Chapter 28: Chapter Twenty-Six Movements in the Shadows, and Beyond

A young lady rushed excitedly into the office. The woman behind the desk looked up at her entrance. She looked just as young as the excited ensign that had run into the room, but she was far older. Her apparent youth was merely one of the perks of being one of the immortal races.

“Lord Protector, Madame. Long-range intergalactic sensors recently picked up a ...”

She interrupted, “I know. The ISS Constellation, yes? Specifically the triple E. The seers informed me already that she would reactivate soon.”

“Does that mean, Imperial Command already plans to send a force to recover the ship?”

She shook her head, “I am afraid not. We have no ships to spare, especially with the bulk of our fleet engaged elsewhere. However, we have every reason to believe the ship will make its way back to the Empire on her own.”

---

Kiru stepped out of the bath. A light flashed from the walls, and ran over her damp body. The water vanishing from her sparse fur, her hair, and skin instantly. She had enjoyed the bath, it was quite the luxury for a ship, and she had a semi-private one. Practically unheard of for starships, especially military starships. Although she was happy to have it here. In fact, she had a lot to enjoy lately. The ship had been good to her. For the most part, there was the whole thing with changing her body, but she had to admit she hadn’t been in her right mind then. She was thankful the ship had undone the brainwashing that had been done to her.

She glanced back at May, who she had shared the bath with. Kiru was starting to think of her roommate as something of a friend. Although she knew that May saw her as a sister. Kiru just wasn’t ready to think of her that way. Even if they were, in an odd way, related on a genetic level. It was weird to think about, but these girls were based on her. Not that she knew why, only that it had something to do with Megumi’s plan to uncover what was happening in the Imperium. Thinking of Megumi she still wasn’t sure what to make of their relationship, especially after they had sex. At the time, Megumi had caught her off guard, but she had gone through with it. Kiru had never said no, so she knew at least on some level she had wanted it. Not that she regretted it, it was the best sex she ever had.

“I’ll go ahead, and get dressed. I’ll meet you later for today’s class.”

May acknowledged her, and Kiru left the room. Quickly selecting an outfit, and then making her way out of the room, where she ran into Megumi. Megumi smiled, and said, “Good Morning, Princess!”

She sighed, “Good Morning.”

“I’m going to be busy this morning. Melia is about to wake up, and I plan to give her, her first Magic lesson. As such, your morning will be a free period, to enjoy with your classmate.”

“Melia? I don’t think I know that person.”

“Ah, yes you two have not met. If you like, I could bring you along. The magic lesson won’t do you any good, but ...” she trailed off leaving the rest unsaid. Kiru didn’t need it.

She nodded, “Sounds like a good idea. I take it this Melia is someone important?”

Megumi affirmed, “She is a very talented young Erali I picked up. I also put her in charge of all the Erali I have onboard, but she answers directly to me. Effectively that makes her captain, but only in name. I’m the one actually making decisions after all.”

Kiru didn’t know what to say, but wasn’t all that surprised. The ship had recruited her, and while she had not seen anyone else, she had little doubt the ship had recruited other Neku as well. Why would they not recruit an Erali as well? In fact she remembered originally suspecting this ship was under Erali control. Now? Not so much. It was quite obvious it was still under Precursor control. Well, the control of a Precursor computer anyway. Not that she fully understood Megumi’s motivations.

After a moment she said, “Kind of obvious, on that.”

“I guess it is. This way,” she gestured, and Kiru moved to follow. Then Megumi said, “By the way, this afternoon I will be arriving in a system not far from the Neku border. It’s part of a small star cluster whose inaccessibility has led to it remaining uninhabited. That inaccessibility is mainly due to the highly unusual hyperspace geometry of the region. It’s also prone to hyperspace anomalies including the type that surface into normal space. A factor that makes approaching via warp travel a tricky proposition, unless you happen to have sensors capable of peering deep into hyperspace like I do.”

Kiru blinked, the Sesari cluster was a well known astrographic landmark. As she recalled, the Neku maintained a Research Outpost near the cluster, one dedicated to studying the prolific hyperspace phenomena in the region. Although she had to admit, she knew little about either the cluster or the outpost in the region.

Feeling curious, she asked, “You wouldn’t happen to know why the cluster is so unusual?”

“I do, but it’s rather complicated. In short, it has to do with the rather anomalous central star of the cluster. That star is currently in a state of hyperspatial flux, and it is distorting hyperspace in a radius of nearly thirty lightyears.”

Kiru gave Megumi a look, “Some one did this on purpose didn’t they?”

