Story: The Vanguard
| The Vanguard | |
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Preceded by: |
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Followed by: |
Unknown |
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Author(s) |
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From a little way down the line. By Holbenilord.
Prologue
The void is, as it was and as it shall be. It has been since before Emenata and shall persist until the End, for there must be a void for there to be a something. No homogenous universe can have life, but there must be areas of things and areas of void. But the void is not nothing- it is full of space. And in this space there reside beings of thing that have taken it upon themselves to enlarge the void, for the void is addictive to sapience and once a being has stared into the grand emptiness they cannot forget it. And when the void is the heart's desire, matter is filth, impurity, and does not deserve to exist in the same universe as the glorious void.
But the void's power is finite, and there are things beyond the stars.
Chapter 1
The inquisitor watched his troops gather in the mass of swirling fractals that were this continuum. He saw it in other ways as well- ways that would make no sense to any 4D being. Things vanishing and reappearing, things distorting and flipping within themselves, were all predictable to his mind.
He also took another look at the sensory relay, and it Showed him how close the Vanguard was. It was in the microverse of Advoros, in the B-Continuum along with the major universes like Empyrean and Machinus. There was a lot at stake, and he frowned. He distorted to inside his boltzvessel, and then they all distorted to Advoros. If the Vanguard kept 'on' this 'pathway' in the multiversal fabric of Obeidon, it would next reach Tamuzal- which was inhabited. And had to be kept isolated.
And there was Advoros- a rather pretty microverse, filled with disks of bright gas a light-year across which crossed each other and floated lazily through the dust of their universe.
As the Vanguard had been here for a few secrends already, the stars and planets were already gone.
"Inquisitor?" One of his intelligence officers was Showing. They could talk, but Showing was quicker and better.
He turned to look at the speaker. She seemed young, probably under a million.
"There are large numbers of Losothi here. And a few Aqrabuamelu. And some Tharaka."
"Good to know. Ready everything."
"Ready."
The inquisitor settled back, and tensed.
Chapter 2
"Team five, spread out!"
The soldiers fanned out within the cavern, the lights mounted on their weapons providing the only light. Their black armour made them almost invisible, though their leader bore a red mark down the side of his helmet. This armour was another donation- it was radio-, infrared- and uv-stealthed. There were many other features built in, but they hadn't bothered to go into detail about them.
They formed a five-membered v-formation, around five metres of space between each pair. The cave pressed in on all sides- the rocks comprising it made of no natural mineral. The floor was cold and hard, but they couldn't feel the freezing temperatures through their insulatory armour. The thermometer read three above absolute, so it was just as well.
The cave only narrowed as they progressed, but side-tunnels became apparent. They were too small for any of the team, but they were evidently well-used if the claw marks around their openings were that.
Rokgr shone his light into one- shadows danced around within, but no eyes reflected its light. He relaxed slightly.
Stalactites hung from the cave roof- but they were not dripping limestone. Instead, they were tapering blades, constructed from some artificial material, fixed firmly into the ceiling. Had... whatever... that had built this been trying to imitate a natural cave? Or was it a kind of sick convergence?
They came to a fork in the path, and two gaping holes in the rock stared out at them. Vaion stretched his wings, sheathed though they were in dark armour, and stopped to look at his teammates. "Rokgr, Suir, left. We'll go right."
"Yes, lieutenant." The Skarg and the Detroni headed off, and Vaion took his own group the other way.
The pair walked cautiously through the shadows, silent at first. Then, Rokgr's helmet radio beeped.
"See anything?"
"Only shadows."
