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The Ringing of a Forge of Stars [Warhammer 40k/ Celestial forge V3||OC...ish]

Reader mode
I like this but damn am I confused as fuck
 
Thanks for the chapter, but gotta say it felt very rushed it's never clear how a moonbase from prey ended up in worm, which seems to be the case based on no one knowing who trans star is. Also no one followed up or asked how they got there, and then the US governments asking him to train people. It all happened so fast this felt like it supposed to happen over 3 chapters or so.

still tech uplift for the win. And 40k flash lights will beat 90% of all parahuman.
 
Morkail said:
Thanks for the chapter, but gotta say it felt very rushed it's never clear how a moonbase from prey ended up in worm, which seems to be the case based on no one knowing who trans star is. Also no one followed up or asked how they got there, and then the US governments asking him to train people. It all happened so fast this felt like it supposed to happen over 3 chapters or so.

still tech uplift for the win. And 40k flash lights will beat 90% of all parahuman.
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Pretty sure it's not SUPPOSED to be clear yet. Damage control comes first. Then looking for awnsers.
 
Good chapter.Costa-Brown being herself and getting what she deserved was nice to see.
P.S Since he is getting stuff from various stories,what about Dahak from Dawid Weber series ?
 
ATP said:
Good chapter.Costa-Brown being herself and getting what she deserved was nice to see.
P.S Since he is getting stuff from various stories,what about Dahak from Dawid Weber series ?
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Dahak is not on the list of possible gets. The entire premise of the story is using a roll table to get things from jumpchain documents and Dahak isn't available in that jump document.
 
Frescko said:
I like this but damn am I confused as fuck
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How so? I may be able to explain some things to help you out.

Morkail said:
Thanks for the chapter, but gotta say it felt very rushed it's never clear how a moonbase from prey ended up in worm, which seems to be the case based on no one knowing who trans star is. Also no one followed up or asked how they got there, and then the US governments asking him to train people. It all happened so fast this felt like it supposed to happen over 3 chapters or so.

still tech uplift for the win. And 40k flash lights will beat 90% of all parahuman.
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It feels rushed because In-universe it was rushed. The Government was doing everything they could to get in contact ASAP and Satori was meeting them halfway. There was actual coordination on this, and it was fully intended to settle into a more formal thing after the initial stuff was out of the way.

The 'formal' explanation for Pytheas (and Talos I, for that matter) was meant to come later, after the preliminary stuff. Same for the 'follow-ups'. And the US Government is asking for him to train people because it is a massive strategic resource to be exploited ASAP, especially if it can potentially give them more anti-endbringer weapons.

Seriously, the Government can move fast as fuck when it wants to or something it wants in on the line. This is well within keeping of that fact.
(and yes, Lasguns > Parahumans.)

theaceoffire said:
You thought I was your wife the whole time, but it was I! Mio!
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Satori: But you're still my wife...?
Mio(s): EXACTLY!!!

ATP said:
Good chapter.Costa-Brown being herself and getting what she deserved was nice to see.
P.S Since he is getting stuff from various stories,what about Dahak from Dawid Weber series ?
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What Ryune said.

While there are technical perks associated with Empire from the Ashes, I do not think that Dahak itself is one of them. Though, there is nothing stopping Satori from building a Dahak-class...
 
Chapter 26
  • Threadmarks
    • The Forge World of Ryza was buzzing with excitement and industry. The revelation of the Miracle being borne by the Sisters of Battle had set the local Mechanicus into frenzied activity, the STC that had been delivered unto them being immediately put to use as the Grand Forges across the planet were upgraded and reforged anew in proper form. Likewise, the latest and deadliest marks of Imperial weaponry were rolling off of the newly improved and automated assembly lines, complete with armor to match, utilizing materials long thought lost to time.

    So much change and progress that had occurred in the months following their arrival. And all of it was completely uninteresting to Harrisyn Cain, formerly of the Imperial Inquisition, as he stood with an Archmagos of Ryza's forges as the Magos pointed out the latest improvements. They were overlooking the final commissioning of the newest of the grand forges on the planet, this one set to produce the most advanced of components for the newly reworked and far more reliable plasma weaponry, as well as the ever deadly volkite weapons. Three more were planned, to add to the other forges that had been upgraded to standard in the frenzy of activity.

    The Magos himself was equally upgraded, the vast majority of his cybernetic implants and augmentations having been completely redone to take advantage of the newly rediscovered techniques and technologies, and while he was still far more man than machine, the aesthetic was far more pleasing to the eye for the unaugmented.

    Harry had been using this place as an overlook for some time, now, especially with the vast majority of the work being undertaken on the planet going completely above his head. Nothing else actually required his presence, and he was actively detrimental to any causes by poking into the local branch of the Inquisition or even the planetary governance. Worse still, even his practicing with magic was becoming a dull thing meant solely to pass the time, despite his exponentially increasing lethality when doing so.

    He knew the reason, too. He missed his friends. They had, against his own wishes, managed to grow enough on him that he was willing to actually refer to them as friends and not just some random useful acquaintance. Which meant that his worry for them was all the more significant, despite knowing full well that the pair were still alive and fighting the good fight.

    Interestingly, he was not alone in his concern. The Sisters of battle, despite having been in the thick of things with his friends, seemed to hold a solid opinion of them overall, though that group was, by their own admission, a bit more flexible in their zealotry than most who served as the brides of the Emperor, with their particular faction of the Sororitas (or, at least, their particular mission, as it seemed that the team were quite comfortable together) viewing their duty to the imperium in different light than most would, with a focus on the safety of the people of the Imperium instead of merely being the cleansing flame against his enemies.

    Harry himself was not surprised. He himself was a rather unorthodox Inquisitor, as much as it could be said that orthodoxy was a thing in the Inquisition, and found his own way to carry out his duties as he saw them. He would not begrudge those still loyal and untainted their personal methods, provided they remained as such in the eyes of the Emperor.

    "It would seem you are enjoying yourself, Harrisyn."

    Harry didn't bother turning around. Sister Rikah was very much like that with people, preferring to sneak around and be unnoticed rather than make a fuss, a habit that was only enhanced by her gaining the odd piece of technology she had from Lady Granliss.

    And yet despite all of this, she intentionally made sure that Harry stayed informed despite his never once aching for it in any capacity, something that only served to consider her even more than before.

    The fact that she had taken to moving around the facilities opened to them in her standard vestments (and Harry was still wondering where she got a hold of those) instead of her armor was likely the reasoning for people lowering their guard.

    Harry knew better.

    "Is that what it looks like to you, young lady? I had assumed that my attempts to bore the poor man with mindless babble were working to distract him."

    The reply had come from the Magos, and rather unexpectedly at that. The shock of both of the other parties at his statement only caused him to chuckle lightly. "What, you expected me to be more focused on the renewal efforts of our humble forge world, I take it? More concerned with matters of the Mechanicus than the people who made all of this possible?"

    He didn't even bother waiting for a response. "Naah. I have seen much in my time, and will likely see even more as I go. All of this," he waved at the expanse of facilities sprawled across the area, "is interesting, of course, but you lot are more so…especially since I began discussing things with the Lady."

    Harry blinked for a moment before subtly placing himself on guard. Rikah did the same, just as subtly flexing her impeller without actually expressing her frame.

    Which brought a warm, throaty laugh to the Magos' lips, even as he watched them prepare to face him in battle. "Now, none of that. This is no chaos taint, Inquisitor. Of that, I can assure you."

    Noting the sudden shock on both Harry and Rikah's faces, he could only smile wider. "Yes, she told me of these things as we spoke. Mentioned that you and yours are currently carrying her favor as well, as she works to undo some of the more annoying things happening around the Imperium."

    "And to prepare for the inevitable coming of darkness, of course."

    Harry once again found himself confused and out of sorts, but since the Magos was speaking… "Very well, then. Tell me everything you know."




    Alaya huffed in frustration. That man…

    Yes, Harrisyn Cain was a very shrewd Inquisitor, and one of the few that was loyal to the Imperium as a concept rather than the mess that was the Ecclesiarchy, but even then his paranoia…getting around that was proving to be annoying without having a means of confirming his suspicions.

    However, right now she was busy doing other things of greater import. The myriad Shards of the Emperor were still scattered far and wide, and despite her best efforts in collecting them, she still didn't have enough to allow for the Astronomican's light to maintain itself for long enough to actually fix the problems that the idiot had caused. The Custodes were fighting ever valiantly at the Infinity gates, even gaining ground against the unceasing hordes as they made use of her blessings, but it wasn't enough…they would need to fix the breach in the webway before anything more could be done, and that would take both time and effort that was currently unavailable to her.

    Yes, the Half-Eldar children floating around the galaxy were more than willing to lend their aid, but many of them were in positions where their going missing would cause a stir greater than the benefit of their assistance would grant. And while she could, in theory, do it herself, as she was technically just as connected to the forge as her parents were, she was still stretched far too thin to do much other than hold the line.

    A slight cough drew her attention, and she turned to see the form of Saint Celestine. The Living Saint had quickly returned to Terra upon hearing the pained screams of the Emperor, and had arrived soon after, only to find Alaya standing watch over humanity as a whole in his place.

    The attempts by Celestine to remove her from her position were amusing, though, even as she drew more and more power from Alaya herself to perform the deed. Despite this, it only took mere months for Celestine to witness the truth with her own eyes, and she was now working tirelessly to accomplish Alaya's goals.

    One of which involved a bit of a failsafe that Atham had set up.

    "Lady Alaya, I have brought the child. Do you wish to speak with him?"

    Alaya only barely restrained her mirth. Celestine refused to relax around her for any reason, and the desire to laugh and cuddle the poor soul was strong…but she had other tasks.

    That line was becoming ever more of an annoyance as time passed.

    She silently motioned for the Saint to continue, and a brief moment later a young boy walked in, his steps unhurried, though there was a look of resigned annoyance on his face as Celestine quickly moved to stand behind him, holding up a halo.

    Considering that the boy was by far the largest amalgamation of shards of Atham's soul, it was somewhat warranted.

    The boy, as was fitting, had all of the 'charm' of his father. "I was wondering when you would call for me."

    Alaya, for her part, was not fooled in the slightest by the comment. "As much as it may surprise you, you are not here to be punished. The old fool brought this mess down on his own head, after all…and neither you, nor your siblings, are him in any way that matters. Now then, what shall I call you, young one?"

    The boy considered it for a moment. "I have been referred to as the Star Child by some, though that name is tinged with…regrets, as it implies the existence of a Star Father…" the boy barely repressed a shudder, and Alaya sympathized. There was a reason she had acted as quickly as she did, after all… "But it can suffice as a name for now. After all, I am at best a disembodied soul, not an actual body."

    Alaya nodded. She had expected as much. "Very well, then, Star Child. I have called you here to ask of your assistance in cleaning up this mess. Your progenitor left behind a bit more than anticipated."

    "Kind of expected when you killed him."

    Alaya laughed out loud. "He is not dead, child. At least, not without me allowing it. Should I cease my support of his spirit, then he will collapse inwards on himself and go back to slowly perishing as he was…and without the power to sustain the Astronomican as he had been doing for millennia. No, what I am doing here is a restoration. Now come, Star Child. We have much to discuss."

