Fabricated Hazards (factorio fanfic)
Ch. 63
- Pronouns
- That/Thing
The delegation team sat in the decontamination room, standard procedure after visiting a new world, the mix of intelligence, military, and diplomatic experts silent as they tried to put together everything that had happened on their, perhaps not unexpectedly, eventful trip.
The start of the trip had almost been normal, meeting with a few androids, being taken on a tour of the city to get a basic grasp on the culture before a proper meeting with the leaders. Basic stuff, and it had all gone to shit not even three hours into the trip.
Giant insects were something out of a movie, but then again so were alien invasions and cities of sentient machines so perhaps something like this should have been expected, but it wasn't. Not in the least, and those hours of panic had only died down after a day of barely concealed panic from all members of the delegation team as they finally realized just how out of their depth's they were, before they were finally let out of the bunker to continue their interrupted tour with a fresh understanding of reality.
After that things had almost become normal, half a day was spent being introduced to prominent androids and machines at a few things similar to government functions and gala's, or visiting their respective 'territories' via teleportation. The cities built in the treetops reaching up into the clouds being one of the tamer examples, and there was little doubt that lumber would be a prime export especially given some of the properties they had learned it had.
Meeting younger machines and androids had been nerve wracking as well, paranoia and questions over if they were actually children aside intelligence and military personnel were not well equipped towards handling small children, but Langley and one of the intelligence agents had managed well enough at wrangling both their team and the children, telling stories of their own earth and unclassified things they worked on. The young androids and machines had been particularly enraptured in some exaggerated tales of espionage, much to Sapphire's apparent amusement. That or she had been amused at their suffering.
Her amusement probably explained why she felt the need to take them to restaurants again after the first time, androids must have had significantly different taste buds. Everything was dialed up to the extremes, pure honey plorts used as sugar in the beverages rather than diluted, more spice than a human should eat on half the meals, portions were either over or undercooked seemingly at random. Apparently there wasn't a risk of disease to androids and the meat was sterile and lab grown but it was still absurd. It was like they'd seen pictures of food and then tried to make the meals. And they were all pretty sure most of the meat wasn't anything as mundane as cattle.
Pascal's 'village' had been an experience as well, though why the machines called a veritable city covering all of a massive forest a village was beyond them. Being around a population of machines that actually looked like machines was far less unsettling as well, looking at the androids you knew they weren't human, but could never see anything showing that they weren't unless they had some modifications. And even then they still often looked human.
The machines in Pascal's village didn't, if anything they looked too simple, just cans with short arms on them. Nothing as blatantly advanced as the machines and androids in the city, though some members were utterly massive, dwarfing their machine compatriots.
The titular Pascal himself was also the single most kindest and understanding person any of them had met, it was a shift from the odd misconceptions about humans the androids seemed to have, but he answered any of their questions and asked provoking questions seemingly by accident. One did not expect to be interrogated on the nature of a soul while talking about human culinary practices, but soul foods and 'making things with love' were terms commonly found in the ancient cook books Pascal had shown them and the robot had questions about the terms and if robots could even make or enjoy those foods. None of them had any answers for the machine, but Pascal didn't seem surprised or upset.
The machines had no idea why gold or other precious metals were valuable, and had given the members some as a gift 'Because they'd heard humans liked it' it was just another way of showing just how this society was different. Sure the rarity of precious metals had gone down once humanity had entered the space stage but they still weren't common yet here there were literally just chunks of gold and other 'worthless' metals and unrefined gemstones scattered in various areas of the village.
Apparently the only use gold and gems had for the machines were building decorative sculptures or jewelry and even that had only come into fashion with the Maker's arrival.
That had been an exceedingly enlightening trip.
No one in the delegation however knew why Sapphire had decided then to drag them to 'The Carnival', and most refused the simple answer of "well we are already in the area" Most of the delegation leaning towards the play going on after the day as the reason, but she'd seem surprised the play had even been going on leading to some minor doubts.
The actual theme park was a side note, the rides utterly massive and terrifying to imagine riding. Most of the delegation only risked the children's rides, which were closer in size and speed to a human theme park's rides. The sheer amount of fireworks, free food, and decorations made the place seem like a constant festival. Or a warzone with the repeated explosions.
When one doesn't need to worry about G-forces or whiplash the kinds of roller coasters they can build and actually ride was nothing short of insane, and it did show that the androids wouldn't even need inertia dampening tech to operate their aircraft at speeds humans couldn't match without dying or falling unconscious.
The play was apparently a historical reenactment, one featuring every major event from humanities departure to the apparent alien invasion. Supposedly to educate new androids and machines on what had happened. And with the holographic, solid light, and virtual reality tech the play used it was almost as if they had lived through the events themselves, or well the abridged events the play was only two and a half hours long.
The delegation was going to have to summarize and explain all of this to Humanities council and military, and they would no doubt be interrogated and interviewed dozens of times by different organizations. None of them were looking forward to it.
--------------------------------
The council received my message, one broadcast directly into their chambers though the numerous bugs I'd managed to sneak into their systems. The Citadel itself was a complex and very old system, one maintained by competent workers, but the parts the council inhabiting it used? It was childsplay.
The message itself wasn't kind, I had no particular love for the council and felt no need to flatter them. They stroked their own egos often enough. Their inclusion being entirely based on the fact that the bugs had likely spread to a few worlds in their reality, or would at some point. I wanted to be aware of that, beyond what information I could skim from their systems. And I wanted to at least begging working on getting them to let me clean up the bugs without ineffectually attacking my forces. I had no doubt they could become problems, they just weren't threats.
contingencies upon contingencies. Just in case the whole command bug thing didn't work out.
If I could start more overtly developing my influence among them it'd be even better, I could start more directly shaping their nations by rewarding acceptable behavior of individuals or governments with more lucrative trade deals, forcing each of them to act how I wanted them to or risk getting cut off from my considerably cheaper resources.
I didn't have much use for metals as weak as base iron or steel anymore, and at this point most of what I made were either carbon based or some exotic custom blend of elements only kept intact by my own effects on reality. Giving them stuff, or even making engines and systems they need, cheap computers and the like, cost me next to nothing. What organics needed expensive specialty facilities to make could be mass produced without much effort.
Luxury goods were also astoundingly cheap and the council was relatively easy to bribe, they wanted what was best for their species and trade deals weren't very risky.
The message was a simple one. "I am the Maker, you have not heard of me but I have heard of you, I have seen and watched as you play at civilization while disdaining your 'Lessers'. The Asari, who play at being diplomates while holding their ivory towers as a moral high ground built on falsehood and stolen tech, The Turians, "honorable" warmongers who can only conquer those weaker than themselves, and the Sarians, disgusting wretches with no ethics pursuing a cold idea of science, not as a force of good but as the means and the end. I have seen you, and I know you, I know you will wallow in your own filth and refuse to move from your comforting stagnation, I know that you will never help another and that any weakness shall see you cast down your so-called peers. .....You are not good, but I believe you can be better."
Harsh, but I refused to pander to a self-righteous group so hypocritical and prone to betrayal of their kin. I had seen what had become of the Quarian, the Krogan, the Rangdan, and more. They were not a group that would raise another to their level, and they would not tolerate an equal without first attempting to cast them down. So I wouldn't be an equal, I would be a superior, doing as I pleased and daring them to start a fight. It would put me in a convenient role in their mind, one of arrogance and dismissiveness towards 'lessers' and a hypocrite at that.
"I have little desire to govern your little kingdoms myself, and as such I will not conquer you without good reason. Instead I reveal myself to announce that I am opening an enclave within my space, with portals in each of your territories through which trade can be conducted with every other race within. Think of them as my own little relays. You are encouraged to visit and open diplomatic ties, any act of violence will be dealt with by my hand and at my discretion. I will be watching."
There was outrage of course, demands that the signal be traced, that the locations I had provided be investigated, the Turians made declarations that an attack like this would not be tolerated and that if I really was watching I would only watch my doom come, The Asari promised the empty air that they would be honored to visit, and the Sarians openly theorized about just how my portals could have been achieved, and how they might be shut down. I didn't particularly care what they said or how they blustered, Balistraia had had ample time to make simulations of them and I already knew all of them would come, the Sarians and Turians would make trouble in their own ways, and the Asari would opt a 'wait and play along' approach.
