Frozen Soul, and other works: February 2019

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Chapter 183 - Playing Hooky

(Cadra Primaris, Capitol Planet of Grathdan Sector, Gauz Consortium)

The Gateway closest to the Grathdan Sector was Shadowgate. Since that wasn’t an option, we’d gone through the Dagon Gate. Since we were traveling between arms of the galaxy, that cut the travel time down quite substantially. It only took a couple weeks for us to reach the edges of the sector, and the different patrol groups started splitting up and going their way.

The negotiations had been short and sweet, mostly because the Administrator didn’t have time to fool around. So, while some of the escort ships began moving around the sector making sure people knew that the spacelanes weren’t undefended, I had a core group of ship ready to drop the hammer on raiders if they gave me a target. A Battleship, a Fleet Carrier, and some destroyers, with the Marine group backing them up. That was a solid response force, should we need it.

For obvious reasons, this core part of the fleet was set up in the Cadra System, near the Sector capitol of Cadra Primaris. The Consortium was taking every ship they possibly could to deal with whatever the hell was going down over in Coldana. That included the system defenses that were usually in place to defend Cadra Primaris. Every inter-system craft with weapons was going that way. Hopefully it would be enough.

That left most of the systems in the sector covered by just a space station or two, with whatever fighters or in-system patrol boats the systems had (which were primarily used as Search and Rescue craft). I suspected that there were probably more than a couple groups inside the Consortium questioning their ‘efficiency first’ strategy to home defense.

Naturally, none of that mattered to me, for the moment. I’d already put in my two centicredits, and set things in motion. Now I just needed to stand back and let my people do what they did best. So, I was of to explore the main space station, and maybe make a few personal deals.

The first problem I had was finding a way to be inconspicuous while still being protected. See, ‘inconspicuous’ here meant that I had to look like a Gauz. Sure, there were plenty of non-Gauz, but most of them were either slaves, or traveling merchants. All of them stood out. I wasn’t sure on the exact nature of it, but it seemed that the Confederacy and the Alliance were the only groups in established space that weren’t hopped up on the whole one race ruling their piece of the universe thing, and embraced having multicultural empires. Part of that was the Alliance being a fractured mess, but while the Knelfi were the major players in the Confederacy, they did have plenty of other species living in the Confederacy, and they actually were treated the same as the Knelfi were. There were just a lot more Knelfi than, say, Felisans.

At any rate, I could change my shape to look Gauz, but my high-end gear was all sized to fit a human, or human-ish, form. The battle armor was tailored to fit my ‘normal’ look, but the rest of my outfits could fit me easily so long as I was a human, knelfi, or even a Felisan. Well, mostly. The tail sometimes got in the way. But a Gauz was about 1.25 meters tall, on average, and built like a truck. That meant there was no way my gear was going to fit, save for a couple items that, thankfully, resized.

Up until now, it hadn’t been an issue, since I always took human and knelfi forms if I had a choice. They were closer to my height, and I didn’t need to mess with the density as much to get the effect right. My skinsuit and bracers sized with me, and most of my weapons were, thankfully, designed to be used with a wide range of species, so I could still use them in a Gauz form. But going out and about in just a skinsuit was considered rude, especially in Gauz society.

Fortunately, the ship’s fabricators were able to whip something up so that I was at least able to be presentable. First stop once I got to the station would be to visit a couple stores and get clothes for this fake identity. I’d change into new clothes, and then be able to slip out and enjoy myself.

The only question was who to take with me. Bringing my whole entourage would defeat the point of sneaking out. But if I didn’t bring any guards, especially when I was off, without my usual weapons and armor, then there would be hell to pay when I got back to the ship, even if nothing happened. And if something did happen? Well, then, I would be all kinds of screwed, and not in the fun way.

I looked up as Raven stepped into my quarters just after I had finished getting dressed. Her mouth actually dropped a bit, which made me smile. She was the best choice for this, actually. “Raven, care to play hooky with me for a little while?”

Raven sighed, rubbing her forehead like I was giving her a headache. It was a nice human affectation for the former human AI to use. Idly, I wondered if she knew she was doing it, or if that was some leftover from when she’d been alive.

“All right, I get that you’re sneaking off to have fun. And I get that you wanted to blend in with the locals, so you used your powers to take a new form. What I don’t get, however, is why you’re now a Gauz female?”

I laughed, and said, “Because when people start looking for me, this will be the last form they expect me to take. Anyways, we need to go shopping and deal with getting some Gauz-sized armor and clothes. Never know when I’ll need to play a role like when we infiltrated Bagthera or Madrigal.”

“Fine, fine. I don’t want to argue.”

“Excellent! Then let’s get moving!”

(Thadmere Station, Cadra Primaris Orbit)

Clothes shopping was easy enough. I went to the first place I found and bought some clothes that were better than the printed stuff I’d gotten from the fabricators, and wore them to the next store, where I started looking for high end threads. I actually managed to find some nicely made Gauz-sized copies of the clothes I normally wore, which was nice. Of course, I found some other things that I hadn’t seen in the Empire or Confederacy.

Force Psychannel Ring
Type	Ring	Rank	Uncommon
This ring, made of a type of metal that is particularly conductive to Psy energies, and set with a crystal that resonates with Force Psy in particular, allows the wearer to increase their effective affinity with Force Psy, allowing them to better use such abilities. +15% Force Psy Affinity Force Psy powers cost 25% less PP to use.

This thing was pretty interesting, though there was a warning that one shouldn’t wear too many of these rings, as the conductive nature would, if present in too large a quantity, actually serve to reduce the wearer’s resistance to Psy Powers in general. Which, notably, was why rings were the only wearable items ever made of this metal. Too dangerous, as a rule, to have, say, a gauntlet out of the stuff with crystals to resonate with each kind of Psy, even if you try to build in resistances to it. That had been tried, once, and it had ended badly when someone overloaded the wearer’s resistance. The resulting feedback of energies caused a small, but very energetic, explosion that made certain no one tried such things in the future.

Psyker Rod
Type	Tool	Rank	Very Rare
This item would be considered Lost Tech if the facilities to produce it didn’t remain. Unfortunately, the exact workings of the rod remain unknown. The rod is made of a special metal that is known to conduct Psy energy, but the mechanics inside are beyond the abilities of any current craftsmen. The rod amplifies the Psy powers of the person who is attuned to it. All Psy Mastery skills increased by +10 while holding the rod. All Psy Affinities and Resistances +10% while holding the rod.

