Threochts planet does indeed contain a builder facility. Buried deep underground were the remains of science laboratories and a transport chamber made up of a rotating subspace gate. This has allowed you and your teams access to the interior of the planet. Held out of phase with real space, and occupying the same place as the planet's interior is a spherical habitable environment. The interior is illuminated by the ghostly glow of the planet's iron core, or perhaps its magnetic field.

The planet isn't hollow, it merely seems that way. If the field that maintains the interior in its out of phase state were to shut down the results for everyone inside would be disastrous.

Having no interest in being buried under tens of kilometers of molten rock you made contact with the locals. Though Threocht died long ago some of his descendants live on, and are the closest things to experts on the facility. They've agreed to aid in your exploration on the condition that you dont screw up everything forever, and that you remove an infestation of creatures called blight scales.

The latter task has proven to be more politically complex than it seemed at first. Especially once you found out that they were actually Krath, or their less advanced ancestors. Getting in contact with the Krath Union and the Rovinar Federation you struck a deal with them. They'll remove the proto-krath in return for all of you keeping quiet about the whole affair, and promising to support your claims to the facility.

The Rovinar have not technically agreed to any of this but it's expected they'll have little choice. With the Krath having agreed, their treaties with the Federation regarding secrecy on such matters will ensure they take a similar line.

>>3658506
For House and Dominion. Things are working out better than expected edition!

>>3658506

For House and Dominion! Where's our loot?!

With the assistance of the locals and the Krath government secured you've begun wider exploration of the facility interior. 2 shuttles are now operational and the Krath are beginning work to establish their own base deep in the northern regions. The rapidly expanding outpost your forces have established still control the flow of traffic in and out of the planet. No other gates leading outside are believed to be operational at present.

Visiting the east gate your team investigated what was left after its fateful activation by Threocht in centuries past. At first glance it seemed as though they had done everything right. There was little to indicate that Leviathans had been trapped inside the facilities hidden inside the planet's core.

During the search Rovinar scientist Akyarres stumbled on a stasis vault containing a non-corporeal entity. This was identified by Uller and Veod as being a Caretaker. One of the beings that had instructed ancient Neeran in how to operate the Dyson Sphere and protect it, making them the new Caretakers.

Both found the encounter extremely taxing and will need time to make sense of the information that was given to them.

"There was so much information. They could push part of it to the forefront to make it easier for me to gather what I could. They could also try to hide things but clearly that isn't a skill that needs to be practiced."

With a statement like that naturally you take the bait.
"What were they trying to hide from you?"

"When you asked about a ship. It's like the age old problem, being told to not think about a thing. Even when you try to bury it after the fact your memory has already gone there."
"There's a ship?"
"This is a ship, I believe so. Only if we run the risk of opening the western gate."

"Are there Leviathans in there though?"
"That is the question. In theory the core should be partitioned into two halves but that is not a guarantee."

Great. One more potential for disaster.
"I feel like an unstable cesium atom. Or would that be the ship in this case?"

"Is this an allusion to quantum mathematics?" Uller asks.
"Yes. Let's just agree to leave this gate closed for awhile until we're ready for every eventuality. I dont want to kill millions of civilians because I made the same mistake that everyone here warned us about."

Getting the team together preparations are made for the visit to the still intact Western gate. Veod will be remaining at the outpost for the next couple of days and will be trading places with one of the younger caretakers. Knight Ilya is also invited along.

Any specialist equipment you wanted added? The shuttle can still carry quite a bit of cargo.

>>3658499
FOR
HOUSE
AND
DOMINION

>>3658647

>Any specialist equipment you wanted added? The shuttle can still carry quite a bit of cargo.

Equipment to secure the premise from anything coming from INSIDE the facility? Thinking Iron Cage setup from 40k. Easy to get in, but it's a murder slough to get out and you will suffer 99% casualties trying to get out.

Also scanning gear and other sciency equipment to get readings and understanding of this place. Without activating anything we shouldn't.

>>3658647
Big power cells, or micro-fusion generators.
Salvage equipment
Specialist circuit equipment?

If we find any more systems hopefully we can isolate them and bring them online one by one, instead of having to turn on all the power and worry about cosmic horrors breaking loose.

For House & Dominion!
>>3658647
can't think of anything

>>3658647
>Any specialist equipment you wanted added?
Drones for automated exploration, mapping, and recording could prove useful. Also, stun grenades, stasis units and specialized medical supplies if the Krath are willing to share what can do limit the injuries of a blight scale attack.

>>3658506
>The Rovinar have not technically agreed to any of this but it's expected they'll have little choice. With the Krath having agreed, their treaties with the Federation regarding secrecy on such matters will ensure they take a similar line.
Now that these two Factions are in the know, would it be possible to convince the rest of Akyarres' team from the sphere society to sign slightly less draconic NDAs in exchange for their help?

Support equipment that an follow up science team can use is loaded up, along with basic salvage equipment and a few sentry guns. Medical and military grade stasis gear, drones and stun grenades round out what will be carried in the cargo bays.

An extra sensor array is equipped to the Shuttle that can be detached for ground use. Lady Af Ied warns that precautions be taken with the sensors to avoid triggering automated defenses. Just because you haven't seen any so far doesn't mean they're not there.

As before the shuttle takes little time at all to cross the distance. As before the crew are careful not to point the shuttle directly towards the target facility, slowing on approach into a gentle orbit of the site. It looks almost exactly the same as the east gate. A ring suspended by 4 spikes along the edges.

There barely any damage here if any, and little other sign of civilization. Much of the surrounding terrain is fairly rugged which probably hasn't helped to attract local Rekesh. The squat cylindrical structure of the control center looks pristine.

"Mirror your approach pattern from the other site. We'll set up base camp by one of the doors."
"Copy that."

Stepping towards the aft hatch you see the status cycle green then immediately go red again. Engine power increases and you can tell the shuttle is gaining altitude again.

"What's wrong?"
"Blight scales detected less than 100 meters from the LZ. They're hiding in a ravine that we couldn't see into until we passed directly over them."

Way too close to risk the civilians. You're reluctant for anyone to go down there really. You look to the three Krath present.
"Your ancestors are a pain in the ass you know that?"

"Can we just drop all our stun grenades on them?" asks Valeri, pointing to a crate full of them.

Sirocco thinks it might work but any that aren't hit by them solidly will be agitated. Odds are good that a few might be able to adapt to the pulse if they're not knocked unconscious.

"There may be a way in through the roof." suggests Af Ied. "That would prevent them from attacking us and allow those remaining with the shuttle to deal with the problem."

"We could just drop these three guys and pull back to a safe distance." suggests Knight Ilya.
"Yeah, like back to base." adds Ruiz.

Akyarres thinks the second shuttle should be called for. They could bring in a force field generator to create a safe landing zone by one of the doors.

Jan points out that the shuttle will probably need several hours to be decontaminated if they use it to move the blight scales elsewhere. Such as back to the quarantine facilities being set up.

[ ] Stun grenade carpet bomb
[ ] Roof top, Krath clear LZ
[ ] Pull back, Krath clear LZ
[ ] Force field LZ

>>3658918
>[x] Roof top, Krath clear LZ
Bring in the FF generator too, that gives us a zone we can work in.

>>3658918
>[ ] Force field LZ
We're not in a hurry.

>>3658918

>[ ] Roof top, Krath clear LZ

>>3658918
>[ ] Roof top, Krath clear LZ

"Check your suits are sealed everyone, we're setting down on the roof. While we're inside the three amigos are going to try and take care of our blight scale problem."

"Who?" asks Sirocco.
"That's us." whispers Risto.

Coming in to hover the crew drops the ramp and you do a quick reconnoiter. There's more than enough room on top to dump the gear and figure out a way in. Once most of the cargo is dropped and the all clear given the shuttle drop side slip their craft off the side of the building towards the concentration of troublesome aliens.

The Rekesh and Akyarres very quickly disregard suit safety protocols knowing they'll be largely unharmed by any toxins in the air. The Lady, with assistance from Uller and the other Neeran, begin examining the roof for access points to the interior. After about an hour they're able to open a skylight into an area near the central chamber.

Not wasting any time you rope down to check things out along with your bodyguards and Dave. Most systems have been powered down or placed in a long term sleep status. Most of those on the roof are in the middle of lowering supplies via rope when Af Ied unlocks access to a ramp. It isn't long before she reaches your position through another room.

"Why did it take you so long to find a ramp?"
"I was being thorough. I've set the outer doors to remain closed until the problem outside is dealt with."

A careful sweep of the facility turns up a layout nearly identical to the eastern gate. Everyone is ordered to keep the facility in low power mode and avoid setting anything off until the experts have had a look.

In the control center the Caretakers, scientists and specialists work as a group to decide the most prudent course of action in terms of providing enough power to the facility to find out what everything does. Specifically they want to pull up a building map and sensor readout of anything unusual so there's less chance of stumbling onto a sealed room accidentally.

"Are we going to need to provide power?" you ask, tapping a portable reactor with your foot.

"That shouldn't be necessary." answers Uller. "This building has more than enough power just from the local geothermal taps."

Dave confirms that the power reserves for the building are fully charged. Anything short of activating the gate wouldn't put a dent in it.

Af Ied sends power to interior lighting, the rest of the control room stations, maps and sensor readouts. A holographic display appears showing areas of potential interest. The ceiling of the control room also turns transparent offering a better view. Markers illuminate a number of rooms in the lower levels.

"I believe there is another caretaker present here. I can't tell what the others are." Uller informs you.
"This one says burden if I'm reading it right." says Akyarres.
Your local expert disagrees. "No that's a degenerate caretaker script, not the original. It's been added some time later."

[ ] Maybe we should have a look
[ ] Better keep that one sealed
[ ] Have your Neeran talk to this caretaker
[ ] All of those stay closed

>>3659216
>[ ] Better keep that one sealed
Any chance we could plug in a translation module and upload/download data to the systems?

>>3659219

Ask if Dave feels he is capable of handling conversation with the caretaker. If he doesn't feel like he can, then let the caretaker remain in stasis.

>[ ] Better keep that one sealed
Keep it closed for now. Maybe record the information to be brought back to the Rekesh wizard to decipher later. Since it was most likely Threochts or one of his men who put the stuff there. So hopefully he should have some record of it all.

If the rest of the instruments read that there is no hazardous material. Lets carefully take a peak into one or two of them?

>>3659219
>[ ] All of those stay closed
At least until the Krath are done dealing with their distant relatives. If we need to evacuate I'd prefer not to have to deal with blight scales and polluated air.

>"No that's a degenerate caretaker script, not the original. It's been added some time later."
What's their interpretation?

>>3659243
Not directly.

>>3659252
>Ask if Dave feels he is capable of handling conversation with the caretaker.
He's still a bit reluctant.

>>3659260
>What's their interpretation?
She seems to be stumbling over it a bit but gets the impression that whatever is in there is supposed to be safeguarded or passed on.

Have to step out for an hour or so.

"Better keep that one sealed for now. Record what you can. Maybe Tereoct will look at it later."
Af Ied isn't certain how helpful her grandfather will be in that regard but it's still worth a shot.

None of the Neeran are up for immediately talking to the Caretaker that's in stasis. They might be if Uller were willing to do so but he's still dealing with the flood of information from meeting with the last one.

With sealed rooms identified the team begins its sweep of the facility. Those you do intend to open will wait until you have a means of emergency exit. That means waiting for the Krath to finish cleanup outside.

With experience from the last facility this one is a bit faster to examine. Search drones also help speed up your efforts. Long abandoned living quarters are identified. They have access to water which is useful if you get stuck in here awhile. Armories are empty but otherwise in good condition.

Going over collected data once finished it's found that there are two smaller manufacturing pads and a larger one in the lower levels. The larger one in the eastern gate facility must have been destroyed when it was sealed. The scientists think they could restore power to any of these pads easily enough.

"Have you found any information on what's in the core? Preferably up to date info like if there are any Leviathans in it?"

An Tain holds up a data pad. "It's listed as the Crucible. There is every indication that it is a manufacturing facility. If not for these rather corrupted indicators cautioning that a force of poison and cataclysm may be buried in there."

The scientist projects an image of the same degenerate caretaker script but it's broken up in places.

"Why is it in such bad shape?"
"I dont know." answers the Rekesh scientist.

You look to Uller who appears lost in thought.
"Are you okay?"

Uller snaps out of his reprieve and quickly answers.
"Database corruption, yes. Someone didn't have the proper clearance. Or they did and someone who doesn't has been trying to erase it systematically."

"Interesting. Anything about a ship in there?"
"Uh... no." answers An Tain, then hastily adds; "I'm sure it would be capable of building one though based on the size."

"See if you can match up any data that we collected from the passive scans with what the system here will tell us."

Af Ied and Uller both make sure none of the queries or data comparisons will set off defenses. The facility map is slowly being marked in green for areas your people can safely move about in and even make use of systems. Some still need to be made safe and even with those its advised anyone double check with the science team before activating anything for the first time.

One of the soldiers has taken to leaving sticky notes next to equipment that has been cleared and which actions are permitted. It will do in the short term until more scientists get on site and establish a proper network with system permissions.

Anything you want to build?

>>3659924
Preferably that you could use right now as opposed to an AI host body you'd have to drag back through the gate to see if Versa could use it.

>>3659924

Blueprint for a Sphere Builder starship?

Blueprint for functioning wormhole gates? That we (the Dominion) can develop into something large enough for star ships to travel through.

Or maybe data on how to replicate these manufacturing plants and the materials needed to get them up and running?

Or how about how to make a mega structure such as this subspace inner planetary sphere. Imagine all the trouble we could get up to, by building a secret base inside a planet? If something goes wrong, we hit the kill switch and the whole space gets filled instantly with molten rock!

Data on how to extend ones life, without those disadvantages we see with use of current age boosters? Or maybe serum to make the user immune to subspace radiation?

>>3659924
Can we input scans of things? Purely for ceremonial purposes I'd like to get our Mk1 Plasma Pistol made out of Indestructium.

From last thread:
-Holographic/camo module for our Sphere Armor.
-Some kind of subspace weapon like the locals use, to fight off any Leviathans we'll run into.
-Veckron burst grenades? Really put the hurt on a Leviathan.
-Veckron rocket launcher? REALLY put the hurt on a Leviathan.

To complete a full set of artifacts we always needed to pick up a Staff at some point, even if it wasn't as useful.

Additional, if possible:

-Interphase projector. Never got to look at this one when Illya mentioned it.
-HRR Shotgun? Criminally underused technology.
-Portable storm cannon/Gauntlet upgrade?
-How powerful would a Phase Rifle be if it were built with Sphere knowledge?
-Data on Warfare and Tactics. The Builders had to be around for a long time and I bet they came up with some interesting tactics/warfare concepts. Not directly useful but it's something that's inherently interesting.
-Data on philosophy? See what kind of concepts they had floating around in their time.

