Concordia Station
YE 46.5
The Resurgence had returned to Concordia Station to meet again with Concordia Sector Operations. A few of the crew went over in a shuttle to meet with the Xiulurian elf SAINT liaison Lemeli Sylvan, who had given them the mission to explore the wormholes the last time they were there. Aoba sent Mineko and Euikoshi to deliver the report and anyone else who wanted to join them was encouraged to do so, so Poppy tagged along as well. The station was in increasingly good shape, as its ancient systems were restored and the Yamataian forces got increasing cooperation with the AI at its core, who the Resurgence crew had saved from the Mishhuvurthyar.
In the conference room, all the Resurgence crew who had wanted to come attend were able to grab a seat and discuss their findings and what came next.
"As you'll find in the report," Euikoshi was saying, "Near Wormhole 1 we found a planetary system with a habitable world and on this planet there was an ancient research facility under the surface ruins that was over a million years old and yet still operational. It was maintained and defended by guardian robots and it had containment cells for...entities that had come out of some of the portals. We called the the dimensional aberrations, and they were from a dimension the systems referred to as the dark aether. The base was built by a civilization we are calling the "Aetherian Progenitors" and it was referred to by its guardian robots as the Nexus of Val'hara at Atramentum, the Origin of Darkness."
Yayoi was silent as usual as she took her chosen seat. Her hands remained on her pants as she listened to Euikoshi's debriefing. She remembered the mission well, but she still remained silent as she listened. Dark Aether, i wonder how different it would be from normal aether. does it have mutagen abilities? She didnt know
"How different are the Aetherian Progenitors from previously known entities that hail from aetheric regions?" Mineko asked. Murmuring, she added, "Intentions seem to align."
"We do not know from where the Aetherian Progenitors originate," Euikoshi told Mineko. "The base's systems that I was able to interact with mainly seemed focused on the dimensional research and the related portals, not really any cultural information or history."
"Well, just aetheric origins in general," Mineko queried.
Cheilith sat fairly quietly, watching the rest of the crew.
"Besides the Dimensional Aberrations, there is only one other entity I know of that may have had origins in the aether..." Euikoshi. "There are some within the SARA community that believe the Umbral, the overlords of the Mishhuvurthyar, commonly referred to as the Dark Ones, somehow originated from the aether, given their unusual interest in it and their objections to Yamatai's use of the aether. It's unclear if the entities we saw have any relation, but they apparently entered this universe over a million years earlier than the Umbral."
"I should have added 'purportedly' hails, but point remains. If they share that similarity, where do they end and where do they stop. Knowing—or at the least, theorizing—could help us in more ways than one." Mineko said.
Poppy chimed in, "Our working theory is that the Aetherian Progenitors kept opening portals to new dimensions, maybe other universes, for research purposes, until they found these Aberrations and they were a problem. They attempted to contain them in the research base. We don't know what happened after that. But we did find a faction called the Xynar Dominion which was sending military forces to secure the ancient artifacts for themselves and which may have released some of the ancient entities into the wild...which, by the way, didn't end well for them."
"I agree," Euikoshi nodded to Mineko. "I feel like right now we don't have enough pieces of this puzzle to really put it together, but maybe the other wormholes will give us more of the story."
Yayoi shifted a little in her seat as she attempted to think about the Aberrations the team fought. She didn't remember if they captured any, but did remember the statue-machines.
"And that's what makes what the future holds so interesting," Mineko said, words coming faster than she could speak. "Opportunity to learn. I'm especially intrigued that these dimensional aberrations weren't what the Celestial Concord were running from. We've seen the Xynar, know what they can do and why the Concordians feared them. But we don't know what's coming through those portals or their intentions, do we."
"They're bad news," Poppy said, "I've never seen something that could just bust through aether before just by touching it. Anything they put their hands on gets turned into glitter."
Yayoi nodded "considering we use Aether, they could be considered a threat. especially if they can do that to matter too." Yayoi commented verbally.
"The Concordians said they were on the run from some sort of machine faction that wanted to remove organic life. I'm not sure what the connection is between the Aetherian Progenitors' old base and Concordian Station, but they both had dimensional portals in them, and they both had robot guadians that come out of the walls, and those guardians look fairly similar and both use plasma weapons, and both bases were run by an AI that speak a similar language, so logic suggestions that Concordia Station may have been built by the Aetherian Progenitors. If they have a base on one side of the wormhole and a station on the other side, it's possible that the entire wormhole network the Mishhuvurthyar were using to spread through the galaxy was originally made by them. What do you think, Mineko?" Euikoshi speculated.
"If that hypothesis is correct, it's in our vested intest to find out if the Mishhuvurthyar knew that. If they are being aided by the Aetherians or if they are simply using a tool they stumbled upon. Our lives would be very different depending on that answer," Mineko said with a slow ruminating cadence that differed from the last time she spoke. "Our lives and our deaths, for that matter."
