(NERV Game Site – Official DAtS Offline Forums)

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

Chummer: Did you guys see the footage of the fighting on Coldana that NERV released? That was a shit ton of bugs, there!

DarkAvariel: Yeah, that was pretty cool, especially for those of us who don’t have spaceships of our own, but I heard that NERV is working to put together a full feature film length video of the space battle!

Hullu_Kapteeni: Yes, I can confirm that there is a great deal of video, and it is being edited for a more cinematic effect.

DarkAngel: Is this going to be different from the streams we have of the battle?

Parca: Some streaming footage, yeah, but also cinematic style, as well. Like you’ll get to see the Consortium fighters dogfighting against the X’thari fighters.

GrimDark: Wow, that’s a lot of work.

M.Mollen: And they’re looking to get their money’s worth out of it. I just got out of a virtual meeting with the company execs about it.

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot: Ooh, can you give us any juicy spoilers on things?

AggregatorOfSorrows: He’s probably under an NDA.

M.Mollen: For some of it, yeah, AoS. But there are things I can talk about. Starting off with the fact that they plan to sell the footage through the NERV online store.

MightMakesRight: What? Sell it? What a fragging rip-off. They ought to be putting it out as a free trailer!

M.Mollen: *ignores MMR* The footage is going to include tactical maps, showing the movement of ships and fleets so that you can get a feel for the overall tactical picture. And they are using in-game effects so you can actually see the ships exploding and stuff like that. The entire experience is something like four hours long, and there are multiple POVs, for each fleet involved, so you can get a different experience from each.

ElfMama: Even the Black Star fleet?

M.Mollen: Yep. Obviously, anything that is potentially harmful is going to get edited out, but the Black Star POV is one of the packages you can buy.

DarkAvariel: Packages?

M.Mollen: Yeah. Each individual POV offered is on sale singly, if you want to just get, say, my POV for the whole fight. If you get the Black Star package, you get multiple POVs, the tactical maps, and the ability to view third person or free camera mode, and so on. There’s also a package that includes ALL the available footage, from all the fleets, which is somewhere on the order of eighty hours of unique content.

MacD: What the hell? You shilling for the devs now, MM?

M.Mollen: Nah. I’m a streamer, and they’re using my stream as part of this. So those of us in on the stream are getting a cut of the action. A small cut, but a cut nonetheless.

l33tpally: Damn! Getting paid by the company for playing the game. That’s the life!

CrazyCelt: Shit, yeah! How the hell do I get in on that?

Bennie: Well, first you have to actually be doing stuff that people might want to see.

Anonymous3: Ouch! That’s a solid burn, there.

CrazyCelt: Hey! I got a stream, and there’s plenty of people who follow me!

Lizard: Celt, your last stream drew 1023 views. Mollen’s last stream drew a hundred times that.

CrazyCelt: Fuck you, Lizard! I’d have those numbers, too, if I had a harem and all his toys!

M.Mollen: I got all of that in game, Celt. No reason you couldn’t get it too.

Anonymous4: Except for the fact that he sucks. Sure, some of what’s happened to Mollen and the Black Stars is luck, but a lot of it is skill, and knowing how to make the right calls.

Inquisitor: True. Though he has made some questionable calls, allowing the heretics to operate in his space.

TheDespoiler: Turn away from your false Emperor, Inquisitor, and embrace the eight-fold path!

Inquisitor: Silence, heretic scum! The Emperor protects!

GrimDark: The Emperor protects.

BigGunn: Hmm. So, what are the Black Stars going to be up to, next?

Parca: Why ya need to know, Gunn?

BigGunn: Because you guys moving into the area tends to make it decidedly unhealthy for upstanding freelancers who specialize in hostile acquisitions to operate in that area.

Hullu_Kapteeni: ‘Freelancers’? You mean ‘pirates’, don’t you?

BigGunn: Please, that term is so pejorative and loaded with negative connotations. Call me an independently self-sanctioned customs enforcement officer.

Knocker: In other words, a pirate.

BigGunn: Help, I’m being oppressed in the chatroom!

OppressionGM has entered the chat.

OppressionGM: False claims of oppression will result in oppression. Do not make extra work for the GMs. **BigGunn is kicked for 24 hours.**

BigGunn has left the chat.

OppressionGM has left the chat.

Knocker: *blinks* That… that had to be a bot, right?

Not_the_Face!: A bot with admin privileges?

Number5Alive: More like one of the GMs is probably in the chat on their private account, and decided to stomp on that before it could be a thing.

GunKitty: That would explain why the chat here tends to be so much nicer than it is on other sites.

M.Mollen: Hey, Kitty, what is this I hear about you and a certain ‘troubleshooter’ going ten toes up ten toes down?

GunKitty: WHAT! Where did you hear that?

M.Mollen: A certain someone told me.

Requiesce-in-Pace: For the record, I didn’t say anything.

GunKitty: Then who?

M.Mollen: NPC who helps guard your place, is employed by a Black Star subsidiary. He called in the suspicious character for verification.

GunKitty: Guards? I don’t have NPC guards!

M.Mollen: OK, not your place, specifically, but guarding the approaches, so that people understand that those coming to and from your store are protected until they get out of the area.

Golddigger: Whoa. When did you set something like that up?

M.Mollen: Oh, since her shop opened. I have a few friends in low places who ensure that everyone knows that there are some stores that are not to be messed with.

GunKitty: You and me are going to have a chat.

M.Mollen: Looking forward to it.

RedFox: Wait, so who is curling the kitty’s toes, then?

M.Mollen: I’ll let you get that from the kitty, if you can.

BurtBacharach: So, what are you going to be doing now that the X’thari are handled?

M.Mollen: Back to Star’s Reach for rest and refit, while the Starhunters continue their mission. And I heard a rumor about something going on that I wanted to check out…

(Black Star Company Advanced Technology Research and Development Center, Star’s Reach)

It had been a month after the Harvester’s destruction, and the X’thari got their chitinous butts kicked well and good. The fragments of the Swarm had dispersed, disappearing from Known Space, for the most part. It was estimated that almost 45% of the Swarm had been destroyed or damaged beyond the point of repair. Oh, there were Hunts going on across Known Space, but these were basically the equivalent of war bands instead of the mighty swarm. Nothing that the locals couldn’t take care of.

The Consortium was very thankful, naturally, since we had gone well above and beyond the scope of our contract. The resources we got from them would do a lot to expanding our position in the galaxy. We also got trade contracts, which gave us a bit of an entrance into the Consortium. The Gauz didn’t put in any shipbuilding contracts, naturally, but I didn’t doubt that they weren’t coming up with ways that they could take what they saw and put their own twist on things. They’d seen how powerful the Black Star ships were.

The Gauz weren’t the only ones impressed with the Black Star Navy’s performance. Two mercenary groups approached us with requests for our Crow-class assault craft, stating that their forces often required an escort in hostile situations, and a few assault craft that could double as air support on the ground would be more effective for their needs than dedicated warships and fighter craft. The real surprise, though, was what came out of the Free Worlds Alliance. We now had orders for twenty-five Assassins and two Reapers, as individual system governments started looking to upgrade their private fleets. The humbling of the Kul’tirans and the subsequent rise of piracy had made several system governments that had been content to leech off them start looking to their own defenses. Even the Imperial and Confederate navies quietly began putting in orders for more ships.

My own forces, however, needed tending to first. While we hadn’t been hit nearly as hard as some of the forces that had been in the thick of the fighting, we hadn’t come away unscathed either, once we entered the main battle to try and drive off the remaining X’thari. The Gunboats and fighters were hit hardest, of course, losing 25% of the fighters and almost 75% of the gunboats. The light, fast craft were good at their jobs, but they were not able to stand up to capitol ship fire. The Assassins and Reapers showed their worth, and the Knights and Wraths had proven that they were a force to be reckoned with, but there wasn’t a ship in the fleet that hadn’t been damaged. The Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi was in bad shape from where she had dived into the fray, rescuing the Consortium superdreadnought Proof of Concept from three X’thari superdreadnoughts after their engines had been disabled by a lucky hit, and they were forced to drop out of formation. First Group’s flagship had several gaping wounds in her hull, and her weapons were nonfunctional at the moment, but she was still in one piece (mostly), and was capable of limping back to the shipyard on her own power.

Now, back in Star’s Reach, I was forced to take off my Admiral hat, and put on my CEO and Governor hats. There were plenty of administrative details that needed to be handled with running a company and a corporate-owned star system, after all, and these things could only be pushed off so long before they became problems in their own right. Some things, however, were beyond mere paperwork. When First Group left Star’s Reach, there had been a sudden rush of people coming to the system and trying to sneak onto the planet to set up their own claims, no doubt figuring that if they could get established before I got back, they’d be able to negotiate something. The forces I had left behind quickly disabused them of that notion, and the number of judicially collared slaves populating Star’s Reach had risen quite a bit.

Some of those slaves were more useful than others. Which is why I was here in the research center that I’d had my people build on top of the Enrichment Center.

Alex Akins, the administrative head of the site, greeted me at the door as I walked into the site. “Ah, sir. It is good to have you here. I must tell you that the scientists are quite pleased with themselves. One of the Nomad slaves that you have researching advanced technology is quite insistent that he has something major to report. He’s setting up in Conference Room 2.”

I nodded as we walked through the facility, while reading the information that Raven tossed up on my HUD about this Nomad. Tesla_coil was a rare Vrok player. The avian species lived primarily in Free Worlds Alliance and Confederate space, but they were originally from a world somewhere in the Ihm Imperium. During the Ihm’s expansion, the Vrok had been forced from their home world, becoming a species of refugees. Their natural talent at ship handling made them some of the best pilots in the galaxy. As researchers, they weren’t the most well-known, but they had quietly been involved in much of the Free Worlds Alliance’s technological improvement through the years.

I stepped into the room, and looked at a Vrok for the first time. He was tall, about 2.5 meters in height, and was as solidly built as an avian creature, built for flight, could be. A black, onyx-colored beak stood out against his blue scaled, yet hawk-like face, and claws of the same color could be seen coming from his hands and feet. He wore coveralls designed to accommodate his wings and stature, seemingly unconcerned with making an appearance by dressing to impress. Though finding clothes that fit over wings that had a solid 3 meter span was not an insignificant challenge, now that I thought about it.

Tesla_coil was busy studying, reviewing his notes as he chirped and muttered to himself. When I cleared my throat, he looked up, his beady eyes focusing on me. “Ah, yes, you’re the one that owns all of this. I’ve seen your picture on the news. Good, that means you can get me the resources I need to continue my research! Now, I’m going to need—”

I cut him off with an upraised hand. “As you said, I am Mirikon Mollen, owner of pretty much everything here, and you, by the way. Now, before you go giving me a shopping list of what you need for your research, what is it that you’ve found that requires more resources than what you’ve already been allocated? And before you start in on a technical discussion, pretend that you’re talking to someone who only has a very top-level knowledge of what projects are going on, until one of them needs my attention. In fact, don’t pretend. This is your chance to impress me, and get me on board with whatever it is you’re trying to do here. Don’t screw it up, or you’ll be finding yourself researching temporal mechanics of gravity at the event horizon of a black hole by being thrown into it.”

The researcher looked like I’d just told him to eat a lemon, but he kept it together. “Hmph! Fine, if you insist, I’ll try to keep it to a level where even a layman might understand.” He took a breath, and then started in on his spiel. “As you know, energy shields work by creating an energy field which deflects incoming attacks. Gravity shields have been theorized, but the power requirements have always been too high to stabilize without using the FTL engines. However, if the power and transference questions could be solved, then gravity shields have the potential to be far superior in terms of protective value.”

“Yes, that’s been talked about before. I know that the Consortium and the Imperials have been working on that for a while, but they’ve never had any success on those fronts. Are you saying you’ve found something that will provide a breakthrough on this?”

The researcher just waved his hand, dismissively. “No, of course not! The requirements to shield even something as large as an Assassin-class corvette are simply too great given the size involved. However, some of the items retrieved from the ancient sub-facility that you have here have provided some very interesting alternate research modes, once we looked into them.” He motioned to a belt-like device on the table. “This is the first prototype we created.”

X-23412 Type III Prototype Personal Protection Projector

Type

Tool

Rank

Unique – Prototype

This item was created by a scientist studying Lost Technology, in a fit of either brilliance or insanity (probably both). Using an advanced power supply and a miniaturized gravitational anomaly device, this item can project a field that will completely protect the wearer from incoming damage, with almost no chance of cataclysmic side effects. As an experimental device, there may be slight issues with features that need troubleshooting after being identified in a practical testing environment.

Protection Field – The device projects a shield in a 5’ radius of itself, sealing off the interior from the exterior universe for the duration. Due to gravimetric effects, not even light escapes the event horizon, blocking the inside from view. However, it also prevents those inside the field from seeing outside. The Protection Field protects against all incoming attacks, whether they are physical or energy-based, as well as Psy powers that try to cross the barrier. As with light, these effects affect both sides of the barrier. Due to being an experimental device, the duration is slightly unstable. Duration: 2 Seconds – 24 hours (randomly determined). Cooldown: Equal to duration.

Gravimetric Sheer – Due to the intense gravity of the event horizon, anything intersecting the barrier when it is deployed is instantly sheered apart, as though it were cut along the line of the barrier.

WARNING:

This device is untested, and probably unstable. Because of this, there is a significant percentage chance of some kind of minor mishap occurring when the device is activated. These mishaps are not worth explaining in detail, as they will all be revealed and eliminated during the product testing process, but may include the following: time dilation effects (both faster and slower), unstable gravity causing spaghettification of masses within the sphere, creation of an unstable temporary microsingularity, minor ruptures in the fabric of space and time, wormhole generation, creation of a stable and permanent microsingularity, altering orbital mechanics in the target solar system, dark matter inversion, conversion of the interior of the sphere to antimatter, and a noncancerous skin rash.

I blinked. And then I blinked again. What in the what? Oh, the idea of some kind of invulnerable personal bubble that blocked out all incoming damage, allowing you to ‘turtle up’ while dealing with a problem wasn’t an unheard-of idea. That part was fine. I had no problems understanding that. Hell, I was all for it. We could definitely make money off such a device in the personal protection market. It was everything past the Warning that had me feeling actual fear for the first time in I don’t know how long.

