Starborn Smith [Massive Scifi MultiFusion / Celestial Forge]

[Vanbers]

Hmm seems like a very one sided trade, he is trading all his tech and future knowledge for bargain basement prices.

For what mc has given the only real equal trade would be the entire tech base of Asgard and probably even that is not enough.

Fun moment at the end of the chapter tough, poor Ra lol.

Click to shrink...

It's only one-sided when you don't realise that the Asgard are literally the top affixed to a jar holding all of the eldritch horrors from beyond the stars at bay.

The Ancients might do some things to nudge things into place to protect people, but it's the Asgard that are boots on the ground kicking Tyranid's teeth in, and holding off the Goa'uld.

It's also a show of good faith and good will that will cause the Asgard to view them IMMENSELY favorably.

Like, I mean if I lived in a universe where Tyranids, Replicators, and the Ori all existed, and I knew the Asgard were active and trying to fight them, you bet your ass I'd hand them literally everything I have in the hopes of getting all those things either dead or contained.

Hell, if he solves that dying problem the Asgard have, they'd be LUDICROUSLY good allies to have. The Asgard are cool, man.

 

[Trek]

Look at it this way the MC is a person from our time. He is not a strategic genius, but he knows he's in a galaxy with lots of problems.He knows parts of what's going on, which gives him a unique view on all the threats that he knows are out there. The only option which makes sense is to seek out allies which means sharing what he knows. It's all a matter of perspective, but survival trumps everything including the possible risks of his information getting out. Plus, it's not like the information will not be secured in someway.

Click to shrink...

Giving reasonable info and giving all your metaknowledge advantages and tech are two very very different things.

It's only one-sided when you don't realise that the Asgard are literally the top affixed to a jar holding all of the eldritch horrors from beyond the stars at bay.

The Ancients might do some things to nudge things into place to protect people, but it's the Asgard that are boots on the ground kicking Tyranid's teeth in, and holding off the Goa'uld.

It's also a show of good faith and good will that will cause the Asgard to view them IMMENSELY favorably.

Like, I mean if I lived in a universe where Tyranids, Replicators, and the Ori all existed, and I knew the Asgard were active and trying to fight them, you bet your ass I'd hand them literally everything I have in the hopes of getting all those things either dead or contained.

Hell, if he solves that dying problem the Asgard have, they'd be LUDICROUSLY good allies to have. The Asgard are cool, man.

Click to shrink...

There is something called proportionality, they would already view them very favorably if he gave them limited but critical info.

There also the issue of the time scale, if you want to make rock solid allies you slowly build up trust you dont just dump your entire value in one encounter with nothing gained in return, that only makes you look like a chump who does not understand the value of what you own.

You dont just live in a universe in which Tyranids, Replicators, and the Ori, you live in a universe where you have the future knowledge on a bunch of treasures and key events you can pry and benefit from with a OP long term cheat power.

 

[Vanbers]

There is something called proportionality, they would already view them very favorably if he gave them limited but critical info.

There also the issue of the time scale, if you want to make rock solid allies you slowly build up trust you dont just dump your entire value in one encounter with nothing gained in return, that only makes you look like a chump who does not understand the value of what you own.

You dont just live in a universe in which Tyranids, Replicators, and the Ori, you live in a universe where you have the future knowledge on a bunch of treasures and key events you can pry and benefit from with a OP long term cheat power.

Click to shrink...

He already has the Celestial Forge.

Having the Asgard aware and active against universe-ending threats is absurdly more useful than whatever scraps of technology he could potentially scavenge from half-remembered details of the series that he wouldn't even fully remember in the first place without the Asgard's tech bolstering his memories and saving them to be viewed later.

You're so hyperfocused on whatever esoteric potential lore bit that would make him vaguely stronger you forget that none of that matters if he dies. And him dying increases exponentially if the Asgard aren't going around stomping shit and distracting Ra.

 

[Trek]

He already has the Celestial Forge.

Having the Asgard aware and active against universe-ending threats is absurdly more useful than whatever scraps of technology he could potentially scavenge from half-remembered details of the series that he wouldn't even fully remember in the first place without the Asgard's tech bolstering his memories and saving them to be viewed later.

You're so hyperfocused on whatever esoteric potential lore bit that would make him vaguely stronger you forget that none of that matters if he dies. And him dying increases exponentially if the Asgard aren't going around stomping shit and distracting Ra.

Click to shrink...

Its difficult to weight the potentials like that as this world is a mishmash so there are plenty of opportunities you can get with foreknowledge that may be even stronger than Asgard. For example stellaris relics, The Destiny database, etc etc.

If you actually watch any series with a mindset of looking for opportunities you find time and time again so many things that are awesome that are never seen again or destroyed for plot reasons. But if you intercept them at the right time they can be game changing.

His perk gains are slow enough that he actually has to consider his other advantages one of which is foreknowledge. Foreknowledge can give him faster and maybe even better gains seeing as CF is random in its nature.

All that is moot now as he has spread around his future knowledge so much and reduced its value by giving other factions those opportunities instead of taking them himself.

Not to mention he could have shared info about key threats rather than just dumping the entire future knowledge and his tech base.

 

[BlazingHyperion]

Hmm seems like a very one sided trade, he is trading all his tech and future knowledge for bargain basement prices.

For what mc has given the only real equal trade would be the entire tech base of Asgard and probably even that is not enough.

Fun moment at the end of the chapter tough, poor Ra lol.

Click to shrink...

It very much is one sided, but the possibility of actually getting much of that technology, rather than it just sitting in the recesses of Arthur's brain is pretty worth it.

Without the help of the Asgard, they'd never have a chance to get most of that stuff to begin with. Sure, Arthur knows the broad strokes, but there are a lot of opportunities that can be missed when you only have access to the broad strokes.

It seems that way until one notices Thor saying they're holding back the Tyranids.

Click to shrink...

Yup. That about covers it. Or they will be in the near future.

I am not even sure why mc wants copies of these memories it seems way to dangerous and risky to have these things outside of his skull.

