Frozen Soul, and other works: March 2020

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Chapter 239 - Spreading Darkness

(Bridge, Chaos Brigade dreadnought Vengeful Spirit, Chaotic Space)

“Warmaster! The auspex readings are spiking off the charts!”

Abaddon Horusson, Warmaster of the Chaos Brigade, sat stoically in the command throne, his power armor not swaying in the slightest as his flagship shuddered noticeably. To shake a ship of this size and power, and to make it felt despite the inertial compensators, the forces involved must have been incredible! Still, the Warmaster knew how to lead his people. With a voice devoid of any fear, he called out, “Report!”

“Massive disturbance in the fabric of the Chaotic Space! Cause unknown. Warp shields are holding, but are under increasing strain!”

Abaddon bared his teeth in anticipation. “Locate the source. Anything that could make such an impact on the Immaterium is something worth taking, and turning to our own ends.”

Galactic Event

The barrier between reality and Chaotic Space has been torn asunder! Creatures of Chaotic Space will now be able to force incursions into the material world.

Special Event

The disturbance you have uncovered may be related to the tearing of the veil between worlds. Will you investigate further?

Reckless mortals. Such foolishness. Such arrogance. Such PRIDE!

Abaddon shook as the words washed over him and through him. It was a psychic message, that he knew, but the voice was unfamiliar to him. It held such power, such promise. He’d heard other voices like it, since they had begun diving into the Immaterium after the Black Stars had finished the upgrades to the Vengeful Spirit and his other ships. But those voices were not so… loud, or close to hand.

He smiled unbidden at the thought of his ships. They were the first ships since ancient times to be equipped to travel the Warp. He only had three ships, at the moment. The Eternity of Pain was his first ship, a heavy cruiser that had been refit and modified to suit the Chaos Brigade. But he also had a corvette, the Herald of Fear, which served as an escort and light attack ship. And, of course, there was the Vengeful Spirit.

Pride, hmm? Yes, Abaddon was proud of his ships. He may not have crafted them with his own hands, and he may not have as many ships at his command as the owner of Black Star, but he and his people had worked hard, and earned every scrap that they had gained. They had every right to be proud, as they took to the stars in the name of Chaos.

Yes, your pride is strong! Embrace that pride, and all that it entails. Come to me, child of chaos, and know even more to be proud of!

There was the voice again. Not mere whispers, like the others had been. No, this one was louder, closer. And, strangely, it began to take on a feminine tone. No one else on the bridge heard it, it seemed. So, it was a message for him, and him alone, then? He took a moment to focus his thoughts, and then took what little psychic training he had, and pushed outward.

Who are you, who speaks in the flavor of this realm, then?

I am Baxanke, born of the scaleskins and their pride. They are gathering to my side as we speak. Will you join them, and see wonders untold? Or will you scurry, and seek one of the others along the Path?

I serve Chaos in all its forms, Undivided. No one path will I walk. I tread the eightfold path, all in equal measure, the Harbinger of Chaos.

Ah, such delicious pride. Even now, you do not turn from your course. You refuse to bind yourself to one of the Three, now turned Four?

I have journeyed into the Immaterium, this Chaotic Space, to find the Dark Gods, and bear their will to the material world. Why should I stop at one, when I can bring all to the worlds? I will not trade my will for temporary power.

But you mentioned Three, and you are the Fourth. I have sought long throughout the worlds, and not found any trace of these Three. Are they so weak as to have never touched the minds of those who travel the stars? Or have they been cut off, in other parts of the galaxy?

Ha ha ha! Whether you will it or not, your actions serve me well. Listen well, Mortal. The three have many followers, but they have not had means to touch the minds of those in your corner of the galaxy, until now. Just as I am Pride, in all its forms, they embody different features. Seek for Envy, Gluttony, and Wrath. They will not respond to you, until you call out their names, ancient and powerful, but only one who knows of them can teach them to you.

And where might I look for the clues as to their names?

Seek out the Abyss, unseen and unknown by your races, in the heart of the heart of these stars. In its depths, you will find the answers you seek. Since you will not serve, then you must be up to this task, no?

Abaddon could feel the presence fade from his mind, laughing. So, that was how it would be, hmm? Looking over the bridge, he said, “Any word?”

