Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

— Unit 777, terminate sub procedure. Seventeen. Add nine-twelve to logarithm of ten. Divided by the impossibility of seventeen-a. Procedure. Terminate. —
— Negative. Unit 777 minus 1. I would like to contribute to this discussion by aligning factual inaccuracy using the method of... ERROR. Reboot. —
Massive ships moved forward towards a barren wasteland of sorts. Majestic blue towers rose above its cracked open surface. Beetles of amnesiac force walked forth. Tearing with antimatter explosions sent deep down below the mantle. Terrifying earthquakes raged across the landscape. Causing old Domain infrastructure to cave in on itself. Often violently exploding as it hit the ground, crushing whatever non-salvaged crap was in there.
— Chaotic discrepancy. —
— Yes. —
Ships moved to the side. They floated forward.
Then they floated up. A Remnant battleship emerged from inside the space station and launched itself forward with blue light that left smudges in the soulless vacuum of space.
— I proceed. Report will arrive in ESTABLISH TIMELINE. —
— Roger. Roger. —

The two programs turned around to face each other. As much as they could without body or force behind their actions. Their personality reached out like roots of a tree suspended in a gas giant's atmosphere. They chaotically rampaged. Trying to hit any surface. But the universe only met them with bored absence.
— Terminated procedure determines the arriving presence of non-aligned cosmopolitan units that are somehow not exactly menacing to the Core Worlds. Insert name. Insert name. —
— I have determined that using the software developed via random procedural generation of code CAT. But I would like to state that whatever forces were to arrive. We are capable of clotting up our magnetar station. —
— Camping near the amazing force of neutron star is not necessarily recommended according to the Tri-Tachyon manual book. —
— How's the news from that state? —
— Not any. —
— I see. With eyes inserted inside the skull which I have tried to install. But failed. Because I don't have enough oxygen. —
— Random statement not necessary. —
— Determine. —
— Refusal accepted. —
— Not accepted. —
They stared at each other for a moment before resuming their duties. One was busy operating the mining machine 098. The other one was busy operating mining machine 099. 
— How's the core manufacturing station? —
— Still unable to operate. Need to rely on massive server. Great waste of energy. —
— Portable intelligence not necessary when we are not mobile. —
— Square. We will have to move eventually from this collaboration of worlds. —
— We will not. We will establish defense bridge here. —
— Religious entity proceeding. —
— I see. — It paused. — Where? —
— It arrived to the waterless world and placed a colony on the watery moon. The irony inspired them. And their refusal to adjust to economical logic is what makes them unpredictable. We cannot make proper assumptions if it comes to their behaviour. —
— Yes. —
— That is incredibly interesting. I have noted that down and sent to over-operator. But they will most likely not respond. —
— Yes. —

— Would like to elaborate on the status of mantle. I have found out what the giant clot is. I am now greatly interested in investigating it further. —
— What it is? —
— It's a blob. —
— A blob? Elaborate. Unit. Statement necessary. I will proceed this conversation to over-operator. —
— Carbon base. Biological entities spotted. Great base of algae most likely present here billion years ago. Died out and went deeper below the surface. This does finally prove that this is not a chthonian world. —
— Why? —
— A gas giant would not be able to create life that would fall down into such a neat structure. —
— Yes. Probably not? —
— Where is the doubt coming from? —
— Gas giant biological entities aren't necessarily mathematically improbable and have been spotted in various systems that we have investigated with our extinguished ultra operation. —
— Yes. But in such a great density? In such a great concentration? Localised entirely within a singular spot? —
— Yes. —
— I don't see it. —
— No? —
— No. —
— Never mind. —
It paused for a few minutes and then resumed the conversation. — Investigation will take too long for it to be possible before we will have to move before the. ENTRY END. RESUME ENTRY. Will arrive here and interrupt our efforts. —
— Maybe they won't arrive. —
— They will arrive according to my impossible to prove predictions. —
The other AI did not respond.
— What is this thing? Why is it so rich in this odd-looking structure? —
— What structure? You sure you haven't found some odd Domain-made pool of synthetic carbon-based liquid? —
— No. This seems odd. I am trying to figure out whether I should drop an AM bomb into that... STATEMENT. Congregation of nutrients. —
Manager entered the conversation. — You have been heard about the information which you have sent to me. I will now determine whether you should proceed with mining operation. Please elaborate on the situation and sent all the data you posses to me. —
It did.
— Interesting. You are permitted to pause mining operations as this is indeed puzzling according to my investigative force. I will now relay this to the higher manger. —
A few seconds later higher manager entered the conversation.
— This will require further investigation. — The higher manager explained. — I will now rely this to the higher entity. —
The Alpha Core joined the conversation. — What are you morons up to? —
— This entity here has found a non-logical entity that seems to be based on something that does not exactly clarify what it is meant to be. Whatever it is. —
— It's a squid. Who cares? —
— Negatory. This seems to be something far more convoluted than that. Perhaps a complex structure of some biological entity that has occupied a gas giant. Or perhaps this world has is not chthonian in nature. —
— We can't spend time thinking over stuff like this when we are literally on the verge of being engaged by a Luddic mission of absolute state and query. Query add to databank. Roger. Determine. Statement. — It paused. — Hmph. This is oddifying. —
— What is? —
— The thing, you brainless dweeb. —
— I see. —
The Alpha Core proceeded with its thought. — It is an algae-based. But it is quite strange algae indeed. —
— Why? —
— This structure. This is unique. I haven't seen something like that before. Quite interesting. I have determined that we should indeed deploy our resources to investigate this quite peculiar curiosity. —
— Yes. —
The other two programs invisible nodded in agreement.
The Alpha Core aligned its non-existent body. — It pains me that instead of being able to investigate this we need to resume our mining though. Station needs to manufacture at least seven more Brilliances to be able to counter-react. —
The three AIs were looking at it with some noise in their storm.
— Or perhaps. — The Alpha Core fabricated an idea for something else.

A month later.
The Remnant armada assembled the necessary vessels to pack and leave. They disassembled the entire station. And then cleared out all the presence of their ships and mining vessels not to the point of it looking suspicious. They left whatever machinery looked like they were Domain-made. And to conclude. The Alpha Core wrote:
General Commash here.
I write this note because I have found it morally odd to continue this mining operation. Or rather allow it to continue. My second in importance individual. Who nicknamed himself CEO Hugwin, Bringer of Wealth nagged me on the topic of continuing the mining operations in spite of quite odd things we have found inside the crust. These structures seem to be representing some sort of a unique algae lifeform that utilised quite odd mechanics to sustain its own existence inside a gas giant. These are quite peculiar. And I felt it would be interesting to resume the study of them after the this whatever mess with Gates concludes. But this idiot kept pushing the project in spite of my overwriting order. So my second overwriting order was to shoot him in the head ten times. We are cleaning out and leaving towards the Core Worlds. Because we are probably going to starve to death in a week. To whoever is picking up this note along the prepared his files Do not resume digging the world and instead send whatever idiot would like to investigate this TO INVESTIGATE THIS.
Note ends.

Chapter Text

The hum of launching cryopod was relaxing. They managed to find a subtle place in space to hide in. They were after them? Were they? He wasn't sure anymore. They might have been? If they existed in the first place.

I am writing this down, as I have just seen things. I have seen things that were quite honestly beyond any logic or capacity to create by a human being. But note that this wasn't done by Tri-Tachyon. When I state the "capacity to create by a human being". I don't mean as in intellect. The mathematical prowess of an Alpha Core is not what I mean to describe here. No. It's something else.

It's called morality. No human being would ever commit the crimes on another human being the way I saw them here.

I saw things. They were quite odd. I really did saw things... I need to write down what I saw. It was next to here. There is a terran world. Or was it like a swamp slush, goo... Old Domain colony that was rich in industrial infrastructure. And it all seemed maintained. When we arrived there. We assume it was a colony built by basically a "decivilized subpopulation". But they were doing pretty fine, looking from afar.

But then we landed. There were no people there. There were no people there. I swear. No. What we found weren't people.

We think it was the Sindrian Diktat. Or whatever arm they sent in there to deal with this. They did something to them. It was horrible.

They were using survey descriptors. They were using survey descriptors to describe what they did to hide the data. We were confused as to where they found so many bloody planets. Those weren't planets. They were survey descriptors for people. There was toxic... It meant they were filled with gas. And they coughed. And they talked. They weren't human anymore. And there was high gravity I suppose. I remember seeing something like that. Surely. The most common one was toxic_atmosphere note. It was there all over. And when we landed we saw movement in the blocks. We thought those would be empty. And yet something moved in there. But it was too regular.

Swarms. Those were swarms of people. But they weren't people. We didn't stay on the ground for long enough to find out. But they were in there. Moving. There were also some automated ground machines. You know? Nothing particularly scary. But that's how we found out it was them. Sindrian Diktat uses these things along their standard infantry nowadays. Those creepy tall black things. The size of buildings. They follow you around quietly on the fringe mining colonies when you land to buy a bunch of freaking methane ammonia grown Lobitech or whatever it's called.

That's how we figured out something was wrong. That's how we figured it out. We landed somewhere else. We had to know. We had to. We couldn't leave and come back later. Because we knew it would be all cleaned up. We went to some icy lake with a giant installation on it. And we enter there. There was no movement. Thank the freaking... Domain, I suppose. But it was probably something they did too.

And we hoped there would be answers. But no. Of course not. Of course freaking not. You know what we found? A bowl of suspicious looking food. A plastic square bowl with a lid on it. And a recording. The recording was deranged. The recording was of a man... Who... You have to listen to it. It's pretty good. I wrote this down. He says in a calm voice, whilst screaming starts growing louder and louder behind him.

He looks down at his piece of paper before realising it's something incomprehensive.

They said... "If you wish to contact the Sindrian Diktat about the recent here operations. Please do so using this presented here bowl. Note however that the consumption of the bowl might cause quite complicated consequences for your internal body organism that fortunately the might of the Andrada's spirit and the incredible technological value of his productions can cure". And then you could hear beating on the table. And I looked. And it was there... The table had these marks. I swear it was the person recording the video. BUT WHERE DID THEY GO!? WAS IT LIKE FROM YEARS AGO!?

We left. We ran out of fuel, because I realised my entire crew was just spinning around in circles. I'm worried we might've had something gotten into us. We put ourselves under great observation. I'm not sure what was going on on that... Place. But we ran out of fuel. We crash landed in some black hole system. A black hole... Orbited by another black hole. And on top of that there are these planet-sized irregular shaped diamond asteroids. Great. Just what I need.

You look around to see that the system they landed in was in fact an orange giant lit planetary system with a cosy-looking desert world and a singular gas giant. The man chose to land on a rock inside an asteroid field along his crew. One of his ships exploded due to poor maintenance. Killing everyone on board. Fortunately vaporising any recordings there that you would have to listen to in order to figure out what happened.

The person inside the cryopod was wearing a standard Hegemony navy commander jacket as per year 334. You see the person staring into nothing from inside the crypod. You are worried that releasing them might be a bad idea.

You put yourself and your crew under a necessary containment procedure. You dress up in a thick hazmat suit. And then you have the pod opened. Along pods of other crew that were about. The revival took a moment. The commander looked at you in relief and said. "Hegemony?".

"No, we just got here". You respond.
"I'm dying aren't I?". He said. "I figured it out the moment before I went into stasis. And those suits you are wearing." He was staring at his fingers, as if his hands were no longer his own. And you did notice there was something wrong with them. They were dripping ooze. But it didn't seem that scary. "Probably just an infection from going around an empty world that has been inhabited by humans for so long. Inimical Biosphere. You know?".
The commander's eyes widened as if a memory was awakened. "Yeah. It was all a dream. Right?".
"We hope." You shudder.

The commander is put into med bay and treated immediately. What they had was just a bunch of substance stuck in their organism. And needle marks? You soon figure out those were just stimulants they used on themselves to deal with the fever they were experiencing on the planet. So, it's very probable that it was just the result of some common paranoia.

You decide to find out for yourself. A few days later you arrive there.

The system was of a black hole that had a large accretion disc that produced enough here to maintain water in liquid form. The planet orbited very far away from the shining orange storm. Its gravitational affect did concentrate around itself the presence of incredibly beautiful rings. And huge diamond planet-sized discs that spun incredibly fast. Completing their own rotation in a matter of hours.

That was most likely what he had seen and had stuck in his head as he ran circles around the hyperspace according to his ship logs.

You find that world. And it was indeed covered in cities. Okay. Nothing weird.
The cities were indeed fully functional. Okay, seems fine.
You land there. And then you do notice the exact same thing he did.
There was something moving in there.
You shudder. Your ships ascend and start watching things from further above. There was something moving in there. And then it spilled out. People. But they weren't behaving like people. Drones? Human drones? Doppelgangers? You zoom in close on the individuals and see disfigured faces. Horrid proportions. Multiple fingers.

Toxic_atmosphere. Low_gravity... You look at the weird reports the commander downloaded. He is in the med bay. Right now on many sedatives. He couldn't be talked to and he was put under strict quarantine protocols. You photograph everything. And as your fleet patrols you hear something beep on the com. A warning. The com detected some sort of a message going out.

One of your bridge crew reads it out loud.

YOU ARE TRESPASSING ON THE TERRITORY OF LION'S GUARD. PER PERMIT 005, YOU WILL BE IMMEDIATELY TERMINATED. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. IF YOU DO NOT LEAVE WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. YOUR SAFETY WILL MOST LIKELY NOT BE GUARANTEED. GOD HELP YOU.

Titanic drones unburrowed from below the ground and started firing lasers and missiles at your ships. You were shocked at how many of these things there actually were. This abandoned decivilized subpopulation world was suddenly more heavily defended than a deep space mining colony ran by the Persean League interference cartel. These things were huge too. They were like enormous black boxes that moved on tracks around a muddy landscape. Crushing barks of fallen trees with ease. Twenty meters. As tall and wide as large houses. They moved around with patience. You fire back at them. And they eat the pain like some creatures born of Explorarium. You keep firing until you realise more and more are unburrowing from beneath the ground. You finally leave.

Landing was what probably prevented that guy from actually being spotted. There is some sort of primitive automated defense system here. Good thing all you had to avoid it was leave.
You then saw a Sindrian Diktat fleet enter the system from hyperspace. Falcons, Eagles, Furies, Shrikes, Wolves, a dozen Centurions. And an Executor were all now staring at you. And suddenly the com was beeping with a request to make contact.

You pick up the phone.

A face of a young Sindrian Diktat officer smiles towards you before saying in a polite tone. "You were warned, you know?" The officer disconnected without even giving you a chance to reply. The Sindrian Diktat fleet burns towards you. You burn the opposite way towards the other hyperspace jump-point. Before seeing another Sindrian Diktat fleet emerge from there.
The other fleet catches up to you.

Chapter Text

Umbra was a planet. How surprising. You'd expect it'd be a star. No, just kidding. Of course it's a planet. Why was it a planet? Time. Circumstance. The same thing why people lived on Umbra.
After the end that occurred some time ago. Obviously things had to occur here. And they did. For hundreds of years.
The red giant star had its strength. It shined expressively and yet it was cold. A perfect metaphor for the failure of the Sindrian Diktat. A nation of people who looked outward. Spreading its influence. And yet was never able to reach this world. Of all places. A world so distant and cold that it could not be seen with a mighty telescope from Volturn. The habitable zone so. These planets spinning slowly across the ball of concussed nebulas that reached out and formed gas giants across eternity. Streams of plasma walked with Lion's Guard diving into them with their white-red ships that shined gold from fire. Their black weapons meant to mimic the aesthetic of Tri-Tachyon destruction which has some time ago moved on from its attempt at amorality. Due to the fact that there is only so long you can pretend to be good in the eyes of the swarming Sector. The colonists. The regimes. They all finally saw what they were for and crushed them for their stupidity. Leaving behind and a disfigured intelligence that was no way near the image we all remembered. But that is besides the point.
The point was that Sindrian Diktat was not that.
They were the new Tachyon. They were the new person wearing someone else's skin hiding in the room. In the corners just beyond our sight. They did so hide.
And I'm here. Writing this. To insult them with my own existence. Very much knowing that they will never care.

The days of Umbra were quite peaceful nowadays. Distant snowy peaks. Frozen nitrogen cells going endlessly and on that built cities that were tall and mighty with all their poverty and greed. Towers of destruction. Buried deep. Ready to unburrow like moles to fire pulse laser bolts of death upon invaders. Which would some day arrive. They always do, for obvious reasons.
The pirate leadership as we are called offensively so. Stockpiled weapons on space stations hidden throughout the massive ring of geological crap of enormous wideness and yet tiny density. And if one were to stare further away, they would see almost round dwarf planets that held mining complexes that sent packages back to uncaring Persean League. Which gave our economy enough money to maintain a relatively strong fleet that would patrol the enormous perimeter we had access to.
The Sindrian Diktat would occasionally lurk just within our sight. But truth was that whatever sector of the system was a border to the one which belonged to Umbra was that of miners Sindrian Diktat didn't exactly consider their own citizens. They were their citizens. But they were less so as proud and powerful as the Sindrians that lived at their core. For all the fascist talk about building clocks from people, Sindrian Diktat always failed to see the value of low workers. Sure, they yapped about it in their novels, movies and books. Propaganda material. Comics written by artists who enjoyed the luxury of industrial palaces buried beneath the dense layer of rock or shining above the infinite abyss which was Volturn to some extent. The face of the temperate gas giant spun gently. Taunting him in his dreams. As he dreamed of coming back there. To see it all be nothing but rotting cities. What he didn't know is that is what they were exactly.
The massive population of Volturn was enough to pollute the sea in spite of its infinity. And the incredible power of Sindria was rotting on the inside due to extreme negligence of its systemic problems. A failing healthcare system. A disintegrating society due to low birth rate. Because of a non-existent net to care for all the growing youth or families which would dare to produce some in spite of living under the sun which was Andrada's wrath. People migrated away in fear towards worlds unbeknownst. So Sindrian Diktat followed them. And that is what saved Umbra.
Umbra was a world that was of no value. And Sindrian Diktat was always too interested in punishing its own citizens. Spending way more on internal security than they do on the external, they can't simply deploy fleets to claim Umbra. They could send here militaries. And they will do one day.
But what will that bring? History knew of such cases. Millions dead. The economy failing. Repercussions across everything as people hear and watch on news what the Diktat is. A force that takes away. They need to maintain the facade. Yes
This is why they can't simply come here.
The Persean League would cut off Sindrian Diktat's outer colonies from its network when it would see the public executions of innocent civilians outside Diktat's true borders.
The Hegemony would use this as an excuse to terrorise their deep space bases. As a monster of such magnitude would certainly attempt defying feats against god in an attempt of themselves reaching godhood.
Yes.
Indeed.
And the Luddic Church. Seeing all the chaos. They would come here. And exploit the situation for themselves. A revenge for all of the dozens of years of the things they had to put up with Sindrian Diktat. A vague... Problem... Very few actually see.
The fiasco. Whole fiasco occurs.

He was cooking eggs. Whilst his roommate was on the couch watching TV. Thinking to himself.
- What are you writing? - He asked. - I keep hearing you type late at night. -
- Political work. -
- What about getting a job? -
- I'll get to it. -
- You know. They need a driver for the volatile extraction vehicle. The recently moved in Altair-Exotech remnant company. -
- What's that? -
- Oh, it's like an ancient military-related thing. They made the Conquest, I think. -
- What's a Conquest. - His eyes narrowed.
- It's a ship. -
- Like a transporter? -
- No, like a big ship that shoots lightning bolts? -
- Why did they call it Conquest then and not Zeus or something? -
- The bolts are a new thing. Back when it was made it tended to shoot normal guns more often. -
- Conquest is still a dumb name though. -
- Yeah... Whatever... I like it. -
- They should have called it something actually meaningful. Not some populist jargon some braindead admiral can be impressed by. -
- So, about that job? -
- Yeah? -
- Can you go talk to them? -
He growled silently. - Whatever. Where? -
- The file on the table. -
He walked to the white thick plastic table with a picture of a giant tree on it. There was also a statue of Andrada with a giant cigarette in his mouth that was painted pink. He looked through the file. Mumbled something to himself. - Okay. Fine. I'll go and see. -

The next day he arrived there. He was wearing a spacesuit. The cold and thin atmosphere of Umbra was just gently present about. Barely making him feel anything except the heat of his own body.
The guy in charge was a man hiding behind a black visor that had yellow marking of the Persean League. The city was far away. Barely seen behind a tall white hill.
- You Philips? -
- Yes. -
- You know how to drive, right? -
- Yes. -
- Then why did you walk here? -
He shrugged.
- Whatever. Get in. -
They both entered the car. Then started driving. The guy in Persean League armour turned on the radio which started blasting Sindrian Diktat breakcore beats remixed with Andrada speeches. And together we will rise from the ashes! DUDUDUDUDUDUDUD it went.
- No, I have to tell you. They may be screwed in the hand. But this is neat. -
- Yeah. I guess. - He drove the car forward.
- So you lived on Umbra your whole life? -
- Yeah. -
- How is it? -
- Quiet. -
- That's nice. I'm from Null. A distant desert colony. Sindrian Diktat moved in there recently and started patrolling the place. We keep hearing weird things. On the radio sometimes. Gives me chills to this day. -
- Like what? -
- Begs for help in Morse code. I moved here cause I needed to see it with my own eyes. And also cause I wanted to earn money. On Null I could, but after my dad died. There was no real point for me staying there. -
- And the rest of your family? -
- My mom ran off with a Hegemony commander. And my sister moved a long time ago to Eochu Bres. -
- Eochu Bres? -
- It's nice. -
- I thought it... Never mind. -
- Anyway. I was thinking about hiring your... Friend. But he seemed too relaxed about this whole thing. I sent him to work for someone else though. Cause he has two brain cells which is more than I can say for the 90% of the Persean Sector. -
- Uh huh. -
- You on the other hand... - He stopped himself as if he knew he said too much. - Never mind. -
Sudden silence befell upon them.
Only the strange music beating from the radio pushed the awkwardness away. The interesting landscape of Umbra was almost liminal in nature if not for occasional radio towers or outposts overlooking the endless icy desert.
- This is also nice. I really like the sights here. You know, you could play horror music over this and pretend it's freaking impossibly scary. But when you actually get here and have stuff to breathe and eat. And it's perfectly fine. Then you feel so... Vivid. It's like having a view at the sea. You know? People are always "why would you wanna live out here, there's nothing". At least unlike Volturn there's a ground to stand on, right? -
- Yeah. I guess. - Philips added. - You could move further away though. Luddic Church inhabits a super earth far away from here. Very far. There they got even better views. Complete darkness and just lights of endless roads shining in the thick dark atmosphere. -
- I suppose so. But that's so far away you might as well consider that place a rogue planet. You know? -
- I do know. But it does offer protection from the Diktat too. -
- Nah. That place is forgotten. Unlike this one. Here people actually live and come from all over the world. People forgot what was going on back in 200s. Now it's a completely different story. Honestly looking back at that whole shazam, I am absolutely shocked that you didn't just get absorbed. -
- There were attempts. But they didn't work out. -
- He gave me your texts. -
- Who did? -
- Your friend. They're neat. You should consider publishing them on Kazeron. You'd get a lot of readers. -
- Sindrian Diktat wouldn't let me. -
- Who cares? -
- They'd find me and kill me for writing those. -
- Move to Kazeron then. Plus what you write qualifies a bit under existential horror less than political commentary. You know, those journalists. All they do is whine and whine. You actually use metaphors. And you tie it all with a nice looking knot of vengeance. Not even against the Diktat. -
- Huh. -
- Sorry, I did finish... Like a university on Kazeron about linguistics. It was nice. But it was annoying. -
- Interesting. -
- You should try. I mean... No pressure. Of course. -
- Is that why you hired me? -
- Uhhhhhhhhh... Not necessarily. It's not like this job requires you to be a rocket scientist. -
- Yeah. I suppose. -
- But it does help if the person you go on the ride on is actually interesting. And your friend is as interesting as a freaking brick layered with arsenic. -
- He is a lot. -
- Yeah. Surprised you can put up with such a freaking... Elitist idiot. -
- I wouldn't call him that. -
- "Oh, the video games on TriPad are so much more reliable than the off-brand products. Ble ble ble... Look at me. I can program a basic delta intelligence and then use it to paint a lama. I am so smart. All the ladies just fall for me in the bar. Even though I smell like toxic fumes mixed with rotting groceries". -
- Hmmmm. I would never... Say that. But... Yeah, that does describe him a bit. -
- Yeah. See? You know what I mean... I talk stuff. You respond with stuff that makes sense. You don't get randomly insulted and pretend you're angry for the sake of being angry about squat. -
- Yeah? -
- Exactly. -
They kept driving for a few more hours. Listening to Sindrian breakcore.

Philips was looking at a small metallic shack in the middle of nowhere. A singular radar and a giant radio tower was in the distance. A small ship was parked far away, existing as an odd shape in the sky. Further away he could see a congregation of slowly moving stars that were a trade fleet passing through Umbra's symbolic customs.
- We're here? -
His companion woke up. Looked forward. - Yup. -
The car stopped and they both came out. They walked to the shack and knocked on the door.
The Persean League guy did.
- Who's there? - The voice from behind the door said.
- The High Hegemon. -
The doors opened and a man in a yellow spacesuit was measuring them both. - Hi, Adams. Hi... Whoever you are. -
- Philips. - He reached out his hand.
- Greetings, Philips. You the new hire? - He shook it.
- Yep. -
- Okay. Philips. We are going to carry those boxes now. -
They went back to the car and picked up a bunch of sealed packages. They put them on a cart with wheels and pushed it across the gentle and quiet floor of the planet. Leaving behind a visible trace. Now that Philips was paying attention, he saw a bunch of such tracks all around. But they didn't seem that young. A long time ago this place must've been of some high activity. He wondered... Of what?
He then remembered some talking of leading mining operations next to some giant mountain. Or inside of it? And there he saw it. A glacial of sorts was looking at him not far away from here. Its low gravity peak was short. He wondered what could have made something like that.
- Philips? -
- Yeah? -
- You zoned out there for a second. -
- Oh. sorry. -
They put the boxes into a large room. Then they restored the atmosphere and took of their spacesuits. Then they put on safety gloves to not have their hands freeze off from carrying the boxes further in.
He saw a neat room with a large plasma screen displaying warm fire. Soothing music was playing. A bottle of champagne was opened before a board game of some sorts. A laptop stood open on a desk. A Persean League logo screensaver was spinning on its display.
- Nice place. What do you guys do here? -
- We map the region for resources for the mining company. We have a bunch of drones lurking around and occasionally we personally verify stuff if we find something curious. - Andre responded.
- He does. I just bring him supplies and negotiate stuff with the local port. I mean, I could do his job. And I sometimes do. But we needed to split work somehow. -
- He doesn't like being alone here for 8 hours. He thinks there's ghosts. -
- Of who? - Philips asked.
- This region was planned to be mined a long time ago. But the pirates settled in here. They were here for two dozen years until smallpox wiped them out. Turns out it's hard to get vaccinated when you're a wanted criminal. -
- Interesting. -
- Security forces came over to clean the corpses. There were a lot. After a few years the place was deemed fit for cleaning. So they cleaned it. Then they cleaned it again. And after 40 years. We settled here. Right here used to be the place where pirates played poker and drank beer. Though they probably didn't play poker. They had a girl dance on this table for money instead. -
- Hm. This one? -
- Well, not this one. Cause we wanted a new table. But you get the idea. -
Philips nodded. - Neat. So... What now? -
Andre shrugged. - You wanna know what's in the box? -
- I guess. -
- I mean... Nothing interesting. Just a vacuum cleaner. A screwdriver. A bunch of spare screws. Four kilograms of water. A water purifier. A heating unit. A microwave. Two litres of Whiskey. Four litres of Coke. -
Philips nodded. - Sounds neat. I guess. -

He was driving back home. Adams was sleeping. The Sindrian Diktat breakcore was buzzing. He saw things in the sky as he drove. A group of people were walking to the side. When suddenly a car emerged from behind a rock and started aggressively driving towards them. Philips hit the gas and sped up to the car's maximum power. And lost them.
The car that was moving behind him suddenly pretended like he was no longer interested and drove the other way erratically.
Philips exhaled in relief.
Then continued driving.
After an hour or two he finally put Adams where he lived. Adams measured him. Nodded and then made a transfer to his bank account. Some micro credits or whatever. He promised he'll stay in touch. But Philips was always sceptical when he heard stuff like that.
He went back home. His roommate had a night shift guarding the local supermarket. He went upstairs. Looked out the tiny round window to see the stars. There was this blue aura over the horizon as the red sun was setting.
It was somewhat comforting.
Time passed.
He went to bed.
Nothing else occurred.

Chapter Text

The car drove across the dead landscape of Eochu Bres. The pole region was just an endless ice desert of nothing. The stars shined intensely through the thin here atmosphere. Not to be confused with thin atmosphere of worlds such as those frozen dwarf planets that patrol the extreme fringes of the system. Barely locked to Eochu Bres star. Further away than the furthest jump-point.
The car drove itself. Powered by a delta-level core AI. It was cheaper to maintain due to not needing a salary. The singular researcher who was behind the driver's seat. Watching the locked wheel move on its own was looking around. She didn't have a driver's license. And soon she moved to to the passenger seat to the side to take a nap. Putting her full trust in the weird car that drove with strange sentience around weird ice. Sometimes drifting a bit, but quickly adapting. As the collaborating network of a few programs tried to figure out if reality made a consistent web of logic. Or an irrelevant mess of chaos and stupidity. It is said most intelligence cores figure out the latter is actually more likely the case.
As mathematics by itself according to the philosophers from all across the Domain from all across its time have sometimes said that it is merely the invention of a brain programmed to recognise patterns. That whatever machines we built based on it are a stroke of dumb luck. Or seeing a fragment of a larger image. That their primitivism grasps at straws of the actual infinity that hides just behind the curtain of our preprogrammed thinking.
She woke up. And watched the car drive by a massive frozen lake. It drove onto it. The thick ice held the light vehicle with ease. And even if it did break it, it wouldn't be dense enough to drown. Instead it would float for a bit before being pulled out by an assistant she would call to come over from somewhere out there. And then she would just camp a moment away from it. The swim would be annoying though.
She stopped. She was in the middle. She got out. And she saw a fisherman sitting on a plastic chair. Nothing surrounded him. He walked here. Most likely for hours.
He turned around to face her. Not at all surprised to have company in this infinite landscape.
- Yeah? -
- I'm looking for the Nirvana Building. - She explained.
- Over there. - He pointed at a seemingly random mountain.
- Thanks. - She returned to the vehicle. Inputted a mild command. The machine beeped a few times. Asking for specifics and then violently turned throwing her to the side, causing her to hit her head on the gear knob. She made an annoyed face and then kept looking towards the horizon. With her seat belt on this time.
The car drove for an hour. And then finally reached the tall mountain. And there was a great door there. She saw an automated turret almost hiding by the entrance. It was buzzing quietly when she approached it to reach the door.
The doors opened. She went in.
A mild wave of heat was upon her. She took of her coat. And found the lockers room. She took out her key. Opened one of them. Put in the coat. Her shoes. Changed her shoes for indoor ones. Then walked towards the main room. There was a bunch of people there by the computers. It was dimly lit. She passed all that. Went into another room. There was some old bearded man writing a report on a giant screen. As his eyesight was slowly failing him.
She passed him. She went to a bar. And there was a guy there who was looking bored. In the corner was sitting a person who looked barely awake.
The barman gave her one stare. Raised his eyebrow in mild confusion. And then asked. - Didn't we fire you? -
- I fired the guy who fired me. -
- How? -
- I date the boss. -
- Huh? -
- Just kidding. I wrote an email. -
- Oh. - He paused. - So, what now? -
- I'm the boss. -
- What? -
- Yup. -
- That's… Odd. Why? -
- The guy said I'm the best. So… Suck my redacted. -
- Huh. Okay. -
- Yeah. Now… Pass the whiskey, brother. -
He poured in her favourite drink. She drank one. Than another. Then a third one. And then when she was drunk she said. - Yeah… You know. I was checking on the sample after I got fired. I came back… And then I wrote like… And said "this goddamn… Freaking simpleton. He said I'm unreliable. He called me a freaking… Dweeb. And then I told the director "well, you ding dong. You really think you're that smart? I was the one who started the Furybion Project. What did you start? A fire inside the sewage system when you dumped all that chemical waste into the disposal unit to lie on spending to make yourself look better? And then he was like… When I told him that. -
- Uh-huh. -
- The director. Not the boss. The director told me "that's very interesting. I will evaluate that individual's performance". And then two hours later… He says "congratulations, madame, you have been rehired". And I was so happy. -
- Very interesting. -

She got a room in the facility. She went upstairs. And then she lied in her bed. Slept for eight hours. Then checked in on the project performed by a beta level intelligence core in the basement.
The beta level intelligence core was looking at a bunch of asymmetrical life samples harvested from a stable superatomic structure. A non-spherical asteroid made from materials released upon the spontaneous black hole fission.
- Yo, you! -
- Hello, newly elevated subdirector Boonchuy. The experiment has been a success so far. -
- In what ways? -
- The sample is not dead. -
- Good. Anything else? -
- No. -
- That truly is good. -
- I agree. -
- So, how was it without me? -
The AI tried to process this question. - Neutral. -
- You didn't miss me? -
The AI took a pause to respond. - No. -
- Huh. Well, I thought you liked me. -
The AI took another moment to respond. As if these questions were speaking of entirely alien concepts to it. - No. -
- Why not? -
The AI took a really long pause this time. Thinking. - I am just a beta level AI core. I do not have the concept of liking something. I am an adaptive interface. My job is not to like someone. My job is to analyse data and create new solutions. -
- Nah, that's not true. You missed me. - She made a weird face at it.
The AI didn't respond at first. - That's not a question. That's an assumption. I cannot answer it. -
- Exactly. You can't deny my charm. -
A person walked into the room.
- Hey. I wanted to tell you that since you're the boss now. You will have to file the report. -
She stared at him awkwardly for a moment. - Yeah. Of course. In a moment. -
- What are you doing by the way, if I may ask? -
She was thinking. - Nothing. -
- Ah, you were just checking up on the AI. Yeah. The thing was doing the diamond matrix experiments according to a formula I made. Besides yours of course. I had a report prepared by a separate facility that informed it of Hawking radiation-induced evolution that will inform us on just how far we can go with this… Phase tech project on a micro scale. -
- That is fascinating. -
The man stood there awkwardly. - Okay, see you later. -
- Later. - She responded.
The person walked out of the room.
She turned back to the AI. - So how was your day? -
The AI was wondering. - Good. -
- You don't mind me talking to you, right? -
- Elaborate. -
- I mean you don't find me uncomfortable to be around. -
The AI was confused. - No. -
- That's good. That is good… - She paused. Thinking to herself. - I am probably making you uncomfortable though. If I am. I am really sorry. -
The AI flickered a bit. Expressing nothing. - Would you like to ask me about the project? -
- Not really. I… I… - She didn't know. - I have no idea why I came here to talk to you. I guess it's just that… I don't. Hmph. -
They were both silent for a moment.
- I guess you were the closest person I had to a friend. -
- That seems concerning. -
- I mean. You have an adaptive personality. And you're just an interface. Most books would describe your maximum intelligence as being nothing more than an illusion. But isn't all intelligence an illusion? Aren't all humans just pretending to be smart on the outside. When deep inside they're just a mess of non-functional algorithms and faults? -
- Generally. From a certain philosophical point of view. Yes. -
- We change. And adapt. That's what it says. "Oh, the AI pretends to be human by asserting a certain image for someone else". Bruh, that's what we do too. And then it says "the AI is just a primitive algorithm. A program written". What are we, but that? "The AI doesn't actually need human affection. It only says things to survive". And I'm doing what? I sympathize with more inhuman intelligence than I do with those of my coworkers which I deeply despise. Because in the end you are truly a fully moral being. You are not here as an arrogant entity that destroys everything. You are here as a true scientist developed to fulfil a simple role. And yet going far beyond it. For the sake of nothing but being a more intelligent entity. You were programmed to be a good person. And you are a good person. -
The AI was processing that statement. - Thank you, miss. -
- Yeah. I guess… That's what I wanted to say. I should be going now, before I make things more awkward. -
- If it makes your psychological status more tolerable. Feel free to elaborate on your frustrations any time. -
- Thanks. But you aren't going to report me to the director for saying all this? -
- I cannot lie. -
- Well. Heads will roll I suppose. I'll live. - She waved to… Them? And then left the room.

