Starborn Smith [Massive Scifi MultiFusion / Celestial Forge]

[Hexcalibur]

Ah, paperwork. That encounter will produce a lot of paperwork alright.

 

[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
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. Subspace Transmitter, Subspace Receiver, Signal Strengthener, Universal Connector

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.

Spoiler: Puddle Jumper https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ramroomrp/images/4/44/PuddleJumper1.JPG/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1200?cb=20130213155910 https://i.pinimg.com/564x/58/54/d6/5854d6643e10f1fcd6fe359b08271164.jpg

First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Lantean Gateship (Portanavis) (Puddle Jumper) Lantean Neural Interface, Gateship Power Systems

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) Extractor

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 ]

 

[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Eamon Thorne. Unnamed system in former Baol/Grunur space.

As we dropped out of hyperspace, the pilot immediately activated the radio and spoke. "BES-1 to BES-3. You called for us?"

There was a moment of silence before the reply came. "Yeah. We think we've detected a ship in the atmosphere of this gas giant."

I raised an eyebrow and turned to the co-pilot. "Start scanning. I want to see what they're seeing."

The pilot reactivated the radio and spoke. "Understood. We're scanning. We'll let you know what we find."

The gas giant itself was about twice the mass of Jupiter, and very similar in appearance. There was really nothing all that unique about the planet. So, over the course of the next two hours, we scanned the upper atmosphere of the gas giant. Just as stated, we found some odd ion trails in the upper atmosphere; the only explanation we could come up with was that there was some sort of vessel. Despite this, we could find nothing to indicate the presence of any ship.

It was only after three hours of trying to trace the ion trails that the thought of searching for organic signatures flitted through my head. The instant the ping returned, I immediately understood what was going on. Patting the pilot on the shoulder, I nodded to him. "Take us back to base. I have a report to make."

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.

I stared intently at the video that Eamon played on the screen. He paused the video as it centered on the subject of this meeting. "We discovered this creature swimming in the upper atmosphere of this gas giant. As soon as we had visual contact, I returned to give this report."

To my left, the astrocreator stared intently. "Fascinating. I have never seen a space amoeba on its own before. Were there any signs of the mother nearby?"

Eamon simply shrugged in response. "We haven't completed a full scan of the system yet, but we don't believe so, though it is possible such a creature has hidden in orbit around one of the inner planets."

Narrowing my eyes, I interrupted. "I believe this is very similar to one anomaly that is discovered in Stellaris." I took a moment to find a particular file. "The Lost Amoeba event, if my memory is correct."

Arriston at the head of the table raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying it might be possible to raise this creature into an ally?"

With a shrug, I responded. "I'm just pointing out the similarities, though I personally find that to be likely." Once more, I turned my attention to Azaryn. "I believe it takes an amoeba about a year to reach maturity. We'll get a good idea of what's going on during that time."

Azaryn seemed deep in thought. "My people never studied spaceborne lifeforms, at least not in depth. The chance to watch such a creature grow to adulthood is one that I am quite interested in."

Arriston looked back and forth between the two of us. "Alright. I'm giving you permission to retrieve the creature." He turned to Eamon. "Support them for the duration of this mission."

Eamon simply nodded in response and began packing up his equipment. I did the same.

- - -
Unnamed system in former Baol/Grunur space.

I stared out the windows at the marvelous creature floating along before the Al'kesh. The ship was still cloaked to prevent us from spooking the creature. We had been following it for a few minutes now just to get some understanding of how it acted in the wild before we tried to take it.

Azaryn was staring out the screen, enthralled by the creature. "Fascinating. I wonder how it evolved to live so seamlessly in space."

I smiled but shrugged lightly. "It could be artificial. Unless we decide to dissect the thing, I doubt we'll know within the next few years."

Azaryn gave me a dirty look as soon as she heard my words, but soon turned back out the window. "Can you detect anything from it?"

It took me a few moments to understand what she was saying. "I haven't tried. Let's see." With a deep breath, I felt my senses sharpen on the amoeba. Slowly but surely, I felt the whispers become clearer as my mind focused just on the voice of my target.

The first thing that hit me was how incredibly strong and clear the creature's emotions were, even from the several hundred meters that separated us. They were clearly either very strong mentally, or perhaps partially psychic. It didn't have any complex thoughts that I could distinguish, so it clearly wasn't sentient, but it certainly didn't have the mind of a small animal either. It was lonely and scared, but most obvious was an almost desperate hunger.

I pulled my mind away and winced. "I think it's been abandoned here. It's desperately searching for something to eat, but it can't find anything."

