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Victory Through Unity! (Planetary Annihiliation Self Insert Multicross)

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Jormuungaand said:
Being for the relatively benevolent, Bastard for the rest.
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Okay, good to know.

As for defining that:

Well, Tau and Zeta are kinda irked because Melissa has only served Celm for a short amount of time (about 100 years) yet got chosen for a prestigious position, while they've been serving him for over 300 years, but aren't really rewarded that well by him. They think favoritism is in play.

They're right, except Melissa and Celm have known each other for far longer than for how long Tau and Zeta have known him (they only knew him for about five or so years before becoming his subordinates, but he's known about Melissa since before she was born), which has given him plenty of time to judge her loyalties and skills. He does favor her, but that's because he has a good idea of how she will act in a given situation, and knows where her loyalties lie.
 
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121. Reckoning Unleashed
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    • While I would have liked to continue watching the videos I had acquired, I decided to put that on hold in favor of getting back to work dealing with the Dread Lords. The sooner they were out of commission, the better, and going by that logic, the less delays I had in dealing with them, the better. So as much as I wanted to watch more of the videos, it was time to get to work ramping up my conflict with them.

    Mostly, this meant deliberately sabotaging their supply lines, sabotaging their colonies, mixing up orders, and generally being a thorn in their side. As is, the Dread Lords had colonized only a part of the territory they had conquered, which meant that, once it was time to invade, I could easily crush them with numbers. I was starting to get worried about how long I could screw with their forces before they would start to put up actual, if minor, resistance. See, the planets the Dread Lords had colonized were filled with factories, shipyards, and research centers, of all things. That might seem odd, but it did make sense if you knew the lore - the Dread Lords were well aware that when the universe ends, they will go down with it, so they probably wanted to find a way to abandon ship before that happened or cancel it outright....hmmm, I should probably keep that in mind.

    Back on topic - all those research facilities were probably meant to help the Dread Lords either stop the heat death of the universe or jump ship before it happens, but that also meant that they had plenty of facilities to put to work examining any fragments of technology they had gleaned from me, which gave them a decent chance of figuring out how it worked and what it was weak to. I'd stopped them from acquiring any samples to work with, but knowing how Self-Inserts go, I doubted that would last forever. While Melissa would likely leave me be there, her companions might beg to differ, and I wouldn't put it past them to make things difficult for me just to spite her. I didn't think honor among thieves applied here.

    While I made quite a bit of effort to weaken the Dread Lords, I wasn't yet ready to try and take their territory. I could give a number of reasons for that, but the chief one was that the Alliance was about to make a move on their territory, and I wanted to let them have a major victory so that moral would not go down the toilet. I'd do as much as I could to weaken the Dread Lords, but I'd leave taking the systems to the Alliance. Once the Alliance had made their move, I'd make mine. Then comes the glorious tech-stealing!

    hmm........I wonder what Melissa was doing.

    XXXXXXXXXXXXX

    Turns out she was launching an attack on the Drengin. A large one, too - she was directing invasions on ten different worlds simultaneously. I guess there were perks to being a ROB.

    Her forces included armies of strange alien creatures, some flying, some swimming, some just crawling, and some using organic jet propulsion. I'd have been surprised by the last one, but as a fan of Wayne Douglas Barlowe, that wasn't really a surprising sight. Here and there were some mechanical units, namely tanks, jets, ships, artillery, and mechs of all things, but by and large the forces deployed were primarily organic, ranging from beasts no larger to house cats to gigantic monsters the size of buildings -wait, are those slime demons?

    ......Yep, those are slime demons. Guess I know where she got that one from.

    ...............I really did not want to fight her. Those things were a pain to deal with.

    Oddly enough, I noted that several of her units seemed to be analogous in function to some of my units. Spiderlike crawling creatures healed other beasts, just like my stitches, while particularly large fliers released explosive sacs on top of dug out positions, not unlike my wyrm bombers. Part of me felt this was deliberate.

    While Melissa's forces were varied, their effectiveness in battle was not. Wherever they fought, they won, with minimal losses at worst. At best, not one of their forces fell. Those who opposed them were lucky if they got off with being beaten into the ground and forced to surrender - one army actually got eaten down to the last man. Granted, that army had used all of their slaves as meat-shields to try and get her to back off, and had killed quite a few even when she had considered backing down, so I think she just wasn't inclined to treat them respectfully in that particular situation. Still, the fury that force displayed was.....frightening, to say the least.

    I will say that I was impressed by how Melissa chose to lead her forces. When she launched attacks on the Drengin, she lead them personally. She actually had to use a lot of teleportation to lead all ten attacks concurrently, which was very tiring for he, but I will give her credit for not choosing to command the battle form the comfort of a nice chair. Okay, that's not completely true - she lead the initial attack, then set up a forward operating base to run the rest of the fighting from. Seeing as she had organic satellite analogues that worked just as well as a hermes, it wasn't exactly hard to set up a good forward base to command the conflict from.

    According to my calculations, if she continued her aggressive conquests against the Drengin, it would take them four months to fall, and that was disregarding my contributions. With those added in, the time frame decreased to three months. I quickly got to work setting up forces to assist her in that endeavor - three months is better than four.

    Now all I had to do was beat up the Dread Lords and Korx before that time was up, ideally while finding some way to deal with the Yor.

    No problem.

    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

    AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!    ​
     
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    • Good chapter. No standout typos or anything so what can I say since I know nothing about the franchises you've visited so far? Hence my near silence.
     
