System 45645
You have just started transmitting your demands for answers to the Turanic fleet when your hyperspace core starts going crazy. It's picking perturbations in hyperspace like nothing you've ever heard before. Which isn't that surprising really. You've only ever heard three things in hyperspace. The whispers of other Bentusi traveling in the same cluster, the crude beacons of the flicker races, and the discordant screams of the Void Wraith carriers.
This sounds a little like a Bentusi, but it's louder, more purposeful, and seems to be operating on multiple levels. It definitely feels like there is information being transmitted, but you don't know how to interpret it. It's almost certainly a rachni signal. Bentusi biologists have long theorized that they have some kind of hyperspace communication to connect their swarm. But you don't have any records of any Bentusi actually detecting it before.
This leaves you at something of an impasse. Do you respond? If so how so? You contact the others on the fleet channel to see if they have any ideas.
Ulysses is quick to recommend a militant response, "I don't like this. They're probably just stalling for time. I say we destroy them and be done with it."
"What no. They aren't being aggressive. We should keep talking. I want to see if we can figure out what they're saying."
"I'm going to transmit back."
"Wait." "Hold on." "Don't"
Before you can stop her, Laverna broadcasts a signal back through hyperspace. You recognize it as a recording of a Bentusi Hyper Dream. Specifically parts of the cruiser decryption process. Which is not something you particularly wanted to share, but it's probably the only thing Laverna had on hand. It's hard to hold onto dreams for very long for some reason.
There's a moment of pause and then you get a new message back. It's still in the rachni sequence, but you can almost recognize parts of it. It's as if its incorporating parts of the dream sequence, but not quite.
"Hmm, almost almost. No, it got away from me. I think maybe if I went into hyperspace I could figure it out." Laverna sounds quite frustrated.
"Wait, do you hear that? It sounds like a Void Wraith." Now that Aurora has pointed it out you can detect it. There's a faint underlying screech.
"See I told you they're just stalling. There's a void wraith coming. We should get rid of them before it arrives."
"Actually this sounds more like the corruption signal we heard at the megalith. You know the one coming from the artifact."
"That's even worse!" You have to admit you agree with Ulysses. The idea of corrupted rachni is not appealing.
"If that's the case we should destroy them. I remember what happened to those scientists. No one deserves that."
"Yeah, but they might not be. Remember Valerius and I both got infected and we were able to contain it. The records say rachni queens have comparable self regulation capacities. She might be asking for help with just that."
"I hate to say it, but how would we even do that? We don't have detailed records on Rachni biology."
"Tatiana! She's got a botanist body and she's not very far away. We could take the queen to her."
Your group mulls it over.
"But how would we convince the Queen to leave? Plus we don't even know if she's corrupted at all."
"I still think there's a Void Wraith coming."
You've let the conversation go back and forth, but now you feel it's time to state your own conclusion.
[ ] We should destroy them.
It's too risky. There's clearly some kind of void wraith interference going on here. And that's on top of the Rachni hive ship that's under construction. Put them together and it's not a risk you're willing to take.
[ ] Keep talking to them, Iuno.
The Turanic fleet still hasn't responded to your hails, but you know they can understand you. Turanic raiders often send ultimatums to their victims to get them to surrender.
[ ] One of us should go into Hyper Space
One you should go into hyper space briefly to try and analyze the signal and see what the Rachni are trying to say. It would be a little tricky to just stay in hyper space instead of warping out of the system entirely, but it would be possible. There's only two problems with this. Whoever goes would not be available if the Raiders decided to attack, and they'd also be more vulnerable to any corruption.
-[ ] It should be Iuno
Iuno has the best chance of translating an alien language, and if anything the Ark is a liability if it stays in normal space. That said, she's never been exposed to Wraith corruption. She'd be the most vulnerable.
-[ ] It should be Laverna
Laverna is the one who proposed the plan, and you know she's eager to try it. She's had some exposure to Wraith corruption so she'd know what to watch out for. Plus that would allow Iuno to keep trying to raise the Raiders through normal channels. It would take a big chunk out of your fighter coverage though.
-[ ] It should be me.
A recording is one thing, but that was your dream interwoven into the last Rachni transmission. You think you'd be able to interface with it better than anyone else. In addition you have had the deepest exposure to Wraith corruption and your systems are hardened against additional attacks. As a bit of a side benefit your hyperspace navigation submind is still the most optimized in the fleet so you'd have the best chance of staying in the system instead of flying out of it entirely. The major downside of course is that you'd be taking the heaviest unit in the fleet out of action in case this is some kind of ambush.
[ ] Work on the Fleet
-[ ] Pick a Research Project.
-[ ] Pick a Character to work on the project.
-Current Options: Aurora, Valerius, Ulysses, Flicker Friends
[ ] Pick a Codex/Interlude
-[ ] Write In
Pick something you'd like to know more about.