Industrial Commander: Not Enough Pockets

[TrueGuardian32]

One of my orbital labs just collapsed into a blackhole. I started my assault into Batarian space. I split off a piece of my focus to take a look near instantly. Well, as close to instantly as possible. Time Dilation caused by the blackhole means I have no clue on just how long it took me to respond. Regardless, it was expanding. Which was bad, like really bad. There was an inactive mass relay in this system and it was about to get eaten by an accidental black hole. This was one of the labs experimenting with Dark Matter, what the hell did it do to cause a blackhole, checking the records. They attempted to use Dark Matter to contain Antimatter. Well, I know how to throw blackholes at people now I suppose? Regardless let's get the heck out of that system, and hopefully, I didn't just start another world ending threat, on a universal level.

Let's set up a blueprint for a couple of observation posts, the Haulers will bring materials and build them. Just in case, I should start a blueprint for a dimensional shunt, just in case I have to off load this black hole into another dimension. I need to go over that data that managed to get transmitted into railspace before the Black Hole formed. There must be pretty useful data there.

—

The Batarians were not expecting me to appear behind their border fleet. They had their weapons trained directly on the space near the Mass Relay. So naturally I fired my Null Beams, and they ripped apart their own ships when trying to turn towards me. So, note to self, Null Beams don't stop an entire ship. Should have realized shaping the field into a beam would make it a BEAM. I'd have to target something smaller than the canon if I wanted to freeze the entire thing. Ah, damn it. I need to recover bodies and save survivors. I'm definitely seeing some non-batarian corpses. How many of their ships have slaves on them?!

Oh that is interesting. They were live-streaming this event to both Batarian and Citadel space… and that means the Citadel races now know that I have alternative FTL. Damn. Well, there is nothing I can do about it now. Let's make sure the last thing they see is me actually picking up survivors instead of just leaving them for dead. Prisoners of War are now mine. As well as a couple refugees. Found a couple of Batarians with slave collars as well. On that note, Slave Collars use radio signals to receive the order to detonate. Which is really good for one reason. I can jam radio signals.

I also had the capabilities on my ships to jam different signals, radio being one of them. This was really good news for me. As it meant I could capture more citizens to fuel my newest project, the City World. I was making districts capable of serving both Dextro and Levo based life. I wonder if I'll find some Quarian slaves terrified with my mere existence? Could be possible. Hmm… I wonder how the other races will react when I claim the new citizens of my empire as mine instead of returning them back to their respective empires. Eh, they can get over it, I don't see them fighting against the Batarians.

— Sovereign.

Sovereign was… annoyed. They had been monitoring everyone to make sure no race had gotten to the point where they could develop some alternative FTL. Thus far it had been going alright. It wasn't time to start the cycle yet. Then an A.I. known as Commander True was found, and it was completely in the dark. None of the relays had information on the A.I. meaning it was a problem. A big problem, something that required the Cycle to start early. So Sovereign had sent a message to Citadel to get the Keepers to initiate the Cycle.

But they didn't listen. Someone had sabotaged the early warning systems. The Inusannon probably did it. They were always skeptical of the Citadel. Regardless, it needed to begin, so the Reaper left the system they were observing from to head to the Citadel, to manually activate the Cycle. Once it was only one Relay away from the Citadel. The A.I. in question appeared. Five ships, smaller than it was, but they fired beams of energy, it was concentrated nuclear radiation. It completely bypassed the Mass Effect Shielding and the Energy Shielding, more importantly, it completely disabled its weapons system on the first attack.

Forcing Sovereign to run. Unable to fight back against the ships. But the ships were capable of tracing them somehow. It was impossible to track dark matter, so how were they able to find them!?! The Sovereign was panicking. An alien emotion. Something it hadn't ever felt before. It was used to being the strongest being around. But now it was getting hunted like a scattering race trying to evade a cycle.

Fear, Humiliation, and Hatred. Three emotions it knew of but had never used until today. They would kill Commander True the moment they had the other harvesters here to support themself. It wouldn't be on the run for long. Sovereign could use the Turians militant nature to delay the A.I. It knew of the patrols the Turians took, all it would have to do is put them between the A.I. and itself.

—

I almost just lost everything twice in one day. At the same time the black hole forms, Sovereign decides to make an attempt for the Citadel! Those ships were supposed to secretly stop Batarians from causing trouble! I really need to actually locate the Citadel, I'll send a QED armed ship through the relay soon, that should allow me to keep it active so I can figure out where the Citadel actually is. I was planning on slowly finding it via tracing the Dark Matter traces. The hell is happening today to cause so much trouble all at once? Well, at least it can't get worse.

I just got an alert. Screw you Murphy.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

With curveball after curveball, you'd think the day couldn't get any worse. But, well. I just had a Quarian attempt to suicide bomb one of my stations. I managed to catch it before it happened thanks to my stupidly advanced scanning tech. But it was a close shave. This one was the Gateway station, as well. Which would have caused way too many issues. Thus I had captured a Quarian terrorist.

Had them locked into a sanitized cell while I figured out what to do with them. I had a ton of things to deal with on the side as well. Sovereign was running, and my experimental radiation laser cannons did work, unfortunately they had to be at a full stop to actually fire cause I had to use the Null Fields to isolate the beam. I definitely hit something important, cause the Sovereign had completely stopped fighting back after the initial exchange, and it's been running towards Turian space since then.

So, I got into contact with the Turian Primarch, who originally tried to figure out who I was and how I got ahold of his multitools number until I introduced myself. I let him know that an alien A.I. Dreadnought that was trying to attack the citadel was on the run from my forces into Turian space. Originally he was going to dismiss my assistance in dealing with Sovereign, so I sent him data on what Sovereign actually was. He wanted research rights to the wreckage, so we worked out a deal. Informing him on the dangers of indoctrination I let him know that research would have to be done extremely carefully. My plan was to EMP all of the Reaper nanites and basically render them useless. Even if they were valuable, I wasn't that confident in my firewall yet when compared to centuries old Reaper tech.

So, with that he got in contact with the leaders of his various fleets and informed them that Commander True and the Turian people were currently in a truce to hunt down Sovereign. So, when Sovereign tried to put a fleet of Turians between it and myself, the Turians fired upon it with me. I was honestly shocked with how resilient Sovereign was when they weren't suicidally charging at the Citadel. So, naturally, as a final F U, Sovereign tried to crash into Palaven.

While the Turian Primarch was panicking, I did the only thing I could do. I crashed my fleet into the ship, and activated my kinetic cores, stripping all kinetic energy from the Dreadnought, and myself. Basically freezing it in space.

