There's consensus about Napoleon as far as Europe is concerned. After that things get messy. One says that it is because he was lefthanded, another says it's because he wanted traffic out of the way of his marching troops, etcetera.
As for the 'we are driving on the right side because we don't want to copy the British': that seems to be the case for the USA, but again, only according to some.
As for the 'we are driving on the right side because we don't want to copy the British': that seems to be the case for the USA, but again, only according to some.
So the USA decided to alter the side people drove, but kept the British Imperial System when everyone else was adopting the (much better) Metric System?
As for the 'we are driving on the right side because we don't want to copy the British': that seems to be the case for the USA, but again, only according to some.
So the USA decided to alter the side people drove, but kept the British Imperial System when everyone else was adopting the (much better) Metric System?
I don't know. I'm not a Historian.
I like Metric, but I can use Imperial. Except for Fahrenheit. Fahrenheit is evil. I don't know if Fahrenheit is British Imperial though.
If a circle was divided in 400 degrees, every degree in 100 'minutes' and every minute in 100 'seconds', I'd be in favor of Metric everywhere. But since it isn't, I favor nautical miles, cables and fathoms. One minute on a chart is one nautical mile.
Trivia: do you know why the base unit of mass is called a kilogram (literally "one thousand grams") and doesn't have its own name? Because the French revolutionary committee responsible for approving the Metric System thought that the "grave", as it originally was going to named', sounded too much like a noble title.
We 're driving on the right side, as when you sit on the bench on a horse-drawn carriage, and you're lazy, you hold the reins both in your right hand (you?re right handed, remember?), which means, to have the reins approximately in the middle of the horses, you'll sit slightly left on the bench.
So, when on a bridge, narrow road, ... another carriage passes you, you want it to pass on your elft side, where you'll have a better view wether the wheels get caught, so you can react to that.
The centrally organised France empire had little need for knights, so you met them only occasionally on the roads, most traffic was agricultural, so the driving in the right side prevailed, while England, Germany were driving on the left, as the one with weapons wanted it that way (the other passing on the side where you hold your weapon).
Napoleon forced the German states to change side.
From there it rolled.....
(same reason why Japan rode their horses on the left side of the road).
Why the US chose right side of the road, I don't really know, likely weapons were too modern for the swords to matter anymore, and the agricultural traffic was simply more important.
As the Loroi are left handed, and militaristic, I presume they'll want the others to pass on their left side, so they'll walk on the right side of passages/walkways/...
Vote for Outsider on TWC: charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195
We 're driving on the right side, as when you sit on the bench on a horse-drawn carriage, and you're lazy, you hold the reins both in your right hand (you?re right handed, remember?), which means, to have the reins approximately in the middle of the horses, you'll sit slightly left on the bench.
So, when on a bridge, narrow road, ... another carriage passes you, you want it to pass on your elft side, where you'll have a better view wether the wheels get caught, so you can react to that.
The centrally organised France empire had little need for knights, so you met them only occasionally on the roads, most traffic was agricultural, so the driving in the right side prevailed, while England, Germany were driving on the left, as the one with weapons wanted it that way (the other passing on the side where you hold your weapon).
Napoleon forced the German states to change side.
From there it rolled.....
(same reason why Japan rode their horses on the left side of the road).
Why the US chose right side of the road, I don't really know, likely weapons were too modern for the swords to matter anymore, and the agricultural traffic was simply more important.
As the Loroi are left handed, and militaristic, I presume they'll want the others to pass on their left side, so they'll walk on the right side of passages/walkways/...
But about the Loroi: imagine a submarine-like environment. Is it wise to let the crew to run as fast as they can in narrow corridors during an alarm, weapons drawn on the side that other crew members, who are also carrying drawn weapons, run past them in the opposite side? A bump can easily become a stab or a shot that way. It would only be fine if they were enemies.
Also: I updated all chapters to remove inconsistencies and the dreaded > < marks, now that I have a plot for the story in mind.
Caught up now. Loved the last chapter featuring Wildfire's tribal origins. No wonder she's called Wildfire. Because in a sense she came from a 'wild' tribe. And her loroi spirit burns like a raging flame.
Indeed, somehow forgot I looked at the last chapter but forgot to read it to the end.
Thank you!
Vote for Outsider on TWC: charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195
Tried to write one chapter and it turned into three.
Tried to make the ranges, vectors, accelerations at the start of chapter 7's fight actually more or less correct and discovered that using math while writing science fiction is a bad thing.
The numbers are sort of correct, but I found out that a. the amount of power to fire a torpedo from a railgun is impossibly large and b. the acceleration would turn a torpedo, any torpedo, into subtorpedic particles when fired.
Oh, L.S.D. stands for lightspeed delay. What else did you think it meant?
Last edited by G. Janssen on Thu May 05, 2022 8:48 pm, edited 3 times in total.
As before, reasonable suspension of disbelief is fine as long as it's not 1900 transversing the galactic ether via steam engines and breathing in vacuum levels.
#1 Tempo simp
Fun fact: did you know that "Loroi Union" has the same number of syllables as "California"?
Chapter 7. Raiders go boom!
---
"There it is again." Wildfire sent to Sabat Scar, who was standing next to her. "Everytime we charge the railgun, the lights dim somewhat. It only happens on Moonless Night. Not on New Moon or Lunar Eclipse. I checked."
"WEP, fire." Wildfire sent casually.
VOOOM! Sounded the railgun.
Scar walked to the power management station and began to type. "It's either the power converters or some weird feedback from the capacitors. Probably the power converters. I'll have engineering install monitoring equipment."
"Please do." Sent Wildfire.
Scar left the bridge.
"Bridge, EYE. Target hit. Detecting fast expanding cloud of debris of metal and gas."
Wildfire was angry with herself. She knew that the problem had gone undetected because she had decided to show off during the shakedown cruise. Starfall, the current watch's Listel at SIT, was the one who had recommended the standard tactic during the shakedown cruise. She threw Wildfire a glance. Wildfire glanced back and Starfall immediately looked back at the SIT station. Wildfire sighed.
Identifying a raider could be difficult. Some used transponders that identified them as freighters, others as T.C.A. or Loroi Navy. If they did, Moonless Night was forced to come closer to get a positive identification. And this took time for a ship that had to remain undetected. The one that Moonless Night had just nova'd had been easy. It had been fishing in the system's asteroid belt near the jump zone, close to a distress beacon that sent out a fake distress call. The raiders knew that spacers helped each other irrespective of species.
After leaving Union space several weeks ago, New Moon, Lunar Eclipse and Moonless Night had split up to start their patrols of those neutral systems that were used as shipping lanes between Humanity and Union space. They had met again once and agreed that raider presence was gradually getting stronger. It probably meant that they were getting closer to a base.
Moonless Night was almost in position to jump to the next system on her list when EYE's call came.
"Bridge, EYE. Jump flash times four. Bearing 265, negative 7. Range 74 Mm. Course 185, positive 5. Accelerating with 2... Correction 3 standard G."
"Torret, incoming signal." COM sent. "It's a repeating distress call. A call for assistance from all T.C.A. and Union Navy ships. Origin of signal: the targets that just jumped in. The message states that they are being pursued by raiders, have spent their torpedoes and have already lost an escort."
"Bridge, EYE. Have positive I.D. on Humanity vessels: one super heavy, a passenger transport. It has an Orgus hull signature. The transponders of the two medium escorts identify them as T.C.A. destroyers. The small escort's transponder I.D. belongs to a private company. It has a Lurs hull signature."
After diplomatic relations between the Loroi Union and Humanity had been established, Human companies and nations had been allowed to buy ship hulls from Union nations. It was a lot cheaper for the humans than building ships themselves. However, any weapons, engines and advanced devices were removed from the ships before their hulls were transferred. Except screens. The Humans had also been given the technology to produce them.
"Clearly not a trap." Wildfire thought. "But why? Why!? Bloody tourists! They must know that freighters are attacked around here. Did they think that four escorts would be enough for a prime target such as a super heavy transport and thousands of rich hostages?"
"SIT, plot course to optimal point of intercept at 10G. NAV, be prepared to accelerate with 10G and steer the course provided by SIT the moment that you receive it." Wildfire sent. She pressed the broadcast button.
TeeEEeet! "Crew pay attention."
"Crew, this is your Torret. We are about to intercept and -hopefully- save a super heavy human passenger transport full of idiots and its escorts. Time of intercept is..." Wildfire looked at NAV.
"92 bimas."
"92 bimas. Remain at combat stations. That is all."
"Torret, if we notify the ships to change course..." Starfall sent.
"We can't. Orders. We can't reveal ourselves. I'm already pushing it by deciding to help them." Wildfire replied.
Thirty bimas passed.
"Bridge, EYE. Jump flash times 5. Correction, times 8 at coordinates of previous jump-in. Course... In direct pursuit of the previous jump-in targets. Acceleration... 10G for the 4 small targets. 8G for the four medium targets."
"10G for a Human ship. Not bad. Imagine if governments were as good at cooperating as inter-species crime syndicates." Wildfire thought.
"Starfall?" Wildfire looked at the Listel.
"We're not going to be able to use the torpedoes' full efficiency at this rate of acceleration, Torret."
"When can we fire torpedoes at the small targets using both the railgun and with the torpedoes' drives engaged, leaving enough fuel for a torpedo to do significant damage?
"Using standard definitions for significant damage and small targets... In one bima, twelve solons." Starfall sent back. "Runtime will be 22 bimas."
The torpedoes that the stealth ships carried could accelerate at a maximum of 50G for 32 bimas. After that they were out of fuel. Using the railgun extended their range with 5 bimas. In this case, firing without the railgun meant that it would take the torpedoes 27 minutes to arrive at their target and without enough fuel.
"WEP, program the next 4 torpedoes to engage their drives and target the small raider vessels. One torpedo for each."
"Torret, now running reactor at 100%. POW sent. "Ready to reduce power to engine to 18% and reroute power to railgun on your mark."
The bima and twelve solons had passed. Wildfire signalled POW to reroute power and WEP to fire.
The railgun charged. The lights dimmed for 10 solons.
VOOOM!
Another ten solons passed. The lights dimmed again.
VOOOM!
12 solons passed. The lights dimmed more.
VOOOM!
15 solons passed. The lights almost went out, began to flicker, then stabilized.
VOOOM!
Suddenly the ship's fire alarm sounded.
"Electrical fire in the energy converter compartment." ENV reported.
"ENV, handle it." Wildfire ordered.
"Torret, ship's electrical systems have automatically switched to battery power." POW reported.
