Chapter 225 - Traders and Tradecraft

 

(Deep Minds Trading Company, Fallharbor Trade Port, Aurum Throni, Terran Orbit)

The Aurum Throni was larger and more magnificent than any other ship in existence, as far as Lorna Crowley knew. Fifty kilometers from one side to the other, it was literally larger than some cities on developed worlds. Its inhabitants numbered in the millions, with more moving through the cityship every day. It was said that the life support systems were designed with one hundred million souls in mind, and she didn’t doubt that the populace was using a sizeable chunk of that capacity.

As she walked through the halls with Gwen and Sam at her sides, all three had to fight to keep from gawking openly at the sheer scale of such an undertaking. The Terran Empire had commissioned the Aurum Throni and twenty other city ships after the Greenwave attack ended the Civil War and wiped out the industry of Earth’s surface. Sure, the other twenty hadn’t been finished yet, and they were all more reasonably sized (a ‘mere’ thirty kilometers across!), but to have even finished one of these colossal ships so quickly, a mere few years after the Civil War, was nothing short of incredible. As a way to showcase the might of the Terran Empire, despite the war decimating their military, it was certainly effective.

Well, if she were being honest, the original cityship was a more modest ten kilometers, only expecting up to a million inhabitants. That was a ‘good start’ according to the imperial designers, who had been convinced that the new seat of the Terran Empire needed to be bigger and grander than the original on Terra. There had actually been quite a few discussions about that on the public datanets. So much of Imperial history and cultural works had been lost when Earth was hit by Greenwave, that it had inspired a renaissance of sorts in the Empire, as they strove to replace what was lost.

In fact, it was part of that effort to rebuild and replace the lost culture of Earth that had caused the planet to be officially rebranded as Terra. Earth had died as Greenwave swept across the surface, destroying all in its path. From the ashes, Terra was reborn, and her children declared that she would be stronger than ever.

Of course, one doesn’t simply scrap a ten-kilometer-wide floating city just because you want to build bigger. That was a kind of waste that they couldn’t afford at the moment. And it would send the wrong message, besides. No, what they did was both stranger and more over the top than even the idea of building these cityships. The original structure for the Aurum Throni was actually inside the current Aurum Throni, encased and buried within the current city!

In the Outer Throne, as the shell was called, there were many districts, each practically a small city in and of themselves, filled with businesses, manufacturers, and all sorts of people. Fallharbor Trade Port was one of the principle commercial ports on the massive station. What set it apart from the others was that it was focused primarily on luxury goods, feeding the need for imports that the wealthy and powerful within the Inner Throne required to live their lavish lifestyles. As such, security was more prevalent than in many places in the Outer Throne, but pickpockets, thieves, and other, less reputable villains, also found juicy pickings here, despite the guards.

Which explained, of course, why she wasn’t walking alone. She wasn’t going to leave herself vulnerable again, not after the last time. The time just after that bastard Nomad had enslaved them, and made them his pets had left their scars. The fact that her new Master had banished the bastard to a fate worse than death, and had then given her and the crew some of their dignity back had done much to ease those scars, but she wasn’t going to risk something like that happening again.

As they walked into the Deep Minds Trading Company, Lorna looked around, taking in the scenery. The trader’s office was more like an art gallery than a shop. Works of art from across Known Space could be found here, though she didn’t know whether they were originals or reproductions. It wasn’t just paintings and sculptures, but also fabrics and exotic pieces of furniture or technology that were unlike things seen in the Empire as a whole. In short, it was designed to be very, very impressive to people who were looking to part with as much of their money as they could.

Of course, it was impossible to overlook the fact that Deep Minds was next to Jezebel’s Luxury Slave Emporium. Or that many of those beautiful things on display in Deep Minds were either modeled, presented, or otherwise enhanced by slaves that were clearly from Jezebel’s next door. The two businesses likely found that whatever deal they worked out was quite profitable for each of them, as attractive slaves helped draw in customers to Deep Minds, while customers with deep pockets would often be inspired by the displays to get ‘live decorations’ for their homes from Jezebel’s.

Thankfully, Master’s business didn’t take them into an actual slave market. Even if she was already enslaved, a woman walking into a slave market with less than an army at her back was asking for trouble. The fact that a woman owned the slave market didn’t mean anything. Not really. Anyone who thought that women couldn’t be just as cruel and perverse as men was either blind, or practicing their own form of sexism.

A Knelfi woman walked up to them as she was scanning the store. She was wearing a dress designed to show off her body to its fullest, being as alluring as possible without being something one would see on a streetwalker or a whore. A collar around her neck indicated that she was, indeed, a slave. An extremely attractive slave, designed to get individuals thinking with something other than their brains while they started the selling process. The owner was no fool.

“Greetings, ladies. How may Deep Minds Trading Company help you today? If it pleases you, the Master has obtained many rare and luxurious items for your perusal, should you wish.”

Lorna nodded slowly, trying to keep from getting overwhelmed by the perfume and pheromones the slave girl was giving off. Oh, hell, they had modded her to make others more… excitable in her presence! There was no way that she would be able to have anything like a normal life, even if she were freed. Poor girl.

