Frozen Soul, and other works: June 2019

Saturday, June 29, 2019

Chapter 205 - Build Plan

(Conference Room, Black Star Shipyards, Star’s Reach system)

“So, as you can see, the damage to the Black Star Navy was relatively minor. We did suffer high casualties amongst the fighter and gunboat squadrons, and all surviving ships suffered some damage. Still, considering the numbers we were facing, the fleet performed superbly.”

Raven turned from the projection she had been pointing to, looking back at the assembled leaders of the Black Star Navy. Well, only the leaders of First and Third Groups were in the room with us. The leaders of the other groups were here by remote, with every captain, commodore, and admiral in the Navy that wasn’t on assignment being present (or telepresent). This was our big after-action review for the Second Battle of Coldana, and it was important that everyone, even those who weren’t at the battle, was present. Fresh eyes might bring fresh suggestions for what we could do next time.

Newly promoted Slave-Commodore Virstina frowned at the numbers on the screen. “If I may, Master?” At my nod, she continued, “The losses amongst the gunboats are problematic. While it is true that the gunboats are made to be disposable, I think we would be better off if, instead of sending them into combat against capitol ships, they were held back for picket and convoy duties, instead of attempting to fight against cruisers or dreadnoughts.”

Slave-Commodore Aymar Erlar of Third Group nodded thoughtfully. “That’s a good point. The gunboats are perfect for a system defense picket. Between them and the Imperial-design corvettes we have in Third Group, there really isn’t any pirate force out there that can sneak up on us and raid a planet Third Group is set up around, especially if we’ve had time to set up defenses. But the ships of Third Group are primarily defensive, designed to defend the Nightforge and the Smerti until they are able to escape the area or reinforcements arrive. For offensive units, the gunboats are the wrong choice, unless you have them in X’thari numbers.”

“Admiral, if I may?” Commodore Keerla Zyrsys, the knelfi woman in charge of Second Group which was defending the Dimiya base, had been quiet so far. Having not seen much in the way of combat until now, that was understandable. Which made me all the more curious about what she wanted to add. Seeing me nod, she took a breath, and then launched into her suggestion.

“I believe that we should reorganize the fleet groups, creating new defense groups for our primary bases, modeled after the current Second Group at Dimiya. This would entail expanding the fleet, but will not leave us short-handed if we have to pull an ‘all hands on deck’ maneuver like we did prior to Coldana. Nuevo Edo has cover from the Nuevo Edo Navy and Star’s Reach had the static system defenses in place, with Third Group backstopping them, but Madrigal was completely undefended save for base weapon emplacements. On my own authority, Second Group dispatched two Assassins and six gunboats to cover the base temporarily, but if we had faced anything other than a small group of pirates, the base would have been desperately outmatched, without any Black Star ships able to reinforce them in a timely manner.”

I looked over to Raven, who gave a slight nod, letting me know that she was aware that it had happened, and turned to face Zyrsys’s projection. “Well, Commodore, you are to be commended for your foresight in an unprecedented situation. It is clear that we’ve been giving all our thought to offensive operations, and have not taken the time to properly begin working on a defense doctrine. So far, we’ve been lucky, thanks to the placement of our ships, but it does not change the fact that an enemy could have hurt us, and hurt us bad, if they had thought to try something while our attention was elsewhere. That they didn’t speaks more to our good fortune than our planning, and I dislike relying on good fortune when it comes to the safety of Black Star property and personnel.”

Leaning back in my chair, I said, “From this moment, Commodore Zyrsys, you are promoted to Vice Admiral in charge of Defensive Operations. The former Second Group shall be reclassified as the Dimiya Defense Group, and all existing bases will have their defense forces built up to match the DDG. Admiral, I want a preliminary list of changes you would make to the Defense Groups going forward, ready after we discuss the new shape of the Fleet Groups.”

“Aye, aye, Admiral.”

Turning to look at the rest of the onlookers, I said, “Now, a new Second Group will be formed, and stationed at Star’s Reach, to deploy from the base we’re building here as needed. While we’re building it and repairing the ships that were damaged in the battle, we have the opportunity to increase or alter the composition of the Fleet Groups. Floor is open for that discussion.”

That part of the meeting went on for quite a while, as everyone had different ideas on the composition of how the groups should be comprised. In the end, most people agreed that, while the gunboats were definitely useful in smaller roles, they were ill-suited to the large-scale engagements. So their role in a fleet battle was to guard the carrier and logistics ships of the fleet train, while the heavier ships led the attack. That removed quite a few guns from the line of battle, however, which most people were less than pleased with. The compromise, naturally, was to add more ships to the group.

Black Star Navy, First Group:

Wrath-Class Battleships - Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, Kunwu

Reaper-Class Cruisers – Shinokage, Shifrat Almawt, Thanatos, Azrael

Knight-Class Destroyers – Lancelot, Galahad, Bedivere, Kay, Gawain, Tristan, Lamorak, Percival, Geraint, Gareth

Assassin-class Corvettes – Shadowdancer, Simo Hayha, Wisteria, Artemis, Spitfire, Whirlwind, Zephyr, Reliant, Voidseeker, Surprise, Boston, Felhand

Gunboats – Able, Barbara, Chekhov, Dixie, Echo, Falcon, Gabriel, Hestia, Isis, Jester, Kilo, Laurence, Maxwell, Night, Oscar, Peru

Fleet Carrier – Pandora’s Box

Escort Carrier - Hearthstone

Fighter Squadrons – Ghost Squadron (Raptors, Pandora’s Box), Red Guardian Squadron (Thunderbolt IVs, Pandora’s Box), Silver Sentinel Squadron (Thunderbolt IVs, Pandora’s Box), Gold Squadron (Thunderbolt IVs, Pandora’s Box), Black Dragon Squadron (Dragons, Pandora’s Box), Wraith Squadron (Raptors, Hearthstone), Warbird Squadron (Thunderbolt IVs, Hearthstone), Warlock Squadron (Dragons, Hearthstone)

Logistics Freighters – Davenport, Sandalwood

The build plan decided on had each of the current groups expand their order of battle by one Wrath-class Battleship, two Reaper-Class cruisers, four Knight-Class destroyers, four Assassin-class corvettes, a new class of escort carrier, one Traveler-Class Heavy Freighter, and three squadrons of fighters. Typical deployment for a fleet battle would see the gunboats protecting the carriers and fleet train. The other ships would be split into groups, with each of the Reapers getting three Assassins and one Knight as a cohort. The remaining Knights would be split as cohorts to the Wraths, providing the battleships with a significant increase in point defense and close-range weaponry, to go along with their devastating stand-off weapons.

