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Playing the Game: Battletech/Celestial Forge SI

Reader mode
Gotta admit, I'm not sure why he's giving out super high tech mechs (for them). The whole point of interacting with the locals and encouraging the Greater Good is to uplift people to a higher standard of living, that means civilian technology, and as already occurring, education.

Pretty stoked on the game though. Now that's something to be shared. And shared widely. Maybe a lesser vers planetwide MMO.
 
Sceonn said:
Gotta admit, I'm not sure why he's giving out super high tech mechs (for them). The whole point of interacting with the locals and encouraging the Greater Good is to uplift people to a higher standard of living, that means civilian technology, and as already occurring, education.
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If you manage to hook the leadership with the mechs, you can ally with them and start providing education to their populace as part of the deal. Basically, the mechs are a huge-ass bribe.
 
Assembler Maniac said:
If you manage to hook the leadership with the mechs, you can ally with them and start providing education to their populace as part of the deal. Basically, the mechs are a huge-ass bribe.
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Yes, but regular brand new Mechs would've done that, whether it be Assault or heavy. My point is the super-tech Mechs.
 
Sceonn said:
Yes, but regular brand new Mechs would've done that, whether it be Assault or heavy. My point is the super-tech Mechs.
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that they are unable to repair, or properly use without my help. It's a symbolic act more than anything. Besides, if the locals (according to RNG) decide to attack, they'll have it coming and due to the alliance defense pact, I wouldn't even have to do anything because Carson and Devlin have the best toys. If they don't due to shiny shiny, all the same in the end, and as subjects they're gonna need things to defend the planet from outsiders eventually anyways.
 
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Nine
Capital Habitat, Deep Kingdom of Subnautica, Leviathan's Trench
Novo Franklin, Periphery Space
January 5th​, 2981 AD

I watched as Devlin gave the construction drone a good look, his hand on his chin while the other was on his hip. Already a drone controller, who I ordered to bring another worker drone using older technology with him to show it wasn't something new, entered into the room and acted like he was irritated.

"My Sovereign, I deeply apologize. It got away from me."

I gazed at the controller, and he was one of the "average" looking ones the Synth Constructor randomized, but would be considered above average by any measure.

"This one equipped with the advanced camouflage?"

Questioning looks filled the expressions of the guests. The controller nodded.

"Yeah, this is the first test of the light bending camouflage system on this unit. It caused a hiccup though, as there were errors in the priority list of orders and it just…wandered from one target location to another trying to reach one before stopping to go to another."

I nodded. Thankfully, the Biosynths were on the same wavelength due to various technologies, so we were able to seamlessly make bullshit up on the spot.

"Power usage."

"Yes, my liege."

"Alright. Take it to the primary laboratory, and they'll see what is what. The lack of power shouldn't interact with the CPU like that."

I looked at the Tau Drone who was looking at me for orders. I already had its command signal on my arm PDA, and I ordered it to go to my lab. Breeze, Emma, and I will look at it later.

"There, authorization confirmed. Go forth."

The Tech saluted and then took the Drone, which allowed itself to be led away.

Turning back, having avoided a disaster, I now had to deal with the fallout. The questioning and somewhat suspicious looks I was given was expected. Even warranted. I just shrugged.

"One of the biggest things about surviving the depths with creatures that want to eat you, is being hidden. Cloaking systems is one of our old technologies."

"Bending light?" Carson asked.

"That's new. We used to use photoreactive panels until we learned to bend light waves. Quantum Physics again."

Devlin, Carson, and Carson's Man-at-Arms accepted it, as did the guards, but the Regent looked at me like I was full of it. He hid it well, but thanks to Dune, once more, I read him pretty well.

Carson asked the question anyways.

"And you don't have any such hidden units in my domain?"

"No. But I do in many other nations." I admitted, and looked at Devlin.

"That includes yours. I didn't know you before today, and wasn't aware of your friendship with Carson before two days ago."

The Regent and Carson looked shocked at my admission, and were starting to get mad at my audacity. My guards, and theirs, were tense despite being subtle about it. I did not need to have a fire fight here, but being honest with Devlin was a sure bet given how hands on he was.

Devlin just stared at me, and I could tell he was reading me. He must have found something because he smiled and slapped my shoulder.

"I forgive you. I'd have done the same. But…you'll have to make it up to me."

I snort. "You still want in?"

"Duh." He said, as if I was being an idiot.

"Fine."

"That easy?" he asked.

"The simulation was more than just fun, and you're smart enough to figure that out."

Devlin paused and nodded. "Not a bad test of character."

"That's right. So, I'll give you a boon on top of what you are going to get just being in this Alliance. Just nothing stupidly over the top."

"What? I can't have that mech?" He asked with a pout.

"No, you can have one of those, as soon as I make the improved production model. I mean something like a mech that looks exactly like you, or something."

Devlin stared before cracking up at the image of a giant him fighting other mechs.

"I'm a proud sort, but that level of vanity suicide is more than I could handle!"

I rolled my eyes, placing my hands on my hips. "You'd be surprised at how many morons want something like that. As if a statue wasn't enough. They want a statue that you can pilot, that looks like you."

Now Devlin gave me an incredulous look, as did the others who had calmed down.

"Bullshit."

I gave him a flat look.

"…No." he said with an open-mouthed grin at the idea.

"Let's just say there's a reason you haven't seen any nobility outside myself just yet."

From there the situation stabilized, the drone event mostly forgotten, but interest was now thoroughly shifted to the "stealth tech" instead of the drone itself.

The group was led back to the Tram and taken back into the city while I finished work on the prototype. In truth, the prototype was already being handled remotely by a team of techs and auto-repair drones, and being overlooked by other teams who possessed knowledge of what to improve and how. They would never match me, Breeze or Emma, but they did good work and made our job easier. Plus, they came up with ideas even I hadn't considered.

With the new understanding of exotic energies, and Bloodborne equipment, I can make far more…crazy stuff now.

For the moment however, I leaned back into a wall and sighed.

"Fuck!" I grunted. "That was too fucking close. God Dammit! I knew something like that could happen, but fuck!"

I rubbed my eyes and face before taking a deep breath.

Alright. That's just the way the game is played. This comes with risks. Gotta take the blows and roll with it."

I began to walk back towards the mech bay to give that prototype a work over, and see if I can modify the technologies to make new weapons. Replacing the Plasma Repeater with one that can be a repeater, a blade, and an arm shield if you switch the modes.

As if to mock my near exposure, another star fell and the forge grabbed it. It was a small one, but all the same…

-Engine-sister (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (100CP)
Voluminous red robes cannot hide the curves beneath, to this woman's eternal embarrassment. Friendly and perky in conversation to both man and machine, she is torn between her desire to be closer to the machine and her attachment to humanity. The possibility of a harmonious union between the two has inspired her to follow you. She has all 100, 200, and 400cp enginseer perks. She also has 'subtle bionics' 'artisan' and one pick of 'magos designation.'

-Cranial implants (Warhammer 40k: Adeptus Mechanicus) (100CP)
The brain of every magos undergoes extensive modification over time, but you have put great care into preparing your mind for the Machine God's mysteries. Beyond the gene-alterations and bionic sub-systems that have boosted your intelligence, regulated neuro-chemistry reduces the influence that hunger, pain, fear and other flesh-distractions can have upon your thoughts. Your ability to enjoy these things are not impeded. Further neurological modifications will be faster and easier to adapt to with less worry of rejection.

-Wonders of the machine god (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (100CP)
Machinery is as mysterious as the workings of the warp to the average Imperial - it would take all day to explain why even the simplest rituals are performed and what they do. So by necessity you've become very good at getting people to shut up and let you work in peace. A few curt words is enough to satisfy anyone's curiosity, or to make someone less technically-inclined understand why certain things need doing and to justify the time and expense of doing so.

-Rites of Maintenance (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (100CP)
While already designed to be incredibly robust, Imperial equipment inevitably requires maintenance. You can locate and identify problems within a machine in a fraction of the time it would take other adepts. Not knowing how a machine functions does not make fixing it any more difficult so long as you have the proper parts, tools, and rituals to guide your hands.

-Reclaimer (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (200CP)
Rare is the heretek with wealth or connections enough to acquire the resources to pursue innovation without raising suspicion. Most must make do with whatever they can scavenge or build for themselves, and fortune seems to often favor them when harvesting useful components from wrecked machines. More often than not, the most delicate and valuable pieces of technology can be pulled intact from wrecks you find or create.

-Impossible precision (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (200CP)
Behind the mighty engines and clanking gears of Imperial armor are smaller yet no less important components. Servicing those delicate elements requires a fine touch, and you work with steadiness and precision. Your hands and other appendages will not twitch from surprise or adrenaline, and they will exert the exact amount of force you desire and no more. Exactly how precisely you can work is subject only to the limits of your perceptions.

-Technical knock (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (200CP)
You have mastered the ancient technical rite of 'if it doesn't work, smack it with a wrench until it does.' Small problems like loose gears can be quickly and permanently fixed with one good whack. When a larger problem impedes a machine's function, continuous pounding and irate prayer can cajole it to miraculously perform one last, brief task, but no more. At that point, this rite will have no more effect until the device receives proper attention.

-Imperial logistics (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (400CP)
The scale of the Imperial war machine is incomprehensible to most minds. It is nothing less than a miracle that the Guard and Navy can function at all, given the myriad logistical issues involved. But miracles are something you can provide, as long as you are directly involved in overseeing the distribution or production of a needed resource. You'll always seem to somehow end up with more than with what you started, and this effect increases the greater the scale that you work with. An hour of overseeing the fabrication of lasrifles may net you a dozen extra units at no extra cost, while distributing the output of an agri-world may produce a year's worth of extra rations for an
entire Guard regiment.

-Armorbane (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (400CP)
Long experience with putting things together inevitably teaches one the best way to take something apart. Whether disabling an unruly machine or cracking open a heretek's fortress, you can quickly pick out design flaws, blind spots, and points of failure. Exploiting these weaknesses makes your actions many times more effective. Structures crumble, armor buckles, systems seize up, power surges dangerously out of control, and ammo stores seem to cook off at the slightest provocation. Should you show mercy and attempt to repair what you have laid low, the damage will be far less than it appears and restoring the machine to service will be much less difficult than expected.

-Binaric weaving (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (400CP)
The skills gained during long years plumbing data-vaults as a humble logistican have only improved over time. You excel at writing code, understanding machine-script better than native grammar structures. You can understand simple programs with a mere glance and correct any errors you find within seconds, and scrutinizing longer lines of more complex coding for a single misplaced byte can take mere minutes with your skills. Scrapcode crashes ineffectually against your data-barriers, its transmission doing nothing but opening the offending heretek's systems to a counter-intrusion. Interfacing with a system infested with a daemon or true AI would be unwise, but with your skills emerging unscathed from such an encounter is only highly unlikely rather than completely impossible.

-Machine empathy (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (400CP)
Long exposure to strange energies and abstract thought inevitably leave their mark on a heretek. Usually, these changes are debilitating or disfiguring, but you have only benefited from these alterations. A tiny glimmer of psychic power has awakened within you, one that will demand careful use and strict discipline to cultivate safely. As your power develops, machines will come to increasingly favor you, completing desired tasks without needing to be asked, performing faster and more efficiently. Machines in the hands of others will rebel when directed to harm you, guns jamming and sensors refusing to lock on. Many other ways to manipulate the mechanical will be revealed in due time, if you have the strength of will and ingenuity to discover them.

-Magos Designation: Engineering (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (100CP)
You have attained and been recognized for your comprehension of some of the Machine God's mysteries. Choose a field of Imperial technology such as genetic manipulation, voidship construction, cybernetics or plasma technology. You are among the noted masters of your purview, and can easily create the most common templates of your field. With time, effort and discretion you could even modify and improve upon your specialty as needed. Those few things beyond your full understanding can still be built and maintained by carefully following STC blueprints.
*Cybernetics Specialization

-Artisan (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (100CP)
Unlike many in the machine cult who care not for appearances, your equipment and visible bionics are shelled with precious metals and etched with devotional symbols. Every object you craft or possess for a prolonged period of time acquires a bit of extra flair with no effort and without detriment to their functions. Though seen by many in the cult as wasteful or vain this attention to appearance can endear one to those in the higher ranks of Imperial society who value such affectations. You may choose to suppress this perk entirely or only for specific items.

