Guardian Stone 1: Stone Genesis by Don Koch

if you know of a decent candidate, let us know and that means any nationality. We have a candidate on board who is likely to be your CO if he agrees to the job, and I think he will. I'll let you know as soon as he agrees. Initially your crews will be all Antoran. They do not man the guns and that will be explained. Your pilot, navigator, engineer, medic and non-combatant positions will likely be Antoran. The commander, exec, targeting, gunnery positions will not be. The latter are the positions we need to fill and soon. I want two Wings operational by the end of next year. We do have a few suitable persons on station for ship commander and some for Bay commanders. We are recruiting now and at some point it will go more public."
    Hardrock said, "Man, you command this whole station, that is something."
    Hank smiled and said, "Technically that is not quite correct. You see, there are 19 more stations that are slightly smaller than this one and 80 more that are a slightly smaller yet version and I command the lot."

Chapter 10: Shaping up
    Station 1 in Earth Orbit –
    October 10 – C Day 41
     
    The recruiting efforts were continuing but it was apparent that they somehow had to expand. They had identified quite a number of military veterans who were entranced by the idea of working and living in space. Many of these were happy to have purpose again. The habitat surroundings coupled with no expenses and the enhancements particularly those related to health and longevity helped immensely.
    Joe and June Carson were positively glowing. Hank had offered them command level enhancements and they decided to accept. They were making use of the learning machines and the command enhancements would start the next day. He did not know it yet but he was being primed as a station commander, probably for Station 2 or Station 3. In the meantime he was helping Josh get the chain of command established.
    They had four other planets on which to seek further manpower support. It did not appear to be overly promising. The advisors had developed plans assisted by Joann's understanding of each society. The planets and their populations and stage of development were:
     
Planet
Population
Development
Saark
   770,000,000
Late Iron Age
Frote
3,000,000,000
Early Information Age
Gella
3,600,000,000
Early Information Age
Nintam
2,000,000,000
Mid Information Age
Blint
4,000,000,000
Early Information Age
     
    It had been decided that Saark was still several centuries away from outside contact. At the current state of their development, contact would be detrimental to their survival as a distinct society.
    Frote, on the other hand was probably the best candidate for next contact. They had a single world government that operated under a constitutional monarchy. Its resemblance to Great Britain and its governing approach was notable. The drawback for recruiting purposes however was that they had no military structure. The closest point of comparison was their police agency. The planet was just starting its efforts at manned exploration of the planets in its system.
    Gella had four geopolitical divisions that occasionally engaged in conflicts. Each had a standing military. Service was generally by conscription. They had a technology level very similar to that of Earth. Their computer technology was almost exactly on par with Earth but had no yet attempted to enter space. There were some preliminary programs underway that would have them launching satellites in the next two or three years.
    Nintam was the most advanced technologically of the five planets but appeared to be stagnating. It was a dictatorship with a very Orwellian structure. The governing class consisted of less than 10,000 persons. There was very little likelihood that recruiting could be successful there. There were clear indications that a revolution was brewing. If that were to happen, then it was possible that the potential might change but not in time to assist in defense against the