Post by EmperorMyric on Dec 16, 2017 19:11:55 GMT
"The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists."
--J. Edgar Hoover
--oOo--
Myric cleaved another holographic enemy from in front of him, Shadow Song singing as he did so. He was in civilian clothes but had decided to take a break from all the hassle and relax by taking part in a massive holographic battle in the training rooms. Besides all he was doing was waiting until the time came, he knew any day now the message would come. But he had done all he could, The pieces were in place and so only when the time was right would the moves be made. He sliced another enemy and finally the AI chimed, he stood up and frowned this was it. He walked from the room to find no body at the door. Strange... it was then he felt a presence. Shadow Song came up but stopped just short of the intruders neck.
It was a reflexive move on the part of a man well attuned to combat, but even as he began it he realized there was a certain futility to the motion. What he was raising his blade towards was not truly there, after all; but he recognized the illusive nature of the apparition materializing slowly before him. To strike it would have been akin to making war on the wind. Oddly enough, the phantom was less tangible than the holographic enemies he had been dispatching without too much difficulty; it was more like a ghost than a hologram, and as it gradually materialized before him he knew just what he was seeing. It was Flux.
Myric was slightly taken aback, he was sure this was some sort of trick, but he knew the Flux well. They had a reason to be here, if they hadn’t they wouldn’t be here, simple as that. He brought his halberd back to his side as the apparition finally took some sort of tangible form. Myric raised an eyebrow.
The ghost was that of an old woman. She was aged, somewhat, but hardly desiccated; her cheekbones stood prominently, and her eyes while certainly aged carried a great degree of clarity. Her uniform was simple, in great contrast to the grandeur of the ceremonial armour the emperor would don while in more official functions.
"We meet at last," Myric said simply.
She shifted slightly, though it may have simply been the nature of the spectre to do so. She was thinking, though this was evident to none, how odd it was that he would be confident of their finally meeting. She could have met him a dozen times before, and he would have likely said the same thing as a greeting on each and every occasion. That's not to say they had, of course, but for Myric the only memories he held of the Ascendancy were his memory of Droth's first appearance and of transcripts the Ascendancy had provided to the Emperor of their in person meetings.
"That could be said," she stated gently. She was not used to diplomatic functions, but she had chosen to make this communication personally out of curiosity as to the nature of the Union's leader. Really, she should have used Dyxis, as he was more well versed with their civilization. She was not used to interacting with those who were not Flux; it was not in her training. "I hope this occasion finds your worlds well, Myric." She added as an afterthought. Civility was not entirely her forte.
He sneered. They had so blatantly tried to get the Union into a position where it could not act in defense of its allies then denounce them as the evil ones... Myric sensed she was here for his help, though he knew 'help' probably translated into something far more complex.
"Dorin,“ Myric nodded. "Why are you here?"
She was perturbed by the sneer. It was a distasteful thing, and surprising to her, much as the use of her name was surprising to her. One of the emissaries must have mentioned her, but it was still unsettling not having to introduce oneself. But the sneer stood out remarkably; the man, as his dossier attested, prided himself in his morality, and the sneer seemed more animalistic than civilized.
She was however privately pleased that there wasn't any effort made at smalltalk.
"My people..." she began, hesitating briefly as she considered the next word, "...request your intervention."
Myric with his face of steel suddenly burst into laughter, it took him by surprise and much as it did Dorin but he quickly regained his composure.
"Intervention? Request? Dorin do you understand what you did to me and my people?"
He shook his head in disbelief "The only reason why I’m listening is because you people usually have a reason, but this? This is a complete joke. Why would I intervene at your request?"
Dorin felt a flash of fury at the laughter, but in the interest of civility she refrained from expressing it to any noteworthy degree. She was not truly a Heraldic, and lacked the disciplined training that crafted so many of them into sociopath manipulators. She had to try, and it was taxing, but the apparition did not reveal the flush that came over the old woman's face. His laughter was insulting, and unrefined.