-Subtle bionics (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (100CP)
From hesitance at abandoning the human form or the acquisition of high-grade miniaturized components, there is little outward sign of your integrated cybernetics. Cables are subdermal and woven to follow existing muscle groups, cyber-limbs are hidden beneath a layer of synth-skin, and artificial eyes resemble the organic model closely enough that sight alone cannot recognize them as anything but. Only large external bionics like mechadendrites are plainly visible, and the smaller models can be hidden beneath the folds of a thick robe. While hiding the blessings of the omnissiah would normally offend even the most emotionless magi, there are occasions where concealing one's affiliations and abilities can be advantageous.

My eyes widened comically. "THAT'S NOT SMALL AT ALL!"

The sound of metal crinkling shifted my gaze to the hallway, and I could only describe what I was seeing as a mechanical gateway opened up from zero, to one, to two, and then three-dimensional space. It was full of cogs, steel, gold, and skulls.

I took a moment to analyze it. Beyond what it represented, it was…beautiful to look at, despite the macabre iconography. It all fit in place as each piece had a purpose that the multiple perks I had attested to. The gate opened up like a wormhole from Stargate, leaving a shimmering surface lighting the hallway like sun reflecting off the water.

Then a woman stumbled through, almost like she was kicked through. Actually…she was! I can see the boot of what could only be a TechMarine's foot. She was about to trip and fall on her face, only for me to reach out and grab her before she could. I was caught off guard by the weight however, realizing she had mechadendrites and other things like a heavy tool pack on her back. I fell onto my back, and she fell on top of me, straddling my body closely.

I immediately realized three things. One, she was a tall one. Nearly as tall as myself. Two, she was more flesh than not, unless the bionics just felt that way by design. Three…she wasn't wearing anything under that robe, and it left nothing to imagination as to what she had going for her.

The moment of analysis ended when the gate cracked, and suddenly shut off, before falling apart into a mess of scrap metal with nothing but rusted dust.

A soft groan pulled my eyes away from the reality defying event and into the face of…a machine person. No…a face mask? A mask with multiple optics that allowed her to see who knew what.

We stared for a moment before she squeaked in realization and leaned up, sitting on my pelvis instead of laying on me. It did no favors as her butt was…yeah.

She quickly looked about, noticing her surroundings for the first time before shivering and then cheering, her arms pushed over her head, doing…things…to her form.

"Well…I'm glad you're happy…can you-"

"Oh! Oh yes! I'm sorry!" She said in accented English. Very posh British. Her mechadendrites lifted her off of me and I was able to slowly stand and face her as she hovered in the air as her artificial limbs held her up. Once more, her robes covered her completely, but left very little to the imagination as to her curvy figure.

The box that was on her back was oversized for her and likely held tools and…stuff. Religious stuff? Maybe an STC? She also wore multiple tool belts with different tools…including a very familiar pressure washer gun adapter. Well…either the Warhammer 40k DLC for Power Washer Simulator is real, or this is more multiversal bullshit in play. Likely the latter.

Then I got a look at her machadendrites. They were…very Doctor Octopus like. They looked almost exactly like the arms from those the Spider-Man movies with Toby Maguire, only far more refined with Ad-Mech and Imperium iconography stenciled to extreme detail on every single panel.

Her mask was itself a work of art now that I got a real look at it. Not just a blank or skull like faceplate with sensors and optics. It was worked with extreme effort to look like a master craft. I can see symbols and writing upon it, but it all flowed and fitted in a way to increase the aesthetic appeal of it. It would be fine just putting this in a glass case and leaving it to show off, despite it being a fully functional piece of equipment.

She removed the mask, revealing the face beneath, and holy crap. This woman had a face that would have made Helen of Troy look like the average one. She would give Emma a run for her money.

Her expression was a bit shy and embarrassed, but she smiled regardless.

"Hello. I am…well, it's a bit difficult to explain…" She pauses in thought, wondering how to put it.

"Well...firstly, are you aware of who I am?" I asked. A bit rude interrupting her line of thought, but it would be easier for her to start with that, I think.

"Eh? Oh….OH!" she cried out, pointing at me. "Are…are you the…Star Forger?"

Huh…I guess that's my title than. "I am he, yes."

A wide smile grew on her face, and in a moment, she was face to face with me, her robe covered chest pressing into mine, pushing me back a bit.

"You are the one! The One I saw in my visions! The ones the Omnissiah said to seek out! You're really here! I really made it!" she squealed as her mechadendrites bounced her about. This is really awkward. Nice…but awkward. Also, apparently the Emperor is a thing now. A given since she's here, but fuck a duck, I did NOT need Chaos in this universe.

"Uh…good…good to know. Glad to help a servant of the Emperor." I said, gently pushing her back by her shoulders.

Only to push right against me again, and into a wall. Squishy. Not to mention some cleavage is now showing. Huh…so it is flesh…or at least looks it.

"Oh! So you know about us? That makes this way easier!" She said happily.

"Yes. I do." I replied, pushing her back a bit more again. She finally realized what she was doing and squeaked embarrassed and…covered herself up despite already being covered.

"Sorry, it's just, I'm so happy it all worked." She said as she tightened her robe, which only made her figure cut more…a figure. God she's awkward!

"How are you here exactly? Cross-Universe travel isn't exactly common in that universe, the Warp being the exception to this rule."

"Oh! Well, it's kinda hard to explain simply but…huh?"

I paused at her sudden shift in expression, and realized there was a star falling, and the Forge grabbed it.

-Attendants (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (0CP)
Choose: A dozen servo skulls, a five-servitor workforce, or a trio of personalized cherubs. All are dull but reliable servants, coming equipped for a variety of tasks. The patterns of each are easy to re-fit for more specialized work.

Out of thin air, from what appeared to be cogs acting as portals, twelve floating skulls appeared and whirled about the Admech Enginseer. She laughed with joy and giggled as she poked one in its red robotic eye, and it seemed to…shudder. Do these have machine spirits? Crud…

I sighed. "Well at least you have something familiar."

She smiled widely as she held a skull in her arms and between her…on her chest.

"I sensed it just now. That power. The clang that resounds across the universe!"

I stared at her for a moment in thought, remembering what I could about the Admech and realized…they were mystics…plus that Machine Empath ability of hers. So, she could sense such things.

"Yes…but who are you? You came for a reason beyond learning what this clanging was."

She bowed her head before releasing the skull into the air, and then curtseyed with her mechadendrites holding her aloft as she held her robe out like a dress, exposing her legs a little.

Wow…thighs save/take lives.

"I am Artisan Enginseer/Cybersmith, representative of his majesty's Imperium of Mankind and blessed chosen of the Omnissiah's Adeptus Mechanicus. My identifier is #Binary#, but my given name is Ariel-Omicron-7."

I bowed my head in return. I could tell Simple Words were at play once more as it sounded far more simplified then it actually would be given how their titles actually worked.

"A pleasure to meet you. As for myself, I am the Star Forger, Sovereign of the Deep-Sea Kingdom of Subnautica, and overall survivor in general."

We released ourselves and she swayed as she did a happy dance.

"Oh! This is so exciting! I can't wait to learn everything about you and this ability."

I held my hand up. "Before that, I need to ask you a…somewhat difficult question."

"Mhmm?" She nodded, agreeing with a smile.

"…yeah, so…what exactly are your…loyalties? I mean…there's the Emperor slash Omnissiah, and then there's me, and yourself, so?..."

She looked at me with a moment of blankness before thinking, and in a moment she shrugged.

"I am of course loyal to my lord and god, but I volunteered to traverse into this universe. So, my loyalty is…to you I guess. Unless you do something…horrible…like betray humanity, or become a Heretic."

There was a sudden heavy weight in the room when she said that last word, despite the smile and kindly expression on her face.

"And Hereteks?" I asked, firmly standing before her despite the weight. That weight left in an instant.

"Oh, that only counts in my universe. I can…barely feel anything of the Warp here. Let alone anything daemonic. In fact…aside form yourself, I feel no supernatural forces around at all."

Well, that's good to know.

"So, you won't freak out if Xenotech is in my possession?"

She gave a frown, and was thinking about it.

"It depends on the tech, as most Xenotech is based off of something that is counter to the Omnissiah's design and will."

I quirked a brow. "Can you give me an example of what you mean exactly?"

She gave a pouty frown as she wracked her mind for an example. Swaying back and forth before coming upon something.

"Okay. Let's say there was a…anti-gravity bike…and it's engines lifted and provided propulsion."

She paused to see if I was keeping up. "Okay." I can sense simple words was working its magic here.

She looked pleased I understood. "Good! Now…imagine that the propulsion was powered by electricity. That electricity came from the core of the engine."

She paused again, and I nodded. "Core of the engine. Okay."

"But…instead of a normal thing like…a battery, or a fuel cell of some kind…it was powered from electricity from another dimension where a daemonic entity was feeding his corrupting force into the engine, and in turn corrupting the rider and those who interacted with them."

I paused…and quirked my head like a dog. In the Imperium, there were as many interpretations of what was Heresy, as there were stars in the galaxy. Maybe this is the correct one, of maybe it's just the version she adopted from her training. I didn't know.

"So…Xenotech that is inherently corrupting as part of its design is Heretekal?"

"It's more complicated, but yes essentially!" She cheered at my understanding.

I nodded. "Well, fortunately nothing we have does that. I'd have burned it if it did."

She nodded in approval. "A good start. Glad you understand!"

I nodded. "Alright. The…Ariel, I accept you as a part of my…thing here. Welcome aboard."

"Yay!" she cheered, her parts bouncing again. Really need to get her something else than a semi-tight robe.

"There are three things though. Three rules if you want to stay here."

She paused and leaned towards me, listening intently. "Yes?"

I held out my index finger. "One; none of that inhumane bullshit. By which I mean turning people into servitors, using skulls for stuff…" I said eyeing the Servo-skulls. "No killing people on the spot for having a different opinion that doesn't fit with the Imperial Truth or the Mysteries and Warnings. This universe is…softer than yours because it can afford to be. I don't think Chaos even exists here. The Warp does in a way, I think, and there are things in there, but nothing like the ruinous powers."

I glared at her. "So, none of that! If something is wrong, you bring it to me, otherwise, don't."

She looked at me wide eyed, and just nodded. I could tell already she is just going along with it. She is still very much a hardcore cultist from a terrible, terrifying universe where the things they do are, unfortunately, very necessary lest Chaos Noms everything.

I held up the index and middle fingers. "Two; My power brings Xenos and Xenotech into the fold. Along with Xeno-knowledge. I cannot prevent this. What comes through is in some way tied and loyal to me, so no killing, destroying, deleting until we see if it is a threat or not. I already have a Xeno here, and they are adorable, and I will not tolerate killing attempts on them. Understood?"

She nodded again, less certain, but willing to cooperate. I would have to put a lot of effort in protecting these things since it's necessary to succeed. Then again, the Imperium might have technology and knowledge already that are similar and better. So we will see.

I held up three fingers. "Lastly, I'm keeping this ability a secret from the locals of this universe. They are not privy to the power, nor to its benefits. Everyone here in Subnautica is in on it due to their…unique situation. I would appreciate if you did the same. Obfuscate, lie, fabricate, etc, but do not reveal the truth unless I say otherwise or there's no choice due to circumstances beyond my control."

I crossed my arms. "Prior to your coming here, literally in the last hour, a Tau constructor drone appeared. I managed to redirect my local guests away from the truth by posing it as another one of my toys, but ended up having to reveal another piece of technology most of them were unaware of, cloaking tech."

"So, in short, keep this to yourself unless told or forced otherwise. Can you do that?"

She nodded once more, with a hint of a sly grin.

"Wow, you are a sneaky type aren't you?"

I sigh loudly. "I'm dealing with all kinds of things in this universe, and I have to be careful lest it blows up in my face. So yes, sneaky sneaker."

She giggled at my silliness before bowing again. "I find your requirements acceptable. I will do as you ask, and handle things...differently than I would in my universe. I only in turn ask for your patience as my ways are different, and change comes with time."

I nodded. "Agreed." I held out a hand, and she blinked before taking it and shaking it vigorously.

"Well, once more, welcome aboard the crazy train…first thing though…we have to get you more appropriate clothes. You would really stick out here with that. Then again, Comstar would find a kinship I think."

She quirked her head. "Comstar?"

I was about to open my mouth when another star fell. Sarah's eyes widened as she felt it and look about as if she might see it.

It came…and passed. It's energy leaking into me. I sighed in relief.

Then I got jumped.

