Frozen Soul, and other works: Chapter 64

Our first real test was in slipping past the Imperial border after we left Meridian. Fortunately, the stealth tech we had on all our ships (the Raven had been updated to a full stealth suite long ago), along with the null paint, made even the Raven stealthy enough to slip past the Imperial sensors unless we got too close. The corvettes were even quieter.

Because of the physics of how things worked, once in the warp, you were difficult to detect by anyone unless your course intersected or was parallel to their own. That’s why no one tried to attack people in interstellar space unless a tarpit was involved. Just finding your prey was a pain in the ass, to say nothing of getting within weapons range. And even beam weapons did funky things when you were going at FTL speeds.

So our first real test was when we slipped back into Sol space. We came in low, far below the ecliptic where any passive arrays were less likely to catch the energy of our entrance into ‘normal’ space. We all went into stealth mode, and I sent two messages. One used a special encryption key that I had been given by Paxisys to contact the Ambassador. The other was made using the game interface, to reach our wayward Nomad.

M.Mollen: You still interested in a ride out of Sol?

Bennie: YES! But they’ve been getting better with their scanners. Once I move out of the maintenance areas, which are shielded, I will be discovered within minutes.

M.Mollen: Having done some research, I’ve learned that the tracker will deactivate as soon as someone registered by the Guild captures you, and either turns you in, or pays the fee to transfer you to them. I happen to be one such individual.

Bennie: Well, fuck.

M.Mollen: It does allow you to get out of Sol, without experiencing whatever joys this new cult might have waiting for you.

Bennie: Fine. I’m on Choson Ring.

M.Mollen: Excellent. I will contact you again before I arrive.

For this next part, the squadron broke into three sections. The Shadowdancer followed the Starlight Raven to Choson Ring, where we would pick up the nomad who had information about this mysterious cult, while Artemis and Vicious Return would silently ‘waylay’ the Ambassador’s shuttle as it traveled from Earth to Mars, where the Ambassador was going to be attending some function or another. The Ambassador’s shuttle was supposed to be clean of trackers and bugs, but no one really believed that. The Simo Hayha and Wisteria would set up distractions, just in case.

Group Two’s part of the plan went off without a snag. While cloaked, fighters from the Return attacked and disabled the shuttle while it was in the middle of a jamming field. The Ambassador’s shuttle was quickly boarded, and the Ambassador, his family, and staff were escorted off the shuttle and onto the Artemis. We had told him that there was going to be a fake attack to give them some additional time before anyone thought they were missing, but according to Captain Stormdelver, they were still shaken up. Thankfully, the Ambassador was one of those old enough to remember the last war, and understood the necessity, so he kept the rest calm.

For my part, we were headed back to Choson Ring. As the Curse of Trigon (nee Starlight Raven) approached the Ring, I launched in the shuttle with Cali and Jaynie. We hadn’t had the shuttle when we were last here, so that ought to buy us at least a little cover. Of course, I changed into the form of a buxom, raven haired, athletic-looking woman. My hair was twisted into a long braid down my back, tossed on some black clothes, and armed up. This was a ship and a face that hadn’t been seen before on Choson Ring, and my companions were wearing helmets that concealed their faces. That would be enough to keep the bounty hunters at bay, for a while.

Lana Craft

Human Female

Level 20

The flight controllers for the Ring accepted my newest ID without question, since I was clearly only in a small shuttle and couldn’t be up to too much trouble, and didn’t match the description of any wanted individuals. So getting onto the Ring wasn’t difficult, since it was still a place for less-than-legal dealings, and there were plenty of shuttles that liked to come in unannounced for different reasons. We had barely landed when a woman dressed in rags came dropping out of a ventilation shaft nearby. The sudden signal on my HUD let me know that this was our escaped slave. I had to laugh at the irony of it all.

Bennie Owen

Human Female

Level 20

Titles: Thug, Slave, Stepford, Courtesan

As Bennie Owen, the young thug-ette that I had enslaved here long ago, ran up to us, I saw several security types quietly make their way into the landing bay, and noticed that they had blue eyes. They had portable scanners with them. Quickly, I paid the 100 credit fee to reregister the escaped slave as my property, which caused her collar to stop sending the signal. “On board, quickly now.” Bennie grimaced as she slipped onto the shuttle, but did as she was told. Her choices had been severely curtailed since that day she met me over a year ago.

I, on the other hand, directed Cali to hold the shuttle, while Jaynie and I carted off the small pallet of goods that we’d taken on at Meridian to solidify our cover as a merchant if we got stopped, and took it to the harbor representative. The pay for ten cases of Meridian wine was pretty damn good, if I say so myself, but didn’t hold a candle to what Black Star was getting paid for this run. Still, extra credits never hurt anyone.

