《Tidal Lock》 Chapter 1 - The Temple Wraiths Compared with the atmosphere of Earth, the vacuum of space contained absolutely nothing. But in reality, this vacuum was hardly empty. Photons from a typical blue star flooded the expanse of this system, cosmic background radiation seeped in from interstellar space, and various comms blasted Aero''s receivers with his fighter squad''s idle chatter. Bits of radio static filtered into Aero''s earpiece, despite the supposed twenty-eight century data transmission technology. Eckos asked. Paws asked in return. Nova said. Eckos said. Stevie joined the conversation. Nova said. Alf interjected, Groans poured out of Aero''s earpiece. Seated in his frigate Celaeno''s bridge, Aero''s face found his open palm. He flipped the broadcast switch on his comms panel. ¡°Nova, you have authorization to splash Alf. Fire at will.¡± ¡°Well she is our best interceptor pilot,¡± Aero said. And also the most trigger happy, he thought. Cheers arose from the crowd of bored pilots. Well, Nova''s smart enough not to splash blues before an op. It probably would''ve been fine though. His source said a single freighter approached with a minimal escort of two Duvi fighters ¨C easy prey for this small band of pirates. The Celaeno served as his squad''s command ship. The 150m long frigate had a load-out tailored for shield penetration and ship incapacitation. The squad had four Rattlers and four Vipers, both fighter models superior to the Duvis. Their band''s interceptor pilots were among the best, with months of experience from constant raiding. Even the boarding party was skilled enough to take over a well-defended frigate; it was overkill for a single freighter. Too bad there wasn''t anything stronger around. Guinea said, Mayto asked. Eckos laughed. Like most PVP organizations, the Templar Wraiths gained most of their income through pirating merchant trade or hunting bounties. Unlike most pirates or bounty hunters, who used PVP as a means to gaining credits, this group sought the thrill of combat, collecting only enough credits for ship maintenance and the occasional upgrade or ship replacement. Even now, the group floated in an asteroid field, impatiently waiting for their next prize. Paws said. ¡°That''s fine," Aero said, "I''ve got homework as well. Source has never been this far off on his timing before.¡± Stevie said. Nova said. Jake said. Ecks said, Ooh. Ouch. Eck''s on fire today. At least four voices blasted through the earpiece at once. ¡°Captain! Contacts!¡± The NPC crewman seated at the sensor station alerted Aero. ¡°Five new contacts warped in through the Revell Gate!¡± "Comms, comms, comms.¡± Aero cleared the airwaves. ¡°Contact count five.¡± ¡°Library match,¡± the sensor operator continued. ¡°Four Duvi class fighters and a Wells class enclosed freighter.¡± ¡°It''s them. The fighters are Duvis, now marked Able, Baker, Charlie, and Dog. Prize is a Wells.¡± Aero said. He gave each fighter a phonetic letter designation and relayed those designations to the others. Two more fighters than expected. Nothing we can''t handle though. ¡°Op is on, op is on. Celaeno will take Prize. Flight leads, Mayto, Nova, pick your targets. Sweep the bugs before Prize.¡± Mayto said. Nova confirmed. Jake said. From his bridge''s view screen, Aero watched the eight fighters in his squad each ignites their main engines and shrink into the distance until they were blue dots among the stars. Aero turned to his own crew. ¡°Power up all systems. Helm, full speed ahead. Approach Prize to five klicks and match speed. Gunner, charge ionic disruptors and fire at will.¡± Five kilometers was just inside the maximum effective range of Celaeno''s shield disrupting ion weapons, while remaining outside the range of typical defensive weapons on a freighter. ¡°Full speed ahead. Approaching to five klicks,¡± the helmsman confirmed. ¡°Charging ionic disruptors. Will fire when in range,¡± the weapons officer said. Aero flipped an internal comms switch, contacting his boarding party leader. ¡°Legs, prepare for launch. Prize has finally appeared.¡± ¡°You''re deploying in about five minutes.¡± Legs said. ¡°Sensors, keep an eye out for any new guests.¡± Aero said. ¡°Yes captain.¡± Four fighters instead of two, and they were over an hour late. Wonder if anything else will be unexpected, Aero thought. The hum from Celaeno''s twin engines crescendoed to a roar. Asteroids of assorted sizes whizzed by on the bridge viewscreen. Celaeno was fast for its size, but nowhere near as fast a single or twin-seated fighter. On his holomap, Aero watched the two flights of four interceptors each approach their targets. The four Duvi fighters split into two elements, or leader wingman pairs, with Able leading Charlie, and Baker leading Dog. In response, his two flights split up, with Mayto''s flight engaging Able-Charlie and Nova''s flight on Baker-Dog. It looks like they have some semblance of teamwork. This might be interesting. Mayto said. Nova said. Alf said. His marker approached Able from below and made Able break off from Jake. Jake said. Nova''s flight stuck behind Baker and Dog as the Duvis dodged her plasma fire in open space. Two aggressors and two defenders, classic tactics, Aero thought. Not enough when you''re outnumbered two to one though. He checked the view screen. Celaeno was now positioned outside the asteroid belt, and orange flashes of plasma bolts from the interceptor battle decorated the screen. Though not as pretty, the holomap still provided the better tactical view on the action. ¡°Prize is at five klicks. Matching speed.¡± Helm announced. ¡°IDs locked and firing.¡± Gunner said. Guinea''s marker chased behind Able''s. Alf said. Guinea reported. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Nova said. ¡°Prize shields at seventy percent,¡± the sensor officer said. The dance of light and fire continued for several minutes. While the four Duvis managed to evade fire and occasionally engage the Vipers and Rattlers, their numbers were too small to break through any of his fighters'' shields before receiving fire themselves. Shields on the Wells class freighter steadily absorbed orange plasma blasts from Celaeno''s IDs, but the cyan bubble surrounding it slowly faded in color. Like most freighters, this one appeared only fitted with anti-fighter weaponry. With Celaeno attacking from maximum range, the fully laden Wells freighter was a sitting duck. Eckos said. Mayto said. Jake said. Mayto said. Nova said. Yellow blips representing missiles appeared on Aero''s holomap and flew towards Baker. Able''s red indicator on the holomap disappeared. Guinea said. ¡°Prize shields at forty percent.¡± Nova said. Mayto announced. His flight fell back into formation to chase down Charlie. Another red marker disappeared, leaving three total. Nova said. Wait, was Nova on Baker the entire time? She read him way too easily, Aero thought Charlie and Dog regrouped to form a new element with Dog in the lead, but Charlie seemed unable to properly match Dog as a wingman. Their formation crumbled on Aero''s holomap once Nova''s flight gave chase. Her flight stayed on Dog while Mayto''s chased Charlie. Now facing four opponents each, the Duvis had no chance of survival. ¡°How are we doing on Prize?¡± Aero asked his crew. ¡°Twelve percent shields.¡± Sensors said. ¡°Launch the jackknife, prepare MP torpedoes for launch.¡± ¡°Launching jackknife.