Starborn Smith [Massive Scifi MultiFusion / Celestial Forge]

[Vanbers]

Hmm seems like a very one sided trade, he is trading all his tech and future knowledge for bargain basement prices.

For what mc has given the only real equal trade would be the entire tech base of Asgard and probably even that is not enough.

Fun moment at the end of the chapter tough, poor Ra lol.

Click to shrink...

It's only one-sided when you don't realise that the Asgard are literally the top affixed to a jar holding all of the eldritch horrors from beyond the stars at bay.

The Ancients might do some things to nudge things into place to protect people, but it's the Asgard that are boots on the ground kicking Tyranid's teeth in, and holding off the Goa'uld.

It's also a show of good faith and good will that will cause the Asgard to view them IMMENSELY favorably.

Like, I mean if I lived in a universe where Tyranids, Replicators, and the Ori all existed, and I knew the Asgard were active and trying to fight them, you bet your ass I'd hand them literally everything I have in the hopes of getting all those things either dead or contained.

Hell, if he solves that dying problem the Asgard have, they'd be LUDICROUSLY good allies to have. The Asgard are cool, man.

 

[Trek]

Look at it this way the MC is a person from our time. He is not a strategic genius, but he knows he's in a galaxy with lots of problems.He knows parts of what's going on, which gives him a unique view on all the threats that he knows are out there. The only option which makes sense is to seek out allies which means sharing what he knows. It's all a matter of perspective, but survival trumps everything including the possible risks of his information getting out. Plus, it's not like the information will not be secured in someway.

Click to shrink...

Giving reasonable info and giving all your metaknowledge advantages and tech are two very very different things.

It's only one-sided when you don't realise that the Asgard are literally the top affixed to a jar holding all of the eldritch horrors from beyond the stars at bay.

The Ancients might do some things to nudge things into place to protect people, but it's the Asgard that are boots on the ground kicking Tyranid's teeth in, and holding off the Goa'uld.

It's also a show of good faith and good will that will cause the Asgard to view them IMMENSELY favorably.

Like, I mean if I lived in a universe where Tyranids, Replicators, and the Ori all existed, and I knew the Asgard were active and trying to fight them, you bet your ass I'd hand them literally everything I have in the hopes of getting all those things either dead or contained.

Hell, if he solves that dying problem the Asgard have, they'd be LUDICROUSLY good allies to have. The Asgard are cool, man.

Click to shrink...

There is something called proportionality, they would already view them very favorably if he gave them limited but critical info.

There also the issue of the time scale, if you want to make rock solid allies you slowly build up trust you dont just dump your entire value in one encounter with nothing gained in return, that only makes you look like a chump who does not understand the value of what you own.

You dont just live in a universe in which Tyranids, Replicators, and the Ori, you live in a universe where you have the future knowledge on a bunch of treasures and key events you can pry and benefit from with a OP long term cheat power.

 

[Vanbers]

There is something called proportionality, they would already view them very favorably if he gave them limited but critical info.

There also the issue of the time scale, if you want to make rock solid allies you slowly build up trust you dont just dump your entire value in one encounter with nothing gained in return, that only makes you look like a chump who does not understand the value of what you own.

You dont just live in a universe in which Tyranids, Replicators, and the Ori, you live in a universe where you have the future knowledge on a bunch of treasures and key events you can pry and benefit from with a OP long term cheat power.

Click to shrink...

He already has the Celestial Forge.

Having the Asgard aware and active against universe-ending threats is absurdly more useful than whatever scraps of technology he could potentially scavenge from half-remembered details of the series that he wouldn't even fully remember in the first place without the Asgard's tech bolstering his memories and saving them to be viewed later.

You're so hyperfocused on whatever esoteric potential lore bit that would make him vaguely stronger you forget that none of that matters if he dies. And him dying increases exponentially if the Asgard aren't going around stomping shit and distracting Ra.

 

[Trek]

He already has the Celestial Forge.

Having the Asgard aware and active against universe-ending threats is absurdly more useful than whatever scraps of technology he could potentially scavenge from half-remembered details of the series that he wouldn't even fully remember in the first place without the Asgard's tech bolstering his memories and saving them to be viewed later.

You're so hyperfocused on whatever esoteric potential lore bit that would make him vaguely stronger you forget that none of that matters if he dies. And him dying increases exponentially if the Asgard aren't going around stomping shit and distracting Ra.

Click to shrink...

Its difficult to weight the potentials like that as this world is a mishmash so there are plenty of opportunities you can get with foreknowledge that may be even stronger than Asgard. For example stellaris relics, The Destiny database, etc etc.

If you actually watch any series with a mindset of looking for opportunities you find time and time again so many things that are awesome that are never seen again or destroyed for plot reasons. But if you intercept them at the right time they can be game changing.

His perk gains are slow enough that he actually has to consider his other advantages one of which is foreknowledge. Foreknowledge can give him faster and maybe even better gains seeing as CF is random in its nature.

All that is moot now as he has spread around his future knowledge so much and reduced its value by giving other factions those opportunities instead of taking them himself.

Not to mention he could have shared info about key threats rather than just dumping the entire future knowledge and his tech base.

 

[BlazingHyperion]

Hmm seems like a very one sided trade, he is trading all his tech and future knowledge for bargain basement prices.

For what mc has given the only real equal trade would be the entire tech base of Asgard and probably even that is not enough.

Fun moment at the end of the chapter tough, poor Ra lol.

Click to shrink...

It very much is one sided, but the possibility of actually getting much of that technology, rather than it just sitting in the recesses of Arthur's brain is pretty worth it.

Without the help of the Asgard, they'd never have a chance to get most of that stuff to begin with. Sure, Arthur knows the broad strokes, but there are a lot of opportunities that can be missed when you only have access to the broad strokes.

It seems that way until one notices Thor saying they're holding back the Tyranids.

Click to shrink...

Yup. That about covers it. Or they will be in the near future.

I am not even sure why mc wants copies of these memories it seems way to dangerous and risky to have these things outside of his skull.

Click to shrink...

As stated above, he knew the broad strokes of most plot lines but not the specifics. He knew that Cimmeria has the Hall of Thor's might and that Atlantis exists, but not the specific gate address or even whats inside the halls.

The details can be the important pieces of information, and he doesn't know a LOT of them.

As far as he is aware, the Asgard are the best possible group to have that information.

Look at it this way the MC is a person from our time. He is not a strategic genius, but he knows he's in a galaxy with lots of problems.He knows parts of what's going on, which gives him a unique view on all the threats that he knows are out there. The only option which makes sense is to seek out allies which means sharing what he knows. It's all a matter of perspective, but survival trumps everything including the possible risks of his information getting out. Plus, it's not like the information will not be secured in someway.

Click to shrink...

Exactly. The information is secure while in Asgard hands. The information being in his head is meaningless if they can't actually use it. Using it to make allies with the Asgard i

It's only one-sided when you don't realise that the Asgard are literally the top affixed to a jar holding all of the eldritch horrors from beyond the stars at bay.

The Ancients might do some things to nudge things into place to protect people, but it's the Asgard that are boots on the ground kicking Tyranid's teeth in, and holding off the Goa'uld.

It's also a show of good faith and good will that will cause the Asgard to view them IMMENSELY favorably.

Like, I mean if I lived in a universe where Tyranids, Replicators, and the Ori all existed, and I knew the Asgard were active and trying to fight them, you bet your ass I'd hand them literally everything I have in the hopes of getting all those things either dead or contained.

Hell, if he solves that dying problem the Asgard have, they'd be LUDICROUSLY good allies to have. The Asgard are cool, man.

Click to shrink...

Very much agreed.

Though I would have spent more time getting to know them, which is why the Asgard basically just shower up.

- - -
The main reason he shared knowledge with the asgard is that:
a) they have tech for memory transfer, so he can actually get copies of all his meta knowledge. As stated, he knows the broadstrokes and without some sort of memory transfer tech, thats all he has.

b) the Asgard are pretty trustworthy, as far as Arthur knows.

 

[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.

Thor was silent for a moment. I gestured for him to continue his previous thought. "A fleet was dispatched to retrieve the Dakara Device immediately upon identifying its location. It took five hours to reach Dakara and retrieve the facility… Ra was not pleased."

I stared blankly at Thor. He refused to elaborate further and instead changed the subject. "We have also chosen to share several other pieces of information. We have recreated the SGC Coordinate Algorithm that was created by Samantha Carter."

He was silent for a moment. "We have also recreated all the… games that you showed in your memories."

I blinked. That was a piece of pleasant news. We would have a lot of fresh entertainment for people to relax with at least. It wasn't particularly useful, but it was a nice gesture. I nodded. "Thank you."

Arriston smiled and nodded. "That is most gracious of you, though I am sorry to say we were hoping for more than that."

Thor answered immediately this time. "We do not have the ships to spare, and we would be breaking the word of the Protected Planets Treaty."

The president raised an eyebrow. "Then what about aid in moving our remaining population from my homeworld?"

Thor lightly shook his head. "The World of Dendred is not in immediate danger."

He was silent for several moments. "I must leave. I am needed to lead our forces against the Replicators."

Arriston nodded. "Well, thank you for your help. You've provided us with a lot."

With a bright flash, Thor was gone. In orbit, the three Asgard Bilskirnir-class vessels all departed.

The Asgard had provided copies of all the meta-knowledge we could ever need. Everyone agreed it was imperative that the information be spread among the higher-ups. Naturally, for the next several months at least, there would be a movie night.

Of course, there would be people looking over every piece of information with a fine-toothed comb as well, but knowing the original material was rather important.

From there, everything returned to normal. I got back to work on the reactor, and now that I could show people the actual blueprints I was basing my own designs on, work moved a lot faster.

Altogether, the project was coming to a close. It looked like it would be a little less than three weeks before we finished the complete design.

First Perk Activated. Complete Blueprint Acquired: Asgard Data Stone. Storage Matrix, Addressing System, External Interface

First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Asgard Long Range Communication Stone. Subspace Transmitter

- - -
POV: Egeria, 13 Days Later.

I once more stepped through the Stargate and stood before Per'sus. With me this time were Michael Dresden and the rest of the ST01 team. They were considered to be the best of the RoK search teams, and considering the fact that they had contacted the Asgard, I didn't doubt it.

I smiled as we all moved ourselves out of the way of the Stargate as the dialing sequence began once more. "Per'sus. This is Michael Dresden. He is the representative of the Republic of Kaelastrum. He and his team will be my guards for this meeting."

Pre'sus nodded to Michael. "A pleasure." Before he turned back to me. "The Council members are waiting for us. Among them, the only one who is not one of your children is Garshaw of Belote. They do not know who you are."

I nodded to him, and the final chevron engaged. With a whoosh, the gate engaged, and I stepped through the Stargate. I could immediately feel the six Tok'ra standing before me. Just as Per'sus had stated, only one of them was not my child.

I looked at Per'sus and nodded. He seemed to smile lightly, and he spoke as the Stargate disconnected behind us. "It is my honor to introduce Egeria."

For several seconds, the Tok'ra just stared up at me blankly. An older lady with white hair stepped forward. She was hesitant, but she spoke‌. "My Queen?"

I smiled. "Yes, Selmak. It has been far too long for both of us."

The older woman nearly stumbled at my words. She seemed entirely too shocked even to speak. I turned my attention to the one among them who was not my child. Garshaw of Belote, perhaps the single most hunted Goa'uld – former Goa'uld – of all time.

I smiled and reached forward with my hand. "It is an honor to meet someone who has turned away from the Goa'uld of their own accord."

She gently took my hand and shook it in return. "I must say, I am rather surprised to find one such as yourself among the living."

I nodded. "Yes. I doubt you believe I am who I say I am; all will be answered soon, though perhaps it is best if we go somewhere private?" I turned to Per'sus, who nodded.

Per'sus quickly guided me to a room that had been prepared for our meeting, and I began explaining what had happened to me. From discovering Ra's little secret, to being thrown into a stasis jar, and then reawakened.

Selmak let out a deep sigh. "You should not have returned, my queen… It is not safe for you to be here."

I smiled and nodded. "I am aware, and I will aid you in removing the moles who have infiltrated the Tok'ra."

Per'sus smiled and took over for me. "What I tell you now does not leave this room. This is likely the greatest secret of the Goa'uld Queens. When Tawaret was named the Queen of the First Goa'uld Empire, she wished for a way to distinguish her own kin from those of other Queens. She could not modify herself, but she altered her heirs so that they would be capable of distinguishing their own children."

I continued from him. "Nearly all queens alive can sense the presence of their own young."

Per'sus nodded. "Egeria will be confirming that all of her children are who they say they are."

Garshaw raised an eyebrow. "And how do we know you are indeed Egeria?"

Per'sus turned to her with a blank look. "She is who she claims to be."

Garshaw looked back with a raised eyebrow. They stared at each other for a few long moments before she finally just nodded. "I understand."

From there, I began. There were several hundred Tok'ra on base, though apparently this was barely 5% of the Tok'ra still active. There were several thousand more Tok'ra still alive and working in the courts of the various System Lords, and in various other hidden facilities.

It was decided that Garshaw would be the one to show me around, so, for three hours, I walked around the facility. I would spend that time examining each of the Tok'ra in the facility, and I would inform Garshaw of whether one of them was my child. I was surprised by how many I recognized, and how many I didn't.

I was quite impressed with how much they had advanced the crystal tunnel boring technology. It allowed the Tok'ra to build a fortress within days. The structure itself wasn't particularly sturdy, but it could be deconstructed in the same time it took to construct.

