- Location
- North of England
- Pronouns
- She/They
A good choice for maximum trolling.
There's only a few bits and bats here and there that would be useful, but they'd be very useful indeed.And Faith would get to study reaper tech!
Faith in Superior Firepower [Planetary Annihilation Multicross SI]
- Thread starter Faith
- Start date
18 - Interlude: Foundation
Faith
Some idea of what I'm doing.
- Location
- Land of Waves and Warmth
Mass Effect is on the list of settings already. Endless Space was a contender, but there's not much lore (it being a 4X game and all) so, like Destiny, it takes a lower priority on my d100 list.
That said, the dice so far picked Sanctum and FTL, which are also pretty lax on worldbuilding, so I don't know. Might be going there sooner than I thought.
Anyway, have a new chapter, in which an old vet complains about his pay-to-work ratio.
18 - Interlude: Foundation
"Hey, sir? We just got a ping from the Loek System. Transfer request for five ships." The ensign reported from the communications desk.
"Loek System? That's the Bright Foundation's backwater, isn't it?" Major Collins asked, standing and walking over to the ensign's desk.
"Yes, sir. Some kind of science colony, I think." The ensign quickly scrolled through the rest of the request form, shaking his head. "Doesn't say what they want the transfer for."
"Hm. Well, they're not on our arrivals list, but we are pretty empty right now." The Major paused, thinking. "Ring up Gate Six, let them through. I'll get the Bright Foundation on the line, find out what's up with this unscheduled flight."
"Yes, sir. Ringing Gate Six now."
Major Collins stepped away from his subordinate's desk and returned to his own command desk in the centre of the room. He dropped into the chair, reclining in the soft leather.
He tapped a few keys on his computer and brought up the communications menu, scrolling through a list of names.
"Uh, sir?" The same subordinate called out.
"Problem, Porlezki?"
"These ships don't match anything on our record. They're... tiny. Shuttle sized. Don't match any known foundation IFF signals either." Another pause from the operator. "And they're not responding to automated hails."
Collins had served in the United Humanity Defense Force for almost thirty years before being reassigned to the Interstellar Transport Control Division. Even after eight years at a desk in the Navy and six years of overseeing FTL Gate operation, he still had a little bit of that soldier's instinct.
And right now it was telling him that something was very, very, wrong.
The Loek System, as far as he knew, was a backwater science outpost on a Class-2b Terran planet, owned entirely by the Bright Foundation. Whoever these strangers were, they weren't Brightsiders.
"Put them up on the main screen and patch me through to them. I'll talk."
"No good, sir. Ships are refusing all comms. Signals just aren't getting through. I'm bringing them up on camera now though, sir."
By now the rest of the seven-man operations team had fallen silent, watching with interest as the Major took charge.
The ensign nodded in satisfaction and the various large screens around the operations centre flickered on, showing a cluster of small green blobs drifting through space.
The camera zoomed in on one individual ship, allowing the ITCD crew to get a good look at the strange ship.
It was an odd shape, and looked almost too small to contain crew. That said, there were no obvious windows or airlocks visible to use as scale markers, so it could have been the size of a mountain for all the Major knew.
Suddenly the ship began to act. The five ships, flying in tandem, abruptly moved, forming a rough circle - or pentagon, more accurately, - and firing some kind of green spray weapon at the centre.
For a moment nothing seemed to happen.
And then another ship began to appear from nowhere.
Or at least, it looked like another ship. It was hard to tell when it was such an odd shape and scale.
The five invading ships began to spread out, their unknown construction spreading into the form of a roughly curved platform of some kind.
"Mendoza, send a message to the Bright Foundation, I want a status report from the Loek System. Winchester, send an amber alert to any local forces, the UHDF and to Humanity First. We have unknown and potentially hostile craft in-system. Everyone else, close down the rest of the gates. This system is entering lock-down, effective immediately."
One of the junior operators turned to their commander with a skeptical look on his face.
"Sir, don't you think you're over-"
"Overreacting? Newton, during the unification wars, a station with three hundred thousand souls on board was lost because a group of isolationist terrorists caused a ruckus at one gate and then flew three freighters full of dirty bombs through another gate and into the station's biodomes. That is not happening here today, understand?"
The operators, including a red faced Newton, all turned back to their consoles and got to work.
Blissful silence - for about three seconds.
"Sir! Gate Six isn't responding. Unknowns must have done something to it, we can't shut it down. Remote overrides aren't working."
"Bright Foundation just replied, sir. Latest from Loek III, situation normal." Mendoza reported.
