"This is their homeworld? Don't get me wrong, it looks decent as a Garden World, but excuse my language, what the fuck?
Where is the orbital infrastructure? I only see several stations in orbit." 1st Princess' second-in-command commented with surprise and shock.
"My thoughts exactly…" the Princess replied, shaking her head; she was disappointed by what she was looking at.
The Turians didn't allow her fleet to get into Palaven's orbit. Which is understandable, but even then, they were at their moon Manae, and their scanners could check the planet's orbital infrastructure.
From what they can see, the only way to leave the planet is by spaceship. There is no mass infrastructure for easy space travel.
That means that space is still somewhat of an expensive venture for a regular Turian.
No train to space, only a plane, and that means several things: expensive for the regular man.
"Regardless, not our business; I am here to study their animals who developed a dextro-amino acids biosphere, which makes them a minority race in space." The Princess twiddled the tips of her long hair while pondering what to do with this research.
"Umm, I am not the smartest man around here, my Princess, but what does that even mean?"
The Princess softly laughed when she heard that.
"It means that their biology is a bit different. They absorb nutrition differently. The only other race that does that is Quarians, making them a galactic minority."
"... Differently?" Her flagship's captain looked confused
"Indeed, we as Imperials are levo-amino acid based. In other words, the acids in our guts are different from those of Turians.
That is why I am interested in seeing this world and figuring out how they evolved because the whole planet is different from others in the galaxy when it comes to life."
"You mean… they have different acids in their guts?"
"Indeed. Let me use layman's terms; otherwise, we can spend the whole day talking about it.
They absorb 'right-handed' nutrition while we absorb 'left-handed' nutrition; in fact, all of carbon life, not just on Terra but Benning, Elysium, Eden Prime, all of them are 'left-handed'; it's the most common evolution in the galaxy from what I know.
That is why Palaven and most likely Quarian's Rannoch is like that." Claudia explained as her curiosity got piqued.
"Do place a petition in Central Command for conquest of Rannoch. Let my brute brothers conquer that world for me to study.
I read some fascinating things about that little planet at the edge of the Galaxy."
"As you wish, my Princess. I doubt someone like Prince Scipio would miss a chance to fight rogue AI." The Captain of her Flagship chuckled.
*Snort*
"My little brother would even borrow the Colossus just to see if that rogue AI have a feeling of fear." Claudia grinned as she wanted to see that as well.
It would be an interesting experiment.
~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~
The Turians scrambled to gather a politically savvy group of Turians who could interact with the Princess that was in the local system.
"I am dissapointed that we attracted a scientist and not one of the engineers." One of the generals said with a sigh.
They have been tinkering with a copy of a Glasgow that the Emperor gifted them. In fact, it became a joint venture between the Salarians, the Asari, and them.
While they were able to figure out the basic neural interface technology, achieving explosive joints is not easy. For one, they can't figure out the alloys…
It's not simple steel or carbon-based material, which leaves them speechless, as this knightmare technology is considered primitive and centuries old.
"That is why Primarch Fedorian will address the issue."
"We accepted the Princess's request in hopes that we can use that goodwill to invite the 1st Prince or the elusive 4th or the 10th one."
The 1st Prince Trajan is already famous among the Turians for crushing the Batarian main fleet and for being the master of Unicorn Corp.
Others, like the 4th Prince, Kira Anaheim, are mentioned in the Codex as a developer of Civilian infrastructure related to mobile suits.
However, the 10th Prince is the most mysterious one, the so-called Ruler of the Forge World of Mars who developed the Colossus.
The details on the Colossus are vague; it's called the planet buster, but Turians have no idea if it's literally or metaphorically.
"It doesn't matter which one; we require more hints. The alloy composition is the most fascinating one. It would explain their rapid development as they use some sort of pink material that allows 100% of energy transfer.
And that is a monumental discovery that could improve our civilisation further."
The Turians were gushing at what they found in Glasgow's joints. They haven't realised yet, but this material is called Sakuradite, and it's one of the most used materials in the whole Empire.
This metal is extremely rare on a galactic scale so far and has only been found on a few worlds.
