Song of the Void

---------

Selendil, Nochehuatl, and the Lightbringer named Yrala were eagerly enjoying their meal while Moonshadow was taking small nibbles of her share. Ka’aukai still just kept guard. “Is she unable to cut her food?” The Lightbringer asked, pointing at Moonshadow. "I can have it cut down to bite-size if it's an issue."

“I’m able to do it.” Moonshadow reassured her and one of the pieces was cut by an invisible psionic force. “I just find it unwise to gorge on unknown foods when I’m expecting to do official business.”

“You know, some would consider it impolite if you didn’t eat when food was offered.” The Lightbringer pointed out.

"Ah, but your species is not among those according to the information you sent us." Moonshadow countered with a grin.

“I said some, not some species.” The Lightbringer shot back. “I for one find it quite a shame for good grub to go to waste when I’m normally forced to eat military rations.”

Selendil waved one of her tails towards Moonshadow’s plate and most of the contents seemed to vanish. “Problem solved.”

“Ok, I need to point out that it’s a bit freaky watching you eat without a mouth.” The Lightbringer said with a shake of her head. “Can you even taste the food that way?”

“Very much so. This soup is excellent by the way.” Selendil pointed at the odd-looking soup with different parts of a sea creature poking out. That dish had a definite ick-factor for those unused to it.

“As one would expect on an ocean planet, the seafood is excellent.” The Lightbringer nodded. “So. Why are you here?”

“Well, let’s start with a question.” Selendil suddenly displayed a star-map that showed the nearby galaxies. One of the galaxies was glowing. “Were you aware that this nearby galaxy is for all intents and purposes destroyed?”

The Lightbringer got a lot more serious expression. “I was not aware at least, and I have a pretty decent access to such things. That said, I think the Ancients might have been aware. I don’t have anything concrete, but some of the bits and pieces that they left behind imply something in that direction if you interpret them in a certain way. You’d have to ask an expert though. How was it destroyed?”

“Someone in that galaxy tried something they shouldn’t have. What we need to find out is whether someone survived that destruction and traveled to another galaxy to make another attempt. We’ve already visited most of the nearby galaxies and haven’t found any traces of them. That could be because they didn’t make it out, or because so much time has passed since then and the trail has gone cold. This is the next galaxy on our list.” Selendil explained simply.

“When would they have arrived?” The Lightbringer asked with a frown.

“That depends on their capacity to travel between galaxies. If they had nothing but phase drive to work with, then it could be anywhere between a few hundred thousand years ago to next week. If they had something like your hyper-jump to rely on, then they would’ve made the trip significantly faster.” Selendil speculated. The speed of phase travel varied greatly as well.

“That’s going to make things difficult. We’re most likely talking about a time the Ancients were the only ones around. And we can’t just ask them.” The Lightbringer scratched one of her horns.

“That brings up a question. Your files didn’t make it entirely clear what happened to the Ancients.” Moonshadow pointed out.

"That's a complicated topic that even I'm not all that knowledgeable about. I've heard rumors and stories, but nothing reliable. Some say they ascended somehow, while others speak of them all leaving this galaxy. Even if someone knows what happened to them, I’m not sure they’re willing to share.” The Lightbringer stated with some apprehension. “Besides, as powerful as you are, that doesn’t just grant you access to the deepest secrets of the CAS.”

"Well, while direct information would be ideal, there are other ways of finding out. There are certain places in this galaxy that might give us hints. Specifically, there should be some facilities my race left behind that they would’ve visited. That said, it’s likely that your Ancients discovered those facilities a long time ago and used them for their own purposes.” Selendil explained.

“That reminds me, you mentioned having visited our galaxy before, but I get the sense that this was a while ago. You’ve kept up quite well for some extremely old being.” The Lightbringer joked.

"The wonders of stasis," Selendil explained curtly.

“Ah. How much time are we talking about, if you don’t mind me asking?” The Lightbringer sensed that this might be a touchy subject.