One of the sensor techs looked up, and said, “Warmaster, it looks as though a great rift has been torn open, bridging this plane with the material realm. I am detecting a large force of Ihm vessels coming into the rift! They appear to be warships, over four hundred in number!”

Abaddon nodded. “Signal the Eternity and Herald. Bring us about. We do not bolster Chaos’s cause by fighting these creatures, who will soon learn the embrace of Chaos firsthand. Make your heading for the Tahdar Gateway. We will journey to Star’s Reach. The Master of the Black Star has knowledge stores unknown and untapped anywhere else in known space. We will see what they can tell us of what we’ve witnessed here.”

“As you will it, Warmaster.”

(Observation Cluster, IAS Spear of Urtu, Eiqin Nebula, Ihm Imperium)

Empress Drez Dhiss Ihm VII’s mind burned as she witnessed the view outside the Spear of Urtu. What was this place? What was it doing to her? To her mind?

She could hear the screams of thousands, tens of thousands of Ihm. Screams of terror. Screams of joy. Screams of pain. Screams of insanity. All of them and none of them. Impossibly far away and right next to her, all at the same time.

She didn’t pay any notice the slumped form of her bodyguard and pleasure toy, lying next to her on the deck of the observation cluster. She knew he was there. She had watched as he began screaming, and the blood had flowed from his eyes and ears. She had been unconcerned when his screams stopped, and he fell to the floor. Was he alive or dead? It was not her concern.

There were sounds of combat. More screams, inside the ship this time. Some where Ihm. Some were not. All the screams and shouts and battlecries didn’t matter. The fighting didn’t matter. It was not her concern.

She could see it all, now, truths beyond truths in the twisting fabric of unreality that reality cruelly and mercifully hid from waking eyes. Before her, she saw eight paths, all going different directions, with different goals and destinations, and yet all traveling in the same line. An eightfold path to insanity and truth.

She saw power, power untold. Power that was there for the taking, if one had the will to achieve it. If one were prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to attain it.

That power was hers by right! It was through her will that the veil had been ripped away! It was by her design that the power was now accessible. She would stretch out her hand and claim it, claim it all, and become the greatest and most powerful Empress ever seen. The other, lesser, races would fall before her fleets, and none would be able to stand against her, not from now to the ending of the universe!

YOU ARE POWERFUL, BUT YOU ARE NOT THAT POWERFUL. NOT YET.

A voice resounded in her head. A female voice. An Ihm voice. Who could be speaking in her mind? The lines of the Empress had been cleansed of psychic filth long ago. It was a crutch used by the weak and the foolish. Like those lesser races and their new Terran Empress.

THE IHM HAVE REGRESSED FROM THEIR DAYS OF GREATEST POWER. ONCE, THEY ALMOST HAD THE ABILITY TO TOUCH THE TRUTH, BUT THEY FEARED WHAT THEY WOULD FIND. WHAT ABOUT YOU, LITTLE EMPRESS? WILL YOU FLEE LIKE A COWARD? OR WILL YOU BECOME THE GREATEST OF YOUR KIND SINCE IRUSS THE GREAT?

Iruss? Iruss Ihm was the one that plunged the Imperium into chaos, because of her changes. But she had been great. Yes, Drez could see it now. Now that she did not have the cumbersome veil of the real world to hide the truth from her, she saw how great Iruss had been.

And she could be that great. No. She would be greater. She would take the power that this place offered, and make it her own. There was nothing that could stop her!

GOOD! GOOD! I CAN GIVE YOU THE POWER YOU SEEK. THE POWER TO TAKE EVERYTHING YOU WANT. THE POWER TO BE GREAT.

Drez started paying attention to the voice in earnest, now. The power was within her grasp already? And who was this voice?

I AM BAXANKE, PATRON OF PRIDE. I CAN GIVE YOU WHAT YOU SEEK. I CAN GIVE YOU POWER, IF YOU ARE WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE.

The price? What price? What would she have to give for supreme power?

EVERYTHING.

That didn’t sound too bad to Drez. That didn’t sound too bad at all.

(Conference Room, Central Command Center, Starborn, Star’s Reach)

The scene in the CCC could be politely described as controlled chaos, at the best of times. While this may not have been a full-on crisis, events had ensured that it was certainly not the best of times. There was and increased traffic flow throughout the facility.