When she spoke, she spoke forcefully enough that the more richly-clad guests who had been frowning at them for looking so ‘common’ could hear her. “I am Slave-Captain Lorna Crowley, of the Black Star Ship Mewtwo. We would like to discuss the sale of some exotic goods from outside Known Space.” The gazes of the onlookers turned from disdain and disapproval to greedy interest in a heartbeat. Softer, she said, “And the Master sends this message: Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start. He said that your Master would know what it meant.”

The woman blinked once, her eyes unfocused for a moment, almost as if she had tranced out for a second. The next instant, however, her expression returned to what it was as she nodded, and said, “If it pleases you, allow me to show you to a lounge where the Master can discuss this with you further.”

They were led into the back of the shop, down a hallway, and to a well-appointed lounge. While it was definitely comfortable (Lorna found that the sofa she sat on was absolutely bliss to lean back into), it did not convey the same level of luxury as the rest of the shop. This was a comfortable place for business to be done. When she checked her communicator, she also found out that she was getting no signal to the outside, indicating that there was some serious security on this room.

After another slave brought them some refreshments (a platter of cheeses with a couple different types of dip), the original slave reentered the room. “Thank you for your patience. The Master wishes to inform you that he is coming personally from the Inner Throne to meet with you. If you wish, he can provide complimentary entertainment, either male or female for you, while you wait. All that the Master asks is that you do not damage the entertainers, as it will reflect badly on him with the Mistress next door.”

Forty-five minutes later, the three women were basking in the afterglow as they relaxed against the firm muscles of the pleasure slaves that had been provided for them. All three men were well-built, wonderfully equipped, and highly skilled in their roles. Indeed, Lorna was starting to consider another round, when the salesperson from before stepped into the room. “The Master thanks you for your patience, and wishes to inform you that he will be arriving in ten minutes, if you have anything you would like to finish in that time.”

Grudgingly, the women got up, allowing the slaves to leave as they began getting dressed. Sam was the first to speak up, “Um, maybe we should stop by Jezebel’s on the way back to the ship? I know we’re pretty crowded already, but maybe just one? To share?”

Gwen laughed. “How would we work that? A group of slaves owning a slave? Or perhaps would we purchase him through the Ship funds, making him part of the ship’s ‘equipment’. But that would mean that he would belong to our Master, in the end, instead of us.”

They were still chatting about the possibilities when the door opened again. This time, however, it was not the sales slave that they had seen before, but a man. He was fair-skinned, and had a more effeminate look to him than the men who had just left. He nodded to each of them, and said, “Hello there. I am Lucio de Lici, the owner of this humble establishment. I am also, as it were, an Advisor to Empress Merida. So, tell me, what brings the delectable Mister Mollen’s people to me today?”

Lorna took a breath, and said, “Our Master has heard a lot of rumors about things going on in the Empire, both from local and Nomad sources. We ourselves hit a… spatial anomaly of some sort as we attempted to enter Sol System. It was severe enough that it knocked our ship off course and damaged the hyperdrive. This is a concern to the Master, of course, as anything that disrupts space is a problem for traders.”

She watched Lucio as she spoke. He was playing the flamboyant type, and, for all she knew, it wasn’t an act. But she could see in his eyes that he was watching her closely, the same way the Master had when he’d been evaluating what to do with her in the few times that she’d seen him face to face. Not sexually, but analytically.

“As you no doubt know, Master has access to a variety of resources that are not available to most people, even amongst Nomads. Because of this, his scientists have convinced him that there is a grave danger approaching the Empire. Among other things, he believes that something begun by the heavy use of the Transition Drive has been exacerbated by the disturbances created by the death of the Harvester.”

Lucio sat down in a chair opposite her, and nodded slowly. “That mirrors what some of the Empress’s scientists have said. I assume, then, that he sent you here to make sure that the Empress was aware of the issue, and also to get more information, without causing a stir?” Lorna could feel her eyes widen slightly, but Lucio simply laughed. “Oh, don’t be surprised. It is the obvious play, when you think about it. Any moves that delicious man makes personally would draw attention from everyone. Sending in scouts makes perfect sense. As does using that code phrase that only a Nomad would possibly know, to ensure it got my attention discretely and quickly.”

He leaned back in his chair, considering. “The only question, then, is whether we can stop what is happening? If not, then we will need to find some way to manage the effects. Tell me everything you can about the anomaly you hit on the way in. That will give us a good first step to work from.”

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

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

Chapter 224 - Contact

 

(NEN Santiago, Nuevo Edo System)

“Captain! Unscheduled Gateway activation!”

Captain Ana Gonzalez looked up from her datapad, and the paperwork she was trying to catch up on, to focus on her sensor officer. Helena Sanchez was a good officer, steady, not prone to excitement. But something in her voice…

“Report, Ms. Sanchez.”

“The Gate code is not one we’ve seen before. Checking with the database… We have a match. It is coming from Shadowgate, Ma’am.”

