Gristle
Tinea Lupus est Homini
A thing that is wholly unknown cannot be trusted.
That simple statement had been the entirety of the Nexus' descriptor for why it was necessary to make closer contact with the fledgling "Neti" raiders who had come to the Ykaradan colony. Though it had seemed exceptionally probable that hostilities would break out between the conquering Myka and the small band of infiltrators, instead they had managed to come to a kind of agreement, one whose full imports had been analyzed by more diplomatic and sociological minds than his own. Evidently, the gist of the agreement - the portion that had been shunted into his own brainspace - was that they would be provided with a grand opportunity to expand far beyond the dimensions of their own galaxy, to be able to conquest against far weaker souls than even the other Myka colonies had been.
Growth was the fundamental goal of all life and so this seemed to have been a well-accepted trade by the Nexus and all those whose experience had been called to bear. Gristle's own opinions on the situation had been relegated exclusively to matters of conflict and warfare, as well as to a brief interlude regarding the capacity of their new-found "allies" in terms of bringing about their end of the bargain. To be "allies" was a strange thing to Gristle, and he was still rectifying the new understanding within his own mind, attempting to devour whatever information had been left within the Thrum from ancient selves who had perhaps dabbled upon the idea. Of course, it was one thing to be non-hostile... the War-Form understood that, but to be bound together in oath and honor was... alien.
Could the Neti truly believe in such concepts? Did their own minds bind together as did the Myka so that they could come about a true consensus free of the groaning of the individual, or were they reliant entirely upon each individual perspective, unable to blend them together into a cognizant mix that detailed the logical, emotional, and political implications of an entire demography in mere moments. Such an absence would mean the capacity for greater failure between the utterance and the meaning would be high, and such problems there could lead to further difficulties down the line, not only in matters of political declaration, but also in terms of the expediencies undertaken by subordinates when more meticulous efforts would be warranted - and especially those deviations undertaken to suit the individual instead of the collective.
It was nearly beyond Gristle. He cared only for the capacity of the Neti to maintain their resolve as a people and to provide capable militants. He was dispatched onto a shuttle alongside several peers in order to determine such things about the foe. Each of their "diplomatic entourage", if they could be called that, was tasked with discovering something new about the Neti, and, in turn, they had been granted permission to share whatever seemed prudent - not everything, naturally, but enough to cement the relationship in its small state.
While several of the entourage would be abandoning ship shortly after entry to go about their task of analysis in regards to economic, emotional, and cerebral capacity, the half-dozen Synaptics; an incredible investment by the Nexus and the Ykaradan colony, for their loss would spell a not-insignificant hindrance, would be going alongside the War-Form to meet with the suspected "overmind" of the Neti. Normally his presence would not be necessary for such an endeavor... but the Neti were not Myka, and likely would not mesh well in the process. As a sensitive of that mystical power known as the Force, he was to provide additional enmeshing by means of whatever subliminal instruction was necessary to the Synaptics, though their resentment of his intrusion was well-documented and acknowledged. None of them wanted the reaver in their brains, but that was the command of the Nexus, and it would be carried out.
The shuttle-craft, a small and spindly thing lacking in weaponry or significant scanner capacity was wedged haphazardly against the Neti vessel, and an external Space-Form took the time to guarantee that the linkage was airtight before signaling for the crew to proceed from their cabin into the larger vessel.
TchKren’Anook