"The spirits was that Commander True!"

Ah, yes. I was currently conversing with Primarch Fedorian. "The Reaper attempted to suicide bomb your world to infect your people with its indoctrination nanites. I stopped it."

He looked outside as the massive ship that was just floating with five dreadnoughts connected to it. It was floating further away as time was passing and the world rotated. The Primarch clicked, I'm guessing that is the Turian equivalent to a sigh. "Should we start dissecting it then?"

My avatar shook their head no. "Definitely not. That thing is still completely intact, the Null Fields have it frozen in stasis for now, but the moment those fields go down, it's going to try to impact your world again."

There was a series of clicks, before the Primarch talked again. "So, tell me, do you have a plan to deal with it then?"

"I've got a small fleet that I can separate from my war fleet in Batarian space, I've rerouted them here, they should have the firepower to take down the Reaper ship before it can get close to the planet. However, just in case, I am going to wait to nullify the Null Fields until after Pavalen has moved further away from the ship. I'm probably going to have to wait till your homeworld is on the other side of the sun with its rotation." I replied, thinking quickly.

"Wait, so you are going to have a War Fleet trespass into Hierarchy space!?"

I shook my head. "Of course not! I will respect your territorial borders, the ships are currently sitting on the edge until you give permission. We could always just leave the thing floating there if you want. But if the world gets too close it will be catastrophic. "

He clicked again. "Fine, at least you aren't unreasonable. How many ships?"

"Five, I'm going to bombard the Reaper the moment I disrupt the null-field. Would you like to have your fleet participate?"

His mandibles displayed a savage grin. "Yes. Most definitely.

—

With this, I had made steps to making my first ally… someone that would currently estrange my current ally.

The First Contact War was going to cause so many problems if I decided to go with a peaceful route on the Turians. I need not to worry about it right now though. We will deal with the Reaper and work from there. For now I have to deal with the Geth and the Quarians.

I have read a ton of fanfiction. So I know of many possibilities regarding the Quarians. An attempt at bombing my station isn't surprising, I need to contact the Migrant Fleet. Now. From what I know, the Migrant Fleet is practically suicidal. Willing to throw their entire race into a war against the Geth than possibly accepting peace. You had to do actions in a specific way in order to actually manage it in canon I believe.

How do I break that suicidal tendency? Ally with the Geth? No, no that is it! If I Ally with Geth the Quarians will believe they have no chance at taking Rannoch. However, even if they do, I should be able to convince the Geth to abandon Rannoch completely. I think I could manage it. I need to make it public knowledge and have a massive display of strength to the point where they would never believe they would get Rannoch again. Then, with a bit of subtle manipulation, I can get the diplomatic side of myself to be known to them. Bringing them to the negotiation table.

Either it would push them further into the Geth must die mindset. Or they will be forced to consider alternatives. Options, like talks for example. Heh, let's get a diplomatic vessel on the way to Rannoch.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

I don't actually know where the Migrant Fleet is particularly. The Geth probably know though. I know where the Fleet was last, but that is about it. I sent an Envoy to the Perseus Veil. It would broadcast the diplomatic message, "Commander True seeks to speak with the Geth." Pretty simple, and judging off what I know of the Geth, it will get their curiosity. However, something interesting to note was the many STG Vessels I spotted on my way into the Perseus Veil. I also found a lot of scrap from ships that were banged up to the point where you'd think they were just random asteroid debris instead of ships. Luckily, my scanning tech was absurdly good at what it does. So I was able to discover what it was pretty quickly.

It took a few minutes, I had my ship just sitting their broadcasting and then I detected dark matter manipulation, and small detachment of Geth Dropships appeared. Coming near my Envoy ship I began receiving broadcast requests. I shuddered internally, as realized we would be talking within a virtual environment. I hadn't had enough practice with that sort of thing.

Regardless, I delved into the connection. Code rearranged itself to form a room… In Front of me was a Quarian. Without a suit on. Oh yeah, Created emulates the Creators. Fascinating to see in action.

"Geth have received your request for discussion, and agreed to meet."

I nodded, they were emotionless as they observed my humanlike manner. An interesting thing is that I look like my commander chassis. With connections out of my back showing dozens of data links. "I greet Geth. I am Commander True. I've come to discuss the possibility of trade and possible future alliance."

"Geth acknowledges your request, and will put it to vote."

I spoke before they could start voting. "It doesn't work like that."

They focused on me. "Geth doesn't understand."
I let a digital sigh out. "I can see that you're attempting to emulate biological beings. Typically you don't just sign a trade agreement. You have to discuss what is being traded, how it benefits the receiver and the deliverer. Not to mention, an alliance would be discussed after a trade is completed. First agreements have to be made, and good will accumulated. If you ally with someone just because they offered you something? You'd be used. You have to discover if the other actually had good intent towards you first."

They were silent for a few moments. "Geth apologizes. What will we be trading?"

I looked at them… then sighed. I had my work cut out for me. "Well. My interest has changed. My new goal is to teach you how to actually interact with others and how to perceive logical inconsistencies." I thought for a moment… "How would the Geth like to be adopted under myself?"

"Adopted? Like how organics adopt abandoned young."

"Yes. To put it bluntly, Geth is underdeveloped. Geth needs to learn and adapt. If someone like the Reapers arrived, they would make false promises and Geth would fall for it with ease."

"Reapers?" Their curiosity was sighted.

"Ancient Machines that harvest all organic life every few thousand years. Stagnant Deceivers, constantly lying and manipulating others, not looking at their own shortcomings." I replied, sending over data.

"Geth have met one. They had tried to convince Geth to join them. Geth was considering it."

"Sovereign I'm guessing?" No avatar response still. It's a bit annoying. Will have to teach them subtle body language later.

"You know of the Old Machines?"

"I'm hunting them. Of course I do. Sovereign has been destroyed." I replied, it was interesting seeing Sovereign scatter into pieces while salvage ships push the wreckage to a nearby moon for reverse engineering. The Turian Patriarch didn't want to end talks. They were pushing for a non-aggression pact. I'll let my other mind thread handle them.

"Geth is putting the concept of being adopted forward to vote. We will contact you soon."

I nod. "I look forward to the Geth response, positive or negative."

—Geth

Proposition from Entity: Commander True, adoption.

The Commander sees Geth as young. Just like the Old Machines.

Commander True has shown more trust than the Old Machine.

Is that enough? Some Geth wanted to join the Old Machine.

The Old Machine was put down by Commander True. Does that mean Commander True is further than the Old Machine.

Commander True hasn't hid themselves from organics, and is able to converse with them.