"I've rerouted two ITCD corvettes through Gate Nine to provide some support should we need it." Winchester confirmed. "ETA, seventy seconds." She continued.
"Good, good. Keep trying to call them. What the hell are they doing?"
"Sir, it... it looks like an FTL Gate."
Major Collins looked at the screen again.
Whatever the hell these things were, they built fast. The construct was roughly octagonal with a circular hole cutting through the middle. Like a larger version of an FTL Gate.
The building ships finished as he watched, and the gate began to glow a pale blue before activating, creating a wormhole to... somewhere.
The invaders had been here less than a minute and they'd constructed a fully operational FTL Gate.
His crew asked the same question he was thinking.
"Who the hell are these guys?"
And then the first ships came through.
---
The Pioneers and my Astraeus were first through, taking advantage of the fact that the Voyagers would need some time to get in formation.
By the time the Pioneers were through, whoever it was who was in charge of the space defence in the Kian System decided to show up with a paltry two ships, tiny little things barely bigger than my Pioneers.
Of course, they were also military-looking vessels and armed to the teeth.
Maybe I shouldn't have been steadfastly ignoring their calls.
Oh well.
When the next communications request arrived, approximately three seconds after the last, which had in turn been three seconds after its predecessor, I didn't outright reject it.
Instead, I routed it into the conference call that was still running in the background between TSYGAN and General Whalebrook.
"TSYGAN, General. Someone wants to chat."
TSYGAN shrugged and Whalebrook nodded. "Put them on."
There was a moment of silence as my communicators accepted the transmission and fed it through to the two separate Pioneers.
"This is Major Collins, Interstellar Transport Control Division. Unknown vessels, please identify yourselves."
"This is General Whalebrook, Elysion Defence Force. Sending my credentials now. We're seeking refugee status on behalf of the citizens of Elysion."
There was a pause, presumably as Major Collins checked the General's credentials.
"Refugee status? What happened to Elysion? Whose ships are those? They don't match known Foundation markings."
"Elysion is nothing but dust," I interjected, "the Bright Foundation's haven for equality and freedom is gone. The ships belong to me - my name is Faith."
"Elysion has been destroyed? By who? Terrorists? Rival Foundation?"
"Overrun by native wildlife. That should say something about the tenacity and the danger of the native wildlife on Loek III." TSYGAN rather helpfully added.
Whalebrook continued, repeating his previous statement. "Again, on behalf of the one hundred and fifty thousand people of Elysion, I'm requesting refugee status."
The Major leaned back in his chair, staring Whalebrook in the eyes. "One hundred and fifty thousand refugees? Where? On those freighters?"
"No. On more ships, which should be coming through the Gate now." Whalebrook responded coolly.
Twenty Voyagers, flying packed tightly together, emerged from the portal in unison, rocketing through the wormhole into realspace before splitting apart and drifting away from the FTL Gate, making room for the next group of ships to come through.
"Oh." The Major said, barely a whisper.
"These are the first twenty ships. We've got eighty two more in the Loek System. We want to get them registered as Refugees on Kian Six."
"Eighty two more! You have over a hundred large cargo haulers? Where did you get them from?"
"Never mind that, Major," Whalebrook chided. "We've got one hundred and fifty thousand refugees to house. We need to speak to the Humanity First group, and would appreciate it if you could connect us to their regional director."
The second set of twenty Voyagers came through the portal, bringing with them thirty thousand people.
The Major seemed at a loss for words for a few moments.
"Oh... okay. I'll, uh, I'll put you through to Director Keetings."
He cut the link.
---
On the ITCD Orbital Station over Kian Five, Major Collins slumped back into his chair, watching on the screen as yet another group of twenty ships flew through the portal.
"I do not get paid enough for this."
That said, the dice so far picked Sanctum and FTL, which are also pretty lax on worldbuilding, so I don't know. Might be going there sooner than I thought.
Anyway, have a new chapter, in which an old vet complains about his pay-to-work ratio.
18 - Interlude: Foundation
"Hey, sir? We just got a ping from the Loek System. Transfer request for five ships." The ensign reported from the communications desk.
"Loek System? That's the Bright Foundation's backwater, isn't it?" Major Collins asked, standing and walking over to the ensign's desk.
"Yes, sir. Some kind of science colony, I think." The ensign quickly scrolled through the rest of the request form, shaking his head. "Doesn't say what they want the transfer for."
"Hm. Well, they're not on our arrivals list, but we are pretty empty right now." The Major paused, thinking. "Ring up Gate Six, let them through. I'll get the Bright Foundation on the line, find out what's up with this unscheduled flight."