I turned to Azaryn. "Do you know what they eat?"

She smiled and nodded in response. "Just energy. They can feed off the ambient energy produced by most energy shields. I'm fairly confident that just approaching it will allow it to siphon energy from the ship for itself."

I nodded and turned to the ship's pilot. "Well, do you want to do the honors?"

He smiled and with a cheery look replied. "Deactivating cloak." Outside the ship, the juvenile space amoeba immediately zoomed into the distance. I narrowed my eyes at the creature and noticed that its fear had jumped through the roof.

With a cough, I smiled. "Okay, maybe it wasn't such a great idea to just decloak right beside the poor thing." I turned back to the pilot. "Let's try following it from above. Let's see what we can do."

Maintaining a distance from the creature, we followed it for the next several minutes, but I could feel the creature's fear continue to rise the longer we followed it. "Stop. Pull back. This isn't working."

The pilot raised an eyebrow, but he still did as I asked. Azaryn frowned. "We can't just follow the creature. All that does is frighten the poor thing."

I tapped my arm as I considered what was happening. "Is it possible that it fears the energy signature of Goa'uld ships?"

That seemed to catch Azaryn off guard for a moment, but she considered it. "I'd say that's a possibility. If the Goa'uld killed the creatures any time they saw them, I could see them specifically avoiding Goa'uld ships. It would be an effective survival strategy."

I pursed my lips. "Then we need to keep the Goa'uld ships hidden, and we need an energy source that isn't Goa'uld, ‌at least until we can convince it not to run away on sight."

I was quiet for a moment before I chuckled. "We have the puddle jumpers. Those fit all the requirements."

Azaryn raised an eyebrow. "I suppose it would. Though I must point out that you are just speculating here. From the amoeba's point of view, we are strange creatures that ambushed it and then followed it for several minutes. It might very well believe we are a hostile predator."

I pursed my lips. My mind instantly ran back over the blueprint of the puddle jumper's power systems. Immediately, I wheeled around and looked at the copilot. "Show me the energy readings we got from the Amoeba."

A second later, I was looking at the readings. It took me a minute, but I quickly had the data transferred over to my flexi. "I can retool the power systems to release this signature, and then use the cloak to hide all other sensor readings. With any luck, the jumper will look exactly like another space amoeba."

Azaryn just nodded back at me, and I turned back to the pilot. "Take us back. I've egotta pick something up."

- - -
Back on Kaelastrum, I spent an hour to acquire the permissions needed to take one of the puddle jumpers out into the field. It was only after I assured everyone involved that the thing would not explode that I was allowed to go grab the ship.

I rushed over to the Hangars and into one of the puddle jumpers. We had barely had them for four days now, and we had barely done initial flight tests. Slightly Overweight saw me entering the hangar and gently floated over. "Arthur? Were you not busy with something else?"

I chuckled. "I am borrowing one of the jumpers for a little project." It bobbed up and down for a few moments before performing a sort-of-shrug where it lifted all of its tentacles straight upwards for a moment. "Alright. How can I help?"

I smiled mischievously and handed him my flexi before walking past it and entering the command room. "I need to reconfigure the power systems to produce those frequencies."

Slightly Overweight immediately got to work disconnecting the power cable in the center of the jumper; he then pulled down several of the overhead computing boxes and began performing maintenance. I read his response on my flexi. "The jumper will still produce the other signatures that are normal for a metallic craft."

I nodded in response. "Which is why I'll reconfigure the cloak to hide the ship's primary signature, but allow the artificial ones to get through."

I sat down in the pilot's seat, and I felt the ship activate around me. It had been clear that I had the Ancient Technology Activation (ATA) Gene, as it was referred to in Stargate: Atlantis, since the moment the jumper had first been powered up. The ship seemed to react to my very whims; it was utterly unlike anything I had experienced before.

When I had first touched the jumper controls, I had absolutely no problem getting the ship to hover just a few centimeters above the ground. Meanwhile, anyone else who tried failed to do even that.

Part of it was that I knew exactly how to operate the ship due to the user manual being stuffed into my brain along with the schematics for the neural interface, but there was definitely more to it.

With a whirring, the rear hatch pulled shut and sealed. With a simple force applied to the controls, the ship took off vertically and rotated 180 degrees around its central axis to face the exit. The doorway to this hangar was wide open, and the tunnel leading out of the mountainside had been cleared for my use.