    The following discussion would last for some time, as the two (and Saint Celestine) attempted to cobble together a plan that would prevent the collapse of the Imperium as a whole.

    And maybe get through Harry's thick head as well. Stubborn bastard.




    I awoke in the extremely comfortable hotel bed, Mio in my arms and the both of us still sticky from the previous night's activities. Which had probably drawn a chuckle or two from our minders, but Mio was rather insistent.

    The two of us were nearing the end of our scheduled 48-hour quarantine, a standard procedure of the space program to prevent any potential transmission of foreign bacteria and viruses into the population. The others were in a similar state, as were the four capes we had encountered on our arrival.

    Grey Knight had noted that it most definitely beat an M/S containment cell for comfort, though his companions were less willing to speak on the matter–at least not without trying to subtly sell the concept of the Protectorate in the process.

    I was, of course, not interested, and Mio was similarly unaffected, and so that conversation went nowhere.

    Of course, during the downtime, we were not idle. I had intended to request a videoconferencing system to stay in touch during our isolation, but I'd been preempted by NASA in short order. As such, we had spent the following hours talking about all manner of technological and technical prospects and interests, most of them directed at things that the JPL guys could get working on now instead of having to wait for us to clear quarantine. From what we'd been hearing, there was a lot of good news on that front.

    I had also been in contact with both the local Medical Wing of the Air Guard, and their civilian counterparts out of the massive Texas Medical Center downtown, for my just-as-standard post-deployment eval. Most of it was the same standard stuff, the usual mental health checks and general de-stress debriefing that was meant to ensure that guys coming back home were still in the right frame of mind and not subtly going crazy or something. I had additional stuff piled into mine, mostly to do with the fuzzy bits, as well as some follow-on physicals that had been requested of both of us after we were let out.

    Needless to say, despite having two days of mostly nothing happening, a lot was going on. Which is why Mio's insistence that she drain me out last night was somewhat unusual, especially as she was still relatively shy about things despite having me to lean on.

    It might have had something to do with that conversation we'd had as we were first placed into isolation, when I told her about Watts' Wife and my observations on the matter.

    Her response was intended to be jumping me right then and there to re-establish her claim, but had been stymied by the reminder that we were being monitored at all times for safety reasons. That it held her off as long as it had was still a miracle, though: I'd been feeling her lust spike to dangerous levels for the entire time, and my own was rising to match it. If it hadn't happened last night, we would have probably lost a day or two–again–indulging in each other.

    Still, we had agreed to table the discussion regarding what was happening on that side until after the initial processes were complete, and we had a bit more privacy to work with.

    Extracting myself from the bed (and waking Mio in the process), I found that breakfast had already been delivered to us by the usual secure method, and was still piping hot as well. The video screen that was installed in the room quickly snapped on, revealing our current minders, doctors Halsey and Larson. Both of them were visibly amused by my current state, and I suspected that this was not the first time that they had been party to returning astronauts being amorous after a mission.

    That, or they were just being smug about how Mio had dragged me into it.

    "Good morning, Mr. Green. Just making sure that your lady friend didn't wear you out too much last night." Dr. Halsey commented, her amusement clear in her tone. "We're ready to get back into things for the final stretch once you get cleaned up and eat. Take your time."

    Dr. Larson's comments were a bit more on-point, though even his demeanor was still rather jovial. "We also wanted to let you know that the two of us have been tapped as your physicians for the moment, so we will be in on the physical examinations as well. Is this alright with you?"

    I nodded absently as I prepped for a quick shower. "Fine by me, and Mio isn't going to complain about having a second opinion on things. Besides, I get to show off some stuff when you do it."

    A thought occurred to me. "Speaking of, are either of you in the running for heading up to Miakoda? I know the selections process for the candidates has been grueling so far…"

    Dr. Larson shook his head. "No way, man. I've seen the competition going on over that, and people are getting downright cutthroat over who gets to head up. I'll wait for the later waves to make my bid, thank you very much."

    His comment reminded me of that particular tidbit too. The race for the slots was indeed extremely grueling and cutthroat, and that was just to be a part of the final list for consideration. Everyone from pilots to scientists to even the goddamned cooks were moving around at record pace to try and get themselves into position to be on that list, many of which were abandoning work in progress to simply have the chance.

    And that was just the civilian side. The Military aspect was even worse, with there suddenly being a massive inter-service rivalry between the Army, Air Force, Marines and Navy to get as many of 'their' people up as possible while potentially denying slots to the competition. The fact that the guy in charge of the place (IE: Me) was Air Force was not sitting well with the Naval contingent, but they would learn to deal with it in due time.

    The equal insistence that I had made that enlisted personnel get the same opportunity to be considered as their officers was creating even more friction, which was causing some minor issues in the usually officer-heavy process for selection. Plenty of excitement from the enlisted side, though, as there were quite a few who were interested in getting a lift into space.

    My laugh as I considered the ramifications of all of that was well received by the doctors, both of whom well aware that I could push them to the front of the line if I so chose to, and decided to not ask for it. I could respect that much, at least.

    A set of arms draping themselves over my shoulders announced that Mio was awake…ish. She was being somewhat sluggish lately, and for no reason that I could immediately name, though the lethargy faded quickly as she moved about.

    "'Morning, husband. What do the doctors have to say about things so far?"

    Dr. Halsey replied before I could get a word in, not that I was trying hard. "Nothing much. Based on what we are seeing on our end, the both of you should be free and clear at around two p.m. today, You are both scheduled for a physical examination following your discharge, as per prior agreements. Lunch will be provided afterwards if you are amenable."

    Mio's smile, if anything, became warmer, and I could distinctly feel the effect. "Alrighty then. Let's get cleaned up, shall we?" And with that she ran off towards the bathroom and attendant shower.

    Halsey's snickering came through loud and clear over the line.

    "It's really not that funny, Dr. Halsey." I quipped.

    Halsey switched to outright laughter. "I'm married myself, Warrant Officer. I've done the exact same to my husband on more than one occasion."

    Dr. Larson, who was only barely masking his own amusement, decided to jump in too. "Go deal with your wife, and we can continue this afterwards. Lord knows you both need to get it out of your system."

    Recognizing a losing battle when I saw one, I went to deal with Mio's punishment, the doctors laughing the whole while.




    "Alright, everything is looking good, and we have seen no abnormalities or potential biological vectors. The biology work is more or less complete as well, and we have seen no major abnormalities." What wasn't said was that this was because there were abnormalities they expected to see, courtesy of our having explained things before the blood draw. "Unless anyone else has concerns, I am willing to say that they are clear."

    None of the other medical professionals, including Halsey and Larson, disagreed.

    The chief examiner nodded. "Very well, then. You both are free to go." He waited a moment before adding, "Welcome to Houston."

    With that, the various parties disbanded, with our now personal care physicians staying behind to get ready for the next part, while a second pair of doctors, these in camouflage utilities, filed in.

    "Good afternoon, Warrant Officer Green. Nice to see that the Air Force decided to fix that issue from back in the day. I am Doctor Barregos, and with me is Doctor Chen, US Navy. We will be performing the physical examinations, as we mentioned prior. Any questions before we start?"

    I smiled at the doctor, a full colonel, who was about to have her world blown away simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. "Just one, doc. You mind if I break out my own equipment for this? Didn't want to use it during the quarantine as a precaution."

    I didn't wait for the response, instead breaking out the diagnostic tools and equipment that I'd had in storage. The medical professionals in attendance were suitably impressed by the appearance of the devices, but…

    "I was kinda of expecting something a bit…bigger when you said that, Mr. Green." Dr, Chen noted wryly. "Nevertheless, would you care to inform us of what, exactly, we are working with?"

    I laughed a little. "I really don't have to. They are rather intuitive once activated. Give it a moment…and there you are."

    The various holographic screens and status windows sprang to life around the doctors as they were given the initialization package for the system. I noted with some amusement that while Doctor Chen was eagerly delving into the system itself, seeking to find all of the little fiddly bits he could customize, Dr. Barregos was more forceful with dismissing the setup and customization options, which forced the system into a default mode designed to be as user-friendly as possible to a person not trained on it.

    Both Halsey and Larson were lost in the menus and not paying much attention.

    "...well, this is something. I have to say that I am impressed." was Barregos' final response, after she finished clearing out all of the extra stuff and got right down to the main system. "I'm assuming that you have something similar on the moon, then?"

    Mio nodded absently. "A bit less advanced, mostly because we neglected the upgrades over time. Nothing that can't be fixed, just…lesser than what you are working with."

    Dr. Barregos nodded herself. "Very well then. Mr. Green, you have cleared most of the mental wellness checks, and the rest of it is, as you know, a formality that gets observed. As for the physical, we have been requested to do a more thorough examination by several interested parties, as well as being requested," I caught the stressing on that last part, which implied that it wasn't as much of a request as it was an order, "to perform an MRI examination on both of you for various reasons. We specifically have a bit of tinkertech that was brought in to expedite the process, so we can get you in and out as quickly as possible. Any questions so far?"

    Mio gave a soft grunt of acknowledgement. "What if the results of this MRI come back…less than positive? What happens then?"

    Barregos frowned slightly. "Assuming that the results come back with anomalous results, a more thorough test will be scheduled using standard equipment to confirm the results. If those match…well, that is currently beyond the scope of my instructions."

    I interpreted it as a PRT power play to suss out the suspected Tinker. Still, I was unsure of exactly how the MRI would react to…well, everything. There was the distinct possibility that there would be unusual reactions or similar, as a result.

    Nonetheless, it would have to happen anyway. I nodded my assent at Dr. Barregos. "Good to go when you are, doc."

    And, in a rare case of the technology actually being used for it's intended purpose, the Doctors all proceeded to utilize the new gear I'd provided to perform their checks and inspections without any form of interference, much to their shock.

    "...it's that easy? Holy hell…if we could get one of these in every hospital…"
    "Definitely need to talk to the bosses about this…"
    "...and so much detail…wait, you can adjust it more? Where is that?"

    "Huh. Well, that is interesting."

    I could guess as to what Dr. Barregos was looking at, but didn't voice my opinion. She continued her observations uninterrupted, save for one of the others muttering something to themselves.

    "So…your blood has some kind of inert mineral content mixed into it, along with some significant reinforcing of your bones and certain organs as well with the same substance. This stuff acts as a kind of…booster effect? for other things happening with your body, and some…okay, what the hell? This says that you have at least three, possibly four different types of energies running through your damned body at the same time, and they are not conflicting with each other nor causing you to die screaming. What is going on here, Warrant Officer?"

    Ah. There it is. The inevitable crazy realization that we are not normal. "I'll get to that in a bit, Doc. Anything else you've noticed, particularly with regard to some of those requests?" The implication of which request was clear enough.

    Dr. Chen spoke up as if summoned. "According to this, the, ah, requests are satisfied with little need for follow-up. However, due to the nature of the request, you still have to go through the tinkertech just to be sure. Otherwise, you are looking good, Mr. Green."