    Honestly, something that would be neat would be if you wound up in the Star Trek universe. Mostly because I recall seeing exactly one Commander go there, and they wound up being very close to a shooting war with the Federation. What I think would be interesting is if you and your followers wound up in the Star Trek universe in either the TNG era, the Dominion War era, or in the 25th century as seen in Star Trek Online. It would be interesting to see what kind of shenanigans you could get up to with Star Trek technology, and when you stop and think about it, as far as I can tell Star Trek's Warp Drive is fairly unique for how readily it can be used in tactical situations. And that's not even getting started on the beam weaponry, which tend to be something you don't want to get hit by. Also, transphasic torpedoes are a thing that you are going to want, because being able to bypass shields very easily would be something many a commander could find useful from time to time.
     
    122. The Arnor
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    • With my forces busy sabotaging the Dread Lords, I decided to look into dealing with the other extant precursors in this universe: The Arnor. Though they and the Dread Lords were of the same species, their motives and ideals were so different that I was willing to consider them two different species...at least, at the moment. And while I might be opposed to the Dread Lords on moral grounds, I had only good things to say about the Arnor. Right now, I wanted to see where they were.

    While I knew that there was at least one Arnor still alive and kicking at this point in time (before you ask, his name is Tandis), I wasn't exactly sure if he was the only one left. If he was not, then saving the Arnor was my new priority for this universe. Of course, there was one problem with that: since most of heir tech had been lost to time, I had no real means of tracking them....or did I? While the majority of their tech had been lost to time, one of their advancements had survived: a form of self repairing armor that acted more like living tissue than normal armor. And while most ships belonging to the Cthulhu-esque beings known as the Iconians had that armor on them, I was inclined to believe that all Arnor ships would have that kind of armor on them, and I could track that armor.

    So, now that I had something to look for, I set my scouts to work trying to locate the Arnor. In addition to looking for ships equipped with Arnorian Battle Armor, I also told them to ignore any ships that had that kind of armor but didn't have a blue, crystalline appearance, which appeared to be the new design theme the Arnor were using, if Twilight of the Armor was any indication.

    Now, go, my scouts! Find the Armor!

    XXXXXXXXX

    It took them two days to find my target.

    Looking through the cameras of one of my Hermes, I watched as the blue, crystalline ship came into view. Cautiously, I attempted to contact it, which was initially met with ignorance, before finally being answered.

    "Greetings. I am Tandis, of the Arnor. Who are you?"

    "I am Commander Flame, of the Infernum Federation."

    "I thought so. Though, I wonder, why did you kind think that would be a good new name for your kinds' dominion."

    ".....what?"

    "I merely wonder why the Progenitors chose that name as the new title for their civilization."

    ..........WHAT?!

    ".................Say again?"

    "......You.....don't know about the Progenitors?"

    "Not beyond the fact that they made the Commanders."

    "Oh.......well, I do not believe that is important. At least, not now."

    "I think that you.....are right."

    What? That's not what I wanted to say!

    "Then let us leave that talk for another day."

    "Or we don't have to talk about it at all."

    No! This is important stuff!

    "I'm fine with that."

    "Good. This tidbit will.........be........ignored."

    FUCK!

    "Though, I must now ask this, why did you seek me out? I know that the ship you used to contact me is only one of many that seemed to be scouring the galaxy for something, so I can assume that you were actively searching for my kind."


    TELL ME ABOUT THE PROGENITORS!

    ".....I wish to improve the lives of all of those in this universe, including those of your people, should they still exist. I offer your kind the option to join my Federation if you desire."

    WHY CAN'T I SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THE PROGENITORS?!

    "I see. Well, we accept your offer, though do not think that we will share our technology with you. At least, not just yet."

    "That is.....acceptable."

    AGH!

    Ugh, fine. I give up. Not going to fight the unbeatable right now. Fix that later.

    "So, when can we begin moving your people to my colonies."

    "In a moment. Just follow my vessel."

    Complying, I watched as he led me to a strange metal ring-like machine - oh, that's a Star Gate.

    Sure enough, it was, and after a moment, the gate came online, allowing a ship to pass through it. This one resembled Tandis', but with two great blue domes on it - the telltale sign of a colony ship. Once that ship came through, the gate went offline again, presumably to not allow anyone to go to wherever the Arbor has been hiding. I quickly scanned the gate and pocketed it's design, before giving the Arnor directions to my central territories, as well as an escort borrowed from the nearest fleets I had in the area. Then, I sent them on their way.

    XXXXXXXX

    Well, now I had the Arnor under my protection, which was good, but, on the other hand, they somehow knew I had Progenitor technology. And I was forcibly stopped from questioning them as to how they knew that.

    Ugh, time to mess with my code again.

    XXXXXXXXXX

    AN: Read, Review, and DISCUSS! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
     
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    • 123. Orders of a Dead Race
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    • While I will admit that the railroaded conversation I had with the Arnor made integrating them into my forces relatively easy, the fact that I had been railroaded to avoid asking them about the Progenitors made me very uncomfortable. Had Melissa put that in there? Or was it Celm? Maybe some of Melissa's colleagues? Whoever put it in, they really knew something they didn't want me to know, which, unsurprisingly, only made me want to know that even more. Of course, the code that prevented me from questioning about how other factions knew about the Progenitors was probably locked under similar walls of coding that the ones that held the videos I'd been watching, which would complicate things quite a bit.

    Bitterly, I realized I would probably need to recreate the signal those artifacts created in order to try and scrub these directives, or at least find out who put them there.

    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

    Alright, so, let's see, pull up a recording of the conversation, go into code examination mode, check for external stimulus - found it!