Asking for a status report from the Krath team you're informed that they've cleared out the scales from the immediate area. They'll still need to decontaminate everything outside the facility though so you're encouraged to stay inside. Even seal the entrance if you can.

Once the ramp and hatch are closed Af Ied locates internal decontamination protocols, screening everyone and eventually clearing the interior as safe to take your helmets off.

"Those manufacturing pads, can they duplicate items but in a sturdier form?" you hold up your plasma pistol as an example.

Af Ied considers your question for a few moments. "I don't see why they couldn't."

Disconnecting the fuel cell you place the weapon on the pad and back up.
"Just, make sure it doesn't break this one. They dont make this model anymore."

Once the pad has scanned the weapon the other woman looks over the readouts.
"This gun is both surprisingly advanced and profoundly primitive. I can see why they aren't made anymore."
"Maybe I should have brought my Mark 7."

"You're certain that you want an exact- never mind. Let's see if it even works properly."

Soon the pad has completed its work leaving behind a near perfect replica of your long serving plasma pistol. Only the colouration is different, made up of the slightly different looking material. The fuel cell isn't loaded. A good precaution for a first test item. Checking the charge on the power pack and loading one of your spare fuel cells you look for a good place to test the weapon.

"The security system isn't going to fry me if I fire this at one of the folding shields is it?"
"Let me check... no, as long as you only test in that room by the outer walls."

Having seen the weapon in action before Ilya places his shield against a wall then backs away quickly. The gun doesn't fire the first few attempts causing no small amount of confusion. Once the glitch in the weapon safety is corrected it fires just as powerful a shot as your regular mark one. It does feel a little different though with its slightly lighter weight.

"It seems to work. Thank you." you tell Af Ied when you return.
While you were gone she has been busy looking up usage logs of the pad and any other equipment and systems in this gate facility. Once compiled it's loaded onto a builder datapad she has constructed.
"Grandfather insists we have too many pads to permit construction of more, but they're always in short supply."

While the opportunity presents itself you pull out a laundry list of potential items to look up...

Which I will have to post about tomorrow because it is way past midnight.

>>3659924
Krath super food. I'm sure the system can improve on Leviathan blood.
Any high tech anti AI weapons? An AI equivalent to the stun grenade would be nice.
Advanced encryption methods.
High density and long lasting data storage.
Hyper advanced anti-virus and firewall software to kick the Terrans out of our system.
A caretaker translator that allows communication with them without a Neeran. Or makes the experience at least easier to stomach for the Neeran.
Ways to repair subspace once it has been thoroughly broken.
Something that can help to find and sens stuff to the Factions' home universe without damaging this one.
Alternative ftl methods. The watchers are supposed to be using something that's better than what the factions and neeran have. I'm sure the caretakers came up with something that's even more impreasive.
Technology that makes emergency teleporters more reliable.
A way to teleport certain people from the past to the present at the time of their death, replacing them with an exact copy so nobody will notice. Oh, and ways to then heal them.

>>3660281
Oh god fucking yes. Finally we got a Manufacturer System.

>Anything you want to build?
Boy do I ever!

Let's start simple by pulling out data on these things onto a slate or the like

Artifact manufacturing, Manufacturing System, Sphere Material creation and Matter Siphon System.

Then see if we can look up schematics for ship construction, the gate system, construction of the Sphere and generally anything involving Subspace.

As for items. Invulnerable swords, shields and Power Armour for those here with Power Armour.

And for Sonia herself! Medium Jump Jet PA with integrated Gauntlet, Amplifier, Convertor and Micro E-Beam.

Just give me everything.

>>3660530
>Power Armour for those here with Power Armour
Now I'm curious if it can produce a set of armor that can keep up with the shape shifting of a Krath.

Detach our cybernetic arm and see if it can duplicate that?

>>3660578
Ooohhh, I like that.

I saw this quest and thought to myself you know this looks pretty cool. I'll take a look at the older one and join in. the I was that it has literally years worth of lore. in short have fun I'm out.

>>3660281
It's perfect. Now we can retire the original Mark 1 to a museum, after serving us so faithfully for so long.

>>3660613
There's a summary of most of it. Somewhere. I'm sure OP will be able to provide a link when he's here.

>>3660578
I'm not sure why we'd need another one, it's already made out of Builder material, so if it's destroyed I think we'd probably be in more trouble. It's probably unlikely that it will be able to make the other choices we had, like the micro-manufacturing arm, or convertor arm, since the Caretaker Engineers had to specially develop the sensor one for us alone.

>>3659924

>ideas for things to build?

Sphere-tech recon armor? Or even just sphere-tech replacement armor plates for various armors.

Sphere-tech HF blades or plasma sword?

Do the caretakers make use of any devices that could assist Uller with the information overload? Sort of like a portable HD or a variant sleep headset type deal?

Portable sphere power units & large-area stasis or containment shield projectors?

Upgraded Sonia retinal projection system? linked to a book-like storage device via quantum entanglement to keep our secrets. Local storage of HUD is filled with pictures of Sonia Kids.

Some sort of custom non-military super scientist suit for the Rovinar? Or a custom sphere tech science swiss-army scanner/recorder?. What with accusing them of being a Neeran spy and all.

>>3660759
>Some sort of custom non-military super scientist suit for the Rovinar?
That's actually a pretty good idea. Considering how lightly defended the sphere and this installation are, the builders probably never encountered an equally advanced power that was interested in open conflict. So it would make sense if their most advanced and durable protective suits would be those they used to operate in extremely hazardous environments like veckron space or the interior of a sun or whatever else they needed. Kinda like terminator armor in 40.

>>3658506
>Though Threocht died long ago some of his descendants live on
It's probably a dumb question but do we know that he's actually dead and not in stasis or one of these ultra slow time zones somewhere?

>>3660613
https://houseanddominion.fandom.com/wiki/Summary_Page

>>3660978
All his descendants seem to think he's dead.

While dreams of potential toys and tech fill your head an idea interrupts them.

"Would it be possible to create protective suits our scientists could use? No weapons but lots of gear they could use to collect data on the environment and facility systems? Safely that is. No sensor arrays powerful enough to trigger defenses."
"I expected you to ask for a mountain of frivolous trinkets and weapons."
"Yeah, I may still do that." you admit.

Akyarres, An Tain and even Tu Quedis are called over. Though not a scientist the liaison officer could certainly find similar gear and protection to be of use. Each step onto the pad in turn and are outfitted with heavily modified builder armor.

"Neat." proclaims the Rovinar after stepping off the pad. He is soon using his old hand scanner to take pictures of the suit and compare the readouts with what the suit's sensor suite can provide.

Once all three are outfitted Tu Quedis warns that not many suits should be made. If numbers of them are seen and reported to the government they'll want a supply of such equipment for themselves.
"Oh? Isn't it your job to report these things to your government?" you question.
"Exceptions need to be made at times."

Once you've compiled a list of things to ask about being built, Af Ied takes one look at it and walks away.
"You can ask one of your Caretakers." She calls over her shoulder. "They know enough about this facility now to avoid triggering anything. I have work to do."

One of the younger caretakers that Veod had recruited for the expedition is sent over to assist.

"Get ready, this is a long list."
"I am internally bracing myself young one."

>Blueprint for a Sphere Builder starship?
Deck layouts for a number of craft are available but not the full plans.
>Blueprint for functioning wormhole gates? That we (the Dominion) can develop into something large enough for star ships to travel through.
The gate designs stored here can not function without artifact tech and builder materials to survive stresses placed on them. Many of the larger gates seem to be scaled up versions of the smaller ones but with modifications.
A data module is constructed carrying information on the smaller gates.

>Or maybe data on how to replicate these manufacturing plants and the materials needed to get them up and running?
There is some data but the pad directs you to seek out a larger one better suited to constructing the necessary parts. The larger one in the lower levels which is vehicle sized may be able to provide data.

>Or how about how to make a mega structure such as this subspace inner planetary sphere. Imagine all the trouble we could get up to, by building a secret base inside a planet? If something goes wrong, we hit the kill switch and the whole space gets filled instantly with molten rock!
Data is available on the field bubble to keep an area of space out of phase. So is the info on the geothermal spikes, though they seem to rely upon the fact that it's made of builder material and is thus indestructible.

>Data on how to extend ones life, without those disadvantages we see with use of current age boosters?
Not found.
>Or maybe serum to make the user immune to subspace radiation?
This is present but appears to be locked. It looks like Tereoct has placed a system command preventing anything or anyone without authorization from manufacturing it directly.

"That is to prevent the blight scales from gaining access to it." explains Af Ied when you ask her.
"It could potentially make them immune to our primary weapons which they otherwise have no defense against."
That makes sense you guess. The last thing you want is to run into a Leviathan that cant be killed with Veckron beams.

>Holographic/camo module for our Sphere Armor.
One can be made that makes you invisible, but the armor has no sound dampening systems.

>Some kind of subspace weapon like the locals use, to fight off any Leviathans we'll run into.
This is easy enough. One of the tower guards that came with you places their weapon on the pad and a dozen duplicates are soon made. They warn you not to test fire them, and make sure there are no friendlies behind the target when you do fire.

After looking over the specs of your plasma pistol Af Ied is now working on developing a new weapon that would combine the best elements of both.

>To complete a full set of artifacts we always needed to pick up a Staff at some point, even if it wasn't as useful.
Acquired. The tower guards think you must be mad. Only a very small number of people ever master the weapon hence why most of them have fixed beam weapon staffs.

>Veckron burst grenades?
>Veckron rocket launcher?
Akyarres laughs at these suggestions.
"Were you secretly working for the Terrans during the Faction Wars? I know for a fact that they made some of these. Your immortal is the only one who could risk using them."
"I'm up for that sir!" the special forces operative is quick to volunteer.

The only problem is bringing the munition to a near critical state which the pad lacks the ability to do so. Despite this one small device can be prepared about the size of the head on a lawn dart. It will need to be placed in a veckron charger to ready it for actual use. Doing so inside the planet will almost certainly activate station defenses.
Fortunately, there are suitable equipped ships in your fleet. It could be transferred out, readied then brought back inside.

>Do so?

>>3661255
>Do so?
Please no.

>>3661255

>Do so?

Negative, while nice to know it is possible. Lets not make ammo for WMD's on our allies worlds. Allies whom are fresh to the Dominion and not fully aware of what the Dominion are willing to do. If it means advancing their house or the Dominion.

If we don't already have the scans or know how to make such ammo. Then copy that and put it in a secret container along with this weapon to be brought back up to the fleet. Likely to be stored and forgotten until we return to the Dominion in whatever black box the Baron has in his ship.

>>3661255
>>Do so?
Eeeehhhh. Let's not put the most dangerous matter in the known world into something one person can carry. It just seems a bit... Excessive. Even by our standards.

>The tower guards think you must be mad.
Well we where once called Psycho Sonia! Good times.

In any case it seems a lot of these things are going to tie into the Builder Material. I assume the Manufacturer and Matter Siphon as well as Artifact Creation are all tied to it? So it is clear that it should be our priority to get data on. Once we've decked out our crew with cool shit that is. You get Indestructible Power Armour! And you also get Indestructible Power Armour! Everyone gets Indestructible Power Armour!

>>3661255

Don't V-torps screw up subspace when used in real space?

Can we rule out the potential that firing a V-weapon of any kind in a subspace pocket will damage the realspace inhabited planet around us? Or say, collapse the subspace pocket we're currently depending on for survival?

>>3661255
>>3661275

Though now that brings up a thought. A scary one to bring up with any other faction representative here who is not Dominion. Can this thing give us a means to create alternative Shield Piercing torpedo's and ammunition in general? Terran's/ Rovinar cant justify black-ops hits on the Dominion if we're not copying their designs.

>>3661281
>Can we rule out the potential that firing a V-weapon of any kind in a subspace pocket will damage the realspace inhabited planet around us? Or say, collapse the subspace pocket we're currently depending on for survival?
You know that's a good point. Probably best to leave that alone.

>Do the caretakers make use of any devices that could assist Uller with the information overload?
>Sort of like a portable HD or a variant sleep headset type deal?
He needs time.

>Portable sphere power units & large-area stasis or containment shield projectors?
This can be done but would be best to have them produced by the larger pad in the lower levels.

"We'll need to ship in some of the medium jump jet or Recon armor later. See if the systems here can improve on it at all."

>swords, shields
The tower guards are familiar enough with the staff weapons, even types of swords though rare. What they hadn't encountered before are the retractable shields from the sphere.

"That's because we created them specifically for the humans." Uller explains.
"The production data for the shields has existed for less than 4000 years."

Likewise the varient of staff weapon found here is a local design not seen on the sphere. The shields can block most types of radiation but are little use against anything bleeding into real space.

Moving away from the others a bit you lower your voice so only Uller can hear you.
"Is there anything we could do to prevent that?"

"A modified shield with a converter able to project a field into other layers of subspace might intercept it. This wouldn't be small or retractable. It would need to be fitted to a tower shield and used in an active manner like other artifact weapons."

[ ] Make a few in the lower level so we have a defense against the locals
[ ] Discuss openly with Lady Af Ied

>>3661438

[x] Discuss openly with Lady Af

When in doubt, build bridges.

>>3661438
>[ ] Discuss openly with Lady Af Ied

They are our allies. And they haven't done anything to us yet to earn a level of paranoia where we plan to openly fight them. Like the other factions have.

>>3661438
>[x] Discuss openly with Lady Af Ied
I don't want to possibly antagonize the locals.

>>3661438
>[ ] Discuss openly with Lady Af Ied

"We'll discuss it openly with Af Ied. They could probably use it just as much as we do. They've helped us out so far."

Uller promises to discuss the idea with her.

>Sphere-tech HF blades or plasma sword?
There is a default safety warning advising against making plasma swords. The caretaker confirms that as being a standard notification. They've unsafe to use and could easily harm the wielder.

"I've fought Dominion nobles equipped with plasma swords before."
"Wasn't that built into their suit of power armor?" questions Valeri.
"Yeah so?"
"Their armor can have safety systems to prevent the active blade from striking themselves."
In this way it seems an artifact weapon isn't quite as safe.

>Interphase projector. Never got to look at this one when Illya mentioned it.
Wasn't that some other alien tech, not builder stuff?
>HRR Shotgun?
Added to the pile. This does not require an artifact to use or power it.

>Portable storm cannon/Gauntlet upgrade?
But this one does. Lightning gauntlets are available in the default database. A cannon however is a different story. It looks more like a shoulder fired anti-tank weapon and is about as heavy.

>How powerful would a Phase Rifle be if it were built with Sphere knowledge?
Their tech isn't really compatible with phase weaponry.