¡± Aero''s first officer confirmed. A marker for the boarding craft appeared on his holomap, slowly flying towards Prize. ¡°MP torpedoes ready, maintaining ID fire,¡± Gunner said. ¡°Launch MPTs once Prize''s shields are down,¡± Aero said. Stevie said. Jake said. ¡°Do not engage Prize,¡± Aero commanded. ¡°Repeat, do not engage Prize. Its shields are too low already. Stay at range and watch for company.¡± Mayto said. The two flights reassembled in formation and orbited Prize at three klicks. ¡°Prize shields down, launching MPTs.¡± Without shields, ships were at risk of permanent damage. Engines and thrusters could be destroyed. Hulls can be breached, and a lucky shot could even eliminate the bridge in one hit. The magnetic pulse torpedoes launched by the Celaeno could overwhelm a ship''s electronics system and disable it. While combat ships were hardened against such attacks, a freighter like Prize was quite vulnerable and would be disabled with a single clean hit. Aero stood from his seat and moved to the view screen. The two MP torpedoes shot past the Jackknife and slammed into the hull of Prize. Arcs of lightning scattered over its surface, and the lights and thrusters on Prize went dark. With perfect timing, the Jackknife latched onto Prize''s hull. Once the boarding party had breached the freighter''s hull, there was little for the interceptors or frigate to do. ¡°They''re in, moving to the bridge,¡± Aero''s comms officer reported. Guinea asked. <10K says ores,> Alf said. Paws said. Mayto said. Stevie said. ¡°Update from Legs. Bridge is clear. They''re moving onto the cargo hold.¡± Aero returned to his chair. ¡°We''re almost done guys. Get ready to skip out. Set course for Mystell Gate.¡± Legs''s transmission cut off. The bridge viewscreen went white. All signals vanished from the holomap. ¡°What just happened!? Everyone report in!¡± Celaeno''s sensors spewed noise from every direction. All of Celaeno''s instruments panels went blank. Aero was completely blind. Okay, calm down, calm down. With a deep breath, he thought to himself, Legs and Jackknife are probably gone. Everyone else was at full shields and power. They should be fine. An attack is coming, we need to regroup. ¡°It''s jamming chaff Captain. Signal''s clearing up now.¡± Sensors said. With the view screen again displaying normally, Aero searched for his fighters. Prize had disappeared into a vast cloud of metallic dust, a cloud which still engulfed his fighter group and prevented EM signals from passing. ¡°All units report in. Form up on Celaeno. All units report in. Form up on Celaeno.¡± Aero could only hope the broadcast reached his squad. ¡°Captain! New contacts!¡± Sensors yelled out. ¡°Four new contacts warped in through the Revell Gate. Wait¡­ now it''s sixteen. Now twenty. Twenty contacts from Revell Gate. Identified, four Wu-Jian class frigates, twelve Vipers, four Wasps.¡± Here they come, Aero thought. Why can''t I reach the others yet? Sixteen fighters were quickly approaching. ¡°Helm, get those asteroids between us and the enemy fleet. We''re moving to Mystell Gate now! Gunner, prepare for anti-fighter combat!¡± ¡°Roger Captain!¡± Helm said. ¡°We''re good to go sir.¡± Gunner said. ¡°All units report in. Form up on Celaeno. All units report in. Form up on Celaeno.¡± ¡°Contact! We have contacts from Wraiths two, five, and six!¡± The chaff cloud finally dissipated enough for the interceptors to regain contact. Finally! Aero thought. ¡°Mayto, form on me, repeat, form on me. We have company. Do you copy?¡± Mayto said. Transmission quality was shot thanks to the chaff, but their comms opened again. Paws said. Eckos said. Nova asked. ¡°Good to see you again.¡± Aero said. He confirmed all eight of his interceptors were present on his holomap. The enemy fighters would soon enter attack range. Their warp was badly timed. We''d be dead if they warped in as Prize blew. Still have fighters to deal with, but we can escape as long as we stay away from the frigates. ¡°We''re moving towards Mystell," Aero announced. "Incoming fighters are Victor Able to Victor Love and Delta Able to Delta Dog. Those marks are transferring to you now. Pick them off as we move.¡± All eight of his pilots responded. ¡°New contacts at Mystell Gate!¡± Sensors reported. The words were a punch to Aero''s gut. ¡°Count twenty-four, four Wu-Jian class frigates, six Fulcrum class bombers, six Wasps, eight Duvis.¡± Four frigates and sixteen fighters from behind, four frigates, six bombers, and fourteen fighters in front. Well fuck. I guess someone got pissed at our raids. So, what to do now? A smile spread across his face, and he could only laugh at the predicament. ¡°Guys? I think I''m a terrible FC,¡± Aero said. A good fleet commander would save his ships and men after all. Eckos asked. ¡°I want to take them all down. You guys in?¡± Jake said. Guinea echoed. Stevie said. All eight pilots enthusiastically agreed. ¡°You battle crazy idiots. You''re the reason I can''t get enough of this game,¡± Aero said. With his widest grin he stood before the holomap. ¡°All ships reverse course! We''re sweeping these buggers off the star map!¡± Chapter 2 - Sparks In the world of Parallax Gate, more commonly known as PG, humanity had transcended their physical bodies and could exist in the digital plane. Their conscious existence, called personalities, could be uploaded into temporary bodies to act on the physical world. If a person desired, or in the event of a body''s death, these personalities would return to the digital plane. Supposedly, since the digital plane was a dull world where only senses were sight and sound, most people chose to remain in the physical plane and entered the digital only when necessary. Like the real plane, private property and private spaces also existed, creating digital lobbies, chat rooms, and forums. Having the most durable ship, Aero was the last to return to the Temple Wraiths'' lobby. The digital space manifested as a black cube with circuit patterns on all six interior surfaces releasing a cyan glow. Nine fluorescent sparks, each representing a personality, floated about in space within. As if emphasizing the digital nature of this space, voices and other sounds were given a synthetic quality. Now a white spark, Aero flew to the center of the room. I guess Legs and friends already logged off, he thought. A lime green spark drifted along a lobby wall. ¡°Aww, all my Viper upgrades, two hundred thousand in Viper upgrades gone...¡± Alf said. A red spark, Jake, flashed in agitation.¡°Fuck, we were so close!¡± ¡°Close to what?¡± Guinea asked. His ash-gray spark rolled besides Jake''s red. ¡°We were still disadvantaged to the very end you know.¡± ¡°That went much better than I expected,¡± Mayto said. His personality spun in place with navy blue offshoots flying in all directions. ¡°I thought we''d take down the first group of fighters at best.¡± ¡°Hey Ecks, I assume you''ve recorded the action?¡± Aero asked. ¡°Who do you think I am? Of course I got the whole thing.¡± The silver-gray spark bobbed in confirmation. ¡°I''ll drop a link on our boards once I''ve cut out the waiting bits.¡± ¡°Thanks Ecks. Stevie, can you access the org bank and distribute hull replacement funds for everyone?¡± ¡°Sinn isn''t going to be happy,¡± The forest green spark shuddered. ¡°That''s like half of our liquid assets you know.¡± ¡°Let me do the explaining,¡± Aero said. ¡°Besides, you invested far more non-liquid holdings anyways.¡± ¡°Well it''s time for me to get my work done,¡± Paws said. ¡°See you all later.¡± ¡°Later paws,¡± Aero said, watching the purple spark blink out of existence. ¡°Hey Mayto, Nova, are you going to be around for a bit?¡± ¡°Nah, got dinner to prepare.¡± Mayto said. ¡°Yup, what do you need?¡± Nova asked. ¡°Okay, Sinn will probably call a meeting over this, so it would be nice if you could prepare an analysis once Ecks posts the vid. Don''t spend too much time on it though.¡± ¡°Roger Aero.¡± The yellow spark flitted about. ¡°There won''t be much to criticize anyways.¡± ¡°Thanks Nova,¡± Aero said. ¡°Well guys, I''ve got homework, so I''m gone for a bit.¡± With his squad returning his farewells, Aero imagined closing his eyes to bring up the system command dialog. The vibrant lobby colors shifted to gray, a white silhouette of his body appeared, and a system menu materialized before him. With a touch of the ''Log Out'' button, the world of Parallax Gate faded out.
