Frozen Soul, and other works: July 2018

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Prologue - Trade Chat

(NERV Game Site – Official DAtS Offline Forums)

Number5Alive, Golddigger, BurtBacharach, CrazyCelt, Blaze, DoYouEvenLyft?, MarcoPolo, MightMakesRight, l33tpally, Bennie, SEA-TAC_Sweetie, Requiesce-in-Pace, MacD, HaveGunsWillTravel, Guardian, GunKitty, Chummer, Inquisitor, SemiSolidSnake, ElfMama, Not_the_Face!, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, Anonymous7, Anonymous9, AggregatorOfSorrows, M.Mollen, WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, Dolcett, Backlog, DarkAvariel, Knocker, Hullu_Kapteeni, GrimDark, BloodForTheBloodGod, Queen’s_Bitch, BackDat@55Up, DoYouEvenDPS?, MajorTom, Parca, and DarkAngel are in the chat.

Number5Alive: Holy crap, have you seen the reports coming out of the Ihm Imperium? First dungeon discovered, and it looks to be brutal for starting teams.

Knocker: They just put out an announcement, suggesting it be for ‘experienced groups’.

Anonymous3: I heard there was this one guy who was going to try and solo it!

SemiSolidSnake: ‘Try’ being the operative word. Unless they’re a ninja or something, the captures we’ve seen of the dungeon are going to be nasty for a solo player.

Knocker: Well, that’s the point of dungeons, right? Help force people to group up?

Bennie: True. But I’m wondering how often you can run it. If you get a high-level group and grind it…

Inquisitor: Not possible. First group to clear said there’s a limit on dungeons. Only 4 clears per in-game month.

Backlog: So you stop before the boss room each time.

Inquisitor: Someone in the devs’ office thought of that, too. They have scripts looking for people who start a run and then stop it repeatedly. Unless you’re going to let a mob kill you and eat the death penalty repeatedly…

DoYouEvenDPS?: Well, that’s something, at least. You’ll still have to play the game to advance, instead of just grinding through dungeons to get to max level.

Parca: IS there a max level?

Blaze: No one knows. We know skills max out, but no one knows if the character level does.

MightMakesRight: Come on, Parca, your boss has to know.

M.Mollen: I’m only level 40.

l33tpally: What?!? How? With all the stuff you’ve done?

M.Mollen: Turns out I don’t have the right titles and certifications for Fleet Command. So sitting back and commanding battles in fleet actions doesn’t give me nearly as much level XP as it would, say, an actual Admiral.

Blaze: Damn, that’s harsh.

M.Mollen: Eh, not really. I basically set the pieces on the board, and then turn them loose. Once the battle begins, the Captains fight their ships. All I do is send new target priorities to the ships and wing commanders if necessary.

SEA-TAC_Sweetie: So you fought off a X’thari invasion and didn’t get any XP?

M.Mollen: Oh, I got some, just a fraction of what I would have gotten. Most of my XP for the battle came when I came up with the maneuver that allowed Shinokage to destroy her dreadnought.

M.Mollen: Actually got more XP fighting the Kul’tirans, since it was just my little freighter against three of their warships.

ElfMama: How did you pull that off? People are whispering that you have FTL missiles now!

M.Mollen: I used FTL torpedoes to destroy the ships, yes. Basically, just take a small FTL drive and physically remove the safeguards that keeps it from slamming into something large, like a ship or a planet. There’s some other stuff, but that’s the basics.

DarkAngel: How does that not violate the treaties?

M.Mollen: If I used it on a planet or moon, it would. The treaties don’t apply to ships. And since tarpits were a thing the research on this has been abandoned.

GrimDark: Did you really need another way to hideously overpower your ships?

M.Mollen: Yes, actually. While we didn’t lose as many big ships at Nuevo Edo as I’d feared, we lost a lot of our gunboats and there were a lot of casualties even on the ships that physically survived the battle.

Guardian: Especially in First Group, where we didn’t have bombers backing us up.

Parca: …

GunKitty: Now Parca, you know that’s nothing on you. An interceptor and bomber have different roles. Like a pistol and a rifle.

Requiesce-in-Pace: Speaking of rifles, the one you made for me is still working like a gem. And thanks, M.Mollen, for that ‘convenient tip’ on an upcoming bounty. I was there to claim it the moment it went live.

M.Mollen: Always glad to help. :)

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot: Wait, so how’d you know that a bounty was going to be placed on the deputy of the Shining Path faction before it was announced?

M.Mollen: Because I happened to see the evidence the executors saw before they did.

ElfMama: Wait! Does that mean you killed those Shining Path people?

M.Mollen: Me? Why, I can assure you that no one of my description entered that building any time close to the event in question, and I had most recently been spotted seducing another Senator and taking her to a hotel for a lovely day in bed. Room Service can confirm me ordering food throughout the day.

DarkAvariel: So ‘I was fucking a Senator’ is your alibi?

M.Mollen: Indeed. And by this point, anything that comes out to the contrary will be wild speculation and completely unprovable conspiracy theories.

HaveGunsWillTravel: *snickers* They really didn’t know who they were dealing with.

Hullu_Kapteeni: You would think that if the Military, Intelligence, and Underworld all agreed that it was suicide to do this, they would learn, but politicians are the same everywhere, it seems.

Backlog: So what is next for Black Star? Going to go hit the dungeon in Ihm space?

M.Mollen: No, I don’t want to steal the thunder of the people over there. We’ve still got some rebuilding to do, and expansion plans are in place, but for now, I was thinking about just sitting back and being a freighter captain for a while.

BloodForTheBloodGod: Really? That doesn’t sound like you at all.

M.Mollen: Well, if I happen to find some undiscovered dungeons, I’ll try my hand. But I never set out to be a business mogul. Being a freighter captain is much more fun.

GunKitty: And it brings all-new opportunities to find beautiful women and sleep with them, yes?

M.Mollen: Well, there is that, true.

BloodForTheBloodGod: Ok, THAT sounds like you.

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 GameLit):
Volume 1 - Tutorial
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rules-free-vrmmo-life-stuart-grosse/1128941349?ean=2940161995297

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rules-free-vrmmo-life-omnibus-i-stuart-grosse/1128953195?ean=2940162052081

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
Omnibus 1 - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FBPF6HR

The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T

Monday, July 30, 2018

Epilogue - Patch Notes 13.X

(Virtual Room in NERV HQ)

“YES!”

Isaac was not alone in cheering as the virtual report from Ziunov began playing across the galactic networks in game. It had taken a little bit of work to arrange things with the main game AI, but he’d managed to get one of CNN’s main Ihm Imperium correspondents to get out to the border, intending to report on the tragic crash of a freighter, and doing a feel-good piece about strengthening FTL safeguards to prevent something like this from happening in the future, putting him in the right place at the right time to report on the news coming out of the southern continent and send it to the galaxy.

Turning to one of the technicians, he said, “How are the metrics looking? Is it getting visibility on the populated worlds?”

“Yes, the translation of the Latin text has caused several high-level members of various governments to call emergency meetings. They’re managing to keep the people calm so far, as this was an isolated incident on a remote planet.”

“Good, just as intended, then.” Isaac turned to the tech who was focused on the forums. “How are the players taking the news?”

“Between the CNN report and the message posted to the forums, they’re going wild. The first actual dungeon in game is something they’ve been waiting for, and the Ihm players are excited. They’ll probably be flooding the place as soon as a base camp can be established by the entrance to the dungeon.”

“What are we rating the difficulty as? I don’t want elites just steamrolling the place.”

“Mid-level difficulty for experienced teams, high-level difficulty for solo players due to numbers and variety of enemies. Instances are in place, so no more than six people in an instance.”

“In-game reason why the discoverers only lost two, compared to the Nomads going in who will be losing more?”

