"We've reworked the entire thing from the ground up. Better range, better projection, stronger shielding. The tether holding it in stable orbit was also improved, it's no longer drifting by half a micrometer every single day. Only thing I'm not sure about is the custodian. Sure, it's advanced and we've got the loyalty-assurance device, but it gives me the creeps. Hell if I know where the techies dug it up from, or who they begged to get it, but this thing probably ticks off every single reason StratCom is paranoid back on Janus. Whatever they're doing, I don't want to catch flak in case it falls apart. Could always sue Tri-Tachyon, I guess." - Recovered report from Project Iliad, c.-603
~{•••}~
The admiral took his time with taking in the sights of the Citadel. His gaunt face revealed little of how he felt, his eyes even less so.
Everything he saw was, to a degree, stupid.
Nonsensical architecture, awkward patrol routes for law enforcement, an odd amount of civil liberties next to foreign dignitaries and leadership - far too much for his liking. Assassins could be anywhere. He even spotted someone trailing the group. Arthur was certain that Vislani spotted even more.
Then again... the situation itself was surreal. He and his hodgepodge 'fleet' - a collection of ships lost from the wider Battlegroup mid-transit - came across an entire convoy of ships headed into the Orion-Perseus Abyss in search of a research facility which could provide a plan of evacuation for whoever managed to get there.
A spatial anomaly which led who knew where. They lucked out with the Gate Hauler passing by.
Orion sighed internally. This entire situation was unusual. Adding aliens on top of it didn't even phase him at this point. He listened to the councilor speak from time to time, though it was evident he also did not want to be here. At least the two of them had that in common for the time being. And the way he carried himself, Orion suspected even more things in common would reveal themselves. That, however, did not carry over to the other alien which followed them in the councilor's wake, one Saren Arterius as he was introduced. A Specter.
Not that Orion cared much for his rank or whatever, but the way the Specters were described, they could be a similar organization to Nightwatch. Special forces task group dedicated to fulfilling the directives of the state, no matter what they may be. Though, in the Domain's case, their loyalty wasn't divided. There was only one human nation among the stars, and that was the Human Domain - all others were simply waiting to be welcomed back into the embrace of mankind. These Specters, however, answered to a nebulous interstellar political entity which mediated galactic politics, and they themselves hailed from another nation. That was dangerous. Supremely so if one of these Specters were to go rogue, and also take the time to hide such defection from the eyes of this Citadel Council. That thought alone soured his opinion of these people.
To put such trust in people...
He shook that thought out of his head. For now.
"I have been wondering about your... vessel. And the ring on its front." Sparatus stated, finally addressing the elephant in the room ever since they got onto this station.
"A marvel of technology, isn't she?" Boyle began, causing him to instinctively hum. Boyle wasn't someone who could keep out of the spotlight for long unless forced out of it or convinced to leave it, which was no surprise given that he came from the Deep Core of the Domain. The oldest territories settled by humanity, from before the Domain even. "The ship is there to bring that ring from one place to the other in one piece, so that we can then turn it on and spread like ants across the stars."
Sparatus looked like he had gained some actual interest, now. "And how exactly does it work?"
"That's... well, kind of tricky to describe without a solid point of reference." Richard butted in. "On the surface, the Gate, that's what it's called, acts like a bridge to another Gate, sort of like a one-to-one two-way connection that's near instantaneous, if not instantaneous, period." The five of them caught Sparatus nodding, albeit skeptically.
"How instantaneous is this mode of transportation exactly?"
Richard, for his part, shrugged. "Never really bothered to measure time. Can't, even if we tried. Keeping the network up and running consumes most of our time, and that's on top of expanding it continuously."
"Do you have to build pairs to connect to one another?"
"That's going to take a while to explain. I'll just-"
"Doctor." Kaliya spoke softly, though the tone was unmistakable. Richard nodded suddenly, having realized what she warned him of.
"Y-Yes, yes. Sorry, councilor, we're going to have to be, ah, selective with what we talk about concerning the Gates."
