- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Huh. Well that was helpful of them. Hopefully Phoebe can get in touch quickly to confirm the ETA on that predictably approaching War Fleet.:Of course.: The Unison Intelligence connected to the room's central display console and activated it. The familiar spirals of the Milky Way took shape above the projector, but there were some new additions to the image. Dots of red light blinked steadily across it, their frequency split between two major categories. A moment later, a handful of violet icons joined them, burning steadily.
You took a moment to thank Sidra, then gestured towards the display. "The red dots represent the locations of every Shiplord relay station and fleet base in the outer spiral, as of last night. Tahkel included some deployment figures, too, though they're not complete. And these," you highlighted one of the unblinking purple symbols, "are the locations of every War Fleet that the Shiplords currently possess."
Twelve lights, to represent the most lethal concentrations of applicable force in the galaxy. It was at once a little underwhelming, and subtly terrifying. "Tahkel's best estimate puts the closest one to us less than two weeks away at maximum jump rate. However," you added quickly, countering the descent into deathly silence, "War Fleets rarely use their maximum jump rate to reach a combat zone, due to logistical and maintenance concerns. A more reliable estimate would be four to six months. Not long, I admit, but a calculation made without considering how the Shiplords will react to the Group of Six rebelling against their control."
Also, good to get a count on the War Fleets. Twelve. Gotcha.
Hm. I'm imagining the Void Crystal acting as a sort of 'heat sink' to damp out the signature that an Uninvolved's activity would otherwise generate..."And you're absolutely certain?" It wasn't what Lina was focused on, however. "They can use the Artefact you created to build a drive that can jump without restrictions?"
"Tahkel believes so," you replied carefully. "They could do a great deal more, no doubt, but creations like that Artefact should allow them to act in reality to some degree without triggering the Shiplord detection web - what we may reasonably assume caught Insight's Thoughtcast before the Second Battle of Sol."
"Can you replicate them?" Lina asked, almost demanded, really.
"I," you shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, Lina. We've spent years trying to just understand that thing. Now that we know what it is, that might be easier. But replication? I don't know. We'd need time to break down how it does what it does, and given the complexity of what we're talking about here," you looked over at Mary. Your friend had been silent through the entire discussion thus far, but this was more her field than yours. She caught the look, chuckled once, then nodded.
"The issue, Lina," Mary said softly, "is that the nature of how the crystal allows for interaction without detection isn't understood. We know that Potentials can influence the world around them without detection, but that's a result of their souls being anchored to reality. The crystal allows for the same thing, in a limited sense. But the workings of that process…we'd need to observe an Uninvolved working through it to get a good idea. And I'm not sure if that's a process that could be reversed."
Oh my goodness it's a faidon.
Anyway never mind.
I think we should either hurry up and get there ASAP or wait until Fourth Sol has already happened.How much preparation time does Amanda believe the mission into Shiplord space should take? You must define a time here, as Amanda is an involved party in this decision process. If you choose to leave ahead of the War Fleet, you will not be back in time to defend against it. No write-ins this time.
[] Shakedown – Depart as soon as design, construction and shakedown of the Adamant are complete. 1 month. Will leave little time for research, but makes departure ahead of any War Fleet assault all but certain.
[] Evaluation – Remain for long enough to complete a proper evaluation of the Void Crystal, now that you have some idea of what it does. 2-3 months, depending on rolls. Good chance of being gone before the War Fleet hits.
[] Implacable – Delay your departure until after the War Fleet assault has been handled. May take up to six months. May allow for more research time, but could also add significant delay to a potentially critical investigation. Ensures your participation in the Fourth Battle of Sol.
I suspect it will be impractical for us to somehow avert Fourth Sol or gain a decisive advantage in it with haste in this mission... but I don't actually know and that may be a gut feeling.
...
@Snowfire , to be clear, which if any of these actions give us a plausible expectation of arriving at our destination before the War Fleet reaches Sol?
Do we have any idea whether we can somehow avert the impending battle by our actions (I'm guessing 'no, no you do not know')?
...
Because if Iris AND Amanda are both gone, that's a pretty significant dent in our defenses, and I don't want to have a scenario where we succeed in our mission, only to find out that the War Fleet broke through our defenses and exploderized the sun.