14:58, January 8th, 2135

After a nap, a shower, and a meal together, Kayden and Ali saw Anna off with salacious kisses in the engine room – ones that made it completely clear to anyone with eyes what they’d been doing that morning. When the three of them finally broke apart and saw the crew staring Anna reverted back to her usual self, her voice hardening as she barked orders.

“Alright, now that you’ve got your free show it’s time to get back to work – the lot of you! We’ve got diagnostics to run, improvements to make, and a goddamn war to win.”

Chuckling at her instant transformation, Kayden gave his goblin girlfriend one final kiss on her forehead before leaving her to do her job – something he knew from experience she preferred to do without him hovering over her shoulder. He boarded the elevator to the bridge with Ali before turning to her, his mind already turning with what they needed to do next.

[“There are 2 pressing matters which require your attention.”] She said before he could ask for her opinion. [“The first is that we are due to check in with Ashley when we drop out of hyperspace, which should happen in the next 2 minutes.”]

Understood. Kayden nodded, looking forward to talking to her. And the other thing?

[“While you slept, I was working on decrypting the information I was able to pull from the Voidborn artifact we retrieved from Vulcan. I believe I have some insight which will be helpful.”]

Kayden furrowed his brow for a moment before the door to the bridge opened. Elara stood waiting in front of him, her blue skin looking as radiant as ever in her modified Kel uniform. She smiled and handed him a metallic mug of hot coffee while leaning forward and kissing him softly.

“Hello husband.” She said, her hand lingering on his arm. “I’ve prepared your duty briefing for today.”

“Thank you Elara.” He said sincerely before taking a sip of his coffee. “What’s on the docket?”

She produced a tablet from her pocket and began reading as they walked towards the command chair with Ali trailing close behind. “Dawn, Selina, and AJ are meeting with Mirana and the Vrul crewmates right now to work out how we’re going to deploy the weapon that disrupts their leader’s control over their people. I’ve seen some of the strategies they’re coming up with – they’re…unconventional, to say the least.”

“Good thing that’s something we specialize in then.” Kayden said as he took his seat.

“Our Kel science team has also been working around the clock to find weaknesses in the Queen’s body. I’ve forwarded any of our findings to Ali.”

“Can you summarize them?” Kayden asked as he felt the tug of hyperspace dissipate around them. “I need something easy to remember in battle.”

“Work continues on recreating the effects of the slime creatures. For now though. her body seems susceptible to electricity-based attacks. Shock her.” Ali replied calmly. “Then finish her in close.”

“Another one of your specialties.” Elara teased.

Kayden chuckled good-naturedly as he took another sip of coffee, feeling the caffeine buzz perk him up. “I’ll do my best to work with that. Now, unless there’s anything else that’s pressing, I think we’re due for a report from-”

“Getting a signal from the fleet.” Ali interrupted as she sat at one of the workstations off to the side of the bridge. “Ashley is calling.”

“Punctual as always.” Kayden nodded. “Put her on screen.”

The large screen in front of them fizzled then resolved to Ashley’s face – one that broke into a smile as she caught sight of Kayden. “Hello handsome.”

“Hello beautiful.” Kayden replied instantly before glancing over at Elara and Ali, suddenly conscious of the fact that he was complimenting one girlfriend in front another girlfriend – not to mention his Kel wife.

[“I feel no jealousy towards her.”] Ali reminded him mentally.

“I’m okay with this. I agreed to it, remember?” Elara said softly, laying a hand on him as she turned to face Ashley with a smile. “It’s good to see you’re well.”

“Likewise.” Ashley replied before nodding. “Though if I’m being honest, I’m not sure how much longer that’ll be the case.”

“What’s going on Ash?” Kayden asked, suddenly concerned.

“It’s the blockade. We’re doing the best that we can to enforce it, but we’re stretched pretty thinly – to the point where I’m having to make decisions between letting some ships through versus losing some of our own.”

