The Longest Journey
The year was 43 086.
Once again, Karlos saw himself standing near the window of an immense starship, a Hyperion - Class Worldship Carrier, which was a staggering 14 km in length and designed to hold a population in the millions. However, this exotic piece of equipment would pale in comparison to the object below. He store down at the legendary megastructure - that he knew was Paragon - and was once more in amazement. The megastructure was home to an inconcievable number of people - individual cities could easily exceed some entire planetary populations. If the Hyperion Federation were to boast about one feat of their famously effective engineering - it was likely to be Paragon in all it's awesomeness. Karlos' society saw him as a Pioneer - a title given to select few for their bravery and sheer skill - as both a soldier and a scientist. It was through people like these that the HF makes contact with new alien worlds, expanding the intergalactic front to ever larger proportions. He was the leader of a small team of Pioneers, his two colleagues being Parallax04, a Yunkad pioneer highly respected for his extremely efficient property, and Rh'odim, a Vanadian who, like many others of his species, could become quite confusing. The biomechanical entity on legs approached Karlos, but over the years he would become used to the sound of Parallax04 approaching.
Parallax: "What is our next assignment? You called us here."
Karlos: "Actally, this time, i'm not entirely sure."
The two near-legendary figures stood side by side to look at the wonder of engineering below.
Karlos: "I only know that the HSA called me up. My orders were to gather you two and be on standby."
Karlos looks at Parallax, who looks back
Karlos: "For all I know, we could be sent to explore something on Paragon."
Parallax: "Whatever it is, we will make it work. It is our task as Pioneers - to go where none have gone before, and work off incomplete data."
Karlos: "Damn right we will. Rh'odim should be here shortly."
Almost as if on que, the two turn around to find the very subject of their discussion approaching them.
Rh'odim: "Team's all here?"
Karlos: "Affirmative. Now we are just awaiting orders, and... as I was explaining to Para, I have no idea what our mission is. We should find out once I recieve my orders."
Rh'odim: "Understood sir." The trio, too, would now once again stare at the wonder beneath them.
Rh'odim: "Paragon never fails to impress me..."
Karlos: "Damn right... While we are here, is there anything you want to do?"
Rh'odim: "Our next mission. Sir."
Karlos gave a chuckle. "Fair enough, me too." He reached out to pat Rh'odim on the shoulder. "But yeah. Anything you guys want?
"Rh'odim: "We should play Conqueror of Galaxies again at some point... this is a pretty good chance you know, Karlos?"
Karlos: "Oh - that sounds like fun. Parallax?"
Parallax: "Until we recieve our next mission?"
Karlos: "I don't know when our next mission will be. Could be years, could be hours. Probably not too long, seeing they wanted us on this station." The group made their way to one of the Virtual Universe simulators on the station and decided to play virtual War - Engineer Games while they awaited their next mission. They all opened a new universe and joined it. Karlos: "So.. I may have built some new things since last time.."
Parallax: "I imagine so.."
Karlos: "Okaay.. new game, map? Lets go with.. KD-396 again, that map is always fun"
Rh'odim: "Sure thing!"
They navigated a few more menus before starting the game, all 3 sides spawning in their respective units. Karlos brought a large airship - presumably one that floats on the Taidakic Field. His airship was armed with a single, very long weapon along with a number of much smaller secondary weapons. Rh'odim brought a strange mech-looking vehicle. It was comprised of several floating parts, each of which could disengage from the main vehicle and possibly perform a number of roles. Rh'odim's secondary armament was not as significant as that of Karlos' vehicle. Paralalx brought a large, stationary turret which was positioned on the large glacier section of the map, giving it a large angle of view to the sky. Parallax would be the first to fire. He damaged Karlos' airship, which quickly returned fire using its primary weapon. Both sides were pelted with searing bolts that exploded into sparks of light on hit. The battles have alerted Rh'odim, who, knowing Parallax's strength and hyperintelligent nature, decided to strike Paralalx first. Parallax's turret was swarmed with 'drones' that were parts of his mech. The turret had few secondary weapons which were shortly overwhelmed but managed to inflict heavy damage to Rh'odim's mech. By this point, most of the armour of Karlos' airship has been torn to shreds, leaving the internal components of the airship exposed but despite this it remains flying. However, Parallax's turret could not survive the focused attack, and several plasma charges - the ammo of the weapon - explode within the turret itself, causing a bright blue explosion that tore through the battlefield like thunder, almost as if someone managed to condense a supernova inside it. This explosion knocked out even more of Rh'odim's mech drone things, so the 2 parties left were both extremely heavily crippled. Both sides exchanged fire once more, and Karlos hit Rh'odim's cockkpit segment, destroying his mech. However, Karlos could no longer remain afloat as Rh'odim damaged the remaining thrusters and Taidakic floatation machines. His airship crashed into the ground. By the end, all 3 were killed.
The group then awoke from their simulations.
Karlos, sitting up from the simulator: "Damn... good game!"
Rh'odim: "That.. who even won that?"
Karlos: "No one im pretty sure!"
Parallax: "That was good. Should we explore the station though?"
Karlos: "Hmm, alright. Lets go. Rh'odim?"
Rh'odim: "Yeah, sure..!" Soon after, the trio would get out of the simulators in their own unique ways. Parallax effectively jumped out due to his extreme strength. They would approach Karlos who would shortly lead them through a large door with a large label on it. If they could be bothered translating it they could, but simply went through.
"Getting his device out, he reads his notification: "Oh, we are teleporting to a different station. That's odd."
Rh'odim: "Why?
"Karlos: "Dunno, but we are using teleporter #84, which is nearby, im pretty sure."
Parallax: "It is indeed nearby."
Parallax points towards a large door nearby "That door, from memory."
Karlos: "Let's go."
As the party entered the teleporter room, they would see nothing strikingly different from any other teleporter. Teleporter Technician: "Is this Karlos, Parallax, Rh'odim?"
