NationStates Jolt Archive

It had been, as it was on many other planets, a great number of years since the first true Kajali walked the face of their world. In those early days, before a true form of communication, they had been nothing more than isolated tribes scattered across continents. They did the primitive thing pretty well - basic settlements formed, cave paintings were made, and eventually...

Well, creation myths came into existence. From studying the artifacts and paintings left behind by the early Kajali, the presence of a singular, uniting belief was noted. It was one common thread amongst a tangle of unrelated ones.

In certain groups, the belief persists even in the present. That the Kajali are descended from another race, from far beyond their native stars, is one that is debated frequently. The largest opponents of the belief continually restate that were Kajal the product of another race, that there would be more evidence, not merely cave paintings. Something would be present, anything, really, to indicate it.

This debate had, of course, raged on for years. The cave paintings were inadmissable, or scientific research was inconclusive...

It was surprising to some that the theory that had been proposed had taken so long to come to light, really. It stated quite clearly that any indications of a remotely high tech society would have obviously been wiped out by time, as the Kajal of years past was exponentially more dangerous than in present times. Colonists would be isolated, surrounded by hostile wilderness.

Of course, opponents of this theory asked why Kajali would even exist if the colonies all simply failed.

This was when the proponents of the theory brought forth their research, which claimed that there had been a planetwide disaster - It would have wiped out the colonies, and the few survivals would go on to become tribal, if not completely feral.

And of course, then it was found, orbiting a star at the edge of Pleaides.

All attention was focused on it, and away from Kajal, and for one singular reason.

"It" had been featured prominently in almost all of the cave paintings on Kajal.

* * *

NX Keyra Shi, Star System K-82, Pleaides. 22nd day of Solan, 2DE.

The Keyra Shi had been the first ship to stumble across this particular discovery, and as such, it had turned into an Archeological Command base of sorts. In the past 24 hours, it had been swarmed by civilians and surrounded by their individual shuttles and small freighters, while larger military vessels had a habit of arriving more often with government teams aboard to investigate.

It was a most unusual looking planet, to say the least. A dull blue in appearance, scans showed that it was indeed quite solid, and it reflected the light of the star as if it was metal.

Of course, they'd have to get a bit closer to it to determine the exact composition. There was a bit of a debris field present in the entire system, which wrought havoc on the usual array of sensors, bouncing the signals all over the place.

The AWACS cruisers would show up soon, of course, but until then, the Keyra Shi and her cohorts would have to move in closer.

It'd be risky, considering the rings of debris around that planet.

Nonetheless, they moved in, taking up orbits that were deemed close enough to be helpful with the scans, while far enough away that they wouldn't get thwacked with debris.

That was about when things got a bit more interesting. Scans of the planet returned results that were entirely out of line with the usual for planets, as did the rings.

TRANSMIT: Tightbeam, Encrypted.
TO: Four Worlds Star Command
FROM: NX Keyra Shi

Initial close range scans indicate the celestial body orbiting Star K-82 is possibly artificial in nature. Scans also confirm debris rings are artificial. Requesting additional resources to further investigate.

The Keyra Shi continued scanning with scanners not really suited to the task, until the AWACS cruisers arrived. They moved to join the Shi, even as additional resources were requisitioned, and yet another finding was made.

"Wait, what? The preliminary scan shows... That's not possible."

The first scans made by the AWACS cruisers had detected numerous derelicts within the rings of the planet. Numerous was, itself, a likely understatement in this case, though.

Out of all the derelicts detected, nearly twenty stood out if only due to sheer size. It was impossible to tell how badly any were damaged, however...

Not a single Kajali ship ever built would be bigger then the derelicts in this graveyard of a planetary ring.

Allies with the resources to move such derelicts to safer locations for further study were contacted, even as more requests were filed with the Four Worlds for more resources.

At the same time, smaller shuttles and scout ships moved into the rings, towards derelicts marked as especially interesting. It was quite a day for the Four Worlds.

Oooh. Very interesting.

Tag.

TAG as well. Don't hav time to respond now.

OOC: I had intended this to be a relatively private RP, I suppose. Invite only. Sowwy. ^_^;;;;

Star System K-82, Pleaides. 23rd day of Solan, 2DE

"Star System K-82", as it was currently called, was rapidly becoming rather well known within the Four Worlds. Just as civilian archeologists had shown up, the press had followed soon after. It was rather unfortunate that they had done so, really, but it wouldn't stop the ongoing efforts. The Keyra Shi had taken up a high orbit over what was now referred to as a planetoid, around which ships flitted in and out of the rings of debris.

In the past day, of course, the Shi had been joined by a variety of starships, both military and civilian. Working with the archeologists aboard the CX Alkar, of the Four Worlds University, was tiresome at points, but their presence was undeniably needed. In the first hours of the second day, the combined efforts of the civilian and military personnel on hand had identified 3,187 separate wrecks within the immediate area. Of this veritably massive number, a mere 23 remained that were deemed as safe for exploratory operations, and of that 23, 18 were of sufficient size to dwarf anything Kajal could get near them.

It was expected, of course, that many more wrecks would be found by the time this mission was completed. It was obvious, just by the volume of debris encircling the planetoid alone, that the wrecks of this fleet had belonged to someone with quite a large industrial base to play with.

It had been decided that, were the combined assets present to scan the entire debris ring before embarking on any exploratory and salvage operations, there would simply be too many appealing targets for such missions. As such, at about 1400 expedition time (all ships in the area had synchronized their clocks with that of the Shi, which didn't exactly help some crews out much), the first expeditions ventured forth, each headed to the same target.

It was marked as Derelict 14 on the still changing charts, and even compared to the other wrecks, it was big. The archeologists aboard Shuttle 5 simply gaped at it.

"Just how big IS this thing..."

"12.282 kilos, according to the scans..."

"This is insane..."

"Computer's sighted a docking hatch... Looks pretty standard... Bringing us around to dock."

The small shuttle wasn't anything other than a mote up against the derelict as it made it's approach to one of the numerous docking ports. As it did so, Shuttle 5 got a good view of one of the large bay doors on the port side of the derelict. There were only two of them, but yet again, the scale was simply massive. It looked like it would have been possible to take the Keyra Shi and land it in one of the bays on the derelict.

"Big..." One of the researchers said. The others were all thinking it.

Shuttle 5's view continued to look down the port side of the derelict to the aft as it extended the docking umbilical, which attached itself with a dull thud. The instrumentation showed a general lack of atmosphere in the derelict's airlock, and the archeologists donned their skinsuits. They were not nearly as bulky as standard spacesuits, though they were not nearly as revealing as their original namesake.

"Scanners show an internal temperature just slightly above freezing. Once through, we'll see if we can get away without pressure tents, and set up some atmo generators."

And so the archeologists headed in.

* * *
TRANSMIT: Tightbeam, Encrypted

TO: $official, The Eternal Noldorin Empire of Menelmacar
FROM: $official, The Four Worlds of Kajal
SUBJECT: System K-82

As you are no doubt aware, a signifigant archeological discovery has been made in a star system designated K-82, within the Pleaides star cluster. There is much work to be done in the system as of yet, and for a single nation, it may very well take years. As such, the government of the Four Worlds, in cooperation with the Four Worlds University, and many other educational and archeological institutes within the Four Worlds formally request any assistance that Menelmacar may be able to offer in this matter.

In trust, $official

TO: $official, The Eternal Necrontyr Empire of The Ctan
FROM: $official, The Four Worlds of Kajal
SUBJECT: System K-82

As you are no doubt aware, a signifigant archeological discovery has been made in a star system designated K-82, within the Pleaides star cluster. There is much work to be done in the system as of yet, and for a single nation, it may very well take years. As such, the government of the Four Worlds, in cooperation with the Four Worlds University, and many other educational and archeological institutes within the Four Worlds formally request any assistance that the Eternal Necrontyr Empire may be able to offer in this matter.

In trust, $official

TO: $official, The Aristocratical Democracy of Zvarinograd
FROM: $official, The Four Worlds of Kajal
SUBJECT: System K-82

As you are no doubt aware, a signifigant archeological discovery has been made in a star system designated K-82, within the Pleaides star cluster. There is much work to be done in the system as of yet, and for a single nation, it may very well take years. As such, the government of the Four Worlds, in cooperation with the Four Worlds University, and many other educational and archeological institutes within the Four Worlds formally request any assistance that Zvarinograd may be able to offer in this matter It could prove a worthwhile test of a variety of technologies, as well as a mission of the utmost scientific importance.

In trust, $official

TO: $official, The Divided Domain of Northwestern Liang
FROM: $official, The Four Worlds of Kajal
SUBJECT: System K-82

As you are no doubt aware, a signifigant archeological discovery has been made in a star system designated K-82, within the Pleaides star cluster. There is much work to be done in the system as of yet, and for a single nation, it may very well take years. As such, the government of the Four Worlds, in cooperation with the Four Worlds University, and many other educational and archeological institutes within the Four Worlds formally request any assistance that Northwestern Liang may be able to offer in this matter.

In trust, $official

*tag* this is really intresting

A few hours after the ceremonial christening of the Nazarei -- translated as 'dedicated to God', the largest ship in the country's fleet at about a hundred kilometers in length, her 'personnel' began pouring in. She was truly massive, of course she had to be, it was a cityship. A whole metropolis' worth of people, technicians, researchers, elite, colonists, traders and soldiers was to permanently (or temporarily, in the case of colonists) live in her. She was to launch into the black abyss that is space in three hours, they were making last-minute preparations. Around the same time, Lev took the transit to the command centre. He ordered all engines set and the mooring let go. He wanted to go to the bosom of the dark sea that is space as a lover who had been gone for an eternity, and the void to welcome him with whatever it could mount against him, yet controlled, never truly endangering the ship or him who led it. He wanted a life at space travel, to forget about his past affilictions, making him strong again, giving him life, giving him dignity and blessing him as only the void can bless a man, cleansing him as only space can cleanse a man. He drove himself as he drove the ship's personnel, not sleeping, testing the limit of strength. Watch over watch changed and he still walked the bridge: report to report to report, singing softly to himself and hardly feeling any hunger or thrist. And never talking, except to force more status reports and adjustments, or to order a faulty component replaced. He drove himself to the border of the void, close to the infinity.

