Rebuild Book 12 Into the Black – Stuart Grosse

(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, Guardian, GunKitty, Chummer, Inquisitor, SemiSolidSnake, ElfMama, Not_the_Face!, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, Anonymous9, AggregatorOfSorrows, WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, Dolcett, Backlog, DarkAvariel, Knocker, Hullu_Kapteeni, GrimDark, BloodForTheBloodGod, Queen’s_Bitch, BackDat@55Up, DoYouEvenDPS?, MajorTom, Parca, and DarkAngel are in the chat.

ElfMama: Damn, have you seen some of the art exhibits in the new Nuevo Edo embassy on Dimiya? They have a public art gallery showcasing some of their local artists.

Number5Alive: Yeah, there’s some kick ass stuff in there. I really like that painting of the shrine in Satsukicho.

Golddigger: Getting through the line was a pain, though. Anyone who can get to Dimiya is doing so to try and get a look at the new kids on the block.

BurtBacharach: Is it really true that the planet is something like 90% female?

l33tpally: *side-eyes Burt*

BurtBacharach: Asking for a friend.

Guardian: Close. More like 85%. But if you go there, you’ll probably want to stick to the spaceport. Last I heard they were still working on the protective custody laws for men on the planet.

Chummer: Why would men be in protective custody?

Parca: Because when the population is that out of whack, men become a commodity, and some people decided getting a monopoly on men, by force if necessary, was the way to win control of the world.

Chummer: Ah, so the government stepped in to stop that?

Parca: Pretty much. The men also work shifts at the Pleasure Houses, where they’re basically government-sponsored whores.

BurtBacharach: Really…

M.Mollen: Not as glamorous as it sounds, Burt. They don’t get a choice in their ‘customers’. Take your ultimate fantasy woman, and then think of someone the exact and total opposite, and know that you have to keep it up and deliver.
BurtBacharach: Spaceport it is.

Anonymous3: You bastard! I lost my ship because of you!

BurtBacharach: What?

Anonymous3: Not you, that Mollen bastard.

M.Mollen: *chuckles* Oh goody. And just how did I cause you to lose your ship?

Anonymous3: That gate address you came in from doesn’t lead to Nuevo Edo! The system it comes out in only has one world, and the fucking atmosphere ATE MY SHIP!

M.Mollen: Ah, so you were one of the pirates who caused me to win my bet with the Premier. Thanks for that. She and her friend owed me another dinner date after my probes showed all the idiots trying to land on the planet and getting stranded there.

Inquisitor: You mean you bet the leader of an entire world that pirates would try and go to the gate address you came from, and in return they had to buy you dinner? What if you lost?

M.Mollen: I would have bought them dinner.

SEA-TAC_Sweetie: Haha!

Anonymous9: So you set a trap for gullible people to fall into while the Nuevo Edoans made their trade deals?

Anonymous3: HEY!

M.Mollen: Exactly. Currently, the only people who know where Nuevo Edo is are the Black Stars. If trade can be worked out, then it’ll open up to everyone. If not, well, we’ve still got contracts in place to provide services to them, and I’m sure we can get some of their goods to the rest of the galaxy through secondary markets.

Anonymous3: You can’t just hoard prime info like that!

GunKitty: Pretty sure he can, actually. Who is going to stop him?

MarcoPolo: Is it true that the Nuevo Edoans have a list of hundreds of gate addresses?

M.Mollen: Why yes, yes it is. The Amazons might have had one, too, but I don’t know whether it survived the attack.

DoYouEvenLyft?: How did you convince the Empire to give you enough Greenwave to wipe all tech on the planet so quickly?

M.Mollen: I didn’t.

Blaze: Wait, are you telling us…

M.Mollen: That the Black Star Company has weapons of mass destruction, and the capability to build more? Yes. Yes, I am.

Blaze: How the hell did you swing that?

M.Mollen: My people found the weapon, and we kept copies of the info on how to safely produce, store, and deliver it.

Anonymous4: HAX! You gotta be either hacking or a plant for the devs!

M.Mollen: Hah. No, the only thing the devs have done for me would be that event quest. Which the Black Stars got because we were the only ones in a position to do anything about Deus trying to assimilate Earth.

BackDat@55Up: How did you manage to get so far so fast without the devs helping you, then?

M.Mollen: Well, if you people bothered to watch the (edited) streams, you’d see that when I started the game, I was basically a lab rat. But I started planning fast, and found a way to escape. After that, I got lucky with a few things, and managed to keep one step ahead of trouble until I got out of the Empire.

Guardian: Heh. A lot of work after we managed to get out of the Empire.

M.Mollen: True that. Lot of work, and getting my rep up, which got us some jobs. One of those jobs on Jagloth got my team into a vault with a lot of valuables, and so we helped ourselves to some extra fun stuff, which is how we came to find Nuevo Edo. The intel was there for the taking, if anyone had the skills to break in and grab it.

Anonymous3: But what about my ship?

M.Mollen: What about it?

Anonymous3: I put everything into getting that ship, and your damn weapon destroyed it!

M.Mollen: Well, if you go off the edge of the map trying to find treasure, you have to expect that there are dangers. Sucks to be you.

Anonymous3: You fucking bastard! If I get off this rock, I’m going to…

M.Mollen: Do nothing. You’re going to do nothing, because you won’t have a prayer of touching me unless you pay Requiesce-in-Pace to do it.

Requiesce-in-Pace: My rates for that contract will be higher than last time, as there won’t be a war to distract him, just FYI.

HaveGunsWillTravel: Hey, at least there are plenty of horny Amazons down there to enjoy, A3.

Anonymous3: That isn’t enjoyable! They’ve killed me twice with their ‘Snu-snu’!

SEA-TAC_Sweetie: But what a way to go!

MacD: LOL!

(Nuevo Edo System)

The Gateway opened for the first time since the Prime Minister went through to try and negotiate a trade deal. The Black Star Fleet and the beginnings of the Nuevo Edo Navy were on the lookout, however, and four Gunboats (two BSN and two NEN) readied their weapons, just in case.

When the first ship came through, proving to be the Shinokage, there was a collective sigh of relief as no one was really all that eager to fight while the new NEN was still in its infancy. Sure, with skill manuals people could get the skills needed to be a military space force, but there was a difference between having a skill and being proficient with it. That required time and training. Even more than that, it required the experience in live battle that separated a green rookie from a blooded veteran.

No one really wanted to start getting the NEN blooded until they’d had some more time to train. Otherwise, most of the blood spilt might be theirs. And that would put a damper on the growing military force very quickly.

The NEN ships went about checking the incoming forces while the Black Stars watched, until finally the incoming fleet was assembled. Quickly, a message was dispatched to Nuevo Edo, so people there could hear the news. The Premier had returned from her trade mission, and had evidently had some success, as four large freighters had followed the group in.

On Nuevo Edo, the news spread like wildfire. The Premier had returned safely, which was good, but she had brought trade from ‘Known Space’, which was better. Four freighters, plus the Raven-class freighters that had gone with the fleet, did not a thriving interstellar trade make, but that was more than they’d had since the Founders had landed on Nuevo Edo.

The best news of all was that two freighters wer full of colonists: men who had heard of a colony almost bereft of males and full of females who were so desperate for companionship that the men had to be locked away for their own protection. They were mostly young craftsmen or laborers looking to make it big in a place where they had more options than they did at home. But regardless of their age or skills, they were all unattached, and more than one had said that they’d come hoping to find someone to start a family with.

In the eight hours it took for the ships to make their way to Nuevo Edo orbit, a crowd had begun to gather at the spaceport. Oh sure, there had been crowds before, when the Black Star people went down on shore leave. Most of them found it odd, and certainly exciting, since the bars they walked into were mostly female, and the women spent quite a bit of time plying them with drinks in hopes of getting some ‘companionship’, literally the reverse of most everywhere else the Black Stars had ever gone. More than a few Black Stars had lived out their fantasies of having multiple ladies at once, thanks to the proportions. But everyone knew that they were bound to the company first and foremost.

But now? These people were coming to Nuevo Edo to start a new life, and a new family. These people wanted to put down roots and join the community. They were an instant commodity, and the crowds trying to get into the spaceport were larger than they had been since the first time the Black Stars had come down on leave, with their Marines leading the way to the bars.

Just a day before, the government had finalized the law to end the protective custody of males on Nuevo Edo, and the Premier signed the virtual document as soon as she was back in communication range. Everyone knew that the changes brought by this act would be difficult, but with new men coming, and perhaps being only the first of many additions, it was hoped that the difficulties that had led to the protection orders would be avoided.

Events that would have been unthinkable back during the time of the constant fear of the Demons coming through the Demon Gate to destroy their works and capture their men were now becoming reality. Many felt as though they were living in a dream while in the waking world. Some wondered when they would wake up, while others feared the dream becoming a nightmare. But one thing was certain: for good or ill, their entire world had been completely changed, and there was no going back to the way things were.

(Owner’s Suite, Black Star Tower, Yokosaki, Nuevo Edo)

Located in the heart of Yokosaki, Nuevo Edo’s capitol city, the new Black Star Tower shone in the night sky. At twenty-five stories tall, it was hardly a skyscraper, but it was one of the taller buildings in Yokosaki all the same. The first five floors belonged to the Black Star Company, and were the site of their Nuevo Edo headquarters. Floors six through fifteen were office spaces for other companies, some of which had already been leased out to various shipping and other companies. Sixteen through twenty-four were for luxury apartments.

The twenty-fifth floor, however, was the Owner’s Suite, and if there was any living quarters that were more luxurious on the planet, then they would have to be those afforded the Premier, or some of the oldest of the Founding clans. Seeing as how the Owner (namely me) used these quarters as my base of operations here on Nuevo Edo, and I was able to design it to my taste as it was being built, that made the process relatively easy, and not that expensive.

Of course, I also used it for ‘business meetings’, like the one currently going on. According to the schedule, Assemblywoman Maria Sanchez was here to talk with the owner of the largest new business to set up shop on Nuevo Edo about him possibly supporting her in the next election. I would say we were having a very thorough discussion, exploring several positions she might take.

Currently, I was supporting her against the wall, having just found that the position of placing her knees in the vicinity of her ears while standing was a very stimulating one for her, which encouraged us both to make the conversation as vigorous as possible.

“Oh, Master!” Maria moaned into my ear as I plunged into her depths. Oh, the taking of slaves was illegal here in Nuevo Edo, but I hadn’t made her a slave. No, I had simply used a bit of mindreading. Reading her fantasies from out of her own mind was simple enough. Maria was a strong woman on a planet that had strong women by necessity, as the men had mostly been taken or killed. She was always strong, for her people, and her constituents. She was always in control.

Her fantasies, however, told me how she desired to be taken with a firm hand, a male hand, in ways she couldn’t get from the docile males at the pleasure houses. She wanted someone she could be the weak one with, and be controlled. She wanted to submit, at least in private. Fortunately, I knew just what she wanted, and I was more than happy to deliver as the twenty-two-year-old Latina woman shook her hips in ecstasy, her climax causing her to scream loud enough that it was good that I had ensured that there was plenty of soundproofing.

I grunted as I thrust deep inside her, and began to enjoy my own climax, slowly riding it out inside her as I filled her willing womb with my seed. Maria shuddered again, whimpering as she held her head against my chest, breathing deeply. Slowly I pulled out of her, and let her drop down to her knees in front of me. Her dazed eyes looked up at me like she had just gotten the best gift ever.

Ten minutes later, the very embarrassed Sanchez was on the stripper pole I’d had installed in the lounge area, doing her best to dance on the pole while a plug in her pussy kept her from dripping cum all over the place (the plug in her ass was simply for my amusement). The reason for her embarrassment was because she was dancing while a naked Sheila slowly rode me on the couch where I was sitting, sliding her warm wetness up and down my shaft while I watched Maria. Out of my view, Shearah knelt between my legs, and carefully used her lips and tongue to add to the sensations both Sheila and I felt.

The only thing Maria had on, other than the two pieces of plastic sealing her lower holes, was a leather collar. It was more symbolic than anything, as she couldn’t be made a slave on Nuevo Edo. I motioned for Maria to continue speaking while she danced. The woman moaned slightly as her dancing made the vibrators shift inside her, and began to speak.

(INS Aurum Throni, Earth Orbit, Sol System)

The old Aurum Throni had been destroyed in the Battle For Earth, but it had long been tradition for the leader of the Terran Empire to travel on a vessel of that name whenever they were in space. Of course, they also expected that said leader would spend much of their time on Earth, in the Imperial Palace. Now, however, it was judged an unacceptable risk for the Empress to stay on Earth, since the consequences for a ‘fence’ failing would cause her to be trapped on Earth, unable to communicate or rule. That was, as one might say, an untenable situation for an Empire where the Empress had no heirs as of yet.

So, instead of a new superdreadnought to serve as a floating palace, the new Aurum Throni was in fact a space station capable of moving at FTL speeds, if one gave them sufficient lead time warm the massive engines up. Instead of a superdreadnought, the new Throni was a space station the size of the former Imperial Capitol on the planet below, holding over a million people. It was no mere show piece, however, since it was armed and armored to match a squadron of superdreadnoughts, with a revolutionary multi-layer shield system. The Primary Shields were like a normal ship’s shields, though an order of magnitude stronger than those of a superdreadnought (meaning they could not be run constantly for obvious reasons). The secondary shield, which was always on, was far lower-powered, but had angled deflector screens, to greatly reduce the damage a massive kinetic strike might impart, proving that the Empress and her people had learned a great deal from the civil war.

Empress Merida Vaughn sat back in her throne, wishing that she was back on the bridge of her ship, the Triumphant. She had never wanted to be Empress. There was the heir and the spare, and she had happily joined the military. But she refused to allow Travis to get away with killing her father and siblings, and so she had taken up the mantle of Empress.

Her spies in the Confederacy had been keeping tabs on the enigmatic Nomad that had been crucial in securing her throne, and his ‘Black Star Company’. For the past year or more, she’d had the reports that he was planning an expedition to Unknown Space. Now he had found not one, but two new Gateways, the first to be found since they had found the partial ‘address book’ with the sixteen nearest Gateways.

