Star Force: Liberation (SF56) (6 page)

With every day that passed he scanned and monitored
their growth, looking for anomalies and gratefully finding none. Soon the eggs
grew to the point where they were visible, then they continued to mature over
the following weeks up into fruit-sized dimensions, developing mental
signatures of their own and eventually ‘birthing’ by breaking free of their gel
sacks and popping up from the oxygen-rich goo and having their respiratory
systems kick in, which simultaneously deactivated the birthing organs that had
sustained them during their development.

Those would be reabsorbed into their bodies over the
following weeks, but the newly born Bsidd were now air breathers and needed to
be treated as such, with specialized handlers taking them out of their vats and
into a brand new maturia…one that was going to have to learn the ropes on the
go, hence Davis had brought in the top people he had in the field, including
several non-Humans from Axius that were egg-produced.

The twelve Bsidd ‘trailblazers’ were thoroughly
examined, with
Trell
overly relieved that there were
no anomalies present…physically speaking. Mentally and socially was another
question that wouldn’t be answered for a long time, and until it was
Trell
wasn’t going to key up any more of their eggs. That
meant he was going back to other assignments while keeping a waiting eye on
this project, ready to return when more data had been collected, and hopefully,
to talk with those Bsidd he’d just helped into the universe.

But even as he returned to Atlantis and let the
maturia handlers do their thing he couldn’t shake the worry that he’d messed
something up by deleting the pieces of the keys that held the queens’ commands.
There was so much about the structure of life that even the V’kit’no’sat didn’t
understand that he didn’t like meddling with such things, not because he didn’t
like the challenge of it, but because if he screwed up then someone else was
going to pay for his mistakes.

He was more suited to fixing problems and creating
upgrades in people that already existed, not tinkering with the basic
blueprints for those yet to develop…but in this case it needed to be done, and
Davis had convinced him of that fact early on. He was trying to free the minds
of the Bsidd that were locked into a highly influential hive mind on a genetic
level, meaning that it didn’t control them per se, but it made it an uphill
battle for them to develop ulterior thoughts to those prescribed given that the
controlling influence was inside their heads rather than just environmental.

Freedom was every individual’s right, or should be,
and this project was a big leap towards that for the Bsidd and for Star Force,
who’d never tried anything like this before. He just hoped he’d got it right on
the first try, and that worry would plague him for years to come until the
twelve Star Force Bsidd completed the limited basic training program
established for them and were incorporated into Axius. There they were quietly
monitored, with the results of their interactions and socialization coming back
to
Trell
and putting his worries to rest.

If there had been anything lost, it wasn’t detectable.
The Bsidd were fully functional individuals and now free to live their lives as
they chose…not to mention Star Force trained and now visible to others. Word of
that would filter back to the other Bsidd eventually, but that was going to
happen sooner or later anyway and was something Davis would deal with.

Trell
now had the results he
wanted and a plethora of data available to him…with the next phase of the
project now on his shoulders once again. He needed to create the keys for the
other variants, or at minimum just the one that would allow them to produce
their own eggs, that being a queen.

6

June 19, 2572

Solar System

Venus

Nadei woke up, blinking her deep set eyes and pushing
open the panels of her sleep cocoon as she fully regained consciousness. The
silky coverings kept in the heat and blocked any cooling wind, though in her
quarters there was none aside from thermal eddies from the cooling/heating
strips in the walls. Still, she felt better with the wrappings covering her
body and got a rush of cool air on her abdomen as she sat up and climbed out of
the horizontal pod.

The Bsidd stretched her 18 appendages, some short, some
long, some thick and some thin. All were useful for movement, but she preferred
to walk erect as the Humans did, relying on her thickest ones for use as legs
as she moved over to the shower to get ready for the coming day. She climbed
into the
squarish
compartment and passed through the
containment shield as the water started to fall. She didn’t linger, spending
only a few minutes in the nearly scalding hot water before stepping out through
the energy shield and having it whisk the moisture off her for the most part,
leaving the steamy chamber behind as she pressed the cycling button that would
reset it as she got dressed.

Nadei wore a body suit covering all but her
appendages, including her neck, head, and most of her face, leaving only a
strip where her eyes were and giving her a ninja-like visage. Once that main piece
was on she slipped her gauntlets onto each of her appendages, covering them up
save for an inch or so of exposed flesh at the points where they met the body
suit. Her purplish skin was thick and hard, almost like a carapace, but it
didn’t retain heat well and the Star Force colony always felt cold to her,
hence the full body clothing.

Her gauntlets doubled as shoes/gloves, with the Bsidd
having no hands or fingers. Several of her appendages ended in small nubs that,
when used in concert, could grasp objects and press buttons, but using the
Human-style controls was difficult. They had designed special ones for her
physiology, but Nadei didn’t want to use them. She wanted to integrate as much
as she could with the Humans, who were her only friends and acquaintances, and
had raised her since hatching.

