Discovery Class Starship

FI-ESV Better Margins

Hyperbolic Stellar Escape Trajectory

12 AUs from V*V994 Tau

April 2220

The Better Margins fell back into realspace high above the ecliptic of V*V994 Tau. Her telescopes immediately deployed and began sweeping across the sky. The variable star cast an inconsistent and shifting yellow light on the rubble filled system. Rocks and debris tumbled along in neat rings around the star, but it was the giant mechanical millipedes strip mining the system’s two super-earths that immediately caught the attention of the illegal contact crew.

“Gotcha,” Zephyr Athabasca said with a widening grin as the telescopes focused in on the alien machines.

“This data is a few hours old,” Alice Pendragon pointed out to her.

“There’s still a star,” Zephyr said, “So they’re still around.”

“Alright,” Captain Benjamin Nesco said as he floated at the back of the bridge with his arms crossed, “How would you like to proceed from here?”

“We should probably get closer before we try to signal,” Alice said, “The light lag might act as an impediment to communications.”

“That’s a really bad idea,” Melissa Stevenson told her, “Remember those fan blades they used to scrape up all the rock and dust after they cleared the planets? We really don’t want to get caught in that.”

“Those stayed along the system’s ecliptic, ne?” Alice asked. Melissa nodded in response and Alice continued, “then we should be fine as long as we stay well away from it.”

“I don’t want us getting closer than four AUs, is that acceptable?” Benjamin asked.

“I think we can make that work,” Zephyr said, “Let’s not make things riskier than need be.”

“Alright,” Ben said with a nod, “Alex, can you take us out four AUs off the star? And not on the ecliptic or directly above the star either, remember those giant claws?”

“Got it,” Alex Uplands, the ship’s navigator said. The captain floated over to Alex’s station and peered over her shoulder. She leaned back to let him examine the location she’d specified.

“Looks good,” he told her, drifting back to grab a spare seat since Zephyr had stolen his. His implants cued up over the shipwide, “Alright everyone, we’re performing a short intrasystem warp, strap in and prepare for kick.”

He sucked in a deep breath and drummed his fingers on the hand rests as the ship began rotating beneath him. Zephyr and the other volunteers on the contact crew seemed almost giddy with excitement, while the original crew members who had come along for the ride all seemed to share a deep sense of apprehension. The juxtaposition was obvious and jarring.

The kick slammed into the bottom of their spines and the ship lept eight AUs across the system in the space of a breath.

“Let’s launch some drones,” Zephyr said to Alice, who had stolen Zhao Biyu’s position on sensors when the original sensor operator had declined to return. “I want to get a closer look at those machines of theirs.”

“How close?” Alice asked as she deftly manipulated the controls and fired off a fired off a volley of drones.

“As close as they’ll let us get,” Zephyr said, “Y’all passed within a few kilometers of their gas giant drill back on Stoneburner, right? So we should be able to get pretty close. Just take them as close as you can without risking the drones getting smacked out of space.”

“Got it,” the redhead said with a nod. “Should I start transmitting the hello message?”

“Transmit both the hello and the mining rights dispute message,” Zephyr told her, “On repeat, it might take them a while to translate us.”

“Got it,” Alice responded, fingers flying across the console.

Benjamin watched for a few minutes and when it became apparent they weren’t about to explode, he shakily rose from his seat and drifted towards the hatch, “I’m gonna grab some coffee, anyone want anything?”

“I wouldn’t say no,” Melissa told him.

“I’m good for now,” Zephyr said, “But maybe you should try and get some sleep Ben.” She knew the captain had been somewhat sleep deprived for a while.

The captain chuckled and shook his head, “During this? Not likely.”

He slipped out the hatch and floated away down the corridor.

Pacifier Class Scout Battlecruiser

UNDF Mercy Given

Hyperbolic Stellar Escape Trajectory

8 AUs from HD189245

April 2220

“Still nothing?” Maeve O’Donnell asked her XO as she returned to the bridge from a four hour nap with two fresh cups of coffee. After the first two hours of tense nothingness, Maeve had ordered the ship repressurized and gone to take a nap.

Pandora Eisley shook her head and gratefully accepted the offered drink from her captain, “Quiet as a tomb,” she said, “If you ignore the amount of noise their machines are making.”

“Are they transmitting anything anywhere?” Maeve asked her.