I took a very large, very deliberate step back from the table, and the device sitting on it. I’m sure the expression on my face spoke volumes, because when I turned to look at Alex, he just shook his head, and said, “Don’t worry, sir. I’ve forbidden testing of the device until we got your express approval. The device and its associated technical data was submitted to other team members for peer review, and they agree that the chances of a ‘mishap’ are in the low teens, percentage-wise, but the likely outcome of a mishap would be catastrophic if it happened anywhere on a planet we wished to keep.”

“Yes, yes. He’s been very uncooperative so far. Really, how do you expect me to figure out the kinks if I’m not allowed to do any live testing? The chance of a mishap is perfectly acceptable. Now, if you’ll just sign off on the budget and tell this suit to get out of my way, we’ll start getting some real progress!”

I was getting a headache, and I’d only just started my tour of the facility. Damn eggheads always thought only about the damn science, and not about the potential side effects. Taking a deep breath, I said, “Well, Tesla_coil, we are going to hold off on testing until we can create a proper testing site, somewhere well away from anything valuable, so that we can have proper scientific controls set up so your experiments aren’t contaminated by extraneous data points.”

Tesla_coil blinked at my science jargon, but enough of what I said must have made sense, because he gave a grudging nod, and said, “Fine, fine. At least you’re not being so confrontational like this suit. I’ll start writing up designs for the testing chamber, so they can begin fabrication.”

(Grathdan Sector Administrator’s Office, Cadra Primaris, Capitol Planet of Grathdan Sector, Gauz Consortium)

Sector Administrator Yutreda Woldmane sighed as she slumped against the back of her extremely comfortable (one might even say luxurious) chair. The chair was the only thing that made her job worth the hassle, some days. Made of the finest materials, including memory materials, it molded itself to her form perfectly, always providing just the right support. That was important, especially when dealing particularly stressful days. And she had been getting a LOT of stressful days lately.

Ironically, it wasn’t nearly as bad when Coldana went dark, or when it was confirmed that the X’thari were present, with a Harvester. That was a threat of such apocalyptic proportions that she could easily throw anyone who caused trouble into the deepest, darkest hole she could find, and then throw away the keys. Unlike what her detractors said, she wasn’t actually corrupt, which is why those detractors were still free, despite the crisis giving her the perfect opportunity to weed them out in the name of security. ‘Promoting unrest’ during a X’thari invasion with a Harvester present was a capitol crime, after all. Any lawyer would agree that they would have been lucky to just get away with judicial enslavement at a penal colony. But she was better than that, as much as she wished otherwise at times.

One source of her frustrations was with the merchant companies that hauled goods through the system. There were quite a few captains and companies that were incensed that the pirates which had been working the sector had been given blanket pardons for their past crimes, and were being allowed to transition into legitimate trades. The fact that these pirates had been guaranteed the consideration by the Admiralty if they aided in ensuring critical supplies got where they were needed despite the X’thari presence only made them madder. Her signing off on it as well, giving the proclamation the weight of both the civil and military authorities of the Consortium sent them into a frothing rage.

It wasn’t like she didn’t understand their concerns, of course. Most of them had lost cargoes, or friends, to the pirates over the years. It was an expected part of doing business, but that didn’t mean everyone had to like it. Indeed, few people were as passionate about the idea that pirates deserved death than the freighter captains they preyed upon, save only the military. Fortunately, the military angle wasn’t her concern.

Her desk computer chirped, letting her know that her next appointment was here. This was the price of the chair, she reminded herself. With another sigh, she straightened up, and pressed the button to admit them. In walked a pair of Gauz, both dressed in normal (if high-end) business wear. She could tell instantly that they were not typical merchant lords, however. Visible tattoos and augmentations? None of the high-level merchants would have such things. No, this had to be the representatives from the former pirates.

The first one, a stocky male with what looked to be a military targeting aid replacing his right eye, bowed respectfully, and said, “Lady Administrator, we’re honored to be havin’ this opportunity to speak with ye. I’m Kramear Shattershield, and this is ZeroSumGame. We’re from the Shattershield Company.”

Woldmane kept herself from snorting at that, but only just. ‘Company’. It was rather brazen of the former Shattershield Clan of pirates to do the bare minimum of rebranding once they’d been granted pardons. Still, they wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of getting on her schedule (or have been approved up through the chain of command) unless they had something they thought was worth her time. Plus, their existence allowed her to tweak the more arrogant shipping companies a little, which was a pleasant change of pace.

“I see. And what can the Sector Administration do for you gentlemen?”

Shattershield said, “Well, we’ve got a set of proposals that you might be interested in, as part of the Sector Rebuilding Plan that just came down from the Assembly.”

Woldmane leaned forward at that. The Consortium General Assembly had not only approved and reimbursed the massive outlay of funds she’d authorized in the initial stages of the crisis, including the hiring of the Black Stars and other things she’d done to keep the sector from falling into chaos, but it had put together the Sector Rebuilding Plan, to try and revitalize the Grathdan Sector in general, and Coldana in particular. Since this involved quite a large sum of credits, her office had been swamped with plans by companies wanting a piece of the pie. Most were obviously profiteering scoundrels who were looking to cheat the Consortium out of as many credits as they could. The most egregious ones were arrested and awaiting trial.

“Is that so? Well then, let us hear these proposals. I’ll warn you, though, that your pardon only covers past transgressions, not any future ‘incidents’. Your Company did help with the crisis, which is why I am going to listen to your proposals instead of throwing you out immediately. Do not try my patience on this matter.”

Shattershield nodded. “Fair enough. The Company discussed things at length, and we decided to make good on this chance to go legit. Not going to endanger that by pissing off the people who helped us get the chance.” He paused, and then continued, “Now, first up we have a proposal for the Shattershield company to provide interim security for shipping in the Grathdan sector.”

Woldmane kept her jaw from dropping. Barely. “What?”

“We understand that the loss of Tenth and Fifteenth fleets, as well as the damages to Fifth and Seventh Fleets suffered at the Second Battle of Coldana have left a massive hole in the defensive forces of several sectors. Until the lost ships can be replaced, civilian shipping in four sectors is at risk. We believe that, of the mercenary groups in the Grathdan Sector, the Shattershield Company has unique knowledge and capabilities to deal with threats from pirates and others who may try to take advantage of the Navy’s absence during this period. As you know, the Shattershield Clan was one of the largest groups which engaged in such practices locally before our recent change of status, but we were not the only ones.”

“You want me to hire former pirates on as pirate hunters?”

“Yes, we know from other areas that certain other clans have chosen to change their work habits, and have either gone legit, as we are trying to do, or have taken their business in a different direction from their predecessors. Our captains know the local space better than most, and they know where captains engaging in illicit ventures often congregate. That gives them an edge on taking on pirates.”

“Assuming I agreed to this, what makes you think you could do the job?”

“Our ships are better than the ones run by the other clans, and, since we’ve gone legit, we’ve been able to get time in a proper spacedock for them, so they’re in peak condition, rather than being held together by duct tape and prayers, only kept going by an engineer’s ‘percussive maintenance’. Add to that the fact that we’ve got more ships, and our crews are some of the better gunners out there. We could strike at the major havens before anyone realized what was going on, and take the majority of the pirates out, leaving them disorganized.”

“I’ll have to consider that. I won’t agree to anything without going through a review, and there will be proper contracts signed so that everything is above board. I won’t engage in the trickery that some other Administrators get involved in.”

“Fair enough. The second proposal we’ve got is for the revitalization of the Coldana System. As I’m sure you know, with the orbital infrastructure destroyed and the planet’s population suffering extreme losses, left to conventional methods the system is effectively a failed colony that hasn’t accepted that designation yet. We would like to propose that Coldana be made into a Haven Port.”

Woldmane frowned. “I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with that designation.”

Shattershield motioned to the Gauz next to him. She was a female, who had both eyes replaced with obvious augmentations, as well as having a metal hand clearly shining from under her suit, most likely a full cybernetic arm. She stepped forward, and said, “A Haven Port is a concept that many of us in the Nomad community have been talking about. Essentially, they are ports that have significantly reduced level of customs and regulation. They become places where smugglers, rogue traders, black market dealers, and other such individuals congregate.”

“Now, such places are common, to varying degrees. If you know where to look, you’d find small ones on any long-standing colony, and certainly larger ones in every sector. The thing is that they are typically underground ventures, linked in with the local organized crime syndicates. There are some, however, that operate openly. Star’s Reach is merely the newest one, but there are others.”

Woldmane looked at the two critically. “And what is the advantage to allowing criminals to run free in my sector?”

Shattershield took over for the Nomad, and said, “Ma’am, you may take it on good authority that criminals already had the run of your sector, but you simply didn’t know it. The benefit to having a Haven Port would be that they would now be where you can keep an eye on them. Not everyone is cut out for living a life in polite society. Places like this give them an outlet, someplace they can go. And the local authorities ensure that taxes are taken on the trade, instead of going under the radar. More importantly, if people get carried away, the local authorities usually step in to correct the situation, because otherwise the Navy gets called in, and starts shining lights under every rock, and that ruins everyone’s day, so there’s some ‘accountability’.”

ZeroSumGame nodded, and added in, “And if things do get to that point, then the overwhelming majority of the quasilegal merchants and operators are in one spot, instead of being spread across the sector. There will still be local agents, but it is the same as having a central clearing house for a shipping company.”

Shattershield grinned. “And it would also be a convenient place to have any outliers to Consortium society, like humans or knelfi living in the area. Please, don’t insult my intelligence by acting shocked. We all know that the Consortium’s Powers That Be are quite happy with keeping non-Gauz down wherever they can, quite legally, of course. A Haven Port offers options to those people that would otherwise be… overlooked. They could form enclaves on Coldana, instead of being forced into slavery or crime by the ‘traditionalist’ forces in the Consortium. And that means, instead of draining resources, they could contribute to the sector’s profits.”

The Administrator leaned back in her chair. The pair made a compelling argument. And it was true that, without something drastic, Coldana was doomed to become a failed colony. There had simply been too much damage for a traditional Consortium colony to survive that. And if it somehow didn’t die out completely, it would eventually devolve into something worse than the Haven these two were talking about creating.

“Very well. I shall give thought to this policy, as well. Was there anything else?”

Shattershield grinned, and said, “Well, we did have one last policy we wanted to discuss with you. You see, even without the Shadowgate Gateway, the Grathdan Sector is pretty close, relatively speaking, to Ihm space. Now, traditional Consortium-based transport companies tend to have trouble when exporting to other nations, in no small part because their attitudes are… incompatible with the people they’re doing business with. So, the only real exports the Consortium has are usually carried on foreign-flagged haulers, and, even then, they are mostly either art or creative type goods, or items where there is a clear technological advantage over local items. Even when, say, consumer goods are superior, the attitude of the people involved prevents them from catching on outside the Consortium.”

He paused for a bit of dramatic tension, and motioned to the Nomad, who continued, “Now, the Shattershield Company has contacts outside the sector, including some over in Ihm space. If a new source of quality manufactured items could be created, in, say, a system that is already going to be undergoing significant rebuilding, then a company like ours would have an edge on the ‘traditional’ haulers. The only thing we don’t have is a valid armed import/export permit, allowing our armed merchantmen to move goods across the border to Ihm space. And the Ziunov dungeon is only two weeks in warp from the border. Since there haven’t been any dungeons discovered in Consortium space yet…”

“Hmm.” Woldmane smiled. “Now, that has potential…”

(Starlight Lounge, Starborn, Star’s Reach)

In the short time since its founding, Starborn had grown explosively, along with the Star’s Reach colony as a whole. Anyone could have predicted that outcome if they’d bothered to think about it. Sure, you had to become a citizen of the Black Star Company, and not all the services were up to the standards of the core worlds of the major polities yet, but Star’s Reach had something that none of those long-settled worlds could possibly match: Adventure.

There were always going to be people who were drawn to the Frontier. Maybe they were on the run. Didn’t matter who from, whether it was a crime boss, a debt collector, a lawman, or an angry spouse, sometimes the best way to deal with a situation was to run as far and as fast as you could, and hope that people couldn’t catch up and find you.

Or perhaps they were seeking fresh starts and new opportunities. No one cared about the scandal that rocked your home world when you were way out on the edge. And the ‘little guy’ could build himself into something big without having to deal with the competition from larger rivals. And once you had a name for yourself, you could be a success, without having to deal with the crap people in the core worlds dealt with.

Perhaps they simply didn’t belong in a ‘proper’ society. An Ihm who struggled against the castes. A human who was a little too enamored of his ‘waifus’. A knelfi that relished the taste of meat. A gauz who hated the restrictions of the Consortium and wanted to conduct their mad experiments in peace.

All of them and more found homes at the frontier, exiles, both willing and no, from their peoples. The frontiers, the edges of the map before you went off into the vast unknown, were where these people collected, and had been since the dawn of civilization. When the first villages and towns were formed, there would be some people who remained hermits out in the wild. When city-states gave rise to nations, there would be those who spread out to the borders. When the ability to leave one’s continent, or one’s planet, or one’s solar system came to pass, always, there would be people eager and willing to voyage into an uncertain future filled with unknown dangers, because that was where the frontier was.

When the new frontier of Star’s Reach was announced to the public, naturally those people began making their way to the new frontier. Some turned back when they found that the frontier was not open to those who wanted to simply take as much as they could, stripping a new world of anything they could get their hands on. More and more people, however, began spilling out from overcrowded core worlds at the news that the fate that had befallen other frontier worlds wasn’t going to be repeated here. And with the Black Star Navy providing the defense for the planet, it offered one of those rarities on the frontier: safety.

That promise of both being on the frontier, the ragged edge of civilization, while having a measure of safety had combined to spark the explosive growth of Star’s Reach. The initial settlement of five thousand, no small number for a new colony, had quickly ballooned up to over sixty thousand, and was continuing to climb. That growth was split primarily between Starborn and Star’s Vigil, with the dungeon town getting an additional share of ‘transient’ residents who came to challenge the dungeon.

