Star Force: Ghostblade (SF67) by Aer-ki Jyr

when
necessary.”
    “And you’re thinking sooner is better than later?
Which is why you’re not even interested in the territorial allotments.”
    “I get the feeling that if we’re tied to any planet
we’re not safe. We’ll make use of them when necessary, but we’re not going to
stay anywhere permanently.”
    “You’ve settled on this then?”
    “We can’t all do it. It’ll leave us too weak. But I’m
nearly convinced that this is the path Clan Saber has to go down. Not my first
choice, but it has too many advantages over an enemy that typically holds all
the cards. The more I review past battle records, the more I see the
V’kit’no’sat being used to running over people through sheer tech advantage.
They find out where you live then they pick the circumstances you’re bound to because
you have a home to defend. If we become homeless they’ll have to fight in
another manner, which they don’t have a lot of experience doing.”
    “But there are some cases?”
    Paul nodded. “They’re cagey, and almost exclusively
utilize computer or mental hacks to get the information they need to track down
those who hide or run away. If you leave a trail of breadcrumbs they’ll find
and follow it, but the cases that interest me the most are those they never
succeeded in locating.”
    Paul adjusted the holograph telepathically, bringing
up a list in V’kit’no’sat script along with a galactic map. “These are
essentially bounties that were active at the time of the last update, citing
races deemed for extermination that they knew had at least partially escaped
their grasp. Those ships they’d tagged were still at large, including some
seda-like colony ships. It seems that if you run, and run hard, you have a
chance of getting away from them, and the Elarioni are living proof of that.”
    “But you eventually have to settle down somewhere,”
Jason pointed out, “and when you do you risk being discovered.”
    “Which is why you have to stay ghosts, living in the
anonymity that the galaxy is cloaked with. Always a rebel with no real
territory…at least none that you can’t live without.”
    “You’re thinking about fighting them in the here and
now, not the future?”
    “Surviving in the here and now. Other than some very
low ground conflicts we can’t stand up to their weaponry for even a short
while…but running is running, and I’d rather have the option now and not need
it than keep hoping to go unnoticed while we continue learning from the
database.”
    “Your logic is sound, I just don’t think Clan Saber is
the Clan to do it.”
    “Who then?”
    “I think we all should, piecemeal. That way a part of
us could survive even if they came back tomorrow and live to rebuild the rest
of the Clan. We need to be empires, not just fleets of roaming ships, but with
that backup plan if things come to pass not in our favor. The Sangheili will
help you develop this tech, for I think it’s worthwhile, and I’m guessing
others will as well, but if we’re going to have a Clan go all-in and convert
100% to this methodology then I think it’d be best to start from scratch with
zero population and build it up one ship at a time.”
      Paul turned and
glared at Jason. “You backstabbing bastard.”
    “Am I wrong?” he asked innocently.
    Paul squeezed his eyes shut, trying to think of a
reason to disagree. “There’s a freedom to the strategy that is very appealing,
and I want it for all of Clan Saber.”
    “Is it worth losing your industrial muscle?”
    “Depends.”
    “We have the Tether colonies to fall back to. And even
if we are invaded 10 years from now having a roaming Clan fleet of any size
isn’t going to stop the carnage from ensuing. We need a Clan to pursue this as
another page in the Star Force playbook, but Clan Saber is too important to
other pages to focus on just this one.”
    “But it’s such a cool one,” Paul protested.
    “You can’t have two Clans, buddy,” Jason said,