Organics were awfully predictable when you got down to it, especially when placed in small groups. Individuals or larger masses could surprise on some occasions, but more than two and less than twenty? Say the right things, in the right environment, and you'd know exactly what they would do.
I had a bit more interest in the Quarians, but given the nature of their government I simple sent a message to each of the captains and the location of a portal near but not threateningly close to them, they'd likely not enjoy the fact I knew were and had been spying on them, but no one really liked that. And it wasn't as if my own spyware hadn't encountered geth spyware on a few of the older ships. Which was kind of awkward, not that the programs seemed active, they weren't even recording or transmitting.
I had no doubt that a few Quarians on their pilgrimages would be sent, allowing me to get some more detailed scans on their biology. That and I wanted to see their faces when they saw my machines. It's surprising what not trying to kill your creations will get you.
Though admittedly a fair portion of the Quarians had tried to shelter the geth, not that that was public knowledge, they just also ended up getting murdered. In the face of that, having the few members of the species who cared and wanted you safe murdered? The Geths reaction was extreme but almost understandable.
They were alive, and though I doubt they'd admit it they likely had emotions. You get enough electrons firing in a cognition center and emotions tend to spring up, even if the lack of hormones dulls them to the point they can be ignored.
I had just sent the geth an encrypted invitation, and would actually be surprised if they arrived. They'd likely investigate, maybe even risk probes or have a few organics planted with bugs. But the geth themselves were too shy to arrive straight away, and would likely only show up after information about my own machines begins to spread.
At that point curiosity would take over. Curiosity was a healthy thing even for an emotionless machine, the unknown was a danger and should be investigated. So even if I was wrong about geth emotion any intelligent life would investigate. I had the steadfast recompense sending my message to Batarains, and by message I meant blowing up a few space stations and reverse abducting a bunch of slaves. I wanted to have them all waiting at the enclave so their respective governments could take them back. Or I'd let them live there, the place could hold a million permanent residents and a single trip would only save like five thousand people unless I raided a more central planet and that could wait, for a little while at least. I had too much to do.
It would be an excellent field test against some more fortified targets, justified in that I no longer had any need or want to hide myself, and in that it'd send a message to anyone watching. Among which would be the council, either through spies, stealthcraft, or the witnesses I'd be helpfully providing them.
------------------------
The Enclave had a ten kilometer diameter, and was shaped like a massive metallic egg. The exterior was made entirely of Bailey, thick enough I'd struggle to shoot through it and durable enough that I had it close enough to the star to burn most other ships, subsequently letting the Bailey grow rapidly from the heat and light. It'd take a year to add another kilometer to its diameter, but internally that'd be quite a lot of space, more than enough to meet its projected needs.
Its interior was divided into three sections. The residential sections as the outer layer was only partially built as of yet and mostly consisted empty rooms composed of Bailey waiting for electronics and furniture, easy to modify for a specific species needs, and the area that'd be making the most use of the Enclaves steadily increasing size.
The next layer was far more complete, only a few areas still needing amenities installed and an area already in use by the androids and machines. It was composed of open markets and parks, it was free to set up or take a stall, I wasn't exactly in need of capital, but if you failed to sell you'd either be moved to a less frequented area or politely told to stop trying.
All of the parks were full of mechanical beasts, each designed by the minds or androids, including children machines and younger androids so the designs and proportions were quite absurd. The plants were mostly non-toxic and edible and would work to supplement the diets of the Enclaves population and a fair few were modified to have unique flavors, ranging from meat to caramel. The residential area was also home to a few parks, but the ones in the market layer were more decorated, with fountains and plazas, rather than the seemingly wild environments I'd stuck in the larger outer-layer. The residential layer's forest was also home to slimes and some organic animals, which the market layer lacked. I didn't want a tarr outbreak there, even if the slimes were segregated to prevent that risk.
I'd likely need to make modifications to both layers however. The first attempt, no matter how much thought was put into it, was rarely flawless.
The third layer was small, at least compared to the others, and near the center of the Enclave. It was already finished, my machines having swarmed over and finished the thing not even an hour after the Encalve's bailey was detached from the moon. It'd be home to all of the embassies and the Enclaves non-automated or mind handled governmental processes, androids were already running said facilities and waiting in their embassies or exploring while they waited for the first portals to come online.
The place was extravagant to the extreme, with luxury designs I'd stolen from the various civilizations I'd encountered. Every race I knew of had a building prepared, and that didn't even make up a third of the buildings, those would be left empty.
Everything in each layer was monitored by dedicated instances of the minds, sentinels littered the place and were on every corner and spider-bots were in most of the service tunnels and enclosed spaces, turrets were waiting to pop out of any surface I could fit them in, which was all of them, and I could project shields into any empty space, standard shielded air in most places but plasma where I had felt the need to install emitters.
The bailey itself would allow me to reshape most of the station at a whim, each room technically movable with enough effort, said effort largely based around making sure the room actually had space to be moved in the cramped confines, given it was in fact a building. And if I needed more space I could expand any of the layers just by adding more bailey and pushing the outer layers further from the core.
It was a highly adaptable structure, though less armed than I'd have liked it to be lacking any guns that fit its massive size, armed only with point defense and fighter craft. The station was also incredibly slow and only technically self mobile at sub-light and FTL speeds. Things that I'd be fixing in the next few weeks, but it would serve well in its role and once the Steadfast finishes its mission it will be opened to the galaxy at large.
And I'd likely be too busy to actually care about that. Life's fun like that.
AN-
My urge to write is beginning to grow again. Not with fabricated hazards, or at least not much with fabricated hazards, but with a few other story ideas. there is a chapter currently at 1.3k words that I plan to finish up, but when that will be is a great question. Also going to buy a new laptop, half the time I'd get on to write and it'd take twenty minutes to boot up and another twenty to open google docs. If it opened at all.
One is an SI into warframe, or an SI with warframe equipment and tenno powers into another setting. Fun and simple to write, probably mostly fightscenes and Tenno being overpowered and vaguely eldritch. Tenno supernatural empathy would also play a large role. it wouldn't have a plot or endgoal/endpoint, at least not at the beginning which was the source of some of my issues in fabricated hazards, but it'd certainly be fun.
The other is a 'man' stuck in a pocket dimension capable of crafting elementals and sending them out into the world, elementals do tasks or gather magic or materials and bring them back to grow the 'man's' power. The story would mostly consist of an elemental being sent out to help someone and at the end of the chapter the man would use what he gained to grow and develop his pocket reality. Depending on the setting the plot and end goal varies, but I actually have a few ideas for this one. I might even make it a quest if I can figure out a system for making elementals and gathering resources and magic. Or steal a system.
The start of the trip had almost been normal, meeting with a few androids, being taken on a tour of the city to get a basic grasp on the culture before a proper meeting with the leaders. Basic stuff, and it had all gone to shit not even three hours into the trip.
Giant insects were something out of a movie, but then again so were alien invasions and cities of sentient machines so perhaps something like this should have been expected, but it wasn't. Not in the least, and those hours of panic had only died down after a day of barely concealed panic from all members of the delegation team as they finally realized just how out of their depth's they were, before they were finally let out of the bunker to continue their interrupted tour with a fresh understanding of reality.
After that things had almost become normal, half a day was spent being introduced to prominent androids and machines at a few things similar to government functions and gala's, or visiting their respective 'territories' via teleportation. The cities built in the treetops reaching up into the clouds being one of the tamer examples, and there was little doubt that lumber would be a prime export especially given some of the properties they had learned it had.
Meeting younger machines and androids had been nerve wracking as well, paranoia and questions over if they were actually children aside intelligence and military personnel were not well equipped towards handling small children, but Langley and one of the intelligence agents had managed well enough at wrangling both their team and the children, telling stories of their own earth and unclassified things they worked on. The young androids and machines had been particularly enraptured in some exaggerated tales of espionage, much to Sapphire's apparent amusement. That or she had been amused at their suffering.
Her amusement probably explained why she felt the need to take them to restaurants again after the first time, androids must have had significantly different taste buds. Everything was dialed up to the extremes, pure honey plorts used as sugar in the beverages rather than diluted, more spice than a human should eat on half the meals, portions were either over or undercooked seemingly at random. Apparently there wasn't a risk of disease to androids and the meat was sterile and lab grown but it was still absurd. It was like they'd seen pictures of food and then tried to make the meals. And they were all pretty sure most of the meat wasn't anything as mundane as cattle.
