General Daryll Williams stared at the next room, the one-way mirror keeping him hidden from view on the other side as he assessed the batch of recruits that applied for the Mobile Infantry. There were a hundred of them in the room, each of them inside an SNK Capsule, neatly arranged in equally spaced rows and columns. The front panel of each capsule was made of thick, transparent glass, making it easy to watch their progress.

The General noted one particular recruit, whose face was locked in a grimace, eyes squeezed shut as his whole body twitched in a way that looked wholly unnatural, sweat pouring out of him like it was condensing on his skin at a sped up rate.

Williams looked at the man beside him, and said, "So these are the Capsules that everyone is going crazy over."

"Yes," Commander John Rico replied. "SNK Capsules. Snakes for short. Max Drift dilation of one to seven-hundred and thirty."

Williams whistled. "So a month in an hour? A little overkill for Infantry training, don't you think?"

"It's adjustable depending on the training," Rico replied. "A month per hour will be useful for spec ops, or something more technical like piloting Titans or OFs. Especially with the maximum eighty-five percent sync rate."

"Sync rates," Williams muttered. "I still get confused about that. Dot explained to me that the capsule syncs with the nanites in our bodies, acting like an artificial stimulus to induce kinesthetic development. That everything you do in the Drift, you can do in reality." He shook his head. "It honestly sounds like magic."

"Don't blame you," the commander agreed. "Though to be fair, that explanation is a little too generous. The body still needs to be supplemented with PT. Just because you know how to run like the fastest sprinter in the galaxy doesn't mean you'll be just as fast."

"I still call it magic," Williams insisted, turning towards the pods once more. "So what, these recruits are going to come out like experienced veterans or something?"

"Wouldn't that be nice?" Rico replied with a short laugh. "No, overall, it just makes them experience everything at a faster rate. Skills, camaraderie with fellow recruits, tactics and formation, anything that would take weeks to learn can be done in a matter of hours. Right now, the recruits are spending the first week at boot camp, with five extra DIs giving the usual shit. All set up with a sixty-seven sync rate."

"Is sixty-seven a good rate?"

"Slightly higher than what they are normally used to. We need to ease them in, make them feel the difference between the Snakes and the Wicks."

"Wicks?"

"The WCK Capsules," Rico replied. "Majority of people call them Wicks, and it's mostly used by the general populace. It'll probably replace the DriftStations."

"I didn't think anyone could dethrone the DSs. They were like a staple for decades. So, what do the Wicks offer?"

"Maximum dilation of one to three-hundred thirty-six. Max sync at sixty."

Williams stared at him for a few seconds. "Two weeks with sixty? For non-military use, that seems a little high-spec'd."

"Hence why I think they'll replace the DSs," Rico explained with a shrug. "The future generations of militia are going to be even tougher sons of bitches before we even get our hands on them. Maybe one day, they will be so well trained, physically and mentally, that we might even skip Infantry drills and jump to armor and marksman training if they join the MI."

Williams shook his head. "Fuck. It wasn't even that long ago when our recruitment training was just us being taught how to shoot rifles."

Rico grinned. "We already knew how to shoot even before MI." He paused for effect. "Well, I knew, at least. I remember a certain soft-dicked cityfolk who didn't know which end to point at the enemy, though."

"Isn't that soft-dicked cityfolk the general now, commander?" Williams shot back with his own smirk.

Rico chuckled before looking at the recruits. "I agree, though. Since the Snakes came out five years ago, it really feels like we're churning out recruits faster and faster. The combination of these new Capsules and chronosphere-supplemented PT, we're producing, at maximum, a thousand newly certified riflemen every week. In another week, those riflemen become certified armored marines and marksmen. And if there are any gifted among them, Titan Pilots within a month after that."

"And we'll be throwing them to Earth, served on a platter, ready to be devoured by Kaijus," the general replied with a frown.

Rico went silent for a few moments before asking, "How are we at Earth?"