"Yes, sir. Ringing Gate Six now."
Major Collins stepped away from his subordinate's desk and returned to his own command desk in the centre of the room. He dropped into the chair, reclining in the soft leather.
He tapped a few keys on his computer and brought up the communications menu, scrolling through a list of names.
"Uh, sir?" The same subordinate called out.
"Problem, Porlezki?"
"These ships don't match anything on our record. They're... tiny. Shuttle sized. Don't match any known foundation IFF signals either." Another pause from the operator. "And they're not responding to automated hails."
Collins had served in the United Humanity Defense Force for almost thirty years before being reassigned to the Interstellar Transport Control Division. Even after eight years at a desk in the Navy and six years of overseeing FTL Gate operation, he still had a little bit of that soldier's instinct.
And right now it was telling him that something was very, very, wrong.
The Loek System, as far as he knew, was a backwater science outpost on a Class-2b Terran planet, owned entirely by the Bright Foundation. Whoever these strangers were, they weren't Brightsiders.
"Put them up on the main screen and patch me through to them. I'll talk."
"No good, sir. Ships are refusing all comms. Signals just aren't getting through. I'm bringing them up on camera now though, sir."
By now the rest of the seven-man operations team had fallen silent, watching with interest as the Major took charge.
The ensign nodded in satisfaction and the various large screens around the operations centre flickered on, showing a cluster of small green blobs drifting through space.
The camera zoomed in on one individual ship, allowing the ITCD crew to get a good look at the strange ship.
It was an odd shape, and looked almost too small to contain crew. That said, there were no obvious windows or airlocks visible to use as scale markers, so it could have been the size of a mountain for all the Major knew.
Suddenly the ship began to act. The five ships, flying in tandem, abruptly moved, forming a rough circle - or pentagon, more accurately, - and firing some kind of green spray weapon at the centre.
For a moment nothing seemed to happen.
And then another ship began to appear from nowhere.
Or at least, it looked like another ship. It was hard to tell when it was such an odd shape and scale.
The five invading ships began to spread out, their unknown construction spreading into the form of a roughly curved platform of some kind.
"Mendoza, send a message to the Bright Foundation, I want a status report from the Loek System. Winchester, send an amber alert to any local forces, the UHDF and to Humanity First. We have unknown and potentially hostile craft in-system. Everyone else, close down the rest of the gates. This system is entering lock-down, effective immediately."
One of the junior operators turned to their commander with a skeptical look on his face.
"Sir, don't you think you're over-"
"Overreacting? Newton, during the unification wars, a station with three hundred thousand souls on board was lost because a group of isolationist terrorists caused a ruckus at one gate and then flew three freighters full of dirty bombs through another gate and into the station's biodomes. That is not happening here today, understand?"
The operators, including a red faced Newton, all turned back to their consoles and got to work.
Blissful silence - for about three seconds.
"Sir! Gate Six isn't responding. Unknowns must have done something to it, we can't shut it down. Remote overrides aren't working."
"Bright Foundation just replied, sir. Latest from Loek III, situation normal." Mendoza reported.
"I've rerouted two ITCD corvettes through Gate Nine to provide some support should we need it." Winchester confirmed. "ETA, seventy seconds." She continued.
"Good, good. Keep trying to call them. What the hell are they doing?"
"Sir, it... it looks like an FTL Gate."
Major Collins looked at the screen again.
Whatever the hell these things were, they built fast. The construct was roughly octagonal with a circular hole cutting through the middle. Like a larger version of an FTL Gate.
The building ships finished as he watched, and the gate began to glow a pale blue before activating, creating a wormhole to... somewhere.
The invaders had been here less than a minute and they'd constructed a fully operational FTL Gate.
His crew asked the same question he was thinking.
"Who the hell are these guys?"
And then the first ships came through.
---
The Pioneers and my Astraeus were first through, taking advantage of the fact that the Voyagers would need some time to get in formation.
By the time the Pioneers were through, whoever it was who was in charge of the space defence in the Kian System decided to show up with a paltry two ships, tiny little things barely bigger than my Pioneers.
Of course, they were also military-looking vessels and armed to the teeth.
Maybe I shouldn't have been steadfastly ignoring their calls.
Oh well.
When the next communications request arrived, approximately three seconds after the last, which had in turn been three seconds after its predecessor, I didn't outright reject it.
Instead, I routed it into the conference call that was still running in the background between TSYGAN and General Whalebrook.
"TSYGAN, General. Someone wants to chat."
TSYGAN shrugged and Whalebrook nodded. "Put them on."
There was a moment of silence as my communicators accepted the transmission and fed it through to the two separate Pioneers.