“Let’s just say millions of years and leave it at that. I was alive at a time when your so-called ancients hadn’t even been born yet.” Selendil made an exasperated gesture with her tails, which the Lightbringer actually understood.

“Huh. Figures that I’d propose to someone older than my mother.” The Lightbringer joked again, just to bring back some levity. That levity was cut short though as several communicators around the restaurant started beeping.

“Master, there are black ships appearing in the system.” Nox warned them.

“It seems that the woman is right.” The Lightbringer stated, not realizing Nox was an AI. “We are under attack. How did they manage to get all the way here without being discovered?”

“We got here quite easily. We passed some old battle site while on the way.” Moonshadow pointed out.

“Yes, but it’s much harder to sneak in an entire fleet. My readings are showing hundreds of ships on approach. That said, quite a few eyes were turned towards you, so that might explain some of it." The woman grimaced. "I'm not going to be able to get back to my ship before the battle starts. The same holds true for you I'm afraid. We have planetary shields, but this whole thing doesn’t look all that promising.”

"You don't need to worry about us," Selendil reassured her. "We can return to our ship right now if we wanted to.”

The Lightbringer looked at Selendil a bit. “Could you return me to my ship?” She finally asked.

“Not unless it was relatively close to our ship," Selendil retorted.

“Master, the CAS ships are out of warp range and moving to intercept the black vessels. The black vessels did not come the way we came, so the CAS vessels are currently moving away from us.” Nox reported.

Selendil looked at the Lightbringer. “You could come on our ship. You could lead the battle from there. I would imagine you’d prefer a command room here, but if you don’t have one…”

The Lightbringer chewed her lip a bit. “Let’s do it. There is a command center in the city but it’s on the other side and it’s not very well equipped for these kinds of situations.” She also considered the possibility of asking for help if things went sideways.

“In that case…”Selendil said and focused a bit. Their group, the Lightbringer, and the shuttle they had left at the spaceport all returned to Enduring Symphony in a flash of light. “Here we are. Nox, put up a tactical map and provide the Lightbringer with whatever information she needs.”

The Lightbringer was slightly disoriented but gathered herself quickly as a large holographic display of the system appeared above them. "Can you connect me with our ships without being intercepted by the rebels?" She asked.

Nox made a dismissive sound. “Of course I can. The AIs of this galaxy are decent, but they’re not that good.”

"That doesn't look very good," Amaterasu commented as the number of the black ships became obvious. "You're outnumbered almost twenty to one."

“So it seems.” The Lightbringer said with a frown. “Getting reinforcements should not be too difficult, as this what we would call a purse world. There are many economic interests in keeping a hold of this system. That said, we’ll need to delay the enemy a long enough for those reinforcements to arrive.”

“What are your odds?” Selendil asked straight.

“Not very good. That’s why this whole thing is so inconvenient. Usually we’d have some warning, but now we got caught completely by surprise. Many of our crew members are on leave just like I was, and I don’t think we have a fleet of sufficient size ready to come to our aid in the nearby systems. They’re all of similar size to ours or smaller.” The Lightbringer said while relaying some tactical orders for her fleet.

“Except the one that left just a few hours ago.” Moonshadow suggested.

“Unfortunately not an option. They have already made at least a second long-range jump to get back towards the core systems. That means they need to give their jump drives some time to recharge. You wouldn’t be aware of this, but making long-range jumps puts strain on the jump drives, and they will need to recover a bit after successive jumps.” The Lightbringer replied.

The next fifteen minutes made it clear that the CAS was going to lose this battle. The shields on their ships were holding for now, but they were accumulating some damage as well and they would soon start taking some heavy casualties. The Lightbringer punched the station she was using in frustration. “I just got word. Reinforcements are on the way but they will take more than an hour to arrive. By that time our ships will be gone and they can start attacking the planet. And it’s not like the first reinforcements will be significant enough for a clear victory either. Operating on the fringes of the galaxy sucks.”

