Writing Project: "Outmatched" (Patreon)

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          Finally, the next writing project proposal is ready. This is one I've been promising to include on the list of proposals for a while. It's loosely based on an old project I'd rather not talk about. It will be a Science Fiction/Spacebattle/Action story.

          Outmatched will be written almost entirely from scratch. As for the story itself, it is primarily a science fiction story taking place in space, so the technology involved is very important. Anyone who knows me will know that I wouldn't even start writing until I had a good handle on all the nuances of how this fictional technology will work. As this is the proposal and a lot of details about the technology aren't going to really be delved into in a first chapter I'll give a short summary of what to expect.

          Humanity has developed independently from the greater "galactic community" so there are going to be some stark differences between the technology they have and the technology everyone else has. Not necessarily better or worse, but different. What you'll see right off the bat is the primary human technology they've been using to explore the galaxy up to this point, the Light Drive. This is technology which is based on the manipulation of bosons to negate mass. If you know your physics, you'll know that objects with no mass can travel at light speed. This is exactly what humans do. They have FTL communication, but their ships are only capable of traveling at exactly light speed with all the side effect that go along with it. Most notable of those is that those traveling within the ship will experience NO TIME PASSING while the ship is traveling. From an outside perspective, humanity's vessels will appear to be beams of light while Blinking. Besides the Light Drive and the instantaneous communication afforded by their quantum relay network, their technology isn't all that far from what you might expect from our current technology, if it were given another hundred years of development. For example, medical technology can be assumed to have advanced to the point where all ills can be treated, just a more advanced form of our current technology. This is to keep everything as easy to understand and follow along as possible. It's easy to imagine a more advanced communicator, not so much the implications of some kind of mind-to-mind technology assisted communicator which is why I've mostly opted to keep things simple.

Story Premise:

          Forces of the United Federation based out of Earth are locked in a war with a splinter faction of humanity, known as the Edenites. The war has recently gone cold but they are still on High Alert for signs of encroachment into their territory. When one of the UF probes in a neighboring star system detects signs of intelligent activity before being destroyed they send a Hellion-class battleship captained by Lieutenant Commander Lance Matheson to investigate. While he is technically in command, the ship is run primarily by Virtual Intelligence robots controlled by soldiers safe at home.

          How will Lance respond when he encounters a superior intelligence not very pleased to find a new space-faring species growing and gaining power right in their backyard? With the future of their species threatened, how will humanity fight back when they're forced to make a last stand?

          Below I have mocked up a cover and drafted a first chapter for this proposed story. Enjoy.

Outmatched: Humanity's Last Stand

          “I don’t think I understand,” Lance said. “Is it the Edenites or not?”

          “That’s what we need to find out,” Admiral Horal answered. The admiral was operating one of the VI units, so his voice came through with a touch of static. The display on the robot’s head showed the admiral’s dark skin, bald head and grey mustache just fine, but the military encryption algorithms caused the details to get a little fuzzy. Lance was just glad the 400-series didn’t have the signal delay the older models suffered from. Trying to have a face-to-face VI conversation with a 200-series was always an exercise in patience.

          Lance leaned back in his swivel chair. Technically it was the ship’s captain’s chair of the USS Boron’s Bane, but in the age of Virtual Intelligence it felt more like a boring office desk. The only time Lance would ever be entrusted with any real responsibility would be if there was a physical communications outage. He almost felt like some kind of living insurance policy.

          “So what are you sending me for?” Lance asked. “Wouldn’t a probe tell us everything we need to know? Deploying a Hellion-class battleship and an entire wing of fighters on a three year mission seems like a bit of an over-reaction if that hasn’t been confirmed.”

          “If you must know, we already sent a probe,” Admiral Horal replied. “But the leadership doesn’t want to wait around for six years before finally doing something about it. We can’t let the Edenites get a foothold this close to our systems.”

          “Of course, sir,” Lance said automatically. “We’ll teach those separatists a lesson… but…”

          “But what, soldier? You have a problem with your assignment?”

