T'Nok was a warrior caste Treana'ad. He was nearly as tall as a Terran and massed twice as much. His four legs were not only heavily armored by his carapace, but they were strong, with thick and wide foot pads that let him run across sand as fast as some species air-cars could drive. His grip was impressive, his bladearms long and sharp, his intellect was as honed as his natural blades, and his education was expansive.

He had been educated on Terra, at a prestigious university in the nation of Bongistan.

Once, he and his frat Treana'ad frat brothers had watched the fearsome and intimidating changing of the Chromium Queen's Guard, admiring their fierce uniforms, their dominating and aggressive fur hats, their crisp movements, and how nothing seemed to affect them.

According to the tour guide, even the attempting glassing of the city by the Mantid had been ignored by the Queen's Guard, the energy of the orbital plasma strikes ignored as inconsequential compare to their duty of keeping the Chromium Queen imprisoned in order to spare the populace her undying wrath.

After his education, T'Nok had applied his natural talents and education, working hard to make contacts with people who would not only appreciate his efforts but be able to pay for them.

Within a few years his work was all the rage. Matrons wealthy and poor sought him out, powerful and meek both.

He built larvae and egg chambers.

Melding beauty, technology, and science with an eye for the pleasing, his work was appreciated by all. He had even appeared in several magazines and had once been interviewed for "Classy Matron Today" and another time "The Cattle Queen's Digest" about his methods.

He kept his bladearms sharp, even had a small bit of work done, so that he could use them in what he considered the most important part of his designs.

His ability to carve crystal.

He had spent five years learned about the different kinds of crystal in the universe, how they formed, their appearance, their properties, and how they interacted with their evironmet.

To T'Nok, a crystal was less inanimate minerals and more a living thing.

He had even visited several planets where there were crystalline life forms in order to observe them in their natural habitats.

Which was why the big male Treana'ad was standing in egg and larvae chamber of a wealthy young Cattle Queen, unworried about his head. He had taken proper precautions. He wore his nifty Bongistand University beanie, the propeller on it gently whirring and sparkling, distracting any female from his actual head to the complex pattern the 4D propeller wove on top of the multicolor shifting hat.

"The bushes are from Leebaw, their complex roots will interweave with one another to form a root wall between the sand of the main part of the chamber and the small creek," he pointed out.

The young female nodded. Her abdomen was swollen with eggs and she felt slightly dreamy. The laying chamber was amazing looking, the air was perfect, with just a hint of cattle's unique scents, the light flowing into a dreamy whole.

"By the time the larvae hatch, the roots will be intertwined closely enough that you do not have to fear exploring larvae finding the creek and drowning in it.

There was a chime at the door and the Matron looked slightly put out, almost pouty, as she turned to see who was entering.

A worker caste, wearing her family's colors, stood there. She could see his anxiety and she frowned.

"Yes, Krikaklat?" she said, rubbing her wings together in worry.

"Matron, there are visitors," he said.

"Visitors? But there are no appointments for the rest of the day," she said.

"Uh, they are not here for you, Matron," Kriky said. He pointed at T'Nok. "There are Space Force officers to see the most honorable T'Nok."

T'Nok raised his antenna. He could not think of what they would want with him. There had been no conscription, the state of emergency was over, and the closest he had come to the military was designing a contemplation chamber for one of the War Matrons.

"I do not know what they might wish of me," T'Nok said. He turned to the Matron. "If you will pardon me, I will see what is so important that they would disturb you rather than waiting for our appointment to end."

"Of course," the Matron said. She fluttered her wings slightly. "It is so beautiful in here. I think I shall sit by the stream and watch a Tri-Vid."

"By your leave, Matron," T'Nok said. The Matron gave a lazy, sleepy wave, and T'Nok followed the servant.

At the front gate of the Cattle Queen family manor a gray unmarked wheeled vehicle sat. Grav and hover vehicles were strictly forbidden near the vast cattle ranches, as many believed the noise and vibration could sour the milk. In front of the car were two Mantids in Space Force uniforms, as well as two Treana'ad in the same uniform and what looked to be one of the War Matrons.

