AN*

As stated before this is simply an archive of the story. If you wish to take part in the discussion and see things like the explanation as to where I've been, then head on over to space battles creative writing forums and search for the thread. If you can't be bothered, then you clearly aren't that invested in the story. That being said, here is chapter Seven for your verifying pleasure.

One hour later.

Illiad station.

Ten forward.

Shortly after the incident with… whoever the hell that was, I find myself putting the rest of my implants and cybernetics through a few basic tests and diagnostics before purging the tank of stasis fluid. After a very thorough shower and sonic cleaning, I'm in the main bar visited in the off hours of personnel, a pack of 100% cannabis filterless cigarettes in my pocket.

As soon as I enter the large room, a small murmur goes over the patrons as heads start to turn.

In response to which I pull the pack out and grab a joint. As I light it up I connect wirelessly to the PA system in the observation lounge.

"Ladies and gentlemen," I say as I light it, the flick and click of my lighter clearly audible.

"Let's light this candle. In six hours you will receive your augmentation order numbers. By my best estimations the process and testing will take exactly seven days. Time enough for us to make our entrance as a naval power in New Eden," I exhale and take a breath before going on.

"As you will soon know, six hours is a lot of fucking time for an empyrean… so let's get this party started. If anyone can out drink me I will bump up your place in the list," I say with a grin as I start playing music from the sound system.

"When it's time to party, we will party hard!"

Without missing a beat I walk towards the bar.

"Drinks are on the house tonight boys! All normal intake restrictions are temporarily lifted. Have fun," I say simply as I stop at the bar.

"Gallon of Jack Daniels. A pitcher of ice, and a pint glass," I call out over the cheers from the rest of the patrons.

"Same for me!" someone hollers.

"Me too!" another one, quickly followed by a dozen more as several men and women decide to take me up on my challenge.

"Very well then," I say as I pour a pure pint of Jack.

"Let's see who can keep up."

Up ending the glass I down it in five seconds flat in one large gulp.

TBE.

"You… you... do realise that I can only get s-so drunk r-right?" I say with a stager as I grab the bar for support as I look at Alistar, who was sitting across from me.

"You do realise that I'm so stubborn I'd put an ox to shame right?" he says back with his own slur.

"No, I mean I literally CAN'T g-get any more blitzed then thish. My nanitesh will filter out the excesh… I'm right on the border of lethal concentrationsh," I slur back as I down another large gulp to prove my point.

"Not gonna feel it. I will however stay drunk that much longer…. unless I have to get serious…. Do you realize how much thish job sucksh s-somtimes? …. Hic! Oh goddamnit not this shit again." i say in reference to the case of hiccups i had developed six hours into the debauchery, right after i had outdrank the fifteenth marine to challenge me.

"If you ashk me. Thats a blessing in desgish. No hangover i'm guessing?" he shoots back after a moment.

"I'll give you that," i say as i look around the room as i hold onto the grab bar next to the observation window.

It was far less busy then it was a few hours in, once word got out of what was going down nearly everyone who was off duty attempted to come to the bar. Many of them had to be turned away, but all around the station the party was still ongoing, though it did dim in intensity after the second day.

"Alistar… you know, i would bump you up without you trying to kill yourself from alcohol poisoning," i say after a moment as i turn to him.

"Pfft. Quit callin me that, you know as well as i do my name's about to be faith," he says and I nod.

"Faith then. Would you like to have your procedure done now?" i ask simply, using my implants to fine tune my neural impulses to keep me from slurring.

"I would like that Rose. very much." he says back and i nod, pulling out a vial from my pocket and tossing it to him.

"Nanites to purge your system. Can't have you drunk when you jump clone. Mix them with a soda or water and you will be clear as a bell. After that bay five five six will be open for you." i reply, getting a nod out of him before he does just that with the glass of quafe he was using as a chaser.

"Oh wow! That's a trip," he calls out prompting a giggle from me.

"See you in a few hours Faith. Word of advice? Set the implants to activate in passive mode. It's a hell of a rush at first." i say as i turn away and walk back to the bar.

