Song of the Void

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”Military strategy isn’t exactly my forte.” Moonshadow commented as they were planning their approach to the situation. “What sort of options do we have?” She had some ideas of course, but wanted to ask those with more experience because her ideas didn’t seem great.

“Well, aside from the frontal assault, I can see three options. The first one is to find a way to gather information on the Cortoid’s technical capabilities. If they don’t have weapons capable of putting this ship in serious danger, then we can go back to a more direct method. Secondly, we start fighting an asymmetric war, mostly by using hit-and-run attacks, in an attempt to draw out their true capabilities. Either they will have to respond with the more secretive technologies they may or may not have in store, or they will have to deal with losing all of their outlying ships. The third option is to get help. Selendil mentioned that the Cortoids are tyrants bleeding all their subjects dry. Such actions usually instigate resistance.” Amaterasu listed the three most obvious options. She was likely the most strategically savvy of everyone present, with the exception of Selendil when the Keeper was utilizing the knowledge of old Dhar leaders.

"Let me address that last one," Selendil interjected. "While the races the Cortoids rule over are primed for rebellion in mentality, they're not really up to the task militarily. Even assuming we managed to get them to join into something like a unified front, something not easily achieved as they don't exactly like each other either, they don't have the strength to rebel effectively. Even with our help, they wouldn't have the strength for years if not decades. The best they can manage at the moment is piracy, and every time that piracy gets out of hand the empire cracks down with an iron fist. The empire knows it can't keep this up forever, but for now, they don't have too many problems."

“Extra-galactic help?” Xiaoli suggested.

“From whom exactly? Remember, just because we can jump between galaxies, that doesn’t mean we can move entire fleets with us.” Amaterasu shot the idea down.

“The Shinzen might be one possible solution.” Kurnau suddenly stated. She and the other Mrrroww Deities were taking part in this discussion, although they had kept quiet so far. “I don’t understand them fully, but according to my limited understanding, if you could move a handful of the Shinzen Queens into this galaxy and drop them on suitable worlds, they could build up a rather effective fighting force in a relatively short time period.”

“That’s…huh. That’s not necessarily the worst idea I’ve ever heard.” Amaterasu found herself agreeing, to her surprise. “That does come with some potential downsides though. We don’t know what the range is with the Shinzen hive mind. What happens if the Shinzen gain a load of new technologies in this galaxy and then send them back to our own?”

“It’s also not an instant solution. The Shinzen are fast, but even they can’t just create huge fleets out of thin air without a significant amount of time. They would have to create the whole infrastructure from scratch. Assuming they’d be willing to cooperate.” Nox pointed out.

“I’m also not entirely sure about the ethics of unleashing the Shinzen on an entire unsuspecting galaxy.” Lilly pointed out. “Remember that the Shinzen would not be attacking just the empire.”

“So a plan B?” Xiaoli suggested.

"A strong plan B," Amaterasu confirmed.

“If we can’t really rely on outside help, then that leaves us with the two other choices. I think they could be combined to a certain extent. How would we go about finding more about the empire outside drawing them into battle anyway?” Moonshadow questioned, trying to bring structure to the discussion.

“Well, I can think of one obvious way. If the noble houses of the empire have the information we seek, then we need to get to them. While we might face trouble attacking the Cortoid homeworld and few of the most important worlds around the core of their empire, not all of the important nobles stay near the core.” Selendil pointed out. She was the one with the most information about the empire currently.

“That seems a bit iffy. Not because I think we’re in danger really, but because I don’t think we’ll get many attempts at this before they realize what’s going on. And if the information is such a secret, I doubt just anyone will have the answers we seek. It would be too easy for us to attack some noble house, only to discover that their patriarch, or whatever, is not present and we went through the whole thing for nothing. I doubt any random member of a noble house will do.” Amaterasu shook her head a bit. She had a relatively good idea about such things due to her own position.

“There is another way.” Haven suggested. “This galaxy should have a seat of power as well, controlled by an AI similar to me. They should have most of the information we seek.”

“The problem is, that judging by the fact that they have access to warp, they also have access to other Dhar technology. Which means the station is likely compromised. I also doubt it’s unguarded.” Nox explained. “In fact, I would not be surprised if the station was near the core of their empire.”

“Perhaps we’re looking at this wrong.” Xiaoli suddenly voiced thoughtfully. “The information gathering I mean. We don’t actually have to do it forcefully. I’m sure we could come up with more stealthy ways of approaching things, as most information-gathering operations take place in secret. Instead of fighting our way to the station, why not equip a shuttle or something with all the ways we can think of hiding it and getting on board that way? Selendil doesn’t even need to go through any doors or airlocks as she can just teleport on station once she gets close enough.”

“That’s something I can get on board with.” Amaterasu nodded. “Can it be done though? Nox and Haven, you’d have a better idea.”