"We took back at least half," Williams replied with a soft sigh. "They not only opened so many Breaches after our ancestors left, they terraformed it enough that the environment is quite toxic. It makes it harder for us to keep our forces there fed. Though thanks to the Navy and Spaceforce for resupplying and support, we're pushing through."

"Oorah," the commander cheered softly. "I thought we were losing over there since the Federation is planning to increase the population of each system, to bring all of them to the level of at least half of pre-war Earth."

"Earth isn't why the Federation wants a population boom," the general replied. "It'll be all over the net soon, but we started discovering Precursor Breaches popping at other systems. There's a reason why the Taiwanese are speeding up their colonial efforts. New Guangdong detected a Breach formation and they are stepping up on militarization, and proposing tax breaks on families with multiple children."

"Think the Federation will expand on the Lazarus Initiative?" Rico asked.

"Not sure," Williams said. "Our population growth is already pretty high without it. Though I'm pretty sure the Navy and Spaceforce might actually start upping their recruitment if the damned squints continue to expand their efforts."

Rico had a strange expression on his face. "Feels a little weird to think the flyboys might join us in the frontlines."

"It was easier when Earth was the sole battlefield," Williams said with a shrug. "Now that the squints might start appearing everywhere, we need more more ships and transports."

Rico was about to respond, only to pause, then looked contemplative. "You know, we do need to expand the other branches of the military."

"Pretty sure the Federation has something in mind."

"I meant for New Carolina," the commander amended.

"Oh?" the general asked, raising an eyebrow.

"My contact from the local DNI sent me this. It was posted on the local system's net."

Williams was handed a tablet, and in it was a picture of some oval-shaped ice planetoid. Judging from the barrel distortion, someone used a lot of gravity lens to take the image. The quality wasn't bad either. However, the longer he stared at it, the more something bothered him.

"The next image will explain what I mean," Rico added.

When he flicked the glass surface, only for his fingers to stop dead on their tracks as he saw the zoomed in image of the planetoid. "Is this real?"

Rico nodded. "I ain't an egghead, but I'm pretty sure this is something we've never encountered before."

"No shit," Williams replied. "Too artificial-looking to be Precursor-built."

"Yup. Those squints love to slap organic shit in everything they do. As for the image, whoever posted this wasn't trying to get attention. It only popped up in certain forums that usually garner non-Precursor extra-terrestrial inquiries. Not quite a bustling place of activity. It even has all the necessary data—raw images, infrared, and even gravity readings. Poster didn't even hide his identity."

"So who do we have to thank for this discovery?"

Rico tapped on the tablet, revealing a civilian file. Williams took note of the picture; it was a fairly young man, with a slightly tanned face and quite a striking cheek and jawline. His dark hair, the general noted, was cut short and tidily, fitting in with the grooming standard of the MI.

"Mark Jefferson Shepard, just turned nineteen a few days ago. Born and raised here in South Charleston. Civilian, certified level twenty Militia."

The general raised an eyebrow. "Twen—" He sighed. "Of course they go up to twenty now. What do I expect from a planet filled with retired veterans, new toys to play with, and lots of time in their hands?"

"Is that rhetorical?" Rico got a glare in return, making him chuckle.

Williams sighed, left hand rubbing on the scar on his left cheek. "Fifteen was the highest before I left for Earth. It was practically the skill level of an E-1. What did they add to make it go to twenty? Armor operation and maintenance?"

"CQC and field tactical formations," Rico replied. "The ones that created certification levels above fifteen felt that since militia was the last line of defense for the people, they thought that any additional training should concentrate more on how to better defend their homes and the community. CQC for home invasions and the like, and tactical formations so they know what to do if they are defending their farm fields or the urban streets."

"Are you telling me that the militia are now trained to be proto-spec ops?"

"Not really, but getting there. I did tell you that the militia were going to get tougher and tougher, right?"

