Song of the Void

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”We have HOW MANY SHINZEN QUEENS IN THE HANGAR?!” Kurnau screamed, almost hyperventilating at the thought. This had originally been her idea, but now that she had to come face to face with the reality and her trauma, she wasn’t faring all that well.

"Three hundred and change," Selendil replied calmly. She used a slightly inaccurate number because she wasn’t sure if a group of three identical Queens counted as one or three. Their minds were tied so tightly together that it was hard to tell if they could be considered separate beings.

“THREE HUNDRED AND…!” Kurnau screamed, before finally having to lie down on the ground to calm herself down.

“Fuck me sideways.” Even Xiaoli cursed at the thought. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but even a single Queen is enough to create a fleet capable of waging war against a standard race if given enough time, right? So why are there three hundred of them onboard suddenly?”

“To speed things along. A single Queen might be able to achieve the goal we have for them, but it would take quite a bit of time. If we use more of them, then we can shorten that time significantly. Think positively. That’s three hundred less Queens in your galaxy.” Selendil replied with a shrug.

“Can’t we just space them?” Prince Hazeem asked hopefully.

Surprisingly the one to shoot the idea down was Amaterasu. “They can survive in space just fine. At least most of them. And no. No, we can't. They won’t be on board for long. We’re already picking suitable worlds to drop them on based on the information we got earlier. Those worlds will likely be away from the Cortoid warp network to keep the arrival of the Shinzen a secret, but it still won’t take too long to distribute them.”

“Incidentally, those Queens are already trying to take one of our fighters apart. They aren’t having much luck, but they are trying.” Nox added a little peeved.

“That’s their natural behavior. Not much we can do about it.” Selendil replied simply. “They are curious by nature and see nothing wrong with what they are doing.”

“Incidentally, we’ve never used the fighters before. Any particular reason?” Amaterasu asked, changing the subject.

“Several actually. Fighters are very useful, but they also take a bit of time to deploy and collect, even with our ability to essentially open a portal in front of them. They are also the last thing I focused on repairing, as they are perhaps the least important area to focus on. Especially considering the time it takes to fix all of them. Finally, we haven’t really been in a battle where we’ve needed them. All of the battles we’ve taken part in have ended so quickly that launching fighters would’ve been almost counterproductive.” Selendil explained.

“So, are the Shinzen currently trying their best to take apart and reverse-engineer a broken fighter?” Xiaoli asked with a bit of amusement finally winning over her shock. Humor was her way of dealing with things.

“No, I believe that one is already in working condition.” Nox supplied the answer. “Or at least it was. They’ll get it done eventually. The fighters aren’t designed to be indestructible, especially when powered down.”

“So any luck picking suitable worlds?” Selendil asked. They needed worlds outside the warp network, but with sufficient resources and some life at least. It also had to be uninhabited, which was the biggest hurdle. If they didn’t mind dumping the Queens on already inhabited worlds then this whole thing would be easy, but pesky things like morality were getting in the way. There were several worlds that fulfilled their criteria, but the trick was to locate and identify them with lacking information. Amaterasu and Nochehuatl were handling the analysis together with Nox.

“We’ve narrowed down a handful of potentials already. We can’t actually be sure until we go there and check, but…” Nochehuatl made an unsure motion with his wings, which looked kind of funny despite the circumstances.

“Well, let’s get to it then. We have an empire to topple and I want to get the Queens off my ship before they start breaking something more important than a fighter.” Selendil commanded.

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It took a few weeks to get all the Shinzen Queens situated, though most of the time was spent in phase space traveling between the closest safe warp beacon and their eventual destination. They dropped a couple dozen Queens on each world, some of them being combat Queens for protection, and pointed them in the direction where they would need to eventually go. The Shinzen got quite a bit more motivated to act once Selendil informed them that the Cortoids had shamed the Great Ones instead of learning their lessons properly.

The Shinzen Queens were feeling a bit odd in their new surroundings. They could feel the rest of the hive mind in the distance, but their communications couldn’t really reach it. It was like they were trying to shout across too long distances, which wasn't far from the truth. The sudden separation was a little jarring, but with the amount of Queens in this galaxy, it didn't feel too bad. They also took it as a challenge. Just because they could not connect at the moment, that didn't mean they wouldn’t be able to do it in the future. Maybe they would learn new ways for their voices to carry over the distance, or maybe they could shrink that distance down? The distance was long, but that only meant it would take some time.

The Shinzen were not strangers to dealing with time. Long time periods were something they had learned to deal with after the great lesson so long ago. Time was nothing to them now. The concept of patience didn't even exist for the Shinzen, because they didn't need it. Everything had its time, and if that time was a little later, then so be it. They just had to be ready. The only time that mattered was the right timing in battle. That didn't require patience. It required judgment.