Sparatus made a chortle-like sound, its actual meaning lost to the five humans. Arthur had another look at where they were.
It was a large, open area called the 'Presidium', supposedly a hub-like area where civilians could mingle to their heart's content without having to worry about restrictions elsewhere. Surveillance was more likely than not ramped up at the Presidium, he thought - what irony if proven true. Out of the five of them, only he and Kaliya weren't showing any signs of being awed by the Citadel. Indeed, it was hard to admit, but the admiral thought the Citadel to be resplendent. At least when not looking at it through his deeply ingrained militaristic lens. A bright flash from his right side alerted him to people, humans thankfully, taking pictures of the five of them alongside Sparatus, the two Citadel Security officers, and Saren himself. Ideally, they would have continued on to the human embassy, as that was their destination, and then move on separately to tour the Citadel.
Ideally.
Boyle, however, had other plans.
~{•••}~
He walked over to the unmistakable gaggle of reporters that had been following them for a while now with a practiced, though genuine smile on his face. Ah, to be back amongst the press again. Adjusting his cuffs a little just before arriving, the reporters already descending down on him, no doubt fighting for the privilege of being the very first to interview one of them. He picked out one among them, a diminutive woman who didn't look a day older than nineteen, maybe twenty at most.
Taking the cue, she managed to push through the crowd of onlookers and some reporters, a curious camera drone following her. "Sir! Emily Wong for the Alliance News Network!" She spoke excitedly. James was almost certain this was her first 'big' story. "Where exactly do you come from? The ship that appeared near the Citadel and the broadcast made from said ship are of unknown make with unknown history. Are you part of a secret Alliance project?"
"Slow down, you'll run out of breath." He chuckled, taking it in stride. "That broadcast you heard was nothing but the truth. I can hardly believe it myself, but the fact we're standing here is proof enough."
"If you really are from another galaxy, could you return? Can anyone follow you?"
"Returning back would take us a couple hundred years at least. We've been in cryogenic suspension for about two hundred years, and trust me when I say this, no one's gonna follow us into this galaxy. Not anytime soon."
He picked out another reporter, this time a broad-chested man who had a similar camera drone following him. "What exactly is your goal here, sir? Do you plan to remain peaceful with the Citadel Council and forge diplomatic ties?"
That... was a curious question. One which Boyle did not have a concrete answer to. "To be honest, we didn't expect to find anyone or anything out here. We'll play this by the ear, as the saying goes. But as far as your Systems Alliance is concerned, it's all but guaranteed." That felt good enough, he thought. He didn't lie when he said they had no idea. Hell, he himself had no idea what to do, he only woke up a few hours ago. At least he knew how to think on his feet. No doubt the others would chew his ass out for not consulting with them before practically throwing himself to the press, but he didn't care. Too much. Maybe.
Another reporter he chose broke through the crowd. "There's a rumour that your ship is equipped with an AI instead of the Council-mandated VI, can you confirm or deny this?"
He smirked. "I am here to disperse these rumours before they can even take off. We do indeed use AI. Before you say anything however, we keep them in line through rigorous programming and a judicial use of loyalty-assurance devices that makes them as quiet as a baby."
Chemical bombs were amazing inventions.
"Have any of these AI's gone rogue?" Ah, there it was.
Boyle merely smirked. "It's inevitable sometimes. Regrettable, even. But each and every time it's happened, the AI was terminated instantly. No quarter given, no second-guessing, because when the chips are down, you go all in or you lose it all."
"Sir." Vislani suddenly whispered into his ear. Damn, he hadn't even heard her approaching. Hell, he could barely even hear her whispering. Fortunately for both of them, however, he understood the intent. Clearing his throat, he gave the reporters one last smile, before breaking away from them - after making sure they caught his name - and rejoining the others. They were close to the human embassy, now. "I would appreciate it if we do not come close to revealing potentially sensitive information to outsiders, sir."
"Right, right. I got carried away, is all. It won't happen again." He affirmed, growing unusually silent. Kaliya took that as a positive sign and broke off from him.