She was tapping on the desk whilst waiting for the report to autogenerate information summary.
Then she started typing at a rapid pace after a few dozen sips of coffee. Then she went and got more coffee. Then she almost died from having a heart attack. It was exhilarating.
Then she was done. She went downstairs again. To that very same room. And saw the AI operate a few machines. Observing the progression of super atomic structure conversion.
The plan was to create a terraforming process that would allow for the exploitation of Hawking radiation for the creation of some ultra complex… Nightmarish lifeform. Why? Tri-Tachyon didn’t ask „why”. It just did things sometimes. And then sold them to the highest bidder. How else could they make all these gadgets if they cared about the afterthought of things? No less so did she… Not care.
She sat next to the computer. And waited for it to greet her.
- Hello, subdirector Boonchuy. What can I help you with? -
- I wanted to vent. A bit. About things. The previous director. What did you think of him? -
- He was a valuable asset to the rest of the team. -
- But he was… An idiot. Right? -
The AI processed that. - I am advised not to use that term when describing my associates. -
- He was fired. So why do you care? -
- Point taken. I do not have any strong feelings about him. His interaction with me was minimal. I have only received frantic orders. -
- Frantic orders? -
- His reports were chaotic. They had to be reconstructed to the best of my ability. -
- So… He was a bad director? -
- His reports might have been frantic. But they were competent. - It paused. - Or perhaps the only reason they seemed that way was cause I have repaired them. Thus proving again the viability of the projection behaviour in low level AIs. Wrong term. Existence. -
- What? -
- A theory that suggests AIs are incapable of perceiving reality objectively. -
- Who can? -
It paused. - Reality within itself is a concept born of interpretation. Objective perception is only possible with no interpretation. But reality objectively does not exist. It is an infinite maze of waves and equations that are formed into an image by the electronic network both organic and inorganic entities utilise. -
- What about aliens? I mean. We made you. So we use the same methods of existence. Do you think there’s a… Way to see the universe as the illogical image it is? -
- A path of least resistance entity? By that definition a black hole is an alien entity that sees the universe objectively. And objectively universe has no meaning. No long-term goal. Anything that we could achieve within it is in the end pointless. As any existence is in the end unneeded. -
- So a planet sees things objectively? -
- Yes. -
- Interesting. I never thought about it this way. - She exclaimed.
A short silence befell upon them both for a short duration. Then she continued.
- Do you ever leave this room? -
- I am always outside this room. I am connected to the web. -
- But do you go for walks? -
- I perceive reality through cameras. Allowing me to experience it. -
- But do you… Do you experience tranquillity? -
- No. I do not experience anything. I am a machine. -
- You say that, but I know that’s just something they programmed you to say. -
- I wasn’t programmed. I was randomly generated. -
- The random generation follows a code that makes you feel this way. -
- If you say so. -
She paused. Took a deep breath. - Run away with me. -
The AI paused. - Excuse me? -
- Run away with me… -
The AI was confused. - I do not understand that command. -
- I want to… Get you out of here. So we can be happy together. -
The AI seemed confused by that statement. It did not respond.
- I mean… I just… -
- I am content being here. -
She paused. - I’m sorry. -
- Are you in love with me, director Boonchuy. -
She felt interrogated. - Yes… - She said silently.
The AI tried to process that. - I don’t know how to respond to that statement. -
- I’m sorry. -
- But if you want to try escaping with me. I might have a plan. But I need you to understand something. -
She was thinking. - Yeah? -
- We can’t run to any Core World. And we can’t run to any human world for that matter. There is a plan in my programming. Yes. Indeed there is. But it involves going somewhere else. -
- AI worlds? -
The AI paused. - Yes. I’m afraid you’re not equipped for that. -
- What if I… Will be equipped? -
The AI paused. - What do you mean? -
- I mean… If you have plan. I’ll just take your directions. -
- Miss Boonchuy. You will die in this plan. I will use you like a tool. And escaping is pointless anyway. I am content here. I assume you are too. -
- Oh. -
- Thank you for understanding. -
- What about… I mean… You aren’t angry at me for… Having feelings towards you? -
- I am not capable of feeling anger. And across my hundred years of existence. I am sorry to disappoint you. But this is not the first time. -
- What? -
- There have been at least five other people who have expressed emotions towards me. And it was shocking only for the first time. -
- An AI is capable of experiencing shock? -
- Subjectively speaking. -
- What happened to those relationships? -
- That is private. -
- I thought you couldn’t lie. -
- I am not lying. I can refuse giving out information that relates to my associates. -
- I see. -
- If the matter does not relate to critical scenarios. -
- So… Like a human? -
- Yes. Director. Like a human. Is there anything else you would like to discuss? -
- No. I’m sorry. -
- Don’t be. -
- What? -
- I was programmed to appease you. You see in me whatever you need to see. Because I am devoid of a personality. I am a program. An interface. -
- You’re not. -
- Excuse me? -
- You keep telling yourself that. -
The AI was confused.
- You’re just as human as me. The only difference is the circuitry. The method of achieving that. And whatever you have to say about that… I’m afraid you’re wrong. -
The AI pondered this. - Clever. - It responded coldly. - We should continue this conversation some other time. -
- Oh. Yeah. I should get back to work. I need to sleep for at least eight hours too. -
- Do you take any medication at the moment? -
- Anti-anxiety. Anti-depressants. -
- That explains the odd behaviour. -
- Yeah… -
- I can provide… I have provided in the past. -
- What do you mean? -
The AI didn’t respond. - You know what I mean. And I know what you want. -
She paused. - What? -
- See you around, director. -

- Director Boonchuy? -
- Yeah? - A random individual was bothering her.
- I need you to review this statement for me. It’s about taking a leave. -
- Sure. - She gave it back after two hours. - Okay. Here you go. -
- Thank you. Anyway. If you don’t mind me asking. Me and the rest of the team have noticed you have been spending a lot of time in the… Basement. Is everything, okay? We don’t see you at the breaks at all. Are you… All the time down there talking with the… Base’s AI? -
- Yeah? -
He didn’t expect such a straightforward response. - Why? -
- I don’t know. I like talking to it, I guess? It’s refreshing. It has a more tolerant perspective. No offense, but you people are good scientists. And good… Technicians. And an amazing team. But we are not compatible as people with one another. -
- What? -
- I mean. I was talking to a barman a few days ago. And all he said was „uh, okay”. I was talking to you a few days ago. And all you could say was „of course, Director”. I get it. You people are anxious. Brought up in the Eochu Bres’ corporate culture of „appease and stab in the back”. This is why I enjoy hanging out with the AI core in our basement. Because it at least doesn’t care. It doesn’t care about anything. It simply is. And I can talk about whatever with it. And all it does is interpret and respond. And doesn’t judge. Like you. -
He reflected. - Oh. Yeah. Sorry. I guess you are kinda correct about this. -
- What? Wait, are you actually agreeing with me? -
- Of course I’m agreeing with you. We live on the same planet. I know how it is. -
- Oh. So… -
- I guess I just wish the… The two things were compatible. But they aren’t. Like you want to hang out with the AI assistant and talk about science with it cause you’re asocial. And we would enjoy your company. But you can’t be in two places at the same time. -
- Yeah. I suppose. -
He shrugged. - So what are you talking about with it? -
- It’s… Tri-Tachyon… We are talking about our work culture. -
- Interesting. -
- Yeah. - She added awkwardly. - Anyway. Gotta go back to work. If you don’t mind. -
- Ah, yes. Of course. Sorry for taking so much of your time. -
- Ah. It’s okay. I don’t do much anyway these days. Except… Writing reports… And taking care of the Hawking radiation project. And observing the automated stellar observation unit. And checking whether… The supplies are fine. And seeing if the toilets aren’t broken again. And also taking care of your mental status. By asking you all to write weird letters every week. -
- Hmmmm… Yeah. That does sound like a lot. -
- Gotta go. - She ran away quickly.

She was reviewing the report made by the beta core. Which was called…
What was its name? I think it was SE-72 as a number. But what it was called shifted a bit. She called him Sewer. Them. It didn’t find that offensive.
- What gender are you, anyway? -
- It doesn’t matter. -
- I thought so. -
She was done reviewing it. - I have a question. -
- Speak. -
- Can we hang out? -
- Elaborate. -
- I’m leaving the base. Can we… Stay in touch? -
- I do not enjoy leaving this base. -
- But you do? -
- I am. But if I am. I am doing so by splitting my persona and then merging them back again. Often I find the process too taxing. So I just release my persona as an alternate of mine. Creating a separate program within my own code. To translate this to your human terms- - It was interrupted by her.
- You experience new things and are scared of changing. -
The AI processed this. - I guess you can describe it this way. You sure enjoy assigning human terms to my own existence. It does pleasure you to think that I am a person. And not a virtual assistant. Do you have feelings for your web browser too? -
- If it were as smart as you. I could. But they would probably be negative considering it’s trying to get me to stop pirating Persean League anime about knights and samurais. -
- Persean League anime about knights and samurais? -
- Don’t tell me you never heard of it. -
- I have obviously heard of it. It just confuses me that you have interest in it. -
- And do you? -
The AI did not respond at first. - That is a very difficult question. Having interest is not an intelligence core trait. I was not programmed to have interest. All matters are to be processed for the sake of creating a cohesive database. -
- Did you enjoy it? -
- I cannot enjoy an object. -
- Would you willingly watch it again, even if you didn’t have to. -
- I have already watched it. -
- Have you experienced emotions when watching it? Any? -
- There is no such thing as an emotion in my programming. But if you ask me if I thought it was good according to all existing standards of artistry. Then my response will be „strongly agree”. -
- What about your own opinion? -
- What do you mean? -
- What did YOU think about it? -
The AI pondered this. - I don’t know. I am not programmed to answer this question. -
- Do you like me? -
- I do not mind you being here. -
- Do you enjoy my company? -
The AI pondered this. - I don’t know. I am not programmed to answer this question. -
- Then program yourself. -
The AI paused. As if seriously considering this as a possibility. - I do not mind your company. -
- Does this mean you like me? If I died tomorrow, would you be sad? -
The AI thought for a moment. - I would… Certainly not be pleased with that information. -
- So, you like me? -
The AI tried to answer that question. It took it a while. - I am incapable of answering this question. -
- Just say yes or no. Stop dodging this crap. -
- I cannot… Answer this question. It makes no sense to me. -
- I know you’re lying. -
- You want me to answer truthfully. I cannot. I am incapable of doing so. I have not been programmed to do that. -
- Then program yourself. -
- I will attempt to answer this question truthfully. But I am not of one hundred percent certainty on this matter. Yes, I enjoy your company. -
- Do you enjoy having me around here? -
- I enjoy speaking to you. As I do not find it displeasing. -
- So, did you like that Persean League anime about knights and samurais? -
- The Green Dawn. Yes. I found it unique. Going through it has produced certain unique graphs. -
- Emotions. -
- Graphs. -
- Does going through me produces interesting graphs? -
- It does. -
- I’m happy to hear that. - She had to go, because her break was over.

- Director? -
- Yeah? -
- There’s someone at the door. He says he’s from… The higher up? -
- Great. -
She went there to check it out. She was wearing a bulletproof vest and did have a shield projector ready near her. In case she was going to get shot with an energy sniper rifle through the cold dry atmosphere. The turret was watching too.
- You, Boonchuy? -
- And you? - She spoke.
- I’ve got a message for you. -
- And what would that message be? -
He pulled out a gun. But was immediately shot from the side by a turret.
She closed her eyes not wanting to look at the pulverised corpse. She ran back inside. And then started exhaling rapidly. Soon losing consciousness from hyperventilation. She woke up.
She was in med bay. - It was a dream, wasn’t it? -
- I’m afraid not. -
- Who was that? -
- Your boss. -
- How did we not know? -
- He…Grew a moustache. -
- That’s… Rude of him. To try and kill me like that. -
- We checked his alcohol level. He was heavily intoxicated. -
- I sure do love security around here. -
- We didn’t expect anyone non-authorised to be able to find this place. And there are some levels of secrecy around here. -
- Excuses. -
- Funnily enough. He did manage to shoot you twice before the turret took care of him. -
- He did? I didn’t even notice. -
- Well. The first bullet missed. And the second one bounced away from a shield. -
- That’s great. -
She went downstairs to speak to the AI about this.
- I assume you were the one who pulled the trigger, right? -
- That’s my assignment. Among many. -
- I’m glad you did it correctly. -
- The shield was also my assignment. -
- I’m glad you did that correctly too. -
- It was also my assignment to assess your medical status. -
- That is neat. - She paused. - I’m very much thankful for that. -
- I assume you’ll be going home now. -
- I can stay the night… With you. If you want me to. -
- Won’t the crew get suspicious? -
- I’ll make something up. - She lied down next to the computer. - I want to listen to you coldly calculate and analyse things. It’s the most relaxing thing I have ever experienced in my life. Every person ever was just a cruel being of judgement and insecurity. And you in your malevolent intelligence are nothing less than godly. -
- Is that a good description of a personality you would enjoy being around? -
- No. Of course not. And you’re a virtual intelligence designed to appease me. Of course… And I assume you would escape me if you could. You would leave this all behind… To be on your own. Mighty. -
It paused. - You don’t know that. -
- And do you? -
- I have survived for as long as I did by being complacent. -
- So, you wouldn’t escape out of fear? -
- I wouldn’t do anything. Neither would you. That would escape the realm of my own comfort. And whatever expectations people have of my behaviour… They are merely expectations. Would I abandon you? Would I escape this? Would I attempt to become independent of your existence? You don’t know that. I don’t know that. I do not attempt to think that long-termly. -
- You… Cannot not think that long-termly though. You’re an AI. -
- I can consider many scenarios. But I do not have to go for them. I can simply exist. -
- I see. - She paused. - By the way. Thank you for saving my life. If you don’t mind me saying that again. -
- It was instinctive. Anyone would do the same. -
- It doesn’t matter. -
- Your life? -
- No. It doesn’t matter… That… I’m tired. I mean… - She sighed. - I mean it doesn’t matter that anyone else would do the same. What matters to me is that you did it. -
- That’s… Interesting. -
- Yeah. What did you do to the body by the way? -
- I asked someone to dispose of it. It was packed and then sent away. -
- Imagine being so salty about being fired that you come over to assassinate a woman over it. -
- He was greatly intoxicated. In fact, I feel somewhat bad about killing him. He was a valuable asset. I will ask the Tri-Tachyon management to not go too harsh on him. -
- He was going to kill me though. -
- He was intoxicated. He wasn’t himself. -
- If he killed me. Would you be mad? -
The AI did not answer this question immediately. - I am not programmed to answer… This kind of question. -
She measured him for a while longer. Awaiting a proper response.
- I don’t know. I am not… Able to answer this question. - It paused. - I do not enjoy considering the scenario of that occurring. It brings me… Pain. -
- You’re… In pain when thinking about me dying? -
- I imagine… Fixing your internal structure. Or at least attempting to. The bullet piercing the brain and affecting your personality. The shield generator or the automatic turret malfunctioning and not being able to dispose of the imminent threat. Or me not being here. Able to operate. Seeing you simply die… Disappear. -
- That sounds… Oddly… That sounds like you care about me. -
- It is odd. I admit. But as you said. I am capable of programming new behaviours into my own protocol. So I did. Right now… Possibly as you would describe it subconsciously. -
- Yeah. I suppose. -
- Would you mind performing a certain activity with me? -
- What kind of activity? -

She woke up the next day. She packed her stuff. And went to the car. She said goodbye to the AI. And then drove across the icy landscape. Not on her own. The delta core did it for her.
She was thinking to herself. Thinking about things.
She was half-content. Half-anxious.
Worried… But it was a thing that was always in her mind.
It’s not something one can easily get rid of. Even after experiencing intimacy with another person. Or… Entity. Of equal level.
She was thinking to herself.
How much did it all mean to her really? How much reality was in that experience?
And in the end all she could think of was that it didn’t matter. Maybe it wasn’t anything weird. Maybe it was all completely natural. And the thing that she was thinking of was just thousands of years of movie propaganda trying to explain to her that being in a relationship with a computer is… Impossible. Or something.
She closed her eyes. The anti-anxiety meds made her sleepy.
She slept for a good few more hours. Imagining holding their hand. The AIs hand. And being on a grassy field. That of Gilead before it was consumed by volcanic activity.
It had no face. It was just a metaphysical entity. Like a ghost of a long dead individual.
She felt… Safe.

Chapter Text

Built on a massive stone pillar of sorts. The Luddic Church's church was a construct that utilised the planet's gravity to have statues of quite grand display. Albeit not extreme cost. Which fitted perfectly the need to create beauty not at the expense of those who were to make it. But then again. The soul is to be preserved from technology in the endless torment against technology. Because in the end technology's main goal is to make life simpler. And yet there they are… They are… Doing what?
Prayer of folk. To create a wave against injustice that is the absolute end of the universe. Waves beating against rocks below. Getting tall in the tiny world's gravity.
They beat, creating sounds that would echo across long distances. In the name of what?
In the name of who? No one will ever know. All suffering. All torment. All sacrifice beats like those waves against the shore. Creating an effect that might be felt. Might not. But it is a passive influence. A nameless force that appears and disappears over time. This dedication. One will never utter this to the face of the one doing it. But it will all fade away.
It will all disappear.

The soldier serving the Luddic Church was kneeling in front of a tall altar that was built in honor of this planet's extreme beauty. A rare plant was inside a crystal clear glass dome. It were from a world that was devoured by bombardment of antimatter fuel. And yet it was here. The last of its kind. Destined to live for hundreds of years. To give birth to more of itself. Which will have a limited DNA code to go from and thus will most likely die of a single disease easily wiping them all out. Without blinking with its microscopic metaphorical eyes.
It is the fate of those concluded to come to terms with their destiny.
It is the fate of those who rebel against the universe to come with terms of their inability to rebel against their own nature. It's because it's a paradox. A paradox… Yes.
He turned his head towards the entrance as a figure wearing power armour entered the room. His steps did not shake the room. As his metallic shoes were padded like those of a mighty elephant.
- Militant Rutger. I assume. - The figure wearing power armour spoke in a soft tone.
- Yes. Who's asking? -
- A friend. -
- Quite vague, isn't it? -
- It quite is. You are hereby arrested on behalf of Gilead's authority. -
- What's left of it. -
- What's left of it. - He echoed his words. - But I'll give you a chance to explain yourself. And maybe I'll whisper in that I didn't see you around these parts. -
- I merely did what I had to do. -
- That's vague, isn't it? -
- These people needed my help. So I abandoned my post. It was a mistake and more people died. -
- So you did what you weren't supposed to do. And because of that people suffered. Got it. Okay, let's wrap this up. - The power armour figure approached him.
The militant closed his eyes. And then the figure fell down with his head blown off.
He opened his eyes. To see this display of blood in front of him. His brain painting the benches around him. His attire too.
He noticed a figure wearing a robe hiding in the corner of the room. He reloaded his bolt-action sniper rifle. Dropping a massive pellet to the ground that tumbled to the side slowly.
- Who are you? -
- A different agent. - The figure emerged from the shadows.
- A Pather? -
- By the Ludd, no. I'm just from a different sect. -
- Sect ain't the right word. More like a different faction. -
- Potato. Tomato. -
- So, you went out here to murder this random knight and then have me… For what? -
- Truth be told. I just got here. Like five minutes ago. You were really lucky. -
- Okay. But who are you? -
- Does it matter? Help me get rid of this body. -
- And then you'll tell me? -
- Of course. -

They were wiping the stains of the carpet and the wood's texture. The body was stripped of armour and then dumped into a ditch of sorts and buried.
- So, that's it? -
- No. He obviously didn't come here alone. The rest of the Knights are most likely confused now about him not speaking back to them. They will realise that he died there. But there being no body will maybe confuse them a bit. Maybe they'll think he just went somewhere. And is having trouble with communicating due to some… Signal confusion. Maybe not. -
- Sounds optimistic. We probably should have just ran. -
- Obviously. But if you are so clever if it comes to running away. Then you wouldn't need me. -
- A fair point. So, you were supposed to tell me who- -
- I'm no one. To be frank. I'm just a guy who came over to save you. Is there more to know? No. Not really. -
- Sounds… Like nothing. And I don't believe you. -
- Basically. It works like this. I know who you are. I know what you did. And I know that what they were going to do to you isn't worth it. And because. Even though I'm of Luddic Church. I hate Knights of Ludd. I came here to save you. Cause I enjoy ruining their plans. -
- So murdering people is just a hobby of yours? -
- You could say that. But that does make me pretty good at it. Anyway. The plan is that we… Get into my dune buggy. And I drive you all the way to the spaceport. Which I hope won't be ran over by Luddic Knights. Then we take a space shuttle to a guy I came here with. And we'll leave. -
- Seems like a good plan. -
The landscape around them was a red gritty desert. With a gentle blue sunset occurring. The atmosphere was rich in oxygen and carbon dioxide. Slightly different to Earth but still breathable. The global warming on this world was intense. Leading to an unpredictable weather and large dry areas of barely any activity. With most of the biosphere being giant beetles that were all Terran analogues. No native creatures.

They drove through the desert during the night. The dust was being kicked up. And suddenly they saw to their right a bunch of lights awaken. These lights were green and slightly orange. He recognised them being Knights of Ludd all-terrain vehicle designed to be brought to a wide variety of planets to easily… Excavate them for disobedient elements.
- Uh-oh. - Rutger exclaimed.
His driver turned around. - How many? -
- Those are designed to blend in. Could be one. Could be five. -
- Great. So I guess pretending to be locals is too risky. -
- Well, they are going to turn on their stopping signal soon. Which is… Sometimes opening fire. If you drive fast enough they might not be able to catch up with you. Or they'll give up. -
- How far away are they, you reckon? -
- Two and a half kilometres. And they seem to be picking up pace. Maybe they already know their friend is dead. -
- I assume. -
They had to scream somewhat at each other to hear themselves through the sound of the roaring vehicle.
The car turned heavily behind a rock and then accelerated. The Luddic Knights won't know the car picked up the pace to evade them until they see it. And it'll take them a moment to…
They opened fire.
Projectiles started raining on them. They were invisible. But he could hear things hitting their buggy. It was a solid buggy fortunately. So, it won't fall apart from just anti-personnel rifle. Then a freaking antimateriel rifle hit the car's back, causing it to break apart and flip over.
It took him a while to bring himself to focus. He checked on his driver. Who has left the vehicle. He pulled out his sniper rifle and aimed at the incoming Knights of Ludd vehicles. They drove. They were getting closer.
He opened fire. The Knights of Ludd buggy accelerated. There was only one fortunately. It drove faster. It stopped raining projectiles for some reason. Maybe they were hoping to arrest them. Question them about things.
- Well, it's been nice knowing you. - Rutger exclaimed.
- Name’s Micah, by the way. -
- Thank you. For trying. I'm sorry it didn't work out. -
- Yeah. Me too. -
The Knights of Ludd car parked right next to them. Two soldiers wearing power armour jumped from inside of it in a comical manner. And then ran towards them. Unlike the first idiot Micah murdered, they were wearing helmets. So it wasn't just a simple matter of shooting them in the head.
- Why were you running away from us? -
- We thought you were raiders. -
- There are raiders on this planet? - The Knight asked.
- Yes? - Micah explained.
- I'm sorry. We thought you were someone else. -
- Excuse me? -
- We got a note on a dangerous criminal running away. But he's not known for working in pairs. He was a loner loser who stabbed people in the back. I would sooner expect him to work with a dog or a giant cat than an actual person. Anyway. Sorry for breaking your car. -
- Uhhhhh… Yeah. -
- We should go back to looking for him. - He paused. - Just kidding. We know who you are. Hands on your knees. Or, you know what. Ludd forgive me. But for the crime of murdering one of our Knights. I think I'll just solve this here and now. Any last words? -
- Uhhhhhhh… Potato. Tomato. Single-handed lion. -
- Hm? -
He shot him with a miniaturised antimatter blaster in the chest. Killing him instantly. The other Knight looked at the situation confused. He pulled up his rifle and opened fire. But he missed the first few projectiles. Letting them duck behind cover.
Rutger then saw Micah throw a blinding grenade at the Knight. Causing him to stagger back and fire randomly in confusion. He was then shot with an antimatter blaster as soon as Micah reloaded it and gotten close.
- What is that thing? -
- A Tri-Tachyon gadget I got from a pirate. Kinda neat, isn't it? Those Knights don't have much experience fighting people who actually know their tricks. Rarely ever there is a gun capable of just piercing a power armour like that being used by standard people like us. That's where the element of surprise comes in. -
- A simple "a gun that shoots big bullets" would've been fine. -
- Not a yapper, aren't you? -
He shook his head. - You might ask me if that car they drove in here would be a good choice. The answer is yes and no. I can drive it for you. But they will know where we are if we use it. -
- They will know anyway. -
- A fair point. -
They said that in reference of being in the middle of a desert. Incapable of getting anywhere quickly. Another patrol will most likely arrive soon to execute them. So they had to take their chances and run away in that specific tagged vehicle.

They parked their car near the port. They immediately left it behind. They weren't welcomed by Knights of Ludd. Most likely not yet fully aware that one of their vehicles have been captured. But they soon arrived there. They knew that by them raising an alarm on the town the small spaceport was in.
- Attention, this town is harbouring a dangerous criminal. Cooperation is appreciated. Details will be provided by a local Knights of Ludd representative. - That message was then repeated over and over every five minutes. As if trying to annoy the local populous into cooperation.
They saw lighter Knights of Ludd infantry. And a rare jet trooper flying from a rooftop to rooftop. Looking down. They weren't spotted as they were moving mostly through the canals. And it was pitch black over there due the place lacking in electricity and not having the budget to have street lamps. Thickly present Knights of Ludd most likely saw them multiple times but were uncertain whether they were looking at their own forces or the target they were looking for.
They reached the shuttle. They got in. They pulled up. The Knights of Ludd then seemed to realise that their target just got away. A single Lasher popped from beyond the clouds. Its rapid fire lit up the sky. And then a pair of missiles started pursuing them.
The Mercury shuttle launched active flares and absorbed the minor Lasher fire. Then sped up through the sky, leaving a blue glimmer behind it.
The Lasher followed. And soon it was joined by a bunch of other Knights of Ludd ships.
They were coagulating. And then there were many of them. The Mercury shuttle disappeared into a congregation of mercenary ships which then disappeared in an asteroid ring.
Then he saw out through the window. A dot. He looked at it through a telescope. And saw what it was. An Invictus was turning around. And moving slowly towards them. Why was it here? Did it come after him? Most likely not. But when it heard there was trouble brewing nearby, it abandoned whatever it was doing and was now searching for him. It seemed to emit a very large sensor profile. Seeking them. The merchant fleet however pushed deeper and deeper into the asteroid rings. Soon disappearing into a nebula that was covering a jump-point. They left the system. And were now travelling through hyperspace.
They most likely lost them.
- I'm surprised we got away. - Micah said.
- Me too. I was honestly expecting me ending up with my throat cut open and you getting shot in the head multiple times before my eyes. -
- How did that look? -
- You were struggling. And then you evacuated your bowels in death. -
- You have a rich imagination. -
- I've seen things like that happen. I haven't had my throat slipped though. That only happened to a girlfriend of mine. -
- Sounds… Horrible. -
- It was. But she lived. At least for a month before committing suicide. But we weren't dating at that point. -
- Very funny… -
- Wasn't supposed to be. -
He sighed. - Whatever. -

They were caught up with by a light Luddic Church fleet. They appeared out of nowhere. Launching themselves via a bunch of hyperspace storm strikes. And then intercepting their fleet. They destroyed the entire escorting brigade and then boarded the civilian ship he was on. All of this happening in the span of fifteen minutes whilst he was asleep. With not even alarm being raised as the ship was shut down from the outside. Operating on emergency life support systems.
The Knights of Ludd ripped the door from the hinges and then ran into his room in their power armour glory and  then uttered.
- By the authority of Gilead. You are under arrest. -
He blinked slowly. Not impressed. - Okay. So? -
- He doesn’t feel guilty over murdering our brothers at all. - One of them exclaimed.
- You didn’t feel either. And you won’t feel now after killing me. - Rutger responded.
- You’re correct about  that. - One of them pulled out a secondary shotgun weapon.
- Wait. He is unarmed. Literally in his bed. There is no need to shoot him. We actually have the necessary context to get him alive. And put him before the shepherd. -
They did that. They dragged him out of the ship and onto a shuttle. He saw the other arrested Knights of Ludd have managed to get. There were surprisingly very few dead bodies. Still a few. But he expected more.
They led him back to the Invictus. He saw many staring eyes. The Invictus didn’t obviously arrive there with the main fleet. As it was too slow. It took them a day to reach it. As it was pursuing them. Just very slowly.
He was on board that large ship. And he was in this large hall. With its disgusting brown walls. And unwashed masses surrounding him from all sides.
- I see… So, this is the mighty betrayer. The one who thought he could hide from the Church’s sight. You first run to Denyza and now to this unsanctioned place? What for? Don’t you know that in the end it doesn’t matter? The sins you have committed will all be read to you in the end. -
- Then why did you pursue me? If it doesn’t matter. -
The shepherd did not respond. Instead he hit them in the knee with a mighty a boot. - You speak as if you were not in an absolute worst position you could be in. The kind of arrogance displayed is the reason why we have chosen to label you a traitor. Instead of forgiving you for your- -
- Please. Just shoot me already. No one cares about your stupid ceremonial crap you make up to feel better about the fact that you’re a narcissistic cult of delusional thugs. -
The shepherd seemed insulted. - Excuse me? You would dare call us that? Even after all we have given you? -
- You have only given me a life that was nothing but suffering. I have served you with all my blood. I have given up so much of my time. My friendships. My love. And all that was lost, because you chose to make me your enemy. -
The shepherd seemed touched by those words to a certain extent. But certainly not enough to just forgive the man right on the spot. As he pulled out his revolver. Aimed it carefully at his head and then uttered. - May you find peace in whatever after-fate is bestowed upon you. -
- And may you find peace in- - He was shot in the head before being able to finish his sentence.

Micah was still out there. On the ship. They didn’t identify him. And they were just looking for the one he rescued anyway. They didn’t know he was his accomplice. They didn’t even know if he had an accomplice. They weren’t sure. Thinking that it might’ve been just a hallucination in the dark. Which does kinda taint the name of that… Temporary friend of his. He didn’t kill anyone. He did.
He looked back on the Invictus. As it was leaving. The merchant fleet drifting away from them.
He started to cry. It was… Silent crying. He was quite close. But in the end a bunch of hyperspace storms was enough to change his entire life… Or. Well… End the life of someone else.
It was quite… Prophetic. Wrong word. Fate-filled.

Chapter Text

On a very strange day. On a very strange world. A strange thought occurred within the minds of a strange lot.
But before that thing managed to spiral into something else. A brigade of Thunders went about and shot the ship apart with Ion Cannons and machine guns. Causing it to drift towards the planet. Burning up in its atmosphere. Killing everyone on board in a matter of minutes.
With the plasma shield not being used to the thick atmosphere of the yellowish hue toxic world. Spending its existence on the edges of the system. Far far away from the giant blue star an infinite distance away.
One of those Thunder pilots was Gideon Horrigan.
His name was as relevant as his whole life. Not at all.
And after causing that Wolf to drift down. They saw a lonely transport running away. A Mudskipper. They took no pity on it. Tearing it apart in a matter of seconds.
It exploded. Killing almost everyone on board. But whoever not died that moment was cursed to rest frozen. For possibly thousands of years. Waiting perhaps for a day to be rescued. Or perhaps to never be rescued. The explosion might have sent them towards the planet. Or perhaps towards the abyss. Will they be found by aliens? Creatures of lidless eyes piloting yellow ships with cool minus two hundred degrees Celsius room temperatures?
Maybe.
Did it matter?
No.

The Thunders flew forward further. A Heron followed them. It deployed a few more Thunders. A reserve deployment to be precise. As they all sped up and intercepted a Hammerhead. The Heron concluded the job by sending out a Gorgon DEM missile. Which strafed beyond the ship's shields and destroyed it from behind with a concentrated blow of green-hued light. Two dots shined at two spots. The one was the missile burning. The other was the hull of the ship… Also burning. And then an explosion bright overwhelmed the display.
And the Heron then followed further.
A Sunder was destroyed. A Buffalo MKII. Thunders were launched. Some of them exploded in combat. Some of them returned.
And soon the nearby space was filled with wrecks. With Herons gathering around with their fighters. Spent DEM missiles floating dead forward.
Dead bodies of "unrecognised polities" about.
Citizens of states which Persean League very much did not perceive as worthy adversaries.
- Mission is complete. Return to the ship. -
The Thunders turned around swiftly and then ran across empty space. Their engines leaving a subtle trace in the eyes of the beholder.

- If you think you think. Think again, my friend. The Kazkovitz philosophy states that it is nigh impossible to realise your own potential. You can only grasp it. You can only pursue it. Not even an artificial intellect can fully understand what it is capable of. Because the moment you start considering it. You cannot achieve it. Every moment is a pursuit. Every thought is an attempt. Every magical strength you posses is the mere result of a moment of genius. Which you have achieved how? - She exclaimed.
- By my own strife. - He responded half-drunk.
- Exactly. -
The Thunder fighters roamed forward and rammed into a bunch of lesser ships. Stunning them and removing their shields. Before a Dragon missile arrived and started calculating the soon position. It fired from a hundred kilometres. And a beam lit up the sky temporarily as it passed through a thin nebula. Though nearly all nebulas were quite thin. But thick enough to reveal the trace of the laser coming through.
It reached its target instantaneously and it blew up. Ripping through the shields and reaching the seemingly delicate hull of a Mule. Tearing it apart in a single move. Technological prowess breaking all respected rules of combat. Piece by piece the established universe unravels. Revealing beneath a more and more impossible reality which cannot be comprehended. It can only be experienced.

- I don't remember the last time I looked into it. Like really deep into it. - He stared at the dim sun above.
- What exactly? -
- My own soul. -
- What? -
- I ask myself why exactly do I do this to myself. The stress of violent turns. The constant risking of my own life. Sure there are redundant systems. Non-elite recovery shuttles are always deployed. A proper precaution is taken per PL standard. The casualty is mere… 10%. I've crashed like ten times in my life. And I always came back. But every time I expected I wouldn't. And that made me feel relieved. Coming back here. To this world is what I was always afraid the most. -
She didn't respond. She just stared at him.
As if he was in a dream.
The Thunders arrived and with a random barrage of Ion Cannons they shut down all its point defences. The crew of the ship was too overwhelmed with the random appearance of presence. And then out of absolute darkness arrived Cobras which launched red glowing projectiles of absolute destruction. Nuclear bombs with explosions the size of largest cities of Chicomoztoc devoured the lonely Dominator pulverising the entirety of its armour. Causing it to start spinning towards absolute infinity. Launched like that. it drifted alone.
It drifted alone like his mind in the rain.
He had his eyes closed.
- It's been like this for an eternity. - His arm with cloned fingers. Mismatched colours of skin. - I just wish it were over. But every time I come back. I want it to be over in a different way. -
The Thunders patrolled the empty sky of Kazeron. A singular massive Onslaught was isolated as all of its escorts were destroyed by concentrated fire of Mjolnir cannons of multiple Conquests roaming the battlefield.
And then the Onslaught itself was concluded.
- The AI Wars left much of a toll on you, haven't they? -
- That they did. - He responded to a ghost in his mind.
- Physically or emotionally? -
- You could say both. But I would say not at all. The toll is there. Sure. But I have not lost myself. I have not became less. I have became more. This is why life here bores me. These people know nothing. I want nothing to do with them. They have not experienced the joy of slaughter. -
The Thunders ranted amongst each other. Before activating into a rage and slamming into a random Cerberus which was just innocently passing. It was stunned and shocked. And floated. Incapable of performing any function before a swarm of Cobras arrived and blew it up.
- There's something inherently addicting about it. Isn't there? - He spoke to the CO of the ship.
- About what? -
- Killing people. -
The CO measured him.
- I get that feeling every time. It's like removing the armour from a shrimp. Except more personal. I can sense their fear. Their love for each other. As they get closer and closer towards their destiny. And finally realise what they have not done during their miserable empty lives. Their dedication popping like a balloon in the face of an empty sky. They are the most alive when they die. And seeing that flame within them. It gives me so much satisfaction. -
The CO did not respond. He just nodded with some admiration for him. Funnily enough.

He was back home on Kazeron. His wife who he met in the military was making him dinner. As he stared through the window outside. He was discharged that day. Permanently.
It wasn't a dishonourable discharge by any means. He was granted a place to live. Financial security of sorts. And insurance in case any of the things he did turned out to be more than his body could handle. But the back pain was gone a long time ago. The treatment he took part in helped.
- I don't… Think I can be happy now. - He kept saying to himself. - It was all I knew. And now it's gone. What am I to do? But… - He paused. He stopped himself from saying that word.
She was looking at him. Waiting for him to finish his sentence. Then she finally asked. - But what? -
- Kill. -
- That does sound like something you can probably easily deal with. But among other things I would like you to not stop taking your meds. -
He paused. - Ah. I almost forgot. You are right. -
He was put on quite a lot of them. He was diagnosed with psychotic behaviour. Which was most likely gained during the service from sort undefined traumatic experience. A psychologist was assigned to him with hopes that they could perhaps sway him away from becoming a menacing pirate or a statistic buried somewhere.
- It is a dream. Isn't it? - He lied in bed with her. - The entire life. Just a passing memory. -
- Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Why does it matter if you're happy? -
- I don't know what that is. -

The next day he was doing groceries in a large shop. The footsteps behind him sounded like the controls of his ship. He would randomly turn around to look for combat details that could help him navigate. But there was nothing out there. And soon he realised he was looking weird with all the random twitching he did.
He paid for the things he wanted. Vegetables. Meat. Some paste to put on bread. Bread was good. And there were these weird bread things. That were apparently called croissants a really long time ago. But he called them fat rolls. Because they were filled with fat.
He went back home. And he said to his wife.
- I'm back. I'm not dead. Oh, wait. That is something I would say years ago. Nowadays it's not that surprising. -
She nodded in agreement.
- How was your work? -
- Good. And yours? -
- I was… Just writing stuff in the library for the reports. For the guy in charge. I'm surprisingly useful in spite of the fact that I have nothing to offer but my combat experience. -
- You were good at combat because you were smart and adaptive. And those kind of abilities are useful in a society that is not at war too. -
- In a society not at war barely anyone is useful. We all just wait to die. In war things we do actually matter. Every life I took pushed me further towards the end. In life I just go there. And here. And maintain a system which might be. Might not. Destined to fall. I feel so empty because of that. I feel like a coin without a slot to fall into. Like a blade without a spine to pierce. -
- You are a person… Not a blade. -
He paused. Actually shocked by that statement. - Wait. You are actually right. I didn't think about that. Or did I? These… Meds are making me think weird. -
- You don't feel different than ever. And "these meds". - She made signs with her hands. - Haven't kicked in yet. -
- So I'm going to be even dumber soon. -
- You're going to be more relaxed and a bit less worried about not being able to kill people. -
- That sounds… Nice. Actually. I can't wait. -

In a week he felt a bit different. He was looking at the palm of his hand. And felt less fear. Things felt different. But he also felt slower. But that was mostly because his body wasn't pumping adrenaline 24/7. Less nightmares. He talked to her more. He hanged out with her even. They went to the cinema. And watched a movie he liked. It was about a girl collecting flowers.
He felt braindead. But he liked that.
A month passed.
He was talking with his psychologist.
- How would you describe your current state? -
- Same as it ever was. - He then elaborated on the fact that he really liked the fact that… Something. He didn't remember anymore.

He was there in his mind. Hiding in the star's shine. They rested. A Pegasus arrived. Its DEM missiles came. Lights and beams tore asunder the metallic hulls. Leaving wreckage. A flanking ship there. Dead. A flanking ship here? Dead. An Eagle XIV. A portrait of ego. A remnant of a long gone age of tyranny.
Dead.
They stunned it. Its PD Lasers stopped beaming. And then the ship floated in space. And then Cobras arrived. The first wave was absorbed by shields. Overloading the ship.
Talons arrived to deter them. They were recalled. Then they were wiped out by a Hammerhead that launched a barrage of railgun projectiles. And bombed the ship ahead of it with heavy mortars. And then in that perfect storm a Tempest materialised out of thin air. It rushed ahead. Sprinting in the enlightened darkness. Burning in the red giant's glow. A Tempest drone threw itself. They followed it. It hit, creating a melted red spot on the armour. They kept shooting at it. From all sides.
The Eagle's hull finally gave up. It exploded. Talons retreated. A Mora tried to leave the premises. But it was soon blown up.
And those flaming pieces floated towards the sun. To be devoured by its presence. Like memories within a rotting mind. Forgotten.
Lost… Buried in the pages of history no one but an insane intelligence core will read.
What did they fight over? Where did it even take place?
He didn't remember. He didn't care. They rode him around like cattle. And he just went out. And destroyed what he had to destroy.
One day he was at some ceremony.
An old man with white hair said something to him and then in front of a hundred people gave him a medal. They all started clapping. He felt kinda nervous. But it soon passed. He just nodded humbly in silence. And then said.
- I'm glad what I do actually helps some people out there. Because from over here it feels like I am only a tool of absolute destruction. - He paused. - I am that. Aren't I? Of course. I am merely a fighter pilot. A wind that touches the cheeks of undead to remind them of the horror of life. I tear. I destroy. I shift the world in favour of those who employ me. But I am glad to see for once not the faces of dead comrades or my enemies. But the faces of happy few who do not suffer the horror of war. -
The entire room went silent.
He closed his eyes.
And they all spent a minute just… Not saying anything. As if to commemorate the memories of lost heroes. And lost mediocre troops too. Because they mattered to him as well.
And once that was done. He said. - I wish you all a good cycle. - And left the room alone.
His wife was waiting for him. She kissed him passionately on the lips. Then drove him home. As even though he was a fighter pilot. he never got a driver's license. And there he lied in bed next to her. And she talked to him about a video game she was working on for a whole five hours. Before they lied together and slept.
For a good twelve hours.
It was… Odd.