Mostly volcanic in origin and in different forms. Thankfully, the Empire, with Marcus spearheading the project, was able to create a synthetic version of it; otherwise, the imperial development could have been stalled many times before…
Eventually, Primarch Fedorian returned to Palaven and immediately went to see the Princess who was waiting in one of the space stations in Palaven's orbit.
The Primarch immediately noticed the difference in the retinues. As someone who saw the Emperor's escort in person, he could tell that the Princess was different.
For one… her retinue has animals… big animals…
Thankfully they have handlers, but damn…
'Reminds me of Krogan…'
Fedorian wondered how well Krogan could deal with these guys.
"Princess Claudia, welcome to Palaven." The Primarch turned on his diplomatic persona. After all, this was the first time an Imperial Royalty went to see their homeworld; the first impression is important.
"My thanks for accepting my request so quickly. I was bored; Eden Prime was not bad, but Prothean studies went to G-Force and one of my mothers." Claudia sighed as she explained her 'rough' life.
"So, I looked outwards… Palaven biology looks fascinating for me to spend a bit of time here." The Princess looked at the silvery-green world beyond the distant window.
"Yes, I have heard the discovery of Prothean ruins on Eden Prime is a major discussion topic for the rest of the galactic community as well."
"Indeed, I am well aware of that. However, Eden Prime falls under Imperial Exploration Division; they found that world. If it were discovered by one of my brothers, then it would have been their property, and they could do it as they please with it." The Princess shrugged; she doubted these aliens understood how their Empire worked. From what she read about them, they allow their majority population to vote on important matters…
Which boggles her mind! Why would you allow someone to vote who is not qualified for such a thing?
"Including maybe even sharing their findings with you." She smiled a bit as she pulled out a holographic disc and activated it, showing a DNA strand.
The Princess used her quantum brainwaves to manipulate the hologram's content, revealing something important.
"The Prothean technology is little to no use for us. My father only hoards them because he is a collector at heart.
However, what I do find fascinating is their exchange of information. The beacons and all that stuff, I have figured it out, and I could recreate it."
"!"
"This technology could be used to exchange information, and I am willing to consider sharing such a thing." The Princess used this intel as bait…
But sadly…
"I am sorry, Princess, but we would like engineering expertise instead." Fedorian declined with a heavy tone. It sounded fantastic, but they need mobile suits.
When she realised that, the woman deadpanned. What an opportunity! From organic to machine seamless information sharing!
Yet…
'No wonder father loves them! They are made from the same cloth! Light years apart or not, it doesn't matter!'
"Fine. You want Trajan's help?" Claudia asked with a droll tone. Fedorian and his diplomats realised that the Princess stopped acting 'proper' and instead looked like she was dealing with something she was utterly bored with.
"Anyone who could assist us in the development of mobile suits would be appreciated."
*Snort*
"Fine." She turned to the side and looked at her second-in-command.
"Tell Trajan that I am calling in my favour. The one where I helped to develop implants for his marines." The Princess reminded him of a very specific one favour.
"Besides, I doubt he is busy after that whole Batarian Conquest." Claudia rolled her eyes as she recalled the summary of the war. It was silly in her eyes, to say the least.
If it were her, she would have released waves of her Xenomorphs just to see how Batarians behave against her genetically engineered animals.
"He could be processing the data he got from the deployment." One of Princess' followers said with a pondering tone.
"It doesn't matter where he does it, in his HQ or above Palaven." The black-haired Princess said, rolling her eyes.
"Let us use your long-distance communication to contact him," Claudia asked the Primarch.
"Of course, please follow us."
'Tsk. What a lost chance. I could have had a chance to do some scanning on them, but all they want is stupid mobile suits.' The black-haired Princess wanted to entice the Turians for mass scanning for the tech she proposed, but instead she needs to use one of the hooks she has on her brother!
~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~
More than a month has passed since Scipio sneaked out from under his father's nose.
The Prince was in a place considered the space between clusters.
In layman's terms, while a galaxy is full of stars, some stars are closer to another, others are not, like the gaps between galaxy arms.
His father compared star clusters to livable continents and the space between them to the ocean.