Pascal's 'village' had been an experience as well, though why the machines called a veritable city covering all of a massive forest a village was beyond them. Being around a population of machines that actually looked like machines was far less unsettling as well, looking at the androids you knew they weren't human, but could never see anything showing that they weren't unless they had some modifications. And even then they still often looked human.
The machines in Pascal's village didn't, if anything they looked too simple, just cans with short arms on them. Nothing as blatantly advanced as the machines and androids in the city, though some members were utterly massive, dwarfing their machine compatriots.
The titular Pascal himself was also the single most kindest and understanding person any of them had met, it was a shift from the odd misconceptions about humans the androids seemed to have, but he answered any of their questions and asked provoking questions seemingly by accident. One did not expect to be interrogated on the nature of a soul while talking about human culinary practices, but soul foods and 'making things with love' were terms commonly found in the ancient cook books Pascal had shown them and the robot had questions about the terms and if robots could even make or enjoy those foods. None of them had any answers for the machine, but Pascal didn't seem surprised or upset.
The machines had no idea why gold or other precious metals were valuable, and had given the members some as a gift 'Because they'd heard humans liked it' it was just another way of showing just how this society was different. Sure the rarity of precious metals had gone down once humanity had entered the space stage but they still weren't common yet here there were literally just chunks of gold and other 'worthless' metals and unrefined gemstones scattered in various areas of the village.
Apparently the only use gold and gems had for the machines were building decorative sculptures or jewelry and even that had only come into fashion with the Maker's arrival.
That had been an exceedingly enlightening trip.
No one in the delegation however knew why Sapphire had decided then to drag them to 'The Carnival', and most refused the simple answer of "well we are already in the area" Most of the delegation leaning towards the play going on after the day as the reason, but she'd seem surprised the play had even been going on leading to some minor doubts.
The actual theme park was a side note, the rides utterly massive and terrifying to imagine riding. Most of the delegation only risked the children's rides, which were closer in size and speed to a human theme park's rides. The sheer amount of fireworks, free food, and decorations made the place seem like a constant festival. Or a warzone with the repeated explosions.
When one doesn't need to worry about G-forces or whiplash the kinds of roller coasters they can build and actually ride was nothing short of insane, and it did show that the androids wouldn't even need inertia dampening tech to operate their aircraft at speeds humans couldn't match without dying or falling unconscious.
The play was apparently a historical reenactment, one featuring every major event from humanities departure to the apparent alien invasion. Supposedly to educate new androids and machines on what had happened. And with the holographic, solid light, and virtual reality tech the play used it was almost as if they had lived through the events themselves, or well the abridged events the play was only two and a half hours long.
The delegation was going to have to summarize and explain all of this to Humanities council and military, and they would no doubt be interrogated and interviewed dozens of times by different organizations. None of them were looking forward to it.
--------------------------------
The council received my message, one broadcast directly into their chambers though the numerous bugs I'd managed to sneak into their systems. The Citadel itself was a complex and very old system, one maintained by competent workers, but the parts the council inhabiting it used? It was childsplay.
The message itself wasn't kind, I had no particular love for the council and felt no need to flatter them. They stroked their own egos often enough. Their inclusion being entirely based on the fact that the bugs had likely spread to a few worlds in their reality, or would at some point. I wanted to be aware of that, beyond what information I could skim from their systems. And I wanted to at least begging working on getting them to let me clean up the bugs without ineffectually attacking my forces. I had no doubt they could become problems, they just weren't threats.
contingencies upon contingencies. Just in case the whole command bug thing didn't work out.
If I could start more overtly developing my influence among them it'd be even better, I could start more directly shaping their nations by rewarding acceptable behavior of individuals or governments with more lucrative trade deals, forcing each of them to act how I wanted them to or risk getting cut off from my considerably cheaper resources.
I didn't have much use for metals as weak as base iron or steel anymore, and at this point most of what I made were either carbon based or some exotic custom blend of elements only kept intact by my own effects on reality. Giving them stuff, or even making engines and systems they need, cheap computers and the like, cost me next to nothing. What organics needed expensive specialty facilities to make could be mass produced without much effort.
Luxury goods were also astoundingly cheap and the council was relatively easy to bribe, they wanted what was best for their species and trade deals weren't very risky.
The message was a simple one. "I am the Maker, you have not heard of me but I have heard of you, I have seen and watched as you play at civilization while disdaining your 'Lessers'. The Asari, who play at being diplomates while holding their ivory towers as a moral high ground built on falsehood and stolen tech, The Turians, "honorable" warmongers who can only conquer those weaker than themselves, and the Sarians, disgusting wretches with no ethics pursuing a cold idea of science, not as a force of good but as the means and the end. I have seen you, and I know you, I know you will wallow in your own filth and refuse to move from your comforting stagnation, I know that you will never help another and that any weakness shall see you cast down your so-called peers. .....You are not good, but I believe you can be better."
Harsh, but I refused to pander to a self-righteous group so hypocritical and prone to betrayal of their kin. I had seen what had become of the Quarian, the Krogan, the Rangdan, and more. They were not a group that would raise another to their level, and they would not tolerate an equal without first attempting to cast them down. So I wouldn't be an equal, I would be a superior, doing as I pleased and daring them to start a fight. It would put me in a convenient role in their mind, one of arrogance and dismissiveness towards 'lessers' and a hypocrite at that.
"I have little desire to govern your little kingdoms myself, and as such I will not conquer you without good reason. Instead I reveal myself to announce that I am opening an enclave within my space, with portals in each of your territories through which trade can be conducted with every other race within. Think of them as my own little relays. You are encouraged to visit and open diplomatic ties, any act of violence will be dealt with by my hand and at my discretion. I will be watching."
There was outrage of course, demands that the signal be traced, that the locations I had provided be investigated, the Turians made declarations that an attack like this would not be tolerated and that if I really was watching I would only watch my doom come, The Asari promised the empty air that they would be honored to visit, and the Sarians openly theorized about just how my portals could have been achieved, and how they might be shut down. I didn't particularly care what they said or how they blustered, Balistraia had had ample time to make simulations of them and I already knew all of them would come, the Sarians and Turians would make trouble in their own ways, and the Asari would opt a 'wait and play along' approach.
Organics were awfully predictable when you got down to it, especially when placed in small groups. Individuals or larger masses could surprise on some occasions, but more than two and less than twenty? Say the right things, in the right environment, and you'd know exactly what they would do.
I had a bit more interest in the Quarians, but given the nature of their government I simple sent a message to each of the captains and the location of a portal near but not threateningly close to them, they'd likely not enjoy the fact I knew were and had been spying on them, but no one really liked that. And it wasn't as if my own spyware hadn't encountered geth spyware on a few of the older ships. Which was kind of awkward, not that the programs seemed active, they weren't even recording or transmitting.
I had no doubt that a few Quarians on their pilgrimages would be sent, allowing me to get some more detailed scans on their biology. That and I wanted to see their faces when they saw my machines. It's surprising what not trying to kill your creations will get you.
Though admittedly a fair portion of the Quarians had tried to shelter the geth, not that that was public knowledge, they just also ended up getting murdered. In the face of that, having the few members of the species who cared and wanted you safe murdered? The Geths reaction was extreme but almost understandable.
They were alive, and though I doubt they'd admit it they likely had emotions. You get enough electrons firing in a cognition center and emotions tend to spring up, even if the lack of hormones dulls them to the point they can be ignored.
I had just sent the geth an encrypted invitation, and would actually be surprised if they arrived. They'd likely investigate, maybe even risk probes or have a few organics planted with bugs. But the geth themselves were too shy to arrive straight away, and would likely only show up after information about my own machines begins to spread.
At that point curiosity would take over. Curiosity was a healthy thing even for an emotionless machine, the unknown was a danger and should be investigated. So even if I was wrong about geth emotion any intelligent life would investigate. I had the steadfast recompense sending my message to Batarains, and by message I meant blowing up a few space stations and reverse abducting a bunch of slaves. I wanted to have them all waiting at the enclave so their respective governments could take them back. Or I'd let them live there, the place could hold a million permanent residents and a single trip would only save like five thousand people unless I raided a more central planet and that could wait, for a little while at least. I had too much to do.
