UGT: 30th Ascent 280 a.G.A. / 7:11 p.m.
Location: docked in a spaceport, Au'Shalis Prime, Clinton's Beak system (red dwarf), Republic of Nox, Second Human Federation, Milky Way
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[ May, it's time to wake up. We are currently in the docking process on Au'Shalis Prime. ]
The instant I heard Fen's voice, I was wide awake. "You didn't wake me sooner? Does that mean there were no problems?", I inquired.
[ No problems whatsoever. Well, it was funny how the initial reaction was to the Stealthfighter suddenly uncloaking at the back of the queue. But everything was under control again in a matter of seconds, thanks to Admiral Thoorrison already giving out a warning. We were allowed to straight up skip the queue and here we are, freshly docked and ready to go. ]
I yawned, stood up and stretched a bit, while walking towards the airlock. Without having to say anything, Fen opened it and let me walk out into the spaceport proper.
image [https://i.imgur.com/t9k3Rwv.png]
In the middle you can see the Stealthfigther, made by AI so it's not as exact as I want it to be but it has to suffice for now
I didn't have time to look around much, as a slightly pudgy-looking man in his mid-forties came running towards me. "Welcome to Au'Shalis Prime spaceport, Miss?"
"Ah, May Lunaris, nice to meet you.", I said, smiling slightly and shaking his hand. I decided to not announce myself as Captain for now.
"I take it you're the representative send by the Captain of the Super Battleship above us? We were all very surprised as Admiral Thorrison informed us that the AMU equipped some human volunteers in their space and send them as auxilaries our way. And with such marvelous technology to boot!", he said. That made one of my eyebrows rise slightly.
[ AMU is the short version of Aetherian Memorialist Union, the strongest of the four galactic superpowers and self-declared 'sucessors' of the Aetherian Empire ]
So that's how Admiral Thorrison had done it. Obviously he wanted to keep our existence more or less secret, which was hard if said secret was a Super Battleship. Therefore he used a barely believable lie to cover for us. The only reson people even believed it was because everything else would be way more outlandish. But that was for later. Right now, I had a conversation to conduct.
"You could say that. I'm thankful for your hospitality and how you helped accelerating the docking progress. After all my ship isn't the most subtle close up.", I said.
"Of course, of course. If there is anything else you can help us with, please do not hesitate to contact me. I believe you already have my contact data from Admiral Thorrison?", the portmaster asked. In fact, I did have his contact data aready thanks to Admiral Thorrison. But to be honest, I wouldn't need them. These so-called 'voicecoms' were used by more or less the entire galaxy based on the data Fen gathered. Obviously, they expected me to have and use one as well. But why would I need such a technology if I had an AI inside my head? And said AI had absolutely no problem to get acess to all but the most encrypted voicecoms in minutes.
"Thank you, I will keep that in mind. If you would excuse me now, I still have some time until my meeting with the Admiral and I would like to look around a bit on this wonderful spaceport.", I said before brushing past the slightly surprised-looking portmaster. He definitly hadn't expected me to end the conversation that abruptly. Very well. Fen, where to now? You know our objective.
[ As we still have to meet with Admiral Thorrison, our options are currently more limited than I‘d like. The chances of finding anything useful out here at the spaceport are close to zero. Instead, I would recommend further familiarisation with this fragment and the story of the Au‘Shalis ringworld. It may give us first clues to where to start searching at a later point. ]
So you recommend sightseeing. Interesting conclusion.
[ Not exactly. What I recommend is finding a café, buying something to have a reason to sit there for hours on end and than use said time to read up the history of the Au'Shalis ringworld from the local internet. ]
And with what money do you recommend I do that?
[ ...You got a point. Fine, our first stop will be the local market. But first, go back to the Stealthfighter. I have some goods we can sell. ]
And what do you plan on selling? I don't think we want to share our technology and we won't find many buyers for contained antimatter here. It's to expansive.