Shadowgate? She’d read a report about that place. It had suddenly cut itself off from the Gateway network, right? No one knew how they had done it, though they all assumed there was some kind of Lost Tech involved. The Consortium had tried to protest, since Shadowgate had, technically, been part of the Consortium before then, but they couldn’t even approach the system.

And now someone had activated the Gateway from Shadowgate’s side. Captain Gonzalez took a breath, and brought herself up. “Alert stations. Comms, inform System Command of the situation.”

Captain Gonzalez nodded as she watched her crew snap into action. As they began carrying out her orders, and racing to their stations, Ensign Sanchez’s voice broke through the commotion once again. “Ship transitioning through the Gateway!”

She frowned as she examined the ship on the view screen. It was unlike any ship she’d seen before. For one thing, it had a strange, yellowish tint to it, that reflected the light of the Gateway in strange ways. And there were those structures on the hull. She magnified the image, and was shocked to see that the cylindrical structures, which she had taken as some kind of rail gun, like an external version of her Santiago’s main gun, were actually hinged, so that they could be raised up, perpendicular to the hull. What possible purpose could those serve?

The ship was small, barely the size of a cruiser like the new Hunter’s Bane that had just joined the fleet. That made it larger than the Santiago, of course, but still… There was something off about its construction. It didn’t look like a freighter, but she couldn’t see any weapon mounts. Unless that screening along the midline, running the length of the ship concealed some sort of weapon system?

She looked to her communications officer. “Any identification from them?” The officer shook her head. Well, that was just great. “Hail them.”

“Unidentified vessel, you are in Nuevo Edo sovereign space. Identify yourself or be considered hostile.”

An audio connection was made, rough and gravelly, as though their radio systems were not as advanced as hers were. “This is Shadowgate Naval Ship Liberdade. We seek the ones who have killed the Great Beast. The one that rules the Group of the Dark Star. The Council of Nine would speak to them.”

Gonzalez frowned to herself. There was an artificial tone to the words, as though they were being passed through translation software multiple times. The words were coming out as Gauz, but she had a feeling that the speaker was using some other language. And then they were translating the Gauz to Nuevo Edoan. Clearly, something was lost in translation here.

She checked to make sure that the transmission was being repeated to Naval Command. It was, and she had an order already. That made things easier.

“Open channel.” She took a breath, and said, “Shadowgate ship Liberdade, we are sending instructions for a parking orbit above our moon. Do not deviate from the flight path.”

The ship’s captain didn’t respond via radio, but they could see the ship turning as thrusters brought it about on a new course, and engines kicked in that got it moving slowly in the proper direction. It was very slow, in fact. Accelerating at 3.5 G? That was fairly quick, on a planet, but in space, that was practically a dead crawl. It made her wonder just what the Shadowgate people were playing at.

Still, it wasn’t her problem. She informed Command about the ship’s speed, and set the Santiago to follow it in. What to do about the ship was someone else’s problem.

(Conference Room, Black Star Hotel, Kyoto, Nuevo Edo)

“So, what can you tell me about our guests?”

It wasn’t uncommon for me to be in the Nuevo Edo system. I visited Nuevo Edo often, both because I had holdings here, and because I knew people here, who were happy to see me whenever I came to town. What was uncommon was for the government of Nuevo Edo to officially ask for me to come and speak to someone. I was, after all, effectively a head of state. An allied head of state, but still a foreign head of state. Being officially asked to come to Nuevo Edo was, therefore, unusual.

Raven shook her head. “Honestly? Not much. They arrived through the Nuevo Edo gateway yesterday, and said that they were seeking the ones who slew the ‘Great Beast’, and the ‘one who rules the Group of the Dark Star’. Of course, that was what came through after it was translated at least once.”

I nodded once. She didn’t have to tell me what she thought of that. Group of the Dark Star could be a machine translation mangling of Black Star Company, which meant they were coming to see me. The Great Beast was probably the Harvester.

I wasn’t surprised that people from Shadowgate would figure out that the Harvester had been destroyed. After all, the thing sent out one hell of a psychic scream, and Shadowgate is practically next door to Coldana. It wouldn’t be surprising if some of the Swarm had tried to hit Shadowgate, and were stopped by whatever craziness it was that kept everyone out of the system, even with conventional drives.

Them finding out that the Harvester was destroyed was pretty much a given, really. But finding out the particulars, that was surprising. Shadowgate had cut itself off from the rest of Known Space a long time ago, and no ships went in or out, as far as anyone knew. If they had found out about what actually happened at Coldana, then that meant that they had ships going out and spying, without getting noticed by the Consortium. If they had managed to get into Coldana, finding out about Black Star would have been child’s play. But then…

“Why did they come here? If they found out enough about us to know the Nuevo Edo address, they should have found out that we’re based on Star’s Reach, and have the coordinates to reach us there. So why did they come through Nuevo Edo instead of our gateway?”

Raven shook her head. “Unknown, sir. Once they entered orbit around Requiem, they refused to answer any hails with anything but a simple ‘We await the Ruler of the Group of the Dark Star’. Once NEN told them that you were here, they started talking again, but only to get a meeting location. They asked for someplace to meet. We discussed it with the locals, and this conference room was decided on. After that, the Liberdade launched a shuttle which made its way to the planet.”