Moreover, he had found a lost colony! Somehow, the Juan Ponce De Leon had been thrown so far off course that the Drake-class colony ship, which had no FTL drive, had wound up in a completely different arm of the galaxy! That he had introduced them to the Confederacy first before the Empire rankled a bit, but his company WAS based on Dimiya. It is always more prudent to keep your closest neighbors happy.

She was only half paying attention to the useless noble who was begging for clemency after his actions in the civil war. They had actually only arrested a very few of the instigators of the coup, as most had been ‘converted’ into slaves of the AI Deus. This sniveling noble was one of only twenty who could be found that had supported Travis and not been converted.

Lucio bent down from his position by her throne to whisper in her ear. “Your Majesty, I have just received a very interesting invitation from our friend the Commodore. The lost colony of Nuevo Edo is now open for trade, as a free port. They have sent a trade legation to the Confederacy, but he said they would no doubt welcome a legation from the Empire as well.”

Merida frowned slightly, before whispering, “A free port, you say? Why would that man do something like that?”

Lucio chuckled, and said, “He said that if you should ask that, to remember Switzerland of old. A neutral ground for commerce and banking, and a place where high level diplomatic talks or international criminal cases could be held without being influenced by the powerful host countries. It would provide a place where we could ease tensions with the Confederacy and the Ihm Imperium, while perhaps opening up new relationships.”

Merida smiled at Lucio, and said, “Do you feel up to a trip, Lucio? We may need a negotiator at my side when We see to this trade legation.”

Lucio chuckled. “For you, Majesty? Always.”

Merida nodded, smiling as she turned her head to the still prattling noble who was trying to justify his continued existence. “I have heard enough. You are guilty of high treason against the Empire, and shall be executed immediately. Take him away. And call for Trade Minister Bucaro. We desire to see the long lost children of Terra who have been found on Nuevo Edo, and open relations with them.”

(Independent Trader Precious Harlot, Nuevo Edo Gateway)

It will be good to get somewhere civilized, so I can get this damn plug out of my ass.

In the privacy of her own mind, Samantha Michaels, slave-pilot of the Precious Harlot, cursed her Master for making her wear the large plug inside her ship suit for the duration of their trip to Nuevo Edo from Consortium space. Fortunately, the Gateway took off most of the distance or she’d have been REALLY fucking sore by the time they got to Nuevo Edo.

Her Master was a Gauz male, the Owner/Operator of the Precious Harlot. Why would a Gauz have a human slave as his pilot? Basically it boiled down to their different strengths. When it came to designing, building, and upgrading machines, the Gauz were still considered the best there were, even with the Nomads coming in and throwing off the averages. Their mercenaries were so well renowned that there were full-on armored units that would take one look at a position held and fortified by Gauz units, and either find a way to go around, or call in an orbital bombardment. Anything else was basically begging to lose upwards of seventy percent of your force, especially if they’d had time to really dig in.

However, they couldn’t pilot for shit. Oh sure, they had a few (mostly females, for whatever reason) that had the ‘knack’ for flying, but most were simply too methodical for their own good. Which was perfectly fine if you were running a shipping company in nice, safe areas with either military escorts or military not far off so you could deal with raiders. Not so great if you needed anything remotely requiring fancy flying.

So the Gauz, pretty much as soon as they’d made first contact with other species, and found that some of them were damn fine pilots, began acquiring their services. Sometimes that involved hiring them on. Sometimes it didn’t. It was the poorest kept secret in the galaxy that the largest importer of slaves in Known Space was the Consortium, and humans were their favorites, since they were adaptable, and prolific breeders, meaning there was always a ready supply if a slave got uppity or broken and needed to be replaced.

Unfortunately for Samantha, she had not understood the full situation when she had decided to start the game in Consortium space, not wanting to deal with the Civil War or the possibility of the Confederacy invading. Since local laws were fairly devious in how they supported ‘traditional’ Gauz culture, she had quickly found herself judicially enslaved thanks to some violation she still didn’t understand, and had been sold to her bastard of a Master, Aldreac Coppercoat.

She’d been going for a DEX-based build, since she’d wanted to be a gadgeteer (hence why she’d gone with the Gauz Consortium to begin with), but she hadn’t so much as touched tools in months, not since they’d given her skill downloads to make her a Pilot and a Courtesan. So now she was the primary pilot for the Harlot, and the primary bedwarmer for her master, with a Defiance collar to make sure she behaved. The only good thing about any of this was that the bastard didn’t like to share. As long as he was happy with her, she wasn’t at risk of being passed around to the crew.

Oh, she also had the role of ‘emergency medic’, since she’d been taught a Psy Power called ‘Pain Transfer’. Basically, she took damage from one person and gave it to another, healing target A to damage target B. The basic version was touch range, but her Master had paid to get her taught an upgraded version, which gave her a range of about ten meters. Not exactly ideal, but she could transfer damage from one person within ten meters of her to another person within ten meters. So far, she had been able to get away with just acting as a conduit, for the most part, instead of taking damage herself, but whether she took the damage or not, she felt everything. And it sucked.

She had considered having an ‘accident’ that killed everyone on the ship, but she’d put that aside so far. Not only did she not have any resources to pull off an escape like that Black Star guy did, but she’d been reading up on the forums, and if an enslaved Nomad went splat with their non-Nomad owners, then when they respawned it was as an ‘escaped slave’, and were subject to capture until they got their collar or chip removed. And she (quite rightly) wasn’t trusted with anything more critical than navigation and the piloting controls, so she couldn’t ‘accidentally’ space the fucker and fly on with her new ship.

She sighed to herself, and followed the instructions from Nuevo Edo control. They had four ‘gunboats’ by the gate, though it took her a while to see the second set. The first two were clearly local government, nice and visible so everyone knew the locals were armed. The second set shadowing them were Black Star craft. Even as a slave, she’d heard about what the Black Stars had done in that recent war in the Empire. She did not want to mess with those ships. Fortunately, the Harlot was a legitimate trader, even if they sometimes went questionable places, so they shouldn’t have trouble.

Of course, as a legitimate trader, they had commercial hyperlight engines, and that meant in-system FTL wasn’t really an option, since it took the engines too long to warm up. They were extremely efficient, about twenty to thirty times less fuel intensive than military models, but they did not react well to sudden transitions into or out of FTL speeds. That meant they were in for a nine hour cruise to Nuevo Edo. Not seeing anything on the screens to give her pause, she followed her standard orders for in-system flight, and set things on automatic before leaning back in her chair to rest. She wasn’t allowed to leave her station until she was relieved, or her Master called her to his bed. However, the asshole at least didn’t expect her to be constantly awake, so long as she was at her post and ready to take over if the alarms went off.

(Hunter-Scout Ship, Nuevo Edo system)

It had taken the Scout a long time to slip into the system unnoticed. These prey were not so soft and helpless as they were the last time the Hunters had been this way. They had ships that were of a design they had not seen, and they were armed, that much the Scout could tell easily from the scans of the white ships. This did not worry the Scout.

No, what worried (worried? Perhaps not. Concerned? Yes, that was better) – concerned the Scout was that they were detecting ripples in the Great Fabric where they could not sense the presence of ships. If the prey had developed, or gained access to, technology that allowed them to hide their ships from the Scout’s scans, then that meant the Prey might be worthy of the attention of the Hunters. But the Scout needed to know more before the rest of the Hunters were informed. Ripples across the Great Fabric were too indistinct to be used to target the Hunting ships, after all.

The Scout needed to find a suitable Prey to capture so they could get the information needed. Fortunately, one of the Prey ships were floating close to the Scout now, unaware that a Hunter was hidden in the blackness nearby. For a zithad, the Hunter considered the different ways to take the Prey ship without ruining the Prey inside, preferably without alerting the entire system that the Hunter was here. This Prey promised to be challenging enough to hunt. There was no need to put the whole system on alert because their drives were discovered.

The Prey ship was an old design, unlike the new ones that could be seen and felt across the system. The Hunters had records of this kind of ship from the fighting in another arm of the galaxy. These Prey ships were used to carry goods from place to place, and rarely ran with more than minimal shields unless they were warned of trouble. But they did not see the Scout. A lance to two specific parts of the ship would leave the Prey ship dead in the water, and unable to communicate with the rest of the system. It would take the skill of a trained Hunter to make the shots. For a Hunter Scout, the skill required was like accompanying a youngling on the First Hunt.

(Independent Trader Precious Harlot, Nuevo Edo)

Samantha awoke to the sound of alarms going off across the bridge, coupled with the feeling of weightlessness as the ship’s artificial gravity stuttered, and then failed altogether as main power failed. Emergency power kicked in, but the Master had long ago decided not to use the emergency batteries to power something like gravity, when they could get more time on life support so they could try and fix the problem with the mains. Immediately, she sent out the distress signal, only to find that whatever had happened to them had destroyed their communication array.

That was not good. She brought up damage reports, and cursed. They hadn’t been hit by asteroids. Those were Grav Lance weapons! Who the hell still used grav lances? They were the ultimate in short-range weapons, sure, but the maximum range for those things had to be only a few thousand kilometers…

Oh shit. Looking back to the sensor readings, she tried to find where the ship that hit them was, but nothing was on her screens. Just a little trace heat a thousand meters off their bow. Wait, switching to visual scanners, she was able to see that something was damn close to the Harlot, thanks to how the blackness blocked the stars. They had a ship closing in on them! Ramming? No. They were going to dock!

CLUNK!

The sound carried through the weightless innards of the ship, as the alien ship locked on to their hull. Quickly, Samantha hit the controls that locked the bridge down, and watched on the internal cameras to see what happened. She could see the Gauz crew, including her Master, trying to set up a position in the cargo bay, but the lack of gravity made that difficult, but they managed to get to the door of the main corridor and lock in with their mag boots, ready to kill anything that came through the glowing outline that said someone was cutting through their hull.

Samantha saw the glowing outine shine, and sparks flew as the cutter penetrated the hull cleanly enough. Then the metal section of hull was pushed, slowly floating into the cargo bay. She cursed as the hull section moved in front of the camera she’d had trained on the cargo hold, and she heard shouts of anger and alarm from the crew. Whatever they saw was not what they’d been expecting. She could see blasts coming the other way on the corridor camera.

Right, she had to do something. But what? She had sealed the bridge, but she had no power and no communications. She didn’t even have a weapon in here, other than the plug in her ass, and she didn’t think that would impress anyone who got past the crew. If only anyone on her friends list was in system… Wait, the in-system chat!

(Nomad OOC Chat – Nuevo Edo System)

Parca: Seriously, Boss, when we going to go and get some action again? The boys are getting restless.

GunKitty: Poor flyboys. Go on down to the surface and impress those ladies with your war stories. The Marines have seen so much ‘action’ that I think even they are starting to ask for a break.

MajorTom: Never thought I’d see the day, but yeah, I’m hearing a couple are getting tired out.

SammyBaby has entered the chat.

SammyBaby: HELP! Independent trader Precious Harlot en route to Nuevo Edo from the Gateway is under attack! We’ve lost engines, lost communications, and are being borded!

M.Mollen: Parca, scramble the alert fighters. Raven will send you coordinates.

Parca: On it!

Parca has left the chat.

M.Mollen: Sammy, any details you can give us? Ship type, species, what the borders look like?

SammyBaby: Ship is black, only saw it because it blocked stars as it docked with us. Camera in the cargo hold is blocked by debris as we are null-grav. I’m currently locked down on the bridge. Rest of the crew is down. Unknown if dead or stunned. I see them… Oh god!

M.Mollen: What are they, Sammy?

SammyBaby: X’thari! We are under attack by X’thari raiders!

(BNS Nightforge, Nuevo Edo orbit)

Several hours after the distress call went out over the game chat, I walked into the conference room on the Nightforge, and sat at the table, Raven moving to sit at my side while I looked at the others who were there, either in person or via the screens lining the walls. “All right, everyone, we’ve got a few things to discuss, but there are new faces at this meeting, so we’ll go around the table, so to speak, to get everyone on the same page. The information we’ll be talking about is important, but it isn’t time-sensitive enough that we can’t make introductions.” I took a breath, and said, “As you all know, I am Mirikon Mollen, owner of the Black Star Company, and the one in command of our forcers here. No matter what anyone else says, at the end of the day any discussion involving Black Star eventually becomes my responsibility.”

“Next to me is Raven. She is a type of artificial intelligence called an e-ghost, meaning that she was ‘born’ when a human’s consciousness was uploaded to a computer. She’s been around for decades, and is without a doubt the smartest person here. She’s also my right hand, and second in command of Black Star.”

I pointed at a human mana and the elf male next to him. “Captain Henri Genest is in charge of the Nightforge during combat operations, and Elduin Fatoris is in charge of shipyard operations.” Moving down the table, I pointed out a trio of human females. “I’m sure you’re all familiar with Prime Minister Fukuya Talia, and General Akagi Hikari. Next to them is Admiral Gabriela Saez of the Nuevo Edo Navy.”

I paused, and then said, “I’m only going to t say this once, so listen up. Admiral Saez and her Navy are going to be seconded to Black Star while we work the situation at hand, because while we’ve given them the best we can in terms of training regimens, their navy is still too new and too inexperienced to take the lead on this. That does not mean you get to order them about like servants, or that you can use them as cannon fodder. They are here to learn from us, and you will treat them with respect.” He turned to look at the Admiral, and said, “And I’ll have your people remember that while we are a mercenary group, they are blooded veterans of actual combat, while your crews are barely out of training, and are to be treated with the respect they are due.”

“With that said, I see on the screens that we have all ship captains and squadron leaders with us, as well as Major Khan. General, after this meeting I believe you and the major should get together and work out a training regimen for Nuevo Edo’s Marine Corps.”

“Now, on to business. By now you have all been informed that a distress call went out over the Nomad communication network at 23:52, Nuevo Edo Standard Time. The Independent Trader Precious Harlot, from the Gauz Consortium, came under attack suddenly from forces unknown. The initial attack disabled the communications array and engines, leaving the Precious Harlot stranded and unable to communicate via normal means.”

“Slave-Pilot Samantha Michaels immediately locked down the bridge, and began scanning for the source of the attack. The attacker was only discovered through the use of visual scanners, as the ship blocked the view of several stars. By that time, the attacking ship had closed in to perform boarding maneuvers. Video of the firefight that occurred between the Harlot’s crew and the attackers has been sent to you all.”

