He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter Ninety Seven - Counting Down

The Alliance world of Fengili was no longer that of a peaceful, farming community. The plants in the fields had been left to wither and rot. The weeds and grasses had overgrown, some had even blackened as the air had thickened with pollution. It was not the same world that had been invaded just a year past. In the place of the town, a large monolith ascended, it's chaotic shape not recognisable to state its function. However, the numerous small chimneys venting gas and smoke carelessly into the atmosphere hinted at its purpose.

The world had little metal of its own, so the ships of the Alliance's own Armada had been funnelled here along with ore from a nearby asteroid belt. Expressionless humanoids shuttled these materials into the building, where the scrapped metal would be melted and repurposed and the ore refined. However, most of these metals would become merely shells for the internal works required the highest quality Silonium. Only this rare crystal ore could resonate with the high psionic frequencies utilised by the alien Queen.

Millions of silent chips were carried upon conveyer belts towards a highly protected and highly sterile room, where they were circled about an unexpected tool; a humanoid brain. Once contained inside a mortal shell, this gifted person had been forced to shed its body for one reason alone; its psionic talents were high. Attached to wires that monitored it's state as well as forcefully enhanced its potential, it became a conduit to the true power and one by one the chips awoke; linked to their Queen, ready to fulfil their purpose. They crawled out of the factory like a sinister metallic rainbow, coated in colours of silvers, bronzes, golds and greys, before forming pod shapes upon the hardstanding of the landing station outside of town.

Within each pod, a chosen minion was encased. This minion acted as both conduit and power cell whose abilities maintained the connection and provided the necessary energy to launch the pod into space. Some minions would be burnt out, their strength not enough to handle to forced evolution within their brains, but that did not matter too much as the pods would join up with conduits that were more able and begin to form the mass that would invade on their Queen's order.

The megalith was about half finished in orbit above Fengili. Two other megaliths were being formed elsewhere. There were thirty three hours remaining.

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Businessmen such as Jariden Thaulow could sense that there was something amiss, though this wasn't difficult to see as military personnel and reserves were being recalled from all parts of Imperial space. The border between the Alliance and the Empire was closed and the other had increased surveillance on both sides.

A few businessmen, especially those that were in the business of weapon manufacture and development thought their would be opportunities for increased profits. However the military then declared a state of emergency and seized all weapons and recently finished spaceships whether they were meant for military use or not without passing a single credit over. This caused an uproar, but they were swiftly silenced with threats that they could be prosecuted for obstructing the protection of the Empire and all its people.

Jariden Thaulow was not one of those who would be effected directly by the military, but the effects of their decisions saw his profits fall as sales were placed on hold and some of his workers took leave to perform their duties as reserves. He tapped a finger upon his desk for a moment, thinking carefully over his cooling coffee, before making a decisive decision. He donated one billion credits to the military. This would upset his shareholders, but he knew in the long term, there maybe advantages.

Perhaps he ought to take a vacation. He searched for a particular signal and frowned. That was fairly close to his world, was that a coincidence? He received his answer only minutes later.