Prologue - Trade Chat

(NERV Game Site – Official DAtS Offline Forums)

Number5Alive, Golddigger, BurtBacharach, CrazyCelt, M.Mollen, DoYouEvenLyft?, MarcoPolo, MightMakesRight, l44tpally, Bennie, SEA-TAC_Sweetie, Lord_Kickass, Requiesce-in-Pace, MacD, HaveGunsWillTravel, Guardian, GunKitty, Chummer, Dolcett, Inquisitor, SemiSolidSnake, ElfMama, Not_the_Face!, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, Anonymous9, AggregatorOfSorrows, WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, Dolcett, Backlog, DarkAvariel, Knocker, Hullu_Kapteeni, GrimDark, BloodForTheBloodGod, Queen’s_Bitch, BackDat@55Up, DoYouEvenDPS?, MajorTom, Parca, and DarkAngel are in the chat.

Knocker: Holy shit, have you seen the official game footage of the battle at Edena?

Backlog: Come on, it is a nice cinematic, but no way that’s real. Ten to four on superdreadnoughts and the Impies lost to some rebels?

Not_the_Face!: Dunno. Seems that the Emperor is short on flankers and screening craft.

Anonymous3: Where’d you get that from?

Not_the_Face!: I’m playing Confed navy. They’re giving advanced training and quick promotions to those who have enough faction rep. Flip side is that you get the first nod for suicide missions, since you can’t die. We’re changing the way people are thinking about war in this game.

Backlog: But what good are little screening craft against a big-ass superdreadnought?

M.Mollen: For one, they can help screen against fighters and small craft that might be able to cripple big ships while they’re focused on duking it out with other heavyweights. Even an ultrafeatherweight can take out a superheavyweight if he gets a good hit to the balls.

l44tpally: Did not need that image, thanks.

CrazyCelt: So what’s the word on this supposed superweapon that pretty much obliterated several ships right at the start of the battle?

GunKitty: KE=1/2mv².

MacD: For those of us who don’t speak math?

MajorTom: She’s talking about ballistic weapons. Railguns, then?

GunKitty: Ground Control to MajorTom, you wanna help teach this one?

MajorTom: Hah. Yeah, I’m a retired Marine in RL, so I might not know all the science, but I can sing a few bars.

M.Mollen: Where you based?

MajorTom: The Nimitz. You a Jarhead?

M.Mollen: Navy, retired on a medical. Send me a message if you’re looking for work in game. I may have need of some field expedient mayhem.

MajorTom: Well, now you’re talking my language. Let me send you a message, and we’ll see what happens.

CrazyCelt: So, railguns?

MajorTom: Right. Basically, you take a very powerful magnet, and use it to send a projectile at insane speeds. Like taking a 7lb (3.2kg) projectile and throwing it at Mach 7. That spells certain death for anything hit by it. Navy could never get it to work well enough to make it practical in atmosphere. And, well, the Star Wars program ended a long time ago.

M.Mollen: Close enough, only the weapons in question are sending a 20 kg projectile about 125x faster.

MajorTom: Mother of God.

M.Mollen: And when the first shots were fired, they were fired from ships going close to .5c, on a collision course with ships going close to .5c. So when the shots hit, they had a relative speed of damn near lightspeed.

Guardian: So, going back to the math, KE=10kg*c².

CrazyCelt: And what is the defense against something like that?

HaveGunsWillTravel: Be somewhere else.

Parca: Well, some of the heavy ships took multiple rounds and were still able to fight. Superdreadnought shields can stand up to at least two simultaneous impacts. Could probably take more if you gave them time to recover.

SemiSolidSnake: You were there, Parca?

Parca: Hell yeah I was there!

Hullu_Kapteeni: It was a good fight. My ship did good.

M.Mollen: Parca would be Ghost Leader, squadron leader of the first all-Nomad fighter squadron in the game. Hullu is the skipper of the BSS Simo Hayha, one of our Assassin-class corvettes.

Golddigger: Our?

M.Mollen: Well, the Black Star Fleet, of course.

Inquisitor: Hold up, I’ve seen the sensor logs of that battle! There were no other ships other than the Empress’s forces until the very end, when a ship looked like it warped in quiet and blasted the Bismarck out of existence.

M.Mollen: There were no other ships registering on whatever sensors you were reading, yes.

Inquisitor: Bullshit! The Cattie-Brie may be civilian, but I paid for milspec sensors!

M.Mollen: And the Black Star Fleet was designed to be invisible to military sensors. When we choose to be.

SEA-TAC Sweetie: Well, that’s impressive.

GrimDark: What are your plans moving forward?

M.Mollen: Well, the Black Star Fleet has been contracted to aid in this little civil war thing going on right now. But that is going to be more than simply taking out enemy ships.

Requiesce-in-Pace: What do you mean?

M.Mollen: You know the Usurper’s little cult he’s building? The one starting with all the key people in Sol and the Navy, and working down and out from there? Cross-reference with popular fiction for the date 12/19/2059.

Chummer: What? I know that date… Oh. Oh no.

M.Mollen: Oh yes.

Chummer: Is this confirmed?

M.Mollen: Yes, multiple sources, including info taken from a cult member spreading the word on Choson Ring.

Chummer: DREK!

GrimDark: Clue the rest of us in?

Chummer: We have a renegade AI taking over the Terran Empire.

Guardian: Even better, it may have given some of the cult members the ability to ‘respawn’, like Nomads.

DarkAngel: So even if the Emperor dies, he might not stay dead?

BloodForTheBloodGod: Do I root for chaos, and in so doing root for the Emperor, or hope for the Emperor’s downfall, and halt chaos’s work? I’m torn.

GrimDark: And the Empress is unaffected?

M.Mollen: Confirmed.

GrimDark: I need to get in touch with the others. Malleus was going to meet with a member of the cult today…

M.Mollen: If he comes back with new implants, shoot on sight. He won’t be him any more.

GrimDark: Damn it.

DarkAvariel: Is there any GOOD news?

Parca: Well, we’re fairly certain that killing off enough of the AI’s supporters quickly enough will allow us to force them out of power, and limit their ability to affect the Empire. If we find a way to kill the AI, we might be able to take it out for good, and everyone in its control with it.

M.Mollen: We just have to find the thing, first.

Previous Chapter                                            Table of Contents                                     Next Chapter

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Frozen Soul https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT
Tales of the Void Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37

Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):
Volume 1 - Tutorial https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB
Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X

Into the Black (Sci-Fi LitRPG):
Book I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL
Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y

City of Champions Online (Superhero LitRPG):
Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1

The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T

Epilogue - Patch Notes 7.X

<Inside a virtual room in NERV HQ>

Morgan shook her head as she watched the screens. “And we’re sure he isn’t cheating? It shouldn’t be that easy for superdreadnoughts to be taken out.”

Isaac sighed. “I told you four times already. No, he isn’t cheating. What he’s got is basically the naval equivalent of a special forces team. He has a small unit that strikes from stealth and causes confusion in the enemy ranks. Those tactics won’t work when he tries to use the larger classes of ships, and his ships would have been wiped out instantly in a stand-up fight.”

Morgan looked up, “Really?”

“Yeah. Speed and maneuverability only counts for so much in a slugging match. The superdreadnoughts hit harder and further. If they could see his ships, they’d have wiped him out before it ever became an issue.”

“So where does this leave the war effort?”

“Hmm. Well, the Empire still has a lot of ships out there, but his strikes on logistics bases have made moving goods from one place to another more difficult. This battle proved that the imperial forces could be beaten, despite the new cult that’s growing in their upper ranks.”

“So you could see some ships and planets switch sides to the Loyalists?”

“That’s what I’m thinking. We’ll see what happens in the next couple virtual weeks, but this means that the Empire’s civil war is going to continue longer than initial projections. Which means we won’t have to worry about a galactic war anytime soon. Even if Travis wins, his forces will need time to rebuild before they can think about starting a war, which will give the others time to prepare.”

