Whatever caused the destabilization Varghese was now wrestling against, it was similar to what had destroyed Zunrose’s star. To that end, the odd neutron star there was not experiencing much in the way of secondary fluctuations. And with Anton helping balance other stars, Varghese could focus on Egnos’ star.

With one destabilized red dwarf currently fusing with Egnos’ central star, Varghese had to focus on keeping his connection intact. At first he was fighting back against the fusion, but it was inevitable. What he needed to resist was not the joining of stars, but the distortion that came with it. At least the unstable star was good for one thing- there was a burst of energy on the surface, which he used to lash out at the various ships that were trying to ruin his connection. One by one they fell, but there were still hundreds. Many less than Zunrose, but still numerous.

Though the red dwarf was smaller than the central orange star, the distortion the new mass caused when infected by foreign energy was too much. Varghese could barely handle it and fight back against what else the enemy might try. It was so… unbalanced.

That simple thought made him reach out, connecting magnetic fields under his control to further ones, reaching out towards the third star in the system. And perhaps not a moment too soon, because Varghese noticed the ships pulling away from his central star, angling towards the third of the cluster. But by the time they got close to the star, it was almost flying past them towards Varghese. Not that the task of pulling two stars together over such a great distance was a quick one.

They tried to distort the star as it was pulled towards him, but while they could more easily alter its shape, Varghese kept control over its core substance and stability. He sent it on a trajectory to orbit around the central star- too close to ever escape. Indeed, he was hoping to pull off layers of it a bit at a time.

He could feel the pain of the star. They were not meant to absorb other stars, not in a short time period. Such events were usually catastrophic for the system around them. Perhaps the Trigold Cluster didn’t care about what happened to the system, if they could cause a chain reaction with his other bound stars. That appeared to be the intent.

But Anton had a tight grasp on the others, his greater experience and power letting Varghese focus on just one. He was also able to draw on the experience with Zunrose’s star. He had the feeling it wasn’t supposed to end up in that state, a consequence of his earlier connection. He didn’t want Egnos’ star to end up like that either, and this time he had a chance.

The second red star, while destabilizing the physical form of the star mass even more, was able to mix with the matter of the first, diluting the energy fluctuations. The process was either long and drawn out… or extremely quick, depending on which time scale you looked at. Fusions of stars would tend to happen over a very long time, rather than being intentionally crashed into each other over the course of hours. But as far as sustained battles went, it was quite long.

Varghese felt mental fatigue building, and his own personal energy was draining as well as he exerted his control over the greater part of Egnos’ star. He’d never controlled so much energy at once, nor had he ever intended to do so before the Enrichment stage, if even then. It was only working because, to some extent, the stars were working with him.

The rate at which the central mass was wobbling back and forth began to increase, and with that the distance the surrounding ships were shrank in certain places- Varghese continued to lash out as he could, and soon enough the fleet began retreating. Their individual resolve seemed to be faltering. Those who were bravest died first… and that lessened the pressure on Varghese.

The fusion of the stars was increasing the power as a single star, including his radius of control. And he was beginning to get a handle on the unnatural energy fluctuations. Once those died down, a full day later, any ships pestering him had long since left. So all he had to do was complete the fusion of the stars properly, without letting them tear apart as might happen due to natural forces- after the truly unnatural collisions.

He hadn’t wanted to consume their additional stars, but with the system unbalanced it might have happened regardless. Some of the outlying planets might have less stable orbits, but that was something that wasn’t an immediate crisis. And Varghese wasn’t even certain if he would be upset should the planets fling out of the system or crash into the sun. Though perhaps all of those who remained were less favored, and thus easier to turn against the Trigold Cluster.

Billions of individuals witnessing the event to some extent would be very difficult to cover up, most relevant for those who didn’t already know who was responsible for destroying Zunrose.

Either way, Varghese wanted the sun to settle properly. The worst moments were past. Anton sent a fluctuation of energy through their shared stars, and Varghese sent one back, thanking him for his assistance. With the sabotage gone, Varghese just had to balance the new masses mixing into the main star. That wasn’t trivial, as they were in different stages, and rapid changes in temperature and density were not helping. But ever so slowly, things came under control.

Varghese became aware of his greater surroundings indirectly, as he sensed another fleet incoming to the system- a familiar one. He also sensed his connection strengthening to Egnos’ star, as his own body was brought closer. He should have probably paid more attention to his own body, but then again there hadn’t really been any danger. He was and had been among allies.

