Frozen Soul, and other works: Chapter 80

(BSS Starlight Raven, Alpha Centauri system)

“That is the plan, Commodore. Unfortunately, before we can make any firm plans on how to assault Sol, we have to have an updated estimate of the enemy forces, and their disposition. Three squadrons of superdreadnoughts spread out across the system defending the outer colonies, Mars, and Earth would be far less of an issue than if all three were concentrated around Earth.”

I nodded at the image of Empress Merida on the screen. “Yeah, I can imagine that’s the case. The Starlight Raven can penetrate the system, and we’ve done it before, but while the Usurper might be an idiot, I doubt that the AI is. They’ll be preparing new defenses, especially against stealthed ships.”

“I know, Commodore, but we have little choice. Your ships are the only ones available that are capable of stealthy approaches and yet still capable of escaping any foes you cannot overcome. It is a weakness I have no doubt that the Navy will be looking at quite intently once the Civil War is done.”

“Very well, and when this is all said and done, don’t be forgetting the payment you promised us. The Black Star Company has plans for after the war, you see.”

“I can imagine. But I still don’t understand why you would need a Nova Eden class colony ship, stocked for a full colonial establishment mission, with slaves as colonists. Those ships, and the galactic FTL comms they carry, are not cheap, you know. And where do you expect me to get six thousand slaves all of a sudden?”

“I could be blasé, and say that would be your problem, but I actually have a few ideas, on that front. There are some ranches in Carceri, for instance, that might get ‘inspected’ for whatever reason, and some stock relocated. Or perhaps some prisoners with skills may get a choice between staying on prison worlds or getting chipped as a slave. And you’re about to have a lot of surplus nobles, assuming they haven’t all been converted to Deus’s drones. You can even hide everything as part of the restructuring you’re going to have to do with so many vacancies at the top opening up.”

“I’ve thought this before, but you’re really quite vicious to your enemies, aren’t you?”

“Eh, I’m capable of showing mercy, sure, but I’ve always found that leaving live enemies behind you tends to just get you shot in the back. I’m just a man, not some kind of god.”

“So, I can rely on you to get the detailed scouting report?”

“Yes, say about two weeks to get there, do a proper survey while under stealth, and get back, with enough room for ‘unexpected difficulties’.”

(Unknown Ship, Unknown place)

The man sighed as he looked at the reports. No two ways about it, they wouldn’t be able to do the job at the shipyards, even if the target was there. Things were simply too well defended there. Which meant that they had to track and find a target that, by now, certainly knew they were coming for him. He’d done the honorable thing when they got the contract for ‘Commodore’ Mollen, but it definitely made their job more difficult.

A woman raised her head from her own reports to look at him. “What’s wrong, Rippy? Decided that ‘crashing a shuttle into it’ isn’t going to work this time?”

“We all knew that was a one-time thing. No, it is more the fact that we’re going to have to find the target before we can execute the contract. The galaxy is a big place, you know.”

The woman nodded. “True enough. And even if we track him down, staying on his tail long enough to do more than a brute force assault is going to be problematic. We’ve already seen how he deals with brute force methods. The footage from his reprisal against those Yakuza in Alpha Centauri is impressive viewing.”

The man leaned back in his chair, and began contemplating the ceiling. “Then you understand our problem. We have to either find some way to lure him into a trap, or find out his itinerary ahead of time and prepare an ambush. He gets much nastier when you threaten to include his people as collateral damage, so we need to find a way to get him alone, or snipe him.”

“Either way, we need set up time, in a place where we know he’ll be, to make this happen.”

“Exactly. But from the footage I’ve reviewed, he’s kept his movements as unpredictable as possible since arriving in game. There’s large portions where if he didn’t have that streaming account, we wouldn’t even know what system he was in, much less what he was doing. So guessing his itinerary is problematic, at best.”

“Hmm. Well, he’s been involved in that whole ‘civil war’ thing, right? If the AI’s forces lose, then there’s bound to be ceremonies, receptions, and all sorts of things going on around Earth. That might be the best time to slip someone in close, either to make the kill, or to act as a spotter for the rest of the team.”

“Yes, that could work. I would say we could try and use a honeypot, but with the harem he’s got going, I doubt that there could be any honey sweet enough to distract him.”

“Well, if the honey on its own isn’t sweet enough, perhaps we add a bit of mental psy to the mix? I’ve got my Mental Psy Mastery up to 20 now, you know. If I get close, I can do the one night stand routine, and take care of it during pillow talk, when he doesn’t have any of his protections up.”

The man grimaced. “I’d feel better doing a standard kill, but that does look like our best bet, since we don’t know where he’ll be, when. Have the pilot set course for Sol. We’ll need to coast into the system before the battle, or we’ll be too late, and have to do this all over again.”

(INS Aureum Throni, Earth Orbit)

Emperor Travis Vaughn knelt before the throne. Some part of him realized that before, HE would have been in the throne, and others would be kneeling before HIM, but what did that matter now? He was in the presence of his god, the living Deus.

