Astropolis

"Disabling warp drive in three, two, one."

The Zeshani Fleet showed up at the perimeter of the Arioton Astropolis. A line of small, automated defense stations formed the perimeter, with several fleets patrolling the city's territorial space. The city itself orbited a gas giant, safe within it's magnetic field, with a brighter portion of the Soliv Nebula lighting it from the back.

A zoom in via the main screen showed that it consisted of four layers; the bottommost layer was lined with building-sized industrial fuel tanks, the third mainly consisted of various ports and landing pads with several clusters of buildings, and the second and top held the majority of populated habitats, teeming with skyscrapers and additional platforms that acted as sub-layers. The entire city, angular but not conforming to any specific shape, had a length of 56.3 kilometers at it's furthest points.

Distortions and flashes of light signaled the arrival of other fleets sent by the Zeshan Trade League and other factions soon to be involved in the dispute.

"Quite the city," Anton said.

"Yep, self-sustaining, hosts the headquarters for our branch in the League, and the de-facto regional capital of a very loose union of cities, like many others," Heydar responded.

"Everything seems to rely on these cities..." Anton stated.

The various astropoli were built in safe spots throughout the Dimension. After all, if that area of space was safe enough to build a large astropolis without the risk of planet splitting subspace rifts, dimensional horrors, rogue celestial bodies and whatnot, people would flock to it. Eventually, trades, major decisions, reputation, influence and connections would form as the city grew. And people would stick the the paths that led to these cities, because everywhere else was a death zone. But with veteran experience, you can navigate the dangers relatively unharmed. The various hazards found in the tales of those who explored the Amalga Dimension were a constant warning to never be careless.

Radio chatter went back and forth until the control tower gave a final confirmation.

"Escort Carrier Uruk, you're clear to dock at Military Terminal 13-4. Welcome to Arioton City."

"They seem nice," Anton said.

"They really are," Heydar responded. "Most other port authorities are either rude or sound dead inside. Or they're robots."

"You serious?"

"Yeah, some places don't even bother with hiring someone and just whip up some procedures to install on an A.I."

As Anton and Heydar continued to talk, the carrier soon made contact with the magnetic clamps and was securely locked in place at the port. Anton made his way through the ship when he looked around and saw that the cargo area was nearly empty.

'It's pretty spacious in here when it's empty. Like a brand new warehouse,' Anton thought.

When don't empty areas look spacious?

Anton entered the terminal, and was greeted with a massive interior with a transparent canopy for a ceiling. The terminal was lined with supplies, vehicles, shuttles and fighters, while soldiers jogged in the middle. Beyond that, the nearest cluster of buildings on the level were visible at the end, with the second level dominating the view above. Heavy gun batteries stood out on elevated foundations, and patrolling starships occasionally flew by.

"So... where to start..."

"I'll be going to the central hub," Heydar responded. "There I'll meet whoever's in charge of security and get everything sorted out."

"I'll ask around and see if anyone else has seen a battlecruiser floating around lately."

"You go and do that. We can meet back here and discuss what to do about that test."

Oh. That test. What was so special about Metaphysics that everyone had to be measured? Sure, some of the ancient tech was so advanced that it required supercomputers to properly activate them, and then there were weapons rumored to be capable of blowing up stars, and of course the infamous Variable Rifts that could be controlled, but he never saw how that could be connected to the human spirit.

However, he remembered Kevin's words, that the Dimension lives on the impossible. If that was the case, there was a small chance that maybe, someone could create ghosts by using some ancient black box tech to give someone's soul a body of Bose-Einstein condensate. Even though that would probably break the laws of physics or thermodynamics somewhere. Who was he kidding, there's subspace rifts that should not exist by the laws of physics; that alone was evidence of the impossible becoming reality.

In the Amalga Dimension, reality is unrealistic.

'Okay, focus on the task at hand,' Anton thought to himself while looking for anyone out of place. 'Anyone jittery, looking around for danger? Feeling like they're going to be jumped by someone?'

There was a soldier dressed in fatigues, his leg bumping up and down erratically, his head leaned back with his eyes glancing out beyond the canopy, seemingly searching for something.

"You alright, there?" Anton asked. The soldier jumped slightly before turning to look.

"U-uh, I'm- yeah, I'm fine."

"Not to be rude, but you don't seem fine, more like you're pondering your life choices after you accidentally pissed off a Mudaguan Scorpion."

The soldier chuckled before responding, "Yeah, I wish. But spirits above, that last battle was a close call."

"A battle, you say?"

"Yeah. Standard, run of the mill patrol, killing pirates, guarding cargo, the usual. We head back to our patrol station, when it gets blown up. Out comes this capital ship, 2200 meters, give or take. It was a mess. By the time we got to warp, our ship was missing half of it's guns. Been having second thoughts about being a gunner now."

Anton thought for a moment, before activating his hologram and bringing up the model of the Intolerance-class Battlecruiser.

"Did the ship look anything like this?"

"Eh... I couldn't tell. There was debris and scanners were down. The model definitely looks like it has enough VLS missile cells to destroy the station with. Thirty-six cruise missile salvo... you really don't wanna be on the business end of something like that. Though, the ship was close enough for me to notice a teal color."

"Alright, thanks," Anton responded before disabling his hologram. "You take care of yourself."

"You too."

Anton spent the next hour asking around about the potential capital ship, but answers varied. Some would say that they couldn't determine the appearance, others believed it was a different size of ship, and some would immediately confirm that it was an Intolerance-class, or some modified variant. The only trending description was that it had a teal color pattern.

He went back to the terminal gate and waited for Heydar. The Lieutenant eventually arrived after half an hour passed.

"Sorry, the talk took longer than I expected," Heydar said.

"No problem. I got eyewitness testimonies, it differed between people as to what class of ship it might be, but they all said that the ship had a teal color pattern.

"Giniri Shipping's Security Fleet. Intel Division confirmed that the corporation has a battlecruiser, and it had been spearheading attacks on isolated stations for a short while before disappearing into the abyss. Likely taking it for a test spin before rearming and moving to a proper attack plan. Your eyewitnesses say anything else about it?"

"Varied. Some said railguns, some said autocannons, and the most unfortunate cases are still regretting their life choices after standing on the business end of a thirty-six missile salvo. Is that battlecruiser capable of holding all three sets of weaponry?"

"Probably. Battlecruisers are usually specialized, but they have plenty of weapons space to go multirole, the average being 1500 to 2200 meters in length."

"Any defense strategy?"

"Upper brass is still working on it. In the meantime, you should be able to get that test done. Only takes a couple hours."

"Why is it that the first thing I imagine is myself about to be poked in 20 different nerve points by giant crystalline needles?"

"Whoa, it's nothing like that. Just a detailed scan. Promise."

"Alright, alright."

The two made their way out of the terminal and into a transfer train to the upper levels.