Normally its actual presence would not even show up on any scans or energy screenings in the first place. This thing phazed out at a variable rate whenever it wanted to become completely undetectable.
They could now track it in general by the hordes of enemy forces, fleets, and Phage clouds that protected it, but obviously that wasn’t always going to be a sure marker either. It could easily go away from them.
It was a very cagey beasty.
With what Baeven had learned from studying the Darkforce flows, they finally agreed that what they were observing was most likely Xath the Hidden, the enemy Prime Leader who never showed itself.
They still had no idea what type of creature this thing actually was.
Nothing even close to it existed in any data file.
Perhaps like Uvx, it had come from another galaxy, dimension, or even another universe entirely.
They studied this creature for many hours, while the unfolding galactic war progressed. The did their best to track its sporadic movements here and there and learn as much as they could.
Then it vanished completely, along with its bodyguard forces. Whether it had somehow detected their efforts was not clear.
But they were not able to locate the strange thing again thereafter, or learn any more about it.
They learned something much more dire for the present.
The enemy was nearly finished massing its large string of forces in many strategic areas–in all four Quadrants. Analysis revealed that the enemy had set up a master, evolving strategy, and they were preparing to unleash it.
This massive enemy offensive was even beyond their fears, in its size and sheer scope.
What was the Great Adversary waiting for? No one knew. Their astonishing war was about to be unleashed. In fact, it could be set in motion at any time.
The GSA Alliance and all of its forces were clearly and severely outnumbered, spread too thin, and woefully unprepared for such a looming, tremendous assault of this intensity.
But as long as they held off, Naero would try to position their forces as best they may, without it obviously looking like they were doing so. If the G’lothc knew that they were being observed, with their positions of their order of battle already revealed, they might attack immediately.
She had to raise the alarm and take action, without openly raising the alarm. The defenders needed as much time as they could eek out.
33
Naero and the GSA continued to maneuver quickly and strategically without making it appear that that was what they were doing.
Unlike the approaching enemy, they knew that they were being watched and monitored.
They casually announced routine war maneuvers and training missions as a smokescreen that would not normally attract attention or seem to fit into any larger plan.
Secretly, the Alliance went into a near panic mode.
The Great Adversary was getting its forces into position as well.
Once all of the many battle fronts opened up, even with all of the fleets at their command, the defenders were about to be overwhelmed in all four of the galactic quadrants, almost at the same time.
In secret, GSA fixer teams had long been preparing defenses for the most heavily populated regions. They would be the most vulnerable areas to an all-out, enemy attack. Since the rumors awoke concerning the enemy’s Grand Armada in the next galaxy over, many steps had been taken, but not nearly enough to Naero’s mind.
The G’lothc did not need to send over such an armada if they had already amassed sufficient forces out in the black to win.
If Naero knew the enemy, and their fleet production capacity as observed in the Gamma Quadrant conflicts, the defenders might already be doomed without even knowing it.
On GSA worlds, the latest planetary defense shields were standard issue. And the upgrades from the Pelani were also being applied to make them even stronger. Next would be waves of self-replicating smart mines, many levels deep. These mines could be kept cloaked and phazed out, and activated almost instantly in the event of war.
Baeven warned them all. “The enemy, given time, can always develop a way to penetrate these barriers. Static defenses are not going to be enough. We know very well how the enemy plans long term and operates.”
The next fun-filled task on the list was to systematically contact and warn all of the many more numerous unaligned worlds, still in secret. Well over half of these were standard human, former Gigacorps worlds and groups of systems in loose confederations or smaller alliances.
Lander groups much like, but much smaller than the HFM.
The lazy ignorant bastards.
Yet most of them had suffered crushing poverty under the Corps.
“Believe it or not, my friends, many of those groups routinely ignore the facts and warnings about verified alien threats. These backwards worlds still claim that the GSA is trying to deceive them, scare them, or otherwise trick them into giving up their freedoms to join the Alliance. Nothing bad has happened yet, so to the minds of many of these simple people, nothing bad ever will.
“Haisha, no amount of data or evidence can convince these deluded loons otherwise.”
Nonetheless, Naero and the GSA tried to assure these reluctant landers that when, and not if the enemy broke through, their worlds would suffer heavy casualties. The outdated lander fleets would need to respond and fight on a level that had never been seen before.
Skeptical landers still foolishly insisted that the GSA continued to cry wolf in order to trick them into giving up their freedom, all to accept what they saw as the rigid Alliance moral charter.
“Perhaps we’ll change the minds of these unaligned systems once the actual attacks begin,” Baeven said.
“But what if that’s too late for all of us?” Jia asked.
“This isn’t going to be just another major enemy offensive that we can hurl back,” Naero told them.
She brought together all of the growing data and evidence.
“My friends, this will be an all-out attempt to crush the Alliance, and then wipe out the threat of humanity and its greater numbers as a whole, once and for all. And we need to help come up with some kind of viable answer. So let’s keep working toward that.”
Naero personally requested that the lander worlds send observers along with all of the forward GSA fleets, to fully report what was about to happen directly back to those many systems.
Most of them still did recall the High Crusade to save Humanity in the past.