He wanted to embrace it.

"Many centuries," He said calmly, awed by the marvelous subtlety of a visitor; his advisor and the advisor of the leader before him, Sergei. Sergei had with him a cane, which he rest a lot of his weight on. He was getting old and weak fast, he'd meet his former master soon in the afterlife; he told himself. He didn't want himself to end up a daft, raving fool; scientist's pride. "We've struggled to construct this behemoth, to outpace the raping of many planets by many other nations and factions. A lot was sacrificed to this keystone of our civilization. Heaven forbid that she'd fail."

Yes, forbid it must.

#-#-#

Star System K-82, Pleaides; sector 12H

Drone six, reporting in. No hostiles. Hyperspace test area is clear, I repeat, hyperspace test area is clear. A simple drone fluttered about in space, pinging for the presence of other ships in it's woefully short range active radar. Like most drones the country had, it wasn't 'piloted' by a digitally sentient AI, it had very simple functions and algorithms. This particular drone was lovingly named 'Bacteria', for it's awfully short lifetime once it activated it's sensors from the tests. It was a prototype; and it was made cheap. Two minutes, at best, It took at least two minutes before it died and all was silent. That was the end of 'Bacteria'.

OOC:
One huge trash hauler and one obvious plot device. Can it get any better? *snrrk--*

* Ren stops himself from bursting into laughter.

OOC: Sorry for the short-ass post here. Will be more detailed in later ones. I'll also detail the folks on Celebrimbor's research team later, too.

IC:

Science Prefect Celebrimbor, Menelmacar's top scientist and grandson to the Elentári herself, received the message, and was indeed quite fascinated. He was especially fascinated when he looked over the supplemental data files that had been sent with the missive. Quickly, he gathered a research team and requisitioned a jump-shuttle, a Vilyulairë variant that was just about the smallest tesseract-capable vessel Menelmacar was capable of building. Half the dropship was taken up by drive, and the rest of the space was fairly cramped for the six of them and their equipment. Their course was the Elrandir Canta, the closest Menelmacari research cruiser to K-82. His last thought before the ship dove into its tesseract was that the place definitely needed a better name.

The C’tan bureaucracy is not known for its speed. It is indeed known to many within the government that the entire purpose of the S-department through which most foreign correspondence is routed is to simply stall the foreigners into submission. But its secondary function is to ensure that things proceed as smoothly as possible for the Empire’s allies when it is appropriate.

As such, copies of the communiqué from the Kajali soon found their way to several places. Universities and educational institutions, the Adjutant of the Emperor, the Imperial Security Agency, and a number of other groups with interests. It was of course, judged by most of those contacted worthwhile. The first group to show interest was the aforementioned security agency. Not because of any perceived threat direct or not, to the nation, but because part of their remit was to monitor technological development, and from all the accounts that their rather extensive means could provide, this may just turn out to be an opportunity for such.

ISA involvement was however; something of a boon, as in a short time, the first stages of the expedition had been co-ordinated by the ISA’s impressive logistics operation. First selected for the initial consultancy was Senior Field Officer Michael Sumner, the agency’s representative, who was far from the ‘decorated military officer’ stereotype that filmmakers would have in his place. Instead he was a man who had seen many years of minor operations, mostly with minimal ‘action’ – just how he and his superiors liked it.

The rest of the initial group were academics in the appropriate fields. They weren’t the greatest experts, nor were they the most well known. They were available and that was what mattered most in assembling this group. They’d been brought with maximum haste to the northern island on Duat that hosted the agency’s headquarters, and interrogated at length what equipment they were likely to want with them.

The first arrival Sumner managed to speak to was Jarson Brannon, a young man whose specialty was the study of the effects of interstellar travel upon anthropology and cultural development – quite a mouthful in Sumner’s opinion. He was a short fellow, with a mop of unruly dark hair, and a slightly strange manner, as if unused to being out in the open.

The next to arrive was a woman by the name of Jenarya Kalugin. She was rather similar to the last arrival, in Sumner’s opinion, if female. The last member of the small initial group was an elf by the name of Élraina, again, distinctly sub average in the looks department, by elf standards at least, which still put her far ahead of the rest of the group.

They had eventually managed to get all the endless piles of equipment stowed in the expansive spaces of the dropship the ISA was providing, as well as a seemingly endless supply of particularly unappetising ready-to-eat meals. At the very last moment another man practically fell through the doors. “I say, my good man!” he shouted toward Sumner as he was about to board the dropship, “would you care to tell these two brutes to back off?” he gestured toward two black clad guards on either side of the door, determined to escort him from the landing bay.

Sumner humped the crate he was carrying onto the pile just inside the door. “And you are?” he asked, making no move to dissuade the guards from roughly grabbing the new arrival’s eccentric frock coat.

“I am Doctor Edwin Provost!” he said, indignantly, “and I’m invited to this little expedition. Or at least, I should be!”

“You… Should be?”

“Of course my good man! I am merely the most accomplished man on Quendi language development you’re likely to find this side of Tareldanorë.”

“How did you get in here?” Sumner asked, indignant.

“That whole Officer of the Emperor thing opens lots of doors in places like this. Quite often literally.” He smiled, and Michael’s eyebrow rose involuntarily. A few moments of frantic checking verified his worryingly impressive credentials. He was soon brushing off his coat and bustling into the dropship. As if possessed by some demon of haste, he rummaged through everything, pulling open one of the compressed meals and bit into it.

A moment later he wrinkled his face up in disgust, “Ack. They can cross the galaxy as fast as I can pull this coat on, but they still can’t make a good MRE,” he said, tossing it back into its box. “Hopefully the Kajali will have food anyway. You like spicey food Mr Brannon?”

He blinked in surprise, “well I suppose so…” he said, a little uncomfortable with this old eccentric.

“Good!” he said, scooting up the ladder to the cockpit deck with preternatural ease. It wasn’t that he was strong or fast, it was his manner of movement that one would need to witness firsthand to believe. It was an odd locomotion that gave the impression of a man about to slip from a precipice, scrambling for dear life.

He stopped, pushing his way between a set of plastic boxes in a garish yellow, labelled in black low-necrontyr. Pulling open the weapons locker, he tutted, “Mr. Sumner!” he called, “did you truly have to keep the weapons?”

Sumner, following behind Brannon, let his eyes widen, “I think it’s not worth discarding them.”

“Oh I suppose you’re right,” the Doctor said, closing the compartment again, and prodding Brannon out of his way as he stepped into the cramped cockpit, barely large enough to hold four of the five. He sat down and immediately adjusted the height of the pilot’s chair. “Comfortable?” asked the ISA man, stooping to enter the cockpit.

Doctor Provost turned, “No,” he said, “these things are always made just wrong for me. They need to be broken in.” He noticed the conspicuous eye roll from the other man, “And yes,” he said, “I’m quite able to fly this overgrown ebon knife,” he said, “you needn’t worry about that. Everyone aboard?”
Élraina slung herself down in the co-pilot’s seat, grabbing it just before Sumner could, “Yes,” she said, “shall we?”

Sumner sat behind them, and glared at the elf resentfully for a moment. He’d have to sort out who was in charge of this little expedition. Unfortunately, he was painfully aware that his authority was nothing in comparison to a bona fide Emperor’s Officer, which probably meant he’d be playing second – or fifth – fiddle for the entire assignment.

The Doctor worked the controls with expertise that even Sumner had to confess, was as surprising as the rest of him. “Pressurised,” he said, as the hatches on the ship closed. “Give me a few moments.” Concentrated silence but for the clicking of controls and the hum of the ship’s engines warming up followed. “Pre-flight done,” he said, “Let’s be going…”

Arasur (formerly K-82), Pleaides. 23rd day of Solan, 2DE

As the archeologists headed into Derelict 14, something was afoot aboard the Alkar. It appeared that, while the military designation for the particular star was all good and well, that a growing number of staff aboard most of the vessels present had wanted to give the star system a real name.

Of course, this was the subject of a great amount of arguments over the course of the day, as scientists squabbled over who should get to name the system, and for what reasons, or how the name should be symbolic, or accurately describe what had been found in the system...

Eventually, and before the arrival of any vessels from allied nations, it was decided that the system would be named by the captain of the Keyra Shi, for it was her ship that had discovered the rather unique contents of the system first, after all.

For all the hours of squabbling, and brainstorming, the system was named within a moment, the captain not asking for any input on the matter.

And thus, K-82 was renamed Arasur. "Place of Lost Souls."

Charts were updated to reflect the change, and while they still retained the military designation, it would no longer be the official name.Of course, those archeologists wouldn't find that out until they got back from their first expedition. They were quite lucky that they had left, of course. At the least, the Kajali would be the first to board these wrecks.

Markings on the derelicts were woefully few, though when they were present, they were sufficiently large as to not be lost in the kilometers of hull. It was not a script or language otherwise well known to the Kajali, though images of it had been transmitted with the missives sent to those governments invited. Kajali computers had been throwing the full might of their power behind matching the language with a known one, though it was problematic, at best. They had translation matrices installed for an excruciatingly small number of languages, really. English, Quenya, and perhaps all the languages spoken in the states with which Kajal was on good terms with, if they were lucky.

More often than not, however, the English-Riikan matrix sufficed.

