Song of the Void

”The persecution and the following exodus of the Illum is one of the greatest tragedies of the human race. So much potential, the best and the brightest, lost and turned into an enemy. Not that the Illum didn’t contribute to the rift with their selfish actions, but the seeds for their betrayal had been sown long before. The struggle of the Cybrans was just the second act in the story, and the real damage had been done when the Illum cut their ties with the rest of humanity. You would think that their shared tragedy would bring the Cybrans and the Illum together, but the Illum blame the Cybrans for not siding with them, and the Cybrans blame the Illum for turning the rest of humanity against anyone different. They’re both partially right, but as usual, the truth is more complicated than that. Still, despite everything they get along for the moment however fleeting that is. If the Tetrarchy was wiped out today, then the two parties would be at war tomorrow.”

- High Ambassador of the Mrrroww

-------

Selendil closed the control panel with a non-committal shrug. She’d done what she could, and thanks to the expertise of the engineers she had ‘activated’, that was quite a lot. “So?” Nox asked. The Ai couldn’t take control of the support beacon before Selendil reconnected the beacon with the rest of the ship, and the AI was a bit impatient.

“Well, I fixed most of the issues with the beacon. It should theoretically work quite well, except there really isn’t much I can do for the power core. The core is pretty much done for and I can’t really change that fact. I managed to squeeze a bit more power out of it, but only enough for a single warp jump, or a medium distance phase jump. After that, the beacon needs a new power core. If we do manage to get a core though, I think I can get all the support beacons on the ship working. One core should be enough to supply all of them for as long as we don’t push them too hard. More cores would be better of course, but one thing at a time. They could use a fresh dose of nanites as well, but that’s not really a problem at the moment.” Selendil explained. There was only so much that even the best engineer could do with limited resources.

“So can we create a new power core?” Nox asked. The AI had already made an inventory of available materials while Selendil was working, but she would have to do the actual work.

“Well, I have the information and I can use my psionics to substitute for most of the tools. Still, we have a couple of problems. I would need either certain materials only available through phase space, or I would need an industrial scale fabricator unit to help me refine some of the materials we already have into something usable. In other words, I need either Detrium for a dark phase core, or we need to refine high-grade Gravinium to create a controlled singularity core. That said, if we had enough of either, I could jump-start the auxiliary power cores of the ship and not just the beacons.” Selendil explained. While the ship’s main core used entirely different technology, the auxiliary cores were basically larger versions of the cores used by the beacons and the various other autonomous systems on the ship, like the fighters for example.

“How about the ship outside? My scans show me that at least some of the people are alive, but nabbing their power wouldn’t be too hard.” Nox suggested. The AI knew the idea was not going to work, but the point was mostly just to dismiss possibilities that would not work so that they could focus on what would. Despite being an AI, complex tasks of engineering like this were a little outside its expertise. Nox could fix their ship easily when everything was working or even build one from the right materials and a shipyard, but scrounging like this required a different kind of skillset. The AI could run calculations and make predictions, but it lacked certain pieces of key information to really determine what they could do.

Selendil shook her head. “Not enough power. It could allow us to make a short jump, but in the end I would have to go through a lot of trouble to join their core with our ship for very little gain. I don’t think their systems are very compatible with ours so I’d have to build the connection interface myself. In the end, our systems are very efficient but still designed with a fair bit more power generation in mind. There are two options that I can see. Either we take our chances finding Detrium with the one phase jump we have, or we use our single warp to get somewhere we might find either high-grade Gravinium or an industrial scale fabricator. I doubt we’d be lucky enough to stumble on a warehouse full of Detrium.”

“The odds of finding Detrium with a medium distance phase jump are not great. That’s if our detection systems were in perfect condition, which they are not.” Nox pointed out.

“And unfortunately the further into phase space we go, the less I'll be able to help with my psionics scans." Selendil agreed. The deep recesses of phase space interfered with certain kinds of psionics. Surveying the surroundings with your mind was at the top of that list.