At least back then, the original Shetanna was eventually able to get landers to trust Spacers enough in order to accept their help.
Now humanity couldn’t even agree to send observers along to verify the GSA claims of a massive alien invasion headed their way.
She warned their leaders once again, in private, to prepare for an incursion, the likes of which would make the Ejjai Invasion look like a birthday party.
Naero shuddered to think what a single G’lothc Phage strike on a helpless high population lander homeworld would look like.
Billions would have the flesh stripped off their bones in mere minutes.
GSA Intel and Spacer Intel reported that they had finally analyzed the enemy’s full plan of attack from what they had gathered.
Some of the G’lothc’s clever efforts in recent days had indeed been specifically designed to lure Naero, the Alliance Champions, and their mighty forces out of the way. They were meant to be kept distracted far away before the main attacks in all four of the quadrants went forth in complete coordination.
Now that the G’lothc spies tracking Jia had been eliminated, however, the enemy wasn’t exactly sure where Naero and her forces were. The Champions moved around too much in general. The enemy’s secret communications revealed that they were attempting to pinpoint her exact location once again.
The Alliance could use some of that uncertainty and confusion to their advantage.
Yet in the final analysis, nothing changed the grim facts that th
e defenders remained spread too thin.
Naero and her companions understood that all too well.
Time was running out for them.
Even with the Alliance Cosmic Champions, how could they possibly stand before the huge volume of enemy forces that were soon to be unleashed against them?
And more foes came online all the while.
*
Naero received an urgent telepathic summons from Shetharra, or at least through part of her oldest daughter that was now with her always, within the KDM.
“Khai, Jan, please watch over my physical body while we’re still maneuvering and preparing. Something important is up. I need to speak with Shetharra.”
“Go,” Khai said. “I’ll come in and get you if something urgent comes up, and we need you. Kali can run things without you. She’s proven that.”
Naero transformed into Orean once inside the KDM.
Shetharra’s shining counterpart embraced her. “Momma, my Seven said to bring you with me into the spheres of the Songs of Making.”
They dilated out through the Kexxian Wisdom of Music.
Their consciousness continued to expand into those date spheres.
The seven took their Kexxian forms, and encircled both of them.
Shetharra held her mother’s hand as waves of Cosmic energy passed over and through them.
Those thresholds buffeted Orean. She nearly blacked out.
Shetharra shielded her mother as best she could, with her own spirit form.
Finally Orean sensed a transformation all around her.
They had penetrated the direct sphere of the First Song of Power.
The energies at work there functioned on a completely different level. They nearly destroyed Orean on contact.
The Seven stepped in and spread their veil of protection over her with barely a thought.
Shetharra already had that and more. On top of that, her Urtomium armor made her completely invulnerable.
If the sphere of Song of Power #1 was this impossibly strong, what the hell was she going to do in the other twenty-three as the Cosmic Power flows increased by several orders of magnitude with each one?
Or however many other secret songs there were?
What miracles did they permit?
“Mom, my Seven say that the Great Adversary is about to achieve their victory over our galaxy over the course of the next several days. In order to prevent that disaster, we must take drastic measures. The two of us are the strongest links to the KDM.”
“What can we do?” Naero asked. “We don’t know enough yet!”
“They want to teach us the Songs of Power, Mom. All of them.”
“We already know some of them, or at least I do. You can sing all of them.”
Shetharra shook her head. “That’s not the same thing, Mom, although it does help. True, I can sing them all, mostly like a child, but neither of us can apply them all, at least not yet. That partial Starkiller episode was a fluke, even for me–a happy accident. The truth is that I couldn’t repeat that feat or complete one if I tried. And you’re the only one who can create enough reps to crew them. I can even replicate. My Seven say that it simply might be one of those talents that I am denied. Like shapechanging. I can’t do that either. That’s just one of the reasons why my spirit forms all look alike, even in here.”
Orean sampled the rarified aether of the first sphere, and its heady intoxicating flows. “What do they propose?”
“The only way to not just learn them all, but to master them, is to immerse ourselves in each of the spheres attuned to each song consecutively, in order, one after another. Neither of us has done that, yet. And frankly, I’ve never taken them seriously; to me they were just play songs. And the Seven say that the way you keep flailing along, you’ll never truly perceive or be able to make use of the higher Songs of Power.”
“What? I’m up to practicing very hard on Songs #16, #17, and #18. I almost have the three before those working well. And thanks to you, I’ve heard all of the higher songs and tried parts of them out. I-”
Shetharra held her two small hands up before her and backed away with a slight grin and a shake of her head. “Mom, it’s okay. Getting defensive isn’t going to help us, or anyone else.”
Orean looked away. “Right, you’re right. So, how long is it going to take us to learn to apply them all?”
“My Seven estimate about two hundred and forty of our standard years.”
Orean’s mouth fell open and her Kexxian eyebrows shot up. “Haisha! The enemy isn’t going to give us twenty-four days! Spacers only live about half that long. Don’t they realize that? If that’s the case, then we’re doomed!”
“Mom, mom.”