>Data on Warfare and Tactics. The Builders had to be around for a long time and I bet they came up with some interesting tactics/warfare concepts. Not directly useful but it's something that's inherently interesting.
>Data on philosophy? See what kind of concepts they had floating around in their time.
There is surprisingly little cultural information about the builders here. Probably because this was a remote prototype development facility. Eventually a location is dug up that should be elsewhere inside the borders of the Neeran Empire. Not too far away actually, though there are indications the location hasn't been active in more than 150k years.

>Upgraded Sonia retinal projection system? linked to a book-like storage device via quantum entanglement to keep our secrets. Local storage of HUD is filled with pictures of Sonia Kids.
You're prepared to let the manufacturing pad operate on Sonia's eyes? While a pad similar to this build Sonia's right arm that already had been outfitted to take prosthetics.

>>3661578
>prepared to let the manufacturing pad operate on Sonia's eyes?

it was more of a 'could it work?' question, and certainly something that would be planned out. Or to have a non-installed copy made that we could install under controlled, medical conditions?

>>3661578
only if can't make implants that can be implanted surgery

>>3661578
>You're prepared to let the manufacturing pad operate on Sonia's eyes?
Nooooope

>>3661578
>You're prepared to let the manufacturing pad operate on Sonia's eyes?

Pass

After a quick scan of your eyes the pad produces two sets of possible implants. The first pair are similar to the implants you already have and would replace those currently in your natural eyes. The second pair would replace the eyes completely. More of a backup plan in case the first didn't work out.
You should be able to have either put in aboard a ship with a large enough medical suite.

Either can be connected to a matching storage device.

Word comes in that the shuttle has finished its decontamination flights around the gate facility. The Blight Scales are long gone and the outer doors can now be opened at any time. Playing it safe a team covers the outer door while it opens, ready for anything. Just as reported the air is safe, though there is still a faint smell from the chemicals that have been sprayed over the area.

Most of the equipment you've had built is loaded aboard the shuttle and brought back to the outpost to be scanned and categorized aside from those you'll be keeping with you.

Uller heads to the lower level to try making use of the larger manufacturing pad there. By the time the shuttle is prepped and loaded he warns everyone to watch for a hatch opening. Sure enough what seems to be a cargo door built into the ground outside opens clearing the way for a repulsor vehicle to exit.

It seems to be a mashup of the transport lifts used on the sphere with elements unique to this facility. This one in fully enclosed in transparent material with some structural bracing. Most of the aft is made up of a hatch which opens wide enough for Uller to step out.
"Good, I was worried the outer door might be blocked. This craft should be capable of keeping up with the shuttle. I'm sure our local allies will appreciate it."

He gestures for the Lady and her escort to step aboard.

Af Ied is surprised but quickly recovers. "Thank you. We have other means of fast transport but they are not as convenient as a craft like this."

In answer to your questioning look the Caretaker replies.
"You shouldn't be the only one benefiting from this alliance in the short term."

As the team packs up to depart for the day Af Ied suggests that nothing else be built from the manufacturing pads at this facility for a couple of days. She wants to check that the sudden flurry of activity hasn't done anything or raised warning flags.

Are you okay with this?

>>3661578
>You're prepared to let the manufacturing pad operate on Sonia's eyes?
Gonna vote yes just because everyone else is saying No.

>Wasn't that some other alien tech, not builder stuff?
I think it was Alien now that you mention it, I was just wondering if it would have been a good weapon to use since we're out of phase? Like it would have beamed rock onto people instead of putting holes in them.

>Their tech isn't really compatible with phase weaponry.
That's interesting. I bet there's a whole backstory there, very very peculiar. Is it worth asking Uller/Veod about that?

I'm sure there's more items we're missing that we'll think of at some point. Gifts for the children?

>>3661801
>Are you okay with this?
Unless there's some kind of emergency where we need everyone combat-equipped, sure.

>>3661801
>"You shouldn't be the only one benefiting from this alliance in the short term."
Good guy Uller. He's right too, maybe we can ship in some basic supplies for them? They obviously have superior weapons, but maybe medical supplies and basic quality of life items they'd appreciate?

>>3661801

>ok with this?

It is a sensible suggestion. I agree.


>Uller

Not sure if we should be insulted?

>>3661801
>Are you okay with this?
Sure, it seems like a reasonable request.

>"You shouldn't be the only one benefiting from this alliance in the short term."
Hey, he got to talk to an actual sphere builder. That's a pretty rare thing even for them, right?

>>3661801
>Are you okay with this?
Sure. That was just kid in a candy store syndrome we had there. We are in this for the long haul after all and would much prefer being able to milk this for all it is worth, including how to make our own, over short term mass produced items.

>"You shouldn't be the only one benefiting from this alliance in the short term."
Eh. I don't see no problem. As long as we get the tech I am okay with most things at this point. Cool buggy he made them. That aside, this now seems to me that we can make vehicles as well. Which is neat as fuuuuucck.

The Emperor is going to have the biggest boner once we show him the technological wonder we brought home with us in the Manufacturer System and Builder Material.

Guys...

Sphere tech Dante Custom

>>3661862
Anon plz.

You are making my desire want to cash checks it cant handle. But then again.... this facility is the biggest goldmine of tech and salvage we have ever found. The Sphere not counting on account of it being... you know... still occupied.

To be honest. What we have found so far has blown my wildest imaginations. And we have just begun racking it in.

>>3661801
One thing I've always been curious about:
Conversion Shielding.

A giant Convertor artifact acting as an energy shield for a ship. Shots hitting it bolster the power temporarily, and it would have to find a way to burn off the excess power before it does any damage.

>>3661964
The Terrans have attempted prototypes of it with limited success. Ultimately they were too prone to failure and high maintenance.
It may be possible to combine the two though this would take time and plenty of R&D assets.

Back at base everyone remains busy. You're needed to keep dealing with the Krath and ensuring there are as few people finding out details of their presence here as possible. This is complicated by the need to bring in their equipment and personnel for base building.

A new outer perimeter has been established. Your forces and outposts occupy two thirds of it while the Krath occupy the northern third. Biohazard containment fields are being set up along the outer walls and those isolating the Krath section from the remainder. This will help ensure any live blight scales brought back are contained so none of your people are killed if they aren't wearing a sealed suit.

Not all of your people are taking the arrival of Krath forces well. Many are understandably untrusting and want to be able to maintain a security presence inside the Krath zone. The Krath have agreed to letting in select Rekesh inspection personnel and those who have already signed the full non-disclosure agreement from your forces. They dont want to add more to that number if possible.

Any steps you want to take to head off problems prematurely?

>>3662051
>Any steps you want to take to head off problems prematurely?

I assume it's to late to sneak in a localized anti-matter bomb or some sort of high yield explosive fail safe, should there be a mass breakout?

Other then that. Have the base be set to automatically cut itself off from the Krath should sensors detect any of the proto-Krath escaping.

>>3662051
>Any steps you want to take to head off problems prematurely?
We should ask the Krath if they want to glue new Krath together on site or if they're planning to ship them home first. Each scenario will pose different challenges.

>>3662078
>I assume it's to late to sneak in a localized anti-matter bomb or some sort of high yield explosive fail safe, should there be a mass breakout?
Any antimatter explosive would be powerful enough to take out pretty much the entire site.

>>3662051
>Any steps you want to take to head off problems prematurely?
Address our forces, let them know that Krath assistance means they're not going to have to put their lives at high-risk.

>>3662079
Arranging a quick meeting via Sirocco you talk to the commander of the Krath containment team. Most of those on site have taken on a Rekesh or Kavarian appearance, though some look to be Rovinar.

"I need to make plans for my people to defended the rest of the base. Are you shipping the proto-krath back to your territory or will you be carrying out the uh, "cultural advancement" on site here?"

"We hope to be able to do most work in the north away from civilians. Small numbers are going to be brought here for study and then transport back to our ships in orbit. We already have five present. They are isolated to prevent incidents and being kept in multilayered sealed containers or lab buildings."
"Stais fields too?"
"Of course. We're using security precautions on this base similar to those used with convicts. We know how dangerous they can be if allowed loose."

"Anything you need from my people?"
"Just to respect those precautions. I know neither of us can afford to tell everyone full details."

One suggestion you have is to make a certain point absolutely clear. Better signage that their section is off limits. You have a warning burned into the most prominent prefab wall facing the southern half of the base. Chemical and biohazard warning symbols.
"Access to authorized personnel only by order of Viscount Sonia Reynard."

Once that is done you address your personnel on base directly. They're told that your Faction allies the Krath have made an agreement that will you, your House and the Dominion. This will ensure that they're the ones taking risks with certain dangerous shit so all of your people dont have to.

"That means keeping your asses out of the Krath section of the base so you dont straight up die. Anyone stupid enough to try and sneak in who doesn't die is going to get a power armored boot in the ass from me, followed by a court martial for putting their follow soldiers in danger.
Now let's get back to work. Next convoy gates in about a minute from now."

A few days of artifact study and sending out more teams for long term study later, a meeting is called. Power usage at the western gate for the manufacturing pads wasn't severe but there were automated alerts generated at the sudden rise in activity. These have proven to be minor and have now been dismissed. Depending on what is being built Af Ied thinks that 1 batch per day of sets of artifacts or equipment should be fine.

The sets of data stores and some artifact examples have been loaded aboard a cloaked ship and are now on their way back to the Ruling House to make sure they are secure. If it were necessary to evacuate everything at once Baron Xedols could bring in his super heavy to ensure all of the recovered artifacts could be shipped out safely. For now that isn't necessary and his ship is of much more use acting as a bulwark against Ulgean aggression in the region.

Study of the east and west gate facilities has confirmed that not only can they connect to and open portals from the central core, but they should be able to connect to other builder installations. Veod has the codes necessary to bridge the surviving local gate to one of the starship gates in the Sphere. Without that there doesn't look to be any other way to get larger objects in or out of this place.

"Did the Leviathans get in here from another installation?"

Veod doesn't think so. "I know the sphere's external gates can project at long distances without need of a matching reciever, though this is far more energy intensive. This facility might have been able to do the same, but if it could that ability has been lost."

"Any progress on finding out what's currently in the core?"

The Caretaker shakes his head wearily. "Not without opening a gate to it."
Damn.

>Questions?

>>3662320
Can we override all the safety systems to shut off the gate if we were to open it?

And if it's possible to open it safely, if only briefly, could we send an automated surveyor, and somehow receive data back?

Maybe most pressing of all, is it worth it, and do the Caretakers even want to find out what's inside?

>>3662320

Should we begin conducting talks with the Rekesh Wizard? To negotiate opening the central core and see if there are anymore of those monsters or not. Also to see if there is a Sphere Builder Ship inside there or not. $5 says said ship has a hive of unmature Leviathans hiding on it in stasis. Or does he think we should go in without his permission? He's going to know either way from his little observatory.

>>3662320

Are the gates in question large enough for a leviathan to pass through?

If so, can we modify them to prevent a leviathan from coming through? By say disabling or blocking off a section?

Hey, we tried melting a drive-plate for plasma cannon ammo. Why not try melting a Veckron core? Just to see?/spoiler]

>>3662320
What would happen if we put a SP torpedo into the production plate? Can we try that?

Also can we get several sets of "Expedition Plasma Pistols" made from our iconic sidearm to be given to nobles and the ruling House as gifts?

>>3662341
>Can we override all the safety systems to shut off the gate if we were to open it?
Unlikely. They're in place for a reason and tampering with safeties is a good way to cause trouble of the unknown kind.

>And if it's possible to open it safely, if only briefly, could we send an automated surveyor, and somehow receive data back?
Could be done, though the signal would most likely be cut off the moment it closes again.
>Maybe most pressing of all, is it worth it, and do the Caretakers even want to find out what's inside?
Veod and Uller of the opinion that, for them at least, it isn't worth it. Opening it would just cause more problems, even if there aren't any Leviathans in there.

"Suppose you succeed and secure the shipyard. What would you ultimately do with it? Produce a thousand nigh unkillable ships? Eventually your other Factions will want to step in and will probably use the Alliance to do it."

>>3662364
>Should we begin conducting talks with the Rekesh Wizard?
He did say to give him a couple weeks notice before hand so he could plan out his time for a meeting.

>Or does he think we should go in without his permission?
It could be done. There is a good chance Tereoct might notice before you could.

>>3662367
"Are the gates in question large enough for a leviathan to pass through?"
"Yes, they're a couple kilometers in diameter. Much smaller than the space gates on the sphere. mind you."

Ilya raises a hand.
"How does that work if they're different sizes?"
"Both ends will scale to whatever the smaller gate is." replies Veod.

"Can we modify them to a smaller size to prevent a leviathan from coming through?" you ask, looking between the others present.

"We can already build smaller gates." points out Af Ied. "We also have the remains of the eastern gate to work with. We could remove the specialized components we need from it and build the rest. It's still dangerous but it should be possible."

>>3662474
>He did say to give him a couple weeks notice before hand so he could plan out his time for a meeting.

Then send him the message. Saying we'd like to discuss with him the possability of exploring the center. And a means to secure all possible means of securing the exit from anything not us coming out.

>>3662474
>What would you ultimately do with it? Produce a thousand nigh unkillable ships? Eventually your other Factions will want to step in and will probably use the Alliance to do it
This was troubling me from the start of the expedition. I think Sonia elected to come here to support the Dominion's bid for SP technology, but could get a lot more, but it's also like Svidur said, each artifact could tip the balance for each faction, potentially irreparably.

I don't want to see the Dominion as the ultimate mega-domination power in the Galaxy, that kind of situation is what's lead to the Faction Wars if I remember history correctly. A boost for Jerik-Dremine and the Dominion, sure, but not too far.

I'm still a little worried about the Neeran Empire and what they might have hidden away, not to mention what the Ullgean might do if they find out the importance of this place. Maybe Uller is right and for now it's not worth risking unleashing the Leviathans or destroying the balance that makes up the Alliance.

>>3662472
>>3662474
This though?

>>3662538
> I don't want to see the Dominion as the ultimate mega-domination power in the Galaxy,

That's traitor talk.

>>3662671
I just don't want to provoke Faction War 3. It nearly destroyed everyone previously.

A message is prepared asking for a meeting with Tereoct. You have plenty of time to decide what will be discussed at the meeting.

The scientists as well as the Ruling House, the Rekesh and even Af Ied's people have a number of requests for items to test being built. The manufacturing pads are queued up with a small amount to be built each day.

You schedule a visit yourself along with Af Ied but without the likes of Akyarres or Sirocco. It isn't easy to give them the slip but it might be worth the effort. Officially you'll be scanning in the jump jet and recon armor suits today to see if they can be added to a subsequent day's list. Only when the cargo case supposedly containing the newest model Recon suit is opened it instead contains a Mk 47 SP Torpedo.