“So do we have any warp markers to use? If all of the beacons are in the same condition as ours, then we’re kind of stuck.” Nox continued. The warp system was powerful and versatile, but you needed a solid target to warp to. You couldn’t just point at a map and decide to jump where you pointed. In the past, that wasn't a problem since most of the space controlled by the Dhar was blanketed in support beacons. Now things were a bit different.

The appendages at the back of Selendil’s head shook with suppressed emotion. The five long cords were part muscle tissue, part sensory tissue with great sensitivity to things like touch and balance, as well as a method to control the psionics of the Dhar. They were always the clearest indicators of a Dhar’s mood, though only if you knew what you were looking for, and Selendil was afraid. Nox was not able to connect with the warp network. Only a Dhar joined with the shared consciousness of the universe could do that. She could jump small distances with just her psionic powers like she had done in the battle before, but that didn’t allow her to bring the entire ship along and wouldn't allow for long-range travel. For long-range travel she needed the power of the warp network.

The problem was that she had been avoiding the shared consciousness on purpose. As soon as she joined her mind with what was left of the unity that had existed before, she would be faced with the deafening silence and the obvious lack of the Great Song. She was far from coming to terms with the loss of her people, and the silence would be a stark reminder. Still, this was not the time to be lost in grief. She leaned her back to the closest wall for support and steeled herself. After long ten seconds she took the plunge.

The shared consciousness of the universe was a beautiful thing. Or at least it was supposed to be. For anyone else, it still would be, as it felt like you had gained the ability to see and hear after being blind and deaf for your entire life. For Selendil the problem was that she knew how much better it could be, and even being joined with the universe, she felt so alone. She closed her eyes and sadly allowed her mind to sing a few shaky verses along with the Great Song before going quiet again due to the sheer weight of emotions crushing her.

She quickly focused on the warp network instead. The Dhar had hidden many warp gates and warp hubs in places where no one would ever be able to touch them. The gates and hubs were also built to last for eternity. No maintenance would ever be needed, which was good because none would ever be provided. The whole point was for no one to ever reach them and they would be revealed if someone could follow the maintenance crew to the hiding places. These hubs were one of the great wonders of their race and each hub took hundreds of years of meticulous engineering and construction.

“The system still works. Of course. We built it to last after all. Scanning for beacons in this galaxy. Found four. One near the heart of the galaxy, the beacon is tagged to belong to a nanite construction facility drawing power and materials from the heart of the galaxy. Two are near worlds we used to inhabit. One is inside the Pai’i system, the other one is actually fairly close to us. The last beacon is one of the border beacons near the Seat of Power.” Selendil listed, and quickly withdrew her mind from the shared consciousness to avoid being affected further.

“Pai’i system? That’s the designer system with a dozen inhabitable worlds. The odds of finding something useful there is over 75%.” Nox stated but then continued. “Ah, but the odds of intelligent life developing on one of the planets during all these years is also pretty much 100%. It’s also one of the systems at the core of the galaxy, so even if no life developed there, someone will have colonized the system by now.”

“The nanite factory at the heart of the galaxy is promising considering our need for parts and a fabricator, but with the heart being filled with such hazardous things like black holes, in all likelihood the facility has already been destroyed. We used to lose those kinds of facilities every now and then even when we were still looking after the facility. The odds of an unmanned facility surviving all these years are astronomically low, though the beacon still being around gives me slight hope. Let’s keep that as the secondary plan for now as it might end up becoming a one-way trip. The beacon near us is also a complete gamble. There might be nothing there, or there might be everything we need as the beacon has no tags. It could be one near an important facility or it could be just a border beacon that used to orbit the world of a subordinate race. Actually, according to the information from the beacon, the beacon is now on the surface of a planet so warping our ship there might be really bad.” Selendil theorized. Some race could have found the beacon and brought it along for study.

“So that leaves the Seat then?” Nox asked, displeased with the choice. Every galaxy the Dhar controlled had a facility called the Seat of Power. It was a large station designed to work as the administrative and commercial heart of the galaxy. It was usually also fairly heavily armed, as it mainly saw traffic from the races subordinate to the Dhar, and was even fitted with the ability to support different atmospheres and biospheres in separate sections for various races to live in. “The Seat likely has everything we need, but it’s also sure to have members from other races. We can likely take the systems of the station over, assuming they haven’t ripped out everything inside.”