Naero lost it. “If they and the Great Mystery are so goddam powerful, why don’t they just defeat the G’lothc for us and end this all? That’s what I want to know.”
“Mom, you know they can’t do that. The Seven had their time, but it’s over. They did the best that they could. If they hadn’t done so back then, then none of us or any of our todays would be here today. Everything’s a test. This is our time, and meeting our challenges is up to us. They can help us and guide us somewhat, but there is a limit to what they can do. And they can’t step in and do things for us that we must shoulder ourselves!”
“So, they must follow the rules. What about the Great Adversary? They don’t seem to follow any!”
“We know what they are. They’re always going to cheat. We can never expect them to fight fair. Haven’t you realized that yet, Mom? Sure, they have many advantages, but they also have many disadvantages as well that we do not. They enslave or destroy others and turn other sentients against them. They will always hit us hard at the worst possible times and attempt to overwhelm us with sheer numbers. They plan things decades in advance and will constantly try to wipe us out. We can’t prevent them from being what they are and doing what they always do.”
“All right, I hear you, but two hundred and forty years? How can we possibly manage all of that?”
“We can’t, not all at once. But my Seven tell me that we can attempt to use SpaceTime dilation within the KDM itself. In its own way, it is Eternal, and beyond SpaceTime. The G’lothc will never comprehend nor expect us to do anything like this.”
“Okay. Okay. I’m doing my best to keep it together. So, explain to me. How do we make this work, Shetharra?”
“We fragment ourselves, just like splitting, but it’s more complex, placing a piece of us in each of the twenty-four spheres to focus on that Song of Power alone. You can already do that. We can’t use ordinary reps, because they’re different, and I can’t do so any way.”
“Honey, I don’t see how that helps us learn the songs faster.”
“Think about it, Mom. There’s a great deal of ground work to do in each sphere and on each song that has to be accomplished before the tipping point is reached.”
“Before the song can be used properly. Got it. I understand that.”
Shetharra smiled. “So, what if fragments of us complete all of that groundwork for each song, relatively at the same time? And as we surpass tipping point after tipping point, that knowledge and experience will continue to be cumulative.”
“Look, we both know the first twelves songs, and we can apply them for the most part. Why can’t we just ignore them and focus on the top half?”
“Because, Mom, there were many little things that we missed along the way that add up for all of the others. Mastering them all is a complete process. We still can’t apply any of them the way that we should. But our fragments can master each sphere and each song, nearly at the same time, as each of them locks in and builds upon the solid foundation of the one before. Trust me.”
Orean followed her oldest daughter’s instructions. She created two dozen fragments of both of them, and turned them over to the Seven.
She gasped slightly as each of her surrogates transformed, and became one with the
Hiil, the Gentle,
soared up around them both. HAVE FAITH, OREAN. THE POWERS OF THE GREAT MYSTERY ITSELF CALL TO EACH OF US ALWAYS. IT IS OUR OWN FAULT IF WE CANNOT TEACH OURSELVES HOW TO LISTEN.
“I will try, Great Ones. I will do my best to show faith, with all that I am.”
IT IS ALSO IMPERATIVE THAT OUR SHINING ONE COMPLETES HER CURRENT TRAINING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, said Adae, the Wise. YOU CANNOT KNOW HOW VITAL THAT IS. WE SHALL SEND HER TO YOU IN THE HOUR OF YOUR GREAT NEED, IF IT IS POSSIBLE, OR SHE MAY COME TO YOU ON HER OWN. BUT THERE IS SOMETHING MORE THAT YOU MUST KNOW, ON A PRACTICAL SIDE. IN ALL THINGS THERE IS RISK–A COST.
“Sure there is,” Orean said. “I was waiting for that. Okay, let’s hear it.”
THERE IS A SMALL CHANCE THAT THIS PROCESS COULD DESTROY YOU OUTRIGHT, BUT AT THE VERY LEAST, IT WILL MOST LIKELY SHORTEN THE LENGTH OF BOTH OF YOUR MORTAL LIVES, PERHAPS BY AS MUCH AS A THIRD OR MORE.
“Peachy,” Orean said. “But we don’t have much of a choice, do we? The G’lothc will surely murder us both and everyone else if we fail. So why not put everything on the line, if it isn’t already? Let’s do this.”
Shetharra laughed. “Haisha, that’s the spirit, Mom!”
“So, it’s our Seven, now? Very well, then. Mighty Seven, how long will all of this take? What’s our actual time table look like?”
Vez, the Enlightened, took his turn. WITH GOOD FORTUNE ON OUR SIDE? AT LEAST TWENTY-FOUR OF YOUR STANDARD DAYS. NONE OF THIS IS CERTAIN. EVERY POSSIBILITY AND RESULT CAN NEVER BE FORESEEN.
“Oh, hell. Well, there it is,” Orean said. “No sense in delay. Let’s get to it.”
“We have already begun,” Shetharra said. “Focus. Can you not sense it? Our fragments are already hard at work in the spheres, with our Seven to guide and teach them. They have been given energy being spirit forms that will not age as we do. After we merge back with them all, and gain the total of their knowledge and experience, the whole costs will be made known to us, when all is said and done.”
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