Faith in Superior Firepower [Planetary Annihilation Multicross SI]

[Allison Outis]

Bomb pumped lasers would make short work of any spacecraft, and we've had those since what, the 60s? Sure, you don't want to use 'em too close to the planet, but it's not like you can't just intercept the enemy at the giant single point of failure- I mean, the gate.

Click to shrink...

BPLs were determined to be stupidly inefficient though. Like, IIRC a 1-kiloton bomb gives you 2.6 kilojoules of energy in the actual beam. Brilliant if you want to snipe random spacewalkers and cheap satellites from light-seconds away but useless for anything bigger even if it's only using real theoretical protection schemes, never mind ME's super anti-DEW ablative coating. Albeit there are ways to improve the efficiency even today, never mind what improvements might have been devised close to 200 years from now... except the focus on Mass Effect weaponry probably stunted the research into BPLs because Convenient Magic Space RockTM​.

(Really, ME makes a lot more sense if you assume every military R&D department is run by SB/SVers, it would explain them overlooking all other options in favour of "ooh shiny death machine that launches things at sufficient velocity".)

 

[Hazard]

I always did wonder why in Fanfics the Geth were the only ones with flamethrowers. Most of my knowledge comes from fanfiction.

Click to shrink...

Because geth are the only opposing faction with flamethrowers, and everyone else has to make do with omnitool programs throwing homing incendiary grenades and the like.

Also, incendiaries are a fucking mess to haul around and keep stored, compared to just shoving guns into your soldiers' hands. It's quite possible the only reason the geth can afford to carry around pyros is because they don't need the massive life support systems and have the room for the greater logistical burden.

 

[Sakuya's Butler]

BPLs were determined to be stupidly inefficient though. Like, IIRC a 1-kiloton bomb gives you 2.6 kilojoules of energy in the actual beam. Brilliant if you want to snipe random spacewalkers and cheap satellites from light-seconds away but useless for anything bigger even if it's only using real theoretical protection schemes, never mind ME's super anti-DEW ablative coating. Albeit there are ways to improve the efficiency even today, never mind what improvements might have been devised close to 200 years from now... except the focus on Mass Effect weaponry probably stunted the research into BPLs because Convenient Magic Space RockTM​.

(Really, ME makes a lot more sense if you assume every military R&D department is run by SB/SVers, it would explain them overlooking all other options in favour of "ooh shiny death machine that launches things at sufficient velocity".)

Click to shrink...

You sure?

Atomic Rockets went into some really fine detail (and math), showing that a 200Kt BPL would go through almost 300mm of steel iirc. And a 1Mt BPL would go through more than a meter of steel.

From more than a light-second in range.

Downside of course being that they're emitted in a shotgun/porcupine fashion, and the obvious fact you only get to do it once, before your emitter(s) end up as briefly incandescent plasma.

 

[Faith]

93 - Exchange

"Abraham Lincoln said 'Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power'. Going by that statement, I think that you've admirably demonstrated the integrity of your character, Faith, just be careful and kind and I think you'll find little to worry about."

I appreciated her trying. I really did. And I was sure Hope did, too.

That didn't make it feel any less than empty words of false encouragement.

It didn't make me feel any less of a monster, either.

I almost didn't notice a trio of chairs flickering into existence until Fusou slumped into one, rubbing her eyes and sighing lightly.

"I've justified my actions to you as best as I can, Faith, but I never answered just how it was I live with myself," she said softly, a hint of weariness in her voice. "The honest truth is that sometimes I don't, but when I do I go back and look at this list."

As soon as she finished speaking, a wide panel of hardlight snapped into existence before us, towering over the nearby wall almost thrice over. Like the wall, it took on the shape of smooth obsidian, engraved with thousands upon thousands of names.

"I know I've done horrible things and I've killed more than a hundred million beings, but this...this is a list of every single being that I know I am directly responsible for saving. I saved nine billion, one hundred and twenty million, ninety-five thousand, and three people from death at the hands of the Covenant when I killed fifteen million to protect Reach."

Still slumped in her chair, Fusou waved her left hand and another hardlight screen snapped into existence, millions more names appearing on it.

"When I destroyed High Charity I killed over fifty-four million people, most of them innocents, yes, but in doing so I managed to protect the seven billion, eight hundred and nine million, four hundred and twenty-two thousand, six hundred and seventy beings upon Sanghelios."

Both projections hung in the air for a little bit longer - names still scrawling across the surfaces- before finally vanishing.

"I can live with myself, Faith, because I know that even if I did the wrong thing, I did it for the right reasons. I try to be nice to people, and I try to be kind as well. But the fact is that deep down I know that when push comes to shove I'm not a good person and that I have done and will continue to do horrible things for the sake of helping and protecting others."

For a moment, she was silent, simply staring into my eyes. "The knowledge that I've often succeeded and that honesty about who I am is how I live with myself, Faith."

Beside and behind me, I heard Hope sniffing back tears.

I don't want to be here anymore, she complained mentally, still on the verge of crying even within her own head.

I couldn't help but agree. I hadn't intended to be talking about this - hadn't intended to even think about the things I'd seen.

So I forced those thoughts back, pushed them into a dark corner of my mind, and turned away from them.

"I… let's just… fuck, let's just move on. I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"I can certainly agree to that, Faith." Fusou's fingers twitched, and the three of us suddenly stood upon a beach, golden sand beneath our feet, waves lapping at the coast just metres away.

"I invited you both here so we could trade technology, so let's get to work on that," Fusou said, switching back to business mode. "When we're finished, I invite you to stay and enjoy yourselves for at least a little while."

She gestured to a small patio on the sand, where a single umbrella cast a nice patch of shade over a table and a handful of chairs. Making our way over, Fusou dropped into one of the seats without preamble, gesturing for us to do the same.

As we sat down, some kind of holographic barrier appeared across the table - more Forerunner hardlight, if I had to guess.

"The catalog you let me have a look through was quite nice, Faith, and I've made a few choices, so if you're ready, I'd like to hear what you were interested in."

