Kick the Sphere 18 (Patreon)

TurboTax tried to make me pay over 3k in taxes … which was a tax rate of 68% on my taxable income. Wtf. Ending up mailing it on my own.

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Kick the Sphere

Chapter 18

-VB-

Free Worlds League

Atreus System

Atreus III

Office of Precentor Atreus

“What?”

Precentor Atreus stared at the Precentor who had been part of the backup for the subjugation fleet. Unlike the Scavenger Houses, ComStar prided itself in being thorough in all things it did. HPGs, at the very minimum, needed that kind of dedication to keep in shape outside of the hidden worlds.

Such a level of dedication also included how the ROM operated, and that meant that people weren’t sent to fight someone with any less than ninety percent chance of success, and anything less than that had back-ups.

So why was the backup here without the primary force and why was he terrified?

“The disguised fleet did not reach its destination,” the Com Guard Precentor muttered, his red insignia flashing in the light of the room while he stood at ease but with his head hung. “Before the fleet of dropships and single disguised warship among them managed to land on the planet, they began to fall apart, and I mean this literally, sir. Their armor and hulls corroded away and spilled everything out into space.”

Precentor Aterus frowned. It sounded fantastical, but the precentor before him would not have come to him with lies.

“Then why did you not try to rescue them?”

“Because we had a fleet of warships hunting for us, sir.”

“... I’m sorry, can you repeat that?” Precentor Aterus asked incredulously, almost rising up from his seat.

“The target had multiple squadrons of warships,” the Com Guard precentor replied. “Their ships were capable of high acceleration, possessed inertia dampener of some kind, and had ship-to-ship weapons. I had to make the choice between fighting unknown warships that may be capable of high-speed maneuvers during skirmishes like fighters or retreating with Com Guard’s intact warships. I chose to retreat.”

“And how sure are you that the target’s warships possessed inertia dampeners?”

The Com Guard precentor grimaced. “It took them two hours to reach the outer system, which took our dropships days to cross, and stopped nearly immediately.”

“By immediately, what do you mean…?”

“Within a hundred kilometers, sir, with a ten percent margin of error.”

That … that was indeed serious.

“Send any and all data you collected while you were in Dansur System. If the data collaborated with what you said, then you did the best you could when you retreated, captain.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“... What do you recommend?” he asked the captain-precentor.

The man pondered the question for some time before he answered with utmost seriousness. “Wash our hands of them. At the rate that they have grown in size and technology, I am not so sure that the target is even an innovator. He may be an external factor from outside the Inner Sphere.”

“... A deep periphery state scout?”

“Potentially, sir. Regardless, even if he doesn’t improve his technology, the target has shown an ability to massively improve his industrial capacity and production. By the next time anyone else enters his system, he might even have dedicated cruisers as his flagship. Unless we are willing to expose ComGuard’s hidden naval fleets, then we will not achieve any kind of success in that system.” Then he gritted his teeth. “It seems that we have failed Blake. If you need someone to take responsibility for the failure, then I-”

“No,” he cut off the captain. “You did the best you could in the situation. Others may say otherwise, but I will not toss you to the wolves for doing what you could. No, leave the other precentors to me.”

“... Thank you, sir.”

He nodded. “You’re dismissed. Make sure to take time off but get that data to me as soon as you can, understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

As the captain disconnected his side of the video feed, Precentor Aterus leaned back and groaned.

Warships capable of near-instantaneous stops? Cross a quarter of a star system in hours?

What the hell was going on in that system?

… No, he had to stop wondering. He had to start making plans and find a solution that would not see the entirety of ComStar’s secret purpose ruined and centuries of work undone.

-VB-

Free Worlds League (nominally/historically), Unclaimed

Dansur System

Ugly Belt (Asteroid Belt 1)

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

“No, no, no, no!”

Then I winced as my latest experiment, a semi-automated mining drone, flew too quickly for it to stop and then exploded after smashing head-first into an asteroid.

“Drats,” I muttered from my first flagship.

Unlike all other ships, this one was large because it was a carrier. With light blue metal gleaming across a long hull and rough with sharp but blunted edges, MCS Rough and Tumble was part civilian and part military ship; it depended on what kind of armaments and drones it would carry.

See, I realized halfway through my preparation for the “pirates” that my tech would only continue to grow in number and height. Having realized this, I came to see that anything I made would become outdated in months if not weeks. I, of course, had to think of a way around this wonderful burden.

And then I came upon my solution.

Modularity.

Instead of making a single solid ship, I would make it so that all parts of the ships and technologies are easily interchangeable or as much as I could make them.

Being a carrier, MCS Rough and Tumble depended on defense and its drones (I didn’t make fighters because why would I use fighters when I had drones?), and for this, its drone bay and defensive modules - as well as the parts of the hull that held them - were easily removable once dry-docked back at home. Of course, not just anyone could remove and attach these hull parts, especially in this galaxy where people lost technology over time instead of gaining them. I built an actual dry dock for spaceships for that purpose.

Now, I was out here testing my drones.

These drones were more primitive versions of the squid-drones Lanteans used in their ships, but instead of making a kamikaze drone, I made fighter drones that were supposed to kite enemies while firing bullets or lasers at them.

Supposed to.

Instead of being a cool fighter drone, they smashed into asteroids and blew up. This was already the seventh drone.

I sighed from the bridge of the ship.

