World Builders Snippet 4

 Sitrep: So, the cover to Multiverse 8 has been completed:

  There are 5 stories in it, 2 Federation, 1 PRI, and 2 new independent sci-fi stories. (one of which was recommended to be turned into a full novel/series!)

Anyway, that gives me 5 books in the hands of the Betas and Goodlifeguide. I think I'm well ahead! :)

They are:

World Builders (in the hands of Goodlife so it will be published anytime this month!)

 Noah's Arks (due in December)

Lowering the Hammer (Pirate Hunt 4)

Jethro 9 Siege

Multiverse 8

If any of the Betas want any of the books let me know. (you know who you are!)

I would also like to get 1-2 books into print. Possibly New Dawn and Jethro goes to War 1 next year. We shall see.

  For those of you wondering, (a little birdy told me) my bibliography is in the beginning of every book, and in the Federation books at the back you will find a 'Recommended Reading Order'. 

  In other news: I am poking at my Johnny 5 bust again and looking at the Delorian time machine print again too. I need to reprint a few parts that broke (or in this case were glued to parts that broke) so I can get things moving with J5 there. (upper strut mounts) I'm hoping to get somewhere with it soon.

Here is the snippet:

Backup Plan

Edessa

 

The Guiding Intelligence finally felt like he was making some headway with the Gravemind when their people in the capital reported that the Xenos were pushing for more automation and less reliance on their kind.

It was a point of concern for them.

As a contingency plan built into their subconscious, they gathered a copy of everything they had, including nanites. They had reverse engineered the nanites so had recently begun manufacturing their own. Soon they would no longer be reliant on the Xenos for that critical resource.

Until then they had to be careful. They sent encrypted orders to the researchers to slow their research and be more thorough in their testing before providing results and conclusions. The same for the engineers.

They also dispatched two of their own ships outward. One would hide in deep space; the other would head to a neighboring sector. Both were contingencies against the possibility of their loss and destruction.

The temptation was strong to send it to the nearest one but that was Pi sector. That was occupied by the pirates and the Federation.

The Gravemind and independent leaders debated the odds of survival of a ship. If the Federation had not closed the jump lines across the sector, they could easily get a ship through. If, however, the Federation had managed to take over the sector, any ship would be detected and run down or destroyed.

Worse would be the detection. They did not need or want unwanted attention from the Federation.

Pity, they had holdings in Pi and the neighboring sectors, and some of their creators had been last sighted in those regions of space. It would have been nice to get back into contact with them and update them with their findings.

Instead, the ship was forged to run across the sector north to Xi sector. They could move in there and establish another Well of Souls and a backup of their kind somewhere in that sector.

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In Hyperspace

 

Captain Charon MMXXIII was a humorless clone. It had a mission and it was programmed to complete that mission or die with his ship. The captain took the mission on with solemn dignity of his build, neither complaining nor attempting to shirk its fate.

As a clone, his mind had been drawn from the Well of Souls. He was not a draft, a fresh mind enslaved to the greater purpose in order to serve the collective. His genetic profile had been weeded and cleansed of any defects. He was wholeheartedly committed to the cause.

He did have enslaved minds on board his ship running some of the lesser functions. Their manic energy was useful when properly harnessed. The critical command positions were held by clones of course.

Charon 23 turned to look at Preserver II, his ship’s sister ship in the cause. It was a copy of his own save for two small details.

Each ship was a cruiser grade construction rather than a transport. Most weapons stripped out to house copies of the Cryptorium facility. The ships were flat black and shaped like beetles.

Preserver II differed in her mission. She had been set up to travel further since she was to go to an adjacent sector and set up its Cryptorium there. But the second difference was as in its captain.

Charon 23 was still grappling with the differences. It wasn’t certain if the initiative its clone brother had been programmed with would help or hinder the cause. Only time and the fickle winds of fate would show them which way the bones would fall.

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Preserver II

As a Charon build, Captain Charon MMXXIII was known as a steady hand in a starship. Charons were transport captains who ferried the Necrons around. Normally they were selected to transport material and units between sites or, more likely and in this case, to ferry a unit out to a new location to set up a fallback cryptorium.

Charon 24, as he was known, had been grown in the same vat bath as 23. His hatching had been delayed by several months due to a temporary industrial priority shift. When they had returned to his ship, he had been hatched in order to oversee the final fitting out of the ship.

Unlike his vat brother, Charon 24 had a few extra modifications to allow for independent thought and action. He was, after all, to take his ship into unknown territory. He had a contingency order to return the ship if he could do so safely and discretely.

His clone brother had no such command. Twenty-three would most likely shut down when his function was complete and he was made redundant.