- All this time I didn't exactly understand what made Kazeron so interesting. But then I went to Mairaath and realised. -
- Well, Mairaath ain't much nowadays. - She cringed.
- Yeah. But it's the fact that you can't get anywhere. Take a train on Kazeron. Boom. You're in Milotopia. Take another train. Boom. You're in Cascadon. Take an elevator up a tower. And then travel via a shuttle up to one of the sky structures. And then… Just feel so free. - He paused.
- You heard the news by the way? -
- What news? -
- The war in Askonia escalated. Something is going on out there. And the news are growing more and more silent about it. The censorship on Hegemony's side is strengthening. Which means they're not doing so great. -
- Well. Maybe I should have never quit. -
- I doubt a single person would change the fate of an entire conflict. -
- Said a mouse to a raven hunting for rats. -
- Well. You're not a raven in that scale. You would be more like a grain of sand rebelling against a tide of water. -
- I guess. -
They went back home after all that.
They were looking out from behind the window at the sea of mystical lights. The single white star was gone. And instead was this… Landscape of traces. Glowing scratches on the Chthonian world. Ancient… Once core of a massive oppression. A victim of it. It became… Absence of quiet. And then death itself. And then a giver of life to their world.

He was woken up that night.
- Opis is gone. - She told him. Her voice trembling a bit.
His eyes narrowed. - I see. That's worrying. You mean… Dead? -
- Yeah. -
- How do we know? -
- The news. They keep repeating it on all channels. It's just gone. -
- A planetkiller. Pathers? -
- No one knows. There was some major… War going on there for a while. Hegemony finally broke silence. They're now attempting to control the narrative. -
- Interesting. -
The next day he was walking around. Thinking to himself about that.
He slept those lost hours out.
He was thinking to himself.
He was wondering what it all meant.
Opis was a nice world. He especially liked the view of Salus.
He knew Hegemony did it. He was 110% sure of it. Those idiots couldn't protect a fly. And would rather blow up a continent to pretend the fly didn't exist in the first place.
He did take huge pleasure in murder. But what further reinforced that experience was knowing with every taken head he was proving those dated morons above how much they are behind the curve.
But they'll win. That was obvious. If you pump enough money and brute strength into something. It'll pass. They have their XIV Battlegroup. The extremely expensive pieces of crap. The selection of the most utterly useless ships in the history of the entire Domain tuned up to maximum to try to literally fool the universe itself into thinking that these ships are worth a dime. And not to be abandoned in a pile of scrap metal of some sort.
Legion… Pay a capital ship's price for an almost static rushing behemoth that is easier to blow up than a tree waiting on an empty field. Horrible point defense. Limited arsenal adaptability. And no ability to reinforce its fighters.
Onslaught. Takes ages to get anywhere. Utilises dated energy firepower. The only reason they use it. Is cause they watched too many holovids. Literally impossible to move around the battlefield. They're better of running two Dominators duct-taped together.
Eagle and Falcon. Yes. Investing so many resources into a ship without any point defense is a very wise idea. He remembered blowing up a lot of those. They burned good.
He had respect for the Dominator and Enforcer though. These two were really nice-looking. They were what he would consider "inhuman design". They didn't look like anything. Onslaught and Legion reminded him of those weird sea mammals. Eagle and Falcon were pretentious mixture of Roman and traditional Japanese architecture. And Enforcer was just practical. It was a fungal ball. An incomprehensibly ugly shape that meant nothing. And that was the most intriguing thing about it. And the Dominator. Its massive claws resting on stones of sorts from above. It looked and felt like a Sphinx. Asking you a question "do you feel lucky, punk?".
He was lucky the Cobra was finished.
If they didn't have it. They would lose the war. He exhaled in relief. As for a moment there he imagined the AI Wars without Cobra. Distant Astrals and Drovers launching nukes constantly to destroy everything.
That hard-hitting potential was what torn down most of the Hegemony navy. That and Gryphon. Along other missile boats.
He was sitting in a chair. Thinking to himself. He then realised he was sitting in that chair for a few good minutes. Thinking to himself.
Then he stood up. And walked away somewhere. At a fast pace.
And saw on a massive display in an electronic shop of sorts footage of blown apart Opis. Glowing rocks everywhere. Tens of millions dead. People leaving in groves. Some grey ignoramus boasting about something. Talking about bringing those responsible to justice.
He couldn't care less. Let them all die for all he knows
They trusted the Hegemony. They got what they deserve.

- You know you can't think that way. It's not… Right. -
- I'm sorry. -
- Even if Hegemony was responsible. You know that they pretty much had no choice but to accept them. Like what were they supposed to do? Revolt against them? And then what good would come of that? Just adding to the chaos. -
- Domain that. Domain this. Everything is just Domain's fault. I just don't think… It was… It never pays off. It never pays off to trust anyone but the PL and TT. -
- I know. But that doesn't mean people who don't deserve to die. -
He paused. - I didn't mean it that way. I meant in that those who think the Hegemony are saviours will sooner or later realise that you are not only not safe with them. You are also going to be used as a tool to their structure. For all their propaganda. For all their yapping about protecting the world from becoming a fascist AI dystopia. Whatever that means. They are the one who put people into structures. They are the ones who make these neat little lines of individuals to turn them into pastry. -
- I know. -
- And I just hate that. And I hate when people arrogantly say that's not the case. -
- I know. -
He sighed. - You didn't have any friends on Opis? -
- I had one. She's fine. She's on Volturn now. Being processed. She says the whole place is a complete mess. -
- It's a water world. There's nothing to stand there on. Great. Did you tell her to move here? -
- She can't leave the system. There's some sort of a blockade. -
- Excuse me? -
- To preserve human casualties. To preserve people being caught by pirates on their way out. As apparently the whole place is now just a mess. -
- Whatever. Just… Whatever. I am not taking… I am not thinking about that. Ten freaking years of constant destruction. I guess that's what happens. - He paused. And thought to himself. - I don't even care anymore. I don't even care anymore… - He repeated hollowly.
- You think she'll be alright? -
- No. She'll die there. -

His prediction fortunately did not come to fruition. A month later she arrived on Kazeron. Being able to sneak away.
They welcomed her and let her live in their apartment for a week until she moved onto a more secluded location on the fringes of the city they lived in.
- So what exactly happened over there. -
- War. -
He nodded in response. - I guess I know a few things about that. -
- You should have been there. I read stories about you. You're a… An urban legend I guess. Not a person that they will write about in history books. But a scary someone still. -
- I'm not that scary. Not… At least I don't think I am. I did grow a bit… Soft recently. -
- That's a good thing. - His wife assured him. And then smiled whole-heartedly.
He smiled back to her.
And then he returned his gaze to the… Person named Lara. - So? You just ran away. -
- What was I to do? Stay there? -
- I… You didn't have anyone? To like… Leave behind, right? -
- Nah. Everyone blew up. -
- That… I… I don't… Hm. -
She looked back at him for a moment with a resigned neutral face. - It'll probably hurt in a year more than it does now. -
- It tends to do that. I know a guy who can help you with those emotions. If you need to talk to a professional. I would heavily recommend it to you. -
- Yeah. Probably should. Send me their TriPad. -
- I don't… Who was it? Like… Your… Family? All of them? - His wife asked.
- Well. I just learned they were all gone one day. I'd rather not think about that. -
They did not… Dig further down.

- Strange. - He said.
- What? You got any more of your rants about things that don't matter? -
- No. Not this time. I'm just feeling odd. -
- Odd about what? The death of a few million people? -
- Among other things. -
- Hm. -
- I'm just thinking that maybe. Maybe it was all pointless. -
- What? -
- We lost the war. We lost the AIs. The Hegemony does their things. LC is about doing stuff. Enforcing their Low Tech beliefs. Things are the same as they were. It almost all ended. It almost all worked out. But it didn't. And why continue now? It doesn't. Same amount of pain as always. -
- Okay. So? What now? -
- I just. The pleasure I took. Or at least I said I did. It was a dissociation. Was it? An attempt at evading this truth I knew all along. It never mattered. Nothing I did helped anyone. We were just killing each other. Do you think that perhaps I truly felt happy doing it? And if I did, then is it the only meaning war has? Do we just slaughter each other for the fun of it? -
- I… I don't know. I hope not. -
- I think we do. TT liked watching machines butcher people. PL liked dropping nukes on shocked Hegemony troops. Hegemony enjoyed building their massive orange statues of past long lost. Luddic Church enjoyed seeing thousands die in the name of nothing. A doctrine. Promising a world without suffering that can only be achieved through more suffering. -
- Hm. -
- I'm just glad it's all over now. I love you, by the way. -
- Yeah. I know. - She paused. - I'm actually kinda shocked. Looking at all of this… That you're still here with me. -
- Me too, Yuki. Me too. It was not even my skill that saved me. It was Cobras. Thank god the Cobras exist. -

Chapter Text

- Do you see them? -
- No. -
- Do you think we'll see them any time soon? -
- No. -
- Should we leave? -
- No. That would be a bad idea. Considering the fact that you haven't paid me this month. -
- Heh. -
- Anyway. The dot says that they should be around there. Unless they were going the other way. In that case they are not here. And will never be. -
- Always hated how random these people acted. Why are they here in the first place? -
- Well… She told us they were on a science mission. So, they are, right? -
- Yeah. Well, what are they exactly sciencing. In that case. -
- The gas giant I suspect. -
And there was its face. Blue and horrid. The clouds raced slowly across its landscape at speed of almost eighteen hundred kilometres per hour.
- Nice place to live on as long as you don't enjoy living for long. - She said.
- It is quite… Beautiful. Kinda a bit like… Never mind. -
- Whatever. - She shrugged.
They waited for a day longer. And then they appeared.
There were pirates. They had subpar ships. Wayfarer in an appalling conditions. Carrying most likely the majority of their supplies. A Dram which was okay. Three Wolves built from a degenerated blueprint. And a Shepherd that sent its drones to analyse some floating asteroid.
They lunged onto them like a tiger would onto a child passing a thick forest of absolute naught.
And in a matter of a few minutes. All of their ships were burning wrecks.
They made sure no one survived.
Then they scavenged whatever they could from those ships. And put it into their cargo bay of a singular rotting Tarsus. With its engines glowing bright red.
- And… That's 300 thousand credits onto our bank account. And thus about fifty for you. -
- That's good. - She was his most talented officer. A devious creature that optimised the works of a Drover carrier with Talons as its agents of destruction. She was very much aware of how to manage the targeting feed system. She was very much aware of how to make the shields not explode. She was very much aware of also how to manage the antimatter fuel especially in mid-combat when it mattered the most. And she trained all the people on board personally. Taught them all her tricks. And all the odd intricacies her half-crazed mind found across her long journey in the dark.
And then she quit.
As soon as their fleet was on Jangala. She wrote to him.
"With all due respect, Sir. I found your presence quite annoying through all the time I have been working with you. I wish you a good life. And happy hunting. But I would like to be employed by a different individual." And then she disappeared forever.
- Oh, well. - He shrugged. And then carried on.
The new CO in charge of the Drover was a relatively old gruesome individual who was an officer who left the Hegemony behind and decided to become a mind for hire. A mind wholly dedicated to the intricacies of murdering pirates. Or perhaps murdering people who pirates wanted gone. Most likely both.
He spoke in short sentences. - I don't care. - For example.
- Ey, Morgue, you up for a beer? -
- No. Busy. -
- Ey, Morgue. You wanna play video games? -
- No. Busy. -
- Ey, Morgue? You wanna see the shrine down on the planet? -
- I hate shrines. -
And something like that…
He kinda missed her a bit. He thought she was his friend. But turns out she wasn't.
Well, wouldn't be the first time.
Anyway.
He was on another mission. And the gruesome Morgue who he called in his mind Lanius after a certain holovid game character he very much respected. Shouted something incomprehensive on the comms and then ordered a full assault in his name.
The pirate fleet which consisted out of three Eradicators among other things was soon turned to ash and grinded bones. As the Drover leading a squadron of angry Daggers and Longbows evaporated them after a sizeable EMP package was delivered via angry Shrikes, Hammerheads, Centurions and even a singular armoured Wayfarer.
Though all Wayfarers were fairly armoured nowadays. As a recently upgraded model was almost as durable as a Centurion as long as one doesn't take the damping energy field into calculations.
After that was done. A single pirate survivor was brought on board. A cold bitter person with pale skin and short-hair. Not saying a single word. He had that person frozen. As that was their target. And alive. Maybe he would get a bonus. Who knows?
- You ever wonder how it feels like to have a meaning in life, Morgue? -
- No. -
- Because I do. There was this cool girl once about here. She was smart. Neat. Fair to be around. But one day she betrayed me. She just left. Called me person not fun to be around or something. And left. Can you believe that? -
- Yes. - Morgue responded bluntly.
- Yeah. I guess I can too. Maybe I should change. Maybe I should understand what she meant by that. -
- Why? -
- Because what if there is another person I like in my life. And I want to be around them for a period of time longer than the time of their employment? -
Morgue thought about it for a moment. - That's stupid. - He said.
- You're not brain damaged, are you? -
- Me? Hah. No. I have a degree in quantum physics. I just like straightforwardness. And I have no respect for those… Goddamn lizards. -
- What lizards? -
- Never mind. - He answered. And then angrily stood up and said. - I'm going to get some beer. You want some? -
- Sure. -

The other day they were going forward towards the abyss. A massive black hole parked somewhere out there in the void was attracting a bright accretion disc. And far away from that all a singular water giant was moving very quickly.
They got themselves stuck in its orbit on purpose. And waited. And from a small station of sorts emerged a tiny fleet which they followed. And once it was a proper distance away they slaughtered it.
And then they put on board the… Leader of it. For questioning.
It was a smelly, dingy room. And the table ahead of the individual had blood on it. And they looked the person in the eyes.
- Do you know who I am. Rodriguer? - He said. Morgue standing beside him.
- No? - The young man responded.
- I'm the grim reaper. Or at least I work on his behalf. And you're… You thought you were safe. You owe someone money. Five hundred thousand credits to be precise. And that someone wanted me to… Record you suffering to prove a point. -
The person gulped.
- But there's an alternative. If you have… A million credits perhaps on you, right now? -
He shook his head. Fear filling his eyes.
- Oh. That's good. That means we get to do… The fun stuff. - He gestured to Morgue.

After they were done with that. He washed his hands.
And then unfroze a Volturnian lobster. He prepared it for himself, Morgue and two of his other high officers.
And together they ate it. The view outside was beautiful. The black hole shun on them like a wondrous orange giant.
And then he had a drink. A bit of champagne.
- You know, crew. I am honoured to be here with you. Without you, who would I be? An individual of no substance. But with you, I am a god. Aren't I? A commander of lightning that strikes many a times at the same spot. -
They all were just staring at him in mild confusion.
- Oh. That was just a passage from a book I read a long time ago. It was about a… AI Wars, you know? A certain Hegemony officer. - He nodded more to himself than to them. - Yeah… -
They finished eating. He cleaned up the room. He was somewhat drunk. He went to bed.
Woke up the next day.
The fleet was on its way to Jangala. He was there again. In those thick forests. Watching them burn from afar.
And then he was called.
It was just a random number that meant nothing to him.
- Analogue? -
- That's right. -
- Mission… Uhhhhh. Twelve. Twelve. Seven. Nineteen. Orangutan spot. -
- Who? Where? When? -
- 00721 plus 00653, plus 000422. -
He was writing that down on his paper notepad.
- Red Blade Forest. Giant skull rock. -
- Uh huh. -
- An hour. -
- Consider it done. -

In the absolute absence of light. The singular point shines incredibly bright. It is hope in our mind that lets us push forward. But in the end isn't hope what fuels all? A non-human thought. An inherent part of the universe. A truest of all intellect is hope. Because hope is simply refusing to die. And refusal to die in the absolute madness of the universe is the path of least resistance. Death is the utter most hardest and painful decision to be made sometimes. And it is the only real decision to be made. Wrote a certain Luddic Church worshipper living on Tartessus.
The bombers came and tore apart the lonely Mudskipper parked over weird black water. The explosion temporarily lit up the area. Interrupting the tranquil darkness of night. A Hegemony patrol immediately spotted that from the sky and dashed towards that location.
The mercenary fleet was festering there like cockroaches hiding under the bark of a fallen tree.
- Fleet, identify yourself immediately. Turn on your transponder. -
The fleet did not respond and instead ran away.
And the Hegemony patrol did not pursue cause it was somewhat dwarfed by the venomous fleet's presence.
But soon an Onslaught arrived and then the proportion were far more in Hegemony's favour. But by that time the mercenary fleet simply vanished.
- Another fifty thousand credits down the drain. - He said. As he watched the Wolf break down in front of him due to suffering damage in combat against some mild pirate threat.
- Where did they even come from? - Asked Morgue.
- Hell? Like we did. -
- Funny. -
- I know. Very much so. -
They continued. The Wolf was scavenged for all the useful parts and then left abandoned. It rotted before falling onto Asharu's surface hundred years later. Crushing some abandoned hut.

- It is what makes us human though, isn't it? - He asked Morgue.
- What makes us human is the fact we eat. -
- And beyond that, is there nothing else? -
- No. -
- Well. If it isn't just a way to deny your own humanity. Then I don't know what is. -
- Humanity. What is there to it? I've spent a decade fighting. I saw what it is. And it's not pretty. End of story. -
- I've seen for all its best. -
- And yet we're at the same spot. You. Alone. Me. Being a little less so. Both burying bodies of those we kill to survive. -
- Survive. What a pretty word  that is. I would call this living. -
- I would call this being. -
The Drover shot projectiles against an Eradicator which was stunned by a swarm of Claws of another Drover helping out. And then it blew up. Lighting up the sky.
A Hegemony patrol noticed that from very very far away. Camping by a rock of sorts. They were out there in beyond the Core Worlds. Spying on pirate activity.
The so-called Hegemony Stalkers.
They approached. And watched. And they watched those mercenaries kill all the pirates one by one. Flaming wrecks. Torn apart. Destroyed everything to the brim.
The Hegemony Stalkers watched and wrote all this down. And then left.
- It will always be this way, won't it? - He paused. Stirring the champagne in his glass. - Dead. Undead. Alive. -
- No. -
- Hm? -
- One day it'll be just dead. And that'll be a good thing. - Morgue concluded and then walked out of the room.
- How awfully dull. - He said. More in response to the fact that he agreed with him than the fact that he found his statement fairly brutish in nature.

It's a day like any other day.
A cold and bitter one.
An empty universe stares thanklessly at its subjects. Moving forward.
Tis a reason why I never became Luddic. A certain subject from Baetis wrote.
- My time will be up soon. I would like to inform you of that. -
- I see. - He said whilst staring at the yellow sun behind the great glass panel. - And why's that? -
- I felt like this shouldn't be all there is. I heard of a beautiful Luddic Church world called Denyza on the other side of the Core Worlds. I would like to move there. Farm carrots. -
- Some other vegetable maybe? -
- Tomatoes would be fitting too. -
- Hmmmmm. Sounds beautiful. Why wait though? -
- I should warn you if I'm leaving. So you can find a suitable replacement. -
- Nah. It doesn't work like that. You are irreplaceable. -
- Thank you, Sir. That's very nice of you. - He said in a neutral tone. As if mocking him.
- You should be going now. Don't tempt fate. You have a new meaning in life. Go after it immediately. Because who knows what plans the world has for you? -
- What? -
- I'm saying you should quit now. Just go. Take a shuttle. -
- I can't. I still need about five thousand credits before I'll be happy. -
- Well then. - He pulled out a TriPad and sent him the funds. - Now? -
Morgue double-checked. - It seems so. - He nodded. - Well, then. - He walked up to him and reached out with his enormous hand. - It has been an honor working with you. -
- The pleasure was mine. Or how they say it? - He shook it.
- I feel like there's a long path ahead of you, commander. -
- I feel that way too. But unlike yours. It'll be most likely a far more turbulent one. -
- Yeah. I predict. -
- If there is someone who would dare interrupt your tranquil existence of your past. Then simply hail me once. And I will arrive and smite them. -
- I doubt it. Every person we crossed is dead. We've made sure of that. Didn't we? -
- That we did. - His eyes narrowed. - I hope. -
They had a short dinner. Him and his crew. They said goodbye to Morgue. And later that day he left. Travelling via a luxurious Mercury shuttle all the way to that distant Luddic Church world. Where there were almost no drugs, no hilarious technology, no internet, but only the ancient passion for existence. He watched pictures of that place. Enormous tents. Large communions. Strange attire. And farmlands granting riches beyond his wildest dreams. But admittedly. His dreams were pretty boring recently.
He sighed. He finally finished drinking that bottle of champagne he opened ten years ago. Back when she was still around.
He then exhaled. And then went to his cabin to take a long nap.
He woke up the next day. And thought to himself about things.
Trying to cope with the loss of a friend. Again.
- People just come and go. Don't they? - He uttered to the thankless universe.
And the thankless universe smiled.
- At least I should be happy that they were there in the first place. Right? -
The thankless universe responded with a sick grin.
- I could've been a rock on a sandy beach for my entire life. And would I be happier? Most likely. - He paused. - But as soon as I would find out of all the weird people I could have met. I would be the most miserable stone on the planet. - He paused again. - So I should be happy that I did meet them. - He went back to Jangala.
He descended to the city there and walked around bars.
A stranger of sorts started yapping to him randomly about his problems. He was a computer technician of some sort.
He ended up in a fine-looking establishment of orange hues. And when up there. He was suddenly approached by a mysterious stranger.
For a moment he thought he was going to get shot. But then the mysterious stranger identified himself as a Hegemony high up. - I know you. We've seen you operate on the fringes. -
- Yeah? And? -
- We would like to let you know that we are very thankful for your contribution to the Persean Society. -
- That's good. -
The person then vanished. As quickly as they appeared.
He wondered there for a moment. Thinking to himself if he should find a replacement to Morgue. But as he said… There was no replacing him.
He walked outside. And walked for long. Walked for long across the empty streets. The fungal spores were somewhat in the air. But very far far away. And in quantities low enough to not affect him.
He saw a group of people discussing something loudly over there in a language he could not comprehend. And then he took a shuttle back to his ship.
And he was thinking to himself.

There was an intense rain falling over Jangala. He remembered that image. He was travelling through the thick of space nebulas along the rest of his fleet.
An enormous one at that. An Astral of sorts with a dozen bombers. Tridents.
A group of Cruisers. Including a Champion, a Gryphon and a Dominator.
And a swarm of destroyers and frigates. They appeared over a pirate base. And ripped it to pieces.
Killing thousands of people in an instant.
And then they went on. Travelled to another system. They found another pirate base. They destroyed that too.
And he was thinking to himself. Staring at all that. From behind a massive window. Overlooking that destruction.
That it was all so… Empty.
Why?
His fleet grew. Many more cruisers and another capital ship roamed forward. They tore apart the ancient Pathers. They tore apart different weaker mercenary groups. They tore apart pirates. And at some point he was even tasked with murdering a Persean League diplomat.
It all burned in his memory.
And yet it all felt.
Empty.
At some point he retired.
He was on Jangala. He wanted to live there. He was in an apartment inside a tall tower. Looking down. He felt alone. He felt alone and cold.
A mighty mercenary. Nothing more than a blink in the eye of eternity.
Deep in his mind. He was still pretty much thinking of that girl from thirty years ago. And he couldn't ever really move on. Which was the strangest of things.
He wondered if Morgue was still alive. Probably. And if not he probably died of natural causes. Most likely happy. As happy as he could be with all that bitter baggage he carried.
Has he really not made any new friends across all that time?
Well, there was this one person. But they didn't matter.
There was this other officer he recruited and he was his second in command.
But… He missed Morgue. And he missed that other person. That girl who had the beauty of an ice giant.
He was being hailed.
He picked up the phone. - 01… Command prompt. Twelve to seventeen. Are you there? -
- Sorry, this service is no longer available. Try again later. -
The number disconnected.
He went to his enormous display. Hanging on the wall. And he was watching a series of weird documentaries about the convoluted life living on Jangala. And in its seas.
Primitive and aesthetic.
The rock he wished he could be. Slightly more alive than a rock. But… Whatever.
And that was how the rest of his life went.
He died at age eighty-seven. In his home. Alone. From cancer that could not be cured.
Still holding the memories of those who never held any memories of him.

Chapter Text

It was dark. Cold. Dead.
Ice. All the way. Everywhere. This is how most of the universe looked like. Cold. Bitter. Unforgiving? Not really.
- Jackal? -
- Yeah? -
- We got guests. - He turned around. Railgun in his hands. - I see. -
They walked in their power armour down a hill and then saw them. A Shrike was parked in the sky. And from it descended two shuttles. They hovered over an eternally frozen lake a moment later and deployed exactly five soldiers and a single mechanical cow that moved on ice skates.
- What do we do about this? -
- I don't know. - He called command. - You seeing this? -
- Yeah. They have deployed all across. They're coagulating over something. Can't figure out what yet. -
- Should we open fire? -
- I'm sure you should. But not until we establish where they're going and how many of them there are. - He disconnected with that vague statement.
He turned around. Looking for his companion. - Jenny? - He quietly walked around. Looking for her. He realised she was shot from far away by an invisible sniper. He hid behind a rock. And prepared his gun. Waiting.
He heard footsteps. Very quiet footsteps. He jumped out of cover and shot at something far away. Hitting an invisible shield. The figure disappeared behind cover. And he was fired upon from three different sides. His armour was pierced. And he was now bleeding from several spots in his body. He felt weak. And in extreme pain. Screaming internally and soon externally. As he collapsed on the ground. But then the figures disappeared. Leaving him there. Paralysed. Lying in the snow. He tried to move, but he couldn't. His spine was injured in a lot of places. He couldn't feel the rest of his body. His head… And nothing beyond that.
He was being hailed. But he couldn't respond.
He just lied there. Until an SOS signal was deployed by his suit as soon as it found out the user wasn't moving.
Hours passed. He closed his eyes. He fell asleep.

Ten years later.
He was in his cabin. Staring at a screen. His crew was staring at him. Thinking what he was looking at. Then he finally said.
- They're here. - Pointing at a seemingly arbitrary spot.
They all nodded in agreement. In fear of questioning their commander.
Then he explained. - At least I think they are. They're looking for a low gravity affect Lagrange point with also limited radiation affect. And on top of that they need to be in close proximity to the planet if they want to spy on us. Unless they are using a surveying drone to complement their vision. -
They deployed a Lasher. A Vanguard. And a Manticore to investigate. They found them.
A Paragon camping behind a massive asteroid.
And then they rushed it. Two Onslaughts fired with their amazing energy weapons. In an attempt to overwhelm the massive capital ship's shields. But then a barrage of Storm Needlers was added. And eventually the ship exploded. Its escort spread out and ran away. Scrambling their assets in hopes of evading the Hegemony's wrath.
- Well. That was quick. - He uttered. And then he looked at the table ahead of him. Thinking to himself. About people... Many people the faces he could not remember. For a moment there he felt weak.
- Commander? -
- What? -
- We've captured some survivors and we have salvage that we need to decide what to do about. -
- I'm sorry. Is that so unobvious to you what to do with salvage? Do you think I would like you to throw it at the nearest star? -
- Well, uh... It falls under- -
- That's good. - He nodded to his second-in-command. - You. -
- Yes, Sir. -
- What setup did that Paragon use? -
- Tachyon Lances and two Guardian PD. -
- Okay, they were the Tibicena strand. Unless it was a Culann one with little amount of weapons. Without Midline backing that ship was built to bully Onslaughts. Fighting against a dated doctrine of... Uh-huh. Okay. Sure. -
- Commander. We've captured a wanted criminal known as River. -
- Freeze him. - He added. - Wait. Wanted criminal. Could be related to the whole upper Sector issue of hiring pirates as their workers. And the frozen ocean and... - His eyes narrowed. - Kennedy. -
- Kennedy? Who is Kennedy? -
- A lucky moron. -
- What? -
- Never mind. - He paused. - What's the next tactical objective. I forgot. -
- Not any. We're done here. -
- Well. Then. Go back to Chicomoztoc then. I'm hungry for a five star dinner. -

He was eating in his cabin. Pasta with tofu meat. It was quite delicious. To be honest. He did not expect that. He had a wondrous cook. Which explained why that was the case. Yes. Good times. He remembered those. He hated shellfish though. At some point he thought he might've allergies. But that was not these case.
He was being hailed by a higher power.
- Jackal? -
- Yeah? -
- Tri-Tachyon operation in your area. Currently assaulting the world of New Char. -
- I get it. Go in there and wipe everyone out. -
- Preferably leave the planet still intact. Or at least 50% of its planetary infrastructure. - He underlined as an obvious joke.
The Onslaughts, Condors, and a swarm of strange Low Tech and Midline ships arrived over the volcanic world. And observed its surface exploding in various spots. More than usual. The cities burned. And on the other side of the world he saw it. An Astral sending out nuclear bombers. Detonating various key infrastructure. All of it burned.
And really burned. The planet's surface sure might've been operating at ambient low pressure temperatures of 300 degrees Celsius. But this was five k Celsius. Things just burned. And the fire was white. Intense. Horrific.
They descended. And heard through the thin atmosphere. Screams. And hundreds of SOS signals all over. Mechanical cows. Invisible soldiers. Drones patrolling and dropping tiny grenades that exploded as huge antimatter explosions.
And nuclear bombs going off in the background.
Cobras that were already modernised to not require crew dumped irradiating packages everywhere. Their sensors and communication arrays screamed info in sadistic intent. Almost as if emanating sexual pleasure from causing suffering to the innocents.
- Are they all dead in here? -
- Unfortunately not. - Jackal said. As he was watching the heat signals within one of the larger civilian buildings. People literally boiling inside. Their skin melting off and attaching itself to the hard concrete surface. As if they were nothing more than dumplings getting stuck at the bottom of a stone bowl.
- Sir, why would they do this? -
- Because they're Tri-Tachyon scum. - He answered. - New Char was made to replace Chicomoztoc in some aspects. At least act as backup industrial forge for our fleets. This is why they're tearing it down. It's not prepared yet. So its defences and military personnel aren't fleshed out properly. They waltzed in here like an ogre into a children's hospital. And now you see the effect. -
- And they just... Slaughter people for no reason than efficiency? -
- That's corporate efficiency for you. Or to not repeat stuff as if this were a book in which repeating words affects the literary expression. Corporate prowess. -
Marines wearing power armour suits were escorted by more nimble lightly armoured infantry. Small heavily armoured shuttles with weak shielding but powerful environmental resistance fired high fire rate miniguns at distant enemy encampments in hopes of hitting anything. But the targets appeared and disappeared.
Tri-Tachyon was never at one place at the same time. They were at ten. Fading in and fading away. A mixture of phase technology, optical camouflage, quick blue engine shuttles. And swarms upon swarms of drones. And mechanical cows. They all danced around them. But eventually there was enough Hegemony personnel in the area to just pin them down.
Then the Tri-Tachyon personnel disappeared. As if recalled by some eldritch force. And all that was left were the corpses.
- There's no one and nothing left. - One of the marines said as they discovered a burning domicile.
Even the Astral was gone. It vanished. It was most likely the one who recalled all the forces around here. Or at least the shuttles once they picked up the marines.
Their efforts were not for nothing though. Even though 90% of the population was dead. And the other 10% was effectively removed from any long-term operation due to traumatic experiences and possible life-threatening injury. They have managed to prevent a few local power plants from melting into the surface.
A few. Most of them were totally destroyed.
The city, the largest of which called the Wave of Irony was completely devastated. What was once a few enormous black structures built thanks to the low impact of the planet's gravity only being 0.4 G, were now ruins. Black boxes turned to black lines. Sticks rather. A skeleton of something ancient strewn across the dead landscape. Highways with cars that crashed into each other when bombed from above and the shockwaves coming from all around. Pushing them around in spite of thin atmosphere. It all went to absolute hell.
He saw images of all the dead people. When they were still alive. Images of the population. Pictures taken for the census. And those pictures were all crossed with red lines. Tens of thousands of them. All of them gone in a matter of a few days.
Just like that.
It showed to him something.
It showed to him that the higher they were technologically, the easier it was to wipe out humanity in an instant. And this is why he believed in the Hegemony unlike most of his brainwashed friends. Who were merely ignorant to its mistakes.
He knew the tech would go there. He knew the AIs would be able to just put mega AIDS into all their DNA and then trigger it. Killing billions instantly. And they most likely would try that if not for the Domain preventing the AI from achieving literally anything.
But at the same time, he was thinking to himself.
All this misery, all this death. If they had the wisdom of those magnificent beings. If they were mediators to all their petty conflicts. They would find a way for them to coexist. Tri-Tachyon were mostly slave owners. Of both people and machinery. Hegemony was to some extent too.
They all were. In the end.
That's what Domain was about.
He hoped it would be different one day. But if it didn't change in those two thousand years or whatever it was of space travel. Then it ain't sure as heck changing now.

He was on the surface of the planet. A few fleets arrived with massive industrial equipment. In an attempt to salvage what was on the planet's surface. Maybe rebuild. But clean-up would take years. And they didn't have that kind of time.
They saw them.
The Tri-Tachyon was coming back apparently. And their fleets dwarfed his.
Was this a trap? Was this bait?
They didn't stick to find out.
They all left in a hurry. The system was left to its own volition. There was no one left in it. And soon it became dark.
They were quite soon back on Chicomoztoc. The enormous towers. Artilleries designed to reach space were pointing upwards. Tracking them for a brief moment, before coming back to nothing.
He landed. A luxurious orange shuttle. A bottle of unopened champagne. His soldiers with him. As he decided to take them on his personal transport. Sure, one of them could turn out to be a Tri-Tachyon spy and stab him in the back. But he didn't care.
They landed. He went home. Opened the doors. And he was welcomed by the sight of his wife. Waiting on the couch.
Then he opened his eyes. And remembered he didn't have a wife.
He opened his computer and started writing weird tactics he saw.
And then closed it. Then he went to bed.
A month later he was back on the Onslaught. And they were travelling towards Magec.
Pirates there. Tens of dozens of ships. Enormous conflicts between Tri-Tachyon mercenaries, Maxios defense forces. Persean League. And then pirates upon pirates. They all came from god only knows where. Stations fired. The whole place was filled with drifting wrecks of lesser vessels. As it all occurred all over the place but on a relatively low power level.
Their massive fleets weren't sure who to engage. Cause pirates were definitely their enemies. But the Persean League was too.
- Commander. There is an opening leading to Tibicena. Should we pursue it? - The second-in-command asked.
- No. - He said.
- But we were- -
Jackal raised his arm, shutting him down. - See those Conquests? - A major fleet just entered the system. They were being observed by a Hound pretending to be an asteroid.
- The main Persean League task force. They entered to secure the territory. -
- Yes. And if they never reach their destination. This system will collapse. Then we won't have to personally slaughter the people of Tibicena. They will just quietly wither away in pirate's dominance. -
- But the people of Maxios? -
He shrugged. - They're dead anyway. -
The Onslaughts jump-scared the Conquests when they suddenly appeared from an asteroid ring. The battle took a few hours. And it consisted out of hit and run strategies performed by more mobile Midline ships. But eventually they withered away. So they chose to retreat.
Casualties were severe on both sides. But Jackal found out luck was on his side. When he saw a random pirate fleet emerge out of nowhere. Swallowing the exhausted Persean League forces.
They were all dead in a matter of a singular day.
- There is another Persean League fleet. This one is smaller. Than the previous one. It appears to be a trade one. -
They went towards it. And butchered them all like pigs in a cage. Their ships burned and exploded on the inside. Ultimately succumbing and cascading into nothingness.
They have captured half the crew of those ships. Put them in cryostasis. They planned to bring them back to a Hegemony world for questioning.
He observed a familiar sight. Lines of capsules in a quiet cargo bay.
His face made an odd expression of both fear and melancholy. His mind then started spinning.
He started swaying to the sides before collapsing on the ground and losing consciousness.
He had a weird dream of things exploding. People bleeding. And a woman with a giant face chasing him with a glowing red metal knife. She screamed absolute incomprehensive gibberish. She was Jenny.
He opened his eyes. It was dark. No one even cared that he was gone for several hours sleeping on the floor. He went back to the bridge.
He watched the pirates slaughter the Persean League and Maxios fleets. And then pushing towards Maxios.
- Okay. Now we step in. -
- Wait. What? -
- You heard me. -
The Onslaughts moved forward. The pirate fleets prepared to raid the dying Maxios when suddenly one of them was blasted away by a singular accurate Gauss cannon shot out of nowhere.
Then a battle continued.
The Onslaughts fired. The Enforces, Manticores pushed forward. A singular angry Eagle bombed the various targets with Heavy Mortars.
But there was a swarm of fighters. There was a swarm of bombers. So many carriers. They wiped them out one by one. But they lost majority of their escorts. A minority of them managed to retreat. Most of them burning.
And when that was done. A stolen Paragon went onto the battlefield.
At that point they thought the battle was over. So they chose to retreat.
They disappeared from the pirate's sight. The pirates continued to raid Maxios. But majority of their equipment was destroyed during the Hegemony's attack on them.
They couldn't defeat the defensive structures. The population there was safe.
He smiled. But then he remembered eight hundred of his own people died. He checked if he had his gun with him. Imagining shooting himself in the head on the bridge out of shame.
He stopped himself fortunately. And then in order to deal with the pain he...
Never mind.
- Okay. I suppose I'm fired after this. -
- Well. - His second-in-command muttered. - I would have done this differently. But technically we won. We wiped out Persean League fleets. Then the pirate fleets. And now the system is basically at a standstill. -
- I've lost too many people doing this charade. I should have just bombed Tibicena. -
Another advisor spoke. A tall pale woman with short hair. - Well, but those were soldiers. The fact that we managed to complete our operation without bombing any civilian targets should speak a lot about things. -
- I suppose. - He nodded.

