Into the Black

(Conference Room, Blackstone Station, Star’s Reach)

“All right, it has been a week,” I said, as I set down the now empty can of beer on the conference table in front of me, and looked out at the rest of the crowd. All the captains and commanders of the fleet, whether they were offensive or defensive groups, as well as a few other important people, were gathered here, and each of them had a similarly empty can or bottle of their beverage of choice in front of them. “Now that we’ve gotten our minds properly lubricated, it is time to go over what happened with our intervention into the Ihm-Imperial war.

“Now, I know you were all told this before, but I just want to repeat a couple things, so there’s no questions or doubt. This meeting, while in a very official-looking room, is not an official meeting. This means that rank is no issue. That doesn’t mean you can go out of your way to be rude, but military discipline or the like is not required, expected, or welcome at this meeting.

“This meeting is not for stroking egos, and it isn’t for assigning blame, either. This meeting is so that we can get together, and do an informal debrief. This was our first action with the full offensive fleet since the second battle of Nuevo Edo, against the X’thari. It was the first time that defense of our people and static holdings was left to the newly minted defense groups. I want to know what went right, what didn’t, and what we can do to make things better.”

I looked around the room, meeting some of the officers’ eyes. “We’ll start with the battle itself. We slipped into Kolriolia, and destroyed our targets, operating with complete surprise. Unfortunately, we were jumped by two Ihm armadas, putting us at a severe disadvantage. Thankfully, casualties across the fleet were minor up to this point, with no ships lost, and we managed to cut and run before the Ihm could close and stop us. The whole fleet performed their jobs admirably, and I have no complaints about that part of the mission.

“We were forced to flee into the Eye of Despair to avoid an engagement that risked pinning us between the hammer and anvil, but that did result in one bit of good news. The Hades, under Captain Zyllen, successfully completed her initial shakedown cruise in a rather more dramatic fashion than any of us would have liked. Captain, your thoughts?”

Captain Zyllen stood, and looked at the gathered fleet. “Yes, though we were running on a short crew due to the emergency, we were able to test a majority of the systems for the Hades. The different drive systems all performed just as we would wish them to. Shields, both normal and hellspace, exceeded expectations. Even after testing the primary weapon, the damage from the backlash was mostly minor.”

He paused for a moment, and then continued. “The main weapon of the Hades is a Temporal Resonance Cannon. Early test fires at low power showed that the cannon could stabilize Hellspace, and make it safe to use conventional weapons in. Looking over the readings from a full-power test fire, we can say that the cannon does a good deal more than just that.”

A voice chimed in from the audience. “What does it do?”

Zyllen took a breath. “The low-powered tests produced a temporal dampening field. Completely harmless. The biggest effect it would have in realspace would be to negate the time dilation experienced at high fractional c speeds, or in the event horizon of a black hole. In Hellspace, it simply calmed everything down, so that time ran on a 1 to 1 scale.

“Unfortunately, when scaled up to full power, it was discovered that the Temporal Resonance Cannon produces anti-chronotrons. Essentially, it is antimatter, but for time. The scientists believe that these particles are still produced at lower power levels, but not in sufficient quantities for us to notice. At full power, however, the cannon literally has an annihilation reaction with time, which is decidedly unhealthy for anything in its path. When we hit the ‘bubble’ surrounding Thraki, well, the effects were explosive, to say the least.”

I nodded once. “Before we move on, what about the rest of the ship. Any suggestions or concerns?”

“Yes, sir. Without escort ships, the Hades, despite its size and shielding, is vulnerable. We had six of the modified Crows ready for testing, but when facing a swarm of starfighters, sending crews out would have been throwing their lives away for no purpose. We need, at the least, our own squadron of hellspace-capable fighters and assault ships. I would prefer an escort squadron of some sort.”

“Valid. Obviously, the original design of the Hades was so it could attach to any force needing to go into Hellspace, since redesigning existing Black Star ships to include the hellspace drive would not be feasible. That was the reason we built it so large, so that a lucky shot couldn’t take out the one ship capable of getting the fleet out of Hellspace.

“However, it is clear that the Hades does need more help, especially if the main weapon is so unexpectedly… robust. While we have not yet found a way to miniaturize the hellspace shields enough to put them on fighters, we can expand the number of Valkyries to comprise at least two squadrons. When Hellspace-capable fighters are available, you’ll be the first to know.”

I paused for a moment, to gather my thoughts. “Hades will become the lead ship of Sixth Group, which will be a specialist group, like Third Group. New ship types will be designed for Sixth Group, primarily made up of destroyers and corvettes, since the priority is keeping enemy fighters off the Hades and intercepting enemy missile attacks.

“However, the group will be kept small. Sixth Group will attach to other groups as needed to carry out missions, but, as with Third Group, it will primarily be a support group. Its primary function will be both leading expeditions into Hellspace, and undertaking rescue missions, if needed.”