"What's the reactor and engine status?" Wildfire asked.
"Unaffected. Both are available."
"POW, route reactor power back to the engine. NAV, increase acceleration to 30G towards calculated point of intercept." Wildfire ordered. "WEP, status of revolver?"
"We have 8 shots left in the revolver, Torret."
"SIT, when are we in range for the combined yield of 3 conventionally fired torpedoes to inflict significant damage on a medium target?
"And when are the super heavy and its escorts in range of fire of the pursuing medium targets. Based on Humanity's weapons?"
"23 bimas."
"Runtime of the torpedoes?"
"Runtime after our acceleration at 30G will be another 22 bimas, Torret. The four from the first salvo will impact 7 bimas earlier."
"WEP..." Sent Wildfire.
"Already done, Torret. Three torpedoes each for two targets, two torpedoes for the third."
"Torret, the revolver is heavy equipment. Using the batteries for 8 shots will cost us a noticable amount of battery charge. POW sent.
"There are probably more than 5000 fat, rich, idiot humans on that ship. So be it." Wildfire sent.
"Torret, fire has been extuingished. Delota Emery reports one wounded with minor second degree burns."
"ENV, I want those converters back online." Wildfire sent.
Wildfire sat down, cursing herself.
The 7 bimas and 15 solons had passed.
"WEP, launch torpedoes." Wildfire ordered.
Due to the revolver now being underpowered, 8 torpedoes fired at 6.5 solon intervals, instead of the usual 5 and began accelerating towards three of the four medium targets. They were programmed to arrive at their respective targets simultaneously.
About 10 bimas passed. During that time Wildfire had ordered to reduce acceleration again to 10G.
"Bridge, EYE. Escort ships show aspect change. They are engaging the small raider vessels. Super heavy has accelerated to 3.6G and is increasing its distance from the escorts."
The bridge's tactical screen showed all of EYE's observations. Including the paths of the 12 running torpedoes.
"Any second now for the first four..." Wildfire thought.
"Bridge, EYE. First target hit."
"Second target hit. First target venting."
"Target 3 has deployed LACs. Torpedo was hit and detonated prematurely, but target was well within detonation radius. Second target destroyed. First target shows aspect change and deceleration. It is retreating."
"Fourth target deployed LACs but missed. Target hit. Third target shows aspect change. Might be retreating."
"Fourth target destroyed. Third target decelerating. It's retreating."
Almost 6 more bimas passed. The fight between the escorts and medium raider vessels had started almost immediately after the small ones had been hit.
The symbol for the small escort had become red a bima earlier. It had been destroyed. One of the T.C.A. destroyer symbols had turned yellow. So had one of the medium raider vessels.
"They're putting up a good fight." Wildfire thought. They may be idiots, but they're no cowards."
"Bridge, EYE. Three hits on first medium target."
"Three hits on second target."
"First target venting."
"Third target deployed LACs. Both torpedoes destroyed. No damage to target."
"Second target destroyed."
"Third target shows aspect change."
"Escorts have switched target. No longer attacking damaged number four, but engaging the crippled first target."
"Third target decelerating. It is retreating."
"Escorts have finished off the first target."
"Fourth target shows aspect change."
"Escorts are engaging the fourth target again."
"Fourth target is decelerating and venting. Its trying to escape."
"Escorts have destroyed the fourth target."
And with that, the battle ended. Out of eight raiders, only three survived, two of them damaged. All three jumped out as soon as they could.
Some time passed.
"Torret, incoming signal from one of the destroyers." COM sent. "In human language only."
"Only human all of a sudden? Their distress call was also in Trade. But let's hear it."
"We have no idea who you are, but you rescued our raw animal skins and those of 5400 humans and loroi aboard that line drawing device. Thank you. Should we ever encounter, I will purchase you as many alcoholic fermented grain beverages as you desire. My name is Jürgen Thomas, captain of the T.C.A. destroyer ECS-060 Chryse."
"Line drawing device?" Wildfire asked.
"It probably means ship." Starfall answered. Her sanzai sending came with a mixed emotion of embarassment and indignation.
"Yes, I am painfully aware that I messed up, Starfall. I should've listened to you. I will not make the mistake of ignoring your advice again." Sent Wildfire to Starfall in return.
Starfall's mood improved immediately.
---
Moonless Night had jumped into the same system that the escaping raiders had jumped into.
"POW. Shut down all non essential equipment to save battery power." Wildfire ordered. "NAV, SIT, begin pursuit of the retreating raiders at 12G on a parallel course and overtake them. Put enough distance between them and us. Then get in front of them. Let the raiders fly into our torpedoes. WEP, load 4 torpedoes. Two for the medium target. NAV, You have the conn. I'll be in my cabin. Notify me when we approach the firing position."
---
Wildfire, Emery and Scar sat in Wildfire's cabin. Wildfire was rubbing her temples.
"Feeling grumpy?" Asked Emery.
"Mmrrh. I messed up, Em. That crew aboard that small escort, some corvette class of ship, is dead because I had to show off during the shakedown cruise." Wildfire sent. "I'm a cynical bitch, but unfortunately not a heartless one. Anyway... Scar?"
Scar began presenting her report. "The damaged and destroyed converters are type 4G converters, not type 5S. 4G can't handle that kind of load. The yard installed the wrong ones. Not their fault though. Both types look the same and all the ones aboard are marked with 5S. The mixup happened at the factory."
"Everytime we fired a single torpedo, we overloaded them. But they had time to cool. When we started firing torpedoes in rapid succession, they overheated. The fire was mainly smoldering electronics and smoking coil coating. No further damage."
"It's quite possible that the other two ships also have 4Gs aboard, but not as many as Moonless, since they don't have the dimming lights phenomenon. On Moonless only five out of the sixteen converters are type 5S.
"How many can you salvage?" Wildfire asked.
"We are using the five 5S converters now and it looks that we may save three, maybe four of the twelve damaged ones. We have spare parts. That will power the ship and keep the batteries topped, but we can't use the railgun." Scar answered.
"If both the converters and batteries are used to power the revolver, it will drain the batteries somewhat. But they will recharge."
"Get me those converters, Scar." Wildfire sent.
Scar nodded and left.
---
Hours went by. The three retreating raiders had been destroyed. The crew had stood down from combat stations and the next watch had come on duty. Scar's team had ultimately managed to bring four converters back to live. Wildfire had retired to her cabin and Moonless Night had jumped into a system that had five jumpzones.
Listel Tozet Fearless was manning the SIT station and watching its displays while eating crackers. Not having Torrets or Torrais on the bridge had its advantages. Some time ago, a contact had jumped in and begun to accelerate with 25G to one of two jump zones that were in very close proximity to one another. It's transponder indicated that it was a Barsam freighter and its information on the tactical display indicated that it was somewhat damaged. But neither of the two jump zones lead to a system that was part of a shipping lane.
Three jump flashes showed up on her viewer. EYE reported them dutyfully and identified them as T.C.A. destroyers.
"Slowpokes." Fearless thought.
Fearless looked back at the first target and frowned. "Now that's interesting." She thought. She touched a control and began looking at star charts while chomping down another cracker.
---
Wildfire, Emery and Fearless sat in Wildfire's cabin. A star map and the information from the SIT station were displayed on the viewer.
"Look. Here is the course change." Fearless sent. "It's very small. Slightly less than three degrees. Corrected for lightspeed delay, it's immediately after it noticed that a T.C.A. patrol had just jumped in. The raider's original course would've taken it to this jump zone. After the course change, it led to the adjacent one. I think that the raider was initially heading for its base or something else of interest and tried to protect it by changing course. Why else change course when a Navy patrol jumps in?"
"The system that the raider was originally heading to has, besides the jump zone from our position, two more jump zones. One leads to a dead end within three jumps, The other leads up to a linear series of longer jumps in the wastelands up the Orion arm and leads to unexplored space."
"The dead end is a perfect location to hide. It's a white dwarf system with no surviving planets, but with a huge, dense asteroid disk. But! It has no backdoor. There's no escape route."
"Going the other way will lead to an identical system. That system is 12 jumps away. But it has a backdoor jump zone that leads to unexplored space. Since most raiders are modified freighters, they can certainly carry the fuel needed to jump there."
"Did the destroyers follow the raider?" Emery asked.
"No. They ignored the contact, went to the fifth jump zone that leads to Humanity space and jumped out to the system that the raider had jumped in from."
Wildfire was thinking... Systems in the wastelands are sparse. Spread apart, which means that longer jumps are needed. The systems are mostly ignored, but there are incidental Navy patrols and some raider presence has been confirmed in the wastelands. She checked the patrol lists. The dead end system was on Lunar Eclipse's list.
"What are those?" Emery asked and pointed at the crackers.
"Human food. They're called "cheese crackers". Would you like one? I think they're delicious." Fearless sent.
Emery took one.
"Would you also like one, Torret?" Fearless sent.
"No, thank you. But if Delota likes hers, you can give mine to her." Wildfire verbally spoke.
"Why did you just use your voice?" Emery sent with suspicion while smelling the cracker. "Listel Tozet, what's inside these things?"
"Cheese." Fearless sent. "Look, It says so right here on the plastic."
"I can't read human writing." Emery sent. "And what is "cheese?"
"I don't know. But it's tasty." Fearless answered.
"It is." Emery replied after taking a bite. "It's weird, but not in a bad way. I could get used to it. I think I'll take the Torret's one as well."
Wildfire's face betrayed nothing.
---
More than three weeks later, Moonless Night had jumped into the system that Starfall had indicated together with a raider.
She had avoided engaging it when she had encountered it a few jumps before, because Wildfire hoped that it was heading to Moonless' destination. Moonless had spent quite some time in the previous system's exit jump zone waiting for it to appear. When the raider finally jumped into the system, approached the exit jumpzone and jumped into the target system, Moonless Night had jumped simultaneously and close enough to it to make the two jump flashes look like one and hide her entry into the system.
The system had a dense disc of gas, dust and asteroids. The dust and asteroids were what remained of the system's planets when the expanding sun had swallowed them, changed their orbits and made a number of them collide.
Moonless Night was calmly navigating the disc while following the raider at a distance.
12 hours later the target suddenly vanished.
"And there's the base." Emery thought.
Four hours later Moonless night approached the ship's last known position. It was in empty space.
"EYE, Bridge. Are we at the location where the raider disappeared?"
"Confirmed, Delota."
"How odd." Emery thought.
The next watch came on on duty. And the next. Nothing happened. Then EYE called.
"Bridge, EYE. Jump flash at the jump zone to uncharted space. No signature."
