Post by veronw on Jan 2, 2024 22:41:46 GMT
Kapa Sef felt the ache in his soul still.
The echo of The Doom had cascaded across the whole of Borealia, washing across uncountable numbers of beings - he was no exception.
It didn’t touch him as deeply as it did those around him, and it didn’t impact him - nor he suspected his people - as intensely, but it still left an impression. A subtle scar.
His hand brushed against his cheek, rubbing at that invisible space where a crack had formed in the essence of himself. It wouldn’t be long before he differentiated entirely, and his soul splintered into a trillion empty pieces.
There was the reminder of a simple biological process practiced by his people sixty-thousand years ago. A glass-like matrix had been discovered through a procession of hydrophilic phospholipid bilayers through the interaction of a pair of symbiotes. The resultant construct caused desiccation, but protected the core DNA through dsups.
It was called “tun”.
He felt like he was this exact thing, a preserved corpse.
A small smile tugs at his lips as he listens to Gillard hammer away at the situation, “-and with the minefield up, we should be able to stall out the offensive. We’ve got to figure out what to–why are you smiling?”
The haleelian broadened the smile and shrugged, “Oh, just enjoying the company. In this day and age, it seems rare for us to be in the same room together without panicking swarms looking to us for answers.”
Gillard huffed, placing his arms against his chest while looking away. Kapa just shook his head slowly, letting his grin grow softer, more affectionate, “Be that as it may, I suppose we’ll have to get back to the business at hand as they say?”
The human nodded firmly, stuffing whatever emotions he was feeling inside of himself while gesturing broadly at the holographic map, “As I was saying, the minefield has been up for a while now. We expected a counter assault from the AOTK, and while the Army proper is deadlier, the mines will still do their job of slowing them down.”
He pointed at the map again, this time to the south east, “Of bigger concern is the Yamanakako Army and the Eosians.”
The map zoomed in on the respective regions of space. Outlined in a pulsing green, the 4th Army HQ had been - somehow - compromised by Invader probes, leading to the infiltration and assault of BIDEN prior to The Doom.
And Eos.. Eos was something Kapa Sef knew.
Gillard looked at him expectedly, leaving the haleel to gesture at the Eosian frontline, “Yes, well. We’ve encountered Eos before and that data has since been transferred. They are a conventional challenge, not an OCP like the Army. There was always the worry that Eos would make a move when it saw an opportunity, which was why my cladekin were so adamant about keeping so many of the ships in this region of space.”
His human friend shook his head, “I was just as determined. We weren’t going to leave the backdoor open for just anyone to walk into. I don’t know what’s going to happen with the Third Republic Loyalists at this point. ‘Spose they’re the one and only NSR now.”
“True. The cladeships made solid inroads diplomatically before retreating from the area. The alliances and negotiations should still be intact, supposing that their leadership survived The Doom.”
Gillard shook his head, “We’ve all got some damned apocalyptic names for it huh? Doom, Event, Ending. Yeah, we should check and see what’s going on with the neighborhood.”
The map zooms out again, with Kapa pointing at the red nations of CIHN, “Beyond IHIL taking the brunt of it, have there been any other significant reports of disruption?”
“No, most of us weathered the storm. We’ll bear the scars of it,” the word making Kapa flinch, “for a while though. IHIL’s requested support and aid, which we’re sending as able. About half the fleet was sent out to the offensive against the AOTK.”
“And that half will never return, I’m guessing.”
Once more, the man just shook his head, “No. I wouldn’t count on it. And the cladeships?”
Kapa shook his head as well, “The Consensus has been broken. I have no ability to connect with my kin anywhere. If I survived, I expect they did as well. Though..”
Gillard sat down and flipped the holomap off. He stared at Kapa for a long moment then tapped at the desk they shared and opened a drawer, “Want one?”
The cigar he pulled out was elaborate. Embellished with the Zenith symbol emblazoned alongside that of CIHN, it was very much what one may call a “victory” token. The fact that Gillard pulled out two made Kapa smile softly as he nodded, “Sure, thanks.”
In the nearly deserted command center, the two of them lit their cigars and took respective puffs. Gillard relaxed into it, “Ahhh, that’s good. Real good. Wish we coulda lit them to the real thing.”
Kapa took a draft of it and sighed, exhaling the smoke, “Wish I had lungs to appreciate the sense.”
Gillard gave Kapa a disbelieving look before he started laughing, which Kapa joined in on. It added a level of absurdity to things they had faced in the last twenty hours, and it was an absurdity that was oddly appreciated between the two of them.
His friend had the cigar dangling from his mouth as he wagged a finger at Kapa, “So how long?”
