We shifted a massive amount of resources to Mars over the next few weeks—materials, personnel, fabrication units, shield generators, and even a few captured anomalous machines that only I understood how to operate without accidentally wiping out a continent.
The decision was unanimous:Mars would become our hidden forge.
A place where we could build what Earth could not yet handle.
The Meeting of the Eleven
I sat in my lab, hands folded, holographic screens floating around me as each of the O5 Council members appeared on their respective monitors. Their faces lit my dark office, every one of them sharp, calculating, and powerful in their own unique way.
O5‑1 – The Administrator (Me)
O5‑2 – Sentinel (Julius)
O5‑3 – The Watcher (Darius)
O5‑4 – Factorum (Sun Tzu)
O5‑5 – The Accountant (Cleopatra)
O5‑6 – The Sorcerer (Victor von Doom)
O5‑7 – The Brain
O5‑8 – The Archivist
O5‑9 – The Blackbird (Isaac Newton)
O5‑10 – The Ambassador (Lincoln)
O5‑11 – The Executioner (Thomas Hobbes)
Only eleven of us… and yet we were stronger than any army on Earth.
The meeting wasn't civil. Not at first.
"Control of Mars will fall under the purview of O5‑1. Obviously."
Sentinel said it bluntly. Julius always had a way of cutting straight through political fog like a blade.
Doom scoffed, folding his metal arms."Your blind loyalty to the Administrator is admirable but foolish. A world—terraformed or not—requires a ruler versed in the arcane and scientific. That is—"
"—not you," I cut in. "Victor, you're banned from ruling planets after the Latveria incident."
"That was one time," Doom muttered.
Cleopatra raised her hand and spoke with her usual silk-smooth voice:"Mars should be treated as a shared asset. A financial powerhouse. A backup for Earth. If one of us controlled it alone, it would destabilize the council."
The Brain, of course, spoke in monotone."It is logical that O5‑1 has supervisory control. With distributed authority across the council. A hybrid solution."
Lincoln—ever the diplomat—nodded."Let's not repeat humanity's mistakes. No empires. No tyrants. Shared control."
Even Newton agreed. And Newton never agreed with anything unless gravity was involved.
I sighed dramatically."It's almost adorable how you're all pretending you have a choice."
Every monitor went silent.
I leaned back, smirking."You all know damn well I could force the issue. But I'm not here to rule Mars. I'm here to build it."
Relief washed over several faces.
The Decision
In the end, we agreed:
Mars falls under my direct scientific supervision.
But all O5 members have influence over its development.
No single O5 member may militarise Mars without majority approval.
Mars will serve as the Foundation's primary off‑world base.
Factorum (Sun Tzu) summed it up perfectly:
"A fortress is only as strong as its unity.We cannot allow division to take root on another world."
The Shipyard
With the political games settled, real work began.
We started constructing Shipyard Red Sigil, the first interplanetary fabrication complex in the solar system.
Here, far from Earth's satellites and governments:
Star Destroyer–class ships
Cruisers
Drop‑ships
Stealth carriers
TIE‑style atmospheric fighters
And countless anomalous-engine hybrids
…could be built without scrutiny.
Terraforming Mars to Earth‑level oxygen and atmospheric density was already complete thanks to Thrawn's ruthlessly efficient colonisation strategy. Now, with the red planet stable and habitable, we could expand freely.
Earth would never see a launch.Never detect a shadow.Never know the power assembling above its skies.
The Administrator's Quiet Thoughts
As the construction orders went out, I stood alone in my workspace.
I finally admitted it:
Yes… I could be a world‑ending threat.Yes… I could destroy the universe if corrupted.Yes… my mind was shielded by fūinjutsu seals, runes, tech, and psychic fortresses thicker than a god's skull.
But none of that changed one thing:
Even I needed a fail‑safe.Just in case.
Because if the universe ever needed protection—from me—the Foundation needed a way to do it.
I would build it.
Quietly. Secretly.
Before anyone even suspected.