Now, THIS baby was special. Oh, sure, it cost almost as much as the Shadowdancer did when I first bought her, but that was a bargain for something as useful as this. It would give me some definite bonuses when I needed to deal with things without shooting them. Sure, my people didn’t let me go out and play like I used to, but there was no harm in keeping prepared, just in case. Right?

OK, I wasn’t even fooling myself. It was a shiny new toy, just like all high-end gear in games, and I wanted it for myself. Fortunately, I had plenty of money, so that wasn’t an issue. What was more of an issue was the attunement process, which required several minutes, and me bleeding on it. Not something I could do in public, so into the bracer it went, so I could try it out sometime later.

Raven sighed as she walked alongside me. “Really, Boss. You’re acting like a kid in the candy store. Why don’t you just be honest, instead of trying to ‘play hooky’ to get what you want? If you hadn’t brought me along with you, do you know how crazy people would be getting on the ship thinking you’d disappeared? At least with me here, they know where you are.”

I sighed. The sound was a little strange, coming in the gravely sound of my Gauz form. “Of course, I know how much they worry, Raven. But it wasn’t so long ago that I was just another guy, who happened to swindle a drunken idiot for a spaceship, only to find that the ship’s AI was more than I could have possibly imagined, and, oh look, now a Princess is falling into my lap, almost literally.”

Shaking my head, I looked up at Raven’s face. The height difference was a little disconcerting, but I was getting used to it. “And now, look at me. I’m the owner of a massive company with employees based in four separate star systems and doing business across Known Space. I’m the Admiral of the most advanced fleet of warships that doesn’t belong to the navy of a star nation. Is it so wrong to try and be a normal guy now and then?”

Raven shook her head. “I believe, as you would say, that ship sailed a long time ago, Boss. If you had wanted to just remain a freighter captain, instead of becoming what you are, then you should never have bought the Shadowdancer before we left Jagloth. That was what started us on that path, you remember.”

I nodded my head, but Raven continued without letting me finish. “And if you had wanted more time as ‘just a captain’, then you probably should have done something other than do your best to bankrupt the Grand Arena by fixing a fight. The money from that was so much that you had to do something with it, or people were going to get ideas about taking it from you and you wouldn’t have the protections in place to stop them. You might complain about things happening so fast, but it was your own fault, Sir.”

“Fine, fine. I shouldn’t mope about things I did to myself. But if that’s the case, then I’m still going to enjoy this shopping trip. Now, let’s hurry up, and see what kind of trouble we can get into.”

Raven simply smirked as she kept pace with me. “Sure thing, Boss.”

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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
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4

Amazon: 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
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

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Chapter 182 - Negotiations

(Conference Room 3, Black Star Company Station Mollen’s Rest, Star’s Reach orbit)

Conference Room 3 was a nice, private affair, designed for no more than six people to sit at the table, if you put one at either end. This was not used for conferences with lots of important people who all wanted everyone to know how important they were. This was a room for getting shit done. Anyone who was using this room valued getting to the heart of the matter, and probably had authority to make actual decisions.

They also valued the discretion which Black Star rigorously enforced when renting this conference room out for private meetings. The room was bug free, and there was a dedicated tech team ensuring that no one listened in on the meetings inside. Of course, the tech team heard everything, but they were well paid for their silence, unless those in the room broke The Rules.

The Rules were a simple set of guidelines to be used for transactions on the station. They were mostly common-sense items, such as the one about how you could conduct arms deals on the station, but the goods needed to be stored and transferred off the station, to prevent any ‘accidents’. The same with hazardous materials and the like. There were also the rules about paying the required transaction fees to Black Star for facilitating neutral ground, and so on. The Rules also stated that security and medical would be called even to private meetings if there was cause. Essentially, unless you proved a danger to yourself, others, the station, or Black Star itself, your business was your business, so long as you paid your fees.

That may sound simple, but having a place like that, where ships could openly travel through the Gateway and instantly connect with syndicates from across the galaxy without customs or other unpleasantness was a rarity in the game universe. Most system or interstellar governments didn’t care for smuggling and the syndicates. In Star’s Reach, so long as they played nice and followed The Rules, then everything was fine.

I didn’t like playing political games, which is why I didn’t try and do the silly one-upsmanship games of making someone wait to show how busy I was. I simply got to the conference room early, and used the time I was waiting to keep going through the paperwork. Fortunately, Raven kept me apprised of the delegation’s location and estimated time of arrival. She spoils me, really, being so efficient.

The door opened, admitting two Gauz to the room, a male and female. I had always thought of the Gauz as ‘space dwarves’, and the name fit, to a point. They were a heavy gravity world species, which made them short, stocky, and built like a truck. Fortunately, that is where the similarities ended, since the females didn’t have beards, or any of that silliness.

Raven and I rose, and nodded politely to the two, shaking hands as the door closed behind them. As we sat, the female Gauz spoke first. “Thank you for your time, Mister Mollen. I am Sector Administrator Yutreda Woldmane, and this is Captain Girgoir Beryldelver of the CNV Cormac’s Hammer.”

I nodded politely to the two Gauz, and said, “I am Mirikon Mollen, as you know. If this is a business meeting, Mister will suffice. I also go by Admiral or Captain, depending on what is involved. We can talk about social situations later.” I winked roguishly at the Administrator. I had a reputation to uphold, and the playboy reputation made people overlook things, more often than not, which gave me an advantage. Motioning to my side, I said, “And this is Raven, my trusted companion. She will be taking notes and supplying figures for this meeting.”

I paused, and then said, “So, you came a long way from the Consortium, Administrator Woldmane. Now that introductions have been made, why don’t you tell me what it is you came for? I can’t imagine someone with your responsibilities came all this way just for fun, so there must be some business you wished to conduct, and you did not wish to use subordinates for it, yes?”

The Sector Administrator took a deep breath, clearly trying to get her thoughts together. I guess I threw her a bit by cutting to the chase. She looked at me, and said, “As you may know, I am the Sector Administrator for the Grathdan Sector. That sector contains the Coldana System, and surrounds the Shadowgate system.”

I nodded to show my understanding, and allowed her to continue. “As you no doubt are aware, there is an increase in raider activity throughout known space in recent fiscal quarters, which requires a certain level of fleet presence to keep those activities to manageable levels. Normally, this duty is discharged by the members of the Consortium Navy.”