    "No, it is your wife that we will be having trouble with." Barregos added in, turning towards Mio. "Did you know that you were pregnant? Based on the size of the fetus, approximately two months or so. It only would have started showing within the next few weeks, and–"

    I tuned all of the discussion out. None of it mattered, as the instant Barregos uttered those words, Mio froze. Her entire conscious thought process locked up harder than a rusted door, and I was immediately reaching out towards her mentally to stop whatever it was from spiraling out of control.

    I heard the thoughts as I touched her mind. 'This is impossible, this is impossible, this is impossible!'

    I got up from my seat and moved to hug her even as the docs continued with the normal notes and notices about pregnancy, but all I could hear was that loop in her mind about how this was impossible.

    Slowly, she registered my touch, and turned towards me, tears in her eyes. I just hugged her harder, which seemed to break the loop in her thought process. To my mental inquiries, I received no reply. Knowing Mio, she would tell me about it later on.

    Barregos continued on as if nothing was wrong. "Anyway, the good news aside, this doesn't change much. You still will be taking that MRI, and we'll be recording the results as a baseline for the new diagnostic and scanning tools you have lent us."

    I pointedly ignored the blatant hijacking of the equipment, as I'd intended for it to be used anyway. Better in the hands of a doctor than sitting in my impeller storage unused. Besides, Mio was far more important than something I could not only replace but improve upon in seconds if I desired.

    It wasn't until we started moving towards the room with the tinkertech machine inside of it that I finally got a response from her.

    "This…was very unexpected, for a number of reasons." she said, softly. The mental packet that came with it, however…

    It was something that I had glossed over during our meeting and had forgotten about as we got to know each other, lost in the mire of things that were considered unimportant in the grander scheme.

    Mio was, up until recently, barren, and had been for decades following a near-disastrous assault on a chaos planet that had literally eaten ninety percent of the combatants as fuel for some kind of ascension ritual. Mind you, this was all combatants, not just Imperial forces…and that planet, that was once named Falachis, had been contested for at least a decade. She was but one of the bare handful of survivors to come out of the mess, which had also nearly eradicated three entire Space Marine chapters in the process.

    It was a large part of why she had sought out the Mechanicus in her home universe, after all: the hope that there was a way to restore what had been lost to her through the gifts of the Machine God. That she later proved to be quite adept as an engineseer and overall techpriestess was considered a win by the Mechanicus as a whole, even if there were regrets in their being unable to restore her lost…potential.

    I suspected that it was either the transformation of the forge itself, or the reformation into a hybrid nanocolony that ultimately healed her. I would have put it on Eirin's head, but the docs were rather clear on the front that this was a pregnancy well underway.

    Also, looking at the readouts myself, it seemed that she was having an unusually easy time of it for some reason. Normally by now there would be all of the little tells that happen as the mother's hormonal and chemical balance starts shifting to support the formation and upkeep of a fetus, but none of those ever factored in at any point. If anything, the only change she has undergone since the probable conception point was to become even hornier than she already was, once she'd found a properly suitable target for her perversions.

    Not that I was complaining. Pregnancy also had a bad habit of creating monsters out of women for the months prior to the stable period and just before birth. It was a well-documented phenomenon that I had seen firsthand from my own family members, and not having to deal with that as a side effect of physical enhancements was more than acceptable.

    That being said, Mio deserved more of a response than me simply digesting her reminder text.

    "Don't worry. We'll handle it together." And that much I meant with all my soul. After all, I'd loved her even knowing that she would be unable to bear any children, and still stood with her all the same, as she did for me. A flash of memory from my last interaction with Watts' wife, the other Mio, washed over me, along with her request that at the time didn't make much sense.

    Well, I guess this was what she was talking about. Not that I wasn't going to do so anyway, this was my woman, thank you very much, and my wife to boot. Besides, she was carrying my child–

    Oh.

    Oh god.

    I'm going to be a father.




    Mio felt it the instant that reality had set in for him, that realization that yes, you are about to be a father of a child. She was sure that the doctors saw it on his face the instant that the news truly sunk in. She equally suspected that they had seen this countless times before, and were chuckling to themselves at Satori suddenly becoming very wooden as the shock hit him this time.

    Still, as he had comforted her in her time of need, so too would she comfort him. And it would be a much easier thing, as well, as he was not resigned for decades to be forever childless like she was.

    Seeing the thoughts flowing through her partner's (and now father of her child!! (no, she did not squee in joy, not even internally, and no one can prove otherwise)) face, she was suddenly reminded about their last meeting with Watts, after Thoth, the god, had dropped off his pile of notes in the forge proper and created a mess. Hadn't he congratulated them?

    Did he somehow know?

    Combine this with the more concerning notion that Satori had brought up during their discussion, that there was apparently a version of her in the space that was Watts' spouse, and things were becoming a bit more complicated than she wanted to be dealing with at the moment.

    At least Watts, for all of his mystery, was genuinely on their side and helpful in his management of the activation of the Forge's powers. This, of course, reminded her of the best part of their relationship with Watts: they could see him at any time they chose.

    Such as right now.

    'Stepping' into the mental space that was the representation of the Forge as a whole and it's connections, both within itself and to herself and Satori, was trivial at this point, and she accomplished it with ease, pointedly moving within the space to appear next to Watts so as to ask him some questions.

    This had the unintended consequence of her appearing right at the foot of a bed that was currently being put through some extreme stresses as Watts and what she assumed was his wife made extensive use of it in their extremely enthusiastic lovemaking.

    She froze for a moment. Not because she was intruding on an intensely personal moment for the couple, not because of any embarrassment on her part (though that was a minor factor anyway), but rather because of the very distinct aura that was being given off by the two as they indulged in each other.

    An aura she knew all too well.

    That pause seemed to be enough time for the two to conclude their activity, both of them breathing heavily. Watts eventually took the time to roll off to the side of his satiated (for now) partner, allowing the both of them to face Mio in their entirety, mess and all.

    Mio pointedly did not question how she knew that they were nowhere near done yet. Instead, she focused on the pair, who seemed completely unsurprised at her presence, and were equally unashamed as well.

    Considering the details she was picking up just at a casual glance, they had every right to not worry about her violating their privacy.

    Watts sighed in a combination of pleasure and relaxation as he finally caught his breath again. "Heya hon. Wasn't expecting to see you pop by just yet, but this works just as well. I'm assuming you're here because Satori is…concerned about certain impressions he got last time?"

    Mio gave a curt nod, revealing nothing.

    Which Watts seemed to see through anyway. Considering who he was, this was unsurprising. "I was wondering when he would get to that part. Don't worry, this was actually a long time coming, though the fact that it was needed at all is because of the way we initially managed to interact, Satori and I. The 41st Millennium is very hostile to those who try to be benevolent about things, and the groundwork needed for bringing in the initial care package was done in haste, which necessitated a bit of tweaking to get things stable."

    He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and Mio noted in her mind yet more proof of what she had already surmised, but remind silent. "End result was that he forgot a lot about our first meeting, and who exactly I was and why I was there. As for my lovely lady here–" He nudged the woman next to him, who smiled broadly even as she was on full display, "--she is exactly who, and what, you think she is."

    Mio merely closed her eyes, a frown of irritation forming on her face, complete with creased brow. She vaguely noticed her tail lashing out as well, and willfully stilled it before it damaged something. "So, why didn't you just say something instead of spooking him with the games, huh? Right now, he's confused as hell as to why you seem to have a copy of HIS wife in your bed, dammit."

    Watts shrugged. "It wasn't important at the time, and he was more than happy enough with things. I decided to leave it alone…but then this one decided to poke her nose in." he added in pokes to his wife's belly for emphasis, causing her to giggle. "And you know how she can get around–"

    Mio didn't bother letting him finish talking, instead grabbing him by his currently extremely vulnerable man parts. "Nope. You don't get to walk out of this that easily. So, here's the deal: Keep your woman under control (and don't act like you can't; We both know full well you can) and I let you keep these. Understood?"

    "B-but–"

    Mio squeezed harder. "No buts. Do. You. Understand?"

    Watts eventually resigned himself to agreeing, causing his wife to laugh out loud, much to his embarrassment.

    At least, until she suddenly found herself in just as awkward a position, having fingers where she didn't want them and primed for a very painful time.

    Mio continued on as if it was a normal occurrence. "And you. Your entire job is keeping him grounded out and stable, and not letting him float off like this. Why did you even let this happen?"

    She received no response, which was expected. "As I thought. The same goes for you. Keep him properly grounded, as you are intended to do…and I allow you to keep the fun bits. Deal?"

    A hasty nod was her only reply.

    "Good. With that being completed, I now have to deal with breaking this to my Satori. Do be ready to offer up an explanation, would you 'Watts'?"

    Watts' grimace was her only reply, which she took as acquiescence before leaving. The resulting silence hung in the air for several moments before being broken.

    "You know, there was no reason to play along with this mess the way we are."

    "Not really, no. But when they get the joke, it'll pay off. Now then, I believe you were holding out on me, honey. Spread 'em."

    The pair quickly resumed their prior activities.




    I could feel Mio's sudden spike of irritation and annoyance as we were moving, and based on the amount of time involved quickly assumed that she'd paid a visit to Watts over something. Considering all of the details that I'd had time to mull over regarding that situation, I decided to let it be for the time being.

    After all, the one thing I was most certain of was that Mio was very much the type to look into those who dared to try and move in on things that were hers. And this wasn't even due to the whole 'dragon' thing, either, just her natural inclination.

    And being this annoyed by something related to that likely meant that she was unable to solve the problem the way she desired.

    I mentally nudged her to get her attention. 'Alright, what is it?'

    This form of telepathy that I was currently using was almost completely psionic in nature, and was a bit new, but oddly natural to use between us. I chalked it down to our general growth.

    'Watts knew everything and was keeping you out of the loop as some kind of joke.'

    I blinked. That…had just confirmed one of my theories about what was going on. 'And as for his wife?'

    I received the mental impression of someone that Mio wanted to simultaneously strangle to death and smother in all the hugs. 'Doing exactly as she was supposed to do, and keeping her husband grounded.'

    …well, even as loaded as that statement was with subtext, that was another confirmation. Which meant that the only reasons left for Watts to have not said anything about the issue was because either he couldn't do so, for whatever reason, or that he didn't want to, which opened up even more questions.

    And I could see Mio's frustration, now, because the remaining hypotheses on Watts' identity depended on if he could have told them, and why he chose not to.

    Which was honestly a conundrum for another time, and one that I was sure that he would be answering himself when I finally decided to pop in on him.

    After all, it's what I'd do.

    For right now, though, our group had arrived at the room containing the tinkertech MRI scanner. The setup was actually a lot more compact than I was expecting, even if it looked somewhat patchwork, and had a clear station set aside with an operations terminal that was already being manned by a technician. I found myself curious as to how it was supposed to work, and moved to get a quick touch-scan of the workings inside for future reference.

    The technician quickly moved to stop me, however. "Sorry about that, sir, but the machine can be finicky if it gets messed with the wrong way. I'm going to have to ask you not to touch anything not specifically marked as safe."

    Odd, but whatever. It's not like I couldn't get a scan by other means. "So how does this work, then?"

