Gauntlet wars mind raide.., p.1
Gauntlet Wars: Mind Raider, page 1
1
EG33
April 3, 158442
ANDROMEDA GALAXY
T-6 System
Planet 4
“You will go to the Firchar-Nioni System,” Thrawn’s holographic message said, standing full size before the Arbiter on the bridge of the Paladin warship in parking orbit above the planet. “There you will find a blockade of a significant trading world. The Nirvu and Varski races are in conflict over the possession of the planet. The Varski have blockaded it but refuse to attack. The Nirvu do not want a war and are tying to negotiate with other powers to interdict the blockade. It is a quagmire that you will remedy. Take all available ships, troops, and resources on T-6 and honorably conquer the system. With an ongoing war that could consume the entire galaxy, petty squabbles between greedy parties cannot be allowed to interfere with the flow of resources. Warn them off, but when they refuse, take the entire system by force.”
“It will be done,” the Arbiter said, knowing only those on the bridge could hear him as the hologram disappeared. He turned to his side and glanced at one of the other naval variants of the Paladin. “Show me this system.”
The thin lizard, whose body was based off the 2nd Triad complied immediately without any unnecessary talking. Paladin ships were among the most quiet in the Star Force Empire, though most were said to be calm save for the Irondel, who apparently could not handle an idle moment without filling it with their chittery little voices. Most professional communication was handled through messages from one part of the ship to another, or via telepathy in other races. Paladin were not telepathic, but they were immune to mental control, just as Humans were. Other races were telepathic, and their ships could function without a single word being said aloud, but for some reason they also had a need to vocally fill the silence from time to time. Paladin had no such problem with silent work.
“Here,” the bridge officer said as a galactic hologram of Andromeda appeared where Supreme Viceroy Thrawn’s image had previously been in the center of the windowless bridge. A tiny dot far from the Asferja war zone was highlighted and zoomed in on. It was some 18,903 light years from their current location, which would make it approximately 3 months distant. The Arbiter would not be able to summon help or communicate with the rest of Thrawn’s growing empire. He’d be on his own for this operation, which was undoubtedly why the Supreme Viceroy had ordered him to take everything guarding the T-6 system with him.
And when he said ‘resources’ he meant supplies, for this was not going to be a hit and run operation. They had to stay and claim this system for Thrawn to use later. The Arbiter did not need any further orders. This was going to be his 18th assignment after being spawned on the world of Jugali in the Milky Way galaxy thousands of years ago, and he knew well what Thrawn wished of him. He was to take the system as ordered, then he would receive further instructions as to what to do with it.
“Comm, get me the planetary Administrator,” the Arbiter said, using the individual’s title rather than name…for Paladin had none. His title of ‘Arbiter’ indicated he was a veteran who had progressed past his spawning assignment, and likewise the planetary Administrator was simply a description of the position the individual held. Both of them had ID codes, but they were rarely used verbally. Everyone was referred to as their current station or assignment. The Arbiter was currently a Fleet Commander, now that Thrawn had given him possession of a fleet. Previously he had simply been a Captain onboard his ship after another assignment was completed. That was how things worked in the Paladin. There was no rank, only responsibility and biology.
A realtime hologram of a much smaller Paladin appeared that mimicked the Arbiter’s physiology mostly. They were both of the 2nd triad, but there were small differences. The naval variants had a more stout body and musculature on the same skeletal frame, as well as skin that was designed to suffer short walks in the void of space. They actually had nodules in their body to store excess oxygen and collect carbon dioxide until they could take their next breath, as well as clear flaps that would slide down over their eyes and eyes holes like a second lid that would keep them from decompressing.
It was short term only, just enough time to get through the airless confines of a damaged ship to a rescue area. But all naval variants had these upgrades, while the Administrators had additional brain capacity and a metabolism that allowed them to sleep very little and handle tasks at an almost constant pace without growing fatigued or brain fried.
“What do you require?” the Administrator said graciously, recognizing the Arbiter’s seniority despite not being under his command.
“I have been given orders to take the fleet and all available resources to conquer a system far from here. I need appropriate logistics for a three month journey and indefinite stay.”
“Time of departure?”
“As soon as prepared.”
“Any special considerations?”
“This will be a pacification. As such we will need ample stun rounds for all weaponry. I also require a team of Mind raiders.”
“Before you leave?” the Administrator asked, knowing they could spawn more Paladin on site once they arrived.
“I want them training during the journey.”
“As you wish. Will you be waiting for additional ships?”
“No. I will take what we have available.”
“Then the limiting factor will be the Mind raiders. 22 days.”
“Schedule it thus.”
The Administrator nodded. “Good luck, Arbiter.”
“To us all, or we all may fall,” he said, quoting a common Paladin proverb as the hologram ended.
