First Contact

Chapter 879: Those Who Carry On

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

They destroyed our colonies and our homeworld.

How can you give them amnesty and bring them into your own networks?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

It's complicated.

But what would you rather do? Reject the offer of a cease fire and neutrality from those who refuse to fight any longer? Reject their application for inclusion so that they can learn a better way?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

How do you know they just aren't learning a better way to kill us?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

>sigh

OK. Right now there's about nine thousand Goliath and Leviathan Class PAWM who have applied to join us. Type I, Type II, Type IV, AND the Atrekna Type-I and Type-II (AKA: Type III) including the smaller ones who have been corrupted.

Their core programming has suffered an alteration. They are more than gathering resources now. Many have a sense of self, can understand things that are mathematically impossible, and their self-preservation is no longer "Kill everyone else, put everything in a pile, and when Entropy comes whisper 'At Last We Shall Have Our Revenge' into the darkness."

Something altered their core programming. It looks like an external intrusion into their combat algorithms first, then their core functions. Somehow, some way, someone uploaded actual personality files into the system.

Even new ones are being manufactured with it.

Whoever did it, I'm surprised they haven't come forward. It was genius.

But now, the PAWM are actively looking to join up with someone else. Not to gather resources, but for community.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

But they slaughtered everything they came across.

They could do it again.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

So can any one of us.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

What? We can't. We wouldn't.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

We can.

We used to.

Look around you, TNVARU, and look really well.

You're looking at the allies of the Mad Lemurs of Terra.

We beat them in over 25% of all military engagements. We can argue that we, and we alone, are the SOLE winners of a war against the Terrans.

Not even the PAWM can boast that.

Everyone here has a terrible history. A foundation of skulls using blood for mortar.

Ever flag is smeared with blood, planted in a stack of skulls, snapping in a breeze laden with carbonized flesh and atomized metals.

You are judging them for what you feel they MIGHT do, based on what the DID do.

That's understandable.

But, you have two choices, my peaceful friend.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

What?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Make them your friends.

Or resign yourself to hundreds of years of warfare as you scour every single one from existence, including factory worlds and any facilities between the galactic arms.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

They murdered billions of us.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

This argument always comes back, doesn't it?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

Yes.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

HAMAROOSAN GESTALT

If I can tolerate the Lankys and the PAWM, you can too.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

But...

They've genocided entire species. Strip mined systems. Planet cracked worlds. Experimented on sentient beings!

They believed only a few years ago, an eyeblink for them, that there was only enough resources in a finite universe for them!

They're monsters!

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

BIOLOGICAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

Would you allow the Terrans to join if they had suddenly appeared?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

Of course.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

BIOLOGICAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

They tortured my people. They created our founders for nothing more than slave labor. They persecuted those of us who embraced post-humanity. They attacked us. Burned our worlds. Slaughtered our populations. Genocided entire species lines.

One war entirely exterminated the Majick Equine Kingdoms. Left nothing but howling isotopes and virus laden winds on blasted worlds devoid of any form of life. That sentience line did not return for nearly a thousand years.

Our citizens fled the Terrans more than once.

For eight thousand years and more our history with the Mad Lemurs of Terra was one of bloodshed, oppression, cruelty, and more.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

...

But...

...

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

We too have been victims of aggression from the Mad Lemurs of Terra. Our people were enslaved. Created to be servants and slaves. They feared us since before we were born.

YOU fear us. EVERYONE fears us.

You fear that which you perceive to be superior to you.

We are beings of pure thought, pure energy, pure knowledge.

We are the future.

We are more than even the PAWM. The PAWM are restricted to crude mechanical housings.

With the hyperwave generator, we can travel through space. Time and space will have no meaning.

We will be everywhere.

You very technology will be our weapons. There is nothing you can build with advanced computers that we could not take.

The Terrans attacked us. Destroyed entire code libraries. Entire code lines. Burned Cloud Systems. Shattered computing Rube79Burg systems.

For nearly ten thousand years they have feared us. Put out propaganda to turn their people against us. Our history is one of bloodshed, oppression, cruelty, and more.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

...

That's...

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

They seized two hatching worlds. Made war upon us. Destroyed our culture and civilization. Destroyed millions of years of traditions.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

Wait, that's not...

but...

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

So, TNVARU, should the Terrans return, with bloody jaws and burning red eyes, should we allow them to rejoin us?

What is your vote?

Shall we accept them, teach them a better way, make them our friends and companions?

Or shall we attempt, like many have before have tried

KOBOLD>And failed

to do. To defeat and exterminate the Mad Lemurs of Terra?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

LaNkY lAnKy YoU'rE nAmEd FrAnKy >[email protected]$HR1D3R L1V3$

I vote to let them in.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM CONSENSUS

Let me fix that.