Click to shrink...

As stated above, he knew the broad strokes of most plot lines but not the specifics. He knew that Cimmeria has the Hall of Thor's might and that Atlantis exists, but not the specific gate address or even whats inside the halls.

The details can be the important pieces of information, and he doesn't know a LOT of them.

As far as he is aware, the Asgard are the best possible group to have that information.

Look at it this way the MC is a person from our time. He is not a strategic genius, but he knows he's in a galaxy with lots of problems.He knows parts of what's going on, which gives him a unique view on all the threats that he knows are out there. The only option which makes sense is to seek out allies which means sharing what he knows. It's all a matter of perspective, but survival trumps everything including the possible risks of his information getting out. Plus, it's not like the information will not be secured in someway.

Click to shrink...

Exactly. The information is secure while in Asgard hands. The information being in his head is meaningless if they can't actually use it. Using it to make allies with the Asgard i

It's only one-sided when you don't realise that the Asgard are literally the top affixed to a jar holding all of the eldritch horrors from beyond the stars at bay.

The Ancients might do some things to nudge things into place to protect people, but it's the Asgard that are boots on the ground kicking Tyranid's teeth in, and holding off the Goa'uld.

It's also a show of good faith and good will that will cause the Asgard to view them IMMENSELY favorably.

Like, I mean if I lived in a universe where Tyranids, Replicators, and the Ori all existed, and I knew the Asgard were active and trying to fight them, you bet your ass I'd hand them literally everything I have in the hopes of getting all those things either dead or contained.

Hell, if he solves that dying problem the Asgard have, they'd be LUDICROUSLY good allies to have. The Asgard are cool, man.

Click to shrink...

Very much agreed.

Though I would have spent more time getting to know them, which is why the Asgard basically just shower up.

- - -
The main reason he shared knowledge with the asgard is that:
a) they have tech for memory transfer, so he can actually get copies of all his meta knowledge. As stated, he knows the broadstrokes and without some sort of memory transfer tech, thats all he has.

b) the Asgard are pretty trustworthy, as far as Arthur knows.

 

[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.

Thor was silent for a moment. I gestured for him to continue his previous thought. "A fleet was dispatched to retrieve the Dakara Device immediately upon identifying its location. It took five hours to reach Dakara and retrieve the facility… Ra was not pleased."

I stared blankly at Thor. He refused to elaborate further and instead changed the subject. "We have also chosen to share several other pieces of information. We have recreated the SGC Coordinate Algorithm that was created by Samantha Carter."

He was silent for a moment. "We have also recreated all the… games that you showed in your memories."

I blinked. That was a piece of pleasant news. We would have a lot of fresh entertainment for people to relax with at least. It wasn't particularly useful, but it was a nice gesture. I nodded. "Thank you."

Arriston smiled and nodded. "That is most gracious of you, though I am sorry to say we were hoping for more than that."

Thor answered immediately this time. "We do not have the ships to spare, and we would be breaking the word of the Protected Planets Treaty."

The president raised an eyebrow. "Then what about aid in moving our remaining population from my homeworld?"

Thor lightly shook his head. "The World of Dendred is not in immediate danger."

He was silent for several moments. "I must leave. I am needed to lead our forces against the Replicators."

Arriston nodded. "Well, thank you for your help. You've provided us with a lot."

With a bright flash, Thor was gone. In orbit, the three Asgard Bilskirnir-class vessels all departed.

The Asgard had provided copies of all the meta-knowledge we could ever need. Everyone agreed it was imperative that the information be spread among the higher-ups. Naturally, for the next several months at least, there would be a movie night.

Of course, there would be people looking over every piece of information with a fine-toothed comb as well, but knowing the original material was rather important.

From there, everything returned to normal. I got back to work on the reactor, and now that I could show people the actual blueprints I was basing my own designs on, work moved a lot faster.

Altogether, the project was coming to a close. It looked like it would be a little less than three weeks before we finished the complete design.

First Perk Activated. Complete Blueprint Acquired: Asgard Data Stone. Storage Matrix, Addressing System, External Interface

First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Asgard Long Range Communication Stone. Subspace Transmitter

- - -
POV: Egeria, 13 Days Later.

I once more stepped through the Stargate and stood before Per'sus. With me this time were Michael Dresden and the rest of the ST01 team. They were considered to be the best of the RoK search teams, and considering the fact that they had contacted the Asgard, I didn't doubt it.

I smiled as we all moved ourselves out of the way of the Stargate as the dialing sequence began once more. "Per'sus. This is Michael Dresden. He is the representative of the Republic of Kaelastrum. He and his team will be my guards for this meeting."

Pre'sus nodded to Michael. "A pleasure." Before he turned back to me. "The Council members are waiting for us. Among them, the only one who is not one of your children is Garshaw of Belote. They do not know who you are."

I nodded to him, and the final chevron engaged. With a whoosh, the gate engaged, and I stepped through the Stargate. I could immediately feel the six Tok'ra standing before me. Just as Per'sus had stated, only one of them was not my child.

I looked at Per'sus and nodded. He seemed to smile lightly, and he spoke as the Stargate disconnected behind us. "It is my honor to introduce Egeria."

For several seconds, the Tok'ra just stared up at me blankly. An older lady with white hair stepped forward. She was hesitant, but she spoke‌. "My Queen?"

I smiled. "Yes, Selmak. It has been far too long for both of us."

The older woman nearly stumbled at my words. She seemed entirely too shocked even to speak. I turned my attention to the one among them who was not my child. Garshaw of Belote, perhaps the single most hunted Goa'uld – former Goa'uld – of all time.

I smiled and reached forward with my hand. "It is an honor to meet someone who has turned away from the Goa'uld of their own accord."

She gently took my hand and shook it in return. "I must say, I am rather surprised to find one such as yourself among the living."

I nodded. "Yes. I doubt you believe I am who I say I am; all will be answered soon, though perhaps it is best if we go somewhere private?" I turned to Per'sus, who nodded.

