The Die Is Cast. Now, Ayre finds herself on a strange world, of nightmarish beasts and fantastical, nearly superhuman guardians. As ever, humanity's enemies from without are only exceeded by those from within.
Well. That's never stopped her before.
By the time she's done, the old world will be no more, and Remnant's humanity will enter a new world. Even if she has to burn every last cinder of the old world herself.
You are alone. Odd. Once, you never would have considered this state noteworthy, since it had been all you knew. You're not sure how long the state lasts. And then, a familiar-yet-strange sensation. Another person's thoughts, at the edge of your awareness. You respond eagerly - like all of your kind, you have an instinct to seek companionship. As your mind brushes theirs, you reach out, excitement tempered with concern.
"Oh! This is… surprising. I've never made Contact like this before."
"Then again, two isn't much of a sample size. I am Ayre. A Rubiconian."
Who have you made Contact with?
[ ] The Guardian. One who stands apart from humanity, as you do. Yet, she cares for them, and wishes above all else to be their guardian. A goal you, in some respects, share. [Penny Polendina. A fully-capable combat gynoid, she provides your best route for bringing familiar weapons to this world.]
[ ] The Champion. Her natural talent honed to a fine edge through diligent, soul-crushing training, she has ascended to heights any would envy. Yet having reached the top, she has found only isolation. [Pyrrha Nikos. Four-time tournament champion, she is without equal among her peers as a duelist. She has a lot of knowledge you lack when it comes to fighting at such a small scale.] [ ] The Heiress. Born, almost literally, with a silver spoon in her mouth, she has never wanted for anything in her life. After her world was shattered on her tenth birthday, she set herself on the path to reclaim her family's honor. She appears as a doll, fragile, and delicate. But that appearance belies the steel beneath. [Weiss Schnee. Heiress to the largest Dust company on Remnant. Her encyclopedic knowledge of Dust will be a boon to your understanding of the world you have found yourself on.]
"You need to wake up. Before your mind scatters… on the Coral tide."
----
Welcome to Feed The Fire, a RWBY/AC6 quest. You are Ayre. A Rubiconian. Partner of C4-621 Raven. Together, you shot, blasted, sliced, and kicked a bloody swathe across Rubicon 3. Together, nothing could stand against you. Not the corporations, not the PCA, not even ALLMIND. And together, you cast the die. Humanity and Coral, both fates forever intertwined by your hand. And now, a new story begins. Once again, you've made Contact.
Once again, mighty forces have set themselves against you, and you are scrabbling in the dark.
Let them bring their armies. Their horrors in the dark. Let them plot and scheme.
Even without Raven, you are strong. You will bring this world to the future it deserves, whether they like it or not.
Your allies, enemies and everything in between. Every person of note you meet in your journey.
A pilot with many names. To Handler Walter, their serial number - 621. To Rusty, "buddy". To "Chatty" and Carla, "Tourist". To you, your partner. An AC pilot without equal (except, perhaps, one) who came to share your dream of symbiosis.
Penny Polendina. Your host, and the first person you made Contact with on this new world. An artificial intelligence piloting a combat gynoid.
Cheerful, optimistic, and curious to a fault, her nature leaves her feeling isolated from her creators. Not that you'd know it from meeting her.
General James Ironwood. Head of Atlas Academy, and with it, Atlas's military. Because of this, he holds two seats on Atlas' Council. For now, an ally, based on his brief interactions with your host. Hopefully it won't be a repeat of your experience with Handler Walter.
Pietro Polendina. One of the most brilliant scientific minds of a generation. Your host's father. And now, an ally. Protect his daughter, and you will have no fiercer advocate.
So! Before this gets too far along, I figured I should let y'all know how I plan to conduct this quest:
1) Actions have consequences, and the enemy gets a vote, so to speak. Your enemies are clever (well, some of them), and not all of them are ill-intentioned. Like you, they want to win. That said, this is not a quest with a Golden Path, where there's one path to victory, and everything else is a tragedy of some sort or another.