“At present, there is no uptick in raider activity in the Grathdan Sector as a whole greater than the average for other sectors of the Consortium. However, the area around the Coldana System has become like a black hole, with no ships being able to enter or leave the system. Further, communications have been cut off to the system, leaving us unaware of the conditions of the system, or the fleet base stationed there. No one has been able to discover the cause of this interruption.”

I leaned back in my chair, considering the options. “I am aware of the situation in the Grathdan Sector. The Nomad communication networks to the Coldana System have not been impacted like regular networks.” I had to grin as both gauz’s eyes got wide at that mention.

They mastered themselves quickly, however, and the Administrator almost managed to keep the excitement out of her voice when she spoke. “R-really? We have had reports of this Nomad communication network, but have not been able to determine the reach of it, or how it is produced. You say that you have been able to get reports from Coldana?”

I nodded, and said, “It is not something you will be able to replicate, I am afraid. The communication network is a portion of the bridging technology that allows us to project ourselves into this world. So, the network is only as complete as the distribution of Nomads. I can, however, confirm that there is at least one Nomad on Coldana Prime at this moment.”

The Captain leaned forward now, and asked, “Can you give us any details on what is happening in the system? We’ve been cut off for just over two weeks, now, and there’s been no word in or out of the system. The Fleet Base there is one of our primary defense outposts.”

I tapped a finger to my chin, considering, before saying, “Well, as a sign of good faith, I will say that Coldana still stands, for the time being. The last reports indicate that no one knows what is going on there. Even the local syndicates are worried, now, indicating that this is more than simple piracy.”

Administrator Woldmane sighed, and said, “That is welcome news, as grim as it is.” She took a breath, and continued, “Well, since you know the situation, I can get straight to the point, it seems. The Consortium Navy intends to gather a relief force to punch their way through to Coldana, and find out the exact situation there. Depending what they find, they may try to eliminate the threat, or assist in the evacuation of the planet. However, gathering this relief force in a time frame that will allow them to come to Coldana’s aid will strip the sector bare of the ships and crews that serve as the backbone of our antipiracy measures.”

“If the pirates and raiders are allowed to gain a solid foothold while the Grathdan Sector Fleet is occupied relieving Coldana, then it will be an incredibly expensive effort to remove them from the equation at a later date. Given the cost-benefit analysis of the sector, an increase in the level of raider activity is not acceptable to long term goals. To that end, I’ve been authorized to hire mercenary ships to patrol the sector until replacements can be called up from the rest of the Consortium Navy.”

Ah, so they didn’t want Black Star to go diving in and taking on whatever had them stumped, but for us to sit on the local pirates and free up their ships to play hardball. That was a nice, simple contract, that I knew my people could handle, without too much trouble. And, given how desperate they were, I could charge a reasonable rate. Though not too much, since that would make them consider other options. Sure, it was tempting to try and bleed them dry, but that would just create bad blood, and would make it more difficult to get future deals.

“I believe we can come to an arrangement on this matter, yes. The Black Star Navy functions under the Unified Mercenary Force Accords, and they always apply those standards to suspected pirates and smugglers in their area of operations. If you would like to purchase a contract for the Black Stars to engage in an antipiracy effort while your ships are otherwise engaged, I believe you’ll find our rates quite reasonable given the current situation. Raven will provide you with a list of our offered services and price rates based on scale of involvement. If there is a financial issue causing the rates to be problematic, we are willing to be reasonable and talk about alternative payment plans.”

(Main Bridge, CNV Cormac’s Hammer, approaching Star’s Reach Gateway)

Five hours later, Captain Beryldelver breathed out a sigh from his command chair. Looking over to where Administrator Woldmane was sitting, he said, “I am honestly surprised that the negotiations happened so quickly. Most mercenary groups try to bluff and bluster more.”

Woldmane shook her head. “That is because they know that they might have a service we need, but we are in the superior bargaining position. Unfortunately, none of that applies to Black Star. Given the reports Intelligence has on the man’s temperament, going with the straightforward approach gave the best likely outcome for us. Fortunately, that proved to be true, as CEO Mollen did not try to get nearly the concessions he might have tried for. The prices he offered were above the normal rates for mercenary work of this type, but not exorbitantly so. Our sources inside the Confederacy have confirmed that he is willing to charge reasonable rates for services, but those rates increase dramatically if you get on his bad side.”

Beryldelver sighed softly, and said, “I still dislike the idea of hiring mercenaries for this. I know we can’t leave the spacelanes uncovered for the pirates, and that we need to get the relief force moving as soon as possible. It is a distasteful thing all the same, especially since it was an outside mercenary group we had to go to, instead of a Consortium-based group.”

“I understand your concerns, and the Admiral agreed to have an observer stationed with his main forces to act as a liaison and help allay fears of his forces getting undue influence in the region. That is already better than we could have hoped for, under the circumstances. The information he offered us based on the Nomad communication networks and Black Star’s own intelligence means that we, at least, have a better idea of what we’ll be sending the relief force in against.”

“True enough. I would much rather go up against the X’thari than the Shadowgaters. At least the X’thari are a somewhat known factor. It seems not even the Nomads have managed to find out what is going on around Shadowgate.”

“Indeed. Having a possible piece of the puzzle makes this situation much less unnerving.” The Administrator sighed. “How soon until we are ready to transfer?”

“The Admiral said that his ships would be ready for departure by the time we made the Gateway, but other than the launch of the Starlight Raven which is trailing us, there are no other ships on the screens. If you like, I could hail the Star—what the hell?” The cause of the Captain’s distress was immediately obvious, as, all at once, forty ships dropped their cloaking systems, coming on sensors for the Cormac’s Hammer to identify. They ranged in size from what looked like small attack craft to a fleet carrier! And there was even a marine assault ship in the mix? Captain Beryldelver was stunned, but he did notice the Starlight Raven moving to dock with what his sensors were telling him was a battleship! How did mercenaries get a battleship?

From the communication console, the young comm officer said, “Incoming text transmission from the BSN Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, sir. Admiral Mollen gives his regards, and reports that the First Group, Black Star Navy, and First Group, Black Star Marine Corps, are ready to deploy as contracted. He respectfully asks that we lead through the Gateway, to prevent misunderstandings on the other side.”

The Captain shook his head. “Gee, I wonder what kind of ‘misunderstanding’ that fleet coming through the Gateway might cause?” He took a breath, and then said, “Acknowledge the transmission. Dial the Gateway. And be sure to send a list of ships traveling through to the other side so that the guard platforms don’t get trigger happy!”

