Coeus?

Chapter 41: ~Thoughts.~

Every mage has certain affinities to spells. The greater the affinity is, the easier and less exhausting it is to cast the spell. It's easiest to imagine each magical branch as a part of one huge skilltree. A mage may use any spell in that tree as long as he learns it, but that doesn't mean that he'll ever get as proficient as someone who was born with the affinity.

If you are born with great affinity to fire-magic, you may be able to use most spells belonging to that affinity without restrictions. If your talent is even greater you may even have access to neighbouring branches like wind-magic or ice-magic.

Techno magic is regarded as a hybrid affinity since it's settled between electro, mind and space magic. Being settled between so many pure affinities is also a reason why a techno-mage has to gain a lot of experience to fully use his potential.

-About magic affinities

***Antares, Coeus***

***Gideon***

Do you guys know that dealing with aliens is tiring? I lean back in my rocking chair and enjoy its comfortability. It has been put to good use during the recent hours.

The diplomats, linguists and other people of similar trade are doing their best to soothe the agitated minds of the aliens. They haven't taken it lightly that a foreign fleet flew right into the heart of their territory.

It's coming with their technology. Their way of travelling between stars relies on actually traversing the space between them. FTL-routes have to be cleared from dust and debris and checked in regular intervals to ensure that there are no obstacles for the ships.

Their FTL-drive allows them to ram right through a certain amount of mass by turning it into pure energy, but put too much of it in the ship's path and your ship re-enters normal space right inside an explosion of nuclear scale. It's officially the fastest way to die I know of.

Though I am happy that it can't be used to annihilate planets that way. The rules of physics can't be applied in this case since the FTL-drive doesn't work that way. A ship inside a warp bubble doesn't really move faster than light, it just slips through the real universe while annihilating all matter in its path. How much matter can be annihilated is dependant on the ship's energy output.

Once the reactors of the ship reach their limit, the bubble collapses and the ship re-enters normal space with the same velocity it had before using the FTL-drive. Plain and simple.

And that's why they have to provide cleared FTL-routes for their ships. The longer you fly through uncharted space, the greater the risk of meeting an early end.

That's why our method of travelling is freaking them out. We can go right past their line of defence and attack the weakly protected worlds. Not that the council of elders would do such a thing, but the Forlorn have no way to be sure of that.

I turn my attention to Ed. Have they finally decided to form up on the Coeus?

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Ed shrugs his shoulders. It looks like the contact team was finally able to explain why we waltzed right through to their home world.

We still can simply take what we have and go away. They don't have something we want. Now that we have the secret of their energy production. I offer.

There is no way to know that for sure and it would certainly look bad in front of the society. Ed starts playing with his fingers. He developed a tendency to do that while talking to me.

Probably there is something on his mind and he is trying to find a way to ask me. Since we are alone inside the conference room I can ask him what's wrong, so I do. Ed, what is it that you want to ask?

He freezes up. Am I really that obvious? Ed asks, then he starts mumbling to himself. The world must be ending if Gideon manages to read another person's emotional state.

I lean forward. No. It's just that you are doing it since we went on this mission and after a few days even I tend to notice odd behaviour.

Ed nods slowly. In that case I'll be blunt. Have you heard from Sadina recently?

I raise an eyebrow. It escapes me why he is interested in her so suddenly. She tried several times to contact me while I was in Sol, but I blocked her calls since I had better things to do than being toyed with.

I had to toy with Cyla. That's a very good excuse to ignore Sadina.

I see. And what do you think of her? I need to know since I want to beg something of you. He asks next.

Pursing my lips I lean back again. Well. She dumped me on Earth with brainwashed people who weren't able to take care of me. But it doesn't feel to me like I can make her responsible for that. Who knows? Maybe things would be different if my Earth mother hadn't died in a car accident. But I met Grandma, Grandpa and Cyla. Things are as they are and right now Sadina just feels like one big non-entity to me.

After a few seconds I decide to revise that sentence. Let's rephrase that. She's a very annoying non-entity to me. If I ever get her between my fingers I'll probably surrender her to my grandmother. That should be worse than simply killing her and it feels right to punish her for the way she introduced me to the truth of my creation. I know that I asked her for the location of the Revelation Wing, but she could have warned me.

Yes, about that. I wanted to ask you if you could give her to me, should you ever get your hands on her. Since she is my responsibility I've to tell her a few things in person. And she is showing interest in you, so it's likely that you'll get your chance sometime in the future. He explains with a solemn voice.

I tilt my head and try to explore my own thoughts and feelings on the matter. Maybe. Depending on the circumstances.

That's all I can ask for. He replies.

A beeping sound alerts us to the fleet's readiness. For the sake of taking as many ships as possible with us we tied the entire Forlorn fleet together like a metal ball. It was quite hard to think of an explanation why a huge part of the formation's spherical centre has to stay free of ships. In the end our scientists came up with a few very complicated and impossible to solve formulas.

The centre is where our hidden weapon platform is lurking. It's quite funny. The Forlorn are still thinking that we achieve teleportation on such a scale by having all our ships work together.

I contact the pilots of the platform via the fleet network and inform them that they can go whenever they are ready. Then I send a message to the whole fleet that departure is imminent. Having done my job I return my attention to Ed. Did you notice that the Forlorn have real crews on their ships? I tried to hack one and found out that their lasers are controlled by an independent station. You need to get physical access to the switches to arm the weapons.

