u/squallus_l

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The biggest tactical advantage Humanity had in the Independence Wars, and the first two Federation Wars, was the Gravidar.

Behind this simple name hid one of the best kept secrets of the Aligned navy.

Gravidars detected tachyon shockwaves created by the gravitational disturbances of ships in transit.

While any baryonic matter can't travel faster than light (except in transit), tachyons can't travel slower than light.

And while baryonic matter needs more energy to increase its speed, tachyons increase in speed by losing energy.

A ship in transit creates a large gravimetric shockwave. This shockwave travels at the speed of light and is, due to this, not viable to detect incoming ships in transit.

But the gravimetric shockwave takes energy from tachyons passing through it, increasing the tachyons' speed.

The first thing a Human fleet does when entering a system is releasing sensor arrays on the outer border of the system's heliosphere.

These sensors are tachyon detectors and carry a suite of other astrometric sensors, partly to allow scientific endeavors, partly to disguise their real purpose.

The fact that the Federation knew about tachyons for fifteen thousand years but never thought to use them to detect fleets in transit is again proof that mammalian lifeforms are inherently superior to any other life.

— Excerpt from a specieist blog, Mammalian Superiority, author unknown, 14369 P.I.

 

Sanders tried to calm her mind. Around her in the CIC, controlled chaos had erupted. Gravidar techs compared readings and shouted them to their superiors. Fleet logistics officers ordered inventory updates from every logistics and Pioneer ship in the system, including outbound and inbound ones.

Admiral Browner and Georgiou were still on the line.

The engineers woke up every drone swarm and minefield in the system. The last reports Sanders had gotten four days ago were in the billions. Forges, Constructors, and Fabricators were finally at a level where printing drones and mines were just a problem of keeping the raw materials flowing.

More than 200 Infectors would enter the system in about 24 hours. The preparations were extensive.

We'll probably beat them. Probably…

A shout from the Gravidar controller made Sanders regret her last thought.

"New incoming ships detected… Classification ongoing… Sir, it seems to be Batract Hyphae frigates, and unknown larger ships. Counting… counting… fleet size calculated at about 39,000 ships, sir."

Sanders was sure it was 39,304. 34 x 34 x 34, typical Hyphae organization.

Sure, why not. A Doomsphere or two might be nice too.

Even her sarcasm began to fall flat.

"Admiral, I don't want to tell you what to do, but you won't be able to fight both fleets."

Admiral Georgiou's hologram looked at her with sorrowful eyes.

"We now know where the Infectors went that fled from Admiral Chen-Buckler's task force."

A laugh, or rather a rhythmic exhale, escaped her stoic facade.

"At least we can hope they are the same."

"Hmm?"

"Well, if they aren't the same, then there are hundreds more Infectors out there somewhere."

Sanders shrugged while explaining.

"Always the optimist, hmm, Cassidy?"

Browner's hologram showed him typing on his data slate, genuinely puzzled when his adjutant tapped him on the shoulder and handed him a coffee.

Sanders had met the two countless times; sometimes they were like a slapstick duo.

What would you do, old man… I know: bunker up like the angriest porcupine in existence. I'm afraid I can't do this.

While Sanders thought about her options, Browner looked up from his slate.

"Cassidy. Chen-Buckler's task force is still three weeks out. Even if they push beyond safe transit limits, they will take 18 days to reach you."

So either in time for the victory party or for the funeral…

"Admiral Georgiou, I'd like to divert Chen-Buckler's fleet to the Psstips homeworld. They won't reach me in time, but if we fail here, he might be able to defend Nekoo."

"I'll tell my staff to inform them. You focus on your preparations."

A call with priority signal on her optical disrupted her planning.

"Miss Admiral? Errm, Miss Sanders?"

"Victor, stop disturbing the Admiral."

Sanders still hadn't seen the woman who tried her best to take care of the seemingly neurotic doctor.

With a hand wave she opened the connection, back on the big central screen.

The doctor had a drink in his hand, a white shirt, and… underpants.

"Victor, your pants."

Sanders had to grin. Taking care of the doctor must be akin to herding ferrets.

Sitting down behind a desk, the doctor showed no shame at all.

"Oh, well, I'm sure the Admiral has seen men in underwear before."

His face became serious.

"Admiral, I've watched all battle reports. Are you aware that the Infectors avoid engaging Human forces? And even if they have to engage, they avoid lethal force."

Around her the background noises escalated, officers discussing the ridiculousness of Victor's claim.

Georgiou's eyes became slits; he always looked angry when focusing on something.

Browner's hologram showed him analyzing holographic replays of battles.

A hologram of a hologram.

Dammit, don't drift now, Cassidy…

Pulling up the damage report of Niobe's last engagement, she frowned while showing it to the doctor.

"That doesn't look like avoiding lethal force."

"It doesn't, YES. But it is exactly that. Ever since the first engagement over Water, the Flirr homeworld, the Infectors changed their rulebook."

Sanders saw the annoyed look on Georgiou's face, and the visible effort of him not ordering her crew.

"Silence."

She didn't need to scream. Saying the word a little louder was enough to make the fans the loudest noise in the command center.

"Please explain, Doctor."

"Very well. When you entered the Flirr system and engaged the first five Infectors, the Relativity was hit, and destroyed."

A window showed the engagement from the point where her fleet dropped out of transit in the middle of the Psstips fleet.

Then the scene where Relativity, a missile cruiser, was hit and cut apart. And then the worse part. An Infector diving in to swallow the debris.

With all 350 crewmen…

Losing people to explosions was bad, but seeing them eaten by some… some space monsters… it hurt differently.

"Nothing changed at first, but the second the wormhole opened, Infectors began to fire defensively."

"I lost 52 ships, Doctor."

"Ah, YES, but you also lost more than 140 Psstips ships, and the Human ships were disabled. If I read correctly, you lost only about 900 men in this engagement."