At that point, Major Khan spoke up. “Before we move to the defense groups, I should mention that the Black Star Marine Corps has been getting significant numbers of recruits, ever since we first took the X’thari carrier at Nuevo Edo. There has been a massive increase since Coldana, however. We’re approaching the numbers where we need to organize a third group for the Black Star Marines, complete with the ships to support them, even while having enough Marines in training, or protecting the various bases and forming ship-board tactical teams.”

I considered that. A third group would definitely be useful, when we needed to do something big, or needed people in more than two places at once. Moreover, I trusted Khan to keep his command at a level that wasn’t getting bloated. The company seemed to be growing at an astonishing rate, but our successes bred more success, and more demand for our services. Khan’s interview with the reporter had done more than stir up interest in people to join the Marines, it had also gotten more than a couple requests for Black Star Marines to act in their mercenary capacity to take care of some difficult problems.

“Right. You know that side of things best. Third Group, Black Star Marines, will be added to the build queue, and we’ll get them to you as soon as we can. I assume you’re happy with the format for the naval support your men are getting?”

Khan nodded. “Yes, the Crows performed beautifully at Coldana, and the Marine Assault Transports and pocket carriers both performed just as we had hoped. As you know, at the Dharram enclave, the Thunderfury used her shields to plug the hole the X’thari had blasted in the walls of the enclave, helping to stem the tide of enemy reinforcements. Combined with the point defense of Thunderfury and Vicious Return, we were able to keep the X’thari at bay while cleanup inside the enclave began. Orgrim’s Hammer and Acherus performed similarly well at the Darboldor enclave.”

“All right, then. We’ll keep the structure of the naval side of the Marines the same, and add on a third group. That will make some potential clients happy, when they are ready to go. Your people are going to be seeing a good bit of work in the future, thanks to your efforts on Coldana.” With that, I turned and looked at Admiral Zyrsys. “So, Admiral, do you have preliminary recommendations for the Defense Groups, yet?”

The Admiral nodded, looking as confident as she could. The fact that she had only needed that long to finalize her ‘preliminary’ report meant that she had come prepared. No doubt she expected to be put on the spot the moment she offered her suggestion, and had come with numbers in hand. That spoke well of the decision to put her in overall command of the defense groups. That position would be mostly a logistical one, due to the way her command would be spread out over two arms of the galaxy, but logistics were key when it came to long-term goals, and she looked as though she had the proper mindset for the kind of planning needed.

Dimiya Defense Group (Proposed):

Reaper-Class Cruisers – Breath of Hades, Black Death

Knight-Class Destroyers – Excalibur, Cortana

Assassin-class Corvettes – Lyudmila Pavlichenko, Dragunov, Vendetta, Black Mesa, Dead Man’s Hand, Gambit, Templar’s Bane, Cutter, Stiletto, Kukri

Gunboats – Guardian, Protector, Intuition, Ingenuity, Honor, Loyalty, Tenacity, Avenger, Maker, Breaker, Dalmatian, Oslo, Dunkirk, Tamberlain, Boxer, Dagwood, Shodan, Hammond, Wesley, Fang, Thaddeus, Rex, Yancy, Zod, Carolyn, Rastakhan

Pocket Carriers – Providence, Destiny

Fighter Squadrons – Shinobi Squadron (Raptors, Providence), Hammer Squadron (Thunderbolt IVs, Destiny), Black Knight Squadron (Thunderbolt IVs, Black Star Shipyards), Crimson Blade Squadron (Thunderbolt IVs, Black Star Shipyards), Demon Squadron (Dragons, Black Star Shipyards)

“Yes, Admiral. As you can see on the chart, I propose that the Defense Groups be organized much as the former Second Group is. However, I would add two Assassins and two Knights to the order of battle, and increase the number of gunboats to twenty-six. While this is a modest increase in ships and tonnage, it provides far more defense capability, especially when we have ships out on patrol duty, away from the fleet. With this allocation of forces, we can keep the standard formation of one Reaper, one Knight, and three Assassins used by the other groups, reducing the need to formulate new operational doctrine for the Defense Groups, while leaving four Assassins available for patrolling trade lanes, convoy escorts, or whatever else might be required by contracts when Fleet Group units are not available, or are deployed elsewhere. Each of the four ‘roaming’ assassins would have a cohort of two gunboats unless operations demand otherwise, leaving a further eighteen gunboats available for in-system pickets and defense of primary targets.”

I leaned back in my chair and considered all of that. All told, we would be adding a LOT of ships to the Navy, but they were mostly the little ships, which could easily be hidden through stealth, and it would free up more of our units for deployment elsewhere. That would give us more flexibility, and wouldn’t leave us shorthanded like we were during the last deployment. And when we had contracts with local groups, they wouldn’t see all the ships disappearing all at once if something big happened. Other than the fiscal costs, which were outweighed by the benefits and the potential revenue gains, I couldn’t see any downsides to this proposal.

“All right. Consider your request approved. We’ll phase in Defense Groups to the build plans as we are able, after the Fleet Groups have been repaired. If there is nothing else?” No one spoke up, so I nodded. “All right. Good work, everyone. Dismissed.”

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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
Memoirs of a Supervillain - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R9NWS8J

Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy GameLit):
Volume 1 - Tutorial
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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):
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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, June 24, 2019

Chapter 204 - Protest

(Fleet Command Cluster, IAS Aclotloxl’s Claw, in orbit of Isuibos 3)

“Warleader, the Builder Caste from the shipyards have confirmed that it will be six months before we can finish the repairs from the Second Battle of Coldana. Replacement ships for those lost in the battle will be added to the fleet as they are built.”

Keh Dhaka nodded absentmindedly as she read over the reports her aide handed her. They were in line with her own projections, based on the build speed that had been reported to her before. While it was refreshing to know that her personal projections were not off the mark, that information added nothing to the mental calculus needed to maintain a fleet at readiness for the event of war breaking out, or some other threat presenting itself.

The battle in space had been brutal, and would likely have been the death of all of them, had the Black Stars not brought their scouts with their X’thari drives. The Second Great Armada of the Ihm Imperium had gone into the battle expecting to die to the last. It would have been an end worth tales of valor in the halls of power, but an end all the same. While she was not afraid of such a death (indeed, it was the kind of death and the kind of cause that anyone who joined the Navy wished for, if the Ancestors decreed that they were to die in battle), but that did not mean she was rushing to meet her Ancestors just yet. Nor would she send those under her command to theirs without need.

