(Black Star Company private shipyards, Dimiya System)
Nondrin stood in the main control center for the shipyards,
and just stared at the screens. To no one in particular, he said, “I’m not
drunk enough for this.” That got a round of polite chuckles from those around
him, as he began going through the newest additions to the Black Star Fleet.
Oh, the personnel issues weren’t a problem, although it was
surprising to have so many people added to the rosters all at once, Nondrin
didn’t have any problem guessing where they all came from. After all, the
freaking superdreadnought that had just been towed into the yards was a pretty
good clue, even if the little corvette and the carrier that had come in with it
hadn’t shared the news of the Battle of Edena.
Towing a superdreadnought across star systems was not an
easy proposition, so it had taken a while, even using a Gateway to shorten the
distance, for the superdreadnought to be brought into the yards after the
battle. Nondrin had had plenty of warning this was going to happen, but there
wasn’t anything quite like seeing a superdreadnought pulling into your yards.
Especially when you were used to working on freighters for the most part.
Shaking his head, he called up the orders that the Master
had sent for them regarding the ships. “Hmm. Looks like all three ships have
been renamed, and we need to make those changes to their transponders and paint
while we upgrade them.”
One of the workers in the control room laughed. “Oh hell.
What is he going to do with THAT? I mean, I thought the Shinokage was a beast, but a superdreadnought?”
Nondrin shook his head. “Well, the carrier formerly known as
Radiant Dawn is going to be renamed Dykhaniye Smerti. I’m told it translates
from an Earth language to ‘Death’s Breath’. Given the loadout this thing is
getting, I think it qualifies.”
“What is it getting?”
“Well, they’re updating the power core and engines, giving
it some more powerful point defense, and somehow getting a stealth rig for this
thing. It won’t be as stealthy as the little ships since it isn’t getting the
hull job, but between the paint and the stealth rig it will be a helluvalot
harder to track it down unless you already had eyes on it. Makes sense, since
we don’t have a ton of proper escorts, yet.”
“I dunno, have you seen the specs on those gunboats we’ve
been building? Those things are faster than anything bigger than a fighter, and
I swear they’re almost all power core and engine!”
Nondrin nodded. “Which makes sense, since the crazy designer
gave them a battle cruiser’s main gun with a load of shipkiller missiles to boot,
and shields to match a frigate. Swarm of those will ruin ANYBODY’S day. Oh
sure, a superdreadnought might swat one of them out of the sky in a couple
hits, but you could build a couple hundred of them for the cost of one
superdreadnought, almost. And you only have to worry about an on-board crew of
five.”
“How many fighters we have to build for that carrier? I know
we already have two of the Return’s
sisters built and ready, just filling out crews, but surely we aren’t doing
straight Raptors for the Smerti? I
mean, they’re nasty as stealth fighters, but they don’t have the weapon
capacity for bombers, right?”
“Yeah, well, the eggheads have been thinking about that
since they first finished the design for the Raptors. Which is why we got two
new designs coming down the pipe. The Thunderbolt IV is what they’re calling a
‘space superiority fighter’. Supposed to be able to mix it up with any fighters
or bombers that come their way, and take a beating while they dish it out,
either with missiles or that huge ass gun of theirs. And the Dragon is our
bomber. Apparently, they handle about as well as shuttles, which means for
fighters they’re crap, but they live up to their name. In addition to their
normal missiles and guns, each Dragon has two Dragonbreath antimass missiles.”
“Antimass?”
“You know the gravity bubble we use so we can accelerate at
decent speeds without becoming a stain on the bulkhead? Well, some egghead got
the idea to screw with that idea to make missiles deadlier. Take a 100 kilo
rod, and stick the engine on the back of it. Use a bubble so that the engine
that would be throwing this thing at, say, .1c with its normal mass is now
dealing with something that effectively weighs only 20 kilos. The engine is
able to push that sucker a helluvalot faster. But just before impact, you flip
the field, and make that 100 kilo mass effectively a 500 kilo mass, going at
significant fractions of lightspeed. If it works with the bombers, they may
start replacing ship missiles with them.”
“Fuck me.”
“The Smerti is
getting a squadron of Raptors for recon and stealth missions, three squadrons
of Thunderbolts, and one of Dragons. And now you know why I need my first
drink.”
“So, that’s the carrier. What about that little corvette?”
“The Jubilee?
Well, the Master likes the name of that one, so it is staying. She’s getting
the standard paint job, but she’s going to be the primary on the escorts for
the Smerti, working with the gunboats
and the fighters. Seems she’s also going to be the testbed for some experimental
weapons.”
“That… seems almost normal. What’s the catch?”
