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Selendil watched the first rays of the morning sun climb over the horizon. This world truly was quite beautiful. She'd have to visit this place again. As this was a resort world, it was likely that the celebrations here were ongoing and not just something that happened due to the recent Illum victory. Maybe she should drop a beacon nearby so other members of their crew could visit. She was certain that Amaterasu could get them access.

She took an idle glance at the empty bed that she had not bothered to use. Had she made a different choice last night, the bed wouldn’t have been empty. Or unused for that matter. Amaterasu had propositioned her in a rather blatant way, but Selendil had turned the woman down. Or at least she had pushed that decision into the future. She had enjoyed this little vacation, but last night would’ve been the wrong time to get into something like what Amaterasu had had in mind. In fact, that was what she had said to the woman when she had given her reply.

“Ask me again when you’re not emotionally off-balance from the victory and giving up your position as the Empress.” Selendil had told her.

Amaterasu had been emboldened to make the suggestion because of the recent developments, but it also made the whole thing a potentially bad idea. Selendil didn’t really have objections against the idea of a bit of fun, but the whole thing was not quite that simple. Amaterasu was perhaps the most important officer on the ship and losing her would be a blow. Starting something with a person in that kind of position shouldn’t be something done on a whim, especially considering that Amaterasu might feel differently about the matter once things settled down.

Selendil could admit to herself that she was starving for connections. That’s partially why she had so easily gone along with things yesterday. Even without considering the death of her people, the lack of a constant connection with other Dhar through the Unity left her feeling lonely. The Dhar were a social species, and she was now very much lacking in that aspect. In that sense, Amaterasu was a good option to start something with, as she had already made contact with the universal consciousness. They were also both positively disposed towards one another, though it was a little hard to say if the basis of that disposition was entirely healthy. It was currently based largely on Selendil being a Dhar and Amaterasu being a very accomplished member of the younger races. That didn’t mean things couldn’t develop into something more healthy, of course.

One could reasonably pose a question about attraction. It seemed rather obvious that Amaterasu was attracted to at least this form of Selendil, and it didn’t seem that she disliked Selendil’s true form either. So there was some attraction there. What about the other way? Well, Amaterasu certainly didn’t look like a Dhar and didn’t have many of the features that the Dhar found attractive in each other. However, as usual, things were not quite that simple. The Dhar had spent thousands of generations having fun in other forms, and that had broadened their tastes. Even if Selendil herself had little experience with such practices, she was preserving the memories and skills of countless Dhar that did. Some of that leaked over to her as well. That was part of the reason she didn’t really care if her partner was male, female, or something entirely different either. So yes, there was some attraction the other way as well. That said the attraction was more on the level of ‘I wouldn’t mind having a bit of fun with that one.’ and not the type of attraction that led to things like love or really inflamed passions.

“I think it would be good for you if you accepted her advances. Not now perhaps, but if she does make the suggestion again in the future.” Nox suddenly commented, as if reading her thoughts. The AI had been quiet the entire time yesterday. “It might be a little cruel to put it this way, but you’re not going to find a Dhar partner anymore. And you need something like this.”

Nox didn’t mention it, but she also thought it might help Selendil to come to terms with the ‘lesser races’ as well. Those would be the only races she met in the future, and it wouldn’t help if she considered herself above every race they came into contact with. Even if it was true in some ways. “Of course it doesn’t have to be her specifically, but…” Nox added just in case.

“Yes, well, we don’t need to rush such things. Yesterday did wonders to get me more relaxed in any case, so the time was not wasted. Do we have any news?” Selendil asked.

“Not really. A few people returned to the ship already and Lilly had to bail Khaemwaset out of a holding cell again, but other than that things are unchanged.” Nox replied.

“How many of the nearby galaxies do we still have on the search list?” Selendil already got to the mood to handle such affairs. Yesterday’s levity was mostly gone.

“Well, theoretically there are three dozen more possibilities, but other than two of them, the rest are rather long shots.” Nox estimated after some quick calculations. “The distances involved to the other galaxies are too large, and they’d essentially be by-passing galaxies that are much closer. I wouldn’t put the idea past someone actively trying to hide from you, but since they don’t really have any reason to think someone would be hunting them…”

“Right. Why spend tens of thousands of years in the space between galaxies just on the slight possibility that someone was trying to look for them? There’s being careful and then there’s wasting time and effort on a massive scale. Anything in particular I should know about the two galaxies?” Selendil asked.

“The first one is a rather minor galaxy that the Dhar barely even bothered to take over and didn’t spend much effort developing. We didn’t even build a seat of power there. It almost falls into the same category as the others as well, but it’s a bit more viable as a possibility. The other one is a little different. That galaxy was rather well developed at the time the Dhar disappeared and it was also self-sufficient, so there’s a good chance that some of the old races are still around. Those races were young back then and not as dependent on Dhar technology, so they were in a relatively good position. Even if they’re gone, they likely left behind something for the younger races to discover, so I’d expect that galaxy to be fairly well developed. That said, there’s always the possibility of some disaster wiping out any old development. A lot can happen in the time that has passed.” Nox listed from the old database that she was using as a basis.