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X

Saturday, February 16, 2019

Chapter 181 - Delegation

(Consortium Naval Vessel Cormac’s Hammer, Star’s Reach Gateway, Star’s Reach System)

“Transition complete. We’re now in the Star’s Reach system.”

Captain Girgroir Beryldelver nodded to his helmsman at the report. “Very well. Send the standard greeting. Let us see how these mercenaries handle the sight of a real warship.”

The CNV Cormac’s Hammer was only a light cruiser, but the superior technology the Consortium had available to it meant that it could easily go toe to toe with battlecruisers from the less advanced fleets belonging to the Terran Empire or the Confederacy. While the Consortium’s navy was smaller than the other star nations’, they didn’t need the numbers that the less advanced nations needed. Having ships that were at least two generations ahead of their rivals meant that they could save more money over time by having more advanced, more reliable ships that required fewer crewmembers and fewer maintenance cycles.

Of course, that was for dealing with other star nations. Piracy and smuggling had always been a problem. There wasn’t a single star nation that had managed to stop that completely, but the Consortium took a different tack on things, fitting their business model. Namely, they had large numbers of corvettes that were used as revenue ships and pirate hunters. It was the most efficient use of money and manpower available.

Unfortunately, that efficiency meant that they were not prepared for the sudden increase of incidents in one of the more isolated areas of the Consortium. The Grathdan Sector had been a fairly affluent sector originally, with one of the Gateways allowing for fast travel to the region, but when a group of Chimeras took over Thazdum and renamed it Shadowgate, before sealing the system off from ‘outsiders’, the entire sector had suffered a severe economic downturn. The Consortium had tried to retake Thazdum several times, but each attempt was rebuffed.

The Board of Directors had been unwilling to simply allow Shadowgate, with the fleet they must have, unrestricted access to even a backwater sector, so there was actually a fleet base in the Coldana system. However, the rise of incidents meant that the fleet base was going to have to be reinforced. And, unfortunately, that meant that those reinforcements would have to come from units primarily tasked to hunting pirates and doing other internal security tasks.

That meant that the Consortium needed to hire on mercenaries to do the work temporarily. Unfortunately, with the recent surge in piracy all through Known Space, and the Kul’tirans being thrown into disgrace, most of the mercenary groups who had the ships to do the job and could be trusted not to simply turn to piracy themselves were already engaged in other areas, either on anti-piracy patrols or as escorts for corporate ships. The rise of these Nomads in certain quarters had made things even worse, since their loyalties were always suspect.

Unfortunately, the only mercenary group that had the size and capability to do what they needed was a Nomad-owned outfit, that had been making a name for themselves. They had some decent stealth technology, but from the news he’d heard none of the rest of their tech was all that impressive. They had scored some wins, sure, but that was going up against the Imperials and pirates. Hardly a match for the Consortium Navy. And the ‘Second Battle of Nuevo Edo’? Clearly blowing the numbers out of proportion as propaganda to increase their standing, and that of their new ally.

Still, this group was large enough and influential enough that they couldn’t have just a low-level bureaucrat commission their services for anti-piracy patrols, which was why Sector Administrator Woldmane was going to try and hire these Black Stars. And a Sector Administrator didn’t just go around on civilian transports for missions like this, which is why his Hammer was here. And the sooner they left and could join the fleet looking to break through to Coldana, the better.

“Cormac’s Hammer, this is Star’s Reach System Control. You are authorized to approach the planet. Course and orbital slot included in this transmission. Deviation from either will not be tolerated.”

Captain Beryldelver frowned, and muttered to himself. “System Control? The only ships on screen are in orbit. Who the hell do these jumped up Nomads think they’re fooling?”

“Captain! A ship just appeared on sensors, dead astern. Range… one thousand kilometers!”

“WHAT?” He checked the information his sensor officer was displaying on the main screen. There was a corvette, one of the Assassin-class, according to the intelligence brief, sitting where there’d been nothing but a hole in space before. Despite himself, Beryldelver had to give that ship, the Shadowdancer, and her captain credit. Their main weapons might be crude, being the equivalent of throwing rocks at people, but the laws of physics were rather harsh on what happened when an object of a certain mass achieved relativistic speeds before striking another object. If that ship wanted his Hammer dead, they’d never know it until the ship was becoming a cloud of swiftly spreading debris.

Maybe the intelligence briefs on their technology were slightly understated? Beryldelver shook his head. No sense worrying about that, now. “Acknowledge transmission. Helm, keep to the course and orbital slot provided to us.”

Commander Kegdancer shook her head from her station next to his command chair. She spoke softly, so only he could hear. “I suppose that was the Black Star version of a ‘subtle warning’?”

“Yes, I am thinking so. To get into position like that, so soon after we entered the system, that corvette must have been lying in wait, and began maneuvering as soon as the gateway opened. Apparently, the intelligence analysts were drastically underestimating their stealth capabilities.”

He sighed, and said, “I better go and alert the Sector Administrator. I just hope she is in a good mood. She was not happy having to come all this way to speak to a mercenary leader instead of having him come to her.”

“Will they be useful to us? I mean, even if their stealth is good, that doesn’t mean anything once a fight starts.”

Beryldelver shook his head. “I wonder. But think, Commander. If Intelligence was wrong about their stealth capabilities, what else might they be wrong about?”

(Guest Quarters, CNV Cormac’s Hammer, Star’s Reach System)

Sector Administrator Yutreda Woldmane frowned as she looked at the viewscreen which the Captain had just disappeared from. She had hoped to impress these mercenaries with the sight of a Consortium warship, and help drive down the price of their aid in policing the Grathdan Sector while the Navy concentrated their efforts on breaking through whatever had happened to Coldana and relieving the forces there. But, as she watched the sensor readings in her quarters, it became clear that the Black Star Navy was just as impressive as she had heard.

Around the planet there were a few ships, including a fleet carrier, and a superdreadnought that intelligence had said some madman had converted into a mobile shipyard. There were a series of defense platforms, as well. Most of them looked to be weapons platforms, but there was what was clearly a civilian space station in orbit, and what looked like the start of an actual military space station being constructed as they watched. Other ships were already moving through the system on clearly defined routes, mostly freighters and armed merchantmen from the Alliance, Confederacy, Empire, and Imperium.

Representatives of several criminal syndicates appeared to be openly broadcasting their affiliations. She noticed two factions that were supposed to be at war with each other settled side by side in berths at the space station, without either attacking the other! Both even had their shields down and weapons offline! Even at the most dangerous dark ports, such a thing would be unheard of!