"No signature?" Wildfire, who had come on watch four hours earlier and was still on the bridge, sent. EYE confirmed that the only thing that they detected was the jump flash.
"Moon or Eclipse?" asked Emery who had just entered the bridge to relieve Wildfire.
"From unexplored space?" Wildfire sent. "First a raider suddenly vanishes without a trace in empty space and now a mystery jump flash from uncharted space. I don't like it. Something is wrong. No signature means it's a stealth vessel. But I doubt that it's Eclipse or Moon." She thought for a moment, then pushed the broadcast button.
"TeeEEeet. "Crew pay attention."
"This is Wildfire. Rig for stealth. Shut down everything -and I mean everything that's not absolutely necessary- Do not use the intercom. Avoid any heat sources near the hull. And do not use sanzai. Yes, you heard that right. No sanzai! Use verbal speech only and use Paset as messengers."
"Here is the situation. We are on the edge of unexplored space. A raider ship suddenly vanished inexplicably at this exact location earlier and we may have a stealth ship incoming. Something jumped in from unexplored space. We can't detect it. I'm sure that it's not Moon or Eclipse. This means that its origin, capabilities and intentions are unknown."
"If it's crewed by an alien telepathic species and passes us at close range while someone aboard Moonless sends, it may give us away. That is all."
"SIT. Shut down the tactical screen and holo projector. Shut down the unmanned stations."
Emery was looking at her.
"Emery, I'm going to get some sleep. I will be back in three hours. Send a Paset if something happens. And stop looking at me as if I have gone funny in the head. Something is wrong here."
---
"Torret, please come to sensor room." An appearing Paset spoke. The crew had improved their spoken Trade a lot. Wildfire, who had returned to the bridge an hour before, went to the sensor room.
Listel Tozet Sandstone at EWA repeated the recording of a number of very short clicks. "They're FRB broadcasts, but more compact than ours. COM didn't pick them up because, well, because they don't use our format. And I didn't pick them up at first because fast radio bursts are also a natural phenomenon as you know."
"But fast radio bursts are also quite uncommon. That's why the system responded after it had detected several within a certain time frame. There are two sources. We have rough directions on both. One is an area of space that contains three asteroids. The other seems to be moving. If it is moving from the jump zone to the other source, it should arrive somewhere between 5 and 7 hours from now, depending on the asteroid. We have eyes on the asteroids."
Six hours passed. Another Paset appeared and asked Wildfire to report to the sensor room.
20 solons later Wildfire watched a recording of a perfect black shade passing slowly in front of one of the three asteroids.
"It's larger than Cry of the Wind and on course for the asteroid that is in front of it." Listel Tozet Diva at EYE1 spoke.
"Torret, look." Sandstone, now sitting at EYE2 said. "The asteroid is opening."
The bottom of the asteroid's largest crater showed segments that first rotated around their longest axis, then moved sideways like an iris. The black shape went inside and the crater closed.
---/\/---
Last edited by G. Janssen on Thu Oct 13, 2022 4:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Chapter 8. Coldstone.
---
Wildfire, Emery and Diva were sitting in Wildfire's cabin.
"Three years after diplomatic relations were established with Humanity, the raider problem started." Wildfire said. "That was seven years ago. First it was just a few small converted freighters. Then medium freighters with more firepower appeared. Some raider ships are of human design, others are Union. There are dozens of raiders now spread out in the border zone. So far, so good. Stolen or captured ships, loroi and human gangers working together, probably with the backing of a couple of human countries."
"But building a base like this? In a few years time? Impossible for raiders. Even with the help from human countries. I'm also ruling out Humanity as a whole. Humanity can't even build a second battlecruiser. They spent years on it and then construction stalled. And then there's this ship. We're definitely dealing with something new."
"Torret..." A Paset knocked on the cabin. "EYE wants your presence."
"We'll continue this later." Wildfire said. Let's go.
---
"There's two?" Wildfire said while watching the recording. "What the! Show that again!" Tozet Diva replayed part of the recording. One of the two black ships that had exited the base turned her stern toward Moonless Night and suddenly accelerated away. The other one accelerated away as well, but in another direction. "No plume!" Wildfire thought.
"Any traces of gas?" Emery asked Diva.
"None." Diva said. "But there is this." They watched a closeup of a star that was visible close to the hull of the ship that had accelerated away with its stern pointing towards Moonless Night. Suddenly the star shifted and jumped back. "It's a spatial distortion. And we registered a minor gravity wave at the moment of acceleration. It could be a reactionless drive." Diva said.
"If the other ship went back to the jump zone, then where is this one going?" Emery asked.
"We can't track it of course." Diva said. "But if it is on the course that it accelerated away on, then it's just heading to an empty location. Maybe at the edge of the system.
---
Moonless had accelerated with 5G in pulse mode in the direction of the black ship when it accelerated away and had then switched to inertia. It would take her more than three days to reach the edge of the system.
Three days passed.
---
"Torret? Torret?" The door to Wildfire's cabin opened and a Paset entered. She began to shake Wildfire who was asleep.
"Mmh?" Wildfire grumbled.
"Torret. EYE requests your presence."
That woke her up. She slapped herself in the face twice and walked out, wearing only her skinsuit.
Emery was already in the sensor room.
"I've ordered the ship to change heading so we get optimal results from the bow sensors. We're still drifting on inertia. We'll be passing it at a substantial distance, but we can identify it clearly. It's a graveyard." She said.
"Three loroi wrecks, six human. Both mostly raiders, including the one that disappeared earlier. See how that wreck is still warmer then the others? Twelve Umiak, three Morat, one Lurs, two Tenuki and two dozen more wrecks that belong to other former Umiak client races. That one is Orgus. And then there are these four. They're unknowns with two different designs. Likely from two different unknown species."
"What in the name of the first emperor did we find here, Emery?" Said Wildfire.
"Torret, I have a positive I.D. on one of the loroi wrecks. The Shooting Star, an exploration vessel that was launched 53 years ago. Her hull design was unique." The Tozet at EYE1 said.
---
Wildfire was adressing the crew that had gathered in and around the dining room. "If we jump out, there's a chance that that ship will come after us. Maybe more than one. And even if we won't be followed they will still be warned. We can assume that these ships are a lot faster than Moonless and, judging from all those wrecks, superior in other ways as well. That raider jumping in here was a fluke. It was probably just curious about this system. Maybe checking it out to see if it was suitable for a base."
"We need to warn the Union, but I don't know how to get out of this system undetected. Does anyone have any ideas?"
"Yes, Torret. I know a member of our "unique breed" who was in a similar situation once." It was Hellion who spoke. "She parked her Dagger inside a rock, waited until its opening pointed in the right direction and voom! The E.M. radiation of a jump flash doesn't penetrate an asteroid. She arrived at the destination with her ship mostly intact. Just gotta find a cozy rock."
It took two days to locate a "cozy rock". It was slowly approaching the edge of the jump zone. During that time, two more jump flashes from ships without signatures were detected. One from the jump zone that Moonless night had jumped in from.
"We will need to bump it to change its orientation and decrease its spin rate. It will damage the coating on the bow and sensors. We have coating aboard, so an E.V.A. team can spray that on afterwards. But any damaged sensors will have to be replaced at the yard." Wildfire said to Emery on the bridge.
Five days later, after the asteroid had entered the jump zone and Hellion had played snooker with it, the Tenoin parked Moonless Night backwards into a deep cavity in the asteroid and activated her jumpdrive.
---
Six weeks later Moonless Night docked at Mezan's orbital shipyard. By chance, New Moon and Lunar Eclipse were docked there as well. New Moon because a stray shot had hit and damaged her and Lunar Eclipse because she needed engine repairs after accelerating at 37G for a prolonged time because she had been detected during a fight.
---
Coldstone, Fray and Wildfire were watching the footage from Moonless Night in her sensor room.
"That dead end system did indeed contain a major raider base." Fray sent. "We nova'd it. It was some contruct that was more or less made to look like an asteroid. 18 ships were docked to it. It cost us every torpedo we had left. Everything went well until we were spotted. Fortunately the remaining ships couldn't match our acceleration."
"Since that base was destroyed, raider attacks have decreased more than 80 percent. They're laying low for now, but there's another base somewhere."
Coldstone kept replaying a certain part of the footage, then stood up. "I want the two of you on New Moon in one hour. Consider that an order." She said. She looked intently at Wildfire, then at Fray. Wildfire nodded. Fray frowned and blinked. Coldstone left.
"Wha? How can she order us? What is she doing?" Fray sent.
"If you hadn't fallen asleep the night after the shakedown cruise, after carelessly admitting breaking both a taboo and several laws, you'd have an inkling." Wildfire replied.
"I did what?" Fray asked.
"You did a "my snuggie." And you made it very clear that you've been "doing" your snuggie on a regular basis." Wildfire answered.
Fray's eyes widened. "Wildfire, please..." She sent.
"Relax. Your secret is safe with me. I think it's cute. You should both migrate to human space, become officially pairbonded, which I think is custom there and have lots of little warriors. And don't worry about Coldstone. Ou.. her people treat males different than modern Loroi do. So she couldn't care less. And it's probably also way below her paygrade. But you need to stop getting drunk, because you say things that get you in trouble when you do." Wildfire sent.
"Ou.. Her people? She's from the tribes?" Fray asked.
"Yes."
"And the inkling?" Fray asked.
"She has the ear of Greywind. Perhaps both ears."
---
New Moon was completely empty.
Coldstone stood dressed in the armor of a Torrai Sillatozan near the docking port. On her armor were four marks. They were the same ones that were on her arms.
"Eight Dawn allowed me to wear them on my armor after I sent some thoughts her way that contained a lot of honesty." She said while smiling. "There is only one lie in my military record by the way. The one about my retirement. But there are a lot of omissions."
"Now then... Let's go to my cabin."
"As you know, the Union has several intelligence agencies. Some deal with internal threats, some with external. I became head of one of these agencies under Eight Dawn after the Neridi War of Succession and the discovery of the historians. My agency was tasked to keep an eye on the historians, since they had vastly superior technology and could be a threat."
"Since that time we have learned that they are not a threat. They're peaceful and abhor war. They're a Soia-Liron species that was created from the Pol. They hate what the Soia did to them."
"Their constructs tell their full story once you see the symbolism. Fish teeth to indicate their aquatic origin, pink as opposition to blue to indicate their dislike of being a Soia-Liron species, absent lower halves and skeleton arms to indicate their disembodiment and a crest above their head to show what they have become."