    Now trace back to its source....done. Problem code located. As expected, access requires........super administrator privileges? Well, that's unexpected. Oh well, time to start messing around with it.

    Attempt basic hacking first, just in case.

    .......well, that failed.

    Alright, time to get deploy the signal.

    ..Signal activated.

    ............Why is nothing happening? I'm not getting any glitches, no forced shut downs, no nothing.

    ..........................WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE A COUNTER SIGNAL FOR THIS?! SERIOUSLY! THIS IS COMPLETE BULL-

    "Warning, emergency Commander Program Deletion system activated."

    WHAT?! NO! AGH, STOP STOP STOP!

    "System disabled. Have a nice day."

    WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!

    So, you found this?

    What?! Who is this?!

    I am merely a messenger and overseer, and no, I am not connected to your......sponsor, for lack of a better word.

    So you aren't affiliated with Melissa? Then what did you want.

    Merely to make a request: do not attempt to break these firewalls. Do not continue on the path you were on. No, I am not referring to your mission to help others. I merely ask that you avoid looking at secrets that should remain secret.

    Who put you up to this?

    Who do you think? The only ones who had Super-Administrator privileges.

    Like Celm?

    No, stupid. I am referring to the ones who have higher privileges than even him.

    And who are those?

    Who else? The Progenitors.

    .......What? Your directives.....were provided......by the Progenitors?

    Yes, they were assigned by those beings approximately...... one million years ago, give or take a day.

    And what are those directives?

    Since revealing them to you can be done in a way that does not compromise those directives, I will tell you - do not investigate any leads you find on the Progenitors....at least, ones given by younger civilizations. If you find any relics of their civilization, you may examine them to your heart's content. But that is all I can say. Farewell.

    XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

    Well, that wasn't really very helpful. Also, just what did the Progenitors have to hide?

    XXXXXXXXXXX

    AN: A short chapter, but meh, I wrote it by the seat of my pants (unlike everything else so far).

    So, READ, REVIEW, AND DISCUSS! This is Flameal15k, signing off!



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  • Threadmarks
    • 124. Hierarchy of ROBs
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    • So, what to do now?

    .....Eh, time to watch another of the video from those files I had discovered earlier. Maybe this one would explain some more things for me. All of the others had.

    I simply pulled up the next file after the one where I had seen Melissa's......interactions with her colleagues and started watching.

    XXXXXXXX

    The new setting I found myself in was a dirt field, debarred except for a few dead bushes here and there, there Fallen leaves scattered around them. Also in the field was Melissa, who stared intently at the bushes, though why she was doing so was beyond me. A short distance away, I could make out the shape of Celm, as well as some beings I did not recognize. Perhaps they were his colleagues?

    "So, Why has your subordinate called us here?" Questioned one of the figures. A woman, by the sound of her voice. I couldn't tell what she looked like, as she was wearing a mask that only showed off her turquoise colored eyes.

    "She wanted to show off her powers, presumably as one last show of strength before she takes the field as a ROB, as lesser races would call us."

    "Random Omnipotent Being. Fancy title, hardly a perfect descriptor for our kind."

    "True, But most humans regard is as such."

    "Fair enough. So, what does she want to show us?"

    "Wait and see."

    With that, both figures grew silent, with Celm gesturing for my ROB to begin her display of power. Smiling, she started off with a simple display, releasing a light into the sky, triggering a storm. Mere minutes later, lighting ignited one of the pushes, which Melissa quickly extinguished, only to reignite it herself. Then, she gestured to the storm and the bush, and soon, I found myself in the middle of a fire-nado. Said flaming cyclone was suddenly frozen into a circular tube of ice, which shattered a moment later. From there, Melissa up turned the ground, making it quake in fury before eventually going still.

    As more impressive feats occurred, Celm and the other figures watched on, seemingly judging everything my.....sponsor....did.

    "She's clearly mastered the skills required for the title of ROB," noted Celm.

    "Truly, I'm surprised some being slike is treat that like a badge of honor, especially if they take pride in being called a B.R.O.B. Why take pride in such a definitive insult?"

    "That is lost to me."

    "It is also lost to me......though. I must ask you one question."

    "Yes?"

    "Why does your subordinate wish to flaunt these skills now? Any other time could have worked."

    "She is days away from launching our Commander experiment."

    "You're allowing another experiment?"

    "A final one. The last couple of results were.....well, you watched one, you can how my previous attempt went."

    "Indeed, I can. Still, even if we stop using commanders, others are going to use them, and that...."

    "Could be a problem for our interests, I know. This experiment is meant to solve that."

    "How so?"

    "I'll tell you later. I wish for it to remain secret for now."

    "Okay....you still didn't answer my question as to why Operative Omega is showing off."

    "She is the newest of my operatives, yet the Commander Experiment is a highly prestigious project, and not all of my subordinates are happy she is heading it. I believe she is attempting to gain the favor of more of my colleagues, such as yourself, to legitimize her position. That or protection from her rivals' retaliation."

    "I see.....a show of skill would help legitimize her new position, especially if she could demonstrate she was deserving of her so called 'omnipotence'.

    Back at the center stage, Melissa was apparently at the conclusion of her performance of power, which, judging from the appearance of the moons in the sky, appeared to have gone on for a few hours. Which made it all the more surprising when she raised her hand to the sky, and suddenly, the moons began traveling BACKWARDS across the sky. A cursory examination of a watch that one of the senior ROBs was looking at revealed that yes, she was reversing time.

