Star Force: Perquisition (8 page)

Brad was not going to allow the Blues access to them.
He was going to have to come up with something unique to deal with them and
size them up.
Allysa’s
notes aside, he wasn’t really
going to get a feel for them until he could pick their minds, so he needed a
chance to contain them for a while before settling on a final course…and he
only had a matter of weeks to figure it out and make the necessary arrangements
before they arrived.

Another little challenge in this overall mystery, and
one that he was more than willing to take on. He’d freed other Protovic from
cultural shackles and ignorance before, so this would just be a new variation
on an old practice…but the trick was that no culture was identical to another,
and by that measure new forms of stupidity could blindside you very easily.

Logic was predictable, for there was an inherent
reason to it, but stupidity was quite random and almost impossible to predict
unless you’d witnessed a particular version before. With new cultures you never
knew what to expect, but with
Allysa’s
notes Brad
hoped to be able to get at least one step ahead of them and then take it from
there.

With the knowledge that the Blues also knew of the
other variants and the reunification idea, Brad finally accepted that this
Protovic recombination, whatever it was, was going to occur eventually
somewhere, somehow. And if that was the case he wanted it to be on Star Force
terms, meaning that there was going to be a cultural war taking place, and one
that the Blues looked eager to start engaging in.

Whatever the hidden genetic material contained, Brad
knew he needed Star Force to be in possession of it. If it was half as
important as he guessed, let some other group attain it and you could end up
with a very powerful enemy if the lesser physical enhancements of the Oranges
were to be taken as a sign of things to come.

Whereas before he’d wanted to reunite the Protovic for
sentimental reasons, now it was clear there was a greater reason to do it. He
had to be the driving force behind it, utilizing Star Force as the medium and
collection point, and not let the various civilizations call the shots. To that
end his Protovic faction had to stay pure, without bringing in any fresh bodies
without them first becoming part of Star Force.

Play ‘nice’ and just let them all co-mingle here and
he’d be inviting a disaster. This had to happen on his terms or not at all, and
to that end he realized he needed to keep the Blues isolated immediately upon
arrival…and even before that.

He sent a message out to the rest of Star Force,
wherever the Blues’ transit point may be, and instructed that they not be given
access to any other Protovic under any conditions. They were to be isolated for
the duration of their visit until he said otherwise.

Brad knew it was possible that they had already met
some, but he doubted they had run into any non-Star Force Protovic yet and he
wanted to keep it that way. If the Blues didn’t want to play ball with him then
they’d remain anonymous as far as the rest of the galaxy was concerned, and
they could sit quietly alone on their world for as long as they liked. They
weren’t here to pass judgement on Star Force, but rather the other way around
and he knew he had to make that point immediately upon arrival.

To that end he began drawing up program plans,
allowing for multiple contingencies prior to his first meeting them and getting
a sense of how much resistance they would put up to Star Force philosophy.

8

March 18, 3054

Aphat
System (Bsidd
Region)

Nym

“You busy?”

Brad glanced up from his short holographic displays on
his desk and locked eyes with the glowing red orbs of
Jadren
,
his one and only naval Admiral. “Always. Need something?”

“Just wanted to report that the fleet is ready to
leave.”

“Then you have permission to depart. Happy hunting.”

“Why aren’t you going?”

Brad sighed. “Someone has to stay back and mind the
store.”

“The other trailblazers are out fighting the lizards,
but you haven’t been since before I was born. I know your naval skills far
surpass mine, so why aren’t you leading our fleet, or your Clan Beyond, or a
Mainline
fleet out to conquer more lizard worlds and push
towards their homeworld like the others?”

Brad touched a button and made the holograms
disappear. “Worried you’re not up to the task?”

“Perhaps a bit, but more confused as to your
priorities. Is there something more important for you to be doing?”

“We each take on the missions we choose, and if I felt
you weren’t up to the task I wouldn’t be sending you or our fleet. But the mission
already has a mage commander and
Aris
is more than up
to the task of picking off some small lizard systems with your help, so my
presence is unnecessary.”

“But you could be going after some of the bigger ones
like the others are.”

“I could be. Right now my work here is more
important.”

Jadren
pulled a chair over
and spun it around, sitting down and resting his arms on the backrest. “That’s
the part I don’t understand.”

“There was a great deal you didn’t understand when you
first came out of the maturia. Now you do. But there are a great deal more
things that you do not know, and are not privy to, that I have to deal with.”

“Anything we can do to help lighten the load?”

Brad snorted. “You are the load.”

Jadren
frowned, but the
Archon held up a hand to forestall any reply.

“By that I mean that the future of the Protovic is not
as assured as you might imagine. There’s still a lot in flux that I have to
manage.”