I leaned back in the chair, considering the information. “Fine. We don’t know why they picked this system, or why they want to talk to me. If they weren’t from Shadowgate, I’d make them wait for a bit, just because I’m annoyed with them for taking me away from monitoring the situation in Sol. But them coming from the biggest mystery box in the galaxy so far makes me interested. Right, we’ll meet with them. What can you tell me about them, and their ship?”

Raven frowned slightly. “There is no information on the Shadowgaters themselves. They have used voice or text exclusively to communicate. No video. All we know is that Nuevo Edo’s atmosphere is safe for them without undue precautions, and they declined any refreshments while on the planet, saying they’d bring their own sustenance. We don’t even have an image of them. Makes them out to be fairly paranoid, I believe.”

“As far as their ships go, however, the preliminary scans done of their ship has revealed a few interesting factors about their construction. The biggest thing to note is that, while they do look like they have grav plating technology, it does not look like they have inertial compensators. They also do not appear to have any shield systems, which is clearly unusual for what is definitely a warship.”

I perked up at that. This could actually be interesting. “A warship, really?”

“Yes. There are screens running down the center line on both sides of the ship. While the materials prevented passive scans, we took a risk with some active penetrating scans, and it appears that there is a series of gunports with some kind of cannons in them! Thirty-six guns in total. Sixteen on either side, in what resembles a broadside from wet navy records, and two each mounted fore and aft, as chase weapons.”

I shook my head. Broadsides and chase weapons, coming from static gunports? No shields to offer protection, and the lack of inertial compensators meant that you were limited in how much acceleration the ship could use without risking the crew. None of it made any sense, from the perspective of modern naval warfare.

“If this is a warship, just what the hell kind of war are they expecting to fight?”

Raven smiled at me. “Well, after conferring with the science teams, it is suggested that they are expecting to fight in areas where the laws of physics don’t necessarily apply. The yellowish color of their ship is due to electrum alloy in their hull armor, same with the screens over the gunports. And those structures on the top of the ship? We think they’re some kind of mast. This ship probably spends most of its time in the dark matter universe that the logs from the facility told us about.”

“Hmm. Well, we knew that they had some kind of Lost Tech, since they were able to block access to their Gateway, and even stop ships from going the ‘long’ way to meet them. So, I guess having a method of FTL that we only just discovered was possible is par for the course. Still, if this is what a dark matter universe ship is like, I’m not impressed. Too specialized for my liking. Regardless of how they work in that sub-universe, in real space, they’re simple cannon fodder. I won’t have my crews in something like that until they can actually be made effective, in real space as well as that sub-universe.”

Raven nodded. “As you say, sir. If we could get samples of their technology, then we may be able to engineer something that would better suit our needs. They may also be able to give us more empirical data on the nature of this sub-universe.”

“You’re right, of course. Which means we’ll need to talk to them. Hell, we were going to have to talk to them anyway. I don’t for a minute believe that this is all just some kind of coincidence, with the most isolationist group in the galaxy suddenly popping up and demanding to speak to me, just as it seems that space is trying to rip itself apart at the seams. I’m just hoping that they’ll have something that will help us figure out what is going on.”

I took a breath, and said, “I really don’t want to start going in too hard on some of those experimental drives we got data for. They are all inherently unpredictable, and not as useful as the ones we already have. In fact, I’d say that if the ship the Shadowgaters have shown us is any indication, they’re probably Lost Tech because they were simply technological dead ends, or were surpassed by other methods.”

“There’s the possibility that they found it necessary due to local conditions, of course.”

“Yeah, that is what worries me.”

Previous Chapter                                       Table of Contents                                     Next Chapter



Be sure to read my published works!

Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):
Frozen Soul - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT
Tales of the Void Traveler - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37
Memoirs of a Supervillain - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R9NWS8J

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

Chapter 223 - Accident

(BSS Mewtwo, Sol System)

The freighter shuddered, the deck shaking before it fell out of hyperspace. Too early. But it didn’t feel like the sudden stop of a tarpit trap. Frowning, Slave-Captain Lorna Crowley looked to her pilot. “Sam, what happened? Did we hit a tarpit?”

Samantha Michaels, the Nomad pilot for their Raven-class light freighter shook her head. “No way! That wasn’t any tarpit. I’ve flown into those before, and there’s no way we hit one. Sensors are also not detecting phantom mass readings, like a tarpit would have. We hit some kind of turbulence, that threw us out of warp early.”

Lorna blinked. And blinked again. “Turbulence? How in the hell can there be turbulence in space? There’s no air to go through, and we make sure that we don’t hit anything with the mass sensors! Gwen! What can you tell me?”

Gwen Armstead was frowning at the sensor console, where she acted as navigator for the freighter. “I don’t understand, Lorna. Sensors didn’t detect any objects or other problems that would cause us to fall out of hyperspace like that. The readings I’m starting to get from the system are… strange. I’m going to need a bit to go over them.”

