"Well, well, look at this, Cecilia." Lloyd, with a smirk, showed her what Marcus just shared over their chat group.
It was new designs for a fortress station. Not any station, but a station powered by the sun.
It will look something like the Cloud City from Star Wars, in shape. But there will be many of them, smaller disk-shaped, connected to the central disk surrounded by massive turrets, by massive… like tens of kilometres in length.
Lastly… there was a huge gun next to this station.
"...What in…" The assistant to Lloyd was speechless when she saw these designs!
"This thing is hundreds of kilometres! How are we going to build it!? And how can we build shielding so close to the sun?" The blue-haired woman had no idea how to even proceed with the creation of this.
"This will be the key to occupying the Solar System, Cecilia. This is not a single fortress, but rather a series of stages. Eventually, it will be a massive complex around our sun to be used for protection from foreign invaders."
Lloyd showed her how this will work.
"Each Solar System we colonise will have a fortress-style station above its sun. We will use these for communication between solar systems and project power.
On top of that, they can work like shipyards. No need to look for planets if it's the central hub where all of the resources are being brought to a single spot."
"...I see… it would seem our Emperor has put on his working gloves."
"...You don't say. Look at these." Lloyd chuckled. If she thought that one was great, he showed some of the sketches he posted.
"... A legitimate Dyson Sphere…" Cecilia's brain short-circuits for a second.
"Initial tests showed that we could build it with the help of Eezo, and our Nano Metal can handle it; we are already making miniature ones, I don't see why we could not make a legitimate one." Lloyd snorted, feeling he could organise it and do it.
"But the sheer scale! The amount of resources and people to build a cocoon around a sun… It's insane!"
The nerdy scientist rolled his eyes at her.
"Over 5 years, our production output has increased by 1000% we have 14 SWORD colonies.
5 around Earth, 3 at Lagrange 3, 3 at Mars and 3 at Venus. We are building faster than we increase our population; what is lagging is the people." He sighed, but then he had a brilliant idea!
"I know you should get a child with the Emperor! Your two geniuses put together, I could have another great assistant!" Lloyd smiled brightly at this fantastic idea!
"L-Lloyd!!! What are you suggesting, you sociopath idiot!" The woman began to complain at such a suggestion.
*Snort*
"Why not? I need more help; humanity needs more people if we want to dominate the whole Galaxy and then the Cosmos. Those Aliens won't wait for our emotions to settle down or accept something." The nerd shook his head.
"We could do something about cloning or vat-grown people." He stroked his chin all of a sudden. These ideas were not bad, but Cecilia was not even listening as the blue-haired woman had this spacey look.
'Though the list he sent me… damn him, even I can't keep up with these.
I mean, using black holes to make minerals? Where did he get that idea?'
The nerdy pudding-eating scientist was a bit jealous of the absurd ideas his Emperor could come up with.
~~~
Marcus was grinning like a devil as he was printing ideas left and right.
First, he started with 'occupation Fortress', the Fortress above the sun is like a fortress controlling the surrounding area.
In this situation, it was a solar system. Now, exercising power over such a wide area would be difficult, but. Because of Eezo and Gravity Resonance, his Empire has devised a method that allows his troops to respond at the ends of the solar system in a matter of minutes.
His Tiranis reaching Pluto in a matter of minutes is proof. Now, if he can translate to energy attacks… particle cannon, or Ion cannon, now that's a different thing altogether, he will be able to resist an invasion of the solar system by solar system.
Hell, if he can calibrate it decently, he could shoot into other solar systems.
It could potentially destroy an invasion fleet as the attacks would come from multiple surrounding Solar systems.
'Reapers might be big… .2 kilometres long, but they are still small compared to a planet or the fortress I am planning to build around my home.'
The one way to fight them is to scale up.
'Now that I think about…' Marcus did some math in his head.
There should be around 8,000 to 14,000 Sovereign Class Reapers in total, simply because one Reaper is made by harvesting one advanced civilisation. How many civilisations could be per Galaxy?
Around 3 to 5 per 'cycle'. Regardless, now that his logic brain is back on, he is NOT that terrified of them. The more time he has, the more means he can come up with to fight them.
But for now, he sketches some mega projects, Matter Decompressor to make minerals from black holes, Dyson Sphere, Ring World, Strategic Coordination Centre, Mega Shipyards…
He simply recalled what he used to build in his favourite Grand Strategy game.
"Now… I can build it here." The Emperor grinned a bit, as after he finished his sketches, he moved on to upgrades for his Legion systems. The thing he noticed is that people in this reality are clueless about AI development, so he won't allow them to interact with his Legion's modifications.
'This reminds me, what about the Geth? They are self-aware AI…I wonder if I could get them to join me. All those guys wanted was to be useful. The core essence of servitude never truly disappeared in their design.'
Marcus leaned into his seat as he pondered what to do.
Sadly, those eyes are literally on the other side of the Galaxy.
'Well, whatever, I need to prepare to conquer 00 verse. I need population.' The Emperor was thinking the same thing as Lloyd. He is building colonies faster than he can populate them.
