(Conference Room Four, Blackstone Station, Star’s Reach System)
Another day, another meeting. The refit and rearming of the Chaos Brigade was going well, and Third Group was getting underway to US32 to oversee the construction of a research station they could use to study the situation there. But that still left plenty of other things for me to handle, as the CEO of Black Star.
Across from me at the table sat several scientists and researchers. Ever since the chimeras of Shadowgate so ‘graciously’ decided to donate one of their ships to us following the attempt to either assassinate or control me, I’d had them going through the ship and its systems, looking for anything I could use. I liked to think of myself as a man who paid his debts, and I still owed the Shadowgaters some payback for their insult.
Unfortunately, there were all kinds of problems in getting there to register my displeasure. First off, travel by the Gateway was cut off. Second, they had done something to their system that made it difficult, at the best of times, to approach in the normal fashion. This was a problem, because it meant that I couldn’t just go and tell them how upset I was. It was beyond annoying.
“So, what do you have for me?”
The lead scientist stood up. “Well, sir, as you know, the Shadowgate system is cut off from incoming traffic. According to the captured Shadowgate ship, they use an energy shield to prevent transitions through the Gateway. Anything that comes through the Gateway gets a couple millimeters from the event horizon, and runs smack into the shield. The shield then strips the energy from the Coulomb forces holding the transiting object together at the molecular level, helping refund some of the power costs, and efficiently destroying anything that attempts to get through the Gateway.”
Efficient was an understatement. Anything that hit the shield would be ripped apart, atom by atom. Made getting through the shield a huge headache. Of course, that kind of thing was very nondiscriminatory, so it worked equally as well against friends and foes.
“Any idea how they get their own ships through the Gateway?”
“Yes, it seems that each ship is fitted with a special transmitter, which broadcasts a preset IFF code through the Gate, and signals the bridge when it detects a coded response. The system is air-gapped, and manually controlled on both ends, from what we have been able to establish. The incoming ship transmits their code, the system at the other end displays that code on a station, and someone on that end sends a code back. This means that it is impossible to hack.”
“How many codes are there?”
“The system appears to use forty-two digits in a Base 8 number system. Unfortunately, that leads to a sizeable number of possible codes. There was a codebook on the captured ship, but the likelihood that those codes are still effective after all this time is… less than stellar.”
I sighed. “Clever, and simple. You can’t hack the system, because it is a direct call and response, rather than encrypted IFF, or anything like that. Unless you know the code, which could be a one-time use thing, then the likelihood of simply finding the right code is next to nothing. And you can’t just force your way through, because you’ll be atomized. That is perfect.”
Raven nodded beside me. “Of course, it also has its own problems.”
Smiling at my assistant, I nodded in return. “Yes, it only works because of the small scale Shadowgate runs on. When the number of ships you have passing through the Gateway can likely be counted on both hands, if we’re being generous, then that level of paranoia works wonders. However, it would simply be impossible even for a small colony world like Star’s Reach, where there is far too much traffic each way to make it viable.”
Turning back to the scientist, I asked, “So, what about their warp interdiction? I know that the Consortium, at least, has tried to get ships into Shadowgate, but their ability to use FTL drives got interdicted, throwing them off course. Do we have any idea how they are doing that?”
“According to information taken from the ship, and recorded statements of the test subjects, we believe that it is some form of Lost Technology that creates a form of dimensional eddy, which has limited effects within real space, but when at warp it is like trying to take a row-boat in a straight line from one side of some whitewater rapids to the other, while the direction the river is flowing changes at random.”
That was interesting. “So, it would not affect ships traveling in real space. But, according to the reports the Consortium has declassified over the years, the estimated time to arrival would be years, at sublight speeds, and they simply did not have the supplies for such a venture. Does this field affect other forms of FTL?”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Subject F-24 suggested that there were limited effects on the other known methods of traveling faster than light. The ‘eddies’ appear to interfere with the ability of Transition drives to form quantum pairs via tachyon entanglements, causing the drive to go off course by up to twenty percent. When dealing with distances measured in light-years, and without FTL to supplement, this makes Transitioning into or out of the zone protected by eddies problematic, at best.
“Regarding the Anchor Drives, there does not appear to be any influence on the efficiency or targeting of the drive. Probably because the workings are beyond modern understanding, and may not have been fully understood by whoever made the lost tech that Shadowgate is using. To protect themselves from the X’thari, Shadowgate apparently used a different piece of Lost Tech, that acted as a psychic equivalent to the sonic insect deterrents used in many households on planets across Known Space.”
“So, they just made the X’thari uncomfortable enough that they went elsewhere?”
The scientist nodded. “Essentially, yes. It is unlikely that such a tactic would work if the Swarm was desperate, but with Coldana relatively nearby, they essentially convinced the Swarm to turn to an easier target. Unfortunately, this information comes solely from interviews with the test subjects, so its veracity cannot be confirmed, and we do not know the actual methods used to create this field.”
“But the field does not prevent Anchor drives themselves from working, correct?”