Linguists from Kajal were, of course, quite relieved when word was recieved that they would be getting help. The script on these derelicts was sufficiently alien that there was no real point of reference to work with. The ships would bear registry numbers and names, if they thought like Kajali, and that was hardly a place to begin translating a language.

As the linguists continued to puzzle over the collected data thus far, the archeologists aboard Derelict 14 started sending back more data for them, all of it equally confusing. They had yet to establish the meaning of words beyond that of "Turbolift" and "Airlock", and of those two that they believed were correct, they could not really pronounce the words, anyways. They had dutifully entered the images of script into the database, of course, appending what seemed appropriate, though not necessarily correct, to the image notefiles.

* * *

"Sir, we've new contacts..."

"Any ident?"

"Coming through now, Sir. First arrival... confirmed, belonging to the Imperial Security Agency of The Ctan."

"Ah, yes. Hail them, and prepare the docking bay for their arrival."

"Second contact... Excessively large, sir."

"I think I know who that is.. Standard greeting. We'll have to send a diplomatic team over later."

"Aye sir... Third contact coming into range, identified as the Elrandir Canta out of Menelmacar."

"Standard greeting again. And, also... now that I think of it, send an invitation to dine aboard the Keyra Shi tonight to our friends out there. I think I shall rather enjoy seeing how they treat a Kajali dinner.."

The captain left the bridge, headed for the ship's galley. She'd have to make sure that dinner wouldn't be too spicy as to be unpalatable for the guests, after all.

The sleek prow of the cut down grave class dropship headed toward the Kajali vessel with the grace of an expert pilot, and the Doctor punched a button illuminated with a yellow light, "We would be delighted to dine aboard the Keyra Shi" he said as they came in to dock. (Ack. Short.)

Antaru Rigul's stares into the vastness of space, contemplating life and ambition. Yorinaga must know, everyone knew. How could they stop it? The Star Marshal recovers quickly from his reverie, and forwards the Kajali message to the proper echelons of the Navy, which bounces along before it reaches the proper channels, who know exactly who is fit for the job. He knows his hold is weakening, but how much longer can he keep a grip?


In Khazad-dûm, which is now the home of swarms of industrious dwarves constructing every edifice imaginable, bringing the 'mines' into the $current century, a certain very famous, very smart, and very rich dwarf eyes the message with no small amount of interest and curiosity. Archaeology and invention have always been his life, and the mysticism that surrounds this new find enthralls his imagination. Khalinikhas, rediscoverer of dwarfdom's greatest site, returns the message with barely concealed excitement.
-----

The dwarves are avid proponents of the floating brick school of thought. Who needs organic styles when efficiency and effectiveness is all that matters? As such, the smallish, rather plain research vessel activates it's method of FTL travel and journeys to the newly christened Arasur, carrying with them a cargo of anxious and curious Khazad, ready for anything, stomachs growing, certain that the cooks of Kajal would meet their match in the formidable consumptive powers of Mahal's children. Khalinikhas' mind, however, was less on food and more on the incredible discoveries that could be made, but the prospect of a Kajali dinner was somewhat enticing for him, he had to admit. Let the games begin.

Arasur, Pleaides. 23rd day of Solan, 2DE

The dinner that was to be served that night was an ethnic Kajali dish - under normal conditions it took several hours to cook such a meal. However, when one is cooking for an uncertain amount of guests... It is best to take the initiative and begin as soon as possible. If the estimates were correct, this particular meal would be served to a rather large group of guests, and as such, the suitably large amount of prep-work and cooking would do it's very best to drive the ship's cook mad.

It wasn't as if he wasn't already somewhat eccentric, of course, having been known on occasion to howl obscenities at pots that refused to cooperate with his grand designs. In this endeavor, however, he had doubled his quota, muttering such profanities under his breath as he stalked around the galley, directing his culinary minions to varied tasks.

It is not often that one prepares Kajali Sal'Dara for a meal, and when one does, it was usually done to justify the purchase of a new set of dishes. As Kajali curries were concerned, those of Earth ranged from mild to medium-hot.

"...lousy captain wants sal'dara that humans can eat... Oi, sha kuma..."

For this event, however, new dining ware would not need to be obtained afterwards. The ingredient responsible for such stubborn staining had been removed, substituted with a pepper that, while still Kajali, would not result in a food too hot for most non-Kajali to eat, but one that was also not fatally poisonous to non-Kajali. A traditional batch of sal'dara is most often prepared for Kajali wedding receptions, and the kalakaro pepper provides a burn that could likely eat through wood, as well as a pleasant hallucinogenic kick.

Elves would probably survive eating the real meal, but the average human would be hopelessly overdosed.

It wasn't something that Kajali who had experience with the food frequently thought of, at any rate. There were plenty of other meals that were human-friendly in the tapestry of Kajali cooking.

They were simply somewhat bland by Kajali standards.

* * *

Derelict 14, Arasur, Pleaides. 23rd day of Solan, 2DE

"Well, this is... fun. Set up atmo generators, here and on the far side. We'll take a break or something while we wait..."

The archeologists had been studying what they could of the derelict so far, though they all agreed - corridors were not exactly the most fascinating of things. Doors, with script. Little control panels that didn't work.

If they wanted something big, they got it when they abruptly came to the end of the corridor. Even though they couldn't exactly read the warning signs didn't particularly mean they looked any less important. Structural scans made earlier gave a rough idea of where they were, and since it wasn't likely they'd run into any other large bays a kilometer and a half long for at least a kilometer and three quarters, the archeologists had a decent idea of where on the Derelict they were. Scans were only good for outer regions of the ship, unfortunately, and those areas where the hull alloy didn't totally deflect invasive scanning, and it was assumed that the bay doors were, while made of the same material, somewhat thinner.

At least, it was assumed. It would have seemed to make sense to the archeologists that the bay doors would be thinner then normal plated hull.

There were pressure doors set up slightly down the hallway from the bay entrance, the doors being nothing more then a collapsable airlock composed of a material that looked suspiciously like plastic.

When the bay door was cracked, there was a rather undesirable side effect, in the form of a rather nasty gas. The skinsuits had been designed with such weapons in mind, and performed admirably, if the utter lack of any reaction was somehow noticed.

Instead, certain tools that had been used to crack the door open - ferroplas spanners and whatnot - had rather indiscretely melted. The pressure door down the hallway had also begun to show signs of damage by the time an atmo generator had been trotted out to conveniently render the gases inert. The calming effect of the device only spread so far, of course - somehow, they would have to set up the others in a manner in which their ferroplas components remained blissfully intact.

It wouldn't have been quite as creepy if the gases hadn't had a visible violet tinge to them, and as it was, the swirling, hazy border between standard atmosphere and what happened to be in that bay was scaring the heck out of the archeologists.

Nazarei heeled over and broke out of hyperspace; the massive ship loomed over the derelict, giving the impression that a twelve kilometer ship suddenly looked so puny. However, she was unarmed, the country stuck to the belief that the cityship was a symbol of peace and prosperity, not of war. She must not have any weapons, not now; never. The council figured that the cityship would be useful to the archeological expedition and decided to solve two problems at once. One, to be able to test it's long range hyperspace drives; and two, to be able to move the twelve kilometer derelict somewhere where it could be examined and reverse-engineered far more efficiently; as none of the ships present can tow it effectively. The hundred kilometer cityship itself sported a shipyard; while unarmed she can create many warships from within her. That other function would have to be put on hold, however, as the shipyard is just barely enough to hold and service the entire derelict.

Efdokia Dmitreeva, Maksimov 's supervisor, waved to him from the landing outside the control room. "Come on, Maksimov. The transport's waiting for the technicians; and the Kajali, the same. We need to roll."

Maksimov didn't look up from the multipurpose factory's master programming panel. He rotated the master schematic on his screen for one last check. Everything had to be right, as there would be nobody here to fix it if it went wrong. "Coming," he said. "I just have to get this last vehicle assembly started."

Dmitreeva took the last step into the control room. She looked curiously over his shoulder. "What vehicle? We're bugging out, Maksimov. This is the archaeological find of the century. We’re not going to miss it for supervision of whatever vehicle that is." She studied the schematic more closely. "What in blazes is that thing? Did you design it?"

Maksimov grinned. "I did the pattern and programming, but nope, I didn't design it. Found it in a book of old foreign vehicles."

She stared at him. "Maksimov, we're leaving, bugging out. There won't be anyone left here when this thing is finished, and the ore and metal recycling facility will automatically recycle any non confirmed orders. You aren't planning on staying, I hope."

"Nope." He just laughed. He tapped the "run" icon and climbed out of the chair. "That does it; let's go." Below them on the factory floor, the robotic machinery was already in motion, sparks flying as it fabricated parts from raw metal stock. They walked down the stairs, along a corridor, and down a ramp to the tunnel toward the shipyard, where a transport ship was waiting.

She looked at him. "What was that all about?"

He shrugged. "Something I've wanted to build since I found it in that old database, but never had the chance. Well, the factory isn't doing anything now, and any resources that aren't on a drone are toast anyway, so I figured, why not?"

"You'll never see it."

"I'll know it was built. That'll be something. Maybe the alloys we had in the factory will survive the smelter, and somebody will find it." He chuckled. "It'll make them crazy figuring it out."

They said nothing for a while, but as they climbed the ramp to the shipyard, she finally asked the question. "What was that thing, anyway? I've never seen anything like it."

He smiled. "It's called a 1957 Chevy."

Derelict 14, Arasur, Pleaides. 23rd day of Solan, 2DE

"So, how long do ya figure those doors are?"

"Guessing... I'd say about a kilometer. But they've got this..."

"Weird segmentation."

"Yeah. Looks as if they could make an opening..."

"...just large enough for whatever was coming in..."