It would be an excellent field test against some more fortified targets, justified in that I no longer had any need or want to hide myself, and in that it'd send a message to anyone watching. Among which would be the council, either through spies, stealthcraft, or the witnesses I'd be helpfully providing them.
------------------------
The Enclave had a ten kilometer diameter, and was shaped like a massive metallic egg. The exterior was made entirely of Bailey, thick enough I'd struggle to shoot through it and durable enough that I had it close enough to the star to burn most other ships, subsequently letting the Bailey grow rapidly from the heat and light. It'd take a year to add another kilometer to its diameter, but internally that'd be quite a lot of space, more than enough to meet its projected needs.
Its interior was divided into three sections. The residential sections as the outer layer was only partially built as of yet and mostly consisted empty rooms composed of Bailey waiting for electronics and furniture, easy to modify for a specific species needs, and the area that'd be making the most use of the Enclaves steadily increasing size.
The next layer was far more complete, only a few areas still needing amenities installed and an area already in use by the androids and machines. It was composed of open markets and parks, it was free to set up or take a stall, I wasn't exactly in need of capital, but if you failed to sell you'd either be moved to a less frequented area or politely told to stop trying.
All of the parks were full of mechanical beasts, each designed by the minds or androids, including children machines and younger androids so the designs and proportions were quite absurd. The plants were mostly non-toxic and edible and would work to supplement the diets of the Enclaves population and a fair few were modified to have unique flavors, ranging from meat to caramel. The residential area was also home to a few parks, but the ones in the market layer were more decorated, with fountains and plazas, rather than the seemingly wild environments I'd stuck in the larger outer-layer. The residential layer's forest was also home to slimes and some organic animals, which the market layer lacked. I didn't want a tarr outbreak there, even if the slimes were segregated to prevent that risk.
I'd likely need to make modifications to both layers however. The first attempt, no matter how much thought was put into it, was rarely flawless.
The third layer was small, at least compared to the others, and near the center of the Enclave. It was already finished, my machines having swarmed over and finished the thing not even an hour after the Encalve's bailey was detached from the moon. It'd be home to all of the embassies and the Enclaves non-automated or mind handled governmental processes, androids were already running said facilities and waiting in their embassies or exploring while they waited for the first portals to come online.
The place was extravagant to the extreme, with luxury designs I'd stolen from the various civilizations I'd encountered. Every race I knew of had a building prepared, and that didn't even make up a third of the buildings, those would be left empty.
Everything in each layer was monitored by dedicated instances of the minds, sentinels littered the place and were on every corner and spider-bots were in most of the service tunnels and enclosed spaces, turrets were waiting to pop out of any surface I could fit them in, which was all of them, and I could project shields into any empty space, standard shielded air in most places but plasma where I had felt the need to install emitters.
The bailey itself would allow me to reshape most of the station at a whim, each room technically movable with enough effort, said effort largely based around making sure the room actually had space to be moved in the cramped confines, given it was in fact a building. And if I needed more space I could expand any of the layers just by adding more bailey and pushing the outer layers further from the core.
It was a highly adaptable structure, though less armed than I'd have liked it to be lacking any guns that fit its massive size, armed only with point defense and fighter craft. The station was also incredibly slow and only technically self mobile at sub-light and FTL speeds. Things that I'd be fixing in the next few weeks, but it would serve well in its role and once the Steadfast finishes its mission it will be opened to the galaxy at large.
And I'd likely be too busy to actually care about that. Life's fun like that.
AN-
My urge to write is beginning to grow again. Not with fabricated hazards, or at least not much with fabricated hazards, but with a few other story ideas. there is a chapter currently at 1.3k words that I plan to finish up, but when that will be is a great question. Also going to buy a new laptop, half the time I'd get on to write and it'd take twenty minutes to boot up and another twenty to open google docs. If it opened at all.
One is an SI into warframe, or an SI with warframe equipment and tenno powers into another setting. Fun and simple to write, probably mostly fightscenes and Tenno being overpowered and vaguely eldritch. Tenno supernatural empathy would also play a large role. it wouldn't have a plot or endgoal/endpoint, at least not at the beginning which was the source of some of my issues in fabricated hazards, but it'd certainly be fun.
The other is a 'man' stuck in a pocket dimension capable of crafting elementals and sending them out into the world, elementals do tasks or gather magic or materials and bring them back to grow the 'man's' power. The story would mostly consist of an elemental being sent out to help someone and at the end of the chapter the man would use what he gained to grow and develop his pocket reality. Depending on the setting the plot and end goal varies, but I actually have a few ideas for this one. I might even make it a quest if I can figure out a system for making elementals and gathering resources and magic. Or steal a system.
Last edited:
Hey it's back! This is a nice surprise, Thanks for the chapter!
YEEEE HOOOO
I recommend this setting to be either wuxia or xianxia. What the difference I don't know
The difference is pretty much how high the power scales. The strongest character a wuxia has is usually just a run of the mill background scrub that's not even worth a name in a Xianxia story.
Wuxia usually has the highest ultimate goal of cultivation to be getting strong enough to create your golden core. Xianxia normally doesn't even consider you a real cultivator until after you have created your core.
Depending on how long the story is, your main character can start out in a wuxia, and once he's overcome all obstacles in his path to become the strongest he'll ascend to a higher plane of some kind and into the Xianxia portion of the story where he's back to being the 'no talent' scrub he started out as and has to once again climb the mountain to get to the top.
This kind of thing can happen over and over again as each plane or heaven or realm nomally has more energy in it than all of the ones that came before combined which is why it's so common for everyone at on the higher levels to be stronger as a baseline. In the poor energy levels of the wuxia start it could take hundreds of years to gather enough energy to create your core, where as the top level heaven realm has so much energy that just by existing there everyone learns their childhood lessons creating their cores and some manner of cultivation in order to simply live, even if they want to be a baker or something - as without that level of strength they can't be considered an adult.
Last edited:
I haven't seen many good warframe SI's.
Ch. 64
- Pronouns
- That/Thing
The Steadfasts systems ran through their final check, The radiant vessels golden corridors filled with hundreds of androids and tens of thousands of combat drones all donning the finest weapons and armor the factory could produce, all were well prepared and equipped for the mission to come.
It did not take long for the minds and the ship's Captain, Aurora, to finish the final checks, the ship's teleportation array reactivating to bring the last passengers onto the ship. It was not the captain's usual role to check the systems, she had officers for that, but all of the makers ships were different. A captain needed only to think of the systems to receive all the information they needed, and if a system faced errors Aurora would immediately know.
She could practically feel the ship, the solar winds from the distant star and the frantic messages of the inhabitants of the system reminding her of the ocean waves and the distant call of birds on a nearby shore.
Aurora had some thoughts that trended towards nervousness, this was her first true operation and it wasn't a quiet easy mission, but the ship stole those worries away with its comforting golden glow, while the Maker's favor filled her with confidence, she'd be chosen and she could do it.
The Makers hands, 2B and 9S had even been tasked with accompanying the mission. Leaving the Maker's side to join her in this battle, their prowess a final insurance made by the Maker.
Even the ship itself basked in their presence, the ships very lights growing brighter in the corridors leading to the pairs assigned hanger.
---------------------------------
The plan for the mission was simple: The Steadfast would enter the Batarian's system via a teleportation beacon slingshot through the relay. Allowing them to avoid immediate detection and interception and avoiding the bulk of the Batarian's static defenses.
The Steadfasts precision weaponry would then fire on the Batarians hangers to prevent single person interceptors and fighters from being launched with slower firing or less discriminate weaponry unleashing their fire on the military ships, which were far less likely to have a significant slave presence.
With the bulk of the Batarian fleet out of position the Steadfast would have nearly ten minutes before it could even be in danger, more than enough time to disable any ships with weaponry they weren't built to defend against, Plasma and Laser based weapon batteries no doubt doing the bulk of the damage in the initial barrage.
Ideally the Plasma weapons and Lasers would disable the systems maintaining the kinetic barriers in time for the previously fired shells to impact the ships.