"This is Major Collins, Interstellar Transport Control Division. Unknown vessels, please identify yourselves."
"This is General Whalebrook, Elysion Defence Force. Sending my credentials now. We're seeking refugee status on behalf of the citizens of Elysion."
There was a pause, presumably as Major Collins checked the General's credentials.
"Refugee status? What happened to Elysion? Whose ships are those? They don't match known Foundation markings."
"Elysion is nothing but dust," I interjected, "the Bright Foundation's haven for equality and freedom is gone. The ships belong to me - my name is Faith."
"Elysion has been destroyed? By who? Terrorists? Rival Foundation?"
"Overrun by native wildlife. That should say something about the tenacity and the danger of the native wildlife on Loek III." TSYGAN rather helpfully added.
Whalebrook continued, repeating his previous statement. "Again, on behalf of the one hundred and fifty thousand people of Elysion, I'm requesting refugee status."
The Major leaned back in his chair, staring Whalebrook in the eyes. "One hundred and fifty thousand refugees? Where? On those freighters?"
"No. On more ships, which should be coming through the Gate now." Whalebrook responded coolly.
Twenty Voyagers, flying packed tightly together, emerged from the portal in unison, rocketing through the wormhole into realspace before splitting apart and drifting away from the FTL Gate, making room for the next group of ships to come through.
"Oh." The Major said, barely a whisper.
"These are the first twenty ships. We've got eighty two more in the Loek System. We want to get them registered as Refugees on Kian Six."
"Eighty two more! You have over a hundred large cargo haulers? Where did you get them from?"
"Never mind that, Major," Whalebrook chided. "We've got one hundred and fifty thousand refugees to house. We need to speak to the Humanity First group, and would appreciate it if you could connect us to their regional director."
The second set of twenty Voyagers came through the portal, bringing with them thirty thousand people.
The Major seemed at a loss for words for a few moments.
"Oh... okay. I'll, uh, I'll put you through to Director Keetings."
He cut the link.
---
On the ITCD Orbital Station over Kian Five, Major Collins slumped back into his chair, watching on the screen as yet another group of twenty ships flew through the portal.
"I do not get paid enough for this."
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Kinda sad that no one wants to go to Dune. They do have some interesting tech there... including a very powerful form of FTL that cant get grav-locked.
All these new gaming kids and their new play-box games, not paying their respects to the classics...
All these new gaming kids and their new play-box games, not paying their respects to the classics...
HarakoniWarhawk
Striking from the Skies
- Location
- Holy Terra
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion?
The reason i'm pushing Dune over ME as to 'oh noes ai' is not just because its a classic SF story, its sheer scale.
In ME, yeah, people have had bad experience with AIs, the Quarians first and foremost, but in Dune? Dear God if you go to Dune, the entire Universe will SHIT BRICKS. We are talking a freakout on a... does Dune traverse multiple galaxies? Whatever. Empire wide crusade against wherever you are. There is a reason the Butlarian Jihad is pretty much the cornerstone of the universe, despite the fact it took place like 10k years ago. It will be glorious.
It's not a matter of 'well shit, another group of AI's', its 'DEAR GOD THEIR BACK! PANIC!'
Maybe later down the road?
In ME, yeah, people have had bad experience with AIs, the Quarians first and foremost, but in Dune? Dear God if you go to Dune, the entire Universe will SHIT BRICKS. We are talking a freakout on a... does Dune traverse multiple galaxies? Whatever. Empire wide crusade against wherever you are. There is a reason the Butlarian Jihad is pretty much the cornerstone of the universe, despite the fact it took place like 10k years ago. It will be glorious.
It's not a matter of 'well shit, another group of AI's', its 'DEAR GOD THEIR BACK! PANIC!'
Maybe later down the road?
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Faith
Some idea of what I'm doing.
- Location
- Land of Waves and Warmth
Yeah, that's the reason Dune's only got one slot on the list.
I mean, some of the stuff there is pretty bullshit. Commander!Faith would appreciate time to build up her own bullshit, such as robo-psykers, energy shields, FTL travel that isn't FTL Gates, and just More/Superior Dakka.
I mean, some of the stuff there is pretty bullshit. Commander!Faith would appreciate time to build up her own bullshit, such as robo-psykers, energy shields, FTL travel that isn't FTL Gates, and just More/Superior Dakka.