The two archeologists looked at each other, and the one who had asked the size question appeared to have had an idea.

"If we can get those doors to open..."

"...we could bring the Alkar into the bay!"

"Er, that's a bit larger than I was thinking, but... we've obviously got AG over here, right? There has to be a functional reactor somewhere on this ship!"

"Er, yeah. But if you didn't want to bring the Alkar in..."

"Vent that gas, and bring in shuttles, you idiot! The 9th Rule of Commerce explicitly states that Thou Shalt Not Risk Assets Until You Can Replace Them!"

"Right. Now, if your Rules of Commerce were real..."

"Bah, you know what I mean."

At a rather abrupt point, there was the briefest tinge of rocking aboard Derelict 14, perceptible even after the AG fields present compensated for whatever had caused it. The current archeological "camp" had found windows, and most of the research team was currently enjoying what looked like champagne.

"Holy $deity!" one of the archeologists cried, as the form of a cityship materialized outside, conveniently dwarfing the derelict.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. They've got the size, but I'd bet this derelict has got them beat in just about every other aspect."

"Uh, you know, to beat something, it kinda needs to be able to move under it's own power..."

Shortly after that particular comment, the Soramur Kani emerged from subspace transit, appearing dangerously close to the derelict. The cityship still loomed, but the Imperatrix's own supercarrier had a habit of making somewhat dramatic entries. It's size soon became apparent as it moved to join the Alkar, Keyra Shi, and the other ships present, though by initial measurements, the Soramur Kani would have a hard time actually fitting in the large bays on Derelict 14, never mind getting through the doors.

"Aiee, selka! The Imperatrix! The witch* is here!"

*If one must call the Imperatrix of Kajal a witch, it is preferred that it is used in a manner that isn't insulting. Since most Kajali have no idea how to do this, she's usually only called a witch when the person calling her a witch is safely separated by a multitude of kilometers, or in this case, millions.

NX Keyra Shi, Arasur, Pleaides. 23rd day of Solan, 2DE

The dinner preparations aboard the Keyra Shi had neared completion, and while the final preparations were made, the dining hall was readied for the honored guests that would arrive shortly. The vessel itself was one of the military, yes, but such distinctions simply defined the resources with which to work with. The dining hall and guest quarters, as well as the majority of the rest of the ship, would have been described most accurately as opulent.

The dining hall itself was possessed of a large, obsidian table that dominated the center of the room. It was exquisitely cut, lacking in any seams whatsoever, and polished to a near-mirrored surface. The lighting caused the table itself to sparkle, though this effect was limited somewhat. The seating around the table was equally impressive. While not composed of the same material, as it would have been rather unwieldy, the chairs matched the style of the table (Kajali Gothic, which is rather prominent upon Ljusalfheim Secundus), and were themselves a deep, lustrous wood. The upholstery was lush, softer than silk, and an elegant dark burgandy.

Above the table, four chandeliers hung, each a wondrous construct of shimmering crystals, held in place by golden threads of metal. All were perfectly asymmetrical, their crystals depicting the night skies as seen from each of the Four Worlds, the light from the 'star' in the center of each chandelier further emphasizing their position and qualities. Despite the nature of the chandeliers, each was perfectly balanced, and rotating slowly.

The room itself was expansive, itself easily occupying two decks of height. Nestled in the peaks of the gothic arches that soared above the table itself were windows composed of the strongest transparent ferroplas, large in of themselves, and allowing a partial view of Arasur and the anomalous planet around which the ship orbited. Below the large windows, curtains of the finest silk, burgandy in color as well, flowed from their anchorpoints near the windows to the floor, framing twelve tapestries, set in groups of four and divided by the entryways, depicting different scenes from the Sagas. Each had been carefully treated for the meal that was to be served, as had all other fabrics, as the scent of true sal'dara itself would often be the first scent to grace such rooms, and it was quite difficult to safely remove from most fabrics. However, considering the modifications made to the recipe for the guests, it would likely be a non-issue.

The scents of Kajali incense were present in the dining hall, but not overpowering, creating for visitors from Earth a possibly contradictory experience, as the incense itself would likely remind such visitors of the Indian subcontinent, as would the meal.

At the appointed time, the massive doors that opened into the atrium, which was of similar appearance, swung open of their own accord, the motors skillfully concealed, revealing to the guests the entirety of the hall, servants present with assorted wines, the table itself set, with a deep burgandy runner set down the center, itself hosting the wine glasses, the fine Kajali diningware sitting nearby, accompanied by small placecards with the intended guest's name inscribed in a flowing script upon them.

Towards the end of the dining hall, and beyond the set of smaller double doors, was the ship's galley, and in the dining hall, a bar, itself carved out of obsidian as well. The Imperatrix herself stood at the end of the table nearest the large double doors, as well as the majority of the Kajali archeologists and those members of the Keyra Shi's crew involved in the planning and execution of the expedition. The Imperatrix was clad in a flowing white garment that had become something of a trademark for her, as it could best be described as an imminent wardrobe malfunction, while the others present were dressed in more traditional Kajali formalwear.

(OOC: So, heh... It'd be nice if the guests arrived now. :D)

-tag-

When the guests arrived, the Imperatrix made it a point to greet each one personally, before introducing the assorted staff that stood behind her. Afterwards, she gestured towards the large table.

"If you would be seated, we'll begin the briefing, and dinner shall be served afterwards."

When the guests were seated, the lighting in the room dimmed (though it hadn't been particularly bright to begin with, and a projection of the star system appeared in the air above the table, itself seeming quite massive.

"Using data gathered using both vessels currently present, and Kajal's SYSNET detection grid, we created this composite..." The location of the Keyra Shi was highlighted in blue, as were all the other vessels that had arrived recently. "As you can see, the initial number of derelict vessels in the debris field was a vast understatemnet. With the use of the SYSNET, we detected more than six hundred discrete forms of similar size."

The projection closed in to a viewpoint near the Keyra Shi, showing what would have been visible through the dining hall's viewports if they had been larger. The derelicts visible from the angle were highlighted yellow, while one was highlighted in red.

"The derelict highlighted in red..." Lirella said. "Is currently identified as Derelict 14. Of all the derelicts initially detected, it was deemed the safest to send an expedition to. Aside from what appears to be minor surface damage to the hull of the vessel, it is, by our estimation, almost completely undamaged."

>>Accessing KAJUR SYSNET...
>>
>>Detection grid online.
>>Targetting Star System K-82 (Arasur)
>>Subtarget identified. Targetting vessel "AD-14"

"We had to deploy additional SYSNET probes in this sector to obtain this scan, but we feel it was worth the expenditure of resources. You can see here the full hullform of the derelict..."

The image changed to display the derelict in profile view, showing interior features where possible, as the expedition aboard continued to send back data.

"As you can see, it is resistant to our scans, but the team inside it at this moment has had no problems in sending data back. However, navigating the debris field is nearly impossible except in shuttlecraft, and this is part of the reason why we requested use of the shipyards of Nazarei. With the help of the expeditions aboard the derelict, we intend to remove the vessel from the debris ring, and conduct further research in a better controlled environment, and if possible, we intend to return the vessel to operational status. If this is possible, it would open the path to salvaging more of these derelicts for research."

The staff of the dining hall had begun bringing the first course of the meal out as the Imperatrix asked if anyone had any questions.

OOC: A picture of Arasur (http://palara.sularan.net/arasur.jpg), now that I can get rings to render. ^_^

The ‘Doctor’ and his ‘team’ seemed to find the entire affair very interesting, as they arrived, he took off his green-black overcoat and hunted around for a servant to pass it off onto, removing a leather pouch from the inside pocket before doing so. Though perhaps he seemed more interested in the Kajali Imperatrix than the hologram, or at least, he did initially, kissing her hand softly and looking into her eyes as she greeted him.

After which, he took a long look around the room, taking in the decoration. An impolite person would have called it gaudy. He would have called it simply Kajali – if, after all, the aforementioned impolite person were to make a dictionary, they would probably just put ‘See Kajali’ after gaudy. That said, his own homeland was more than guilty of similar crimes against taste in places, and he found it rather familiar. The profile view of Arasur Derelict Fourteen seemed to take his attention back from the room though.

“Interesting. Are there any markings on the hull that would appear to be script?” asked Jenarya.

She leaned back a little, and let the ‘Doctor’ take over again, “To be honest, in determining its operation I’m more interested in emissions, residual radiation readings and engines. From the look of it, this end is the front,” he pointed, and glanced over at Lirella, “which would tell us more about the technological level of the entire affair than its hull-form. I would also suggest that you have your expeditions attempt to find the main structural supports of the vessel, rather than attempt to access any specific locations. If any automated security systems or booby traps remain, it would be better to deal with them outside the debris field.”

The Kajali food was reminiscent of Necrontyr cuisine, but even more extreme. That said, the Doctor and Sumner seemed to handle it fine. The other three members of the expedition however, seemed to find cause to drink copious amounts with their food.

"There are," Lirella responded. "We have numerous images of script on the hull of the vessel that was obtained by the expedition before their entry..."

The image changed back to a view of the derelict as it sat in the ring, though enhanced with sensor data.

"The scan performed to obtain the complete hullform of the vessel also returned this data... The vessel itself is, as you can see, emitting radiation consistent with that emitted by a functioning Kajali fusion reactor, which would be woefully underpowered for such a vessel, but it would account for the functioning artificial gravity aboard the derelict.

As for engines... they certainly are not conventional, though neither are the drives of this ship... As you can see, there is a slight gravitic signature emanating from the vessel."

Lirella paused for a moment.

"As soon as the expedition can evacuate what would appear to be a caustic atmosphere from the port rear landing bay, marked here..." A small sliver of hull blinked on the derelict. "I suspect we will find the main structural supports of the vessel."