"What is that?" asks Af Ied.
"The cause and solution to many of the Factions problems. Also the edge that has allowed us to stand a chance against the Neeran."

Placing it on the pad the scanners get to work analyzing it.

"Interesting. The dense outer casing has been impregnated with a layer of unstable material."

Valeri helpfully helpfully introduces a mild electric field to the torpedo casing then slowly steps up the voltage.

"That... is an unusual effect. It's generating a very disruptive field inside the material similar to our beam weapons."
"That field allows it to penetrate our protective energy shields." you explain.

"I can certainly see why."
"Can the pad duplicate it?"
"Ye- no. No it cant, not safely or not here. It would set off the defenses if done anywhere inside this world. It would require a very powerful, very focused radiation stream similar to our staff weapons. If it were tuned similar to a strong localized magnetic field that might work."

>>3662817
>"Can the pad duplicate it?"
>"Ye- no. No it cant, not safely or not here. It would set off the defenses if done anywhere inside this world. It would require a very powerful, very focused radiation stream similar to our staff weapons. If it were tuned similar to a strong localized magnetic field that might work."

Was worth a shot.

Sonia trying, failing, and getting angry at the Staff weapon when?

>>3662817

Well, at least we get some really neat data out of it?

>similar to our beam weapons

Interesting. Does that mean their beam weapons are shield piercing?

Or worse, V-torp level no more antimatter containment when fired?

>>3662817
> It would require a very powerful, very focused radiation stream similar to our staff weapons. If it were tuned similar to a strong localized magnetic field that might work."

Can we make a staff that does this?

>>3663032
>Does that mean their beam weapons are shield piercing?
Yes.
>Or worse, V-torp level no more antimatter containment when fired?
Very possibly, though they're much weaker and shorter ranged.

>>3663037
>Can we make a staff that does this?
Potentially but again you couldn't use it inside the planet so everyone who can run the manufacturing pad will be reluctant to make it.

You ask that the data be printed off listed as a modified beam special weapon and the rest erased from the system.

"Why would you want it erased?"
"So that the Krath and Rovinar wont know we were peeking under the hood. Even if we cant get it to work right it's better for everyone if they dont know we were trying to find out how."

Once the torpedo is secure and hidden in the case once more Ruiz stands on the pad so that her suit of recon armor can be scanned. It's followed soon after by the jump jet suit.

"This is a terribly inefficient suit of armor. It's carrying too much weight."

You point to a few of the areas she's highlighted.
"It needs enough armor protection to make sure the thruster units aren't damaged or destroyed by small arms fire. Extra power to the repulsors make sure it stays fairly nimble."

The Rekesh woman finds that hard to believe.
"Valeri, do you have that holo recording from the capital fight?"
"The hallway fight where you were in melee with another jump jet suit, on top of a nanite infested walker you had just downed?"
"Yeah that one."

The hectic close quarters battle with plasma pistols, HF and plasma swords had done serious damage to your suit. Without the added protection you could have had a hole burned through your abdomen. If you weren't also wearing a Recon suit beneath it that is. It was still a close fight.

After seeing the recording the other woman agrees to leave some additional protection in place where the upgrade might have removed it. It's added to the list for another day.

>Also can we get several sets of "Expedition Plasma Pistols" made from our iconic sidearm to be given to nobles and the Ruling House as gifts?
Someone has very sensibly brought your Mark 7 plasma pistol which is in fact a far more practical weapon thanks to the adjustable beam yield. It would make the better gift.

[ ] Too bad they get the iconic Mark 1
[ ] Maybe a 7 is a better idea

>>3663072
>[ ] Maybe a 7 is a better idea

>>3663072
Make a set of "collectors item" Mark 1's and a set of "early release" Mark 7's then.

It's a gift for nobility, making it practical implies they will need to use it for some reason, which is rude I personally feel when it comes to weapons.

>>3663114
>It's a gift for nobility, making it practical implies they will need to use it for some reason

>Looks to the Dominion civil war of not ten years past.

>>3663072

[x] Mark 7

But make a Mark 1 as a gift to the Emperor? So he can give it to the Sonia clone after his black ops steal Sonia's brain scans to create a black ops Knights Errant group

>>3663193
The good guys won and we're all friends now.

Maybe publicly give them Mk 1's and privately Mk 7's?

>>3663226
I mean, we're still lugging around a Mark 1, so what can they say to that?

>>3663193
Also do other nobles at our level make a habit of insisting on joining special ops in the field?

And can we start up a paintball-esque "War Games" league with them?

>>3663343
>Also do other nobles at our level make a habit of insisting on joining special ops in the field?
Generally not but there are always exceptions.

>>3663327
>and we're all friends now

I'm going to need some sphere tech sides to replace the ones that just launched into another subspace pocket.

If there isn't another Faction War after the Neeran one, the Terrans likely will get to laugh as the Dominion blows itself up with SP tech.

>>3663350
> And can we start up a paintball-esque "War Games" league with them?

Also we need to corrupt all the young officers at our club.

>>3663364
> Implying we'll share with other houses.

>>3662691
It's gonna happen regardless of what we do. Might as well ensure the Dominion comes out of it in a position of power rather than as a Terran vassal or being split up.

[ ] Maybe a 7 is a better idea

>>3662817
You've got to be impressed by the Terrans. Even now, with a molecular assembler, we still can't make SP material safely. There really is an elegance of design to these things, and it makes me wonder what they'll frantically develop when the Dominion publicly reveals it has SP weapons.

>>3662538
This is pretty sensible. The Dominion has incredible potential when things are going well but the next Emperor or the one after that could turn out to be an insane megalomaniac who ruins everything again.

>>3664188
>There really is an elegance of design to these things
I wouldn't call it elegance. They already ruined one universe and if the FA hadn't stepped in and lost 12 gravity well ships in the process, there' a chance the Factions would have had to move again instead of fighting the Neeran. It seems they just disregard all security and safety concerns sometimes.

>>3663072
>[ ] Maybe a 7 is a better idea
With improvements?

>>3662817
>You have plenty of time to decide what will be discussed at the meeting.
Would Illya's order be interested in setting up shop on this world? If things stay at the current tech level, a local chapter could come in handy and things wouldn't change much for them. It will considerable time for the Rekesh to resettle the areas from which we remove the blight scales. More than enough for the knights to set up shop there.
And we can still produce v-torps here, I think.

>>3664188
Like their V-beam gun hasn't already tipped the balance anyways.

See >>3663364 I wpuld rather the Dominion blow itself up than let the Terrans do it because people were traitorous cowards who "didn't want to tip the balance wah wah wah" when Terrans are still fucking around with the same stuff that literally ended the galaxy last time.

We need to be in control of production so that we can negotiate limiting each others superweapons through diplomacy. "Indestructible" ships doesn't mean we suddenly become unkillable, especially on planets or even in ships if they attack indirectly like with gravity or radiation or accurate subspace torpedoes or a bunch of other ways they attack us.

Ironically one favourite of the Terrans is instigating civil wars.

Marquis of Fucking Fantailler over here complaining that people aren't obeying *the rules* in a fight without them.

If there was a serious risk of the Dominion blowing itself up with SP tech the Terrans would have given it years ago.

>>3664830

>V-beam gun

Did we ever look into the damage that thing did as a weapon, rather than a laser pointer that nullifies anti-matter containment and self-destructs anti-matter carriers?

>traitorous cowards

It isn't traitorous to say that the Dominion needs to be treated like a toddler when it comes to possible military advantages. We're inherently part of the war-happy faction with the worst central control.

Cold War status between the factions depends upon all sides calculating that war will hurt them more than they will gain.

>instigating civil wars

And Sonia is terrible at stopping them! A match made in Dominion hell!

>the terrans would have given it years ago

The Terrans were likely terrified by the smaller chance of the SP tech forming a strong Ruling House and the Dominion being stronger than them. Which would inevitably then lead to another Faction War.

>>3664943
>The Terrans were likely terrified by the smaller chance of the SP tech forming a strong Ruling House and the Dominion being stronger than them.
I think it was back in one of these H&D lore threads back on /tg/ but a relatively unified Dominion is already more powerful than any single other Faction except for the Republic. If I remember correctly.
The Terans, for example, are just unable to keep up with SP and V weapon production if the Dominion decides to go all out on corvette and clone spam.

>>3662817
One thing I'd like to ask if builder material is required to make this installation work and how much work it required to make this phase shifted interior habitable. If we can replicate most of this with Faction tech, it would immediately allow each Faction to effectively double their habitable planet surface which might guarantee another few decades of peace.

>>3664963
>a relatively unified Dominion is already more powerful than any single other Faction except for the Republic

I think it was that each Faction had a specialty at the start. Terrans had, ofcourse, a large navy but it was backed up by advanced tech. Tech being their main advantage. The Dominion however is capable of sending in overwhelming numbers due to how highly militarized it is. With a lot of those numbers having actual combat experience that a more peaceful nation would not have.

>>3664943
>We're inherently part of the war-happy faction with the worst central control.
The Terrans are a faction who supports murder, blackmail, espionage, inciting unrest, strangling technological progress and overthrowing governments in foreign lands. I say they deserve the trashing they would get if they attacked the Dominion.

Also RIP the Count. One day we will avenge you.

>>3664978
>Terrans are a faction that...

Does nothing worse than the Dominion?

Hell, the Dominion does it to each other more often than not. I wouldn't be shocked if a good % of 'Terran' operations against Houses were just their rivals blaming the boogie man.

>RIP the Count. One day we will avenge you.

Ignore the fact that Sonia both got the ball rolling on the coup with Surekah democracy and then failed completely when given a chance to lead, redirect, or infiltrate & betray the rebellion.

I get that we don't like the Terrans, and fully advocate attempting to de-legitimize the coup as a Terran supported plot, but don't be the pot calling the kettle black.

>>3664978
>Terrans had, ofcourse, a large navy but it was backed up by advanced tech.
I think that's not correct but unfortunately it seems like the still existing online archive sites don't cover far enough to encompass the threads about the H&D setting back on /tg/. The Terrans are pretty small, maybe even the smallest faction if you don't count the more minor players like the Krath or Norune.

As I said, I might be remembering things wrong. TSTG will be able to clear things up when he's back.

>>3664993
>Does nothing worse than the Dominion?
Yes. That's the point being made here. With the exception that the Dominion does it to itself while the Terrans does it towards the Dominion. We are not saint and neither are they. So saying one should be treated as a toddler while the other shouldn't rings false to me.

>Sonia both got the ball rolling on the coup
Debatable. Surakah was like two decades ago and is nearly irrelevant to anything she has done as Baron of Rioja. As for the rebellion itself? WE told them they should wait to try bring about change until the end of the war. Then they went ahead and went from 0 to 2000% in about two weeks. There was no way Sonia could have predicted that things would escalate that fast.

>>3664995
>As I said, I might be remembering things wrong.
From what I remember of the map of the Centri cluster the Dominion and the Terrans hold about the same amount of territory. Can't dig it out now cause the archive is being ally borked but I'll see if I can get it a bit later.

>>3664978
>>3664995
The Terrans did have a powerful navy and were the first to develop what are now considered super heavy cruisers. Which immediately sparked a war because the Dominion wanted to prevent them from fielding such warships. They and the Rovinar held an edge in tech which helped counter the Dominion's superior numbers.

At the start of the Faction Wars the Terran civil war crippled their space fleets leaving them in a deficit of numbers they never really recovered from. To make up for this they doubled down on high technology developing V-torp and SP weapons. Fortunately the Dominion was too busy tearing itself apart and preparing to counter the newly risen Kavarian Union to take advantage of the gap.

It could be argued that at the current rate of SP mass production the Terrans and Rovinar are again equal in strength to the Dominion. The Kavarian Imperium/Iratar doesn't want to get involved in another series of faction wars and has been doing as much as possible to tie themselves to the Factions Alliance.

>>3665046
>It could be argued that at the current rate of SP mass production the Terrans and Rovinar are again equal in strength to the Dominion.
However, they require the drive plates from all Factions to sustain that. RIght?

>>3665050
Yes, but I'm not 100% certain if Sonia remembers that part?

>>3665054
Yeah. That part got mind wiped after our meeting with the Immortal and we did not write anything about it in our letter to ourselves afterwards.

On a related note. Could you post the picture of the Centri Cluster?

>>3665054
Probably not.

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>>3665065

>>3665073
Thank you kind sir.

>>3664943
> It isn't traitorous to say that the Dominion needs to be treated like a toddler when it comes to possible military advantages. We're inherently part of the war-happy faction with the worst central control.

Base slander.

> Sonia isn't good at stopping civil wars.

Cold-stopped Terran instigated a potential civil war in JD and managed to control the situation well enough to neither be forced to seize nor cede control, guiding the house through a potential crises and allowing it to continue to meet its obligations military and economic.

Terran spy, your embassy will be contacted with terms of your repatriation. I insist you cease and desist your slanderous sedition else terms will be set for the return of your body.

Also, regarding Dominion SP tech, Terrans and Rovinar were concerned about individual houses turning to oppornutistic pirates and raiding other factions, not it accelerating internal discord.

>>3658499
Well now, managed to binge through the archives. WOAH. What a ride! Happy to be among the active anons again.

>>3665275
How long did it take you?

File: Comparison Ankalagon.gif (4 KB, 899x331)

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You add the Mark 7's with a few minor upgrades to the list. They'll be made tomorrow along with some other miscellaneous gear. The SP torpedo is successfully smuggled back to the surface without anyone the wiser.

In between scheduled production from the pads everyone with the necessary experience is contributing time to the design of a smaller gate. It will have to be built in sections small enough for the vehicle grade pad to print out. That also includes a connection to the existing power grid which will actually take longer to set up.

A modified cargo repulsor is brought in to help move pieces to where they're needed. Even if this gate is never used it will give the Faction personnel valuable experience that could be used to enhance your own teleporters or gate tech. Those have plenty of problems that need correction.

Ilya and the Thule's Prism Knights are doing what they can to assist the various teams where they can. Its clear they expected more action and have taken up training with the tower guards, Rekesh Rangers of J-D forces.
"Do you think you'll want to set up a local chapter of Knights here?" you ask the next time you meet up with their leader.

"No. We cant fight monsters spitting poison gas like the people living here can. We can train them but its too dangerous to stay. Many of my people will want to help the Caretakers on the sphere. So many of their human followers on the sphere were killed since this war began that they are glad for the help.
We're not tied to the Factions, not really, so we can stay even if your relations with them break down later."

"I hope they wont." you say in response.

"Many of your people are worried about the next war before this one is even done. They're worried what will come of this. This place and the sphere. I hope all of you will be able to pick sides for the right reasons."