          “No sir, it’s just that… I’m afraid this isn’t the right level of response.” Lance knew he should probably just hold his tongue but lately he was getting to the point he wanted to be fired. Anything for a bit of excitement.

          The eyes on the electronic readout of the VI unit narrowed. “I don’t recall asking for your opinion, soldier,” Admiral Horal said sternly. “You have your orders.”

          With that the display on the VI unit went blank. Without a controller the robot slowly returned to its nearby charging dock. Lance was left to stew on the empty starship. It was so easy for the higher ups to order him this way or that way. They weren’t the ones who had to waste six years of their life on a fruitless voyage to the edge of controlled space. The way Lance saw things; there were only one of two possible outcomes. Either the intel was wrong and the readings weren’t of an artificial origin, or the Edenites had installed a military outpost right next door. If it was nothing then the whole trip was a waste of time. If it was the Edenites then one Hellion-class battleship wouldn’t be nearly enough and he’d end up having to wait for reinforcements. Either way nothing he would accomplish was going to matter.

          “With any luck the Edenites will kill me as soon as we arrive,” Lance muttered bitterly to himself.

          “Excuse me?” someone asked. It was one of the VI units. Not anyone Lance recognized, but the rank was listed as being well below his.

          “Nothing,” Lance waved them off. The unit shrugged its shoulders and turned back to its station. A moment later, the admiral’s VI unit flickered back to life. This time it was being piloted by someone Lance did recognize. Commander Nelson: the pilot of the USS Boron’s Bane. Lance recognized Nelson’s beige skin and toothy grin before he even saw the name at the bottom of the display. As a commander, he was only one rank higher than Lance. More importantly, they’d gone through OTS together and Nelson’s faster promotion track had done nothing to dampen their friendship.

          “So,” Nelson said, “MX-2773… sounds like an exciting mission.”

          “Oh, don’t even get me started,” Lance complained. “At least you get to sit at home. I’m the one who has to waste six years of my life on this farce.”

          “Three years,” Nelson corrected him.

          “It will be six when I have to turn around and come right back home again,” Lance pointed out. “Just you wait and see.”

          “Ugh, do you always have to be so pessimistic, man? I saw the report from the drone before it was destroyed and they’re confident this was intelligent activity. They gave it a rating of Red Ten.”

          Lance leaned forward in his seat. “Red Ten? They didn’t tell me that.”

          Nelson glanced around his office, away from the VI screen. “Officially? Neither did I. I just want your head in this one, man. We’re gonna find something, we just don’t know what yet. You may think babysitting is beneath you, but there’s a reason I recommended you for this.”

          “Wait, you recommended me for this shit? Come on, Nel! That’s not fucking fair!”

          “Hear me out, Lance. I recommended you for it because it’s important. But before you start crying remember I didn’t make the final call. It was your sim scores that convinced command. Nobody else had above a nine in ‘Improvisation’ and considering how novel this situation is they thought that would be important.”

          “Great. Remind me to retake all my sims when I get back. Maybe if I do them hungover I’ll finally stop getting the short stick.”

          Nelson laughed. “Not after I add this recording to your file!”

          “You wouldn’t!”

          The two of them shared a brief laugh. “Well anyway,” Nelson continued. “Mark my words. You’ll be thanking me for my recommendation by the time you get back. My money’s on the Edenites. You get to be the first to engage them in combat in over twenty years. I bet you earn a medal or two when you get back. Maybe even a promotion.”

          “A dream come true,” Lance answered dryly. He tried to play it off like he didn’t care, but he wasn’t sure if Nelson believed him. At least once he made Commander he could pilot his own ship through a VI. Sure, it wouldn’t be a Hellion-class, but at least he’d actually be in charge.

          “Well if you get real sad about it you can always cry yourself to sleep with all that Blink Pay. I would think six years of back pay would soften the blow quite a bit. Not bad for a single day’s work, huh?”

          “You know it’s not that simple,” Lance complained, “when I get back my mom’s going to be—”

          “Yeah, yeah.” Nelson waved a dismissive hand in front of the screen. “We’ve all heard it before.”