Only…

"I'm sure the families of the deceased will have a different opinion."

"Yes, yes, yes, but see, the Infectors fired intentionally on engines or other subsystems to disable the ships where possible. While they always went for the kill at any other species' ships."

"That's nice and all, but I don't see conclusive proof."

'If I may, I analyzed the flight logs and combat data of all four Human fleets across the whole Republican Border region, and it seems that the Infectors indeed try to disable Human ships, rather than destroy.'

Zeus interrupting a meeting unquestioned was new. He only did it to provide valuable data, but Sanders saw this as a clear-cut sign of him being fully sentient.

"Yes, yes, yes, I counted 15 cases where the ship was destroyed because it flew into the particle beam by mistake."

'I concur. Even Niobe's heavy damage in the last encounter was due to a maneuver. The helm tried to avoid lethal fire, so it steered the ship unintentionally directly into the beam. The Infector only tried a glancing shot.'

Zeus projected a simulation into the third holotank.

It showed a ghost version of Niobe. The simulated version stayed on course, getting hit at the starboard PDG turret and the surrounding armor plating.

Then the scene repeated. Niobe turning starboard and trying an evasive maneuver.

The ship got a direct hit, melting large parts of the starboard hull plating and the struts below.

'An important addition is that based on combat data and statistical enemy fire solutions, the Infector should have fired center mass.'

The simulation repeated, this time the Infector aiming center mass before Niobe started its evasive maneuver, resulting in scorched port hull plating.

'And against every non-Human ship, the Infectors do still fire center mass.'

Sander looked at the puzzled faces of the two other vitrually present Admirals.

A single question was on her mind

"Why?"

Why did they stop fighting Humans? Why risk glancing shots? Did they want to capture Humans? For what reason?

'Unclear, Sir.'

Dr. Cardinal shook his head.

"It might be because we seem to have TWO DISTINCT strains of Infectors. They appeared separated at first, but now they seem to operate together."

Wait, what?

"Incoming ships detected, massive gravimetric waves, counting… counting… counting…"

Another incoming fleet. Sanders didn't dare to think how helpless she would be without Gravidar.

Looking at the sensor station, she began to feel helpless even with this technology.

The screen behind the sensor tech showed a schematic map of the system's surroundings, with the Infector fleet arriving from the outer border regions, followed by the Batract fleet hard on its heels.

What caught her eye was a disturbance coming from inside the Republic's space. The disturbance was the largest fleet Sanders had ever imagined. The counter in the info text next to it stood at 650,000 and was still counting.

Georgiou's face had turned white.

He turned and snapped at the Gravidar technician.

"Classification?"

The Lieutenant Commander at the station was puzzled by the sudden attention he received from one of the most powerful men in the Aligned Planets.

"Unclear, sir. The distortions are too intense, but the formation they are flying points towards Batract ships."

Their Homefleet…

Sanders shared a glance with Georgiou and Browner.

Without exchanging a word, they knew what the other was thinking.

This was it. Case Red, as the Naval Planning teams had called it.

They had feared the Batract might use their massive fleet to go on the offensive.

And I'm caught in between…

The only viable strategy was to get out of the way and engage the survivor. The planners had never anticipated a populated planet in the system. Or a wormhole.

"Zeus, get the logistics and troop transporters to evacuate all non-essential personnel. Admiral Georgiou, I need you to make contact with the Flirr and convince them to evacuate as many people as we can. Sir."

Sanders had just barked orders at a Triumvir. The shock subsided in an instant. She was the theater commander. She had command.

The barked-at Triumvir raised an eyebrow, then nodded and ended the connection with a "Let's see what I can do."

Browner stayed, nodding at Sanders.

"Let's plan a defense you might even survive."

Sanders stared at the counter. It had reached 982,000 ships.

They're coming full force. Whatever the old porcupine thinks up had better be good.

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Hello,

This one's shorter, but important.

I really didn't have fighting Google and a family emergency at the same time on the radar.

All sorted out now.

Have a nice week.

So, here we are again.

Edit: First, another Author, HammA is creating a list of stolen Books, andt its a massive one.

Thanks to Milk and HammA on The Writing Well Discord for bringing this to my attention and allowing me to share it: List of Stolen Books

A week ago, I found my book stolen and on sale on Google Play Books.

I wrote a PSA here and sent Google a takedown notice: Part One: https://www.reddit.com/r/royalroad/s/6HzqppaZoZ

Surprisingly, Google took the sale down fast. But the metadata with the fake author name stayed up. Something that I hated as much as someone stealing my book: Part Two: https://www.reddit.com/r/royalroad/s/m3UW5SInEl

First things first: I won.

The book is off sale. And as of today, the metadata entry is gone from Google Books too. I can only assume the last mail did its job.

My book is mine again.

Now the interesting part. It gets weirder.

While checking, I searched Google Books for my own book. And found new stolen books.

They're in the attached picture: "Secrets of The Minds," "ABZU - ABZU," and "TWGaSWwM - The Warded Gunslinger." Looking at the titles, we see that one of them carries the acronym prefix. Same fingerprint.

I'll try to reach the original authors personally.

How did I find them? The thieves are so lazy, they leave the shoutouts in the books.

These are stolen serials from authors who once gave MY book a shoutout. Blurb included. Google Books indexes the full text of everything they sell. So I searched for "Batract", the alien race from my book, and a word I invented. Every stolen book carrying my shoutout lit up in the search.

Thinking about it, every shoutout you ever gave or received is a tracking beacon inside stolen copies. The scrapers copy everything. Including the parts that identify their other victims.

So, how to find your Book, and more?

Go to books.google.com. Full-text search for your unique invented words. Species names. Character names. Places. Anything that only exists in your story or your Blurp. Not only the title. They sometimes rename the books. But they are to lazy to touch the text.