“The information I got from the hu-man I questioned also had something about the Seat, although under a different name. It seems the place is now something like a neutral territory guarded by the most advanced race of the galaxy at the moment. It’s used for many things ranging from high-minded diplomacy to shady deals and everything in between that one can imagine. There’s bound to be members from nearly every race there. These hu-mans don’t exactly like the place for some reason, but all races keep a presence there. Funnily enough, it’s also the favorite place for first contacts between most races.” She was quiet for a moment. “That seems a bit odd. Why would the race guarding over the place allow others to enter? I mean the place is filled with our technology, though some of it has likely degraded. Even if we assume they already got what they could out of the place, it’s still odd to allow others to do the same.”

“I think the station’s VI might have something to do with it.” Nox pointed out. “Remember, back when the Dhar controlled the Seat, the place welcomed all the subordinate races because that was the administrative center that handled all business with the other races. I think no one changed those parameters when things went bad, and the station was rather well armed. It’s likely that the race that first discovered the place didn’t have much choice as the VI is still following the original instructions and allowing everyone to come there. Or it could be that the first race to find the station is just a very benevolent one and wanted to share the wealth.”

“That latter one seems unlikely, but I see your first point. I can see how that could come to pass.” Selendil nodded in agreement.

“So theoretically we could go there and get lost among the throng?” Nox’s interest had been raised despite the initial reluctance. Originally the AI had disliked the idea because it thought the station would be controlled by a single race like the other locations, but the presence of multiple races changed things. Such a place would be a great source of information if nothing else, and they might be able to trade for the materials they needed. Or at least something that could get them closer.

“Well, assuming we don’t just warp right next to the place and alert everyone to our presence. Luckily the beacon seems to be rather far from the station itself and our ship can be quite stealthy when necessary. I could just fly my mech or a shuttle the rest of the way.” Selendil mused. There was quite a bit of risk involved if the ship was discovered while Selendil was away, but there was some real potential as well.

“You can’t really just march in and announce yourself as a Keeper of the Dhar though. Most of the records I stole from the ship outside refer to you as just the Progenitors, but I doubt all races are as unaware of the real name.” Nox pointed out.

“I must concede that you have a point, though I’m not fond of the idea of hiding my origin. I should be able to be proud of being a Dhar, not hide it.” She almost growled.

“On that note, you might want to hide your appearance as well. We don’t know if they have images of Dhar still somewhere. In fact, I’d be surprised if they didn’t. At least use an environmental suit or something.” Nox continued.

“This just keeps getting better.” Her bad mood dissipated a bit when she got an idea. “I think I know who to present myself as.”

“Well, do tell.” Nox prompted. It knew the idea must be interesting judging by Selendil’s reaction.

“I think it would be a fitting tribute to use the name of the race that was the first to force the Keepers to march into war. Even the memory of their existence has been wiped out, but they were the most dangerous enemy we ever faced. We honored them in our memories even if we never spoke of them, and they earned that honor in combat.” Selendil explained her thoughts.

“Oh? This is something we weren’t informed about.” Nox stated referring to the AIs.

“Of course. It was before we even developed proper AI, and as I said, we removed their name from existence. Most of our kind didn't like talking about them either. It was still during the time we were confined to a single galaxy. It was that battle which eventually paved the way for our empire. Most of our race didn't like to admit that we owed some of our following success to them.” Selendil recounted with nostalgia.

“So who were they?” Nox asked.

“Well, our home galaxy had something special that we never could fully explain. We were not the only partial energy beings to develop there. The other race of energy beings that was born in the same galaxy was known as the Solarians. They were originally even further on that path, though we later on evolved past them thanks to the Song.” She replied, before continuing. “Perhaps it’s time to bring that name back if the name Dhar is too loaded with baggage.”

--------

Amaterasu was floating in the center of a large cavernous room made entirely out of crystal. A large amount of clear liquid was also floating around her, forming shapes and patterns that matched some of her thoughts. The liquid was mostly used for training purposes, but she was already so used to it that she didn't need to focus at all to keep the training up. Her real focus was elsewhere. She felt so close! For a long time now she had felt that she was very close to touching something magnificent with her mind. It was like she was barely grazing it with her fingertips! And less than an hour ago that something had pulsed for an unknown reason, almost allowing her to touch it.