“Inform all ship Captains in the system that they are now under this fleet command, including the cargo vessels,” he ordered as he began pacing back and forth before his notched chair. “I want status reports on all vessels’ readiness for both combat and a long mission into the frontier. Order them to start stocking up accordingly…”
And-T6-MW-003 woke from his mind haze in a fury as he tasted air for the first time. The process of being spawned was an odd one, for his mind was telling him things that conflicted with his senses. He had never experienced anything before, and it took several minutes, as well as a pair of strong hands on him to keep him from thrashing about and destroying anything in range as the pain of waking slowly diminished and his senses started to calibrate with his genetic memory.
Once calmed, he went through a series of quality control tests and basic training to both make sure he was not defective, as well as a way to proc various memories into use. By the time he emerged from it, there was a dropship waiting to take him and 7 other Mind Raider variants up to orbit.
He had never seen them before, but he knew who they were. They were like him, and they were also ordered not to use their telepathy yet in an active sense. Doing so could damage it. They had to passively observe for several days, preferably longer, before attempting to reach out to another mind to influence or search it. So he exchanged some subtle nods and finger flicks with the others, a code also programmed into his memory, as they silently boarded the dropship and slid into seats that all had a hole notch in the back to accommodate their tails that they then curled around the stump of their seat to avoid getting in the way of others.
The flight up to orbit was short and predictable, yet he’d never actually done it before. Others had, and their knowledge and memories were a part of him now. It was how he was able to function when other races required years or decades to get to maturity. All Paladin were spawned fully mature, but it would take time for the person inside the body to fully adapt with the memories.
That said, he was combat capable now if needed. Just not as well as he would be later given a few weeks to further adapt to his new life.
He knew all Paladin went through this, and that there was much to learn beyond the memories. They were an impressive starting point, but only that. To become an Arbiter meant surviving your first mission and becoming worthy of reassignment to another world. And that required going beyond the memories and adding some knowledge and experience of your own to what you’d inherited from your predecessors.
He and the other Mind Raiders were flown up to a waiting ship in orbit, then escorted to private chambers where they stood inside a mirrored hexagonal cubical. Holographic images with instructions began to appear before them, and they each followed an individualized training program that would test their readiness. It would take two days before the program would allow the first of them to start telepathically linking with the equipment in basic training drills, and from there the progress began to accelerate rapidly…for the process, which was less defined than other Paladin variant programs, was still well honed at this point after going through countless other individuals in the past with the scientists making adjustments based on the data from each individual.
And the data from these would also be included in a message packet brought back to the Milky Way, for the Paladin were always tinkering, monitoring, and refining where possible. Though this case, many later years, would be reviewed more than any other…
3 months 8 days later…
“Neoro, what’s happening?” the Nirvu commander of the Commerce Station in low stellar orbit asked his sensor officer as numerous ships began entering the system along a single jumpline in close packet formation…too close for safety, and he’d never seen such tight formations operated successfully before.
“I don’t know. These ships are not known to us.”
“Are they allied with the Varski?” the Commander asked, referencing the huge amount of enemy ships already in the system and surrounding his station in an economic blockade that had been going on for far too long and was already causing severe shortages of vital goods on the planet of Tarchiss, which the Nirvu owned but the Varski wanted. They hadn’t yet escalated to full out war, but they were on the brink of it, and any ship trying to access the planet, or even pass through the system, had to get permission from their fleet.
And they were granting only a few that permission, meaning there was a blockage of traffic arriving in the system and having to go back out on their original jumpline, for the Varski would not allow them to take any other. Then they’d have to find a way around the nebula cluster to get to their ultimate destinations. This star system was the choke point where the three safe routes through the nebula cluster intersected then diverged again into two other paths. A massive amount of cargo moved through this point because of it, and had made this planet and system insanely rich. Now the Varski were trying to wheedle their way into part, or even full ownership of it, and were blocking everyone else in the galaxy who wasn’t their personal friends from coming through.
A few had tried anyone, and had their ships disabled and boarded. The Commander didn’t know if there were any casualties or not, but everything here was at the tipping point. They’d tried to take his station too, on three separate occasions, but their boarding parties were always stopped. He had considerable troops onboard, and the winged Varski were not a match in hand to hand combat with his leaping amphibians. The hallways here were too low for them to get any height, and as such they were grabbed and grounded almost immediately upon entry.
He'd lost 4 Nirvu to those assaults, with another 139 injured, but he had over 2,000 onboard specially trained for combat. This Commerce Station was critical to the Nirvu economy in this sector, and as such it was well defended internally, though its external shields could not stand up to the Varski fleet pounding on them. As such it was a standoff. They could get their boarding parties in, but they couldn’t claim the station.
And thankfully they hadn’t gotten to the point of trying to blow it up or invade the planet. So at least some decorum was remaining, but the arrival of this new fleet was both unexpected and concerning.
“Commander,” Neoro said, his large eyes flicking three times as he studied a small, orb-like holographic ball that he rotated around with webbed hands to view it from different angles. “The new ships are engaging the Varski.”
