Song of the Void

”As psionics have a lot to do with the mind of the user, people can sometimes go beyond their usual abilities when affected by strong emotions or a powerful will to survive. That kind of boost will not turn around a completely lop-sided situation, but it can make a difference in a battle involving beings of relatively similar strength. The downside of such power boosts received from powerful emotions is that they tend to be somewhat uncontrolled and inefficient. Thus a calm and collected enemy with enough skill might be able to avoid or slice apart such attacks with relative ease, and once that happens, the being that went beyond their limits will usually be left vulnerable.”

- High Ambassador of the Mrrroww

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Moonshadow observed the enemy dashing towards the ship glowing with power, clearly intent on piercing right through. If they had been standing on the surface of a planet, or if she had been piloting a mech, she would relatively easily be able to avoid the attack. Unfortunately, a ship of this size was not agile enough to do the same. Luckily the sudden attack had not given the enemies the chance to coordinate perfectly, and the long-ranged enemy with the two large cannons had to stop firing because the enemy that rapidly closed the distance entered the line of fire. The Shinzen were usually excellent in their coordination, but they were not perfect either. This small gap in coordination allowed Moonshadow the opportunity to counterattack.

She quickly made a small gesture with her paw and it looked like the paw sunk into nothingness as if sinking into water, sending small waves in space radiating outwards. Those around her noticed the disturbance but had no idea what it meant. They quickly got their answer as it looked like the Shinzen that had been speeding towards them poised to attack seemed to run into an invisible wall. At least that’s the first thing that came into their mind, though it soon became clear that the situation was much more complex than that, as half of the Shinzen warrior’s left side was blown away, leaving it floating in space. Whether it was dead or alive was still a mystery.

Moonshadow almost collapsed under the sudden drain on her powers. She had caused the enemy’s power to rebound on itself, so the result was as if the powerful Shinzen had just run into an exact copy of itself and the two had rammed against each other with full strength. Copying an enemy’s power and using it against them was not exactly simple though, and it wouldn’t have worked against a continuous attack like the one the long-ranged Shinzen had used. There the enemy’s attack would have been slightly disturbed, but not really rebounded like this.

She didn’t have time to rest though as the enemy that had hidden itself so far made its move. It correctly recognized that something like what Moonshadow had just done would take a lot out of her and leave her vulnerable. A very tight and focused projectile of deadly energy cut straight through her ship aiming for her, slicing the bridge of the ship in half. Two things saved her from instant death. First was that she had expected the attack. Her sensory abilities were one of her greatest talents, and it was a testament to the camouflaging skills of the Shinzen warrior that she had not detected the being before it made the attack. Once it did attack, her senses gave her a very brief window of warning, which allowed her to avoid the attack. Still, the attack came so quickly that she would have been unable to avoid it without her other talent. She was extremely skilled in the area of body enhancement with her power focused on speed. Her combination of talents was powerful, but not suited for combat between fleets. Sometimes she cursed that fact, but now it saved her life.

She moved towards the door of the bridge almost instinctively, drawing deeper inside the ship. The hole through the ship left the bridge open to the vacuum of space, although through several other decks and a layer of armor, and the bridge and other affected areas suddenly started to depressurize. The crew members were thrown towards the open area and some crew members were sucked into space before the hole was covered by a field of energy. Even though most crew members on the bridge had not been pulled outside, they had still been tossed around by the change in pressure and were in a daze.

Moonshadow had just managed to catch a glimpse of something that looked like an insect with scythe-like arms before it vanished again and she lost the target. The enemy that she had hurt was slowly moving towards the escaping Shinzen fleet to withdraw, but the long-ranged enemy had apparently been charging power for a finishing blow and the ships around Moonshadow’s cruiser seemed all to be disabled so they would be no help. The Primaris of the Mrrroww had likely already realized the problem and sent help but it would be too late. Moonshadow herself didn’t have the power to mount an effective defense, especially since the stealthy enemy had only disappeared out of sight and not from the entire battle, so even if she did manage to stop this attack, the remaining enemy would finish the job.

Suddenly the space near the fight seemed to be rent apart as a large vessel suddenly appeared to be exiting phase space. The spatial disturbance tore apart many of the surviving Shinzen flyers. Phase jumps were generally not safe for the surroundings, but usually most battles were fought deep enough inside a gravity well to make it impossible for ships to enter or exit phase space in the middle of the battle. That’s why combat jumping was really not a thing. A silver colored ship made of some glasslike substance exited the rift, and the incoming attack from the long-ranged Shinzen was intercepted by a hexagonal shield of energy that suddenly appeared in front of Moonshadow’s ship.

Moonshadow had never seen a ship like that, but she had heard its kind being described. Its likeness had also been drawn in many historical works, though there had been a certain amount of speculation and artistic license involved. Still, the appearance was close enough that she made the connection and so did many others. Either a Progenitor ship had just saved her, or someone who had gone through a great deal of trouble to create a ship that looked like a Progenitor ship did. Weirdly, the entire Shinzen fleet seemed to freeze, and almost shudder. One of the Shinzen Hives was just about to ram the ship that just appeared since it could not change course in time despite making an effort to do exactly that.