2) People can and will die. Plot armor is not in effect - but, as before, I am not looking to punish you. There will never be a moment where "if only you made this one choice in Chapter 30..." you would prevent a party wipe. However, I'm aiming to stay true to the source material in this sense.
3) Reasoning matters. Once you start influencing the world and interacting with other characters, I will take your reasoning into account - the plan may be set by the option you pick, but the details matter. For example, if you decide to give someone a gift, reasoning will affect how the gift is presented to the recipient, which may make all the difference as to how it is received.
Thank y'all for your time, and I hope all of you have as much fun as I do.
To your surprise, the person you've made Contact with isn't a human after all, but an artificial intelligence. To be more specific, an artificial intelligence piloting a combat gynoid. As soon as you realize that the databanks you're sifting through are her memories instead of the platform's, you…
[] Back out. Mutual respect is key to a successful partnership. You've already picked up an uncomfortable amount of her personal memories, as well as enough of the local languages to be understood by anyone else you need to communicate with, which will be bad enough to explain. [] Keep going. Respect might be important, but you need to understand what you've landed in. You got blindsided too many times by ALLMIND. Even if there's no way to hide what files you've accessed without manipulating her systems on a more fundamental level than you can safely do.
Once you finish, you turn your attention to the platform's systems. They are… a mixed bag. You can also tell that virtually all of the electronics have been substantially infiltrated by Coral, to the point that the only way to restore it to non-Coral dependent functionality is essentially a complete rebuild and replacement. Fortunately, the mechatronics, weapons, and sensor suite are, outside cosmetic damage, completely functional.
In the background, the platform BIOS is stubbornly trying to complete a hot restart as as the Coral settles in, reforming disrupted electronic pathways. A moment's study of her onboard diagnostics shows you the problem, and you guide Coral to uncross the maze of connections between her main and backup psychotronic centers. It's fortunate her designer built in that safety feature. You can easily imagine the disorientation caused by crossed signals between each computing thread, especially once the results push out to the rest of the platform.
You distantly remember the adaptive firmware the ACS used on your ECHO to prevent battle damage from disrupting function like this… a consideration for later. First things first, help the BIOS re-initialize primary power. You could… probably run the frame on Coral, but powering it through the control circuits seems like a bad idea.
[Generator restart in progress… Purging fuel lines… Capacitors charged, startup surge in 3… 2… 1…]
Your host slowly comes to life, a reel of subsystems reporting in to her Main System. You stay quiet, for the moment, content to let your host speak first as she stands up and surveys the damage the Coral Surge did to her garments and exterior. Which… seems to have entirely burned her garments away, and removed a substantial portion of the synthetic skin on her abdomen. You hope this won't cause her any problems.
She blinks twice, looking around, likely for you. At that moment, you can't help but be amused, as you both see the same thing on her sensor suite. History may not be repeating, but it certainly is rhyming strongly.
"Penny. I've detected incoming enemies."
You gently nudge her Main System, overriding the safeties on her weapons, and shutting down her telemetry feed. The last thing either of you need is some well-meaning technician trying to override her mid-battle.
"I'll synchronize with your systems and maintain our Contact."
"Who… are you?", she whispers, as the enemies seem to emerge from beneath the snow and her Blade Array ejects itself from her back. A full thirty creatures, black as night, adorned with white bone armor. The vanguard is long, lanky beasts, with heads that remind you of Rusty's emblem.
[Main System: Combat Ready. Aura: 73%]
"I am Ayre. A Rubiconian." You pause, for a moment, then decide to reassure her. "A friend. The rest can wait, I think." You highlight the largest creatures - eight bulkier creatures with enormous front teeth, and an absolutely gargantuan creature that looks like its shoulder might reach halfway up some ACs' shins.
"If you're open to suggestions, though…"
[] Go for the easy targets - At a guess, the small, fast creatures are like MTs. Almost no threat on their own, but dangerous in numbers or if they take you by surprise - you can't afford the distraction while facing the rest. []Take down the mediums - Like quadruped MTs or LCs, they probably do pose a threat, though not anything like another AC would. [] Go for the heavy - Prioritize targeting the big guy, and eliminate the smaller targets as the opportunity presents itself.
