Star Force: Retribution (SF60) by Aer-ki Jyr

large
percentage of their fleet into a single location for us to destroy in our
greatest place of strength .”
    “ The
Li’vorkrachnika have not been so stupid. They continue to strike us where we
are weak, but they are retaliating.
The number of expansions we’ve previously noted have increased by 23% since the
combined strike with the Gfatt, but the latest survey numbers indicate a much
larger increase…in the realm of 340%. They are devoting far more resources to
this region, all without any large fleet action. The loss of the majority of
our strike fleet had diminished our ability to hunt down and eliminate these
expansions, but do not mistake that as being the primary cause of this
onslaught. The enemy has increased its attention here, and we are unable to
stop them .”
    The Royal remained passive, then held up one of its
pointy, fingerless arms. “ Have we lost an
engagement? ”
    “ No. The enemy
is not engaging us when they have the option to run. Those times when they
cannot they are doing what damage they can, targeting individual ships for
destruction. I’ve instructed our commanders to withdrawal those vessels in such
occasions, but we have lost a few when they stupidly chose to remain in
position. Each ship we lose is a defeat, but we have not lost a full battle
since the core world strike .”
    “ Then in what
danger are we? ” the Royal asked obtusely.
    “ We are in
danger of allowing the enemy to grow to a level where they can threaten us.
Joining the Nexus advanced us considerably, but we are not safe. The Li’vorkrachnika
have not been beaten, and now that we’ve shown we can hit their core worlds
they are paying us more attention than before. It is only a matter of time
before we are isolated and surrounded ,” he said, bringing up a specific
intelligence report that he’d only received 18 days ago.
    “ This is the
beginning of a trend, I fear ,” Gavra said,
highlighting a neutral system on the starmap situated
in between two widely spaced H’kar worlds. “ The
Li’vorkrachnika have placed a semi-permanent raiding fleet in the Kiltuum System. They are disrupting traffic, killing what
civilian ships they can, then running when our warships arrive. I believe they
will continue to do so, and we do not have the ships necessary to secure our
shipping lanes. If this continues we will either have to dedicate vessels to Kiltuum or reroute traffic flow. Either way is a win for
the enemy .”
    “ Assume they do
the same for 100 other systems, and tell me again how safe we are .”
    The H’kar to Gavra’s left
bristled with the insult that the military commander was throwing the Royal’s
way. “ Then it’s time to recall our ships
from the ADZ. We obviously need them to secure our own territory. ”
    Gavra made a click/clash
noise so violent that all the H’kar around him visibly shook with surprise.
    “ You have said
as much yourself ,” the Royal reminded him calmly.
    “ I have been
stupid and unwilling to see the truth ,” Gavra admitted. “ Recent events have forced my
vision to clear. We are making the same mistakes we made before, emboldened by
Nexus membership. Our methods saw us lose the first time, nearly to the point
of extinction before Samenra ordered the evacuation.
He was shamed and exiled for that decision later, but it saved our race. Had we
stood our ground and fought it out we would not be here today. ”
    “ He was right to
do so ,” the H’kar on Gavra’s right said
irreverently, “ for it brought us into
contact with the Nexus. ”
    “ But you still
speak of him with shame, as most of us do. We did not learn, and now that we
have superior technology to the enemy we have fallen back to using flawed
strategy, myself included. I however am learning to adapt…or at the very least
learning how to read a scorecard ,” he said, bringing up another display,
this one with numerical tallies.
    “ This is the killcount for our fleets operating out of Star