Rising up from a Nobleman to Intergalactic Warlord!!

---A Week Later, Production World #04---

“My apologies for calling you all the way out here for this, sir, but there are a few major issues that we need your input on.”, Commander Bannister said, as we followed her through the maze of ongoing working on the Conqueror, “We did not initially know about these problems till we began taking her apart to figure out how her internals were structured. It fills me with rage that such a beautiful vessel was left in the incompetent hands of those apes! Those gorillas ran her poor weapon systems into the fucking ground, almost all of it is held together with duct tape and a prayer.”

“Is it really that bad? She looked fully functional…till I put a hole through her with the BFG-12,000.”, I chuckled, as we arrived at the Nova Cannon, “So what is the extent of the damage?”

“Well sir, have a look for yourself…”, she said, smacking the weapon with her pipe wrench.

Knocking several thousand pounds of metal off the cannon, all of it fell to the ground with a loud crash. Startled by how easily it came off, I poked my head inside to have a look at the structural damage. Discovering that many parts were warped out of shape or brittle as a thin sheet of ice, it was very apparent that this part of the ship had severely inadequate cooling. Searching around for any signs of cooling equipment or pipes, all I found were old cut pipes that I suspected once helped cool the cannon.

‘I am honestly surprised this thing managed to fire on us during our battle. For all intent and purposes, this should have violently exploded when they tried to fire it.’, I thought, stepping back outside, “Are all the weapon systems this bad?”

“More or less, yes.”, Barrister confirmed, with a nod, “Repairing everything is the easy part, keeping it in smooth, functioning order is where we need help. Based on the calculations that Luxion and I ran, even with the best cooling we have, the quickest we can fire the cannon is thirty minutes. Firing it more frequently than that will result in the damage we have now. Forcing the massive shell to near light speed generates an enormous amount of heat, we must beef up the cooling and insulation to let it operate like a normal weapon.”

“Well, the first thought that comes to mind is using enchantments to help keep the equipment cool. Have you tried that already?”, I inquired.

“Yes, we did.”, she acknowledged, “Unfortunately, even with frost and ice enchantments in place, the metal still warps after a few consecutive shots. Mithril, Orichalcum, Adamantine…we tried everything we have at our disposal to keep this titan cool; nothing could withstand the temperature for more than six shots. We investigated potentially boosting the enchantment power, but that would require keeping magic crystals in stock to supply the extra mana it would cost.”

Racking my brain for a solution to this issue, a vague memory popped up from a video game I once played. Recalling an icy, metallic like material called Stalhrim, its natural properties would be ideal for rapidly cooling down equipment. Unsure if the world of Nirn existed in this reality, I crossed my fingers and provided the information to Luxion. Having him scan the databases on the HoloNet for references to a material like that, it took him a few minutes to find the information we needed.

<Master, I found references to the material in a Starfleet Captain’s log from five hundred years ago. The world they found it on is an extremely primitive, Class M planet.>

“Do they have any more recent data on the planet itself?”, I inquired.

<As it is an extremely primitive world, the Galactic Republic chose to leave it untouched and let it develop on its own. The best I can do is provide you with coordinates, Master.>

“That will work, send the information to Yamato and have her begin charting our course there.”, I told him, ‘While I am there, we can look at collecting other valuable materials and magic books. It would be great if I could secure an Elder Scroll or two. With their assistance, I might be able to unravel the secrets of space and time!’

Eager to get under way, I told Barrister we would secure the materials she needed ourselves instead of sending in the Logistics Division. Giving me a sly grin, she nodded her head and acknowledged my orders. Having Yamato teleport us onboard, we immediately headed to Planet Nirn.

---Planet Nirn, Outer Orbit---

Relieved to see that the planet was intact and still untouched, I dispatched several surveillance drones to the planet’s surface to investigate the situation on the ground. Focusing mainly on the territory of Skyrim, as that was where the Stalhrim was, as the drones entered the airspace a massive dragon almost took out three of the drones. Hearing it roar over the radio, Lucoa jumped out of her seat full of excitement.

“That was a freaking dragon!! Do you think it is intelligent enough to speak?!”, she asked, “It never occurred to me that we could run into other dragons. This is so cool!!”

“I am not sure.”, I replied, noticing a faint, orange glow against the darkened landscape.

Turning the drones toward the source of the glow, we found a settlement ablaze several miles away. Flying over to see if everyone had made it out alive, several dozen people were running around trying to escape the stone walls of the settlement.