“And what of this Deus cult?”

Isaac shrugged. “Damned if I know where that’s going. It is a plot line the AI came up with and is running at its own pace. Not sure where the idea came from, but it looks like it has given some of its followers a limited respawn ability, which may let them become more dangerous foes for players in the future. Could be how we get respawning dungeons without breaking continuity.”

“Fine. Keep an eye on it, will you? I don’t like the idea of what the PR will be like if this Deus gets out of control and starts ‘converting’ people wholesale. And we won’t have a player to blame it on, like we did with the Legion Virus, so all the blame will fall on us. What do we do if things get out of control?”

“Not much we can do unless you want to roll back things to before the cult got started, at this point. In game, we could give someone a clue to block the respawn ability, or maybe a way to take the AI out. Not sure that will be much help to those who have already joined the cult, though.”

“Well, it is better than nothing, I guess. Any news on what’s happening going forward?”

Isaac shuffled through the notes on his virtual desk. “Well, we’ve got several areas that are starting to get ‘interesting’. The Confederates are gearing up for the inevitable war, which is causing a lot of jobs to open up. Plenty of opportunities for some of the military types to get involved in the Confed navy and maybe rise up in the ranks.”

“On the other side, there’s the Ihm Imperium. Haven’t been too many players going with them, due to the dichotomy of the sexes there. The fact that all the males are big, dumb brutes and the females are smaller, weaker, and more intelligent was off-putting to some, apparently. But they’re gearing up for possible war, too. The Imperials tend to love knelfi slaves for their personal slaves, for obvious reasons, but they’ve been known to raid Ihm worlds for strong males to use as labor or gladiators.”

Morgan sighed. “So the only ones not gearing up for war are the Free Worlds Alliance?”

“Well, it is more like they’ve been having skirmishes between themselves for years, so there’s been low-level war production for a while now. If they unified, they could be ready for a war in a few months. But getting that bunch to work together is about like herding cats.”

“Or getting a car full of children to and from the mall?”

“Spoken like a parent.”

“No, an aunt. But I spent Christmas with my sister and her kids. Four of them, and the oldest is in third grade.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, ‘energetic’ doesn’t even begin to describe them. You have never seen horror until you try to keep your eye on four kids in a toy store. I honestly don’t know how Annie does it. I’d probably have gone insane by now if I was in her shoes.” Morgan sighed. It was good to vent about home drama, but it wasn’t getting them anywhere here. “So, anything we need to work on with this?”

Isaac considered. “There aren’t any structural issues that we’ve seen. But we might want to offer some kind of incentive for people to expand their horizons a little. Almost seventy-nine percent of the players are based in either the Terran Empire or the Confederacy. Another ten percent each are in the Free Worlds Alliance and the Gauz Consortium. Something to push them into Ihm space, or encourage exploration outside of Known Space, might be useful.”

“Hmm. The wars have drawn most of the attention, and the Terrans have the most humans, while the Confederates have elves and catgirls. The Consortium has crafters and merchants, and the Free Worlds has rebels. The Ihm have a caste structure and honor warriors and all that, so it could be intimidating. Perhaps an outside threat to get interest in them?”

“Now there’s a thought. We haven’t used the X’thari since hinting at them in the Beta…”

Previous Chapter                                        Table of Contents                                            Next Chapter

Be sure to read my published works!

Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):

Frozen Soul https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT

Tales of the Void Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37

Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):

Volume 1 - Tutorial https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X

Into the Black (Sci-Fi LitRPG):

Book I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL

Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y

City of Champions Online (Superhero LitRPG):

Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1

The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T

Chapter 70 - The Battle of Edena

The thing about forcing a battle to happen at sublight speeds in an area the size of an entire solar system is that you’re talking about some fairly long wait times to get into firing position. After communicating with the Loyalist’s and exchanging temporary IFF codes, we were (officially) included in the tactical network. Now, we were working on getting into position to make our first attack runs, pushing our stealth systems to the max. The likelihood of our being spotted increased when we went full out, though, because of the angles involved, we were fairly certain that we would be all right, especially with the Empress’s forces remaining closer to Edena in a battle formation. They were baiting the trap, and we needed to cause a bit of chaos.

So, what do you do when you have a weapon that you can let people just walk themselves into? Well, we let them walk it in, of course! Once the enemy formation was set, we lined up on our vectors, and launched our first round of attacks. Seven kinetic weapons (including the two from Shinokage), sent flying towards the enemy. Then we maneuvered to redirect out of the line of any return fire, dropping below the ecliptic, just as Merida’s fleet began their advance. Over the next twenty minutes, we fired twice more, on slightly different headings. Maybe nothing would come of the last two salvoes, but it was good to have the option out there.

We rotated crews to get some food and drink, and hit the head. Sounds silly to say that, but when you’re talking about battles that play out over hours, there’s a lot of time to think. We had about three hours until the enemy found our first set of ‘surprises’. Sure, it would have been longer if we’d been going slow, or were stopped, but the enemy was coming at us full on, and we were headed towards them full on, meaning that our first shots were going to be moving at near-relativistic relative speeds.

And then the lead elements of the attack force began running into our ‘gifts’. The first salvo took out four of the five corvettes and the battlecruiser that had been Shinokage’s target. Watching in the long-range scans, we saw the ships beginning to break formation, taking evasive action. The second salvo took out one of the frigates who walked into the shot, and saw three lucky hits bracket the Bismarck, overloading its shields and doing significant damage to their forward weapons. The third salvo saw two battlecruisers eat two rounds each, going the way of their fallen friends.

Now, with the enemy fleet in disarray, the first wave of Merida’s strike fighters, and bombers, who had been running on a ballistic course once they’d reached attack speed, broke and began their attack runs. Torpedoes launched from the bombers, and soon the remaining frigates were out of action, while one of the battlecruisers was dropping out of formation, leaking atmosphere. If the enemy had been able to coordinate fire control, they would have been able to work together to defeat the missile attacks, but they were out of position thanks to the kinetics.

We were within light minutes now, and began our attacks in earnest. Again, Shinokage struck, blasting another battlecruiser out of the sky with her double-barreled rail gun, while the corvettes ganged up on the wounded Bismarck. Three shots hit within a second of eachother, causing small explosions along the hull of the wounded superdreadnought, before the fourth hit a moment later, blasting the ship’s engines off the rear of the ship. The flagship of the enemy fleet was now dead in the water, and leaking atmosphere all over.

A volley of ship-killer missiles reached out from Merida’s fleet. With fleet command in shambles and all ships having to do their own fire control, the outcome became academic. Forty-five ships, firing over three hundred and fifty ship-killers, targeting seven of the superdreadnoughts with over fifty missiles each. If the ships had been in formation, with linked fire control, and the proper escorts to help keep the missiles at bay, it would have been different.

Maxwell’s Hammer gleamed silver in the starlight as the superdreadnought used its main weapons to help clear the space in front of it of missiles, supporting the countermissile launches in a show of quick thinking by their crew. Between that and their missiles, they managed to cut fifty down to thirteen. Thirteen became four when point defense had their say, and while four was no walk in the park, the Maxwell survived it. She was beat up plenty, but the superdreadnought was still in the fight.

The other targets of that volley were not so lucky. Four were destroyed outright, unable to even respond to their attackers. Blaze of Glory lived up to her name, somehow managing to take ten missile hits and still manage to launch a salvo of ship-killers of their own before an eleventh missile that had been launched slightly behind the others slammed into it amidships, and caused the reactor to blow, scattering the Glory into its component molecules.

