Hexcalibur
Know what you're doing yet?
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Ah, paperwork. That encounter will produce a lot of paperwork alright.
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Starborn Smith [Massive Scifi MultiFusion / Celestial Forge]
- Thread starter BlazingHyperion
- Start date
Chapter #71: Fleet Reshuffle
New
BlazingHyperion
Getting sticky.
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2024
- Messages
- 89
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- 1,872
- - -
POV: Michael Dresden. Epsilon Pegasus system, Columbus (Epsilon Pegasus IV).
I watched from orbit as a few dozen Bilskirnir-class Asgard vessels pulled out of hyperspace. Each of them pulled at least one Goa'uld vessel. Then the large hole in Hyperspace opened, and out came several more Bilskirnir, as well as the station that had been under construction in orbit of Dendred.
Docked in the station's various ribcage-like drydock, were the Manassas, the Cobalt Eye, the Daedalus, and the Deimos.
Now stationed here on Epsilon Pegasus were 12 Tel'tak, 54 Al'kesh, and 14 Cheops, though the Cheops hyperdrives had been disabled to prevent them from going off like a beacon to Ra's forces. The Cheops were primarily troop transporters, so they would be excellent for moving large quantities of resources in system.
The plains near the Columbus facility had been cleared out to make room for the vessels to land. Now we just had to get them down onto the ground in an orderly fashion.
I clicked on my radio. "This is Columbus Command. All RoK ships confirm status."
Over the next few minutes, the status of all the ships was confirmed, and they were ordered to land in their predesignated locations. If used effectively, any of these ships would be capable of crippling the Inner Sphere nations; together, they could have been a credible threat to the SLDF.
It was only after all the ships had been sorted that I contacted the Asgard in command of the fleet. "Thank you for escorting our ships. We appreciate your assistance."
A hologram appeared, taking the appearance of an unfamiliar Asgard. "I am Magni. Is everything in order?"
I smiled and nodded. "Yes. I just wanted to thank you for your aid and wish you luck."
The Asgard nodded once. "Then we will depart. We appreciate your wishes. We will certainly need it in the battles to come."
With that, as one, the Asgard ships turned away and once more entered hyperspace.
- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair. Kaelastrum.
I stared greedily at the pieces of Lantean and Asgard technology. First up was the collection of 60 short-range Asgard communication stones, with "short range" for the Asgard being approximately 5 million light-years.
Genuinely, the most interesting part about the stone was the connector; it allowed it to interface with nearly any piece of advanced computer equipment. It wasn't something I would be capable of reproducing soon, but it certainly gave me some ideas.
The next two things were almost as interesting. First were a pair of two Lantean gateships; each of them was completely depowered, but that hopefully wouldn't be an issue once I got the blueprint for them.
I had been hoping to get the blueprints for the ship's cloak, but this was pretty useful as well. At least, my understanding of the ship's power systems gave me some insight into how the Lantean's distributed power within their ships, and I now knew how to recharge the ship.
There was one last piece of technology that I finally had access to; sitting on a nearby table was a black container. I walked over and undid the clasps holding the thing closed; lying there inside was a single depleted ZPM.
Without any hesitation, I reached my hand down to poke it.
I pursed my lips. I knew the broad strokes of how the ZPM worked, but having that knowledge stuffed into my mind was an entirely unique experience. Within each ZPM was a miniature universe. The extractor mechanism could transform that power into just about any type of energy required and transfer it to a mechanism that would accept it.
All things considered, I was rather disappointed with what I had gotten from the ZPM. If I were to guess, the remaining systems of the ZPM would all be focused on ensuring that the universe that was stuffed into the thing wasn't released.
In essence, the ZPM was literally just a bottle with a hole in it; to "charge" the device would likely cost almost the same as just building a fresh ZPM. I had no doubt that it was possible, but a depleted ZPM itself wasn't all that valuable without the facility that was used to stick the miniature universe inside of it.
I let out a sigh and closed the box. Turning back to Slightly Overweight, I nodded. "Alright, let's get these Jumpers recharged."
Slightly Overweight whistled in response and approached the Jumper. I also pulled out the Diagnostic Tool and began scanning the exterior of the Puddle Jumper. The Diagnostic Tool hadn't been all that useful, all things considered. While it had the best small-scale scanners I'd come across, the "list of small-scale scanners I've encountered" was not very large.