Your made-up word shows up inside a book you never published? Congratulations, you found a stolen copy. Yours, or a friend's who shouted you out.

If it's yours, templates are in Part One and Part Two. The process worked for me and everyone who followed it. I couldn't find their books either anymore. Complaint to sale-stopped in under two weeks.

Edit: Another Author found his Book by searching with the title in quotation marks, worth a try

And what did Google say?

A whole lot of nothing. Same "it's just a library catalog" boilerplate as before. But this time with one useful thing in it: a direct link to the metadata correction team. Turns out that's a separate department. The removals team removes. The metadata team fixes wrong author names. Don't waste legal arguments on the removals queue; take the redirect link and file there.

Translated email below.

One last thing. Their boilerplate proudly lists "publication date" as standard licensed metadata. The exact field that is missing from every single listing in this pirate network. You can't make this up…

Direct link to the metadata team, if needed: https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/6113172#ts=6113305 

Appendix: Google's response (translated from German)

Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for your request.

Please note that the displayed metadata does not contain any copyrighted material from the books themselves. Instead, similar to a library catalog, it provides information about the book, such as licensed metadata like ISBN, author name, publisher, and publication date, as well as search result information from public websites. In accordance with Google's policies, results containing only metadata are currently not removed from the index, as the display of this information is legal and helpful to our users.

If you wish to contact the Google Books support teams directly regarding metadata, you can submit your request at [link]

Kind regards, Your Google Team

TLDR; DR: All's good, but Google still sucks

(I’m writing this on my phone as I drive to work; typos are a collectible and everyone who finds one can keep it)

Upward Bound: Canis Majoris

Earth lost the war and was conquered without a fight, without even knowing it was at war.

The Batract Hyphae came with contracts and promises, but were only interested in humans as a workforce and as mercenaries to hold their vast empire together.

Five decades have passed. Humanity’s progress has been stunted; Batract Integration Officers monitor everything and everyone.

Bound for Sirius, the 1st Expeditionary Fleet has been ordered to crush another rebellion against the Hyphae.

But beneath its formal orders lies a different purpose: to prepare for Earth’s uprising and to seek allies among the very species it was sent to destroy.

Now, humanity must play to its strengths, using diplomacy where possible and domination where necessary, to end the threat to its freedom once and for all.

What to Expect:

Upward Bound is a coming-of-age story for an entire species. Planned as a multi-book series, it tells the story of humanity and its allies freeing themselves from oppression and becoming powers in their own right.

It follows the POV of influential officers as well as scientists simply doing science. Great emphasis is placed on how the technology could realistically work, based on modern scientific understanding.

Think Stargate, but much farther into the future.

Free to read on Royal Road https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/134207/astra-inferna-upward-bound

Or Free on Minkly https://www.minkly.io/series/255

Finally, I made it. My first scammer on royal road

#SaveStargate

The Universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice... It is the small, still voice that says: We are one... We agree to recognise this singular truth, and this singular rule: That we must be kind to one another, because each voice enriches us and ennobles us, and each voice lost diminishes us... We are one.

We started this war with words from my mother. I end it with them too. She never told me where she found them. It doesn't matter. Wherever they came from, it doesn't diminish their truth.

— President Ffion Davies, address to the Federation Senate, opening of the peace conference to end the First War against the Federation, 56 P.I.

Ambassador Karrn enjoyed the afternoon with his family in Langelinie park.

Flukk played catch with the twins, Simak and Karrnak.

His youngest son, Noriff, cuddled with the newest addition to Karrn's family: Mandy, an Earth dog. Like Noriff, she was a stray. And as if they knew each other's history, they were inseparable.

Noriff was a war orphan, rescued by the 22nd Mechanized when they liberated Martife. The soldiers found him huddled against his mother's corpse under a collapsed subway entrance. How the pup had survived the months alone was a mystery and a miracle.

Even now, a year after the ordeal, he had horrible nightmares — though he was only two years old.

Mandy, who always slept next to him, was one of the few things that could calm him down.

Karrn understood the human love for dogs much better now.

Over the soft, sweeping grass hills he could see Rosha walking back toward them, ice cream cones in her hands for him and their pups.

Life could be so peaceful sometimes. Why can't every day be a Sunday?

The concept of a Sunday was something he had only learned when he came to Earth.

A day off, reserved for family and friends only.

Such an alien concept. So… human.

Rosha had reached the pups. Even Noriff and Mandy ran over to her, both hoping for a cone of the tasty treat.

Karrn smiled at the disappointment on Mandy's face when she didn't get one. They had learned the hard way that dogs don't digest ice cream well.

He smiled even more when he saw that Rosha had bought her frozen yogurt instead. In a way, Rosha thought of the dog as a fifth child — even though Mandy wasn't sapient.

Rosha finally came over to him.

"Here. Strawberry vanilla, your favorite."

Karrn felt a flicker of guilt. His wife didn't know why he liked strawberries. It reminded him of his time on the Argos.

Strawberry was a constant staple of the desserts there, and Lieutenant Davies wore a perfume with hints of strawberry.

Am I crazy, missing the Argos*? Especially now, when I'm in the park with my family, and everything is perfect?*

"You're too good to me, love."

Rosha smiled — something that made his heart jump even after years of marriage.

"Nothing you don't deserve. You work too hard, so at least today I can help you relax."

Rosha sat down on the grass next to him and leaned her head against his shoulder.

He felt another flicker of guilt. He came home late and left early. His position as ambassador — and de facto pack leader of millions of Shraphen in human space — consumed all the time he had with his family.

Rosha worked hard as well. She worked as a liaison for Humans and Shraphen who were willing to adopt Shraphen orphans or take in refugees from Burrow.

But she managed to be there for the pups.

Karrn feared that without Sundays, his children would grow up not knowing their father.

Rosha looked up at him. "A credit for your thoughts."