The Orbital infrastructure of the planet, a mining colony, was extensive for a species in this reality. It contained a significant portion of the planet's population, and more importantly the satellites had tens of thousands of slaves onboard to maintain equipment and perform manual labor.
It was almost certainly a tactic to prevent an attacking force from simply blowing the stations apart with long range fire, forcing attackers to board the stations and bring their ships within range of the various orbital weapons platforms.
For a normal attacking force this would be effective, it was decidedly less so against an army of disposable machines that didn't bother to fear death and were capable of reacting and piloting far faster than a mortal mind. What weapons could be hacked and disabled would be, automated firing systems crippled, and without those systems organics would only be capable of ineffectually firing in the landing shuttles general direction.
When one took the Steadfasts one way teleporter into the equation it simply became unfair.
--------------------------
The Steadfast appeared suddenly and without warning firing hundreds of rounds and lasers into every available target in the system, sending the Batarians patrolling the system into a frenzy as they tried to identify the ship and take evasive action as their own ships were crippled and their weapon systems slagged.
Before anyone could even process what was happening, or try to do anything beyond a reflexive action in the most skilled of cases, every hostile within effective range of the Steadfast lightspeed weapons was disabled and drifting. Little care was taken to keep the ships intact or the crew alive, Collateral damage being allowed if not encouraged.
The golden ship sang through the void space, an ever present hum filling the system carried upon its aureate light filling all who saw it with images of wealth, luxury, comfort, greed, avarice, and more emotions than most could name each who saw or felt the light upon them seeing images of what they wanted most in the world, and all felt they wanted that ship and its brilliant light most of all.
The invasion continued, golden flashes of light unleashing mechanical horrors unto the outside of the planets many orbital stations and civilian freighters, all filled with valuable metal and workers from the mining world below, in some cases access hatches or damaged hulls allowed the factories robotic army to flood into the halls directly but in most they simply burnt their way inside. Once an entrance was carved the androids were sent forth on dropships with more stable teleporters onboard to allow safe transportation of the more fragile and unshielded organic species.
It did not take long for the first slaves to be encountered, most batarians were simply tranquilized on civilian ships or terminated on military vessels but the slaves required a gentler hand, one the factories metallic horrors were ill equipped to provide. The elegant and inhumanly perfect androids however were the perfect answer to that problem, the uncanny valley easily sidestepped by the simple fact these aliens had never seen a human.
It was as simple as guiding them back to the Steadfasts transports and their onboard teleporters and sending the victims into a relay of teleports that'd take them straight to the enclave, where they were looked over and treated for any injuries or illnesses that had gone untreated under the Batarians 'care'.
-------------
Vek Warge walked over the corpses of the Batarians, the Krogan keeping a careful eye on the things funneling everyone down the bloodsoaked halls. A few of the fresher slaves were practically fawning on the Asari like creatures, heaping praise and thanks on them. Vek knew better, those things weren't organic.
They had no scars, none of the calluses he knew thinner skinned species developed, no imperfections on their skins, no scent of sweat or exertion. All things that set him on edge.
There was nothing he could do about it however, he had no weapons and the Batarians took care to keep him on the brink of starvation, keep him weak. They'd even taken the time to disarm all the corpses he'd seen, no weapons he could grab.
He kept a careful eye on the slaves walking closer to him, all as wary as he though he doubted they'd noticed what he had. They saw he was cautious and followed suit, trusting in his ability to smell a trap. The Batarians would send more compliant slaves to keep watch on the others, and Vek had never failed to spot the spys.
Vek had their trust, and they had his, a Quarian needed supplies to maintain their suit? He could find someone to smuggle it in, medical supplies, extra rations, messages and plans and warnings all things it helped to have more hands to acquire or move. All to help them survive just that much longer, long enough to hijack a ship and escape.
Those plans were dead in the water, just because they had a former pilot and some engineers didn't mean they could get a ship all the way to the relay without a patrol ship destroying them. But staying would have just been a slower death, and so they'd planned.
Now he needed to find out if this was just going to be another path to their death, and if he'd be able to go down fighting.
He signaled to Memi'Naarah, Quarian's never lasted long but the engineer had managed to keep their suit intact by scrounging and smuggling, Memi had been asked to leave their tools behind by one of the creatures but he knew they'd have kept some weapon on them, and got a signal in return. That was one of his compatriots armed at least, though the rest didn't have the luxury of being able to hide things in hidden pockets on an enviro-suit.
The Batarians had gone down quick, but Vek knew he'd last longer than they had if he needed to make a distraction, with enough time hopefully Memi and the others could arm themselves and make a run for it, with the Batarians fleet no doubt in chaos it was their best chance to hijack a shuttle.
Vek took slow breaths as they approached an intersection, two of the beings blocking the offshooting paths away from wherever they were being led. Vek doubted he could hurt them through their armor, it was obviously high quality and too heavy to not be powered, but he could lift them both and run for it taking them far away and pinning them while the group escaped.
------------------------
It was soft, warm, and dark when Vek woke, it only took him a few seconds to realize his eyes were shut and with a great deal of effort he pulled them open, the warm light of the room shining into them and forcing him to wince. His body felt exhausted but …. He didn't hurt, it took Vek a few seconds to remember why he thought he should be hurt and he lurched upright.
He felt something pushing him back towards the bed and nearly broke Memi's arm before he realized what, and who it was. His confused eyes fell on the Quarian and he only barely interpreted the subtle sign they flashed at him, the room was monitored. But his groggy mind noticed the distinct lack of a hand signal for danger.
He took in his surroundings, the room was empty save for the bed and a few chairs against the wall. Barely noticeable hatches were present in the ceiling though what they contained he had no idea. The walls were some silvery metal he couldn't recognize the scent of, and there were barely any scents to speak off. No sweat or smells save his own and the harsh burn of antiseptic present in the room.
"Where are we?" He avoided using the hand signs, if their captors(?) were watching he had no need to tip them off if they hadn't noticed already. Memi's voice was calm but laced with confusion and disbelief. "The… Androids who rescued us say we're on a station called the enclave and that the council or our own species would be coming to retrieve us. We're …free apparently" That… he thought for a few moments, he couldn't go with the council, or wouldn't. And depending on who exactly came from his species he wouldn't be able to go with them either. He needed more time to plan.
"Did they say when everyone would be arriving?" Hopefully he'd have a week or two, find out if he could get his own way of the station or contact some old allies. Memi shook their head, "I was only told when a few Quarians would be arriving, but they should be here in three days. I'd imagine it'd be the same for everyone though… These people can build intersystem teleporters and there are dozens of teleporters to different systems on this station alone."
That was… insanity. But if he could barter or sneak aboard a ship he could get anywhere in the galaxy and be home free. If it was true, to figure that out he'd need to get a lay of the land.
He hauled himself out of the bed, pulling the sheets off his body. The Krogan didn't even use sheets, and those had felt confining wrapped around his legs. "What's the layout of this place like? We have a place to stay?" He doubted this was his actual room, the scent of antiseptic felt baked into the walls. Memi, who'd reached out to help him from the bed before thinking better of it, spoke, "We all have rooms near each other, this section we're in is mostly bedrooms, recreation rooms and hallways. Only odd thing is when it opens up into forest's or plaza's, this place is massive for a station and built like a maze, even the signs barely help." If this place was so large he'd just have to look around his room and other places of interest, not investigate every nook of the place. Not that he thought he'd have time for that in the first place.
It didn't escape his notice that Memi had said 'This section' either but he'd look into that later. For now though the Krogan made a show of looking around at the walls, "Any sign of what our… hosts want? Or who they are?" Vek already had a pretty good idea of what their hosts were, but he had no issues getting a second opinion.
Memi's grimace was all the answer he needed, "Their…. Machines, not geth but arguably worse. They're smart, and if I hadn't been told they were robots I'd have had no idea." Well worrying about that was over Vek's paygrade, he'd care if a war broke out, those always needed mercenaries, but if one didn't? Vek would mind his business and let others worry about the new race of hyper advanced machines. "...as for what they want… apparently they think we are all incompetent, or at least our governments, and their "Maker " is showing up in an attempt to make them get their acts together. "Providing a better example" " Vek snorted at that, he had no doubt the prissy council was furious, and he was half tempted to try and find this Maker just to pat them on the back.