They had already learned a few things during the trip they had taken. They had finally managed to take apart the little ship inside the big ship. They had not understood quite how it worked. There were too many missing pieces in between what they knew now and what the little ship was trying to teach them. More lessons to be learned. But they would remember. And once those missing lessons were learned, they would put what they had learned to use. Besides, they didn't come out empty-handed. They had learned a few things, and most importantly they had gotten several new ideas from the little ship. The Shinzen had seen such crystalline materials before when traveling deep through phase space. They didn't think of it as phase space, of course, they thought of it as the ‘other place that makes things go fast'. But they had never really considered using the crystalline materials. It had not occurred to them. But apparently it was a good idea. They would need to send some drones to recover the material.

It also felt like there was life in the crystalline material. That was the other thing they had learned. As beings that used biological technology, they of all people should’ve known that life could be found in the strangest of places. They’d never found it in crystals though. Aside from that the life that could be found in the cores inside Shinzen that is. The Queen’s cores were pretty close to the crystalline structure. What if they tried creating new beings using the life in these crystals as a base? The idea excited them. Another simple but great lesson taught to them by the Great Ones.

The Queens eagerly got to work. They had all sorts of new materials and life to work with. They had to start from the beginning though. The Queens created cores, but they did not create all the cores. Otherwise, that would be the only thing they could do and even then they wouldn't have enough time. No, instead, they created the cores of beings that could create the cores and facilities used in the creation of lesser beings, which then would go out and multiply. That was the trick. Once the Queens were freed from creating cores other than the most advanced ones, they had time to focus on other things, like controlling all the things they had created. The growth also became exponential. So in a way, the Queens did create all the cores, just through intermediaries.

The beginning was a bit slow but went rather quickly with so many queens present. It only took a week for the first orbital facilities to become operational and start churning out little workers that went around the system collecting suitable materials. The nearby asteroids were always a good source of materials, and if a system had a few gas giants or a few moons then things became really easy. One hive even ended up in a system with a moon that supported life in addition to the planet they had been left on. It only took a few weeks before they had grown fleets that could go around phase space to gather more new and exciting materials.

It took almost a month for them to find the first source of a crystalline material close to the one they had found on the Great One’s ship. That source had been found rather deep in phase space, so they figured out that going even deeper into phase space was necessary and worth the losses they suffered. The crystal they found was not quite as good as the one they hoped for, but it still had life in it. The Queens determined that it would be more useful for combat purposes. Perhaps they could create a new generation of combat Queens with these crystals? If not, they could at least use it on their ships if they found it in sufficient quantities.

As they were making the necessary preparation before being discovered, it took two months until they came in contact with the other races of this galaxy. As usual, the encounter was not peaceful. The Shinzen did consider for a moment if these were a target for the concept of ‘Mercy’, but as the other party started shooting at them, that idea disappeared. Well, at least they tasted nice. After that, things became hostile fast. Luckily the Great One had warned them that the enemy they were supposed to focus on had the ability to move really quickly into places where a certain funny looking crystal thingy was present, so the Shinzen were not caught unaware. They were beaten back a few times, but they learned. They always learned. And they came up with a plan.

If the enemy could appear near the crystal thingies, then all they had to do was to move them into the same place and set up an ambush! Thus they sent several of their stealthier combat Queens to steal the crystal thingies when the enemy was focused on the other Shinzen. They couldn’t get too many of the thingies of course, but they got enough. Apparently, the enemy wasn't really pleased with their actions as more and more ships appeared in the trap to retake the crystal thingies, but that’s what the trap was for. It seemed these enemies didn’t really like the sneaky-sneaky meteors either. That had been a good idea.

Eventually, the crystal thingies also disappeared in a flash. Apparently, they could also disappear quickly, but at least they couldn't reappear anymore and thus weren't all around the galaxy anymore. Small victories, and another lesson learned!

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The Enduring Symphony had visited two more galaxies since their encounter with the Shinzen. Neither of those galaxies showed any signs of any extra-galactic visitors, and neither of the galaxies was all that advanced either. Both of them had spacefaring races, but those races were barely at a stage of being able to visit neighboring systems. As Selendil had learned from their previous experiences, they also visited any remaining Dhar AI left in the two galaxies as well. They checked the status of the AI and allowed Haven to form small connections with them, just so they could be monitored, and so that those AI’s could inform them if something noteworthy happened.

Currently, they had returned to the Haven station for some rest. Most of the crew had gone to visit friends and family, assuming they had any. Khaemwaset had already been arrested for relaxing a bit too much. Amaterasu had also visited the Illum, though she had returned relatively soon. She approached Selendil's quarters and gave a polite knock on the doorframe. She still wasn't entirely used to the lack of doors. Selendil, on the other hand, wasn't entirely used to the habit other races had with knocking, but had adapted and invited Amaterasu in.

"Your quarters are still rather empty," Amaterasu commented. There was a comfortable bed and a few seats now, but otherwise the place was almost empty. One of the Guardians had brought in some kind of a plant that sat peacefully in the corner, but that was it. "I would've imagined that you'd fill the place up by now."

“I had thought the same. I even acquired some items, but I ended up storing them away. Truth be told, I’m not sure what to fill the space with.” Selendil replied a little sadly. “My old items were all lost during the time I was in stasis.”

“What did you have here before?” Amaterasu asked brimming with curiosity.