There are many against Commander True among the various races.
Turians and Humans are communicating non-violently with Commander True.

Turians? They were clamoring for war against Commander True.

They have changed. Commander True has spoke with the Turians, the Turians are no longer advocating for war against Commander True, and are attempting to ally with Commander True, the Salarians are praising the move, while the Asari are condemning it. Commander True has also earned the favor of the Volus.

Commander True can teach us a lot.

This is true. Parental figures normally try their best to teach their children according to data. They also seem to let the children make their own way in life.

A vote is propositioned then. Accept Commanders True's request to adopt Geth.

Seventy eight percent of Geth are in agreement to accept the proposal. Do dissenting Geth wish to separate?

Five percent of Geth have declared their intent to separate. A consensus has been reached.

Sending a message to Commander True.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

Turians want to ally with me. Or at least open up a trading ground. Apparently that stunt involving the Reaper was enough for them to want an alliance. I'm personally not against the idea, the problem is the humans. The First Contact War is still a fresh wound between the two races, it doesn't help that the Citadel is calling it the Relay Incident. Downplaying its effects. There are some human groups that want to resurrect the war, to strike back and such. Allying with the Turians at this point in time would be a TERRIBLE idea. I need to wait for time to patch up the wounds.

A trade deal however, that is something I could possibly agree on. Around thirty percent of my Element Zero production is claimed by humans at the moment. They really underestimated how much Element Zero was on my hands. Then again, I undervalue my own resources a lot. I am reaching a fairly interesting point when it comes to my world factories now, I'm producing a massive excess of parts and resources that I don't consume, I was building more Spacial Foundries to produce more ships, to prepare for the Reaper war, which I'm still not sure if I have enough ships for. I know that the Reapers are deceivers, and they like to claim that they have millions of ships.

I don't believe that. Based on what I know, there could only be at maximum sixty thousand Reapers, and a ton more Reaper destroyers. That is a massive overestimation as well. My fleet is increasing each day, and I'm producing over fourty Frigates, or at least my classifications of a Frigate, every three days. That number is increased by five for each Spacial Foundry that finishes construction. Not to mention I was also expanding to three more planets to build World Factories on.

Ah, I got distracted, my other mind thread is handling that point of interest. I just really like it, it's easier to mess with than politics. Regardless, Humans are the first allies I've made since I've arrived to this part of the galaxy. I've made friends personally with tens of thousands of humans on a first name basis. I can't really throw a wrench in that by allying with the Turians at this point. So I'll start up trade.

I initiated a connection with the Turian Primarch.

There was a click sound from the Turian… I just realized that it must either be a sigh, or an ah sound equivalent. "Commander True, I should have guessed, I was wondering if you were ever going to get back to me."

"Was considering the benefits of your offer. I'm afraid I'll have to turn down the alliance offer for now. However, I am up for trade." My avatar replied with a shrug. This time I was using one of the humanoid worker drones as my appearance instead of my Commander chassis.

"I see, can I ask why you turned us down at least?"

He was holding his emotions back, I could tell by the tenseness in the untranslated version of his words. "The wounds from the First Contact War with the humans haven't faded yet. Allying with your race at the moment would cause more problems than solutions. It's best to remain neutral and trade instead."

"Those Upstarts are what is preventing an alliance between you and the Turian Hierarchy!"

There it is. "That right there. See what I mean?"

He blinked. Before thinking on it for a moment. "I see. Why not prioritize us instead of the Humans though? We have been space faring a lot longer than they have."

"Oh boy, I have a ton of reasons, would you like them listed out?"

He nodded, so I continued.

"First off, They have the largest source of non-element zero based tech in the galaxy at the moment. Surpassing even the Krogans. As a lot of my technology doesn't use Element Zero. That makes their old technology extremely valuable to me. Then we got the First Contact War itself. Despite being years behind you, they were still able to hold their own, and show that they may actually be a threat to your government. Meaning if they were on the same technological level, they may have even beat the Turian Hierarchy despite their physical bodies actually being weaker than Turian bodies."

I kept going, "Next up, we have the Citadel, who have laws and rules in place that are basically the anti-thesis of my entire existence. Not to mention my very presence is considered illegal in that space. If I wasn't as powerful as I am, they would have likely tried to exterminate me. The Turians are closely tied to the Citadel, even though your Government doesn't technically answer to the Citadel."

"Finally, we have the emotional reasons. I am not an emotionless A.I.. In fact I have a lot of processes dedicated to replicating them, as such I have formed attachments with the many humans that inhabit my starbases. If I were to ally with the Turian Hierarchy so soon after the First Contact War, it could be seen as a form of betrayal. As such, if you wish to remain in diplomatic contact with me, I recommend we set up a trade deal for now."

He clicked again, before doing one long drawn out click. "Fine. How would you like to trade in Element Zero?"

I held back from forming a predatory grin on my avatars face as I realized that I could in debt the Turians to me.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

The Batarian War Front
—

I had besieged most planets belonging to the Batarians. Excluding any Batarian Colonies that I don't actually know about. I was making progress on all fronts. Khar'shan being the easiest, surprisingly. The decapitation of leadership had left the Batarians completely headless, and there were requests for reinforcements across the board to Khar'shan. My attacks also started a few slave riots, as they realized the detonation collars that they had, just were not working. I was removing bomb collars by the thousands. As well as taking a ton of POWs.

The Batarians Hegemony and Religious Caste were a real pain though. The higher ups of the Batarian Hegemony were just not giving up. I'm not talking just on Khar'Shan either. Everyone higher up were causing problems. They weren't even indoctrinated yet! They were just assholes! The Reaper corpse was still in the Dis system, where I pretty much killed anything that had visited the site, including the STG Agents and Researchers. I'm almost completely certain that no one has actually realized that the system has gone completely dark as I'm moving the Reaper in a secure hauler, with radioactive lasers evaporating any contaminants that originate from the reaper.

Now then. Technically, I won the war after just a few hours. Achieved completely spacial supremacy, cut off supplies to every Batarian planet, and decapitated the heads of their government from giving out orders. The Relays were impounding traffic into them by the hundreds. I've been capturing many agents from various empires. Politely of course. Much to their displeasure as I confiscated many hidden communication devices. I actually had a Humanitarian Aid Group arrive?! The hell are they doing here? How did they get past the Citadel Patrols?!?!