All that combined to mean that Star’s Reach was desperately in need of entertainment. Into that void, many intrepid entrepreneurs had stepped forward to claim a spot at the table. One such visionary was Melissa Reed, the owner of the Starlight Lounge here in Starborn.

Major Khan was most appreciative for this, as his people were sorely in need of rest and relaxation, and for a marine, even one sitting in a video game, that meant alcohol, music, and companionship, often with a few fights thrown in. And, despite being in a video game (or, rather, because they were in a video game) the Black Star Marines were as eager as any to get into the mix when it came for R&R. None of that, however, went to explain why he was here, instead of one of the officer’s clubs closer to Fort Blackstone, which had been built to cover up the existence of the Enrichment Center.

No, he was here because there were requests for his time, as one of the ‘heroes’ of the Second Battle of Coldana, and there was no way in hell he was going to allow a reporter, especially a Nomad reporter, anywhere near that base. As if a normal reporter wasn’t bad enough, now they came in a form that you couldn’t just shoot them when they got annoying and expect them to stay gone. It was the worst part of being in a game world, to be sure.

It seemed that, even in a game, nature abhorred a vacuum, and several Nomads had quickly gotten involved in the news business, primarily as field reporters. Not being able to die permanently made them ideal choices to go out on hazardous assignments, naturally, and being able to control their appearances during chargen meant that they were almost always quite attractive, which was a bonus for any camerawork they did. But Vivienne Lane was, perhaps, the worst of the bunch.

Oh, it wasn’t that she was a glorified tabloid hack or one of those internet ‘influencers’ that often were bought and paid for by one of the people they reported on. And she certainly wasn’t one of the idiots who was so rabidly biased by their beliefs that the reality distortion field around their writing could give black holes tips on warping space. It wasn’t even like she was one of those people who looked for ways to tear down whoever was the popular ‘flavor of the week’. No, what made Ms. Lane the worst reporter for him to deal with was the fact that she was so damn honest, and believed in doing actual, old school journalism, and she didn’t let go of things once she smelled a story.

The woman herself smiled as she sat across from him at the table, a pair of drinks sitting between them. A trio of camera drones floated around them, providing an image of the two of them, and a closeup on each of their faces. “Major Khan, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. You wouldn’t believe how difficult it was for me to get this meeting to happen.”

He snorted at that. He knew exactly how hard it had been for her to get this meeting, because he’d thrown most of the obstacles in her way himself, even if he did it at one or two removes. “Well, Ms. Lane, I’m sure that you know that a commander, even in a private military force like the Black Star Marine Corps, has a lot of things on his plate. And talking to reporters is very often nowhere near the priority of ensuring that his people are properly taken care of, and have the materiel needed should we have to deploy suddenly. After our last job, we needed some time to properly repair and refit before we could be mission ready again.”

Vivienne smiled, and nodded amicably, though her eyes brightened as he mentioned his ‘last job’. “Yes, it is that last job that got the Confederate News Network’s attention, and why I came out to see if you could give me an interview. After all, the reports of the Second Battle of Coldana are still a bit fractious, as none of the fleets had reporters in their midst, and the few surviving news agents from Coldana itself were not able to see the scope of the battle. We have some basic facts about the battle in space, but almost nothing on the battle on the surface of Coldana itself.”

Chris Khan nodded, all business. Yeah, that was about what he had expected this meeting would be about. He answered simply, affably enough, without giving away anything. “Yes, I am aware of the news reporting of the battle, and the information released.”

Vivienne was undeterred. “Well, I was hoping that I could get an overview of the battle on the ground, from the point of view of someone who was actually there. Naturally, your name was the first one considered for this, since the Consortium is too busy rebuilding to allow access to their fighters on Coldana.”

Khan considered, and said, “I cannot go into operational details or technical specifications, but I can give a brief overview of the First Marine Company’s involvement in the ground battle.”

Vivienne beamed at his answer. “Of course. Now, for the record, were your troops originally slated to join the combined fleet heading to Coldana?”

“Yes, the Black Star Marines were always going to be accompanying the combined fleet when it went to face the Harvester. The mission originally was to infiltrate and capture X’thari command ships to possibly work on turning their forces against each other, and give the rest of the combined fleet a better chance of victory. Naturally, the early plans did not include dropping on Coldana itself.”

“Forgive me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t that be something like a suicide mission? Without a full crew of trained sailors, a captured warship would not be able to compare to the rest of the swarm, right? Wouldn’t you and your men be going out to die?”

“Well, you have to understand that, from most perspectives, the whole combined fleet was basically going on a suicide mission from the beginning. A thousand ships against a hundred thousand? Even the wildest speculations forecasted casualties in excess of ninety percent.”

“But, if the odds were so stacked against you, why go in at all? Why not wait until more ships could be brought to bear, and make it a more even fight?”

“And let how many planets die in the mean time? To get forces in place to match the X’thari’s numbers, we would be looking at months of prep time, assuming that they didn’t just use the materials and biomass of the planets they consumed to further increase their numbers. That’s billions upon billions dead, on a low estimate. No, everyone knew that they had to strike, and soon. But they weren’t going to rush in without a plan. The original plan was to set tarpits and ambush the Swarm on ground of our choosing.”

“So, what changed?”

“Simply put? The Admiral in charge of the combined fleet wanted to get some updated intelligence on the status of the Harvester, so we could get some idea of how long we had to plan and prepare for the ambush. What the scouts found was that Coldana was still alive, and her people were still fighting.”

“I imagine that put a new spin on the situation.”

“That’s the understatement of the century. That had two big impacts on the planning. First, we figured that the Harvester must have been more damaged from the initial attack than we thought, which meant that we might be able to get in while it was still hurting, and finish it off. Second, that meant the Marines had a new objective, helping any survivors hold off the X’thari until reinforcements could relieve them, and Consortium Army units were added to the roster.”

“How did you decide on the deployment plan?”

“Consortium Army decided to land at the planetary capitol, and set up a beachhead that they could defend against hostiles. They had an experimental device with them that was supposed to work on the psychic link the X’thari are supposed to have, and drive them mad. Basically, the idea was to draw as many of the ground-based X’thari to them as possible, and take pressure off the enclaves that were under assault.”

He paused, and then continued, “Black Star Marines, on the other hand, were to land at the two enclaves under heaviest assault, and work to contain and repulse them, to save as many civilians as we could. The scouts were able to give us good targets, so we dropped on the two settlements that were in the most trouble.”

“Would you mind giving our viewers an account of what happened during the drop?”

“Sure, you see, we started with a hot insert. That means that—"

(Fleet Command Cluster, IAS Aclotloxl’s Claw, in orbit of Isuibos 3)

“Warleader, the Builder Caste from the shipyards have confirmed that it will be six months before we can finish the repairs from the Second Battle of Coldana. Replacement ships for those lost in the battle will be added to the fleet as they are built.”

Keh Dhaka nodded absentmindedly as she read over the reports her aide handed her. They were in line with her own projections, based on the build speed that had been reported to her before. While it was refreshing to know that her personal projections were not off the mark, that information added nothing to the mental calculus needed to maintain a fleet at readiness for the event of war breaking out, or some other threat presenting itself.

The battle in space had been brutal, and would likely have been the death of all of them, had the Black Stars not brought their scouts with their X’thari drives. The Second Great Armada of the Ihm Imperium had gone into the battle expecting to die to the last. It would have been an end worth tales of valor in the halls of power, but an end all the same. While she was not afraid of such a death (indeed, it was the kind of death and the kind of cause that anyone who joined the Navy wished for, if the Ancestors decreed that they were to die in battle), but that did not mean she was rushing to meet her Ancestors just yet. Nor would she send those under her command to theirs without need.

Once the X’thari swarm had broken, though, Battlemaster Jamaoak Zoxl of the Third Legion had asked… no, ‘asked’ was too soft a word. He had demanded that the warriors of his Legion be allowed to descend to the surface of Coldana, and aid in the cleaning out of the X’thari. The Warriors faced as much risk of death on ship as any of her crews, but they were of no use in space unless there were boarding actions to be done. Allowing them to descend to the planet, as the Consortium and Black Star forces had done, was a move that could have had political ramifications if done poorly. Technically, that could be considered an invasion of Consortium territory. It wasn’t something to just blindly rush into.

Fortunately, Admiral Jadegut, the ranking Consortium officer in the system after Ironbelt’s death, had been all too happy to accept the help of anyone who wished to send their troops to aid the survivors of Coldana. With the legal side covered, she had ordered the Third Legion and any other troops who wished to partake in rescuing the surviving enclaves. The Third Legion was not alone in joining the fight. The Terran Empire, Consortium, and Confederate ships sent their warriors down as well.

The Army troops the Consortium had landed were able to set up a beachhead at the main starport on the planet, which was drawing a large portion of the X’thari in their direction. However, the enclaves were still under assault. Out of thirty-seven enclaves that had been active before the Swarm invaded, only ten remained, and all were under assault. The Black Stars had relieved the two worst cases, their Marines landing directly in the midst of the X’thari and using ship to ship weapons to clear the landing zones!

Not to be outdone, the Third Legion dropped on the next three most at risk enclaves, the ones of Kurnbuldohr, Durndarum, and Bugaldur, all located far to the west of the capitol. Though the beachead in the capitol would draw off much of the X’thari, Kurnbuldohr and Durndarum were on the other side of the continent, while Bugaldur was on an isolated island off the coast, and the reduction in numbers was… slight, if it was noticed at all. Those three enclaves also had significant defenses, which is why they had held out for so long in isolation. The Battlemaster had crushed the X’thari against the walls of the enclaves like a hammer to the anvil. The other surviving enclaves had also been rescued, either by the other forces, or by enough X’thari being drawn off by the Army at the spaceport. After that, all that was left was just mopping up. A most satisfactory end to the campaign.

The aide continued, not knowing her mistress’s thoughts. “The Third Legion suffered casualties numbering twenty-six percent of their number, with a further five percent killed in the assault. The injured have been recovered, and the Warrior caste has already sent new recruits to the legion to replenish their numbers. The Battlemaster reports combat readiness of 97%, due to the need to repair and replace some of their vehicles which were lost or damaged in the action. Given the overall status of the Legion, it has been put on a lower priority with the Builders than restoring the Second Armada to full function.”

“And what about my request to the War Council? Have they approved it yet?”

The aide’s tail flicked, and her head drooped slightly. “The High Warleaders are not convinced of the need for new ship classes at this time. The fact that you wished to purchase ships from outside the Imperium rather than designs made within our borders weighed against the proposal, I’m afraid.”

Dhaka felt like she was about to scream. Those arrogant fools! The Battle of Second Coldana proved that, while the Imperium could still match forces against the conventional navies and come out on par or ahead of them in strength on a ship for ship level, there were new parties that had adapted to exploit vulnerabilities in existing battle doctrine, and explore new tactics and weapons that no one had considered to this point! And the Empire and the Confederacy were already adding these weapons to their forces! The Consortium and the Kul’tirans were certainly going to be not too far behind, as well. And which way the Kul’tirans went, the rest of the Free Worlds Alliance would go, in time. At this rate, the Imperium would be left behind!

With effort, she forced her temper back under control. If the softscaled fools weren’t willing to even consider the future, she would have to take matters into her own claws. The Imperium would either move forward with the rest of the galaxy, or it would stagnate. If it chose stagnation, it would do so without her!

Suddenly, it was like a weight was lifted from her. She had contacts outside the Imperium, contacts that had only grown stronger, after the battle. She had the respect of other officers, even if the High Warleaders on the War Council thought of her as a brash upstart. Even in the Warrior caste, she was respected, and her dealing with Zoxl had only increased her reputation with the Warriors.

Looking to her terminal, she quickly began composing a message. It would be perhaps the most important message of her career, if not her life. But it had to be done. For the good of the Imperium.

To: His Radiant Majesty, Emperess Drez Dhiss Ihm VII

CC: War Council of the Ihm Imperium, Imperial News Network

Subject: Recommendations for Armada Improvements

Your Radiant Majesty, Ruler Over All,

I, Warleader Keh Dhaka, commander of the Second Great Armada of the Ihm Imperial Navy offer you my utmost respect and loyalty. May the suns never set upon your reign.

When the Gauz Consortium invoked the Treaty of Helbizore after the discovery of a X’thari Harvester in Known Space, it was with pride that I led the Second Armada into battle, alongside the other forces of Known Space, in order to destroy the Harvester. I say with no false humility that I expected this to be the last act of service I ever gave to the Imperium, as the Harvester and the Swarm that surrounded it was numerous beyond anything I had ever seen before, with enemy ships numbering in the hundreds of thousands. So great were the forces arrayed against us, that any sensible observer would have said that, at best, we would be able to force a ship through to die in a suicidal blast, taking out the Harvester, as was done last time one appeared in Known Space.

And yet, that is not what happened.

It began before we ever left port, the calls for the Treaty of Helbizore’s activation running like silverpaws through the fleet. The Consortium Navy unleashed Operation Firebringer, and twelve pilots whose bravery manifestly stands equal to any in the history of the Imperial Navy, running back all the way to Shone Ruk himself, used shuttles with deliberately sabotaged warp drives, launching themselves as superluminal weapons against the Swarm. Two of these shuttles struck true, hitting the Harvester, and wounding it.

Though they failed to destroy the Harvester, and the Consortium Navy was unable to destroy the swarm on their own, they fought on, to the last, and bought the citizens and militias of Coldana a chance to set up thirty-seven enclaves across the surface of their world. Thirty-seven enclaves they knew were doomed from the outset, but from which they hoped against hope that their deaths would mean something as a final act of defiance, bleeding the X’thari as much as possible, so that the fleets summoned by the Treaty would be able to avenge them. And, one by one, twenty-seven of those enclaves fell, the soldiers and civilians, even the children killed and consumed by the ravenous hordes. Ten, however, survived, thanks to the actions of the combined fleet.

In this combined fleet, there were representatives from five star nations and one mercenary company. This mercenary company was not bound by treaty to be there, and, in truth, the contract they were engaged under did not cover an event of this magnitude. And yet, they remained, and threw their numbers alongside ours. And it was well that they did so.