Mark awoke on his reclining chair inside his dormitory room. Regardless of how it appeared, accessing virtual reality taxed the human mind and would never be a substitute for actual sleep. Darkness filled the room as the day''s last light had long disappeared from the sky. As typical of a college dormitory, the only furnishings were a basic bed, desk, bookshelf, and chair. The only differences between this room and other rooms along the hall were the various astronomy posters on the wall and his eight-inch Dobsonian telescope pointing out the window. Mark stood up and stretched as if a bear waking up from hibernation. The digital clock on his desk read ''6:34''. Two and a half hours huh? Mark thought, I should probably finish my homework first next time. Well, I only have the differential equations assignment plus an hour of reading for English composition. Let''s get diff-EQ done before dinner. Sitting back down at the desk, he turned the light on and grabbed his tablet computer. Like most first year engineering students, his schedule was filled with basic science and mathematics classes rather than subjects strictly related to his major of aerospace engineering. While they formed a necessary foundation for his major coursework, most their lectures bored him. With his notes on the second display before him, Mark grabbed a stylus and embarked on a journey of tedium. As Mark began the last assigned problem, nearly an hour later, his roommate Ivan burst through the door. Also known as Sinn Omon in Parallax Gate, the lean figure stood in the doorway, gasping for breath. ¡°What the hell happened this afternoon?¡± ¡°Huh? Did something happen?¡± Last problem, let me finish this please, Mark thought. ¡°In Parallax! I was sitting and class and all of a sudden, my phone keeps buzzing telling me someone else applied to join the Wraiths. We got like twenty applicants within the last half hour! Then I check my PG app and see that Stevie''s pulled enough credits to buy two frigates and that half our fleet got destroyed in a battle? Seriously, what the hell happened?¡± ¡°Oh that... yeah... Shade fed us some bad intel and we flew into a honeypot.¡± Mark turned back towards his tablet. ¡°If you''re getting lots of apps, maybe one of the PG news blogs picked up on the battle. We did pretty well for the circumstances.¡± ¡°I''ll take a look.¡± Ivan sat at his desk with his own tablet, presumably to check the PG blogs. Like many popular games, Parallax Gate had news sites dedicated to in-game happenings. Events such as large battles or trade wars between organizations frequently made headlines. However, unlike many VRMMOs, Parallax Gate was not a typical stat based RPG. Instead of training stats or skill levels to make their characters superhuman, PG players depended on their own smarts and skills developed through time and experience in game. While established veterans had an edge over new players, a nameless individual or group would often make a splash in the blogs through having the right skills and circumstances. Now, where was I? Mark''s thoughts on homework had derailed completely. Ugh, might as well start this problem from the beginning again. ¡°Mark? How the hell did you manage to take down five frigates against the Crimson Suns!?¡±
¡°Hahahaha, this is awesome,¡± Eckos''s said. The silver-gray spark rolled about in laughter. ¡°The boards are going crazy over us.¡± Twenty-eight sparks buzzed about the Wraiths'' lobby. Though not their preferred meeting location, over half the members lost their physical body, or personality container as it was termed in game, during the earlier action. The eight hour container replacement time served as a mild death penalty in PG. It was just before nine in the evening, the time of night when the Wraiths were most active. With rumors of a major event, all their members made an effort to attend the meeting. A dozen conversations filled the space with an upbeat pandemonium. ¡°Can someone fill me in on exactly what happened?¡± Paws asked. ¡°Remember the fleet we brawled with earlier?¡± Guinea said. ¡°Those were Crimson Suns.¡± ¡°Aren''t the Suns supposed to be good?¡± Paws asked. The Crimson Suns was a large mercenary organization renowned for their near perfect record in task completion. They achieved this through their good pilot skills and an organization size in the hundreds. Though they charged more than typical mercenaries, the guarantee of success meant many players and organizations requested their services to attack rivals or suppress pirates. ¡°They are good,¡± Mayto said, ¡°but I don''t get it. How did we burn them so bad?¡± ¡°Check out this thread.¡± Eckos projected a browser window into the lobby space, displaying the official PG forums. ¡°They''re trying to figure out who we are, and they''re totally off.¡± Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. In contrast to the Suns, the Temple Wraiths were an unknown, sometimes pirate, sometimes mercenary organization with merely a handful of prior mentions. By appearance, they differed little from any other small, combat focused group. ¡°This headline''s a bit odd.¡± Another display materialized by Ice, their third flight lead and a cyan spark. ''Crimson Suns Humiliated in Pyrrhic Victory at Elaris'' the title read. ¡°That''s GNN, they hate on anyone that isn''t S&B,¡± Eckos said. ¡°Settle down people. Let''s get everyone updated first,¡± Sinn said. The org leader''s orange spark circled the lobby center. With a split second, the lobby went silent. ¡°So everyone here''s seen or heard something, but I''d like us all to be on the same page because this event will really affect how our org operates in the future. Since Aero was FC for the uh¡­ incident, so I''ll have him discuss.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Aero moved to center. ¡°This battle occurred during our usual afternoon sweeps. One of our usual intel brokers sold us a tip saying a freighter made a habit of passing through the Elaris system with a light escort. Since this sector hasn''t been very busy, it was the only target we had to hit, not counting the NPC trade convoys. Since most of us find NPC battles boring, those were ignored of course. ¡°Anyways, the target, a Wells freighter, did arrive, but an hour later than the tip said and with four escort Duvis instead of two. Given our forces, we went ahead with the operation and splashed their fighters. Things got interesting when Legs and crew boarded though.¡± ¡°Legius, was there anything you want to include?¡± Sinn asked. ¡°Not really,¡± Legs said. ¡°Everything was as we expected until we reached the cargo hold. We got KO''ed after that.¡± ¡°The Wells was rigged to blow jamming chaff and kill the comms of whoever tripped it,¡± Aero said. ¡°It''s a classic pirate trap. By the time the comms cleared, we had one fleet bearing down on us and a second on its way. To make a long story short, I thought we''d escape with a few fighters at best and decided it''d be more interesting to fight it out.