"Please?" You asked your oldest friend as she stood there beside you before the bulkhead of shining metal. Both of you had been here before, yet now she was unsure if she should take the step forward. But she should be here for this, and not just for what you had to say. "You know they'll be asking for you if you don't."
She flushed, but it was nothing that wasn't true. Mary was humanity's foremost expert in soul science. Not having her present would only require the opening of the security seal once you were finished explaining things. Better to have her there throughout. And your invitation had never specified just you. Had that been Adriana's way of offering, without requirement? It felt like her brand of cleverness. Thoughtful of her.
"You're sure?" She asked. Her green eyes reflected total trust, but there was concern as to the wider implications there, too. It was a reasonable fear, but unfounded in this case. Assuming you were reading things right, at least.
"I am," you said firmly. And that was, well, that. Your friend nodded once, her eyes very bright. Then she stepped up to your side, took a breath, and you stepped through the bulkhead door together. It sealed behind you, and the room's security systems spun up to full power. It took a little while, long enough for you to approach the table and greet Adriana, before Iris spoke to confirm it.
"We're all locked up, Madam President," she said formally. She sounded a little distracted from where she was standing behind you, but she was operating this system for the very first time. Test runs weren't the same. And this was quite the audience.
"Thank you, Iris," Adriana nodded, before her attention returned to you, expectant. She already knew a little; Sidra had briefed her in as much as they could. But, even then…it might be better to just start at the beginning. Get things grounded, and then let those who would have to make much larger decisions take it from there. Though you had the sneaking suspicion that you'd end up much more involved in those, at least where this was concerned, in the weeks and months ahead. You were too…involved. The thought prompted a chuckle.
Then you met the gaze of your friend, having taken in the line of Ministers. Lina was there, seemingly recovered from the battle, and looking much better for it. You imagined she might have had a whole hour of sleep. The others you didn't know as well, but what you did know would be enough.
"I know there was a briefing packet sent to you," you began steadily, "but for the avoidance of any doubt, I think I need to tell you this as it happened." The discussion would come later. Right now, these people needed to know what you'd experienced, in detail. "Last night, after the battle, I had a dream that wasn't. For the benefit of the Ministry of Security, Siddhartha can confirm that what I experienced was not the fruit of imagination." The man sitting two places to the left of Adriana nodded once, though their expression revealed little. You took that as motion to continue.
"What actually took place last night was a First Contact with an Uninvolved, acting as spokesperson for their," you paused, realising that there was no real word for what you needed to say. "For those who share that existence," you said at last. "They greeted me with a gestalt of their existence, similar to the opening of my shared Reverie with Observer Lorelli. And caught my attention further with their words of introduction. That they wished to speak, of events that had transpired, and of how the war to which we have now committed ourselves might end."
You didn't need to say anything more in that vein; the words of Tahkel served perfectly. And the implications of those words were just as effective now, to his audience, as they had been to you. Perhaps that had been deliberate on more levels than one, to aid in your own explanations. But perhaps not. The nature of an Uninvolved did not appear to lend itself to deception, nor manipulation, but your instincts were as fallible as any others.
From there, your own explanation flowed naturally, through the motions that you had charted. Your own questions, of the Uninvolved and more. Why they had never acted, never communicated, and the…convenient nature of their timing in approaching humanity now. You couldn't answer everything; you'd known that would be the case going in. But you could offer more than you word, at least for the future.
"They promised to make contact with Insight, if Phoebe seeks them out," you explained in reply to the head of the State Department, noting with some amusement the glint of interest in the woman's grey eyes. Her department hadn't had a great deal to do in the leadup to the Third Battle of Sol, and this was an entirely new area of diplomacy to explore. Given her past involvement in founding the Diplomatic Corps, you'd expected that. "I made it clear in our conversation that whilst I could bring their case to you I was not a leader of humanity. Not anymore."
"What are they offering, then?" Lina asked, her face set in a thin line. She was finding it difficult to accept an offer of help on the heels of the losses the FSN had taken in the Third Battle of Sol. It had been difficult for you, too, but the pain in Tahkel's communications had been too real to truly hold that against them. Yet that had been your experience, and those words would not help Lina right now.
"A great deal, I believe, though not everything we might wish," you admitted. "There are many things, at least where the Secrets are involved, where they cannot offer aid for fear of drawing the attention of the Shiplords, damaging the recipient, or both. But they possess knowledge that can help us, too."