Parallax: "Correct."
Technician: "Excellent, I.. dont know what this station is, but, thats your destination..."
Karlos: "We don't know either honestly."
Soon, the group found themselves in an incredibly well guarded and very secret station. They were told they would recieve top secret information here possibly hundreds of times and they were to not disclose this information regardless of any situation. A Sentient Robot walks up to them.
???: "You are Parallax, Karlos and Rh'odim?"
Karlos: "We are indeed. And you are?"
???: "Follow me."
And so, the group follows this robot into an extremely well-soundproffed room and the group had to remove most unessessary electronic devices before entering. They found themselves in a large room where 4 other individuals gathered, for a total of 8 people in the room.
???: "So the secret information is this: you are being deployed to a galaxy called the ZQ-43D galaxy. However, you will not be using an IGWD to reach it because the decay of Hypermatter could reveal our prescence in that galaxy.
Rh'odim: "So.. How do we reach it then?"
???: "A path that very few take. We will form a wormhole from a conventional black hole in a place that very few will visit. You may have to destroy a few HEX Mainframe starships, though to reach it."
Karlos: "That is our mission? Where is this black hole?"
???: "The 79-A7V galaxy. It is one of the several 'outlier' galaxies of the Fortrais cluster and overlooked by almost everyone. We will send a team to convert this black hole into a wormhole for you. There will be a team of ships escorting your's but of course you are cleared to fire at any Mainframe ships that approach."
Karlos: "Hm, I understand. I assume i'll be taking our pioneering starship?"
???: "Correct"
Karlos: "Very well. Anything else?"
???: "I dont believe so."
Hours later, the group found themselves being warped with an IGWD to a fringe galaxy of the Cluster, a place they never thought they would go. They are escorted by a Hyperion - Class Worldship as well as its escorting fleet. They too were deployed to ZQ-43D.
As predicted, the HM attacked them with a significant fleet. The hyperionites managed to fight them off, but only a handul of ships survived the encounter.
Karlos, to Rh'odim: "Our people.. they are being killed by the HM, we HAVE to help them!"
Parallax: "Probability of rescuing the fleet is calculated at less than 0.1%.
"Karlos: "I dnt expect to save the fleet, I want to make a difference, to save someone. We are going in, prepare the weapo-"
Their ship was hit by a massive number of rounds simultaneously.
Karlos: "What-! Return fire, now!"
Parallax was nowhere to be seen, but Karlos shortly got a transmission from him saying he already moved to the gunner position and has fired seeral weapons at HM ships.
Karlos: "Gah! Some of our weapons are down, shield still holding, they are using shield piercers!"
Parallax: "Our shield has adapted, their penetration wont work anymore."
Karlos: "Repair the weapons!"
Parallax: "Already on it!"Another volley of rounds hit the ship, but it appears that Parallax was right, the rounds didnt penetrate the shield.
Karlos: "I'll take helm!" He runs off to the helm station at the bridge of the ship.
Rh'odim: "I'll do ewar!" He too dashes to one of the ships stations.
The enemies in question came in the form of several smaller ships, a typical HM deployment.
Karlos: "R'hodim! Jam that ship thats closest to us! I'll see if I can take it out!"
Rh'odim: "Yes Karlos, firing up the radar jammers! And- They are jammed, give them your all!"
Karlos: "Copy that Rh'odim, firing Photon missiles!"
As Karlos launched a number of high energy missiles towards one of the HM craft, said craft failed to detect the missiles until they were half way between the Pioneering ship and the HM ship. They have intercepted 12 of the incomming 15 missiles. The remining 3 impacted the hull with extreme force and power, devastating the ship. It has adapted to this threat however, and now even the other HM ships in the fleet are anticipating more missile strikes. They also begin to provide each other with radar tracks to better counter the ewar. The HM ships also fired missiles in reponse.
Parallax: "We are going to need new strategies!"
Karlos: "Jam their missiles instead, i'll finish it up with a Photon Cannon!"
And so, the missiles that the HM craft fired in return were jammed and missed their targets. Karlos finished off the closest craft with an Oblivion Assault Gun, which tore through the armour which was calibrated to defend against high explosive missiles rather than the extremely intense beam of photons. They have managed to destroy the first HM ship!
Karlos: "One down, a few more to go!
"Parallax: "Copy, they are... responding with ewar?"
Karlos: "Right. Something new, something new... Oh! Fire the Thunder Cannons!"
Parallax: "To break their shields?"
Karlos: "Yeah, and to get around ther adapta-"
Karlos notices the missiles the HM has launched towards the Pioneering ship."Parallax? Intercept those missiles - i'll be back on the Photon Cannon!"
Parallax doesnt respond verbally but retargets the ewar on the missiles once again, and fires a few hardkill weapons at them.
All in all, the HM fired 61 smaller missiles here. 54 were intercepted, leaving 7 missiles to impact the hull of the Pioneering Ship.
Karlos: "Dammit!!"
As the missiles slam into the ship at obscene velocity, it rocks the entire ship. The shields have taken most of the blast - but a fraction of the blast penetrated and hit the hull, causing damage to multiple areas.
By this point, most of the remaining HM ships were destroyed by the HF fleet despite their initial advantage. The HF commanders understood very well how they operate and managed to counter them effectively. Several Boson - Class Destroyers helped to finish off the few HM ships still left on the Pioneering ship.
Karlos: "What the? We have help now?"
Parallax: "It seems so, commander."
Karlos: "Try and distract them from those Bosons, they have more firepowe-"
Karlos was mid sentence when he realised the HM ships were retargeting towards the Bosons for the same reason he was about to state
Karlos: "Nevermind, shoot their rear instead, immobilize them!"
Parallax: "A good idea."
Eventually, the group finds itself in orbit around the black hole they were send to enter. The HF ships managed to turn it into a wormhole, leading to the ZQ-43D galaxy. No one knew how long they would be deployed here for, but it was clear that something important was located here that caught the attention of the HSA enough to classify it this strictly. Soon, Karlos' Pioneering Ship found itself entering.
