Volume IX – The Battle for Earth

  Prologue – Trade Chat

  (NERV Game Site – Official DAtS Offline Forums)

  Number5Alive, Golddigger, BurtBacharach, CrazyCelt, M.Mollen, DoYouEvenLyft?, MarcoPolo, MightMakesRight, l44tpally, Bennie, SEA-TAC_Sweetie, Lord_Kickass, Requiesce-in-Pace, MacD, HaveGunsWillTravel, Guardian, GunKitty, Chummer, Inquisitor, SemiSolidSnake, ElfMama, Not_the_Face!, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, Anonymous9, AggregatorOfSorrows, WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, Dolcett, Backlog, DarkAvariel, Knocker, Hullu_Kapteeni, GrimDark, BloodForTheBloodGod, Queen’s_Bitch, BackDat@55Up, DoYouEvenDPS?, MajorTom, Parca, and DarkAngel are in the chat.

  CrazyCelt: Damn, this civil war thing is making it nearly impossible to do business in the Empire.

  Chummer: What do you mean, CC?

  CrazyCelt: I’ve been trying to set up a leatherworking shop out on one of the planets near the Ihm border, creating designer leathers that have good in-game effects, for when people want some protection without looking like they’re wearing body armor. Standard crafter gig, right?

  Chummer: Yeah, pretty much the standard thing crafters do in any game. So what’s the problem?

  CrazyCelt: With the way the war has disrupted supplies throughout the empire, I can’t reach the markets like I used to, and I’m limited to the supplies I can get on the planet I’m on, which is great for hides, but the local fauna’s meat is toxic to humans, though it makes good fuel, and this is a swampy world, so food and medical supplies are the primary imports. I’ve been eating soypaste rations for the last month, and haven’t had coffee in god knows how long!

  Bennie: So in other words, you’re pissed because you can’t get coffee or good food without leaving your hunting grounds.

  CrazyCelt: Damn straight I am!

  Inquisitor: Well, from what I’ve seen, the war is likely going to end before too long, anyways.

  DarkAngel: Well, the rebels certainly seem to be winding up for the final blow, but I doubt the AI cult is going to just go quietly into the night.

  Dolcett: Damn, did you see the footage of the Alpha Centauri battle? I never thought about using the Gateways as indirect fire platforms!

  SemiSolidSnake: But how did they target them? You can’t get return scans through the gate, so they would have been firing blind, and the ‘brains’ of those missiles aren’t smart enough to form attack patterns like we see in the footage, breaking up to take on their targets.

  MajorTom: Same as when you use cruise missiles from over the horizon in RL. You have someone paint the targets closer in.

  M.Mollen: You have to admit that it had the value of never being tried before.

  DarkAvariel: I should have known you’d be involved in this.

  M.Molen: Of course! Do you know of any other stealth ships attached to the rebel forces? We had to go the ‘slow’ way, of course, to set up for the attack, but once we were there, it was simply a matter of the Empress’s forces opening the gate and firing the missiles through until the missile pods were dry.

  WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot: Well, that definitely was a solid play. So what’s next for the rebels?

  M.Mollen: As if I’d give away secrets on an open line! But, honestly, anyone who doesn’t know that there’s going to be a battle in Sol space is a damn fool. How that battle’s going to shape up? No clue.

  Anonymous9: Has anyone noticed that Imperial forces all along the borders, except with those around the Confederacy or the Gateways, have basically been stripped to the bones? It is a smuggler’s dream right now, if you’re looking to get goods (or people) in and out of the Empire without official notice.

  Backlog: We’re talking about a ton of ships, there. Where did they all go?

  Parca: Three guesses, and the first two don’t count.

  Backlog: Oh. Oh god, this battle is going to be HUGE!

  Anonymous3: You know, depending on how things go, we might walk out of this with the Empire getting conquered if the Confederacy or Imperium start getting in the mood to redress old grievances.