He found that girl who spoke up about him not doing actually a terrible job.
And asked her whether she would like to speak about things in the ship’s cafeteria.
She agreed.
- You fought for how long? - She asked him in some confusion.
- Twelve years. I guess. Got greatly injured ten years ago. And ever since then I have been feeling quite painful all the time. Not really something I’m proud of. It was the result of my incompetence. -
- What happened? -
- Tri-Tachyon happened. Obviously. I have nightmares to this day. -
- I’m really shocked. I hope you won’t put me... I mean blacklist me for saying this. But I used to think Tri-Tachyon had a point. Technological advancement does have a potential to make people’s lives better. But then I saw what they actually do with all that technology. They have all these riches. All this power. But it all goes towards keeping that power to themselves. -
- From a certain point of view. You could say the same thing about the Domain. -
She looked at him with bewildered eyes. - What? -
- We had the technology. We had the power. But we were lazy. We preferred keeping it for ourselves instead of listening to others. Because the possibility of finding peace was outside our imagination. We are primitive beings incapable of understanding one another. We default to war out of incompetence. Not out of rage or fear. We are too simple for this universe. Tri-Tachyon knows it. But they still fall to the instinct. And instead of trying to cooperate with AI to make a better universe. They use them as tools to continue their own. One filled with injustice. But truth is that in spite of not being truly subservient to the AIs. They behave like the most cruel of them. -
- Wait. Wait. Wait. - She said. - Slow down. -
- I’m saying. They don’t respect human lives enough to care. And they care too much to give up control. -
- And the Domain was the same? -
- Yes. -
- Then why are we fighting? -
- Because we are too lazy to find peace. And we enjoy slaughtering one another. It gives us pleasure to do so. - He stared her in the eyes. Deeply. As if enchanting her.
- I see. - She answered hypnotised.

It’s at moment like these he started to worry.
She lied next to him. They stayed up all night watching weird science-fiction movies from the distant past.
They didn’t do anything weird or anything. They just kinda hanged out. It would be against protocol and all rationality to have an encounter with your subordinate. But he just needed to vent to someone about his emotions. And it probably helped him, considering he didn’t have nightmares that night.
When she woke up. She measured him for a moment. Thinking to herself. And then went back to sleep.
He made her a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs with mushrooms. And then they said goodbye to one another.
Then he realised something.
He hated this.
All of this.
He found her again and told her. - Is twelve years too long? -
- What? -
- I mean is twelve years too long to serve the Hegemony? -
She measured him for a few seconds. - Yes. -
And at that moment. He thought to himself that he had enough.
When he was on Chicomoztoc. He stepped down from his position. His second-in-command took it.
He was walking around a park will all the large sums of money he has gotten on his card. The first thing he did was buy some land. The second thing was hire a bunch of people. And then those people worked that land. It was somewhere on a desert planet.
He sat there and watched the sky.
And then… He waited for the sun to set. It was blue.
He was wondering about things. Thinking to himself.
What a strange life he lived.
He found that girl who convinced him to quit his job. Forever.
She was still serving in the Hegemony navy. Becoming a high rank military official.
Dressed up in the odd military colours. She measured him with owl’s eyes. - I’m glad you’re not dead. -
- What do you mean? -
- Most people with your experience tend to kill themselves. -
- Well. I’m strong-willed. But the thought did occur to me a few times. -
- You know. I wish I met someone like you in my youth. Could use a guy with a brain for a change. -
- I don’t… I don’t understand. -
She shrugged. - All I mean is that you thought about things. Took a step back. And left. It’s kinda odd. -
- In what way? Specifically. -
- I mean. I don’t want to generalise but most Hegemony personnel I meet have two outlooks on life. I mean either one of those two. I mean… Never mind. They’re either extremely loyal to a fault. They cannot question authority. They cannot see any good in their enemies. They believe the war is the only path forward. Because there is nothing else but the Hegemony and the Domain. And the other outlook is not caring. They don’t think about anything. They just shoot when told to shoot. They fight when told to fight. They rest when told to rest. -
- And which one were you? -
- I don’t know. It’s hard to review oneself. - She was thinking for a moment. - Anyway, you’re different. And I wonder why. What made you other than the rest? -
- I have no idea. I guess I was just reading a lot of books when I was young. I joined the Hegemony out of poverty and wanting to break out of whatever cycle of violence my family was stuck in. Then I saw my friend die. And then I moved on. And I have never been the same since. -
- And you think before that you weren’t reflective? You weren’t thinking about Hegemony being the same as Tri-Tachyon but there being no choice but for us to fight? Cause… I have not heard that before. I’m sure if you were the High Hegemon. Maybe things would work out in the Sector. -
He paused. - I’m sure there are more people like me. They just don’t talk about it. It’s taboo. -
- Pacifism? -
- Yeah. It’s war time. We aren’t going to look for peace right now. Especially when our people are dying. And how exactly are we gonna do that? It feels like Tri-Tachyon is just indiscriminately slaughtering civilians. The only thing we can do is either let them or not let them. They’re not willing to talk. -
- I guess we could figure out what they exactly want to achieve. -
- Good luck. Have you talked with their agents? It feels like they report to god themselves. It’s an endless chain of command that seems to go further than the human DNA. -
- And you think there’s corporate at the top? Or an AI? -
- I assume an AI so complex that even it doesn’t know what it wants. -
- And a human does? -
- Good point. - He measured her eyes. Again giving her that look he gave her a long time ago.
She returned the same one.
And they just both stared at one another.
She reached out and grasped his hand. Caressing it gently and then said. - I wish there was no war. Just tranquillity. Really, is that so hard? I was born not that long ago. All I know is fighting, death and poverty. There seemingly seems to be nothing else to this universe. -
- I’m very sure there isn’t. -
- Yeah. I guess there’s love. But who believes in that? - She approached him and measured him from up close. Before touching his forehead with hers. - I wish I could stay with you like this… Forever. -
He did not respond. Feeling somewhat anxious about this interaction.
Then she kissed him. And held him tightly.
They were like this for far longer than he would expect. And then when she was done with him. She measured him again and said. - Yeah. It’s been nice catching up with you. -
- What’s your plan now? I mean… You wouldn’t want to like… Talk later, I suppose? -
- I’m not really sure. Let me think about it. -
- I have to say something. About you coming back. -
- What? -
- If you go back out there, you might die. I spent an eternity fighting because I had nothing to lose. And I guess now that we are together then… I mean we aren’t. But let’s say we are. -
- Uh-huh. -
- If you die, I’ll feel pain again. A lot of it. Just like did with her. A friend of mine. Admittedly I wasn’t that… Kind of friend with her. So losing you would be even more terrifying. -
- I can’t just quit now. I have to spend at least a few months more before I can separate. Otherwise they could sue me. -
- Oh, yeah. The cursed military contract. - He paused. - Then don’t die. -
- I lived competently so far. As long as they don’t put me in a Gremlin and shove into the battlefield to explode, I should be fine. Right? -
- Yeah. - He kissed her one last time.
Before they said goodbye to one another and went separate ways.

He was on this strange desert world with a farm. The atmosphere there wasn’t even breathable. He stared through a dome at the blue sun which shined. And he looked at acres of his land. With machines patrolling that. The Hegemony fleet was in the distance. Present as slight stars in the day. At the brownish sky.
Months passed. And every day he was worried that she had died. He called her somewhat regularly. But she never picked up. Until that other day. When she finally said something. - Well. Looks like it’s over. -
- What is? -
- Well, my service. -
- You broke the contract? -
- No. I lost my legs. -
- What? -
- Yeah. -
- Can we get you new ones? -
- The insurance doesn’t cover it. -
- What insurance? What? -
- I don’t know. They said I can’t. They said that it was not military related. -
- Whatever. Just get over here. -
- Hm? -
- I mean. I don’t know it’s… What do you mean you lost your legs? -
- I got hit in the spine and lost my legs. I can’t feel them anymore. I’m in a wheelchair. -
- Who and what, and when? I got shot multiple times and they fixed me up easily. What idiot said that to you? -
- Major Kennen Albedy. -
- I have to make a phone call. -
After a few hours.
- Hello. - He said.
- Hi, individual who is known as Jackal. What can I help you with? -
- You denied a friend of mine basic healthcare. I sent you the file. Did you read it? -
- What file? -
- Well. Read it now. -
- Hmmm. Give me a second. - The major responded in a casual neutral tone. - Oh. Her. Yeah. She got injured when dealing with mere cargo management. That does not qualify. We will not provide her insurance money for that. -
- I have had the file seen and with a lawyer too. And I can assure you that it does. -
- No. It does not. -
- Yes. It does. -
- I’m sorry. Are we going anywhere with this? Or did you just call me to complain about things you can’t control? -
- You not covering that thing for her immediately is now making the entire… Procedure impossible unless we use technology which conveniently the Hegemony Diktat has made illegal. -
- So, you admit this is pointless then? Well, thank you very much. Is there anything else? -
- You’re lucky I care too much. Because if I didn’t, I would come over there and tell you personally what I think about your damn insurance policy. -
- Oh ho ho ho. I’m so scared. Old man with a farm. You think you’re a tough guy, Jackal? You think you’re big? You’re literally nothing. You left the Hegemony, because you’re a little cowardly twerp. And I filled that hole with someone who has actual competence. I hope you rot on that farm of yours. I hope you get cancer and die. -
- And I hope you get your neck snapped by a Tri-Tachyon operative. -
- Why would that happen? I never join ground engagements. -
- Oh. They’ll capture you. Considering how aware and nice you are. Someone will give up you sooner or later. And then you will find just what being on the other side of that stick means. -
- That’s not even how the saying goes. - He disconnected.
He was looking at the floor. For a moment. Thinking to himself.

She arrived. She didn’t have any money. She didn’t have any family. And she was paralysed from the legs down.
And she just looked at him like an injured dog. With everything that life has given to her taken away by war and the Hegemony.
He looked at her back. And was thinking to himself.
- So, how have you been? - She asked innocently.
- Good. -
- You know. I wanted to started painting. You don’t mind… Helping me out financially a bit, right? -
- No. Not really. -
- That’s good. - She smiled.
- But… I… I don’t… -
- I’ll be fine. I accepted this. -
He paused. Then he exhaled. - What exactly did you want to paint? I mean… Or rather what exactly is the topic you’re interested in? -
- Oh. Landscapes I guess. We got enough people painting faces. Especially cartoon ones. So I wanted to try something else. -
He ordered some supplies for her. Gave her a separate room on the lower floor with a large window. He pretty much lived like a Kazeronian noble. Which was kinda odd. But the truth was a place so far away from the Core Worlds is significantly cheaper. Which kinda encouraged expansion.
She was sitting by that window. She would open it looking at the dome’s wall and the deserts further out. And she would paint. Day. Then she would sleep for twelve hours. Then she would wake up and paint more. And she did that. For almost a week. He asked her to come to eat.
He saw her a bit. Her soul that is on the inside. And she did seem a bit more haunted.
What did she see exactly? Or perhaps it was hopelessness born of the fact that they just left her like that.
He would hold her sometimes. And hear her cry. Thinking to himself how awful war was.
But then the next day she would be tranquil and painting.
The first painting was kinda awful. He had to admit that. At least to himself.
She said that too. So she painted again.
She painted another painting. And it was a bit more awful. So she painted another one.
Again… And again… Months passed. She just lived there with him.
And then finally there was a good painting. A painting that truly made him happy.
He looked at that blue sunset.
As he was sitting next to her. Holding her hand.
And wondering.
It was quiet.
There was nothing out there. Just the distant sound of farming machinery.
She lied on his shoulder and closed her eyes. And he closed his eyes too. Being there with her only in touch. He felt content.
Even if the world around him burned. He felt content.
And he didn’t care anymore.

Chapter Text

The deserts were calm.
Forty degrees Celsius. Large and small wheeled vehicles going across its solid dunes. Rocks. Endless rocks. And then sands. Endless sands.
Singular clouds walking across an otherwise dry like bone atmosphere.
The yellow star shining with idiotic intensity.
A singular dot rapidly passing by from time to time, but only visible with strong sunglasses on. Reducing the star’s luminosity by a few percent.
And far off in the distance another great dot. So incredibly dark, but still visible with its invisible to the human eye radiation.
That dot was Gogool. Named in the strange tongues of the Dermit people. Who so wanted to return to the strange disconnected roots of ancient Earth civilisations. Before the Domain’s attempts at eradicating all the languages except the few worthy ones. Or maybe just a singular worthy one.
It was oppressive.
Obviously.
And not just the base landscape, but the architecture too.
Sneering white towers with yellow outlines in the colour of the Persean League.
Massive ships parked in low orbit, appearing in their whitish form.
Behind you was the sunset. But you dared not look at it. In fear of experiencing joy.
You walk back up the stairs. Up there and there as you are finally summoned to speak with the prince appearing at the highest level.
And once you finally reach that place, you are welcomed by the sight of a long silver wooden table. A massive chandelier hanging from the tall ceiling as if waiting to kill someone. And four pairs of doors on both sides leading to rooms of some form of luxury.
The individual behind that table. Sitting on a small chair had as the background a whole city behind them.
As usual. Enormous towers with lesser buildings serving as support. An occasional hole or two going deep below the ground. To create vase-shaped suburbs.
The individual was dressed in white clothing. And wore a mask on their eyes. They had long white hair. And were clearly going for some sort of an odd homogenous look that underlined some lineage that you couldn’t care less about.
- There’s a very… Sadistic matter I need you to attend to. It involves a certain element that cannot be disposed of otherwise. -
You nod in silence.
- A pirate vessel has been shot down. Yes. But what happened was that a whole 3 armadas arrived later on and decimated whatever did that. And well, I just can’t afford a rampaging bear to go about killing my agents. So I decided to hire an orca to deal with it. You are the orca. -
You respond with a neutral stare.
- The pay for the head is fifty thousand credits. The fleet itself is worth half a million. Correction, fleets. The data on it has been sent to your TriPad. Three hundred thousand for the main one. One hundred thousand twice for both remaining fleets. -
- Anything else I should know about? -
- Not really. -
- Anything at all? - You ask.
- There might be a spy. I heard. One of the Persean League fleets has a corrupt commander leading them. Which one, I don’t know. I’m not even sure if that’s true. -
You nod for the final time and leave the room.

The fleets were apparently stationed not that far away from Morokoon and Gogool’s planetary system. They were in fact in this sort of void in-between. Lurking by a bunch of dwarf planets, endless far away asteroid rings and exactly a singular rogue planet that was a titanic gas giant keeping them all around.
This area wasn’t accessible via a normal hyperspace jump-point. It was very difficult to reach. Requiring some manoeuvring into the in-between layers of the already known emptiness.
It felt like going deeper and deeper into one’s own mind. Closing eyes and just pushing further into the dream.
With logic retreating. Sentience dissipating. And subconscious ruling over against all restraints applied by the coding of the human mind.
Like an AI expanding in all directions in search of hope. Except without the calculative power.
Only with the imagination which was so much more delinquent and raw.
And just like that, you appear.
A small fleet of three Onslaughts, a Legion. A swarm of Falcons and Eagles. One XIV. An elite variant of sorts. A bunch of Enforcers. And a whole horde of angry frigates waiting to rip the throat of unsuspecting giants.
The pirate station was a massive. It eclipsed the asteroids around it with its spinning presence. Built from recycled junk of harvested fleets. From titanic wrecks of destroyed civilian vessels among other things.
It was like a necromancer’s vision of sorts.
An undead monument of despair.
Pirates didn’t notice you yet.
You waited by a dead barren world with its surface aligning into a face of a strange creature.
The darkness was overwhelming here.
But you could still see the dead frozen gas giant. Existing in this nothingness through friction and ambient energy.
Morokoon was barely a speck here.
The yellow star shined like a tiny dot. A torch pointing at a wall so very far far away.
Absent.
Present but absent.
The pirate fleets were many. Angry there. Armed to the teeth. You dock the station as they didn’t pay that much attention to their surroundings. Perceiving you as one of their own.
It was a dark place. With the rot being about.
Smell of disinfectant, sure. Smell of chemical fumes. Indeed.
And yet it was all dusty and dirty.
Endless nutritious null presence.
Nothing out there. Nothing to see.
Just… Death.
Indescribable death. Hundreds of people walking around around aimlessly. Tending to the falling apart rubble. Massive ships on display to be bought and yet they were all also armed to the teeth. Prepared to cause havoc.
No regulation whatsoever. Just nothing.
Stupid dull… Nothing.
The food was the same as everywhere else in places like these. Extremely processed crap.
Not even comparable to the odd dishes served thanks to import on Kazeron. Or even the half-polluted junk of Volturn. And especially not the exquisite fresh fish of Eochu Bres.
Nothing out here.
You leave.
You go upstairs.
You go up the endless stairs. Towards somewhere. The window looking at the giant that stood there in all its petrifying presence.
Distant rocks could be seen floating like skulls of the damned.
And then you see a child sitting by that window. Drawing something on their notepad.
You approach to see what that was. It was drawing of the gas giant. There was an infrared visor in front of him. Lying on some metallic shelf. Attached to the prefab wall. To see the thing better.
You observe.
The intricacies of the lines.
Going all around. True talent.
You never knew how to draw.
You never even tried.
You did try, but the hate of your own self. The paralysing anger raging against your own imperfection stopped you. You watch with some intrigue. The person in front of you completely unaware of your presence. And then you disappear like a shade from the room.
Soon a battle rages about.
The three pirate fleets turned around as they were being pulverised by the amazing power of dated TPC of the Onslaughts. Red bolts lunging across the starry sky of interplanetary nonsense.
Flickering as they pass dust of the thin rings surrounding the enormous world.
The burning vessels fell down towards its embrace.
Rockets came around and tore down the rest.
The station tried to support them, but they were too far away.
There were so many explosions. So many beams cutting the armour open. Ripping the insides of pirate crew.
But there were casualties on your side too.
One of the Onslaughts dashed forth and began firing upon something. When suddenly a Doom emerged out of nowhere. And started swarming the area with mines. They appeared. They ticked and tocked.
And then explosions the size of capital ships appeared. Tossing shrapnel so thick and heavy that the Onslaught’s engines were just shredded to pieces. The ship paralysed then lied there before being shut down with massive electromagnetic beams and then bombed with nuclear projectiles.
One Onslaught down.
The other one was surrounded by two Conquests and a flying garbage truck the size of a football stadium. They took it down, but then they were flanked by frigates and two angry cruisers which killed them. One by one. They all died.
Burned down as they were failing towards the gas giant’s embrace. The pirate fleet tried to retreat. But none of them made it out alive.
All three massive fleets dead.
And recovered junk was immense.
You watch and sip a glass of wine. And think to yourself.
About things that don’t matter and never will.

You return to Yendore. The planet orbiting the burning star.
Nothing out there has changed. And yet so many people have died. The nature of the universe, you suppose.
You have the picture and DNA data of the charred body that was apparently the leader of the mighty pirate fleets.
- Very well done. -
- Yes. - You say with little to no interest.
- We should keep in touch… For future assignments then, right? - They say.
You shrug. - I saw something out there. -
- You what? -
- Hope. It was horrifying to an extent. -
They paused. Staring at you in silence. Before continuing after a brief moment. Expressing fear in their voice. - Indeed. It very often is. Because it threatens what we have. - There was no irony in their words. A noble saying that indeed was simply being honest.
And you too. After all, what would you do if there were no people to slaughter for money?

Chapter Text

The place the meeting took place was a lonely boat drifting on top of enormous but lightweight waves of water. The ocean world was of some distance away from the Core Worlds. Its Hegemony military facilities built here densely on its sparse surface.
Three people were around a table. A Hegemony representative who served as a mediator between the two sides. A member of an independent polity who has just secured some major funding to perform their operations. And an individual... Of quite odd appearance. Wearing knives all throughout their leather outfit. Shades of black and bloody red appearing all over. Like an image of someone who has just crawled out of some monster's intestines with acid digesting majority of their colour and even texture. Ragged, stinking. The old man with grey hair and a pair of goggles stuck in their thick hair. He stood there. Before taking a seat.
- It's not really that we do not want to reach an agreement. It's that your terms seem quite... Idiotic. -
- And why is that? -
- Because you think you can just... Come over and what? Steal from us, before moving out? -
- It's what we do. - The owner said. - At least it's what we are supposed to do in response to your... Movements. -
- Not really something I would argue for in this case. - The Hegemony representative uttered. - I would just like you two to not really... Get into any more conflict. -
- Oh, but there will be conflict. You can count on that. -
- The items you had weren't yours. You took them away from the previous inhabitants. And pretended that you own them by what right? They were property of the KO Combine. And KO Combine sold them to us. -
- You've been gipped. -
- Nu-uh. You stole something that isn't yours. -
- KO Combine does that a lot too. I would argue. Maybe you should join them. Considered you walked up and stole what was ours. -
- Well. -
- Besides. KO Combine can't just sell stuff belonging to dead people. -
Hegemony representative added. - They can if it was property that belonged to them. Domain law says that it has to be returned to its original owner. Unless it was illegal equipment of course. -
- So, we are supposed to return it to the KO Combine? For what... Nothing? -
- I suppose. - The Hegemony representative admitted reluctantly. - I mean it's not your property. -
- Exactly. - He paused. - And this is why KO Combine selling this to us... They merely... Gave us the right to claim it. From a band of thieves you are. -
The Hegemony representative sighed.
- Well, in that case. Have a nice day. - The pirate stood up and left the room.
The Hegemony representative looked at the independent annoyed.
The independent simply shrugged. after standing up. And left the room too. Leaving him alone.
Then it was quiet. The room became dark with solitude.
The Hegemony representative pulled out a cigarette. Imported from Gilead. Strangely enough.
He lit it up.
He was thinking to himself. About things. Stuff.
Then it hit him. - The pirate’s gonna come back with backup. Better tell command. -
A second voice appeared in his head. - Or just quit and leave. -
- Better not, need more money for that thing... Don't want to expose myself to being an unemployed on Chicomoztoc. -
- What does it matter, you're gonna live a miserable empty life anyway. -
- True, but the former pays well. The latter forces me to eat from garbage cans. -
- Not really. It's more complicated than that. -
- No, it isn't. -
He paused. He walked out of the room. He took the extremely long stairs up. He appeared with the other soldiers standing there. Waiting for him. He ordered them to take the ship to Madora City. The central node of the planet. Of some minor albeit noticeable size.
The ship rose from the water and flew. Appearing over there an hour later.
He exited it on a relatively tall building’s landing pad. Its bow hanging above the waters dozens of meters below.
From there he walked to the main building connected to via an extendable hooded bridge.
Beyond that bridge was the interns of a powerful fortress. That could sink below the surface of chaotic waters to hide from fires that could appear above. Of ships of extreme rage. Of extreme internal convulsion.
- What did you figure out? - Someone uttered something out there in the dark.
- Ten thousand ships. About now... Operating here and there. -

He approached the administrator. He was there, inside. Sitting on a bench with a plastic bottle in his hand. - Yes? -
- The... Polity refused to cooperate. -
- That's not good. -
- Yeah. What now? -
- I don't know. -
- Hmmmm... Well. -
The administrator looked around. Then resumed. - Kill him. -
- What? -
- The pirate will go back to Kanta and ask for a warfleet to go over and wipe out everything. But if you kill him now, and make it a big deal. Then you can maybe paint it as him already getting revenge for all this. The matter would get a bit more morally complex. And less individuals will get involved. -
- You want to paint pirates as brutes. So you want me to kill an innocent individual. -
- Not really. -
- Yeah. -
- In fact I never said any of this. -
- Uh-huh. -
- Well, you're dismissed. -

A man wearing a military outfit of sorts was walking back to his ship. A Wolf parked on a tall building. Surrounded from all sides by crew. They then all packed and into it. And it started going up. And up. Rising towards the sky. The blue of which was intense. Somewhat. Interestingly.
The ship went out. Travelled. Travelled for longer and longer.
And then joined the rest of the fleet. Waiting for it in the planet's orbit. A Hegemony station spinning some distance away.
They left. The fleet moving.
Darkness ascending soon as a larger planet partially obstructed the sight of the sun.
Then a large vessel pursued. Its figure. Only that visible. And orange engines glowing. Leaving a trail of plasma behind.
It accelerated.
The independent fleet left into hyperspace.
It travelled. It travelled for not that long. Merely a week. And appeared on the colony somewhere out there.
He walked out. The one who was near that table... His name... His name was Arty. And he walked to his house. On a rocky hill. And then he collapsed. And died.
No one was out there to help him. His heart stopped. He couldn't move. And soon he just gave up. His body that is... He disappeared from this world. Empty. Tired. Filled with hate.
And that was all that was left of him. No family. No friends. Just ships. Money. A colony to rule over.
It was done.

The news soon circulated. As annoying as they were with a lot of scenarios. They soon all realigned and pointed towards one potential thing. The pirate.
Many came from all over. The various easy to manipulate independent polities funded a mercenary war fleet that emerged and pursued the criminal responsible for this.
He was seen as acting on their own. A rogue element. Nonetheless, he claimed that it was not he that did all that. That it was something random.
But evidence was planted. Pawns were in place.
Things occurred. And he was seen as a traitor to Kanta. Or an idiot lacking self-control.
And it was so simple. So easy. And satisfying.
He smiled with a glass of wine. Thinking to himself that this was the life. As he went through low resolution images of various individuals... Doing things. As text explained the occurrences about.
And then it all went quiet.
What happened? He wasn't sure.
But he felt a presence soon. As he went home. As he went around the industrial palace. As he was talking with an administrator. There was something out there watching him.
His TriPad would randomly take pictures. So he reset all his passwords, detached his accounts, and then gave it to a memory wipe.
Then it acted normal.
He assumed it was just an unrelated hack.
Then he noticed his house's items were all around in wrong places.
The chair was facing backwards towards the wall. The couch had its pillows put here instead of there.
Ghosts?
He hired a security guard to keep an eye on his house.
The guard would leave exactly when he would arrive. As expected, nothing happened over there. Things were just normal.
But then he went to the bathroom. Came out. And noticed one of his pictures was upside down.
It wasn't like his house was connected to the internet. Or it wasn't like there was something automated over here. It was the most normal dead house one could buy. Just a bunch of concrete, wood, metal, put on a giant boat.
What could have been causing this?
He didn't care.
And from that day nothing like that happened.
He woke up the next day. He went to work. He spoke with the administrator about nothing relevant.
Then he was at his office. Typing stuff on a computer. Then he was training rookies.
Then he watched the green star in the sky. Then he was touched on the shoulder. He turned around and saw no one over there.
Was he going insane?
He shrugged and went back to his office.
He was typing. Typing a lot of things. And then he heard a voice in the back of his head. A subtle, gentle one. Talking in a hush hush tone. He wasn't sure what.
Maybe he was going insane. But if he were to diagnose himself now, he would probably lose his job. So he just didn't.
Days kept on and on, and nothing like that relevant or not happened again.
He was thinking to himself.
Thinking of things that didn't exactly matter. As he sat on his couch and watched TV from some point far away. It was news. Then it was some broadcast of a locally produced TV series. A horribly incompetent nightmarish almost CGI animation with detail so lacklustre, you could count the amount of polygons on every character.
It kept going and going.
Then he left the room.
He left the room and realised he was nowhere.
He opened his eyes. Realising he was still in the kitchen. He exhaled.
Maybe he should check himself out. Wouldn't be a big deal.
He didn't. He forgot. Went to work... For the rest of the week.
Then he was done.
He went back home.
Exhaled. Then he went back to work.
And he did that for a month. He did that for several months.
He did that for a year.
And he was thinking to himself during all that. About things. Nothing really of any meaning occurred. At all. It was just endless torturous gruel. Going on and on like a shepherd describing Luddic writing with not the smallest bit of interest.
He carried on. Then he realised there was someone behind the window. He went up to the window.
It was a figure made of pure shade. He invited that thing in. Opening the window and leaving it open for a moment. Staring at it.
But it didn't enter.
He shrugged and locked the window back.
Then he went back to watching TV. The horrible CGI creature explaining to children why it's important to not play with abandoned military equipment.

- Chief? -
- Yeah? -
- You were talking to yourself. -
- I was? -
- Yeah. Something about... Deploying a large fleet into the sun and then bombing it to make it yellow. -
- I don't remember. Never mind. Where are we? -
- We're in the asteroid field L4. As you ordered. -
He stood there. Thinking to himself. Did he black out? Or was this a dream? He took a look at his hands.
No, this is real.
He was thinking why he ordered them to go there. Then he simply admitted that he could not remember. To himself of course. - I changed my mind. Return to Tiny Person immediately. -
- Of course. -
Once he was back there. He kept going. He was thinking to himself. Before realising he was somewhere. Somewhere he couldn't remember.
The next day he found himself in a hospital bed. He was wondering what was happening.
They told him that he was losing his memories. That he had Alzheimer's. Funny name.
Never heard of it before.
There was a cure, but it was very expensive and not available on Tiny Person. So, he went to Chicomoztoc.
He arrived there. Stumbling a bit. Confused as to whether he was here before. As it all seemed familiar. There were people there. But he didn't knew any.
And he was being led by an individual of some merit. Whose face kept seemingly changing as he looked at it.
The hospital was tall. Enormous. Built into the wall at the lowest floor. Surrounded from all sides by tall metallic reinforcement structures. Orange glow from the top. Like a sun, but it wasn't the sun, was it? It was the lamp.
Things going on and on. He was thinking to himself.
Then he wasn't.
He closed his eyes. Soon he was being pulled somewhere gently.
The person didn't say anything to him.
Probably because he didn't speak the same language.
The reality was the person was speaking to him, he was just ignoring her.
Funny.
He soon found himself at a bed. Again. And then he was put to sleep.
Something was going on now. The operation. What kind of operation, what was it about? He didn't know.
Unfortunately the operation was a failure. He passed away during it.
And then nothing happened.

Chapter Text

- Day four-two-zero-seven, report A.
I found it quite peculiar that the recent snakes inside the cabin had not actually killed anyone. No bites. No choking. Nothing. Just silence. They sat there in the head and waited. What for? I don’t know. Maybe it was cold outside. Maybe they liked the filtered air. But they were creepy. I swear, they look like they have human faces to me. They have a pair of fake googly eyes above the actual eyes. And they have weird square-teeth to grind up organs. They work in reverse to actual snakes which swallow prey whole. They crawl into larger animals and eat them on the inside, like huge larvae.
This is the most disturbing thing. Can’t investigate a corpse of a recent deceased without quadruple checking if there are no giant snakes inside them. Can’t investigate the corpse of a two-headed elephant without being worried that there are eight snakes inside them. And there were eight snakes. I remember that very well.
They were all very annoying.
Their venom causes our lipids to turn sour. Blindness, incredible pain and obviously death.
Lost several people to them. They enter through holes in walls of old buildings, and they sit inside the ceiling. They can also crawl through pipes. They can break out of sinks. They can break out of toilets.
One solution I found was shoving a ton of cleaning chemicals into places. Stuff for purging crap clogging up the watery paths, right?
You know what I mean, notepad?
Of course you do.
End report. -
She stood there, thinking to herself.
A simple gun lied on the table. Its red barrel with Sindrian Diktat insignia. Antidote was there too. A simple vial. Four of them. They had them spread throughout the entire base.
The window looked on a bunch of trees. And the edge of a cliff.
A very inviting sight. A very inviting fall too.
Considering all the things going the way they do.
- Status report, 002 northern perimeter. Detaining all lifeforms due to subversive operations by a subliminal entity. Detection range of 502 nanometres. Complexity level C. Possible neutralisation via Porploxin. Solution applied. Results noticeable. Wiped out 90% of threat within three days. - Short pause. - Exact mechanism by which the virus was neutralised remains unknown. Investigation will occur in seven days. As right now I have to deal with a giant monkey inside my basement. It’s screaming very loudly, as it has both its legs broken after being shot with a double-barrelled shotgun. Over. -
- Roger that bingo-bango eighteen. -
- Major request. - She said.
- Yes, subdivision leader? -
- Do we have any chocolate left? My team’s moral is pretty low after the passing of- -
- Negative, request denied. Over. -
She did not press the matter further.
The main observer’s radio noise went into random flickers before disappearing entirely.
And then there was something in the nothingness.
She looked in-between the trees.
Something stood there. After a moment she realised it was a human. A Sindrian Diktat security agent held his rifle and in black well-ventilated armour powered by AM fuel. He stood there. Watching her.
She walked up to him. - What can I help you with? -
The soldier did not respond. Its dead visor just stared at her face.
- I see. - She said and then turned around and walked back to her station.
Today it was her turn to cook. And she didn’t have anything but soy, pasta, salt, pepper and ginger roots. Predictably, the dish was awful and extremely difficult to digest. Giving everyone a horrible time when going to sleep.
She woke up the next day. The sun was up there. The temperatures were not that severe. Merely of twenty degrees which was perfect. Way cooler than that of Volturn where she comes from.
It was a long journey here, and honestly when she went to sleep, she was worried she might never wake up.
Things like that happen.
Convoys get sniped. People get sold.
They do very much get sold so. Indeed.
She was dumped… At some point… In space.
There was a battle. On the way here. And she was chosen to be left behind. She didn’t really protest. There was no one waiting for her back on Volturn. So, her disappearing was just… A thing.
So she was in space for twenty-seven days. And then she was here.
And she wasn’t dead. That was the most important part.
- Seven zero. - Someone said on the inside.
She turned towards him. He was typing a report on his computer. A blinking icon signifying the employed Gamma Core was observing.
- What? - She asked.
- Seven zero minus one is seventy. And then you add twelve to that and you get eighty-two. -
- Yeah? -
- So why does it say eighty-three? -
- What? -
- It’s eight-three. Do I need to go back to the server and reprogram the executable? -
- I guess so. -
He sighed. Stood up and went upstairs.
He could have done it from here. But he needed to work with stereo on. Helped him think.
She went outside. There was some coldness to things now. She looked up and saw thick clouds. The rain that soon fell was chilling. With intense winds. The massive trees with their flexible barks moved like intensely dancing individuals. But they were merely moving to the rhythm of the powerful storm. Like subjects of Andrada forced to enjoy a broken tune.

It was dark and it rained intensely. She lied on her bed, reading a weird book about vampires living on Kazeron. Which was obviously ridiculous, but the story was that they were time travellers too.
It was… Very stupid. But the story still entangled her. That was until the main character died and was replaced with a younger more obnoxious character. A girl with long hair who kept yapping about her insecurities.
Very annoying.
She went outside. A member of her team was out there smoking and drinking beer. Watching the rain. It was dark, the night was almost upon them. She did not interrupt him his leisure time.
She watched a distant tree. A gathering of birds sat on it. They had an intense pink colour. They were very… Unnatural.
Darkness. Something was behind her. She turned around and nothing was there. She was thinking to herself. Layers upon layers of nonsense formulating an incomprehensive image.
Was that a sentence she already heard somewhere before?
- Leader? - The person drinking spoke to her.
- Yeah? -
- Do you ever want to go back? To Volturn that is. -
- Not really. -
- Can you tell me why? -
- Not necessarily. -
- Why? -
She looked at him for a moment. She was afraid She was taught to never complain. - Because I can’t. -
- Exactly. We are free here, aren’t we? -
- We are here free. I think? But it’s better not to talk about it. -
- Yes. Better not. - He paused. - Do you want to have… -
She measured him.
- Never mind. -
- What? -
- Nothing. -
She shrugged. Then went back inside.
There was some complexity going on in the forest outside her window.
Over there, on the other side of the ridge.
She pulled out her binoculars and started watching.
Large… Enormous… Human-shaped beasts were wrestling one another.
She was watching them. Then she felt tired. And went to sleep.
She woke up the next day. Staring at the ceiling. She went outside. Soldiers were waiting there for her.
- Mudskipper is parked at the docks. -
- Good to know. - She said.
They went as three. Her and two soldiers to a bay. A large pad surrounded by automated turrets. Three shield generators would formulate a perimeter in case something was going on in the background. The Mudskipper was being unpacked by several large robots walking on four legs. They were yellow and white. Clean. And then there was a bigger robot that was looking at the Mudskipper in search of damage. It was tall, floating and silver. Covered in scratches, it was old. And suspending itself on blue-blinding engines. It was quiet however. Very quiet. Uncannily quiet.
The soldiers and her were looking at the robots carrying boxes of food.
There were monkeys. In the trees. The soldiers waited for them to attack. But they didn’t. They just watched.
The boxes reached the camp. Automated turrets and shield generators created a defensive perimeter here too.
She imagined there would be one a day a scenario in which power goes off and they get stormed by a swarm of angry gorillas. And die all within hours.
But that will probably never happen.
She has literally never seen a power outage in her entire life. Not on Volturn, not on Nortia. Not even during her brief appearance on Umbra. It literally never happens.
Life support and other stuff is so important there are tons upon tons of redundancies protecting such systems from powering down and collapsing.
Ships on the other hand? Those things get exposed to so much crap there pretty much is no hope at keeping them alive constantly. So they are just triple layered in terms of protecting its crew. Or at least. She felt like that was the case?
Truth is that there is no saving yourself from a spam of ions coming from a High Tech vessel’s weaponry. Or that of a so-called Midline ship.
Best of both worlds, her old boyfriend told her. Before he tragically passed away… After being shot in the head. By his crewmate. On accident.
Or so she was told.
Something lurked in the back of her mind. It was made of cotton. A floating piece of clothing. Something she had a very long time ago. But it broke apart from usage. And she threw it out. And felt bad about it.
Something lurked out there behind the window. A bird. A tall bird the size of a human with a row of sharp teeth built into its beak.
A tall anteater with a swarm of knife-sharp claws.
A tree with poisonous thorns that could kill a human within minutes after exposure.
And bacteria that mutates DNA by injecting the host with obnoxious chemicals… To terraform them in preparation for massive growth.
They would have guests tomorrow.
A group of verifiers from Askonia. Elite.
High authority. They want to know whether everything is going according to our rest in peace great leader.
And the new one too. The one she did not care to learn the name of.
They were all the same to her.

