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Heaven Was A Fortress (Built In Heavens CYOA Inspired Quest)

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Added a tab to Childhood's info sheet with all known ship crew and little tidbits for them. This way you know who is who, and what their jobs are. Also little anecdotes on their pasts.
 
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First Steps Into A New Age
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] [KL-0909090909] Wait Until You're Sure You can Help Her
    [X] [Lost Cause] Repair and upgrade your old ship. (-300 Resources)
    [X] [Repair Childhood]
    -[X] Slicer Beam A [6,000/6,000]
    -[X] Subspace Wall [4,000/9,000]

    The forest is dark, strange, and quiet.

    The sounds of nature that should be there are eerily absent. Even the darkness isn't complete, as an eldritch glow suffuses everything in a damp mist. There is a question to be asked, but in your half aware state you cannot remember what it was supposed to be. It is as comforting as it is terrifying, and that confuses you.

    The sound of dripping water echoes throughout the forest, but you cannot turn around. Something is behind you.

    "Her corpse is still screaming."

    It's red. Everything is red. You clutch weakly at the wrist of the hand that is holding your heart as you die.

    "I wonder… will she scream like her sister?"

    Someone screams. Their voice is beautiful but terrifying.

    __________________________________________________


    You wake slowly with a grumble to a white world. "...bright."

    "Captain?"

    You squint, blocking out enough of the light bouncing off her dress to bring Childhood into focus. "You're really bright. Hurts to look at after waking up." You can't see her eyes, but the way she tilts her head makes her confusion obvious. "How long until translation into realspace?"

    "Three hours, forty five minutes. I estimate ten minutes after that before we're in range of active planetary sensors." You shudder at the feel of her fingers along your arm as you stand up from the bed. The aftershocks of your short separation still rumbling through your body at seeming random. You've already been able to confirm it as a primarily psychological reaction, but it doesn't change the fact there is a physical component to it as well.

    You force yourself to step into the shower cubicle alone.

    "The first of my slicer beams has finished repairs. Integrity will be subpar until the hull is regenerated, but otherwise it will work fine. Future recovery will also be much easier."

    "Meaning?"

    "If someone manages to blow it to pieces, I will be able to regenerate it without needing to rebuild it again. I think."

    "You think?"

    "Haven't actually had it blown off yet. I hope it won't, but…"

    "I understand." Knowing something is theoretically possible is different from knowing if you can do it. The only way to get the latter is actually experiencing it, regardless of designs. So even though Childhood should be able to get her gun back after it's blasted, you really don't want to test that until you can get some of her other guns online. "How is your biome?"

    "After cloning a few plants from the… Lost Causes'"—the vitriol for the smaller ship is clearly audible in her voice, you're going to have to address that at some point—"hydroponics bay, I have been able to stabilize it. Cannot farm yet, so I'm not at self sufficiency, but I'm not likely to run out of oxygen for you and the crew."

    "That's reassuring. How are we doing on water then?"

    "Fine. I'd like to mine some asteroids eventually so I can refill my lakes and start cloning fish, but we're not strained for at least another year." Right. A biome is a biome, a living breathing habitat with its own ecosystem. You seem to be getting better at ignoring that.

    "I'll ask GH-708 to put a belt in our next course so we can do that." Taking a swim in a lake actually sounds pretty fun. It'd also help you get used to the fact you're living on a ship with its own ecosystem. Groaning in relief as you step out of your new room(?)'s shower, you carefully run your fingers through your hair to help it dry out.


    You freeze for a moment as Childhood's avatar comes back into view. Gone is the field of white that had captivated you when you had first seen her, replaced by what looked to be a depthless black. The cloth over here eyes was replaced by a metal plate that somehow retained that feeling of isolation. It was as captivating as her previous appearance and you have no idea how she's managed it. Her smile is definitely smug though as she lays across your throne-bed-thing. "Ah…"

    The walls of your privacy space are suddenly split and pulled away, revealing the rest of the bridge, with the handful of you bridge crew at their stations including…

    "Captain, good… am I interrupting something?" AD-331 looks between your unclothed form and Childhood's Avatar laying on your bed—and staring strangely at him—before shrugging. "We've finished comparisons between what Childhood's End has shared and what we know."

