The Absolute Zero (Ngoverse "The Administrator" setting)

[Cannonshop]

New Readers can begin this Here.

Continuation from "The Advisor"


Sian...1 January 3159

The Funeral was delayed for ninety days to let the invited guests arrive.  Uninvited guests, well, Danai Centrella-Liao knew uninvited guests would arrive in their own time.  The lack of an official resumption of conflict with the Federated Suns meant she could invite Julian, and she did.  She also invited Yori, and of course, her dear friend Nikol Marik.  She also extended an invitation to Alaric Ward to send a representative, but didn't expect to see one appear, the Confederation really had no contact with the Clans for the most part, but she also extended invitations to the Lyran Commonwealth.

Pointedly, no invitation was extended to the Republic of the Sphere, though she did extend one to the Rassalhague Dominion, Taurian Concordat, and Outworlds Alliance.

The Snow Ravens' response was a polite decline, but it was polite.  The Elected Prince of Rassalhague sent a letter of consolation, but also declined to send someone to see Daoshen interred.

And Devlin Stone insisted on seeing her dead father's body himself-the Republic was not invited, but instead requested.  Her answer was among the shorter messages sent through comstar in its  history.

"No."

Danai would tolerate Julian Davion-she had met him at the Tharkad conference, and considered to be, if somewhat dim, a good man at his core, a man with a sense of honor and an understanding of right-and-wrong.

she had no such impression of the Legendary Devlin Stone.

While Trillian was the one she invited, the person she wanted to converse with from the Commonwealth was somewhere deep in the deepest unexplored periphery, so Trillian would suffice.

and Nikol, sweet natured, clever Nikol Marik, who knew Danai's darkest secret, Nikol said yes, and at least one of the things Danai wanted, was happening.

She sat in his study.  looking at the messages from well-wishers and those who would not be coming to see him off.  He had always been distant, but Daoshen was her father.

The grief, and the memory of his suicide, were real, the pain was real.

she could look at his doctor's notes.  the notes that broke him, the brain scans, the (failed) experimental treatments he had kept hidden from everyone.

absently, she canceled the execution of the medical team that found the lesions and diagnosed the disease, but could not cure it.  The wise do not punish people for doing their jobs correctly.

if it happened to him, it can happen to me.  "I will not be Romano." she told the mirror over the desk, "I wll not be Candace, either.  I am the Celestial Wisdom, I am the State, and the State does not punish those with bad news for having bad news."

saying it out loud, I am the State didn't feel quite...right.  it felt hollow.  The State was Sun Tzu, it was Daoshen.

No one must ever know what a fraud I am.  she looked into that mirror again, "I serve the State."

That felt right.

[Cannonshop]

LCS Frederic Steiner, crossing Marik space...

Trillian Steiner felt no hesitant fear at crossing what was likely to be a war-zone by the most direct route.  Part of that, was being at relative peace with the rest of the Inner Sphere, and part of it, could be found in the Cruiser Group escorting a battleship across interstellar lines.

The Frederic Steiner had a battlegroup with it.  a force that in the past, was practically considered an invasion all on its lonesome-one battleship, four cruisers, twelve Destroyers, and 23 Cutters.

In an era...hell, in this era, her escort was a fleet, but for her spacers, it was merely a navigation exercise.

Back home, Roderick had control of the realm as Regent.  He was both Trustworthy, and capable. 

So Trillian felt no fear.  "How are we doing, Ike?"

Rear Admiral Isaacs didn't even look up from his charts, "Formation discipline's good, nobody's reported mechanical trouble, the advance party's scouted the next system and it's clear.  we should arrive at Sian orbit in fourteen days at this rate of traverse."

he looked up at her, "I really don't like this." he added, "Your Highness, you should have sent someone..less critical."

"Someone less critical might have been delayed or questioned."  Trillian told him, "Someone less important might have had fewer excuses to bring so many ships so close to the Sol system, and thus, someone less important might have had to do more explaining when one of the escorting vessels...failed to jump to the next point on our itinerary with the rest."

"True, will they find it?" he asked.

"They'll find something." Trillian asserted, "if they find what we're looking for, then...Nguyen knows what to look for, and where to take the evidence if he finds it.  If he doesn't, he's still making contact with The Folk, so he may find answers with them that we can't necessarily predict, but for him to get inside the Republic unobserved, requires an excuse, so I have to go."

"I don't like this plan." he repeated.