"You can store celestial power!? Let me examine you!" Sarah said with fervor as she pressed herself against me, her skulls crowding me with their optics bright red, and one of her Mechadendrites all pointing at me with an optic in its center.

I groaned. Is this gonna be a thing now?

===

Capital Habitat, Deep Kingdom of Subnautica, Leviathan's Trench
Novo Franklin, Periphery Space
January 5th, 2981 AD

Caelin Demonte gazed upon the wonderous work that was the Imperial Palace. Not only was it the center of the power and nation that was Subnautica, it was literally the center of the structure that they, and all of the Subnauticans currently moved about in.

It reached up to the ceiling of the dome that separated them all from a black abyss, and oblivion should it be destroyed. Acting like a pillar to hold up the rest and stay off the dark.

The symbolism was not lost on him. The Sovereign was clearly the pillar holding up the whole place, given the lack of noble houses and elites that were so common place across this world. A direct monarchy that functioned because of advanced technology making the lives of everyone under him easy to the point of being fantastical.

Food was practically free, as it was its preparation that costed money. Equipment wasn't purchased, but rather materials or a design that you can put into your own fabricator at home. Purchasing prefabricated equipment only happened if you didn't have the time or means.

If you didn't have money, you could go out and get materials yourself as payment. Or, in his case, provide an item to scan, and if the schematic didn't exist in the databank, you would be able to trade it for money based on potential purchases based on popular trends. If Swords were in season, you would get more money. Less if not. It was based on aggregated data over a period which are stored in algorithms.

It didn't make a lot of sense to him, but he was able to trade a scan of his family heirloom, a pulse laser pistol, for nine thousand units.

That was another thing. The money system here was based on a universal credit system, but also legal tender notes of paper for those who have no credit savings account. As a non-citizen, he couldn't have one, even as a dignitary. Joining the Alliance would change that. The tender is in denominations of one, five, ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred, five hundred, one thousand, and ten thousand.

Each had a picture of a famous structure of water craft on one side, and either an aquatic location or creature on the other. The Shallows, and the Sea Moth on the One note. An underwater grass field on one side, and a Prawn suit drilling some rock on the other for a Five note. A coral Reef with schools of fish on one side, and the Cyclops submarine on the other for the Ten note.

A strange, alien looking location called a Deep Reef with crab spider looking creatures on one side, and on the other a vicious looking shark creature chasing a diver who held a spear with electricity coming off it, for the fifty note. For the one hundred note, one side had a Humpback Whale, and the other had Subnautica on the other.

For the thousand Note, one side had the "Aurora", a Leviathan Class Colony Submarine, an enormous machine he had never seen before. The other possessed a picture of the Trench cliff leading from the light, and into the darkness.

He was then shown a ten-thousand-unit bill, and it different than the others. It features a ruined city with a shining lighthouse on the surface of the waves, with…sickly looking girls and men in strange diving suits in portraits alongside the city picture. On the top of the bill, above the light house, it had words that said "No Gods, or Kings." and on the bottom it said "Only Man."

On the other, a picture of a proud if dour looking man name Andrew Ryan, with an injector and glowing bottle of some kind on one side of him, and a bloodied rabbit mask on the other, with a bloodied wrench and golf club crossed beneath his portrait. On the top it said "A Man Chooses, A Slave Obeys." While the bottom said "Would you Kindly".

The he learned the summarized story behind these things on the tour, and the story behind this depiction. It was chilling to the soul. They held little back as they showed how they were a free-market out of control near the end of its existence, making life almost impossible for any who were not as vicious as a pirate king.

Then came the Genetic Modifications. Gene-mods utilizing animal DNA that gave people who took injections incredible abilities, Adam as it was called. Eve being the stabilizer that allowed the genes to function. People didn't regulate how many mods they got and how quickly. They went wild. That in turn led to the descent, into total insanity.

He still shivered as he saw ancient recordings of madmen and women screaming about Adam, dragging clawed hooks as they laid into one another in a ruined husk of a darkened terminal. They were told, and shown reenactments of notable people of Rapture.

Sander Cohen…the source of the Rabbit mask. Caelin felt his face blanche as he remembered the safer images of his…art. He knew of men in other kingdoms who are little better than animals, but Cohen was on another level. That man was a monster in human skin.

In the End, the sane people escaped, and went over to the various outposts to survive. Subnautica being the biggest one. Left on their own, they had to make hard choices and do acts of incredible bravery in the abyss to survive. The Abyssals, wandering divers seeking resources without submarines to help them. One was depicted on the fifty note.

Thus, he and others were told that the ten-thousand tender note was made to remind people with such wealth the costs of having such wealth if not possessed with restraint. He was certain many details had been withheld for the tour, but what was said is enough.

Somewhere out there, in that black darkness, were the ruins of a city, named Rapture. Named for the Heaven it was built to be, but had descended into Hell.

After that portion of the tour was over, he needed to sit and have a drink. The small bar near the Tram Line served him Vodka with a fruit twist. It wasn't bad, but it didn't help that much.

He looked up when his lord and protégé, Devlin Fields wandered over and sat down next to him.

"Ale for me!" he called out. The bartender nodded and handed him a large glass of the golden drink.

The young Lord turns towards him, and gives him an inquisitive gaze as he drank a mouthful before placing it back on the bar.
"Still freaking out?" he asked bluntly, but with a hint of teasing.

Caelin snorted. "I do not freak out brat. I become rightfully concerned."

Devlin shrugged. "Well, there's not much we can do about it. It is what it is. They are more powerful than anyone could imagine, with technology we barely have been given a glimpse of, and they have a very twisted beginning, whose memory they keep alive in order to avoid it again."

He made it sound so simple, but it was hardly ever the case. Devlin waved his hand to ease him, once more reading him as he had for many years now.

"With what he has shown us, and demonstrated here and on the surface, it's a given that he can roll over anyone he wanted."

Crossing his arms, and turning to look upon the palace. Devlin's expression became contemplative. Caelin contemplated as well. The Sovereign didn't have to reveal his toys to them at all, but he did easily when he had no choice, and revealed a card in his deck to show just how extensive his reach and strategy was.

On one hand…the young leader was honest and open about his ways and means, but at the same time he kept things close to the chest. That made him dangerous in more than a few ways to their Kingdom. Worse, as Devlin said, there wasn't much anyone could do about it as they lacked the power to.

Caelin sighed with a slight growl.

Devlin, once more, read him like an open book and grinned a bit.

"The real reason you are this way is because you see it for the choice it is. I do too."

Caelin looked his protégé in the eye. He did, didn't he? Sometimes the young, brash, hot blooded man before him reveals his is as much a Lord as his father. His firebrand of a Mother took some of that finish off that his father provided, but it was there when he needed it.

"There's no real choice here. Join or eventually be overtaken."

Devlin lost the grin and shook his head. "It's more than that. It's 'join and become like us, or don't and be forced to later'. Don't tell me you hadn't noticed? The fervor these people have, that the people of the Empire are gaining."

Caelin frowned as his eyes narrowed. "I had, but it didn't make sense until coming here. It's like it all gets into your head. How could it not? This place is straight out of the Golden Age, beyond that even, and the things people say, how they say it, the sheer….faith they have that their ways are the best. It is infectious."

Devlin's expression became one of deep thought.

"It's more than that. An infection implies that its something bad that you need to resist. In this case…they argue for something that has merit, and prove that it works, despite everything we ever knew showing it could never be. The question we are presented, is whether we agree with the argument or not."

Caelin frowned. Again, Devlin showed why he was given Lordship. Part of him was proud of his young student, but another hated that he hit the target so well. Only because of what it meant.

"The real question, and what I believe you are fearful of, is whether you want to give up our own freedom to join in this path of theirs." Devlin finished.

Devlin turn to him again and finished his Ale in one large down. He placed it back on the bar loudly.

"Another Barkeep."

As it was refilled, Devlin grinned and looked at Caelin.

"That's why I am choosing to join. I see it differently. I see it as taking a hold of the reins of our destiny before it is taken from us, and becoming a part of something greater, which in turn will make us greater. If they try to change us from who we are as a people, we possess a voice to remind them that we are not one voice, but many that make one. We work to keep who we are, while accepting what is given."

Caelin shook his head.

"It won't be as easy as that."

"Of course not. I can't foresee the future, but I know that if we don't have a foot in the door now, we will become just another stone in that road they are building. You have seen the works in the Empire, what they have here. Who would say no to that once they realize how much they benefit from being a part of the whole? Best we start now, and become one of the bigger voices than just another small tone mixed with a choir."

Caelin hated it. The boy was right, in many ways. There are things, implications he hadn't mentioned, but they need not be said. The ability to make war, not through fire and mech, but through word and benefits. It wasn't anything this world had ever dealt with before. Nations would normally take, or destroy what other had to make their own.

Here, in this case, was a nation that could simply give it to them and do so quickly and easily. All you had to do, was join in as a part of a bigger whole, for the Greater Good. It was insidious. It was genius. It was terrifying. It was Awe inspiring.

Things were going to change, and knowing history as he did, he could see the tsunami coming.

Did he let it hit, or did he take the hand given and rise above it?

It was his Lord's choice, and he has made it. Caelin could only hope they don't lose more than just their own path to destiny.


Author's Note

Chapter 13 is delayed due to Winter Preparations. I will try to get it up tonight or tomorrow.

Before anyone says anything about the Sister being really out of character for the Admech, bear in mind she's a companion who "willingly" came here, and according to the perk, was very strange for a sister anyways.

That said, Cyber-waifu get?[/spoiler]
 
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lmao, Battletech and No Chaos is definitely going to be something the Enginseer has to get used to.

On the other hand, they're definitely the sort of person to properly appreciate Big Stompy Robots, so they might fit right in in other ways. :V
 
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Nice, AdMechs are fun to have.
All your stuff now will be blessed!

That is a decent companion to have.
The skeptic to keep one grounded.
Devlin has good people with him it seems.
 
Ten
Hilton Head Island Complex, North America
Terra, Sol System
January 5th, 2981 AD

Yin Takami, Primus of Comstar, bounced his foot off the floor. It was the only sign he showed of his anxiety.

The Precentors of the First Circuit, comprising of New Earth, Barnard, Alpha C, Bryant, Procyon, Dieron, Arcturus, Oriente, Altair, and Capella, all sat in their own positions facing the holographic projection that showed the visual data and recordings that only came in two days ago from Novo Franklin.

Novo Franklin. A planet of minor note in the Anti-Spin periphery of the Inner Sphere, specifically off the edge of the Federated Suns, Outworlds Alliance and technically the Draconis Combine. A warm Agri-World with a small population barely over a hundred thousand, give or take fifty thousand that weren't counted in what could be considered a census.

Possessing a small force officially, but something larger unofficially in terms of military might.

It was a backwater at best, and a microcosm of the Inner Sphere as so many worlds like it are.

It was the last place in the universe that anyone would imagine becoming anything approaching a threat to the status quo of everything.

Yet it now is. It so very much is.

The recording of the Precentor of Novo Franklin, a Lim Nyung, shook hands with the Sovereign of the nation that had suddenly become a point of focus with laser precision.

Subnautica. The Deep Sea Kingdom. It sounded utterly fantastical and fictional. Until the recordings were viewed with the transcripts and written reports.

Novo Franklin had little to no resources on site, save a handful of lesser trained Beta and Delta operatives who were there for local studies than anything of this magnitude. What little they had managed to accomplish was the best they could have at the moment, and was as informative as one can expect from a small team.

Even so, the recordings, and data of what they did have caused a variety of emotions. From inspiration, to fear, to greed.

The tools they had managed to get their hands on were ground breaking in their own ways. The laser cutter was far more effective at its purpose than almost everything on the market as a result of not its capabilities, but that it was in such a small package and powered by a small battery.

The Mineral Detector, after being more thoroughly tested, was capable of finding a vast variety of minerals without fail. Emphasis…without fail. So long as you are within a certain distance of what you are seeking, it will lead you to it, even if it were under your feet. After testing the device out more, as a result of another tool showing its potential, they found they can do a narrow scan where the range is increased by two hundred meters, but only in a cone that widened to five feet in front of the scanner.

They discovered many hidden mineral resources in the last month just in the region of the HPG, untapped by all but Comstar now. It was only Copper and Iron, but local metals were not easily gained without off world trade.

The last was the greatest tool, which is what led to believing the stories of Subnautica more than anything. The Repair Tool. They still haven't been able to figure out how it exactly works, but the recordings of its use made many scoff in disbelief. That was until a Jumpship came a week after, and they loaded the device onto an outgoing drop ship to a nearby world.

