I hated to admit it, but I didn't really know what to do now that I had defeated the pirates. The fact of the matter was that there weren't really any big problems I needed to solve in this universe - no ancient evils to defeat, no evil corporations whose amoral schemes needed to be exposed, nothing. Aside from pirates, everything was actually pretty good in this universe. For once, the future wasn't bleak and hopeless in a science fiction setting.
Needless to say, this wasn't exactly a very interesting universe. I mean, the tech was awesome, and I was having a field day integrating it into my forces, but that could only keep you interested for so long. The ceremony that had followed our victory against the pirates was only a partial diversion from the boredom. I'd decided to head over to my practice range to try and improve my swordsmanship, but even that was getting boring.
For once without any regret, I admitted to myself that Melissa was right. This was a boring universe.
"Nice to see that you agree with me."
I won't lie, I jumped and screamed like a little girl when I heard that voice right behind me. As soon as I calmed down, I turned my attention back to Melissa, annoyance defining my expression.
"Did you have to sneak up on me?"
"No, but it was fun. Besides, your bioelectric skin should have told you I was right behind you."
"What are you talking about? That was a gene mod from XCOM, and those can only be created with MELD."
To my surprise, Melissa responded by staring at me in shock, with no trace of smugness on her face.
"...What?" I asked, starting to get unnerved.
"You don't know, do you?"
"Know what?"
"XCOM found out that a lot of those gene mods are hereditary and a fraction of them are dominant genes. Given time, a lot of them are now fairly common in the human gene pool. They actually give kids classes to use some of them in self defense. I'm surprised you didn't notice that. I mean, the colonies might not know this anymore, but its public knowledge on Earth... you really suck as a commander if you didn't notice that, since it'd be trivially easy to look it up with your commander powers."
That last sentence was accompanied by an expression of pity on her face, as well as a tone of pity.
"But I never saw any signs of genetic modification on anyone who wasn't XCOM here."
"Maybe that's because you were too engrossed in your technological innovation. If that is the case, though, then it still proves my point, because you should easily be able to multitask since you are now a supercomputer."
Thanks for ruining my self-esteem, ROB.
"I didn't mean to do that."
...What?
"Oh, I'll stuff you in a commander, lead you across the multiverse, and force you to alter your plans for each universe that you visit just to rile you up, but demolishing your self-esteem isn't something I'm interested in doing. I like it when you think highly of yourself. It makes you take risks, and what happens when you are risky is more interesting than when you play it safe."
...I felt like I was talking to a tsundere right now.
"I am not a tsundere," was her response.
Stop reading my mind.
"Ugh, fine. So, why did you show up right behind me?"
"I'm leaving. You've run out of momentum for the moment and become even more boring, so I'm going to return to my own abode and seek more...interesting entertainment. Don't think that means I'll forget about you."
"I won't. You've made yourself too much of a nuisance to assume that."
"I take that as a compliment."
"Hmph. Well, be gone then."
"See yah."
With that, she turned to leave. As she walked out of the room, I summoned up a fencer robot to practice sparing with. Facing a true opponent, not a dummy, would be the best way to measure my skills.
As my bot readied to face me, though, I felt a tingling sensation along my skin, specifically on my left side. I didn't know what it meant, except that I felt the sudden urge to sidestep to the right. Just in time, too - a moment later, what looked like a spear of white lighting flew through the air and slammed into my fencer, smashing a hole into its side. I noted it seemed to have a chord of light connected to it, trailing toward the exit of this room. For a moment, nothing happened, but then, the chord tensed and yanked the spear (and my bot back) leading to...Melissa?
The minute the bot reached her, she put her arms underneath the fencers, lifted it up, then slammed the machine head first into the ground, obliterating its cranial unit. When she got back up, she gave me a very unnerving smile.
"That look on your face was priceless," she said, then walked off, leaving me slack jawed.
Well, that was unexpected. Also, I guess I now knew how bioelectric skin worked.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
With nothing else to do at the moment, barring sending a few fleets to slowly eat away at the space pirate menace so that the colonies wouldn't need to live in fear of being raided, I decided to turn my attention back to my Hub Universe, where I had a new problem to deal with: an influx of immigrants. Human immigrants, to be exact. All of whom needed a tour of their new home.
I'll admit, this wasn't exactly an easy thing to do - I mean sure, I did know the layout of the city I was in, as well as the streets, buildings, residents, and so on, but I wasn't normally someone who liked leading. I mean, I'd put up a façade of wanting to be a leader in my life before I got my commander, but I wasn't really good at being one when push came to shove. Luckily, Tylos was able to help me in this regard, ready to point out points of interest to the new immigrants to my hub universe. I was impressed by his devotion to me - I'd essentially ignored him for the better part of a month and he still treated me like a god. I felt a sense of sorrow at that thought, as I really hadn't done much to reward his loyalty. I made a mental note to have him and some of the other leaders of my creations come and sit in whenever I was strategizing, because I really think he needed some compensation for his devotion.
My initial 'tour group', as I'd taken to calling it, consisted of a few of the captives I'd rescued from EXALT and some of the inhabitants of Mega Primus that I'd moved to my Hub World. Some had already decided they had wanted to start new lives here, others were indecisive, and a few just wanted to see what this world looked like. At first, they had some apprehension toward seeing the huge number of alien species inhabiting this world, but gradually, they calmed down and were able to see my hub world unaffected by their unease.
The 'tour' was rather boring, though occasionally, some of my creations stopped and gawked at us. My gradually improving psychic powers told me that I was the reason they were staring, not my companions. Well, seeing the being you treat as a god isn't exactly an everyday occurrence. It did get annoying after a while, but I just smiled, waved, and led the group onwards. Occasionally, I stoped the tour to help my creations with mundane tasks, but never for too long.
I never did get why everyone in my tour group gave me strange looks though.
XXXXXXXXXX
The tour ended up taking about an hour to complete, after which I returned my attention to dealing with the pirates. While they weren't really too much of a problem for me, everyone else would be better off if they were gone. I had my forces folllow the pirate vessels' FTL trails to their bases and quickly got to worm dismantling their infracstructure, occasionally stealing several of their ships whenever I got the chance. It only took me half hour to clear out seven systems from their influence.
Commander powers are so broken.
"Warning: new fleet detected approaching Centauri 45. They are making not attempts at contact."
Well, that didn't sound good. I immediately sent in a small force to try and negotiate with the new arrivals. Said force was greeted with plasma cannon shots.
Well, so much for diplomacy.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
AN: I've been told I am not a good commander, and I do act less competent than other ones, based off what I've read. I don't see why I can't admit that in this story.
The civilization arc will be wrapping up soon. Afterwards, an interlude arc of sorts will take place, then onto the next arc.
Reand abd Review! This is Flameal15k signing off!