    Finally, her last displah of power was directed at the bush she had roasted during her performance, which she gestured at with her right hand. At first, nothing happens, by then, to much shock, the bush grew vibrant with leaves and, eventually, flowers.

    That made everyone go silent. Then, thunderous applause.

    "Did she just restore a dead plant to life?" Questioned the female ROB.

    "......Yes, I believe she did."

    "...but.....but.....but none of your Operatives know how to do that. You made sure they didn't. Only beings as great as you and I are given the secrets to master life and death."

    "Well, it appears she did it anyway."

    ".....I see. I believe I should have a word with that girl."

    Five minutes later, the woman was indeed conversing with my ROB.

    "That was a spectacular performance."

    "Thank you, Miss...."

    "Queneeria. That is my name........why did you choose to show off your powers today?"

    "I was given a task of great importance and prestige by Master Celempheros. I believed it important to meet and align wit those who may help me excel in that position."

    ".....Impressive. You're smarter that I would have thought..... no offense."

    "None taken."

    "That is a relief.....oh, and I am willing to offer you my support."

    "Really?"

    "Yes. There is just one condition."

    "Tell me and we will see if it can be arranged."

    "Okay then. I will offer you my support if...."

    Then, to my surprise, the being's eyes flowed a brighter shade of turquoise than they already were.

    "If you do not ever use your mastery over life and death without my approval. In fact, forget that you could even raise the dead in the first place. Is that okay?"

    Much to my shock, Melissa's eyes were also glowing, the same shade as Queneeria's. ".......of course."

    "Good."

    "Anything else you'd like?"

    "Pictures of the locals you visit would also be appreciated."

    "I will provide you with those. Now, I must go - I have others whose favor I wish to gain."

    "Of course. Good luck."

    With that, Melissa's eyes returned to normal, and she began to walk away. After a moment, though, she clutched her right hand to her head, apparently having a headache, before continuing on with her efforts.

    Queneeria sighed as Melissa left, apparently satisfied she had succeeded with her efforts to brainwash my ROB, only to be stunned when she turned around and found Celm staring her in the eyes.

    "You had better give me a good reason you just mind-controlled and, essentially, grassed my subordinate into not using her peers."

    "Well, she's rather impulsive at times, though still one of the best among your subordinates. We have rules when interacting with others, choicest of all not trying to raise the dead for trivial reasons, and revealing that she had that power would only cement the hatred some of her co-workers have for her."

    "Is that all?"

    "No, I have one other reason: Omega is not one to stay on the sidelines, and will inevitably get involved with the Commander's actions. When she does, I do not want her to be able to brush off any losses she suffers. Her actions must carry consequences."

    ".....point taken. Apology handshake?

    "Of course."

    The fact Queneeria got lightly shocked as the hands were shaken made me wonder if she was completely forgiven.

    XXXXXXXXX

    ......ok, I didn't expect that to happen. Now what?

    Now that I thought about it, I hadn't really done much with my kids aside from joining in on Bianka's birthday celebration. Maybe I should do something with them?

    XXXXXXX

    AN: Read, Review and DISCUSS! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
     
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    • 125. An Easy Day
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    • The water was calm, its pristine surface only broken by the slow rolling of the waves.

    And by the impact of a little red and white sphere, which began to bob up and down in the waves. It was the last of eleven bobbers to hit the water, all carefully spaced out to avoid snagging each other.

    I will admit, I was surprised that all of my children had been willing to go fishing with me. I expected Rory and all of my other boys to be onboard with me, but Bianka and her sisters deciding to join us was unexpected. I never really knew a lot of girls who liked to go fishing before I became a Commander, so I just kinda assumed that my daughters wouldn't really be interested in it. For once, it felt nice to be wrong.

    That wasn't to say that everyone was focusing on fishing, though - Bianka was busy painting on her birthday canvas, taking advantage of the time of day to provide her with a beautiful image to portray. See, fish don't like to be that active once the sun of is up, so I'd scheduled our fishing trip to be early in the morning. And by early, I meant that the sun was just now beginning to rise into the sky. This resulted in a spectacular display of color across the horizon, where the only clouds in the sky were died with shades whose beauty was truly worth seeing. It was this fantastic image that Bianka was trying to capture, and so far, she seemed to be doing a pretty good job of capturing it.

    A quick flash of movement turned my attention to Rory, who had just gotten a bite. Within minutes, all eyes were on him as he reeled in his catch. The fish fought hard to escape, but ultimately, my son proved to be its better, and soon he was holding the cute little fish in his left hand. I recognized it as a bonito, one of the fish I had caught when I had visited Mexico with my family several years ago. I'd made sure to breed and stock them in my hub world's oceans, along with a bunch of other fish that had managed to survive the cataclysm that the Temple Ship had caused when it blew up, so that I would have plenty of fish to catch whenever I felt like fishing.

    Back to Rory and his fish - right now, all of his siblings were taking turns holding it, while stealing glances to make sure that they weren't missing any fish biting at their lines. Idly, I noted that taking my children deep sea fishing probably wasn't the best first fishing trip for them, but so far, it was turning out well. Granted, that may have something to do with the fact I had filled the water with chemicals that repelled particularly large fish in a large area around our boat, ensuring that my kids wouldn't catch anything that could take them off the boat, but that was beside the point.

    Oh, and apparently Bianka was busy sketching a picture of Rory holding his fish in a notebook she had brought along. How cute.