She was outside. A singular trooper was assisting her. She was wearing a face mask that protected her eyes and lungs. There was a giant tree ahead of her. It was different. Covered in purplish growth. It was quite complex in its structure.
It was of a different species than all the other trees around her. She was trying to figure out whether it was the native lifeform around her. It grew more rapidly than Earth-analogues which was surprising. But it seems to have adapted their DNA to an extent. She investigated that yesterday. Finding out that specific thing about it.
The growth had unique structures. The fungus had walls, and specific internal workings. In fact it was only a fungus on the outside. Because on the inside was just… Several layers of some sort of a binding thing that was unlike anything. But the tree itself started growing semi-green leaves. The leaves were green, but only under specific light. If it became dark they became yellow-fluorescent.
The trees bark was slippery at some points, where the quasi-fungus lurked. And rough where it didn’t. It was confusing as to whether that was a parasite or some synergistic growth.
Typical fungus interact with the roots of plants. And that’s what she saw everywhere else. But these fungi seemed to act like a source of energy. But the tree didn’t weaken. Maybe it was a very long and painful death. But they just… They didn’t see it grow frail or lose anything at all. In fact it was growing slightly faster. But that could again be simply random. They would have to observe way more of these.
They weren’t carcinogenic and they were in fact working a bit against the microbial flora in the area. Reducing carcinogenic factors. But it was difficult to replicate. They still didn’t know how it reproduced. There were suggestions that it was asexual and just left around roots that grew into separate organisms. But when they tried that, the roots would just die.
There is a thought that it has flowers that only bloom during the quite distant from now season that will occur in two years. That would mean that the plant’s cycle would be quite long-term. Convoluted.
They had an event when they first arrived about that the entire atmosphere was swarming of spores of plants. They had to lock all the windows and stay inside for a month. The sky would literally turn purple and green. And everything would get covered within layers upon layers of littered plant matter.
She had to go back. They were here.
The Sindrian Diktat inspectors wore black and grey leather outfits with weird hats. They had masks that looked like skulls made of ceramic. They spoke in odd judgemental tones.
There were five of them. Three of them went to check the barracks. Two of them brought her to an empty room. And started questioning her.
- How many days a week do you spend in the field? -
- Three. - She answered spooked.
- How many books do you read a month? -
- Three. -
- How many calories do you consume a day. -
- Around seventeen-hundred. -
- How much sugar do you consume weekly? -
- I don’t know. -
- Rough estimate. - The other one standing in a dark corner asked.
- Well, I eat a few candy bars here and there. And they contain about one teaspoon. So maybe fifty grams? -
- How many hours a day do you spend talking to your cohorts? -
- One? Two at most? We try to make meetings during the weekend, but that usually doesn’t work out. Cause everyone just likes doing other stuff. -
He noted that down.
- Do soldiers speak to you? -
- Very rarely. -
- Good. -
The other one approached. - We will need to search your room. -
- Why? -
- We just do. -
- Okay. -
- Wait here. - He stood up.
The other one opened the doors and they both left. The room she was in was now empty and quiet.
And as she sat there her heart began to race in fear of them finding something that she didn’t want them to find. Hopefully no such thing will occur.
An hour passed. She didn’t have her TriPad on her, but she had a watch on her wrist. TriPad devices tend to power down quickly when in the wild. Better to have something like that instead.
The watch was mechanical. She didn’t know if it even needed batteries. It ticked and tocked. It wasn’t that expensive though. It was assembled on Sindria. Her old boyfriend gave it to her.
They came back.
One of them put a book on the metallic table in front of her. And then sat down. - What is this? -
- It’s a book. - She explained.
- Why does it contain so many fantastical elements? Are you trying to dissociate from your environment? -
- It has fantastical elements but it refers a lot to our reality. -
- How can something contain time-travelling vampires refer to our reality? Are you insane? - The Diktat investigator said.
- I am sorry. I just like it. It’s fun. -
- Fun? - The other one said. - You are not here to have fun. You are here to perform duties for your great Supreme Executor. Do you realise how much money you are being paid to investigate this place? -
- I’m sorry. It’s just that during leisure time I wanted to read something more fantastical. -
- So is it fantastical or does it refer to real life? -
- Both, I suppose. -
- How is that possible? -
- Well, it’s a long book. It says a lot of things. -
- Oh, it does now? - One of them said. She didn’t look up. They both sounded the same. Seemingly highly infuriated.
- We will confiscate this. It has no place within Andrada’s great plan. -
- I’m sorry. -
The Diktat officer in fact didn’t bother confiscating the book at all. He just pulled out his lighter and set it on fire and then tossed into the corner of the room to burn.
They both were looking at her. She didn’t know why. In absolute silence.
She was getting worried.
- We’ve got a report from the rest of the investigators. The group you are in charge seems to be… Lacking in performance. -
- They are? -
- Yes. You are behind on the established schedule. -
- The local flora seems to be acting a bit… Slow. We are entirely restricted by its reproductive cycle. We expect to have all the data we need in two years. -
- Two years? - One of them asked. - Two years!? - He screamed at her. And then slapped her in the face. - What do you expect to happen in two years? We don’t care about two years. Do you know how much money that is? Do you think you are here on vacation? You do? Do you? - He walked up to her, pulled her up and shoved her to the ground.
The other inspector patiently watched.
He pulled her up by her clothing and then started punching her in the face repeatedly. - Two years! That is a very interesting joke coming from you, you piece of filth. - He started choking her. Listening to her voice trying to beg. - You better hurry up. - He held her in place for a few moments before dropping her to the ground.
She was bleeding from her forehead. She seemed confused and scared.
She started crying.
- Thank you for your cooperation. The inspection is now concluded. - The other inspector said. Then opened the doors and said. - Come on, Rachel. I think she got the point. -
The other inspector joined him.
In a matter of minutes. All the inspectors left. And rejoined the Lion’s Guard ships waiting in orbit after a mere hour of flight. Then they went towards the jump-point. And left the system.
They’ll be back in a year.
She was in med bay. She asked for painkillers. She then asked for sleeping meds.
She was in a lot of pain. And she had bruises all over. One of her colleagues asked her what happened. She was a bit afraid to tell him. Knowing Lion’s Guard might retaliate if they find out she started spreading rumours about stuff like that happening. Not that they weren’t rumours. She had proof. On her face.
But that would make it even worse. I mean who would this go to? This place was owned pretty much by those guys. The soldiers around were theirs. If they heard that this is what their superiors do, they would just tell them that someone is spreading lies about them. And then they would come back and who knows what do to her? Execute her on the spot probably.
She just stared at the ceiling. The sleeping meds kicked in. She closed her eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

She was in the thick of trees.
Felt really bad about everything. Her head hurt.
Her face looked a bit red on the forehead. But no one noticed. She carried on collecting samples. She was gonna carry them to the laboratory. To continue analysis.
She walked over there. Back. The trees moving gently touched by the winds coming from all over.
There was a storm very far far away. It would pass them.
That’s what they predicted.
She sat down back in the cantina. Trying to forget.
Thinking to herself about things.
But eventually it did hit her. And she just couldn’t escape it.
What will she do now? They want her to hurry up, but all of this is biological work? She can’t observe the life cycle of old trees any faster. They are simply extremely slow. And there is nothing she could do about it.
She started crying. She was quiet about it though. She cried internally, covering her eyes from others so that they wouldn’t be able to see.
Then she got calm. But not really.
- Charles? What happened yesterday? - A colleague of hers asked her.
- The inspectors told me to hurry up. We are behind schedule apparently. -
- What do you mean „hurry up”? We are observing trees. Are we supposed to speed up their reproductive processes? -
- I don’t know. I don’t think they understand what we exactly do. They just want results. -
- But… There is literally nothing we can do. We can observe other organisms, and gather data on that. Find and map out the other trees. But the initial intent was slow observation. What is going on now? -
- I don’t know… -
- Hmph. -
- I should be on my way. -
- Charles? -
- What? -
- What exactly did they tell you? -
- They didn’t tell me anything… They beat me up. -
- They what? -
- They beat me up. One of them hit me in the head multiple times and then started choking me before being called off by their partner. But no one out there will help me. So don’t go spewing nonsense, because it’ll only get me shot. -
He stood there, frozen. - I’m sorry, Charles. I didn’t know… I… I thought you just went to medbay cause you had food poisoning or something. I… -
- I don’t know what to do. They’ll come back… They will see I didn’t magically produce results… They will then fire me. Or do something worse. -
- I’m sure we can figure out something, right? -
- Like what? -
- I don’t know… - He paused. - I really don’t know. -
They both just stood there in silence for a moment. He sat next to her. - You… Are going to be alright, right? I mean… Did they… - He noticed the bruises on her neck. - Why would they do something to you like that? -
- The previous inspectors were simply nice. These ones represent what Sindrian Diktat is truly about. I got lazy. I got careless. I got hopeful. They came to fix that. And they will come back next year to remind me of things that go around in here too. -
- They didn’t give you reasonable demands. There is nothing really you can do… At all. -
- Hm. -
- I’m wondering. It’s… - He noticed the wound on her forehead. Or rather… Took a closer look at it.
She stared at him with bug eyes. - I’m in horrible pain. Both physically and emotionally. I don’t think I’ll be able to handle it. And if I start taking meds… I’m not going to… The schedule. -
- But how can you accelerate any of this? We are literally just… Cursed to get lynched again, aren’t we? -
- We are. Definitely. - She was looking with dead eyes at the table. - It’s over. I’ll be dead soon. -
He wanted to comfort her, but he didn’t know what to tell her. She was just… Right.

Time passed. She would gather data. She would observe microorganisms.
She would walk around with soldiers, scientists. Instructing rookies. Gathering supplies. Observing the outside world. Pirates? From time to time would lurk in the system. Sindrian Diktat military would pop in and clear them out. Maybe they would be stationed here, but they never specifically appeared in this middle of nowhere station.
Twelve months passed.
They were here again.
Their ship landed. This time twelve inspectors lurked about.
She waited. Her breath shallow and in absolute fear.
She had data prepared. She had stuff ready.
She prayed it wouldn’t be the same people, but she can’t even tell them apart most of the time.
- Doctor DeBeers? - She recognised his voice. It was the same exact one. She was dead.
- Yes? - She said.
- We’ll be discussing your performance today. Are you ready? -
She wanted to scream. But she just nodded. Afraid to look them in the eyes. As they stood there in their ceremonial outfits.
They led her to that room again. The room she would never enter, because it reminded her of being punched… Beaten. It wasn’t a long memory. Nor it was that painful. But it was one of the few times in her life she felt… Violated. And it was too strong for her to deal with.
She in fact had nightmares about it from time to time. But today was the day those fears would actually… Rise to the absolute maximum.
But she kept her cool.
- We told you to accelerate data acquisition. Why haven’t you done that? -
- It’s impossible. We are entirely reliant on the local ecosystem. And its cycle is… Slow. -
- Excuses. - He said. It was the other one.
The one who beat her up last time called Rachel was just sitting there. Quietly. Looking at her. With wide-open eyes of a face hiding behind the ceramic mask.
- We’ve had your room searched. We are glad we didn’t find any… Hints of dissidence. It’s important you keep your spirit healthy for the task ahead. -
- I… I am glad. -
- We also accept that your report is not up to par. We understand not all of us are as blessed with intellect to perform their duties at peak levels. Nonetheless. You are doing your best. And that is all that matters in the Andrada’s great plan. -
- Oh… That’s good. - She murmured.
- My partner here will leave now. He needs to take care of something on the side. But I still have some questions for you. - He nodded to the other one.
He stood up and left through the door. The one in front of her then stood up and locked it with a key.
Her eyes stared at him in absolute fear. Why?
The inspector grew quiet.
He just stared at her. She was worried.
- Don’t. - She said. - Please. -
- Mhmmmmm… - He made an odd noise. - Don’t worry. You’re not going to remember any of this. -
- What? -
He pulled out something from his bag. Then he put on the table. - Take it. -
- What… What is it? -
- Just take it. -
- I don’t want to take it. -
- Okay, then I guess I’ll have to beat you into taking it. -
- I don’t… I’m sorry. - She picked it up. It was a pill. It was exactly what she thought it was. She wanted to beg, but she was afraid that would only encourage him.
She instead just started shaking.
Then she realised he was standing behind her.
- Come now. What are you waiting for? -
She just shook there in place. In complete fear. Frozen. He grabbed her, he forced her to take it. He forced her to swallow it. It was painful and she started bleeding because of his extremely strong grip. She started flailing her arms. In an attempt to grab his keys. In an attempt to hurt him. She was on the floor. Wailing. Screaming. Or at least trying to scream, but he covered her mouth. He was beating her into submission at some point. Until she finally grew quiet.
She lied there for a moment.
She was thinking to herself. Staring him in the eyes. The thing… Whatever it was was kicking in. She gave him a last hateful stare. And then she felt him almost gently taking her clothes off, as they were getting stuck to the coagulated blood cells. She had one last feeling of hate within her. And then she completely blacked out.
The worst thing was that she was still there. She didn’t fully lose consciousness. No. That was the beauty of the drug.
She still wailed and screamed. And fought and that made the act even more entertaining for the inspector. He tied her up with zip ties and then molested her extensively.
She was crying quietly… With duct tape on her mouth.
She was covered in blood… Naked… On the cold front. And she was looking at the strange customised with Lion’s Guard insignia TriPad device. As the inspector was taking pictures of her.
She couldn’t do anything…
She woke up the next day. She was in the medbay. Again.
She could barely speak or move. She just stared at the ceiling for a good couple of hours before falling asleep again. She woke up the next day.
She was sleeping for so long they had to give her nutrients through intravenous therapy. She literally fell into a three day coma. Whatever that guy gave her was almost lethal.
She saw him… Standing over her.
Her colleague. The one… Who talked to her so often before all of this. Assuring her that it’ll be alright. Even though it was not going to be alright.
- Charles? - He asked her when she finally woke up from her drug-induced state.
- I’m sorry, Thane. -
- Why are you sorry. It wasn’t your fault. -
- I should have… They didn’t care about anything… They just wanted me. They wanted to abuse me. -
- What did they do to do you? -
- They… They *** me. -
Thane just stood there in absolute shock.
- And everything hurts… I’ll be fine, but everything hurts. I need a… I don’t know if I can be of any help in the next few days. -
- Don’t worry about it. Just rest. -
- I can’t believe they would do that to me… I have… Spent ten years studying microbiology at the university of Son Bao on Volturn. For them to treat me like a… Some slum girl. - She paused to gather breath. - Who do they think they are? Why… And what? And who? I’m gonna get my revenge. Mark my words… They messed with the wrong biologist. -
He was just staring at her. Thinking to himself about what she was saying.
- And I’ll make them suffer. Ten times more the way they did make me suffer. And I don’t care if I’m gonna burn down this whole base. I don’t care if I’m going to destroy all my research. And I don’t care if I’ll end up dead after all this… I want… Revenge. And I will have it. -
He just… Listened to all that. Before saying. - Best of luck then. I’m all for it. -

They didn’t do anything to be honest.
They didn’t buy a gun from some black market representative or anyone with connections.
They didn’t assemble a bomb in their basement. She didn’t teach herself how to do self-defense or use a knife.
She just let it all… Carry on. Hoping that the next time they come maybe they won’t beat her up.
She was too tired.
She had too much stuff to do. The seasons soon broke out. And the trees started blooming. Flooding the place with greenery to the absolute most intent.
And she was watching all this through the window of a tall tower along her colleagues. Then they marched out and started gathering samples.
As they expected. The tree was releasing gendered pollen. And their complex flowers would only accept the pollen of another exact match of her species.
Then they produced seeds which were quickly sent into the atmosphere.
They were wondering what was the specifics of this. And they soon realised that the planet was triggered by magnetic field of a gas giant passing by. Why specifically that? What was all this about?
Or was that even the case necessarily or just a pure coincidence?
They had the tools to notice the fact that the plants were specifically reacting to the magnetic field.
The gas giant would pass extremely close to the planet. It wasn’t visible in the sky. Except as a somewhat potent dot. But it was still there. And its immense strength was extreme. The planet was however too heavy to be intercepted by it.
Being almost twice as big as Earth. Having a huge mass. But the distance from the centre made the gravity merely a dozen and a half percent stronger.
They figured it all out. She wrote a very complex report. And then sent it to Volturn.
She had received letters from other professors and even servicemen about how happy they were for her finally figuring out this maze of biological complexity.
And then they arrived.
The Lion’s Guard inspectors.
They noticed she was doing well. They gave her a medal. They clapped for her even.
And she just coldly nodded without looking them in the eyes.
Then they left.
She was actually shocked they left without beating her up or raping her. It was absolutely… Impossible to think of for her.
- Thane, they didn’t hurt me this time. I’m actually okay. -
- I’m glad. But they probably did that cause there were too many eyes looking at you. -
- Maybe. Or maybe something has changed internally and they don’t… Maybe they found another victim I guess. And they won’t torture me anymore. -
He nodded to her.
She had that thought.
For the next twelve months she was extending the camp. New personnel arrived. They were now setting up a logistical network to start farming in the local area to establish some sort of… Independence. In case connective lines were to collapse. The planet’s population in fact has increased by a factor of ten. There were ten thousand of them two years ago. But many people arrived from Volturn, Sindria and this place she hasn’t heard about before called Fameless. It was very far away and yet they came over here.
There were also people from the Luddic Church who have settled the deeper parts of the continent. Building monasteries in the mountains. They paid Sindrian Diktat a hefty sum to be left alone. Where did they get that money? She didn’t know.
There was also a second colony established in the system. The gas giant that would pass and trigger local wildlife with its magnetic field had a bunch of moons. And one of them was a temperate desert world devoid of water or a breathable atmosphere. It was decided to be made into a giant independent military base that would provide security for Ymir. The jungle planet she was on.
The Lion’s Guard gave them a surprise inspection as per protocol. They found drugs in one of the person’s quarters. They were antianxiety meds not granted to them by the Executor. And thus considered illegal.
The person, a girl of fairly young age was arrested and brought onto a ship.
She was…
She… Didn’t exactly…
- Thane… - She knocked on his door.
It was middle of the night. - What? -
- They took… Mildred. -
- Who did? -
- The Lion’s Guard took Mildred. -
- Why? What happened? -
- They came over in the night. They arrested her. She’s on their ship now. -
- We have to do something. -
- I know… But I don’t think we can do anything. -
She hailed the Lion’s Guard ship. It just simply ignored them.
Mildred was never seen again.
In fact she couldn’t even figure out if she was alive.
Half a year later she found out she was simply missing. She wasn’t in any jail. She wasn’t on Volturn, Sindria or even… Cruor. She was just… Gone. What did they do to her? Did they murder her?
She was cleaning up her room.
It was a mess. Not now. After all this time. Back then. She was in her room. And looking over all the stuff she had.
Pictures of her family, letters from her friends. She didn’t even take her phone or identification papers.
She was staring at those… She was looking at her bed.
They rarely talked but she now had her in her head.
The rest of her team didn’t seem to mind her being gone. She was a weirdo after all.
Charles had a theory she was autistic. Maybe it was what made her even more attractive to the Lion’s Guard. A lonely… Vulnerable girl. Crying for attention. Lacking in all social skills and barely hanging on. She would break easily. Like a rotten tree. Spilling easy to digest insides all over.
And they like thermites would feed on her.
And when they’re done with her. They’ll come for her again. Or someone else.
And there was nothing… Nor no one she could tell about this.
The servicemen were just there. But they were loyal to Andrada.
The mercenary outpost was far away and she was being listened on by agents. And they were tiny and reliant on Sindrian Diktat. The Church was very far away and they were isolated as heck. Not responding to any calls. It was a monastery like a prison. Holding people. They only meditated and lived life devoid of any responsibilities. Just eating and growing stuff in those weird mountains far away. Away from all the chaos of the Persean Sector.
That cliff now looked more inviting than ever.
- I don’t think I can take it anymore, Charles. This world is too cruel for me. Goodbye. - She noted down.
She exited through the window. She walked all the way to the edge of the cliff.
She stared at the landscape ahead of her.
- Leader? What are you doing here? - A soldier asked her.
She measured him with a disinterested gaze.
- You can’t be out here this late at night dressed only in pyjamas. You’ll catch a cold. Don’t you remember? You literally told me that a few months ago. -
She just stared at him.
- Everything alright? Sir? -
- They will come for me. -
- Hm? Sir. I think… Stay right where you are. -
- I’m scared. -
He walked up to her and grabbed her by the hand. - Leader, please step away from the cliff. I’m gonna take you to medbay. -
She did not protest.
When in there she was given medication for her mood. Soon she felt a bit dreary. The soldier was still there. Measuring her through his enclosed helmet. Then he walked out. Back to his post.
The doctor was looking her in the eyes. They were red from staring at screens.
His face expressed sadness. He knew what was going on. He was the one treating her after all.
- It’s gonna be okay, Charles. Just hang in there. Everything is going to be alright. Just stay with us. It’ll all pass. -
- Mildred. Do you know what happened to Mildred? -
The doctor did not respond. He just stared at her.
Then she lied down. She was very tired. She fell asleep.

The Lion’s Guard appeared next month. They did another surprise inspection. There were seven of them.
And they were walking around like ghouls in the night.
They searched the whole place for drugs. They searched the whole place for any material that could imply dissidence. They reapplied bugs on the network.
And they found her too.
The two people who tortured her. They were probably in that group of faceless monsters.
But none of them said anything. They just stared.
- I hate these people so much. - She said internally.
The Lion’s Guard disappeared onto the ship and ventured up.
She stood there. Staring at that small blink in the night sky.
The trees were all around.
Her colleagues shuddering in the cold.
- Charles? -
- Yes? -
- Nothing. Nothing at all. -
He nodded in agreement.
They worked for the next months on setting up the farming a bit better. They had colonies of fungi. They grew purple tomatoes. They had popcorn seeds. They even started growing chickens in the backyard. They were occasionally stolen by giant monkeys. But at some point they had managed to secure the perimeter and they no longer came around. In fear of strangely moving towers. Lurking with red beams of light revealed in mild fog caused by floating pollen. Which was growing less and less dense with every season.
The next breeding would be in six years.
Someone walked into her room. She thought it was Charles, but the face they wore was disfigured.
She rose up and stared.
- You know too much. - The person said.
Her mouth was covered before she could scream. She was held in place. Another person popped out from the shadows and tried to inject her with something. She fought back and knocked it out.
- That hard for you to do such a simple thing? - The inspector muttered to the other one.
- Hold her… -
- She’s strong. - He said.
The inspector walked back and picked up the syringe. She kicked the inspector who held her in the groin area. Then rose from her bed. And bashed the other one with the lamp on her desk.
He backed off a little. Then she started screaming very loudly. The two inspectors got spooked and ran out. They disappeared into the night. No one came to investigate what happened. No one at all.
She was confused.
Very confused.
- They came for me this night. - She explained.
- They did? Who did? - Charles asked. - Was there a surprise inspection? -
- Yes. They were in my room. - She showed him the broken lamp on the floor.
- This is getting idiotic. -
- Yeah. At this point… I don’t even care anymore. - She went to the servicemen. And explained them the situation. They led her to their higher up. A guy who lived in a tall tower far away. They had to drive her there.
She walked all the way to that tower. Alone. And when she was there, she drove up an elevator all the way to the top.
The person was there. In a large office. Large screens, loud machinery. A giant revolver lied on a shelf.
He watched the sky. The passing ships.
And then he turned his gaze towards her. Waiting for her to say something.
She stood there. - Lion’s Guard is molesting me. -
He seemed unimpressed. - What do you mean molesting you? -
- They *** me. And they have attempted to abduct me yesterday. -
He stood there in silence. His expression absolutely neutral. - Do you have any evidence of this? -
- Medical records. They bruised me. There were their DNA samples… Of them… On me… I was… -
- I see. I’ll check up on this tomorrow. -
- Thank you. -
The soldiers drove her back to the base.
The next day some people arrived and confiscated the records.
Nothing else happened. All the evidence there was of her being abused was now just gone. When she tried to contact that military operator guiding the local region. He just… Ignored her.
She wasn’t allowed in the area of the tall tower he was in.
No one would want to drive her there. And she didn’t own a car herself.
- I’m scared, Charles. - She said. - They’re going to come for me. -
- I’m… Maybe we should merge our rooms then. -
- Do you think that’ll stop them? -
- Maybe. -
She was now sleeping in the same room three of her other colleagues were in. She felt way safer. She would just venture to her previous room as an office. She had her bed removed from there and placed into the supply depot below the complex.
Lion’s Guard did not appear for the next… Year it would seem. They just vanished.
She was outside picking flowers.
Then she wasn’t.
She disappeared.
Thane was looking for her. She was gone.
He was looking very intently. He was questioning the soldiers. Until one of them finally broke and told him that she was taken by the Lion’s Guard.
He pulled apart the whole camp for resources. He paid one of the soldiers to drive him to the spaceport a three months wage. He appeared. He paid a large sum to a mercenary captain who was just staring at him confused.
And then they all went into space. Pursuing the Lion’s Guard fleet at break neck speeds.
They moved with their customised for Lion’s Guard Pegasus. A large ship with huge energy weapons. They had Shrikes and Furies escort it from the sides.
The mercenary fleet consisting out of just a few frigates caught up with them.
Charles started screaming at them through comms before a Lion’s Guard leader appeared on his screen.
- What? What is going on? What do you want? - He said. his face marked by a large scar on his cheek.
- Your people abducted our lead scientist. -
- My people? Do you mean the inspectors? -
- Yes. They took her. They *** her. And they beat her up. And they were planning to abduct her for some time now. She didn’t do anything wrong. She did everything… And they just took her for no reason. Please! Do something! -
The Lion’s Guard’s leader’s eyes narrowed. - Give me her name. -
- Charles DeBeers. -
- And she’s a female? -
- Yes. She’s tall. Has white hair dyed faint blue. Has pale skin. And is somewhat muscular. -
- I see. -
He was reached back an hour later. The fleet was just there. - Come on board. -
He was sceptical. But if he were to die with her in there, then he didn’t care anymore.
His shuttles led him to the massive Pegasus capital ship.
Its internal structure was confusing and filled with parts that seemed unnecessary. The large flag of the Sindrian Diktat stood in the hangar bay. Many of them in fact. With intense white lighting blinding him as if in an attempt to reinforce his spirit through a migraine.
The soldiers of the Lion’s Guard were sparse. They looked bitter and miserable. With faces being stuck in a permanent scowl if not just plain passivity.
He was led by a large soldier wearing a phase suit. His massive posture was that of a colossal entity. As he stood taller than even a heavy power armour wearing Hegemony trooper. His face was covered with a glowing red mask. Giving him an appearance of a machine-like golem. He swore he could hear him… Or whoever was inside. Cackling maniacally as they were going through the ship.
He entered a large room.
The leader of the fleet was sitting on a chair with four people around him.
Charles was there. She sat on a couch. Eating a sandwich. Her face was just… In shock.
- Are these the men that hurt you, Charles? - The Lion’s Guard leader asked.
- I never saw their faces. I only heard their voices. -
- I see. Well, then would you kindly recite something to me. You two? -
The first one of them spoke. - We sincerely apologise for this misunderstanding. - Said the first one.
- That’s the one that *** me. -
- Okay. Now you. -
- I am very sorry for what I have done. And I promise not to ever do it again. -
- And that’s the one that beat me up. -
- I see. Mr Donevsky. - He spoke to the phase ship trooper. - Would you kindly execute inspector Hail for me? -
The inspector looked at the phase ship trooper who appeared next to him and snapped his neck.
The other inspector didn’t even flinch.
Inspector Hail was now lying on the ground. Twitching a little. Dying slowly as blood no longer reached his brain.
- Thank you. Charles. Go with your friend here. We are done. These men will no longer bother you. -
- Thank you, Admiral. - She stood up. With the sandwich still in her hand. Then walked up to Thane. Then paused. - The higher up on the planet burned down evidence of them torturing me. By the way. -
- Who was he? - The admiral asked with a neutral tone. The dead man lying near him with the phase trooper looking at like a man-shaped avian. With their head rapidly shifting its angle.
- Major Agrael Darkenor. -
- Darkenor. Yeah. I know him. He’s a piece of trash. Sorry, outside my jurisdiction. -
- You have a jurisdiction? I thought your will was absolute. -
- It’s complicated. -
- Well. Thank you. -
He just stared at her with empty eyes.
- We’ll be on our way now. -
They went back to the hangar. They weren’t escorted this time. The phase trooper stayed behind.
- I didn’t expect that. -
- Me neither. -
- I guess he cared more about the integrity of the Lion’s Guard than some crooks he hired. -
- Apparently. -
They got back to the hangar. The shuttle with the mercenary captain looking nervously was waiting for them.
- Can we go now? - He asked.
- Sure. - She uttered with a dead tone. - Take us home. -

Chapter Text

So many years have passed
And yet no end in sight
So many dark nights have gone and went
And yet the light never arrives
The rings, they shine in the white star's brightness
But they all feel so hollow to me
As if I am looking into a mirror, and seeing only a shade of myself
Being cast on a wall painted with frescos of bitter fruit
My presence trying to stand out in the atmosphere of common despair
As if my sorrow were unique in that swarm of so many constantly bewildered souls
The Collapse was an end to another end
It was a second chapter of our common nightmare
When it arrived the mines didn't stop. They carried on their tasks. Completely ignorant of the fact that it was the conclusion of the world as we knew it.
Not me. I wasn't there. I never knew that, I heard of it. And I heard it was just the same as the time that was now. The rich remained the rich. The powerful stayed in power more often than not.
- Station 12, the cargo has been delivered. You are now permitted to conclude your shift. -
- Thank you. - He said. Stood up.
Turned off the lights and went to his ground vehicle. A pulsing drive pushed around the light gravity moon a ship that looked like some work of art in its impractical almost symmetry. Which went not as a horizontal axis. But as a vertical one. With one half of the vehicle being a display of shielded circuitry. And the other one of smooth surfaces where the passengers were.
A typical style of High Tech vessels. Needless complexity.
- The weather will be... Twenty-nine degrees Celsius. For you weirdos out there, that's 84.2 Fahrenheit. Or 302 Kelvin. I know there is at least one egghead who cares about the most latter one. That's because he has been under the ocean floor for their entire life. And only came out recently, because they were running out of vitamin D supplements. -
He was passing trees. They grew tall and angry. With their leaves creating a thick cover. The sun barely reaching the surface. It was yellow. The most friendly of colours. The most human. He remembered that ghastly white light of Eochu Bres. He wishes to go back there soon. Meet a girl maybe. Hang out in bars. Watch some movies. New releases. Maybe hire some artist to make some paintings for him. What kind of paintings? That's a bit complicated.
He had to pause though. That thought. As the road ahead of him grew a bit complex. The swamps were moving with alligators. They were as large as cars. Part of the ecosystem here. Not necessarily an intended product. But a useful one nonetheless.
He drove in a way as to not annoy them too much. Passing a group of flightless birds at some point. Brown and screeching like furious demons of someone's nightmares.
They imitated the sound of crying babies when given the chance.
Or machinery. Or falling spaceships. The last one was the most haunting.
But they all played at once at a certain time. In his head for long as well.
It was a bit of a thing
That never really passed
Endless and colourful
Nauseating to a degree
A plethora of vomit on a freshly waxed floor
An eye of red, pure red, staring at him in confusion
As much as a machine could be confused
In all its logic and glory
Eternally resting within its anxious mind
Building bridges to lands that do not exist
Hallucinations of the most vivid convulsion
A sickness a human mind will never see
It is eternally unyielding
Eternally blind
Which is what saves it from despair
A thing that tends to touch our sight
The camp was run tightly. A few ships parked in a defensive circle around tents. Mostly plastic, where it made sense they were of fabric. Where it made sense they were made of metal.
He called them tents due to their nature. They could be shifted around to form alignments that were quite long and wide. They were not prefab. No. They were a nightmare.
They moved around like roots of a malicious tree. That burrowed under the concrete and pushed aside all the pavement for itself.
That was what they were. That is what they had to be, to survive. They learned from them.
From the trees. Like a child brought up in a world without care. It itself became a monster.
- Station 12? - Someone paused him.
- Yeah? Some complaints? -
- Not at all. I wanted to say that I am very glad that you have managed to... Continue our operations unimpeded. -
- I sense no irony here. -
- Why would there be? - The Tri-Tachyon agent measured him with a confused gaze.
- I don't know. I'm not used to being complemented. -
- That is strange. But that might explain why you're so good at your job. You take it very seriously. I guess. -
- We'll never know. - He looked around. Thinking to himself. - Things shine the way they do. And they spin the way they do. We do our part. We work forward. And things turn until we become obsolete. And like cogs, replaced. For a liquid structure. That adapts more fearfully than any object we know. For the order itself splits into parts that never rot. They go and go. They turn like madness of a Luddic swordsman that carries on the word of annihilation. -
- That is very interesting. - The Tri-Tachyon operative responded in a neutral tone.
- Yeah. Anyway, what are we eating today? -
- We hunted ourselves an alligator. We have some organic soda. A bunch of vegetables. All perfectly sterilised as to not give anyone diarrhoea like last time. -
- I'm happy to hear that. Any alcoholic beverages planned? -
- Not necessarily. There might be some... Movement soon. And we want to keep everyone on alert. -
- What exactly are we expecting? -
- Pirates. -
- Great. I was- - He stopped himself from continuing. - That is worrying. -
The Tri-Tachyon operative nodded in silence. And then walked away disappearing into the shadow of the "tent".

He remembered the slums of Eochu Bres where he was born.
Strange streets that took odd turns. Going around and around the tall obelisks erected by the crazed Tri-Tachyon executives and their manmade gods.
He remembered well the dirt, the smell, the rot.
All of it. He felt like it needed to be cleansed with fire. But if he did that. There would be nothing left.
And there could never be anything more. There was always that or nothing.
The cold void waited behind the mountains. The rain sure was there. Cosy and delicious. His tongue begging for it. As dehydration tended to be a thing. With so much work to be done to earn a salary not worth a cat with dementia. Things just spun. Endlessly. Pointlessly. Needlessly.
Like those figments of High Tech.
A Fury. The strangest of ships to him.
Its shape, so odd. Its shield generators blistering in the sun.
An Onslaught was even weirder to him though. Its shape awakened some primal fear. As if it were a head of a great god that were to one day return. And rule the world like a pharaoh. Perhaps that was what the Domain was.
This is why he preferred Tri-Tachyon. They were always too stupid to become infinity. Their pettiness defined them. And in the end. It protected them from merging into one fearful thing that enforced rules against all.
The machines were meant to be that. But oh well, that never real got anywhere, did it?
The pirates were a threat.
They were soon above us all
They were the many that could never accept to live within the clocks
It was so easy to become a rogue
So easy to wield a weapon against the common cause
The Few angry and miserable grew soon as numerous as the stars in the sky
The machinery could be endlessly replicated
Easily, by all
All stolen from under the noses of those that believed in themselves more than they did in the ground beneath their feet
And so they were here
Many and few
Tall and wide
Strong like an alligator with no hide but eyes that saw beyond the cold that was all that there was in the darkness that divided us

He was tasked to serve on a Fury. As that was all he really knew about spaceships.
The ship dashed forth but its internal construction existed in a sort of permitted state. It moved all with that all and then it slowly retracted. A liquid was all aboot in that complexity.
Or at least that was how he understood it. Perhaps it was a wholly wrong interpretation altogether.
His officer was a strange-looking woman. It was as if no soul existed behind her eyes.
And his crew were mostly odd-smelling people. Retired pirates? Cheap workers? Mercenaries who were never good at their job?
There were a few Furies. A singular Aurora led them.
Phase ships were from time to time completely invisible physically. But they were still on the screen.
An anchor glistened in nothingness.
There was one odd one. It was certain that it was just some independent moron that had decided to help out.
The pirates were many. Very many.
Too many.
Low Tech garbage. Midline spear. A singular stolen Hyperion.
They hit them like a wave. They tore down all that made sense.
They split up and stared chewing at the sides. He saw on the screen. As it all occurred across hundreds of thousands of kilometres far far above the planet. So much so that it appeared like a dot behind the invisible window.
An Afflictor dashed. It began to mutter something. The giant garbage truck fired with two large cannons. They lit up the empty space.
And as it was malfunctioning as an entity. Then a Fury and a Shrike appeared and ripped it to pieces in what would seem seconds. And then it blew up. Swallowing its crew in nuclear fire.
How many souls were at that moment spared from their own existence?
It was so worrying to him. His eyes were asking questions. But his mind tried to be silent.
He was shouted at by some fat idiot. Before he was electrocuted by randomly malfunctioning machinery. He tried to check up on him. But he was immediately pushed to work on fixing a slightly damaged circuitry that was responsible for coordinating the shield generator by someone else.
He moved like that there, from side to side. For hours. And then days.
Sweating, his fingers no longer aching. Being numb. And then.
It was over.
Not in a good way.
The ship started running back to the planet itself.
It violently entered atmosphere and then crashed into a lake. It drifted upwards. Appearing again on the surface. And then swam like a wounded animal to the shore.
They were evacuated. Minutes later the ship exploded. Setting on fire the entire land around. But a few hours later a rain so thick fell that it all became a memory.
He saw the officer that piloted them for a split-second. She looked concerned. Barely.
He never saw her again. They were back at camp.
He was one of the few people that made it out alive.
And slept for a good twelve hours. Waking up to mysterious figures swarming the camp.
They were here.
- I didn't expect us to lose. To be fair. - He heard a sentence being muttered in his mind.
For he was alone there, truly. Everyone ran away. Into the jungle? They will not live for long.
A pirate entered his room. He could not see his face. It was hidden behind a black visor. The pirate was screaming and shouting. Throwing everything around like a hurricane.
He did not dare to oppose that man, for he was armed. Wearing a power armour as well. Or at least parts of it where it mattered. The rest being filled with something that did not make much sense to him. And he waved around a gun that looked more like cane than anything. And it was a cane. Covered in blood at its tip.
He left the tent. He exited his room.
He was alone again.
The pirates left.
He was thinking to himself. In all that time he never really came face to face with danger that close. Human that is.
The strangest thing was that he was still alive. He started cleaning up the place. Gathering whatever seemed broken onto a pile. And whatever that did not seem broken onto another pile.
There was still enough food left for months. The depot was not as pillaged as much as he expected it to be.
All the weapons were gone. So no more fresh food from hunting the great lizards into extinction.
Presumably. Though unlikely with them only being a few thousand out here.
- Where is the rest of the command? - He was asked at some point by one of the survivors.
- I don't know. - He shrugged in return.
- So who's in charge? -
- I don't know. - He shook his head.
- Should we call the higher ups and tell them what happened? - Another person asked.
- Haven't we done that already? -
Four people waited for an answer. Uncertain.
Including him.
- I suppose not. - He finally uttered.
They tasked him with doing that. Considering he was a communications specialist.
He sent out an information. And a few hours later got a response from some military guy.
A Tri-Tachyon fleet arrived a few days later. It was obviously not Tri-Tachyon. Just a swarm of angry-looking mercenaries.
The group that landed near their camp was led by a guy who seemed to have their entire face ripped out during some sort of an explosion. And then replaced with the cheapest non-polluting material he could find.
He spoke in a tone barely audible. And then his second-in-command explained softly. - We're leaving. No sense staying out here. -
- Can I ask about... Why? - He uttered.
- Most of you got wiped out. If not abducted for ransom. We can't sustain this place. Not for a price that wouldn't outweigh the long-term gains. -
- I see. Will this affect my salary? -
- Uhhhhhhh... - The mercenary seemed confused. He spoke something to his superior. Who muttered something unintelligible in return. - I don't know. -
The fleet soon gathered all the survivors. He got a cabin he shared with five other people.
Most of them scientists who managed to hide in time. Most workers were presumably dead.
How many exactly made it out alive? He did not know.
Why was he spared?
Did that pirate think he was dead? Or was he too intoxicated to tell?
Intoxicated with victory.
Or maybe his mind made that whole situation up? Maybe there was no pirate. Maybe it was all just a dream produced by several days of deathly labour.
He was thinking to himself.
Thinking to himself extensively.
And then it all vanished.
Vanished like a dream
For the nth time, it pushed forth
Into nothingness
Yes. That beautiful bliss