It's because the concept is similar: the gaps between stars are much larger when outside clusters; it's like the sea or ocean.
The reason why Scipio was in such a location was that he was in a place called Hawking Eta- well, the edge of this cluster, looking northwards.
After pillaging pirates, slavers and mercenaries, he stumbled upon some intel that he was close to a very mysterious star cluster.
The lost cluster… a cluster so famous that it became mythical!
According to data that he stumbled upon, Protheans used to live in this cluster. This cluster was lost thousands of years ago as the Mass Relay connecting to this cluster was pushed out of its typical orbit by a supernova.
Now, because Prothean used to live there doesn't mean much. No, what is important is that Protheans used this cluster for research; in other words, an R&D cluster!
The lost world of Ilos, a planet dedicated to research, if he could find it…
Scipio clenched his hands as a smirk appeared on his lips.
'If I wrap Ilos nicely and ship it to father… hehehe.'
Then he could keep his planet Antioch! That's right, a gift like that- a lost prothean world should earn him enough brownie points; by the time the Empire reaches Shadow Sea Cluster, where his planet is, it will stay his!
The black-haired prince grinned as he looked at a massive star map with ships, mobile suits checking system by system, getting closer to the mythical Pangaea Expanse Cluster.
"Your Highness, we passed the blocking Nebula; you should see it for yourself."
The main hologram changed, showing a cluster of stars… an orange 'eye' with green clouds in the background.
"This is it! Just like the ancient descriptions! We found it, boys! Pangaea Expanse!" The 2nd Prince clenched his fist as he looked at the people on the bridge.
"Send the word! We need those temporary boosters, according to those old star charts Ilos System is close to the centre, we need all the extra juice to jump right there."
"Understood, the mechanics are finishing with them as we speak." Augustus, the Prince's second-in-command, explained he was ahead of his father in that regard.
"Good! Then once we have Ilos I can set my sights on Omega!"
Getting Ilos is paramount for Scipio, as he found jack shit after discovering his world of Antioch, which he named after the city his father always wanted to see, though it was destroyed long ago.
The next cluster he went to was the Ninmah Cluster, which he swiftly left after Turians very nicely told him that this specific cluster was the home cluster of the Rachni, a.k.a. space bugs.
Well, these bugs are supposed to be extinct, but just in case, Turians have patrols there. So Scipio, who had no interest in space bugs, should leave such stuff to Mother Anna and sister Claudia; instead, he went to the cluster next to it.
Styx Theta… and he found jack shit there! Not only that, there are black holes there and stuff… but it's where he found the hint for his next step.
Hawking Eta, a cluster northwest, a cluster with scars of ancient wars… Over there, he found some pirates who told him myths and legends about the Pangaea Expanse Cluster, which should be just north of Hawking Eta, but there is no mass relay leading there.
Not that he needs that stuff.
And now… after weeks of poking, he found a route to this mythical place.
"Father, we are ready to launch." Augustus brought his father back from his thoughts.
"Good! Good! Let's visit this Ilos!"
With that said, the temporary boosters were deployed by the logistics ships. After a month of continuous exploration, Scipio made several mechanics build one-time boosters for FTL jumps.
Instead of using valuable GN drives that certain solar systems have for boosters, he devised temporary ones with compressed particle batteries.
After using the temporary FTL booster, the gate-like constructs will self-destroy, and nothing will be left behind. The only issue with this is that they use resources, but that is fine, as they explore so many stars that they gather all the required resources within hours.
With that said, the whole of Scipio's retinue jumped forward, passing the blocking nebula and entered Pangaea Expanse Cluster.
Rushing right into one of the central solar systems.
The moment they arrived, the scout vessels and cataphracts moved out and started looking for the mythical world of Illos.
"We shouldn't be far; according to ancient star charts, we are either in the system or its one neighbouring," Scipio commented.
"I am doubtful, Father. If it's that easy to find it, then Reapers would have harvested this world. All we could find are destroyed ruins." Augustus said with a sigh. His father is far too easy to get hyped up.
"Can you stop with your cynicism? For my old man's name, get some hope, Augy!" The black-haired prince tried to boost his son's morale!