I distinctly didn't remember giving Fusou all the details about the tech I'd stolen, let alone in the form of a catalogue, but Hope nudged me in the arm and waved it off with a subtle hand movement, so I assumed that was her doing.

Nevertheless, I did recall Fusou sending a clipped list of the things she had acquired from her Haloverse jaunt - totally lacking in Forerunner technologies, I couldn't help but notice, but otherwise quite heavy with both Covenant and UNSC technology.

Several of which… well, honestly, I didn't have much need for most of it, having my own alternatives, but that didn't mean I didn't want them, and I had a feeling that Hope felt the same way.

"Alright, well. Uh, let's see."

I started listing off technologies on my fingers, flicking through the list mentally as I did so.

"I already have really fast FTL, but Slipspace does some weird shit and there's probably enough differences between the two methods to make it worth having both."

"I'm fairly sure I can accommodate you there," Fusou said with a smile. "I've only just started upgrading the Systems Alliance to what the Covenant use, so as long as you're gradual with the introduction of its use, I can do that."

Honestly, I think I'd rather we stick with our Phase FTL, Hope said, face impassive. It… well, I don't know if it's faster but we know more about it. And slipspace has some weird interactions with the real world, Phase Space doesn't.

They each have their uses. Why not get access to both? Besides, if Fusou's selling slipspace to the locals, we can too, and then we still have the leg up on them thanks to our Phase drives.

Hm. Smart.

"More kinds of energy shields are always fun," I continued at the same time as I spoke to Hope, "and the ones from Halo are man-portable without needing bulky backpacks, so those would be nice to have."

"Yeah, I can definitely see your reasoning there, and that's something I'll trade. They'll mostly likely the proto-Forerunner shields that the UNSC had equipped the Infinity with, if that works."

Oh no, we're being given superior Forerunner shields instead of shitty reverse engineered Covenant derivatives. However will we cope?

"Plasma Torpedoes," Hope said aloud once she was done snarking. "All of our guided munitions are physical missile warheads, and they're a lot easier to intercept than plasma."

"Ah, that's an easy to agree to," Fusou said. "While the method is somewhat complex, once you take a look at the actual technology those torpedoes are actually sort of disappointing. I look forwards to seeing if you can do better than Cortana did with her improvements."

She seems far too willing to just fork this stuff over, dontcha think?

She's got Forerunner tech she's holding back from us. I guess she doesn't care about plasma torpedoes when she's got… well, I don't know for sure if she's stolen a Halo but I sure as hell would have.

I paused for a moment to think before settling on the next items.

"The Covenant also have anti-gravity tech, which no one else has had so far… well, the Bright Foundation did, but their methods don't scale up well. Also, energy blades. We're kind of lacking for melee options - which, I mean, isn't a huge problem most of the time, but I'd like to have some infantry-scale lethal melee and Omni-Weapons aren't exactly great."

For just the slightest moment, Fusou made a slightly sour face, as if deep in thought, and then she replied, "I can trade both of those, though I think I should at least tell you that once you figure out the plasma torpedoes you'll be able to make your own melee weapons."

Oh, right. They must use the same kind of technology to shape, guide and contain the plasma regardless of size. That speaks well, both for its modularity and scale. Guided sun-cannon, anyone?

We already have a black hole gun, Hope. The hell do we need a sun gun for?

Hot cold slash light dark dichotomy, duh.

"And… I know technically we already have the capacity to make AI, but I was hoping to get the UNSC's AI tech. I think they'd be easier to manage, unlike Progenitor AI they're not famous for turning against their creators, and I was already loathe to play around with the Progenitor AI template but after you… Well, it seems like an even worse idea, now."

Fusou leaned back in her chair, chewing her bottom lip. For a few seconds, she just sat, thinking, before she sighed heavily and slumped in her seat. "I...I guess I can trade the AI technology to both of you. Just...just don't fuck up like I did."

Hey let's not take the conversation back to the land of tears and sadness?

Good thinking.

"Oh," Hope supplied. "That Titanium-E stuff. I have some fun ideas for that."

Fusou sat up slightly straighter in her seat. "While I can trade that to you, I'd actually suggest you trade with the Systems Alliance for the tech behind Titanium-E for a couple of reasons."

Oh, god. Bureaucracy.

"For one, if I give it to you and the Alliance finds out, Hackett will get upset and that is just plain annoying to deal with. Seriously, he pulls this look that makes you feel you just disappointed your grandfather."

One, why do the Alliance care what Fusou does with her tech, and two, how does she know that?

Maybe it's not hers? Like, why would she make an Eezo infused titanium alloy, instead of using the good old bullshite unfairium alloys the Progenitor stuff is made of?

Bullshite unfairium. I like that.

"And second, such a trade could potentially let you get a foot in the door towards establishing friendly- or at least warmer relations between the Alliance and your future Batarian state. Does that sound reasonable enough for the both of you?"

Well, fair enough. The Judak Nurr will have enough problems on their plate after they take over the Hegemony without adding intergalactic affairs into the mix. I'm sure we can arrange some sort of agreement… It'd be nice to get the Batarians and the Humans to be allies. They're basically galactic neighbours, after all. And the Systems Alliance would probably appreciate not having to put up with slave raids and four-eyed supremacist bullshit.

Yeah, we'll just give the Systems Alliance some of our FTL sensors or something… no, wait. The SLOW fields. Useful, certainly, but without Progenitor level power generation they're not huge game changers. If nothing else, the way they simply remove kinetic energy from items in their range should keep their scientists quiet for a few months.

Their scientists work with a material that flagrantly violates the law of conservation of energy literally every day. They make toothbrushes out of the stuff. I don't think they'd be that miffed.

You raise an exceptional point, Faith.

"That sounds fair," I confirmed, barely a half-second having passed since Fusou spoke. "But it's not much of a trade if we just leech of your tech. Why don't we flip the script a little now? What can we do for you?"