“As you can see in the video recovered from the Precious Harlot, the attackers are X’thari raiders. Evidence recovered from the attack indicates that this was an Aeh-class Hunter-Scout vessel. Raven, what do the files tell us about the Aeh-class?”

Raven stood as I took a seat, and said, “The Aeh-class Hunter-Scout Vessel is the primary reconnaissance unit of the X’thari hunter clans. While the Aeh-class cannot stand up to even an Assassin in a head-to-head fight, they are known more for speed and stealth than their ability to win naval engagements. The two primary uses of the Aeh-class, according to what most governments have been able to ascertain is to scout out potential targets for the stronger Hunter Packs or the Great Hunt, and to insert the X’thari version of special forces or recon marines behind ‘prey’ lines to disrupt prey forces.”

General Akagi raised her hand. When Raven acknowledged her, the general said, “What is the profile for these X’thari? They sound like a nomadic hunter group at first, but the way you are talking about them is more like a standard military.”

Raven smiled, and said, “Let me preface this by saying that this is all hearsay. No X’thari has ever been captured alive or held in captivity to allow for a full interrogation. They have an annoying tendency to suicide rather than allow themselves to be captured, and they enjoy using what is the equivalent of a small tactical nuke for their suicide bombs. Before you ask, no we have not managed to reverse-engineer those, as tampering with them tends to set them off. The majority of our information comes from either observation or autopsies on dead X’thari, or by reconstructing information from their techno-organic computers on wrecked ships.”

“It is believed that the X’thari are a descendant species from either the species that built the Gateways, or a species that has been around similarly long. There must have been some sort of devolution in their species to get to the point where they are now, but we have no information on what could have happened. However, we can confirm that the X’thari are, for the most part, a semi-nomadic warrior culture, roughly organized in the manner of tribal warlords. Different leaders have different strengths, tactically, but typically the more ships following a warlord, the better they are at fleet tactics.”

“Small ship captains can be anywhere from fresh commanders to veterans who do not have the fleet skills to advance, but they are all generally proficient with fighting their ships. The exception to this would be the Hunter-Scouts. The Hunter-Scouts act either individually, or in packs, similar to the ‘wolfpack’ tactics most stealth-capable navies use. The primary difference between a X’thari Hunter-Scout and a Black Star Assassin is that the Assassin has a devastating attack which can allow them to do massive damage against even armored foes without closing to ‘knife range’ or giving away their position. X’thari Hunter-Scouts have powerful gravitic lances, but those are only useful within a few thousand kilometers. It is the difference between an assassin who uses a sniper rifle, versus one who uses a dagger. To the X’thari it appears to be a point of pride to close as near to a target as they can and cripple or destroy their target in the initial salvo. All their weapons currently focus on gravitic lances or beam weapons capable of reaching almost 18 million kilometers.”

“As an additional note, their numbers appear to be in a base 9, instead of a base 10 like ours. This is important because most engagements with the X’thari take place at distance and time intervals of 3, 6, or 9, and their ships, if not alone, will usually travel in those types of numbers. If, say, you are in a system and detect seven X’thari ships, then you should be very, very worried, as there are probably two you haven’t noticed, likely sneaking up on you.”

I stood up again, and said, “As you can see in the video, the X’thari cut a hole in the hull of the Harlot, and a standard Hunter-Scout five-member boarding party attacked the ship. The lack of gravity in the ship allowed the defenders to hold out longer than they should have, and they inflicted two casualties on the X’thari before the aliens adjusted. After that, the crew was quickly slaughtered. Thanks to the quick call from Slave-Pilot Michaels, we were able to scramble fighters, and their attack occurred shortly after the X’thari began attempts to make their way through the blast door sealing off the bridge from the rest of the ship.”

“The Hunter-Scout was not prepared for space combat, having thought that it eliminated all communications on the ship, and was easily disabled when the BSN Jubilee, along with the gunboats BSN Zenith and BSN Zachariah, arrived moments later to attack it with ion cannons. The Hunter-Scout self-destructed shortly afterward, further damaging the Precious Harlot. With no free sentients aboard the Harlot, the Black Star Navy assumed control of the freighter and its property and cargo under interstellar salvage laws.”

I continued on, not allowing them time to unpack that statement. “With the immediate threat eliminated, I ordered a tachyon sweep of the system, to ensure we were dealing with a lone scout, and not a Triad. The results of the scan, which are on your screens now, showed a X’thari Sentinel-class probe, which has been destroyed. It is likely that the recent activity here and in the Amazon system attracted the notice of those who monitored the Sentinels, and a ship was sent to investigate. The spies we left in the Amazon system have confirmed that a X’thari Anchor Drive was used there approximately two weeks ago.”

Admiral Saez raised her hand, and I nodded to her. “Commodore, what is the likely response the X’thari will have to the loss of one of these Sentinel probes?”

“Given past responses? If it was just the probe, then they would simply slip a Scout into the system to determine whether the probe was destroyed naturally, or whether there was enemy action that required a Hunt. Given that a Scout was already in the system and had self-destructed prior to the Sentinel being eliminated, we must assume that the Sentinel passed along all information it could about our non-stealthed vessels, and enough to suggest we had stealth capabilities as well.”

I paused, and said, “I will not lie, the chances that we are going to have at least a Hunt sent out after us approach 100%. There’s at least a 70% chance it will be a Full Hunt. The typical Hunt is a squadron of nine frigates, with three triads of Scouts to hunt and harry the prey, much like you would use hunting dogs on old earth to chase foxes. A Full Hunt, however, will have three Triads of cruisers, each with nine frigates, with three triads of Scouts to support the Full Hunt. If we are really unlucky, we may even find a True Hunt, where three Full Hunts will cooperate to take us down with a triad of dreadnoughts commanding. The chances of this becoming a True Hunt are only about 20%, however, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.”

Premier Fukuya’s face was ashen. “Can Nuevo Edo and Black Star’s combined forces protect the planet?”

“Against a Hunt? Certainly. Against a Full Hunt? It could get pretty bloody, and we would certainly take casualties, but yes, we could do it. If a True Hunt shows up? Trickery and guile go a long way, but these X’thari are predators. Hunting a pack of wolves that is hunting you is no simple task. We would do everything we can, of course, but with our current forces, that would be a tall order.”

Admiral Saez nodded slowly, “And what comes after a True Hunt?”

I looked at her, and said, “Admiral, if a Grand Hunt shows up, the best we can do, any of us, with our current forces would be to flee immediately with any civilian ships that can be launched, and run like hell, abandoning anyone left on the surface to their fate. That way, at least someone would be left alive.”

The Admiral slumped back in her chair, “I see.” Yeah, she was probably regretting asking that question.

I paused, and said, “In unrelated news, I have received confirmation through Nomad channels that the Empress of the Terran Empire wishes to see what the ‘long lost children of Terra’ have built here, and is leading a trade legation personally. By pure ‘coincidence’, the Confederacy will have some high-level diplomats on a legation of their own here at about the same time. Both governments may seek to get Embassy space on Nuevo Edo.”

Fukuya frowned. “And why would the Terran Empress come here, now?”

I smiled, and said, “I may have recommended that Nuevo Edo be confirmed by the major powers as a Free Port. You remember Switzerland on Earth, back before the world became unified? Having ‘neutral ground’, with neutral banks and neutral traders who happen to also be defended by capable ships and crews would allow for diplomacy to happen while not being on either group’s ‘home turf’. Empress Merida is keen on lessening tensions with the Empire’s neighbors so she can make needed reforms and rebuild the Empire’s Navy and logistics, which were brutalized in the Civil War.”

“And since we’re so far away from everyone, and haven’t had contact with anyone in so long, our neutrality will be easier to establish and maintain, provided we do so from the beginning.”

“Exactly.”

(BSN Shinokage, Nuevo Edo System)

The most frustrating part of knowing that you might have a Hunt of X’thari coming for you is that you didn’t know when or where they’d be coming from. As near as we could tell, the scout that had been destroyed had probably used their Anchor Drive to arrive well outside the system, and then took a stealth approach in. That wasn’t too hard to figure out, honestly, since it is about the same thing my ships had done several times during the war.

Figuring that out did nothing to improve our odds of detecting a Scout ship in stealth mode before they did something like attack a freighter. The only reason we knew the freighter was being attacked, and were able to get there in time to stop the X’thari before everyone was killed was because a Nomad was able to circumvent the damaged communications array. The attack had been swift, brutal, and ruthlessly efficient. I did not like our odds of catching a stealth ship in the act again.

Oh sure, there were active sensors that could be used to detect stealthed ships, but those were a double-edged sword. They either had limited range, or they got a return on everything in the system, and I do mean EVERYTHING. Worse, they worked on friend and foe alike, lighting up your own stealth ships. And the icing on the cake? If your enemy had the right sensors, they’d get the return, too, so you were basically screaming where you and all your ships were. That was, as some would say, a Bad Thing™.

Fortunately, a Hunt or larger group of X’thari acted differently from their scouts. Sure, they could be stealthy when they wanted to, but they were more like a pack of brawlers. Experienced warriors, and working extremely well together, with nasty pack tactics, but brawlers all the same. The Hunter-Scout’s role was to be an unseen shadow, finding prey and reporting back. The Hunt’s role was to trap their prey and drive them to ground for the kill. That was why the Hunt usually appeared by the Gateway, allowing them to cut off ships from escaping the system that way.

That gave us an edge, since we knew where to expect them, and could prepare defenses. However, that didn’t make this a slam dunk. We didn’t know what size Hunt we’d be facing, and there was a 1 in 4 chance that they’d come in from some other area, especially if they believed a Prey group was waiting for them to show up. So we couldn’t neglect defenses for the rest of the system.

More importantly, though, was time. We didn’t know if the Hunt would be here in days, weeks, or even months. No one knew how far away their nearest group was, or how quickly they’d pull together a Hunt to attack us. We just knew that an attack was coming. There was no way to keep our forces on high alert for weeks on end. That would push crews to the breaking point before the battle even started.

Fortunately, if there was one thing the Navy was good for, it was teaching a sailor the value of ‘hurry up and wait’, and how to deal with it. Oh, I’m sure the other branches had it just as bad, in different ways, but there was usually something else out there to distract them. Air Force had their comfy bases. Army and Marines would at least have animals and the like when they were out deployed away from a base, and enemy action as a more regular thing (so much easier for terrorists to get to you in a land convoy than on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean). Navy? You had whatever diversions you could find on the ship, or there was a whole lot of blue water between you and civilization.

We quickly worked to have additional defense platforms put in place around the gate, and also shoved a couple on the most likely lines towards the system, including the way the scout ship had come in. I personally made sure there was a platform at the site of the old surveillance satellite, just to make sure anyone coming to check on it would get a face full of missile.

Other than that, we just had to keep rotating crews around so no one got too comfortable or too stressed. Plenty of shore leave helped with that, as there was no shortage of eager people on the planet below hoping to help people ‘destress’. The only other thing we really did was make sure to step up production of ships.

The ship production is something we went back and forth on a bit. The Nuevo Edoans wanted big ships like the Smerti or a superdreadnought like the Nightforge was before refit. I convinced them that, in the short term, they were better off with the gunboats, assassins, and the various fighters that we were building for them. They were cheaper, took fewer crewmembers to train up, and they were more useful for a single-world defense. There was a reason why I used them as the backbone of my fleet.

Of course, that wasn’t the only problems we had to deal with. No, it would be far too simple if the world just gave me one damn problem at a time. The integration of the new settlers to Nuevo Edo was… troubled, at best. The men were not used to living in a female-dominated society, and the women were unfamiliar with men who didn’t treat them as automatic superiors. That caused more than a few problems as men started buying homes, starting businesses, and in general trying to make a life for themselves on this new world.

What did that have to do with me? Since I was a guy (most of the time, the Nuevo Edoans didn’t know about my shapeshifting, so I was able to go incognito a few times), and the owner of the largest new business on the planet, the newcomers looked to me for help in dealing with the locals, especially since it was my people who blasted the ‘Demons’ from the sky, which gave me some credit with the local population. But every week or so saw the arrival of another couple freighters with colonists and trade goods for the planet, and when freighters left, they often had women from Nuevo Edo who were going off to see the stars.

Now, if only the damn X’thari would get here so we could get past the waiting part.

(INS Triumphant, Alpha Centauri System)

Empress Merida was less than pleased with the amount of time it took to prepare to go and see what that intriguing Nomad had done in this ‘Nuevo Edo’ system, but for some reason there were a lot of people who were none too eager for the Empress of the Terran Empire to be going off to another arm of the galaxy. Even though the Alpha Centauri gate meant that it would only take her a few days to return if something happened back home, there were worries. Well, the worries were more about what would happen to her in the middle of nowhere, so the Empress agreed to take a superdreadnought and its escorts.

Naturally, the ship she chose was her beloved Triumphant. As she walked the halls of the ship she still had to fight to keep from thinking of as hers, she considered what had been said about the Nuevo Edoans. They’d apparently been dropped off in the middle of nowhere after getting caught in the wake of some ship that was far superior to anything they had, even now. Could they have accidentally run into the civilization that created the Gateways? And what would that mean for the rest of the universe?

Lucio appeared at her side as they headed for the docking bay. She had to put in an appearance at Fleet Base Bagthara on her way through the system, even if she didn’t care for the ridiculous pomp and ceremony that always accompanied such things. It was a necessary part of being Empress, however. One had to keep the morale of the people in mind, or discontent would spread, and then all kinds of trouble started popping up, trouble that they couldn’t afford with the Fleet still reeling from the war.

The logistics network that had existed before the civil war had been shattered. Building the new transfer stations to handle transshipping and making everything more efficient than individual ships running a circuit of stops was not challenging, but it was inconvenient. Few of the transfer stations were in places with true shipyards, so there was some expense and trouble getting the new stations out to their homes and setting them up. Once they had gone live, however, the economy picked up by 48% from immediate postwar levels, though it was still not to the point where things had been before the war. Still, with the civilians happy because the Empire’s trade was flowing again, she needed to think of the Navy’s morale. And while everyone hated state visits, she knew that the enlisted DID appreciate when they got to show off.

Lucio whispered softly to her side, so that his words could be for her ears alone. Oh, the guards who were with her no doubt heard, since they had enhanced hearing with their helmets, but they could be trusted for discretion. “Empress, it would seem that your second favorite Nomad has landed in a bit of trouble over in Nuevo Edo.”

