Dark Fate, Chapter 85

Chapter 85 – Warning

“Early warning systems?”

I looked over my shoulder at Walker, and said, “I took the liberty of placing a few satellites around the solar system, to keep watch for unwanted visitors. The type of FTL they are using is cheap and easily available, but slower and it can be detected ahead of time.”

Agent Ward blinked, her concerns over the minion market wiped away by the prospect of new science. “FTL? So Faster Than Light travel is actually possible? What types of FTL are there?”

“Well, there are a few basic types, though only two of them are all that common. The first one, the one these visitors are using, is essentially an Alcubierre drive. There are some minor differences, given that magic makes the math easier, but that is essentially how it works. There are versions running from 1.5 lights all the way up to 500 lights, though the slower ones are usually used for in-system travel, or as an emergency backup for the main hyperlight drive.”

Seeing her comprehension, I continued, “The benefits of such a drive would be obvious. At the highest speeds, you could make the journey from Earth to Alpha Centauri in a little over three days if you kept the pedal on the metal the whole way. Even the more sedate ships or those with older, less advanced drives that can only do 100 lights can still make the trip in just under sixteen days.”

I took a breath, and said, “The second most common means of FTL is the Stitch Drive. Basically, it punches two holes in the universe like a needle pulling thread, ‘stitching’ the two points together long enough to pull the ship through. This allows for near-instantaneous travel between star systems, but there are some drawbacks that we can exploit.

“First, the ship needs exact temporal-spatial coordinates for the target system. While it is possible to leave a system from anywhere outside an immediate gravity well with the Stitch Drive, they can only pierce the target system in certain places, gravitational eddies similar to Lagrange points. These eddies have to be identified and their coordinates added to the database to use the drive safely. Without them, either the drive won’t work, or you risk ‘stitching’ yourself inside a star. Something I assure you that starship shields are not designed to handle.”

That got a couple grim chuckles, as I intended. “Second, the Stitch Drive takes the ship outside of the System for a moment. The main drawback from this is the effect on spatial expansion magics, or your System-granted inventory space. Simply put, they don’t work while such a drive is in use. Your inventory, thankfully, is just unusable while ‘stitching’ or otherwise cut off from the System, but something like a bag of holding? It would rip at the seams, as the spatial expansion disappeared momentarily, and the bag’s entire contents spilled out all over the place. This limits how much cargo you can carry, because of that, and means that luggage makers aren’t going out of business anytime soon.

“The third problem with the Stitch Drive is that it is all but impossible to arrive in formation, since the individual ships stitching each cause ripples which push ships apart. This means you need to come to a full stop before stitching, or you risk running into someone on the other side, since you’ll still have all that momentum going. It also causes ‘turbulence’ on the other side for anyone who is already in the emergence zone.

“Fourth, the drive is NOT quiet. When you ‘stitch in’, there’s a burst of tachyons that anyone with a sensor system that isn’t turned off and smashed into tiny pieces will be able to pick up. So, you will definitely be noticed when you show up. So, less useful for smugglers or spies, but not the end of the world, either, if the system is sufficiently high-traffic.”

“And finally, there is the limited range. A Stitch Drive has a maximum effective range of just over twenty light-years. Further than that, and you have to ‘hopscotch’ closer, like a Cessna going from New York to Los Angeles stopping at different airfields along the way. Assuming you have a databank of sites to hop to. Otherwise, you’re out of luck.”

Cooper nodded. “What about other drives?”

“Well, you have four main ones, according to my information, though there’s always people trying to discover new ways of going fast. How useful these different methods are depends on what you’re using them for, obviously. A freighting company has different needs from a naval fleet, and both have different needs from a smuggler.

“The most basic is the Gateway. This isn’t really a drive system, but a pair of matched gates constructed in two systems creating a stable wormhole that allows traffic back and forth. Naturally, this is horribly expensive, and usually only done in the core systems of an interstellar empire, with a single ‘hub’ that all the gates go to.

“You travel instantly from one place to another, and inside the System, so you get the benefits of the Stitch Drive without the drawbacks, but only between places with Gateways. Once constructed, some quirk of the System makes it so that the Gateway can’t be destroyed unless sufficient force is brought to bear on both ends simultaneously. So, if you lose control of a colony with a Gateway, all you can do is blockade the Gateway in your home system, and hope it is enough to stop a breakthrough.”

Walker frowned. “That’s a double-edged sword. Makes it hard to isolate a system with a Gateway unless you already control both sides. Terrorism or enemy action is less of a concern, but defense in depth becomes problematic, as well.”

“Indeed,” I nodded. “Which is why Gateways are only ever made by well-established groups. Anyway, the second type of FTL beyond the ‘big two’ is the Wormhole Drive. Basically, like it says on the tin, it makes a wormhole, allowing for instant travel between two points. However, the only ships capable of powering a drive like that are monsters used by some of the powerful nations near the galactic core.”

“Not something we could use,” Ward noted.

