Of Starships and Golden Armors

by Devona

Interval 1 - The Tectonic Crisis

Stanley's head jetted upwards and his eyes sprung open, meeting the darkened Castle room adorned by weak streaks of moonlight breaking inside through the curtained windows. By all means, it appeared that night was still in its youth. Stanley got up from the floor, his current resting place, and sat back on the bed - bed so soft and uncomfortable it made the trooper wince at even a thought of using it as something else than a chair.

Everything was so weird... so far, Stanley hadn't shown it, hadn't felt it as clearly, but now... One moment he'd been in his pod, prepped and stocked for battle, heart and mind ready for a weeks-long operation. The second, he'd been walking peacefully alongside unknown alien rulers, engaged in innocent conversations, everything combat and war-related all but forgotten.

Stanley always formulated every scenario he could think of in his mind before deployment, or at least he tried to - how could he not? That being said, there was no way in hell he could have ever even come close to predicting this.

It confused his mind, was just foreign, but above all - simply felt weird. It wasn't something in his nature. He was never meant to do this. Every time he held his rifle - so, essentially, very often - his finger itched on the trigger, but there was no need. Somehow, there was no need. For the very first time, there was no need. How could there ever be no need? Ehh...

As his eyes clearly refused to stay closed, Stanley reached out to the small storage on his armor's back and grabbed three small packages he had previously recovered from his pod. Putting them all next to him, he began tampering - more to kill some time than anything else. He inspected them and organised, a thousand times over, until there was absolutely nothing to do anymore. There never was, truly - all of the packages were, quite surprisingly, in fairly good condition. Along with one general mixture of issue medicines, there were two small, hand-sized cylinders filled with icucine, one accompanied by a small syringe. Stanley had no Youn Pills on him, as he had suspected, so an icucine injection would mean imminent death, but he had concluded that in a hypothetical situation where his life is under serious, imminent threat it could be somewhat useful anyway - the additional strength and pain resistance may help him survive. Even if just for a few days.

Satisified with the medicines, Stanley put the three packages back into the storage, once again returning to the state of absolute idleness. Still unable (or, more accurately, unwilling) to drift into Morpheus' domain, the trooper decided to finally take care of the one thing he still had to do. The thing he's already been putting off for far too long now.

Sighing, Stanley navigated through his HUD's database, eyeballs remaining still due to his choice to use the neural network. Eventually, after reaching the local database, he did as the admiral had advised him and searched for the Tectonic Crisis. Having found it in virtually a flash, Stanley sighed once again.

Alright, he thought. Time for a history revision... unlikely that much is new with this clearance.

As echoes of these thoughts resonated through his mind, Stanley began to read.

'The Tectonic Crisis

The Tectonic Crisis is a term given to a series of geological cataclysms occuring on multiple planets characterized by predominantly human population, mostly under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Sol, from early 5106 to 5128. Along with the following IMOD-115 pandemic, the Tectonic Crisis was the direct cause of tens of billions of deaths throughout primarily the Republic of Sol and comprised the decisive factor contributing to the ensuing economic decline of the country and, ultimately, the Eastern Crash. '

Yes, well, I know all of that. Everyone does. Likely a few paragraphs before anything new...

'The Tectonic Crisis is believed to have been caused by unrestricted use of experimental, bio-infused terraforming technology by human colonists, as well as improperly supervised, large-scale experiments conducted with it by high-ranking Republican officials following the technique's limited public introduction in summer 5099. In all cases, prolonged use of the machinery in question resulted in the release of the anomalously contagious IMOD-115 (Immuno-Multi-Organ Disability) virus, a byproduct of its partly-biological makeup, into the atmosphere, forcing the Republic of Sol to quarantine all affected planets. As a result, many-'

Suddenly, Stanley's display flashed green, and the article disappeared from view. In its place, a communique appeared. A communique straightforward and already known to Stanley from his previous promotions. Now though, he had suspected his access had already been updated quietly - as it was likely only a temporary clearance. That, and he had had his HUD on almost the entire time. It never required actually accessing the database for the communique to appear.

'CLEARANCE LEVEL RAISE DETECTED
ONE-DASH-SEVEN TO THREE-DASH-FIVE - APPENDIX 4-211
STAND BY FOR INFORMATION UPDATE'

And a loading screen appeared. And the page loaded once more. So similar, but oh, so different.

Stanley's eyes involuntarily widened.

