It took many hours to get all of the Jaffa transferred to Dendred. By the time all of the prisoners had been safely secured and provided for in the camps, it was well past dark. The day had been long and all involved parties agreed to reconvene the next day.
That night, I followed the Elder's back to the Village. With us were all the villagers who had been taken several months prior. Those who had stayed behind had worked pretty tirelessly to keep the village in order, so everyone was able to just move back into their former homes.
What really surprised me was how few of the villagers were shocked by the presence of the Leopard and Confederate Dropships near the gate. Nearly everyone was surprised to see the vessels there, but only about a quarter of the village's inhabitants seemed unaware of the ships' existence.
With a frown I decided to ask Elder James about it.
"He chuckled. Most of the villagers were aware of the dropship. During our first couple of years in the village, we had to use the mechs for naquadah mining. It simply wasn't possible to keep anything hidden during those times."
I frowned, but the Elder continued.
"The standard policy was to keep the ship hidden until someone turned 18, at which point we'd introduce them to Star League era tech and begin providing more advanced education."
I nodded and left it at that.
That evening, as the villagers were all resettling in their homes and reuniting with family members, the Elders all gathered on the bridge of the Leopard. Elders Callum, Elias, Dorian, and James along with Elders Ralos and Tavik were all there. More importantly, the Elders who had previously been captured by Ares had also returned. As such, we had three new people joining the meeting; Elder Annalise, Elder Dresden, and Elder Moretti.
Elder James closed the bridge's massive door and immediately began the meeting.
"We sadly do not have a lot of time at the moment and we have some rather large decisions to make."
He turned to the returning Elders.
"Have you three read through the provided material."
They all nodded. Elder James continued.
"Good. Arthur here is the source of this information. He has… awakened memories of a past life in which all of this is fiction."
Elder Annalise almost choked.
"Are you fucking with me?"
Everyone stared at her, dead serious. She stared back.
"Alright. You're not fucking with me then. How trustworthy is this information?"
Elder James continued.
"So far, everything has been spot on. Of course, we can't corroborate anything about the current state of the inner sphere, but everything about the Goa'uld Empire that we have learned has been accurate."
There is a moment of silence as everyone processes his words.
"Beyond his memories, he also has a unique ability…"
He proceeded to explain the Celestial Forge and my first perk to the Elders.
"Now. Arthur, you said that you were offered new perks. Can you please explain."
I began reading off the notification.
Special Achievement: Completely Neutralize a System Lord and all his subordinates (Ares)
- Targets Captured Alive
- No Escapees
Special Achievement: First Defeat of a Goa'uld System Lord (Ares)
Choose a perk:
1: Diagnostic Tools (Outlaw Star, 50 Points)
- Description:
A small data display with numerous connectors and scanners, capable of letting you know what is wrong with simple technology and what advanced technology that has been programmed into it. * Portable, can detect what's wrong with simple tech and do the same for advanced tech that you program into it. * Keep in mind 'simple' is a lot higher than modern tech for this scanner, it's from a space fiction.
2: Stockpiles (Girl's Frontline, 50 Points)
- Description:
We can't let you set off empty-handed; here's 5000 Ammo, Parts, Rations, and Manpower to get your army started (it takes 30 of each to make a baseline T-Doll, while the most consistently powerful Dolls cost something like 600/400/100/600 for a reliable chance of getting them). Each purchase gets you another 5k. * This is not just normal ammo, parts, rations and manpower, you can combine them to make T dolls which are AI-piloted android fire platforms for military operations. Plus the ethereal 'manpower'.