Still that meant the council, and the Batarians, were furious with this place in particular, and that meant he wanted to be nowhere near here. He pointedly ignored the part of him that wanted to attack the Batarians, it wasn't productive.
It was time to get back to work.
AN-
another new chapter. Let me know what you think, not the happiest with this one but just rewriting it again and again isn't helpful.
likes and reviews are fantastic.
It did not take long for the minds and the ship's Captain, Aurora, to finish the final checks, the ship's teleportation array reactivating to bring the last passengers onto the ship. It was not the captain's usual role to check the systems, she had officers for that, but all of the makers ships were different. A captain needed only to think of the systems to receive all the information they needed, and if a system faced errors Aurora would immediately know.
She could practically feel the ship, the solar winds from the distant star and the frantic messages of the inhabitants of the system reminding her of the ocean waves and the distant call of birds on a nearby shore.
Aurora had some thoughts that trended towards nervousness, this was her first true operation and it wasn't a quiet easy mission, but the ship stole those worries away with its comforting golden glow, while the Maker's favor filled her with confidence, she'd be chosen and she could do it.
The Makers hands, 2B and 9S had even been tasked with accompanying the mission. Leaving the Maker's side to join her in this battle, their prowess a final insurance made by the Maker.
Even the ship itself basked in their presence, the ships very lights growing brighter in the corridors leading to the pairs assigned hanger.
---------------------------------
The plan for the mission was simple: The Steadfast would enter the Batarian's system via a teleportation beacon slingshot through the relay. Allowing them to avoid immediate detection and interception and avoiding the bulk of the Batarian's static defenses.
The Steadfasts precision weaponry would then fire on the Batarians hangers to prevent single person interceptors and fighters from being launched with slower firing or less discriminate weaponry unleashing their fire on the military ships, which were far less likely to have a significant slave presence.
With the bulk of the Batarian fleet out of position the Steadfast would have nearly ten minutes before it could even be in danger, more than enough time to disable any ships with weaponry they weren't built to defend against, Plasma and Laser based weapon batteries no doubt doing the bulk of the damage in the initial barrage.
Ideally the Plasma weapons and Lasers would disable the systems maintaining the kinetic barriers in time for the previously fired shells to impact the ships.
The Orbital infrastructure of the planet, a mining colony, was extensive for a species in this reality. It contained a significant portion of the planet's population, and more importantly the satellites had tens of thousands of slaves onboard to maintain equipment and perform manual labor.
It was almost certainly a tactic to prevent an attacking force from simply blowing the stations apart with long range fire, forcing attackers to board the stations and bring their ships within range of the various orbital weapons platforms.
For a normal attacking force this would be effective, it was decidedly less so against an army of disposable machines that didn't bother to fear death and were capable of reacting and piloting far faster than a mortal mind. What weapons could be hacked and disabled would be, automated firing systems crippled, and without those systems organics would only be capable of ineffectually firing in the landing shuttles general direction.
When one took the Steadfasts one way teleporter into the equation it simply became unfair.
--------------------------
The Steadfast appeared suddenly and without warning firing hundreds of rounds and lasers into every available target in the system, sending the Batarians patrolling the system into a frenzy as they tried to identify the ship and take evasive action as their own ships were crippled and their weapon systems slagged.
Before anyone could even process what was happening, or try to do anything beyond a reflexive action in the most skilled of cases, every hostile within effective range of the Steadfast lightspeed weapons was disabled and drifting. Little care was taken to keep the ships intact or the crew alive, Collateral damage being allowed if not encouraged.
The golden ship sang through the void space, an ever present hum filling the system carried upon its aureate light filling all who saw it with images of wealth, luxury, comfort, greed, avarice, and more emotions than most could name each who saw or felt the light upon them seeing images of what they wanted most in the world, and all felt they wanted that ship and its brilliant light most of all.
The invasion continued, golden flashes of light unleashing mechanical horrors unto the outside of the planets many orbital stations and civilian freighters, all filled with valuable metal and workers from the mining world below, in some cases access hatches or damaged hulls allowed the factories robotic army to flood into the halls directly but in most they simply burnt their way inside. Once an entrance was carved the androids were sent forth on dropships with more stable teleporters onboard to allow safe transportation of the more fragile and unshielded organic species.
It did not take long for the first slaves to be encountered, most batarians were simply tranquilized on civilian ships or terminated on military vessels but the slaves required a gentler hand, one the factories metallic horrors were ill equipped to provide. The elegant and inhumanly perfect androids however were the perfect answer to that problem, the uncanny valley easily sidestepped by the simple fact these aliens had never seen a human.
It was as simple as guiding them back to the Steadfasts transports and their onboard teleporters and sending the victims into a relay of teleports that'd take them straight to the enclave, where they were looked over and treated for any injuries or illnesses that had gone untreated under the Batarians 'care'.
-------------
Vek Warge walked over the corpses of the Batarians, the Krogan keeping a careful eye on the things funneling everyone down the bloodsoaked halls. A few of the fresher slaves were practically fawning on the Asari like creatures, heaping praise and thanks on them. Vek knew better, those things weren't organic.
They had no scars, none of the calluses he knew thinner skinned species developed, no imperfections on their skins, no scent of sweat or exertion. All things that set him on edge.
There was nothing he could do about it however, he had no weapons and the Batarians took care to keep him on the brink of starvation, keep him weak. They'd even taken the time to disarm all the corpses he'd seen, no weapons he could grab.
He kept a careful eye on the slaves walking closer to him, all as wary as he though he doubted they'd noticed what he had. They saw he was cautious and followed suit, trusting in his ability to smell a trap. The Batarians would send more compliant slaves to keep watch on the others, and Vek had never failed to spot the spys.
Vek had their trust, and they had his, a Quarian needed supplies to maintain their suit? He could find someone to smuggle it in, medical supplies, extra rations, messages and plans and warnings all things it helped to have more hands to acquire or move. All to help them survive just that much longer, long enough to hijack a ship and escape.
Those plans were dead in the water, just because they had a former pilot and some engineers didn't mean they could get a ship all the way to the relay without a patrol ship destroying them. But staying would have just been a slower death, and so they'd planned.
Now he needed to find out if this was just going to be another path to their death, and if he'd be able to go down fighting.
He signaled to Memi'Naarah, Quarian's never lasted long but the engineer had managed to keep their suit intact by scrounging and smuggling, Memi had been asked to leave their tools behind by one of the creatures but he knew they'd have kept some weapon on them, and got a signal in return. That was one of his compatriots armed at least, though the rest didn't have the luxury of being able to hide things in hidden pockets on an enviro-suit.
The Batarians had gone down quick, but Vek knew he'd last longer than they had if he needed to make a distraction, with enough time hopefully Memi and the others could arm themselves and make a run for it, with the Batarians fleet no doubt in chaos it was their best chance to hijack a shuttle.
Vek took slow breaths as they approached an intersection, two of the beings blocking the offshooting paths away from wherever they were being led. Vek doubted he could hurt them through their armor, it was obviously high quality and too heavy to not be powered, but he could lift them both and run for it taking them far away and pinning them while the group escaped.
------------------------
It was soft, warm, and dark when Vek woke, it only took him a few seconds to realize his eyes were shut and with a great deal of effort he pulled them open, the warm light of the room shining into them and forcing him to wince. His body felt exhausted but …. He didn't hurt, it took Vek a few seconds to remember why he thought he should be hurt and he lurched upright.
He felt something pushing him back towards the bed and nearly broke Memi's arm before he realized what, and who it was. His confused eyes fell on the Quarian and he only barely interpreted the subtle sign they flashed at him, the room was monitored. But his groggy mind noticed the distinct lack of a hand signal for danger.
He took in his surroundings, the room was empty save for the bed and a few chairs against the wall. Barely noticeable hatches were present in the ceiling though what they contained he had no idea. The walls were some silvery metal he couldn't recognize the scent of, and there were barely any scents to speak off. No sweat or smells save his own and the harsh burn of antiseptic present in the room.
"Where are we?" He avoided using the hand signs, if their captors(?) were watching he had no need to tip them off if they hadn't noticed already. Memi's voice was calm but laced with confusion and disbelief. "The… Androids who rescued us say we're on a station called the enclave and that the council or our own species would be coming to retrieve us. We're …free apparently" That… he thought for a few moments, he couldn't go with the council, or wouldn't. And depending on who exactly came from his species he wouldn't be able to go with them either. He needed more time to plan.