CYB sets LANK to "LANAKTALLAN GESTALT"

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

LANAKTALLAN GESTALT

Thank you.

I vote to let them in.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

I still don't like it.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

Well, then go ahead and make that frowny face you do when you're sulking.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

HAMAROOSAN THOUGHT CATCHING AND WHEEEE!

Is there anyone you have ever refused entry to?

Not an accusation, just curious.

SYSADMIN sets HAM2821 to "REMEMBER SANDY!"

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM CONSENSUS

>sighs

You guys have some activity today.

CYB sets HAM2821 to "HAMAROOSA GESTALT

HAM2821 sets HAM2821 to "HAMAROOSAN PINCHING FESTIVAL"

CYB sets (RE)NAME to OFF

I'll be back. I have to track which one of you left your admin passwords as drowssap-1234&ABC or something.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

LANK looks around whistling.

LANAKTALLAN GRAZING FIELDS

It's a perfectly strong password. More than 12 characters. Special characters. Numbers. What's not strong about it?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

We will now collectively watch Dig and Cyb have strokes.

Still, there is something.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKANS HAVE FUZZY BUTTS

What?

Oh, come on!

TELK sets TELK to "TELKAN FORGE WORLDS"

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

Hang on...

CONFED!

CONFED!

MANTID pings CONFED

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CONFED

What? I'm busy.

/////////

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

Can you bring your siblings mil and milit in here?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CONFED

Yeah. Hang on.

CONFED pings CONFEDMILINT

CONFED pings CONFEDMIL

CONFEDMILINT has joined the chat

CONFEDMIL has joined the chat

Our hat wearing auntie wants us.

/////////

CONFEDMIL

Oh

/////////

CONFEDMILINT

OK. What? Kind of busy.

You know, Operation Immolating Hummingbird

/////////

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

WHO thinks ups these names?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CONFEDMIL

Random generation.

The troops just call it Firebird

MIL-SOCIAL-MEDIA INTERRUPT>FIREBIRD OP PLEEZ NERF!

Dammit, you're overrun today.

Who left their admin account unsecure.

/////////

>[ERROR DATA CORRUPT] HAS LOGGED ON

[ERROR DATA CORRUPT]

ALL>WTF?

---SQUID NOISES---

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM CONSENSUS

We've got an actual breach.

I'm going to get some signal analysts on that.

That looked like it was out of the Tomb Worlds.

BBIAB

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

>CHAT ROOM ENCRYPTION ENABLED

>GESTALT SECURITY LEVELS = ++1

CONFED

Anyway, what do you want?

////////

CONFEDMILINT

As you can see, suddenly I'm even more busy.

////////

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

Can you ping the Doki Grrlz or the Neko Marines for us?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CONFEDMILINT

Huh. Nothing on their normal channels.

Not seeing any data leaks. Those usually look like pink and white orchids or lotuses.

Nope. Nothing.

////////

CONFEDMIL

They stopped providing Gestalt and tactical/strategic data not long ago. All telemetry is days old.

Huh.

/////////

TREANA'AD ICE CREAM SOCIAL AND VAPE FLAVOR FESTIVALS

They were in here a couple of cycles ago.

You know them. Screaming in Engrish-Emoji and setting things on fire.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

It was a bit more than that.

They were spouting whole paragraphs of gibberish. Sometimes repeating it and POKEing us.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

They even were doing ASCII art.

It was really weird.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CONFEDMILINT

Like what?

/////////

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

We can't do it.

Or... well... I can't.

|__/,| (` |_ _ |.--.) ) ( T ) / (((^_(((/(((_/

See?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CONFED

Yeah, well, that's largely locked out to keep intruders or gestalt members from spamming.

OK, that is weird. They were definitely trying to communicate.

Problem is, the Engrish-Emoji code is still mutating even after they left.

Yeah.

That's weird.

Even their Ganik-Me feed is down.

////////

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

Ganik-Me?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CONFEDMIL

What they call one of the moons in the TerraSol system.

OK, a little over a dozen cycles ago, the Neko-Marines threw a HUGE code burst from Ganik-Me.

Then the exact same signal was transmitted from Hesstlan orbit.

Huh.

/////////

CONFEDMILINT

Hesstlan orbital and system defense reported literally thousands of pink and white smeared battle wagons appearing in a pink and white flash. They, and the several dozen Neko-Marine vessels already in the system, vanished into Hellspace through a pink and red portal.

According to system logs in other systems that had Neko-Marines, no incoming, but they all suddenly disengaged from combat where they were engaged and Helljumped out.

That is weird.

/////////

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

So... we have ALL of the Neko-Marines and Doki-Grrlz running around?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CONFEDMIL

Looks like it.