A massive megastructure. Larger than anything they have seen before. The crew could near-endlessly appreciate the immense scale of Paragon, but whatever this thing was dwarfed it to make it look like a flea. And yet, no one has been found to use it in all of history. What is it? What purpose does it serve?
They would shortly realize that the immense gigastructure (at this point, calling it a mere megastructure would be an insult) was not built around a supermassive black hole or any star; no object would ever be large enough to support it, so it was built deep in interstellar space like a brilliant, shining pillar eternally splitting the sky. Its length was measured in lightyears.
The crew were sent here to help investigate. Karlos: "Okay, set course for that thing, as ordered. Let's find out what this is.
Parallax: "Affirmative!"
Soon, the ship rapidly enters warp speed on a trajectory towards the massive object. The star charts automatically adjust to their rapidly changing position. Soon, the gigastructure becomes visible out of the window, despite the fact that the ship is still in warp! No other megastructure in the universe did that, with some very few exceptions such as the Cypher Hyperquasar Annihilator and Paragon, and not even close to the extent that this gigastructure did it. This shouldn't come as a surprise for a megastructure measured in lightyears, but it did.
As the object gets larger, larger and yet larger still as they approached it, it was apparent that it wasnt stopping any time soon. The pioneering ship came ever closer to the structure, and many crew members were even worried they might crash into it. They exited warp more than 1 lightyear from its center but it still took up almost all the view of the window.
Karlos opens a line with high command who ordered him here.
"Karlos to HSA, we are on standby and awaitong orders at the structure, over."
"HSA to Karlos, what you are looking at appears to be a massive interstellar gate of sorts. We understand you have experience with archaeotech?"
Karlos: "Yes, I have studied it for many years, along with my team..."
HSA: "What we believe is the activation console is a few lightyears from your location. We will send the coordinates to you now, report to us when you are ready to teleport to it."
Karlos: "Affirmative, I'll be on my way."
"Very well, HSA signing off."
Shortly after, the communication emits a beep to notify that the line was cut.
Karlos then notifies the rest of the crew on the ship. "Woah, we are going straight to the control room of this thing. I haven't received coordinates yet, but I'm expecting them soon." Several hours later The pioneers find themselves in the control center of perhaps the most vital megastructure in all of eternity, but no one knew its true purpose. They find a large amount of HF scientific equipment installed in the room to investigate many things nearby. None of the archaeotech is online except for a small part of the screen where a small red animation played. It is very possible this was palying for longer than the HF even existed.
Karlos looked at the console with this animation. "What is this? I have never seen such strong evidence of operational ability in archaeotech before..."
Scientist: "We dont know either, it could just be to tell us its operational, or it could be a loading screen of some sort... In the latter case, it must be loading something massive because it was like that since before we initially found this room."
It was clear that this mission was both unlike anything they have done before and probably more difficult than anything they have ever done.
Karlos: "I see..." He stares at the animation, clearly intrigued.
Scientist: "I'd be lying if I said I wasnt curious as well."
"Hmm."
...
Karlos: "Soo.. what next?"
Scientist: "Your new task is in front of you, you are to study this console. If possible, can you retrieve some data from it and determine the purpose of such an immense structure?"
Karlos: "Hmm. It is very difficult to use archaeotech with our understanding of technology, but I will try.. we need ot be incredibly careful though."
Scientist: "Excellent. We can also help you, if you want."
Karlos: "Understood, good to know. I assume you have already run deep scans? Can I have the readings?"
"I thought you'd ask that." The scientist hands him a device with the scan readings already loaded. They go quite deep, showing the consoles inner workings in extreme detail.
Karlos looks at the device, says "Thank you." while looking at it and moves to one of the walls to study the 3D model, making sure to also show his colleagues the model before anyone works on the device.
After spending a few hours staring at the scehatic, they finally begin to work. Karlos has spotted a maintenance acess panel at the bottom and decides to enter.
"Welcome to our gate, Little One. We await your arrival with anticipation..."
Karlos was shocked. It was clear that it didnt come from outside, it definately came from something within the console itself.
???: "It is alright, We mean no harm."
...
Karlos: "Who are you?"
...
Nothing.
Karlos decides to remain under the console for a few moments to contemplate the potential implications. Who was this, what could it be? Surely if he was False - Sighted today, he would know about it by now? It was all very strange. Maybe he has entered some sort of precursor Virtual Universe without realizing? Did he just speak to an ancient Xadia? An AI that was tasked with operating the Eternity Gate?
The implications are nearly endless. He could only rule out the ancient Xadia theory, because that species is extinct. Unless its an ancient recording, of sorts?
Karlos: "Hello?"
Still nothing.
He soon decides to leave to tell everyone his findings. Others try to enter the acess hole, but nothing.
Karlos re enters, and has another conversation with this enigmatic entity:
???: "Welcome back, suon."
Karlos: "Who are you?"
???: "The future."
Karlos: "Am I talking to the stars?"
???: "Negative, all will be revealed when you open the gate."
Karlos: "Okay, so how do we open it?"
???: "You will open the gate, in thousands of years time. I cannot tell you yet."
Karlos: "Oh.. Are you an AI? Are you on the gate?"
...
Nothing.
Karlos was pretty sure it is, though. He decides to leave again and report this new discussion, but his fellow scientists report that they found nothing unusual. It was almost like the access cover has an event horizon.
What was this being and how do we establish reliable communications with it?
The other scientists were obviously as intrigued and confused as Karlos was.
While Karlos was still out of the maintenance cover, he also decided to tell them about the various machines that were not seen in the scanned image. He decided to inquire about when the console was last scanned:
"So looking in the console itself, I found that some machines were there that didnt appear on the scanner. Im wondering when this machine was last scanned."
"That's odd... we last scanned it a few days ago."
Karlos: "So when was the first scan?"