“What!?”
“I see weaponsfire, and most of the Varski are repositioning into defensive formations.”
“Sir,” another amphibian said from a station higher up the hillside that was the command center infrastructure with their leader in the pool-like depression in the middle of it. “I have a request for communication from the newly arrived ships.”
“I accept,” he said, turning to face the comms holographic transmitter on his left, and raising his wide orange/yellow chin in preparation to greet whoever this new ally was.
An image of a reptilian appeared, and the Commander immediately recognized the individual as one of the foreigners that had come to this galaxy to fight the Asferja.
“I am station Commander Bri’ta,” he announced cautiously.
“I am Paladin Fleet Commander,” the blue lizard said in the Nirvu language, dressed in some form of combat armor, though Bri’ta could only see him from the shoulders up. He wore no helmet, but the white/blue battle plates were obviously not standard clothing…or so he assumed. Maybe garments worked differently in another galaxy. “By order of Supreme Viceroy Thrawn I am here to lay claim to this system. We will be assuming control of your station as soon as we deal with the blockade.”
“Lay claim? Are you not here to help us?”
“We’re here to help everyone, Station Commander,” he said slightly out of lip sync. “The Paladin will reopen commerce through this system.”
“But we’ll reopen it as soon as the Varski are gone!”
“I’ve been told otherwise. Neither of your races can be trusted with such a key system. Thus we are taking stewardship of it.”
“By what right!” he declared as a large holographic map of the battle going on outside finally made its way to the main display, and Bri’ta wished he could have sucked those words back inside his wide mouth. The Varski ships were being disabled at an alarming rate.
“The right to save your galaxy from the Asferja. This petty bickering between your races endangers others. The full economic power of this galaxy must be brought to bear to defend it. Anything less could see its fall. The Asferja are far more powerful than you realize.”
“But they are far from here. How can you possibly justify taking this system away from us?”
“The systems that are not under attack must support those who are.”
“None of our systems are under attack. You want us to supply others who cannot pay! This is ridiculous.”
“Yes you are. But you will learn. The Paladin will show you the proper way to handle commerce. I am about to send troops onboard your station. You can either surrender it peacefully, or we will take it by force. Regardless, we will soon possess it. How do you wish to proceed?”
“We’ve defended this station against three separate Varski boarding attempts. You will not find us an easy prize to claim.”
The blue lizard grinned. “That’s acceptable. We like a challenge. If you change your mind and want to surrender, you may do so at any time. We will be visiting soon. Please do not do anything drastic. My orders are to take you and everyone else in this system alive. We’re not here to kill anyone. We’re here to save you from your own stupidity. So don’t attempt anything suicidal.”
“And if we refuse to surrender this station intact?” he said with more bluff than real conviction.
“We take it, intact. You cannot use your own lives as shields against our actions. We will possess your station and the nearby planet shortly. I suggest you make this transition as easy as possible for yourselves, but if you wish to fight, we will show you the proper way to wage a bloodless war.”
“Wars are never bloodless.”
“Then you have a great deal to learn. We will be arriving shortly. I suggest you record images for later study,” the lizard said with a cocky tilt of his head just before the transmission cut off.
“Prepare to repel boarders,” Bri’ta said loudly across the command deck. “We will not hand this station to the Varski or the foreigners.”
“Commander,” Neoro said, pointing up at the battle hologram. “They’re using boarding craft to take the disabled Varski ships.”
“Magnify.”
The thousands of vessels engaging each other as more continued to come out of the jumpline shrank down to a single ship. It had multiple scorch marks on its hull, including a few pinpoint holes near the engine compartment billowing out clouds of smoke that were beginning to obscure the ship in its own small nebula. But what Neoro further zoomed in on were several small objects attaching themselves to the hull.
“Those are not airlock points on the Varski ships. These foreigners must have the ability to burn through the hull at a point of their choosing.”
The Commander growled, which for his race came out as a series of low chirps. His entire defense was predicated on defending key positions where the thick hull plates allowed access to space. If they could burn through wherever they liked…
“Do you see any of the ships decompressing?”
Neoro looked to his left and another Nirvu answered. “None yet. I would guess they are installing their own makeshift airlocks at the burn points. Though none of the vessels has detached yet, so I cannot be sure.”
“Then prepare mobile teams. Once we know where they land, it will take time for them to burn through. We set up and meet them there before they can get their first troops onboard…”
2
Abnel knelt on his hind legs, squatting so low that his stubby tail nub almost touched the floor as he held his rifle pointed at the end of a corridor. More than two dozen other Nirvu were in similar positions, lining either side of the hallway and smashing themselves up against the walls to give them some sort of cover as they watched the sparking burn marks of a cutting device slowly carve a doorway through the sealed wall of what was an emergency airlock still covered with thick battle plates. Those plates would not be ejected until the airlock was needed, but the invaders were burning right through to create their own entrance.