Per'sus quickly guided me to a room that had been prepared for our meeting, and I began explaining what had happened to me. From discovering Ra's little secret, to being thrown into a stasis jar, and then reawakened.

Selmak let out a deep sigh. "You should not have returned, my queen… It is not safe for you to be here."

I smiled and nodded. "I am aware, and I will aid you in removing the moles who have infiltrated the Tok'ra."

Per'sus smiled and took over for me. "What I tell you now does not leave this room. This is likely the greatest secret of the Goa'uld Queens. When Tawaret was named the Queen of the First Goa'uld Empire, she wished for a way to distinguish her own kin from those of other Queens. She could not modify herself, but she altered her heirs so that they would be capable of distinguishing their own children."

I continued from him. "Nearly all queens alive can sense the presence of their own young."

Per'sus nodded. "Egeria will be confirming that all of her children are who they say they are."

Garshaw raised an eyebrow. "And how do we know you are indeed Egeria?"

Per'sus turned to her with a blank look. "She is who she claims to be."

Garshaw looked back with a raised eyebrow. They stared at each other for a few long moments before she finally just nodded. "I understand."

From there, I began. There were several hundred Tok'ra on base, though apparently this was barely 5% of the Tok'ra still active. There were several thousand more Tok'ra still alive and working in the courts of the various System Lords, and in various other hidden facilities.

It was decided that Garshaw would be the one to show me around, so, for three hours, I walked around the facility. I would spend that time examining each of the Tok'ra in the facility, and I would inform Garshaw of whether one of them was my child. I was surprised by how many I recognized, and how many I didn't.

I was quite impressed with how much they had advanced the crystal tunnel boring technology. It allowed the Tok'ra to build a fortress within days. The structure itself wasn't particularly sturdy, but it could be deconstructed in the same time it took to construct.

As I completed checking the last of the Tok'ra, I spoke to Garshaw. "How many infiltrators were there?"

She smiled bitterly. "Of those who were supposed to be your children, four were not."

I winced. That was far fewer than I had been expecting, but far more than I had been hoping for. Garshaw continued. "We will interrogate them."

I smiled bitterly and nodded. "Tell me, Garshaw, how many of my children do you think have turned against the Tok'ra?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I doubt that any of them would. Ra orders ‌all Tok'ra to be killed on sight. Even those who turn against us. It has been rather… effective at preventing traitors from appearing within our own ranks. I believe only four ever truly chose to truly abandon the Tok'ra."

I let out a hollow smile. "Yes, I suppose that is one piece of good news."

The four suspected infiltrators were all taken aside. A Goa'uld can access the memories of a host, and a host can often recall the memories of a previous symbiote, but for a Goa'uld to access the memories of a previous symbiote through the host is an incredibly arduous task. Copying the mannerisms and speech patterns of a former Goa'uld is easy, but old memories get scrambled and difficult to access.

This is in stark contrast to the original symbiote who, because of its genetic memory, should be capable of perfectly accessing all of its memories.

This led to a relatively simple way of identifying infiltrators. Begin asking them about old missions – when they were in another host – and see how much of it they can remember. Generally, one or two mistakes are understandable, but more than that and the likelihood of an infiltration becomes non-zero. Of course, this sort of process is not quick, and it requires detailed information about prior missions.

The entire questioning process would take at least three days. Of course, since the obvious infiltrators had been identified, it was time to explain what was actually going on. So, as all the Tok'ra on base were gathered, Per'sus introduced me. To say that all hell broke loose would be an understatement.

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair. Five days after Egeria left.

Egeria had just sent word. Several infiltrators had been discovered among the Tok'ra. It was mostly the youngest among them, those who hadn't gone on many missions and could be more easily replaced.

Of course, once their status as infiltrators had been confirmed, the Tok'ra immediately began packing up and preparing to leave. It would take them under a week to fully remove their extensive network of tunnels and rooms. I really wanted access to that technology. It would make construction so much easier.

In other news, the expedition team finally reached Baol space. It was expected that finding anything would likely take weeks, if not months, but that was the price of archeology. Just a few Baol relics would be a massive boon in advancing our technology.

All of that was great, but the most pressing thing for me was the imminent first test flight of the JFX program. We had worked for months to get the thing completed. Seeing it now was a sight for sore eyes.

The thing looked very similar to a Fifth generation fighter from Earth. Like the F-22 or the F-35. It had the same sort of bulbous shape, though it was noticeably bigger. The total wingspan of the craft was just under 13 meters, but the wings could fold into the main body using the same general mechanism as the Jaffa helmets. When retracted, the total wingspan was just under 4.5 meters.

The maneuvering thrusters could produce 6 Gs of acceleration on their own, so the ship was also VTOL capable.

Running the length of the vessel was a set of jump spinners ripped almost directly from a Colonial Raptor. We had made some minor modifications, but not all that many. In the ship's rear, stuffed in between the three main gravitic pushers, were a cloak and a hyperdrive taken from one of the disassembled Tel'tak.

This version of the craft didn't have any weapons, though there were several large internal compartments that had room for various self-propelled munitions. There were also plans to replace the hyperdrive or cloak with an internal missile rack, though it was only a possibility for the future, since the ship was still primarily meant as a test bed for integrating the Goa'uld tech.

So, with the final ground tests complete, all the internal systems sealed up, I asked for a test pilot. I was rather unsurprised to get Lieutenant Ruth Mitchell. She entered the hangar and looked straight past me at the fighter. I coughed once, and the lieutenant turned and saluted. "Sir!"

I almost doubled over. The first time the woman had met me, she had totally ignored me. I quickly got over myself and nodded back. "Lieutenant Mitchell."

She nodded, and I continued. "Let me walk you through the vehicle." I gestured towards the pilot's seat. She nodded once, and I walked her over. The inside was modeled similarly to that of the SB-27b Sabre Light Aerospace Fighter that the Lieutenant normally flew. She had no issues understanding how to use the controls.

