(BSN Shinokage,
Dimiya System)
I was standing on the bridge of the Shinokage when the Black Star Navy emerged from warp in the Dimiya
system. It had been a relaxing couple weeks since the end of the battle for
Earth. I’d stuck around long enough to get a couple laurels and other such
things from the Empress, and then gathered my ships to head back to Confederate
space. I’d been away from my businesses for long enough already. Didn’t want
any greedy government types thinking I was gone for good and getting grabby
urges.
I had to admit that I looked like an adventurer or old-time
pirate returning to port after a successful voyage, dressed in my ‘casual’
armor, with Widowmaker on my right side (the blade had improved quite a bit
from my level gains), the Energy Blade clipped to my belt, just above the
custom weapon I got from being a Destroyer of Worlds on the left.
Hope’s End
|
|||
Type
|
Heavy Pistol
|
Rank
|
Unique – Scaling
|
Damage
|
150 – 200
|
Damage Type
|
Piercing
|
A high quality pistol, designed to be
used by someone who has high levels of Psy power, but also wants something
for more physical means of conflict resolution.
Psycharged II – Can charge a shot with
up to 1000 PP. Psycharged shots do 1% extra damage for every 10 PP charged.
Ignore 1% Energy Defense for every 10 PP charged. Charge up to 100 PP per
second.
Willbreaker – Reduce target’s
Resistance to Mental Psy by 5% for each shot. Duration: 1 min.
Chaos Shot – Cost 200 PP. Target has
10% chance to act normally, 10% chance to attack shooter, 30% chance to
attack nearest creature, 10% chance to flee in a random direction, 10% chance
to attack nearest ally, 25% chance to do nothing, and 5% chance to attack
themselves. Reroll every 5 seconds. Duration 1 minute. Cannot be affected for
1 hour after duration ends.
10 Shot clips. 200 PP to charge.
Scaling
– This is a scaling item. Item improves with character level. Gains abilities
every 10 character levels.
Eternal
Soulbound – This item is eternally soulbound to you. It cannot be stolen,
traded, or lost.
|
|||
Widowmaker
|
|||
Type
|
Dagger
|
Rank
|
Unique – Scaling
|
Damage
|
80 – 100
|
Damage Type
|
Piercing/Slashing
|
This dagger is made
of a rare Gycep Blood Crystal. When bonded with a wielder by tasting their
blood with an infusion of their Psy, the dagger allows the wielder to channel
their Psy through the dagger, causing it to grow in power as they do. Blood
Daggers are each unique, and can carry unusual powers. The wielder does not
choose what powers the dagger develops, but the way they use the dagger may
influence the dagger’s development.
+20 STR, +20 DEX,
+20 CHA
Bladeshimmer – 100
PP. This Weapon ignores all armor and defense for 5 seconds.
Silent Death –
Sneak Attacks cause the victim to be Silenced for 5 seconds.
Mindkiller – 500
PP. This weapon damages target’s INT and WIS (split evenly between the two)
for 5 seconds. Damage recovers at 1 point per second. Attribute reduced to 0
knocks the target unconscious for 1 hour, and reduces their resistance to the
user’s Mental Psy by 30% permanently.
Techslayer – 100
PP. Attacks permanently brick target machine or component, requiring it to be
replaced. Does not affect living creatures. 5 second duration.
Scaling – This is a scaling item.
Item improves with character level. Gains abilities every 10 character
levels.
Soulbound – This item is soulbound to
you. It cannot be stolen, traded, or lost while you live. If you die, there
is a 10% chance the item will lose its binding may be looted from you.
|
|||
Looking over at Aurae, I said, “Captain, contact the Thunderfury and Wisteria. The teams who are awarded ‘special’ shore leave will load
up in their shuttles and accompany the Starlight
Raven to Thelorious Spaceport. Pass the word around the fleet that when the
ships dock in the Black Star yards, all crews will be able to rotate through
shore leave as scheduled by their Captains. All crew and assault team members
have three drink credits at the bars in the Black Star compound.”