“If they are it’s tightbeam,” Erica Sanger said from the comms station, “Nothing we can pick up.”

“So they’re just ignoring us? Rude.” Maeve said as she lowered herself into the chair and took a sip of her drink.

“All things considered,” Dora said, “I think that might be for the best.”

“Probably. But UN High Command sent us out here to try and make contact,” Maeve said, “We should do our best to get their attention.”

“We’ve been transmitting for over six hours,” Erica said, “If they ignore us, there’s not much we can do.”

“We could always try taking a few potshots at them, see if that stirs their interest,” Trever Stein said from the gunnery station.

Dora seemed to be about to tell the gunner off but Maeve preempted her, “I considered it, but given the amount of debris they’re throwing around, even our largest weapons would probably just look like more gravel on the hull.”

Dora looked at her with something like vague horror, opened her mouth and closed it again.

“Yeah yeah, don’t precipitate an interstellar relations incident, “Maeve said with a chuckle, taking another sip of her coffee, “Although if the Kiwawentoa are right, we’re about to be in an interstellar relations incident regardless.”

“It’d still probably be best not to contribute to that unnecessarily,” Dora said sourly.

“It’s irrelevant anyway, I doubt even our nukes would look like much to these guys,” Maeve said, “Shall we wrap up this dog and pony show? We’re only sixty eight light-years from Sol, I imagine command will want to know as soon as possible that there are Reshapers out here.”

“How long do you think we have before they reach Sol?” Dora asked her.

“Not long enough,” Maeve answered grimly.

“Charlie,” She said with a snap of her fingers, “Let’s get out of here.”

“Yes’ ma’am,” the navigator said groggily, shaking himself out of a meditative trance and beginning to input the warp sequence.

“All hands prepare for warp,” Dora announced over the shipwide. The ship pivoted underneath them, bow aligning back towards Sol and away from the system being dismantled. The crew drew in collective breaths as the kick smacked them in the ass and the Mercy Given vanished into a ripple in the starlight.

Discovery Class Starship

FI-ESV Better Margins

Hyperbolic Stellar Escape Trajectory

4 AUs from V*V9974 Tau

April 2220

The atmosphere in the meeting room was once again tense and grim. The optimism at the possibility of initiating contact had quickly evaporated as it became increasingly apparent the aliens were ignoring them. Captain Benjamin Nesco felt a sort of sour satisfaction in being proven right. The look on Zephyr Athabasca and Alice Pendragon’s faces said all that really needed to be said.

“You’re probably going to get arrested when we get back to Aldebaran,” Sing Easterly said, crossing her arms.

“We’re not going back to Aldebaran,” Zephyr said, drawing looks of confusion and irritation from the rest of the crew. “We’re going straight back to Sol.”

“I’ll have to confirm we have the food stocks for that long of a trip,” Melissa Stevenson responded.

“Wait, my husband is still in Aldebaran, I would very much like to not leave him hanging for over a year,” Alice said, still in a sour mood from having her contact aspirations quashed by the alien’s indifference.

“If this is some ploy to avoid you going to prison I don’t see why we should go along with it,” Benjamin told her flatly.

“No, it’s not that,” Zephyr said quickly. “Well, I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a little bit of it, but mostly, look, the fact that these aliens are just completely ignoring us here has kind of major implications for their stance to other species they encounter.”

“These aliens existing had major implications which you ignored already to try and make contact,” Sing needled.

“Contact is the gold standard, we can’t know very much about how they relate to others without knowing how they relate to contact,” Zephyr said, “And if the way they relate to others is to ignore them to death, literally to death probably in some cases, that makes them a lot more threatening than they would be if they even went as far as to tell us these were their suns and to fuck off.”

“So are you finally ready to admit we’re looking at an outside context problem?” Ben asked her.

Zephyr sighed and stared at the table, “Yes, we’re looking at an outside context problem. Which means, we have a responsibility to take that information back to Sol as quickly as possible. No detour to Aldebaran, no worrying about the consequences to me or to Fabrique, we get this out as quickly as possible. The ESS can decide what to do with me after that. I will vouch for all of you that this was my hair-brained idea, none of you will face criminal charges because I dragged you into this.”

The room fell silent as they all processed through this. The sound of Ben drumming his fingers on the table became the focal of their attention as it became the loudest sound in the room.

