielding sizeable
fleets by
refugees fled both the lizard and the Skarron offenses and continued to pour
into the ADZ by whatever means they had to get there.
6
June 19, 2652
Unnamed System
(Beyond the ADZ)
Point 6
The seda decelerated against the gas giant’s gravity
well, with the massive jump cradle surrounding it like a spider grasping its
prey as it slowed the medium-sized station down using its considerable engine
power. Already in orbit, having arrived a few minutes ahead, was the Canderous
fleet some 18 ships strong with another 34 on the way, trailing slightly behind
the seda in loose escort formation.
None of them were jumpships, or in the case of
Canderous, jump ‘rods’ for the spacefaring civilization had forgone the
traditional Star Force model and rebuilt their fleet based on the Skarron navy,
in which each individual ship was capable of making slow jumps between star
systems. Now every Canderous ship from cargo hauler to warship was interstellar
jump capable, with only their sedas requiring a lift. Those were meant to be
stationary, but their fleet wasn’t, and the idea of a number of ships getting
stranded in a system because their jumpship malfunctioned or was destroyed was
something the Canderians weren’t too keen on.
They lived in space, operated in space, and only went planetside to gather resources or to fight…with this
current mission being right up their alley, for there wasn’t a habitable planet
within the unclaimed system that was situated beyond the Alpha and Epsilon
Regions. The gas giant the seda was being placed into orbit around had a slew
of moons and there were six other sizeable rocky, yet barren worlds without
atmosphere for Canderous to harvest resources from, but there was nothing here
even remotely capable of housing a standard civilization.
Star Force could have built colonies on the worlds,
contained within sealed cities like they had in many other locations, but this
system was to be Canderous only with no ADZ resources devoted to it. The seda
had within it all the necessary crews and factories required to build another
just like it…and many more. Right now it was isolated and alone, with only a
handful of warships to guard it against threats in the region, but those
threats were minor as far as Star Force’s scouting reports indicated. No,
Canderous was here for another reason beyond colonization.
While others built up the defenses within and around
the ADZ Canderous had been tasked to go beyond it, into the expected expansion
path of the lizards and build up outposts that they could monitor the local
areas from and hopefully pick off small scale invasions before they grew to the
point where the mainline fleet would be required. So many systems were falling
to the lizards simply due to the fact that no one was around to fight them,
with them picking up valuable planets with almost no resistance at all.
Sure, there were major battles being fought elsewhere,
but the lizards were assaulting so many systems that neither Star Force nor anyone
else could counter them all, let alone detect them. Even with their relay grid
and progressively faster communication between star systems there was always a
lag, and that relay system didn’t extend beyond the ADZ save for a few
locations, meaning outside the ADZ the lizards were gobbling up easy targets,
some of whom Star Force only learned about from survivors fleeing their way.
While lizard territory was too vast to contain,
Canderous had been tasked with slowing them down. To that end they were picking
29 widely spaced systems and putting down roots, in this case a seda in each,
and developing those systems while scouting out the surrounding area and
establishing permanent patrols once they built up their fleets. Each location
was well ahead of the lizards current lines, with the intention to be that
Canderous could be firmly established in their outposts and fielding sizeable
fleets by
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