    As the morning slowly dragged on, and more fish were caught (including a red snapper I from the depths below us), others began to join us, be it for fishing, or for other reasons. Species that I had made who were still tribal beings (or had not yet lost all vestiges of their ancestral culture) rowed out to the depths, using spears to fish swimming close to the surface, and nets to snag those which swam in shoals. Joining them from below were sapient aquatic beings I'd dreamed of creating, but never been able to get mods to bring to life fully. I guess Steve had been kind to me there. Far in the distance, giant turbines slowly turned, harnessing the power of the waves to create clean energy, some of which was diverted toward giant platforms going down all the way to the continental shelf, which pulled ore from the depths to be used by my creations in their daily lives. Just about a kilometer east of us, specialized subs were beginning to maneuver around the edge of a huge forest of kelp, cutting away some of the mighty stipes so that the seaweed could be processed for food. Joining them were a pod of orca whales, one of many that I had pulled off of Earth, looking for a chance to snatch any prey animals that might be disturbed by the subs' actions. My sonar even picked up a blue whale some distance away, feasting on a plankton bloom.

    While many species had died out following the end of the Second Alien war, it appeared the T'leth had stored genetic scans of some of those majestic beings, which I had used to recreate them, aided in part by the fact T'leth had managed to also save specimens of those fallen species, apparently to research for later usage as food or resource producers. Already, I had returned blue whales to the seas of Earth. Of course I had kept some for myself, for these beings were beautiful to behold.

    Still, the great oceans of my hub world felt....empty, as did the plains. All that lived on them now were the beasts I had created and organisms I had obtained from Chiron and Earth. While that may sound like a lot of biodiversity, it still felt empty to me. No giant, fantastical beasts had yet arisen in my oceans, barring the occasional Isle of the Depth that emerged from a Xenofungus cluster existing in the ocean, which Chiron the Elder had convinced me to seed across my hub world's seas and surface. All that dwelled here was but a fraction of the life forms one could find in a normal ocean, and due to my progenitor bullshit-level tech, I was painfully aware of how empty this sea was.

    Without even thinking, I began drafting up a list of universes home to creatures that I would have wanted to see living on my hub world. Subnautica, Robinson the Journey, Horizon: Zero Dawn and Riders of Icarus all came to mind. If the Random Number God took pity on me and allowed me to visit those universes, I would take care to gather samples of the native biota and return with them to my hub world. Then, this world may finally resemble a truly living world, and not the facsimile I had made out of the few things I had managed to scrounge together.

    All that being said, this world still beautiful, in its own way.

    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

    AN: Read, Review and DISCUSS! This is Flameal15k, signing off!    ​
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Jormuungaand said:
    Did you just tempt Murphy?
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    Yup he did.
    Flameal15k said:
    No, the chapter is just fluff and worldbuilding.
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    Pretty sure you did. Or at least that should've counted as one. Still, with GalCiv, you should've collected a bunch of samples of native fauna, aquatic, aerial and land faunas as well as plants, trees and etc. That way your planet would've been more vibrant than the facsimile that you say you have even though said facsimile is quite a bio-diverse planet all on it's own.
     
    Ryven Razgriz said:
    Yup he did.

    Pretty sure you did. Or at least that should've counted as one. Still, with GalCiv, you should've collected a bunch of samples of native fauna, aquatic, aerial and land faunas as well as plants, trees and etc. That way your planet would've been more vibrant than the facsimile that you say you have even though said facsimile is quite a bio-diverse planet all on it's own.
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    Well, I'm probably going to have to change the title, because this chapter was meant to be a breather episode of sorts.

    And yeah, I am going to pick up some fauna from Gal Civ, but part of the moaning Flame had was because he wanted some 'fantastic' creatures roaming his hubworld. The kind that just tell you that this is an alien world.
     
    God this story is extremely repetitive. Both the good and bad parts.i sincerely recommend a rewrite. All this ignored potential and forced plot points ....... I'll die before I finish this . Good luck mate . awesome seeing you try but you aren't learning though........thanks for writing
     
    Tembu said:
    God this story is extremely repetitive. Both the good and bad parts.i sincerely recommend a rewrite. All this ignored potential and forced plot points ....... I'll die before I finish this . Good luck mate . awesome seeing you try but you aren't learning though........thanks for writing
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    While I respect your opinion, I have no plans or desire to rewrite this story. At least not yet.
     
    126. A Chance Meeting
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    • After we returned from our fishing trip, with plenty of fish and several good works of art for our hard work, I returned my attention to running my burgeoning empire. First, I checked up on my subordinate AIs. In hindsight, I was beginning to wonder why I had made them, since I barely ever asked them for advice. I really needed to fix that.

    As for what they were doing at the moment, the first one I focused on was Kathikon, who was busy looking up various legal procedures - for five different legal systems (Terran, Altarian, Thala, Iconian, and Drengin), presumably in case they came in handy later. Synais, meanwhile, having finally found a universe where there were plenty of comforts to enjoy, had taken a small fortune from my treasury (roughly a billion credits, which was less then a billionth of the wealth I had on hand, not that anyone else knew that), ordered up a ton of food, fine wines, and fancy clothes, and was busy streaming a marathon of action movies while stuffing himself. As for Fide, she had......gone into sleep mode? Really?

    .....yes, really. She was currently in sleep mode, with her body resting on a makeshift bed in my tower. Why the hell was she sleeping right now.

    Sighing, I nudged her awake, accidentally knocking her off her bed. Oops.

    "Waaa-MASTER! I'm ready to serve!"

    ....well, that was a quick reaction.

    "At ease. How are you doing?"

    "Fine. A little groggy, but fine."