'The Psionic Crisis

The Psionic Crisis, dubbed The Tectonic Crisis for public information, was a series of sudden manifestations of psionic channeling abilities in various, seemingly random members of human population. Directly affecting 73 planets administrated by the Republic of Sol and 11 human-populated worlds outside its jurisdiction [account by the Cabinet's Top Secretary of State for Common Information, March 5129] between 5106 and 5128 (although it's worth noting that aftershocks occured until much later) the event brough about the deaths of an estimated 23.8 billion humans and an additional 8.5 billion members of catalogued alien species, primarily caused by the ensuing blockades by Republican, and other, security forces [under clearance order 66/8-sec.14.40; see the List of Classified Actions and Operations under the Auspicion of the Republic of Sol High Command in the years 5000-5500, as per the Presidential Archives 18/11/6130].

The crisis began on Trapizmon in the Selcid system in 5106 [first reports of unusual activity - 13/06/5106] when several unrelated human citizens across the globe unexpectedly displayed seemingly anomalous abilities by transferring large quantities of unspecified energy of unknown origins into the environment. Exact properties of this energy (from this point on referred to as 'psionics') remain unknown, but it is certain its nature is at least dual, as it is able to behave as pure energy or an unknown type of force, which cause is impossible to determine, when interacting with the environment. In all cases, interviewed witnesses claimed that victims of this event seemed either unaware of their newfound capabilities or unable to control them [see addendum 226 - case acts, tomes 51-67, documented as per the Presidential Archives 18/11/6130].

Over time, similar incidents took place on many human-inhabited worlds, and in all cases, members of the species seemed to have acted as not necessarily operators, but beacons for psionic energy to manifest, displaying minimal ability to influence it. Channeling capabilities of said victims (from this point on referred to as 'beacons') have been observed to increase rapidly over progressively shorter periods of time, causing them to release dangerously large amounts of psionics [add. 157]. Volumes of force channelled through the beacons eventually became large enough to cause apocalyptic events to occur on most of the affected planets, prominent examples including crunched buildings and cities, people twisted alive en masse, and, at peak recorded activity, multiple instances of continental plates lifted from the planets' crust [see addendum 240 - operation reports, section 3, years 5114-5123; Battle Squadron Crimson, Battle Squadron Turquoise, Battle Squadron Alabaster, [[CLASSIFIED BEYOND CURRENT CLEARANCE LEVEL]], as per the Presidential Archives 18/11/6130]. In most cases, the few existing witnesses testified recognizable sympthoms of mental illnesses of various severity and nature appearing in the beacons, usually described as 'madness' (134 instances) or 'insanity' (115 instances). Whether this was caused by the awareness of the damages and loss of life caused or a byproduct of the channelling ability remains unclear, although it was likely the mixture of both [see addendum 311 - Final Report of the Psionic Theoretical Studies Section to Determine the Nature of Psionics under the Auspicion of the President's Cabinet of the Republic of Sol, 08/08/5164; prof. dr Elisiah Chin].

The number of beacons manifested on a planet peaked, in most cases, at at most a few dozen. However, Republican authorities at the time had reasons to believe the channelling ability could potentially be transmittable to other humans [add. 299 - compilation of contemprary studies of psionics, as per the Presidential Archives, 18/11/6130; theory later disproven - see addendum 311 - Final Report of the Psionic Theoretical Studies Section to Determine the Nature of Psionics under the Auspicion of the President's Cabinet of the Republic of Sol, 08/08/5164; prof. dr Elisiah Chin]. With the beacons' increasing unpredictable capabilities preventing any authorities from taking action, the President's Cabinet of the Republic of Sol and the Council of Parliaments (in a joint session with the Republic of Sol High Command representatives, 26/12/5114; session's existence classified, [[CLASSIFIED BEYOND CURRENT CLEARANCE LEVEL]]) unanimously decided on implementing the quarantine doctrine.

In cooperation with international authorities, any and all worlds with confirmed psionic activity were to be blockaded (and subsequently completely cut off from the rest of the galaxy) by Republican, and other, security and military forces [under clearance order 66/8-sec.14.40; see the List of Classified Actions and Operations under the Auspicion of the Republic of Sol High Command in the years 5000-5500, as per the Presidential Archives 18/11/6130]. Participating formations included Battle Squadron Crimson, Battle Squadron Turquoise, Battle Squadron Alabaster, [[CLASSIFIED BEYOND CURRENT CLEARANCE LEVEL]]. After several instances of vessels being pulled from low orbit by the beacons, suggesting further, unceasing increase in the potency of their abilities, Republic of Sol High Command made the decision to sterilize all affected planets by extensive use of orbital bombardment [see add. 15 - clearance order 66/17-sec. 11.37]. This action had been successfully carried out from 5117 through 5128.

