Dark Fate, Chapter 62 (Patreon)

Chapter 62 – Plans

Three months until the aliens started showing up, and I needed to be ready. Really, I wanted it done in two, just in case they showed up early. I didn’t know the exact time and date the aliens would show up, obviously. If they spent some time stealthily scouting before landing, and I wasn’t ready when they entered the system, that could mess up my plans to draw them in someplace where I could get them. And that just wasn’t acceptable.

Of course, there were a few things that needed to happen, in order for me to be ready for their arrival. First, I needed a way to signal them, and taunt them into position. That meant both a radio (or the alien equivalent), and a translator, so that they could actually understand what I was saying. Because an unknown transmission might actually scare them off, or get them to land elsewhere, thinking that someone else had a claim there. No sense risking a confrontation when you didn’t know who you might be messing with, or what the rewards might be, right?

Second, I needed a way to quickly get around, in case the alien raiders decided to be assholes and not drop right where I wanted them to. Sure, I had my bike and van, which were fine for getting around town. The bike had even grown with me, picking up some new abilities along the way.

First, it could levitate a couple inches or so off the ground while in motion, allowing me to cross uneven roads or even bodies of water like they were smooth asphalt. I could speed along the bumpiest and rockiest dirt roads at full speed, without worrying about going head over ass. Didn’t do jack for undergrowth, or any obstacles in my way, which meant I couldn’t use it to go through the woods, or anything like that. I couldn’t suddenly just drive through trees or anything like that.

The second ability it gained was the ability to ignore gravity. Well, not ignore, so much as determine which way was ‘down’ for itself. Actual flight was impossible, and even ‘falling with style’ wasn’t something I wanted to try, since the wheels turned to face the new ‘down’ every time, so I would be corkscrewing around if I tried that. But it did let me drive up walls, or hang from ceilings, which was pretty cool.

Both those abilities were badass, and great for surviving in the apocalypse. But they only affected the bike, and I could only take one passenger with me on that. That was a problem, since I liked having a full team of four (well, five with the addition of Lilith). With a full team, you could cover for weaknesses and attack a problem from multiple angles. I had learned the hard way that trying to do it all yourself and ignoring the people around you ends up with a cursed dagger in your back.

So, I needed another transport, something that could get me from place to place. Preferably, something armed. Fortunately, the dreadnought that Lilith had arranged for us to have still had some shuttles. Unfortunately, those shuttles hadn’t been used or maintained for sixty-five thousand years. Sure, they weren’t rusted or anything, but ‘not rusted’ didn’t mean ‘wouldn’t fall out of the sky’.

Which led to my third thing. We needed a mechanic trained in alien tech to check them out, and we needed a pilot. A ‘home-grown’ pilot and mechanic might be possible, if I got them some skill books, but learning on the job would be more problematic than someone who already knew the systems.

Oh, I fully intended to make sure all my people knew at least some basic maintenance. The equivalent of being able to change a flat tire, and check the oil level in the car, that kind of thing. That was just common sense, you know?

And it was the same with flying. Once we were sure the shuttles would fly, I wanted all of my people trained to fly them. I wasn’t expecting them all to be trained in combat maneuvers, but I wasn’t going to have a situation where the one person who knew how to drive got sick, or injured, and the whole team was stuck. That was an example of poor planning.

THAT, of course, meant that I needed to find people with specialized skills, and make sure that I could be absolutely certain of their loyalty. I had some ideas on that, but I needed to check with Shadraus first. He would know if the System’s systems were fully set up, yet.

Fourth, I needed to prepare to expand and defend my operations. Once the raiders arrived, a whole ton of attention was going to get focused on me, and, even without my ex and the new Black Knight out there, I was going to have plenty of people coming after me for my stuff. Which meant I needed to be prepared.

That part didn’t really bother me too much. I had money, and money could make a lot of things happen, especially when you went through the System, instead of relying on what was available locally. I could use the System to buy up defenses for any properties I bought, which would make them extremely uncomfortable for anyone trying to break in.

The System was totally ‘pay-to-win’, and anyone who told you otherwise was a liar, or a fool. Thing was, most people on Earth didn’t know the right things to pay for in order to win, so that gave me an advantage. An advantage that I planned to use as much as possible while I had it. Eventually, people would figure things out, but until then, I wasn’t going to squander my lead.

Finally, I needed to get more allies, and make sure that those allies that I already had knew what was up, and were properly prepared. At the moment, my only real allies, other than my slaves and family, were the police officers in the System Task Force. Shadraus would be an ally, but being bound to the System like he was meant he was going to be forced to be neutral, or at least ‘neutral’.

Getting the cops up to speed would take work, but it would help in the long run, giving me a cadre that at least knew and respected me when things started failing. If (or when) the governments began to fall, I could rally them, and have a force of armed and trained people ready to follow me. Not because I threatened them, but because they knew me, and knew that I had helped them in the past.

And, through those police officers, I could also get my hands on other emergency responders, like EMTs and the fire department. Sure, their old-world knowledge and skills might not be entirely applicable to the new world, but I was looking for the mindset and mentality that they had. The kind of people who would run towards the fire, instead of away from it. Skills could be trained, but running into the fire? That couldn’t be taught.

Well, actually, it could. There were classes and abilities that allowed someone to mess with someone’s head, changing their attitudes and memories. I even had a few skills like that. I could literally give people skills they didn’t have, so long as they were my slave, and I had a whole slew of abilities that interfered with someone’s emotions and perceptions, especially when it came to sex. And Lilith had more abilities like that, too.