- Location
- Arizona
I would prefer Homeworld, the X Series (in the style of the Elite games), and/or Command and Conquer. Note: If you do decide to do C&C, could it be before the Scrin invasion? Wormhole tech is very powerful, but I think it has kind of killed a lot of the spirit of Drich's own PA SI.
ooh, there's a thought for you. What about an old dreamcast/gamecube game, called Skies of Arcadia? typical JRPG, but the protagonists are basically pirates with airships, and there is very little useable land to use. The planet is basically a gas giant with floating hunks of rock, and magical moon stones (literally, it's moon rocks) that provide power and magi-technology. And there's 6 magi-tech creatures/war machines that basically destroyed the world eons before the game, and the biggest of whom calls up a meteor storm/strike at will.
edit:
If you need a reference to the X series, there's a guy doing a let's play in the old Dead Is Dead format that used to be popular on that game's forums. basically, the idea is no save scumming, and if you die you die. It's a fun read, and it's a good start into the universe.
ooh, there's a thought for you. What about an old dreamcast/gamecube game, called Skies of Arcadia? typical JRPG, but the protagonists are basically pirates with airships, and there is very little useable land to use. The planet is basically a gas giant with floating hunks of rock, and magical moon stones (literally, it's moon rocks) that provide power and magi-technology. And there's 6 magi-tech creatures/war machines that basically destroyed the world eons before the game, and the biggest of whom calls up a meteor storm/strike at will.
edit:
If you need a reference to the X series, there's a guy doing a let's play in the old Dead Is Dead format that used to be popular on that game's forums. basically, the idea is no save scumming, and if you die you die. It's a fun read, and it's a good start into the universe.
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NorthSouthGorem
To Walk Down Every Path
- Location
- Maplewood, NJ
You seem to have forgotten to threadmark the new chapter.
- Location
- North of England
- Pronouns
- She/They
I've seen claims that their empire covers a good bit of the known universe.
And giving Commander Faith (or any other BeSRMoW) their Holtzmann Effect tech is worthy of a Metal Gear FTL Award. I have one in reserve in case it does get added to the list.
19 - Refugees
Faith
Some idea of what I'm doing.
- Location
- Land of Waves and Warmth
So I was doing some in-game research for some rough calcs for the Sanctumverse...
Holy shit, when I said these guys had tech that was 'weak but exotic BS' way back in like, chapter 2?
Well, you'll see next chapter.
19 - Refugees
"You want me to house how many people?" Director Keeting asked, for the third time.
"One hundred and fifty thousand, director. Give or take."
The elderly woman sighed. "General, it is considered common courtesy to provide some form of advanced warning when you plan to relocate so many people."
"I understand it's inconvenient for us to arrive on short notice, but will Kian Six be able to house that many people?"
"One hundred and fifty thousand people represents almost ten percent of Oldhaven's population. They'll need to be distributed to various cities around the planet, obviously, but I believe that shouldn't be too much of an issue. Although I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to communicate with the Bright Foundation about seeking refugee status, since as you pointed out earlier Elysion was a Bright Foundation colony."
"Faith, could you send the Director the files you sent us?"
"Not a problem, sir."
I sent the files and watched Keeting's face as she scanned the documents.
It shifted from confused to bewildered to outright furious, and then to pitying as she looked back up at her screen.
"I'm no fan of the Bright Foundation, but these records you've provided are enough to make me hate them even more. They used you as an excuse to keep science labs on-world? As bait for these... Lumes? Disgusting. General, I'd be happy to provide assistance in getting your civilians away from the Bright Foundation. We are the Humanity First group for a reason. The refugee ships, how long are they able to stay in orbit for?"
I answered in the General's place. "As long as necessary. Well, not quite. Two months, three, tops, before they'll need maintenance, but they won't need to land for that. I can do it safely up here."
That was true, technically. The Cores didn't operate at 100% efficiency, which meant that after a while the Carbon Dioxide would build up. Luckily my Fabricators were more than capable of dealing with CO2 build-up in other ways, so as long as I was around to operate the systems it would all be fine.
"Excellent. If you could keep them in orbit and bring them down a few at a time for processing, that should be quite doable, I think. If you could have your ships maintain their positions for now, I'll begin making arrangements with the Housing Minister."
"I appreciate it, Director."
"Not at all, General. A pleasure to help. Now, if you don't mind me asking - how did you get all this information against the Bright Foundation, and how did you get so many ships? The Major said they weren't linked to any known foundations."
"TSYGAN here is a notorious hacker," The General explained, gesturing to the side. "She accessed a few Bright Foundation archives and found them. As for the evacuation, one of TSYGAN's acquaintances, known as Faith, was able to assist us in evacuation. I'm unfortunately unable to tell you more than that."
"I see. Miss Faith, I know you're in this call, even if I can't see you. Care to elaborate?"