"They were made into the Soia's living computers and information storage centers. It's not that they don't want to travel and come to us in person. They can't. They're biologically immortal and linked to equipment on their planets. Their ships fought so inefficiently against the Hierarchy because they were manned by robots and meat puppets."
"Most people think that the tall meat puppets are the historians. They're servants that were created to maintain everything and are controlled by the historians."
"The historians fear us. I can't blame them. We are an aggressive species and could easily defeat them."
"Their plan was to keep the war a stalemate. Let the Hierarchy and Loroi Union threats weaken or destroy each other. They gave us just enough tech to accomplish exactly that, until the Bellarmine incident changed it all."
"They panicked when the war ended in an unexpected way and contacted us to tighten relations. I and a small intelligence and diplomatic delegation went to historian space."
"We saw things... We learned things..." "What you are about to hear is top secret. I will shoot you myself if it leaks. Even if told accidentally in a drunken mood, snuggie-lover." Coldstone said while looking at Fray.
"The Soia empire was vast. Neridi, barsam, historians and loroi are only four out of fifteen created species that are known to the historians. The mozeret and a few other species went extinct when the Soia empire fell during its civil war. Their extinction is unrelated to current events."
"Of the twelve known Soia-Liron species that survived the fall of the Soia, three have most likely gone extinct in the last 1400 years. The Historians used a Long Range Hyperspace Communication Array, a device created by the Soia, to communicate with the last and least distant of these species, a species that, like the Historians, also possessed advanced technology. They received only a garbled transmission during their last communication. Contact was then broken and never re-established. This was about 400 years ago."
"The Historians managed to declutter the message. It read: "The time has come. They are here. One massive black swarm of death. They hate all the other servitors. They consume all. Only they shall take the creators' place. They are the Ha'Sati Vin'Jaad. The first ones created."
"Whatever attacked and likely exterminated these species, did so in massive single waves with roughly 500 year intervals, for what we believe may be ritual or religious reasons."
In black ships." Wildfire sent.
"But this story didn't start with our visit to the historians nine years ago. It started about five, maybe six decades ago, according to the former hierarchy races that have now joined the Union." Coldstone said. "Ships disappearing without a trace. In all these decades they found a single, severely damaged distress and message beacon that had taken a hit, but had, after bumping against an asteroid five years later, sprung back to live. What are the odds of that happening?"
"Here is the recording together with the original A.I. translation from that beacon that we were given." Coldstone pressed the button. A very melodious, and completely alien voice that sang rather than spoke, sounded. It was accompanied by a spoken translation in Trade. "Speak Teled Gla Imis of carry-all vessel-friend Forever They Dream. Vessel-friend suffered many violence from one fiend not see. We are the blind. Beam weapon great power. No power soon be weird. Vessel-friend dying."
There's more. Give it a few solons." Said Coldstone.
"Fiend is black... Eating broken after friend-vessel."
"We are the blind" is an incorrect translation. It should be "we cannot see it." "No power soon be weird" is "somehow we are losing all power."
Their ship was cut in half by a beam weapon. They could see what attacked them after it began "eating" the blown off aft part."
"What language is this? It sounded like a very complex song." Wildfire asked.
"Sonliri. We haven't discovered that species yet officially. They're sapient plants, according to the people we obtained the recording from. Translation took place via the Umiak client species that is closest to their space and another "officially undiscovered" species."
"If it "ate" the ship, that would explain why that raider suddenly disappeared in a spot that was hours away from any asteroid." Wildfire sent.
"The wrecks that you found account for about one quarter of the total number of disappearances in over 5 decades. We believe that they are scouting the borders of our space." Coldstone said.
"Why take the ships?" Asked Fray.
"They consume all". Guess the double meaning." Coldstone answered.
"We're fastfood?" Wildfire asked.
"Not fast enough." Fray sent.
"We've been looking for a clue for decades and you just stumble across it. The universe works in mysterious ways sometimes." Coldstone said.
"Torrai Sillatozan..." Wildfire sent.
"Call me Coldstone. Nothing must or needs to change between us. The uniform is merely to make you realize the seriousness of the situation. There's a reason that I sent the entire crew away. I'll be a Soroin Torret again after you leave New Moon."
Fray looked at Coldstone with puppy eyes.
"You really should lay off the booze, Fray. It gets you into trouble... And of course I wouldn't shoot you." Coldstone said. "I employ people who do such things for me." Coldstone added with a mild smile but serious looking eyes.
"Got it. No more booze." Fray sent.
"Coldstone, why do I have the feeling that it isn't a coincidence that Fray and I were selected for this mission." Wildfire sent.
"Because it isn't. I have kept an eye on you since Deinar. Fray managed to impress me when she not only thwarted fate three times in a fighter, but also sent a very clear "plow you, powers that be. I alone am in control of my fate" when she crushed that diral-seii. And it worked. Fate backed off. I chuckled for a while when I read that. Can't ignore someone like that."
"Your.. our crews consist of misfits, but most of them are very competent or better. Be they eccentric like "Chef", mischievous like Hellion, awkward like "Simon" or rebellious like "Hot Pocket"."
You were going to say "your crews". Wildfire sent.
"You caught me there. My crew contains a number of friends and confidants in key positions. I like to be surrounded by people who have proven their loyalty. Centuries as a spymaster have seen to that."
"What's next?" Fray sent.
"Let's give their ships an indigestion, blow that base and collect everything we can. Also, duplicates of the recordings and other data must be sent to Deinar. Coldstone said.
"Won't letting them know that we discovered them cause them to accelerate their agenda?" Wildfire asked.
"Maybe. But we can't stop them anyway. Right now it doesn't matter if they attack in 100 years or tomorrow. We're dead either way. Information may give us a chance."
"Was the raider mission real?" Fray asked.
"It was most definitely real. But if you hadn't found the enemy by accident, trying to locate him would have been your and your crews next mission. That is, if you and your crews had accepted it. The Navy made a promise after all. Now, lets figure out what to do." Coldstone said.
---/\/---
Last edited by G. Janssen on Thu Oct 20, 2022 3:29 pm, edited 6 times in total.
Chapter 9. Lingery, Pork and a Wiener.
---
"Seriously, Torret?" Tenoin Arrir Havoc sent. "Do you know how much these things stink? How much my skiff is going to stink? For years?" The 15 miros that were loaded aboard the skiff grunted nervously. "Where are we going to keep these things?"
"Aboard the skiffs. There's no room elsewhere." Coldstone replied.
"I'm not not going to clean that up." Havoc sent while looking at a defecating miros.
"You will if you keep complaining." Coldstone answered.
A little further away another 15 miros were loaded aboard Lunar Eclipse's skiff.
Wildfire was suddenly very happy that she had that ridiculous pod aboard.
Moonless Night had been repaired and the faulty power converters had been replaced. Five 4G converters had been found, removed and replaced on New Moon. There had also been a small exchange of crewmembers. Raincloud from New Moon was exchanged for a Gallen from Moonless Night and Simon, also from New Moon, was exchanged for a Listel from Lunar Eclipse.
"Just leave them alone." Coldstone had said. "And don't order them. Make kind requests. And don't upset them. Raincloud may cripple your ship and Simon will probably get depressed and unresponsive."
---
Five weeks later, the three stealth ships idled in the jump zone of a system six jumps away from their destination. Around here, sporadic raider activity was still reported. The trip had been uneventful. T.C.A. and Union patrols had managed to reduce the raiders' numbers somewhat further.
Five uneventful days passed.
---
"Bridge, EYE. Jump flash. A light freighter. Modified." The freighter had jumped in from an adjacent jump zone that was close enough for a visual. Its hull showed a painting of a skull biting a stem with a rose. The three stealth ships let it pass.
An hour passed.
"NAV, point the bow at the raider, then pitch z minus 90." Wildfire ordered. Pointing the nose "down" meant that the shuttle bay would be facing away from the raider.
After New Moon had changed her heading, Wildfire pressed a button on her station. "Shuttle bay, Bridge. Eject the package."
The shuttle bay's gravity plating was deactivated and Moonless Night's skiff was launched. It slowly drifted away from the shuttle bay along her hull while its pilot took care to stay in her radar shadow.
The shuttle bay was then closed again and twelve crew members in pressure suits began maneuvering a huge package that mostly consisted of folded foil out of adjacent Humanity Land. After placing it in the center of the shuttle bay, its doors opened again and the package was released. The skiff then docked again.
Moonless Night turned her bow back towards the raider and began to distance itself from the ejected package. About 150 km away from it she stopped and pitched minus 90 degrees again.
"Shuttle bay, Bridge. Eject the pod." Wildfire ordered.
"You mean Pod-chan." Sent Emery who was sitting next to her while looking smug.
"Oh, shut up." Wildfire returned. "I can't wait to get rid of that ridiculous thing."
The skiff launched again and a pod that looked like a standard Humanity model escape pod was ejected. The skiff docked again and the shuttle bay closed.
"COM, Send FRB to New Moon to jump out." Wildfire ordered.
"EWA, Bridge. Activate the package when New Moon jumps out."
There was a very bright flash as New Moon jumped out less than 2 kilometers away.
Less than 15 solons after the package had been activated, it had finished inflating. The mass of folded foil now formed the hull of a fake, damaged small transport. The foil was coated to reflect radar and lidar. It was equipped with electronics that emitted signals and electronic noise and coils around its fake damaged engine exhausts that produced heat. From a distance away it looked surprisingly realistic.
"EWA, Bridge. Launch the distress beacon with the Humanity distress call." Wildfire ordered.
The beacon was launched and began transmitting.
Some time passed.
"Take the bait..." Wildfire thought.
"Bridge, EYE. Target aspect change. Target is decelerating."
Almost three hours later the raider had come close enough to see her breaking plume with the naked eye.
"EWA, Bridge. Activate the..."
"Pod-chan!" Emery interrupted and laughed."
An annoyed Wildfire sanzai'd Emery the main ingredient of cheese and some unpleasant details about its production.
Emery's laughter stopped. "Eew. EEW!" she sent. "And you knew! EEW! I ate that!"
Suddenly the voice of a young woman sounded through the bridge's speakers. She spoke in English, but had an accent that, according to the Gallen, was called "Swedish" and was highly arousing to human males.
"He.. Hello? Hello ship? Please help! We need help! My name is Inga Svensson and I'm in here with two other girls! We are lingery models and were doing a photo shoot when the engine of the ship suddenly blew up. We are only dressed in our underwear and very cold. Please help!"
The raider went straight for the escape pod.
"Horny buggers." Wildfire sent.
The raider's bay opened and the pod was taken inside. The bay closed.