¡± ¡±How big were the other fleets?¡± Myles, the second officer, asked ¡°And who was on our side?¡± ¡°I was commanding from Aoshima class frigate Celaeno,¡± Aero said. ¡°We had two flights, Mayto, Nova, Alf, and Paws in Vipers, and Guinea, Jake, Stevie, and Ecks in Rattlers. I don''t remember the exact enemy numbers to be honest. I was focused more on unit types and positioning at the time. Ecks or Nova, do you have the numbers?¡± ¡°I do,¡± Nova said. ¡°The first fleet had four Wu-Jians, twelve Vipers, and four Wasps. The second fleet had another four Wu-Jians, six Fulcrums, six Wasps, and eight Duvis.¡± Murmurs echoed through the audience. Even in hindsight, it was obviously suicidal, Aero thought. ¡°Settle down boys. We don''t need to go into tactics until later,¡± Sinn said. ¡°Probably tomorrow actually. Can you give us the battle results Stevie? Including credit damages?¡± ¡°Our side was a total loss, with a replacement cost of eleven point six million credits thanks to our various upgrades on the ships. Their side lost five Wu-Jians, all six Fulcrums, all twelve Vipers, eight Wasps, and seven Duvis. Total cost was forty-nine point three million according to the killboards. The combined damages were sixty point nine million, with credit damage fractions being eighty-one to nineteen in our favor.¡± Someone whistled in admiration. ¡°What was the CDF record for a losing side?¡± Paws asked. ¡°Seventy-two point five,¡± Ice said, ¡°from that time Noobswarm overran Black Hole Legion with starter ships.¡± The action between the Crimson Suns and the Temple Wraiths first appeared on the automated PG battle reports alongside dozens of other simultaneous battles. In PG, cost and power were extremely well balanced, and the losing side typically suffered the lion''s share of credit damages thanks to their being overwhelmed in power or their collapsing in retreat. While, on the surface, this action paralleled many others by the Crimson Suns, with the mercenaries suppressing a smaller group of targets for victory, the economic damage heavily favored the Wraiths. Having shattered the previous record for loser''s CDF against an established org, news of this encounter echoed through PG networks. ¡°Anyways,¡± Sinn said, ¡°now that everyone in Parallax knows about us, we have some good news, but also a few problems to deal with. The good news is that I''ve gotten several job offers with intel included, so we can keep busy for a while. Now the first problem, the usual trolls have put up a bounty on our members. The totals are about two mil per kill up to about ten kills it seems.¡± ¡°That''s about average for bounty trolling,¡± Stevie said, ¡°but if considering the Suns lost nearly fifty mil in exchange for nine kills, I doubt it would affect our ops.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Sinn said. ¡°The second problem is the big one. If anyone has checked our boards, we''ve been gotten about forty people applying to join our org, and I''m sure some of them are spies from the big orgs. Not sure what they expect to learn though.¡± They might leak our position during sweeps, but these guys would actually like that, Aero thought. ¡°So, any idea on how we can filter through them all?¡± Sinn asked. ¡°I''ll still make the final call, but inviting them to hang out and raid won''t cut it anymore.¡± ¡°My guild back in Twin Rose Chronicles had a pretty extensive application system,¡± Ice said. ¡°We made applicants answer a bunch of written questions to test how serious they were on joining and also see if they might cause problems. People compared it to a job application, but if you throw up a wall like that, you can weed out those that the ones that won''t ever contribute much to the org.¡± Sounds like college applications. Don''t remind me Ice... ¡°I think that''ll work for us too,¡± Mayto said. ¡°If you''re serious about finding spies, you also should check a character''s history on various accounts and killboards and such. It would also be good to confirm the guy''s skill matches with their history. ¡°Not a bad idea, does anyone object to a formal application and skill trial for new members?¡± Sinn asked. Silence answered Sinn''s inquiry. ¡°Okay, how do we test an applicant''s skill then?¡± ¡°Just throw them in a sim pod and see if they can last three minutes against Sinn or Nova,¡± Myles said. ¡°Does that mean we can kick you out Myles?¡± Eckos asked. ¡°Hey!¡± Myles''s spark doubled in size. ¡°Give me my frigate and I''ll take you all on.¡± ¡°I like the sim pod idea,¡± Sinn said, ¡°and I could judge the fighters. Myles, you can handle the ships, and Legius, you devise a skill trial for your crew.¡± ¡°With pleasure,¡± Myles said. ¡°You got it boss,¡± Legs said. ¡°Now for the big question,¡± Sinn said. ¡°With all our applications, the org will be growing fast and soon. We can keep doing our raid sweeps and bounty hunting, but I think we''ll have the option of claiming dominion soon, and I want to go for it.¡± Dominion, or territorial control, gave player organizations with several benefits, depending on the size and development of their territory. While the smallest undeveloped dominion was at best a toll booth, large, well-developed dominions provided them with enormous incomes and the ability to construct super-capital ships. Naturally, such developments could be taken by force, with better-developed systems being more attractive targets. Thus, the limit of an org''s dominion was defined by what they could protect. ¡°We''ll be painting a target on ourselves, how big do you intend to go?¡± Aero asked. ¡°As big as we can handle,¡± Sinn said. His voice bled with bravado, and his spark outshone the sun. ¡°We already have stories about us on the nets. We might as well turn those stories into legends. All in favor?¡± Aero could only smile, as the result was obvious. First, you drag me into your merry band of pirates, and now you want to conquer the PG galaxy. Well, I guess you''ll keep me busy even when school doesn''t. The ''aye''s echoed through their lobby. All players in Parallax Gate dreamed of taking and holding a dominion, but few had the means to acquire or properly manage them. None of those present realized the distance their reach would extend. Having just proven themselves among the best, the Wraiths now sought to grasp the stars. Chapter 3 - Action and Reaction Being one of the first universities in VR development, and later becoming the first to offer degrees through VR classrooms, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, better known as MIT, prided itself in being an institution at the cutting edge of science and technology, both in the lab and in the classroom. However, like most universities, it was a time capsule which retained several longstanding traditions and appearances. In contrast to the evolving Boston skyline across the Charles River, all of the university¡¯s buildings retained their original images with architecture from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, providing the campus an atmosphere of scholasticism and formality. Building 32, where Mark and Ivan''s Physics I lecture took place, was an exception. Also known as the Stata Center, the building''s oddly angled walls and columns, alongside a multitude of exterior materials produced a cacophony of color in stark dissonance with the ordered MIT campus. The atmosphere within the lecture hall paralleled the outward appearance of the structure, with dozens of independent conversations permeating the room. ¡°Did you see the top story on PGN?