When he left the estate the War Matron stepped forward.

"You are T'Nok the Architect?" she asked, as if her implant would not have informed her.

"I am," T'Nok said. He nodded respectively. "How may I be of service, War Matron."

"Not here," she said. She stared at him. "The Confederacy and its allies need your expertise."

"Mine? I'm an architect and artist, how can I help?" he asked.

"You are the foremost expert of crystalline structures," she said. "I will explain more when we arrive, suffice to say, your skills are needed by Smokey Cone, your people, and the entire Confederacy."

T'Nok rubbed his wings together in slight agitation.

"As long as it has nothing to do with a power rifle, I consent," he said.

"We'd rather a talented and intelligent male did not shoot off his own genitals by accident," the War Matron smiled.

T'Nok felt better as he moved over to his rented vehicle. He was started when he saw two Saurian Compact Kobolds standing there, in adapative camouflage with density enhanced padding, both of them carrying a rifle.

They also had psychic shielding wraps on the back of their head.

"I take it you will be riding with me?" T'Nok asked, looking pointedly at the magac rifles they held.

Both nodded silently.

"Well, I hope you like High Plains Bandit Rap," he said, opening the door to the car.

During the drive, as he followed the gray vehicle, the Kobolds stayed silent, watching outside T'Nok's rented car rather than pay attention to what he was doing.

It had been months, nearly a year, since the last of the Lanaktallan guerrilla forces had been apprehended, and T'Nok felt slightly anxious at what they might be watching for. The silent ride did not help, and eventually T'Nok turned off his music, finding that it was beginning to stress him out more rather than relax him as it should.

He was taken to a Space Force facility. His car was searched twice, he was searched four times, including an in-depth scan that made his mandibles itch. He was given clothing to wear, and when he changed into it he found that it was designed to not only protect him but to ensure that the security personnel of the facility could keep track of him and his biometrics at all times.

T'Nok felt nervous as he was finally shown into a laboratory deep inside the facility. He knew it was below ground, and that made him slightly nervous. The laboratory also bothered him. It was clean, sterile, and reminded him again of why the Materials Science courses were the hardest part of his studies for him.

The other thing that bothered him was the sight of the petite Terran females, with brown hair, brown eyes, brown skin, and black suits that stood still at doorways and against the walls of the rooms. There were even two wearing clean suits, their sidearms wrapped in steriplas bags, inside the laboratory staring at everything with cold dead eyes.

"Honored N'Tok," a russet Mantid said, moving forward. She gestured at her collegues, which was an eclectic mix of species. All of them were doctors of science, all of them were undoubtedly experts in the fields.

Phasic energy interactions. Metallurgy. Exotic Matter. Strange Matter. Geology. Mineralogists. Strange Physicists.

He raised his antenna.

"I am indeed amid learned company," T'Nok said softly.

That seemed to satisfy everyone present.

"Are you aware of what is happening in the Confederacy?" one of the black suited Confederate Security Agents asked.

"Just that we are at war. The Lanakatallan, who invaded our home system," T'Nok gave a shudder. "That was a terrible month huddling within the shelter unsure of how it was going outside."

Everyone looked at each other and there was some murmuring.

"You don't know?" A Kobold researcher asked.

T'Nok shook his head. "I'm a nervous person. The news services make me anxious, so I prefer my solitude and have engrossed myself with my work."

A few looked at one another and back to T'Nok.

"The Terrans are all dead," a Treana'ad worker caste with excellent coloring said.

T'Nok reached out and steadied himself against the wall, hyperventilating. "The Lanaktallan?"

The worker, who held three PhD's in scientific disciplines, shook his head. "We have suspicions, but no. A new species, that had remained hidden."

"But, all of them?" T'Nok's head was swimming.

Another Treana'ad moved up and handed him a menthol cherry cigarette. T'Nok puffed on it a minute, trying to banish his anxiety, no, his fear.