"Years, when we initially found it."
Karlos: "That is so strange. Its almost like it upgraded itself just for me."
"Hmm, yeah.."
Karlos: "Im going to go back and figure this all out."
"Yes sir."
As Karlos reentered the hatch, he ran another scan to see if the extra machines were always there, just undetected until now. But Karlos' scanner detected them.
???: "I must leave now. But know this:
...
When you arrive, We will welcome you."
The year is now 205 817.
Rh'odim has long since died of old age, but Karlos and Parallax were both still alive due to biological immortality. They return to the Eternity Gate.
They were tasked with making some final preperations before they can open the gate. There was no telling what could be on the other side other than the Xadia that created them. They thought the Xadia was dead, but this was quickly proving to not be the case. Project leader: "And we have recieved our final green signal! Energise the gate!"
Tarlox: "The gate is ready?"
Leader: "Indeed it is!"
These two massive figures stood on the platform. There was a time where they understood very little about the gate. They stared out the window, seeing the gate. If they were on a planet, it would be like the gate spans the entire night sky. But its true scale is incomprehensible - it almost looks like a typical space station though comprised of ancient Xadia materials.
Tarlox: "One fifth of a million years in the making..."
Leader: "I remember first seeing the massive radar blip that appeared when this thing first appeared on my ship's radar..."
The two figures look at each other
Leader: "...And now, to see this massive project of mine finally unfold."
Karlos and Parallax were both working on energising the Eternity Gate. Previously they had to make several alterations to get it to work - it has been hit by asteroids and even rogue planets in the dark ages. Out the window, they could see massive structures emerge from the gate - heatsinks and rods to create the portal. These started glowing brightly, and the gate was comming online!
Hours later, the entire structure began to shimmer. Although HF technology has advanced by lightyears since the gate's discovery, it was still eclipsed by this legendary Xadia engineering in front of them. And not all were certain the hyperionites' repairs could restore it to functional levels. This might have been the single most tense hour in the history of the Hyperion Federation. They understood that to stay in Fortrais would be to secure their deaths, so it was imperative that this gate worked.
Nonetheless, more and more systems came online. Many archaeotech perpetual motion machines came online, having to shake off over a billion years of rust, coming to a screeching start. Although painful to hear initially, the sound these generators made when running was beautiful.
Suddenly, a large, white, bright object appeared at the center of the gate. The beginnings of the great Portal itself, which will soon bring salvation to the entire HF. The extremely long structure began to wake up, and now a very long white line became visible as it ran down the length of the entire gate. If it was viewed from a large distance away, it would appear that nothing has changed because of the finite speed of light. However, entire fleets of hyperionite starships approached the gate. Though the traffic is likely soon to be obscene, the gate is immense and should be able to handle trillions of ships at a time. Still, due to the extreme scale of the HF, they had to set up a defensive perimiter around the ZQ-43D galaxy. The Cypher Dominion, HEX Mainframe, Xalarin Council and Grand Artanat Empire were all fighting them over the gate, but the HF also had its allies: the Sulethis Republic, Tranal Nomads and Karnol Caretakers. They fought for one final time. Almost 1 septillion lives were dependant on this defence, and the gate was still charging...
The portal still seemed very unstable, but expanding. The massive white line trailing the structure slowly expanding and becoming even more energetic, and an immense warp in spacetime was detected, presumably leading to the Xadia's pocket dimension. However, they have certainly managed to get a number of Scattershapes out of there and into our pocket dimension, and these began to engage the enemy forces invading from outside ZQ-43D! With even just 4 of the miniature, 100m drones, they have managed to cripple the offensive party of the CD, HM, GAE and XC all working together. Xadia FTL is so advanced that these scattershapes could be everywhere, simultaneously. The portal was finally opening properly about 4 days later. Of course, the Xadia greeted them and Karlos was still on Eternity Gate maintenance duty as the first 30000 Cataclysm - Class Star Annihilators went through, along with their escorts.
The defence was still holding strong. Trillions have already made it to the pocket dimension, with the entire population of the HF to go. After the several-year process of moving everything into the pocket universe, assisted by teleporters, the gate remained open to the surprise of many. It would seem the eternal task of the HF would remain - to save species from the seemingly warlike nature of Fortrais. With the help of their Xadia masters, they could conquer the galaxy cluster - and perhaps find a new way out. For the first time in known history to every power in Fortrais, the HF-Xadia axis would become the first power to dominate the entirety of Fortrais!
But with great power comes great responsibility. Should a second Starsong incident occur, it could spell the end of all life in the Cluster, perhaps for good this time. Details about the Starsong incident were still shady. The Xadia eliminated the last of many societal issues of the hyperionites, recreating the sense of utopia over the entire Cluster. Will these become the new ways of the Universe? Or will something even more powerful destroy them through unknown means?
They have launched the first of many extra-Fortran exploration parties. Massive starships of unimaginable power left the Cluster through massive megastructures eclipsing the size of the Eternity Gate just to travel the extremly deep void between Fortrais and the rest of the universe. They have also recovered and repicated Rikavi technology, allowing them to revive people from the dead, making the Fortrais force nearly invincible. Due to this, Karlos and his scientists, along with the rest of the Hyperion peoples, finally saw their family members who have been killed many millenia ago, often at the hands of the CD, HM or similar power, all of which now bow at the might of the HF. This is not an act of revenge however, instead the HF are 'saving them from their own flaws'. Even other precursor factions have joined the new alliance. The previously extinct True Harkas were revived, as well as the Cynar, for example.
The Great Conquest has begun,
for he who owns Fortrais, owns the Universe.