¡± ¡°The story about the Crimson Suns? It can''t be real.¡± ¡°How much time does it take to become that good?¡± ¡°I have a friend in the Suns, he said it''s true. They have a video record of it on their private site, and there''s no sign of hacking at all.¡± ¡°BS. There''s a reason neither side will provide any comment.¡± ¡°I heard the Temple Wraiths commander used some nonstandard tactics, and they also managed a few lucky shots.¡± ¡°Are you able to get the vid? I really want to see it now.¡± Somehow, in a lecture hall with over a hundred students, most conversations gravitated towards a single topic. Mark could only shake his head in disbelief. ¡°Seriously? They''re even discussing Elaris in here? I didn''t even know half these people played Parallax.¡± He was seated towards the front of the lecture hall with Ivan to his right. To his chagrin, it was also a position where room acoustics directed all conversations to his ear, reminding him that his actions in game inadvertently spilled into his real world life. ¡°Its not that surprising,¡± Ivan said, ¡°PG tends to attract those who are interested in astronomy and space in general. Considering this class is about forty percent AE majors like us, I think that most people here have at least tried it out. Well, most PG players don''t wander out into lawless space like us.¡± Zones of Parallax Gate were divided based on their varying levels of NPC law enforcement. Most casual players remained within the ''Confederacy space'', where extensive NPC communications infrastructure and guard patrols heavily penalized ''criminal'' or PvP actions with overly long prison time. As this meant criminal players were prevented from to playing the game, PvP did not exist within this lawful space. The opposite was true with ''lawless'' space, where the most dedicated players made their fame, fortunes, and territorial conquests in an unrestrained free-for-all. Though ''affiliated'' space served as a middle transition area, little player activity occurred there. ¡°Lawful or lawless doesn''t matter. I just prefer that stuff in a game couldn''t reach me in school, and I prefer to keep my online life segregated from my real life.¡± ¡°That''s such old-fashioned thinking. The guys already know we''re roommates and MIT students, and I think some of them know we''re in AE.¡± ¡°You''re the one that said all that. I wouldn''t have said anything more than being a student.¡± ¡°Well, it''s not like I plan to announce we both spend too much time in Parallax,¡± Ivan grinned. The two averaged of four hours per day in game. While less than the most dedicated PG player, it remained well beyond the time spent by the casual player. ¡°Don''t even think about it.¡± The potential class reaction to Mark being the Wraith''s fleet commander was too much to imagine. ¡°Why not? Might be your best chance for five minutes of fame.¡± ¡°In the end, everyone will just say the Suns'' FC was incompetent,¡± Mark said. ¡°There''s no simpler explanation, Occam''s razor and all. Besides, I''m just playing PG to pass time until coursework gets more interesting. If it gets in the way of schoolwork, I''ll be dropping it pretty quickly.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Ivan said, ¡°Wraith''s won''t comment on the news anyways. We still need to keep under the radar after all. Oh, by the way, did you see the application form I asked Ice and Mayto to put together?¡± Mark rested his head against his hand. ¡°Is this the right time to ask? Class is starting two minutes ago.¡± Ivan leaned back into his chair. ¡°Hey, ''study hard, play harder'' is my motto after all. You''re right that professor Macklin is late as usual though.¡± ¡°You''re not studying very hard yet Ivan. He''s probably going to spring another pop quiz on us today.¡± ¡°Wasn''t the last lecture on Newton''s three laws of motion? He''s not going to quiz us on that.¡± ¡°Well, here he comes.¡± The pudgy professor walked in wearing a stereotypical tweed coat over his shirt and khaki pants. Without any hint of urgency, he strode to the lectern as the conversations died down. With the room reaching total silence, Dr. Macklin activated the room projector system and made his announcement. ¡°Good morning everyone, we will be having a quiz today.¡± ¡°Told you,¡± Mark whispered. ¡°Crap, I didn''t study.¡±
Personality containers restored, the Wraiths leadership now gathered in their base meeting room. The base itself was a restored asteroid outpost previously abandoned by some Confederacy system. Four arcing steel tables formed a circle surrounding a large holographic display. Currently shown was a map of the Parallax galaxy, with all known systems, gates, and both the non-player Confederacy territories and multi-system player dominions. ¡°So, how do you want to start?¡± Aero asked. ¡°Will we develop our own dominion or to conquer it from some other org?¡± Both choices came with risks and benefits. Dominion development required a significant time and credit investment before any returns materialized. Conquest allowed a faster start, but demanded more upfront costs and military power, while instantly making enemies with other orgs and leading to repeated wars over the same systems. At this stage, the Wraiths lacked both the credits and fleet strength to act in either direction. ¡°I''d prefer immediate conquest,¡± Sinn said, ¡°but we don''t have the manpower, what do you guys think can happen first?¡± Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Naturally, the battle-crazed Temple Wraith leader would jump at the chance for conquest, Aero thought. ¡°How much manpower do we need?¡± Myles asked. ¡°For the smallest dominions, about eight frigates and something like twenty-four fighters and bombers to conquer,¡± Mayto said. ¡°I could probably manage with the forces we have if we get creative,¡± Aero said. ¡°A dominion outpost takes a certain amount of force to take, but that force could come from having a large mass of units or intense acceleration of actions.¡± Sinn leaned forward, eyebrow raised, and asked, ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°Most small dominion defenses orbit the gates at predictable frequencies. You could start a surprise attack by sending an asteroid at high speed through the gate to quickly neutralize those at the start of any battle. Better defended systems are protected by fleets of ships, which are mobile and more expensive to maintain.¡± ¡°If the strategist says so, then why don''t we try?¡± Ice asked. He sat with his legs kicked onto the table before him, as Sinn didn''t care for formality. ¡°That would destroy about half the dominion''s development in the process,¡± Stevie said. ¡°You might as well spend the money to develop a system yourself and not make enemies.¡± ¡°Our treasurer is right,¡± Aero said. ¡°I also don''t think conquest is a sustainable way to start. We won''t have enough people to defend it. If you act against another org while we''re still small, there''s no way you won''t get an equal reaction in return. The best time to conquer other dominions is when your own is massive enough that their response doesn''t disrupt your moves.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Aero?¡± Nova asked, ¡°is there a reason you''re talking kinda funny?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± Aero said, ¡°anyways, I think starting with development is better in the long run. There would be fewer external factors to account for that way. We can really use the time to build up our member base and funding too.