“I know you’re doing the best you can.” Kayden assured her.

“My best would be a lot better with some reinforcements.” Ashley replied. “Any chance the Kel will reconsider?”

“Officially, probably not.” Elara responded. “Unofficially, we’re working on it.”

“Well, work fast. I’ve got no idea how, but their fleet around Earth is actually growing – and that’s despite the fact that they’re fighting our blockades on 2 fronts.”

“I can explain how.” Ali offered. “They are using the artifact they recovered on Trappist Prime to transport already-constructed ships from their extra-galactic base of operations to the Sol system, where they’re crewed by human thralls and pressed into immediate service.”

Kayden furrowed his brow. “I’m guessing this was the ‘insight’ you gathered from the artifact we picked up on Vulcan?”

“Exactly. They appear to be identical.”

“Walk me through it then. How does it work?” Kayden asked.

Ali moved in front of the screen so Ashley could see her before she started speaking. “It appears that the Voidborn constructed an exceptionally large space station in the space between galaxies that is commonly known as ‘dark space’. She has an enormous fleet stationed there – one built over the last 2.2 million years.”

“So that’s her staging ground.” Ashley muttered.

“That’s probably where her extra bodies are being kept too.” Elara reasoned.

Kayden nodded to Ali. “I’m guessing you’re about to tell me that the key to travelling from this extra-galactic base to our galaxy is by using these artifacts?”

“Precisely. They appear to allow for instantaneous transit, similar to what we experienced on Vulcan.”

“That was only a few dozen squads of ground troops though.” Kayden reminded her.

“The principle is the same, even if the scale is much larger. She currently only has two artifacts – one which she previously possessed, and the one from Trappist Prime - which is limiting the tonnage of ships she can transport here, but would increase dramatically if she were able to use a third artifact.”

“How dramatically?” Ashley asked.

“Based on my calculations, with three artifacts she could bring in a fleet of battleships once per week. Each fleet would be large enough to break through either the Roccan or Lokken blockades.”

“I hate to ask, but what if there are more artifacts out there?” Elara said tentatively.

“With four artifacts, she could bring in a fleet several orders of magnitude larger than all the combined fleets of the galaxy and still comfortably have stores of energy left over.”

The room went silent for a moment as they absorbed that information before Kayden spoke again. “I hate to give the doomsday solution, but what if we just… threw a planet-cracking bomb at Earth?”

“That would be genocide.” Elara said softly.

“Obviously it’s not my first choice.” Kayden agreed. “I want to save Earth – and the survivors still on it - as much as any other human. But if we have to sacrifice Earth to save the galaxy…”

“Humans are terrifying.” Elara interjected.

Ashley nodded. “I see the logic though. Ali? Can we do it?”

“Unfortunately, no. When it is powered on, the device itself exists in a semi-phased state similar to the one Dawn achieves through her powers. An explosion wouldn’t damage it. It needs to be physically disabled – either from our end, or from the space station.”

“Can we reverse the process then?” Kayden questioned. “Can we use the artifacts to go pay her space station a visit? Because it sounds like if we can get there we can kill her clones and turn off the artifacts all at once.”

“Theoretically, yes. It appears to require some sort of control signal to do so though – one which needs to come from a specific transmitter. Based on the signals I intercepted during the brief time our artifact was activated, I believe the transmitter is located on Earth.”

“Of course it is.” Ashley said with a sigh. “Is there any way to hack around it?”

“No. It is beyond even my abilities.” Ashley said, her shoulders slumping.

“Hey.” Kayden said, catching his android girlfriend’s eye. “We’ll figure it out. It’s more of a plan than we had a few minutes ago.”

“Right. We just need to blast our way past an enormous fleet, land on Earth, teleport to the Voidborn extra-galactic station, kill the Queen’s clones, then come home.” Ashley said, counting on her fingers as she listed each action off. “Typical day at the office.”