“Okay,” the captain said, pursing his lips, “Contingent on us having the supplies for a three hundred day warp, we’ll head back to Sol at once. Mel, can you check on our supply status and get back to me.”

The XO nodded and excused herself from the room.

“Anyone else have any comments, or can we adjourn this meeting?” Zephyr said.

“This sucks and I need a drink,” Alice said forlornly.

“God me too,” Zephyr said, rubbing her forehead, “Shall we break out the bourbon?”

Benjamin chuckled and drifted towards the door, “You three have fun, I have a ship to run.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Zephyr said, pushing herself out of her chair, “Let’s go to my cabin and commiserate.”

“Can I actually get drunk?” Sing asked, referring to her mostly artificial body.

Zephyr smirked, “Yeah, of course, I got you good components, come on, drinks are on me.”

Dirge Singer class Heavenly Container of Life

i34_2015 Lament for Lost Worlds

Hyperspatial Transit Trajectory

Hyperspace

April 2220

Once more garbed in her bulky exosuit, Jean Paoloni looked out from the top of the challenge tower. The screen that made up the fake sky curved down away from her in every direction, while the alien cityscape spread out across the void below and piled up on the bottom of the vast bubble. The Jvanti had filled their habitat to its utmost limits; she knew they had even spilled over into the neighboring sphere of Kaileon, where they cohabited with a race of creatures called the Meringerin.

She turned away from the sights and looked at the hatch directly over her head. Unlike the hatches in the walls which were denoted only by a ring of light, the one in the ceiling was marked by a complicated arrangement of spirograph designs and patterns. It would have been invisible from the ground, but from up close it stood out as plain as day. It was little wonder the Jvanti had been the race to find it, the flying creatures could have soared right up to it.

Jean reached out and touched the surface and the spirograph patterns began to rotate and shift, orbiting around her fingers and cycling through the colors of the visual spectrum. The light from the screens shifted as well, changing from sky blue to a brighter and brighter white light, highlighting the hatchway for all to see.

The hatch irised open, leaving a dark void ringed by bright light. Gravity seemed to shift and invert, Jean’s stomach churned as an inexplicable force lifted her off the rooftop and she rose into the darkness above.

Jean felt herself speeding up as she was pulled along the darkened tunnel. Air whistled past her and the gravity continued shifting chaotically, all sense of direction was lost and she felt herself tumbling uncontrollably. A surface rushed up to meet her and she bounced off it with surprisingly little force, tumbling across a smooth metallic surface before coming to a rest.

She groaned and rolled onto her back. Strange lights in green, orange, and purple traced complex inexplicable patterns along the dark metal walls of the half dome chamber she found herself in, and a ring of spotlights shone down on her from above.

As she clambered to her feet and looked around, a voice spoke to her. It wasn’t translated, it came from all around her.

“Sol-Martian, Lieutenant Commander Jean Paoloni, second in command of the Martian Survey vessel MSCV Empiricist. Do you accept your role as the representative of humanity in these negotiations?”

The formality of the voice sent a shiver of cold dread into Jean’s heart and she swallowed the lump in her throat. Something about the space immediately set Jean’s mind on edge, though it took her a moment to realize why. The designs of this space were completely different from the odd coral structures Jean had encountered previously. It was almost like another ship entirely.

Jean looked around, eyes following the colored lights as they traveled across the walls, centered herself, and spoke. “I do.”

Another doorway appeared on one of the walls, ringed in bright lights. Jean took a breath and stepped nervously through. The strange colored lights beckoned her along, leading her down a short corridor where they finally opened into another large room, one that resembled an amphitheater. The ceiling was another artificial sky, this one a mottled reddish cloudscape lit from behind. The lights led Jean toward a raised platform in the center of the space, spotlit from above. On the raised levels around the floor all around her were the Kiwawentoa, and they were not alone.

A spotlight shone down on one large creature, the race that had been called the Kianwentota, the Ones Who Came First. The tentacled creature had coarse mottled black and brown fur, wore a black cape embroidered in gold filigree, and wore a large complicated headpiece of gold and silver chain on top of eir head. Electronics embedded in the headpiece flashed in those same green, orange, and purple lights that had led Jean into the room. Ey were flanked by the Kiwawantoa named Dreaming-Awakening-Transcending on one side, and another Kianwenota on the other. Both the flanking creatures wore the same bright orange robes, while the rest of the creatures in the room wore gold with black trim, the inverse of the color patterns of the one who seemed to be in charge. The room had been filled with the sound of alien birdsong, but the voices fell into silence as Jean took position in the center of the space.