    You nod stiffly, quickly reaching over Childhood to grab at your body suit. "It's fine, sorry that you had to see that."

    "See what?" You hear him mutter half under his breath before shrugging again as you continue putting on your undersuit. "Lady Childhood's End wasn't kidding when she explained her construction. Absolutely nothing we found was operating at peak capacity despite being driven to it's material limits. The shields alone are less than a fifth of their full strength if our readings are accurate, but we have no clue how they're supposed to get more power than they have. And this is all still utilizing technology that I am firmly convinced is even more advanced than even the Federation."

    "I see… I'm assuming that's all because of the degradation?"

    "Yes." Childhood lays flat on her stomach as she begins kicking her feet through the air. "If I push any more of myself into the power conduits, they'll start to overload at best and break down at worst. As it is, the biological components are barely keeping up with the deleterious effects my subspace energies are having on them."

    "I'll put it somewhere towards the top of the list." You grunt out as you slip your head through the top of your outfit. "Sadly though it'll all have to wait. My priority right now is to make it back to the Throneworld of the Southern Reaches to tell my Father that I found you. While we're there I can see about filling out your and the Lost Causes' crew compliments to full." Childhood's grin goes to happy then morose as you bring her, then the Lost Cause up in order. You're probably going to have to do something about that eventually. But that's a problem for the future you. "How long until we leave Hellscape?"

    AD-331 glances up at the empty windows you finally identified as view screens attached to cameras on the outside of the ship that somehow gave a full view from the hull itself. A bolt of phase-energy from Childhood being in the Hellscape sparks off something, which causes it to illuminate… something else you really don't want to think about in the darkness.

    "A few hours." AD-331 visibly forces himself to look away from the view screen. "Lady Childhood's End's Hellscape drive is far more accurate than what we're trained to use. If our calculations are right, then we're going to come out right in the center of Lord Sages' fleet net. If reaction times remain at least in the same neighborhood as average—"

    "Above average." AD-331 blinks at your interruption. "The Southern Reaches Fleet is the fleet that's the primary group in charge of keeping Federation raiding vessels out of Imperial space. So they've trained to have faster reaction times than normal. We'll have a window of only a few minutes before they organize an offensive against us. And I don't want to get into a conflict with my family's retainers."

    He nods at that, "Makes sense. As much trouble as my Father has caused up so far, his retainers don't deserve what Lady Childhood's End's weapons can do to them."

    "Actually… I have a question that's bothering me." You and AD-331 look over at Childhood's sudden insertion. "I appreciate your use of my name, but even I can tell that it's unwieldy in your language, as… limited as it is." It's pretty obvious she had been about to say something insulting there. She probably refrained because you've also been using the 'insufficient' language yourself. "Why not simply shorten it? It's a natural action to—"

    "Please don't, Childhood's End." The harshness in AD-331's voice is enough to bring your ship up short. "Names are not something to make light of, regardless of who you are. It does not matter how ridiculous your designation is or who you are as a person. You could be the most pathetic dreg of society, and I would still respect that fact. I request the same. Ma'am."

    Childhood holds his gaze for several seconds with her blindfold. "... I shall keep it noted, Sir AD-331." The shared nod between them is so slight you almost miss it, but once given, AD-331 turns to leave. You sigh.

    "In the Great Empire, overpopulation and overcrowding has always been a constant issue ever since it's induction. But before that, before they even made it off their homeworld, they were cursed with short life spans on a world covered with predators that could easily kill them in droves. So practice was that no one would have a name as a way to police emotional attachments, in an effort to reduce casualty counts."