He shivered slightly. Intelligence ministries were the worst, most especially those whose existence was shrouded in obscurity and the only sign of them even existing being monthly reports to the Council. External Intelligence was among the worst of them, he recalled. It worked lock-step with the Battlegroups and did whatever struck their fancy so long as the Council didn't admonish them.
If push came to shove and when they reconnected with the Domain, they would probably have to reshuffle every single ministry for suitable candidates for leadership positions. And unlike Mansley, who was a mid-level functionary within his respective ministry, Vislani was, if memory still served him, high up the totem pole.
Uncomfortably high. She could be named minister without complaint.
Blinking those thoughts out of his head, he reoriented his eyes to the Presidium's vista. Beautiful. Grand, even. A station of this size and with this much living space could house a population magnitudes higher than most other stations in Domain space. That, of course, would be threatened if the Domain ever bothered to repurpose any of the old terraforming rigs used by Eridani-Utopia into orbital arcologies. Now those were monstrously large.
Perhaps he could impress the human ambassador with that line of thought.
~{•••}~
"Your coffee, ma'am."
"Thank you."
It had taken them two hours to discuss everything of import with ambassador Anita Goyle. From the state of humanity to the state of the galaxy as a whole. Mansley and McKenzie grew pale from the sheer breadth of galactic history, not that the Domain's own wasn't longer than that of the Alliance's. Boyle as well went pale, but was among the first to recover and immediately start lying out of his ass. 'The Domain can provide you with anything' and 'Give us ten days and we will have you talking to the rest of human civilization'. Orion was silent, and only exchanged glances with Vislani.
After the meeting, everyone went their own separate ways. Richard started chatting up one of those salarian aliens, Mansley and Boyle went off gallivanting across the Presidium, and Kaliya enjoyed one of the very, very few familiar things that remained in this strange, new mirror galaxy.
Black coffee.
"We have a deadline, now." Orion said as he took a seat opposite to Kaliya, taking off his gloves, hanging his trench coat and taking off his officer's cap. He had such short, greying hair.
And unfortunately, he was right.
"Has doctor McKenzie shared his thoughts on it?" She asked, taking a sip of her coffee with one hand, the other typing away on her TriPad. Arthur nodded, but sighed wearily.
"Yes, he has. He contacted the AI on the Gate Hauler to see about deploying the Gate at one of the stable points in the clearing. The Tap isn't getting anything, however."
She paused for a moment, blinking in surprise. However, her actions resumed quickly, the shock washing over her. "Then the Hypershunt either isn't finished yet or can't be activated by the drones." The Coronal Hypershunt was a marvel of science and engineering, outshining such flights of fantasy as Dyson Spheres and Dyson Swarms in power generation and material costs. If the Hypershunt wasn't working, they were in trouble. Or, rather, it only exasperated another, much more alarming issue.
The Gate network was down.
Kaliya wasn't stupid. Arthur wasn't stupid. His friend, Augustin Rao, who got separated from Arthur wasn't stupid. Every single Gate shut down at the same time, as far as she knew. If the network wasn't up and running by now, then there was no guarantee that the Gate would work, even if powered up by the Coronal Hypershunt. "Can we ascertain what the problem is?"
"We can." Arthur began, looking around for a moment. "The Gate Hauler didn't purge all of its fuel reserves when it started decelerating, it's got enough transplutonics to finish repairs on the communications array. The AI will contact the drones and see what the problem is. Best case scenario, something inside broke down and can't be fixed by the drones."
"And in the worst case, they're still not done building it."
He silently nodded. She took another sip, mulling it over in her head. "But that's not our main problem, is it?"
"No."
If the network was operational after close to two hundred years, everything would be fine. If not, they had a major problem. Everything hinged on either the fact that they could connect to the rest of the network, or that they could manage to reboot it from this side, somehow. Another issue would be, if the latter were to happen, where exactly the Gate would lead to. It could be any number of systems within the Domain, the worst of which being ones inside the Persean Sector. It was an underdeveloped, fringe backwater with barely two billion people maximum. Some basic infrastructure was set up last she heard, but the Domain was very much still trying to establish itself out there.
