“Sometimes I despair at the stupidity of various beings.”

- High Ambassador of the Mrrroww

---------

The Tetrarch was less than pleased with her situation. She emphasized good preparation, both before battles and before negotiations. Now though, she was headed to a very important meeting and her preparations were woefully inadequate. Part of it was because of the timing. The two Mrrroww representatives had already granted her a small favor when they spent the night on the planet. They were not likely to waste more time here. In addition to that, both her and her assistants had spent most of last night dealing with the aftermath of yesterdays attack. Even if the meeting with the Mrrroww was more important, she couldn't just ignore other matters either, especially if she wanted to turn the situation to her advantage.

The Tetrarch would’ve also liked to interview the Serebryakov family as they have spent some time with the two Mrrroww, but how was she supposed to achieve that before the meeting without arousing suspicions? She had spent some time on a video call with the eldest son of the family, after the son has asked his father some pointed questions, but they had not received much in the way of concrete information. Apparently, the parents of that family were extremely thankful to the two aliens for some reason and they didn’t want to rouse the ire of their benefactors by speaking out of turn. The Tetrarch could understand the latter reason at least. The Grand Keeper at least was almost scarily powerful.

Her subordinates and even Psicom had given her all the information they had managed to dig up on the two aliens, which wasn’t much. The Mrrroww were very open when it came to diplomacy, but less so when it came to information. They had learned some things about the High Ambassador, though even that information was sparse, and nothing about the Grand Keeper. In fact, their sources with the Mrrroww had given nothing about Keepers at all. Which neatly fit with the suspicion about the Grand Keeper not being a Mrrroww in the first place. Of course, it could also be denial or unawareness of a clandestine project, but there were problems with that theory, starting with the fact that they had suddenly announced the title at a rather fringe celebration of a race the Mrrroww had little to no dealings with.

The meeting had been set in a neutral location in a conference facility often used for such high-level negotiations. The Tetrarch could not be seen going to the people she was meeting as that would give the impression that she was the weaker party. On the other hand, these were not the sort of ambassadors you could just demand to appear at the palace either. So a neutral location it was. As a show of good will the Tetrarch had arrived first, while the other party didn't force her to wait for more than a minute in return.

After the first exchange of pleasantries, the Tetrarch got straight to business. “I wonder if you could enlighten me about what really happened during your battle. We have certain reasons to think you were not entirely forthcoming, though I wouldn’t expect that as you’re not obligated to be. Still, we would like to know more. For some reason we have no recordings of the battle, which should be impossible. That hints at a fairly extensive security breach, and if it was done by you, we need to know. If it wasn’t, then we will need to run a wider search for the security issue.”

The Grand Keeper seemed to look towards the sky as she only said a single word. “Nox?”

A new voice suddenly spoke in a feminine voice. “I actually did try to take care of it, but it had been done already. Most of the system had been programmed to pay attention elsewhere. I think our opponent didn’t want our battle to be observed.” It didn’t take much to deduce this new voice belonged to an AI even if it did seem to have more of a personality than most AI’s.

“So do we need to be worried?” The Tetrarch asked, not entirely sure yet. Not just one but two different parties had gotten inside their systems. Great.

“No. That problem is gone.” The Grand Keeper replied.

“Ok.” The Tetrarch stated, not entirely convinced. “On to another matter then. I’m just going to say this straight to avoid any confusion. We have a reason to believe you are not really a Mrrroww. Care to explain?”

Interestingly the High Ambassador looked wary, while the Grand Keeper leaned forward with interest. “You have a psion capable of aura reading.” The Grand Keeper stated. “Not a very skilled one considering they couldn’t tell the difference between the normal hostility in parties like the type yesterday’s was supposed to be and the open hostility that preceded the attack, but an aura reader nonetheless.”

The Tetrarch had trouble keeping a straight face. How in the world had they managed to guess that so quickly? What she didn’t know was that Selendil was one of the few people with extensive knowledge of aura readers, and knew that only something like an aura reader could see through her ability to change shape. Someone could make an educated guess based on her behavior and words of course, but this didn’t seem like one of those times. Aura reading was one of the few psionic skills Selendil didn’t possess, mainly because it was not something that could be learned or gained by being a Keeper. Much like the ability to become a Keeper, you either had the prerequisite potential or you didn’t, and nothing could change that fact.

“You know of aura readers? I must confess that I only learned of the ability yesterday myself.” The Tetrarch decided to admit, as the proverbial cat was already out of the bag.

“It is a rare talent. Extremely rare. Takes specialized training to get the best out of. Such a shame the ability will now be wasted.” Selendil stated. Surprisingly only a small part of her tone was faked, as she really did feel it was a bit of a shame.