    The tech nodded to himself as he began the explanation. "It's a standard MRI, really. The only differences here are that you don't have to worry about clothing or jewelry getting in the way of the scan, and that it is significantly faster with results. All you need to do is stand on the marked square over there, and we can get started."

    I frowned to myself. I knew full well what he was speaking of was perfectly possible in at least five different ways that I had explored personally, and another ten that were possible, but nothing about the machinery present gave even the slightest hint that this was meant to operate that way. My hunch that something was off was at least partially supported by the obvious lack of a suitable power supply for the machine in question, as I knew full damn well that there was no way that they'd fit something small enough into there to make it work.

    They weren't me, after all.

    Still, I was getting no premonitions of danger from any of my senses or the Force itself, so I played along and stepped up to the plate…after letting Thoth know to scan for everything it could, and asking Minerva to do the same. Both complied without comment. Soon thereafter, the discordant hum of machinery filled my ears, along with an odd scratchy sound that I couldn't place.

    The scan was surprisingly brief for what it was doing. Mio was keeping up a running psionic commentary to me as the minutes ticked by, and was noting that there was some kind of dimensional shunt active in several places that was doing the actual work of the process, while the machinery for the most part wasn't actually doing what it was supposed to do. Worse, according to Mio the machine actually could have done as advertised, if it had been built properly instead of in the weird haphazard way that it was.

    The Index (which is what I had decided to call the magical effect that acted as just that for the multiple knowledge bases we had access to) helpfully pointed out that the lack of proper build cohesion and/or missing critical parts along with "black boxes" was a core staple of tinkertech, and were the primary reasons for why so much effort was required to reverse engineer the stuff into something usable. It further pointed out that, because one of the active forge powersets was based off of that precise phenomenon, I had an easy workaround for the black box issue and could back-hack not only the other side and the actual source shard, but also "fix" the tech to be properly comprehensible.

    And once again, the forge proves it's worth. I was going to be extremely careful about revealing that ability to 'understand' tinkertech, though, as that way lay even more PRT interference.

    "Alright! Scan is complete. Putting up on screen now." the Technician announced, breaking me from my thoughts. I, along with the rest of our party, turned to the output screen for the results.

    "Well, that's interesting…" and judging from her tone, Dr. Barregos was not amused by what she was seeing. Neither were the others, for that matter.

    Because sure enough, the tinkertech scanner's results were placing a node of quasi-cancerous tissue in a random location in my brain, analogous to the corona growths that signified a parahuman. I somehow found myself unsurprised at the result.

    Instead, I merely let go of the metaphorical leash I was holding Mio on, and she quickly acted, not only pulling out a second copy of the medical diagnostics tools we'd left behind in the exam room, but also moving to do a more in-depth inspection of the tinkertech scanner.

    The tech noticed the movement and quickie tried to stop her. "Ma'am, you cannot–"

    Only to get completely bowled over and shoved aside as if he barely existed as Mio breezed past him without even slowing down, quickly breaking out a small portable toolkit and some spare parts that I assumed she had fabricated during the wait.

    The hard-light holoscreens quickly formed around the doctors, even more quickly imported their preferences from the other device, and proceeded to do a side-by-side comparison of the scans taken previously with the ones taken by the tinkertech.

    The results were damning: our gear showed not only zero anomalies (which meant no corona tumors), but also picked up on the other things that an imaging machine of that caliber should have seen, which included the enhanced and adapting nanites in my bloodstream flowing normally.

    And then Mio finished with her repairs to the tinkertech machine, having restored it to proper spec functionality and removed all of the black box bullshit in the process…and destroying my plan to stay low as well.

    The mental smirk I got from her made it clear that she was well aware of my intentions and decided to ignore them anyway…and knew full well that I would be punishing her later.

    Sheesh. And I thought I was horny.

    The hum of the tinker machine once again hit my ears, but this time it was a smoother sound, and the odd scratching noise was not present. Not even twenty seconds later, an image popped up on the screen showing off a brand-new scan, which showed no abnormalities…and was at least five times clearer than it was originally.

    The poor technician moved to make a complaint, noted the difference in the machine's output and output quality, and quickly shut his mouth. He recognized being set up by people as well, it seemed.

    Dr. Barregos broke the silence. "Well, after all of this, I am more than inclined to declare that all outstanding issues have been resolved and, pending your wife getting her own scan completed, am willing to release you for the day. Of course, due to the discrepancy noted here in the testing, I am required to schedule you for further testing on an unmodified MRI machine, preferably by an outside party, before I can get rid of the paperwork, but I already know what they are going to find. I can safely declare you not to be a parahuman, and as such the Parahuman Response Teams no longer has any authority here."

    "Now then, who wants lunch? There's a nice place nearby I wanted to try out."




    I made sure to have Thoth track the data traffic going between that hospital and the PRT, and found the expected screeching happening through emails being thrown a both NASA and the Department of Defense alike. The amusing part being that due to the nature of the situation, the Governor had to be CC'ed in to the conversation, with predictable results after the PRT tried to flex their muscle over the State of Texas.

    Meanwhile, Mio and I were getting our first taste of what passed for authentic Tex-Mex food on Earth Bet. Mio, for her part, was devouring her portions with gusto and enthusiasm.

    "This is great!! I never thought you could make something this simple work like that!" she exclaimed in between bites of her sixth enchilada platter. It was, of course, smothered in proper southern salsa and cheese. I could only smile at her antics, having gone through three of the same myself.

    Dr Barregos, who was footing the bill for this little lunch trip, was not quite as nice. "Can you two please stop eating me into the poor house? Even I only get paid so much."

    Mio completely ignored the poor colonel's plight. I silently promised to make it up to her later with something personal.

    And, to be fair, it actually was a nice little restaurant. It was a hole-in-the-wall type, mostly known to the local community as a good place to be and generally used for the local lunch rush groups in the surrounding industries. There were plenty of the same type spread all over the city, even without me knowing how Bet would have changed things that I had known before, and even in light of the fact that some of the city's biggest changes had yet to be actually implemented.

    Besides, they actually knew their stuff. The barbacoa was some of the best I'd had ever, which I'd chalked up to the actual seasoning they used, unlike most of the gas-station taquerías I'd known in the past. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

    Still, I'd eventually managed to drag my ravenous dragon out of the restaurant, to the silent gratitude of Dr. Barregos' wallet and the cheers of the restaurant staff (who very much liked that their work was appreciated).

    Our next stop was back at JSC for another progress meeting regarding the selections processes, as well as the status reports on the analysis of the stuff from our gift box. Personally, I thought it was just a way to get us somewhere that the real questions could be asked by people who needed to be asking.

    Considering that the Air Force was still going over the Owl transport with a fine tooth comb (despite the fact that I had left all the maintenance and technical manuals in a place that any actual crew chief would know to find them), I didn't blame NASA in the slightest for wanting some face time.

    "So, we were looking at the repulsor system that you gave us, and we think that we can get at least a good 30% improvement out of the entire design with a few simple tweaks. We wanted to know your opinion." The current speaker was a video call from JPL, a Marcus Honda. They were the ones working on the adaptation of the systems at the moment, at least on the NASA side.

    I shrugged. "I never meant for the stuff to be the be-all and end-all. I myself have wrung anywhere from sixty to ninety percent extra out of a diverging design with little issue. This stuff was meant to be taken apart and played with, mostly because I know full damn well that I can miss things that others won't." The proof was on the screen a moment later, as I showed my other design spec, which had a completely different overall philosophy than the one Honda's team had located and optimized. "Don't worry about me saying otherwise, and run with it. If I wanted my ego stroked, I would just ask my wife."

    Mio giggled at the comment, even as she was playing around with one of the new forge additions. The Nullspace computer was originally just a standard computer tower that happened to be stored in a pocket dimension space (and which begged further research) and could be upgraded as needed or desired. The only other unique function about it aside from being tamper-proof due to its storage was the holographic interface that came standard with the setup.

    Mio, of course, had taken everything we'd had going on, both here and at Miakoda, and used it to apply some downright scary upgrades to the system, to the point that it was honestly more of a hypercomputer than anything else.

    The fact that she had taken the quantum computing experiments that I had been playing with and formalized and refined it before implementing it in the system only added to its overall power. At the moment, I was pretty sure that the system was more powerful than even the central mainframe that we'd set up on Miakoda. Which was yet another thing we now had to work into the upgrade cycle, though it could actually afford to wait to be accomplished.

    Better is always the enemy of the good enough, and trying to implement a system like that when Miakoda was still brand new was counterproductive at a minimum. We had no need to rebuild everything all the time just because we got a new shiny to play with.

    A quick glance over her shoulder showed me that she was working on a proper OS for the system, seeing as nothing available was compatible in any way. I was tempted to insert my own opinion in here, but decided against it for the time being. I could hassle her about her choices for the OS later on if it deserved it.

    Of course, that was not the only project that NASA had us helping out on. As per our ultimatum to work with the Mexican government on technology projects, there was an open link between the two governments on how to properly facilitate that requirement, especially considering the strained relations that Mexico had with the United States, courtesy of the PRT. There were proper inroads being made into actually solving the issues, but it was and would take time, and the infrastructure build-up would take even longer without one of us stepping over to help

    And unfortunately we were both occupied at the moment.

    Crap. I was probably going to have to take a look at some kind of remote-operated drone system to get things set up the way they need to be down there without getting things messed up by the local parahumans. Or the drug cartels. Or any of the other endemic issues that plagued Mexico because of decades of political turmoil and/or American policy.

    Fortunately, We had more than enough clout with the government to get in there and get some of the bigger issues worked out, like access to clean water and electricity. It was still going to be uphill, but that had more to do with general attitudes of the people and not difficulty of completing the task at hand.

    And we were going to have to go down there no matter what anyway, as one of the larger originium patches was located there, along with an increasing number of migrants through the break in space-time. I had even money on most of them being positive for oripathy, too, or at least knowing of people who were.

    Earth Bet's medical science wasn't ready to deal with that just yet, and even the vaunted Panacea could only do so much about the problem, as those in the later stages of oripathy would be increasingly larger amounts of crystal rather than flesh.

    Still, it was something that we'd have to deal with later on.

    Director Langley decided to put in one of his increasingly less rare appearances to check in on things. "So, how's it going, people? Anything new?"

    The obvious attempt at cracking a bad joke was still received warmly by all. They all knew full fucking well that they hadn't even scratched the surface of what was to come.

    Jason, one of the other techs in attendance, was the one to respond. "You mean aside from the massive breakthroughs that will have made our budget for decades to come? And that don't need to rely on anyone but ourselves to make happen?" he shrugged. "Nah, we're good."

    Langley got another good laugh out of the reply. "Alright then, that's good enough. Besides, I am actually here on business for once. Greens, the bosses in Washington wanted to know about how much space you have available on that moonbase of yours to get the final selection numbers down. My bosses in particular are curious as to if you have a new space suit design in there somewhere."

    I quickly pulled up the schematic for the Transtar suit and ARTX propulsion pack, made a few quick adjustments for easier construction and usage, and fired it off to the requisite people's emails and the main screen. The only adverse reaction I got was from the guys who were already using the screen for their own purposes, at least one of which was a big-screen game of Super Street Fighter II (the Turbo edition, no less.)