"Virtually. As of today, we know less than two million, outside the primitivism worlds, remain above the age of 25," one of the Agents said, her voice dead and inflectionless as she spoke of the near extermination of her species.

"Surely you didn't bring me here to tell me this terrible news," T'Nok said.

They all shook their heads.

A Treana'ad female, with odd coloring, moved forward. "You studied mineralogy," she stated.

"Yes, and so did they," T'Nok said, pointing at the two others.

The Confederate Agent stepped forward. "For your Master's Thesis, you examined phasic interaction with artificial and natural crystalline growth. It was highly contested, but ultimately, your thesis was upheld."

"Yes. That was many years ago," T'Nok said.

The Agent nodded, her eyes still blank of emotion. "Since then, you have worked for many clients, and several times utilized crystals that altered and adjusted phasic energy flows."

T'Nok nodded, feeling confidence come back. "Phasic energy and certain crystal lattice structures have a harmony and synergy rarely seen in other material. In some ways warsteel and crystalline phasic structures are inextricably linked."

One of the Saurians motioned for T'Nok to follow as he kept speaking.

"Crystalline structures respond to vibrations in ways that most of what is termed as metals do not," T'Nok said. "As a matter of fact, molecular crystallization theory is what allows warsteel and chromium endosteel as well as durally to be laminated onto other materials."

Those who dealt with such things nodded.

"Many, like myself, believe that vibration is a fundamental underpinning of the cosmos," T'Nok said. He stopped and looked around. There were multiple types of crystal in stasis and steri-fields. Some of which he did not recognize.

"Art Master T'Nok," the Treana'ad female said. "We called you in as you may hold the key to understanding some things."

T'Nok stood there as they explained. The new enemy appeared to have an affinity for crystals as well as temporal manipulation and phasic energy. There had been heavy fighting in a system called Hesstla (or maybe that had been the name of the bunny people? Or their star? T'Nok wasn't quite sure) that had resulted in quite a few of the crystals being captured. In the last few weeks more battles had erupted between Confederate Space Force assets and the newcomers, which resulted in more crystals being captured.

"At an atomic and sub-atomic level they appear the same. There is an odd difference," one of the Mantid engineers said through emojis and a translator.

T'Nok looked at one that sat dully beneath the lights. "This one. May I examine it?" T'Nok interrupted.

The crystals had been fascinating, and while T'Nok had paid close attention to what was already known, he had been considering the crystals while the fluff and unimportant (to T'Nok) was blathered on about.

There was some looks exchanged but the Kobold in charge nodded.

T'Nok removed the crystal with robotic waldoes and moved it to a sampler. He watched closely, with a multispectrum lens, as the warsteel blade began to slice off a wafer.

"Stop," he ordered. He stepped back. "There's part of the problem."

The other scientists watched as T'Nok withdrew the saw and moved the blade to a scanner. After a minute or two of deep level scanning, T'Nok stepped back and waved at the others to examine it.

The excited vibration of subatomic particles was less at the edge of the blade then the center, but was rapidly equalizing.

"I need software and tools fabricated," T'Nok said. He cocked his head slightly. "Let's try the old Terran favorite of case hardened surgical steel with diamond doping for the blade."

It took a minute for it to be fabricated, and T'Nok started again. He stopped, went over, and made more adjustments to the fabricator.

The scientists watched.

-----------------

It had been nearly a month and T'Nok sighed as he settled into the chair. He was glad that Smokey Cone Intelligence had requested one of the more powerful Matrons soothe the ruffled wings of the Matrons whose appointments he had been forced to reschedule.

He watched as Space Force Intelligence, Confederate Logistics and Procurement, and Mantid Phasic Energy Technicians all filed in.

It had been a lot of work, done in fits and starts.

It had stretched T'Nok's knowledge and imagination.

But he had the data now.

To be perfectly honest with himself, he would have rather been working on designing grub hatcheries.

Finally the audience was ready.

