"It is easy to forget, looking at the modern Lanaktallan, just how dominating they can be.

"The majority of them enjoy constant repetition, something humanity and their allies have always had a problem with, to the point that the Mantid and Treana'ad both had worker castes bred to perform those tasks. This shows in how the modern Lanaktallan prefers factories and agri-farms over nanoforges and creation engines.

"What is ignored is once a Lanaktallan research program is started, it may be slow, but it covers everything. With their wealth of technical data after the Terran Xenocide Event, they now had proof that the old answers had questions that had never been examined. They delved into those questions quickly, painstakingly going over every bit of data.

"So when Overproject Squilliam started, the Lanaktallan researchers slowly and patiently did the repetitious work while other species did the innovation and out of the box thinking.

"Picture it as the people who build the foundations and the walls, with everyone else providing architecture.

"Now you know why any military analyst looking at the Confederacy takes into account Lanaktallan research projects and views the Confederacy's bioweapon and genecracker programs with careful dread." - Analysis of Confederate Military Capability, Cr'krak'tik Empire, 5th Age. (Recovered Data)

They did not have a name. They had not decided what sex or gender they were. They had no differing features from any other of the Old Ones. They had no larvae left, so there was no worry there. They specialized in esoteric scientific disciplines.

They had come to the New Universe as part of the initial thrust upon one of the Prime Systems, which the Inheritors of Madness called "Hesstla", and had stayed in the New Universe even after the Atrekna forces were defeated and forced off the planet.

They had set up their labs, carefully grown servitors, and begun to engage in scientific inquiries. Inquiries that would help discover and identify the reasons the Atrekna had been so soundly defeated in all attacks upon the Prime Systems held by New Universe species.

His specialty was one largely ignored in the Old Universe, which was now gone forever in the Entropic Collapse Attack.

Not temporal science or chronotron investigation. They often repeated the standard line that any research to be done there could be done by simpletons, as time was time and any difference in the New Universe would be so minuscule as to be unimportant for anything at all.

Instead, they concentrated on phasic defense systems. At first, there was not much scientific work to be done. The enemy largely had little to no phasic ability.

Recently, however, the Inheritors of Madness had shown that they were capable of attacking and defending on the phasic front. Of one particular annoyance was how the enemy could release feral and insane 'half-sentiences' into the phasic computing systems to attack and even damage the hardware and wetware of phasic networks.

They kept up their research, in a lonely lab with no other assistants, as was proper and wise for a powerful Old One. After all, one did not want their research to be stolen or, worse, fall prey to someone else's machinations and be used to host another Atrekna's progeny.

Normally, they stayed in their laboratories and their fortress, careful to guard against other's machinations while he launched his own, all the while researching phasic counter-measures to the Inheritors of Madness's newly developed attack systems.

They had to admit, the fact that the quasi-sentience attack systems were designed to 'die' when exposed to time dilation commonly used by the Atrekna to move captured war materiel was an innovation they did not expect. It made examining those phasic autonomous constructs much harder.

Now, however, they had been summoned from their fortress to a meeting of Old Ones, Ancient Ones, and Young Ones.

When they arrived, with guardian servitors, they had been forced to disrobe so their flesh could be examined for any sores, welts, or insect/parasite bites. They were tested with careful instruments to make sure they weren't infected with Lemur Madness. Their servitors were examined carefully, and although they were of new genetic lines, it was obvious to any who examined them that they were obvious advancements on standard servitor genetic lines.

Their jewelry, weapons, defenses, and other phasic objects were taken from them and they were led into the vast chamber that housed the Council of Hunger and Thought.

The place where the war plans were devised, the targets chosen, and the actual status of the Atrekna military forces was spoken aloud.

Not the numbers the Atrekna at large knew. Not the events the Atrekna largely knew about.

Here, the knowledge that the Spoked Offensive had failed was a sad but confirmed fact.

Here, the Dead Fleet of Screams was a known entity in the war.

Here, the knowledge that anything more than 8,000 years ago could not be gated forward, even if something from over a hundred-twenty million years ago could be targeted. Which often meant that there was only 8,000 years to replicate on a Harvest Tube that had been in the same place eighty million years prior.

A difficult to resolve temporal paradox.

Every Atrekna present was only clad in a single groin wrap, with a single phasic empowered gem circling their head to identify them.

The Atrekna looked around at their fellows, like the others wondering what was so important as to bring in all the researchers, the top military analysts and directors, and those responsible for the machinations to put this New Universe to heel and force it to submit to the Atrekna.

The request to join the communal mind within the Council Chamber was less of a request and more an overwhelming order.

Unlike most times with the communal mind, they were forced to submit to an examination of their thoughts and memories, of their desires and plots. It was invasive and rarely performed.

They withstood it with cold emotionless grace, like every other Atrekna.

One of the Ancient Ones, who had fought the Herd Lords all those millions of years ago, glided to the front of the podium, signalling for attention.

**the destruction of the lemurs have done little to pacify the resistance toward us** the Ancient One stated in cold clear thought.

The Atrekna researcher was very careful to keep the pithy lemur saying from their mind, knowing that the simple thought of 'no shit, Captain Obvious, shall we call Colonel Wow and Major Dumbass for your next wet fart of brilliance' would indeed put them under closer observation.

They knew that without access to the Old Universe, there was no way to even attempt to bring forward any Atrekna who had taken part in subduing the feral life of the Old Universe all of those billions of years ago.

