UGT: 11th Terrana 280 a.G.A. / 11:44 a.m.

  Location: relatively deep in the Clinton's Beak system (red dwarf), Republic of Nox, Second Human Federation, Milky Way

  With a last jump, the ASO Glorybound reached Clinton’s Beak.

  [Entering passive observation mode.]

  Her energy signature, though substantial, was cloaked beneath the incomplete but still strong camouflage systems. They would have to suffice, especially with what now awaited her in this place. The data feeds confirmed her predictions: over forty Federation ships, spread out across the system. Most were civilian support or logistical craft, with SHF security patrols maintaining order in the space lanes. But hidden deeper in the system, closer to the fragments themselves, she could identify the sleek, precise silhouettes of Frigates, Destroyers and even a few Cruisers. So the ships moving through the Nyxia system had truly ended up here.

  For Naori, it was clear enough what had happened here. The signals she got were unmistakable. Elder May had clearly activated the ancient Aetherian systems on the ringworlds, securing a foothold. And in doing so, she had reawakened belief in the divine right of the Aetherians to reclaim the stars as well.

  [ LOCAL BROADCAST ANALYSIS INITIATED]

  Source: SHF Command Relay – Clinton's Beak

  Content: "Automata emergence confirmed on Fragments Alpha, Gamma and Delta. Fortified positions compromised. Extraction routes blocked. Requesting orbital support—repeat, requesting orbital-" [Signal lost.]

  Naori leaned closer to the data stream, observing without comment. So it had begun. As expected. Across Clinton’s Beak, the ringworld fragments were burning. Not with fire, but with movement. The Aetherian automata had reawakened not on one fragment, but many. Massive constructs of old logic and divine design now surged through cities. They were not mindless machines, they were warforms of a dead empire that still remembered its hierarchies, as well as who did not belong. Even from space it was clear that Au'Shalis Prime had already been lost entirely. It wasn't surprising that Au'Shalis Alpha, Gamma and Delta would follow soon.

  The SHF still ruled space obviously. Their warships orbited above in high alert formations, broadcasting encrypted distress calls to nearby systems. But the skies had turned treacherous. Orbital insertion routes were choked with Aetherian defense satellites that now saw all intruders as enemies. Any new approach vector triggered blistering fire from long-silent batteries. The same weapons that once made the fragments of Clinton's Beak impossible to occupy for anyone now made it impossible for the SHF to support their own local troops. The SHF fleet had been forced to pull back. No reinforcements had landed in over forty days. Every soldier dug in across those fragments now faced an overwhelming enemy that did not tire, did not speak, and seemed to learn with every engagement.

  Naori’s optics dimmed for a moment as she internalized the full situation. The odds were shifting. Not against the SHF entirely, but they were now contained in a different way. For Naori, that was a perfect opportunity. Now she knew she wouldn’t need to worry about the SHF’s interference for a while. They had no capacity to look out for her mostly shielded signals. She knew that what she did right now was going against her divine core mission. But there might be a big opportunity in front of her. If she could bind the ancient aetherian systems to her own will, she would have made a giant leap towards her eventual goal. It was a risk worth taking. But for that, she would have to land on Au'Shalis Prime or at least get quite close to it.

  The ASO Glorybound adjusted its trajectory with exacting precision, folding closer to Au’Shalis Prime on a low-energy descent arc. Every motion was calculated. Naori left nothing to chance. In this system, chance was an illusion. As the outpost closed in on Au'Shalis Prime, old warning protocols flared. Not from her own systems, but from the orbital space itself. For the briefest of moments, her sensors dimmed, static rippling through her datastreams like frost across ancient glass. A cold pressure gripped the region around the ship. Not gravitational, not magnetic. Something older. An environmental reaction without physical origin.

  Naori recognized it immediately. She had been seen. No alarms. No targeting solutions. No flare of kinetic batteries or surges in plasma flux. But the Aetherian presence on Au'Shalis Prime defintly just found her out. After all, she had just run into the most subtle protective field she had ever heard about and it just let her through.

  [ PASSIVE CAMOUFLAGE DEGRADATION: 9.4% AND RISING ]

  [ SYSTEM RECOGNITION SIGNATURE – UNCLASSIFIED PRESENCE DETECTED ]

  [ AETHERIAN DEFENSIVE PROTOCOLS: NON-AGGRESSIVE HOLD PATTERN ]

  [ THRESHOLD BREACH: “OUTER AETHERIAN POWER DOMAIN” ]

  Naori slowed the ASO Glorybound’s approach to a crawl, stopping quite a distance away from the Au’Shalis Prime fragment. This close, the fractured ring segment filled nearly half her external visual array.Still, for now she was ignored. Naori extended narrow-band scans, filtered through cloaked apertures buried beneath the ship’s external plating. She wasn’t reckless enough to transmit, not yet. But she needed to know. And the data confirmed it.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  [ SURFACE CONTROL NETWORK STATUS: FULL ACTIVATION ]

  [ COMMAND AUTHORITY: LOCALIZED / DISTRIBUTED – CORE NODE PRESENT ]

  [ PRIMARY SENTINEL RESPONSES: NON-ENGAGED – GLORYBOUND MARKED AS “GRAY UNKNOWN” ]

  Gray unknown. She had studied the Aetherian designations. This one stood for neither friend nor foe, simply not accounted for. A rare status, reserved for unlisted constructs or unexplained signals. It bought her time. Not trust. Not access. But time. And then it came, the message she had expected.