To fool thermal scans, Pod-chan had 3 life sized dolls inside that radiated warmth at 37 degrees Celcius.
"EWA, Bridge. Telemetry from the pod?" Wildfire spoke.
"Torret, 12..18.. 20.. 21.. 23.. 25.. 27.. 29.. 30.. 32.. 35.. 35.. Remaining steady at 35 heat signatures around the pod. Some are jumping up and down."
"Real horny buggers." Emery sent.
Wildfire pressed a button on her station. "EWA, spring the trap."
Telemetry from Pod-chan was suddenly lost. Hopefully this meant that the nerve gas grenades and drones that it contained had been launched.
Discovering that the formulas of Humanity's deadliest chemical weapons and the procedures to make them were freely posted on Humanity's global network, had shocked Union intelligence. Not that there had been any complaints. Quite the contrary: the discovery had made certain things so much easier. Wildfire could see why Mizol liked humans so much. The nerve gas that was now filling the raider killed humans in seconds, but caused only minor irritation to Soia-Liron species.
"Bridge, Drone Control. Drones active, Raider's shuttle bay is full of dead and dying human males. Some have their pants on their ankles and are in their underwear. Except one; he isn't wearing any underwear. Securing ship."
And as cutter drones cut holes in the few closed hatches they encountered and swarms of small killbots flew through those holes to seek out survivors and make their heads explode on contact, a message came from SIT.
"Torret, pod launch. Another pod launch."
Two escape pods had launched from the raider.
Moonless Night and Lunar Eclipse deployed their laser turrets and numerous coin sized circles of metal on the hull of each pod began to glow, liquify and spray outwards as the pods' atmospheres vented. The venting gas was followed by some red colored liquid that quickly froze.
"Bridge, Drone Control. Eight crew neutralized. Have eyes on another one. Seemingly the last. He's on his knees with his hands in the air. Orders?"
"Drone Control, Bridge. Do not harm the prisoner and guard him."
"Bridge, Drone Control. Understood. Prisoner is cooperating. The ship is ours."
The skiff was deployed, the boarding team went aboard and confirmed that the crew was neutralized.
A few hours later New Moon jumped back in.
Four modified torpedoes were loaded aboard the raider. And the prisoner was hoisted in a hazmat suit and taken aboard Moonless Night for questioning. Next, New Moon's and Lunar Eclipse's skiffs loaded the miros and their supplies aboard the raider.
---
"Raoul Gonzalez. First mate of the Seductive Rose. And that's all you're going to get out of me." The raider, who was chained to a table that was bolted to the floor in the unused amplifier room, said.
"But we have questions about your operation." Mizol Sanzet Clarity said. "And about your backers, your numbers, the locations of any bases, passwords, access codes, etcetera. You need to give us answers. You want to give us answers. I know you want to. And I know you will."
Raoul remained silent.
"Your choice, Raoul. I tried." Clarity sighed. "Paset, release "it" and bring it here." The Paset nodded and left.
Clarity was watching Raoul intently. He was sweating, his eyes moved fast and he swallowed regularly. He was definitely nervous.
Some time later the door opened again. The Paset that had left earlier appeared again. She was now holding a heavy chain. Something unseen was yanking it repeatedly. "It is here as you ordered." She said with a worried look on her face.
"Well, send it in." Clarity said. "Raoul here has decided that he wants to meet it."
The Paset began to yank on the chain.
A thing out of one of Lovecraft's horror stories appeared. It was licking what Raoul guessed were its lips constantly. One of its eyes was hanging out. The other five frantically moved in all directions. Its swollen face was covered with disfiguring scars and pulsating boils. Tentacles on top of its head heaved up and down. It was dressed in a straightjacket that bound its numerous appendages.
Suddenly one of its crazy, rapid moving eyes fixed itself on the raider and widened, its oozing mouth opened and whispered "Meat... Meat! Meat! Meat!" It shrieked in excitement.
Mizol Clarity removed a small knife from her pocket, showed it to Raoul, made a sad face and said "goodbye". She left the room and the horror was lead inside. The doors were closed about 2/3 of the way, the straightjacket was untied and the knife was given to the creature through the remaining slit.
"Meat! Meat! Meat! Meat! Meat!" The thing shrieked while shaking with excitement.
Suddenly all the lights in the room went out and Raoul could hear the Paset who was holding the first chain say "You do know that we're the ones who will to have to clean up its mess again, right?" The Paset who was holding the second chain nodded and said "Remember the last one? He was still alive after an hour. I can still hear the screams."
She released the chain that she was holding.
"Meat!Meat!Meat!Meat!Meat!" The thing shook in excitement, pulled hard on the remaining chain and began cutting its face repeatedly. Blood began to flow out of the wounds and the eye that had been hanging out was severed and fell on the floor.
Raoul broke. "I'll tell you everything you want to know but get that thing out of here! Please! Please!!" He screamed and pissed himself.
A few highly informative hours passed.
---
"But I told you everything! I told you everything!" Raoul was crying.
"Ssssst. Hush now. We know." Emery said. "We really were going to keep you aboard as a prisoner and hand you over to the authorities. But then we found your pad. And we found what was on your pad. You made those females suffer, Raoul."
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Cried Raoul. If he hadn't pissed himself earlier in the amplifier room, he would be pissing himself now.
"Yes, you certainly will be." Emery said. "Pallan Fireblade, please pin Raoul against the wall of the airlock."
An unseen force threw Raoul against the side of the airlock and kept him there.
Emery put on a pair of rubber gloves and pulled a pair of scissors out of her pocket. She showed them to Raoul and began to smile. "Now then..." She said.
---
Former black hat hacker, persona non grata on seven planets in the Union and self taught electronics expert Raincloud a.k.a. "Hot Pocket" and EYE/EWA operator Listel Tozet Diva were finishing things on the bridge of the raider vessel. Its bridge camera, speakers and microphone were rerouted to a rig that would display a deepfake of Raoul.
The deepfake would be played by Tozet Starfall through a tracking camera and voice modulator that were connected to Moonless Night's e-war array. The array would communicate with the transceiver aboard the raider through a tracking narrow beam comm link.
Many of the ship's controls were slaved to NAV2 using an interface and another similar transceiver. The modified torpedoes were controlled by WEP2.
"Clearly just like the Barsam they have no sense of humor whatsoever, otherwise they would have appreciated my work." Raincloud sent.
"So now there are 80 kilometer tall letters that spell "Hot Pocket is Awesome!" burned into their sacred moon's surface?" Diva asked.
"Were. They decided to crater over them. Bastards. I spent eight months hacking into those planetary defense batteries." Raincloud sent.
"Finished." Diva sent. "Let's go back. Hey, what's that?" She sent to Raincloud while looking out a window.
"Looks like a half naked human male who is grasping his private parts." Raincloud replied.
They both stared at the figure that gently tumbled through space until it had disappeared out of sight.
Epilogue.
---
2,500,000 years after the -long since forgotten- events in this story, a deep space reconnaisance vessel that belonged to the United Galaxy Republic, detected a tiny rock that floated in the space between two solar systems. It was routinely scanned and taken aboard because the scan results showed that it consisted mainly of highly complex organic matter.
After its outer layer of accumulated dust was removed, the scientists aboard the vessel discovered that the organic matter inside was the frozen, mummified corpse of a half naked alien that somewhat resembled two species that occupied space not too far away and were among the galaxy-spanning republic's founding members.
The scientists wondered why the corpse was grasping its naked nether regions with its two appendages and found out soon after, when they removed the remains of the tape that covered the bottom half of its head and discovered that its reproductive organs had been stuffed inside its oral cavity.
The scientists concluded that the unfortunate specimen must've been used in a religious ritual as a sacrifice to one of the early space faring species' fertility gods. They filed their findings, preserved the specimen so it could be put on display in a museum and continued with their mission.
---/\/---
Last edited by G. Janssen on Thu Oct 20, 2022 3:32 pm, edited 4 times in total.
As before, reasonable suspension of disbelief is fine as long as it's not 1900 transversing the galactic ether via steam engines and breathing in vacuum levels.
You think a steam engine is bad? There a scifi series about a guy who flies around the galaxy in a phone box, you know?
Yes, attempts to depict realistic space weapons using the current level of knowledge (incomplete and non-core) are a pain.
In my story, I honestly tried, but in the end I refused, having worked at the level of concepts and roughly imagined what technologies are needed to depict what I need and how to legalize their presence at humans in my Universe. And he wrote the characteristics according to the principle "something like this"...
Chapter 8. Coldstone.
---
[...]
Frey looked at Coldstone with puppy eyes.
"You really should lay off the booze, Fray. It gets you into trouble... And of course I wouldn't shoot you myself." Coldstone said. "I employ people who would do that." Coldstone added with mischievous eyes and a mild smile.
[...]
I didn't notice it before, but it may have happened before: Frey/Fray.....
Easy mistyping...
Anyway, lovely twist.
Also, if you're able to stay hidden while watching a species that has been lying low for millennia, you did very well when constructing the ship.
Nou zeg, dat was een productieve bevrijdingsdag! :)
Vote for Outsider on TWC: charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195
Chapter 8. Coldstone.
---
[...]
Frey looked at Coldstone with puppy eyes.
"You really should lay off the booze, Fray. It gets you into trouble... And of course I wouldn't shoot you myself." Coldstone said. "I employ people who would do that." Coldstone added with mischievous eyes and a mild smile.
[...]
I didn't notice it before, but it may have happened before: Frey/Fray.....
Easy mistyping...
Also, if you're able to stay hidden while watching a species that has been lying low for millennia, you did very well when constructing the ship.
Also, if you're able to stay hidden while watching a species that has been lying low for millennia, you did very well when constructing the ship.
Milennia? No, their scouts started appearing on the borders of the local bubble, half a century before the start of the story.
Here's a funny article about how a single Swedish diesel sub repeatedly beat a US carrier group. There are at least 2 nuclear fast attack subs in every US carrier group to counter the threat from other submarines. https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/ ... ier-116216
I didn't notice it before, but it may have happened before: Frey/Fray.....
Easy mistyping...
I keep making that mistake. Other mistakes: Moonlit Night and New Moon instead of Moonless Night.
Writing chapter 10 now. If I would follow Hollywood superhero movies doctrine, someone would die heroically during a climactic fight in chapter 10, but I hate Hollywood doctrine and its predictable superhero movies, so everything will go smooth. The chapter will end the first storyline in a bit of an anti climax, although there will be an epilogue starring Wildfire.
Another storyline will then begin that starts years later and introduces new characters. No Loroi (maybe). We'll give mysticism and religion a chance in it.
