Prologue Tumbling through the vacuum in silence, smoldering in visible glows of molten metal and twisted wreckage, an slight, dying flicker of awareness came into being. It's final outcry of conscious soon died, but it was all that was needed. Then, it died knowing it was done.
Chapter I- Crossroads
Along side it and all around it, dots, dashes and points of lights drifted in the circumference.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Admiral Takai." the man on the platform said proudly and stepped off of the podium platform, letting the man of the hour stand before the entire crowd of media and military personnel, the dark navy blue uniform of his showing it's wrinkles and creases in a lighter blue of the lights on one of the numerous observation decks of the Terran Space yard Gates of Olympia.
"On this day, we celebrate the commissioning of the first in a class of great vessels. We are gathered here to whiteness history in the making. Today we stand united in taking the first step of casting the restrictions of Warp Point travel and announce our exploratory spirit in yet another incarnation. Today, it will be known through the Terran Confederation, as well as others that may observe us, the launching of the Christopher Columbus; the galaxy's first FTL driven ship." the middle aged man with the looks of a Japanese Admiral of old announced.
Behind him sat the 2/3s of a kilometer long light cruiser. It's overall design was that of a rectangle with a thinner segment of superstructure ¼ of the way from the bow and it had numerous thruster ports from the fusion reactor powered ion engines. Ion engines had been a slow, grueling method of transportation and had initially been used as the primary propulsion for warp-point slowships for nearly three decades backed by chemical thrusters for maneuvering. All of that was before the advent of warp drive FTL travel, of course.
"Unfortunately, I can't go outside in a EVA suit and break this." the admiral indicated the champagne bottle held in his hand, but he promptly shook it and popped the cork into the permaglass window and the champagne poring out in a fountain of white foam. The media began to clap and take photos while the military men and women stood up and readied to salute when the Terran Confederation's national anthem played by a live band from the TC Marine Corps played the vessel out as it drifted gracefully out of the Gates of Olympia and proceeded to L-5 LaGrange point and after that, with every telescope and eye pointed to that region of the sky, a blur and a flash formed outwards from L-5 and into the unknown star system listed as Kline-827.
***
Elsewhere, a great leviathan of engineering held a great ritual about to begin. Minds within their bodies joined and shared each other's consciousness, becoming one. Little needles of silicon with circuits of superconducting compounds not known to but a few others entered their already positioned ports. The Overmind had been reborn for the time being. >>>What is this? A high pulse rate of tachyon energy? an aspect of Overmind asked itself.>>>Partially, supposedly it to originates from Ashadra, near the belt gaps, four light seconds closer to the inner debris field.>>>Possibly a transmission. Species S7-R12 emitted.>>>
>>>Improbable, sentient biosigns within the entire quadrant have been rendered nonfunctional. However… automation >>>Not within the realm of improbability, S7-R12 had the technological base and the drive to… Wait! Spatial distortion detected… Quadrant 6, sector S-TS 4003, optimal-approximate vessels responding.
***
"Captain! Unknown vessels, bearings oh-two-seven by four-three and oh-oh-niner by one-seven!" the tactical officer onboard the Christopher Columbus announced. The Captain leaned in his command chair and squinted at the view-screen to see several large vessels which the sensor tech had to enhance in order for him to see. They were large, almost 3/4s of a kilometer long and had running lights (if that's what they could be called) all over, blinking flashes of orange-yellow in minute pricks of light. With long axes of symmetry, they looked to be ornate yet simplistic at the same time. Their over all superstructures seemed to be that of a triangle with concave sides, curving inwards with heavy support structures of some kind running in tangled loops into the aft section of the ship. Bringing themselves into an intercept course was simple enough with their reactionless drives kicking in, using their own mass as well as redolent particle creation and decay as propulsion.
From the bridge of the Columbus, the EM readings glowed in white-hot fury as Hawking's Radiation seared into their monitors from singularities emitted from the unknown vessels.
By the time the laser-line sequence emergency beacon went off, it was too late. The pulses of Hawking Singularities (miniature black holes) tore space-time in twain where ever they neared, causing parts of the human-made light cruiser to simply end where they approached, having cylindrical areas of pure vacuum standing in their way. Luckily, there were none in those areas of the ship as of yet and the Alcubierre Warp Engine survived long enough to reach minimum needed to achieve warp speed. With a shimmer of light, stretching the image of their quarry away, the two monstrous singularity projecting warships ended their attack, seeing that whatever had just been there exceeded the speed of light, not an achievement taken lightly in any extent.
***
The Overmind sat. It did not worry, it did not fear, it mostly sat. But, it also thought. >>>This is our spatial distortion? That explains the projected chronometer anomalies. >>>In the field in which this vessel traveled, time is witnessed in the same measurement from it's previous location. This is, of course, assuming the sophonts actually perceive time as we do, species S4-R399 saw it in double intervals, one of which was slow enough to evade a reconstructed Pinudon vessel's particle weapon bursts.>>>Agreed, proceed, slowly...