"You did." Williams whistled. "I just didn't think you meant it in such a degree." He looked at the file again. "I thought he was a recruit, though, from how he looked."

"Considering his family history, there is no doubt he'll be applying to the MI. Probably quite soon as he's now passed the minimum age requirement."

"Looking forward to his performance then?" William asked with a small grin, flicking the surface of the tablet until it displayed the artifact again. He looked at it, then asked, "Still, why did this thing make you think want to expand our Navy and Spaceforce?"

The commander made a grim expression. "The barrel distortion IDs the location. The brightest point is Shanxi's star, and the rest is actually from a visible galaxy cluster near the outer edge of the Shanxi system."

"Oh. Shit."

"Yeah," Rico agreed. "I thought it'd be better to have you pass it along to the High Governor."

"Good thinking."

A warning tone rang out for a few seconds, indicating that the one hour limit had been met and the recruits were now being logged out. One by one, the Capsules opened, revealing the now awake recruits, breathing hard and drenched with sweat.

"Alright, recruits!" Massani, the drill instructor who was overseeing them, shouted. "How was your week in hell?!" He approached a particular one who was breathing rather hard. "Well, Recruit Jenkins?! Feeling any regrets joining the MI?!"

"N-No, sir!" the recruit replied shakily.

The DI backed away, glaring at the rest of the recruits. "That was only one week at sixty-five. It only gets harder from here. Everyday, we will extend the dilation and increase synch rate to really make you feel it deep into your bones. And then, just for fun, will let you relive some memories of some of the veterans on Earth—give you a small taste of fighting Kaiju!" He raised his left arm, and in his hand were papers. "Of course, you can spare yourself the pain. Here are resignation forms, offering an honorable discharge to whomever signs. This is your chance to go home, recruits! Go home to your families, leave this fighting nonsense behind! Any takers?!"

Everyone shook their heads.

Massani stared at them, but no one flinched. He shrugged. "Two hours of R and R in real time. Rest, nap, get some chow, don't care. However, I expect to see you all at medical bay seven at twelve-hundred hours. Dismissed!"

As the batch of recruits slowly, and in a pained manner, walked towards the exit, Williams hummed, looking thoughtful. "I'm guessing the medical is to check for physiological changes?"

Rico nodded. "Figure out who can't adapt to high sync, and see if we have to supplement or change their training. Or in the worst case scenario, give them an honorable discharge so they can obtain citizenship in another manner. Most of them pass, though. Then it's straight to a chrono facility for PT, where they'll spend five days under time dilation until evening."

"Five days of actual PT in, what, four to five hours?" the general remarked with a tone in disbelief.

"Five."

Before he could reply to that, Williams noted a few drones floating down the room, spraying each open Capsule with liquid. A thought entered his head. "Shouldn't we let the recruits clean what they use?"

"Bean counters felt it's cheaper and faster to get the drones to do the maintenance and cleaning for the next batch to use quickly than buying more rooms full of Capsules." Rico shrugged. "Don't worry. The PT will instill that sense of self reliance and responsibility over time."

"Everything is so fucking strange now," Williams muttered as he watched the drones float up, and the room glowed blue. Liquid droplets began to float up without gravity working on them, and the sound of a big whirring fan echoed around him. Slowly, the liquid began to group in the center, forming a vortex that slowly drained from out the bottom of the room. After that, there was a loud tone and the blue lighting faded away.

"Times changed, old man," Rico replied with a smirk.

"This old man can still kick your ass."

"You're full of shit."

Williams turned to him. "Excuse me, commander?"

"You're full of shit, sir," Rico corrected.

"Thought so," the general replied, before both began to chuckle. "Goddamn, but I do feel like I am a dinosaur. And at forty-five? Both of us? How do you square that?"

"It's just culture shock, Darryl," Rico said softly. "I've been here to see the changes ten years can bring. I got used to it. Now, you can, too."