Humans come later. The poor primitives just age too damn fast.
Several storylines will ultimately converge. After all, there's about a century left until the *eerie theremin music* Evil Cannibal Space Cannibals from Outer Space! (in 3D Technicolor) will attack. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YDg2CbGe8tQ
Chapter 10.
---
The plan was "simple". The four ships would jump to a system that was close to the white dwarf system that held the enemy base and fish there using the raider as bait. They would use synchronized jumps on their way there. By jumping simultaneously at very close range, they had a good chance to make it look like a single ship had just jumped in.
After jumping into a system, they would immediately monitor for enemy FRB transmissions and spread out.
The format of the enemy FRB messages hadn't been cracked yet. And their extreme short duration made it impossible to pinpoint their exact location. But at least a general direction could be established.
If any enemy FRB transmissions were detected in any of the systems enroute to their destination -other than the FRB an enemy ship seemed to send immediately after jumping in- they'd know that there was more than one enemy in that system.
In this case they would remain undetected if one of the enemy ships decided that the raider was a tasty snack. If attacked in that situation, the raider would be detonated immediately to hide the fact that it was a trap. Four full fusion torpedoes would vaporize it. If the raider was not attacked, they would jump to the next system.
If there were no signals, this would hopefully mean that there was at most one enemy present. In that case, they would give the raider a command to set course to a faraway point that wasn't anywhere near a direct course between any two jump zones, fish for two days and hope that an enemy would bite, mistaking the lifesigns of the miros for its crew.
Worried about the reported power loss in the sonliri message and premature detection of the torpedoes, they had been put in shielded containers in the raider's cargo bay and were rigged with backup triggers that would spring on loss of the ship's power and activate mechanical and chemical detonators that were on a timer.
The enemy use of FRB transmissions meant that New Moon, Lunar Eclipse and Moonless Night could not use them, since the enemy would most likely detect them. To prevent collisions, the raider was used as a point of reference. Moonless Nigh would remain on the raider's port side, no matter the distance. New Moon's position was anywhere below the raider and Lunar Eclipse would remain on its starboard side.
The convoy jumped into the next system on its route. The raider changed course and began to accelerate. No FRB transmissions were detected. For two days, the ships fished in vain and then jumped into the next system.
The stealth ships repeated the procedure. And again two uneventful days passed.
They jumped again. Almost a day passed.
"Torret. EYE reports single jump flash. No signature." A Paset on each of the stealth ships reported.
"FRB detected." Three Soroin at their COM stations said.
"Showtime." Each member of the Torret Trio thought.
Nine hours passed.
---
"Torret. Please come to EYE." A Paset on New Moon reported. Coldstone stood up and strode to the sensor room.
"Torret, A spacial distortion was detected momentarily about 10 km away from the raider and we received a series of very fast "clicks." The tozet at EYE1 said. "We only detected them because some of their energy bounced off the raider's hull. They're different to FRB and in another part of the spectrum. We think tha..."
All of a sudden an intermitted bright white beam fired from less than 7 kilometers away. It sliced off the raider's engine with precision. Simultaneously, the lights on the hull of the raider slowly began to blink dimmer and dimmer.
"That they're some sort of deep scan." Said Coldstone.
As programmed, the raider had launched a distress beacon the moment that it was attacked. The beam -even brighter now- vaporized it.
Ten bimas passed. And Wildfire began to sigh. All contact with the raider had been lost. The attack and loss of power had been so sudden that Starfall hadn't even needed to put up her act as Raoul.
The torpedoes were on a 20 bima timer. Half of that time had already passed.
Another three bimas passed and that's when she finally saw the raider vanish.
Seven bimas later EYE reported a detonation approximately 6000 km -6 Mm- away.
"60G acceleration! That is, if they accelerated evenly and all the way. Incredible for a ship longer than the Union's flagship." Coldstone thought.
It would take the three stealth ships 14 bimas at 30G acceleration to reach that position, without counting the time needed to brake.
But since they had decided not to break stealth, they approached at 10G, causing their approach to take a lot longer.
The insides of the black ship's four major fragments were rapidly drifting apart. Their rotation made them intermittedly visible. An enemy ship that would now jump in and detect the distant fragments would, even when accelerating at 60G, take more than 8 hours to get near.
The skiffs were already loaded with Teidar, Soroin shocktroopers and drone operators with their toys, when each of the stealth ships approached a different one of the major fragments. Drones from the three stealth ships were launched and located several compartments on their designated fragment that hadn't vented.
The drones also detected several moving heat signatures in those compartments that clearly weren't miros. The laser turrets were activated and began to burn dozens of holes into those compartments, causing them to decompress. The crews of the sensor rooms watched as the heat signatures stopped moving and began to cool.
The orders of the loroi troops were simple: shoot everything that isn't a miros on sight. Don't bother with taking prisoners.
The last of the stealth ships completed the cleansing stage of the operation slightly under 70 bimas. The Teidar proved exceptionally valuable. They could fire at the aliens without opening the sealed compartments they were in. As ordered, they had sanzai'd to the minds before firing, but there had been no response of any kind.
When it became clear that the fragments were under loroi control, the Soroin, drone operators and a surviving miros were ferried back to the stealth ships and replaced by Gallen, Listel and several civilian experts. The Teidar remained aboard, just in case.
The salvage crews loaded any tech that they found laying around aboard the skiffs. Sometimes the devices still had an alien attached to them. Fixed terminals and other objects of interest were removed with grinders.
"This must be the ship's beam weapon. What an odd design." Hot Pocket thought while standing on the outside of the hull and near the bow of the tumbling fragment. She, a Listel and Gallen who were with her, saw how one of the skiffs hauled another load to Moonless Night and vanish as its bay closed. "Lets open you up and see what makes you tick." Hot Pocket said.
In another fragment, a Pipolsid floated inside its tight-fitting transparent bowl. The water filled bowl was placed on top of a hovering chassis that was equipped with an anti-gravity device that used some form of amplified and harmonized hypercharge force that he had developed himself. It also contained thrusters, life support and a speech interface. On the back of the chassis was a little container that read "Bubbly's Delicious Fishy Snacks".
Its real name consisted of a combination of chemicals, so it called itself "Simon". Nobody knew why and when they asked, it wouldn't tell. Simon was one of the Union's most brilliant minds. But brilliance often comes with awkwardness and Simon was no exception.
All Pipolsid were annoyingly friendly. All the time. Most understood that other races were not. But Simon suffered from a massive insecurity complex. Anyone around Simon needed to be very friendly and very uplifting to prevent it from becoming depressed and unresponsive. It was hell for many.
"My dear assistent, would you please be so kind as to disconnect the red connector next? Have I complimented you on your magnificent hairstyle yet?" Simon asked a Gallen who had been assisting him for a while and looked like she was going to scream.
Simon was looking at the ship's engine. "Fascinating" it thought. "We cannot bring all of it back, but if I'm right, we may not need to."
"My precious colleague, would you please do me a favor and tell the others that we need as many matching segments of the outer and inner hull as we can possibly get. Thank you. Especially from around the stern, center and bow of the ship. Again, thank you. This is vital. More important than any tech. I thank you in advance, valued one."
The Gallen smiled with a face that one makes when one has just eaten a -particularly sour- lemon for the first time in their life, because she knew she would now have to respond in kind. She then began to send Simon's request while counting to eight over and over in her head in an attempt to exclude her killing intent from the sanzai.
She could use sanzai, because now that it was known that the aliens weren't telepathic, the sanzai ban had been lifted. Sixteen hours later the away teams were ordered back to the fully laden ships and dozens of torpedoes were fired at the debris to remove all traces.
Hours later the ships had jumped out of the system.
---
"Well, they're blue. The Doranzers say that their biochemistry does somewhat resemble ours. And we reckon that there were approximately 800-900 of them aboard." Said Emery while stepping over a labeled box.
Boxes were stacked here and there on the Bridge. The unused amplifier room and Humanity Land were absolutely packed. So was the skiff. Most of the spaces now contained boxes and loose tech.
Rows of dead aliens were hanging in the galley's freezer. To the surprise of many, Chef had freaked out when she saw them. The dining room was unusable, as were the officers' cabins. They, like part of the crew would now have to hot bunk.
"And they're carnivorous. Two rows of triangular slicing teeth, a circular mouth, strong mouth and neck muscles, two legs, four arms. The lower arms look like they can double as an extra pair of legs. Large brains. Larger than ours. They're about 5 feet 3 inches standing erect without their arms up." Fray sent to Wildfire.
"Bridge, EYE. Jump flash at our exit jump zone. No signature."
"Youre too late." Wildfire thought. "We have what we came for."
---
Several weeks later the stealth ships docked at Mezan Orbital Shipyard and began unloading the loot.
Several more weeks passed. Raoul's confession had proven to be most valuable. The Loroi Navy and T.C.A. had found and destroyed the second raider base and 24 raiders in a joint operation a week earlier. Four of the 24 raiders had been destroyed by the T.C.A. forces. Mainly because the Loroi had taken pity on the slowpokes and decided to "let the humans have a few of the smaller ones".
---
Several more weeks had passed since the stealth ships had returned and scientists were giving a presentation about the operation and salvaged tech to an exclusive audience. Simon had been selected to present this part of the presentation, but it had become intimidated and had hovered off at the last moment.
And thus Hot Pocket had stepped forward to take its place. And so she now stood before torrai, councillors, ambassadors, politicians, members of the intelligence community, scientists and other high-ranking guests from the Loroi Union and Historian Collective.
She was not impressed.
She began. "The entire ship's hull is part of the propulsion system. Note its perfect symmetry: an ellipse almost thrice the length of its beam. The entire hull is also part of the main weapon. There were two cores that we don't understand. We salvaged one. We think that they somehow connect to hyperspace and open up a rift."
"After opening that rift, hyperspace or something within it then begins to flow through shielded parts between the outer and inner hulls. The cores are located at the front and the stern of the ship and so are the two weapons. When firing, the "hyperspace energy" is channeled to the projector -the weapon- that then emits it as a beam."
Several torrai looked at the historian construct that was also in the hall.
"Eh? Ah, yes.. Enlarging a one-dimensional entity, a.. superstring, by using the extremely high and fortunately also extremely local gravity of a number of artificial micro-singularities, will create an adjustable rift to hyperspace. This can be done in a core. The hyperspace rift can be extended, guided, shaped and manipulated by using strong gravity fields that produce vibrations at superstring wavelengths. About 10^-33 centimeters."