  Hullu_Kapteeni: That is part of the reason the Empress is trying to end this quick, and may or may not have opened her own channels to the Confederacy, at least, to ensure that her brother’s bad choices don’t destroy the empire after she’s finished disciplining him.

  l44tpally: You say ‘disciplining’, but I’m hearing ‘shooting him until it stops being funny’.

  Guardian: Aren’t they the same thing? Remember, this idiot sold himself to the AI for a version of immortality. You can shoot him again and again because the dead horse keeps coming back to life!

  M.Mollen: Well, until someone finds and blows up whatever facilities are used to make that happen.

  MajorTom: You have a job for us, then?

  M.Mollen: Maybe. A few things have been brought to my attention, and some of them will need the special care of the Black Star Marines.

  MajorTom: Oorah.

  HaveGunsWillTravel: Boss? What is this message we just got from the offices back on Dimiya?

  M.Mollen: Oh, that was just Requiesce-in-Pace giving us a heads up that someone’s decided to take a hit out on me, and they called in the big guns.

  Requiesce-in-Pace: A measure of respect given, to show it isn’t personal. Strictly business.

  M.Mollen: Yup. Don’t expect me to just lay down and let you kill me, now, but as long as it doesn’t get personal, that’s just part of the game.

  MacD: You’re awfully blasé about someone putting a hit out on you.

  M.Mollen: Remember who you’re talking to, here. I’ve had people gunning for me since I left Luna, and the numbers have only gotten higher. Travis STILL has a bounty of half a million on my head if someone can bring me to him alive.

  Guardian: Fortunately, we have been moving around a lot, so it is hard for bounty hunters and assassins to get a bead on us, which is why I guess he isn’t too worried.

  Requiesce-in-Pace: Yes, that was a rather large difficulty when it came to our mission planning. To successfully assassinate someone, you have to be able to either catch up to them, ambush them where you know they’ll be, or force them to come to you. M.Mollen is surprisingly difficult to plan for, even with him being a streamer.

  GunKitty: You can’t plan for crazy.

  Guardian: True.

  Requiesce-in-Pace: Indeed.

  M.Mollen: You make it sound like I’m some kind of lunatic.

  Bennie: Yes.

  HaveGunsWillTravel: Well…

  Parca: Have you looked at some of your ‘battle plans’?

  AggregatorOfSorrows: Hahaha!

  GrimDark: They seem to have your number, M.Mollen.

  M.Mollen: Fine, see how that affects things, come bonus time!

  ElfMama: Ooh, M.Mollen uses ‘Angry Boss’ attack! It is super effective!

  Chapter 81 – Event Quest

  (BSS Starlight Raven, Alpha Centauri System)

  Carissa poked her head into the cockpit while Sheila and I were going through the final launch prep with Raven. The princess was actually turning into a capable navigator, which was good for me. Sure, I’d set myself up so that I could do anything aboard the Starlight Raven that needed doing, but that didn’t mean I could do everything at once. Having people who I could trust to take some of the load was a good thing.

  Carissa, on the other hand, had become a very qualified Ship’s Doctor, even though we rarely needed her services. Her services as my secretary/manager, however, were a boon beyond compare, frankly, because she was a genius administrator, as one might expect of someone who had gotten to level 80 primarily through office work and bed work.

  “Shearah wanted me to pass the word that the engines are ready and everything checks out. Everyone else is set and ready to go, and we’ve got stores aboard to last us three months, just in case some craziness happens.”

  I nodded to her, and said, “Good, we just finished our checklists, so let everyone know that we’ll be heading for Sol in—”

  Raven’s voice cut in from the speakers, “Captain, we’re receiving a priority message through the FTL comms from the Dimiya base!”

  Well, that sounded bad. Nothing good ever came from priority messages just as you were about to leave port. With a sigh, I said, “Put it through.”