Ideally, the reactivated Gate would lead them to the recently tamed Centaurus Sector, or, much more preferably, the Orion Sector. The Domain Deep Core. The beating heart of the entire human civilization. She, very briefly, even entertained the idea of the Deep Core launching a fourth wave of expansion from the very same Gate near the Citadel. Very briefly, of course.
So long as they did not end up connecting to the Persean Sector, everything would be fine. But she would prepare all the same.
Idly, she craned her head to the side, just in time to catch a few patrons chatting it up with the barista that served her. No doubt they were talking about Arthur and herself, as if they were the real aliens. It would pass soon enough, she mused. But then... "How exactly would we reach the Hypershunt?"
Orion's face remained impassive, but then he frowned. They never thought of how to get to the Coronal Hypershunt without waiting for several months for the droneships to pick them up. But then they wouldn't have cryohab units, would they? It seemed that neither of them had thought the plan through clearly enough. Taking another, longer sip of her coffee, her mind raced through the plethora of possibilities. Asking the Citadel Council for transport would be the logical next step. But then they would ask too many questions. They could be held at gunpoint and forced to divulge secrets pertaining to the Hypershunt's operation. That much power in the hands of aliens would be dangerous.
The Exploraria drones could eliminate them, of course. But then they would be dead, too. Drumming her fingers on the table, she quickly flicked through several tabs on her TriPad. Connecting to this mirror's galaxy's version of the hyperwave network, that being the 'ExtraNet' was easy - she was surprised the TriPad could do it. Tri-Tachyon built everything with every possible scenario in mind, it would seem. Flicking through it a few more times, she finally came across what she was looking for.
A plan was forming in her head as she manipulated the interface and typed away a series of letters and phrases. Arthur must've noticed what she was doing, because he suddenly stopped frowning, patiently waiting for her to finish. Her eyes scanned everything. Each line of code, each new sentence, replication of what she saw. Kaliya smiled as she looked at her newest handiwork.
The SSV "Einstein" would receive orders to divert course to the Citadel and await confirmation for transfer of cargo marked as 'vital'.
It was concerning how easily she managed to crack the encryption of the Alliance's vaunted internal network. Even with the Ministry-provided skeleton key, it should've taken her longer. Much longer considering the fact she had just impersonated Alliance High Command. Concerning... but not surprising, as she read the memo that had only just arrived. First wave encryption, hm?
"Will you tell me why you hacked into the Alliance CommNet?" Orion texted through his own TriPad, the two of them forgoing any further verbal discussion. Too many ears for this sensitive a conversation.
"Bought us time to convince Goyle to let us borrow the 'Einstein' for the trip to the Hypershunt."
"I thought the risk was about being held at gunpoint."
"The human element is predictable." She smiled, taking another sip. Almost empty, she frowned.
"ETA? Assuming Hypershunt is built."
"Twelve hours. Ship will remain nearby for another two hours as the order is verified and proven to be a mistake."
Orion hummed, taking a moment to put his gloves back on. "Why the 'Einstein'?"
"It was first on my list that was of sufficient size. Did you know they have less guns than an Onslaught-class?"
He did not reply. "I take it you will be the one to go." He stated after a pause. It was sweet how he always knew what the answer to his questions would be, which is why he always phrased them as statements instead.
"I will start preparing the documentation. Before you ask, we're not waking up the engineers. I'd rather they not have specialists on hand should they, ah, choose to re-negotiate."
"Very well." He affirmed, finally relaxing in his chair. "With that done, let's enjoy what little off-time we have."
"Let's." She smiled, draining the last of her coffee. It was a good thing Domain credits were virtually indistinguishable from this galaxy's credits.
~{•••}~
"Still nothing?"
"Nothing interesting. Tried taking a look at their datapds. Completely foreign script."
"Concerning."