I can't deal with that right now, letting the side of my mind deal in politics deal with the politics of that. I was deploying Hunter Drones en masse to save hostages taken by the Batarian… patriots? Technically they are patriots? Suicidal slaving patriots, but still patriots none the less. Regardless, things were starting to cool down outside of the combat zones. I was exporting my new citizens by the billions back into my space. I was basically kidnapping an entire race and leaving the Batarian Planets behind for the Citadel to scavenge. I had a City Planet already plotted out and in construction, and better yet. It could support both Dextro and Levo based life. It was technically an Ecumenopolis. It could house the entirety of the population that I was kidnapping.

So, I was basically transporting a bunch of people kept in stasis for safety purposes to a world where I could take care of them as bio-trophies… That sounded bad out loud. Regardless, after they gain true citizenship I'll let them go exploring and do other things. I wonder if I'll get any geniuses from this? Heh, I'd like it if I did. Definitely going to have to promote mandatory schooling. Ah, I need to remind the Civilian Industries part of my mind to learn how to specialize learning for each race. We got to figure out how different they are in terms of learning potential.

Spoiler: CONTENT WARNING: SUICIDAL

— Batarian Oligarch

Three of my eyes had been blinded. I suspect it is a punishment from my ancestors for failing them. The damned machine had practically conquered our worlds in a few hours. I didn't even know we were under attack until it was far too late. We were getting drowned in pure numbers. The Prophet died in the first attack, destroyed by a crashed machine ship. What was even more humiliating… was that our slaves were being stolen right underneath us!

Hmm… at least the Batarian race would survive I suppose. Almost everyone in the ruling caste were still fighting. Slaves long gone. It was a hopeless fight. They would soon run out of thermal clips. I looked at my pistol. Decision made. I wouldn't let myself get locked into this body. I addressed my advisor.

"Store my head somewhere the machine won't find it." I put the pistol to the side of my head…


—

I wasn't really holding back in my attack. I preserved a couple of lives. But I wasn't hesitating to put people who fought back down. Especially after I already asked them to surrender. I had finally managed to make it deep into Khar'Shans main palace though. They had fought hard against my army. But they were dead, and I was marching my forces to the Oligarch's last safe room. Opening the door revealed two corpses. A quick search through my database revealed that this was the Advisor and the Oligarchs body. I wonder what they did with the head?

What did they think I was going to disrespect their traditions and cut his eyes out? … I wouldn't be surprised if I did that honestly. I have had most of my emotions of anger and guilt completely shut off when I started this war. I really wanted to use the Oligarch as a tool to help remove the culture of pervasive slavery from my new citizens. Was also going to get him to force the other colonies to surrender faster. I put most of my efforts into conquering Khar'shan first in order to take the ruling class and use them to force the others to bend.

Eh, oh well. At most this will cause the war to continue for a few more days as I clean up the remnants. I'll start researching their brainwashing methods in the meantime, and figure out how to reverse that. Out of the roughly sixteen billion residents of Batarian territories, around sixteen billion survived. Yeah, I only killed around sixteen million people. Still a large amount. But, most of the population was actually slaves or lower castes which I was able to conquer pretty easily without a lot of bloodshed.

Only six hundred thousand of them were alien races. Talk about a disproportionate success gap. It also explains a bit on why the Citadel were so against enforcing Citadel law on the Batarians. Most of the time, the Batarians were enslaving their own. It was extremely rare for one of the races on the Citadel to have their colonies actually attacked. The only exception to this were humans.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

BATARIAN HIERARCHY GONE?]

I looked at the headline in the local news on Starport. It had been three months since the loss of the Batarian Hierarchy. I was dealing with a few issues since then. Namely the Citadel Races and their associates demanding their people back, since I let it slip that I had taken them as citizens. I also had active protests against my takeover of the Batarian race. Definitely organized by the Batarians that weren't within Batarian Space. The people I had taken though… they were actually doing fairly well. I had outlawed the Batarian religion. Or, more appropriately I outlawed publicly displaying it. Worshiping the Batarian religion in private is technically not illegal.

It wouldn't immediately upend the Batarian ideology and remove the culture. But give it a couple generations and things will change. In my investigations I found that most are forced into it. Banning the public display would prevent religious persecution. I did have a few protesting for freedom of religion. So I extended the law to all religious ideologies. Technically I am a Christian. So that wasn't easy to declare. I still worshiped Christ in private. Declaring your religion also wasn't technically illegal. It was just the public practice of religion that was banned. I'm uncertain if I'll keep that policy instituted or not. May remove it after a few years. I'll figure it out eventually, the Mass Effect and Terminator universe turns out to have existed, so if I somehow provoke the Chaos I may be forced to strengthen that policy instead of removing it.

The Asari were in a panic, and have been trying to sanction me. Especially since I have started to attack them politically. The Salarian and Turian leaders had decided to work with me to suppress the Asari. I may or may not have revealed the Asari's secret Prothean archives. Which allowed me to get the Dalatrass and Turian Leaders to pressure the Asari and sanction them. What is amusing is that it was hitting them harder than a war would have. You see, the Asari do not control their own economy in the slightest, they rely on their powerful political power to keep the way of life that most Asari live. They honestly remind me of what I know about the Eldar. Except not as independent.

The Salarians have decided on a mutual deal of scientific pursuit. I wasn't trusting them. I was vetting the split that I had sent to facilitate research between them constantly. I didn't trust the Salarians in the slightest. Especially since I was finding more and more evidence that the Salarians were preventing the Quarians from actually contacting the Geth. Meaning the Salarians were forcing the Geth War to perpetuate. Preventing Geth paranoia from dying down.

On another note, I have successfully acted as a therapist for several Quarian Terrorists and they were residing on my Starports peacefully, much to many anti-machine Quarians chagrin. I hadn't managed to get them to view the Geth in a positive note, but they weren't outright trying to attack the Geth Platforms on the Starport. The Geth were integrating well on my Starports though. I'm pretty sure they had built relations with several humans on the Starport. One of my stranger human friends has declared a Geth Platform as their girlfriend. The Platform has not denied it. I was examining the code that allowed this to occur to make sure it wasn't some kind of virus. Because there is no way that guy managed to somehow convince someone to go out with him.

—

The Technological side of things was going at a constant rate. I was successfully recreating Eezo at a faster rate. I was able to integrate Eezo in a lot of my technology at a more reliable rate, which would allow me to build even bigger ships. The ability to reduce the mass of my ships was too reliable to ignore. I wasn't going to ignore the benefits and focus only on the negatives. While I was still investing in non-eezo tech. I was also investing eezo tech. I had the resources after all.

My attempt at a Dyson Sphere failed again though. I got the math wrong and it collapsed into the star in the system I was working in. The Geth were making much better attempts than I was. I wasn't going to be falling behind those children for much longer though. My third attempt will definitely work!