Once again, Karlos saw himself standing near the window of an immense starship, a Hyperion - Class Worldship Carrier, which was a staggering 14 km in length and designed to hold a population in the millions. However, this exotic piece of equipment would pale in comparison to the object below. He store down at the legendary megastructure - that he knew was Paragon - and was once more in amazement. The megastructure was home to an inconcievable number of people - individual cities could easily exceed some entire planetary populations. If the Hyperion Federation were to boast about one feat of their famously effective engineering - it was likely to be Paragon in all it's awesomeness. Karlos' society saw him as a Pioneer - a title given to select few for their bravery and sheer skill - as both a soldier and a scientist. It was through people like these that the HF makes contact with new alien worlds, expanding the intergalactic front to ever larger proportions. He was the leader of a small team of Pioneers, his two colleagues being Parallax04, a Yunkad pioneer highly respected for his extremely efficient property, and Rh'odim, a Vanadian who, like many others of his species, could become quite confusing. The biomechanical entity on legs approached Karlos, but over the years he would become used to the sound of Parallax04 approaching.
Parallax: "What is our next assignment? You called us here."
Karlos: "Actally, this time, i'm not entirely sure."
The two near-legendary figures stood side by side to look at the wonder of engineering below.
Karlos: "I only know that the HSA called me up. My orders were to gather you two and be on standby."
Karlos looks at Parallax, who looks back
Karlos: "For all I know, we could be sent to explore something on Paragon."
Parallax: "Whatever it is, we will make it work. It is our task as Pioneers - to go where none have gone before, and work off incomplete data."
Karlos: "Damn right we will. Rh'odim should be here shortly."
Almost as if on que, the two turn around to find the very subject of their discussion approaching them.
Rh'odim: "Team's all here?"
Karlos: "Affirmative. Now we are just awaiting orders, and... as I was explaining to Para, I have no idea what our mission is. We should find out once I recieve my orders."
Rh'odim: "Understood sir." The trio, too, would now once again stare at the wonder beneath them.
Rh'odim: "Paragon never fails to impress me..."
Karlos: "Damn right... While we are here, is there anything you want to do?"
Rh'odim: "Our next mission. Sir."
Karlos gave a chuckle. "Fair enough, me too." He reached out to pat Rh'odim on the shoulder. "But yeah. Anything you guys want?
"Rh'odim: "We should play Conqueror of Galaxies again at some point... this is a pretty good chance you know, Karlos?"
Karlos: "Oh - that sounds like fun. Parallax?"
Parallax: "Until we recieve our next mission?"
Karlos: "I don't know when our next mission will be. Could be years, could be hours. Probably not too long, seeing they wanted us on this station." The group made their way to one of the Virtual Universe simulators on the station and decided to play virtual War - Engineer Games while they awaited their next mission. They all opened a new universe and joined it. Karlos: "So.. I may have built some new things since last time.."
Parallax: "I imagine so.."
Karlos: "Okaay.. new game, map? Lets go with.. KD-396 again, that map is always fun"
Rh'odim: "Sure thing!"
They navigated a few more menus before starting the game, all 3 sides spawning in their respective units. Karlos brought a large airship - presumably one that floats on the Taidakic Field. His airship was armed with a single, very long weapon along with a number of much smaller secondary weapons. Rh'odim brought a strange mech-looking vehicle. It was comprised of several floating parts, each of which could disengage from the main vehicle and possibly perform a number of roles. Rh'odim's secondary armament was not as significant as that of Karlos' vehicle. Paralalx brought a large, stationary turret which was positioned on the large glacier section of the map, giving it a large angle of view to the sky. Parallax would be the first to fire. He damaged Karlos' airship, which quickly returned fire using its primary weapon. Both sides were pelted with searing bolts that exploded into sparks of light on hit. The battles have alerted Rh'odim, who, knowing Parallax's strength and hyperintelligent nature, decided to strike Paralalx first. Parallax's turret was swarmed with 'drones' that were parts of his mech. The turret had few secondary weapons which were shortly overwhelmed but managed to inflict heavy damage to Rh'odim's mech. By this point, most of the armour of Karlos' airship has been torn to shreds, leaving the internal components of the airship exposed but despite this it remains flying. However, Parallax's turret could not survive the focused attack, and several plasma charges - the ammo of the weapon - explode within the turret itself, causing a bright blue explosion that tore through the battlefield like thunder, almost as if someone managed to condense a supernova inside it. This explosion knocked out even more of Rh'odim's mech drone things, so the 2 parties left were both extremely heavily crippled. Both sides exchanged fire once more, and Karlos hit Rh'odim's cockkpit segment, destroying his mech. However, Karlos could no longer remain afloat as Rh'odim damaged the remaining thrusters and Taidakic floatation machines. His airship crashed into the ground. By the end, all 3 were killed.
The group then awoke from their simulations.
Karlos, sitting up from the simulator: "Damn... good game!"
Rh'odim: "That.. who even won that?"
Karlos: "No one im pretty sure!"
Parallax: "That was good. Should we explore the station though?"
Karlos: "Hmm, alright. Lets go. Rh'odim?"
Rh'odim: "Yeah, sure..!" Soon after, the trio would get out of the simulators in their own unique ways. Parallax effectively jumped out due to his extreme strength. They would approach Karlos who would shortly lead them through a large door with a large label on it. If they could be bothered translating it they could, but simply went through.
Chapter 2
Suddenly, Karlos recieves a message. "Oh, this must be our mission..."Getting his device out, he reads his notification: "Oh, we are teleporting to a different station. That's odd."
Rh'odim: "Why?
"Karlos: "Dunno, but we are using teleporter #84, which is nearby, im pretty sure."
Parallax: "It is indeed nearby."
Parallax points towards a large door nearby "That door, from memory."
Karlos: "Let's go."
As the party entered the teleporter room, they would see nothing strikingly different from any other teleporter. Teleporter Technician: "Is this Karlos, Parallax, Rh'odim?"
Parallax: "Correct."
Technician: "Excellent, I.. dont know what this station is, but, thats your destination..."
Karlos: "We don't know either honestly."
Soon, the group found themselves in an incredibly well guarded and very secret station. They were told they would recieve top secret information here possibly hundreds of times and they were to not disclose this information regardless of any situation. A Sentient Robot walks up to them.