T'Nok launched into a lecture of how crystals were vital to modern technology. From molecular circuitry to picobots to starship drives to high capacity holographic memory systems, crystals were integral to it all. He pointed out that Terran technology, indeed, every allied race, depended on crystalline substances for much of their technology.

From there, he moved onto the primary subject.

The crystals recovered on Hesstla and other places.

"As you see, cutting with the standard blades, even lasers, altered the potential energy of each atomic particle. The crystalline structure absorbed vibrational charge, which made the early examinations and estimations all flawed science," T'Nok said. "Using strange matter carbon lattice cutters, I managed to remove several pieces of the crystal and examine them."

He looked over the crowd. "The darker crystals, while recovered on Hesstla and resembling the later crystals, are not the same. Atomic and subatomic weight and makeup are the same," he said. He gave a stern look. "What is not the same is that the matter is, to use a term, exhausted. Tachyon movement within the electron is minimal, just as one example."

He clicked through. "These crystals were manufactured in low gravity environments, but not on low gravity planets," he said. "They were grown in orbital facilities," he looked stern again. "Grown somewhere outside of this universe."

He tabbed to the next slide. "The Terran Third Dimensional War gave the data to positively identify those crystals outside of our cosmos, our universe."

"The Atrekna are not from our universe, but from one where matter, energy, even chronotrons are exhausted and nearly spent," he said.

"Like a dying universe? One dying of entropy?" one member of the audience asked.

"More like, dead," T'Nok said. "From my point of view, the universe that the crystals were from is long dead."

He turned and brought up another slide. "These crystals, while atomically the same, are energized much the same as our universe's matter," he said. "These crystals were grown in our universe."

He stared at one of the Space Force officers with a lot of shiny braid and a nifty hat.

"The enemy has established bases and manufacturing facilities in this universe," T'Nok said. He shook his head. "But that's not why you brought me in, and I could be wrong, but I'm not."

He triggered another slide. "As you know, crystals, including picocrystals, are used in phasic technologies, from psychic shielding and beyond."

He triggered another one. "These crystals here, which we have the most abundance of, are designed to actually store phasic energy for later use. They are detectable on phasic frequencies quite easily and at quite a distance. They are present in early all Atrekna technology."

He continued on. What environments each type of crystal could be grown in. What type of facility it would take to grow those crystals. Possible uses. Vibration frequency and atomic lattice patterning. How it interacted with currently researched phasic materials. How some of the crystals were used in weapons to amplify and focus the phasic components.

Finally, T'Nok was done with his lecture. He stepped back. "My data will be fully available to all of you."

T'Nok hoped that he had not wasted everyone's time as he left the stage. Another scientist was taking over, going over the crystal interactions, as T'Nok left the auditorium.

One of the Confederate Agents were there, her expression and eyes unreadable.

"You may return to your life now, should you wish," she said, her voice emotionless.

"I would like that very much," T'Nok admitted.

He followed her out, getting in the ground car with her. They rode in silence to his domicile and studio.

T'Nok felt great relief as the Agent parked the car. As he got out she called his name.

"You should know, and I may tell you," she said, her eyes suddenly no longer dead, but full of passion and conviction.

T'Nok managed not to step back in fear.

"What you have done here will have far more reaching consequences in defeating the Atrekna than anything you could have ever done with a rifle," she said.

She rolled up the window, put the car in gear, and drove away.

T'Nok rubbed his wings together in agitation as he went back into his house.

He had nearly two thousand messages. He ordered up a bowl of ice cream and started going through them one by one.

He was startled by one.

He was no longer subject to conscription, having fulfilled any possible military service requirement that the Confederacy or the Matrons may need of him.

He saved that one and had it etched onto a metal plaque as he continued going through his messages.

To be honest, he was thrilled that he would never be asked to hold a rifle.

----------------

CONFED MILINT INTERNAL MEMO

TO: WEAPON SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT BOARD

Enclosed is the vibrational frequency of Atrekna crystal structures. Apply to weapon, scanner, and targeting systems as soon as possible. Frequency profile is to be disseminated among troops as soon as possible for target system firmware upgrades as soon as possible.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---