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Megumi nodded, “You would be right. Just don’t ask me how they did it. That knowledge was lost with the First Lords. Perhaps, Supreme Protector Countryman would know. He is the last of the First Lords, and they were the ones who did this. Just good luck getting that knowledge out of him. He has been tight-lipped on many subjects in regards to First Lord knowledge.”

Kiru had heard mention of the First Lords before. Even if it wasn’t much, but she had not heard mention of this Supreme Protector before. She asked about him, as they continued into a tram-lift. 

Megumi looked thoughtful for a moment, and then replied, “He was, last I checked, the ruler of the Solean Empire, but that may have changed. It has been many years. As I said he is also the last of the first lords, but he is also the last remaining founder of the Solean Empire. Before the Empire he was also head of our Precursor state, the Solean Alliance. Although that didn’t mean as much as it does for the Empire. The Alliance was merely a loosely aligned collection of independent fleets. Not unlike a collection of city-states, where each city was its own nation.”

“Precursor state? Solean Alliance?”

Megumi sighed, and said, “History is rife with turning points. If you are interested I do have extensive history files that you could review. Complete with in depth analyses of historical events. That even includes early Solean history, and covers how the Solean Alliance reformed into the Solean Empire. It also covers the initial formation of the Solean Alliance. In broad strokes though, the Solean Empire was not the first unified Solean Government, that was actually the Sol Refuge. An early precursor to the Solean Alliance that stood for nearly ten millennia before the Empire was founded.”

That sounded interesting actually. While History had never been her best subject, she had often found it diverting. Sometimes it was better than fiction. Kiru did recall reading that many cultures founded their first unified government within the first two hundred years after the discovery of spaceflight. “This Sol Refuge, I am curious how many years after the discovery of spaceflight was it founded?”

“Technically the Solean People never discovered spaceflight. They inherited the knowledge of spaceflight.”

Kiru noted that response, and said, “I really need to read those then. They might be a nice diversion. It sounds very interesting.”

“I’ll get you a list of the better books on the subjects then. Although I didn’t know you liked to read. You seemed like the type that loves to run.”

“Oh, I do, but sometimes it’s nice to curl up with a good book. I typically prefer fiction, but sometimes a good history book can be just as diverting.”

Megumi nodded, “I understand. I’ll get you a list of good fictions to go with it.”

They left the lift, and turned left. Where the duo was quickly met with a security screen. Megumi flashed an off putting smile, “Ah, and this is a good opportunity. Would you like to learn how to use your shields to bypass a security shield?”

Kiru blinked, “I can do that?”

---

It turned out she could indeed pass through security shields. Although she messed up on her first try, and her second. Neither was pleasant, as security force fields were charged energy barriers, not only did she bounce off everytime she messed up, she also got zapped. It was really cool the third time, when she got it right and was able to just walk through it like it wasn’t even there, however.

Now however, they were in a small medical bay with a single pod. One that was draining of liquid to reveal a nude Erali female. Megumi was explaining how the fluid in there tended to ruin clothes, but Kiru wasn’t really paying attention. She was more focused on studying the features of the young woman in the pod as they resolved themselves.

---

The young council member leaned back in her chair and sighed. The senior agents they had sent to Eral had reported back. One of them had a run of bad luck and had been forced to pull out when her cover failed. Although she didn’t leave empty-handed. The others had managed to infiltrate the planet, and uncover some unsettling information.

Their worst fears had been realized, and more. The Erali has indeed managed to reactivate the Precursor ship. The ship in question was a Starlord Battleship, the ISS Constellation. Worse, the Erali were not in control of the ship, but an eccentric and unpredictable alien AI. One that did however seem to be helping the Erali. One of the agents had managed to retrieve a partial copy of some data that had been sent to the Erali. Unfortunately, she had not been able to get all of it or destroy any of the data. It was too well guarded. 

There was enough to indicate that the ship was trying to level the playing field. What else the ship was doing, they knew not. The Erali didn’t even know its exact whereabouts, but they were still in contact with the contingent of scientists they had left aboard. Who were occasionally sending progress reports, but nothing important came with those. There was little surprise about that. 

Honestly, her biggest worry now was the ship. Apparently, it was able to cloak, and it was regenerating. Damaged systems were repairing themselves on their own. How she knew not, but that meant with every passing moment it became more of a threat. Especially since they had no idea what that ship was going to do nor did they really know everything the precursors were capable of.

She sighed, and slipped out of her chair. The young councilwoman already thinking about the upcoming council meeting. They needed a new plan, and fast. Although she had no idea how they were going to keep a precursor warship in check. Not unless some kind of fortuitous luck came their way.

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