    The silence was golden.

    "Anything else you need?" I asked mildly.

    Director Langley merely shook his head. "No, that should be enough for now. Thank you."

    As the director left, some of the techs began snickering.

    I couldn't find it within myself to stop them, and judging from Langley's own muffled chuckles, neither did he.




    The next few days shook out roughly the same as things progressed, and the ongoing security checks disguised as general wellness checkups and "acclimation checks" by the military and civilian counterparts. I knew what they were doing, and they knew I knew, but the song and dance was still necessary simply due to protocol.

    I had noticed that the National Intelligence apparatus had been called in to do further checks on our person as we slowly settled in to life back on Planet Earth. Much like the other checks, we were mutually aware of each other and made no moves outside of the pro forma 'stealth' motions to hide this fact from each other. Trust but Verify was the order of the day, and we all chugged along with it in relatively good cheer due to having a pretty good read on each other by now. Admittedly, it helped that the CIA had managed to get their hands on a nascent Telepath and was using her to keep tabs on me, which I reciprocated by teaching her what I knew of psionics whenever she was on watch duty, massively increasing her effectiveness in watching over my actions. A similar deal with an equally amateur magical Diviner attached to the NSA was just as well known.

    This led to some amusing interactions in which the various spy agencies were using me both as an instructor for their recently awakened supernatural corps as well as a go-between for their informal backchannel network, even if there wasn't much going through it other than the usual "is this channel still open?" messages. I knew full well that this was just as much meant to link me specifically into the network to get important information out quickly if it came to it as it was yet another check.

    The song-and-dance routine gave me enough time to take a better look at some of the stuff that had come through in the latest activation surge from the forge that we hadn't gotten around to cataloging just yet. And this one was a bit of a doozy, mostly due to Watts having marked it as extremely dangerous. After reading a little on the effect, I fully understood why.

    The Eldar, those pompous asswipes, took many things to the extreme in their pursuit of being "ultimate". This included their buildings and construction methods, in which the Aeldari quite literally used their psionic powers and a frankly ridiculous amount of training to quite literally sing their crafts into creation. The material that was created from this process, the heavily psionically-attuned 'super compound' known as wraithbone, had many similarities to some of the strongest materials known to man, while also being extremely light. And let's not forget that psionic conductivity. Can never forget that

    I wasn't impressed. Sure, it had a lot of really cool features to it, but the combination of lack of ease of working along with the fact that the stuff was not quite as good as even some of the random alloys I could make right now if I chose (and downright inferior to things that I could make with only a slight bit more effort) was a dealbreaker for me. And besides, the main selling point for the stuff was the psionic conductivity, which, while good, I could do better in at least five different ways without even trying.

    Basically, as a material, the stuff was a dud except as for potential synthesis fodder. And even then I could likely do better without using any of it as an ingredient for something greater.

    Apparently, whoever was responsible for grabbing methods and practices for the forge was a bit of a prankster, because one of the recently activated nodes was the knowledge and skill of this ability.

    And I knew full well why Watts had marked it as unsafe…and it had nothing to do with the attempt that was made to give me elf ears…which I likely would have had to do something about if that part wasn't corrupted and had to be excised for stability.

    "You mean to tell me that this is going to open us up to the Warp. As in, make us full and proper psykers, with all the terror and danger that comes with?"

    I nodded to Mio, my face cast in stone. The two of us were alone in our temporary quarters, having retired specifically to discuss the potential ramifications of this specifically. "Yeah. I am not sure how much easier–or harder–this will make things for the tumors, but just that alone is going to cause some issues. I know it."

    Mio's frown was deadly in its intensity. "We need to talk to Watts. Now."

    Apparently Watts was waiting for us, as we were immediately pulled in to the forgescape with no warning and a lot of annoyance, both he and his wife in attendance. I pointedly did not look at the pair while contemplating my decision on that oh so dangerous ability.

    "So, you knew this was coming?" I asked no one in particular.

    "Yeah. I knew. It was this, and a few other things, that was the reason why I kept our first meeting so…mysterious. Your awakening to actual psyker potential that soon was a death sentence." Watts replied. Now that I was paying attention to it, I noticed all the things that I had ignored before in our previous discussions that would have tipped me off to who he really was. They actually seemed so obvious now, even just from his voice.

    "Alright, fair enough. Now, one last question before I decide on this thing: What exactly are you?"

    "I'm–"

    An extremely loud and ominous creak interrupted his response, and all four of us looked up at the constellation of stars, where an oddly shaped nebula cluster looked to be rotting away in compressed time. It was with another ominous creak and a loud *snap* that it fell.

    And all hell broke loose.

    A massive surge of energy lashed out at us all, and I felt more than saw multiple nodes force themselves active all at once, and far beyond any normal limitation on safe startup. The resulting secondary backlash of not only knowledge but power was enough to nearly render me unconscious. It was only Watts actively resonating his soul with mine that prevented me from losing myself to the wave. And all the while, all I could hear was the sound of crashing gears as things spiraled out of control.

    I lost track of how long it took for everything to stop shaking, but eventually it did stop, and I could open my eyes without being blinded by the excess energy.

    The place was a mess. There were shattered stars and stellar matter everywhere, threatening to annihilate all that it touched. I noted that several of what appeared to be nascent novae were broken, the potential contained within possibly lost forever. Elsewhere, other sections of the forge seemed to be pulsing angrily at something or another as the forcibly activated nodes attempted to settle in to the now patchwork frame that was meant to represent the connection to my soul.

    All in all, it was a sorry sight, and It left me wondering just how I was going to fix things to make sure there was no further damage, especially any that could reach through and hit the core…

    "Oh. That's what you are."

    I realized that it was I myself that had said this–no, that it was I, Satori, that had spoken. I was still partially soulbound to Watts in a way that would have been impossible for literally anything else to have been, and in fact was only possible because of precisely what Watts was.

    "You know, out of all the things I was thinking I could see in the future…I never thought for one moment that I would meet my own Oversoul. Nice touch, by the way."

    Watts–or rather, the Oversoul of Satori Green–laughed out loud, though it was tinged with a bit of grim humor. "Yeah, I wasn't expecting to get the job, either, but then it happened, and we were stuck together. Honestly, you figured it out the first time we met, but due to the circumstances you kinda forgot about things. It was that realization that was the only reason you actually trusted me to give you the forge in the first place, once you knew you were on Necromunda."

    Yeah. I remembered it now. Watts had cloaked himself in a shroud of stars to evoke the classic ROB archetype, but failed to hide the bits and pieces that would let me know that he was a version of me, and thus trustable in that one instance. Looking back, it was probably a good thing.

    "Your Mio too?"

    A pair of nods was my response.

    "Well, at least that mystery is solved. Now then, what do we do about this mess here?"

    "You lot don't do anything." a new voice spoke out. "That will be my problem for the foreseeable future, I'm afraid."

    We all turned towards the voice, and as one we all blanched in terror.

    After all, it was not every day that your soul played host to a being of that much power.

    And I in particular recognized exactly who that was, and was all the more terrified because of it.

    Her clothing was oddly simple, being a button-down shirt and a pair of jeans. There was also a simple utility belt complete with the tools of the trade of a construction worker, as well as what looked like some spare parts hovering nearby.

    But no, it was that hair that reminded me of who I was dealing with more than anything else. Bright pink and shaped roughly to evoke a crab. That, and the face, that oh so smug face of someone who knew full damn well that she was superior to you and that there was nothing you could do about it.

    A face that was oddly warm and inviting at the moment.

    "After all, I, Little Washu, am here to save you! Besides, I created this thing. Do you really think I want to see it broken?"

    After all, it is not every day one comes face to face with one of the Chousin.




    Look upon my works and despair.

    This chapter fought me for a bit, mostly because I am a perfectionist and wanted things to be perfect. Other than that, it's a chapter of things happening and things breaking down.

    For those of you semi-confused about Watts: Wattis IS Satori, or rather a version of him that managed to ascend to the point of becoming the core soul for all other versions of the same person across the multiverse, an Oversoul. The forge technically was granted to him first, and he then passed on the goodies to his other self. This is also why he's acting like a ROB: he has a vested interest in Satori's wellbeing.

    The perk list here is…large. Some of it is a direct result of the absolutely crazy roll session I had prior to writing this, and the rest are "reserve" perks that are now falling off the shelf due to not needing to hold them back anymore.

    As for the perks…well…
    -Fumble Spotter (Generic Cubicle) (200CP)
    You excel at finding odd ways in which your products might be used or misused that could lead them to fail, and in devising ways to fix them before they ever become issues. You are also adept at making the proper usage for your products obvious in their design.

    -Orb Design Plans (Swat Kats) (800CP)
    Well... this is curious. The design plans for a Micro-Brain Repair Unit... this won't show up for some time, but it is quite useful nonetheless. Once assembled, it will have the ability to scan and repair any damaged machinery it comes across, simply by using the materials around it. The more advanced the machine is, the longer it will take... but it will do its job. Even more concerningly, it has the ability to learn and adapt itself, assimilating machinery to create a more grand body. It may come with existential issues... are you sure you want this?

    -STC Converter (Warhammer 40k: Adeptus Mechanicus) (300CP)
    This tome-sized cogitator is designed to be fed blueprints for alien or out-of-jump technology and convert them to use STC-standard parts and design principles, well-known for being extremely robust. Perfect translation and equal functionality is not guaranteed, while technology that relies on unique materials or scientific principles not native to the 40k setting will most likely be impossible to recreate. The blueprints that result from successful conversions can be followed by any competent tech-priest. Running blueprints for Magitech or psionic technology through this device without a supreme understanding of 40k metaphysics is an exceedingly bad idea.

    -Crafting (Geneforge) (300CP)
    There are various things that can only be created through the use of essence and hard work. Shaped equipment, puresteel, certain complicated tools and devices, and certain materials used in enchanting. You can work all of them, producing high quality goods from basic ore and hard work.

    -Uchiha Jutsu Archive (Generic Naruto Fanfiction) (400CP)
    The Uchiha really were quite shameless in their day, always going around copying everybody else's lifetimes of hard work just by using their special eyes. Well, at least you get to benefit from that. Somehow you've obtained a copy of the complete Uchiha Jutsu Archive, everything that several generations of dedicated intellectual property thieves could copy from every other ninja village, clan and small ninja child in the Elemental Nations. Pretty much any and every technique, seal, chemical formula, pill/cookie recipe or random dance routine that that one Uchiha liked can be found in here. Any knowledge that wasn't limited to literally just one person, family, or bloodline or was based purely on sealless chakra manipulation (such as the Rasengan) and thus uncopyable by the Sharingan is in the archive, all of them laid out in such a clear and concise format that any half-competent ninja could teach himself just by reading the scroll. This archive will update with a complete set of spells, fighting styles, etc, etc. from any setting that you have visited and will visit in the future. Provided it could be generously called public, or even semi-private, knowledge it will be in here. Only the most super-secret, utterly private techniques are missing; after all, even the best copyright pirates can't get everything. This place is comprehensively warded against thievery, somewhat ironically, and it would take a team of top-tier infiltration specialists to even attempt to breach it. Of course its best defense is that, at least at jump start, no one knows you have it. Post jump you can have this become a warehouse attachment.