She looked up from the displays. “I have no right to ask this after our ships were about to attack you just a few hours ago, but could I convince you to interfere? It would most likely be enough if Selendil just made an appearance and a show of support for our ships. The other side has a strong enough psion that I can’t really act freely, as the two of us are keeping each other at bay, but I doubt Selendil would have trouble.” Most large fleets had at least one Master ranked psion leading them, as otherwise they could fall to a single enemy psion.

“Well, that’s an interesting suggestion. We don’t have any sort of alliance with the CAS, and we aren’t aware of the full extent of the political situation in this galaxy.” Moonshadow hedged a bit. “However, we might be able to work out a trade. You have some things we want, and we have something you want.”

“Ah, and the diplomat finally speaks a language I can understand. I can promise you any help my race, the Eriads, can provide in finding what you seek.” The Lightbringer suggested.

Selendil gave Moonshadow a silent signal. “Well, I feel like that goes a long way. I won’t make any demands that should be too difficult to go along with. The CAS has quite a bit of experience in building artificial bodies for AIs. Our AI happens to fancy the idea of a body as well, so if we could borrow your expertise on the subject…” They knew asking for the jump technology was too much, so Moonshadow saved that for later.

“That sounds doable. Do you mind hurrying though? I don’t think our ships can hold on for very long.” The Lightbringer agreed. She didn’t mention the fact that she happened to know just the right people to approach for the information Moonshadow had asked for.

"We have a deal then," Selendil stated and vanished. She appeared outside the ship in her mech suit and reached the battlefield with a handful of successive teleports. With a wave of her hand, a seemingly endless wall of psionic energy stretched between the two warring fleets. The shots of the CAS vessels still got through easily, but all the fire from the black ships was stopped and seemed to have no effect. One of their fighters tried to pass through the wall and crashed into it.

Selendil sensed a psionic message from the flagship of the enemy fleet. There was no language used, but the intent of the question was clear. Do you really want to do this? It was also a challenge. Selendil sent back the feeling of clear amusement that she felt. “Come at me if you dare,” was the intent of her message. As she sent the message, the enormous halo once again appeared behind her. This time it seemed even larger than few hours before.

Selendil could sense that the enemy had been preparing to fight her until the halo appeared. The enemy was tricksy. They had been waiting for the Lightbringer to interfere and had laid a trap for her. If the Lightbringer had taken part personally, she would've faced three powerful psions instead of just one. The other two had been hiding. This attack had been made just as much to bait in the Lightbringer as it had been to capture this system.

“Interesting timing.” Selendil muttered. It seemed like a heck of a coincidence that an entire fleet had appeared without warning, just after they had embarrassed a powerful Prime administrator, with a trap for the friendly officer they had made. The CAS reinforcements were also taking longer than expected, forcing the Lightbringer to take part in the fight personally. The whole situation stank of a setup.

The black ships made a cursory attempt to break the barrier before making their exit as well, deciding not to risk destruction at Selendil’s hands. It seemed like Selendil’s presence had spoiled the plan, but was it really that simple? If she assumed this whole thing was some sort of a conspiracy, then surely those pulling the strings were aware that Selendil was here? Surely they had considered the possibility that the Lightbringer might convince her to make an appearance?

The Enduring Symphony got closer to her and she teleported back on the bridge. “I need some quick answers.” She declared.

“Alright.” The Lightbringer noted her serious tone and didn’t argue.

“Did you sense the presence of the two other psions on the enemy ships?” She asked.

“No. That said, this would not be the first time they use that kind of tactic. It’s hard to detect them when they want to hide. That’s why I was hesitant to act. I was pretty sure I could beat the one psion they were allowing me to sense, but if they had hidden backup…” The Lightbringer replied honestly.

“And how would someone turn my interference either to their advantage or your detriment?” Selendil shot out a second question.