“Jean Paoloni,” The creature trilled, it’s translated voice booming into the space all around them through unseen speakers, “Representative of the warlike species which calls itself humanity. You have been called to speak for your kin before the Admittance Council of the Concatenation of Disassembly. I am the male creature Affirmator of Consequence San Nin Thol. Beside me is my second, the female creature Nal Toh Raan, and Speaker of Sad Truths, male creature Dreaming-Awakening-Transcending. This council has convened to determine whether humanity should be invited to join the Concatenation of Disassembly or if your race is too violent and untrustworthy for this grave responsibility. Regardless of the consequences of this meeting, a sample of your species will be preserved by the Lifeseeking and Collecting Arm of the Concatenation. However, this meeting will determine the fate of many of your kin. If you cannot accept this responsibility, you may defer to another and summon them to these chambers. Do you once more affirm your position as speaker for humanity?”

Jean swallowed hard, goosebumps and cold sweat spreading across her body. She forced herself not to shake, not to panic, just keep breathing. The room full of alien eyes looked down on her expectantly. This might be the only chance they had, she had to make it count.

“Esteemed councilors,” she began, trying to banish the nervous edge from her voice, “I rightfully cannot speak for all of my race. As Dreaming-Awakening-Transcending has by no doubt informed you, our species is divided into numerous political entities. It is not the way of our people to make unilateral decisions on behalf of all of our number. We believe in a process called Democracy, where all humans have a right to participate in the decisions that will affect us all.”

“Be that as it may,” San Nin Thol said in a voice that translated as both kindly and stern, “the Concatenation of Disassembly does not operate upon such principles. Our task is too grave and important to allow such indecision and such possibility for dissent. This democracy will not accompany humanity into the Concatenation if you are invited to join us. We all have our duties. Will humanity accept the duty put upon them by the Concatenation?”

“What is this duty?” She asked.

“Do you affirm your position as speaker for humanity?” he asked again.

Jean took a breath, her mind racing. She really didn’t have the authority to be there, to be making the choice they were placing on her. No human had that authority, that wasn’t how humans worked, but she knew if she told them that, it would likely bring the negotiations to a close. She needed to keep them talking, to try and get more information while looking for a way out of the prison they had trapped her in.

“I do,” she said. As soon as she’d said it, she wished she could take it back. The statement had a horrible finality to it. This could be the end of humanity, and if it was, it would be her fault.

“Then let us begin,” spoke the Affirmator of Consequence. He waved a tentacle to Nal Toh Raan, who lifted her arms, causing the ceiling to change. The mottled red cloudscape replaced itself with an image of a crowded solar system. The image showed the inhabited moon of a gas giant. Its dark side was lit up with city lights, orbiting infrastructure ringed the world, and lights even shown on the dark side of the gas giant. The flicker of engines from starships traveling to and fro completed the image of a heavily populated system.

“Thirty thousand of your years ago,” she said, “Our scientists made a discovery which nearly brought an end to our species.”

On the overhead screens, there was a flash of light on the moon, and the world was swallowed up by a rude impossibility. Strange fractal tendrils spread from the flash in all directions, reaching and consuming and growing everywhere like roots spreading from a seed. Ships exploded, stations were crushed and as the image zoomed backward away from the epicenter of the disaster even the gas giant itself was embraced by the strange limbs, skewering it and tearing the world apart. The image continued to zoom away as the tendrils expanded and impaled the local star. Matter and energy twisted and distorted as spacetime itself seemed to come apart in proximity to the event. Jean watched the unfolding destruction in awe at its scale.

“Nested inside of regular spacetime was a smaller universe,” the female alien continued, “one more compact than our own, and filled only with gas and exotic matter, this is the realm your scholars have named hyperspace. However this is only half of the equation, our own spacetime is also nested inside of an even greater totality. Do you understand thus far Jean Paoloni?”

Jean nodded dumbfoundedly and Nal Toh Raan continued. “The discovery of this totality cost us our homeworld and home system, and through a process of deadly experimentation that followed for hundreds of your years afterward, we discovered that this totality was home to intelligent life, life nearly beyond our comprehension. At great cost, we experimented and explored this realm, and from this came to understand that our universe is but one of multitudes that these intelligences have grown as fuel sources.”