    Childhood makes a skeptical noise. "That couldn't possibly have worked."

    You shrug in response. "That's what the official histories say. Everyone who's thought about it knows it doesn't really hold up to scrutiny, but most people don't want to poke at it too much because the implications of most of the alternate theories are… much worse. Either way, by the time they managed to escape their gravity well, it was so ingrained to their collective psyche they couldn't bring themselves to disrespect those that came before to start giving everyone a name."

    "Thus the numbers."

    "Correct. The Empire has a long standing tradition of being a meritocracy, even if parts of it have devolved. Shorter numbers are reserved for those born higher up in the hierarchy, with an equal expectation of ability to go with them." You wave after the direction AD-331 went, "AD-331 is eventually expected to keep rising through the ranks to become an Admiral, since his father is a sector governor."

    "I have a question; the one in stasis in my medbay with the… Beast Infection, I believe you called it. Why her… designation." Childhood's End paused for a full three seconds before apparently deciding there was really no way to ask her question delicately. "As far as serial designators go, it's hilariously inefficient and rather ridiculous."

    "Not everyone is or was very good at coming up with systems to generate serial numbers for their colonial populations, which lead to all the easiest ones being taken early on by the core worlds when they were first being settled." You rub at the side of your head in sudden embarrassment on behalf of your friend. "The further out from the core worlds you go, the less… refined the serial number systems for the colonies tend to get, which leads to numbers like KL's. And to be honest, it could have been so much worse; I met one student at the Academy who had to suffer with inaudible symbols in their Number."

    "That is difficult to imagine, but it makes sense considering how many hundreds of thousands of worlds are in the Empire."

    "I'm assuming you mined the Lost Cause for statistics?"

    "..." Your ship blushes rather cutely, you note. Which triggers another thought about how you might be hardwired to like her intentionally, considering you've been raised by and around Dagenruff your entire life and thus are used to using their standards for things. "I believe I should apologize to AD-331 about my faux pas." Even the way she casually tries to change the subject is cute. "And you need to finish dressing for your return home."

    You glance down at yourself. "This should be fine, though?" The look Childhood's End gives you confuses you. "What?"

    "Do... you know what a nudity taboo is?" Childhood's End asks.

    "What… of course I do. But what does that have to do with…" you trail off as something clicks. "The builders had a nudity taboo, didn't they?"

    Your ship nods with a strange look on her face.

    "...Dagenruff don't have one," you explain a bit awkwardly. "Apologies if I made you uncomfortable." 'Or jealous' you add silently, considering her behavior so far.

    "I had thought otherwise, given how quickly you went for your undersuit. But that suit alone would still be borderline indecent by Human standards, so to say it on its own is fine…"

    "Ah. Well, um… you realize I was raised by Dagenruff, right?"

    Childhood's End nods silently, and you continue. "Well, Dagenruff beauty standards are largely based on the pelt and the quality thereof. Hairless beings are almost universally unattractive to them, so by the standards of the people I grew up with I'm… honestly pretty ugly. That's why I don't really feel comfortable with my skin uncovered, and why I wear my hair so long, despite it being a bit impractical."

    "I see…" Childhood's End looks like she's bitten into something unpleasant as she says that. "I shall endeavor to take this into account in the future. As it is though, it is insufficient."

    You pull at the edges of your outfit. "Are you sure? I might not have any replacement coats, but the bodysuit itself doesn't contradict any military dress codes."

    "It might not, but those codes are for Dagenruff captains for Dagenruff vessels. I am Childhood's End, a Human Vessel built to be the flagship of a Human armada." She finally stands from the bed-throne-thing, and suddenly she's taller than you and far more imposing. A reminder that this is the avatar of a vessel that outmasses fleets. "I shall not have my Captain march half naked through a crowd of civilians to report to her father, regardless of station."

