It was about time she got started on a few of her projects, but in the meantime, she focused several long-range sensors on the recently discovered Altean ship. The ship in question was the ADS Inquisitor, a Vindicator class Heavy Dreadnought. A very respectable ship class that served as the mainstay capital ship of the Altean fleet. Roughly triple her size, the ship was powered by twelve primary Zero Point Energy Reactors(ZPERs) and roughly thirty auxiliary Zero Point Energy Modules(ZPEMs). The Alteans didn’t use Omega energy or Subspace Energy Wells like the Soleans did. Zero Point energy was a powerful alternative though, albeit with its own dangers.

These power plants provided the massive amounts of energy needed to power her energy hungry systems. Her shields and weapons were so hungry for energy that they could barely function on auxiliary power, and that was with all thirty modules working together. Although her shields were certainly powerful. Of the precursor races, Altean shields had the highest capacity, and could therefore absorb the most energy before overloading. They also ranked respectably in terms of Mitigation rates at 5th place, but their cycling rate left much to be desired at 97th place. Solean Shields on the other hand ranked 1st in both mitigation, and cycle times. Although shield capacity was somewhat low, it remained somewhat respectable at 17th place. What this meant is that while Altean shields could absorb more damage, Solean shields could regenerate faster while under fire, and could recover from overload more quickly as well. In practice that meant that during a prolonged engagement Solean shields were better, but Altean shields were superior in short engagements.

As for weapons, the Alteans made heavy use of drone weaponry. Impactor drones equipped with Interphase generators were a particular favorite of theirs. Able to pass through any shield, and rip into a hull repeatedly. They were also well known for a pulsed energy weapon that made use of a byproduct of their energy generation method, a type of exotic radiation that could pass through most energy fields. These particles were named Uromi Radiation after the Altean Scientist that discovered them. 

The Inquisitor had been carrying nearly two hundred thousand drone launcher ports and a mixed battery of Altean Pulse weapons. Twelve anti-supercapital ship batteries, eighteen anti-capital ship batteries, 40 heavy pulse batteries, 400 hundred standard pulse batteries, and nearly a thousand light batteries. Like all Altean ships, she carried no missiles, torpedoes, or kinetic weapons. She did have a spinal mounted beam weapon that fired a focused stream of Uromi Radiation and had enough firepower to vaporize a large planet, most capital ships, and even some supercapital ships. Sovereign class Battleships such as herself were not on that list. Her shields were strong enough to absorb that beam... barely. Not that she really had to worry about that weapon, it was easy to avoid. Especially given that it was not really intended for use against ships her size. That beam weapon was mainly intended for use against Supercapital ships, fortified starbases, and planets.

As for propulsion, the ship used a form of subspace plasma to generate thrust at sublight velocities. For FTL, like all Altean ships, it relied on a Fluxwave Hyperdrive that was very fast for a hyperdrive, able to achieve speeds comparable to her own warp engines if a tad slower. Although that was not fast enough for intergalactic travel, for that the Alteans used a more powerful version of their hyperdrives called an Interfluxwave Hyperdrive. Both drives however functioned on the same basic principles, and there was little difference between the two. Except the intergalactic version was more advanced. 

There were plenty of reasons for her to head for this ship. The technology onboard was too dangerous for the younger races, and could greatly upset the balance of power in this galaxy. Honestly, she wanted to head out that way immediately, but she had already spotted a small fleet near the ship. While she had not yet identified the ships, she knew that in her current state she would be in trouble if they had managed to reactivate the defense systems. It would be better to complete her repairs. On paper an Altean Heavy Dreadnought was more than a match for a Solean Battleship, Vindicators were comparable to the Solean Victory-class Dreadnoughts if a bit inferior. In practice, however, she actually held the advantage in a match-up. Sure the Vindicator had powerful weapons and strong shields. It could also see through her cloak, but she does have a major advantage. Her PPBs and Hyperdensity plasma cannons have an effective range that exceeds the maximum range of Altean Pulse weapons. In addition, she is faster and more maneuverable than the Vindicator.

The only weapon she has to worry about is the Altean Drone weapons. Those could pass right through her shields. While her armor is sturdy enough to stop them, and she does have supplemental energy armor to further protect against them, enough drones could still present a serious threat. If the Inquisitor still has an ample supply of drones on board it could prove to be a challenging threat. On the flipside Altean ships were not particularly sturdy, and their self-repair systems less sophisticated than hers. The Alteans suffered from not employing sapient AI’s like the Soleans did.

At the same moment that she was reviewing old data, and forming contingency plans she started on some more of her projects. Deep within her bowels, a series of old labs had been restored. Already her sensors were monitoring entire arrays of growth pods. Each pod contained the rapidly growing form of a new biomechanoid. Biomechanical machines that would serve as her primary foot soldiers, but were also versatile enough for other tasks. Being highly advanced biomechanical machines they would be fully capable of intelligent thought, learning, and were self-aware. The Bio-mechs could even self-replicate, but not as quickly or as efficiently as her growth-pods could grow them. A single pod could grow a biomech from embryo to full maturity in 32 hours. In contrast, a biomech required three months to gestate on their own, and a further five years to reach maturity.