    Considering she was dressed solely in the same set of clothes I had given her after she had been created, I found that unlikely. Also, and I know that this is rude to say about a girl, but I am saying it anyway, she smelled bad. Like, really, really bad. And that wasn't even getting into how her skin and hair looked. Also, why was she so thin?

    "Okaaay, but before I go on, when was the last time you changed clothes? Or bathed?"

    "...... One point five months......"

    ......WHAT!?

    "... Why...exactly.....,have you not bathed for that long."

    "I have been asleep for 1.5 months. I do not need to bathe while I am sleeping."

    "But why did you sleep for that long?"

    "Because you had no orders for me, and if I have no orders from you, then I have no reason to be awake."

    ".......why?"

    "Because if I am awake and not following your orders, I am wasting time."

    "....You were awake when I didn't give you orders in the civilization universe."

    "You had based you needed managed. With your choice to be more active in handling your resources in this universe, I was no longer needed."

    "..........And you didn't think about using any of this time to rest and relax?"

    "You never gave or directly implied I had permission to relax."

    ......good god, she was literal minded. Perhaps making her extremely loyal to me was a mistake.

    "Alright, new orders for you then."

    "I humbly await them."

    "Well, here they are: if you are not following any other orders from me at any given time, then you are to enjoy yourself. Is that clear?"

    "......yes sir!"

    I was probably going to have to do some debugging for that later, but for now, that seemed a suitable way to get her to actually live for herself and not just be my slave. She deserved an actual life, and not a facsimile of one.

    Now, back to work managing my forces.

    First off, check my spy drone reports. Let's see: Korx are struggling to maintain their economic dominance in the wake of my market invasion, the Torians just start a campaign to recolonize some world's they lost, the Alliance has made another push into Dread Lord territory and......wait, is that Mortarax?

    ....Yes, it is. And he's on the Drath's adoptive homeworld of Drathis. Fun fact: the Drath were originally from Altaria and evolved side by side with the Altarians, who ultimately drove them off the planet. Ever since, they had been working hard to get their home back via manipulation. Out of sympathy for their past, I had decided not to act against them, since they were the ones who gave the Korx access to FTL. Why Mortarax would be contacting them was not something I could fathom.

    Well, time to investigate.

    XXXXXXXXX

    Mortarax tilted his head upwards. Before him, seated in a slightly elevated chair, was Embryes Draken, current leader of the Drath Legion. Nearby, guards stood at attention, weapons ready in case things went south.

    Ultimately, though, they would be unnecessary.

    "So," began Embryes, "why do you, a commander of the forces of the Empyrean Illuminate, wish to meet with me?"

    "We have interest in your skill with Espionage and would like to ask your assistance."

    "How so?"

    "My master wants to use those spys against the Drengin. You see, she is friendly at the moment with the head of the Infernum Federation. During the Battle of Iakesh V, they discovered the Drengin to be in possession of a weapon that disabled much of their weaponry. We would like to ask your assistance in determining if they have anymore of this type of weapon."

    "You wish for us to locate this weapon for you?"

    "Not without compensation. If you are able to locate the weapon, or even if you do not, my master will assist you in returning to Altaria."

    "......why?"

    "Your kind were cruelly kicked off your home world, for relatively childish reasons. My master believes that you deserve to return to what is rightfully yours."

    ".....And you are sure that she will provide this support?"

    "As sure as a sunrise on a cloudless day."

    ".....what reason do I have to trust you?"

    "You don't."

    ".........well, I do not see the harm in helping you defeat a common foe. Know that if you betray us, though, there will be a reckoning."

    "Understood."

    "Then is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

    "No. I shall take my leave. Farewell."

    XXXXXXXXXX

    .....Okay, why was Melissa sending her most brutish looking subordintate to do diplomacy? And why was she asking for knowledge her powers could have easily provided her with?

    Did you ever consider that her master might be keeping her from using those powers?

    WAAAH! Who was that?! That sounded like Celm!

    It is me. Or, rather, my psychic voice. My subordinate is not the only one watching you. As for why I refuse to let her use her powers to locate the information she desires, well, I think she needs to learn to stop depending on her so called omnipotence to solve verything. Besides, she has proven herself crafty enough to adapt. As for using Mortarax as a diplomat, I am surprised you still judge things by their skins. You who has always enjoyed characters whose appearances are deceiving should know better than to judge one based on physical appearances.

    ....fair enough.

    I thought so. Now I must leave, but I would encourage you to learn all you can about my subordinate. I would prefer you not come to blows, but if that ultimately proves to be inevitable, then you had better take every chance you can to get a leg up on her, or you will suffer the consequences.

    With that, Celm left my thoughts.

    As the last echoes of his voice faded away, I began prepping up scout ships and sent some Hermès toward Empyrean territory. Though I wondered why Celm would be willing to sabotage his own subordinate, he was, ultimately, correct. If I didn't take every opportunity I had to learn about Melissa before I confronted her (and I still felt that this had a very high chance of happening), then I would need to learn everything I could to tip the odds in my favor.

    XXXXXXXXX

    AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
     
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    • Flameal15k said:
    After we returned from our fishing trip, with plenty of fish and several good works of art for our hard work, I returned my attention to running my burgeoning empire. First, I checked up on my subordinate AIs. In hindsight, I was beginning to wonder why I had made them, since I barely ever asked them for advice. I really needed to fix that.