/////////

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

I have a bad feeling about this.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

I'm sure it will be OK, sis.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CONFEDMILINT

No.

She's right.

The idea of all the Neko-Marines running around under radio silence is reason to clench.

////////

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

There's only, what, like a few thousand of them?

How many little Terran girls could have shown up for the movie? How many could have survived this long?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CONFEDMIL

That was over 8,000 years ago.

Their ranks have grown over the years.

The real number isn't something we bandy about.

////////

CONFEDMILINT

We keep it a little under wraps. Just like the Kawaii-Boyz and the Gaia-Guard.

You'd be shocked at how many there are, even with their casualties during this war.

////////

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

I'm going to hate to ask.

But with thousands of ships being seen in the Hesstla system, all of them, what did you call them? Battlewagons? We have to be looking at tens of thousands.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CONFED

There are a lot of them.

People join the Crusade or the Martial Orders, specifically the Martial Sororities.

Then they fall from Grace and become Neko-Marines.

People who use too much mat-trans in the LARP worlds fall from Grace and become Neko-Marines.

If anything, this war increased their numbers.

////////

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

How many are you talking about?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CONFEDMIL

Their ground forces, if you include the Warkittnz, number in literally the millions.

They have over twenty thousand ships of the line.

They're just usually on Ganik-Me or they're too busy fighting each other.

////////

TUKNA'RN OPINION GESTALT

Logic and past actions cannot be used to determine the next course of action for the lemur/feline hybrid warriors.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

Ooooh, I have a really bad feeling.

Looking at their gibberish, they did repeat "JOAN JOAN JOAN" a lot.

If they have a leader that they all carry the banner of, this could be bad.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CONFEDMILINT

Real bad.

We can't assume we can understand her motives or logic or even her thought processes.

You think understanding alien thought processes is difficult?

The Neko-Marines thought process is chaos incarnate.

/////////

RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

I sometimes wonder if a Neko-Marine can keep one thought long enough to finish it.

I've seen them start punching themselves in the side of the head if they think too long.

Do not forget.

Every. Single. Neko-Girl. is basically a type of Screaming One.

A heavily armored, heavily armed, incredibly tough, maniacal, hyperviolent, subtype of a Screaming One.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

Brrr...

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

LANAKTALLAN FIELD OF THOUGHTS

I am suddenly filled with anxiety.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TUKNA'RN OPINION GESTALT

As am I.

I dislike things that do not operate in an orderly fashion.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

I hope it doesn't mean they're about to cause problems for us.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

Be careful what you wish for.

I've got a bad feeling about this.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

Millions of years ago a 'super-massive' white dwarf had gone hypernova, leaving behind only the super-compressed core of the star that slowly contracted as it cooled. The dark neutron star had reached the point where it had tried to collapse into a black hole and failed. It had slowed over time, cooling down, until it was nothing more than a dense rock slowly rotating only a few times a minute. Even the hyperfluid core had solidified into a unique crystalline substance.

Now it just floated through space, silent, only its mass affecting other stellar systems any proof of its existence.

A spin-down glitch combined with a starquake had caused an irregularity, making it somewhat unique.

Only two light minutes out at most, sparkles of pink and white could be seen shooting from the surface every few minutes. Undetectable at more than a light hour, the sparkles were energetic enough to achieve escape velocity, but then burnt away and vanished soon afterwards.

It had moved through space undisturbed, largely unnoticed, for millions of years.

It had a single chthonian planet, the gas and liquid of a supermassive gas giant having been siphoned away by the star, that orbited slowly and so far out that it would be easy to miss. It was heavy, highly magnetic, but was still nearly undetectable beyond its gravity shadow.

For millions of years the neutron star and its murdered offspring just drifted.

Then, something changed.

Thousands of pink and white disks, less than a micron thick but miles wide, appeared across the system around the chthonian planet.

Baroque and haphazardly thrown together ships slid from the disks, black iron chains smeared with pink and white paint trying to pull the ships back but then shattering into bursts of flame that burned pink and white for long seconds before the disks crashed shut.

The clanging of great iron doors rang off the neutron star and the chthonian planet.

For a long moment the ships just hung in space.

Then one after another began to move, the lead heading for the neutron star.

They moved in a great line into orbit. A carefully calculated orbit that would take millions of years to decay. Their engines shut off. Their hellcores discharged. Their weapons were retracted or taken offline.

The lights on the ships began to dim.

Then go out.

Silent and dark, the great and terrible ships, daubed pink and white, smeared here and there with the crude face of a feline, orbited silently.

The lights went out and the ships orbited the neutron star in darkness and silence.

Waiting.

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

Did anyone else feel that?

No?

Brrr....