Kapa took another puff, musing at the thought of shapeshifting some lungs, just so he could actually enjoy the sensation some more. It would be good, he thought, to take advantage of that.
When he didn’t immediately offer an answer, Gillard’s expression took a darker hue, “Kapa.”
The haleelian looked away, shrugging, “A day? Perhaps a week?”
Silence settled on in the room, punctuated only by the smoke that slowly gathered there. Filters whirred into action, sucking the smoke off to be processed by the nanomachines that coursed through Darkwater’s newest mountain.
Another puff, “..Right. We’ll make it count then.”
Kapa nodded, “Right.”
They enjoyed the cigars together in companionable silence after that, waiting for the arrival of their guest. Ships in orbit were spartan - most being on various relief missions or on border patrol duty - but the two that remained behind sent an affirmation that their guest was waiting to be waived in.
Gillard punched the button on his console and gave them authorization, while he and Kapa set up the holotable again with all the various bits and pieces that would be needed.
CIHN space was a ruby red, a defiant bulwark in the horrors of Borealia. The inheritors of the NSR were blue. All the rest remained in a soft orange - unknown status. All save Eos, which flashed with an ominous gold.
When at last she arrived, it was not the fanfare that Kapa quite expected. There were a variety of stories that circulated through the Clade about her, about what to expect. He had to admit, he was a little nervous.
In comparison, he was a fly. Just an infant. It was humbling and unsettling - especially when you’re used to being the mountain.
When the petal walked in, it was with the usual avatar of her. But there was weariness. It made Kapa’s expression fall, for he had the tiniest hope that this ancient among ancients may have through some miracle passed through the eye of the needle unharmed.
It would not be so.
“Lillian, a pleasure. This is Kapa Sef, of the Soli enclave here.”
“Director Gillard, thank you for inviting me. And it is a pleasure to meet you, Kapa Sef.”
Kapa gave her a slight bow, “The pleasure is mine.”
Gillard moved swiftly into the strategic planning, pointing at the map and the arrayed forces, “On to the matters at hand. We’ve got CIHN forces arrayed at the borders of the UC and the bastards of the FSS. We think the FSS has been hit hard by The Event, based on damage seen elsewhere and other reports.”
“Our bigger worry is the Eosians and the UC. We don’t know what either will do given recent events. IHIL was hit pretty badly, and while it’s still operational ready thanks to the MITA assets there, it’s nowhere near the bulwark it was.”
Lillian’s petal observed this carefully, watching as Gillard pointed at specific installations, shipyards, resource sites, ancerium fuel depots, and strategic operations assets. CIHN had been made to act as a redoubt, and it served this purpose well.
MITA’s assets were going to be absorbed into CIHN - that was the suggestion of Kapa Sef, given that the situation had deteriorated so badly with command and control disrupted everywhere.
Lillian just needed to give the thumbs up, as the only MITA member actually present. Gillard did not expand on why Kapa Sef did not fit that criteria, and Lillian did not ask.
“-so as you can see, the distribution is adequate to protect the flanks here. Even with the horrendous estimate of 50% casualties in Corona proper, we’re still in a better position than pretty much anyone in Borealia with few exceptions.”
“But to properly consolidate, I’d like full control over the MITA assets. As the only representative of them who is cogent at the moment, please give your authorization for this.”
Kapa Sef’s symbiote alerted him to a request from outside. He pointed at his head and Gillard waved him out while Lilian gave her response.
Connecting to the delicate photonic pathways, Kapa Sef felt the request bleed in: all of the superweapons that they had. It was a staggering thing to even consider, given that they would be critical to the defense of CIHN space.
…If they even had any.
Tapping into the associated command network of the IPD, he felt the lists come to him. None. Not one.
The only official MITA superweapon was the Entelechy, and that was lost with DTAI and the rest. The superweapons that were widely available in OCCCA space had belonged to the NSR and the UC. Kapa doubted either would agree to giving up what both would consider their lynch pins.
Striding through the halls of Zenith, the saxheelian turned the corner and up the stairs. Carefully hybridized technology at Zenith HQ had been the compromise for the Enclave’s purposes.
Saxtech integration in exchange for a place for them to call home. And now, he was the only one left. The rest had fled back to the Disk with the general evacuation of civilian assets, with only Kapa electing to stay behind.
A small grin tugged at his lips as he exited the hallway into the waiting room that held the requestor. The elderly man wore a suit and tie - not unlike that which TnT reported in The Flow.
Yes, they were most assuredly of the same clade. The Benefactors, in the flesh - so to speak.
Dipping his head, the haleeling broadened his smile, “I see, I was wondering who made the request. Let’s sit down, shall we? This will be rather sobering.”