As I completed checking the last of the Tok'ra, I spoke to Garshaw. "How many infiltrators were there?"

She smiled bitterly. "Of those who were supposed to be your children, four were not."

I winced. That was far fewer than I had been expecting, but far more than I had been hoping for. Garshaw continued. "We will interrogate them."

I smiled bitterly and nodded. "Tell me, Garshaw, how many of my children do you think have turned against the Tok'ra?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I doubt that any of them would. Ra orders ‌all Tok'ra to be killed on sight. Even those who turn against us. It has been rather… effective at preventing traitors from appearing within our own ranks. I believe only four ever truly chose to truly abandon the Tok'ra."

I let out a hollow smile. "Yes, I suppose that is one piece of good news."

The four suspected infiltrators were all taken aside. A Goa'uld can access the memories of a host, and a host can often recall the memories of a previous symbiote, but for a Goa'uld to access the memories of a previous symbiote through the host is an incredibly arduous task. Copying the mannerisms and speech patterns of a former Goa'uld is easy, but old memories get scrambled and difficult to access.

This is in stark contrast to the original symbiote who, because of its genetic memory, should be capable of perfectly accessing all of its memories.

This led to a relatively simple way of identifying infiltrators. Begin asking them about old missions – when they were in another host – and see how much of it they can remember. Generally, one or two mistakes are understandable, but more than that and the likelihood of an infiltration becomes non-zero. Of course, this sort of process is not quick, and it requires detailed information about prior missions.

The entire questioning process would take at least three days. Of course, since the obvious infiltrators had been identified, it was time to explain what was actually going on. So, as all the Tok'ra on base were gathered, Per'sus introduced me. To say that all hell broke loose would be an understatement.

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair. Five days after Egeria left.

Egeria had just sent word. Several infiltrators had been discovered among the Tok'ra. It was mostly the youngest among them, those who hadn't gone on many missions and could be more easily replaced.

Of course, once their status as infiltrators had been confirmed, the Tok'ra immediately began packing up and preparing to leave. It would take them under a week to fully remove their extensive network of tunnels and rooms. I really wanted access to that technology. It would make construction so much easier.

In other news, the expedition team finally reached Baol space. It was expected that finding anything would likely take weeks, if not months, but that was the price of archeology. Just a few Baol relics would be a massive boon in advancing our technology.

All of that was great, but the most pressing thing for me was the imminent first test flight of the JFX program. We had worked for months to get the thing completed. Seeing it now was a sight for sore eyes.

The thing looked very similar to a Fifth generation fighter from Earth. Like the F-22 or the F-35. It had the same sort of bulbous shape, though it was noticeably bigger. The total wingspan of the craft was just under 13 meters, but the wings could fold into the main body using the same general mechanism as the Jaffa helmets. When retracted, the total wingspan was just under 4.5 meters.

The maneuvering thrusters could produce 6 Gs of acceleration on their own, so the ship was also VTOL capable.

Running the length of the vessel was a set of jump spinners ripped almost directly from a Colonial Raptor. We had made some minor modifications, but not all that many. In the ship's rear, stuffed in between the three main gravitic pushers, were a cloak and a hyperdrive taken from one of the disassembled Tel'tak.

This version of the craft didn't have any weapons, though there were several large internal compartments that had room for various self-propelled munitions. There were also plans to replace the hyperdrive or cloak with an internal missile rack, though it was only a possibility for the future, since the ship was still primarily meant as a test bed for integrating the Goa'uld tech.

So, with the final ground tests complete, all the internal systems sealed up, I asked for a test pilot. I was rather unsurprised to get Lieutenant Ruth Mitchell. She entered the hangar and looked straight past me at the fighter. I coughed once, and the lieutenant turned and saluted. "Sir!"

I almost doubled over. The first time the woman had met me, she had totally ignored me. I quickly got over myself and nodded back. "Lieutenant Mitchell."

She nodded, and I continued. "Let me walk you through the vehicle." I gestured towards the pilot's seat. She nodded once, and I walked her over. The inside was modeled similarly to that of the SB-27b Sabre Light Aerospace Fighter that the Lieutenant normally flew. She had no issues understanding how to use the controls.

It was also unfortunately true that Lieutenant Mitchell was as good a pilot as she thought she was, and ¾ of that excellence was preparation. She had already studied and memorized all the internal systems that had been designed months earlier.

Without another word, the Lieutenant powered the vehicle up and slowly, gently rolled the thing out into the midday sun. As soon as confirmation came from Air Traffic Control, the vehicle was floating several feet above the ground. Then, with a final confirmation, the thing shot off, almost faster than my eye could see.

In the back of my mind, a notification popped up.

Special Achievement: Complete your First Original Vehicle Choose a perk: 1: Huragok Ally (Halo - UNSC, 200 Points) - Description: Something of a surprise and most definitely an attention-grabber, a Huragok is supposed to be one of the members of the Covenant Homogeny and has normally been seen only in their presence. Yet Huragok, also known by those in the UNSC as 'Engineers', are primarily pacifistic and dedicate themselves purely to repairing and working on any technology around them. This particular one seems to have gotten lost and ended up deciding to follow you for the sake of making sure your technology was functioning. Aside from melodic whistling sounds that sound slightly similar to Earth whales, Huragoks communicate using either sign language with their tendrils or through text messaging thanks to their penchant of being biological supercomputers. Huragok are highly prized for being able to fix almost anything they touch, and you should expect a lot of questioning if someone spots you with one. 2: Ding! (Girl Genius SB, 200 Points) - Description: Well, this is different. A certain gentleman called Von Neumann would be delighted, at least. You are now the proud master of a full set of Dingbots of your own, or similar clanks or drones, at least. They're all minor sparks in their own rights, and can themselves build more of their kind, even though those don't have the spark. Led by a Prime, they are connected with you on an intrinsic, mental level, being fully capable of building any and all devices or works you can. They get everywhere, performing construction upkeep, salvage and everything else you might need them to. Not even needing blueprints, they seem to draw upon your knowledge directly, using their in-built tools to perform all the things you normally would need to do yourself, making everything you'd like them to... and a lot of them you wouldn't. Don't leave them unsupervised. 3: Soul of the Forge (World of Warcraft, 200 Points) - Description: This spirit that manifests as a small, cyclopean golem made of molten metal and shards, the Soul of the Forge dwells within the workshops and smithies of metalworkers. So long as it is content, all who work within that forge's walls will find their creations blessed: The individual pieces, parts, and techniques required coming together that much easier, and the end result being that much more splendid.' In order for the Soul of the Forge to dwell, one also requires a small kiln to house the spirit. ---

- - -
Author's Note:
Howdy folks! The dreaded day has come, the summer has ended, and my classes have once more begun. From this point forth, you should expect no more than two chapters a week. If I get particularly lucky and a chapter just flows right, I might be able to get a three a week.

Read up to Chapter #75 on Discord: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]

If you read the above notice, you will see that you are two chapters behind where you should be (since I try to keep 12 chapters of backlog for people to read on Discord, which means you should be at 63). This is because I have been busy and I have not had the time to get the second round of edits in, so I'm going to try and edit and get those next two chapters out tomorrow and the day after, so you can thankfully expect a chapter tomorrow and the day after.

SomebodyNobody10 on my Discord has also written an absolutely awesome side-chapter which is a crossover with our first more magical setting, the EU4 mod Anbennar.

You can expect that to be posted along with Chapter #77 in like… five weeks at my expected pace, so if you'd like to read that now, join the discord.

Thanks for sticking with me and putting up with my ramblings.

 

[LollipoPReapeR]

I'm kinda unaware of Dingbots, but the Huragok would be a ridiculous amount of help for a burgeoning nation. They can self replicate, they can produce fore runner tech, the bio-engineer versions can even do gene enhancements. This all on top of thier general amiability and standard abilities.

 

[Saethyr]

Damn. What a choice.
I'm only vaguely familiar with Girl Genius, but judging from description, Huragoks and Dingbots are really similar. With the exception that if you leave Huragoks alone you will fing your stuff suddenly working better, instea of rigged to blow.
Huragok is a no-brainer here.

 

[Vanbers]

imo, I gotta agree with the others. Huragoks are absolutely a no-brainer.

Dingbots can explicitly fuck around and get up to shenanigans, while the Soul of the Forge is more about smithing.

The Huragok on the other hand can very easily integrate as another species member of their new nation, make more of itself, and is possibly the best engineering-species that he could get his hands on. And also don't want for anything but fixing technology.

 

[BlazingHyperion]

I'm kinda unaware of Dingbots, but the Huragok would be a ridiculous amount of help for a burgeoning nation. They can self replicate, they can produce fore runner tech, the bio-engineer versions can even do gene enhancements. This all on top of thier general amiability and standard abilities.

Click to shrink...

Yeah. The huragoks would grow slower, but they end up doing all that the dingbots can without the chance of going rogue.

Damn. What a choice.
I'm only vaguely familiar with Girl Genius, but judging from description, Huragoks and Dingbots are really similar. With the exception that if you leave Huragoks alone you will fing your stuff suddenly working better, instea of rigged to blow.
Huragok is a no-brainer here.

Click to shrink...

Agreed, as far as the definition goes, dingbots seem to have a bunch of side effects.

imo, I gotta agree with the others. Huragoks are absolutely a no-brainer.

Dingbots can explicitly fuck around and get up to shenanigans, while the Soul of the Forge is more about smithing.

The Huragok on the other hand can very easily integrate as another species member of their new nation, make more of itself, and is possibly the best engineering-species that he could get his hands on. And also don't want for anything but fixing technology.

Click to shrink...

Agreed!

 

[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair. A few hours later.

I took my seat in the conference room. With me were Ma'chello, Elder James, Arktos, and Arriston. Elder James nodded. "Alright, Arthur, tell us about this new perk choice."

I nodded and began reading out the descriptions of each of the three perks. It was Ma'chello who was the first to speak. "I think it's safe to say that the second option is completely unacceptable."

Arktos nodded. "Neither of the other two options are potentially hazardous. The possibility of another Replicator-like swarm is not a pleasant idea."

Arriston nodded. "The Celestial Forge has explicitly stated that leaving such an entity unsupervised would be unwise. It is for the best that you do not take this option."

Elder James nodded and pulled up a flexi. "I think that the best choice would be for the Hurogok. A pacifist dedicated purely to engineering, that is also willing to follow you? They are capable of effectively nano-scale production, and are very good at improving existing technology… on top of that, they can reproduce asexually…"

The Dingbots would have been a better choice, but that was forgetting the genuine possibility of them going rogue. The risk there was just too great.

Arriston pursed his lips. "And what about this… Soul of the Forge? Can you tell us anything about it?"

I shook my head. "I'm afraid not. Judging by the description, it assists blacksmiths; how much it assists engineers, or even automated factories, however, I just can't say."

He was silent for a moment. "Well, I suppose that we've decided then?"

I nodded. "'DING!' is potentially dangerous, and 'Soul of the Forge' might not give us anything at all. 'Hurogok Ally' can probably do a lot of the things that 'Ding!' can, except they won't suddenly start expanding exponentially, and they can assist us with improving our current technology."

Arriston nodded. "Very well. Give me a few hours to get a welcoming party together for this Hurogok, and we'll be able to greet them."

- - -
Two hours later.

A large empty room had been prepared, and now it was just us and a few guards present in case of an emergency.

I closed my eyes and turned my attention to the Celestial Forge, and with a deep breath, I selected Hurogok Ally from the list of choices.

When I opened my eyes, I was unsurprised to find a strange bulbous creature, with several tendrils all over its body, floating before me.

Spoiler: Hurogok

The creature turned in circles, examining its environment. With a deep breath, I carefully stepped forward and spoke to the creature. "Hello?"

The Hurogok immediately stopped spinning and turned to me. A deep whistling noise filled the room. I was completely unable to understand him. Luckily, we had expected the language barrier and had something prepared. I pulled out a flexi and handed it to the Huragok. "This includes a full dictionary of our languages so that you can communicate with us."

It took the flexi from me carefully and started examining it with its tendrils. A small portion of one side seemed to disappear under its examination. I shrugged. "Now we just have to wait and see how long that takes."

Luckily for us, it took barely ten minutes for it to decipher the technology. It handed back the flexi. I took it and read it. "Jaffa?"

I furrowed my brow. "No. I'm human. My name is Arthur."

It was quiet for several moments. "Do you have anything that needs fixing?"

I blinked and turned to Arriston, who stepped forward. "If you're willing to help us, then we'd be more than happy to provide anything you'd like."

It whistled several more times. "I'd like to get to work immediately."

I stared at Arriston and shrugged. He was quiet for a moment before nodding. "We can find something for you to work on. Ma'chello?"

Ma'chello nodded. He seemed to think for a moment before his eyes suddenly lit up. "We have a few old spacecraft that need repair. They haven't been operational in decades, but they'd be a good project to start with."

I raised an eyebrow. "The old Dendredan Shuttles?"

Ma'chello nodded. "We have several that are intact. They just need some basic repairs, and they'll be good to fly again. Just getting the few extra hulls into space would be a massive advantage."

The Hurogok floated up and down, its tentacles squirming as if in excitement. "Excellent."

I shrugged once more. "I'm sorry, but I don't believe you've told us your name."

"I am Slightly Overweight." I almost choked as I read the name. It seemed to bob up and down in confusion as I responded. "Sorry."

I turned back to Ma'chello. "I guess we can show it where he can get to work?"