A servant quietly entered the cavern. The handmaiden was trained well enough to know that interrupting her was a very bad idea. Just her presence alone was enough to signify that she had a message of some importance. In fact, considering she wasn’t fond of being disturbed while in this cavern, the matter must have been of some importance for the handmaiden to even enter. Reluctantly she drew her mind back and turned towards the woman dressed in all white robes while the floating water floated back down and formed a small pond.

“This better be important.” She stated firmly.

“Your Majesty, we just got the information that we lost one of our Envoys a few hours ago.” The handmaiden stated.

Amaterasu frowned. This couldn’t be all of it. The loss of an Envoy was tragic and a potential disaster depending on how that Envoy was lost, but there were people eminently qualified to handle such things. There was no need to bother her with such details. “Who, and what do we know?”

“Miyo Tsujii. Her mindshield was broken. She was alive when it happened.” The handmaiden replied succinctly. She knew that providing unnecessary details was frowned upon.

Amaterasu’s eyes narrowed suddenly. ‘Well, well. This does have certain…implications.’ Suddenly she looked up. “Wait, you said she was lost a few hours ago? Not that the destruction of her mindshield was confirmed a few hours ago?” A very small but important difference.

“Correct. The information reached us only ten minutes ago and we informed you right away.” The handmaiden replied, knowing that the empress had already realized what had taken the master in charge of the Envoys several minutes to figure out.

“Send ships towards the last known location of Envoy Miyo immediately. I don’t care where you have to pull those ships from, but I want enough of them that we will control the system in the end.” Amaterasu ordered.

“As you command.” The handmaiden bowed and left to relay the order.

The Empress looked towards the door with a small frown. This could get extremely messy. The fact that Miyo's mindshield was broken had disturbing implications. It would take a great deal of power to get through the mindshield, and unless she was restrained heavily or attacked by a Deity, Miyo would have killed herself before the shield broke. But she had been alive when it happened. Which likely meant a Deity and it also meant that any information Miyo had possessed was now in that Deity’s hands. Miyo had a lot of information of rather delicate nature, as she had been one of Amaterasu’s handmaidens before being made an Envoy, albeit one that didn’t serve her personally all that often.

However, there was something more important to consider. The Illum had made great strides in forms of communication over long distance, and the mindshield was something they had developed with a bit of help from Progenitor technology. The shield had a little-known function where they were paired. When one shield was either broken or sufficiently damaged, the pair would suffer the same fate. This didn’t allow real communication as only small bits of information could be passed along, but it was a successful test case. Even so, there was a time lag depending on the distance between the paired shields. If the shield Miyo wore had been within Tetrarchy space at the time it broke, it would have taken a few days for the pair to break, and the time lag would have been recorded, along with the location of the shield when it was broken and Miyo’s condition at that moment.

The handmaiden had said that Miyo had been lost a few hours ago, which meant that the distance couldn’t have been that great since information already arrived. It meant that Miyo had been within the galactic rim when it happened, and not in the spiral arm controlled by the Tetrarchy. It also brought up another interesting question. What had Miyo been doing there? Miyo was posing as an expert on all matters related to Progenitors, and that would be the role she had likely been fulfilling when she had been lost.

Miyo would not have revealed herself by trying to escape towards the Illum space, and even if she had, it was easier to get close to the beachhead the Illum had created in the galactic spiral arm instead of crossing over to the rim. Thus it was likely that she had been taken there, and the odds were that she had been taken there by the Tetrarchy, as a part of an expedition. Why else would they have taken a xenoarcheologist along? The dogs of the Tetrarchy had found something right in the Illum’s backyard and had tried hiding it.

‘Come to think of it, it is possible that Miyo broke the mindshield herself to draw attention. She would be one of the few Envoys aware of the little function we added to the shields. She wouldn't have done it if the discovery wasn't worth it though.' Amaterasu was getting excited. The war had stagnated for now, and even though their victory was only a matter of time, something like this could speed things along considerably.