    The walls of the privacy space drop from… wherever it was they vanished to when AD-331 had come to deliver his report. Once you are sealed away again, Childhood steps forward, and physically starts peeling you from your familiar bodysuit. It's somehow not as embarrassing as it should be, but you still find yourself blushing by the end of it as one of the petals that are enveloping the both of you opens inwards to reveal articles of what looks to be cloth.

    None of them are familiar, but Childhood rifles through them easily, picking out piece after piece. The underwear you recognize when she pulls them free, but the chest wrapping you don't even after she forces it down over your head, making it slightly more difficult than you're used to in order to breathe. A thin torso covering is next, with some form of outer layer going over it while buttoning only halfway up your chest. From there, she gives you a quick choice of leg wrappings—you choose the leggings over the kilt—and ends it all with foot warmers and a set of shoes with an extension attached to the heel that takes a full two minutes for you to adjust to.

    You don't complain though; the extra five centimeters are worth the footwear forcing you to walk on your toes.

    She almost goes for your hair next, but visibly strangles whatever desire she had for it in the grave. "There." Childhood gathers up your bodysuit and previous undergarments before stuffing them into yet another opening in the walls. "I'll consider making a new version of your usual outfit, but this is more fitting for My Captain. The standard uniform comes with a psionic shield generator, but I've made some modifications that are within acceptable parameters."

    For a moment you almost ask what parameters she's going by, but you strangle it with the questions you feel are better to ask right now, "Psionic shield generator? I'm assuming you're talking about a Psion Matrix System?"

    "Psion Matrix System?" She asks with a quirked brow.

    "It's the common name for systems that collect the excess energy that rested Psions give off unconsciously and repurposes it to other tasks. The Empire knows about them, but they haven't actually managed to collect the energy efficiently yet," you explain, "The Federation can, but they require massive systems. Rumor is they can do better but restrict themselves to the large ones in order to hide Psionic Indoctrination fields with them since they're everywhere."

    "I see." Childhood hums in contemplation. "The Concordiat used a different term, but they managed to synthesize a Psycho-reactive crystal that can easily be alloyed into other materials that naturally collects psionic energies. It allows for personal shielding in nearly any outfit so long as the wearer is psychic."

    And if you're any indication, the Builders made sure that their entire race was psychic, and powerful ones at that. Part of you is curious how that would have affected things like law enforcement or civil order, but that's not important enough to follow up on. "What were the personal modifications you mentioned?"

    "Instead of using the normal fiber weave, I utilized an atomic weave to give you extra armor in the instance of your shield going down somehow." To give Childhood credit, she says this so naturally you almost believe that's the only modification she made. But she said 'modifications' as in plural, and there's a rather distracting stiff section of your torso wrap that's difficult to ignore. But the way Childhood hovers for a moment convinces you not to say a thing.

    "Thank you, Childhood's End." You smile at her, and she looks like she's having a near religious experience, "We're about to arrive, so let's call my bridge crew here and introduce you to the galaxy. Shall we?"

    __________________________________________________

    Despite popular dramatizations, when a ship enters or exits the Hellscape a hole between it and realspace does not open. There is no tempest of reality being torn apart in order to form a gateway between realms. Ships simply erupt from their 'jump' in a flash of light.

    The entrance of Childhood's End is no different… but at the same time it is not so mundane.

    Though the proper subsystem does not function from the damage of aeons, your new flagship's entrance to the cosmos is preceded by a storm. A wave of thundering energy that sweeps outward by tens of thousands of kilometers, a divine trumpet to herald the arrival of a god. Seven of the ten ships caught in the wave find their systems instantly overloaded by the energy discharge as it overwhelms the protections meant to prevent exactly that. None of them explode—the damage to the subsystem preventing that much at least—but they are almost all collectively disabled.

    "This is Captain Anastasia Morev, daughter of Lord Sage and Heir of the Southern Reaches. Tell my Father that I have come home."

    Sadly though, it's not that easy.