"Ugh… can you not call me Augy, father?" The 2nd Prince's son groaned. Why does he need to call him like that!
"Hahaha." Scipio laughed at his son's expense, but then one of the navigation officers got a message; his eyes widened as he immediately got the Prince's attention.
"Your Highness! We have found something!"
"Hmm!?" The black-haired prince swiftly went to his location, checking the officer's consoles.
"The second world of the system, according to Legion's calculations and from readings that we got, this world is in a habitable zone." The officer pointed at the statistic.
"The golden zone for life…" Scipio mumbled under his breath; his excitement went through the roof, his heartbeat accelerated.
The sheer glee of finding an ancient world mentioned in stories and myths of aliens!
'Is this it!?'
"Take us there!" The 2nd Prince barked out the orders, and sure enough, the bulk of his retinue went to the 2nd world of a system that had only three planets.
Once the ships exited FTL, they found a rusty world… they could see ruins of cities from space.
"Damn…" The Prince scrambled to the holographic window and looked down.
As he gawked at the planet below, the officers checked the scanners.
"The atmosphere is breathable; we are detecting Prothean-style ruins. This planet is Ilos from what we gathered."
"Take us into orbit and prepare teams for ground exploration." Scipio swiftly turned around and issued orders as he went back to staring at the world.
"Understood."
~~~
Shuttles carrying scouts landed as they began to inspect the ruins.
However, they quickly discovered something strange.
While the cities were of stone. Something that the Protheans are known for doing. The style didn't add up…
"...My Prince…" Scouts approached the Prince dressed in exploration gear.
"What is it?" Scipio turned to face his scouts as he explored the ruins. He had joined his men in taking samples for the Empire.
"The ruins… they don't add up… the lower levels are completely different from the upper levels.
The lower levels are…much older. The organic samples we collected from the lower levels date back more than 50,000 years.
Especially the areas that are further away from the newer ruins."
"In other words, we have Troy…" The 2nd Prince replied for them, with a knowing look.
"Troy?"
"Precisely, back on Terra, the Ancient City of Troy when it was first discovered, the archaeologists discovered that the city had been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times.
On ruins of previous city, over and over again.
While I doubt this place is like that, we do know what Protheans look like… and this… this is not Prothean." Scipio looked at the array of statues at the lower levels they were in.
Statues of slender aliens sitting on square blocks; they looked unique to say the least.
"You mean… we found ruins of even older civilisation!? On which Protheans built?" The scouts gawked at the possibility.
"If you think about it, it makes sense. The Protheans suffered the same fate as many other civilisations, and they found the same thing we did.
They found ruins of a space-faring civilisation. This place could be it.
And… I do wonder if we are not far from Prothean homeworld." Scipio grinned at that possibility.
Though… Ilos is enough for him. He found the mythical world, and he is ready—
At that moment the whole place shook.
"My Prince, some sort of doors opened!"
"!"
Prince's escort with the prince moved towards what they found was an entrance of an enormous bunker.
In fact… it was so big that they needed vehicles.
"My prince… the style… those capsule like objects…" Some of the scouts commented as they read the files.
"Those are Prothean cryo pods."
Scipio stared for a bit at them as his mind processed the sheer scale he was looking at.
"Bring us some transportation; it has been a while since I used my bike." The black-haired prince ordered without even looking away from what he was looking at.
"Yes, my Prince!"
Less than ten minutes later, the Prince got his bike, and the escort got into a six-wheeled troop transporter.
Without wasting time, Scipio blasted off with his anti-gravity floating bike, while his troops needed to take in the bumps of a surface that was full of moss, grass, and tree roots.
'My father will love this place…'
The 2nd Prince thought to himself as he looked around, while moving forward, but then a blue translucent wall appeared before him.
The Prince slammed the brakes as he stopped a few inches away from it.
"...Invitation…" He realised what this was; his gaze went around as he found the section open and doors appeared.
"...Let me guess, a computer, most likely VI wants to talk with me." Scipio jumped off his bike as he walked towards the doors.
Instead of going alone, he waited for his troops to catch up.
"My Prince." His men jumped out from the transporter.
