Song of the Void

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”I’m finding it difficult to believe, but we actually managed to complete all the interviews without starting a war.” Nox said in fake surprise while stealing bites from the dishes laid out on the table in front of Selendil. The spread was quite enticing, and it was also the main reason the people in charge of the ‘interviews’ as they were now called had managed to keep Selendil happy for a whole three weeks. The system they were in was the heart of the CAS, so it was unsurprising that it also had access to the finest cuisine.

"Don't say that yet. We still have one more interview left." Selendil pointed out as another bowl became empty, the contents seemingly vanishing in thin air.

“Surely you don’t expect trouble from the interview with the Eriad? We’ll even be interviewing Pharaa of all people.” Nox asked a bit surprised. Her biological body was capable of eating as well, so she was taking this opportunity to enjoy herself as well. Incidentally, neither Nox nor Haahun had seen the need to install a proper digestive and waste disposal system in her body, so everything that she ate was broken down by the nanites in her body and used as an energy source.

“If you are asking whether I think the Eriad are involved with the rebels, then the answer is a rather emphatic no. However, I’m pretty sure others will try to create some trouble. Otherwise, they wouldn't have left the Eriad for last.” Selendil pointed out.

"What kind of trouble?" Nox asked. "Surely they aren't going to do anything to gain your hostility after all this. Before all this, you were just a very powerful being in their eyes. Now you're a very powerful being with access to a lot of secrets of the exact kind they don't want to be spread around."

“I think you just hit the nail on the head. By now they’re aware that when a question is asked, I’ll be able to pick the answer from their mind even if they refuse to answer. Even someone as disciplined as Pharaa won’t be able to hide the details from me. They tried something like that in the third interview after all when they sent that psion in as a representative. That didn’t go well for them. So they’re most likely going to ask Pharaa some questions where the answer would embarrass the Eriad in my eyes even if she refuses to answer. It’s a bit petty, but they are aware that I have a deal with the Eriad and they likely want to make sure we don’t get too close. They won't do anything too egregious as, as you said, they don't really want to piss me off.” Selendil explained with a small motion of her tails that roughly equaled a shrug.

“They really haven’t managed to figure you out at all during these weeks, have they?” Nox grinned. “They still don’t quite understand that there’s very little the Eriad could’ve done that would actually make you look down on them any more than you already do. What does it matter if they've done something reprehensible in the past when they're already pretty much children in the eyes of a Dhar? The only thing they’ll accomplish is to lessen the already slim good will they’ve managed to gather in your eyes.”

“I think they’ll try something more direct but equally useless like ask her if the Eriad are using me for their own benefit.” Selendil guessed.

As it happened, her guess was almost exactly right. After asking Pharaa about some old atrocities, all of which she didn’t even bother dignifying with an answer, the Phrin questioner dropped the question that almost caused Selendil to burst out in laughter. “Are the Eriads just trying to use Keeper Selendil for their political benefit?”

Even Pharaa broke into a small smile. “I mean, you’ll have to be more specific with what you mean with the word ‘just’, but if you’re asking if we are doing our best to exploit Selendil and her power to get as many benefits as possible, then the answer is obviously yes. I’d add that I find her company pleasant and that she has also provided us many other benefits so I don’t think the word ‘just’ applies, but you weren’t asking about that.”

"True," Selendil said with clear mirth in her voice. "We've actually formed a deal where they get to exploit us and we get…well, that's none of your business, now is it?"

The Phrin received a message on a communicator that only the diminutive being could hear. Then it turned back towards them. “Alright then. I asked all the questions I was told to ask. I’ll personally apologize for the last twenty minutes or so, but you already knew it was coming and it doesn’t seem to have accomplished anything useful. As a small repayment, I’ll ask one more question. Grandmaster Superior Pharaa, how do you personally feel about Keeper Selendil?”

Pharaa blushed a bit as this was one question she had not expected. “I will not be answering that question!” She stated as if she was affronted by the question.

“I think you already did.” The tricksy creature revealed a toothy grin.

"Ooh, that's certainly one way to use your tail," Selendil commented with a tone that was six parts faked innocence and four parts teasing.

“Bah! This is over!” Pharaa said, now genuinely embarrassed and stormed out. As she did, Selendil had to give the Phrin some credit. There was more than one way to affect working relationships. If it was impossible to sour the relationship between Selendil and the Eriad, their little trick could at least make things a little awkward between her and Pharaa. Not a bad idea, even if ultimately pointless.

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“What happened with the interview?” Yrala asked with slight concern. “I’ve never seen Mother act like that. She’s actually too embarrassed to talk to you. She doesn’t get embarrassed.”