"I feel useless and stupid," Williams muttered. "That I should have stayed on Earth."

"Why didn't you?" the commander asked. "Even out here, everyone knows about William's Titans."

The general stayed silent, and Rico said nothing. It seemed like minutes before Williams shook his head and said, "I missed my son's wedding."

The commander glanced at him before, with a bit of hesitation, he replied, "Yeah. Ceremony was decent."

"I heard," Williams replied softly. "He didn't even tell me. Only heard it from one of my pilots, congratulating me. It was only then I realized my own son hasn't written to me in five years. He now has a family of his own and I'm not part of it. So I asked to be transferred back here, see if I can reconnect."

"Did you?"

The general sighed. "We're getting there. His wife is a good woman, and her family are decent folks. Still, I haven't been here in ten years, and it feels even longer when you're at the frontlines. Home's changed a lot, I almost didn't recognize it. Since you're more of a local than I am right now, I need to ask: how would New Carolina react if they find out that there's an alien artifact floating in the void, ten lightyears away from them?"

Rico stared at the general for a few seconds before shaking his head. "Planet may have changed, but the people haven't. There'll be an upswing of recruits. The general populace will call to expand the military. Maybe petition to finally upgrade our Navy and Spaceforce."

Williams nodded. "Yes, I thought as much." He faced the commander. "The HG isn't going to like this, especially with the budget coming up at the House meeting in a few days."

"That's above my paygrade."

"But not mine," the general replied.

Rico grinned as he turned to him, giving a sharp salute. "That's why you are the general, sir, and I'm but a base commander."

Williams grunted, returning the salute. He moved to make his way to the exit when he noticed a fresh batch of hopefuls entering. Both general and commander stared at the scene, watching the recruits enter the capsules at the behest of their DI.

"Faster and faster," he muttered, remembering the commander's earlier sentiment.

"Yeah," Rico agreed with a soft tone. "Faster and faster," he repeated.

The general turned away from the scene, stopping to wait for the exit door to slide open, before walking down the hallway.

"Dot," Williams called.

"Yes, Darryl?" a neutral robotic voice replied.

"Is the High Governor still logged in the Drift?" the general asked.

There was a pause before Dot replied. "The Adjutant of the High Governor's Office has confirmed that High Governor Carter is currently logged in. She is in a meeting with Governor Alexis of West Conway, but will be free for the rest of the day."

"Make an appointment for me please. Advise that it is urgent and concerning system security."

"Appointment made."

"Thank you," Williams said as he reached his office. It was a modestly sized, carpeted room with some comforts—a shelf on the side, a wide desk with a comfortable chair behind it, and some couches in the center.

Reaching his desk, he touched it, and it lit up as the holographic interface turned on. The chair also came to life, moving slowly backwards, to give him more than generous enough space to take a seat without anything getting in the way.

Williams ignored Dot as it ran through the usual protocol. He knew that the office would go on lockdown as his AI would prepare his entry through the Drift, that he would be logged into a highly secured government forum to meet with the High Governor.

Instead, he closed his eyes as his thoughts ran through of the things he needed to say, and how to present it in a way that would be conducive to what he felt was needed. By the time he gathered his thoughts and opened his eyes, he was no longer in his office.

He found himself standing at the center of the virtual reception room of the High Governor's Office. Unlike most virtual lobbies, where most users would be inside a simplistic room with little to no details, the Office was designed to look and feel like a traditional government office of pre-war Earth.

The walls were a combination of plaster and wood accents, furnished with wooden-looking tables and chairs, and finished with small potted plants on top of said tables. The carpet he was standing on was very intricately designed, though partially ruined by data codes that glowed intermittently.

However, he kept his eyes front and center, staring at the entrance proper to the Office, as well as the glowing form of the Adjutant, the AI of the High Governor's Office.