"Sharon didn't either, but I'm not about to authorize pre-emptive or punitive strikes without knowing for certain where the targets are.  One of the things drilled into me as a cadet, was to always know what your backstop is before discharging a weapon."

[Giovanni Blasini]

"Sharon didn't either, but I'm not about to authorize pre-emptive or punitive strikes without knowing for certain where the targets are.  One of the things drilled into me as a cadet, was to always know what your backstop is before discharging a weapon."

Ain't that the truth.

[DOC_Agren]

"Sharon didn't either, but I'm not about to authorize pre-emptive or punitive strikes without knowing for certain where the targets are.  One of the things drilled into me as a cadet, was to always know what your backstop is before discharging a weapon."

Wow a wise leader

[Daryk]

I thought Ahn had a pretty good idea where the yards were?  ???

[Sharpnel]

She did. Trillian is just verifying the location before (if) she acts.

[Nikas_Zekeval]

I thought Ahn had a pretty good idea where the yards were?  ???

She has one observation where one yard is.  Not a very specific one, and not if it is the only one turning out Stone's Ghost Fleet.

[Derain Von Harken]

Indeed. And you want some serious proof before accusing someone if being so batshit crazy + stupid + arrogant + horses arse as to endanger all human civilisation by sending a warship to shoot up the forces containing the potentially species dooming level zero biohazard as a training exercise.

And enough guns to kill them before they try a repeat performance.

[Cannonshop]

FWLS Legacy, League Block III destroyer...

is there a 'new ship smell'?  Nikol had challenged the corporations of the Free Worlds, and gotten back a response that left her military advisors deadlocked and damned near set the League's senate into a recreated civil war over the design selection process.

In the end, she'd stepped in and stopped local pride from sundering a League her mother had worked tirelessly to reunite.

is there a new ship smell? Yes, yes there is.  While her group weren't as ostentatiously oversized as the one Trillian Steiner was bringing, she had a pair of new-production League Block III's and a pair of D-54's.  all four were new production ships, all four were the compromise she'd imposed, the two leading designs were being built at alternating yards, with subcontracted parts from every world in the Free Worlds League that had a factory to make something.

Thus, every district had a piece of the Naval Expansion pie.

Compromise.

the other side of that compromise, was that by spreading out the contracts the way she had, the prime contractors had a strong reason to upgrade and update local facilities for their subcontractors, or to invest in infrastructure to free themselves FROM those subcontractors.  Unlike the Succession Wars era, Nikol had been able to force through a model that didn't have a single point of failure that could be hit with a multi-megaton strike and rendered dust, even the final assembly was being spread out in the same way that Trillian's Naval Reform Act had geometrically increased ship and naval production in the Lyran Commonwealth.

The side-benefits were already showing with a 7% increase in GDP (averaged) and a reversal of the post-Republic economic recession, dropping unemployment rates nationwide, and for every military contractor, a few hundred local businesses,markets, and traders were being stimulated.

she sat at the rear of the command deck, reading the reports of economic analysts in the League, including portions that were less-than-supportive of her rule.

"Milady Captain-General, we are about to enter Capellan space."

Nikol looked up, "Are we ready?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am."

"Please proceed."

[Dave Talley]

PING

[Cannonshop]

LCS Buena, CB-103, entering into Capellan space...

Kapitan Rebecca Huyn was off the Coastie boats, she'd commanded a Patrol from 4th Squadron 4th Division during the Falcon War.  To the LCN, she was an O-6 officer, to her crew, she was the Skipper, and to Michael 'Mike' Hogarth, she was everything he wished his parents were and everything (aside from being a 'she') he wanted to become.

and he felt honored to be her XO.

"Well, Ex, we're here." Huyn told him.

"Yes ma'am.  Scopes are clear of civil traffic, we've done a digital handshake with the local patrols and had our diplomatic ident confirmed."

"Good news then." she said,  "You're getting a pretty decent walkabout for you XO tour, hey Hogarth?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Strange contact twenty-seven thousand K off starboard."  one of the sensor officers announced.

"Put a telescope on it." Mike said, "see if you can get a visual ident, and get a neutrino reading."

"bring the image from the scope on the main display when you've got one."  Captain Huyn added.

after a few moments, an image appeared. 

"maybe a new model?"  Mike asked.  "The faceting is different from the bogey at Winter."