Merida raised an eye brow at Lucio, and smiled. “Second favorite, Lucio? And prey tell me, who is my favorite?”

Lucio played at being hurt, but everyone could see it was an act. “Oh, my Empress, how you wound me! How could it be that your favorite Nomad is any other than me, Lucio?”

Merida permitted herself to giggle at her friend’s antics. She needed people like Lucio around her, people who weren’t wrapped up in the pageantry of her being the Empress of the Terran Empire. The Nomads, she thought, had a way of keeping her grounded, at least the few she’d met personally. She knew that there were many officials who did not care for the self-important attitudes many showed, nor the lack of respect that most showed people who had ‘earned’ it.

Smiling, she shook her head to clear those thoughts away. “So, what is it that our Nomad friend has done now?”

Lucio nodded, returning to ‘business’, now that the Empress was no longer in the mood he’d sensed earlier. “Well, it appears that the defense forces he’s placed in Nuevo Edo have uncovered a X’thari Hunter-Scout and one of their Sentinel probes. Both were destroyed, though it seems the Hunter-Scout was actually destroyed while it was attempting to capture a freighter in the Nuevo Edo system.”

Empress Merida frowned, as she called upon her training and knowledge from being a superdreadnought captain. “If a Sentinel was there, then we must assume that they already have some idea of the forces already in the system. So a Hunter-Scout was dispatched to see what was going on, and if the system had worthy prey… and then they destroyed the Hunter-Scout. They are expecting at least a Hunt to show up, aren’t they?”

Lucio nodded, and said, “According to our friend, the chances of a Hunt showing are almost 100%. There is a significant chance of a Full Hunt showing up, instead. Given what our spies have told us of the strength he took to Nuevo Edo, he should be able to handle a Full Hunt. There was even something like a 20% chance that they may see a True Hunt.”

Merida nodded her head thoughtfully. “With the number of ships he has, he could still savage a True Hunt, if he managed to get the drop on them, but there is no way that they’d be able to survive it unless they were able to inflict enough casualties fast enough that they could make the Hunt fracture into groups.”

Making her decision, she said, in her ‘Empress’ voice, “Then let Us get this visit over with quickly, so We can pay off some of Our debts to that man in battle with the X’thari.”

(BSN Shinokage, Nuevo Edo System)

Standing on the Flag Bridge of the Shinokage, I was very happy to see the ships that just appeared through the Gateway from Confederate space. I was even happier when Raven piped through the communications we were receiving.

“BSN Breath of Hades calling Shinokage, Hades-Actual online.”

Well, since the captain of the Hades was on, I figured I might as well answer. “Hades-Actual, this is Black Star Prime on Shinokage. Glad to see you all. We were hoping you would be here in time to join the party. How are the folks back home?”

“Black Star Prime, we’re happy to get the chance to party. Since we kicked pirate ass, the whole sector’s been pretty quiet lately at home, and there are some gunners who were starting to get bored. We have all mobile elements of Second Group in play, though as per your instructions, Providence has switched Shinobi Squadron’s Raptors for Demon Squadron’s Dragons.”

“I know Shinobi Leader will be upset with me, but it will be good to have another squadron of Dragons here. Have your pilots gone over the data from the Amazon battle?”

“Yes, sir, there were a few strongly worded communiques from Shinobi Leader about not getting to go out and play, but that was mostly fighter pilots being fighter pilots. All Second Group officers and flight personnel have gone over the data from the engagements in Nuevo Edo and Amazon space, and we’ve been adjusting tactics accordingly.”

“Well done. What is the status of home defense?”

“Two squadrons of Thunderbolts and one of Raptors on station providing CAP and defense. We’ve shifted into military contracts for most of the yards, but reserved one slip for our use. The first gunboats of Fourth Group are providing coverage, but because we’ve played stealth games for so long, no one will really believe that there are only six of the gunboats there right now.”

“Between the Confed Navy and us having wiped out a majority of the pirates in the sector, that’ll have to be enough. Be aware, we have confirmation from sources in the Empire that the Empress will be making a state visit to Nuevo Edo, so we may get some backup if this turns into a worst-case scenario.”

“Do you really think we’ll see a True Hunt, sir?”

I nodded, proud that the Hades’s captain had kept the fear out of her voice, mostly. “Raven says there’s a one in five chance of it, so we’re going to prepare like that is absolutely what will be happening. Though to be honest I’m more worried about a Variant Hunt showing up.”

“Variant hunt, sir? I didn’t think the X’thari did variants?”

“Normally, no. But you know how every species has a few oddballs that just don’t fit the norm? Well, from what we can tell, in X’thari culture, those that survive and prove their skills as oddballs either become lone Hunter-Scouts, or they form Variant Hunts. Like the ones Confederate Naval Intelligence codenamed ‘Thrush Squadron’. Eight light cruisers, completely ignoring the normal organization of a Hunt or their base-nine numbering, but they scored several key wins against larger ships in the war. They sank several times their tonnage during the war, despite the fact that the old Mothak-class had the same issue our Shinokage-class and Assassin-class ships have with needing to face the enemy head-on to use our most powerful weapons.”

“So a Variant Hunt is whenever the X’thari start doing things outside their normal playbook? Understood, sir. We’ll keep an eye out for crazy.”

“Glad to hear it. Raven is sending you navigation data as we speak. Second Group is to go full stealth, and move to cover Strike Point Beta. First Group will cover Alpha, while Third Group will cover the planet. Do you want your carriers with you, or do you want to deploy them with Third Group?”

“Are we expecting Tarpits?”

“We will certainly be deploying them, but we don’t have any intel on whether the X’thari will be using them. It will likely depend on the level of threat they bring. These are predators. They know the danger of driving prey into a corner. Analysis suggests that the X’thari using tarpits breaks down to 5.2% for a Hunt, 36.8% for a Full Hunt, and 89.2% for a True Hunt. The larger the hunt, the less they worry about the prey being driven into a corner, and the more they worry about keeping any of the prey from escaping the trap.”

“Then, with respect, I would like to keep the carriers with me. It will mean trouble protecting them, but the fighters won’t be any good to us if they have to travel at sublight across the system.”

“Very well. There will be an all captain’s meeting at 09:30 tomorrow morning to finalize our plans for defending against the attack when it comes. Welcome to Nuevo Edo, Captain.”

“Thank you, Sir. Glad to be here. Hades, out.”

With that done, I let out a sigh of relief. Now that we had the reinforcements from Dimiya, with just Black Star’s forces we had two Cruisers, nine corvettes (eight of them Assassins), thirty-two gunboats, and eight squadrons of fighters (two of them bombers). The fledgling Nuedo Evo Navy had three assassins and ten gunboats to add to that.

Now, if the Hunt would just get here already so they could be done with this waiting.

(One week later)

Alarms woke me from my sleep. Shearah looked up bleary-eyed from beside me, and reached out to check her bracer on the nightstand by the bed even as we started getting up. “Master, it would seem that the outer pickets have detected energy spikes from X’thari drives. They look to be a day out of the system on sublight.”

“Hmm. That’s not like them. They usually either come in completely silently, or they drop in right in the middle of a system. Any further readings?”

“Uh, wait one. Okay, it seems that the initial detection was by one of those probes we fired off along the scout’s probable line. Raven is refining the data… looks like we have two days, actually, due to relativistic effects. The probe was still in motion.”

“So they came out far enough to avoid detection, but not so far that they’d dull themselves waiting to enter the system. All right, so far that’s standard X’thari. What are their numbers?”

“The probe indicates eighteen ships… no, now there are nine. Probably scouts going to full stealth… probe is still transmitting in stealth mode. One of the ships got close enough to do a passive scan. Unclear, but it is tentatively identified as a X’thari frigate.”

I blew out a breath I hadn’t noticed I’d been holding. “Sounds like a normal Hunt. I really can’t believe we are that lucky.” Now dressed in my normal outfit for ship duty, I checked the terminal in my quarters, bringing up sensor data and a channel to Raven. “All right. Raven, I don’t want to let these assholes play around unsupervised. Scramble fighters. Dragons are to target enemy ships while Thunderbolts cover them and help them take out the trash. Ghost Squadron is to stay quiet and find those stealth ships. Tell all ships that we believe this is a feint to draw us out of position and slip stealth ships in close so they can cripple our support structures.”

“Fighters launching, Commodore. No tarpits active yet.”

“Keep me apprised of the situation. I’m going to loop in our allies so they know what’s going on.”

“Understood.”

(Outside Nuevo Edo System)

One moment, the Hunt was alone in space, silently stalking towards the world that had proven it was a worthy challenge. Unlike the worlds of the arm where these creatures had come from, this world had apparently gained a spine, and relied on hunting tactics rather than a simple wall of missiles and beam weapons, as the defenders used there. It was effective, but it offended the Hunters’ pride to trade blows with those who simply blotted out the local primary with missiles to ensure the destruction of their foes. There was no skill in that, no pride. It was simple destruction. That was why the Hunters had not returned to that region in some span of years.

Suddenly, nine nines and a triad of little craft appeared from warpspace practically on top of the Hunters. Almost one third of the little ships suddenly unleashed weapons at the Hunter frigates from the very edge of lance range. The little missiles moved with a speed that the Hunters had not seen from the Prey species before, and they were too slow in targeting their lances to intercept the missiles. Soon, the nine frigates of the Hunt were gone.

One of the Hunter-Scouts now became the Hunt Leader, and ordered two triads to engage the little ships while in stealth, to cut down their numbers, while his triad penetrated the system so that, when the real attack came, they would have the information they needed to properly cull this group. They were a worthy challenge indeed, to pull off an ambush in interstellar space.

The Hunt Leader bowed his head in respect to the fallen as his scans showed the six Hunter-Scouts become swarmed with the little ships. The scouts, designed to attack from stealth and disable foes before boarding, were ill suited to defending against many times their number in fighters, but the Hunt Leader was proud to see that several of the little ships were destroyed before the end.

And then from nowhere, alarms cried out as weapons impacted against his triad’s engines, crippling their maneuverability and ruining their stealth capabilities! How had they been detected while running silently? And then the Hunt Leader saw the truth on his scanners, four triads’ worth of missiles launching at his already crippled triad. The enemy had knowledge of Hunters, and their tactics. In the moments before his ship was destroyed, the Hunt Leader sent an emergency message to the fleet. They would need either a True Hunt or a Variant to properly hunt this species.

A worthy challenge indeed.

(Ghost 1, Ghost Squadron, Outside Nuevo Edo System)

Parca nodded silently as the last of the three scout ships died. The ships were impressive, but they were like the Assassins in that they were lightly armored to make up for their speed and stealth abilities. Even though the Raptors weren’t designed to target enemy ships for more than disabling strikes, against a scout vessel they were still deadly. Four Raptors to each Scout made the outcome a certainty, especially after the first missiles hit, crippling the ships and throwing them into confusion.

“This is Ghost Leader to all fighters. All bandits accounted for. Call out damage reports and status.”

“Phantom Leader here. No casualties. All fighters down two missiles.”

“Eagle Leader here. One fighter lost to gravitic lance. Good ejection.”

“Sentinel Leader reporting in. All fighters accounted for, two with heavy damage from enemy secondary weapons, but still flying.”

“Giant Two reporting in. Giant Leader is down from gravitic lance. Two other Giants also down. We have ejections from two, but Giant Leader failed to eject. Back half of his fighter is just gone.”

“Do you have eyes on the cockpit, Giant Two?”

“Wait one, Ghost Leader. Coming around now. All right, I can see the cockpit now. I can see blood on the cockpit glass, but Giant Leader looks like he’s moving. Request emergency S&R, sir!”

“Already on the way, Giant Two. First shuttle will go to Giant Leader. Just need to know how many we’re picking up. Continue reports. Inferno Leader?”

“Inferno Leader here. All bombers accounted for.”

“Hammer Leader reporting in. Four fighters down, two good ejections. We’ve lost Guru and Aspect. They got hit when the stealth ships turned back to open fire.”

“Demon Leader here. All bombers accounted for. Thanks to Grey Phantoms for getting us the target data so quickly, we were able to kill off the Scouts before they got more than a couple shots off.”

“Good work, everyone. I see that shuttles from the fleet are already exiting hyperspace at your position. As soon as all survivors are loaded, we’ll head back to base.”

“Black Star Prime to all fighters, all bombers. Excellent work. Analysis of the last ships taken out indicates they sent a transmission before being destroyed, so don’t expect it to be this easy next time. Your deck bosses have been informed that all fighters are due for twelve hours of down time, and there is a keg in each of your ready rooms when you’re back at base. I’m ordering all of you to return those kegs, properly emptied, before you step on a flight deck again, is this understood?”

Parca laughed, despite the losses. “Ghost Leader here. Speaking for everyone out here, orders received and understood, Commodore.”

(BSN Shinokage, Nuevo Edo System)

“RED ALERT! RED ALERT! ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS! MULTIPLE X’THARI ANCHOR TRACES DETECTED! ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS!”

It was fifty-four hours exactly after the Hunt used as scouts had issued their final communication. Fifty-four hours was not a lot of time for rest and recuperation, and certainly not enough to replace the dead pilots we’d lost. The fighters had been replaced, and Giant Leader was fresh out of medical (thankfully, his injuries weren’t as serious as the blood implied, head wounds are like that sometimes), but we didn’t have much choice except to use the best of the Nuevo Edoans who had signed on with Black Star as pilots to fill in. At least they’d had SOME stick time before this launch. This would be their trial by fire, it seemed.

Running onto the ‘flag bridge’, I called out, “Report!”

Raven looked up at me, “Commodore, X’thari anchor drive signatures detected in four areas around the system. Estimated time to transit, ten minutes. Unknown number of ships, but estimates are at one hundred ships and climbing!”

It was going to be a True Hunt, then. But why four locations? That wasn’t in line with normal X’thari doctrine. Could we really have been so unlucky as to find ourselves the target of a Variant True Hunt? No time to think about this. I had to cut down the advantage, and fast. “Show me where the staging points are.”

The four staging points for the X’thari were at the Gateway, the location of their former Sentinel probe, and… yeah, the Lagrange points to put them at L1 and L2 for Nuevo Edo and her moon. Close enough that those two could support eachother but not get caught in crossfire. Sneaky bastards.