The Adjutant looked like any government AI—a blue, five-foot five rectangular floating construct. There was a stylized eagle at the very top of it, representing the symbol of the Federation. Below that was the star-spangled banner of the United Systems of the Americas, and the rest of the body had a semi-transparent white silhouette of a palmetto tree with a crescent form of Luna in the background—the flag of New Carolina—occupying the rest.

"General Williams," the Adjutant greeted, its body lighting up with every word. The AI sounded almost like Dot, but with a more feminine tone. "You may proceed."

The virtual door opened, and Williams took a step towards it, only to stop when he heard two choices speaking out. He stared at the AI for a second. "Adjutant, there still seems to be a meeting taking place."

"You are cleared to enter, General," the Adjutant insisted.

With a shrug, Williams entered the room as the voice of Governor Alexis made itself known.

"—you should rethink this angle, Carter," the avatar of Alexis, a rather robustly built tall man, said. "The citizen polling is making it clear; they do not like your current proposal."

Then, Alexis turned, noticing Williams' entrance. He gave the general a nod, in which was returned. Carter, whose back was turned, wasn't aware of his presence yet.

"How about the civilians?" the High Governor asked.

"Split between agreeing with the citizens and being neutral."

"Damn," Carter turned, eyes widening when she noticed Williams. She too gave him a nod of getting before turning up Alexis. "I was hoping that they could even the odds."

Alexis shook his head. "Civilians aren't part of the voting public."

"That's where you're wrong," Carter countered. "Citizens live with the civilians, after all. They share the same social circles, ideas, and opinions. They may not legally be able to vote, but they can still influence the voting public. It's how I got into the office, if you recall."

"You got into office because New Carolina as a whole wanted and needed a Bridge to assist in commerce and boost the economy of the whole system," Alexis pointed.

"And increase our electoral power, but no one wants to say that," she added with a small smirk. With a wave of her right arm, a few windows popped up into existence. She scanned through them and sighed. "Even civilian-rich States like New Laurens and Central Colombia, huh. Usually they are the easiest to convince in cutting military spending."

Alexis sighed. "Carter, I know you grew up in the Inner Systems where the people there could accept cutbacks on military spending because they are close enough to each other to pool defensive assets," he explained. "This is a Frontier planet, though. The most isolated system in the Federation. A military outpost first before the servicemen and women settled down to raise families. Military is the backbone of Carolinian culture."

Carter rubbed her face with her right hand, sighing. "I don't know what to do, then. Almost every aspect of the budget is tied up, and no one will want me to raise taxes. The military is the only branch that consistently has a surplus that we can use to start building the Bridge. I was even informed that my actions are completely legal."

"Legality ain't the issue," Alexis replied with a shake of his head. "It's the poor optics you created. No one in New Carolina wants to hear that the military budget is being cut. Which means you have to present your proposal in a manner that does not clash with the people's sensibilities."

The High Governor nodded. "Change the narrative then. I can work with that. Instead of calling it budget cuts, it'll be re-allocating military surplus to the construction." She then called, "Adjutant, can we classify the Bridge as a military asset to cover the legalities?"

There was a pause. "Yes. The Einstein-Rosen Bridge is classified as a Federal transport system asset. It can be considered part of military logistics. The proposal is within the legal bounds of your authority."

"Great," Carter replied. She looked at Alexis. "I'll finish the initial draft, then send it through the governors tomorrow to finalize before bringing it forth to the House three days. Is that acceptable?"

"More than acceptable," Alexis replied, before glancing at Williams. "Daryll, good to see you again."

"James," Williams greeted back before the governor's avatar winked out of existence.

There was a few seconds of silence before Williams finally broke the ice. "High Governor. It seems I barged into your office prematurely."

Carter laughed harshly. "I maintain an open office policy. An advice Governor Alexis gave me when I was first sworn into office. Apparently, it was to ease any tension of having an outsider like me running the system."

"Just because you weren't born and raised here doesn't diminish your standing."