"Ayuh." she nodded, "That one had nonreflective paint over the plating.  This one's running CCAF colors, and the configuration's different."

"Radar and LIDAR are screwy with it though, she's low-observable."  Mike said it carefully.

"Not like the bogey over Winter-that ****** was ****** invisible..."

"Thermal spike."

the engines on the unidentified contact lit.

"Different engine spectra with the exhaust, they're doing something to cool it, or they're running bigger maneuver drives at lower power, but the fusion's running higher Helium count."

"nice work though." Huyn commented, "Keep him in visual if you can."

"What's he doing?"

"Probably taking a look at us." the Captain said, "Hell, we could be acting as a sensor test for that boat, what's our RCS on him at those angles?"

"Runs from about the size of a Pyramid beer, to about the size of a compact car, mum."  the chief at Sensors reported, "I'm not running active targeting spectra, but that boat's built to be low-observable, even more than a Sampan IV."

the Castrum patrol ships garrisoning the station were visible enough, and the Cappie ship passed behind a couple of them, showing it was considerably larger in the reflected light.

"Well, I win a bet."  Mike said.

"A bet?"

"I wagered a case of MacAllan-Donegal '02 that the Capellans would have something clever they wanted to show us."  Mike admitted, "So, now Commander DeFalco on the Marsden owes me a box of whiskey."

"DeFalco, the Blonde with the impressive-"

"Intellect." he said diplomatically, while gesturing with both hands to his chest, this drew a raucous laugh from the Kowloonese born Kapitan.

"She is married, you know."

"That's why I only bet the Whiskey, Mum." he said innocently.

[Cannonshop]

Overview

Each of the escort fleets were held back in a separate system, one jump from Sian, each system chosen, was uninhabited-either had been uninhabited forever, or had been rendered uninhabitable by centuries of conflict, war, neglect, and so on.

Each Dignitary then was allowed to bring one ship from their flotilla into Sian space.

The Escort groups got to maintain a 'security' position (er, a threatening knife to the Confederation's government in the form of various sized and types of warships holding just one jump out with constant contact with the vessels bringing their VIP to the funeral, meanwhile under the terms of the truce specified in the invitation, anyone who deliberately makes trouble with their fleet assets gets jumped by the rest.  The two most powerful fleets in standby being the very-publicly-neutral Lyrans, and the Wolf Empire, who did, after all, send someone important to view the funeral and speak with the new Capellan leadership. Hilariously (or maybe not) the Wolf ships waiting in the wings were new-production updates of the Mjolnir, a design first built by the Steiners, while the LCN's ships included a variety of different types.  In either case, such an extensive display of wealth and power on the Confederation's day of mourning was probably in poor taste, so there you go.)

The attendance was actually comparable to that of the attendance to the funeral of Victor Steiner-Davion-except nobody from the Republic was invited, and requests for an invitation were met with a stern 'no' from Daoshen's successor.

Conspicuous in their absence were also the Rassalhague Dominion, whose refusal was in solidarity with their Republic allies and whose forces were being ground to powder along the third front of the Combine Invasion, as the DCA was proving to have learned quite a few lessons fairly recently about how to deal with Clanners who show up without their Warships.

This unexpected and totally unplanned for resistance happening because Yori Kurita pulled her forces out of much of the Federated suns, leaving only units commanded by the most fanatical of her rivals to meet the Fed Suns onslaught, and placing the now-relocated units under commanders with a grasp of modern tactics and some strategic vision.

the Ghost Bears went into the coreward side of the Combine expecting the kind of 'paper soldiers' that were retreating from the Davions, only to find themselves having a remarkably hard time even making a landing, while Yori sent the second worst of her rivals rimward, into the Republic front, to die gloriously for the Dragon while slowing the Republic onslaught using experienced, veteran pocket-warship crews supported by Kaga class carriers to make Republic Warships and dropships crewed by semi-regular and recently mustered crews die in droves.

this is what happens when you don't let your enemies ram you with their ships-the DCA was holding on two fronts and only slowly backing away on a third-enough to give the Feds a fight, but not so much that they really were putting much effort into keeping territory on that front.

After all, this was the nightmare scenario for the Combine; three enemy nations attacking simultaneously on three fronts.

Julian gave her safe-passage through the Federated Suns to attend, and she gave him a cease-fire on that front in exchange.  (Which upset lots of people on Alshain and Terra, but not so much that the Republic was willing to risk breaking their alliance up so 'close' to victory.  aka without having destroyed the Kuritan economy and conquered Luthien first.)

