- - -
POV: Kaela Arden.
"We've got an emergence signature. Estimated mass of… 700,000 tons." I froze and immediately grabbed my radio.
"Incoming. The jumpship is here, and it's a big one." I turned back to see the one currently on duty nod to me once.
I turned back to the window and activated my radio. "Marine units, prepare for infiltration. Team One will take the jumpships' small craft bays. Teams two and three stand by for orders."
Another ten seconds passed before the jumpship finally materialized. I froze at the sight of the thing. A Monolith-class, the single largest class of jumpships ever produced. It had a total of eight dropship hardpoints, and in this case, all eight of those hardpoints were occupied.
The vessel had two combat dropships, quickly identified as an Avenger and a Fortress. It also carried three Mules, which were the premier cargo dropships of the Inner Sphere.
All of that was pretty standard, though the three remaining DropShips were something else entirely. First was the pair of two Mammoth-class transport DropShips. These were the largest dropships ever produced that could land on planets. Coming in at 52,000 tons each, they were true behemoths.
Despite their size, the Mammoths paled compared to the actual Behemoth-class DropShip that was docked to the last hardpoint. Ironically, the only other dropship that even came close in sheer mass was the experimental Argo-class Dropship that was nearby on Axylus. That size came with a cost, however, in that it could not land on large planetary bodies without literally collapsing under its own weight.
I gulped and furrowed my brow. "Team two, you're taking the Avenger. Team three, capture that fortress. We need to get them before they realize that anything is happening."
The pilot of my own Al'kesh flew us straight towards the small-craft bay of the Monolith. It was as we approached that I finally got some idea of what this sort of ship was doing out here. Painted on the upper hull of the Monolith was a strange, zombie-like figure wearing medieval armor. Behind the figure was a banner that read Marian Hegemony.
The Hegemony was another bandit kingdom that existed on the other side of the Magistracy of Canopus. The nation's founder had discovered a massive collection of germanium, which he used to found his own nation, which he based it on the Roman Empire, including everything from the caste-based society to their heavy reliance on slave labor.
"How many life signs do we have on that thing?" I asked the pilot. He winced as he replied. "About two thousand spread across the entire ship. Most of them are on the Behemoth."
I felt a snarl cross my lips as I spoke into my radio. "Be aware. Either we are dealing with a very large crew, or we have potential slaves as cargo."
Without further preamble, the ship came to a stop just a few meters away from the small craft bay. Two minutes later, the teams were in position; with a single message, all three began cutting into the vessels.
I sat on the edge of my seat as the crew began slowly but surely working their way through the ship. All three groups immediately moved to capture the bridges of their target vessels, and things went wrong almost immediately.
The pirates had been unprepared and unprofessional. They were operating with skeleton crews to begin with and just weren't ready for an assault. As bad as the Marian Hegemony was, it still ran a professional army, and it was entering a pirate system; they were fully ready to be stabbed in the back.
"This is the Janus! We have hostile forces on board! I repeat… HOSTILE FORCES ONB—" he was cut off, the sound of a zat firing in the background.
Immediately, the other dropships moved to detach from the Monolith, which was only stopped by commands from the bridge firmly locking the docking hardpoints in place; if the dropships wanted to detach, then they would have to risk causing significant damage to themselves and their jumpship. They clearly weren't willing to do either.
I clicked my tongue and activated my radio. "We've been discovered. Begin clearing as quickly as possible."
It was lucky that we'd moved to capture the combat dropships first; they could have done some serious damage to the other ships if they'd tried to detach and start firing. It took ten minutes to fully capture the Monolith, which we'd since checked was called Aquila Invicta. From there, the teams had moved on to capture the other dropships. The resistance was heavy, but that meant very little when the defenders were fighting opponents in powered exoskeletons, and whose weapons bypassed all armor.
Within twenty minutes of its arrival, the vessel was fully captured. With the addition of another ship, we now had a solution to our previous problem. The engineers wasted no time getting to work on the vessel; we weren't about to return it to the Hegemony. Once more, we offered to drop people off in Detroit; a much larger number of them took us up on that offer.
With the new Jumpship, we also had new plans. The three pirate vessels would begin the trip to New Vandenberg. In the meantime, the MHS (Marian Hegemony Ship) Aquila Invicta would wait for repairs to be completed on the Argo before making a stop in Detroit to drop off those who wished to stay behind.
- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.
I looked around in wonder. This one room housed five separate species of intelligent life: humans, Goa'uld, Baol, the curator's Avians, and Azaryn's species. Sure, I'd seen all but the Baol before, but it was different to have all of them together in one room.
I took my seat and waited for the last few people to shuffle in. Once all of us had gotten seated, Arriston began. "Several days ago, the Environmental Maintenance Systems of Cybrex Alpha finished preparing the atmosphere and hydrosphere. When do you plan to begin the terraforming process?"
Azaryn smiled in response. "I have had to rework some of my plans for the ecosystem to account for the assistance of the Baol."
One of the Baol replied. "It has been an honor to work with someone who knows our craft so well. Learning that our knowledge has not all been lost is… comforting."
Arriston nodded in understanding. "When do you expect to begin?"
"Within a month. The Baol and I are still figuring out how to apply my own techniques to their planetary seeding process."
Arriston looked around the table. "Good. Please keep me informed. The Voragine starbase is reaching the peak of available power consumption. We'll have to transfer raw ore to Cybrex Alpha so that we can take advantage of the in-system power generation. Ideally, we would have a colonizable world before we get to that point."