"Nanomachines. Useful little things. It's not really relevant right now, though, so perhaps we could leave that be?"
"Ah, of course, yes. My apologies. I will contact the Housing Minister and return to you shortly."
She ended the call, leaving just TSYGAN and Whalebrook on the line.
"That was easier than I expected."
"Humanity First have been opposed to the Bright Foundation's operations since the 'rogue elements' on Bekkin. This is just more proof of how unjustifiably corrupt and immoral the Bright Foundation are. When they find out we have Reid in chains-"
"You do?" Whalebrook interrupted.
"Oh, right. I forgot to mention that, General." I explained. "I put Reid in a cell, with help from TSYGAN and Skye Autumn's team. He's been sitting on his bunk staring at the wall for about forty five minutes now."
"That's why we couldn't contact him. I assumed he'd just left."
"He was about to. We got there first." TSYGAN answered.
"I see. I admit, I'm surprised about your knowledge of things outside of Elysion, TSYGAN."
"I've been hacking the Bright Foundation's database for years. I've read quite a few private messages between Reid and his higher-ups in the PR division. Out of context, it's not enough to prove anything, but..."
There was a harsh silence over the communications.
"Now what?" Whalebrook asked. "We're away from the Lumes, hopefully we'll all be resettled on Kian Six. What else can we do? Take action against the Bright Foundation?"
"Well, now that you mention it, General, I did obtain a large amount of information about the Bright Foundation's... less moral activities. I'm not sure what authority you'd submit them too, but unless every human judge is as immoral as Reid, it should be enough to put a lot of people behind bars for a long time."
I displayed a choice few of the files on the screens and there was a pause as both my human companions absorbed the information I was giving them.
"Assuming, of course, that your legal system hasn't changed significantly in... eight hundred years."
"With this... this is just the records from Elysion and it's enough to bring down the upper echelons of the organisation. Combined with the messages I intercepted, the records from Old Brightholme... You were right, Faith. They're going to collapse like a house of cards."
"Alright, how's this for a plan. As the unofficial leaders of the Elysion Refugees, I recommend you two focus on keeping track of the citizens and deal with the resettling. It'll do wonders for moral to see the leader of Elysion's military and the leader of the rebellion working together. Whilst you two do that, I'll go dive through the Elysion Archives. If I find any shady looking files like those, I'll send them over to you. Should you need to take manual control of the Pioneers, you can. They're also linked to the Voyagers so you can control the whole fleet from either of your ships, if it comes down to it."
Whalebrook and TSYGAN nodded.
"I appreciate you doing all this to help us, Faith."
"Not at all, General. It's a pleasure."
---
Of course, I didn't actually need to trawl through the Elysion Archives to find the Bright Foundation's dirty dealings. Or rather, I did, but I didn't.
By the power of multi-thread processing, I was able to devote a tiny amount of my computational power (still an arbitrarily large amount, but I digress) to doing that and then use my 'main' conciousness for somewhat more interesting tasks.
Namely, I was doing a little bit of technical work.
As I think I already mentioned, the technology of the Sanctumverse was built less 'up' and more 'out' - that is, what they lacked in direct firepower they made up for in utility and exotic effects, such as the Drone's hyper-precise armour-piercing micro-lasers, the Friendship Laser's laser chaining, the Mind Control tower's... well, mind control, and the Kairos Tower (and related systems)'s time-slowing fields.
Coupled with Planetary Annihilation levels of technology, I had a feeling that the Sanctumverse tech would prove to be very useful.
I opened up some Blueprints and got to work.
Holy shit, when I said these guys had tech that was 'weak but exotic BS' way back in like, chapter 2?
Well, you'll see next chapter.
19 - Refugees
"You want me to house how many people?" Director Keeting asked, for the third time.
"One hundred and fifty thousand, director. Give or take."
The elderly woman sighed. "General, it is considered common courtesy to provide some form of advanced warning when you plan to relocate so many people."
"I understand it's inconvenient for us to arrive on short notice, but will Kian Six be able to house that many people?"
"One hundred and fifty thousand people represents almost ten percent of Oldhaven's population. They'll need to be distributed to various cities around the planet, obviously, but I believe that shouldn't be too much of an issue. Although I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to communicate with the Bright Foundation about seeking refugee status, since as you pointed out earlier Elysion was a Bright Foundation colony."
"Faith, could you send the Director the files you sent us?"
"Not a problem, sir."
I sent the files and watched Keeting's face as she scanned the documents.
It shifted from confused to bewildered to outright furious, and then to pitying as she looked back up at her screen.