TBE.

One day later

~Sweet dreams are made of these….~

Three days after the party had started i find myself finally sobering up, at least from the alcohol as i sit in front of the observation window at a table i had placed there.

"But if we replace the coolant with liquid helium, it would boost the efficiency by two-hundred and fifty percent on top of the hundred from the redesign," Faith mentions and i nod as i do just that, taking a drag of a pure tobacco cigarette, the hologram of the wyvern class carrier's triage subsystem module changing in response.

"And replacing the power plant with a single neutrino ion reactor will increase the power output by three hundred percent and free up a ridiculous amount of cubage…" i reply as we keep working on the redesign project for Mordu's fleet.

Given that we still had over a day before the battle of pike's landing was about to take place we weren't rushing things, or at least weren't rushing for someone who could literally think faster than the speed of light, we had already replaced the internals on seventy five percent of the ship models we had intended on using for the battle of pike's landing. now we were just taking our time. working at a pace that the construction que could keep pace with.

"Which we could use to improve upon the ship's hangar capacity. Look here, i've been thinking of modifying the main hanger bay like so…. " faith says as she re-araganges the ships internals in seconds, extending the hanger nearly three hundred meters and adding dozens more strike craft.

"Nice. i like it, lets-"

I pause as a high priority message comes across the ship's wireless, pinging my implants i see that muriya is requesting a final meeting to prepare for the battle, which was to take place in exactly twenty seven hours.

"Sorry faith, gotta go meet with our mercenary friends. Rest of the re-design is up to you. I'll give it a once over once you're finished." i say as i stand up.

"No problem. I'll have them ready within the hour."

Nodding i head out, hitting the transport booth down the hall from the bar, which sends me to the communication center of the station.

"Put him on." i say simply as i walk out of the transport booth, heading to the command chair as the main viewscreen swaps to that of muryia.

"Rosey! how are you this fine day?" he says a fair smile on his face.

"oh? what has you in this jovial mood?" i ask with a an amused smile, suspecting what his answer may be.

"i think you already know do you not? i'm sure your stealth cruiser reported that the assassination of Heth went off without a hitch. and thanks to your ships capabilities, my sons mission was not a suicide one. in fact i have shared a full hour of conversation with him after he returned. that and the blessed silence has had this effect." he says happily and i nod.

"i take it however this isn't purely a social call?" i ask, getting a nod out of him.

"i'm afraid so. i wanted to discuss a few things with you. first and foremost the technology transfer between us. i trust you have the capability to back up your claims, however we are cutting it a bit close are we not?" he says and i smile as his speculation rouses a giggle out of me.

"not at all Muryia. the ships you requested for you fleet are being built as we speak. not only that but they are being augmented and enhanced to several times their previous capabilities. i estimate the fleet should be finished within the next twelve hours. which will give just enough time for your pilots to familiarize themselves with their new capabilities. i trust you will find them satisfactory. i'll send you their specs in a second…" i say, pushing a few buttons on the command chair as i sent him just that, the technical specifications of every ship in his fleet, which have been refitted with several outlandish enhancements, well outlandish to him anyway.

"dear lord…." he says simply as he no doubt goes over them with his implants.

"indeed. and keep in mind these are just the most basic modifications, i haven't really had time to play with the tech at my disposal yet due to some…. unforeseen circumstances." i say with a knowing smile.

"if i'm reading these numbers right this fleet will be able to hold its own over one five times it size… amazing. simply, amazing." he says prompting a smile out of me.

"as for the Union's contribution i intend to lead my personal ship, a Asgard class dreadnaught by the name of Mjolnir into the gauntlet in place of your Moros…. its performance is… well i rather leave that a surprise." i say with a smile.

"oh? i'm quite curious now, i look forward to seeing it in action." he says and i nod.

"is there anything else you would like to know before i take my leave?" i ask.

"just one thing, what do you intend to do with the colony?"

"give it back to whom it belongs of course. standing orders are not to fire on the minmatar ships unless fired upon by the majority of their fleet."