Which meant, to the Atrekna researcher, that any Atrekna, even Ancient Ones, were being forced to learn as they engaged in machinations against the life of the New Universe.

**the spoked offensive was stalled due to the feral life able to bring in reinforcements almost immediately often arriving before enough military gains on the ground could be made to do much more than establish temporal insertion points** the Ancient One stated.

Again, the Atrekna researcher had to keep the snide reply compartmentalized within the hidden chambers of their mind.

**the hyperatomic plane known as jumpspace is allowing the feral life to resist allowing them to shift around military forces to react quickly to our reclaimation of that which belongs to us** the Ancient One stated. **while we use jumpspace for long distance travel to areas that we have not been before or do not intersect with any held area the feral life uses it to move around logistics manpower and war materiel**

There was some nodding a slight rustling as the majority of the Atrekna present signified agreement in the communal mind or physically.

**temporal sighting has revealed the feral life is bringing forth vast quantities of manpower equipment and war materiel from beyond the dead zone where the herd lords and our own species once held sway** the Ancient One stated.

There was some shock at that. Beyond the former Harvest Worlds, now a dead zone often infested with feral autonomous war machines, was nothing more than primitive life too unevolved to master the use of fire.

**thousands of worlds have contributed the feral life has devoted a vast war machine into facing us to deny us our rightful harvest of this universe** the Ancient One stated. **jumpspace groans with feral life heading to deny our species its rightful dominance**

More shock at the idea that the Atrekna could be denied retaking the Harvest Worlds.

**with a team of dedicated researchers and temporal masters individual Atrekna myself included entered the blasted and defiled area that was once the harvest worlds of our people and the grazing worlds of the herd lords** the Ancient One stated.

The Atrekna researcher sensed the Ancient One was getting to the point and leaned forward.

**the location had to be chosen carefully as the temporal disruption is spreading across the entire galactic arm spur** the Ancient One stated. **however the team was able to find victory**

The Ancient One floated over to a covered object. It pulled the cloth free to reveal an ancient memory matrix, gleaming in the dim light of the chamber.

**shards of this device were discovered which allowed the temporal specialists to undo the ravages of time and violence upon it until it was fully restored** the Ancient One paused to preen slightly. **the data within was recovered data I now share with you that will bring about victory over the ferals and ensure our dominance of this galactic arm spur this galaxy and eventually the new universe**

It touched the crystal and it lit up. The Ancient One began shifting the phasic menus to display data until a large hologram was projected.

It was of Lanaktallan researchers undergoing torment and spilling the secrets they had been trying to hide.

The data was presented in a second hologram.

Data that every Atrekna knew had been proven over a hundred million years ago.

The researcher watched with growing horror as the data was presented.

-----

The Atrekna researcher gathered their personal possessions and their servitors and glided toward their ship. The presentation had taken several days and they were glad to be returning to comfort. They moved slowly and stately through the crystal hallways of the edifice the Council Chamber was inside of, slowly moving to the spaceport.

They were nearly there when a half dozen Atrekna swooped down. Four Young Ones, an Old One, and an Ancient One. All of them had combat servitors with them and were wearing jewelry and objects of power suitable to combat.

**you will submit to us** the Ancient One stated. **one of your defective brethren gave you up**

**gave me up how** the researcher asked, cocking his head slightly. There was nothing on their ship they could not replace.

The Old One sneered. **we know who your...**

Whatever or whoever the Old One knew was silenced forever as the researcher suddenly moved, their servitors shifting and changing suddenly.

Decorative crystals were shattered and had their matrix reformed into gleaming shards of razor edged darts. The ground exploded upwards under the six Atrekna. Phasic energy ripped and tore even as four of the servitors suddenly drew back false rubbery hide that hid fanged mouths.

Four of the Atrekna were down and dead in less then a second.

The researcher slid forward, their slightly cupped hand wreathed in phasic power. They thrust their hand through the Ancient One's protection, into their body, grabbed something firm and fibrous, and squeezed as they stared into the Ancient One's eyes.

Two of the researcher's servitors grabbed opposite legs of the last Atrekna and tore it in half lengthwise.

**more fool you** the researcher pushed into the dying Ancient One's mind, following it with a blast of enraged temporal energy wrapped in a phasic roar. The blast rippled out even as the researcher dropped back, letting the body collapse.

Other Atrekna were rapidly closing, some firing shard guns. The shards shattered on the researcher's phasic shielding.

The researcher suddenly wavered, turning into a twisting vibrating mass of multicolored strings. The servitor creatures did the same. The strings suddenly crumpled into a ball and vanished.

The Atrekna security teams stormed the researcher's ship.

When they breached the control room, the ship exploded in a hellfire of chronotron enhanced phasic energy that shattered crystals five miles away.

-----

The researcher entered the dimly lit cavern, cruel and vicious looking servitors flanking him, growling at him. The sole occupant of the room, which was lit by gleaming gems emitting soft light that floated up by the ceiling, was bent over a research table.

As the researchers approached the figure straightened and turned around, revealing the missing facial tentacles, the scar on the side of their head. They raised their maimed hand in greeting.

**I name you P'lok'rok'dok, the Hidden One** the Maimed One stated.

**I thank you** the newly named Atrekna said.

**I was told that you had information that I needed to hear immediately** Dalvanak said.

The researcher nodded. **I came here straight away**

Dalvanak nodded.

**the Council of Hunger and Thought has determined their next strategy. A strategy that could doom us all** the researcher said.

He paused for a moment.

**they intend on burning the hyperatomic planes again**