That being said, Ma'chello was pretty sure he could grow critical parts with the upcoming growth chambers, though that was still a few months away at best. Once it was ready though, we would make it standard issue for all engineers and engineering teams. It was expected to reduce repair times on SLDF equipment by at least 30%.
With a deep breath, I began scanning the exterior of the Puddle Jumper. I knew there was a way to release the door in case of a power loss. With the scanner, it took about five minutes to find it and activate it from the outside.
I reverently stepped into the absolutely ancient machine; other than the layer of dust, it looked brand new. With a smile on my face, I opened up one of the floor panels to find a power connector. "Alright then, let's get this baby flying again."
- - -
The next day.
With the movement of the final RoK vessels completed, the time had come for the Asgard to depart. Thor and President Arriston, alongside several others, were all waiting to see off the Asgard.
Arriston stepped forward as Thor waited. "Thank you for waiting. Before you leave, I wanted to thank you and your people for all your help."
Thor inclined his head slightly. "You have aided the Asgard with little expectation in return. We are returning the favor."
Arriston smiled. "Well, thank you. We wish you the best of luck with your fight against the Tyranids."
Thor stared at Arriston for a few seconds before replying. "Thank you." With a flash of light, Thor was gone. In orbit, the Asgard fleet once more entered hyperspace and were quickly on their way out of the Milky Way galaxy.
- - -
POV: James Cromwell.
Michael Dresden had been going over the information we had of Inner Sphere installations for weeks. Now that he actually had the ships to send full-scale expeditions, he had wasted no time in calling us here to discuss his plans. Every member of the cabinet was here, and most of the military leaders as well.
Michael had been named the leader of the Inner Sphere Expedition, and he would be stationed on Columbus for the foreseeable future to watch over everything happening on world. So, as he entered the room, he wasted no time. "Currently, we need ships capable of entering and operating within the Inner Sphere. While the Goa'uld ships work, they are severely limited by HPG coverage. We cannot enter most inhabited systems. We need JumpShips."
The room darkened slightly, and a hologram of the Inner Sphere appeared. It quickly zoomed in on a particular set of systems. I had been unaware of this periphery state's existence during my time in the SLDF, but I was unsurprised when I learned of it. "The Tortuga Dominions; they are a 'pirate state' that survives by raiding their neighbors, namely the Federated Suns and the Taurian Concordat. They have access to a relatively large fleet of JumpShips and DropShips."
He smiled mischievously. "In other words, we can take their ships without having to worry about anyone in the Inner Sphere caring."
I heard a few people chuckle a bit, but Michael's smile disappeared as he continued. "The issue is that the Pirates of Tortuga are also slavers. The worlds of the Dominions are well developed and have significant civilian and slave populations. In fact, a century from now, the capital world of the Dominions will have a population greater than a million people. Taking their fleet likely means leaving hundreds of thousands of people to die. If we wanted to take their ships, we would have to conquer their worlds if we wanted to keep the people from starving."
I raised an eyebrow. "That's in a century. What's the current population of the world?"
Michael nodded. "That's the first mission. I'd like to send scouting missions to the Tortuga Dominions. Once we have a good understanding of the Dominions, we can expand and send scouting missions to all the periphery states. Now, the next few missions are less worrisome."
The map of the Tortuga Dominions zoomed out to display the entire Inner Sphere. Most of the star systems were greyed out, but about a dozen systems were highlighted; I recognized them as the major 'lostech' finds of the next century. There were other sites that we knew of due to the records onboard the Claymore, but what had happened to many of those in the preceding 193 years was unknown. On the other hand, we had a good idea of what had happened to these facilities.
Michael Dresden nodded towards the map as everyone piled around. "This map shows the current locations of major 'Lost Tech' or 'LosTech' discoveries from the next several decades."
"There are three sites that I plan to take before anything else." First, he pointed to an area near the system of Wotan. "Camelot Command. We know that the facility was emptied, but all the infrastructure is still intact. That includes automated production facilities, WarShip repair yards, basically anything you could need from a forward operating base. According to Arthur, the facility won't be discovered for another century. The facility would be a perfect base in Lyran Commonwealth space."