"That is not the only reason you are listening to me. You are listening to me because I choose to speak to you." She chided softly, refraining from lambasting the man further. The Ascendancy never requested anything; they required things on occasion, and they were done. It was that simple. Perhaps the emperor didn't fully appreciate the situation.
Yet if he did not appreciate the situation, neither did she. In her eyes, the Ascendancy had done nothing to the Union of Worlds; they had not laid a finger upon the emperor's people, and with a private, inward smile the Prime Admiral reminded herself that if the Ascendancy wanted to do something to the Union, they would know in much more concrete terms than hurt feelings.
"You are...requested," she said carefully, not required as she would be more accustomed to saying, "to conduct a containment operation. Your people will benefit from this."
Myric, knowing that trying to converse with this women would be like talking to his wife on a bad day, decided to not bother with the distractions. The point needed to be made. He had bigger problems to deal with.
"A contamination protocol?" He rubbed his chin. "I suppose you want me to destroy something?"
She smiled slightly. She would have smiled more if she could have, but truth be told it was extremely stressful speaking with an outsider. She was an ascended herald, an honorary heraldic really, and from birth she had been conditioned that common Flux...she was really common when it came down to it...were never to speak to the outside world. They weren't even to speak to Heraldics, yet here she was on account of her deeds and years, doing the unthinkable. It wasn't comfortable though, but the Ascendancy required it, and she served.
"That is correct. A Heraldic research vessel reappeared two days ago. Since the start of its mission, it has become infected with what the enemy calls the Aberration. The nature of the infections makes it visible to lesser civilizations, and makes it incapable of being recovered via quantum entanglement. You've been placed in a position to rectify the situation."
She fell silent, contemplating the situation. The Ascendancy had chosen to reveal itself to the Emperor well before the Quiet Wars had begun, knowing full well that the neutrality agreement was a temporary thing. All things were temporary, really; such was the nature of time. The Flux were at peace with that, but there was a still a degree of discomfort in treating the temporary with the reverence reserved for permanent things.
And permanent things were terribly rare.
Myric nodded as if contemplating "So... you need me to stop you from being discovered? Why would I prevent the downfall of your race when we are at war?" Myric wondered, he put Shadow Song away in a flash of light, there was no need for it here. Whatever came next would be with words. But... This maneuver would benefit the Union greatly. But not for the reasons Dorin thought of... Myric smiled.
She looked at him peculiarly in response to his question. The man was irritating.
"Downfall. Interesting choice of words." She said evenly with a sharp tone present still. "Do you really think we're at war, Myric?"
After a pause of ten seconds or so, she added an addendum to her statement.
"Inconvenience would be a better word."
Myric smiled, he could tell she was annoyed with his way and it showed, it looked as if she had never had to deal with another being before. "Incontinence... I suppose being discovered by every race under the sun would be a minor inconvenience for you people surely" Myric chuckled. "Suppose I do intervene... I would spare everyone I harsh war. But mark my words Dorin, your time of silence is soon drawing to a close. I don’t need mastery over time to know that. I shall consider this carefully, You will know my decision. When the time comes" Myric nodded.
There was a moment there where she seemed dumbstruck by his manners. It probably didn't help that she was used to reverence; the common Flux revered her as she had done deeds of such a caliber that the Heraldic had accepted her into their fold. Beyond that, she was not, as the Emperor had surmised, used to dealing with non-Flux; let alone non-Flux who treated the Ascendancy so irreverently.
"Suppose you don't intervene, Myric." She said the words slowly. "You know what I'll have to do, don't you?"
The silence that followed was almost palpable. The old woman's ghost peered up towards the Emperor's shoulders, past them and onto his eyes. The difference in stature was relevant here, as was the nature in which they occupied the room. Myric dominated the chamber; Dorin was more gone than present, less there than whole. Yet there was a chilling coldness to those slow words that slipped from her spectral tongue.