Arriston nodded. "We should get a small group of engineers together so that they can assist it with its repairs. Arthur, you're currently off a project. Would you be up for this?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Sure. It would be a good experience for me as well."

Slightly Overweight continued to gently bob up and down. "I'd like to begin immediately."

Ma'chello shrugged. "Sure. I'll have one of the storage sites opened up so you can get to work. We have about eight intact vessels, and about 130 wrecks."

It was still early afternoon at the moment, so Arriston quickly ordered several of the people who were formerly working with me on the JFX project to help with the shuttle repair.

Less than an hour later, we were on Dendred, looking at the Pre-Invasion shuttlecraft that I hadn't seen since my first time visiting the world.

This hangar had four fully intact vessels. I quickly touched each of them once.

First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Ουρανός 2 (Ouranos 2) Ουρανός 2 Chassis, Ουρανός 2 Pressure Chamber, Caelumfabrica Gravitic Pushers, DracoFabrica Naquadah Reactor

I smiled. Time to get to work.

- - -
On Dendred. That evening.

I sat down at the table once more. I rubbed my eyes for a moment as I got my bearings. Elder James raised an eyebrow. "Arthur, are you alright?"

I nodded. "Exhausted. Keeping up with Slightly Overweight has not been easy."

Arriston took a moment to look me over, but he quickly nodded. "Alright Arthur. What can you tell us about this Huragok?"

"Well, he's about as much of a workaholic as I expected." I took a deep breath and stopped rubbing my temples. "He's still working at the moment. I don't even know if he sleeps."

Ma'chello nodded from beside me. He'd joined in with the repairs since he'd grown up around the ships, and being able to see one fly had been a dream of his for decades now. "Trying to keep up is quite stressful. He isn't exactly all that talkative, but he does excellent work. I believe we'll have the first of the space worthy Ouranos-2s within a couple of days."

Arriston seemed to smile slightly. "I've always wanted to see what they look like in flight."

Elder James nodded as well. "The addition of a few more cargo ships will be quite useful."

Ma'chello nodded as well. "It's a good project to get him started. It'll give us a good understanding of his capabilities, and giving him access to the ships doesn't reveal any of our more strategically important technologies."

Arktos raised an eyebrow. "So it is male then?"

I nodded. "Yes. It prefers to be referred to as a male."

Arriston nodded. "So, has he stated anything about what he was doing before he was brought here?"

I shook my head. "The only thing he's… spoken about was working on a Slipspace drive for a ship. Other than that, we've gotten nothing about him."

Arktos raised an eyebrow. "So it has knowledge of this Slipspace that you have told us about?"

I nodded. "That's the only thing I have been able to confirm. He has experience working on the drive of some sort of warship, but he has said nothing further."

Arriston nodded. "Do you think we could ask him what he knows?"

Ma'chello and I both nodded in unison. Arriston turned to me first. "He seemed like he would talk if we asked."

Ma'chello nodded in agreement. Arriston looked between us. "Alright then, let's just ask him."

A few minutes later, Slightly Overweight gently bobbed into the room. Arriston nodded gently towards him. "Thank you for coming. We have several questions for you."

He whistled gently in affirmation. Arriston continued. "Would you please tell us what you were doing before you appeared here?"

Rather than speaking this time, he just touched the flexi and text appeared. "I was making repairs to a Covenant warship. It was damaged in battle, and most of the crew was dead."

I raised an eyebrow. "Damaged? Who were you at war with?"

Slightly Overweight seemed to almost shrug. "The Captain thought they were more humans at first, but they used weapons we'd never seen before. Their ships were all pyramidal, plated with gold. They fired golden balls of plasma that crippled our ships' shields in a single hit. The big ships were destroyed first; the few ships that survived managed to because we pretended to be wreckage. The captain captured many of the enemy. All I know is that they called themselves Jaffa."

We were all stunned for several long moments. We all knew what he had just described. Goa'uld ships. We thought he had been brought from another reality, but had he actually come from this one? I gulped, "Do you think you could point out where you come from if we showed you on a map?"

The reply was ‌a very simple "yes."

Arriston nodded to one guard. "We'll be visiting the datacore. Have the Stargate ready for us, please."

We took a short walk to the Stargate, dialed it, and stepped onto the lead Ha'tak of Ares' fleet, now accelerating into deep space at slower than light speeds. It was traveling at approximately 2% of the speed of light after just a few months of acceleration. The effect of time dilation was still relatively minimal, but it was now measurable with even an analog clock.

We made our way to the ship's datacore, where Arktos quickly turned on the galactic map feature. "Do you recognize this galaxy?"

A negative came as the reply, and Arktos quickly began zooming away from the Milky Way to the surrounding galaxies. Slightly Overweight produced a single rather distinctive whistle. I read aloud from the flexi and Arktos stopped; I'd make sure to remember that particular whistle. It was an important one to know.

He bobbed over to a particular location, one of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies, and pointed at it with a tentacle. Arktos raised an eyebrow and zoomed in. The entire galaxy came into focus. I was surprised at how accurate the readings were. It hit me then. The existence and location of many star systems were too ‌well known to have been mapped from the Milky Way.

Elder James snapped his fingers, seemingly in realization. "Arktos, can you check Ra's most recent records? Specifically, check for locations of newly discovered Stargates."

Arktos raised an eyebrow and did just that. Nearly 300 newly discovered Stargates were shown as being within the galaxy that Slightly Overweight had pointed out. All along the galactic rim closest to the Milky Way.

Arriston became much more serious. "So Ra is active within this galaxy?"

Arktos nodded. "It would seem so. These addresses have only been added within the last decade."

I groaned. "So you're not from another universe then; you're from this one."

Arktos nodded. "I believe it would be ‌best that we contact the Asgard immediately."

Slightly Overweight looked back and forth, confused by the mention of the Asgard.

Arriston nodded. "Yes. I believe that is the best course of action."

We took the Stargate back to Kaelastrum, where Arriston contacted the Asgard and provided them with this newly uncovered information. What the Asgard did with the information was out of our hands, but they were already quite busy. It was unlikely that they'd be able to do anything with this information in the immediate future.

- - -
Author's Note:
I (and hence Arthur) were completely unaware of Dingbots before the writing of this chapter, so they just assumed the worse. Probably for the better that he didn't go for Dingbots, since Sparks seem to be rather horrific.

Read up to Chapter #75 on Discord: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]

 

[Bowburnit]

Oh shit, what does that mean for the ring world

 

[Trek]

Well the galaxy becomes evermore dangerous better prep and grow stronger.

 

[LollipoPReapeR]

Oh shit, what does that mean for the ring world

Click to shrink...

Shouldn't be too much of an issue for this particular one since it wasn't the Forerunners who made it,

 

[BlazingHyperion]

Oh shit, what does that mean for the ring world

Click to shrink...

Honestly, not much. The Ringworld and the Halo Arrays cannot be more different. According to quick wiki search, the Halo Array Ring has a radius of 31,000 Kilometers. Meanwhile, the ringworld has a radius of 150,000,000 (150 Million) kilometers. That is to say, the Ring World is 4,774 times larger.

Totally different Tech Base. Honestly, the Cybrex are probably only behind the Forerunners (technologically) when it comes to their manipulation of space and other dimensions, but when it comes to engineering, the Cybrex firmly defeat the Forerunners.

Well the galaxy becomes evermore dangerous better prep and grow stronger.

Click to shrink...

Yup. It just keeps getting more and more horrific.

Shouldn't be too much of an issue for this particular one since it wasn't the Forerunners who made it,

Click to shrink...

Yeah. As I said, they share a name and a general shape, but they have totally different tech bases.

 

[Marlow3]

Thanks for the chapter.

 

[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Thor.

As the communication from President Arriston ended, I immediately called for a meeting of the High Council.

The Covenant. They were an… interesting group. Religious societies were always the most difficult to communicate with.

My transporter activated, and I once more found myself at my seat on the council. The Chief Archon spoke, as I was the last to arrive. "You have more information?"

"I have received a report of The Covenant's existence in one of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies."

The room was quiet for several moments. Freyr responded. "Do we have any way to confirm this?"

"We have no information about this galaxy. Our only choice is to send a ship to investigate."

On the other side of the Chief Archon, Penegal spoke. "We do not have the ships to spare. The only vessels that are not currently quarantined are yours. We cannot risk spreading the replicators further."

The Chief Archon nodded. "We cannot risk sending any ships. It will have to wait until the replicators are no longer a threat."

The chief archon quickly moved on from the subject. "How are our efforts to reverse engineer the ion weaponry?"

Freyr took over now. "The initial prototype has been completed. Initial tests have performed excellently. The replicators are incapable of adapting."

The Chief Archon nodded. "What of the attempt to bypass the subspace interference caused by these… HPGs?"

Assir, at the far end of the table, was the one to reply this time. "Nothing. We could not produce a counter capable of allowing our vessels to enter areas affected by this device."

The Chief Archon nodded. "What about the requested modifications?"

Assir replied once more, "We have identified the subspace frequency that is used by the Goa'uld. Modifications show that Goa'uld vessels will be significantly slowed if travelling within 15 light years, and destroyed when going within 10 light years."

The Chief Archon nodded. "Deploy them to the worlds of the Protected Planet's Treaty."

Assir disappeared in a flash. He turned to me next. "What of the preparations for the activation of the Dakara Device and the retrieval of the android known as Reese?"

I nodded. "We have 20% of the Stargates in place. It will be several weeks before we can guarantee the destruction of the replicators."

I stopped to pull up the information about Reese. "She was retrieved, and her codebase has been dissected. We discovered several base commands that would allow her to deactivate any replicators she controlled, but they would normally be adapted out of their own codebase within seven to nine days. While examining the code was certainly interesting, the replicators that we fight have adapted to so much new technology that they are effectively two unrelated entities."

The Chief Archon nodded. "And what of the android herself?"

"We have removed her ability to make new replicators and the mental suppressors included with her code base. Once she is reactivated, her mind will be free to grow as a normal human."

"Good. You are free to awaken her. Proceed as planned with the Stargate dispersal. I believe that is all?" The Chief Archon swivelled his head around as he looked between the others at the table.

Freyr was the one to respond. "Once the replicators have been defeated, we will need new warships. I have prepared several plans. There are several classes of smaller vessels such as cruisers, but also battleships and even a couple of titans."

I knew what was coming; staring dully at Freyr, I replied. "I assume these ship designs just happen to originate from Sinclair's mind?"

The others seemed to realize what was going on as well. Freyr, of course, being Freyr, did not care. "I took… inspiration."

He sent us all several blueprints. The first few were effectively just copies of Sinclair's designs that had been modified slightly to accommodate ‌Asgard technologies, but there was also a collection of original designs.

Despite my annoyance at Freyr's attempted theft, I could not deny that all the vessels were beautiful. I let out a harsh sigh. "The Bilskirnir has only been in service for 50,000 years. It is too early to replace them."

Freyr raised an eyebrow. "You disagree with your assessment in only 100 years. The last thousand years has seen the single greatest period of technological advancement the Asgard have ever experienced. While it is earlier than normal to replace a mainstay warship, the Bilskirnir can no longer handle retrofits of new systems. We need new vessels."

With a slightly defeated sigh, I nodded, agreeing with his motion, as did everyone else.

The Chief Archon nodded once more. "Then we are adjourned."

- - -
POV: James Cromwell. Three weeks after the arrival of Slightly Overweight.

"Jump confirmed. Arrival is expected within 90 seconds." All the vessels in the area confirmed that they were well clear of the area where the jump field formed. While the crew of the Manassas would feel as if the jump had happened instantly, those of us waiting for the ship to arrive would have to wait for a period. For the Manassas, that was between 90 and 120 seconds.

The Cobalt Eye was jumping with the Manassas, so it would take approximately the same amount.

As the seconds passed, slowly but surely, with a bright flash, the SLS Manassas and the SLS Cobalt Eye both appeared exactly where they were expected, at the zenith of the Dendred System.

It had been a rather long journey, but now they were here. I looked out at the two ships from the copilot's seat of one of the Tel'tak. The radio crackled to life. "This is the SLS Manassas and SLS Cobalt Eye. Where do you want us?"

The radio crackled to life, this time from the BSG Daedalus. "You're clear to burn for Dendred. We'll follow you in."

"Understood." The Manassas and the Cobalt Eye both began to reorient themselves. The Deimos and Daedalus would both join the Manassas and Cobalt Eye in performing a normal burn towards Dendred, though both the Colonial and Cylon ship would go at a fraction of their normal speed because of the decision to maintain formation during the return.

All four ships had taken on board extra crew members, mostly new recruits, but it had also been decided to swap some of the crew members to allow the various formerly independent militaries to learn from each other.

I watched as all four vessels entered formation and began the one-G burn towards Dendred. The radio crackled once more. "Return trip is underway. All other active vessels are ‌ordered to return to Dendred."

My transport pilot turned towards me for confirmation, and I nodded. With a whoosh, the blue whirlpool of hyperspace opened for just a brief second, and then we were back in realspace in orbit of Dendred. "Take us to the station."

The pilot just nodded once, and I sat back down and waited. After a few minutes, we approached a massive metal scaffold. At the center of the structure was a metal cylinder, the station's main pressure vessel. The initial plans for the station had been scrapped when Arthur suggested using the station as a test bed for capital ship scale jump spinners.

With that in mind, the center of the pressure vessel had been hollowed out so that the jump spinners could be replaced in a worst-case scenario.