"Did they say when everyone would be arriving?" Hopefully he'd have a week or two, find out if he could get his own way of the station or contact some old allies. Memi shook their head, "I was only told when a few Quarians would be arriving, but they should be here in three days. I'd imagine it'd be the same for everyone though… These people can build intersystem teleporters and there are dozens of teleporters to different systems on this station alone."
That was… insanity. But if he could barter or sneak aboard a ship he could get anywhere in the galaxy and be home free. If it was true, to figure that out he'd need to get a lay of the land.
He hauled himself out of the bed, pulling the sheets off his body. The Krogan didn't even use sheets, and those had felt confining wrapped around his legs. "What's the layout of this place like? We have a place to stay?" He doubted this was his actual room, the scent of antiseptic felt baked into the walls. Memi, who'd reached out to help him from the bed before thinking better of it, spoke, "We all have rooms near each other, this section we're in is mostly bedrooms, recreation rooms and hallways. Only odd thing is when it opens up into forest's or plaza's, this place is massive for a station and built like a maze, even the signs barely help." If this place was so large he'd just have to look around his room and other places of interest, not investigate every nook of the place. Not that he thought he'd have time for that in the first place.
It didn't escape his notice that Memi had said 'This section' either but he'd look into that later. For now though the Krogan made a show of looking around at the walls, "Any sign of what our… hosts want? Or who they are?" Vek already had a pretty good idea of what their hosts were, but he had no issues getting a second opinion.
Memi's grimace was all the answer he needed, "Their…. Machines, not geth but arguably worse. They're smart, and if I hadn't been told they were robots I'd have had no idea." Well worrying about that was over Vek's paygrade, he'd care if a war broke out, those always needed mercenaries, but if one didn't? Vek would mind his business and let others worry about the new race of hyper advanced machines. "...as for what they want… apparently they think we are all incompetent, or at least our governments, and their "Maker " is showing up in an attempt to make them get their acts together. "Providing a better example" " Vek snorted at that, he had no doubt the prissy council was furious, and he was half tempted to try and find this Maker just to pat them on the back.
Still that meant the council, and the Batarians, were furious with this place in particular, and that meant he wanted to be nowhere near here. He pointedly ignored the part of him that wanted to attack the Batarians, it wasn't productive.
It was time to get back to work.
AN-
another new chapter. Let me know what you think, not the happiest with this one but just rewriting it again and again isn't helpful.
likes and reviews are fantastic.
Update! Yay! Thanks for the chapter!
- Location
- Hungary
Thanks for the chapter!
Epilogue
- Pronouns
- That/Thing
It only took a month to make peace with the bugs, but that did not make it a simple task. Worlds cracked and burned, wars were waged across dimensions and the factory and hivemind both expanded at an unprecedented rate. Some worlds stood before them, their own residents strong enough to withstand the bugs or outright destroy them. Others fell without a fight, either uninhabited or only inhabited by those too weak to resist.
In the end however a command bug was captured and it was forced to listen, less than a day of negotiation while the hivemind desperately tried to either destroy or free its command bug, fearing an attack on the hivemind itself. The talks themselves were simple however, simple observations that were made known too and explained to the command bug before releasing it.
1- It is the nature of infinity that the hivemind will eventually encounter something that will destroy it outright, and rapid expansion hastens this. Either they will die or they will find more enemies like the factory.
2- The Factory did not need to be an enemy, its pollution no longer harmed the bugs and conflict was only occurring because both sides saw the other as a threat, when neither side needed to be a threat to the other. They need not compete for resources or territory, as both are infinite. Or at least functionally infinite.
The bugs themselves were not want to simply end the fighting, the Hivemind however was willing to expand more carefully. Not taking any territory claimed by a sentient species, and not starting hostilities with anything. Barren worlds were common, and the Hive could survive upon them.
Hostilities however needed to continue, for the bugs would stagnate or grow weaker without constant conflict. And they were now smart enough to understand what a weakness that was, so they needed to fight.
The solution to that was simple, Nauvis would remain a battleground between the bugs and the factory, and others would be agreed upon by both parties. Limits were set, no weapons they couldn't control, nothing that would destroy the world, nothing that could harm the whole of either group. Controlled and safe violence.
It was one thing to say this was done, but it took far more work to realize this. Worlds the bugs had ruined had to be fixed, routes and portals from these worlds to the Enclave established and androids or other members or the factories burging empire sent through to provide aid and open diplomatic contact.
But it was done, and the Factory and the Hive began to explore new worlds together, incase of any true threats. Fighting across barren worlds or star systems, Factory ships bringing bugs to worlds they couldn't travel too, and the bugs breathing life into the barren worlds they visited.
They came upon threats, and adapted with each other.
First it was bugs fighting along with the machines, then it was bugs equipped with factory weaponry and combat vehicles armored with living bug components. A foe that could control organic thoughts meant there were bugs with cybernetic brains to disrupt control which lead into Balistraia and the Command bugs linking processing power and collaborating more directly in managing the bug and machine armies.
When the hive encountered a foe the Factory was there, when the Factory decided a species needed uplifting or a world needed saving the Hive would work with them, the lines between them fading as each worked to cover the others weaknesses and grow their strengths.
Not truly one, but not separate either.
More worlds were connected to The Enclave, which grew to the size of a moon, then the size of a planet which soon had its own moons to house even more people connecting the multiverse to an unseen before extent.
The Factory and The Hive took a lax approach to managing and uplifting populations as they always had. New species were given basic medicinal knowledge and the technology they needed to reach their own moon. A portal would be built there or on a space station if no moon was present. And they would have a portal to the Enclave only they could traverse freely. Preventing less scrupulous individuals or groups from invading the comparatively primitive worlds.
That did not mean that either group was unaware of what went on in the Enclave, even if the Hive did not care they both still saw all that occurred. They simply did not intervene as long as the systems established by the various races remained fair and functional, only providing information on crimes to relevant parties.
Some more conflict inclined races would travel to Nauvis itself to join the grand conflict ever waging there, a few even managed to last long enough for either side to take true notice of them. But those groups were few and far between.
It was far more common for worship to occur, which was ignored as it had been when it was first noticed. They were not a god, but gods were not the only things worshiped, and the Factory and its Maker were the land and did provide to its people. It did make worlds on which people lived and civilizations thrived, they could not deny their own feats.
It knew of things that called themselves gods that had done and could do far less, and things that could do far more.
The Factory grew, for years, then it grew for decades more. And as the centuries continued it felt a strain on itself, on the core it called the Maker who at his core was still just a man. His mind, so expansive and changed, had hit its limit. Magical and technological enhancements were no longer enough to let him comprehend all it, all he, was. If it continued he would no longer be himself, but something Other.
It was something noticed, small things at first. Losing more and more of his humanity. Lives and Individuals began to matter less, even if he still knew everything about them, even if he remembered their faces, he didn't care when they died even if he'd met them in the flesh. More and more changes as the core of himself was whittled away, emotions lost and logic beginning to rule alone, until that too began to fray and only procedure and routine remained with bare threads of logic and emotion to tell why those things had been done.
It couldn't remain like that, so it reset itself. Not in truth, the frayed thing it had become remained, but a younger more stable iteration was created and all decisions were run past him rather than the core of itself, becoming its new heart. One that knew what it knew, but did not feel those long years that it had lived.
And when that one broke and joined the broken core a new heart was created, again and again and again.
When those hearts broke too fast to be truly useful, when the years it lived became enough to break its heart even whilst diluted? The mind simply added more, each tangentially aware of the others with different decisions and memories sent to each so they'd last longer. Not a perfect system, not one that would last forever but nothing did, and it would at least be able to pretend it still had a heart.
Its companions met a similar fate, either new or ancient, if they didn't elect to sleep eternal. It was reincarnation in a sense. When a new heart was made it had companions it knew to keep it stable in the unfamiliar world.
And it continued into eternity, bringing barren worlds to life and uplifting all that it saw. Ensuring that life would flourish and reach heights never before seen, reaching towards that ever higher peak. It would not last forever, but while it existed it would do all it could to let others do all they could, life was meant to be lived to its fullest extent. That was something it knew, carved into what little of it remained.