“Correct. However, X’thari almost never use their anchor drives to go directly into potentially hostile systems unless they are certain that the ships there are no threat to them. The Variant Full Hunt that attacked Nuevo Edo, for instance, was likely thrown off by the fact that Black Star ships are atypical compared to others of their class. They did not know about the main guns, or the Dragonbreath torpedoes, or the like.”
“Underestimating us like that cost them. But if scouts were unable to get close to Shadowgate, then they would assume that there is more danger there, than in nearby Coldana, and change course. At any rate, there is nothing preventing us from using Anchor drives to get a fleet outside the system and then pushing in at sublight, and under stealth, is there?”
The scientist shook his head. “Not from my understanding of the science, no sir. The Shadowgaters primarily use their darkspace drives to travel, when they’re sending ships out of their system, which suggests that their crafts are just as affected by the effects of their defenses as ours would be.”
“Excellent. Thank you, gentlemen, and continue your fine work. Your next focus will be the weapons and defenses the Shadowgaters utilize. Start with the ship already in our possession, and I’ll work on getting more data on other ship types to you soon.”
When the scientists had left, I turned to Raven. “Status of the fleet?”
The android looked at me, and grinned. “The fleet expansions have gone according to plan. All offensive and defensive groups have increased their numbers, though we are still waiting on builds for some of the ships for the Tsk’neth defense group. However, with Third Group moving to their new research task, the defense of Stardust Research Station is down to three gunboats and a squadron of fighters that the researchers are using for live testing.”
“Make sure the Stardust defense crews are rotated fairly often. And add the system to the regular patrols of the Star’s Reach defense group when they are out looking for trouble. We’ll use the Startdust squadron as a training unit, as well as a testing unit. Make sure the commanders keep fleet informed if there are morale issues from being stuck in the middle of nowhere, now that there are fewer ships in system.
“Next, get me a conference with the captains of the Shinokage, Shadowdancer, Simo Hayha, Artemis, and Hearthstone. Hmm. Better include the Lancelot, as well.”
“As you wish, Admiral.”
All those ships were in system, so getting their captains conferenced in to a meeting was easy enough. Still, by the time their faces appeared on the conference room’s viewscreen, I had had time to slip into my ‘Admiral Mollen’ mindset, rather than my ‘CEO Mollen’ mindset. It was more just compartmentalization on my part, but it helped with keeping my thoughts straight, especially when dealing with the scope of what I was doing.
Looking at the captains, I nodded. “Captains, it is good to see you all again. I know from your reports that fleet readiness is high. I’m going to give you your next mission. This will be a stealth infiltration mission, as you no doubt guessed from the composition of this group.
“More appropriately, this can be considered a reconnaissance-in-force. Your target is Shadowgate. They have tried to subvert Black Star at the highest levels, and have proven themselves to be a potential enemy of the company and the fleet. Naturally, I intend to ensure that they learn this would be a horribly bad idea.”
I could see smiles and nods on the captains’ faces. The knowledge of the psychic attack on me during Shadowgate’s attempted ‘negotiations’ at Nuevo Edo had spread through the fleet like wildfire, as all good gossip did. I didn’t bother fighting it, even though me ending up on the floor in the fetal position due to the Psionic Negators did not exactly paint me in the best of light. Trying to fight it would only put the wrong spin on things, after all.
So, the entire company knew that the only reason I hadn’t moved against Shadowgate so far was because other things came up, and there were no good avenues of attack. I did not make a habit of staffing my ships with idiots who were incapable of thinking for themselves, and these captains were all veterans, with Hearthstone and Lancelot both having captains who were promoted from within the Fleet. They knew that a ‘reconnaissance-in-force’ from me was basically telling them that an attack was going to come, if the reconnaissance showed it would be feasible.
“The five of you will take your ships, and use Anchor drives to drop outside of Shadowgate space, using the new stealth fleet insertion tactics that we formulated at Coldana. Approach from underneath the ecliptic. Once in system, begin stealth operations, to determine the numbers and capabilities of Shadowgate forces, and find any suitable targets. Do not get too close to any LaGrange points, as those will be hotbeds of activity due to the drive systems that Shadowgate likes to use.
“Primary reconnaissance will be done by Shinokage and the assassins. I know you know this mission profile. This is no different from when we were in the Imperial Civil War, picking targets to strike. Hearthstone will hang back, adding Wraith squadron to the efforts, since the Raptors are designed for this kind of mission. Lancelot’s role is to cover Hearthstone in case of an enemy attack.
“Officially, this is a mercenary action by the Black Star Navy, a licensed mercenary company under the Accords, on behest of the Black Star Company, due to actions taken by supposed representatives of Shadowgate against chief personnel of Black Star. Unofficially, we’ve finally caught our breath from all the other crises, and have managed to figure out enough of their tech that we can at least slip people into their system. I intent to teach them that picking a fight with me would be a seriously bad idea, but I’m not going to go wiping them off the board entirely unless they go and do something stupid.”
I sighed. “So, if my luck holds, we’ll probably be wiping out all life in the system by the end of the month, but at least I’ll have given them the option to not be dumbasses.” The captains laughed, since no one thought I’d be lucky enough for them to take the hint with just a retaliatory strike.