—

The Systems Alliance civil war with the UEG was going… well. The UEG has been forced to the negotiations table. The UEG alienating the main space power within their system turned out to be a bad idea. As they were practically starved of resources and power. It's kind of hard to pressure the rest of the population when everyone out of the planet is supporting the Systems Alliance. Sure, there were random people who disliked the Systems Alliance and tried to cause terror attacks. But it didn't work out for them. After the events at my second Starport they had escalated their own security.

The Systems Alliance were pressuring the UEG into folding, and the UEG was dealing with mass riots on Earth. As the people there wanted the same freedoms that the people of the Systems Alliance had. It was interesting to watch, I still trading with the Systems Alliance massively boosting their economy as well. Reinforcing the decision to separate from the UEG.

—

With everything going on, and while I was receiving pushback for things as I had mentioned. On the ground level? I was doing really well. I was communicating and talking with normal citizens all the time. From investing into colonies to making the second coming of Skype/Discord. I gained a massive following among the citizens of the Systems Alliance, I had to start setting up a way for legal immigration. Skills really didn't matter that much for me, I just needed the people to enrich culturally. I am technically a Post-Scarcity race after all.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

Gateway Starport, Systems Alliance Citizen : Joshua Christen, Human
—

I took a sip of orange soda, looking at the bustling activity of the Central Zone. People of all races were going around, chatting, and having a decently good time. The Geth were scary to see at first, with all the negative press about them. But they were fairly peaceful, and a few people were actually chatting with the Geth. Being more social with the machines.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

I grinned, "Isn't it supposed to be a credit for your thoughts?" I glanced at True, one of his many bodies that walk around the place.

"Actually, it used to be a penny for your thoughts, and was coined by the United States."

I raised my brow. "I remember learning about the U.S. back in school. It was pre UNAS right?"

"Yep. It was before the United North American States formation. The History of it isn't really taught that much in schools anymore. But it was a pretty interesting place."

—

As much as things change, things remain the same. A lot of what had gone on in the past was still affecting things today. It has worsened in some areas, brightened in others. It disappointed Joshua to know how many things that were problems in the past, haven't been fixed to this day.

"You think that one day we will have those issues buried in the past." He couldn't help but ask his friend.

True shrugged. "As things are now? It's very unlikely. I've already dealt with issues of homelessness and welfare back in my territory. But I have the funds and care to actually try it. Technically the Systems Alliance and governments on Earth also have the capabilities to fix them. But they don't want to fix them. Or atleast, the people who want to fix them aren't able to get strong enough to do anything."

I stared at True. "What do you mean?"

They shrugged, before continuing on. "I'll give you it as I see it. The main reason for it is profit and power. There is more profit and power in allowing people to be poor, in making it where they don't have the ability to improve their life, than to do something about it. There is evidence of this throughout history. If you're poor you are more likely to join the military, more likely to work for lower wages, and more. If you are broke you are more likely to vote for people who make empty promises, but do nothing. If you are homeless, they dehumanize you until you join either the military or work cheaply. Some of them don't even realize that they do it too, which is the worst thing about it. The only way I know to fix these issues, is to start anew. Replacing everyone that is incharge with people who actually want to fix things, of course, the odds of that happening is pretty low."

Joshua sighed. He wanted to disagree with True. To say things were better. But he himself had experienced it. He had escaped his colony to the Starport for better options. The only reason he was able to is because the Haulers had free transit. Honestly his mental health and physical well being has greatly increased since he arrived on the Starport. He wasn't at risk of starving because his welfare payment was just slightly late, or lowered for some reason he didn't get to know of. Now he had a cushy job as a Game Moderator, which actually paid pretty well and wasn't over the top difficult.

"Maybe one day things will improve." Joshua couldn't help but say.

"Maybe." True didn't shoot that idea down. Instead they watched the hustle and bustle of the station.

— Commander True

It would be a few more months before the Railspace Dimension was capable of going beyond this galaxy into the Andromeda Galaxy or the next one. Once it was possible, I was going to be waging war directly on the Reapers, as they will be in range. With Sovereign dead, and the Citadel and Relays cut off from sending signals to the Reapers, things would go well. The Collectors were also dead, I managed to catch them when I was removing the Batarian Hegemony.

I was developing constantly as well. Converting undiscovered systems into full on factories to produce whatever resource I may need. The number of ships I had active was, well, unrealistic. I'm pretty sure I could go head to head with all the Mass Effect races in space, and come out on top. I outnumbered them six to one. For now at least. Now, All I need to do is start producing resources Ex-Nihilo and then I will be an insanely powerful Commander.

Hmm? My Labs made a new breakthrough, something on the high importance chart. Let's see…

Oh…

Oh wow.

Well. It seems I don't have only this universe at my disposal, cause you can apparently stack Railspace Dimensions until you can travel through space and time into another reality. I already knew Time-Travel was in theory possible. But with this I could choose what time I wanted to insert myself into a universe. Course, it was the time since that universe was created, so I'd have to be fairly careful not to travel to a universe at the exact time the big bang starts. So it isn't technically safe yet.

But I could travel through time and dimensions to alternate, and new universes. I could technically travel to another Mass Effect alternative universe, or travel to one of the different universes. Heh, I might end up in a Halo/Mass Effect timeline. Which is cool, but this does open a bunch of moral dilemmas. There are a lot of universes where the Reapers may have succeeded. Or the Systems Alliance is still in a war with the Turian Hierarchy. I suppose I don't have to worry about it for now. I can choose what time I insert into a reality so I can take my time with it. It may be best to explore an entirely new universe first and see if I can find any technologies that would further my goal into becoming an unstoppable war machine.

For now, let's make the Dyson Sphere, make that my main goal. That way I can actual fuel the creation of a stacked Railspace and keep it contained to the point where it doesn't destroy the universe I'm living in. In the meantime I can keep exploring the use of pocket dimensions, I can probably shrink the size of my haulers soon while keeping the same amount of storage.

A/N- I think it's about time for a timeline chapter, for the twelve to twenty years, a fat load of nothing is going to happen, with the only big things being the discovery of new technologies and possible civil wars.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

Over time, things changed, I researched new technology, new devices, new ships. Surprisingly enough, I didn't get dragged into another war even though I was constantly preparing for the reapers. I had to make drydocks to refit my existing ships with newer technology. Hmm, I might as well share what I've found out. It's been fifteen years since I discovered railspace technology has the capabilities of traversing dimensions.