OOC: for reference, the text would look something like this (http://www.omniglot.com/writing/ihavsabeired.htm). I had wanted to make up a few actual images, but that text isn't actually a font...

And ze derelict hullform:
http://palara.sularan.net/derelict.jpg

“Humm,” Dr. Smith said, stroking a nonexistent beard, “I don’t see anything that could turn out disastrously here,” he frowned, “Have you had any success in translating the script on the derelict? If not, I think we can at least help with that in the short term. We have some expertise between us in getting basic morphemes out of unfamiliar written texts fairly quickly. Of course, translation is a much longer process, but if we’re lucky, there’ll be similarities with something on record,” he stopped, mentally adding ‘so I can get confirmation of this being a transitional form towards Rikaan.’

The rest of his party listened intently, some studying different parts of the shard that interested them, others still trying to recover from the local cuisine. He continued, “On the up-side, I think we have just the things for helping moving the derelict from the debris field, though it might take a while to clear them off other duties, a day or two maybe, then under a day to get here. If that doesn’t work I could try badgering the military. I imagine they could spare a few large ships.” It wasn’t exactly a secret that necrontyr ships were large. Though the shard was longer, its volume was slightly less than that of a Cairn class ‘battleship,’ a monster of a vessel that had picked up the designation of ‘battleplate’ somewhere due to its flat disc like shape…

The operations aboard the derelict above Arasur had gone well, though they had taken a considerable amount of time. It had been, at the end of it all, nearly two months before the crews had managed to enable auxiliary power throughout the vessel, though once that had been achieved, they had full environmental control of the vessel.

The caustic atmosphere within the large hangars on the derelict had been converted, through processes not completely understood, into a pleasantly fresh and breathable standard atmosphere, and the corridors of the ship were now pleasantly lit. Main power remained offline, but the vessel had been able to leave Arasuri orbit of it's own accord, accompanied by the Federated Kajali ships Soramur Kani, Soramur Inyil, and Titan. At present, she held position at the edge of the star system with the three ships, while the Imperial Necrontyr Ship Asinsata was within communications range (Although the Kajali had spent a great deal of time fiddling with the communcations terminals in the process).

"Is this working? It's up? Okay, This is the Federated Kajali Starship Kajur Lan, to the Imperial Necrontyr Ship Asinsata, requesting permission to piggy back to Ljosal Dan for further salvage and repair operations."

The comms operator cursed briefly in the background as he rearranged several of the labels taped to the console.

The Asinsata was a huge slab of almost-solid metal, and engine. Lots and lots of engine. Tethered to the Kajur Lan by narrow streams of magnetic force – its main ranged weapons at an infitesimal fraction of their normal power, simply forming a cordon of attraction between the ships. The necron ship, facing away, began moving out from the star, pulling the Kajur Lan with it, mere kilometres away, engines blazing with blue fire as they pushed out of orbit and into the system’s space.

The ship accelerated, and sent a message back, “I should warn you that our speed will be severely limited with your ship in tow, and further limited by the Kajur Lan’s state of disrepair. It will take up to five minutes to arrive…” It sounded vaguely displeased by this apparently intolerable speed, “For optimal transfer, we will be required to make physical contact. I am now moving into position to attach to the Kajur Lan’s hull.”

With surprising delicacy, the massive vessels closed, pressing loosely together, and the operational one increased its hold a little, sending groans and shudders through the massive hull of the Kajur Lan. “Preparing main drive, stand by. Please note that entanglement based communications devices will require resynchronisation after faster than light travel. Secure all cups and tray tables, have your sick bags ready…”

It wasn’t kidding. The propagation of kinetic energy from the faster-than-light generator of the Asinsata was almost perfect – it had to be – but not enough to make the ride for the inhabitants of the Kajali ship. The shaking wasn’t enough to damage the vessel, but enough to make one’s teeth chatter…

The rattling aboard the derelict was... disorienting. A few of the salvage team were clinging to chairs millenia older than themselves for dear life, while the few more adventurous ones were actually standing, looking around as various pieces of equipment that had been strewn about rattled themselves off their perches and to the floor.

"Is this supposed-d to be hap-p-p-penin-n-ng?"

There was a muted 'khhhm', from somewhere within the derelict, and it was followed by a growing humm, which was followed briefly by the activation of several terminals around what the crews had determined to be the bridge, as well as an excessively large projection, which, although afflicted somewhat with flickering, appeared to be displaying the view of space in front of the ships. The projection curved around, to the far wall of the room, and up along the ceiling, towards a small domed protrusion above one of the central stations, which itself sat on the edge of a half circle of ceiling that remained unchanged, curving towards the back wall.

Asinsata was plainly visible directly above, and as some of the crew stumbled around, the viewpoint in the projection changed as simply as if that area of the command center was a transparent bubble nested on the upper hull.

Asinsata would have noticed a slight drain of power along the physical connection to the derelict at first, though it grew in magnitude rather quickly, until abruptly ceasing with another loud 'khmmm' sound from within the derelict.

"Asinsata, this is the Kajur Lan... um, something's happening..."

At that moment, klaxons began to sound throughout the derelict, accompanied by prerecorded speech that sounded both familiar and alien.

The salvage crews, of course, had no idea what to do, though it did seem like the Kajur Lan had drained enough power from the Asinsata to kickstart it's own main powerplant, as the crew's instruments continued to show increases in available power.

It was, of course, at around two minutes left in the trip that power began to flow towards Asinsata along the physical connections holding the ships in place.

It was, quite possibly, expected to be one of the largest events in Kajali history when the Asinsata was to arrive with the Kajur Lan in tow. Not only had Ljosal Dan historically _never_ recieved foreign or even allied shipping, but her massive shipyards today were recieving a derelict, itself larger in length than the mothership towing it, and older than the ancient caverns found throughout Ljosal Dan.

It had not been expected, of course, that the Kajur Lan would arrive in an activated state. When Asinsata arrived, noting only the few anomalies that had cropped up during flight but had generally not affected the transit, the Kajur Lan's subdued alabaster coloring had taken on a metallic sheen, and the derelict itself gleamed above Ljosal Dan.

Physical connections were disengaged, and the Kajur Lan drifted away from Asinsata. She was, all told, slightly smaller than the Menelmacari ship Elrandir, though still orders of magnitude larger than any warship that the Kajali Navy had yet developed (though a few private cruise ships were indeed much larger than Titan).

When the shaking ceased, the leader of the expedition opened his eyes, and saw, through a flickering projection, the shipyards of Ljosal Dan. A series of vortices appeared in the distance, through which several craft that had been at Arasur exited.

Attempting to transmit on widebeam, the expedition tried to explain their situation. Unfortunately, the transmission was garbled, badly, and while the signal was indeed incredibly wide, it was not what the expedition wanted.

From Kajur Lan came a positively massive pulse of energy, blotting out nearly all comm traffic in the system before it ceased, with a sudden maddeningly large gravitic field forming around the derelict, strong to the extent that it, and the space within the field around it, shimmered and began to fade from view as light was bent around and absorbed by it.

The single, overpowering burst on all known Kajali frequencies contained a single phrase, in an unknown language.

Sho cval maa. "We are Awake", in what sounded almost like ancient Riikan.

SYSNET, and the scanner suites of those vessels not blinded, recorded volumes of data, noting most interestingly that the vessel's mass had all but disappeared from the system, while the energy pulse had been noted to be much more prominent within subspace.

It was assumed to be some sort of emergency beacon, of use if the ship were to possibly be lost after subspace transit, as most Kajali ships currently were equipped.

For what dead masters it may have transmitted, the derelict had suddenly become a rather large threat to National Security, and there was little that could be done about it.

Aboard the Keyra Shi, the after-dinner tea time took on a somewhat more serious tone.

The Asinsata manoeuvred a few kilometres further away from the derelict, spinning on its Z axis one hundred and eighty degrees. Clearly something had managed to set off a revivification process within the hulk and it was now attempting to reorient itself.

Fortunately, it hadn’t altered its trajectory yet, and so the necron ship had a chance to put a few things aboard the derelict still. With the mental air of an old lady rummaging about in an over packed handbag, it looked through chambers of tracking devices ranging from sensor-dust to beacons the size of houses that could transmit a signal anywhere in the visible universe. It selected a few in between the two extremes and displaced several man-sized objects onto the Kajur Lan’s hull, then incessantly ‘prodded’ its complement of Immortals in order to transfer their attention, before transporting them to the Kajali ship.

The transmission from Kajur Lan didn’t make that much sense to it immediately, and such a short message couldn’t normally be translated – too short – but it did match the Kajali languages fairly closely. Enough to translate it certainly,

For all the good it did! Not a very helpful message, and the necron ship was willing to bet that there was noone around to hear it.

This We’ve noticed, it sent back, in its own take on ancient Riikan, it has been, it did some mental arithmetic and came up with a number revolutions of the planet you were previously in orbit of around its primary since we believe you were last active.

And while it said that, it displaced several squads of its adept boarding teams to the alien ship to where it thought the exploration team had disappeared. Necron immortals contained numerous systems, not least, gravitic generators designed to resist crushing forces of hundreds of gravities…

Aboard the Kajur Lan, systems long dormant returned to life, restoring throughout the labyrinthine corridors the majority of security measures aboard the ship. Expedition members soon found themselves trapped, though in relatively large areas, as blast doors descended and walls of force sprang up in places. The interior of the ship had taken on the appearance of being almost alive, as the metal surfaces within too regained a sheen that they had not possessed previously.

On the bridge, a strange ballet of sorts was unfolding. A holoprojection - of what the expedition could only assume to be the former crew of the vessel - had started to run. It appeared to be ship logs, and the holographic characters moved about, through expedition members, and so forth.

Eventually, the amount of characters on the bridge dwindled until there were few left, and then those few disappeared as the lights came up.