Fusou gave a cheeky grin and began counting things off her own fingers, directly imitating what I'd just done.

"The Elysion FTL Gate, the Elysion Cores, your anti-bio beams -because I need something a bit less drastic than a Halo Pulse, Zoltan phase shields, the FTL phase drive, the phase teleporter, the singularity cannon tech, and the SAFE lasers."

Guess she did steal a Halo, then.

Mm. Two kinds of FTL, the teleporter, super shields, three weapons, and the Elysion Cores. We asked for one kind of FTL, energy shields, plasma weapons, anti gravity tech and AI… that doesn't seem particularly fair.

Especially when two of those weapons are the SAFEs and the Singularity Cannon. I mean, those are basically our most powerful weapons and she's got Halo arrays already, she doesn't exactly need more firepower.

Question is, can we really afford to turn her down?

Nothing we're trading is really vital - on either side, actually. Hm. If she's been giving Slipspace Drives to the Systems Alliance, she's probably given them AI to run them, too. The other stuff is minor, we could do without. If this does fail, we can take the technology from elsewhere.

And risk drawing the ire of both her and the Systems Alliance? Maybe as an absolute last resort.

Agreeing with Hope's assessment, I drummed my fingers against the tabletop for a moment, as though deep in thought, and finally replied. "I… I'm a bit leery of handing you the Singularity and SAFE weapons, to be honest. It feels like you're getting a lot more out of this trade than we are - especially since you're evidently holding your Forerunner tech in reserve. Everything else sounds fair, but..."

An irritated look briefly flickered across Fusou's face before it settled into a more neutral expression. "Faith, just come out and say what you're thinking. If I'm being unreasonable or if I have a technology that you're more interested in, then please just say so. I'll admit I didn't list everything I have on the document I sent you, mostly out of caution, but I'm at the very least willing to consider other options if you just ask about them."

Oh, I'm sorry, Hope snarked. I didn't realise we were allowed to order off the menu.

Mm. I'll admit to being interested in the possibilities opened by hard light… and it's not much of an offensive tech, except for the shitty hardlight guns they used in Halo 4. If we assume that she's just being smart and keeping the really powerful stuff like the Composer and Halos, then she'd probably be fine with that.

Is it worth our two best weapons, though?

No. But… if she throws in the Sentinel's weapons tech, I'd be willing to put one of the two up.

We already have the Fire Beam and the Anti-Bio Beam. What do we need Sentinel Lasers for?

I was thinking more the, uh, Enforcer's pulse cannons and stuff. Also, no matter how low-power, Forerunner weapons tech has to have some kind of advantage over the FTL stuff, right? The Forerunners built stars, the Federation struggled to mass produce dreadnoughts.

Fair. Actually, now that you mention it, just Sentinels in general. Energy shields, multiple weapon types, potent anti-gravity - to the point they can achieve orbit. Powerful, but still weak enough to be downed by Covenant guns and therefore not even remotely close to being a threat to her, right?

I suppose so. So hardlight and sentinels… I don't think it's worth both our best weapons, though.

"Alright, then," I said. "In that case, if you give us the technology to make hardlight bridges and whatnot, and anything you have on the Halo Sentinels - Majors, Enforcers, and all that, then we'll let you take one of the SAFE lasers or the Singularity cannon. I get that compared to the Halos they're probably not much more than novelty pop-guns, but they're our best weapons and we're not going to throw them at everyone who asks."

"Before I say yes or no, I need to ask what exactly you know about the capabilities of the sentinels as a whole, what you know hardlight is capable of, and just which versions of sentinels you want."

"Uh, okay. The Sentinels are some crappy attempt at containing the Flood using purposefully-pathetic equipment to prevent the risk of a Flood outbreak on a Halo getting some actually decent Forerunner weaponry."

Actually, I couldn't remember if that was canon or not. But it was the only reason that made sense in my head, given the scale the Forerunners worked at.

"Basic ones just fly and shoot things. Majors and Enforcers have shields, Enforcers also have giant crushy claws and pulse cannon things… basically reskinned Needlers without the homing, and some kind of mortar thing. And then there's those other ones from Wars, the ones that give shields and repair things. Constructors, I think? No, Protectors. Constructors are the other repair ones, the ones from the Ark."

I tapped my chin uncertainly. "Also, Monitors if you count them? I don't know of any others… maybe in the books? I'll admit, I'm not super huge on Halo lore."

There might have been. There was a shield world in one of the books, right? Onyx sentinels might be different to regular ones?

"As for hardlight, uh, bridges, shields, screens. Temporary repairs to ships whilst more permanent structures are constructed. Bullets, for some reason. Decorations, in one of the books… look, to be honest, like I said, I don't know Halo lore very well. If I'm asking too much, just say so."

"That's all you needed to say, Faith," Fusou said with a warm smile. "I'm more than willing to explain where needed, you only have to ask. Let's start with hardlight first. What makes it impressive is that you can use it for just about anything. I mostly use it for providing structural support during my mega engineering projects and for aesthetic purposes afterwards, for example:"

With another twitch of her fingers, she produced a foot tall hardlight model of some kind of starship or space station, conical in shape and formed almost entirely of intricately designed and ornate panels, glowing faintly blue. Concentric rings capped each 'end' of the structure, floating slightly distant from its surface as if suspended by some kind of energy field.

Which… probably wasn't too far off the mark, given that even the Bright Foundation had managed similar feats of engineering, if admittedly on a far smaller scale.

"This is a Cathedral-class Starbase, and is probably one of my favorite units. While everything of of actual structural importance is made of Progenitor alloy, pretty much all of the exterior petals are actually hardlight, which so long as I have power for it is almost as strong as the Progenitor alloy. Without the hardlight though, this is what you get."

In an instant, the ornate glowing exterior seemed to break apart and fade away, leaving behind blocks of matte black metal only vaguely resembling the shape the 'starbase' had held before.