“So the odds are they are ahead of this galaxy at least.” Selendil mused.

“It’s hard to say anything for sure as so much can happen when we’re talking about time periods this long, but yes. The likelihood is quite high. Even if development gets reset by a disaster, it usually doesn’t go all the way down to zero.” Nox confirmed by answering the question that wasn’t really a question.

“Let’s visit the other galaxy first, just so we’ll get that one out of the way. I have a feeling that the supposedly developed galaxy will be a lot more complicated and will take more of our time. It would be better if we had eliminated the other possibilities by then.” Selendil decided.

---------

The first galaxy they visited was just as they had expected. Despite being relatively small as far as galaxies went, they still had to spend two weeks in that galaxy trying to track any signs of extra-galactic visitors, and even then their search was cursory and inconclusive at best. Part of what made things go so slowly was the lack of intelligent life they could use as an information source. The galaxy did have a handful of intelligent races, but none of them were space-faring, which meant that they naturally had no way to detect the presence of visitors that didn’t contact them on purpose. They spent the two weeks going to the most important resource-rich locations around the galaxy and found no indication that any ships had stopped there for a resupply. If someone did visit this galaxy, then they certainly didn't leave any signs behind, which meant there was really nothing they could do. Lack of evidence was not evidence of absence. Still, no news was good news in this case.

As the whole two weeks was a rather boring period of time that was spent mostly flying around in phase space, that left a lot of time for the ship’s rumormongers to do their thing. “So you really managed to get Selendil to take part in a celebration with you?” Lilly, the rumormonger-in-chief of the ship, asked eagerly.

"She needed a bit of relaxation, and so did I," Amaterasu replied serenely. She wasn’t the type to really spread such news around. In fact, this information had spread from one of her handmaidens that still remained with her despite her relinquishing her position. While Amaterasu could be discreet, her handmaidens were a little bit more liberal with information, especially information of this kind. They would never divulge national secrets of course. Secrecy with such things was a requirement of the job.

“I heard you actually got to decide what she looked like and wore," Xiaoli said with a grin. "So did anything happen?"

“I most certainly won’t talk about such things.” Amaterasu denied their attempts with a stiff gaze that brooked no nonsense.

Unfortunately, she was not going to get her way, as the others were not going to leave things alone. "Ah, so something did happen, but not what she was hoping for," Xiaoli said conspiratorially to Lilly. "Judging from her tone, she wasn't entirely shot down though."

Amaterasu cleared her throat a bit. These people could be annoyingly sharp on the weirdest of occasions. “Did you get pictures?” Lilly suddenly asked, as if seizing on a prey she had caught.

Amaterasu couldn’t stop herself from blushing a bit. She had actually gone back into many of the places they had visited the next day and gotten many pictures and even some video. “You did!” Xiaoli shouted. “Now don’t hold out on us. You got to take her out. The least you can do is to share the pictures!”

“I will not!” Amaterasu denied them again, now flustered though.

“Nox? How about you? I know you got copies already.” Xiaoli suddenly asked the air.

“…what’s in it for me?” The AI asked finally. Of course she got copies and even ran them by Selendil, making sure if it was something she needed to delete.

“Nox, no.” Amaterasu tried to prevent this. Her tone lacked credibility though, as she already got the pictures for her own enjoyment. The video about them playing sports on the beach was especially appealing.

“I’ll assist Selendil in building your new body. I’m the one with the most experience with such things on this ship. The Cybrans are experts in joining together flesh and machine. You’d like to get the best out of your body, right?” Xiaoli threw out an enticing offer.

“Deal.” Nox agreed lightning quick, and Xiaoli’s communicator gave a received message sound.

“You traitor!” Amaterasu cried out.

“Hey, she had a point.” Nox defended herself. “You got to enjoy the outing, the least you could do is share the proceeds. Plus, she made an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“What the heck Amaterasu?!” Xiaoli shouted as she browsed the pictures. “You managed to get her into a micro?! You dirty, dirty woman! And you weren’t even going to share this?! I’m so disappointed in you. And look at that dress!”

"That's not a whole lot of cloth," Lilly commented as well as she looked over Xiaoli's shoulder. She tilted her head a bit as the video about beach sports came up. "How does that top even stay on? Share please!"

In less than an hour the images of their vacation had spread all over the ship. No one mentioned anything when Selendil was around, and no one even looked at her funny, but she did feel an odd atmosphere around the ship for the next week or so. Nox dutifully informed her of the reason, so she just let it go. Amaterasu, on the other hand, had to listen to constant teasing, which wasn’t made any easier by the fact that those pictures included her in the same attire. She’d have to hear about this for a long time to come.

Surprisingly it was Moonshadow that finally cracked down on the excessive teasing. “You understand right?” She whispered Amaterasu later on while the two were together on a transport platform.

“Yes, yes. I’ll do my best to make sure she’ll take that Mrrroww form she used before as well.” Amaterasu confirmed with a sigh. There was always a price to pay.

