The Next Phase
03 Dec 2024Kasumi Goto
Col 285 Sector BA-P c6-18The rescue vessel near Titan Cocijo, hiding by its body, calmly awaited a break in the patrols around it to continue its work of rescuing captives from it, when suddenly all of the Thargoid ships uniformly abandoned their positions and began departing the vicinity.
"What the... why are they leaving?", the pilot questioned, baffled at this sudden and unexpected development.
"I don't know. It's not like them to just leave the Titan unguarded.", the co-pilot replied, equally confused.
Neither of them had a particularly good feeling about it, and they received a kind of answer when an unusual warning was issued by the COVAS.
'Alert. Massive energy buildup detected.'
"The hell? What is it doing?"
"I'm not sticking around to find out! We're getting out of he - "
Before the pilot even had a chance to begin accelerating away, the Titan engaged its superluminal drive system and abandoned its location, leaving nothing but empty space behind.
Meanwhile, in Duamta ...
The view slowly panned across the ringed ammonia world in the distance, the wrecks of several Thargoid Interceptors and Glaives visible in the foreground, as if viewing another Thargoid vessel's perspective. It abruptly transitioned to viewing the maelstrom cloud of a Titan, from within which a strange sound emanated, as though something were charging up, but not the Thargoid vessel's repulsion wave.
The perspective changed again, to the interior of the cloud, revealing the Titan with its heat vents opened and its maw glowing, the sun shining through its protective cloud. The charging sound amplified, growing higher in pitch, while the Titan gave off a noise normally associated to it detecting a hostile target, or sustaining damage from an attack. At the same time, the light around it shifted to a greener tone and the glow from its maw became more intense.
Another change of viewpoint occurred, to the exterior of the cloud again. Space around it began to distort as the entire cloud started spinning around its center point, and a glow spread through it, most intense in its middle. Moments later, a green streak of light shot off into deep space.
I woke up abruptly, not unpleasantly or as if I had been disturbed by a nightmare, yet I felt strangely dissociated from reality, as if I'd seen something from someone else's perspective, without knowing or realizing it.
It didn't take long for my brain to catch up to the fact that what I'd seen wasn't a dream, or a nightmare. The Thargoid 'noise' creeping into my head as my body came out of its sleep cycle only reinforced that idea, as it was just as abrupt, in its difference to the previous day. And this was not something I could stay quiet on, so I grabbed my wrist computer from the bedside table to my right and sat upright, beginning to type a message... despite the protests of my other biological instincts telling me to be lazy for a bit longer.
Alba.
The Titan's gone.
There was no immediate reply. But after about half a minute, the same device I used to send that message buzzed with a voice communication request... of course, I accepted it.
"Kira, what is this now about?" Alba didn't seem to sound pleased, not surprising, considering what I'd announced just now. "Did you see something?"
"I said it. The Titan's gone. It is moving again."
With exception of a long sigh, silence momentarily filled the line.
"Please come to my office. This is not something I want to discuss over comms."
"Ok. Fine. But I will need a little longer. I only just woke up."
I tapped on the disconnect button and set aside the computer again, looking at the time. 9 in the morning, both locally and by Earth standard. For most people... this was a 'normal' time to be getting up, but my dislike for mornings was such that I did not like anything earlier than 10, at the very best. Yet I was definitely not going to go back to sleeping now, especially when it had already been rather inconsistent this night... likely due to the thing which the Thargoids had been planning for disturbing my rest. And I couldn't just sit here knowing something was up without telling.
With a lack of other pleasant or interesting alternatives, I decided to slip into the bathroom for a - long - shower, and headed to the office only when I was done and satisfied with the experience. Alba was already visibly busy studying something when I arrived.
"Kira. Sit down." She gestured at the chair without arm rests and waited for me to settle, before continuing. "What exactly did you see?"
"It was... it felt almost like a dream.", I answered. "It was only when I woke up that I realized it wasn't. It was more like... a vision, in which I saw the Titan begin to move. But I guess you've already got reports on this by now."
"I do." She briefly gestured at the computer screen facing her. "Do you happen to know where it is headed?"
I shook my head. "No. Seo might know. But I can tell you this... what I 'hear' from the noise right now, it tells me that it's not leaving. Whatever this is, it is not a retreat."
"The reports from pilots near the Titan say the same. It suddenly left the system it's been in the last two years, and even worse, all of the Thargoid systems around it seem to have been abandoned too. Our early readings suggest it's heading toward the core regions of the Bubble."
"Where, exactly?"
"It's hard to make an accurate statement this early, but its heading appears to roughly lead toward Sol. And there have been reports of Thargoid scouting forces in the system already, as well."
I leaned forward, using both hands as support for my head. Needing to think, I didn't immediately have any useful ideas to provide, or questions. The one suggestion that came to me eventually, probably wouldn't be much to Alba's liking.