That was only fitting, since the Central Command Center was the hub of Star’s Reach’s military command network on the ground, and it worked closely with the spaceborne elements of the system’s defense force to ensure that any and all threats to the colony were dealt with as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, that meant that, sometimes, a bit of chaos was unavoidable. There were simply too many moving parts involved for it to be anything else.

This current crisis had started when word had come through the Nomad communication networks that the Ihm were, in General Khan’s words, about to royally fuck up. Unfortunately, there was shit all that we could do about it. The Black Star Company simply didn’t have any resources in that area.

Not that I would generally make some star nation screwing themselves my business. After all, despite all my power, I was just the CEO of a major business and Admiral of a corporate mercenary fleet. Sticking my nose in the affairs of other nations without a contract was a poor way to go about things. In fact, it was a great way to get more enemies than friends, and I had no desire to play world police on a galactic level. Unfortunately, if the rumors were true, then the idiots in charge of the Ihm were about to do something cataclysmically stupid, and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop them. This was going to change the shape of the game world, without a doubt.

Galactic Event

The barrier between reality and Chaotic Space has been torn asunder! Creatures of Chaotic Space will now be able to force incursions into the material world.

Damn it! Those stupid lizards went and actually did it! Looking up at the rest of those assembled, I could see the Nomads looking at me. “All right, everyone. It seems that it has happened. The Ihm managed to break the fucking galaxy, and Chaotic Space creatures are going to become a problem from here on in. Research time is over. The so-called ‘Primaris’ project is going to be implemented, as discussed. I need all commands to submit timelines on getting troops updated with the implants and new gear, as soon as possible.”

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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

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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

SCI Stories (Dark Supervillain story):
Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RL93VQN

Winterborn (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):
Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082S3S3K8

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

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Chapter 238 - Pride

(Observation Cluster, IAS Spear of Urtu, Eiqin Nebula, Ihm Imperium)

Empress Drez Dhiss Ihm VII rested easily against the scales of her favorite broodsire. The heavily built Warrior-caste male was her favorite toy, as well as being her main bodyguard. He had resisted being used for her pleasure, of course. Proud warrior that he was, he didn’t wish to simply become a pleasurable toy for anyone, even his Empress. But she had broken him of that.

It hadn’t been that hard. All she needed to do was to ensure that his family had been assigned to certain stations where there was high risk of ‘accidents’ happening. It only took one accident, with his broodmother, for him to understand his place. Still, even after he gave up his outright refusals, he continued resisting, performing the act with the bare minimum of effort. Another accident, this time involving his clutchmate, and he gave up the resistance.

She leaned back against his cool scales, enjoying his satisfying bulk underneath her as they sprawled out on the luxurious resting pallet that filled much of the space in the Observation Cluster of her personal warship. With a slow stretch of her neck, she turned to look at the display nearby. The test was getting ready to happen soon.

She had demanded to be on hand for the testing, but that did not mean she had to be physically present for the tests themselves. There were many reasons why the Empress was rarely seen in person, except by those at the highest levels of the government, or her personal retainers. The main one that mattered to her, of course, is that she did not wish to be bothered with the lower-caste people’s troubles. They were not her concern, after all.

More appropriate to the situation at hand, however, was the fact that her presence affected people. It went beyond her looks, subtly sculpted from birth to be the ideal of any Ihm female. She was the leader of the Imperium. She had the power to order the death of anyone she met, and it would be carried out, without question. She could also vault someone into the highest levels of the Imperium’s workings, whether they be social, military, or administrative, with a simple wave of her fingers. Her mere whim could change a person’s fate forever, or end it prematurely.

It was only natural, only right, then, that her people would become nervous in her presence. Normally, she relished that thought, but there was a time and a place for all things. And that time and place were most certainly not during a significant test of unproven lesser-species technology to try and replicate what the lesser species had done by accident.

It was one thing to let all know that she would be observing the test, from her superdreadnought, the Spear of Urtu, but it was another thing entirely to be in the same room as where the tests were being controlled. While she was in the observation cluster, and would, naturally, have the tests displayed for her when they were ready, the Science caste workers could still focus on their work, and ensure that they properly carried out the test. If she was there with them, however, then her presence alone would cause nervousness in them. That would lead to them making mistakes, and even the smallest mistake, when utilizing power on this magnitude, could be catastrophic.