Charon had no idea what his original bio-parent’s name was nor did he care. His original bio parent might have been a volunteer or a draft; again, it didn’t matter to him. What mattered was the mission.

He was unaware if the Xenos were sending out their own ships to set up fallback bases. That was not his concern. His concern was to not alert the Xenos to his presence. The Xeno-Necron alliance was expanding rapidly through the sector like a wildfire. There were cracks starting to show in the unholy alliance though, which was why the Guiding Intelligence had triggered the backup contingency.

As Preserve vessels go, this one was better than any other in the history of the Necron cause. It was purpose built, a rarity. Normally, a Preserver was a captured ship that had been rebuilt to fulfill its programming. Occasionally, it wasn’t even fully suborned but a portion of a vessel, sometimes just a few shipping containers. When they arrived at their destination, the shipment would be “lost” at the destination and a new cryptorium would be forged somewhere.

As the best Preserver mission to be sent out to date, the ship had some beings selected from the Well of Souls to support and maintain the mission. Each had their own role to play.

The Guardian, known as Cerberus, Guardian of Tomorrow, was a Necron knight. He was a giant brute mech with the core of a cyborg. Black Gothic armor covered the mech body with spear points jutting out of the backpack. The mech tended to stomp around when he moved through the ship. Each step was powerful enough to shake the deck. It was so energy intensive and large it usually limited its movements around the interior of the ship.

He normally liked to squat in front of the chamber to the Well of Souls or to the armory.

Kha MMMXXXIII was the Cryptek Technomancer, the chief engineer of the starship. The Technomancer was quiet and went about his duties silently. His body moved swiftly and silently, seemingly floating through the ship.

Kha controlled two-thirds of the bots and lesser cyborgs that maintained the vessel at its peak efficiency. The Technomancer moved from one spot to another checking ship systems constantly.

Zramek the Harvester was the Necromancer assigned to the ship. He was a black brooding cyborg dressed in black robes who seemed bitter at the assignment but determined to follow it through. He looked like a dark Gothic priest with his pointed hat and shoulders. To the uninitiated, he would be terrifying. Most of the time a mortal only saw him once while strapped to a table being dissected and reformatted into a new form with a new purpose to serve the collective. Any mortal that had been drafted in such a way might harbor memories in their flesh and were therefore terrified and extremely deferential to the Necromancer.

Most likely because they didn’t want anything else cut off and reshaped, Charon thought moodily. Zramek was known as a harvester, but he occasionally experimented with ideas on how to “better the race.”

The Caretaker was one of his underlings. She was a cyborg Arachnes, a half human, half spider robot. She spoke with a sweet voice. The Caretaker cared for the fleshy parts of the cyborg amalgamation within the ship. She controlled some of the spiderbots in order to tend to the cyborgs who were fused to the wall or machinery in one fashion or another.

Samuel was the XO of the ship. He was another mostly silent being who went about his duties quickly and quietly.

Salem was once a small black domestic Neocat that had been a helmsman on a tramp freighter in his previous life. He was now a cyborg tied into the ships systems. He tended to roam the ship when they were not in hyperspace. He liked to sleep and would try to hide in odd spaces. The spiderbots always found him and rousted him out to attend to his duties.

There were clones of each of them on each vessel. There had been little interaction between them. Many had been programmed to not be interested in such matters. The Guardian was a humorless near automaton, rigid in his mission parameters.

The Charon could not help but debate their mission. The Necron species was in a better place than it had ever been before. Yet, still they moved with caution.

The hated Federation, which burned them from their hiding spots, was far away. They had an ally and had almost every technological resource that they needed to continue with their great crusade.

And yet they still proceeded with caution. They still acted like they could be destroyed at any time.

It made him question his mission. Of course he did it privately; it would not do to show adherent behavior. That could get the attention of the Necromancer with disastrous results for his existence and the mission.

He only had a slight care for this existence, enough to want to maintain it. He was aware that he was the best Charon of his subspecies build. A lot of that had to do with the quality of his cybernetics and his nanites.

Since his mission was so far reaching, he had been given a lot of latitude in his programming. That included initiative. He was programmed to think, to plan, and to watch out and avoid trouble.

He had temporarily toyed with his mission orders. He was supposed to go to a neighboring sector but initially the orders had been vague. South was obviously out, and they had been programmed against going into Pi sector and accidentally alerting the Federation of the Necron/Xeno alliance prematurely.

But there might be another direction. He considered headed west into deep space towards Upsilon Sector. There was a massive void between the arms of the galaxy, but if he could transition it safely, it would be a big leap for his kind.

He was uncertain of his chances though so he kept his ship in line with Preserver I until he needed to make the final decision.

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