Nearby, the Alamo ensured that she would not be remembered as a winner in this battle, but that her crew might live to see another one. Wracked by explosions, across the ship, the battered superdreadnought’s controls were clearly shot, as it was slowly spiraling out of control heading above the ecliptic, bleeding atmosphere at a prodigious rate. There were already life pods and shuttles launching from the hulk.

And then the two fleets were coming together, missiles, torpedoes, and beam weapons firing back and forth as the smaller, nimbler ships of Merida’s fleet danced around the battlecruisers, while her superdreadnoughts took on the enemy capitol ships with four to three (maybe two and a half) odds. Little points of light could be seen moving quickly around the two fleets, as the fighters tried to do their best to aid their respective fleets.

Behind the enemy fleet, an impact shattered Bismarck’s recently reestablished shields, before the ion cannons on Shinokage, Simo Haya, Wisteria, and Shadowdancer began blasting away at the ship, attempting to disable it for capture. Meanwhile, Artemis supported Vicious Return and Ghost Squadron as they launched their assault on the enemy carrier, Radiant Dawn. The single reserve squadron posted for close defense of the carrier was no match for the stealth fighters of Ghost Squadron. All but three were dead before they even knew what hit them, and the last three only had enough warning to eject instead of dying in their fighters.

Radiant Dawn was never equipped to do more than hold off an enemy long enough to get to FTL without her fighter squadrons. Her shields and armor were good, but all she had for armament was point defense weapons. With Ghost Squadron and Artemis pounding away with the ion cannons, it didn’t take long before the ship was disabled.

“Sir, transmission from the Bismarck, all channels. We have video.”

“Let me see it.”

The transmission came up on the screen in front of me, and I had to stifle a groan. There was Admiral Scheiner, and wouldn’t you know it, but the man had nice blue eye implants. “This is Admiral Scheiner, servant to the True Emperor Travis Vaughn. Glory to Deus, for his will is in all things. May Holy Terra never fall to rebels and traitors like the False Fleet! All ships under my command, you are ordered to fight to the last! Anyone who suggests surrender is to be shot immediately by the nearest loyal servant of the Emperor! Not one ship shall fall into the hands of these traitors!”

Right, I started tuning out this guy, to start looking at the tactical map. The fight was going well, from what I could see. The Usurper fleet was down to only five ships still in the fight. The superdreadnoughts St. George and Invictus were battered, but holding their own against the Loyalist’s forces, and the battlecruisers Crazy Horse and Mephistopheles were on their last legs, getting pounded from every side. Maxwell’s Hammer had finally silenced her guns, and was clearly disabled this time. And somehow, the corvette Jubilee had made it through the fight virtually untouched so far.

It wasn’t a bloodless fight for the Loyalist side, however. Blessed Redeemer was the only superdreadnought out of action, though she might just be disabled. Five frigates and seven corvettes had fallen to the guns of the larger Usurper ships, and the fighter squadrons were looking equally savaged at this point.

The battle was as good as over, unless someone called the freighter and got them to drop the jamming field so people could go into hyperspace. Since that hadn’t happened, I had no doubt there was another zealot on board that ship, if it was manned at all. The Usurpers were regrouping around the two superdreadnoughts, gearing up for a last stand.

“Enough of this.” I hit the commlink. “Captain Inatumal, would you so kindly place a double shot from the Shinokage’s main gun directly amidships that bastard? Bonus points for taking out his reactor. Then decloak and put me on to all warships in the area.”

“It will be done, Master.”

I changed the settings, and gave new commands, “Captain Stormdelver, give Jiex my complements, and between the two of you persuade the commander of the Radiant Dawn to surrender. Ghost Leader, that freighter is beyond annoying at this point. Would you be so kind as to remove it from my sky?”

“Wilco, Master.”

“You got it, Boss.”

By this point, Shinokage had launched once again, and it was with grim satisfaction that I saw the Bismarck get hit directly amidships, and then a second later get blown into two halves, as the core blew the ship apart, the remaining sections rapidly losing air.

“Good work, Captain. Have all tactical teams begin sweeping the wreckage of the Bismarck for survivors. They can surrender and be a slave, or resist and die. If the Admiral is still alive, stun him and chain him. He’ll be a gift to the Empress.”

“Understood. Channel open to both fleets.”

“This is Commodore Mollen of the Black Star Fleet. You may notice that the Admiral has stopped running off at the mouth now. To all ships from the fleet formerly commanded by Admiral Scheiner, you are ordered to surrender or be destroyed. Cut your shields and weapons, and power down your engines, or I’ll do the same to you as I did to half your fleet. If your pride does not allow you to surrender your warships to a Privateer, then I suggest you start being really talkative with Empress Merida’s forces, as they are the only warships I’m not about to wipe out of the sky. You have until I decide you’re too stupid to live to decide.”

“Commodore Mollen out.”

Raven looked at me like she was trying very hard not to break out into laughter. “Well, you certainly have a way with words, Captain. Trying to drive them into Merida’s camp?”

“Something like that. I’m taking the carrier, and any surviving crew off the Bismarck, but those wounded superdreadnoughts especially could be a big boost to Merida’s effort against Travis. And there’s a possibility that more ships will try and join her now that she’s shown she can beat an enemy that outguns her… on paper. Most people won’t look at anything except ten superdreadnoughts to four, and an overwhelming superiority in the number of heavy ships. This will look like a miracle win for her, especially if they keep us out of it.”

Raven looked to one of the screens. “We’re getting communications from the Alamo and the Jubilee. They wish to surrender to us, instead of the Empress.”

“Accept their surrender. We’ve been needing more guards for the home fleet, and I want to see what our mad scientists can do when they’re refitting a superdreadnought.”

Previous Chapter                                      Table of Contents                                        Next Chapter

Be sure to read my published works!

Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):

Frozen Soul https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT

Tales of the Void Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37

Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):

Volume 1 - Tutorial https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X

Into the Black (Sci-Fi LitRPG):

Book I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL

Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y

City of Champions Online (Superhero LitRPG):

Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1

The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T

Chapter 69 - Death's Shadow

Two days after we’d arrived at Edena, I got the message that I’d been hoping for. The Shinokage was finished, and had performed well in her initial trials. Now it was time for my flagship to come and be blooded, as my other ships had been.

Plus, the Imperials could use some practice against a target that was at least a little less stealthy than we were. See, we had spent the last two days in practice drills, with the Black Star ships maneuvering, and seeing how close they could get to the Imperial ships without being detected. The answer was far too close for the Imperial captains’ comfort, especially with our fighters.

The Mk II Raptor Stealth Fighters that comprised Ghost Squadron were designed and built by some crazy geniuses we had picked up from Jagloth’s debt slaves, and were made with the same composite hull as the rest of the Black Star fleet, with the same paint job. They had a cloaking device, but size and power constraints meant it only lasted about fifteen minutes at a time, and had a similar recharge time. However, because of how small the ship was, unless you got a flash of the thrusters or engines, then even in ‘normal’ stealth, you would be hard pressed to detect them. The cloak just let them break contact if they needed to, or slip in just close enough to do something truly horrible.

The list of horrible things that could happen was read, quite exhaustively, to me when the captain of the Rage of Shiva called to ‘congratulate’ me in the most forceful tones he could manage when Ghost Leader, Logan Chavez (callsign Parca), managed to park his Raptor on the hull, somehow managing to get through the superdreadnought’s shields, and spacewalked to the airlock before knocking on the outer door, asking if anyone had ordered pizza. Captain Masters may have been steamed, but Parca drank for free that night when he wound up in the bar the local flyboys frequented.

I also had no less than fifty fighter pilots messaging me to see where they could get a Raptor of their own.

Five days after I’d heard from Shinokage, I was pleased to introduce my newest baby to the Empress, who consented to take a tour along with one of her engineering crew and her security chief from Triumphant. As ordered, Captain Inatumal gave the Empress the full honors for ‘visiting foreign head of state’. Now the Captain and her sister joined us in giving a tour of the light cruiser.