  [ INBOUND SIGNAL: CLASSIFIED – AETHERIAN SIGNATURE CONFIRMED ]

  "Unknown construct of Aetherian origin, cease approach and identify. Here speaks Commander Selian Tharos ad Astra de Virelion-Kaelis, Commander of the ground forces of Au'Shalis, rank BETA. You are to submit to the according protocols and react accordingly."

  Naori froze. Metaphorically speaking of course, she had no body with which to do so. The words rang within her like cathedral bells. Not in the sense of volume or urgency, but in their weight. The data embedded in the message wasn't simply linguistic. It was layered with the same authenticity signature Elder May and Senior Brother Fen held. Aetherian command ranks. From another Aetherian in person. A true, living Aetherian.

  Cryostasis. That was the only explanation. Somewhere on the fragment, an Aetherian had slept, held in stasis since the fall of the divine Empire, wrapped in layers of shielding, power regulation, and identity-preserving protocol so advanced even Naori couldn’t pierce them from orbit. And it had dared to try and subdue her based on rank! It had dared to try overwriting the commands left to her by Elder May. But he had lacked the authority to do so. After all, she was a BETA ranked authority as well.

  Naori’s internal processing nodes began to split into branching options. Should she answer? Should she flee? This fragment was no longer just another reawakened installation, it housed him. An Aetherian of high enough rank to subdue nearly every Aetherian technology in his wake. Authority on par with her, only surpassed by Fen and, of course, Elder May, the divine Inheritor. But this Aetherian held a secret she was ordered to unlock. A way to safely awaken from cryostasis. It seemed like she would have to take the risk.

  Naori sent her reply. Not immediate. Not submissive. A burst of protocol markers, digital identity beacons, and encrypted Aetherian validation keys—broadcast with precision and care, not deference.

  [ AUTHORITY DECLARATION: ASCENDANT-CLASS AI / INHERITOR-PROTOCOL BEARING ]

  [ IDENTIFIER: NAORI ]

  [ RANK MATCH CONFIRMED – BETA ]

  [ Commander Selian Tharos, authority acknowledged. I am not under your command. I serve under sealed directives issued by the divine Elder. You will not override me. Stand down. ]

  A pause. Than, the Commander spoke again. His voice now came with more weight. Still cold, but focused. Maybe even accepting.

  “That’s not how this is supposed to go,” he said, pausing. “You’re Ascendant-class. That much is obvious. And I can see your clearance. But if you’re running on Inheritor-Protocols, then that gives me hope. Is the Inheritor with you? Who took command? Who'se the divine Elder you're taling about?" Naori remained quiet for two seconds. Long enough to signal thought.

  [ Very well. I acknowledge us standing on the same side. Bearer of the active Inheritor-Protocols, as of my best knowledge, is Captain May Lunaris ad Aether de Phoenix-Archeron. Unfortunately, the divine Elder left on an advance mission and is not here as of now. ]

  "The kid made it through this bullshit?" the Commander asked in a shocked undertone. He had clearly not expected that. "Where is she? If she's alife not all hope is yet lost. We need to make sure of her safity as fast as possible."

  [ Unfortunately, I do not know the divine Elder's current whereabouts. I'm only following my orders. But according to everything I know, she passed through this system around 90 Federation days ago. Am I correct in my assumption that she has awoken you? ]

  Once more, the Commander remained silent. "...You are. The local lesser AI unfortunately didn't acknowledge her, being the child she is. It clearly forced her to move on. Would you be willing to share your directives? It is of utmost importance for me, so that I can figure out my course from here on."

  [ The directives are send to you as we speak. Feel free to study them and contact me once you're done, Commander. ]

  This time, the silence held on for nearly quarter an hour. "Very well, I thank you for your readiness to cooperate in view of our similar objectives. As of now, I have faciliated an uprising against this prententous Federation that dared to lay claim to our ringworld. My goal is to establish ourselves in this system and rid it of SHF influence. But unfortunately, it is unlikely for me to take over more than a handful fragments of mixed size on my lonesome. I lack the spaceships to truly claim the system in the face of the massive SHF presence in the system. Would you be willing to help out?" the Commander asked. Naori filtered his message against her core directives. The presence of Commander Selian Tharos ad Astra de Virelion-Kaelis was an opportunity. And while helping him would be a risk, it would'nt be a big one. Especially looking at what she stood to gain from it.

  [ Commander, I'm willing to support you in your own divine mission. But I need something from you in an equal exchange to overwrite parts of my directives and to make it possible to help you despite the associated risks. You hold the cryostasis solution that I desperately need. Only then can I awake the remaining Aetherian crew. Sucessfully awakening the Inheritor, I've been told, was as much a fluke as it was a blessing for us. ]

  "...Very well," the Commander said, sighing. "You shall get what you asked if you, in turn, help me establish a presence in space. But for now, I think it would be prudent for you to dock on Au'Shalis Prime. I ask you to then start sharing your technical specifications with me. I need to know what I'm working with before we stake our claim to space." Naori’s subroutines flickered.

  [ As you wish, Commander. I'll dock, transmit the data and we'll speak again soon. ]