The echo of The Doom had cascaded across the whole of Borealia, washing across uncountable numbers of beings - he was no exception.
It didn’t touch him as deeply as it did those around him, and it didn’t impact him - nor he suspected his people - as intensely, but it still left an impression. A subtle scar.
His hand brushed against his cheek, rubbing at that invisible space where a crack had formed in the essence of himself. It wouldn’t be long before he differentiated entirely, and his soul splintered into a trillion empty pieces.
There was the reminder of a simple biological process practiced by his people sixty-thousand years ago. A glass-like matrix had been discovered through a procession of hydrophilic phospholipid bilayers through the interaction of a pair of symbiotes. The resultant construct caused desiccation, but protected the core DNA through dsups.
It was called “tun”.
He felt like he was this exact thing, a preserved corpse.
A small smile tugs at his lips as he listens to Gillard hammer away at the situation, “-and with the minefield up, we should be able to stall out the offensive. We’ve got to figure out what to–why are you smiling?”
The haleelian broadened the smile and shrugged, “Oh, just enjoying the company. In this day and age, it seems rare for us to be in the same room together without panicking swarms looking to us for answers.”
Gillard huffed, placing his arms against his chest while looking away. Kapa just shook his head slowly, letting his grin grow softer, more affectionate, “Be that as it may, I suppose we’ll have to get back to the business at hand as they say?”
The human nodded firmly, stuffing whatever emotions he was feeling inside of himself while gesturing broadly at the holographic map, “As I was saying, the minefield has been up for a while now. We expected a counter assault from the AOTK, and while the Army proper is deadlier, the mines will still do their job of slowing them down.”
He pointed at the map again, this time to the south east, “Of bigger concern is the Yamanakako Army and the Eosians.”
The map zoomed in on the respective regions of space. Outlined in a pulsing green, the 4th Army HQ had been - somehow - compromised by Invader probes, leading to the infiltration and assault of BIDEN prior to The Doom.
And Eos.. Eos was something Kapa Sef knew.
Gillard looked at him expectedly, leaving the haleel to gesture at the Eosian frontline, “Yes, well. We’ve encountered Eos before and that data has since been transferred. They are a conventional challenge, not an OCP like the Army. There was always the worry that Eos would make a move when it saw an opportunity, which was why my cladekin were so adamant about keeping so many of the ships in this region of space.”
His human friend shook his head, “I was just as determined. We weren’t going to leave the backdoor open for just anyone to walk into. I don’t know what’s going to happen with the Third Republic Loyalists at this point. ‘Spose they’re the one and only NSR now.”
“True. The cladeships made solid inroads diplomatically before retreating from the area. The alliances and negotiations should still be intact, supposing that their leadership survived The Doom.”
Gillard shook his head, “We’ve all got some damned apocalyptic names for it huh? Doom, Event, Ending. Yeah, we should check and see what’s going on with the neighborhood.”
The map zooms out again, with Kapa pointing at the red nations of CIHN, “Beyond IHIL taking the brunt of it, have there been any other significant reports of disruption?”
“No, most of us weathered the storm. We’ll bear the scars of it,” the word making Kapa flinch, “for a while though. IHIL’s requested support and aid, which we’re sending as able. About half the fleet was sent out to the offensive against the AOTK.”
“And that half will never return, I’m guessing.”
Once more, the man just shook his head, “No. I wouldn’t count on it. And the cladeships?”
Kapa shook his head as well, “The Consensus has been broken. I have no ability to connect with my kin anywhere. If I survived, I expect they did as well. Though..”
Gillard sat down and flipped the holomap off. He stared at Kapa for a long moment then tapped at the desk they shared and opened a drawer, “Want one?”
The cigar he pulled out was elaborate. Embellished with the Zenith symbol emblazoned alongside that of CIHN, it was very much what one may call a “victory” token. The fact that Gillard pulled out two made Kapa smile softly as he nodded, “Sure, thanks.”
In the nearly deserted command center, the two of them lit their cigars and took respective puffs. Gillard relaxed into it, “Ahhh, that’s good. Real good. Wish we coulda lit them to the real thing.”
Kapa took a draft of it and sighed, exhaling the smoke, “Wish I had lungs to appreciate the sense.”
Gillard gave Kapa a disbelieving look before he started laughing, which Kapa joined in on. It added a level of absurdity to things they had faced in the last twenty hours, and it was an absurdity that was oddly appreciated between the two of them.
His friend had the cigar dangling from his mouth as he wagged a finger at Kapa, “So how long?”
