34 (DSV Nautica) Eidolon
The world was nothing but white. In all directions, an infinity. An odd reversal of the normally black space. Just being here was toxic to the mind. So much knowledge, so much accumulated data, that it would destroy any mind that would see it. Everything was in here. Even the life essences of millions. Their consciousness' merged to form one single entity that was beyond time and space as mortals knew it. The capacity do do as they wished was theirs, the knowledge to do so. They existed everywhere in space at the time, yet they were nowhere. They were the Eidolon, the knowledge dimension. In the light, a blackness appeared, starting as a prick of absence in the white expanse, a small pinprick in the fabric of their space. It grew larger and larger, until a full on hole had appeared. Foreign devices came though, probing and measuring the spatial arrangement. Radiation, gravity, and light were all measured. It all had meaning. They accessed it with a Eidolon scroll, the portal to all that was. A face appeared in the hole, gazing through in awe, wonder, and a hint of greed. The female Ayr'een felt her essence being tugged at, attempting to conjoin with the Eidolon. It was painful, but it felt so good. To know all was to be a god. As much as she wanted it, she couldn't have it. It was not for her.
Loki stood at the podium, transfixed at the open scroll. It had caved in on itself, as if a window had been torn open into a room 'behind' the scroll, the center bending inward to a point she could not see. It was nothing but white. The symbols in her vision had grown exponentially, making it difficult to see, as if a fog of them had set in the room. Space itself seemed to bend toward the podium and the scroll.The tools suspend from the ceiling descended toward the scroll, the claws and sharp points activating with bright blue orbs at the tips. They would read the scroll. Extract the knowledge from within the alternate dimension/entity.Alarms around the ship began to sound as energy was being drawn to the chamber that Loki was currently in. The FTL tunnel was in danger of failing, along with half a dozen other systems. Unbeknownst to the crew, who sprung into action trying to figure out where all the energy was going to, Loki was drawing far too much power to protect herself with. And she knew it.She quickly left the room, sealing the chamber and resetting all the energy conduits. Energy levels normalized across the ship. The engineer, Tor'y'nach, Was especially troubled by this.
"Captain...this could indicate a problem with the ships integrity. We should abort and head back to Ayr-""Negative, engineer. It was a minor issue that can be explained. Just not to you at this moment. Stay the course, pilot."Kal'un'ar, the pilot, nodded and continued to pilot the ship. Tor, however, was not so sure they could keep this up. He ordered his subordinates to track the energy routes
that had been drawing all the power and get back to him asap.The Thanatos was in trouble. Deep trouble. "Dammit, Lyn! FTL ALREADY!" Flare roared as she ordered another shot, resulting in an exploding turret. The ship shuddered and reentered FTL violently, leaving the dragons behind. But they followed. They always did. The next time they dropped out, they would be screwed."Damage report!" Nothing but silence from engineering. "Zhi!""yeah...um...most of the repair conduits are gone....engines are operating at 57% speed." he felt slow. Ever since he hit his head falling through the guts of the ship. He self diagnosed a concussion, and did the best he could to stop any more damage from happening. He had to get home. Fast.
"Weapons are flat out gone, and we have no fighter launch capability. We can fly and that's about it..."Flare had no more options. They couldn't drop out anymore, the dragons would destroy them. Not cripple then like they had with the last crew. Flat out destroy them."Lyn...fly. Just fly in a direction and keep going."Lyn nodded, feeling completely hopeless. They had no way home, and no way to contact home. She swallowed a lump in her throat and sighed. Feeling hopeless wouldn't get her or the crew anywhere.Lyn pulled up the map up, trying to find somewhere safe. Her mind drifted back to the planet that Captain Aki was investigating. The draconid signal was rather unusual, and the center of the galaxy was a good hiding spot, nor were they far away. The flip side of it...the dragons were rather good at finding their way around. The dead space at the center disk was probably no problem for them.Sensors flashed warnings of an anomaly appearing in space. Lyn nearly jumped out of her chair, bringing the information up. What she saw was quite puzzling indeed. A bright star had appeared out of nowhere, and it wasn't far. Relatively speaking, it was right in front of them.