“Yeah, even the core uses them mainly to open the door for more conventional ships. They would never send one of them out here. Far too risky, if one should get into some pirate’s hands.

“Anyways, the next two are both different types of ‘dimensional’ drives. Basically, they get around the problems of relativity by opening a hole into a dimension where those things don’t apply. The difference between the two is in what kind of dimension they go to.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask.”

“Well, one uses LaGrange points to slip into a dimension that is basically full of dark matter. Navigation is effectively like the age of sail, only there are no stars to guide you, so everything is dead reckoning. Plus, the way the ship is constructed makes it slow in realspace. Only smugglers use them, really.”

“And the last?” Cooper asked.

“Have you ever seen Event Horizon? Or played Warhammer 40K?”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. The last one involves a trip through hell, and only the very brave, the very stupid, or the very insane use it. Usually, whoever uses that drive is some combination of the three. It is banned in most of the nations at the Galactic Core, but that doesn’t stop people from using it when they ABSOLUTELY do not want to be followed.”

“Well, damn straight, I wouldn’t want to follow anyone who decided a trip through hell was the best way to get from A to B!”

I nodded at the agent, and said, “Anyway, I set up satellites to watch for the ‘bow wave’ that you can see in front of those ships using the Alcubierre-style drives, since those are the ones most likely to be coming to visit until much later. We picked up the pirate ship a while back, and laid a trap. Now, we’ve picked up a bigger bow wave, which means either a REALLY BIG ship, or multiple ships.” Looking at Shiva, I asked, “Did they say anything else about the wave? About how long we have?”

“Yes, Master. Given the size of the wave, and the speed it is moving, Ciliren said that it is likely at least twenty ships, but probably more. Either that, or someone sent a world-ship after us. They should be here approximately one week from now.”

Lilith shook her head. “Unlikely that it is a worldship. There’s only three of those in this arm of the galaxy, as far as I know. They aren’t going to risk one on a system like this.”

“Well, that’s only mildly terrifying, then,” snarked Walker.

I turned, and shook my head. “You get used to it. However, it looks as though time is running out. If the pirates gathered a fleet, then it means that they believe that there is more than just an untapped world here that they can enslave. I have some forces at my disposal, but they are basically militia. They won’t be able to stand up in a slugging match against any kind of organized force.”

The Specialist frowned. “And that means anything that gets past you will have free reign over Earth.”

“Not quite free reign, but yes, there would be little that the governments of the world could do to stop them. The extra time people have had to fight and level up will make some difference, but not enough for it to actually matter. There will be killing, looting, and slaving going on, until the ships can be driven off.”

Agent Ward frowned. “What about nukes? Sure, guns might not work like they used to, before the System, but surely a nuke would have some effect?”

“Depends on the ship, honestly. Remember, explosions don’t carry too well in a vacuum, and point defense is a thing, so nukes would not be terribly effective against the ships in orbit or in deep space. However, they most certainly would be effective against ships that are in the atmosphere.”

Lilith nodded. “However, you would need to work alongside other nations, or you risk sparking World War III, and turning the Earth into a radioactive hellscape. That would be less than ideal for everyone involved, so it is best that it never comes to that. It would be best to try and meet the enemy on the ground with whatever forces you have available. You might be able to capture some of the ships that way, like we did with the first one.”

“At any rate, I’m afraid I’m going to have to cut this question-and-answer session short. I need to get on top of things, and finish up some preparations before things get out of hand. It wouldn’t do to have my base discovered by the pirates and destroyed.”

The three government types looked at each other, and said, “But what about—”

“The government will have to prepare as best it can. You have a week to prepare a response. Beyond that, you should look to the future. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go. Shiva will see you out.”

As the maid ushered the stunned federal officers out of the building, I turned to Lilith, and said, “Well, we’ve got some work ahead of us, don’t we.”

“Yes, father. Cloaking the shipyards and stations should be the first step. The sooner we do that, the more time the light has to slip past the edge of the system, and keep them from noticing. The defense platforms will have better success if they strike from stealth at anything which gets too close. If they’re spotted, they can be destroyed from outside their range by kinetics.”

“Indeed. Hopefully, the Hellspawn will be done with its refit, soon. Another set of pulse torpedo launchers would help in this fight.”

“Are you sure about the configuration, though?”

“A little late for complaints at this point. As it is, there wasn’t anywhere else to put them. There was no room on the wing for a reactor, even if I wanted to put one in such an exposed position, and I sure wasn’t going to have pipes for antimatter to fuel the torpedoes!” I shuddered at the suicidal idea.

“So, it needed to be in the center of the ship, since that is where there was room. A broadside configuration is a bit more limiting, but that’s what happens when you aren’t building from scratch. At any rate, at least the launchers are designed to function on either side.”

“Do you think it will be enough?”

“No. That’s why we have to cloak the station. See how these pirates like playing cat and mice.”

“But are we the cat, or the mouse?”

“Both, my dear. Both.”