"i see, well we were hired to defend the colony for the minmatar to begin with… so be it" he says simply and i nod.

"alright then. would there be anything else?"

"no, i believe that will be all your majesty" he says with a annoying grin as i sigh.

"i swear to god i should have never told you my official title…. see you in a day mordu." i say simply as i cut the line.

Taking a few moments to think i sigh before looking in the general direction of the coms officers.

"Bring up our current readiness reports please. I'd like to see what i've missed the past few days…." i say with just enough volume to get their attention, a few moments later the main screen changes to that of status reports.

The legion intelligence agents were already well on their way to achieving their goals, with the local tech now at our disposal their backgrounds had been verified and they were feeding us vital information at a steady rate.

The Caldari state was currently entering a state of disarray as news of Tibus heth's assassination began to spread like wildfire, which will pave the way for Mens' grab for power shortly after the union announces its presence and backing of him.

Unsurprisingly the Gallente federation was preparing to take advantage of this, mobilizations were already beginning if the reports were to be believed.

The Minmatar and Ammar were still locked in battle in several dozen systems, and from system bugs implanted by L.I.A. agents the order had just gone out for the destruction of the prototype templars.

"Well then… let's get ready to toss some butterflies shall we?" i mutter as i bring up another status report, this one of the refit of Legion forces.

Empyrean augmentation was nearly complete, nearly all ships had been retrofitted with capsule technology, eliminating the need for crews, save for a number of replicators dedicated to repair and maintenance.

"Allright…. Time to get things moving. How long until Muryia's fleet is ready?" i call out.

"At current pace three hours ma'am." an officer replies and i nod.

"Right then, i'm boarding the Mjolnir. I need time to integrate myself as well. Inform me when the fleet is ready for delivery."

Not ten minutes later i was standing in the heart of the Mjolnir, infront of the capsule that was to by my life for the foreseable future.

"Well then….. Here goes nothing." i say as i strip off my uniform, leaving my in a grey set of underwear as i step up the stairs leading to the pod, kicking off my shoes as i do so.

Once i reach the top step i pause and take a breath before turning around, the metal interface probes wrapping around my body and lifting me into the open shell of the pod a moment later. I

I watch in fascination as it closes around me, before filling rapidly with the hydrostatic fluid. Once submerged i suppress my deep seated fear of drowning and force myself to take a breath. The results are… interesting to say the least.

"Fucking weird…" i mumble the last bits of air escaping as bubbles when i speak as the connecting tendrils unwrap themselves from my body, and one by one connect to the sockets along my spine.

When the final one sockets into place at the base of my neck, inserting the neural probe that would connect me to the ship i gasp as my world expands.

It was glorious.

As my senses expanded to the ship around me an adrenaline rush like no other hit me, sending me tingling all the way to the toes as i felt the ship around me.

The armour plating of the hull, the bubble of the shielding system. The raw wattage of the ship's reactors. It was mine to control.

For the first time since i started this journey i felt truly at home.

"Rock on bitches." i say with a smile.

Bringing up a diagnostic i smile as the somewhat familiar layout of the ship's systems overlays itself before my eyes. Three curved bars indicating shield strength, armor plating and hull integrity, around a central hub displaying the ship's power output.

The primary systems listed in bubbles on the right of it, which with a eye movement and flicker of a thought expanded before my eyes bringing up detailed statistics and diagnostics of each one.

Weaponry shields and engines on the right, life support and secondary systems on the left.

Taking a moment to breath i go over the ship's statistics and smile.

Three kilometers in length, the average size of a dreadnought in the cluster. Packed to the brim with incredibly powerful weaponry.

Thirty five plasma beam emplacements around the ship, twenty of which were concentrated in four five beam turrets on the forward portion of the hull, each recessed into the hull itself until needed, where they would deploy and extend themselves. Protected by a small secondary shield bubble tied to each turret.

Secondaries consisted of approximately twenty tri barreled 18 inch rail gun emplacements capable of firing multiple shell types, from flack to neutronium tipped armour piercing rounds.