"Hmm?" Karrn didn't understand.

"That's what a colleague of mine said when I started staring into nothing. It means — tell me what's bothering you."

"I feel the pups grow when I'm not looking. And since I've been here on Earth, I've looked away too often."

Rosha cuddled closer to him. "But you spend every minute you have with them — that's what counts. And they are proud of their strong father, who keeps them and all Shraphen here safe."

"You think?" Karrn wasn't so sure about that.

"Yes. I heard them talking to Kristian, the neighbor's boy. They play together in our garden. His father is a diplomat in the Aligned Planets, or something."

Karrn fought his tears. The fact that his children thought so highly of him — and that he hadn't known they had a Human friend — he had missed so much.

His watch beeped softly, a signal that someone dared to interrupt his private time.

With a grunt, he pressed the decline button.

"Who was it?" Rosha had noticed.

"Don't know. Don't care."

"Call them back — it might be important, Karrn. I understand, and so do the pups. Please."

------

Ambassador Mekari somewhat enjoyed the quiet day the humans forced him to take. He could finally read through all the reports without hastening from one meeting to the next.

Today was a sort of rest day. Sunday.

An odd and entirely human concept. The station his ship was docked at operated as usual, but all diplomatic and official business rested, and only the bare minimum of work was done.

He closed the written reports his informants had sent.

It seemed Admiral Sanders's diplomatic steamhammer method — throwing truths like daggers until something cracked — had finally managed to get the Noble Council's attention.

Whether that was a good thing remained the question.

He was sure the extraordinarily agreeable surveillance software the good Admiral had installed was reporting all of this back to the humans, and through them, to the Admiral herself.

Mekari liked the human style. Lilith was extremely helpful in understanding humans. Or at least in understanding humans as they wanted to be understood.

And the way she — no, it — told him some things and playfully concealed others, Mekari was almost sure he was slowly learning to understand them better.

The fact that Lilith was eye candy and knew exactly how to play to Mekari's vices — telling him how smart he was, how cosmopolitan — Mekari was sure any lesser diplomat would have sold out the Republic by now.

"Ambassador, you called for me?" Riig's voice, almost apologizing for existing, ripped the Ambassador out of his daydreams.

"Ahh, yes, my dear Riig. I was told you returned to idle playing with bricks in your spare time?"

Riig's fur almost began to glow from how red his skin turned.

"No, Ambassador. See, my house has its roots as builders. The journey to Taishon was for many aboard the ships also a journey of rediscovery."

Mekari was aware of the trend he himself had unwittingly started.

"Yes?"

"So I decided to try my qualities as a builder in cargo space 71. It was empty, and I didn't bother anyone."

Riig was visibly ashamed of being caught. A noble playing with children's building blocks — unimaginable. His ears lay flat on his head, his fur bristled, and his tail swung nervously from side to side.

"Take a seat, Riig. Tell me — what did you build, and how did it feel?"

Mekari's interest was genuine. The nobles aboard all seemed… happier after they spent some time in their houses' professions.

Mekari regretted that he could not do the same. His House were miners once, and even his spacious ships lacked mountains to dig into.

Riig began to smile. Mekari envied his young assistant's capacity for genuine joy.

"Oh, it was wonderful. I built a model of a possible colony, now that the government of Taishon Tar has allowed our wishes to build one."

"Very nice. But remember, never say 'our wishes' — the Republic doesn't ask, it requests."

"Yes, Ambassador."

"Sooo? Tell me more about your model. And don't be ashamed of it. Children play with toys, but nobles build models. Yes?"

"Yes, Ambassador. First, I recreated the geographic details of the… requested building site."

Mekari noticed that Riig had substantially relaxed over the course of the journey. When they first met, Riig was nothing but a fumbling fool.

Partly because he was one — but also because the young noble had been intimidated by his assignment to Mekari.

Before Riig could continue, Lilith's hologram appeared on the lounger next to Mekari's desk. As always, the VI stretched itself, as if she had just woken up from a long sleep.

'Ambassador, you just received a communication request from Ambassador Chiprit. Should I connect you?'

The VI's voice made Mekari shiver. As always.

------

"Admiral, I need your advice here. The Flirr are going crazy about our plans to garrison and fortify their system. They see the danger coming from the Infectors, but they see us as the same danger to their freedom."

Admiral Sanders sat in her office, staring at the screen. Admiral Browner, on the other side of the comm channel, scratched his chin.

"Explain again, slowly this time."

Sanders rolled her eyes. The political reality of the Republic's border regions almost gave her an ulcer.

Gods, give me something to shoot at, not this diplomatic nonsense.

"Mekari had forgotten to tell us how despised the Psstips are in some regions out here. The Flirr are only one of the species the Psstips had conquered and suppressed for generations."

She poured herself another coffee. It was 2350 board time. The day had been long already.

"Do you think this was intentional?"

Browner's question was the same one she had asked herself all last week.

"At first, I thought so, yes. But after working more closely with the Psstips, I'm not sure. I think Mekari is a guy with his heart in the right place, wherever Psstips have their heart. But he and all the other nobles live in their own world. And however open they try to be, they can't help but see the world through their cultural lenses."

"The British Empire at its worst." Browner shook his head slowly, trying to make sense of the backstory.

Sanders looked up.

"Yes, or Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. They didn't get why Eastern Europe didn't like them either."

The grey-haired admiral on her screen shook his head again.

"Well, Cassidy, time to put on your diplomatic hat and solve this mess. What do the Flirr want from us?"

Sanders looked at the screen with tired eyes. "That we piss off and never come back."

Browner laughed dryly. "They know the Infectors will come back?"

"They don't believe us. They saw us fight side by side with the Psstips. For them, we're nothing more than mercenaries for the Republic."

Browner nodded. "Go to bed. It's Sunday — rest a bit while I make some calls. Let's see how fast we can get a diplomatic mission out there. Until then, don't start any more wars."