Splayed outwards from the center of the station were a collection of twelve massive ribcage-like structures. Four of them had been finished to their full 1.2 kilometer length. The rest was still under construction.

The Dendredan steelworks had been working at full force for weeks straight to produce the amount of steel necessary. The Tel'tak slowly and carefully pulled up to one of the airlocks and carefully docked.

The primary advantage of jump spinners was that they required very little heavy material. It was mostly just simple conducting wire and permanent magnets.

That wasn't to mean the machinery wasn't complex, but the raw materials needed and techniques for constructing it were not very high tech, unlike the germanium-based KF-drive cores of the Inner Sphere.

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair. One week later.

The jump spinners floated in space. They had been easy, if expensive, to assemble. The much more difficult part of the project had been building the subspace field initiator. The entire project had only been completed due to the help of Slightly Overweight.

It was only with his help that we had been able to fabricate many of the more delicate components involved with the field initiator. It wasn't a long-term solution, but we only needed a single device, rather than a production line. That would come much later.

So, with the initial tests completed, it was time to begin the first proper test. A short-range jump. From the North to the South Pole of Dendred.

The entire team watched from a distance as the drive spun up, and with a burst of light, it was gone. About twenty seconds passed before the confirmation came in. I let out a sigh of relief. There were still a lot of tests to do, but with any luck (and with Slightly Overweight's help), we wouldn't have to worry

- - -
Two days later.

The Manassas, the Cobalt Eye, the Daedalus, and the Deimos all pulled into their prepared drydock. There were plans to retrofit all four ships.

The Manassas and the Cobalt Eye were both going to be test beds for modifying Inner Sphere vessels. First would be the installation of Colonial grav plating within both ships. The second would be a minor modification that would allow for the KF-drive to jump within the gravity well of most planets. This modification would still require removing the drive core, so we decided to just go with a full overhaul, which led to the third modification; we would be replacing a lot more of the internals with naquadah-based components.

Once this round of replacements had been completed, we expected the minimum safe charge time to be down to 35 hours. To reduce it any further, we would have to replace the entire titanium-germanium alloy drive core. Doing that would entail a complete overhaul of the entire FTL system.

The overhauls of the Deimos and Phobos were much less drastic. Both vessels would be retrofitted with Goa'uld and Star League technology. While certainly not as extensive as a full drive core removal, they would still take a few months at the very least.

Both would be several month long projects. We would be strapped for personnel if it weren't for the fact that the first group of junior engineers had finally completed basic training, and just as we needed them.

In total, there were about 1500 newly trained engineers. Each of them potentially seconds away from causing permanent damage to vital systems, on irreplaceable technology.

That several months was likely even longer with all the safety precautions we would take to ensure they didn't break anything.

If everything went according to plan, by the time the retrofits were completed, Dendred would be fully evacuated. In the meantime, we had even more work to complete.

- - -
Three Weeks Later.

With a deep breath, I took my stance again. It was early in the morning. On the other side of the arena, Yren smiled at me. "Come on, Arthur. You're being sloppy today."

I groaned and put up my fists once more; Yren did the same. We closed the distance, and just as I was about to start with a cross, the Celestial Forge popped into the back of my mind.

Choose a perk: 1: Bonesinger (Warhammer 40K - Craftworld Eldar Jumpchain, 400 Points) - Description: Dear child, the Eldar do not simply build their wondrous technology. Instead, they rely on the power of song to shape their creations into being. This is a very demanding process, which requires a unique mix of artistic and scientific knowledge. Most importantly of all, a strong mind is necessary for this process. Bonesingers sing a psychic song, and its melodies form a psychoactive material from the warp itself, called Wraithbone. This lightweight material is stronger than titanium but is far more flexible and weighs less. Additionally you can psychically grow crystals that are the basis of their laser & lance technology. You have the knowledge and ability to sing any Eldar technology and any technology you know into being and more than that, eons of experience in doing so. Even so, the more complex an item is, the more time it takes to create said item. A whole choir of Bonesingers is required to create large and complex items such as starships and Eldar Titans unless you are willing to sing alone for years. With enough time, perhaps, you could even sing forth a brand-new Craftworld but how and where would you acquire that much time? Even an Eldar is not immortal. 2: Moon Tech (Okami, 400 Points) - Description: While you aren't granted a full understanding of everything the Moon Tribe could do, you've been blessed with the basics, including the method to make the metal used in their constructions, and an intuitive understanding of the way the machinery functions. For the most part, the inner workings are mostly a mystery, though what is known is that they can run infinitely on their power source and are controlled by the spirit or divine power of the user. Examples of the greatest of their technology includes Yami's nearly unbreakable transforming robot body, a machine that generates freezing blizzards, and spaceships. Lesser works include most non-divine creations in the item section. This talent could quickly grow into so much more if you could only get your hands on enough Moon Tribe relics to experiment with or an expert to learn from. Indeed, this is all promised to you by Yami, along with dark power unending and rule in Nippon if only you swear fealty to him and devote yourself to his goal. After all, he has already granted you so much, and without even demanding your loyalty. As a bonus, Yami will even throw in the right to manifest his markings on your body. In appearance, they're simply a blue mirror of the celestial markings worn by Brush Gods. Try not to show it off to those few who've dealt with him before, as none will hesitate in slaying an agent of Yami. I'll leave the choice up to you. 3: Machine Madness (Dragon Ball GT, 400 Points) - Description: So much of the universe relies on Ki to grant them power or natural biological abilities. Why pursue scientific perfection when you're already able to claim to be perfect? Why NOT pursue scientific perfection? Despite the lack of need, you buried yourself into science and found ways to use technology to match mysticism. So long as you have a good understanding of how a supernatural effect or technique or ability works, you are able to replicate it through technology, creating a device or being capable of performing that effect or technique or ability. The method, resources, cost and so on may change to fit the new medium but the ultimate result will be as if you had used that magical spell yourself...just through the lens of beautiful, beautiful science.

Any of these perks would be amazing to have. Machine Madness would allow me to apply any supernatural effects I knew; heck, it might even allow me to recreate the effects of the Sarcophagus.

I didn't know what to think about Moon Tech. The few pieces of technology it listed were all interesting, but not all that interesting. The part about gaining access to Yami, however, was not something I was quite willing to accept.

That just left the last perk; Bonesinger. If I wasn't reading it wrong, it seemed like it included basic psychic abilities. Frankly, I didn't know enough of the Aeldari to say what they would do to me if they learned that a human knew the secret of creating wraithbone.

All of this passed through my head just in time for me to suddenly notice Yren's fist approaching my face.

- - -
Author's Note:
Another perk. Want to know what gets chosen, then join the Discord. Lol.

Read up to Chapter #75: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]

 

[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.

I once more poked at my nose, only to wince as the cartilage shifted under my ministration. I returned my hand to my side as I followed Elder James into the room. Inside, Arriston and Arktos were waiting.

Ma'chello was busy working on other projects. He had begun research into growing Goa'uld crystals, since he was the second most familiar with their technology. As such, he had decided against joining.

I once more took my seat. Arriston nodded to me. "Alright, Arthur, what do you have?"

I nodded and began explaining the three perks that I could choose from. The room was quiet for several moments. Arriston nodded. "Arthur, tell us your thoughts."

I pursed my lips. "The perk I know the most about is Bonesinger. The technology that the Aeldari have available is extensive. All of it is based on wraithbone, a material that is probably among the strongest substances in existence. The perk seems to hint that it will include some psionic abilities. The biggest issue with this one is how the Aeldari will react to the secrets of their technology being known to someone who isn't an Aeldari."

Everyone frowned, but no one had any rebuttals. I continued. "Frankly, I know nothing about this Okami. The technology it offers is… well, the unbreakable robot body sounds good on paper, but mechs would be effectively indestructible to someone in the Iron Age. No. The real issue here is this… Yami. Taking this perk will probably either summon this being or give him an entrance into this universe. I think, for that alone, I want to disqualify this option."

The others all nodded, a round of agreement going up. Just like that, the perk was disqualified. "This one is appealing. The ability to recreate supernatural phenomena with pure science would be… amazing. The issue is that I don't know ‌any purely supernatural phenomena. All the more mystical lantean based techs – the Stargate's wards and the sarcophagus – are closer to magitech. I don't know how well this perk would apply to those. Even if I could apply the theory behind the wards, what would we use it for? We have yet to detect any form of demonic entity. It's clear that something happened to the Warp Gods to cause them to disappear, so that just leaves enhancements to the sarcophagus at the moment."

I stopped to take a breath. "So, we have two options. Access to an entirely new realm of technology, with a possible but low potential for danger, or we gamble. We get essentially nothing at first, but a lot of potential options in the future."

The room was silent for several moments. Elder James nodded. "Alright. I'll vote for Bonesinger. I hate to say it, but the telepathic abilities are too good to pass up. Anything past that is just a bonus."

Arktos nodded along. "Especially if this Comstar truly exists, you will need a method to guarantee that anyone we bring back to Kaelastrum isn't an infiltrator; else we would have to push for much more drastic action on that front."

Arriston nodded as well, clearly in agreement. I looked around once more. "Alright. I get the feeling that this will be a pretty drastic change. I should probably do this at a hospital."

We took a quick walk down to the hospital, where several people had been asked to wait. Lieutenant Moretti was among them, along with several Dendredan doctors. They had me lie down on a medical bed. I selected the bonesinger perk and immediately passed out.

- - -
All across the galaxy, for the first time in nearly nine-and-a-half million years, since Tzeentch was dragged kicking and screaming into the Deep Warp and the Sea of Souls calmed, Aeldari Farseers, across the aging remnants of the Aeldari Empire, awakened.

As far as the Aeldari themselves could tell, who awakened was totally random, but it didn't last for long. As one collective, ten thousand spoke as one. "A stranger to our blood, but a keeper of our Ways, shall save the Aeldari from the long night."

Then, as one, they all perished. Their souls, already damaged by the loss of the Warp Gods, shattered, each of them giving their lives. The rest remained in slumber, hoping one day to be healed of their losses.

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.

I awoke with a groan. Everything hurt. I slowly opened my heavily crusted eyes to find Lieutenant Moretti standing over me. "Arthur, how do you feel?"

A second groan escaped my lips as I tried to speak. It took me just a moment to get a hold of myself and reply. "Like I got run over… multiple times."

The doctor nodded lightly. "Well, frankly, I have no idea what happened to you. You've been lying in this bed for a week, and during that entire time your eyes, nose, and ears have all been bleeding. You've lost enough blood to kill you about a dozen times over. From the few times I could get X-rays, it looks like your brain has expanded by about 20%, and your skull has grown slightly to accommodate the changes as well."

She was silent for a moment. "I don't know what you did, but I'd say you should be glad it didn't kill you."

All I could do was let out a sigh. "Not really like I have much of a choice in this case. I needed to pick something."

The doctor just raised an eyebrow but said nothing further on the subject. "The President wanted to see you. He'll be here in a few minutes."

It was after the doctor had left the room, and everything was quiet, that I finally noticed a buzzing. At first I thought it was the lights, or maybe something in a nearby room, but as I listened, it quickly became clear that it wasn't. It was a cacophony of whispers. I couldn't focus on any single thought, but it was there, in the background of my mind. It definitely hadn't been there before.

I just lay there, listening to the whispers. I didn't even notice the President and Elder James entering the room until the Elder spoke to me. "Arthur, are you okay?"

I quickly blinked my eyes a few times. I looked between the two of them and nodded. "Yeah, I'm alright. It seems like telepathy is definitely kicking in."

Arriston raised an eyebrow. "Can you read my mind?"

I stared at him hard for several long moments. The whispers seemed to get louder for just a moment, but they were still too indistinct to be understandable. "No. There's something there, but I can't tell what's being said yet."

The two looked at each other. "Alright. What about the included knowledge?"

I blanked out for a moment as I thought about it. The knowledge had been sitting there at the back of my mind, just waiting for me to peek at it for it to come forward. For a second I was overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of technology, but I gave it a moment to pass.

The obvious stuff was the small things. Aeldari infantry weapons, such as the Sunrifle – though I was surprised to see the Heat Lance there as well, something I now knew was a device used most commonly by the Dark Eldar – were the first things I saw. Then there were the large-scale Starcannons – very similar in principle to the Goa'uld Staff Weapons, though much more powerful.

Then there were the vehicles I could make. Smaller fighter craft, but also ‌other things; walkers such as the Wraithlord. Finally, I felt my mind settle on the warships; from escorts like the Shadowhunter, to Aeldari battleships, though I was also rather surprised to find Dark Eldar warships along with the normal Aeldari vessels.

Above even the battleships, the knowledge and experience of creating Craftworlds. That was much stranger since it wasn't a single class of ship, but a general term, but if I had enough time I could make one.

Finally, my attention turned to the last of my new memories; the Isitha Kasra. It was a musical instrument, sure, but it also allowed ‌Bonesingers to communicate with wraithbone with much greater ease. They could only be made by Boneseers, and I had a feeling that I would need one.

I opened my eyes and nodded. "There is a lot… actually, I think I have more than the description seemed to suggest. There is a lot of Dark Eldar technology as well."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Elder, I'm going to try to make some wraithbone."

The two looked at each other before looking back at me. Arriston nodded. "Alright. If you think you're up for it."

I nodded and closed my eyes. With my new memories, I knew that the singing was sort of optional. The Warp energy reacted to emotions, and songs were just about the easiest way to push that emotion into the Warp. A sufficiently experienced Bonesinger could just force their emotions into the wraithbone to form it.

