by Andur
I take it and study the thing. It's obviously an optical storage device. On Earth exist similar technologies. Of course this wouldn't do with a quantum computer. Much too slow. Maybe Earth would have taken a similar way as the aliens? Maybe they'll develop these zero point generators in future if we leave them alone?
It seems like our magic caused us to develop our technology in a completely different direction than everyone else.
But doesn't that also mean that the mage's way of seeing the universe is unique?
I focus a thin beam of light on my fingertip by using a basic light spell. Then I read the information on the blue crystal and task a cold and mechanical part of my mind to copy the information to a safe part of the quantum network. We don't want to catch a virus, do we?
When I am done I hand the crystal back to Ayo. “Thanks.”
The Zeen just looks at me like I am a marvel. “Did you just copy the entire information on the crystal to your network?”
“Of course?” I ask. “So to formulate a plan on what we can do to stop that fleet. Where is your so called home fleet stationed? We'll transport it to stop the Drazi.”
Ilian listens up. “You will do what?”
“We'll go to where your fleet is stationed, then we'll take your ships to a place where you can intercept the Drazi. Preferably in an empty system where they are fuelling up before making the final trip to your worlds.” I reply a little annoyed. It's not like I am really annoyed, but forging plans with slow thinkers like the Forlorn is tiring.
The Forlorn who seems to be involved with military questions admits his stupidity. “I don't get it.”
“Just tell us where that damn fleet of yours is stationed.” I sigh.
Ayo is the only one who stays up to the task. “It's the home fleet, so it would be wise to assume that it's at their homeworld. Which is Antares.” The military Forlorn confirms it.
I start giving orders over the fleet network. All our ships have to get as close as possible to reduce the necessary size of the teleportation sphere. Since the Coeus and the Forlorn ship are docked to the asteroid habitat they'll form up around us and the hidden battle station.
“All right. It'll take us about a day to go to Antares. There we'll pick up your fleet and go to intercept the Drazi. I think it should be possible to get them two systems further down their route.” I enhance another unnamed star. “It's possible for them to change course, but so far they are taking the fastest route. The system has a big gas giant with an asteroid ring. It's not only the perfect spot for them to refuel before they attack your worlds, it's also a good chance for us to set up a trap.”
I continue explaining the plan until the fleet finally executes the first transition. I want our ships to stay out of the fight as much as possible. The first problem is that our shields don't stand a chance against their lasers and I want to avoid scratching our new hulls.
The second problem is that I don't want to show the Forlorn our new weapons and tactics. They may yet turn out to be enemies. It's not like we were idle during the recent month.
Our people were very busy in playing mind games and thinking up ways to deal with a fleet of those juggernauts on our own. First, we are in the process of mining every gas giant around sol with stealthed nuclear rocket launchers.
The Drazi may have excellent missile defence, but there is a lot of debris around a world. A small satellite with nothing more than a cloaking field and an engine may be able to sneak close enough to overload their defences by launching dozens of missiles simultaneously.
It's not like using the IMs to create those mines costs us much. There is always enough material in a system to set up a basic industrial node. The only pain in the ass is that we have to provide enough energy to the IMs to get the operation going.
The entire process takes much too long if the IMs have to rely on solar energy until they are able to set up their own fusion plant. A single one of the little buggers may not consume much energy, but thousands of them most seriously do.
So since a fusion reactor is a little complicated to create we either have to carry a whole reactor to the site, or the ship which is setting up the operation has to stay on-site until a second fusion reactor is up and running.
Currently we are working with that option. It's far from perfect if you think about the fact that the ship could be moving to the next system in the meantime.
We also had to think about ways to fight the enemies with our ships in case that denying them to refuel isn't enough. Unfortunately there was no idea on how we can reliably protect ourselves. Magic has the annoying quirk that it can't get around certain physical laws. If you want to block a certain amount of energy you have to put the same amount against it.
There are ways to play around this law to a certain extent, like diverting or dispersing the energy instead of completely blocking it. But the energy in the laser beams of our enemies is several scales above the energy output of our ships. It's like trying to block a club in full swing with a dagger. So defence is out of the question for the time being.
What we have though, is the disruptor technology. It was banned by the elders because of its great potential to be used as a weapon. Though in face of the new threat it was allowed to be deployed on SDF ships.
The small disruptor hand-weapon which I got my hands on a long time ago was just a very rudimentary way to use disruptor tech. The spell which is responsible for the weapon is called disrupt and weakens or outright inverts atomic bonds. It's an energy manipulation spell and therefore belongs to the fire magic branch. The result of its use are disconnected atoms.
The spell normally affects a limited space, but the assassins hand-weapon focused the affected volume into a thin beam.
We didn't go for fancy with our military application and created an emitter which projects a disruptor field up to three light seconds away from our ships. The problem isn't energy, but focus.
So to use the disruptor we still have to get awfully close to our enemies. Another troublesome point is that we can't be entirely sure if it will work, or if their shields can defend them.