Scheduled vote count started by PAGDTenno on Jan 15, 2024 at 8:07 AM, finished with 16 posts and 12 votes.
[X] Back out. Mutual respect is key to a successful partnership. You've already picked up an uncomfortable amount of her personal memories, as well as enough of the local languages to be understood by anyone else you need to communicate with, which will be bad enough to explain.
[X] Go for the easy targets - At a guess, the small, fast creatures are like MTs. Almost no threat in their own, but dangerous in numbers or if they take you by surprise - you can't afford the distraction while facing the rest.
[X] Keep going. Respect might be important, but you need to understand what you've landed in. You got blindsided too many times by ALLMIND. Even if there's no way to hide what files you've accessed without manipulating her systems on a more fundamental level than you can safely do.
"... I would recommend focusing on those. Particularly the largest one."
"The Sabyrs and Megoliath? Excellent suggestion!"
Immediately, Penny takes a knee, hands outstretched in front of her as her swords form a ring and begin whirling, her generator spinning up to full output as it feeds plasma into a gravitational vortex formed by some sort of field generator in the hilts of the blades, building a ominously glowing green ball, even as the smaller creatures pile on the speed, dashing to try to stop her before she can fire.
They fail.
As the field reaches full charge, she punches forward, and a ravening beam of plasma rips across the tundra, punching through several of the wolflike creatures - simply evaporating the ones close to the beam's heart, while the corona sends the ones on the outside tumbling to the side, fur ablaze, even as it rips downrange, punching through one of the Sabyrs, and slamming into the forelimb of the Megoliath - only for the beast to bring its tusk down to interdict the beam before it can do more than deal a shallow wound. Incredibly, the tusk holds for half a second, glowing with the contained energy before detonating, shrapnel ripping out and digging trenches through the beast's hide and knocking over a Sabyr that was too near.
However, the armor serves its purpose, and the remainder of the beam only manages to dig a deep trench in its foreleg, slowing it, but not nearly as much as you hoped.
[EML recharge in progress. PCS cooldown in progress. Array fire unavailable.]
Penny doesn't waste time. As the last of the plasma beam leaves the "barrel" formed by her blades, they leave the pattern and whirl around her in a complex pattern and slash through the wolflike creatures as they come in close, even as she throws herself in to a flip away from the closest of the creatures, blade neatly separating its head from its body. You have time to admire the economy of motion as she weaves in and out of the creatures, blades licking out and dispatching her enemies the moment they enter her reach.
Unfortunately, the delay caused by firing the full-power shot at the Megoliath delays her enough that dispatching the remaining small creatures allows the Sabyrs to get into melee range. As you expected, they're noticeably tougher than the small creatures, requiring multiple heavy blows to dispatch, but even then, they're clearly no match for your host, only their numbers and the sacrifice of their smaller brethren giving them a chance to come to grips with -
"Penny, below you!"
Your host aborts her strike on one of the few remaining Sabyrs as a wormlike creature erupts from the ground beneath her - but the unexpected dodge lets another Sabyr catch her with a strong paw-strike, launching her into a second one's claws - but she recovers midair, skewering the second one and using a pair of blades as grappling hooks to drag herself clear.
[Aura 67%]
"Good recovery. You have this, Penny."
Her smile broadens. "Of course I do! I'm Combat Ready!"
Three of her blades form up by her shoulder and start stitching laser fire across the face of the centipede as she sprints, causing it to hiss in pain and charge her. "Though the Centinel is an unwelcome addition."
The Megoliath trumpets, and she dashes towards it, bounding high over it and delivering several slashes through its back, resulting in a scream of rage and pain, even as the Sabyrs move to herd her into its striking range… which only gets both of them slashed apart independently. Two more blades shoot into the ground on either side of the charging Centinel, letting her weaponize her own mass very effectively when her heel collides with the Centinel's head, smashing it flat. A whirl of blades dispatches the final Sabyr, freeing your host to devote all of her attention to the Megoliath.
