She greatly relished the creamed light blue govits, somewhere between carrots and honeyed, Drybexian yamtaters.
They ate and drank course after course of excellent fare and drink until they were near to bursting.
Then all six of them took a nap in the same room to soothing music.
By the time each of them awoke, the sofa beds they were on were already safely removed to their private chambers.
A small waterfall set into each room allowed them all to wake up to the sound of trickling waters. Naero clearly sensed that it was so, for each pair of lovers. She did not intrude upon the other two couples any further than impressions.
Khai pulled her to him, and she curled up with him more than willingly.
Together they shared an amazing night together, as they had not done so in a very long while.
All true lovers deserved such nights.
The next day they all enjoyed a late breakfast together and good company once again. Bodii was called away briefly to attend to some of her wounded comrades.
Jaer watched her leave. “My friends, when I met my beloved, when I first saw her, I was sick and wounded near to death back then. In truth, much of me was already dead. Watching her bathe beneath those tumbling waters brought me back to the living. Such radiant beauty. Not only did I wish to live once more. More than that–I knew that I could love again. Now every chance I get, I take great delight in watching my heart move and glow beneath many falling waters. We have a fine collection of such locations now, from all over the galaxy.
“Nor should you let anything trouble you. No matter who she bathes with among her sisters, I only have eyes for her, and I cannot easily draw my glance away from my sweet beloved one as she moves beneath the light and the waters. She is the one who saved me and brought me back from the brink of the great darkness. This is one of my greatest pleasures in this cruel life. I know that the four of you can understand me, because all of us have seen too much of the evils, terrors, and atrocities of this universe. Only beauty and love can heal and save us.” Jaer sighed heavily and wept quietly before them.
It was a great shame to all of them that they all only had a few days to relax and recover.
Another great victory accomplished and celebrated, their demanding duties called all of them away to a multitude of further pressing matters.
The six of them parted as they came together–as good friends, the bonds between them all even stronger now.
For the time being, the border invasion in those contested regions had been decisively resolved. The defenders took steps thereafter to construct GSA naval shipyards and training facilities nearby, specifically to recruit and build up defensive forces throughout that expanding area.
10
The GSA derived many new advances from the knowledge of the three ancient races and coupled with that of the nearly limitless spheres that existed for Cosmic energy tapping. Naero’s next exploration adventure logically took her and the growing roster of Alliance Champions into the Expanse once more.
There they would all cautiously study and experiment with new and ancient knowledge concerning those many different spheres, their various parameters, and potentials for further Cosmic energy tapping and application.
They could never cower or hold back in the face of enlightenment. Expanding such skills and abilities were vital, despite all of the new additional risks they discovered.
Perhaps some of their new shielding and defensive methods could also be developed and expanded as well.
Not only did they touch upon the Temporal Dimension or spheres, where they were quickly attacked and chased off by the invincible Ois, but they brought the others with them to share the fun, and search for more revelations and breakthroughs.
Naero found that everyone had a different perspective on these matters, and that usually proved both fruitful, and valuable.
In this way, others could also bring more Mystics, energy beings, and adepts with them to learn about the known spheres that had thus been cataloged, and what their other perils and potential uses might be.
After that, they were always free to seek out more spheres and dimensions that had not been encountered or studied yet.
To assist them that day, Naero also called upon her Kahn-Dar friend Womie.
It took a while for Womie to zero in on Naero’s Astral marker, but he did eventually join up with them along their journey.
At first he was so small that he wrapped around Naero’s wrist for a quick nuzzle. Only a handful of the explorers were aware that he had arrived.
“Good to see you, my good friend.”
“Likewise, Naero!”
The next instant he expanded out to three kilometers in length and startled almost everyone.
Naero quickly created aether construct saddles for all twenty-six of their current group to hitch a ride.
The Womie bus proceeded to take them on a tour or dozens of spheres and alternate dimensions that they knew little or nothing about.
In several they came almost under immediate attack by bizarre creatures guarding or patrolling within those odd spaces.
Womie devoured many of these things, gobbling up them and their energies in huge gulps.
They even located a dimension infected with another terrible version of the enemy’s phage, but the beings there had already evolved and modified themselves to turn the tables on the phage, and actually feed upon it.
Womie pointed out that these powerful beings, the Thamox, were all but mindless, but quick to attack and instinctively devour any threat that came their way.
In demonstration of this fact, a large group of Thamox broke off from feeding on a cloud of phage, and came against them.
Even with many Alliance Champions on hand, Naero and Baeven quickly found themselves outmatched and fighting for their lives.
Without Womie to aid them, they could have been in serious trouble up against so many large numbers of the mighty Thamox at once. These impressive beings were nothing to trifle with.
Womie zipped around and consumed many of these hyper-violent monstrosities, but even he took damage from their concentrated attacks.
