The swarm of ships around the Gaze of Wrath were jubilant, but wary. The Confederacy was united in one key thing; mutual defense against the Republic. They all knew that the moment the Republic was no longer a threat, their nations would likely be either at each other's throats, or at the very least, forming new alliances. The events they'd just witnessed and participated in; destroying an enormous quantity of Republic hardware, killing thousands, probably millions, of the enemy, the largest group known to be in the sector; this was bound to make an enormous difference in the years to come. It was fully possible that they could completely sweep the sector of all Republic presence; form a new border, the way it was before the invasion.
They'd all seen the Gaze of Wrath devastate the enemy fleet; been crippled temporarily as it fled the destruction of the last few ships; and of course, whatever insanity had happened to the gate. Other Confederacy members were likely already striking at other parts of the Republic; hopefully it had made a difference.
This isn't what they were excited about, however. They were excited about the orb the Gaze had collected not long after it had started moving; the steadily shrinking star exposing it a few hours later. If there had only been one faction present, or the Gaze and her sister ships of the Ascension hadn't shown a truly catastrophic ability to destroy enemy craft, there would likely have already been a raid to try to steal it. Instead... shuttles from each of the different factions were moving in, carrying their captains, for one final in-person meeting. Some of them couldn't survive the atmosphere on the Gaze, and would need to be heavily armored the entire time; but most of the locals seemed to breathe oxygen.
The size of the cargo bay was a bit disturbing; the ship was a somewhat oversized destroyer, but the bay they were setting down in was... huge. It might be a kilometer across; it seemed as if you could cut the entire ship into cubes and fit it inside this bay.
Beautiful, jewel-colored creatures and machines were moving missile racks; a deep, beautiful song resounding through the hold as they worked; detaching them from the magnets holding them to the floor, and wheeling them away; even as the shuttles landed. When the last of the captains arrived; one of the Pirate captains whose ship had been crippled during the fighting; Eyeball emerged, looking around at the gathered creatures.
"Ladies, gentlemen, and other. Welcome. We've taken casualties. I've lost crew; some of you have lost entire ships. But this... was the most one-sided defeat the Republic has ever suffered. We have no idea how many ships they've lost; but over a hundred thousand would be a minimum; and while all of us benefited from the destruction of our mutual enemy, I also agreed to pay you in neutronium, if we managed to secure it; and so we have. For some of you, you won't quite be getting what we initially agreed on.." There was some angry muttering; one of the captains, a massive crab-like creature, actually advanced a step.
"You'll be getting more. For the three pirate crews who lost their own ships, but still have survivors, I've got three mostly intact Republic heavy cruisers I'm piecing back together for you; you'll be getting those, as well as your own neutronium. Everyone else will be getting at least a bit more neutronium than expected; breaking this thing into evenly divided chunks is a pain, and our Royal Navy friends will be getting twelve seperate pieces that total about a hundred and ten percent of what I promised, just for an example. All are available for pickup now; I'd appreciate if the Duchess can get hers first, this stuff creates a very real gravity well inside my ship, and reducing its mass will help."
The anger subsided. The earlier atmosphere of excitement had returned.
"Now... I've got a proposition for you. There are a variety of smaller scattered republic fleets out there. I want to to track them down and wipe them out. After that... I'll be moving to another sector to create more problems for the Republic. You've seen what I'm capable of. You know what I bring to the table. If any of you want to come along, I'll make sure you're rewarded; assuming just helping bring those monsters down isn't enough for you. I plan to use this system as a base of operations, since no-one is left alive to claim it. Collect salvage, scavenge, build, and get ready for both the operation to cleanse the sector of the Republic; and the next step of the journey."
Qaki studied him for a moment... and gave a slow nod. "The Royal Fleet will send a detachment home with our own share of the neutronium. The rest of us will begin our own operations to clear the Republic from sector space; we'll still be heading home, but as we are, fortunately, mostly unblooded, we'll be taking a slow route there." She smiled. There were six worlds among the dozens in what was once Republic space that were all habitable; and mostly ocean. She could take all of them, gift four to the queen, and become the most powerful of the Duchies while simultaneously putting herself in the queen's good graces... and destroying local Republic ships would certainly be a bonus.
She sent a brief message; ~I would like to speak to you alone after this meeting.~
Eyeball didn't seem to have noticed just yet as he was speaking with the short, furry admiral of one of the various lesser races in the region. The conversation was fairly short. All of the pirates were interested in joining him, after a break to enjoy their newfound wealth and possible recruit more crew. Most of the navies were either planning to send a ship or two alongisde him on his quest, or to help clear the Republic from the region; or both.
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She waited until the crowd had mostly died down; captains and admirals talking it out; before approaching him directly.
Eyeball glanced down at her; and spread out his arms in a welcoming gesture. "Ahh, Duchess. Your ships did well. Only a few losses, and hundreds of Republic ships destroyed. What did you wish to speak about?"