  What came up was a report on the intel my people had been sifting through when they hit the Empire’s black research station. The marines had pulled all the data and collared several of the VIPs, so the research and development they’d bene doing there was all ours now. Unfortunately, a lot of it was stuff that rated as war crimes. A couple of those projects would get you buried under a mountain somewhere if you ever tried to use one on the same planet as a civilian population! I wasn’t naïve enough to say that the US didn’t have projects like that back in RL, but having those kinds of things in my hands was a scary thought. That kind of power just begged to be used. Of course, doing that led you down the path of the bastard who created the Legion on Jagloth.

  Speaking of said bastard, it seemed his work just wouldn’t die and go quietly into the abyss. Before the quarantine, an Imperial spy had apparently gotten a sample of his early work, and shipped it to the Empire for testing. That much was to be expected. The fact that the Imperials had been playing with the stuff and developing it on a different design path was not, though I guess it should have been. Researchers get blinded by the research, and not the implications of the research.

  Event Quest!
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  Wait, what? I’m fairly certain I hadn’t seen a single quest window the whole time I’d been playing. I’d found all my jobs through in-game resources (like the message boards at dockside bars for freighter captains), or other such things. The company hadn’t handed me a quest since I’d first logged in!

  Event Quest!

  Doomsday Developments

  The Legion Plague swept across Jagloth and, in the end, forced the Confederacy to burn one of their own worlds to ash and quarantine it for the foreseeable future. The Imperials have obtained an early sample of that nanoware, and were making their own developments. Unfortunately, you were not the first to have access to this information, as your crews found evidence that the files had been accessed by the mad AI, Deus, and research samples were shipped to another location before you launched your raid.

  The Legion Plague is being studied at an isolated location (uploaded to your computer), away from prying eyes. Internal documents reveal that the finished product will be ready in seven days. However, special rifts in the area prevent FTL travel within the system, and makes stealth impossible. Worse, the base has a fully functional FTL communications array, and there are fleets that can Transition into the system within the hour. A large attack force will surely be discovered and cut off before they can escape. However, a small force, aboard a freighter making a supply run to the base, may be able to infiltrate the labs.

  Objectives

  Infiltrate Imperial research lab, codenamed: Botany Bay 0/1

  Destroy the Legion Samples 0/1

  Find researcher notes on Deus Strain 0/5

  (Optional) Destroy Botany Bay Research Station 0/1

  Rewards

  Experience

  Unknown

  Consequences

  Earth suffers the same fate as Jagloth.

  Event Quest!

  Oppenheimer Research Base

  The Legion Plague swept across Jagloth and, in the end, forced the Confederacy to burn one of their own worlds to ash and quarantine it for the foreseeable future. The Imperials have obtained an early sample of that nanoware, and were making their own developments. Unfortunately, you were not the first to have access to this information, as your crews found evidence that the files had been accessed by the mad AI, Deus, and research samples were shipped to another location before you launched your raid.

  Countermeasures for if someone used the Legion Plague against Imperial worlds are being researched on Salusa Secundus. The research facility is guarded by at least three frigates and a full air wing of three squadrons of fighters. Getting in unseen will prove a challenge, but the potential reward is great.

  Objectives

  Neutralize Enemy Ships 0/3

  Neutralize Enemy Fighters 0/60

  Assault Oppenheimer Research Base 0/1

  Recover Project: Thermopylae research 0/1

  (Optional) Destroy Oppenheimer Research Base 0/1

  Rewards

  Experience

  Unknown

  Consequences

  Those dealing with the Legion Plague or similar attacks must simply hope they can run faster than the Legion and that they don’t get caught in the Exterminatus.

  At this point, I would be loving some merely ‘not good’ news. Hell, I’d go for ‘bad’, ‘awful’, or even ‘fucking terrible’. Because it seems like the good boys and girls in the GM suite decided that I was going to get to go and save the world. Literally. Still, I guess I ought to make a couple calls before we change our flight plan.

  “Raven, edit the message we got, and prep the highlights for secure transmission, and get me the Empress on the line, highest priority, personal comm if you have to. If anyone questions it, just tell them it is a codeword Handsome Swordsman situation, and they should refer that up the chain of command ASAP.”