"Augustus, come with me, and you two." The Prince selected a group as he motioned for them to come with him.
"Wait, it could be—"
"Nothing. The only logical conclusion is that the Prothean VI that is running this place is still operational. If this is the case, then we scored big. My father is the only one who has a Prothean VI.
Now I will be the second one." Scipio smirked for a second as he got inside the provided corridor; his son and two guards followed after them.
It was a short trip, as soon enough they arrived at a lift that took them to lower levels.
Once they arrived, they found a central Prothean console, identical in design to those on Mars and Eden Prime.
Moments later, the console activated and formed into a broken hologram.
"It is a VI!"
[I am Vigil, a non-organic analysis system with personality imprints of Ksad Ishan, the Chief Overseer of this facility.
I am relieved to find that the contingency plan of my people was successful.]
"...You are a Prothean VI, aren't you? We have noticed that there are ruins of another civilisation here."
[That is correct, and the ruins you speak of are of Inusannon. They are the people that came before us.
The Reapers harvested them; are you aware of the Reaper threat to the galaxy?]
"We are well aware. My father, the Emperor of my People, from the very beginning, more than two hundred years ago, found the Prothean ruins suspicious in the way they were left behind.
Ever since then, we have been preparing for a possible conflict.
And… he was right; we found a deceased reaper, a two-kilometre-long machine made of semi-organic metal.
He found out about their indoctrination and has been working ever since to counter them. Thankfully, our technology is built for vibrations and sound waves.
We immediately noticed the strangeness of these giant ships; even when they are dead, as long as they have even a small amount of power, these things can brainwash." Scipio bragged a bit of the Imperial achievements.
[Precisely, I am glad to hear that this cycle grew suspicious from the very beginning. Let me explain what kind of mistakes my people did so that you could be even more prepared for their arrival.]
The group waited curiously, as this was fascinating to the bunch. Speaking with a 50,000-year-old VI was not on their menu when they left for wild space.
But then again, that is why it's called wild space.
[Let me begin from the very beginning. This facility was researching Mass Relays, and we were on the cusp of uncovering their secrets.
The project was called 'Conduit'. By the time the reapers struck, any intel on Ilos was automatically erased from all of the databases, as this facility was top secret even among our people.]
"So like our G-Force… though everyone knows them, but no one knows what they truly do behind closed doors." Scipio looked at his son and the two guards he brought with him.
[I do not know how your civilisation operates. However, our contingency plan worked, and Ilos was spared.
Yet it didn't mean that the Prothean civilisation could survive. This planet was not meant for civilisation to flourish.
Even if the planet could sustain us, it didn't mean we could survive, as the Reapers didn't leave. They stayed for thousands of years, slowly harvesting my people.
The only thing we could do was put remaining Protheans into cryo sleep and wait for Reapers to leave.
But even that was not possible, as the machines were relentless; my power supply dwindled to the point that only twelve top scientists remained."
"...Out of all these pods… only twelve survived?" Augustus gawked at what he just heard! Just how primitive are these people if they don't have a decent power source!?
After seeing the ruins and what happened to these people, the young grandson of the Emperor felt a sense of pride to know that they won't suffer from that.
GN and Dyson Technology have given his people enough power for as long as they need it.
On top of that… having a top-secret facility without the means to sustain itself?
'Who does that? I guess they are not as paranoid as we are.'
Augustus realised that the aliens they had met so far were just like that. Never suspicious of their surroundings.
Like living in an alien space station, without knowing its true purpose…
[I was able to preserve the top minds of my people. After they awakened, they spent decades figuring out how Reapers were able to harvest our people.
They realised that everything leads to the Citadel.]
"What Commander Javik said is that the Citadel is the Mass Relay that leads to dark space." Scipio finished for the VI.
[Precisely. The keepers were the key. Over countless millennia, the keepers evolved separately, and now they only accept the signals from the Citadel itself and not from the outside.]
[That was the key. The scientists made it so it's impossible for Reapers to activate the Citadel remotely.
[The Citadel ignores everything and can only be accessed by docking into it.]
"Wait, how did they reach the Citadel? It's on the other side of the galaxy." Augustus asked, confused for a second.