[ Well, we have a ton of gems and shiny alloys. Taking them to a jeweller should prove highly rewarding. ]
Fine, I'll get them. Luckily the portmaster already left. It would be very awkward otherwise. Quickly I walked over to the Stealthfighter and took a look into the ships small storage space. Indeed there was a single dark green and very heavy bag. Shrugging I put it on and went back out of the Stelathfighter. What now Fen?
[ Just follow my directions. And please do not exchange all of them. What you are carrying around with you are nearly three quarters of our reserves and the only thing we can sell for money without it causing any problems. ]
Sure, I'll only sell a dozen or so. No problem for me.
[ By the way, in the bag you can find a small desintegrator made for usage through aetherian stormtroopers a few thausend years ago. I already studied the Au'Shalis protocols and you are allowed to carry a small handgun openly. Seeing with how much potential wealth you are walking around, it would be safer to aktually equip said desintegrator. ]
I nodded, grabbed into the bag and indeed found the desintegrator Fen talked about. Quickly I took it out, deactivated the security catch for good measure and hung it on my belt. Than I nodded once more satisfied. It didn't take me that long to reach the jeweller. Ten minutes at most. Thanks to Admiral Thorrison my Stealthfighter got a premium slot with everything I could need being easily in reach. The sound of a bell ringing accompanied the automatic opening doors.
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"Welcome by Fred's finest, how can I help you today, ma'am?", a young man asked from behind a counter a few metres deeper in the room. Swiftly I moved towards him, took of my bag and randomly grabbed a few gems before throwing them on the counter. That I repeated to more times before closing the back and putting it on again.
"Hello. I would like to sell these. What can you give me for them?", I asked, not really caring about how much I got off them. I just needed a little bit money, after all. The salesman, clearly shocked at seeing me causally throwing about multiple gems, took a second to answer.
"Ehm yes. You have a collection of many different gems there. Seeing as the number of gems you want to sell are in the double digits our shop policy is to round up. My quick asessment would mean that you would get a total of 470 Solar for all of them. If you agree to a thorough asessment it's most likely going to be much more. But that could take up to an hour.", he said.
"I'm okay with the 470 solar.", I said, taking them and quickly leaving the store behind. Maybe, just maybe, I wasn't the most social person there was. I might actually prefer the silence of a spaceship like the ASF Aurora compared to the constant bustling of the Au'Shalis prime spaceport. Well, were to now?
[ Our next stop is the café. Again, just follow my directions. ]
This time it took nerly a quarte of an hour to reach the destination Fen had in mind. But in the end I stood in front of a bustling café that seemed to be very liked, based on how many people visited it. Already getting questioning looks from others because I just stood there in front of a café, I took a deep breath and went inside. I don't really know what I expected. I had no memories about a café except from a few books on the culture of the First Human Federation, whish massively cherished its terran culture and Style to the point of semi-actively trying to support the spread of said culture. The café I stood in looked exactly like the ones I saw depicted in the books. A typical terran café like you could have found on Terra for millenia already.
[ I looked for a café mostly resembling what you are most familiar with. This was the best option. They do not hold to the First Federation customs but design and process are similar. ]
Good to know. Self-assured, I moved forward scanning the room for a more secluded and quieter corner that was still free.
[ 14 metres to your left. ]
Instantly I turned left, strode towards the place Fen designated and sat down. Honestly, how much I trusted this AI by now. But what reason would I have to permanently doubt my eternal companion? The moment the Barista turned to me with a beverage menu I hold up a hand to stop her. "Just an espresso please.", I said. With a nod she walked away again. So, what now?
[ Well, deep in your bag you will find a holopad. You will have to search a bit. ]
It took me a few seconds, but I found the holopad below all the gems in the bag. It activated by itself without me having to do anything. Than, it rapidly rearranged it's current contents away from battletactics to the local internet and historic reports of the Au'Shalis ringworlds.
