Star Force: Bloodlust (SF54) Read Free

as well as giving him cover to
operate his business and ship throughout their system in return for a few
favors here and there.
    And Jamka wasn’t the only one set up here, for the
system was a central hub of the ‘shadow’ sector within the ADZ. The Scionate
also operated in a similar manner, but ever since the recent Star Force coup
there had been a subtle shift away from the quadrupeds’ independence push. The
Scionate were now more in line with the ‘proper’ Star Force backers, though
they still maintained a significant chunk of the shadow business opportunities.
    The Lacvamat had gained from their newfound
respectability, recruiting more of the unsavory elements into their territory
along with the legit who simply wanted to get away from Star Force’s choking
presence. Jamka serviced both factions, making inroads where he could and
expanding his business and fleet whenever possible.
    Always on the lookout for trouble, Jamka kept an eye
on the public warning system the Lacvamat had in place and as he brought his
new warship in last to dock with his base and begin getting the full overhaul
that it would need to be brought up to proper ‘shipper’ specs…meaning a lot of
concealed compartments and other scoundrel gems…he noticed a small warning
flashing up, with location coordinates of a new no-go zone within the planet’s
atmosphere.
    He pulled the warning up, wanting to know ahead of
time of any trouble going on anywhere in the system, and saw a report of a ship
having gone off course and entering a restricted zone of the planet…then
according to the report it had exploded while on descent through the
atmosphere. The immediate area was being locked down by Lacvamat security,
heavily, and there was an unnecessary reminder to everyone else not to go
anywhere close to the explosion zone where they were now beginning to recover
debris.
    That made no sense to Jamka, for if the Lacvamat had
shot it down there would be no need for such a lockdown. Something about this
didn’t feel right, and the Critel made sure to keep up to date on the news
reports and official warnings coming in…as well as the unofficial word that
began spreading around, for within a week all hell began breaking loose down on
the planet and the Lacvamat fleet came down to low orbit and put a planetary
lockdown in place with no one being allowed to come or go.
    A day later a similar freeze was put on all orbital
traffic, stranding Jamka and his ships at his station, but he knew better than
to defy the warnings. The Lacvamat were not to be trifled with, and whatever
was going on had brought them out of their normal seclusion into full militant
mode.
    Jamka knew his best bet was to simply stay still and
silent and hope whatever was going on would sort itself out without him or any
of his people getting caught in the middle of it.

 
 
    2

 
 
    August 12, 2552
    Plenx System (Dvapp
Territory)
    Rvitx

 
    “ Where are they? ”
Donn-1001 asked in the trade language, leaning over the holo table in his
striker armor as the wind whipped across the open air outpost.
    One of the four Dvapp with him extended a tendril from
its column-like mass and pointed to a nearby area on the battlefield map.
    “ Here. There are
several subsurface caverns that the Aronsic appear to be moving through .”
    “ Do you have
them charted? ”
    “ No .”
    “ Then we do this
the hard way. Heavy scout team, formed on me. We’ll go in and flush them out,
but you have to keep them away from here ,” Donn emphasized, pointing to a
relatively flat section of the barren, rocky landscape on the map that held the
entrance to one of the Dvapp’s mining stations. It
was mostly below ground with only a small surface facility, but it held
subsurface tunnel links to 5 nearby facilities…and similar tunnel links were
allowing the Skarrons to assault many other Dvapp facilities in the area. If
they broke through here, they were practically inviting them to spread