In such situation, it was found necessary to restrict public access to facts regarding the affair, providing replacement information in their place [as per the decision of the Cabinet's Top Secretary of State for Public Information, 13/04/5115]. As such, the extensive quarantine was said to be caused by the sudden outbreak of the fictional Immuno-Multi-Organ Disability virus (IMOD-115), in itself a byproduct of too extensive use of fabricated, in reality nonexistent experimental bio-infused terraforming technology. The technique's supposed initial, limited public introduction in 5099 was gradually implemented into common public opinion through extensive, subtle manipulation of relevant information flow in the following decades [for all actions undertaken in adequate regard, as well as detailed reports concerning the operations described above, see addendums 301-334; various sources].

Extensive research that followed the Psionic Crisis revealed more as to the nature and laws of psionic energy. Studies of the force's measured interactions with the environment, limited experiments with what remained of the energy, and scrutinizing the few recovered, confirmed remnants of the beacons' bodies allowed to conclude, in combination with contemporary research, that the psionic channelling ability is, most likely, a byproduct of some unknown process, universally and irreversibly hurting its victims. Limited studies proved that in order to be able to effectively control and manipulate psionics, a species (and not just a single member) would have to possess a set of very specific, highly unlikely to occur naturally, biological features. Such a hypothetical state of things was eventually called by the researchers 'compatibility with psionics'. No race ever encountered is biologically compatible with psionics [see addendum 311 - Final Report of the Psionic Theoretical Studies Section to Determine the Nature of Psionics under the Auspicions of of the President's Cabinet of the Republic of Sol, 08/08/5164; prof. dr Elisiah Chin].

[[CLASSIFIED BEYOND CURRENT CLEARANCE LEVEL]], [[CLASSIFIED BEYOND CURRENT CLEARANCE LEVEL]] refused to [[CLASSIFIED BEYOND CURRENT CLEARANCE LEVEL]].'

Several more sections still remained, as well as all the addendums. Other than that, it appeared as though a number of notes from various state officials were attached to the article, reading advised, but for now, Stanley had had enough. He was going to read through all of this, he knew he was. That was what the admiral had advised and so that was what he was going to do. Now though, he truly simply felt he had some context, some... explanation.

So what he had seen in this world, what these horses were capable of, were all examples of controlled psionics? So this race was... 'compatible with psionics'? Huh...

It should've felt terrifying, but for some reason, it did not. Not at all. Instead, if anything, relief traversed Stanley's body. At last, he knew what was going on, he had an explanation. Even though he was already, slowly getting used to seeing all the telekinesis all around here, he always had that tinge of uneasiness at the back of his head. He was used to working in the dark, but obviously preferred not to. Especially in a situation like this.

Now though, that tinge was gone. Gone. Gone and, despite everything, soon replaced by another.

What he had just read... the abilities were increasing, right? And here, here he had seen Luna literally move what seemed to be, well, a distant star.

And these aliens could control this power. Control it perfectly well.

Needless to say, implications of this did not fill Stanley with optimism. It was there, yes, but in his reaction, raised caution dominated. Without a doubt.

Even then though, Stanley somehow couldn't shake the feeling that... there had to be something more to it. To what these aliens were doing. It couldn't have been just these 'psionics'. He had no idea why, but for some weird, unknown reason, he just felt there had to be something more to it. It would just be too simple.

Ugh, why do I dismiss common sense? There's no reason to think that. Take the possibility into account, yes, but... Take into account, yes, yes, that's what I'll- that's what I'm doing. That's what I'm doing...

Saving the article for easier access through his HUD, provided a positive outcome of the user's DNA check, Stanley laid back on his quarter's floor, realising he'll get nowhere with these simple time-killers. Turning onto his side, still in full body armor, the trooper went on to at least try to go back to sleep once again.

Author's Note:

Yep, that is me experimenting with coloured text.

If you made it all the way down here, share your thoughts! That's pretty much the most motivating thing there can be!

Anyway, I hope you have a good read! Stay pony, my friends!

Comments

[Earthpatriot117]

Definitely informative. Xd
Looking forward to more updates!

[Devona]

10060412
Yes, well, it pretty much wrapped up any remaining threads from Act I. We're going to be moving on soon enough, and as I had said, the updates should be much more frequent now!

[Earthpatriot117]

10060585
Sweet!