Its missile armament was somewhat limited. Consisting of three launchers near the rear of the ship. What they lacked in number they more than made up for in capability however.

Taking a classification from the cluster these were a new variant of the Hellfire missile system.

Citadel missiles. Each carrying fifteen cruise missiles. Capable of a dispersed seventy five megatons of destruction.

Point defence was comprised of the Bofors 40mm quad railgun, capable of an astronomical rate of fire of proximity fused flak shells, it was capable of sending out a curtain of death around the ship.

The crown jewel of its armament though was the spinal mounted magnetic accelerator cannon. A primitive weapon system maybe, but one that holds a special place in my heart. And one i had a hell of a fun time fangirling over as i designed it.

Capable of sending a five hundred ton slug downrange at fifty percent the speed of light, it was capable of untold amounts of destruction.

And it was mine.

The sheer amount of power coursing from the ship's ten reactors sent a shiver down my spine as i took stock of its systems.

When I open my eyes once more i find myself smiling like a madman.

"Hammer of the Gods indeed…"

With a few thoughts and eye movements the umbilicals mooring the ship to the station Are released, a moment later I unleash a tiny fraction of the power available to me, taking the ship out of its docking station and into one of the primary egress ports of the station, a shiver running down my spine as the ship passes into the vacuum of space, the pressure differential monitored by the sensors in the hull and translated into a distinguishable sensation. A truly amazing experience.

As soon as my direct flight path is clear I gun the engines, laughing in Joy as the ship hits a respectable percentage

of the speed of light.

With barely a a thought I send power into the hyperspace generator, a tiny amount when you consider what it was capable of withstanding, but more than enough to get me to the systems dense asteroid belt.

Arriving at the perimeter I activate the weapons systems, sending unimaginable amounts of power to the capacitors tied to each mount, as soon as they're primed I set a course into the field, opening up with every weapon in my arsenal I laugh in Glee as every object before me is reduced to sand sized shrapnel or base atoms depending on what it's hit with.

I laugh maniacally as the field around me is cleared with a curtain of popcorn like explosions, for nearly five minutes I weave around the field, getting a feel of the ship's capabilities. When I'm confident in my newfound abilities I head to the construction yard in close orbit of the systems star, already spanning dozens of kilometers and growing rapidly I smile when I see the ships coming into being in the construction slips, some of them nothing more than skeletal framework, others nearly complete, in all cases the bright White light of the matter stream replication system could be seen at work.

I watch work a smirk as a wyvern class super carrier finishes construction, it's engines lighting as it takes itself on a automated course, coming to a stop a few hundred clicks away with the rest of Mordu's growing fleet, as soon as it was free of the slip a the steam activates once more, starting the process over again.

This same processes happens hundreds of times over across the rapidly expanding shipyard with the exception of several dozen slips where Union ships were taking shape.

In these instances the ships under construction were completed at much slower pace due to the amount of neutronium required in their construction, mainly the reactor housings and weapons casings.

In these instances it was up to the horde of bug form replicators swarming around each ship to finish the critical components, and while their construction rate was slowed significantly compared to the rest of the line, it was still incredibly fast, ships that would normally take months or years to be completed were rolling out in a matter of days.

After a few moments i turn my attention to the fleet of New-Eden style ships arrayed several hundred clicks away from the shipyard. Connecting to them wirelessly i give each a diagnostic test, grinning when they all pass with flying colors.

"Right then. Let's go see what our mercenaries are up to…" i say to myself as i grin, sending a quick message to fleet command i send the ship into hyperspace, coming out a few thousand kilometers away from the HQ station of the Legion, the ship cloaking before the hyperspace portal dissipates i bring it to a holding position a few hundred kilometers away as i begin scanning for Mordu.

"Ha. Ten points for timing." i say as i see he's in a meeting with the crew of the morse, the Drake-Class ship that had recently returned from its evaluation mission at Pike's landing, where through a incredible stroke of good luck, it managed to take down a amarrian Revelation class Dreadnaught.

Tapping into the station's systems i listen in on the conversation currently under way.