Clearly this Black Star Company had impressed upon the syndicates that behaving was in their best interests. Given the stealth abilities their ships had casually shown to the crew of the Cormac’s Hammer, that impression probably went somewhere along the lines of ‘play nice, or we kill you’, and no one knew where they were to know whether they were watching or not. And a free port outside of the known centers, with access to the Gateway network was too lucrative a deal to get excluded from for these outfits.

Oh, sure, that Nuevo Edo place was a free port, as well, but it was a planetary government, not a business. That kind of place was better for some smugglers, or freighter captains that wanted to get goods between star nations without paying tariffs or getting away from the fact that some nations didn’t like each other, on paper. They wouldn’t tolerate syndicates acting openly in their system, which is clearly something that the Black Star Company had no problem with, so long as people followed the rules.

And those rules were backed up by the Black Star Navy. The presence she saw in orbit would be enough for planetary defense against pretty much any pirate raider or ‘normal’ attack. It wouldn’t stand up to a full-scale invasion, of course. But the Assassin that had dropped cloak behind the Hammer showed that they had assets in place to ensure that an invasion through the Gateway would be doomed to fail. And an attack staging out of Nuevo Edo or the Amazon system would take at least a month to arrive at the fastest speeds warships could achieve. A month in which time the Black Stars would have plenty of time to recall their ships, or get reinforcements from one of their bases near other nodes of the Gateway network. Until the local area was explored and colonized, the Black Stars were too well-defended to take on for anyone except the X’thari to have a chance of driving them back in this system.

That fact had several implications for her mission here. The fact that the system had essentially combined the two concepts of holding a bottleneck and defense in depth to allow them to hold off any threat that might be heading their way (save the most dangerous enemies) meant that they were definitely capable of assisting her in keeping the damage from the Fleet redeploying to rescue Coldana down to a minimum. On the other hand, the military mind that could arrange for a defense of this kind would surely realize the situation the Consortium was in. The Consortium’s efficiency-based model of defense was well known in the galaxy, after all. And the Nomad information networks likely already had some reports from the Sector running across the galaxy by now.

That meant that he could play hardball with her if he wished, and there was not much she could do about it. The normal tools she might have used in negotiations wouldn’t apply here. Black Star didn’t need the Consortium’s technology, clearly. And while they had several small businesses in the consumer markets, they primarily made their money off of shipping, protection, and, now, providing a security for other parties to do business. They would not be hurting for credits, that is certain. That also meant that promise of access to Consortium markets might not sway them, either. With access to the Gateway, and the assistance of syndicates, they could likely get to any marketplace they wanted, regardless.

So, if the typical enticements to drive the price down weren’t going to work, that left trying to deal with the leader. But that was another problem. The leader now owned an entire star system outright. The idea that he would respond to a typical bribe was outrageous. And the intelligence group had quickly determined that his vices, while well known, were of absolutely no use as blackmail. The one time someone had tried, he released the information himself, with extra camera angles, and then released all the blackmailer’s personal information, and continuing with the information of their employers, as well. And his main vice, women, was something he had no problem satisfying on his own.

Political leverage was out of the question, as well. The Black Star Company had moved into multiple star nations, and had contacts at the highest levels of some of those star nations. And, even if someone forced them out of one of those nations, they still had their own star system, with access to the Gateway. And, according to Intelligence, they had at least two weapon systems that could be counted as Weapons of Mass Destruction on a planetary scale. Militarily, they would not be able to overcome the full might of a star nation if it were brought to bear, due to simple numbers, but they would make the victory costly as hell, and the nation may very well end up losing many of their most prosperous planets before the fighting was done. If the response to the pirates and other attackers was any clue, Black Star responded to any attack with utter devastation. If they were pushed into a corner? Who knew what they would do?

Woldmane sighed. This was going to be a long negotiation.

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

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, Lizard, RedFox, SemiSolidSnake, ElfMama, Not_the_Face!, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, Anonymous7, Anonymous9, AggregatorOfSorrows, M.Mollen, WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, BigGunn, Dolcett, Starwatcher, Backlog, DarkAvariel, Knocker, Hullu_Kapteeni, GrimDark, BloodForTheBloodGod, Queen’s_Bitch, BackDat@55Up, DoYouEvenDPS?, MajorTom, Parca, and DarkAngel are in the chat.

Anonymous7: Damn, it is a helluvalot easier to get a slot running the megadungeon in the Horus system now that the Chaos Brigade has pissed off somewhere else!

DarkAngel: I heard that they were basically camping the dungeon and not letting anyone else in while their people were running it, but was it really that bad?

Chummer: Worse, actually. They had it effectively locked down until they got the money for that warship of theirs.

Anonymous3: Damn, big guilds throwing their weight around like that make me sick. Should put a size limit on them.

Bennie: Never gonna happen.

MacD: Yeah, that would basically kill the game for a lot of the high-end players, leaving just casuals. You can’t build a game for the long term on just casuals.

BackDat@55Up: Yeah, but without the casuals, the game won’t grow.

BigGunn: Dev post over on the forums said that they’d be looking for ways to ‘discourage’ that kind of thing in the future.

Knocker: Is that why the Governor in charge of Horus just got the sack?

Queen’s_Bitch: The sack? He got his ass punted out the airlock, literally!

TheDespoiler has entered the chat.

Golddigger: Looks like there were corruption charges that got filed, and the Empress is still cracking down on stuff like that, since that’s the kind of thing that led to the civil war in the first place.

DarkAvariel: Hmm. So, doing what ChaosBrigade did won’t work in the Empire any more. What about the other governments?

Number5Alive: Not likely to be a problem in the Confederacy, since they generally try to crack down on corruption more.

Digdug has entered the chat.

DoYouEvenDPS?: The Alliance is too fractured, but they aren’t likely to go for that, since anyone sitting on the dungeon might be able to get more power and/or influence than the government. Well, at least on that planet.

MacD: Probably going to be expensive as hell to try it in Consortium space, especially if you aren’t playing a Gauz. The damn space dwarves treat all outsiders like trash.

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot: The Ihm would simply attempt to kill you for making the offer, since that would offend their honor or caste structure. Unless you’re a female Ihm with a plan for the proper exploitation and cultivation of the dungeon, don’t even bother.

TheDespoiler: Man, it is weird to come on here and see people talking about you. Is this what the Black Stars deal with all the time?

Parca: Yes.

MajorTom: Oh yeah.

HaveGunsWillTravel: Yep!

Guardian: Definitely.

Hullu_Kapteeni: Affirmative.

Bennie: I’ve been getting that picture, yes.

