Enter the Conflux

[Xyrael]

It didn't take long for the fighters to travel the distance between the Auroran and Mozaran craft. They quickly swarmed around the fast craft, ensuring it made it safely back to the Anathema.

The journey through the void was a calm one, however short it was. In the distance the blue star of Aurora burned in the night, and one could barely notice two small light, two of the four worlds that orbited the star. Aurora, the closest world to the star, was orbited by three moons, all of which had been strip mined over the centuries and functioned as massive shipyards. The second world in the system shared a similar orbit and speed with Aurora. It was believed by ancient Aurorans that the world, known as Aurora Secundus, was the guiding star that never left the Auroran night. Now it served as an agricultural world, growing the food necessary to feed the billions that lived on Aurora.

It all seemed so distance, yet in the vastness of space it seemed so close. Tiberius wondered if he were to reach out for Aurora, would it fit in his palm?

The observation deck reported in, interrupting his thoughts. "Mozaran craft approaching."

"Aye. Communications officer, inform the ...'Mozaran'... that he's granted clearance to land. Lieutenant Thule, assemble a detail to escort the emissary to the bridge," he announced his orders directly over the com. The Anathema was his flagship, and he had hand picked every crew member to be completely loyal. The Marine detachment, hand picked by the near fanatical Thule, was unquestionably loyal. They would kill Emperor Valerius himself, should Tiberius issue the order. But Tiberius' loyalties were not one to be questioned either.

He watched the swarm of vessels approach, mere specks on the canvas of space. A smile crossed his face, if the alien thought today was interesting, it would soon be surprised further by the welcome the Armada had authorized.

[Solnath]

A bleep and Iskar woke up from nine hours of subjective sleep. He scanned the message granting him clearance to land and took over the ship's controls. Looking through the shielded window, he directed the shuttle to the Auroran cruiser's docking bay and checked all systems' functionability.

Once he confirmed that everything was in order, he rearranged the structure of his clothing to form the white and red metallic uniform of the Protectors and attached the breathing mask to it. Smiling at his new rank, he confirmed that the suit was functional and opened the door of the shuttle, stepping out into the hangar bay.

[Xyrael]

A detachment of twelve marines awaited Iskar. Their armor was exactly the same as Faust's had been, they're rifles held at ease. They quickly snapped a salute and asked the Mozaran to follow. A long, silent walk through the cramped, windowless corridors of the craft led them to the core of the ship, the bridge. Well lit, over a dozen men bustled around controls, switches, keyboards, and a large, holographic display of space. The display read the detection range was at 120 thousand kilometers, the massive antennae on front of the vessel augmenting the range significantly.

Commodore Tiberius, dressed in a uniform befitting a man of such a high rank, strode to Iskar, who had drawn the attention of everyone in the room. "At ease, men, back to your stations."

"Aye aye, Commodore," they responded uniformly. All but one, Lieutenant Thule, left the bridge. Tiberius nodded, and looked to the alien.

"Welcome aboard the Anathema..." he realized he didn't know the creatures name, but shrugged. "My name is Commodore Tiberius, and I'm here to officially welcome you to Auroran space. Have you thought about what you're people will allow you to do?"

[Solnath]

"My name is Iskar and I am happy to accept your welcome," the red-skinned Mozaran replied and smiled, showing his teeth through the breathmask.

"Ever since certain... events not too long ago, I am the Protector of Sector Alpha as defined by the Mozaran Conflux. I have been given full authority over my actions concerning the recently defined Sector Alpha in which this system as well as thirty-three point fifty-nine billion other stars are included. As such, here, my will is my people's will. And, as such, I wish to ask you:" Iskar's grin turned vicious.

"What do you need, Commodore Tiberius?"

[Xyrael]

Suddenly Tiberius felt as though he wasn't a high enough rank to speak with this Iskar fellow. "Well, you're all the more welcome here. I assure that whilst aboard this vessel your life is safe. Safer than anywhere else in space." He looked to the display, as if waiting for something, then turned back to Iskar.