    First, you have to confirm that it's actually you. Then you have to explain what the ship you're commanding is. Then you have to confirm that yes, this is the god vessel. Then you have to consider the praise and sudden and massive religious fever that temporarily takes over the entire planet. Then you have to wait for word to be sent to the Throneworld about your success.

    In the end though you don't actually have to wait for a member of the royal family to show up, though it's a near thing. The parade celebrating your success takes another day to plan on top of the two days spent on all of the above, then a week to actually set up, and then one more day to actually perform to completion.

    But you don't complain, or argue. It's a monumental moment not only for you, but your entire family. They have spent hundreds of years searching for Childhood's End, but it has been you that has managed it. You deserve this. Your father deserves this.

    So you stand tall and proud in Childhood's blue and silver uniform as the crowds of thousands cheer your success to the heavens.

    __________________________________________________

    Later that night finds you in your father's room, curled up in his arms despite it being childish. But he allows it in spite of this, because he believes you deserve it; it took you barely a month to achieve the goal that had been the core of your family since the dawn of your Father's line.

    "While you were having your parade pup, I got word from the Throne World. The Princess has requested that you make a showing of your prize through the Core Worlds."

    "She has?" You climb off your Father so he can sit up and look at you directly. "I'm assuming it's a show of arms, there's nothing happening in the Core Worlds that a single ship, no matter how advanced, will have much of an impact on. For now at least."

    "Yes." You sit across from him, on a smaller-than-average chair that he had brought in just for talks like this. "Since we're heavy supporters of Apollo and Nike over their younger siblings, Nike desires up to show off our new acquisition to rally more support for her claim."

    "I thought her claim was solid."

    "It was, but while you were away, Lord Mustafa declared for the third Prince."

    "That's… bad." Mustafa's control over the Shetran stream afforded him a lot of political power. Mostly stemming from his far larger than average fleet, and how most if not all trade in the Southern Empire eventually found its way through there. "Doing that could mean a lot of other Southern Lords changing ships to Princess Apollo's younger brother."

    "Exactly. And if I'm being honest, I would immediately ask you to accept. But extenuating circumstances has kicked her request to the back burner."

    "How so?"

    "The Incident at Sanskrit has a significant portion of the Fleet up in arms about recent Beast sightings. Investigations are still ongoing, but Apollo and Nike have agreed that your new ship should be able to easily contain even a significant outbreak. So if the political rally isn't your speed, then you could sign up for hunting Infection sightings."

    KL immediately comes to mind… and to be honest if you weren't already focused, you would have definitely flinched. You still haven't been able to do anything for your friend, and the murder of Sanskrit is still in the back of your head. Chances are it'll remain there for a while.

    "There's one more thing, potentially the most important." Your father's voice drags you from the memory of the destroyed colony. "There have been hostilities across the Helgast Border. The Helgast are claiming it's us attacking them, but our captains in the area are convinced it's pirates from Helgast space causing issues. The Emperor himself would like to send an actual fleet to investigate, but with how sensitive the events are, his advisors have convinced him it would be a better idea to send a single strong ship."

    "If it's only Pirates, then Childhood's End can handle them easily, but if it's not then she'll be able to either win regardless, or cut her way free and call for reinforcements."

    "Exactly. Regardless though, which task to take will be up to you. The God Vessel is your ship, so your first assignment with it should be your honor to choose."

    "Thank you Father. I'll think it over and speak to my crew tomorrow when I prepare to leave."

    "Good. Remember that I'll support you no matter what choice you make."

    __________________________________________________

    The trip back up from the surface wasn't preceded by thousands of cheering civilians.

    Mostly because it turns out Childhood has a Teleportarium. So instead of waiting for a shuttle to bring you back up to her, your new vessel got impatient and used the homing beacon she hid in your new uniform to suck you up as soon as you had it on and said your goodbyes to your father. Though it lasted just long enough you got a good view of BB-111's shocked face, so the sudden kidnapping wasn't entirely unwelcome. Still though… "Was that entirely necessary?"