M.Mollen: You get used to it.

Digdug: You filthy cheater! I’ll have you know I’ve already sent individual tickets for each member of the company and for each ship lost because of you!

Chummer: Who are you?

Digdug: Leader of the Crimson Sun Company. We tried to go to that new colony that opened up, and the bastard treated us like dirt!

M.Mollen: No, you came to my planet, tried to claim my property as your own to avoid paying taxes, and threw a week long hissy fit when my people told you no. So I threw you and your company out of the system on pain of judicial enslavement. Then you came back.

Digdug: We got killed as soon as we left the system, because you wouldn’t let us use the Gateway!

M.Mollen: If you hadn’t been such a dick, then maybe you wouldn’t have gotten tossed out. And it isn’t my problem that you didn’t purchase a protection plan for an escort to the next system.

Chummer: So, you ganked them outside the system?

M.Mollen: Oh, heavens, no! That would be unethical. I simply mentioned to another party that three ships full of dumbasses would be leaving the system, and hadn’t paid me to care about what happened to them outside the system.

TheDespoiler: The Eternity of Pain’s crew enjoyed the target practice, and the fun of taking the ships.

M.Mollen: After which, quite a few members of the Crimson Sun Company respawned on Star’s Reach, where they were found in violation of their eviction orders, and sentenced to 12 months judicial enslavement.

Digdug: See! He admits it! He’s nothing but a filthy CHEATER!

GM_8675309 has joined the chat.

GM Post: Game Masters have reviewed the relevant logs of this incident, and found no instances of any player violating the terms and conditions of the EULA, or using any exploits in the game code. The cheating tickets have been closed.

GM Post: Game Masters also note that spamming support tickets for the same incident constitutes a violation of the EULA (Section 6.234.7: Harassment). Members of the Crimson Sun Company have been warned for this behavior.

Digdug: Fuck that, how can you let them get away with this shit? You fucking shill! How much is that cheater paying you to suck his cock?

GM Post: Abusive language towards GMs is not permitted. Good day.

Digdug has been banned from the chat for 1 week.

GM_8675309 has left the chat.

M.Mollen: Have I mentioned that I really can’t cheat, since the GMs watch my streams closely, since I am a streamer and part of the medical testing program?

Blaze: Hey, getting away from that, can anyone tell me what the heck is going on over by Coldana? There’s all kinds of rumors about ships going missing heading to the system, but I haven’t heard anything solid about what is happening there.

Anonymous3: I’ve been trying to figure that out, myself. We haven’t had a single ship reach us here in over a week. Usually, there’s at least four or five a day, if not more.

AggregatorOfSorrows: Pirates? Does the Consortium have a pirate problem?

Anonymous3: Well, everyplace has pirates, but even the local black-market types don’t know shit about what is going on. If it weren’t for these chats and the forums, I’d think the whole rest of the game had died.

M.Mollen: Anon, I hate to say it, but it sounds like you’re fucked.

RedFox: Yeah, it is just a question of what kind of fucked you are.

Inquisitor: You know, commerce raiding is up all over, recently, but I haven’t heard any talk of who is behind it.

M.Mollen: The unknown commerce raiders are probably X’thari. Black Star ships have spotted and destroyed at least one group of them in Confederate space.

GrimDark: So maybe the problems around Coldana are X’thari?

Guardian: Maybe. Could also be that Shadowgate decided to get expansionist all of a sudden. I don’t think anyone in the game has managed to actually get there and see what is going on in that system, have they?

SemiSolidSnake: The Gateway is blocked somehow, and somehow they manage to interdict and destroy ships coming the ‘slow’ way before they can even get into the system. Don’t ask me how the hell they do either of those things.

GunKitty: Probably have some Lost Tech.

M.Mollen: So yeah, Anon, you’re fucked. Whether it is Shadowgate or the X’thari, you’re fucked, unless the Consortium manages to scare up enough of a fleet to defend the system.

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Epilogue - Patch Notes 18.X

(Virtual Room in NERV HQ)

Isaac looked around his control room with pride. The place was a madhouse of activity, but it was only chaos to the untrained eye. Everyone knew their jobs, and was working like parts of a well-oiled machine.

Next to him, Morgan shook her head slightly as she viewed reports on her virtual tablet. “Well, most of the complaints from the Chaos Brigade’s actions at the megadungeon have cooled off. We confirmed no hacks or game infractions were committed, and the sneaky bastard in charge actually negotiated with the local government for a ‘timed exclusive’, and rights to enforce it, so they are clear on that front, too. We’ve put a forum post up explaining the situation, so while people aren’t happy, they’ve turned to bitching about the Chaos brigade throwing their weight around, rather than saying they were cheating somehow.”

Isaac nodded. “That isn’t going to be viable in the long term, of course. The AI have any suggestions on how to discourage that behavior in the future?”

“Well, it depends on the system. That system’s governor was already incredibly corrupt, so it was easy to trade a bribe for his writ letting Chaos Brigade do what it wanted. The AI has already twigged a member of one of the oversight groups in the Empire’s bureaucracy, causing a complaint that had originally been quashed by the local government to ‘accidentally’ get routed to higher authority instead, and the ball has been started rolling on getting that official out of his job. Less corrupt officials might not let things get to that point, of course.”

“Fine, that will work. I’ll have a developer post put up on the forums so people will quit bitching as much. Make it be a part of the ‘living world’, and let them know that if they aren’t getting traction there are other ways to do things.”

Morgan nodded. “Of course, the bitching about Star’s Reach has already begun. First with the Black Stars claiming a whole system, including the Gateway, as well as a dungeon. But one of the exploration and production guilds from the Gauz side of things has issued formal complaints about what Mollen’s been doing.”

Isaac looked over at her. “Really? What did he do this time? I haven’t been keeping up with his stuff, what with everything going on towards Coldana Prime.”

“Well, it seems that this small guild decided to take offense that they weren’t being allowed to claim land on Black Star’s planet for an independent settlement without dealing with the official taxes and everything. They then proceeded to get belligerent with the people running his licensing bureau, which caused Mollen to get involved. He informed the guild that, as the supreme authority within Star’s Reach, their whole guild was banished from Star’s Reach, and they had an hour to get to their ships and another hour to be out of the system. And he wouldn’t let them use the Gateway to leave. If they weren’t gone by the time limit, or they returned after the limit was up, they’d be enslaved or killed.”

Isaac nodded. “Harsh, but not completely out of line, and certainly within the realms of what he is allowed to do.”