???: "You are Parallax, Karlos and Rh'odim?"
Karlos: "We are indeed. And you are?"
???: "Follow me."
And so, the group follows this robot into an extremely well-soundproffed room and the group had to remove most unessessary electronic devices before entering. They found themselves in a large room where 4 other individuals gathered, for a total of 8 people in the room.
???: "So the secret information is this: you are being deployed to a galaxy called the ZQ-43D galaxy. However, you will not be using an IGWD to reach it because the decay of Hypermatter could reveal our prescence in that galaxy.
Rh'odim: "So.. How do we reach it then?"
???: "A path that very few take. We will form a wormhole from a conventional black hole in a place that very few will visit. You may have to destroy a few HEX Mainframe starships, though to reach it."
Karlos: "That is our mission? Where is this black hole?"
???: "The 79-A7V galaxy. It is one of the several 'outlier' galaxies of the Fortrais cluster and overlooked by almost everyone. We will send a team to convert this black hole into a wormhole for you. There will be a team of ships escorting your's but of course you are cleared to fire at any Mainframe ships that approach."
Karlos: "Hm, I understand. I assume i'll be taking our pioneering starship?"
???: "Correct"
Karlos: "Very well. Anything else?"
???: "I dont believe so."
Hours later, the group found themselves being warped with an IGWD to a fringe galaxy of the Cluster, a place they never thought they would go. They are escorted by a Hyperion - Class Worldship as well as its escorting fleet. They too were deployed to ZQ-43D.
As predicted, the HM attacked them with a significant fleet. The hyperionites managed to fight them off, but only a handul of ships survived the encounter.
Karlos, to Rh'odim: "Our people.. they are being killed by the HM, we HAVE to help them!"
Parallax: "Probability of rescuing the fleet is calculated at less than 0.1%.
"Karlos: "I dnt expect to save the fleet, I want to make a difference, to save someone. We are going in, prepare the weapo-"
Their ship was hit by a massive number of rounds simultaneously.
Karlos: "What-! Return fire, now!"
Parallax was nowhere to be seen, but Karlos shortly got a transmission from him saying he already moved to the gunner position and has fired seeral weapons at HM ships.
Karlos: "Gah! Some of our weapons are down, shield still holding, they are using shield piercers!"
Parallax: "Our shield has adapted, their penetration wont work anymore."
Karlos: "Repair the weapons!"
Parallax: "Already on it!"Another volley of rounds hit the ship, but it appears that Parallax was right, the rounds didnt penetrate the shield.
Karlos: "I'll take helm!" He runs off to the helm station at the bridge of the ship.
Rh'odim: "I'll do ewar!" He too dashes to one of the ships stations.
The enemies in question came in the form of several smaller ships, a typical HM deployment.
Karlos: "R'hodim! Jam that ship thats closest to us! I'll see if I can take it out!"
Rh'odim: "Yes Karlos, firing up the radar jammers! And- They are jammed, give them your all!"
Karlos: "Copy that Rh'odim, firing Photon missiles!"
As Karlos launched a number of high energy missiles towards one of the HM craft, said craft failed to detect the missiles until they were half way between the Pioneering ship and the HM ship. They have intercepted 12 of the incomming 15 missiles. The remining 3 impacted the hull with extreme force and power, devastating the ship. It has adapted to this threat however, and now even the other HM ships in the fleet are anticipating more missile strikes. They also begin to provide each other with radar tracks to better counter the ewar. The HM ships also fired missiles in reponse.
Parallax: "We are going to need new strategies!"
Karlos: "Jam their missiles instead, i'll finish it up with a Photon Cannon!"
And so, the missiles that the HM craft fired in return were jammed and missed their targets. Karlos finished off the closest craft with an Oblivion Assault Gun, which tore through the armour which was calibrated to defend against high explosive missiles rather than the extremely intense beam of photons. They have managed to destroy the first HM ship!
Karlos: "One down, a few more to go!
"Parallax: "Copy, they are... responding with ewar?"
Karlos: "Right. Something new, something new... Oh! Fire the Thunder Cannons!"
Parallax: "To break their shields?"
Karlos: "Yeah, and to get around ther adapta-"
Karlos notices the missiles the HM has launched towards the Pioneering ship."Parallax? Intercept those missiles - i'll be back on the Photon Cannon!"
Parallax doesnt respond verbally but retargets the ewar on the missiles once again, and fires a few hardkill weapons at them.
All in all, the HM fired 61 smaller missiles here. 54 were intercepted, leaving 7 missiles to impact the hull of the Pioneering Ship.
Karlos: "Dammit!!"
As the missiles slam into the ship at obscene velocity, it rocks the entire ship. The shields have taken most of the blast - but a fraction of the blast penetrated and hit the hull, causing damage to multiple areas.
By this point, most of the remaining HM ships were destroyed by the HF fleet despite their initial advantage. The HF commanders understood very well how they operate and managed to counter them effectively. Several Boson - Class Destroyers helped to finish off the few HM ships still left on the Pioneering ship.
Karlos: "What the? We have help now?"
Parallax: "It seems so, commander."
Karlos: "Try and distract them from those Bosons, they have more firepowe-"
Karlos was mid sentence when he realised the HM ships were retargeting towards the Bosons for the same reason he was about to state
Karlos: "Nevermind, shoot their rear instead, immobilize them!"
Parallax: "A good idea."
Eventually, the group finds itself in orbit around the black hole they were send to enter. The HF ships managed to turn it into a wormhole, leading to the ZQ-43D galaxy. No one knew how long they would be deployed here for, but it was clear that something important was located here that caught the attention of the HSA enough to classify it this strictly. Soon, Karlos' Pioneering Ship found itself entering.
Chapter 3
The ZQ-43D galaxy. The crew already could feel something was very wrong about this place. They soon recieved their first transmission - leading them to a set of coordinates.A massive megastructure. Larger than anything they have seen before. The crew could near-endlessly appreciate the immense scale of Paragon, but whatever this thing was dwarfed it to make it look like a flea. And yet, no one has been found to use it in all of history. What is it? What purpose does it serve?
