New Age

[Laira Darkhold]

The ship sailed through Hyperspace, stars elongated into bright streaks as it slowed. Within a few seconds the blue tunnel of hyperspace disappeared and the stars had returned to pin-points as the corvette reverted back from hyperspace in system.

Dubrillion. The planet was known for very little, while its sister, Destrillion, was known for mining heavy metals for the past thousand years. Asteroids slipped past the viewscreens as the ship angled towards the primeval controlled planet. Interesting how the planet that was worth having wasn’t the planet the system was known for. But, it mattered little. I wasn’t here for heavy metal ores or valuables in the normal sense. I was here for information, which was much more valuable in the long run and to those who understood how important it could be.

“Are we marked civilian freight?” I asked from the darkness of the room behind the bridge.

“Yes sir. We have the dummy cargo as well. Once we hit atmosphere you are safe to jump to begin your reconnaissance.” This was the easiest way to get to somewhere you may not be allowed to be. Start there and leave. Security wasn’t normally looking inside the secure facility for people.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The ship slipped deeper into the system, hitting atmosphere and flying over the ancient site I sought. Weeks of research chasing a rumor of a myth had lead us here, and there weren’t a lot of people that knew about this myth, but there were enough mythological figures surrounding it that had been proven real enough to grant this one some feasibility in my mind.

Hundreds of years had passed and no one had sought out this little ship. This one ship that had been special. The only one like it and the only one ever to be exist. And it was the left here in a heap, a mere rubble after all this time. Ruins and pieces of a long dead ship.

I walked to the rear of the ship and opened the bottom hatch, wind rushing in with a roar. The HUD in my helmet gave me a clock, a countdown to jump. As the numbers scrolled down to zero, the color changed from red to yellow to green, and then I slipped into the air, free falling towards the planet as the ship continued on to the space port like it was supposed to.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The free fall from eight thousand meters wasn’t ever a pleasant thing. Even with sound dampeners, the sound of wind roaring past my head was impossible to drown out completely. The HUD had a little green targeting symbol on it where I was supposed to land, and a red flight path of where I was currently going. I was a little bit off, but not far. Close enough to glide back on target without having to use a repulsor thrust to get back on course.

Falling from this height took a minute, it was time consuming. It was also really hard to detect except through visuals, which were difficult to obtain. Even at these speeds the cloaking field blurred completely, it was still a rapidly falling, translucent glob. Once I had to kick in retros to survive the landing it would be easier to see me, but until then, I was pretty much in the clear.

Until then I hummed the tune to one of my favorite songs, occasionally speaking some of the words. “Welcome to where time stands still, no one leaves and no one will.”

“Sleep my friend and you will see, the dream is my reality. They keep me locked up in this cage, can’t they see it’s why my brain says RAAAAGEEE! SANITARIUM”

 

[Laira Darkhold]

As the red line approached I refocused, going back to paying attention as the song played softly inside my helmet. Enough to where I could hear it, but not loudly enough to drown out the noise around me. There was a small space between minimum radar range and minimum safe altitude to burn retros. A very small space, maybe one hundred meters, so timing was everything. Either show up on sensors like a fiend, or break your legs on the ground.

When the red line hit, I arched my back and brought my legs back underneath me, repulsors firing off, and thruster igniting a short burn to rapidly slow my descent to the ground. After a few burns of the thrusters and the repulsor constantly firing to keep me from dying, I hit the ground with a thud, but safe and unharmed.

It took a moment to get my bearings, survey the surrounding area. This was probably going to be alright. What all could be out here anyway? It was just an abandoned city full of wreckage that no one had cared about for almost a thousand years. Surely the worst was over for this planet.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Eyes watched from far away, staring at the shimmering figure as it returned to normal. Hunger coursed through the beasts mind. Prey had arrived. Different prey. The vong shaped creature slithered with unnatural grace underneath a bile of rubble its hundreds of legs guiding it between every curve and every gap in the rubble as it disappeared, moving on the hunt.