"This. is. CRAZY! Do you understand what you're asking us to do!?" one of the bridge officers of the Morse rants as he shifts his intense gaze between the captain of said ship and Muryia.

"You mean besides playing an instrumental role in the opening shots of a cluster-wide reshaping?" i ask aloud as i project a hologram of my likeness just beside Muryia.

"Gah! Stop doing that!" he shouts as he jumps away from me prompting a giggle.

"Nice to see you to Mordu." i grin as he composes himself.

"Gentlemen, ladies. I'd like to Introduce her majesty Rose Red, leader of the Union of Freedom. Earth." he says, emphasising the last word as he bows with a flourish.

"Oh for god sake enough with the majesty shit." i say in exasperation.

"Did you just say Earth?" Jonas, the Captain of the morse asks and i nod.

"Sure did. Muriya here already knows the details, suffice it to say i've decided that humanity's lost children have bickered long enough. I, and my Union are here to set them straight." i grin as i cross my arms.

"Right…" he says slowly before turning back to Muryia.

"I'm assuming she proved herself to you?" he asks getting a smiling confirmation from Mordu.

"Right then… i'm in." he say simply.

"Well that was easier then i thought it be…" i shrug getting a raised eyebrow from him.

"I trust him." he says pointing to muryia.

"If he says you're legit, it's good enough for me." he says and i nod grinning.

"Fair enough…. Speaking of, slight modification to your original plans, Korvin here won't be Piloting a Moros for close range support, i'll be taking the Mjolnir, a Asgard class dreadnaught in its place, it has sufficient hanger capacity to deploy a battalion size force." i pause as i hold my palm out, altering the hologram to display said ship.

"Nice design aesthetic…" Jonas says and i nod.

"Its based off an Asgardian design hence the designation, most earth ships are more utilitarian to be honest." shrugging i move on.

"Anyway, your team will be taking lead in the search for vincent. According to my intel, at the time of our attack he should be returning from the wasteland sector adjacent the colony." i state as i bring up a map of Pike's Landing.

"The goal is to retrieve him as quickly as possible, to that end you will attempt to intercept him before he hits the defence perimeter, in the unlikely event you fail to retrieve him before he makes it to the colony proper, the rest of the battalion will deploy to assist you, however by this time most of the defences should have been eliminated." i say as i drop my hand, dissolving the hologram.

"While you lot are galavanting around doing your thing, i'll be sending a message to the Cluster, particularly the Ammarians. Be ready to dodge debris, it will be coming down quite heavily for a time" I say as I cross my arms, looking between the members of the ground team, pausing when I see the amulet one of the women was clutching, Gabriel If I recalled correctly.

"You know Vincent correct?" I ask getting a nod out of her in return.

"And it is your intention to head into a warzone to retrieve him, despite your complete lack of combat experience?" Again she nods an affirmative, following it up with a Stern yes.

"i don't know whether to question your sanity or commend your determination to help your friend… I'll settle for this. "" I mutter in annoyance as I hold out my hand to towards the desk and transport a personal shield device. Based off an Alteran design it was small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand, a distinctive blue in color I lock eyes with Gabriel once more.

"That is a person shield, it should protect you from anything you're likely to encounter, though I wouldn't throw yourself in front of a tank if I were you. It's not quite as strong as the original version." i say with a shrug as i glance at the rest of them and sigh.

"Allright. I'll bite, what kind of kit do you plan on bringing along?" i ask taking on a thinking pose.

"Nah, don't tell me. My shits better." a smug grin comes over my face as a large mil-spec container appears behind me.

"Five Aegis class dropsuits at your disposal, data-padds with there specs are in the crate. All come with basic shielding capability, though nowhere near as strong as the unit i've given gabriel there, VIP's and all that." i say with a shrug.

"Now, Mordu. I believe you have some Pilots ready for me?" i ask turning my attention to the man in question.

"That i do my liege." he says with a overly enthusiastic bow.

"..."

My eye was most certainly NOT twitching….

Fuck it. Two can play at this game.