His finger moved down and landed on the New Dallas system. "Arthur's memories showed us six memory cores that survived to the modern day. Of those, five of them are on populated planets with an active HPG. The only one that is likely to be accessible is the one on New Dallas. The world itself was bombed during the Amaris Civil War; most of the planet is supposedly just an irradiated ruin, but the memory core is hidden beneath the planetary militia barracks. Assuming that the HPG that ComStar uses to report anything in the system doesn't activate regularly, that means this core is the only one we stand a chance of retrieving at the moment."
Finally, his finger moved down to New Vandenberg. "Somewhere near the New Vandenberg system is the SLS Tripitz. If we don't salvage it ourselves, then in the next year, the ship will be discovered by the Taurian Concordat, and it will be destroyed by ComStar not long after."
Michael pursed his lips this time. "While the ship itself is valuable, what is of particular note is that this ship was confirmed KIA during the Civil War. According to the late Alistair, as well as Arthur's memories, it was carrying the two infant children of Richard Cameron II."
There was a moment of silence before Arriston spoke. "The ships stationed at Epsilon Pegasus are for you to do with as you see fit. If you believe that this is what they should be used for, then I will not contradict you."
Michael nodded. "Even without the information about the Camerons, just the ship alone is already a significant asset. Letting it be destroyed is not something I'm interested in allowing."
"Then I approve. Your missions are a go." It was at this moment that Arthur physically smacked himself. We all turned to him as his hand dragged itself down his face. "We should have gotten the Asgard's help with retrieving the ships."
A collective round of groans filled the room.
- - -
Author's Note:
Howdy Everyone!
I'm a day late on this second chapter. Sorry about that. This chapter originally included a map which showed the locations of the lostech finds with the help of this site: https://www.gruese.de/innersphere/
However, since this chapter was first released, I started an article over on sarna.net to start collating a lot of the known LosTech caches. If you want to check that out, then you can below. If you know anything I've missed (and there are more than a couple, since I'm still adding two or three to the list every couple of days) then please let me know. I'd appreciate it greatly, or better yet, you can add to it yourself. Just make sure to find the source for the find. If you don't know it for sure, then you can head over to the sarna discord server and a lot of people will be more than happy to help.
https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Essay:Known_Lostech_Discoveries
Also, my discord; read up to Chapter #83: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]
POV: Michael Dresden. Epsilon Pegasus system, Columbus (Epsilon Pegasus IV).
I watched from orbit as a few dozen Bilskirnir-class Asgard vessels pulled out of hyperspace. Each of them pulled at least one Goa'uld vessel. Then the large hole in Hyperspace opened, and out came several more Bilskirnir, as well as the station that had been under construction in orbit of Dendred.
Docked in the station's various ribcage-like drydock, were the Manassas, the Cobalt Eye, the Daedalus, and the Deimos.
Now stationed here on Epsilon Pegasus were 12 Tel'tak, 54 Al'kesh, and 14 Cheops, though the Cheops hyperdrives had been disabled to prevent them from going off like a beacon to Ra's forces. The Cheops were primarily troop transporters, so they would be excellent for moving large quantities of resources in system.
The plains near the Columbus facility had been cleared out to make room for the vessels to land. Now we just had to get them down onto the ground in an orderly fashion.
I clicked on my radio. "This is Columbus Command. All RoK ships confirm status."
Over the next few minutes, the status of all the ships was confirmed, and they were ordered to land in their predesignated locations. If used effectively, any of these ships would be capable of crippling the Inner Sphere nations; together, they could have been a credible threat to the SLDF.
It was only after all the ships had been sorted that I contacted the Asgard in command of the fleet. "Thank you for escorting our ships. We appreciate your assistance."
A hologram appeared, taking the appearance of an unfamiliar Asgard. "I am Magni. Is everything in order?"
I smiled and nodded. "Yes. I just wanted to thank you for your aid and wish you luck."
The Asgard nodded once. "Then we will depart. We appreciate your wishes. We will certainly need it in the battles to come."
With that, as one, the Asgard ships turned away and once more entered hyperspace.
- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair. Kaelastrum.
I stared greedily at the pieces of Lantean and Asgard technology. First up was the collection of 60 short-range Asgard communication stones, with "short range" for the Asgard being approximately 5 million light-years.