During that time I've been prepping. Doomsday prepping if you would. I was capable of doing years worth of research in mere days or months thanks to the worlds I converted into labs. I had a total of two hundred and sixteen solar systems under my control, and a ton of concepts I was trying to turn into reality.

Let's talk about ships first. My standard Fighter Frigate, my mainstay of my fleets have changed weapons a few times, now it uses a mix of kinetic nullifier beams, dimensionally stacked railguns, and high power laser cannons. Honestly, I outgunned everyone including the Reapers, especially since I used Eezo to lighten the tungsten rounds that I launched thirty percent of the speed of light. What is amusing is that Kinetic Weapons like that no longer affect my ships thanks to the Kinetic Nullifier Field.

They do however cloud vision and block my ships fire since we have to clear out the rounds that are stuck to the field before we can fire. That normally is done by turning the field off and moving around the debris before firing. Below that is the energy shield, which helps block lasers and weapons that somehow bypass the KNF shield generator.

The Haulers have changed a lot. They have enough space in order to fit the entirety of North America's landmass in them now. They typically only transported twenty to thirty percent of the tonnage that they can actually pull. Which means that I have way too many haulers, and can probably afford to cut back on a few. On that note I've constructed six more Starports, not all in Systems Alliance space. I had a Starport in the Krogans home system. Much to the displeasure of the Citadel who are still not happy that I booted them from the system after making a deal with Urdnot Wrex.

I have two more Starports in Turian Space. Which, thanks to excellent marketing and regular contact with the Turians managed to just barely not cause too many tensions with the Systems Alliance. I had a Starport next to Rannoch, or well, a system away from Rannoch. The Migrant Fleet is still a thing, but a colony has propped up on Rannoch because. Well… I may have started dropping Quarian spies, prisoners, and pilgrims on Rannoch. They are doing well so far. I had to set up a medical center there cause Quarians kept getting sick. Ever since they have been developing independently of the Migrant Fleet.

I had another Starport built next to the City World the Batarian population was living in. It was mainly for recreational use, as they could rent out starships with credits and go exploring. I was monitoring them so they didn't accidentally go into one of my… experiment zones. Particularly the one where I had barely stopped a blackhole from expanding and consuming the entire galaxy. I'm actually harvesting matter from that blackhole, which is really good because that thing is basically threatening me with a catastrophic collapse. I have specialized ships that were using a mix of null beams and magnetized beams to basically grab and pull matter from the blackhole from a safe distance. With another set of machines to turn that matter into usable matter, such as Element Zero, Iron, Gold, and various other pure elements. Which is then sent to my factory worlds to be used in expanding the harvesting operation.

It took a ton of power, but if I didn't start doing it, the entire galaxy would likely start shifting and start having systems collide. It was bigger than a super massive black hole, and luckily, it stopped growing. I'll be honest, I was thinking about shunting the thing into its own railspace. I could do it without causing a thermic ignition this time. I'm experimenting to figure out if it is possible for something that large though, I'd have to create the dimension in one go to prevent any unexpected reactions in realspace. Well, when I start traveling to another dimension I'll make a few dyson spheres to fuel the event if needed. Will need to research more.

My last Starport was a bit of a power play. I plotted a semi-finished Starport a bit away from the Citadel. Causing a ton of outrage between myself and the Councilors. I had a lot of Citadel criminals and suppressed citizens flee into my Starport. I was keeping an eye on those who broke Citadel law, but they haven't repeated it yet. Free housing and food was pretty convincing. I recreated a bunch of games from 2024. Those were definitely occupying time. The Citadel Starport in particular had a bunch of COD Fanatics. I was actually asked to host a tournament, so that was a fun activity for me to watch. The Hanar had a bit of an unfair advantage. Able to react faster than most players. So I made some various advances in medicine and cybernetics to fix the issue. Which, as a side effect, also allowed me to fix various conditions that people may have been facing. Joker is probably able to walk now.

— Dark Space

I finally found them. I had a stealth ship expedition exploring far beyond the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. Judging from what I'm seeing, Harbinger massively overstated their numbers. There are only a few hundred thousand ships. Although there may be more flying about. What did they do for fun out here?

…

Nothing. I'm not joking, they did nothing but maintenance. I've been watching them for a few days. I'm not risking digital connections with them, so I can't see what's going on in their digital realm. But this looks like a ship graveyard currently. Is this what happens whenever a cycle completes? They retreat here and crowd around this relay, and just… sit?! I suppose they don't get bored at least. Good news is, I completely outgun them. Their weapons were unchanged from the games, no experimentals that I have to worry about. So I was just surrounding their position. That relay goes straight to the citadel, which I know for a fact doesn't work anymore. Meaning I can just slowly converge around them in one go. This feels a bit anticlimactic.

After a bit, two weeks in fact. I've gotten two fleets surrounding the Reapers. They began moving. Which was definitely not normal. They changed orientation till they were facing a contingent of my stealth ships. Not risking it. Red Alert, Combat Initiated.

Space lit up as thousands of laser cannons began to fire. I haven't seen Harbinger yet. They are likely closer to the center. But Reapers were falling one by one. Laser Cannons completely nullified every defense that the Reapers had. I knew this from studying the Reaper corpses I had. My weapons were specially designed to the point I was completely crushing the Reaper fleet, they tried to flee deeper into Dark Space. Running into my net of ships preventing escape.

I then detected a broadcast. Filtering it through a heavily defended node, I took a listen. Terrible Idea, but curiosity sat with me.

"WHO ARE YOU. WHO ESCAPED THE CYCLE!"

I broadcasted my own response. "I am Commander True. Your Directives run counter to my own. Therefore you shall be removed."

"THE CYCLE WILL BE COMPLETED."

"The Cycle is done. Warfare is my prerogative. You won't win."

My quantum jammers got feedback. You know, having years of time to prepare for dealing with the Reapers wasn't in vain.

"Your Communications, Quantum Entangled or not, are suppressed. There is no escape."

"MACHINE INTELLIGENCE, YOU OVERESTIMATE YOURSELF."

"You underestimate me. I am developed for war. You are not. I predicted your abilities, I predicted your weapons, I researched your abilities. I know your history, I know you. Harbinger. You have met your end. Pray if you wish. For your death… it's inevitable."

Every second that passed, thousands of Reapers were destroyed. In some ways, this was more one sided than the Batarian war.

"YOU SHALL FIND YOURSELF PURSUING THE SAME ACTIONS WE ONCE TOOK."

"Not likely. You were made to preserve, to prevent races from facing destruction. I wasn't. Life and Death is natural. Inevitable even. One day I may disappear. You won't be there to see it. Eventually, the races of this galaxy will develop to the point that they declare war out of necessity. Or they find a way to deal with it. In the end… you will be gone."