It only claimed a portion of infinity, it only beheld a fragment of eternity. But what was all that compared to itself? Compared to the people it sheltered and the lives it watched bloom? The Infinite was nothing compared to that, it made Eternity seem almost small.
If it had done all it could, then it had done enough.
AN-
This is the Gist of how this story ends. There is plenty of room for more stories within this, of the fights alongside the bugs against all the horrors of the infinite multiverse or of meeting other universe and saving or fighting against them. meeting new peoples and nations, or even stories just from the Enclaves point of view as a pseudo nation dealing with the chaos trying to manage all the different polities brings.
but that's how it'd go, the bugs and the engineer don't need to wage war even if fighting is still useful for growth and testing. So they'd start to grow together, the bugs don't really hold grudges all that well or even have many emotions in the first place, not easily at least.
I still want to right canon sidestories in the time periods the epilogue covers, but I hope this provides closure if I don't end up doing that. l
Let me know what you think.
In the end however a command bug was captured and it was forced to listen, less than a day of negotiation while the hivemind desperately tried to either destroy or free its command bug, fearing an attack on the hivemind itself. The talks themselves were simple however, simple observations that were made known too and explained to the command bug before releasing it.
1- It is the nature of infinity that the hivemind will eventually encounter something that will destroy it outright, and rapid expansion hastens this. Either they will die or they will find more enemies like the factory.
2- The Factory did not need to be an enemy, its pollution no longer harmed the bugs and conflict was only occurring because both sides saw the other as a threat, when neither side needed to be a threat to the other. They need not compete for resources or territory, as both are infinite. Or at least functionally infinite.
The bugs themselves were not want to simply end the fighting, the Hivemind however was willing to expand more carefully. Not taking any territory claimed by a sentient species, and not starting hostilities with anything. Barren worlds were common, and the Hive could survive upon them.
Hostilities however needed to continue, for the bugs would stagnate or grow weaker without constant conflict. And they were now smart enough to understand what a weakness that was, so they needed to fight.
The solution to that was simple, Nauvis would remain a battleground between the bugs and the factory, and others would be agreed upon by both parties. Limits were set, no weapons they couldn't control, nothing that would destroy the world, nothing that could harm the whole of either group. Controlled and safe violence.
It was one thing to say this was done, but it took far more work to realize this. Worlds the bugs had ruined had to be fixed, routes and portals from these worlds to the Enclave established and androids or other members or the factories burging empire sent through to provide aid and open diplomatic contact.
But it was done, and the Factory and the Hive began to explore new worlds together, incase of any true threats. Fighting across barren worlds or star systems, Factory ships bringing bugs to worlds they couldn't travel too, and the bugs breathing life into the barren worlds they visited.
They came upon threats, and adapted with each other.
First it was bugs fighting along with the machines, then it was bugs equipped with factory weaponry and combat vehicles armored with living bug components. A foe that could control organic thoughts meant there were bugs with cybernetic brains to disrupt control which lead into Balistraia and the Command bugs linking processing power and collaborating more directly in managing the bug and machine armies.
When the hive encountered a foe the Factory was there, when the Factory decided a species needed uplifting or a world needed saving the Hive would work with them, the lines between them fading as each worked to cover the others weaknesses and grow their strengths.
Not truly one, but not separate either.
More worlds were connected to The Enclave, which grew to the size of a moon, then the size of a planet which soon had its own moons to house even more people connecting the multiverse to an unseen before extent.
The Factory and The Hive took a lax approach to managing and uplifting populations as they always had. New species were given basic medicinal knowledge and the technology they needed to reach their own moon. A portal would be built there or on a space station if no moon was present. And they would have a portal to the Enclave only they could traverse freely. Preventing less scrupulous individuals or groups from invading the comparatively primitive worlds.
That did not mean that either group was unaware of what went on in the Enclave, even if the Hive did not care they both still saw all that occurred. They simply did not intervene as long as the systems established by the various races remained fair and functional, only providing information on crimes to relevant parties.
Some more conflict inclined races would travel to Nauvis itself to join the grand conflict ever waging there, a few even managed to last long enough for either side to take true notice of them. But those groups were few and far between.
It was far more common for worship to occur, which was ignored as it had been when it was first noticed. They were not a god, but gods were not the only things worshiped, and the Factory and its Maker were the land and did provide to its people. It did make worlds on which people lived and civilizations thrived, they could not deny their own feats.
It knew of things that called themselves gods that had done and could do far less, and things that could do far more.
The Factory grew, for years, then it grew for decades more. And as the centuries continued it felt a strain on itself, on the core it called the Maker who at his core was still just a man. His mind, so expansive and changed, had hit its limit. Magical and technological enhancements were no longer enough to let him comprehend all it, all he, was. If it continued he would no longer be himself, but something Other.
It was something noticed, small things at first. Losing more and more of his humanity. Lives and Individuals began to matter less, even if he still knew everything about them, even if he remembered their faces, he didn't care when they died even if he'd met them in the flesh. More and more changes as the core of himself was whittled away, emotions lost and logic beginning to rule alone, until that too began to fray and only procedure and routine remained with bare threads of logic and emotion to tell why those things had been done.
It couldn't remain like that, so it reset itself. Not in truth, the frayed thing it had become remained, but a younger more stable iteration was created and all decisions were run past him rather than the core of itself, becoming its new heart. One that knew what it knew, but did not feel those long years that it had lived.
And when that one broke and joined the broken core a new heart was created, again and again and again.
When those hearts broke too fast to be truly useful, when the years it lived became enough to break its heart even whilst diluted? The mind simply added more, each tangentially aware of the others with different decisions and memories sent to each so they'd last longer. Not a perfect system, not one that would last forever but nothing did, and it would at least be able to pretend it still had a heart.
Its companions met a similar fate, either new or ancient, if they didn't elect to sleep eternal. It was reincarnation in a sense. When a new heart was made it had companions it knew to keep it stable in the unfamiliar world.
And it continued into eternity, bringing barren worlds to life and uplifting all that it saw. Ensuring that life would flourish and reach heights never before seen, reaching towards that ever higher peak. It would not last forever, but while it existed it would do all it could to let others do all they could, life was meant to be lived to its fullest extent. That was something it knew, carved into what little of it remained.
It only claimed a portion of infinity, it only beheld a fragment of eternity. But what was all that compared to itself? Compared to the people it sheltered and the lives it watched bloom? The Infinite was nothing compared to that, it made Eternity seem almost small.
If it had done all it could, then it had done enough.
AN-
This is the Gist of how this story ends. There is plenty of room for more stories within this, of the fights alongside the bugs against all the horrors of the infinite multiverse or of meeting other universe and saving or fighting against them. meeting new peoples and nations, or even stories just from the Enclaves point of view as a pseudo nation dealing with the chaos trying to manage all the different polities brings.
but that's how it'd go, the bugs and the engineer don't need to wage war even if fighting is still useful for growth and testing. So they'd start to grow together, the bugs don't really hold grudges all that well or even have many emotions in the first place, not easily at least.
I still want to right canon sidestories in the time periods the epilogue covers, but I hope this provides closure if I don't end up doing that. l
Let me know what you think.
Thanks for the fic!
- Location
- Dodging chaos dragons in Limbo
Thanks for sharing! The only thing missing is Nauvis's opinion on the bugs and maker making peace of sorts. 
- Location
- UK
And so it ends. A 'fragment of eternity' indeed.
So, the story is slated to continue, no longer in records 'here' onwards into infinity... An eternity of Peace, Conflict, Science and Adaptation.
So, the sidestories are slated to continue? I thank of you for continuing to grant reason for me to continue 'Watching' this multicross, although, I may need to change the 'Watching' settings now...
So, the story is slated to continue, no longer in records 'here' onwards into infinity... An eternity of Peace, Conflict, Science and Adaptation.
So, the sidestories are slated to continue? I thank of you for continuing to grant reason for me to continue 'Watching' this multicross, although, I may need to change the 'Watching' settings now...
- Pronouns
- That/Thing
They are, I'll write a few whenever the muse strikes or I will make applicable fan omakes canon.
RoyalTwinFangs
For The Chancellor!
- Location
- Somwhere not here
So more Warhammer then?
Il look forward to reading it if you ever do so.
Also as others have said thanks for the great story.