Arc 6.4: Stardock

Stardock: Part 4

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Sean wasn’t all wrong. When it came down to it, he really could be useful fighting anybody using advanced technology. One big electromagnetic pulse could take out computers—assuming they weren’t protected. The robots we fought were pretty resistant to EMP’s, as I remembered it. They weren’t entirely resistant though, and it might be that he could put more energy into a pulse than a roachbot had available.

For that matter, if the ships were made even partially of metal, he could throw them around, or possibly make them structurally unsound.

The only reason I wouldn’t put him on the front lines is because they could take him out practically instantly.

Continue reading Stardock: Part 4 →

Arc 6.4: Stardock

Stardock: Part 3

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Jaclyn followed Izzy in through the door. Izzy said, “Hi” as she moved out of Jaclyn’s way, and met people’s eyes as she did it–including Daniel’s. I didn’t hear any anger in her voice either. She did talk quietly, but she always did that when we were together as a group. My theory was that she still didn’t quite feel comfortable with everyone.

All the same, the fact that she was here at all hinted that whatever they’d talked about last wasn’t irreparable.

She’s not just nervous about being with the group, Daniel thought at me. It’s more complicated than that.

He glanced over at her. What’s going on with us is complicated too, but I don’t want to go into that right now.

Jaclyn lifted up her print out of the plan, a small sheaf of paper. “We’re here to talk about this, right? What did you think of it?”

She caught my eye, “What do you think of it?”

Continue reading Stardock: Part 3 →

Arc 6.4: Stardock

Stardock: Part 2

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Isaac led us through the facility, explaining generally what was going on on each floor. I would have asked a lot of questions except I knew better. He didn’t know anything worth knowing about how anything worked. Sure, he could tell us what the major activities on each floor were, but I could guess that.

What I wanted to know was what techniques they were using and if they’d made any advances over the Alliance’s standard ships.

I didn’t need Isaac to figure that one out either. All I had to do was to observe. The spaceships around me in various stages of construction weren’t quite designed to human specifications. Take the big spaceship at the bottom of the hole. When we walked through it, it was obvious to me that whatever race it had been designed for was on average about seven feet tall. Bearing in mind variation, they’d designed the size to allow people (beings?) as large as eight feet tall.

Continue reading Stardock: Part 2 →

Arc 6.4: Stardock

Stardock: Part 1

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My grandfather told me once that war was long periods of boredom broken up by moments of terror. From the stories that the original League told about World War 2 and their experiences afterward, it sounded right.

Knowing that, it’s not so much of a surprise to learn that after the Hrnnna’s disappearance, the Xiniti’s trip through the gate they normally guarded, the annual inspection of the Jay and Kay, and my own frantic call to Agent Lim saying that I had Figured It All Out nothing happened at all.

I went through the week wondering if we’d be invaded, or worse, bombed from space.

Neither occured, and we ended the week with a normal Stapledon weekend.

Well, normal for the fairly loose definition of normal I’d been living under during the last few years–the kind of normal that puts you in a position to fight evil alien space horses.

Continue reading Stardock: Part 1 →

Arc 6.3: Alien Robot Autopsy

Alien Robot Autopsy: Part 4

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I rolled that around in my mind for a moment. “Let me get this straight. The Hrnnna we talked to earlier were pretty clearly freaked out by how Haley looked or smelled or something-”

[Unsurprising. Her transformed self is nearly identical to the troops the Abominators used for hand to hand combat.]

We’d suspected based on the Hrnnna’s reaction to her, but I felt my jaw drop at the jet’s confirmation.

Since hearing the story of how she broke up with Sean, I’d suspected that the biggest part of her unhappiness about her change came from the fear surrounding the police investigation that followed the breakup. That and the fact that she didn’t feel like she could control her transformation.

Confirmation that she was so close to one of the Abominators’ slave races wouldn’t help.

Continue reading Alien Robot Autopsy: Part 4 →

Arc 6.3: Alien Robot Autopsy

Alien Robot Autopsy: Part 3

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Was there any reason I could think of that the Spinward Searchers for Knowledge Valued clan might have a grudge against the Hrnnna?

No.

Whatever was going on here probably had its roots in alien politics, and I didn’t know anything about alien politics beyond the fact that pretty much everyone hated humans. Did I know anyone who might know more? Lee, probably, but he wasn’t always available when I needed him.

Plus, I had two alien AI’s here in HQ with me. Cassie’s gun wouldn’t be much help. From what she’s said, the Nine had found it as part of some sort of archeological dig. It might have been out of the action for thousands of years. The jet’s AI, however, might not be up on the latest events in space, but it probably knew the basics.

Continue reading Alien Robot Autopsy: Part 3 →

Arc 6.3: Alien Robot Autopsy

Alien Robot Autopsy: Part 2

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I hadn’t had Vaughn carry the robots all the way to League HQ. A tornado isn’t exactly subtle. More to the point, it’s not exactly a mode of transportation that can carry a couple robots to HQ without giving anyone a hint that we’re there.

That’s why I told Vaughn to drop the two robots in an open field off the side of the highway. I don’t know if anyone owned it. Brown grass lay on the ground, a thin layer of snow covering it.

Whatever the case, I’d flown off in the Rocket suit, and brought each of them into the jet’s cargo bay. I also had the Jet give them a quick scan to see if they were really dead. Continue reading Alien Robot Autopsy: Part 2 →

Arc 6.3: Alien Robot Autopsy

Alien Robot Autopsy: Part 1

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League HQ—On Sunday afternoon, I made some time to investigate the robots that had attacked us. By investigate, I mean take apart.

We’d brought home two of them—the least damaged ones. Neither of them looked good, but neither of them had surrendered, so there you go.

Because they were both about the size of the van, I’d brought them into HQ’s hangar. Because I kept certain tools in the lab, but not in the hangar, I’d had to lug a pile of tools over.

It took time, and that’s why I had SuperTV playing simultaneously in every room, and that’s why I was watching “Hero Scoop with Baz Wilson.”

It wasn’t that I particularly liked the show. He was more often wrong than right, but when he was right, it could be a disaster. When he’d done a show on Hard Luck, he’d inadvertently revealed the guy’s secret identity. You could argue it was mostly Hard Luck’s own probability powers working against him, but he wasn’t the only hero who’d been outed that way.

Continue reading Alien Robot Autopsy: Part 1 →

Arc 6.2: Chancy Connections

Chancy Connections: Part 16

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Talk about loaded questions, and not one I could lie about either. Haley could tell when I was lying by smelling my reactions and hearing my heart speed up.

Izzy, I knew, had a sense of hearing that could substitute for sight, and not just sight—X-Ray vision. I couldn’t lie. I also couldn’t tell the truth. This was Daniel’s relationship. He should talk about it with her.

As I thought about it, my heart sped up. Haley gave me a sidelong glance, and frowned.

I said, “He’s talked about you. I can’t say much about it since he told me in confidence, but yes.”

That was pretty much the ideal response. She couldn’t demand I tell her what he’d said. Well, not politely anyhow.

Continue reading Chancy Connections: Part 16 →

The Legion of Nothing: A Series of Online Superhero Novels (Updates Monday and Thursday)