“Dungeon was not fully set up yet, so they were able to storm the base before all the mobs had spawned and the traps were set. Later groups will get the same basic layout, but the difficulty will be as intended.”

Isaac nodded. “Excellent. And the players have been informed that this is merely the first dungeon discovered, and more are out there, yes?”

“Yes, but the information is propagating slower than we projected in the Free Worlds Alliance and Confederacy. Local events are causing competition for space in news cycles, both in game and on the forums.”

Isaac looked like he had been personally attacked. “What the hell is competing with my dungeon rollout? Don’t tell me some damn fool found the X’thari Gateway address and invited them in!”

Morgan laughed as she walked into the virtual room. “You ought to know that by now, Isaac. No good deed goes unpunished, it seems. The Black Star Company has been dealing with quite a few attacks since they helped beat off the X’thari attack on Nuevo Edo.”

Isaac took a deep breath. “So he didn’t go and invite the X’thari into Known Space?” Morgan shook her head, and Isaac sighed. “Fine, fine. I can handle it. What did he do now that kicked my carefully planned masterstroke off the news cycles?”

“Well, first you should know that his tactic of ‘making examples of people so that everyone else is too scared to move against him’ has been working wonders so far. Our analysts say he probably prevented about sixty-three percent of the potential attacks just through his actions against the pirates who attacked his people and the groups that tacitly supported them in the Badlands. He’s also worked well with those people who have treated him with respect, and that’s kept other groups from joining in. The syndicates on Dimiya refused outright to attack him, or let their people attack, and the military also refused, unless they got written orders signed by the President, since attacking immortals with WMDs is a really stupid idea in their book, especially when there’s no security need for hitting them.”

“So who was after him?”

“Senators and business interests. They were upset that the Civil War ended before they could drag the Confederacy into it and get some spoils, and then he went and made Nuevo Edo a free port on top of that, preventing them from establishing a controlling presence in the other arm of the galaxy.”

“And Black Star isn’t one of the companies that responds to ‘normal’ tactics. Got it.”

“Yeah, so when they convinced the Kul’tirans to send their ‘mercenaries’ after his ship, he blasted two ships to dust, captured the fragment of the one that was left, and ransomed the crew, including the daughter of the leader of Kul’tiras, for north of four million credits, plus what he sold the scrap for. THEN, he went back to Dimiya and publicly seduced a Senator, before apparently taking her place at a meeting of the conspirators and killing them all. By the way, he’s still playing the shapechanging thing as a ‘unique psy power’.”

Isaac humphed in disgust. “Fine, I guess the fallout from all of that is almost equal to my dungeon rollout. But only because it is local news!”

“Yes, yes.”

“So, our boy solved one crisis by making a bigger one, and we’ve given the players something to take their minds off Black Star for a while as they start exploring looking for dungeons. We’ve announced that First Clears of a newly discovered dungeon will get enhanced loot, so that will convince people to go looking.”

“That about sums it up.”

“Good, good. Well, it is five o’clock, so I think this deserves a night leaving early. Want to go check out that new movie that just came out?”

“I already bought us tickets.”

“I swear, you are the perfect woman.”

“And don’t you forget it!”

The two of them politely ignored the sounds of giggling and mock gagging from the technicians in the room watching their ‘moment’.

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rules-free-vrmmo-life-omnibus-i-stuart-grosse/1128953195?ean=2940162052081

Chapter 130 - Dungeon

(Lamtara Rise, Ziunov, Ihm Imperium)

When she had seen the wreckage of the ship from atop the rise, she’d measured the range to be just over forty kilometers away on a straight line. On flat ground, that would have been a day’s walk, perhaps two if they took it easy, or had problems. In the mountains, however, it is not so simple as just moving in a straight line. Privately, Zass thought they were making fairly good time to move through trackless mountains, keeping their orientation despite the weather and their instruments going haywire just as the flyer instruments had. It was evening on the fourth day after sighting the wreckage, and they were now at a small shelf not two kilometers below the wreck site. Tomorrow, they would be able to see the wreck itself.

Bhox nudged her with his large elbow. “Sister, I don’t think we’ll find a better spot to make camp before the sun leaves us. I know you wanted to be at the crash tonight, but…”

Zass shook her head. “No, you’re right. I wished we could make it, but I already sent the message saying we would not be able to make it this night. That collapsed ridge from the wreckage set us back too much.”

Roxl laughed. “I’m just glad that the radios still work! Not good if you need help and have to climb all the way out of the mountains to get it, and then climb all the way back because the flyers won’t fly.”

Zass smiled at her brothers. “Yes, thankfully it is just the nav computers and sensor readings that are affected, not communications. Otherwise the Matriarch wouldn’t have approved this job without twice the crew, to make sure we could make a trail back to base. Anyway, set up the camp, and I’ll call in and let them know our status. Throsk gets first watch tonight.”

Standing watches on the side of a mountain might seem like a foolish idea, but there were wild animals that lived in the mountains, and more than a few of them were quite capable of eating a full-grown Ihm, and weren’t shy about trying. A few of the most worrisome ones were too stupid to realize that they couldn’t actually digest an adult Ihm, but that hardly mattered to the person being eaten, as they’d still be dead. So yes, setting a watch was a standard practice, even on the side of a mountain. ESPECIALLY when you were on a side of a mountain and the instruments you usually used to keep the predators away couldn’t be relied on to work properly.

The next morning, they ate a cold breakfast of chilled ruglee jerky, and began their final climb. Two hours later, they had crested the final rise, and were able to look upon the wreckage from up close.

And that was when the first surprise came.

“Where is all the wreckage? Are we in the right spot?”

Zass didn’t bother to rebuke Uathru’s words, which could be taken as disrespect against her navigational skills. If she were honest, she was wondering much the same thing herself. “Of course we’re in the right spot! You see that huge-ass hole in the shelf? That’s solid rock! You don’t just make a hole like that with a hammer. We’re looking at an impact crater for sure, and recent, none of the edges have been weathered.”

“Then where is all the wreckage? There’s just a few pieces of hull on the ground! The pictures we’ve seen suggested there was a lot more of the wreckage intact.”

Indeed, that was the question. The configuration of the hull plates was the same as they’d seen from the initial satellite pictures and from other long-range scans, but now when they got here, the hull fragments were the only thing left!

Bhox shook his head. “There’s been cloud cover since the crash. No chance for satellites to update the visuals, just the heat scans and EM readings. Looks like we got swindled.”

“Another company? We’re the only salvage group on the planet that could make the climb.”

Roxl grunted. “Unless there was someone with a flyer crazy enough to fly in without instruments or comm beacons. They’d be flying blind, and who knows what would happen to electronics after prolonged exposure to whatever’s causing this, but it isn’t impossible.”

Throsk growled. “Or maybe they’re the ones causing the interference.”

Zass shook her head. “Nope, not believing it. With the amount of space this wreck covered, you’d need more than a single flyer to do this much salvage work so quickly. And there’s no way a whole team of flyers flew up here with no navigation and no one told the clan. Something else is going on, here.”

Bhox shrugged. “Well, it looks like there’s drag marks here. Why don’t we follow them, and see where things go?”

Zass nodded, and said, “Let me call this in, so people know something is weird up here, and then we’ll do that. Meantime, find someplace to stow the equipment, and break out the weapons and armor. If there are other people, or maybe survivors, up here, they may be having restless trigger claws. Either because they came up here to steal our claim, or because they’re not sure who is coming for them. I don’t want the hassle of explaining to the Matriarch why one of you louts died because we got cocky following the trail.”

Two hours later, the field hampering navigation and instrumentation near the mountain fell, and a call went out that shook all of Ziunov.

(Confederate News Network Broadcast)

A human male is pictured, in a business suit. The location appears to be in front of an Ihm government building, with its signature rounded lines.