They would shortly realize that the immense gigastructure (at this point, calling it a mere megastructure would be an insult) was not built around a supermassive black hole or any star; no object would ever be large enough to support it, so it was built deep in interstellar space like a brilliant, shining pillar eternally splitting the sky. Its length was measured in lightyears.
The crew were sent here to help investigate. Karlos: "Okay, set course for that thing, as ordered. Let's find out what this is.
Parallax: "Affirmative!"
Soon, the ship rapidly enters warp speed on a trajectory towards the massive object. The star charts automatically adjust to their rapidly changing position. Soon, the gigastructure becomes visible out of the window, despite the fact that the ship is still in warp! No other megastructure in the universe did that, with some very few exceptions such as the Cypher Hyperquasar Annihilator and Paragon, and not even close to the extent that this gigastructure did it. This shouldn't come as a surprise for a megastructure measured in lightyears, but it did.
As the object gets larger, larger and yet larger still as they approached it, it was apparent that it wasnt stopping any time soon. The pioneering ship came ever closer to the structure, and many crew members were even worried they might crash into it. They exited warp more than 1 lightyear from its center but it still took up almost all the view of the window.
Karlos opens a line with high command who ordered him here.
"Karlos to HSA, we are on standby and awaitong orders at the structure, over."
"HSA to Karlos, what you are looking at appears to be a massive interstellar gate of sorts. We understand you have experience with archaeotech?"
Karlos: "Yes, I have studied it for many years, along with my team..."
HSA: "What we believe is the activation console is a few lightyears from your location. We will send the coordinates to you now, report to us when you are ready to teleport to it."
Karlos: "Affirmative, I'll be on my way."
"Very well, HSA signing off."
Shortly after, the communication emits a beep to notify that the line was cut.
Karlos then notifies the rest of the crew on the ship. "Woah, we are going straight to the control room of this thing. I haven't received coordinates yet, but I'm expecting them soon." Several hours later The pioneers find themselves in the control center of perhaps the most vital megastructure in all of eternity, but no one knew its true purpose. They find a large amount of HF scientific equipment installed in the room to investigate many things nearby. None of the archaeotech is online except for a small part of the screen where a small red animation played. It is very possible this was palying for longer than the HF even existed.
Karlos looked at the console with this animation. "What is this? I have never seen such strong evidence of operational ability in archaeotech before..."
Scientist: "We dont know either, it could just be to tell us its operational, or it could be a loading screen of some sort... In the latter case, it must be loading something massive because it was like that since before we initially found this room."
It was clear that this mission was both unlike anything they have done before and probably more difficult than anything they have ever done.
Karlos: "I see..." He stares at the animation, clearly intrigued.
Scientist: "I'd be lying if I said I wasnt curious as well."
"Hmm."
...
Karlos: "Soo.. what next?"
Scientist: "Your new task is in front of you, you are to study this console. If possible, can you retrieve some data from it and determine the purpose of such an immense structure?"
Karlos: "Hmm. It is very difficult to use archaeotech with our understanding of technology, but I will try.. we need ot be incredibly careful though."
Scientist: "Excellent. We can also help you, if you want."
Karlos: "Understood, good to know. I assume you have already run deep scans? Can I have the readings?"
"I thought you'd ask that." The scientist hands him a device with the scan readings already loaded. They go quite deep, showing the consoles inner workings in extreme detail.
Karlos looks at the device, says "Thank you." while looking at it and moves to one of the walls to study the 3D model, making sure to also show his colleagues the model before anyone works on the device.
After spending a few hours staring at the scehatic, they finally begin to work. Karlos has spotted a maintenance acess panel at the bottom and decides to enter.
Chapter 4
As Karlos moves under the ancient machine, he notices several anomalies. None of these were visible on the schematic he just looked at, suggesting that the console undergoes changes over time. He was about to leave to ask when the scans were made, until suddenly,"Welcome to our gate, Little One. We await your arrival with anticipation..."
Karlos was shocked. It was clear that it didnt come from outside, it definately came from something within the console itself.
???: "It is alright, We mean no harm."
...
Karlos: "Who are you?"
...
Nothing.
Karlos decides to remain under the console for a few moments to contemplate the potential implications. Who was this, what could it be? Surely if he was False - Sighted today, he would know about it by now? It was all very strange. Maybe he has entered some sort of precursor Virtual Universe without realizing? Did he just speak to an ancient Xadia? An AI that was tasked with operating the Eternity Gate?
The implications are nearly endless. He could only rule out the ancient Xadia theory, because that species is extinct. Unless its an ancient recording, of sorts?
Karlos: "Hello?"
Still nothing.
He soon decides to leave to tell everyone his findings. Others try to enter the acess hole, but nothing.
Karlos re enters, and has another conversation with this enigmatic entity:
???: "Welcome back, suon."
Karlos: "Who are you?"
???: "The future."
Karlos: "Am I talking to the stars?"
???: "Negative, all will be revealed when you open the gate."
Karlos: "Okay, so how do we open it?"
???: "You will open the gate, in thousands of years time. I cannot tell you yet."
Karlos: "Oh.. Are you an AI? Are you on the gate?"
...
Nothing.
Karlos was pretty sure it is, though. He decides to leave again and report this new discussion, but his fellow scientists report that they found nothing unusual. It was almost like the access cover has an event horizon.
What was this being and how do we establish reliable communications with it?
The other scientists were obviously as intrigued and confused as Karlos was.
While Karlos was still out of the maintenance cover, he also decided to tell them about the various machines that were not seen in the scanned image. He decided to inquire about when the console was last scanned:
"So looking in the console itself, I found that some machines were there that didnt appear on the scanner. Im wondering when this machine was last scanned."
"That's odd... we last scanned it a few days ago."