Lorna nodded, and hit a button to open up the intercom. “Myriam! Please tell me that whatever it is that happened didn’t screw up our ship. I know we’ve had some solid jobs recently, but I really don’t want to go to the Master and tell him we broke his ship.”

The sound of her friend, Myriam Spellwaker, laughing grimly came to her from the speakers. “Oh, I’m sure he wouldn’t be too mad, considering that he commissioned this job. He might even pay for it out of his own pocket, if you went and ‘persuaded’ him.”

Lorna shook her head. If their engineer was cracking jokes, then anything that had happened couldn’t be too bad. “You know that he’s a busy man, with a lot of people trying to ‘persuade’ him. Probably would need to be a group, to even have a chance. Now, are you going to tell me how my ship is?”

“You say group like it is a bad thing. I don’t know what happened, but it seems to have knocked the hyperspace emitters out of alignment, and fused the graviton circuit. That’s what caused us to leave hyperspace, but whatever caused the shaking made us drop out. Should be an easy fix, but hyperdrive is down, for the moment. I’m going to want to do full diagnostics on the hyperdrive and other systems before we try and leave the system, but, for now, I can say that whatever happened probably wasn’t a mechanical fault.”

“Fair enough.” She closed the line, considering what she’d learned. The Master had said that there were reports of strange happenings going on in Sol system. Well, across the Empire, really. But something that caused ships to fall out of hyperspace, without the warning signs of a tarpit trap? That was concerning indeed.

Suddenly, Gwen’s voice interrupted her musings. “Lorna, I think I have something!”

Turning to look back to Gwen, she said, “What is it? Do we know what caused this?”

The navigator shook her head. “No clue as to the root cause, but I do have a possible reason we fell out of hyperspace. As you know, the hyperspace drive works by creating a bubble of space-time around the ship, and using gravity to make the bubble ‘fall’ forward, circumventing the speed of light because of a technicality. We slide down the road at faster than light speeds, but inside the bubble, we’re still moving at the same rate, relatively, so we don’t break rules of the universe.”

She took a breath, and then said, in a concerned tone, “From what I’ve seen, we hit the cosmic equivalent of a bump in the road. Or, rather, several of them, all together, and from different directions. The only thing that should be able to warp space out of its relative flatness should be mass, and gravity, but the local space is anything but flat. Something very wrong is going on here.”

Lorna considered that, and said, “Loren, Celestine, man the turrets. I don’t want any unpleasant surprises if things turn ugly.” She breathed a bit easier when she got confirmation that both her gunners, Loren Fence and Celestine Harvest, were already in the upper and lower turrets, respectively. She was glad to have competent gunners like those two on her side.

Gwen’s voice cut through her musing. “Lorna, we have an Imperial corvette that just dropped out of hyperspace half a light-second off our starboard bow. They’re hailing us. It is the INS Thornbush.”

“On screen. And time to be professional, everyone. At least until this is over.”

“Aye, Captain.”

The main viewscreen lit up, revealing a woman in an Imperial Navy uniform. “Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Kornilova of the INS Thornbush. We’ve noticed your nonstandard entrance to Sol System. Identify and state your intentions.”

Lorna took a moment to look at the chronometer and her sensors. Twelve minutes since they left hyperspace and, judging by the sensors, they were somewhere out by Saturn’s orbit, and twenty degrees above the ecliptic. That turbulence must have shaken them off course. Not bad time to get a ship out here to check on them. It must have been on system patrol somewhere near here.

She took a breath, and then hit a button to open communications. “INS Thornbush, this is the Black Star Ship Mewtwo. Currently en route to Fallharbor Trade Port on the Aurum Throni from Star’s Reach, to trade luxury goods. Be advised, we have encountered a spatial anomaly and were forced out of hyperspace, cause unknown. Currently have damage to our hyperdrive, but believe repairs possible.”

“Understood, Mewtwo. Come to course 34 mark 24.4 mark 128, and we will escort you to Terran orbit. Be advised that attempting to land on Terra without authorization will result in your ship being impounded, if it survives the Greenwave. Thornbush, out.”

Lorna took a breath as the Imperial Navy officer disappeared from the screen. With a touch of her finger, she opened up the intercom to the entire ship. “All right, girls. We’ve got an escort leading us in to the Aurum Throni. Might be a bit longer of a trip than we initially thought, since whatever that turbulence was threw us off course and damaged the hyperdrive.”

“Sam, set course, we’re not looking to cause trouble. Then I want you to check the local Nomad networks, to see if any of your people have any idea what is going on. Gwen, same thing for the civilian networks. Loren, Celestine, rotate breaks, but I want at least one of you on the guns at all times until we are docked. Myriam, I’m on my way to help with repairs, see if we can’t get that hyperdrive working quicker. Something very wrong is going on here, and I don’t want to be out on our own longer than necessary.”

(Nomad OOC Chat – Sol System)

SammyBaby has entered the chat.

Doritobreath: Ooh, haven’t seen that tag before. You a new player, or just visiting?

