The Powers That Be by Aer-ki Jyr (best pdf reader for ebooks txt) 📗

a comm stick braided into it. Behind her the door closed and the lights dimmed as the single waist-high pedestal in the room glowed to life with a basic hologram of the galaxy approximately two meters wide…which was far too zoomed out to see anything of worth, but the ambiance was still nice.

Around the room Esna saw multiple uniforms, none of which were Archons or Mavericks, but rather two Grand Admirals, a Monarch Lord, a Master-Level tech, an alien that wore no clothes and was of a race she was unfamiliar with, a Paladin Viceroy, and lastly a Golden Knight that towered over the rest of them.

“My apologies for pulling you off active assignments,” Davis began. “The Archons have enough to deal with, and they’re already working the problems in their spare time. I decided a fresh set of eyes from those not so familiar with our ongoing difficulties could possibly yield different results. That’s why you’re here. I want every good and stupid idea you have, because we’re all stumped and we don’t have time to piddle with.”

Davis expanded the hologram out further, shrinking the Milky Way down to barely a visible swirl as additional galaxies popped up around them, with one highlighted in particular.

“For those with eyes to see Essence, there’s been a constant consternation visible in that direction,” Davis said, pointing down into the floor at a sharp angle. “It’s coming from the Core of the galaxy, and the Temple database has identified it as a Hadarak Colony Spore the size of a star. It’s designed to carry the Spice Lords along with an invasion force to another galaxy. It’s using so much Essence to get the necessary propulsion we can see it all the way out here, and I’m told it will be visible for at least a year as it speeds up to coast velocity. Apparently the Temples are also designed to track such large Essence phenomena, and when combined they act like a detection array that has determined it is going here.”

Davis highlighted the Triangulum Galaxy, located some 2.8 million light years away, but it had a different tag label on it.

“We haven’t had reason to rename stuff beyond our galaxy before, and the Founders have names for many, but this one they’ve just got an ID number for. Hence I’m calling it ‘Yoshi,’ and you’ll see many of the other galaxies have similar names now…at least the bigger ones. I’m still working on the small ones.”

“Why has ours not changed?” Lord Daegan asked.

Davis raised an eyebrow. “You think it should? I thought we’d keep candy bar names for the major galaxies, and I was always fond of Milky Ways.”

The Protovic Monarch squinted as he tried to make out some of the other galaxy names. “I stand corrected. I had thought it was an ancient reference to the thicker band of stars in the sky over this world that outlines the galactic disc.”

“It was, but I ‘changed,’” he said, using air quotes, “it to the candy bar version, in my head at least.”

“Very well, as long as the name is rooted in coolness, I am content,” the Protovic said deadpan as his visible skin competed with the hologram for illumination dominance in the dim room.

“They can really jump that far?” Esna asked.

“Not always accurately, I’m told. It seems the Temples have been a bit more forthcoming with information now that the phenomenon is visible to the denizens,” Davis said, highlighting the distance marker between the two galaxies, as well as showing the distance to the dozens that were closer, though smaller in size. “The Hadarak don’t bother with the smaller ones, and it’s suspected but not confirmed it is due to their lack of sufficiently-sized Tethers to brake against, the same way we can’t jump from a black hole to a small star at full speed.”

“Are the Founders in the small galaxies?” Grand Admiral Lucin asked, with his Kvash head barely being tall enough to see over the holo pedestal.

“Unknown, but they’d be stupid to avoid them if they have another means of intergalactic transit besides the Core Tethers.”

“Toad,” the Golden Knight said, referencing the closest galaxy to the Milky Way, formerly known as Sagittarius Dwarf that was about 1/5th the diameter and only 78,000 lightyears away…less than the full width of our galaxy that ran 100,000 lightyears from tip to tip. “Is it closest enough for the Hadarak to travel to conventionally?”

“I don’t know, but if they don’t even scout these smaller galaxies, then we may have a fallback point as you suggest. I for one am rather attached to the Milky Way, and have no interest in fleeing it. That is not why I have brought you here, Bren. I need your help to find a way to do the impossible while others ponder the possibilities of intergalactic travel and how the Founders manage it, because there’s no way we’re getting access to the Tethers in the Core soon enough to matter.”

“Which impossibility do you refer to?” the Golden Knight asked, staring down on Davis and the group from his 8ft height with purple-irised eyes.

“The Hadarak are not just fighting us. They’re launching an invasion of another galaxy from here…while fighting us. Either they are stupid to waste such resources, or we’re so much of an underdog it doesn’t matter. Add to that we have the Founders knocking from the outside as they send resources and personnel through their infrastructure network that we just happened to have pirated. I expect a war with them eventually, and even if that doesn’t happen I don’t want to just hope that it doesn’t. We have to figure out how to level up Star Force enough to be on the same playing field with both these threats. Right now we’re heavily inadequate and just trying to keep our head above water. I have confidence the Grand Border