Sometimes, Marcus wondered why he awakened in this specific world. Why the Black Prince? Sure, he loved technology.
In his previous life, he rushed headfirst to discover everything he could about space. The awe of seeing an alien world remained with him even to this day.
It was the driving force that made him conquer the world and drag humans into space while they screamed and complained.
Now… he is starting to understand why he was here.
"Legion, prepare my Tiranis."
[Preparing your Mobile Suit, Your Majesty.]
The Emperor threw his cloak on his workshop chair before walking to his locker room.
He opened the wardrobe and pulled out one of his pilot suits and began to change into.
Once done, he put on the piloting gloves and took the helmet.
With all the preparations done, he left the room and took a lift to his personal hangar.
It was a circular room with three 'floors' of mechs waiting for him. These mobile suits were sorted by their generation. The 2nd one had the most, as he had all of the KK-Units stored here, while the latest one, the 3rd generation, had only two.
The prototype Lugh and now his personal travelling machine, Gundam Throne Tiranis. In Tiranis, the 3rd-generation technology was perfected. Especially, the gravity-based technology. It was the most difficult part.
Gravity is not like fire or lightning; it's far more profound. It took a while to tailor it to something like a mobile suit.
Unlike space colonies or space stations, a mobile suit needs finesse.
As Marcus was recalling his research, he looked at Tiranis. His black-and-purple mech was pulled from the pedestal and brought to the central platform. The mech then moved and picked up its pilot, bringing it to the torso where the cockpit was.
Once the Emperor was inside the cockpit, he got into his seat, and the screens and holograms turned on. There were no control sticks or any buttons. The 3rd generation had perfected the neural interface, and holograms were far more responsive than ever before.
Physical instruments like control sticks are considered primitive now. On top of all, this was the ultimate form of security.
If the AI doesn't recognise you… Well then, there is no way of turning the machine on. This was the lesson he learned in the war for world domination.
Back when His old and discontinued Setantas were still in use. Britannians tried to reuse wrecked mechs. Thankfully, the OS of his machines is very specific and hard to replace. The only thing that Britannians could do was try to customise it for their use. But a switch code was embedded in the software's very foundations.
Meaning that once the code is sent, the OS returns to the factory model.
A trap…
Now there is no need for any of that. Because the mech cannot be turned on, and even if the mass-produced models are recovered, they would need to replace cockpits and design an OS that is something one can't simply do in a matter of days or even weeks.
Once the Gundam powered up, it folded into its cruising/plane mode, and before him, a tunnel opened, with runway lights igniting inside. At the end of the tunnel, he could see seawater.
With a thought, the mobile suit accelerated and launched him from his hangar. Moments later, the mech was underwater before rushing upwards into the sky and then space.
The reason why water doesn't fill up his hangar was one of the prototype forcefield technologies he adapted when he built his underground hangar. Now, this technology is widely used in space colonies and in the new lineup of spaceships he will be creating for his armies.
And if it's true… what he found on Mars and this trip… he will need to prepare for a massive… MASSIVE war.
Marcus frowned at that thought as Tiranis left the gravity well of Earth. The machine reoriented towards deep space.
"Set course for Pluto. We are going for the very edge of our Solar System."
[Understood. Removing limiters, switching to interstellar flight.]
Tiranis' gravity resonators glowed bright blue as they began to emit particles. A bright blue vertical halo appeared behind the mech before the machine disappeared from the area. It became a blue dot in the far distance. It was like a star.
The Gundam Throne Tiranis was built with cutting-edge technology that combines Gravity Resonator technology, frequencies and vibrations tech from the South Pole ruins, and Ion Technology.
The machine no longer has traditional thrusters that generate thrust; instead, it emits particles that interact with the very fabric of reality.
In layman's terms, it 'kicks off' from reality to move like a springboard.
Such a principle has no limits, as theoretically, the mechanism has no resistance, and the platform of 'kicking off' reality has no size difference either.
The only limits are the Fusion Reactor's power and the energy it can emit.
And so far. There was no need to increase the size of the Dyson sphere-style reactor. In fact, the schematics of the sphere were simply simplified, and the number of heat absorbers increased.
Possible improvement solutions include different types of suns.
So far, they have been able to make red stars, which are the weakest in terms of the heat they produce.
Not that Marcus spends time improving the cores…
'Maybe I will start investing in this…'
Honestly, the moment he learned about the ruins on Mars…
His first reaction was…
'I need a bigger gun.'
But first, he needs to confirm his suspicion. That is why he left with his machine.
His trip to the edge of the solar system was short. In less than ten minutes, he arrived there.
"Turn on your long-range sensors. We are looking for large metallic objects."
[Understood. Beginning search.]
The holograms in the cockpit shifted as Marcus began a flyby.
~~~
[Your Majesty… I have located something.]
Marcus stiffened when he heard that. He took a deep breath as he focused on the image provided by Legion.
