(Conference Room, Blackstone Station, Star’s Reach system)
Slave-Commodore Virstina rose from her seat, and began her
presentation. “First, I wish to say that Vice-Admiral Zyrsys would have been
here, but the complete implosion of the Kul’tiran Navy due to the deaths of the
majority of their senior officers has caused a great deal of chaos in Alliance
space, and it is threatening to spill over into the Confederacy. For that
reason, she felt her time was better spent overseeing the situation from
Madrigal Base.”
I nodded. “I had heard the reports, but how bad is it,
really?”
Virstina sighed. “The Ashvane Admiralty’s legitimacy was called
into question almost immediately after the Boralus Massacre. A source in the
Alliance Council leaked reports from Alliance Intelligence to news networks,
claiming that Admiral Ashvane was responsible for adding psychotropics and
subliminal messaging to the therapy sessions that Admiral Jaina Proudmoore was taking
to deal with the aftermath of the Theramore’s destruction and her
humiliation. According to the leak, that pushed her over the edge, to the point
where she eventually had a breakdown and used her psy powers to kill most of
the Kul’tiran Admiralty. In a ‘coincidence’ of timing, Admiral Ashvane was ‘delayed’
in getting to the meeting due to her personal shuttle experiencing a fault in
the startup sequence, forcing her to call for another shuttle. She arrived on
Boralus Station fifteen minutes after the massacre.”
“Following the leak, Commodore Talia Fordragon declared that
Ashvane was a traitor to Kul’tiras, and demanded that all loyal Kul’tirans help
her to overthrow Ashvane. The situation quickly devolved into a civil war.
Currently, Ashvane has control over 40% of the Kul’tiran fleet, while Fordragon
commands 36%. Another 20% deserted, and appear to have turned to piracy and
other rackets. The remaining 4% were seen fleeing through the Gateway along
with a large contingent of civilian craft, likely carrying their families. They
were last spotted by our stealth probes in the Amazon system, but their last
known vector takes them away from both Nuevo Edo and Star’s Reach. The presence
of a couple mining and manufacturing ships suggests that they are intending to
try and set up a new colony somewhere.”
I nodded slowly. “Nothing we can do about the civil war in
Kul’tiran space. Our involvement would only stoke the fires, I’m afraid.
However, this band that ran off to make a new colony is different.”
Bringing up a listing of ships currently in port, I found
the section for the Star’s Reach defense group. “The local defense group has been
filled out, but some of them could use a bit of seasoning. Detail the Romulus,
two Assassins, four Gunboats, and the Collateral Damage to do a reconnaissance
in force starting in the Amazon system and continuing on the last known track
for the Kul’tiran deserters.”
“As you wish, Admiral. Their orders?”
“Stealth reconnaissance. Call it wargaming for if we needed
to track down a pirate base in this arm of the galaxy. Maintain stealth unless
discovered, otherwise, observe and report. Fire if fired upon. I want to know
what these people are doing in this area of space, but I don’t want to engage
in hostilities when we might be able to coopt them instead.”
“Understood. I’ll have the orders sent out immediately.”
“Very good. Now, we have deviated from the topic somewhat.
What does the Navy have in store for me?”
“First, we have some minor improvements to beam weapons and
targeting systems that the engineers have come up with, which, when implemented
across the fleet, should increase firing rates by 3% and accuracy by 5%. Those
numbers may seem small, but according to the engineers it is mostly a change in
software, with a couple minor upgrades needed to the power regulators. These
changes could be rolled out immediately, and incorporated into future designs
from the start.”
I nodded. The numbers weren’t much, when taken on their own,
but when applied across a fleet in battle, then that could prove to be a
significant edge. “Make it so. Next?”
“Thorough analysis of the captured Shadowgate ship,
crosschecked with the information we’ve been able to recover from the
Enrichment Center computers, confirms initial suspicions. The fleet, in its current
form, would be unable to function in ‘Dark Space’, as it is called, due to the
different physics at play there. Primary concerns are the ships’ hulls and propulsion
systems.”