Once the X’thari swarm had broken, though, Battlemaster Jamaoak Zoxl of the Third Legion had asked… no, ‘asked’ was too soft a word. He had demanded that the warriors of his Legion be allowed to descend to the surface of Coldana, and aid in the cleaning out of the X’thari. The Warriors faced as much risk of death on ship as any of her crews, but they were of no use in space unless there were boarding actions to be done. Allowing them to descend to the planet, as the Consortium and Black Star forces had done, was a move that could have had political ramifications if done poorly. Technically, that could be considered an invasion of Consortium territory. It wasn’t something to just blindly rush into.

Fortunately, Admiral Jadegut, the ranking Consortium officer in the system after Ironbelt’s death, had been all too happy to accept the help of anyone who wished to send their troops to aid the survivors of Coldana. With the legal side covered, she had ordered the Third Legion and any other troops who wished to partake in rescuing the surviving enclaves. The Third Legion was not alone in joining the fight. The Terran Empire, Consortium, and Confederate ships sent their warriors down as well.

The Army troops the Consortium had landed were able to set up a beachhead at the main starport on the planet, which was drawing a large portion of the X’thari in their direction. However, the enclaves were still under assault. Out of thirty-seven enclaves that had been active before the Swarm invaded, only ten remained, and all were under assault. The Black Stars had relieved the two worst cases, their Marines landing directly in the midst of the X’thari and using ship to ship weapons to clear the landing zones!

Not to be outdone, the Third Legion dropped on the next three most at risk enclaves, the ones of Kurnbuldohr, Durndarum, and Bugaldur, all located far to the west of the capitol. Though the beachead in the capitol would draw off much of the X’thari, Kurnbuldohr and Durndarum were on the other side of the continent, while Bugaldur was on an isolated island off the coast, and the reduction in numbers was… slight, if it was noticed at all. Those three enclaves also had significant defenses, which is why they had held out for so long in isolation. The Battlemaster had crushed the X’thari against the walls of the enclaves like a hammer to the anvil. The other surviving enclaves had also been rescued, either by the other forces, or by enough X’thari being drawn off by the Army at the spaceport. After that, all that was left was just mopping up. A most satisfactory end to the campaign.

The aide continued, not knowing her mistress’s thoughts. “The Third Legion suffered casualties numbering twenty-six percent of their number, with a further five percent killed in the assault. The injured have been recovered, and the Warrior caste has already sent new recruits to the legion to replenish their numbers. The Battlemaster reports combat readiness of 97%, due to the need to repair and replace some of their vehicles which were lost or damaged in the action. Given the overall status of the Legion, it has been put on a lower priority with the Builders than restoring the Second Armada to full function.”

“And what about my request to the War Council? Have they approved it yet?”

The aide’s tail flicked, and her head drooped slightly. “The High Warleaders are not convinced of the need for new ship classes at this time. The fact that you wished to purchase ships from outside the Imperium rather than designs made within our borders weighed against the proposal, I’m afraid.”

Dhaka felt like she was about to scream. Those arrogant fools! The Battle of Second Coldana proved that, while the Imperium could still match forces against the conventional navies and come out on par or ahead of them in strength on a ship for ship level, there were new parties that had adapted to exploit vulnerabilities in existing battle doctrine, and explore new tactics and weapons that no one had considered to this point! And the Empire and the Confederacy were already adding these weapons to their forces! The Consortium and the Kul’tirans were certainly going to be not too far behind, as well. And which way the Kul’tirans went, the rest of the Free Worlds Alliance would go, in time. At this rate, the Imperium would be left behind!

With effort, she forced her temper back under control. If the softscaled fools weren’t willing to even consider the future, she would have to take matters into her own claws. The Imperium would either move forward with the rest of the galaxy, or it would stagnate. If it chose stagnation, it would do so without her!

Suddenly, it was like a weight was lifted from her. She had contacts outside the Imperium, contacts that had only grown stronger, after the battle. She had the respect of other officers, even if the High Warleaders on the War Council thought of her as a brash upstart. Even in the Warrior caste, she was respected, and her dealing with Zoxl had only increased her reputation with the Warriors.

Looking to her terminal, she quickly began composing a message. It would be perhaps the most important message of her career, if not her life. But it had to be done. For the good of the Imperium.

To: His Radiant Majesty, Emperess Drez Dhiss Ihm VII

CC: War Council of the Ihm Imperium, Imperial News Network

Subject: Recommendations for Armada Improvements

Your Radiant Majesty, Ruler Over All,

I, Warleader Keh Dhaka, commander of the Second Great Armada of the Ihm Imperial Navy offer you my utmost respect and loyalty. May the suns never set upon your reign.

When the Gauz Consortium invoked the Treaty of Helbizore after the discovery of a X’thari Harvester in Known Space, it was with pride that I led the Second Armada into battle, alongside the other forces of Known Space, in order to destroy the Harvester. I say with no false humility that I expected this to be the last act of service I ever gave to the Imperium, as the Harvester and the Swarm that surrounded it was numerous beyond anything I had ever seen before, with enemy ships numbering in the hundreds of thousands. So great were the forces arrayed against us, that any sensible observer would have said that, at best, we would be able to force a ship through to die in a suicidal blast, taking out the Harvester, as was done last time one appeared in Known Space.

And yet, that is not what happened.

It began before we ever left port, the calls for the Treaty of Helbizore’s activation running like silverpaws through the fleet. The Consortium Navy unleashed Operation Firebringer, and twelve pilots whose bravery manifestly stands equal to any in the history of the Imperial Navy, running back all the way to Shone Ruk himself, used shuttles with deliberately sabotaged warp drives, launching themselves as superluminal weapons against the Swarm. Two of these shuttles struck true, hitting the Harvester, and wounding it.

Though they failed to destroy the Harvester, and the Consortium Navy was unable to destroy the swarm on their own, they fought on, to the last, and bought the citizens and militias of Coldana a chance to set up thirty-seven enclaves across the surface of their world. Thirty-seven enclaves they knew were doomed from the outset, but from which they hoped against hope that their deaths would mean something as a final act of defiance, bleeding the X’thari as much as possible, so that the fleets summoned by the Treaty would be able to avenge them. And, one by one, twenty-seven of those enclaves fell, the soldiers and civilians, even the children killed and consumed by the ravenous hordes. Ten, however, survived, thanks to the actions of the combined fleet.

In this combined fleet, there were representatives from five star nations and one mercenary company. This mercenary company was not bound by treaty to be there, and, in truth, the contract they were engaged under did not cover an event of this magnitude. And yet, they remained, and threw their numbers alongside ours. And it was well that they did so.

