Public The Pulse That Ate the Stars

[Liin Terallo]

The holo-news feed stuttered again with voices overlapping, images fragmenting into ghosts of themselves before reassembling. It was strange. I did not realize that I had stopped breathing until I caught myself mid-breath. My fingers clenched tight around a mug of Lord Rellik's tea that I had not touched in an hour.

"…massive data packet duplication reported across the Commenor relays. Slicers are calling it a 'phantom loop' - every encrypted message from the past twelve hours is being resent randomly across multiple channels, and no one's sure how or why…"

I leaned forward ever so slightly. The light from the holo-projector cast a flicker across the metallic casing on the isotope shelf nearby. There sat the serum. The strand that I had created. My strand.

Another report buzzed in.

"…freighter droids in the Anaxes shipyards all attempted to take the same trajectory - into the nearest gravity well. Engineers suspect a corrupted navigation algorithm, but no shared software link has been found…"

I felt it again. A tug; subtle, but undeniable. It was almost like a loose thread catching in my ribs and pulling outward. Somewhere far from Bastion within one of my decoy laboratories, one of the biomass samples must have reacted.

They were gone however. I had abandoned them. I had abandoned the laboratories and had buried the files.

But we shared the same sequence now.

I pressed my palm flat against my chest, just beneath my collarbone. It did not ache exactly, but the air felt heavier - thick with static, like a storm preparing to roll in. This is how it feels when I am about to use one of the synthetic Force abilities.

"…reports from Tython indicate a complete disruption of Force meditation networks. Sages are describing 'missing time,' fragmented visions, and one seer claims he was trapped inside someone else's body for an entire hour. No confirmation yet - "

A high-pitched whine pierced the audio, cutting the feed for several seconds. It returned with a new report already in progress.

"…and in a far more terrestrial development, numerous secure systems across the Mid Rim have started rejecting verified clearance codes. Whole security protocols are acting like their own encryption keys no longer exist. No signs of slicer infiltration. Not yet…"

When I rose to my feet I had stood up too fast. The room tilted slightly, like gravity had misfired somehow.

It was not me. It could not be because of me.

I turned off the projector, but the screen kept glowing faintly for a second too long.

Then came the chime. Someone was outside of my residence on Bastion. It was not the security team for I had not called them. At least not yet.

I stayed still for a moment with my heart ticking faster than it should have. I could tell myself a thousand times this was not all connected. That the anomalies were isolated, unrelated and pure chance.

But the synthetic strand in my blood knew better. And maybe… it was not the only one out there.

Tags: Diarch Rellik Wrathian Kell Delsin Shaw Ezorea Zethussaln OPEN

 

[Merion Oreno]

Then came the chime. Someone was outside of my residence on Bastion. It was not the security team for I had not called them. At least not yet.

The chime hadn't worked right off, and time was short, so Merion knocked. He was — for once — entirely out of Cult of the Central Isopter regalia, leaving him as a tall, pale, bulky, and unobtrusively dressed Echani youth around twenty. Visually striking in some ways but nothing anyone could associate with his usual look.

"Sava Terallo?" he called quietly. He wasn't actually sure whether the scientist held the academic rank of Sava but close enough.

Maybe she'd come to the door, maybe she'd hide or run or shoot. He knew a small fraction of this situation. He knew very little about the woman he'd been assigned to transport elsewhere. He did, however, have the sense that the order was connected to the news, and the news today gave him hives. Bad, bad memories.

 

[Liin Terallo]

I tightened my grip on the cup of tea as the knock came. It saved me from jumping and spilling the steeped herbs onto the hardwood floor. Any threat would have just barged in.

A voice called out from the other side of the door; addressing me by a title that had never been linked to me before. I did not recognize the voice either, yet it sounded kind. I remind myself that the two Diarch brothers had assured me of my safety here. And so I must trust them and believe their words.

I take a cautious sip of the tea, even though it had long since cooled. The herbs replenished my energy a little and helped to quiet my heartbeat. I then approached the door and unlocked it before opening it. A young man stood there; one that I did not recognize. I do not believe that he is a part of my security team.

"It is Miss Terallo, if you please. I am no scholar. Can I help you?" I do my very best to appear as though nothing is out of the ordinary. But more than likely the fact that the tea in my hand was not steaming was enough of a sign that things were not all right to any observant man.

Tag: Merion Oreno

 

[Merion Oreno]

It wasn't the lack of steam that tweaked Merion's attention, it was the scent of the tea. He'd spent days cooped up in a small ship with Lord Rellik across half the Unknown Regions and knew that smell well. So Liin Terallo might be a close confederate of the Diarches. That added importance to his errand but didn't fill in any of the gaps.