¡± ¡°Let''s go with that then,¡± Sinn said. ¡°So we''re back to manpower,¡± Ice said. ¡°How are those application procedures coming along?¡± Sinn asked. ¡°You saw my comments right?¡± ¡°Of course. I think we''re ready,¡± Mayto gave a thumbs up. ¡°Same,¡± Ice echoed. ¡°So the last question I think is how we''d get the credits,¡± Sinn said. ¡°Myles, how are those jobs looking?¡± ¡°We have plenty of jobs lined up,¡± Myles said. ¡°Escort missions, dominion war recruitment, exclusive bounties, and everything in between.¡± Sinn jumped from his seat. ¡°Let''s do dominion wars whenever possible. No better time than the present to gain experience after all.¡± ¡°What is the pay like for those?¡± Stevie asked. ¡°About half the hull cost of participating ships,¡± Myles said, ¡°but I can negotiate a bit more now since we''ve made a reputation. The other jobs are offering about fifty percent more than before too.¡± ¡°Okay, so how much longer until we have the credits to start a claim?¡± Sinn asked. ¡°Two or three weeks by those numbers,¡± Stevie said. ¡°Hmm, since won''t have the credits for a few weeks, we might as well be picky in our location,¡± Aero said. ¡°As long we don''t act upon any of the current major dominions, we can assume that their movement won''t change to account for us. I suggest we set up in an undiscovered system. That way, we could also keep our investments safe for a while and stay out of sight from the big orgs.¡± With the overwhelming distance between stars, interstellar travel was not a matter of traveling through space. Rather, stable wormholes known as ''gates'' linked the systems of Parallax Gate. Discovering new systems required successfully traversing gates in manually controlled ships to collect navigation data, while failure resulted in the instantaneous death of the explorers. Often collected at great cost, the navigation data could be transferred to friends and org members or sold on the market. To the annoyance of many explorers, the PG game system made nav data public three months following discovery, leaving only a tiny window to monopolize new findings before NPCs and rival players appeared. ¡°Ooh, can I lead the exploration team?¡± Nova asked. Oh yes, she did mention that didn''t she? Aero thought. ¡°Sure, where should we place our claim then?¡± Sinn asked. ¡°As I said earlier, someplace away from the big dominions and unknown to the general public.¡± Aero stood and input a series of commands into the display console, highlighting star at the edge of mapped space. The surrounding space had with two minor dominion claims. ¡°I would suggest someplace a jump or two beyond Timaeus. There are some small org dominions in the region, but they''re not real threats. That lets us grow until we can challenge the bigger orgs.¡± ¡°How often do they have dominion wars?¡± Ice asked. ¡°Typically, that only happens when there''re shared borders,¡± Mayto said. ¡°So it won''t be often in that region.¡± ¡°That''s pointless,¡± Sinn said, ¡°pick someplace more crowded Aero.¡± Oh, I forgot to consider that factor, Aero thought. He moved the map highlight, shifting it to a border system in a region with a rainbow of dominion claims. ¡°If you''re bringing PvP frequency into the equation, then how about two jumps beyond the Van Emil system? The region has frequent org battles, but its stable in the sense that no dominion gets too big before the others ally themselves against it. If we develop our own dominion just outside this region, we could become an external force that alters the movement of this region.¡± Sinn''s eye twitched. ¡°Does anyone object?¡± ¡°Just one comment,¡± Stevie said, ¡°as treasurer, I need to remind everyone that more frequent dominion wars will cost more credits. You can expand faster by conquering, but defensive battles will slow you down because of the lost development credits. I don''t object though.¡± Grinning, Sinn stood from his seat and pointed at the map. ¡°Okay, we''re all set then. We''ll amass our credits and while we gather members and explore. After that we''ll create our own dominion. Then, we''ll overrun as many of our neighbors as we can absorb. Our quest for galactic conquest begins now!¡± There''s still a lot to do Sinn. Aren''t you getting a little too excited? Aero thought. ¡°And, Aero, could you do me a favor?¡± Sinn asked. ¡°What''s the favor?¡± ¡°I know you''re doing it on purpose. Stop... referencing... Newton''s laws of motion!¡± Interlude 1 - Elaris In large organizations, leaks of data and media intended solely for internal use were unavoidable. Such leaks were far more common for in-game organizations where such leaks had no real world consequences. Thus, with over two hundred members, it was only a matter of time before someone in the Crimson Suns shared their video record of the Battle of Elaris. The vid first appeared on the nets the next day at half-past nine in the morning, eastern time ¨C fifteen hours since the incident became public knowledge. By noon, the community had copied and shared its data across every PG related forum, news blog, and fan site. To the Suns'' detriment, the leaked video was uncut and unedited, leaving bare all the org''s structure, tactics, and radio protocols. Within twenty-four hours of the battle, tactical analyses appeared, eviscerating the Suns and purporting an explanation for the absurd damage ratio dealt by the Temple Wraiths. Most popular, and arguably the best, tactical breakdown came from a streaming program named Orbital Chess, hosted by Gate News Network anchor Kat Andell and featuring Stars & Bars strategist Jazz Anders. While the two never discussed events involving S&B, episodes of the detailed and generally unbiased stream served as a bible of group combat tactics in the world of Parallax Gate. With the explosion of interest in the Battle of Elaris, GNN arranged a special episode of Orbital Chess to dissect the action. Thousands of viewers tuned into GNN to hear Jazz''s take on the event. At exactly half-past nine in the evening, the stream went live on the GNN website, revealing the anchor and analyst in a virtual studio. ¡°Good evening, and welcome to a special episode of Orbital Chess, where we break down the tactics of fleet combat in Parallax Gate. I''m your host, Kat Andell, and with me is Stars and Bars strategist Jazz Anders. Today, we will be breaking down the action between the Crimson Suns and Temple Wraiths yesterday, which made a huge splash in the headlines. Welcome back again Jazz, are you ready to get started?¡± ¡°Thank you Kat,¡± Jazz said. ¡°Before we get started, there are a few things that I think should be said before we get into the action. I understand our viewers prefer seeing when victory is achieved through tactical superiority. That will still be true today, but there are a few other factors which won''t always be available to tacticians out in Parallax.¡± ¡°Could you elaborate on those factors for the viewers?¡± Kat asked. ¡°Of course. The first caveat to this analysis is that the Temple Wraiths'' pilots are all extremely skilled. Far more than those on the Crimson Suns'' side.¡± ¡°Can you give us some numbers, using the ladder ratings perhaps?¡± ¡°Hmm...¡± Jazz paused for a second. ¡°Using sim battle ladder ratings, I''d estimate that the Temple Wraiths'' pilots have solo ratings between twenty-two and twenty-three hundred while the Suns'' pilots range from nineteen to twenty-one hundred. Also, the Wraiths'' best pilot I''d rate at about twenty-four fifty, near the current highest rating of twenty-five sixteen. For those unfamiliar with ladder ratings, the average rating is sixteen hundred.