“This is Chet Ubetcha of CNN, reporting live from Ziunov in the Ihm Imperium, on the border with the Terran Empire. Approximately two Galactic Standard months ago, a spacecraft of Terran origin crash landed in a remote mountainous region of the southern continent of Ziunov.”

“The crash was originally believed to be the result of a faulty FTL mass-detection safeguard system, causing the ship, which was classified as a light freighter, to emerge from hyperspace too close to Ziunov’s atmosphere while travelling at a high rate of speed. The ship, tracked on satellite and other scanners, was believed to be a total loss due to the speed and location of the impact.”

“Initial Search and Rescue efforts were hampered by intense electromagnetic fields and particle residue in the atmosphere surrounding the crash site, disrupting navigation and other instrumentation in the atmospheric craft attempting to respond to the crash site. When satellite imagery showed the total destruction of the freighter with a sizeable impact crater, the crash was deemed unsurvivable, and Search and Rescue efforts were called off.”

“Because of the terrain and the difficulties with instrumentation, salvagers from the Whitescale clan won the right to salvage the wreck and ascertain the cause of the lingering interference. Six hours ago, three of the team of five Ihm were rescued alive off the mountain when the disruption field fell.”

“Earlier, I was able to interview one of the survivors when they were out of surgery.”

The picture changes to a two shot of Chet and a white scaled Ihm female in hospital robes, with one arm in a sling and a patch over one eye. She is identified as Zass Whitescale.

CHET: [Junior Matriarch] Whitescale, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. May I begin by offering our condolences for your losses. Let their spirits find their ancestors with honor.

ZASS: My thanks. Few knelfi know the traditional words. You may call me Zass. And I agreed to speak to you because my brothers did not make it off that mountain, and they deserve to have their story told.

CHET: For our viewers who are not familiar with the Ihm Imperium, the Whitescale Clan is the premier hazardous terrain salvage company on Ziunov, yes?

ZASS: Yes, that’s right. As [Arctic-equivalent] Ihm, we have an advantage in most mountainous terrain and other hazardous environments, with the exception of our ocean-dwelling cousins who can breathe underwater in the deeps.

CHET: So your group was the best suited to the conditions on the mountain, and you went in prepared for a wide range of possible hazards, correct?

ZASS: Yes, we’re professional salvagers. If it were going to be easy or safe, they would call the flat-land companies. We go in expecting all possible environmental hazards, as well as more conventional hazards, like hostile wildlife or rival salvagers. That doesn’t happen often, given the jobs we go on, but we prepare for it all the same.

CHET: Can you tell us what happened on the mountain?

ZASS: Flyer dropped us off on a two-day hike from the ridge-line. That was as close as they could get us without their instruments being affected. As we hiked in, we found communications were not impaired, and so we were able to give regular reports. When we reached the crash site, the entire site had been stripped clean, except for some large hull fragments that had melted into the stone of the impact crater.

CHET: Another team beat you to the site?

ZASS: No. There’d been bad weather in the mountains for a while even without the interference. You may have been able to find one pilot crazy enough to fly in those conditions and hope they didn’t die, but enough to bring in the equipment needed to clean up the site and remove all the debris? Every salvager on the planet was watching that mountain. Someone would have seen it.

CHET: So where did the wreckage go?

ZASS: Well, that’s what we were hoping to find out. We could see drag marks leading from the impact crater to a tunnel that had been drilled into the mountain. I called in the possible hostile activity, so the Clan had a flyer ready, if we could get the disruption field down. My brothers and I, we armored up and got ready for a fight, just in case. Like I said, we prepared for rival salvagers, but sometimes we find survivors, and sometimes they’re a little too eager to shoot first and talk later.

ZASS: Anyway. We entered the cavern, but we quickly found that there were traps in the halls. Some were crude, just monowire strung across a hallway, but others were some real nasty pieces of work. But like I said, we prepare for things. Traps in the hall aren’t that much different from a salvage site that is likely to fall apart around you while you’re trying to locate the priority items.

ZASS: It was maybe one hundred, two hundred meters down the corridor that we encountered our first real problem. Blast doors slammed shut behind us, and a human opened fire on us from a concealed position. Throsk got hit in the shoulder, but wasn’t down. They weren’t expecting us to have armor. Roxl managed to get him with a shot as he was reloading his weapon, which was a psyshot assault rifle.

ZASS: From there… <looks away from camera>

CHET: If you like, we could continue later…

ZASS: No! No. I’ll go on. We fought our way through the damn tunnels, which were turning into some kind of base, until we found the source of the disruption, some big piece of Imperial tech. There were more fighters coming, so we had to hurry. We used some thermite charges and burned the thing up. That shut the thing off nicely, and must have caused some kind of failsafe to go off, because a door opened in the wall, leading to a tunnel heading out.

CHET: Did the fighters follow you?

ZASS: That was the strange thing, they didn’t follow us, even though we where carrying Throsk and Uathru, which slowed us down. We got out, and called in the flyer for immediate evac.

CHET: Was there any indication as to who these fighters were?

ZASS: <shakes head no> Nothing. But… when we left the tunnels, we saw an inscription above the cave that wasn’t there before.

CHET: What did it say?

ZASS: It was in some old language the computer identified as Latin. ‘Gloria in Machina Deo. Deus regnat.’

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rules-free-vrmmo-life-omnibus-i-stuart-grosse/1128953195?ean=2940162052081

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Chapter 129 - Resolution

(BSS Oregon Trail, Black Star Shipyards, Dimiya System)

There had been quite a crowd gathered for the official launch of the Black Star Company’s newest ship, their first large freighter design called the Oregon Trail. Painted in their signature all-black look, the Oregon Trail was designed with an internal hold to carry up to 160 standard cargo containers, stacked in blocks of 16. Eighty percent of the ship was the hold, which was generally kept in vacuum and null gravity. The reason for that was that it helped prevent the spread of any parasites that might sneak aboard one container from infecting the rest of the cargo. It also had the added benefit of making it so that if there was an accident in flight, the number of things that could go wrong went down dramatically when you didn’t have a big tube of air with a bunch of heavy containers that had been secured by their weight now suddenly flying around in zero g. They loaded and secured everything in vacuum and zero g, which meant they never had to worry about what happened if the air escaped or the gravity turned off.

The rest of the ship was primarily engineering spaces, of course, with the massive engines that were able to send such a bulk through space at anything other than a slow crawl, and quarters for the eight-man crew, as well as some passengers if any cared to make the trip on a freighter. While any passengers and crew the Oregon Trail might take on were not going to be living in luxury, there was enough space for them to at least have more comfort than was normal on a freighter.

Megumi knew all this, of course, because she had the job of junior engineer on the Oregon Trail! She was a Nomad, which is why you had a cute (in her opinion) human girl with a Japanese name on a planet mainly inhabited by Knelfi. She’d been taking classes at the Shvehona City College to get Engineering certifications and some skill XP, when she found out that Black Star was going to be at the Career Fair! How cool was that? The biggest and best company run by a Nomad in the game was hiring at her school! She went by to check things out, and boy was she surprised! They had gone all in on the recruitment, with four tables!

She’d just gotten her certifications, so she was super happy to be chosen as the junior engineer for the Trail. Not only was she going to be working for the coolest company on Dimiya, but she was going to be able to learn in the field on one of their newest ships! How cool was that? Super cool!

Now that the official launch was over, though, she had to make sure everything was ready for when the ship started taking on cargo. There was so much to do! It was too bad that she didn’t get a chance to hang out at the party more. The owner was so dreamy, with the dark and dangerous vibe he gave off. And his harem weren’t shy about his exploits, so the whole company knew that he’d done a lot of ‘stamina training’. But she didn’t expect the owner to pay attention to her, not until she did something awesome to—

Whoosh!