[Giovanni Blasini]

Somehow I don't see that working out to Stone's plan.

[Cannonshop]

Federated Suns Embassy, Sian...

"How did you know she'd accept?"  Trillian asked.

Julian shrugged, "I didn't, but it seemed like the honorable thing to do.  We're beating the unholy crap out of her on the Federated Suns front."

"You gave up momentum doing this." Trillian observed, "I'm sure Stone and Bekker had choice words at your decision."

Julian shrugged, "They wanted this war now, I didn't." he said.  "I wanted our worlds back, don't get me wrong, but not like this, and not with the objective of being a conqueror."  He looked out the window, "I just wanted to fix the mess Caleb made, then spend a few years fixing the economy, getting things on track, improving lives."

"Getting the peace back?" she asked.

He nodded.  "I want what you've got, Trill-maybe not the whole 'navy so massive we send fleets out exploring' though that's kind of appealing, but stability."

"stability's hard to maintain, Julian, and harder for you-you're in an alliance, and you've pissed your allies off."

"Hold my beer." he said, "I may be the first First Prince to die in a coup before the end of the year."

"How's that?"

"Peace with the Capellans.  Not just a cease-fire or an armistice, I'm going to pursue actual peace...and I think I'm going to extend that to the Combine once they're pushed back to their border."

"That will get you killed." she said.

"I...I know." he said, "but dammit, we were suckered into this war before we were recovered."

"Have you identified the Avalon they used?" she asked.

"yeah.  the Alexander.  I don't know where they're keeping it, but as long as they have it, in Fedsuns paint, they can do it again."

"Does Bekker know it was a false flag?" she asked.

he shook his head, "I don't think she cares.  the Dominion wanted this, Stone wants it, so she wants it.  I heard a rumour you offered to sell them a fleet if they'd stay neutral."

"I did, the Riksdag turned me down when Stone offered them ships from his mothball fleet.  we've tracked them going to the Sea Fox yards for refits, they'll be ready in a few more months.  What's your plan?"

"Liberate Federated suns territory, offer Yori an armistice on our front, publicize the false flag in a way Stone can't deny it, then deal with the fallout-which will be a lot easier if we're secure on the Confederation and Taurian fronts."

"You'll need allies." she said.

"I will, it's breaking with the Republic no matter what, we're probably going to face sanctions and possible military action from them."

[Red Pins]

Tagged.

[glitterboy2098]

"Strange contact twenty-seven thousand K off starboard."  one of the sensor officers announced.

"Put a telescope on it." Mike said, "see if you can get a visual ident, and get a neutrino reading."

"bring the image from the scope on the main display when you've got one."  Captain Huyn added.

after a few moments, an image appeared. 

"maybe a new model?"  Mike asked.  "The faceting is different from the bogey at Winter."

"Ayuh." she nodded, "That one had nonreflective paint over the plating.  This one's running CCAF colors, and the configuration's different."

"Radar and LIDAR are screwy with it though, she's low-observable."  Mike said it carefully.

"Not like the bogey over Winter-that ****** was ****** invisible..."

"Thermal spike."

the engines on the unidentified contact lit.

"Different engine spectra with the exhaust, they're doing something to cool it, or they're running bigger maneuver drives at lower power, but the fusion's running higher Helium count."

"nice work though." Huyn commented, "Keep him in visual if you can."

"What's he doing?"

"Probably taking a look at us." the Captain said, "Hell, we could be acting as a sensor test for that boat, what's our RCS on him at those angles?"

"Runs from about the size of a Pyramid beer, to about the size of a compact car, mum."  the chief at Sensors reported, "I'm not running active targeting spectra, but that boat's built to be low-observable, even more than a Sampan IV."

the Castrum patrol ships garrisoning the station were visible enough, and the Cappie ship passed behind a couple of them, showing it was considerably larger in the reflected light.

based on the fluff i wrote for it, there is probably at least one other nearby with the full coatings that they didn't pick up.

[Daryk]

Looks like Julian will be able to rely on Trillian when he dumps the Republic.  Speaking of which, I'm surprised they're not talking about that ghost fleet...