“For the hulls, it appears that the properties of Dark Space
render sustained electronic fields inert for reasons we do not quite
understand. Their weapons, for instance, are laser weapons that use charged
capacitors, loaded like artillery shells. The capacitors can be reused, but
they must be hand-loaded, as the ‘gun deck’ of the ship is exposed to vacuum
during an attack. The electrum alloy used in their hulls acts almost like a
faraday cage, keeping the electrical fields inside the ship operational, so
long as the hull is not breached.”
“Obviously, this setup is incompatible with the Black Star Navy’s
composite material approach to ship hulls. Using electrum in the hull would
negate the majority of our advantages that we enjoy in our current ships.
Because of this, current Black Star ships are unable to engage in battle in
Dark Space.”
“This is before we even consider the problem of propulsion
in Dark Space. It would appear that conventional engines do not work in that
space, and maneuvering requires a projected light ‘sail’ and a mechanical
rudder to steer with, like a blue-water sailing ship. Frankly, even beyond the technological
aspects, the Navy does not have the correct skill set to properly fight in this
Dark Space.”
I nodded. That pretty much summed up what I’d heard before. “Options?”
“Fortunately, transition into and out of Dark Space is only
possible at Lagrange points, due to some quirk of physics. We would suggest
having stealthed sensor buoys at every Lagrange point in a system. Since our
ships can’t go into Dark Space, and their ships are wholly inferior to ours
when they are in real space, we don’t judge it to be worth the expense of
trying to build platforms or lay minefields around every point in the system.
It was suggested that we build weapon platforms in Dark Space, but static
defenses without mobile support are only good for target practice and delaying
actions.”
I leaned back in my chair. Certainly, that would be the
smart approach. However, it was a little passive for my liking. “Very well.
Since Shadowgate is the only power we know to use Dark Space, we can make this
a low priority. However, tell the design teams to start drawing up ship designs
for craft that can fly and fight in Dark Space, should it become necessary. And
commission a corvette-sized ship to be used as a test platform for new weapons and
technology testing in Dark Space. We won’t make a big push on this now, but I
want some people thinking about it, in case it becomes a problem.”
“Aye, Admiral. Next, I’m happy to report that research into
the Anchor Drives is proceeding nicely. While the science teams still do not
understand all of the forces at play, we have managed to refine our
understanding of the design somewhat. By increasing the charge time of the
drive to forty minutes instead of thirty, we can cut the ‘entry’ window at the
destination to five minutes. We also believe that charging the drive for an
hour would allow instantaneous entry on the other side.”
“Why haven’t any of the other powers considered this, and
why do the X’thari not charge the drives longer?”
“We are the first group to truly do research into the X’thari
drives, primarily because the X’thari have a habit of relentlessly hunting
ships with their drives, as we saw at Coldana. There was little will to explore
what the drives could do. As for why the X’thari don’t do this, there are two
options. Power requirements for the extra ten minutes of charge are 60% greater
than normal for the drive, so it could be an issue of power generation, transference,
or storage with their biomechanical systems. Alternatively, if the suggestions
that the X’thari as we know them are a devolution of a formerly more advanced
species, then they might not have the technical expertise to alter the
functioning of the drives.”
I breathed out a sigh. “All right, we’ll keep the drives as
normal, for the time being, but have the scientists keep refining their work. I
like the idea of instant-arrival X’thari drives. That would give us a huge
tactical advantage against enemies.” I paused, and then said, “So, how goes the
work to refit the fleet with the dual-core X’thari drives, like we have on the
Starhunters?”
“Thanks to the research done on the Starhunters, the new
version of the X’thari drives have been further reduced in size, and have
increased efficiency, both of which have made it easier to refit the existing
ships. We are currently cycling the Battle groups first, but once all the current
ships are refit, then we will get the Defense groups updated, as well. Current
projections have the fleet completely refit to have X’thari dual-drives in
eighteen months.”
I nodded. That was a long time, but there was no way to get
around it, unless I was willing to take entire groups off station at a time,
and stop all other work at all Black Star shipyards. That simply wasn’t
possible, given the commitments we had.
“And what of Chaotic Space?”
Virstina grimaced. “Things are both better and worse on that
account, Admiral. Thanks to the Chaos Brigade, we have good test figures on ships
capable of entering ‘Hellspace’, as some crews are calling it. To start with
the bad, at this time it does not look like we will be able to refit our
current ships to open the portals to Hellspace that are needed to enter and
exit that realm without a rift. The modifications required would be too
extensive for ships that already have space at a premium.”