Although I was fairly confident I could make some wraithbone without the song, it would be much easier with it. With a deep breath, I brought my hands together and started singing. It was an Aeldari tune, something that had come along with my new memories. It was a fairly simple song about growth. Nothing complex.

I repeated the song a few times, only stopping when someone shook me. I looked up to see Dr. Moretti standing over me. "Your food. You need to eat."

I blinked a few times. "Ohhh. Thank you." I looked back around the room to find no one but myself and the doctor. "Where did the President and Elder James go?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow as I took the first spoonful of soup. "They left a few hours ago. You were to remain undisturbed."

"You've been humming away for the last eight hours." I froze for just the briefest of moments.

"Incredible. I thought it had only been a few minutes." I looked down into my lap. Lying there were three cubic inches of wraithbone. I picked it up to find it was incredibly light, but it didn't seem to warp no matter what I tried. Hopefully, wraithbone would live up to all it claimed to be capable of.

I smiled brightly. Bonesinger had been an excellent perk, as far as choices went.

- - -
I was discharged from the hospital seven days later and was immediately moved off the space station project. Most of the station had already been designed. Strictly speaking, I wasn't needed, though I still planned to go in and look everything over every couple of days.

Experimentation with the new perk began immediately. I could produce approximately two kilograms of wraithbone a day, but that was only if I focused on nothing but making the material itself.

Attempts to make more complex shapes and patterns ran into issues immediately. I was still a human, despite what my new memories showed me. Most of the techniques that were meant for use by an Aeldari just didn't work. There were some things I couldn't do no matter how hard I tried, and other things had more unpleasant side effects. The most annoying of these was the headaches, though I also just blacked out sometimes.

Apparently, my soul was not the same as that of an Aeldari. The perk had changed my soul just enough to use the most basic of Bonesinger techniques, but for the more advanced ones I would have to change them to work for a psychically active human.

As a start with the experiments, I began by making different forms of wraithbone. The base form of wraithbone is a perfectly rigid material, so it was useless unless I sang it into its initial form from the very start.

The very first test we performed was whether I could produce wraithbone sand. As it turned out, yes, I could. In fact, the finer the sand, the more easily I could produce it. It took me almost two weeks of experimenting, but I figured out how to produce atomic-scale wraithbone.

When producing sand at this scale, I could create almost 50 kilograms a day, twenty-five times as much as with just hardened wraithbone. The main issue was containing the material. At that scale, wraithbone acts like a liquid, so several large tubs are needed for storing it.

This was just the start of the experiments. Initial attempts to anneal this wraithbone variant with iron produced a form of steel that was ten times harder than endosteel. One kilogram of wraithbone dust could produce a little more than a ton of this wraithsteel as Ma'chello had dubbed it.

There had also been attempts to combine it with all the heavy elements we had access to. All in all, Wraithbone was turning out to be a wonder material.

- - -
Author's Note:
Thanks to AmosTrask, and simianpower for proofreading and editing.

There we go. A proper, OP perk. I could see the third option being better long term, but this one is better in both the short and medium term. Also provides some fun story opportunities with the Aeldari.

Read up to Chapter #76 on Discord: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]

 

[Saethyr]

The issue is that I don't know ‌any purely supernatural phenomena.

Click to shrink...

Except, well, bonesinging.
Honestly, Bonesinger and Machine Madness compliment each other to an insane degree.

surprised to find Dark Eldar warships along with the normal Aeldari vessels.

Click to shrink...

That's a bit busted, actually. Dark Eldar don't use Bonesingers and psychic powers in their manufacturing processes.
So the only thing he needs now is to get his han on one of the molecular construction devices.

 

[Trek]

There are plenty of supernatural enegies in this galaxy shame so far mc hadn't acquired any but bonesinging tech also a awesome boost.

 

[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.

The air was tense. The fleet heading for the Inner Sphere had made its last stop before reaching what is expected to be a habitable world.

At first, it was planned to go straight to Terra. The plan was quickly changed upon discovering what HPGs do to subspace. Instead, the ship would head for the edge of Draconis Combine space, to the Epsilon Pegasus system.

Records of the system had been discovered on board the Claymore. It had been a Terran Hegemony research outpost, even before the creation of the Star League. During the Star League, the world had gotten an orbital JumpShip yard, and several DropShip repair bays.

It was only as I was going through my memories with the help of the Asgard that I realized I had heard of the world in my past life, and luckily, I had read the sarna.net page for the Epsilon Pegasus system.

If my memory was correct, then the system was abandoned until 3023, when it was rediscovered by Comstar. Considering that the Cobalt Eye's calculations showed it would still be some time in the 30th century — at least 20 years before the discovery of Epsilon Pegasus — the system would be the ideal position for a forward operating base for entering the Inner Sphere.

In more unpleasant news, as the fleet had entered the area within approximately two thousand light years of Terra, there had been a measurable decrease in the fleet's speed. It was barely a few fractions of a percent, but it was an unfortunate sign that our fears about the effects of the HPG network were likely true.

The good news was that this decrease in speed would give ample warning of when a vessel was getting too close to an active HPG.

So, the last few days slowly ticked by, with the fleet providing constant updates through the Goa'uld communication orbs. As the last few hours passed, there were still no signs of any form of HPG use near or within the system.

As the days turned into hours and the hours into minutes, the critical decision makers all made their way into the newly constructed situation room. At the center was a massive holotable, which had been connected up to the communication orb so that everyone could see what came through on the sensors.

Everyone watched on in silence as the fleet exited hyperspace in orbit of the fourth world in the Epsilon Pegasus system; the world of Columbus. All the vessels immediately cloaked and began scanning the world.

It was only after half an hour of searching that the facility was identified. It sat on the edge of a crater, on one of the world's two northern continents. The facility showed serious signs of overgrowth. From orbit, everything appeared intact, so a pair of Tel'tak entered the atmosphere to scout from close range.

On the ground, there were no signs of any habitation whatsoever. The facility was surrounded by plant life that had been left untouched for at least several hundred years. Signs of sweeping wildfires that had killed all the plant life on the plains the facility was in, though it clearly had resulted in no actual damage to the primary structures; the Department of Mega Engineering built things to last.

So, after doing an initial sweep of the site and finding nothing but empty buildings, the fleet came down. The landing strip was still completely intact, despite at least a couple centuries of disuse, so landing was no issue.

The various search teams got out and began a more thorough inspection. The facility was large. It would be easily capable of housing a few thousand personnel. In the meantime, one of the 30 Stargates that had been picked up during the trip from Mycena was brought out and installed on the ground. The DHD was placed alongside the gate, and the first wave of personnel started going through.

Over the next couple of hours, every single room, hallway and corridor was mapped extensively. It was only when the facility had been fully mapped a full day later, including the Outpost Castle, a smaller variant of Castle Brian — named for Brian Cameron, the 6th Director-General of the Terran Hegemony — that sat underneath the facility, that I was finally given the okay to head over. Going with me was Major Novak, whose security code was required to unlock the Memory Core.

So, as I stepped out of the Stargate and stepped, for the first time, onto a Star League world, I was surprised that I didn't feel all that different. The Stargate had been placed just near the entrance to the facility rather than inside to prevent the Stargate from damaging the structure.

With approval from President Arriston and Elder James and with a pair of guards in tow, I began examining the various large-scale constructs. I started at the pair of DropShip service depots.

The base clearly had not been a small one. There were two service depots, each of which could hold four DropShips for ‌a total of eight, not to mention the hangar that could hold another dozen more.

First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: SLDF Dropship Service Depot (DSD) DSD Gantry System, Dropship Relocation System,

Both the gantry and the series of moving platforms that constituted the relocation system were something else. The gantry could lift a DropShip that weighed up to 40,000 tons with little issue (assuming it was attached correctly). Meanwhile, the relocation system was a series of moving pads placed on rails. The pads would act as landing platforms for the DropShips, and could then hurry them into either the nearby DSD or one of the empty hangars.

With the first of the interesting facilities examined, next on the list was the BattleMech repair facility. While I had been rather surprised to find the structure here, that was more so because it wasn't mentioned on the Sarna page. It was, however, mentioned in the Claymore's records.

First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: SLDF BattleMech Repair Facility (BRF) COMCore Computer

Now this… was interesting. The COMCore was an advanced scheduling and help computer, basically a very simple AI. It could, through basic scans, get a basic understanding of how badly damaged a BattleMech was, figure out how long it would take to make sufficient repairs, and then inform crews to speed up the repair times.

Technically speaking, it was a very advanced virtual intelligence. It held a lot of similarities to the Cobalt Eye's AI, and had clearly been a part of the inspiration behind the ship's creation.

I hadn't heard of the technology before; I would have to ask the major about it when I got the chance.

Other than the dilapidated nearby town that had sadly burned down more than a century prior, the last remaining structure on the surface of the world was a massive DoME research complex.

The building had four levels, and there were another four of them below the ground. Columbus was the primary Terran Hegemony and then SLDF research outpost for the spinward Deep Periphery. It was used as a stopping-off point for a lot of expeditions. When one expedition returned, it would bring biological samples from newly surveyed worlds.

This facility had state-of-the art biological laboratories, everything from virology to botany. The third and fourth basement labs were a collection of massive indoor greenhouses (though the living material had unfortunately perished already).

First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Columbus Research Lab. Floor Plan

So, with the last of the surviving ground-level facilities visited, it was time to visit the last remaining structure on the planet. On the side of the nearby crater was a door. It had been among the first things opened up when the fleet had arrived, and the extensive tunnel network had been the primary time sink when ensuring that the world was safe.

The entrance to the world's Outpost Castle. The original Castles were absolutely massive underground fortresses that could easily safely house entire armies, from everything up to and including orbital bombardment.

While only a few hundred were truly confirmed to exist, there were actually hundreds more of them hidden just about anywhere you could imagine. The Terran Hegemony had gotten very good at building the structures in the territory of the other Star League member states, and most of them remained hidden even centuries after their construction.

The Outpost Castles were much smaller, but still very well hidden and just as well fortified as their larger counterparts.

Waiting for me at the entrance was a member of the Manassas' marine complement, standing alongside a small wheeled vehicle. He saluted once. "Sir. The major told me to escort you down to the Command and Control Bunker."

"Thank you. I appreciate your help." The marine nodded for me to enter the vehicle. My guards and I did so, and we began the drive down into the tunnels. The Outpost clearly had power, since the overhead lights were all on, so I could watch the absolutely massive tunnel fly past.

While the place definitely needed cleaning – dust and soot covered the floor and the walls – I couldn't find any damage whatsoever to the structure itself.

The driver took us through several tunnels, and past several very large but empty warehouses. It was a good thirty minutes of driving before we arrived at a pair of massive doors. Half a dozen vehicles were parked, with Marines standing at attention before the facility.

I got out of the vehicle, and the moment my foot touched the ground, a notification went off inside my head.

First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Outpost Castle. Command and Control Bunker (Columbus)

I stopped for a second to look over the information in my head before thanking the Marine for the ride over. He nodded back, and I made my way to the main entrance. I passed the marines, who all seemed to stand even straighter as I passed.

The inside of the bunker was heavily fortified and rather confusing to navigate. It was only with the help of the floor plans that had been added to my brain that I could navigate through the tight corridors and to the command center. There, I found two dozen people, the Major among them, all of them staring into terminals.

The Major turned to me and nodded as I entered. "Arthur. What's the state of the aboveground facilities?"

I shrugged. "It looks like the Service Depot will just require some minor repairs, same with the BattleMech Repair Facility. What about on your end?"

The Major shrugged. "We have full access, but the facility has been cleared out. Looks like this was one of the sites that got looted during Operation EXODUS."

I shrugged. "Ahh well. We still have a fully operational Outpost Brian, and the Research Facility on the surface is about as advanced as you're going to get from the Star League. Now, is there any chance I can help with going through these records?"

The Major smiled and gestured to one of the open terminals. I took a seat and got to work.

The facility had modest star maps for the Spinward Deep Periphery. While searching through the records, we also found reference to a seed vault up at the planet's North Pole that was supposed to have samples of every single plant that had been brought to the world since it was founded. That would be something worth checking out.

While we were searching through the Outpost's records, we had also confirmed that there was a set of three Jumpship Drydocks, each large enough to hold even a Monolith Class Jumpship, and one of them capable of holding even WarShips; the Star League Exploration Command's SLS Pioneer — a modified Avatar-Class Heavy Cruiser — had apparently been stationed at Columbus for several years, and its arrival had necessitated the addition of the WarShip repair yard.

The dry dock had been hidden inside the core of Columbus' small moon, and the Tel'tak had failed to detect its existence until a more in-depth scan of the moon was completed. With access to the Outpost Brian on the world's surface, we commanded the hidden entrance to open up.

The inside of the facility was just as empty as the warehouses on the planet, but all the infrastructure was intact, and frankly, in even better condition than the structures on the planet.

All of this was great, but there was one piece of information that was available within the Outpost Castles computer systems. Today's date: the fifth of April, 2977.

- - -
Author's Note:
Welcome to the Inner Sphere… sort of… not quite yet.
Read up to Chapter #77 on Discord: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]

 

[BlazingHyperion]

Except, well, bonesinging.
Honestly, Bonesinger and Machine Madness compliment each other to an insane degree.

Click to shrink...

I know... it would have been *so* perfect.

There are plenty of supernatural enegies in this galaxy shame so far mc hadn't acquired any but bonesinging tech also a awesome boost.