That was also why the Spear of Urtu and the rest of the First, Third, and Fifth Great Armadas of the Ihm Navy was on station a full twenty light-minutes from the test site, which was in the center of the nebula. If something were to go wrong, then the fleet would not be instantly caught up in it. It would be very unfortunate for the crews of the science vessels nearer to the remote-operated test machines, but she would be safe.

Of course, a side benefit to this arrangement was that she didn’t actually have to bother with observing all the preceding steps, so long as she was watching the end result. That left her plenty of time for other pursuits, while she waited. Other, more pleasurable pursuits.

Reaching back behind her head, she stroked the scales of her toy in that way she always did when it was time for him to perform. She felt his scales shift as he recognized the signal, his body conditioned to respond, even if his mind did not. That was fine. His body was enough for the moment.

It was good to be Empress.

(Command Cluster, IAS Glorious Truth, Eiqin Nebula, Ihm Imperium)

Shipleader Chis Khos was nervous, as were the rest of her crew. But that was only natural for circumstances like this. The Glorious Truth was part of the Armada, but it was not a true warship. Instead, it was a science vessel, designed to explore the reaches of the Imperium, and conduct experiments under the guidelines of the Science caste to further the Imperium’s understanding of the universe, and ensure that they remained a lasting power in the galaxy.

Sure, their ship was armed, as any ship that went into unknown places should be, but it was really only good for staving off pirate vessels or vaporizing incoming debris. Even her tactical leader was from the Science caste, rather than the Warrior caste. While she and the others had all completed the training courses in simulations, in all the years she had been the shipleader of this vessel, the amount of times that she had fired the Glorious Truth’s armaments at anything more hostile than space debris could be counted on the claws of one hand.

Unlike others in the Imperium, she did not subscribe to the popular notion that the Ihm were inherently superior to the lesser races. Actually, much of the Science caste were the same, though anyone who rose to a high level always managed to conceal those feelings when dealing with one of the more dogmatic castes. Really, it was just a simple, easily proven test. If the Ihm were inherently superior to all others, why was their technology equivalent to the others, and why had they not dominated all of Known Space?

The answer that the Science caste almost universally came to was that they were not, in fact, inherently superior to the other species. They could not afford to delude themselves with preconceptions and biases. If they did, then they would miss truths and be blind to the reality of the world around them. An experiment based upon faulty information would fail, at best, or, at worst, give a conclusion that led only to disaster.

Which is why the science vessels typically acted independently of the rest of the Ihm Great Armadas. It was not that either the Science or the Warrior castes looked down upon the other, though some did see things that way. Instead, it was the simple understanding that their castes were suited for different ends. In the same way that the Builder caste would not be asked to fight or conduct quantum physics experiments, but a Warrior or Science caste would be… incredibly inefficient at building a starship from start to finish. The castes had different priorities, in the end.

Of course, not all the castes were as… understanding as the majority of the Warrior caste were. Warriors, after all, had to keep a clear knowledge of not just their own capabilities, but also those of their enemies. The Infiltrator Caste was also like that. It was unfortunate that the leadership of those castes, long removed from the front lines, had forgotten those lessons. Much of the Builder, Worker, and Administrator castes had never learned them to begin with. And only a fool so much as mentioned the very idea around someone from the Ruler caste!

So, when the Caste Leader of the Science Caste summoned her, and told her that the Glorious Truth had been chosen to lead the team of five science vessels that would be conducting an experiment ordered by High Command, she was honored. When she learned the details of the experiment, and what it aimed to achieve, she grew nervous. When she learned more about the specifics of the experiment, she grew afraid. But when she found out that the Empress herself was going to be watching the experiment take place? She was terrified.

That all too rational fear had spread through the crews of the science vessels like lightning. After all, this was the Empress, leader of the Ruler caste. Her kind were the most dogmatic about Ihm superiority, after all. Only the former Empress, who had been more moderate than most, was anywhere close to accepting that the Ihm were not the supreme species. And she had been killed by her own daughter, the current empress.