With almost unnatural ease, the ship floated straight down the large tunnel and out into the open. I gave a command to the ship's cloak, and it activated, but not in full. Instead, it only blocked a particular set of emissions. The ease with which the ship could be operated was incredible.

I grabbed my radio. "This is Puddle Jumper to DHD Control. Is there an expected wormhole within the next 5 minutes?"

There was a moment of silence. "Negative, puddle jumper. Where do you need me to dial?"

I smirked and replied. "Don't worry, I'll dial it on my end." As I spoke, I began inputting the coordinates. "Have the entry site cleared. I'll be coming in from above."

As the last of the symbols were entered, I slowly lowered myself towards the gate. Then, I lined up the jumper and jumped into the puddle. Once on the other side, I flew the jumper into the cargo bay of the Al'kesh and we once more returned to hyperspace.

I used the short travel time to get changed into a space suit – standard procedure when operating an unfamiliar ship – and to grab something to eat. The crew of the Al'kesh already knew the plan, so once we exited hyperspace near the planet, I flew out the cargo hold and the Al'kesh once more cloaked.

Slightly Overweight floated behind the copilot's chair. He whistled loudly, and the jumper automatically translated his words and displayed them for me to read. "The power systems have been recalibrated to your specifications."

I nodded and started scanning the gas giant for any signs of the space amoeba. The creature found us before we found it. Suddenly, it came up from below the jumper and started circling. Almost immediately, the ship informed me we were suffering from a not insignificant power draw.

In fact, it was a lot more than I was expecting. I quickly activated my radio. "This is Arthur. It looks like the jumper is going to be drained. You might have to come by and grab us. I'll keep you informed. Just be aware."

For almost ten minutes, the amoeba circled around the jumper, and unfortunately during that entire time, it didn't appear to be interested in letting us get away with any power. I let out a sigh and activated the radio. "Yeah. You guys are going to have to come save us. Make sure to decloak at a distance and let the Amoeba see you approaching."

The confirmation came in, and I sealed my spacesuit for a worst-case scenario. Then, I turned my attention to the amoeba's emotions. Unfortunately, as the Al'kesh came within a few hundred kilometers, the space amoeba noticed, and I felt its fear spike, but its hunger overwhelmed its fear and it continued to feed. I activated my radio. "Stop. If you get any closer, you'll scare it away."

The Al'kesh pilot confirmed and brought his ship to a stop. It didn't come any closer, and the Amoeba continued to feed, but was still very frightened. With pursed lips, I sighed and stood up. Slightly Overweight whistled at me in confusion. "What are you doing?"

I looked back at it for a moment. "I'm going out to introduce myself." As I shut the doors to the front section of the jumper, I commanded the oxygen in the rear bay to be carefully voided. Slowly but surely, the rear hatch opened up, and I used my EVA pack to let myself out.

The amoeba almost seemed to ignore me, but at this distance I could feel its emotions focus on me. Some surprise and curiosity, though it was still mostly focused on feeding from the jumpers rapidly draining power and keeping its attention on the Al'kesh.

Carefully, I brought myself just barely close enough to touch the creature. I smiled to myself; I was trying to do the same thing Spock had done in Star Trek IV. I placed my hand on the Amoeba's carapace and felt its thoughts. They were much clearer this close, and I had no doubt that if I felt like losing a hand, I could probably get an even better connection if I removed my glove.

Just from being this close, I was fairly sure that the amoeba was at least partially psionic in nature; attempting to show it my own emotions was significantly easier than with humans or even Slightly Overweight, and as I carefully showed it emotions of friendship, family, and more food – that last one was particularly effective – the Amoeba seemed to finally lower its guard a bit. I pulled back and spoke into my radio. "Alright, approach, slowly."

I felt the Al'kesh crawl forward towards us and the Amoeba. It was still wary, but significantly less so than before. The ship closed within visual range, and the Amoeba turned its attention away from the jumper and instead over to the Al'kesh, to immediately start feeding again. Carefully, I maneuvered myself into the jumper and closed the hatch.

There was just barely enough power to flip the thing around and land in the Al'kesh cargo bay. I let out a deep sigh of relief, just as the Celestial Forge threw a notification into my head.

Special Achievement: It Followed Me Home Perk 'Endless bag of nether warts' missed due to insufficient points. (Available Points: 0, Required Points: 200, Points Doubled, New Point Total: 100)

- - -
Author's Note:
Howdy all! Thanks for reading. I wrote two chapters this weekend, so I'll post another one tomorrow.
Read up to Chapter #85 on Discord: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]

 

[Hexcalibur]

I was hoping it was one of the Slylandro.