"Dorin. We both know that they will be used. It is only a matter of time before they are, the current question is whether I wish to start a galactic war now or further down the line. I currently have the fate of billions in my hands. But then again... You could stop this here and now. Move your people away, and not intervene, go away into hiding. But you try your hardest to keep the fire in your hearts burning. I will intervene. Not with my own people, but someone far better suited to do the job"
She looked at him with an unnaturally honest gaze. She looked old, older than time perhaps, though time might have found the notion insulting. Yet the old woman's ghost stood there without shaking, as a woman of her age should have been, and peered up at him with troubled eyes.
"This is my garden, Myric."
And with that, she nodded in understanding, and began to fade. Her form twisted away as if it were smoke in the breeze, and then fell to pieces once more.
Myric stood there. He found the Flux amusing, just as arrogant and ignorant as the Nakai... no wonder they fought each other in the past. However, this needed to be done. He would spare no Union ships to perform this task, however there was one who would eagerly.
Myric brought his wrist up to his mouth and uttered some simple words.
"Get me Herious."
--oOo--
On the far side of the galaxy, as Prime Admiral Dorin privately extracted herself from the intrusive method of communication which allowed her to interact with beings inconceivably distant, she realized she was not smiling. Her visit had gone as she had hoped; the Emperor of the Union of Worlds was now conspiring with the Ascendancy to help keep them secret. It was for this reason, Dorin knew, that they had allowed their existence to be known to him so many months earlier.
The Ascendancy held an odd value towards the Emperor. While his days where numbered, his Union brought great stability to the galaxy. He was a sort of a game warden in that aspect, tending to the garden Dorin privately claimed, keeping the rabbits in check and thwarting the fox’s efforts to get at the henhouse. In that sense, in a way so strange as to be almost perverted, the Ascendancy's aims and the Union of World's aims coaligned quite smoothly. While she had not expressed it as such, he would be rewarded for his cooperation: the Ascendancy would see to it that the Union of Worlds would not suffer the pain of destroyed homes and lost families as their true enemy the Dark City would.
This did not at all equate to a neutrality agreement, of course, but she was not a wrathful person as some made her out to be. She was merely ruthless.
Merely ruthless.
--J. Edgar Hoover
--oOo--
Myric cleaved another holographic enemy from in front of him, Shadow Song singing as he did so. He was in civilian clothes but had decided to take a break from all the hassle and relax by taking part in a massive holographic battle in the training rooms. Besides all he was doing was waiting until the time came, he knew any day now the message would come. But he had done all he could, The pieces were in place and so only when the time was right would the moves be made. He sliced another enemy and finally the AI chimed, he stood up and frowned this was it. He walked from the room to find no body at the door. Strange... it was then he felt a presence. Shadow Song came up but stopped just short of the intruders neck.
It was a reflexive move on the part of a man well attuned to combat, but even as he began it he realized there was a certain futility to the motion. What he was raising his blade towards was not truly there, after all; but he recognized the illusive nature of the apparition materializing slowly before him. To strike it would have been akin to making war on the wind. Oddly enough, the phantom was less tangible than the holographic enemies he had been dispatching without too much difficulty; it was more like a ghost than a hologram, and as it gradually materialized before him he knew just what he was seeing. It was Flux.
Myric was slightly taken aback, he was sure this was some sort of trick, but he knew the Flux well. They had a reason to be here, if they hadn’t they wouldn’t be here, simple as that. He brought his halberd back to his side as the apparition finally took some sort of tangible form. Myric raised an eyebrow.
The ghost was that of an old woman. She was aged, somewhat, but hardly desiccated; her cheekbones stood prominently, and her eyes while certainly aged carried a great degree of clarity. Her uniform was simple, in great contrast to the grandeur of the ceremonial armour the emperor would don while in more official functions.
"We meet at last," Myric said simply.
She shifted slightly, though it may have simply been the nature of the spectre to do so. She was thinking, though this was evident to none, how odd it was that he would be confident of their finally meeting. She could have met him a dozen times before, and he would have likely said the same thing as a greeting on each and every occasion. That's not to say they had, of course, but for Myric the only memories he held of the Ascendancy were his memory of Droth's first appearance and of transcripts the Ascendancy had provided to the Emperor of their in person meetings.