The Empress’s chief engineer nodded slightly as we moved through the ship. “I must say, Captain Mollen, you’ve done an impressive job with this ship. By tonnage, she’s a light cruiser, but if the sensor readings we were able to get of her are any indication at all, she’s armed to beat a heavy cruiser, isn’t she?”

I shrugged, and said, “Yes and no. The Shinokage was designed with stealth in mind. The composite we used in the hull and bulkheads is incredibly strong and light, and sheds heat pretty well, but doesn’t have the stopping power of the sheer mass a heavy cruiser or larger warship will have. There’s always a tradeoff between stealth, acceleration, and defense. Anything that is stealthy and fast is not going to be able to have good armor, or physics throws one hell of a hissy fit.”

Captain Inatumal nodded. “With respect, sir, the Shinokage is an ambush predator at heart. We establish shock and awe in the first few moments, and preferably kill or disable the enemy in that time, or we start having increasing difficulties. All things being evil, we can outrun anything bigger than us, and we can outgun the lighter craft, though we’re ill suited for a slugging match between ourselves and heavy cruiser, for instance.”

I looked over to the Inatumal twins, and said, “Now that you’re here, we can see about getting more raiding in. The guns on your ship will make it possible for us to take on more important targets. We may even make another run at Sol, if things work out like I hope.”

The Empress chuckled, and said, “If the Empire had more officers like you and your crews, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Where did you find so many competent people? My sister tells me it was just you and the Raven when the coup started?”

“It was. And I found most of them in the slave markets. The Empire especially wastes a lot of potential talent by saying that any nonhuman in Imperial space is to be automatically enslaved. Much of my recent staff has come from the disaster at Jagloth, where they lost everything to the Legion Virus. It turns out that by actually giving a damn about the wellbeing of my slaves, and not treating them like crap, I can inspire some loyalty, especially when they see what most slaves have to deal with.”

I paused, thinking about whether I wanted to continue, and then said, “If you want to keep this from happening again, I’d say that, with respect, you need to do some major pruning in the upper levels of your military and aristocracy. Anyone in the Usurper’s new cult is going to have to be purged with prejudice. The analysis of the implants we discovered, combined with what my source found about the cult, suggests that some new power has taken control of the Empire.”

The Empress frowned at that. “So we have more to worry about than my idiot brother making a self-serving religion? That he is the head of?”

“I’m afraid so. You know how you can tell members of the cult because they have, certain tattoos and implants, yes? Some of those implants tie directly into the brain, like the ocular implants. The science of it is beyond me, but they are basically stage one of some heavy brainwashing, and it gets worse as the people are ‘initiated’ into the ranks. From what Raven can tell, anyone with three bands or higher has a direct link to the AI whenever they’re in range of an FTL comm. Worse, anyone with five bands or more has a special implant that is supposed to allow them to be ‘saved’ in the event of death and ‘downloaded’ into a new body, essentially copying how Nomads return from death, though in a far nastier way.”

The Imperials look equal parts shocked and outraged at this, but finally the Empress said, “So, my brother sold his soul for Immortality, then?”

“No, he sold that sodden dishrag long ago to the nobles and war hawks in the admiralty for the promise of power. But when someone has no goal but power, they always want more. According to what I’ve heard over the Nomad communication networks, the Usurper went to the surface of Venus after the coup, and it was only after that trip that the cult business began.”

“Venus? What is on Venus except some ruined colonies?”

“A sentient AI that used to be used for tracking hackers and activists. No doubt he wanted it for the war, but the AI offered him bait he couldn’t refuse.”

“Immortality.”

“Indeed. And the fool probably never even stopped to consider that if someone is offering you a deal that is too good to be true, it probably is. If you can’t see the problem with the deal, you aren’t looking hard enough. By now, your brother is as much a slave as any Stepford, though without the collar to warn people what has happened.”

“Can he be saved? I want him sane, and able to die for good when I try and execute him for his treason.”

“I’m sorry, Empress. There’s no way to know for sure, but I would not count on it.”

“Damn it! Just like that bastard to deny me even that! When I—” Alarms began blaring, cutting off what the Empress was about to say. Looking over to Captain Inatumal, I saw her already speaking into her comm. This wasn’t going to be good.

“Master, Imperial warships have entered the system by transition. We’re counting twenty-seven transition events!”

“Sound battle stations across the fleet. You’ll fight the ship, I’ll take the flag deck. Go, I’ll be along presently.” The captain bowed curtly to the Empress, and then turned, heading off towards the bridge, firing off orders into her commlink as she did so. I turned back to the Empress, and said, “Empress, Nimue will show you to your shuttle. I believe Triumphant will be wanting you aboard.”

“Very well. What are your plans for the battle, Captain?”

“That will depend entirely on the disposition of enemy forces, Empress. I’m not keen on letting a mad AI with dreams of godhood get control of the Terran Empire. That outcome is entirely unhealthy for my business interests, and most definitely not in my personal interests. But how much the Black Star fleet can actually do to support you? We’ll see. At the very least, we’ll bloody their noses for you.”

The Empress nodded, back in her role as a military leader. “Very well. May fortune favor us this day.”

“Fortune favors the bold, Captain. And who can be so bold as an Empress walking the deck of a warship in battle, or a rogue staring into the teeth of a superior foe and not flinching? We’ll teach them a lesson or two, I assure you.”

The Empress and her staff turned, and began jogging (one did not run on a warship except in the most dire emergencies) towards the shuttle bay, so she could get back to her ship. I, on the other hand, went to the flag bridge, where Raven was already manipulating the controls on the display screens to give me a tactical overview of the situation.

That tactical overview could be summed up in a simple sentence: We were fucked. Twenty-seven Imperial warships were in the system. The sensor data, courtesy of the long-range probes the Loyalists had put out as an early warning system, began identifying the ships. I’m sure the Navy didn’t know about Raven getting the probe feeds, but I saw no reason to enlighten them before the battle. This looked like the same squadron that had attacked Askao VII. The Bismarck was identified as being in the center of the formation, but it seemed that somewhere along the line, Admiral Scheiner had picked up two battlecruisers, three frigates, five corvettes, a carrier, and what looked like a heavy freighter.

Questions about why someone would bring a freighter to a war zone were answered immediately when an extremely high-power energy spike was registered coming from the freighter. Raven looked over at me, and said, “Captain, I’ve never seen anything like this before. It is like a tar pit trap on steroids. They’ve nullified all hyperspace traffic in this system. No one will be able to launch suicide strikes like they did at Askao, but the fleet can’t close immediately into range to crush the Empress’s forces.”

Damn, it was bad enough that this Scheiner was an evil bastard for blowing up civilians on purpose, but the fact that he was clever enough to figure out a countermeasure before the trick could be used against him a second time? I hated intelligent enemies! “Well, that simplifies things. It is either win or die. I want all captains on screen now. We have a battle to plan.”

All the captains logged onto the tacnet, and I looked at their images on the screen. “By now you all should have seen the situation. Twenty-seven enemy ships, ten of them superdreadnoughts. The Loyalists have forty-five ships, mostly frigates and corvettes, a single carrier with five fighter squadrons, and only four superdreadnoughts. And here we are with six ships ready to cause havoc and mayhem, and a squadron of our own to help fend off the enemy.

“That’s the situation. Now, let’s work the solution.”

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Book I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL

Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y

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Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1

The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T

Chapter 68 - Family Reunion

(INS Triumphant, in orbit of Edena VI, Provisional Capitol of Loyalist Faction of Terran Empire)

Empress Merida Vaughn, rightful Empress of the Terran Empire, was pacing back and forth across the deck of her flagship, the Triumphant. One of only four superdreadnoughts that followed her when the traitors that had been colluding with that bastard Travis had started turning on the Senate and the loyal members of the fleet. Somehow, they’d been able to escape out here to the rim, where they controlled a majority of the food production in the Empire. If they had been able to get Katcheka, that would have been even better, but the pursuit had been too hard and fast for her to risk the otherwise lightly defended system.