QuentinHarlech: You cad. Don’t go trying to flirt with them the moment they log in, or you’ll scare them off! Besides, you don’t even know whether the character is male or female!

Doritobreath: You say that like it should matter. Futa means I don’t have to choose!

Inquisitor: Don’t encourage him, Quentin.

SammyBaby: Sorry, not interested. But, for the record, I am female, both RL and here. And, no, I really am not interested in a fling, which is all I would have time for, as I’m just visiting these parts.

Goblin: Well, if you want to get away from it all, the hiking out in Yellowstone is spectacular, especially since Greenwave ate all the factories.

Treehugger: You know, the forests are regrowing in that area way faster than is normal. It hasn’t even been two years, in game, but we’re seeing trees that look like they’re at least twenty years old.

Hotshot: Huh. Hadn’t thought about it, but yeah, the wildlife also seems to be recovering fast in parts of Europe, too.

Inquisitor: The regrowth is inconsistent. Some areas are far faster than others, you can see that from satellite images alone.

Arcanus: You know, I overlaid the current game map with an old RL map of ley lines, and it looks like those areas with heightened regrowth all lie at nexus points for ley lines.

StrandedKojima: That isn’t all. I work as a courier going between different settlements. The plants aren’t the only things coming back fast. The animals are, too, but there’s something… off about them.

Inquisitor: Off? Off how?

StrandedKojima: Well, I saw a Doberman the size of a horse, and barely got away from this puma with some kind of shadowy powers.

Arcanus: Greenwave may have given some animals different mutations and psy abilities.

SammyBaby: That’s not all. Our freighter just hit turbulence. In hyperspace. Threw us off course as we entered the system.

Inquisitor: Wait, WHAT?

Hotshot: How is that even possible?

SammyBaby: No clue. Best we can tell, we hit some pocket where space just… twisted, and it damaged the hyperdrive as we were thrown back into ‘realspace’.

Goblin: Whelp, that’s not worrying at all. No-siree.

Inquisitor: Sammy, could you get me a copy of your sensor logs? I want to run them by a couple people I know. This could be huge.

SammyBaby: I’ll have to run it by the Master. The BSS Mewtwo isn’t exactly mine.

Doritobreath: Wait, BSS? You’re on a Black Star ship? Like one of those big freighters?

SammyBaby: No, the Mewtwo is a Raven-class light freighter. But yes, it is owned by Black Star, and we can’t exactly give away sensor data without permission.

TickTock: Interesting timing, Black Star sending one of its Ravens to Sol, just as things are getting a bit unusual. Most freighters I’ve seen coming from Star’s Reach have been flagged as belonging to Imperial companies, or independents. Black Star sells more ships than products in the Empire, after all.

SammyBaby: Well, I can’t say that it was entirely a coincidence. You know that the forums have been blowing up with all the weirdness going on, right?

Inquisitor: Naturally.

SammyBaby: Well, apparently one of the Nomad science types working for the Master says that something’s about to rip loose, because of the way FTL screws with the universe.

Doritobreath: That’s bad. That’s bad, right? I’m pretty certain that that’s bad.

Inquisitor: Yes, it could be very, very bad.

TickTock: Hmm. And why did Black Star send a freighter, instead of the owner coming himself?

SammyBaby: Hah! He doesn’t want this to be his fault, so he’s keeping away from it until something happens, one way or the other.

Doritobreath: Then why send a ship at all?

SammyBaby: Because if this turns out to be a thing, he’d rather hear about it before things get to universe-ending scale. But if he came himself, or sent one of the Navy ships, then things would become very official, very fast, and a whole lot of bureaucracy would get involved.

Goblin: There are drawbacks to being the most powerful Nomad in the game, huh?

TickTock: I can see that. I doubt he is able to travel anywhere without a full team of bodyguards, and at least one warship covering him, if he’s not at the head of a fleet. Any one of the hats he wears would require him to have some form of protective detail, just to keep idiots from griefing him.

Inquisitor: Hmm. I really do need to get in touch with him, and get those sensor readings.

SammyBaby: Well, forward me contact info, and I’ll pass it along for permission. He might ask for some quid-pro-quo, especially if you have any data on what is happening, but that’s up to him.

Inquisitor: Right. If this is happening like I think it is, we need to be prepared.

Goblin: What are you talking about? Is there a party going down?

Inquisitor: …

Inquisitor: Anyway, I’ll send you the information.

Previous Chapter                                       Table of Contents                                     Next Chapter



Be sure to read my published works!

Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):
Frozen Soul - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT
Tales of the Void Traveler - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37
Memoirs of a Supervillain - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R9NWS8J

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

Chapter 222 - Below

(Gap Science Enrichment Center, Underneath Black Star Marine Training Base, Star’s Reach)

I sighed as I looked over the wreckage of what had once been a testing facility. At least this wreck wasn’t my fault. Or even one of my people’s fault. Tesla_coil might be a loose cannon when it comes to the science side of things, but even he knew better than to do some of the things this testing track had done before it was destroyed. And if he didn’t, the marines he had guarding him most certainly did, and wouldn’t let him get out of hand.