The Drazi and Forlorn shields are awfully powerful magnetic fields which protect the ship in much the same way as a planet's magnetic field protects it from the solar wind.
Since a disruptor field is a part of altered space time it shouldn't be concerned by a magnetic field. It belongs to the same category as gravity magic since it alters the rules of physics.
We also had ideas to use teleportation as a weapon, but we put that one on ice. Teleportation is a two edged sword and hard to aim. Even if we manage to use it to teleport a part of the enemy ship away, the part which we took would appear right next to our ship.
The maths of teleportation magic makes it hard to teleport two far away points. The needed energy levels rise exponentially. Maybe we can turn teleportation into a weapon later on, but right now it seems as dangerous to us as it is for the enemy.
As for me, I don't want something potentially explosive right next to my ship.
I return my attention to the group when I realize that the aliens around us are very flustered about something. Some are sticking a few dozen metres away like caged pets to the glassed walls, they are eyeing the stars.
Others are chatting vehemently with their communication devices and Ayo is obviously trying to pick up my girlfriend.
“But that's impossible! We just skipped over several dozen light-years!” The Zeen interrogates Cyla.
“We already explained that we can travel faster than you.” Cyla answers, trying not to get too close to the alien. “We know a method to transfer ourselves instantly from one point in space to another one. It's perfectly safe, you don't have to worry.”
I ignore them and step closer to Ed, then I touch his hand. ~Was there any sign that they saw the platform?~
~It didn't seem like it.~ Ed answers and I nod, letting go of his hand. If we are extraordinarily lucky we might be able to hide the weapon platform from the
m.
41. ~Thoughts.~
“
Every mage has certain affinities to spells. The greater the affinity is, the easier and less exhausting it is to cast the spell. It's easiest to imagine each magical branch as a part of one huge skilltree. A mage may use any spell in that tree as long as he learns it, but that doesn't mean that he'll ever get as proficient as someone who was born with the affinity.
If you are born with great affinity to fire-magic, you may be able to use most spells belonging to that affinity without restrictions. If your talent is even greater you may even have access to neighbouring branches like wind-magic or ice-magic.
Techno magic is regarded as a hybrid affinity since it's settled between electro, mind and space magic. Being settled between so many pure affinities is also a reason why a techno-mage has to gain a lot of experience to fully use his potential.
”
-About magic affinities
Antares, Coeus
Gideon
“Do you guys know that dealing with aliens is tiring?” I lean back in my rocking chair and enjoy its comfortability. It has been put to good use during the recent hours.
The diplomats, linguists and other people of similar trade are doing their best to soothe the agitated minds of the aliens. They haven't taken it lightly that a foreign fleet flew right into the heart of their territory.
It's coming with their technology. Their way of travelling between stars relies on actually traversing the space between them. FTL-routes have to be cleared from dust and debris and checked in regular intervals to ensure that there are no obstacles for the ships.
Their FTL-drive allows them to ram right through a certain amount of mass by turning it into pure energy, but put too much of it in the ship's path and your ship re-enters normal space right inside an explosion of nuclear scale. It's officially the fastest way to die I know of.
Though I am happy that it can't be used to annihilate planets that way. The rules of physics can't be applied in this case since the FTL-drive doesn't work that way. A ship inside a warp bubble doesn't really move faster than light, it just slips through the real universe while annihilating all matter in its path. How much matter can be annihilated is dependant on the ship's energy output.
Once the reactors of the ship reach their limit, the bubble collapses and the ship re-enters normal space with the same velocity it had before using the FTL-drive. Plain and simple.
And that's why they have to provide cleared FTL-routes for their ships. The longer you fly through uncharted space, the greater the risk of meeting an early end.
That's why our method of travelling is freaking them out. We can go right past their line of defence and attack the weakly protected worlds. Not that the council of elders would do such a thing, but the Forlorn have no way to be sure of that.
I turn my attention to Ed. “Have they finally decided to form up on the Coeus?”
Ed shrugs his shoulders. “It looks like the contact team was finally able to explain why we waltzed right through to their home world.”
“We still can simply take what we have and go away. They don't have something we want. Now that we have the secret of their energy production.” I offer.
“There is no way to know that for sure and it would certainly look bad in front of the society.” Ed starts playing with his fingers. He developed a tendency to do that while talking to me.
Probably there is something on his mind and he is trying to find a way to ask me. Since we are alone inside the conference room I can ask him what's wrong, so I do. “Ed, what is it that you want to ask?”
He freezes up. “Am I really that obvious?” Ed asks, then he starts mumbling to himself. “The world must be ending if Gideon manages to read another person's emotional state.”
I lean forward. “No. It's just that you are doing it since we went on this mission and after a few days even I tend to notice odd behaviour.”
Ed nods slowly. “In that case I'll be blunt. Have you heard from Sadina recently?”
I raise an eyebrow. It escapes me why he is interested in her so suddenly. “She tried several times to contact me while I was in Sol, but I blocked her calls since I had better things to do than being toyed with.”
