”Many races have sayings that in essence boil down to stating that there are no such things as coincidences. Some races know better. Fates of entire races are decided by coincidences. We Mrrroww believe that coincidences are among the most powerful forces in the universe. That said, we also have a saying. Coincidences happen every day, but only a fool trusts coincidences. One being’s coincidence is another being’s carefully laid plan.”

- High Ambassador of the Mrrroww

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Curiosity pulled Selendil closer to that strenuous and thin connection to the universal consciousness. As the being forming the connection was not actually inside the unity just yet, she couldn’t identify who or what was forming that connection. The universal consciousness held all kinds of information within; information that the Dhar had successfully used to drive their own development. Some information was easily available. The being that had formed this connection likely wanted to find someone. That kind of information was easy to access. More important information required participation in the Great Song.

The Dhar had not taken part in the Great Song just because they enjoyed it. The Song had brought them great benefits and their race had been eager about what they would find once they could complete the Song. Unfortunately, they had fallen shortly before that dream could be realized. The Song brought other benefits besides information, and the development of their race was a testament to that. In many ways the Dhar society revolved around the Song, and for a good reason. Even cursory participation could refine one’s mind and body to a new level.

However, despite the obvious benefits, the Dhar had never run into another race that took part in the Great Song. There were several theories as to why that was the case, but the Dhar had never successfully answered the obvious question. If they could do it, why couldn’t anyone else? They had even experimented with a few promising younger races in an attempt to test their theories, but even those experiments had been unsuccessful in pushing other races to join the unity and the Great Song. The Dhar had eventually concluded that something about the presence of Dhar was preventing others from achieving the same, but had not figured out what that something could be.

And here someone was making their first feeble attempts at touching the universal consciousness. Yes, it was only a thread thick and still on the outside, but it was more than Selendil had ever seen. On some level, that seemed to confirm the theory that the Dhar were the reason, and now that Selendil was the only one left, others might have the opportunity. She wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about that. Still, she was thankful that the connection was there. It had roused her curiosity and drawn her away from the dark place she had fallen to. She was still swamped with grief and other negative emotions, but now she had a handle on them and could push them back far enough to function. She would’ve managed that on her own sooner or later, but this little connection had ensured that it was sooner, and she owed the connection for that. The Dhar took such debts seriously.

As the connection was so feeble and on the verge of severing, she decided to repay whatever or whoever was on the other side of the connection by helping them just a bit. She used her own powers to strengthen the connection and made sure it would not break so easily anymore. Maybe the being on the other side could someday use this little boost to climb the rest of the way instead of being stuck on the edge. It was a small act of kindness that didn’t cost Selendil anything.

She of course didn’t realize that the connection was tracking someone on her ship. The Dhar ships had been built to defend against the psionic powers of other races, and it took a high-level psion beyond any the young races had to reach inside a Dhar ship. The universal consciousness completely circumvented that. The Dhar could not and would not build their ships to stop the universal consciousness. There were uncountable reasons for that but some were more important than others. They wanted to be part of the unity even while on their ships. The warp gates worked on the principle of a Dhar connecting with the unity. Additionally, the universal consciousness was their private playground anyway. So why would they take measures against that?

As Selendil regained her bearings, she heard the alarmed calls of her AI. The AI had never stopped calling for her, even though she had collapsed over a day ago. The AI had naturally used the nanites in her body to run diagnostics and had determined that there was nothing wrong with her physically and that her life was not in danger. “Alright, Nox. You can stop. I’m…well, I’m not fine, but I’m back.” Selendil stated, calling the AI by its real name.

“Good. You had me worried. And I’m back to Nox now? You can’t take it back now that you said it!” The AI had a general idea about what had happened, so it didn’t ask. It had been expecting something along these lines, though the severity of what had happened had been a surprise. Instead of asking stupid questions it tried to go the playful route. Incidentally, it also wanted the old name back, so one stone hitting multiple avians.

“Fine, you can go back to Nox while I’m not pretending to be a Solarian.” She stretched a bit. “Remind me not to do this again lying on the floor. It’s not very comfortable.”

Selendil wasn’t feeling as light-hearted as she sounded, but decided that openly displaying her feelings was not going to help anyone at the moment. Nox kept the lighter tone going. "I'll remind you of that the next time you suddenly collapse. Or you could fix me something with arms so I could get you to an infirmary at least. You did promise to get me a proper body a few million years ago."