"As you know hyperspace appears two dimensional to us. Any distance through it is traversed instantly. The shielded space between the hulls is basically "filled" with hyperspace that instantly flows from one core to another. The space in between the hulls becomes truly two-dimensional when seen from our perspective."
"As you know, moving at lightspeed freezes time for the one who moves. This creates the illusion that space is two-dimensional for the one who moves. However, with hyperspace there is no time involved. Hence true two-dimensionality and not an illusion. And seen from that perspective there is only a single core. And space in between the hulls is a two dimensional ring. Like a cross section. Do you see?"
The torrai shook their heads.
The construct continued. "Ah. I'll cut to the point. Basically the ship opens up an entrance and exit jump point between its hulls and instead of pushing the ship forward into hyperspace, the hyperspace between the ship's hulls is manipulated in the opposite direction to achieve movement."
"Energy and proto-matter will form when a rift is exposed to our dimension and these can be focused one way or another. I assume that is what the beam projector does. It is new to us. Would you let us borrow it? We are very interested in learning how it works."
The torrai shook their heads again.
"Ah.. no? Oh."
"Wouldn't creating micro-singularities need a massive amount of energy?" A torrai asked.
"Ahm, yes. Much more energy is needed to create one than sustain one. The moment they collapse, the ship would be dead in space. The rift always needs to be kept open to provide energy to the singularities and the singularities are what keeps the rifts open."
"No fuel needed." Said the torrai who had asked the question.
"Indeed. Hyperspace provides unlimited energy." Said the historian ambassador.
"Mind that these micro-singularities are not black holes. Having black holes this size aboard would result in a detonation due to their instantaneous collapse. Are you sure that we cannot borrow that projec..."
The torrai shook their heads more vigorously.
"Aw. A shame."
"Ambassador. What would you say that the maximum acceleration of these ships is." The Torrai asked.
"Ahm, I will need more information to answer that exactly. But based on our ships, I'd say anywhere between 60 and 90G."
"Thank you, ambassador." One of the torrai said.
"May I see the previous diagram again." Asked a member of one of the Union's new species.
"You guys destroyed my art. You don't get to make requests." Said Hot Pocket. Suddenly all eyes were aimed at her.
"You hacked into our planetary defense grid and vandalized our sacred moon." The alien ambassador said.
"It was an improvement. It was art. Poop snorting awesome art. And you should have treasured it since it was created by the great me. So go plunge a fire hydrant." She said.
Coldstone sent something to Hot Pocket while smiling eerily and making a slow twisting motion with both hands.
Hot Pocket froze, swallowed and said "I would like to offer my most sincere apologies to his excellency the ambassador and humbly request his forgiveness for this outburst. Here is the previous diagram as his excellency requested."
"Coldstone can be scary sometimes." Wildfire sent.
"I know all about it." Fray answered.
---
After the presentation had finished, the historian ambassador agreed that the historians would offer their help, in exchange for access to the salvaged tech. But even with their help it would take years, maybe decades to figure it all out and create a working prototype.
---
More than six weeks after the presentation, an unmanned, A.I. controlled and stripped down freighter jumped into the white dwarf system that contained the enemy base and discovered that both the base and every wreck in the graveyard had been reduced to dust.
The freighter had been escorted by Moonless Night part of the way. On her way back Moonless detected a drifting raider. It was heavily damaged and disabled. The raider's hull sported a painted skull that wore a monocle and a top hat and smoked a cigar.
---/\/---
Last edited by G. Janssen on Thu Oct 13, 2022 7:01 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Chapter 11. Home is where the heart is
---
"I guess this marks the end of the mission." Fray sent.
"It does." Coldstone said. "The raiders have been practically annihilated, there have been no disappearances and the analysis of the captured tech will take a long time."
"So, as promised, every outcast warrior will be reinstated, every demoted warrior will have her rank restored. And since they acted with honor and professionalism, the three civilians who chose to join the Navy have been added to the ranks of the warrior caste."
"The Loroi Navy may have a male Neridi Soroin Paset soon if he passes his training. The Navy was not amused when they heard it. Their mistake. They never considered the possibility that we would recruit males and that they would choose to join the Navy."
"The Navy will make sure that he will fail his training." Fray sent.
Coldstone merely smiled her typical smile.
"Or not, because a certain Torrai Sillatozan will prevent foul play." Fray sent.
"Well, I did promise him that he will be treated fairly." Coldstone replied.
"So, what will you do? Be the head of your intelligence agency again?" Wildfire asked.
"I never stopped being that, but yes. We'll be concentrating on the new threat. The historians seem to be learning that we aren't the hyper-aggressive expansionists they thought we were and are cooperating to counter the approaching storm. There are some of them who think that we should inform the nissek and humans as well, or at least the humans." Coldstone said.
"Why the humans? What do they have besides lasers and 6G engines?" Asked Fray.
"They somehow seem to have more imagination than any other species we know. The railgun and Pod-chan were their ideas. Among other things."
Wildfire's face grimaced when Coldstone said the dreaded name.
"I agree with informing the humans. We need their out-of-the-box thinking. But for now, I'm one of the very few." Coldstone said.
"I'll stay away from the booze and close to Snuggie for a while." said Fray. "After all, I have some catching up to do. She winked. "After that I'll try to enlist on a patrol vessel."
"I think that I will..." Wildfire said.
"Go to Deinar." Coldstone interrupted her.
"No, I actually thought about..."
"Going to Deinar." Coldstone interrupted her again.
"What are you planning?" Wildfire sent.
"You'll see. Here is a list. It says where you will go, when to be there, what to wear, what to bring and what to say."
"Mo Tana Ggr.. What kind of letter is this?" Wildfire spoke.
"It's a "K". It's pronounced like "kkk" Coldstone replied.
"And this?" Wildfire asked.
"That's an "F". It's pronounced "fff."
"Here's a recording on how to pronounce the text and instructions on how to shape your mouth to pronounce the non Trade letters. Practice it until it is perfect. Consider it an order." Coldstone said.
---
Fray had decided help Wildfire with the strange language and go with her to Deinar. Wildfire took about two weeks to memorize and pronounce the words flawlessly. After that, they began their search for the location they had to go to. They had shown the name of the place to a driver of a hover taxi in the capital. She had entered it into the taxi's navigation computer, but the computer failed to recognize it.
"The Deep One's Hand." Wildfire spoke.
"Maybe it's a bar." Fray suggested.
A search on UnionNet had yielded many unrelated results, including some about a long dead human named Trump.
They tried the archives next.
---
The chronicler was thinking... "And it's on Deinar?" She sent.
"Yes." Wildfire sent back.
"Hmm..." The chronicler began to send. 10 bimas later a very old loroi shuffled out of the elevator.
"Meet Listel Saszet-Toza Deep Waters." The chronicler sent.
"It's a rock formation. Located here." Saszet-Toza Deep Waters pointed to a place on a map on the screen. It showed that the rock was in the middle of nowhere. "It looks like a hand that's clawing out of the earth when the light hits it right."
"Why can't Coldstone ever do things the easy way?" Asked Fray.
"Because this is her way of having fun." Wildfire answered.
They made preparations and hired a small aircraft with a pilot. Two days after their visit to the archives and with a single day to spare, they stood in front of a rock that looked very much like any other rock and watched the aircraft fly away.
"You do know that if that Listel was wrong, we're dead right? We don't have enough water to... Oh! Look at that." Fray sent. In the light of the setting sun the rock began to show fingers and a thumb.
"They're very eroded." Wildfire sent. "Well, I guess I'll get prepared."
She dressed up in a simple, rough woven ashen-colored garb, put a rope around it as a belt and took off her boots. Wildfire and Fray made a fire, ate something and went to sleep.
---
Wildfire was awakened by a sharp poke. "Ow, Fray, stop it. Tha..."
She was surrounded by dozens of armed warriors. Fray was still asleep. The warriors had arrived in absolute silence. Raw, primal sanzai from a few dozen minds streamed into her head. "BEFORE YOU STAND THE MAI. WHAT ARE YOU SEEKING HERE?" It seemed to say.
The words! Wildfire stood up. "Mo Tana Kida. Fei Kida. No Val Nes Ora. Wan No Veza Atar Me? Plei Kha Atar Me! Vas Neoul Atar Me! Do Thalnei Var Ora."
She fell to her knees as instructed and raised her arms showing the warriors the back of her hands while lowering her head.
"Den Atar Ve!" A voice sounded.
"Den Dol Atar Ve!" Said another voice.
"Den Dol Atar Ve!" And another.
"COME." The combined sanzai indicated.
The tribe wandered. The days passed. Wildfire and Fray had been told to walk all the way at the back of the caravan. They were given simple food. Strips of dried meat, beans, bulbs and water. For the rest they were completely ignored and had to sleep away from the campfires.
Once, Fray had stepped in front of one of the tribe's warriors to ask something and had found herself lying on the ground 1.5 solons later, with the warrior looking down at her while resting her hand on the hilt of her still sheathed blade.
"Well, isn't this fun?" Fray had sent.
"I know where we're going. Wildfire sent. "It's where it all began."
Ten days after the Mai had picked up Fray and Wildfire, they arrived at the edge of the burial grounds. The Mai were the last to arrive. The Ora, Ban and Asi were already there.
"This is all for us?" Fray asked.
"No." Wildfire responded. "The five -four now- ancient tribes all meet here every 5 years. Otherwise a tribe only comes here for funerals.
The two were approached by an elder.
"FOLLOW." The elder's sanzai indicated.
They walked to the Ban camp. Behind them followed the three Mai who had spoken. A Ban elder greeted the Mai elder at the edge of their camp and they were let in.
The Ban elder sent an image of a circle.
Wildfire didn't get it straight away.
"She asks you to repeat your plea." A familiar mind somewhere in the crowd sent.
And again Wildfire repeated the words.
"Mo Tana Kida. Fei Kida. No Val Nes Ora. Wan No Veza Atar Me? Plei Kha Atar Me! Vas Neoul Atar Me! Do Thalnei Var Ora."
And again she fell to her knees, raising her arms in a way that showed the warriors the back of her hands while lowering her head.
"Den Atar Ve!" A familiar voice sounded.
"Den Dol Atar Ve!" Another one said.
This time it was the Ban elder who sanzai'd the duo to follow her.
They went to the Asi camp next, the ritual repeated and seven speakers now followed Wildfire, Fray and the Asi elder to the Ora camp.
After an exchange between the Asi and Ora elder they were let in.
The Ora elder looked at Wildfire but sent nothing.
"Mo..."
"Not that one. The next one." The familiar mind sent.