“We’ll get it done, Ash.” Kayden said, trying to inject as much confidence into his voice as he could. “Remember: We’ve still got the Kel anti-Voidborn virus in our back pocket. We’re not out of this fight yet.”

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The room went silent for a few more moments before Elara spoke up. “I still don’t understand. If these artifacts are so valuable, why were they buried?”

“The transit process is quite energy intensive. They require a power source – one which can charge them over a long period of time while protecting them from the elements. Geothermal power seems like the obvious choice that fits the criteria, and should keep the batteries running for at least several hundred years.”

Kayden scratched his head as he remembered something from his brief conversation with the queen. “Ali, if the Queen can transit from her extra-galactic station to this galaxy, is there any reason to think she can’t do the same for other galaxies?”

“No. It’s theoretically possible.”

“Fuck.” Kayden swore.

Ashley raised one eyebrow on the screen. “Care to share?”

“I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out what the hell the Queen was up to for the last 2.2 million years. I think I just figured it out.”

“Okay…” Elara said hesitantly. “What has she been up to?”

“The Vrul and Kel both theorized Synthesis would happen again at some point. They knew that given enough time, every race would figure out how to smash biology and technology together hard enough to achieve Synthesis. I have to believe that the Queen knew that too – and was threatened by it.”

“Where are you going with this?” Ashley questioned.

“When I talked to the Queen, she mentioned something about us being part of a cycle. I think she’s spent the last 2.2 million years visiting other galaxies, purging them before they can achieve Synthesis, then leaving her little artifacts behind so it’s easy to return again. That way, she remains the only one who achieved Synthesis and nobody becomes a real threat to her.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Ashley challenged. “The Voidborn were here before she had the artifacts.”

“A rearguard, perhaps?” Ali offered. “It would make sense to leave a skeleton force behind in every galaxy she ‘visits’, to monitor the situation and signal when a civilization is close to reaching Synthesis. She likely even left the other working artifact she has with that rearguard.”

“She laid traps too.” Elara added. “She probably knew whatever civilization came next would find that door on Eldertide and be unable to resist opening it, causing that signal to be sent to her rearguard fleet. It wouldn’t shock me if some of the other outposts have similar traps.”

“We’ve never seen one.” Ashley countered. “And humanity’s found 3 outposts: Mars, Sanctuary, and Tau Ceti.”

“The traps could be programmed to only deploy when they detect someone who has reached Synthesis – or at least come close to it.” Ali explained. “That is why the Kel never set them off, but Kayden did.”

“Great. Our galaxy’s burning because I opened Pandora’s box.” Kayden muttered sarcastically.

“Someone would have set it off eventually.” Elara said, shaking her head. “Either through achieving Synthesis or by accident. Or we would have stumbled upon one of the Voidborn fleets and had the same effect.”

Kayden took a breath before replying. “I know. I’m just reeling from the revelation that we’re fighting not only on behalf of our galaxy, but on behalf of all galaxies.”

“There’s something else I still don’t understand.” Ashley interjected, changing the subject. “Why leave the outposts behind at all then? Why not just destroy them entirely? It would have set our technological development back as a species by several thousand years – if we ever ended up getting off Earth at all, that is. That’s an easy way to prevent Synthesis.”

Surprisingly, Elara had the answer. “By leaving us the technology, the Queen is ensuring that we don’t try to invent our own. She’s making sure the future societies develop along nice, predictable paths – ones that she knows she can beat. It’s like we’re some sort of science project, and she’s guiding the evolution of our technology.”

“Another layer of control then.” Ashley summarized. “Shit. She’s been 3 steps ahead of us this entire time.”

“More like 2.2 million years ahead of us.” Kayden added.

“So what do you suggest?” Elara asked. “How do we beat her?”

“By sticking to our plan: punch a hole in her fleet large enough to land on Earth, retrieve and reprogram this transmitter, then pay a visit to her little space station…and blow it up.” Kayden responded.

“We still need a bigger fleet for that.” Ashley countered. “Ideally before she gathers enough of her own forces to break our blockades.”