 

[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.

"The most recent Celestial Forge achievement is also an achievement that can be obtained in Stellaris." I said as I took my seat at the table across from Arriston. He waited for me to continue. "If the Stellaris achievements count as Celestial Forge achievements, then it means I have something I can work towards."

Arriston nodded. "I assume that you have some further achievements that you could test."

I nodded. "Most obvious is the Mad Genius achievement. It requires us to recruit a scientist from the Curator Enclave. I'm fairly confident that we could recruit a scientist from them as we stand at the moment. This would also allow us to get the Rare Technology 'Curator Archaeology Lab' which would unlock the Break On Through... achievement."

Arriston raised an eyebrow as I handed him a flexi. As he turned it on, he responded. "I seem to remember there being some achievements that should have already been completed."

I nodded. "There are a couple that I would have expected to activate already but just haven't. Namely, Brave New World, which should require us to own more than one world; Mutual Understanding, which requires us to have traded with another empire; and We Come In Peace, which requires us to initiate a non-violent first contact. I have some potential explanations for why, but none of them are particularly satisfying."

Arriston looked over the document. "Alright. What other suggestions do you have that we might test?"

I immediately picked up another flexi and began looking through the list. "Explorer: it would require us to survey one type of every planet. By the standards of Stellaris, I think the only type of world we have yet to survey is a Tomb World, and we can find those in the Inner Sphere easily. Building Better Worlds and Paradise Found could both be accomplished by terraforming a planet into a Gaia World with Azaryn's assistance. We could also get the previous two achievements by finding the Last Baol and activating it to terraform a world of our choosing into a Gaia world; this would also give us the It belongs in a museum! and Unlimited Power! achievements."

I flipped to the next page. "Those are the achievements we could feasibly get in the immediate future. There is one that we could get within a couple of months, but it would require us to stop developing our own hyperdrives. The Path Not Taken, would require us to be in control of 10 colonized worlds before we research hyperdrive technology."

Arriston stopped reading and looked up at me for a moment. "Do you think we stand a good chance of developing hyperdrive technology in the near future?"

I nodded emphatically. "Easily. Once we have the crystal growth chamber, assuming there aren't any issues, we'd have absolutely no issue with just recreating the Goa'uld hyperdrives."

Arriston pursed his lips. "Michael mentioned the possibility of taking over the Tortuga Dominions. Would those count?"

I quickly answered in the affirmative. "Absolutely. We just need to be in control of a total of ten worlds. From there, we'd be free to consolidate our power. If we take over the Tortuga Dominions, then there are two further nearby planets that we could claim with relative ease."

I shared a set of images, namely of the rimward periphery of the Inner Sphere. I first pointed to the Tortuga Dominions. "We already know the Tortuga Dominions, but here." I moved my finger 90 light-years to the south. "About here is the Hope system. The world is populous enough to have a problem with rogue mech warriors, despite my own knowledge stating that only a few thousand live on the world. I don't believe it would take much to claim the planet. However, if the population really is as sparse as my memories claim, then we would need other options."

I moved my finger to the other side of the map, to a system just on the border of the Free Worlds League. "Right here is the world of Astrokaszy. By now it should have either formed a government or be on the way to doing so. I don't know if we could claim it outright, but supporting its development materially could make it a valuable ally. Most importantly, it is between the Magistracy of Canopus and the Free Worlds League. It is an excellent rest stop for traders, and it would be an excellent place for a base of operations in the FWL."

The third system was almost 300 light-years rimward of the Magistracy of Canopus. "This is the Pharos system. The system was independently settled by a Capellan mercenary company, and then later by a group of Taurian and Canopian refugees. I know nothing about the system, but since I was checking all viable options, this one popped out at me. If I were to guess, they likely have access to several JumpShips, or they did when they first settled in the system. If nothing else, then the system is well away from the Inner Sphere and could act as a fallback point."

Arriston looked through the sparse information about the Pharos system, his eyes narrowing. "You've certainly considered this."

I nodded sharply. "All it would take is delaying a project by a few months."

Arriston nodded back and tapped his flexi a few times in thought. "Alright. You should take this information to Michael. If you can convince him to include these systems in the initial survey, then I'll support it."

I smiled. "Thank you. There is one more thing I'd like to bring up. When I first got access to the list of Goa'uld Stargate addresses, there was one gate that was particularly close to Terra. That world showed up in my memories as a system known as Argondale."

I had the flexi zoom out and shift well anti-spinward of Terra to display Argondale's relative location. "If there is really a Stargate there, then it is possible that the Star League discovered it."