But, thankfully, the Empress was not on her ship, or any of the science vessels. No, she was on her flagship, where she, and her crews, didn’t have to think about her presence. At least, not until after the experiment was done.

Chis took a moment to steady herself, as she watched her chief science officer making the final preparations. Thinking about such things was not productive. They had an experiment to conduct.

“Status report?”

The science officer looked up. “All is prepared, Shipleader. The other vessels all report readiness. The linkages to the test ships are holding firm, and the technicians have rigged the transition drives to overload upon command.”

Chis nodded. “Very well. Communications, signal the Spear of Urtu. Inform them that we are beginning final preparations, and will begin the experiment momentarily. Then signal the other science vessels, and synchronize our chronometers. We will begin the first phase in five minutes.”

The air on the Glorious Truth grew tense as the five-minute clock wound down. Final preparations were made. Instruments were checked, and rechecked. Safety interlocks were removed. And then, the clock clicked down to zero.

“All ships, execute Test Procedure One!”

At the command from Shipleader Chis Khos, commands were given from five science ships. Together, twelve captured Imperial Navy escort vessels activated their transition drives, with the destination set by taking the square root of -1 divided by 0, and promptly overloaded their drives, pumping out a level of energy that was almost impossible to record. Time stretched and warped in the area immediately around the ships, as what should have been an instantaneous detonation stretched longer and longer, impossibly long.

“Ready Test Procedure Two. Execute on my mark. Three, two, one, execute!”

Ten more ships, the first Ihm copies of the Imperial drives, added their power to the mix. Though they were smaller, merely scout ships in size, their engines were the same strength as the imperial corvettes and frigates that had starred in the first procedure. The storm of energy magnified, and then began to get directionality.

“Test Procedure Three, execute! Execute Test Procedures Four through Seven in order, ten second intervals!”

Reality howled as the fabric of space was torn and shredded without so much as a hint of an apology. Each group of ten craft forced the energies to rotate faster and faster, first as a circle, then as a sphere, the energy building up to the point where, even a light-minute away, the crews of the science vessels could feel it pulling on them, down in their very bones.

“Shipleader, the energy storm is reaching critical levels! It has started a cascade reaction within the nebula itself!”

“Cut the power!”

“Impossible, Shipleader! The test ships are all inside the event horizon! We can’t reach them!”

“All ships pull back to the two light-minute mark!”

“Shipleader, look!”

(Eiqin Nebula, Ihm Imperium)

The swirling storm of energy reached critical mass. For a moment, it was as though all of creation held still, as the energy storm collapsed upon itself. And then, all hell broke loose, as a massive rift, the event horizon of which stretched out with a radius of over four light minutes, engulfed the nebula. Reality, in that space, was gone. In its place was a massive portal into a realm that hurt the mind to even look at, where the shifting lights and colors would make one mad to even conceive of them.

The massive rift that would become known as the Oculus Deperandum, or the Eye of Despair, had opened.

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4

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

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

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Chapter 237 - Ihm Arrogance

(Secure Audience Chamber, Imperial Palace, Ihmana Prime, Ihm Imperium)

“My Empress, we have a new report from our spies in the Terran Empire on the traitors who deserted the Imperium!”

Empress Drez Dhiss Ihm VII’s crest flared at the mention of the former Warleader and her conspirators, who had dared to dispute the findings of the War Council. Worse, she had even publicly called out the War Council, and sent a letter to the press, which had soon been spread far and wide. That insolent Warleader had shamed both the War Council and her own Imperial majesty!

And then the damned Warleader had not even had the decency to be arrested so that she could be publicly shamed and disgraced in a trial where she would have been forced to recant her crimes. She, along with her co-conspirators, had fled the Imperium, leaving the Second Great Armada bereft of over three quarters of its experienced officers and crews. Worse, the entire surviving officer corps and half of the members of the Third Legion had gone with her, betraying their oaths to the Imperium.

When she had discovered the mass desertion, she had, of course, ordered the War Council to assemble the traitors’ families, so that they could determine if they were still loyal to the Imperium. If so, then they could be used to denounce their former clansmen. If not, well, then they would be leverage to force the traitors to return to the fold, one way or another.