:Sidra, if you would?: You asked.
:Of course.: The Unison Intelligence connected to the room's central display console and activated it. The familiar spirals of the Milky Way took shape above the projector, but there were some new additions to the image. Dots of red light blinked steadily across it, their frequency split between two major categories. A moment later, a handful of violet icons joined them, burning steadily.
You took a moment to thank Sidra, then gestured towards the display. "The red dots represent the locations of every Shiplord relay station and fleet base in the outer spiral, as of last night. Tahkel included some deployment figures, too, though they're not complete. And these," you highlighted one of the unblinking purple symbols, "are the locations of every War Fleet that the Shiplords currently possess."
Twelve lights, to represent the most lethal concentrations of applicable force in the galaxy. It was at once a little underwhelming, and subtly terrifying. "Tahkel's best estimate puts the closest one to us less than two weeks away at maximum jump rate. However," you added quickly, countering the descent into deathly silence, "War Fleets rarely use their maximum jump rate to reach a combat zone, due to logistical and maintenance concerns. A more reliable estimate would be four to six months. Not long, I admit, but a calculation made without considering how the Shiplords will react to the Group of Six rebelling against their control."
"They could choose to expedite that transit, deal with us quickly before handling issues closer to home," Lina pointed out, her face drawn. Yet behind that concern was the same mind that had led humanity to victory twice against the Shiplords. You could almost see the steady calculation, as she tried to work out what projects could be folded into completion of the Orrery. Then she nodded.
"It'll be close, but as long as they don't burn here at max, I think we can do it." Adriana looked over at her, questioning, and Lina shrugged. "I didn't say it would be easy, Adriana. But the hardest to build part of the Orrery is already finished. It might be rudimentary, but so long as the theory behind the idea actually works, it'll suffice. We've got the construction capacity at the Ministerial level, though more would always be appreciated."
"I'll see what we can shake loose, Lina," Nathaniel, Adriana's replacement as head of the Home Office, said. The sandy-haired man had come up through the Home Office directly and worked hard to prove himself a worthy successor. He'd yet to disappoint. "But the Orrery is survival- critical. There are plenty of plans that can be pushed back for that."
"That would be appreciated," Lina said thankfully. "I'd rather have the Fleet restored before we have to fight a War Fleet." Adriana nodded, a small smile on her face as she did so. A very familiar one, in fact. You were certain you'd worn it during your own time as President, given how the competence of your cabinet had played such an extensive role in your successes then. It was good to see that Adriana had found her own.
"As useful as this information stands to be, however," Adriana's Security Minister noted, "I believe there is more to this story." You nodded in reply. "Then please, go on."
You did so.
By the end of the rest, your audience was almost uniformly grim faced, despite the sparks of hope hiding behind the eyes of a few of them. They all knew the score as Insight had given it, that victory against the Shiplords in a military conflict would be utterly devastating. Yet for another option to be offered so easily, even if truly wasn't easy, was difficult to trust. At the same time, the possibility of a way out of the predicted catastrophe was equally difficult to ignore. Even if the Uninvolved were wrong, knowing more of your enemy could be incredibly valuable.
"And you're absolutely certain?" It wasn't what Lina was focused on, however. "They can use the Artefact you created to build a drive that can jump without restrictions?"
"Tahkel believes so," you replied carefully. "They could do a great deal more, no doubt, but creations like that Artefact should allow them to act in reality to some degree without triggering the Shiplord detection web - what we may reasonably assume caught Insight's Thoughtcast before the Second Battle of Sol."
"Can you replicate them?" Lina asked, almost demanded, really.
"I," you shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, Lina. We've spent years trying to just understand that thing. Now that we know what it is, that might be easier. But replication? I don't know. We'd need time to break down how it does what it does, and given the complexity of what we're talking about here," you looked over at Mary. Your friend had been silent through the entire discussion thus far, but this was more her field than yours. She caught the look, chuckled once, then nodded.
"The issue, Lina," Mary said softly, "is that the nature of how the crystal allows for interaction without detection isn't understood. We know that Potentials can influence the world around them without detection, but that's a result of their souls being anchored to reality. The crystal allows for the same thing, in a limited sense. But the workings of that process…we'd need to observe an Uninvolved working through it to get a good idea. And I'm not sure if that's a process that could be reversed."
