Congratulations Player! You have successfully upgraded the Unique structure Star Base Mobile: The Orion with a Building Upgrade Card!

The Orion has become a Special Unique Unit! All Stealth Automated Fighters have become Automated Wraiths! -WARNING- You do not have the Wraith Schematic, due to upgrade process Wraith Schematic has been made available.

All Units trained or created in the Orion will no longer require energy to remain stealthed!

Due to The Orion being specialized by Hero Unit: Nova Terra, and upgraded, all units trained and built within this facility will now have a fifty percent increase to offensive capabilities.

The Orion has been granted multiple additions to defensive and offensive capabilities.

Stealth Field - Capable of deploying a mobile stealth drone causing all Units within thirty yards to move unseen.

Ghost Protocol - All Ghosts stationed within The Orion or trained within its facilities now have a unique ability allowing them to detect and neutralize rival stealthed Units.

Scramble Packet - Sends out scrambling bursts of information to overload and bring down enemy communication.

Squad Maneuvers - All Ghost operatives will have a thirty percent increase in operational capabilities while in four-man groups. -WARNING- Grouping in higher numbers will nullify this bonus

Specialized Science - All Scientists stations on The Orion will gain the Unique Passive Skill allowing them to increase the likelihood of all Ghost related research.

Building Protocol - All Units trained or built at The Orion require half the time, and half the resources.

Tactical Strike - The Orion is now capable of surgical strike drops on enemy installations with Ghost squadrons.

Shield Matrix - The Orion may deploy an energy field neutralizing most standard assault types as well as with the capability to absorb five Yamato Cannon blasts before needing to recharge

All Units trained and built in The Orion have received an upgrade to their gear. This applies to all known Units and Units as yet unlearned that the Facility may create.

The Orion may now be employed in battle directly as a juggernaut class battleship.

System Announcement! The Orion is has undergone a drastic change in appearance! House symbol, the Chimera, is now emblazoned along the side of The Orion and the entire ship has doubled in size to accommodate the increased facility capabilities.

I blinked at the influx of information, ignoring Swann as he came running toward me, pointing at the Chimera’s Rage in excitement. That was a whole hell of a lot of information to absorb, I even had a whole hell of a lot more to go through with those equipment upgrades to everything The Orion could produce. I’d wait for that but son of a bitch, really?

The Cynic in me was screaming that this was actually a bad thing. That it meant The System would up its own game to counter my sudden power increase. The Idealist was jumping up and waving his imaginary pom-poms while shouting ‘Go team!’ in a high pitched peppy voice.

Regardless of any negatives that would come of this, at least I had the upgrades and each one seemed to have become something better than a Unique Unit, the Special added to the front showed that. No doubt making them all the more powerful. A moment after I actually did read through the final bit of information from the System, the equipment upgrades came through. The damn thing had even separated them into sections to show which went where.

Ghost -

Canister Rifle Mark III - Increases Ghost damage by five percent, allows for the Sniper ability to be used twice before entering cool down.

Tactical Stealth Suit Mark III - Increases Ghost armor by an additional five percent. Shock absorption increased by five percent.

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Tactical Display Mark III - Ghost Helmet is now capable of displaying more information, allows full head coverage and protection. Greater Detection ability unlocked.

Wraith -

Neosteel - All Wraiths are equipped with Battlecruiser armor increasing base armor by twenty percent.

High Focus Laser - Increased accuracy by ten percent. Unlocks Snipe Ability for Wraiths.

Silent Thrusters - Wraiths make no noise, stealth or unstealthed now.

Liberator -

Layered Defense - Increased armor by fifteen percent. Decreases mode transition time by five percent.

Lexington Rockets Mark II - Rocket firing rate increased by five percent. Able to be made automatically within special compartments now.

Concord Cannon Mark II - Increased fire coverage by three percent. Bullets used upgraded to incendiary rounds.

Battlecruiser -

Neosteel Mark II - Increased armor by fifteen percent. Able to deflect small missile fire.

Yamato Cannon Cool Down - Lowers the cooldown of Yamato Cannons by five minutes.