Karlos: "So when was the first scan?"
"Years, when we initially found it."
Karlos: "That is so strange. Its almost like it upgraded itself just for me."
"Hmm, yeah.."
Karlos: "Im going to go back and figure this all out."
"Yes sir."
As Karlos reentered the hatch, he ran another scan to see if the extra machines were always there, just undetected until now. But Karlos' scanner detected them.
???: "I must leave now. But know this:
...
When you arrive, We will welcome you."
Chapter 5
A long time has passed.The year is now 205 817.
Rh'odim has long since died of old age, but Karlos and Parallax were both still alive due to biological immortality. They return to the Eternity Gate.
They were tasked with making some final preperations before they can open the gate. There was no telling what could be on the other side other than the Xadia that created them. They thought the Xadia was dead, but this was quickly proving to not be the case. Project leader: "And we have recieved our final green signal! Energise the gate!"
Tarlox: "The gate is ready?"
Leader: "Indeed it is!"
These two massive figures stood on the platform. There was a time where they understood very little about the gate. They stared out the window, seeing the gate. If they were on a planet, it would be like the gate spans the entire night sky. But its true scale is incomprehensible - it almost looks like a typical space station though comprised of ancient Xadia materials.
Tarlox: "One fifth of a million years in the making..."
Leader: "I remember first seeing the massive radar blip that appeared when this thing first appeared on my ship's radar..."
The two figures look at each other
Leader: "...And now, to see this massive project of mine finally unfold."
Karlos and Parallax were both working on energising the Eternity Gate. Previously they had to make several alterations to get it to work - it has been hit by asteroids and even rogue planets in the dark ages. Out the window, they could see massive structures emerge from the gate - heatsinks and rods to create the portal. These started glowing brightly, and the gate was comming online!
Hours later, the entire structure began to shimmer. Although HF technology has advanced by lightyears since the gate's discovery, it was still eclipsed by this legendary Xadia engineering in front of them. And not all were certain the hyperionites' repairs could restore it to functional levels. This might have been the single most tense hour in the history of the Hyperion Federation. They understood that to stay in Fortrais would be to secure their deaths, so it was imperative that this gate worked.
Nonetheless, more and more systems came online. Many archaeotech perpetual motion machines came online, having to shake off over a billion years of rust, coming to a screeching start. Although painful to hear initially, the sound these generators made when running was beautiful.
Suddenly, a large, white, bright object appeared at the center of the gate. The beginnings of the great Portal itself, which will soon bring salvation to the entire HF. The extremely long structure began to wake up, and now a very long white line became visible as it ran down the length of the entire gate. If it was viewed from a large distance away, it would appear that nothing has changed because of the finite speed of light. However, entire fleets of hyperionite starships approached the gate. Though the traffic is likely soon to be obscene, the gate is immense and should be able to handle trillions of ships at a time. Still, due to the extreme scale of the HF, they had to set up a defensive perimiter around the ZQ-43D galaxy. The Cypher Dominion, HEX Mainframe, Xalarin Council and Grand Artanat Empire were all fighting them over the gate, but the HF also had its allies: the Sulethis Republic, Tranal Nomads and Karnol Caretakers. They fought for one final time. Almost 1 septillion lives were dependant on this defence, and the gate was still charging...
The portal still seemed very unstable, but expanding. The massive white line trailing the structure slowly expanding and becoming even more energetic, and an immense warp in spacetime was detected, presumably leading to the Xadia's pocket dimension. However, they have certainly managed to get a number of Scattershapes out of there and into our pocket dimension, and these began to engage the enemy forces invading from outside ZQ-43D! With even just 4 of the miniature, 100m drones, they have managed to cripple the offensive party of the CD, HM, GAE and XC all working together. Xadia FTL is so advanced that these scattershapes could be everywhere, simultaneously. The portal was finally opening properly about 4 days later. Of course, the Xadia greeted them and Karlos was still on Eternity Gate maintenance duty as the first 30000 Cataclysm - Class Star Annihilators went through, along with their escorts.
The defence was still holding strong. Trillions have already made it to the pocket dimension, with the entire population of the HF to go. After the several-year process of moving everything into the pocket universe, assisted by teleporters, the gate remained open to the surprise of many. It would seem the eternal task of the HF would remain - to save species from the seemingly warlike nature of Fortrais. With the help of their Xadia masters, they could conquer the galaxy cluster - and perhaps find a new way out. For the first time in known history to every power in Fortrais, the HF-Xadia axis would become the first power to dominate the entirety of Fortrais!
But with great power comes great responsibility. Should a second Starsong incident occur, it could spell the end of all life in the Cluster, perhaps for good this time. Details about the Starsong incident were still shady. The Xadia eliminated the last of many societal issues of the hyperionites, recreating the sense of utopia over the entire Cluster. Will these become the new ways of the Universe? Or will something even more powerful destroy them through unknown means?
They have launched the first of many extra-Fortran exploration parties. Massive starships of unimaginable power left the Cluster through massive megastructures eclipsing the size of the Eternity Gate just to travel the extremly deep void between Fortrais and the rest of the universe. They have also recovered and repicated Rikavi technology, allowing them to revive people from the dead, making the Fortrais force nearly invincible. Due to this, Karlos and his scientists, along with the rest of the Hyperion peoples, finally saw their family members who have been killed many millenia ago, often at the hands of the CD, HM or similar power, all of which now bow at the might of the HF. This is not an act of revenge however, instead the HF are 'saving them from their own flaws'. Even other precursor factions have joined the new alliance. The previously extinct True Harkas were revived, as well as the Cynar, for example.
The Great Conquest has begun,
for he who owns Fortrais, owns the Universe.
Congratulations on completing the first chapter of "The longest journey". As promised, here is a little memento to remember your travels - I hope to see you in chapter 2!
Unfortunately, there was a slight mixup with the article link for chapter 2. Here is the correct link for Chapter 2. Hope to see you there!