Testing sucked. See, it was one thing to make all sorts of machines that needed human input to work. It was another to write up software and plug it into a drone. The drone’s hardwares were amazing. Chef’s kiss, a la la, whatever!

But my software wasn’t up to par, and the Lantean database, while it did have some programming available, did not have actual “packets” of programming I could use. I’d been forced, as a result, to write my own software in the downtime from the Manufactory, and so far, none of the programs worked properly. What programs that did come, like that of the replicators, was part of the hardware production and I didn’t have the means nor the ability to extract and understand it. Sure, I also had the Magos-grade techpriest knowledge on how to make spaceships, which really helped with designing new ships without causing a mishap, but it also didn’t provide a lot of instructions on writing software for a self-autonomous drone! Worse, that part of my power kept insisting that I should lobotomize people and use their brains as the basis for my drones.

I could do a lot with the powers and skills I had, but none of them were for networked drones and it showed.

I’ve been trying very hard over the last three months to make this work without purchasing another power, but it was becoming very clear to me that I just might have to if I wanted to improve the infrastructure and defense of the Dansur System.

… Maybe after a few more days of fixing and testing. I could afford to do that, right?

-VB-

Capellan Confederation

Sian II

Liao Throne Room

This … was odd.

Even in the mind of Maximillian Liao, the movement of the pirates that had supposed moved into the Free Worlds League was odd.

Pirates were a predictable sort. They attacked what was rich and undefended, targets of opportunities, and, sometimes, undisciplined military garrisons to make off with whatever they could get their hands on.

Yet this “pirate” group that had his men narrowing their eyes - for what else a “pirate” band originating from within the League space itself be anything but a deniable asset meant to cause harm to his realm - did not attack Capellan space but instead skimmed the border before going back into League space?

Confusing, yes, but Maximillian saw through it.

It could not be League’s military; his agents inside League and SAFE itself reported that the pirates were not theirs.

It could not be League’s corporations; such amassed force would have been sighted by his agents far before they showed up out of nowhere.

It could not be Marik’s; Marik was pissed right now.

It could not be Lyran or even his more adventurous people’s; the former would have attacked League worlds close to their border and the latter would have reported their actions (lest they suffer the consequences of moving military assets without his knowledge or approval!).

It could not be the hedonists or the assholes; the pirate band originated from deep within League itself and thus there were better targets.

It could not be the Combine; the idiots with their bushido didn’t even know what was happening around here.

Thus there was really only one option and that was ComStar.

He never trusted the nerds because what ruler trusted a third party that controlled all interstellar communication? This also gave ComStar the ability to hide their tracks and fleet movement… which begged the question about where and how they got their hands on a fleet in the first place. Combine that with the rumors about some random League nobody who “somehow” discovered a way to make some sort of alternative to K-F Drive?

It was obvious that ComStar wanted this new “inventor” gone.

Well, House Liao was much more generous than the Earthers. He would send someone to invite the inventor over to the Capellan Confederation. Surely, the greatest of the Successor States would have something a man must desire!

-VB-

Dansur System

Dansur II

Marris Company Compound

In a small corner of the Manufactory designated as “Manual Assembly Plant,” two T-Dolls stood over a flat table with many spare parts on top of it.

“Is it done?” Karla, P38, asked Sabrina, SPAS-12, while looming over her “sister” as said woman tried her best to perform something that’s never been done before.

Before he left to test his drones in a harmless environment, Sabrina managed to obtain permission from their General to try and attempt to make more T-Dolls on their own using materials provided by the Manufactory.

After all, if the Manufactory could scan and print leftover materials from the General’s Supplies that led to their creation here, then as long as they had more of those Supplies, so could they, right?

That’s what she was testing out right now.

The [Supplies] also showed exactly why the General was in charge. It was not normal material - which meant they were not normal - and acted on its own almost once assembled to a certain point.

“Almost,” Sabrina replied as she felt a bead of sweat run down her forehead.

Part of that abnormality was how the [Supplies] gave her blueprints to her mind when she was touching them but didn’t the moment she stopped working. It was impossible yet that was how they worked. Using one of those blueprints, she was manually assembling someone that she felt some kind of connection with.

She didn’t know why but she felt that connection regardless. This Kar98k.

Sabrina was so very close to reaching that threshold, after which the copied parts of the [Supplies] would go on and start to assemble themselves on their own.

Was this how the General made them or was it different for him?

And then … it clicked.

She leaned back and pushed lightly away from the table as the last part activated the threshold for assembly activation, and she and Karla watched in awe as the scattered parts on top of the table - and from elsewhere - moved on their own. Screws spun into their places, riveters punched rivets where they were needed, solders linked wires to parts, and mechanical arms of the assembly plant kept the entire frame hanging so that these inexplicably automated tools without any wielders or automation put together a T-Doll.

Honestly… Sabrina felt a little scared.

More parts came together, some flying to join the new T-Doll body, and a body began to form. The limbs. The head. The torso and abdomen. Then a skin was pulled over the metal frame and hardware and hair grew out of the bald head. New clothes befitting a T-Doll came together and pulled themselves over the skin and hair.

And then the lightshow ended and the T-Doll dropped down onto the flatbed on her feet, standing despite looking like she was asleep.

And then she woke up.

She looked at the two of them, assessed the situation, and jumped down. Once she was faced Karla and Sabrina, she snapped a salute.

“Kar98k reporting in!”