"You are not Iuan." boomed throughout the bridge area, at the expedition members, in the flawless Riikan only computers were known for. "But you are not Solun."

"Who are you?"

The intelligence of the ship watched the Necrons, for now, unable to classify them as friend or foe for the time being, though, on a nearly instinctual level, it knew that they were older than even it.

Forcibly extracting further knowledge of recent events and language from the Kajali networks, much to the frustration of many technicians, the vessel matched what it could from Riikan to English, and then to Necrontyr, providing what was, though adequate, likely to be considered a butchery of the language.

You are... ancient, unknown. Like Us. Evil remains - Solus lurks. Iu must waken.

You can... assist. Your masters are powerful. We will wake Iu! Follow.

Kajur Lan cut the transmission, as various devices emerged from her hull, the gravitational bubble around the ship enlarging, shifting, before a singularity began to form, swirling and monstrous, in front of the Kajur Lan. Similar to a subspace vortex, but darker, it seemed. The derelict's machinations aimed to drag Asinsata with it, fields of gravity forming around the Necron ship.

It had created a wormhole, perhaps. The gravity bubble around the derelict flared again, distorting light and image at the aft of the vessel quite visibly, and Kajur Lan headed straight into the vortex.

Back on the bridge, the expedition stood in silence, until one spoke up.

"We are Kajali... I am Serenn. Who..." the word seemed odd, for a moment. "Are you?"

I am... Kalaan. What do you want?

The expedition members looked at each other nervously. They couldn't particularly imagine the intelligence would be happy with their answer. They were, after all, there to take the derelict apart, piece by piece.

The Asinsata was no mere space craft. A necron tomb ship; army – with its own gifted, genius general – starship, and thinker, it could oversee an entire invasion – even lesser craft could do that – plan a fleet operation, even broker treaties and arbitrate or negotiate settlements if its aims called upon it to do so. Its intellect permeated every atom of its fibre; thinking was in its nature, as surely as respiration was in the nature of every human being.

Its first action was to open its power nodes up to full capacity, like opening taps fully, or cutting into the delicate hull of a space station. No water or air flowed into it, but energy – potential energy of a kind that English has no word for. Energised, it allowed itself to become a trough for that energy, storing more and more with each passing shake.

A fraction of an instant – the beat of a bumblebee’s wing, it shut down its engine fields, altering them in doing so to nudge it slowly towards Kajur Lan.

It seemed that this derelict wished to take it somewhere, and the Asinsata had a mind to allow this without struggle, for what peril was a necron ship in of being lost? Space was vast, but its own speed was colossal. Though it might, in an alternate universe – Erisaed, in the necrontyr, another plane, rather than another Universe, for the Universe was singular, encompassing all that could be – be severed for a time from its source of power, its own reserves, augmented by its cautionary action, would last long enough for it to journey home, or implement an alternate power system, whichever it might prefer.

There was always the possibility of destruction, but it feared that not, for its mind lived on, and even so, it sent a brief ‘update’ of its recent memories as it slid towards the singularity.

Iu, and Solus, it knew these names only from the mythology of the Kajali. Mythology, the journalism of the past! How many myths it knew, it wondered how these things might manifest themselves. Foul warp entities? It doubted it, for the Kajur Lan bore no such hallmarks of deviance, instead the fine craftsmanship of an advanced and refined culture. Other ‘magical deities?’ Persons? Maybe even something akin to the C’tan themselves. It did not know, but it was certainly interested.

Almost as an afterthought it displaced a large jamming-apparatus into the route of the signal it had received, between it and the Kajali home world. It didn’t want that message reaching the public too quickly. Such deities, it understood, were yet respected by some…

Despite the efforts of the Asinsata, news of the signal would eventually trickle to the homeworld, though channels comprised of anonymous persons present at the event, those who heard it from those present, and so on and so forth.

For now, however, only the military knew, as the swirling vortex of the wormhole above Ljosal Dan continued to churn.

Command had become somewhat fractured over what to do in this moment, and while it squabbled with itself, a number of ships, answering to orders issued by the Imperatrix, aboard the Keyra Shi, moved to follow the Kajur Lan through the wormhole, before it collapsed.

It was, of course, somewhat disorienting to see a Necron ship apparently surrender to another ship and allow itself to be taken...

Kajur Lan and Asinsata had since disappeared, and the wormhole's apeture had begun to shrink, even as Kajali ships flew into it's gaping maw. On the other side, Kajur Lan was now emerging, Asinsata firm in it's grasp. The scene awaiting the two was one of devastation, as far as scanners could see.

This solar system, or, at least, the remnants of it, had been abused wholesale. The star, while only the same age as Sol, was a baleful, bloated monstrosity, around it a visible asteroid belt present. The inner planets had been utterly scoured of their surfaces, being nothing more than solidified - or in some cases, still molten - cores, often fractured. A large gas giant - perhaps two-thirds the size of Jupiter - was trailing a stream of itself behind it, tracing an orbit in a translucent, shimmering veil.

Beyond the gas giant, there were no detectable planets, though there did appear to be enough mass in appropriate orbits to indicate that there had once been objects there.

It took a moment for Kalaan to recognize the system. In 'his' time (as Kalaan had appeared to show a masculine identity), there had been two habitable planets (though 'habitable' didn't mean much), and numerous outer system installations and shipyards occupying the mass shadows.

He consulted databanks long inactive, initializing them when necessary, as he scanned the system with sensors still subject to some inaccuracy.

For all the devastation, residing within a particularly large cloud of debris, Kalaan's objective was here. He released Asinsata.

We have arrived. Iu... He is here.

A databurst accompanied the message, directing the Asinsata to follow Kajur Lan to the marked coordinates, at which, in a large debris field, a spherical construct, approximately thirty kilometers in diameter, sat, with large portions of framework and hull attached both fore and aft.

It was estimated, by those aboard Kajur Lan, watching helplessly from the bridge, that this construct was at one point well over a hundred kilometers in length.

The design, was, of course, odd. It appeared almost as if the remnants of hull attached fore and aft were detachable, allowing the central core to escape if required.

There were, around it, numerous derelicts of Kalaan's size, in varying states of decay. Many of the hulls, sleek and white like Kalaan's, bore numerous scars and scorching along their length. Among them, however, were derelicts of similar size, and while bearing the same marks of battle, their surfaces were bristling with spines and fins, razor sharp, a deep crimson against a mottled black-brown, as if they had pushed through diseased skin and continued to bleed.

An increasing sense of dread spread through the crew aboard the Kajur Lan.

The Necrons displaced by Asinsata had found numerous obstacles in their way, though few were so insurmountable as to require attempting a different route. They found nothing standing against them, and had easily penetrated into the docking hangar where the research ship, and many of the archaeologists were present.

They were startled, of course, to see Necrons, but soon began beseeching them for assistance.

"There is something... evil... here, in this place... on this ship! It is... singing... to us. Luring... Make it stop! Stop the singing..."

Cartographically, Kajur Lan had brought his Kajali investigators, and the Asinsata deep into the Seiran Wastes, a great swathe of stars that had been charted from afar and found to have little strategic or economic value. They were stars that featured prominently in legend, for Solus was believed to lurk in the spaces between these worthless systems.

Kalaan called this star system Shaa-val, a staging area for Iuan forces. It was well over twenty thousand light years towards galactic east from Kajal. The system had itself been chosing as a staging area due to proximity to Solun assets as well as for relative obscurity - if it could be held, it would have allowed the Iuans to strike anywhere within Solus' influence.

It hadn't quite worked that way, as the system demonstrated. There was nothing to be found in this system but death, and decay.

Asinsata ‘blinked’ and started by ignoring her surroundings, rather, deciding instead to re-establish location from known quasar and pulsar formations. It didn’t turn out to be necessary though, as she was still easily within range of the navigational signals of the necrons. She was in the Milky Way, still. Well that was a good sign.

Everything else wasn’t though. Asinsata was an old ship, and while it had seen this sort of destruction before, it hadn’t seen anything quite like it recently. The number of derelicts around was interesting. Some bore the hallmarks that it associated with ‘corrupted’ ships. Sickened, diseased seeming constructs, a veritable navy of them.

Worrying, that was, very worrying indeed. The necron ship settled on calling for reinforcements, and composed a brief statement of its current situation and of course surroundings, and squirted them off towards a relay point it knew to be nearby. A moment later, an affirmative response came back from the relay point, suggesting that it had sent the message on. Soon other necron ships would receive it across the galaxy. The Asinsata could have done more, but it didn’t want to send anything too prolonged. Normally, none noticed the communications necron ships typically sent out, but it didn’t want to test that here.

And so the disk shaped necron ship continued on its way, in silence, slipping through the stellar medium like a vast crescent shaped blade. Its sensors were strictly passive, and it made its way through the starship graveyard with fitting reservations.

Then it saw what was ahead of it. Curious, and massive. Asinsata sent another signal. ‘Best make that a lot of reinforcements’ was the gist of it.


Aboard the Kajur Lan

Telsela Cyari watched through the eyes of the point ‘immortal’ as it entered the landing bay. Restoring power and so forth wasn’t all that difficult, and she had access to predictive programmes that could puzzle out most control systems easily enough. And on the few occasions they couldn’t, she had more direct ways to make doors.

The landing bay was larger than Telsela had expected. For that matter, she wasn’t entirely used to being greeted in anything like as friendly a way. Their talk of voices, singing ones at that, set off alarm bells in her mind. Switching to the group’s internal communications, she passed the knowledge to those still on the other side of the bay, and frowned – not merely mental, mind, but in something of a ‘virtual reality’ – “Best to watch them,” she said.

Of course, the ideal option would be to remove the archaeologists to the Asinsata, and then send them home. But there was a problem with that idea. Not least, it would necessitate releasing a rather obvious energy pulse in an unknown environment.

