Dark Fate, Book 18 Prologue (Patreon)

Prologue – Trade Chat

(North American System Information Exchange Forum, formerly Community Building and Civil Defense Chat)

abby_gail, bento, RainyDayze, GringottsGoblin, DoritoMan, D.VaLuvr69, Carion, RadicalEdward, FusionGal, NotACop, Scholar, RamblingWreck, Anonymous4, Anonymous6, RedShift, SevenNationArmy, DarkLord, BagOTrix, White_Queen, Faraday, BackpageGal, FullServiceMassage, daytrader, LinaLuv, Skippy, shadow_clone23, THE_MERCHANT, jenny8675309, Rabbit, Angelus and Tracker are in the chat.

shadow_clone23: Well, things look like they are calming down in the Middle East. At the very least, it looks like everyone is very concerned with not being the ones to start trouble.

Angelus: Well, the threat of antimatter bombs dropping on your head tends to make people rethink their actions.

DoritoMan: The population of Israel dropped by almost 5% in a single afternoon. There are entire sections of the country which have been completely sterilized. To make the area livable again, you’d need to break through the glass, and then bring in fertile soil from elsewhere, since the bacteria and everything are just dead. Not to mention clearing away the rubble of entire cities.

Angelus: The only fortunate thing about the whole mess is that the radiation flash-sterilizing the whole area killed off most of the bacteria, bugs, and other such things that help with decomposition. So, any bodies that didn’t get burnt in fires are getting mummified by the dry heat, and you have less risk of contagious diseases spreading from too many corpses in the area.

Carion: Sad day when that is the good news.

Skippy: Did you see that DarkLord has been making the rounds with different diplomats? I think he’s had meetings with diplomats from at least thirteen countries in the last couple weeks.

DarkLord: And I’m sitting at a respectable fifteen assassination attempts since my intervention in the Middle East.

Tracker: Fifteen? I’d only seen reports of seven. All in the same day.

DarkLord: Yes, that would have been from the day with eight assassination attempts. The bombing plot wasn’t state-sanctioned, because the fools signed contracts which ended up enslaving them the moment they armed their bombs, with included orders that made them then disarm the bombs and report to the authorities for processing.

Rabbit: How do you know they weren’t state-sponsored?

DarkLord: Because all the nation-states that are worth a damn already know that I have protections like that in place. Which is why they went for methods that didn’t cause problems with the contracts they signed to get onto Ceres.

Tracker: But the others were still able to attack you?

DarkLord: There is nothing in the contract prohibiting someone from attacking me, or even requiring them to follow the laws of Ceres. However, there is language which has consequences if they attempt to do things that would cause major damage to the station, or to the kingdom, or would cause mass casualties.

Skippy: So, what were all the attempts, then?

DarkLord: Four snipers, three groups of assailants, one group of bombers, five attempted poisonings, and two ritual magic attacks.

Tracker: And they all failed?

DarkLord: Obviously. More importantly, they all failed to even scratch my skin.

Scholar: Are you invulnerable, or something?

DarkLord: Oh, no. But I am a Demon King. That has benefits to it, you know.

RedShift: Oh, wait! So that’s why the demon that got summoned when you showed up at the CSL was so powerful! The creature summoned to fight in the Master’s Challenge is always equal level to the Master doing the summoning!

LinaLuv: Yes, it was a big shock to everyone. Especially me. That definitely was a Tier 2 creature.

RainyDayze: Ooh, are you the ring girl for the CSL? Love watching you work! So, how was our DarkLord? How did he compare to the other Masters you’ve fucked in the CSL?

LinaLuv: Yes, that’s me. And let’s just say that none of the other Masters were literal sex demons, so it would be rude of me to compare them.

Rabbit: So, did you know it was him before he revealed himself?

LinaLuv: No. I had no idea. Obviously, I knew he was hiding things, what with the John Doe name, but I didn’t know who he was until he transformed, and I heard him speak with his own voice. Of course, I was then having to worry about how he grew several inches while he was in my mouth!

DarkLord: You did a very good job, though. I’m told that you earned yourself a nice bonus from the royalties, too.

LinaLuv: Yeah, a ton of people bought download rights after they heard you were in the episode. Enough that I was able to shave a year and a half off of my contract!

FusionGal: So, you’re a contract slave, then?

LinaLuv: Yeah, sold myself for a ten-year term to get a class change and trip out from Mobile to Ceres. Copycat sounded like a fun class when I was offered it, but turned out to be a bit of a dud, so I was getting desperate for a while.

DarkLord: Yes, Copycat is one of those classes that requires support to truly shine. There are other, similar classes which also can give you incredible powers, getting a mix of abilities that other classes just wouldn’t be able to pull off, but you have to be exposed to the abilities first.

D.VaLuvr69: Guys! Guys! The Hellspawn just did a quick jump to warp! And it looks like the fighters around Ceres and the Mercurialare going into a frenzy!

Scholar: I just got an alert. Sounds like there was a ‘stitch event’ in the system. More alien visitors?

Rabbit: Friend or foe, though?

Scholar: HOLY HELL, WHAT IS THAT?

FusionGal: What?

Scholar: My instruments just went haywire. Something’s happening near Mars!

DarkLord: A ship from the pirate clan we fought earlier has entered the system near Pluto, wishing to talk. Simultaneously, a Hellspace rift has opened near Mars. One ship exiting the rift. Fighters and bombers are moving to intercept the mystery ship, while Hellspawn escorts the pirate vessel to Ceres.

shadow_clone23: Is this my fault for saying things were calming down?