I speak, of course, about the Black Star Navy which has been talked about so much over the last two years, starting with their involvement in the Terran Empire’s Civil War between Empress Merida Vaughn and her Usurper brother. Much has been said of their ships, and their tactics, and how they might be combined with more conventional ships and weapons. But here in the Imperium the War Council did not listen to those who studied the reports, believing instead in their notion of our inherent superiority, scoffing at the idea that we might learn something new from those who were not within our borders.

I can tell you now that the Black Star designed ships present within the fleets sent by the Terran Imperial Navy and the Confederate Navy were responsible for many times their mass in ship kills amongst the X’thari, providing a substantial boost to the defense of the fleets drawing off the X’thari forces protecting the Harvester. I have seen first-hand what a Black Star ship can do when used alongside conventional warships, and I would be negligent in my duties if I did not stress to the utmost the power and utility of such an arrangement. It can be said without question that, if I had to choose between a squadron of Black Star designed cruisers and a squadron of superdreadnoughts designed here in the Imperium, I would be unable to declare a victor with all certainty, but the edge I would give to the Black Star designs, so long as they are using conventional weaponry. With the use of superluminal weapons, the superdreadnoughts would not even scratch the cruisers’ paint before they were reduced to debris.

This is just with a detachment of ships designed by Black Star. However, the Black Star Navy showed their mettle in the Battle of Second Coldana, using superluminal weapons to such great effect that the Harvester was, quite literally, erased from existence, a feat that no other naval force has ever matched. Beyond that overwhelming firepower, however, they displayed their capabilities in close combat when the closed to aid the forces that had drawn the majority of the Swarm’s attention, saving many lives in the process.

Without the Black Star Navy and the ships of their design, I am forced to conclude that the Battle of Second Coldana would have ended in abject failure, or, at best, the total destruction of the combined fleet, in return for the Harvester being disabled or destroyed. Their designs, from the unique material of their hulls to the unconventional weapon loadouts on their ships and fighters, are designed to be different from anything we have seen before, and, thus, support different tactics to be used. An entire fleet of Black Star Ships has the sensor profile of a squadron of frigates, at the best of times. When they get serious about stealth, the only reason we knew where they were in the chaos of the battle was because they told us their location.

Because of this, I feel that I would be remiss in my duty as an Officer of the Great Armada if I did not object to the War Council’s repeated dismissals of this new technology, and its implications should war ever break out between the Imperium and one of our neighbors. The Confederacy and the Empire have already begun adding these designs to their fleets. The Consortium will, no doubt, not be far behind, either using Black Star designs, or finding some means to copy those designs. We must do the same, or we shall be left behind, like savages using stone spears against soldiers with pulse rifles.

Therefore, in protest to the decisions of the High Warleaders of the War Council of the Ihm Imperium, I hereby offer my resignation as Warleader of the Second Great Armada, and from the Ihm Imperial Navy as a whole. The Navy has been my entire world for the better part of my life. However, I refuse to sit by and allow the Imperium to slid into stagnation and obsolescence merely to preserve my career as an Officer. If my career means the survival of the Imperium, then that is a sacrifice I willingly make.

Eternally your servant,

Warleader Keh Dhaka

Commander

Second Great Armada of the Ihm imperial Navy

Keh took a deep breath, and let it out slowly as she hit ‘send’. The die, as the humans would say, was cast. Now, there was nothing more for her to do than clear out her office, and leave her affairs in order for whoever would take her place as Warleader. She looked over to her aide, and said, “Have a transport come around. I wish to head home. I believe I have done all I can do for today.”

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4

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

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Chapter 203 - Rest and Relaxation

(Starlight Lounge, Starborn, Star’s Reach)

In the short time since its founding, Starborn had grown explosively, along with the Star’s Reach colony as a whole. Anyone could have predicted that outcome if they’d bothered to think about it. Sure, you had to become a citizen of the Black Star Company, and not all the services were up to the standards of the core worlds of the major polities yet, but Star’s Reach had something that none of those long-settled worlds could possibly match: Adventure.

There were always going to be people who were drawn to the Frontier. Maybe they were on the run. Didn’t matter who from, whether it was a crime boss, a debt collector, a lawman, or an angry spouse, sometimes the best way to deal with a situation was to run as far and as fast as you could, and hope that people couldn’t catch up and find you.

Or perhaps they were seeking fresh starts and new opportunities. No one cared about the scandal that rocked your home world when you were way out on the edge. And the ‘little guy’ could build himself into something big without having to deal with the competition from larger rivals. And once you had a name for yourself, you could be a success, without having to deal with the crap people in the core worlds dealt with.

Perhaps they simply didn’t belong in a ‘proper’ society. An Ihm who struggled against the castes. A human who was a little too enamored of his ‘waifus’. A knelfi that relished the taste of meat. A gauz who hated the restrictions of the Consortium and wanted to conduct their mad experiments in peace.

All of them and more found homes at the frontier, exiles, both willing and no, from their peoples. The frontiers, the edges of the map before you went off into the vast unknown, were where these people collected, and had been since the dawn of civilization. When the first villages and towns were formed, there would be some people who remained hermits out in the wild. When city-states gave rise to nations, there would be those who spread out to the borders. When the ability to leave one’s continent, or one’s planet, or one’s solar system came to pass, always, there would be people eager and willing to voyage into an uncertain future filled with unknown dangers, because that was where the frontier was.

When the new frontier of Star’s Reach was announced to the public, naturally those people began making their way to the new frontier. Some turned back when they found that the frontier was not open to those who wanted to simply take as much as they could, stripping a new world of anything they could get their hands on. More and more people, however, began spilling out from overcrowded core worlds at the news that the fate that had befallen other frontier worlds wasn’t going to be repeated here. And with the Black Star Navy providing the defense for the planet, it offered one of those rarities on the frontier: safety.

That promise of both being on the frontier, the ragged edge of civilization, while having a measure of safety had combined to spark the explosive growth of Star’s Reach. The initial settlement of five thousand, no small number for a new colony, had quickly ballooned up to over sixty thousand, and was continuing to climb. That growth was split primarily between Starborn and Star’s Vigil, with the dungeon town getting an additional share of ‘transient’ residents who came to challenge the dungeon.

All that combined to mean that Star’s Reach was desperately in need of entertainment. Into that void, many intrepid entrepreneurs had stepped forward to claim a spot at the table. One such visionary was Melissa Reed, the owner of the Starlight Lounge here in Starborn.

Major Khan was most appreciative for this, as his people were sorely in need of rest and relaxation, and for a marine, even one sitting in a video game, that meant alcohol, music, and companionship, often with a few fights thrown in. And, despite being in a video game (or, rather, because they were in a video game) the Black Star Marines were as eager as any to get into the mix when it came for R&R. None of that, however, went to explain why he was here, instead of one of the officer’s clubs closer to Fort Blackstone, which had been built to cover up the existence of the Enrichment Center.