"Easy for you to say, General," Carter remarked. "You were. And you got your citizenship through military service, like every other governor in this system while I earned it by being an accountant."

Williams shrugged. "I don't think that really matters. It was your business acumen and experience that got the attention of the people of New Carolina. They liked your platform enough to elect you as their chief executive."

Carter stared at him. "General, while I'm thankful for your kind words, I know when someone is buttering me up. Out with it."

The general nodded. "Dot. Transfer data to the High Governor."

"Transferring."

Two pictures popped up in front of Carter. She looked at the first one with some interest, but the second one definitely got her attention. Her hand moved towards the zoomed image, touching it for a few seconds before staring back at the general.

"Where did you obtain this?" Carter asked.

"Commander Rico has a contact with the local Department of Naval Intelligence. Just obtained it today."

She paused. "Is this what I think it is?"

"An alien artifact, yes. One that doesn't look like Precursor tech."

The High Governor waved her hand dismissively. "While interesting, why bring it to me? It's not a concern."

"With all due respect, ma'am, it is," Williams disagreed. "That artifact is at Shanxi, just ten lightyears away. The first image should have the data analysis."

Carter glared at the general for a few seconds before her fingers moved to the first image, and another virtual window popped out. It was a densely worded document, complete with numbers and detailed explanation. A standard intel report, something Williams was quite familiar with.

So he understood when the High Governor growled, flicking her finger up to just scroll towards the end, where the summary was located, even if he didn't completely agree. He learned the hard way that one tended to miss details if they just kept to the summaries.

"Fuck, my budget proposal will be dead on the water if the people find out."

Williams nodded. "Commander Rico would agree with your assessment."

"Goddammit," Carter muttered before sighing. "Adjutant."

"Yes?" the AI glowed.

"If I classify this data, how long can I legally hold this information away from the people?"

"One month," Adjutant replied easily. "That is the maximum time limit you can hold classified information under the New Carolina's System Security Act, unless there are extenuating circumstances, though that will need to be reviewed. However, as the data concerns another sovereign nation, I suggest disclosing the data to the Republic of Taiwan as soon as you can."

Carter sighed with relief. "Yes, let's not get into a fight with our new neighbor just yet. If I remember correctly, they'll be sending their exploratory fleet next week so the timing should be perfect." She looked at Williams. "General, inform the DNI that I am classifying the data under the System Security Act. Once the House passes the budget in three days, we can declassify and Taiwan will be informed."

Williams internally winced, knowing that the High Governor missed a crucial detail. "Ma'am, I'll inform the DNI, but we cannot classify the information."

"And why is that?"

"Dot," Williams called, and the window that had the intelligence report scrolled upwards, until it highlighted one paragraph in the middle of the file. "This wasn't sourced from the department itself. They found it posted in a net forum by a New Carolinian resident."

Carter's eyes darted through the paragraph, a frown on her face, before she waved her right arm. One more window popped up, and with a glance, Williams noticed it was an aggregation of trending news topics. "It hasn't spread to the public at large yet. Good. Let's move to censor—"

Williams winced physically this time, and was about to tell Carter to stop when Adjutant suddenly glowed dangerously red.

"High Governor Carter, you are about to violate the First Article of the Bill of Rights of the United Systems of the Sol Federation and the United Systems of the Americas. If you insist on proceeding, the Judiciary will move to impeach you. You have been warned."

Carter stared at the Adjutant as it calmly turned back to its normal blue color, frozen in place. After a few seconds, she chuckled nervously.

"I heard that the Frontier systems were much stricter in regards to the Constitution," she said, "but I didn't expect it to be that intense."

Williams nodded. "Ma'am, may I suggest we explore other options?"

Carter stared at the file once more before flicking her left hand. A singular window opened, revealing the post. "Adjutant, check on this—" she read the name of the site "—'Lonely Galaxy' forum that contains the information. Is it publicly run?"