First Perk Activated. Complete Asgard Short-Range Communication Stone.
|
Genuinely, the most interesting part about the stone was the connector; it allowed it to interface with nearly any piece of advanced computer equipment. It wasn't something I would be capable of reproducing soon, but it certainly gave me some ideas.
The next two things were almost as interesting. First were a pair of two Lantean gateships; each of them was completely depowered, but that hopefully wouldn't be an issue once I got the blueprint for them.
First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Lantean Gateship (Portanavis) (Puddle Jumper)
|
I had been hoping to get the blueprints for the ship's cloak, but this was pretty useful as well. At least, my understanding of the ship's power systems gave me some insight into how the Lantean's distributed power within their ships, and I now knew how to recharge the ship.
There was one last piece of technology that I finally had access to; sitting on a nearby table was a black container. I walked over and undid the clasps holding the thing closed; lying there inside was a single depleted ZPM.
Without any hesitation, I reached my hand down to poke it.
First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Zero Point Module (Potentia)
|
I pursed my lips. I knew the broad strokes of how the ZPM worked, but having that knowledge stuffed into my mind was an entirely unique experience. Within each ZPM was a miniature universe. The extractor mechanism could transform that power into just about any type of energy required and transfer it to a mechanism that would accept it.
All things considered, I was rather disappointed with what I had gotten from the ZPM. If I were to guess, the remaining systems of the ZPM would all be focused on ensuring that the universe that was stuffed into the thing wasn't released.
In essence, the ZPM was literally just a bottle with a hole in it; to "charge" the device would likely cost almost the same as just building a fresh ZPM. I had no doubt that it was possible, but a depleted ZPM itself wasn't all that valuable without the facility that was used to stick the miniature universe inside of it.
I let out a sigh and closed the box. Turning back to Slightly Overweight, I nodded. "Alright, let's get these Jumpers recharged."
Slightly Overweight whistled in response and approached the Jumper. I also pulled out the Diagnostic Tool and began scanning the exterior of the Puddle Jumper. The Diagnostic Tool hadn't been all that useful, all things considered. While it had the best small-scale scanners I'd come across, the "list of small-scale scanners I've encountered" was not very large.
That being said, Ma'chello was pretty sure he could grow critical parts with the upcoming growth chambers, though that was still a few months away at best. Once it was ready though, we would make it standard issue for all engineers and engineering teams. It was expected to reduce repair times on SLDF equipment by at least 30%.
With a deep breath, I began scanning the exterior of the Puddle Jumper. I knew there was a way to release the door in case of a power loss. With the scanner, it took about five minutes to find it and activate it from the outside.
I reverently stepped into the absolutely ancient machine; other than the layer of dust, it looked brand new. With a smile on my face, I opened up one of the floor panels to find a power connector. "Alright then, let's get this baby flying again."
- - -
The next day.
With the movement of the final RoK vessels completed, the time had come for the Asgard to depart. Thor and President Arriston, alongside several others, were all waiting to see off the Asgard.
Arriston stepped forward as Thor waited. "Thank you for waiting. Before you leave, I wanted to thank you and your people for all your help."
Thor inclined his head slightly. "You have aided the Asgard with little expectation in return. We are returning the favor."
Arriston smiled. "Well, thank you. We wish you the best of luck with your fight against the Tyranids."
Thor stared at Arriston for a few seconds before replying. "Thank you." With a flash of light, Thor was gone. In orbit, the Asgard fleet once more entered hyperspace and were quickly on their way out of the Milky Way galaxy.
- - -
POV: James Cromwell.
Michael Dresden had been going over the information we had of Inner Sphere installations for weeks. Now that he actually had the ships to send full-scale expeditions, he had wasted no time in calling us here to discuss his plans. Every member of the cabinet was here, and most of the military leaders as well.
Michael had been named the leader of the Inner Sphere Expedition, and he would be stationed on Columbus for the foreseeable future to watch over everything happening on world. So, as he entered the room, he wasted no time. "Currently, we need ships capable of entering and operating within the Inner Sphere. While the Goa'uld ships work, they are severely limited by HPG coverage. We cannot enter most inhabited systems. We need JumpShips."