    "Apologies, My Captain." Funny, Childhood doesn't sound even remotely apologetic. "I felt it would be better if we expedited your return."

    "And the real reason?" You immediately ask with a raised brow, even as FC-0912 recalls the shuttle that had been waiting for you.

    "... I got… nervous. There were several public records of other Patricides losing their captains in nominally safe locations. That you didn't allow me to send an escort didn't help my self control."

    That is actually reasonable, though part of you is worried by what could have killed a Captain in what the Builders likely considered 'nominally safe'. "I understand, though in my defense your idea of an 'escort' could have been passed off as a minor planetary invasion. Next time at least give me a heads up, if it's not an emergency."

    "Understood, My Captain." Childhood bows slightly… which suddenly sticks out to you, so you replay the encounter in your head. Was she… yes. She was. Your ship is modifying her avatar's body language to be closer to Dagenruff standard. And now that you're actually looking, her Avatar itself has also undergone several revisions, though nothing so major as the first one, yet. You sigh, but don't call her out on it, even as you lead the both of you away from the bridge.

    "How are you getting used to the new crew? They're not a lot like your Agents but…"

    "They are highly acceptable." Is her instant reply, her earlier solemness washed away in a sudden burst of what you think is either glee or euphoria. Though you're not sure. "My Agents are effective for what they are, sure, but they take a significant portion of time in order to build anything resembling an individual personality. Your crew are of a higher than average level of training by Concordiat standards, and their universal Psionic skills make interacting with them incredibly efficient, even if they're not at minimum direct combat rating."

    "Minimum direct combat rating?"

    "The Concordiat rated Psionics on a quadratic scale. One to four was average Civilian ability, five to eight was Military standard, nine and ten being outliers. It was common for the Military gene therapies for soldiers to include an all around enhancement to Psionic potential, and being a Patricide Captain, you were designed for class nine at minimum." Her glee turns outright smug, "And if my scans of you are accurate, the pressure of maturing under the constant influence of the Dagenruff dampening fields has actually influenced your Psionics to be even stronger than the program projected! Once you're fully matured, you'll have the potential to be the first Class eleven in millenia." She trails off after that, pressing her hands to her face, and gyrating weirdly, while mumbling something about 'best captain'.

    … Apparently you're not only breaking the Dagenruff scales, but also Builder scales. Did the universe have something out for you? Or were you just that 'lucky'? A part of you hoped she was wrong, because you stick out enough, you really don't want to end up doing a tailspin into even more 'fame'. And honestly, despite this derailing the original line of inquiry you find yourself not really wanting to know what the average Psi-rating your crew had under the Builder system.

    Discovering most of them were civilian grade didn't really do good things to your courage.

    This train of thought is cut off though as the two of you turn a corner and almost walk right into something that is very obviously not a Dagenruff, or any other species on your crew.


    She is smaller than you by almost a full foot, with dark hair and red eyes. But the defining feature has to be the scales along her exposed skin and the short tail that swishes back and forth. "Captain. Avatar." Her voice has all the qualities of being sensual, but her delivery is so bland that it actually causes you to look back as she passes.

    "Like I said earlier, my agents have the personality of an answering machine until they gain enough run time to construct themselves an individual personality." You look at Childhood's avatar. "When I gestate them, they're immediately ready to fulfil any role required of them with mechanical efficiency, but it was deemed an organic ability to adapt and evolve would be preferable. Mechanical entities and AIs are well and good, but if I have to plop down a colony somewhere, leaving a colony of self-replicating custodians to oversee things while we move on will be a lot more helpful in getting the results self sustaining and stress tested first."

    … There's the inconsistencies again. Childhood's End is a warship, why would she need to be able to create a colony?

    "Makes sense. I assume they fulfil more than a basic maintenance role?"

    "Yes. I can outfit them with arms and armor from my warforge, and if my shipyard is ever repaired, I can use them to fly interceptors and other small ships. Older Agents can also take over and command lesser vessels as well."