No, he was here because there were requests for his time, as one of the ‘heroes’ of the Second Battle of Coldana, and there was no way in hell he was going to allow a reporter, especially a Nomad reporter, anywhere near that base. As if a normal reporter wasn’t bad enough, now they came in a form that you couldn’t just shoot them when they got annoying and expect them to stay gone. It was the worst part of being in a game world, to be sure.

It seemed that, even in a game, nature abhorred a vacuum, and several Nomads had quickly gotten involved in the news business, primarily as field reporters. Not being able to die permanently made them ideal choices to go out on hazardous assignments, naturally, and being able to control their appearances during chargen meant that they were almost always quite attractive, which was a bonus for any camerawork they did. But Vivienne Lane was, perhaps, the worst of the bunch.

Oh, it wasn’t that she was a glorified tabloid hack or one of those internet ‘influencers’ that often were bought and paid for by one of the people they reported on. And she certainly wasn’t one of the idiots who was so rabidly biased by their beliefs that the reality distortion field around their writing could give black holes tips on warping space. It wasn’t even like she was one of those people who looked for ways to tear down whoever was the popular ‘flavor of the week’. No, what made Ms. Lane the worst reporter for him to deal with was the fact that she was so damn honest, and believed in doing actual, old school journalism, and she didn’t let go of things once she smelled a story.

The woman herself smiled as she sat across from him at the table, a pair of drinks sitting between them. A trio of camera drones floated around them, providing an image of the two of them, and a closeup on each of their faces. “Major Khan, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. You wouldn’t believe how difficult it was for me to get this meeting to happen.”

He snorted at that. He knew exactly how hard it had been for her to get this meeting, because he’d thrown most of the obstacles in her way himself, even if he did it at one or two removes. “Well, Ms. Lane, I’m sure that you know that a commander, even in a private military force like the Black Star Marine Corps, has a lot of things on his plate. And talking to reporters is very often nowhere near the priority of ensuring that his people are properly taken care of, and have the materiel needed should we have to deploy suddenly. After our last job, we needed some time to properly repair and refit before we could be mission ready again.”

Vivienne smiled, and nodded amicably, though her eyes brightened as he mentioned his ‘last job’. “Yes, it is that last job that got the Confederate News Network’s attention, and why I came out to see if you could give me an interview. After all, the reports of the Second Battle of Coldana are still a bit fractious, as none of the fleets had reporters in their midst, and the few surviving news agents from Coldana itself were not able to see the scope of the battle. We have some basic facts about the battle in space, but almost nothing on the battle on the surface of Coldana itself.”

Chris Khan nodded, all business. Yeah, that was about what he had expected this meeting would be about. He answered simply, affably enough, without giving away anything. “Yes, I am aware of the news reporting of the battle, and the information released.”

Vivienne was undeterred. “Well, I was hoping that I could get an overview of the battle on the ground, from the point of view of someone who was actually there. Naturally, your name was the first one considered for this, since the Consortium is too busy rebuilding to allow access to their fighters on Coldana.”

Khan considered, and said, “I cannot go into operational details or technical specifications, but I can give a brief overview of the First Marine Company’s involvement in the ground battle.”

Vivienne beamed at his answer. “Of course. Now, for the record, were your troops originally slated to join the combined fleet heading to Coldana?”

“Yes, the Black Star Marines were always going to be accompanying the combined fleet when it went to face the Harvester. The mission originally was to infiltrate and capture X’thari command ships to possibly work on turning their forces against each other, and give the rest of the combined fleet a better chance of victory. Naturally, the early plans did not include dropping on Coldana itself.”

“Forgive me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t that be something like a suicide mission? Without a full crew of trained sailors, a captured warship would not be able to compare to the rest of the swarm, right? Wouldn’t you and your men be going out to die?”

“Well, you have to understand that, from most perspectives, the whole combined fleet was basically going on a suicide mission from the beginning. A thousand ships against a hundred thousand? Even the wildest speculations forecasted casualties in excess of ninety percent.”

“But, if the odds were so stacked against you, why go in at all? Why not wait until more ships could be brought to bear, and make it a more even fight?”

“And let how many planets die in the mean time? To get forces in place to match the X’thari’s numbers, we would be looking at months of prep time, assuming that they didn’t just use the materials and biomass of the planets they consumed to further increase their numbers. That’s billions upon billions dead, on a low estimate. No, everyone knew that they had to strike, and soon. But they weren’t going to rush in without a plan. The original plan was to set tarpits and ambush the Swarm on ground of our choosing.”

“So, what changed?”

“Simply put? The Admiral in charge of the combined fleet wanted to get some updated intelligence on the status of the Harvester, so we could get some idea of how long we had to plan and prepare for the ambush. What the scouts found was that Coldana was still alive, and her people were still fighting.”

“I imagine that put a new spin on the situation.”

“That’s the understatement of the century. That had two big impacts on the planning. First, we figured that the Harvester must have been more damaged from the initial attack than we thought, which meant that we might be able to get in while it was still hurting, and finish it off. Second, that meant the Marines had a new objective, helping any survivors hold off the X’thari until reinforcements could relieve them, and Consortium Army units were added to the roster.”

“How did you decide on the deployment plan?”

“Consortium Army decided to land at the planetary capitol, and set up a beachhead that they could defend against hostiles. They had an experimental device with them that was supposed to work on the psychic link the X’thari are supposed to have, and drive them mad. Basically, the idea was to draw as many of the ground-based X’thari to them as possible, and take pressure off the enclaves that were under assault.”

He paused, and then continued, “Black Star Marines, on the other hand, were to land at the two enclaves under heaviest assault, and work to contain and repulse them, to save as many civilians as we could. The scouts were able to give us good targets, so we dropped on the two settlements that were in the most trouble.”

“Would you mind giving our viewers an account of what happened during the drop?”

“Sure, you see, we started with a hot insert. That means that—"

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4

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

Monday, June 10, 2019

Chapter 202 - Legitimate Businessman

(Grathdan Sector Administrator’s Office, Cadra Primaris, Capitol Planet of Grathdan Sector, Gauz Consortium)

Sector Administrator Yutreda Woldmane sighed as she slumped against the back of her extremely comfortable (one might even say luxurious) chair. The chair was the only thing that made her job worth the hassle, some days. Made of the finest materials, including memory materials, it molded itself to her form perfectly, always providing just the right support. That was important, especially when dealing particularly stressful days. And she had been getting a LOT of stressful days lately.