"The forum is run by a limited company from Central Montreal, a provincial system of the Commonwealth of Canada."

The High Governor nodded sharply. "There's our in."

Williams felt his stomach bottoming. "Ma'am, what are you doing?"

"Exploring options," Carter replied. "Back in the pre-war era, when the US was just a collection of States, the government also did not have the Constitutional right to censor their people. However, they could negotiate with private companies that ran forums and other social networks to do it for them as a work around. And since the Federation Constitution is pretty much made as a successor to the US', I'm just following the same idea."

"Ma'am, that's still a violation of the First," Williams countered. "They amended the wording during the Founding of the Federation because of your example."

Carter blinked, then looked at the Adjutant, which seemed to be frozen in the air, as if anticipating something. "Adjutant, is General Williams correct?"

"He is," the Adjutant replied. "The right to exercise free expression shall not be infringed. That includes negotiating with a private company to censor an individual on behalf of the Government. The only way to legally remove the information from the forum is to own the rights of the data itself."

Carter frowned, then asked, "What are my options, then?"

"Negotiate directly with the individual. Buy his information and obtain his silence using a non-disclosure agreement."

She blinked. "That works?"

"You aren't forcing silence, but buying it," the general replied. "However, even if the data has been removed, it may have still been archived by another party without our knowledge."

"We won't keep the data hidden for too long so it won't matter," Carter replied. "Adjutant, call negotiator Solomon Goodman, and get him the file of this—" she checked on the intelligence document once more "—Mark Shepard. Tell him this is a priority call."

"Very well," the AI replied. "Mister Goodman has been informed and all relevant files have been forwarded to him. He said he'll contact Mister Shepard as soon as possible."

"Good," Carter said, exhaling with relief before giving the general a small, thankful smile. "Thank you, General Williams. I say, you most likely have saved me from being impeached."

"No problem, High Governor. Though, may I speak freely?"

"Go ahead."

"I'm personally not comfortable having an unknown alien construct nearby without at least preparing. And while I have the utmost confidence in our Mobile Infantry, I feel our Navy and Spaceforce could be further expanded."

Carter nodded. "I know what you're getting at, and unfortunately, I need to prioritize the Bridge. That's what my constituents wanted and if I don't at least get the construction going, I can kiss my next year's reelection bid goodbye."

"There are other means to increase revenue," Williams said.

Carter barked out a laugh. "General, I may not have been from New Carolina, but I know how the people here feel about their taxes being raised."

"Not taxes. Federation funding."

Carter opened her mouth, then closed it with a snap. She stood still for a moment before staring at Williams. "I don't think we'll be approved for one. Maybe once the Bridge is open, we can use the system's numerous asteroids to negotiate for extra funding to develop facilities and build extra ships to mine and export material. As of now, we're just a Frontier system with nothing special to offer."

"But we do," Williams countered. "We have an alien artifact."

"Not in our territory," Carter replied.

"True, but as we're being good neighbors and responsible members of the Federation, I'm sure that the USA and Taiwan can band together and negotiate to the rest of the Federation for extra funding to secure the USSF's soon-to-be newest asset. New Carolina will have financial options to improve their Navy and Spaceforce, and Taiwan gets a boost of capital to jumpstart Shanxi's colonization effort."

The High Governor's eyes narrowed, scrutinizing Williams before chuckling. She turned to the AI. "Adjutant, contact the White House Station. I wish to make an appointment with President Oaks."

"I have made contact with Aide of the Oval Office. President Oaks of the United Systems of the Americas will return correspondence as soon as possible."

Carter nodded then glanced at Williams. "Do you have political ambitions, General Williams?"

"I'm just a Marine, ma'am."

"And I was just a businesswoman who wanted to open a shipping lane to New Carolina and expand my mining company." She shrugged. "The future can bring you to strange places."

On that, Williams had to agree.


Welcome to the United Systems of the Sol Federation Codex, Ambassador Teluni. What is your inquiry?

