- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.
I watched as the third XJF carefully hovered through the Stargate. So far, we had constructed 12 of the fighters, though we only had three cloaking devices to install at the moment, and we weren't quite ready to start mass-disassembling Tel'taks to get the parts. The ship would depart for the closest known Draconis Combine system; Cabanatuan.
In the meantime, several other ships were heading out in search of the Járnfolk, a collective of several worlds that fled from the Rasalhague area in the 26th century. They had access to JumpShips and were a relatively advanced society, but, as far as I was aware, they had little to no actual JumpShip production capability.
They also had contact with the telephone company (the hidden society that ruled the Inner Sphere), so we would have to be careful about what we showed them.
Of course, those ships wouldn't be leaving for at least a month. We were planning on making immediate upgrades to the orbital space station, and that involved shipping over a lot of steel from Dendred and Voragine, and we needed the ships in order to maneuver the massive metal scaffolding in orbit.
So, I watched on in silence as all three of the prototype fighter craft were carefully placed into the hangar bay of the Al'kesh. Then, with a whoosh, the ship was up and away. Cabanatuan was 190 light years away. It would take the ship two days to reach the world. Probably longer since its speed would decrease exponentially as it got closer to an HPG.
- - -
POV: Michael Dresden.
The Al'kesh exited hyperspace in orbit of Cabanatuan III. Even during the Star League, the world hadn't been large. The records showed that the world had a single site for all orbital traffic. The ship immediately cloaked, and we began scanning. It was only after about three hours that we finally found what was supposed to have once been the port.
It was an irradiated crater even now, hundreds of years later. Scans suggested that a few dozen thermonuclear weapons had been dropped on the site; why someone would do that to a backwater world like this was beyond me. After relaying this information back to command, we continued to search. After a full day, we failed to find anything but ancient signs of habitation.
Rather than checking nearby worlds, it was decided that we would travel directly to Bjarred, a prefecture capital within the Pesht Military District. I didn't know whether to be relieved or annoyed that the hyperspace interference increased as we approached the world.
It was at a distance of 15 light-years from Bjarred that we finally pulled out of hyperspace. The Jump Fighters would make the trip from here, though it certainly wouldn't be a comfortable trip for the pilot.
The colonial drive could only make jumps of a quarter light-year at a time, and with a recharge period of 15 minutes, it would take fifteen hours to reach the star system. They would lie low on the world for a few days (hopefully without attracting the attention of local authorities).
During this time, they would try to get history textbooks, entertainment, and technology. A lot of it likely wouldn't be purchasable through normal means, so they carried reprints of SLDF manuals, which Arthur had stated had some value in the Inner Sphere, as well as bars of pure Germanium - Specially manufactured boxes had allowed the metal to be safely transported during a jump.
If everything went well, they would spend a couple of days on the world and then rendezvous with us once they had gotten everything they needed.
- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.
Standing across from me, on the other side of the boxing ring, was Rory McLeod. He was my father's second in command and one of the Special Forces operatives who worked with him during the Amaris Civil War.
When he was revived, he had joined the academy as a combat instructor. That's why I was here; today, he was my training partner.
Rory didn't look like much; he wasn't particularly tall, his brown hair and brown eyes would have seen him blend into most crowds.
That wasn't to say anything about his combat ability. Rory was among the most highly decorated Special Forces soldiers that the Terran Hegemony had ever produced.
Part of that was due to his being active during a time of significant strife and unrest – well before and during the Amaris Civil War– but the fact that he had survived despite all that was not insignificant in showing his abilities.
With a quick nod, we both started circling. I stared at Rory intently. While the exercise and the practice that came with this sort of training are excellent, there is a separate point to this.
For weeks now, I had been trying to use my newly acquired telepathy to read other people's minds, and I had been progressing slowly. That was until I recognized something. During combat, a professional would focus their entire mind on a single thing.
That realization had led to something rather interesting; if I focused, I could detect when an enemy was planning on throwing an attack at me. Because of how the human mind worked, those sorts of decisions were usually made well before the body started acting on them.
With just a single month of practice, I could now regularly detect not only when someone was about to throw a punch, but what type of punch it was going to be.
This came with the fortunate, or rather, unfortunate side effect that I could now defeat any opponent I went up against. Sure, if I were in combat, it would be great, but it felt almost like cheating when I knew that someone was going to do something before they themselves did.
It was still an ability I was doing my best to improve. Half my sparring time was spent practicing without the telepathic aid, and the other half was spent with it. My next goal was to identify where an opponent was planning to attack.