Hmm? Why was that hatch opening? There shouldn’t be anyone coming in here for a while. All she was doing was tuning up the engines, after all. Ooh, it was probably the Chief, looking to make sure she was working hard! Well, she’d show how hard she was willing to work! She stayed bent over in the engine space where she was working, and just called out, “Hey Chief! I’m just tuning up these engines a bit! They were on factory standard, which is fine for new engines, but I tweaked them a bit, and we’re going to have about five, maybe ten percent more power over factory settings! That’ll get us a bit more speed and turn!”

She yelped in surprise when a hand came to rest on her hip, and she became very aware that she was only wearing a skin-tight ship-suit, thanks to the narrow spaces she had to get into sometimes. Then a voice that most definitely WASN’T the Chief’s came from behind her. “Oh good, I was wondering what my cute junior engineer had gone off to do so quickly after the ceremony.” She knew that voice, that was the owner’s voice! Oh god, and he was touching her butt! This was like something out of one of those movies she’d been watching with her roommate before she’d gotten the job with Black Star!

The owner chuckled softly, and a voice whispered in her head. “Such interesting images in your head. The one with the pretty engineer who gets taken on top of her engine is a nice one. Would you like to make it a reality?” And his hand wasn’t rubbing her butt any more, but going oooh! That was not her butt at all, but something much more exciting. Oh god, the skinsuit was tight enough that it probably showed everything to him! So embarrassing!

Megumi gulped, not daring to move, or to turn and look, and said, “But what about your girlfriends?”

The voice returned, outside her head this time, “My pets know that I enjoy sampling delights from all over. They accept this, because they know that I always come back to them. Sometimes, they join in. Oh, I see that thought excites you. Perhaps next time I’ll bring one of them with me, hmm? For now, why don’t you come out and let me get you out of that suit, hmm?” And then the hand groping her spanked her butt, causing her to yelp in surprise.

Oh goodness, she couldn’t wait to tell the girls from the dorm about this! They were going to be so jealous! Trying not to shake her hips too obscenely, she slipped out of the engine housing, and turned to find herself face to face with the owner of the company, her boss. And he was smiling at her, like a wolf watching a deer.

“Good girl. Now let me see what I get to play with today. Do a good job, and I’ll give you the ride of your life.”

Oh goodness, the girls were going to be so jealous!

(Owner’s Office, Black Star Yards, Dimiya System)

Once I’d done my part in enhancing my image of a charismatic playboy and womanizer by giving the young engineer of the Oregon Trail a story to tell her friends (which would only help the story now spreading about Senator Virstina), I returned to my offices at the Yards to do a bit of paperwork that Raven shoved in front of me the moment I got in the door. Ah well, the ‘playboy CEO’ has to actually work at the ‘CEO’ part of things as much as the fun part sometimes. Of course, this was just me passing time until my next meeting started. This one promised to be less fun than my ‘meeting’ with the young engineer, but it needed to happen.

Right on time, Alok Paxisys walked through the doors of my office, with Zumrora at his heels. They both looked like they’d been having more than a few nights with little sleep. I stood and offered my hand to each of them. “Ah, gentlemen. So good of you to come. I hope you’re both doing well?”

Zumrora laughed at that, while Paxisys just grumbled. The military spook nudged him with an elbow, and said, “I’ve been quite well. Fortunately, the military has a history of not playing the kind of political games that certain Senators were up to, and backed me when I told them, politely, to go to hell unless they had written orders when they asked for some action against Black Star. Idiots! Poor Paxisys, however, has been running himself ragged trying to deal with them. Haven’t you, Alok?”

Paxisys mock glared at the two of us, before saying, “Well, I can’t say that it hasn’t been an interesting couple of months, ever since you went and killed all those X’thari. The ‘idiots’, as Zumrora puts them, were very upset that you halted their plans for the expansion of the Confederacy. The potential jump of being the ones to control access to an entire arm of the galaxy with all the potentially untapped resources was making some heads spin.”

He sighed dramatically, and continued, “To have that dream snatched so suddenly from them by the declaration of Nuevo Edo as a free port was a shock, make no mistake. And following on the heels of the ‘lost opportunity’ of the Imperial Civil War, where they might have ‘liberated’ a few worlds from the Empire if things had gone on much longer! They were positively distraught, I assure you! Unfortunately, it would seem that their grief made them lose track of reason, which brings us to the actions against you, and your company.”

I smiled as I leaned back in my chair, “Then it is so very fortunate that they managed to get caught up in an internal struggle within their faction, yes? And even the rather nasty insurance policy one of them had was cleanly dealt with.” I paused, and said, “And as a happy coincidence, it seems that all of those who were pushing for actions against my company are now indisposed, or are too weak to do anything about it, while there are a great many other shiny objects to distract them as the press tears into the Origin Club.”

Paxisys grunted. “And it just so happens that the only member of the group that was supposed to be meeting at the club that night who survived was publicly seen having an affair with the CEO of the Black Star Company, and they were seen both entering and exiting the building, giving them solid alibis.”

“Yes, well, when I met with Miss Virstina to see about her positions on my company, I found that she was a lot less set on things than her compatriots were, and was simply riding coattails to reach higher. I made certain to test how flexible she was during our discussion, and found it quite enjoyable. And wouldn’t you know it, but even the backlash of a tryst with a playboy is sliding off her when there are so many other, more interesting stories coming out right now.”

Zumrora laughed “So, now that you’ve created a bunch of chaos, yet again, what do you have in mind for going forward?”

I looked over to Zumrora, and winked, “Don’t think I don’t know that you’ve probably got money riding on this. Anyways, I’m going to be doing some rebuilding, and once we get our fleet back to where it was, if not better, I plan on doing some exploration of the Gateway network.”

Zumrora leaned forward. “The Nuevo Edoans showed you their little ‘address book’ of Gateway Addresses?”

I smiled, and said, “Oh, yes. But exploring the Gateways isn’t something you can do with a single ship. All our Gateways have defenses, so why wouldn’t Gateways in unknown areas? And we know that one or more of those Gateways must play home to the X’thari, so it isn’t something you can just run out and send shuttles through to check things out. Even with an all-Nomad crew, that would be very risky, since you’d be telling them where you came from.”

Zumrora nodded. “And no reason on giving the X’thari a reason to show up any earlier than they might otherwise. Speaking of which, I have a couple requests from the military. First, they’d like to see about buying weapons from you, and second, they’re interested in some ‘training exercises’.”

“Oh? Well, let’s start with the weapons. What are they looking to buy, exactly?”

“To be frank, they want to buy those FTL weapons you have, and the torpedoes you used at Nuevo Edo. Bombers had been thought to be a waste of space for the last few development cycles, but you’ve shown they can be very nasty, and an FTL weapon? Yeah, that is scary to pretty much everyone.”

“The Dragonbreath torpedoes I’d be willing to sell to the Navy, sure, along with the Dragon Bombers. But the Starbolt is something I’d like to keep a close leash on, for obvious reasons. Especially because it really is just a torpedo with a hyperdrive that has had the safeguards removed. Oh, there’s more to it than that, but that is the entire secret of how the Starbolt works inside tarpits. Currently I have them locked down requiring effectively the same level of command authorizations as people use for Exterminatus weapons. The only reason they were on the Starlight Raven for that run was because I didn’t know how much force I’d be facing, so it was the perfect time for weapons tests.”

Zumrora sighed. “Well, that’s to be expected, but the fleet commanders will be happy to get those bombers, even if the fighter pilots won’t be happy about a ‘downgrade’.”

“Hah! Fighter pilots aren’t happy unless they’ve got the fastest thing in space. That will never change. So, what about these ‘exercises’?”