I walked around the place, using the scanners to look for the ship I was after. There wasn’t any kind of power readouts so it was slow going, using Sonar Mappers to try and find fallen ships from eight hundred years ago wasn’t the easiest thing to do. Furthermore it was just an abandoned place with an abundance of life forms. Overgrowth, small rodents, lizards, and the like. Boring in other words.

“But there’s no sun shining through, no there’s no sun shining.” I muttered softly in tune with the music playing in my helmet as the little observer probes buzzed about the place looking for anything that might look like my prize. The object I was after. It was easier to find bigger ships. Why couldn’t it have been a star destroyer or something? No it had to be a tiny little thing that made finding its wreckage difficult.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The eyes of the monstrous vong shaped millipede watched its prey from afar, lying in wait. It had been a long time since any of the bipedal ape creatures had ventured into this area, and normally they came in large groups and left in those same groups. This lone creature presented a rare opportunity of a special meal for the beast. Slowly the creature began moving through the grass as it followed its prey deeper into the restricted portion of the ancient city.

The observers had almost nothing to go on, every one of their sensors and mappers just kept coming up with nothing as they scanned the place and my extended range sensors in the helmet continued searching along with the back pack scanner I was using to search for this thing. Belt Runner One had been nothing in the long run of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, most believed it to be nothing more than a failed experiment even back then, now it was just a hunk of junk no one had even bothered to make a memorial of or cared enough to look for. I saw an opportunity with its technology. There was something to be learned from it, and something to grow from it. I was just about lost in my train of thought when my danger sense perked up.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Something behind me. I spun around, pulling one of the bearded axes from its sheath on my back and leveling my left arm out. Nothing. I saw Nothing. But I could feel it now. That feeling of something watching you intently that makes your skin crawl. Part of me wanted to call out, but then my sensors found it. A ten meter long millipede hiding in the grass. Its natural camouflage was impressive, and the fact I couldn’t sense it through the Force was interesting. Left over from the vong invasion no doubt. Who knows how many generations had passed since this thing’s ancestors were left here. I snapped off an ion beam at it, hoping to catch it in the head and temporarily disable it. Once that happened hacking its head off with the axe wouldn’t be so hard.

I was wrong. The ion beam washed over the beast and it reared up, rushing forward with snapping mandibles and chittering legs of chitin and insectoid fury. Instinctively, I lashed out at it with the axe, catching it in the segment of its chitinous plates, seeing the freezing effects of the ostrine turn part of it white from the cold. It was almost like a small section of the creature had been hit with liquid nitrogen.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The monster squealed in pain and anger as the axe froze some of the fleshy insides of the beast. It didn’t like cold, but energy was almost completely ineffective. Noted. Its mandibles and legs gripped the axes as strong as it could, trying to tear it from my grip. I held fast, being dragged around by the weapon as the monster reared its head higher.

The legs and mandibles weren’t a serious danger in and of themselves, but the coiling chitin body and heavy monster were, being more than capable of crushing a man like me if it thought to try that tactic. With my main weapon unavailable I sprayed liquid nitrogen from the cyroban gun at its midsection away from my hand and axe. I liked those things, I didn’t want to risk them.

The liquid came in contact with the plates and the beast shrieked as its insides burned from the cold temperature on its dermis. Not the best of days for the vong hunter. As it writhed, it released the axe and I swung the axe into its neck area again, hearing it shriek with pain again. This wasn’t so bad. It must have underestimated its prey and I might have overestimated it once I realized it was Vong. It seemed to be rapidly dying or in terrible agony from the liquid nitrogen freezing its midsection, and it lashed out, slamming into my chest with considerable force.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The blow sent me back several meters and landed me on my back, the wind knocked from my lungs. Through the corner of my eye I could see the creature rapidly retreating back into the grass, its back legs dragging behind it while its mid legs chipped and turned brittle, breaking under the weight of the beast. I sucked in air, breathing deeply, trying to regain feeling in my chest and checking my vitals to see if I was suffering from any serious internal bleeding. It didn’t appear to be bad, just a serious bruise and a fractured rib. Enough to cause a constant dull pain, but not enough to put me down for the count. Hopefully the predator was not so lucky.

