(500 Power Stones Chapter of This Week)
Time waits for no one.
As the Empire was going from strength to strength. The number of worlds the Imperials inhabit was growing.
The fourth planet in the middle star of Alpha Centauri required surprisingly little work. The moment the toxic atmosphere was altered and drained, the world was good enough to be colonised.
The world was similar in size to Earth and Venus, with days lasting 27 hours and a similar atmosphere; it was just perfect.
The only issue is that it didn't have any moons. Because of that, it had erratic seasons and quite bad storms.
Similar to Centauria. The capital of the Alpha Centauri Trinari system.
However, such chaotic cycles didn't mean a thing to dome cities and climate towers built to manipulate the weather and keep it stable.
Over the years, in addition to Alpha Centauri, the Imperial Exploration Department explored other systems.
Just opposite to Alpha Centauri was Bernard's Star—a decently sized red star with a single huge Gas Giant and an asteroid field.
The explorers found that the asteroid field contains a decent amount of metals, and the Gas Giant is large enough to create GN Reactors if need be. But apart from that, there is not enough use for this star.
Then, other stars that were a bit farther away included the Lughman binary system. It was even more useless than Bernard's Star.
As it had failed suns, the fusion reaction never happened in them. So they were brown dwarfs for 'suns' with temperatures barely at 1000 celsius.
Well, the Empire classified them for mining, then further in this direction was Sirius itself. The Dog Star, a massive star, is so big that a research facility is required just to study it. For worlds, it had a bunch of barren worlds simply because of how bright and dangerous the star was.
Regardless, Marcus' plan to put humans on each and every single star encountered several roadblocks, for the simple reason that not every solar system was suitable for supporting actual human populations.
Still, the Emperor decided on a different solution; he decided to put 'comms' towers above every single star.
Based on Precurson human technology, utilising magnetic fields and vibrations, and Sentry Array's sensors, Imperials could have a literal extranet in every single star system under Imperial control.
Once communications technology had improved, colonisation efforts could truly be underway.
By the year 35 of the Byzantine Cosmic Era, humanity had a comms tower above every star within 30 light-years.
By the Emperor's words, they were a small interstellar Empire.
While the Empire had some stars that were literally just for resources, Sol System and Alpha Centauri entered a true Golden Age.
Earth's Sphere of influence became a hub for spaceships. To manage huge howlers that bring materials from other solar systems, the moon became a warehouse of sorts where the resource hauliers dock, as there was an orbital ring around it.
These huge transporters would dock, and smaller ships would spread the resources to three inner worlds of the Sol system.
By the year 35, Mars had over 16 million people living on it. While Venus became a perfect replica of Earth, it was a tropical paradise as Marcus envisioned (read: made it)
Because of its volcanic past, the world itself didn't have many properly sized continents, and as a result, the amount of water it brought was on the lower end.
So the world became something like Indonesia, with many islands, tropical palm trees, and sandy beaches.
Well, because of the volcanic past, most of the beaches were of volcanic origin. Black sand, however, around the capital, which was named Aphrodite, well, the whole planet's landmarks, and islands, were named after women and Venus-related goddesses.
Regardless, it became a resort and relaxation destination with quite a humid atmosphere.
With the Venus Project finished, its experienced team moved on to improving Jupiter's and Saturn's habitability.
Simply because the Jupiter population was close to 37 million people, the SWORD type 3 colonies are becoming hard to produce at the rate that they're needed.
So instead, Marcus took some inspiration from PLANTS in his latest world he visited, a piece of land domed in glass. The technology is there, so why not just make a colony like that?
An island in space. The Fusion Reactor with Gravity resonance allows people to walk on the ground and enjoy Earth-like gravity. The dome itself can darken, giving people the sense that it is either day or night.
These islands had tubes that acted like roads and transition hubs. They are connected to the original SWORD colonies, giving the colonies a sense that it's a one huge spider web where people live.
Saturn was similar, originally becoming a colony in the year 30, five years ago, yet in those years, it rapidly became a shipyard where new warships were under construction.
Proper space-faring warships, ships that can travel enormous distances and can sustain themselves in space.
Meaning that they have food-producing capabilities. Like small farms, each battleship and carrier has a logistics ship that carries extras like food, water, and even animals.
Space is simply unforgiving in its vastness, so Marcus thought: instead of making it fly back and forth, why not make the base move instead?
That is where the mothership project comes into play.
Sixty-kilometre-long V-shaped ships that have their own 'mission'.
The Vanguard: a moving military base that operates like barracks, shipyards, and an engineering corps.
The Coloniser: a moving Terraformer that alters planets and makes them habitable for Imperials to come in and colonise them.
And lastly, the Explorer: the hub of exploration, where navigation and plans for future expansion happen. This mothership is responsible for constructing explorer ships and comms towers.
Each of these motherships has assembly lines originally inspired by Euclides Class factory ships from the Gundam 00 timeline.
Speaking of that timeline, Marcus gave it away to his son years ago, as Iskandar is not far from being thirty.
By this point, the Empire on the other side was, in a way, a distant memory. However, Marcus does maintain close contact with his son, who was a fellow Emperor of Humanity, albeit in a different reality.
They do have a family gathering once a year, since staying away from ruling is not a good thing, as Marcus found the hard way when he had to juggle between two realities.