“Well, they Navy has started taking possession of the Assassins they ordered from you, and the CSN Luvon Gilrie has been commissioned and has a full crew. What they don’t have is experience with the kind of weapons and tactics that you’ve used with the Black Stars. The Navy wanted to know if they could put the Gilrie on detached duty to shadow one of your fleet groups to gain some experience.”

“Well, Zumrora, send the captain to me, and if they aren’t an asshat, I’ll allow them to join with us temporarily so they can learn a little.”

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4
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Friday, July 27, 2018

Chapter 128 - Confrontation

(Confederate Intelligence Service HQ, Somewhere on Dimiya)

Alok Paxisys was busy. Regardless of what certain Senators thought, he had more responsibilities than simply overseeing their political games against the Black Star Company. There were many potential threats to the Confederation, both from without and within. Finding those threats and ending them before they became a problem was the job of the Confederate Intelligence Service.

Currently, he was going over the forensic report on the events of Jagloth. The planet had been burned to a crisp almost two years ago now, but a proper review of the intelligence apparatus took time, and the task was not made easier by the large number of resources that had been destroyed when the legion was eliminated. But that was fine. This was not a report for the Senate or anyone on the ‘outside’. This was an in-house report, to try and find out if there was anything that the CIS could have done to prevent the disaster, short of having psychics who could flawlessly predict the future, or completely shredding the rights of citizens.

Unfortunately, due to the speed of the Legion takeover, and the way it spread, traditional intelligence techniques would not help, once someone had gotten a sample of the nanites and begun replication. And according to sources in the Nomad community, the Nomad who had been responsible had apparently altered the nanite coding himself, so there would have been no warning there. No, the only place where they could have done better was in interdicting the ‘Hundeherstellar’ nanites or better tracking who the nanites went to when they had gotten into the underworld of Jagloth. Thankfully, the syndicates had been most helpful in eliminating the smugglers who brought in the nanites, and his sources told him that the word was out that anyone bringing the nanites into Confederate space would find themselves on the wrong side of an airlock if the syndicates found out about it. Situations like Jagloth were bad for business, after all.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Looking up, he saw his aide. “Ah, Alred. What is it?”

The aide looked flustered. “Captain Mollen has sent a response to our request to meet. He just sent a response saying that he was back on Dimiya, and will be happy to meet with us, but suggests tomorrow, as he will be attending a meeting with a certain Senator tonight.”

Paxisys blinked, stunned. “He said WHAT?”

(Origin Club, Thelorious, Dimiya)

“Perhaps they just know me better than you do, hmm?”

Senator Adynore’s head snapped up, looking to the source of that foreboding sentence. Sitting at the other end of the table from her was Rina Virstina, one of the junior Senators for Dimiya, and a rising star in the Shining Path faction. Glowering at the younger woman, Adynore said, “Explain yourself.”

Virstina smiled, and stood, so that the entire room could see her clearly. And then her face began to shift, as though melting! Several people gasped in horror, and pushed back from the table, but Adynore stood transfixed, unable to turn away from the sight of the other woman’s features warping to change into that of the human they had been talking about, though still on Virstina’s body. When ‘she’ spoke again, it was with the deeper voice that one associated with the leader of the Black Star Company.

“It is as I said. Perhaps the intelligence groups simply know me better than you do.” ‘She’ smiled, and looked around the room. “Oh, dear, I guess some introductions are in order? You see, my name is Mirikon Mollen, Captain of the Starlight Raven, Owner of the Black Star Company, and Commodore of the Black Star Navy. Though I expect they’ll be insisting on me being an admiral if we get many more ships.”

He held up a hand as some people were starting to come out of shock, and were about to interject, “Now, some of you may be wondering how I am here, looking like this? Well, let us just say that there is proprietary technology that we have not released to the public, and leave it at that. Not everything Black Star does is suitable for the open market, but it does have its uses.”

Adynore growled, now that her target was right in front of her. “What did you do with Senator Virstina?”

“Ah, Rina? I’m afraid that she is very tired after the thorough workout I gave her while persuading her that she should stop supporting a losing cause. You see, she was always just using you people in the Shining Path to further her career, but she represents the region around Shvehona City, you know? And I am very popular there, enough that she really couldn’t refuse to meet me. From there, I seduced her, and took great care to pump her long and hard… for information, of course. By the time I was done, she was shouting your secrets so loudly that the whole building would have heard her if not for the soundproofed walls. When she told me of this lovely meeting, I decided that I simply must attend in her place, since she was sleeping off our exertions.”

Adynore bristled with rage. That WHORE! She sold out the party? Her people’s destiny? Everything? And for what, some man who was rumored to have slept with half of Nuevo Edo already? The whore was going to be ruined when Adynore got out of here. There would be no place on this planet – no, the entire Confederacy! – that she would be able to hide from her shame!

The… thing that had masqueraded as Virstina chuckled wickedly and turned ‘her’ attention to Kamata. “Now, Kamata, I believe you were warned about what would happen if you tried to move against Black Star. In fact, I know you were, because I was personally informed that all the syndicates on Dimiya had been informed of the consequences of that. And after listening to your conversation, I have decided that you are too stupid to be a syndicate leader. Fortunately, a disagreement between me and you does not need to become a disagreement between Black Star and the Jade Serpents. See, when I am done here I will go to your second, and have a discussion with him. If that doesn’t prove fruitful, I will continue having discussions as I elevate people from within your organization due to vacancies at the top.”

The Yakuza leader bristled at the way he was being talked down to, like a child, and snapped. “What, you would threaten to kill me, in front of all these witnesses? You would be ruined! You may be able to get to one of us, but by then we would have called every police officer on this planet to come and arrest you, and there would be no escape for you then.”

“Ah, foolish, foolish Kamata-chan. You see, I am not worried in the slightest about any of the people in this room. After all, each and every one of you are dead men and women, you just haven’t figured it out yet.”

‘She’ turned her attention to Miravaris, who was trying to reach someone, anyone on her commlink. “Oh dear, I’m sorry, Miss Miravaris, but I am afraid this room is quite excellently shielded to prevent any communications from coming in or out. After all, the Origin Club prides itself on discretion, and this meeting was to be of the utmost discretion. Senator Virstina saw to it personally, though the funds came from a Shining Path account. Yes, I am afraid all of you are completely cut off from the outside.”

Adynore growled, and said, “Enough of this nonsense!” She slapped the ‘call’ button to summon the Club staff so they would come and open the doors, which would break the secure comms protocols on the room, at least long enough for an emergency message to get out.

‘Virstina’ simply smiled, and said, “Oh, no, I’m afraid it hasn’t been nearly enough yet, Senator. You see, my people have already taken control of the building’s computer systems, and have quietly isolated this room, to ensure that we will be completely undisturbed. I did not go to all the trouble of crashing this party to allow you all to run away like frightened rats.”

Lukian looked fearful. “You cannot do this! We’re some of the most powerful people in the Confederacy! You will become a pariah! You will be hunted throughout the galaxy!”

“Ah, Lukian. Are you talking about your little ‘insurance policy’? Having a fund of a million credits ready to go should you die of unnatural causes to be paid out when your executor is presented with the head of the ones responsible for your untimely death is inspired, truly. Unfortunately, it is a trick I have seen before, and I’ve already made preparations.”

‘Virstina’ chuckled at Lukian’s look of shock. “Oh yes, I have. You see, a well known assassin is on Dimiya as we speak. When we conclude our conversation, he will receive a packet of information detailing the nature of your contract, as well as the evidence pointing to one of Senator Adynore’s rivals within the Shining Path, and their concerns that she was gaining too much influence in the movement. That evidence will be released publicly just before the assassin takes out the target, and I’m sure they’ll thank you for your quick payment on services rendered.”

