***Saggitarius Arm – Fast Courier Ship -Reach-***

***Travil, the Ambassador***

“They are using a whole star as a fuel source for their fleet!” Miredin whispered as he looked upon the impossibility that the demon's called an expeditionary fleet.

In truth, it was more like they had sent an entire civilisation on the move.

Prompted by his words, the tablet in Miredin's hands activated and projected a red, stylized figure that had similarities to a Lmir. The differences lay in the red skin, the horns, and the added tail. There were some other smaller physiological deviations, but those were only minor ones.

What Iris had called an 'Emoji', chirped happily as it bobbed in a way that wouldn't be possible for a real being made out of flesh and blood.

When I first encountered this supposedly entertaining feature, I was baffled, to say the least.

Entering our rooms and accessing the tablets which held an introduction to the V.C. had gone hand in hand with a lot of confusion. The strange 'helper' that had come as a projected add-on even caused one of my people to drop his device, which had resulted in him having to request a new one.

It had taken Iris the better part of an hour to explain the concept of a 'cartoon' to us, but I still didn't understand the reasoning behind it.

Especially not why anyone would turn this “1000 Q&A” into an 'Emoji'. The thing was nothing but annoying to me! Luckily, I had found out how to switch off the projected visualization.

Oh, and the emoji wasn't sentient. I had asked, and apparently, it was just an automated response to a question or statement.

“The 'star' is a minor red dwarf that was re-ignited with the help of gravitation projectors. Its apparent size is misleading from our current point of view. The reality is that the central mass is closer to an upper-limit planet. The superstructures around it serve to contain and gather the emitted energy. If we would approach from a slightly different angle, you would see that the gravitational forces are warping the star’s mass into a teardrop shape. This is caused by the gravitational field that pulls the star forward.”

The emoji bobbed and transformed into a caricature of the 'star', together with the superstructure that surrounded it and almost completely hid it from view. Several concentric loops and rings were arranged around the glowing light. It looked like an insane artisan had played a game with gravity, or gone overboard with an old-fashioned world globe.

There was also something that warped the star’s chromosphere, drawing protuberances and collecting them in a central point above the star. I assumed that this was the drive-effect that the emoji had spoken of.

“Our engineers carefully used their wisdom to tear apart a star and to contain its power in a much smaller, more manageable form. Some more extreme-spirited developers advocate to go all the way and to directly use artificial singularities, instead of super-dense masses. But the technology was ultimately deemed ineffective and much harder to maintain than the solution you see before you. Utilizing a small-scale star is much safer and it allows us to create more Expeditionary Fleets at the same cost of resources.”

“That's where the stars are going!” Eleu exclaimed. “They are using them to make... those things. But why can't we see them then?”

“Most red dwarfs are too dim to ‘see’ them from very far away. They are just not bright enough. They emit radiation in the invisible spectrum. Which is exactly what we noticed,” Miredin said. His answer was directed as much at Eleu as everyone else in the room. “We saw them making those superstructures around their stars, but we wouldn't be able to spot such an artefact once it left its birthing star from more than a few dozen lightyears out. And those rings are an additional obstacle that interferes with visibility. Look how close their Superstructures are to the star's surface. They are more like a planet's rings. They must have some way to gather the radiation or those structures would just melt away. Which would explain why the readings we get from the Outer Rim experienced such a dramatic shift in the spectrum.”

He covered his mouth with one hand and mumbled through it. “If they did that to every star, they must have hundreds of thousands of these vessels, depending on how fast the setup process is.”

“They can't destroy entire solar systems!” Jerera moaned. “Where are they supposed to live in the end? How many stars were already destroyed?”

“That is a misconception!” The emoji chirped again. “The larger a star is, the quicker it burns its fuel – most of it completely wasted. A smaller star's lifespan is much longer than that of a hyper-giant for example. The more mass they have, the quicker they burn their fuel. By re-engineering large stars into small ones, like this one and its surrounding superstructure, we increase the overall living space and available energy. One of the larger stars allows us to create hundreds of these 'starships', as we call them. They act as mobile bases for our fleets that will bring the war to our enemy's doorstep. This one here is currently home to one billion of our people.”

I wasn't so far off when I assumed that they were moving their entire civilisation!