Delos was the closest world they had to that world, and within a short time, the device was confirmed as real, to the awe of the Precentor of Delos.

That was several days before the latest pulse from Novo Franklin came in, and everything was taken much more seriously. New images that were subtly taken by the adepts, until the Subnautican relations gave them permission to use cameras, allowing for recordings instead of just pictures.

It was a nightmare scenario. The images of the ultra-advanced habitat at such unassailable depths. Yin had learned more about Wet Water Naval craft in the last week than he had ever learned in his life time before then. Categories of craft, weight class, displacement, weapon types, mission purpose, and more.

The submersible fleet at the hands of the Subnauticans was more advanced then anything they had ever seen, and dove to depths unheard of outside research submarines.

The combat submarines currently made were nothing compared to that, and while it was unreasonable to lay blame upon people of the past for not making such craft in a universe where space travel was the primary form of travel, Yin could not help lament that such a vast hole existed now, and couldn't be filled quickly enough.

Even if they did have such equipment available, he doubted Subnautica could be destroyed at all.

They were, for all practical purposes, unassailable. Eleven kilometers deep, covering a huge amount of space at the bottom with vast resources. A submersible naval fleet of unknown capability outside operations depths.

Then there were the Battlemech they had, which according to recordings, were generations ahead of anything the Star League possessed. One, within a total combat time of less than a minute, was able to take out a near company of Battlemechs on its own with dexterity and power unseen before.

This wasn't even taking into account everything else. Materials Science, such as what went into their reinforced diving suits that allowed a skin tight suit to not be crushed at such depths. They would need to see about seeking Kyanite in an energized state within Terra's oceans, since it was mentioned it existed here.

Genetic Engineering. Advanced Energy weapons and equipment, such as Power Armor. The sort that apparently can function at such depths, and on land.

Then came the technology that sent waves of raw panic and awe into the first circuit.

Nano-Fabrication technology. It was practically Magic. Microscopic robots, coupled with focused magnetic fields and material transportation, combine to create the mans to fabricate and build structures, equipment, and needs within moments to minutes. The recording demonstration of a simple habitat dwelling, followed by the fabrication of an energy rifle, and then an entire mech within minutes.

It was nightmare inducing. This technology cannot. CAN. NOT. EVER. Get off that planet and into the hands of anyone else.

Just as bad, Biosynthetic technology. A field of study that never existed before they heard of it in the recording. Visual recordings of a mech with…biomechanical armor, as well as the Neuro-Clinic and the Skill Shard Technology.

That sent several of the more academic and scientifically minded Precentors into conniptions to the potential of this device, despite its limitations. Thank Blake those limitations seemed to be confirmed, at the moment anyways.

Then came the historical documentation, and all it implied. It made him wonder if there were any other advanced societies out there in the periphery they were unaware of, that weren't Kerensky's Star League in Exile. That said, the history was a fascinating one, once you got past the initial rise and fall of Andrew Ryan's folly.

They had searched for any record of the man in question, but nothing had come up in any search. It was understandable as they were looking for information on a man from well over five hundred years ago that took great pains to be forgotten. According to the historical documentary, Andrew Ryan was a minor member of the Expansionists Party of Terra.

He sought to remove the Demarcation Declaration, and reassert Terra's domain into humanity's domain while expanding industrial capability to allow the means to prevent future rebellions to occur. Given the lack of forward movement with his party, he resigned in disgust, gave up all his holdings within the Terran Alliance of the time, a mere three years before James McKenna had ended the Alliances existence as a state, and with a few dozen ships filled with like-minded people, left for parts unknown.

One would think such an event would be noteworthy enough to mark down, but according to the documentary, Ryan spent more than a small amount of his fortune to make certain no one was aware of his departure, and that he wasn't followed. Since he was leaving entirely, his money was seen as useless beyond what he could get before reaching zero net worth.

His connections and wealth allowed his slipping away to succeed, and for the next year, his fleet of ships traveled beyond the boundaries of humanity of the time. Having proposed to go beyond the five hundred light year mark in a straight shot, the leaders under Ryan agreed with this and held on for a long eight months before finally setting efforts to search for a new world to call their own.

Four months with ships travelling in a general direction gave them nothing but lifeless systems until they found what would be in time called Novo Franklin. At that time, the world was a hot, arid place, but capable of sustaining human life due to its oceans.

Then came an interesting proposal…or insane depending on who you spoke to.

Given that the land was utterly incapable of supporting human life at the moment, they decided to make a plan to terraform the world with the best technology they had with them at the time. It would take centuries, but given the oceans of the world already present, it may be shortened to only a century or less.

But to see over it, they would settle down on the world by using the advanced oceanic equipment they had brought with them, and began constructing a series of underwater habitats. These, unlike the ones existing currently, were small ones closer to the surface, only a few hundred meters deep at best.

Over time, less time than expected, the world began to blossom into a green world. At the same time however, ventures into the deeper ocean began yielding resources never before seen by humanity, and a discovery known only to the founders of Subnautica today, changed Ryan's priorities.

He sought to build deeper. Using new materials discovered, he began to construct the city of dreams. Rapture.

Over the time he traveled to Novo Franklin, Ryan had constructed a cult of personality around him. While not entirely believed by everyone, enough were followers of his will that there was only a minor amount of resistance to building and living in such depths.

Ten years is what it took to construct a city that was right out of a utopian fantasy. A testament to humanity's ingenuity and will to conquer any challenge.

The city was divided among sections, and the first circuit came to understand how such a city was able to function. With the divisions of people however, came the first cracks in Ryan's vision.

Class systems in a society that value putting a price on everything one does and makes, coupled with competition to excel and the stark class separations as a result of failure or success, it was easy to see the failure coming.

It was at the twenty years after its founding that everything fell apart.

With society crumbling down due to the system functioning as it had, plus Ryan's unwillingness to adjust and change to the needs of his people, and add in the genetic technologies that had been developed within the last five years prior, it led to a total breakdown of the system, and then eventually, anarchy as the Genespawn, people who modified themselves too much for the power it gave, lost their minds and began to act more like animals then human.

Those who could escape, did, leaving to Subnautica, which at the time was the large research station that had studied the discoveries in the trench. Within a few years, Rapture was nothing more than a ruin, and filled with water, and madmen in what locations were still habitable.

Lacking the means to return a large population to the surface in any real capacity, the leaders of Subnautica were forced to genetically modify volunteer divers to explore the trench for resources. It was hard, and dangerous due to creatures living in these depths, not to mention the abyss itself. It was this abyss that these divers gained their name. Abyssals.

Slowly, but surely, they were eventually able to expand and care for the numbers they were forced to take on, all due to the efforts of the hundreds of divers that swam the depths.

While the documentary didn't go into real detail on how this was accomplished, the results that are present today show these legendary divers succeeded in their duty.

Yin had to admit, these divers were praise worthy by all measures because of their efforts. They would need to see about making their own such people, given the threat of Subnautica now.

Over time, Subnautica assumed the role of leader for all habitats, and began to return to the surface to see to the continuation of their terraforming efforts, to eventually live on the surface.

This changed however with the creation of Fabricator Technology. Nanomachines. Microscopic robots that were collectively controlled by a powerful computer, micromanaging the actions of each individual to accomplish something as a whole. Initial fabricators were the size of a building, and were capable of constructing a submarine within a day, which would normally take months, as the vehicle was put together at the molecular level.

Utilizing designs stored in the computer database, and having orders for each nanomachine set specifically, and long practice of the method, they were able to reduce construction time to less than an hour. It had taken a mere five years to accomplish this. With the potential realized, the Subnauticans pushed to develop the technology as far as they could, as quickly as they could, and within four decades, the method they developed was finalized into what is used to this day.

Having the means to construct not just vehicles, but dwellings, equipment, and even food stuff, at a quick pace, the society exploded into an age of exploration and colonization within the world's oceans. Terraforming was stopped at this point in favor of this path, and even though the planet was unfinished, it would eventually become a living world after another century of just existing on its own.

Over these centuries, the Subnauticans developed more technology as a result of being able to so quickly construct and test ideas, and they forgot about the rest of humanity. They, ironically, created what would be considered by today's standards to be a battlemech, predating the Mackie by only eight years, with the creation of the Marine Mech, an industrial exploration machine that had equipped weapons for fauna. This plus diving suits and the primitive exoskeleton Prawn Suit, were the first creations for their mech development.

Subnautica developed quietly without much care for the wider universe.

At least until they received a signal from an exploration ship from the Federated Suns in the 2600s. While they didn't return any calls, they watched as the Federated Suns did their survey of the world from orbit, and then left. Eventually the ship returned to its jump ship and disappeared.

Suddenly realizing they weren't alone out there anymore, the Subnauticans decided to send an expedition into the Inner Sphere to see what had come about after three hundred years of isolation. Creating and launching a ship into orbit, and then utilizing ship mounted fabricators, they constructed an Aquila Class Jumpship within an hour.

That demonstration brought absolute chills to the First circuit.

They returned to the Inner Sphere as merchants, and got a general overview of the situation. It had been only five years after the end of the Reunification War and the death of Ian Cameron had occurred not a few months prior, thus Subnautica was given all the reason to keep quiet and stay out of the eyes of the Inner Sphere. They also managed to get their hands on a handful of technologies, including a lance of Mackie MSK-7A Battlemechs they stole from the Star League military within the Terran Hegemony.

How they managed that was not remarked upon, much to Yin's irritation.

They returned with news and goods, and from there adopted a form of isolation, lest they be attacked and conquered by the more powerful Star League as the Taurian Concordat had been just a short time before.

Then, much to his irritation, the next three centuries are mostly skimmed over for developments of new technologies and advancements of already established ones, before finally finishing off the documentary with the current state of Subnautica as of 2950.

With the holographic presentation ended, the room was silent as they digested everything. Yin Takami sighed dramatically, and gave the first word.

"Thoughts." He requested.

The Precentor of New Earth groaned as he covered his face with his hands. "First the Tripitz, and now this. What is it with sources of advanced technology coming out of nowhere all of the sudden?"

"This makes that look like a minor issue in comparison, if even half of this is even true." Precentor of Procyon muttered.

"We have confirmation of the Repair Tool working as shown and described. So, what we just watched is likely true, even if heavily redacted in the truth of events." Precentor of Oriente reminded everyone.

"The worst part is we can't really do anything about this. We have no assets on hand to do anything on Novo Franklin. It would take months to gather and then send anything there, and by then the situation would expand beyond what it is now." The Precentor of Tau Ceti.

"Obviously just nuking the place is out of the question. Not just for the obvious reasons, but they are deep underwater, which means it's pointless to even try." Precentor of Rigel Kentarus stated tiredly.

Yin took that as the point to steer the conversation. "There's a handful of things we can do about the situation however, but they are all gambles in one way or another."

Typing in a command to bring up a small list, with pros and cons, he began listing them out loud.

"The First idea, option-A, is we try to contain the situation by blockading the system. We take it off the records and announce it as lost. Do our best to isolate the system. During which time we send in our own assets, in force, and try to take the world for ourselves."

Most of the Precentors grimaced.

"That's gonna cost a lot of money and time. We don't exactly have a standing military, despite what the Exodus left behind. Plus, we would have to not only take control of the planet, but also build the means to take the fight to the Subnauticans, who have the home field advantage. They know the lay of the undersea terrain, they have the forces and numbers, and unlike a great many, are highly skilled and trained."

Yin nodded, waving to the cons being more or less matching what was said.

"There's also Operational Security and a Logistics requirement that hadn't been seen since the succession wars, which we are not equipped for."

With a wave to the pros, Yin continued. "On the other hand, if we can successfully cut them off from travel and communications, we will have the most valuable resource. Time. The issue is that it will not be quick, as this is something we need handled yesterday. We can even enlist the locals to do the work for us for a chance at equipment that makes their lives easier, or just some shiny new mechs if nothing else. There is also the possibility we can co-opt their technology for our own use and make it happen more quickly. Then it would be a matter of transporting people than material."

"With that technology in our hands, there's very little we couldn't do ourselves." Precentor of Capella noted.

"Which brings up option-B of the first plan. Instead of making war on the system, we encourage Subnautica to allow us to help them. To…bring them out of their relative isolation from the world and ease them into the universe beyond."

"Make them into a client state? Not sure how well that would work given they don't really need anything." Precentor of Caph spoke in a doubtful tone.