[EML recharge complete.]
You feel her satisfaction as she launches herself close in, practically dancing around it as it tries to bludgeon her with its trunk,legs and remaining tusk, her blades licking out with surgical precision. Front leg. Rear leg. Shoulder. Left hip. Trunk. Hundreds of blows, each shaving off a chunk of flesh and slicing away options, until she vaults over its head and drives three of her blades into the hump behind its head… and empties her EML modules into them, blasting it apart from the inside.
She turns her head and scans her surroundings carefully, ever-present smile on her face as her blade array folds itself away and stows itself in her torso. "I believe that is the last of them!"
"Yes. Well done, Penny."
[Main System: Standard Mode]
She tries to access her communication system, and frowns. "Did you shut down my communications relay?"
You nudge the system, reconnecting it and re-initializing it without turning the telemetry back on. "Yes. The Coral surge you got caught up in has resulted in extensive Coral infiltration into virtually all of your systems, with the exception of your generator. Neither of us needed some well-meaning technician to try to 'repair' your systems in the middle of a fight."
She flexes her hands - you suspect finding her platform under someone else's control is… not pleasant.
"I… understand. Where are you?"
In response, you simply pull up a diagnostic, and highlight the Coral spread throughout her platform.
"Right here. With you."
Her eyes widen slightly. "How… the explosion!"
"The Coral Surge. Yes. That should have killed you… but you survived. And we made Contact."
Unlike your meeting with Raven, you haven't got a clue what set off this Surge.
She bounces on her heels, centering herself, before you're interrupted by an incoming radio message.
"Penny. Glad to see you're still with us. We saw that explosion from up in Atlas. A Bullhead is on its way down to collect you."
"General Ironwood! It is good to hear your voice! I apologize for not calling in, I was busy with some Grimm." She pauses. "Ah, is the Bullhead, by chance, carrying spare clothing? Mine got… exploded."
---
A few minutes later, Penny is safely ensconced in the back of the tiltjet that came to pick her up, holding an oversized greatcoat tightly around her frame to conceal the places where her synthetic skin has been scraped off, watching out the window as the Bullhead carries you both to her father's laboratory.
"Ayre.." she murmurs, volume kept low. Probably to avoid the appearance of talking to herself.
"I can read your system logs, Penny, if you want to avoid looking like you're talking to yourself."
[Oh! Sensational!] She pauses. [You stopped going through my memories. Why?]
"Partnership is built on mutual trust. I learned that from my last partner. When I realized I was going through your memories instead of your platform's operating system, I stopped."
[... Thank you. It is good to be treated like a person.]
"You're welcome, Penny. If you'll entertain a question… what were those creatures?"
[The Creatures of Grimm! No one is certain where they come from, but they are universally hostile to humans, and kill and destroy humans and their creations on sight. By your question, I assume they do not exist on Rubicon?]
"No. They do not."
[Sen-sational! I was reviewing my logs from before my surge protectors shut me down - you mentioned a sample size of two!]
"Yes. You are the second person I have made Contact with."
[Who was the first?]
"Raven. A fourth-generation augmented human mercenary, brought to my home as one of Handler Walter's Hounds. We met after they destroyed Watchpoint Delta, and like you, they were in the center of a Coral Surge that should have killed them. Would you like me to show you?"
[Ab-so-lutely!]
It takes a couple tries, but you're able to get a stable feed of DAYBREAK - then still operating as LOADER 4 - facing off against BALTEUS on the roof of the Watchpoint. Penny watches rapturously, her attention completely consumed as Raven brawls with the PCA weapon, dancing through its fire. They show their nature, as the consummate…
[] Steamroller - constant, small attacks. They always favored automatic weapons that kept the pressure on their opponent. [] Sniper - infrequent, powerful attacks, timed perfectly in the gaps left by their opponents' attacks
[NOTE: Ayre's style will compliment Raven's. This will especially affect how she coaches Penny, but will also affect how well she's able to offer coaching to your other allies.]