It was also unfortunately true that Lieutenant Mitchell was as good a pilot as she thought she was, and ¾ of that excellence was preparation. She had already studied and memorized all the internal systems that had been designed months earlier.

Without another word, the Lieutenant powered the vehicle up and slowly, gently rolled the thing out into the midday sun. As soon as confirmation came from Air Traffic Control, the vehicle was floating several feet above the ground. Then, with a final confirmation, the thing shot off, almost faster than my eye could see.

In the back of my mind, a notification popped up.

Special Achievement: Complete your First Original Vehicle Choose a perk: 1: Huragok Ally (Halo - UNSC, 200 Points) - Description: Something of a surprise and most definitely an attention-grabber, a Huragok is supposed to be one of the members of the Covenant Homogeny and has normally been seen only in their presence. Yet Huragok, also known by those in the UNSC as 'Engineers', are primarily pacifistic and dedicate themselves purely to repairing and working on any technology around them. This particular one seems to have gotten lost and ended up deciding to follow you for the sake of making sure your technology was functioning. Aside from melodic whistling sounds that sound slightly similar to Earth whales, Huragoks communicate using either sign language with their tendrils or through text messaging thanks to their penchant of being biological supercomputers. Huragok are highly prized for being able to fix almost anything they touch, and you should expect a lot of questioning if someone spots you with one. 2: Ding! (Girl Genius SB, 200 Points) - Description: Well, this is different. A certain gentleman called Von Neumann would be delighted, at least. You are now the proud master of a full set of Dingbots of your own, or similar clanks or drones, at least. They're all minor sparks in their own rights, and can themselves build more of their kind, even though those don't have the spark. Led by a Prime, they are connected with you on an intrinsic, mental level, being fully capable of building any and all devices or works you can. They get everywhere, performing construction upkeep, salvage and everything else you might need them to. Not even needing blueprints, they seem to draw upon your knowledge directly, using their in-built tools to perform all the things you normally would need to do yourself, making everything you'd like them to... and a lot of them you wouldn't. Don't leave them unsupervised. 3: Soul of the Forge (World of Warcraft, 200 Points) - Description: This spirit that manifests as a small, cyclopean golem made of molten metal and shards, the Soul of the Forge dwells within the workshops and smithies of metalworkers. So long as it is content, all who work within that forge's walls will find their creations blessed: The individual pieces, parts, and techniques required coming together that much easier, and the end result being that much more splendid.' In order for the Soul of the Forge to dwell, one also requires a small kiln to house the spirit. ---

- - -
Author's Note:
Howdy folks! The dreaded day has come, the summer has ended, and my classes have once more begun. From this point forth, you should expect no more than two chapters a week. If I get particularly lucky and a chapter just flows right, I might be able to get a three a week.

Read up to Chapter #75 on Discord: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]

If you read the above notice, you will see that you are two chapters behind where you should be (since I try to keep 12 chapters of backlog for people to read on Discord, which means you should be at 63). This is because I have been busy and I have not had the time to get the second round of edits in, so I'm going to try and edit and get those next two chapters out tomorrow and the day after, so you can thankfully expect a chapter tomorrow and the day after.

SomebodyNobody10 on my Discord has also written an absolutely awesome side-chapter which is a crossover with our first more magical setting, the EU4 mod Anbennar.

You can expect that to be posted along with Chapter #77 in like… five weeks at my expected pace, so if you'd like to read that now, join the discord.

Thanks for sticking with me and putting up with my ramblings.

 

[LollipoPReapeR]

I'm kinda unaware of Dingbots, but the Huragok would be a ridiculous amount of help for a burgeoning nation. They can self replicate, they can produce fore runner tech, the bio-engineer versions can even do gene enhancements. This all on top of thier general amiability and standard abilities.

 

[Saethyr]

Damn. What a choice.
I'm only vaguely familiar with Girl Genius, but judging from description, Huragoks and Dingbots are really similar. With the exception that if you leave Huragoks alone you will fing your stuff suddenly working better, instea of rigged to blow.
Huragok is a no-brainer here.

 

[Vanbers]

imo, I gotta agree with the others. Huragoks are absolutely a no-brainer.

Dingbots can explicitly fuck around and get up to shenanigans, while the Soul of the Forge is more about smithing.

The Huragok on the other hand can very easily integrate as another species member of their new nation, make more of itself, and is possibly the best engineering-species that he could get his hands on. And also don't want for anything but fixing technology.

 

[BlazingHyperion]

I'm kinda unaware of Dingbots, but the Huragok would be a ridiculous amount of help for a burgeoning nation. They can self replicate, they can produce fore runner tech, the bio-engineer versions can even do gene enhancements. This all on top of thier general amiability and standard abilities.

Click to shrink...

Yeah. The huragoks would grow slower, but they end up doing all that the dingbots can without the chance of going rogue.

Damn. What a choice.
I'm only vaguely familiar with Girl Genius, but judging from description, Huragoks and Dingbots are really similar. With the exception that if you leave Huragoks alone you will fing your stuff suddenly working better, instea of rigged to blow.
Huragok is a no-brainer here.

Click to shrink...

Agreed, as far as the definition goes, dingbots seem to have a bunch of side effects.

imo, I gotta agree with the others. Huragoks are absolutely a no-brainer.

Dingbots can explicitly fuck around and get up to shenanigans, while the Soul of the Forge is more about smithing.

The Huragok on the other hand can very easily integrate as another species member of their new nation, make more of itself, and is possibly the best engineering-species that he could get his hands on. And also don't want for anything but fixing technology.

Click to shrink...

Agreed!

 

[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair. A few hours later.

I took my seat in the conference room. With me were Ma'chello, Elder James, Arktos, and Arriston. Elder James nodded. "Alright, Arthur, tell us about this new perk choice."

I nodded and began reading out the descriptions of each of the three perks. It was Ma'chello who was the first to speak. "I think it's safe to say that the second option is completely unacceptable."

Arktos nodded. "Neither of the other two options are potentially hazardous. The possibility of another Replicator-like swarm is not a pleasant idea."