It isn't long after that you're contacted with the arrival of the next convoy.

"Viscount, the Rovinar Heavy Cruiser Ankalagon just arrived in orbit. Ambassador Schiroth and Admiral Elerain want to talk to you and the Krath representatives."

That's not a big surprise, though it's odd they'd divert a heavy cruiser. Informing the Krath of this you do what you can to make the next convoy out, arriving on the surface just over 20 minutes later. Looking over the displays from the surface command post you get a good look at the Rovinar command ship.

"What the hell is that?" you ask, poking a display.
"The Ankalagon sir."

The thing has 3 siege cannons, and the patched and pockmarked hull looks ancient. You knew the Rovinar didn't like to throw stuff away that they'd taken their time to build but seriously. Maybe it was meant as much as an intimidation weapon? According to the scanners they've upgraded its close in weapons with storm cannons and SP batteries. This thing could take apart a substantial fleet on its own.

>>3665316
Does it have any historical or cultural significance like Kavarian Dream?

>>3665316
Hah. Fucking Rovinar. They are the Hoarders of House and Dominion. That aside. That sure is a substantial amount of high grade weapons on such a raged ship.... Why do I get the feeling there is more to this ship than meets the eye. Holographic displays to make it look damaged?

>>3665316

If they wanted to gift us with salvage. This is quite the gift. Otherwise, putting a Heavy Cruiser here is sure to make someone question why we're putting so many heavy defenses here. Might want to move that thing to a system nearby.

>>3665326
Presumably, though you have little available information on it. Intel believes it destroyed a Dominion Heavy Cruiser back in the expeditionary wars, killing a quarter million civilians. There was no solid evidence to accuse the Rovinar of it at the time so it was blamed on inter-house rivalries. This would have been a serious violation of cease fire treaties.

>>3665335
It did just complete repairs after heavy fighting with Neeran, that's why it was delayed more than a week compared to the rest of the Rovinar forces.

Meeting with the Admiral and the Ambassador they're still clearly displeased with the Krath for unilaterally agreeing with your demands. Despite this they want in, if only to keep an eye on things and get an idea of just what the Dominion and Ruling House is getting its hands on. Fortunately for you, the key items have already been shipped out.

"So you'll agree to the same treaty stipulations as the Krath?" you ask.

"We're prepared to assist in keeping the local Krath issues quiet and provide assistance in that regard. We will also back the Dominion's claim to assist the Rekesh with their historical exploration, whatever you choose you call it, on the condition that we can likewise look at what is being taken out."

They're clearly not finished yet, the two Rovinar exchanging glances.
"If you want our assistance in forcing Terran covert actions against the Dominion to stop you will have to make it worth our while."

[ ] We're fine with just the first part
[ ] Insist on blocking Terran ops, they are late making a deal
[ ] Make them an offer (What say?)

>>3665388
>we can likewise look at what is being taken out."
Just hope they remember to look but not touch!

I do hope we can all agree that getting the Rovinar to distance themselves from the Terrans in this way is a huge win for us.

In any case
[ ] Agree with the first part
Just so we can get that out of the way. Preferably on paper, before we start offering them things which may or may not reveal the purpose of our need for a claim here.

What would people be willing to offer for this? They are obviously not getting the techs we've obtained, or are about to obtain, here. They are to close to the Terrans regardless for that. Perhaps we can allow them items from the Manufacturer? Besides that I do not see much we have that we can offer them.

Does the RH have anything to say on the matter?

>>3665388
>[x] Make them an offer (What say?)
"Your own sphere e-beam artifact." I feel like that would be a fair offer.

>"If you want our assistance in forcing Terran covert actions against the Dominion to stop you will have to make it worth our while."
But that's not what we asked for, if I remember correctly. We asked them to stop supporting Terran covert ops against the Dominion, not to put any pressure on their allies otherwise.

>>3665428
>not to put any pressure on their allies otherwise.

I don't know about you but I want a very public condemnation from them and a stop of support at a bare minimum. Anything more than that just makes it all the better and helps to drive a wedge between the Rovinar and the Terrans.

>"Your own sphere e-beam artifact."
Good idea. It is their specialty after all and I am sure they would enjoy making it all the more efficient.

>>3665428
>We asked them to stop supporting Terran covert ops against the Dominion, not to put any pressure on their allies otherwise.
As far as they're concerned publicly condemning the operations will be a substantial blow that will probably lead to such actions being suspended. At least for awhile.
It's certainly a better offer than simply withdrawing their support.

>>3665388
>"If you want our assistance in forcing Terran covert actions against the Dominion to stop you will have to make it worth our while."

Either the Ambassador or someone higher up did not understand us properly

We do want them to help stop the Terran’s conducting covert actions against the Dominion. It would be great if they could. But that would be counter productive and harm ties between factions. We only want them (the Rovinar) to stop conducting Covert Actions against the Dominion and for them to stop assisting the Terrans in covert actions against the Dominion. And even then we gave them leeway to stop assisting the Terrans for the short term, not permanently.

Agree to the first part for now.

But lets sit down and talk about the second part. Because wires must have got crossed somewhere and would be nice to avoid harming ties between factions.

>>3665465
>It's certainly a better offer than simply withdrawing their support.
But it's also a more expensive offer, isn't it?

>>3665446
>Anything more than that just makes it all the better and helps to drive a wedge between the Rovinar and the Terrans.
I'm not interested in that at all. The Rovinar are probably what keeps the Terrans from doing the really retarded stuff most of the time. They can have their power block for all I care.

[ ] We're fine with just the first part
[ ] Public condemnation for ebeam artifacts/others (stepped up Rovinar offer)
[ ] Withdraw Rovinar support for ops against Dominion for ebeam artifacts

>>3665483
>[x] Withdraw Rovinar support for ops against Dominion for ebeam artifacts
I'd prefer to keep this as low key as possible.
>artifacts
One should be enough, though. The one Sonia has lent them already allowed them to make significant advances.

>>3665483
>[ ] Public condemnation for ebeam artifacts/others (stepped up Rovinar offer)

>>3665482
Better that our enemy is weaker alone

>>3665493
>Better that our enemy is weaker alone
And then the Terrans panic because the big scary Dominion is sitting next door and manage to ruin yet another universe. No, thanks.

>>3665483
>[ ] We're fine with just the first part

I know Af led said she wasn't interested in the world outside, but maybe bringing her on a diplomatic tour would be fun? Chuck her in holographic simulator and show her how to pilot a fighter/corvette/frigate.

>>3665316
>The thing has 3 siege cannons, and the patched and pockmarked hull looks ancient. You knew the Rovinar didn't like to throw stuff away that they'd taken their time to build but seriously.
While we're waiting for more votes, what do these guys think of Forbearance? Are they impressed or appalled? Also, are they willing to share any advice on how to keep such an old ship in service?

"Let's stick to the original request. Withdraw support for covert actions against Dominion. It doesn't need to be a public condemnation. In return we'll see about getting you as much e-beam artifact technology as possible. I know you were able to make a number of advancements just from looking at one of them."

It's clear they were hoping for more, hence their own raised offer, but at the same time cant pass up such an opportunity. It's soon explained why.

The Suvorov, under the command of Captain Wilson, have managed to complete the duties that had drawn them away from operations here. They'll be arriving in a few days. Once that happens the situation will only become more complicated.

"I see."
Ultimately that doesn't change things for you. The Alliance was already going to show up here eventually it was just a question of when. You'd worried it would happen when their capital ship fleet entered the galaxy, but those forces are much too busy to worry about secondary intelligence goals.

There are also Krath forces with the Intel fleet but that problem has been headed off too. At least you assume so given the agreement with the Union.

With most of that taken are of there is the issue of the Rovinar presence in orbit.
"That heavy cruiser is going to draw attention and we're already too close to the border for comfort. I dont suppose you could move it somewhere else? Or at least cloak?"

"Raiders have already harassed this system and the orbital defenses are still under strength. Eventually the Ulgean will figure out this system has value and when they do it would be best if it were prepared to resist a heavier assault." the admiral argues.

[ ] Bring in more platforms
[ ] Reinforce planetary shields & surface defenses
[ ] Keep a force of some kind in orbit

>>3665797
>[ ] Reinforce planetary shields & surface defenses

>>3665797
Do they think the Ulgean are willing to risk a war with the alliance? I'd also prefer to check the status of our inbound RH reinforcements.

>>3665797
>[ ] Reinforce planetary shields & surface defenses

>>3665815
>Do they think the Ulgean are willing to risk a war with the alliance?
If the fighting remains localised and they can secure a cease fire after taking the planet the Alliance might have to accept it. Especially if they can come up with a bullshit justification for attacking first.

>status of our inbound RH reinforcements.
Older ships and fleet units have arrived and reinforced secondary positions. One Dominion Super is currently under repair at the mobile yard your fleets set up. All of this has freed up the better equipped forces under the Alliance, Rovinar, Baron Xedols and the J-D fleet. It's not perfect but you have a fighting chance at holding the territory taken so far.

The Rekesh are now fairly well equipped, though they're still lacking in experience with many of the craft now making up their military. More shipyards are coming back online and have begun work on attack cruisers and battleships. They remain the best off, though not all of them seem to realise this based on the number of complaints about needing more training time.

The Southern rebel government is now fielding hundreds of smaller craft like LST's and light attack ships. Most of their military force is made up of Ren's mercenaries. The other rebel movements are worse off in terms of total equipment.

Intel reports that the Ulgean main fleets are quickly rebuilding any of their Supers that were crippled or destroyed taking the second shipyard. Their own super carrier model cant take many hits but its basic enough they can replace damaged sections easily enough.

>>3665907
Thanks.

>One Dominion Super is currently under repair at the mobile yard your fleets set up.
Would Rekesh siege turrets be an improvement over what's installed in that ship's siege mounts at the moment?

>>3665797
>[x] Bring in more platforms
We need to rebuild orbital infrastructure in the area anyway.

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>>3665916
>Would Rekesh siege turrets be an improvement over what's installed in that ship's siege mounts at the moment?
Not really. They're effectively a Rekesh equivalent to the Light Siege Cannon Turret (5x), but arranged like a lance turret. The mount also would need extensive modification to be compatible with Faction ones.

>>3665926
I see.

>The mount also would need extensive modification to be compatible with Faction ones.
Maybe this would still prove useful as a mid term project? The Rekesh aren't using the turrets on anything other than their stations so a redisgned mount wouldn't hurt them and another supplier of phase siege cannon turrets would still help the war effort. We could even help them get contracts from srl warlords Sonia's in good standing with.

"We can reinforce the planetary shields and surface defenses." you decide. "The only reason I didn't is because I wanted to avoid drawing excessive attention. I even brought planetary defense guns."

This seems to catch most of those present off guard.

"Hardly any Houses build defense guns let alone deploys them with a forward fleet." says the Ruling House representitive.

"I saw them in action against the Kythera and my people had to sim against one in Nirium space before the invasion. I figured it would be worth bringing a couple."

"Those guns would dramatically increase the ability of key positions to hold on. Possibly until reinforcements could arrive in strength." says the Admiral. "Please consider positioning one near a major spaceport."

[ ] Both at the dig site
[ ] 1 at dig site, 1 at nearest space port
[ ] Other ideas for placement?

>>3666015
>[ ] 1 at dig site, 1 at nearest space port

If we do decide to put one near dig site. Make sure to let the governor know. And that the reason we're putting it here instead of the city. Is so that if the planet gets seiged, the city isn't an orbital bombardment target. The dig site is. And if they damage the outside then they've effectively closed off the only known way in. And go to the other entrance and make a new means in to the sphere.

>>3666015
>[ ] Other ideas for placement?
I'd place one at the nearest spaceport and one at the planet's capital. If Ulgean troops actually invade, we simply pack up the gate at the digsite and evacuate it somewhere else. Hide it in a stealth container at the bottom of the ocean, for example.

>>3666043
>we simply pack up the gate at the digsite and evacuate it somewhere else. The transit chamber does not seem to be a thing you can move. It is integrated. You can bury the dig site though.

>>3666071
Okay, that's unfortunate. However, I still think placing the second gun somewhere else is probably a smarter idea. If we fill the camber to the gate with liquid startship metal and let it harden or something equally annoying to remove, it should prevent them from investigating it at least as long as the cannon would have managed. Especially since they won't know nothing short of anti matter will actually damage what's down there.

>>3666015

No chance that some mountain range could allow a gun to be placed where it could cover both the dig site and support the second gun in/around a space port, I assume?

>>3666238
The nearest space port is too far away.

>>3666015
>>3666238


>[X] 1 at dig site, 1 at nearest space port

One gun is being placed at the nearest spaceport and other other here by the dig site. They'll have a hard time seriously threatening this place without a nearby spaceport. Despite this precautions need to be set up should it be necessary to seal the entrance. Like by dumping molten metal into the upper dome and freezing it in place. The engineers should have a fun time figuring that out.

Messages will also need to be sent to the governor warning that more defenses are going to be put in place. No additional troops should be needed and you're hoping this is all just being paranoid. If the guns need to stay they'll be transferred to Rekesh ownership in the future. With luck these guns being away from the major cities should keep fighting focused here instead of elsewhere.

The Rovinar send down their specialists then the heavy cruiser breaks orbit. With luck the Ulgean will simply think they were making a stopover for totally not suspicious reasons.

Once back to work meetings continue about possible items to be added to the prototype manufacturing list.

>I'm sure the system can improve on Leviathan blood.
Jan actually has an idea about that but asks you and anyone else from the original sphere team to keep quiet about it.

>Any high tech anti AI weapons? An AI equivalent to the stun grenade would be nice.
Lightning gauntlet

>Hyper advanced anti-virus and firewall software to kick the Terrans out of our system.
>Advanced encryption methods.
Surprisingly little on that front at first, possibly due to the methods needed to access some of their tech. There are system locks that require a person to interface like with using artifact weapons.

After some study it's realised that these are actually very similar to the system used to lock out the controls of neeran shields. It also prevents an AI from gaining control of the system. The new data presents a number of potential solutions but their study will take time.

>High density and long lasting data storage.
Plenty of examples of that.

>A caretaker translator that allows communication with them without a Neeran. Or makes the experience at least easier to stomach for the Neeran.
Does not appear to exist in the databanks.

>Ways to repair subspace once it has been thoroughly broken.
Tereoct has studied this in detail according to his granddaughter. It should be possible but difficult. You'd never be able to build what was needed with these small manufacturing pads though. It would need the large manufacturing blocks present in the Dyson Sphere polar regions.

>Something that can help to find and sen(d?) stuff to the Factions home universe without damaging this one.
It looks like anything that could potentially involve time travel or transit between parallel/alternate universes is locked out.