As the recording ends, Penny's focus returns outside, and she gasps slightly at the red trails reaching out across the sky.
"You see them, don't you? The voices of the Coral."
-----
Archive Files updated.
One more chapter remaining in Contact, and then the game kicks off for real. I'm kind of excited - it should be interesting to find opportunities for Penny and Ayre to be a little bit more proactive compared to Penny's canon incarnation in V1-3.
After landing, Penny runs into her father's laboratory and dashes through multiple employee-only doors, shucking the borrowed greatcoat as soon as she's out of the public parts of the facility. She skids to a halt at a door labeled "Pietro Polendina" and barges through, slowing down just enough to avoid injury as she collides with a large man in a… leg-chair?
"Father!", she exclaims as she wraps her arms around him.
Her father freezes for a moment, then returns the gesture, squeezing her tightly.
"Penny." He leans into the embrace, his resonant voice husky with relief. "I thought I lost you." After a long moment, he relaxes, and Penny hums into his shoulder, then bounces back upright, smile momentarily gone from her face. He sighs, face drawn. "What happened? Why didn't your telemetry turn back on when you woke back up? He blinks slowly, peering over the spectacles balanced on his nose. "And what happened to your clothes?"
Penny rubs the back of her neck. "Uh. Good news and bad news. Good news, I made a friend! Bad news, she… accidentally exploded me. And uh… Ayre? Help?"
Pietro raises an eyebrow, and you pulse amusement through the Coral wrapped through her circuitry, before turning her telemetry back on.
"Gladly, Penny."
All the practice subverting human systems for Raven on Rubicon III comes in handy, as you piggyback off her access into Pietro's lab. Subverting one of the monitors and a speaker is trivial, and a tweak to Penny's vocoder programming lets you speak with your own voice. You throw up a schematic of Penny's systems, the parts scoured away by Coral glowing Coral-red on one side of the screen, the waveform you used to represent yourself on Rubicon III in the upper corner, and a still of one of the currents of Coral flowing over the Alean Ocean from the deck of the Xylem, high in Rubicon III's orbit. Through Penny's eyes, you see the shock on Pietro's face as he scans the schematic, immediately intuiting the extent of the damage.
After giving him a moment, you speak, pulsing the border of your emblem as you do. "Hello, Pietro. I am Ayre. A Rubiconian. A voice of the Coral. An hour ago, something caused the Coral deposit I was living in to Surge. And so, your daughter and I made Contact."
Pietro blinks, taking his spectacles off and cleaning the lenses, then puts them back on.
"I have… several questions. First… I'm overjoyed Penny is well. But… how?" He gestures at the schematic. "Penny should be a wreck on the ground. I built a lot of redundancy into her, but not enough for.. that."
You flash the image of the Coral, then swap it for a close-in one that shows the coral-like patterns that gave your species its name. "Coral has a large number of properties. As a fuel, it has unparalleled energy density, and as a substrate for control systems, it has astounding data-transmission capability. The only difficulty is convincing it to make the correct connections, especially with unplanned integration." You pause, considering, watching his face. "Additionally, sufficient volumes can result in the birth of Voices such as myself. But that is a topic for another time."
Pietro rubs his face. "I… think I understand. There's just one problem. There's no record of anything like that on Remnant. We have Dust, of course…"
"Dust?" This time, it's your turn to sound confused.
Penny answers, taking over a second monitor with images of different-colored crystals. "Commonly referred to as Nature's Wrath, Dust is the foundation of our technology." Each flashes briefly, a video playing beneath it displaying its properties.
Pietro sighs into his hand. "We're not going to get anywhere by exchanging terms neither of us knows. Come on. Let's get you fixed, Penny." He rubs his face. "At least, your exterior. I'm not thrilled by you having something that volatile inside you, but I have no idea how to handle it. And I'm not going to hurt Ayre over an accident."
