Starborn Smith [Stargate, Battletech Multicross]

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POV: Arthur Sinclair

Three Days Later.

I walked behind as the first set of memory blocks were dragged through the Stargate. The second Al'kesh, crewed by ST02, arrived two days later. The second Al'kesh had brought a Stargate and a DHD. We had been disassembling the computer lab for nearly 48 hours straight, and it was good to finally be able to start moving equipment. 

I quickly grabbed the partial blueprints from the two pieces of Ancient tech.

First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Astria Porta (Stargate)

Naquadah Chassis

First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Clavis (DHD)

Computational Systems

Then, I floated after the components as they were gently passed through the gate. I followed behind the first group of components and nearly stumbled as I stepped foot on the ground just outside the Village. 

I immediately got out of the way so that the packages behind me could follow. I took off my helmet. I hadn't smelled the fresh air in entirely too long. I would be here for a day before I headed back. My job now was to start hooking up all the storage blocks to the Cobalt-Eye so that it could start examining the data. 

I followed the first of the carts up to the Leopard SLS Somerset. From there, it was up to the Manassas through the Transport Ring and then over to the Cobalt Eye's storage bay. 

So, I got to work. I started with sharing the cybrex-data format information with the ship's AI. By the time that was done, almost 50 of the memory blocks had been brought in. And There were 1600 of them in total. I was going to be here for a while. 

Luckily, I had assistants, and hooking up a block was MUCH easier than disassembling one. 

It was about an hour in, as I connected one of the blocks, that the AI spoke over the ship's intercom. "There is an unidentified program currently active on that memory block."

I immediately disconnected the block. "Do you know what it was doing?"

The AI's response was immediate. "No."

I frowned. "Any cross contamination?"

The response this time took several seconds."Full system diagnosis complete. No contamination. The program has not been designed to access Star League systems."

I let out a deep sigh. "Alright. I'll have to disable the internal computing and start reading the memory from scratch. Make sure to say so if any other memory blocks contain unidentified programs." 

Immediately, I grabbed my equipment and started cutting. These memory blocks couldn't be disassembled once assembled. That meant I would have to cut it open to get a look at the interior. Once I was in, there was a small section of the device which contained a battery and a very simple computer that was used for communicating with the other memory blocks. I immediately cut that piece out.

Next, I had to hook up the memory directly to the ship so that it could begin reading through the raw memory. This alone took nearly an hour – for reference, hooking up one of the memory blocks took barely five minutes. 

Nonetheless, once it was done, the AI began working through the raw data of the block. I took the elevator to the bridge where the nearest secure terminal was located. Taking a seat and strapping myself in, I spoke to the AI. "Alright, show me what you've found."

"Nothing yet. Parsing the data is significantly more time consuming without the assistance of the connected indexer."

I shrugged. "Can we start with the most recently updated memory?"

The AI was quiet for a moment. "There is a block of memory that has been wiped."

I sat back and scowled. Running through the Cybrex code in my mind, I spoke to the AI. "Check the Read-Only memory."

Several moments passed. "There is unusual code in what I believe to be the equivalent of the BIOS."

I nodded. "What would happen if that code was run?"

The AI replied immediately. "It uses seemingly random strings of code from the memory to reassemble code into the previously deleted memory."

I nodded. "Can you simulate running the code without actually running it?"

"Yes. Shall I do so?" The AI queried.

"Yes." Barely a second later, the AI responded. "The Blank section of memory is overridden. I do not know what this new code does."

I raised an eyebrow. "Show me."

Several hundred lines of code – all in what appeared to be some sort of assembly language – started loading on my screen. My perk activated as I looked at it. 

First Perk Activated. Complete Knowledge Acquired: Contingency Protocol (Cybrex)

I slowly sat back as my perk dumped the knowledge into my head. I shuddered. I pulled out a Compad and plugged it into the AI. "Dump this code onto my compad. Erase all examples of this code. Especially from any backups or secondary systems. Make sure that no examples remain in any of your systems."

"Understood." The AI replied. Several moments later, a second reply came. "Task completed."

I nodded. "Immediately disconnect any further storage blocks that have any further unidentified programs. We'll have to use the raw data on those."

It seemed that the Contingency was at least partially responsible for the Cybrex rising against their makers. That wasn't all that surprising. I'd have to bring this to Elder James immediately. 

I told my assistants to do as the AI said, and went to go find Elder James. 

He was gathered alongside Elder Callum onboard the Leopard SLS Somerset's bridge. "Elder. I found something."

He raised an eyebrow but gestured for me to continue. I pulled out my compad and placed it on the table. "The Cobalt Eye's AI discovered a program hidden in one of the storage blocks. We disassembled it and found this."

Elder James nodded. "Alright. What is 'this'."

I really didn't know how to say this. "Well, I think it's the code that originally made the Cybrex turn Genocidal."

Elder James' eyes narrowed instantly. "What?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It looks like this might have been why the station was abandoned. The facilities AI was compromised."

Behind Elder James, Elder Callum spoke, "wow, wow, wow, are you sure that it's safe for the AI to interact with this."

I shrugged. "Fairly certain. This code was designed to work specifically with Cybrex systems. Star League systems operate on the same basic principles, but the execution is so totally different that it doesn't really matter."