I speak, of course, about the Black Star Navy which has been talked about so much over the last two years, starting with their involvement in the Terran Empire’s Civil War between Empress Merida Vaughn and her Usurper brother. Much has been said of their ships, and their tactics, and how they might be combined with more conventional ships and weapons. But here in the Imperium the War Council did not listen to those who studied the reports, believing instead in their notion of our inherent superiority, scoffing at the idea that we might learn something new from those who were not within our borders.

I can tell you now that the Black Star designed ships present within the fleets sent by the Terran Imperial Navy and the Confederate Navy were responsible for many times their mass in ship kills amongst the X’thari, providing a substantial boost to the defense of the fleets drawing off the X’thari forces protecting the Harvester. I have seen first-hand what a Black Star ship can do when used alongside conventional warships, and I would be negligent in my duties if I did not stress to the utmost the power and utility of such an arrangement. It can be said without question that, if I had to choose between a squadron of Black Star designed cruisers and a squadron of superdreadnoughts designed here in the Imperium, I would be unable to declare a victor with all certainty, but the edge I would give to the Black Star designs, so long as they are using conventional weaponry. With the use of superluminal weapons, the superdreadnoughts would not even scratch the cruisers’ paint before they were reduced to debris.

This is just with a detachment of ships designed by Black Star. However, the Black Star Navy showed their mettle in the Battle of Second Coldana, using superluminal weapons to such great effect that the Harvester was, quite literally, erased from existence, a feat that no other naval force has ever matched. Beyond that overwhelming firepower, however, they displayed their capabilities in close combat when the closed to aid the forces that had drawn the majority of the Swarm’s attention, saving many lives in the process.

Without the Black Star Navy and the ships of their design, I am forced to conclude that the Battle of Second Coldana would have ended in abject failure, or, at best, the total destruction of the combined fleet, in return for the Harvester being disabled or destroyed. Their designs, from the unique material of their hulls to the unconventional weapon loadouts on their ships and fighters, are designed to be different from anything we have seen before, and, thus, support different tactics to be used. An entire fleet of Black Star Ships has the sensor profile of a squadron of frigates, at the best of times. When they get serious about stealth, the only reason we knew where they were in the chaos of the battle was because they told us their location.

Because of this, I feel that I would be remiss in my duty as an Officer of the Great Armada if I did not object to the War Council’s repeated dismissals of this new technology, and its implications should war ever break out between the Imperium and one of our neighbors. The Confederacy and the Empire have already begun adding these designs to their fleets. The Consortium will, no doubt, not be far behind, either using Black Star designs, or finding some means to copy those designs. We must do the same, or we shall be left behind, like savages using stone spears against soldiers with pulse rifles.

Therefore, in protest to the decisions of the High Warleaders of the War Council of the Ihm Imperium, I hereby offer my resignation as Warleader of the Second Great Armada, and from the Ihm Imperial Navy as a whole. The Navy has been my entire world for the better part of my life. However, I refuse to sit by and allow the Imperium to slid into stagnation and obsolescence merely to preserve my career as an Officer. If my career means the survival of the Imperium, then that is a sacrifice I willingly make.

Eternally your servant,

Warleader Keh Dhaka

Commander

Second Great Armada of the Ihm imperial Navy

Keh took a deep breath, and let it out slowly as she hit ‘send’. The die, as the humans would say, was cast. Now, there was nothing more for her to do than clear out her office, and leave her affairs in order for whoever would take her place as Warleader. She looked over to her aide, and said, “Have a transport come around. I wish to head home. I believe I have done all I can do for today.”

(Conference Room, Black Star Shipyards, Star’s Reach system)

“So, as you can see, the damage to the Black Star Navy was relatively minor. We did suffer high casualties amongst the fighter and gunboat squadrons, and all surviving ships suffered some damage. Still, considering the numbers we were facing, the fleet performed superbly.”

Raven turned from the projection she had been pointing to, looking back at the assembled leaders of the Black Star Navy. Well, only the leaders of First and Third Groups were in the room with us. The leaders of the other groups were here by remote, with every captain, commodore, and admiral in the Navy that wasn’t on assignment being present (or telepresent). This was our big after-action review for the Second Battle of Coldana, and it was important that everyone, even those who weren’t at the battle, was present. Fresh eyes might bring fresh suggestions for what we could do next time.

Newly promoted Slave-Commodore Virstina frowned at the numbers on the screen. “If I may, Master?” At my nod, she continued, “The losses amongst the gunboats are problematic. While it is true that the gunboats are made to be disposable, I think we would be better off if, instead of sending them into combat against capitol ships, they were held back for picket and convoy duties, instead of attempting to fight against cruisers or dreadnoughts.”

Slave-Commodore Aymar Erlar of Third Group nodded thoughtfully. “That’s a good point. The gunboats are perfect for a system defense picket. Between them and the Imperial-design corvettes we have in Third Group, there really isn’t any pirate force out there that can sneak up on us and raid a planet Third Group is set up around, especially if we’ve had time to set up defenses. But the ships of Third Group are primarily defensive, designed to defend the Nightforge and the Smerti until they are able to escape the area or reinforcements arrive. For offensive units, the gunboats are the wrong choice, unless you have them in X’thari numbers.”

“Admiral, if I may?” Commodore Keerla Zyrsys, the knelfi woman in charge of Second Group which was defending the Dimiya base, had been quiet so far. Having not seen much in the way of combat until now, that was understandable. Which made me all the more curious about what she wanted to add. Seeing me nod, she took a breath, and then launched into her suggestion.

“I believe that we should reorganize the fleet groups, creating new defense groups for our primary bases, modeled after the current Second Group at Dimiya. This would entail expanding the fleet, but will not leave us short-handed if we have to pull an ‘all hands on deck’ maneuver like we did prior to Coldana. Nuevo Edo has cover from the Nuevo Edo Navy and Star’s Reach had the static system defenses in place, with Third Group backstopping them, but Madrigal was completely undefended save for base weapon emplacements. On my own authority, Second Group dispatched two Assassins and six gunboats to cover the base temporarily, but if we had faced anything other than a small group of pirates, the base would have been desperately outmatched, without any Black Star ships able to reinforce them in a timely manner.”

I looked over to Raven, who gave a slight nod, letting me know that she was aware that it had happened, and turned to face Zyrsys’s projection. “Well, Commodore, you are to be commended for your foresight in an unprecedented situation. It is clear that we’ve been giving all our thought to offensive operations, and have not taken the time to properly begin working on a defense doctrine. So far, we’ve been lucky, thanks to the placement of our ships, but it does not change the fact that an enemy could have hurt us, and hurt us bad, if they had thought to try something while our attention was elsewhere. That they didn’t speaks more to our good fortune than our planning, and I dislike relying on good fortune when it comes to the safety of Black Star property and personnel.”

Leaning back in my chair, I said, “From this moment, Commodore Zyrsys, you are promoted to Vice Admiral in charge of Defensive Operations. The former Second Group shall be reclassified as the Dimiya Defense Group, and all existing bases will have their defense forces built up to match the DDG. Admiral, I want a preliminary list of changes you would make to the Defense Groups going forward, ready after we discuss the new shape of the Fleet Groups.”

“Aye, aye, Admiral.”

Turning to look at the rest of the onlookers, I said, “Now, a new Second Group will be formed, and stationed at Star’s Reach, to deploy from the base we’re building here as needed. While we’re building it and repairing the ships that were damaged in the battle, we have the opportunity to increase or alter the composition of the Fleet Groups. Floor is open for that discussion.”

That part of the meeting went on for quite a while, as everyone had different ideas on the composition of how the groups should be comprised. In the end, most people agreed that, while the gunboats were definitely useful in smaller roles, they were ill-suited to the large-scale engagements. So their role in a fleet battle was to guard the carrier and logistics ships of the fleet train, while the heavier ships led the attack. That removed quite a few guns from the line of battle, however, which most people were less than pleased with. The compromise, naturally, was to add more ships to the group.

Black Star Navy, First Group:

Wrath-Class Battleships - Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, Kunwu

Reaper-Class Cruisers – Shinokage, Shifrat Almawt, Thanatos, Azrael

Knight-Class Destroyers – Lancelot, Galahad, Bedivere, Kay, Gawain, Tristan, Lamorak, Percival, Geraint, Gareth

Assassin-class Corvettes – Shadowdancer, Simo Hayha, Wisteria, Artemis, Spitfire, Whirlwind, Zephyr, Reliant, Voidseeker, Surprise, Boston, Felhand

Gunboats – Able, Barbara, Chekhov, Dixie, Echo, Falcon, Gabriel, Hestia, Isis, Jester, Kilo, Laurence, Maxwell, Night, Oscar, Peru

Fleet Carrier – Pandora’s Box

Escort Carrier - Hearthstone

Fighter Squadrons – Ghost Squadron (Raptors, Pandora’s Box), Red Guardian Squadron (Thunderbolt IVs, Pandora’s Box), Silver Sentinel Squadron (Thunderbolt IVs, Pandora’s Box), Gold Squadron (Thunderbolt IVs, Pandora’s Box), Black Dragon Squadron (Dragons, Pandora’s Box), Wraith Squadron (Raptors, Hearthstone), Warbird Squadron (Thunderbolt IVs, Hearthstone), Warlock Squadron (Dragons, Hearthstone)

Logistics Freighters – Davenport, Sandalwood

The build plan decided on had each of the current groups expand their order of battle by one Wrath-class Battleship, two Reaper-Class cruisers, four Knight-Class destroyers, four Assassin-class corvettes, a new class of escort carrier, one Traveler-Class Heavy Freighter, and three squadrons of fighters. Typical deployment for a fleet battle would see the gunboats protecting the carriers and fleet train. The other ships would be split into groups, with each of the Reapers getting three Assassins and one Knight as a cohort. The remaining Knights would be split as cohorts to the Wraths, providing the battleships with a significant increase in point defense and close-range weaponry, to go along with their devastating stand-off weapons.

At that point, Major Khan spoke up. “Before we move to the defense groups, I should mention that the Black Star Marine Corps has been getting significant numbers of recruits, ever since we first took the X’thari carrier at Nuevo Edo. There has been a massive increase since Coldana, however. We’re approaching the numbers where we need to organize a third group for the Black Star Marines, complete with the ships to support them, even while having enough Marines in training, or protecting the various bases and forming ship-board tactical teams.”

I considered that. A third group would definitely be useful, when we needed to do something big, or needed people in more than two places at once. Moreover, I trusted Khan to keep his command at a level that wasn’t getting bloated. The company seemed to be growing at an astonishing rate, but our successes bred more success, and more demand for our services. Khan’s interview with the reporter had done more than stir up interest in people to join the Marines, it had also gotten more than a couple requests for Black Star Marines to act in their mercenary capacity to take care of some difficult problems.

“Right. You know that side of things best. Third Group, Black Star Marines, will be added to the build queue, and we’ll get them to you as soon as we can. I assume you’re happy with the format for the naval support your men are getting?”

Khan nodded. “Yes, the Crows performed beautifully at Coldana, and the Marine Assault Transports and pocket carriers both performed just as we had hoped. As you know, at the Dharram enclave, the Thunderfury used her shields to plug the hole the X’thari had blasted in the walls of the enclave, helping to stem the tide of enemy reinforcements. Combined with the point defense of Thunderfury and Vicious Return, we were able to keep the X’thari at bay while cleanup inside the enclave began. Orgrim’s Hammer and Acherus performed similarly well at the Darboldor enclave.”

“All right, then. We’ll keep the structure of the naval side of the Marines the same, and add on a third group. That will make some potential clients happy, when they are ready to go. Your people are going to be seeing a good bit of work in the future, thanks to your efforts on Coldana.” With that, I turned and looked at Admiral Zyrsys. “So, Admiral, do you have preliminary recommendations for the Defense Groups, yet?”

The Admiral nodded, looking as confident as she could. The fact that she had only needed that long to finalize her ‘preliminary’ report meant that she had come prepared. No doubt she expected to be put on the spot the moment she offered her suggestion, and had come with numbers in hand. That spoke well of the decision to put her in overall command of the defense groups. That position would be mostly a logistical one, due to the way her command would be spread out over two arms of the galaxy, but logistics were key when it came to long-term goals, and she looked as though she had the proper mindset for the kind of planning needed.

Dimiya Defense Group (Proposed):

Reaper-Class Cruisers – Breath of Hades, Black Death

Knight-Class Destroyers – Excalibur, Cortana

Assassin-class Corvettes – Lyudmila Pavlichenko, Dragunov, Vendetta, Black Mesa, Dead Man’s Hand, Gambit, Templar’s Bane, Cutter, Stiletto, Kukri

Gunboats – Guardian, Protector, Intuition, Ingenuity, Honor, Loyalty, Tenacity, Avenger, Maker, Breaker, Dalmatian, Oslo, Dunkirk, Tamberlain, Boxer, Dagwood, Shodan, Hammond, Wesley, Fang, Thaddeus, Rex, Yancy, Zod, Carolyn, Rastakhan

Pocket Carriers – Providence, Destiny

Fighter Squadrons – Shinobi Squadron (Raptors, Providence), Hammer Squadron (Thunderbolt IVs, Destiny), Black Knight Squadron (Thunderbolt IVs, Black Star Shipyards), Crimson Blade Squadron (Thunderbolt IVs, Black Star Shipyards), Demon Squadron (Dragons, Black Star Shipyards)

“Yes, Admiral. As you can see on the chart, I propose that the Defense Groups be organized much as the former Second Group is. However, I would add two Assassins and two Knights to the order of battle, and increase the number of gunboats to twenty-six. While this is a modest increase in ships and tonnage, it provides far more defense capability, especially when we have ships out on patrol duty, away from the fleet. With this allocation of forces, we can keep the standard formation of one Reaper, one Knight, and three Assassins used by the other groups, reducing the need to formulate new operational doctrine for the Defense Groups, while leaving four Assassins available for patrolling trade lanes, convoy escorts, or whatever else might be required by contracts when Fleet Group units are not available, or are deployed elsewhere. Each of the four ‘roaming’ assassins would have a cohort of two gunboats unless operations demand otherwise, leaving a further eighteen gunboats available for in-system pickets and defense of primary targets.”