The Thamox were large, powerful Cosmic energized things, with almost no discernable mind or intellect. They had blocky heads and blocky humanoid bulky bodies of what looked to be some kind of stone or possibly even living silicon resin base, but they pulsed with weird lights and celestial energies that defied categorization.
They were nearly the perfect fighting machines, damage resistant, self-healing, and they constantly modified their forms and powers to respond to and deal with whatever they were fighting.
Who or what had made such creatures and why?
They left the dimension of the Thamox before they could be overwhelmed.
Even Womie had a slight stomach ache, digesting and absorbing their volatile Cosmic energies, and that almost never happened to someone like him.
Now that they had seen some of the available sights, gotten some exercise, and Womie had had a snack, Naero had some further questions for him.
She psyonically asked him about the other two big leaders of the G’lothc, besides the Dark Emperor. She did this so that all of the others could listen in on the mindlink.
Womie, SZaphennar, the Guardian and leader of the Ois who protects the SpaceTime Records mentioned the names of two prominent G’lothc leaders operating in our galaxy.
The first is a being called Xath the Hidden in the Delta Quadrant.
The second is a monster known as Khemathrykal, at work in the Beta Quadrant.
We don’t know anything about these two entities but their names. We have no information of what, or who they are, or what shapes they take. I assume that as leaders, they must be G’lothc of some kind. But G’lothc can take many forms. Or they might be collective vessels for G’lothc spirits of G’lothc leaders, perhaps similar to Nahaxrathrax.
How can we learn more about our foes?
We still do not fully understa
nd what the Dark Emperor is or is constantly transforming into. We know that he is a host, bloated full of G’lothc spirits, combining their knowledge and powers within him. But is that all?
All of this madness is so much fun, is it not, Womie?
Naero, you have always had a strange notion of fun.
So what are these other beings?
Much like her, unfortunately, Womie had barely heard of them.
My people routinely avoid the G’lothc on a regular basis now, and with many good reasons. We have no wish to be attacked or enslaved again. Like Nahaxrathrax, these other fell things helped lead the G’lothc in some capacity at some point in their recent history. We think that they must have come over from the shattered G’lothc galaxy to dominate and conquer other sentients here. That’s all I know, N. As I have said, my people avoid the Great Adversary at all costs.
Naero pressed him for info, but he did not know where they were based, what forms they took, or what any of their powers were.
All that Womie could do was confirm that there were such creatures, and that from afar, they did appear to be enemy Prime Leaders on par with the Dark Emperor.
That did not bode well for anyone.
Fighting Nahaxrathrax was bad enough.
Naero guessed that wherever these other powerful Darkforce beings resided, they were most likely causing just as much death and destruction as the GSA’s current batch of foes under the command of the Dark Emperor. That was just what the forces of the Great Adversary did wherever they existed. They could not help themselves.
Naero had a terrible thought.
What if all three of these evil beings joined forces? What if they already had? What if they and their minions came at the Alliance all at once?
Naero had already sent requests back to the Alliance to have all forces, the spyfixer networks, galactic mapping teams, and deep search probes remain on alert for any signs of concentrated enemy activity.
They could monitor for similar powerful Darkforce energy readings, the way they were already doing in an attempt to track Nahaxrathrax.
Eventually, these new enemy leaders might show themselves and give themselves away.
At least that was what Naero hoped.
Yet then again, who could yearn for something that horrible when they already had their hands full. Two more monsters like the Dark Emperor or on his level? Not good.
Naero spoke to the whole group.
The only way that can learn more about these threats will be to venture into the hearts of Delta and Beta Quadrants, just as we’re still doing in the Gamma Quadrant. Once there, we can try to confront these two beings and whatever forces they have at their command.
As Baeven and Khai quickly pointed out, the problem remained that the GSA currently did not have the capacity to do any of that. How could they suddenly explore two largely unknown quadrants when they had their hands full with a full on war in another?
Yet the recent crisis with the Jalleth invasion clearly proved how inadequate their current knowledge and capabilities remained.
Even if they recruited and mobilized the vast unused lander populations of the largely unallied Alpha Quadrant, and upgraded their fleets, such numbers might still not be enough to take on the Great Adversary throughout the entire galaxy.
They still didn’t even know what they were up against with these two additional Prime Leaders.
For the present, their initial outing that day had been fruitful in many ways for the old and new GSA Champions. But Womie could not stay with them forever.
His nomadic people, the Kahn-Dar Cosmic dragons, survived by avoiding all such conflict. They had no further desire whatsoever to become part of another destructive hyper war ever again. The first such ancient battle cured them of that. Womie made that fact very clear to all of them before they all parted company with their very opinionated, temporary guide.
We no longer have that luxury, Womie, Naero told him. The battle is already joined among our stars. We must fight.