3: Art Set (A 'Happy' Harry Potter Fanfiction, 50 Points)
- Description:
A full art kit stored in a small expanded carry case for all your drawing or painting needs. Comes with a small paint can that can change to different colored infinite paint, both indoor and outdoor options, never dries out if left open, and doesn't get contaminated by dirt or other colors left on the brush. Chalk, pencils, and crayons won't break, require sharpening, or be used up. Drawing pages or canvas can be changed to other types and will never run out with the finished picture being saved to your folder, and brushes will never degrade or get bent, broken bristles nor run out if they're lost or pulled. The brushes come in a range of sizes from the wide indoor wall painter to the tiniest canvas detailer. Pencils, crayons, and chalk are much the same as are the colored varieties. A pack of special white erasers are included, ranging from small to large, that don't wear down or spread the erased material but can nevertheless undo any of your drawn or painted projects if necessary. The case and all its inventory can be found in your warehouse if lost, stolen, or destroyed.
4: Electronics (Star Wars - KOTOR, 50 Points)
- Description:
A large supply of computer spikes and repair parts that can be used with nearly any modern machine in the galaxy. Computer spikes overwhelm electronics with junk data and are used by hackers to aid them in bypassing electronic security doors and terminals. Repair parts are packages of universally adaptable components that can be used to fix or upgrade droids, vehicles, and other machines.
5: Satisfactorio Crafting (Satisfactory Factorio Gauntlet, 50 Points)
- Description:
You can make automated equipment for extraction and processing of raw resources. You can make automated industrial equipment out of simple items, similar to the items in the games.
Elder Callum snapped his fingers.
"So that's how you know Arktos succeeded."
Elder James nodded.
"Arthur, do you have a specific perk you'd like to choose?"
I shook my head.
"I was hoping to discuss it before choosing."
Elder James nodded.
"Alright then. Could you please summarize your options for us."
I nodded once then began to summarize each of the available perks.
"First is a scanner of some…"
Elder Elias interrupts.
"A scanner? As in a physical object?"
"Yeah. The exact wording is "a small data display.' I would assume that means it is a physical object."
Elder Elias seemed rather stunned as he sat there.
"So you can be provided with physical objects as well? How the hell does that work?"
I just shrugged in response. Elder Elias let out a light chuckle of incredulity; Elder James motions for me to continue and I do so.
"The device would be capable of finding faults with any system as long as it has the schematics. It says it can scan simple devices, but I don't know what 'simple' means in this context."
Elder Callum lets out a deep sigh.
"Something like that would be an absolute godsend. We have the schematics for all the Star League tech. If it works as advertised, we can just feed it the schematics for the Manassas' prototype KF drive and immediately know how to fix it."
The others in the room immediately straighten. Callum continued.
"Don't get me wrong, it would be a lot of work, but we'd know what actually needed to be fixed. That's certainly better than where we are now."
Elder Elias nodded.
"Do you think you could replicate the device using your first perk?"
I hadn't even considered the option.
"I suppose it's certainly possible. I would like to say yes, but I do not know how perks interact with each other."
He nodded. Elder James nodded for me to continue.
"Certainly a strong option. Arthur, please continue."
"The second option is parts for creating T-Dolls – I'm not super familiar with this fiction, but T-Dolls are humanoid shells for AIs."
"Absolutely not."
"No. It's not worth the risk."
Elder Dorian and Elder Annalise immediately denied taking this perk.
I frowned. Looking around the room, I could tell that all the members of the Manassas Crew agreed with the two of them.
I turned to Elder James. His face had hardened the moment I had spoken the word AI.
"Arthur, any form of autonomous unit is out of the question. If you take that, I will not permit you to use it."
I was rather taken aback, but I decided to leave it at that. I moved on, pretending nothing happened.
"The third option is a magic art set with an infinitely refilling case of supplies."
The mood immediately shifted from a palpable tension to incredulity. Elder Callum burst into laughter, everyone let out a light chuckle.
I continued.
"I wasn't originally thinking about skipping this possibility entirely, but I hadn't considered how the supplies might interact with my first perk."
A hush fell over the room. Elder James spoke.
"Are you thinking that you could reverse engineer this… magic?"
I shrugged.
"I don't know. It's the same issue as with the 'Diagnostic tool', not to mention, this is magic not technology. I have nothing to base my intuition on without already having examples of it."
Elder Callum's laugh had disappeared and he let out a deep sigh.