[ There you go. This is once more something I myself put together so you get everything important to us as fast as possible. By myself I'm even with the information here unsure how to act. Therefore I want you to be as informed as possible before we make a decision together ]
Sounds good. I absentmindly nodded to the barista who put down an espresso in front of me. "I hope the espresso will meet your expectations. It's an original and very ancient terran recipe of high value. Not one of these cheap knock-offs offered everythning else.", she said.
"Thanks, I'm sure it will meet my expectations.", I answered politely. The barista was about to turn around as she noticed my holopad and stopped.
"New technology out here in a border system that was controlled by the enemy just a few hours ago... You're with the navy and directly from the homeworld aren't you?", she asked. That actually had me pause for a moment and I looked up at her.
"Why would you thin that eactly, if I may ask.", I stated, honestly a little confused how people would come to that conclusion. The barista grinned.
"Multiple reasons. First, I know everyone who's been here before. Perfect eidetic memory, you know? If you had ever been here before I would have known you. Second, from the way you talk you are definitly not local. You're using words that out here are centuries out of active use. I honestly have no idea who still says some of these things, even if they theoretically are part of our official language. Third, the planet is freshly liberated. Under the Association, we were completely cut off from everyone else. The old aetherian defenses made it impossible for the Association to close in on us. Well, at least those still working. But because of that you can only have gotten here with the navy, because except the Federation fleet and that behemoth of a spaceship no one else entered the system yet. And what truly clued me in at the beginning, your marvelous tablet there. It's clearly using some kind of holographic technology and we in the outer republics of the Federation would never stand a chance to get something like that. Well, except the local capital world inhabitants maybe. This is clearly way newer than even that though and can only be from one of the coreworlds or the homeworld. And I have a hunch that it is the homeworld." One part of her long speech made me perk up instantly.
"You said old aetherian defences are still in use here?", I inquired instantly. The barista clearly brighted up at my question.
"Yes, the old ringworld fragmens would have normally been destroyed by war long ago. But the ones that remain 'till today are the ones that have enough working aetherian defense mechanisms that noone would dare attack them.", she said excitedly.
"As far as I'm informed the Federation doesn't have any aetherian technology. Why if it is already here and we only have to study it?", I asked.
"Oh, they tried. But the aetherian self-destruct mechanisms are way better than our people are. Every time we tried, we lost another formidable weapon, therefore we gave up at some point.", she said. Internally I grimaced. Fen once had informed me about the various ways the paranoid aetherians used to stop people from getting their technology. Obviously the same applied here. Honestly, thanks to Fen and me both not talking about it, I had nearly forgotten in just how many ways all the aetherian technology I surrounded myself with could blow up.
"One more question. Don't the aetherian weapon systems after all this time without maintenence just... stop working?", I asked. But I assumed they would. Looking at how battered ASO-17309 was and than compared to how much more battered these ringworld fragments were... No way they all remained intact. Otherwise it would put just how unlucky I was with ASO-17309 in an entirely new light.
"Well, every few decades to a century one of the weapon systems explodes by themselves. Our scientists are still unsure if that is because of a problem in the failsafes of the weapons or because they become unable to function and that is their coded last order.", the barista explained. Well, my personal guess was option two. Aetherian technology didn't just 'have problems'. But the Aetherian Empire making entirely sure that nothing they had could be used by others? That sounded plausible to me.
"Well, thanks for answering my questions. As I still have some things to do, I would ask for a bit more peace for now, is that possible?", I asked politely.
"Oh, of course, that's no problem whatsoever. If there is anything, just call for someone, we will notice. But one more thing, was I correct with my guess?", the bariste chattered excitedly.
I smiled slightly. "Well, I can't answer that, now can I? You can bring me another espresso after I'm done with the current one, but for now shoo. I am preparing for something important after all.", I dismissed her. If that offended her, she didn't show it only nodding and finally walking away. Very well. Now it was finally time for me to truly start researching a few things. And that barista had just given me the perfect starting point. Fen you might want to add many details regarding the ancient aetherian weaponry. It will be our best shot aat sucess.
[ Of course. You can start reading at any time. ]
Very good.