    As for what they were doing at the moment, the first one I focused on was Kathikon, who was busy looking up various legal procedures - for five different legal systems (Terran, Altarian, Thala, Iconian, and Drengin), presumably in case they came in handy later. Synais, meanwhile, having finally found a universe where there were plenty of comforts to enjoy, had taken a small fortune from my treasury (roughly a billion credits, which was less then a billionth of the wealth I had on hand, not that anyone else knew that), ordered up a ton of food, fine wines, and fancy clothes, and was busy streaming a marathon of action movies while stuffing himself. As for Fide, she had......gone into sleep mode? Really?

    .....yes, really. She was currently in sleep mode, with her body resting on a makeshift bed in my tower. Why the hell was she sleeping right now.

    Sighing, I nudged her awake, accidentally knocking her off her bed. Oops.

    "Waaa-MASTER! I'm ready to serve!"

    ....well, that was a quick reaction.

    "At ease. How are you doing?"

    "Fine. A little groggy, but fine."

    Considering she was dressed solely in the same set of clothes I had given her after she had been created, I found that unlikely. Also, and I know that this is rude to say about a girl, but I am saying it anyway, she smelled bad. Like, really, really bad. And that wasn't even getting into how her skin and hair looked. Also, why was she so thin?

    "Okaaay, but before I go on, when was the last time you changed clothes? Or bathed?"

    "...... One point five months......"

    ......WHAT!?

    "... Why...exactly.....,have you not bathed for that long."

    "I have been asleep for 1.5 months. I do not need to bathe while I am sleeping."

    "But why did you sleep for that long?"

    "Because you had no orders for me, and if I have no orders from you, then I have no reason to be awake."

    ".......why?"

    "Because if I am awake and not following your orders, I am wasting time."

    "....You were awake when I didn't give you orders in the civilization universe."

    "You had based you needed managed. With your choice to be more active in handling your resources in this universe, I was no longer needed."

    "..........And you didn't think about using any of this time to rest and relax?"

    "You never gave or directly implied I had permission to relax."

    ......good god, she was literal minded. Perhaps making her extremely loyal to me was a mistake.

    "Alright, new orders for you then."

    "I humbly await them."

    "Well, here they are: if you are not following any other orders from me at any given time, then you are to enjoy yourself. Is that clear?"

    "......yes sir!"

    I was probably going to have to do some debugging for that later, but for now, that seemed a suitable way to get her to actually live for herself and not just be my slave. She deserved an actual life, and not a facsimile of one.

    Now, back to work managing my forces.

    First off, check my spy drone reports. Let's see: Korx are struggling to maintain their economic dominance in the wake of my market invasion, the Torians just start a campaign to recolonize some world's they lost, the Alliance has made another push into Dread Lord territory and......wait, is that Mortarax?

    ....Yes, it is. And he's on the Drath's adoptive homeworld of Drathis. Fun fact: the Drath were originally from Altaria and evolved side by side with the Altarians, who ultimately drove them off the planet. Ever since, they had been working hard to get their home back via manipulation. Out of sympathy for their past, I had decided not to act against them, since they were the ones who gave the Korx access to FTL. Why Mortarax would be contacting them was not something I could fathom.

    Well, time to investigate.

    XXXXXXXXX

    Mortarax tilted his head upwards. Before him, seated in a slightly elevated chair, was Embryes Draken, current leader of the Drath Legion. Nearby, guards stood at attention, weapons ready in case things went south.

    Ultimately, though, they would be unnecessary.

    "So," began Embryes, "why do you, a commander of the forces of the Empyrean Illuminate, wish to meet with me?"

    "We have interest in your skill with Espionage and would like to ask your assistance."

    "How so?"

    "My master wants to use those spys against the Drengin. You see, she is friendly at the moment with the head of the Infernum Federation. During the Battle of Iakesh V, they discovered the Drengin to be in possession of a weapon that disabled much of their weaponry. We would like to ask your assistance in determining if they have anymore of this type of weapon."

    "You wish for us to locate this weapon for you?"

    "Not without compensation. If you are able to locate the weapon, or even if you do not, my master will assist you in returning to Altaria."

    "......why?"

    "Your kind were cruelly kicked off your home world, for relatively childish reasons. My master believes that you deserve to return to what is rightfully yours."

    ".....And you are sure that she will provide this support?"

    "As sure as a sunrise on a cloudless day."

    ".....what reason do I have to trust you?"

    "You don't."

    ".........well, I do not see the harm in helping you defeat a common foe. Know that if you betray us, though, there will be a reckoning."

    "Understood."

    "Then is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

    "No. I shall take my leave. Farewell."

    XXXXXXXXXX

    .....Okay, why was Melissa sending her most brutish looking subordintate to do diplomacy? And why was she asking for knowledge her powers could have easily provided her with?

    Did you ever consider that her master might be keeping her from using those powers?

    WAAAH! Who was that?! That sounded like Celm!

    It is me. Or, rather, my psychic voice. My subordinate is not the only one watching you. As for why I refuse to let her use her powers to locate the information she desires, well, I think she needs to learn to stop depending on her so called omnipotence to solve verything. Besides, she has proven herself crafty enough to adapt. As for using Mortarax as a diplomat, I am surprised you still judge things by their skins. You who has always enjoyed characters whose appearances are deceiving should know better than to judge one based on physical appearances.

    ....fair enough.

    I thought so. Now I must leave, but I would encourage you to learn all you can about my subordinate. I would prefer you not come to blows, but if that ultimately proves to be inevitable, then you had better take every chance you can to get a leg up on her, or you will suffer the consequences.

    With that, Celm left my thoughts.