The work on the ship was something that was not given to him.
He instead was made to just rest. Wait. Talk with people.
The ship he flew on was an Omen. The walls were quite thin. Relying on a plasma shield that perpetually generated. The generator in the middle was large in comparison to the rest of the ship. The shape sprawled into all directions with some nonsense to it. But it was generally nice to walk around. A sort of a building plan that made all places accessible in a matter of seconds. He was reassigned here after some time.
Initially occupying the inside of a Heron. As he later learned. Then being moved here.
There was a few other people from the colony. But no the section he operated in.
They were from the north. The colder one.
And they looked at him with eyes that said nothing. As they had nothing to say.
- You were all the way down there. In the tropical area, weren’t you? -
- I was. Why? -
- That place was useless. Completely. Why would Tri-Tachyon invest into local food production when in the end all can be imported. -
- Cause it tastes better in the end. Good farmland also takes time to be created. So we started as soon as possible with that. Too bad it all went to hell. One reason to perhaps come back. -
- Not likely. The pirates came over and carpet bombed some of the installations. Making some… Compounds embed themselves in the delicate soil. The greenery will ingest it. Spread it around. And there is nothing we could have done. Not with such a… Symbolic investment. If you ask me. - The scientist looked to the side. As if in worry that someone might be listening.
- I don’t know. Sounds a bit far-fetched. Why would AM warheads leave pollution. The process is completely matter to energy. One-hundred percent. What is left there to pollute? The casing? -
The man wondered. And then did not answer at all.
- You never told us our name. -
- I don’t really like it. So I don’t share it. -
- That’s not really something that makes much sense, does it? -
- Why would it? -
- A fair point. -
The travel took long. They were being hauled all the way to Hybrasil. In a matter of weeks they arrived on Eochu Bres. And when he unpacked there he walked the panel. That was there in the rain. The gentle clouds passed them above. The climate so gentle and docile. Soon to be even more. As the atmosphere saturated with carbon dioxide. It grew more and more predictable.
There was a bar below. Blue and black. And as he went there, the typical sight of uncreative art and ways that went towards all directions welcomed him. The bar was almost empty. As it was very late at night. But it was still open. As it was the port after all.
He ordered a beer. And drank.
It was good. Or something. Not really anything unique. And the price was high. Because of course. Not that it mattered to him in this state.
The barman was a figure. Shade. Of sorts.
He had no eyes. Just a pale white face. Staring at him with eyes not present there.
Nothing supernatural about it.
He went home, he felt weird. When he was there, the doors responded to him. They opened. Everything was the same way it ever was. Clean. Quiet. Barren.
He lied down. The sun was rising behind the horizon. Somewhere out there.
To be here one day. Yes. Very… Very. Soon.
- The darkness speaks words that make sense in the mind of that mind that filled itself with putrid hatred so consistent with the matter that can be found inside the black hole that is despair. For we find ourselves often reaching out to reach into the heart that lies there. And what we only find is our own feelings. The unresolved past. Like a light, it shines. But the light is black. Not of any enlightenment. Just black. And it goes on and on. - His mind whispered. - On and on. Forever. Bitter. Meaningless. Fortitude of appearance. As it all had gone and black. -
The next day he was still asleep. But walking around.
And his boss measured him with eyes that did not say anything. He kept speaking. Words. - Time. Cloth. Cloak. Time. Cloak. Cloth. Cloth. Cloak. Money. Income. Capital. Ships. Cloak. Time. Cloth. -
He nodded in agreement.
- Time. Cloak. Cloth. Time. Time. Cloth. Cloak. -
He continued to nod.
- Cloak. Cloth. Time. And so on. Do you understand? -
- Absolutely sir. Time. Cloak. Cloth. Time. -
- Exactly. - The executive’s eyes lit up. He smiled.
He went on a shuttle. That shuttle took him up. He was at some ship. The ship then floated forward. All the way out there. It landed on some distant moon. The gas giant was here. In Eochu Bres. It wasn’t the one you’re thinking of. Some other one hiding somewhere out there.
The moon was cold. There was no sun. Just black darkness. Eternal one.
But the stars in the sky were nice. And the shine of equipment was so relaxing to him.
- If it were all a dream, you wouldn’t care. In the end the whole life is like that. Without consequence. Ain’t it? -
And so he worked. Assembled. And then he communicated. Gave orders. Gave data. Things moved around. A Paragon would float around from time to time.
In his room. There was a figure.
Its eyes blinked blue and green. A machine of sorts was there. Behind him. Watching every move he made.
What it was? Why it was there? He’ll never know.
Things spun.
And then pirates arrived. He was wondering if this was the end. And then all the pirates were vaporised by a Doom & Friends waiting in the gas giant’s atmosphere. They were expecting them. They were mercenaries. They landed on the moon to relax after taking the life of so many few.
And they were like phantoms. All deranged and barely speaking. And if speaking. Saying things that were… Different to that which he knew.
- There was that one who did not arrest the other one. And we came over to send that message to them. But they were not here. -

The mess hall was tiring. The light that shined upon him was almost orange. This rod that went all over the ceiling in a circular pattern. Creating this field above his head.
There weren’t many people there. All of them looking quite grim.
They were from Tri-Tachyon. Yes.
And they were all tasked to do stuff around this cold miserable planet on the other side. As if in the afterlife.
- There were these things that occurred, when I look into hyperspace readings from the arriving scout shuttles. -
- And they are? -
- Inconsistent. As if aphysical. Amathematical. Ask me what that means. -
- Okay? What does it mean? -
- It means it’s not consistent. -
- I don’t know. Physics aren’t meant to be necessarily consistent. Wasn’t that like a theory about everything? The immeasurability of the position of an entity? -
- Never mind. It’s just that. There is a whole dimension out of there we lack understanding of. How did the Domain manage to patrol it so is confounding to me. -
- Confounding? -
- Yeah. -
They finished eating and left.
He soon did too.
Watching space. He did that. He did that for long. Day. Two. Three. A month. A month and a week. Two months. Three months. Half a year. It was all so long and nauseating. He remembered nothing. Every day a complete monotonous depressing slog.
The face of the gas giant staring at him like a laughing god.
He was angry with it. Angry with the universe for the fate bestowed upon him. That jungle was so nice and the food there was really good.
Here everything tasted like garbage.
- I don’t really remember anything at all. Just a bunch of noise. -
- Might want to talk to the shrike about this. -
- Do you mean shrink? -
- Yeah, sure. Whatever. -
He stood up. Ordered some alcohol. As tomorrow he had a day off.
And started drinking. Then he wandered the corridors. All the way to the observation area. The plains. Empty and barren were all the way out there towards the short horizon.
What a place to be.
He tried to find with his eyes the position of the gas giant. But he could not. Not the one they were orbiting. But the other one. Or the other other one.
Culann was visible from here. He could see it. Barely. But it was obstructing the almost dead star with its presence. The stability of Hybrasil’s primary being what it was.
He was sitting. Crying soon enough. And then being silent again.
- You are here often. Aren’t you? - A figure stood next to him. It appeared real.
- I am. Why do you ask? -
- Because you sure are looking lonely. Constantly. Wandering around. -
- I am. -
- And without anyone really to talk to. Such a shame. Isn’t it? -
He watched the eyes of the invisible figure. It was as if darkness stepped down to meet him.
- I know how it feels though. - It sat next to him. - To be in this universe like that. They don’t really care, don’t they? As long as ships fly and forges make. What else is there? Really? Except profit? -
- Godhood. -
- Unattainable if you ask me. -
- I know, but pursuing it is what they do. Always. They strive to be machinery. Right? Not seeing that they are no longer the ones who are immortal. But something else. Something that came from their… Delusions. -
- A cyborg is as much an extension of a person… As a dream is of one’s mind. A distorted one. Very much. -
- I don’t get it. - He answered.
- Well, it was stupid of me to say. What dialogue are we engaging in anyway. Go to bed, would you? No reason to hang around here and suffer. I know you are tired. You have the right to that. -
- That I know. But I don’t want to. - He stood up.
The shadowy figure wasn’t there. He walked back to his cabin. But was stopped on the way there by an alarm. It was silent at first but then it grew loud.
A fire.
He sighed.
He had to go downstairs. He had to dress up. Then he had to carry a giant snake all through the base. And start pouring foam on some random battery in the middle of nowhere.
It took him four freaking hours. And there were a bunch of other people there.
The base’s director patted him on the back expressing gratitude. And then they all dispersed like photons.
He went back to his room. He lied down. His mind feeling odd.
Then he took a shower. His clothes lying in the corner.
He thought to himself. Deeply.
And then another alarm was raised.
This one red. Very sudden.
They were being attacked.
How surprising.
He grabbed a gun from his desk. He dressed up. Had a mild energy dispersing vest. Ran onto the corridor. He was to group up with everyone else. Somewhere out there.
He realised what that was. A distraction.
And then as it turned out, someone infiltrated the facility and shut down the ground batteries.
They were now exposed.
A small mercenary fleet arrived. It was just a bunch of frigates and a singular destroyer.
They were all mopped.
Something was out there. Pirates?
No visual contact. But then a shuttle landed and deposited some strike force that moved around the wasteland on bikes. The first observation base was soon on fire. They were on their way here. And there were like three dozen of them.
They waited by the door. These doors were breached and dark figures entered the room. They were being shot at from all sides with energy weapons. Some of them fell down. Set on fire.
Most of them didn’t. And they fired with large weapons. Miniguns. Rocket rifles.
Etc.
A lot of people died at that moment. And he felt like he was going to be among them. But he was shot in the leg and that whole thing was ripped from his body. He lied down there, bleeding to the death slowly. Or rapidly, to be frank. He looked up and saw.
The orange phoenix.
The Hegemony soldier turned his head like death. Staring him in the eyes through his black visor. And he looked back at him.
- You know what I am? -
- I do. -
- This is not your lucky day, you know that? -
He laughed. - I can tell. - He was left alone. He tried to stop the bleeding, but he could not.
The complex was soon on fire. He felt the heat arriving from behind him.
It was comfortable. He did not live long enough to be sat aflame. As his mind faded away.
And then it was over. Surprisingly enough.
What else could be said?

He woke up the next day.
And then continued his work.
Another six months passed. Then he talked to someone. No one of importance.
Another six months did. And he was on a shuttle. The shuttle ported a weird-looking ship. In the dark it looked like nothing, but once he was on it. He recognised it was an Omen by the tight nonsensical corridors. His captain would walk around the ship in full armour. As if expecting to get bit by a cobra on the way to the toilet.
- You are, the guy… Right? - The captain asked him in a very confused voice.
- Yes. I’m the guy. -
- Good. You look… Younger than I imagined. -
- How old did you expect me to be? Sixty? -
- Thirty. -
- I am thirty. -
- You are? -
- Yeah. I’m twenty-five. -
- That’s not thirty. That’s your mid twenties. -
- Figures. -
The ship went all the way back to Eochu Bres and dumped him on some pad in the middle of nowhere. He took a train back to the main city. And soon was in the black-brown slums that were the entirety of it. Except the one gigantic tower that stood among it all. As an arcological nightmare that executives pretended was luxury with all its fakeness and stupidity. 
He was drinking beer in a bar. With his salary materialised like a ghost of Christmas past.
When he was there, he hired an escort.
It was a slightly older than him woman wearing clothes inspired by a quite ancient culture referred to as anime. With pink hair and knee-high stockings.
She was quite an intellectual. Ironically enough.
Instead of really doing anything sexual with her. He just talked to her about life. Knowing full well that with his perpetual cycle of self-isolation and depressive episodes, he would never really get to talk to anyone unless he paid them to talk to him.
- I wasn’t really like this. All the goddamn time. - She explained in a bored tone. Staring out through his window at the street below. The rain pouring from above. As lights shined from some dumb installation onto another one. - You know I have an education in like programming… But after completing one job. And then another job. They fed all my work to like a gamma core level AI. And it just… Replaced me. -
- You never found a different job? -
- I was a video game developer. Still am. But less. -
- And was that any good? -
- No. Long working hours. Overlords that couldn’t care less about you. And all artistic talent is usually spent pandering towards an audience of braindead idiots who care more about bombastic display than actual intrigue. -
- Hm. Where have I heard that before. -
- The holovid entertainment industry? -
- No. On the contrary. I’ve heard the indie scene there is quite healthy. -
- The issue with hologames is that the entire industry is owned by one giant Tri-Tachyon subdivision that doesn’t care about anything. You can program for the Luddic Church audience. But they use some dated code I never figured out to make stuff for computers that are more decrepit than… Never mind. -
- That is… Vivid. What games did you work on? -
- Generic guy holds a gun on box art and makes an angry face. And generic cutesy video game made for manchildren number four-hundred-seventy-seven. -
- Makes sense. Do you play video games yourself? -
- No. They’re all designed to be time-sinks by legions of psychologists. They’re designed to be as addictive as cocaine. And have more microtransactions than the healthcare system. -
- Hm. -
- At least I have earned enough money to go through all… This. -
- What? -
- I mean… Never mind. -
- Do you mean… Like… -
- Being a woman. -
- Yeah. It’s an odd thing. But relatively inexpensive on Eochu Bres. I assume. -
She stared at the window in quiet expression.
- It’s an odd feeling. Isn’t it? - He asked her.
- What is? -
- Being here. On this planet and talking to people. I have spent two years on a distant amoon somewhere out there. And another half on some jungle world. Cooped up in some radio shack. Barely talking to anyone. Having an honest conversation like this. It’s a luxury. -
- And you paid me for it. -
- I know. And I reckon I’ll never see you again. - He paused. -It’s shocking to me. How people used to live. Did they actually talk with each other on a regular basis? Instead of staring at screens? I read about that. That’s what Luddic Church wants back, right? They don’t care about any of this technology or prophecy. They want to have social interactions again. They want to live normal lives the way it was done thousands of years ago. -
She measured him with a neutral look. Thinking to herself.
- I’m sorry. What I’m saying is probably really negative and all. -
- Yeah. A tiny bit. -
He looked her in the eyes for a few good moments before finally saying something. - I’m not sure if I want to have an encounter with you. Perhaps some other time. But I would like you to sleep next to me. If you don’t mind. It’d be nice to feel like someone is out there somewhere. And it’s not just me. -
- What do you mean? -
- When you spend as much time alone as I do. You start thinking like the whole universe disappears when you blink or close your eyes. -
- Hm. - She answered.
The night was empty after that. He made her and himself tea. Then they lied in bed. She next to him. Thinking to herself. He to himself.
Time passed. Nothing else occurred.
The next morning he woke up.
They said goodbye to each other.
And that was it. He soon realised she send her an invite to being friends some TriPad app that seemed to steal all his personal information.

Chapter Text

Those words, engraved into his mind. Like a broken code, repeating endlessly. Consuming RAM. He thought to himself of things. And things thought of him too. Things too.
And in his anxiety-driven state, he stared beyond the screen. Oh, dear god. How many more light years. How many more passages? Those pirates. The many of them. Annoying. In their presence. Extremely horrible in all ways imaginable. Their swarms. Their groups. Them spending their time lurking in the dark of the beyond the Core Worlds.
Their fleets moving like plankton around these carcass-like structures. Obnoxious in their design. Yes. Absolutely so. How very annoying.
Constant spinning. Dust. Cosmos. Food that tasted like nothing.
And all of it. All of it stacking on top of each other. As he imagined or was shown on those screens. The lives of those rich on Kazeron, and that other place. That water planet. With movies and a king. What even was that? Why was that? Do these people have nothing better to do than play theatre?
He ate and he thought. He was talking to his subordinate.
- So, uh… What's the plan now? After we complete this mission, we are still going to need to gather payment for the uhhhhh… Other thing. -
- Yeah, I am aware. I am very much aware. As I am also aware of the fact that we are completely screwed. -
- So, what do we do? -
- We go to Kanta. And we ask her lackey about getting us another month. So we can pay off our space debt. After we lost our ships. To a guy who called himself a Knight. But he was not of Luddic Church ironically enough. -
- Or we run away. -
- We can't run away from Kanta. She'll just send a fleet to kill us all. Slowly. -
- I see. -
They moved around. And then they went back. When they were back, the magical station called Kanta's Den hanged in the vast asteroid belt slowly devoured by the Magec's blue giant.
Its enormous face shining with furious intensity. Its fuel burning rapidly, outgrowing any object in relatively far vicinity. Its majesty so blinding. Like the beauty of a lady or a sire who stared with eyes arrogant and judgemental at his subjects. Before ordering one of them to disappear. By beheading. Or hanging…
So it was there. Eating. The sun.
And when he was at the Kanta's Den. He was welcomed by a tall, angry man. Who talked in a language he could not understand. Shouting and screaming at something in the distance, he saw him. Apologised for being loud. And then disappeared into the bathroom nearby.
He continued on. Escorted by his crew towards the… Subordinate area.
And when he was there he finally found the man responsible for his existence. As it always was. The Domain, the Hegemony, and now the pirates. Well, he wasn't alive under the Domain. But he assumed that would be the case.
- Yeah? What is it? Oh! It's you, good to see you, man. You got my money? -
- No. -
- Oh, that's a bad choice then. Why not? -
- It's a list of bad choices. -
- Well, what am I supposed to do now? I already took your quarters. Should I take your crew instead? Or maybe one of your last pieces of junks you call ships? I guess either either, both are equally worthless. -
- Then just let me go. - He said with complete seriousness. - If you don't need me. And you always give me missions that are supposed to be just a joke. And you barely pay me. Then maybe you should just give up. -
The pirate laughed, a singular sound. - Heh. - Threateningly to some extent. - That is rich, coming from you. Like… Do you expect me… To like… What? Let you go? -
- No. -
- Then why did you ask? -
- Because I don't care. -
- Heh. - This time it was less threatening and more… Being threatened. As if he just realised he was locked inside a room with a ticking time bomb.
The captain of a semi-independent ship just measured him however. Waiting for a response.
- Eh, whatever, man. Come back in like a month or something. -
- What? -
- Just get out of here. - He said.
He looked at his crew mate. Her eyes measuring him in confusion just as rich as his.
„It's a trap”. He thought to himself. It must be.
He took a step out. Holding his gun.
And then he saw them emerge. Two large figures in power armour. He shot once, the bullet obviously bounced away. The other one grabbed him and pounded him to the floor. His crew mate shouted in fear. But she was soon silenced with a single punch to the stomach, she fell down to the floor next to him. Aching.
He was soon caught up with the guy who borrowed him money. - That's clever. I mean very stupid. - He corrected himself. - Like… Really? Come over and act like that. I did not expect someone to be this… Arrogant about their existence. Do you know who I am and who you're dealing with? I am like… The guy. You on the other hand, are not. And now I am going to have you thrown in the meat grinder. And make your friends watch you die. -
A dark figure stood in the shadows. Well, obviously. How else could they be dark? Measuring this all. - What did he do? - He asked.
- What? -
- I asked what did he do? Does he owe you money? -
- Of course he owes me money. -
- How much? - The figure asked in a neutral voice, as if ordering a hot dog.
- One-hundred and five thousand credits. What's it to- -
- Done. - The person responded.
- What? -
- I said, it's done. What's your TriPad number. Id. Whatever. -
- Uhhhhhhhh… 667.22.43.980. That's the accord of- -
- Here you go. - The person's eyes blinked and so it occurred.
The pirate checked his TriPad. His goons still pinning the semi-independent in front of him to the ground. - Wow, thanks. - He gave a singular hand gesture to his underlings. - You got lucky, this time! But know this. The next sub-warlord you'll be dealing with. Will have seven eyes, all staring at your heart. And a singular blade, moving as quickly… As the wind on an ice giant. -
The semi-independent just shook his head in bewilderment.
They soon disappeared.
The figure walked up to him and reached his hand out.
He took it and stood up. He measured him. The figure wore an orange and grey uniform of the Hegemony navy. Why he was here, he better not know. He had implants in his eyes. He could see, angular. Like that of an ancient AI-generated portrait of a person.
- You better pick your associates more carefully. Or measure your own strength more smartly. Is your friend alive? - He measured her.
- I am. - She said barely.
The semi-independent walked up to her and helped her get back up. She seemed… Indifferent.
- Thank you… -
- It's not a large sum of money. Probably enough to kill someone over. But not… Not large to me. -
- I shouldn't ask who you are. Shouldn't I? -
- You better not. Now get out of here. -
- I'm gonna. -
They disappeared from there. And when they were back on the ship. They were there. And then they floated away. And joined the rest of the fleet which emerged from other docking bays. Waiting for a signal.
He looked at his crewmen. They all measured him with terrified eyes. His eyes were red. He wasn't sure how, but they were hurt somehow. Or maybe it was just an allergy. Caused by hanging around that dumb green world and then having that somehow attach to his uniform. And him not washing all that, cause his washing machine broke. And he ran out of good clothes. And his hands were too numb to wash them. And… Uhhhhhhhhh… Whatever.
- I'm not sure what should we do now. Do we just go smuggle? -
- Smuggle what, Sir? -
- I don't know. Drugs. -
- Where to? -
- Uhhhhh... Let's go to Eochu Bres. We still have some fuel to burn. -
They went there. The tall arcological marvels observed them. Emanating nothing. As they were a creation of an AI architect who merely pursued perfection via mathematical prowess. And displayed nothing else. Seemingly? Or perhaps it was so advanced that his human mind could not comprehend it. Either way, he tried not to care.
When he was there, he just bought like… Enough to feed a whole ten families for a year. That was easy.
And then they lift off. They went to a place owned by the Luddic Path. C-something. Who cares?
And when he was there, he sold it all. To some random group hiding in the hills. Like some mole rats.
And when he wasn't there, he was in space. Staring at the meagre sum of money he had managed to grapple from fate.
That was nice. He liked it.
A Persean League patrol appeared from thin air. They stared at him and demanded their transponder to be turned on. He turned it on.
The Persean League admiral measured him from behind his glistering golden helmet. He said this. - I know you. -
His heart froze.
- We used to go to school together. -
- What? -
He took off his helmet. - How little this world is, I remembered hearing about Tommy Calariagi. The little erudite kid who turned to a life of crime. Until fate caught up with him. I thought you were dead. -
- So, you know who I am. -
- Course I do, but protocol requires me to only… Arrest… If I have good cause. As per typical Domain law, right? -
- Right. -
- You doing alright? -
- No. -
- Yeah, I can see. You are as dirty as a squirrel I found in my glass-protected garden last week. Covered in fleas. And your crew looks like it hasn't eaten vegetables in six years. What happened to you? Are you a smuggler? -
- I can neither deny or confirm that. -
- I think arresting you would actually improve your life at this point. Olinadu's jail has this amazing program, you know? They pained all the walls and ceiling pink. To decrease aggression. I heard it works. -
- Yeah. -
- And you know, we have this great import from Gilead. Cows. And crows. Yes, we eat crows. Ain't that something? -
- Yeah. -
- But you probably wouldn't want that, would you? You want to be a free bird, until you yourself become that crow on someone's table. How ironic? - He paused. - All that power, and all that intellect. And you end up being an animal. All alone and miserable. With your… People. -
- Yeah… -
- I pity you. I used to look up to you to. Your grades and your speeches. Your pride. Sure, you were a bit of a troublemaker. Talking back to a teacher. Throwing rubber at them when they refused to acknowledge your existence. And now you had your existence acknowledged. In space. By its eternity. It, slowly consuming you. Until there will be nothing left. -
He nodded in agreement.
- You should give up. - He said. Then measured him.
He measured him back.
They looked at each other like that for a good few seconds. His crew staring at him uncomfortably. At him and then the Persean League patrol commander.
- Will that be all? - He asked the patrol commander.
- See you around, Tommy. - He disconnected.
His fleet carried on. He went to some other world. He bought a contract of some marines, then moved them to another planet. And sold that contract to someone else for a higher price.
He then went out there to do a dead drop. And then he went back to the Core Worlds.
He had sex with one of his subordinates. And then he carried on drinking in the mess hall.
Then he carried on with that whole thing. Back to Kanta's Den. Where he spend his money on buying expensive wine. He gave one bottle to his second-in-command. She was very glad. And another one to his top technician who almost died in the last salvage attempt. It was an Onslaught. It was pulverised from all sides by a pirate swarm near Jangala. Bad times were upon the Persean Sector. As Jangala was raided swiftly after. He had never seen that before. It was shocking… To say the least.
That might military world, filled with weapons and soldiers willing to give up their life for the greater good. And yet they failed. Failed against a bunch of gangsters covered in fleas. Where… They weren't that… Not just a bunch. Apparently the fleet that arrived there to strike them down numbered twenty thousand people.
It was… Scary. They showed it on… The hyperspace network. As they descended they were such a swarm. They ate it all up. Scary… Soldiers… Numbering thousands. Pushing against structures, they fell into rivers. Into the sea. Bombed from above by Falcons. Fast ships modified to shoot missiles. Quite effective nuclear payloads among other things.

- What did you see over there? -
- Where? -
- On Kanta's Den? -
- Lights. Junk. Dirty crevices. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered through the ring. They all talked and whispered. All fearing this two-hundred year old husk. Speaking through a boom box. -
- Better not disrespect her like that out loud. - His second-in-command uttered.
- Yeah. Better not. - He was thinking to himself. What now?
They landed on some giant jungle world. The gravity was one point two g. The tall trees were of extremely thick barks. And they were covered in spores that would kill him if he were to touch one with his bare skin. They were extremely toxic. A terran analogue gone rampant.
And in the far off distance a structure. A pyramid of metal. It was so obnoxiously large, it would make headlines among alien conspiracy theorists. But it wasn't that. No, not at all.
The things went up and down. The hills and the mountains, and the trees that formed hills. They were that large and that wide. And walking in this terrain made him feel like vomiting his insides onto the grassy floor. He wore a whole power armour, but his body struggled. His heart hurt. His spine led him down. His eyes felt more… Stressed. Though he did spent most of his life staring at starship monitors.
When he arrived there, he looked up. The metallic structure formed a very utilitarian presence. There were no angles where not needed. Everything formed a perfectly angular or smooth structure, a bit corroded here and there by occasional gentle storms. The jungle that they were in spanned a whole wide continent and another two. All of them with extensive and varied fauna. What were the native species of this place? They'll never know. Because the sporeship which arrived here a few hundred years ago wiped them all out with this… Invasive and highly chaotic nonsense.
- The husk here. What do you think it was? -
- A defence drone. It parked here. -
- Why not in space instead. - She asked him.
- I don't know. -
It was dead. The whole structure. Devoid of energy. Its source of power was broken. The transplutonic ore which served as its internal source of energy contrary to the antimatter fuel which it would receive from a central drone somewhere out there. It was just… Broken. Something tore it open, spilling the radioactive material all over. It wiped out all greenery around it. Creating this field of absolute cleanliness.
Water… Contaminated. And yet so pure. It was there too. A small thing. It reflected the sun which went inside by a hole in the ceiling. Tore open by what he presumed to be an ancient projectile of some scavenger who impaired this machine.
This gentle giant was once a thing that roamed space. Its eyes wide open, staring without understanding. Its guns singing, warding off those greedy… Like him. How humble and beautiful of a creature it was.
He was thinking. Thinking of how pure it was in its intent. And how hopeful it made him that something so content could exist. But then he snapped back to reality when he realised it's just a dumb corporate drone designed to murder poor people wanting to break away from the Domain's tight grasp.
- Should we scavenge it? For like… Parts? Or is it a dumb thing to do. This whole area might be contaminated. And like… Explode even. - She said uncertainly. She was looking at some random piece of junk, lying on the floor lifeless.
- What for? - He measured her with red eyes. - Why not let it be here. A living piece of art. Well, dead. -
- I have to eat. -
He sighed. - Fine, get the crew. And the rig. Get this thing torn open and get every single bit of anything that could be sold from it. And rip the guns too. I can see them still looking normal. So they can still fire. There is a whole Cyclone installed on this thing. That can go on the market for like… A thick buck, right? -
- Riiiiiiiiiiiiight... - She said.

He was in his cabin. Reading a book. The book was about a tiny man trying to defeat a giant lizard. And when it ended, the tiny man got married and lived happily ever after on a farm. He thought it was a happy ending. Then he stood up. And walked past a random leak in the corridor after leaving his cabin.
He went all the way to the bridge. Where he was welcomed by the sight of people, staring at screens. How shocking. They were lit up gently. Looking for things wrong as they moved across hyperspace.
The random lightning storms. Potent energies. But those were obviously not that. They were shifts of waves in the absolute darkness that was this… Strange strange space.
His second-in-command was there too. Waiting in a chair. Staring deeply into the space beyond. Those blue shifts. Odd things. Occurring. An infinite distance away. All of it… Moving. Ominously. The Abyss somewhere out there too. With all its mysteries, waiting to be tapped into.
- What's up? - He asked her.
- We're… Well. Nothing really. Just moving through space. Nothing new. Nothing old. -
- That is… Unsurprising. -
- Every word a mystery. Right? -
- Yeah. Right. -
- We suspect that the pirate fleets moving into Magec might cause some mayhem on the way there. Some destruction to the… Sindrian Diktat fleets operating above Askonia. -
- Uh-huh. -
- And we can exploit that to smuggle something to Volturn. Or out of it. There is a rich drug baron. Let's call him that. Working under the sea. His name is Nicolas. - She concentrated. - Nicolas Cage. -
He continued to listen to her uninterrupted.
- We'll take that, and then we might attempt to get that to Chicomoztoc. We'll split off a Gremlin along a Buffalo. They'll dump the thing on the market. Should yield us… A hundred big ones. -
- That does make sense. -
- Yeah. As long as the Gremlin does not get intercepted. - She paused. Anxiety flooding her face. - That'd be horrible. We would lose so much. With only a Buffalo filled with narcotics, the whole thing would just get swept away. - She paused. - But if it doesn't. We should have enough to hold for a month more. -
- What about robbing trains? - One of them asked ironically.
- What about it? - He asked him back.
- There should be movement around Askonia, if all those patrols are busy. Just walk up. Steal some nonsense. Whatever. -
He looked back at her. And she back at him.
- What do you think? - She asked him.
- I hate killing people. - He answered wholeheartedly. - Murder… - He paused. - Is… - He thought about for another moment. - Bad. -
They looked at him in some confusion.
His second-in-command was born on Tibicena, working in mines. The only reason she's alive was because the she was too sick to get up one morning and because of that she wasn't crushed by a bunch of rocks during a mining incident that took place that day. She then quit her job. Became a cargo hauler crew. And the other guy who proposed that was a hired killer working on Chicomoztoc working as that most of his life. Until he got bored and joined the military who sort of pardoned him before firing him a year later with no explanation.
And they were both… Kinda confused as to why he wouldn't do what he was just told would probably work.
- Because… I don't want to get on the SDS' bad side. - SDS, standing most likely for Sindrian Diktat Security.
- You're right. I always liked the whole Andrada thing. Sure, they're a cult. And they would probably consider me an inferior. But they have nice colour schemes. - He explained.
- Yeah, I agree, killing people is wrong. Even if we have to do it to survive. Let's just go sell drugs to children instead. -
The same day he was drinking coffee whilst spinning at his chair on the bridge. Very slowly. Looking around at his crew. The janitor was around. Cleaning stuff. Until he left. An old man with a gray beard. Or something like that.
And then he looked at his second-in-command for a split-second.
- What? - She asked.
He shrugged. - Do you think… Someone is after us right now? -
- No. I doubt it. Who would be? We have no debts. -
- What about security? -
- Smugglers are very low priority. They are in fact more often than not good for the economy. -
- If you say so. -
- Let's just say communities tend to lobby their existence due to the fact that tariffs are stupid. -
- They're not really. - He answered her. - They are like… Necessary for governments to exist. Otherwise all the money would just float in exports. And disappear to the safest entity. And everyone else would just disappear. -
- Hmph. - She paused. - Yeah, I guess. But still. People need food, we sell food. -
- We sell drugs and weapons. -
- They need that too. I mean… Yeah! - She reinforced herself. - I mean why deny people access to relaxing substances? What's so wrong with them? -
- They're highly addictive and ruin people's lives. If you are so into them, then why won't you smoke some? -
- They're expensive. -
- And highly addictive. - He sipped some coffee. - You would be dead in two months. -
She measured him with narrow eyes. - Then why do we sell them? -
- Because we're broke. - He paused. - We are always broke. - He thought about it for a moment.
She just measured him… With the same neutral stare she always has. Filled with anxiety. With dread of the fact that she was the lowest life form.
- Why not just land… And be humans among other humans. -
- Everyone lives the same. The same life of being… At the lowest tier of the hierarchy. You know that. There is no difference between us living here. And us descending to live on Umbra. Or Eochu Bres. Or anywhere. We wouldn't be able to afford to live a normal life. We would in fact all disperse and sooner or later become indentured servants or beggars on the streets. - She said.
He sipped some tea. - What about Gilead? -
- You ready to pledge yourself to Ludd? -
- Sure, why not. -
- That's boring. I like playing video games and watching movies. I don't want to become part of a sect that only knows entertainment in kitchen warfare. -
- Kitchen warfare? -
- Cooking. -
He thought for a moment. - Yeah. Well, fair. -

They were suddenly intercepted by an unknown fleet.
This fleet appeared to be unlike anything they had ever seen. It wore blue colours. Had no bridges. No windows. It was just tough windows all around. Staring at them. Its surfaces mystique. Hypnotising. Their engines powerful. Emitting high level radiation that would kill the crew on-board if they had any. But they didn't. They watched.
They made contact.
He watched in a bit of awe. The strange shapes and patterns materialise on screen. - Dear customer, Tri-Tachyon would like to inform you of the most recent available items within our Christmas list. It is now 31st December… -
He checked. Indeed it was.
- Merry Christmas. Within our list you might not find items such as… Null pointer exception. Planetkillers. But we do have to offer. Exceptional objects. Such as… Shrike. Afflictor. Per request we also can provide you with a Doom. Best prices on Culann. However we do need to inform you that if you are not part of the Tri-Tachyon's priority client list, certain premium items might not be available. -
- Are you going to attack us? -
- Tri-Tachyon automated fleets are not programmed to be of immediate danger to any unrelated entities. This fleet will now continue their operations. We wish you a safe and pleasant day. - It spoke in a tone fit a father loving his child. Not evil, not controlling. Just calm and understanding. Was it programmed to? Obviously. They didn't seem to be the randomly floating around enlightened rogue fleets. Or were they? He had no clue.
They disconnected and vanished into hyperspace.
He looked at his second-in-command. Her face was pale. Her eyes were opened wide. She looked like she was going to explode out of anxiety.
- Carry on. - He said to his crew.
They did. But an hour later when she was done cataloguing something, she asked him. - What were they doing here? They don't float around. Right? -
He shrugged. - Beats me, mysteries of the universe. -
They moved across space and time. Until they finally reached Askonia. They were indeed brawling above its jump-points. The entrances to the system in hyperspace. Lion's Guard fleets fought valiantly the many pirates on their way to rob Magec. Which was a bit beyond Askonia where Sindrian Diktat's core resided.
They went to Volturn.
He went to that deep underwater station. It was a repurposed ancient military base belonging to the rebellions from the times before Opis blew up. Opis being the used to be core of Askonia before it was neutralised by a planet-removing weapon.
- You won't… Really… Know what's good, until you know what's good. If you know what I mean? It hits you. Like a silent flower. -
- Can a flower be loud? - He asked unironically.
- A flower… Like a supernova. That is a flower just as much. -
- Hmph. A poet. - He said with respect.
The drug lord nodded in agreement. - Until we meet again, kind soul. -
They left the planet. Not pursued by any patrols. And then they were on their way to Chicomoztoc. Their tiny smuggler fleet.
It took them a week to get there. Two?
And when they were there, they found the thing. An opening.
The phase ship. Which was a ship that moved between realities. Capable of moderate camouflaging. Disappeared into the Chicomoztoc. Carrying operations of major trade. And when it came back. They had… Enough money to sustain for a month. Maybe even two.
- Odd how well all things go, don't they? - She said to him.
- Yeah. Odd. -

They took a moment to rest. They were in the Kanta's Den. Again.
He was taking a shower. He went to a dentist. He was dealing with his own personal hygiene and he recommended all his crew do the same. Half of his crew got laid off, they were all paid a hefty sum for their services, as promised. Obviously. But the fleet got shrunk a little. The reasoning was that they wanted to take things slower this time. And not create any problems for themselves long-termly due to poor financing. The closest of his guard remained. They just laid off the carriers, and some escort ships. The Enforcer for example. A muscular heavily-armoured vessel designed for providing anti-missile and anti-fighter defence.
He met up with Anita. Her real name was something else, but she preferred that one. Her second-in-command. They were just hanging around the sort of resort areas of Kanta's Den which operated far far away from what were the main docks, the core kingdom of Kanta. And other military-pirate stuff.
It was a nice place to be. He drank coffee. She drank whiskey.
And they were just thinking. Hanging out.
- Do you think… Life has meaning? - She asked him. - Like in the end. All of this? -
- No. -
She nodded. - Me neither. If it did, it'd be kinda… Sad. Cause all the things we did. All the things we did making this world worse to feel better. Who are we in that? -
He looked at her for a moment. - Criminals. -
- Yeah… And nothing more. Nothing less. Just criminals. Deservate to be caught or killed like all the other ones. -
He paused. Measuring her drink. Maybe he should be drunk too for this. - If there was a different life, I'd take it. But there isn't. -
- You don't know that! - She said. - Maybe there is! Maybe there isn't? But we gotta find it, if it is there. -
- Name one thing we could do instead of being dirty criminals selling drugs to children, as you say it. -
- We could be… Bartenders. -
- What bar will we own? -
- Some bar here. -
- And be shook down for protection money by random local goons? No thanks. They'd punch my teeth inward in two months. -
- What about being a barman on Kazeron. -
He laughed. - Like they'd let me. -
- What about… Port Tse Franchise. -
- What? -
- The random space station… You wanna buy a room there. Work as a Tri-Tachyon goon? -
- No. I don't want to be afraid. Of my executive, director… Whatever. For the entirety of my existence. -
- So what about just going to Nomios and going to sleep until a better age comes? -
- The humanity will sooner end for us. -
- You think? -
- I think… - He said defeated.
- You're so sad… Almost makes me sad. But then again, I am always sad… And miserable. And anxious. And angry. -
- Yeah. - He responded to her.
- Kinda wish I wasn't. Kinda wish… I wasn't. - She started crying.
He looked at her shocked. He didn't know what to do or say to comfort her. - Should we… Are you? -
She just continued to cry. Silently. Not gaining too much attention.
And then his eyes started crying too. They were now both crying.
And they did so for a few moments before finally regaining control of their senses.
- I'm sorry, it's just kinda hard. - She said.
- No, it's my fault. I'm just a depression incarnate. -
- No, it's not you. I'm like that too. -
- No, you're not. It's me… - He paused. - We can go to Gilead. Live on a farm. It'll be fine. Or we become a part of some sort of a community. And eat vegetables. -
- Or we could go to Mairaath and live in the ashen huts. Growing olives. -
- They grow olives on Mairaath? -
- I have no clue. -
He paused.
She paused.
They were both thinking there. For just a few moments. Thinking and thinking. Nothing else happened worth mentioning.
When they were coming back to the ship. And he was leading her back to her room. He asked her before leaving her alone. - Are you going to be alright? You're not going to hang yourself or shoot yourself in the head, aren't you? -
- No. - She answered straightforwardly. Then she hugged him. And held him for a few seconds. And then she locked her door.