Ironically, it wasn’t nearly as bad when Coldana went dark, or when it was confirmed that the X’thari were present, with a Harvester. That was a threat of such apocalyptic proportions that she could easily throw anyone who caused trouble into the deepest, darkest hole she could find, and then throw away the keys. Unlike what her detractors said, she wasn’t actually corrupt, which is why those detractors were still free, despite the crisis giving her the perfect opportunity to weed them out in the name of security. ‘Promoting unrest’ during a X’thari invasion with a Harvester present was a capitol crime, after all. Any lawyer would agree that they would have been lucky to just get away with judicial enslavement at a penal colony. But she was better than that, as much as she wished otherwise at times.

One source of her frustrations was with the merchant companies that hauled goods through the system. There were quite a few captains and companies that were incensed that the pirates which had been working the sector had been given blanket pardons for their past crimes, and were being allowed to transition into legitimate trades. The fact that these pirates had been guaranteed the consideration by the Admiralty if they aided in ensuring critical supplies got where they were needed despite the X’thari presence only made them madder. Her signing off on it as well, giving the proclamation the weight of both the civil and military authorities of the Consortium sent them into a frothing rage.

It wasn’t like she didn’t understand their concerns, of course. Most of them had lost cargoes, or friends, to the pirates over the years. It was an expected part of doing business, but that didn’t mean everyone had to like it. Indeed, few people were as passionate about the idea that pirates deserved death than the freighter captains they preyed upon, save only the military. Fortunately, the military angle wasn’t her concern.

Her desk computer chirped, letting her know that her next appointment was here. This was the price of the chair, she reminded herself. With another sigh, she straightened up, and pressed the button to admit them. In walked a pair of Gauz, both dressed in normal (if high-end) business wear. She could tell instantly that they were not typical merchant lords, however. Visible tattoos and augmentations? None of the high-level merchants would have such things. No, this had to be the representatives from the former pirates.

The first one, a stocky male with what looked to be a military targeting aid replacing his right eye, bowed respectfully, and said, “Lady Administrator, we’re honored to be havin’ this opportunity to speak with ye. I’m Kramear Shattershield, and this is ZeroSumGame. We’re from the Shattershield Company.”

Woldmane kept herself from snorting at that, but only just. ‘Company’. It was rather brazen of the former Shattershield Clan of pirates to do the bare minimum of rebranding once they’d been granted pardons. Still, they wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of getting on her schedule (or have been approved up through the chain of command) unless they had something they thought was worth her time. Plus, their existence allowed her to tweak the more arrogant shipping companies a little, which was a pleasant change of pace.

“I see. And what can the Sector Administration do for you gentlemen?”

Shattershield said, “Well, we’ve got a set of proposals that you might be interested in, as part of the Sector Rebuilding Plan that just came down from the Assembly.”

Woldmane leaned forward at that. The Consortium General Assembly had not only approved and reimbursed the massive outlay of funds she’d authorized in the initial stages of the crisis, including the hiring of the Black Stars and other things she’d done to keep the sector from falling into chaos, but it had put together the Sector Rebuilding Plan, to try and revitalize the Grathdan Sector in general, and Coldana in particular. Since this involved quite a large sum of credits, her office had been swamped with plans by companies wanting a piece of the pie. Most were obviously profiteering scoundrels who were looking to cheat the Consortium out of as many credits as they could. The most egregious ones were arrested and awaiting trial.

“Is that so? Well then, let us hear these proposals. I’ll warn you, though, that your pardon only covers past transgressions, not any future ‘incidents’. Your Company did help with the crisis, which is why I am going to listen to your proposals instead of throwing you out immediately. Do not try my patience on this matter.”

Shattershield nodded. “Fair enough. The Company discussed things at length, and we decided to make good on this chance to go legit. Not going to endanger that by pissing off the people who helped us get the chance.” He paused, and then continued, “Now, first up we have a proposal for the Shattershield company to provide interim security for shipping in the Grathdan sector.”

Woldmane kept her jaw from dropping. Barely. “What?”

“We understand that the loss of Tenth and Fifteenth fleets, as well as the damages to Fifth and Seventh Fleets suffered at the Second Battle of Coldana have left a massive hole in the defensive forces of several sectors. Until the lost ships can be replaced, civilian shipping in four sectors is at risk. We believe that, of the mercenary groups in the Grathdan Sector, the Shattershield Company has unique knowledge and capabilities to deal with threats from pirates and others who may try to take advantage of the Navy’s absence during this period. As you know, the Shattershield Clan was one of the largest groups which engaged in such practices locally before our recent change of status, but we were not the only ones.”

“You want me to hire former pirates on as pirate hunters?”

“Yes, we know from other areas that certain other clans have chosen to change their work habits, and have either gone legit, as we are trying to do, or have taken their business in a different direction from their predecessors. Our captains know the local space better than most, and they know where captains engaging in illicit ventures often congregate. That gives them an edge on taking on pirates.”

“Assuming I agreed to this, what makes you think you could do the job?”

“Our ships are better than the ones run by the other clans, and, since we’ve gone legit, we’ve been able to get time in a proper spacedock for them, so they’re in peak condition, rather than being held together by duct tape and prayers, only kept going by an engineer’s ‘percussive maintenance’. Add to that the fact that we’ve got more ships, and our crews are some of the better gunners out there. We could strike at the major havens before anyone realized what was going on, and take the majority of the pirates out, leaving them disorganized.”

“I’ll have to consider that. I won’t agree to anything without going through a review, and there will be proper contracts signed so that everything is above board. I won’t engage in the trickery that some other Administrators get involved in.”

“Fair enough. The second proposal we’ve got is for the revitalization of the Coldana System. As I’m sure you know, with the orbital infrastructure destroyed and the planet’s population suffering extreme losses, left to conventional methods the system is effectively a failed colony that hasn’t accepted that designation yet. We would like to propose that Coldana be made into a Haven Port.”

Woldmane frowned. “I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with that designation.”

Shattershield motioned to the Gauz next to him. She was a female, who had both eyes replaced with obvious augmentations, as well as having a metal hand clearly shining from under her suit, most likely a full cybernetic arm. She stepped forward, and said, “A Haven Port is a concept that many of us in the Nomad community have been talking about. Essentially, they are ports that have significantly reduced level of customs and regulation. They become places where smugglers, rogue traders, black market dealers, and other such individuals congregate.”

“Now, such places are common, to varying degrees. If you know where to look, you’d find small ones on any long-standing colony, and certainly larger ones in every sector. The thing is that they are typically underground ventures, linked in with the local organized crime syndicates. There are some, however, that operate openly. Star’s Reach is merely the newest one, but there are others.”