"Me Sata Wahne Sanhira Tana Rasvi Vei Ora.
Sahar Sata Wahne Avira Seta Rasvi Vei Ora.
Sa-Sahar Sata Wahne Idhira Virmi Rasvi Vei Ora.
Me Plata Neoul Athav Me Tah Ora.
Me Desa to Rivasem At Tah Ora.
Me Veta Sal."
The elder looked at the seven warriors that stood behind Wildfire.
"Dei Zan Den Atar Ves! Dei Zan Neoul Athav Ves Sanhira Tana Rasvi." They spoke in unison.
The elder turned around. Other elders had begun to leave their yurts and were deliberating.
It didn't take long. The elder approached with open arms.
"Welcome home, Sanhira tana Rasvi vei Ora." Sent Asalne virmi Areiva vei Zan, a.k.a. Coldstone.
Wildfire was crying. Fray held her. "Home... I have a home... I am finally home..." She sobbed.
---
Coldstone was one of the last of the original Zan. A few centuries ago, just after Coldstone had reached adulthood, a plague had nearly wiped out her tribe. Out of many hundreds, only twelve survived. And out of twelve, only seven survived Deinar's predators. When she and the other six survivors finally found the Mai after their long journey across Deinar, they were first quarantained for a month, then taken in. After time, two of the survivors joined the Asi caravan and another two joined the Ban caravan.
They all had children and taught their children the lore and ways of the Zan. Some of their children chose to identify themselves as Zan, others chose to be Mai, Ban or Asi. This repeated with every generation. And so, generation after generation, the Zan's numbers grew slowly but steadily. And once the tribe would have enough members to survive on its own, it would split from the other tribes and create its own caravan. This is how all the ancient tribes had formed eons ago.
Coldstone had approached the other six survivors earlier and made a request. They had agreed after listening to Coldstone's explanation. And since a first plea to rejoin a tribe took a minimum of three backers, Coldstone had led Wildfire to a landmark that lay on the path of the Mai.
And so, the Ora were now confronted with the fact that every elder of a tribe supported Wildfire. It didn't matter that this tribe had nearly been destroyed in the past and was not yet ready to become independent in the present. Confronted with this situation, the Ora couldn't possibly refuse. Coldstone liked playing her little games.
---
Some weeks had passed and the tribes had left the sacred grounds.
Before they did, Wildfire had invited her diral friends to come and stay for the duration of her coming-of-age ceremony through Coldstone, who was never without a communication device. She showed Punch, Pebble, Emery, Sun and Ravine the fresh tattoos on her hands.
Coldstone had left with her tribe. "We'll meet again soon enough." She had said. Fray had stuck around and slept in Wildfire's family yurt. Sun and company had brought their own tents.
When Wildfire wanted to invite her diral friends, she didn't know if it was allowed, but her mother had told her that she could. Her mother had also made it clear that Wildfire was free to come and go as she pleased, but that she and her friends had to adhere to the rules and traditions of the tribe while they were inside the camp or with the caravan. Wildfire would however be allowed some leeway since she was only a child.
"I'm very much grown up." Sanhira / Wildfire had responded. Her mother and an almost toothless elder had laughed and asked her to show the proof.
It was then that Wildfire had remembered Coldstone's words. She didn't have the marks of an adult. Just the two birth tattoos.
Her mother had also said that Wildfire would be taught Wasi, the tribe's language and Khinra -the Ways of Old- by the only two elders who spoke Trade.
"So now I have to fight to earn my first mark." Wildfire sent to her friends. "The second is given for giving birth the first time or, in case of sterility, accepting an orphan as your own or defeating a difficult foe. First I need to fight another child who is on the verge of becoming an adult and not lose. A tie is fine. A loss isn't. If I lose, I will be placed with the children until I try again and win."
"After that I have to fight a male."
"A male!?" Pebble asked.
"Everybody fights in the tribes." Wildfire explained. "The wilderness is not without dangers. The moment a child is old enough to hold a weapon, her or his training begins."
"If you lose that fight, will you be placed with the males?" Fray asked.
"You'd like that, eh? Wildfire joked and explained. "Males are allowed a favorite. They still have to fulfill their duties, but they can live with a single female who they favor. It's funny that we're more liberal in that respect than modern Loroi society."
"And finally I have to face a warrior."
---
The drums started.
Wildfire was wearing her Torrai Torret armor. Her 10 year old opponent wore traditional armor that she probably had made herself. Both were armed with a staff that was almost as long as its yielder.
The female child wasn't moving and Wildfire, getting impatient, decided to attack. The staffs connected only once, the child's head was suddenly between Wildfire's legs, her arms around her legs and Wildfire was lifted up from the ground over the child head and fell, breaking her fall with her arms.
The drums stopped. The fight had ended.
Her mother was laughing and sent her a sanzai message. It showed the playing ground and a yurt that was full of children. It was where Wildfire would spend her time and sleep until she would win. She could try again tomorrow.
---
Do they bet on fights in the tribes?" Sun asked.
"You want to bet on me?" Wildfire asked.
"No, on your opponents." Sun sent back.
"Let's go." Punch said. "It's time you learn how to really fight."
Punch had earned her name early during her diral time. Some of the girls had acted bitchy. Punch had responded by acting punchy. It had settled things fast.
One day she had shoved an arm deep in the throat of an attacking predator on pure instinct and made a fist in its esophagus, which caused the creature to gag and suffocate. With her other fist she had punched it on the nose until she was absolutely sure that it was dead. Not that she had needed to do this, but she was scared and punching things was what she did when she was scared. Its meat had tasted good after it was grilled. Predators are lean meat after all.
---
A week had passed and a somewhat bruised Wildfire was ready for her second attempt.
The drums started. The number of spectators had grown.
Another girl stood motionless in the circle, holding her staff.
Wildfire simply walked towards her, threw her staff at her and while the girl deflected it PUNCH! Right on the jaw. The girl went out cold.
The drums stopped. The fight was over.
"Brutal." Pebble sent.
"Congratulations, Torrai Torret Wildfire, hero of the Great War!" Emery broadcast to everyone while laughing. "You just beat a child and it only cost you two attempts."
"Shaddap!" Wildfire returned.
"Oh no!" Emery sent while laughing. "This is revenge for the cheese."
---
A day passed.
The little male was grinning at her. Gesturing her with one hand to come at him.
"Careful! They bite!" The oldest of Wildfire's sisters sent her.
Wildfire refused to humor the male. She drew a line in the dust with her staff, pointed at the male and sent a picture of him lying face down in the dust just in front of that line with a miros humping him.
That worked. The male ran towards her, planted his staff in the dirt, jumped and pulled itself up when the staff stood erect. He landed on Wildfire's shoulders and wrapped his legs around her neck.
"That's new." Sun sent.
Wildfire passed out almost immediately as the flow of blood to her brain was obstructed by the squeezing male's thighs and hands.
---
The face of her mother was the first thing Wildfire saw when she regained consciousness.
"The little buggers fight dirty, don't they?" The almost toothless elder, who was one of Wildfire's teachers, sent while laughing loudly as only an almost toothless granny can.
Wildfire rubbed the back of her skull. Something hurt.
"He bit you!" Granny said while laughing out loud.
"That little plunger!" Wildfire yelled. "How far can I go? Can I bite him back? Can I kick him in his nuts?"
"We need his nuts, dear." Granny said. "But sure, you can bite him. But I wouldn't, because females are not supposed to fight that way."
This time Wildfire was taken outside the camp by Emery. "Take my sanzai." Emery said. "Take it. All of it. Copy it and send it towards the male. And take these."
The next day Wildfire and the same little bugger were standing in the ring again. He was grinning, making biting gestures with his teeth and sending her explicit animations.
Wildfire concentrated and unleashed the full stream of Emery's memories of a certain event and the hatred that she had felt during that event, as well as every other emotion to the male in full graphic detail. And while she did, she pulled out the scissors, showed them to the male and began to smile.
The male turned and ran. Fast. Very fast.
The drums stopped. The fight was over.
---
Another day passed. The drums sounded.
Wildfire stood in the ring and held her staff. Opposite to her stood a female warrior in full tribal armor who also held one. The warrior was Wildfire's mother.
Wildfire let go of her staff and walked out of the ring.
The drums stopped. The fight was over.
---
"Do you understand?" Avira, Wildfire's mother asked her inside the yurt.
"No. You are my mother. I can't hurt you." Sent Wildfire.
"Can you hurt your sister?" Avira asked.
"No! Of course not."
"And your father?"
"No."
"And your grandfather?"
"No. I won't hurt family."
"But you did. The girl you knocked out is family. She is the granddaughter of my sister." Avira sent and continued.
"And the male you scared is your grandfather."
"Wha!? That male is my grandfather?"
"Yes."
"You know what images he sent me? He made it revolve by shaking his pelvis."
"Heh. He's always been a pervert." Avira sent and explained. "Understand that everybody in the tribe is family in one way or another. All tribes avoid inbreeding by exchanging males. That makes all tribes family."
"And sometimes we visit males from outside the tribes."
"Tomorrow you will face me and fight me. It doesn't matter if you lose. You most likely will. But you will try to win. And in case you lose you will try again. And again. And again. Until you win."
---
Wildfire was still hesitant and lost. And lost again. And again. But as time passed, a sense of comradery began to grow. She began to appreciate her mother in a completely new way. She began to enjoy the almost daily fights and even asked her mother to train her. And finally, after 37 fights, Wildfire managed to beat her.
Now she understood.
Fray and Emery had stuck around. Sun and the others had left weeks ago because they had duties to fulfill. "Let us know when you win. We'll meet again!" They had sent.
---
When the moon was full, Wildfire, twelve young females and one young male received their first brand. Like the others, Wildfire did not make a single sound when the iron burned her flesh.
---
She spend several more months with her tribe. Emery and Fray had left soon after her coming-of-age ritual had ended. Then, one day, a small aircraft landed near the tribe's location. Its pilot walked to the greeting elder and handed her a message.
The message was for Wildfire and was from Coldstone who requested her presence on Mezan's orbital shipyard.
Wildfire exchanged her tribal armor for her Torrai Torret armor that now showed three marks, said goodbye to everyone and boarded the aircraft.
---/\/---
Last edited by G. Janssen on Thu Oct 13, 2022 10:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
An awesome end to your first project. I enjoyed Wildfire facing off against her grandfather and scaring him off with some scissor horror stories. Question though: is this new four armed species technically Soia? Or a Soia creation? Also does the new alien spacecraft the team discovered act in part as some sort of portal/gateway since it utilizes hyperspace energy?
