Read Online Star Force: Evacuation (SF50) by Aer-ki Jyr - Free Book Online Page A

well,” Paul said, seeing that 32 Voku ‘ships’
had arrived. “I’ll signal the fleet to get underway.”
    “May fortune favor us on this endeavor,” Cal-com said
before cutting the transmission, with his holo being replaced by the sensor
feeds as they came back from their miniaturized form on the left.
    “Friendly,” Riona commented.
    “I’ve met him before and we have an understanding.
They don’t talk much, so don’t take that as a negative.”
    “Big ass ships though.”
    “Their version of a jumpship…except that there is no jumpship.”
    “I’m interested in seeing that.”
    “Apparently you’ll have to wait a couple months.”
    “Bugger.”
    “Yeah, it is pretty impressive.”
    Riona raised an eyebrow as Paul handed out mental
orders to the fleet through the nexus. “You’ve seen them transform?”
    “Nothing that large, but yeah, when we had our meet
and greet they showed off a bit.”
    “And?”
    “Worth waiting for…and stealing, if
I can work out a way to do it.”
    “What’s the holdup?”
    “Their combat philosophy doesn’t match ours exactly,
and they’ve tailored their tech to match it. Still, the adjustable nature of
the transformations is immensely useful. I just have to find a way to do it
without sacrificing the advantages we already have.”
    “Lesser applications?”
    “Probably. It’s a back burner
project I dabble with from time to time. Don’t expect Optimus Prime to show up
any time soon.”
    “You mean for a mech?”
    Paul’s head came up slightly and he turned back to
look at Riona. “Damn girl, I hadn’t even thought of that.”
    “I see that spark in your eye and I like it. I’m
calling dibs on naming privileges for whatever you come up with.”
    “Deal,” Paul said with a smile as he turned back to
look at the holos …which was unnecessary since he was
already mentally linked in, but he did so just in time to see the Ultrix begin repositioning around the
star to get to their outgoing jumpline with a handful of warships and a host of
cargo ships following.
    It took a long time to get all of them into position,
with the Voku ships slipping into the gaps as groups would make jumps out together,
spaced with at least 1 or 2 seconds between each ship so they didn’t ram each
other on exit or entry to the next system on the decel end of the jump. Larger gaps of 30 seconds or so existed between groups,
allowing for the spacelanes to clear out on arrival
and each progressive group tagged with emerging from the jump in progressively
higher orbits, laying out the fleet in a long carpet each time it hit a new
system.
    Then they’d all have to reposition to the new jumpline
again, stagger up and make similar jumps. That was the nature of interstellar
convoy travel, and over the next pair of months they continued to do exactly
that, leaving the Core Region, then the ADZ altogether and passing through what
had once been Calavari territory and was now partially Nestafar and partially
unclaimed wasteland.
    When they got to a predetermined system within
Nestafar space but uninhabited by them, the Star Force/Voku armada split up
into 8 attack groups, each traveling to a system with Elarioni in it with the
intent on hitting them simultaneously so both their enemies wouldn’t have any
forewarning that they were coming. Paul, Riona, and the Adamant headed towards the most populous Nestafar world and the one
that should prove to be the hardest to get the evacuees out of. It was called
Vionsed and was part of a three planet Nestafar civilization, meaning they
would have to contend with the system defense fleet in addition to whatever
surprises they had in store around that particular world.
    They weren’t going in completely blind though, given
the information the Elarioni had provided. What they didn’t know was that the
Skarrons had already invaded Vionsed. One other world in the system had already
been battling the Skarrons on the ground, but when the Adamant arrived