This time, the president pursed his lips but shrugged. "If you can convince Michael to send the ships, then I'll sign off on it."

I smiled and nodded. "Understood. Thank you for your time."

He smiled in response. "Of course. If you ever need anything Arthur, then please let me know."

- - -
Two Days Later.

I stood at the back of the room as Michael briefed the pilots and crewmembers of this expedition. The entire briefing room held several hundred people; full crews for all 24 Al'kesh that would begin journeying around the periphery. "Alright everyone. This is the briefing for the Periphery Expedition."

A map instantly appeared on the display, showing a route that meandered around the spinward and the rimward periphery.

Spoiler: Periphery Expedition Map https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ETqlA7upXYHm2azLLiKn6qyOnddiJLvj/view?usp=sharing NOTE: Hope IV was the name of Randis IV before about 2990.

So, Michael began the presentation. "You will begin the expedition to the Járnfolk world of Ålborg. You will spend approximately a week there and on the nearby worlds, gathering intel before moving onto the next target."

Next, the world of Alfirk was highlighted. "Alfirk is one of ComStar's hidden worlds. We know next to nothing about the system, other than it is far from Terra and capable of producing their own JumpShips."

Next up was a world on the border between the Draconis Combine and the Outworlds Alliance. "This is Antallos. We know nothing about the world other than it is inhabited and likely contains an HPG. If there is, then you will continue on to your next target."

The fourth target was a collection of ten star systems, with the world of New Delphi highlighted first. "This is the New Delphi Compact. It is one of the few proper republics within Terra's sphere of influence. You will spend anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month surveying their worlds."

Fifth and sixth were a set of systems on the opposite side of the Outworlds Alliance. "These two systems are Novo Franklin and Mica. We know the same amount about Novo Franklin as we do about Antallos. Once more, if you notice subspace interference, then move on. Mica is a set of asteroid mines that were formerly prison colonies of the Draconis Combine. We expect you to do a few days' reconnaissance before continuing on."

Finally, the map moved to the Tortuga Dominions. "As you all know already, this is the Tortuga Dominions. They have been raiding the Federated Suns since before the Star League was brought into existence. For most of you, this will be your primary mission. Once you reach the Tortuga Dominions, you will spend a month doing recon before preparing a forward base. Unless we discover something new, ‌we expect to begin operations against the Tortuga Dominions within three to six months."

The map moved on once more. "This is the Hope system. It is a day away from the nearest world in the Tortuga Dominions. Apparently, the natives have an issue with disenfranchised mech warriors. If all goes according to plan, then we expect to make the world a staging ground for any future operations in the Tortuga Dominions."

Michael coughed once. "Now, once you've completed the initial recon, a group of six Al'kesh will continue on to this system." The map highlighted the next planet. "We know very little about the world, other than that it ended up suffering a significant technological collapse, and we may be able to offer them assistance. There is also a non-zero chance that they have access to several JumpShips."

Finally, the map shifted one final time. "This is the Argondale system. Three of the Al'kesh that were part of the expedition to Pharos will continue here. According to Ares' database, there is a Stargate here."

The screen turned off, and Michael Dresden nodded to everyone. "That is all. Go prepare your ships. You leave in four hours."

There were three more presentations after the first for each of the other three expeditions. They would travel to select points in the Inner Sphere to distribute the Asgard subspace oscillation monitors — a piece of tech I would be sure to get my hands on soon — before continuing on to their final destinations.

The first would comprise six Al'kesh and would visit Camelot Command in the Dark Nebula, near the Wotan system. Wotan had an active HPG, and it was only through sheer luck that Camelot Command was outside of the 15 light year range of subspace disturbances.

Camelot Command was defended by automated drones and required a specific set of access codes to get in. Luckily, the Manassas had been stationed at Camelot Command alongside the Cobalt Eye, so the access codes were well known.

The second would also comprise three Al'kesh, and would first be traveling to New Dallas to search for the New Dallas memory core. From there, they would continue on to Niops, a Star League research outpost that had grown into a full-fledged independent star system. They had retained most of the tech they had at their peak and had become a technocracy, where the highly educated remained at the top and the uneducated were stuck doing manual labor. It wasn't the greatest setup, but they had survived the fall of the Star League, so it was something.

The third would comprise six Al'kesh and would travel to the New Vandenberg system in the Taurian Concordat to search for the SLS Tripitz. Unfortunately, New Vandenberg itself had an active HPG, so about a fourth of the systems that might hold the vessel just couldn't be reached. If they failed to find the Tripitz in the reachable systems, then several of the XJF fighters would be sent over to search the closer star systems.