"While I prefer the permanence of actually building my structures out of solid metal, it's also quite possible to build entire factories and the like from hardlight so long as you have the raw resources to supply it. That's how megastructures like the Ark and the Halos were built. A central design seed produces a hardlight framework through which materials are transported to actually build the vessels. And as I said, hardlight can simulate almost anything. Like this."

Fusou waved her hand across the table, and a small wind-up toy popped into existence. She tinkered with the hardlight construct for a moment before setting it down and releasing it, and it dashed forward, toppling off the side of the table.

"If you have enough power for it, you really wouldn't even have build anything but the emitters to create structures and units. It's a bit risky since if the power goes out all of the units disappear," she said with a shrug, "but you could do it in a pinch I suppose."

Okay. So apparently it's a little more versatile than I thought. Which… honestly it makes me want it more. I wonder if you can make the light green?

They use bluey purple for bridges, both blue and orange for the Knights depending on who's in command, and all sorts of colours on their terminals, so we should be good for green.

Yeah, fair enough. Suddenly I feel like a bit of a bitch for asking for that and Sentinel tech. Maybe she'd be willing to go one for one? We'll drop sentinels if she drops one of the super weapons?

The fuck am I supposed to know? Ask her, not me.

Maybe I wanted your opinion before butting in on the conversation that thus far you have dominated?

Maybe you're afraid of looking like a moron in front of your crush?

Maybe actually shut the fuck up right now?

Jeez, touchy.

Since Hope was evidently not going to be helpful, I took matters into my own hands. "Hm. It seems we underestimated the value of hardlight rather significantly, then. In that case, if you'd prefer, we're willing to drop our line of inquiry regarding Forerunner Sentinels and just take hardlight. Perhaps, had I a chance to play Halo 5 before..." I waved my hands nebulously, quickly shoving that particular thought aside. "Well, yeah. Halo lore. Not my strong suit."

Fusou seemed to be greatly amused by that statement as she smothered a giggle before replying. "It could be your strong suit and I'd still expect you to have trouble with it all. I had thought I knew the lore well before I got there, but dear lord was I out of my depth more times than I'm willing to admit." The amused smile remained on her face as she continued on.

"As for dropping the sentinels and just adding hardlight to the agreement, I would be alright with that. If you would really like to have sentinels though, I would be willing to assemble a limited amount of their technology. Nothing...awe inspiring, but something respectable at least." Fusou stated, her tone remaining pleasant.

Honestly… the Sentinels are basically a package of several technologies, most of which we have better versions of already. To be entirely honest, the only things I'd really like are their anti-grav systems, because they're faster, stronger and more consistent than the Britech ones. Weapons we can do without, shields we're already getting - two kinds, maybe, even, - and drone AI we can crib from the Federation. I think we can do without.

Eh. If she's offering, though…

Well, you're right. It would almost be rude to turn her down.

I don't think it really would. I mean, this entire meeting has had undertones of 'I'm holding stuff back in case I have to kill you later on down the line', and I doubt she'd begrudge us for recognising that. But yeah, since she's offering, may as well take it.

This time, it was Hope who spoke on our behalf. "Sentinels are a minor concern, but we'd be willing to take it if you're willing to offer. Besides that, I think the deal seems fair enough."

We're still giving more than we're getting, tech-for-tech.

We're getting Hardlight, AI, and better Plasma fields. She's getting different, and probably worse versions of FTL, teleporting, weapons, and shielding. I don't think it's such a huge concern. Besides, it's not like Forerunner tech will be forever lost to us. I mean, I don't know if she hops dimensions like we do, but if she does, it's more than likely she'd be able to return here at any time - as we would be. Arranging a meetup couldn't be that difficult?

And that's assuming we don't land in the Halo universe ourselves, at some point. I acquiesced. Which… well.

"Of course," I said to Fusou, picking up where Hope left off. "That means, provided you're still in agreement, that all you need to do now is make your choice. SAFE lasers, or Singularity cannons?"

"I'll take the Singularity cannons, I think," Fusou replied after a brief moment. "The SAFE lasers are interesting as all get out I'll admit, but I can do something similar enough with what I picked up at Onyx..."

Hm. Fair enough. Hope, you want to sort those files out or should I?

Already on it.

Fusou briefly seemed to lose focus for a moment before shaking her head and continuing. "As for Sentinel tech, the AI system used by the standard Aggressor and the Aggressor Majors will do along with their weapon systems and those of the Enforcer model. You're already getting a variety of other technologies out of me to handle the needs of what won't be in the package so you should be alright there."

Neat. Not that we needed them too much anyway, but still. Nice to have. They're more infantry scale than the ones the Federation used. Might find their way into Faith Foundation lineups.

Actually, we should probably start fielding more of our robot units, once the conflict starts stepping up. Should help cut down on casualties for the Judak Nurr.

"Now if we're finished with business then I invite you both to spend some time here to relax a bit before you leave."

I took a moment to look around, reminding myself that we were, in fact, still on a beach of golden sand, waves lapping at the shore just a handful of metres away.

"Yeah. Sounds fun."

 

[Z000]

this is just the same as Fusou chapter with a couple of line change
can't you 2 do something else
this is like watching 2 parrot repeating each other

 

[Battleship_Fusou]

this is just the same as Fusou chapter with a couple of line change
can't you 2 do something else
this is like watching 2 parrot repeating each other

Click to shrink...

There was a great deal of dialogue in it so of course the two chapters would be similar. It's not like our characters should be saying and hearing different things from each other.

Besides, the next chapter has been great fun to write and it will likely be great fun to read as well.

 

[Faith]

this is just the same as Fusou chapter with a couple of line change
can't you 2 do something else
this is like watching 2 parrot repeating each other

Click to shrink...

Ahem.

This is just the same as Fusou's chapter, with a couple of lines changed. Can't you two do something else? This is like watching two parrots repeating each other's words.

Click to shrink...

This story, and Escalation, are both being written with the intent of making it unnecessary to read the others to understand what's going on. Consequently, that means that discussions between the protagonists of those fics are going to be mirrored.