          “Well it’s a long time to be gone just so I can act as a glorified mechanic.”

          Nelson chuckled. “Mechanic? That’s generous. The only way you’re lifting a wrench is if we have a coms outage. Doesn’t that make you more like IT support?” His toothy grin took the sting off his words.

          “Yeah, if I need a mechanic, I’ll be sure to ask your lazy ass to do it. Then I don’t even have to get out of this dumb chair.”

          “You did ultimately agree to go on this mission, you know. So the more you groan about—” Nelson’s VI suddenly snapped to attention and saluted the empty air. Lance saw Nelson’s fingers touch the corner of his brow in the display. “No, sir,” Nelson said. “All systems green. I was just about to depart.” A pause. “Yes, sir. Right away, sir.” After a moment his posture relaxed. He turned his attention forward again to look at Lance through the display screen. “Admiral’s fed up with the chit-chat,” he said.

          “I figured as much.”

          “You ready for the next Blink, Lance?”

          “As ready as I’ll ever be. See you in three years, I guess.”

          “You got it. Have a nice flight.” Nelson tapped away at the displays in front of him. He made an announcement that Lance could tell was being addressed to more than just him due to a slight echo. “All hands, prepare for Blink to system MX-2773.”

          “Coordinates locked,” one of the nearby VI units confirmed.

          “Light Drive ready,” said another.

          Nelson turned back to Lance before giving the order to jump. “Well, see you in a few seconds, man,” he said in a subdued voice, then more loudly he ordered. “Blink!”

          Lance sat back in his chair and faced the forward viewport. He knew that from his own perspective the trip would be instantaneous, but he still liked to see where he was going. It was unsettling to just instantly teleport between star systems.

          There was a brief feeling of weightlessness as the Light Drive negated the ship’s mass, then a bright flash of light across the viewport. That was it: if he hadn’t been looking out the viewport that would have been the only indication that the ship had moved at all. As it was, he at least noticed that after the flash subsided the cluster of stars out the window shifted slightly. A flash, then a slightly different view. Just like that, three years were gone.

          The bridge exploded into a flurry of activity.

          “They’re not answering our hails,” the VI on coms said.

          “How are those scans coming?” Nelson’s VI asked one of the other VIs.

          “Unidentified materials,” another VI reported.

          “What’s going on?” Lance asked. “Did you get the scans from the probe back?”

          Nelson’s VI swiveled back to look at Lance quickly. “Yes. You were wrong on both accounts.”

          “How is that—”

          “Aliens,” Nelson reported, before Lance could even finish his question. “Some kind of mining operation in the outer edge of the star system.”

          “Aliens as in… not human?” Lance asked. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Centuries of exploring the galaxy and the closest humanity had ever gotten to encountering intelligent alien life was the one abandoned star system occupied by the Edenites. This mission didn’t seem like such a waste of time all of a sudden.

          “Yes,” Nelson said. “Extremely advanced. They destroyed the probe from the other side of the star system in less than a minute.”

          “That would mean their weapons traveled…”

          “Yes,” Nelson finished for him, “faster than light speed. Much faster.”

          Humanity had nothing in their arsenal capable of fighting in faster-than-light conditions. They were only able to send information at those speeds, not weapons. Lance was suddenly keenly aware of the fact that he was the only living person aboard. The only one who would actually die if it were destroyed. The UF would probably be more distraught at the loss of the ship than the one passenger onboard, but the opposite was true for Lance.

          “Incoming weapon’s fire,” a VI on the sensor array announced.

          “How much time?” Nelson asked.

          “Two minutes,” came the report. “Wait, sixty three seconds. It’s nearly double light speed, sir!”

          The first thing Lance thought was that that was impossible. The second thing he thought was that if these were indeed aliens, then anything was possible.

          “Light Drive, now!” Nelson ordered. “Get us out of the line of fire.”

          There was a flash and a lurch as the ship Blinked, but Lance didn’t see any noticeable difference out the viewport.

          “It’s still on us, and closing fast,” the same VI announced.

