Chapter 83 - Inverse Process

(In space near Norton Station, in orbit of Selusa Secundus, Selusa System)

Selusa Secundus was not an important planet. Oh sure, there were plenty of Imperial citizens living on the planet, and the others in the system, but it was not known for anything in particular other than being a hellacious world to try and eke out a living on, and there was a large prison out in the desert. Otherwise, there wasn’t anything worth talking about here, certainly nothing of strategic value. Nothing, that is, except Norton Station.

Started at the beginning of the Empire, Norton Station was the premier site for the study of technological ‘pathogens’ in the Empire. Typically, this meant codebreakers and programmers, working tirelessly (or not so tirelessly, if you listened to complaints) to do their part in the war between computer viruses and their antiviruses. Of course, that was just civilian viruses and malware, not the stuff put out by other interstellar polities.

Officially, that is. Unofficially, the military and government stuff were moved down to Oppenheimer Research Base on the surface, where any ‘issues’ wouldn’t affect critical station systems, like life support. That wasn’t usually a problem, since government-issued viruses were basically malware looking to let spies into systems, but there had been a few close calls in the past. So when it came time to research a counteragent to the Legion Plague, Oppenheimer was the obvious choice

That explained the security cordon around Norton Station. Two frigates were on patrol through the Selusa system, and another was orbiting the planet near the station. Nearby, a defense platform not only sported enough weapons to help cover the station from attack, but it had a full wing of fighters, all interceptors, enough to shred any pirate fleet that might think Selsua Secundus was easy pickings. Even if the fighters were last generation, and their crews were trainees and reservists.

Wing Commander Shaifra “Lioness” Gaber, call sign Bloodscar 1, was leading her flight of four fighters on a combat space patrol around the station. Simple job, but two rookies in her group made it something that had to be done. Plus, if she didn’t get enough flight hours, they’d pull her certification, and that would be a bitch and a half to get reinstated. Also wouldn’t look good when she applied for a transfer to a unit that wasn’t on the back end of nowhere, guarding a useless planet and some research sites. Maybe someplace she could see some action.

They were about to start their next turn when all hell broke loose, and Lioness found herself cursing the thought about ‘action’. The two frigates further out from the system disappeared in an instant. They were too far away for the light to reach sensors, but two ships disappearing from scans at the same time? Without warning? Oh, that was bad.

“This is Bloodscar 1 to base. Possible enemy stealth ships in system! Scramble all fighters!”

In the movies, the platform would have had all the fighters launch in a single wave, and all form up, ready to face the unseen menace. In reality, other than Bloodscar squadron, which had been on standby, the other squadrons would not be ready to fly quickly. According to the information the deck chief gave her, Alpha would be in the air in one minute, but the rest wouldn’t be up for another five to ten, depending on whether she wanted missiles.

The whole point became moot when two ships dropped out of hyperspace right on top of the defense platform. One looked like a modified freighter, while the other was clearly an Imperial Marine Transport. Both clearly were armed, and perfectly capable of taking on the panicked point defense the platform was just now bringing online. The hope she had that the Lexichan, the other frigate in system, would help fight off the attackers was dashed when two of the invisible corvettes from the security briefings dropped out of hyperspace next to it, and unleashed their arsenals, also punching above their weight class against an unprepared foe.

“Damnit. Alpha flight, we have to take the pressure off the platform so they can launch fighters. Form up on me, we’re taking out that freighter first. When more of our birds are in the air, we’ll worry about the Transport.”

That was when she heard the shrill wail of the missile lock warning, her HUD telling her that it was far too close to escape or evade. Without thinking, she punched the eject button, just before the world turned white in the blackness of space, followed by an even colder darkness…

(Oppenheimer Research Base, Selusa Secundus)

The assault ships blasted what air defense turrets there were into smoking rubble, and landed, disgorging their complements of fully armed and armored marines, who hit the ground running, before lifting off again to provide what air support they could. The Black Star Marines were a fighting force trained in two worlds to give first hand demonstrations of mayhem and destruction to their enemies. The soldiers guarding the base were simply no match, even if they weren’t outnumbered by a factor of five to three.

Major Kahn looked at his men, and grinned. Oh, sure, they hadn’t been completely clean on this op. Even outmatched soldiers will get their licks in before they go down, but when dying isn’t the end, like it was in the real world, then getting KIA was more cause to get ribbed by your buddies than anything else. Especially Dameron. Seems someone forgot to tell him that grenades weren’t your friend after you pulled the pin, and he held on just a bit too long. He’d be hearing about that in the AAR, no doubt.

“All right, you sorry excuses for Marines! Push forward, and take this complex! We got our marching orders, so find the plans to anything that looks like a cure for a nanoplague. Boss has informed me that the squad that finds the plans first is getting treated by him in person to a wild night in Thelorious when we get back to Dimiya. And I KNOW you sorry sods have seen the footage of his last ‘night out’! And the Boss is picking up the tab! So get a move on you louts!”

A bit of friendly competition would help the squads move faster, and keep from slacking off, as they might be tempted to do with such lackluster opponents. Lieutenant Meyers looked his way, “The Boss didn’t really say that, did he?”

The Major chuckled. “Hell no. Didn’t have time before the ‘go save the world’ mission dropped on his head. Must have slipped his mind, but I’m sure he’ll go for it.”

