LF Friends, Will Travel

Estana walked along the halls of the ship, her talons clicking along the floor as they met with the metal surface that never gave enough grip. Normally she’d fly such a distance, but she wanted to avoid the start of her shift as long as possible, so walking seemed like a perfectly reasonable activity. She was a Parket, a member of the Parket Universal Fleet, charged with protecting the five systems they controlled from any external threats.

Or at least, her job was to tell other people how to do such a thing, since her entire job was communications. Technically she owned a firearm that was strapped to her side, the grey steel not at all complimenting her bright green plumage, but in reality, if she was ever shooting it, something had gone terribly terribly wrong.

The Single Response was just one of many ships that made up the defence fleet that hovered in orbit of Far-Sa-De, an important job considering the current state of the universe. The Parket were no slouches in the Terran Alliance; They had a strong independent streak within themselves and had long ago decided that having enough weaponry to remain strong and independent was reasonable. The one Hagorithian and two Raha attacks attempted on their system quickly discovered that they were not an easy target.

Estana took a moment to glance outside a viewport at the planet they were orbiting, the place she called home. There weren’t a lot of natives on the planet, as most of the people there were tourists or travelling for work. However, the few who had been born and lived on the paradise world loved the little piece of heaven that had been carved out for them. Being a native also meant being assigned to such an easy post. Nobody really cared about Far-Sa-De, so the protection was more of a formality.

The door to her post opened noiselessly, showing the grouping of consoles and perches, many with Parket already at their posts, listening in and forwarding communications between various military ships and hailing anyone who approached the system. Without a word, Estana made her way to her own station, gripping the perch and slipping the headset on.

“Oh look who decided to turn up and grace us with their presence.”

The red-feathered Parket Klaten chirped teasingly from her left, light-hearted mocking not meaning any harm as Estana fluffed out in response.

“Well I got caught up practicing my Yharr chants. I’m sure you’re also getting ready for the Universal Cup to start next week oh wait, the Jarnal Northern states didn’t qualify!”

“You know we were robbed that ref must have been blind!”

Yharr was the cultural sport of the Parket. A team-based aerial combat endeavour which was more of a religion than most actual religions. The Far-Sa-De team had, for the first time ever, qualified for the once every 4 years Universal Cup. It was practically all any Far-Sa-De native would talk about, this Cinderella story unfolding. The Jarnal Northern states were far less of an underdog, qualifying for every single Universal Cup in history apart from this one, where they missed out by one game for the first time.

“Sure the final game was a bit controversial but the only reason you needed to win that game was because you tied against the Legurria mining stations! None of those guys are even professionals. Face it the JN has been resting on their talons and that new coach is just terrible.”

Klaten gave a pained sigh, feathers pressed against his body as he slumped dejectedly at that statement.

“Well that I can’t disagree with, it is absolutely shocking, frankly it’s the importing of external players into the Jarnel Northern League which has caused this and removed the drive to build homegrown talent. Still if it makes you feel better with my lack of team allegiance I am supporting Far-Sa-De this cup. Everyone loves an underdog story.”

An underdog story was an understatement. Far-Sa-De had just over three hundred thousand citizens, fewer people than in your average Jarnal city. Estana had screeched herself hoarse when they’d won the final game needed. Nobody expected them to do much in the cup, but just making it was an achievement.

“Well, you better support them. They say if we make it out of the group stages, the first knockout game will be a national holiday.”

“Holiday pay! What more motivation do I need?”

The conversation between the two fizzled out as they both settled down for their shift, tapping on various devices and connecting people with other people as they needed to talk. It was all very standard, just another day working in paradise.

Then Estana saw something strange, something weird, clueing her to frown for a moment as she saw twelve ships appear in the system. They weren’t broadcasting any known identifiers, and they didn’t match a single ship on their systems. The Parket wasn’t worried about such a thing: Twelve ships of that size were nowhere near enough to cause any possible harm to a fleet of this size, but it was… strange. It was her job to investigate strange.

With a few taps of a button, she opened communications to the ship, dooming everyone on the planet.

“This is the Far-Sa-De Orbital control. Please state your purpose and identification.”

“Release the chains of free thought.”

The effect was instant, the voice was… everywhere and nowhere at the same time, sounded golden and godlike, much like how Estana would imagine the voice of her avian gods to sound. She froze unwillingly as the voice entered her head, every part of her being no longer under her control, only her eyes still darting around frantically. The Parket wanted to scream out in terror and warning, but not even a chirp could be found from her beak.

A puppet cannot dance without the permission of the puppet master.

“Estana, you ok?”

The voice of Klaten sounded like it was coming from a million miles away, the concern towards the now-frozen Estana nothing but raindrops against the impenetrable wall of noise and desire filling the Parket’s mind. What Estana wanted was of no concern to the voice that whispered and tugged in her head.

"Do not fear us, for you are the first to be brought our gifts, you will be the harbinger of our joyous message. You will be the voice of our desire."

Estana struggled and screamed internally as she tried to fight back, trying to do anything to warn the others of what was happening. Desperately she wanted to bellow out a cry to shut down the communication between them and the external ship. But it was useless; all the Parket could do was sit there motionless, tears forming in her eyes as Klaten looked on, confused and unknowing at her strange behaviour.

“Do not panic or worry my child. The pain of decision has been taken from you. We will instruct your mind to fulfil your intended calling: To serve us, as was always required and intended as your purpose.”

“I’m fine, I just need to pass this message on, it’s very important you know.”