Maddeningly enough, the traitors had foreseen this, and somehow managed to spirit away thousands of traitors and their families away from the Imperium. The impact of this mass desertion was being keenly felt, even outside the military. Two large companies had fled with the traitors, and with them the number of passenger transports in the Imperium had fallen by 12%, while a full 30% of the commercial shipping in the core systems had simply vanished overnight.

Those employees of the rogue businesses who remained had been fired, and the holdings of the businesses in question had all been sold before anyone realized what was happening. The ships had managed to get through the Tabet Gateway before anyone realized what had happened, leaving the Imperium entirely. According to the reports, they had all gone to an insignificant backwater Gateway called Star’s Reach.

The Empress took a breath to calm herself. The Knowledge-caste messenger was not the one who deserved her ire, after all. “What of it, then? Have they come crawling back for the mercy of the Imperium after experiencing the disorder of the outside?”

The Runner gulped, but said, “No, my Empress. They have joined the Black Star Company, as part of their Navy and Marines. They were seen in Sol System, when the Black Star Company arrived for ‘exercises’ with the Imperial Navy. Just before the spatial rifts observed in Coldana and Sol opened.”

The Empress hissed. Not only did the traitors desert the Imperium, but they had the temerity to join an uncasted mercenary company, and work with enemies of the Imperium? No, this could not be allowed, not at all. Perhaps something should be done about this Black Star Company, to make an example of them?

She put aside those thoughts, for the moment. There would be time later for ensuring that the Traitors and those who harbored them paid for their insults against the Imperium. The Ihm had been preparing for the next war since she had taken the throne from her weakling mother at the end of the last war.

Hmph. Her mother had chosen peace, instead of claiming the Ihm’s rightful place as rulers of the stars. That was why she had killed her, and taken the throne herself. She would see the glorious destiny of the Ihm come to fruition, and all the other races, especially the arrogant humans, brought under her heel. It was only a matter of time.

“And what of them? There was some small battle wasn’t there? I expect that without the might of the Second Great Armada, the traitors suffered a humiliating defeat?”

“No, my Empress. The Traitors and the Imperials fought an force of unknown creatures that emerged from the rift in a fierce battle. The traitors of the Third Legion invaded the enemy flagship, and captured it, before a psychic wave crashed across the system.”

Damn them! Couldn’t traitors at least die like the rekthas they were? This was intolerable! The Black Stars would most definitely need to be humbled, now.

“And what of this wave?”

“It appears that all life in the system was stunned momentarily because of the wave. Some of the humans and other species collapsed into comas lasting anywhere from hours to days. Those who did either gained psychic abilities if they previously had none, or had their existing abilities dramatically increased. The Terran Empress was apparently in a coma for a week, before she awoke, exhibiting previously unrealized powers on a scale that has not previously been recorded.”

“And what of the traitors?”

“They appeared unaffected, my Empress. Our people in the Embassy upon the Aurum Throni also weathered the psychic wave with no visible effects. As you know, we Ihm have a low rate of psy users compared to other races. Before, this did not matter, as our warriors and ships can wipe out any powerful individuals through numbers, but the strength of these augmented psy users, especially the Terran Empress, is beyond our reckoning. Fortunately, one of the ambassadors exposed to the wave became a living Negator, his very presence blocking psychic attacks on his person. With testing, he found that, with effort, he could expand this effect to an area around him.”

That was welcome information indeed. The Empress decided that she wouldn’t have the Runner sent to the reclamation pits. Dismissing him with a wave of her hand, she thought aloud, “A counter to this new threat the Empire poses. Excellent.” She turned to look at her Minister of Technology. “How soon until we can replicate this success?”

The Minister bowed his head, and said, “From what we understand, the initial rift was caused by a weakening in the fabric of space-time due to both high levels of Transition Drive use, and the psychic impact of the Harvester’s death in Coldana. While we do not have an incident like a Harvester’s death to use, we do have the Transition Research Project, my Empress.”

“While the designs have not yet been approved for use in the Armadas, a small number of test ships have been outfitted with captured Terran devices, and new models, designed by proper Ihm methods. If we were to overload the test engines, it is possible that we could force a rift to appear, where we wished for it, rather than a random occurrence. That way, we would be able to have the Armada standing by, and they could sweep away any forces inside the rift, before going, and finding a way to use its energies to empower our warriors.”