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“We will arrive in three minutes.” Nox’s voice announced.

“What? Three minutes? But we’ve only been traveling for two hours!” Amaterasu exclaimed.

Selendil looked at the human like she was seeing something odd. "We didn't travel that far. The Mrrroww have their territory right next to Haven. There's a reason why they were the race that found the station first. Strictly speaking, the station is inside Mrrroww borders, since the station might be able to enforce the neutrality of that system, but it can’t do the same for the other system's surrounding it. Now granted, the battle we're flying towards is almost on the opposite side of the Mrrroww controlled territory, but it's still not that far."

“Not that far? Even using the most well-traveled phase lanes my personal ship would take at least two to three days to travel that kind of distance.” Amaterasu pointed out. While the Mrrroww had not expanded quite as much as their technological advantage would’ve allowed them to, that didn’t mean the area of space they controlled was small.

“Huh, your ship is actually faster than I assumed. Still, even with our main power core not operational, we can travel much deeper within phase space, so it shouldn’t be that big of a surprise. We actually took longer than I thought.” Selendil commented.

“Hey, it’s not my fault!” Nox defended itself. “The phase drive could use some maintenance, or at the very least some tuning. We’re running at most at 68% of the capacity we should manage with our current power levels.”

“I wasn’t blaming you. I just pointed out a fact. Before that though, we might tackle another issue. We didn’t have the time to really work on our weapon systems yet. How much did the beacons manage to repair during this time?” Selendil questioned, as she had not micro-managed the repairs. It would be kind of bad if they went into battle and none of their weapons worked. It wouldn’t be a disaster since their defenses were working to some degree at least, and she could personally take care of the offense if necessary. It would still be a little embarrassing though.

"Well, as you said, you didn't have the time to work on them. You also mentioned that the beacons should focus on more vital areas since you can make most things disappear by frowning at them. Some of the self-guided ordnance is operational. That means a good percentage of our missile batteries and one torpedo launcher. I can’t say for sure without testing it, but at least one of the Pulsar Cannons should be able to fire as well. I can’t say how many shots it can manage, but at least one should be doable without causing further damage.” Nox listed off the options.

“So none of the main weapons are online. That’s not surprising considering they’d need the main power core to function anyway. No matter. We’ll manage.” Selendil nodded as her suspicions were confirmed. “Give me a warning twenty seconds before we arrive and I’ll get us a more exact destination.”

“This isn’t a bad idea, is it? I mean I trust that a Dhar ship can manage, but we are going into battle and apparently the ship isn’t at full working condition. The weapon report didn’t exactly sound positive either. I can pitch in if necessary, as I’m quite powerful myself.” Amaterasu pointed out. Unlike Moonshadow, her powers were well suited to a battle between fleets.

“Bah! I’ll have you know that I can take on anything short a Dhar titan, even in my current condition.” Nox replied confidently. Those words were not just an empty boast as the ship had been using cutting edge technology before the slow grinding of time took its toll. They were a slight exaggeration though.

“Nox is feeling oddly smug, but the point is still valid. I wouldn’t worry too much. If the worst happens, then I can always manage on my own.” Selendil didn’t allow the chance to poke at Nox to pass entirely.

“Mark.” Nox stated suddenly after a moment of silence, signifying their impending arrival.

Selendil expanded her senses. Normally her senses lost some of their reach inside phase space, but they were nearing the edge between phase space and normal space and she was sensing for the minds and psionic powers of the beings at their destination, which was much easier than detecting individual ships or inert objects like asteroids. As she had met Moonshadow before and had actually been slightly intrigued by the feline High Ambassador, it was not hard to detect her mind among the countless others. She also sensed several other powerful minds nearby and recognized the danger. She gave their destination straight to Nox as they were mentally connected.

Even though this ship was capable of jumping back into normal space within a gravity well, that didn’t make it a comfortable jump as the entire ship shook heavily from the strain. Jumping into battle also came with the problem of information overload as everything seemed to happen at once. Selendil gave Nox the mental command to intercept the attack aimed at Moonshadow, while Nox gave a warning of its own. “Collision alert!”

A large asteroid that had apparently been converted into a primitive ship was right next to them and was just about to hit them. Selendil made an exasperated sound as power suddenly seemed to radiate from her. With a wave of one of the tails hanging from the back of her head, the entire asteroid shattered into tiny rubble no larger than a fingernail. The rubble was harmlessly bouncing off the hull of the ship as it no longer had enough mass to really affect the material the ship was made of. Not that the intact asteroid would’ve been enough to damage the ship, but the impact would’ve been quite unpleasant to everyone inside the ship despite the inertial dampener.

"Oh no, you won't." She stated and another tail made a swishing motion and the hidden Shinzen that had just been about to attack Moonshadow’s ship was blown to a formless mass of unidentifiable goop. The poor being had been so focused on finding the perfect moment to strike that it had not identified the ship that had just arrived. While all the other Shinzen had reconsidered the whole thing, this Queen had taken the presented opportunity to strike. Admirable dedication that worked against it in this case. The entire hive mind had also been stunned enough to not relay the information in time.