The foremost of her bodies – she had five, at the moment, each necron squad was controlled by one necron, in something of a miniature hive mind – which we shall call Telsela-A, replied, sounding rather more human – or actually, necrontyr – than necrons usually did. “We’ll have to get you out of here, but at the moment, we’re not sure if it’s safe to do so, so you’re going to have to sit tight. We need to find the rest of your group too,” she added.

The consensus was that they’d found the command deck, and Telsela-A nodded. “We shan’t leave you,” it added. More for their benefit than from necessity, she turned her head to one side and added, “Squad Devkeri” which was of course, the squad controlled by the necron of that name, “Secure the entrances to the bay,” ten of the metallic soldiers moved off to find the best positions to cover the various entrances and exits, a difficult task, in truth. They were also careful to take positions where they could keep an eye on the various Kajali in the bay.

Telsela turned her attention back to the archaeologists. “What I need you to do is try and prepare your ship for take off. If I can access your sensors, I might be able to do something about the singing, too,” she added. This was of course, probably untrue, but aside from giving them something to do, and thus keeping their minds occupied, it might be useful to have the ship prepared, and there was a tiny possibility that she might be able to do something.

The rest of the necrons, on that unspoken command, began moving off to continue searching the ship for smaller groups of Kajali. Telsela-A lowered her weapon, holding it only by a top-handle, and headed towards the landed vessel. Meanwhile, the rest of Telsela’s group, four more, in all, headed for what seemed to be a lift.

Stepping inside, and halting perfectly still, she focussed her attention on Telsela-B briefly and had it operate the controls, sending the plush, rather comfortable looking craft up towards the command deck. Or at least, that was what she anticipated.

"Come... to usssssss. Joiiin ouur... sooonnnggg. We... looooooveee... you. Sssiiinggg... with usss. Sssssssooooooooollussss... sssssinnggs... Heee... undersssstannnddssss... you..

Theeeese... creaturessss... seeekk to oppressssss... you. Come... to Sooolusss. Heee will... freee... you.."

Searching the derelict would, of course, have been easier had the archaeologists not scattered themselves about the areas adjacent to the landing bays. Considering, for a moment, that the landing bays themselves were approximately one kilometer in length, half a kilometer in width, and half that again in height, it represented a large area of adjacent sections to explore.

Of course, there were four such landing bays, which further compounded the problem. The science ship in the landing bay itself had an average crew of approximately two hundred and fifteen, and was itself some two hundred and eighty meters in length, looking rather alone in one end of the bay.

They had crammed as many of their people aboard the ship to attempt to be the first expedition aboard, which meant that there were some three hundred twenty-five Kajali aboard the Kajur Lan, the majority of which were still aboard the research ship processing collected data.

This meant, of course, that there were around a hundred Kajali actually roaming Kajur Lan, with a group growing somewhat larger around the entry points to the science ship.

Research had ground to a stop since the 'voices' began singing, as many found it simply impossible to concentrate on anything but the voice. Many locked themselves in accomodations, trying to ignore the singing, rocking back and forth in the middle of their small rooms... while others started to ignore everything but the voices... and what the voices wanted.

Departure preparations had begun, but were progressing at an agonizingly slow rate, as more and more of the crew found themselves unable to concentrate on the task at hand.

"Come... to mee... I am... nearrrrrrrrrrrrr. Theeessse... creatures... skeletal metal... cannot ssttopp... you.

ssssshowww mee... wherrreee... you arrre... ssssooo I.... may help... you."

Kalaan continued towards "Iu", who lay dormant ahead. Abruptly, Asinsata would notice that for all the dormancy exhibited, the graveyard appeared frightfully 'alive', if that was the right word. It was as if the battle had only just ended, even if dating techniques claimed the graveyard remained now as it was tens of thousands of years prior.

For a moment, it appeared almost as if the corrupted derelicts were still aflame, but this faded as quickly as the realization set in itself.

Those 'burning' ships - while not yet 'awake', in any meaning of the word - were beginning to undergo the same process Kalaan had demonstrated.

There was a tightbeam transmission, originating with Kalaan and connecting with the derelict - content unknown, of course, and the massive orb entered an obvious state of revivification.

Over Ljosal Dan, Yusaf Shevaan fell the the floor alone in his office, wracked with momentary pain.

This is all happening too quickly! He... he shouldn't have found me this fast... Unless...

Shevaan burst out of his office, much to the dismay of some coworkers, and set off for the drydocks.

Upon arrival, he would be taking a certain prototype - something he was calling a Farjumper, for all the unoriginality it was worth - to get back to "Himself."

Iu is... unresponsive... groggy. Something is... wrong.

The science ship in Kalaan's landing bay miraculously managed to clear preflight checks, though it certainly did not bode well when those outside the ship stormed the nearest exit from the landing bay. Bubbles of gravity distorted the air under the vessel itself, pulling those hapless few unfortunate enough to still be beneath it to shreds as it lifted itself off the deckplate, shortly before the roar of air escaping into space made itself heard, as the landing bay door opened. Artificial gravity remained strong enough to keep those aboard on the deck, though it was somewhat difficult to remain standing with all the wind.

Keyra-Shi and the other pursuing Kajali ships did not successfully follow Kalaan, for all their efforts - as the wormhole had collapsed, dropping them in deep space some four thousand light years from Kajal, not yet into "Wilderness" proper.

The three ships were alone, for all it was worth, and the smallest one, once clear of Kalaan's landing bay, emitted from itself the largest EM burst it could produce.

Solus would see it.

Asinsata watched as the first few units of its backup arrived. Four Jackal class raiders, lead by one called Calastan. Smaller ships often operated in squadrons, this one consisting of Calastan, Ararn, Rinaisaca and Aebaraida. They slid between the debris with the deceleration typical of transition from hyper-speed, occasionally nudging pieces of the ancient Kajali ships out of the way as they aligned themselves with the Asinsata. Of course, these were the least of its concerns as the modern-Kajali craft let out a squawk of broadband radiation.

It was tempting to just shoot the damn thing, but that would be quite unacceptable, aside from the fact that Asinsata didn’t particularly wish to kill Kajali, the diplomatic fallout could be immense. She could have sworn, also, that she’d not instructed the gits to take off, for that matter. A rather less passive scan than before suggested that the necron on board was already doing her level best to bring the situation under control.

Instead, the massive necron battleship flitted a signal to its new escorts.

Looks like there’s no point in keeping quiet now. Let’s see what’s out there was the gist of it. Almost in unison, the necron ships began actively scanning the massive debris field around them. Asinsata meanwhile, couldn’t help but wonder what was wrong with the immense and damaged globular ship before it, and began turning its sensors on Iu, curious.


Telsala meanwhile, distracted from the main group of her bodies, turned her attention on the various unstable archaeologists in the ship. The pulse of electromagnetism was far more disorienting for her than for them. She wasn’t aware that in their haste the crew had managed to kill several of their own in the docking bay of Kajur-Lan, but she was quite aware of the need to take control of the ship and stop them doing anything else equally foolish. Still holding the heavy weapon, Telsala-A took a black jewelled pistol that shone as if wet from inside her chest cavity – a perverse place to keep equipment, but nonetheless, the way necrons did so, along with a sizeable roll of what appeared to be a metal tape. A moment later, she was headed towards the control deck of the Kajali ship, not entirely certain what to expect, though she had a degree of suspicion that she would encounter resistance. A ship would be detailed to tow the one she was on out of here, the Asinsata assured her. But first, she would have to try and stop any more… worrying pulses from the ship, and secure its control deck.

It goes without saying that a necron has little difficulty securing a deck occupied by rampant scientists and researchers. Few, if any, have any actual military training, and the ship itself isn't even of military design.

More disciplined minds would have not been so easily swayed, of course, but then Kalaan's hangar would be mostly filled by small groups, meditating.

Disabling a civilian vessel's ability to communicate is much simpler than that of a military starship. Redundancy is only present when affordable, and being scientists and researchers, they have an impressive array of scanning equipment.

Singular. The most effort required is, quite simply, outright destruction.

For a less property-damage intensive effort, one could also cut power to the device. Either of these is sufficient. That the scientists have, themselves, somewhat haphazardly tied it to main power in an effort to boost scanning radius, simply means that cutting power to this device - daisy-chained as it was - is quite effective at keeping the ship from doing anything.

Telsala-A likely wouldn't even need to shoot anyone. It was unlikely that any of the weapons kept aboard the ship were capable of penetrating the hull of a gravcar, never mind the skin of a Necron.

To the eyes that were Asinsata's sensors, a different drama was unfolding. The research ship had appeared to lose all but auxilary power, floating quite helplessly. The monolithic orb, now a matching Kalaan's alabaster white, began to grow knife-like protrusions, extending much further forward than they did aft, all whilst appearing to leave the local environment untouched. If anything, background radiation in the system was spiking, with no discernable cause to the uninformed observer.

Controlled conversion of energy to matter, on scales never before seen and complexity unimagined... To the Kajali. This is how Kalaan works.

Alongside whatever thoughts Asinsata was having, Kalaan was screaming at no one in particular.

They maim, they destroy without thinking. You help them... Why, when they are so easily swayed, by lust for power, desire for "freedom". Promises of vengeance. They have travelled this path once, and for what? Scorched worlds offering nothing but death.

There was a notable burst, something unlike a Kajali subspace event, but... not. As quickly as it had appeared, the vessel that emerged was already upon Asinsata and Kalaan, painted quite liberally in corporate logos, bearing most prominently, across the side of the hull, text indicating it as a prototype craft belonging to Atla/Ljosa group.

And as soon as that data parsed, it had already disappeared within the revivifying derelict.

It was odd.