"I'm no fan of the Bright Foundation, but these records you've provided are enough to make me hate them even more. They used you as an excuse to keep science labs on-world? As bait for these... Lumes? Disgusting. General, I'd be happy to provide assistance in getting your civilians away from the Bright Foundation. We are the Humanity First group for a reason. The refugee ships, how long are they able to stay in orbit for?"
I answered in the General's place. "As long as necessary. Well, not quite. Two months, three, tops, before they'll need maintenance, but they won't need to land for that. I can do it safely up here."
That was true, technically. The Cores didn't operate at 100% efficiency, which meant that after a while the Carbon Dioxide would build up. Luckily my Fabricators were more than capable of dealing with CO2 build-up in other ways, so as long as I was around to operate the systems it would all be fine.
"Excellent. If you could keep them in orbit and bring them down a few at a time for processing, that should be quite doable, I think. If you could have your ships maintain their positions for now, I'll begin making arrangements with the Housing Minister."
"I appreciate it, Director."
"Not at all, General. A pleasure to help. Now, if you don't mind me asking - how did you get all this information against the Bright Foundation, and how did you get so many ships? The Major said they weren't linked to any known foundations."
"TSYGAN here is a notorious hacker," The General explained, gesturing to the side. "She accessed a few Bright Foundation archives and found them. As for the evacuation, one of TSYGAN's acquaintances, known as Faith, was able to assist us in evacuation. I'm unfortunately unable to tell you more than that."
"I see. Miss Faith, I know you're in this call, even if I can't see you. Care to elaborate?"
"Nanomachines. Useful little things. It's not really relevant right now, though, so perhaps we could leave that be?"
"Ah, of course, yes. My apologies. I will contact the Housing Minister and return to you shortly."
She ended the call, leaving just TSYGAN and Whalebrook on the line.
"That was easier than I expected."
"Humanity First have been opposed to the Bright Foundation's operations since the 'rogue elements' on Bekkin. This is just more proof of how unjustifiably corrupt and immoral the Bright Foundation are. When they find out we have Reid in chains-"
"You do?" Whalebrook interrupted.
"Oh, right. I forgot to mention that, General." I explained. "I put Reid in a cell, with help from TSYGAN and Skye Autumn's team. He's been sitting on his bunk staring at the wall for about forty five minutes now."
"That's why we couldn't contact him. I assumed he'd just left."
"He was about to. We got there first." TSYGAN answered.
"I see. I admit, I'm surprised about your knowledge of things outside of Elysion, TSYGAN."
"I've been hacking the Bright Foundation's database for years. I've read quite a few private messages between Reid and his higher-ups in the PR division. Out of context, it's not enough to prove anything, but..."
There was a harsh silence over the communications.
"Now what?" Whalebrook asked. "We're away from the Lumes, hopefully we'll all be resettled on Kian Six. What else can we do? Take action against the Bright Foundation?"
"Well, now that you mention it, General, I did obtain a large amount of information about the Bright Foundation's... less moral activities. I'm not sure what authority you'd submit them too, but unless every human judge is as immoral as Reid, it should be enough to put a lot of people behind bars for a long time."
I displayed a choice few of the files on the screens and there was a pause as both my human companions absorbed the information I was giving them.
"Assuming, of course, that your legal system hasn't changed significantly in... eight hundred years."
"With this... this is just the records from Elysion and it's enough to bring down the upper echelons of the organisation. Combined with the messages I intercepted, the records from Old Brightholme... You were right, Faith. They're going to collapse like a house of cards."
"Alright, how's this for a plan. As the unofficial leaders of the Elysion Refugees, I recommend you two focus on keeping track of the citizens and deal with the resettling. It'll do wonders for moral to see the leader of Elysion's military and the leader of the rebellion working together. Whilst you two do that, I'll go dive through the Elysion Archives. If I find any shady looking files like those, I'll send them over to you. Should you need to take manual control of the Pioneers, you can. They're also linked to the Voyagers so you can control the whole fleet from either of your ships, if it comes down to it."
Whalebrook and TSYGAN nodded.
"I appreciate you doing all this to help us, Faith."
"Not at all, General. It's a pleasure."
---
Of course, I didn't actually need to trawl through the Elysion Archives to find the Bright Foundation's dirty dealings. Or rather, I did, but I didn't.
By the power of multi-thread processing, I was able to devote a tiny amount of my computational power (still an arbitrarily large amount, but I digress) to doing that and then use my 'main' conciousness for somewhat more interesting tasks.
Namely, I was doing a little bit of technical work.