I hauled myself back to my feet and dusted myself off, putting the axe away and looking back to the scanners. There seemed to be some luck while I had been otherwise occupied with the creature and getting air back into my lungs. Good, at least there would be something to check out now that I was moving again. I looked on the datapad to see where the pinging Observer probe was and took off in that direction, breathing shallow so as not to upset my cracked lung and send a sharp pain through my chest.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The walk to the pinging observer probe wasn’t bad, steadily gaining on it as it continued to log more and more information about what it had found. It was certainly a ship, and it was certainly old, heavily damaged, and had been overgrown with plants and small animals since it had crashed. Once could only hope this was the ship I was actually after, the data and technical readouts I sought still intact.

Once I arrived at the entrance of the ship where the observer had entered I dropped through, noticing that the exterior was burnt and it looked like something had melted through the exterior of the hull into the ship. The burn marks, while old, were fairly tell-tale signs of Yuuzhan Vong weaponry. Good. That meant this could very well be the ship I was after.

Crossing through the ship, I looked over each dataterminal plugging in the portable powersupply to each one as I passed. So far they were all dead. Rotten or having centuries of dust build up inside them keeping them from working even with renewed power to them.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Moving through the ship, I could hear small animals run for cover and hiding spots as I enter rooms and shined the light in them, seeking the bridge of the ship and maybe just one working dataterminal. I didn’t want to have to try and haul this ship off the planet when I wasn’t exactly a welcomed guest on the world. Finally I found a comm-station that had a working data terminal. I knew most of the data would be corrupted but the little slicer droid went to work hacking the system and searching for the information I was after. With it busy there was little more to do than wait on the droid to figure out what it wanted.

It scrolled through, saving as much as it could that was corrupted and deciphering some of the less corrupted information. I was really just waiting for it to tell me where the technology that allowed it to use its repulsor shield on far off ships like the TIE Advanced. After about an hour the droid beeped and withdrew its interface from the socket guard. “Well, where is it.” The droid emitted a number of beeps and whistles and floated off towards where it new I wanted to go.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I followed the little droid through the ship until it lead me to a structure beneath the bridge. According to the original readouts there had been a series and shield dishes and other components in this area. The little droid jacked itself into a central data terminal and beeped loudly, indicating I should attach my portable power source to this terminal. Apparently he had been able to establish connection, but as the system was off he couldn’t download anything off of it. It beeped and powered up and the little droid set to work, telling me through Droidspeak that this was the control system for the repulsor shield tech they had used in Lando’s Folly. Apparently, this was where the magic happened and the ship shunted its shields into the racers that were used in the asteroid belt.

It took the little droid a lot longer on this one, but eventually it accessed files of the technology and downloaded them, as well as operation manuals and system logs of the station’s usage in such a system so that the datacard that it produced could be studied and reverse engineered from schematics and user logs. The information would be useful, but I also wanted to make sure no one else came behind me and took this data. I didn’t have the time to fetch a bunch of grenades so I will have to hope no one follows behind me.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The trip back to civilization wasn’t hard. Mostly just a long walk with short bursts of flight back to the small city where the crew where unloading cargo as I walked up. Entering the city via normal means helped evade notice. I wouldn’t want people knowing the Foreman was on Dubrillion uninvited and didn’t really feel like sitting down with the Primeval and talking about things. They didn’t need to know me personally, and I didn’t want to waste my time or theirs. The only thing they had that I wanted was Wayland, and I didn’t think they would just toss it my way.

“Alright, I got what we came for, how did you guys handle everything?” I asked as I walked up to them.