"Ma'am," he said quietly, "I'm Merion Oreno, a transport specialist with the Chancellorate of Commerce. You're welcome to verify my identity with anyone you like, up to the Diarch level. I've been asked to escort you somewhere secure for your safety for a couple of days. Can you be ready to leave in five?"

 

[Liin Terallo]

My eyebrows rose in surprise as he spoke. The Chancellorate of Commerce? I have not been in any corporate sector in some time. Not since New Cov was taken over. So why were they concerned now? Have they heard of my research? Did they wish to sell it? I had promised Balun Dashiell that I would never do so. And I always keep my word.

This research was supposed to remain secret, however the leaks of it is what had caused me to live a life on the run to begin with. That is until I was offered sanctuary here.

"Yes, Mister Oreno. Thank you. I will be ready in a moment." I close the door. My footsteps quicken after I turn on my heel and move away from the door. I put the tea cup onto the table and then hurry to my bedchambers to pack. My heart pulsed heavy in my chest; for if an escort was brought, then the two Diarchs' had obviously received some kind of threat towards me. I am certain that I will hear from at least one of the two brothers soon.

Within minutes I had my luggage packed and was reopening the door, doing my very best to try to appear calm. Yet inside of myself I started to feel feel the chilling grip of fear cling to me again. Fear of the unknown, and fear of what else could happen. "Mister Oreno, are we going very far?" Whether we were remaining on Bastion of if I was being taken elsewhere, I know that I am sure to find out soon enough.

Tag: Merion Oreno

 

[Merion Oreno]

"Mister Oreno, are we going very far?"

Merion spent his time outside the door watching both directions in the upper tier hab-block hallway. He'd been given to understand very little about the potential threat. He was privy to an awful lot — including some things he couldn't talk about, like the nature of the place they were going.

"No hyperspace required, I can say that much. I have a shuttle outside the hab. Can I take that for you?"

He got a hold-out blaster in one hand. Taking the luggage wouldn't be hard and might speed them up in an emergency.

"I'm not trying to spook you, Miss Terallo, but are you armed?"

 

[Liin Terallo]

There was no hyperspace required. Well that was a bit of a relief for it had meant that I was remaining here on Bastion. The heavily fortified world was a far safer option than travelling outside of it was. Gravity wells can easily disrupt a ship's travel through hyperspace. And there were enough of those popping up already.

But it is not my fault.

Mister Oreno requests to take my luggage and so I hold it out for him to take, relinquishing it as he does so. And it is only then that I spot the blaster in his other hand. I slowly shake my head in response to his question. "No, I am not armed. I am afraid that my aim is not very good." I have rarely handled a weapon. Even while I ran the New Cov Biomolecule Company; our weapons were carried and tested by others. It was not my place to do so.

I can feel the static start to build again as I moved down the hall. I clentch my jaw, tightening the muscles as I do my best to will it down and to push it away. Heightened emotional stress is one trigger that I had been made aware of, as was noted by Nos Voros . So I had to try to control it.

"Are you expecting a firefight, Mister Oreno?" Surely there would have been some alarms going on if security had been breached. Would there not?

Tag: Merion Oreno

 

[Merion Oreno]

"I was told to be ready for anything on this one. 'Unexplained and unexplainable' was the phrase. There was fear attached."

He paused at a door and glanced around outside at a raised courtyard of sorts. Something did feel strange. At least Liin Terallo didn't have a blaster. Nothing worse than escorting someone armed.

"There's foot traffic so stay close but move quickly. Down two ramps and up one, bearing north, and we'll be at the landing pad. If I'm not with you when you get there, the keypad code is five, five, cresh, esk, five. Repeat? And in an emergency, is this bag disposable or necessary?"

 

[Liin Terallo]

The Chancellorate told him this? Perhaps the current status of my research has been told to some of the higher ups. But it was not something that I had wanted to be widely known about. I even had kept it a secret from the Diarchy brothers for as long as possible.

"Five, five, cresh, esk, five." I repeated the code quietly under my breath, yet loud enough for him to hear. I only hope that I do not need to use it.

To his secondary question, I gave the young man a double-take. "I hardly think that a change of clothing is disposable. From what I gather; our destination does not involve a shopping disctrict."

My speed quickens, as we approach the doorway. However I maintain a slow and steady breath in a bid to quell my fears. "Will someone be waiting for us at the shuttle?" I half expect it to be my security detail. Or perhaps even Varlo Finnall himself. It is normally him that escorts me anywhere that I am needed to go if my safety was at stake.