“We seem pretty solid. Is there a problem I don’t know
about?”

“Challenges heading into the future rather than
current problems.”

“Is this about that colony of Whites that were brought
back?”

“Yes and no. How close have you been paying attention
to our rosters?”

“I watch the active lists, but I don’t know who all
you have tucked away going through indoctrination.”

“Let me share that with you then,” Brad said as he
brought up a series of holographic lists and maps, not in the sense of
geography, but in the designs of the Protovic faction. The 5 military divisions
were listed, along with all the civilian branches, and then there was a section
off to the side that was labeled ‘
Indoctees
’ that
Jadren
had never seen before.

“As you can see, there are quite a few Protovic that
want to join us but aren’t ready yet.”

“That’s more than a few,” the young Admiral said,
looking at the demographics. The Whites that they’d discovered on the very
bottom of the galactic plane were there, all 8 billion of them that they’d
transported back here leaving nothing behind but an empty pair of planets. Then
there were a small number of Purples coming in from either Axius or one of the
independent Protovic nations. The one that actually bore that name had been
supplying them with a steady stream of volunteers, while the others saw bunches
coming over at irregular times. Some wanted to join Star Force, others wanted
to get away from their previous lives, but no one was allowed straight into
Brad’s faction without proving themselves first.

Others were going into Axius, where there was no extensive
indoctrination gauntlet to run. They were allowed to live there and adjust as
needed, mixing in with the rest of the varied races and literally being
overwhelmed by it all for Axius was so large that a million refugees could be
lost within it easily and Star Force made a habit of splitting up large
incoming populations between different planets and systems rather than to allow
any group to stake out a bit of a colony as their own. If they were going to
live in Axius then they were going to be part of Axius, not a rogue entity
competing with the rest of the faction.

But the Protovic were different, and Brad had made
them that way on purpose. They were unified in purpose and working together
more like a Clan than a faction. There was a civilian aspect to them, but it
was much more diminished than in other factions. Axius had the largest civilian
wing, while the Protovic had the smallest. There was no mandatory work, as such
was forbidden within Star Force, but most Protovic were interested in helping
their faction grow rather than pursuing solely personal agendas.

And besting Canderous in that category was no small
feat, as Brad had noted previously. No, the Protovic were the hardest working,
most on task faction within Star Force despite their small size…which was why
Jadren
didn’t understand why their trailblazer was
constantly watching over them rather than going out and fighting like the
others were.

“I didn’t realize there were so many waiting in line
to get in.”

“Not in line,” Brad clarified, “for each is on an
individual program. Most of these groups are undergoing isolation protocols in
order to speed up their indoctrination. Only a few are on the slower group
plans. Mostly by choice, because they want to get here as soon as possible.”

“I didn’t realize we were that popular amongst the
other Protovic colonies.”

“It depends on who you’re talking about. A lot of them
just want to be left alone, officially, but when there’s a means for
individuals to make a choice and travel here we get a steady flow of the
curious. As for their governments, the Whites are the exception.”

“What made them all want to join?”

“Part of it was because they feel a kinship with the
rest of you. The other part was because one of their worlds was dying. Their
moon was in a descending orbit, and that rid them of their sentimentality.”

“So they came here because they had no other choice?”

“Actually we offered to give it a nudge, but they
still requested to join us.”

“Did you give it a nudge?”

“No. That would have required building some
considerable infrastructure on the surface.”

“Really? If it was a gradual deterioration wouldn’t a couple
of command ships have been enough to push it?”

“Yes, but we would still need to build a device that
would allow the necessary force to be transitioned to the planet rather than
burying the ships into the surface. Big as they are, the command ships would
punch right through the planet’s crush given enough sustained thrust.”

“Interesting…I hadn’t considered that.”

“Because we normally extend IDF around whatever we’re
hauling.”

“And we can’t do that with a planetoid.”

“Not that big. Not yet, anyway.”

Jadren
looked at him with a
raised eye ridge. “Pet project?”

“Not that I know of. But I am familiar with the seda
gravity drives and their planet-like dimensions.”

“Well then,” the Admiral said, sinking a finger into
the holographic data. “What does this have to do with your staying here?”

“For your ears only.”

Jadren
nodded.

“The variants are not just a curiosity that we’re
pursuing. They’re deliberate.”

“How so?”