It had been an ongoing debate for a while before the plague had hit the Dhar. Selendil enjoyed teasing Nox with the idea of getting an android body that was hideously ugly and painted pink, while Nox wanted something functional and aesthetically pleasing. Once the plague had hit, such jokes had been put on hold. Many of the Dhar Ai’s had several android bodies they could control to better handle their tasks, though that depended largely on their purpose. AI’s that mostly controlled ships didn’t really need one as nanites handled most repairs and the ship was controlled entirely by the AI. On the other hand, something like a personal assistant AI had to have some kind of body to do their job.

“Do we even have an infirmary? I mean, I know there’s a room or three designated as an infirmary, but does anything actually work in there?” Selendil suddenly asked.

"Some of the scanners and maybe some instruments might work. Anything organic like medicines is long gone, and a portion of the equipment is just long gone. Most of the infirmary equipment was made from materials not meant to last millions of years, the same as most of the luxury items on the ship. The nanofabricator seems to work, so if you get some proper materials, then the fabricator can produce most medical materials.” Nox replied.

“I’ll have to fix that place as well. If we’ll be having some crew, then we’ll need an infirmary. And someone who can handle the place. I’m not going to play doctor and even the doctors I have stored are not up to speed on the biology of the younger races. The scientists likely could figure things out as we did with the gelatinous Zlorth, but they aren’t exactly suited for situations where quick action and knowledge of common diseases is required. And once again, I don’t feel like spending time as a doctor.” Selendil realized that she might need a bigger crew than she initially thought. And every new being would necessitate others to handle their various needs. Doctors and patients alike quite liked having nurses for example. And you needed more than one since they couldn’t work without rest. This was how the crews on ships grew out of hand.

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The Queen had all the ships get ready for battle in preparation for the jump out of phase space. It wasn’t time yet, but the time could come soon, and they had to be ready to move on a moment’s notice. The enemies were not expecting them of course. They felt safe behind their defenses; not realizing those defenses had already failed them. The Shinzen learned. That's what they were good at. They might suffer defeats and horrendous losses, but they learned. And they became better. They always returned. They would lose a little less the second time, even less the third time, and perhaps by the fifth time, they would no longer lose.

The importance of learning had been beaten into them. In the beginning they had been prideful, as they assumed no one could stop them. They had been wrong. They had been so very wrong. That was the most important lesson they had ever learned and it had been taught to them by a teacher like no other. There would always be someone above you, and the Great Ones would be above that someone. But as long as you were able to learn, you were able to rise again. Maybe one day the Shinzen would be the ones standing above others. Even then, they would keep in mind the lesson they had been taught. There would always be something above them. Maybe if they kept that lesson in mind, the Great Ones would not feel it necessary to give them another lesson in humility.

That had been the greatest lesson they had learned from the Great Ones, but it had not been the only one. The endless long years the Shinzen had spent in hiding had not been wasted. They had learned from their mistakes, and they had learned some of the ways the Great Ones used. Ways that the young ones had not learned yet. Once they had become sure that the expected final punishment was not coming, the Shinzen decided to put those lessons to practice. They had not succeeded at first, but as always, they learned from their mistakes.

The others were blind. The Shinzen did not disdain the young ones for their blindness. They had been blind once too until the Great Ones had shown them the error of their ways. They did disdain the others once they showed an inability to learn, however. Even as they had set back out to the universe, the learning never stopped. The Shinzen learned a bit of guile there, a technology here, a tactic there and strategy everywhere. And they combined the lessons once learned.

This new attack was a combination of lessons, both old and new. The probing attack they had made against the newest enemy had taught them a lesson. The enemy had been able to intercept three of the fleets they had sent. The Shinzen had expected this. The enemy had been unable to stop the fourth and the fifth fleet. That taught the Shinzen something. The enemy had the ability to pull fleets out of phase space. What they could not do, was pull out fleets that were deep enough within the phase space. That’s where the old lessons came in. The Great Ones had traveled through the phase space with abandon, traveling to depths never seen before or after. The Shinzen could not do the same, but they had learned to go deeper into phase space than most others. They had also learned to navigate the dangers of phase space. The others needed well-explored lanes to travel, while the Shinzen did not. They just needed to take things slow and be careful.

Now they had taken what they had learned and were prepared to attack again. This time the attack was not just a test. This time they were serious. They might lose, but in losing they would learn. Would the enemy do the same? If they did not, then the Shinzen would eventually win. The enemy this time was more dangerous than those that had come before, but they were not an enemy that could really threaten the Shinzen to the point the Great Ones had done. If the enemy tried to retaliate, then they would find out about other lessons the Shinzen had learned, and then they would regret.