Hellspace, huh? I shook my head at the name. It was certainly
fitting, given the horrors that were supposed to exist there, and it definitely
rolled off the tongue better than Chaotic Space did. The Chaos Brigade would
probably object to the name, but that was too bad. With a smirk at that
thought, I motioned for Virstina to continue.
“However, refitting ships to include the psychic shields
that will protect ships and crews from the energies of Hellspace is possible.
These shields would be secondary systems to the main battle shields, like the
navigational deflectors designed to ward off debris and environmental hazards. Propulsion
systems, shields, beam weapons, and solid projectiles still function as normal
within Hellspace, but the Starbolt torpedoes have a magnified effect within
that space, as seen with the psychic wave that emerged from the Sol rift during
the initial contact with Hellspace.”
I grimaced at that.The wave was bad enough experiencing it
in real space. I didn’t want to know what would happen if you got caught in one
while inside Hellspace. “Issue orders that Starbolts in Hellspace are to be
last resort weapons. And make sure that all ships have plenty of Dragonbreath
torpedoes.”
Virstina nodded, “Yes, Sir. Now, as stated, we can modify
all ships of gunboat size or larger to fly and fight within Hellspace, but we
currently do not have the ability to reliably get them into or out of that
dimension. To remedy this, the design teams have come up with a ship capable of
opening a portal to Hellspace and holding it open long enough to allow a fleet
through.”
She touched a button on her pad, and a hologram of a ship
was displayed. It was nearly three times the size of a Wrath-class Battleship, which
was shown next to it, for scale. It looked mean, too, as I could see plenty of
weapon emplacements.
“This is the Diety-class Hellbreacher ship. As you can see,
the design is significantly larger than a Wrath-class. It has multiple redundant
systems, including the rift-generators, and as much shielding, armor, and
defenses as we can give it, along with some of the most powerful engines we’ve
yet designed. In real space, it will be able to match the Wrath-class for
speed. In addition to her beam weapons, torpedo launchers, and rail guns, she
also carries room for two fighter squadrons, as well as a detachment of three Hellspace-capable
Crow-class assault ships and four Marine drop ships, in addition to a full
complement of shuttles and repair craft. We are currently working on a new
fighter design to compliment the Hellbreacher which will be able to operate
inside Hellspace.”
“Obviously, this thing won’t be able to get through the
Gateways.”
“Yes, Admiral, that is true. However, it will be equipped
with the X’thari dual-drives, which will allow us to circumvent the issue of
maximum size allowable by the Gateways. Additionally, these ships, while
capable of supporting a fleet, the Hellbreachers will also be fully capable of
independent action. They are equipped with planetary-grade communication suites,
which should allow them to contact us from anywhere in the galaxy, so long as
it is in real space. This will enable our ships with X’thari drives to quickly
come to the aid of a Hellbreacher, if there is cause for concern.”
This ship was a beast. But it needed to be. If it took a
fleet into Hellspace, then the Hellbreacher was a single point of failure. If
it was disabled or destroyed, then the fleet was trapped in Hellspace. That
was, quite simply, unacceptable. So, they had made as many redundancies as
possible, and dialed up the defense as much as they could. However, this was
not a ship to simply be added to the existing fleet structure, but something
that could be used as force projection all its own.
That said, it was a monumental undertaking, with unproven
technology. There would be a lot of crew members on that ship, and they would
literally be going into harm’s way, just stepping into Hellspace, if everything
I’d read was true. But without this, we would be vulnerable to attacks from
Hellspace with no way to go and hit back. And I hated the idea of people being
able to attack me and just run away, without me being able to hunt them down
and make them pay.
“Very well. I will authorize the construction of the Pallas
Athena Diety-Class Hellbreacher as a test platform. However, I also want
more economical designs drawn up. We might not be able to refit our existing
craft to open the way to Hellspace, but I want strike craft capable of entering
or exiting Hellspace independently as escorts for the Athena.”
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Be sure to read my published works!
Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):
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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):
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Lewd Dungeon (Dungeon Core GameLit):
Book 1 - Welcome to the Apocalypse https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB34DHF
Omnibus 1 - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FBPF6HR
SCI Stories (Dark Supervillain story):
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Winterborn (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):
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