“Nox, lob a torpedo at the nearest asteroid-ship. Since we are here to nominally help the Mrrroww, we might as well give a token effort and that little transgression warrants retaliation.” Selendil stated coldly. “Judging from their movements, the Shinzen remember us. They remember yet one of theirs still dared to act.”

"Aye, sir!" Nox acknowledged the order in a cheery voice. The AI had been a little worried Selendil would give it no chance to act and ended up using a term it had learned from Haven due to the excitement.

Another hexagonal shield appeared close to the ship and seemed to work like a doorway as a large torpedo appeared from inside the field of energy. The torpedo moved with a speed close to the speed of light and the target was relatively close so it arrived in less than a second, giving no opportunity for any point-defenses to react. The entire asteroid seemed to collapse on itself and implode, suddenly vanishing as if sucked through a hole the size of a pin.

The rest of the Shinzen got the message and sped up their retreat. The powerful Shinzen Queens that had attacked Moonshadow also ran away. Weirded by the situation, the Mrrroww didn’t give chase, as they were unsure how to react to the ship that had just arrived and destroyed two Hives and a Deity level Shinzen creature in less than a minute. The Primaris was understandably cautious, and a few extra destroyed Shinzen vessels weren’t worth possibly angering the new arrival.

The situation was a little more complicated than appeared on the surface and things immediately became a little awkward. An unidentified ship of very suspicious origins had suddenly appeared in the middle of a battle within Mrrroww space, and none of their sensors had detected anything before the ship suddenly appeared, inside a gravity well no less. They also couldn’t quite figure out the weird ship’s intentions, and that was without mentioning the fact that it obviously looked like a Progenitor ship of all things.

On the positive side, the ship had helped them and saved one of the more important people among the entire fleet. On the neutral side, it wasn't like the ship had rescued the entire fleet, so while the Primaris was personally grateful for the timely rescue, that gratitude officially came with limits. On the negative side, this strange ship had managed to avoid all their defenses and appeared right next to a VIP ship, which meant that it could do so again, and with hostile intention. It had also seen the Mrrroww during a rather embarrassing moment, and while the Primaris personally didn’t care, the rest of the High Command might. He wasn’t a politician, but optics were important to certain other people.

His private communications terminal signified a message. The Primaris knew he had muted it during the battle, so a message was outside his expectations. The message was short and simple. “You have a planet with refugees to take care of, no? How about focusing on that instead of sitting around being wary about someone who helped you.” There was no sender, but the source was not hard to figure out. Nox had long since infiltrated the networks of the Mrrroww ships, so doing something like this was simple.

The Primaris huffed a laugh and gave the orders for the fleet to move towards the planet they had just liberated. ‘The ship had saved Moonshadow, so let her deal with the problem for now.’ He thought to himself.

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The Queen in charge of the fleet managed to handle an ordered retreat despite the shock. The Great Ones had reappeared! Once again the Great Ones had appeared on the other side of the battlefield, but clearly not as real enemies. It was obvious to all the Shinzen Queens present that just the single ship could’ve destroyed all of them and stopped them from running away if it wanted to. The Great Ones also could’ve sent more than one ship. The Great One guiding this ship had been extremely powerful, something they could tell just from the sheer sense of dread that they got. A being like that could definitely do a lot more damage than it had.

So if the Great One had not appeared here to destroy them, why did it appear? It was safe to say it had come to give another lesson, but what lesson would that be? Clearly, the lesson had been aimed at the Shinzen since the Great One had protected the other side. You didn’t learn proper lessons while being protected. You became dependent that way. Only lessons learned through hardship would stick. And the most important lesson the Shinzen had ever learned had been taught by the Great Ones in a way that they would forever remember, a lesson in humility.

Had they shown signs of becoming prideful again? That should not be the case. They were very careful about falling to the sin of pride again. Then what could it be? The Great One had destroyed one of their new vessels and killed one of the new Queens. It had also stopped an attack against the target they had been trying to kill. The new vessel had been about to sully the ship of the Great Ones, so its destruction could be ignored. The dead Queen however…she had been killed to make a point.

Was it because they had targeted the wrong kind of enemy? First, they had been given a warning, and once that warning had not been heeded, the Great One had given a harsher lesson. The Great Ones showed tough love, but they cared. The enemy had been good training and had taught them much. Maybe trying to repay those lessons with blood had been wrong? Maybe that enemy had more to teach, and those lessons would be lost if the being died?

Still, interpreting the will of the Great Ones was not something to be done in haste. They should consider this well before making any decisions. They didn’t want to anger the Great Ones now that the Great Ones had deigned to return. There might be more lessons in the future, lessons the Shinzen would gladly take in. The Queen decided that maybe it should return and exchange opinions with the oldest Queens. Those Queens were less developed due to being born earlier, but they had also gained more experience in learning new things. Maybe they would be able to interpret the will of the Great One.