I leaned back in my chair and considered all of that. All told, we would be adding a LOT of ships to the Navy, but they were mostly the little ships, which could easily be hidden through stealth, and it would free up more of our units for deployment elsewhere. That would give us more flexibility, and wouldn’t leave us shorthanded like we were during the last deployment. And when we had contracts with local groups, they wouldn’t see all the ships disappearing all at once if something big happened. Other than the fiscal costs, which were outweighed by the benefits and the potential revenue gains, I couldn’t see any downsides to this proposal.

“All right. Consider your request approved. We’ll phase in Defense Groups to the build plans as we are able, after the Fleet Groups have been repaired. If there is nothing else?” No one spoke up, so I nodded. “All right. Good work, everyone. Dismissed.”

(Conference Room, Admiralty Building, Boralus Station, Kul’tiras Orbit)

“The continued rise of this upstart Black Star Navy is unacceptable! Our contracts and relations with other groups across the Alliance have still not recovered, and they have already grabbed more power thanks to their actions fighting the Harvester. Now, even their Marines are gaining fame, which is putting pressure on us from the Tuskarr mercenary groups we normally employ as fodder for ground operations.”

Lord Admiral Tandred Proudmoore winced as he heard his father, Lord High Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, raging against the Black Stars, yet again. No one cared that his men had captured a X’thari carrier intact, giving Kul’tiras a valuable insight into the newest class of ship that the bugs had developed, and opened up a number of technological possibilities to their own research programs. No one cared that he led the Kul’tiran Navy forces in the victory against the Harvester. No, it was all about the Black Stars. Ever since the Black Star owner had destroyed three Kul’tiran ships and (more importantly) captured his sister, Jaina, for ransom, and announced that to the entire galaxy, all the Kul’tiran leadership had focused their attention on little but the Black Star Navy.

With a sigh, he stepped into the conference room. It seemed that not just the Family were here today. Sure, he saw his mother, Katherine, and Jaina seated near his father at one end of the central table. But it appeared that every other senior Captain or Commander in both the Kul’tiran Navy and the Kul’tiras Mercenary Force had been summoned to this meeting. The only ones not present were those on assignment. There were depressingly few open seats, a testament to the truth behind his father’s words.

“Ah, Tandred! So good of you to come. How goes the repairs, after the Battle of Second Coldana?” His mother looked grateful for his arrival, no doubt hoping that a change of subject could keep the railing against the Black Stars to a minimum, if she could remind his father that the Kul’tiran Navy had won some honors recently.

He nodded to her, and said, “Lady Admiral, the repairs of ships that were salvageable are proceeding apace. We are now back to 75% combat strength, and are closer to 90% when considering superdreadnoughts, cruisers, and destroyers. Unfortunately, our screening force was hit hard, with only 35% of the lighter ships surviving the battle. I understand new hulls are being laid down. A larger concern is replacing the trained spacers and officers that we lost in the battle.”

He took a breath, and then said, “That being said, I am happy to say that our losses were no worse than those suffered by the major powers, and we have proven yet again that the Kul’tiran Navy is the equal of the navies of the major powers. Our participation in the battle should go a long way towards repairing some of the damage caused by recent events. And the capture of a X’thari carrier, complete with portions of its fighter compliment, offers new and interesting possibilities for future tech development.”

The Lord High Admiral growled, “But it wasn’t Kul’tiras that got the glory for the Harvester’s destruction. And none of the other powers are turning to us to increase their forces. Even in the Alliance, the other systems are starting to speak to Black Star, in hopes of building their own forces!”

The assembled Captains and officers of the fleet went deadly silent at that. None of them wanted to risk the Lord High Admiral’s displeasure, not when he was clearly bordering on obsession with the idea of beating Black Star. It had been so long since Kul’tiras had been faced with an actual rival for military dominance in the Free Worlds Alliance that the very idea of someone else stepping into that role was alien to them. And yet, the Black Stars had proven their worth in combat, showing more than once that they were capable fighters.

Tandred looked at his father, and was disgusted. None of what he said mattered when compared to the petty wounds to the Lord High Admiral’s pride at Kul’tiras being mocked by the Black Stars. With a deadly calm, he said, “Then where are the supplies of FTL torpedoes for our ships, hmm? It isn’t like we don’t know perfectly well how effective the weapons are, given how all this recent trouble started. Why hasn’t Kul’tiras started making their own version of these ‘Starbolts’ to arm the Fleet with? Where are our stealth ships with rail guns that can take down ships far above their weight class? What has the Admiralty been doing since the Mercenary Force got itself humiliated by a single freighter taking down three warships?”

THAT caused a stir amongst the captains, as the thought wormed its way inside their brains. What had the Admiralty been doing? How many new weapons could they have had if they didn’t spend a ludicrous amount of money to ransom back the Lord High Admiral’s daughter and what was left of her crew? And how had the job that resulted in Lady Admiral Jaina Proudmoore’s capture gone so wrong? They had seen the intelligence reports, after all. Everyone knew, even back then, that Black Star was a dangerous foe to have. And yet, the Admiralty had not foreseen any danger to their forces, resulting in the worst humiliation that Kul’tiras had ever suffered in its long history!

The Lord High Admiral was LIVID! He rose from his chair, eyes burning with hatred at being challenged over such a thing. “HOW DARE YOU! You know full well that we did not have the resources for that, after the incident! Not only did the Confederates never pay after that job, but the other contracts were canceled after! You know this! All the more reason you should have taken out those bastards when you had the chance!”

Tandred did not back down. Not this time. “And do you know why the Confederates never paid, Admiral? Because they were all dead! The man you were hired to capture or kill then went on to kill sitting members of the Confederate Senate, business leaders, and the leader of a crime syndicate, all while framing one of the major faction leaders of the Senate for the deeds, resulting in his death! Did you even read the intelligence reports on the man before you agreed to the terms, or sent the ships to face him?”

“Listen here! I’ll not be—”

Tandred cut his father off, not bothering to let him finish his attempt at a rebuttal. “Oh, but you will! The Intelligence group clearly stated that this man was one who was extremely paranoid, and took the idea of vengeance and raised it to an art form, the likes of which few ever get to witness, and fewer still survive after seeing it! When pirates attacked his base and barely scratched the paint on his ships, he sent the bulk of his forces to chase them down, and found where they came from.”

“Once he found out where they were based, his fleet came in, destroyed the majority of the unaffiliated criminal outposts in the system simply for the crime of them not telling the pirates that attacking his people was a bad idea, and then proceeded to eliminate over eighty percent of the pirates in the entire sector in one fell swoop, before attacking their base with ground troops and enslaving or killing everyone he found. Have you seen the video of how he dealt with the Pirate Queen?”

He hit a control on the tablet in front of him, and the screens in the room came to life, playing the video of the Pirate Queen’s hanging. “All this, for someone scratching the paint on his ships. Frankly, you are lucky that he stopped at only humiliating the Kul’tiras Mercenary Force. He could have easily brought his forces in, and done immeasurable damage to our fleet and our defenses. He has the ability to make more of the Greenwave nanoweapon, after all. I don’t need to tell you what would happen if he used it on Kul’tiras, do I?”

Tandred paused, and took a breath, to steady himself. “You are dealing with an immortal Nomad who has the resources and will to depopulate entire worlds if they give him reason to. Any attempt to take him on like some kind of minor mercenary leader is doomed to failure, and you’ll be lucky if the worst that happens at the end of it is that Lady Admiral Jaina is returned to his ‘care’!”

“NO! I WON’T LET YOU! I WON’T LET ANYONE DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!” Tandred winced as he heard the scream from his sister. Perhaps he shouldn’t have pushed that particular button. Jaina hadn’t talked about what had happened to her during her brief stint as that man’s slave, but even a brief spell under the effects of one of the Stepford collars could leave someone with all kinds of lingering trauma, from what he had heard. He hadn’t wanted to bring it up, but they had to see the truth of what would happen if they went against Black Star.

Unfortunately, whatever had happened to Jaina was more than she could bear at this moment. If he hadn’t turned towards her to apologize, he never would have seen it coming. Psy energy swirled around her hands, more energy than he had ever seen someone using at one time. He knew that Jaina was a powerful psychic, but this?

Squelch.

Tandred looked down, and saw a great shard of ice sticking out of his chest, where Jaina had sent it with her psy power. As he fell to his knees, he saw more spears flying randomly from her hands, attacking everyone in the room, even their parents! Oh, god, she was going crazy!

(Tiragarde City, Kul’tiras)

A man in a well-tailored suit sat at a table, looking into the camera. His hair was styled in his signature look, but the smile that had made him the most eligible bachelor in three systems was replaced by a carefully cultivated look of concern. That look had won him the award of ‘most trusted newsman’ in two other systems.

“This is Special Correspondent Hamish Weaving, for the Confederate News Network with a live update on the chaos that has descended upon the nation of Kul’tiras, one of the key systems in the Free Worlds Alliance. CNN has confirmed that Boralus Station, heart of the Kul’tiran Navy and the Admiralty of the military junta that has led Kul’tiras for the last hundred years has been the site of a massive psychic disturbance of unprecedented scale.”

An image of Boralus Station appears to Hamish’s side. The station is a fairly common example of that type of structure, which makes the game of finding what is wrong with the picture trivially easy. A space station should not have massive shards of ice piercing the walls of the station, after all.

“The cause of the disturbance is unclear at this time, but sources inside the Admiralty government claim that the disturbance began during a meeting of the Kul’tiran Navy’s senior commanders, including the entire Proudmoore family. While the cause of the incident is unclear, the incident’s immediate effects are quite evident. As you can see in this graphic, the disturbance was enough to cause visible damage to Boralus Station itself.”

“The full casualty reports will take some time to compile, but at this time we already have confirmation that Lord High Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, Lady Admiral Katherine Proudmoore, Lady Admiral Jaina Proudmoore, Lord Admiral Tandred Proudmoore, and the majority of the Captains and Commanders of the Kul’tiran Navy and the Kul’tiras Mercenary Forces have been killed in this tragic incident. This represents the single greatest blow to the Kul’tiran government since the Proudmoore Admiralty forcefully took command of the system after its founding. Already reeling from the loss of contracts throughout the Free Worlds Alliance following the ‘Theramore Incident’, this could spell disaster for the people of Kul’tiras.”

The image expands, to become a two-shot, with a well-dressed (and well-fed) woman sitting at a table next to Hamish. She does her best to give a confident smile to the camera, but comes off looking just a little like a cartoon villainess. It is not an altogether flattering look.

“Joining me now is Lady Priscilla Ashvane, one of the few surviving leaders of the Kul’tiran government, now that the Proudmoore family has been effectively wiped out. Lady Ashvane, thank you for joining us in this troubled time. I was wondering, what can you tell us of what this may mean for the future of Kul’tiras? How will the system recover from the deaths of so many key figures?”

“Thank you, Hamish. It is a sad day indeed, but Kul’tiras will weather this storm, and emerge stronger than ever. As the ranking member of the government, I have ordered an investigation to find out who is responsible for this tragic incident. My people are already reaching out to officers in the chain of command, promoting promising officers to replace those that have died. In the future, my government will conduct several reforms, including…”

(Main Conference Room, Black Star Company Headquarters – Star’s Reach Division, Starborn, Star’s Reach)

The main conference room was designed to hold a thousand people. For anything larger, you were looking at renting out a stadium somewhere, or working through a digital teleconference, to keep things at a manageable level. Currently, only about a quarter of the seats were empty. Most were filled with bodies of flesh and blood, but a few, ones who couldn’t be here in person due to duties elsewhere, were holoprojections. All to give people a sense of the scale of this meeting.

It was important that people understood the size and scale of the meeting. It would help them bring things into focus. After all, this was a meeting of all the Nomads in the Black Star Company, whether free or slave. Up until this point, I doubt any of these people truly came to grasp with the fact that they were part of the largest player-run faction the game. According to the subscriber numbers, there were something like twelve million players for DAtS world-wide. We were such a tiny fraction of the player base, but we were the single largest group of players in the game, and the most powerful group, by far. After all, how many Nomads were part of a group that sported a Navy that could stand tall with the major powers?

I walked out to the front of the conference room, where there was a low stage, with a table and chairs set up behind it, with Cali and Jaynie flanking me. They took up positions to either side of the stage, basically acting as security or bodyguards for the moment. I passed in front of the table, and looked out to the assembled crowd.

“All right, everyone, settle down. Now, you might be looking around, and seeing some familiar faces, and some not-so-familiar ones. You might also be noticing that this is not a small, intimate gathering. Frankly, I’d prefer a nice, small group kind of setup, but looking at you all, that would take a few weeks’ worth of meetings to cycle through all of you, and I don’t know about y’all, but I’m pretty busy these days!”

There was some polite laughter, and I continued on. “Now, for those of you who either didn’t know, or have pushed it out of your mind, I am Mirikon Mollen. Got a bunch of fancy titles, including things like Admiral and CEO/Owner, but they all boil down to the fact that, at the end of the day, I’m the end of the line when it comes to Black Star. There is no one higher than me except the game devs, in their wisdom. It also means that I am, at the end of the day, the boss of each and every one of you.”

“Now, I don’t mean that as any kind of threat or intimidation. It is simply to point something out. All of you are Nomads. More importantly, you are all Black Stars, and there are exactly seven hundred and ninety-six of you. For those of you not paying attention, that makes us officially the largest player guild in Dreams Amongst the Stars, a confirmation of which I’ve gotten personally from NERV itself, through the game devs. We’ve had a fairly wild couple of in-game years, and I thought now would be a great time for a full meeting of the guild, so we can talk about the past, the present, and the future. More importantly, we can talk about how all of you can contribute in the way that adds the most enjoyment to your play time.”