Unlike the brat, Travis, Merida was not simply a Princess. She had never been expected to take the throne, after all, so when she had applied for the Naval academy, her father supported her decision, though he made it quite clear that she could not expect him to use his influence to help her. Which was exactly what she wanted. She made it on her own, and had eventually risen to stand as Captain of the Triumphant, her ship.

When Travis’s assassins had attacked, a Nomad had helped her escape to the Senate building. That Nomad had joined her in the escape from Sol, and had been with the fleet ever since, as her retainer. It was the news that this retainer brought that troubled her so much. “And you’re sure of this, Lucio? I know you Nomads have methods of exchanging information that aren’t available to the rest of us, but my sister hasn’t been in contact in over a year now.” Indeed, other than that one communication they’d had just after the initial attacks, Merida hadn’t had any contact with her little sister, and only the assurances of Lucio and his contacts that she was still alive and free.

Lucio, an Italian man who, he said, was a fashion designer in the ‘other world’ where Nomads came from, smiled, and nodded to her. “Yes, my Empress. The Nomad she is with has earned himself something of a reputation in the Nomad community, you know, and so his activities are being watched. She is alive, and free, though I fear she may have fallen for the man. Well, I can certainly see why, if you’ve seen the pictures of him. Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a rugged thing like that to be my model, and not one of those skinny waifs the agencies always try to use!”

Merida sighed. She was used to Lucio’s eccentricities by now. Not only had he saved her life when Travis’s men tried to kill her, but he was most certainly ‘safe’ to be around her in private like this, as far as her virtue was concerned, since he would probably prefer Travis’s bed to her own, if her brother weren’t such a twisted shit. She just hoped that Sheila hadn’t been forced to reduce herself to using her charms to buy her way across the galaxy.

Now, that Nomad who had rescued her sister from her own brush with Travis’s assassins had apparently been contacted by the Confederation government, of all things, to smuggle their ambassador out of Sol before her idiot brother thought to start a war. She had always privately enjoyed the discomfiture of the nobles when they had to respect the nonhuman delegates, since diplomatic immunity meant they couldn’t be enslaved for having the temerity to be nonhumans in Imperial space.

THAT would be a law she would change, once the civil war was over. Her father could never afford the political capitol necessary to reverse that law, with the nobles being as they were. But the highest nobles had either sided with Travis or remained silent. Should she win the war, there would be a lot of families that would be seeing new heads as the old ones were executed as traitors. That would keep them in line, for a while.

Anyways, Sheila would be here soon, with the mysterious nomad who had helped her. She didn’t know how it had happened, but it seemed they had arrived at Katcheka at about the same time as Captain Ivanova’s raiders had gotten there to try and sow confusion behind the enemy lines. According to Captain Ivanova, these ships were the ones who had been ravaging shipping behind the Usurper’s lines, and not the half-dozen terrorist or other groups that had been publicly blamed for the stealth attacks.

That was almost a week ago. Unfortunately, the ships weren’t equipped with transition drives. She understood the reasoning, of course. Transition drives were expensive, and the very antithesis of stealthy in some ways. Sure, you could move instantly a great distance, but the drive kicked out a burst of tachyons that was the equivalent of a signal flare to anyone who was capable of looking for it, which meant anyone with an in-system FTL comm. The radius of the flare was roughly equivalent to a quarter of the distance of the actual jump. That meant any group that transitioned anywhere near a system was basically announcing their presence.

So now she was on the Triumphant, watching the sensors as Agamemnon entered the system with her escort and the Nomad’s ships, dropping from hyperspace. The two heavy cruisers were easy to spot, and she saw the captured Chikada and Tomthumb, as well as a couple military transports. But where were the stealth ships Ivanova had mentioned in her report? Her thoughts got cut off as she saw six ships suddenly appear on sensors as they dropped stealth. Those ships were only one and a half million kilometers from her! If even just the corvettes were armed with the kinetic weapons that had been witnessed at Katcheka, they could have killed her before she was even aware of the danger. Five light seconds was basically knife range in terms of space combat.

Merida caught her breath, straightened her uniform, which she insisted on wearing until she returned to Sol, and then said, “Send my compliments to Captains Ivanova and Reynolds, and get them to transmit all logs of the battle. Compare with our own logs. I want to know everything we can about those new ships. Allow the… Starlight Raven to dock at airlock three port side.” She paused, and then used her ‘royal’ voice, “And inform the Ambassador that he and his family are welcome to dine with us tonight, though we understand if they must press on to the Gate at Macross. Convey to them our pleasure that they were able to escape before our brother did something stupid that would draw our peoples into needless conflict.” Like enslaving the ambassador’s wife. THAT would have been a mistake of epic proportions.

The Ambassador responded quickly saying that while he thanked me for my hospitality, and would return soon, that he had to get back to Confederation space in order to confer with his government. Well, that was only sensible. The planetary FTL comms wouldn’t be completely secure outside your own territory, which is why diplomatic vessels existed. Any truly sensitive data was delivered by courier. Unless it was of immediate importance.

She watched the screens as one of the corvettes launched an assault shuttle heading for the civilian station in orbit of Edena VI. For the time being, I studied the scans we were getting of these new ships. Only the shuttles seemed close to a standard design, looking like a modified version of an Imperial assault shuttle, one of the older models. The corvettes were all wicked-looking things, but the design was alien to her. The freighter (and it did appear to be a light freighter) that pulled up to the airlock was clearly a smuggler, and as armed as a freighter could be without being simply rebuilt from the keel up as a warship.

She had the ensign at the airlock guide the three people who left the freighter to her ready room, where she was waiting with Lucio. She might be Empress of the Loyalist faction, but she was still Captain of the Triumphant. When the three entered, she watched them closely. One was a drone, clearly one of the more realistic versions, but she’d busted a lieutenant running a brothel using one of those aboard ship three years ago. The other was a man who held himself with confidence, dressed all in black like he was about to go on an operation. Or maybe he just liked the color?

The third, however, brought a smile to Merida’s lips as she opened her arms, and her sister embraced her. Sheila was seven years younger than she was, and they had always been fairly close, or fighting in that way siblings did. “Well, Sheila. I am happy to see that you still live. I was starting to think you were avoiding me.”

Sheila laughed, and said, “Well, after we talked, I tried to get to Alpha Centauri, and get help. Unfortunately, Admiral Nimitz was more loyal to the position of Emperor than the Emperor himself, and we had to leave quickly to keep from being caught. I’m sure you saw the news.”

“Yes, I did.” Merida looked over at the man in black. “And would this be the Nomad who rescued you?”

Sheila nodded, and said, formally, “Empress Merida Vaughn, I present to you Mirikon Mollen, Captain of the Starlight Raven and the owner of the Black Star Company. The ships we arrived on belong to him. And with him is the sentient AI known as Raven.”

THAT nugget got Merida’s attention, and she looked quickly to Lucio, who nodded slightly. He’d heard this much, at least. “Captain Mollen, I have heard quite a bit about you from my friend, Lucio De Lici. Like you, he is a Nomad, and he saved me from the assassins that fateful day almost a year ago. Now he serves as my retainer, since there is no way the Navy would accept him having a rank commensurate with his ability without moving through the ranks.”

<Mirikon POV>

I nodded to Lucio, and then turned back to Merida. “Thank you, Empress. I am sorry that we did not arrange this meeting sooner, but in the early days there was no knowledge of where you would end up making your stand, and flying across enemy lines to hope to find you seemed like a foolhardy task, especially if anyone managed to track us. The Raven was not quite so quiet in those days.”