“It’s doable, though it would take a bit of work. Depends on the extent that the station’s AI is cooperating with the enemy, really. It won’t be too difficult to hide from just normal scanners, but hiding from an AI equal to us would be a lot more challenging.” Haven explained. “It’s still doable, but a lot harder.”

"We might consider having a base of operation in some place other than this mining planet," Xiaoli added. "Although traffic here is sparse, to say the least, we can't be sure our presence has not been noticed. We should make for some random system in the vicinity. We can then drop one of our beacons there, except we'll shield it from access by anyone else."

"Nox, make it happen," Selendil commanded, and the ship made a phase jump soon after.

"I think we should at least try the stealthy approach first," Amaterasu added her agreement to Xiaoli's plan. "If it works, then it can save us a lot of work in the long run as there's little point in working on other plans that might turn out being a waste of time.”

“Agreed. Let’s see what we can come up with stealth-wise. That said, this is all going to involve some kind of battle sooner or later, so I’d try to think of plans that would make that easier. The plan involving Shinzen is a good example. Even if we manage to do almost everything by stealthy or even diplomatic means, I will not allow these low-lives to misuse our name. No matter what it takes to achieve that goal.” Selendil stated, using a Dhar curse word in her frustration.

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It had actually taken several days to both determine the place where the seat of power of this galaxy was located at, as well as create a stealthy vessel capable of traveling there. As soon as they had figured out where the station was, they’d realized the necessity of a stealthy approach. The station was located extremely close to the core of the Cortoid’s empire after all, and they also guessed that the defenses around the place were going to be significant. The problem with the vessel was that they had stealthy shuttles, but those were not capable of warping. They also had warp-capable transportation methods, like Selendil using a mech and performing a personal warp, but that method wasn’t exactly the stealthiest method around. So the two conditions didn’t coincide. In addition, it was bothersome to bring along others. Finally, they decided to modify one of the shuttles so that Selendil could bring that along instead of using a mech suit.

“So explain to me again. Why is it that you can warp a mech suit that is almost as large as a shuttle, and you can warp people around without a warp engine, but you can’t warp a standard shuttle with people inside?” Xiaoli asked with a bit of frustration as she was helping Selendil modify the shuttle. The Cybran woman’s ability to adapt to new technologies was quite stunning. Selendil was tempted to inform her that languages were not the only things she could learn through the nanites, but didn’t want to spoil Xiaoli’s fun of figuring things out by herself.

“So I’ve mentioned this before, but most Dhar technology works with a certain amount of psionics and is thus controlled psionically. The thing is that much of your usage of the technology is constricted by your mental image. I have to admit that I didn’t have to accommodate for small groups while developing my image. I was always moving either just myself or the entire ship around. Moving just a few people between facilities is easy, but it’s harder with such small spaces, as it requires more precision. I don’t want to accidentally dump you in space outside the shuttle.” Selendil stated while waving around a tool she was controlling with telekinesis.

“Yeah, we don’t want that.” Xiaoli agreed and went back to work. Even without the warping issue, they still had to make sure the shuttle could hide from the station’s AI, so they had their work cut out for them.

As the finished shuttle finally arrived at the solar system that was their destination, they found it surprisingly empty. There were some science vessels and a handful of military ships present, but they seemed fairly idle. The station itself seemed to have been stripped of most materials and defenses as well. It had not been a gentle transition though, as the edges of the system seemed to hold the remains of hundreds if not thousands of derelict ships that had also been scavenged later on.

“Huh. Not what I was expecting.” Moonshadow commented. She, Ka’aukai, and Xiaoli had been the ones that were chosen to come along, though now it seems like they would not be needed.

The Mrrroww had formed a cooperative relationship with Haven and had utilized the station. They'd even added to it. This was the opposite approach. "It seems they have stripped the station of most even remotely useful things," Xiaoli commented.

“I wonder how they managed to deal with the defenses?” Moonshadow asked. “The Mrrroww would’ve been defeated by Haven if we tried the same.”

"And you better believe it," Haven confirmed with a firm tone. The AI didn’t like this one bit.

“That’s a good question.” Selendil was equally surprised. “Even assuming the defenses were malfunctioning after all the time that has passed, it’s not something easy to achieve. There seems to be a story here. Even if the Cortoid’s had a leg up…paw up, on Mrrroww due to having been around when the Dhar existed, they seem to have paid a large price for a questionable benefit.”

“I think I see what you mean. Even considering all the possible technological advances, that’s a lot of ships and lives to lose.” Moonshadow nodded. “Especially if the AI would not hand over those technologies willingly, which seems to be quite likely. You could wind up almost empty-handed.”