In that I wish you all good fortune and ultimate victory, the Cosmic dragon told them. He bade them safe journey, and a fond farewell, until next they met.
Once the Cosmic explorers made it back safely to the Alliance proper, Naero’s GSA team disseminated all of their recent findings based upon what could be understood and at least somewhat confirmed.
The Alliance strove not to keep secrets from their growing ranks of sentient being members.
Everyone in every corner of the galaxy needed to fully know and understand the score, what they were all up against. Yet the truth could be as frightening as what they didn’t know.
Having that harsh reality of a G’lothc surprise attack slam into an unsuspecting world and destroy all life on it was even more terrifying.
For months, Naero knew that despite their ignorance, the Alliance needed to do something about these other unknown, looming threats. They had to make a start somewhere and go forwards, just as they were still doing in the Gamma Quadrant.
Could they ignore two entire quadrants of their galaxy and allow the enemy to possibly take them over completely before they could even begin to explore them?
Just like the early Kexx and the early Drians at the start of their Great War, the GSA had to take small steps and built toward greater accomplishments though modest, achievable goals.
After that, they merely had to keep building upon the progress they made.
First, through her influential family and friends, and then through the close relationships that she had cultivated with many of the races they had already helped, Naero spearheaded building an interstellar consensus.
She used her own wealth and that of Clan Maeris to help establish systems and growing programs. They needed many more fixer nebulae, and advanced shipyards to construct countless more fleets to explore and defend two more entire quadrants.
If they constructed more ships, they would also need crews to operate them.
Using the Gamma Quadrant model, Naero’s most advanced reps could assist and recruit other sentient beings from the Alliance as they went along. That would continually swell the ranks of the growing defender forces in those unknown quadrants.
But would it all occur fast enough before the Great Adversary could overwhelm them? That was the pressing need.
Finally Naero’s fledgling movements on the fringes began to take shape, with the assistance of the Mystics, the Interdimensional and Astral Councils, and the GSA.
They also continued to form a self-sustaining, established network of Cosmic Academies for all of the Alliance generations to come.
These were not just training organizations set up to fill the growing ranks of the military, although they could serve that function as well.
They were also hubs of enlightenment, expanded thought, and imagination—not just war programs.
The demand for Mystics and Dreamers in every capacity would only continue to grow exponentially.
Some of their greatest advances had already emerged out of non-military applications, and Naero’s exploration of the spheres and the KDM data oceans, by non-military minds.
Naero made certain that each academy had one of her Quickening replicants on hand to boost and strengthen the growing Cosmic abilities and talents of a steady flow of young sentients. These adepts were being tested, uplifted, and groomed to handle greater powers and the responsibilities that came with them.
Such ambitious goals could no longer be limited to Spacers.
In every region, the new Alliance Academies were made open to every Alliance sentient species that joined the Alliance Charter. Non-human-based lifeforms were honored and accepted. It would not be long before these new species were making vital contributions to the spread of Alliance culture, thought, art, society—as well as the military.
It could be no other way.
Such beings must all be made free and equal partners. There was simply too much at stake for everyone concerned. Their galaxy was far too great for all th
ings to be controlled by Spacers forever. But guides were still needed. Everyone had to take part, and be a part of deciding the fate of the Alliance and their galaxy. They had to trust and believe in each other. They could not tear each other apart with petty concerns.
Together they faced the Great Adversary, a powerful foe bent on crushing and defeating them all. They must stand together or die.
In order to survive, they had to continually strive and progress on every level that opened up to them.
And to avoid treachery, infiltration, or betrayal from within, they also needed constant vigilance and intelligence. Spacer Intel had already expanded into GSA Intel.
Their enemies were masters of deception, espionage, shapeshifting, and mind control. In order to survive, the Alliance had to stay on top of all of those issues, and secrecy not the least.
Naero knew that in the future, what they would need most would be powerful Mystics on par with the most basic Dreamers and visionaries of the Drians and the Kexx.
Each generation would train the next and expand the program.
All of that had to begin somewhere, with prodigies such as Shetharra and other highly gifted Cosmic younglings within the Spacers and the Alliance itself.
The first Cosmic Academies would build upon and continue that process in an organized, efficient fashion.
Enlightenment had to be free to all free sentients, and not just monopolized by one single species. For the present, Spacers did dominate that process by default. It was that way.
In the future, however, all of that would need to change.
Already, Shetharra and the next generation of Spacer Mystics, less than a hundred savants in all, had made contact and inroads with other budding young prodigies from many other Alliance species. This was happening among the younglings themselves on an informal basis, even before the academy programs officially ramped up.
They knew who they were.
First, they were all telepaths already, some of them extremely powerful ones. That surmounted most language and neural net or linguistic issues from the outset. In the realm of pure thought of the mind, language was all the same, with some few cultural differences.
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