Tag: Merion Oreno

 

[Wrathian Kell]

Liin Terallo Merion Oreno Diarch Rellik

His eyes snapped open, and for the first time since he was a young boy in fear of his own father, shot upright in a cold sweat. The facial tendrils that define the purebloods flicked about with uncertainty. One hand outstretched, lightsaber magnetized to palm and illuminated the room with a snap-hiss. He'd half expected to find someone standing over him with a beskad in hand, yet, there was no one. His chambers within the Crucible were empty, devoid of any life besides his own.

However something was clearly amiss. Like the force he knew had begun to experience vertigo. His saber shut off as the Sith Lord stood and began donning his robes. He would seek out the cause of this disturbance, and rid it of existence. Suddenly, it was not only the force that felt like it had been flipped upon its head. It was his own senses too.

Tears began to stream down his face, though he wasn't aware he'd began to cry. His hand came up and smeared the saline against his red skin, looking at the liquid on his palm. "Hope...." His wife's name left his lips like a broken secret. Had he just felt her presence? That was impossible, she was a Miraluka, and after five thousand years, there was no possible way that she survived. Unless. Had she come through a hyperspace anomaly?

He didn't dare let himself become excited, but it was unmistakable. He'd felt her presence as the only light side influence he'd ever known in his life. Something was very wrong, and he aimed to unveil the truth no matter the circumstance.

Walking out of his quarters with conviction, Wrathian moved not with his usual elegance, but surgical urgency. He was heading for the hanger when someone else equally familiar and similarly disturbing crossed his mind. Liin. Had the scientist done something? No that was impossible, time travel was clearly possible, but one could only go forward. Questions raced in his mind as the Sith Lord entered his interceptor.

He boarded and made his way towards her residence.

---

Landing, he'd found a Diarchy shuttle in waiting. He simply sat upon the ramp of the vessel and waited. The force, he believed, would provide.

 

[Merion Oreno]

"Will someone be waiting for us at the shuttle?"

"A couple of Myrmidons," he said reassuringly on a landing. "I'm making the pickup to minimize eyes while we're in the open, but armed backup was never too far."

They crested the last ramp. The landing pad was not as he'd left it. The shuttle ramp had someone unfamiliar sitting on it, a Sith pureblood, maybe Kissai caste. (Merion had a Massassi colleague and, to his frequent inconvenience, came from a line of historically inclined Sith Lords.) Merion switched the rolling bag to roll ahead of him, ready to hoist up or shove forward or duck behind for all the good that would do. He got the hold-out blaster up and visible.

The fact that this Sith wasn't dead at the unseen Myrmidons' hands was either very good or very bad. Merion got ready to avoid his hundred-thousand-and-first death if possible.

"Diarchy business," he called to Wrathian Kell , advancing. "Move it along."

Where the hell were Varlo Finnall 's people?

 

[Diarch Rellik]

The bridge of Diarch Rellik's new flagship was quiet. But beneath the silence, every console hummed with energy, every officer was poised, and every movement was deliberate. Bastion's orbital lanes shimmered in the viewport ahead, sharp with clean lines and curving patrol routes. Controlled. Contained.

Rellik stood at the center dais, hands clasped behind his back, cloaked in the hew of screens in the dark. The datapad in his hand bore the full readout: Liin Terallo secured, in transit to auxiliary Site D-4. Escort: Oreno. He exhaled slowly, everything seemed to be okay.

Then the tremor came. Like an uncontrollable shaking from freezing but it was not cold, it was static. The air around him thickened with the sensation of power. Yet, this power was unlike anything he had ever felt. Deciding it was for the best to check in he had his crew pull up a live feed from the network of the shuttle bay. Typically he would require Caelus Vire // NIHIL or Tarn Ekkard to transfer someone of this level but the man had grown to trust Merion Oreno due to their travels together.

"Bring up the surface feed near Site D-4. And the auxiliary shuttle assigned to Terallo."

Within seconds, the holotable projected a real-time image of the landing pad. The shuttle sat prepped for departure, engines warm. And there, perched at the edge of its ramp, sat a figure unmistakable in form and posture. "Wrathian"

"Open a secure channel to Oreno. Tight beam. I want audio only."

click

"Merion. The man on the ramp is Wrathian. Inform him I want him to come."

He cut the channel before waiting for acknowledgment.

Leaving the console he stepped forward toward the viewport, golden eyes fixed not on Bastion, but on the tremor he felt echoing outward like a ripple in synthetic silk. There was a design at work in all this. Unnatural. Unstable. It had called him and Wrathian to Liin in the park and now they were all gathered again. Was it the whills of the force guiding them. Or something else.

Liin Terallo Wrathian Kell Merion Oreno

 

[Merion Oreno]

"Merion. The man on the ramp is Wrathian. Inform him I want him to come."