Arriston nodded. "The Celestial Forge has explicitly stated that leaving such an entity unsupervised would be unwise. It is for the best that you do not take this option."

Elder James nodded and pulled up a flexi. "I think that the best choice would be for the Hurogok. A pacifist dedicated purely to engineering, that is also willing to follow you? They are capable of effectively nano-scale production, and are very good at improving existing technology… on top of that, they can reproduce asexually…"

The Dingbots would have been a better choice, but that was forgetting the genuine possibility of them going rogue. The risk there was just too great.

Arriston pursed his lips. "And what about this… Soul of the Forge? Can you tell us anything about it?"

I shook my head. "I'm afraid not. Judging by the description, it assists blacksmiths; how much it assists engineers, or even automated factories, however, I just can't say."

He was silent for a moment. "Well, I suppose that we've decided then?"

I nodded. "'DING!' is potentially dangerous, and 'Soul of the Forge' might not give us anything at all. 'Hurogok Ally' can probably do a lot of the things that 'Ding!' can, except they won't suddenly start expanding exponentially, and they can assist us with improving our current technology."

Arriston nodded. "Very well. Give me a few hours to get a welcoming party together for this Hurogok, and we'll be able to greet them."

- - -
Two hours later.

A large empty room had been prepared, and now it was just us and a few guards present in case of an emergency.

I closed my eyes and turned my attention to the Celestial Forge, and with a deep breath, I selected Hurogok Ally from the list of choices.

When I opened my eyes, I was unsurprised to find a strange bulbous creature, with several tendrils all over its body, floating before me.

Spoiler: Hurogok

The creature turned in circles, examining its environment. With a deep breath, I carefully stepped forward and spoke to the creature. "Hello?"

The Hurogok immediately stopped spinning and turned to me. A deep whistling noise filled the room. I was completely unable to understand him. Luckily, we had expected the language barrier and had something prepared. I pulled out a flexi and handed it to the Huragok. "This includes a full dictionary of our languages so that you can communicate with us."

It took the flexi from me carefully and started examining it with its tendrils. A small portion of one side seemed to disappear under its examination. I shrugged. "Now we just have to wait and see how long that takes."

Luckily for us, it took barely ten minutes for it to decipher the technology. It handed back the flexi. I took it and read it. "Jaffa?"

I furrowed my brow. "No. I'm human. My name is Arthur."

It was quiet for several moments. "Do you have anything that needs fixing?"

I blinked and turned to Arriston, who stepped forward. "If you're willing to help us, then we'd be more than happy to provide anything you'd like."

It whistled several more times. "I'd like to get to work immediately."

I stared at Arriston and shrugged. He was quiet for a moment before nodding. "We can find something for you to work on. Ma'chello?"

Ma'chello nodded. He seemed to think for a moment before his eyes suddenly lit up. "We have a few old spacecraft that need repair. They haven't been operational in decades, but they'd be a good project to start with."

I raised an eyebrow. "The old Dendredan Shuttles?"

Ma'chello nodded. "We have several that are intact. They just need some basic repairs, and they'll be good to fly again. Just getting the few extra hulls into space would be a massive advantage."

The Hurogok floated up and down, its tentacles squirming as if in excitement. "Excellent."

I shrugged once more. "I'm sorry, but I don't believe you've told us your name."

"I am Slightly Overweight." I almost choked as I read the name. It seemed to bob up and down in confusion as I responded. "Sorry."

I turned back to Ma'chello. "I guess we can show it where he can get to work?"

Arriston nodded. "We should get a small group of engineers together so that they can assist it with its repairs. Arthur, you're currently off a project. Would you be up for this?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Sure. It would be a good experience for me as well."

Slightly Overweight continued to gently bob up and down. "I'd like to begin immediately."

Ma'chello shrugged. "Sure. I'll have one of the storage sites opened up so you can get to work. We have about eight intact vessels, and about 130 wrecks."

It was still early afternoon at the moment, so Arriston quickly ordered several of the people who were formerly working with me on the JFX project to help with the shuttle repair.

Less than an hour later, we were on Dendred, looking at the Pre-Invasion shuttlecraft that I hadn't seen since my first time visiting the world.

This hangar had four fully intact vessels. I quickly touched each of them once.

First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Ουρανός 2 (Ouranos 2) Ουρανός 2 Chassis, Ουρανός 2 Pressure Chamber, Caelumfabrica Gravitic Pushers, DracoFabrica Naquadah Reactor

I smiled. Time to get to work.

- - -
On Dendred. That evening.

I sat down at the table once more. I rubbed my eyes for a moment as I got my bearings. Elder James raised an eyebrow. "Arthur, are you alright?"

I nodded. "Exhausted. Keeping up with Slightly Overweight has not been easy."

Arriston took a moment to look me over, but he quickly nodded. "Alright Arthur. What can you tell us about this Huragok?"

"Well, he's about as much of a workaholic as I expected." I took a deep breath and stopped rubbing my temples. "He's still working at the moment. I don't even know if he sleeps."

Ma'chello nodded from beside me. He'd joined in with the repairs since he'd grown up around the ships, and being able to see one fly had been a dream of his for decades now. "Trying to keep up is quite stressful. He isn't exactly all that talkative, but he does excellent work. I believe we'll have the first of the space worthy Ouranos-2s within a couple of days."

Arriston seemed to smile slightly. "I've always wanted to see what they look like in flight."

Elder James nodded as well. "The addition of a few more cargo ships will be quite useful."

Ma'chello nodded as well. "It's a good project to get him started. It'll give us a good understanding of his capabilities, and giving him access to the ships doesn't reveal any of our more strategically important technologies."

Arktos raised an eyebrow. "So it is male then?"

I nodded. "Yes. It prefers to be referred to as a male."

Arriston nodded. "So, has he stated anything about what he was doing before he was brought here?"

I shook my head. "The only thing he's… spoken about was working on a Slipspace drive for a ship. Other than that, we've gotten nothing about him."