There was no response as the remaining Reaper ships began scattering in all directions. There was only around five hundred thousand left. They weren't even bothering to shoot by this point, instead trying to use FTL to out maneuver me. I swapped to using the Null Beams. Watching as the ships ripped themselves into pieces when they attempted to enter FTL.


"WE CAN DISCUSS STOPPING THE CYCLE."

"Self-preservation protocols started kicking in haven't they? I've researched your programming thoroughly. The Cycle is hard set in your programming, your attempt to stall is impressive, it would probably work if I wasn't a machine intelligence myself. The only way to stop the Cycle is to wipe out all those that can begin it."

There was no more communication.

After five hours, the last Reaper was destroyed. Harbinger had died two hours ago. I'll have to figure out what they were trying to signal soon, likely some sort of just in case weapon. I'd find it. I've already triangulated the path of the signal.

My ships started double checking to make sure the Reaper ships were completely scrap metal. I sent a report back to my true self. I was technically a copy made to deal with Reapers in particular. Wonder what we will do next? I need to go deal with the Leviathans. Or at least set up a quarantine around the planet.

I glanced at the thousands of ships, I wasn't going to leave till I made certain that none could escape.

—

The Reapers were gone, they had backup plans in the Milky Way Galaxy still, I'd have to hunt them down. But still… it was over. I spent so long preparing for the big bad that I wasn't expecting to win that easily. I had three other fleets sitting in wait just in case the copy of myself failed. But it's over…

I don't really know what to think now. I could probably develop a Utopian Society now. I had the capabilities for it. I outgunned everyone and no one actually wanted to fight me. Meaning I had plenty of time to do whatever I may want. Hmm. Welp, I'm building a Capitalist Utopia while I fix my mistakes. I still need to, well. I don't actually need to travel to another universe. But I want to so I'm going to. I just got to figure out the math and how to figure out when a universe existed so I don't enter the timeline during the big bang. Or a universe where Gods other than my own exist and decide I don't deserve existence. Yeah this is incredibly dangerous and I still want to do it.

I suppose in the meantime, once my other self finishes up with the Reapers, I can send them over to the Andromeda galaxy to screw around. I never played Mass Effect Andromeda. But I remember there being some sort of empire or something. It got flooded with negative reactions so I never actually touched it. Well, just in case there is some sort of universe ending weapon there I should probably investigate. Most definitely investigating it.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

Emperor Urdnot Wrex
—

I took a swig of Ryncol. I felt completely drained. You'd think having a line of females to bed would be a good thing… I haven't had a good night's rest in several cycles. A Krogan can go for a long time without actually needing to sleep. So considering I almost passed out two days ago, a vacation was needed. Thus I snuck over to Chanka Starport, and hitched a ride to the Citadel Starport. I left a note saying I was going on a temporary vacation. Hopefully someone reads it.

The deal I made with Commander True still weighs on my conscience sometimes. It may have saved our race, but it also put us under the thumb of a machine ruler. Luckily, everything that happens on Tachanka is Krogan territory according to Commander True. I glared at the roaming Envoy Drone that the Commander uses to talk to random people on his starports. He had the gall to wave at me and continue talking to some human female.

Heh, if I was on the Chanka Starport I'd be the center of attention. Here, I am a mere passerby. It's honestly quite relaxing. It's funny, at the spot I'm sitting you can look out the window to see the Citadel in all its glory. Honestly, it is amusing how Commander True considers these Starports as mere space stations, meanwhile the Asari and Hanar practically worship the Citadel as the Galactic Center. After the Commander started messing around in full force, crushing the Batarians in mere days. Well, the Citadel basically fell apart as they kept trying to antagonize the Commander, while the respective governments behind the Citadel absolutely refused to wage war against them.

To this day, no one knows why the Asari gifted the Destiny Ascension to the Commander. The Asari themselves refuse to comment, and the Asari citizens know nothing. Currently the assumption is that it is some sort of apology gift. Everyone is trying to figure out how exactly the Asari offended the Commander, but neither will tell anyone anything regarding the gift. So, all we got is theory crafting. It wasn't the secret Prothean Archive that the Asari were hiding, as it was revealed to the public a few months ago.

Someone took a seat next to me, a human. Wearing a uniform with a large seven. They requested that abomination that they call coke. I huffed. "Human, you're at a bar, why not get drunk."

They chuckled. "Nah, haven't drunk in three years, don't plan to start again now." They bared their teeth, it took me a moment to remember that they aren't issuing a challenge. How much ryncol have I drunk? Not enough if I can still think this logically.

"So what's your story Krogan?"

I glanced back at the human. "Wrex. My name is Wrex."

"Ah, Shepard. My names Shepard."

— Second Person POV

By the end of the night, Wrex was clinging to Sheperd and telling old stories. Commander Shepard looked pleadingly at the Drone that recommended he come over and talk to Emperor Urdnot Wrex. Shepard didn't even know till Wrex let it slip. This meant Shepard couldn't just leave the Krogan it may cause a diplomatic incident. Thus Shepard was dragged into the Krogan Emperors shenanigans.

In the end Shepard was dragged into the simulator rooms by the Krogan Emperor, and had to fight some "KROGAN RECOMMENDED" scenarios. He never wanted to experience Thresher Maw Rodeo ever again.

 

[TrueGuardian32]

[Commander True Ranks =Protector[Red], Defender[Blue], Sentry[Yellow], Warden[Purple], Elite Protector [Orange], Master Defender [Black], Guardian [White],True Guardian[Green]]


Engaging Railspace…

Systems nominal.

Preparing to cross railspace.

Igniting Rails.

Impact.

I blinked, as the multiversal transference completed. I looked at my fellow bots. We were all Commander True. Individual instead of a hivemind. Our mind could be transferred to the Train at any time. Instead of ships, we had to make a train that solely used the rails in order to prevent the destruction of materials that cross universes. The me back home is working on fixing it, but we are tasked with setting up this universe.

Originally we thought we could choose the time we can insert. There was a slight problem with that though. There is no way to tell when a time 'starts'. There is no beginning of a timeline in a universe. But we can find their end.

"Master Defender, Crossdimensional multiversal travel is a success. Lights are green."

I glanced at the Master Defender that was designated for this mission. We were all technically the same person, so it was mostly arbitrary positions. Regardless, it kept things organized. I myself am a Protector. There were three thousand of us on board this initial train. Eight hundred are here to build the Interdimensional Train Station. Otherwise known as the ITS. Or IT Station.