I hit the command console. “All Assassins, All cruisers, this is Commodore Mollen. Target the X’thari Anchor Points and fire so that your projectiles hit just after the projected emergence. Remember, their drives disintegrate any matter in the space they occupy when they appear, so it is better to be a couple seconds late than early to this party. Fire as your computers dictate. Black Star Group One will take the group at L2. Group Two will defend the Gateway. Group Three and all NEN forces will attack the group at L1 and defend the planet. All fighters, all bombers, scramble!”

Raven looked at me, and said, “That still leaves the group at the Probe site.”

I nodded. “You know what to do. Send the message. Area will be free of friendlies, weapons free.” Raven nodded to me, and turned back to her work.

I touched another command, and began broadcasting to the fleet, and the planet below. “Attention, attention. This is Commodore Mirikon Mollen of the Black Star Navy. X’thari Anchor signatures have been detected in the Nuevo Edo system. At least one hundred and seventy confirmed signatures incoming. All civilian ships are ordered to land immediately or clear the system. Gate travel is now suspended. All civilians to designated shelters.” I closed the channel.

The strength of the X’thari drives was also its great weakness. They could go insane distances (no one really knew how far) so long as one endpoint was within thirty light-seconds of a Gateway, but they were about as subtle on exit and entry as throwing a piano down the stairs. If you had any sensor abilities at all, you could easily pick up a X’thari ship entering your system with their Anchor drives. Worse, the energy their system threw off meant you could tell they were leaving for half an hour as the drive charged up, and you knew where and approximately where they were entering for almost fifteen minutes if you were scanning their target system. That was the reason X’thari scouts coasted into systems, despite the fact that they could literally drop directly in on someone’s orbit. The disturbance was identifiable up to several light hours out. The only currently used drive that was less subtle was the Terran ‘transition’ drive, which gave off a tachyon pulse that was like a signal flare telling people they’d arrived, which you could see for LIGHT YEARS! The best part? The technorganic systems the X’thari used seemed to have ‘issues’ with their jump technology, meaning they were incapable of jumping in with shields raised and weapons primed, and their relative velocity was zero coming out of the jump. That meant that if you could hit a X’thari the moment it came out of jump, you could kill it easily.

“Sir, Premier Fukuya is calling, General Akagi is with her.”

“On screen.” The main screen changed from a tactical plot of the system to showing the Premier and General in a bunker, probably the same one they contacted us when we made first contact. I nodded to them. “Premier, General, good to see you’re already under cover.”

Premier Fukuya nodded. “Commodore, what is the situation?”

“We have 185 confirmed drive signatures of X’thari Anchor Drives, penetrating in… 3 minutes. Almost a hundred of them are concentrated at the entrance point at the planet’s L1 Lagrange point with the moon. Friendlies have been moved out of the area, so any defense platforms should engage immediately when ships enter realspace.”

The General nodded. “Already set up. Do you think you can hold?”

I paused, and then said, “I don’t know, General. The majority of the combined fleet is now centered around the planet, and will be in position to defend against the first group. With the planetary defenses, they should make a good fight of it, if nothing else. We have ambush groups set to take on two of the other three attack groups as they exit, hopefully giving us an advantage in the short term.”

“And the third group?”

“I’ve made a call. We may be able to keep that one from reinforcing the other groups, but I’m not sure right now. Ambush groups are going to try and bait their targets into playing cat and mouse, preventing them from joining up with the planetary assault group. That is as best we can do at the moment.”

Fukuya nodded. “Should we initiate the evacuation plans?”

I considered, and then shook my head. “Negative. The numbers are wrong for standard X’thari attacks, which means we are dealing with a Variant Hunt, which makes them entirely unpredictable. Civilian craft will get in the way. And I need every ship and fighter capable of fighting defending against this group. Keep them in the shelters, and make sure the ground forces are prepared for possible invasion.”

“Commodore! They’re coming through!”

“I have to go. We’ll talk more when this is over. Mollen, out.” I cut off the transmission. It was rude, I know, but I didn’t have time to deal with the niceties. Going back to the tactical display, I looked over the data as it came in. Two hundred and thirty was a strange number for a X’thari group. “Raven, what is the breakdown of ships by class and jump point?” A list came up on my HUD.

Point Alpha (Gateway):

9 Aeh-class Hunter-Scouts

18 Photh-class Frigates

9 Mothak-class Light Cruisers

1 Purryg-class Dreadnought

Point Beta (Probe Site):

9 Aeh-class Hunter-Scouts

18 Photh-class Frigates

9 Mothak-class Light Cruisers

1 Purryg-class Dreadnought

Point Gamma (L2 Lagrange Point):

9 Aeh-class Hunter-Scouts

18 Photh-class Frigates

9 Mothak-class Light Cruisers

1 Purryg-class Dreadnought

Point Delta (L1 Lagrange Point):

18 Aeh-class Hunter-Scouts

36 Photh-class Frigates

18 Mothak-class Light Cruisers

1 Purryg-class Dreadnought

1 New ship class, probable designate Carrier

“FUCK! Raven, make sure all squadrons know about the probable carrier. Send to all flight commands, Black Stars to take the lead in engaging enemy fighters, where present. Planetary fighters and bombers are to focus on enemy ships. Send to all groups, as soon as you finish pacifying your area of responsibility, move to reinforce Point Delta.”

“Enemy has deployed system-wide tarpit.”

“Deploy our own.”

“Done.”

“Time to kinetic strike impacts?”

“Three… two… one… Impact!”

Fifteen seconds after the X’thari ships reentered realspace, kinetic strikes began going off across their formations. Lights began going out, signifying dying ships, but not enough. There were only twelve Assassins and two cruisers in the system, after all. The Alpha and Gamma points lost four frigates and a cruiser each, while Beta was completely untouched. Delta… flooding the entry point with kinetics from the Assassins and the planetary defenses had worked a minor miracle. All Hunter-Scouts and twelve Frigates destroyed, with four more badly damaged and leaking atmosphere. Proof positive that the shotgun approach was still bloody effective in space combat.

Moments after the kinetic strikes, the Dragon bombers announced their presence. The Demons of Second Group struck a brutal blow, twelve anti-ship kinetic missiles striking their dreadnought simultaneously, ripping it to shreds. The Inferno Squadron, however, spread the love, striking with the NEN’s Akunoshi Squadron. Eight cruisers fell to the new pilots’ missiles, while the Infernos scored several hits on the dreadnought and carrier, leaving both dead in space, at least temporarily.

Those would be our last easy kills, however. Their shields came online, weapons began warming up, and ships began moving. But 185 ships were now down to 136, and three of their most powerful vessels were either dead or temporarily disabled. The ‘overwhelming first strike’ approach worked wonders, but now we had to fight it out, and the X’thari were all kinds of pissed.

(BSN Breath of Hades, Point Alpha, Nuevo Edo System)

Captain Enlen whistled softly as she saw the X’thari Dreadnought go up. “All power to shields and engines! Recharge the primary weapons! Have the gunboats focus on the remaining frigates. Hammer Squadron, start in on those Scouts, don’t let them cloak and shoot us in the ass! Demons to focus fire on the cruisers! Take them out, and we can overpower the rest!”

The X’thari were moving now. “All gunboats, all Assassins, stay with your cohort, don’t let these hunters drive you into a trap. We have to hurry and kill this group so we can try and reinforce Gamma and Delta points!”

(BSN Thunderfury, Point Delta, Nuevo Edo System)

Captain Am’rica stood stoically on her bridge as she watched the enemy forces enter the system. By the gods, there were so many of them! Certainly, the initial strikes had been devastating to the X’thari, but they would not be able to pull off such a strike a second time. Even now, the enemy was beginning to react, and she could see the first fighters appearing on her screens. Those were a problem for the Thunderbirds.

“Priority message from Shinokage!”

“To me.” Captain Am’rica read the message on her tablet, and nodded slowly. Moving over to her command chair, she sat, and pressed a button. “Major Khan, are the Marines ready?”

“Yes, Ma’am. Marines are suited and ready for combat. Do we have a target?”

“The Master requests that the Black Star Marines be the first to capture a completely unknown class of X’thari warship, the carrier on your screens. We have zero intelligence on this ship, its schematics, or its capabilities. Full recording is permitted and encouraged. Priorities as follows: 1. Disable self-destruct system; 2. Prevent erasure of technorganic computer core; 3. Gather any and all intelligence possible on the X’thary vessel; 4. Capture the ship; 5. Do not die, except in direct pursuit of objectives 1-4. He wants intel, not a ‘Marines dying blooper reel’, as he put it.”

“Understood. Marines ready to deploy. Get us to the carrier, and we’ll make their lives hell.”

“We launch as soon as Fleet removes the Carrier’s shields.”

(NEN Santiago, Point Delta, Nuevo Edo System)

Captain Ana Gonzalez was proud to be the first captain of a warship in the brand new Nuevo Edo Navy. The Black Star officers had put her through grueling tactical simulations ever since she’d first joined the officer track in training, and now she was seeing why. Space combat was all about planning your moves three steps ahead, and the weapons you were fighting could sometimes have been launched ten minutes before they got to you.

As Captain of the temporary flagship of the NEN, she was the leader of the four Assassin-class vessels and twelve gunboats that they were able to field. The weapon platforms were a great force multiplier, but only until the X’thari vessels got too close to the ‘friendlies’ for the attacks to be safely delivered, not unless the battle got far closer to the planet than they wanted it to.

“Time until primary weapon recharge?”

“Five minutes, twenty-six seconds!”

“Get us within secondary weapon range. Prepare to fire according to the Black Star target data. Watch out for the big ships. Our shields are supposed to better than average for our type of ship, but that dreadnought can smash us like a grape if we aren’t careful. It looks disabled, but I don’t want to find out that it is only playing dead the hard way!”

“Fighters incoming!”

“Point defense, target the fighters! Helm, keep us moving, keep us evasive. I want us in our target zone by the time the Primary is recharged, so we can shove it down some X’thari’s throat!”

(Combat Information Center, BSN Shinokage, Point Gamma, Nuevo Edo System)

Point Gamma (L2 Lagrange Point):

9 0 Aeh-class Hunter-Scouts

18 10 Photh-class Frigates

9 7 Mothak-class Light Cruisers

1 Purryg-class Dreadnought

The battle… was not going well. It was like a pack of wolves taking on a group of bears. We were lighter, quicker, but they could swat us from the sky if they hit us. Except these bears were used to being the wolves, not bears. They weren’t used to fighting anyone as fast as we were that wasn’t on a X’thari ship using X’thari tactics. We hadn’t lost any of our ships yet, but we were still massively outnumbered. Ghost Squadron had killed or crippled the nine Aeh-class Hunter-Scouts, leaving them drifting in space. That was good, but they’d spent all their missiles doing it, since Raptors weren’t designed for anti-ship work, at least not for anything bigger than supporting ant-piracy stuff. But the Aeh-class was light enough that the fighters, working together, could punch them out. We’d already lost five of the twelve fighters, though, and the rest were returning to the Return to rearm and refuel.

Acting in cohorts, the little Gunboats were the stars of this show. I didn’t have time to direct the battle all across the system. But I didn’t need to micromanage things. That’s why I had competent commanders, and kept tactical groups together. They knew each other, knew how they’d respond, knew how to help. I had to trust in them to do their jobs. First Group had bigger problems.

The initial kinetic strikes had taken out four of the Photh-class and one of the Mothak-class ships. Now that the agile little gunboats were in range, they were dogfighting with the Photh ships. They had the edge in speed and shields, but other than main weapons, the X’thari ships were better armed and armored than my gunboats. So far, the plucky little gunboats had managed four more kills, striking from the rear. But they’d taken a pounding from point defense, and several of them had to break off to recharge shields.

Meanwhile, the Assassins were in a deathmatch with the cruisers, while Captain Inatumal and Shinokage did their best to keep the damn dreadnought from killing us all. So far we’d been lucky, our ships being smaller, lighter, and faster than the X’thari, but this was one of those situations where it only took a single hit to completely ruin our day. “Time until main weapon recharged?”

Raven looked over to me. “Thirty seconds, Commodore.”

“Analysis of the enemy ships? Can they take a hit from the mains?”

“I’ve been looking at the shield harmonics, and I believe there is a weakness. The X’thari drives are incredibly efficient, and do not cause as much energy leakage as Terran or Confederate drives. This is good for ships who engage in stealth tactics, as they are able to accelerate faster while still being in stealth. However, something about their sublight drives causes attenuation in the shields directly aft of the engines. This is also where the ship’s armor is the lightest.”

“Why on Earth would they leave such a weakness in their designs?”

“While impossible to say for certain, it may either be something they are technologically incapable of fixing with their current technological base, or it may be a racial bias, due to the fact that they are normally seen in the role of hunters, with multiple ships covering for each other. This makes exploiting the weaknesses far more difficult. The idea of them becoming ‘prey’ may be a cultural blind spot for the X’thari.”

“Send out an emergency flash to the fleet. All ships, all fighters, all bombers. Let everyone know that they’re weak when you take them from behind.” I paused, and then looked at the tactical readouts. “As soon as Ghost Squadron is ready, have them launch, and help the Gunboats with the frigates. Assassins are to line up their assault runs as they bear, with emphasis on destroying the engines of the cruisers. We can pick them off from range once all ships are disabled, if need be.”

I broke off that train of thought as massive energy blasts bracketed the Shinokage, missing us by mere meters! Reaching over to my tablet, I hastily typed up an order for Captain Inatumal, and hit send. That dreadnought was becoming a hazard to our health.

(Main Bridge, BSN Shinokage, Point Gamma, Nuevo Edo System)

Captain Inatumal looked down as a chime sounded next to her, signaling new orders from the Master. This was a little surprising, as he thankfully had the sense not to interfere with the running of her ship during combat operations, allowing her tactical control and the ability to fight her ship, while he looked at the larger picture. Bringing up the message, she smiled, before looking at the timer. The mains had just recharged a few seconds ago, and they were working on finding an attack path that could do the most damage. She saw that the information about the enemy shields had already gone out to the fleet, as two more frigates were reduced to space dust, though the little Isis got caught in crossfire just afterwards, and looked to be dead in the water. They would be lucky indeed if they got out of this without more casualties to join those that they’d already lost.