“I shall not reveal her deviant fantasies. That would be very impolite on my behalf.” Selendil joked a bit in reply. There wasn’t anything that deviant about Pharaa’s fantasies. It was fairly common for powerful beings to have fantasies of someone even stronger dominating them.

“Deviant fant-…you know what, never mind. I don’t want to know. She wanted me to tell you that she kept her end of the bargain. We have permission to enter the systems you wanted to visit.” Yrala gave a small shudder.

They were currently back on the ship. Even though Selendil had to take a ride on a CAS vessel to get to the capital world of Zakynthos, the return trip was much faster as she could just warp back to the ship. Incidentally, she had also buried a support beacon under the crust of Zakynthos just so she’d have access to the world any time she wanted. She’d also placed the beacon under the spot where the habitation and traffic were the heaviest. As a result, the beacon was pretty much impossible to detect by others. Even if they did manage to detect it by some stroke of luck, digging through the crust of the planet at a spot covered by such heavy construction would be just as difficult.

“In that case, I believe we’ve tarried long enough. Nox, send the alert to everyone. We’re leaving. Also, this might be the perfect opportunity to utilize our own hyper-jump core. I believe we can easily reach the closest destination in a single jump?” Selendil ordered. They could actually reach any of the destinations in a single jump, but they might as well start with the easy ones first.

“By the way, the CAS hasn’t made the results of the investigation public yet. What did you find out during all these interviews?” Yrala was naturally concerned about the affairs of her own galaxy.

“The results were somewhat inconclusive. All the Prime races and the largest of the other races we talked to truthfully denied official involvement with the rebels, and special attention was paid to the Primes. That said, it seemed like almost all of the races have a problem with a faction among them supporting the rebels in secret. Now I’m not privy to the information and the conclusions of those that are running the investigation, but it seems the rebels have been building a rather sizeable spy network under the noses of CAS. It has also become increasingly obvious that someone is supporting them; it just isn’t one of the large races. Those in charge of the investigation have their own theories that go into more detail I'm sure." Selendil summarized. Of course, she'd learned a bit more than she had revealed during her scans, especially about the fracturing of the CAS that allowed such things to happen, but such issues would always exist to some degree.

The ship jumped into a system that had a single habitable planet and very little else. The locals had been informed of their eventual arrival, though the fact that they came so soon might have come as a slight shock. Nox handled the locals, while Nochehuatl scanned the system. Selendil allowed her senses to focus on the world below because she knew where to look. This world had been home to a rather sizeable Dhar colony. The largest in this galaxy in fact, due to the resources that could be found in the local area of phase space. The ruins of their colony could still be found on the planet, although they were worn down by time.

She hadn’t really expected to find anything, but her eyes suddenly narrowed as she sensed something definitely out of place. “I’m going to check out something.” She stated and teleported to the surface of the planet below. To be exact, she teleported to an underground storage facility that had been used to hold the materials the Dhar had gathered in phase space, mostly by using automated drones. That the materials and the drones were gone didn’t come as a surprise. The storage was not well protected, and there were signs of the walls being breached more than once as the undergrowth of the jungle terrain had hidden the first breach.

She waved a hand and a small piece of a crumbled wall floated closer to her. There was nothing especially remarkable to the naked eye with the fragment. What normal eyes couldn’t see, Selendil’s senses could detect though. There were trace amounts of Void energy in the fragment. It was likely that this was a fragment of the wall that had been forced lose when someone used the power of the Void to blow their way through the wall. The other breach had been likely made with standard psionics, but whatever made this hole had used something more dangerous.

As she ran her hand on the surface of the fragment, she came to a conclusion. The energy left behind felt like it had come from a weapon, not from a creature from the Void. She swept the rest of the place with her mind and discovered nothing but emptiness. The place had been thoroughly emptied by being looted more than once. She wasn’t sure if the fact that the energy came from a weapon was a good thing or not. On one hand, it hinted that the user of the weapon didn’t necessarily signify the presence of a Void being, but she wasn’t comfortable with the idea of the old enemy of the Dhar leaving weapons behind either.

As there was little else left for her to find here, she teleported back to the ship. "You found something," Amaterasu said as a statement, not as a question.

“Yes, though I’m not sure what it means yet. I saw faint signs of a weapon being used that came from the Void. I can’t say who or what was holding the weapon however.” Selendil summarized.

“During the war your people had with these Void creatures, were there lots of their weapons spread around? I guess what I’m asking is, what are odds of one popping up here without a Void creature being involved?” Amaterasu continued questioning.