"Did the Conduit project work?"
[Yes. The relay in this facility leads to the Citadel.]
Augustus and the rest looked at Scipio.
"The Citadel should be evacuated as we speak. It should be abandoned or maybe even destroyed.
The Commander's warning and my father's recent addition to his collection were more than enough to make other species react.
Regardless, they know that the Citadel is a trap."
[Then your cycle is more than ready. I will share whatever I can.]
Scipio looked around.
"Then we will take over; my father will be excited to know that we have a world ready for him." The 2nd Prince chuckled as he walked over, activating his suit and taking the VI.
All of the data was rapidly downloaded; Legion swiftly processed the ancient computer and its data.
By this point, the Imperial AI was more than aware of how a Prothean computer works.
"I have the schematics; there is barely any power left."
The black-haired prince checked the status of the facility on his suit HUD.
Not only did he learn the schematics, but he knew where the conduit was.
"I want to restore this facility. When father takes it from me, I should be in pristine condition."
His son and guards grimaced; that was a tall order!
"For now, we will check out this conduit. If it's not too big, we shall take it and gift it to my father." With that said, he began walking back to the lift, and his followers followed right after him.
"Are you sure? I mean, who will find this place? No one did for the past four thousand or so years. Not even extremely territorial Rachni went here." Augustus rolled his eyes, and they were the closest species to this place. Not to mention Council Races.
"We found it, and we can't leave it like that. Besides, this solar system has a Type 2 planet next to Ilos, and it's even at the edge of the green belt. Once we remove the runaway greenhouse effect and terraform it, the solar system will have two habitable planets.
We can't risk it. Maybe someone followed us for all we know." Scipio sighed; his paranoia was at an all-time high. Especially now that he had THE gold-and-diamond mine in one place.
The fear of losing something like that was at an all-time peak.
"...Understood, then we will need to leave a small token of forces," Augustus said to his father.
"Fine by me. I want a corvette prepared, with all the data we have gathered. I want all of this to be delivered directly to my father's, your grandfather's hands. Do I make myself clear?" The black-haired prince's finger poked his son's chest a couple times as he gave his instructions.
"...Understood. I will leave at once."
"...Hmm, and here. Give Vigil to him, tell him that all I want is Antioch from him." Scipio even gave away his recently acquired Prothean VI.
"...Yes, as you wish."
With that said, the lift arrived on the main floor, where troops were waiting for it.
"My Prince!"
The 2nd Prince jumped on his bike as he ignored the concerned voices.
"It was just like I expected. We are moving forward; there should be a miniature Mass Relay waiting for us at the end." With that said, the bike roared to life, and Scipio rushed away.
*Sigh*
"I will wait here. Send a word that I need a pickup." Augustus massaged his forehead as he was annoyed. As this was happening, the guards looked conflicted!
"I said… I will wait! You all go after my hot-headed father!" Augustus barked his orders, as he leaned against the ancient wall and summoned a console in his HUD, ordering a ride for himself.
"R-Righ!!" the guards and scouts scrambled to get into the transporter and rushed after the Imperial Prince.
"Bloody father…" The second-in-command of 2nd Prince Retinue sighed. Though he understood why it was him with such a 'critical mission'. His actions would be rewarded as well.
He might get a prince title for his hard work.
Being the Emperor's grandson is not the easiest job. The flexible monarchy meritocracy he was living in only allows children of the Emperor to hold Prince titles, as they are all naturally extremely talented, and not a single one so far has been a 'loser' who would lose his title.
Before long, his ride arrived: a fast-moving military SUV.
"My Lord!" Bodyguards jumped out of the car and swiftly went to Augustus's side.
"I am fine. Let's return to the fleet." The Emperor's grandson ignored them as he went to take a seat in the front passenger seat.
"Understood!" The guards swiftly returned to the car after the commander.
"And I need a Corvette; I will be flying back to the Empire with the data," Augustus said while looking at the sticking-out cryo capsules.
'Damn… just how many died here…'
"As you wish." The guards began contacting the fleet while the driver turned around and rushed towards the bunker entrance.
~~~
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