Adynore rose from her chair. She couldn’t let this Nomad continue to control the flow of the conversation. She needed to reassert her dominance, and move it into an arena where she could outmaneuver him, or at least make it so that she could survive this. She would strike back when he least expected it. That in mind, she glared at the man that was somehow wearing a woman’s body, and said, “What is it that you want? You’ve made your point, now, what deal do you want to make it as if this never happened? I assume that Virstina is your fall woman that will be executed to answer Lukian’s bounty?”

“Oh my, no. It will be the Senator from Vidara, Daniels. You really have been more and more virulent in your anti-human rhetoric lately, and it was disturbing him greatly, since he planned to oust you before the next elections. Taking out your supporters was simply an added benefit.”

“As for Rina, she has the perfect alibi, if a bit scandalous. She was seen in the company of a dashing young man last night at one of Thelorious’s trendiest clubs, where many people caught the two of them on video. The two of them went to a nearby hotel, where they were both seen entering the hotel, and going up to a penthouse suite. Their neighbors made a noise complaint because of how loud they were in their lovemaking. Since then, she has canceled her appearances for today, which weren’t many since it is the weekend, and enjoyed a day in bed, and room service has confirmed delivery multiple times to the room. In the meantime, a prosthetic disguise with her face will be found next to these discarded clothes by the police, confirming that someone posing as her infiltrated the club, where checking identification is not done, to keep from leaving records of who comes in or out of the club. When she checks out of the hotel with the man tomorrow morning, she will have a very valid alibi, I assure you.”

Miraveris looked up at ‘Virstina’, and said, “You said we were already dead. What did you mean?”

“Ah, you poor thing. You never checked your food and drink for poison. Well, not a poison, in this case, but nanites. They’ve been placed in each one of your meals, and by now have spread throughout your body, simply waiting for a signal. What will these nanites do, you’re probably wondering? Well, simply put, they will induce cardiac arrest in your hearts, killing you all quickly and cleanly, with no evidence as to who killed you. Honestly, I have some wonderful people working for me.”

Then ‘she’ pressed a button on her bracer, and Adynore felt a stabbing pain in her chest, before things went dark.

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4
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Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Chapter 127 - Discovery

(Origin Club, Thelorious, Dimiya)

The Origin Club was the most prestigious and exclusive club on Dimiya. No mere nightclub for the masses, the Origin Club was a strictly ‘members only’ affair that catered to the rich and the powerful. Getting a membership, even on a provisional basis, required the support of other members of the Origin Club. The number of people who even knew of the Origin Club’s existence, save members and the trusted staff who worked there, numbered in the mere dozens, across the entire planet.

Simply put, if you knew about the Origin Club and didn’t work there, you were either a member, or you were on one of two lists. The first list was for people who were potential members, either as legacies or as up and comers. The second list was for people to watch in case they caused problems for the club, so that a quiet ‘accident’ could be arranged for them. Some people, naturally, were on both lists.

This exclusivity and discretion gave the Origin Club a cachet that allowed politicians, businessmen, religious leaders, and all other types to speak freely often crossing the party lines or other divides that separated them in the outside world. Many a deal had been hammered out in the sitting rooms of the Origin Club over one’s intoxicant of choice.

In the Trophy Room, a group of twelve Senators and business leaders were meeting, away from the prying eyes of aides, the press, and other annoyances. It was not unusual for any or all of them to be at the Origin Club, or for them to sometimes have a ‘working dinner’ with their fellows to work out the best forms a piece of legislation should take. Tonight, however, their conversation was on less pleasant topics of how they should arrange the future of the Confederacy for the ‘greater good’ (which included THEIR good, of course).

Malon Adynore of Iylia was the ‘hostess’ for their current get together, and the Senator was quite upset with the news that had broken earlier that day. “I am telling you, this Black Star group is far too powerful! And they’re getting more power by the day! We need to step in and bring them in line!”

Aiwin Lukian, CEO of the largest shipbuilding firm in the Confederacy, shrugged his shoulders. “We have tried the business measures, but his products are good, and reliable. They’ve gotten considerable favorable press for their designs thanks to the Imperial Civil War and the business at Nuevo Edo. The only reason they aren’t cutting more into our bottom line is because the owner seems content to build small military craft and freighters, and has not ventured into industrial craft. Now, he’s putting the first large freighter of his, this ‘Oregon Trail’, into space, and several of the mid-sized shipping companies are already interested in what it can do.”

Kamata Kanko, one of only three humans in the gathering shook his head. “It is no use going through the normal criminal routes, either. Nakahara-dono of the Rose Dragons and Triswyn-dono of the Crystal Fangs have spread the word that Black Star is not to be touched. Even rival organizations, like our Jade Serpents, cannot move openly against them. All the underworld would unite against any syndicate that moves against the Black Stars, if only to ensure that their retribution does not result in too much ‘collateral damage’.”

Lukian looked over to the man, and said, “Are they still that scared over what he did in the Badlands, Kamata-dono? I understand that destroying the outposts was a setback to most of the syndicates, but surely that would encourage them to get some revenge?”

Kamata shook his head. “Oh, there are many who would rejoice if they could bring the Black Stars down, but they are not foolish enough to risk open conflict with a group as powerfully armed as they are, who have been proven to destroy targets that merely encouraged others to their doom. On the other hand, Black Star is willing to deal with those who aren’t against them, and their products are high quality. Not always the best, or the fastest, but reliable, and discrete. And their products are priced fairly. He has their fear, but he also has their respect. It is very upsetting.”

Adynore growled in frustration. “And now even mercenaries are useless against him! You’ve heard the terms he arranged for the release of those damned Kul’tirans who couldn’t even destroy a single freighter? 2.1 MILLION credits for twenty-one crew members! The standard rate is 10 thousand per head, for officers. And the price for that Proudmoore bitch? He got another 2.1 million for her alone!”

Faylen Miravaris, an executive in one of the more prominent arms manufacturers in the Confederacy, shook her head. “That is not what worries me, to be honest. We already know that he possesses the ability to produce Greenwave. Once the Proudmoore girl was released from her slave collar, she began informing those who needed to know that her ships had been destroyed by FTL torpedoes.”

Adynore smiled like a hawk at that news. “Excellent! With that, we can nail him with the treaties banning those weapons. He’ll have to do whatever we tell him to!”

Miravaris sighed. “If only it were so simple. It seems as though the treaties were written to prevent attacks on planets or lunar colonies. Attacking a ship would not apply. At the time, battles at faster than light speeds were a possibility in interstellar space. The development of tarpit traps removed that as a factor, but the treaties were never changed.”

Lukian shook his head. “There is no way we’d be able to get the treaties changed, not in any length of time that would help us. There is some hope for the court of public opinion, but their owner has developed a somewhat flamboyant persona as the ‘plucky upstart able to fight above his weight class’, and his successes make him popular. He need only say he was looking to improve his forces against Pirates or the X’thari, and people would cheer him on. His defense of Nuevo Edo has made the Black Stars into heroes in many people’s eyes. A smear campaign may do more harm than good.”

Miravaris leaned back in her chair, considering. “From the reports, he is quite the lecher, so have we considered a seduction? We could arrange a honeypot for him, either to get a scandal, or ensure we can influence him. Perhaps a mental psy user? Surely we have one with enough subtlety for the job that we can call on?”

Taeral Elcaryn, one of the Senators from Dimiya itself, shook his head. “We have several in the intelligence services who could do the work, but the CIS is refusing point blank to issue such orders without written authorization, citing the fact that they’ve already burned substantial assets attempting to infiltrate Black Star before we began pressuring them, and they will not throw away ‘vital security assets’ on ‘political games’.”

Adynore growled. “We’ll need to replace the leader of the CIS then, to ensure that they have the… guts necessary to do as they’re told. I want to know what the bastard has on them that we don’t, so we can turn and make them start doing their jobs!”

