330 Contact 3 (1/2)

The moment Dax got back to the Lazarus battlecruiser and took off his helmet he showed a grim expression as he started giving direct orders to Ra and Mu, something the pair seemed surprisingly okay with, which was not unexpected given the current situation.

”Sure… Then is it really true? Did we-”

”Yeah, we did. Mu confirmed it herself.”

Not only had the latest encounter revealed multiple vulnerabilities in Mu's communications systems, Dax had also finally succeeded in identifying the mysterious 3rd party which had been helping the Emergence, but out of the multiple possibilities, it had been the absolute worst option of the bunch.

”The rest of you with me, I'll bring the rest of you up to speed with a briefing.”

While Ra and Mu started the long and arduous task of securing the communications system, Dax brought the rest of the combat personnel along with Ke who immediately picked up on his serious mood.

”We've happened upon the worst case scenario, although it hasn't been confirmed I'm now working on plans together with Ra and Mu that supports a high confidence that the 3rd party that has been aiding the Emergence is the same race which created the qitons.”

”... So, we're fighting our creators?”

As expected, the first one to react to such news was Phillipa who acted very conflicted to such news. Even if Phillipa didn't consider herself religious or a traditional qiton, the idea of fighting against her creators which were worshipped and so deeply ingrained in her culture wasn't something she was particularly happy about.

”Look on the bright side Phillipa, they are a challenge like none other.”

Dax, of course, knew she would react in that fashion, so he immediately appealed to her qiton sensibilities, with the will to fight strong opponents being chief among those.

”I would expect no less from our dear creators… Well, I'll stick with you for now Dax.”

”I appreciate that Phillipa, I really do.”

With Phillipa and Dax sharing a moment most of the people not really understanding, a somewhat awkward silence fell over the room, that is until Lilly who was starting to get annoyed because she couldn't follow along finally broke it.

”So, why is this even such a big deal? Now we know what we're fighting against, isn't that a good thing, so why the sombre mood?”

”Because if this spreads to the rest of the Empire, it's going to shake it to its foundation, if not outright fracture it.”

”The administrative AI which is one third of the central government was made by them and is still loyal to its creators.”

Seeing Lilly's confusion at Lux's answer, Dax added to the explanation which started making Lilly and the others aware of the implications.

-

After the first contact with his creators, friction and mistrust from the galactic navy over his vague reports continued souring their relationship as they pushed further into Emergence space, but as Dax had placed control of information above all else there was really nothing he could do about it.

”And that's a critical failure, you've just killed yourself and your entire crew.”

While Dax continued to deal with the invasion and infighting in the operational unit, Ra found herself with a surprising amount of free time while Mu was reworking the entire communications infrastructure, she used this time to help Ke become a hellwalker.

”Wait, what? How?”

While Ke had a keen sense of combat which in some parts already was on Dax's level, she struggled with other duties hellwalkers were expected to perform, such as naval combat.

”Your last manoeuvre took your fleet straight into a minefield, about 70% of your fleet was destroyed before anyone even knew what was going on.”

”Shit… This really is confusing.”

Although she was a fast learner, Ke still made the occasional critical mistake that would lead into serious trouble, this was not because she made those mistakes consciously, but because she still wasn't used to all the new terms and rules which she had learned at record speed. While Ra figured she would eventually grow out of those issues, the speed Ke improved at was still too slow for her liking, something which started to frustrate her.

”Let's go again.”

”... Sure, that's a good idea.”

”And what-”