THAT got a stir out of the crowd! As I had guessed, no one truly understood what a monstrous group we had put together until this point. Most of that was simply because we didn’t act like most guilds in games. Aside from those involved in some of the highest levels of the Black Star Navy and Marines, most of the Nomads were in groups of ones or twos, mixed in with many more Local people who had become the backbone of the Black Star Company across Known Space. And the idea that we were going to come up with ways for them to contribute more, in a way that fit their game style? Well, that was music to their ears, it seemed.

“All right, all right. Now, starting with the past. You all came to this company in different ways. Some of you were slaves, and some were hired on. Some of you joined up when you found out there was mayhem to be had. Yes, I’m looking at you, jarheads!”

“Oorah!”

I just smiled as one of the Marines called out, and continued with my speech. “Doesn’t matter how you came here, you’re all Black Stars, and all of you have signed on for the foreseeable future. Oh, sure, there’s some Nomads who are under judicial enslavement temporarily because they tried to pull a fast one on us after we opened Star’s Reach, and they aren’t here with us today. You guys, no matter how you got here, are the ones that are helping to drive Black Star forward.”

“The in-game media likes to make a big deal about me, and all the crap I get up to. The forums practically explode every time I open my mouth. Both of them paint me as the one to blame, and the one to take credit, for all of Black Star’s shaking up the status quo. Now, I’m not going to lie and say I had nothing to do with it, but I know, and we all know, that there is no way I could have done it alone. Black Star isn’t one man, gallivanting around with his harem and his private military force. Black Star is a team, with each of us covering and boosting the others. Sure, those of you in the Navy and Marines know that those areas have been getting all the attention from the public, but I don’t want those in other fields to feel like they aren’t appreciated. After all, without the R&D people, we wouldn’t have half the tech we have now. Without the traders, pilots, and merchants, we wouldn’t have the money to finance this operation. Wars are fought with weapons, but they are won with logistics.”

“Now, that’ll be a great place to start. Those of you who have the ability, and are willing to put in the work, will be happy to know that we are increasing our freighter fleets, to provide more internal logistic capability, but also to increase our income streams. The Raven-class light freighters are going to be increased in number to forty-five, aside from the Raven herself. We’re also doubling our fleet of Oregon Trail-class heavy freighters not attached to the Navy as logistics ships to fourteen as we make inroads to the Consortium and Ihm Imperium. So, if you want to be a freighter captain, or perhaps a mechanic on a freighter, or an agent securing cargo, then this is the time.”

“If you’re more interested in exploration, then you’ll be happy to know that the initial reports from NERV’s medical testing teams are trending positive, so we’re being authorized for more test cases, allowing us to increase the size of our Starhunter scout fleet to ten. So if you want to go out and see things that, literally, no Nomad or Local have ever seen before, then you need to be talking to people in game. Just so you know, crew selection for the Starhunters is done very strictly, both because of the medical testing going on, and because Starhunters will be armed with Starbolt torpedoes. There are all kinds of treaties involved around how you can use superluminal weapons, and the consequences for breaking those rules basically boil down to ‘the whole damn galaxy wipes out every last trace of those responsible, and anyone even tangentially related to them’. So, you better believe that there will be no ‘going rogue’ with those weapons!”

“Now, I know some of you are academics, scientists, and crafters at heart. Don’t try to hide it! We all know that in every game there are people who try to learn all they can about the lore, or who try to find new ways to twist game physics into a pretzel, and where would we be without artists and artisans creating new artwork and custom gear for us? Well, we aren’t forgetting about you, either. Between our facilities on Dimiya, Nuevo Edo, and Star’s Reach, we have plenty of access to some heavy lore on the game, not to mention a bunch of research projects going. And Nomad-made goods are a hot property currently, for you crafters. You have something you want to do? Talk to our guild officers. Chances are, we have something in that field already, to help you out. If we don’t? Well, give us a pitch, and we’ll see whether or not we might want to get something going in that field. Some of our best tech comes from oddball experiments, after all!”

“And finally, for those of you interested in the military side of things, the Fleet is going to be expanding, gaining both Defense and Offense divisions, to ensure our people are protected, even if we have to deploy on mission. That means a lot more room for naval officers, fighter pilots, and support staff. Plenty of room for up and comers to get started and get noticed!”

“OK, before anyone accuses me of bias, the Marines are getting an expansion, as well! I’ve talked with our new General Khan, and he agrees that the First Group, which had been fully comprised of Nomads up to this point, will be broken up, as will the Second group. Portions of these groups will be part of the reformed First, Second, and Third groups, providing a cadre of experienced leaders for the new recruits we’re getting. Others will either be assigned to shipboard Marine complements, or put in training slots, to ensure that any new recruits are at least at your level before we throw them into the grinder. In other words, there’s going to be a lot of promotions going around, and new responsibilities to go with it.”

I paused, and it looked like everyone was generally pretty pleased with what was being said. Time to wrap the speech part of the meeting up, before people start thinking I like to hear myself talk. “Now, I’m going to take questions from the guild. No shouting! PM questions, and the ones I want to answer will be displayed on the screen. Any that I don’t get to before time is up, I’ll be sure to have answers sent out in a mailer to the whole guild.”

There was a mad scramble of people quickly typing PMs, and a few people who tried to shout questions, but they stopped when I just ignored them, for not being able to follow instructions. Soon, I had a nice, solid list of questions, collated by Raven to help me pick the ones people were most interested in. Sure, it was cheating a bit, but it was harmless, and made me look good to the guild.

What did you do to the Kul’tirans, and why did you do it?

Ohhhkaaay. Was NOT expecting that question. Definitely was not expecting over four hundred guildies to have that as the first question they asked. I guess in hindsight I should have expected that someone would ask me about it, given that Kul’tiras and Black Star had a bit of a troubled history, but honestly, this was too much!

With a deep sigh, I looked out at the group, and said, “All right, I guess the first question is pretty much decided, since more than half of you had it at the top of the list. Yes, four hundred and eight people decided that the best question to ask as their first offering was some version of,” I paused to look at my datapad, and then continued, “as Bennie Owen puts it, ‘What the fragging hell did you do to that Kul’tiran girl that made her go nuclear?’ There was some variation, but that’s the general gist of the whole thing.”

I took a breath, and said, “Frankly, this one really isn’t my fault. I didn’t put any long-term triggers or time bombs or anything like that in her head while she was under my control. Didn’t have the time to do it properly, and that isn’t really the kind of thing I consider fun. I think you can all agree that I’m more the kind to destroy someone outright, or at least in short order, rather than leaving them as a suicide bomber to blow up sometime far in the future. Sure, she probably had some trauma from getting locked into a Stepford collar and being turned into a smiling bimbo maid for a few days, but as for any kind of triggers or plans, the answer is no.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I said, “So, as far as what happened there, I have no idea, same as all of you. Maybe she just snapped, and hard. Maybe someone pushed her to it. Who knows? It isn’t like the Kul’tirans don’t have people who would be glad to see them brought down a peg or twelve. Any number of groups could have had a hand in it.”

“Now, on to the next question. ‘When are you going to throw the Ihm Imperium into chaos, like you’ve done the rest of the factions?’ Well, I kind of resent the implication that I’ve been deliberately throwing factions into chaos. If you’ll just look at the record with an unbiased view, you’ll see that—"

(Briefing Room, Imperial Palace, INS Aurum Throni, Earth Orbit)

Admiral Han Moon-Hee strode into the meeting room, in her dress uniform, as all Naval officers were required to be when entering the Imperial Palace, except under specific conditions. It was a point of some pride to her that, even after having children, she was able to fit into her well-tailored dress uniform again. Of course, there were some additions to the uniform now, such as the increased rank, making her a full Admiral, and the new star hanging from the Naval Cross she earned during the Civil War, signifying her actions at Coldana.

There were several nods from the men and women around the table, each of them Admirals who had survived the brutal Civil War, and had been selected by the Empress to help rebuild the Navy into the institution it once was. The bloodletting in the Navy hadn’t stopped once Travis was dead. Members of his cult had been purged with ruthless efficiency, as had many senior officers that had followed him into rebellion, even if they hadn’t yet been brought into the cult. The months after the Civil War had been almost as brutal for the Navy as they were for the nobility.

High Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku sat to the right-hand side of the golden chair at the head of the table. The old admiral looked to have gotten even older since the end of the war, as the burdens of being the overall commander of the Imperial Navy were laid upon him. The work he’d put in to try and cleanse the rot from within the Navy was incredible, but it was easy to see that he was destined for retirement sooner rather than later.

She nodded respectfully to him, and to the other admirals sitting around the table, before making her way to the open chair left for her, at the left hand of the golden chair. It was an honor for an officer to be seated at the left hand of the Empress, especially when she was as young as she was, but few would deny that it was earned. She just had to prove that she remained worthy of the honor.

Once she was seated, the doors at the far end of the room opened, and a pair of Imperial Guards stepped through, flanking the doors. Moon-hee’s heart clenched momentarily at the sight of the uniform, remembering her husband who had died in the old Imperial Palace on Earth, before pushing those thoughts away. Her face had a professional smile on it once again as the Empress walked through the doors.

The Empress was now several months pregnant, and was quite visibly showing it. The news that the Empress was expecting not just an heir, but twins, had spread throughout the Empire faster than the speed of light. Rumors about who the father could be circulated wildly. Whether by design or by happenstance, most of the rumors centered around the fact that Admiral Mollen had come to the Imperial Palace during the proper time frame, and his own infamy seemed to rub off on the whole event.

Honestly, the only reason the matter of the Empress and who the father of her children was hadn’t become a bigger thing in the public eye was because of the Harvester showing up in Consortium space, and the Treaty of Helbizore being called on. All eyes turned immediately to Coldana, as the thought of something that literally ate planets to make more X’thari running loose in the galaxy made their blood run cold. When news came that the Harvester had not just been driven off, but destroyed utterly, and the X’thari forces routed, the response from the public had to be seen to be believed. The little matter of how the Empress had gotten knocked up was set aside as something unimportant, for the time being.

Settling into her golden chair with a relieved sigh, Empress Merida looked to the rest of the table with a smile. “All right, people, the ‘royal twins’ are apparently starting to take dance lessons, so I would appreciate it if we could skip past the flourishes and ceremonies, and get straight to business. Admiral Yamamoto, what do you have for us?”

The Admiral sighed, and said, “Well, the scars of the Civil War are beginning to heal. They are healing slowly, but they are healing. The logistics centers destroyed in the conflict have been rebuilt, which is greatly helping fleet supply lines, as well as civilian logistics. Some planets affected by the fighting will be decades healing from the damage.”

“From the perspective of Fleet Readiness, we are at approximately 58% readiness. If we had to, we could defend against any one of our neighbors attacking us, but if two came at us together, we would be in serious trouble. The purges made necessary by the Usurper and his cult have shaken the Navy to its core, and we’re having to do a lot to rebuild it.”

The Empress nodded tiredly. “What of the rebuilding efforts for the fleet? How long before new hulls are made ready?”

Yamamoto grinned at his Empress. “As you know, new hulls are only half the equation, though it is one we are more easily able to deal with. The overall industrial might of the Empire is unchanged, despite the damage of the Civil War, so we can replace the hulls, in time. The sheer number of hulls that needs replacing is a problem, but not one that time cannot solve.”

“The larger problem, and the one that will bottleneck fleet readiness faster than any other issues, is that of getting trained officers. While spacers can be replaced easily, with minimal training, officers are another story. The necessary character and skills required to be an officer are not something that just happens overnight. They need to be trained, educated, and molded into Naval Officers. The loss of the training base on Luna, along with the current Academy classes, hurt more deeply than we could have guessed at the time. With the purges that followed the war’s end, we are decidedly short on junior officers.”

Empress Merida nodded. “Indeed. The loss of the Luna training grounds was hard, but, having heard of the horrific experiments being run at the black sites underneath the Academy, I can’t say that I disagree with the decision of Black Star to eliminate the facility. Those experiments should never have been allowed to be started, much less brought through to completion.”

One of the admirals cleared his throat. “With apologies, Empress, but what experiments were going on there? Rumors have been going throughout the fleet, but there are no facts to be had, which makes the whole thing more enticing, especially given the ‘incident’ during the initial days of the Usurper’s campaign.”

Merida smiled. “You are talking about the ‘incident’ where a Nomad was found asleep atop the still cooling corpse of a Major attached to the black site, shortly after that Nomad lost his freighter in a card game? Right before that freighter, renamed the Starlight Raven, picked up my sister and blasted its way out of the port, before heading to Choson Ring, and starting a whole slew of other ‘incidents’?” She chuckled along with the rest of them.

“Well, I can say, and this does not go beyond this room without authorization, that there may be some truth to those rumors. The group at the Black Site was loyal to the Usurper’s faction, and had been working on research into Chimeras, and their offspring. Specifically, ones with shapeshifting capabilities. My sister was scheduled to tour the Academy, as well as a ‘research facility’, where the Usurper intended to switch a chimeric being under his control for her, providing the illusion of some kind of legitimacy to his rule by having a loyal heir.”

There were shocked gasps as people realized the full extent of what that meant. That kind of research was outlawed for a reason, after all. And using it to impersonate a member of the Imperial royal family? Unthinkable!

Merida continued, “It seems that, somehow, a Nomad wound up inhabiting the body of their prize experiment. Playing at being a simple-minded idiot, he managed to orchestrate his escape without the people at the black site realizing a thing until it was too late. The Major in question was one of his keepers, and he used his abilities to ‘win’ the ship. However, it was sheer luck that his path crossed with the woman who was intended to be his victim, and they escaped together.”

The admiral that spoke before whistled softly. “If that is true, then it explains a great deal about how the Black Star’s leader has pulled off some of his exploits, such as the surrender of Alpha Centauri during the war, or some of his activities in the Confederacy. Could any facility be really secured against him?”

Merida smirked. “I have it on good authority that the man in question does not care to use his abilities in that regard overly much. They are an ‘ace in the hole’, as he calls it. Something to use only if pressed. And, so long as we don’t make ourselves a mortal enemy of Black Star, it is unlikely he would be pressed enough to use them against us. From what I’ve been able to gather, he prefers to do things in a simpler way, as it is more enjoyable for everyone involved. And, apparently, the curse of never being able to slink off without bodyguards and not catch hell from those set to protect you is not limited to Empresses alone.”