“Perhaps they just know me better than you do, hmm?”

(Ziunov, Ihm Imperium)

Ziunov was a charming little planet, on the edge of the Imperium, not far from the border with the brash Terran Empire. Those humans had tried, from time to time, to make in-roads against the Imperium, but the sturdy warriors and cunning leaders of the Warrior and Leader castes had stopped the enemy each time, and driven the Empire back more than once. Ziunov was originally an Imperial world, but after the last war the Imperium had claimed it as spoils, and dismantled the small fleet refueling station that had been there, turning Ziunov into a shining example of an Ihm colony.

A local month ago (1.3 Terran Months), there was a large disturbance as an unidentified ship emerged from FTL at the edge of the atmosphere, stopped by the automatic safeguards, no doubt, and proceeded to crash in the mountainous region of the southern continent known as the Lamtara Rise. Naturally, such an event was major news across Ziunov for a day, perhaps two, but after it became clear that there could be no survivors, the story was relegated to a background piece on whether the safeguards on FTL engines should be strengthened.

There was an unusual bit of news related to the crash, however. When the first flights had tried to reach the crash site with flyers, they were still several kilometers away from the site when they had begun experiencing interference with their instruments. Sensors detected increased particulate residue in the air, and so it was assumed that something aboard the crashed ship had been released into the atmosphere, and was interfering with the systems. When satellite pictures showed the extent of the wreckage, search and rescue efforts were called off, as there could be no survivors from such a wreck.

Of course, that was when the Salvagers got involved. When the ‘interference’ continued despite several days of wind and rain in the mountains, people began saying that perhaps there was some new technology (or perhaps even Lost Technology!!) that had survived the crash, and was active. However, the nearest settlement was almost two weeks away on foot. Even taking transports as close as they dared before walking the rest of the way, they were still looking at hiking for at least a week, thanks to the mountains.

Zass Whitescale was leading this particular venture. A rare variant of the Ihm people, the Whitescale clan were far, far more resistant to the cold than others of their people. The cold wind, rain, and snow of the mountains would not bother them. They were, in fact, the only Salvager group who could operate in the Mountains without flyer support, which is why getting the exclusive contract for the crash site and whatever they found there was easy enough.

She looked around at her four hulking brothers, Bhox, Roxl, Uathru, and Throsk. All fine specimens of Ihm malehood, and all Whitescales who would not hesitate on a mission like this because of the cold. She would have preferred to have one of the men from the local village along as well, but having a playmate to warm her burrow while they were working was not worth the trouble bringing a ‘normal’ Ihm would cause them. Perhaps when they got back, however….

She shook her delusions, fun as they were, aside. Now was not the time for such things. The flyer had left them two days ago, and already the climb into the mountains was getting treacherous, even for an Ihm who could easily take the cold, and had prepared for things, even going so far as to prepare more primitive ‘backup’ tools, should the source of the interference in the mountains cause problems with their more modern equipment. While all five of them carried a share of the gear, her brothers naturally carried more in their packs, since they were better equipped to carrying large loads. Thanks to this, they actually had supplies to last a local month, if they needed it, but they hoped that they’d be long out of the mountains, at least, before supplies started to become an issue.

Climbing to the top of a rise, Zass pulled out a pair of binoculars fitted to her Ihm features. Such a device was not native to the Ihm people, but was something they had adapted from the Humans during their conflicts. The ability to enhance one’s vision was a powerful tool, but the idea of using tools held in one’s claws for the task, rather than using Psy to enhance the eyes directly, was an approach the Ihm had not considered. She knew how to enhance her sight the ‘normal’ way, but when in the wild one always needed to be aware of one’s strength, and conserve their energy for the proper moment. Learn from your enemies as well as your allies, that is what the Matron had said.

Looking through the device, she could just see the remains of the alien ship far off in the distance. She couldn’t be sure of what kind of ship it was, but there appeared to be a cave forming nearby under an overhang that hid it from satellites. Perhaps there was a survivor after all?

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4
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Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Chapter 126 - Public Relations (Retaliations?)

(Mercenary Vessel Fall of Theramore, Interstellar Space)

“-dy!”

Everything was pain. Oh Gods, why did everything hurt? She hadn’t had THAT much to drink, right? No, wait, she was on ship. She never drank on ship. Bad example for the crew. So why did everything hurt? And what was that wailing?

“Milady! Can you understand me?”

The lights finally stopped swimming in front of her eyes, and Lady Proudmoore managed to focus on the person speaking to her. Who? Oh, yes, the Captain. He looked like he’d been injured.

“What?”

“The Black Stars, milady. They hit us with something we’ve never seen before. We’re on emergency power and dead in the water.”

Lady Proudmoore grit her teeth, fighting through the pain (and probable concussion) to say, “How bad?”

“Unknown, milady. We have limited internal communications, but they are sketchy where we do have them, and we can’t raise anyone aft of section five on any deck. It is like the aft two thirds of the ship are just GONE!”

“Sensors!”

The sensor tech who had been watching the fight came up, and touched her shoulder lightly, and she felt her head get slightly better. “Sorry, Ma’am. Best I can do with my powers. Right now we’re triaging wounded and I’m the only one with healing Psy powers.” He took a breath, and then said, “I have gone over the data we have before we were hit. In each case we detected weapons fire from the Starlight Raven approximately one hundred and twenty seconds AFTER we got the light from the frigates being destroyed. Sensors went out before we could get the light from whatever hit us.”

That thought chilled the blood of any spacer. There was only one thing that could make your enemy detect the light of an attack after the attack had already hit. “S-superluminal? In a tarpit?”

The Captain looked shaken as well. “But there are laws! Treaties! It is madness! No one would dare use superluminal weapons! The entire galaxy would rise up against them!”

Slowly, Lady Proudmoore shook her head. “There are treaties against using them against inhabited planets, even by accident. If a superluminal weapon should miss and hit any planet or moon with a population, the treaties would demand everyone descend upon Black Star and rip it apart. But there are no planets here.”

The Captain looked ‘agitated’, to put it mildly, and she had to agree with the emotion at the moment. “How did they launch a superluminal weapon while in a tarpit? Surely there is no one mad enough to tamper with the safeguards?”

The Sensor tech shook his head. “The owner is a Nomad. Didn’t one of them start the Imperial Civil War by crashing a shuttle into the Imperial Palace since they knew they wouldn’t die?”

Lady Proudmoore sighed. “There is no point asking if ‘whether’ someone would do such a thing. They clearly have. Now, can we get this news out? Or call for a rescue?”

The Captain shook his head as he looked up from a tablet one of the techs handed him. “Long-range communications are dead. They were located in section seven, deck two.”

“How bad is it, really, Captain?”

“We managed to get some of the external sensors online again. Everything aft of Section 5 is simply gone, Milady. Most decks Section 5 is breached, or at least damaged. We have confirmed life signs from twenty-two crewmen, including bridge crew. The rest of the ship’s crew is most likely KIA. I am afraid we will not be coming home with a sterling record, Milady.”

Lady Proudmoore snorted at the thought. Three ships destroyed, and only 22 survivors out of a detachment that had sported almost thirteen hundred? Sterling record indeed!

*THUNK* *THUNK* *THUNK*

Blinking at the sudden sounds of metal on metal reverberating through the hull, Lady Proudmoore looked at the sensor tech. “What is happening?”

“Wait one. Trying to get a picture…” The Sensor tech gulped as he looked up from his tablet, and turned it so the Captain and she could see. “Cables, ma’am. We are being taken under tow.”

“So we’re not going to be destroyed, but captured, hmm?”

The Captain nodded his head. “The Black Stars are registered as a mercenary group, so there is some hope that they will abide by the Accords and offer Ransom.”