Click to shrink...

Sure, its just whether he finds any of them us purely up to luck.

 

[Saethyr]

Today's date: the fifth of April, 2977.

Click to shrink...

Huh. Third Succession War is in full swing, ComStar is ruled by a, possibly psychic, crazy bitch for two more years, when she will be replaced by a crazy moron responsible for Tripitz Affair and Holy Shroud 2, and Draconis Combine is ruled by a psycho. What a great time to be back in Inner Sphere!

Saddest thing is that the future greatest MILF of Inner Sphere, Katrina Steiner, is only one year old.

 

[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.

I watched ‌as the third XJF carefully hovered through the Stargate. So far, we had constructed 12 of the fighters, though we only had three cloaking devices to install at the moment, and we weren't quite ready to start mass-disassembling Tel'taks to get the parts. The ship would depart for the closest known Draconis Combine system; Cabanatuan.

In the meantime, several other ships were heading out in search of the Járnfolk, a collective of several worlds that fled from the Rasalhague area in the 26th century. They had access to JumpShips and were a relatively advanced society, but, as far as I was aware, they had little to no actual JumpShip production capability.

They also had contact with the telephone company (the hidden society that ruled the Inner Sphere), so we would have to be careful about what we showed them.

Of course, those ships wouldn't be leaving for at least a month. We were planning on making immediate upgrades to the orbital space station, and that involved shipping over a lot of steel from Dendred and Voragine, and we needed the ships in order to maneuver the massive metal scaffolding in orbit.

So, I watched on in silence as all three of the prototype fighter craft were carefully placed into the hangar bay of the Al'kesh. Then, with a whoosh, the ship was up and away. Cabanatuan was 190 light years away. It would take the ship two days to reach the world. Probably longer since its speed would decrease exponentially as it got closer to an HPG.

- - -
POV: Michael Dresden.

The Al'kesh exited hyperspace in orbit of Cabanatuan III. Even during the Star League, the world hadn't been large. The records showed that the world had a single site for all orbital traffic. The ship immediately cloaked, and we began scanning. It was only after about three hours that we finally found what was supposed to have once been the port.

It was an irradiated crater even now, hundreds of years later. Scans suggested that a few dozen thermonuclear weapons had been dropped on the site; why someone would do that to a backwater world like this was beyond me. After relaying this information back to command, we continued to search. After a full day, we failed to find anything but ancient signs of habitation.

Rather than checking nearby worlds, it was decided that we would travel directly to Bjarred, a prefecture capital within the Pesht Military District. I didn't know whether to be relieved or annoyed that the hyperspace interference increased as we approached the world.

It was at a distance of 15 light-years from Bjarred that we finally pulled out of hyperspace. The Jump Fighters would make the trip from here, though it certainly wouldn't be a comfortable trip for the pilot.

The colonial drive could only make jumps of a quarter light-year at a time, and with a recharge period of 15 minutes, it would take fifteen hours to reach the star system. They would lie low on the world for a few days (hopefully without attracting the attention of local authorities).

During this time, they would try to get history textbooks, entertainment, and technology. A lot of it likely wouldn't be purchasable through normal means, so they carried reprints of SLDF manuals, which Arthur had stated had some value in the Inner Sphere, as well as bars of pure Germanium - Specially manufactured boxes had allowed the metal to be safely transported during a jump.

If everything went well, they would spend a couple of days on the world and then rendezvous with us once they had gotten everything they needed.

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.

Standing across from me, on the other side of the boxing ring, was Rory McLeod. He was my father's second in command and one of the Special Forces operatives who worked with him during the Amaris Civil War.

When he was revived, he had joined the academy as a combat instructor. That's why I was here; today, he was my training partner.

Rory didn't look like much; he wasn't particularly tall, his brown hair and brown eyes would have seen him blend into most crowds.

That wasn't to say anything about his combat ability. Rory was among the most highly decorated Special Forces soldiers that the Terran Hegemony had ever produced.

Part of that was due to his being active during a time of significant strife and unrest – well before and during the Amaris Civil War– but the fact that he had survived despite all that was not insignificant in showing his abilities.

With a quick nod, we both started circling. I stared at Rory intently. While the exercise and the practice that came with this sort of training are excellent, there is a separate point to this.

For weeks now, I had been trying to use my newly acquired telepathy to read other people's minds, and I had been progressing slowly. That was until I recognized something. During combat, a professional would focus their entire mind on a single thing.

That realization had led to something rather interesting; if I focused, I could detect when an enemy was planning on throwing an attack at me. Because of how the human mind worked, those sorts of decisions were usually made well before the body started acting on them.

With just a single month of practice, I could now regularly detect not only when someone was about to throw a punch, but what type of punch it was going to be.

This came with the fortunate, or rather, unfortunate side effect that I could now defeat any opponent I went up against. Sure, if I were in combat, it would be great, but it felt almost like cheating when I knew that someone was going to do something before they themselves did.

It was still an ability I was doing my best to improve. Half my sparring time was spent practicing without the telepathic aid, and the other half was spent with it. My next goal was to identify where an opponent was planning to attack.

Suddenly, Rory came at me with a jab straight to the face. I blocked it and stepped to the side, just out of the way of his hook, all the while returning the jab. Through sheer skill and reflexes, he stepped out of the way.

Rory was one of the few who could actually defend themselves when I was reading his intentions; it made him the perfect training partner.

With the hour coming to a close, I called an end to the training session.

As I was on my way to my workshop, I was rather surprised to find myself called over to a meeting with Elder James, Ma'chello, and Orion Valc: a member of the Daedalus' marine complement, and their representative in the RoK.

As I entered the room, and Elder James nodded to me once. "Arthur, take a seat, please."

There was a rather somber atmosphere within the room as I entered. Elder James was the one to begin. "Arthur, we‌ need to move you off of ship design and into military development."

I blinked a few times. "Alright. What did you have in mind?"

Elder James continued. "A lot of our plans for the Inner Sphere require covert operations. There is no piece of technology better for that than the Ashrak Cloak. We need to use the technology safely and regularly."

He stopped to let me think for a moment. I had already considered the concept, and I had a pretty good idea about what to do. "It's doable, but it won't just be an arm attachment anymore. The person using it will need full body armor. The easiest way would be to make modifications to the Nighthawk's armor. Replace it with wraithsteel and naquadah alloy plates, and upgrade the power source. If I have Slightly Overweight's help, I can do a full upgrade of the entire chassis while I'm at it."

Elder James nodded‌. "That's great, but that's just the start of what we need. We need more infantry equipment. We have all this advanced naquadah-based technology, and a supply of the material. What we really need is a new primary infantry weapon to replace the Mauser, as well as a new sidearm. We need something with the range and firepower of the Mauser, the capacity of a Ma'tok Staff, and a weight that makes it usable by most soldiers. If possible, it should also have the stun capability of the Zat."

The more I heard, the further back I sat. I tapped the table a few times as I thought. "Sir, frankly, I don't think I can get you what you want. Right now we can't even produce the focusing rubies of the Mauser, let alone the type of crystals we'd need for Goa'uld energy weapons."

Ma'chello asked, "Were you not aware? I had a breakthrough in the crystal growth chambers. Construction of an initial prototype is already underway. It will be a couple of months before it is ready, but we should be capable of producing very basic Goa'uld crystals when the time comes."

I was speechless for several long moments before coughing. "What sort of crystals are we talking about?"

Ma'chello sighed dramatically. "Only the most basic focusing crystals, unfortunately; only those that are used in the Zat'Nik'Tel. "

My good mood dropped a bit, but only slightly. "That's more than enough. I can modify the Zat crystal to work as a laser focuser. We could have energy weapons with much higher intensity for little to no increase in energy cost."

Ma'chello chuckled. "It'll still be a few months before the device is completed… let's just say that growing Goa'uld crystals is not a simple process. I'm lucky I got to spend so much time talking with Egeria before she left."

I shrugged and turned back to Elder James. "Yes, in that case, new standard infantry weapons would be more than doable."

Orion nodded once as my excited muttering ended. "If we're going to be including cloaking fields in the power armor to begin with, then would it be possible to include some sort of gravity pack with the suit to allow it to maneuver in a zero-G environment?"

I blinked at him. "Easily…" I took a moment to think before continuing. "We could use some of the miniaturized Gravitic Pushers. The thing wouldn't be capable of taking off on a planet, but it should have no issue producing an excellent acceleration in space."

Elder James nodded. "Good. In that case, Arthur, I need you to put together a presentation for Arriston."

I blanked out as I stared at him for several long moments. Everyone stood up, and the Elder patted me once on my shoulder as I was on my way out.

I groaned and made my way back to my workshop. I was the first member of my team to arrive. With a crack of my knuckles, I sat down and got to work on creating a set of initial design models for a prototype pistol.

An unintended side effect of my fourth perk was that I frequently lost track of time; I constantly got lost in my work. I had even added an automated shut-down to my computer so that I would actually stop when my day ended. Today, I was interrupted by Slightly Overweight placing one of his tentacles on my shoulder.

It took me a few seconds to turn my eyes away from my screen and up towards the blue, snail-like structure that was Slightly Overweight's head.

I blinked a few times in confusion. Slightly Overweight wasn't usually the one to pull me out of my work. "Sorry. Did you need something?"

It was quiet for a few moments before it began to whistle. It had taken five months, but I was finally starting to understand the very basics of the Huragok language. Nonetheless, I grabbed my translation flexi and read what Slightly Overweight was saying. "I plan to create another Huragok."

I blinked a few more times. Well, it was time to take this to Arriston.

- - -
Author's Note:
Thanks to AmosTrask and simianpower for editing and proofreading.

Read up to Chapter #78 on Discord: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]

 

[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Azaryn. Cybrex Alpha.

For the first time, I took a breath from the wondrous air of the Cybrex Ringworld. I had heard of the Cybrex in passing; they were among the youngest of the extinct precursor civilizations. They predated my homeworld by 100,000 years, and yet their name still struck fear into the hearts of any who heard it.

To learn that they had changed so much as to let themselves be killed when discovered… I admired them for it. I had even learned that they were still out there, just waiting for a moment to return. Perhaps I would get the chance to meet them. Likely not for a while to come.

I carefully put my helmet back on. Cybrex Alpha's atmosphere was getting close to ready. My Terraformation Nuclei would not be enough to bring life to the entire structure, not unless it was already ready for life to spring forth. It would be a few months before it was ready.

So, I was waiting until the oceans had once more filled with water, and the air was once more breathable. Then, when everything was ready, I would return life to this dry world.

It would — without a doubt — be one of my grandest creations. I had already spent months planning the ecosystem and how it would come to life. Many of the people here had made very specific requests to include certain creatures native to their homeworld, and I had to decline many of them due to a lack of genetic samples, but I accommodated their requests where I could.

With a twist, I returned to the nearby habitat. As I stepped through the airlock, I removed my vacuum suit and returned to the embarkation room just in time for the hourly return trip to Kaelastrum.

From Kaelastrum, I joined the group already waiting, and took the Stargate to my next destination. The people of the RoK had started searching for two groups when hoping to terraform Cybrex Alpha. I was ‌second; the first was an old legend; the Baol.

They were a hive mind that had a history of at least a million years, but more than that, they were the first true ecological masters. My people were, without a doubt, the greatest masters of ecological control this galaxy had ever seen, but even we only achieved the heights we did through standing on the shoulders of giants; those giants were the Baol.

So, to learn that not only was there a Baol still alive out there in the galaxy, but they were suffering in constant agony? Well, it hurt me deeply.

There was more than that, though. The sarcophagus was the defining technology of the Goa'uld Empire. It allowed them to heal nearly any wound, extend their own lifespan, or even bring back the dead.

Such devices were only provided to the System Lords, and they were intrinsically linked with the Kara'kesh they all carried. If the Goa'uld who owned it was killed, the Sarcophagus would be destroyed as well.

The only group known to have secured a sarcophagus had been the Tok'ra – though rumors stated that the Knights of the Round Table had also captured a few during their war with Ra – and they had destroyed the device on sight.

If I had known that this group of humans had access to a working Sarcophagus, I might have thrown myself onto my knees to gain access to it. The chance to revive those who had been dead for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years was not something I could pass up.

The Curators would likely do the same. I had told the president as much, but he didn't seem in much of a hurry to release the information.

I took a deep breath of the fresh air; the world completely lacked any sort of industrial development, at least in the last hundred thousand years. That wasn't what I was here for.

I turned to the young man who stood before me and smiled. "You must be Eamon, no?"

He nodded. "Yes ma'am. I'm here to show you around the archeological site."

I smiled and gestured for him to lead the way. It was a short walk to a nearby riverbed, where a group of several hundred people were all carefully excavating a canyon wall. I looked at one particular fossil and recognized it immediately; a Baol.

I spent nearly six hours examining the various fossilized remains. It was only as I was helping with the return trip back through the Stargate that I finally realized something. I quickly found the young man who'd met me at the gate. "Excuse me, but how did you find this site?"

He continued carefully packing a fossil into a box while he spoke. "We detected the fossils from orbit; they're rich in a naquadah-based polymer that shows up on the Subspace scanners."

I raised an eyebrow. "Would it be possible for me to look at these scans?"

Eamon nodded and carefully packed up the box. He picked up a flexi and handed it over to me. I stared blankly at the scans. "This makes little sense. This polymer is normally used for camouflage. It shouldn't be showing up on scanners like this."

Eamon simply shrugged. "Well, you can see the results yourself. It lights up on my scanners like a bonfire."