"They do not need anything from us materially, but we have access to the stars, and to a logistics chain that would see to spreading the "Greater Good" to the rest of the Inner Sphere. While we would encourage them to keep any military, or potentially destructive technologies to themselves, such as Fabrication, other things are open to selling and spreading their will."

The group looked thoughtful to the idea.

"It would allow us access to their technology base, as well as prevent the overall spread of their existence."

"The things they send out, if they do, will have to be nothing but trinkets, or better than useful tools for the masses. Maybe vehicles for mass production that do not possess their technology, but possess similar capabilities?"

The group began to come up with their own pros and cons to the idea, and Yin grinned a little. While he had handled the Tirpitz affair with force, the same couldn't be done with this situation. Instead, he had to come up with a solution that showed he can handle problems in a diplomatic manner as well. Especially with such a potentially destructive faction revealing itself.

He had been tempted to handle this with force, but Yin had to admit…the technology presented, if even a fraction as capable as shown in the reports, would elevate Comstar's power beyond anything anyone could have imagined. The dream of leading the inner sphere into an age of prosperity and peace by their hand is one they could see within their lifetime.

The idea of it all being possible because of him, and his actions here today. It would elevate him to the same level as Blake, Toyama, and Kerensky. They just needed to play their cards right.

"I can see the second option is preferential to our desires. So, what would it take to bring about a total black out of the system from the rest of humanity?"

That made them all take pause for a minute.

"We could enlist pirates, and have them send a raid. Make it a big deal that they raided this planet and destroyed it. Thus, forcing us to mark it out."

"Pirates? Why…oh right. Forgive me. We don't want any of the houses or mercenary units to even have a sniff this exists." Precentor Bryant started before apologizing. "Which brings to mind the question of how we prevent the Outworlds, and the Suns from sniffing about?"

Precentor of Altair had been silent for the entire discussion, before finally speaking up.

"I believe there is a simpler solution."

Everyone's eyes turned to the Samurai turned Priest, one of the few among them who possessed a warrior's background before turning to Blake's light after waking from a coma.

Yin was able to push forth the way of handling the Tripitz due to him, and he valued his council.

"Enlighten us friend."

"This suggestion may sound strange, but the leader of this nation was receptive to Comstar and our mission. What if we simply…speak to him of the dangers his technology present to the whole of the inner sphere? Perhaps enlighten him to our way of seeing things? From what recordings and data we have, he appears to be aware of the Inner Sphere's current status. He must also be aware of the danger his existence presents to the world his nation exists upon?"

For a moment, everyone stared, as if the idea had simply not occurred to them. He had to admit, he was one of them, though only partially. It was why he created Option-B after all. That said, simply speaking to the man about things…would that even work?

Surely not. Then again…

"It would have to be in a way that speaks to their benefit as much as it does everyone else."

Altair nodded and grinned lightly. "It would be for the Greater Good."

As if a lightbulb suddenly illuminated the room, the very idea he put forth suddenly felt much more viable than making war. More then subterfuge. What if the source of their issues helped them hide said issues? It would have to be done in a very specific manner, but if the young man had an open mind to Blake's Will…


Comstar HPG Compound, Corealdas Port, Northern Continent
Novo Franklin, Periphery Space
January 15th, 2981 AD

Adept Yarri Xing watched in silent awe as the small fleet of VTOL craft hovered gracefully outside of the compound grounds, save a single craft that carried the VIP. It looked like a whale, with a dorsal fin, tail, and flippers on the side. All functional and for show. The symbol of Subnautica on emblazoned upon its side, a navy blue with Novo Franklin's map upon it, with a stylized star upon that.

It landed hovered without any apparent source of lift, as in defiance of gravity itself, before softly landing upon a small pad for aircraft. The side of the craft opened up, marring the seamless exterior with a square hole. Two suits of knightly power armor stepped out, carrying large, two handed weapons that possessed glowing parts in the color of bright blue. They stood at ease, but gazed over the grounds, alert and ready for a fight.

Then out came the man they waited for.

The Sovereign of the Undersea Nation of Subnautica.

Yarri felt nervous as the man strode towards him with ease of step, filled with confidence, but a hint of danger.

Yarri bowed as the man approached. "Welcome to the Comstar HPG Compound Lord Soveriegn."

It felt a bit redundant to call someone "Lord Lord.", but it felt better to do so than be wrong.

Said Lord, nodded his head in return. "Thank you for the greeting."

Yarri led the man into the main building that made up the entrance of the compound, with the Sovereign staring up at the vast antenna that made up the actual HPG. Yarri grinned a little, for as childish as it was, there was some pride in knowing that for all that Subnautica had, this was something that Comstar at least had over them. In every other regard though…

Precentor Lim Nyung had been waiting for them in the master lounge beyond the entry area, and Yarri stepped away so the two leaders could exchange greetings. Then the two went on the introduction tour that most Lords of the fiefdoms were given, but given Subnautica's level of…everything really, he was given the "grand tour" of the compound.

Throughout it all, the Sovereign was pleasant, asking questions here and there, and was impressed by the HPG. Not entirely surprised by it though, but it was reasonable to assume he had seen more impressive things.

Then, the tour took an unexpected turn when the group passed by the underground entrance to the garage. The Sovereign paused as, and Yarri paled slightly as the Warhammer laid in his line of sight.

With reluctance, Precentor Lim allowed the Sovereign to go into the garage to take a look at the machine. The appearance of the leader surprised many of the technicians and staff, but stayed back when they saw the Precentor with him.

That is until the Sovereign made a bee-line to something else, instead of the Battlemech.

Yarri and the Precentor both paled and wanted to stop him, but the man kept going until he stopped near a project that was apparent for those who knew what they were looking at.

A jury rigged battery charger with Subnautican Batteries placed in it.

The man stared down, scrutinizing the charger port more than anything else, and there was a tenseness in the air before the Sovereign gave a simple grin.

"I am impressed. It's a little haphazard, but you managed to create a charging station."

Everyone was thrown off by how easily the man spoke about it.

"You're not…" Precentor Lim stared before the lord waved it off.

"No. To be honest, I am not surprised in the least. If I were a leader of a group, or organization, and some newcomer with advanced technology came out of nowhere appeared suddenly, I'd want samples of said tech to know what the hell I was dealing with too."

He crouched down and looked the charging station over.

"It is pretty inefficient in its design though." he said in a thoughtful tone before standing up, and facing the people about.

"Who is responsible for making this charge station."

Chief Technician Vance stood forward, looking like he was ready to defend his, and his people's work. It took them a week to figure out the means to power the batteries without destroying them in the process, and it helped greatly once they had the means to power the repair tool they once had.

"I and my people are."

Instead of challenging the man, the Lord stepped over and shook his hand.

"Well done. You and yours managed to take something few had seen, and actually make something that worked instead of exploding everything. You might have a job with my people if you ever leave Comstar."

The man returned the shake easily enough, but looked a little apprehensive.

"Exploding everything?"

The Sovereign nodded. "The batteries you have are…well, to put it simply. They're nuclear batteries. If they had exploded due to a bad connection, or burning through the shell, this place would have gone up like a roman candle."

Everyone blanched.

The Lord paused for effect, seemingly taking in everyone's reaction before sighing in relief, and nodding.

"I'm glad you understand the gravity of the situation. These are the small ones for tools, but they still can hold enough energy to match a…I would say, a tactical nuke of zero point one kilotons going off. That is, if they were at full power. If they were drained to nothing, they would just burn and give off radioactive smoke for a few hours like an emergency flare."

Yarri felt faint. Thank god they got it right.

"But, I can see some issues with this one. Bring your tools, and I'll show you what I mean."

Then for the next half hour, the Sovereign gave an impromptu class to the technicians, the Adepts, and Precentor about the batteries and full contact charging. It was mainly a proprietary thing developed back in the past that hadn't been changed.

They also improved on the charger, now called the charging station, as they added some safeties and improved on the connection to prevent any explosive hishaps. Then he decided to improve the charge connections to speed up the charge time.

"Two hours for a single battery is nice, but with a proper charging station, these batteries go from zero to one hundred percent in twenty minutes."

That said a lot about Subnautica's power sources and infrastructure.

Once finished, the Sovereign nodded in approval.

"Without our infrastructure here, you all will have to make do for now with this. Otherwise, I'd just make one for you right now."

"That easily?" Chief Vance asked.

The Lord shrugged. "Might seem silly, or grandiose, but it would be for the Greater Good if you had something that worked instead of jury rigging stuff if you're gonna have our technology. Some of it is quite dangerous is fiddled with incorrectly."

Looking at the Precentor. "Out of curiosity, what tools do you have?"

Looking a bit embarrassed, Precentor admitted to having a laser cutter, a mineral detector, and a Repair Tool.

The Lord noticed the despondant looks at the mention of the Repair tool, and grinned with amusement.

"Loved how easily it fixed things, didja?" he said in a low brow drawl.

"You have no idea." A technician muttered.

"I do actually. I had to fix my own stuff once upon a time, with nothing but my own hands without the repair tool. It was a pain in the ass." The sovereign replied, clearly hearing the man.

"How does it work?" Chief Vance asked.

The Soveriegn looked at the man, and more a moment contemplated before answering.

"To put it simply, the machine contains a small amount of nanomachines. Microscopic robots. When the tool is activated, the robots enter through whatever item you are repairing through the prongs which holds a miniature electromagnetic field, and then simply restores whatever you are using it on. Materials for the repair are either taken from sources you bring with, local elements in the air the machines grab, or from the object itself if it is deemed safe to do. As for what it can repair, it can repair anything, provided the machines are programmed with the data on the object in question. For example…"

The Sovereign waves to the Warhammer.

"Thanks to the Battlemechs we have scanned in the past, plus data on mechs in general, we can repair pretty much any mech made from the Star League and back. If it's a new machine we had never seen before, or new equipment, or new anything, it will not repair it because the nanomachines have no data on it. It could repair equipment that is known, but little else."

A wave of understanding flowed through the group. It made a lot of sense now. They repaired the Warhammer easily enough, but they also tried to use it on other equipment, and it just did nothing. They had an inkling that this might be the case, but now it was confirmed.

Still…microscopic robots. If it were anyone else, that would be fantastical. Given the fabrication technology he had been informed about, it made sense they would have made tools that use the same methods to repair.

The Precentor's eyes sharpened slightly at something, contemplative in his expression, before returning to a smile.

"Well, I'm glad this detour has turned out so well. Very informative."

The Lord nodded. "I agree." He replied before turning back to Chief Vance.

"By the way, where is the repair tool, now that we have it set up, the tool might improve the charge station further as it "detects damage" and turns it into a fully capable device."

Then it got awkward, but the chief lied well enough.

"I wish we had known that, but at the moment it's being used to repair other stuff outside the compound. Things we have agreements with the other fiefdoms to maintain."

The Sovereign nodded easily, though somewhat stiffly. Did he see through the lie? Maybe he was just disappointed. He seemed the type to want things to happen. Looking at his wrist, a screen on his vambrace appeared, and he clicked away on it, before then showing a clock. The Sovereign nodded before looking back at the Chief.

"I'll have my people up top give you four more tools then. When you get them use one to see about improving the station."

Then he turned to the Precentor. "I believe our time is limited, and we are running a bit late now."

The Precentor took the change and ran with it.

"Yes. We do have many things to discuss."

With a turn and smile he bid the techs goodbye and left the garage.
Once more up top, the Sovereign and the Precentor went to the sitting room to have their discussions, and Yarri was released to his duties. Specifically to pick up the tools that were waiting for him.

Returning to the landing pad outside, there was a man in a uniform and a box.

"Four Repair tools, four batteries. Enjoy." The man said as he handed them over. Yarri bowed before returning to the garage.

The moment he entered, he was practically mobbed by the techs who were excited and antsy for the new tools.

The chief shouted for calm, and opened the case, showing the brand new, shiny and clean tools, with full charged batteries that were lit up a bright cyan color.

Placing the battery into the tool, it clicked and hummed in a high pitch that it was powered up and ready to be used.

The chief led the group over to the charging station, and after a moment of pause, placed the prongs on the device and pulled the trigger. They watched before their eyes as wires and metal bent and molded into new shapes before finally stopping.

The new, improved Charging Station was an entirely different beast than before.

"Alright…I want this taken apart, studied, and recorded. We put it back together ourselves, and the repeat it to make sure it works as intended."

He stared down at the tool, before handing it off to a tech. "Alright, let's get back to work."

Everyone took their own tool and went off to their own tasks with a bounce in their step, before a smaller group began to work on the charger.