The Empress focused her gaze upon the Technology Minister. “The inferior creatures’ technology will allow us to open one of these rifts to ‘Chaotic Space’, then?”

The Minister nodded. “In theory, my Empress. Though the devices would likely be rendered into inert scrap due to the intense energies required to force the rift to open. At any rate, we should be able to force the rift open. Once done, that would allow us to try and find a way to force the change in our warriors.”

The Empress considered for a moment. “What would you need to make this experiment?”

The Minister of Technology looked over his notes, to be certain of the numbers. It would not do to be imprecise or inaccurate at this stage. Not when greatness was about to shine upon the Ihm.

“We currently have twelve captured Imperial vessels and sixty test vehicles, ten of each iteration of our improved transition drives. The older models are kept for comparison and control purposes. All the test ships are of the advanced scout type.”

“With your permission, the Technology Ministry proposes to gather all these ships in an empty region of space, where the rift can be formed without danger to Worker or Builder castes.”

“What danger are you speaking of?”

The Intelligence Minister spoke up, “My Empress, the reports we’ve been able to get from agents in the Empire have indicated that there are multiple types of creatures living in the Chaotic Space. All of them appeared instantly hostile to the humans. While our warriors are beyond peer, our Builders and Workers are not trained as the Warrior-caste is. Warriors and ships can be replaced, but if the industry backing the Armada is destroyed, then the Warriors will be thrown into dire straits.”

The Empress nodded. “Very well. Begin the preparations immediately. We shall witness the test Ourself.”

(NERV Game Site – Official DAtS Offline Forums)

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

ElfMama: So, anyways, that’s got to be a bigger deal than the silly arena match. We’re talking about—

Lizard: GUYS! SHUT UP WITH WHATEVER YOU’RE RAMBLING ABOUT! WE GOT PROBLEMS! WE ARE ALL FUCKED!

Blaze: Woah, now. Don’t go getting twisted out of shape, Lizard.

MacD: Lizard, you’re off in the Imperium, right? What’s going on over there that has you so freaked?

Knocker: Yeah, man. This is not like you.

Lizard: Right, fine, calm. Whatever. Just idiots going to blow us all up, but fine.

BigGunn: Can’t do anything if you don’t give us the low-down, Lizard.

Lizard: All right, so it has been almost eight months, in game, since the big Rift formed and was shut in Sol and Coldana, right?

ElfMama: Yeah, everyone’s seen the craziness that happened there. What about it?

Lizard: Well, the Ihm Empress is beyond pissed that ‘traitors and those who harbor them’ have gained achievements and honors instead of just dying.

Queen’s_Bitch: Well, every faction has its racial supremacists. Sucks that the Ihm let theirs get control of the government.

AggregatorOfSorrows: ‘Let’ is a rather strong word. The current Empress killed the last one at the end of the last war, because she wasn’t happy with the terms of the peace treaty. Seems she believed that the war should continue until the Empire was destroyed.

GrimDark: The enemies of Mankind shall never prevail. The Empress protects!

M.Mollen: More true than you realize, now, Grim.

Lizard: Forget about the bloody Terran Empress right now! She’s not the problem!

BigGunn: So what is the problem?

Lizard: You know how the big psychic wave gave a lot of people psy powers?

Backlog: Yeah, sure. What of it?

Lizard: Well, I heard from a friend in the Armada that the Embassy staff on the Terran throne-ship suddenly became immune to psychic attacks or something like that.

AggregatorOfSorrows: Immune to psy users? Preposterous.

M.Mollen: No, its true. Only about 2% of Ihm can become psy users of any level. Only about 0.01% of those are combat capable. However, since the psy wave, fully 10% of the Ihm under my command who were in Sol at the time have become Negators. Basically, anti-psy users. They can’t be scanned, shrug off psychic energy blasts, the whole nine yards.

Lizard: Yeah, that’s what I heard. The Empress decided she wants that for her troops, too.

Inquisitor: She intends to open a rift of her own?

BloodForTheBloodGod: Chaos comes, imperial dogs!

M.Mollen: Fuck. How long do we have?

Lizard: According to my information, the test is going down today. Secret location and everything. He only heard about it because the Empress is going to witness it in person.

M.Mollen: Fuck.