by Aer-ki Jyr
“You know that we lack information and you are offering it freely. Wise opening move,” Morgan quipped.
“It is common knowledge elsewhere, and in truth you should have been contacted prior to now in order that certain realities could be explained to you. I have tried to ascertain why it was not, and my information suggests that your rise to Essence capability has occurred over a drastically short timespan. That is why the Neofan did not know of your qualifications, but I am alarmed that the Veloqueen’s representative in this galaxy did not treat you with the respect deserved. And the fact that you and your allies killed him is, frankly, impressive.”
“Compliments are useless to me. Lay out the facts we are going to negotiate over.”
Jueni nodded his head at the Archon’s practicality, gaining a more refined estimate of what he needed to accomplish with her now that he had additional personality data.
“The Hadarak are attempting to purge this galaxy, with the impetus unknown to you or us. Correct?”
“Correct.”
“Their purge will most likely not affect the Temples. You can hide many of your people inside and rebuild after the galaxy is rid of all life. We have no intent to deny the Temples to you, for you need them as a fallback position if your defensive efforts fail. I also acknowledge the lack of wisdom of the Vargemma is our responsibility, for they struck at those that can kill Hadarak, most likely fearing that you would trigger a larger purge. They do not understand much of the galaxy beyond the Temples, and our instructions for their scouting actions were…insufficient. Your response was highly appropriate and merciful, and while we do not like people taking what is ours, we understand the situation and wish to negotiate a beneficial future path.”
“We are not giving the Temples back.”
“And I am not asking you to. There are three still remaining that you have no presence in. Those will be sufficient for our needs. Your agreement not to seek out and expand to them will be a bargaining point.”
“I wasn’t aware we had missed any.”
“None have active populations, and are in energy conservation mode until needed. And they will be now, for I have need of them. If you allow the Temples you possess to continue standard operations, we can tolerate your presence there. And by standard operations I am not referring to how they deal with the Vargemma. You have possession of them now, and your methods of dealing with them are quite adequate, and more merciful than we would be. Therefore your tenure as their overlords is both efficient and effective, as they continue to supply the necessary Essence for Temple operations.”
“What do the Neofan need with the other three Temples?”
“Refuge. Our galaxy is falling, and those being evacuated to the new galaxy will be few. House Mutavi, the Neofan leading faction at the moment, will evacuate all of its people, leaving the other Houses limited availability to do the same. The Zotav that you have discovered and are attempting to fight your way to are our ability to transit from one galaxy to another without using the Gateways in the Core of the galaxy that the Hadarak control. Travel through the intergalactic network requires large amounts of Essence and is limited to the pathways established. Those pathways can only handle so much traffic, and even taking circuitous routes to the new galaxy, the length of time we have to evacuate determines how many of our people will make it out.”
“Why are you sending out lesser races in stasis instead of your own?”
“They are not being transported in the same manner. We can also send cargo across the galactic voids to the Zotav via magnetic acceleration. Much of our support network for the Temples operate on this, and we have a string of relays set up across the galactic void that took a great deal of time to establish. But they are so long and tedious that we cannot send living beings through them or they will starve to death before they make the journey. Thus they must be sent in stasis. As for my race, we are incompatible with the stasis technology. Our physiology will not tolerate it, and we will wake no matter what precautions are taken. So we are evacuating useful servants in this manner, but the volume is far lower than using the Essence transport.”
“Let me guess. The stations in the void aren’t big enough to handle the big ships, because the deceleration will push them out of alignment?”
“A wise deduction. Or did you already have knowledge of this?”
“Just a knowledge of physics. How do you deal with the limited list?”
“Essence pinning. To do more would increase the cost exponentially. It is a small cargo and communications network, but immensely valuable when we do not have the Essence to spare for the faster bulk travel. It is how we have survived against the Hadarak, otherwise we would be confined to a single galaxy without knowledge from beyond unless we could successfully run the gauntlet of the Core to make a jump out the Gateways.”
“Does that happen?”
“Occasionally, but with great risk. That is why we built the intergalactic network, and it is why we are able to rebuild after losing our galaxy. Other races have done the same, though none as large or advanced as ours. To be blunt, the Neofan Houses that controlled our race previously failed miserably and let the Hadarak in. That never should have happened, but with each failure we change leadership so that wiser Houses will replace them…or at least be given a chance to prove they are wiser. We do not tolerate failure, but we do have to deal with it when it occurs. And that is why I am here. My House, Atriark, is low ranking and will not be allowed to evacuate most of our people unless our predicted fall rate is less robust. Given more time, more Neofan will be transported to the new galaxy. All others will have to face their fate, and if they do not choose to stay and fight to the death, then they will flee throughout the intergalactic network and become exiles.”
Morgan raised an eyebrow. “You wish to become exiles here?”
“No. I have been given permission from the ruling House to negotiate an arrangement in which we relocate our House to this galaxy and assist you in your fight against the Hadarak through wisdom, counsel, certain technology, and limited combat. The more damage you do to the Hadarak the more reinforcements they will not send to other galaxies, and if you do enough damage they will start sending reinforcements here. Your victory is a virtual impossibility, but we are willing to help you pursue it regardless in order to divert attention away from the galaxy we will soon be assaulting in order to make a new home for the Neofan, for our only options are those that the Hadarak already possess.”
“You have no galaxies in your intergalactic network that the Hadarak are not in?”
“We do not.”
“Then you have no connection to the smaller galaxies?”
“None.”
“Why not? That’s the logical place to evacuate to if the Hadarak are not in them.”
“Why do you assume they are not?”
“I was told the Hadarak required very massive gravity wells to attempt intergalactic travel, and that the smaller galaxies lack of those meant they could not make it and did not attempt it.”
“We believe that is true, though we have not confirmed it.”
“Why not?”
“Because every scout we have sent to the smaller galaxies have not returned. We eventually built an intergalactic network tendril to one entirely from one direction. When we got close to the smaller galaxy our link was cut, our facility destroyed, and one survivor was sent back to give us a message. The galaxies too small for the Hadarak are already taken by others and they do not wish to share them.”
Morgan unconsciously swallowed. “You’re saying there’s powerful races in those galaxies, or that they’re weaker ones who just have the advantage of the high ground against those coming across the intergalactic void without backup or a foothold to work out of?”
“If they were less than us, we would have been able to get a scout in and out. The fact that not one returned from any of the galaxies we attempted to probe suggests an intergalactic power equal or or greater than our own. So
we cannot evacuate there, and we cannot build to new large galaxies faster than the Hadarak can expand. Their reach exceeds ours. In order to relocate to another galaxy we must take it from the Hadarak, and that must be a galaxy where they assume they are in control. If we strike strongly and quickly enough, we can take the Gateways from them, hold them, then cleanse the galaxy over as long a timeframe as necessary to accomplish the task. The Gateways are the key, and we lost them in our galaxy. The Hadarak are not going to give them back, so we must take others less heavily guarded.”
“This galaxy?”
“With a surge ongoing? No. The Hadarak have reproduced too much here to consider it. We are gathering our forces to assault another. My House will not have many people there, but we can remain part of the Neofan and make this galaxy our place of refuge if we successfully help you survive long enough to be a useful distraction. Afterwards, you can survive in the Temples and rebuild after the surge retreats. If we are successful enough, our House status within the Neofan will rise and our place in the new galaxy will be higher than we rate now. We will also preserve our current population rather than leaving them behind to die and have to rebuild mostly from scratch with younglings. This is the situation we face, and I have come here to bargain an alliance that will be mutually beneficial to us both…”
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