When the good-natured laughing, and the ever-so-slightly-unprofessional nod from the Empress’s guards, was done, Admiral Han spoke up. “Actually, speaking of the Black Stars is a good way to transition to a point I would like to make. We’ve completed the in-depth after-action reviews of the experimental squadrons for the Black Star-designed ships used at Coldana and I am ready to make an initial report on their capabilities as part of the greater fleet. This could provide us with a way to temper the shortage of officers in the short term, while increasing our force flexibility overall.”

All eyes turned to her, so Moon-Hee continued. “As you are all aware, ships following the Black Star design tend to be designed to ‘punch above their weight class’, as their Admiral would say. This is only half-true. The Assassin-class, especially, is designed for stealth operations, and is only dangerous to larger forces if provided squadrons to base their tactics around. However, for the role corvettes typically play in defensive forces and regional patrols, they are perfect. They also have a crew size approximately half the number of one of our Tenhauser-class corvettes.”

“Because of this, I propose two primary uses of the Assassin-class, or similar designs. First, attaching a squadron of Assassins to all major fleet elements, to act primarily as scouts and stealth pickets when not engaged in active operations. Their secondary objective is to act as snipers, taking out enemy commanders or key assets, such as flagships or carriers. In fleet actions, they should be treated as the naval equivalent of ‘special forces’.”

“Secondly, their lighter crew complement (and therefore lighter officer contingent), lends itself to their replacing more traditional units as system patrol craft, pirate hunters, and other tasks traditionally assigned to corvettes and frigates not attached to a fleet proper. These roles are vital to keeping the Empire functioning efficiently, but they are not as ‘glorious’ as serving in a combat fleet. Because of this, we can use them as a way to season young officers away from the front lines, in roles that are not as critical as being in the midst of battle.”

“The Reaper-class cruisers and Knight-class destroyers are good at their jobs, and are well-designed for their roles in Black Star’s fleet, but it is our conclusion that the Reapers are best used as independent commands, either singly or in conjunction with other Reapers or Assassins to strike targets as we he have seen Black Star do time and again. The Knights, on the other hand, are not suitable for their designed role, as it fits current Imperial Navy tactics and capabilities.”

“Finally, the Wrath-class battleships are a force to be reckoned with. Even without the use of superluminal torpedoes, the INS Glory of Terra, proved capable of unleashing devastating strikes against the X’thari. The Wrath-class can be used to support and supplement existing superdreadnought formations. As each battleship has a crew complement 65% the size of a superdreadnought, the need for officers would decrease, as well. It would require a change in our order of battle, but by adding Black Star designs to our fleets, we would be able to move towards pre-war readiness without sacrificing crew training or morale.”

She paused, and then said, “However, I would be remiss if I did not point out that Admiral Mollen has a well-deserved reputation for well-founded paranoia. In the long run, it would be best if the ships for the Navy were made and designed in the Empire, for the Imperial Navy specifically. While I do not believe that he would do anything as crass as putting kill codes or back doors in systems sold to the Navy, We have already identified several parameters where Black Star ships used by the Navy, as well as those of the Confederate Navy, have proved to operate at lower specs than Black Star ships. This is likely due to certain aspects of the ‘retail’ version being one or more generations behind the ‘in-house’ version of those ships. Therefore, we should work on creating our own designs using inspiration from Black Star design techniques as soon as possible.”

The Empress nodded. “Have the design boards start working immediately. I want potential designs for all classes of ships based on Black Star design theories as soon as possible.”

(Conference Room, Confederate Senate Building, Thelorious, Dimiya)

There were often conferences between different parts of the megalith that was the government of the Confederation of Allied Planets. Many of them happened in this room, since it was convenient to the centers of power. All of them included expert witnesses. A significant number of them were closed to the public.

There were several things that made this session different. First, and foremost, was the fact that it was being held jointly by the Senate Subcommittees for Military and Intelligence Oversight. Secondly, the overarching topic was the Second Battle of Coldana. Thirdly, the topics everyone were actually interested in all linked back to the Black Star Company in some way.

Admiral Kasyx Rizazzi was speaking about the ‘Starburst Maneuver’ that his Twelfth Fleet had used in the opening moments of the battle to open the path for the rest of the allied fleets. Standing tall in his naval dress uniform, the Felisan’s eyes never left those of the Senator from the Military subcommittee who had asked a question of profound stupidity. He may have held himself tall and straight, but anyone who was an expert on Felisans would know by the way his ears twitched, or how his tail moved that he was… less than pleased.

“And so, in conclusion, while Starburst was effective in these conditions, it is my opinion, and that of the Navy’s general staff, that it should never be used aside from times when we are attacking a Harvester. There are simply too many drawbacks to the maneuver, both from a fleet readiness perspective, and from a consideration of collateral damage. To be perfectly frank, what we did at Coldana, if it had been done to anyone but the X’thari, while the Treaty of Helbizore was in effect, would have been considered a war crime, and the entirety of Known Space would be treaty-bound to declare war upon the Confederation immediately. The only reason it did not spark a war based on the treaties was because the other treaties make specific exceptions to actions taken while upholding the Treaty of Helbizore. Attempts to weaponize the Starburst Maneuver for military use in the event of renewed hostilities with one of the major powers would be a war crime of the highest order, and any naval officer worth his uniform would refuse to carry it out. Such tactics are not the acts of civilized nations, save in the face of threats beyond all conventional rationale, like a Harvester and its attendant Swarm. To even suggest their use otherwise could be considered genocidal at best, and would be grounds for summary execution.”

The Senator who had been a little too eager to talk about ways to disable large fleets of enemy ships shrank back into his seat under the Admiral’s gaze, pinned there like an insect on a display board. Finally, Senator Oriven from Calasta coughed once to break the spell. “Yes, yes, I am sure that Senator Inatoris wasn’t suggesting something so foolish, especially in an official session which will be entered into the official records of the Senate. No doubt he just wished to know in terms of hypotheticals, is that not correct, Senator?”

Ashen-faced, the Senator nodded. “Ah, yes, Senator Oriven. I, um, I yield the rest of my time.”

Admiral Rizazzi barely kept from smirking openly at the way the idiot had been slapped down. Honestly, what was the man thinking? At any rate, he stepped away from the podium, moving back to the seat provided to him so that the next speaker could take his place.

Admiral Kymil Adkian was the next to take the floor. It was very rare for the head of Naval Intelligence to appear in public like this, but some would argue that the situation more than warranted it. At his side was Major Zumrora, who was acting as his aide for this ‘interview’.

Senator Virstina of Dimiya started the ball rolling, as she smiled at Adkian. “Welcome, Admiral Adkian, Major Zumrora. As you know, this is joint session of the Senate Subcommittees of Military Oversight and Intelligence Oversight is closed to the public, but is an official session, and will be recorded into Senate records under appropriate security clearances, divided by section. For convenience, all information in this session shall be classified as ‘Secret’ unless declared otherwise. If information is going to rise above Secret status, please state the new classification rating before continuing.”

She paused, giving them a moment to process the speech she’d just delivered by rote, and then continued on. “The matter before us is the issue of the Black Star Company, and their rapid rise to power. There are concerns in some corners about how we should be reacting to a corporation that has an attached mercenary force that has proved to be equal in skill and capabilities, if not in numbers, to those of the established powers. Especially as the Black Stars still maintain a great many assets in Confederate space, and around Dimiya in particular. Before any more reactionary voices have a chance to speak, I would like to hear from Naval Intelligence on your assessment of the Black Star Company, Black Star Navy, and the CEO of Black Star, the Nomad, Mirikon Mollen.”

Admiral Adkian forced himself not to smile at the way Virstina worded that. No one who had not been living under a rock could have missed the news of her and Mollen having an affair so conveniently timed so that both had alibis when the ‘internal dispute’ with the Shining Path left more than a few bodies, including one that had been assassinated as per the ‘insurance policy’ of one of the conspirators. He could easily see which of the members of the two committees were most piqued by the wording, as well. If they didn’t like that, then they sure weren’t going to like what he was about to tell them.

“Senators, while the Black Star Company only came to the attention of the Senate in the aftermath of the Imperial Civil War, when they began a large-scale expansion of their fleet and ground forces, I would be remiss if I did not point out that those of us in the intelligence community have known of their actions since before the tragedy of Jagloth. Naval Intelligence and the Confederate Intelligence Service have been working together on this matter for some time. Thanks to a field agent in Confederate Intelligence, we now have a good idea of what this Nomad’s actions have been since he first came to this world. Additionally, while the Nomad has certainly had an enviable run of luck, our analysts have concluded that this is due more to him being able to seize opportunities as they develop, rather than any kind of advanced planning or wide-spread manipulation.”

“For the purposes of the Company’s effects on the Confederacy, things really started at Jagloth. While engaged as an ‘unlicensed transporter’ from kisArra to Jagloth, he managed to slip through the quarantine surrounding that world, as he had already taken some pains to make the Starlight Raven as stealthy as possible. During his time in the Jagloth system, two events took place that are key in understanding the psychology of the Nomad in charge of the company. Major?”

Major Zumrora stepped forward, and said, “Thank you, Admiral. As stated, two incidents occurred during the Jagloth Quarantine that are key to an understanding of the Nomad, Mirikon Mollen. These are the Shadara Station heist and the purchase of the Shadowdancer on Charybdis Station.”

“At the time of the Quarantine, then-Captain Mollen was under observation by the CIS for possible use as a field asset. The smuggling run from kisArra was an initial introduction, to get an initial read on prospective captains. There is a need for discrete freighter captains to get assets from place to place, after all. The CIS agent-in-place took advantage of the disruption caused by the Legion Virus to stage a skills trial of the Nomad, involving him entering a secured warehouse on Shadara Station and stealing a secured package that had been moved from the CIS facilities on Jagloth before the Legion overran their position.”

“The heist was accomplished with appreciable skill, and zero fatalities or collateral damage to station systems, which was a mark in his favor. During the heist, however, two things happened that precluded his use as an official asset. First, he conducted a side operation simultaneously to the heist, ‘liberating’ some materials and funds from the planetary governor’s private vault as a bonus. This is generally not tolerated in assets, for obvious reasons, but is not actively punished unless it affects the primary mission. The second item, however, was more important.”

“Captain Mollen’s contract for the heist included an exclusivity provision, ensuring that he would be in breach if he shared, sold, or otherwise distributed the information included in the package the CIS wanted. While he did not share the information, however he did copy it before sending it along. Unlike others who have tried tactics like this, he did not attempt blackmail or extortion. Instead, he used the information to safeguard his people from certain avenues of attack, and did not mention it again until much later, when we were having a discussion about his intentions after the Civil War, and only then because it had become relevant to the conversation.”

Senator Vasys of Geltahd cleared his throat. “Excuse me, Major, what is this ‘avenue of attack’ you are speaking of, and how did Mollen defend his people from it?”

Zumrora shook his head firmly. “I’m sorry, Senator, but that is classified under Vantablack-level security clearance, expressly restricted to Need to Know personnel. If you submit a request to Naval Intelligence or the CIS, they can evaluate the situation and, if necessary, brief you in private.”

He took a breath, and continued. “This incident speaks quite a bit to the psychology of Admiral Mollen. He is not shy at getting his hands dirty. In fact, we have several known incidents where he has led combat operations in the field, despite his responsibilities. The lack of fatalities, despite the guards being armed with lethal weapons, shows a level of restraint, when his people are not being threatened. More importantly, he is always looking for opportunities he can gain from a situation, and is paranoid enough to both expect betrayals and prepare countermeasures against them.”

“At the time of the heist, he had no idea what was in the Governor’s vault. However, he figured it would be important, and with the Governor not around to object, he took advantage of that. This led to him gaining the coordinates to the Nuevo Edo Gateway, the effects of which I hardly need to explain.”

“Simultaneously, the idea to copy the data he was stealing and research it, rather than sell it or attempt blackmail describes what can best be described as ethics tempered by paranoia. It started as an insurance policy, should the CIS attempt to stab him in the back, and evolved into a way to help protect his people from potential coercion. It is this facet that is most important when dealing with Mollen. If you make a contract, he will abide by it, but if you attempt to harm him or his people, he will already have plans in place to ensure that you are sharing the pain.”

“The second turning point in Black Star’s fortunes at Jagloth, as stated, was the purchase of the custom corvette Shadowdancer. Originally commissioned and designed by a Nomad who had been caught up in the Legion Plague (status: unconfirmed), the Plague caused the ship to be put on hold while it was mostly completed. This allowed Mollen to buy it, along with its innovative technology, at a reduced cost. After a trip to the slave markets, taking on several individuals who had sold themselves to ensure family members got off Jagloth, this freighter captain now had a functioning stealth warship to bolster his forces. This, as you may guess, was the start of the Black Star Fleet.”

Senator Virstina nodded. “Tell me, Zumrora, you have more extensive knowledge of Admiral Mollen than most people. How would you recommend the Confederacy handle the Black Star Company, and its impressive array of ships and capabilities? Especially now that it has expanded beyond the Confederacy’s borders, and has even taken up ownership of an entire solar system.”

“With respect, madam, I would say to treat him and his company as a valued trading partner. Friendly, but trusted as only so far as you can throw him. So long as the Confederacy does not overtly move against him, like the Shining Path faction attempted to do, then the relationship is one that is mutually beneficial. If threatened, however, Mollen’s first instinct is to destroy the source of the threat, no matter what it is. While the Confederacy would almost certainly win a war against the Black Star Company if it came to that, the result would be such that the planets we would have left would be decades, perhaps centuries recovering.”

Senator Vasys spoke up again. “Are you suggesting that this Nomad would use planet-killers against the Confederacy?”

“Senator, the Black Star Navy has the capability to independently produce Greenwave, and distribute it to all of our worlds. If that was not enough, their Starbolt torpedoes could easily be used to sterilize entire worlds. While it is not something I expect he would use in the course of normal actions, one should never take an immortal with access to planet-killing weapons and make him feel as though he has nothing to lose. The results will never be in your favor.”