As I think I already mentioned, the technology of the Sanctumverse was built less 'up' and more 'out' - that is, what they lacked in direct firepower they made up for in utility and exotic effects, such as the Drone's hyper-precise armour-piercing micro-lasers, the Friendship Laser's laser chaining, the Mind Control tower's... well, mind control, and the Kairos Tower (and related systems)'s time-slowing fields.
Coupled with Planetary Annihilation levels of technology, I had a feeling that the Sanctumverse tech would prove to be very useful.
I opened up some Blueprints and got to work.
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Speaking of Friendship, Nanohaverse technologic mathematical magic might be interesting. Plus there's a chance that they might call Faith the Lost Logia, which is basically what they call anything that is ancient, powerful and unknown, and send White Devil with her forces to 'retrieve' him. Fun
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
That way lies screaming and death.
Actually, that way lies a robot/magical girl tea party. Nanoha is rather reasonable and willing to talk.
And given how dug in Faith can get in a half hour even her bosses are likely to just give up rather than fight a bot swarm that used to be a moon.
Walker of Paths
All Things Die
- Location
- To Be Honest, I Don't Know Either.
Ah, you might be wondering why it's suddenly dark 5 hours early.
Technically, this is a lunar eclipse. But it's... more ohshit worthy than just a celestial movement.
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
She just took the moon for a joyride, didn't she?
Walker of Paths
All Things Die
- Location
- To Be Honest, I Don't Know Either.
More comparable to disassembling your fathers Mustang and combining it with your neighbors Camaro, then driving the resulting mechanical monstrosity to scare the bullies at your high school.
Hey, want a super cheep (relatively) super-weapon? Build mirror satellites. small ones about 4 feet across, tops. About... say 4 million. Have several thousand larger collector dish satellites. Have a few hundred collector for those satellites. Have a few final ones for final collection. Have an ai system capable of juggling all these mirrored at the same time... oh wait, you got that covered.
Point all the small satellites at the sun. Start collecting. Super laser that requires no power that can cut through planets. Doubles as a mining laser (which, in the Troy Rising series, is its primary function. At the point where the third book ends, the pencil thin laser strength is nearly one Exowatt. Watt, kilowatt, megawatt, gigawatt, terawatt, petawatt, exowatt. spelling?). Double as a surveillance system... the million eyes of Argus.
Keep in mind, the system i've described here was used with tech that is... much less refined than PA tech.
(when i say cut through a planet, i mean cut thru. Not exploding it like in Episode 4. It might take a miniut or two, but you will reach the other side.)
Edit: BONUS!!! Call it the GALAN, the Go Away Laser Array Network.
Point all the small satellites at the sun. Start collecting. Super laser that requires no power that can cut through planets. Doubles as a mining laser (which, in the Troy Rising series, is its primary function. At the point where the third book ends, the pencil thin laser strength is nearly one Exowatt. Watt, kilowatt, megawatt, gigawatt, terawatt, petawatt, exowatt. spelling?). Double as a surveillance system... the million eyes of Argus.
Keep in mind, the system i've described here was used with tech that is... much less refined than PA tech.
(when i say cut through a planet, i mean cut thru. Not exploding it like in Episode 4. It might take a miniut or two, but you will reach the other side.)
Edit: BONUS!!! Call it the GALAN, the Go Away Laser Array Network.
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Ahh the joys of a SAPL array...
Beyogi
and a fairy
- Pronouns
- She/Her
How much energy would be lost with each silly reflection...
Mechanis
Confirmed Techpriest
- Location
- Deep Net
none. canonically. this may have something to do with being BS Gamilas supertech (and using force fields for mirrors.)
the point is, it's a fixed emplacement that can have passive camo (the one in the video is under a frozen-over ocean/lake thing, so it's only visible when actually shooting at something) that can fire on anything in orbital proximity, much less within atmosphere. the Gamilas were using it as a propulsion system for asteroid kinetic impactors, using various rocks from the Kyper Belt to bombard earth- science-wise, I suspect they were using it's heating properties to turn them into crude rockets. after all, it's not like you need anything other than lots of math to do that kind of long-range bombardment.
the point is, it's a fixed emplacement that can have passive camo (the one in the video is under a frozen-over ocean/lake thing, so it's only visible when actually shooting at something) that can fire on anything in orbital proximity, much less within atmosphere. the Gamilas were using it as a propulsion system for asteroid kinetic impactors, using various rocks from the Kyper Belt to bombard earth- science-wise, I suspect they were using it's heating properties to turn them into crude rockets. after all, it's not like you need anything other than lots of math to do that kind of long-range bombardment.