"So, do you have any technology that would help us in our fight against the Xilonog? Also, it was mentioned in a report that you had a mission. Can you care to detail it for me, maybe the Imperium could be of assistance."

[Solnath]

Iskar studied Tiberius for a while with his shiny black eyes before answering in a serious manner: "The mission of the Conflux, in its main points, is fairly simple. We were sent to this galaxy by the Collective, a composition of sentient races that spans the whole of our own galaxy, to seek a... key that would allow the Collective to access another way of existance that we call zerospace. This key was left behind an ancient race of now transcendant beings who apparently wished that anyone worthy of using it could join them wherever they disappeared to."

He considered his words before continuing: "The Collective believes that if it indeed was possible to find and use the key, it would grant the ability to access zerospace and normal spaces simultaneously. What such control would grant is only guessable to us as the Collective merely issued us to find and bring back the key. The Collective is sure to know how it could and should be used."

"Zerospace itself... well, the closest explanation for it in your language would be to compare it to 'normal' space through mathematics. If this reality consists of numbers, one, two, nine, minus twelve and so forth, then zerospace is the axis of i, 2i and minus i."

"As for technology that might help you in your war?" Iskar smiled again. "I am not sure how your species has developed. Use of zerospace requires a certain attunement to reality and," he raised his cybernetic hands in front of his chest. "Certain tools. We have been given control of our machines by the Collective, but we do not know how it was done. Those few children that are born to the Conflux have the ability immediately, making them quite... frighteningly intelligent for their age, which is why we apply accelerated growth to them."

He let out a deep sound that might have been a chuckle had it come from someone less alien. "I enjoy this conversation with you, Commodore Tiberius of the Auroran Imperium. Have you perchance discovered antimatter creation or cold fusion?"

[Xyrael]

Commodore Tiberius merely grinned. "No, antimatter... is difficult to procure, as you can imagine. We've managed to harness small amounts in magnetics fields within vacuums, but as far as I know we chose to utilize plasma instead. Get us close enough," he raised his fist into the air, "and you will feel pain." He slammed his fist into a console which barely withstood the blow of his fisted glove. "Anti-matter is more of a double edged sword, our foes lack sophisticated long range weaponry, and from our understanding of anti-matter, that could be more devastating to us than the Xilonog. We rely on high powered lasers for range. And cold fusion... now that's interesting..."

Tiberius paused, looking at the alien. "You would happen to know how to rip space-time... would you? I've had this idea I've been trying to push through R&D, but they... are stubborn. They can adapt alien technology, but be damned should they invent something Auroran!" he paused, looking at Iskar with a frown. "No offense intended, just everything we use short of disruption fields are alien technologies."

Tiberius paused for along time, watching the holographic image flicker slightly. "If you can assist us with a more efficient travel, such as my wormhole idea, something where we don't need... robots, I can't see why the Imperium would not assist with your endeavor."

[Solnath]

"We are used to circumventing space-time through zerospace, ignoring it rather than manipulating it, but I know the theory you are talking about. A different approach to accessing zerospace can create these wormholes you speak of, so we may be of some assistance in that field. However, unless you have massive amounts of energy at your disposal, the wormhole would not stay stable for very long. Unless..." Iskar turned his gaze to the horizon behind the Commodore.

"Unless you were to establish another reversed wormhole from the destination at the same time, which would drop the energy drain by..." numbers ran through his vision. "Approximately 99.99853 per cent. Make that 99.998, just in case. How large would this interstellar gate have to be?"

[Xyrael]

Tiberius pondered, closing his eyelids while trying to imagine the width of a carrier. "I was considering more a wormhole generator, one that could be powered on or off, but anything is great. And I'd say, slightly over a kilometer wide, closer to two kilometers, just to be safe. If this is possible..." his sentence trailed off as he grinned. "If this is possible, I can assure you if the Imperium will not aid you, I will."

"If you don't mind, might I ask what this key looks like, and why your vessel is apparently a mining craft?" he asked, his blue eyes watching the scan of the Mozaran craft.