Sanders smiled sarcastically. "What's one more enemy?"

The screen went dark. Sanders leaned back in her chair.

Admiral, Ambassador Chiprit has requested a conference call.

Zeus's voice had slowly changed since his outing as an AI; the slight mechanical subharmonics were gone, replaced entirely by a soothing deep baritone.

"Now?" She wasn't in the mood at all.

It seems the Trkik have heard of our problems and decided to help.

------

The holographic meeting room was of astonishing quality. Chiprit almost vibrated with excitement and anxiety.

It was his doing — and that of his staff — that had brought all these highly important ambassadors and officials together in this room. Physical or virtual.

Admiral Rolling, Ambassador Mekari, and Ambassador Durtakhen of the Nuk Matriarchate were physically present in the conference room, together with Chiprit, of course.

Virtually seated were Ambassador Karrn and Admiral Sanders.

Chiprit was still puzzled that the Shraphen Colonial Government and the Burrow Provisional Senate had decided to give all decision-making authority to Ambassador Karrn. It seemed that Burrow and Taishon Tar were still unsure who led the Shraphen people, and both had chosen to defer to Karrn's judgment.

On the other hand, that made dealing with them considerably easier.

The fact that the delegates used the idle time for small talk made Chiprit smile.

So many different species, and they seemed friendly.

Mekari was exchanging pleasantries with Karrn, and Chiprit almost laughed out loud when the Psstips ambassador forgot that Karrn was only virtually present and tried to slap the Shraphen's shoulder.

"Ambassadors, delegates — I am terribly sorry to have called you to this meeting at this hour. I know for some of you it's very late, but we are standing at a dangerous crossroads, and I believe we need to provide our fleets with guidance on the way forward."

Chiprit paused.

The delegates went silent. The gaze of the avian Nuk ambassador made Chiprit nervous. He reminded him of the Rakneth — the holy bird back home. The former holy bird, which still had Trkik on the menu. For now.

Mekari stood up. "My dear Chiprit, let us not talk in circles here. You called us because of the problems my dear Admiral Sanders encountered securing the Republic's borders, yes?"

"So the past has finally caught up to the Republic, and previous dishonorable acts have come to light and shown their ugly faces."

Chiprit flinched at Ambassador Durtakhen's words. Partly at the sight of his opening beak, and partly because of the sharp criticism.

"Ahhh, my dear Durtakhen — yes, it is true, the Republic has made mistakes in the past. But at least we tried to bring the light of civilization to our neighbors. Not everyone can hide behind the borders of their home system and call it honor."

Mekari actually seemed to enjoy the verbal duel.

"And look — the universe is a better place for it. What if our friends the humans had stayed home? Taishon Tar would be in ruins, my dear Ambassador Chiprit would have suffocated, we would have lost the noble Trkik forever, and your people, Ambassador, would still believe the Batract's lies."

The flight arms of Durtakhen twitched, but Mekari kept smiling in his face.

"At least we never enslaved other species." The Nuk ambassador had clearly scored a point and knew it.

Karrn had obviously had enough of the bickering. He stared first at Mekari and then at the Nuk.

"No, you bombed them on the orders of the Batract. But that is the past. We all made mistakes — and that, too, is in the past. We could bicker here for another hour, or we could find a solution and go home to our loved ones."

Chiprit had the feeling the Shraphen was especially annoyed to be here.

He fought his stress response to regain his voice.

"Please, we need to find a way to bring the Psstips border species to our side, not fight among ourselves."

The fact of the matter was, he had a plan already — but he needed the ambassadors to feel like they had come up with it themselves.

Ambassador Durtakhen rolled his head to the side. A sign of agreement. Then he surprised everyone in the room.

"Before this meeting I received a surprise communication from the Council of Mothers. I was ordered to announce it tomorrow, but perhaps it will help in this matter."

Chiprit's interest was piqued, as was everyone else's. The Council usually only met once per year, so every decision they made was of great importance to the Nuk.

"Given the immediate and constant threat the Infectors present, the Council has decided to commit three fleets to the war against the Protohyphae and their Infectors."

The room was silent for a moment. The Nuk had only ever sent fleets outside their system when ordered by the Batract.

The simple fact that they had even sent an ambassador to Taishon Tar was seen as extraordinary. For them to commit three fleets to support the war — Chiprit lacked the superlatives to express his surprise.

Admiral Sanders shared a telling glance with Rolling. The two Human admirals had been silent the whole time. Chiprit assumed they felt some shame at needing their friends to solve this for them.

Or they simply didn't want to influence the outcome. Humans were still confusing to Chiprit. Their culture and history were extremely violent, yet unlike the more docile Trkik, they had never crossed the line into self-eradication.

"My dear Durtakhen, whoever said a stone could be more surprising than the entire Nuk species was obviously wrong. Let me be the first to thank you and your esteemed Council in the name of the whole Republic."

Mekari made a deep, exaggerated bow.

Ambassador Durtakhen turned away from the Psstips.

"We didn't do it for the Psstips. But your words were true — if everyone only cares for themselves, there is no one left to help you when your time comes. The humans have shown us this elementary truth."

Mekari straightened from his bow and smiled at Admiral Sanders. "Yes, they are exceptional teachers of hard truths. No?"

The other delegates were still too surprised by the Nuk's revelation to catch the smile Mekari gave the admiral.

All but Chiprit. He wondered what made the Psstips so affectionate toward the Human admiral.

Karrn stood up. "Then we have the solution already. The Flirr and the other border species see the Humans as allies of the Psstips. But they won't see the Nuk as such. Maybe this is something we can work with."

Chiprit knew it wasn't that easy. He and his staff had discussed this for days already.

"If it were only that simple — but I fear my government would have a hard time accepting the Nuk gaining extensive influence in our border regions, even if only to fight the Infectors." Mekari now looked honestly sad.