“You’re suggesting this attack was orchestrated by some parties within the CAS? Yes, of course you are. That would explain their sneaky appearance and the slow reinforcements. That’s kind of a dreadful thought though. Someone within CAS having enough pull and contacts among the rebels to orchestrate something like this suggests treason at the very least. There’s one problem though. It takes more than a few hours to organize a rebel fleet of that size and then have them travel here through phase space.” The Lightbringer pointed out.

"Perhaps they didn't have to," Amaterasu suggested and everyone looked at her. "What if they simply took advantage of an already developing situation? Maybe that fleet wasn’t originally meant for this system, and they simply redirected it this way.”

“For what purpose exactly?” The Moonshadow asked. She had her own thoughts but wanted to hear what Amaterasu had in mind.

"I can think of two possibilities." Amaterasu mused. "If the Lightbringer had died, then we would’ve lost our only friendly contact within the CAS. That could’ve solved some recent problems for them. Alternatively, if we had not helped, they could’ve used that as a tool as well.”

“There’s another little detail.” The Lightbringer also speculated. “I did just make a deal with a foreign power without consulting my superiors. Now usually that would be fine depending on what I promised you in exchange as you did just save a fleet, albeit a small one, and this system. But if they decided to make it into a problem, and if the price had been too high…”

“They could renege on the deal and have you ousted.” Amaterasu finished for her.

“I like her.” The Lightbringer pointed at Amaterasu. “She’s a bit skinny, but she has just the right kind of devious mind that you want in an advisor.”

“Thanks?” Amaterasu wasn’t sure if she should take it as a compliment.

“Will you be alright?” Selendil asked.

“Well, you happened to ask for the right thing. I don’t think they can create too many problems if the CAS doesn’t have to reimburse you in any way. I just happen to know the people you’ll want to talk to, so the CAS doesn’t need to know about it. My friends will do this as a favor to me, and they would likely even enjoy working with a strange and new AI.” The Lightbringer had a slightly malicious grin.

“That still leaves you with the problem of potential traitors, or worse.” Moonshadow pointed out.

“Assuming this whole thing was planned. You’ve created a pretty decent theory that sounds correct to me, but it’s still just a theory. Nothing can happen without evidence anyway. However, at least we’ll get some level of confirmation if they decide to come after me for this. They’ll fail if they try, but it will still be something of a confirmation if they do.” The Lightbringer said.

“What I don’t understand is, why would they risk annoying Selendil? They already got to see a bit of her power and decided to turn tail and run. So why risk it? What do they gain from this that is worth pissing off someone that powerful? Surely they wouldn’t do it just to bother us a bit.” Xiaoli asked, surprising everyone.

“I don’t think they considered it much of a risk actually.” The Lightbringer stated. “As you probably noticed, the rebels avoided attacking you. None of their ships targeted this ship even when we were getting closer to the battle. If I had died, would that really have caused you to take measures beyond finding someone to replace me? We don’t really know each other well enough for any such bonds to form. You might have been slightly annoyed, but it’s not like you would’ve gone off in search of revenge against people whose identities you know nothing about.”

“That still leaves the question of why?” Xiaoli pointed out.

"I don't think it was really about you. I mean yes, there could be some benefit to me and those I'm associated with from being your contact, but there are some risks as well. At least they would think so. The reasons are more likely due to the internal politics of the CAS I'm afraid." The Lightbringer explained with a disappointed shake of her head.

“That’s a radical move to pull for some internal politics.” Moonshadow chipped in. “Risky in some ways as well.”

“Well, the internal politics of CAS can get rather radical at times as you noticed when they sent a fleet after you. I’m not sure how risky it was though. I mean we may have figured out some of their plans, but we likely missed others. In all likelihood, they thought we wouldn’t even figure out as much as we did. We’re on the fringes of the galaxy, so no one will bother investigating too hard. Even my associates would do only a cursory investigation if I fell in battle due to an ambush by rebel psions. And even if they did figure something out, there’s no evidence.” The Lightbringer just shrugged.