“Yes, well, we do have our own training programs.” The Tetrarch stated, sending that the Grand Keeper might be hinting in a certain direction. “Anyway, you didn’t deny what I said.”

“There’s no point really. Not because I can’t. I could deny it completely and there’s really nothing you could do about it with such shoddy evidence. What I mean is that the fact is completely irrelevant.” Selendil replied evenly.

“Well, the fact that the Mrrroww were lying about the race of one of their representative isn’t nothing.” The Tetrarch pointed out, in a friendly tone. She didn’t want to give the idea that she was actually accusing them. She was just pointing out an inconsistency.

“Except that I’m not really here as a representative of the Mrrroww. I’m here just as her escort.” Selendil pointed her paw towards Moonshadow. “Anything else is just you assuming things. In fact, Moonshadow, when you gave the master of ceremonies my name and title, did you ever mention that I was a Mrrroww?”

Moonshadow grinned. “I did not. Even when it came to all the official announcements I provided before we arrived here, I never mentioned your race. Everyone just assumed.”

"And there you have it," Selendil stated with finality, turning back towards the Tetrarch.

The Tetrarch gave a sigh. “Despite being quite forthcoming, you’re not actually giving me the answers I’m really looking for.”

Selendil shrugged. “That’s because you keep leading us down on tangents. Look, you don’t actually need to know what happened during the battle. All you really need to know is that it’s not likely to happen again, and that the threat was taken care of. I’m sorry about your aide, but there really was no way for her to survive that encounter. As for my race, you’ll figure it out eventually. There’s nothing you could do with that information at this point anyway. We will soon leave the Tetrarchy space, and very likely the two of us will never meet again.”

The Tetrarch rubbed the bridge of her nose with two fingers while digesting Selendil’s words. Suddenly she got an idea. “Then perhaps you can help me solve a problem. Since we are likely to never meet again, I might as well ignore any potential embarrassment to myself and ask for your perspective.”

“Go on.” Moonshadow encouraged with an intrigued voice.

"You know who the attack was orchestrated by. You know the lower Tetrarchy is likely to try again if I don't give them a proper response, yet it can't be a military one. With the civilian Tetrarch gone, it'll take time before our administration will be running at full capacity again, and I frankly have my hands full with the fallout from the attack and dealing with the war with the Cybrans. What's your perspective on how I should proceed?" The Tetrarch decided to lay out her cards. At worst she'd get nothing but slight shame, while at best she might get some great ideas from a very different viewpoint.

Moonshadow and Selendil looked at each other a bit, and the Tetrarch noticed that glance. The two felines did have some important information after all. Finally Moonshadow cleared her throat. “Sometimes a little bit of time can provide surprising new avenues that did not exist before.”

“That’s…cryptic.” The Tetrarch commented.

Selendil gave a small sigh. “Well, you’ve dealt a blow to the Cybrans, perhaps a crippling one, and you could risk it all to deal a fatal one. Perhaps you should take the victories you’ve already achieved instead of overextending. As for the problem with the lower Tetrarchy, I think that problem might resolve itself sooner than you think.”

The Tetrarch’s eyes narrowed. She wasn’t stupid. “The Illum. You know something. The only real threat to the lower Tetrarchy comes from the Illum. Should the lower Tetrarchy suddenly find itself unable to handle the Illum, then they would have to come to me for help. Help that I’d be in a much better situation to provide if all our forces are not tied in a desperate push against the Cybrans.”

Moonshadow gave a small mysterious smile, which was partially lost on the Tetrarch as she couldn’t read the nuances of Mrrroww expressions. “We certainly did not say anything like that. However, that seems like an idea that should be taken into consideration. I mean, if I were in the shoes of the Illum and I got wind of what had just happened both with the Cybrans and the attack on the Tetrarchs…”

The Tetrarch smiled. “Obviously you would never so crassly interfere in the internal affairs of Humanity. Nobody would even suggest such a thing.”

“Some would argue that the Cybrans and Illum are no longer Human.” Selendil pointed out.

“Yes, some Cybrans and Illum would. And they wouldn’t be entirely wrong. Just don’t let the rest of Humanity hear you say that. Now then. I do believe I owe you two a favor. Unofficially of course. I must return and prepare for what might or might not be coming.” The Tetrarch rose from her position. “As we’ve established that you will not be providing the answers I seek, you are free to leave, and I will not try to stop you.”