"It's unclear whether or not the Aetherian Progenitors survived into the current era," Euikoshi shrugged. "All we've found is their million-year-old ruins, bases, and space stations, all under siege by various other groups like the Rixxikor and Xynar, and with only robot defenders, no people."
"Even if they survived, the Misshu aren't known to be the best of neighbors." Cheilith observed.
"What they can't conquer or corrupt, the Mishhu destroy," Poppy nodded to Cheilith. "It's their way."
"You ever wonder why that is?" Cheilith asked.
"What I'm wondering," Lemeli Sylvan asked, "...is why the Xynar Dominion is so hostile to us without ever really even trying to identify us. They must have a lot of confidence to just attack other nations without asking questions."
"There are a lot of places where it doesn't matter why you are there or who you are, if you're not Star Army, you get shot." Cheilith offered.
"Maybe they're more talkative when there isn't ancient technology at stake," Euikoshi suggested. "I think they just wanted it for themselves."
Hayden raised his hand, "Hey, uh, where's that stuff the robot told me fit in?"
Yayoi nodded with Cheilith's words indeed it was true, especially true with the Kuvexians. She clutched and unclutched a fist in silent anger as she thought of their crimes, before she turned her focus.
Euikoshi looked at Hayden. "The robots called the world the origin of darkness, I think they meant it was a cursed place because it's where the dimensional aberrations were introduced from this 'dark aether' dimension into our own, which may have led to the downfall of their civilization. Perhaps if we keep exploring the wormhole network we'll be able to find messages they left behind that could tell us more about their history and how it happened. But for now, it's unclear."
"I guess that sounds about right. Roboman didn't seem like he was very happy to talk about that part." Hayden mused, "For like, what a giant killer statue can be happy, or whatever."
"Please ask Captain Aoba to assist SAINT in gathering additional intelligence by investigating the other wormholes around Concordia Station," Lemeli told the Resurgence crew.
"We will, of course," Mineko said to the other Intelligence Officer. "Thank you for your assistance in doing so, as well. There is a lot to learn in this Sector and a lot of ways to make use of those findings."
Yayoi leaned back in her seat as she thought about Lemeli's request to investigate the other worm holes. She knew most were to random regions in the Kagami Galaxy, but she had to admit, going through a dimensional portal was intriguing. She sighed a little audibly "a certain medic trainee, would not be pleased if I don't ask.. but is there plans to investigate the portals we've discovered?' she asked. Yayoi knew most would know whom she meant by medical trainee.
"Yes, but we need to proceed with caution to avoid releasing more problems into the universe," Lemeli said. "After the First Fleet had to take decisive action to keep the planet from falling to the Xynar, it's likely the Star Army will set up a permanent base there and move SARA teams into the ancient facility for the long-term. Once that happens, we will probably need volunteers to explore some of the portals and the dimensions beyond them."
Yayoi nodded her head silently in agreement. She didn't like the idea of releasing new problems, though if these were only problems to the likes of Kuvexian, or better the Rixxikor that would be amazing.
"No doubt the Mishhu are happy to know we're now fighting a war on two fronts," Mineko stated, a little sadly.
"As we explore the galaxy to find the Mishhu, running into new threats is just part of the process," Lemeli replied. "They would have been out there regardless, so it's better that We Know instead of remaining in the dark about them," she stated flatly, referencing the SAINT motto.
"And now we know," Mineko nodded somberly, agreeing but still reflecting on the tough road ahead.
Poppy placed a reassuring hand on Mineko's shoulder. "The Star Army is built to do the hard stuff, and so is Resurgence. We're small but we always make a difference for the better," she smiled.
"New intel just came in from our scout probe," Euikoshi told Mineko. "It's, uh...on fire. Turns out the second wormhole is really close to a sun, maybe due to some sort of stellar drift or gravity interactions. We should be prepared to get a little roasted when we get there. Before it melted, we got a single image from it showing the silhouette of a space station similar to Concordia Station. Looking at it, it looks like it may fall into the sun soon so we should probably learn as much as we can before that happens."
"If the planet is going to fall into the sun, shouldn't we get heat resistant gear for the away teams?" Yoshiro asked. He had been listening to the briefing and was a bit concerned.
Yayoi widened her eyes, she'd never heard of such a thing happen before but then a wormhole being close to the sun was new for her.
"We should talk to Beryl and see if she can procure any sort of heat-resistant gear," Poppy thought out loud.
"Agreed, and heat resistant metal would be good too," Yayoi said.
Euikoshi and Poppy stood and politely made their goodbyes to Concordia Sector Operations' SAINT Liasion. Together with the rest of the Resurgence crew, they headed back to their gunship to get ready for the next mission.
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OOC: JP by Wes, Charaa, Yoshiro, AND YUUKI, Ame, Soban