>Alternative ftl methods. The watchers are supposed to be using something that's better than what the factions and neeran have. I'm sure the caretakers came up with something that's even more impressive.
They do have more wormhole tech that could be used by a ship without the need for a gate. This does have a maximum range. Somewhere in the vicinity of 10k lightyears. Your fastest ships could travel that far in about 7 minutes, though not inside of a crowded galaxy.

>>3664963
>One thing I'd like to ask if builder material is required to make this installation work
It prevents the geothermal spikes and the transit chambers from being damaged by heat or pressure. The best Faction materials can take a lot, but it's not know for how long by comparison. Probably not tens of thousands of years, and if they need to be replaced you potentially face shutting down the system.
Then again, you might figure out alternatives in that time span.

>how much work it required to make this phase shifted interior habitable.
Quite a bit. There was nothing but the outer shell of rock. It required terraforming to an extent.

>If we can replicate most of this with Faction tech, it would immediately allow each Faction to effectively double their habitable planet surface which might guarantee another few decades of peace.
It wont work on every planet. An iron core and a strong and thick enough outer crust is required. Well technically you dont need an iron core, but then you'd need a light source, among other things.

It's unlikely this will see widespread use for habitats in the immediate future. Black ops bases are another thing.

>>3666468
> pump the gate full of Veckron radiation

We know how to make people immune to it.

Besides, we can just massively fortify the other side since the Ulgeans would be limited in what they can send through.

They're in a far worse situation to continue hostilities as well, given that we were kicking the Neeran's ass as a united Empire already. I'd be willing to share sphere tech with the Alliance just to spite the Ulgeans if they took it from us, if that's what it took to continue the war.

Not to mentun Krath/Rovinar concerns.

>>3666470
> They do have more wormhole tech that could be used by a ship without the need for a gate.

Wormhole guns? Shoot a free standing wormhole through ships and teleport bits elsewhere? Also that would be great for planetary invasions. Land a wormhole and send troops through that.

>>3666468
>possible items to be added to the prototype manufacturing list.
More data on terraforming, for the Reynard Harmen Alliance, if it exists?

>>3666496
Also, ceremonial Reynard Custom?

>>3666486
>Wormhole guns?
No, anything that small requires a gate.

>Shoot a free standing wormhole through ships and teleport bits elsewhere? Also that would be great for planetary invasions. Land a wormhole and send troops through that.
Af Ied admits she knows or a similar sort of device. A deployable gate that can be sent by drone craft. Apparently this is their preferred method for transport to distant parts of the interior. Launch a small probe with gate that unpacks once it lands. Their people can then teleport there quickly and easily.

Shit the Ori did something like that in SG1 didn't they?

>>3666519

>Wormhole guns?
> No, anything that small requires a gate.

THICC Wormhole guns?

>>3666519
Wormhole torpedoes that get shot into ships, turn on, then link up with wormholes into which copious amount of energy is sent through? If stability is a concern, we could maybe send warheads through?

> A torpedo that shoots torpedoes, one step closer to sufficient amounts of dakka?

>>3666519
Wormhole ships that don't store torpedoes, but just carry a wormhole through which torpedoes are teleported to from a giant torpedo barge at a safe distance?

Wormhole carriers that can quick dump their fighters through larger wormholes, and same for retrieval allowing them to be crammed into smaller pocket carriers?

>>3666546
Yeah, you'd need a big torpedo with its own power source and then the challenge of getting it through shields and armor. Then hope it all still works, doesn't screw up or cause a back blast.
Unless it were going deep inside a heavy or larger it would blast itself back out into space and be rendered useless for the rest of the fight. This all seems impractical to me.

>>3666551
>Wormhole ships that don't store torpedoes, but just carry a wormhole through which torpedoes are teleported to from a giant torpedo barge at a safe distance?
That's sort of partly a thing already what with newer assault corvettes able to teleport out their torpedo magazine to a ship carrying extra.

>Wormhole carriers
I'll need to think about that. Maybe with drones but manned fighters are going to want a conventional way out in an emergency.

>>3666557
City ships though, and Supers.

Although I suppose it would be better to have ships designed to latch on and then teleport clone troopers in to capture them at that point.

Look, I practice Ryan Anderson science, just throw things at the wall and see what you get.

>>3666586
Do they know what happens if you put a wormhole into a wormhole?

Or if you link two wormholes, then put one of them into stasis? And then send a bunch of energy into the wormhole and out the stasis side?

>>3666515
>ceremonial Reynard Custom?
"What is that ridiculous gun?" asks Af Ied.
"It's the Reynard Custom. One of the first firearms produced by the weapons company I partly own."
"Why is it so much larger than all the others guns your people use?"
"Internal magazines that double as a heat sink and a long barrel for more acceleration."
"And this weapon is not as popular?
"Why do you say that?"
"None of your people use it."

You point out a few people equipped with the Reynard Rifle M, much to the other woman's disbelief.
"Even I can tell those are not the same weapon."
"Its a minimalist version that's easier to produce and handle. Because of the weight the Reynard Custom is normally only used by power armor troops, making it very exclusive."

"Exclusive... yes. Why are you showing it to me?"
"I was hoping to get a few made for ceremonial guards."
"Do we not have more important things to make? Your Rovinar friends still require weapons."
"Please? I'll promise no more superfluous requests for a week."
"None until after your meeting with my grandfather and I'll agree to it."
"Deal."

>Armor for Krath
This would force them to hold their form to make use of the armor, or discard it. Unless they carried lots of tiny plates they could move around at will to better protect their body. Or Scale mail.
At the moment none of the Krath are terribly interested, though they do thank you for thinking of them.

>>3666736
It's like she doesn't appreciate a good suppressing fire maneuver. Plasma weapons are pretty good, but they can't put 300 rounds downrange in a few seconds. I don't think we've ever tried it, but airbursting an entire magazine of the Fusion rounds must do a fair bit of damage too.

Please give some thought (and suggestions) to long term objectives for this place. We're here, we're building stuff and getting the gates ready for potential use to explore the core. What else beyond that?

>>3666816
Use it to stash politically inconvenient but not hostile people?

Set up an emergency long term government in the case of dominion collapse?

I honestly feel that simply exploiting the production capabilities is almost too big.

We have to resolve the Leviathan issue at some point. Also reaching into other dimensions. Wait aren't WE, in a sense, extradimensional horrors that happen to resemble native inhabitants?

I guess we should look at setting up a united sphere government, since there are native inhabitants.

But the potential in this place dwarfs concerns of nations and kings. No wonder the Caretakers lost interest in relatively petty matters.

Can we make sweet mechas for safe recreational fights?

Also still curious about opening wormholes inside other wormholes, and putting wormholes into stasis.

>>3666816

It was brought up by Veod that the Sphere's external gates can project long distances. We could see about whether or not this facility has the same functions or not. And if it does if the Wizard would be okay with attempting to reactivate such capability. So we can see if it is possible to connect this site to the sphere in the future. That way Caretaker Neeran can visit and assist the Rekesh Caretakers. And possibly assist the Wizard here on his project. While also allowing those same Caretaker Neeran a chance to talk to the previous Caretakers still in stasis here.

Also, that we'd like to use this place as a forward operating post to possibly head out to the other location given to us by the factory.

Also, I want to see if we can coax out information from this place how to make stronger materials. It doesn't have to be Sphere Builder material strong. But stronger then Faction Material and able to withstand SP torps (ie stronger SP torp armor). It's no secret among the factions we produce SP torp armor. So finding a means to produce a material here. And then running it past our scientists and engineers to see if it is possible to take those samples back to the Dominion for study and hopefully replication.

I understand that Power Armor is made of stronger materials then space ships. But what if we crashed the market on that material. Introduce this new material into the Power Armor market? Could we then turn the current Power Armor material into ship material? Or would it still be considered a limited quantity material?

Of course, we'd be willing to work with the Wizard and his people and the Rekesh people above for production rights of this new material. Since we would be using their home as a test bed for this idea.

>>3666816
Long term? An outpost or science base just to study every aspect of this place. I think it's safe to say we've fulfilled the Emperor's objectives by securing the one manufacturing pad for a limited time.

It would make a nice safe retreat location if we needed to hide somewhere.

Maybe we could also invite a detachment of Dyson caretakers to station themselves here? Keep them happy and know we aren't misusing anything too badly.

I'm sure, in time, the other Factions will find out about this place and politically pressure their way in, so maybe we should make preparations for that?

>>3666816
>Please give some thought (and suggestions) to long term objectives for this place.
Beyond other posters suggestions I'm not sure.

I didn't think it was going to be possible to hold this place. I thought we'd infiltrate, make off with a new artifact or two then return back to the Dominion.
Now that we can print anything, it feels a bit hollow. We didn't just find the treasure, we found the thing that makes it.

>>3666816
I see the long term projects as following.

-Set up a permanent join Rekesh Dominion research base for the purpose of being able to replicate the Builder Tech and learn from it. The ultimate goal being able to copy this entire system so we can build something similar in the Dominion at a secure location. If only to make the supply chain smaller.

-Artifact Manufacturing for the Dominion an the Rekesh. Since we secured this facility and gained two pads from it, so far, we've achieved our main goal. Now we just need to exploit it to the best of our ability. Power Armour, weapons, tech items, artifacts etc.

-Finding a safe way into the core and clearing it out for our use. The potential here is to great to not attempt to do it. Not that we should rush it in any way shape or form.

-Removing the entirety of the Blightscale infestation. Which the Krath heads. Doing that will just be all around good for us.

-Build defenses. In the event of infiltration or invasion we want this place to be well defended from the inside. Since it's much harder for enemy forces to enter here in a number that we can't control. So a proper Gate Control Center or the like would be nice.

Basically entrench, research, explore and exploit.

>>3666736
>This would force them to hold their form to make use of the armor, or discard it.
The idea was to artificially replicate the link between leviathan and scale but this time between Krath and their artificial armor. No idea if caretaker engineering lends itself in that direction but I thought it was worth trying.

>>3666816
Reconnecting this facility with the sphere and handing control over most of it to the caretaker neeran seems like an obvious idea. They know how to actually maintain this technology while both we and the rekesh are just fumbling around. I think we also never asked Tereoct what they were actually planning to do with this place once they had finished their caretaker uplifting project.

If possible, I'd use this situation to come up with a deal with the sphere neeran to let us reactivate the rest of the sphere builder facilities. If the empire or the ulgean had discovered this place and things had gone really wrong, we might be fighting a war against sphere buffed leviathans right now. I understand they prefer isolation but checking in on and reconnecting with sphere builder facilities should be a priority even if only to properly evacuate or shut them down.

We should also talk to the Rekesh about what they would prefer. Should the planet and system be turned into a large research facility for sphere tech or would they prefer to keep the whole operation low key and do the research elsewhere. My assumption is this will location become known to all other factions at some point, so we might as well prepare for something like the sphere research society having access to prevent an all out war eventually.

>>3666816
>long term objectives for this place.
A home for the Reynard Exploration Foundation, to seek out anomalies and points of interest in the universe. To chart any dangers to the Faction Alliance and it's people. To boldly go...

>>3667106
>Reconnecting this facility with the sphere and handing control over most of it to the caretaker neeran seems like an obvious idea
How about not handing over what we came to get for the Dominion or else this while trip has been a giant waste of time?

>>3667114
We're not handing over anything, mainly because the Rekesh caretakers are still in control of the facility. In addition to that, we're also already relying on their help and the goodwill of the Neeran caretakers we brought with us. Without either party, we would not be getting much done here. They tolerate us but thinking we actually own anything in here at this point is not very realistic.

>else this while trip has been a giant waste of time
We already have hundreds of new artifacts where we previously had only something like ten at best and can produce even more. In addition we have secured the Rekesh as a Ruling House ally, managed to get diplomatically closer to both Rovinar and Krath, and significantly weakened Terran operations in Dominion space. On top of that, we have driven the Empire from this area, sustained minimal losses, saved several allied super heavy cruisers, and captured tens of billions in ships and installations. We might possibly earn even more from reconstruction contracts from the states we've helped establish.
If this qualifies as a giant waste of time, I don't really know what you expected.

>>3666816
I'd like to have the remaining artificats Illya's knights scanned by one of these manufacturing pads. Would it be possible to get a mobile version of the scanner used in that machine?

>>3667129
>We're not handing over anything
>>3667106
handing control over most of it to the caretaker neeran seems like an obvious idea

Contradiction here.

>the Rekesh caretakers are still in control of the facility.
They are in control of some parts of the facility. Not all of it. Certainly not the abandoned facilities we've found nor the areas full of Blightscale and while helpful their assistance is not strictly required.

As for the Caretakers? Sure. Uller is one through and through but Sam and David both are more in our camp than theirs. Disregarding them entirely. Lady Af proved that you do not need to be a Neeran to use the Manufacturing pad since she too can make items. As can probably more than just her considering they produce them back at their own tower.

>thinking we actually own anything in here at this point is not very realistic.
We occupy it, we can use it, we have allies who can use it, we got the bigger stick. We got the claim. Our allies control the planet and the territory connected to it. Both the Krath and the Rovinar support us in our claim. I'd say we and the Rekesh got the claim part pretty covered. What with three Factions saying this is ours, plus the natives also saying this is ours.

That is not to say we would ban the Caretakers from coming here or anything but it need to be made clear that what we've recovered is ultimately the Dominions property from now on. But cooperation with the Caretakers is very much something we an work towards.

>We already have hundreds of new artifacts
In the end they are just trinkets to the true prize of this place. The technology is what we came for. To secure a stable supply of items to help shift things in the Dominions favor. That is why we came here. Salvaged ships and stations. Alien allies and pushed back Neerans. Those are all just bonuses to this whole operation. They where never the main goal. Obtaining control of the Builder Facility was always the main goal.

I think it's important to remember Svidur's warning about the danger of the artifacts and what a small handful have already done.

Cooling laser has helped secure Dominion Plasma domination.
The wormhole gate blueprints have set up a whole Faction Alliance division.
Studying the Plasma weapon gave us the Mk7 variant pistols.
Who knows what the Veckron Crystal gave them inspiration for? We never visited the project site on our tour (that must have been like 4 or 5 irl years ago now, wow.)

The Dyson Sphere Neeran already said we'd been given to much, and it just makes me want to tread with caution now.

>>3667138
>Contradiction here.
From Rekesh semi-caretaker to Neeran.

>They are in control of some parts of the facility. Not all of it.
I'm convinced they can shut us out of the systems if they want to.

>Uller is one through and through but Sam and David both are more in our camp than theirs.
Sure, that's why we didn't get the location of the AI facility. If they have reason to think we're not going to be responsible with what we get, they still can and will lock us out of information.

>we got the bigger stick
No, we don't. They can still let this place crash into real space netting us nothing.