Yarri left to go back to his own duties once more, though he did so with some worry. Did the Sovereign know what his actions were leading to, and didn't care? Or did he know and was counting on it? Yarri refused to think the man was that naïve about the world.

Only time would tell.


Author's Note

sajuuk21 said:
AND NO NEWS CHAPTER !!!
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Piccolo Voice while in fighting stance: Jumping the gun a bit aren't you?

Anyways. Winter Prep is in full swing because it has gotten cold fast. So chapters might come out slower than the three days I have managed to do so far.

That said, I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, but I do a poll at the end of each month as to what story I will focus on the next month, plus one or two secondary stories I periodically post for.

This story "Playing the Game" has won as the primary, so this will continue next month at a semi-regular pace.

The secondaries are a story that currently is exclusive on Patreon until I get at least ten chapters, which I will post on forums. It's called "Deus Ex Machina" and it's a Godbound Fic.

The other secondary that surpassed the minimum vote number to be worked on...is Claptrap.

So I have re-read that story and begun working on it again. "Playing the Game" is the focus however, so don't expect alot from Claptrap.

That said, I hope you are enjoying the story thus far.
 
Really loving this, and The Greater Good plus Military Dominance makes it so that genuinely open and honest diplomacy is massively overpowered.

Which is great, because honest straightforward diplomacy is quite the out of context problem for the Inner Sphere. :V
 
Vanbers said:
Really loving this, and The Greater Good plus Military Dominance makes it so that genuinely open and honest diplomacy is massively overpowered.

Which is great, because honest straightforward diplomacy is quite the out of context problem for the Inner Sphere. :V
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I know, right!?

It's almost like someone being straight forward about what they are doing, and what will happen if A, B, and/or C happens, and it actually occurs if those things do happen, is a revolutionary concept!
 
GundamChief said:
Alpha C
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Alpha Centauri

GundamChief said:
coupled with focused magnetic fields and material transportation, combine to create the mans to fabricate and build structures, equipment, and needs within moments to minutes
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Focused magnetic fields and instantaneous matter transmission combined to create the means to fabricate everything from equipment to entire structures within moments.

GundamChief said:
The recording demonstration of a simple habitat dwelling, followed by the fabrication of an energy rifle, and then an entire mech within minutes.
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The recorded demonstration of a fabricator creating a basic habitat structure, followed by a man portable directed energy rifle, then an entire mech. All within the span of a few minutes.

GundamChief said:
This technology cannot. CAN. NOT. EVER. Get off that planet and into the hands of anyone else.
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This technology could never be allowed off world, much less in any hands but Comstar.

GundamChief said:
reassert Terra's domain into humanity's domain
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Reassert Terra's Dominion into all of human settled space.

GundamChief said:
ended the Alliances existence as a state
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Dissolved the Alliance as as a state

GundamChief said:
His connections and wealth allowed his slipping away to succeed, and for the next year, his
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His connections and wealth allowed him to launch his exodus unnoticed.

GundamChief said:
But to see over it, they would settle down
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To oversee terraforming operations they built underwater outposts.


GundamChief said:
escape, did, leaving to Subnautica
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And escape they did. Fleeing to Subnautica

GundamChief said:
the large research station that had studied the discoveries in the trench
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At the time it was merely a large research station built to study newly discovered materials and phenomena of the Trench.

GundamChief said:
praise worthy by all measures because of their efforts
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Their accomplishments were praiseworthy by any metric he cared to use.

GundamChief said:
While they didn't return any calls, they watched as the Federated Suns did their survey of the world from orbit, and then left.
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Subnautica maintained communications blackout and opted to observe as the Federated Suns ship conducted an orbital survey of the planet. Eventually the ship returned to its jumpship and departed from the system.


GundamChief said:
Subnautica on emblazoned
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Emblem of Subnautica emblazoned upon its hull.
GundamChief said:
redundant to call someone "Lord Lord.", but it felt better to do so than be wrong
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Redundant to address someone as, "Lord King." But he felt it better to err on the side of diplomacy than to be wrong and cause offense.

GundamChief said:
They're nuclear batteries. If they had exploded due to a bad connection, or burning through the shell, this place would have gone up like a roman candle."
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That is not how nuclear batteries work. Is this an ingame thing? What you are describing is a miniature fission reactor.

GundamChief said:
explosive hishaps
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Mishaps
 
@GundamChief are the Comstar leadership retarded? They know the Subnauticans have space borne capabilities. They should be paranoid enough to suspect hidden asteroid bases and deep space bolt holes. Any attack on the system is suicide with an enemy capable of printing 100,000 metric ton ships within an hour, Centuries ago. Even if Subnautica had the glacial pace of the Star League's R&D, they would be capable of creating spaceborne warships especially as they have experience in three dimensional warfare.
 
Arimai said:
@GundamChief are the Comstar leadership retarded? They know the Subnauticans have space borne capabilities. They should be paranoid enough to suspect hidden asteroid bases and deep space bolt holes. Any attack on the system is suicide with an enemy capable of printing 100,000 metric ton ships within an hour, Centuries ago. Even if Subnautica had the glacial pace of the Star League's R&D, they would be capable of creating spaceborne warships especially as they have experience in three dimensional warfare.
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Dropships cannot jump to other systems, and they are working under the assumption that they cannot construct jump ships, which isn't an unrealistic one to have given how things are normally, especially given the era of time. It was never revealed in the "History" that the "jump ship" they used to check in on the inner sphere "in the past" never existed, nor built using fabrication technology. They are assuming it was one of the original Aquila class jump ships from when the Terran Alliance was around, which was primitive by even current standards.

The issue is that they are out of their depth and do not know the full capabilities of Subnautica, and as Paranoid as they are (given the Inner Sphere and the Kerensky Exodus), they aren't paranoid enough to jump to conclusions like the ones you mentioned. At most, the conclusions they would jump to would be completely wrong and somehow lead back to the Star League since that is all they would know.

So no. Not retarded. Ignorant, and making assumptions based on what little data they have. Given the lack of ships coming to and from the system of Novo Franklin, they are fair assumptions. Again though, they are assumptions based on the universe they know, which doesn't include Slip Space, Quantum Tunneling, Worm Holes, Hyperspace Tunneling, or straight up teleportation outside of jump ships.
 
GundamChief said:
As for what it can repair, it can repair anything, provided the machines are programmed with the data on the object in question. For example…"

The Sovereign waves to the Warhammer.

"Thanks to the Battlemechs we have scanned in the past, plus data on mechs in general, we can repair pretty much any mech made from the Star League and back. If it's a new machine we had never seen before, or new equipment, or new anything, it will not repair it because the nanomachines have no data on it. It could repair equipment that is known, but little else."
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Comstar would probably rip those tools Apart tryimg to access that database for blueprints of Subnautica tech.

Like if it was stołem from their outpost where it was used to repair their stuff it have designs for it.

Even if there is some manner of tiers of tools and that one lack military Subnautica stuff.
 
012345 said:
Comstar would probably rip those tools Apart tryimg to access that database for blueprints of Subnautica tech.
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Nanotech is something that never really came about in Battletech. Nanomaterials, sure, but those are industrial grade things like Diamond Weave, and a few other things, but those are for Battlemechs, not people.

Plus the data is stored in the nano-machines themselves, not the tool. Not that they know this.
 
Welp, idk what Battletech is other than a quick google search saying it's 'Space Game of Thrones without the supernatural and instead giant mechs' but this'll be my intro fic. If I find it fun enough I'll prob binge Battletech fics, despite knowing nothing of the original, just like I did for Worm and RWBY lol
 
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Eleven
Comstar HPG Compound, Corealdas Port, Northern Continent
Novo Franklin, Periphery Space
January 15th, 2981 AD

I sat down across from Precentor Nyung in a room that was about as opulent as the office I had my own meeting in when he first came to Subnautica. It lacked a great deal of the technological aspects mine did, but given mine was in an underwater palace, unlike the surface where real air and sun coming through a window.

"Drink." He offered, mirroring my own start when we first met. The grin on his face told me he was aware of that, and grinned back, and played the game.

"Water please."

He chuckled as he poured a glass for me, and I took the drink and placed it on a coaster.

As Precentor Nyung sat down, I checked over my arm vambrace to take a look at the list of scans my ships did as they floated outside of the compound. So, I now had the HPG, the Warhammer and Lostech it apparently had, and pretty much every variety of equipment and structure as I flew here. I nodded, looked at the update alert showing the tools had been retrieved, and closed it down.

"Well, your technicians are probably having a ball right about now. The Repair Tools were retrieved by your adept."

Hyung nodded. "That's good to hear. Thank you for that."

"Its fine. It will help in the future when projects are being worked on by your people."

He gave me a raised eyebrow for a moment before moving on. "Which brings us to the reason I asked you for this meeting actually."

I shifted to become more comfortable. "The future?"

"Just so. As a member of Comstar, it is my business, and by extension, Comstar's business to be aware of the various factions and nation states across the Inner Sphere. It allows us to not only extend our services to them, but also to provide a means for many groups to engage in diplomacy and works of charity, among many other works that are beneficial to the whole Sphere. Once I became aware of your nation's existence, and confirmed its status as an advanced nation, I was obligated to make my superiors aware as well."

I nodded. I knew it was going to happen. The question is how they would play it. The fact he was speaking to me about it, instead of an army rushing in, told me they were either not in a position to commit to any campaign, or they would try subterfuge first.

"I take it they were surprised."

"To put it mildly. It's common to rediscover a lost world or colon of a lesser level of development. It's rare to find one that is on par with the current state of the Inner Sphere. It is a miracle to find one that is higher. Your society has raised the bar, to say the least."

His face gave me a grim expression.

"And that makes things very dangerous for everyone."

I was already expecting this when I first appeared in this world. It was why I was willing to just sail away in my magic submarine and become a pirate of the fun variety. To be honest, there were times I wished I didn't decide to go "Empire Builder" and just keep developing as I went, having adventures with increasingly mind boggling technology.

Shifts-with-Breeze, Emma, and now Ariel, are all bad influences on me.

Breeze wants to fix and repair everything which now includes maybe the state of the world, Emma wants to help me achieve everything while keeping me safe and survive as best as she can, and Ariel has more or less considered me a saint of the Omnissiah for what I have accomplished thus far and wants me to take this world and create an Imperium of my own.

My own biosynths, who are also people now, also have been speaking their minds and want to unite the surface world under my banner. By word, or by force. It was getting harder to resist the pressure now.

It's only because of my new perk of Hive Engineer, that I was able to multi-task everything and not go nuts. Especially since with the other new perk, Capsule Calamity, now allowed me to store entire fleets of vehicles, equipment, resources, and supplies inside capsules from DragonBall. Massive fleets of ships to transport goods were no longer required, unless the cargo is people.

Transporting resources is now insanely easy with the Quantum Storage system, as you no longer needed to insert the materials into the device, just put them into a cargo bed, shrink the bed down into a capsule, and put that into the Quantum Storage. The habitats that had been started and expected to be complete by the end of the month were done now. Newly made Biosynths for those places were being created as Precentor Nyung and I were speaking.

Breeze had been working on the Architect ships at that landing port, but they were almost as advanced as Forerunner technology. Given that Breeze was capable of working on devices more advanced is the only reason they made headway at all. In fact, they were considering creating a new huragok to help speed things along. I told Breeze not to unless they want to have a family. Don't make something just to make work easier.

It took them off guard, as repairing things was in their nature to do as making a nice, safe place to live was in a human's nature. The choice to make a new huragok was based on that natural inclination and I had essentially denied it based on human sentiment. After a bit of discussion, we put it on pause and decided we would give it a full talk at a later time. It wasn't a race.

Breeze reluctantly agreed, and I felt bad for denying him the desire to create another. I just didn't want him making one for the sake of work…but then maybe I was wrong because he didn't see it as work, but as fulfilling his natural instinct.

I was pulled my thoughts when I felt a star fall. I felt panic when the forge grabbed it.

-Chromosome Analysis Specialist (Biomega) (100CP)
Well, the job description said training would be provided - and sure enough, they provided you with all of the reading material you needed to figure out what you were actually supposed to do now that you're here. The researchers at the Data Recovery Foundation have been put to task into deciphering the secret behind the immortal cells, that mysterious 24th chromosome. From all of the information that has been compiled, you've acquired a better picture of what the DRF is planning - but as well, your ability to break down genetic information and just large chunks of information in general have improved. Heck, reading that 42 volume tome had to be worth something right?