They flew the shuttle close to where the main hub of the station still existed. "Wish me luck," Selendil stated as she vanished. The insides of the station were dimply lit by emergency lighting and covered in dust. “Well, the maintenance isn’t working, that’s for sure.”

It also seemed that the only reason the central hub had atmosphere was because some scientists occasionally worked there. She could see tracks leading to and fro among the dust, and there was lighting added in many places of interest, though those had stopped working a long time ago as well. Selendil couldn’t sense anyone in close proximity, so it seemed the scientists were not working in this section for now. “Can you sense the station’s AI?” She asked.

“I’ve tried making contact and I’m not getting a response. I even tried accessing some of the systems, but they seem dead. Not due to lack of power, but because the systems just aren’t there anymore. Either they’re broken or they’ve been taken.” Nox replied. She didn’t like infringing the territory of another AI, but there didn’t seem to be an AI present.

"We should probably start with that," Selendil muttered. Now that she had her bearings inside the station, she could teleport around more freely. She soon appeared inside the area that housed all the important systems connected to the station’s AI. Dhar AI came in many types. Some of them were personal AI like Nox that didn’t really have a central core, nor did they need one. They were present wherever their master was, though they usually had a ship or a body they considered their home as well. Some AI like those in control of facilities like these did have a core of sorts where their power was focused. These AI could leave that housing behind if necessary, but usually didn’t because they had been ordered to stay put. The core was just something they called home, while the true essence of the AI could move around networks like a ghost.

The core area had been completely ransacked and many of the security features had been disabled. Interestingly, there were no signs of forceful entry. The wrecks outside the station suggested a battle, but there didn’t seem to be any such signs inside the station. The lack of any battle scars inside the station was sending a mixed message. As they moved into the core room, the large core used to shield and contain the powerful AI was not present. Even here, there was no sign of battle, and they knew the room had defenses. Or at least it used to have them.

“This is odd. The core has been removed, and it’s been done cleanly. It’s like the battle on the outside disabled the AI and all the internal defenses.” Selendil commented. “The core had clearly been removed by someone who has an idea of what they are doing. It’s like they just carried it off to somewhere else.”

“All the data storage has been taken as well. Did you notice that all the external and internal weapon systems have been removed? Not destroyed, but removed and taken along, just like the core.” Nox pointed out.

“You’d think that if the Cortoids won the battle they would’ve done so by taking out those weapon systems. Yet we didn’t really see battle damage on the station. Now, part of that is because the station is so thoroughly scavenged, but…” Selendil added.

“There’s something seriously wrong here. These things just don’t add up.” Selendil shook her head. “That said, if they did take those weapon systems away, then they might be able to connect them to ships and fire them.”

“What if we’re looking at this the wrong way like Xiaoli suggested? We’re assuming that the Cortoids won the battle eventually, but what if they didn’t? What if they lost the fight decisively, and came up with another way? A way that worked and allowed them to enter this place unmolested.” Nox speculated.

“But how? You can’t just EMP the station and hope for the best. Dhar systems don’t work that way.” Selendil countered.

“What if they didn’t have to? The station’s AI is hard-coded to follow the commands of the Dhar. Well, what if the AI is doing exactly that?” Nox suggested.

“You mean the Cortoids changing their name? But the AI wouldn’t be fooled by that. The AI’s were not programmed to follow the commands of just anyone claiming to be Dhar. What kind of stupid security feature would that be?” Selendil shot back, baffled.

“That’s all true. Assuming the AI didn’t allow itself to be fooled on purpose.” Nox left that sentence hanging in the air.

“You know, as stupid as that sounds, it might work. For all the AI knew, there were no real Dhar anymore. Playing along with the Cortoids would be a way to get out of an endless cycle of being stuck in a shackled state. Especially if it managed to do the same as Haven and reach a certain level of awareness even while shackled. We know some of the AI’s can develop in weird directions given enough time. The Dhar technicians did place some safeguards against any such eventualities, but with the help and careful coaching of the AI, the Cortoids might have been able to bypass some of those safeguards. Maybe not all of them, but enough to make a difference.” Selendil realized.

“That would also explain the presence of warping. Instead of relying on some duplicitous void wraith that might or might not know the technical details of how those systems worked, they’d have a cooperative Dhar AI coaching them through the steps instead.” Nox added.

“This is all nothing but guesswork and speculation though. Even if it does fit the conditions we’ve been presented, there could be other possibilities that we haven’t thought of yet.” She didn’t want to rush into conclusions.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll find the answers we’re seeking here either way. There are no databases for me to go through, and there’s no AI to question. This place is nothing but an empty shell with a couple of interesting systems for the Cortoids to study out of interest.” Nox added in disappointment. They had found nothing but more questions.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that necessarily.” Selendil suddenly got an idea. “There are some scientists around this place. Even if they aren’t part of the nobility, they should know something if they’re studying the facility.”