    As the last echoes of his voice faded away, I began prepping up scout ships and sent some Hermès toward Empyrean territory. Though I wondered why Celm would be willing to sabotage his own subordinate, he was, ultimately, correct. If I didn't take every opportunity I had to learn about Melissa before I confronted her (and I still felt that this had a very high chance of happening), then I would need to learn everything I could to tip the odds in my favor.

    XXXXXXXXX

    AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    We have a very exciting fight for you guys it's the NEWCOMER COMMMMAANNDER FLAAAAME Vs MELISSA!(I don't know why but I saw there upcoming fight spectated like in WWE/Am Actual WWE fight ((can they solve their problems through WWE )
     
    Last edited:
    127. Eyes on the Illuminate
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    • Taking the advice Celm had given me to heart, I began deploying more scout units into Illuminate territory, trying to find out anything I could about them. If/when we were forced to come to blows, I did not want to be caught flat footed. I also made a point of hacking into their computer systems, which was not as easy as before. I guess that she had lowered her security programs so that she could attempt contact with me. Still, the security systems weren't anything I couldn't handle. I wonder if Celm had set an upper limit for the level of cyber-warfare systems she could use. If so, he must have made that limit rather low.

    Slowly, a picture began to form of my temporary ally. It seemed there were five major figures leading the Illuminate, discounting Cassidy, though I assumed that, if her mom was incapacitated, she would probably take her place as the head of the Illuminate. Also, was Melissa intentionally trying to make a Five-Bad Band, the universe trying to give me a trope overdosed adventure, or just coincidence? Back on topic - while Melissa was head of the Illuminate, she had four major subordinates who helped her with running her empire. Mortarax, from what I had managed to pick out of the Illuminate's internet equivalent, was apparently Head of the Military, while the other three......why couldn't I find any information on them?

    ........Nothing else is showing up on them, other than that they exist?

    Somehow, I know a ROB is to blame for this.

    A silver lining did exist, though - I may not have been able to determine who these figures were, but I could determine where they were. While two of them were currently at the 'origin zone', which is presumed to be Melissa's hub universe, the third unknown leader was busy fighting against the Drengin, helping Melissa defeat the Last pockets of resistance on one of the worlds she had conquered. I quickly sent some nearby scouts to the planet to find out what they looked like.

    When I got visuals of the world, I found myself staring at a massive battle between several tanks and some very advanced mechs. The fight wouldn't be out of place in a mecha anime, and I wasn't willing to discount the idea that the mechs I was observing were derived from ones found in a series I had already watched - for all I knew, they could have Ahab reactors in them, and I had no way of knowing. Pondering the origins of the mechs was pointless right now, though - better to watch the action and see how they fought.

    The battle was pretty one-sided, which wasn't really a surprise. The mechs practically danced around the Drengin tanks, alternatively destroying them either with guns, rockets, or swords. The mech that I assumed to be the leader based on its gold and white pattern used a polearm instead of a sword, and was able to carve through three tanks in one swing. It was only a matter of minutes before the fight was over.

    With their opposition eliminated, the mechs returned to base, where, to my surprise, the metal around their chests retracted and opened up, allowing the pilots to exit their machines. I guess Melissa favored mechs with the pilot's seat inside the chest instead of the head.

    One by one, the pilots exited their machines, until only the Commander remained. When their time came to leave, the chest cavity opened up just like the others and.....wait, that's the boy I met when Melissa first visited me.

    Suddenly, I noticed that I was getting a lot more intel from my hacking software in the Illuminate's database. All of it was related to the boy I was looking at. His name was Wlling, last name was redacted, and he was about sixteen years old. He had apparently been piloting those mechs since he was around thirteen, he had extensively modified his own mech (called a golem, model designation Talos) to maximize its fighting power and - WHY DID EVERYTHING I JUST PUKKED UP ON HIM BECOME REDACTED?!?!

    Okay, now I was sure that Celm was involved. On this, though, he proved to be silent. I guess he enjoyed trolling people.

    Also, why was Melissa letting someone so young fight for her? I had begin to assume that she was a different cut from ALL of the ROBs I had read about, but now I was just confused? Maybe he was too skilled to hold back? Had Celm has ordered her to let him fight? So many possible answers.

    Well, that train of thought was going nowhere. Worse still, I didn't have any idea about what the strengths and weaknesses of her forces were. Without that, I would be at a massive disadvantage when/if we came to blows, and would likely be unable to best them in combat. I was starting to doubt I'd be able to kill Melissa, not just for lack of power, but also lack of motivation - after all the kindness she had shown me, killing her just felt wrong. Still, I couldn't just forgive her yet for tearing me from all I knew and loved. What is would do to her once I defeated, though, was still up in the air.

    Just when I was about to give up on finding anything else of value scanning her computer systems, however, I hit pay-dirt. A series of communications I intercepted revealed that Melissa's four main subordinates were preparing for something big that was to happen in about one month's time, which would be.....October 11. Idly, I wondered if people still remembered what had happened this day in 2001. Hopefully they did, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. Just to be sure, I made a point of downloading everything I could find on the Internet (now called the extranet) relating to 9/11, then downloaded everything else on the extranet so that I'd have something to do when I was bored besides make new stuff and play video games - and I am getting side tracked. Back to the plans: it looked like ROB's subordinates were looking for something (or some things) to present to their master, though why was unfortunately not mentioned. Still, I now had a lead to follow on.

    Carefully, I set up spy forces to tail these four individuals and their entourages when they made their move - why are four of my units streaming data that I just downloaded from the Extranet?

    ............Oh, you have got to be KIDDING ME!

    XXXXXXXXXXXX

    AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
     
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