Aki gazed out over the Erebus. It was being repaired by teams, going though and laying the conduits, replacing Auril, and general maintenance. It was gonna be awhile. She sighed and paced back and forth, thinking and waiting for the debriefing. This was her least favorite part of the job as a captain. Having to tell them everything that had happened. Then getting nailed for it. Then getting another assignment. Every time. It was taking longer than usual though...The doors opened. But instead of a stern looking council member, two heavily armored guards exited in perfect precision, and sidestepped to either side of the door. They held their staves tightly in their hands, slanted slightly over the door, as if indicating that she should enter. Their gutteral, syntesized voices said together. "Captain. You are called inside."This was not normal.Aki
cautiously entered the room. Nothing looked out of place, the council member sat at the desk with a few assistants on either side. "Captain, please sit down. We will try to make this brief."
Aki did as she was asked, quickly, with a neutral expression."We have but one question for you...you lost consciousness at one point during the incursion into AU-945. What happened."Aki took a deep breath."I experienced what would be considered a vivid hallucination during a siezure, as the medical officer suggests. I assume I will have to step down for some time while I am tested for a medical condition.""Negative, Captain. We want to know exactly what happened. It was not a medical condition."Aki's brow furrowed. The assistants were quite nervous....what was going on? The councilmember seemed rather stressed too."The hallucination was of an unknown forested island in the sky of what I am assuming was a planet, and of a person whom called themselves Celeste."The rooms atmosphere changed abruptly. It was as if all present, save the captain, chose that moment to shift, stretch, and of cough. Their postures and body language became noticeably strained. She sensed that their minds were racing with thought, though not about what. Sweat appeared at their brows, and they shifted, trying to subtly ease their tensions.
"Thank you captain...you may go."Aki got up and exited the room, completely confused. What had she just sat through. It was like they were simply confirming something.The station Aki was on was simple, really. It was shaped like a large disc, symmetrical on both sides, with towers jutting up and down evenly spaced around the perimeter of the station. These towers themselves had walkways around them, and spiraling down them at times. Also around the edges were docking spaces for the various ships of the fleet. Of course everything in the station was absolutely huge. The walkways around the towers themselves were huge. Often stretching half a kilometer around the tower. The towers were many kilometers in size, and the discs forming the station was 40 km in diameter. The station was the main hub for all orbital business around New Ayr. It was the Thule station. The capital of the Ayr'een empire. The cities on the surface of the planet were not so much cities as they were primitive towns. The only real technological structures were in orbit around the planet. There was some technology down below, but for the most part, the planet was untouched.
Aki wandered the walkways, thinking. Just thinking. She was worried, though she didn't want to admit it. Most of her thought was of Zhi and the Thanatos. What had happened to them? They had heard nothing from them. Period. They had nothing to go on.Loki sat on the bridge of the Mors, legs crossed, chin resting on her hand, keeping an eye on the ships
status. The scroll was doing its job alright. The energy systems were constantly in a state of optimization, FTL was faster, They had beaten the fleet to the Bifrost site. Weapons were overcharged. Even the sensors were boosted considerably in range. Having the scroll on board was a stroke of genius on behalf of the Architects part, at her suggestion. She sighed audibly. The other scrolls were lost in time, possibly literally. They might never find any others. But it was worth the risk. The ship was as close to immortal as could be achieved.The Mors fired thrusters, advancing slowly on the star in front of them, a blue super giant. Type O by the standards of AU-945. The Mors began to charge the primary weapons, aimed right at the star. Scientists aboard began to input impossibly complex quantum equations for exerting power output in just the right places. The chief scientist nodded to Loki. She broadcast the signal to the waiting fleet. They formation was spread out in a perfect circle around the star. This would be dangerous. VERY dangerous.