You look into the universe and see indescribable beauty - but never forget that beauty is inimical to life, that the universe was not made for you and is indifferent to your fate.
- Unknown Prophet of the Seven Tines
"ATTENTION, ALL VESSELS AND PLANETARY GOVERNMENTS IN RANGE OF THIS TRANSMISSION, ATTENTION!"
The two Vigilantes hung stealthed in a veil nebula, both crews rapt near the comms.
"AS OF TWENTY-TWO ARNS AGO, THE HIGH COMMAND OF THE PEACEKEEPER INFLUENCE HAS BEEN ATTACKED AND DESTROYED BY AN UNKNOWN ENEMY! ALL PEACEKEEPER ARMADAS ARE NOW MOBILIZING! REPEAT - ALL ARMADAS ARE NOW MOBILIZING!"
"War." Aeryn breathed. "This means war."
"There any response other than this?" Crichton asked Shiv. She shook her head.
"Not yet." She frowned slightly. "It would seem strange that there would not be."
It was a quarter arn later, after all comm channels seemed to just transmit a crackling silence that dragged, then:
ALERT! THE SCARRAN WORLD OF KATRATZI HAD BEEN DESTROYED BY AN UNKNOWN ENEMY! ALL SCARRAN ARMADAS ARE TO NOW MOBILIZE! HEAR THIS - THE SCARRAN EMPEROR STALEEK HAS CONDEMNED THE COWARDLY ATTACK BY PEACEKEEPERS INTO PROVOKING THE SCARRANS TO ACTION! THE EMPEROR HAS DECLARED WAR ON THE INFLUENCE! ALL WARRIORS TO BATTLE! REPEAT - WAR HAS BEEN DECLARED!"
"That's just fuckin' great," Crichton growled. "No surprises here."
"This Maliform?" Iain made the leap. "The 'unknown enemy'?"
Nexus slowly nodded.
"Katratzi is the only place the Scarran Crystherium Utilia grows in any abundance. The PK High Command location is a secret in every universe I've been in. If I wanted a quick start to a war - I'd hit both of those. So would the Maliform. The Scarrans will be desperate."
"War." Aeryn stood and began to pace. "It'll tear this galaxy apart."
"If the Maliform uses the chaos to break in, this universe will come apart," Nexus told her, "and it's the only place we can hide."
"Hide?" Aeryn repeated, incredulous, "in the middle of a war?"
"The Maliform has never been successfully repelled nor defeated. There's not a lot we can do, except hide, perhaps, as I said, we find the locus of the…"
Crichton began to chuckle grimly.
"'Perhaps', she says. Maybe, possibly, never have I ever…" Crichton snapped. "There's one problem with all of this, and that's from what I've seen, every reaction to this son of a bitch is defensive."
"He can destroy universes!" Nexus protested.
"So can I, if I wanted to," Crichton countered, "so could any Crichton. He's the proof, isn't he? You need, I think, to tell us just exactly how this Maliform came to be. The truth, this time, Nexus."
Nexus sighed. She knew she no longer had any real choices.
"All right," she finally acquiesced, though her insides churned, "the truth."
"You sound like you might have a plan?" Aeryn asked. She felt some strange anticipation in her, some new peculiar strength in her muscles, crackling over her bones. She felt it - now she would be doing something, instead of just reacting to it.
"Something," Crichton eyed the two Aeryns before him, "no one seems to do." He shrugged. "The Maliform wants us," he indicated the people around him, "so we do what he leasts expects."
"Which is what?" Aeryn asked.
"We give him what he wants."
"Oh, hell," Nexus muttered, "here we go."