Merion clicked acknowledgement on his earpiece, lowered his blaster, and amended his statement to Wrathian Kell

"Change of plans from on high. Diarch Rellik wants you to join us, Wrathian. Let's get aboard."

Liin Terallo

 

[Liin Terallo]

Already I am alarmed. Yet I tried to focus on my breathing as we moved quickly to the shuttle. In and out. Keep it nice and slow. Keep it controlled. Keep it together.

Yet my thoughts could not help but to drift to what I had seen on the holo-news. I have little doubt in my mind that now that this Chancellorate's fingers will be pointing directly at me. And although I must admit that I do take some of the responsibioity; I cannot be blamed for all of it? Can I?

My quickened pace slows down once I see a dark man sitting on the ramp of what I presumed to be our awaiting shuttle. I remember him from the park. Mister Oreno tells him to move on. Yet within moments he changed his mind. My gaze drifted upwards to spot any cameras for it is clear that we are being watched.

But that attempt is merely brief for we are already walking up the ramp into the shuttle. No sigh of relief escapes me once we are inside. Instead I take the nearest empty steat and sit myself down. My posture is poised and a little stiff, yet the tension is not exactly on a low level here.

"Quantum entanglement. That has to be it," I utter to myself under my breath as I look for a scientific explanation for what I had seen on the holo-news. I am not planning on going down the route of Force Magic and Wizardry. Only science.

Tags: Merion Oreno Wrathian Kell Diarch Rellik Varlo Finnall

 

[Ezorea Zethussaln]

The stars were wrong.

Ezorea stood alone in the viewing corridor, gaze fixed on the black beyond the transparisteel. Where once light shimmered in familiar constellations, now there was absence. A stillness too complete to be natural. She felt it again a pressure behind the eyes, a ripple in the marrow. Another pulse.

She tightened her cloak, heart quickening beneath her composed exterior. Something ancient and wrong moved through the Force, and she could no longer wait.

She moved swiftly down the corridor, drawing her presence inward like a flame protected from wind, letting her senses stretch out for his signature in the Force. Something was unraveling. And she was going to follow the thread, even if it led her straight into the dark.

 

[Merion Oreno]

The shuttle was warmed up. Rapidly, Merion settled in and got ready to takeoff. He tapped the intercom, making his voice clear to everyone aboard.

"Liftoff in one minute," he said, in case that wasn't clear from the shivers running through the shuttle's deck and bulkheads.

If there were no interruptions, no complications, he would lift off and fly them off to Auxiliary Site D-4 as commanded by Diarch Rellik The site was low-profile and less than half an hour's flight away. It wasn't on Bastion, but was nearby in the system - on Bastion's small and somewhat industrialized moon, actually, away from prying eyes.

Liin Terallo Wrathian Kell Varlo Finnall

 

[Varlo Finnall]

As Merion Oreno warmed up the shuttle, Varlo, Whisper, and Wraith appeared. As if from thin air.

Turning to Liin Terallo the grizzled veteran said.

“Good to see you “cousin” Reign wants us to accompany you on this quick trip”

There was no doubt she’d be safe with Oreno, but the Diarch had wanted Varlo to keep the chancellor safe as well.

“Wraith, Whisper. Stay with our VIP”

The commander of the Myrmidons entered the shuttle speaking to the other man.

“Sorry we’re late. Perimeter is secure. Clear for takeoff”

 

[Wrathian Kell]

tags: Liin Terallo Diarch Rellik Merion Oreno Varlo Finnall Ezorea Zethussaln

Wrathian had scarcely a moment to realize what was happening. The blaster was the first thing he saw, yet there was no change in facial expression, only his stance. Even while sitting on the incline, the way he rose upwards to face Merion Oreno was, unnerving. Like someone unseen had lifted the Sith Lord by his shoulders. "If you are of the Diarchy, then we are of the same purpose..." For a moment his illusion began to build in his mindscape. On the verge of projecting the man in front of him into the scenery of something ancient, nameless, and wrong. Only the words that followed stayed his mental projection.

"Change of plans from on high. Diarch Rellik wants you to join us, Wrathian. Let's get aboard."

His head fell to the side studying the man anew. He'd been saved by executive order and now Wrathian was consigned to this... retrieval. "Of course." He replied, his old Imperial accent breaking through the silence for a second time, simply turning and boarding the shuttle behind Liin. Now Liin's words sat within Wrathians head. Quantum Entanglement. Despite his disposition as a warrior and ruler, Wrathians grip upon the ideas of the fabric of space were just as developed. Part of him wondered if his wife had truly crossed through time, or perhaps this was something else, vast and wounded, lashing out in ways that might unmake them all.

