Frozen Soul, and other works: Chapter 180

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

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

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

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

New Title Gained!

Slave

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

All Reputations reset to 0.

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

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

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

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

“WHAT THE HELL IS THE MEANING OF THIS?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Have the Confeds been informed?”

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

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

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

“Raven, what is the status on Heartseeker?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Previous Chapter Table of Contents Next Chapter

Be sure to read my published works!

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

Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy GameLit):
Volume 1 - Tutorial
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4

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