Woldmane looked at the two critically. “And what is the advantage to allowing criminals to run free in my sector?”

Shattershield took over for the Nomad, and said, “Ma’am, you may take it on good authority that criminals already had the run of your sector, but you simply didn’t know it. The benefit to having a Haven Port would be that they would now be where you can keep an eye on them. Not everyone is cut out for living a life in polite society. Places like this give them an outlet, someplace they can go. And the local authorities ensure that taxes are taken on the trade, instead of going under the radar. More importantly, if people get carried away, the local authorities usually step in to correct the situation, because otherwise the Navy gets called in, and starts shining lights under every rock, and that ruins everyone’s day, so there’s some ‘accountability’.”

ZeroSumGame nodded, and added in, “And if things do get to that point, then the overwhelming majority of the quasilegal merchants and operators are in one spot, instead of being spread across the sector. There will still be local agents, but it is the same as having a central clearing house for a shipping company.”

Shattershield grinned. “And it would also be a convenient place to have any outliers to Consortium society, like humans or knelfi living in the area. Please, don’t insult my intelligence by acting shocked. We all know that the Consortium’s Powers That Be are quite happy with keeping non-Gauz down wherever they can, quite legally, of course. A Haven Port offers options to those people that would otherwise be… overlooked. They could form enclaves on Coldana, instead of being forced into slavery or crime by the ‘traditionalist’ forces in the Consortium. And that means, instead of draining resources, they could contribute to the sector’s profits.”

The Administrator leaned back in her chair. The pair made a compelling argument. And it was true that, without something drastic, Coldana was doomed to become a failed colony. There had simply been too much damage for a traditional Consortium colony to survive that. And if it somehow didn’t die out completely, it would eventually devolve into something worse than the Haven these two were talking about creating.

“Very well. I shall give thought to this policy, as well. Was there anything else?”

Shattershield grinned, and said, “Well, we did have one last policy we wanted to discuss with you. You see, even without the Shadowgate Gateway, the Grathdan Sector is pretty close, relatively speaking, to Ihm space. Now, traditional Consortium-based transport companies tend to have trouble when exporting to other nations, in no small part because their attitudes are… incompatible with the people they’re doing business with. So, the only real exports the Consortium has are usually carried on foreign-flagged haulers, and, even then, they are mostly either art or creative type goods, or items where there is a clear technological advantage over local items. Even when, say, consumer goods are superior, the attitude of the people involved prevents them from catching on outside the Consortium.”

He paused for a bit of dramatic tension, and motioned to the Nomad, who continued, “Now, the Shattershield Company has contacts outside the sector, including some over in Ihm space. If a new source of quality manufactured items could be created, in, say, a system that is already going to be undergoing significant rebuilding, then a company like ours would have an edge on the ‘traditional’ haulers. The only thing we don’t have is a valid armed import/export permit, allowing our armed merchantmen to move goods across the border to Ihm space. And the Ziunov dungeon is only two weeks in warp from the border. Since there haven’t been any dungeons discovered in Consortium space yet…”

“Hmm.” Woldmane smiled. “Now, that has potential…”

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4

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

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Chapter 201 - Researcher

(Black Star Company Advanced Technology Research and Development Center, Star’s Reach)

It had been a month after the Harvester’s destruction, and the X’thari got their chitinous butts kicked well and good. The fragments of the Swarm had dispersed, disappearing from Known Space, for the most part. It was estimated that almost 45% of the Swarm had been destroyed or damaged beyond the point of repair. Oh, there were Hunts going on across Known Space, but these were basically the equivalent of war bands instead of the mighty swarm. Nothing that the locals couldn’t take care of.

The Consortium was very thankful, naturally, since we had gone well above and beyond the scope of our contract. The resources we got from them would do a lot to expanding our position in the galaxy. We also got trade contracts, which gave us a bit of an entrance into the Consortium. The Gauz didn’t put in any shipbuilding contracts, naturally, but I didn’t doubt that they weren’t coming up with ways that they could take what they saw and put their own twist on things. They’d seen how powerful the Black Star ships were.

The Gauz weren’t the only ones impressed with the Black Star Navy’s performance. Two mercenary groups approached us with requests for our Crow-class assault craft, stating that their forces often required an escort in hostile situations, and a few assault craft that could double as air support on the ground would be more effective for their needs than dedicated warships and fighter craft. The real surprise, though, was what came out of the Free Worlds Alliance. We now had orders for twenty-five Assassins and two Reapers, as individual system governments started looking to upgrade their private fleets. The humbling of the Kul’tirans and the subsequent rise of piracy had made several system governments that had been content to leech off them start looking to their own defenses. Even the Imperial and Confederate navies quietly began putting in orders for more ships.

My own forces, however, needed tending to first. While we hadn’t been hit nearly as hard as some of the forces that had been in the thick of the fighting, we hadn’t come away unscathed either, once we entered the main battle to try and drive off the remaining X’thari. The Gunboats and fighters were hit hardest, of course, losing 25% of the fighters and almost 75% of the gunboats. The light, fast craft were good at their jobs, but they were not able to stand up to capitol ship fire. The Assassins and Reapers showed their worth, and the Knights and Wraths had proven that they were a force to be reckoned with, but there wasn’t a ship in the fleet that hadn’t been damaged. The Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi was in bad shape from where she had dived into the fray, rescuing the Consortium superdreadnought Proof of Concept from three X’thari superdreadnoughts after their engines had been disabled by a lucky hit, and they were forced to drop out of formation. First Group’s flagship had several gaping wounds in her hull, and her weapons were nonfunctional at the moment, but she was still in one piece (mostly), and was capable of limping back to the shipyard on her own power.

Now, back in Star’s Reach, I was forced to take off my Admiral hat, and put on my CEO and Governor hats. There were plenty of administrative details that needed to be handled with running a company and a corporate-owned star system, after all, and these things could only be pushed off so long before they became problems in their own right. Some things, however, were beyond mere paperwork. When First Group left Star’s Reach, there had been a sudden rush of people coming to the system and trying to sneak onto the planet to set up their own claims, no doubt figuring that if they could get established before I got back, they’d be able to negotiate something. The forces I had left behind quickly disabused them of that notion, and the number of judicially collared slaves populating Star’s Reach had risen quite a bit.

Some of those slaves were more useful than others. Which is why I was here in the research center that I’d had my people build on top of the Enrichment Center.

Alex Akins, the administrative head of the site, greeted me at the door as I walked into the site. “Ah, sir. It is good to have you here. I must tell you that the scientists are quite pleased with themselves. One of the Nomad slaves that you have researching advanced technology is quite insistent that he has something major to report. He’s setting up in Conference Room 2.”

