Star Force: Sav (SF51) (2 page)

Like Yori before him, Bo relished the opportunity to
get a few days of training in with Beck, a fellow 6, before heading back across
the stars and through the two black hole jumplines leading a much larger and
empty train of cargo ships…save for the
Shema
crates
they carried. It wasn’t much at all compared to the size of their holds, but he
knew the techs in Sol would like to get their hands on it and he was interest
in seeing what armor modifications they could make with an ample supply.

As his single warship and cargo ships made their way
back into the ADZ they passed through the first Star Force system on their
journey, getting a news update that Bo tore through eagerly. It was dated, due
to the lag involved in the relay network, but it was ‘fresh’ by Star Force
standards and the trailblazer felt good knowing that he was back on the grid
and no longer having to rely on courier ships to bring or send news.

Updated reports on the lizard fronts indicated they
were still at it, probing here and there and trying to find a weakness or go
around to get closer to the zone to decrease the length of their supply lines.
As it was they couldn’t launch a major invasion past the border worlds without
having their convoys picked apart by the Hycre. There were just too many
systems to go through and the
navally
dominant race
was using that to their advantage when they knew where the lizards were going
to be.

So the lizards were trying to make a trail of ‘safe’
systems into the ADZ, much as Star Force was doing heading out to the rim, so
they could protect their convoys with system defense fleets rather than sending
them through an abundance of ‘empty’ systems where they could be jumped.

But Star Force wasn’t going to allow that, and kept
hitting and pushing back the lizard front away from the ADZ boundary creating a
sort of neutral zone that saw an enormous amount of fighting whenever the lizards
tried to put down roots there, let alone try and sneak past the lines and plant
one inside the ADZ.

Content that everything was still under control there
Bo skimmed through a lot of other entries, getting a feel for what was going on
until he came across a message for the trailblazers only. It was an invite to
return to Earth and assist with a new training element…and it was co-signed by
both Paul and Jason.

That piqued his interest, for the last he knew the
pair
were
lightyears apart. If they’d gotten together
on a new training project then he definitely wanted to know what was up, and
given that he didn’t have a new assignment as of yet he could at least pop in
and see what was going on while he chose one.

It took another month or so to get back to Outreach
and transit into the Core Zone, eventually arriving at Earth on a cargo ship
since he’d left his warship with Steve who needed it more than he did. Bo found
out that the little training summit was being held in Atlantis rather than the
pyramid, which he also found odd, as well as the fact that some 13 other
trailblazers had also arrived before him, with him bringing the count up to 16
in total…which was a very rare occurrence for so many to be in the same place
at the same time.

Whatever was going on was big, and he hurried out of
the dropship and through the surface spaceport down into the city and straight
to the training areas to find out what, not even bothering to stop off and
deposit his duffle in temporary quarters on the way.

2

May 31, 2546

Solar System

Earth

When Bo tracked down the others he found them…all of
them on blood gulch, bumping out the trainees that otherwise would have been
using the training course as they had a 10 vs 10 match going on with the old
school stinger rifles and light, flex armor. It was too late for Bo to join,
unfortunately, so he laid his duffle down in one of the observation galleries
and watched them from above and on the various monitors. The combat course was
huge, making seeing everything difficult, and the hidden cameras helped to
highlight some of the close-in action.

Bo wasn’t the only one there. A handful of random
personnel were in the same gallery as him, most of whom didn’t even notice him
arrive until they glanced over and saw his white with black stripe striker
uniform, but they didn’t ask questions, merely giving him a little more space
and continuing to watch the others go at it below.

The non-trailblazers in the match were high ranking
second gen and, Bo couldn’t believe his eyes, even Vermaire was out there. At
first he thought he was imagining things and it was just another Knight, but
the way he took to the battle with a single sword only and moved with speed
equal or greater to the trailblazers said it was definitely him…despite the
fact that he wore the same pale white flex armor that the others did. Bo still
couldn’t help but to expect the black armor that he was famous for, but there
was no mistaking his skill…meaning they’d somehow recruited him for this match.

That was odd, for he was the one that constantly
interrupted their old matches to beat them down randomly. Whatever Paul and
Jason had going here
was
looking even more
interesting.

The game was capture the flag, with the stunned
individuals eventually coming out of their coma through what Bo guessed was
respawning
armor. Like what the Black Knight originally
wore, the material in their flex armor probably had elements that would soak
the stun energy out of their bodies after a matter of time, bringing them back
into the game eventually. With the emphasis on getting to the opposing bunker
and claiming their prize, how many times you went down didn’t really matter. Bo
could already see several individuals covered in paint splatters, attesting to
a somewhat lengthy ongoing match even before Bo looked at the clock display and
saw that they’d just passed the two hour mark.