    "So given enough time, you can be in charge of your own subordinate fleet."

    "Correct, though I must warn you that the entire process is resource intensive… and in order to utilize the Angel-Maker method in a reasonable time frame, I will require your help. In a sense."

    You frown at that for a moment, but decide that's one string you're not going to pull for now, especially since you've just arrived at where the little psychic beacon in the back of your head is telling you OP-KL-1-1 is waiting for you.

    The room within has more in line with what you'd expect from a massive church than a subsystem on a warship. (Though the worship joke is not unfamiliar with you, you had your own drunken gigglings back in Fleet Academy.) Massive streamers of worn and threadbare cloth stretch their way across massive statues of winged Builders and alien species you've seen nowhere else, ranging from multi-winged and eyed creatures that should have no method of locomotion except for Psionics-assisted flight, to beings with too many heads and too many mouths, all locked together in a strange tableau of conflict that seemingly has more sides than you can count.

    OP-KL-1-1 stands on the far end of the chamber, directing other unarmored Agents in replacing the cloth tapestries that adorn the walls and statues. "OP-KL-1-1, report."

    "Captain Morev!" Your Chief Engineer gives one last command to a group of Agents before turning to you fully. "I've completed a preliminary inspection as you ordered. The Stasis Crypt is empty: they weren't meant to run on minimum power for more than ten thousand years like they did, and the first groups of Agents have been an amazing help in repairs that don't require Lady Childhood's direct intervention."

    You glance out the corner of your eye at your ship's Avatar, who shuffles awkwardly. "After Your and AD-331's reprimand, I looked into the specific customs, and came to the conclusion that anyone within my hull, then at least my Bridge Crew should be allowed."

    You nod slightly to that, before refocusing on OP-KL-1-1. "Give me a quick run down."

    "While we were in transit, Lady Childhood regenerated one of her guns. It required shedding a significant chunk of the surrounding internals in order to achieve it, enough that if we could recycle them I wouldn't be surprised if we were able to construct a new battlecruiser from it. Aside from that, we've been able to get her Medical deck up to Dagenruff standards, but if we're going to get it to anywhere approaching full capacity, we're going to need to repair her Warforge and start producing Builder-level equipment. The Teleportarium is usable for small groups of up to ten, only one one way; to Childhood. Her energy core is stable, specifically the Heartbeat System—if my translation is correct at least—"

    "It is."

    "It degraded further after activation and the immediate jump to Wisdom, but there's no sign of further breakdown. Aside from that… we found a terraforming system," the both of you glance at Childhood's avatar who pretends not to notice, "and can I go on record as saying that the Crew Quarters is outright phenomenal? I have my own apartment in the officer's section, and the marines won't stop talking about how they're only two to a room instead of ten. The beds are still being replaced, but I'm going to have my own queen sized mattress. I am never going to want to come out of my quarters again."

    The both of you share a giggle at that. "So, what is this place? Some kind of temple for worship?"

    "Surprisingly no." Your chief engineer waves at the main statue at the head of the chamber—a Builder entangled in some kind of wires that hund her from the ceiling. "It's actually a massive Psionic amplification array that affects the entire ship… or at least it will after we're done fixing it."

    "... Are you sure?" You glance about the massive church, "Doesn't this seem…?"

    "Primitive?" Childhood glares at OP-KL-1-1, but neither of you worry about it. "Ironically yes. Most of what is used in here is steeped in superstition and witchery as far as I can tell, but 'primitive' does not equate 'ineffective'. Just look at the Empire: we have the least advanced technology out of… pretty much everyone, but we're still on top for a reason. Now, this… 'Scripture Aura' according to the data files, lacks our advancements in Psionics, but it's effects are extreme. Once we have it completely repaired, we're going to be virtually invisible within Hellscape, which… I don't know how to process honestly. I'll let you know when it finally breaks through. Aside from that, it'll magnify our own abilities to the point we'll be able to affect other vessels within range… what range we won't know until we actually enter battle. One thing I have been able to figure out for sure though is that it connects to you specifically. There's some kind of massive galaxy-spanning network, and this place is a node for it."