I took a breath. “Now, with that settled, let us move on to the more pressing matter. The Ihm Armada was waiting for us, in a clearly designed trap. Their aim was clearly to eliminate the Black Star Navy as an effective fighting force.”

I saw several people lean forward, suddenly very interested. “Why they went after us is obvious. We’ve been too visible, overturning the results of too many battles, for people to make plans without taking us into account. Our abilities are different from those of the more established powers, which shakes up the status quo, and makes military operations difficult, at best.

“The ‘why’ is not in question. The ‘how’, however, is. How did they know where we were going to strike? I’ve spoken with the Empire, and there were no leaks on their side about our joint plans. By now, all of you have conducted security reviews, and I’ve seen the results. There were no unauthorized communications or contacts, and no spread of information.”

I leaned back in my chair. “I have also checked, through my own means, and ascertained that there are no Nomads anywhere within the Ihm Imperium, meaning that our Nomads could not have betrayed us to the Imperium without using standard technology, which we just ruled out. This means that our people, both Local and Nomad, can be considered reliable, and uncompromised. This is the good news.”

There was an air of waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I did not let it linger overlong. “The bad news, of course, is that we have no idea how the Ihm predicted our movements. Until we figure that out, and find a way to counter it, then we will have to be cautious about any large-scale deployments.”

“Sir,” one of the captains, a human, raised her hand. When I nodded, she continued, “Captain Rebecca Smythe, of the Poltergeist.” I recognized the name. It was one of the Imperial-style corvettes attached to Third Group to protect the mobile shipyards.

“Yes, Captain?”

The captain nodded, and continued. “Well, sir, one of my crew has been experimenting with psy powers, and going further, based on the information you’ve provided about your own expanded powers since the first Hellspace breech. He’s discovered that, at the meeting point of Mind, Physical, Energy, and Force, the four main branches of Psy powers known to us, there is a sub-branch, which can be quantified as ‘Time’.”

The conference room went deadly silent. I did not need to reach out with my own powers to read the thoughts of the Locals in the room. They were written plain on their faces. Playing around with time? That was not something to do idly, or without some very stringent controls in place.

The Nomads, however, had a slightly different expression, and their thoughts no doubt mirrored my own. None of us had even considered ‘time control’ or ‘time travel’ to be a thing that was possible. How could it be? This was a game world, after all, and we were all masters of our own destinies. Weren’t we?

Captain Smythe continued. She wasn’t done dropping bombs, it seemed. “One of the abilities that my subordinate has uncovered is a form of limited precognition.”

“Limited precognition? Not just mind-reading an opponent in the Arena to get an advantage in dodging their attacks? Actual precognition?”

“Yes, sir. So far, it takes concentration, or meditation, to properly and consciously invoke, but he has gotten solid results for predictions up to one minute in the future. He’s working on extending that time.”

I took a breath. “What form do these precognitions take?” This was important. If she said the wrong thing, then I would have to go down to the NERV guys in real life, and start asking some very serious questions.

“The way he’s informed me, it is like one of those movies that plays out a character considering multiple possible outcomes, and shows the same scene over and over again, with different changes each time. That is part of why it requires concentration or meditation to use it properly. He has to sort through several different branching paths, to figure out which is the real one.”

That took a load off my mind. “Then it sounds like he’s not reading THE future, but catching glimpses into possible futures, and then sorting them until he comes to the most likely outcome. Not unlike a predictive targeting algorithm.” I glanced at the rest of the room. “I don’t know about you all, but that makes me breathe a bit easier.”

“Damn straight,” came another voice from the crowd. “I don’t like the idea of someone knowing my actions before I make them.”

I nodded. “I agree wholeheartedly. However, the fact that any level of prediction is possible gives us a clue as to how we were caught in the trap. No offense to Captain Smythe’s man, but I doubt he’s the most powerful psy user in the galaxy. More to the point, he hasn’t been augmented by a hellspace goddess like many of the ruling class of the Ihm have been. If he can manage a minute, then it is not unreasonable to assume that the Imperatrix, for instance, might be able to push that further.

“The Nomads among us half-joked that the Ihm must have had a Seer to be able to jump us like that. A seer, for those of you born to this world, is a legend from our world of someone who can pierce the veil of the future, and see things before they happen. In the days of mythology, they were often sought out by leaders in hopes that prophecy could guide them to victory.

“However, we had never truly considered that something like that could actually be possible in this world. With this revelation, we are going to have to work out a way to block this ability, and others like it. Otherwise, we put our fates in the hands of others, ones who may not have our best interests in mind.”

I took a long breath. “We have the cause of our problem. Now, we need to find defenses against it. Go to your people, and see if they have any ideas. This is the Black Star Navy’s number one priority at the moment.

“Dismissed.”