Starship Engineer

One-Nine-Seven-Six was awoken from his hibernation. He checked the communication, as this was not unusual. The message was pertaining to the galaxy he was heading toward.

He quickly assimilated the message and considered a course of action. The technological advancement was accelerating, and the disturbance in the region he was headed toward was expanding. Currently, the HUB, was indicating an instability of 0.00004%. It had doubled in time he had been in hibernation.

Races not understanding what they were doing could quickly destabilize the entire fabric of space and time. The communication he had received had given him permission to use his own discretion in dealing with the disturbance. His vessel was creating an epitome wake of 0.000001%; increasing his velocity would increase the damage his ship did to the fabric, which would take thousands of millennia to repair itself.

But it was best to eradicate the species with the technology before it spread too far. Too many times, ignorant species have spread their knowledge and accelerated the destabilization of the entire universe. He checked his chronometer; the last time this galaxy had been completely purged was 250,403 years ago.

Purging was an imperfect process as species always slipped through the cracks and repopulated, but hopefully, they learned their lesson and did not delve into technologies they shouldn't in the future. Enough warnings had been sent periodically to emerging races leaving their origin planet that this should not be happening. Ignoring the Directives of the Precursors was done at the risk to your entire species.

One-Nine-Seven-Six switched from a humanoid to a poly-appendage creature and started tapping away on his terminals, projecting scenarios. He was still queued to investigate the disappearance of Seven-Nine-One-Seven before dealing with the disturbance.

He considered a course of action and increased speed twenty-nine fold. His wake increased to 0.00054%, contributing to destabilization. Some alarms sounded as he was past the acceptable limit. He used the override that had accompanied the communication. Sometimes, operating parameters needed to be broken.

A blip occurred on sensors a moment later. A starship 1,392 light years from his position had appeared at the edge of his sensors. He quickly got irritated. Another species was attempting to cross the vast void between the galaxies. Another part of its job was to eliminate any such ships.

Data populated the screens. A sizable ship was traveling in lower subspace. It still had power, and he would have to divert to handle the issue. He calculated a new course. He would not drop out of his transition. Instead, he would do a pass and let his wake handle the problem. He doubted that whatever species was trying to flee the galaxy he was on a vector could handle the waves.

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The meeting with the First Citizen happened rather quickly. I could not tell if Bel'Fer did not care for her safety or was confident I would not harm her. She arrived on a small Sylvan shuttle and landed in the cargo bay on the Fateweaver. She had come completely alone and was only wearing a thin fabric over a skin suit.

She was not patient, and we immediately went to a conference room. The first thing she did was announce that Rae'Ver was her brother but that she had no emotional attachment to him and actually thought he was an idiot. It was her way of apologizing for his actions in the past, as she disparaged him for nearly an hour.

When Bel'Fer finished her tirade against Rae'Ver she turned to business. I started by thanking her for her timely arrival and gave her condolences for the people she lost on the War Charriot and the Sprite fighters. If she had not arrived, then most likely, the outcome would have been extremely different. She acknowledged her contribution with grace and decorum and reinforced that we had formed an alliance against the Malevolents.

Bel'Fer admitted most First Citizens in charge of the Sylvan city ships no longer considered the Malevants a clear and present threat. She had been rallying the other City ships for decades to seek alliances with the lesser races. She immediately apologized for calling humanity a lesser race before continuing.

She settled into her seat and explained things I already knew. The Sylvan civilization had been obliterated by the Malevalents and enslaved on one of their Planet-sized ships with numerous other races. The Malevalants bred the various races on the ship as a curiosity. She told me one thing I had not been aware of: only a single intelligence was in charge of the planet ship. And, no, it was not an AI.

During millennia, some Sylvan developed a power beyond science. Whether this was the Malevanants' intention was unknown, but it allowed her race to pass down knowledge through shared memories. This was the origin of the First Citizens—the first citizens in her society to know the past. Unfortunately, the knowledge of the Sylvan First Citizens only extended back to the first space elf that developed this ability—Bae'Tua.

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The knowledge of the history before Bae'Tua had been passed on by word of mouth. Therefore, Bel'Fer revealed it was susceptible to interpretation. Bel'Fer was relaxing more and more as she talked. She revealed the Sylvan City Ships were not because the space elves were searching for their homeworld as they told other races. They were to make sure their race could flee when the Malevalents returned.