    -Shadow Clones (Generic Naruto Fanfiction) (100CP)
    Ah, shadow clone no jutsu. The signature jutsu of the Naruto franchise. And now you can join in on the fun. You have a copy of a technique scroll for the shadow clone jutsu, of such quality that an idiot could teach himself from this thing in virtually no time at all. It even has safeguards built-in that eliminate any possibility of killing yourself by putting too much chakra into it, or getting a headache from too many clones dispelling at once or anything like that. The worst that can possibly happen is that it fails to work. You still can only make as many shadow clones as your chakra can support but outside of that you can feel free to abuse this handy jutsu for training, decoys, diversions, paperwork, chores, or whatever else you can imagine. In the event that this technique is supposed to have some additional features in the particular fanfiction you go to, or even a better version, this scroll will contain both versions.

    -AGE System (Gundam - Advanced Generation) (600CP)
    This is a 3-part package deal, so you're getting more bang for your buck. First is the AGE Device, which is a massive data-storage unit that contains the Asuno's research data (though for you it starts only with what Flit managed to create and gather before the series start) and the blueprints for the Gundam's armor. It also acts as a key-none of the other parts of this system will operate without it. Next is the AGE Builder, which is an extremely fast 3-D printer (able to make a Mobile Suit rifle in seconds) and continuously collects data from the AGE Device and AGE System. The AGE System is a data collection program that can be installed onto a Mobile Suit and acts as a unique OS. It will collect data and evolve along with its pilot, researching 'solutions' to problems, coming in the form of the Wear Parts, arm and legs designed to improve and counter situations. The Wear Parts are flown to the AGE Gundams in battle using the AMEMBO (one of which is included with this purchase) and swapped mid-battle, though with a different design you could remove the AMEMBO from the equation entirely. This is a highly advanced system, one that can collect, analyze, improve, build and conquer many situations. A Mobile Suit equipped with the AGE System will have a bright letter on its front, defaulting to a blue 'A'-as a bonus, you may change the coloring and the letter to whatever you wish at any time.

    -Technical Schematics (Warhammer 40k - T'au empire) (200CP)
    This small database is a well organized, easily searchable, and easily accessible list of detailed schematics and scientific texts covering all machines, tools, and sciences understood by the T'au. It cannot be remotely hacked or externally corrupted by others. During your jump, this database includes all T'au knowledge up to either current 40k canon or all information that would be available to the T'au within the next hundred years without your interference, whichever option includes less advanced technology. After this jump, the schematics are upgraded to include all designs and science your T'au have developed and all designs and science developed in canon by the T'au by the end of the Fifth Sphere Expansion.

    -PT Theory | Alpha Documents (Super Robot Wars OG Saga Endless Frontier) (700CP)
    PT theory 101 (100CP)
    You've been around robots long enough to know the basics behind their engineering, at least in regards to the structure and reasoning behind the more common mechs, including the Earth Federation's standard Gespensts, and the TLI's Grungust Type 1: the example of the average Super Robot. Weapon knowledge also included in regards to both, which is basically ballistics and some small degree of beam weaponry.
    Alpha Documents (600CP)
    The whole kit-and-caboodle of the Earth Federation's current research, all in your head (or documented physically/digitally, your choice). Highlights include: the T-Link System to enhance psychic capability, the Black Hole Engine and the Gravicon system involve the manipulation of gravity for both energy and combat usage, the Tesla Drive: a device capable of enabling flight in battleships that can also be miniaturized to allow robots to fly, and the othersystems and engineering for the Gespensts up to the MKIII "Alteisen" and MKIV "Weissreiter", the Huckebeins up to the Mark III, the Grungusts up to Type 3, and the Lion series models up to the Astelion. Of course some of this does require EOT resources, so you may be limited in what you can do when you don't have these resources, you might be able to substitute them with the right materials, given time and research.

    -Anaheim Degree (Gundam - Universal Century) (200CP)
    You have the knowledge (and the paper to prove it to people and shove in their faces to establish superiority) of how to build MS. It's trickier than it looks, honestly. Weight balances, servo designs, energy reserves- it's all down to a science and you know how to build the basics. Who knows what you can learn from a bit of hands-on training
    MS = Mobile Suits

    -The Maddest Science Yet! (Tenchi Muyo) (800CP)
    This perk grants two features that in universe depend on your setting, out of universe both work unless you desire otherwise.
    Slice of Life: Your brilliance is such that you can build amazing inventions to solve all kinds of problems, easily accomplishing feats depicted in pulpy science fiction novels. More importantly however, you gain an absolute certainty in your work. Nothing made by your hands or under your complete direction can harm people (or planets) unintentionally. A comically large mess may ensue however.
    SpaceOpera: You can create supertech wonders, past mere conveniences into legitimately useful things like advanced starships, ray guns and miraculous devices. You can also enhance technology from other jumps with this skill. Note that trying to build an FTL starship from scratch on an undeveloped world will probably take ten years...
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • I feel like this story has bloated into an overly complex mess. The "Oversoul" bullshit is just the latest over the top nonsense. It's not even fun to read anymore, doesn't feel like the story is going anywhere. Just more and more stuff shoved in without a goal.
     
    I was expecting parallel universe stuff or time travel, but not this specific thing. Bravo. Also the prt seems to be imploding and I love that. Am curious about warp protection tho. Like how does one do that?
     
    Silverwing15 said:
    He brought in the nuclear option.
    Where emperor is the icbm.
    This is going to be hilarious.
    Edit.
    Forgot to ask this before but does anyone remember what the fuck is with that oversoul business?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    In regards to the oversoul it has appeared in other stores before but I admit I don't know as much as I would like to but based on what I do know the oversoul is the original with all other alternates being a reflection of it
     
    Slider Zero said:
    But no, it was that hair that reminded me of who I was dealing with more than anything else. Bright pink and shaped roughly to evoke a crab. That, and the face, that oh so smug face of someone who knew full damn well that she was superior to you and that there was nothing you could do about it.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Just one word is needed to deflate that massive ego Mihoshi.
     
    wildredlifer said:
    Just one word is needed to deflate that massive ego Mihoshi.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    unfortunately I don't have access to distressingly competent Airheaded blondes, so I have to make do.

    (No, seriously. as much of a ditz as Mihoshi is, she is equally competent, almost more so than her oft-partner Kiyone in many aspects. It's why she can throw people off so hard with her ditziness.)
     
    Washu is there? then,they are really safe from everything except her.Chaos and other things from WH40 could arleady commit sudoku:)
    Real reason why nobody made crossover between WH40 and Tenchi Muyo is that it would be as funny as see homo erectus fighting USA army from 2020.Cumberstomps are BOOOORING.
     
    Interlude: PHO Reacts!!
  • Threadmarks
    • And now for something a little different.

    Though most of you probably knew it was coming.

    ■​
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    ■​
    ♦ Topic: Unusual activity in space
    In: Boards ► Space and Related ► Skywatcher Network Coordination
    Endless Seeker     (Original Poster) (Amateur Skywatcher)
    Posted On May 20th 2010:
    Alright, before anyone rips my head off, I know that there is a 'proper' UAS thread that gets updated. That is too slow for what is going on right now.

    there is something happening on the moon. I don't know what it is, but something is up there and active in doing stuff. you can see it from a telescope if you look.

    even with the odd crap that has been going on lately, this is a bit much. I think this one is serious.

    ​
    (Showing page 1 of 28)

    ►moon_pies
    Replied On May 20th 2010:
    Bullshit. now way in hell this is real. get that ass banned son.

    (edit: oh crap he wasn't joking)


    ►Mixed Pickles (Verified Pickle)
    Replied On May 20th 2010:
    I've been telling people on other threads that weird shit was happening up there!


    ►Lord of all Stars (Veteran Member) (NASA Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 20th 2010:
    We've noticed some anomalies up on the moon ourselves and will be looking into this ass soon as some telescope time becomes available. We would appreciate any further information that can be sent our way


    ►MeepSheep
    Replied On May 20th 2010:
    Looks it's happy hour up there. Maybe it's the.....MOON SPIDERS!


    ►Endless Seeker (Original Poster) (Amateur Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 22nd 2010:
    guys, it's getting worse. one of the craters has become...reflective for some reason and there's a noticeable dust cloud coming from it. what the hell is going on!?!?


    ►Lord of all Stars (Veteran Member) (NASA Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 22nd 2010:
    NASA Skywatch teams have verified the previous claims of unknown activity on the moon. we have contacted our sister agencies across the world and they're seeing the same things we are.

    as of this time there are no theories on what, if anything, is happening. We will update with any relevant information we receive.


    ►tradehard (Amateur Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 22nd 2010:
    Err...guys, we have other problems than the moon. I thought I caught something moving around when I was setting up a look at Jupiter. Dunno if it's related.


    ►Lord of all Stars (Veteran Member) (NASA Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 22nd 2010:
    we'll take a look at it when we get the time. right now this is more important.


    ►risewatch
    Replied On May 23rd 2010:
    Quick, someone give them a cold!
    ​
    End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 26, 27, 28

    ​
    (Showing page 5 of 28)

    ►Priestess of Ifni (Euro Spacewatcher) (Church of the Void)
    Replied On May 23rd 2010:
    @tradehard No, I saw it too. And it's getting closer. I'm checking with my coworkers, give me a moment.


    ►FirmHen
    Replied On May 23rd 2010:
    Welp, guess we won't have to get rid of those Endbringer bunkers after all!


    ►Juternil
    Replied On May 23rd 2010:
    @FirmHen please don't joke around about that.


    ►Voxel (Unverified Housecat)
    Replied On May 23rd 2010:
    ust what we need, more birds in the sky that we can't bat at.

    Unless Juno's gotten mad and started throwing Jupiter's stuff at us again. I'd hate to get hit by a Space Sink.


    ►KaguyaUsagi (JAXA Official)
    Replied On May 23rd 2010:
    we have confirmed the previous reports of an unknown celestial object within our solar system. current profiles show that it is accelerating.

    we will post more information as it becomes available.


    ►risewatch
    Replied On May 23rd 2010:
    Oh god, did one of fucking Mannequins old projects up there come online or something?


    ►wired_frequency (Lost in the Signal) (Technology Enthusiast)
    Replied On May 24th 2010:
    reposting from the radio guys thread, as this may be related: a broadcast station has opened up in a new location. the source is the moon.

    we have no clue either, and a lot of us are getting worried.


    ►IceManXtreem
    Replied On May 24th 2010:
    Uranus lobs rocks at us all the time. The fact that we caught something from around Jupiter is interesting though.


    ►KittyWhippins
    Replied On May 24th 2010:
    Mostly a heartbeat signal, from what I can determine. Weird old modulation though. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were running on standards from before the dawn of the Golden Nudist and have just been... keeping stuff going and updated ever since.

    So, not Manny or the Moonwalkers, I don't think. Not unless they've made a few more trips than we know about, anyway.