(BSS Nephilim, Beta Darconyx System)

Silent as a ghost, the blacker than black ship flew through the darkness of space. The Nephilim was designed as a scout from the hull in. Everything about her was made to be quick and quiet, and to gain as much information about a star system as they possibly could, and report back with that information.

Before the whole ‘thing’ with Coldana and the X’thari, the Starhunters had been tasked with exploring star systems. Naturally, they started with the ones nearest Nuevo Edo and Star’s Reach. After all, the number of unexplored systems in the area was far higher. More importantly, there were no existing polities to claim them, which meant that any data they found could be sold off to the highest bidder.

The Starhunters weren’t the only group exploring, of course. This arm of the galaxy was virgin frontier, basically. No governments to tell you what to do. No pirates preying on those who hauled goods system to system. OK, that one was due to there not actually being any people hauling goods system to system to prey on. The only populated systems in the area, after all, had Gateways.

The numbers of explorers, though, were low. According to Black Star’s information, there were only three or four other ships speculating and exploring at the moment. That wasn’t due to lack of interest, but because there were just so many opportunities that were present in Nuevo Edo and Star’s Reach that anyone looking to strike out into the frontier mostly went there, first. It would be some time yet before outside groups switched from trying to establish themselves in the inhabited worlds, and spread outward, at least in this direction.

Closer to what had been called Known Space, other groups were focusing on exploration as well. And that’s where the big companies were putting their efforts. They liked being closer to the established powers, where they could get tax breaks and subsidies for exploring and expanding a nation’s borders. The major powers were known factors after all.

That bias towards the ‘known’ and the ‘safe’ explained why the big companies didn’t invest in exploration in this arm of the galaxy. The only access points to that space were three gateways, two of which were controlled by ‘upstart’ elements, and the third of which was treated by one of those upstarts as their own private naval staging area whenever they wanted to do something big. And the fact that pirates had been known to gather there, hoping to prey on the foolish, didn’t change their opinion that it was simply too risky to explore in this direction, as opposed to safer bets.

Captain Ueshiba Tama chuckled as she thought about that. She was sure that it made perfect sense from a financial risk assessment. Exploring, going out into the unknown was a risky venture. After all, literally ANYTHING could happen out here. Fortunately, the Black Star Company was all about taking risks if the chance of a payoff was there.

Which was the public reason why she, a Nuevo Edo girl who never thought she’d have a shot at seeing the stars, was here, in the pilot’s chair of her sexy as hell ship, with her hot-as-hell Knelfi mechanic slash gunner and quirky Nomad AI, diving into a new system on a ballistic course. She could have just flown in, but if anyone was here, and paying attention, that would have been like setting off a signal flare. Not exactly what a stealthy scout ship was supposed to do. If there were dangers in the system, it was best to know about them before the dangers knew they were being watched, not ring a gong and let them know that guests had arrived.

Fighting was the Navy’s job. Nephilim’s job was exploration. Oh, sure, she had the weapons and shields to make sure that anyone who decided they wanted to pick on the little lost ship learned that Black Star ships were designed to be scrappy as hell, but no one would confuse her baby with a warship.

“Entering the system’s heliopause now, Captain. I am still processing the data from the long-range scanners.”

Tama smiled as the projection of the Nomad AI appeared on her console, a little holographic girl dressed in simple black clothes. Not very cute, but it fit the girl, somehow. She’d been unsure at first at the idea of having a Nomad as the AI of her ship, especially when she was informed that the AIs for the Starhunter ships were all ‘special needs’ cases from the Nomads’ world. Apparently, the ones who oversaw the tech needed to project them into this world were using the experience of being an AI to as a sort of therapy for them. Nothing about that inspired confidence.

“All right, Marcia. What do the preliminary scans tell us? Any planets or other goodies to be found?”

“Uncertain at this time. There appears to be a great deal of debris in the system. Almost like an asteroid belt or accretion disk covering a substantial portion of the system. However, initial evaluation of the system primary suggests that the star is not of the proper age for this to be a natural phenomenon.”

Tama nodded as she considered that. An accretion disk on the scale that Marcia was talking about was generally only seen in young stars, that were still creating their solar system, or in old stars, like black holes that were eating their solar systems slowly but surely. The initial reading of the star here was definitely more of a ‘teenager’, as far as stars were concerned. Type F, still looked to have plenty of time before it decided to either try its hand at becoming a ‘giant’ or going nova. Definitely too old for an accretion disk like a baby star.

She looked back at the AI’s projection with a smile. Marcia had been showing improvement in her reactions with the crew, opening up more and sounding less robotic as things went on. Something about the two battles of Coldana had really helped. Maybe it was just the idea of being useful and important to the course of the battle helped? She’d have to ask the other Starhunter captains about it.

“All right, Marcia. Keep on the analysis, and let me know what you find.”

“Understood, Captain. Analysis should take approximately four hours for an initial finding.”

With that settled, she locked down her station, and got up. Four hours to kill, and she knew that Bruce had finished his maintenance on the engines already. Perhaps it was time he gave her engine another ‘tune-up’.

(Four hours later)

Tama sighed contentedly as she felt Bruce’s arms wrapping around her. This was something else she never would have expected to have when she was a child. The gender imbalance on Nuevo Edo meant that any girls who had romantic notions got disabused of them, fast. There simply weren’t enough men for a girl to have one to herself. And the Breeding Halls did not really go in for ‘cuddling’. You were there to get fucked, have sperm and egg combine, and then get out. It was a factory, not a relationship.

Which is why she was so pleased when the Owner assigned Bruce Steenspring to her ship, as a mechanic. Just the very idea of being near a man for something other than procreation was unheard of on Nuevo Edo, even with the immigrants coming from off-world. Getting to share a space with one as shipmates was a rare treat.

Of course, Bruce was not exactly a blushing virgin, or without his own baggage. His wife had been a slave, selling herself to get him and their children off a planet called Jagloth before… well, some virus turned everyone into zombies or something like that. He was the one with marketable skills, and could earn a living for himself and the kids. She was a member of the planetary militia. Even by selling herself, she was deserting her post.

And then Black Star came along, snapping up slaves from Jagloth like it was going out of style. That was to be expected, plenty of other companies were doing the same. But Black Star made an effort to keep families together, so that Bruce and his kids actually got to live with his wife for the most part. Until the Second Battle of Nuevo Edo, when the X’thari came.

Nancy, his wife, had been on the Shinokage in that battle, the flagship of the Black Star Navy. But First Group had been savaged in the battle, being the only group fighting without bomber support, or the help of the platforms around Nuevo Edo. They’d held the line, keeping her planet safe, but they’d taken casualties. Nancy had died when a hull breach opened in the Shinokage’s side, sending her flying off into space. Possibly the most horrifying death any spacer could think of.

After that, the Owner had given a speech, and offered job training and opportunities for the families of the fallen. They were still Black Stars, he told them, still family. And they were going to gear up and make sure that the X’thari learned they had fucked with the wrong people.

Bruce had been tested when he tried to sign up for the Navy, but the psychological evaluations had come back with concerns. Nothing major, but a man grieving for his wife was not going to be in the best mental state, which was a concern when he was asking to serve on a warship as a fighter pilot, so he could kill X’thari. Survivor’s guilt, and perhaps a death wish. Not what you wanted in a pilot.

A normal group would have simply washed him out, and been done with it. The Owner had called Bruce into a meeting, instead. Told him that there was no way he was going to be a fighter pilot with where his head was at, and his skill levels. But, he’d said, there was a new program starting up, that needed mechanics, people who could keep a ship running when it was far from home and far from help, because they would be going out, beyond the edge of civilization. And the main reason they’d be going out there was to find the X’thari, so that, eventually, they could bring the pain to them, for a change.

That had changed Bruce, given him purpose beyond dying. And so, he’d joined Nephilim as the mechanic. It didn’t take long before they’d gotten a working relationship going, and he started opening up. After the first battle of Coldana, though, when they were busy running for their lives just so the Consortium ships would have a little more time to do a little more damage before they died, something had changed between them.

They’d done the double jump perfectly, and returned to Star’s Reach, but neither of them wanted to go on shore leave. Not after what they’d just seen. She still didn’t know who made the first move. Maybe it was him, maybe it was her. But the next morning they were lying in his bunk, like they were now, having worn each other out as they worked through their frustrations and their fears.

Since then, she’d met his kids. They were nineteen and seventeen, and no longer needed their dad at home. The eldest, Jacob, was enrolled in the university on Nuevo Edo, and Tricia, the youngest was preparing for a career with Black Star, on the commercial side of things. Both had been concerned for their father, and were glad to see that he was no longer in the same place that he was. “You deserve to be happy, too, Dad,” Tricia had said.

“Captain, I’m sorry to interrupt your private time, but the initial analysis of the system is complete. You need to see this.”

Tama sighed, and she felt Bruce moving, as he heard Marcia’s message as well. She looked back over her shoulder, and smiled. “Duty calls. Probably ought to get dressed, if Marcia’s saying we need to see this.”

They quickly threw on their skinsuits and emergency gear, just in case something happened, and headed to the bridge of the small ship. As she sat in her chair, Tama looked over to where the projection of Marcia was standing, and smiled. “All right, Marcia, what do we have? Any answers on the accretion disk issue?”

“Unclear. However, scans have indicated an anomaly in the system. It is unknown if the two are connected.”

“On screen.” Tama focused on the viewscreen in front of her, and then gasped at what she saw. And the scale? If this was correct, then… “Marcia, are these readings accurate?”

“Confirmed.”

“Get a message to the Owner. We have to report this immediately. And take us closer.”

“As you wish.”

(Virtual Room in NERV HQ)

Everyone in the virtual control room was silent, holding their simulated breath as they watched what was playing out before them. It was an event that had been virtual months in the making, as the various guilds geared up and prepared to face some of the toughest fights available in the game. The race had been close, but it looked that, finally, things were about to come to a conclusion.

“N-no, this cannot be! Not again! Lord Deus, have mercy upon me!”

Cheers broke out in the control room! That line, spoken between bloody gasps for air as False Emperor Travis was cut down for the first time since becoming a raid boss in Dreams Amongst the Stars, signaled the end of the first ever World First race for DAtS. It hadn’t been an official event run by the company, but rather something that the guilds themselves had put together, as the Chaos Brigade, Limitless, and Dohtem fought it out, clearing progressively more and more of the raid version of the Star’s Vigil dungeon. The entire gaming sphere of the internet had been on its toes as the three powerful guilds raced for the prestige of being the first to clear the dungeon, and claim the rewards.

Chaos Brigade had gotten the early lead, having arrived on Star’s Reach first, but Limitless and Dohtem had quickly caught up, being far more organized in structure, despite having fewer people than the Chaos Brigade. It was a quality versus quantity situation. In an open fight, the Chaos Brigade could likely take down both guilds on their own, but their tactics did not translate well to raids. Even so, they had made it closer than anyone thought it would be.

But now it was over. Dohtem had finally killed the boss, and claimed the reward, a unique sword that gave the user immunity to Mental Psy powers. That alone would be something to celebrate, but they had also gained a great deal of other gear and crafting materials, as well as recipes and blueprints for new craftable gear over the course of the raid. Dohtem was looking at a substantial potential power increase, and everyone saw it. No doubt, that would make the competition for the next World First race even fiercer.

That suited Morgan just fine. While Isaac and his geek squad might get caught up in the spectacle of the race a bit too much for their own good, she was more pragmatic. And that pragmatic side of her was doing all it could to keep from jumping for joy as she watched the stream viewer numbers, and the other metrics showing that this was one of the most popular events in the game’s history. From a public relations standpoint, this was literally the best free advertising they could possibly have. And they didn’t need to do anything for it, except let the players have fun!

Isaac was laughing with some of his GMs as they watched a replay of a particularly funny blooper during the boss fight, a mistake by one of the Dohtem players that threatened to wipe the raid, but they had managed to recover quickly. Tapping him on the shoulder, Morgan smiled, and said, “So, now that the race is over, what next? You said that project was about to kick off, right?”

“Hmm? Project? Oh! Oh, yeah, that project. Well, as you know, there were some big potential problems with something like that getting kicked around, especially so soon after all the other crazy shit the players have been up to. Coldana and this World First business has been good for that, allowing things to get lost in the shuffle for a while. It won’t last too much longer, though.”

He shook his head. “The Nomad influence is going to force the major powers to start pushing out and expanding again. We’ve already seen some of this in the Empire and Confederacy. Ships are being built for exploration once again, instead of being in the holding pattern things have been in for the last hundred years.”

“So, how long before someone finds it?”

“Depends. I give it a year, in game, at the outside. At this point, it looks like it will be a group from either the Confederacy or the Consortium that comes across it first. What happens when they find it, though, is going to be a major problem. We’ve already had one facility found, but the guy who found it basically suppressed the knowledge, so it will be another in-game decade before we see results from that.”

“That was Star’s Reach, right? OK, so is this another ‘Enrichment Center’? Something that can be used to jump start tech?”

“Ah, no. It is a little bit more worrisome. Now, I don’t want you to worry, or anything. There’s only a remote chance that it can be a problem, but that site was designed when we’d been having a little to drink, and were rather pissed that some game companies have trouble counting to three, and just cut series off at the second instalment. Anyways, the Black—”

“OH SHIT!”

Isaac’s head whirled around as someone’s yell cut him off. “Who said that? That wasn’t the fun kind of ‘oh shit’. I’m not liking the bad kind of ‘oh shit’ showing up without some kind of explanation, so lay it on me, people!”

One of the GMs sheepishly coughed, and raised his hand. “That was me, sir. Sorry about that. I wasn’t paying too much attention, because of the World First race, but I think that we have a new problem. It’s the Black Stars, sir.”

Isaac sighed. “What did Mollen do now?”

“Not him, exactly. Black Star sent out their Starhunter ships again, exploring the area around Nuevo Edo and Star’s Reach. No one had even gone near any of those systems before, so we never checked the game files for those locations too closely. There were too many other fires to put out and plates to keep in the air, after all.”

“I understand that. What happened?”

“Well, sir, the BSS Nephilim entered the Beta Darconyx system, and they found something big.”

“Oh, shit.”