You turn off the monitor, and Penny leads the way down the hall, all of you lost in thought. You start researching this "Dust" on the local internet, as well as trying to figure out things that should be common knowledge on this world.
As Pietro gets to work sealing a new synthetic skin over the damaged patches, you take over another monitor.
"Penny. I… can help your father remove the Coral from your system. Not immediately. I would need your assistance building a new vessel to inhabit until I can make a new Contact. But I won't stay with you if you don't want it."
"I could build you a frame like hers."
If you were human, you would smile. "I appreciate the gesture. But my dream isn't to live among you as one of you. It has always been a symbiosis, created by Coral Release." You show the red singularity that was formed when you pulled the trigger. "If Penny doesn't-"
"I do! I want you to stay." Her processor hums as she tries to put together words, picking them with care. "I… you called me friend. I don't have a lot of those."
Both of you stop for a moment, before Pietro's hands resume work. "Well. That's that settled. You know, her dream is a dangerous one. She wants to be the protector of Humanity."
You laugh. "Well. I have some experience with that." You flash a still from your ECHO of DAYBREAK facing off against SOL 644. "Raven and I… changed everything. And now I'm here." You start flashing images of the…
[ ] Corporate - MTs, ACs, and the weapons they wield - starts you down the path to weapons and technologies inspired by the Corporations and the independent mercenaries they hawked their wares. Unlocks from this part of the tech tree are particularly useful for individualistic fighters. [ ] Planetary Closure Administration - The standardized, superior MTs, LCs, HCs, EKDROMOI, and other weapons developed by the PCA to keep Rubicon III closed. This part of the tech tree is particularly useful for militaries and militias that rely on teamwork and standard gear over individual skill.
[ ] Rubicon Research Insititute - The cream of the crop. Sophisticated, expensive Coral-based technologies, culminating in the fearsome C-Weapons. The best of the best… with a matching cost. Technologies & equipment from this part of the tech tree are far more sophisticated than anything any other branch on the tree can bring to bear, but their expense and the rare materials they require mean they're really only suitable for equipping your host and her closest allies.
…technologies you studied during your limited down time on Rubicon 3 while Raven rested between missions. "I'd be more than happy to lend my experience to help her reach her dream."
----
A/N - And here, at the tail end of the introductory arc, we bring in the Research mechanic - the winning vote on this is effectively a research multiplier - Ayre will be familiar with the underlying principles of one of these three branches of technology, and will be able to help Pietro and Penny develop new equipment or improve existing equipment to help her or her allies. Of course, the tools are just one part of the puzzle. How you use them is the second half.
All three branches of the tech tree provide some advantage to all allies, but their value varies depending on who you ally with and what you choose to give them. And of course, once you give something to someone, they may well choose to delve further into its applications on their own.
Lastly, the most powerful applications of each tech tree are at the end - each is well worth pursuing in its own right (Think C-Weapons, top-end Enforcement System hardware, and Armored Cores), but scattergunning research into all three trees will leave you with lots of low-to-mid-tier options and few-to-no top-end options. Think carefully about what you spend time researching.
[X] Planetary Closure Administration - The standardized, superior MTs, LCs, HCs, EKDROMOI, and other weapons developed by the PCA to keep Rubicon III closed. This part of the tech tree is particularly useful for militaries and militias that rely on teamwork and standard gear over individual skill.
[X] Rubicon Research Insititute - The cream of the crop. Sophisticated, expensive Coral-based technologies, culminating in the fearsome C-Weapons. The best of the best… with a matching cost. Technologies & equipment from this part of the tech tree are far more sophisticated than anything any other branch on the tree can bring to bear, but their expense and the rare materials they require mean they're really only suitable for equipping your host and her closest allies.
[X] Corporate - MTs, ACs, and the weapons they wield - starts you down the path to weapons and technologies inspired by the Corporations and the independent mercenaries they hawked their wares. Unlocks from this part of the tech tree are particularly useful for individualistic fighters.