“How fast can it go?” Miredin asked with a worried tone of awe in his voice.

“Relatively fast for its size,” the emoji replied proudly. “As of now, the starships are too large to use hyperspace technology. You may know of the exponentially increasing energy costs with transported volume. But it doesn't matter much. Our starships are capable of accelerating with a few per cent of lightspeed per month. Which is fine for us. As long as we have a mobile centre of operations, we don't really care whether it gets from one star to the next within a few decades. We named this starship 'Icarius', and it's currently moving at roughly seventy percent lightspeed towards the galactic centre, like many of its brothers and sisters.”

I turned my attention towards Iris who was with us on the observation deck. “Your people are really determined to fight this war, aren’t they?”

She nodded. “I am sorry that it has come to this, but there is one thing that all of the V.C. agrees on, and that’s that the G.S. will never leave us be as long as they stay in power. There may be a chance for peace if we would be talking about purely biological intelligence. Those can be influenced easily enough. And if not fast, then over the course of centuries. Sadly, the G.S. is ruled by an A.I. of unknown origin. For as long as we don’t learn more about it, we have to assume the worst. Namely, that its goals and directives will stay unchanged for as long as it keeps operating.”

“You could try to influence those who follow its rule,” I suggested, trying to come up with an alternate modus operandi that these people could take to achieve their goals.

“We are already trying to do that, but it is hard.” She shrugged. “The G.S. had a few decades worth of analysing our nanotech. They learned a few things about keeping us out. Things like recognizing our agents, or subduing our technology, these things are within their range of capabilities. It isn’t as easy for us as you might believe to get a foothold in the core worlds without having a large fleet and resources in position. It isn't like we haven't tried more subversive tactics instead of open warfare.”

“Easy?” I smirked and threw a meaningful look at her.

Not catching the innuendo, she looked down at her own body. “Well, yes. Is this not a perfect imitation of a Lmir body? Imagine how easily I could fit into your society if I had spent any length of time studying your cultural and social interactions.”

“Why didn’t you?” I asked in a more serious tone, forgoing that I hadn't meant to downplay the abilities of Iris's people.

“Because we learned that this 'show', but 'don’t pretend' approach is far more likely to get the point across,” she curtsied to me. “Our purpose is to make the civilisations aware that the G.S. is using you as delaying fodder against us. They have to know what we are, what the G.S. is, and how things are going to play out. And before you ask, you will understand by the time that your visit is over.”

“Okay.” I pursed my lips, hoping that I wasn’t pushing too far. “So, can you finally explain what’s up with this guide business?”

“Well, I am your guide to my people’s society. You can go wherever you want on Icarius in the coming weeks. Talk to people and learn about us.” She gestured towards the superstructure which grew rapidly bigger on the observation lounge’s screen.

“When will I get to meet a diplomat?” I asked while I watched. The ship was now approaching one of the outer rings. The segment that we were aiming for was tightly populated with instruments and smaller structures which escaped my understanding. But judging by the number of ships that were clustered around the area, I supposed that it was a shipyard.

“You won’t. Diplomats are for negotiations. This isn’t a negotiation,” Iris looked away from me.

“What do you mean that this isn't a negotiation?” I asked, unable to hide the frustration that I felt at her words. I had trained my entire life for this one moment. To negotiate a possible solution that would allow our people to keep on existing when so many other civilisations had quietly died beneath the onslaught of these people.

“A negotiation can only take place between parties that desire a peaceful exchange,” Iris explained calmly as if she had anticipated that this would cause a huge emotional reaction. “I am sorry that I have to say this, Travil, but your people are in our way. You have to get out of our way or you will get crushed.”

What had the general said? The G.S. and the V.C. were two giants and our people were caught between them?

Iris continued. “We are trying our best to make this as easy on you as possible, Travil. And even if your people might not see it that way, by joining the V.C., you have at least some path open that allows you a future. But this path will be closed if you decide that you don't want that. That is the spark of empathy that we can extend to your people. When we started, you said that we are washing our hands of responsibility by leaving the choice to you. And you are entirely correct.”

I couldn't say anything to that. These people had already decided our fate and were...

Were what? They were trying to make it easy on us out of some twisted sense of morality?

I wasn't sure whether giving an emotional reply right now was the right thing to do, so I said nothing.

