Frozen Soul, and other works: Prologue

(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.

GrimDark: Glory to Dethom, in the Empress’s name! The Traitor has been brought down!

GunKitty: Yeah, Dethom was on fire, from the streams!

Lizard: The False Emperor almost had them, though, in that fourth phase! They got unlucky with some of the adds, and nearly had all three sigils go down at once. That would have been an instant wipe!

DigDug: Limitless was not far behind, either. They were both neck and neck, from what I could see, but Dethom pulled ahead at the last second.

Knocker: I was impressed by Chaos Brigade. They didn’t have the kind of organization that Dethom and Limitless did, but they were right there in the thick of it. Third, but not that far back.

BloodForTheBloodGod: Glory to Chaos for their triumph!

TheDespoiler: Hah. It was a hard fight, but a worthy one. And the loot was epic. Unlike the dungeon, the raid was set up differently. There were more enemies, and stronger, but you could actually loot the bodies for weapons and armor, among other things. Running the False Emperor’s Haven can earn a lot of money, if you can carry everything out.

BigGunn: Like, how much loot are we talking about?

TheDespoiler: Well, after repairs and consumable costs, we were able to clear a very hefty sum. Part of that was multipliers for being in the top 10, and the first in-game week after the boss died, but even at half the spoils per run, I believe we’ll be able to make enough for a special project.

Inquisitor: What heresy are you planning now?

TheDespoiler: Just calling forth the Vengeful Spirit, to serve as the base for the Chaos Brigade from hence-forth! Larger than a superdreadnought!

M.Mollen: Yes, the plans were really quite interesting. Fortunately, Chaos Brigade agreed to a discount on their new ship in return for some schematics and blueprints they ‘recovered’.

Anonymous7: Wait a minute. The Black Stars are building a… what, megadreadnought for the Chaos Brigade?

M.Mollen: Well, it needed the extra size to hold that massive cannon. But it could easily hold thirty or forty thousand men.

GrimDark: This heresy cannot be allowed to stand.

TheDespoiler: You cannot stop us.

M.Mollen: Grim, send me a PM, and I’ll include price sheets if you want to talk about ships. The design teams were absolutely thrilled with the proposed Gloriana schematics, and different designs could be made.

GrimDark: It would be fitting if the Red Tear were to come to the defense of worlds threatened by the Vengeful Spirit…

MacD: Enough about that. Did you hear that Massive Paradox is getting financed by the Confederacy to start exploring Unknown Space near Confederate borders?

DoYouEvenLyft?: Yeah, they are supposed to have bought one of those Black Star scout ships people are talking about.

M.Mollen: Modified version, but yes. They were going for more long-term mission plans, so some configurations needed to be changed. Basically, trading out the torpedo launchers and second X’thari drive for increased living space and increased cargo hold.

DarkAngel: Why do they need the extra space?

M.Mollen: They don’t have the benefit of a sentient AI, so that caused ‘issues’ in the way things worked, requiring the living crew to be increased from two to four.

DigDug: Those X’thari drives are great for going long distances in an instant, but the fact that the X’thari like to try and kill you if they detect it sucks.

Backlog: The fact that any system defense force in your target system will annihilate you the instant you show up unannounced is slightly more concerning.

DarkAvariel: That would certainly put a damper on exploration.

M.Mollen: Fortunately, the Starhunter-B scout vessels come with a couple hard-coded jump points to use as emergency evacuations.

DoYouEvenLyft?: Let me guess, one of them is in Star’s Reach?

M.Mollen: Of course. Though they also come with Desolace and the Amazon system pre-installed. You can set other coordinates manually, but the presets are far less likely to find you getting a nasty case of being dead.

Not_the_Face!: You know, MP isn’t the only group going for exploration. Invictus has an old Imperial Navy corvette that they’re taking exploring for the Empire. It is supposed to be Transition-equipped.

Hullu_Kapteeni: Transition drives are nice, yes, but I do not like how they feel when transiting. And keeping things quiet is impossible when you use one of those things. It is like trying to sneak around with horns attached to the soles of your shoes like some kind of clown.

Knocker: Why would they care about announcing their presence in unknown space? It isn’t like anyone is out there.

Guardian: In the last game year alone, two full civilizations were found outside Known Space. Might be more, and they might have itchy trigger fingers if you show up unexpectedly.

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot: Not all the ‘lost’ colony ships have been accounted for. And some of them were basically loaded up with isolationist or religious groups that wanted nothing more than to be left well and truly alone.

Parca: And there’s the minor little fact that the X’thari still have whatever amounts to a home world out there, somewhere. And no one knows where it is. They only have guesses that it isn’t just next door.

Knocker: Ah. Yeah, that could be bad.

Anonymous9: For those of you with Imperium ties, that Warleader that ended up in charge of all the forces at Coldana? She’s disappeared.

Anonysmous4: Disappeared? Bullshit. She was taken out, after sending that letter to damn near everyone in the galaxy calling out their admiralty on what she thought were their mistakes.

Requiesce-in-Pace: Can confirm a general contract was opened. Open bounty. Can also confirm that it has not been claimed as yet.

Lizard: Rumors are saying she left the Imperium altogether.

Anonymous4: A lot of other Ihm veterans of Second Coldana have disappeared, as well. Suspicious.

MarcoPolo: Not necessarily. If the former Warleader quit out of protest, and was approached by some other party, she might be able to convince some of her subordinates to jump ship with her.

l33tpally: But where would they go?

Anonymous3: Confederacy, Consortium, and Free Worlds Alliance are all looking for experienced commanders right now, and not too picky on race.

BurtBacharach: But they haven’t been spotted in any of those areas.

Starwatcher: Hmm. The Black Star Navy is in the middle of a reshuffle of their groups. Maybe…

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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