Kapa took another puff, musing at the thought of shapeshifting some lungs, just so he could actually enjoy the sensation some more. It would be good, he thought, to take advantage of that.
When he didn’t immediately offer an answer, Gillard’s expression took a darker hue, “Kapa.”
The haleelian looked away, shrugging, “A day? Perhaps a week?”
Silence settled on in the room, punctuated only by the smoke that slowly gathered there. Filters whirred into action, sucking the smoke off to be processed by the nanomachines that coursed through Darkwater’s newest mountain.
Another puff, “..Right. We’ll make it count then.”
Kapa nodded, “Right.”
They enjoyed the cigars together in companionable silence after that, waiting for the arrival of their guest. Ships in orbit were spartan - most being on various relief missions or on border patrol duty - but the two that remained behind sent an affirmation that their guest was waiting to be waived in.
Gillard punched the button on his console and gave them authorization, while he and Kapa set up the holotable again with all the various bits and pieces that would be needed.
CIHN space was a ruby red, a defiant bulwark in the horrors of Borealia. The inheritors of the NSR were blue. All the rest remained in a soft orange - unknown status. All save Eos, which flashed with an ominous gold.
When at last she arrived, it was not the fanfare that Kapa quite expected. There were a variety of stories that circulated through the Clade about her, about what to expect. He had to admit, he was a little nervous.
In comparison, he was a fly. Just an infant. It was humbling and unsettling - especially when you’re used to being the mountain.
When the petal walked in, it was with the usual avatar of her. But there was weariness. It made Kapa’s expression fall, for he had the tiniest hope that this ancient among ancients may have through some miracle passed through the eye of the needle unharmed.
It would not be so.
“Lillian, a pleasure. This is Kapa Sef, of the Soli enclave here.”
“Director Gillard, thank you for inviting me. And it is a pleasure to meet you, Kapa Sef.”
Kapa gave her a slight bow, “The pleasure is mine.”
Gillard moved swiftly into the strategic planning, pointing at the map and the arrayed forces, “On to the matters at hand. We’ve got CIHN forces arrayed at the borders of the UC and the bastards of the FSS. We think the FSS has been hit hard by The Event, based on damage seen elsewhere and other reports.”
“Our bigger worry is the Eosians and the UC. We don’t know what either will do given recent events. IHIL was hit pretty badly, and while it’s still operational ready thanks to the MITA assets there, it’s nowhere near the bulwark it was.”
Lillian’s petal observed this carefully, watching as Gillard pointed at specific installations, shipyards, resource sites, ancerium fuel depots, and strategic operations assets. CIHN had been made to act as a redoubt, and it served this purpose well.
MITA’s assets were going to be absorbed into CIHN - that was the suggestion of Kapa Sef, given that the situation had deteriorated so badly with command and control disrupted everywhere.
Lillian just needed to give the thumbs up, as the only MITA member actually present. Gillard did not expand on why Kapa Sef did not fit that criteria, and Lillian did not ask.
“-so as you can see, the distribution is adequate to protect the flanks here. Even with the horrendous estimate of 50% casualties in Corona proper, we’re still in a better position than pretty much anyone in Borealia with few exceptions.”
“But to properly consolidate, I’d like full control over the MITA assets. As the only representative of them who is cogent at the moment, please give your authorization for this.”
Kapa Sef’s symbiote alerted him to a request from outside. He pointed at his head and Gillard waved him out while Lilian gave her response.
Connecting to the delicate photonic pathways, Kapa Sef felt the request bleed in: all of the superweapons that they had. It was a staggering thing to even consider, given that they would be critical to the defense of CIHN space.
…If they even had any.
Tapping into the associated command network of the IPD, he felt the lists come to him. None. Not one.
The only official MITA superweapon was the Entelechy, and that was lost with DTAI and the rest. The superweapons that were widely available in OCCCA space had belonged to the NSR and the UC. Kapa doubted either would agree to giving up what both would consider their lynch pins.
Striding through the halls of Zenith, the saxheelian turned the corner and up the stairs. Carefully hybridized technology at Zenith HQ had been the compromise for the Enclave’s purposes.
Saxtech integration in exchange for a place for them to call home. And now, he was the only one left. The rest had fled back to the Disk with the general evacuation of civilian assets, with only Kapa electing to stay behind.
A small grin tugged at his lips as he exited the hallway into the waiting room that held the requestor. The elderly man wore a suit and tie - not unlike that which TnT reported in The Flow.
Yes, they were most assuredly of the same clade. The Benefactors, in the flesh - so to speak.
Dipping his head, the haleeling broadened his smile, “I see, I was wondering who made the request. Let’s sit down, shall we? This will be rather sobering.”