She knew there were many other races in Star Force,
but the Humans had created it and were the leaders, not to mention responsible
for her existence. Nadei knew of the other Bsidd on Christmas and how her egg
had been stolen from them, and while she was curious to meet them some day she
already knew a great deal about them and was following their growth…while being
deeply disappointed by them. They were working against Star Force at every
turn, despite all that they’d done to help them get established after granting
them sanctuary. Nadei wanted to do better, but before she’d have a chance to do
so she’d have to finish her basic training…and in order to do that she had to
get through today’s workouts.

First off she headed out of her quarters and over to a
climbing course, one that she was proud to say she could handle better than
most of the Humans, though they always seemed to find someone who could beat
her. She figured it was to keep her motivated and improving, though she didn’t
like to get beat. Today it would be a solo workout, as most days were, with her
putting in the repetitive requirements necessary to level up her scores and get
her another inch closer to graduation.

After the climbing came running, then swimming and
flying…with the swimming being the hardest. The flying was by anti-
grav
and had her moving about through another obstacle
course using small thrusters to adjust her movements because the levitation was
basic and only vertical…not lateral propulsion. That made it tricky, but still
fun.

After that it was time for food and a quick nap,
followed by simulator work and information downloads. She had a great deal to
learn and the more she did the more she wanted to contribute to Star Force,
though in what way she wasn’t yet certain. Nadei knew that, physiologically,
she was a Bsidd queen and capable of reproducing others for Star Force, but she
didn’t want to become an egg factory. She wanted to do something that mattered.

She’d been told that after graduation, if she made it
that far, her path would be her own choice and she’d be able to leave the
planet and go where she liked. Nadei looked forward to that day but didn’t plan
on leaving Star Force. Where she would end up she didn’t know, for her scores
were pretty even across the board, but she was definitely going to find a niche
and make good on the investment that Star Force had made in her.

What Nadei didn’t know was that she wasn’t the only
Bsidd queen that Star Force had hatched. There were 12, all coming out of the
first batch but trained in isolation, not knowing of each other unlike the
other Bsidd that came before and after. She didn’t know the others had been
trained as a group, nor that any others like her existed, which was by design.
Each of the queens needed to be evaluated and scrutinized heavily, for it was
learned that the genetic keys that unlocked the egg cells and determined which
variant of the Bsidd they would grow into also contained behavioral inclinations.

They weren’t restrictive as the hive mind programming
was, which Nadei and the others no longer possessed, but traits of the queen
were definitely passed onto their offspring and it was imperative that if Star
Force was going to create a colony of Bsidd that they skew their initial
presets towards a preferred mindset that they could then enhance through
maturia training.

And it was a good thing they had separated them, for
each of the 12 queens developed considerably different than the others. Some
resisted the training, much like some Humans, with a lackadaisical attitude
that was all around unmotivated. Others were highly motivated, but with the
stated intent of joining the other Bsidd once they graduated. Four would
ultimately stay with Star Force, Nadei included, but she was the only one who
wanted to play an active part in it, with the other three joining Axius
civilian life, two preferring to be denizens while the third started working
her way up the business field.

Those that rejoined the Bsidd told them everything
about what Star Force was doing, so far as they knew, which infuriated their
queens. Not only was it confirming the previous theft of eggs, which they
already knew/suspected by the handful of ‘free’ Bsidd living in Axius, but the genetic
tampering set
them
into a rage of complaint…but that
was all they could do. As Larissa had quoted to Davis, ‘all they could do was
float and sputter,’ with their single regional territory only marginally
developed and their population limited by their available resources.

They weren’t playing nice with others either, save for
those that bowed down to their might and offered them tribute in exchange for
favor, but those were few and far between. Within the ADZ the Bsidd were minor
players and the focus lay on the seemingly endless civil war that was
continuing to rage with the Scionate having lost half their territory but
fervently holding onto the rest.

The Lacvamat had picked up many allies, but their
military had been beaten down to such a state that there was little they could
do to press the war, with the Scionate being equally eviscerated to the point
where they couldn’t mount any counterattacks. Most of the fighting was being
handled by their allies, in their name at least, but really it was the other
races trying to grind old angsts and take a piece of the independent pie that
Scionate and Lacvamat territories provided.

Some small bits of territory, a moon here or a
continent there, were given to allies in exchange for military assistance,
allowing them to gain a foothold outside of the Star Force-controlled Alliance
Worlds, but more than that they were claiming bits and pieces of enemy
territory for themselves, with half the worlds the Lacvamat had taken from the
Scionate now belonging to neither.