    ►Lord of all Stars (Veteran Member) (NASA Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 24th 2010:
    I've gotten in touch with some of our comms guys down in florida, and they concur on the radio heartbeat signal.

    as far as we can tell it's just sitting there. We are debating options at the moment, but the general consensus is that this is above our pay grades.
    ​
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    ​
    (Showing page 12 of 70)

    ►KittyWhippins
    Replied On May 24th 2010:
    I'm honestly more concerned by the side-band. I said Mostly for a reason, but there's something else there. It could be some sort of cross-talk, or there could be some telemetries in there that we're just not seeing because we don't have the code or hardware.


    ►aerial traffic cone (Radio Head) (Air Traffic Controller)
    Replied On May 25th 2010:
    I just took a look at it myself. it looks a lot like the old station signals we used as air guides back in the early days. it's definitely more than a heartbeat signal, I can tell you that much.

    and yeah, those sidebands worry me. They almost look like some kind of radar...


    ►Endless Seeker (Original Poster) (Amateur Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 25th 2010:
    oh god. Someone built some kind of dock thing up there now. and they did it FAST.

    Like five minutes Fast.

    this is not looking good...


    ►KittyWhippins
    Replied On May 25th 2010:
    So, back in the day, there was an audacious plan to run a pirate TV station by registering as a power-company and using a wireless power transmission model(doable, but wasteful)... but modulating the power signal so that as it decayed, it turned into a UHF signal. Totally doable, totally bonkers.

    The Side-band stuff has me thinking about that. Could be radar, but really any signal can be used for a form of radar.

    Edit: What's the geometrical profile on that dock? Because I remember a project...but it was for Mars not the Moon. Not sure how well moon dust would handle it. Not my expertise, though. Should someone ping the Digger, or do we think it's definitely not man made?


    ►BackTrack
    Replied On May 25th 2010:
    *cocks glock* Moons Haunted.


    ►Endless Seeker (Original Poster) (Amateur Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 25th 2010:
    At the risk of invoking a nightmare...do it.


    ►KittyWhippins
    Replied On May 25th 2010:
    Alright...
    @ErieDigger Something weird's going on on the moon and in space. We all know you got stuff you probably shouldn't from all those estate sales.


    ►ErieDigger (Technology Enthusiast) (Verified Necronaut)
    Replied On May 25th 2010:
    Rapid construction techniques have been around since the 1800s, including something that's like a 3D printer for brick buildings.

    If it's rounded, then the tracked model could probably get up to decent speed and place the outer shell in... well, that depends on the height, but with the reduction of air resistance and gravity, I'd say maybe half an hour?

    But with the mention of Mars, that makes me think that Kitty was at least thinking of the Solar Foundry project for mars. Idea was, you send up rovers that collect the dust and then use a solar furnace of some sort of fuse the dust into panels that you could then use for doing prefab work. If you have the prefabs, you absolutely could get one of those buildings up in five, ten minutes.

    Then you'd want to use some sort of charge that doesn't require oxygen to weld it in place.


    ►BearyWise (Veteran Member) (Cosmonaut)
    Replied On May 26th 2010:
    not to hit the panic button, but our observers at Baikonur Cosmodrome have gotten a good look at our Anomalous Object.

    we're rather certain that is a starship. Acceleraton profiles match with this theory as well, and the limited radio signals we are sending match with despte lack of response. as far as we can tell, it's headed for that new structure on the Moon.


    ►Lord of all Stars (Veteran Member) (NASA Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 26th 2010:
    @BearyWise WHAT.

    This has officially exceeded local authority. I'm getting the bosses on the line now.
    ​
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    ​
    (Showing page 18 of 124)

    ►KittyWhippins
    Replied On May 27th 2010:
    Sooo... I'll probably pick up the signals sooner or later, a bit scuffed, but anyone notice any modulations in the Heartbeat Signal, any extra emissions, or anything indicating that the two things are communicating? It'd at least be useful information if they seem to be reacting to each other.


    ►notsosilent (Not a Spy)
    Replied On May 27th 2010:
    so technically not supposed to be putting this out here, but I know some guys in certain places that have taken a look at that signal...and it has some very interesting properties according to them.

    and while they can't get into the actual encoding itself, yet, they have confirmed that there very much is some kind of communication taking place.


    ►ErieDigger (Technology Enthusiast) (Verified Necronaut)
    Replied On May 27th 2010:
    If the magnetosphere has you down, Kitty, you can always follow in Bell's footsteps and use a balloon. Pretty sure you can get a decent transciever in a modern basket and launch that up. No need to use a reflective shell and hope you're bouncing it right.


    ►Entrusting Peace (Veteran Member) (Steely-eyed Missile Man)
    Replied On May 27th 2010:
    Those of us here in the trenches are paying close attention to our new friends up top, just in case. So far, we see nothing much to worry about...not that we can really do much about it from here.

    ►Lord of all Stars (Veteran Member) (NASA Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 27th 2010:
    alright, got word back from Washington. this is now receiving some major priority with the right people incase we have a first contact scenario on our hands.


    ►KaguyaUsagi (JAXA Official)
    Replied On May 27th 2010:
    Same on our end. the Diet is convening for an emergency session as we speak, and I am told that the Emperor has been notified of the situation by people in the know.


    ►XxVoid_CowboyxX
    Replied On May 27th 2010:
    just caught up, and I have a bad feeling. Something big is about to go down. Keep your eyes peeled.


    ►ChickenKitty (Tastes like Chicken)
    Replied On May 27th 2010:
    The Lizard people He took the bait! All according to keikaku.


    ►Lord of all Stars (Veteran Member) (NASA Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    we have officially confirmed that the unknown is a starship of some kind, and it is going to arrive on the moon in approximately two hours according to our estimates.

    we have people rushing all over the place trying to figure out what's going on, so excuse the rush job. Will keep you posted.


    ►Tin_Mother (Moderator)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    I'm moving this thread to the main Earth board due to current relevance.
    ​
    End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 ... 122, 123, 124

    ​
    ■​
    In: Boards ► Earth
    Endless Seeker     (Original Poster) (Amateur Skywatcher)
    Posted On May 20th 2010:
    Alright, before anyone rips my head off, I know that there is a 'proper' UAS thread that gets updated. That is too slow for what is going on right now.

    there is something happening on the moon. I don't know what it is, but something is up there and active in doing stuff. you can see it from a telescope if you look.

    even with the odd crap that has been going on lately, this is a bit much. I think this one is serious.

    ​
    (Showing page 41 of 255)

    ►XxVoid_CowboyxX
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    Guys seriously something bad is about to happen I KNOW it


    ►Endless Seeker (Original Poster) (Amateur Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    alright, I have a good look at what is now clearly a docking slip for that spaceship. got a really slick design for something built so fast.


    ►XScepter
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    Damn, them Aliens know how to build shit quick.


    ►L33t (Verified Cape) (Uber and L33t)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    err...guys? I recognize that ship. there's a few changes, and it blends a lot together, but the base of it is the Normandy SR-2 From Mass Effect. There are other elements from an old Aleph game called Escape Velocity, as well...

    I...I'm not sure this is as alien as we think it is.


    ►KitchenJitter
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    Dang it! I was really hoping for Space Penguins.


    ►Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    Now is NOT the time, you idiots. this is serious business. let the professionals handle it.


    ►XxVoid_CowboyxX
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    GUYS LOOK AT THE MOON


    ►Lord of all Stars (Veteran Member) (NASA Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    oh dear god.


    ►PixieBob
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    Oh my! It's Tentacle-Kun!


    ►Entrusting Peace (Veteran Member) (Steely-eyed Missile Man)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    ...FUCK

    NUCFLASH NUCFLASH NUCFLASH
    ​
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    ​
    (Showing page 42 of 255)

    ►Lord of all Stars (Veteran Member) (NASA Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    WHAT!?!?

    Oh Fuck. I need to get my bosses on the line NOW


    ►BackTrack
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    NUKE MOONS HAUNTED!!!


    ►KittyWhippins
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    I don't exactly have a pie-slicer on me, but I'm pretty sure that the plumes we saw were too big for an unnoticed impact, and also a little too large for conventional explosives that may have been left over from the Moonwalkers...


    ►Getter Buster (Peace is my Profession)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    @Entrusting Peace No, it's not a nuke. and the plumes are all wrong even for the gravity.

    but whatever is going on up there, it's happening FAST. I'm counting at least eight, maybe ten separate effect zones.

    smart money says the military is mobilizing right now.


    ►Miss Mercury (Protectorate Employee)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    Official Notice from the PRT: we are investigating the active incident in case this is some form of Parahuman Prank. We will update as appropruate.


    ►Endless Seeker (Original Poster) (Amateur Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    THAT IS NOT A PRANK

    YOU CAN SEE IT IN BROAD DAYLIGHT FOR FUCKS SAKE


    ►JackHammer (Verified Cape)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    sigh Why doesn't shit like this ever happen on Earth Aleph?


    ►PixieBob
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    IT WAS A JOKE PLEASE DONT KILL ME!!!


    ►L33t (Verified Cape) (Uber and L33t)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    I had an old piece of tech that could look up there....and all I can see are blurs moving around and explosions and lasers. whatever is going on up there is getting intense FAST


    ►Grey Knight (Verified Cape) (Protectorate Houston)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    ...no. it's something else.

    there's something else happening up there.
    ​
    End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 ... 253, 254, 255

    ​
    (Showing page 43 of 255)

    ►Entrusting Peace (Veteran Member) (Steely-eyed Missile Man)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    That is a LOT of firepower getting thrown around up there. Some of the guys are looking at numbers and not liking what they are getting back


    ►BearyWise (Veteran Member) (Cosmonaut)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    @Entrusting Peace I know the feeling.

    we have people actively monitoring the situation, but so far nothing is coming of it.


    ►L33t (Verified Cape) (Uber and L33t)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    oh god, one of the blurs slowed down enough for me to get a snapshot.

    This thing is insane!! it's some kind of Snake-thing but with a ton of heads like a hydra nd they are all shooting lasers!?!?


    ►Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    oh god..There's an entire Endbringer battle going on on the Moon.

    and we don't know who's winning


    ►KittyWhippins
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    Forgive the delay but I don't always see with light.

    I can confirm that those aren't nukes, right now. What they are, I'm not sure. The beams have a weird texture to them, I can tell you that. Like sticking your head in a CRT TV, except with the whine of a hand crank before each burst.

    There are similar Blips, so something else is firing around that same sort of energy.

    Also, I don't mean to alarm anyone, but I think the base is powering up, too.

    Audiofiles(keep in mind, these have been processed) can be found here.


    ►SecDef Official (US Secretary of Defense)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    we are actively monitoring the situation on the moon and are standing by in case anything major kicks off. We will notify the appropriate individuals as need arises.


    ►kloggerknockin
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    Guys I'm in europe and we can see it all over the place

    everyone here is scared whats happening


    ►Voxel (Unverified Housecat)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    Chief, you're on PHO. I think right now you're notifying all the inappropriate individuals.


    ►WingWax3
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    Don't worry, already spread it out everywhere! Good luck trying to talk your way out of this one Fed!