He suppressed a whistle. That meant both sides had to
be very evenly matched…which made him want to get down there and into the fight
even more. After taking another couple minutes to watch the action he’d had
enough and left the platform, taking his duffle with him out the door then
jogging down to the equipment room. His presence might off balance the match,
but after two hours that would probably be a welcome change. If not he didn’t
care, they got to see each other so rarely he would take the chance of being
rude if only to get the surprise drop on one or two of them.

Bo pulled out a flex armor suit from the various sizes
available and quickly got dressed, hitting the armory before running over to
the entrance doors and inputting an override code to get them to open during
the match. Without announcing his presence or logging into the scorekeeping
software he went inside, closing the doors behind
him,
then disappeared off into the terrain carrying the stinger rifle that had made
up such a large part of his life but had since been replaced by the pure stun
rifle.

Bo kept
to cover
as much as
he could, not wanting the others to know he was here just yet. He moved off
into the trees while avoiding the large open area in the center that was
scattered with boulders and dry streams that separated the distant bunkers
where the ‘flags’ rested. It was actually just a finish pedestal with a button
press, but a holographic flag marked the location inside of each. Getting there
was the problem.

He thought about making a sneak run against one of
them, but that would have been a bit too cheating…well, maybe not, but that’s
not how he wanted to handle this. He had a golden opportunity here and wanted
to take advantage of it. There were two teams, with one being made up mostly of
2s. Paul and Jason led it, but Emily,
Jace
, and Ivan
were also there, with the other half being made up of Sara-012, Kiran-011,
Riona, and two other second gen.

The other team was led by Greg and had a mix of
trailblazers from different teams, second gen, and Vermaire…though in truth he
kind of counted as more than one. And all things being equal, Bo still saw him
as the terror that he’d been to them as trainees so he opted to throw in with
the expanded 2s.

To that end he established a telepathic link to Jason,
who was the closest, and sent him a private message.

Olly
olly
oxen free
, he told him along with a location ping.

Bo? Where did
you come from?
Jason answered back, taking cover behind one of the boulders
just in from the trees while he got the heads up as to what was going on.

Just got back
and felt like joining in. No one knows I’m down here yet, and I’m throwing in
with you guys. Where do you want me?

You armed?

Of
course.

Jason smiled, quickly having a side conversation with
Paul.
Pay your respects to the Black
Knight
, he said, sending Bo a telepathic location ping.
He’s giving Emily and Riona a lot of trouble
.

With pleasure
,
he said, running off through the trees to eventually come out near his team’s
bunker, swinging around behind it and coming up the far side to stay out of
sight. Crossing through the middle would have alerted the others to his
presence and he didn’t want to ruin the surprise so he took the long way
around…and just happened to spot Greg out of the corner of his eye.

All of them were running with telepathy screens,
making it all but impossible to sense someone coming unless you were focusing
on a specific area. Bo was lucky he spotted Greg first, because his fellow
trailblazer had no clue whatsoever that he was on his outside, probably
focusing his Ikrid on the nearby bunker to try and pick up a location trace of
those guarding it.

Bo jumped out from behind a chunk of ground with a
small ledge that had been hiding him and peppered Greg’s back with stinger
shots. Blue splatters covered him and he dropped face first to the ground, his
rifle flying from his hands as he fell unconscious. Bo ran over to him and
flipped him face up so he could breathe easier, then tapped him on the chest
despite the fact that he couldn’t see or hear him.

“You never did learn to mind your surroundings,” he
whispered before heading back into cover and moving along the irregular wall
and into the small forest on the far side, at the end of which he felt
Vermaire. At the moment he wasn’t blocking his mental presence, and Bo wondered
if that was because he wasn’t good at it or he was just being cocky…with him
settling on the latter.

As Bo got close he felt a battlemeld prompt and
accepted it, suddenly linking up with both Emily and Riona and knowing exactly
where they were and what they were thinking. Without even having to talk he
knew what he needed to do and darted from one tree to another as they
distracted the Black Knight away from the chamber’s edge, giving him a narrow
corridor of approach.

When he got close enough Emily and Riona jumped out of
their cover and went hand to hand with the Knight, Emily pumping round after
round at him and making him juke to the side while Riona came up and blocked a
sword swing with a briefly-lived bioshield. A kick to her chest a moment later
broke through it and knocked her back, then as Vermaire took after her with
intent to jab Bo came up from behind him and fired twice into his back.

To his surprise the Black Knight ducked beneath both,
then
he belated realized the big guy must have been focusing
on his Pefbar to sense the immediate area around him. Abandoning Riona for the
moment he ran behind a tree and disappeared from view…though Bo still had him
on Pefbar and chased after him.