The Queen looked around her. The ship she commanded held more focused power than any that they had sent before. That brought her pride. She had absorbed the earlier lessons well and was a Queen unlike most who had come before. And she wasn't alone. Ten other Queens shared the ship with her. Usually, a single Queen was enough to wage a war against an enemy. This time the Shinzen had sent eleven. That was how serious they were taking this enemy. Four of those Queens were like her. They would create, command and control.

The six others however, they were something else. They were a new type of Queen. They were another lesson the Shinzen had learned from the Great Ones, now taking to the field for the first time. These six were not commanders and creators. They were not Queens in that sense. These Queens were created for a single purpose, to do battle. What made them Queens was their ability to think, to learn, to evolve, and to function on their own. They also had the cores of a Queen. The powers of a Queen that could create armies and fleets from almost nothing, condensed into a small package designed for battle.

They were the first, and they would be the worst. As always, the Shinzen would learn, and the next ones would be even better. Could the enemy withstand these Queens? If they could, would they be able to withstand the next ones? That remained to be seen. Now all they were waiting for was the signal. The Shinzen were not the only ones to hunt this prey.

One of their old enemies had also set their eyes on the new enemy after some prodding. The Shinzen had learned guile after all. Now the Shinzen waited for the old enemy to make their move. It was appropriate to use the old enemy against the new enemy. After all, it was the new enemy that had taught them this new lesson in guile. It was only fitting that they would return the favor. Once the new enemy was distracted, the Shinzen would descend on them with ferocity that had not been seen before. And then it was time to see who learned faster.

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Moonshadow read the reports in consternation. She had suspected this was a possibility, but this was one of those times she didn’t want to be proven right. The Dawn Collective had launched an attack against the race that held territory between them and the Mrrroww. The attack was fierce but it was also quite clear that the race was not the real target of the Collective. The race that had been attacked shared quite a bit of border with the Collective, but only the systems between the Collective and the Mrrroww had been attacked. It was rather obvious what the objective of the attack was.

“So we might be facing a war on two fronts.” Moonshadow stated.

“It seems like it. We have detected no further moves from the Shinzen, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any. I hate to say it but I have a bad feeling about this.” The Admiral stated. As the highest ranking officer on the station, he was the liaison between Moonshadow and the High Command.

Moonshadow had stayed on the station in case she was needed to negotiate help from allies. So far that had been deemed unnecessary, but she had started laying the groundwork. There were races that would be willing to fight the Shinzen and the Dawn Collective as the two were a danger, but the other races would not do so for free. Not until they were also threatened. Secretly they also didn’t mind seeing the Mrrroww knocked down a peg. The Mrrroww had been one of if not the biggest player on the diplomatic stage for a while now, and many thought it would give room for others to grow if the Mrrroww were to suffer some losses.

The only races that would be genuinely willing to put their all into fighting the Shinzen were those that were already under attack, and they were busy defending themselves. It also didn't escape anyone's attention that the Mrrroww had been a constant neutral force in the galaxy and had not offered much help to others while they were attacked. They interjected on occasion when some race went too far, but in general, they stayed out of conflicts. That was partly why they had such an easy time running the Haven station, as no one really had grudges against them either.

“My suggestion is that the High Command should move ships from the other borders towards the front with the Dawn Collective and the Shinzen. Even though it is possible that some bold third party might want to take advantage, they don’t really have the courage. Not unless we start losing. The Collective is a problem though. We don’t want to get into a war of attrition with them.” Moonshadow finally suggested.

The Dawn Collective were one of the synthetic races and a fairly aggressive one at that. A race that could just build more ships and forces was likely to win a war of attrition. The other races didn’t know where the Dawn Collective had come from either. No one admitted to creating them, which made them unique in that regard. There were a few other synthetics around and some had been wiped out once they got out of control, but all of those had a known original creator. Most often the creator races had been wiped out, but at least they were known about.

“The High Command is already considering what you’re suggesting. Still, if this thing starts to spiral out of control, we need to be prepared. Start checking out if we can at least hire mercenaries if nothing else. We don’t desperately need any at the moment, so we aren’t prepared to pay exorbitant prices, but better start now so they won’t ramp up prices once we are in a crisis.” The Admiral forwarded the instructions from High Command.

“Understood. I’ll see if some of my Dashane contacts are interested.” Moonshadow stated while moving towards the door.

“Oh, you could ask the Solarian as well. She seems to be gathering a crew of some sort. I heard she was asking about a doctor and has already hired some Guardians to take care of the hydroponics. We might be able to get one of ours hired if we play our cards right.” The Admiral suddenly dropped a hint. The Solarian had not been seen on the station for a few weeks and he still had the best information channels when it came to such things.

‘Huh. That could be interesting. I might just ask.’ Moonshadow thought to herself.