“Well, the enemy had a nasty habit of taking over beings native to our phase of existence. Most of the time that meant Dhar but not always. They sometimes possessed the lesser races as well and armed them with their own weapons, partly because we didn’t see them as a real threat. We did a pretty good job of eradicating any sign of the Void once the war was over, but I suppose we paid less attention to their weapons. That I can understand. What I have a more difficult time with is the weapon ending up here. This galaxy wasn't exactly on the frontlines of that war. Though that said, we found a Void Wraith in your galaxy as well, so it could happen." Selendil couldn't really rule that out after everything.

“Did you find anything else?” Xiaoli asked.

“No. The place has been thoroughly raided by now. We came here because this place held a large number of rather rare materials that a visitor from another galaxy might want to get their hands on, but it is somewhat interesting that a Void based weapon would show up here.” Selendil mused.

“What sort of materials? What could they be used for?” Xiaoli got curious.

“The problem is that while the materials themselves were rather rare, their uses were not. It all depends on what kind of tools they had for refining the materials. At their base, they could be used for power systems, but they could be refined to weapon components or really anything that has to do with power distribution. The materials are also really unstable chemically, so they could be refined into many other useful things with some effort. It's the versatility that made this stuff so useful.” Selendil explained.

“So we didn’t really gain any answers, just more questions?” Xiaoli summarized.

"That's basically it, unfortunately." Selendil shared the frustration. "I think we will simply have to move on to the other locations. If they found this place, they might have found the others as well."

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The next two locations were a bust. The first one was also empty but there was no way to tell what had happened there as the whole area had been destroyed as a result of volcanic activity. The other place was in Phrin space. The small creatures had several black sites in the area, which was why they didn’t like others poking around, but Selendil had learned about the projects anyway during the ‘interviews’ so they were allowed access. The location held the secret stash left behind for Selendil by the Dhar, but the stash had not been touched. It had been hidden well inside a small pocket of space, so even if someone had come here looking for it, they really had no way of finding the right place. As such, there were no signs of any tampering either.

That just left the final location, and the one they had the highest hopes for. Pharaa had told them that this area of space was off-limits, and all expeditions sent there had been lost. She had also mentioned that the system they were aiming for had been destroyed, which was at least partially confirmed by the fact that they could not detect the star of the system from the nearest safe observatory. Out of curiosity, Selendil had tried approaching the area from deep phase space, but the whole area was constantly buffeted by spatial storms. She might have personally survived the trip through the storms, and the ship might have survived barely, but everyone else on board would almost certainly perish in the attempt.

“So, what now? Are we just going to make a blind hyper-jump into the center of the forbidden area?” Xiaoli asked with a certain amount of excitement.

“I would advise against that course of action. While the Eriad and other explorers have charted some safe spots to jump to, which should cut down on some of the distance somewhat, that still leaves more than half the distance to go.” Nochehuatl voiced his opinion. “While the odds of actually hitting something in space are rather minor, that doesn’t mean we can’t be affected negatively if we jump right next to a black hole for instance. And the expeditions didn’t return for a reason.”

Selendil made a motion signifying resignation. “I have a method. We’ll jump as close as we safely can and then I’ll have to personally travel the rest of the way on my own. I can then warp the ship to me once I find a safe spot on the other side of the storms.”

“Uh, Selendil, I know that you can teleport and everything, but this is a really long trip we’re talking about. It’s not just a small distance like between neighboring systems. The forbidden area is quite sizeable.” Yrala pointed out.

“I know. However, I think the distance I can travel while teleporting has grown significantly since the last time I tried to go for maximum distance. I don’t quite understand all the changes that I underwent when I finished the Great Song, but I think I can traverse a much larger distance now. That said, it’s still going to take a bit of time, but at least it should be a relatively safe option.” Selendil justified her thoughts.

“How much time are we talking about?” Yrala asked with her eyes narrowing.

“I honestly can’t say until I try. I haven’t used my full power in a long time, in fact not since the start of my work as a Keeper, so I can’t answer that question just yet. I would guess between days and weeks.” Selendil speculated.

“Actually, I think I can help a bit there.” Lilly suddenly stated. “I’ve analyzed the data Pharaa provided us from the expeditions, and I think I’ve identified some patterns.”

“Really? You’ve analyzed the data and identified patterns our scientist could not? I don’t really mean to offend but that sounds a bit unlikely.” Yrala looked at Lilly incredulously.

“Hey, I’m not stupid! I may not be the best at sciency stuff, but I’m pretty good at spotting patterns. The rest is just math that I may or may not have delegated to Nox.” Lilly defended herself. “Anyway, you can all check my work and see if you agree. If you do agree, we can make at least two-thirds of the way there.”

“Well, it’s worth a check at least.” Yrala relented. She personally checked Lilly’s work and was vexed to realize the Mrrroww had been correct. She really was good with patterns.