Checking the orientation of their ships, Captain Inatumal called out. “All hands, prepare for high speed maneuvers! All personnel not engaged in critical tasks must be strapped in! Commodore’s sent us a game plan. Helm, information is being sent to your plot now. Weapons, I want you ready on the mains, we’re only going to get one shot at this! Shields, when I tell you, I want you to throw everything into forward shields, but be ready to balance fast.”

The lieutenant at the helm looked up, “Are you sure about this, Captain?”

Captain Inatumal nodded. “Don’t worry, Lieutenant. Just fly like I know you can. You think I haven’t noticed the simulator hours you’ve logged, pretending to fly this beast like it was one of those Raptors out there? Now is the time to prove what happens when you put someone with the crazy of a fighter pilot at the stick of a Cruiser. Just be ready to maneuver.”

The Lieutenant straightened up, and nodded sharply. “Yes Ma’am! I won’t let you down, Captain.”

“I know you won’t. Prepare to activate Painal Maneuver! Now steady… GO! EXECUTE!” Despite herself, the Captain gripped the arms of her chair as the light cruiser suddenly went to full acceleration, shooting towards the enemy dreadnought like an arrow fired from slightly in front and below the ship’s line, limiting their exposure to the ship’s big guns. Inatumal could hear the stresses on parts of the ship as they made high-speed maneuvers, attempting to keep from getting hit by the enemy guns as they launched what very well might be a suicide run.

The suicide tactic must have frightened someone over on the dreadnought, because even as the ship began turning to try and avoid the incoming missile that was the Shinokage, the point defense became VERY concerned with her. If the Captain hadn’t ordered the shields to full front, it would have been really bad. Inatumal held her breath as the lieutenant rolled the ship in flight, almost dancing out of the way of the dreadnought’s main guns as they missed by less than a quarter kilometer. And then they were in the dreadnought’s face, as it were.

“SHIELDS!” The shields balanced out just as they needed to as the Shinokage skimmed the very edge of the dreadnought’s shields at top speed. The ship rocked as two of the secondary guns scored hits, and the alarms going off on the bridge told her they had a hull breach somewhere. Just a few more seconds, though… And they were past!

“NOW, LIEUTENANT!” She didn’t need to give the order, the Lieutenant was already in motion. Groaning with the stresses on it, Shinokage cut forward thrust, flipped over on its axis, and then reengaged forward thrust, cutting their speed at an insane rate that the inertial dampeners couldn’t quite keep up with, subjecting everyone to a relatively ‘unpleasant’ four Gs of pressure. Since that beat ‘splat on the bulkhead’, Inatumal just grit her teeth, and hoped that didn’t injure too many of her people.

The Lieutenant called out, in a pained voice, “LINED UP!”

“FIRE!”

Both barrels of the Shinokage’s primary weapons fired at once, launching their projectiles at almost 8% the speed of light. They were only about two hundred thousand kilometers from the dreadnought’s stern. The projectiles took eight seconds to travel the distance. Some secondary weapons and point defense found the ship and had started to target them, but the helm of the big ship was not able to maneuver like smaller craft could. It had only started its turn when the Shinokage’s main weapons hit.

(Main Bridge, BSN Shadowdancer, Point Gamma, Nuevo Edo System)

Captain Nyna Thelynn growled as her poor Shadowdancer shuddered under the weight of the enemy guns. This was not the kind of battle the Assassins had been designed for. If they weren’t lighter and faster than the Mothak-class cruisers they were hunting right now, then they would have been very, very dead. As it was, each cohort of Assassins was having to deal with a Triad of Mothaks, with the one extra, since they’d already managed to kill a second of the bastards.

“Captain, message from Black Star Actual. Raven analysis says that our best bet is to take them from behind, where their shields are weakest.”

“Main weapon status?”

One of the crew over at the engineering station called out, “Back online! Commander Black managed to reroute the cables that burnt out. He warns you only have one, maybe two shots before we risk taking the rest of the damaged cables out!”

“Right, inform Wisteria that we are commencing our attack run on Cruiser Three. If they have a shot on another of that triad, tell them to light the bastards up.”

“Wisteria reporting main weapons are offline, but they will support as best they can.”

“Damn. All right, tell them to follow us in.”

“Captain! Look at Shinokage!” Nyna spared a glance for the Black Star flagship, but didn’t have time to deal with that now, not while she was trying to keep her ship and her crew in one piece.

“Holy shit, are they insane?”

“Belay that talk!” Nyna snapped at the crew. “That would be one of the Master’s plans, no doubt. And we’ve got some work of our own. Come about, full speed ahead! Weapons at the ready!”

“Captain, with their maneuverability, we’ll have to fire from point-blank range.”

“I know, Commander. Which is why we’re going to do just that!” She paused, and then said, “ALL HANDS, BRACE FOR IMPACT!”

As they tore after Cruiser Three, Cruiser One attempted to cut off their attack run, passing close in front of them, but they didn’t slow down. The pass was close enough that Shadowdancer’s shields ‘kissed’ those of Cruiser One as they passed, trading fire from secondary weapons as they went. But Cruiser One was too interested in Shadowdancer to realize that Wisteria was a threat, until the Assassin pounded the cruiser’s vulnerable rear along with Shadowdancer’s gunners, scoring several hits on their engines and forcing the cruiser to cut acceleration dramatically.

The sensor tech called out, “In range of target!”

“FIRE!”

Cheers rang out across the bridge as Cruiser Three was reduced to its component atoms as the projectile of Shadowdancer’s main weapon tore the stern of the craft apart, causing whatever they used as a power plant to blow.

Captain Thelynn, however, did not join in the celebration. “Recharge the guns! Come about in search of new targets! Status of the Wisteria and Cruiser One?”

“Wisteria is shaken, but with us, Captain. They’re working on main weapons, but their engineer says not to get our hopes up without several hours work. Cruiser One is damaged, looks to be out of the fight temporarily. Cruisers Two and Seven are covering it. Cruiser Four is destroyed, looks like the Hayha got her. Artemis is damaged, forced to withdraw. We’ve lost three gunboats, but the Frigates are dead or disabled. Shinokage has gone dark. They look like they took a couple heavy hits just as they killed that Dreadnought. They’re still under power, but they’re out of the fight.”

“Wisteria is to support the Hayha as her new cohort. Artemis to rendezvous with Shinokage to ascertain status and see if shortrange comms can be established. I see the Return has launched fighters again. Fighters and remaining gunboats to form up on Shadowdancer. Take us after Cruiser Two!”

(Planetary Defense Command Bunker, Nuevo Edo)

“Group Alpha reporting in. Invaders at Point Alpha destroyed. Two gunboats lost, some damage to Breath of Hades, and down four fighters and three bombers. Tarpit in that area went down when the dreadnought died.”

Premier Fukuya’s head snapped around from the screen she was studying to focus on the speaker when she heard that last part. “Why weren’t we informed of that as it happened?”

General Akagi spared the young woman reporting the news, and said, “I imagine they were busy fighting for their lives at the time, and did not bother checking those sensors until they were through dealing with people shooting at them.”

Fukuya sighed, and nodded to her friend. “Continue your report, Lieutenant.”

“Point Beta remains at full strength, but the tarpit traps were layered with five times the needed strength to blanket the three primary attack points, so they are being forced to move at sublight until they can clear the tarpit.”

“Point Gamma was hit hard, ma’am. That was the only group without bomber support, and it shows. They are down to four fighters, five gunboats, and one Assassin operational, the Shadowdancer. All other assassins and the Shinokage are too damaged to continue the fight, but should be repairable, according to damage reports.”

Admiral Saez whistled appreciatively. “That’s impressive, considering how badly they were outgunned. I’m surprised they didn’t lose more people.”

“Point Delta is holding. The fighters are making all the difference there, ma’am. The enemy carrier attempted to use their fighters to attack us, but the Black Star squadrons annihilated them. Black Star has lost six gunboats and we’ve lost four, but all Assassins and capitol ships are still in the fight. The Jubilee just finished off the enemy dreadnought. Remaining enemy ships from Point Delta have pulled out of effective range of the platforms. Ten cruisers and twelve frigates remaining, most damaged but still fighting.”

“What about the carrier? Are the Marines in play?”

“Thunderfury reports the Marines have landed, and are meeting heavy resistance. However, ion cannons appear to be keeping the enemy self-destruct systems offline, so they may actually be able to capture the ship intact.”

“ADMIRAL! Multiple tachyon surges at Point Beta! Unidentified fleet just entered the system!”

Admiral Saez, General Akagi, and Premier Fukuya all shouted out at once, “WHAT?”

(X’thari Carrier <Unpronounceable Chittering>, Point Delta, Nuevo Edo System)

First Company, Black Star Marines, had been joined by the newly established Second Company for this fight. Between Black Star personnel and their families, and new recruits from Nuevo Edo or Dimiya, the Black Stars were more than could be fielded in a single company. Fortunately, the Thunderfury was designed with the ability to just barely carry two Companies with their command and logistics staff. Provided, of course, that it was for short spells. Hot-bunking Marines was not something you did for extended periods if you could help it. More than that, and they would need a second Assault Craft. Fortunately, he’d gone with Captain Am’rica to talk to the eggheads that designed some of the new ships, and put together what they’d need for a full assault craft, as well as something for special forces teams, when a Raven-class wasn’t available.

And right now, Second Company was getting their trial by fire. Most of them were Locals, so he’d gotten together with their Major, and come up with new tactics that took advantage of what they learned in the raids they launched during the Civil War, especially the Venus op. The benefit of ‘immortals’ on the battlefield was impressive, but respawn times meant you couldn’t just human wave a strong point with a platoon until you broke them. And the Locals weren’t just sitting back on their thumbs and letting First Company do the really hard work. They were Marines, not Army, after all! However, if your door kickers and rearguard didn’t feel like dying was ‘game over’, then you got a whole lot of options that opened up to you.

First Company led the way into the breach when the Thunderfury pulled up next to the X’thari carrier, when they used their ‘gravpacks’ (gravitic movement assistors did NOT catch on with the Marines, for reasons) to rocket out of the Thunderfury and into the open hangar bay of the carrier. That was where the first real fight came, and Khan was pleased to say that all his Marines, even the new people on Second Company, did damn fine jobs on their first ship to ship insertion.

Now that they had completed the hardest part, getting on board, they had to try and get control of the ship. There was no ‘ask for surrender’, and no ‘stun them’ or ‘take them alive’. Everyone knew the score. The X’thari would not allow themselves to be taken prisoner, so they all had to be put down, as fast as possible, or Bad Things™ would happen. That said, with no knowledge of the ship’s plans, they had to play this by ear. So, Second Company went aft, hoping to find whatever passed for an Engineering section on this tub, and First Company was headed towards the center of the ship, looking for the bridge.

As they were advancing, Major Khan (he really needed to get a full battalion together so the rank was correct) called a halt as he found what they really needed. Looking over to one of his officers, he yelled, “Comms, are we still in contact with Raven aboard Shinokage?”

“Spotty, sir! Last communication said that they’ve been taking a beating. But I have stable comms for the moment, if you need them.”

“Then plug in to this terminal! I know our specialists are all kick ass codeslingers, but I need a map, and I need it yesterday!”

“Accessing… we have good connection to Raven. Wait one… Right! She’s found us a schematic of the ship, but it is hard to read because of being alien. She’s highlighted two sections for us, though. ‘Engineering’ and ‘Central Control’. Guess that is what it translates out to.”

“Forward that map to Second Company, and tell them to get moving! I don’t want this tub blowing up around me, and I know they don’t, either! First Company, move out! We have a Central Control to capture!”

(NEN Santiago, Point Delta, Nuevo Edo System)

“Captain, I must insist you go to the infirmary!”

Captain Gonzalez shook her head, further annoying the ship’s medical officer who was trying to patch the head wound she’d suffered in that last exchange with the enemy cruisers. “I’m not walking off the bridge of my ship in the middle of a fucking battle, doc. Keep it so the blood stays out of my eyes, and then go look to the more seriously wounded. Either we’ll get through this and I’ll have plenty of time to sit in the infirmary, or we’ll all be dead. Now go!”

The doctor gave her that dirty look every doctor must learn in medical school for when a patient is being ‘unreasonable’ by their estimation, but they don’t have the authority to simply force them to stop what they’re doing and take their medicine. Fortunately, the whole ‘in the middle of a battle that might kill us all’ thing got through the doctor’s indignation at her refusal to leave her post immediately. The bandages would do fine for now, as long as they didn’t take another hit like that last one.

She hit the call button on her bracer. “Nagai, status!”

Nagai Juri, her Chief Engineer, was one of the brighter technical minds on the planet, to the point where she’d been told that there had been some rather… lengthy back-room talks between the government and that Commodore Mollen who ran Black Star. Seems they had wanted to poach her for their crews. Considering that she was catching up on tech that was at least a hundred years ahead of where they were, that said something about the young engineer. Ana was glad to have her.

“Captain! We managed to get the shield generator back online, but I can’t promise how much damage it’ll be able to soak. Engines are at 57%. I might be able to get as much as 65% for a little bit, but we’d be getting towed back to dock.”

“What about the primary weapon? When can we fire again?”

“Relays are shot, captain! I can do a workaround, but it isn’t going to be efficient at all. You’re looking at double the charge time, at least! And that’s if we don’t explode the next time you fire. I can maybe get you one shot, but that’s it.”

“Captain! We’re detecting multiple tachyon surges out by Point Beta!”

“Is there anything we can do about it right now?”

“No Ma’am.”

“Then keep an eye on whatever’s going on, let me know if something becomes relevant. Comms! Get me the Cortez!”

“Online.”

The main viewscreen was shattered, but the monitor at her side was (miraculously) still intact. Looking into the picture, she said, “Captain Ara, our primaries have been knocked out. What is your status?”

“Primaries online, but that last attack run took a lot out of us. Engines are at 32% and holding. One more good attack, and we’re finished.”

“All right. We just have to hold out for a little while longer, until the bombers from Black Star get back our way. Lets link up with the Wakizashi. They are in about as good shape as you are, so Santiago will lead the attack run on Cruiser 16. Let’s try to keep them away from Aikawa’s life pods!”

“Understood. Forming up with Wakizashi now. Good luck, Captain.”