“I was going to ask how you came across a fleet like this. If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would have sworn the sensors were malfunctioning when you dropped your cloak just five light-seconds from my ship.”

I chuckled at Merida’s question, and said, “Ah, I got them one at a time. I ‘acquired’ the Raven on Luna as I was making my own escape from Imperial forces due to a disagreement about whether I would remain in one of their illegal medical testing facilities, and happened to run into the Princess on my way out. Jagloth was the real kicker. Shadowdancer was in the yards, almost finished when her owner went and got inducted into the Legion. I bought it cheap, and was pleased to find that there was a bit of unusual tech in her. When I got to Dimiya, a few things happened, I’m no longer allowed to gamble at the Grand Arena, and I own my own shipyard, so we began building and crewing with a bunch of cheap labor that had gone into debt because Jagloth threw a whole lot of plans in the drekker.”

“And this trip now?”

“Ah, well, a couple intel types from the Confederate Military wanted to meet me, and gave me a well-paying job to get their Ambassador out of Sol. They also gave me Letters of Marque, allowing me to play privateer with Imperial shipping in the Usurper areas.”

“Then why have you been perpetuating this façade of different terrorist groups doing the strikes?”

“Two reasons, Empress. First, because once someone figures out who’s hitting the Empire? They’re going to be pissed. And while I’ve got defenses in place, and the Confeds have given me a bit more cover, I’m not wanting to focus too much attention on my base for now. Even if they figure out that the various names I’ve given are fake, the Usurper’s people would still have to find out who I actually am, before they can move against me. So delaying that as long as possible is one reason.”

“And the other?”

“Because it is just plain fun.”

Previous Chapter                                      Table of Contents                                         Next Chapter

Be sure to read my published works!

Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):

Frozen Soul https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT

Tales of the Void Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37

Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):

Volume 1 - Tutorial https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X

Into the Black (Sci-Fi LitRPG):

Book I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL

Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y

City of Champions Online (Superhero LitRPG):

Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1

The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T

Chapter 67 - Loyalists

The Katcheka system was an agricultural resource node. Two planets in the ‘goldilocks zone’, K3 and K4, were basically perfect for agriculture, but were very short on metals or other such materials near enough to the surface for industrial use. The large oceans, however, made cement a preferred building material. That’s where pretty much everyone in the system lived, working massive farms that helped feed the Empire.

There were two rocky planets closely orbiting the star, but they were uninhabitable, and were useless in terms of heavy industry. One was comprised mostly of molten lead, while the other was basically an irradiated diamond. Even if one could ‘harvest’ parts of the diamond, it would be decades before you could put them in the same room as anyone you didn’t want to have a slow and painful death. I wasn’t sure how, but somehow it seemed there was a radioactive core to K2, supporting theories that it was actually the remains of some kind of Lost Tech.

The rest of the system comprised of a couple gas giants, which allowed for ships to get fuel easily enough. There was a surprising lack of debris in the system. No asteroid belts, no rings on the gas giants, no lurkers in trojan or LaGrange points. Hell, there were barely any moons in the system. Either this system had been mined out before it was ever discovered, or it had the least ‘mess’ of any system I’d ever seen. Leading theory said that K2 was actually an artificial planet, made in part with the remains of all the leftover debris from the system’s formation.

In other words, it was useless except as a breadbasket system.

Of course, breadbasket systems were almost as important when a war was on as major industrial nodes. Not only for the military, who generally enjoyed eating, but for the civilian side. You start having major shortages and forcing civilians to make do with emergency rations and you quickly find yourself with a morale problem of epic proportions. Sure, soldiers don’t like e-rats, but they can put up with them. That’s part of the gig, and they know it. Try telling a civilian that they can’t have their coffee because supplies have been interdicted and see how quickly they start revolting.

Coincidentally, K4 was the Empire’s largest supplier of coffee, period. Something about the soil gave the local coffee a taste that pretty much everyone liked. If something happened to the coffee supply, well, Bad Things™ would start happening in the Empire in short order. Impressive, since K4 only had maybe a hundred thousand people on the entire planet, mostly scattered out to all the farms, though there were four main cities which were used as distribution nodes, leading up to the space station in orbit.

Coffee, naturally, was one of those necessary goods that had a low profit margin usually, when compared to industrial goods, and the system was fairly safe from pirates because of that. There were simply better targets elsewhere, in richer systems where valuable items were made or precious metals were mined. A lone station orbited K4, the only one in the system, and it typically played host to the single Navy corvette (the INS Tomthumb) that was usually present mostly as a Revenue agent.

Now, however, Katcheka was just behind the front lines, making a tempting target for raiders. So the system had been hurriedly reinforced with the frigate Chikada and the light carrier Palladia, carrying three squadrons of fighters. The Emperor’s lack of screening vessels was showing itself again, but the fighters would make this a challenge for prospective raiders. They were running the crews with one squadron out on patrol at all times. Probably had the second on standby and the last getting rack time. Taking out the ships before they could use the station’s FTL coms to call for help from the front would be rough, especially with Imperial warships being transition capable. They could have company within minutes of an alarm being raised if they did in-system hyperspace runs to get to the heliopause, transitioned, and then went to hyperspace to close for the fight.

On board the INS Agamemnon, one of Her Majesty Empress Merida’s heavy cruisers, Captain Ivanova leaned over the tactical readouts, which were valiantly displaying the readings from the stealth probes she had launched. The readouts were impervious to her scowl as she stood there, trying to figure a way that she and Captain Reynolds on the Peaceful Valley could successfully raid this system without losing their ships. Oh, the forces in system weren’t an issue. The problem the reinforcements that were under half an hour away.

If they took out the station first, then the chance of an FTL comm making it out of the system in time to warn the Usurpers was small. But getting close enough for the two heavy cruisers to issue the broadsides needed to destroy the station without being seen was going to be all but impossible. Heavy cruisers might have some stealth ability, but they were by no means slippery enough to work miracles like that. At best, their ECM could fool sensors into thinking they were a pair of freighters, right up until the light bouncing from their hulls caught up to whoever was looking their way. Successfully destroying the Usurper forces in the system would be difficult enough without the secondary objective of seizing or destroying the freighters in orbit.

So the surprise was, indeed, total and complete when all of a sudden, long range sensors indicated that both the station and the carrier had suffered from simultaneous kinetic strikes. The station was gutted, starting from the ‘top’ of the station where the sensors and FTL comms were located, and leading up to what must have been a hellacious explosion on the first truly hardened deck several levels below it, essentially decapitating the station. The carrier, on the other hand, was simply GONE. Ivanova rolled back the readings, and cursed as she saw the carrier get ripped apart by secondary explosions. At least the station had enough of it still intact that there would be survivors. Those aboard the carrier were not so lucky.

“REPORT! Where the hell did those kinetics come from?”

“Captain, unknown at this time! Computer analysis of the impacts suggests similar weapons to what intelligence says were used at Earth to destroy Fleet Base 1 and cripple the Usurper’s flagship.”

“Do we have a bearing?”

“Working… yes, Captain, we have approximate bearings for the shots, but there is nothing out there! We have nothing on sensors, and visual scanning shows nothing in the area. We did detect a several spikes in the background EM field momentarily on that bearing before the impacts. Results inconclusive.”

Ivanova shook her head. Those were the enemy over there, but they were still Navy. They may have been acting out of misguided loyalty to the Usurper, but they didn’t deserve a death like that, without even being able to put up a fight. But she had a mission, and that mission just got one helluvalot easier. “Contact the Peaceful Valley, bring us in on an attack run, they have no FTL comms now, so help will be delayed.”

“Ma’am! The Chikada and the Tomthumb are breaking orbit. They’re spotted us, and they look all kinds of pissed.”

“I don’t much blame them. Enemy fighters?”

“On attack vector. Expect contact in zero six minutes.”

