Chapter 409 - Far Future Ch. 119 – What Lies Beneath (1/2)
Even as we were still prosecuting an all-out war, we were building, conniving, and grabbing power.
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”Duke Corunsun.” Duke Parablum carefully analyzed the Ducal Seal Briggs had allowed him to examine, and after long moments handed it off to his darker counterpart. He closed his eyes, waiting silently.
Duke Rimval shook his head, and handed it calmly back to Briggs. The Coronal Duke sighed.
”A Ducal Title that dates from before the Empire, and on the other side of the Rift. What have you discovered?”
”That any and all references to Corunsun anywhere are watched like a hawk by waiting Mekker datasifters. Going through anything resembling traditional channels will be noticed instantly. So, aside from the fact that he's got a hereditary supercarrier-plus ship out there begging to be rebuilt, we've nothing.”
”Noble houses have been built on far less. Most new Houses approved by the Imperial Regents might get a cruiser equivalent, with perhaps a support ship or two. A pre-Empire Colony Ship...” he shook his head. ”And you are certain the Mechanist Guild knows of it?”
”Yes. They must have found some wreckage from its planetfall, realized that it landed here, and made whatever excuses they could to set up shop here. I do not believe that they do not know that it is a corrupted Throne field that is energizing the minerals here. They want to learn how it was done and replicate the effect, as well as grab the technology of the ship for themselves. The area the ship is in is effectively timelost, and its tech is pristine and functional despite all this time.”
The two Dukes looked at one another. ”High treason,” Rimval murmured softly, sighing. ”The Empire would have thrown unlimited manpower at the problem for the chance to retrieve an example of archaeotech in such perfect shape.”
”It's a good thing they didn't. We're pretty sure that if they learn how to duplicate the effect, it will resonate with every Throne field on every ship in the galaxy, and open Warp Zones around all of them, and possibly the Beacons and Crystal Throne itself. I think you can imagine what would happen.”
”Humanity would be extinguished from the galaxy,” Duke Parablum stated softly. Everyone present nodded.
”What are you doing about it?” Duke Rimval asked keenly.
”I have gained control over the demon who was managing the modifications to the ship's Throne, and have frozen the Warpzone. While its mutational effects are still in place, there are no new overlays with Warp battlezones going on. The inhabitants of the Warpzone are killing one another off with great speed. It is now possible to sterilize, sweep, and loot the Warpzone, before releasing it.
”Oh, and we've discovered at least fifty different incursion sites around the perimeter of the Warpzone. We think the Mekkers have made quite a few expeditions into the zone trying to get to the middle, and failed utterly over the years.” Not being able to lay down a non-shifting corridor would effectively doom them, as having a large army would only attract larger forces to them endlessly, until they were overwhelmed.
”What are your intentions at this point?” Duke Rimval asked somberly.
”Well, what Briggs is intending to do is start up mass production and expansion of Rantha Tech, now that we've TL17 printing and fabbing available. The first machines that make production machines have already been made, and we are recruiting the workforce.
”The combination of retooling the system's tech to Rantha Standards and rebuilding the Celestial Tribute is going to require massive amounts of material. A great deal we are going to get from inside the Warp Zone by looting it to the ground. Our mining requirements are going to explode.”
”You are going to require direct intervention of the Orders. The Mekkers have been waiting a long time for this... their logic engines will eventually realize something is amiss when the mining results do not match up with that produced and passed on, and there will naturally be incredible resistance to changing the technology,” Duke Parablum noted.
”I believe the holdings of Huldeiver will satisfy many of our initial requirements. We've not done any divinations, but I believe a cerevore is riding his meat, and has been for many years. Goldspire is probably totally dominated by cerevores and ready to explode, as are his facilities.”
”Are you ready to move on them? Some of them are quite valuable,” Duke Parablum observed, without batting an eye.
”The operators have been taking out the self-destructs first. Initial probes were very positive in all the wrong ways. The mutant cerevores have been coming out of Huldeiver labs, and they've been funneling biomass down to the Xenos for decades,” I reported. ”I know your Striker teams are busy with all manner of ops, but this might be one for the history books... and I'm pretty sure you're going to have to hit Goldspire from orbit.”
The two older men looked at one other, saying volumes with just glances. ”We'll set that up to execute as soon as a Mentat metaconference can confirm the situation in Goldspire.”
Trying to take a fifteen-hundred-meter mountain of durasteel and laen was possible, but not without horrific losses, especially if the enemy already held it. The number of cerevores working out of it was probably not small.
All these things were something I could contribute to, but didn't need to. Plenty of kids eager for major Karma, and major assets were going to be used one way or another. I didn't need to be present for any of that.
”You have an odd look in your eye,” Duke Rimval noted.