"I could go there, and look around. It should not be too risky... and, maybe, I can find something out. My own 'insights', are different to Seo's, so maybe being close to those Thargoids could reveal something. Or I could look around where the Titan was that I might find."
"I appreciate the offer, Kira, but right now you should just stay here. At the very least, allow our forces to determine that the area around the Titan's former location is safe, and that there is no immediate risk of an invasion force following into Sol. I'll inform you of my decision later today, but please be careful if you do go investigate."
"Okay. I guess I cannot argue with that... but while this - " I gestured at my lower section. " - might make it harder to get away on foot, it won't be much of an issue in a ship. Are you going to say something about this, now?"
"If by 'now' you mean this development, yes. I don't see how we'd have any option to remain quiet on this, or why we should. Any necessary warnings should rightfully be issued."
I shrugged. "I was... just asking. But I will go back to my spot, then, for now. Until you let me know if I can go out there."
With that said, I decided to get up and walk out again. It hadn't eluded me that this shift in the situation profoundly concerned Alba, rightfully so given the capabilities of a Titan, but there wasn't a lot I could do about that... besides look around to try being helpful. Which I had my own personal reasons - and curiosity - in, rather than purely altruistic or benevolent motives. But if I was going to go looking around Thargoid things to try figuring out just what it was they were getting up to now, I could as well do it in a way that had the potential to be of greater use.
I received my answer via a text message late into the afternoon, giving me the freedom to go and poke around Cocijo's former location if I so intended, as there appeared to be no Thargoid presence whatsoever, any longer. But, of course, Alba also urged me to be cautious doing it, 'not knowing how the Thargoids might react to me now'. I didn't need to be told twice, at least, and if there weren't Thargoids left - the risk was minimal, anyway. So I wasn't too concerned. Sol, I didn't receive an all clear for yet, so I'd likely just wait... if it wasn't for Seo, I probably wouldn't be allowed out. Or at least not without any sort of escorts.
Being that I did now have a task which I could attend to, I chose not to wait around any longer and, picking up the wrist computer, began walking over to the local subterranean hangars, only to be stopped short of mine by Seo.
"You're leaving?", she inquired.
"Kind of.", I replied. "Not permanently. Just to... investigate. Want to know what it is, that the Thargoids are up to."
"All by yourself? Though, I guess, I'd do the same."
"I asked. They allowed me. And I will not do anything stupid. Just look around, see what I can find."
The look on her face indicated she didn't quite approve.. but also knew better than try to discourage me. "Okay. Fine. I guess you can handle yourself anyway. Just... be careful, yeah?"
"I will be, do not worry. And will make sure, the Thargoids have as low of a chance as possible of seeing me... but the ship can outrun anything other than those Glaive things, anyway."
Which was true. Even the Basilisk had little chance of properly keeping up with my Phantom if I didn't want to be caught, and right now there wouldn't be any Glaives... if my memory on where they appeared was correct, at least. I hadn't actually encountered any of the things in the months since I left, in late February. I could do without those bundles of concentrated Thargoid rage, anyway.
Seo stepped aside, not having anything more to say, letting me enter the hangar. She stayed near the door while I went to my ship, though I did offer a wave that was returned, for the sake of courtesy, before stepping on the small elevator to the airlock. Once inside I went and grabbed my usual preferred suit, fighting into it before going to the cockpit, where I ordered a carrier jump to one of the systems closest to where Cocijo had placed itself for two years before now moving again.
Additionally, I set up requests to remove the weapons and replace two utility mounts with a heatsink and shutdown field neutralizer, just in case, and get a low emissions reactor fitted in, upon my arrival. All useful things for the event of a hostile encounter, as relatively unlikely as it was for my first destination. With those things set up, I hit the prompt to launch the ship, running a quick startup sequence. EDI would've been keeping an eye on the ship and making sure it operated optimally, so I didn't need to run an extensive routine. It was, roughly, only a month since the ship's last use, anyhow.
I observed Seo remaining by the hangar door until the ship passed above ground, removing it - or, from my perspective, her - from view, and I was in the air a few moments later, ascending through the atmosphere. At least this time, I didn't nearly crash the ship by forgetting - or rather, having to relearn the practice of - its controls. Leaving the atmosphere fully to engage the FSD, then reaching the carrier and waiting out its jump, was only a matter of patience.
Titan Cocijo's previous location
On arrival in the system, I couldn't 'feel' anything. None of the usual noise associated to the presence of a Titan... or even that of any Thargoids, as I'd been made aware. A quick ping of the sensors equally revealed no signals or transmissions of Thargoid origin either, only some human activity, likely searching for anything left behind by the Titan. And Thargoid shipwrecks, of course.
Seeing that, I decided to go toward the lone ammonia world in the system, just in case there was anything there... not that I had high expectations.