That got smiles from everyone on the bridge. “As you wish,
Master.”
(Delirium Nightclub, Thelorious, Dimiya)
It wasn’t my idea to give some of the troops a night on the
town, but since their commanders had promised it, and the troops delivered
quality results, I decided to go with it. Which is why Team Catspaw from the Wisteria was here, joined with Major
Khan and the squad that found what everyone was calling Greenway. They’d both
been promised a night on the town by yours truly, so here I was, giving it to
them. Didn’t mean I wasn’t going to have a bit of fun, though.
I’d rented out one of the VIP areas in Delirium for the
Black Star Company for the night. It cost a pretty penny, but it was a lot
cheaper than just giving a company credit card to a bunch of fighters on shore
leave. Since everyone had arrived, and was settled down with their first
drinks, I whistled, to get everyone’s attention.
“All right, Ladies, Gentlemen, and Marines.” That got a
laugh from people, for obvious reasons. “You are all here because your team
leaders decided that they were going to reward you with one hell of a good
time, and then stick me with the check. Well, you guys did kick ass work on
your missions, and you’re all still here to talk about it, so I’m willing to
shell out some credits to see just how drunk a bunch of Marines and operators
can get.” There was a LOT of cheering at that.
I raised my hands to get people to quiet down. “But because
I’m not made of money, we’ve got ground rules! Rule One: this VIP box? Open
bar, for everyone in it. But drinks served in here, don’t leave the box. You
want to go impress a girl with your tales of thrilling heroics out on the dance
floor, you best be willing to pay up. Rule Two: each of you may bring one, and
I mean ONE person into the box. So if you meet a cutie and she has a friend
that wants to tag along, you best find someone to be your wingman! Rule Three:
you get drinks as a unit. If one man orders a drink, EVERYONE in your unit that
is in the box gets a drink, and a new round doesn’t come until everyone’s dry.
Marines and Catspaws are two different units. Rule Four: as penance for their
sins, the unit COs get to stay in the box for the night, and babysit you
clowns. So they’ll be drinking with you all night long. Rule Five: if either
unit drinks their CO into unconsciousness, the members of that unit who are
still conscious will get a ticket allowing them a free ride at Saslin!” There
were a few VERY enthusiastic cheers, at that, “Which, as some of you already
seem to know, is one of Thelorious’s premier spots for ‘paid companionship’.
The use of sober-up injections is not permitted, but the wager does apply to
all the members of the unit who are conscious and in the building, whether or
not they are in the box when the CO checks out.”
The two COs glared at me in mock anger, since I’d just given
both teams a HUGE loophole, and everyone knew it. Looking the two men in the
face, I said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “If you don’t like it, then
maybe you’ll learn a thing or two about not spending other people’s money,
hmm?” More laughs as the COs took their medicine, and I continued. “Rule Six: I
am not bailing anyone out at three in the fucking morning. You people get in
trouble, you call a buddy to bail you out, or you sit there until I wake up at
a decent time of afternoon and come to get you. Understood?” I paused and then
said, “Of course, if a Black Star is in trouble and another Black Star sees it,
I expect you all to do the right thing and help them out. I know you people
won’t let me down on this, because every one of you are Black Stars, and we’ve
gone to the highest level, kicked ass, and now the whole galaxy is speaking our
names. Am I right?”
There were massive cheers, as I expected. Smiling ear to
ear, I drained the mug of ale I was holding, and said, “Well, what are you
slobs waiting for? I see two very sober COs here that have a date with
hangovers tomorrow, so you people best see about introducing them! Get to it!”
And with a laugh, I left the two crews to their celebrations.
(Private VIP Box in Delirium)
I sat down at the table across from the two men who had been
waiting on me. Once again, Alok Paxisys and Maeral Zumrora greeted me, though
this time they were out of uniform in an attempt to ‘blend in’ as ‘common
businessmen’. Paxisys managed just fine, but Zumrora clearly showed that he was
a better analyst and manager than field operative, because he still reeked of
spook. But here in the private (and very secure) VIP room, it wouldn’t matter
too much. The room had already been swept for bugs three times, and the
soundproofing was good enough that I couldn’t even here the Black Stars
partying in the box next door.
