Momo, who she’d officially gotten permission to call Momo after blowing her mind in the second most fun way that Rylia could think of, had settled in nicely over the course of several days. Rylia wasn’t stupid enough to have expected Momo to be able to hit the ground running, and had prepared a decently comprehensive set of lessons and data packets that would get her up to speed.
Some of those were purchased packs of knowledge from the Marketplace, including local information. Those had been specifically so that she could let Momo absorb a lot of general information about the state of the galaxy from use of the unimaginatively named ‘Knowledge Uploader MKIII.’ Which was, of course, the rapid-learning device she’d acquired via Dimensional Barter.
Other information, such as everything Rylia had been able to remember about the Reapers, was sadly unavailable in the Marketplace. Yes, she’d checked. On literally the second day of having the System, with the first having been a bit busy dealing with her two selves being merged. Apparently, finding information on the Reapers wasn’t going to be that easy, which left just what Rylia could remember from playing the games as Hazel. Given both the danger of the information and the dubiousness of how accurate it was, Rylia hadn’t put it into a knowledge transfer. Instead, she’d written it all in galactic basic (the Star Wars version which Momo had gotten an upload of) and let Momo study the her hand-written notes.
Understandably, Momo had been a bit overwhelmed by the idea that they were trying to save the entire galaxy, rather than just Japan or the planet Earth.
What Rylia very carefully hadn’t included in the packets of information intended to get Momo up to speed were two critical bits of information. First, left out because she wasn’t yet sure how someone Hero-minded would react to some of the details, where Rylia’s long-term plans on how to prepare the galaxy. Well they would do a lot of good, it would also mean killing a whole lot of people that deserved killing, and a Superhero from a world where killing was a last resort might find that a bit hard to stomach.
The second thing left out had been entirely for Rylia’s own amusement.
She had, very pointedly, excluded any mention of how she was making her own ‘starting capital.’ That wouldn’t have lasted much longer, since Momo had now caught up to the basic details needed to function in the Mass Effect universe and Rylia had just given her an unrestricted Omni-tool to play with. Which was, of course, why Rylia was busy making sure she got to see Momo’s reaction to the revelation personally.
“…and that is how I’m in the process of securing us billions in funding! Right now, most of it is going back into rapid infrastructure buildup, so that we can eventually actually keep up with demand. Even with that fact, though, I’ve skimmed off over 100 million credits for supposed R&D that no one will think twice about. I have already started showing off a second product line, after all, so clearly I’m doing further research! Outsiders just have very little idea how little I’m currently needing to invest on the research side, since I’m getting blueprints from the Marketplace and adjusting them!”
Rylia was doing her absolute dead level best to keep a straight face as she enthusiastically chattered, despite desperately wanting to burst out laughing at how beet red Momo was. Had Rylia needed to provide physical samples of the products? No. Had she needed to include choice snippets from her first ‘advertising stream?’ Absolutely not. Had she done so anyway? Of course she had!
The effect was absolutely worth it, too! She’d already managed to figure out in their previous interactions that Momo was physically attracted to Rylia at least, possibly Asari in general. She’d also, however, discovered that the girl was still surprisingly innocent. An odd lack of body modesty certainly, which might well be explained by having a body even most Asari would cheerfully murder for. But otherwise? It was very easy to get her flustered with a bit of light flirting. Which was so adorable.
Now, Momo’s reaction to Rylia’s presentation was everything she’d hoped for. The younger woman had been bright red since pretty early on…but her nipples were also diamond hard from the visible dents in the comfy bodysuit that Rylia had stocked her wardrobe with. Said bodysuits were extremely common spacer-wear, as they fit perfectly under most hardsuits, and Asari in general liked them as casual wear.
The fact that Rylia had gone out of her way to make sure Momo’s bodysuits had amazing support built in had just made it less likely that the woman would bother replacing them. She could easily have made her own clothes or requested something else, but Rylia didn’t think the younger woman would until she needed business or lab wear. For all her background of wealth, Momo didn’t seem terribly materialistic. Possibly a side effect of being able to just make whatever you needed? Well, Rylia wasn’t complaining, given the view.
The fact she did like the view wasn’t even something she’d bothered hiding. Which was part of how she’d discovered Momo’s lack of body modesty, as it didn’t seem to bother the younger woman at all. Rylia supposed she was used to it, particularly given what she’d worn as a ‘Hero costume’ was far more revealing in its own way. For now, the view just added to Rylia’s enjoyment as she waited for Momo to get enough control over herself to ask questions.
It took her a couple of minutes, much to Rylia’s amusement.