Within the shuttle was another man. Hair white like a loth-wolf's, he began to give orders as the ship warmed up to leave for their destination. Wrathian watched the elderly man and the others simply standing in the rear of the shuttle like a shadow that death itself seemed to veer away from.

He was trying to hold his words. He didn't want to speak to her before Diarch Rellik however, the presence of his lover from ages past had become more defined by the second, and with the definition, came the distortion. Something was clearly very wrong. He allowed his impulses to take the reins. "You believe you know what you're being called to examine? Tell me then if you would." He circled the chair kneeling next to Liin Terallo . His eyes like twin suns as they searched her for the answers to all of his questions. "How would a soul be pulled through the fabric of space-time. In theory I understand wormholes, or even a hyperspace jump, which, when near to a black-hole, might prove to do such things. Yet I do not believe those were the causes of my exile to this time... so tell me. Liin. DO you have theories, or perhaps even knowledge of such happenings?"

 

[Diarch Rellik]

A glance at the tactical overlay showed a new contact in orbit. It slid into one of the docking bays under escort protocols.

@Aleratha Tel'alith said:
"Hello Diarch Rellik. I have arrived to show you some new technology... And a bunch of them are detecting some strange force anomalies. Thoughts?"

"Patch her through."

The comms officer gave a crisp nod and a moment later Aleratha's image took shape in the holotable. The Sephi's voice came even before the visual stabilized, the words strange Force anomalies already confirming what his instincts had been telling him for minutes now.

"I can confirm it," Rellik said, voice steady but with that sharpened edge he used when decisions needed to be made quickly. "We're reading the same disturbances from here. The Force feels… inverted. Pulled tight in one direction, then snapping back in another. My people on the surface are reporting similar symptoms, static in the air, disorientation, memory disruption."

"Aleratha," he continued, "your data may help us understand it. Make for these coordinates." His hand flicked across the holotable, transmitting a secure set of numbers, the vector already plotted from orbital scans and Force triangulation. "That's where this pressure is strongest. My flagship will move into low orbit directly above. You are of course more than welcome to travel directly with us."

Another contact appeared moments later. No IFF on file for its commanding officer. "Send her this signal on an open but encrypted channel: This is Diarch Rellik. Identify yourself and your purpose on Bastion immediately. Maintain tracking lock until she replies." - Demveath Okamsiu

He pivoted toward the helm crew.

"We will meet this disturbance head-on," he said, half to his officers, half to himself. "If it is drawing Wrathian, myself, and Liin into its shadow, then we will not allow it to choose the terms of our meeting."

His gaze lingered on the holoprojection of Bastion and its moon and the single, faintly pulsing marker that denoted the epicenter of this wrongness in the Force.

After a moment he sat down on his mat within the center of the command area. Meditating out and searching for others who were coming to discover this new anomaly. - Ezorea Zethussaln

Liin Terallo Varlo Finnall Merion Oreno Wrathian Kell

 

[Liin Terallo]

Seeing Varlo brought a small smile to my face. And just like how I imagined that an older brother might behave; he coined me with the term that we often use for eachother in public. For on more than one ocassion; in the presence of the public we pretended to be cousins with a grandmother that so desperately wanted the two of us to find partners to marry. Those little moments of improv were rather enjoyable. And they were welcomed breaks from the trials and responsibilities that we had. "It is good to see you too, Varlo. Thank you."

Just where it is that we are going; I am uncertain. I only know that it is close.

The man from the park approached me next. He began to ask me some questions, wanting to know of my theories. His eyes searched mine for some form of hope that he could hold onto. Whereas days earlier they were full of judgement. It is a stark contrast indeed.

Clearly he had seen something, or heard something. I know so very little about him. And when he spoke if being exiled to time, I raised a curious brow. For now it appeared that we both had questions for eachother.

"Mister....Kell, is it? I can only guess as to where I am being sent to. As for why? I can imagine that it has something to do with the anomolies happening out there." I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. I could not bombard him with questions. At least not yet. "These anomolies appear to disrupt space and time. It is not a paradox that they create, but instead it is more like a bleedthrough. Or a layering, if you will, that for brief moments opens up and blends into ours. Each choice that we make has an altered version in another layer of the Galaxy. And so there are an infinate number of layers. And something is causing some of those layers to overlap or bleed through ours. That is just an educated guess, mind you. I am sorry if it is not the answer that you seek. I will need to study it to learn more."

Tags: Merion Oreno Wrathian Kell Varlo Finnall Diarch Rellik Aleratha Tel'alith Ezorea Zethussaln