    ►XxVoid_CowboyxX
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    oh god

    something up there is MAD

    like, REALLY MAD
    ​
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    ​
    (Showing page 44 of 255)

    ►Juternil
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    Why does it look like the endtimes? Seriously, there has to be more firepower up there than every cape fight happening around Detroit combined


    ►L33t (Verified Cape) (Uber and L33t)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    The snake thing is being held in place somehow.

    and whatever it was fighting is completely going NUTS on it.


    ►Psycho Soldier (Not a Goddess)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    oh god.

    There are humans up there fighting that thing. and they are beyond all reason.

    I can hear the screams of rage even from here...


    ►mixelquick
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    how the hell are you hearing screaming from the moon? sound doesn't travel in vacuum you dunce!

    (user was infracted for this post: Keep it civil, please. Especially now.)


    ►Getter Buster (Peace is my Profession)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    Look at the CRATER. It just keeps growing...


    ►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    Okay what the heck is going on there are massive light flashes coming form the moon right now EVERYONE is panicking tell me


    ►ErieDigger (Technology Enthusiast) (Verified Necronaut)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    There are many things that can be experienced as sound. Back in the 70s a man made a device that let him hear through electric stimulus to the soles of the feet. It takes some training, but it works pretty well.

    Your eyes won't like it though. Too much electricity in your body for too long messes with your sight.

    This is ignoring synesthesia and other related conditions that pS could have.


    ►Voxel (Unverified Housecat)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    Erie, That was informative and completely off topic.

    But yeah. I got no clue.


    ►Endless Seeker (Original Poster) (Amateur Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    I think it's dying down. at least the flashing and explosions have stopped.


    ►Entrusting Peace (Veteran Member) (Steely-eyed Missile Man)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    I have some guys taking a look at the new landscaping and ballparking some numbers. be back when they have them.
    ​
    End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 ... 253, 254, 255

    ​
    (Showing page 85 of 740)

    ►L33t (Verified Cape) (Uber and L33t)
    Replied On May 28th 2010:
    GOT IT

    There were actual humanoids fighitng that thing!! Look At the pics and see for yourself. Some kind of advanced power armor, I think.


    ►wired_frequency (Lost in the Signal) (Technology Enthusiast)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    guys, that radio signal from the moon just switched out of standby.

    I think we're about to get a repsonse.


    ►Lord of all Stars (Veteran Member) (NASA Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    I'm being kept out of the loop on this right now, but supposedly JSC has been trying to make contact with whoever is up there.


    ►wired_frequency (Lost in the Signal) (Technology Enthusiast)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    guys...they're boradcasting in the clear.

    on standard Radio.

    IN ENGLISH.

    There's a guy up there...says he's with the US Air Force.

    what the hell is going on?


    ►KittyWhippins
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    What the hell was that? No seriously. What the hell?

    Either there's something seriously wrong with their transmitter, or they tried at least five different protocols on a stunning array of frequencies before going to broadcasting in the clear.

    Like they'd some how forgotten how to speak to our receivers.


    ►Lord of all Stars (Veteran Member) (NASA Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    This ...this changes everything.


    ►XxVoid_CowboyxX
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    it's not over. not yet.


    ►Grey Knight (Verified Cape) (Protectorate Houston)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    Kid, chill out for a second and get a hold of yourself. whaddya mean it's not over? there's a giant snake carcass on the moon surface!


    ►Voxel (Unverified Housecat)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    Space Snake Sous Vide, never ate that before.

    Snake Jerky, sure. But prepared Sous Vide with a peppering of photons? I'm pretty sure that's some sort of Lunar Delicacy.


    ►KaguyaUsagi (JAXA Official)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    might not like it, I'm afraid. it looks like it's metallic or similar.
    ​
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    ​
    (Showing page 87 of 793)

    ►Voxel (Unverified Housecat)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    True. I'm probably not french enough to enjoy it, in that case.


    ►wired_frequency (Lost in the Signal) (Technology Enthusiast)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    been listening in on the convo between this 'Pytheas Station' (which is apparently a moonbase (!!!) that is attached to that dock with the spaceship in it) and the guy on the line sounds like an old-school space geek. Also seems to be other people up there with him as well? I think they left the mic Hot by accident.

    he also mentioned that we were missing a lot of transmission options from what he' s used to, or at least that they are out of range. should be interesting doing some digging.

    also, does anyone know of a company called Transtar?


    ►electro_anarchy (Team Cipherpunk) (Hobbyist "Hacker")
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    I'm listening in as well, and I just heard him mention he might be from another dimension or something.

    is he from Aleph? or is there another alternate world that we don't know of?


    ►Voxel (Unverified Housecat)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    where there's one, there's dozens. That's true of mice, birds, sick patients, and probably dimensions. It'd be a waste of space, otherwise.


    ►Lord of all Stars (Veteran Member) (NASA Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    guys, something is happening in Orbit, I have to get back to work


    ►Ghost Dog (Team Cipherpunk) (Follower of The Way)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    wait, wht did they mean by they can kill the stupid bird?

    the only thing bird shaped anywhere near them would be...

    no. NO.

    Please...don't give me Hope


    ►wired_frequency (Lost in the Signal) (Technology Enthusiast)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    he just said someone was going after it solo...that can't be right.

    can it?


    ►Voxel (Unverified Housecat)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    Ah, it's about time someone swatted that potty pigeon out of the sky. My paws aren't big enough, you see.

    Roast squab to go with our photonic snake? what good chefs our guests must be. And interested in eating metal, I suppose.


    ►BearyWise (Veteran Member) (Cosmonaut)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    the woman they are talking to (or child? the voice sounds very young) says that there is space on the station for others!!

    if we can find a way past Ziz, we might be able to restart the space programs!!


    ►Entrusting Peace (Veteran Member) (Steely-eyed Missile Man)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    ...no way. They have Aldrin up there?
    ​
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    ​
    (Showing page 88 of 799)

    ►XxVoid_CowboyxX
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    ...oh my god.

    It finally happened.


    ►KittyWhippins
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    Live analysis is tough, but there was a sort of Dopplering(I'm simplifying) indicating that something went through the signal really fast and distorted space.

    I'm pretty sure I just heard something leaving the dock super fast. Something small.

    Here, it's a lot like a plane flying in front of antenna.

    Edit: wait, WHAT


    ►electro_anarchy (Team Cipherpunk) (Hobbyist "Hacker")
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    I did not just hear that.

    I KNOW I DID NOT JUST HEAR THAT


    ►wired_frequency (Lost in the Signal) (Technology Enthusiast)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    I have recordings. I played it back five times just to be sure.

    yeah...you heard it.


    ►Lord of all Stars (Veteran Member) (NASA Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    ....we got the news direct from the top. I was the one who confirmed it.

    it's real.

    ...I can;t believe that I'm the one saying this....but it's real.

    Stick a fork in it.

    Ziz is Dead.


    ►notsosilent (Not a Spy)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    getting word back form my friends, they are confirming JSC Skywatcher's report.


    ►Beneath the Anthill
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    @notsosilent we saw it too. Tell your 'friends' that some people will be in touch for follow-ups.
    ​
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    ​
    ■​


    Just me putting down the initial reactions of people to the goings on. This also helps explain a bit why the responses to Satori and Mio are moving so fast and so surely.

    Next actual chapter coming soon, especially since my Muse is trying to strangle me as I finalize this.
    SHout-out to the Celestial Forge Discord for assisting in the crafting of this. COuldn't have done it without you guys (and girls).
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Slider Zero said:
    ►notsosilent (Not a Spy)
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    getting word back form my friends, they are confirming JSC Skywatcher's report.


    ►Beneath the Anthill
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    @notsosilent we saw it too. Tell your 'friends' that some people will be in touch for follow-ups.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    So thats Central replying to someone else from the different settings, I can't think of which it could be with that username


    Slider Zero said:
    ►
    Replied On May 29th 2010:
    he just said someone was going after it solo...that can't be right.

    can it?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Also was this post meant to have no name attached to it?
     
    Thine Spree said:
    So thats Central replying to someone else from the different settings, I can't think of which it could be with that username



    Also was this post meant to have no name attached to it?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I have no clue what you are talking about. That post was from wired_frequency.
    I most certainly did not stealth edit while you were reading. No sirree.
     
    Is anyone else looking forward to the ArkKnights natives reactions to finding out that Satori had terminal Oripathy? (Also looking forward to seeing if any of the operators have stumbled though the rifts because they would be massive help in Satori and Mio's Arts training having someone actively trained in the Arts assisting.)
     
    Thine Spree said:
    Is anyone else looking forward to the ArkKnights natives reactions to finding out that Satori had terminal Oripathy? (Also looking forward to seeing if any of the operators have stumbled though the rifts because they would be massive help in Satori and Mio's Arts training having someone actively trained in the Arts assisting.)
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    *Stares accusingly at Thine*
    I am going to have to confiscate that Crystal Ball of yours. It is too dangerous.

    On the serious side, though: the revelation of even a proper treatment for Oripathy, let alone a real path to a cure (or the cure itself, considering that Satori has at least three hours to work with and knowledge of the problem) is going to completely upend Terra the instant word gets out.

    And there are a lot of factions that will not like that. Several of the nations on Terra have entire systems set up to oppress and/or abuse the Infected, ad at least one of them is explicitly set up to take blatant advantage of them on the cheap.

    Reunion is going to be gunning for him as a priority target the instant it becomes known, as is RI. And considering Satori's prior history on Terra, in another life...
     
    Slider Zero said:
    *Stares accusingly at Thine*
    I am going to have to confiscate that Crystal Ball of yours. It is too dangerous.

    On the serious side, though: the revelation of even a proper treatment for Oripathy, let alone a real path to a cure (or the cure itself, considering that Satori has at least three hours to work with and knowledge of the problem) is going to completely upend Terra the instant word gets out.

    And there are a lot of factions that will not like that. Several of the nations on Terra have entire systems set up to oppress and/or abuse the Infected, ad at least one of them is explicitly set up to take blatant advantage of them on the cheap.

    Reunion is going to be gunning for him as a priority target the instant it becomes known, as is RI. And considering Satori's prior history on Terra, in another life...
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Wait... Did we ever get told what his codename is? (Also, rereading Ch3 to see which class/s he has.. his got all six, yeah he was a bloody big name over on Terra most likely and probably aligned with RI and the Doc as well knowing his luck.)

    (Also, no you not confiscating my Crystal Ball I need it to watch the league!)
     
    Well that explains the kids gloves there getting treated with when you swat a endbringer people will be way more careful in how they treat you.

    Nice chapter, worm is always for a "WTF is happening!" Forum post like this good stuff.

    thanks for the chapter.
     
    I wanna see how exactly Becky gets her political powerbase cut out from under her after Congress gets through with her.

    Being forced to share a tech uplift with Mexico because Costa-Brown couldn't stop sticking her big fat nose where it wasn't wanted? I can see Becky's name being mud after both Congress and various other federal agencies start ripping into her.
     
    ►Lord of all Stars (Veteran Member) (NASA Skywatcher)
    Replied On May 20th 2010:
    We've noticed some anomalies up on the moon ourselves and will be looking into this ass soon as some telescope time becomes available. We would appreciate any further information that can be sent our way.

    –––

    Well, that's certainly a creative way to use a telescope. Then again, this IS QQ...
     
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