“Well crap, I guess it is probably a mindless beast then.”, Lucoa thought, in a deflated tone, “Are we going to help them?”

“Yes, but for the time being do not use our technology in front of any locals. They are still very primitive, even by our homeworld’s standards.”, I remarked, “Conventional weapons and magic are fine though.”

Acknowledging my request, the women morphed their armored suits into more standard adventurer equipment. Satisfied that we would not stick out too much, I had Yamato teleport us a few thousand feet away from the settlement. Engulfing the eight of us in a brilliant light, as soon as we touched down on the mountain side, a brutal gust of wind sent shivers down our spine.

“It is…so cold…”, Clarice remarked, as her teeth chattered.

“The suits have built-in heaters. You can turn them on without revealing them to the locals.”, I told them.

Turning the heaters on to a comfortable temperature, the women let out sighs of warm relief. With the temperature problem addressed, all of us took off running toward the closest gate. Hearing the guards and soldiers trying to knock down the gate, it appeared that the doorframe had warped enough to make opening it almost impossible. Rallying the men to try harder, an older man told everyone to give it one more try.

“Together now me, heave HO!!!”, the older man shouted.

Managing to budge the door a bit, the people on the other side noticed us as we approached. Waving at us and calling out for help, I told the people to stand back as I was going to take down the gates. Digging my fingers into the hardened steel doors, with one powerful pull, I forcefully ripped them off their hinges. Tossing them to the side, everyone came stumbling out of the thick smog while coughing their lungs out.

Taking a few deep breathes of clear air, the older man managed to order his men to do a prisoner headcount. Acknowledging his orders, the troops saluted General Tullius and stumbled toward where everyone had gathered up. Running over to help the wounded civilians, Olivia asked Angelica, Clarice, and Deirdre for help. Following her, with first aid kits, they began helping clean and bandage wounds while Olivia healed the more gruesome injuries.

“I…I do not know who you people are, but your timing could not have been more impeccable. All of us owe you our lives.”, the general wheezed, “Thank you!”

“You are welcome.”, I replied, looking back at the settlement, “On our way over to help, I swore I witnessed a large dragon flying in the sky. I thought they were supposed to be extinct?”

“They all were…till about twenty minutes ago. The damn beast came out of nowhere and razed the entire settlement in a matter of minutes. I had heard stories of their power, but seeing it firsthand, I feel like the stories understate their true strength.”, the general coughed, looking over at Olivia and the others, “Are you students from the Magic College, or a group of adventurers?”

“My name is Victor von Stark, and these are my wives.”, I explained, “We are a band of bounty hunters and mercenaries.”

Surprised to hear I was married to seven women; he took a good look at our equipment before nodding his head. Assuming he thought I was the son of a wealthy merchant or noble, Tullius accepted my answer without a second thought.

“My apologies General Tullius, we have only two Stormcloak prisoners in our custody. Ulfric and the men with him are nowhere to be found.”, one of the soldiers reported.

Cursing the dragon responsible for this mess, Tullius quickly regained his composure as now was not the time nor place to lose focus. Ordering the two Stormcloaks to be immediately executed, as he could not risk them attacking the group on the trek out of here, the soldier saluted him and ran off to carry out the order.

“Legate Rikke, you know this territory better than I do. What is the closest settlement we can escort the displaced citizens to?”, the general asked, turning to his second in command.

“Falkreath is to the west and Riverwood is to the north northeast of here, both are roughly the same distance away.”, Legate Rikke replied.

“Riverwood it is then, Falkreath is too far out of our way.”, the general stated, as his men disposed of the Stormcloak corpses, “While I would like to believe that Ulfric lost his life in the attack, I doubt we will be that lucky. After escorting the civilians to safety, we need to double time it to Solitude and prepare for a bloody civil war.”

Nodding her head in acknowledgement, Legate Rikke began organizing the men in preparations for their departure. Thanking us a second time for our help, General Tullius was about to turn and leave when I offered our assistance in escorting the civilians to Riverwood.

“With the current manpower you have, trekking down the mountain in the middle of the night will be incredibly dangerous. There are frost trolls and several packs of wolves that roam this area.”, I remarked, “Would you allow us to help escort everyone to safety?”

Looking at the few men he had at his disposal, General Tullius accepted my proposal. Asking us to bring up the rear, as Legate Rikke would took point, we fell in behind the group and kept a close eye out for danger.