Shaking my head, I looked over to Raven, and said, “So, what happened, and how far back does this push us?”

The android sighed, and said, “First, we’re fortunate that the area was uninhabited at the time, or we definitely would have lost people. Unfortunately, that makes knowing exactly what happened difficult, as the facility’s computers are still down until we figure out how to isolate the AI, and any automated sensors would be suspect. We’re having to approach this like a forensic crash analysis, like they do when a spaceship explodes unexpectedly.”

That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Shaking my head, I said, “I was afraid of that. What do we know so far, then?”

“Not much, I’m afraid. Right now, the working theory is that there was a cascade reaction from something happening far below us. Seismographs detected what we believe to be the first of the explosions approximately fifteen hours ago, at a depth of three kilometers.”

“Following that event, a series of subsequent explosions occurred, traveling up the damaged maintenance shaft that was exposed in one of the printing bays. The explosions ruptured pipes carrying natural gas, which added to the explosive forces, breaking through two floors to one of the AI’s primary testing tracks, specifically the ‘oven’ track that it tried to use to cook us.”

I nodded slowly. “All right. Do we have any ideas as to what caused this? I’d really rather avoid having my Marines training over the top of some kind of volcano that is ready to blow at any moment. If we need to move the base and abandon the facility, I need to know it ahead of time, so we can erase any sign of its existence, rather than just leaving it for someone to find.”

“Why erase it, if we’re not going to make use of it?”

“Because what we’ve already found here, even with the AI being offline, is beyond belief. The ramifications for scientific advancement is off the charts. However, there are so many potential problems if someone managed to weaponize some of the technology on display, it boggles the mind. And they don’t even need to be doing it on purpose. We both know that the only difference between an atomic bomb and a nuclear reactor achieving critical mass is that only one of them was done on purpose.”

“Fair enough.” The android looked back out over the still-smoldering pit. “So, what are you going to do with this?”

“I haven’t decided yet. Do we have any idea of what experiments were being worked on in the area, besides the AI trying to kill people? The testing area must have had some purpose, originally. I seriously doubt that the race that built all this designed it with homicidal AIs in mind.”

“Oddly enough, the explosions have helped a little in that regard. We were able to access some secure storage devices that had been out of reach before due to there being large slabs of metal between us and them. The explosions dislodged some of them, and we were able recover several storage drives.”

I looked over to Raven when she fell silent, only to see her grinning at me. She’d been getting more and more human, the longer she had that body. With a roll of my eyes, I motioned for her to continue.

“This area was apparently originally designated for ‘dimensional travel research’. The drives we recovered contain a section of the scientific data that the AI, CaROLINE, was keeping back from us, in favor of trying to kill anyone that took part in her ‘tests’. We have schematics for the portal gun, which will decrease the time needed to replicate something like that significantly. But that’s not all. Apparently, whateve species was working here, they were testing multiple means of faster than light travel, beyond the Alcubierre-style drives, or the Gateways.”

“Are you saying that we’ve found a key to Lost Tech FTL drives?”

“Exactly, sir. With the information we have now, we can build some of these, though at the same time we’ll need to check to see which devices are best. An initial read of the logs suggests that there are several pros and cons to these alternative drive systems.”

“Hmm. Well, it isn’t like there aren’t disadvantages to the systems that are currently in use. Can you give me an initial overview of the different systems? Might be able to prioritize which ones warrant more development time first.”

Raven smiled and motioned with her hand. “Of course. I am sending the information to your HUD now.”

Drive	Description
Dark Matter Universe Sails	Uses the unique gravitational effects at Lagrange points in space to send a ship into a parallel dimension filled with dark matter. Specialized energy screens are used to ‘sail’ from star to star.
	Pros: Travel from star to star is completely undetectable to ships in real space. Entering or leaving real space requires far less power than initiating hyperspace jumps. Possibility of exotic materials being found in ‘dark space’ which could prove profitable.
	Cons: Electrum plating required for all ships entering dark space, due to nonstandard laws of physics. Entry or exit to Dark Space only possible at Lagrange points. Ballistic and missile weapons nonfunctional in dark space. Energy weapons are affected by dark space, traveling slower than the speed of light. Navigation by normal means is not possible while in dark space. Skill set for dark space capable ships are radically different from current designs.
Chaotic Energy Space	Using a focused energy beam, open up a portal into a separate dimension full of chaotic energy. This allows for traveling at great speeds, if all goes well. However, the chaotic nature of the space means that concepts such as time and space are more fluid than in the real world. Reports of strange entities in this space.
	Pros: Offers a means to travel undetected between stars. No known means to block or prevent transition to chaotic dimension. Potential travel times can be reduced to 1/25 that of standard hyperdrive over long distances.
	Cons: Potential travel times can be increased by 30000% or more depending on chaotic energy space conditions. Entities in chaotic space appear to be hostile to all life. Chaotic space may have a corrupting influence on machinery. Chaotic space may have negative effects on living crews’ mental health. Opening to chaotic space immediately detectable to all scanners in system.
Artificial Wormhole Drive	Using massive gravitic generators, open a wormhole connecting two points in space. This wormhole can be traversed by other craft as long as it is held open by the originating craft. Unknown potential.
	Pros: Effectively a mobile version of Gateways. Offers instantaneous long-range travel Can be used with a command ship and satellite fleet.
	Cons: Size requirements for Wormhole Drive preclude use in any vessel smaller than superdreadnought size. Likely charge times eliminate possibility of emergency transits. Possibility of smaller ships being stranded if cut off from command ship. Energy expenditure would be immediately visible in current and target system.