I turned my attention towards the observation screen and found that we had entered the dockyard's vicinity. The ring segment which was housing it alone was larger than any Lmir-built construct in history.

We passed dozens of ships that waited in neat, orderly lines for processing.

One thing immediately stood out. “Why are there so many different types?”

I wasn't used to such diversity. The Lmir designed just a few ships within the same weight class. And even then, it was rare to see ships with different purposes right next to each other.

Here, almost no ship resembled one another. All had their own quirks and design features. Many shared the predominant feature of the teardrop shape. Another well-liked design choice was a more bulky design, leaning towards a sphere. I assumed that both designs were a direct result of the gravitational drive being the preferred propulsion system.

Iris frowned as she looked at the passing flotilla. “Why not?”

“Why not? She says,” I mumbled. “Because it is wasteful? How are you coordinating a fleet where hardly any ship is the same? It's chaos out there! How do you even design this many ships?”

“I must consent with Travil.” Miredin turned his attention towards us. He had apparently listened in on our conversation despite him questioning the emoji on various matters of the miniature Dyson Swarm.

Iris's frown deepened. “I think that you haven't fully grasped what the virtual in V.C. stands for. We are living as much in our virtual realities as in meatspace. And thanks to the Blues, our virtual reality is a very good depiction of reality. Also runs a lot faster if we want to. As long as we have the processing power, we can simulate ship-types and different scenarios to our heart's content. When my ship destroyed those two scouts, a team of strategists spent two weeks simulating the best course of action.”

She gestured at the fleet. “We can design ships and test them in virtual reality before we spend actual resources to build them. None of these ships is any better or worse at its intended task. They were designed and tested, taking their pilot's preferences into account before they were built. Well, a large part of the design choices can be attributed to the pilots. Those bulky ones for example.”

Iris pointed. “I would bet my next drink that a former Bri is piloting that thing. They were assimilated just a few decades ago and a lot of them joined the Icarius expedition. They are fitting in well with us former humans. Their minds work very similarly to ours, but there is something very wrong with their sense of aesthetics!”

She sniffed in distaste. “Very wrong.”

I stared at the ship.

A part of my training had included learning about the species that had gone dark during the Silent's advance. The Bri could count only just a few dozen solar systems as their own, but they had been a stalwart ally of the G.S. before their systems became the frontlines of this war.

Now that Iris pointed it out, I could recognize Bri design principles in those ships.

I looked at Iris. “Can we talk to a Bri once we are settled in? And maybe a few other races that went 'dark' once they joined your people?”

“Of course!” Iris clapped her hands. “I am sure that I can get you at least a former Bri. As for others, I will have to look for others. I think there is a Go'tak working at the command office. If you were willing to do an upload, you could talk to anyone you wanted to, even if they are hundreds of lightyears away.”

I coughed. “I think that readily available individuals will be enough for now. I just want to get a sense of what these people think of their choice, now that they are a part of the V.C.”

The ship proceeded towards a docking station, a pillar that extended outwards from the ring segment. Once the ship was secured, Iris walked over to a desk and climbed on top of it.

“Ahem!” She cleared her throat. “Lmir, attention please!”

Once every Lmir had turned his or her attention towards our 'guide', she continued.

“Welcome to starship Icarius! You are welcome to leave the ship at any time you want. There are just two things you have to know when you are alone outside the ship.” She raised two fingers. “First, should you lose your way, you just have to tell someone that you need to get back to the Fast Courier Ship 'Reach'. Second, don't go anywhere near younglings, that means, young demons if you can avoid it. They lack impulse control since their bodies aren't yet capable to support their distinct personalities fully. I will show you what I mean once we leave the ship. There shouldn't be that many running free, but people tend to take the children out on occasion.”

Someone from my group raised her hand. “Are you sure that we can go out just like that?”

“Sure.” Iris nodded. “G.O.D., that doesn't mean some a real god. It's the acronym for the information platform that handles our physical forms and interactions with virtual space. It will announce you to everyone you meet. Unless someone desires to suffer harsh punishments, any action against a Lmir delegate will have dire consequences. As long as you don't trip on your own, you should be perfectly fine walking around as you please.”

She hopped down from the table, landing easily. “If you would please come with me. I will show you the grav-lift that can take you down to the promenade.”