As Fusou has mentioned, the two chapters view the same events from different perspectives - of course they're going to be very similar. They're looking at the same thing. That doesn't mean the chapters are the same, the internal monologues being quite different between them, but apparently you don't consider that significant, in which case I guess you can just not read FiSF 94 when it comes out, because, spoiler, it's going to be 'parrotted' from Escalation.

 

[Battleship_Fusou]

in which case I guess you can just not read FiSF 94 when it comes out, because, spoiler, it's going to be 'parrotted' from Escalation.

Click to shrink...

Granted, if they do skip 94 they'll be missing out on some of my favorite bits. After all, the internal Faitg/Hope conversations are one of my favorite parts of this story.

 

[Coyotecom]

I'm rather enjoying the "Faith in Escalation of Firepower" chapters.

 

[NegativeHorizon]

Besides, the next chapter has been great fun to write and it will likely be great fun to read as well.

Click to shrink...

...More flirting?

EDIT: Heh, got a Hug and Insightful from both. Clearly that means they're getting married~

 

[Seylerius]

...More flirting?

Click to shrink...

I for one welcome our flirting robotic overladies. All hail Lady @Battleship_Fusou and Lady @Faith.

 

[Mandabar]

Interesting update. Definite unbalanced tech trades but what can you do?

Now to read what Fusou was thinking in her head.

 

[Faith]

94 - Beaches

Fusou smiled at us and stood gracefully, gesturing calmly towards a large bungalow concealed amongst the treeline opposite the water's edge.

"You're both welcome to stay as long as you like and make full use of the amenities here. Lily and I are staying a few dozen yards further up the beach in another bungalow. You should find everything you'd need for a beach trip already available inside. If you need something that isn't available, the fabricators should be able to handle it just fine," she told us. "Now if you don't mind me leaving, I'm going to go change and get a swim. The water isn't the same as I remember it being off of Hawaii but I'd like to think I got pretty close."

Ooh, Hawaii. The birthplace of surfing. Or one of them, anyway.

Her part said, Fusou turned and wandered off up the beach towards another bungalow. Leaving her to it, I made my own way to the bungalow she'd indicated to us, Hope following a few steps behind a moment later.

The interior of the bungalow was pretty standard, really. The entire front of the building was a living area, with a couple of couches, a table, a large TV screen, some bookshelves, and all the rest, whilst open archways in the back wall lead through to the kitchen and a short corridor with a number of other rooms branching off it - bathrooms and bedrooms, presumably.

Not that we had much need for either, the NeoAvatars being almost entirely robotic in nature, but the thought was appreciated.

Activating the Fabricator built into the Neo's arm, I quickly stripped away the clothes I was wearing with a swarm of nanites, replacing them just as quickly with a pair of green and grey board shorts and a matching bikini top.

Beside me, Hope had done much the same. We shared a glance for a moment before a slight issue became apparent.

"We should probably change things up a little," Hope pointed out. "So she can tell who's who."

I tapped a finger to my chin and shrugged. "Yeah, fair enough. Lemme do my hair up or something."

Whilst I fiddled with my hair, replacing the high bun with a long braid, Hope went poking about in the back rooms, and I swear I heard the sound of a heavy object bouncing around on a mattress for a few moments before Hope reappeared in the corridor. "Nice place. Comfy beds."

"And? We don't need sleep. Also, you could literally just tweak your sensors until you always feel comfy, so that's also kind of moot."

She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Anyway, done with your hair?"

Taking the end of my new braid in one hand and waving it idly, I stood from the couch and gestured to the door. "Please, after you."

Hope rolled her eyes and stepped outside, back onto the beach, and I followed, quietly closing the door behind me. For some reason, a beach chair that hadn't previously been there was positioned near the water's edge, a heap of white fabric atop it.

Fusou, wearing a two-piece blue bikini and not a whole lot else, emerged from beneath the waves, wiping water from her eyes with one hand, and, upon seeing us on the beach, gave a casual one-armed wave.

"Very pretty," Hope said, staring out into the distance.

"Yeah." Suddenly, a thought struck me. "Wait, the beach, or -"

Hope ignored me, running forward across the sand and splashing into the shallows. Sighing, I followed, feet sinking ever-so-slightly into the warm sand. I had to admit, the beach was very pretty. The sand underfoot was soft and the gentle waves that lapped at the shoreline were simply perfect. Perhaps a little too light for some proper surfing, but then that wasn't the only way to have fun at the beach.

Fusou laughed and dove backwards into the surf, slipping beneath the surface. Hope leapt forward and swam through the water after her as I entered the surf, water swirling around my ankles.

By the time I'd waded out far enough to catch up, Hope had resurfaced and Fusou was still underwater somewhere. Hope turned to me, her hair dripping wet, and gave a huge grin. "It's been ages since I've been to a beach like this!"

"You know, technically speaking, the only beach you've ever been to is New Bondi. Since every other beach you think you visited is actually just inherited from my memories, and not really something you did."

Hope raised a finger as if to make an argument but almost immediately thought better of it, Castle style. Instead, she reached down with cupped fingers and grabbed a handful of water, splashing it in my face.

And then, like a very skimpily dressed shark, Fusou's head and torso broke the waves behind hope, splashing her in the back.

Hope's eyes narrowed immediately and she spun around to face Fusou, throwing more water about with wild hand motions. "You what?"

"I what what?" Fusou replied in turn, her grin still on her face as she splashed Hope right back before disappearing under the waves again.

Hope sighed exasperatedly and waded over towards Fusou, reaching out to grab the fleeing Commander before she vanished from sight, leaving me just kind of standing around. Rolling my eyes, I slipped into the water and started kicking with my feet, creating a bit of distance from the pair.

Hope, meanwhile, had apparently caught up to Fusou, because she reached out with one arm, grabbed something below the water, and cried out jubilantly. "Gotcha!"

The surprised yelp that Fusou gave as she surfaced was certainly confirmation that something had happened, but the fact that she had both of her arms folded tightly over chest was indicative of just what had happened.