I nodded as we walked through the facility, while reading the information that Raven tossed up on my HUD about this Nomad. Tesla_coil was a rare Vrok player. The avian species lived primarily in Free Worlds Alliance and Confederate space, but they were originally from a world somewhere in the Ihm Imperium. During the Ihm’s expansion, the Vrok had been forced from their home world, becoming a species of refugees. Their natural talent at ship handling made them some of the best pilots in the galaxy. As researchers, they weren’t the most well-known, but they had quietly been involved in much of the Free Worlds Alliance’s technological improvement through the years.

I stepped into the room, and looked at a Vrok for the first time. He was tall, about 2.5 meters in height, and was as solidly built as an avian creature, built for flight, could be. A black, onyx-colored beak stood out against his blue scaled, yet hawk-like face, and claws of the same color could be seen coming from his hands and feet. He wore coveralls designed to accommodate his wings and stature, seemingly unconcerned with making an appearance by dressing to impress. Though finding clothes that fit over wings that had a solid 3 meter span was not an insignificant challenge, now that I thought about it.

Tesla_coil was busy studying, reviewing his notes as he chirped and muttered to himself. When I cleared my throat, he looked up, his beady eyes focusing on me. “Ah, yes, you’re the one that owns all of this. I’ve seen your picture on the news. Good, that means you can get me the resources I need to continue my research! Now, I’m going to need—”

I cut him off with an upraised hand. “As you said, I am Mirikon Mollen, owner of pretty much everything here, and you, by the way. Now, before you go giving me a shopping list of what you need for your research, what is it that you’ve found that requires more resources than what you’ve already been allocated? And before you start in on a technical discussion, pretend that you’re talking to someone who only has a very top-level knowledge of what projects are going on, until one of them needs my attention. In fact, don’t pretend. This is your chance to impress me, and get me on board with whatever it is you’re trying to do here. Don’t screw it up, or you’ll be finding yourself researching temporal mechanics of gravity at the event horizon of a black hole by being thrown into it.”

The researcher looked like I’d just told him to eat a lemon, but he kept it together. “Hmph! Fine, if you insist, I’ll try to keep it to a level where even a layman might understand.” He took a breath, and then started in on his spiel. “As you know, energy shields work by creating an energy field which deflects incoming attacks. Gravity shields have been theorized, but the power requirements have always been too high to stabilize without using the FTL engines. However, if the power and transference questions could be solved, then gravity shields have the potential to be far superior in terms of protective value.”

“Yes, that’s been talked about before. I know that the Consortium and the Imperials have been working on that for a while, but they’ve never had any success on those fronts. Are you saying you’ve found something that will provide a breakthrough on this?”

The researcher just waved his hand, dismissively. “No, of course not! The requirements to shield even something as large as an Assassin-class corvette are simply too great given the size involved. However, some of the items retrieved from the ancient sub-facility that you have here have provided some very interesting alternate research modes, once we looked into them.” He motioned to a belt-like device on the table. “This is the first prototype we created.”

X-23412 Type III Prototype Personal Protection Projector
Type	Tool	Rank	Unique – Prototype
This item was created by a scientist studying Lost Technology, in a fit of either brilliance or insanity (probably both). Using an advanced power supply and a miniaturized gravitational anomaly device, this item can project a field that will completely protect the wearer from incoming damage, with almost no chance of cataclysmic side effects. As an experimental device, there may be slight issues with features that need troubleshooting after being identified in a practical testing environment. Protection Field – The device projects a shield in a 5’ radius of itself, sealing off the interior from the exterior universe for the duration. Due to gravimetric effects, not even light escapes the event horizon, blocking the inside from view. However, it also prevents those inside the field from seeing outside. The Protection Field protects against all incoming attacks, whether they are physical or energy-based, as well as Psy powers that try to cross the barrier. As with light, these effects affect both sides of the barrier. Due to being an experimental device, the duration is slightly unstable. Duration: 2 Seconds – 24 hours (randomly determined). Cooldown: Equal to duration. Gravimetric Sheer – Due to the intense gravity of the event horizon, anything intersecting the barrier when it is deployed is instantly sheered apart, as though it were cut along the line of the barrier. WARNING: This device is untested, and probably unstable. Because of this, there is a significant percentage chance of some kind of minor mishap occurring when the device is activated. These mishaps are not worth explaining in detail, as they will all be revealed and eliminated during the product testing process, but may include the following: time dilation effects (both faster and slower), unstable gravity causing spaghettification of masses within the sphere, creation of an unstable temporary microsingularity, minor ruptures in the fabric of space and time, wormhole generation, creation of a stable and permanent microsingularity, altering orbital mechanics in the target solar system, dark matter inversion, conversion of the interior of the sphere to antimatter, and a noncancerous skin rash.

I blinked. And then I blinked again. What in the what? Oh, the idea of some kind of invulnerable personal bubble that blocked out all incoming damage, allowing you to ‘turtle up’ while dealing with a problem wasn’t an unheard-of idea. That part was fine. I had no problems understanding that. Hell, I was all for it. We could definitely make money off such a device in the personal protection market. It was everything past the Warning that had me feeling actual fear for the first time in I don’t know how long.

I took a very large, very deliberate step back from the table, and the device sitting on it. I’m sure the expression on my face spoke volumes, because when I turned to look at Alex, he just shook his head, and said, “Don’t worry, sir. I’ve forbidden testing of the device until we got your express approval. The device and its associated technical data was submitted to other team members for peer review, and they agree that the chances of a ‘mishap’ are in the low teens, percentage-wise, but the likely outcome of a mishap would be catastrophic if it happened anywhere on a planet we wished to keep.”

“Yes, yes. He’s been very uncooperative so far. Really, how do you expect me to figure out the kinks if I’m not allowed to do any live testing? The chance of a mishap is perfectly acceptable. Now, if you’ll just sign off on the budget and tell this suit to get out of my way, we’ll start getting some real progress!”

I was getting a headache, and I’d only just started my tour of the facility. Damn eggheads always thought only about the damn science, and not about the potential side effects. Taking a deep breath, I said, “Well, Tesla_coil, we are going to hold off on testing until we can create a proper testing site, somewhere well away from anything valuable, so that we can have proper scientific controls set up so your experiments aren’t contaminated by extraneous data points.”

Tesla_coil blinked at my science jargon, but enough of what I said must have made sense, because he gave a grudging nod, and said, “Fine, fine. At least you’re not being so confrontational like this suit. I’ll start writing up designs for the testing chamber, so they can begin fabrication.”

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4

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