"If it were up to me, the Republic would give them the tools to protect themselves. But I am nothing but a meager ambassador with little influence."

Chiprit had to accept that the Nuk surprise had ruined his well-crafted plan to steer the conference toward his solution. He had to act, and quickly.

"Admiral Rolling, I have read something about the first human peace treaty. Perhaps there is something we could learn from it?"

Rolling was surprised to be addressed so suddenly.

She cleared her throat while Admiral Sanders's smile expressed a clear message: better you than me.

"Well, we have the story of two ancient peoples stuck in a never-ending war. At the end, they made a peace treaty vowing everlasting peace. The trick was, the diplomats from each side crafted the treaty so that each side received a copy claiming the other had asked for peace."

Karrn's tail wagged. "The Treaty of Kadesh. I've seen the original with my own eyes in the Library of Alexandria. Ambassador Chiprit, that is an excellent idea."

Chiprit had to hide his satisfaction. With Karrn invested in Human history, another piece of his plan had fallen into place.

"What an intriguing idea. The Emperor could save face by claiming he had asked a neutral power to protect the border regions." Mekari thought out loud.

"Maybe even more species than the Nuk — that would make it easier to sell to the Noble Council."

Chiprit had to fight the urge to jump up victoriously.

Karrn looked up from his data slate. "The Shraphen 3rd and 17th Veyr are refitted and ready. We had planned to assign them to support Admiral Sanders anyway."

Yes. Yes… yes.

Mekari looked at Chiprit with a knowing expression before he continued.

"We just need a neutral power to oversee and coordinate the shared effort. Ambassador Chiprit?"

He knows. The old cat had known from the start. Chiprit was certain of it.

"The Trkik could certainly fill that role. We see our future in mediation and diplomacy anyway."

 

When Karrn came back from his office, it was not too late to play some more with his pups.

"And? Was it important?" Rosha had prepared dinner.

"Yes, my love. I think we made the first steps toward something great today."

And Sunday wasn't over yet.

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Hello,

Usually, this is the place where I speak about the new chapter and share other updates about the book.

But today I'm doing the opposite — today I'm even trying to drag you away from the new chapter.

Today I want to talk to you about the Stargate situation on Amazon and how fans get treated.

Our friends on r/Stargate got devastating news this weekend.

As some of you might know, Amazon canceled the new Stargate show last week — after it had already been greenlit.

But to then hear that the show was canceled because the current fandom would like it too much, and that would exclude new fans...

If there was ever a more corporate bullshit excuse, I must have consciously suppressed it.

Because ignoring existing fans created flops like Disney Star Wars — a now-dead franchise.

Honoring fans created the Fallout TV show, with 65 million viewers in the first 16 days.

It's a slap in the face of every fan who kept this franchise alive since MGM went bankrupt.

 

With that in mind, I'd ask any readers who love Stargate — a show that is basically HFY in its purest form — to sign the petition:

 #SaveStargate with Martin Gero

And something to laugh at, even in these dark times as a Stargate fan:

# Save Stargate YouTube

So, enough venting

Have a nice one 

M.R. Reese

Quick and dirty; Before the update/maintinace i had a rank of 922 and not 64976.

Does anyone have the same issue?

So usually I don't give a flying f*** about "bad" ratings. But this one? This one made me laugh.

So, the background first, I posted a hiatus notice saying I'd be back June 1st.

June 1st came, I posted the chapter on time like promised.

And then someone went back to the two-week-old hiatus notice and rated it 3.5.

Not in the chapter. In the status update.

I'm not even mad; I'm genuinely impressed by the commitment.

That really takes effort. You have to go back, find the post, and think "yes, this notice telling me the author will return on June 1st deserves a 3.5, especially now that it's June 1st and the chapter is right there."

Anyway, RR's rating system is a mess. Inflated scores on one end, troll ratings with zero consequences on the other. I’ve got no idea how you fix that, but someone smarter than me should probably figure it out.

Or I'm just venting, and I'll regret this post in two hours. Honestly could go either way.

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You know the story, like every schoolchild knows it. In the year 3 B.I., the Aligned Systems discovered the first true alien ruins on Burrow's Moon.

It kick-started the field of xeno-archaeology into the juggernaut it is today.

And it started the now more than 350-year-long hunt for more relics.

But have we been lied to?

Is this all a scam?

Are the documentaries nothing but fakes and AI slop, and are the Aligned Systems hiding the truth?

Maybe.

Now, here's the thing. If we believe history conspiracists, all of this never happened the way you and I have been told.

In this episode of History Unveiled*, we will dive into alien ships found on Earth, the development of the first A-Drive, and maybe find out who, or what, really started the catastrophic seven-gauge earthquake.*

— Excerpt from History Unveiled***, Episode 3127, Whistler-Tube, ca. 350 Post-Independence***

Captain Smith only wanted to pick up a cup of coffee before joining the Task Force meeting. Sadly, Dr. Shanks, Dr. Hunter, and IronBallz waited at the door of his quarters for him.

The month had started so nicely, but it was about to become stressful.

Four weeks ago, the new VI core was finally installed, and Ferdinand had begun to support the crew in uncovering the secrets of Burrow's Moonbase.

It seemed Fakeiand, as the crew called the alien AI, had intentionally scrambled sensor readings and worked against the crew where it could.

Ferdinand had taken over the ship's VI functions and cleaned hundreds of thousands of trojans, scramblers, keyloggers, and other malware left behind by Fakeiand.

In minutes, he uncovered an extremely low-energy signal from the relic docking port.

It was Batract. Or rather, an ancient variation of it.

Decoding the signal and creating a fake passkey took some time, but the chaos field was down. Sleipnirs could now fly down to the underground docks without issues.

The new Sector Commander, Admiral Russo, intended to send at least a company of Marines down before any scientist would risk his life again.