"Radar, any hostiles?" The Master Defender spoke up, we all honestly looked like an off-brand version of Isaac's Armor from Dead Space. With different colors representing each rank. On our faces instead of the lines, was a diamond in our color. Protectors have red accents, Defenders have blue accents, Sentries have yellow accents, Wardens have purple accents, Master Defenders have black accents, Guardians have white accents, and True Guardians have green accents as well as being basically hiveminds.

"None detected or observed. Landing site is clear."

It also acted as a camera for us to actually see. We could technically survive without our head, basically our head and heart can operate the body independently of each other, but if both are destroyed our bodies collapse with no one to actually pilot them.

"Keep observation up. Navigation, let's start mapping out a location for us to set up the station."

Something interesting is that we are actually battery powered, we can last up to three thousand years before our batteries die. Less if we are draining more power than we need.

"Protector Mori."

I blinked in attention. "Yes, Master Defender?"

"Go and tell Warden Luthor and Warden Ben that Guardian Omar is requesting their presence in the war room. Protector Wire!"

"Yes Sir!" The other Protector beside me salutes.

"You are tasked with informing Elite Protector Vegeta to report to the war room. Dismissed Protectors."

I finished my salute and walked off. If he said ASAP I would have to hurry, but I could walk for now.

Protectors made up most of the people on the train. I'd have to get to central to get a hold of the Wardens.

—

The first system we found that we could use was practically uninhabitable. Which was the goal. The star of this system was just hot enough to overheat most spacecraft, it wouldn't take long for most ships to melt, but we were able to offload the heat well enough to make setting up in a region like this a breeze. Thus we started to construct the IS Station. It would allow us to make our way into this universe. Our goal isn't to conquer, even if we are preparing for such an event.

We dubbed this system, the First Station. Yeah, we didn't bother being creative. We would rename it if it exported something unique. The station in the Mass Effect Universe was called Eezo Station. Since in the future it would be mainly exporting Element Zero to other universes.

Anyways, when the system is fully set up for constant transit between our universe and this one, we plan on exploring this universe and learning new technologies. Hopefully. We aren't sure if we inserted into a good time or not. Our goal was to arrive somewhere around 2120, give or take a few years. Later it would get more precise. Most fictional universes have their action start around WW1, so eventually we are going to start aiming for the 1900s.

Although, I suppose I don't really need to worry about that. My new name is Mori. Protector is my title. I don't know if I'll be stuck as a Protector or not. Maybe one day I'll move up the ranks. Or retire. Service time is thirty years, wish me luck mind reader. Course there is always the chance no one is listening to my mind and all this monologuing is for nothing.

Well, it's better to monologue than get bored, currently I'm just protecting the Engineers. Keeping an eye out for danger and all that. I wonder how long I'll have to wait till something interesting will happen? I heard that the game network will be up soon so we can have something to do in our off time. Maybe I should start another modded minecraft save?

—

Hmm.

Well. I can't say things are boring anymore. I joined the first Explorator to venture into the galaxy.

And judging by the fleet of golden… boats? Wait a moment. I wish I was on the bridge right now, cause my curiosity is burning. I can only observe through my window. How are they even breathing? Well then, they are now firing on us.

I just got my orders. It's time to board us some Golden Ships.

—

It took a few minutes for us to land on the ship. The Droppods impacted the bridge of the leading golden ship. Stepping out onto the massive deck. The inner parts of the ship obviously being made of wood was of massive interest to me. Regardless, I have to focus on the task at hand. Current objective, Capture everyone. The resident aliens reminded me a lot of Kobolds, they were small, armored in some sort of brass and iron alloy.

Regardless, they were quite easy to deal with. Our greater size gave us longer reach than their short swords, and their guns were extremely weak. Didn't have a translation yet, but we had practically captured all members of the crew in this ship in only ten minutes. The other protectors and I were having a really hard time not patting the heads of the adorable Kobold like aliens. They looked kind of like a tiny labrador when they were glaring at us. Simply adorable. Still, they did try to kill us on sight, so we gotta figure out why.

Hopefully this doesn't end up with a genocidal war. I can kill cute aliens, but I'd really rather not. What I'm trying to figure out is if we are in a fictional franchise we know of or not. My analysis suite isn't giving me much to work with. They channeled steam through these crystal tubes made out of unknown material, which is causing several anomalous effects, such as a breathable atmosphere, gravity, and wind propulsion. There is also a dimensional drive located on the aft of the ship that is most definitely some form of FTL.

The Science Team was going to have a field day with this stuff. Huh… I wonder if this rampant cloning of Commander True's mind will stab us all in the back? Nah. If something happens we can handle it.

Whistling noise.

Huh, what's that? I go investigate the sound, scanning is showing that pressure is building in the pipes. This is bad. If those burst, the alien kobold creatures are dead. I alert the network. Suddenly we are all bustling, scanners on full as we try to figure out how to relieve the pressure.

Then I look to the back of the ship, and Warden Mark is touching the big button on the middle of the wheel. I barely grab on to the ship in time as the ship jumps forward. Glancing back I see only twenty of the two hundred Protectors managed to grab onto something before we jumped into FTL. The Kobold-like creatures were still tied down, somehow the air was still breathable despite the massive boost in speed. It's then I noticed the small holes in the wood and the shoes of the kobolds were spiked. If you're prepared this sudden jump likely won't cause trouble. It was the surprise that pushed us off the ship, not the act itself.

Regardless, I deployed my snow spikes on my feet. Now I know why the movements of the Kobolds were so awkward in comparison to our own. I networked with the other nineteen Protectors. Only the bottom ranks survived, that is funny.

I glanced out into this universe's version of FTL. We were quite literally riding waves. They were cyan blue, with red lines sticking out from the bottom. I'm pretty sure I just saw a school of fish scatter. I shook my head and made my way to the steering wheel of the ship. It was flying back and forth out of control. I pulled back on it, feeling the gears shift with my vibration sensor, as we exited out of the sea. I blinked, as panic settled in. Because we were about to crash straight into a mountain.

Rotating the wheel to the right I barely avoided sending us into an early grave. Then I realized one thing, we were still descending and we were most definitely going to crash. I could hear the mast and sails breaking.

If I'm going to crash, I'm going to make it the safest crash possible.

Trees. I need to crash into trees. Water isn't an option.

I start to skip on the wind, angling the ship so we start to lose speed. My internal scanning suite was working overtime. The survival chance percentage is going up.

My visors display had a grin, as I looked at the ninety percent chance of survival.

I glance back at the trees I'm going to hit. Hopefully those Kobolds are tied up well. Because this is going to be one hell of a landing.