-----

Their arrival at the rather sizeable galaxy they suspected of being fairly advanced was much more explosive than their visit to the previous galaxy that was almost barren. They quite literally arrived to find themselves in the middle of a battle. Dozens of ships were exchanging fire near the beacon they arrived at. Long and thin matte-black colored vessels were firing beams of dark energy at white and sleek vessels that were shaped like a circlet surrounding a large round central orb that seemed to glow with energy. It looked like the black ships were losing despite their advantage in numbers, though that was at least partially explained by the fact that the six white vessels were three times as big, while the largest was definitely big enough to be classified as a dreadnought.

As they arrived immediately adjacent to the battle, it didn’t come as a surprise that some of the fighters that were buzzing around even opened fire on them. “Permission to return fire?” Nox asked.

“Granted but only against those that fire on us first.” Selendil agreed.

Several hexagonal shields appeared around the Enduring Symphony and thick beams of blue energy swept the offending fighters, destroying them immediately. As if only now becoming aware of their presence, two of the six white ships started moving in their direction, while the black ships that they had been fighting earlier took the opportunity to beat a hasty retreat. Their armor was already heavily scarred by the lances of bright energy, many of their weapon turrets being no longer operational, so they were no longer in any position to fight.

“Weren’t we supposed to warp to a remote beacon?” Amaterasu asked in confusion. The system wasn’t inhabited according to her scans, yet they ran into a fairly big battle. This wasn’t just a group of outlaws exchanging fire.

"We did. The beacon we used was one of a dozen surviving ones in this galaxy, and it seems all of them are at the very edges of the galaxy, except for one that is near the central black hole. We are now on the very fringes of this galaxy. My scans confirm our location, so there’s no mistake” Nox replied.

“Are the approaching ships trying to contact us?” Moonshadow asked.

“No, and they are coming into optimal firing range. They are firing.” Nox reported.

The bright beams of energy were met with more of the hexagonal shields that stopped the enemy attack. However, the continuous lances of energy continued firing. “The enemy attack exceeding the stopping power of a single shield. Layering.”

Just as the hexagonal shields broke, several more layered on top of each other to firmly stop the attack. “That’s the first time we’ve seen the shield broken by enemy fire," Amaterasu commented a bit worried.

“Analyzing the enemy weapons. Confirmed, energy lances enhanced by psionically charged focusing crystals.” Nox reported, she defaulted to a much more clipped and machine-like way of speaking in battle to convey information quickly and efficiently.

"Return the greeting won't you," Selendil ordered.

The blue energy beams that had shot down the fighters appeared again, this time digging deep furrows on the front armor of the two white ships. “Huh. I didn’t expect that.” Selendil commented. She had expected a lot more damage even though the energy beams were not among their most powerful weapons. They were just the easiest to use.

“Reporting. The enemy ships are covered by a form-fitted deflector shielding with bulk fire mitigation. The power of their shields is rather significant, likely as a result of the entire core being dedicated to energy production.” Nox quickly explained.

"That explains the lance weapons then," Selendil muttered.

"No, it doesn't. Not to us anyway. Translate please.” Xiaoli shouted from her station that handled engineering.

“Their shields don’t just absorb attacks like most shields, they deflect them away. Sometimes even in the direction of where the attack is coming from, using the force of the attack for defense. It's a much more difficult technology to control, but it is very effective. As a result, the shields can almost completely ignore a portion of the power from the attacks. The bulk fire mitigation means that the more weapons are firing at the shield, the larger the percentage of the incoming attacks get completely mitigated. It’s great when fighting against massed enemies, but it also makes the ship more vulnerable to singular powerful attacks like those continuous lance attacks.” Nox gave a brief summary.

“Incidentally, when the shield loses power, it also pays for the ability to reflect damage as the mitigation lowers and some of the power from the attack can get past the shield entirely. That’s why such ships usually also sport heavy armor. Those two ships didn’t lose their shields entirely when we attacked, even though we damaged the ship as well. As for form-fitting…” Selendil spoke in a leisurely pace despite the enemy ships continuing their fire. The ships were getting more serious this time as multiple weapons fired on them from both ships.

“I think I can figure out that one.” Xiaoli rushed to say. “Their shield is not a large bubble around the ship, but something that is fitted to surround the ship just on top of the hull.”

“Exactly.” Selendil nodded and looked at the hostile ships showed on the holographic display. “That’s getting annoying. Give them a hint of what happens if they don’t stop annoying us.”

It seemed like a crack of lightning struck the white ship in front and a rift into phase space swallowed most of the vessel. That caused all of the other ships in the system to come to a standstill. For several seconds they all just floated in place before coming to a decision. The black ships all turned around and initiated a phase jump. The white ships were different, however. It seemed like windows of blue energy suddenly appeared in front of the ships and swallowed them. Then they were just gone.

Selendil floated up from her chair. “What was that?” She asked with a stern face. “What the heck was that?!” She demanded more loudly before anyone even had a chance to reply.

“I have no idea.” Nox finally admitted. “My scanners only recognized a buildup of energy, and then they were gone.”

That answer made Selendil both angry and excited. Angry that she’d been fooled and excited because she had finally run into something new when it came to technology. She was already consulting the scientists and phase-smiths she was preserving and none of them had answers either.