Given that situation and the ever changing power
structure within the ADZ the Bsidd were a mere afterthought. They had no
military and only a pittance of population, with only the memories of the past
and their current tech level gaining them any traction with the other races.

Upon graduation Nadei had her choice of where to go
and what to do, as the others did, but before she was able to make that choice
she had a visitor. She’d been told to pack for a trip then to report to the
exit of the maturia for her first time, with a bit of nervousness hitting her
as she walked out those doors and into the ‘real world.’ The Bsidd was both
excited and unsure, waiting where she was told and watching the pedestrian
traffic flows, seeing some a couple non-Humans in the mix, the first she’d ever
encountered.

“Hello,” a voice said from behind her, with the Bsidd
turning around and looking down on the smaller Human female that only rose to
her chest height.

When Nadei focused on her and saw the white with brown
stripe uniform she suddenly felt the smaller of the two, realizing that this
wasn’t just a Human, but an Archon…and a padawan at that.

“Hello,” she mimicked, unable to form any other words.
She spoke English well, though with an accent typical of the
Bsidd’s
vocal chords that gave it a bit of a twang.

“I’m your ride,” the Archon said. “Name’s
Larissa-048.”

“You’re a…trailblazer?” Nadei asked, now in full
fangirl
mode.

“Yep. And I’ve got some things to show you before you
decide where in Star Force you want to land.”

“Wherever I can help,” the Bsidd said candidly.

“Come on. Grab your duffle and we’ll talk on the way.”

“Where are we going?” Nadei asked, picking up the
strap on her bag and hooking it over one of the pointy should joints on her
left side and letting it drape down in between several appendages that wrapped
around and held it snuggly up against her thin body.

“Bit of a tour of the ADZ,” Larissa said as they began
walking, with the
Bsidd’s
‘clicking’ footsteps
tripling the Human’s as Nadei bent forward and walked on six to bring her head
height down about even to Larissa’s so she could see her more closely.

“We’re leaving the planet?!”

“New to you, I know. Me, I travel a lot and there are
some things you need to see.”

“What things?”

“Important things, but let’s start with what you think
of Star Force and where you want to make yourself involved…”

“These images are live?” Nadei asked.

Larissa nodded, her usually loose demeanor tightened a
bit as they orbited high over a world in Scionate territory where four races
were battling on the surface in three separate theatres. Nadei was watching a
holographic display in the command nexus onboard the warship that Larissa had
been taking her around the ADZ on the past 2 months, with the images of ground
engagements floating in air beside the pair.

“Hammid,
Jeen
,
Gnar
, and…”

“
Zati
,” Larissa finished
when she couldn’t identify the fourth.

“I didn’t know they were involved in the war.”

“Recent addition.”

“Won’t they incur penalties?”

“Yes, but they don’t seem to care.”

“Why are they doing this? It seems so pointless…and
who’s winning?”

“The Scionate faction is winning here, prior to the
Zati
arrival. Not sure yet how much that is going to swing
things. As for why you’d have to ask them. Long term there is no end game for
them, and I think they’re just focusing on the here and now trying to grab up
any advantages they can get.”

“But if they can’t keep them?”

“We’ve told them as much, but so far they don’t seem
to care.”

“Why haven’t you taken these worlds from them yet?”

“How would we do that?” Larissa asked in an
instructing tone similar to the one she’d been using throughout the trip.

“Bring in a Star Force fleet and…”

“Fight them?”

“Maybe,” Nadei said, suddenly unsure.

“Then we would be wasting resources fighting our own
that could better be put to use reclaiming worlds on the Skarron border.
There’s still one in Dvapp territory that we haven’t reclaimed and dozens along
the border that need to be taken in order to create a buffer zone similar to
what we’ve established along the lizard front. Knowing that would you waste
warships and ground troops here?”

“When you put it that way no…but it feels like
something should be done about this.”

“Agreed, but what?”

“I don’t know,” Nadei said honestly.

“We have plans in place, for the long term, which is
where you come in, actually.”

“Me?”

“Not as far as stopping this fighting, but in
preventing a future one.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The Bsidd would be here, in this fight, if they were
strong enough. They’re not our ally, not now. Before they were when they had their
own empire far from here, but now they have next to nothing and are seeking to
replace what they’ve lost rather than assist us.”

“I know,” Nadei said apologetically.

“One problem with dealing with the Bsidd is their hive
mind, making it difficult to deal with any individual when the group will is in
effect. We removed that hive mind influence from you, before you were hatched,
so you could make your own choices without it pushing you one way or another.
The Bsidd out there are not your entire race, not now. They’re just a rogue
faction, as far as Star Force is concerned, while you and the others are the
real ones.”

“Because our minds are free?”

“And because we’re not willing to give up on your
race. You know that other Bsidd are living in Axius?”