In the meantime, three of the Al'kesh would head for Detroit and then for Alloway to find the SLS Argo, an experimental Star League dropship (that is currently being used as a pirate base). There would likely be one or more pirate JumpShips in the system that could be stolen. By then, it was expected to have proper weapons and armor for boarding and commandeering a JumpShip.

If the Tripitz was within the unreachable star systems, then the plan was to steal one or more pirate JumpShips, perform upgrades, and then go salvage the Tripitz.

Of course, that left a lot of pressure on me. I needed to have the first stealth Nighthawk variants ready by then. It would take 16 days for the Al'kesh to reach New Vandenberg and begin the search. From there, assuming four days for a preliminary scan of the system, and with 34 systems to scan, that would mean up to five months to get the Nighthawk ready for anti-piracy actions.

An initial prototype wouldn't take anywhere close to that long. Producing assembly lines would be the real time cost. So, as I watched all 38 vessels in total depart into the depths of space, I once more turned back and prepared to get back to work; if anyone ever said that they were done with work, I would be sure to smack them before pointing them at the next thing that needed to be done.

- - -
Author's Note:
Wow. I just realized how slow this story is moving. I've been trying to speed it up in the more recent chapters, but sheesh.

Anyway, I've never really explained why I have the Discord channel, but there are a couple of reasons. The main reason is so that readers can keep me accountable and so that I can stay motivated. You have no idea how nice it is to be able to say "hey, I'm feeling kinda burnt out. Does anyone have some cool ideas that will get my brain moving?" Without the people over on discord to cheer me on, I would have probably dropped this story multiple times over.

So, I would really appreciate it if you decided to join. I'm pretty busy with classes at the moment, but I try to always get around to reading every message I can, and new ideas for things I can add to the story are always appreciated.
That all being said, I have up to Chapter #85 on Discord for free as extra incentive: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]

 

[Leganto]

It didn't have any complex thoughts that I could distinguish, so it clearly wasn't sentient, but it certainly didn't have the mind of a small animal either.

Click to shrink...

It wasn't sapient.

Sentient = feels
Sapient = thinks

 

[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Lyra Denith, Dendredan surveyor.

In the short time that the Asgard were helping to move the population of Dendred to the new homeworld of Kaelastrum, they noticed several unidentified structures all over the planet. Before the world was to be completely abandoned, these facilities were to be surveyed for any valuable technology.

Half a dozen facilities had already been surveyed, and there had been several significant discoveries. Most notable had been an abandoned bunker complex, which contained seven separate Dendredan SSTO spacecraft, all in pristine condition. Now, the rest of the so-called Surveyor Corps was raring to find the next great treasure of the Dendredan people.

I watched the Colonial Raptor take off behind me, traveling to the next site with another group of surveyors. Once it was out of sight, I tightened the straps on my backpack and began the trek into the nearby forest. This facility had been hidden on a part of the world that was uninhabited even before Ares' arrival.

The entire facility was effectively a small town. Most of the buildings were clearly production facilities; there were even what appeared to be some sort of smokestack near the end of the production line. There were also hangars, an airfield, several apartment complexes, and even recreational facilities. My job here was to find out what was being produced.

I started with the living facilities, which comprised a dozen massive apartment complexes, just on the edge of the primary facility. I had no doubt that they could hold ten or twenty thousand people in total. It really made you wonder what sort of production required this many people.

Then I started going through the factory. Apparently, this facility did everything, because the first set of facilities were for refining raw materials. As I reached the fourth building and began examining the basement complex, I noted down the existence of a liquid naquadah refinery. We knew the pre-invasion Dendredans could produce the material, but we didn't have examples of the technology. That would definitely be in my report.

The refinery was already a huge find; whatever else I discovered from here would just be extra. With that in mind, I continued my search. It wasn't long before I found the next big thing. To say it was a 'thing' would be a gross understatement; the seventh building was something I only recognized after spending nearly two hours trying to determine its purpose. It was believed that all examples of the technology had been destroyed during the invasion.

I immediately pulled my radio out of my bag and turned it on. With a shaky voice, I spoke. "This is Surveyor Lyra Denith. I have a code 14."

It took a few moments before I got a reply. "Understood. Can you tell us what you've found?"

Almost with a stutter, I replied as quickly as I could. "I think I have a crystal grower."