Kayden nodded grimly before keying the radio to his other girlfriends. “Dawn? Selina? Mirana? How goes the planning?”

“Not well.” Selina replied, the tension in her voice clear even over the radio.

“That’s just because you keep saying no to my idea!” Mirana countered angrily.

“It’s not an idea, it’s a suicide mission!” Selina replied.

“Ladies, stop.” Dawn said, playing the part of mediator.

Kayden pinched the bridge of his nose before speaking again. “Walk me through the problem.”

“The problem is that if we start freeing the fleets one-by-one, the others are going to notice.” Mirana answered. “And then they’re going to start avoiding us. Or worse, attacking us. We need to hit them all at once if we want to free everyone.”

Kayden recalled the Vrul executors – a diverse cast of ancient beings whose minds were slowly descending into madness. Each of them were confined to the command chairs they sat in, kept alive only by a complex life support apparatus. They communicated exclusively via neural link, projecting a version of themselves not unlike the avatars he’d encountered on Kel Prime.

“Okay, yeah.” Kayden said finally. “I can see the problem with that. There’s no way they’re going to leave their chairs, so it’s not like we can get them all into the same room.”

“Maybe not the same physical room.” Mirana countered. “But we could trap them for a short time in a virtual environment using the equipment in the Vrul station we went to before. We can’t outright kill them of course – at least not until after we use the spray on them – but it might be enough to-”

“That’s incredibly dangerous.” Selina interrupted. “When Kayden fought against one executor in his virtual world it was a tough battle. Fighting all of them at the same time would be next to impossible.”

“We’ll bring him reinforcements!” Mirana replied, frustration in her voice. “I can go in. So can Ali. So can any of the Vrul onboard. And if we free the fleetless from their leader – the underseer – they will come to our aid!”

“It still won’t be enough!” Selina insisted. “It’s a virtual world that they control! They can just imagine an army, or a fleet of ships, and then…bam! You’ll have to fight them!”

“Come on, both of you.” Dawn said calmingly. “We’re all on the same side. Let’s find a solution here.”

“What if we could solve that problem, and find a way to stay alive despite their efforts?” Kayden asked, filling the awkward silence that followed. “What’s your plan after trapping them in this virtual world?”

“Creating forces in the virtual world can be mentally taxing.” Mirana replied. “If they’re focused on that and trying to break the locks on our virtual world, they won’t be focused on what their crews are doing. We can send a wide-band message to all their crews with instructions on how to quickly synthesize the spray and how to apply it.”

“You’re using them as a distraction.” Ashley summarized, having heard the whole conversation. “Clever. Can’t they just message their crews and ask them to break them out of this virtual world?”

“We can prevent that as well.” Ali said. “A simple jamming device amplified using the Vrul station should suffice for a short time.”

“How long will we need to hold their attention for?” Kayden asked.

“Hard to say.” Mirana replied. “The spray itself is relatively simple to manufacture with equipment and materials that are standard on all Vrul ships. They also only need a small amount of it, but… we have no idea how quickly the Vrul crews will react and start the process.”

“Give me your best guess.” Kayden pressed.

Mirana paused for a moment as she tilted her head to one side, thinking. “Half an hour.” She said finally.

Kayden took a deep breath before nodding. “I guess that’s our next stop then.”

“You can’t be serious.” Selina said incredulously.

“I don’t think we have much of a choice. We’re running out of time to get to Earth. And if we can’t do that, then the Voidborn fleet is just going to keep growing, or the Queen’s going to find another artifact, or she’s going to pull some other trick from up her sleeve. We need to take the initiative back, soon. And this is how we can do it.”

“I just…” Selina started.

Surprisingly, Mirana spoke next. “I know you love him. I will keep him safe with my own life. This, I promise you.”

There was a silence over the radio. “Fine.” Selina said softly.

“Ali, plot a course for the Vrul station.” Kayden commanded. “Let’s get this done.”