Shaa-val

The Asinsata spent a moment acquiring its Target – before that same target promptly passed within the mother ship…

Irritating.

It wasn’t sure that this was the ‘enemy’ that was being spoken – ranted – about, though. For a start, it would have to have left Kajal before the signals were transmitted. While that a-causal relationship didn’t necessarily mean that the Atla/Ljosa ship wasn’t the cause of the ranting, it could not possibly produce the spike in background radiation that was being experienced.

The larger derelict could, possibly.

But…

Radiation does not work that way.

Something was coming, from (almost) all directions. Something numerous, it would seem.

Data flew from the Asinsata’ s mind, sinking into reality itself, and emerging elsewhere.

Teonash

A vast rock drifted among a billion or a trillion or more others, many even exceeding it in size. This system, known to none beyond the ships themselves and two of the C’tan, and the one human who lived there, was the home to the active necron ships in the galaxy. It was where they went when they wanted to be quiet. When they wanted to make themselves in secret, or repair themselves from damage taken in campaigns they did not publicise.

It was a warren of chambers, vast assemblies of living metal and dozens of power nodes that were where necron ships were born and personalities and knowledge imprinted in the nascent processor material that formed around power nodes. Each ship would form its own mind – could not be created as simple, inert matter – without this process, but it would not necessarily share the cultural values of its fellows, and would not understand the vast breadth of knowledge that its fellows did. In the same way, this could be pre-empted with the mind-states of dead vessels, written from the very beginning into the trans-dimensional matter of a new ship, they could be reborn.

The same facilities existed in equally sealed chambers in the Mictlan system, and smaller ones, in Venus.

Around these, in vast rookeries, linked to the vast power systems of the asteroid, behind mile upon mile of armour, the strategic reserve of necron ships; those vessels not deployed to other duties such as invasions, interventions, monitoring, deploying cultural survey drones, or protecting necron assets, rested.

Now information trickled to that asteroid, and flowed like adrenaline through the asteroid. Ships that had been quiescent, pursuing whatever their own interests were, through remote drones and symbiotic relationships and data links, stirred. Glowed. Lights rippling on across their shining green surfaces, auxiliary engines burning for a moment, heat returning to the surfaces, internal power nodes opening to full capacity.

Not an erg of these massive energies breached the surface, but the ships slowly began to slip their moorings, into corridors and passageways of tremendous size, through those same miles of iron, orienting them, preparing themselves.

Soon their phasing devices and main drives would activate, and they would flit from their nest at unimaginable speeds.

Venus

Other ships, already active, stirred, less, now, but they would take less time to be ready. The first wave; three heavy cruisers and half a dozen escorts – was already almost gone.

The Dragon stirred.

Shaa-val

Asinsata was left with a quandary; what did Kalaan mean by ‘them’

It began to displace the Kajali off Kalaan and drop them through a portal to Menelmacar, at the same time, opening its power cores fully, a transformation crept across its surface, changing its hue from dark sea green to a metallic shine of silver, as the ship manoeuvred to put itself ‘ahead’ of Kalaan.

“Assuming that by them you mean the Kajali, we help them because they are in need, and we are who we are. They are Us and we would not be who we are if we did not help them. We would not be who we are if we passed up the opportunity to help anyone when we can.

“Assistance is on the way, by the way. Expect arrival in three point four seconds.

At first, they appeared no different than stars, barely perceptible at the fringes of the system. Patterns of movement betrayed their true nature, as the dancing lights grew larger in the distance.

Concurrently, the protrusions that had formed, defining a fore and aft to the monolithic ship started to separate from the mass itself, similar in shape to Kalaan yet quite obviously incorporating some features of modern Kajali craft. Within moments, they began to move throughout the debris field, taking up reinforcing positions while still more protrusions emerged from the massive globular vessel.

Assistance - reinforcement, augmentation. The strength of ages comes not to those infirm.

It was, perhaps startling, then, that a new voice would become heard. Iu had woken, and his heralds now swept through the debris field ever more numerous.

The old ways were weak, Kalaan, and the strongest have become embittered. The taint is upon even you, yet it is far from deadly. They are as we once were, proud and arrogant, yet as we were never... Accomplished, admired. Respected.

The monolithic globe had shrunk quite visibly now, though it still dwarfed all around it, even as the oddly misshapen vessels drew closer, their hulls rippling with disturbing assymetry, pierced as one would skin in many places by grand needles resembling bone.

Solus is here. You must leave."

Those new vessels, that had not taken up formation with their more modern counterparts, flitted towards the corrupt visions of their more ancient design, and from their surfaces fire leapt, in great coruscating beams, pulsing visibly as they rent pieces from the approaching enemy. The grand orb continued to contract, though producing no more of Iu's 'heralds', though the debris surrounding began to fall towards it, even as distortions of light caused it to appear smaller still.

Two Heralds took up flanking positions alongside Kalaan, as the flow of time began to slow.

There is still value in the old ways... Should one wish to teach them.

It was time to leave, even as what barren, dead worlds were present in the system began to break apart.

Asinsata was in the uncomfortable situation of, for once, being outgunned. It wasn’t pleasant at all. Of course, as a necron ship, it had an effective option for removing itself.

We’ll be back… it said, and disappeared, becoming insubstantial and wraithlike, before being pulled from existence entirely. When necron devices disappeared, few outside a few specialists were aware of quite what was going on, though it was a part of ‘the technological canon’ and such knowledge was to be found in many people, it was essentially latent in implants that was rarely used.

There were those who were studying improving the system as a means of transport, of course, but due to certain dangers, their developments were limited tightly and monitored extensively. And slow.


However, beyond evacuating the people it had brought with it, especially the Kajali, there was one other thing that the Asinsata did. It communicated.

The fleet was already on its way. Even as the flag ship disappeared, more, seventeen in all, based around four heavy cruisers, dropped out of hyper-speed a light hour beyond the edge of the Shaa-val system and the observed limits of the attacking ships.

Ahem. Tag.

Kalaan, and the two Heralds alongside him, had simply continued on a linear course away from the nearest approaching corrupt vessels. It wasn't clear where they were going, at first, but a singularity began to form, revealing their intent. Even as this occured, a small fleck of light could be seen, departing from the massive, globular craft.

It was similar in shape to the craft that had initially disappeared within it, though larger, and, most startingly, visibly armed. Active scanning would reveal the original materials of the earlier vessel were indeed present within it, even if what was previously a shuttle now appeared more as a corvette.

The shining alabaster ships that had "leapt forth from the body of Iu" continued their offensive actions, though it was somewhat clear that they were, now, quite visibly outnumbered.

Outnumbered as they were, however, the Solun vessels were still crumbling under withering fire. It was as if their capability for self-repair was limited, much more so than that of the Iuan vessels. The Solun vessels moved without care for tactics, or casualties, instead throwing themselves upon the Iuans and now, the Necron vessels as a swarm, chaotic yet dangerous.

Their weapons rent great gashes in the hulls of the Iuan vessels, who continued to fight, seemingly ignorant of their own damage. Their energies were focused in the delay of the Solun vessels until such a point that the singularity Kalaan and his compatriots were entering had closed, and their simple massive volume rendered them, for the moment, sufficiently hardy to continue in such a manner.

Were there any scientists remaining aboard the small Kajali research craft, they were lost when the vessel was struck by Solun weapons, coming apart as if constructed from beams and panels of wood and foil.

Just as Kalaan and the two Heralds passed through the singularity, the Solun armada was upon the Necron vessels, having separated into two main swarms, one of which was visible around Iu, their movement slowing as they drew ever closer to the globular vessel. The vessels nearest to it appeared to have ceased movement entirely, though close observation would reveal the most minute of motions.

That the nearest planet had broken apart, and was forming as an accretion disc around the vessel was, also, perhaps telling of Iu's intentions. Those vessels caught near it were, undoubtedly, trapped.

The necron fleet watched with a degree of concern as Iu sucked matter into itself. They expected it had fabrication units running, but there were alternative explanations, involving fusion and explosivesor some more exotic ideas that fell under the descriptor of ‘great big bomb.’

They directed light-second long flares of fire and lightning at the Solun ships that seemed to have managed the generally impossible task of surrounding them in space.

They seemed, definitely, to be losing, and they weren’t entirely certain what they planned to do about that. Lose, seemed like the best bet here. One of the battleships of the necron fleet arrived, with another half dozen escorts, headed for the system’s star…

We have made a greivous error.

We are... trapped. Iu's deceit lays exposed, even as these emerald phantoms hasten.

They were exterminated, ages ago, but some yet survive... We will silence them... when we are again... ready.

The Solun craft had, altogether too late, recognized Iu's gambit, and the actions that the ships streaking towards the system star intended to carry out, and were now altogether helpless to stop it.

Still, they moved against the 'enemy', ever more reckless, fully cognizant of their impending doom. They turned towards any adversaries nearby with frightening speed, fully intending not to silently disappear. They plunged into the collosal structure of Iu, and in turn, maneuvered to perpetrate the same acts against his heralds and the Necron fleet.

If they would die, they would not die alone, they thought.

Kalaan had escaped, along with his cargo, though the heralds alongside him had not. The sudden Solun push had imposed the possibility that some would escape through the vortex, and the two heralds moved to block any such attempts, instead suffering similar fates to their Solun counterparts, as they were rent apart as Solun craft smashed themselves to pieces upon them.

Iu's form was no longer visible, instead replaced with nothingness - an artificial singularity formed through his efforts.

Those necron ships en route towards the system star remained unchalleneged, even as the Solun made to ram their compatriots.

Ultimately, the necron plot would be successful. With the destruction of the system star, no Solun craft present would survive.

Soon, scattered reports of raids would surface, all speaking of a terrible craft, ruinous in appearance, all along the Kajali periphery...