“Literary works. Art. Decorative items. A handful of instruments. Items that were important to me for one reason or another. Memories. That sort of thing.” Selendil listed while imagining the place of every item in her mind.

“Not much you can do about the memorabilia, but I suppose you could still fill the place with art and decorations. You could find new instruments surely.” Amaterasu suggested.

“The instruments here are subtly different, though I suppose I could have the fabricators create replacements for my old ones. It’s not quite the same though. I used to spend endless hours playing those old instruments. New ones wouldn’t have the shared history, though I suppose I could try creating new history with them. As for art and decorations, I haven’t really had the opportunity to explore such things, and I haven’t really felt anything truly touch me. I don’t want to just fill the empty space for the sake of filling it.” Selendil shook her head a bit in denial.

“I suppose I can understand that. Perhaps we could find some time so we could explore such things together. I find myself in a sort of weird new situation as well. I thought you might help bring a little perspective with your experience.” Amaterasu approached the subject that had brought her here.

“Well, I can’t make promises aside from promising to try. The Keepers were often sought for advice after all, but we are not perfect either.” Selendil felt a little nostalgic.

“I just got back from Illum.” Amaterasu started off. “The war with the Tetrarchy is over. The Illum have finally thrown away the shackles of our past. Even if the remaining half of the Tetrarchy and Cybrans were to join hands, we could still easily win, so we are no longer threatened by those we once called brothers.”

“Congratulations. I believe that’s the dream your people have worked for a long time to achieve.” Selendil said simply, realizing that this was not quite so simple.

“Thank you. This should be our greatest moment of triumph, and for most Illum it is. There’s a general celebration going all over the worlds we control. Yet, it doesn’t really feel like that to me. I made a public appearance of course, at least long enough to let them know I was relinquishing my position. It is time for the Illum to pick a new ruler.” Amaterasu explained without any significant emotion, as if she was talking about the weather.

Selendil didn’t ask why Amaterasu had done this. There would likely be countless reasons, and the woman would explain them if she so chose. And she was right. Amaterasu did decide to open her decision a bit. “For all my time as the Dread Empress, I’ve had a singular goal. I was a wartime ruler that guided us through the infancy of our new people. Yet once upon a time, I used to be a part of the Tetrarchy. The Illum now require a new ruler that isn’t burdened by the grudges and shadows of the past. Someone who will look forward and not behind. In fact, I’ve been reducing my role in things for a while now to ease the transition.”

They both knew this wasn’t all of it of course. This was just the official reason, albeit one that still held some truth. “That’s not why you’re here though.” Selendil prompted after a moment of silence.

"No. No, it's not. For all my life, I've worked for this one goal, and when I do achieve it, I feel empty. It's not just that I’ve lost the thing that has been driving me for so long, though there’s some of that as well. I feel like the goal I’ve worked for so long is somehow insignificant. As if it doesn’t matter at all. Why?” Amaterasu asked.

"That's because the goal was insignificant," Selendil said and lifted her hand to stop Amaterasu from speaking. "And at the same time, it wasn't. Lately, you've been dealing with matters that are beyond the scope of just the Illum. Matters that might have cosmic importance. You’ve touched the very universe itself, even if you don’t understand it. At the face of these things, a war waged by the Illum truly is insignificant. But it’s not insignificant for those involved.

“I know that I'm the wrong person to say this, but the more powerful and influential someone becomes, the more they lose sight of the little people. Matters that are insignificant to us are matters of life and death to them. Just because something doesn't have impact on a grander scale, that doesn't mean it's not worth doing. It might not be worth YOU doing it, but it is worth someone's time. It's all about finding the right people for the job. Sometimes we have insignificant people trying to do things they are not prepared for, and sometimes we have powerful people wasting their time on something while they could be doing something more important. In both cases, there's a cost. Either the cost comes in the form of the results, or the cost comes in the form of an opportunity cost. You were the right person for the job when you started, but now you’re not the right person anymore.” Selendil explained her view. She was giving the shortened version of the idea, so she was worried some of the meaning might be lost or misunderstood.

“So I got out too late?” Amaterasu asked a bit thrown off by the direction the discussion took.

“Not necessarily. I think your timing was fairly good all things considered. I don’t think you could’ve let go without bringing your previous duties to their conclusion. However, it was not a clean break, which is what is causing the dissonance in your mind. You’ve had your feet in two camps, dealing with both your people and the matters of the ship without being able to commit to either fully. And like you said, you lost a life-long goal. You know how to deal with that problem though. You need new goals. You have developed, and your goals must develop alongside with you. That’s not to say you shouldn’t enjoy your victory first. I recommend you join in on the celebration, just do it as an Illum, and not the Empress this time.” Selendil suggested.

“You could join me.” Amaterasu suddenly threw the suggestion back. “You could have some fun as well. Who knows? You might find something that touches your heart enough to bring back to decorate your quarters with.”

“Well, I am just meditating on the ship at the moment.” Selendil hedged.

“You could even use the form you used before to blend in. You know, the one with the freckles…” Amaterasu threw in a completely innocent and not at all self-serving suggestion.