But I wanted to use those kinds of abilities as little as possible. Sure, they were very useful, if you wanted to get laid, or bind someone to you, but that was short-term thinking, instant gratification stuff. All of those abilities could be reversed. There were very few abilities that didn’t have some kind of counter. And, if those mind-altering abilities were countered, the person involved rarely thought kindly of the person who had been manipulating them.

No, using mind control, memory manipulation, or anything like that was something to do as little as possible. The only exception to that rule was my pheromones, but that was mostly due to the fact that it was a passive effect that I didn’t actually control. That made it something that I could more easily talk my way around, if it was ever discovered. Especially since anyone who researched Incubi and Succubi under the System would discover that tidbit.

At any rate, that was quite the list I had to plan and execute for, and I didn’t have forever to get it done. Some, like expanding my operations, could be more long-term goals, since there wasn’t much that I could do immediately, without knowing the size of the expansion I’d need. But something I could do was to set up a way to make sure the raiders came to me. And since that was the most important part of my plan, it was a good idea to start on it, first.

And where better to start looking for System tech than on the tablet hooked up to the System Shop that I’d gotten from Shadraus?

Communications Equipment

Item

Price

Description

E-34d   Civilian communications suite

200 gp

A   simple civilian-grade communications system, designed for connecting to   civilian communications networks. 12G Aethernet capable.

Ythran   Commercial Broadcast Unit

1200 gp

A   common commercial comms suite used by freighter captains for in-system   communications.

Halthdar   234-M (Comm Unit)

5,000   gp

A   military-grade transmitter and receiver, hardened against disabling effects.   Capable of encrypting data streams, and broadcasting in multiple formats.

Halthdar   233-M (Base Unit)

20,000   gp

Military-grade   transmitter and receiver, and functions as a hub for the handheld 234-M   units. Effective range is [5 billion kilometers].

Translator   Suites

Item

Price

Description

Ginvana   Suite

100   gp, plus 15 gp/month license

This   suite of translation software is commonly used by individuals traveling in foreign   territory to do rudimentary translations of spoken and written words in   real-time. License covers patches for updated translation matrices.

Sutra   3

2000   gp

A   common translation program, converting spoken and written languages into Galactic   Trade, and returning replies in the appropriate language.

Senka   Supreme

12,000   gp

Top of   the line translator software, trusted by the Uthdan League’s diplomats and   military alike.

Rhendar   Prime

4000   gp, 17500 gp for a 100 unit business license

The   most commonly used professional translation software in the galactic spur. Base   price includes the 25 most commonly spoken languages in the quadrant,   including Galactic Trade. Additional language packs available for extra fee.

Earth   Language Pack

500 gp   per language or 3,000,000 gp for all languages

*Limited   Time Offer*

A System-provided   language pack for existing translation software programs, offered due to   Earth having been disconnected from the System for an extended period of   time. This offer will expire in 0.85 Galactic Standard years. Can be applied   to all software packages currently owned.

This was just a sampling of the different communications systems offered in the System Shop. There were plenty more, but I decided to stop there, for the moment. The ‘civilian’ comm unit was out. According to the specs, it didn’t even have transmission capability greater than a couple miles, unless you were connected to a network. Not what I wanted at all.

The others, though, were far more useful. The Ythran setup was apparently the System equivalent of CB radio. This was going to be my bait. It transmitted on the commercial sub-bands, which, according to the bit of research I did, weren’t a frequency that anyone on Earth would be looking for, and they wouldn’t be able to listen in, even if they were, unless they also bought this unit, or similar.

That made it the perfect bait. I had originally considered just broadcasting insults to the raiders’ parentage and generally just telling them that they were a waste of perfectly good biomass, to try and get them angry enough to land where I told them, but there was always the chance that they’d just bombard the site from orbit. On the other hand, a supposedly lost civilian freighter, broadcasting an automated emergency beacon into the void? The pirates should think that it would make easy prey, and a good place to start their raid. At the very least, it would be a potential distraction to get dealt with first, one not worth blasting from orbit. And they wouldn’t think twice of why no one answered an automated system.

On the other hand, I picked up the Halthdar system for my personal use. Military comms would give my group an edge, when things eventually came to more intense fighting. I picked up fifty of the hand-held units, and the hub. I only planned on having four, maybe five, of the units active at the moment, but I got all fifty for future-proofing and replacement purposes. I would keep one on me at all times, one would be present at the house, and another on Lilith’s ship, and one I would give to Detective Austin, so the task force could more easily contact me, if there was more trouble they needed me to handle. Maybe one more, for if a group was going out, so they could call for help if needed.

That just left the translation software. I paid the business license for the Rhendar Prime translation software to put on the Halthdar systems, and also picked up the Sutra 3, to put on the ‘distress beacon’ for the bait. I also shelled out the hefty sum for the Earth Languages pack, which was kind of a steal, considering that there were over 7000 languages on Earth, and this would help translate written and spoken words. Plus whatever got included in the software packages, themselves.

The whole cost came to just a bit over 3.14 million gold, but I felt it was worth every single coin. The military handsets would set my team up with secure comms for a while to come, and the ‘beacon’ was a little expensive, but it should be throwing off all the right signals to be believable.

Now, I just needed someplace to put it, since I wasn’t going to put it in my house!