Visually, certainly, there wasn't anything, not even as much as a hint that a Thargoid Titan had orbited this planet just hours ago. The world down below, with its icy and inner rocky rings, did make for a pretty sight, and I didn't have to be concerned about being shot at as well. The thought of landing there and checking for any signs was quickly rejected, not knowing what it was the Thargoids had done on its surface... and the sensors seemed to insist the planet did not have an atmosphere, which was a strange thing to say the least.
The only other reading of note which I had was a strong energy signature in the location which the Titan had been in, identical to the one that was now lighting up on sensors basically everywhere within the Bubble. And circling the ammonia world itself yielded nothing particular either, though with the one thing that had been drawing attention to the system gone... it was no surprise.
Reports already indicated the first 'waypoint' of the Titan's journey was the Qinganu system, only just retaken from the Thargoids after two years of occupation. As if the universe itself was playing some kind of cruel joke on it, and the few inhabitants who'd returned to it already alongside the reconstruction workers. I couldn't say that it gave me a great feeling of what would happen when the Titan passed through... as did where it appeared to be heading, according to those early Aegis predictions. Sol, where Thargoid ships had already been spotted in the early morning, or at least the general area surrounding that system.
But there was more... some other sensation associating Qinganu to bad memories, a time that I didn't seem to be able to recall in any kind of detail... or maybe just didn't want to. I pushed it aside, focusing on the more important thing at hand. Selecting the system and targeting it, Cocijo's signature - or signal, whichever of the two it actually was - definitely lined up perfectly with it, so I jumped there... finding it odd that there was no visible emissions from the Titan. Somehow, that was one of the things which did remain in my head, despite its relative lack of relevance until now.
I decided to initiate a jump into the system, and also scanned it. Nothing of Thargoid origin besides the Cocijo signal still several light years away... approaching at a few thousand times light speed... and an odd amount of wreckage signals, which I was not too interested in investigating. Something in my head also said those signals were very common around a Titan even while it was travelling through deep space with absolutely nothing populated within thousands of light years.
That's right., the voice of 'Kira' said in my head. I saw lots of those when I followed some of those Titan signals before they arrived, two years ago. Never got anything conclusive out of them, only more questions about why there were so many items of human origin being dragged alongside a Thargoid thing in the middle of nowhere.
I still ask myself sometimes if you're actually there, or just a figment of my imagination because I went completely insane after waking up., I decided to answer, not having anything better.
No... I'm very much real, I'm afraid. Blame the implant trying its best to preserve the personality even when I was supposed to be dead and it wasn't working so well. An accident that resulted in you, thank you very much. And I wouldn't want to be so thick, anyway.
Admit it, you secretly like the body.
Yes. Now, don't you have Titan secrets to poke?
I took that as my cue to get back to the important matters at hand, and the presence withdrew back to its corner of my mind, where the Thargoid implant resided, diligently working to keep me alive, anyway. But I wasn't sure what else I could do from here, with the Titan still a few light years away from passing by, and I suddenly felt rather tired again, already, likely due to the lack of proper sleep from this night. So, I decided to just leave things there and continue my investigation tomorrow, heading back to the carrier, with a jump set to the vicinity of Sol.
November 29, 3310
Sol
Late evening
Every station in the system was on high alert by now, with the confirmation of Cocijo inbound to the system, and the local Thargoid presence to top it off, evidenced by the communication channels not being occupied by the usual civilian communications, which were almost dead quiet or largely relegated to lower priority channels, replaced by evacuation broadcasts and coordinators guiding independent and Federal rescue or supply transports, even Allied and Imperial ones, to the stations needing them the most in the moment. Others, for monitoring Thargoid movements or directing forces to skirmishes with the scout force. Everyone seemed to be here, regardless of political allegiance.
A great example of human cooperation... maybe. If only it hadn't taken a literal Thargoid Titan to achieve this - temporarily, at that. Viewing it in that light soured the image more than slightly.
There was an urgent evacuation message from the Pilot's Federation in my inbox, requesting assistance with the evacuation effort, but I wasn't sure yet how to proceed about it. There was some reluctance involved in having to tolerate the proximity of the Scythes which would inevitably try to take some of the people for themselves, which I couldn't say I was particularly keen to experience in person, yet I didn't want to use the remote ship control interface Aegis had given to me... some time last year, it was, even though it was the objectively correct option in this type of scenario. And it didn't feel quite right to just sit by either, despite me not wanting to be too involved in anything direct in this war, but at the same time it stretched the permissions I was given a little... I'd have to resolve this conflict later.
Listening to the Thargoid 'noise' in this system, I couldn't notice anything peculiar amidst the general "current" that it was. For all intents and purposes, this seemed to be a standard Thargoid scouting fleet - with the exception of its apparent size, which was unheard of - but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was just something else behind this, as though the Thargoids were searching for something here. Because, if their intent was simply to cause as much destruction as possible, why not simply invade the system outright, or wait for the Titan's arrival?