I narrowed my eyes and walked over to a nearby sample. With as much delicacy as I could manage, I carefully pulled off a small chunk to examine the molecule in more detail. That's when I caught it — an unusual modification that caused the material to reflect all scanned waves. I exhaled. "I think they were drawing attention away from something else."

Eamon cocked his head in confusion. "What would they have been attracting attention away from?"

I smiled. "I don't know, but I suggest you spend some time scanning the opposite hemisphere. That could help."

I handed back the flexi and got back to work transferring the fossilized remains.

- - -
POV: Takumi Hayashi. Orbit of Bjarred.

It had been a few months since I had last flown an aerospace fighter, from my point of view anyway, and I'd certainly flown nothing like the XJF. Alistair's kid was certainly one hell of an engineer; that strange floating creature had apparently done a lot of work on the design as well. This bird flew like a work of art; I'd have to let them know what I thought of it.

I pressed the button to activate my radio and spoke. "This is alpha." I looked down at my display to confirm that all the values were in the green. "Confirm cloak activation."

The first reply came in quickly. "This is Beta. Cloak is active."

Shiori Fujita, known as Beta for the duration of this mission, was the youngest of the Cobalt Eye's field agents. Despite that, she had still been active during the second half of the Civil War.

The second reply came just after the first. "This is Gamma. Cloak is active."

Armin Kessler, known as Gamma for the duration of this mission, was the fourth highest rank of the Cobalt Eye's field agents, just below me. The original four members of the team were Alistair, Rory McLeod, Armin, and me. The four of us had been together since we had joined the Black Hearts. It was a real blow, learning that Alistair had died.

I nodded. I took a moment to marvel at the fact that we had actually arrived at our destination. When I had been told about the miniaturized jump drives, I had thought that it was a prank. That they could jump within not only a star's gravity well, but a planet's as well? To say that this would change the rules of war would be an understatement.

"Begin orbital scans. Once we've confirmed the state of Oasis V, we'll work from there."

Confirmations came through the radio. The next three hours were spent scanning the world for any signs of habitation. There was very little. The primary settlement was the world's capital, with most people living within just a thousand kilometers of the settlement.

A crater, visible from space, was conspicuous at the center of one of the world's three continents. During early colonization attempts, they had redirected a comet to provide a source of fresh water; it had struck the world with too much force and killed all the colonists. That continent was still known as Icefall.

Once we were satisfied with the planetary scans, we chose a landing place; a small forest. It was a few miles from the nearest inhabited area; perfect for us to get out and stretch our legs.

With a whoosh, all three of our prototypes came in and landed, minimizing the fighters' profiles. With a gentle whirring, my canopy opened up. I pressed the button to extend the ladder and then clambered down onto the ground.

The others did the same. "Grab something to eat and enjoy the next thirty minutes. We're moving on as soon as we're done."

Thirty minutes later, we all got back into the fighters and began full reconnaissance; our target was the world's Class-B HPG station.

During the reign of the Star League, a Class-B HPG would transmit a signal once every 12 hours. ComStar had apparently reduced that significantly during the Succession Wars that followed the Amaris Civil War. Now it was every couple of weeks. They had also given the leader of a particular HPG a title; Precentor.

The HPG facilities were also much more heavily guarded than they had been during the Star League era. The compound was completely isolated from the surrounding community. If ComStar wanted, they could easily isolate themselves from all external interference for years, if not longer.

Under normal circumstances, two days would not have been enough time to get proper intelligence on the facility. Luckily for us, we had an overwhelming technological advantage. The fighters could hover just a few feet above a building and remain totally undetected by those on the ground.

That was just the effect of the cloaks. The sheer computing power that the fighter had was enough to break through most standard encryption routines. It worked just fine for taking and decrypting standard messages, but the more heavily encrypted stuff used one-time pads, which were mathematically impossible to decrypt. The only reason those were ever decrypted was because of human error.

So, for two days, we carefully floated around the exterior of the ComStar facility, monitoring it for all communications, and we picked up a lot. As the last hours of our expected time on the planet ended, we had fully mapped the entire facility.

Now, it was time for the true infiltration mission to begin. During our scans of the facility, we had discovered a hidden tunnel we could use to infiltrate the primary office. Shiori and I landed just a few hundred meters away from the tunnel and exited our fighters. The starboard weapon compartments of all our fighters had been retrofitted to carry our Mark XV Nighthawk power armor.

We both took an hour to get changed while Armin stayed in the air, searching for any signs of discovery. When we were ready, we made our way to the entrance. It was well disguised as the side of a hill, and the only reason we knew it was there at all was because of the scans. The control panel was hidden beneath a thin layer of dirt. Opening it up, we had Armin fly directly over us and hooked a connector straight into the internal systems.

Within thirty seconds, the door was unlocked, and all the security features were deactivated. The instant the door was opened, Shiori and I both hopped straight down into the tunnel and started running.

The thing that made the Mark XV Nighthawk so special was the Noise Canceller. It included speakers that covered the entire exterior of the exoskeleton that would produce interference waves to dampen or entirely prevent any sound being produced. It could even deafen the sound of gunfire, assuming the person wearing the armor wasn't using a laser weapon.

At the other end, the hidden hatch that was directly behind the Precentor's desk opened up. We both clambered out, and I moved to cover the door while Shiori grabbed ‌a flexi and plugged it directly into the Precentor's terminal.

We had been watching this office for the past two days, and we had been lucky enough to see the Precentor input his own passcodes twice. Within a few seconds, we were into the system, and Shiori began downloading everything. The total expected time was still thirty minutes.

It was approximately ten minutes into the download that we got a message from Armin. "The Precentor is awake. She's on her way to you."

I barely held back a curse. "Anyone else with her?" The reply was immediate. "No."

Shiori quickly hid herself behind the desk, and I moved myself behind the door. Within twenty seconds, the Precentor, a young lady, walked through the door. She stepped towards her desk while I carefully shut the door behind her. The sound of the hinge groaning must have tipped her off, and she turned towards me. She barely saw the metal sheen of my helmet as the Zat I carried went off, stunning her.

I rushed forward to grab her, and with Shiori's help, we placed her in her chair. The next twenty minutes passed uneventfully. The download included everything from ComStar's historical files to religious texts, to random messages sent by the acolytes who lived within the compound. I skimmed through some of the material, and I was truly flabbergasted by some of it.

I quickly shook it off. We packed up our kit and exited through the hidden hatch placed on the floor. We rushed back through the tunnels, closed off the system behind us, and locked everything back up. Now all we could do was hope that the Precenter believed she'd had a bad dream.

We took the thirty minutes necessary to get ourselves out of our power armor, loaded it back into the storage bay, and then jumped back into the cockpit of the fighter. From orbit, it would be another 60 jumps till we could reach the rendezvous point. Then we'd be home free.

- - -
Author's Note:
Now, we have officially arrived in the Inner Sphere.


Thanks to [NOH]AmosTrask, Yunru, and simianpower for proof reading and editing.
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[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.

President Arriston sat behind his desk, staring at me and Slightly Overweight, who was floating at my side. Arriston smiled at the Huragok. "You wished to speak with me?"

Slightly Overweight whistled loudly, and both Arriston and I read from our flexis. "I wish to produce more Huragok, but I would like assurances that my children will be treated well."

Arriston blinked and smiled. "Of course; you've only been with us for a few months now, and you've already cut many of our more ambitious engineering projects in half. I will give any assurances that are within my power."

Slightly Overweight wasted no time in stating his requirements. Some things were simple; equal treatment under the law and citizenship being the most obvious. Then there were the more specific requests.

A huragok shouldn't be forced to fight against their will; Slightly Overweight was not asking for immunity from conscription, but for immunity from frontline combat; a Huragok would usually be more than happy to work on any engineering project, and if that meant working on a military project, then so be it.

A Huragok should be provided sufficient material so that it can work on engineering projects; Slightly Overweight had to explain that this was vital to the wellbeing of a Huragok; those that could not work typically suffered from mental instability which could persist for years.

His last request was reproductive autonomy. Huragok could reproduce asexually, but doing so too frequently had deadly consequences. According to Slightly Overweight, the agreed upon maximum was three, any more than that usually resulted in the parent Huragok dying within days.

Arriston nodded as he read the last of the requests. "These should all be doable. Can you give me a few days to get this confirmed with the others?"

Slightly Overweight whistled in affirmation. "Take all the time you need."

Next, we just had to wait a few hours for Arriston to do his thing. Of course, this was precisely when we were interrupted by the first big breakthrough in the search for the Last Baol.

Both Slightly Overweight and I had been requested, so we took the stargate to the world where the Baol expedition was underway. We found ourselves in the middle of nowhere, with plains extending far beyond the horizon.

The ground near the stargate was freshly unearthed, ‌the device having just been moved. A few hundred meters before us was a massive hole in the ground. It had clearly been made in just the last few hours; in the hole, a couple hundred people were busy digging away.

Eamon was waiting for us and approached the moment he saw us. He reached out his hand as he walked up to me. "Arthur. It's good to see you."

I smiled and took his hand. "Same here. It's been more than a year now, hasn't it?"

He nodded. "It has. Come on, let me show you what we've found."

He led the way into one of the Al'kesh parked nearby. We walked up the ramp and into one of the ship's internal storage rooms. A series of tables had been placed in the room, and there was a collection of boxes open on each of the tables.

I raised an eyebrow, but approached the first box. Inside was a strangely shaped piece of stone. It almost looked like a Compad, but fossilized. My head snapped back to Eamon. "Is this what I think it is?"

Eamon gestured at the tablet. "Why don't you tell me; you're the expert on alien technology."

With care, I placed my hand on the tablet. The Celestial Forge immediately sent a notification through my head. I touched the next few fossils so that I could get the entire blueprint.

First Perk Activated. Complete Blueprint Acquired: Baol Biocomputer. Logic Nodes, Memory Lattice, Baol Root Interface, Cambium Self-Repair Layer,

I was fascinated by the device. The biocomputer wasn't really a single uniform device. Each of the individual machines was slightly different; some had more computing ability, some had more memory, and some were more durable. The individual computer must have been grown for whatever individual need it was required for.

I looked through the remaining few samples and spoke to Slightly Overweight, who had been following beside me. "I think some of these may have intact data. We're going to have to break some of them open."

I turned back to Eamon. "We're going to take these back and start analyzing them."

He nodded. "Understood. I'll have some people transport them back to Kaelastrum. We're still finding these things, so I expect that we'll find at least a few more."

I closed the lid of the most intact of the devices and prepared to return to Kaelastrum, only to stop when I had a thought. "These were only used by the very youngest Baol, those who had yet to fully connect with the rest of the hive."

A sad smile graced Eamon's lips for a few moments. "Yeah. We found a site on the other side of the planet where a bunch of adult Baol turned themselves into a beacon. They tried to attract the Grunurs' attention away from the seedlings. It didn't work, but they certainly tried."

I sighed and returned through the stargate. I requisitioned one of the various empty rooms that had been built into the cliff side, and we got to work. Slightly Overweight immediately started slowly deconstructing the device so that he could get an understanding of how it worked, but he was clearly unfamiliar with organic technology.

About 20 minutes later, the rest of the fossils were brought into the room. I had been hoping that with Slightly Overweight's help, we could have a translation program ready in a couple of minutes, but it looked like the deconstruction work would take a few hours at bare minimum.

- - -
POV: James Cromwell. A day later.

I was utterly speechless. Just three days earlier, the last member of the Manassas crew had been revived. My good mood had lasted until just a few hours ago when ST01 had returned with the data they had recovered from ComStar.

The HPG was developed during the Star League's so-called "Good Years" (2600 to 2650) as a method to send communications at faster than light speeds. They replaced the previous "pony express" method, where all communications had to be sent via courier ship.

By the time of the Amaris Civil War in 2766, the Star League Communication Network, known as SLCOMMNET, had an HPG station on every inhabited world in the Inner Sphere and the Periphery. The network was heavily damaged during the Civil War.

Before Operation EXODUS in 2784 and the start of the Succession Wars, the last act of the Star League council was the selection of Jerome Blake to restore the HPG network.

The last I had heard of it as we were leaving the Inner Sphere, he was undertaking that Herculean task. He had certainly succeeded. In 2785, he had taken control of Terra with the support of what SLDF troops remained in the Inner Sphere and declared the world neutral territory.

The Great Houses were all too busy staring warily at each other to risk taking back Terra. So, ComStar was founded. With Jerome Blake's death in 2819, Conrad Toyama took over; he turned the organization into a religious order, named Blake a saint, and turned the position of "Prime Administrator" into the "Primus". Reading ComStar's history was like reading a joke, with each successive Primus being more fanatical than the last.

What I was reading was just the material that was circulated among the lower echelons; those who didn't know ComStar's true secrets, and even this stuff revealed some truly brutal truths if you just read between the lines.

They worshiped the machines they worked on; performing religious rites to sanctify them. As far as I could tell, they truly believed those rites had an actual effect.

There was an uncanny resemblance to what I had read of the Adeptus Mechanicus. While ComStar worshiped the individual machines rather than the concept of a machine god, they both had very similar rituals, attire and aesthetic.

Even worse, we knew the warp existed, or at least some version of it. There was a genuine chance that a warp entity that was brought into existence through worship was supporting ComStar's endeavors in the Inner Sphere.

There were a lot of unanswered questions, and every possible answer just created more questions.

