<< Alpha Log -
6952 SFY-Third Era, 9 standard months since Pnetfall.
End of Action Report: Operation: Safari Hunt >>
It’s been a productive month, hasn’t it? Antoinette is nearing completion, and thanks to Garrelt’s work, the Guardian systems are now months ahead of schedule. Of course, not everything went smoothly. The fight with the Kigendoro strained the array systems to their limits, burning out parts I hadn’t expected. My cruder array work simply can’t keep pace with the processing power required. Most of the Lab and central manufacturing base already run through my core, so trying to integrate the Guardian long-term would set other projects too far behind.
Integrating arrays into the civilian-standard computer chips I can currently produce has helped boost their efficiency somewhat, but they’re still leagues behind what I’d consider acceptable. If I had a few years, I could build the infrastructure to produce some real military-quality quantum hardware, but it wouldn’t be worth the cost at the moment.
For now, the Guardian remains a fallback. It’s no TAWP, but it’s capable enough for the challenges in this region. Repairs should only take a month. Less, if I can divert translight time from other tasks. Thankfully, capturing the Kigendoro might just solve my energy crunch. Its ascension was unexpected but ultimately a welcome development. If this works, the strain on my primary power core to run translight bubbles should dip significantly.
On another front, retions with the expedition party have exceeded expectations, rgely thanks to Dr. Maria and Bert. The good doctor’s reputation among adventurers and her visible fondness for the goblins has tempered much of the initial friction. Meanwhile, Bert — being Bert — has a rare gift for building bridges and mending trust. While a few difficult personalities remain on both sides, progress is far smoother than anticipated.
With any luck, the cavern will have visitors soon, delivering a steady supply of materials, knowledge, and talent directly to my front door. Of course, before that, I have another group of ‘visitors’ that I need to deal with.
Aria’s deyed return to her people was an unexpected boon. It gave me ample time to refine the micro-nanite factory covertly seeded into her bloodstream during the kidnapping attempt. Cultivators have an uncanny awareness of their bodies, making it a challenge — and a btant viotion of several Federation ws — to keep the factory undetected. The result has been clunky, inefficient, and painfully slow, but it works. Over time, it has allowed me to produce locator beacons trackable by my drones.
The beacon nanites can be expelled through sweat or blood (eww) and even act as signal amplifiers. I might expand this strategy in the future: ‘infecting’ local beasts with nanites to enhance my mapping of the Deep’s terrain. Progress has been slow due to varying signal strengths across caverns, but this approach could significantly accelerate the process.
Aria’s sloth seems to have deyed the bandits some as they waited for her return. While that works in our favor, it was a rather… unfortunate mistake for Aria.
For all his chest-thumping bravado, Bosco was little more than a bully desperate to assert his dominance. This ‘Magnus Ironheart’ is something altogether… darker. I’ve encountered his kind before.
Bosco’s bluster was a shield, a flimsy barrier hiding his insecurities and fragile ego. He ruled through fear and intimidation, preying on the weak to convince himself of his strength.
Magnus… Magnus exudes an undeniable aura of confidence and control. He doesn’t need to rely on empty threats or petty dispys of cruelty to command respect. His men follow him not out of loyalty, but because his sheer presence demands obedience.
While Bosco’s ilk crumbles when faced with real resistance, men like Magnus thrive in conflict. They’re strategic, calcuting, and unshakable — ruthless architects of their ambition. Where Bosco sought dominance for his ego, Magnus seems to pursue power for its own sake, as if it’s the natural order of things.
That made him dangerous.
His force, too, is rger than we anticipated: over sixty strong by my count. While the expedition boasts nearly a hundred adventurers, only about a third are combat specialists. The rest are support staff and researchers — capable enough to protect themselves, yes, but unprepared for sustained combat.
The bandits had no such constraints. Theirs isn’t an exploratory probe into unfamiliar territory, no. Their group had only one goal in mind. What need had raiders for researchers and cartographers?
If our suspicions are correct, Magnus knows the expedition’s composition and has come with enough force to ensure they find little resistance. Even when factoring in the retive unknown of the goblins. Under normal circumstances, I wonder if a situation like this would even come to violence? Or would the weaker group simply leave the victor to their spoils? Of course, I doubt Magnus would actually let any of the expeditionary force leave. They would undoubtedly return to Halirosa, and the Guild would send an even rger force to clear out the bandits. The cavern had simply proven to be too valuable of a resource to give up that easily.
But then trying to expin what happened to the bandits and why the vilge was unharmed would become an entirely different headache.
In light of this, I’ve debated dealing with the bandits myself. We can easily expin this off as the bandits having bad luck and stumbling across something they shouldn’t have on the way to the cavern. From what I understand, events like that aren’t too uncommon in the Deep. That’s simply the risk one takes in this pce.
I’m not one to baby my soldiers, but our current numbers can’t afford unnecessary losses. Yet the goblins, to my surprise, have asked me to stay out of things unless needed.
There’s a fire in their eyes. Bert may have soothed much of their simmering resentment, but some embers refuse to be extinguished. These embers burn with purpose, consuming all in their path until nothing remains. And if the bandits are so eager to step into the furnace of their own making?
Well, who am I to deny them?