The guards, losing their signal, and not wanting to upset any of the merchants in the bay with the public story of just an escaped slave, retreated. I doubted that would be the end of it, but for now everything was fine. In case I was under surveillance (and I know I would have had everyone in the bay under surveillance if the situation was reversed), I spent the next couple hours swinging by the slave market to see what might be new. I definitely saw something I wasn’t expecting.

Liviana Armata

Human Female

Level 36

Titles: Performer, Slave, Stepford, Courtesan

I’d heard of her even back when I was still on the military base. Armata was a singer (mostly pop), who had been a rather outspoken critic of the Empire’s policy on enslaving all nonhumans. Seems like someone had finally gotten tired of her ‘rabble-rousing’ and chipped her with a Stepford Defiance chip. And now she was being sold as a sex slave.

I had a few ideas about how I could use someone like here. Ok, I had a lot of ideas, but I swear not all of them were in the gutter! I purchased the singer for a cool 100 grand. Chump change, as far as I was concerned (the Black Star Company pulled in a LOT of money, with the various contracts we had, and the freighters I had arranged financing on or outright bought shares of as they were being built, which provided continuing income streams), but it made an impression on the locals. I made a show of pretending to call someone and say that I’d completed the transaction. The people who were watching me would now spread the rumor that I’d come to buy the singer for some third party.

With my new possession in tow, we swung by the marketplace, and picked up what amounted to a wardrobe and other necessary kit for both my new slaves. I’d come to realize that slaves usually behaved better and worked harder when you gave them some incentives to work for. Sure, a Stepford could be made into a willing participant in pretty much anything, but I’d noticed that they were… limited in ways a normal slave was not. They had trouble adapting to things outside their programmed personality type, for instance. That’s why I used the Stepford settings as a short-term punishment, or as a way to help break resistance, rather than just leaving it on. That, and the creepiness factor.

Thankfully, the new slave was already trained not to speak unless spoken to, which eliminated a lot of problems we’d otherwise have to face. I had to assume that there were eyes and ears everywhere, and I didn’t want to answer questions in front of an audience. So we were able to return to the shuttle easily enough.

Once on board the Raven, I had team three launch their ‘distraction’. We didn’t have the numbers to take on the whole imperial fleet, and our weapons, while impressive, would be less useful in atmosphere than a similar projectile dropped from low orbit and allowed to fall to the ground. It was the same idea as firing bullets into water. High-power rounds break up shortly after they hit water, while lower-powered rounds travel further underwater. Sounds crazy, but that’s the truth.

That said, there was a pair of perfect targets that would throw egg on the Emperor’s face, and they were nicely sitting in a parking orbit, without even shields raised. On the signal, both ships in group three fired. They had two hours before their first attacks hit, so as their weapons recharged, they turned and accelerated towards the second target, and fired again, before making their way to the rendezvous point. To keep from making anyone suspicious, none of the squadron went to FTL until the moment the first shots made impact.

It was a nice, normal day. Nothing going on, which is how Captain Daschle liked it. At a place like Luna Base, if something was going on, that meant either VIPs or Brass were coming to make life miserable and gum up the works, or that something had gone horribly wrong. Sometimes both. The last time ‘something was going on’, the Emperor had been killed, there’d been a security breach on campus, and it had been the start of the civil war. Normal was something to be relished.

Yes, it was a nice, normal day, right up until the alarms went off all over the place. Stirring to action, Daschle called out, “Report!”

A young officer, a cadet from the academy, responded, in crisp military tones that belied the shock and confusion in his voice. “Sir! Sensors indicate a massive explosion on Fleet Base 1, Admiralty ring!” Crap, Fleet Base 1 was the main orbital base for the entire Imperial Navy! The Admiralty ring was on the inside of the station, supposedly the most protected part of the station. That’s where all the highest brass worked.

“Additional reports! Impact on the Imperial Flagship! The Aureum Throni reports complete engine failure!”

“Was the Emperor aboard?”

“No sir, he’s at the winter palace on the surface.”

“Small blessings, then. I want full diagnostics. How did one untagged meteorite get through the defense screens, much less two, so close together?”

“Captain, Fleet Base 1 reports that they are losing all power! Admiralty ring confirmed 35% destroyed, including the main FTL comm array!”

“CAPTAIN! INCOMING HIGH-VELOCITY PROJECTILES ON THE GRAVITY SCANNERS! IMPACT IN ZERO-SIX SECONDS!”

Projectiles? Rail gun fire? But how, there were no ships out there? Captain Daschle snapped out of his stupor, and said, “Shields up! Point defense active!”

Unfortunately, it was too little, too late, as two solid rods slammed down into the dome containing the atmosphere on Luna base before hitting the ground and exploding like a pair of nuclear warheads (without the radiation) inside the grounds of the Luna Naval base. The world exploded, and Captain Daschle knew no more.

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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):