Arktos raised an eyebrow. "So it has knowledge of this Slipspace that you have told us about?"

I nodded. "That's the only thing I have been able to confirm. He has experience working on the drive of some sort of warship, but he has said nothing further."

Arriston nodded. "Do you think we could ask him what he knows?"

Ma'chello and I both nodded in unison. Arriston turned to me first. "He seemed like he would talk if we asked."

Ma'chello nodded in agreement. Arriston looked between us. "Alright then, let's just ask him."

A few minutes later, Slightly Overweight gently bobbed into the room. Arriston nodded gently towards him. "Thank you for coming. We have several questions for you."

He whistled gently in affirmation. Arriston continued. "Would you please tell us what you were doing before you appeared here?"

Rather than speaking this time, he just touched the flexi and text appeared. "I was making repairs to a Covenant warship. It was damaged in battle, and most of the crew was dead."

I raised an eyebrow. "Damaged? Who were you at war with?"

Slightly Overweight seemed to almost shrug. "The Captain thought they were more humans at first, but they used weapons we'd never seen before. Their ships were all pyramidal, plated with gold. They fired golden balls of plasma that crippled our ships' shields in a single hit. The big ships were destroyed first; the few ships that survived managed to because we pretended to be wreckage. The captain captured many of the enemy. All I know is that they called themselves Jaffa."

We were all stunned for several long moments. We all knew what he had just described. Goa'uld ships. We thought he had been brought from another reality, but had he actually come from this one? I gulped, "Do you think you could point out where you come from if we showed you on a map?"

The reply was ‌a very simple "yes."

Arriston nodded to one guard. "We'll be visiting the datacore. Have the Stargate ready for us, please."

We took a short walk to the Stargate, dialed it, and stepped onto the lead Ha'tak of Ares' fleet, now accelerating into deep space at slower than light speeds. It was traveling at approximately 2% of the speed of light after just a few months of acceleration. The effect of time dilation was still relatively minimal, but it was now measurable with even an analog clock.

We made our way to the ship's datacore, where Arktos quickly turned on the galactic map feature. "Do you recognize this galaxy?"

A negative came as the reply, and Arktos quickly began zooming away from the Milky Way to the surrounding galaxies. Slightly Overweight produced a single rather distinctive whistle. I read aloud from the flexi and Arktos stopped; I'd make sure to remember that particular whistle. It was an important one to know.

He bobbed over to a particular location, one of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies, and pointed at it with a tentacle. Arktos raised an eyebrow and zoomed in. The entire galaxy came into focus. I was surprised at how accurate the readings were. It hit me then. The existence and location of many star systems were too ‌well known to have been mapped from the Milky Way.

Elder James snapped his fingers, seemingly in realization. "Arktos, can you check Ra's most recent records? Specifically, check for locations of newly discovered Stargates."

Arktos raised an eyebrow and did just that. Nearly 300 newly discovered Stargates were shown as being within the galaxy that Slightly Overweight had pointed out. All along the galactic rim closest to the Milky Way.

Arriston became much more serious. "So Ra is active within this galaxy?"

Arktos nodded. "It would seem so. These addresses have only been added within the last decade."

I groaned. "So you're not from another universe then; you're from this one."

Arktos nodded. "I believe it would be ‌best that we contact the Asgard immediately."

Slightly Overweight looked back and forth, confused by the mention of the Asgard.

Arriston nodded. "Yes. I believe that is the best course of action."

We took the Stargate back to Kaelastrum, where Arriston contacted the Asgard and provided them with this newly uncovered information. What the Asgard did with the information was out of our hands, but they were already quite busy. It was unlikely that they'd be able to do anything with this information in the immediate future.

- - -
Author's Note:
I (and hence Arthur) were completely unaware of Dingbots before the writing of this chapter, so they just assumed the worse. Probably for the better that he didn't go for Dingbots, since Sparks seem to be rather horrific.

Read up to Chapter #75 on Discord: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]

 

[Bowburnit]

Oh shit, what does that mean for the ring world

 

[Trek]

Well the galaxy becomes evermore dangerous better prep and grow stronger.

 

[LollipoPReapeR]

Oh shit, what does that mean for the ring world

Click to shrink...

Shouldn't be too much of an issue for this particular one since it wasn't the Forerunners who made it,

 

[BlazingHyperion]

Oh shit, what does that mean for the ring world

Click to shrink...

Honestly, not much. The Ringworld and the Halo Arrays cannot be more different. According to quick wiki search, the Halo Array Ring has a radius of 31,000 Kilometers. Meanwhile, the ringworld has a radius of 150,000,000 (150 Million) kilometers. That is to say, the Ring World is 4,774 times larger.

Totally different Tech Base. Honestly, the Cybrex are probably only behind the Forerunners (technologically) when it comes to their manipulation of space and other dimensions, but when it comes to engineering, the Cybrex firmly defeat the Forerunners.

Well the galaxy becomes evermore dangerous better prep and grow stronger.

Click to shrink...

Yup. It just keeps getting more and more horrific.

Shouldn't be too much of an issue for this particular one since it wasn't the Forerunners who made it,

Click to shrink...

Yeah. As I said, they share a name and a general shape, but they have totally different tech bases.

 

[Marlow3]

Thanks for the chapter.

 

[BlazingHyperion]

- - -
POV: Thor.

As the communication from President Arriston ended, I immediately called for a meeting of the High Council.

The Covenant. They were an… interesting group. Religious societies were always the most difficult to communicate with.

My transporter activated, and I once more found myself at my seat on the council. The Chief Archon spoke, as I was the last to arrive. "You have more information?"

"I have received a report of The Covenant's existence in one of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies."

The room was quiet for several moments. Freyr responded. "Do we have any way to confirm this?"

"We have no information about this galaxy. Our only choice is to send a ship to investigate."

On the other side of the Chief Archon, Penegal spoke. "We do not have the ships to spare. The only vessels that are not currently quarantined are yours. We cannot risk spreading the replicators further."