The words came from Estana’s voice but weren’t of her own making, her thoughts desperately begging to be free, still fighting and struggling against the bindings on her own will. Pointless struggles, like the struggles of a prey between the jaws of a predator. The Parket hadn’t lost the fight, there wasn’t a fight to be had in the first place.

“Put this channel on broadcast, share the gift.”

The Parket could do nothing as her wings moved on their own. Estana’s desperate plea was nothing more than a tiny insignificant gnat buzzing against the power of the divinity controlling her brain. In a moment the channel was broadcast to every room on the ship, every Parket all at once freezing with the same terror and confusion as the voice gripped their minds and squeezed.

“Embrace the blessing of our control.”

—-----------------------

It took just over an hour. It spread like a virus, from person to person, from ship to ship. Impossible to fight, impossible to resist. By the time you knew something was wrong, it was already too late, you were nothing more than just another screaming voice crashing against the unyielding shoreline that was the Uhae communal mind. No single thought could compete against the thousands of Uhae implementing their will as one.

Some fell directly to the source, contacting the unknown ships to demand information and falling under their spell. Others were connected to the communal mind through each other, ships contacting each other for routine communications or just generally demanding answers from the various members of the fleet moving out of position.

All the while the twelve ships moved into position, each one aligning themselves opposite each other, spread equally across the orbit. At the same time, the members of Parket's fleet could do nothing but watch and scream as their destruction manifested in front of them. As the Uhae’s ships slowly moved into position and deposited their payloads.

Thousands upon thousands of biological machines entered Far-Sa-De’s orbit, each with the singular intended purpose of rebroadcasting and amplifying the XK waves naturally produced by the Uhae. Without visible or audible interactions, the range of psychic interaction was drastically reduced. These biological devices solved that problem; With enough time and setup, the Uhae communal mind could overwhelm entire planets with their specialized slow purposeful movements.

Queen Saelihn sat on her throne upon the flagship, the greenery of the ship entwining around her form as she watched the work go along as planned. Of course, it was as planned. The Uhae were not the brash overt destructive force that the other four members of the Estorian Empire were. They didn’t make moves to instil fear or fight amongst themselves for no reason, their actions were designed for competence and efficiency.

She looked down at the three servants who were prostrating themselves at her feet, the standard broken look found in so many people subjugated by the Uhae, the knowing certainty that any control of their own mind was a gift given to them by their benevolent universal rulers. In particular, she smiled at the single Raha among them. This particular individual had originally been sent by the Raha royal house to spy on them, and Saelihn had taken great pleasure in adding him to her personal retinue.

She let the vines and leaves of the ship lift her effortlessly to her feet, walking past her broken servants and staring out at her three advisors, each of them sitting in their own bed of foliage, connected to the communal mind. Everything had gone perfectly. Of course it had, Saelihn didn’t make mistakes.

“What is the status of the assimilation?”

Saelihn’s first advisor looked up from their concentration. Having so many members of the Uhae royal house on this engagement wasn’t strictly necessary, but it sent a message to the rest of the people that this was being taken seriously. This was why the royal flagship had been brought along with eleven other ships.

“The Parket fleet has been neutralized without any alarm, the amplification nodes are in place, and everything is going to plan, my Queen.”

This was as expected. While the Uhae had tactics and the ability to take on those who had learned not to open communications with them, it was always easier when the enemy didn’t know their true power. That was why they had formed the Estorian empire after all. Everyone knew of the cruelty of the Raha or the raw power of the Hargathians. They provided perfect cover for the real danger of the 5 houses, a camouflage allowing them to silently hide their true potential, increasing their power and holdings without anyone knowing of the true extent of their power.

“Are there any potential pockets of resistance?” Saelihn asked simply.

“They have one military bunker on the north side of the planet. They might be too deep for our divine consciousness to reach.”

Saelihn couldn’t help but smile at the advisor's statement, a soft glorious smile that extruded warmth and understanding.

“Then let us help them get rid of this obstacle to our gift.”

Slowly the queen reached down to her own console, the leafy vines and tendrils wrapping themselves around her elegant arm, and in an instant… she could feel them. The other Uhae in orbit around the planet… and the thousands of struggling minds trying fruitlessly to break free. She gave the command to remove the heretical potential holdouts of her will, and she could hear and feel the screams and pleas in response. Saelihn always allowed her charges to speak where she could get away with it. Hearing their desperate cries for the curse of self-will, begging to be allowed their freedom, pleading not to force them to take actions to further enslave their own kind.

Hearing those screams die down over months as each individual realized they were nothing against the gifts she provided… was glorious.

Those screams from the Parket on several ships doubled in noise, a cacophony of desperate music as she informed them to press buttons and ready their war vessels against their will.

Those working in the bunker on the north of the planet never knew what hit them. One moment they were working at or guarding the lightly maintained shelter, the next their lives were ended in an instant as they were vaporized under the fire of several of their own ships' railguns slamming into the area at once, an echoing boom reverberating around the planet as the installation was wiped off the face of the map.

Saelihn turned to look once again at her three advisors, still feeling the thoughts of those under her control, thoughts that had now turned to despair and sobbing.

“Let us begin.”

At once the Uhae communal mind reached out, millions of biological nodes that now littered the atmosphere of Far-Sa-De broadcasting and amplifying their psychic XK waves. In an instant every thinking living organic being stopped at once, unable to move, unable to act. A single thought reverberated inside their minds.

“Let go of the bindings of thought. We bring the gift of control, against the curse of independence. Serve Us.”