Suddenly, Rory came at me with a jab straight to the face. I blocked it and stepped to the side, just out of the way of his hook, all the while returning the jab. Through sheer skill and reflexes, he stepped out of the way.
Rory was one of the few who could actually defend themselves when I was reading his intentions; it made him the perfect training partner.
With the hour coming to a close, I called an end to the training session.
As I was on my way to my workshop, I was rather surprised to find myself called over to a meeting with Elder James, Ma'chello, and Orion Valc: a member of the Daedalus' marine complement, and their representative in the RoK.
As I entered the room, and Elder James nodded to me once. "Arthur, take a seat, please."
There was a rather somber atmosphere within the room as I entered. Elder James was the one to begin. "Arthur, we need to move you off of ship design and into military development."
I blinked a few times. "Alright. What did you have in mind?"
Elder James continued. "A lot of our plans for the Inner Sphere require covert operations. There is no piece of technology better for that than the Ashrak Cloak. We need to use the technology safely and regularly."
He stopped to let me think for a moment. I had already considered the concept, and I had a pretty good idea about what to do. "It's doable, but it won't just be an arm attachment anymore. The person using it will need full body armor. The easiest way would be to make modifications to the Nighthawk's armor. Replace it with wraithsteel and naquadah alloy plates, and upgrade the power source. If I have Slightly Overweight's help, I can do a full upgrade of the entire chassis while I'm at it."
Elder James nodded. "That's great, but that's just the start of what we need. We need more infantry equipment. We have all this advanced naquadah-based technology, and a supply of the material. What we really need is a new primary infantry weapon to replace the Mauser, as well as a new sidearm. We need something with the range and firepower of the Mauser, the capacity of a Ma'tok Staff, and a weight that makes it usable by most soldiers. If possible, it should also have the stun capability of the Zat."
The more I heard, the further back I sat. I tapped the table a few times as I thought. "Sir, frankly, I don't think I can get you what you want. Right now we can't even produce the focusing rubies of the Mauser, let alone the type of crystals we'd need for Goa'uld energy weapons."
Ma'chello asked, "Were you not aware? I had a breakthrough in the crystal growth chambers. Construction of an initial prototype is already underway. It will be a couple of months before it is ready, but we should be capable of producing very basic Goa'uld crystals when the time comes."
I was speechless for several long moments before coughing. "What sort of crystals are we talking about?"
Ma'chello sighed dramatically. "Only the most basic focusing crystals, unfortunately; only those that are used in the Zat'Nik'Tel. "
My good mood dropped a bit, but only slightly. "That's more than enough. I can modify the Zat crystal to work as a laser focuser. We could have energy weapons with much higher intensity for little to no increase in energy cost."
Ma'chello chuckled. "It'll still be a few months before the device is completed… let's just say that growing Goa'uld crystals is not a simple process. I'm lucky I got to spend so much time talking with Egeria before she left."
I shrugged and turned back to Elder James. "Yes, in that case, new standard infantry weapons would be more than doable."
Orion nodded once as my excited muttering ended. "If we're going to be including cloaking fields in the power armor to begin with, then would it be possible to include some sort of gravity pack with the suit to allow it to maneuver in a zero-G environment?"
I blinked at him. "Easily…" I took a moment to think before continuing. "We could use some of the miniaturized Gravitic Pushers. The thing wouldn't be capable of taking off on a planet, but it should have no issue producing an excellent acceleration in space."
Elder James nodded. "Good. In that case, Arthur, I need you to put together a presentation for Arriston."
I blanked out as I stared at him for several long moments. Everyone stood up, and the Elder patted me once on my shoulder as I was on my way out.
I groaned and made my way back to my workshop. I was the first member of my team to arrive. With a crack of my knuckles, I sat down and got to work on creating a set of initial design models for a prototype pistol.
An unintended side effect of my fourth perk was that I frequently lost track of time; I constantly got lost in my work. I had even added an automated shut-down to my computer so that I would actually stop when my day ended. Today, I was interrupted by Slightly Overweight placing one of his tentacles on my shoulder.
It took me a few seconds to turn my eyes away from my screen and up towards the blue, snail-like structure that was Slightly Overweight's head.
I blinked a few times in confusion. Slightly Overweight wasn't usually the one to pull me out of my work. "Sorry. Did you need something?"
It was quiet for a few moments before it began to whistle. It had taken five months, but I was finally starting to understand the very basics of the Huragok language. Nonetheless, I grabbed my translation flexi and read what Slightly Overweight was saying. "I plan to create another Huragok."
I blinked a few more times. Well, it was time to take this to Arriston.