“I’m not going to tell you everything just yet. The
time isn’t right. But there is a genetic impulse imbedded within all Protovic
to seek each other out and bring the variants together from across the galaxy.
This is why I think so many individuals and groups are coming to us and willing
to go through the pain in the ass indoctrination to get here. There’s a subtle
tug on their subconscious tipping the scales of their priorities, whether they
realize it or not. We’ve been keeping the Protovic in Axius split up for the
most part so this reunification can’t occur there, though we are seeing a few
individuals seek each other out regardless of the geography. It’s not much
right now, but I have observed that the more Protovic there are in one place
the greater the drive becomes.”

“What kind of ‘drive’ are you talking about, exactly?”

“To seek each other out, or more specifically, to seek
out other colors. Genetically something will occur when all 8 variants are
gathered together and some special criteria are met. This is going to happen
soon or later, and if it is going to happen I need to be the one guiding it so
it happens on our timetable and on our turf.”

“Whoa, wait a second,”
Jadren
said, standing up from his chair. “What is going to happen?”

“We don’t know for sure.”

“You’re worried it might be something bad…or
dangerous, that you don’t want falling into the wrong hands. Or something
dangerous that could harm the Protovic themselves outside of Star Force?”

“All of the above and more.”

“Did you say 8 variants?”

Brad nodded. “We’re still missing one. The Whites were
number 7.”

“I thought that makes 6,”
Jadren
corrected him.

“Check again,” he said, pointing at the
indoctee
lists. “There’s a small group of 600 or so
Aquas
that we discovered a while back, or actually the Voku
did. They were all in a
Menqwel
prison. We brought
them back here and I have them in a full prison isolation similar to what your
ancestors were put in and few came out of. These
Aquas
have a small chance, if they work hard and long enough, of earning their
freedom. I don’t know if any of them will make it, none have seemed too
inclined as of yet to fully commit, but there were a handful of eggs collected
from them and those 18 Protovic
Aquas
are currently
nearing the end of their maturia days.”

“Why didn’t I know about this?”

“None of them are here yet. When the first one arrives
I was going to let the rest of you know.”

“So we’re missing one puzzle piece…for what? What are
you worried about happening? Are we in danger? You said genetic, does that mean
our offspring or that we’ll actually, physically change?”

“Until we get genetic samples from all the variants we
can’t be sure, but we think there will be a physical change in any Protovic
affected, not just future offspring.”

“And you don’t know what this change will be?”

“Not yet, no.”

“So everything we’ve built could be in jeopardy?”

“Possibly.”

“And how does your staying here help solve that
problem? I assume that’s the reason you’re not off kicking ass.”

“The problem is twofold,” Brad explained, choosing to
trust one of his most loyal Protovic with more information than any of the
others knew yet. “The genetic transformation is an unknown, but we know it will
only happen when all 8 variants are assembled, along with some other things
that have to take place. It seems each variant has to undergo an upgrade prior
to them all combining. The Oranges have already underwent theirs, which is why
they have a physical head start on the rest of you.”

Jadren
stared at him for a
moment, putting those two pieces together. “And you didn’t feel like telling us
this before?”

“We’re going to figure this out before it can cause a
problem,” Brad promised him. “We’ve got the appropriate people on the
taskforce, so telling the rest of you would just give you cause to worry
without the ability to help. Better to keep you all in the dark until there is
actually something to do.”

“So why are you telling me now?”

“You accusing me of being a slacker. Can’t have that,”
Brad said sarcastically.

“Seriously.”

The Archon glanced down at his desktop for a moment.
“I don’t know how this is going to play out, but so long as the Protovic are
following an impulse to gather I want them gathering here and adding to our
strength. But it has to be as a part of Star Force. In some ways I see them all
as family, in others I recognize the threat they pose. When the Blues first
came here they wanted to call the shots and they were quite vocal about not
being able to. They tried to turn some of you away from Star Force and begin
assembling a different type of union before we sent them packing. Those that
have come back are doing so on our terms now and as you can see there are a lot
of them.”

“You’re worried that there’s more than just a genetic
imperative to assemble,”
Jadren
surmised. “You think
it might be something cultural as well. Something that would erode us from the
inside out.”

“No matter how much genetic impulses one has, you always
has a choice. Sometimes you just don’t realize it. A strong mind guides itself.
A weak mind follows and is ruled by the genetic impulses. Star Force trains all
of us to develop into strong minded individuals, so…”

“You’re trying to counter a potential threat by
bringing as many of us into the fold as possible.”

“And at the same time further develop our little piece
of the empire. The changes that this reunification will make may very well be
beneficial. Time will tell, but if it is something undesirable we’re going to
rewrite your genetic code to make you immune to it.”

Jadren
straightened, sensing
another layer to Brad’s reluctance to leave the Protovic. “You can do that?”

“Not yet, but we’re learning. And the more variants we
find the more data our medtechs have to figure out what’s going on and how to
deal with it.”