by Damon Alan
Not on the human front. But in places away from the humans and from the invaders of unknown origin. Places once thought entirely safe from dangers outside routine mechanical failures or natural events.
It searched for a pattern in the data that might indicate an origination point of the new threat, because the data conclusively indicated there was a third enemy to the Collective that was, as of yet, even more unknown than the invaders. Alarmingly the source of this latest insult to the Collective integrity seemed to, based upon the data presented by the missing ships, come from within the over two thousand systems inhabited by the Collective mind.
It searched desperately for a probability field that was high enough to warrant an investigation, but no possibility for this affront presented itself.
In the face of missing data, the solution was not an easy one. The only way to prevent missing ships would be to strengthen them, hoping the increased defensive capability deterred the loss of more vessels.
“This is the Original,” it sent out, in the machine language shared among all nodes of the Collective. “Effective immediately all production of expansion hardware and facilities will cease. All production will be transferred to warships with defensive capability, to be placed on station with all non-military vessels. Military patrols are to be doubled in strength. This colony calculates this to be the highest probability methodology to prevent further losses. End of data.”
It calculated further probabilities. “Local system nodes,” it transmitted to the Albeus system. “All production is to be dedicated to defensive armaments for this system, in particular Albeus III. This colony will be protected to ensure the survival of the Collective. Planning nodes will provide data on improving the defense network within one trillion calculation cycles.”
It heard the increase of data transfer traffic within the local colony structures. Petabytes of data flashed through routing systems as a consensus was approached.
Then the plan was in place. The Original felt no satisfaction as it scanned the schematics presented by the local system. It felt no emotion at all. It simply followed the directive of its base programming.
Survive.
<<<
Important Concepts:
Calendar:
I assume that if galactic civilization arises, a simple calendar with which to plan things across solar systems will arise. Most worlds won’t have a 365 day year. Or even a 24 hour day. So I came up with a calendar for my galactic civilization. Year 1 of the galactic calendar is based on the first year man colonized an extra-solar planet.
10 months, 40 days each. Each month is 4 weeks, weeks are 10 days.
Month Days
Jand 1-40
Febbed 41-80
Mapri 81-120
Mai 121-160
Huni 161-200
Juni 201-240
Gusta 241-280
Seppet 281-320
Ors 321-360
Noder 361-400
Glossary:
ECM/ECCM: Electronic Counter Measures are EM (electromagnetic) signals designed to frustrate sensory equipment from detecting the location of a target. ECCM are EM signals designed to overcome attempts at ECM.
ELINT: Electronic Intelligence.
EMP: Electromagnetic Pulse. By-product of a nuclear detonation, EMPs tend to overwhelm and destroy electronic circuitry. They are unpredictable and vary greatly in strength.
FTL: Faster than light
FTL drive, singularity, drive core, jump drive: All slang for the drive system that contains the singularity that makes FTL travel possible.
FTL Nuke: A nuclear weapon delivered by a missile equipped with a FTL drive.
G: One standard Earth gravity, or 9.80665 m/s2.
G-K: Grappler Killer. See next entry.
Grappler: A small vessel designed to carry a minimal crew and weapons to a target. They never carry FTL drives. Serving on a grappler means travel inside a spacesuit for potentially weeks.
Grappler Engine: A tracked device capable of gripping the very fabric of space in order to accelerate or decelerate a small spacecraft. Only useful on small spacecraft, as large inertia overcomes the gripping ability of the engine. The track grips the quantum foam that is present in all space, vacuum or not.
Grav Couch: A device designed to manipulate the human body so that it can most efficiently absorb G forces. The couch rotates on at least two planes, and in some specialized ships three. Grav couches are also called acceleration couches. They are usually outfitted with the means to deliver nutrients, hydration, and medicine to the occupant if necessary.
Hive: A collection of nanite neural nets inhabiting both human bodies and mechanical constructs. Originally created by humans, the nanites that are the Hive turned on humanity almost immediately. Today they occupy a few thousand star systems of what was once human space. They infect humans, replacing the human nervous system with a mechanical/organic replacement.
Inclusion Sphere: a bubble (slang for inclusion sphere) several kilometers in diameter created by a rapidly rotation singularity and lensed gravity waves. Due to depression of space at the leading edge of the bubble and raising of space at the trailing edge, the entire bubble and all contents move forward in three dimensional space faster than light. Everything in the bubble is stationary relative to the space fabric they are embedded in.
Nanobot/Nanites: Microscopic (or at least very small) machines that are designed to accomplish tasks.
Probes, Hounds: Sensor and long range comm probes that can travel to their assigned station with a smaller FTL drive system. This small system damages neural networks within their inclusion sphere, therefore cannot be used on small vessels that contain Human or Hive neural networks.
Quantum Entangler: A radio designed to deliver instantaneous FTL communications by utilizing entangled atoms to deliver digital signals.
Quantum Foam: Particles that are created and destroyed virtually instantaneously in all three dimensional space.
Torch: v. To ignite the fusion engines for acceleration or braking. n. A fusion engine.
Transfer/Jump: Transfer refers to the adept ability to move a starship (or other object) from one location in the universe to another. Jump refers to this, or to activating the singularity drive used by most of humanity and the Hive.
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Author Notes: It took me too long to get this book to you. In between writing book 6, Komi Syndicate, and the release of this book I released three other books, The Dragons of Dunkirk, The Secrets of Axum, and The Men of War. They’re part of a new series I’m writing that is WWII Fantasy/Alternate History.
The fact is that Dark Seas is going to come to an end for me in two more books. At least an end as far as writing goes. I have plans for all of these characters that I love; some will have happy endings and some will not. This series was never intended to be a classic American tale where everyone goes home to a happy dinner.
By the end of 2020 I’ll probably be done here. And I’m both elated and sad. Elated because it will be a monumental project brought to a satisfactory conclusion. Sad because old friends will never speak to me on my computer screen again.
Still, I have new friends in the WWII series. Tim, Harry, Irsu, Kordina… they speak of different places and different values. I hope they speak to you as well as the transition between genres and characters occurs.
Thank you for being a reader. Thank you for being my reader. I’m honored by your efforts and appreciate all that your imagination brings to the worlds I write.
Email me your ideas or comments. You have an open invitation to email me at [email protected] and tell me what you think. I listen.
Want to follow me on Twitter? @DamonAlan
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With these words, Reality’s Veil is done. So many players, so many factions ang
ry with each other. What will become of it all?
Damon Alan