Ed stops moving. Somehow the casual way you mention that is troubling me. You hacked their ship? Do you have any idea what could happen if they find out? I just nod and let Ed continue. Their ships aren't automated to the same degree as ours. It's only natural that there are certain problems involved.

Yes, isn't that strange? I wouldn't want to fly a ship if my life depends on a hundred different people. It's like asking for death. I shudder.

Ed sighs. You've come a long way, Gideon. But there are still many things you've to work.

I nod. Like my girlfriend. I promised her a date once we get back to Sol. Do you have an idea where I could take her?

***System 82456, Coeus***

***Cyla***

I still can't believe that we managed to do this without revealing the platform. I comment while watching the one hundred and two Forlorn ships dispersing away from our ships to hide inside the gas giant's asteroid ring.

I am together with Gideon inside the cockpit of the Coeus. We are both busy with giving final instructions to the ship and the fleet.

I never doubted that our eggheads are able to make up some formulas which are convincing enough to keep the centre of the formation clear of ships. Gideon answers.

I snort and give the Coeus some commands which bring her in formation with the rest of the ships. We've left our contact team with the asteroid habitat and two ships back in Antares. They can do their thing and continue to build relationships with the aliens. I am not too fond of them.

The Forlorn have too many arms for my taste and the Zeen look too much like insects. It's troubling me. There were never any bugs inside the closely controlled living habitats I grew up in.

I hope the plan works out on the first try. I don't want to go on a lengthy hunting expedition. Gideon accesses the two sensor arrays to check on the status of all ships. The Forlorn are instructed to hide themselves inside the asteroids. Our fleet will wait further out. Powered down and under maximum stealth we should be able to hide ourselves sufficiently.

It's the plan that the Forlorn use the advantage of surprise to break the enemy fleet. Then we'll pick easy targets and take them out one by one. But that's only in case that the Drazi really escape the trap. From what we've heard from the Forlorn, their ships are about four times as strong as a single Drazi vessel of the same size.

The wishful thinking of war. People make plans, shove their pieces around in a manner that looks pretty and once the two forces really meet for the first time everything falls apart like a house of cards. Gideon smirks at the display.

Do you know something that you didn't tell the rest of us? I ask.

No. He answers bluntly.

But you suspect something? I ask.

He shrugs his shoulders while studying the map. It's not like I am certain, but I think that the Drazi may have stronger ships than the Forlorn think.

I open my mouth in shock. Why didn't you tell anyone?

Because it's just a suspicion and because it wouldn't change a thing regarding the plan. If I am right it would even be harmful to the battle if we admit that we know something.

He closes the tactical display. Just think about it. The Forlorn have several different big fleets stationed in their sphere of influence. Naturally they are keeping them close to where they are attacked regularly.

Gideon raises a finger. But! How do the Drazi know that attacking here allows them to punch right through their opponent's defences?

The Forlorn and the Drazi are fighting a long and exhausting conflict. The Drazi surely know the topography of Forlorn space. I argue.

Yes, yes. That's for sure. But the Forlorn aren't as stupid as to announce the positions of their military ships to merchants or other vessels. I've studied the encounters between Forlorn and Drazi. Did you realize that they never attacked this sector. Gideon asks.

I call up the comprehensive file we got about Forlorn and Drazi history. You are right. So the Drazi deliberately prepared this attack over several decades?

He shakes his head. No. The Drazi didn't do it on their own. I think they are being guided by an insider.

My head snaps towards him. The Drazi have a spy under the Forlorn? Isn't it much easier to believe that they simply captured information from a Forlorn ship?

Of course it's possible. But I am not thinking about a spy. I doubt that the traitor is a Forlorn or an Drazi... for obvious reasons. Who else has access to Forlorn space? He looks at me with questioning eyes.

I furrow my forehead. You can't mean Ayo?

Not necessarily, though I am finding it very suspicious that he gave us the new technology. Either his people are very naive or it's some sort of test. Gideon explains.

I try to think of the new technology. The zero-point generator is a pretty normal reactor, but it works by using positrons to raise matter to a higher energy state. The result is antimatter which annihilates itself with the rest of the real matter inside the reactor. You end up with generating more energy than you've put in, but it's a dirty and radiation heavy process. So what reason do the Zeen have to give us that tech?

To stop the Drazi of course. Gideon answers.

Now I am confused. But didn't you just accuse them of using the Drazi against us?

No, no. You see. The Forlorn are a very patient bunch. As are we. Both of our races knew of each other and did nothing for several hundred years. We simply leaned back and told ourselves that everything is fine as long as the other party stays on its side of the fence. He smiles.

Things only started moving when a few Drazi ships led that Forlorn ship to Sol. Gideon scratches his chin.

They were chased. I point out.

It's suspicious if someone gets chased in a straight line to us. The Drazi could've split up and saved two thirds of their fleet at any point. I think they are taking us for fools. It's a plot to get us involved. I believe that someone inside the society got impatient and used the Drazi to force first contact. I wouldn't go so far to say that the unknown chased the Drazi away from their homeworlds to use them against the Forlorn and us. But they certainly used them in some form.

He ends his explanation. I don't know who, but I think we'll find out if we visit this gathering of theirs. Ayo and the Zeen are a very good candidate. It's a really strange coincident that they sent him here just at the right time.

My head starts spinning. You know that you are spinning a story which will cause real headaches to the elders?

That's why I want one of those Drazi ships. They are a hint we can legally lay our hands upon. I also would like to take a look inside Ayo's head, but that would probably cause a diplomatic incident. He smirks and taps onto his armrest.

They are here.

.