Laser Batteries Mark II - Combines the ATS and ATA Laser Batteries for full constant coverage. Allows interception of ten percent more enemy fire.

Defense Matrix - Allows the deployment of a Defensive Matrix for three minutes every fifteen Minutes.

Son of a bitch! Yea, ok...I was royally fucked. Something terrible was going to happen to me after this. So many amazing things, so many upgrades to apply to new units. I almost wanted to run away screaming at the implications involved regarding this massive windfall. Instead, I read the final message, a personal one from Xal’gul, even though I did not want to fucking read it.

My, how well you’ve been doing ‘War Hero’. You have gained a rather substantial amount of bonuses to assist you. This could not make me happier, to show you this I have sent a little gift, an informational packet for your game, and my own assurances that you are in the top fifteen of Humanity in terms of survival time! Do keep surprising me ‘War Hero’.

~ Xal’gul.

The informational packet involved the fact that Followers would be able to send gifts, or messages in the near future. That made me pause, I was worried my mom would do something stupid like spend everything she had for me. I couldn’t stop her, but I really didn’t want her to ruin herself for me. Even if it might help. The ‘gift’ was a card called ‘Companion Card’

Companion Card - Summons an animal companion to assist in Players mental health.

I’d use it later, if at all. I sighed, finally focusing on Swann who was about to strangle me for ignoring him, held back only by Nova, who had finally appeared and was looking at me in mild shock. I wondered if she somehow knew what I had done to The Orion and I smiled at her a bit.

“Stop smiling like a loon Scooter! Damn I want to know where you got that beautiful fucking thing and I want to study it right now!” I blinked, yea...he was riled up. I pacified him by promising him he would be able to soon, but I wanted him working on the Liberator Schematics, see what he could give me from them, as well as the Siege Tanks.

He grumbled but nodded, making sure I knew he’d jack slap me somehow when Nova wasn’t around if I didn’t let him study Chimera’s Rage. I had laughed at the moment, but now I honestly questioned whether he would or not.

“I like the gift, Sir. Chimera’s Rage will ensure the skies stay free.” Came Duke’s voice over the com.

“Good, get going. I’ll send men to be trained by your crew over the next few days. Do what you can.” He gave an affirmative and I looked at Nova who was still actually visible and looking at me. Fernando excused himself a few feet away, giving us the illusion of privacy.

I looked at the beautiful, deadly, talented woman and dreaded this entire fucking situation. “Have you figured out if you can live with it, Nova?” I asked, my voice a bit unsteady. I wouldn’t keep her here against her will. Though I had a feeling if she left Fernando would try to kill her, regardless of any orders I gave to the contrary.

She looked at me for a long moment, the silence stretching. She never answered me, not really, instead she gave a small smile and faded into invisibility. I felt a soft touch on my cheek again and for some reason, most, if not all, of my worry faded into nothing. Nova had decided to stay, even if she hadn’t forgiven me just yet. That was one worry off my plate now at least. That left another.

“Fernando, what is the ETA on the other Magistrate forces now?”

“Sir, we have two days before the first group arrives. Reports show about five-hundred enemies. Most are militia, though there are Marines and at least thirty Vultures.”

It was within the limitations of early Settlements in my mind. So the Magistrates wouldn’t be an issue at all. The problem would be when the Confederate forces arrived, even with The Orion and Chimera’s Rage.

“You’re free to take Ryles old Settlement, then move on the others near us with the men you can get. Increase the number to one-hundred Marines. It’ll cut our forces a bit, but Janus and I can keep Bastion safe while you take everything from them with those men. Use the Ghosts, Fernando. I want this entire section of Mar Sara under lock and key before the Confederates arrive.”

He stood up straight, the look in his eyes oddly disturbing before he all but shouted. “Sir, yes, Sir!” It was time to take everything and solidify what I could. I was on a timetable, I had three days before I HAD to do another Campaign Map and even less before I had to deal with the Confederates forces...and eventually the Zerg. After that slew of windfalls, I just knew it was all going to hit soon, but at least now I felt I might survive it, even if only barely.