  I looked over to Carissa, and said, “Tell the others, let them know we’re going to be going on a solo mission. Full combat loads, including the spec ops armor. This is going to be our nastiest job yet, and those spec ops suits might be able to hold up against any… unconventional attacks.”

  Carissa went off, and I turned to my console, bringing up Captain Inatumal on the Shinokage. “Captain, change of plans. You will take the Shinokage, Wisteria, and Artemis into Earth space, and begin the survey mission. No ship is to get closer than thirty light-seconds to any of the planets or fortifications, and full stealth is to be maintained at all times. The moment you’re discovered, get out of there. Even if you’re not discovered, you are to return to Alpha Centauri within 14 days from now, so the commanders have the information they need to plan the assault. Do you understand your orders?”

  The Captain nodded her head. “It will be done, Master. Where will the rest of the Black Star Fleet be going, if I might ask?”

  “I have other missions that require their attention. Ready your crews, I want you stored and leaving within an hour. Mollen out.”

  I switched to another channel, bringing up Captain Suominen on the Simo Hayha, as well as Captain Am’Rica and Major Khan over on the Thunderfury. “Captains, Major, I’m not going to mince words. We’ve got a situation that requires the loving attention that only the Black Star Navy and the Black Star Marines working together can provide. Captain Suominen, you will take the Hayha, Shadowdancer, Thunderfury, and Vicious Return to the location I’m sending you. Your orders are to eliminate Imperial forces guarding the base, and clear a path for the Marines to capture the base and find the research specified.”

  Captain Suominen frowned. “We’re not joining in the scouting party to Earth?”

  “Afraid not. The eggheads have been going over the data the Major’s teams pulled out of Raxicore Base, and they found evidence that the Imperials had been experimenting with the Legion Plague.” I waited for the obligatory swearing to die down, and then said, “My thoughts exactly. One piece of information is that while one group was looking and new and wonderful ways to use Armageddon in a bottle, another team has been looking for ways to stop a Legion Plague if it hit one of the Imperial worlds. I need you to attack the base where they’re researching countermeasures, and steal anything that will help us. Because if we fail, then the Empress is probably going to have to burn out Earth, and maybe everything else in the system. I don’t need to tell you the potential problems THAT would bring.”

  After another round of obligatory foul language, I nodded to them, and said, “Get moving. I want you to hit hard, hit fast, and get back here before the attack on Sol begins, which means you have 14 days on the outside. The quicker you get back, the more of any countermeasures we can produce in that spare time. Captain Suominen is in command of the fleet, Major Khan is in command of the assault. I’m sending you all the intel we’ve got on the base. It isn’t much, but it is something, and will let you at least make some plans while you’re in hyperspace.”

  I closed the line just in time for the Empress to respond to my call. Well, I wasn’t expecting to be able to reach her immediately, so this was still pretty good time. She nodded to me, and clearly wasn’t looking to waste time. “Commodore. I take it something’s up, if you’re calling just before you were scheduled to leave. Especially if you went and used a codeword like Handsome Swordsman to get it to my attention while I was in the middle of a planning meeting.”

  I sent a copy of the edited data that Raven had prepared, and said, “Quick version? You know the utter crapstorm that happened on Jagloth? The cause was a nanoware virus that converted those it infected into a hive mind, all sharing the controller’s mind. Imperial spies stole an early version of it before the Confeds quarantined the system. In their infinite wisdom, the people in the black R&D programs decided to research it, instead of simply destroying it, and Deus found out about it. There’s two active facilities we’re tracking, one that will tell us how the AI changed the Legion Plague, and the other that may have countermeasures to stop it, perhaps even a cure.”

  I nodded as the color drained out of her face. With a slight tremble in her voice, she said, “Oh god, if the AI could create something like that, it wouldn’t have any compunctions about using it on the population. The damn thing would be able to turn the entire population of Earth into his slaves within weeks, maybe even days!” She paused, as the true implications came to her. “Oh no. We would have to do the same to Earth as they did to Jagloth, wouldn’t we?”

 

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