The dark haired commander's cheeks were a rather brilliant shade of crimson as she rounded on Hope, doing her best to keep herself decent in the meantime.

"I'd like my top back Hope," Fusou said, her voice almost an embarrassed squeak. She seemed preoccupied with her thoughts for a moment before a mischievous grin crossed her face as she continued, "...Unless that was what you were aiming for."

I very slowly introduced my palm to my face, trying not to look too hard at the blue fabric hanging from Hope's limp fingers. Hope looked down, and then back at Fusou, sounding immensely embarrassed as she said, "wait… that... wasn't your shoulder, was it?"

Fusou seemed to be very close to breaking into full on laughter as she took in Hope's rather lost expression. "You started at my shoulder, but you didn't quite…get a grip, until you managed to snag my top, Hope. Now again, may I have it back or are you going to keep it as a souvenir?" She asked.

Fusou carefully shifted her arms as she spoke before extending her right arms out, palm facing up while she used her left arm to continue covering herself. It was rather clear from the amusement practically sparkling in Fusou's red eyes that she was enjoying this immensely.

And I couldn't really blame her. Even from the side, the look on Hope's face was priceless. NeoAvatars couldn't quite pull off a blush, but the Bright Foundation's augmented eyes were absolutely flawless at portraying absolute mortification. I don't think her pupils could have expanded any further if she tried.

Hope stammered uselessly for a couple of seconds, eyes still darting between Fusou's torso and the blue and white fabric in her hand. "I… uh. Oops."

Right, yeah. Because that was totally an accident.

Oh my god please shut up.

Hope reached out, dropping the garment into Fusou's outstretched hand, and took a deep, calming breath - pointless as the action was, being a robot and all. "Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to go find a tall building to jump off now."

I stepped forward, grabbing Hope by the shoulder. No you're damn not. Say sorry.

Really, I wasn't sure how much it mattered - how much of Fusou's robot body was, uh… anatomically accurate. Nor did she seem particularly worried - she seemed more amused than anything. Still, if Hope wanted to get all flustered about it… "Hey, hey, hey. Shouldn't you at least be taking her to dinner first, before you start stripping her naked?"

In my defence, I didn't really expect my mind clone to actually punch me in the face.

So that's how I ended up floating on my back, staring up at the surprisingly authentic fake sky in a very dazed state whilst Fusou finally broke out into peals of laughter and Hope just kind of backed away slowly.

After a few moments of consideration, I could only raise an arm in surrender and admit, "Yeah… okay, yeah, I probably deserved that."

---

After continuing to splash about in the water for a while, - managing thankfully not to lose any more clothing along the way, - the three of us made our way out of the water and up onto the sand, lazing about on the beach.

Though it had been a quite entertaining experience, and while it was nice to get some contact with another human being, we couldn't stay forever.

"Hey, Fusou," I called, stepping over Hope's half-built sandcastle. "Whilst it's been fun, and all, I think it would probably be for the best if we headed off soon. Places to see, people to meet, governments to topple, yadda yadda."

Fusou looked up from where she had been sprawled out on the beach chair that had appeared earlier as she seemed to consider us before shrugging. "Alright, I'll open a portal back to the Keyes then. I do feel obliged to tell you though that it's only been two or three minutes since you arrived in real space," Fusou replied calmly. "You've been under time acceleration since the moment you stepped through that first portal, so there's no harm in relaxing a bit longer."

Fusou made a small gesture and opened another portal as she continued, "You're welcome to come back whenever though, heaven knows you'll likely need to decompress at some point." Her earnest tone faded to a more sombre note. "The last thing anyone needs to have happen is one of us going off the deep end. I've nearly gone that way, and I hope you'll take my advice and find time to enjoy yourselves, away from your war."

Behind me, I noted Hope slowly rising to her feet, kicking over her little mound of sand as she wandered over to join us. "Yeah. We're trying to take a back seat a bit, but… well, we'll see. Later, Fusou."

I stepped through the portal first, emerging just metres from the still-open airlock, and with an idle thought I set my avatar's internal fabricators to clean myself off and recreate my prior outfit as I stepped on board.

After all, I didn't want to tread sand all over the carpet.

It would probably be a beach to clean.

 

[Battleship_Fusou]

This was a very entertaining chapter to write.

 

[Riddle78]

That pun right at the end... It hurt more than a punch to the face.

 

[Pyro Hawk]

I see that reference to Richard Castle if I'm not wrong...

That said, have either of you guys shared your Neo-Avatar or whatever they are called, designs to see if either of you have improvements that can be incorporated in the other?

 

[Mandabar]

Something I kept thinking during this whole 'beach' episode. What if TikiTau was there?

What would he do?

I see that reference to Richard Castle if I'm not wrong...

That said, have either of you guys shared your Neo-Avatar or whatever they are called, designs to see if either of you have improvements that can be incorporated in the other?

Click to shrink...

Yeah that's another matter. Fusou's tech is MUUUCH better in this regard than Faith's factions is. Still too bad it doesn't seem they exchanged info on it.

Oddly enough, I think Fusou's tech was before she nommed all the super high level Halo tech, I forget if it was the bog standard tech she had at start or if it was some basic Human UNSC human tech. I know it's basicly human for her at least in terms of sensations, functionality and subconscious type things.

Would be great if the Faith family could have that tech as well.

More so, TikiTau as in my above mentioned scenario, has no human avatar tech at all. I mean he's pretty fine w/o it at the moment, but still no scenes like this w/o it. That and would improve his ghosts at the very least, and maybe... just maybe fix Mister Blue.

Hah nah!

Thanks for the chapter Faith and the other PoV!

 

[MTB]

at the surprisingly authentic fake sky

Click to shrink...

... Aren't they in the pet Dyson Sphere currently?

 

[Faith]

... Aren't they in the pet Dyson Sphere currently?

Click to shrink...

They're on Fusou's 'yacht', but I don't see how that matters - the sky is still fake, in a Dyson Sphere, in the sense that it's artificial, not a natural consequence of a regular planet with sufficient gravity to create an atmosphere.