The knowledge comes to me without pain and I felt relief it wasn't anything tangible. That will make mastering FEV and anything biological easier to do, but for now, I move away from that and back to the present moment.

I had a feeling I knew what speech he was about to give, so I will just show I am on the same wavelength.

"I agree. While I do not possess a full, up-to-date picture of the situation across the Inner Sphere, I am aware enough to know what will come of the greater part of humanity knowing of our existence. Specifically, our technology. Given what the House Lords of the Inner Sphere were willing to do during the first and second succession wars for a throne, I can easily imagine what they would do for technology that would hand it all to them with a push of the button."

I can sense relief in the Precentor as he nodded.

"That was what the First Circuit was so concerned about. They have a great responsibility to oversee the communications between the houses, and all planetary governments across the Inner Sphere. I will fully admit we do our best to pressure them to keep the peace as best as we are able, and to keep the status quo, lest the Inner Sphere once more falls prey to the destruction wrought by the first two Succession Wars."

"And given my nations technology, the means to fabricate mechs, entire vessels, provided one has the materials and designs in the database, we would see military buildups surpassing anything seen before, more than even the SLDF had ever achieved. And this is but one facet my nations Fabrication technology would enable the Houses to achieve."

Precentor Nyung smacked the arm of his chair with an open hand.

"Thank Blake! You have no idea how good it is to hear someone of your station realize the consequences." He said with sincerity. Given the fiefdoms he had been dealing with, I am not surprised people are so short sighted. That's the ecosystem of this world…then again, that can be said for the entire Inner Sphere.

I nodded. "I had given it a lot of thought. Not just for this world, but for the Inner Sphere at large. It would be easy to be nice and just share the technology I possess. Selling it to those who want it. Only for it to be used to repair Battlemechs, and Aerospace fighters, and Dropships….hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the House Lords have a Warship or two lying around just waiting for an army of techs with repair tools to go over them. Or worse, a ship yard that had been out of commission for who knows how long. Age of War, act two."

My words made the Precentor go pale at the thought, his mind going through the same images my own had. The idea of warships being repaired within a week, and then used. It would be a nightmare for the worlds who couldn't defend themselves. How many worlds would burn like Helm had because one guy with command got pissy at the resistance of his invasion?

I saw Nyung's troubled thoughts like they were visible to the naked eye, and I decided to calm him.

"It is fortunate that will never happen."

He paused and looked at me. "What do you mean?"

"If you recall what I said down in the garage to your technicians when they asked how the tool functioned, I had said, the nanomachines can only repair what they are programed to know."

I shook my head. "I have no plans to put warship data inside those tools. The only such tools with such data, are the ones for my military to repair my submarines, and those are not the same as the civilian ones. The one you had before, plus the new ones, are the military models, which only occurred since you have Battlemechs and because I know you wouldn't use those war machines as the other lords would."

That last part is bullshit, given all of their actions to keep things in the Sphere as they are, but he didn't need to know that.

Nyung smiled and nodded. "I and by extension the First Circuit are grateful to hear that."

I coked my head with a grin. "…You hadn't considered warships until I said it, did you?"

His smile became a little brittle, but he sighed and nodded. "Not until you said it. No."

"Well, rest assured, if Subnautica becomes a greater part of the universe, we have no intention of letting the Houses get their hands on our technology. Even if it would be a good thing to ease the needs of the people across the sphere with what we can accomplish, not doing that is ultimately the safer thing to do. In fact, and I know I keep saying it, but it is for The Greater Good to prevent this from occurring, lest mankind begins setting the flames of extinction up once more."

The words had the effect as Nyung sighed in deep relief.

"I am so glad you understand what it was I was asked to convey. It appears you already understood before we even had to ask."

I nodded. Of course Comstar doesn't want my technology to get out there. I agree with them on this, ironically, as we agree on many things in regards to the consequences. It's the other things they are doing I am opposed to.

That all said, I know what their game is now. They want me to keep it under wraps, but not going out into the Inner Sphere. I agree with this, save I will not be staying on this world indefinitely. I just have no intention of going into the Sphere. Not when there's so much free real estate into the periphery.

I sighed and put on my grim face. It wasn't hard to do when I felt another star fall. The forge reached out, and missed. I kept my expression the same despite the relief I actually felt.

"There is the issue of the Houses learning about it anyways."

Nyung had nodded, and appeared unconcerned. So, I was right. They were planning on keeping me under wraps and in their court until they could handle me somehow.

"Something the First Circuit was gravely concerned about. We foresee the most likely source of discovery from merchants in the Federated Suns. We can prevent your existence from getting off world via HPG, however…"

I shook my head. "They of course would hear about the Kingdom of Subnautica by word of mouth. You do realize that hiding us from sight is nearly impossible though?"

His face took on a different expression. He looked pained, but I can see frustration in his eyes. Like I was hitting something he knew would not go his way. Sorry my friend, but going back down into the water is no longer an option.

I took on a contemplative look.
"I do have a few ideas on how to handle that actually, plus one other thing."

Nyung sighed, before leaning back in his chair. "What did you have in mind?"

I held out m hand, with the index finger extended.

"The first is we just build a damn wall around the territory I claimed as my own. Perhaps the same for the Emeri Empire and the Fields Fiefdom."

Nyung blinked. "Fields Fiefdom?"

I looked at him. "Perhaps you are not aware. Carson emery, and Devlin Fields are childhood friends. So, Carson made him aware of our alliance, and wanted in on it. I met with the man to judge him, and found him to be sincere. So, our alliance is now us three."

Though he didn't really show it, this new came as an unpleasant surprise for the good Precentor.

"If I may ask, what is he receiving from this alliance? Or you for that matter?"

"For him, an upgrade, and uplift to his society. Schools, hospitals, roads, power, better housing, the works. No new military technology except a Subnautican mech exclusively for him, and repairing his military equipment."

He grimaced slightly, unable to keep it in.

"For me, I get access to his food exports, land for which my people can wander and live if they wish, and he is forced to obey my military doctrine."

Nyung blinked at that.

"Your doctrine?"

"To put it simply, we don't start fights, but we finish them. Otherwise, you do you, and I do me. Do not make me come over to you. We are not expansionist by military means, but I am open to allowing others to join the alliance, provided, and pardon my language, that you aren't a complete asshole."

Nyung nodded, as it was very basic, but spelled out how we operate.

"Getting back to the idea, we basically put a giant wall around our territories and only allow certain people in in certain areas for trade and the like. It's isolationist in my opinion, but it would keep out the people we don't want."

Nyung nodded. "There is merit to the idea."

I held out two fingers.

"Second, we, and I mean we as in my alliance members, myself, and you, expand the Alliance until the entire world is under it. This is done by pulling an Ian Cameron when he first made the Star League."

Nyung's eyes widened in shock at my audacity.

"That is very bold of you."

"The part where I have to play a typical Lord to keep the rest of the Inner Sphere safe, or the fact I am trying to convince you to join in on the conspiracy to make it happen?" I ask with a dry tone.

"Both, but mostly the second."

I shrugged. "Lord Ian Cameron convinced Captain-General Albert Marik to unify the Inner Sphere despite being in opposition to one another by sharing in the hobby of miniatures. I don't see why we cannot do so by our shared belief in the Greater Good of keeping humanity safe from itself."

He looked conflicted, until I said the thing, now he appears to be contemplating the idea more realistically.

I waved it off. "That is just my second idea. My third idea is…in my opinion, bolder but in a different way."

He shook himself out of his thoughts of a united Novo Franklin and looked to me. "How so?"

"We have advanced technology, yes…but you must remember we had to work to get to this point. Everything we had ever developed is still in our database. So, the Inner Sphere hears about some kingdom with advanced technology. When they come to check, they find a kingdom willing to sell things…that are only marginally better than what they already have. Maybe near equal to the Star League. The Magistracy of Canopus is considered the location to go for medical tourism. Why not this place for…tech tourism?

Nyung didn't like the idea, but at the same time, he was nodding.

"That could work, and if combined with the wall idea, you would have a measure of protection. Not to mention where your kingdom's true location is, but that would open the door for people to come invading as well."

I nodded. "That is the issue with it. Just as wars would erupt from the more hostile kingdoms with the second idea, and isolation would come from the first."

I shrugged. "I'm sorry friend, but we cannot just disappear beneath the waves again. It was going to happen sooner or later, might as well deal with it now."

Nyung rubbed his forehead in frustration, but he also nodded after a moment.

"There are times I wished you never appeared, but that bridge is gone now." He admitted, before realizing what he had said.

I smiled. "I knew it!" I point at him. He looked panicked until I laughed, and then he looked irritated before he started laughing a bit too. After it died off, I continued, showing four fingers.

I felt another star fall, and paused for a moment as if in deep thought, but actually in dread.

-Blessing of Dundr (The Banner Saga) (400CP)
You received the blessing of Dundr as he left the world, and received the boon of the god of smithing and knowledge. You gain godly talent in learning how to smith and can weave stories that capture and entertain people on equal footing of the greatest bards.

I blinked, and grinned a bit, before continuing.

"Lastly, we do all three ideas. We close off areas into zones, for protection and control. We bring the nations and concerns of this world under the umbrella of an alliance, which becomes the primary nation of this world, and when people come calling, they get only the stuff we give them and we keep all the cool toys for ourselves."

Nyung gives me a lidded look, and crosses his arms.

"This is getting above my paygrade now."

I could tell I was pushing it now, so I pulled my hand back and nodded.

"I understand. This is my most extreme of ideas. Though…I have a story to tell you if you would indulge me. It will illustrate my reasoning."

He raised an eyebrow and gestured for me to proceed.

Using all that I had, I began to weave a tale for him about an Earth leader of the past.

"In the heart of 19th-century Europe, Germany lay fragmented—a patchwork of kingdoms, duchies, and principalities, each with its own ruler, its own laws, and its own interests. Among them was Prussia, a kingdom determined to rise as the leading power, yet surrounded by the chaos of division. The man at the helm of this ambition was Otto von Bismarck, a man known for his sharp intellect and unwavering resolve."

"One crisp autumn day, Bismarck convened a secret meeting in his office, the air thick with tension. His closest advisors sat before him, their faces a mix of skepticism and curiosity. "Gentlemen," he began, "Germany stands at a precipice. Our disunity weakens us against external threats and internal strife. We must unite, not just for power, but for the very survival of our people."

"But the challenges were immense. The southern states were resistant, wary of Prussian dominance. The Austrians loomed nearby, eager to maintain their influence. Yet, Bismarck believed that with the right strategy, he could forge an empire out of the fractured lands."

"With a plan in mind, he initiated his first move by engineering a conflict with Austria. The Austrians had long been the dominant force in German affairs, and Bismarck recognized that they had to be sidelined. He whispered to the winds of war, fueling tensions over the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. As skirmishes erupted, he rallied the northern German states under the banner of Prussia, promising them strength and security."

"The war was swift, and within weeks, the Austrian forces were routed. The victory sent shockwaves through the German states, and in its wake, Bismarck established the North German Confederation. For the first time, many of these states were united under a single constitution, albeit with Prussia at the helm."

"Yet Bismarck knew that this was only the beginning. The southern states remained hesitant to join the Confederation. To sway them, he needed a common enemy—something to ignite their nationalism. He found it in France."

"The tension with France escalated, and Bismarck artfully crafted a diplomatic incident, provoking the French into declaring war. He positioned Prussia as the protector of the German people, calling upon the southern states to join the fight against a common foe. "This is our moment!" he proclaimed. "Stand with Prussia, and together we shall forge a new Germany!"

"As the war raged, the southern states rallied to the cause. The German people, who had long been divided, found common ground in their struggle against France. The heroic tales of battles fought and victories won echoed across the lands, binding the hearts of the people together."

"When the dust settled, the Franco-Prussian War ended in a decisive victory for the united German forces. The southern states, now fully invested in the unity forged through conflict, agreed to join the North German Confederation. On January 18, 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, Bismarck proclaimed the establishment of the German Empire, with the King of Prussia as its Emperor."

"However, the consequences of his actions were not lost on him. The new empire was born not just from unity, but from bloodshed and manipulation. The rivalries that had simmered for centuries would not simply vanish. France, humiliated, would seek vengeance. Internal dissent simmered among those who felt overshadowed by Prussia's dominance. Bismarck understood that while he had united Germany, he had also sown the seeds of future conflict."