“Captain! New target uncloaking! Five thousand kilometers astern of the Chikada! They’re opening fire!”

“What ship? Do we have anything else out here? I swear if those intel weenies risked my ship and my operation by not telling us what was going on…!”

“Negative, captain. No messages in cue about allied stealth ships.”

“Captain! Enemy fighters have been engaged by a squadron of stealth fighters! Chikada has taken heavy damage to shields, Tomthumb moving to assist.”

“Get us in there! Launch missiles once we’re within range. Classify the unknown as friendly, for now. If they want to kill Usurpers, they’re more than welcome to it. But you watch them, I want to know the moment they so much as twitch in our direction.”

“Detecting weapons fire from cloaked vessels! Three, maybe four vessels not appearing on our scanners, Captain. Enemy fighter squadron has only three surviving birds. One unknown fighter damaged, but intact, looks like it is returning to base. Wait one. The Tomthumb’s shields are down! Change in weapons fire. Two stealthed ships now using ion cannons on the Tomthumb. Chikada’s shields are down, all unknowns now firing ion cannons. Enemy ships are disabled.”

Ivanova let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. Whoever these people are, there was no doubt that they were professionals. But professional what? Mercenaries? Pirates? She was watching the way the unknown fighters moved, and the pilots clearly had military training. How the hell did something like this get financed?

“Captain, detecting assault shuttles breaking from stealth, five ships total, heading towards the enemy ships.”

“We have a transmission in the clear from the unstealthed unknown. Appears to be directed to the enemy ships. Voice only.”

“Pipe it through, I want to hear this.”

“This is Captain Hoffa of the Interstellar Brotherhood of Teamsters ship Ceasar’s Palace. This system is guilty of using non-union workers at all distribution centers and port facilities, and they will be brought into compliance with union regulations by force. Your ships and crews will be seized pursuant to that end. Surrender, and you will live. Resist, and you’ll live with a Stepford Defiance collar. Hurt any of my people when they board to take control of your ships, and I swear to all the gods that ever were, you will beg for the sweet release of death, and it will never come. And yes, I see that message drone you just sent off. Very clever throwing it out the docking port manually. And now it is destroyed. Are you going to stop dicking around, or am I going to have to disable your life support for a couple hours before I come over there and beat some sense into you?”

The bridge crew on the Agamemnon looked as stunned as Ivanova was. Just what in the hell had they stepped in here? Since when did labor unions exist in Imperial space, much less have weapons like this?

“C-captain, unknown ship is sending another transmission, encrypted tightbeam to us and the Peaceful Valley. Includes video.”

“On screen.”

A man in what looked like black tactical armor under a black coat appeared on the screen in front of her. The screen split to show Captain Reynolds as well. He looked like a mercenary captain more than a pirate, at least.

“This is Commodore Mollen of the Black Star Fleet, Captain of the Starlight Raven. Who might I be addressing?”

Captain Reynolds looked at the screen and nodded slightly, knowing that she’d see it. She was in nominal command of this mission as the senior captain, so she’d handle the talks. “I am Captain Susan Ivanova of the Imperial Navy Ship Agamemnon, loyal to the true Empress Merida. Not to put too fine a point on it, Commodore, but what might you be doing out here, and what was this I heard about the ‘Interstellar Brotherhood of Teamsters’?”

The face on the screen laughed. “Hah. I figured you’d be listening in. And so would any Imperial spies down on the planet below. I’m not giving away more information than what I already have on a clear channel. That’s an excellent way to have someone send assassins after you.”

Ivanova revised her appraisal of this Mollen character upwards. He was brash and bold, but didn’t let his ego get in the way of an operation. And, apparently, he liked to spout bullshit from the position of having a gun to the other side’s head. Made the other side wary of disbelieving him, at least. And he clearly had some idea of the way things really worked.

“Very well, what is it you wanted to discuss?”

“Well, I assume you’re in this system to raid the storage and distribution nodes for food and coffee being shipped off K3 and K4, and put the hurt on the Usurper forces and civilians?”

Seeing as there was no other reason for them to be there, Ivanova nodded. “That is our mission.”

“Excellent. Then when you’re through, perhaps you could escort my ships into Loyalist space? I’ve got the Confederation Ambassador and his family and staff aboard one of my ships. I also have someone who would really like to say hello to your Empress, if she can get the chance.”

The captain motioned for someone off-screen, and they joined him in the frame, wearing similar tactical gear, but when she removed her helmet, Ivanova gasped in surprise. It was Princess Sheila! No one had heard anything about her whereabouts other than a rumor that she’d joined a Nomad pirate captain.

Mastering herself, Ivanova nodded, and said, “I believe we can arrange safe passage into Loyalist space, yes.”

“Excellent! I’ll let your people get to work, then, just leave the northern warehouses alone for a bit? No sense in all that coffee going to waste if I have room in the hold to keep my people happy.”

Ivanova sighed as the connection cut out. OK, maybe the pirate part was true.

Previous Chapter                                       Table of Contents                                           Next Chapter

Be sure to read my published works!

Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):

Frozen Soul https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT

Tales of the Void Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37

Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):

Volume 1 - Tutorial https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X

Into the Black (Sci-Fi LitRPG):

Book I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL

Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y

City of Champions Online (Superhero LitRPG):

Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1

The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T

Chapter 66 - Interlude

“Yes, Ambassador Nacht. Don’t worry, we’ll get you to Loyalist space just fine. But my job is to cut Imperial supply lines along the way.”

“Hitting logistics hubs like the one at Barnard’s Star and the two military transports we’ve taken will seriously curtail shipping for this whole sector, forcing the Imperials to shift some of their focus away from the front.”

“Well, ideally, we’ll convince them to start forming convoys, stripping defenses to keep their supply lines intact. They’re already short on escort vessels, from what I understand.”

“Yes, I enslaved the crews of the two transports, and disabled tackers. They’ll now serve as our fleet train to help resupply us as we fight. Missiles don’t grow on trees, after all.”

“Yes, don’t worry, Ambassador, barring any surprises at Katcheka, we’ll be in Loyalist space soon enough, and you’ll be able to use the Gateway in the Macross system to get back to the Confederacy.”

“No, the Black Star Fleet will be remaining, though we might have reinforcements by that time. We’re going back into Imperial space, and we’re going to raise hell.”

“Good night, Ambassador.”

I turned from the comm unit where I had been having a private conversation with the Ambassador over on the Artemis. The ship was cramped, what with the Ambassador and his staff there, but for a half-knelfi diplomat, Ambassador Michael Nacht was definitely able to roll with the punches, so long as you weren’t disrespecting him. I hadn’t gotten the full story, but scuttlebutt was that his Psy Mastery skills were all in the upper 90s, if not maxed, and his level was over a hundred. He was damn powerful, and touchy about his Honor, but apparently not as ‘kill them all and let God sort them out’ as he used to be before he met his wife, Bethany Anne Nacht.

At any rate, those two were ambassadors in name only. I had a feeling that, with war coming, those two were going to find a way to get into the thick of things. They sounded like real fighters. Wasn’t my problem, though, since I’d be dropping them off once we got to Loyalist space.

We’d made several attacks since striking Barnard’s Star, where we’d captured several freighters. We had forced the crews of the freighters and the station into escape pods, sent the freighters on a pre-programed course to a rendezvous point just outside Imperial space where the civilian side of the Black Star Fleet had crews waiting to take them over, and then blew the station to hell. I left a standard message beacon at the site of the former station, broadcasting the ‘new British Empire’ crap, just to confuse the situation a bit more.

The other attacks mostly ended with ships getting blown to scrap, since one shot from an Assassin-class corvette was enough to take out any civilian freighter, but on one run we’d managed to catch a pair of Vernon-class Imperial Navy transports. Heavily armored, designed for getting troops and supplies from a fleet base to the fleet while on the attack, the Vernons were the backbone of the Navy’s logistics. We captured two of them, recovering a whole mess of goodies, including extra missiles and ammunition, mil-spec rifles and sidearms, and enough power armor for all our tactical teams. Oh, and crates of implants to help augment the troops.