"You do realise you're about to be immortal outside of a capsule right?" i ask, innocently, getting a frown out of everyone at the sudden change of subject.

"Uhm? Yea? That's kinda why we're doing this no?" he asks, rather oblivious.

"Just making sure you know what you're getting into. I mean it's not like i'll do any permanent damage when i start castrating your clones every time you do that…." i say, feigning disinterest as i inspect my nails muttering something about a rusty soon just loud enough to be heard as I do so.

"Uhh….." he blurts out, his expression suddenly fearful.

"...Right! Pilots! We currently have three hundred, plus one-" he pauses pointing to himself.

"Briefed and ready to go, though many are skeptical, the all however have been to sworn to secrecy under threat of being removed from the legions reanimation systems." he explains as we get back to business.

"Right, do you have a prefered staging point? If not i'll simply light a Cyno outside the station if that's acceptable? I hope you will understand that they're not equipped with hyper-drive technologie as of yet. There jump range is vastly increased however thanks to their new power outputs and some optimizations done to said drives."

"I do actually, given the capabilities of this fleet and the secrecy of its mission, i've prepared a Medium-sized Pilot-Owned-Station just outside the corona of the systems Star." he says and i nod in understanding.

"Smart thinking, the stellar emissions should mask it from anything but a specialized scanning ship."

"Right, if there's nothing else?" i ask looking between mordu and the crew of the Morse.

"I believe that will be all." he says and i nod.

"When you're ready, meet me in Hanger 817. Once you're onboard the Mjolnir we'll head to the staging point." i say, a smug smile once adorning my face as Mordu's face morphs into confusion.

"817? That's currently emp…..ty…." he starts, his eyes going wide as i decloak the Mjolnir, which was currently in said docking birth.

"...I'm not even going to ask…. Give me a half hour." he says and i nod grinning as i let the hologram fade.

TBE.

True to his word Mordu is boarding the ship almost exactly thirty minutes later, a capsule waiting for him in the primary hanger Bay, which he boards as I bring the ship to the staging area, exiting warp just outside the shield bubble medium station tower of Caldari origins, the radiation from the star straining the Shields minutely as I broadcast the correct IFF code, the pressure of the Star's radiation fading as I bring the ship into the shielded area.

Opening a channel to Mordu as he exits the hanger i speak.

"If you will light the stations cyno I'll have the fleet jump in" i ask in reference to the FTL beacons that were used as destination points in the cluster by ships equipped with jump drives.

"Copy that, cyno up in 3...2...1." be says as one of the modules just outside the shield activates spawning a rather colorful field of energy that would be detectable thousands of light-years away.

The scene that follows is in a word, beautiful. In what appear to be spheres of cracking orange lighting ships of varying sizes appear.

Carrier's, dreadnoughts, battleships and cruisers appear by the dozen, their screening elements of destroyers and frigates appearing alongside them as they do not possess the cubage for their own jump drives.

The last ship through is a wyvern class super-carrier, onboard which the unions first Maine battalion is residing given I didn't take them with me when I started my shakedown cruise.

As soon as the wormholes dissipate I bring the mjolnir alongside the wyvern, allowing Muriya to disembark and take control of it and for the battalion to transfer to the mjolnir.

As in beaming them abord I get a com request from Mordu.

"You know, reading the design spec's is one thing but actually flying one of these beauty's? It's amazing. The output of this reactor is insane!" He exclaims in Joy promoting a laugh out of me.

"Try having ten of them at your disposal… now, are your pilots in route? We need to proceed with some shake down exercises, I rather there not be any regrettable incidents when the entire cluster is watching." grinning at the sense of awe that is momentarily conveyed as I break off from the station, taking position about fifty kilometres above above it.

"They are in route as we speak, sending you the list and their areas of expertise now, none knows these ships better then you, I'm sure you will be able to pair then to the appropriate pilots" he says as said file is uploaded to me, which I go over, assigning ships before he's finished speaking.

Not five seconds after he's done I see hundreds of capsules belonging to the legion approaching the station.

"Right then…. Let's be about it."

TBE.