Finding that out would be... tricky. If not outright impossible. It wouldn't be like the Thargoids to simply drop hints or any clues for humans, and with them aware, or at least more so, of both me and Seo, tricking one of their probes or sensors which Orthrus were leaving in the system and occasionally retrieving or scanning probably wouldn't work, at least not with this Thargoid invasion force. As much as I was half one of them now at genetic level, these particular Thargoids were unlikely to be too forthcoming to me regardless.
Signals... not very telling either. A few locations of human forces caught up in skirmishes, or perhaps deliberately being engaged, but nothing with a Thargoid probe or sensor in it. And I wasn't here to fight, nor did I want to. That was a phase of my effort in this war I'd long moved past in favor of humanitarian activities and - at least attempting - research. There was also those three ancient probes quite far out, two of which, my memory said, were the ones known as 'Voyager'. One of them helpfully accompanied by a 'Voyager' tourist beacon. And the third, closest one... I had no idea.
Probably wouldn't find anything at those, but who knew, maybe the Thargoids had an interest in those old things. And it'd give me something to focus on in absence of any other alternatives... not to mention, visiting the Voyager probes was on my pilot's to do list that I'd dug up discovering my old life... for a second time, while I'd never gotten around to it. So now seemed like as good a time as anything, on top of the potential risk of them becoming inaccessible - or much harder to get to - thanks to the Thargoids. It probably was not a terrible idea to do the same for Hutton Orbital while it was guaranteed to be Thargoid-free.
While my instincts were telling me to go look at the Voyager probes, the third one was closest, and also lined up with the second-furthest probe better. Relatively so, at 1.7 million light seconds, and I did not have a Titan drive system to get there. Only a cheap reverse-engineered knockoff version that went through fuel like nobody's business... so I'd have to go the slow way. And didn't particularly mind, anyway. So I selected it as the destination and set the ship off on its course... long course, very likely. Somewhat made me wish for Thargoid portal technology on it.
And I was not at all ready for how long it would actually take to get there even with an initial short use of supercruise overcharge to get clear of most of the gravity wells. After fifteen minutes of transit I was still accelerating toward the probe, and it didn't feel like I'd gotten anywhere. While, also, I was getting rather bored, because there was also nothing appearing in the Thargoid stream, prompting me to look for other entertainment means. As it stood, there were no Thargoid interdictions to worry about, though I stayed in the pilot's seat. Just in case. Then this inattention resulted in me not quite slowing down in time when I did reach the probe... but thanks to the complete - or at least effective - absence of any gravity wells, I didn't need to go back far.
"New Horizons? Don't remember hearing of that ...", I openly remarked, to myself, while approaching. Carefully, with the ship lights on, to avoid collisions - no light from the star reached here.
It was a little drone of sorts, definitely a bit bigger than a limpet, with a main triangular body, the majority of which looked wrapped in some kind of gold foil... but certainly a very old construction. And currently emitting only some sort of incomprehensible static. I looked at both sides of the drone a bit more, the back of it having a strange part with an indiscernible purpose standing off from the body, before deciding to move on... clearly, there was nothing to be found here, and right now it appeared the Thargoids had no interest in this relic from the early days of human space exploration. Whatever this one's purpose was over a thousand years ago...
As my luck would have it, Voyager II - I presumed, with it being closer than the one with the tourist beacon while near the main star - was 'only' around 880,000 light seconds from this New Horizons drone, so I set my course for it. As much as setting a course applied to pointing the ship's nose roughly in the right direction without computer assistance, and then setting the throttle to full until close. The trek only took about fifteen or twenty minutes, thanks to both shorter distance and already being as far from any gravity well as I basically could get with an actual purpose to it in mind.
This drone was definitely very different. It had a simple dish at the center of it, not unlike a satellite, with a sort of 'arm' extending from the body. And on its back, there was some sort of golden disk. Difficult to get closer to it without accidentally colliding, which I really did not with a historically important artifact such as this. A few markings were etched into it, but could not recall what their exact purpose or meaning was very easily. Meant to be found by an alien species, perhaps... but they'd certainly found us before the drones. Or maybe it was us who'd gotten to them before the probes. In any case, it probably didn't currently serve too much of a purpose, unless it held some kind of information on how to talk to humans.
Strangely, I was also hearing some kind of audio playback coming over the speakers in a variety of languages, only some of which I recognized. That was the most curious thing so far.
"EDI, what are those voices?", I inquired, figuring that'd be faster than searching myself.
"It appears to be an automated response from the ship's COVAS code to the proximity to the ancient probe.", I was told. "My queries suggest the golden disk present on it contains greetings in fifty-five different old Earth languages, which is what you are hearing now."
"Ok... well... that's interesting."
It was also a little annoying as it kept incessantly repeating at just low enough of an audio volume to be hard to understand any actual words being said, but still high enough to be audible. So I prepared to move along, with still no Thargoids in sight... and the distance to the Voyager I probe and its tourist beacon made me roll my eyes. 0.13 ly, as per the nav panel, from here.