The Sylvan had also sent dozens of City Ships to other galaxies over the millennium in an attempt to escape the Malevalents. It was a hope that their reach did not extend to every galaxy. Bel'Fer scoffed and indicated these trans-galactic expeditions had almost no chance of succeeding. But maybe with the new subspace technology I had access to, a city ship could reach another galaxy.

I asked her if that was why she was here. To get the technology and flee this galaxy for another. Bel'Fer laughed. Her whole body looked like it was convulsing as she laughed, and her blue-tinged teeth made her look a little menacing. She was not fleeing if the Malevalants returned. She would fight until her city ship was destroyed and she was dead.

Something about this Sylvan First Citizen made me want to trust her motives and intentions. She was not influencing me, according to all our monitors. Bel'Fer then requested something that utterly surprised me. She wanted to establish a settlement in the Bradbury system. In return, she would keep her city ship, the Molffir, in this system to help with its defense.

My PerCom buzzed on my arm, and it was Edmund. He was warning me off from this possible course of action. He did not trust the Sylvan; if they integrated onto the planet, he would be hard-pressed. Still, the addition of a Sylvan city ship to the defense of the Bradbury system would be a major deterrent to the Brotherhood.

I asked about the biosynths. These were the organic worms the Sylvan used to spy on other species. Bel'Fer immediately agreed to hand over equipment for scanning for biosynths and their removal. She was ready to give me whatever I wanted to make progress and gain my trust.

I asked her what Sylvan technology she would be willing to share with the Arcadian Collective. She finally showed some discomfort in her seat, losing some confidence. She finally said she would give it all.

Silence reigned on the table between us, and I asked her to explain why. She strongly believed the nomadic existence of her people was not sustainable. There were already genetic deviations in her long-lived species. She was also among a contingent of First Citizens who believed they needed to take a stand against the Malevalants and stop running.

I asked if Rae'Ver had been in the same camp. She reluctantly confirmed that Rae'Ver had also been a proponent of facing the Malevalents rather than fleeing. But Rae'Ver did think only the Sylvan were the only ones strong enough to face the enemy. I thanked Bel'Fer for coming to see me and told her I would be contacting her soon with a decision.

My council had greatly shrunk in the last weeks. Edmund and Suruchi were the primary contributors to this discussion on whether to let the Sylvan in our midst. Suruchi was the elected government of the planet in the Bradbury system and the de facto Civilian Leader.

Suruchi was willing to take on the risk. She had proclaimed an all-inclusive government, and it would be hypocritical to oppose it now. Edmund did not want any integration with the Sylvan. He was fine with them stationing their city ship in the system but strongly opposed integrating our forces. I told him it was a deal only with this city ship and not all Sylvan, but that did not sway him.

I did not want to sour Edmund on my leadership, so I was making a very difficult decision. The city ship was a huge deterrent to the Brotherhood, and I was sure the Sylvan technology would be of interest to our scientists. I opened a line of communication with Bel'Fer, and she responded immediately.

I was still not sure how she was able to give away the Syvlan technology so freely. She explained every First Citizen Leader was able to make their own decisions. She might be removed from her position if enough other First Citizens got together and forcibly voted her out. She then gave me one of the greatest secrets of the Sylvan to try and convince me.

Some of the Sylvan First Citizens could communicate with their power across any distance. She was one of those First Citizens. If I agreed, she might be able to convince other city ships to come to the Bradbury system as well. The Sylvan were already supporting the war against the quadrupeds, and now they would be defending our home system.

Edmund was still worried they would abandon us or even turn on us once they secured the sensor and subspace technology from us. I agreed to an alliance between the Arcadian Federation and the Sylvan City Ship Molffir. Bel'Fer indicated that was the extent of the agreement at this time.

Edmund was not happy, but I hope he understood my reasoning.

Nine days later, when I was reviewing the battle reports from Human Federation space, a priority message came from Bel'Fer. She looked anxious and maybe afraid on the screen when she informed me the Sylvan City Ship Hanffir had been destroyed. At first, I thought that maybe it was one of the city ships fighting the quadrupeds, but that was not the case. Bel'Fer informed me the ship had left this galaxy some three hundred and eight years ago. It was in the expanse between galaxies.

I was confused as that sounded dangerous and made sense it might get destroyed. She said the First Citizen, Mor'Ler, had communicated with others before his ship had been destroyed. He was attacked by a planet-sized ship that he believed belonged to the Malevalents.

My mind whirled with the implications. The Malevalents were coming, and we were not even close to being ready.

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