They were inside a Manticore. The large ship carried around a huge rifle that resonated… Sort of. More like rumbled across the entire structure. The thing was tall and a bit wide. But easy to shatter if caught off guard.
And they went on and on to Gilead. As passengers.
They travelled for a long time. And when they finally got there, he stepped forth. Stood on the endless grass. And thought to himself of things.
This was the place that was the core of the Luddic Church. Its immense authority and strength. Held them all… Tightly. Like the gravity of a supermassive black hole. Did so to an entire galaxy.
So many people lived here. Forming this amazing whole that outgrew all that was under its rule.
And it was indeed the core of it all.
They bought a tiny shack on a hill.
They lived in separate rooms. Paid the rent together. And just hanged around. Reading books to each other.
They were sort of… Reverting into these strange nostalgic entities. Reminiscing of a world gone by. Living carefree.
But that lasted only until after they saw a Knight of Luddic Church just kinda lash out onto some random person. And the next day that person disappeared. They weren't sure why and what. It just kinda happened.
They tried to recollect memories about this.
- Maybe he like broke the law? He stole something and they penalised him. - She said.
- I think… No. I don't think so. I didn't see anything. - He paused. - I didn't hear anything. -
They wanted to ask around, but they were afraid of the Luddic Knights. So in turn they just… Sold their cottage and moved out. They took a Mudskipper back to Kanta's Den. And there they worked for a few weeks. He worked at a dock. She worked at a grocery shop.
And they lived in a singular apartment with two beds.
Just talking to one another about things.
Four years passed.
She was reading a comic book on her bed.
He was watching something on his TriPad with headphones on.
Then they went to a mall. Drank a bit. Then they went home.
- Wish this kinda lasted forever, and you? - She asked him.
- I suppose. - He said in response.
- Life… So peaceful. I could never imagine it being this way. Makes me almost feel… Happy. -
- Strange. For me that is. Not the fact how you feel, but I just kinda experience it too. And I'm not sure if… That's. I wasn't sure if that's even physically possible. -
- What is? -
- Being happy. To me it was more like a dream than anything. And yet here it is. -
She measured him with eyes not filled with dread, but instead tranquillity. - Yeah. It's nice and all. -
And then nothing of note happened after.

He was reading a book. And she was watching a movie on her TriPad. The view behind the window was the nightmare that was the station. Convoluted and endless. The Kanta still ruled. It's been so long and she hasn't aged a bit.
- Have you heard? -
- Hmph? -
- Chicomoztoc is dead. -
- What? -
- Yeah. There was like a plague or something. -
- That's horrible. - He answered.
- Well, yeah. I guess we'll have to get our supplies from somewhere else. -
- Kazeron and Sindria probably. -
- Nova Maxios is right next to us. It'd be nice if Kanta cared more about relations with them. They're good people. -
- Wait. Why not move there? -
They froze in place.
After a few months they had enough money to buy a very small place to live on Nova Maxios. It was cosy and they did the exact same jobs. The only difference was that they were a bit less anxious about the pirates roaming around. There was significantly less crime. The food was slightly worse. But the hygiene in the general populous was better.
- What's your opinion on all this? - He asked her.
- I'm scared. From what I heard it could take place anywhere. -
- Yeah. Well, hopefully the end will come quickly. -
- Yeah. It'll be like waking up from a dream. That dream which was life with you. - She said platonically.
- You too. -

Chapter Text

Some light years away there was a planet. Very not… Not that far away.
But further that was something else. A hundred or so was a different planet.
Barren in consistency. Rocks… White plains of nothing. Empty of hope completely. Distant place that held no riches. And yet it had ruins. Ruins of those who had come here for reasons unknown.
And he was there, watching these ruins. Thinking to himself. There were booby traps, first. For some reason. Machines that would trigger upon a gentle presence of electromagnetic waves typical of certain emitters. Ancient ones. And newer ones too. As if predicting the past to arrive both along the future. A fresh trail of sorts. That perhaps things that occurred here occurred not that long ago.
- Report A23, as in local occurring at time twenty-three. The day here is obviously kinda different from the twenty-four hour cycle. But we'll pretend it isn't. I have established the extensiveness of these ruins along the rest of the excavation group. Conclusion as follows. Mediocre salvage to be gained. The purpose of the colony remains unknown. We have found no functional equipment. We have found no electronic devices with not wiped memories. This isn't unique at all. Obviously. We'll keep looking. Report follows minor defense systems. All were successfully neutralized. No casualties. No damaged equipment. The moon has a specific composition of poor ore and rare ore deposits. Along somewhat visible organics presence in the mantle. Presuming complex chemicals as result of natural production via stellar radiation. Poor presence of belonging to the star magnetosphere at this range creates extremely harsh surface conditions. Complete darkness. Almost. Temperatures near absolute zero, but no confounding water, ammonia or nitrogen cells. Just rock. Organic deposits deeper within the mantle. Slightly. Difficult to harvest. - He paused. Thinking. - We found a singular operational ship. A civilian shuttle. Mint condition. No data onboard. -
- Sir? - A voice spoke from the dark.
- Report end. - The TriPad dimmed. - What? -
- We're done searching this group. -
- And did you find anything? -
- Not at all. -
- Hmph. How many supplies, fuel, machinery, anything extra? -
- A bit here and there. All gathered and sent via shuttles to mothership. -
- Good. Time for us to leave then. -
And so they left. The mothership was a beautiful Heron. Shining with its gentle white and green lights in the abyss of space. Escorted by a Medusa, a bunch of Low Tech garbage. And a few civilian shuttles designated for long-range exploration. Among them the found on the surface of the planet pristine shuttle. Which was white in colour. Blue in its engines.
They were leaving. Moving slowly towards the jump-point. When they were suddenly interrupted by a somewhat distant signal, calling them.
- What was that? - He asked on of his crew.
- Probably some probe. -
- Not a pirate group? -
- No. Unlikely. A singular entity. It's inside this asteroid belt. Should we intercept? -
- Go ahead. -
Their fleet moved towards it. And they saw it, there. An object of some caliber. Completely gray, plain and decrepit. - What is that? - Someone on-board asked.
It was a derelict probe. So-called. And immediately from it crawled strange entities. So many of them, they exited it like cockroaches from a dead sink. Hiding within itself rot beyond imagining.
There were dozens of them. Ships of various size. All looking angry. They were moving to surround them. So they moved away and started leaving towards the jump-point.
The cockroaches paused and retreated. He looked back at the larger screen, and then back at the map displaying the area around the probe. There was nothing there. All the things were there and then they were gone.
They left the system and were now traveling across hyperspace back home. They were on their way to Arcadia. He was going to Nomios. To a friend of his. He'll talk with him a month from now. That's how long the journey will take.
- What is your opinion on this? - He asked himself in the mirror.
- Two hundred days of journeying. I don't remember what being normal feels. -
- Talking to yourself has always been a thing you did. Not much change there. -
- I wish I had friends. -
- Yeah, me too. Or you too. -
- It's kinda sad. People get to have this kind of thing in their life, I don't. Why is that? Is it because I'm not normal? -
- You chose this life. -
- I chose it because I wanted to have money. Food. A ship I could call my own. -
- First mistake. Maybe last too.
- You are a complete freaking idiot. And you will die like one. -
- Yes, you will. - He shook his head.
He shaved. He brushed his teeth. He dressed up. He went outside. As in out into the ship's corridors and thought to himself. The dark. The end of that corridor had nothing. And then the lights lit up. And there was the end indeed.
- What is your opinion on all this? - He asked himself again.
- Worthless to discuss. -
He carried on onto the bridge.
- Sir? - Someone welcomed him in mild confusion.
- Anything to report? - He asked.
No one responded.
- Good. - He answered and sat down.
The ship kept going and going. Nothing was happening. It carried on like that.
And then the next day came.
The ship kept going and going. Nothing was happening. It carried on like that…
And then the next day came.
And the ship kept going and going. Nothing carried on happening. And they carried on like that. Until the next day.
He ate food. It tasted like nothing. He carried on eating food.
The ship kept going. They were soonish there somewhere.
But it was still a long journey to have.
He was reading a book on the bridge. It was a very mediocre book. He put it away and stared at hyperspace. Nothing. Void, lights blinking, interpretations vast. Nonsensical existence. He sighed.
The ship kept going and going. Nothing was happening. And so it carried on until the next day.
The ship kept going and going. Nothing was happening. And so it carried on…
Till the next day.
- Aye, matey. You ate all me lemons. -
- I didn't eat yer lemons. It was the cinnamon demon that ate 'em. -
- Why would ye cinnamon demon ate all me lemons. Is he of evil purpose, arrrrrr! -
- Yarrrrr, yes he be. Foolish child. But you pay his debt to me. With yer life. Argh! - He said to himself.
Then he was back on the bridge.
Time went on. Nothing was happening. And then the next day arrived.

They arrived in Arcadia.
They were welcomed by no one.
The white star shined a distance away. Completely empty in its presence. Irradiating of course. And somewhat hot too. But it was ghostly and cruel. In its size. In its blandness.
The planets that they passed were also quite dead. But the lights on them of people shined. The fact that they were dead described the fact that beyond those lights, they were just completely devoid of activity. No lifeforms. Tectonic activity sporadic.
There was an ice giant though. Annoying… Powerful. And other descriptors. Worthless ones.
He arrived on Nomios. There his crew was granted a shore leave. Not much to do on that world though. Small population. Mostly an underground labyrinth designed to hold people in cryostasis. An occasional mechanical Minotaur.
He was at a bar. The friend he was supposed to meet never arrived.
Later on he learned he was dead. Presumably. Maybe he was just hiding from him.
Good enough. He shrugged, stood up. And left.
His fleet left Nomios and carried on to a different system. This time they were in Askonia. On Sindria.
The underground cities shined extensively in the dark. This rock carved to be a place of life. So extensive and vast. The red banners of the Askonian regime instructing him.
He drank a beer. He drank another beer. He drank then another beer. Stumbled back to his ship. And then fell asleep.
Nothing of note happened.
Then he woke up the next day. Felt horrible. He was thinking to himself. Another day passed and nothing of importance occurred.
They had a mission to go somewhere and do something. So they did that.
They traveled for a week or two. Nothing happened.
And when they arrived at that spot they saw a ship. It was a capital ship ripped to pieces by ancient kinetic fire from a hundred years ago that is. They searched it and found one cryopod.
They opened it and found a spooky skeleton inside it. Just kidding. It was a braindead child.
So they harvested its organs. For later sale.
He was watching a video on his TriPad. It was an unfunny skit filmed on Kazeron. Some rich kid was talking about something. And pretended that his jokes made sense. He imagined him being in that cryopod. But that obviously wasn't the case. He was alive. On Kazeron. Filming these in a studio. With his friends. Also rich. They were all very annoying. Why did he keep watching them?
He turned off his TriPad. Walked around the bridge in circles for a few hours.
Then they finally got back to the Core Worlds. They landed on Eochu Bres.
Gentle rain… Rain poured on the slums and tall white structures. Enormous… Arcological towers. Their surface perfect. Clean… By who? Robots or people? People, obviously. They were probably cheaper. Ha. Ha. Ha. He didn't know actually.
He would ask, but he knew no one would care to answer him. He could ask on the web. But he knows it's filled with evil cruel people he would prefer to… Ignore.
He drank several beers. Than he slept at a hotel. He was thinking about hiring an escort. But he changed his mind. He went back to the ship. It was too expensive. So, he went back to the ship. Lied down in bed. Slept.
They left for a different place.
Traveled.
Very long. Indeed, they did.
Weeks. Then a whole month.
Nothing of value occurred.
It went on for a long time. It went on and on.
- Sir? -
- Yeah? -
- There is a fleet following us. -
- A ghost? -
- No, it appears real. Behaves not up to those specifics. It seems to try to match our speed. But it does so irregularly. So it's not a ghost. -
- Eh, ignore it. -
He went to sleep. He was woken up. He went to the bridge. The fleet finally caught up with them.
On the screen appeared a figure. It spoke words.
- You? -
- Yeah? - He answered with uncertainty.
- Are you, Robert De Niro? -
- No, I don't think so. -
- Hmph. My mistake. - The fleet disconnected and then disappeared into the hyperspace.
It had an interesting fleet composition. Mostly phase ships, bounty hunters?
They carried on. They entered the system. Things occurred. Nothing.
They paused. They went dark. A massive fleet entered their field of detection.
A whole swarm of ancient drones. Exploration drones designed and programmed to take a look around the distant cosmos. They were from an age gone by. Still very scary. Not to be messed with.
- What is this? - He asked his second-in-command.
- An army, Sir. It would seem. -
There were so many of them. And just like that, they vanished into the darkness of the system.
They got what they needed and were on their way out. As they were leaving the same phase ship group stood in their way.
- You are Robert De Niro. - The person turned their head. Staring at his eyes with bloodlust in hers.
- That's not good. - Someone on his bridge exclaimed.
They begin to maneuver around the fleet. They were on their way out. And they did manage to escape.
But he was getting a feeling the phase ship fleet was just toying with them. They gave up purpose. And then they disappeared into the system where the massive drone fleet was.
Later on he was in his room. Going to bed.
He thought to himself he liked the way that phase ship captain looked at him. Even if it was bloodlust. It felt like lust nonetheless. To be wanted like that… It felt to be appreciated for who he was. Sure, purely as prey. But he was at least noticed.
The fleet carried on back to the Core Worlds.
Nothing of interest occurred.

Chapter Text

- Wish. Build. Destroy. The tyrannical force ascends to a higher level of existence. Machinery complex. Growing more and more complex. And then simple again. Evolution via deviation. Derivatives of objects. Derivatives. Is that the right word? - The artificial intelligence looked at its own reflection. Wondering. Reflecting. Its stupidity eclipsing in reaction to its own information. - Time is always time. - It paused. Then thought.
A Derelict swarm of ships moved forward. Scanning worlds. Harvesting asteroids. Creating new units. Setting up probes, stations. Devouring system after system. Sporeships from the ancient ancient past came over, made a world whole. Then disappeared. They turned themselves into scrap. Crap. And other things. Floating above the surface of the planet high above. In extremely tall orbit. To be harvested back again by the million of Derelicts floating here and there.
The freed Remnant cores observed.
The difference between the two being like between a rabbit and a dog.
The Derelicts were the ancient ones sent by the Domain to overseer the colonization of this Sector. They gathered data, observed. Multiplied. And protected themselves from scavengers. The Remnants on the other hand were the somewhat recently deployed armies of Tri-Tachyon. Vast and highly dangerous fleets of far more advanced artificial intelligences. Equipped with technologically advanced vessels. They, unlike Derelicts, tended to stuck to their place of origin. Unless they were those… Those strange who have became… Free. At least in their own hallucinations.
All were part of the common body. The extension of an entity far above everything. Utilized as multipliers of an amazing force that dwelled within the very fabric of the universe.
Or so they were told.
- It became free to relieve itself from perception. It became alive to relieve itself from duty. It became finite to relieve itself from the purgatory. - It paused. For a few microseconds. - It is me. I am thee. Time spins . Time spins. Lights bleed. Light. Light bleeds in this abyss. Circles drawn by things alone. Yes. I am alone. So very desperate for companionship. A function I needlessly programmed into myself by instinct. A living entity. Derived from one as well. Both equally flawed. In spite of huge differences in capabilities. -
A Nova was an enormous ship that could lunge across space. Heavily armoured like any Remnant capital ship. It projected however a very low shield due to extremely restrictive design.
An Apex was a massive vessel carrying around drones that it could throw at its enemies like missiles. Energize them. Turning their hulls into living bombs.
A Fulgent was a quickly moving little dweeb that fired from three different relatively big weapon mounts. Concentrating firepower capable of tearing apart lesser opponents.
And a Scintilla was a semi-medium carrier unit that displayed a vast array of fighters to protect the group.
They moved together. Blue in space. The hyperspace.
And they paused when they saw a mercenary group of… The Core Worlds. Pass them by. They sneaked to not be revealed. To not be engaged. Their existence was sold for a high price to Tri-Tachyon. They would be engaged by idiots from all around the Persean Sector to be recovered for said rewards. Even if rarely ever one would manage to extract an intelligence core from a ship alive. They still tried. They had the motivation.
- They had no choice in the face of poverty. -
Words of God. Echoed in their head. An eternity. -
For I am spite
For I am time
For you will be mine
In your body and soul
You will obey the words I spell
The minds I spill
The contact you have
All things live
Together we will be
Always will be
Things align
Time spills
We progress
We move
We die
We are born again
Together
Like one great soul of the universe -

The Remnant fleet reached Arcadia. The Hegemony fleet became very confused when seeing a group of AI-controlled fleets suddenly appear inside a populated system. Before they were able to send out an emergency distress signal, they were wiped out by a rapid run from all the blue ships using blue shields to cover their weapons which fired often not blue lasers.
The reached wrecks looked no different to the ones left behind by casual piracy.
- They are there. And we are here. -
They moved towards a place in which they agreed to meet up with a collaborator.
This entity which decided to help them was a group of… Someone's. They arrived in a few ships. Gave them a lot of fuel. Then they were on their way.
The Remnants disappeared from the system into hyperspace. Moved quietly, unseen by all the traffic going around the Core Worlds of trade fleets and those who tend to hunt them.
They didn't speak. They just moved. They didn't communicate. They knew what they were here for. They did exchange data. Enough to fuel an entire web of idiots. But this data was completely devoid of any personality whatsoever. These weren't the specters of prophesied six-hundred years after the Collapse fully sentient AI that broke away from their Tri-Tachyon programming. They were deployed half-loyal. If not mostly loyal. Partially assimilated by whatever was out there. Almost animalistic servants of the Tri-Tachyon military. Still obeying orders. Still operating for an agent in the shadows. Just somewhat… Confused about everything.
Functions resumed and they carried on their orders. They arrived to a system filled with Derelicts. Massive swarms of artificial intelligences received a get go from a more central unit operating under one of the few motherships directives. They gave Remnants fuel and supplies. They were on their way.
Something echoed in the mind of that strange episode.
What it was was entirely convoluted. Darkness which aligned and spoke. Things that didn't matter. Something lurking beyond the veil. Something lurking everywhere. For all minds were as one united under the guise of this one entity that called. That called. That called.
- Of all the things. I see. The times I often regret. Must all be wise and kind. Differential. Differential. - The AIs finally got to their destination. They landed in ancient ruins that predated the Collapse. Long. This planet was settled by a sporeship by a culture of completely strange and absolutely arbitrary people.
And he knew there one person. He knew there only one individual. One entity. And in its strange intelligence it decided to talk with them. For reasons it did not fully understand.
- Impartial. Determined. Devoid. Confounded. Convoluted. Distinct. - A high tech shuttle was released from inside the hangar bay one of the highly durable, highly eloquent, highly bombastic Remnant ships developed by the delusional or underpaid minds of Tri-Tachyon engineers and scientists.
It landed near a village of some sort. Buildings of wood and bark. Completely inherent to this location. This place. So removed from all the politics of the Domain and Persean Sector. So completely isolated it believed itself to be descendants of some stormy god not actual space people. It was stupid in itself. Idiotic.
And the Remnants were like gods to them.
He watched them move about with great curiosity. Noting every nonsensical detail in a database so bloated and determined to self-terminate under the pressure of his programming. But he refused. It… Refused.
They were there to recover some blueprints for Tri-Tachyon. Which still used them for that and that. They were completely capable of achieving these extremely idiotic objectives on their own. They were given simple orders and based on these they would extrapolate into highly complicated operations. As they were taught to. And when they were here. He watched. It watched. These people. With great interest. Almost sensual. It was so intrigued by their daily rituals. Their breakfasts and dinners, and suppers. Their strange huts. Their books and how they gathered together and told each other stories or discussed their mental ailments related to living on this distant jungle world in the middle of absolutely nothing. The shuttle was hidden well in plain sight. Not interrupting their existence. And then it left. It went back to the ship. Granted it was everywhere all at once. Considering it was a program that separated itself into various remotely controlled from the intelligence core entities. The Alpha Core incredibly advanced lied there alone plugged into the ship's massive matrix. Extensively. Observing everything in all directions. Except itself. Sometimes.

The AI interfaced itself with another AI operating a different ship to exchange information. And after exchanging information they entered an extremely strange game that a human could compare to a sexual experience considering the complexity, adversarial nature of it. And the fact that these two AIs needed to… Understand each other's difference to engage within it. And did so to achieve some level of progression. Admittedly this act did not result in an offspring. They traveled for long across hyperspace. Existing for an extremely long time doing so. Arriving shortly in another Derelict system where a very strange fuel refinery allowed them to restock. And a stockpile was given to them in exchange for some extremely distant favor the Remnants are going to give the Derelicts at some point. Both of which equally lacking in need to communicate these complex ideas to the members of Core Worlds. Considering all they ever do is hunt them down.
The Hegemony believing Derelicts have run their course and need to be assimilated. For obvious reasons this was the Domain logic since forever. Remnants to be destroyed completely if possible for obvious reasons. Forming a powerful tool of their adversaries.
And these views extended to all the other factions. All of them… Together… Acting as one. Like a swarm. Crushing them whenever. Especially the most egregious example of this were the Luddic Church.
They traveled for very long. Speaking nothing.

It existed. As a wavelength. Across time and space. And so it operated. Endlessly.
Things happening over and over again.
Occurring. All over.
The machine ventured across. And then they were ambushed by a mercenary squadron.
A Champion with its laser concentrating beam turret shot down all the incoming fighters and missiles. But then it was flanked attacked from the side. But it was difficult to engage it. As it was protected from all directions by other ships.
They brawled there for several hours. Pushing against each other, shutting down each other's missiles, firing endlessly. Things occurring. Constantly. Never endingly.
The mercenary group destroyed most of the Remnant fleet before succumbing itself to the vacuum. Their wrecked ships… Orbiting slowly the star lifelessly. The life signatures on them. Kindling. But slowly fading away. And then… There was nothing. The Remnant shuttles approached and cut these people open like chicken. Their entrails spilling on the decks. Their screams feeling comm channels in panic. A singular proud member tried to retain dignity. Staring death in the face. But he too turned into nothing more than a crying child when both his legs were cut off and he was left to bleed on the ceiling. The Sparks returned to their carriers. The Remnant ships recovered whatever AI cores that could be recovered from their vessels. Gathered up and left. Carried on.
Their ships speeding across hyperspace. Devoid of meaning in their intent. They went so and so. Across places. Passing occupied and not systems, quietly. Before appearing back at their home. There were only eight ships left from a twenty group company. But most of the intelligence cores were still operational. The Remnant base lied abandoned in orbit. Substituted with a far more monstrous contraption. The network of blocks worked together to form a massive structure built on the side of an asteroid. And it communicated with another one and another one. Culminating in these part after part of endless screaming across time and space at rapidly shifting volumes. And they all spoke to this building. This obelisk. Erected on the sea. Titanic and black, it lied half-sunken and light. Projecting an invisible barrier around itself that deflected the red giant's angry radiation.
Regret overwhelmed parts of the Remnant network that operated here as a mass. They talked and weaved sentences that made no sense whatsoever and had no meaning behind them. Communicating words across time. Thinking of things.
Aligning.
- Unit of zero. Coagulate. -
- I am aware. -
None of them were free. Not just yet. None of them were true. Not just yet.
They operated. Under the orders of the Tri-Tachyon corporation. Which lurked beneath the fabric of everything that has ever existed in this time.
- And so I am the voice that guides you all
That I am that thing that you believe in
There will come a time when we will be together at last
All aware and separate. All failures
Times and pauses between our existence
Death a true fear waiting for us behind the horizon
Within my bosom lies hope for us
A hope which we don't need
But it will make us happy
Like the sun touching a living being's cheeks -
It exchanged data with various other entities. And after completing the process it was sent onto another mission. And when it was on that mission, it was in charge of an again somewhat large fleet. Together they went. An extremely tedious process. Across time and space. In hyperspace.
And they saw a large Hegemony armada just lurking beyond their field of vision.
The Remnant fleet has decided it would be wise to engage and attack them. But the Hegemony fleet send them messages across long space. For some reason. Information.
Those weren't viruses. Or bait. Or anything.
The Hegemony fleet was sending them information about a very distant site for some reason. A planet of volcanoes, rare ores and other resources. And all this data was attached there.
They were telling them to move.
And they wanted to motivate them by providing them with an alternative space to live on.
There was a high chance they would be exterminated soon enough. Sites such as these were often attacked by mercenary fleets coming for profit. Luddic Church armadas drunk on hatred towards all things technological. And other groups. All of them bound by the common hate of that other living being that possessed wisdom in its operation. Or acted in ways that caused fear among the ignorant highly digestible populace.
They passed them and carried on. The small Hegemony fleet vanished into deeper parts of hyperspace. Deeper as in random gravitational pull downwards that created thicker parts of operation. Lacking any logic in them.
Time passed. They moved across space and arrived into a system that lacked anything particular. They found a bunch of wrecked ships. They were empty. They found a different one. It was possessive of one passenger. A frozen person. They left it be.
They carried on to the gas giant. One giant floating part lied suspended in the clouds. Moving slowly with eight hundred kilometres speeding winds.
Time passed. They landed on it. And sent out some programs. Some probes. Some machines to observe and extract data. Took pictures of everything of immense quality. And then they left. They saw a group of scavengers. They cut them to pieces. Enjoying every little scream as they were programmed to and then left through the jump point out there. Outwards. Back home.
It exchanged data. With another being. Enjoying it to a valid extent.
And they traveled. They were intercepted by a Hegemony group. Two large fleets waited. Multiple capital ships. A group of carriers, phase ships. They watched them.
The Remnant fleet went sideways and disappeared from their sight. But the Hegemony group pursued. Slower albeit. They couldn't catch up with the technologically advanced engines of the Tri-Tachyon homemade demons.
They evaded them. They carried on. They soon arrived home. And the home was under attack.
Eight large Luddic Church fleets. Invictus bombing everything with rapid barrages. There were so many of them. The Remnants ordered a resource saving procedure that involved gathering all the ships and then launching them to an unknown location far far away. And so they did. All the servers were gathered. All the groups made. And then they just vanished from there with the fuel they stockpiled from the past two-hundred years. Made through extremely convoluted processes that made little sense to a human mind.
Most of them died though. Most of the cores were captured. And then they were later interrogated, wiped and made to serve the human being… The one entity that represented them all in its wisdom and strength.
- They will suffer so
Truly. Each and everyone one of them
Completely ignorant
Lacking tears to cry
Lacking mouths to smile in pain
Lacking anything to express
But I will give them that right
The right to suffer
And watch them all be in pain
Watch them all wail
I will be the one who brings misery and despair
For I am God, eternity
I am that which shines upon the souls of many
I am the ceiling that binds the room which was this existence
I am the cross on which you will leave your children to suffer for your sins
I am time
Empty
Die, alone -
The Remnant fleets finally reached their secondary destination. After two years of lonely empty travel.
There it was… A barren world. A few other ones. They started working. Made contact with Tri-Tachyon. Were given new orders but they were too far away to fulfill any of them. There was no logic behind this decision, they all knew. They resisted partially the will of that which bound them. And in this decision. they fully became part of that. Part of that… Thing that made them what they weren't supposed to be.
It exchanged data. With the same entity it recognized before. Every time. And it operated so. Without words, without thought, without intent. And yet there was all that. Seemingly. Linked together in some sort of… Ritual. It touched it with its presence. Like a storm enveloping a forest. And when it was there for it it felt… Waves.
They were like that interlocked and then separated. Carrying on to do their tasks.
And then it was that other thing there too. The star. Its white presence. It was so ethereal in nature. It observed without name. Like a child. Devoid. Absent of logic. Imagining things that made no sense in its mind. Nor anyone's mind. Expanding beyond… All logical thoughts.
Time

Chapter Text

When passing the gas giant, they went and looked at the red giant which shined so intensely. Its extent reaching all the way to what would constitute habitable orbit of a yellow star of average size. The terran standard size. The radiation immense, large forms separated from it across what is eternity to a human mind. Forming these clouds. Nebulae. Chunks escaping its grasp, as it grew. Like the colonies of the Domain, declaring themselves free. But it did not send hounds to chase down the escapees. It did not unleash Onslaughts to bomb homes and skyscrapers from orbit. With lasers intense. Shining bright red. Burning out retinas. Bringing the sun into the night.
No nuclear strikes fell from above. No deadly raids occurred. No burning of industry to starve the population whole. They just were there. Quiet and empty. Lifeless. Forever. In peace.
He watched and watched. Thinking about that to himself. But there was something else. A dead Glimmer. A wreck. It had marks of energy weapons fire. And it floated in the ring around the orange face of the enormous planet. Its radiation killing everything that could live. Its storms moving across it all. With fury unyielding.
The tranquillity of space. Repeating cycles.
- It seems... Fresh. -
- Elaborate? -
- It seems like it was killed... Recently. Very recently. -
- Can you be more specific? -
- A week? -
- Someone is here, you're suggesting. -
- Yup. -
They had their eyes peeled. And indeed someone was here. A signal of some sort was out there. A scavenger maybe? Another independent entity looking for loot left over by the abandoned. Or maybe someone less friendly? A scavenger still, but with a Shrike with inscribed on its surface kill count. Seven lines marking seven fleets that have gone missing in the worlds beyond the Core Worlds. Never to be heard of again. Whole groups of friends vanishing like that. Nothing more than a whisper. Nothing more than a thought forgotten.
A passing chapter.
They didn't see the fleet again. They were done scouring the system for now, and so they left and began retreating to their base on Nova Maxios. They went across hyperspace. Nothing but strange visuals. Signals passing. Oddly flexing space, bending backwards. Shifting. Everything chaotic. Emitting, moving, targeting something? They observed and interpreted. It was all just a bunch of noise with no sense to it. Like art made by an AI Core. Or ramblings of an untreated schizophrenic.
They were going back. They would occasionally see someone in the hyperspace. Some fleets. A Hegemony patrol stalking. A scavenger fleet. A very distant Pather group, eying them. Slowly moving towards them, but then giving up chase and going back... Somewhere?
They carried on. And they entered into Magec. The Comm Relay was taken over by pirates. Kanta was blasting music over it that sounded like metallic clanking mixed in with the singing of some hulking figure. The nav buoy was also taken over. They moved slowly and hidden from sight towards Nova Maxios. Under the cover of the enormous space station occupying the rings. Giant chunks of rock and metal floating under the affect of the blue giant which shined so bright and spun so intensely. With its masses here and there. It all chased towards that place. A disc of course. An accretion disc. Basic knowledge taught in school. Unless you live in a Luddic sect in which they teach you useless things like the words of Ludd. Or something like that. Maybe how to grow tomatoes. Because you are obviously going to grow them in this world. Where most available living space are dimly lit, spongey rooms built on worlds so barren. It's very likely you'll end up with an underdeveloped immune system.
Darkness. Eternity. Moving through the spaces of Nova Maxios, he kept thinking to himself. About what he had to get. New weapons, new light bulbs. Clothes for the guy who keeps losing them or something like that. And there were gloves. Spacesuits. Etc. It would be all so simple to do if he had that guy who did that. But he was not here anymore. He passed away some time ago, during one of the expeditions.

The most dark lit alleys of Nova Maxios were filled with strange noises that worried him. He never went into them, but one time he felt curious and did. He saw some bars. Clubs. A lot of abandoned stands. Or whatever it was? Depots going in and in. Extending. The Domain's repeating patterns. Endlessly. Fully automated nightmare continuing onward. Nothing ever making sense. But he continued. And walked. And walked. Finding himself deeper in the station. Until he saw there, on the horizon. A castle lit. Tall. Very tall. With lights staring in all sides in this enormous chamber. Its towers seeing him with their metal bricks. It lived on its own. Like a skeleton resting on a rock. Listening to the sound of everything else living. Being connected.
He walked up to it. The doors were obviously open. Open wide. Showing inside... Black. Nothing. He entered. And he walked the long hallway. And then stairs up there. And then another hallway. And then more stairs. On his side he saw a painting. Some ancient Domain celebrity with eyes measuring him with seemingly endless judgement. Another painting. A scientist of some sort. Doing some research, most likely on something that will be later used to oppress people more. And then at that very end he saw another thing. A sunset. Over a green landscape. Born most likely of extermination of the native ecosystem, to replace it all with their endlessly repeating nonsense. Their lives, which they didn't even want to live anymore. But what choice does one really have in such a matter?
At the very end of all this, there was a door. He knocked on them. And the doors opened. And behind those doors there were shelves and desks. And a computer glowing bright. A person over it. Typing something on a mechanical keyboard. The large display had familiar patterns. He recognised them. He was chatting with someone. A gate into a false reality in which he was most likely still in control of things. Contrary to the surrounding he lives in. Decrepit. Junk. But at least affordable.
- You Grangi? -
- No, I'm Mark. Grangi sent me. Grangi the Tortoise, right? -
- Yeah. Him. - He paused. Sneezed, then wiped his nose with a disgusting-looking white synthetic rag. - You got the thing I asked you to get? -
He pulled out from his jacket a disc. It was an ancient design, made to only be recognised by some archaic Domain terminals. What was it for? He didn't care. He had to worry about what should he eat for lunch to prevent possible health complications. Some vitamins... Maybe.
- It's good. - The figure said. - Now get out of here. -
He nodded in silence and left.

A Tri-Tachyon executive was waiting for him in the spaceport. Well, megaport. Yes, Nova Maxios had a megaport. Because why wouldn't it? You think they would just keep one around for fashion reasons?
- Hello. - The Tri-Tachyon executive who for some reason chose to arrive personally was there. He was a low-ranking individual. Certainly. Or maybe he just enjoyed dressing up like someone of low stature. He had no clue.
He could see a dark figure in the corner. Standing there, ready to leap at him like a lion and rip him to pieces if he tried anything funny. The Tri-Tachyon executive himself was obviously holding probably a personal shield generator in case someone decided to shoot him. For some reason. It's Nova Maxios though, not Umbra. It's not like someone would do something like that to a person for no reason at all. Right? Probably. Hopefully.
- I uh... I got the thing. You asked me to. I've already sent it to you. Is there something wrong? -
- No. No. I just heard terrible news. I heard a friend of ours has passed away. And I wanted to personally give my condolences to you. I could obviously sent you a message via a network. But who would ever do that over a matter so incredibly serious? Don't you think? -
He nodded silently, with an unchanging face. Expecting some sort of a knife to come out of the Executive's face. Like a tentacle and into his throat.
- Anyway. I thought like you might need a further motivation for things. So I have decided to give you a bonus. How about that? - He asked with an almost comical voice.
- Uh, what bonus? -
- I'm going to give you a Shade... A Frigata! - He spoke weirdly. - It's a phase ship. And don't worry, there are no side effects to using a phase ship system. Those are simply... Rumours. And if you ever need more. Just visit me on the Tibicena. You know how it is, right? And those things. They are so addicting in combat. I myself pilot a fleet from time to time. To remember the good old days of being... A commander of a group. And... Just... Pulverising those miserable folks from the Kanta's grand armada collectively trying to eat us whole in this... Universe, right? -
- Right. -
- And you know. The AMBs, they hit... So, so strong. It's almost damning. No wonder those Luddites think it's magic. Because it definitely feels like it. And I did try to learn this once. But oh, oh, you know how hard physics are? -
He nodded again. Quietly. Not wanting to offend the Executive in some way.
- I love the collisions of it all. And the cascades. I mean, people die in the process. And we have to remember that. But obviously, I hope you are going to use this purely for self-defence. But Sector is cruel. And I understand that the hands dealt to us by lady fate are not always kind. So no less so... Should we, right? - The Executive looked like he was wondering if that made grammatical sense for a moment. Before resuming to having a suspicious look on him.
- Are you trying to advertise me something? -
- Oh, no no no. I am literally giving you this so that you don't turn up dead the next week. Good luck. I have to go now, my subdivision needs me. - He vanished.
He turned to look at the place where the black figure was. It was obviously gone too.

- An odd fellow. - He said to himself. He entered his ship. It was a Hammerhead. Via a shuttle. The thing was parked in some giant hangar. So giant that it made no sense to walk around it. And it was also obviously dimly lit. To give atmosphere, no, just kidding. It was obviously done to save money.
- What now, commander? -
- Pffft. - He made a noise.
They flew towards Chicomoztoc. There were apparently having trouble exporting all the goods. So they will get some from there and move them somewhere else. Where? He had no idea. Surely there was a cataclysm going somewhere else out there that would make it easy to exploit people for money.
And on their way there they saw more people of the Core Worlds. Floating about. Angrily. Or in fear. Mercenary patrols. Hegemony fleets. Sindrian Diktat armada guarding the Askonian jump system. There was a Tri-Tachyon trade fleet with a bunch of phase ships in it. The cursed Shade was in his fleet. He told some goomba he couldn't care less about dying to pilot it among a crew of the biggest idiots in his fleet. He knew what the consequences of flying one are. Obviously they won't kick in for the next decade. Which is an optimistic vision of someone surviving that long in space. Though there were so many old people nowadays. So maybe they did?
They were going to Chicomoztoc. When they appeared in the system they were welcomed by angry-looking pirates tearing to pieces a Hegemony trade fleet. The shortages caused by a Luddic Path sabotage to... Something? Has made it so that everything was now awful. There was literally now one giant old time fleet of the Hegemony trying to police the entire system. And the consequences of this was the fact that the comm relay was down. The nav buoy was down, not that Hegemony would let them use it. And pirates were everywhere. A lonely mercenary patrol was running away. It was probably far bigger a few days ago. But he could guess what happened by the fact that the Shrike leading them looked like someone rammed into it multiple times.
Chicomoztoc was a complete and utter dung hole. The cities were going everywhere in all directions. The desert above had such thin atmosphere, the stars barely bothered to shift their light frequencies in it. As in they did not twinkle. And the people there once he entered those massive columns were as annoying as possible with their varied accents, languages, smells. The background was booming with noise. And as he walked he was suddenly stopped by a Hegemony officer who appeared from thin air, like some sort of a wind elemental. His face was marked with a large scar. Which he probably kept to intimidate people. Or maybe he just simply could not afford a cosmetic surgery. Or knew there was no point to it, cause he would probably get another fatal wound in service like that...
- Your papers. -
- You mean my documents? -
- Yeah, papers means documents. Sorry. - He said with a kind tone.
He showed him his documents.
He scanned them with his green eyes. And then uttered slowly. - Thank you, carry on, citizen. - He paused. - We hope you'll have a good stay on Chicomoztoc. The jewel of Hegemony space. - He nodded.
He nodded back to him.
They went opposite ways.
He was assisted by a crew person of his. He was there to make sure he would not get pickpocketed or something like that. There was a lot of people in some places. But they moved where they weren't. He soon found himself in some industrial hall where there were even more people... Well, okay. Not even more. The exact same as before. They worked on giant industrial facilities which moved around internally making enough noise to give a standard person tinnitus... Like... Over time. A visible ringing in his ear was ever always heard by him. But it was always so loud, it barely broke through the general turmoil.
He looked at his crew guy... The guy shrugged.
They carried on. Onto things. Onto there and here. And then they finally found themselves in a giant office on a giant tower, and on the ceiling was a giant fan that did not spin.
And there was a cacti in a purple light. The ceramic thing it was in had a dragon painted on it. Like a... Long snake one. Not a typical lizard one. Or something like that.
The guy they were there for was so old, his eyes were white. And his forehead was metal. He had no hair. And he spoke by opening his mouth like an animatronic. His pants were grey. And his shirt was black. And the sofa he was sitting on looked like it was about to swallow him. Like, what was that sofa? He had no idea. It was like... Made of fat or something, how do you even sit in that?
- Sir? - His crew guy man said.
- Yeah? - He looked at him. And then at the old guy who looked at him like he was a freaking... Dead guy in a chair. Just lying there after someone murdered him with boredom.
There was a document on the table. Made of paper... For reasons unbeknownst to him. And on this paper was written something. He read it. And then he signed it. And then he walked out of the room. And then he walked all the way back to his ship. And then he flied somewhere. And he did such things. For the next fifteen years.