As the two watched the Tetrarch leave, Moonshadow couldn’t help but give a small sigh. “Amaterasu will not like the fact that her little surprise attack will not be as much of a surprise as she hoped.”

“Oh, it’s still going to be a surprise. It might even work better than she planned. I’m pretty sure the Tetrarch will pull all the ships belonging to the upper Tetrarchy from that front, on the excuse of dealing with the Cybran front. Perhaps she will even make a play to get more ships under her command. And she will also delay sending any reinforcements that way, if she does so at all. I know her type. She will either let half of the lower Tetrarchy fall before acting, or she will take this opportunity to turn the Tetrarchy into a monarchy. Also, I think Xiaoli will be pleased with this development as well.” Selendil pointed out. She had not dropped the hint about the Illum randomly. Even if her reading of the Tetrarch was off, it was extremely unlikely the Tetrarch would warn the lower Tetrarchy of the impending attack. Vengeance was a bitch after all and such altruism went against everything she knew of Humans in positions of power.

Moonshadow played all the likely scenarios in her head as well and arrived at the same conclusion Selendil had. "Oh, you sly bastard. You may have caused the downfall of the Tetrarchy with that small little hint. And all this while making the Tetrarch owe us a favor and making our crew members happy."

"I have my moments," Selendil replied with a grin. "I think we've achieved just about what we can here. I still think we should try to get Lady Serebryakov to join our crew as a chef, though.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen. She’s the wife of a major corporate mogul. Even if she enjoys cooking, she isn’t going to drop everything for a hobby. Especially after she just stopped her son from doing essentially the same.” Moonshadow shot the idea down.

“Such a shame. Oh well. Time’s a-wastin’ and we still need to get further from this planet before I can warp us back to the ship.” Selendil stated.

---------

Khaemwaset was standing close to Selendil as the Keeper stared at the human woman suspended in the stasis field. For once he wasn’t trying to hit on Selendil, as he knew there was a time and place. Usually he ignored the time and place, but he knew that if he pushed at the wrong time, his advances would turn from playful and somewhat endearing to genuinely annoying. He wasn’t extremely successful with females of most species for no reason.

“So how long will this take?” Moonshadow, who was also nearby, asked. There was a formidable woman, even if she was completely immune to Khaem’s advances. Probably either didn’t like males or just disliked aliens.

“Well, it’s a bit hard to say. I’d say I will need to work on her for about thirty hours straight at least. I could do it faster, but the result would inevitably be worse.” Selendil stated in a voice that seemed intensely erotic to Khaem for some reason. Something about the Keeper’s voice just lit the fires inside him in a way that no one before had managed.

“Should we not inform Amaterasu?” His old friend Lilly asked. Such a doll that one. He had actually tried hitting on her years ago and might have even succeeded if not for rotten timing. Now his reputation had become a hindrance on that front. Lilly didn’t want to be ‘one of his conquests’ as if that was how he thought about his lovers. He really cared. He just happened to care about many females.

“You can inform her if you want, but I doubt it will make much of a difference. She’s too busy to be here, and she wouldn’t be of any help even if she was here. Now, it might be more important to have her around when this one wakes up. A familiar face might do good.” Selendil replied again, and another shiver ran through Khaem’s back.

“So why now? You haven’t exactly been in a rush to put her mind together before.” Moonshadow pointed out.

“Well, I’ll have to spend a fair bit of time putting together all the information I gained from the void entity, and I can work on two projects at once. So why not?” Selendil gave a small shrug. That small movement also happened to move other parts of her body that Khaem definitely noticed. And appreciated. The woman seemed to move like a well-stacked dancer sometimes. One that could float, that is.

“So why am I here?” Khaem asked, shaking off other thoughts.

“I’ll need you to take her into your care once I’m done. Even if her mind is put together, it’s going to take some time for all the pieces to really form solid connections, and this part of her healing can’t happen while she is in stasis. She’s going to need full care during that time. I just want you to be prepared and ready to move when I give the signal.” Selendil explained. Yeah, it was hard to really concentrate when she spoke, but he was a man of many talents. “Also, if you pull any of your shenanigans on her while she’s unconscious, I’m going to shove you out of an airlock. While the ship is inside a star.”

Khaem felt genuinely offended at her word. “I wouldn’t even think about it! I may be forward in my desires, but I know how to separate my work from my pastimes.” The fact that many of his patients ended up becoming more familiar with him after they stopped being patients was just a happy coincidence.

"Make sure you stick to that," Selendil said sternly, warning clear in her tone. Then she shooed the others away and told them not to bother her in the middle of the procedure unless the ship was under attack and Nox couldn't handle it for some reason. Stopping in the middle would make things worse.