“Promenade?” Eleu asked.

“Yeah, the main public space outside of private living quarters. It stretches along the entirety of every ring segment,” Iris explained while she led us to the other side of the ship. “It's located on the other side of the ring. Construction facilities and industry is located inside the ring where it's out of sight, while the Promenade serves recreational purposes.”

Our path led to the same airlock through which we had entered at the beginning of our journey. Once it opened, it revealed a spacious, white room this time around.

“This is one of the docking station's grav-lifts.” We followed Iris who gave a verbal command, “Free Vision Mode.”

Instantly, the walls became opaque and then turned transparent. It was like stepping out into space itself.

The door closed once everyone had entered the grav-lift.

“Promenade,” Iris ordered, then looked around. “Oh, and in case you want to return, you can also find any grav-lift like this one and just say the name of the ship and it will take you back.”

“Neat,” Miredin complimented while the grav-lift started moving. From our point of view, it rapidly descended down the docking pylon towards the huge ring segment.

It felt like I was a little lighter than back on the ship, but otherwise, I couldn't feel the lift moving.

A certain other member of my party looked like she wanted to puke all over herself again. But Jerera closed her eyes and started muttering, telling herself that she wasn't moving and that everything was fine.

I no longer felt like I was in space, but like we were rapidly falling towards a planet's surface. From this close, the ring segment stretched from horizon to horizon.

“How large is one of the rings?” I whispered.

“A few hundred kilometres in width, circling the red dwarf in a height of about fifty thousand kilometres. But most of it holds the machinery that keeps the star in check. I am afraid that I am not versed in starship design.” Iris thought for a moment. “But we could go and talk to one of the engineers who keep this thing running.”

“I would love to!” Miredin exclaimed.

Because of her mantra, Jerera totally missed it when the grav-lift dove down into the ring segment's surface, which was enormous by this point.

Darkness surrounded us before we emerged onto the other side into what felt like a densely populated city promenade.

The grav-lift must have turned during those few seconds without anyone noticing, aligning us correctly.

Hundreds of red-skinned humanoids with horns and a tail were roaming around, doing many things that I immediately connected to similar Lmir activities. There was something that was definitely a bar or a restaurant. Or a shop that offered various items in its windows.

The grav-lift's doors opened and we slowly filed outside. I turned around and looked at the lift, which was disguised as the entrance to some underground facility. Then I turned my attention back to the people.

It didn't feel like they were the destroyers of civilisations, given their manifold clothes. I quickly reminded myself that if they build spaceships according to the pilot's wishes, clothes should be the least of their problems.

Still, it was so utterly urban that I felt disjointed. On one side, I knew that we were on what was essentially a space station. On the other, this was a city on a planet's surface.

I looked up. They even had gone through the trouble of emulating a sky that had the red dwarf standing as a sun directly above us. The scene was definitely fake because it should fill almost the entire sky at its actual distance. “What's with the star?”

“Gravity lens,” Iris replied.

I frowned but shrugged after a moment. Maybe they just liked it better that way?

Even more confusing was the fact that everyone ignored us. It was like the presence of a few Lmir was of utter insignificance to these people. “Why are they so used to our presence that they are ignoring us?”

“G.O.D. has marked you as friendlies in their interface vision,” Iris explained. “Which is why they are paying no attention. It isn't like any of us are unused to people taking on different appearances. As long as you do nothing that changes your status, they will keep staying indifferent towards your presence.”

“Whoops!” She suddenly took my arm and pulled me two steps back, just in time for me to avoid a collision with a determined-looking demoness who rushed past us. In her wake, a flock of at least two dozen little, red creatures followed like newborn giarha their hen. One of them looked at us and chattered, but Iris shooed it away with an unfriendly hiss that definitely wasn't Lmir.

The creature drew in its tail and quickly ran after the herd and its... mother?

Iris looked after them with a wary expression. “Demonlings. Warned you to better stay away from the small ones, less they might think you have food. Or worse, that you are food. Nasty little buggers. I can tell you since I was one myself some decades ago. If I ever decide to breed I would have never that many at once. Although, there come a few pretty nice benefits with adding to the population.” She considered her words while looking after the swarm that was trying to keep up with its parent.

“Maybe just an even dozen.”