The Chief Archon nodded. "We cannot risk sending any ships. It will have to wait until the replicators are no longer a threat."

The chief archon quickly moved on from the subject. "How are our efforts to reverse engineer the ion weaponry?"

Freyr took over now. "The initial prototype has been completed. Initial tests have performed excellently. The replicators are incapable of adapting."

The Chief Archon nodded. "What of the attempt to bypass the subspace interference caused by these… HPGs?"

Assir, at the far end of the table, was the one to reply this time. "Nothing. We could not produce a counter capable of allowing our vessels to enter areas affected by this device."

The Chief Archon nodded. "What about the requested modifications?"

Assir replied once more, "We have identified the subspace frequency that is used by the Goa'uld. Modifications show that Goa'uld vessels will be significantly slowed if travelling within 15 light years, and destroyed when going within 10 light years."

The Chief Archon nodded. "Deploy them to the worlds of the Protected Planet's Treaty."

Assir disappeared in a flash. He turned to me next. "What of the preparations for the activation of the Dakara Device and the retrieval of the android known as Reese?"

I nodded. "We have 20% of the Stargates in place. It will be several weeks before we can guarantee the destruction of the replicators."

I stopped to pull up the information about Reese. "She was retrieved, and her codebase has been dissected. We discovered several base commands that would allow her to deactivate any replicators she controlled, but they would normally be adapted out of their own codebase within seven to nine days. While examining the code was certainly interesting, the replicators that we fight have adapted to so much new technology that they are effectively two unrelated entities."

The Chief Archon nodded. "And what of the android herself?"

"We have removed her ability to make new replicators and the mental suppressors included with her code base. Once she is reactivated, her mind will be free to grow as a normal human."

"Good. You are free to awaken her. Proceed as planned with the Stargate dispersal. I believe that is all?" The Chief Archon swivelled his head around as he looked between the others at the table.

Freyr was the one to respond. "Once the replicators have been defeated, we will need new warships. I have prepared several plans. There are several classes of smaller vessels such as cruisers, but also battleships and even a couple of titans."

I knew what was coming; staring dully at Freyr, I replied. "I assume these ship designs just happen to originate from Sinclair's mind?"

The others seemed to realize what was going on as well. Freyr, of course, being Freyr, did not care. "I took… inspiration."

He sent us all several blueprints. The first few were effectively just copies of Sinclair's designs that had been modified slightly to accommodate ‌Asgard technologies, but there was also a collection of original designs.

Despite my annoyance at Freyr's attempted theft, I could not deny that all the vessels were beautiful. I let out a harsh sigh. "The Bilskirnir has only been in service for 50,000 years. It is too early to replace them."

Freyr raised an eyebrow. "You disagree with your assessment in only 100 years. The last thousand years has seen the single greatest period of technological advancement the Asgard have ever experienced. While it is earlier than normal to replace a mainstay warship, the Bilskirnir can no longer handle retrofits of new systems. We need new vessels."

With a slightly defeated sigh, I nodded, agreeing with his motion, as did everyone else.

The Chief Archon nodded once more. "Then we are adjourned."

- - -
POV: James Cromwell. Three weeks after the arrival of Slightly Overweight.

"Jump confirmed. Arrival is expected within 90 seconds." All the vessels in the area confirmed that they were well clear of the area where the jump field formed. While the crew of the Manassas would feel as if the jump had happened instantly, those of us waiting for the ship to arrive would have to wait for a period. For the Manassas, that was between 90 and 120 seconds.

The Cobalt Eye was jumping with the Manassas, so it would take approximately the same amount.

As the seconds passed, slowly but surely, with a bright flash, the SLS Manassas and the SLS Cobalt Eye both appeared exactly where they were expected, at the zenith of the Dendred System.

It had been a rather long journey, but now they were here. I looked out at the two ships from the copilot's seat of one of the Tel'tak. The radio crackled to life. "This is the SLS Manassas and SLS Cobalt Eye. Where do you want us?"

The radio crackled to life, this time from the BSG Daedalus. "You're clear to burn for Dendred. We'll follow you in."

"Understood." The Manassas and the Cobalt Eye both began to reorient themselves. The Deimos and Daedalus would both join the Manassas and Cobalt Eye in performing a normal burn towards Dendred, though both the Colonial and Cylon ship would go at a fraction of their normal speed because of the decision to maintain formation during the return.

All four ships had taken on board extra crew members, mostly new recruits, but it had also been decided to swap some of the crew members to allow the various formerly independent militaries to learn from each other.

I watched as all four vessels entered formation and began the one-G burn towards Dendred. The radio crackled once more. "Return trip is underway. All other active vessels are ‌ordered to return to Dendred."

My transport pilot turned towards me for confirmation, and I nodded. With a whoosh, the blue whirlpool of hyperspace opened for just a brief second, and then we were back in realspace in orbit of Dendred. "Take us to the station."

The pilot just nodded once, and I sat back down and waited. After a few minutes, we approached a massive metal scaffold. At the center of the structure was a metal cylinder, the station's main pressure vessel. The initial plans for the station had been scrapped when Arthur suggested using the station as a test bed for capital ship scale jump spinners.

With that in mind, the center of the pressure vessel had been hollowed out so that the jump spinners could be replaced in a worst-case scenario.

Splayed outwards from the center of the station were a collection of twelve massive ribcage-like structures. Four of them had been finished to their full 1.2 kilometer length. The rest was still under construction.

The Dendredan steelworks had been working at full force for weeks straight to produce the amount of steel necessary. The Tel'tak slowly and carefully pulled up to one of the airlocks and carefully docked.

The primary advantage of jump spinners was that they required very little heavy material. It was mostly just simple conducting wire and permanent magnets.

That wasn't to mean the machinery wasn't complex, but the raw materials needed and techniques for constructing it were not very high tech, unlike the germanium-based KF-drive cores of the Inner Sphere.

- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair. One week later.

The jump spinners floated in space. They had been easy, if expensive, to assemble. The much more difficult part of the project had been building the subspace field initiator. The entire project had only been completed due to the help of Slightly Overweight.