Morgan grinned like a cat who caught the canary. “Then, he got in touch with the leader of the Chaos Brigade, since the guild was on the planet to run the dungeon, and their warship was in orbit. Unlike the Gauz, the Chaos Brigade did just as they were told, so they’ve had no problems with the locals, and they’ve been on the forums talking up Star’s Reach. Well, it seems Mollen told the leader of the Brigade that he would allow their warship to break orbit, and follow the Gauz out of the system, and that anything which happened outside of Star’s Reach space to unaffiliated parties was not his problem or concern unless someone was paying him to care.”

“Oh, he didn’t!”

“He did. So the Eternity of Pain catches up with the freighters the Gauz were using, and takes them out. Two-thirds of the guild was killed in the attack, with the remainder being captured and enslaved by the Chaos Brigade. That third is likely going to be going to the cash shop to get New Character Tokens instead of waiting for the reroll period to come up. The Chaos Brigade is apparently roleplaying crazy people.”

“It is a 40K thing. I’ll explain it to you later. So what about the ones who died?”

“Well, their ships were all destroyed, so they respawned at the medical center of the last planet they visited, Star’s Reach. And they were promptly enslaved one by one as they respawned, being charged with trespassing, and judicially enslaved for twelve in-game months.”

Isaac winced. “Brutal. And the full scope of what Mollen did should come up on the stream, right? Yeah, I can see all kinds of people getting their panties in a wad over that. Seems to be a definite ‘play by the rules, or suffer’ theme going on there.” He shook his head as he sighed. “Still, it could be worse. It isn’t like those Nomads will be dealing with the Coldana Prime situation.”

Morgan perked at that. “So, what is happening at Coldana Prime?”

Isaac sighed. “The X’thari are moving. There seem to be different factions with different goals, but the AI tells me they’re all basically looking for the source of the tech that defeated them at Nuevo Edo. We have three main groups so far. The first two are doing commerce raiding and reconnaissance efforts in the Terran Empire and the border between the Confederation and the Alliance. They’re mostly small ships in groups of three, six, or nine, scouting areas for the mystery tech. They don’t know what they’re looking for, but they know humans were on Nuevo Edo, so they’re looking at places with a bunch of humans.”

“What about the third group? What are they doing?”

“That’s where things get tricky. The initial scout at Nuevo Edo took on a Gauz freighter just before they got discovered and destroyed, so the third group is following that lead back to the Gauz Consortium. Unfortunately, the leader behind that group is more hawkish than the others to begin with, so he has turned this into a full assault. There’s two systems his ships looked to be aiming at, Coldana and Shadowgate.”

He paused, and then said, “They tried to move on Shadowgate, but somehow they blocked the Anchor drive from allowing them to drop in on the system, or anywhere within a week’s travel from Shadowgate. That’s some major tech, there.”

“I’ll say! Is this related to how they keep ships from going through the Gateway?”

“Apparently, yes. So the X’thari decided that wasn’t a nut they wanted to try cracking at this time, and they turned their attention to Coldana. Unfortunately for the Consortium, Coldana is nothing like Shadowgate. There’s been a couple small skirmishes, and the locals are frantically calling for reinforcement. Long range scans showed they brought a Harvester.”

“Well, Coldana’s fucked, then.”

“Yeah, seems like. But expect whining players to be sending complaints when it goes down.”

Morgan laughed. “When aren’t players whining about something? At least this is something that matters, in game, instead of complaining about drop rates in dungeons.”

“True, true.”

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X

Chapter 180 - Technicalities

(Medical Center, Starborn City, Star’s Reach)

Lukkud Smeltstone groaned, and reached down to grab the sides of the medical table where Nomads typically respawned. Generally, if you got killed in the game, you respawned in the medical center of the last ship or planet you visited. There were exceptions to that, of course. You could designate a certain medical center to be your primary, and you’d go there when you respawned, if the ship was within reach. That was something like the distance between Earth and the Moon. Or, if you set foot on a planet that didn’t have a medical center, you would respawn somewhere close to your landing site if there wasn’t an acceptable medical facility in orbit.

None of that information, however, helped keep the room from spinning as he tried to get to his feet. He’d only ‘died’ a couple times in the game, but the ‘respawn sickness’, as people were calling it on the forums, hit him like a truck every time. It would pass in a couple minutes, but at the moment, he could barely see straight, much less carry on a conversation.

You have been found guilty of trespass against local institutions, and have been sentenced to judicial enslavement. You are now property of the Black Star Company.

New Title Gained!

Slave

Some people have all the luck. You are not one of those people. You have lost your freedom, and are now a slave. But hey, at least anyone attacking you without permission of your owner risks being brought up on charges of vandalism.

All Reputations reset to 0.

All bank accounts, properties, and interests transferred to owner.

As a Nomad, your collar will respawn with you after death.

Stepford Defiance Slave Collar
Type	Neck	Rank	Common
This piece of hardware has been graciously gifted to you by someone who simply won’t take no for an answer. Not that you’ll be able to say no anymore, since this collar will make sure that you are properly compliant and respectful to your new owner. +10% Mental Psy Resistance Slave Collar – Contains standard tracking systems, registered with Slaver’s Guild. Unable to attack owner. Allows owner to monitor slave’s biometrics and location. Includes microphone and camera for monitoring working conditions. Defiance – Administers painful electric shocks ranging from ‘uncomfortable’ to ‘debilitating’ and even ‘deadly’. Stepford Protocols – This collar allows the owner or authorized users to subvert the wearer’s original personality, even tailoring a new personality to their tastes. Wearer retains the use of their skills and abilities.

Which is why he didn’t notice the collar until it was already around his neck. Eyes suddenly wide, he looked around, and noticed that the crew of the Logsplitter was already there, and they were wearing collars like he was. There were technicians in the room, dressed in white. THERE! Lukkud’s eyes grew wide as he saw the pompous ass that was in charge of Black Star, with his harem of floozies.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THE MEANING OF THIS?”

The owner simply hit a button on his tablet, and suddenly Lukkud had bigger problems than figuring out what was going on. The electric shocks running through his body hurt like hell, and he heard screaming as he fell to the floor. It took him a second to realize that he was the one screaming.

And then there was release. Blessed release. “Now that I have your attention, slave. You will keep a civil tongue in your head, or you will experience pain, and then have the Stepford protocols turned on. Under the laws of Star’s Reach, the highest judicial authority ordered you to leave the system under threat of enslavement. You were not given leave to return to Star’s Reach, and, so, you are deemed to be trespassing. You, and these others who were added to the Black List, are now property of the Black Star Company for your crimes.”