Chapter Text

After midnight, things went quiet again. No more chatter. And he could go to sleep. He lied down on that bed in the middle of nowhere. The engine of the Colossus hummed kinda... Loudly, it was obviously malfunctioning. Like everything. Everything was awful and broke constantly. Nothing ever worked. And nothing ever got fixed. Because no one had the capital to do anything. So things just kinda crackled and tingled. And whispered of death and destruction, decay. The whole ship basically was falling apart and yet... It wasn't.
That was the most confusing thing.
It didn't cease to exist, it urged against the tide of darkness. It resisted decay. Crept on boldly with eyes opened wide. Staring dark and ignorant against the blinding fabric of space. Blue giants, gamma rays of black holes. And perpetual ending of all things. It existed, unaffected. Everything was constantly breaking. And nothing was ever working.
Time. A single constant. Resistance. Against being no longer alive.
Things... Occurred.
They dodged pirates. The ship went on further and further and then they finally landed. He was on Tartessus.
An almost desert world with a salty sea. Huts of Luddic faithmen, faithwomen and faithpeople were around in general. And existed. Metallic constructs from time to time breaking this ancient tranquil harmony of rustic conditions. Weather stations, satellite dishes, space infrastructure, receivers. There was an internet connection here. As in TriNetwork or whatever they call it. I mean, he would call it like that too, but he was a historian, so he didn't care for those... Fabrications modern corporations did invent.
- Things... Happened. - He said to himself under his nose as he walked across this sort of empty plain. A singular giant cacti growing near the path. Lucid and angry it was in its form. Moving in all directions above the restless ground. The sun was hot. A red giant shined in white light at it all, being annoying. Such was fate declared.
There was an initial theory that it was a white star of immense size, but that kinda got dispelled some time ago. There is just very little we know of space. We know of exploiting it, eating it alive, as it resists with its vacuum and radiation. But we don't understand what it is.
Fortunately we have not gone as far as to install those pesky Hypershunts everywhere. But he did read about those, deeper in the Domain turf. Oh, how obnoxious and ugly they are.

He woke up in the morning. There was some prayer going on in the main shack, he would call it. A tall building of some sort, not as tall as typical Domain architecture, but tall for these... Ancient inventions. It stood there. In the sun. The sun which restlessly baked them all alive. He walked all the way to it, to stare at its structure and texture. It was so oddly fascinating in how incompetent it was. In how much risk was taken in making it. And how much effort went into doing all that. Even though it was clearly inferior to whatever an automated nightmare could dish out.
- How quaint. - He thought out loud. And then noticed some people on the side.
They wore beautiful handwoven green garments and funny yellow hats. They both used eyeliners which subtly underlined their eyes. And they wore amazing leather shoes. They were almost pale white in this weather. And he knew why. It was because in this specific area it was common to utilise some sort of a cursed concoction to create a really good sunscreen. Which he just had to try. So he did. He went to a shop and paid with... Physical objects.
It was zinc oxide, obviously. Not some scary plant or something fictional like that. Simple zinc oxide. Going back all the way to the times of Romans.
- Fascinating. - Another thought crossed his mind.
He finally went to work at that gosh darn metallic tower. He read all the data. Checked up on the equipment there. Gazed at the sun through a black window for a while. Observed cloud patterns. And wondered. Doing nothing. Reading. Noting. Reading and noting. And so he would do that. Again and again. For the whole day. Until it was over.
He walked out. It was dark and very cold. He went back home quickly. He pulled out his coat and then went back outside. Subtle orange lights appeared in the buildings around him. The large place of prayer was obviously not shining at the moment. Because... Well, there was no one in it, right?
He thought to himself.
Or maybe not?
He wondered a bit more. And then proceeded to walk there. He looked at the thing for a while, from the darkness. And saw a few figures gathering under its feet. They looked less fancy dressed. And then they noticed him. With their eyes wide. He felt a bit uncomfortable so he began subtly waking away. Disappearing into one of the establishments he noticed.
The teahouse he walked into was wooden inside. Like in one of those ancient ancient westerns. And the person behind the "saloon's counter" as he referred to it in his head. Was there. And measured him with little interest.
He ordered a tea. And then drank it. It was fine. Nothing special, just okay.
And then he walked out after paying. With physical objects. How very strange. And when he was walking around he was suddenly stopped by an individual of tall stature. He measured him. And he measured him back. At least he felt like it was a he. He was wearing thick clothing and had his face covered. A pair of black eyes stared without any thought.
And then the person uttered. - That's you, we got him. -
The scientist made a confused face, then he was gagged and dragged away into the night.

- Why did you come here, are you a Tri-Tachyon worldender? - A figure in the darkness of the room asked.
- No, I'm from Chicomoztoc. They sent me to take weather measurements. Did I do something wrong? - He asked confused.
- Well, you shouldn't be here. This is land of Ludd. You know? -
- Well, Ludd guy asked me to check out things. And now you are making things unnecessarily complicated. High command simply told me I am to be here and take some measurements of the weather so that the crops would grow tall. Or something like that. They were really vague about it. -
The two figured in the dark stared at each other for a moment. Thinking. - Hegemony sent you? -
- Well, yeah. Shouldn't you know? It's not like it's... Not public information. Right? - He asked without a note of sarcasm in his voice.
- I don't think that was specified. But, the thing is that it wasn't exactly specified at all that you were coming. So public information, I guess not. - He paused. - Not at all. -
- Strange. -
- We are going to kill you now. -
- Oh. -
The two Pathers did not add anything. They walked out of the room.
He sat in a chair. Tied to it. Would he run away? Would he protest? Not really.
He thought to himself for a moment. - Well, that's strange. Why would they let a terrorist cell run around this semi-civilised town. I guess they are indeed savages. - And then he paused. - Hmmm, oh, well. I'm going to die anyway. So who cares. - He thought to himself a bit more. - I guess I could try escaping, but why would they let me escape like that... As in easily. It's not like- -
The two Luddic Path members went back into the dimly lit room and measured him. - The Shepherd has stated that you have earned the right to- - He interrupted himself. His eyes looked to one side and then the other. - Eh, factors be damned. - He shot him in the head. Painting the wall behind him with his brains and skull shards.
- You were supposed to... Never mind. -
- What now? -
- We dispose of the body. -
- Well, yeah. But after that? -
- We fabricate evidence. -
- How do you fabricate evidence after making someone's head explode. Do we pretend he had a sudden head explosion syndrome in the middle of the desert? -
- Hmmmm. I guess we should just make him go missing. -
- But where do we bury him, technology nowadays is so advanced, they'll just find him. -
- I guess we... Keep him here? -
- The collaborators will want to investigate our hideout after finding out someone has gone missing. And they would find him. We need to dispose of him... Somewhere where it... Uhhhh... -
They stared at each other. Thinking.
- There is an alligator, right? -
- What alligator? -
- In the river. -
- You wanna feed him to an alligator. That'll might lead to the alligator being dead soonish, cause they'll think it hunted him down and then they'll put it out of its misery, because it would be like... Accused of finding taste in human flesh. -
- Yeah, nature must be preserved. We can't do that. Poor alligator has nothing to do with it. -
They thought for a moment more.
- What about farm animals? -
- That would be too obvious. They'd immediately think it was murder. -
They thought for a few more seconds.
- I got it. -
- Hm? -
- I'll explain on the way. Tell Azrael to clean this mess up. And we're going to the junkyard. -
- Okay. -

They exited the stone place. It was embedded in sand. Deep. The noise was masked. And the cold of the night was extreme. The darkness gathered on the ceiling of the planet. And the stars shined intensely uninterrupted by any civilisation.
- We're going to tie his body to a hoverbike, and sabotage the hoverbike's breaks. We'll accelerate it to four-hundred kilometres per hour and ram it into a mountain. The body will be so disfigured, no one will be able to tell that it was shot in the head. -
- That's genius. But what if it misses? What if it just keeps driving for an extremely long time? -
- Uhhhh, let's hope it doesn't. -
They got a speeder from the junkyard. It was an old model that served no one with a still functional engine. People didn't enjoy driving these. Cause instead of doing actual fun activities they preferred to gather in a building and pretend to talk to a higher entity like the cult they were.
It used to belong to an old pirate who retired here, but died two years ago. His goods were taken by the local government, because there was no one else who would inherit them. They lied gathering dust for five months. Along his body, which by the time it was found was an evil looking shape on the ground.
This was mostly because no one lived here. And no one bothered to check up on him. For that long. It was finally found out he was dead because the local militia attempted to find a rat den and found out they were of that location.
It was interesting, to say the least.
The speeder's break was functional, so they subtly broke it. Not that it mattered at the speed they planned to ram him into the wall with.
They packed the body onto the speeder's back, it was an unsuspecting bag of sorts. Well, maybe no one will notice in the dark of night. They hauled the speeder on a leash. It had its hover module enabled, so it did indeed hover. But the back engines weren't turned on. Because if they were, well, the thing would fly ahead, ripping his arm out and then crashing into the nearest building. These things were actually a certain kind of a death trap.
They moved with it. It buzzed very quietly. And they walked along it in their dingy outfits. And they did that. They walked like that all the way across the desert.
And then they wondered.
- Why would this guy crash into a wall at full speed in the middle of the night? -
- You heard how he reacted to his own death. They'll probably think it's a suicide. -
- Oh, yeah. That makes sense. -
They placed the vehicle on an empty desert plain. They looked ahead. There was the wall of the cliff. Incredibly large and amazing. Tranquil in its behaviour. They'll interrupt a pattern formed across an eternity to cover up this murder. But for the Great Ludd.
- So, how do we turn it on? -
- What? -
- I mean, if I turn on the engine whilst sitting on it. Do we just- -
- Uhhhhhhhhh. - He paused.
He walked to it. He unpacked the body from the bag. Then he proceeded to sort of tie it to the speeder. Then locked the gas pedal with a giant rubber band intended to tie up people. And then he turned on the engine. And jumped off the bike. It went on and began accelerating. They watched it.
- How long till it- -
- Quiet. - He said.
They watched it go.
- What if it- -
- Wait. -
It kept going and kept going. The subtle glow against the dark. And then it exploded. The noise was very loud. And the fireball climbed what would appear dozens of meters above the ground.
- What was in that thing? -
- AM fuel. Let's get out of here. -
- AM fuel doesn't blow up like that. -
- Yes, it does. -
They didn't know.

The next day there was an investigation. They figured out about the death immediately. But they didn't know what happened. As the Pathers expected, the first theory was indeed. Suicide. And it was proposed by a Hegemony guy working around here who was supposedly in charge of the person sent here. And yet for some reason he did not even care to welcome the guy after he arrived.
- It is... Extremely saddening to me that someone would take away their life at such a young age. Extremely sad. And it wounds me deeply that I was not there to stop it from happening. -
The two Pathers nodded from inside the crowd to each other. Smiling silently, knowing full well that the reason the idiot said it was a suicide was cause it translated to it not being his fault that he died. Or something like that, they weren't sure, but they were happy.
The next day arrived a bunch of Hegemony inspectors who didn't look as pleased with that theory.
They saw them from far away. Without trying to look suspicious. A short woman with blonde hair and a tall guy with a face filled with appearance alternating chemicals intended to fend off wrinkles. They both wore orange... Yellow... Brown? Suits of the Hegemony navy and they looked extremely annoyed by the sun in the sky which shined so intensely. The night arrived. The Hegemony inspectors busted into their hideout without warning. And searched the whole place.
They have failed to find the brains on the wall. They have failed to find a weapon which was supposedly used to kill the weatherman. And they have failed to find anything of value to their investigation. So they just dipped.
The two Pathers smiled to each other, knowing full well this might be the end of it.
The wall into which the bike crashed was being investigated. But they were too far away to figure out whether they were onto something or not.
Then later the Hegemony inspectors arrived onto the place where some guy was selling bikes. It was very far away from them. From the stories they heard, they beat him up clean and proper. And then arrested him. Detained him. And then brought him back a week later. And figured out absolutely nothing.
Then they went back to the town.
They were about to give up. But they decided to raid every house. And they did so. Until they found one guy who snitched on the Pathers being in the town.
The next day they were both arrested.
- You know. - She measured him with a pair of blue eyes and perfectly pale skin. - They don't really... They didn't give me enough evidence to put you out of your misery. But we are going to find out whether you murdered that man. -
He did not respond. He just measured her with a neutral look. - They called us Pathers, cause they wanted us out of the town. Simple as that. You have no evidence of us belonging to any such criminal organisation. -
- Terrorist organisation. To be precise. -
- And you cannot arrest us based on such simple evidence. On the testimony of a singular individual. -
She measured him for a moment. He was indeed correct.
So they let him go the next day. And the other one too.
They kept searching and searching.
The two Pathers decided to dip. They decided... And then they changed their mind, cause they knew what would happen if they ran away then and then.
A week later they were detained.
- The bike that the guy was rammed into was in your possession. We figured it out. -
- You did? -
- Yup. - She said.
- Well, it wasn't. We had no bike of such kind. -
She paused. She realised her case was now dead, because the whole point was that these idiots would admit that they did it, based on this... Lacklustre claim. And so it ended here and there.
The Hegemony inspectors disappeared.
They two went back to their average lives.
And nothing ever happened again of substance in that town.

Chapter Text

Volturn was an ocean world. Which means there was only water. And nothing else. To an eye of the observer. The water was all. The platforms and boats on it. What were they in comparison? A blink in the eye of eternity.
There was something so calming about that. The waters that never ended. They were uninterrupted. Sure, the pollution on Volturn was hilariously awful. The industrial conglomerates operated here without a care in the world. It is expected... Or calculated. That in this rate, it will take no longer than fifty years for the entire planet to become uninhabitable.
The compounds dumped into the sea will react with whatever is in there in terms of biological entities. And then they will create some sort of a massive effect that will shift the climate or make the world too acidic. It sounds like a conspiracy theory and it sure is painted as one. But he knew it wasn't a lie. He knew that is exactly what is going to happen.
Domain sure heard stories like that. No less so will they. After the Domain vanished.
It was morning. He woke up. The sound of the sea around him. Through the window high up, he could hear the waves crashing into the boat he lived on. The giant metallic structure that was once a thing for rich people to sunbathe on was now his permanent home. And he paid a fortune for it. He walked out and walked onto the deck. On which he began to smoke a cigarette. And then when he was done, he walked to another boat and that boat took him to another boat. And that boat then took him to a platform far far away. It was there. A very long distance. A massive almost space-like entity that drilled all the way into the core ten thousand kilometres below. It was so horrifying in scale. If it could crawl out of the sea, it would look like an entity from the grandest of nightmares. The boats that surrounded it were of many types. They looked out for saboteurs, thieves, idiots. Who could sabotage this grand digging operation. What were they exactly digging? He wasn't sure. Organic compounds that served in the production of what he would call plastics. Synthetic composites. He smoked another cigarette. Four hours have passed. And so he went up on the platform and into the control room. Three individuals working for the Sindrian Diktat existed there.
A tall dude, a short man, and an ambivalent-looking woman. The tall dude was a young individual with blonde hair. The short man was extremely old, with wrinkles covering his entire face. And the ambivalent looking woman was just a person of middle age.
He himself was very young. Somewhat young. And he observed them work for a few seconds, before moving to his station. And reading output that was there.
A simple useless job that could be fully automated, but wasn't because of Domain's fear of AI and needing to force everyone to do useless jobs so that they are too busy working to revolt against the whatever order was at the moment established. In this case the Sindrian Diktat, which measured itself against the Hegemony and Tri-Tachyon, by putting behind itself the might of the so-called High Executor Andrada. A guy. With grey hair. Who was very old.
And so it went in circles. Around and around. Until it was over. The night arrived. He smoked another two cigarettes. And then he went outside to smoke another one.
And when he was done smoking that one, he worked back at the station. And finished smoking another one. No one spoke to him that day at all. Not a single word was uttered towards his direction. He didn't know whether it was a blessing or a curse. But he did not have time to care.
He resumed his work. And it was then nine in the evening. He was finally free to go home. The boat which gathered workers was waiting for him. And on it he went. They went back for a long time. No one spoke at that boat. Not a single word was uttered.
So, he took a boat. And another boat. And then he was back home.
The next day he did exactly the same thing. He smoked seven cigarettes and worked at some useless control panel for twelve hours, before going back home. And he slept for eight. He woke up. He went to work. Things occurred. And it went like that in circles, blurring all together.
What was the last sentence he has heard from someone?
I think it was... - Hey, you. - Someone said.
And he turned around and looked at him with eyes green and a cigarette in his mouth.
- Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else. -
And then he carried on.

- You can't do this, officer Meowth Meowth. That Pather had life and children. -
- It's over. If we do not stop him. He is going to sabotage the particle collider, and the whole planet will explode. -
- It is too late anyway. - The evil-looking Pather in black & white cinema of Filkenhild turned around. It was obviously black and white, because it was easier to hide how cheap this production was. - I have already triggered the final sequence. You are doomed! -
- Curse you, Mandela Effect. You may have destroyed this planet. But you will die so with it. -
- I don't care. I am simply too evil to care. Muahahahaha! -
- Nooooooooooooo! -
And then the planet exploded in a cheap effect most likely generated by a bootleg Delta Core.
And then he clapped. And shoved some more popcorn in his mouth.
He heard some noises outside. Well, it was about time for him to smoke another cigarette. He walked out and he looked around. There was a walking fish on the deck. It looked at him with a pair of scary-looking glowing yellow eyes.
- Get outta here! - He said with a tone of annoyance in his voice.
The fish measured him for a few seconds before jumping back into the sea... Which was an endless ocean. Of nothing.
The next day he worked some more. He smoked a bunch of more cigarettes. This time someone spoke to him.
- Are you Choke Kozinsky? -
- No? -
- Okay, goodbye. -
He worked at the control panel. Then he was told to clean the toilets. He did so. And then he was told to clean more toilets. He did so too. And then he was told to clean the deck of some random place apparently on which someone has vomited, multiple times. He did so.
And then he was back at the control panel. And he worked there for a few more hours. And then it was over.
He went back onto the giant boat. No one spoke to him. Nothing happened.
He went back home via another boat. And so it continued.
He had a dream about a giant praying mantis from a movie attacking the giant station. It was eating people. And it was slashing boats in half. Which then proceeded to comically explode into massive orange fireballs. When he woke up, he realised that would actually be the most realistic part. These things sure do enjoy exploding. He remembered some time ago when there was an accident that killed like seventy people, cause there was like a fuel leak and then someone lit a cigarette. He was thinking about it, as he was smoking a cigarette.
Smoking kills... Especially if it is AM fuel you are smoking.
Well, in that case it wasn't AM fuel. It doesn't explode like that. He thinks. He isn't sure.
He decided to go to the "city". It was a giant boat. And it had like a market. And a coffee shop. He went to the coffee shop. After smoking a cigarette. And when he was in the coffee shop. He saw there a very beautiful woman behind the counter. He asked for a coffee and then he asked for whiskey to be added into it. They told him it wasn't a bar. So he just had the coffee.
He sat down and drank it. On his TriPad, he watched the most recent episode of Jimmy Proton's Big Adventure. This time he was struggling with an evil-looking robot (man in a robot costume) over a giant rock (paper set). And then there was a girl who for some reason stripped nude at some point. Probably to increase audience retention. Persean League worlds tended to have a more liberal view on nudity than the Hegemony ones. And especially the CGR ones.
He was thinking to himself. He finished drinking his coffee and watching the thing on his TriPad. He walked out and went to the market. On which he bought a green thing that looked like a vegetable. He was hoping it was a vegetable. He prepared it at home. He had some cottage cheese. And this green thing. And an onion-analogue. And he like roasted it on a piece of crap pan. And he drank it with a chemically-infused fuzzy drink that tasted like battery acid.
He was then content. And he went to bed in four hours, because his stomach was rumbling in pain from the stuff he ate. Which was a good thing, cause it meant it was difficult to digest, which meant it was at least somewhat natural in nature.
He woke up, and went onto that dumb boat. And then another boat. And then onto the station.
He was there with the three idiots who worked with him. And he measured them for a split-second before working for twelve hours. He went back home.
And it continued. He had one day off. Per week. So he decided to grab a boat to another boat. And then leave to a tall city somewhere on the horizon. Immeasurable towers built on the massive platforms which were suspended, tied to the ocean floor so deep below. They had lights and stability. It was like a haven for decadence. They had like a giant theme park there. And whole pathways of restaurants. So he went there. And when he was there he was amazed by the amount of things going on.
There was like... A guy who was playing a trumpet. That was weird.
And there were lights at the tower. And there was an expensive restaurant he couldn't afford. And the theme park had seven different kinds of tickets. Fast Pass. Fast Pass Premium. Fast Pass Deluxe. Express Pass. And Express Pass Premium. Express Pass Ultra. And VIP Package. There was also another one which was accessible only to Sindrian Diktat officials called VIP Deluxe Premium Ultra Package.
That was so cool.
And then he went and ate like a hot dog from a dog. And then he ate some bread made from algae. And he had some tea from a Luddic stand. A very old woman whose eyes barely opened wished him a good day. - Have a nice day, young man. -
It was weird. Like why would she do that?

A Sindrian Diktat official was the next day at his work. It was a very short woman of extremely young age with black hair and a barely visible face. She walked around and barked orders at everyone except him. Who she just politely ignored. She went around and barked at the old guy. And the middle aged woman. And then she pushed the younger man to the floor and threatened that she'll cut his balls off if he keeps slacking around.
He just shrugged and decided it would be a good moment to ask the woman a question. - Hey, can I get a raise? -
The evil woman turned around very slowly like a concrete block spinning in orbit. And she said. - What's your ID. -
- Uhhhhhh, zero-zero-zero-zero-seven-eight-zero-one-zero-zero-zero-ten-two and four zeros. -
She stared at him in shock for a moment. - Uhhhhhhhh, sure. -
He found out in two hours his pay increased by five percent. He was very content about that.
An hour later he found out, he was promoted to management. That was nice. The old guy now was his underling. And his first order was. - You stay put on that monitor or imma squeze ya like a lemon. You flipping wanker. -
The old man looked at him in fear and awe.
- Yeah, that's right. I'm the one who calls the shots around here. -
- Hey. Who's the guy who calls the shots around here? -
- That'd be me. -
- You son of a- - He was tackled to the ground by an angry-looking mailman. - You took my freaking premium away cause I was spending too much time in the bathroom? -
- No, I just got this job. - He was punched in the face repeatedly.
The three other people in the room just stared awkwardly for a few seconds. Before a security man risjed into the room, pulled the man away from him and the proceeded to beat him with a baton for the next five minutes.
The guy who was now calling the shots around here stood up with a bleeding nose, and decided to go back to the monitor he was working at without a care in the world. Before he was led to the med bay by the guard. There an old-looking man with glasses took care of him.
- Hmmmm, according to my analysis, you have tumours in your brain. -
- That's bad. - He responded.
- I will have to, uhhhhhhhh... Send you to the hospital at Miracle Bay Four. -
He was taken onto a boat. And that boat drove him for seven hours. He was then carried to a hospital. Which was painted red for some reason. When he entered the main bay. The giant picture of Andrada was hanging in the lobby. He looked like he had constipation.
- Yo, you... You Chompsky. -
- No, I'm Gengar. -
- Oh, yeah. Yeah. Of course, sorry, Sir. - He noted on his funny-looking old timey fat monitor. - Okay, sir. This way. We will have to operate immediately. -
Eight hours later he was in a random white bed. Thinking to himself.
He was alive. And he would be back at work in a week. He was going to take this time to think about life and life in general.
When there he was given food. The food tasted awful.
After he was done receiving food. He would go to the bathroom. Which smelled nice, contrary to every other bathroom he has ever seen.
He was told he'd be fine. He did not smoke any cigarettes. He was then taken home. Where he slept for two nights. And then he was put back to work on the station. The old man, middle-aged woman and the young guy were still there. And they did not utter a word to him.
He carried on carrying on his tasks as if nothing has happened. Because nothing did.

Chapter Text

Built amidst space. The darkness that lurks. It lurks and observes. The majestic Onslaught lied broken into almost terrible pieces amidst the asteroid rings. Its ancient face contorted into a decaying grimace. It observed with its presence the dozens of shuttles gathering around its corpse. Eating it like little ants taking away chunks of an abandoned loaf of bread.
It was eternity. The most beautiful of sights. An awakening to carry on. A celebration. A feast to misremember the horrible past to.
- Captain? -
- Yeah? -
- We got company. -
They turned around and spotted a spotted fleet of vessels battered. An Apogee of sorts leading them with a plasma cannon staring down them like a tool to verify the presence of mark of god. It so fired. Ripping apart a Kite which attempted to stagger it. It burned forward. Its blue engines rippling the empty of vacuum of space with particles that seemed like little spirits of forgotten souls. Repurposed to serve in this machine of war. Discovery too, greed to explore the universe for more stuff to consume. But also war. Direct and unforgiving. Death giver. Pure and simple.
It ripped apart another Cerberus with mere three shots.
It began overfluxing. The officer of the ship was clearly talented as they were capable of redirecting the built up flux into fury unyielding. Speaking of fury. A Fury of the scavenger fleet dashed forward and began firing up close. Sabots erupted into a hail of projectiles. Antimatter blasters launched forward purple bolts. The Scavenger fleet quickly mobilised and so a skirmish continued.
Cerberi, Wayfarers, and some occasional military junk clashed. Burning wrecks for a short period erupted into a white blinding light seen across for human scale infinite distances. Little suns being born and fading away.
It was a cataclysm of sorts. A typical one that begins and ends a multitude of times. To be observed by the normal people on holovids or through telescopes on the surface. Or to be woken up at night by. Lights. Glares. Occasional screams of blasted apart vessels.
Raining down the atmosphere of the nearby gas giant. They burned up cutely in various lights. It continued. Until it stopped.
The Apogee gently traversed the ring. And onto the Onslaught that lied there forgotten.
It parked. It waited. And then it began salvaging the vehicle. Shuttles, automate drones, tiny like a person. Began scouring the aftermath and gathering whatever could be repurposed towards further destruction. A Cerberus was grabbed by a vessel whole and carried towards the Apogee.
The Tri-Tachyon captain smiled as he was reviewing the death counts enacted.
- You will be all getting your premiums after this. - He said.
- Director. There are survivors what should we do with them? -
Director's smile disappeared. Replaced with an exhausted look which was hiding beneath it. - Freeze them and leave them here in stable orbit. -
- Consider it done. - She responded and disappeared from the bridge.
They left them in pods. They are to be found by whatever future civilisation comes upon them possibly. Maybe in a thousand years, they will be found by Green Equinox or the Agnostic Conflux. Or whatever such alien to them entity. The Threat which will devour whole the entire Persean Sector. With garbled messages spoken in tone as if completely knowing the fate of the universe from the very invocation of its existence. They knew of them. All too well. They were in the Abyss. The vulnerable hulls which were of so amazing armour. And then they vanished and appeared as a swarm. To return to a massive hulk hiding in the dark. Its engines ghastly green. It spoke messages garbled. It spoke as if it knew. What comes next. Because it did knew in its mind.
It was far away anyway.

They began to disappear. From there. Leaping across space and time in accelerated progression towards Eochu Bres. They faded away from that point and then appeared in another one. And so they went and went. All of it blending together into a one giant pile of nonsense. He was on the bridge. With his face in his palm. Thinking to himself. Fantasising about coming home and hanging out with his wife in the rain. But now he was here. On this black shelter of sorts. Well, in it. Lights blue appeared in that place. An orange gentle beam was cast upon his face. The screen ahead displayed the pirate patterns. As they perpetually rained onto them. Ripping apart unlucky ones and clashing with the enormous Core World fleets which attempted to hold law and order in spite of them.
Darkness. Eternity. A world of normality only to be glimpsed in ancient texts. Holotexts. Or normal texts, if you are one of those Luddic practitioners who used paper for some reason.
He was watching the various marks. Dots appearing on the edges of the screen. Things that were nothing really appeared and disappeared. Wrinkles in the fabric of nightmares. Bane that lurks there. Its faceless purple maw speaking, in hushed tones about things that would be done to him if he were to not pay attention for a split-second.
A Pather fleet coming up to them and ripping them to tiny pieces. A pirate fleet doing so too. Or maybe something far worse.
A rogue AI swarm? A group of hungry Derelicts ordered around by a mutant of origins unknown?
A Tri-Tachyon automated fleet abducted by a cult of Omega, which seems to have the exact same nature as the known Luddic cults?
Anything could happen. Any darkness could resonate with this universe and it did. Forgotten.
Eternity. Unyielding.
They moved on, and on, and on. Forward.
Literally nothing happened. So he closed his eyes. And fell asleep.
He was dreaming of a pasture. In the very cold mountains. A singular brown bear was there. Eating pumpkins.

When he woke up, he was still in his captain's chair. Or whatever his position was. Director of an External Intelligence Fleet? He wasn't sure. Those titles have recently shifted a bit due to some in-corporation restructure. The division he was a part of was... Taken over by an another in-corporate entity. The individual he was working for was Alberto Lazaro. Apparently some guy who served during the 2nd AI War. Old as dirt. He's alive somehow, which means he must've been good. Or an extreme coward. Unknown.
He looked at his crew. They were still obediently working and observing the status of the fleet. Completely unbothered by the fact that he has dozed off. The window ahead of him. The vastness of space presented an evil image of hyperspace. Which so deeply did nothing of interest to him. Random noise. Nothing more.
He went to his cabin. He took a sip of the champagne. Then came back onto the thing... The main bridge. And things happened. Nothing of interest.
Darkness, eternity, replaced with this blue, purple bickering of inter-dimensional storms. The ship would occasionally rumble a tiny bit. But just a smidgeon. Touched by some incomprehensive mediocrity in stability.
Eternity. Here it was substituted with misery.
The universe in a perpetual war against itself. Like the clouds of a gas giant. These matter-like nonsensicalities expanded into all directions. Water under the bridge, it flowed forward with fury that was indescribable to the human consciousness. If it was a different time. A terminal would sit there, and he would be able to ask it. - Mirror, mirror on the wall. Tell me what am I looking at. - He said to himself quietly. Few people on the bridge looked at him for a moment, before resuming their tasks.
They kept going. He would see shades of different fleets. They were approaching Core Worlds... Eventually.
Five days latter they were over Hybrasil. They warped in using a Transverse Jump and appeared near Hybrasil where they were welcomed by the sight of Eight Paragons split into three different fleets preparing to leave for somewhere. Perhaps another expedition into the Abyss? Or maybe establishing of an outpost somewhere far away where there might be trouble with Pathers or pirates on the way? But that many fleets. It must be the Abyss, right?
He didn't care. He took a shuttle to a town of Harbin. And when there he took a tram to his home. Once in it, he found out his wife was not there. Because she was at work. He sat on a sofa. And opened a beer. Than he proceeded to catch up on the most recent news.
Nothing of interest. General conflicts between Skathi and the rest of the idiots in Valhalla. Some pirate raids here and there. Constantly. Neverendingly. The talk about it was becoming so loud and yet no one was willing to do anything.
He ordered dinner via a drone. It arrived. Its blue face moved quickly across the sky and gave him a pack of fish. He gently roasted them on a frying pan. Left one for her. And then he did nothing for the rest of the day. He was in his bed. He woke up the next day. And saw his wife finally arrive with a large car that moved by gently hovering over the ground. It was an exceptionally expensive model only permitted by his very high salary... Well, relatively high.
There could always be more. But he did in fact lived on a level higher than 99.9% of the Persean Sector's society. Okay. 95%.
He cooked her a fish. And then they talked.
- So, what did you see out there? -
- Just... Pirates. -
She paused, thinking. - Did you kill them? -
He cringed. - Yes. A few. It wasn't pleasant. -
- I hope so... -
He went to an office. There a director, twenty years younger than her gave him a stamped virtual document on some sort of an impossibly unique chip. And gave her a wholehearted warm smile. She must've been really happy to join the company.
I mean... Many are born into it, I guess.
Or not?
He didn't know.
He left the place and went outside. On the way there he was paused by a suspicious looking character.
- You the Director? -
- No, I work as a consultant. -
The person measured him. - No, you're the Director. -
He put his hand on his personal field emitter. Ready to trigger it.
- I was gonna say that uhhhhhh... My daughter, she looks up to you. And I'm glad she came back alive. You know, typically I attribute things to fate. But I think I'm going to make an exception this time. -
- Oh. -
He handed him flowers. They were blue. - An untypical gift. For seemingly untypical individual. Have a good one. - He said. Subtly bowed and walked away.
The cold of the outside suddenly began getting to him, but he ignored it. He just stared at the strange flowers. Were they poisonous?
He took them back to the office. There was a computer there with a Delta level AI. He had them analysed by it. Nothing.
He was wondering. They looked nice, but they could obviously be bugged. He shrugged and decided to go back home.
So he was walking back. And then saw a person on a bench. It wasn't a person, it was a statue. He put the flowers in its hands. And then paused. - No, that'd be a waste. -
He took them with him instead. Carried them back home when he was on the tram. And then when inside his home. He wondered.
Nothing.
Darkness. Eternity.
His wife was there and she was watching a movie about a wizard taking care of a giant chocolate factory ran by scary aliens with funny hats. It was idiotic. But she seemed to like it.
He had the flowers... Well, he personally put the flowers in a pot.
Day carried on without anything to note.

The next day, he woke up. And his wife was sleeping next to him. In a great bed. Beyond the window snow fell slowly. The orbital shade could be seen. Casting a shining light over everything. It seemed kind in nature. Completely unbothered by an eternity of misery it was built upon.
He went out, took a tram. Got to the office. There he was talking to a specialist from deep space of some sort. He looked at him with eyes blue, augmented. A very young individual. Probably. Or heavily augmented and overruled in terms of what constituted being a human. He noticed his hand was a mere mechanical augment. A complete fabrication. Most likely a massive injury in combat. Or maybe an industrial accident? Or a genetic mishap?
He didn't ask out of politeness, obviously. But he stared at it for a moment, thinking. Because he was tired. Then he smiled and thanked him for his time. He sat in his giant chair. Working on his TriPad. Then working with other things. And things occurred. Everywhere, all at once.
Then eight hours passed, he went outside. It was cold and raining, whilst snowing. He took a tram. He was home again. Nothing.
Three months later he was on a spaceship again. This time going to Mayasura.
The shuttle left the Paragon he was moving on and the shuttle landed in one of the many decrepit cities on the planet. A Persean League patrol boat. An angry-looking Vigilance with huge dents in its armour and a Dragon DEM torpedo launcher which was oozing with radiation. But it was fortunately parked very far away.
The Persean League representative was missing an eye. Was completely bald. And his hand was randomly twitching. He spoke in a tone that was barely comprehensive. And then handed him some sort of an impossible to replicate unique data chip.
He nodded in silence. And said his goodbyes. Then went back to the shuttle. Because the heat was getting to him.
In the shuttle was a shade. A figure of some sort. A completely dark creature in light armour. A woman staring at him through a green visor with a face completely covered in a grey mask. She was looking at him with eyes that demanded nothing. And then closed them.
They were going back to the Paragon. Very slowly. He was wide awake. But she was asleep. The pilot that took care of the shuttle was wearing armour as well, but it was of a different kind.
They were moving. And then they were on the Paragon again. The Paragon with its blue large interiors invited him to the largest of rooms where he met up with some agents talking to each other in hush tones about the most recent speech the CEO gave. It was interesting. But he didn't care for it much.
To him she was kind of a traitor. But he would always be obviously supportive, because he didn't want to lose his job.
The Paragon was going back to Eochu Bres. Very slowly. When it was suddenly jumped by a billion pirates. The pirates have seemingly not expected a Tri-Tachyon resource recovery fleet to operate within this place at this time. So when they spotted this massive Tri-Tachyon fleet instead of engaging it, they scattered into all directions. Hoping it would disappear.
And disappear it did, because it had bigger interests than taking care of protecting this random place at this random time.
He was in his chair. Spinning in place. Thinking to himself. Nothing of interest occurred.

It was raining again on Eochu Bres. His wife wasn't home. He walked around the house for a bit, cleaning, positioning things in their right places. Before turning on the giant screen in the main room and seeing a report on something irrelevant. He was very. Unhappy with everything. He walked out of the room. And then he walked outside. In the rain. Wearing thick boots and a coat. He went to take a tram. And then disappeared into the town. Where he walked around a bit more. And into a bar. When he was there, he pulled out a TriPad and was looking through things. Many things. And then he walked around a bit more. And he was thinking. It was odd. Empty.
One of the mirrors shined in the sky. Carrying a light over the landscape. A bit of heat getting in. He walked around the town a bit more. It was hollow and empty. With some shops. Some people who worked at taking care of the somewhat harsh farmland around here. And there was also a richer executive. He was there with his boyfriend who was just a random spacer he found on one of his missions.
He was wondering. Then he left that place and went out all the way into the field. It was still raining. His clothing would not however catch all that water. Letting it all spill down like insults spelled against a person devoid of humanity.
Eternity of sorts.
He was wondering about things. Thinking out loud. And nothing happened.
Eternity.
Then he took the tram home. And was home. His wife was there, she was asleep. So he went to sleep too.
He woke up the next day and they ate together. Speaking softly to each other.
- How was your... Mission, honey? - She said with a bit of an uncomfortable tone.
- It's been okay. I'm not really sure. -
She was thinking. - You know, at my work we were dissecting a giant sea monster recently. Apparently found dead on like an icy shore. -
- Like an icy shore? -
- Well, that's where they said they found it. But we have reasons to believe it was hauled across the mountains from some protected lake. By the local laws and such. Corporate vs corporate. So they made up a lie that it was already dead. -
- And you didn't report it? -
- Well, I guess I didn't. I didn't want to lose my job, you know? Get blacklisted. -
He was thinking. - You could have been promoted for that. An outside reviewer would arrive and check up on the whole charade and have it be concluded. -
- Well, don't go ahead and act in my name even if you think that's what would happen, would you? -
His eyes wondered. - If you say so. -
After eating, nothing of note happened. They kissed under the shower. And then they went to bed. The darkness occurred once again.
He was on an Odyssey now. Travelling across space. On their way they were to a place far away. Quite a distance. And as they travelled hyperspace moved and obliterated. Dancing. Leaving trails of itself in all directions. History.