¡± ¡°So based on those values, the Suns were completely outclassed by the Wraiths despite having pilots who''d be considered skilled by most measures?¡± ¡°Exactly Kat. The tactics presented for today¡¯s battle will be relevant only when a clear difference in player skill is involved.¡± ¡°Okay, then what are the other factors you suggested?¡± ¡°Mistakes made by the Suns'' fleet commander and plain dumb luck,¡± Jazz said. ¡°A good tactician would exploit their enemy''s mistakes, of course, and we could debate for hours if creating an opportunity for luck is a tactical skill in itself, but there''s no denying that these factors benefited the Wraiths in this event.¡± Kat smiled and looked to the camera. ¡°Then, without further ado, let''s begin the breakdown.¡± As the battle video played on screen, Jazz began his commentary. ¡°The video begins as the Wraiths are recovering from a jamming trap. Four frigates and sixteen fighters from the Suns jumped into Elaris from Revell Gate and began approaching the Wraiths. The first turning point is here. Probably according to their plans, the Suns sent the fighters of their first fleet ahead to strike at the Wraiths. On paper, this is an even match, with eight fighters and a frigate on one side and sixteen fighters on another. With the Suns'' skills, this is a favorable matchup, at least, seventy percent of the time. More if you include their backup. Though neither side knows at this point, the Wraiths'' interceptors were more highly upgraded, so unfortunately for the Suns, this was one of those few times when they were outmatched. ¡°As the Wraiths reorganized themselves, their commander decided to retreat to Mystell Gate. With the Aoshima class having a higher thrust to weight ratio than the Wu-Jian, this sets up a limited engagement with the Suns'' fighters before the Wraiths can retreat from Elaris.¡± The video paused and its picture shrank to a screen behind the commentators. ¡°So at this point, was the first group of Suns fighters committed to an attack they''d lose?¡± Kat asked. ¡°Not quite. While both sides lacked knowledge on the other''s strength, the Suns had a clear advantage in numbers. We didn''t play the audio here, but the Suns'' commander sent his fighters out to engage the Wraiths'' fighters. Since his objective was to shoot down the fighters, he probably intended to sink the Aoshima frigate with his Wu-Jian frigates. From this perspective, as long as most the Wraiths'' fighters were destroyed, the tactic could be considered successful, even if all sixteen fighters were lost.¡± ¡°Interesting. Is there anything the viewers should keep in mind as we watch the next phase?¡± ¡°I''ll detail the tactics as they come along, but interceptor pilots may be interested in the lead fighter of the second Wraiths flight, who I''m certain is in the top fifty of the fighter sim ladders. From the killboards, we know the pilot is Nova Streya, but as you know, player tags in sim battles aren''t publicly linked to player tags in the PG universe.¡± A second fleet appeared from Mystell Gate, and Jazz resumed his commentary. ¡°At this point, initial objectives were set in stone for both sides. The Suns'' was to pick off the Wraiths'' fighters and then sink the frigate. The Wraiths needed to shoot down the first group of fighters as quickly as possible so that they could partially negate their numerical disadvantage. Thanks to this, the Wraiths reversed course and flew full speed to the first fighter group.¡± The Aoshima frigate hugged the asteroid belt on its approach, and two Wraiths flights turned to meet four Suns flights in open space. ¡°Here, the Suns commander made the second good decision with a bad outcome. We hear him designate the two flight leaders as primary targets and the element leaders as secondary targets. With their standard tactics, one Viper flight of four was assigned to each primary target, one Viper element to each secondary, and the last flight of four Wasps split to engage the remaining Wraiths.¡± ¡°Before we get too far Jazz, can you explain why the good decision led to a poor outcome?¡± ¡°There are several approaches to prioritizing targets. Most commonly, groups prefer eliminating leaders to disorganize their opposition. The risk here is that flight leaders tend to be the most experienced, and most difficult to shoot down. Also typical is to prioritize the weakest links, which reduces the damage output of the opponent. This risks leaving your opponent''s biggest threats unchecked. Let''s watch what occurs next.¡± On the defensive, the two Wraiths flights split, flying in opposite directions. The flights split again, becoming four elements of two. Vipers and Wasps on their tail, the flight leaders turned towards their frigate, dodging fire along the way. Again, they turned inwards, setting the chase paths to intersect. Oddly, the Wraiths leaders stopped evading the Suns'' shots, instead focusing their shields aft. Without warning, two orange fireballs slammed into two of the Suns'' flight leads, shredding their Vipers'' shields. A second later, the Wraiths'' paths crossed, and each flight shot the others'' pursuer. Within two seconds, the Suns lost two flight leads. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°I watched this several times already,¡± Kat said, pausing the vid again, ¡°but I can''t figure how both flight leads were simultaneously hit by the frigate''s ionic disruptors. Doesn''t common sense state that fighters are too maneuverable to be hit by a ship''s main guns?¡± ¡°Yes. For clarity, I''ll use the Suns'' perspective from now on. Recognizing that the flight leaders were primaries, the Wraiths split their flights apart then turned towards their frigate. As they approached, the primaries briefly stopped evasive movement. The Suns followed suit and began hitting their targets, but this briefly made their path predictable. As the frigate fired, the Wraiths wingmen broke off, hitting the Suns'' leads, while the Suns'' targets resumed evasive maneuver. Honestly, it was a perfectly executed maneuver with exceedingly thin margins. We can hear the results, as the Suns'' teamwork fell apart for a few seconds, allowing the primaries'' shields time to recover.¡± The two near shieldless Vipers formed a new element and dove into the asteroid field. Without their leaders, six Suns Vipers followed in a loose combat spread. The Wraiths wingmen formed another new element, now chased by two Wasps. ¡°Let''s step back a bit here.¡± Jazz said. ¡°At this point, thirty seconds in, the battle is split into three skirmishes. The first involves the two primaries dodging fire from six in the asteroid field. The second is where four Rattlers are engaged with four Vipers and two Wasps in open space, and their maneuvers are drawing closer to the frigate. Finally, a new Wraiths Viper element is against two Wasps. Aside from the primary skirmish, which will soon devolve into a game of hide and seek, both the other skirmishes favor the Wraiths if you count the frigate support. This is critical as the first set of Suns frigates is about two minutes from firing range.