    You frown, "What kind of Network are we talking about here?"

    "As far as I can understand? Primarily communications, but between what I have no idea and Lady Childhood isn't telling me. While you're on-board, you're connected to this network and it's broadcasting. Though I can't find where it's broadcasting to."

    "... Well, for now keep an eye on it, and if possible scramble our location. I don't want to be tracked by this if we can help it. At least until we know what can track us, or we can track it back."

    "Yes ma'am. I assume the pre-launch briefing is at the usual time?"

    "It is."

    "I'll be there." With that, and a salute, you and Childhood's avatar both leave the… Scripturum(?) to make your way back to the bridge, the dark figure tailing you with a thoughtful look on her face.

    "Anything you want to say, Childhood?"

    "Ah? Oh, no My Captain. It was just a stray thought, but the chances of it being true are… non existent."

    "I see. Anything you want to talk about?"

    Your ship is silent for a moment. "I… have records from my sibling ships. I know how some of them have died, though not all of them. One of the purposes of the Scripture Aura was to allow our Captains to remain in contact across the galaxy… but because of the way some of them died, it might be a danger now, and that worries me."

    "But since it's been more than fifty thousand years, the chances of it becoming a problem are slim?"

    "Yes. Or at least, that's what I believe. I do not know a good way to disable the Scripture without doing excess damage."

    You hum quietly as you keep walking. "We'll just have to keep it in mind. If we're lucky, we might even be able to see if there's any of your sisters still alive." You see Childhood frown out the edge of your eye. Her next words are only barely audible to your ears.

    "That's what I'm afraid of…"

    __________________________________________________

    [] [Your Duty] Political Moves.
    Your Emperor is getting on in years and has announced his eventual retirement. Up until the debacle that was your Father's Search, First Prince Apollo had been heir to that position, which was handed off to his sister Nike. And until Lord Mustafa declared for their younger brother, her position had been unassailable. Now, though, she needs something to keep the Lords in line long enough to keep her claim to the throne what it is. She'd like to have you. (You feel there is a low chance for Resources to repair Childhood's End.)

    [] [Your Duty] Beast Hunt.
    The incident at Sanskrit has convinced the Admiralty that the recent rumors of Beast Plague infections are a lot more pressing then everyone thought. They'd like your help, since Childhood's End should be more than enough to contain a small outbreak on her own. (You feel there is a middling chance for Resources to repair Childhood's End.)

    [] [Your Duty] Spaze Nazis.
    There's been attacks across the entire south eastern border with the Helgast Federation. The Emperor wants someone to look into it, but can't send a fleet without sparking a war that the Empire really doesn't feel like pursuing right now with the succession so close. But one super ship? That's perfect. (You feel there isn't going to be a lot of scrap, but there will likely be a lot of enemy ships for Childhood's End to… eat.)
     
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    • [X] [Your Duty] Political Moves.

    Not the best in mechanical terms, but the politics seem like something we should try to get out of the way early. Nice little low-risk shakedown cruise to let everyone get used to the new equipment, and hopefully heads off risk of a succession war. Beast hunting would be a good idea too, but we're clearly still a bit traumatized by Sanskrit, and sending the God Vessel to a border skirmish honestly feels as though it could be considered more threatening than a normal fleet.
     
    something I'd like to point out is that no matter what option we take it should help with the politics because princess Nike's claim will be enhanced by us showing off Childhoods End and therefore showing the shiny new builder ship that is under Nike's control by proxy
     
    [x] [Your Duty] Spaze Nazis.
    I feel like this would actually be even better politically. You support Nike, but not in a normal political way, instead you´re actively going out to get shit done.
     
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