Then there is Marina, the Empress of Entertainment. As he promised his 'Princess-wife', the only thing she has to deal with after raising their son is worrying about music and entertainment, something she loved since her childhood.
Apart from Iskandar, who is an Emperor, the rest of the Emperor's kids were not interested in creating families on their own.
Marcus realised that side effects of being an Innovator, especially the ones that become Innovators young, their desire for offspring began to fall, and those who are born as Innovators even less.
That's a natural reaction for far longer Innovator lifespans. Marcus, who was… 51, still looks like he's in his twenties. Well, he has a code, so it doesn't count. His wives were of a similar age; they, on the other hand, don't have code but are Innovators, and they don't look older than their early twenties.
So in a sense, humanity is adjusting to the evolution.
But Marcus was ready, as he knew that was the case; he was waiting for his Empire to get over the 'baby boom' season and fall off the cliff when it came to birthrates.
Instead, he began making people, which is why there are 'Motherships'; these ships produce the population needed for colonisation.
And funny enough, these people are more loyal to him than the naturally born ones.
Still, the birthrate statistics are not conclusive; one can't say that birthrates dropped considerably, as it depends on surroundings, like in Centauria.
The 2nd generation, that is already teenagers, are dating and doing quite a bit of traditional stuff.
Same in Jupiter and Saturn, it's like Imperials in those worlds have a superiority complex, most likely because they believe they tamed the huge Gas Giants they are living around.
So the numbers are fluctuating, from world to world.
Regardless, one would say, Innovator or not, people are still 'horny monkeys', guys still lust after hot girls and women still want cool and rich guys with impressive jobs.
"So, that's your latest ship? I thought you would use Excalibur Class Battleship as your Flagship." Lacus commented as she brought over to Marcus a tray of handmade biscuits and tea.
They were in Saturn's orbit, watching Drydocks personnel assembling a massive V-shaped Camelot-Class Mothership; more precisely, they were inserting one of its huge GN drives at the back.
"I made up my mind to be at the front to do what I like and at the same time rule the Empire.
The ship before you will act like a secondary Capital." He said while taking the tea and a biscuit.
"Fufufu, is that so?" The pinkette giggled. He was pursuing his hobbies and ruling it was just like him, but then she reminded him of something.
"You know that deadline you've been waiting for is here."
When Marcus heard that, he perked up and, with a thought, he summoned a hologram and checked the calendar.
"...I see…it has been sixteen years… time sure flies when you have fun." The Emperor slightly smiled, recalling the projects he worked on.
Building the Sentry Array and designing the comms technology, he still finds it amazing that people can have face-to-face calls between Solar Systems separated by four light-years.
It was only the beginning; his project was 'Harbour Planets'.
The Emperor treats Solar Systems similarly to islands. Most of the planets in the outer Solar System are Gas Giants, as in Sol and Alpha Centauri.
So these planets were related to either factory worlds or harbours, or both, in Toliman's Gas Giant case, where Centauria is and Saturn.
These worlds have strong magnetic fields, which the Empire could utilise in several ways.
Among them are linear trains launched from these Gas Giants to other solar systems.
These trains were originally inspired by how trucks used to work in Australia. Trucks with a bunch of carriages move in a straight line.
The principle is the same. A bunch of containers launch into another solar system. The system in Harbour World reacts, catches the incoming train, and guides it to the harbour.
In the harbour, the resources are sorted out and sent to the inner worlds of the solar system.
Simple and rapid resource management.
"Well, you haven't been there in years; things could have changed." Lacus was hopeful that the world of her origin was… well, better than it was before, a bit more civilised.
"We shall see, they should have Gundams now. I hope to see them before I shelve that world." Marcus looked at his tea as he swirled the spoon before taking it out and taking a sip.
Lacus giggled, hearing that.
"Is that all you care about?"
"Indeed. That is why I marked the date. Tell Jeanne to prepare for a small adventure before we set for stars."
"....As you wish."
~~~
When Marcus and Lacus passed the portal into the other side, the pair of them frowned.
Their Innovator senses reacted.
"...This feeling…"
"... I feel something."
"...I don't. Are you sure?" Jeanne looked at the pair; she was confused.
"...It's like there is another me…" Lacus frowned even more. She looked upwards.
"..." But Marcus was feeling something else.
"Damn that woman." The Emperor whispered under his breath.
"...Are you okay, darling?" Lacus looked at him, a bit worried; she rarely saw him that pissed off.
"Women, Lacus, Women…" He shook his head as he walked towards his consoles.
"Legion, Activation sequence 50086, power up everything."
[Understood, powering up the Batcave.]
When the girls heard the name of the hideout, they rolled up their eyes. What a peculiar name.
"Wonderful…" Marcus smiled at the sight of the lights turning on.
Once inside the Batcave, Marcus caught up with news… Sad to say, his interference all those years ago didn't change much.
"Well… it would seem Earth nuked itself several decades down."
"But why do they blow up an agricultural colony?" Lacus frowned. Her brain can't process that.
"Fear, anyway, I found what I was looking for, with the internet down, the data could be outdated." Marcus looked at the Earth Sphere's map. There is a colony that he wants to visit.
"I see, so we are going to this Heliopolis place?" The pinkette checked where he looked.
"Indeed."
~~~
500 powers stones = 1 Extra Chapter
1000 Power Stones = 2 Extra Chapters
And so on, You know what to do.
~~~
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