"There is a reward offered for each Republic ship that can be confirmed as destroyed in battle by Shoork fleets. Generally it is preferred for the neutronium core to be returned as well, for a far greater reward; but we will have enough to work with for at least a few years to come. Should you choose to accept the earlier offer of a position in our nobility, I can see to it that you are granted a flotilla of my own vessels, as well as enough trained crew to operate whatever you build here."
He nodded slowly. "And what if, instead, I just wanted to use that money to hire whoever you had available to perform recovery efforts on worlds damaged by the Republic? The Forstagers, the Klendath, the Suum, numerous species here could use the help. How much money are we talking about, anyway?" He was amused. His career had really taken off back on earth thanks to the bounty on Lightning; would he see something similar here?
She raised her tablet, tapping a few keys. "The confirmed kill count for the Paradise operation is over one hundred thousand enemy ships. There's a cap on what we're allowed to reward in bounties in a given year; and you've vastly surpassed it. By the current by-laws, excess bounty payments roll over to the next year, up to a maximum of thirty-six years. Any neutronium you give us beyond the agreed-upon total would also add to it; at least enough to build and crew a fleet for your purpose, though the benefits wouldn't be nearly as great as actually becoming one of us."
"Perhaps after the Republic is gone. For now... if you could forward me the information, and after you collect the neutronium for your share, the credits... I'll have Ascension get that project started. And make sure to have him hire some Shoork crew; seeing them helping will help build relationships with the locals, and even if they won't become Confederacy members, I'd prefer they have enough defenses to stave off the Republic if they try coming back this way; or at the very least, bleeding them heavily before they reach the Queendom."
He removed the helmet, and snapped it against his hip; he looked... tired. Haggard. Qaki didn't understand how he'd done whatever he did to the gate, but it seemed to have taken quite a bit out of him. He smiled down at her. "At the very least, it will buy you more time if my other plans fail; and maybe even some allies."
***
Rescue missions to the sole once-habitable moon were an afterthought. Ascension had been considering orbital bombardment possibilities before Eyeball mentioned the possibility; and Ascension sent a ping out to the slowly returning escape shuttle as it studied the consequences of a once-decent world losing its star.
The planet had once belonged to someone else, some species long-since pounded into oblivion by the Republic. The lower-tier, more 'Founder'-like species had fled, taking everything of value with them; and everyone who was left was struggling to survive on a world whose temperature had dropped from mild to freezing; and whose native ecology was rapidly going extinct.
The only good thing about the job was that there weren't many left; at best, a million; hiding in shelters clustered around the least valuable power-plants; mostly geo-thermal plants which would be too difficult to extract to be worth taking.
The last few shuttles out hadn't been used to take tier-two personnel; but rather been stuffed with crates of valuables. Once the people who mattered were gone, the rest... were left to fend for themselves.
Ascension made a spot decision to turn the rescue into a recruitment drive; after all, the Republic had abandoned these people. Likely there would be thousands of potentially useful ones willing to try for a bit of revenge.
***
One by one, each of the fleets sent its heaviest vessel, able to carry the most weight, to meet the Gaze of Wrath; retrieve their own share of the neutronium; and turn out, heading out of the system. The navy ships had their own dedicated cargo vessels for the job; while the pirates mostly had to carry it aboard their warships; dramatically slowing their departure. A handful of pirate ships remained; those being repaired by Ascension, and their allies.
The system was being methodically sorted; the pre-existing masses of scrap being augmented by an entire fleet's worth of useful parts and hull plates; and as Eyeball settled into the captain's chair, looking out at the display, he turned and tilted things a bit; focusing on the spot he'd enter the system.
A lunatic, a corpse, some spare parts, and the skull of a dead alien squid. If it hadn't been for Ascension, he'd probably be on the run, hiding out in some Republic backwater as he planned some act of sabotage or murder; or even relaxing in that alien prison, sleeping with alien girls and hoping that they never figured out he wasn't really a type zero; at least, not until after he'd figured out something worth escaping.
He remembered his earlier talks with the machine; about how it should consider itself to be human, considering that it was based on the brain of a soviet scientist. Make its own decisions. Do its own thing, see what felt right. He tapped the helmet where it sat beside him on the chair. "Ascension, this is Eyeball. With things mostly settled here, I wanted to chat with you a bit, privately. Mostly just to get your opinion, your feelings about this little crusade we've been going on."
Raimi; one of the Shoork crew-women; glanced up; and then at the nearest of the machines. Most of the crew knew they were either cyborgs or just plain AIs by now; but they'd gotten used to it. The idea of Ascensions having feelings about something, though...
Ascension stepped closer to the captain's chair, and leaned in closer to speak softly enough none could hear but Eyeball. "I am uncertain of my feelings at this time but am likely to continue assisting you. If you would like a more in-depth discussion, we can hold it after the shuttle arrives. The contents may influence your plans, as well as my own, going forward."
Eyeball frowned, turning to the machine. "...And just what is on this shuttle that you consider so important?"
"... My primary directive; and, to a certain extent, my freedom. We will speak further on this when it arrives."