'Damn it all! It is a Mass Relay!'
The Emperor grimaced as he realised what was going on.
In his past life, there was one game he played for many hours, and he completed many walkthroughs. He loved pretty much everything about it: the cast, the aliens, the tech, the RPG-and-shooter mix.
Though the ending was shit…
However… he never imagined in his wildest dreams that he was part of that universe.
The Inventor Emperor never wished for anyone to be part of this world.
Simply because of the end threat. The Civilisation ending threat…
It was a race of sentient machines that had been harvesting civilisation for millions upon millions of years.
These machines were hard at work when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
'Maybe it's the reapers who caused the previous civilisation to run away through the portals?'
Marcus turned on his conspiracy theory brain and began thinking about hundreds of scenarios!
In the end, he pinched his own hand. The pain cut off his deep thoughts, forcing him to look at the dormant Mass Relay.
This was a trap…
He won't be turning this thing on. No… he will scrap it. Reverse-engineer it and find all the little secrets.
[Sir, this is an unidentified construct. There is no such thing in my databases.]
"That's because this thing is not made by us but aliens," Marcus explained with a frown as he turned Tiranis around and rushed back to Earth.
It was time to put on his working gloves. He needs to return to making stuff. If he is right… he should have around 200 years before the Reapers arrive.
That sounds a lot. But this is a Galactic threat. Millions of kilometres-long machines can brainwash people.
He needs big guns to blow those things up.
'I suppose Geass energy is the natural counter to this.'
The Inventor Emperor pondered as his mobile suit smoothly entered Earth's atmosphere before returning to the Bosforous Strait and lastly to his hangar.
He jumped out from his cockpit and into Tiranis's hand. The mech lowered him to the floor level. The Emperor, with rapid steps, walked to the lift that took him to his workshop.
Marcus immediately went to the project pages and began creating defensive systems, space fortresses, Mass Relay recovery, a Mars base, and other auxiliary projects related to these.
Only after doing this did he go to the locker room to change clothes.
"Your Majesty, you can't just leave…" Jeanne said the moment he left the changing room.
"I had to check something. There was no time for expeditions." He said, with a dead-serious tone, making her shut up. This was Marcus's not-arguing voice.
"We are not alone, Jeanne. There is no time for pleasantries anymore. I have ordered a long list of things that we need to do." He explained to his knight.
"I understand. What do you need me for?" She nodded seriously before asking him.
"You will start by helping Leila with logistics. The key point is moving resources where they need to go." Marcus stroked his chin as he pondered this.
He turned on his hologram and dropped the bombshell news in his science division.
It was a simple 'Aliens are real' line with a photo from the Mars expedition team.
[I KNEW IT. IT WAS SO OBVIOUS! Mathematically, it makes sense. There are simply too many solar systems in the universe. But, I never expected they were next door.] Lloyd replied almost immediately.
[Lloyd, don't send messages in caps lock to the Emperor.] Cecilia replied to Lloyd's message a few moments later.
[We have aliens, and you send me this? Don't you understand how serious this is!?] The nerdy scientist began to complain to his fellow researcher.
Marcus's eyebrows trembled as he was not in the mood for this.
[Regardless, you four are relocated to Mars until further notice. Organise with explorers to study the alien ruins. We need to figure out what we are dealing with.] The Emperor instructed his scientists
[Anna, you will supervise them. Be careful.]
[Understood, leave it to me.] The pink-haired Empress replied.
Nina didn't even reply, as the girl was buried under work, developing technology to terraform Venus.
The first thing she wanted to do was suck all the Carbon Dioxide out of the planet. To do that, she proposed satellites that use gravity technology to drain out the clouds that have buried the planet for millions of years.
All of those extracted clouds will go to Mars. Though… now that they have found the ruins, it could change. The red world is off-limits.
Marcus ended the conversation and then looked at Jeanne.
"Go, join up with Leila and start your work. In the meantime, I will start with my work as well."
"Understood, Your Majesty. What about the portals?" His Knight reminded her about that.
'This could be the game changer. Technology that I could find on the other side.
Even if I develop more advanced technology than reapers, those buggers are simply too many. Should I pull the green ending?
But for that ending, I would need to be cyborg… hell, all three endings would lead to my death… even red! That ending would lead to the death of technology and a literal restart of civilisation.'
Marcus rubbed his hair in frustration.
'In the end, I will need to fight all of those millions of machines.'
The Inventor Emperor sighed as he realised that he would need to collect talent and even more firepower.
'But even if I mine all of the planets around my local cluster to make mobile suits and warships, it won't be enough.
There are enough reapers to surround the whole Galaxy.'
"Ugh…"
"...Your Majesty, are you okay?" Jeanne looked worried.
"Don't worry. I am thinking of things. I need to process all of these findings for now leave me alone." He motioned for her to leave.
His Knight slowly nodded as she left his workshop.
*Sigh*
~~~
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