[glitterboy2098]

Looks like Julian will be able to rely on Trillian when he dumps the Republic.  Speaking of which, I'm surprised they're not talking about that ghost fleet...

without more proof that the fleet exists in any numbers, not much point. the LCN can show that a stealth ship existed and attacked the Arluna QZ, but that it was republic built is still speculation on their part. very well informed speculation, they don;t have hard proof. and the evidence that the republic is building more at Sol is sketchy at best.. enough for the LCN to be convinced, but the brief footage and source don't carry as much weight with the other states at the moment. at most they can show that the republic has built a couple ships not on their official books. which is not exactly illegal, given everyone has been doing it lately.
thus the cutter going in on a covert recon mission. get confirmation with enough recon data to not only prove the existence to others, but also get a count of how big said fleet actually is.

Julian already knows that Stone has an offbooks the fleet, so he certainly might believe the ghost fleet, but convincing the FedSuns command is different, especially given a fair number of those would be republic sympathizers like the ghost bear leadership.

actually, i think that Trillian's more important target for informing about the Ghost fleet is going to be Danai. not only does the CapCon already distruct the Republic and Stone, but the CapCon has now demonstrated they have their own stealth ships.. you can bet that Stone will find out and consider false flag ops to trigger wars between the CapCon and their neighbors. especially once Julian pursues a firm peace with the CapCon.
plus you can bet the CapCon has been doing their own recon inside the republic. if they don't already know about the ghost fleet and secret shipyards, they could probably dispatch a few stealth ships of their own for their own recon missions to confirm it. and likely pull some sabotage raids, eventually.

[worktroll]

Danai and Nicole are already aligned. If Trillian can get them onside/on their side, we have three rational leaders. Plus Julian happy to go along for the ride.

Max case: "I'm not stuck inside with you, Mr. Stone. You're stuck inside with us."

[Cannonshop]

The Chancellor's Temple, two hours before the guests arrive...

San Ben Bing Dim Suk spotted it first.  a displaced stone, carefully replaced, where such things should not be.  He signaled his Si Ben Bing, a blonde man named Carter, and got a nod in confirmation.

He managed to remove the loose flagstone with his dress uniform's bayonet. the stone tilted up-

and he performed the emergency action drill for stepping on a pressure landmine, which is to leap fifty meters into the air, and be distributed across the manicured grounds in a fine, pinkish mist.

another device was found by another soldier in the reviewing stands of the nearby parade ground, right under the section reserved for the First Prince of the Federated Suns.

the soldier that found that one, didn't bother to try to disarm it himself.  He used his brain, instead of his incredible brass balls, and called in the bomb-squad.

Shia-ben-bing Li Phuc was here to lift and carry-a recruit, barely a soldier.  He noticed a rippling and a shadow where there should be none.  Quite reasonably, his next move was to look for someone in authority, and seeing nobody else, he did the next most reasonable thing.

He shot it, while calling for help on the general channel.

Purifier armor is immune to small arms, well, most small arms.

the watchful young recruit survived due to a miracle, in this case, two Fa-shih equipped soldiers who were responding to a bomb call in the stands.

THEY were equipped with weapons that can actually harm a suited trooper.

For the next hour, a running battle on the ground where the late Celestial Wisdom, Daoshen Liao, was to be memorialized and laid to rest, went on.  CCAF Regulars and members of Warrior House Ma Tsu Kai against a sixteen man team of foreign sappers and assassins.

***

Embassy Row...Lyran Embassy

CPO Noreen Hawkes was from Hue, and her bloodline was Icaza where it wasn't pure Kowloonese.  Being assigned to the Archon's bodyguards and attached to the First Royals was the kind of feather that would get her a chance to be acknowledged by the Icaza Mosovich's as a blood-cousin...which is a pretty big deal for any of the 'Falcon blooded' in Hue on Kowloon.

Her Majesty was getting dolled up for the big shindig, and Noreen's neck hair stood on end.  so she did her damn job and personally checked on the Archon.

In the process, surprising a man in a stealth-suit who was emplacing a disposable gas-generator in the bathroom.

No words, she rushed him, catching the device one handed as she used her Elemental Heritage to its fullest extent, holding her breath because she didn't have a hand to grab her helmet with, she forced the device out of his grip, into the expensive toilet, and then shoved him face first into it with bone-dislocating force.

then she flushed, while he struggled, until he stopped struggling and went limp.

"Chief!?"

"Get OUT! Gas!!" Noreen croaked.