Meyers shook her head, chuckling. “Fine. Maybe I’ll get to be Major after he rips you a new one for promising to cover a whole squad of marines’ tabs.”

Kahn nodded slowly. “Maybe, but I think he’ll be fine with it. He knew what he was getting into when he purposefully looked for Marines, after all. But what about you? Sounds like you aren’t as down on the boss as you were before the Cantina.”

Meyers frowned considering that. “Well, he’s a bastard, but he knows it, and owns it. And he’s not as big a bastard as his stream makes him out to be. I’ve talked with the girls, and while some of them have Stepford settings on their slave gear, he turned it off on most of them, except that catgirl that used to be a commando.” She looked a bit disgusted as she chewed the last part of that sentence.

The Major sighed. That whole thing disturbed him more than he wanted to admit, especially since, unlike Meyers, he’d been read in on that secret and gotten the full classified brief. The crazy bastard had invented a new power, using the powers he’d already had as a base. Frankly, it was one of those ‘oh FUCK no’ powers that no one wanted to think about. “There’s more going on with that one. Suffice to say that letting her go would cause more problems, for everyone, than keeping her. Kindof like how having nanites is no problem, unless you wanna go full Jagloth on people. Reason Boss is here and that Legion guy is dust is because the Boss realized what a shitstorm that would be, and has done his best to keep the exact nature of what he did under wraps.”

“Yeah, that’s kindof what that Cali girl said. He used the catgirl as a ‘weapons test’, but once that was done, he had to keep her around because he couldn’t let the knowledge about just what he did get out there, and even if he wiped her memory, someone else could dig it up if they had access to her. Sucks, but it would have been kinder to kill her.”

Kahn nodded, even as he pulled the trigger to blast an enemy in the face as he sprang from cover at them as they moved through the facility. “Maybe. But he could have done a lot worse to her, and the fact is he hasn’t done it again, mainly because there’s been non-nuclear ways to get the point across.”

They cut the chatter as their command squad made it to their target lab. Once the targets inside were neutralized, Kahn had his squad’s tech person give the computers a look while he began checking on what these people might have been in to. So far, this lab looked like it would be a bust, since they were apparently looking at codes that the basic notes he found suggested had been ‘obtained’ from Ihm Army sources. Oh well, the data should still be somewhere in the base, since this was where the event quest had told them to go.

“Major, this is Sergeant Peters in Charlie. I think we’ve got something you need to take a look at.”

“Understood, Sergeant, we’ll be there in ten.”

Kahn looked at the tech, who shook her head. “No joy. Though I am copying the research data. It will give our people a boost if we ever have to break Ihm Military codes. Or if we ever need to pretend to have Ihm Military codes.”

“Works for me. Let’s go find what Charlie found.”

(BSN Vicious Return, Medbay)

Lioness was not feeling quite up to her name when the blackness became white again, accompanied by a pounding in her head. Slowly, she tried to rise, but soon gave that idea up as a bad job. Mostly, that was due to the fact that the lights in the room swam about in ways that made her nauseous if she tried to sit up. She figured she definitely had a concussion, at the least. But she was alive, and in a medbay, so she had hopes of staying alive. Which brought her to the other reason she wasn’t moving too much: metal restraints locking her hands to the rails of the bed.

She could make out two shapes near her bed. Probably people, but seeing clearly wasn’t on the list of things she could do at the moment. One of the shapes leaned forward, and stuck something next to her neck. She felt the rush of healing nanos, and soon the shapes in front of her resolved themselves into the shapes of two people wearing black uniforms. One was clearly a doctor, and had the white coat for it. He was also a slave, and had the collar for that, too. The other was a man, and Lioness would have bet her wings that she was looking at a fellow pilot.

The pilot nodded to the doc, and whispered (or maybe just talked softly, and she couldn’t hear over the ringing in her ears) to him, before turning back to Shaifra. “Name and rank, pilot?”

“Wing Commander Shaifra Gaber, Imperial Navy. I’m a prisoner, then? You don’t look like pirates.”

The man chuckled. “That’s because technically we’re mercenaries and privateers.”

“So you’re sanctioned pirates.”

“If you like. But you’re the one who just got shot down without ever seeing the ship that hit you, if you want to be particular about things. Anyways, you can call me Parca, from the Black Star Navy.”

That made things click. “You’re the mysterious group working with the rebels?”

“Working with the Loyalists, since Empress Merida didn’t kill off most of her family attempting a coup. But we’re here to talk about you. See, you’re clearly a good pilot, with reflexes and instincts like yours. Shot like that should have killed your ship before you even had time to soil yourself, but you not only reacted, but managed to punch out before you were reduced to space debris. Which is why you’re getting a choice when the rest of the Imperial Navy forces in this system are dead.”

“What choice do I have? Death or you sell me to the rebels?”

The man chuckled. “Death isn’t on the table for you, since you refused it the first time, Commander Gaber. Instead, you get the choice of being a prisoner until such time as the current conflict is resolved or the Empress releases you, or you get to join up as part of our group. But that comes with certain guarantees, to ensure you don’t do anything like trying to blow yourself or others up. But the collar might come off if you prove your loyalty.”

“Anyways, I’ll let you think on that while you rest up. We have to get moving if we’re going to meet up for the assault on Sol.”

And with that, the pilot left her with her thoughts while she considered her fate.

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Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):
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Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):
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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