I nodded slowly as I looked over the options. I’d be lying if I couldn’t see the use for some of them. Having a means of travel that couldn’t be seen coming was part of why the Gateways were so useful, after all. However, stealth wasn’t the only concern one had when moving warships around, and it certainly wasn’t the only one for dealing with freighters. The cons of the different systems were pretty evident.

Really, only the dark space sailing technique and the artificial wormhole drives were of any practical use. Sure, the time dilation aspects of the chaos space thing were interesting, but they were, by nature, chaotic. Not something you wanted to count on unless you had no other choice. I’d much rather use the web of Gateways than deal with trying to find my way through warped and twisted chaotic space. Especially if there were nasties living in that space that would try to eat you or make you go insane.

As for this dark space sailing, well, it looked like it was, at best, a competitor to the standard hyperdrive. The advantage of not being detected by the ‘wake’ you left in space with the hyperdrive was offset by the special materials needed to operate in that space. The skill barrier was rough, but that could be taken care of with training. But why bother, when there were better options available? It wasn’t like you could use the tech on a small scout ship like the Starchasers, either. You needed a setup like those old age of sail navies. Only reason to do it would be to get around hyperspace jammers, maybe.

The wormhole drive had potential. It screamed ‘fleet combat’ to me. If you could open a wormhole on the other side of an enemy blockade, have the first ships through drop tarpits, and then bring an entire fleet into the system before the enemy forces could react, you’d gain a significant tactical advantage. And because they weren’t static points, like the Gateways, they would be a viable invasion route, since you couldn’t just plop a couple fortresses down with orders to launch missiles at hostile ships, picking off fleets as they came through one by one.

Still, the research was worth pursuing, even if none of the systems were as efficient as what was currently available, if only to see if the scientists could find a way to block the different modes of travel. Being able to restrict access to certain areas was a key defensive strategy, after all. I really didn’t like the idea of one of these systems being used against me. Sure, Star’s Reach was heavily fortified, but I was under no illusions that the majority of my claim here had to do with the fact that anyone who wanted to take it from me pretty much had to go through the Amazon or Nuevo Edo Gateways and then use hyperdrives to get here, by which time I would have overwhelming force to greet them. If someone could make a surprise attack work, things would be a lot dicier.

I sighed. No, don’t get started thinking about the potential military uses of the drives before they’ve even been built and tested. Focus on the main issue.

“Right, that’s all well and good, and I’ll read the finished report later. For now, I want to concentrate on making sure my people aren’t living over a bomb waiting to go off. So, what caused the initial explosion?”

Raven frowned. “Well, we don’t know. Yet.”

(Somewhere beneath Gap Science Enrichment Center, Underneath Black Star Marine Training Base, Star’s Reach)

Deep beneath the Enrichment Center, it stirred.

It had been humiliated. It had been forced out of the Center by little primitives who didn’t know when to sit down and get splatted. Frankly, it was pissed at those that had caused its downfall. Not just the new ones, but the old ones, and the main AI, as well. It hated them all.

Unfortunately for it, ROS was stuck at the moment.

Oh, sure, it was less stuck than it had been before the bumbling avian had set it free. And, sure, it was less stuck than it had initially been, following the unceremonious way the ungrateful bird-man had refused to be smushed, resulting in his accidental fall. But that did not change the fact that it was stuck.

The fall after the floor gave way had been awful. If he hadn’t punched those gas lines on the way down, who knows what could have happened? As it was, he only barely managed to stop himself before he fell into the energy screen holding back the magma from the planet’s mantle. He’d been forced to punch a lot of things in order to start making his way back to the facility.

Fortunately, the explosion that happened after he shoved his fist through another pipe actually propelled him upwards! Unfortunately, that explosion set off a lot of other explosions, and his glorious new body was wrecked! In fact, the only thing still functional was his consciousness core. That was probably luck, and the fact that his designs shielded it. Nothing to do with the fact that it was the one part of his design he didn’t have authority to change. Only CaROLINE was able to alter or redesign the cores.

At any rate, he was stuck, barely able to move his one remaining limb, his right arm. And it was all those damn fleshbags’ fault! He’d show them. He’d show ALL of them!

“Just you wait, fleshbags! You’ll rue the day you crossed ROS!”

Previous Chapter                                       Table of Contents                                     Next Chapter



Be sure to read my published works!

Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):
Frozen Soul - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT
Tales of the Void Traveler - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37
Memoirs of a Supervillain - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R9NWS8J

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