"We've been working on soul science for a while, Mary," Adriana said, but Mary's abortive headshake brought her to a stop.
"Not like this," she said. "Adriana, this is like the difference between…between a flintlock cannon and one of the FSN's latest generation grav disruptors. They're both weapons, yes, but one is so much more complicated than the other. I'm not sure if we have the mastery to make sense of this, yet. We can try, and of course we will, but this opportunity seems time limited."
"That's," Adri sighed, "true, yes. Damn. They aren't making this easy."
"The fact that it isn't," the Minister of Security pointed out, almost grudgingly, "is almost a good thing. The fact that it would require one of our most potent Potentials to be detached for an indeterminate period is certainly less than optimal, however."
"As well as the personnel necessary to support you," Lina added, very loudly not mentioning the realisation that you'd already come to that you'd only keep your immediate family out of this through by force. Which you weren't willing to do, especially when both could argue that there were valid reasons for their presence. Good ones, too.
There was a long silence after that, as everyone in the room processed those implications. "I'm not sure we can afford to ignore it, though," Adriana said heavily. "The UPI report gave us a good chance of victory, but if there's another one out there? We owe it to everyone we're about to ask to die to try and find it." There was a resolution behind the younger woman's eyes that you'd only ever seen a handful of times before.
"Amanda," she asked then. "Do you believe that this is worth it? I know there are reasons you trust this interaction, beyond our own. We all know the risk that we'd be courting in doing this, in sending you so deep into Shiplord territory in search of secrets they've kept hidden for millions of years. Are you willing to take those risks?"
You looked over at Mary, back to Iris, and saw through the worry and fear on their faces a match to the resolution in Adriana's eyes. They knew why this was important, just as you did. What more could you do, but answer?
What do you sa Vote aborted by previous character choices.
"How could I do anything less?" You asked gently, adding your own resolve to the room. Adriana bowed her head, but you could tell she'd expected that answer.
"We'll need to confirm things with an Insight link, but assuming that works," it would, you knew, though you understood the need to confirm it. "Then I believe we will have to fit out the
Adamant for your mission." You blinked. That was moving much faster than you'd expected. "Lina, how long?"
"It's a frigate analogue. I can have a berth for it tomorrow. It'll have to be a custom job, though." She considered her own words a moment. "A week, maybe two. Two more for a proper shakedown; we can't risk design faults here."
"What about looking into replication of the interface Artefact?" Nathaniel asked, and Lina grimaced.
"Depends on how long that might take." She looked between Mary and the current Minister for Science. "Mary, Anna? Any ideas how long that might take for an evaluation?"
"This is more Mary's bailiwick than mine," Anna replied.
"Assuming we throw everything at it? I think we could get a basic evaluation in a few months. More time would be better, but it might be better to get us on our way before the War Fleet gets here. Just in case."
"Wait," you said at last, finding a moment to speak between the chatter. "Adriana, Mary, Lina? You're really wanting to," you stumbled to a halt as the entire room speared you with a shared look. "Ok," you conceded, "I'm not really anyone to talk where taking leaps of faith are concerned, am I."
"Not particularly," Mary said, her voice gentle. "But you should be involved in this too, Mandy. You've heard our timelines. What do you think?" Way to turn that back on you, you thought, but only quietly. What
was the optimal timeline? And hadn't you resigned the Presidency to get away from choices like this?
How much preparation time does Amanda believe the mission into Shiplord space should take? You must define a time here, as Amanda is an involved party in this decision process. If you choose to leave ahead of the War Fleet, you will not be back in time to defend against it. No write-ins this time.
[] Shakedown – Depart as soon as design, construction and shakedown of the Adamant are complete. 1 month. Will leave little time for research, but makes departure ahead of any War Fleet assault all but certain.
[] Evaluation – Remain for long enough to complete a proper evaluation of the Void Crystal, now that you have some idea of what it does. 2-3 months, depending on rolls. Good chance of being gone before the War Fleet hits.
[] Implacable – Delay your departure until after the War Fleet assault has been handled. May take up to six months. May allow for more research time, but could also add significant delay to a potentially critical investigation. Ensures your participation in the Fourth Battle of Sol.
There will be an 12 hour moratorium on this vote.
👇