Yeah that's another matter. Fusou's tech is MUUUCH better in this regard than Faith's factions is. Still too bad it doesn't seem they exchanged info on it.

Click to shrink...

Fusou's avatar is powered by some insanely high-level adaptive code that allows her to far more accurately simulate emotions on a subconscious level, or something like that (presumably due to ROB). Faith and Hope do everything manually, which means about the most they bother with usually is pupil widening/narrowing and minor facial movements around the eye socket area.

Faith and Hope just kind of assume Fusou's better/more experienced at micromanaging all bodily functions herself. They're incompetent like that.

 

[NegativeHorizon]

L...lew-

Okay okay okay I'm alive. I'm back. I'mI'mI'm fine.

Fusou already knocked me out, so Faith'll have to be content with just giving me a raging nosebleed.

 

[Battleship_Fusou]

They're on Fusou's 'yacht', but I don't see how that matters - the sky is still fake, in a Dyson Sphere, in the sense that it's artificial, not a natural consequence of a regular planet with sufficient gravity to create an atmosphere.

Click to shrink...

They did briefly visit the onyx sphere actually, that's where the memorial wall is.

 

[Faith]

95 - Check-Up

Hope and I took somewhat of a circuitous route back to New Bondi - having spent, objectively speaking, all of five minutes in Fusou's company, we had quite a bit of time to spare before we really needed to head back.

We briefly debated swinging in to Illium or some other port and just wandering around but… well, frankly the idea of just killing time in some alien club didn't particularly appeal to either of us - not when we'd just wrapped up an hours long chill-out session, anyway.

Rather, we took advantage of the Jacob Keyes' status as a progenitor-grade warship, activating the Phase Cloak and taking a quick tour of Batarian space, starting with their three remaining border worlds before heading into the Kite's Nest itself.

Lorek, the last Hegemony planet in the Omega Nebula, had been heavily fortified by the Hegemony against further assault - twelve frigates, fifteen cruisers, and three battlecruisers drifted around in the immediate area of the planet, alongside a pair of orbital defense platforms - essentially huge mass drivers with command posts bolted on the side, not dissimilar to the UNSC's MAC stations.

The increased defenses in space hinted at a similarly reinforced ground garrison, but I didn't really consider that an issue. Thanks to our Shield Harnesses, Judak Nurr forces could individually go toe-to-toe with enemy squads and come out on top. Never mind that we would soon be receiving a handful of new technologies to make those shields even stronger.

And we didn't even have to bullshit about developing the technology over time ourselves, since we could legitimately say that we got it off Fusou - or rather, 'The Fleet', as the Citadel referred to her as.

Personally, I thought comparing her in tonnage to an entire fleet was a bit unfair - she was certainly… lucky, with her physical traits (as much as luck had to do with anything when it came to hyper advanced nano-scale fabrication) but she was hardly fat.

Of course, once I pointed this out to Hope she told me in no uncertain terms to shut up before storming off the Keyes' bridge to do her science somewhere else, stammering all the while.

After taking a moment to fly the ship through the Hegemony fleet, neon signs flashing on the outer hull, and not being detected, I deemed it safe enough to take a poke about on the tidally-locked planet below. Whilst the Jacob Keyes was comparatively large for a frigate, it was, like the UNSC ships I'd based it on, more than capable of cruising in atmosphere.

Which meant that Hope and I got an excellent view of Lorek's habitable zone, a fierce ocean dotted with large islands upon which the entire planet's civilisation was built. We went for a quick tour, circling the planet in a couple of hours and shamelessly spying on every military unit we could see, - so, all of them, - as we went.

A quick sensor sweep pointed out a couple of additional installations outside the habitable ring - military bases and prison compounds located just a short way into the 'night' side of the planet, where low temperatures and incredibly harsh winds made living… difficult.

For good reason, I supposed.

We made note of all the key locations and the current status of the planet's defences, and moved on, leaving Lorek and the Omega Nebula behind us. The Judak Nurr had been working on a plan to liberate Lorek since we'd taken Logasiri, so I sent the information their way and left it to them. They'd figure something out.

The next stop on our hit-list was the relatively close-by Eagle Nebula. This particular area of the lawless Terminus housed a single Hegemony world - Anhur, in the Amun system.

The most astounding thing about it was that it was a garden world. Just kind of… sitting here, in the Terminus. Alone.

Well, except for the Batarian fleet in orbit, I mean. Twelve frigates, five cruisers, and a battle cruiser. Obviously the Hegemony cared more about this place than they did about Logasiri. Then again, I could hardly blame them. It was a garden world, after all.

Judging by the state of constructions on the surface, it hadn't been under Hegemony control for very long - there was only a single city of note, and whilst there were a couple of high-rise buildings in various stages of construction near the spaceport, the rest of the colony just screamed flat-pack, prefabricated shelters.

Hm. Prefab Shelters. Star Wars Battlegrounds, right? Wonder if we'll ever get to visit?

Galactic Battlegrounds. Sucker's bet, Hope retorted, still sour over my earlier jabs at her crush. If we live long enough, we're gonna wind up there eventually, right?

The fact that the garden world was so lightly inhabited made our job significantly easier. The Keyes made a quick low pass, skimming the edge of the atmosphere whilst scanning everything in sight, and then turned away from the planet, the automated systems setting a course for our next destination whilst I poured over the sensor feed.

Or at least, I'd like to say that's what I did, but more realistically I looked at it, went 'huh, that's a lot of platinum and eezo', and then zoned out because do you have any idea how many utterly unnecessary details Progenitor-grade sensors pick up when they're set to precision scan?

All of them. It picks up all of them.

I really did not need to know that one particular Alagashi Desert Cat amongst the many millions on the planet had a slight fever, elevating their body temperature to slightly over forty one degrees celsius.

I most certainly didn't need to know the body temperatures of every fucking animal in a six kilometre range. Only the creatures of the ocean were spared, and that was because I was flying relatively high up and the Keyes didn't have any dedicated water-piercing sensors, not because of any conscious choice regarding the matter.