The scientists were unhappy, to say the least.

Most of all, Doctors Shanks and Hunter.

Before Smith could even say a word, all three started to speak.

"The possible loss of archaeological data is massive, Captain. Those are Marines. They have no idea how to preserve a dig."

"Yes, and they might encounter problems they can't solve and blow up unimaginable technical relics. This site could advance human development centuries or more, the programmable matter alone…"

'And don't forget we need to uncover what the Batract did down there with my ancestors, and if they were already infected with Hyphae or au naturel, so to say.'

Smith tried to walk faster, but the two doctors followed him left and right. He reached his breaking point when the Glider IronBallz jumped from Shanks' shoulder onto his head and pulled his ears, screaming.

'Captain, do you hear me? I need to go down with the Marines.'

"Silence, all three of you."

Grabbing the Glider by his neck and pulling him off his head, he looked the elder in his eyes. "And never pull my ears again, do you understand?"

'Yes, but…'

"No. No buts. I'll have to go to a Task Force meeting with Admiral Russo, now that Sanders is on her way to Nekoo. And convincing him to send scientists in with the Marines will be difficult enough without you all pestering me."

Shanks was seemingly the only one who had really listened.

"You trying to get us on the transports?"

"Of course. I don't want the Marines all alone down there. No one knows what these morons would break without scientific oversight."

Smith turned his hand, allowing IronBallz to sit on it instead of hanging by his neck.

"And you come with me. If I get my head chewed off by No-Nonsense Russo, I'm taking you with me, understood?"

'What do you need me for?'

IronBallz tried to jump off Smith's hand and reach the Glider gangways on the ceiling. Smith was faster and snatched the elder Glider mid-jump.

'That's harassment. You're constraining my free movement.'

"You harassed me before I had my coffee, so shut up and think of a way to convince Russo. Otherwise we'll sit here for months until the Marines give the all-clear."

IronBallz turned his head almost 180 degrees. All Gliders could turn their necks like owls, and Smith always got a little sick seeing this.

'I… might have an idea, but I want to try it first with you.'

Smith wasn't able to even say "What" before it hit him.

Feelings of loneliness and desperation. The moon getting smaller as he stared out of a window. Other Gliders around him, their fear and confusion intensified over the biological link they shared.

A reptile hand grabbing him by his neck fur, pulling him out of the small transport cage into a larger one, with more scared Gliders.

Then he was back on the Magellan. Shanks and Hunter each holding him up by an arm.

"What the hell?"

Shanks' face looked especially shocked.

"Sir, your eyes turned almost white and then you almost collapsed. What happened?"

Smith didn't know exactly. "IronBallz, I saw…"

'I shared my memory. The deep memory. I don't know what or how, but this place… I think somehow these memories here allow me to unlock new abilities.'

Smith shook off the stabilizing hands.

"And I'm your guinea pig?"

Hunter shook his head.

"It's not this place. It's our implant."

All three stared at Hunter.

"It's the implant that allows us to hear Glider speech. It is connected to our brains. And I think our brains adapt to it, rewiring to accept new inputs."

'So it's not me that changes?'

IronBallz seemed almost sad to hear it.

"No. Well, maybe you adapted a bit, too, but in general, your 'biological Wi-Fi' transmits far more than speech. This data is processed by the implants, but our brain neurons don't process it. Until now, I guess."

"But all of a sudden?"

Hunter thought about Doctor Shanks' question.

"No, but Captain Smith had the most exposure to Gliders. He's talking to IronBallz or ShutUpBitch all the time, so his brain is rewiring the most."

Smith massaged his temples.

All he wanted was a cup of coffee. Instead, he got memories implanted of thousands-of-years-dead Gliders.

"Go to the infirmary. Get other Gliders and check that out with the Doctors there. I want to know what happens, and I want to be able to stop it, if needed."

The idea of suddenly getting memories of Glider orgies wasn't something he enjoyed.

"Doctor Shanks, you're with me, too."

Smith turned and walked to the airlock.

Admiral Russo's flagship, the A Short Fall of Gravitas, had docked directly on the Magellan. Usually, this sort of docking wasn't done anymore, since ships had grown considerably larger than 30 years ago, when it was still normal procedure.

But they were capable of doing it, and it was still standard procedure in the books. So Admiral Russo had ordered a docking.

He didn't care that the Gravitas was an older battle cruiser, still with rotating habitat sections.

The docking exercise required precise movement in orbit around a moon at thousands of kilometers per hour. Avoiding the older ship's rotating parts turned that precision into a navigational nightmare.

Smith hadn't seen his Navigator that nervous since the Second Battle of Sirius.

After a short brisk walk through the Gravitas's corridors, they reached a meeting room with Admiral Russo already waiting.

"Captain, nice of you to join us. You look horrible. Take a seat. We were just discussing the moon ruins."

Smith took the seat thankfully. The memory fragments still had some grip over him.

Doctor Shanks and IronBallz had to wait outside, a fact that didn't sit well with Smith at all. Russo seemed to see scientists as supporting characters in the Navy-run theatre.

People like Russo were the kind who had initially blocked the construction of the Magellan. And where would we be if the ship hadn't been built?

Opposite Smith sat a dark-haired female Navy Captain. Smith hadn't met her yet, but her shoulder insignia bore the patch of the Relief Fleet. She gave him a short, friendly smile before she focused back on the holographic projection at the front of the desk.

Standing next to the projection were two Marine Majors. The nametags read Roth and Pfershy. Smith knew Pfershy from reports.

A no-nonsense Marine. No wonder Russo had him on this mission.

"We can start again, sir, if you like," Roth offered to the Admiral.

"Nonsense. This data was gathered by Smith, so I very well expect he knows it."

Russo was in a good mood today, it seemed. Not.