Riona got up and flanked Bo two steps back as both
sprinted ahead, trying to run the menace down. Suddenly, and with far more
speed than Bo knew he had, Vermaire reversed course and came back at them,
swinging his long sword in an upward flip that caught Bo in the chin and wacked
his head to the side, simultaneously delivering a bit of stun energy…not enough
to knock him out but giving him the wobbles as he tried to remain standing.

With one opponent temporarily disabled Vermaire took a
punch from Riona, who tried to swing her rifle up behind it with the other arm
and deliver a point blank salvo into the man’s crotch as she ducked beneath his
reflexive sword slash, but a light telekinetic shove moved her barrel off
target and she fired through his legs. Next thing Bo knew she was on the ground
covered by a bioshield as he tried to kick her, then as the trailblazer brought
his own rifle up to bear on him Vermaire was lit up from behind as Emily got the
drop on the mass of muscle.

“
Umph
!”
Riona said as he fell on top of her and popped what was left of her shield. It
took a moment for her to roll him off,
then
Bo offered
her a hand, pulling the striker to her feet.

Battlemeld-linked as they were there was no need for
discussion. Bo put another six shots into the Black Knight while Riona
volunteered to stay put and keep shooting his unconscious body in order to keep
him down. That way they’d have
a 10
vs 9 without the
big guy in the mix.

The two trailblazers moved out, and within the next 18
minutes Ivan finally got to the flag and won the match for them.

In the equipment room afterwards Greg came up and
lightly punched Bo in the back as he was pulling his shirt off and had it over
his head.

“
Ow
…hey.”

“That was so cheating,” Greg said with a smile on his
face.

Bo finally got his shirt off and tossed it on the
bench with the armor that he’d already removed. He turned around, with Greg’s
levity fading. “Where did you get that?”

Bo rubbed the nasty welt on his chest, checking to see
if it had gotten any worse.
“A few days ago.
I was
helping with some repairs on the cargo ship I hitched a ride on and got
skewered with a piece of frag when an overload blew out a console. I thought it
was mostly healed up, but I felt something pop out there,” he said, still
examining it.
“Doesn’t look like the skin broke though.”

“Go find yourself a regenerator.”

“Yeah, I know. Just got back though and haven’t had
time. So,” he said, picking up his shirt and heading towards one of the
personal compartments lining the walls to catch a shower, which was where most
of the others were right now or headed there after removing their armor,
“what’s the big occasion? The dynamic duo didn’t say in their message.”

“A lot of training projects, or rather attempts. We
need as many of us here as we can get to try and get a handle on them, so I’m
glad you showed up. Just wish it would have been an hour later.”

“Ah, suck it up. Not the first time you’ve lost.”

“Was it you that got me in the back earlier?”

Bo smiled. “Hadn’t planned that, but you walked right
by me and I couldn’t resist.”

“Figures,” Greg said
,
planting his hands on his hips as the both stopped outside one of the empty stations.
“I couldn’t sense you at all.”

“Just like the old days.”

“Yeah, but I could find all the others when they were
close by. You I completely missed.”

“You weren’t looking for me,” Bo pointed out.

“I was looking for trouble and missed you completely.”

“Pefbar?”

“I don’t know. All I remember is getting jumped.
Makes me a little nervous if the Zen’zat can do that too.
I
think I’m starting to rely on my Ikrid radar a bit too much.”

“Something to think about.”

Greg nodded. “Catch you later.”

Bo let him go and entered the personal bathroom/shower
chamber and got cleaned up, grabbing a new casual uniform without ID stripes
and wearing it back to his quarters…which he found out were the originals
they’d had in Atlantis when they’d just finished trainee graduation. It was odd
that they were going there, but also a bit refreshing as the 16 of them met up
for some old school Halo tournaments using the original gaming equipment that
was still lining the lounge.

They spent several hours there, fanning the old
competitive flames and relearning how to work the controls and eventually
chitchatting until late at night when Paul finally pulled him aside as the
others headed off to bed or for a late night snack or workout.

“Ok spill,” Bo said, with both of them sitting down on
stools in the lounge along a counter with various freshly stocked ambrosia
foodstuffs.

“I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, but Jason and
I are getting close to identifying some triggers. We both have Pren now, and
six of the others have gotten it since they got here and have been training
with us. We’ve gotten them close and they made the leap on their own, but with
a few more ascensions we might be able to pin it down, and if we can do that…”

“…we can start sharing it with the twin link
knockoff.”

Paul nodded. “We’re also working on a lot of other
things that just require us here together as a group. Using the training holo
in the pyramid we know we’re pretty much on par with most of the Zen’zat, or,
well, on par with the masses. Their elite are still beyond us, as you know
well, but our scores are starting to match up with their line troops.”