Gonzalez sighed as the connection broke off. Quietly, she muttered. “Yeah, we’re going to need it.” Then she took a breath, and said, “All right, prepare for attack pattern Delta-3!” She hit the communicator again, and said, “Juri, give me everything you can to the shields! We’re going to need them!”

“I’ll do what I can, Captain.”

“Captain! Ships coming out of warp at the edge of the Carrier’s tarpit envelope! It is the group from Point Alpha! Dragons incoming!”

“All right! Continue attack plan. Reroute all power to shields. Let’s look big and bad so the others can send these aliens straight to hell!”

(Planetary Defense Command Bunker, Nuevo Edo)

“Ships at Point Beta have been destroyed!”

Saez looked up from the tactical screen where she’d been following the battle closer to the planet. She was Admiral in name only, she knew, since she’d never commanded a fleet in combat (hell, her ‘fleet’ was all brand new) but she was learning everything she could from watching the Black Star forces. When you built an entire fleet out of force multipliers, that could add up, fast. But she had also noticed the weakness of such a system. The Commodore’s forces at Point Gamma, which he’d led himself, had been savaged. They’d managed not to lose any of their larger ships, but no one had heard from the Commodore himself since the Shinokage’s last attack run.

Now, she saw that the previously untouched group at Point Beta had indeed been wiped out, thanks to the mysterious fleet that had appeared in a burst of tachyons. Commodore Mollen said that the Empire used technology like that, but they should be far out of range from any Imperial worlds. “Do we have identification on those ships yet?”

“We’re running them through the Black Star algorithms now, Ma’am. They appear to be Imperial designs. Three superdreadnoughts, one carrier, and support craft. Appears to be a standard task force. INS on the lead ship reads INS Triumphant.”

“Admiral! The enemy carrier’s tarpit field has gone offline. All other ships have been destroyed.”

“Very well. Have our ships form a perimeter with the Black Star ships. Launch S&R shuttles to begin rescuing pilots and pick up escape pods.”

“New contact, the BSS Starlight Raven just launched from Shinokage! Transmission incoming!”

Commodore Mollen’s face appeared on the screen. He looked to be injured, but otherwise he was still breathing, which wasn’t bad, considering that Shinokage had gone toe to toe with a dreadnought.

“Admiral, I see you’re issuing orders for S&R and a perimeter. The Imperial task force is here because of me. I called in a favor or two, and was able to get them to send a few ships.”

“A few, Commodore? Your gift for understatement astounds me. But where did they come from? You said their ships didn’t have the legs to reach us from Imperial Space with their transition drives.”

“They don’t. But the Amazon system is within range, a fact I’d forgotten until my contact asked about it. They used the Gateway to form up in the Amazon system, so they could jump in all together, instead of coming through the Gateway one at a time. But it took a bit longer than we expected to get everyone moving the same way, which is why their arrival was delayed.”

Admiral Saez nodded. “Well, I’m glad you called in those favors, Commodore. I do not enjoy the thought of what those fresh ships would have been able to do to our defenders when we’ve already been beat up as much as we have.”

“Always happy to help, Admiral. If you’ll give the task force an orbital slot, I’ve been informed the Empress of the Terran Empire would like to make her first diplomatic visit to Nuevo Edo and confirm its status as a free port.”

“We’ll send orbit information and language translation software to them now, Commodore. And congratulations. We weren’t certain you had survived, for a while.”

“Neither were we. All Black Star ships are returning to orbit, and we’ll start working ships through the yards in the order of what we can get back online fastest. Mollen out.”

(INS Triumphant, Nuevo Edo System)

It felt kind of nostalgic to be back in the pilot’s chair of the Starlight Raven. So much of what we’d done in the last year had been fleet actions, and I hadn’t been able to get as much stick time as I would have liked. Now that I had a couple moments while I flew towards the Imperial flagship, I checked the notifications I’d gotten from the battle.

For leading a fleet defense against a force that should have destroyed you all and emerging victorious, you have been rewarded.

Reputation with Nuevo Edo now Exalted.

You have gained the title Hero of Nuevo Edo.

Knowledge Skill (Space) increased to 21.

+1 INT

Knowledge Skill (Physics) increased to 21.

+1 INT

Navigation increased to 18.

+1 INT, +2 WIS

Perception increased to 18.

+3 WIS

First Aid increased to 10.

+5 WIS

Hardware increased to 12.

+2 DEX

All participants in the battle gain the Perk: Against All Odds.

All ships in the battle gain the Ship Perk: Taffy.

All ships in the battle gain the Ship Perk: Unrelenting.

All Fighters and Bomber squadrons in the attack gain the Unit Perk: Ant Slays the Elephant.

Black Star Marine Corps gains the Force Perk: Into the Unknown.

Hero of Nuevo Edo

You have saved Nuevo Edo from enemy attacks twice in the year you have made yourself known to them, and have become a hero to the people there.

+5000 Fame

+10 CHA

May gain special discounts on goods and be picked for special quests in Nuevo Edo system.

Against All Odds

You have faced battles that by all rights should have been hopeless. Through cunning, guile, and more than a little luck, you have persevered, and defeated a far superior foe. +50% to resist Fear effects, reduce Morale penalties by 75%. Allies within 30’ reduce Morale penalties by 20% (area bonus from this perk does not stack with itself).

Taffy

Like Task Unit 77.4.3 for which it was named, this ship was faced with a foe far beyond what any sane person would expect them to combat, and emerged victorious.

Damage increased by 5% against vessels of a larger class.

Damage received reduced by 10% from vessels of a larger class.

Unrelenting

Battered, nearly broken, but never defeated. Ships with this perk are able to continue fighting long past when they should have quit. Battlefield repairs are 10% more effective.

Ant Slays the Elephant

Small ships like fighters and bombers are meant to destroy enemy fighter screens and weaken enemy capitol ships so that their allies can destroy them. Units with this perk do 10% more damage to ships larger than Frigate class.

Into the Unknown

It takes a certain kind of person to launch themselves into an unknown class of ship in the middle of a fleet battle, all the while knowing that the ship they are on may be destroyed or self-destruct at any time. A force with this perk thrives on launching themselves into the unknown, whatever is waiting there.

Bonus to all actions in situations where one is going into unknown terrain (unidentified ship class, unexplored planets, secret installations with no blueprints, etc.). Bonus increases (max 30%) with the degree of unfamiliarity.

I whistled softly to myself as I saw the perks. My part in the actual battle was really pretty small, since my part was mostly done once I’d laid out forces to respond to the incoming threat. The Hardware and First Aid skill ups had come from having to force a work-around to get out of the ‘flag bridge’ when Shinokage got rocked by the last exchange of fire with the dreadnought, and helping with emergency first aid on crew members as they made their way to the flight deck.

‘Lucky to be alive’ was the understatement of the year, as far as the crew of the Shinokage was concerned, but even before he’d launched the Raven to rendezvous with the Imperials, he noticed a bit of a swagger in their step. Not many cruisers can say they took on a dreadnought and won. If the whole fleet hadn’t been built to punch above their weight class, it wouldn’t have been possible. We were very, very lucky indeed. And it showed that we were definitely going to have to do some design work, and come up with heavier ships for Nuevo Edo’s navy. Black Star could get away with being a ghost fleet, but the NEN had to protect their home. They couldn’t afford to be outgunned like they had been here. They’d need at least battlecruisers, if not a dreadnought or two, and a carrier. More fighter and bomber squadrons wouldn’t hurt, either.

There was a lot of work ahead of us, since we still had to repair the surviving ships. There wasn’t a single warship that hadn’t taken some serious damage in the battle. More than a couple were just barely holding together. If the Empress hadn’t shown up… well, it would have been bad when the X’thari managed to slip out of Point Beta’s tarpit area.

So far, the death toll was holding at a little over six hundred, between Black Star and Nuevo Edo forces. That was, frankly, a minor miracle, despite how horrible it sounded. With the number of damaged ships, it should have been higher. Would have been, if Black Star designs were made to be light on crew, and have a preponderance of ‘little ships’ with force multipliers, instead of the big ships. If we’d concentrated on bigger ships instead of putting out as many fighters, gunboats, and Assassins as we could, we’d have lost many more, and maybe the battle itself.

“BSS Starlight Raven, this is Triumphant Control. You are cleared to dock at Hatch 4, Port Side.”

Breaking out from my reverie, I smiled, and hit the comms. “Affirmative, Triumphant Control. Starlight Raven docking at Port Side Hatch 4. Black Star Prime, out.”

As I got closer, the Raven’s scanners played over the Imperial fleet. Unlike our scrappy ships, the Triumphant and her task force had been easily the match of the ships at Point Beta. Imperial ships were built for a head to head slugfest, so while their smaller ships had been beaten up a bit, and the records of the battle showed a few lost fighters from their carrier, they hadn’t lost any ships, and it seemed like the Triumphant had come through without a scratch. Sometimes size did matter.

Of course, when I’d created the Black Star Fleet, I wasn’t counting on having to do a planetary defense with these ships. The goal was to have a ‘security force’ that could respond to threats with overwhelming force and end things as quickly and unfairly as possible. A slugging match was the last thing we needed. Shinokage had barely survived that last suicidal charge I’d ordered her on, and she was going to be in the docks for a while repairing stress fractures throughout the hull, not to mention repairing all the blown out conduits and equipment that had overloaded when that last shot was fired. When I left, they were still on battery power, but that should have been fixed by now, and hopefully they’d have communications soon. So far, Captain Inatumal had refused to have her ship towed into port, but the Assassins of First Group were standing by her, in case Shinokage lost power before she got into orbit.

As we docked, I checked the Raven’s external cameras, and chuckled as I saw what was waiting on the other side of the airlock. Looking over to Raven, I said, “Tell everyone to get ready to make an appearance. Ops uniform, no visible weapons. Let’s look badass classy.”

Raven chuckled, and disappeared to get into her own ‘uniform’, allowing me to change from the simple Navy blacks I was wearing (and which really needed a bit of repair to deal with the burns and blood stains) and changed into the more roguish black outfit with my long coat that I typically wore when on missions that didn’t require milspec armor. I said no visible weapons, but I most certainly had my main ones stored in my bracer, ready to use if needed. I seriously doubted I would, though.

Five minutes later, I was standing with the rest of the Raven’s crew, and signaled Raven to open the hatch. Stepping through the connecting tunnel, I paused for a moment just shy of the Triumphant’s deck. Standing there were two lines of five Imperial Marines who snapped to attention in unison. At the far end of the little tunnel was a group of eight in two rows of four: four Imperial Guards, dressed in their red armor, standing at parade rest in the second rank, a man in a white Imperial Navy uniform bearing Captain’s insignia, and three figures I knew quite well. With a roguish grin, I continued forward until I was standing in front of the ladies in the center of the front rank, turned to look at the woman standing next to the Captain, and asked “Permission to come aboard?”

Admiral Han Moon-Hee looked like she couldn’t decide whether to greet me warmly, or order the guards to shoot me. I guess she still hadn’t forgotten the whole ‘incident’ when I rescued her from the breeding ranch. Still, she was professional, and said, “Permission granted, Commodore Mollen. This is Captain Sanna Adler, commander of the Triumphant. And I believe you know the Empress and her Chief of Staff?” She motioned to the other two.

After offering a polite nod to the Captain, I looked to the other two, and offered a bow to the Empress. “Empress, you are looking as lovely as ever. I am glad that Lucio hasn’t kept you buried under tons of paperwork.”

The Empress chuckled, and said, “Not for lack of trying, of course. There is a great deal of work still to be done to rebuild after the Civil War, but we’ve finished the trials of those rebels who were not important enough to join the cult and flee with their masters. Now the healing can begin.”

Lucio simply smiled, and said, “When you told us of the incoming attack we were wondering if we’d be transitioning into a battle that was already over, one way or the other. I would not have cared to bet against you, Commodore, but that many ships, it is a wonder that you survived.”

I sighed, and said, “Not all of us did, Lucio, and it was a close thing for many of us. Shinokage was leading the only force without bomber support, and we were severely outgunned. The ship was badly mauled in the fighting. Others weren’t as lucky. But the butcher’s bill for the battle was far smaller than it ought to have been for a battle like this, and it would have been even higher were it not for your task force’s timely intervention.”

I paused, noticing the looks the Empress was giving over my shoulder, and chuckled. I motioned for Sheila to step forward from where she had a hand protectively on Cali’s arm. The limp and the bandages I knew were under her ops uniform were the only sign she’d been in combat. “You’d be proud of your little sister, Majesty. She was helping Shearah and the Shinokage’s damage control teams while the battle was underway. She kept working to help keep the ship fighting even in the worst of the battle.”

Merida rushed past me to hug her sister, but let up when she felt more than saw Sheila wincing in pain. “What’s wrong, Sheila?”

“Conduit blew, and threw me up against a bulkhead. Couple cracked ribs, but I would have been dead if not for Cali when the hull breach came.”

“HULL BREACH!”

I cleared my throat. “During the last high-speed attack run to get behind the X’thari dreadnought, we suffered multiple hull breaches due to their point defense weapons. Twelve crewmen were lost to vacuum. Cali here managed to throw Sheila through a hatch just before the blast doors closed, which is how she injured her knee.”

Empress Merida winced at the mention of crewmen being sucked out into space. Even with shipsuits, there was only so much that could be done in that situation. She looked over to Cali, and said, “But what happened to you?”

Cali shrugged, and said, “I lived long enough to see a X’thari dreadnought explode in my face. According to the logs of our connection to this world, a mix of shrapnel and concussive force is what killed me. But I’m a Nomad. Sheila’s a member of our crew, and she’s only got the one life to live. Easy choice.”

“That may be, but I, Empress Merida Vaughn announce that you, your Master, and all your crew, are Friends of the Empire. For so long as I live, may you go in peace within our borders.”

Friend of the Terran Empire

Those bearing this title have done services to the Terran Empire or to the Imperial Royal Family personally above and beyond any bonds of duty or contract. Reputation treated as minimum of Friendly with all pro-Empire factions.

Cali bowed low. “I am honored, Empress. May you live long, and prosper.”

