My PoV
As the weight of everything they'd told me settled in, I knew it was time to reveal my own secret. The room felt heavy with unspoken tension, the air thick with the accumulated grief and determination of fifty years of war.
"There's something I need to show you," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "Something I've never shown anyone before."
Emily leaned forward, her brow furrowed with concern. The faint outline of her USS Enterprise CVN-65 rigging shimmered around her, a testament to the battles she'd fought. "Alex? What is it?"
I stood up slowly, moving to the center of the room where there was more space. My gaze swept over my friends, taking in the changes time had wrought. Emma, her HMS Lion rigging a ghostly presence at her back, raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Yui, the massive form of the USS Missouri hovering behind her like a protective shadow, watched me with quiet intensity.
"It's... well, it's easier to show you than explain," I said, steeling myself. "Just... try not to freak out, okay?"
Ruby, who had seen their riggings in action countless times over the decades, leaned forward with interest. "Alex, whatever it is, we've seen a lot in this war. I doubt anything could shock us at this point."
If only she knew.
Closing my eyes, I focused inward, reaching for that familiar connection that had been a part of me for so long. I felt the surge of power, the sensation of something vast and ancient stirring within me. The air in the room seemed to vibrate, charged with an energy that set everyone on edge.
When I opened my eyes, I saw my friends staring at me in utter shock, their own riggings flickering in response to the massive power output.
Surrounding me was the ghostly outline of my rigging - a construct so enormous it dwarfed their shipgirl manifestations like a carrier next to a lifeboat. Even as a partial manifestation, it filled the room, its vast array of weaponry and advanced systems beyond anything they had ever encountered.
"By the gods," Emma whispered, her eyes wide. "What... what is that?"
I could see the others tensing, their own riggings instinctively manifesting more fully in response to the perceived threat. I held up my hands in a placating gesture. "It's okay. It's just... it's a part of me. Like your riggings, but... different."
Ruby was the first to recover from the shock. She stepped forward, her silver eyes studying the ghostly outlines of turrets larger than buildings, missile launchers that could level mountains, and armor plating that could withstand the fury of a dying star. "Alex, this is... I've never seen anything like it. How long have you had this?"
I let out a humorless chuckle. "Since before I disappeared. It's... complicated."
Yui's quiet voice cut through the tension. "It's damaged."
I nodded, impressed by her perception. "Yeah. It took a beating in the fight.....Along to ago. It's been repairing itself ever since, but..."
Emily stood up, cautiously approaching. Her hand reached out, hovering just above the spectral outline of a massive gun turret that made her Enterprise's weaponry look like peashooters. "This technology... it's beyond anything we have. Even after fifty years of advancement. It makes our riggings look like antiques."
I dispelled the ghostly image, feeling the drain on my energy. As the last traces faded, I slumped back into my chair. "It's called rigging, like yours, but on a scale I don't think was ever meant to exist in our world. And these..." I pointed to my chest, where two glowing cubes - one crimson red, one silver - pulsed beneath my shirt, "are wisdom cubes. They're the source of its power."