The entire machine covered an area of almost 26,000 square meters and was two stories tall, though I knew there were likely to be basement levels I couldn't access. The entire machine was completely isolated from the outside except through specific maintenance hatches and the resource feeders.

The crystal computers used by the Goa'uld were incredible. The hardened ones could survive hundreds or thousands of Gs of acceleration, work in the most extreme of environments, all while being completely unmatched in sheer computing power. To make such devices required dozens, sometimes even hundreds of individual stages.

The silence was longer this time. "Understood. We'll be dispatching a few teams to examine the device. They'll be there in an hour."

I nodded and placed my radio in my pocket so that I'd be able to reach it easily. Then I stood up and continued my search. The facility was odd from the get-go, but it was becoming even stranger. What could they possibly have been producing here to need an entire crystal grower, something that was rare even in the days before the invasion?

The next few buildings were mostly just assembly lines. I found what looked to be some sort of piping. When a flight of three raptors came in, each filled with researchers, I showed them the location of the crystal grower and then continued my search of the facility.

I finally seemed to get an understanding of what was being assembled here as I walked through the last of the buildings. Each of them was full of absolutely massive, sixty meter long barrels. There were dozens of them, each wider than a bus.

Then, at the very end of the facility, just lying in the open were the strange smokestacks. Except I could tell now that they weren't smokestacks; they were a set of three absolutely massive turreted guns, each of them over a hundred and fifty meters long, made from three separate pipe segments.

I gulped once and pulled out my radio. I didn't even know where to begin with explaining this one.

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.

The moment I had heard about the newly discovered crystal grower, Ma'chello and I had nearly rushed to the facility. It was only because I had other things to work on that I hadn't jumped into the first raptor I could find.

Dendred had been a highly advanced civilization, and unfortunately, Ares had done everything in his power to obliterate all records of Dendredan technology from beforeto his arrival. All he had left intact was the metalworks that were used to produce basic mining tools.

Now, this discovery could be a massive breakthrough. So, I stepped out of the Colonial Raptor and made my way over to the massive structure.

First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Οργηφόρος 25 Crystal Grower. Crystal Seeder

I smiled as the first bit of information about the structure was thrown into my head. During the growth process, the crystals had to be kept at low temperatures and at very specific pressures to ensure that the correct quantum effects were produced.

It was a fascinating find. I took a step back just in time to hear my radio go off. "This is Surveyor Lyra… I think someone should see this. I'm by the big tower things."

I raised an eyebrow but grabbed my radio. "Understood, we'll be over in a moment."

I turned to Ma'chello, who shrugged, and we both walked the quarter mile to the massive towers. Waiting there was a young woman between 20 and 25 years of age. She seemed incredibly nervous as she nodded to us. I raised an eyebrow and smiled. "So, what have you found?"

She gulped once and turned to the tower. "I… I think this is a weapon."

I raised an eyebrow and walked over to the first of the massive towers. The moment the information flooded my mind, I immediately turned to the next few of the massive towers. Once I had examined the three completed structures, I started walking around the incomplete ones.‌

First Perk Activated. Complete Blueprint Acquired: Dendredan Ground to Orbit Cannon (Οργηφόρος 25) Naquadah Reactor, Particle Enrichment Chamber, Barrel Field Generator, Turret Ring, Prototype Crystal Targeting Computer

While the barrel itself was only a hundred and fifty meters, the Dendredans had used the same mechanism as on the much smaller thunderbolt pistol to produce an energy field that worked to lengthen the barrel by nearly 500 meters. When fired, the ball of plasma would reach a frightening 2% of the speed of light as it exited the end of the barrel.

This weapons system should have been capable of destroying a Ha'tak with just three shots. I pursed my lips and turned to Ma'chello. "We need to transport all of this to Kaelastrum. Make sure everything is well accounted for."

- - -
Three days later.

I sat in the back of the temporary senate room, just beside Slightly Overweight as the final signature on what was being called the Huragok Citizenship Bill was being written.

The bill had passed unanimously. I didn't doubt that it would, but it was nice to see everyone in agreement. Arriston shook Slightly Overweight's tentacle once as we left the room, and he whistled once in thanks.

As we left the facility, we made our way to the quarters that had been assigned to Slightly Overweight, where I prepared to leave, but he whistled once. "No. Come in, please."

The inside of the room was sparsely decorated, since Slightly Overweight rarely spent time here. At the end of the room, was a collection of several crates of material.

I raised an eyebrow. "So you're ready to produce a new Huragok?" He whistled in affirmative. "Then why am I here?"

Slightly Overweight whistled in response. "You're here to help."