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By that point, the star was nearly stable. No, that wasn’t quite true. It would be years at least before it stopped with oversized solar flares, and the internal convection currents would be wild for a very long time even with Varghese intentionally guiding them. But it was past the point it was most likely to explode or collapse.

Back in his own body, he asked the captain of the ship he was on to bring him somewhat closer to the star, while he then took the time to explain the greater situation to everyone else, since they most likely only knew the very basic situation. But he could appreciate their ability to coordinate an assault… one that would face very little resistance.

It was possible that they had given up on the system, but Varghese though it equally likely that the Void Scrying Sect couldn’t make any predictions about the system with such massive fluctuations of energy in progress. And down those paths where he failed, a miniature supernova would most likely overwhelm everything else. The same was true with Zunrose’ star, where they hadn’t properly predicted the end state of things.

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With only a partial fleet to defend Egnos, they easily surrendered. Which meant that their greater alliance had to figure out what to do with the planet and its people. For the moment, information gathering was the biggest concern. Many of the most easily moved resources in sect vaults had gone off world during the heavy traffic, but obviously not all of it. That would have required massive ships, even with extradimensional storage involved. And the majority of the population remained- no matter how many ships came and went to a planet in a short time, moving billions was pretty much impossible.

There were still many remaining disciples of the Void Scrying Sect, as well as the Twin Soul Sect and others who were their major supporters. And while they were going to be dealt with… there were plans to let the rest of the planet do so. Telling people that someone nearly destroyed their planet- after destroying another system where a majority of people had at least some connection? There was only so much future promises of power could do to keep people under control with that level of betrayal.

But the occupiers didn’t let the planet turn into a wholly chaotic mess. They had various goals for it. It was a good foothold, among other things- but also a beacon that the could hope some of the more disgruntled members of the Trigold Cluster might visit. If nothing else, they would be willing to use the planet to meet with the Fearsome Menagerie, as well as the others on the other side of the civil war. Or perhaps Tor and the Shimmering Spears’ group.

Either way, the takeover of the planet was a great victory. Enemy losses weren’t as high as they might like in terms of combat forces and fleets, but the removal of another system from their economy would hit hard. And they had seen clear demonstrations of the ships that had tried to destabilize the star and their formations, which meant they could potentially be countered- though they only had Varghese’ recollections and a small number of surviving monitors dropped in the system. And some destroyed ships, which hadn’t all fallen into the ‘new’ star.

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Far away, Anton didn’t have a clear grasp on what had happened except that some sort of disruption had echoed through Varghese to their shared stars. He was proud of his disciple for fighting it off, as even the echoes had been quite significant. Lending his own hand to the effort was the least he could do there, even if it had been the case the consequences wouldn’t affect him as well.

He’d get an explanation sooner or later, but the incident steeled his resolve to find something. He didn’t want to enter the war directly still, but he still believed his plan had merit. He was still in the process of binding to Naewu, the central star in the cross-sectional region he had chosen to patrol. He’d nearly reached it in his back and forth route while still having found none of what he was looking for.

No enemy bases, no ships flying back and forth. He might simply be wasting his time.

It was easy to think that, until he sensed something out of place. A trail of ascension energy. It was extremely faint, but he immediately changed his own trajectory to chase after it. It took days to catch up to an object simply drifting through space- though ‘drifting’ didn’t quite describe its very significant velocity. It was moving a significant portion of lightspeed, but not through subspace.

Pieces clicked into place in Anton’s head. Indeed, that fit with their own theories and singular point of experience. The transition between upper and lower energy required more than redundant systems on ships, as they might still interact with the wrong form of energy and have formations that acted unpredictably. So something close to pure technology like Rutera’s expertise was one method.

The other… was simply to have none of that to begin with. What was in front of Anton was basically just a massive crate. How long would it have taken to come from the upper realms? A decade? Two? Potentially more, but if they brought it up to speed at the very border, having to pass through the empty border zone… it might work out. And before that point, they could transport it in their ships.

It was genius. But they’d gotten careless. The fact that this package had made it to the lower realms systems- even if just barely- without having been received… it opened them up to quite a bit of risk. Such as Anton snatching it away. Or more likely, waiting for whoever was coming to get it to show up. Then he would capture them and their ships, while shunting the very large container onto another trajectory so someone else could come pick it up later.

There could be more that he was missing, of course. The material of the vessel was extremely resistant, blocking out the majority of his senses while mostly concealing what was inside. He could crack it open, of course, but he couldn’t know what dangers there were. Probably very little in the way of formations, though. Those would have easily been damaged in transit.

Still, he wasn’t going to mess around with possible deathtraps. Best to let people who knew what they were doing in that regard be involved.