[Solnath]

"We do not know for certain. It might be an object, it might be an idea. We can only guess. As for why we have been mining, we need resources for our search and for Stage Five of our mission." Figures scrolled in his eyes and he smiled.

"Wormholes require too much energy. It would be easier to create a device that allows you to bypass the light speed barrier and then accelerate past it." He thought a while and confirmed his calculations. Iskar nodded and continued, "There wouldn't be too much time loss in that case either. I'll have to ask our specialists to detail the schematics. I believe you should be able to manufacture the devices."

[Xyrael]

Tiberius raised an eyebrow. Research and development had never imagined how to create such devices, and much money had been spent on the ideas. "I'm very intrigued about these ideas. Please, send them directly to me when you've drawn up the idea. I'll authorize multiple vehicles to test the device once we can construct it. We'd not only be able to help the Conflux with your mission, but we'd be able to take the front away from Aurora. That would be invaluable."

"What would you like in return for the propulsion? And, I'm also curious," Tiberius pondered, thinking of the stars he could not see. "Does the Conflux have any more militaristic aims in this galaxy?"

[Solnath]

"Militaristic aims?" Iskar smiled. "We do not need to fight anyone. That is one of our gifts, we can avoid battles should we wish so. Meaning that the answer is no, for the time being, as we haven't met anyone we think of as a threat to anything we hold in value."

"In return?" Iskar smiled. "Try to get along with other species in this Sector. We would rather see peace than war. But this argument with the Xilonogs is inevitable, so we will not hold it against you in any way."

[Xyrael]

"I will not attack unless attacked, I promise. But these Xilonog, they are intent on enslaving us or killing us. We cannot stop until they submit." He paused for a moment, as if thinking of something, before looking at Iskars black eyes once more. "I think I'd like to name the propulsion system the Conflux Jump Drive," he grinned. "Since you seek to avoid battles, if one is inevitable, I assure you the Imperium would gladly repay you."

"I think that's all we have to discuss. If you need to contact us, then I hope we're the ones you find here," Tiberius smiled, "Lieutenant Thule, prepare a detail to escort Iskar to his shuttle."

[Solnath]

Iskar made a short bow and replied: "I am most certain that we will be able to find you if the need arises. Until we meet again, Commodore Tiberius of the Auroran Imperium." Thus departing from the bridge, Iskar returned to his shuttle escorted and left the ship. Before he had returned to his own ship, the schematics were broadcast to the Anathema along with another blueprint, a map of the solar system and a note.

This device can be used to contact us through Zerospace. The reception is much better when away from gravity wells, but we will set a probe outside your system in the located place so you can contact us through it even if you are close to your star.

Signed,

Salaas,
Specialist.

When the shuttle had entered the landing bay, the Mozaran G-ship quickly accelerated towards the edge of the system before disappearing in a flash.

[Xyrael]

Captain Patricia was among the most promising captains the Auroran Imperium had to offer. She was one of the first chosen to command the newly refitted vessel, lovingly codenamed Zephyr. She had been hastily modified with a new drive, the Conflux Jump Drive. The Auroran scientists had heavily tweaked her, giving her two more engines to use which greatly increased her acceleration rate, but meant that she could not fire weapons while using the drives, nor could she slow down quickly. Captain Patricia sighed as her vessel approached the edge of the stars gravity well, and she watched the holographic projector flicker. Here goes nothing, she looked to the engineer monitoring the newly installed device.

"Ok, once I activate this, if all works well, we'll just be in another place and won't remember the journey. Time will essenti--"

"I don't need details, Ensign, I need results. What're the chances this will fail?"

"Well, if we constructed the engine right, there's no chance." He seemed to radiate arrogance, and Patricia had her doubts.

"Engage the jump drive," she relented.

With the push of a button, power seemed to surge through the craft, and the lights flickered for several seconds. Then, time seemed to stop. But time never resumed for Patricia, and the charred husk of the destroyed Zephyr travelled through the void faster than light, the price of arrogance. Within a week, another craft, the Swift, was exiting the shipyard for another attempt to succeed at FTL travel.