United Systems of the Sol Federation

The USSF is a limited centralized government embodying the surviving nations of Earth. When humanity lost Earth, they had limited resources and a devastated total population. With the future being uncertain, they formed the Federation, mostly symbolically as a uniting factor, but also to help and ensure humanity's survival.

Using the basis of the Founding of the United States of America (now United Systems of the Americas), being largely responsible for providing Graviton Technology to the rest of humanity, the Federation Constitution was created centrally around laws that limited government action against the People.

"For government authority is nothing more than a power lent to them by the People. Whatever is given can and will be taken away."

It allowed the People and their nation to maintain their self governance, protect their cultural heritage, religions, and philosophies, which has become more important to the human identity after losing Earth.

The Federation is made up of two branches: The House, consisting of representatives of each nation, led by a High Chancellor, and the Judiciary, consisting mostly of Artificial Intelligence that enforce and uphold the Articles in the Bill of Rights.

Artificial Intelligence

There are still speculations about the first manifestation of actual Artificial Intelligence. What is clear, however, is that all known AI units can trace their codes from one program.

Atom, a boxing robot, whose claim to fame was almost beating the then-undefeated and more technologically advanced boxing robot Zeus, had shown a quirk in its programming. It had been studied and documented that Atom seemed capable of rerouting power and even switching from different secondary processing units without any prompting. It was how it was able to maintain function even when it suffered what was considered catastrophic damage. That was the main reason why the very same program was then modified to be used by the Jaeger Program, to streamline software operations and keep the Jaeger functional even after taking critical damage.

Over time, the program moved from robots to pure software applications, used as code management, reused and modified multiple times for various roles. After the loss of Earth and the low population numbers, these programs were heavily used, assigned to fill the role of assistants and procedural observers, increasing efficiency and result quality. However, when one program locked out access to the fusion powerplant to one of its operators, humanity had finally realized that the program may have evolved into something more.

The said operator was running late and skipped checking on integrity of the gravity plates, almost causing a mini-singularity event. While the program easily documented procedural errors done by the operator, it surprised the investigators when the report ended with an apology for going beyond the bounds of its programming, and felt it needed to act for the safety of the people around the powerplant.

It's still unknown to humans how much more these programs evolved since then, but with AI so prevalent in use, especially when the population boom came soon after the settling of the first colonies, they have been mostly accepted by the general populace.

AIs usually take up work that requires heavy procedural effort. Most common jobs they take are management of nanites, assistants and legal counsel, judges in the Judiciary, and managing the electronic warfare suites of the Navy and Spaceforce.

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Article-New Mumbai Fusion Plant Incident! Actual AI?

Study-What Makes Programs into AI

Article-Human Comedian calls AI 'Talking Calculators'

Article-First AI Comedian Calls Humans Talking Apes

Article-AI Cannot Understand Jokes?

Article-Humans Cannot Understand Irony? (written by an AI)

Study-Efficiency Differential between AI and regular Programs

Study-Human and AI Neural Differences

Article-Human-AI Marriage Declared Legal by Federation Supreme Court

Search Query: But, why

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Author's Note:

Anyone curious, I'll try to get back to The Red Knight and my other RWBY story with Jaune being Atreus' son (oops, spoilers).

The next chapter will be delayed a bit. I'll probably explain why in that chapter.

For the record, I'm trying so hard to balance these humans. When I first conceived of the idea, humans had the magical ability to actually do anything they wanted in Drift. They could do moves from fighting games (Hadouken! Shoryuken!) and would only need a week to become fully trained pilots and spec-ops. That's why the original title of the story was "Drift Effect."

In fact, the summary was nothing more than Mordin Solus telling whoever was reading that while Graviton and Robotics were at least scientifically sound, Drift was magic and that humans were deluding themselves into thinking it was anything but, hence why he believes that humans are just insane.

Yeah, it was supposed to be a sillier story.