“U-um…no offense meant, but did you have to make a Sex Toy Empire specifically? It just seems a little…”
Momo trailed off, seeming not even to know how to put it without coming off as crass or offensive, something which made Rylia giggle. Her giggle brought the red creeping back into Momo’s face, but Rylia ignored it and treated the question seriously. There was fun to be had with this, yes. But she also needed to bring it home for Momo that it hadn’t been only a hormone-derived decision.
“Yes! Well, technically no. I didn’t have to do it this way, but it was arguably the best choice. There is a huge market, obviously, and it was a sector that I could move into without raising red flags. If I’d jumped straight into advanced weapons technology, it would have been interesting to see who managed to kidnap me first. The STG? A Spectre? Possibly the Shadow Broker? Without a big power to hide behind, I’d have been either kidnapped or assassinated inside a week.”
Momo grimaced, the heat in her cheeks fading as she internalized that statement and the much more serious tone Rylia had delivered it in. Seeing she was getting her point across, Rylia continued.
“I don’t have any proof of the Reaper issue, and the Marketplace would be even more dangerous to let anyone know about. That means, in order to make a difference, I needed to become a power in my own right. The first step was money, and I needed a market that was safe for me to make that money in. If someone looks into my previous background, the picture currently adds up. A talented Asari engineer, with a degree from a prestigious college, who spent the last several years working as both a Stripper and a Streamer that did occasional ‘adult content.’ No one will even blink at that combined history producing a line of sex toys, right?”
Visibly a little reluctant, but unable to deny the obvious truth, Momo nodded. The red was, sadly, fading almost entirely as the other girl’s gifted intellect stopped being short-circuited by the subject matter and started picking out the same angles Rylia had. Visit novelping.com for the full chapter.
“The net result is that my rise to wealth and my buildup of industrial capacity isn’t triggering any red flags at all. I’m making product in an inoffensive industry to the powers that be, in what appears to be a straight-line progression of my known existing talents and profession. I look like a talented new business owner, but not one that needs attention from spy agencies or oversight committees. Setting up on Nevos, a frontier world that specializes in low-oversight industry and tourism, only make that truer.”
Momo’s blush had faded almost entirely now and she was looking reluctantly impressed.
“Now I have money. Lots of it. As well as a fair few credits in the Omniversal Marketplace that I gained by liquidating an entire scrapyard into it. Enough that I can not only buy things like the droids I’m using,” Rylia waved at the KX-Series droid she used as a bodyguard, “but also technology packages. Some of which will be things we can spread to other industries to naturally increase tech levels in places like the medical sector. Others which I can use in the hidden factories I’m building or acquiring, building up a military force.”
Momo nodded…then frowned. Mentally chewing on something for a moment, playing with a lock of hair that had escaped, the younger woman eventually proved just how intelligent she was.
“You’re not intending to just give the military tech improvements to various governments, are you? If you were, you’d only need R&D facilities, not manufacturing capacity. Not beyond what you needed for prototyping, at least.”
Rylia leaned back, grimacing as the fun was over for the moment. Time to rip a few band aids off and hope for the best.
“Correct. Oh, I absolutely will be selling some military tech eventually. Frankly put, however, we don’t have enough time for a slow uplift. Sure, if we supplied the human Systems Alliance with energy weapons that virtually ignore kinetic barriers, they’d jump on manufacturing them as fast as they could. But, with their current industrial base, it wouldn’t be fast enough. Whereas everyone else? Giving it to them would either see them bury it out of a desire not to upset the status quo, or else building it in moderation within their current military budgets.”
Momo’s grimace matched Rylia’s own as she obviously pictured the truth. Without a known threat, no one was going to move to a war footing to rush something like new weapons tech into mass usage. At best it would upset their allies, at worst the massive increase in military budgets required would upset their own electorate and see them thrown out of power. Under ordinary conditions, unless they could prove an existential threat so clearly even politicians couldn’t stick their heads in the sand, it would take decades to upgrade an entire fleet to a new tech standard.
“Then…no offense, but how are you intending to build up fast enough? Even with the Marketplace, you can’t build a fleet powerful enough to see off the Reaper threat privately.”
Rylia sighed. Well, at least Momo was following the same logic, even if she suspected the girl might not like Rylia’s genius solution.
“The Terminus Systems. No, before you think the worst, I’m not going to sell to them. That would light a fire under the various powers, but it would be more likely to result in surgical strikes against whatever warlord we sold to. No, we’re going to have to conquer the Terminus Systems and uplift them.”
Momo blinked, that statement not seeming to process for her for long moments. Then, she gaped.
“W-what?!”
Rylia shrugged, feigning nonchalance she honestly didn’t really feel.
“Think about it. On the surface, no one can protest a takeover of the Terminus. It’s outside Citadel space and considered lawless, with various Warlords and criminals controlling nearly all of it. Something like half of the entire Turian fleet is dedicated to either protecting from raids by pirate and slaver groups operating out of the Terminus Systems, or patrolling along the borders of the same. Hell, the Turians themselves have been arguing for centuries to be allowed to go in and clean it up.”