The room darkened slightly, and a hologram of the Inner Sphere appeared. It quickly zoomed in on a particular set of systems. I had been unaware of this periphery state's existence during my time in the SLDF, but I was unsurprised when I learned of it. "The Tortuga Dominions; they are a 'pirate state' that survives by raiding their neighbors, namely the Federated Suns and the Taurian Concordat. They have access to a relatively large fleet of JumpShips and DropShips."
He smiled mischievously. "In other words, we can take their ships without having to worry about anyone in the Inner Sphere caring."
I heard a few people chuckle a bit, but Michael's smile disappeared as he continued. "The issue is that the Pirates of Tortuga are also slavers. The worlds of the Dominions are well developed and have significant civilian and slave populations. In fact, a century from now, the capital world of the Dominions will have a population greater than a million people. Taking their fleet likely means leaving hundreds of thousands of people to die. If we wanted to take their ships, we would have to conquer their worlds if we wanted to keep the people from starving."
I raised an eyebrow. "That's in a century. What's the current population of the world?"
Michael nodded. "That's the first mission. I'd like to send scouting missions to the Tortuga Dominions. Once we have a good understanding of the Dominions, we can expand and send scouting missions to all the periphery states. Now, the next few missions are less worrisome."
The map of the Tortuga Dominions zoomed out to display the entire Inner Sphere. Most of the star systems were greyed out, but about a dozen systems were highlighted; I recognized them as the major 'lostech' finds of the next century. There were other sites that we knew of due to the records onboard the Claymore, but what had happened to many of those in the preceding 193 years was unknown. On the other hand, we had a good idea of what had happened to these facilities.
Michael Dresden nodded towards the map as everyone piled around. "This map shows the current locations of major 'Lost Tech' or 'LosTech' discoveries from the next several decades."
"There are three sites that I plan to take before anything else." First, he pointed to an area near the system of Wotan. "Camelot Command. We know that the facility was emptied, but all the infrastructure is still intact. That includes automated production facilities, WarShip repair yards, basically anything you could need from a forward operating base. According to Arthur, the facility won't be discovered for another century. The facility would be a perfect base in Lyran Commonwealth space."
His finger moved down and landed on the New Dallas system. "Arthur's memories showed us six memory cores that survived to the modern day. Of those, five of them are on populated planets with an active HPG. The only one that is likely to be accessible is the one on New Dallas. The world itself was bombed during the Amaris Civil War; most of the planet is supposedly just an irradiated ruin, but the memory core is hidden beneath the planetary militia barracks. Assuming that the HPG that ComStar uses to report anything in the system doesn't activate regularly, that means this core is the only one we stand a chance of retrieving at the moment."
Finally, his finger moved down to New Vandenberg. "Somewhere near the New Vandenberg system is the SLS Tripitz. If we don't salvage it ourselves, then in the next year, the ship will be discovered by the Taurian Concordat, and it will be destroyed by ComStar not long after."
Michael pursed his lips this time. "While the ship itself is valuable, what is of particular note is that this ship was confirmed KIA during the Civil War. According to the late Alistair, as well as Arthur's memories, it was carrying the two infant children of Richard Cameron II."
There was a moment of silence before Arriston spoke. "The ships stationed at Epsilon Pegasus are for you to do with as you see fit. If you believe that this is what they should be used for, then I will not contradict you."
Michael nodded. "Even without the information about the Camerons, just the ship alone is already a significant asset. Letting it be destroyed is not something I'm interested in allowing."
"Then I approve. Your missions are a go." It was at this moment that Arthur physically smacked himself. We all turned to him as his hand dragged itself down his face. "We should have gotten the Asgard's help with retrieving the ships."
A collective round of groans filled the room.
- - -
Author's Note:
Howdy Everyone!
I'm a day late on this second chapter. Sorry about that. This chapter originally included a map which showed the locations of the lostech finds with the help of this site: https://www.gruese.de/innersphere/
However, since this chapter was first released, I started an article over on sarna.net to start collating a lot of the known LosTech caches. If you want to check that out, then you can below. If you know anything I've missed (and there are more than a couple, since I'm still adding two or three to the list every couple of days) then please let me know. I'd appreciate it greatly, or better yet, you can add to it yourself. Just make sure to find the source for the find. If you don't know it for sure, then you can head over to the sarna discord server and a lot of people will be more than happy to help.
https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Essay:Known_Lostech_Discoveries
Also, my discord; read up to Chapter #83: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]
Last edited: