Calling the madhouse that they were currently embroiled in a mere battle was an understatement of the highest caliber, from Arikia's perspective.
Somehow, the Speranza had managed to break through the multiple blockades of the Sol system in a bid to reach Holy Terra for a purpose that none but the AI of the ship itself knew.
And Silent Lightkeeper was not talking.
The problem, of course, was that The system itself was under siege from what seemed like every possible force in the galaxy all at once and then some. A Warband of Orks were attempting to push the defensive lines in one area, constant hit-and-fade attacks from the Eldar in another, and what looked to be a full-on push for the ages from a would-be Chaos Champion as well, and all at the same time! It was complete and utter madness, and they had been sucked into it almost as soon as they had exited the warp in-system.
Which then led to the ship and it's crew to fight for their lives by any means necessary. It was fortunate that these "Valkyrie Cores" that their power armor had been enhanced by were so capable, or else she and her sisters would likely be dead by now.
As it was, they were probably inventing an entirely new branch of warfare right this very moment, taking the fight to the enemy vessels and delivering devastating blows from their newest weapons and wargear, graciously donated to them by Silent Lightkeeper as a means to help defend the ship.
Though, she felt it would never truly become tiring to be able to fire a Battleship-caliber Macro Cannon while in mere power armor and feel no recoil whatsoever.
"We have another wave coming? More Fighters! Lisbeth, pull back to the second line and let Annalise handle them!"
Sister Beatrice was doing well to coordinate the defense of the Speranza as she was, despite the confusion of the surrounding battlefield, and had so far managed to swat down at least two Ork Rokks and a corrupted cruiser with her barrages. Sister Annalise, meanwhile, was picking off the fighters from that makeshift carrier that the Orks had dragged in-system like flies using an extremely high-powered hellcannon variant of some kind, and she was enjoying every second of it.
Sister Mariel was spamming missiles everywhere she could get even the slightest of target acquisitions, and they were reaping their toll upon the Xeno and Heretic alike in equal measure, despite the damned Eldar and their attempts at weaving through the ever thickening fields of fire.
Even Harrison had not remained idle, utilizing his strange abilities to deliver devastating amounts of destruction to wherever he chose, practically at will.
And yet it was never enough. There were always more coming, more howling beasts in the darkness attempting to snuff out their light. The tides were unceasing in their assault, and for the first time since this battle had begun she felt the beginning twinges of fatigue.
Considering that they had been fighting their way towards Mars, at best speed, for the better part of forty-eight hours, now, that was saying a great deal more than anyone was willing to give credit for to the mere mortals of the Imperium.
Was this what it felt like to be an Astartes?
A glimmer of movement in the distance caught her attention. There appeared to be a ship of some kind rapidly approaching the combat zone, and from the energy readings she was getting, it was prepared for war. As of yet, there was no way to resolve anything as to what it was–
"Silent Lightkeeper to all hands: Withdraw to the ship. We will be executing an emergency egress. Repeat: Withdraw to the ship immediately."
What? What manner of situation had occurred now?
No matter. She could discover what was going on after their base wasn't about to run away from them.
"Sisters, heed the Lightkeeper! Return at once to the ship!"
Even as she turned and sped back towards her current home, she heard five voiced sing out in acknowledgement.
Now, to see what madness was due to occur that required them to egress so quickly.
"Alright, anyone know what the hell is going on, or am I the only one in the dark, as usual?" Harry asked the exhausted crew compliment, such as they were. Given that even he was worn down to the bone, he wasn't expecting much of an answer, but sometimes people would surprise you…
"No idea sir!" screamed back Richardson, one of the techs from Van Saar. He had been manning the autodefense consoles in the CIC during the battle, and even he looked like hell. "Bloody AI just told us to get ready for a move. No reason why."
Under most circumstances, Harry would have found this odd, and thus worthy of further investigation. This was not most circumstances. "Well, you have any idea what it might be, then?"
Richardson shook his head, and then slumped back in a chair, tending to his cup of recaf. Harry didn't blame him.
"Attention: emergency evasive maneuvers will be initiated shortly. Brace for warp transition."
Wait, WHAT!?
He tried to shout out a command. Something, anything that might have prevented the coming disaster.
Nothing came. At least, not fast enough for it to have mattered.
The Speranza executed an incredibly brief dip into the Immaterium, and was in and out in record time.
The interior of the ship, however, was now crawling with minor daemons…that…seemed to be dying by the truckload? The fuck?
"Error. Navigation Database indicates that exit coordinates do not match with projected course. Senior crew members to the bridge to assess."
Harry blinked at the message, even while Daemons were all but evaporating all around them. He could only shrug at the events.
"Well, might as well see what he wants, right?"
As it turned out, 'not matching with projected course' ended up being near halfway across the galaxy, because somehow their luck worked like that.
The good news was that at least it was an Imperial world they had ended up in orbit to.
"Repeat, Unknown vessel, this is Ryza void control, respond, or you will be fired upon. This is your last warning."
Yeah, VERY off course.
Another daemon popped as it attempted to close the distance between them. Harry could only laugh ruefully at the occurrence.
So, the initial scans had not told us anything good. Further refinement of the Earth-facing scans using both technological and supernatural means had confirmed that things were well on their way to being completely in "hell in a handbasket" mode.
For one, my best guess is that the original, base Earth for this place, at least prior to the merger or whatever else had happened to the world, was Earth Bet. Which had its own issues, aside from the fact that it meant that from what little I knew of the damned story it was based off of via cultural osmosis, the world was currently being run by idiots with delusions of grandeur.
Or potentially a multidimensional conspiracy that was completely in over their heads even before the adds showed up. I had no way of knowing, and my knowledge of the series was limited to fanfic. Either way, they were going to need help, no matter what, but the actual nature that help took would depend on whether they were actually capable and competent in doing their fucking jobs.
Of course, there was also the issue of that Typhon outbreak happening near Morgan's landing site. From the looks of it she had mostly mopped it up (and onsite Transtar security had helped to eliminate the rest) but it looked like there were some issues regarding the fact that she was even alive in the first place. Seemed that the Yu's were very much cutthroat, even to their own children.
As long as the damned Typhon stayed contained long enough for Morgan to finish the job, it was not my problem. I was more worried about the bigger time bombs, namely the Devil invasion that was attempting to happen, and the ongoing issue with the Golden asshole and his three pet kaiju wannabes. From what I knew, the author had a bit of a fetish for buffing the damned things past the point of all reason until they were effectively invulnerable to most methods, and the fandom made a point of trying to uphold that bullshit. Finding a way to kneecap or outright destroy the damn things, preferably without erasing the planet in the process, was a priority.
More concerning was the golden bastard. The same cultural osmosis told me that he was only truly 'beaten' by being driven to suicide by the series protag, as he was otherwise too powerful for the locals to deal with in any meaningful capacity. While I was certain I could rig something up to deal with that asshole, doing so without erasing the planet was, again, going to be an issue.
In fact, just from a general planning perspective, it was looking like most of the issue we were going to have was coming from the people on the planet below not being ready to actually deal with a threat of this magnitude in any way, let alone multiples of them. Easy solution: training, training, and even more training, preferably in something that would act as a massive force multiplier right out of the gate. Magic would likely be the best bet, Aura a close second.
"So, I see you over there working up a plan, but what exactly are we going to do about the shitstorm down there?" Mio had calmed down since the news started hitting, likely due to my having forcibly relaxed her for long enough for it to stick. Still, the fact that she was asking me for a plan and not trying to cobble one together herself was a bit surprising.
"What, you don't already have something in the works? I thought you liked being prepared for situations like this."
Mio shrugged. "That mess, and I am more than happy to admit this, is entirely beyond my expertise in any capacity. I have no way of telling what would happen if I unilaterally decided to push in any one direction, and there are entirely too many glass houses down there that are at risk of shattering if something goes wrong. Best not to push without need."
I nodded my agreement. It was the core problem to the entire mess, that there were too many problems to deal with, and nowhere near enough resources to deal with them with. At least, not without spooking the local authorities so hard that they would consider us bigger threats than the actual threats they faced.
Which reminded me of the other problem…that damn fleet headed our way. Dealing with that was going to prove to be an issue at a minimum. Perhaps even more, if things went south (as they were likely to do).
One of the fairies, Gloria, dropped a flexipad into my hands, excitement clear in her aura. The flexible tablet-like device was a spur-of-the-moment invention on Mio's part, and they had quickly become a favorite of the fairy crew after they discovered them. They tended to use them for most things nowadays, including accessing the central data servers for useful info.
The screen was currently showing a map of what looked like the continental United States, with a glowing dot emanating from a spot on the New England area. I peered closer at the data, only to realize what I was looking at a moment later.
Mio poked her head in as well, and quickly came to the same conclusion that I had. "That's Rico's transponder signal!"
The grin on my face was utterly infectious. "Indeed it is. The little guy's okay after all. Better yet, he can help us get some access to local information instead of snooping on stuff from up here. Normally it would not be that big of a deal, but with the bitch of feathers hanging in orbit, I'm not wanting to risk hacking a satellite for intel."
Mio paused to think for a moment. "Can Rico even use anything to transfer information that fast? I would think that he'd have some slight issues with the connection on his end without help."
She brought up a good point. We could reestablish contact, definitely, but anything past that was going to require us to get some kind of equipment groundside and in a place that was reasonably defensible. There was also the consideration that it would need to be a base for most of our endeavors while on the planet, at least for some form of duration or another, which would likely evolve as the situation developed and people reacted to our presence and actions.
I sighed in frustration. "This is looking more and more like a total clusterfuck every second. I think we need to sidestep a problem for a bit."
Mio looked at me curiously, and I could sense the same curiosity from the fairies that were listening in. I just smiled.
"Instead of forcing the issue on the ground, especially without intel, we sidestep a bit and do something else that we can accomplish. In this case, preparing things for that invasion fleet coming our way, and possibly a bit more. We can wait on everything else until after Rico gives us a read on the ground situation. Fair?"
Mio nodded. "Agreed. Now, then. Let's get to work, shall we?"
Having a newfound crisis on our hands was an oddly focusing experience. Things that we were kind of playing around with were completed and shuffled around in record times, only for newer projects to take their place. For my case, I had come to a series of inspirations, a possible epiphany, and a certain resolve.
The Epiphany had to do with the N-Way reaction process. The base form of it was using some advanced shielding for the reaction chamber to allow more than two bodies within a fusion reaction. On its own, it is a massive innovation, but limited to fusion reactions due to the technology. (Of course, there was extra stuff built into the reactors themselves to allow for effectively unlimited power generation, but that stuff is both extra and stupidly complex.)
I took the concept and ran with it. Previously, I had only attempted to apply this technology to Photon reactors, and with little success, due to the difference in the way the tech operated.
Now? I knew, not thought, knew I had the solution in my hands to the problem. Better yet, implementing it, not only for a photon reactor, but for the etherwave reactors as well, was going to be an absolute cakewalk. And would result in at least a 650% increase in power output, no less.
For the mark one.
The implications were staggering, honestly, and the uses for that much power were all but writing themselves, one of which I fully intended to put to use later.
But first, I had to do some redesign and rewriting, as I had a bit of inspiration regarding the nature of Shiekah technology as well. Not only about the quasi-mystical power source that could be easily curated and cultivated in so many ways, but the nature of the unique shiekah script as well.
And part of my newest project was going to be a complete redesign of the Shiekah slate and a cleanup of the code within, because I could do that now.
I had also had a breakthrough regarding the optical storage systems that I was working on, leading to an absolutely exponential increase in data storage capacity and access speeds, as well as a noticeable increase in write/rewrite operations stability and efficiency as well. In fact, merely getting it off the ground properly gave me a big enough hunch to get a highly efficient variation of quantum computing running and operational, though at the moment it was extremely unrefined. I would be looking through some of the other databases later for anything I might be able to use as a means to increase processing speeds, but otherwise it stood as a valid example of crystalline-based computing.
And all of it was going to be tuned towards one purpose.
I had noted it previously during the larger projects. Always, we've had an issue regarding practical size limits of what we could work on, what could be worked with. Sure, given enough time and effort, and with a little bit of supernatural assistance in the form of Telekinesis, Mio and I could create wonders of astounding size in equally baffling speeds…but this was not true of others who we would pull in to help, nor was it a bypass for the truly massive projects that would be the cornerstones of later major innovation and production.
No, what I needed, now more than anything else, was a machine that was capable of allowing for normal people to accomplish the things that would be needed in the days to come.
Basically, I needed a Mecha.
The problem was what kind of mecha? The term encompassed everything from simple powered exoskeletons to gigantic super robots capable of destroying entire galaxies, after all. So, what was I looking to accomplish with building this?
First, it had to be operable both in space and on the ground, which meant that the frame had to be sturdy enough to survive being used in atmosphere.
Second, the base design had to be at least understandable by normal people, mostly so that I could avoid being seen as a Tinker and attracting the attention of idiots, so nothing too outlandish or funky related to advanced technology. As much as I was fully intending to do a tech uplift, it was going to have to be done at least somewhat carefully to blunt the inevitable PRT backlash.
That this also had the benefit of allowing for actual science to happen without my input was a notable, if not strictly intended, benefit.
Third, the design had to be adaptable. As much as it would be easy to just create a giant forklift thing or similar, it had to be capable of multiple tasks with minimal effort on the part of the crews operating them, meaning that certain design philosophies were not going to work.
Fourth…was more a preference, but it tied into the third very much. I wanted the final design to be humanoid, mostly for the benefits of adaptability that it would provide.
Take all these aspects together, and I had a general idea of the intended end product, but there was still a ton of variance even then, as size ranges could vary massively. The estimated 'top' end was, of course, the iconic Mobile Suit, averaging out at about 18-20 meters in height, which worked well for the task, but…
Mobile Suits themselves were designed for an environment where most guidance systems were either extremely local or were unreliable due to various reasons, usually involving Minovsky particle interference in most cases. The smaller types of mecha, however, had the issues of being less capable in heavier labor tasks the smaller you got.
I ultimately decided to aim for the 10-12m class and average upwards if I needed to. If nothing else, it would allow for some decent setups with regard to optional equipment, and could still do heavy labor if needed.
Besides, more room for the power plant, which is the real fun part.
With these basic details decided, designing the rest was almost painfully simple, even down to materials. Most of my design utilized my now standard modular design principles, and intentionally used a power supply that could be built with tech levels appropriate to what I remembered of Worm's setting, which should have been the early 2010's.
The truly revolutionary stuff would come later.
The end result was something that would probably have scared a lot of people, even with the fact that it was unarmed and primarily designed for workmen.
I would pointedly not be mentioning how easily it could be up-armed and armored in the case of the inevitable outside escalation event requiring it. Nor that I was capable of things far, far more impressive with almost frightening ease. At least, not yet.
I loaded the design into the central database for simulation testing and moved on with the day. The time for building the first test unit would come soon enough.
The Rising Phoenix finally arrived in the Lunar space a few days later, to the joy of the Kerbal crew, who were rather sick and tired of having to deal with the ship being finicky. For our purposes, it meant that Mio and I could check on the odd transformation process that the ship was undergoing before the Mechanicus ruined things.
Besides, it was a distraction from the wait for better SIGINT to come back in, or at least for Rico to attempt to get a message back to us and establish proper contact, both things that we had no actual control over.
The Kerbals had somehow managed to get the Phoenix in the docking slip we'd built with minimal fuss, and had more or less bumrushed the expanded facilities like kids on a sugar rush. Only a bare few of them bothered to stay behind and fill us in on what had happened.
"...and after that, I just floored it." Jeb sighed. "There was no reason to hang around, and that weird stuff was actively trying to eat the ship even as we ran. Almost got us, too, if not for the hyperspace generator working as intended. Still, it kept us from coming to assist you with the space station up there. And from the scans we took of the place as we came in, you would have needed the help."
I shrugged. "We did alright, though most of the issues we had were because of residual chaos taint. Made a few new…acquaintances, at that, though they are planetside at the moment."
I took a moment to look Jeb over. He seemed alright, but that escape would have been harrowing for anyone, let alone a being who had no concept of just how big of a bullet he had dodged. Still…
"Once you guys are done up here, I want you all to go through a medical check, just to be sure. No reason to invite trouble if we can avoid it, after all."
Jeb nodded. "No complaints from me, boss. Just…try to not have us go through that kind of thing again, at least without having a way to fight back? Please?"
"No promises, but I'll keep it in mind. Can't predict the rest of the universe, after all…" I replied, my amusement clear.
Jeb chuckled at my comment, and soon the both of us were in full-blown laughter.
Having had a good laugh, Jeb proceeded to show off the current state of the ship, with Bob tagging along as a translator of sorts. The fact that it was needed at all came as a bit of a shock, as I distinctly remember what I built into this ship.
And only the most superficial aspects were the same, at this point. It seemed that whatever had been the driving force behind the transformation had noted that it had arrived at a safe port, and had immediately redirected a ton of resources (mostly energy) to the effort to finish its conversion process. Even now, I could feel the rapidly strengthening impeller lightly clashing with my own passive field, seeking out the limits of its area of control. Based on that, plus a few system logs, I estimated that the process would complete itself within two hours at most.
And then we could see for certain what the reborn Rising Phoenix was capable of.
Abbreviated tour having completed, I moved into getting the Kerbal crew settled into the moonbase proper. There was a bit of a shock involved, mostly at the fact that they were actually on the fucking moon (even if it wasn't their own moon, it was still an awesome feat) and many a Kerbal ran to get peeks at the more scenic views of the base.
Wernher, of course, was having none of it until he had set up his workspaces to his standards. Even with everyone else taking the time to enjoy the sights, he was hard at work doing things at his own pace.
I more or less laughed at his attempts to claim nearly the entirety of the labs as his personal demesne, mostly because he would be fighting directly with the portions of Liz's fairy crew who were more science curious and had been poking things since they had arrived.
"I said NO, you ugly green dummy!"
"You foolish woman! You will not stand in the way of progress!"
Hell, I could hear the screaming coming from across the base already!
I'm sure that Wernher and the Science Fairies would get along just fine.
Aside from that, there was not much else going on, save the great preparation and setup dance while we played the waiting game for new infor–
My HUD blinked, as did most of the screens in the base, with a proximity warning.
Which confused the hell out of me, as there was nothing that should have had enough size or sheer speed to have triggered it anywhere on the moon without having been caught by an operator first. And cycling back through the various feeds showed me nothing and nada that fit the bill.
So what the hell had set off the alarms?
Mio caught up to me in short order. "What is it?"
I shrugged, focusing on a sudden unease that I felt coming from…that direction. "I don't know. Hell, I didn't think that there was anything that could trigger those when we put them in, at least not without getting spotted first. And the Operator feed have nothing."
An impulse had me suddenly checking on the new occupants of the base, who were all in a bit of shock. The Kerbals, despite this, were already moving to suit up and batten down, just in case there was a containment breach. The Fairies, on the other hand, were all oddly tense, and seemed to be sensing the same thing I did. Now if only I could figure out what the hell was going on…
"We might want to be outside for this, hon. At least then they won't be breaking our base if they're hostile." Mio opined. And as was usual for situations like this, she was speaking my innermost thoughts without actually looking inside.
"Alright then." I turned to Liz, who had planted herself more or less at my side for the moment. "Liz, make sure that everyone stays safe for me, alright?"
Liz pointedly did not react to her nickname, but instead nodded solemnly at my command as Mio and I rushed for an exterior access airlock.
It was mere moments later that we were outside, frames out, and searching for whatever had been ringing our bell so hard. Our mystery guest deliberately decided to be a dick and refuse to appear, because that would be polite and reasonable and thus would not happen.
Instead, we got to flail about as sensors completely failed to pick up whatever the hell was out here with us. A brief check with active magical sensors revealed more of nothing. And yet, the sense of presence refused to go away–
[MOVE NOW]
I obeyed without question, the warning coming just in the nick of time.
The mass of blackness that rushed past my previous position was actually terrifying to behold. The sound made by its passage even more so. Even with my own enhanced senses, I could barely see it move. Worse, the damn thing didn't actually stop moving at all, and was already moving around for a counterattack.
Mio and I shared a single thought at that moment. As one, we rushed headlong into battle.
For all the good that it did us, anyway. The damned thing was just moving too fast. Nothing I had available to me was actually getting a good lock on the damned thing, and my frame had a lot of usable weaponry.
Mio tried to go for a box-in attempt, and was quickly shown the futility, as the damn thing simply dove underground and started swimming through the regolith like it was water, and in the process nearly getting us caught up in a spat of friendly fire.
And the entire time that same damned sound echoed around it, almost as if it was a calling card of some kind.
The sudden reappearance of our aggressor directly underneath me kind of negated my moment of introspection, forcing me to attempt an awkward dodge that only just got me out of the line of attack…only to immediately get hit by some kind of damaging projectile. The damn thing all but tore at my impeller field, nearly managing to breach the defense even as I dodged. Mio's attempt at a counterattack was ignored, simply by dint of sheer speed.
I crashed back to the lunar surface with a loud bang, my senses jarred by the onslaught. Even then, I could still feel the monster going after Mio with the same ruthless precision, and dealing with her in the same manner. Something that I took great offense to.
The spell formula came to my mind almost on reflex, the wide-area lockdown field slamming home with an almost audible roar of power…and merely slowing our opponent down to something approaching sane speeds for Valkyrie combat, which was still stupid fast for everyone else. It did, however, allow me to finally get a decent scan in on the fucker.
The results were not pretty. Apparently this thing was some kind of amalgamation of the remaining Typhon on the Moon, along with some kind of abandoned hypertech relic…and something else that pinged as being unique within the mashup itself. That the identifier for said uniqueness was in chozo script was all the warning I needed that things were going to get ugly.
As for the creature itself…it looked like a gigantic snake-thing, complete with armored 'scales' protecting it's soft bits from harm. My mind almost immediately drew up a comparison to the Serris creature of Metroid fame.
The creature, seeming to sense the disabling of it's speed as a weapon, instead unfurled it's head…into at least eight other heads, all of which started blasting.
Yeah. Serris…except Serris wasn't a goddamn Hydra.
The blasts were only powerful enough to tear through a non-enhanced impeller field with ease, after all. And they were only being aimed with a precision that would put even an expert sniper to shame.
Too bad for the Orochi wannabe that I was already adapting to the fight. A quick reset of my Impeller, and a blatant cheat move of doing some more personal management of the fields allowed me to triple, and then triple again the strength of my field barrier, along with adding a few extra layers to the mix for the next hit. Which was tested not even a microsecond afterwards as I got battered from no less than three directions by the apparently homing bullet-type attacks that the fucker was interspacing between the big beam blasts.
The good news was that the bullets were weaker than the big beams. The bad news was that this was a relative weakness, and I got to watch in horror as my defense was whittled down to a thread. A muted scream echoed across the space, and I vaguely recognized that Mio had gotten hit too, and just as hard.
This shit was getting ridiculous. We'd barely managed to get a proper counterattack going against it, even with the damned interdiction field I'd set up. Hell, if anything, the fucker was toying with us. How the hell?
I felt Mio's rage hit a peak, and felt it even more when she infused herself with something as she roared. The shockwave alone ripped up a good chunk of the landscape as it connected with the unexpecting beast, and the actual main thrust of the attack hit even harder, managing to knock it off balance, even if for a moment.
A moment being all that she needed.
Mio streaked in to zero range, inflicting absolutely devastating blows to the creature as it tried to rally itself, to no avail. The sheer savagery of her strikes and the utter rage I could feel from her was terrifying even to me, and I had to actively push myself to get my head back in the game and provide proper covering fire.
I unloaded everything and more. Missiles, beam weaponry, the fucking works. Most found their marks, to varying amounts of damage…and yet the fucker still stood, acting as if we were merely inconveniencing it.
And now I was mad.
I rushed in right alongside my wife, and together we proceeded to beat the brakes off of the fucker in the most savage way possible. This is not to say that it was all our way, mind: the Orochi wannabe was giving out just as good as it was getting, and even was pulling out new tricks every time it thought it could get away with it as well.
It wasn't until I missed another strike against the damn snake because of it outright blinking out of the way somehow that I remembered a thing. Specifically, the existence of the 'advanced' impeller techniques used by Elite and Ace Valkyries, one of which was effectively a teleportation technique in its own right. And while trying to use the teleport trick right now was not going to cut it…there was another note that I remembered as well.
Impeller fields could be meshed together for 'group' techniques.
If nothing else, it would help lock down the fucker even harder than he was, and probably stop the damned blink-shift thing it was doing to dodge around the killshots we were throwing at it.
Mio, being as always my beloved wife who is always in tune with me, knew the plan even before I had finished creating it, and moved to execute without needing to be prompted. I felt her impeller reach outwards towards me, and reciprocated even as we were dodging around yet another megablast from Orochi, who was still attempting to boost everywhere to regain its advantage.
Together, we reached outwards, enveloping the entire battle space as defined by my lockdown field…and basically told reality to take a hike.
The wide-area interdiction, as crude as it was, worked wonders. Snakey-boy found itself screeching to a halt as the forces arrayed against it became too much for it to overcome, and was summarily trapped and bound by follow-up techniques and magic as appropriate.
And then we went to town.
The screams of pain and rage echoed across the lunar landscape, and I was pretty sure that some of them were even echoing in vacuum, at that. And we did not let up.
The crater that was forming from our onslaught was growing miles wide as a result of the sheer power we were throwing around, and we did not relent.
The lightshow grew bright enough that I was pretty sure that there would be some very pointed questions from the space agencies when we finally got in contact, and still we did not relent.
Only when we heard the death scream from the creature, which by now had truly earned the name of Orochi, did we cease in our applications of excessive firepower. Answer both stood there, waiting, making sure that it was actually dead and not just trying to fake it.
But no…it was dead and done. The typhon-infested bits, what little were left, anwyway, sloughing away in a puddle of inky black gore as the remaining mechanical portions collapsed inwards on themselves, barring a few isolated areas and places.
One of which was our missing chozo-tech artifact…in the form of a cube?
"Err…Satori, dear…" Mio called out to me, "don't those normally come in sphere shapes?"
I shrugged. "I'm as confused as you are, honey. I have no clue what the hell that could be." Though for some reason I felt that it was important, I could not for the life of me understand why.
Moving forward, I made sure to scan everything I could of the wreckage as I moved. Nothing really stood out, aside from the fact that the remains of the (now clearly identified as alien) technology was based on micromachines, or possibly even nanomachines of some kind in a networked intelligence. I stopped long enough to store some samples and kept going. Finally getting to the cube thing, I picked it up…whereupon it immediately began assimilating into my frame, breaking down as it did so.
[ERROR: instability detected between technology bases. Attempting to compensate. Upgrade data placed on hold until resolved.]
Well, shit. That can't be good. At least it was an actual upgrade, and not some kind of trap, though…
"Honey? You alright over there?" Mio asked, having walked closer as I cleared the wreckage, and obviously wanting to ensure that I was not dying inside my suit. She placed a hand on my shoulder in support.
And, because of course it would, the data for the upgrade immediately jumped to Mio's Minerva, too. And immediately after, I heard her cursing softly as she likely received the same error message.
A dialog box appeared in my HUD. [T: The error in question is due to the methods used to integrate the Chozo Power armor into your existing Frames. The armor systems have their own methods of acquiring and integrating abilities, and are attempting to prioritize their use in this situation.]
A second prompt appeared after the first, in a different shade. [M: the issue involved here is that the changes required for the upgrade to function are much, much deeper than the core system augmentation normally allows for, and is attempting to apply itself to the entire system as a whole instead of just the frame. It is creating a conflict between the integration and upgrade systems that is currently irreconcilable.]
Mio had started sorting though the wreckage at this point, storing anything that caught her interest. So far, there wasn't much. "So, can't we just let this upgrade go through, then? It shouldn't hurt much, right?"
[T: under normal circumstances, you would be correct. However, the required upgrade involves creating a compatibility layer for an entirely new form of energy that would be used as part of the capabilities it grants. The internal database of the upgrade itself refers to the power source as 'Aeion.']
[M: We are unsure of how much this energy would affect other systems, and our attempts at doing proper cross-talk between the elements has forced the issue to a head.]
I sighed. "So, what you are saying is that we need to do complete refactors of the entire frame to get this fixed?"
[T: No. Rather, this alone will not alleviate the issue. The issue here is a hierarchical one, with the chozo suit's onboard systems attempting to apply upgrade logic to my core systems without regard to actual limitations with respect to the Frame divide. A complete refactoring of my core itself would be required to remove the imbalance, effectively creating a whole new system. Minerva has the same issue.]
[M: We estimate that the process can be completed quickly and safely, but it will require you to either empty out your impeller storage or risk losing everything inside as part of the process. We also recommend that you apply certain upgrades to your core systems during the downtime to better allow for us to support you, and also to ensure functionality of the third generation cores that Mio will no doubt be working on soon. Estimated time for refactor as of current variables is twenty hours, assuming a complete desync.]
The two of us started making our way back to Pytheas as we listened, having grabbed everything of interest from Orochi's corpse, and I couldn't help but smile at that timeframe and condition. "So, what you are saying is that if we stayed partially synced, the time could be reduced as a result of our abilities."
Mio was just as enthused. "Potentially even reduced outright?"
[T: Or increased exponentially as a result of a new connection with the forge of stars. I currently have no way of modelling the outcome.]
Yeah, that was fair enough. Can't guess at the unknown, even if Thoth had a good idea of how things worked with the forge. Still, it was something to think about while we got the upgrades we wanted installed.
Once we were back at the base (and finished getting mobbed by the Kerbals and Fairies both) we quickly got on task with the required preparations for the upgrade process that our partners would need. This was doubly important compared to even the other preparations, as there was no doubt in anyone's mind that people on the ground had seen the aftermath of that battle and would be asking questions. Sooner or later someone would notice that there was a radio transceiver on the moon, and would try to ping it. We needed to be ready for when that happened.
"BOSS! WE'RE GETTING A SIGNAL!"
Like right now.
Another of the fairies (this one was…Bethany, I think) handed me a flexipad, already tuned in to the appropriate frequency.
The transmission was a solid 5 by 5. The content?
"This is NASA's Mission Control in Houston. To unknown station on lunar surface, please respond."
I hesitated for a moment. This was actually a huge deal for me, to be talking to the guys down at Johnson Space Center…especially from the moon itself. There was a sense of odd pride and nostalgia there for me. I made the odd observation of the Kerbal team gathering around me, anticipation in their eyes.
Mio softly nudged me, her own encouragement clear even without the soft smile on her face. She, at least, understood.
I keyed the mic, the brief feedback of doing so clearing up almost immediately. Somehow, I could even feel the guys down 'below' at JSC perk up and pay attention.
"This is Technical Sergeant Satori Green, United States Air Force. How you guys doing down there?"
And so it begins. Contact has been established.
Also, before anyone starts bitching, Orochi was moving at speeds that were blindingly fast even by Valkyrie Standards. As for the powerup? I will state that it is an actual Metroid Item, and Orochi was using it. That should be more than enough hints.
Also, the thought of being able to communicate with Mission Control at all is a dream for any space nerd. Satori's reaction here is appropriate ^_^
Perks for this chapter (currently unawarded due to story flow):
-Artistic Architect (Halo - Forerunner Saga) (100CP)
Forerunner structures are not simple. Even in the worst of times, there is a beauty to their layout. Patterns woven into walls, shining pillars reaching to the sky, and shimmering glass panes adjourning corridors. Forerunners don't just build big. They build artfully. Like so many other Builders, you have an eye, and a hand, for beauty in construction. From the most simple of floors, to the most terrifying of weapons, you can spruce them up so that they are breathtaking to behold.
-Device Meister | Similar Principles | Ancient Knowledge
Device Meister (600CP)
This is the real treasure of the TSAB's technological capabilities - mixing the use of magic and technology inorder to create Devices that can channel the energy outwards. You have a complete knowledge of how to build and maintain Devices, along with how to program AI for said Devices to use.
While you can construct most Devices and similar items presented here, the ability to make Unison Devices isn't included here - you'll have to learn that one on your own, and many have tried and failed to do so in the past. You could, with some experimentation, combine different magical systems into Devices together, especially with the help of 'SimilarPrinciples' to streamline the process...it will take some trial and error, but you could apply these principles and Devices to other systems if you work at it enough.
Similar Principles (400CP)
It's strange how similar concepts can be between dimensions, no? The line between magic and technology just doesn't seem as thin as it otherwise should be, especially in your hands. The TSAB system combines both, and while this doesn't let you start building Devices from the ground up, you understand the principle enough that you can combine magic systems from other worlds with technology. Guns that fire beams of mana, helmets that create a telepathy-based chat network, wristbands that let you form an outfit from thin air...spells can be made into technology much more easily, and the technologies play a bit more nicely with magic in your hands, even if a particular system of magic isn't fond of being 'simplified' by science. How about that?
Ancient Knowledge (400CP)
The legacy of the Belkan Empire exists not merely within ruins or Lost Logia, but in the blood of its people. You have inherited a bloodline of note, and while it may or may not be one of the canonical or major bloodlines, a piece of it has followed you in your very DNA, subconsciously nudging at your memory. While this creates no stress or strain on your personality, the connection is diluted enough that you can't consciously access this memory...but when you come into contact with Lost Logia, you will rapidly gain insight into how it functions and possibly ways to engineer it once again. You will need actual technical skills to pull this off, but with a little bit of time, perhaps you can restorewhat is lost? Post-jump, this same insight applies to 'lost' or 'forgotten' technology, though you will likely need other sources of knowledge and abilities to truly restore it, depending on its complexity. May or may not come with brief instances of acting and speaking like a resident of the Belkan Empire at random intervals.
-Junkyard (Mass Effect Andromeda) (400CP)
Junk to some is treasure to others. You get a doorway that leads to a small pocket universe that is filled with the local area's lost, broken and/or discarded items. You might find broken gear, ruined vehicles, or maybe a pristine limited edition item that someone just forgot about. Everything in here will be somewhat useful to you, but you get to decide if it's use is as a source of resources, or if something is worth doorway takes the appearance of an expandable hula hoop that opens a portal to the pocket universe.
The pocket universe will refill with junk as you travel, or as the local area around you generates junk that will be siphoned off. In addition, if you haven't cleared out the junk universe in one jump, then you can still pick it up in another, while the junk from the new jump will slowly filter in as space is opened up.
-Black Boxing (Warhammer 40k - Squats) (200CP)
While certain red-robed rats of Mars always trying to get their grubby mechadendrites on your stuff is annoying, messing with them is endlessly entertaining. You can easily tweak your work to be nearly impossible for others to duplicate. If you're feeling particularly spiteful, you can build in some cross-connections so anyone trying will blow themselves up.
-Taylor made | Resolute Thread (Skulduggery Pleasant) (200CP)
Tailor Made (200CP)
You have the knowledge of how to weave magic into clothes, making them incredibly durable and protective. They're capable of protecting the wearer from most things, including bullets, knives, magic, extreme heat, and large amounts of blunt-force trauma. They also look damn stylish.
Resolute Thread (200CP)
You have a spool of thread that's supposedly made from the stomach lining of an Emperor Dragon over 2000 years ago. The more pressure applied to it, the stronger it becomes. You could bind a superhuman or use it to hang hundreds of tons off of the ground. Spool refills and used thread once a month.