¡± Three seconds later, the wingmen element flew by the Aoshima, forcing the Wasps to break pursuit. With a turn, two of the Suns'' Wasps were on the defensive and taking plasma fire. The secondary targets merged to form a flight of four Rattlers. Their elements split and wove, repeatedly fending off the others'' attacker while returning to the frigate. Despite the Vipers'' superior maneuverability, no Suns pilot could keep a Rattler targeted past a second before taking fire themselves. In the asteroids, the Suns'' formation was scattered and the Wraiths lost their attackers. A minute before the Suns frigates arrived, the Suns lost two wasps and two Vipers in the asteroids. In open space, the Suns were at six against six. In the asteroids, they were four against two. ¡°The first mistake the Suns made was here, when it is obvious his pilots were outmatched and his numeric advantage was lost. He should have pulled the fighters, so the Wraiths fighters would then be drawn against frigates without support or the fleets regroup to restore the Suns'' advantage. Instead, he lost composure and his remaining fighters went with it. While he had another sixteen fighters in the second fleet, he overreacted and ordered them to match speeds with those frigates.¡± By the time the Suns'' frigates arrived, the Wraiths had destroyed their remaining fighters with ruthless efficiency. The Wraiths'' frigate turned towards Revell Gate, spraying plasma from its main engines. Recognizing the potential escape lane, the Wu-Jians maneuvered to surround the Aoshima. In response, the Aoshima turned away and retreated from both fleets. ¡°So what are the combat objectives at this point?¡± Kat asked. ¡°The Suns first objective met catastrophic failure, so how has their strategy changed?¡± ¡°Right, with the failure of the first fighter group, the Crimson Suns'' objective at this point is to contain the Wraiths until their second fleet arrives. Since their second fleet can continuously accelerate while their first engages the Wraiths, the two would eventually meet together and overwhelm the Wraiths. That said, the action was right by Revell Gate, so the second fleet was about twenty minutes away due to acceleration and deceleration time. For the Temple Wraiths, their objective is to find an escape path, sinking as many frigates as possible to do so. Ideally for the Suns, their frigates would surround the Aoshima, but that is unlikely given the difference in mobility.¡± The Wraiths'' frigate gradually retreated from the Suns'', staying at the maximum range of its ionic disruptors. In doing so, only one Suns'' frigate kept in range, returning fire with its railguns. In the meantime, the Wraith''s fighters stayed beyond the range of the Suns'' anti-fighter armament. Predictably, the first Wu-Jian lost its shields to the anti-shield ionic disruptors faster than the Aoshima shields decreased from taking general purpose railgun fire. ¡°Let''s stop here for a moment.¡± Jazz said, ¡°the second mistake the Suns'' commander made was prioritizing containment over his ships'' durability. In doing so, he paved the way for the Suns'' tremendous losses through a ''victory at any cost'' philosophy. It is worth noting that the Suns were already on the losing side of credit damages when all their fighters were lost. That said, what happened next was beyond my comprehension. It is either a stroke of genius or an act of utter desperation, but either way, the results are brilliant.¡± As the first Wu-Jian''s shields died, the Aoshima turned to face it head on. The frigate charged the weakened Wu-Jian at full speed. But, as it entered the attack range its thrusters went dark. Instead, all four Wraiths Rattlers bumped against the frigate''s aft and lit their afterburners. The Aoshima continued its advance, ionic disruptors firing in rapid succession while its forward shields radiated cyan light. Torpedoes launched from the Suns'' ships. Half were shot down by countermeasures before the others slammed against the Aoshima''s shields and slashed their intensity in half. As shields faded from the targeted Wu-Jian, a flight of Vipers broke away from the Aoshima, making an attack run on the defenseless frigate. Four missiles shot towards its bridge. The first two exploded against the armored hull, but the third penetrated the airlock and detonated within the frigate''s command center. As the first frigate vanished in a cloud of debris, Rattlers broke away from the Aoshima and engaged the nearest ship. The Wraiths'' frigate followed, driving within the Wu-Jian''s shield radius before launching four torpedoes into its hull. ¡°So Jazz, if I''m seeing this correctly, the Aoshima frigate approached by diverting all its engine power to shields, then using their fighters to accelerate their frigate instead?¡± ¡°Yes. This is also where luck came in. After the insane, yet somehow successful approach, the four Vipers were able to destroy the first frigate''s bridge with anti-fighter missiles. In the chaos, heard in the Suns'' radio chatter, the Wraiths'' frigate moved inside the shield radius of the next nearest frigate to bypass those defenses. That ship happened to be the Suns'' flagship, and the Wraiths sank it with torpedoes at short range. At this point, we can hear the Crimson Suns'' morale was shot, as the Wraiths destroyed sixteen fighters and two frigates without a single loss.¡± In the face of a second oncoming fleet, the Wraiths sank the remnants of the first Crimson Suns fleet. One Wu-Jian vanished into a blue fireball after absorbing the focused fire from eight fighters and the Aoshima frigate. The last attempted to regroup with the now close by second fleet but was disabled in its retreat. As the second Suns'' fleet entered attack range, the fourth Wu-Jian frigate broke to pieces. ¡°So against the last fragments of the Suns'' first fleet, were the Wraiths at an advantage again?¡± Kat asked. ¡°Conventional wisdom says that eight fighters are equal to a frigate in power, so by the numbers, the fleets by Revell Gate are evenly matched at this point. Psychologically though, the Wraiths had a huge advantage. Without their fleet commander, we hear the two frigate captains panic, effectively halving the offensive strength of the remaining first fleet.¡± The studio view screen vanished, leaving only the two commentators on camera. ¡°Well thank you Jazz. That concludes the first part of our special program in Orbital Chess,¡± Kat said. ¡°If you have any questions or comments for our analyst, drop us a line at channel GNN on VRG-Chat. The final phase of the battle is coming up, after this break.¡± Chapter 4 - Tactics and Maneuvers Regina Farrell lay on her bed, tablet in hand, watching the Orbital Chess stream and its tactical analysis of Elaris. Though she lacked interest in player combat, the Temple Wraiths'' name appeared on the forums as a supernova while she searched for a new org to join. With most org sites and recruitment posts all echoing each others'' words, Regina thought gameplay vids could help her see into the workings of interesting orgs. Chaos reigned as the Crimson Suns'' second fleet fell on the Wraiths. Their lone frigate took cover in the asteroids as enemy fighters and frigates swarmed their fleet. Despite being outnumbered in close range, the Wraiths maintained their formations, utilizing the terrain to obstruct the Suns. Their only tactic of note was that the Wraiths prioritized destroying the Suns'' torpedo bombers, which could quickly shatter a single frigate. From there, the combined might of the Suns'' ships whittled away the Wraiths'' numbers. Regina watched with amusement as a Wu-Jian frigate crashed into an asteroid. With the ship accidentally crippled, the Wraiths claimed their final frigate kill. In the end, the Suns'' only tactic was the use of brute force. Well I won''t be joining the Suns after seeing that display, she thought. the host said,