"Reflecting on his journey, Bismarck sat alone in his study one evening, contemplating the path he had forged. He had achieved what many deemed impossible, yet the weight of his choices pressed heavily upon him. He had united a nation, yes, but at what cost? The greater good of a strong Germany came with the burden of leadership and the inevitable conflicts that would arise from the unification."

"In his heart, he knew that unity was essential, but it must be tempered with wisdom and diplomacy. As the Iron Chancellor, he resolved to navigate the turbulent waters of his newly formed empire, striving to maintain peace while preparing for the storms that lay ahead."

I finished my short story, and the Precentor listened intently.

I leaned forward as I finished, and presented my point.

"Just as Bismarck recognized the dangers of division in his time," I began, "I see the looming shadow of the Inner Sphere. While it isn't the solution we want to face, the forces of the Inner sphere are great enough to turn this world to fire, and take Subnautica's technology for its own. A united front would prevent this."

The Precentor's brow furrowed, skepticism clear in his eyes. "And why should Comstar support your vision? Our aim is to see peace maintained. Your idea here would bring war sooner than later."

I nodded, anticipating his reluctance. "I understand your concerns. But think of this: Bismarck united the German states to stand against Austria and France as they would make war sooner or later regardless. Similarly, unless Subnautica disappears entirely, the Inner sphere will come sooner or later regardless. We must come together to face the Inner Sphere. Alone, we will fall; together, we can leverage our unity against theirs."

I felt a star fall once more, only for it to miss.

"Consider this unity as a means to strengthen Comstar's position. If we create a formidable alliance, we can dictate the terms of our existence rather than being at the mercy of the Inner Sphere's ambitions."

I spoke, intentionally placing a sense of urgency in my voice. "Bismarck acted swiftly when the opportunity arose, and I must do the same. We cannot wait for the Inner Sphere to make their move. The longer we delay unification, the more vulnerable we become. This is not merely about my ambition; it's about ensuring that Comstar remains a key player in a changing landscape."

I paused, gauging Nyung's reaction. He had hesitancy in his eyes, but at the same time I could see the gears turning.

"In Bismarck's time, division led to weakness, and I fear the same fate if we remain complacent. The Inner Sphere is not a distant threat; it is a reality we must prepare for. But if we work together, Comstar can position itself as a leading voice in the alliance, rather than just another outsider faction vying for power."

That caught Nyungs attention. Yes, take the bait I set. It will give you access to the Alliance, and in turn, to us. Comstar would have something no other house would have, and I would have a path to turning your organization. I just needed to push it a bit more.

With conviction in my tone, I continued, "Bismarck envisioned a strong Germany not just for himself, but for future generations. I seek the same—an alliance that can stand against the forces of the Inner Sphere, ensuring not only our survival but also to show the power a people can have if they put aside the drive for power and seek unity for The Greater Good. Just as the Star League had."

That clinched it. Something in the Precentor shifted, and it was as if he saw another world. He was lost in it. It took a solid minute for the man to come out of it, staring me in the eyes.

"…This is crazy…but it just might work." Precentor Nyung stated.

I leaned back in the chair, clasping my hands on my chest.

"All things like this are, until they happen. Those who come after then decide whether it was or not."

Nyung rubbed his face.

"Alright. Maybe this is the only way, as much as I want to not believe it. This goes against everything I believe in. What Comstar stands for."

I pursed my lips. "Well, you can tell the First circuit of this idea, and see what they think about it. Depending on their answer, I might actually agree with them, like I did about keeping my technology out of the hands of the Great Houses."

Nyung thought about it before nodding. "That would be the best thing to do." He said with a small amount of relief in his tone.

I nodded back. "We'll see what happens." I said as I looked at the time.

"It appears I must get going. Think on what I have said."

With that, we exchanged goodbyes and I left for Subnautica.

I leaned back in my seat. I mor or less showed my current set of cards to Comstar now…but I think they will be receptive to it. The benefits of having access to the advanced technology would be enough to move them into action. Whether that works to my advantage or not…That's future me's problem.

===

Capital Habitat, Deep Kingdom of Subnautica, Leviathan's Trench
Novo Franklin, Periphery Space
January 15th, 2981 AD

I walked back into the Lab tiredly, but happy to be home. I paused as a Servo-bot appeared. It looked like a flying head, save that it had a featureless faceplate with multiple optics. The Servo-Bot was the new devices Ariel made once she realized flying skulls made people nervous.

"Welcome back!" Ariel's voice sounded from above me.

Glancing up, I saw the woman hanging from the ceiling by her mechadendrites, wearing Subnautican styled attire. It was an Admech styled robe, but all white and gold, and unlike before where she wore nothing underneath, she wore a diving suit suited for her. It really hid nothing, and more than a few male Biosynths stared at her form when she wasn't looking.

"Got new stuff."

In a flash she was down to the ground and in front of me.

"New abilities!? Share!" she squealed.

"I got another from Biomega where I can now decipher genetic work, and know about the immortality they had now. Plus…storytelling and godly smithing skills."

"ooooh"

I glanced over to Emma who was working on something, and our eyes mt. She smiled until she saw how close Ariel was to me, and jealousy took smile away.

"Well, let's have a small meeting. I need to tell you how it went at the HPG."

With them both there, I explained all the things I scanned. Emma was pleased and Ariel did a happy dance at having a new toy to play with. HPGs interested her greatly she wanted to crack that egg right open. Then I filled them in on Comstar's request, and my own thoughts, and my choice.

Emma wasn't too happy at being controlled in any manner, but agreed with Ariel when she pointed out that my agreeableness would buy time to work against them. Which was my plan in a nutshell.

Then I filled them in on my idea about uniting the world under Subnautica like the Star League of old, and how I used a story to convince the Precentor to at least consider it.

"Well, it's a start. I would prefer you just do like the Emperor and do things by force."

I shrugged. "It may very well come to that depending on how hostile some of the kingdoms are. If we get Comstar to back us, then our actions would have an air of legitimacy. Nothing gets people to think like realizing that the big shots think this guy is worth backing over you."

Looking at Ariel. "Besides, the Emperor didn't always do things by force. Mars exists afterall."

She snorted. "That was different. He needed us, and couldn't take us without destroying everything in the process. These people have nothing to offer you besides land."

I nodded. "Which is the start we need. While I have laid claim to the other continents already, they aren't aware of it, and I will use our technology, which allows them to live in these places, as a carrot to entice them. The stick comes from the dumbasses who fight me regardless."

From there, we began to plan out who we would approach based on the reports from the Abyssal's I had sent into the nations. Time is on our side, and we don't need Comstar, but if I want to win, I have to play the game.


Author's Note

Winter Prep has been kicking my ass, especially yesterday. Thank you Ibuprofen.

Chapter 15 is on its way, and will be on Patreon today or tomorrow.
 
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GundamChief said:
"Well, it's a start. I would prefer you just do like the Emperor and do things by force."

I shrugged. "It may very well come to that depending on how hostile some of the kingdoms are. If we get Comstar to back us, then our actions would have an air of legitimacy. Nothing gets people to think like realizing that the big shots think this guy is worth backing over you."

Looking at Ariel. "Besides, the Emperor didn't always do things by force. Mars exists afterall."
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Like wasnt Mars Treaty of Olympus just the most extreme compromise Big E did? Ultraman also remained pretty much an Empire inside of wider Imperium to canon times?

Plenty of worlds joined on their own or by just slight diplomatic effort during GC.

Like werent Thousands Sons and Magnus kinda ridiculed over it as they prefered talkimg over 'honest/honorable' battles?
GundamChief said:
I nodded. "I had given it a lot of thought. Not just for this world, but for the Inner Sphere at large. It would be easy to be nice and just share the technology I possess. Selling it to those who want it.
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I dont know why you say sharing or selling tech would easy? I think hoarding it would be much easier as wider IS lack things he needs to trade for that tech.
GundamChief said:
"Just as Bismarck recognized the dangers of division in his time," I began, "I see the looming shadow of the Inner Sphere. While it isn't the solution we want to face, the forces of the Inner sphere are great enough to turn this world to fire, and take Subnautica's technology for its own. A united front would prevent this."
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Arent both him and Comstar fully aware that nobody in IS actualy have any means to reach Subnautica?

Nevermind conquer/loot it?

So is with trying to destroy it.
GundamChief said:
Breeze had been working on the Architect ships at that landing port, but they were almost as advanced as Forerunner technology. Given that Breeze was capable of working on devices more advanced is the only reason they made headway at all. In fact, they were considering creating a new huragok to help speed things along. I told Breeze not to unless they want to have a family. Don't make something just to make work easier.

It took them off guard, as repairing things was in their nature to do as making a nice, safe place to live was in a human's nature. The choice to make a new huragok was based on that natural inclination and I had essentially denied it based on human sentiment. After a bit of discussion, we put it on pause and decided we would give it a full talk at a later time. It wasn't a race.

Breeze reluctantly agreed, and I felt bad for denying him the desire to create another. I just didn't want him making one for the sake of work…but then maybe I was wrong because he didn't see it as work, but as fulfilling his natural instinct.
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One thing that realy irks me is that you realy anthropnise Breeze when its an engineered species to take care of Forerunner tech.

I dont think it actualy had such deep and emotional personalities in canon?

Like they had basic emotions but they didnt had any higher needs/wants/desires but taking care of tech and so not being killed/making sure theres enought of them around to do job?
 
Thank you for the chapter!

Ultra55 said:
Welp, idk what Battletech is other than a quick google search saying it's 'Space Game of Thrones without the supernatural and instead giant mechs' but this'll be my intro fic. If I find it fun enough I'll prob binge Battletech fics, despite knowing nothing of the original, just like I did for Worm and RWBY lol
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I've got hooked onto the idea indeed, and will likely be starting to read Battletech fics now. Thank you : D
 
Ultra55 said:
I've got hooked onto the idea indeed, and will likely be starting to read Battletech fics now. Thank you : D
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I'm glad to have help!

There are several authors about that do more canonically minded stories than myself. A good many of them are far better writers than myself.

Most of them are on SpaceBattles. Right now there is a B5/BT crossover named "A Greater Game" that is written by Lightning Count, who is an excellent Author.

There's many other stories in this link. It hasn't been updated in awhile, and I might just create one myself for the sake of having them all in one place.

As a recommendation though, read This fic. It's a hilarious take on what I'm doing, which I wished I had thought of before.
 
Really liking the strategy of subverting the phone company. It's not one often seen, and it'll absolutely work here.

Mostly because nearly everyone in it below the First Circuit is ludicrously susceptible to 'The Greater Good' conditioning, meaning eventually the people in charge will have to follow his lead by default lest the minions and acolytes all just resign en masse or riot or something.
 
i5ljxdqnhdd41.jpg
 
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GundamChief said:
I'm glad to have help!

There are several authors about that do more canonically minded stories than myself. A good many of them are far better writers than myself.

Most of them are on SpaceBattles. Right now there is a B5/BT crossover named "A Greater Game" that is written by Lightning Count, who is an excellent Author.

There's many other stories in this link. It hasn't been updated in awhile, and I might just create one myself for the sake of having them all in one place.

As a recommendation though, read This fic. It's a hilarious take on what I'm doing, which I wished I had thought of before.
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Oooh thank you for the recs! I'll check them out soon. I've seen tycoon system in some places when browsing chinese novels but never actually read a fic with one before
 
Update: Winter Preparation

As you may have noticed, writing and posting of chapters had slown down.

This is a result of a few things. Firstly, it is now officially winter in Alaska. Yay (sarcasm).

Normally I would only have to take care of my own needs, but this year, my father is going down to Florida to work at a branch of his job, and fix up what will become his and my mother's retirement home. It's a nice place, been taking care of it myself for over ten years on a regular winter care trip.

But this upcoming year my mother and father are retiring, and that means things are going to change for them. One of which is basically shifting to winter birding. With myself being the only person about who can help them, and already living close by, this means I'm going to pick up the slack in a few ways.

This year however kicked my father's ass, and wasn't able to take care of things like he wanted to. Like wood for the fire, which I will be helping with for my mother while he's gone down there.

We have wood on the ground, so it's a matter of cutting, splitting, and stacking it.

Problem is that it takes 10+ chords of wood to get though the winter, and we have two weeks before he goes down there.

While my mother is able to take care of herself, she's not that able.

So for the next two or so weeks, I will be taking a break from posting chapters because I've got only so many hours in the day to spend on it.

I'll try and get some writing in, but for the next few weeks, it will be radio silent.

I appreciate your understanding. I will try to do some writing, but it will not be fast, nor a focus.

That said, Happy Halloween.
 
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