Her Majesty didn't need to be told twice, as the rest of the security detail bundled the Archon to a safer location.

a Corpsman from the Frederic Steiner retrieved CPO Hawkes before the toxin finished killing her.  The prisoner who was planting it was...less fortunate.  He might have had the antidote for the poison gas, but nobody yet has found an antidote to the inhalation of liquid-phase DiHydrogen Mono-Oxide and blue air freshener from a toilet bowl.

[Giovanni Blasini]

Well...shit.  Stone decided to go with a different gambit, and just go for a decapitation strike against all the leaders who showed up, eh?

[DOC_Agren]

a Corpsman from the Frederic Steiner retrieved CPO Hawkes before the toxin finished killing her.  The prisoner who was planting it was...less fortunate.  He might have had the antidote for the poison gas, but nobody yet has found an antidote to the inhalation of liquid-phase DiHydrogen Mono-Oxide and blue air freshener from a toilet bowl.

learned important knowledge, no having a drink and reading your work..  I damm near choked on this.. :thumbsup:

Well if you takeout out all the reasonable people all you got left are people who were going to respond from point of anger at the logical suspects.  Good plan if it worked, but now that it failing what the fallback point

[Cannonshop]

Federated suns Embassy...

Sometimes, it's just a matter of who's faster.  This is especially true when the assassin is in your own ranks.

Charlie Graves took a lot of shit from the Fox Team, she wasn't really 'bodyguard' material and knew it.  what she was, was exceptionally good at keeping the First Prince's appointment calendar, making coffee, and taking dictation. 

Thus, she got to wear a Lieutenant's ranks and follow the First Prince into places they don't let ordinary staff, and she's one of the few people they let carry a pistol within pistol range of Julian Davion.

She took a lot of shit for this, because she was nothing like them-she wasn't even like the man she served with a doglike devotion.  She had never been strong, she wasn't from the best family or background, and her branch insignia wasn't special forces, or army.

but she knew things they didn't.  She'd made it through Phase 1 Class 1 in the Patrol Boats, she'd learned to be a spacer, to walk the stars, only to wind up grounded thanks to an unfortunate accident on her very first active-duty tour.

She'd been caught on the hull during a jump, unable to reach the airlock, and she'd seen Hyperspace with her own eyes.

her appointment to the First Prince's staff was a pity appointment for someone whose wounds weren't visible to the naked eye.

Still, she did her best in her new job, and had sort-of-risen from an intern's job, to being the First Prince's personal assistant.

she saw Captain Cleary go for his pistol when there wasn't a threat, and her boss's back was turned, she saw it, then, she saw it.

she didn't hesitate to do her duty.  she didn't have body-armor because this was a non-combat situation and she had a non-combat role.

but she could take the bullet..and she did.  In the process, with the hammer blow to her chest and the hot spike paralyzing her right arm, her left had the snub-nose holdout clear of its holster, and while she had never been better than 'passing' on the range (most of the time passing somewhere near 'don't let this girl carry' and 'maybe at arm's length') she managed to fire all five 11mm rounds into a space that you can cover with a playing card, patterning the would-be assassin's head with five bullets clustered around his eye.

The rest of the security team were still reacting to the first shot, when she felt arms catch her, and her Liege Lord's concerned face filled her vision.

"Did I get him?" she squeaked before the wracking coughs and blood came out.

She didn't properly hear his reply, as the memory of Jumpspace filled her mind and vision, with its etenal, inaudible yet present howl.

I don't want to fall off...  she couldn't feel her hands-or anything else, except the pain, as the howl filled everything and the universe turned a colorlessness.  please I don't want to fall off!

[Giovanni Blasini]

So...has anyone read "This Alien Shore" by CS Friedman?

[Daryk]

Either Stone has lost his ****** mind, or WoB sleepers are trying to pin this on him...

[Cannonshop]

So...has anyone read "This Alien Shore" by CS Friedman?

I need to read that.

[idea weenie]

Either Stone has lost his ****** mind, or WoB sleepers are trying to pin this on him... 

Someone is going to be asking questions about how they got on planet

[Giovanni Blasini]

I need to read that.

Indeed.  Like most of her works, it's a great book with a lot of interesting ideas, and is tangentially related to that section, though I don't want to give away spoilers.

[Daryk]

David Drake's RCN series has much milder take on "hyperspace", but it's still VERY interesting...

[Sharpnel]

So...has anyone read "This Alien Shore" by CS Friedman?

Half my lifetime ago. I remember it as a good read.