“Fine, customs did a pretty thorough check. It was probably a good idea to actually be carrying legitimate cargo this time. If you have everything we should probably start looking at heading back for Bothawui then.” Was the response.

“Very well. Doc, come give me a hand. I ran into some local wildlife and busted up a rib.” One of the men in fatigues nodded and made his way over to me, calmly seeing to my injuries aboard the ship.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Bothawui: ArmaTech Research and Development Headquarters

I sat in the room while the chief engineer spoke. He and his team of highly skilled, highly paid engineers, physicists, and scientists had been given the datacard and left alone with it like a bunch of children being given a gift. And sense that time a few days ago they had poured through it, studied it, and began testing miniature prototypes and playing with theoretical ideas. But their time was up, it was time for a progress report to the boss.

“Well, you see sir, we are having trouble building a conical shield projector from scratch. It’s not that there aren’t numerous examples, it’s that we don’t have a large enough one for testing what you are requesting. The Belt-Runner tech is useful, and very helpful with the design systems, but it uses repulsor and tractor beam tech more so than shield tech. The energy type is different. We could replicate this, but it would be useless against energy weapons as is.”

“Well, that would make it useless compared to what was asked of you wouldn’t it. Tell me what is needed. Do not tell me you cannot.” I responded, dark eyes cast over the man. I could feel his spine shiver as he withered under my gaze.

“We need large scale conical shield projectors, like those made for planetary use.” He said, almost trembling. Sniveling worm.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I nodded and stood from the throne on the dais in the room. “Very well. It will be done. Have my ship prepared for me and I will leave immediately to procure what you require. Make progress in my absence.” I advised as I walked from the room. Most of the upper management within the corporation were wary of me when my mood was foul, despite the fact I had never laid hands or harmed any of them. I guess they thought it best to remain cautious then be the object of my retribution.

The ship sat in its hangar, as it always did. A small sleek black corvette without markings and with a false ID signal transponder for if I needed to travel discretely. This was not one of those times. This time I was going to the Corporate Sector and buying up product from a competitor. Well, not really. CoMar was basically dead, hardly existent shell of its former self. But it had what my engineers needed, and it had been too long since I had secure the corporate cities of ArmaTech.

Within a few moments the corvette hit Hyperspace.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Bonadan: CoMar Combat Systems

The room was clean and well furbished and the man and woman sitting across from me were obviously not expecting to meet with me today. “First, I am here on behalf of ArmaTech. Second, I am here to purchase things from you, not to sell you things.” They seemed rather relaxed. Knowing they were now small time competition in the scheme of things, visits from your over-arching competitor normally meant a merger, or take over was in the works. But if I was here buying from them, that put their minds at ease.

“I need several things. The SLD-Twenty Six Planetary shield generator comes to mind. I actually need six of those. In addition I need four theater shields and twenty four W-165 Planetary Turbolasers and twenty four V-150 Planet Defender Ion Cannons, all equipped with Tri-Trackers and advanced targeting computers.” The amount was relatively small, it was the sheer size of the objects in question that made them look at each other funny.

“Sir, CoMar doesn’t make W-165’s or V-150’s.”

“Then buy some off KDY and add them to my bill. Have them shipped to these locations within the next few days though.” I said in response, watching them deliberate silently. They were considering agreeing and charging me market prices for the weapons and then talking KDY into a deal, which would be insulting if I didn’t make their annual profit ever thirty six hours. Such knowledge made it hard to take such slights seriously.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

“Of course, sir. Is there anything else you wanted or needed?” The woman asked, hoping that was it. They were going to make a bundle today, and she didn’t want to let the bank roll walk out so easily.

I looked at them and thought for a moment. “You know, what. I have considered purchasing real estate out in the corporate sector, but each time I do I remember how far out on the rim you are here.” It was snarky and sarcastic, meant to be a little demeaning. “Just have my weapons delivered to the five locations I have provided and everything will be fine.”