“This is the Black Star Ship Starlight Raven. We are conducting legitimate salvage operations under the Unified Mercenary Force Accords. Given that your ships initiated conflict with ours without prior declaration of intent vis a vis Section 3.14.159-26 of the UMFA, your vessel and your persons are to be considered property of the Black Star Company until such time as you are either Ransomed to your planet of origin or sold at auction or in private sale as overseen by a member of the Interstellar Slavers’ Guild.”

“As a member of the Interstellar Slavers’ Guild, as well as the owner of the Black Star Company, it is my pleasure to announce that if Kul’tiras does not pay your Ransom, you will all be sold to truly horrible places, where I do not doubt that you will never know freedom again. Should any of you choose to resist when our forces come aboard to collar you in preparation of transferring you over to our ship, you will be stunned, and THEN collared with your Stepford protocols activated, forcing you to sit, silent and motionless, in a compartment until we reach Kul’tiras. Of course, by that time you will no doubt have died from dehydration, if the life support doesn’t fail first. I would recommend you not resist.”

Lady Proudmoore sighed, and said, “Help me to my feet. We must at least look presentable before we are shamed in our return to Kul’tiras.”

(BSS Starlight Raven, Kul’tiras Gateway, Free Worlds Alliance)

“Unknown Freighter, this is Kul’tiran Navy Vessel Waycrest’s Pride. You are in Kul’tiras Space, hauling the remains of a warship. Identify yourself, and cut your engines to prepare for inspection.”

I looked at the time. Hmm. Just under a minute since I exited the Gateway. Not bad, not bad at all. Still, they were getting awfully presumptuous. Better give them something else to think about before they started getting pushy. Maybe… ooh, yes, that would do nicely.

“Raven, have Lady Proudmoore come to the cockpit.”

Raven chuckled. “You do know she’s still in that maid outfit Sana is making her wear, right?”

“Even better! Have her up her on the double. And when we go live, prepare to send our response in the clear to everyone in the system, and rebroadcast to every news group in Known Space that you can reach.”

The hatch opened, and Lady Proudmoore was standing there, dressed in a uniform that could best be described as ‘Slutty French Maid’, with her hair dyed pink and pulled up in two side pony-tails. Her face was frozen in a vapid smile, like a perfect bimbo. I nodded slightly, that would do nicely. “Good. Now, you will stay there and smile while we project your humiliation to all of Known Space.”

Turning to face the camera, I waited until Raven gave me the signal that we were live, and said, “This is Captain Mirikon Mollen of the Black Star Ship, Starlight Raven. Negative on cutting our engines and negative on inspection. We are conducting a salvage operation under Section 3.14.159-26 of the Unified Mercenary Forces Accord, and will not yield our bounty to you.”

“That Section only applies to the destroying craft, not freighters hired to haul—”

“I know damn well what it applies to, you rat-infested fecal connoisseur! I destroyed the Fall of Theramore, Culling of Stratholme, and Lament of Arthas after those three ships of the Kul’tiras Mercenary Group attacked my lone freighter in interstellar space. Unfortunately, the miserable hunk of wreckage was the only piece large enough to be worth hauling back. In accordance with Section 3.14.159-26, I have also taken all of the surviving crew of the Fall of Theramore as my property until such time as they can be ransomed or sold at auction. Among the survivors is one Lady Jaina Proudmoore who you can see behind me. She and the rest of her crew are available to be ransomed. To ensure that all offers are treated fairly, I will retransmit all ransom offers and counteroffers in the clear system-wide. If offers are not sufficient for the annoyance the Kul’tiras Mercenary Group has provided me, then as a member of the Interstellar Slavers’ Guild in good standing I will conduct an auction to sell them at the Zandalar Slave Market in the Ihm Imperium, where no doubt they will go for a heady price.”

“Also in accordance with the UMFA, I am announcing the public sale by auction of the remains of the Fall of Theramore, starting in five hours, which should give plenty of time for anyone within range of a Gateway who wishes to bid on this pitiful piece of scrap that couldn’t even stand up to a freighter.”

I smiled into the camera. “I will not be entertaining further questions until after the disposition of the wreckage and slaves. This transmission ends.”

(Confederate Intelligence Service HQ, Somewhere on Dimiya)

“Sir! The Starlight Raven has just resurfaced!”

Alok Paxisys sighed in relief. He had initially thought that sending the warning would allow Mollen an easy chance to evade or defeat the planned ambush, but as hours turned to days and there was still no word about the Raven, he grew concerned. When the BSS Articuno, another Raven-class ship, appeared in the Starlight Raven’s place, delivering the cargo she was supposed to be carrying, he got worried. Now it was almost two weeks after the Raven had left Dimiya, and he was finally getting some answers.

Looking over to his aide, Aldred, he asked, “Well? Where did they end up?”

Aldred shook his head. “They ended up in Kul’tiras, sir. Eyes on the Gateway there said that they dialed in from Desolace.”

“Why in the hells would he go there?”

“Because he was hauling what looked like maybe half a warship behind him, saying it was salvage from a battle. He claimed to have been attacked by three Kul’tiran Navy—” he coughed, “sorry, Kul’tiras Mercenary Group ships, and he named two frigates and a heavy cruiser confirmed to be out at the time. Preliminary scans in system say that the remains of the ship he is hauling is the Fall of Theramore, as he claimed when he announced his presence to every news group in Known Space. We also have video that says he has captured the young Lady Proudmoore and is offering to Ransom her under the Mercenary Accords.”

Paxisys waved off the aide’s backhanded joke. It was an open secret that the Kul’tiras Mercenary Group was just Kul’tiran Navy being sent outside their borders. That was a polite legal fiction they were allowed to get away with because it was profitable for everyone involved. But to take on three of their ships alone and come out on top? That was impressive. Looking over to Aldred, he said, “And that is why we don’t want to be on his bad side. The man is damnably good at what he does. He simultaneously humiliated the Kul’tirans in front of the galaxy and made certain that he will get top dollar for ransom, if only to keep their enemies from buying her on the slave market.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“So, how did he cheat?”

“Sir?” Aldred looked confused.

“The man once told me himself, ‘If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying’. Oh sure, he’ll play fair in an exhibition, or in training where you’re trying to learn new things, but otherwise he plays to win. So assume he cheated somehow. Were there any Black Star ships unaccounted for?”

“Only Black Star ship out of dock during the time the Starlight Raven was ambushed would be the Articuno, and they didn’t leave the system until after the attack occurred.”

“So they want anyone watching to know unequivocally that only one ship of theirs was involved. Cheeky, and definitely his style. So, one freighter took on three warships and survived. How badly damaged were they?”

“Long-range scans said they looked undamaged. Could they have been faked?”

“Not with the timeframe. It would have taken most of that two weeks to haul the wreckage through space to the Desolace gate. They didn’t have time to stop for repairs, and their hulls mean that any real battle damage would have required some time to repair, even if they could repair underway. It isn’t something you’d do at warp.”

Paxisys frowned. One freighter took down three warships, essentially untouched. Obviously he cheated somehow, but in what way? Perhaps a new weapon? “Any modifications to the Raven, that we can tell?”

“Yes sir. Scans before they left port indicate that the missile bays have been replaced with torpedo launchers. This dramatically reduces their available load, going from forty-eight missiles to eight torpedoes in the same space. Dual launchers fore and aft. Bays would have six forward-facing torpedoes and two aft-facing ones, unless they expanded the space.”

“Their Dragonbreath torpedoes are powerful, but not THAT powerful. What could they have done?”

“Sir, why not just ask him? He’ll probably be in good spirits after ransoming the slaves.”

Alok laughed. “From the mouths of babes! Yes, have a courier deliver a message to one of the Black Star offices, asking for a meeting ‘when convenient’.”

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4
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