I had to toy with Cyla. That's a very good excuse to ignore Sadina.
“I see. And what do you think of her? I need to know since I want to beg something of you.” He asks next.
Pursing my lips I lean back again. “Well. She dumped me on Earth with brainwashed people who weren't able to take care of me. But it doesn't feel to me like I can make her responsible for that. Who knows? Maybe things would be different if my Earth mother hadn't died in a car accident. But I met Grandma, Grandpa and Cyla. Things are as they are and right now Sadina just feels like one big non-entity to me.”
After a few seconds I decide to revise that sentence. “Let's rephrase that. She's a very annoying non-entity to me. If I ever get her between my fingers I'll probably surrender her to my grandmother. That should be worse than simply killing her and it feels right to punish her for the way she introduced me to the truth of my creation. I know that I asked her for the location of the Revelation Wing, but she could have warned me.”
“Yes, about that. I wanted to ask you if you could give her to me, should you ever get your hands on her. Since she is my responsibility I've to tell her a few things in person. And she is showing interest in you, so it's likely that you'll get your chance sometime in the future.” He explains with a solemn voice.
I tilt my head and try to explore my own thoughts and feelings on the matter. “Maybe. Depending on the circumstances.”
“That's all I can ask for.” He replies.
A beeping sound alerts us to the fleet's readiness. For the sake of taking as many ships as possible with us we tied the entire Forlorn fleet together like a metal ball. It was quite hard to think of an explanation why a huge part of the formation's spherical centre has to stay free of ships. In the end our scientists came up with a few very complicated and impossible to solve formulas.
The centre is where our hidden weapon platform is lurking. It's quite funny. The Forlorn are still thinking that we achieve teleportation on such a scale by having all our ships work together.
I contact the pilots of the platform via the fleet network and inform them that they can go whenever they are ready. Then I send a message to the whole fleet that departure is imminent. Having done my job I return my attention to Ed. “Did you notice that the Forlorn have real crews on their ships? I tried to hack one and found out that their lasers are controlled by an independent station. You need to get physical access to the switches to arm the weapons.”
Ed stops moving. “Somehow the casual way you mention that is troubling me. You hacked their ship? Do you have any idea what could happen if they find out?” I just nod and let Ed continue. “Their ships aren't automated to the same degree as ours. It's only natural that there are certain problems involved.”
“Yes, isn't that strange? I wouldn't want to fly a ship if my life depends on a hundred different people. It's like asking for death.” I shudder.
Ed sighs. “You've come a long way, Gideon. But there are still many things you've to work.”
I nod. “Like my girlfriend. I promised her a date once we get back to Sol. Do you have an idea where I could take her?”
System 82456, Coeus
Cyla
“I still can't believe that we managed to do this without revealing the platform.” I comment while watching the one hundred and two Forlorn ships dispersing away from our ships to hide inside the gas giant's asteroid ring.
I am together with Gideon inside the cockpit of the Coeus. We are both busy with giving final instructions to the ship and the fleet.
“I never doubted that our eggheads are able to make up some formulas which are convincing enough to keep the centre of the formation clear of ships.” Gideon answers.
I snort and give the Coeus some commands which bring
her in formation with the rest of the ships. We've left our contact team with the asteroid habitat and two ships back in Antares. They can do their thing and continue to build relationships with the aliens. I am not too fond of them.
The Forlorn have too many arms for my taste and the Zeen look too much like insects. It's troubling me. There were never any bugs inside the closely controlled living habitats I grew up in.
“I hope the plan works out on the first try. I don't want to go on a lengthy hunting expedition.” Gideon accesses the two sensor arrays to check on the status of all ships. The Forlorn are instructed to hide themselves inside the asteroids. Our fleet will wait further out. Powered down and under maximum stealth we should be able to hide ourselves sufficiently.
It's the plan that the Forlorn use the advantage of surprise to break the enemy fleet. Then we'll pick easy targets and take them out one by one. But that's only in case that the Drazi really escape the trap. From what we've heard from the Forlorn, their ships are about four times as strong as a single Drazi vessel of the same size.
“The wishful thinking of war. People make plans, shove their pieces around in a manner that looks pretty and once the two forces really meet for the first time everything falls apart like a house of cards.” Gideon smirks at the display.
“Do you know something that you didn't tell the rest of us?” I ask.
“No.” He answers bluntly.
“But you suspect something?” I ask.
He shrugs his shoulders while studying the map. “It's not like I am certain, but I think that the Drazi may have stronger ships than the Forlorn think.”
I open my mouth in shock. “Why didn't you tell anyone?”
“Because it's just a suspicion and because it wouldn't change a thing regarding the plan. If I am right it would even be harmful to the battle if we admit that we know something.”
He closes the tactical display. “Just think about it. The Forlorn have several different big fleets stationed in their sphere of influence. Naturally they are keeping them close to where they are attacked regularly.”