I stared blankly at him as I waited for him to continue. "Under most circumstances, a Huragok is incapable of reproducing; your psionic abilities will alleviate the process. It might even be possible for you to transfer some of your own memories. If nothing else, you will gain a greater understanding of how this is done."

I tried to speak, but almost caught myself choking in disbelief. "Alright, what do I need to do?"

Slightly Overweight began unpacking and dissolving the various materials, replying as he did so. "Watch. When you can help, then help."

With a sigh, I sat down and waited. Finally, Slightly Overweight deconstructed the last of the materials. Then he began. For the briefest of moments, I thought I had gone blind. It was only after blinking a few times and realizing that I could still see that I understood what had happened. It wasn't my eyes that were having trouble seeing, but my psionic ability.

The whispers around me had all disappeared, and in their place was a single searing light coming from where Slightly Overweight floated. The longer I stared/listened at the light, the better I saw what was going on. At the center of the light was an orb of energy; looking at it vaguely gave me the feeling of looking at Slightly Overweight, but it felt strange, not unnatural, but as if I wasn't supposed to be looking at it.

The light came from a small, almost microscopic crack in the orb, and the crack was growing. Ever so slowly, I watched as the crack grew.

I didn't know what this was, but my memories of being a Bonesinger told me; this orb was Slightly Overweight's soul. To create a new huragok, he would have to shatter off a piece of himself.

With a look of understanding, I approached and began singing. Wraithbone is created by forcing the energy of the Sea of Souls — the realm where souls exist — into physical reality. In a sense, wraithbone is literally the energy of the soul manifested in reality. To create wraithbone, you had to control that energy and then command it to form a shape.

The light was the energy of Slightly Overweight's soul leaking out; I formed a light film over the crack to prevent the leaking; the light decreased by several orders of magnitude immediately. Then I continued watching. For the next ten minutes, the crack continued to lengthen, forming a circle around one particular portion of the soul.

As ten minutes passed to twenty minutes, the crack entirely encircled a small portion of itself, which drifted away from the primary orb. I covered the newly created hole, but ‌the energy being released was decreasing, and the hole was closing on its own, though it would still be a couple of hours before it was truly sealed.

In a matter of seconds, the removed segment of soul formed into a small sphere, an opening on one side, and Slightly Overweight began transferring a strange form of energy into the opening.

I had done nothing like this before, not even in my memories of being a Bonesinger, but I had an idea. I started another song and, while maintaining the film over Slightly Overweight's soul, rather than imprinting emotions into the energy, I imprinted my knowledge and experience before funneling it into the new sphere.

My memories as a Bonesinger told me that the energy of the Sea of Souls would not hold such information for longer than a few scant hours. I wasn't sure whether the soul of the new Huragok could hold the memories, but as I examined the energy coming from Slightly Overweight, I felt even more sure of my idea, since the two forms of energy appeared very similar.

In the real world, the huragok was slowly coming into shape, but as I pushed my own memories into the ball, Slightly Overweight seemed to have changed his mind about what he was doing.

Certain parts of the new huragok were slowly dissolved and rebuilt, just ‌much smaller and more compact. As he was working, Slightly Overweight whistled at me. "I need wraithbone dust."

I didn't waste any time and immediately got to work, producing dust on top of everything else. This was the single most strained I had been while singing, but I could manage it; even an apprentice Bonesinger could handle a dozen individual tasks at once. That I could only handle three at once was almost disappointing.

As the last parts of the now much smaller Huragok came into place, the small, ball-like energy-structure that had once been part of Slightly Overweights soul finally closed up and stopped accepting more energy. Then it lit up and condensed; for a moment I thought it would fall apart, but it just shrunk until it was the size of a marble.

In the real world, the new mini-huragok lightly floated off the ground and looked around. When its head focused on myself and Slightly Overweight, it spoke with a cheery and childlike voice, in plain English. "Hello!"

- - -
Author's Note:
Some interesting discoveries on Dendred, and a new member joins the team.
Read up to Chapter #86 on Discord: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]

 

[Vanbers]

I'm guessing the end result is either an outright Psyker Huragok, or at least one that's somewhat able to do a bit of Bonesinging, or has some psychic potential of some kind.

Either way, mazeltov, it's an alien.

 

[Trek]

Seems like a huge security flaw to share your memories like this considering all the risky tech, personality details, history that are contained in memories.

 

[Breakflame]

Whelp, I'll be a Huragok's pops. That's not something you see everyday. Hope MC's ready for fatherhood... cause it's too late now.