Of course these machines did need time to learn, so they were a lot like using ordinary soldiers. Only these soldiers come with internal shield generators, self-repair mechanisms, internal sensor nodes, hidden weapons, and other gizmos depending on their class. In effect, Megumi was actually growing a small army of super-soldiers. An army that would play a major role in her plans.

It was also time for her to get another project started, and she focused on Kiru. It was time she started on the plans she had for the young Neku. She was going to play a critical role in her plans, and that was all going to start with a simple procedure. One she now had the materials for.

Kiru stared at the wall. She was lying on the sorry shelf, utterly bored. There was nothing to really do in here, and she didn’t feel like exercising. Nor was she tired enough to sleep. So here she was, lying on the bed staring at the wall. Wishing that the wall wasn’t so perfectly featureless. Unfortunately it was a smooth perfectly polished surface without blemish. No lines, no bolts, no welds. Just an unbroken smooth polished surface. Which gave her very little to stare at.

She sighed. The boredom wasn’t all that bad though. It gave her plenty of time to think. Even if unfortunately her mind wanted to dwell on her uncertain future. A future she had no control over, but rather a very enigmatic AI. She kept telling herself that things could be worse. Things could always be worse.

Suddenly she heard a slight hum from behind. She rolled over and was greeted with the sight of a wall... dissolving. The far wall where she had expected, but never found an entrance in was melting away. From the center out in a perfect circle it was vanishing, the metal folding in on itself as it liquified. The entire process was very rapid, and before she realized it there was now a perfect arch shaped hole in the wall. Two glowing spheres moved in through the opening, and a familiar figure materialized between them. The hologram was back, and she had brought friends.

Before she could move, the hologram spoke, “Get up, Princess. It’s time for your procedure.”

She frowned. She had no idea what this procedure entailed, but Kiru had a feeling she didn’t want to know. Maybe it was the TWO drones on either side of the door, but for whatever reason she suddenly wanted nothing more than to be left in her cell with nothing to do. Something was sounding alarms in her head though.

With reluctance, she sat up, and asked, “Procedure?”

The hologram gave her a look, “Don’t worry, you won’t feel a thing. I just need to make a few adjustments to your body, and your brain.”

Now she was really worried. Kiru didn’t even realize she was speaking until after she spoke, “My brain!? You’re not going to do something crazy like try and replace it with a computer or something?”

The Hologram looked offended, “I’m not an Iridex. I just have some brainwashing to reverse, and a few micro-implants to install. A very simple procedure. Although I could replace part of it with a computer if you like?”

She had no idea why she said that. Kiru would very much prefer that her brain remained untouched, but she doubted she could convince the AI to leave that alone. The brainwashing thing disturbed her. Afterall, what did she mean about reverse? Then there was something else that raised questions.

As she stood up, she decided to ask the other question, first. “What’s an Iridex?”

“An ancient machine intelligence that tends to use biologicals as drones. Honestly, the Iridex are rather creepy. Although, they were one of the few precursor races actually on par with the Soleans in technology. The only other precursor race that could match the Soleans in technology were the Alteans. Both of which were at war with the Empire prior to the arrival of the Darkation Menace.” answered the hologram before prompting her to follow.

As the drones left, she followed. It felt like she was heading to her doom, and to distract herself she decided to continue the conversation. The brainwashing bit having already been forgotten.

“Interesting? I think I can guess why the Iridex were at war with the Empire, but why the Alteans?”

“The Altean Directorate? Well, that’s quite simple actually. The Solean people are nomadic, and the Alteans are Sedentary. As is normal for such different cultures neither was willing to recognize the sovereignty of the other. Sedentary races tend to see Nomadic ones as little better than marauding pirates, while Nomadic cultures tend to see Sedentary races as rather barbaric because of those tendencies. It’s a bit of a vicious cycle actually.”

“Nomadic!?”

“Well, yes. If you had ever wondered why no colonies belonging to the Starlords have ever been found. It’s because the Soleans do not colonize planets. They tend to live out their lives on massive cityships, instead. I do mean massive by the way. I know the Erali consider me large, but I am tiny compared to a cityship. Those ships are truly massive, dwarfing even the moon-sized Super Dreadnoughts in size. Cityships are the largest spacefaring vessels ever constructed. Their only rival for size are the Mobile Planetary Fortresses, but they dwarf those too. They are true engineering marvels.”

She blinked, “If they are that big, they must be the size of planets! I shudder to imagine the kind of destruction a warship that big could unleash.”

The hologram giggled, “That would be a waste of materials. Ships that massive are not very practical as warships. Although they make great logistical vessels. The sheer amount of industry that can be packed into such a large ship makes for a very useful mobile fleet base. That is what an MPF is, but beyond serving as a mobile base for fleets ships that big are not that useful.”

Thinking about it she realized that kind of made sense. Now she felt like an idiot. Of course a ship that size would make a poor warship. The energy requirements of moving it alone would be massive. She fell silent a moment but before long she changed the subject. As she was still trying not to think about where she was going.