Read Online Star Force: Shame (SF59) by Aer-ki Jyr - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Aer-ki Jyr
Ads: Link
half a meter to her right,
connecting the incoming comm line. “What is it?”
“Unidentified ships entering the system under a green
transit card that they themselves are transmitting. Traffic control requested
an escort and one is under way now.”
The acolyte frowned, standing up. “On my way.”
She walked out of the small office and jogged down a
straight hallway to an open platform overlooking the system defense command
center. She was holding the fort, so to speak, while the normal commander was
off duty. He was probably in the sanctum right now and she needed to see what
was going on before interrupting the ranger. Having unidentified ships coming
through wasn’t all that unusual, for some races just wanted to poke around the
Human Core Region and see what was there, but with the addition of the H’kar
colony a great deal more traffic was popping up, bringing with it a wide
variety of onlookers.
The part about them transmitting their own green card
was odd, but there was only one possibility that rose in the Archon’s mind. The
relay grid sent the transmission on ahead of the irregular ships so that the
destination system would know that they were guests of some sort in the ADZ and
not subject them to the same suspicion and scrutiny in every inhabited system
that they passed through. The only reason a ship would carry a copy of the
transmission itself was…if the ships were capable of moving faster than the
interstellar comm signal.
Keina bypassed the two
lateral stairs and just hopped over the forward railing, dropping a good four
meters into a deceleration crouch that went a little too far, forcing her to
roll out of it into a somersault, but she kept the transition smooth and was
back on her feet in a flash, racing towards the commander’s post and getting a
quick look at the holo before she started getting additional information fed to
her both visually and verbally.
It didn’t take the acolyte long to get caught up, with
her sending her own message to the H’kar inquiring who this was and if they
were responsible for them being here. The lag time up to the moon that they’d
been given half of to establish a base of operations to service their fleet and
act as an embassy within the ADZ wasn’t more than a fraction of a second, but
it was a long few minutes before they finally received a response.
“Dsevmat,” she read aloud, doing the best she could to
get the pronunciation right.
“Sound familiar?” one of the naval staffers asked.
“They’re on the member list of the Nexus, but one that
we have no other information about. Grant them clearance and have traffic
control stand down their redirects, but keep the escort drones nearby. There
aren’t a lot of weapons on those bigger ships, but the small ones look well
outfitted.”
“Warships escorts?”
“That’d be my guess. Keep enough drones nearby that
we’ll be able to respond instantly if they go hostile, but otherwise give them
their space.”
Roger was in Alpha Region when he got the message
concerning the arrival of another Nexus member and the request they were making
of Star Force, prompting him to hop on a Ma’kri and head back to the Core
Region immediately. Both Paul and Liam were heavily engaged elsewhere in combat
operations, with his work on Lucian tinkering with Clan Emerald Shark
infrastructure prototypes being able to wait until later given that the Dsevmat
were requesting one of Star Force’s naval warfare specialists.
When his ship finally arrived in the Banner System he
had it go straight to the H’kar moon where the visiting fleet was sitting
quietly in orbit carrying the diplomatic delegation and the reward they were
offering if Star Force could help them solve a lingering problem. As soon as
they were aware that Roger had got here the local Archon in command sent the
trailblazer an update, informing him that the green card copy that the Dsevmat
ships had been carrying was eventually followed up by the
connecting the incoming comm line. “What is it?”
“Unidentified ships entering the system under a green
transit card that they themselves are transmitting. Traffic control requested
an escort and one is under way now.”
The acolyte frowned, standing up. “On my way.”
She walked out of the small office and jogged down a
straight hallway to an open platform overlooking the system defense command
center. She was holding the fort, so to speak, while the normal commander was
off duty. He was probably in the sanctum right now and she needed to see what
was going on before interrupting the ranger. Having unidentified ships coming
through wasn’t all that unusual, for some races just wanted to poke around the
Human Core Region and see what was there, but with the addition of the H’kar
colony a great deal more traffic was popping up, bringing with it a wide
variety of onlookers.
The part about them transmitting their own green card
was odd, but there was only one possibility that rose in the Archon’s mind. The
relay grid sent the transmission on ahead of the irregular ships so that the
destination system would know that they were guests of some sort in the ADZ and
not subject them to the same suspicion and scrutiny in every inhabited system
that they passed through. The only reason a ship would carry a copy of the
transmission itself was…if the ships were capable of moving faster than the
interstellar comm signal.
Keina bypassed the two
lateral stairs and just hopped over the forward railing, dropping a good four
meters into a deceleration crouch that went a little too far, forcing her to
roll out of it into a somersault, but she kept the transition smooth and was
back on her feet in a flash, racing towards the commander’s post and getting a
quick look at the holo before she started getting additional information fed to
her both visually and verbally.
It didn’t take the acolyte long to get caught up, with
her sending her own message to the H’kar inquiring who this was and if they
were responsible for them being here. The lag time up to the moon that they’d
been given half of to establish a base of operations to service their fleet and
act as an embassy within the ADZ wasn’t more than a fraction of a second, but
it was a long few minutes before they finally received a response.
“Dsevmat,” she read aloud, doing the best she could to
get the pronunciation right.
“Sound familiar?” one of the naval staffers asked.
“They’re on the member list of the Nexus, but one that
we have no other information about. Grant them clearance and have traffic
control stand down their redirects, but keep the escort drones nearby. There
aren’t a lot of weapons on those bigger ships, but the small ones look well
outfitted.”
“Warships escorts?”
“That’d be my guess. Keep enough drones nearby that
we’ll be able to respond instantly if they go hostile, but otherwise give them
their space.”
Roger was in Alpha Region when he got the message
concerning the arrival of another Nexus member and the request they were making
of Star Force, prompting him to hop on a Ma’kri and head back to the Core
Region immediately. Both Paul and Liam were heavily engaged elsewhere in combat
operations, with his work on Lucian tinkering with Clan Emerald Shark
infrastructure prototypes being able to wait until later given that the Dsevmat
were requesting one of Star Force’s naval warfare specialists.
When his ship finally arrived in the Banner System he
had it go straight to the H’kar moon where the visiting fleet was sitting
quietly in orbit carrying the diplomatic delegation and the reward they were
offering if Star Force could help them solve a lingering problem. As soon as
they were aware that Roger had got here the local Archon in command sent the
trailblazer an update, informing him that the green card copy that the Dsevmat
ships had been carrying was eventually followed up by the
Similar Books