“The catch is what we’re going to do to the Alamo. Well, she’s the Nightforge. We’re tearing out and
reworking most of her insides, and making her into a heavily armed, heavily
armored, nasty as all hell mobile fucking shipyard and manufacturing base. Big
enough that we’ll be able to do work on the Shadowdancer
or her sisters in the field, or build new ships in place. And carrying parasite
ports for twelve gunboats, so the crews don’t have to spend ALL their time in
those cramped things when not at a base.”
“And that’s why you need the other drinks, huh? Mind if I
join you?”
Nondrin sighed. “Still got an hour until we’re off shift.
Get the ships in the bays, and the crews working, and then we’ll share a round.
No rest for the wicked.”
(Black Star Company Residential Platform, Dimiya System)
The counselor’s office was full of nice, warm tones,
designed to feel safe, comfortable. There were bookshelves with actual books on
them, and nice comfortable chairs, in addition to the couch. And it had just
that level of noise where it wasn’t silent, but you weren’t having to talk over
the noise. The old-fashioned mechanical clock could just barely be heard
tick-tick-ticking along.
The counselor had had a successful practice on Jagloth,
before the Legion. When her husband, who worked at the local shipyard, sold
himself to secure their passage off the planet, she promised him she’d follow
wherever his servitude took him. Thank the Maker that it took him to Dimiya,
where he worked under Nondrin Caskhead, who was in a similar position. When her
husband’s Master learned about her profession, he immediately took her on as
the company counselor. That first year she’d been the busiest she’d ever been,
helping all the people who had been displaced by Jagloth come to terms with
their new position. She hoped being in the same boat, so to speak, helped them
take her advice, even if she sometimes had to bother her husband to listen to
her own little worries at times.
Since then, though, things had begun calming down. The Black
Star Company was making tons of money, and the Owner made sure that ‘his’
people had everything they could need. Sure, they weren’t living in luxury, but
considering that most of them were debt slaves who had been expecting horrors,
the relative comfort and actual privacy won him a horde of followers who would
gladly go where he led.
Now, she had more time on her hands, though there were still
new cases that came through now and then, as stress built up or new people were
inducted into the company. Her current patient was one of those recent
purchases. According to the file, she’d been a well-known performer until her
stance against alien slaves had someone kidnap and enslave her, before selling
her as a sex slave.
“So, Liviana. How are we feeling today?”
The fallen idol cringed at the use of her name. She was
curled up on the couch, trying to hide away from everything in the room,
including the counselor. Including herself. “Turn it on! Turn the chip on! I
don’t want it! I’m not me when it is her!”
The idol was referring to the Stepford protocols on the
slave chip she’d been implanted with. Before transferring her back to Dimiya,
the Owner had left the Stepford protocols in place, though on a more ‘calm,
compliant’ setting than the ‘sultry sex slave’ setting it had been on. The
reason was painfully obvious to anyone. Liviana had retreated within herself,
using the ‘other her’ the Stepford protocols created to hide from what had been
done to her. She didn’t have to be the victim if she wasn’t her.
That, of course, was entirely unhealthy, which was why the
Owner had forwarded the counselor an encrypted code to turn the girl’s Stepford
mode on and off, but restricted to only the ‘calm’ setting, and logging every
activation and deactivation, to prevent abuse. Now she was faced with a
situation not unlike some addiction cases. Liviana used the Stepford protocols
to escape from being her, so she wouldn’t have to face the trauma she’d
suffered. Helping her meant gradually weaning her off the Stepford mode while
offering counseling to deal with the trauma.
The counselor sighed internally as she smiled a professional
smile at Liviana. “Now Liviana, you know the rules. You have to make it through
the hour, and then we’ll see about turning it back on.” At least the Owner
wasn’t one who expected immediate results…
(Black Star Company Offices, Thelorius, Dimiya)
The receptionist looked up from the computer screen she was
working in front of (if checking her social media counted as work) when the
door chimed, letting in a visitor to the company’s official office near the
starport. Well, this was little more than a place for business contacts to be
made, since most of the actual Company business happened off planet, but that
wasn’t the receptionist’s concern. She was just an hourly employee hired to
answer calls and set up appointments.
The man who entered the office was dressed in black,
including a black cloak and a wide-brimmed hat. The way he carried himself
spoke of confidence and danger, if the receptionist was any judge, after
meeting the boss. This guy wasn’t the boss, of course, but he gave off a
similar feeling. Creeped her out a little.
“Welcome to the Black Star Company. How may we be of
assistance to you today?”
The man nodded, and said, “Yes, would you be able to tell me
if the owner is in?”
“I’m sorry, the owner is out of the system at this time,
conducting business for the company abroad. Would you like for me to send him a
message when he gets in range of a planetary FTL comm?”
“Yes, please let him know that I came on this date, and
inform him that, as agreed, I’m providing advance notice about work involving
him. He’ll know what it means.”
“I see. And may I have a name to give him?”
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
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