(National Assembly Hall, Yokosaki, Nuevo Edo)

The crowd was rowdy, celebrating not just the victory over the X’thari that threatened them, but also the arrival of the Empress of the Terran Empire. For a people who had so long been cut off from their ancestral homeland, the arrival of the leader of Earth and her Empire was something that they had never hoped to see. The fact that she was a young woman, who cut a charismatic figure in both her well-tailored gowns and the (discretely distributed) photos of her as Captain of the Triumphant in her Navy uniform instantly propelled her to celebrity status on the still matriarchal planet.

By now, everyone knew that the fight in the skies over Nuevo Edo had been a closer thing than anyone dared speak of before the battle was done. Massively outnumbered and outgunned from the start, it was only the unconventional weapons and tactics that the Black Star forces had imparted to them as they helped build their Nuevo Edo Navy that they had gained even a ghost of a chance. And yet, with one section of the enemy fleet still unfought, the list of Black Star and Nuevo Edoan ships who were capable of continuing the battle was a fraction of the size it had been before, and amongst those, the number of ships that were undamaged was so small as to be counted upon a single hand, and all those ships were support vessels: the Carriers and the Nightforge.

Things had looked bleak, but then, in a burst of tachyons that lit the sky (figuratively speaking), the Triumphant appeared with her task force, and laid waste to the enemy ships, cutting through them like a scythe through wheat! It was a sight glorious to behold, especially when the vid captures from the Imperial fleet ‘leaked’ into the public, including a scene of the Empress herself, dressed in a Navy uniform without rank, standing upon the Flag Bridge of the Triumphant as it emerged from transition, and giving the order to open fire. Or what of the cockpit cameras of the imperial fighters, showing them on their attack runs against the X’thari ships?

And the Empress and her forces were not the only heroes made that day. Many were the stories told and retold of the fighting as those who fought, whether Black Star or Nuevo Edoan, shared their tales over drinks, while their friends laughed and mocked them when they exaggerated too much for polite company. Of particular note was the Last Charge of the Shinokage, as some were calling it, when Commodore Mollen ordered his command ship to launch what seemed to be a suicide run on the enemy dreadnought, braving the deadly fire of the enemy guns to gain a chance at victory as they turned and fired at the weak point in the X’thari defenses with their powerful twin railguns. Battered and broken, but never beaten, the Shinokage had managed to limp into port, with an honor guard of Assassins. The rumors said that her surviving crew were intent on waiting for their time in repair yards, so that the less damaged ships could be repaired first, but the outcry from the Black Star Fleet forced the Commodore to override them, and place the Shinokage as the first to enter the repair slips.

It was happy circumstance that today was Founder’s Day, marking the birth of the Nuevo Edo Colony after the Juan Ponce de Leon had emerged from an alien craft’s wake to find themselves in this system. Though those early years were filled with heroism and tragedy as well, they had come a long way since then, and fought through many hardships. Now, with the Amazons and the X’thari behind them, the crowd was exuberant, to say the least, as they prepared for the traditional festivities of Founder’s Day.

A change in the typical parade this year, was the addition of Commodore Mollen of the Black Star Fleet and Empress Vaughn of the Terran Empire as guests riding alongside Premier Fukuya in her place as the Mistress of Ceremonies. While the three smiled and waved to the cheering crowds, some might be surprised at the conversation that played out as they rode in the parade.

Merida laughed to herself as she waved, “I can only imagine the heartburn I’m giving my poor security team with this stunt. I fear they won’t allow me out of their sight for MONTHS after this!”

Talia laughed in return, from her spot in the center of the three (as it was her planet), and said, “Oh, I’m glad I won’t be the only one, then. Every year the security forces attempt to convince me to cancel the parade, as if doing something like that wouldn’t cause riots. The people need these demonstrations, and anyone who caused trouble here would quickly find themselves a pariah on the planet.”

Merida snorted. “Which would make you no less dead, as my guards like to inform me.”

“Mine say the same thing, but I ignore them just this once out of the year, in return for being a good little leader the rest of the time. Unless something interesting happens.”

Mirikon laughed as he joined in the conversation. “Ah, so is that why all your guards were so upset when we ‘dangerous outsiders’ met you the first time at the quarry?”

Merida looked over, smiling. “Oh, I hear a story there!”

Talia smiled. “Oh, not much of one. You see, we had detected ships coming through the Gateway, but all our instruments were light-speed based, so we knew the ships had been there for hours before we detected the gate’s activation. We didn’t know anything other than the fact that they did not look like the Demons we had been fighting, so we sent them the standard ‘first contact’ package of mathematical series.” Seeing Merida nod her understanding of the old first contact protocols, she continued, “Well, imagine our surprise when the mystery ships answered back with the correct sequence, skipped to the final line of that sequence, and then proceeded to send out the first and last lines of all the other sequences in the protocol, in the exact order we would send them. And then signed off with ‘Hello Cousins. Nice to see the Children of the Juan Ponce de Leon weren’t lost as had been thought,’ in English, Spanish, and Japanese!”

Merida chortled. “Oh, that must have caused some consternation in your ranks!”

Mirikon nodded. “Indeed it did. Their internal communications spiked dramatically after that, and got very frantic for a while, until the Premier got to the bunker where they were going to make contact from.”

Talia’s head whipped around to look at Mirikon. “Wait, you were already in our systems? How? We had just sent you our translation data…”

“My dear Talia, I mean no disrespect, but we were in your systems before you first started those first contact protocols. Your encryption systems were actually primitive enough that if we had not found similar codes in the historical archives our modern codebreaking algorithms would likely not have been able to decipher them. There is a reason why the General and I quietly went over your communications system while we were upgrading your defenses.”

Merida patted Talia on the shoulder in consolation. “Don’t worry about it, my dear. Our Commodore here prefers the ‘beg forgiveness’ option rather than ‘asking permission’. But do continue with the story.”

“Hmph! We will be talking about this, Miri, the next time you want to meet and ‘discuss the evolving political situation’ over drinks in your suite!”

Merida almost choked, and said, “Are you two… together?”

Talia chuckled. “Oh, no. We’ve just had a few ‘liasons’. And yes, I know about his harem. But he is the most famous man on a planet of mostly women. I do not doubt that he has ‘enjoyed’ more than a few of the leaders on the planet by now.”

“It would be a crime, a true crime for me to look into the eyes of all those lovely and willing women, and turn them down. And so I make a sacrifice of my body, bringing pleasure to as many beauties as I can, and if they should offer me gifts, trade deals, or prime concessions, well, it would simply be rude to turn down all those tokens of their appreciation.”

Merida struggled to keep smiling for the crowd. “I feel like I’m in a bad movie or some novel on the net.”

“Ah, my dear Empress, if you are upset that I have not offered you my services in that regard, I must apologize, and I will gladly aid you if you call me to service in such a way. Say the word, and I shall bend all my skills as a cunning linguist to sending you to new heights of pleasure!”

Talia giggled as she watched the Empress’s face grow pink in embarrassment. “Proposition her after the parade, Miri. Unless your time with the leader of the ‘Free Use’ party has prompted you to gain a bit of an exhibitionist streak?” When no one spoke, she continued. “At any rate, the very scary outsiders who we believed to be from Earth asked to meet, revealing a fleet of stealth ships that we had completely been unable to detect, and they were already inside our defensive perimeter!”

Merida nodded. “And he chose a quarry, a nice, open place that your guards no doubt informed you offered nice firing lines if things turned nasty, and he needed to destroy you from the air. And he probably came down not in a shuttle, but with something big and obviously armed to make a point?”

Talia nodded. “His Starlight Raven and four of his Raptor fighters, flying in formation, before the fighters burst in a maneuver and then all landed in perfect synchronization.”

Merida sighed in mock consternation and said, “Pilots. They’re the same everywhere.”

“Then he stepped off his ship with his harem in armor, and had robots set up a building that grew out of the ground to serve as a meeting place! If it wasn’t painfully obvious that he could have overwhelmed us before, by that point even our troopers understood the situation.”

Mirikon shrugged. “We wished to make an impression. If that impression also included things that moved the cookie jar out of reach, rather than leaving it as a temptation for those with more greed and ambition than sense, well, that is best for everyone, now isn’t it?”

Talia turned to look at Merida. “You see what I’ve been putting up with? This is the kind of thing I’m constantly having to fight against!”

Merida simply smiled, and nodded. “Oh, let me tell you about the first time our dear Commodore was introduced to me!”

“This was during the Civil War, yes?”

“Yes, we were in a bad spot, frankly, and while the destruction of one of the Imperial colonies that refused to submit to Travis had fired up everyone, we were expecting the Usurper’s forces to regroup and attack at any moment. But then we started hearing about small rebel groups no one had heard of before, all in possession of mysterious ‘ghost ships’, which attacked Earth, as well as logistics supply points, crippling trade in the Empire.”

“Hmm. I think I see where this is going.”

“Well, I had ordered a small flotilla to make a raid on enemy supplies in order to help distract the Usurper’s forces, but they were suddenly joined by the ‘Ghost Fleet’ as everyone was calling them now, coming to help ‘redistribute’ a good portion of the stored product on that world. As a major producer of Coffee in the Empire, that would be tragic, yes?”

“A world without coffee is not worth living in, yes.”

“Well, according to my captains, here is how the encounter went…”

The rest of the parade went easily, as the three traded ‘war stories’ with eachother.

(A Virtual Room in NERV HQ)

“Damn, I’m going to need a cigarette after that battle.”

Morgan looked over to Isaac, who had just leaned back in his chair as they finished watching the battle from the perspective of those aboard the Shinokage. “Virtual cigs don’t cause cancer, but if you get one of the nasty-smelling ones, I’m going to be pissed.”

“Fine, fine. Anyways, it looks like our boy’s out of action for a little while, at least. His forces have been beat up pretty badly.”

“Yeah, what do you think he’s going to do while he rebuilds?”

“At a guess? He’s going to consider some way to take on the big suckers without relying on surprise attacks. If you look at his stuff back at Dimiya, they already have a couple new ship types going up for their Marines. Probably so they can split those two companies up if they need to, and deploy them at different places.”

“Yeah, I was looking at that. The marine troop ship is obvious, basically a Black Star redesign of the Thunderfury, but what is that little thing? It looks like a miniature Starlight Raven, but there’s no way that thing could be a freighter.”

“Not sure. Listed crew compliment is seven, and there’s just barely room for that many berths. There’s some cargo space, but it is mostly dedicated to ‘Task-Specific Load’. Not sure about that. What I do know is that these things are fast, stealthy, and armed to the teeth. They’re almost like a cross between those ‘Raptor’ fighters and the Raven-class freighters.”

“Wonder what he’s planning on doing with them?”

Isaac shrugged. “Probably nothing good, at least as far as his enemies are concerned, but beyond that, who knows? I’m more curious about what he’s going to be doing while his fleet is being fixed up.”

“Won’t he be overseeing the repairs, and probably sleeping with half the planet?”

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll get around to the ladies, but overseeing the repairs doesn’t really appear to be his kind of thing.”

“Hey boss, what about that big carrier his Marines captured?”

Isaac slapped his forehead as he nodded to the tech that spoke up. “Damn, I’d forgotten. That was the big new thing for the X’thari. They’ve never done carriers before, so the carrier and its fighters were all new. It was something they started working on after the last set of wars, when some of the Alliance pilots really made them pay for not having fighter screens during a couple key battles.”

Morgan frowned. “So what kind of tech will that give him access to?”

“Well, there’s the X’thari technorganic stuff. No clue how he might fit that into his current designs, since some of it really doesn’t work well with traditional tech. You’ve got some cool weapons for fighters, but the way it looks they’d probably have to trade any missile/torpedo abilities for the weapons, due to size. So that’d make any fighters he modified from X’thari designed pure short-range threats, since they’d need to be within the beam range. The X’thari sublight drives are more efficient and slightly faster, but cause a deformation in shields which is why the battle wasn’t a lot costlier for him. Probably could fix that, but it’d take R&D time for sure. Their Anchor drives are known, but now he has access to one, so he could probably make copies. Problem is that doing this will draw the wrath of any X’thari ship that detects it, which would be a problem.”

“And what of the X’thari? Are there going to be more hunts?”

“Eventually, sure. But with he utter spanking they got in this fight, there’s no way they do more than sending scouts and setting up Sentinels to report in and watch the system. The system is too ‘heavy’ for them right now, and they know it. Of course, that means they’ll try and make raids, both to get new tech, and to try and draw off defenders. So I expect the other major powers will be getting ‘guests’ before long for small hit and run raids, targeting shipping.”

Morgan nodded. “Good. So it will quiet down for a bit, though players and NPCs traveling between stars or at the edge of systems are more likely to run into X’thari raiders, making them a more visible threat from now on. That’ll be a good way of helping to spin this for the rest of the player base. Speaking of spin, have we found where Deus and his minions set up shop?”

“Yeah, we have several systems that they’ve established ‘respawning dungeons’ in. Some are on populated planets, or used to be populated stations. Some are in places that used to be uninhabited.”

“Can we pick one of the ones in a populated area that isn’t too close to the Empire or Confederacy to leak the location of? Let the players know that there’s more in the works than just what our guy is up to?”

“Ah, the old shiny keys to distract the baby trick? Yeah, there’s one just inside Ihm space where a ‘crash landing’ happened. That’ll give people in the Imperium a feeling like we haven’t forgotten them. I’ll run it by the game AI, but I think we can work that with just a minor tweak, having a couple NPCs go out to investigate the site. It is pretty far from the nearest city, so ‘salvage rights’ could work as a motivation for the NPCs to get out there, maybe on behalf of whoever is important in the area.”

“Excellent. That’ll be great. So when can you get it done?”

Isaac considered for a moment, and then said, “If you want it quick, dirty, and obvious that we brute forced it? Now. If you want it done right, so that people who know what to look for can see a subtle GM push, without actively stepping in to control anyone’s characters, then I’d say a week or so for the first reports to get to the characters on that planet. No clue how fast it’ll spread after that, but it should be quick once a Nomad hears of it, since they’ve been begging for dungeons for months now, IRL.”

“I want this done right. No sense botching it, like with the Deus stuff.”

“Fine, I’ll get with he AI and my guys, and we’ll have a plan to run by you before the end of the day. Sound good?”

“Great.”

“Excellent. So, where do you want to go to dinner tonight? I think I’m in the mood for a bit of splurging after watching that battle. Some kick ass footage there.”

“Oh you!”