'Might as well be called Hutton Run mini', I remarked in my thoughts, annoyed. But no way around it... at least, I was too stubborn to simply jump to a nearby star and then back into Sol to shorten the distance. And off I went.
Covering the distance took a... long time, it felt like, during which I was at severe risk of simply passing out into sleep, because I was yet again getting tired already. Maybe the issue wasn't Thargoid but sleep-related because it was not too well for some time already. I decided to go for the tourist beacon first... overshooting it again due to a lack of focus. I really wasn't awake enough for this, or to do it properly. Looping back around, I let the beacon scan complete and read the inbox message which it provided.
Tourist Spot 0512
The Voyager probes were the first man-made objects to leave the Solar System. They were launched from ancient Earth in 1977.
Certainly not the most interesting of these I had come across. Not even a mention to some of their history besides that they were the first things created by a human to leave the system. I wondered how the people who built these and guided their missions felt about that, back then... perhaps some records had survived the third World War. If they did and also survived the impending Thargoid onslaught, maybe I'd look for them after the war.
I hadn't missed the presence of the cruise liners nearby to the beacon, which was a few thousand kilometers off from the probe itself. And, frankly, their presence annoyed me. Travel agencies would absolutely not be sending ships into a system with Thargoid presence and a Titan inbound without a serious amount of money exchanging hands, making it almost certain these were rich idiots looking to pay the Voyager probes a visit - and maybe also that New Horizons one, which was far less advertised - before a gigantic invasion fleet arrived, alongside a Titan, and made it much more hazardous to remain in system. Even if, technically, this was far outside its boundaries.
I wasn't going to bother doing anything about them, because that was not my place, but touring the system for leisure sipping drinks out of a golden zero-G cup while a significant evacuation effort was ongoing and required to keep even some of the 22 billions people in the system safe, was another level of despicable difficult to put into words. I just gave them a mental finger and moved on toward Voyager 1. Much to my dismay, it was effectively identical to its sibling probe, and there was nothing particularly unordinary about its surroundings either. Aside from some anti-xeno pilots patrolling the vicinity for... whatever the reason was, but there certainly appeared to be no Thargoids interested in this one, as well.
Effectively, I'd wasted my time except score some pointless 'pilot points' visiting these probes. Wherever the Thargoid interest lay, it... probably wasn't in these ancient devices. And I was already all out of energy again, after about over an hour most of which was spent travelling in straight lines, so poking around further this night was out of the question. Setting a route back to the nearby carrier, I barely kept myself awake enough to land, set the ship into the hangar and float over to its private cabin.
At least getting out of the suit was a little less difficult than getting in.
November 30
BPM 72493
Early afternoon
Cocijo was going to pass this system soon. Its flare was already very visible and less than a light year away, distance rapidly decreasing. Some estimates put it at a speed of around 10,000c, which was much faster than any human ship with the supercruise overcharge technology could be, even one of those specifically built around it. A speed which would see it pass by the star in just over fifteen minutes... as if to remind us how inferior our reverse-engineered knockoffs were.
Listening to that sound it made in the FSS interface was... unsettling, to say the least. Whatever energy was being emitted from the Titan's drive system as it moved created just the right sounds to invoke those feelings, coupled with knowing what it was even better than before their initial arrival. At least I hadn't been hyperdicted coming into the system, though my research in Canonn's database suggested that only jumping out would encounter a hostile Thargoid, which itself was strange enough to me. Why not going in or both ways?
It mattered little, anyway. By this point, the Titan's course toward Sol was almost all but assured. There were a few general destinations of potential interest to it in the area, but 'near Sol' was definitely on its track, and by this point I was not getting a good feeling whatsoever about what would happen when it finally arrived. Even if its goal was not pure destruction, something had to make the Thargoids push into the core regions of human space like this, something that we probably wouldn't like either.
Right now, however, I was more concerned about the effects on human space and populations that it would have. Whatever the Thargoids' goal was, they didn't particularly seem to care to prevent human casualties, and it was getting increasingly evident that there was not going to be enough time to evacuate Sol's civilian population before the strike, not to mention any of the systems surrounding it. I turned my attention to EDI.
"Can you give me an estimate on how long it is until it reaches the system?" I pointed at the glowing dot in the distance growing brighter by the seconds, its spiralling green and blue arms becoming more and more noticeable. It seemed to be heading straight at me, but that was likely nothing more than a visual appearance. The Titan's navigation systems were hopefully good enough to avoid collisions with any smaller objects like human ships near its path, at least.
"Calculating.", EDI stated. "Assuming a direct line of travel, and using its current average rate of travel, the Titan would likely reach Sol late on Monday. Given its method of traversing space, however, an arrival on Tuesday in the morning is more likely. This also does not account for it further increasing its speed, or doing the opposite."