"That could be said," she stated gently. She was not used to diplomatic functions, but she had chosen to make this communication personally out of curiosity as to the nature of the Union's leader. Really, she should have used Dyxis, as he was more well versed with their civilization. She was not used to interacting with those who were not Flux; it was not in her training. "I hope this occasion finds your worlds well, Myric." She added as an afterthought. Civility was not entirely her forte.
He sneered. They had so blatantly tried to get the Union into a position where it could not act in defense of its allies then denounce them as the evil ones... Myric sensed she was here for his help, though he knew 'help' probably translated into something far more complex.
"Dorin,“ Myric nodded. "Why are you here?"
She was perturbed by the sneer. It was a distasteful thing, and surprising to her, much as the use of her name was surprising to her. One of the emissaries must have mentioned her, but it was still unsettling not having to introduce oneself. But the sneer stood out remarkably; the man, as his dossier attested, prided himself in his morality, and the sneer seemed more animalistic than civilized.
She was however privately pleased that there wasn't any effort made at smalltalk.
"My people..." she began, hesitating briefly as she considered the next word, "...request your intervention."
Myric with his face of steel suddenly burst into laughter, it took him by surprise and much as it did Dorin but he quickly regained his composure.
"Intervention? Request? Dorin do you understand what you did to me and my people?"
He shook his head in disbelief "The only reason why I’m listening is because you people usually have a reason, but this? This is a complete joke. Why would I intervene at your request?"
Dorin felt a flash of fury at the laughter, but in the interest of civility she refrained from expressing it to any noteworthy degree. She was not truly a Heraldic, and lacked the disciplined training that crafted so many of them into sociopath manipulators. She had to try, and it was taxing, but the apparition did not reveal the flush that came over the old woman's face. His laughter was insulting, and unrefined.
"That is not the only reason you are listening to me. You are listening to me because I choose to speak to you." She chided softly, refraining from lambasting the man further. The Ascendancy never requested anything; they required things on occasion, and they were done. It was that simple. Perhaps the emperor didn't fully appreciate the situation.
Yet if he did not appreciate the situation, neither did she. In her eyes, the Ascendancy had done nothing to the Union of Worlds; they had not laid a finger upon the emperor's people, and with a private, inward smile the Prime Admiral reminded herself that if the Ascendancy wanted to do something to the Union, they would know in much more concrete terms than hurt feelings.
"You are...requested," she said carefully, not required as she would be more accustomed to saying, "to conduct a containment operation. Your people will benefit from this."
Myric, knowing that trying to converse with this women would be like talking to his wife on a bad day, decided to not bother with the distractions. The point needed to be made. He had bigger problems to deal with.
"A contamination protocol?" He rubbed his chin. "I suppose you want me to destroy something?"
She smiled slightly. She would have smiled more if she could have, but truth be told it was extremely stressful speaking with an outsider. She was an ascended herald, an honorary heraldic really, and from birth she had been conditioned that common Flux...she was really common when it came down to it...were never to speak to the outside world. They weren't even to speak to Heraldics, yet here she was on account of her deeds and years, doing the unthinkable. It wasn't comfortable though, but the Ascendancy required it, and she served.
"That is correct. A Heraldic research vessel reappeared two days ago. Since the start of its mission, it has become infected with what the enemy calls the Aberration. The nature of the infections makes it visible to lesser civilizations, and makes it incapable of being recovered via quantum entanglement. You've been placed in a position to rectify the situation."
She fell silent, contemplating the situation. The Ascendancy had chosen to reveal itself to the Emperor well before the Quiet Wars had begun, knowing full well that the neutrality agreement was a temporary thing. All things were temporary, really; such was the nature of time. The Flux were at peace with that, but there was a still a degree of discomfort in treating the temporary with the reverence reserved for permanent things.
And permanent things were terribly rare.