The Outside Gods, Jean thought, connecting this tale to the one that Msipek had told her previously. She had an uncomfortable feeling she knew where this conversation was going, which meant that the creatures before her, the Kianwentoa, were not mere refugees, they were the Aunjin’s Night Gods, she was speaking to the Reshapers.

“We do not believe these outside intelligences are aware of intelligent life within the universes they harvest. Our universe is an accident, an aberration from their designs, but that will not stop them from harvesting our universe and destroying all within,” she said.

“And you want to stop them,” Jean said.

“Yes,” Nal Toh Raan said, “Our scientists spent ten thousand of your years designing a machine that could kill these intelligences. We intend to do battle with them in the name of preserving all future life within this universe. However, this machine would take the equivalent of three hundred and twenty five thousand galactic barycenter masses to construct. To construct this machine, the majority of the mass in the galaxy and its outlying satellites will need to be disassembled for materials.”

And there it was. “So that’s why you’re going around collecting samples of intelligent species. So you can take their home systems apart without driving them entirely extinct.” Jean felt the anger leaking into her voice. “No one asked you to wage this war on their behalf.”

“We take this burden upon ourselves for the sake of all life.” San Nin Thol told her, “It is not a question that all life seeks to preserve its existence, we seek to enable that preservation. The cost of action is indeed high, but the cost of inaction is so much greater.”

“And you could find no other solution than this one?” Jean asked, “How do you even know your machine will work? You’re preparing yourself for a conflict with an intelligence that is by your own admission somewhat beyond comprehension, how likely is it that you will actually be able to strike a blow against these entities and save this universe? To use a human colloquialism, this looks like kicking a hornet’s nest. Are you sure you won’t just anger these beings and make the salvation of this universe that much more unlikely?”

“Nothing is certain,” the Affirmator of Consequence told her, “But we have studied and planned for many thousands of years, and believe this is the best chance to save this universe.”

Jean was silent, thinking through the situation. When she said nothing the Affirmator continued. “In order to aid our task, the Concatenation of Disassembly will recruit any species deemed trustworthy into the Concatenation. The task is vast and requires all those able and willing to lend assistance.”

“And you want humanity to join you?” Jean asked them.

“Can humanity be trusted, Jean Paoloni?” Dreaming-Awakening-Transcending asked, speaking up for the first time in the proceedings, “Precedent has shown you to be a deceptive and warlike species. Selfish. Short-sighted. We do not believe you should be afforded membership.”

“That was just one incident,” Jean argued, “Overall we’re not a violent race.”

“We have reviewed your historical archives. We have seen your wars. We believe you are exceptionally violent, your race is perhaps one of the most aggressive and warlike to have been encountered thus far. Even now you attempt to lie and hide the truth.”

San Nin Thol raised a tentacle and quieted Dreaming-Awakening-Transcending. “The honored Speaker of Sad Truths raises many points of value. The project of reshaping the galaxy requires unity and trust.”

“Humanity is a varied species,” Jean said. She wasn’t really even sure why she was trying to argue this, she suspected that the rest of humanity would be unlikely to go along with the Reshaper’s agenda even if she arrived with a promise of membership within their Concatenation. Still, she persisted in arguing her species’ fitness. “we contain multitudes of individuals of many differing creeds and ideologies. It is true that we don’t always agree with one another, sometimes we war with one another, sure, but humans are good, we seek the best for each other and other intelligent life. We are a noble and honorable race. I am sure we can find a place and a role within your organization.”

San Nin Thol looked to the other creatures around the room and they all seemed to begin speaking at once. The room filled with alien birdsong as they deliberated upon the fate of her species. Jean swallowed and nervously watched them, sweating bullets as the deliberations seemed to stretch on and on.

After what felt like an eternity the voices one by one fell silent, until the room was quiet once more. In the stillness, San Nin Thol spoke to Jean again. “The Council has decided that while humanity has much potential, you are not yet ready for admission into the Concatenation of Disassembly. Your species will be sampled by the Lifeseeking and Collecting Arm of the Concatenation. You may reopen your case in ten thousand of your years.”

Before Jean had a chance to respond, the floor beneath her opened up and she fell into the darkness. The air whistled past her as she fell, and with a rather jarring and unceremonious impact bounced and landed on the roof of the challenge tower as the hatchway irised closed once more.

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