M98 Infantry Automatic Rifle
Type	Assault Rifle	Rank	Uncommon
Damage	100 – 150	Damage Type	Piercing
The M98 Infantry Automatic Rifle is an update of an older model that has seen service in war for centuries, being updated through the years to include miniaturized railgun technology. Issued to Marine units, it is less concerned with aesthetics and new tech, and more focused on ruggedness and reliability. It is a mass-produced light railgun, but one designed to take a beating and continue firing. There are more powerful weapons out there, but the M98 is the Marines’ choice for combat ops in adverse conditions. +40 Phys. Att. Melee Hardened – Can be used in melee as a weapon without damaging the rifle. Reliable – Risk of jamming or other problems due to impact and environmental conditions reduced by 75%. Electronic Firing – Rail weapon does not need atmosphere to fire. 35 shot clips

M2211A Pistol
Type	Pistol	Rank	Uncommon
Damage	75 – 90	Damage Type	Piercing
The M2211 is one of the first Psyshot pistols used by the Military, and has been updated many times through the years. Renowned for its rugged reliability due to a lack of moving parts other than the trigger, the M2211A is a favorite of both military and civilian shooters for personal protection or pleasure shooting. As a Psyshot weapon, it is vacuum-rated, and can switch between regular and stun shots. +25 Phys. Att. Melee Hardened – Can be used in melee as a weapon without damaging the gun. Reliable – Risk of jamming or other problems due to impact and environmental conditions reduced by 75%. Stun Shots – Stun shots deal Stun damage. If Stun damage equals current HP, target becomes unconscious. Stun damage heals at a rate of (CON/10) per minute. 20 shot clips. (45 PP to recharge)

Yewex Front Line Master Suit (Special Operations Variant)
Type	Power Armor	Rank	Rare
Made by Yewex, the Front Line Master Suit (FMLS) is the latest in infantry armor and enhancement. Designed for the Imperial Marine Corps, the FMLS is rated for ship-to-ship and ship-to-ground operations, and allows the wearer to remain combat effective whether they are in hard vacuum or underwater (up to 9000 meters). The suit can be environmentally sealed, providing complete HAZMAT protection as long as the air supply lasts. Additional air tanks can be connected with the standard hookup, allowing for additional operation time. This version has slightly less armor, but compensates by having enhanced sensors and stealth capabilities. Illegal for civilian use in all Imperial jurisdictions. +60 to all Physical Attributes 120 Physical Armor, 120 Energy Armor +30% Physical Resistance +30% Energy Resistance Power Supply – Runs on standard armor batteries, 6 hours per charge. Air Supply – Contains 1 hour internal air supply, can be expanded with external tanks. Stealth Suite – Polychromatic coating gives wearer passive +20 effective rank with Stealth. When, combined with stealth settings allows the wearer to enter full stealth mode for up to 10 minutes. 1 minute recharge time.

The weapons and suits, once they had been properly cleaned of any annoying identifying tags or backdoors and spyware in the hardware or software, were well received by the tactical teams, naturally. Everyone liked the idea of having the same gear the spec ops types got to play with. The augmentations that came along with them, however, were, after a brief discussion with Bennie and Raven, ejected on a ballistic trajectory towards the nearest star.

Oh, they were top quality augments, don’t get me wrong, but Bennie recognized the optical implants immediately as being those that the new ‘converts’ to the Emperor’s church were sporting, which caused Raven to go through them with a fine-toothed comb. Thanks to that, we had an answer as to how the Emperor was spreading his AI’s church. The implants were so extensively hardwired with what was basically brainwashing software that it wouldn’t take long for the AI to take over anyone who had the implants, and the nano would start rewiring their brain and creating a transceiver to get updates from the AI whenever they were in range of an FTL comm. Instead of creating copies of itself, like the Legion plague did, the AI was creating thralls to do its bidding.

But that shit was so far above my pay grade that it wasn’t even funny. I just wanted to fly my ships, run my little company empire, and maybe enjoy the fruits of my labor as I worked on ‘rehabbing’ Liviana into someone who could be useful to me without using the Stepford protocols. The singer was traumatized to hell and back, since the one who caught her and performed her training was apparently under orders to make sure she got the ‘full experience’. She’d been trapped in her own mind, screaming as her body did things without her consent and reacted in the way her master wanted it to, while she felt everything.

For a privileged pop star, the situation had been even worse than what I’d done to a hardened warrior like Sona. And while she had been molded into a very attractive, very obedient sex slave, she was useless for anything else at the moment unless I used the Stepford protocols to make her more interesting. In other words, it was the opposite problem from Sona. Sona had to be broken (much like a wild horse) so she could be useful. Liviana, unfortunately, was so broken I needed to give her some fire if she was going to help me with my plans.

Fortunately, I found a way, using Mindread, to essentially ‘dive’ her mind. She’d basically shut herself off, to keep from experiencing as much of the outside world. It was her defense when she was trapped under the Stepford protocols. Now that they were off, she was basically a zombie on the surface, but the first time I managed to pierce her defenses, I used a more… gentle application of Mindbreaker to start those defenses wearing down over time.

The first time she really ‘woke up’, it was because Shearah was sitting with her, listening to some of Liviana’s music while she read the technical manuals of some of the new gear coming out of the Empire. Probably figuring out even more new things to do to the Raven. Shearah was surprised when Liviana shrieked, and slapped the music player off, before looking around, wide-eyed. And then she got scared.

Which was about five minutes ago, and why I was now rushing from dealing with the Ambassador, to dealing with a singer who was currently screaming in terror at, well, everything. Ugh, they had really broken her all to pieces, but I needed to get her back to some kind of ‘normal’. Fortunately, the pretty singer was too busy freaking out to notice me walk into my quarters, and I was able to hit her with a Charm Person, which had the pleasant effect of making her calm down somewhat. At least for the moment.

“Liviana Armata, I am your Master. You are mine in all respects. Body, mind, and soul, all you are now belongs to me. The pains and hurts are mine now, you don’t need to carry them. Now, who am I?”

Dull-eyed the singer nodded to me, clearly feeling the hypnotic effects of the Charm. “You are my Master. You purchased me from the Trainer.”

“That’s right. You are on board my ship. Tell me, how do you feel?”

“I am scared. The Trainer did things to me. He hurt me. Made me do things. When I wouldn’t, he turned on the machine, and locked me away. I had to watch as he trained the other me. I felt his hands, his whip. The other me liked it, and I had to feel that too. I tried to scream, tried to run, tried to bite him when he was in my mouth, but I couldn’t. The outer me wouldn’t let me. So I hid. I didn’t want to see what the outer me was doing. What she was feeling.” The singer’s voice was soft, despite the nature of her words. The Charm was working like a trance, almost, allowing her to speak without breaking down.

“The other you is gone now. I turned off the machine. You don’t have to feel what the other you felt now. I am your Master, and this comforts you. Tell me, what is it that you want? Do you want to forget the pain and the things that were done to you? Or do you want to learn from them?”

“Learn from them?”

“Yes, the fire and the hammer are cruel, but they can forge metal into a blade of superior quality. You have been through the fire. Do you wish to be stronger than before, or go back to the you that you used to be?”

She looked at me then, and said, “I don’t want to be afraid again.”

I smiled at her, and held her gaze as I released the Charm. “Good, then let us begin.”

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Be sure to read my published works!

Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):

Frozen Soul https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT

Tales of the Void Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37

Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):

Volume 1 - Tutorial https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X

Into the Black (Sci-Fi LitRPG):

Book I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL

Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y

City of Champions Online (Superhero LitRPG):

Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1

The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T