Myric nodded as if contemplating "So... you need me to stop you from being discovered? Why would I prevent the downfall of your race when we are at war?" Myric wondered, he put Shadow Song away in a flash of light, there was no need for it here. Whatever came next would be with words. But... This maneuver would benefit the Union greatly. But not for the reasons Dorin thought of... Myric smiled.
She looked at him peculiarly in response to his question. The man was irritating.
"Downfall. Interesting choice of words." She said evenly with a sharp tone present still. "Do you really think we're at war, Myric?"
After a pause of ten seconds or so, she added an addendum to her statement.
"Inconvenience would be a better word."
Myric smiled, he could tell she was annoyed with his way and it showed, it looked as if she had never had to deal with another being before. "Incontinence... I suppose being discovered by every race under the sun would be a minor inconvenience for you people surely" Myric chuckled. "Suppose I do intervene... I would spare everyone I harsh war. But mark my words Dorin, your time of silence is soon drawing to a close. I don’t need mastery over time to know that. I shall consider this carefully, You will know my decision. When the time comes" Myric nodded.
There was a moment there where she seemed dumbstruck by his manners. It probably didn't help that she was used to reverence; the common Flux revered her as she had done deeds of such a caliber that the Heraldic had accepted her into their fold. Beyond that, she was not, as the Emperor had surmised, used to dealing with non-Flux; let alone non-Flux who treated the Ascendancy so irreverently.
"Suppose you don't intervene, Myric." She said the words slowly. "You know what I'll have to do, don't you?"
The silence that followed was almost palpable. The old woman's ghost peered up towards the Emperor's shoulders, past them and onto his eyes. The difference in stature was relevant here, as was the nature in which they occupied the room. Myric dominated the chamber; Dorin was more gone than present, less there than whole. Yet there was a chilling coldness to those slow words that slipped from her spectral tongue.
"Dorin. We both know that they will be used. It is only a matter of time before they are, the current question is whether I wish to start a galactic war now or further down the line. I currently have the fate of billions in my hands. But then again... You could stop this here and now. Move your people away, and not intervene, go away into hiding. But you try your hardest to keep the fire in your hearts burning. I will intervene. Not with my own people, but someone far better suited to do the job"
She looked at him with an unnaturally honest gaze. She looked old, older than time perhaps, though time might have found the notion insulting. Yet the old woman's ghost stood there without shaking, as a woman of her age should have been, and peered up at him with troubled eyes.
"This is my garden, Myric."
And with that, she nodded in understanding, and began to fade. Her form twisted away as if it were smoke in the breeze, and then fell to pieces once more.
Myric stood there. He found the Flux amusing, just as arrogant and ignorant as the Nakai... no wonder they fought each other in the past. However, this needed to be done. He would spare no Union ships to perform this task, however there was one who would eagerly.
Myric brought his wrist up to his mouth and uttered some simple words.
"Get me Herious."
--oOo--
On the far side of the galaxy, as Prime Admiral Dorin privately extracted herself from the intrusive method of communication which allowed her to interact with beings inconceivably distant, she realized she was not smiling. Her visit had gone as she had hoped; the Emperor of the Union of Worlds was now conspiring with the Ascendancy to help keep them secret. It was for this reason, Dorin knew, that they had allowed their existence to be known to him so many months earlier.
The Ascendancy held an odd value towards the Emperor. While his days where numbered, his Union brought great stability to the galaxy. He was a sort of a game warden in that aspect, tending to the garden Dorin privately claimed, keeping the rabbits in check and thwarting the fox’s efforts to get at the henhouse. In that sense, in a way so strange as to be almost perverted, the Ascendancy's aims and the Union of World's aims coaligned quite smoothly. While she had not expressed it as such, he would be rewarded for his cooperation: the Ascendancy would see to it that the Union of Worlds would not suffer the pain of destroyed homes and lost families as their true enemy the Dark City would.
This did not at all equate to a neutrality agreement, of course, but she was not a wrathful person as some made her out to be. She was merely ruthless.
Merely ruthless.