“My Lord, I am afraid that it has been confirmed. All contact with Fleet Base Bagthera has been lost. Information coming from sources within the system confirms that the Rebels have taken the base. They used missiles fired through the Gateway and targeted by a stealth ship on the Alpha Centauri side to disable or draw off the defending forces, allowing their fleet through the Gateway.”

The figure on the throne, did not look pleased. Still wearing the ethnic drone body He had worn during their first meeting, Deus looked down at the Emperor, and said, “How many of the Rebel ships did the fleet destroy before they were overwhelmed?”

Travis gulped involuntarily. While he knew he would come back from death, thanks to Lord Deus, that did not mean he enjoyed dying, as he had discovered the first time he earned the Lord’s displeasure. “None, my Lord. There were no enemy casualties. The base commander, Admiral Nimitz, surrendered before the fight could begin.”

“It would seem that your commanders’ incompetence rivals even your own, Emperor. Perhaps I should take steps to induct your older sister into the ‘faith’, hmm? She might bring a bit of actual talent to the running of my new Empire.”

“My Lord!”

“Oh, calm yourself, you pathetic meat bag. Your mewling is beyond vexing. No, your sister has more spine than that. Unlike you, she would most likely prefer to die rather than serve me. Which means that, unfortunately, I must make plans to deal with her, as you and your ignorant ape followers seem incapable of doing that.”

The drone body on the throne paused, considering the situation for a moment. “Very well, there is nothing that can be done about Bagthera now. Call in the defense fleets. Leave the bare minimum on the borders, so that we may crush the rebels when they arrive here. And what of the Fourth, Eighth, and Tenth Fleets? I have lost contact with the Faithful in those fleets, and only one was of sufficient faith to be initiated into the higher orders.”

“My Lord, I have had no reports on those fleets, but they were all stationed along the border with the Ihm Imperium. They were some of our commanders that were less reliable, as they wanted to maintain peaceful relations with the other governments. We sent the Faithful to get information outside of channels in that area, and to spread the Faith.”

“And so they may have already fallen to the Rebels, or joined their cause. You continue to disappoint, Emperor. Perhaps I should give you another session in the Pain Amplifier? I am certain you remember your last visit, yes?”

Travis paled at that thought, and shook his head fervently. “No, my Lord! I have done all you asked! Please don’t send me to the Amplifier!”

“Hmm. Perhaps not. Not yet, anyways. How are the defenses of Sol progressing?”

“Production of new ships is progressing according to schedule. As you commanded, we have been focusing on the smaller ships, primarily corvettes and frigates. Since the Rebellion began, we have commissioned forty-three ships across the Empire, with four of them being superdreadnoughts, five battlecruisers, six destroyers, twelve frigates, and sixteen corvettes. Crews are being rushed into training, however the destruction of the Naval Academy on Luna has left a sizeable gap in the young officers who typically crew the smaller vessels.”

“Make promotions from within the ranks, then. They can be given skill downloads to ensure that they have at least a little skill at their new jobs. And ensure that they are all added to the Faithful. Anyone who gains command of a ship or fleet shall be made into the Faithful, and will be tasked with converting their crews.”

“It shall be done, my Lord.”

“What of the defense and detection grids? The attacks of those stealth ships have shown critical weaknesses in the defenses, should someone know precisely where to hit us. They could destabilize an entire battle if they hit at the right time.”

“The ‘spiderweb’ probes have been steadily going online since the initial attack. Unfortunately, given the amount of space to cover, we have had to limit their scope into creating a smaller ‘shell’ of detection, until we can get the full sphere set up. Even though we limited the shell to only a light-hour away from Earth, that still leaves an area of 14.6 quintillion square kilometers that we must cover. Even with placing the probes a light-minute apart, even that requires over 800 trillion probes. We’ve concentrated along the ecliptic, and launched over 20 billion probes, but that has only given us complete coverage of a light-minute above and below the Ecliptic along the edge of the shell. There is a bottleneck in production, due to competing resources with new ship construction. Even after we added your impressive facilities on Venus, there simply isn’t enough material at hand to make so many probes so quickly.”

Travis took a breath, and continued. “As commanded, the probes are quite stealthy. All of them have a mix of passive and active sensors, though they’re currently deployed in passive only mode. Passive sensors include the normal items, but as you commanded have added gravity sensors, laser links between probes, and light diffraction sensors.”

“Very well. You have, at least, compensated for your pitiful failures adequately in this area. I will postpone your session with the Pain Amplifier for now. Unfortunately, it will likely take too long for the shell to be completed. If the rebels have already seized Bagthera, then they will likely try and attack Sol before long. I want you to speed up the conversion of the populace. Use the new nanite technology our spies acquired from the Confederate planet of Jagloth to start widespread Stage One conditioning.”

“It shall be done, my Lord.”

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