"So, there is no certain way of telling." Muttering, I added, "Great", before looking at the flare again.
I kept waiting there, watching it both through the FSS and through my eyes, until it was only about a million light seconds away, which was less than two minutes at its speed. And, as a simple precaution, I moved away from the star at a certain angle... just in case. Hopefully I wasn't about to be swarmed in Thargoid ships taking an unwelcome interest in me. By now, the center of the flare also glowed in a very bright green, rather than the dull red which it appeared from a distance.
300,000.
200.
100.
50.
And... it shot past faster than anybody could possibly even follow or react. By the time I'd turned the Phantom around a 180 degrees, the Titan was already 300,000 light seconds away and rapidly increasing that number. Damn, that thing was fast.
Thinking about it, I wasn't quite sure why I was observing this passage. Maybe just a thing I wanted to witness once, or at least one more time, after having enough brain again to think and breathe at the same time. Though I equally had my doubts that Cocijo would stop with Sol, or that it would be its end, despite the fact that human forces were already setting themselves up to be overtaken by events when it inevitably turned out that this was a much more intense assault than any other which had occurred throughout this war. Because the Thargoids had been preparing for it for months... and the Shinrarta invasion showed that they were keeping a lot of forces in reserve. Or should have shown, at least... somehow, I felt that the human takeaways from it were only all of the wrong ones.
Trying to determine the next system which the Titan was headed to, I was quickly at a loss by not being able to figure out where it would go. Frustrated, I looked to EDI again.
"EDI. Next location, please."
A nav marker popped up, aligning perfectly with where the flare was moving. Puppis Sector EQ-Y b5... and at these kinds of distances, there was little doubt about it. The system itself was entirely unremarkable, unpopulated and with a dim red dwarf, so I saw no point in investigating, and it'd be a while before the Titan reached it.
Instead I set a course back into Sol. Scanning the system quickly, I was able to locate one signal source commonly associated with the activity of an Orthrus Interceptor - though it was more of a scouting and transport vessel - out by one of the moons of Saturn. By the time I got there, the Orthrus was gone, and I only saw a Thargoid probe left behind. I decided to wait, just in case another showed up, or I was wrong in my interpretation that it was one that'd just been dropped off to gather data. But nothing, even when I approached.
'Listening' to the probe, I could not find anything particularly useful in what it was transmitting back, or the stream of information was simply too generalized and my link too imperfect, to pick out anything precise. It was probably also sending back info on my ship that was currently barely a hundred meters away from the device. And as I was stopped here, looking at it, I found that it was actually making quite pleasant, almost musical sounds, compared to all the other Thargoid artifacts, which I decided to record just to be able to listen to again later.
I began to think. If the Voyager probes were not what the Thargoids were after - which seemed really unlikely, all things considered - and it was not to cause mass destruction or abductions, then what were they in Sol for? The only things I could imagine were having to do either with the permit-locked moons in the system - Triton in particular stood out, though I also had some vague memory of that lock actually being due to the presence of Federal military training facilities rather than anything dumb like the Raxxla nonsense that had drawn its hunters to the system, not long before Cocijo began moving toward it - or maybe, more plausibly, it was something surrounding the strange alien relic which had been found just a little over a thousand years ago, on Mars.
Perhaps it was some kind of Thargoid item which humans inadvertently discovered, or an equally and perhaps even more likely possibility, it was of Guardian origin from their observation of Earth and its biosphere, or some efforts to render Mars habitable again. Maybe it'd just been an observation of Earth's biosphere, from a distance, as it seemed really unlikely the Guardians, advanced as they were, had never explored far enough or sufficiently to miss the existence of this world. And if subterranean ruins existed in a largely intact state, with their existence never disclosed to the public, then that was something which certainly could draw the Thargoids' attention.
None of that solved the very likely chaos to ensue when the Titan arrived - which it would, regardless of what anybody did. Even if the Thargoids' scouting efforts were sufficiently disrupted to discourage them from an immediate invasion of Sol, which all the signs were pointing toward not being the case, Cocijo was still coming. And fast, too. While I did want humanity to learn its lesson from this war, I still dreaded seeing the humanitarian side and impact of the conflict, which in just a week was about to take a much bloodier turn, thanks to core system populations being much higher on average.
I wasn't sure what else I could really be doing here, and still hadn't decided on whether to help the evacuation or preparation efforts in any way... so I plotted a jump back to my carrier, still in a nearby unpopulated system, and set it to go back out to the Coalsack nebula. I hadn't quite finished my work out there yet, despite my original goal of removing Sirius Atmospherics' presence from it succeeding, and that felt like a better use of my time than fishing around for Thargoid secrets in the dark, without even the slightest idea of how to find them.
After I'd landed, I decided to send a short status update to Alba, informing her I'd provide a more detailed report in a few days. Even if it was just to reassure her that I was both still alive and not caught by the Thargoids.