The Baol nodded once and took the chance to interrupt, speaking in the same slow manner I had come to expect. "The Baol will begin growing their own 'Organic Plants,' as they were referred to in the game, once the terraforming has been completed. If we rush their growth, then we can have the initial production ready within a year."
Arriston looked rather surprised at that revelation. "How much will you be able to produce?"
The Baol blinked a few times, seemingly in deep thought. "We would be able to fully supplement your people's current 'consumer goods' use. Things such as cleaning products, clothing, and furniture could easily be produced. Food as well, though we have inspected your current farms, and that is not much of a concern at the moment."
Arriston furrowed his brow and nodded. "What about more advanced computational devices?"
The Baol nodded. "We could produce such technology, but even the compads of the Inner Sphere would be superior to what we will be able to produce in the next ten years. We can if you believe it to be necessary, but we would suggest focusing on more useful materials."
Arriston nodded. "Well, be sure to keep us informed; anything we can do to help with producing your 'Organic Plants' will be made available to you."
With everything confirmed, Arriston ended the meeting, and I took the chance to approach the group of Baol. "Hello."
The lead Baol inclined its head towards me gently. It spoke slowly, maybe a third or even a fourth of the speed normal for a human. "Greetings, Arthur Sinclair. We have been told that you are largely responsible for our resurrection."
With a sheepish shrug, I replied. "I'm not entirely sure how true that is. I knew of your existence, and the Curators helped us find where your worlds had been. From there, it was the survey teams that spent time looking for you."
The blank face and glowing eyes of the Baol did not change as it replied. "You were the one who knew of our existence, and you are also the source of knowledge on the Astral Rift. Without you, we would have chosen to end our existence."
I smiled and nodded. "Well, I'm glad you decided not to leave. I wanted to ask about something. In my memories, your people had a sort of neural interface that allowed you to connect with alien species. Do you have any examples of that technology?"
The Baol slowly shook its head in denial. "While we still know how to produce such devices, we cannot create more until we have several high-end 'Organic Plants'. Such devices require great precision in their construction. Perhaps the only Baol technology that remains are the fossils that you recovered."
I let out a sigh, but nodded. "Thank you for your help. I look forward to working with you all in the future."
The Baol nodded back, and I took my leave.
- - -
A few hours later.
I sat in an empty conference room in the still temporary Senate building (building the academy and shipyard was deemed more important). I had finally been asked to come in and discuss the existence of souls, and more importantly, how both the mechanical Cylons and the Voidseeker drones both had them, making them little different from biological organisms in that regard.
I didn't know what I had expected, but none of them spoke as I presented my discoveries. When I had finished, Arriston kindly asked me to leave. That was how I had found my way here.
I had been waiting nearly two hours for a final decision when the sudden crash of a door bursting open echoed down the hall, followed by the steady clatter of dozens of footsteps. Rising from my chair, I stepped out of the conference room to see what had happened.
They were leaving the large conference room, and once everyone had left, I saw that the only ones remaining were Ma'chello, Arriston, and Orion. I carefully entered the room. "So, how did it go?"
Arriston smiled. "A unanimous vote in favor. Should they agree, the Cylons will officially be citizens of the RoK."
I blinked twice and turned to Orion Valc, the priest-in-training and colonial representative. "You actually agreed?"
He looked at me with certainty. "You possess a power beyond our comprehension, and should your memories be true, then you will be the one to save the Twelve Colonies from their fate. I realize the Lords have shown you this, and they wish to end the Cycle. It is not my place to interrupt their plans."
I stood there dumbstruck for several long moments before Orion simply smiled and patted me on the shoulder. Then he turned towards the exit and left. I watched him leave and then turned to Arriston and Ma'chello. "Is that really what the Colonials think of me?"
Arriston simply shrugged. "Those who know of your powers, yes. The rest of them will as well if the Celestial Forge is ever made public."
I stared dumbly before letting out a sigh. "Well, it could always be worse."
Within the hour, both Echo and Deimos were officially offered citizenship, and both accepted.
- - -
Later that evening, the first of the Al'kesh arrived on Hope IV. Initial scans showed a barren world with no industrial capacity, though much more interesting were the unusual number of lone battlemechs that called the world home. In total, there were over 50, with over half of them being assault-mechs.
Despite this, the world had a population of nearly 150,000 spread across about 30 small villages, with the largest having a population of 20,000 and the smallest 1,500. They were mostly subsistence farmers, but given the signs of several destroyed villages, it was clear that the local mech warriors likely raided the villages occasionally.
On the planet's northern continent, we identified a set of three dropships, heavily overgrown in a forest. They clearly hadn't been touched in decades, if not centuries. On closer inspection, we identified them as Fortress-class, mainly from the Long Tom artillery piece for which the class was known.
It would be a couple days before we had a complete survey of the world, but turning the place into a forward operating base for operations against the Tortuga Dominions was looking to be right on track.
Around the same time, my first Avatar upgraded from Superior to Greater. The conversion from Superior to Greater was the point at which the Avatar became a real, breathing creature, rather than a husk made from magic.
I could now manipulate everything about the Avatar almost at will, whether that be personal taste in food and music, work ethic, or even memories. The only thing I couldn't manipulate was appearance; that was something that was set when an Avatar was first created.
Despite all of that, the Avatar was still me. That's where the experience got even stranger. The Avatar was like a limb that I could shape to my very will. The Baol even mentioned how similar my situation was to their own hivemind. My avatar was still me, but it was also a separate individual capable of acting independently.