It was only with his help that we had been able to fabricate many of the more delicate components involved with the field initiator. It wasn't a long-term solution, but we only needed a single device, rather than a production line. That would come much later.

So, with the initial tests completed, it was time to begin the first proper test. A short-range jump. From the North to the South Pole of Dendred.

The entire team watched from a distance as the drive spun up, and with a burst of light, it was gone. About twenty seconds passed before the confirmation came in. I let out a sigh of relief. There were still a lot of tests to do, but with any luck (and with Slightly Overweight's help), we wouldn't have to worry

- - -
Two days later.

The Manassas, the Cobalt Eye, the Daedalus, and the Deimos all pulled into their prepared drydock. There were plans to retrofit all four ships.

The Manassas and the Cobalt Eye were both going to be test beds for modifying Inner Sphere vessels. First would be the installation of Colonial grav plating within both ships. The second would be a minor modification that would allow for the KF-drive to jump within the gravity well of most planets. This modification would still require removing the drive core, so we decided to just go with a full overhaul, which led to the third modification; we would be replacing a lot more of the internals with naquadah-based components.

Once this round of replacements had been completed, we expected the minimum safe charge time to be down to 35 hours. To reduce it any further, we would have to replace the entire titanium-germanium alloy drive core. Doing that would entail a complete overhaul of the entire FTL system.

The overhauls of the Deimos and Phobos were much less drastic. Both vessels would be retrofitted with Goa'uld and Star League technology. While certainly not as extensive as a full drive core removal, they would still take a few months at the very least.

Both would be several month long projects. We would be strapped for personnel if it weren't for the fact that the first group of junior engineers had finally completed basic training, and just as we needed them.

In total, there were about 1500 newly trained engineers. Each of them potentially seconds away from causing permanent damage to vital systems, on irreplaceable technology.

That several months was likely even longer with all the safety precautions we would take to ensure they didn't break anything.

If everything went according to plan, by the time the retrofits were completed, Dendred would be fully evacuated. In the meantime, we had even more work to complete.

- - -
Three Weeks Later.

With a deep breath, I took my stance again. It was early in the morning. On the other side of the arena, Yren smiled at me. "Come on, Arthur. You're being sloppy today."

I groaned and put up my fists once more; Yren did the same. We closed the distance, and just as I was about to start with a cross, the Celestial Forge popped into the back of my mind.

Choose a perk: 1: Bonesinger (Warhammer 40K - Craftworld Eldar Jumpchain, 400 Points) - Description: Dear child, the Eldar do not simply build their wondrous technology. Instead, they rely on the power of song to shape their creations into being. This is a very demanding process, which requires a unique mix of artistic and scientific knowledge. Most importantly of all, a strong mind is necessary for this process. Bonesingers sing a psychic song, and its melodies form a psychoactive material from the warp itself, called Wraithbone. This lightweight material is stronger than titanium but is far more flexible and weighs less. Additionally you can psychically grow crystals that are the basis of their laser & lance technology. You have the knowledge and ability to sing any Eldar technology and any technology you know into being and more than that, eons of experience in doing so. Even so, the more complex an item is, the more time it takes to create said item. A whole choir of Bonesingers is required to create large and complex items such as starships and Eldar Titans unless you are willing to sing alone for years. With enough time, perhaps, you could even sing forth a brand-new Craftworld but how and where would you acquire that much time? Even an Eldar is not immortal. 2: Moon Tech (Okami, 400 Points) - Description: While you aren't granted a full understanding of everything the Moon Tribe could do, you've been blessed with the basics, including the method to make the metal used in their constructions, and an intuitive understanding of the way the machinery functions. For the most part, the inner workings are mostly a mystery, though what is known is that they can run infinitely on their power source and are controlled by the spirit or divine power of the user. Examples of the greatest of their technology includes Yami's nearly unbreakable transforming robot body, a machine that generates freezing blizzards, and spaceships. Lesser works include most non-divine creations in the item section. This talent could quickly grow into so much more if you could only get your hands on enough Moon Tribe relics to experiment with or an expert to learn from. Indeed, this is all promised to you by Yami, along with dark power unending and rule in Nippon if only you swear fealty to him and devote yourself to his goal. After all, he has already granted you so much, and without even demanding your loyalty. As a bonus, Yami will even throw in the right to manifest his markings on your body. In appearance, they're simply a blue mirror of the celestial markings worn by Brush Gods. Try not to show it off to those few who've dealt with him before, as none will hesitate in slaying an agent of Yami. I'll leave the choice up to you. 3: Machine Madness (Dragon Ball GT, 400 Points) - Description: So much of the universe relies on Ki to grant them power or natural biological abilities. Why pursue scientific perfection when you're already able to claim to be perfect? Why NOT pursue scientific perfection? Despite the lack of need, you buried yourself into science and found ways to use technology to match mysticism. So long as you have a good understanding of how a supernatural effect or technique or ability works, you are able to replicate it through technology, creating a device or being capable of performing that effect or technique or ability. The method, resources, cost and so on may change to fit the new medium but the ultimate result will be as if you had used that magical spell yourself...just through the lens of beautiful, beautiful science.

Any of these perks would be amazing to have. Machine Madness would allow me to apply any supernatural effects I knew; heck, it might even allow me to recreate the effects of the Sarcophagus.

I didn't know what to think about Moon Tech. The few pieces of technology it listed were all interesting, but not all that interesting. The part about gaining access to Yami, however, was not something I was quite willing to accept.

That just left the last perk; Bonesinger. If I wasn't reading it wrong, it seemed like it included basic psychic abilities. Frankly, I didn't know enough of the Aeldari to say what they would do to me if they learned that a human knew the secret of creating wraithbone.

All of this passed through my head just in time for me to suddenly notice Yren's fist approaching my face.

- - -
Author's Note:
Another perk. Want to know what gets chosen, then join the Discord. Lol.

Read up to Chapter #75: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]