The Presidium was always a place where one could go and relax, away from the business of the Wards and from the politics of the embassies. It was both aesthetically pleasing and made in such a way that, if one had access to vantage points, spy on just about anyone at any time. And the Salarian Special Tasks Group had such access.
For the last hour since the new arrivals came out of the Alliance embassy, Councilor Valern, the new appointee to the Citadel Council, gave STG operatives on the Citadel the order to shadow the newcomers and find out as much information as possible. The technicians among them were busying themselves with trying to crack into the remote datastores of the colossal ship from afar, but that was easier said than done, last her heard. Both because the encryption was more advanced than anything they saw... and because the ship was controlled by an AI.
An AI. Made by humans from, supposedly, another galaxy, and they didn't even bother hiding its existence. He'd never understand humans, both the ones from the Alliance and these new ones.
Parnot Arix and his partner, another Salarian he had only just met apparently, were tasked with shadowing two figures in particular. The first was identified as admiral Arthur Orion. By self-admission, he was a member of an entire naval battlegroup going by the number fourteen. The second was an intelligence officer belonging to the Ministry of External Intelligence, Kaliya Vislani. Next to that, they knew nothing about either the ministry or herself, except that she apparently liked black coffee with milk.
Could stage an assassination with that information.
"News about the ship." His partner said suddenly, ceasing his observation of the two as he listened to his earpiece.
Parnot kept silent, nodding in his direction.
"They cracked the first layer of encryption, managed to withdraw a limited amount of data before all terminals within the base short-circuited. They're sharing their findings now."
"Any reason they're sharing to everyone?" He asked.
His partner paused, before sighing. "Could lead to clues in observation." Within a few moments, their omni-tools began blinking, indicating that they were starting to receive the information packets. Activating his own, Parnot inspected the data meticulously.
Most of it was telemetry data concerning the ship itself, which was gargantuan in size, as expected. But the sheer scale put into numbers hammered home the fact that no single race could've possibly built this ship in a reasonable amount of time. Either the Domain had automated ship construction, or they existed for a long, long time. But as he dug deeper, he noticed something odd. Something that, apparently, STG managed to miss. An as-of-yet unopened data repository concerning current standing orders.
Opening it up - after verifying it wasn't laced with a virus - he read through as much as he could. The script, of course, was ineligible, but that was translated with some delay. What caught his attention was the latest change in the routine of the ship's systems.
Repairing the long-range communications array and contacting an advance drone fleet tasked with construction of something called a 'Coronal Hypershunt'.
He didn't exactly know what it was, but this could be the break they were looking for. Without delay, he sent the repository back to STG headquarters and flagged it as important. Hopefully someone would read it soon enough and report to the Councilor.
Hello gentlemen, and welcome to the second chapter! Weren't expecting one this soon, were you? Well, I have good news. With this fanfic, I plan on having a weekly to bi-weekly release schedule, with a release window of Saturday, Sunday or Monday. This is mostly so that I can fine-tune the chapters I've already pre-written, and also to write new chapters for future releases. This also gives me time to keep rewriting the Frostpunk fanfic to my liking, so there is that.
Anyways, onto the reviews!
Guest 1 - Cool
Six samurai of dragon order - Thanks for taking an interest in this fanfic! I plan on elaborating where ever it's needed, so don't worry.
Guest 2 - Thank you for the kind words! When I myself saw the Gate Hauler in-game, I was like "no way" and then it was "oh my god I can actually launch it". Alex is cooking with these new updates, I swear.
Spartanonxy - You would be right, compared to the rigs and cryosleepers, the Citadel IS more grand and more lavishly decorated. However, the Persean Sector is just a frontier, we don't know just how elaborate the Domain can get (which means I'll have to approximate sooner or later). And don't worry about that physics part, they'll, uh. They'll see. Eventually. Smiley face :)
Shypunk - Thank you, hope you'll enjoy reading it even more!
Well, that's all she wrote for today, folks. See you next time!
This chapter was sponsored by the Ministry of Colonization. Broadening mankind's horizons, one star system at a time.