While the others gave her some privacy to work, Selendil floated in the air in a meditative position. She would basically have to work on two puzzles simultaneously. That part was rather easy, and that ease was the reason she was tackling both problems at once. The hard part was trying to find all the pieces and trying to compensate for those that could not be found. In her mind, she visualized the whole procedure as small and thin tendrils bringing along chunks of two separate and rather dissimilar figures.

Some of the pieces were slowly forming into the image of the girl Miyo, as she saw herself. The others were forming into a much more confusing construct that looked like a four-dimensional model of a geometric shape that didn’t follow any known laws of physics. It was clear that the geometric shape was missing a lot of pieces, while the image of Miyo was much more complete, although in smaller pieces. Most pieces of Miyo’s shattered mind had stayed with her, largely thanks to the fact that she had quickly been placed into stasis. As for the geometric shape, Selendil could only grab some of the pieces when she was inside the void wraiths mind so she had only so much she could work with.

Inevitably though, some of the pieces of Miyo’s mind were damaged and wouldn’t fit together perfectly. Some of them had not fit together perfectly even before Selendil broke her mind. People were not perfectly healthy beings without any accrued damage or injuries, and the same held true for their minds. In this case though, Selendil couldn’t be sure which parts had been damaged by her, so she had to improvise a bit and make some educated guesses.

Some damage could be reversed with a bit of temporal manipulation. This was one of the benefits of Miyo having been in stasis for the entire time. As time had not really passed for the girl, she could take a small peek at Miyo’s past to see what her mind had been like while before. That technique couldn’t fix the damage, but it showed Selendil what repairs she needed to do and how. Still, the fixes she was applying might end up having some unintended consequences, and she was slightly worried that she had at some places repaired damage that she had not caused. Better to overcompensate in that direction though.

As time passed, it became clear that the other puzzle was in a much worse state. She simply had no pieces to work with and wasn’t able to compensate in any way. Temporal manipulation didn’t really work either without access to the being itself. You couldn’t roll back time on just the fragments. She didn’t want to apply her own fixes either, as that would ruin the information she was trying to get. It was one thing if Miyo’s personality shifted just a bit, but it was not ok if the information she got from the Void Entity turned out to be wrong because she made the wrong fix. She did what she could, and that would have to be enough.

Her original estimate of thirty hours was a little optimistic and she ran a few hours late due to some complications. When she finally opened her eyes again though, the ship doctor Khaemwaset was dutifully present even without a signal from her and showed no signs of impatience. “I’ve done what I can. I applied a little bit of my own power to keep the fragments of her mind together until she can naturally reform those connections. I’m fairly certain she will be unconscious for a while, but she should recover. Prepare to receive her from the stasis.” Selendil explained, and Nox automatically started manipulating the stasis controls.

While Khaemwaset dealt with his new patient, Moonshadow approached Selendil. “What about the information from the void entity?”

Selendil made a frustrated gesture with her tails. “Extremely fragmented. Luckily I managed to grab the right pieces, so I wasn’t left with information about the time the void entity was imprisoned. That would’ve been a waste of time and effort. I’m still sorting through the details, but from what I can gather, this wasn't the only Void Entity that was imprisoned. Apparently, during the war back then, one of our subordinate species imprisoned several of them. For what purpose, I don’t know as that was not in the fragments of information, but I do have some guesses.”

“Go for it. I can give feedback on your assumptions.” Moonshadow prompted.

“Well, these void entities were those that had possessed Dhar at some point, and the subordinate race captured those possessed Dhar and extracted the entities, killing the hosts in the process. These void entities would’ve had some of the technological information they gained from their Dhar hosts, so I would assume the subordinate race wanted that information. They couldn’t really question the damn things in a place where they could get caught, so they traveled to the very edges of the Eternal Empire to conduct their research. I'm guessing we might have even warped them here at their request. The distance would also provide a certain level of deniability if word got out, as they could brand the researchers as rogues and heretics." Selendil speculated.

“You wouldn’t have noticed the void energy during the transfer?” Moonshadow asked a little confused.

“Well, that depends. Who performed the warp and how were the entities contained? I’m loathe to admit it, but we are quite far from infallible. Besides, if this was done well after the war, then the person who performed the warp might not have been looking for the void energy. I doubt their research would’ve been very successful though. The void beings aren’t exactly known for being cooperative. The more likely scenario is that their attempts failed and they had to abort the project.” Selendil explained.

“And now we have void entities on the loose?” Moonshadow pointed out the obvious.

“And we have no idea where they could’ve been hidden.” Selendil finished with exasperation.