"Kid, as awesome as being able to see actual magic would be, the choice is too risky."
Everyone at the table nodded. I let out a deep sigh but continued anyway.
"The fourth option is rather niche. It is described as 'a large supply' of 'computer spikes' and 'repair parts'. The 'computer spikes' are used for bypassing security systems. The 'repair parts are packages of universally adaptable components' that can be used to fix virtually everything. I would like to point out that the description explicitly states that these are meant for use 'with nearly any modern machine in the galaxy'. That galaxy being the Galaxy of Star Wars. It is possible that the tech might be compatible with Goa'uld tech, but I can't guarantee it."
Elder Callum frowned and butted in.
"I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it. These 'computer spikes' sound like they emulate some of the more common THOS bypass methods. Not to mention those 'repair parts'. If they are really universally adaptable, even if we can't use them to repair our own technology, they would provide an invaluable source of computing resources. Not to mention any interactions with your first perk."
I frowned.
"I still think that the 'Diagnostic Tool' would be a better option than this one. Worst case with the Diagnostic Tool, we'd still know what to fix. Worst case from the repair parts? We get nothing at all."
Elder Elias seemed to agree with me.
"I agree. The first option is safer. On top of that, we have no idea how many 'a large supply' is. That could be a crate, it could be an infinite supply. If we choose either of these two, we should choose the tool."
Elder Callum thought for a moment before nodding. Elder James gestured for me to continue.
I looked at the last one. I already knew this would be what they would want me to choose. Sighing, I began reading the short, two sentence description, verbatim.
"'You can make automated equipment for extraction and processing of raw resources. You can make automated industrial equipment out of simple items, similar to the items in the games.'"
The room went still. Elder James was the first to break the silence.
"Define automated in this context."
"If it's anything like the games I'm thinking of then it would effectively be conveyor belts feeding material from simple repetitive machinery. Completely different from the T-Dolls."
I thought for a moment further.
"I think it would be most like Star League Era automated factories."
Elder Callum took a deep breath.
"You have to choose that. We could reduce the time it takes to build up an industrial base from decades to years."
Elder Dresden leaned forwards.
"We're not even starting from nothing. We have industrial supplies ready. Hell, the Dendredians probably do as well. All we'd need to do is start training people to assemble the material. Absolute worst case – assuming the perk does as it says – we could have a complete supply chain ready to go in two years."
Elder Callum nodded.
"You can't fix what you don't have. I hate to say this – I really wanted that diagnostic tool – but this is absolutely the best option."
The Elders were all in agreement. Elder James turned to me.
"Well, you have our collective opinion."
I looked around at everyones expectant faces. Without any further hesitation, I chose Satisfactorio Crafting.
Then I felt nothing.
- - -
POV: James Cromwell
I scowled down at the kid. The moment we had come to a decision he had blacked out. No one had the foggiest idea what had happened. Dorian – the closest thing we had remaining to a medic – had suggested we take him up to the Manassas and use the ship's medical suite to check him over.
It was a take off and several hours later we finally gave him a once over. Elder Dorian was dumbfounded to find that major parts of his brain were being rewritten. Using his words, "it's like his brain is speedrunning the changes that would come with decades of experience."
Other than that, however, we discovered a rather large issue. A brain tumor and lung cancer; both in the early stages. Very quickly we began bringing everyone in for full checkups. We found similar illnesses in the early stages in multiple others. The common factor; heavy use of the Reetou Karesh – the Ashrak cloaking devices.
Arthur had told me that using the devices supposedly had extreme health consequences. At the time, he hadn't known what the consequences would be, but we really had no choice.
Luckily, Ares had a Sarcophagus. At the moment it was still in the hands of Arktos, we would hopefully be able to negotiate its use.
I didn't have time to wait for him to wake up. I returned to the Leopard for the trip back down to the planet's surface. Initial negotiations would begin in a few hours. It was time to get to it. I would have to dress up properly, time to pull out the old uniform.