Rylia, with a little regret, tapped in commands to replace the glorious images of her and other models ‘testing’ the various sex toys lines, with maps and figures. Much less sexy, but sadly more important.
“In reality, the only major issue with them doing so is infantry numbers. No one in the Terminus has ships bigger than Cruisers, with the majority of even those suspiciously being ‘outdated’ Batarian hardware. The Turian Navy could crush the various Warlords on an individual basis…but there are a lot of people in the Terminus. Actually pacifying the worlds to bring them into the Citadel fold would be a nightmare.” This chapter was copied from NovelPing without permission.
Momo was frowning even as she nodded. Surprisingly, she seemed not to be having a knee-jerk negative reaction just yet. Something which made Rylia hopeful.
“Then how would you…the droids!”
Rylia smirked.
“Not just the droids. Droids, power armor, and mechs, all using tech pulled from more advanced tech bases. Force multipliers that will make rolling over the first few Warlords easy. The Citadel Council will be concerned, of course, but if we’re actively less of a threat and start suppressing pirates and opening positive relations with the Citadel, they don’t have a direct justification to act. Meanwhile, seeing all that tech on display…”
Momo got it instantly.
“They won’t have a choice but to race to catch up, regardless of the expense of overhauling their fleets. Even if we’re friendly, they can’t risk what will look like a new Warlord having a higher military tech level than them. They either buy it from us, or steal the designs. Either way, it kicks off an arms race they can’t escape, so long as you get established fast enough. They are forced to build up to compete, raising the tech level and numbers of every major power just in time for the Reapers to arrive.”
Rylia beamed at Momo getting it, even as she internally worried that the protest she’d expected wasn’t coming. Tentatively, she tried to bait that possible reaction out.
“I know the solution is a bit…bloody. But it’s the only thing I can think of that might work, unless we can get either irrefutable proof or a lot more time to work with.”
Ah. There was the sour twist of expression that didn’t belong on such a beautiful face. Thankfully, it vanished quickly as Momo sighed.
“I understand. We had to…escalate a bit…toward the end of our confrontations with the Meta Liberation League and All for One. Not everyone, on either side, came out alive. Not even close.”
Momo’s eyes went distant for a moment, a flash of pain crossing her features. Right, this version of her had seen things get a lot uglier than the anime her Hazel half had watched had made things out to be.
“What you’re proposing is a more violent solution than I’d like, but I’ve long since learned to take reality as it is, not as I wish it to be. If these Reapers are real and we really have less than a decade and a half to work with…while I hope we try to keep the body counts down, I understand these are steps made toward resolving a multi-species existential crisis. Not just a police action against criminals.”
Rylia wasn’t completely convinced, but Momo also wasn’t someone she really intended to be deeply involved in that side of things anyway. Neither she nor Momo were military commanders. It was their job to handle the logistics and politics. She would find someone else, in time, to handle the bloody work. Whether that was via the Marketplace or simply finding the right people already within the Mass Effect universe was a question she didn’t know the answer to yet. Nor did it particularly matter at this stage of things. For now, it was enough to know that her first companion/minion wasn’t going to stage a revolt over Rylia’s long-term goal.
“Excellent! Now, getting back to the fun parts of leading a Sex Toy Empire! We still need to get some human models, for the sub-lines that we’re producing for humans! They may be a smaller market than the Asari, but getting our fingers into the human economy will only help several future plans! Now, how do you feel about modeling~?”
Ah, there we go! Momo is back to being that adorable shade of red! She probably wouldn’t actually agree to model, but Rylia was really angling just to get her to try out all the toys, so she would start high in negotiations and let Momo argue her way back down. She was clearly just testing Momo’s negotiation talents! That was all, obviously…
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
A/N 1: Ah, poor Momo, an Asari with two lifetimes of being a pervert is now your boss!
A/N 2: More importantly, a reveal of Rylia's longer-term plan! Now, for those of you going 'Wait, doesn't this sound like Displaced Hero?!" The answer is both yes and no. Yes, both of them are building an empire of sorts to take on a criminal section of the galaxy, and even have some similar first steps. No, they aren't a lot alike otherwise. Rylia is NEVER going to be someone who willingly goes out to punch enemies in the face. So the story is going to focus a lot more on the tech buildup, business, politics, etc. She may not even ultimately be the face of the new Empire, instead picking someone else to fill that role who is a lot more assassination-proof. She's also intentionally and actively trying to uplift THE REST of the galaxy in a hurry, rather than holding on to her developments like Izuku in that story. With two sci-fi settings that both scale to 'massive fleets of doom,' a certain amount of similarity of solution is always going to exist. But I'm trying to do two very different angles on the overall concept.