Anyway, once I'd sent the relevant information from that trip onto the Judak Nurr, I kicked a button on the ship's bridge console with one foot - an utterly pointless act, given the entirely decorative functions of… just about every button on the ship, - and activated the Phase FTL Drive.

Just a few seconds later the Keyes burst back into realspace, lingering for just a fraction of a second before the stealth drive reengaged, plunging us back into the aether beyond existence, if at a somewhat more controlled level.

Alright, Hope, you done moping yet? This is kind of important.

Despite an exasperated sigh and I was certain no small amount of eye rolling, Hope did eventually return to the bridge. She was tapping away at a datapad as she entered, no doubt compiling the files to sent to Fusou. Or flirting with her. Either or.

As soon as she noticed my gaze, she shot me a shallow smile, tapped the screen one final time, and, with a proud proclaimation of "done!", she frisbeed the datapad across the room, whereupon it slammed into a wall and dropped like a stone into the wastebin waiting below.

I shot my mind clone a questioning glare. "How much maths did you have to do to get that trick right first go?"

She turned to look back at me, as if debating whether or not she could get away with lying, and shrugged. "Too much. What's up?"

I turned away from her, instead gesturing towards the bridge's primary viewscreen, and the dusty red-brown planet visible beyond it.

"That, is Aratoht. Hegemony Shithole number whatever the fuck. If I'm remembering my codex right, this is the place the Alliance called 'mount Everest inside an oven', or something like that. It's hot, it's shitty, and it's absolutely damn loaded with metals. Seriously, the crust of this planet has more metal value than both the moons of the Hub in their entirety."

Hope nodded, obviously going over her own memories of the location.

"Ah. The Alpha Relay."

"Eeeeyup."

"Hm."

Aratoht had a lot of issues - most of the planet's inhabitants lived in a big dome cities, the only protection from the utterly unforgiving environment, with the few exceptions being skilled Batarian terraforming engineers working on seeding bacteria in the planet's few oceans to fix up the atmosphere. They'd made remarkable progress - the planet colonisation project had only been going for about eight months.

Most of those inhabitants in the cities were also slave miners, working in hot, hostile conditions to dig up heavy metals to be sold on by their Hegemony masters or used in local constructions.

All in all, pretty standard fare for a newly founded Hegemony world.

By far the biggest issue, though, was what lay in a distant orbit just beyond the planet - the Alpha Relay. By itself, it didn't appear to be particularly special, just a simple Secondary Relay like so many others. What made it special was that it was one of, if not the oldest Mass Relay.

It also had some kind of Dark Energy Supercharger that allowed its usual 500 lightyear range to expand massively, linking it to sixteen other critical Relay nexus points including the Citadel.

Or was it sixteen and the Citadel?

Eh. It didn't really matter. It was all going up in flames, if I had my way.

Because this particular relay was the closest relay to the Reaper's fleet, currently waiting in dark space somewhere… which, admittedly, greatly narrowed the search area for whereabouts the Reapers could possibly be. Not that I was particularly worried about splashing around in dark space hoping to stumble across the Reapers and catch them napping.

Basically, if the Reapers reached this Relay, they could activate it and use it to launch devastating attacks on crucial targets across the Relay network.

So I wanted to break it.

Of course, given the amount of Eezo and Dark Energy involved, breaking it would be… bad.

"Here's what I'm thinking," I said, more to myself than Hope. "We do the same thing Shep did in Arrival, and toss an asteroid into it. Prior to that, though, we're going to get those slaves off Aratoht. And the slave keepers, I guess. How, thought?"

Hope tapped a hand against her chin. "Well… given the Batarians willingly chose to colonise the place, I doubt we could scare them off now. I think our best bet would be to conquer the place and drag everyone, kicking and screaming if necessary, out of the system before we blow it up."

After a moment's consideration she added, "also, that would probably be the fastest way to get it done."

Well.

I couldn't disagree with that.

And it did have a much smaller military presence than both Lorek and Anhur.

"We get those tech plans from Fusou yet?"

"Yeah, actually. I was waiting for the package before I sent ours back, got it as I was walking back up here from the library. Why?"

"Well. There are some amongst the Judak Nurr who like complaining about the fact we send like, a dozen soldiers tops on all of these missions," I explained. "I figure we could show them why that is by demonstrating a tiny army of soldiers… leading a badass swarm of drones and robots, with hardlight shields and tesla guns and stuff." I shrugged. "We're playing up the 'small but rich megacorp' here. Let's go all out."

"Hm." A wicked grin spread across Hope's face. "Yeah, I can get behind that."

 

[Wobulator]

Of course, once I pointed this out to Hope she told me in no uncertain terms to shut up before storming off the Keyes' bridge to do her science somewhere else, stammering all the while.

Click to shrink...

...I ship it.

 

[kairuf]

Personally, I thought comparing her in tonnage to an entire fleet was a bit unfair - she was certainly… lucky, with her physical traits (as much as luck had to do with anything when it came to hyper advanced nano-scale fabrication) but she was hardly fat.

Click to shrink...

Ow. Anyone know how to clean ginger ale off of a keyboard easily? (Drinking while reading, always a bad decision)

 

[Blackhole1]

Can't you just tow the alpha relay a few light-years away from the system and detonate it where the blast can't do any harm? Or FTL-teleport it. Or use slipspace to jump it right into the Reaper armada before wiping out it and the damn cuttlefish so you can go and seduce Fusou in peace. That sounds a lot easier than conquering an entire solar system and relocating 300.000 people. Thanks to cloaking devices, they might not even realize what's happened until they check on the relay and realize it's gone.

The thing is; it's very hard to explain why you decided to forcibly relocate thousands of people without letting someone know about the Reapers. Or rather, letting someone know you know about the Reapers. That might not be information you want to share with the galaxy at large.

Speaking of which, I kind of want a Reaper interlude right now...