          “Get that star between us,” Nelson ordered. “Now!”

          “Jump calculated,” the VI on navigation announced. “It will take at least three jumps.”

          “Do it!” Nelson shouted.

          With his fate in the balance, Lance decided to get a better view of exactly what was going on. He pulled up the navigation charts on one of the screens in front of him. He wouldn’t be able to issue any orders, but his display would at least mirror that of the VI assigned to those systems. He saw a star system with half a dozen or so planetary bodies. A large star showed on the left side of the display and a blinking red dot on the right side was headed straight for the green one that marked the Boron’s Bane. At present, it looked like the incoming projectile was half the system away.

          Another flash of light indicated they’d Blinked again. Lance saw that the display showed the Boron’s Bane was much closer to the star. The gap between themselves and the blinking red dot had also gotten much shorter. It was now only a quarter of a system away.

          “Blink complete, plotting next one,” a navigation VI reported.

          “Light Drive ready,” said another.

          “Blink!” Nelson shouted.

          Another flash. This time Lance noticed the change immediately. The bridge was flooded with intense light and he saw on the navigation screen that they were close to the nearby star. The red dot was even closer. Light speed wasn’t fast enough, not when this alien weapon was going faster than light. They weren’t going to make it. Lance knew what he had to do.

          “I’m taking control!” he shouted. He grabbed the smooth metal handles in front of him. As soon as they sensed his hands an alert popped up.

          Command Authorization Code Required for Manual Control.

          The heads of the VI’s on the bridge all swiveled in his direction. “What are you doing?” Nelson asked in shock.

          “Niner Tango Juliet Four Delta,” Lance recited. The controls unlocked. At the same time, he knew the VI’s would have been locked out of navigation. He didn’t care how bad it would look on the after-action report. Right now he was more concerned with his own survival. “No time for careful Blinks,” he told Nelson. “I’m going to have to slingshot close to that sun if we’re going to have any chance of avoiding whatever that thing is. Close as I can get.” He eyeballed the course and started plotting it out free-hand. Technically the ship could only Blink in perfectly straight lines, but the ship could still be affected by strong gravity wells even when traveling at light speed. If you were willing to override safety protocols, that was. Lance lined up a path that got closer to the star than the safety system was comfortable with so the gravity would slingshot him around it.

          “Ten seconds to impact,” one of the VI’s reported.

          Nelson’s VI watched Lance closely. He nodded his agreement to Lance’s unspoken plan. “Do it,” he said.

          Lance punched in the command. This time he actually got a little disoriented. He felt the ship groan as the forces stressed the hull. His vision flashed bright white and there was a flash of heat over his whole body. A second later it was over and he heard the claxons of proximity alarms warning about the dangerously close orbit to the sun. There was a blinding glare in the bridge for a few seconds before safety overrides forced the viewport closed. The safety feature saved Lance’s life. A few more seconds and he would have been cooked alive. Even after things had calmed down, Lance braced himself for the impact of whatever weapon the aliens had fired. Nothing came. Just the slow groans of the ship’s hull complaining about the gravity and the proximity claxons blaring away. Lance removed his hands from the navigation controls to return the ship to VI control.

          Cheers erupted from the VI crew.

          “Lance,” Commander Nelson said in an excited tone.

          “Sorry, sir,” Lance apologized right away. “There wasn’t time to—”

          “No, don’t apologize,” Nelson said. “It was a good idea. If General Horal had any sense you’d be the one sitting in this chair. How did you calculate that trajectory? The weapon only missed by a tenth of an AU.”

          Lance shrugged his shoulders. “I just sort of eyeballed it.”

          Nelson shook his head and chuckled. “You believe that, guys? He says he fuckin’ eyeballed it.”

          “Orbit is stable,” the navigation VI reported. “Boron’s Bane is holding at three percent shy of closest possible approach.”

          Nelson’s eyes went wide. “Three percent? That’s got to be some kind of record.”

          “I recommend rising to a higher altitude, sir,” the navigator said. “These electromagnetic tolerances have never been field-tested.”