December 2
Late afternoon
Sol was breaking out into chaos. Cocijo had massively sped up its pace for a day, travelling at up to 105,000c according to reports, and was currently heading toward the LHS 235 system, below forty light years to Sol, with absolutely no doubt as to where it was heading. It'd slowed down again significantly after reaching the midway point between LHS and 9 Puppis, as though it could only sustain those extreme speeds for a limited time... but the proximity of the Titan was enough to cause widespread panic and risk disrupting already strained evacuation efforts, while the Pilot's Federation had called for everything except the evacuation effort to be dropped to keep as many people away from the invasion force as was only possible, before it arrived.
Because, by now, everyone knew it was impossible to fully evacuate civilians before the Titan's arrival, and the enthusiasm I'd seen of people waiting to beat another Titan into submission, seemed to be shifting to a dreary realization that this was not going to be fast, or pretty, nor was it remotely assured that humans would even be able to assault the Titan directly as soon as it arrived.
I myself had managed to will into taking one full load of refugees and some wounded from the skirmishes with the scout force to V886 Centauri, leaving the Scythe that attempted interception behind without an issue, yet hadn't found the ability to do anything more since. And, going into the Titan's current waypoint to determine its distance and speed, was hyperdicted by a Basilisk, but it'd performed the usual shutdown and scan routine to which I submitted only after realizing it had no hostile intent, as there was no Thargon swarm deployed immediately, and I could 'feel' that from it as well. If this was pure hostility, it would not have hesitated to open fire.
On top of a general panic breaking out in Sol, which I could hear making life rather difficult for coordinators across the system's various comm channels - as if it hadn't been bad enough already - some idiots had tried storming secure locations in which the rescued Titan captives were being housed, as if they were responsible for "summoning" the Titan even though that was an absolutely moronic claim to make, and then there were those idiots on the web that were taking their anger out - unnecessarily - on Seo for something she did not even have any control over, or knew for certain it existed. And I was sure that those few who had a clue about me were bitching just as much about my involvement in it. As usual, people were doing their best at being people.
'What a fantastic birthday present', I thought to myself, and sighed.
This had gone from just being a bad situation that I didn't have great feelings about, to being outright tiring, and giving me headaches beyond just the Thargoid-caused ones. It felt like civil order was barely holding on by a thin string in the system, and it was all but impossible to prevent the invasion from here. If it had ever been possible in the first place. When the Titan arrived, even if it did not choose to stop in Sol itself, it was either going to collapse completely or create an impossibly fragile balance that the slightest touch of a finger could snap. And I knew which of those was more likely.
That was not to mention the many other surrounding populated systems which had to rapidly adopt plans for possible invasion and assure their populations of the possibility of evacuation if it came to it. Which it, probably, would. I had my suspicions that nobody was exactly prepared for just what the Thargoids had ready for us. Not with how little they'd been doing the last few months. And even then... it appeared much like we were still not the focus. It would unfortunately not lessen the civilian casualties that their pursuit of their goal would incur, not to mention those fighting back against the invasion force.
And yet, it was too late for any other path now.
It was about time for my report to Alba, even though I'd hardly found anything of substance. But not here, in the midst of the chaos, and despair. The closer the Titan came, the more palpable the tension became... and it already felt thick enough to cut through, despite the vacuum of space.
"EDI, as soon as I've docked on the carrier, send a communication request to the Aegis headquarters. Have it go to my personal cabin."
"Understood.", the AI responded, helpful - and faithful - as ever.
Returning to that safe spot where the system was also not overloaded with communications was fairly quick, being that the carrier was parked in orbit around the local main star, a dim M class dwarf. The moment I docked, I sent the ship into the hangar and got out of the pilot's seat, heading to my private cabin. Sitting down behind the desk, I waited, until its monitor lit up with a video feed.
"Kira.", Alba greeted. "I assume you have your report for me?"
"Yes.", I answered, having my hands placed on the thighs. "To be honest, I barely got anything useful. There was nothing to be found where the Titan was before, and I couldn't find anything through my link in Sol either. They seem to be behaving like a regular invasion fleet, scouting out the system."
I lifted both hands and then brought them back down onto the legs somewhat forcefully, being that there was no gravity.
"The most interesting thing that happened is one of them pulled me out when I went into the system the Titan is moving to, right now. It didn't attack, just scanned me and moved on. Which doesn't seem to be anything new as far as I can tell. But I still think they are up to something other than what it seems like."
She looked at me curious. "What makes you think that?"
"The fact that they are scouting, like they're looking for something. If they didn't care about anything other than coming to destroy our things, stations, systems taking people, or... whatever, why would they need to bother scouting it? They could just have attacked outright, or waited for their Titan to arrive without doing anything, but that is not what's happening."
"So, if they are looking for something, what might that be?"