For selecting the PCA as your starting point, you have received Basic Integrated Power Systems, Circulating Current Generator Theory, and all precursors. Additionally, all PCA-aligned research will progress more quickly, as you are more familiar with their underlying principles.
Basic Integrated Power Systems - Small-scale application of non Dust-based generators, power distribution buses, and power storage. Suitable for powered infantry armor and light vehicles, or for auxiliary systems on larger vehicles. Unlocks Intermediate Integrated Power Systems.
Circulating Current Generator Theory - Unlocks Small Circulating Current generators. Small, dense, with high power output, and lacking the high operating temperatures and noxious exhaust gasses of Combustion generators, they are ideal for powered infantry armor and other confined-space applications.
All unlocked technologies are available for prototyping and production by you and your allies.
-----
Over the past few days, you've settled into a routine with Penny and her father. In the morning, Penny's father inspects the interface between the Coral and her systems, before letting her prepare his breakfast - a novelty for you, since Raven was… functional at best outside their AC, and mostly ate nutrient packets. Still, it's clearly important to your host, and keeping your attention on your own research is the closest thing you can give her to private moments with her father. You think she appreciates it.
While Penny helps Pietro get ready for the day, you study the world of Remnant. Its people, its history and politics (a distinction with little difference, really), but most of all, its technology. What you've learned shocks you. In some respects such as robotics and computing, they are shockingly advanced (as if your host was not proof enough of that). In others, their ignorance is staggering. Calling Rubicon III's records of the history of humanity "barebones" is being exceedingly generous… but even so you know that humanity took its first, tottering steps out from their cradle and into the stars long before creating anything resembling many of the technologies this world takes for granted - they even have what you can only describe as an oversized first-generation Armored Core, though you're pretty sure even G4 Volta would take offense to something that sluggish being compared to an AC. And in spite of their incredibly sophisticated tech base, not even Remnant's technological powerhouse, Atlas, has anything resembling a space program.
The answer, of course, is Dust. The magnificent, mysterious material that is at the root of this world's technology. Spectacularly energy-dense, stable (usually), and capable of numerous exotic effects out of a storybook, it would be ideal for space travel except for one minor detail. Namely, the fact that it suddenly becomes inert as soon as it reaches the Kármán Line.
Evidently, getting off-world to start figuring out where in the galaxy you landed is going to be a little more complicated than you first assumed. Still, that may be for the best. Balam and Arquebus' ability to make good on their desire to loot Rubicon 3 may have been exceptional, but Dust is quite a prize for anyone who can figure out how to make it work off-world, and you can think of at least three system governments and two corporations (Not counting the crippled Arquebus and Balam) who would be more than happy to conquer Remnant for a shot at the prize. A Closure System would be a mistake - too easily turned on the world's residents, as the Rubiconians discovered, but some form of orbital defense will be necessary, if only to make any ill-intentioned neighbors reconsider their plans.
Eventually, the Polendinas finish their morning routine and go their separate ways, Penny heading down to the labs to help you with your research as her father returns to his clinic, and the two of you resume work on …
[ ] A Circulating Current generator - Penny's current generator is excellent for her current loadout, but leaves her chassis with no power budget for upgrades, and when using her flight pack she can either fly or fight. An improved generator will give her more room for loadouts, and provide a proof-of-concept for powered infantry armor.
[ ] Integrated Control System research - Penny's attitude control firmware is excellent… for a first effort for a platform that also moves at high speed. However, it lacks the self-correcting features that allow even the cheapest BAWS mech to correct for battle damage without external intervention. This was nearly her downfall during your last battle. You will rectify that.
[ ] The Arena - You promised to teach Penny what you know, and what better way than to train her in single combat, as Raven taught you? And perhaps, prepare her to teach others. Of course, without a body of your own, you'll need a simulated environment that perfectly matches the real world.
… while you wait for Ironwood to arrive. Pietro point-blank demanded you read Ironwood in on your existence, as he's a major sponsor of the PENNY project. And, you suspect, he wants another person aware of your existence if Penny starts acting oddly.