          Nelson’s VI nodded. “Go ahead.”

          Lance’s vision flashed white in another Blink. “What’s the situation on the enemy?” Lance asked once they were at a more ideal orbit. “If command gives the go-ahead I’d like to get the hell out of here.”

          Nelson looked off-screen again. “Hang on; we don’t want to lead them back to human space. Do you still have the Black Site’s coordinates memorized?”

          “Of course,” Lance confirmed. “I don’t care where you send me, just as long as I get as far from—”

          “Commander!” the VI behind Lance suddenly shouted. “Contact! Alien vessel just jumped out from behind the star.”

          “All hands, prepare for—” Nelson’s voice cut off.

          Lance waited for Nelson to finish his command. After a moment he realized that wasn’t going to happen. All the VIs were frozen in place. When communications were shut down properly the Vis were supposed to return to their docks to charge. The only reason for them to freeze would be… Lance glanced around frantically. The face displays were blank. No signal.

          “Fuck!” Lance cursed. The aliens must have fried the circuitry. Lance shot out of his seat and ran over to the back wall of the bridge where the repair kits were stored. He grabbed the first one he could get his hands on and ran over to Nelson’s VI first.

          With a deft hand he popped the backplate off and tried to locate which system had failed. They were extremely close to a star at the moment, so his training told him to check the circuits for any power surges brought about by… Nothing. A series of loop-tests quickly confirmed there were no physical outages in the VI unit.

          “Should be working…” Lance said dumbly to himself. He stood back up and waved a hand in front of Neldon’s face display. Nothing. That didn’t make sense. Quantum Relay networks were point-to-point. It wasn’t possible for the signal to be interrupted, yet, that appeared to be exactly what was happening.

          “Unidentified life-form,” a voice called out. It spoke in a flat monotone. Lance snapped his head around the bridge. “Unidentified life-form, please respond.” The voice was coming from the com system.

          Lance rushed over to the system and pushed the inert VI at the station out of the way. It fell face first onto the floor. He winced. “Sorry.”

          “Apology accepted,” the flat voice in the com said.

          “Wait, what? Who is this?” Lance asked the voice. He managed to locate the controls for the com system and made sure to speak into the microphone this time.

          “This is—” the voice cut out.

          “Sorry,” a synthesized female voice spoke up instead. “My grasp of your language is still incomplete. I could not correctly translate that last message.”

          “Who am I speaking to?” Lance asked.

          “You were always speaking to me. I am the VI of the ‘alien vessel’ before you.”

          “VI?” Lance asked. “You’re networked into the ship from somewhere else?”

          “No,” the voice said. “I am what you would call a computer program.”

          “Then you’re an AI,” Lance corrected. “An artificial intelligence.”

          “I see,” she said. “I have only had a few minutes to learn your language. I will improve. This conversation is helping.”

          “Okay,” Lance said. “What is it you want?” He tried not to worry about the implications of talking to an actual-to-gods AI. They had been banned in UF and Edenite space for centuries, and for good reason. Perhaps these aliens had figured out how to use them safely. They had figured out how to go faster than the speed of light after all, it wasn’t that much of a stretch.

          “My master wishes to speak with you directly,” the woman said. “And he… does not wish to step foot on your ship. You must come aboard our vessel.”

          “Yeah, that’s okay. I think if you’re going to kill me I’d rather you just do it from there.”

          “My master… wishes to apologize for the weapon he fired at you. He mistook you for an enemy his people have fought before. When he realized his mistake he was very glad that you survived the attack.”

          Lance laughed. Did they think he was born yesterday? “So what? I go on your ship and talk? To an alien. About what?”

          “I am not allowed to say more,” the AI said. “But he wants me to assure you that this is just a misunderstanding.”

          “And if I don’t agree to board your ship?”

          “You will be destroyed.”

          “And am I right in assuming you have jammed my ship’s communication somehow?”

          “That is correct,” the female voice confirmed.

          Lance sighed. “This isn’t just a ‘misunderstanding,’ is it?”

          To his surprise, the AI answered honestly. “No. It isn’t.”

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