“You can’t do this! We wer—aAAGUH!” This shock was not as bad as the first one, but it still shut him up fast, and nearly caused him to bite his tongue off. Lukkud glared at the smug bastard.

“You will address me as Master if you must speak. As for whether of not I can do this, I can assure you that I can, and have. My law is absolute in Star’s Reach. Play nice, and don’t cause trouble, and you’ll find it just as ‘free’ as any independent settlement or free port can be, but less hazardous to your health. Break the rules, make yourself a problem to the company, or even just acting like a spoiled brat to company officers? Then your life is going to be a lesson to teach others on why they should follow the rules.”

The bastard paused, looking down at him, and then said, “Now, if you can be respectful, I will allow you to speak.”

Lukkud grit his teeth, forcing himself to be polite, even though he wanted to rip this bastard’s spine out his ass. “We did not come back here on purpose! Our ships were attacked after we left the system. You can’t blame us for where we respawned!”

The asshole sighed dramatically, and Lukkud winced as another small jolt hit his system. “You will address me as Master when you speak. Now, your respawn point is of no concern to Star’s Reach. Likewise, the fact that your ships were attacked outside of our space is none of our concern. You did not purchase a protection plan for the transit, and the Black Star Navy has not been tasked with patrolling those routes. It would be a gross misuse of power if I were to condemn people for things they did outside my jurisdiction unless there was a contract in place that I was acting on as a mercenary leader.”

One of the women near him raised one hand to her ear, a sign that she was receiving a transmission of some kind. “Sir, the sensor net has detected the Eternity of Pain returning to the system.”

“Oh, excellent. I wondered where they had run off to. I’m glad the Chaos Brigade isn’t going to be stranded here while they run through the raid tier dungeon. Assign them the same orbital slot, and send word to their people on the ground that the ship has returned.”

The woman nodded, and the bastard, his ‘Master’ turned back to face Lukkud. “Now, as I was saying, you have all been found guilty of crimes against Star’s Reach, and shall be added to the work force for a term of no less than twelve months. The guards outside will escort you to the work allocation center, where we’ll determine what tasks you’ll be best suited for. As a reminder, if you fail to perform at your tasks, your Stepford protocols will be turned on. Work hard, and you may earn promotions, or even early release. Guards! Take them away.”

(Owner’s Suite, Obsidian Star Hotel, Starborn, Star’s Reach)

After the ‘fun’ of dealing with those asshole Nomads who thought they could just bluster their way in here and make demands of me, or set up their own settlement without my permission, I went back to work. I was, after all, a CEO and an Admiral, so I had a lot of paperwork to do, even if Raven took care of a lot of it for me. If I let things go too long, then bad shit could happen.

Of course, just because Raven and I were working didn’t mean everyone was working. Cali and Jaynie had convinced the others to have a ‘girl’s night’ in the living room, complete with chick flicks and snacks and all the rest. I pointedly excused myself to the office, and left them to it. It was good for the girls to have some time for themselves, so they didn’t feel like they were only existing for my whims.

“Admiral, a report just came in from Madrigal Base. A group of X’thari raiders was spotted and destroyed in the Madrigal system. One of the raiders may have gotten a partial dispatch out before they were destroyed. If so, this would be the first time since Nuevo Edo that the X’thari have come up against our ships.”

“Have the Confeds been informed?”

“Unofficially, sir. Vice Admiral Vakrana arranged for a copy of her after action report to fall on the desk of the ‘liaison’ you allowed Naval Intelligence to place there. So things should be moving through their chain of command.”

I nodded, half listening as I read over the report of the battle itself. “Good. That is half the reason we allowed the spy to be there, so they could report through backchannels, and as a concession to keep them from trying to send more spies. Also, make a note in Vakrana’s file commending her for passing tactical command to the captain in thee field while her ships were made ready. That was the right call, but it isn’t one many officers would willingly make in the heat of battle, since it would open them up to accusations of cowardice or the like.”

“Understood, Admiral.” Raven began making notes while I continued looking over the report. So far, the X’thari had been launching raids across Known Space, almost certainly trying to figure out what had happened to their Hunt at Nuevo Edo. They weren’t fools enough to go poking their heads into that trap again unless they had better information. The intel analysts agreed that this was a probe to try and figure out who had the tech, and what its abilities were.

“Raven, what is the status on Heartseeker?”

“The scout ship transitioned out of the Amazon system two weeks ago, beginning their series of scouting runs using the X’thari Anchor Drives installed on their ship. They have, it appears, gone for a stealth approach.” I raised an eyebrow to look at her, and she continued, “As X’thari raiders typically do, they used the Amazon Gateway to anchor the drive, allowing them to emerge significantly outside the first system they are going to check out. Not wishing to emerge into a swarm of angry X’thari, they are being cautious. If all goes well, they should have cleared the system just under an hour ago, and begun setting up their jump for the next target.”

So far, so good, then. While it would be nice if the X’thari just happened to have their home world, if they had one, in the first system Heartseeker visited, that was a foolish idea if he ever heard one. While the slowness of this approach annoyed him, he made a point of confirming his support for the Heartseeker’s actions so far. This was a marathon, not a sprint. Running ahead wouldn’t do them any good if the scout ship was destroyed by the X’thari before it could even report on the systems it charted. That was the whole reason they weren’t using the Gateways directly, after all.

If the X’thari came in force, things would get… dicey. Fourth group had only a fraction of the ships that had been at Nuevo Edo. He didn’t like the idea of just hoping that the raiders came with fewer ships. Problem was that most of Second Group was committed to anti-piracy efforts throughout the Confederacy’s core worlds. Fifth Group was tied down at Nuevo Edo, and they still hadn’t built up Star’s Reach to the point where it could fend for itself, so they needed First and Third Groups here. And Black Star had a private contract with the Madrigal system government to help provide security, so they couldn’t leave the planet to its fate. Not that he would have ordered them to do that in the first place.

No, somehow, they needed to reinforce Madrigal Base. It would have to be done quickly, too. Hmm. There weren’t any big ships they could send, but perhaps something simpler? They had plenty of Dragonsbreath torpedoes… Yeah, that could work.

“Raven, go over the design I’m sending you, work out any obvious flaws, and send it to Vakrana, along with orders to deploy her ships as she sees fit for defense of the planet and the base.”

With any luck that would give the Vice Admiral options on how to deploy her ships.

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X