"Very well, sir." Roth continued. "As we said, after the docking area, we have multiple large chambers. One is where the away team found the dead body. The fact that some technology is still working makes the existence of traps or security measures a possibility."

Major Pfershy pointed into the hologram.

"We plan to secure the chambers around the dock and prepare a FOB there. Two companies will be enough. From there, we can plan further expeditions, provided Magellan can provide specialists and scientists."

With this, the Major looked at Smith.

Captain Smith was surprised. He was prepared to fight tooth and nail to get his people aboard.

"Yes. Everything you need."

"Well, another meeting that should have been an email. Majors, prepare your men to move. Captain Smith, meet Captain Aylin Kaya. She's the Captain of the President's End. She and her ship will support you here until the Pioneers create the station."

Captain Kaya gave Smith another friendly smile, followed by a "Captain."

Greeting the Captain back, Smith then asked, "Station? Sorry, sir, I must have missed a memo."

"Well, then better be on time next time. Captain Kaya here had the idea to create a geosynchronous station with an orbital lift down to the relic site. It's cheaper in the long run than to park a ship here for years."

"Yes. The Magellan is a highly specialized ship. Wasting her parked here in orbit is… well, wasteful."

Smith had had the same thoughts, but to be pushed aside didn't feel right. They had discovered the ruins. But before he could counter Captain Kaya's argument, she had already continued.

"I can't imagine what wonders the Magellan could find out there instead of just focusing on these ruins. Captain Smith, I envy you. In a year, you crossed the galaxy twice and found these ruins."

"Yeah, stop telling each other how wonderful your ships are and start working. I have to undock and go back to Burrow One. This whole star system is a madhouse."

With this, the Admiral left the meeting room.

"Captain, can I come over to the Magellan and take a Sleipnir from there to my ship? Otherwise, my Navigator has to hard-dock the President's End again, and I don't think he has the nerves to do it again."

Smith understood the notion.

He didn't know what to think of Captain Kaya. For Smith's taste, she was almost a bit too eager to please. Her praising his ship came too fast, as if she wanted to disarm him.

He would keep an eye on her. But for now, he took the win. Until the station was built, the Magellan had the ruins.

Small victories.

 

————

Eva's message made Admiral Georgiou feel uneasy.

'Admiral, there's something on the TV you must see.'

Must see… that's never good.

"What channel?"

'Probably all of them.'

Definitely not good.

He switched on the monitor. A history stream channel. He had watched a documentary about the sinking of Doggerland yesterday evening.

On the news flash band in the lower part, he saw what Eva was talking about.

Senator Shore proposes emergency legislation to outlaw abortion and curtail women's rights.

Oh my god. What had he done now?

Pressing the "Want to know more" button, the channel switched.

Two women, almost foaming at the mouth, debated the newest attack from the patriarchy, according to them.

"And even in the Army and Navy, there are still 20% less women in leadership positions, and this Senator now wants to drag us back into the kitchen."

Well, if there are 30% less women enlisting, then 20% less in leadership is a good number. Not that any of you would ever enlist…

He switched the channel. The host had a stream of the original interview on. He and his co-hosts' faces overlaid the original video, and they cheered with Shore's arguments, making them almost incomprehensible.

"Tara, have you looked at recent population statistics? Because I have, and given the current trend, humanity is about to die out. There are only about four billion humans left in the Sol system. With a replacement rate of 0.85 on Earth, this number will plummet further."

The "Boom, take that, bitch" made Georgiou feel sick.

The same idiots, just from the other aisle. And most of them flunk out in basic training because they're just bullies and insecure brats

He poured himself a glass of Tsipouro, sighed, and changed the channel again.

A political commentator arguing with his host.

"So, Mike, what do you think of the Senator's proposal?"

The middle-aged commentator with ancient-looking earbuds stared directly into the camera and cleared his throat.

Damn, is there a rule that commentators need bad audio quality?

"Well, Gaby, it sounds bad, but don't forget that Earth has a real population crisis. Earth has only three billion people. The whole Solar System, maybe four billion. And the Senator's bill consists mostly of tax incentives, and other measures to make having children as cheap as having none."

Georgiou switched the screen off. He knew he would learn all he needed tomorrow. And tons of things he didn't want to learn.

The Senator was right. As stupid as it might sound, humanity faced extinction. Either slow, by negligent birthrates, or quick, by an enemy they couldn't defeat because they lacked the numbers.

But the way the Senator went was… odd, to say the least.

"In one moment, you help me build a fleet, in the next, you start a political front that had been silent for five decades. What are you up to?"

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>Author's notes:

Hello,

The good news: we hit 1,000 followers on Royal Road, many or most of them out of this community. Thank you all. That's actually amazing.
As some know, this is my first time writing, so everything I do here is completely new to me. This, sadly, leads me to the other, less-good news.

I started writing and releasing chapters here on September 28, 2025. That's about 190,000 words in about eight months. And I did it the whole time without a backlog.

This can't go on forever.

I want to keep quality high while building up a backlog that keeps things going if life happens.

I had a week off work, and I noticed that even while I was off, the quality suffers if I write more than three chapters. Simple math says that if I release three chapters and write three chapters, the buildup is zero.

What I won't do is release chapters I'm not happy with. You deserve better.

What I also don't want to do is work without a backlog. The stress is real every time I don't meet a goal or don't get something polished in time, and that leads to worse quality.

And lastly, I don't want to feel like a content vomit machine, because that also leads to sterile, formulaic output.

So, the hard decision had to be made to effectively cut the Wednesday release until I have a sufficient backlog.

Please don't see this as me relaxing or slacking. I almost burned out from writing at the start of the year, and I'm still reeling from the consequences. No one is happy if I have to stop fully.

The story in my head is large, and if I want to bring it to life, I need to keep this up for years.

I'll keep you posted as the backlog grows and Wednesday releases will come back.

Thanks again for everything.

M.R. Reese