>That is why we came here.
We came here in the hope of finding something useful but we didn't even know if the facilility still existing and any meaningful way. We already got way more than we could realistically hope for.

>>3666470
>They do have more wormhole tech that could be used by a ship without the need for a gate. This does have a maximum range. Somewhere in the vicinity of 10k lightyears. Your fastest ships could travel that far in about 7 minutes, though not inside of a crowded galaxy.
That would still prove incredibly useful for reconnection with the areas ruined by v-torps or exploring various navigation hazards. I'm sure the aliens that have to rely on STL travel in Sonia's would appreciate it. It might even open the possiblity of mining the super dense region around the galactic core that can't be reached with faction ftl.

>>3667157
>and it just makes me want to tread with caution now.
This is something I agree with.

>>3667165
>I'm convinced they can shut us out of the systems if they want to.
The locals or the Caretakers? The locals haven't been able to access the facilities we've been to so far so I find it doubtful that they could do it remotely. Given time they could probably do it with direct access but if it comes to that we should have plenty of warning that things are about to break down in relationships there and thus throw them out of our facilities. And in the end these are just computers and anything done to them, short of a complete wipe, can probably be undone given time. But they don't have a reason to do. Caretakers could probably do it remotely from a command center but have shown no desire to do so.

>No, we don't. They can still let this place crash into real space netting us nothing.
But they wont considering they are not mass murdering megalomaniacs. As they would kill millions in doing that and the locals don't want to commit self genocide.

>We came here in the hope of finding something useful
Yes. Useful Builder tech. Which is exactly what we found albit at a bigger scale than what was expected.

>That would still prove incredibly useful for reconnection with the areas ruined by v-torps
That's very true. 10k light years is like.... 1/10 of our galaxy in range. Which is a tremendously long distance. Still would like that device that can help rebuild zones damaged by Veckron torpedoes. Can you imagine just how much money we would make from that? In DRH 1 we could probably double the amount of usable territory! The Navigators Guild would probably love us for it.

>>3667157

I second this guy.

We put enough (possibly misguided at the time) trust in Svidur to send him with our V-torp reclamation team during the Warlords Campaign, and later he entrusted those artifacts to Sonia.


I believe that our primary long term goal should be fortifying the political power of the subspace wizard, ideally with the assistance of Uller and/or Veod, and cementing the control of said subspace wizard over all exports from this facility. For the protection of the Rekesh government and this world, this will need to be a massive state secret for likely the next few decades.

By integrating a small Royal House/J-D (or Science Knight Order?) group into the subspace pocket to work on long-term understanding of the sphere tech, we can hopefully reap some great benefits.

Additionally, fortifying the local subspace wizard politically will hopefully make it far more difficult for the Factions to access this facility. Especially if we can manage to integrate him into the wider Rekesh state that we have a political agreement with.


Does anyone recall if we integrated our armor company fully into DHI or just partnered with them? We might be able to profit greatly by scanning in some of our latest starship armor and studying the resulting sphere tech take on the various layers. The material science gains from that could also potentially assist with strengthening assault corvette frames vs the 3D maneuver system stresses.
Non-subspace sphere related, we should secure some land holdings in Rekesh territory and establish some RSS/DHI facilities to both profit and move their tech bases toward the Dominion. And maybe partner to move some of their neat toys toward Dominion use.

This would then hopefully assist the planned Royal House FOB, because DHI parts compatibility!

Sonia needs to ask herself, "what would Svidur do?"

Going to try and get a post together tomorrow after work. Worst case I resume Saturday.

What about making some ammo types from builder stuff would they all become armour piercing slightly?

Trying to get a replacement mouse configured. Give me a bit.

>>3666846
>Set up an emergency long term government in the case of dominion collapse?
A government that which Houses would listen to or respect?

>Wait aren't WE, in a sense, extradimensional horrors that happen to resemble native inhabitants?
From a certain point of view.obi wan

>Can we make sweet mechas for safe recreational fights?
You can already do that. Just use non-lethal weapons.

>Also still curious about opening wormholes inside other wormholes, and putting wormholes into stasis.
Highly probable that none of those are a good idea. Those you mention it to believe it would destroy the device or cause the wormhole to collapse.

"So could we use that as an emergency shutdown if it looked like Leviathans or something else were going to come through a gate?"
"It might work, but it would be harmful to anyone nearby."


>>3666855
>It was brought up by Veod that the Sphere's external gates can project long distances. We could see about whether or not this facility has the same functions or not.
Already answered that if it ever had it, it now doesn't work.
If enough production is functional it might be possible to build such a gate upgrade though.
Farcaster project added.

>So we can see if it is possible to connect this site to the sphere in the future.
This should be possible but they dont want to risk it while there are Blight scales and Leviathans here.

>Also, that we'd like to use this place as a forward operating post to possibly head out to the other location given to us by the factory.
This is certainly preferable to exposing the Sphere to such dangers.

>how to make stronger materials.
Added to the list

>I understand that Power Armor is made of stronger materials then space ships. But what if we crashed the market on that material.
Then you'd piss off several hundred Houses that rely on it for their power armor.

>Could we then turn the current Power Armor material into ship material? Or would it still be considered a limited quantity material?
Both availability and strength to weight ratios are a thing. There is limited production capability for a number of reasons, and even if you could increase those numbers it would still be a bad idea to armor starships in it due to the weight.

>>3666895
>It would make a nice safe retreat location if we needed to hide somewhere.
Yet another secret backup base for punished Reynard?

>Maybe we could also invite a detachment of Dyson caretakers to station themselves here?
Uller thinks Veod does intended to do this. He did spend the better part of a day with Tereoct while you were away dealing with the Krath issue.

>>3666998
>-Build defenses. [...] So a proper Gate Control Center or the like would be nice.
Af Ied feels that, though time and materials intensive, this would be a good idea. If your engineers could expand the caverns around the transit chamber entrance her people could work with yours to plan out a proper way station to replace the original that was clearly damaged.

>>3667106
>The idea was to artificially replicate the link between leviathan and scale but this time between Krath and their artificial armor. No idea if caretaker engineering lends itself in that direction but I thought it was worth trying.
Not really. Giving them lots of little plates they could shift around themselves as needed is as good as it gets. This would require some additional concentration on their part to hang onto them.

>Should the planet and system be turned into a large research facility for sphere tech or would they prefer to keep the whole operation low key
They would certainly prefer low key but that's unlikely to happen once word gets out to other governments.

>ask Tereoct what they were actually planning to do with this place once they finish their caretaker uplifting project.
Probably move onto other projects he considers important but hasn't had time for. Also yell at kids to get off his lawn.

>handing control over most of it to the caretaker neeran
Seeing a lot of dissent regarding this.

>>3667129
>Would it be possible to get a mobile version of the scanner used in that machine?
Yes. This was one of the first things Akyarres requested and a stack of them have been produced for the field teams.

>>3667138
>Lady Af proved that you do not need to be a Neeran to use the Manufacturing pad since she too can make items. As can probably more than just her considering they produce them back at their own tower.
She also hasn't made any effort towards teaching others in your party how to use it. Clearly they dont teach operations to everyone in the tower. Signs of an educated nobility? Fortunately any of the Neeran with you have either been learning most of their lives or been working to understand it since your last expedition.

Akyarres is on the verge of being able to use it himself, though he doesn't trust himself to do so unsupervised. Ten Zohn is picking up parts of it rapidly from the Caretakers.

>>3667157
>Studying the Plasma weapon gave us the Mk7 variant pistols.
It is firmly believed that these would have entered production eventually due to war time advances It just would have been a few years later.

>>3667182
>The Navigators Guild would probably love us for it.
I wouldn't be so sure of that.

>>3667205
>Does anyone recall if we integrated our armor company fully into DHI or just partnered with them?
The armor company carried out a merger with the main J-D armor producing company in order to get the resources needed to complete R&D on the second generation armor iirc. Sonia owns 45-50% of the resultant company I believe and makes a ton of money off it.

DHI specializes primarily in the production of power systems and to a lesser extent starships. They wanted to stay out of starship production entirely but ultimately that wasn't possible.

>>3672769
I feel like their might actually be some downsides to an unbreakable bullet that couldn't deform or self sharpen. Obviously there are advantages.

Why does our planet have to be so close to the sun?! Fuck this heat!

>>3676608
>Akyarres is on the verge of being able to use it himself, though he doesn't trust himself to do so unsupervised. Ten Zohn is picking up parts of it rapidly from the Caretakers.
Obviously I am going to ask to have Sonia try as well! You know. For science. Also being one step closer to being a wizard herself.

>I wouldn't be so sure of that.
Because they don't trust us to clean up Veckron Nav hazards? Come on, we are super trustworthy! No hidden agendas. No siree, nope!

>>3676630
Have you tried turning it off?

It's still days before the next meeting with Tereoct when the Alliance intel taskforce arrives in system. They've under cloak and using drive scattering so even the Krath have a difficult time detecting their approach. With all the cloaked ships in orbit you're going to start running out of places to park ships up there soon.

Called to the surface it isn't long before the face of Alliance Intel officer Captain Gaben Wilson appears on screen.
"Reynard, I see you've been busy practicing power gaming."

"If you mean delaying your fleet that wasn't my fault, but I'm not in a position to turn down such help."

Wilson shrugs.
"I knew you'd get here first but I didn't expect to find the Krath and Rovinar backing up your position. Not until a few days ago. I think I have a rough idea of what you and the Ruling House have probably made off with by now thanks to our allies among the Caretakers.

The question now is, what will the future hold? You're enough of a realist to know that the Dominion can't maintain control of a facility like this indefinitely. How do you think this will play out? Or better yet, how do you hope it will?"

>What say?

>>3676771

"The Dominion does not maintain control of this facility. We are simply fulfilling our treaty obligations to protect the [Rekesh Rebels] and their legitimate claim to the facility that their people have lived within and controlled for generations. Both the Krath and Rovinar governments recognize this.

Any accusations that the Dominion or any of its Houses have laid claim to a planet or any portion thereof belonging to the Rekesh government, which has been guaranteed independence by Ruling House of the Dominion, is slander."

>>3676771
>I think I have a rough idea of what you and the Ruling House have probably made off with by now thanks to our allies among the Caretakers.
Pretty ungrateful those guys.

>What say?
"Unfortunately, the Dominion does not control the facility. To be realistic, I'm expecting a slow trickle of artifacts in the long run. Handed out to whoever is willing to fulfill the requests of the current owners."

>>3676771
"You come with plenty of accusations, Captain, but fact remains. The Rekesh have their claim to this place by right of it being their planet. We have a written agreement with them on the matter. You have not one but THREE members of the Alliance backing this up. Not that any of us need to explain our actions to the Alliance of all people. You are a organization meant to protect all the Factions from external threats. Not play internal politics and try to say what we can and can not do. Or else you are starting to look like nothing more than a paramilitary organization who bring about their will by force over already agreed diplomatic decisions. Now. We have gotten several pirates from just such a external threats raiding these liberated worlds and freshly formed nations. Why don't you go deal with that instead of bothering me with this?"

Also, off topic: 50 years since the 1st moon landing!

>>3676839
I hate to complain about other anons' suggestions but that one sounds like Sonia's having the worst pms of her life. She's not that awful with diplomacy.

>>3676856
I mean, Sonia has worked with the man before and he's treated her fairly. No need to be rude.

>>3676856
>>3676884

Agreed.
There is no need to antagonize anyone from the Factions Alliance for trying to do their job.

We're all fighting this war together, and if we start fighting each other we're all screwed.

>>3676771
"I plan to hand over control of the facility to the Rekesh and hope that they become close allies or members of the Dominion"

>>3676771
We have good replies already, but I want him to clarify what he means by their allies among the Caretakers. Are they playing politics without us? Because that would hurt our feelings. Also our relations if they're excluding us from negotiations with the Caretakers.

We might have to talk to some of them that we personally know, ourselves, or even go to a higher authority than the current replacement caretakers.

Yeah. That's right. We have a direct line to the Management and if they are really nice we might let them talk to them, if yhe Caretaker is willing. He gets grouchy if disturbed.

>>3676771
Honestly, hoping for Dominion control for a year, then after that joint control with the Alliance. The lead we gain on technology keeps the Dominion on competitive footing with the other factions, maybe edges it out a little bit for our 'racial' techs like LD Plasma and Gravity Wells. Rekesh are treated fairly, and so are the Dominion.

After all, Sonia is the one that started this all, from the moment Svidur left her the artifacts.

>>3676771

>The question now is, what will the future hold? You're enough of a realist to know that the Dominion can't maintain control of a facility like this indefinitely. How do you think this will play out? Or better yet, how do you hope it will?"

Hopefully a future where the factions can work with the Rekesh, who have been living here. And whose world this facility is inside of. The Rekesh have proven to be amicable to the Dominion. And so long as the other factions do the same I don't see why it cant be possible for everyone to benefit from an alliance with our Rekesh allies. Who will need all the assistance that they can get in the coming years once the Neeran Empire has been defeated and the Ulgeans expansion halted. And having all the factions working together could very well make the Rekesh another great faction once they are back up on their feet.

As for how it will play out? Diplomats and factions are going to argue and accuse. But the Dominion supports the Rekesh and the Rovinar and Krath support the Dominion here. So while barbed words will likely be exchanged, as is the norm. An agreement will eventually be reached in which all parties are happy. And since the Rekesh are the ones in control of this planet, they will likely hold the most say in whatever talks or discussions happen.

As for being hopeful of things turning out. Things stay as they are. Rekesh, Dominion, Krath and Rovinar work together in studying this place. With assistance from the Sphere Caretaker Neeran to make sure this facility is well taken care of.

You shrug, trying not to grin excessively.
"Unfortunately the Dominion doesn't control the facility. We are simply fulfilling our treaty obligations to protect the Rekesh and their legitimate claim to it. After all, their people have lived within and on it, controlling the planet for generations. Both the Krath and Rovinar governments recognize this.
The independence of the Rekesh government has been guaranteed by the Ruling House. Accusations that the Dominion or any of its Houses have laid claim to a planet in their territory is slander.

Of course I'm expecting a slow trickle of artifacts in the long run. Handed out to whoever is willing to fulfill the requests of the current owners."

Wilson raises his hands in mock surrender.
"No need to haul out slander charges, just being up front. I made sure you and your people got their share of the terraforming tech early dont you forget. So be honest, the rest of the Alliance is going to be flipping their shit and are going to want answers from my taskforce. Ultimately it's going to be my job to calm down the children at the table.
What's the deal in terms of how long you're going to have boots on the ground? Indefinitely or do you even know?"

"The Rekesh have their claim to this place by right of it being their planet. We have a written agreement with them on the matter. Eventually I hope to hand over remaining control of the facility to the Rekesh and hope that they become close allies or members of the Dominion."