The woman nodded. I had just spend two hundred seventy six credits and bought several very expensive planetary defense shields I was going to be installing into individual cities to protect my interests better and had saved their company for yet another year. How much longer they could scrounge around and exist was up to them.

I left the room and made my way back to the ship waiting in the hangar.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Bothawui: ArmaTech Research and Development Headquarters

With the delivery of the mass of major arms and armaments throughout the ArmaTech Cities and the Clan Hall, as well as major shield units being installed at those locations, and the spare having been purchased for it to be reverse engineered and torn down into what the engineers wanted.

Installation of the defenses at the tower made the tower arguably the most secure building on the planet. Certainly orbital bombardment wasn’t as much of a threat anymore. In addition, the R and D department felt better about being in the basement knowing there wasn’t a mass murdering killer droid down there at the moment, though he came and went without really talking to anyone sometimes.

“Tell me this is what you needed, or did I waste a lot of credits on it.” I said entering the main office already filled with a half dozen engineers and technicians. I could feel them waiting, already light hearted and happy. That was an excellent sign given the way they normally felt when giving me bad news.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The chief engineer spoke up first. “Yes sir. The SLD-26 was exactly what we were looking for, and we have been stuck together working on combining the technology since. Miniaturization of the system is unlikely given the sheer size of schematics and simulated models we have been able to produce.” He said confidently, sliding a few data pads over to me so that I could look and see what he was talking about.

I glanced over them for a moment before responding. “Very good. It was never intended to go on a very large ship as that would negate the purpose of the system. Regardless, how long until we can have a working prototype?” I asked without looking up at him just yet.

“Oh, that might be some time. You said you wanted a number of these systems and were planning to build a class of ships alongside the deployment of the system, and thus we haven’t requisitioned manufacturing space on Hypori and the R and D department isn’t large enough to handle a system of this size.” A woman in the group of engineers said. I looked up at her and then back to the chief engineer.

“Requistion what is needed, but I would like to hear an explanation of the technology as well.” I said calmly, adjusting myself to sit more comfortably.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

“Well, the system is connected to the primary shield generator of the main ship, capable of shunting power through the shield generator. Using a number of focus dishes, shield projectors, energy emitters, and energy transmission antenna the system can fire a beam of shield energy at a friendly ship.” The woman continued speaking, obviously the team leader given her enthusiasm about the project. “This shield energy is held in a condensed beam by tractor transmitter arrays, projection focusers, and seeks out the receptor nodes on the receiving ship. Once it strikes these nodes, which have been polarized to attract the beam to them, the energy daisy chains across the ship covering it in its own little energy bubble using the energy from the main ships shields.”

“One of the reasons it had to be done this way was to allow maneuverability while within the bubble. The original designs required lots of communication, precision movement, and exacting measurements from both ships in order to move the shield bubble properly with the recipient. The way it is currently designed, the bubble is emitted from the recipient not from the Shield ship.” Said another engineer, this one much more nerdy and geeky that the woman.

“The energy beam is invisible, but pings on sensors like a beacon, making stealth impossible. There is no sneaking around while this is going off. The multiple dishes can draw energy off simultaneously allowing numerous beams to be fired at once, at proportionately reduced strength each.” The chief engineer seemed to be trying to take back over the presentation. Either way I was pleased with the results of their test models.

“There are some drawbacks and some speculations about some anomalies effecting the system. First and foremost, the array is large and requires a lot of space. Heavily armed ships aren’t going to be able to lend their shields out. Secondly, it must target ships equipped with the receptor node or the beam is fairly useless. And finally, while the shield can be split among recipients, the generator eats all of the shielding of the main ship. We tried installing smaller redundant shields under this on the test model, attempted local area effect shields, and we caused serious energy feedback. This goes for recipients as well. If they have active shield systems when the beam hits them it is more likely to overload them than anything else, and certainly won’t be of any use.”

“I can accept these. Keep working on the system and let me know once it is in production.”