With a deep breath, I turned off the flexi and sat back in my chair. Arthur's meta-knowledge had been correct in a lot of places, but there had also been a lot of errors. The videos that the Asgard had pulled from Arthur's mind — both the Tex Talks and the Battletech: Lore & History videos — had been incredibly detailed, and both had offered a significant insight into the Inner Sphere.

What truly frightened me, however, was that day by day and hour by hour, all of it was looking to be more and more real.

It had been everything and more that Kerensky had feared would come to pass when he put Operation EXODUS into motion. Even worse, if the information was true, then the same thing had happened to the Exodus remnants, and for them it had been even worse.

I let out a sigh; Arriston would want a presentation on what had been recovered. Of course, all of my internal musings were interrupted when one of Arriston's aides barged into the room. "The president has asked me to inform you that the Asgard have made contact and are asking for a meeting."

I immediately stood up and rushed past the aide. Within moments, I was in the president's office. A video displaying an Asgard was on the screen. I still couldn't tell them apart, despite my best efforts to distinguish their appearances.

As I took a seat, the Asgard inclined his head slightly. "Since our last meeting, we have eradicated the Replicator threat. Our fleet will pass through the Milky Way, and we hope for you to introduce us to the Curator Enclave, the Tok'ra, as well as the people of Pangar."

Arriston turned to one of his aides. "Go get the other staff. We're going to be contacting as many people as we can." He rushed out of the room as quickly as he could, and Arriston nodded. "We'll see what we can do."

The Asgard, whom I assumed to be Thor, continued. "We owe your people a great debt. We do not forget our obligations. We wish to aid your people however we can."

I smiled bitterly. "You've already told us you can't offer us anything. What are you permitted to do?"

"My previous inability to aid you was because of a lack of resources. We are more than capable of assisting you in transferring personnel from your homeworld. Should you need it, we can also move your vessels anywhere in the Milky Way galaxy."

I immediately turned to Arriston and whispered in his ear. "We didn't send nearly enough vessels on the initial expedition to the Inner Sphere. We could move the Manassas and the Cobalt Eye back to the Inner Sphere immediately."

Arriston nodded and turned back to Thor. "To begin with, we request a copy of the Protected Planet's Treaty, but other than that we need a few hours to figure out what we need moved."

The flexi connected to the communication stone flashed, and Thor continued. "I have transmitted the text of the Protected Planet's Treaty. Our fleet is still undergoing repairs. It will be three days before they are ready to depart. Contact us once you know what you require from us."

With that, Thor ended the call, and both Arriston and I stood up. Arriston nodded at me. "Gather the command staff. I'll wrangle the civilian governments. We'll have to comb through the treaty."

I immediately nodded in affirmation and then took off down the hallway. Again, there was more work to do.

- - -
Author's Note:
Welp, the Asgard are making their first move, and the search for the Last Baol is getting closer.
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[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Supreme Commander Thor. Othalla, Asgard Homeworld.

With a flash of light, I took my place on the Asgard High Council. I was second to arrive this time, with the Chief Archon already in his seat as I looked around. Over the next several seconds, all the other seats filled in.

The Chief Archon nodded as Penegal took his place on the council as the last to arrive. "The Replicators have been removed. Our next immediate threat is the hive mind known as the Tyranids."

The Chief Archon turned to me, and I began my report. "The fleet is undergoing repairs. It will be ready to leave in three days. I plan to take the fleet through Avalon to aid the Kaelastrians before continuing on to the current Tyranid fleets."

I had nothing further to report, so next was Penegal. "I have begun a survey effort to examine our lost colonies. It currently appears that all planets have been lost. I will dispatch my vessels to retrieve the group of rogue Asgard in the Pegasus Galaxy once my surveys are complete."

Next up was Freyr. "We have completed the retrofits of the Ion Guns to our current fleet, as well as begun construction on the new shipyards; they will be ready to begin ship construction in 388 days."

He was silent for a moment as he dragged one stone across his terminal. A set of three new ship designs appeared before each of us. "These are the current designs we are considering."

The first he showed was the basic design that I'd seen from Arthur; in the alternate timeline it was known as the O'Neill Class after Jack O'Neill. "This will be the direct replacement of the current Bilskirnir Class."

Spoiler: Asgard Battleship

https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/b626d224-cb34-4c3e-88dc-9ffda8ff07be/denzoae-319bb593-f097-4a59-a9b3-55b371cdbe2f.png/v1/fill/w_1192,h_670,q_70,strp/asgard_o_neill_class_mothership_v2_multi_view_by_dolynick_denzoae-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MjE2MCIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi9iNjI2ZDIyNC1jYjM0LTRjM2UtODhkYy05ZmZkYThmZjA3YmUvZGVuem9hZS0zMTliYjU5My1mMDk3LTRhNTktYTliMy01NWIzNzFjZGJlMmYucG5nIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTM4NDAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.IuHVU-331Mm5Hr06IzkNamS_Www6mphlc4d-PaNm0Q4

The second ship was smaller, with a smaller weapons complement, but just looking at the most basic specifications, I had no doubt that it would fly circles around the Bilskirnir class. Freyr continued, "This cruiser will replace the current Odin Class Science Vessels. Its armaments have been significantly enhanced from that of the Odin class. With their abundant specialized sensors these vessels will be able to serve as the scouts and picket ships of our fleets, alongside their primary purpose as science vessels."

Spoiler: Asgard Cruiser

https://www.moddb.com/mods/stargate-invasion/images/asgard-valkyrie-cruiser-render-4

https://www.moddb.com/mods/stargate-invasion/images/asgard-valkyrie-cruiser1#imagebox

The third ship was entirely different. It was nearly five kilometers in length with a set of secondary cannons on the end of each pylon, but most notable was a void that ran down the center of the vessel. It was clearly meant for something that the Asgard hadn't used in nearly a million years, a spinal weapon, though the weapon itself clearly hadn't been designed quite yet.

During that entire time, we hadn't discovered an enemy who couldn't be defeated with a couple of shots from our normal weapons. We all turned to Freyr, who continued. "The release of the Avalon Local Group Quarantine has led to the uncovering of numerous threats. Such threats require a change in strategy."

He was silent for a moment. "This is a Titan; it is meant to destroy the greatest threats to the Asgard people should the time arise."

Spoiler: Asgard Titan

https://i.pinimg.com/1200x/f3/5c/10/f35c105f7b5c5cef7124cf1c36a93316.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/1200x/80/f8/6c/80f86c0fc172c4f5c79f2c4cc24b6a81.jpg

We examined the designs in silence. I sighed. "I will support this endeavor. Freyr is correct; the number of threats we face continues to increase. If we wish to continue our mission, then more powerful vessels are required."

There were a round of affirmatives, and finally the Chief Archon nodded. "Construction is approved. Begin prototyping. You will have all the resources you require."

The last of the high council to step up was Assir. "I have been examining the technologies which were recovered from the individual known as Sinclair. While most of the technology is inferior to our own, there are a few things at which they excel."

The first thing he pulled up was the Stasis Tube. "Their stasis technology is approximately twice as effective as our own, and four times as effective as the Lantean equivalent. They have a series of procedures to prepare a body for Stasis, which drastically increases the effectiveness and ease of use. I am recommending full updates for all Asgard stasis technology."

The second thing he pulled up was a Terran Particle Projector Cannon. "While not nearly as advanced as our own, these devices have drastically reduced power requirements for marginally reduced firepower. I believe that ‌further examination of this device could allow us to increase the power of our own ion guns."

Freyr looked intrigued and quickly began examining the blueprint on the display. In the meantime, Assir continued. The next thing he pulled up was a Life Cradle Unit, a precursor to the Terran Iron Womb. "These devices allow ‌even a heavily mutilated creature to remain alive. I believe that using such technology would allow us to more easily advance our own attempts to rebuild our genome. I have already begun producing prototypes to advance this technology."

With that, all of us had completed our reports. The Chief Archon looked around and nodded. "Then we are adjourned."

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair. The 24th of April, 2977.

By the time Slightly Overweight and I had finished ‌deciphering the Baol Biocomputer, it was early in the morning of the 20th.

By then, the rest of the city was abuzz with activity at the news; an Asgard fleet would pass through the Milky Way, and they would stop here before continuing on.

When Thor had first come to visit, it had been kept a secret to prevent a panic. Of course, people still found out when they noticed the set of 1.5 kilometer long Bilskirnir class vessels in orbit.

Luckily, the people trusted and had faith in the Dendredan leadership and didn't start fleeing for their lives. When the Asgard ships left and the truth of the visit was announced, it actually relieved many people. For their entire history, the Dendredans had believed that the only major power in the galaxy was the Goa'uld. Discovering that another race that had warred with them existed and had made contact was rather reassuring.

Now, it wasn't just three ships; there would be 820 vessels, nearly seventy percent of the entire Asgard fleet. So, with bated breath, we watched as the first of the Asgard vessels appeared out of hyperspace.

Over ten seconds, almost a thousand individual holes in reality cracked open above our heads. Individually, you might notice a slight flash from the ground, but together the collective show was enough to produce a light blue glow that could rival the sun. It was unlike anything I had ever seen, and I had no doubt that the sight would remain in the minds of everyone who had been present for years.

We moved away from the balcony as Thor once more materialized in the office. Arriston smiled. "Welcome back."

Thor didn't reply. "We have little time. How can we aid you?"

Having gotten used to the brisk mannerisms of the Asgard, Arriston quickly picked up his Flexi and began reading. "First off, we'd like your help with moving the remaining people off of Dendred. There are approximately 450,000 people still there. We have the accommodations ready, though it'll likely be a rough few months with getting that many people moved in at once."

Thor nodded. "I will dispatch a dozen Bilskirnir to aid in transferring your people."

Arriston nodded. "I'll have my people on Dendred prepare them for their arrival. Next is vessel movement."

Arriston grabbed a second flexi and handed it over to Thor. "This is the list of vessels and where we need them moved. For our own vessels, they all have crews ready."

Thor quickly looked through the list. As he reached the bottom, he pointed out one particular vessel. "What of this vessel?"

Arriston nodded. "That would be Azaryn's Vivarium. She would like her ship moved to the Cybrex Alpha Star System."

Arriston continued when Thor said nothing. "Now, we've been looking through the terms of the Protected Planets Treaty. While ‌the Asgard may not give technology to a civilization within the borders of the Goa'uld Empire, there are no constraints on whom they may trade with. Would it be possible for us to sell your people licenses for our knowledge and technology in exchange for Asgard technology?"

Thor was quiet for several moments as he considered the president's words. "That would be within the terms of the Protected Planets Treaty."

The unspoken tension in the room seemed to drain away from everyone. "Excellent. We have some ideas for what we can provide, but I'm afraid it isn't very much."

Thor nodded. "We have already applied your HPG technology for our own means, but you have also offered us the location of the Dakara Device, and introductions to the others here in Avalon."

Arriston nodded and turned to Ma'chello, who stepped forward. "Our most immediate requirement is for some crystal growth chambers."

Thor seemed to think for a moment. "The Asgard structures used for mass production are too large to be moved, and our replicators are strategic assets. We can instead offer the know-how and schematics for Goa'uld growth chambers."

Ma'chello frowned. "Could we get the schematics for your or even Lantean designs?"

Thor's response was immediate. "I could provide them if you wish, but you would be incapable of producing or maintaining them."

Ma'chello looked at Arriston and just nodded at him; Arriston smiled in response. "Alright then, schematics for Goa'uld chambers would be excellent."

In response, an Asgard data stone appeared on Arriston's desk; Ma'chello looked at it, shrugged, and continued. "We need some way to detect HPGs and Jump Drive activations."

This time, Thor agreed immediately. "We can provide several Asgard subspace oscillation monitors, as well as the related schematics."

Ma'chello nodded happily. I watched him slide to the next page of requests. "Do you have any Lantean technology?"

Once more, an Asgard data stone appeared on the table. Ma'chello tapped it to his flexi and began looking through the list. His eyes seemed to widen as his eyes continued to slide downward. "We're going to need some time to sort through this."

Thor simply nodded. "You have a few days before we leave."

Immediately, a sizable section of the Asgard fleet once more entered hyperspace. Arriston nodded. "With that out of the way, we have the representatives of the Curator Order ready to meet with you on Dendred. I can escort you to the Stargate, or will you be traveling by ship?"

"Stargate. My ship will meet us there. Will you permit me to beam us to the gate?" Arriston nodded in the affirmative, and the two of them were gone.

Once more, the room returned to calm. The Asgard, despite their diminutive stature, were oddly threatening. Just the fact that they could fight the Goa'uld to a standstill was already a massive boost to morale.

I returned to work, but I was interrupted by the team that had worked with me on the XJF project. They had come for my opinion on their current project, an autonomous drone that could be sent through a Stargate.

The design was elegant, and it made good use of existing designs and technology, but both Slightly Overweight and I agreed it had room for improvement, so we spent a day helping the design team with some final polishes to the design.

The next day, the Lantean technology that had been traded with the Asgard arrived; a pair of Lantean gateships, also known as Puddle Jumpers in Stargate: Atlantis, alongside a single depleted ZPM.

It was around this time that the last of the Dendredans were brought to Kaelastrum, alongside 12 Tel'tak and 24 Al'kesh. Much more exciting than all of this was that Astrocreator Azaryn's Vivarium — her absolutely massive garden ship — had finally reached the Cybrex Alpha star system.

That the Manassas was now within range of the Inner Sphere only served to bolster my excitement.

- - -
Author's Note:
The Asgard are doing things!
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