Smiling at the two men, I waved as Carissa brought drinks
for everyone. “Gentlemen, I am pleased to see you two once again. A lot has
happened since the last time we met, hasn’t it?”
Paxisys sipped his drink, and nodded. “Indeed. When we asked
you to perform a few raids behind enemy lines, we had no idea that your ships
would prove so instrumental in turning the tides of battle. Reports from our
sources in the Empire have been causing more than a few people to have
sleepless nights here, as you can imagine.”
I shrugged. “It is a situational advantage at best. Shinokage and the Assassin-class
corvettes are well-suited to the niche they fall in. Think of them as the naval
equivalent of a sharpshooter with a big gun. They are hardly all powerful. So,
were you coming to me to talk about a purchase for the Confederate Navy, or did
you have concerns?”
Paxisys cleared his throat. “Well, while the capabilities of
a full corvette are impractical for our needs, the things you’ve been able to
pull off have gotten some interest in certain circles for a few discrete armed
courier vessels that could be used for resupply missions in the field, for
instance. The Navy might have other ideas. Maeral?”
“Well, I can’t deny that there are several admirals who are
begging for a squadron of stealth corvettes or cruisers to command, but the
budget for new ship construction has yet to be finalized. There are many more
officers, who are pulling their hair out looking for a way to defend against
ships like yours.”
I nodded. “Ah, of course. I don’t doubt that there are
researchers working feverishly to deal with that problem, in every faction. My
own people have been working on that idea, as well, you know.”
“Any, ah, signs of success?”
“Well, first let me put your mind at ease regarding everyone’s
nightmare scenario, some idiot using one of these things for orbital
bombardment. There is a lot of math behind it, but essentially the projectile
suffers a catastrophic failure when it hits the upper atmosphere, because it is
simply going too fast, and the physics are against it. There is an explosion,
with a lot of energy lost to heat and the explosion, so consider it like a
high-altitude nuclear detonation, without all the pesky radiation. You wouldn’t
want to be in a ship within the blast radius, but people on the ground should
be fine, for a world like Dimiya. Now, if you were targeting a mountaintop
installation, or something on an airless world, that changes. But your people
probably already told you all of this.”
“So lets move on to ships and orbitals. To be honest, the
best defense for any ship is to be somewhere else, which is why the
Assassin-class works best as a first-strike weapon. Otherwise, you need at
least battlecruiser strength shields to have a prayer of surviving a shot. Orbitals
can’t move, and I can imagine the reasons you might not want them to have
battleship shields. The physics just aren’t good for shrugging off an impact
with that much energy behind it.”
Zumrora sighed. “That is what the scientists have been
telling us. That weapon of yours is a frightening thing, Captain Mollen.”
“Well, since I’m a great guy, I’ll give you a piece of
advice. Instead of trying to stop a shot from an Assassin, try to deflect it
instead. There once was a blue-water navy ship on Terra, back before humans
achieved space flight, called the Merrimack.
Instead of blocking the cannons of enemy ships, it had a low hull, and
everything above the water was angled to deflect the cannonballs. While I doubt
a cruiser’s armor could ever be angled enough to survive a hit from the Shadowdancer and still be effective as a
warship, it may be possible to angle the shields, though with current emitter
setups we’ve found that it leaves you more vulnerable to energy weapons from
oblique angles.”
Paxisys leaned forward. “Giving information away, Mollen?
That’s not like you.”
“Well, I figure a bit of help will encourage a budget that
has room for a squadron or two of Assassins for the Confederate Navy. And I
also have a bit of an expedition I’m putting together…”
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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 GameLit):
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 GameLit):
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 GameLit):
Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1
Lewd Dungeon (Dungeon Core GameLit):
Book 1 - Welcome to the Apocalypse https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB34DHF
The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T
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