"That's something at least. We can maybe try and make a bid down the line to include the Alliance as a whole. Fortunately I dont need to figure out how that's going to work. What I do need to know is if it's possible to make an arrangement now to send down an observer of our own eventually, or acquire some data on the facility.
What are you willing to part with and what will it cost me?"

>Offer suggestion or direct to the Ruling House?

[ ] Write in suggestion
[ ] Ask the Ruling House

>>3677345
>[ ] Write in suggestion
"You're right, you did get the Terraforming data to me early. How about you come down and I show you round the place now? You can work out a more concrete deal with the Ruling House for a permanent observer."

I feel a little bad for him.

>>3677345

We can work something out to allow a FA observer into the base on the planet. But they would need to consult not just us (the Dominion) but also the Krath and Rovinar. Since they might not want anyone else knowing what’s going on. Especially the Krath.

There is a sensitive operation happening inside the facility. That involves the Krath and Rovinar governments specifically. While we could certainly work something out with him to allow FA observer onto the base. We can’t well let an FA observer into the facility yet. Not without first consulting the relevant Krath and Rovinar representatives. And even then, it would be well if the FA got permission from not just the Dominion, but also the Krath and Rovinar to have an observer inside the facility. We can’t hastily make a decision without first consulting our allies in this matter.

"I'll see what I can do to get an observer ON the ground, without ruffling to many feathers. As for getting one inside the facility itself. That's a larger hurdle since we made an agreement with both the Krath and Rovinar governments."

Also, what >>3677365 anon suggested. We could give him a personal tour. Provided he signs the necessary NDA's so we can at least calm the Krath and Rovinar somewhat. So that he knows were are in fact being cautious and careful with out exploration of the facility. We just have to make sure no one speaks a word about the proto-Krath around him. Since the FA likely don't know shit about them being here, yet.

>>3677365
>>3677345
I'll support this. Maybe offer to let him, personally, extend an offer to the Caretakers he knows to come take a look as well.

Can't hurt to give him some more face with their allies.

>>3677345

[x] Write in suggestion

"There is currently a situation with the locals that will prevent the addition of an observer, and resolution will take time.

I'll see what I can convince the Ruling House to share with you, beyond a few trinkets I've managed to acquire."

I don't think the Krath will like us even suggesting the addition of more parties to the NDA. Let them come to us about additional parties.

That said, we could always tell him that we personally tried and failed to replicate an SP torpedo via sphere tech. That information alone is practically worthless to Sonia, but I'm sure this guy could sell it to his superiors as far more valuable.

Possibly offer him a Sphere plasma pistol if he agrees to keep it quiet?

"I'd like to let you come down so I can show you around, but I'll need to discuss it with my allies first due to sensitive operations being conducted. After that you can work out a more concrete deal with the Ruling House for a permanent observer."

"I suppose I'll have to do that. My unit will be in orbit for some time until the Alliance determines a better place to reassign us. Wilson out."

Calling a meeting you explain that -for the moment- the Alliance will not be contesting the Rekesh claims and and other assistance to the facility. They do intended to negotiate in the future. All the same it might be worthwhile to allow one person from the taskforce to visit the facility and put some fears to rest.

Predictably the Krath representative is adamant that nothing about their operations here are to be revealed to the Alliance. All of you agree on that point. Enough NDA's already. Towards that end if permitted they would be boarded onto a vehicle underground outside the transit chamber and flown out to locations away from the surface base.

"They will have too many questions about the biohazard containment."

That leaves the east and west gates, or the southern tower as possible locations to visit.

Which locations would you be willing to show Wilson around?
[ ] East gate
[ ] West gate
[ ] The Tower

>>3677748

Take them to the gate that we aren't currently whoring out to our replication purposes. Have a scouting party go out ahead to make sure none of the aggressive locals are there. Also make sure there is a guard there to make sure no unexpected surprises are around. Maybe ask Lady Af Led to have one of her cousins come with if she cannot come herself. As well as one of the Caretaker Neeran to explain the significance of what we found here in this tower. While leaving out that there are proto-Neeran around.

>>3677748
>[ ] East gate
>[ ] The Tower

File: aid9229078-v4-728px-Make-(...).jpg (63 KB, 728x546)

63 KB JPG

Gotta be up early again for work. We'll see how burnt out I am when I get back tomorrow. Got some spare days through the week so probably lots of time tuesday. May start looking into a laptop more seriously so I can go somewhere out of the heat.

Maybe I'll get a really cheap one at staples and drop proof it with foam core board.

>>3677748
>[ ] East gate
>[ ] The Tower

>>3677748
>[x] The Tower
>[x] East gate
Just make sure there aren't any blight scales around.

>>3678104
>Maybe I'll get a really cheap one at staples and drop proof it with foam core board.
Just get a refurbished Sandy/Ivy Bridge Thinkpad, Dell Latitude or HP Elitebook. They're like $100-150 and unless you want to play modern 3D vidya on it they'll do everything you need perfectly.And put linux on there.

We forgot to check for anti-energy-drain technology. Neeran Empire still use that in the big fleet fights iirc.

>>3677748
>Eventually a location is dug up that should be elsewhere inside the borders of the Neeran Empire.
>Not too far away actually, though there are indications the location hasn't been active in more than 150k years.
What if we offer the FA a deal? Wilson's task force gets the exclusive chance to join us when we investigate that inactive builder facility once a proper defensive fleet arrives we can move on from Rekesh territory. In return we ask for... I'm pulling a blank here but I'm sure other anons can come up with something.
It would hopefully help to get the FA out of our hair over the Rekesh facility.

>>3680901
Well we got time for that. I mean it is not like the FA will storm the place or anything. No, this is probably going to take months if not years to figure out how to deal with. ESPECIALLY if the Krath have anything to say on the matter. They aren't going to want anyone not in the know inside of the facility. Plenty of time for us to pull what we want from the place. And plenty of time for the Emperor and the Ruling House to work some diplomatic magic and take this problem away from us while we focus on acquiring fat loot.

>>3681016
Just give it time and let the Emperor take over negotiations here. This is now a legal matter. And those takes time to figure out.

I've got a post written but I need to fix bits in the middle of it and my brain is not cooperating any longer.
Need to be up even earlier tomorrow. Will fix the remainder and post tomorrow evening.

If you trapped some exotic matter in a stasis chamber, then made a tiny quantum entangler that 'shot' things and entangled target atoms with the exotic matter, would that cause them to explode? Get a 3D printing pad to build that shit.

Working with the others you decide on a potential itinerary to ensure the visiting Alliance officer will be kept away from anything the group consider sensitive. The east gate and the tower are eventually decided on and a date set. When Wilson's shuttle lands you're there to personally escort him through.

It's impossible to hide the vehicles scattered around the cargo handling and staging area. The others decided it wasn't worth the effort of trying to conceal traffic other than making sure nothing had obvious markings.

"Any risks to using this transport mechanism?" The captain asks on the way through the transit chamber.

"The medics are getting a bit concerned about the dosimeter readings from the vehicle crews. It's part of the reason we're going to switch to drones for routine operations. It's safe enough for limited exposure though."

Boarding a vehicle in the underground areas it soon takes you to a shuttle parked by the lake. It allows you to depart without Wilson getting a good look at the base. You're already airborne and headed for the east gate by the time both of you enter the cockpit and climb into the jumpseats. The wide wrap around cockpit window offers a good view of everything to the front or sides of the shuttle.

On the way there you explain the eerie glow of the core and lengthy presence of Rekesh in the facility. A few archeological reports are a still a bit short on data when it comes to how long they've been here.

Blight scales have been cleared out of the area of the damaged gate already some days ago to make dissasembly of the remaining systems here easier. Aside from the dead plant life that hasn't recovered there is little to indicate they were here of late. Still, Wilson has plenty of questions about the ancient battle scars on the landscape and what is going on.

"What did the Caretakers tell you?" you ask.

"The ones with your team communicated to the sphere that they were considering opening a wormhole gate from here to the sphere. Naturally we were warned of potential gate activity in the future. Wouldn't want any of the ships stationed with the system defenders to panic and sound the alarm."

You're still annoyed you weren't informed of this but it does makes sense. Suddenly opening a wormhole gate connection to the sphere and popping out would undoubtedly set off all sorts of nasty surprises.

>What do you tell him about the battle damage and the (de)construction work?

A) Using gate components to repair/reinforce another gate. Damage is from an ancient battle
B) Threocht accidentally screwed things up ages ago, we're helping to fix it
C) We're going to gate into a high security area and are taking precautions because THIS

>>3684996
>A) Using gate components to repair/reinforce another gate. Damage is from an ancient battle

We're working closely with our Caretaker Neeran forces and the Rekesh who have been living here and understand parts of this facility. To make sure that we can ensure that the other gate is sturdy enough for possibly attempting the worm hole gate from here to the Sphere. While not planned on being completed anytime soon. Will certainly cut back on travel time between the front and Factions Space considerably. If we can find a way to make it all work the way we want it to. Of course, such an endeavor would be highly classified among the Factions Alliance. Since that would mean getting their troops to the front lines without spending days in the void of space or taking weeks going the long way around and encountering Ulgean and Neeran counter invasion forces.

>>3684996
>B) Threocht accidentally screwed things up ages ago, we're helping to fix it

"There may be rather terrifying proof of things living within the subspace of gravity wells here. Our first priority is ensuring that we don't do something stupid and trigger some sort of automatic window into subspace to learn about them first hand.

I may have recently come to regret certain undertakings involving diving into subspace for trinkets."

We should also inform him that said past screw ups will prevent any wormholes, until we can ensure that there is no threat of accidentally opening a window to subspace near the sphere.


basically, replace any thoughts of [NDA'ed] with 'subspace horrors' and that QUARANTINE shall be maintained. Until we build enough sphere-tech ebeam drones to kill anything stupid enough to still be in the core

>>3684996
>C) We're going to gate into a high security area and are taking precautions because THIS

>>3684996
>B) Threocht accidentally screwed things up ages ago, we're helping to fix it
And to be fair, the original caretakers screwed up even before that.

>>3684996
>B) Threocht accidentally screwed things up ages ago, we're helping to fix it

"Threocht accidentally screwed things up ages ago and this was the result. We're helping to fix it. It's also helping to shake off the stagnancy the locals have allowed to set in. There isn't an energy drain here like on the surface of the sphere but it may have been in place at one point."

"What's the overall state of technology among the populace?"
"Mostly agrarian. Worse off overall than what we saw on the sphere really. The Rekesh government is eager to establish regular contact with more of the locals once the situation becomes more stable. I think their lead scientist Ten Zohn is working on a side project that would eventually see about sending education specialists throughout the interior."

"That's a much more realistic goal than trying to do the same on the sphere. I hope it works out."

The next stop is the tower. Along the way you can make out signs of increasingly more well established settlements and agriculture. It doesn't take long for Wilson to take note of this.

"I take it the south is doing much better than elsewhere?"
"Proximity to the Tower. Threocht's descendants were the few to survive that kept their knowledge base. They've also figured out how to use a lot of builder tech since then. I don't actually know how much info they share with the surrounding lands but they have builder tech weapons and armor. Not many people are going to stand a chance at opposing them."

The shuttle decelerates and orbits the tower giving your guest a chance to get a good look at it.

"What is that?" Wilson points to the wheel shaped device on one side of the tower as it stops and starts.

[ ] The Caretakers called it a matter siphon.
[ ] ...a matter siphon. They're not letting me near it.
[ ] The locals wouldn't tell me
[ ] Other?

>>3690271
>[ ] ...a matter siphon. They're not letting me near it.

>>3690271
>[ ] The Caretakers called it a matter siphon.

>>3690271
>[ ] ...a matter siphon. They're not letting me near it.

"The Caretakers called it a matter siphon. They're not letting me near it."

Wilson suppresses a chuckle. "What a shame. You're otherwise getting along well with them?"

"Our arrangement seems to be working out for the moment. We're taking the heavier risks in exploration and securing sites. In return they're helping to make sure we dont set off system defenses in accessing the builder tech. Both our sides are getting what we want."
You point to the upper sections of the central tower.
"The old Rekesh wizard Tereoct mainly keeps himself locked up in the tower working on any number of things they're not telling us about. The Caretakers know a bit about what they're up to but for the most part the only leader of note that will deal with us on a near daily basis is Lady Af Ied. She's Tereoct's granddaughter."

"Any chance of a meeting? Or would that be pressing things a bit too far past the tour we agreed to?"

[ ] Sorry, just the tour
[ ] She is very busy. Maybe in a few days/weeks
[ ] We might be able to catch her returning to the tower

>>3690478
>[ ] She is very busy. Maybe in a few days/weeks

>>3690478
>[ ] She is very busy. Maybe in a few days/weeks

"She is very busy. Maybe in a few days or weeks?"
"You're not trying to just stonewall me are you?"
"No I honestly have no idea when she would be available. There's a big meeting coming up soon and that could impact when she could see you."

Wilson says that he'll take what he can get. On the way back to base he mentions that if you manage to figure out how to hide facilities like this one the Alliance would of course be willing to pay handsomely for the tech.
"Just putting that out there."

"Oh don't worry, all of us are well aware." you reply.

The flight goes without incident and soon enough the Captain is seen off. You'll be remaining inside since you still have work to do. Edord sends a message later that they got him to his shuttle without letting them see over much of the compound. Same with the shuttle crew. They were prevented from leaving the pad.
Nobody in recon suits sneaked off as far as they could tell but there are ways around almost any countermeasure.

"If you did everything you could to prevent it, dont worry too much about it. If the Alliance really wanted to sneak in we'd probably be fucked."

At the next daily meeting to discuss items in line to be produced at the west gate you bring up the matter of stronger non-builder materials. Neither the Caretakers nor Af Ied are certain about this. The majority of non-builder materials in the databases seem to be of weaker construction or meant more for medical purposes. Obviously it can reproduce most others you've provided examples of as long as they dont require high energy radiation exposure like SP weapons seemingly do.

With some reluctance Ambassador Schiroth admits that part of the Rovinar request was going to try and find a way around this. Or at least come at it from a different angle. Aside from more tech data one of their requests calls for the construction of the smallest possible e-beam weapon not made of builder material. Their own development has been hampered by the tendency of smaller weapons to tear themselves apart.

If the resultant material could be isolated this would seem to fulfill your request as well. For now further inquiry into it will be held off until the weapons are built.

It's only a few short days later when the test weapon is constructed by the vehicle grade pad. It's ended up being much larger than originally suspected, delaying gate construction work. Even moving it is difficult. If one of the shuttles hadn't already been refit for heavy lift it might have taken even longer just to get it back to base. It's too large to send through the transit gate.

>Cont.