territorial hungry as they were, he
could bring additional resources into Star Force’s coffers, perhaps even more
than needed for the construction of the planet, while giving those less
belligerent races a boost in the internal power struggle…as well as hinting
that more would be coming in the future for those who played ball.
That would put fear into those races sitting on the
fence and might even convince the five engaged to rethink the wisdom of pushing
this conflict as far as it seemed they were intent on going…which was to
annihilate the opposition.
Davis had already blacklisted those five races from
Star Force purchases of starships and construction contracts, not that there
were many available given the heavy war production, but those vacancies had
moved up others on the waiting lists and that in turn would also affect the
power struggle down the road. But he knew he had to do more than that, so with
the bioweapon attack mystery solved he began laying out a plan of numerous
little tweaks, nothing major, that he would begin to use to reshape the ADZ in
this time of turmoil and leave the territorial penalties to the future when he
had the ability to actually enforce them.
He also had two requests from races outside the ADZ
still standing, and decided to act upon them now. Both were races with worlds
along the border of Epsilon Region, which Star Force hadn’t colonized very
heavily as yet, but of these two races one already traded with the ADZ and the
other one wanted to begin to do so in considerable amounts, with both
requesting a foothold world to act as an emissary to the rest of the growing
community.
Giving them an entire world wasn’t going to happen,
but he would give each a single regional slot on a scheduled Alliance World
coming online in Epsilon within the next 14 months, along with the promise of
more territory if they proved themselves valuable. That would also mean that
two of the slots that would have gone to present ADZ members would be taken
away by outsiders, sending the message that the power struggle wasn’t going to
be a purely internal affair and Star Force could bring in as many outsiders as
it wanted, meaning new players in the game that, as far as percentage went,
would diminish the current ones.
Growth was the key to everything, and he needed to
make the races fighting one another pay in that regard. If they kept fighting
and wasting resources and lives then they’d be curtailing their own growth
while others expanded even further with Davis’s assistance. That might not be
enough to get the blood feud stopped, but it would be an ever-present reality
that cooler heads would respond to as they saw the writing on the wall.
Hopefully that would prevent some of the races
considering throwing in with either the Scionate or the Lacvamat from adding to
the internecine.
It wasn’t a good situation, but Davis had learned long
ago that even in catastrophes there were always opportunities if you looked
hard enough. The real question was whether or not the Archons would be able to
hold the line without the support they deserved.
He didn’t know if they could or not, for he was
reviewing the stats daily as they came in, but he’d learned long ago not to bet
against them. He would do his part on the interior, and hoped they’d be able to
pull another Houdini, keeping the Skarrons pinned down and out of the ADZ
interior for a good while longer.
9
December 15, 2553
Plenx System ( Dvapp Territory)
Rvitx
Paul waited, tucked underneath a rocky overhang as the
Skarron troops moved all around him enroute to a major offensive. They’d gotten
reinforced by a trio of transports that had made it down from orbit, with his
warships having gunned down two others as they came in. The ones that landed,
though, had added just enough troops that the Skarrons were mounting one last
push to try and break the Star Force troops that were all that was holding the
native Dvapp
could bring additional resources into Star Force’s coffers, perhaps even more
than needed for the construction of the planet, while giving those less
belligerent races a boost in the internal power struggle…as well as hinting
that more would be coming in the future for those who played ball.
That would put fear into those races sitting on the
fence and might even convince the five engaged to rethink the wisdom of pushing
this conflict as far as it seemed they were intent on going…which was to
annihilate the opposition.
Davis had already blacklisted those five races from
Star Force purchases of starships and construction contracts, not that there
were many available given the heavy war production, but those vacancies had
moved up others on the waiting lists and that in turn would also affect the
power struggle down the road. But he knew he had to do more than that, so with
the bioweapon attack mystery solved he began laying out a plan of numerous
little tweaks, nothing major, that he would begin to use to reshape the ADZ in
this time of turmoil and leave the territorial penalties to the future when he
had the ability to actually enforce them.
He also had two requests from races outside the ADZ
still standing, and decided to act upon them now. Both were races with worlds
along the border of Epsilon Region, which Star Force hadn’t colonized very
heavily as yet, but of these two races one already traded with the ADZ and the
other one wanted to begin to do so in considerable amounts, with both
requesting a foothold world to act as an emissary to the rest of the growing
community.
Giving them an entire world wasn’t going to happen,
but he would give each a single regional slot on a scheduled Alliance World
coming online in Epsilon within the next 14 months, along with the promise of
more territory if they proved themselves valuable. That would also mean that
two of the slots that would have gone to present ADZ members would be taken
away by outsiders, sending the message that the power struggle wasn’t going to
be a purely internal affair and Star Force could bring in as many outsiders as
it wanted, meaning new players in the game that, as far as percentage went,
would diminish the current ones.
Growth was the key to everything, and he needed to
make the races fighting one another pay in that regard. If they kept fighting
and wasting resources and lives then they’d be curtailing their own growth
while others expanded even further with Davis’s assistance. That might not be
enough to get the blood feud stopped, but it would be an ever-present reality
that cooler heads would respond to as they saw the writing on the wall.
Hopefully that would prevent some of the races
considering throwing in with either the Scionate or the Lacvamat from adding to
the internecine.
It wasn’t a good situation, but Davis had learned long
ago that even in catastrophes there were always opportunities if you looked
hard enough. The real question was whether or not the Archons would be able to
hold the line without the support they deserved.
He didn’t know if they could or not, for he was
reviewing the stats daily as they came in, but he’d learned long ago not to bet
against them. He would do his part on the interior, and hoped they’d be able to
pull another Houdini, keeping the Skarrons pinned down and out of the ADZ
interior for a good while longer.
9
December 15, 2553
Plenx System ( Dvapp Territory)
Rvitx
Paul waited, tucked underneath a rocky overhang as the
Skarron troops moved all around him enroute to a major offensive. They’d gotten
reinforced by a trio of transports that had made it down from orbit, with his
warships having gunned down two others as they came in. The ones that landed,
though, had added just enough troops that the Skarrons were mounting one last
push to try and break the Star Force troops that were all that was holding the
native Dvapp
Similar Books