I shrugged. "I... have no idea, really. Or nothing that makes too much sense. It can't be the old probes, those would not tell them anything they don't know already. And I don't think it has anything to do with the permit locked moons... so, my best guess would be something to do with that weird alien thingy the Feds found what, a thousand years ago? I don't know. It seems hard to believe they've just been hiding ancient alien ruins under the surface of Mars for so long. Or maybe this was all just a distraction for something else?"
There was a brief moment of silence. As Alba was about to continue, I raised a hand to say I wasn't quite done yet.
"I think you should begin to focus on research again."
I got one of those puzzled looks briefly, before an answer.
"Aegis has never stopped doing any research. What do you - "
I cut her off, switching to a harsher tone. "You know exactly what I mean. You've only been doing weapons research on how to kill Thargoids and Titans better in this war. And I think it is time you start looking at actual research again, understanding the Thargoids, why they are doing what they do. That is the only way you are going to end this conflict, not exchanges of violence endlessly spiralling upward until one side can no longer keep doing it. And we are not the ones that have lived in space for a few million years."
Nothing. At least, no verbal response. But I could see that the last few days had been a bit rough on Alba, with the inability to stop the Titan from advancing on Sol and the rapidly deteriorating local condition, and she needed a moment to compose herself.
"I was not trying to make this conflict worse, Kira.", she finally said, after a few long seconds.
"Yes.", I agreed. "But this is the path you chose when you agreed to forgo all other projects to throw everything behind those damned torpedoes hoping they'd quickly get things better, now we are here nearly ten months later, with seven dead Titans, and it's actually about to make everything much, much worse. Is that really what you wanted?"
"Of course not! My goal with supporting the nanite torpedo project was to eliminate the Titans as a threat to humanity to save lives, not put more of them in danger."
Evidently, I'd touched a soft spot here. Not very gently. But I felt like someone had to do that, and that I had to demonstrate I hadn't abandoned my prior views.
"I'm sorry, really, but you knew this was going to happen the moment you decided to start killing the Titans without caring about the short-term... or any consequences, really. You were even willing to blow up the remaining captives on them just so you could be rid of them. Then don't act surprised when the Thargoids respond to that aggressively because you just put a big red X on their plans."
I paused, giving time for a response. But not getting one, I continued.
"I know you said you want to build a bridge of peace with the Thargoids. So, keep doing that. Search for ways to try and communicate with or understand them, instead of dumping everything in weapons that they then build bigger or stronger weapons in response of. Or to. You should already have learned that violence is not a way to end this war, even if it ends some. Hell, you wanted Aegis to avoid the mistakes of its previous version, but is this really doing that?"
I breathed, then proceeded to finish.
"All it has been these last ten months has been a blunt tool of war, nothing more. A big stick that the politicians like to swing at the Thargoids thinking it will solve the problem. But, really, you should use it more for what you actually intend it as, a scientific research agency that also defends human territory where it is necessary. Nobody is saying you should just stop all weapons research and allow the Thargoids to overrun systems, no one on humanity's side wants that. It's just that, to actually stop the conflict with the Thargoids, you have to understand them and their motives. Or you just get this - "
I gestured out at space.
"Where you... we, respond with violence to their incursions, oblivious to why it is they are intruding, or just stuck thinking all they are here for is to destroy, when they've proven themselves much more intelligent than that. And they do the same back. They're too old to just keep starting fights with everybody for no reason. Someone like that... tends to not survive long. But if we keep shooting them, they will just keep shooting us to get what they want, caring even less for casualties than we do. That is not a future anybody wants to live in. I'm sorry if what I said hurts, but I think it had to be. I'll still be trying to help you reduce the damage from this situation as much as possible, but you need to try to find other means to end this war. Even if politics say they just want weapons, or war."
Again, Alba remained quiet. But she knew I had a point, though she did not address it when speaking back up.
"Just... come back to the Aegis headquarters, okay? You've been out there in dangerous places enough the last few days."
"I will. Tomorrow. As soon as we know where the Titan is headed after it passes the star of the system it is going to."
I ended the communication there. LHS 235... just about two jumps to reach it with my ship from here, though I'd probably do things in the Coalsack nebula for the rest of this day and the beginning of the next one. That was something I could just handle remotely conscience-free, though, once I was back in Duamta.
And I probably would go back there. Something told me I would be safer there than I could be anywhere else, if there was a risk of Thargoid attacks elsewhere than Cocijo's targeted destination. Tentatively, I viewed Duamta's location in the galaxy map, only to find it as a strong reminder it was actually very close to Sol... and that added a worry to my mind which I just really didn't need. Because now I had to be thinking about the possibility of the Titan heading to Duamta instead, or attempting to capture the system on its arrival at least. Which... needless to say, was not ideal.
This wasn't just an assault into the heart of our species. It was a message - they knew what we held close. And I had no idea exactly where things would go, but one thing, I knew for certain ...
The war was about to go into its next phase.