Star Force: Ghostblade (SF67) Read Online Free Page B

forward
without the necessary tech and gotten around the lack thereof through
innovation and by cannibalizing a good part of what would have been storage
areas for additional engine power and other ship functions.
    The Island -class
design definitely lived up to its name, and while there were only 16 in
existence this one alone had brought in its holds enough foodstuffs and
collapsed prefab buildings to set up the next expansion site on Flake by
itself. The primary site in the ocean was progressing well, but now that Sheen
was here with a much larger fleet they were going to start construction efforts
on a number of other sites across the moon. All would be resource gathering
operations while the ocean island was going to be the focal point for the
influx of population and technology to come. She knew she had to get its
factories up and running before the surge of raw materials began arriving, and
so far everything was proceeding according to the schedule she and Oni had
worked out.
    The trailblazer and several other Administrators would
be overseeing the rest of the evacuation of their facilities in Sol while the
Marquis was now here in Frost to stay. Oni had wanted her here early and she’d
agreed that the events of the coming months had to come off without a hitch
else they’d risk jeopardizing the transition. Cities couldn’t build themselves,
and without proper infrastructure there wouldn’t be room to put Clan
Snowstorm’s population when it fully arrived. As it was they were going to have
to make use of a lot of prefab settlements just to get the people off the ships
initially, with the permanent structures soaking them up as they eventually
came online.
    Oni knew this was going to be a camping trip these
first few years, and it was imperative that they hold to the evacuation
schedules that they’d negotiated with the other Clans. If they had to delay the
others wouldn’t penalize them for that, for the Clans weren’t cutthroat with
each other, but they were professional and not meeting the deadline was
something that just wouldn’t do. Each Clan had its own objectives within the
Empire and would be making schedules of its own with regards to the new
acquisitions, so if the Snowstorms couldn’t hold up to what they’d promised
they’d mess up a lot of other Clans’ plans.
    That was unacceptable, for the Clans didn’t sabotage
each other. They always wanted to outdo each other, but that was from sheer
performance. The stronger each Clan became the stronger Star Force would be
overall, so the impetus was always on improvement and success, never
destruction and hampering one another. Sheen knew this better than virtually everyone
else because she’d been running the Clan for the past 129 years. Technically
Oni was in command, but as a warrior needed she was off fighting most of the
time and only kept in contact to stay appraised of ongoing events and to
troubleshoot new endeavors going forward.
    The routine business of keeping the Clan running
smoothly was the job of a Marquis, with the administratorial position requiring
constant oversight. Having all Snowstorm possessions within a single star
system had allowed her to micromanage to a far greater extent than the Clans
that had pieces of planets across the ADZ in their possession, and it would be
no different here. The lag in communications was mere minutes compared to the
days and weeks elsewhere.
    Right now there was a split, because the Frost System
wasn’t even hooked up to the grid yet, meaning all communications had to come
through courier ship. That necessitated her presence here and other
Administrators back in Sol, for one couldn’t keep track of the other, even on
relative delay, without the communications grid link. Here was the more
important task so here Sheen had come, and the Polar Veil was making for the perfect orbital command post now that
the cargo was flowing out of its holds and numerous prefab structures were being
set up in the