I paused and chuckled lightly. "Elders, can I be totally frank for a moment? The Terran Hegemony – hell, it probably started back during the Alliance – very quickly ran into issues with miniaturizing their basic transistors. The Star League has been using the same basic technology and concepts from a thousand years in the past, but the architecture and software have been optimized so much that it can give hardware several centuries more advanced a run for its money. Hell, you have a leg up on even Goa'uld tech. I highly doubt that any program not specifically designed to break through Star League systems will be capable of doing so, even with several hundred or even thousand times the computing power."

My slight rant seemed to have put everyone in the room somewhat at ease. I nodded. "To be safe, I have already ordered the AI to disconnect from any storage blocks with the same code built in. It'll have to search through those blocks manually."

Elder James nodded. "How much time will that add to the search process?"

I shrugged. "Not much. Maybe a few days at most to the maximum possible search time. As it stands, we could be looking at a maximum time of about three years. That is if all of the information about the Cybrex Alpha system happens to be in a single Storage Block. Realistically, I'd say probably seven months. The data is really spread out, and we'd just need to identify three or four stars to start narrowing down the search significantly."

The Elder nodded. "Alright. Thank you for keeping us informed. I'll trust that you know what you're doing." 

I nodded and prepared to leave the room. "Wait." I turned to see Elder James stopping me. 

He took a deep breath. "You will be accompanying me to future meetings with the Dendredans and Jaffa." 

I raised an eyebrow. "Elder, I'm already pretty busy."

He shook his head. "Arthur, you don't seem to understand how important you are. Now, I can let you lock yourself away in the engineering deck for the next twenty years, but is that really what you want?"

I was almost speechless for a moment, but I quickly found my voice. "No."

Elder James nodded. "Good. Even ignoring your father – and grandfather – you have shown excellent decision making skills and patience. When I've needed you to follow orders, you've done so. When you've had to operate on your own, you've done so. From this point forward, I expect you to start taking a more central role. Now, what is it that you want?"

I already knew my answer. "I want to rebuild the Inner Sphere and I want to remove the Goa'uld."

Elder Callum behind him raised an eyebrow. "Damn, those are some serious goals, kid."

I nodded and Elder James dismissed me. Back to hooking in the Storage Blocks.

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POV: James Cromwell

I watched Arthur leave. 

Callum snorted behind me, "So you're choosing him to be your protege, huh?"

I nodded gently. Callum raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

I looked at him for a moment, then I realized that I hadn't shown him the results of the Inheritance Test. I pulled out my compad and passed it over to him. 

Callum froze, like a deer in headlights. He put it down and groaned. "Fuck me. Grandson of Simon Cameron, Great Grandson of Takiro Kurita. That's some hellish parentage."

I nodded. "If he wanted to focus on building, then he could have done just that. Since he's decided he wants to rebuild the Inner Sphere, I better make sure he's ready for what that's going to entail."

Callum groaned. "If his 'meta-knowledge' is accurate, then a lot of people are going to die."

I nodded. "Enough of this. Keep going with the report."

Callum immediately returned to a more serious appearance and continued from where he was before Arthur entered the room.

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POV: Arthur Sinclair

Over the next six days, the rest of the 1600 storage blocks as well as the collection of computational blocks were all brought through the Stargate.

I also got my chance to look at the Cybrex shuttles.

First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Cybrex Shuttle

Cybrex Impulse Thruster, Cybrex Auto-Cannon

Frankly, I was flabbergasted when I discovered that the Cybrex Impulse Thrusters were even more powerful than the Goa'uld Gravitic pushers. I would have to do some research into these things at a later date. 

Finally, the Cybrex Listening Post was connected up to an Al'kesh, and the ship began the long journey back to Dendred. It would have to make several stops to let its Hyperdrive cool down, which would extend the expected two week journey to three weeks. 

In other news, the jump drive of the BSG Daedalus had finally been fully re-aligned. It had taken nearly a month – two weeks longer than expected, but it had been completed nonetheless. The ship was now safely in orbit of Dendred. 

Deimos – as the AI had liked to be called – was much more heavily damaged than the Daedalus, so it was expected to take a lot more time before the Jump Drive would be properly calibrated. 

Finally, while I had been busy with the Cybrex Listening post, the Manassas' Engineers had started with making proper repairs to the drive. They had been working off of poor assumptions previously since they just didn't know what had caused the issue. Now that the main cause had been dealt with, they had started backtracking all the damaged components. Luckily, the Drive Core itself was still in near perfect condition. 

If the Drive Core had been damaged then any hope of having the vessel ever make a jump had been effectively dumped out the window. The only way to fix the Drive Core would have been to completely replace it, and that just wasn't feasible with current resources. 

People had also started to slowly move out of the village and to the new backup site. I say backup site. Soon enough it would be less of a backup site and more primary base of operations. Apparently the Jaffa have started moving their younger members to the site as well. 

Most importantly, no one really needed me for anything at the moment, and at my request, Elder James had agreed to let me focus on completing the first constructor. So, this was my main project for the next several weeks, and I was not going to waste my time.

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Author's Note: 

Thanks for reading! 

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