He needs more people.
However, he can delay construction of habitable areas and begin focusing on infrastructure.
'Among other things, I have an alternative to Mass Relays.'
Marcus grinned from ear to ear! And that is Gateways! The best thing is that he was working towards that! Space folding and building a 'highway' between solar systems. This system would allow him rapid travel through his vast empire.
It would make the Empire 'feel' small, and if it feels small, it's easier to control.
'So many things to do… I need to focus on essentials and build the Star Fortress.'
'Yes, let's go with Star Fortress.'
~~~~~~Later~~~~~~
Around a week later, Marcus returned to the 00 universe with the next batch of soldiers.
The work continued to improve the artic base and the one in space.
"Your Majesty." Maya saluted her Emperor, a bit surprised to see him.
"Maya. It has been a while." Marcus smiled, seeing the black-haired Gundam Strike Pilot.
"...Yes."
"How are you heen doing?" He asked her, making her fiddle a bit.
"I-It was okay… I suppose… I think I was a bit aimless…" The girl didn't have the guts to lie to her Emperor.
"I became used to fighting… everything else became dull. I tried different hobbies." The girl said with a resigned sigh. The girl hoped that she didn't sound weird to her Liege.
"That much is given, you are a Gundam Pilot." He rolled his eyes.
"The only thing that could match in that intensity is designing and making greater size constructs," Marcus explained with a voice radiating thick confidence.
The girl chuckled a bit when she heard that.
"I leave those things to you, Your Majesty."
"Do that. I already heard from Lloyd that our Emperor wants to blast aliens half across the Solar system with a massive cannon." Suzaku said with a sarcastic tone.
"Indeed. Blast first, ask questions later." Marcus agreed; this was his foreign policy.
"I see. What about this world? Do you wish for me to fight?" Maya asked him. She wants to see Gundams of this reality. She heard that these two captured three and brought them back to reverse-engineer the Gundam's technology.
"You could have a chance. There is an organisation that has advanced Gundams that can fight us on equal footing." The Inventor Emperor's words caused her to look at him with wide eyes.
"...But… our Machines can cross the entire Solar system in minutes!"
"Yes, but we can't use that power on Earth. We could literally impact Earth's gravitational well. Messing up the rotation, worst case, Earth could stop spinning. That is why there are limiters when our Gundam is under Earth's gravitational influence." Marcus reminded her of the downside of the machine's insane speed.
"...So these gundams are better…" she looked conflicted.
"Not quite. You will see once you fight them, Maya." Suzaku tried to calm her down. The girl has become quite a hardcore Imperial Mobile Suit Supremacist.
After all, these mechs are the ones that keep the peace in the Empire.
"Hnn…" With that said, Maya went to her post. She was the one who guarded the Base this week.
"It would seem that the news has shocked her," Suzaku commented as he watched Maya walk towards the Hangar.
"I can understand her. When I first experienced Dagda crossing the entire solar system in a matter of minutes, it made me feel invincible." Marcus knew where this was coming from. He was the pioneer of this. He was the one who created these machines and used them to conquer his world.
So now… There are challengers to that. It makes one feel annoyed, especially him!
"I suppose it is true. What is our next move?" Suzaku asked him.
"We bind ourselves to this world's economy. My Anaheim needs to spread and become irreplaceable. Only then can we begin conquering the world.
Two years could not be enough, but it is fine, as Celestial Being's actions could help me along the way." Marcus smiled a bit while saying that.
"I see. I can assume you are not doing any open actions because this is not our world?" Suzaku realised that the Emperor is not planning any grand invasions for this world.
"We don't have resources for that or actual means. The portal is not wide enough to bring over any of my carriers. Not that I want to do that. Improving my Empire is a priority; sending an invasion fleet here is counterproductive." He explained to him as the pair walked towards the stealth spaceships waiting for them.
"You could make an organisation in this world that would assist you in taking over.
There are those who would do that." The Knight suggested to him.
"Eventually, it will happen, Suzaku. We've only been here for a few months." Marcus smiled a bit while saying that. It has only been a couple of short months, but he already has Veda under his control and the Gundam Thrones.
It means he has a considerable amount of flexibility.
"Whatever your plan is. Your knights are here to assist." Suzaku commented, and Jeanne, who was like a shadow, nodded at the Gundam Pilot's words.
"Indeed. I have time, so might as well make Gundams for Jeanne, Oldrin and Marrybell."
Jeanne perked up when she heard that.
"I would be honoured to pilot such a machine!" The girl could barely hide her giddiness.
"Good. Then let's return to Japan." He motioned for her before looking at Suzaku.
"Suzaku, I need you in space. Watch Earth from our new base. If anything happens, tell me."
"Understood, Your Majesty." The knight in white nodded with a bow as Marcus and Jeanne got into the stealth spaceship that would take them to Japan.
It was time for him to return to the roots, back to what he did when he was a student at Ashford Academy.
~~~
500 powers stones = 1 Extra Chapter
1000 Power Stones = 2 Extra Chapters
And so on, You know what to do.
~~~
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