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With his hand on cruise control, Hussaini traversed the empty void of Omicron Lost, somber thoughts weighing heavily on his mind. The Commune wasn't progressing as fast as he'd like, and worst of all - not completely according to his own plans. Though he placed much faith in Nomak, much more than in anyone else, he often felt the compulsion to direct the bulk of affairs personally, for that way the only person that could ever fail him - was himself. Nomak too, probably saw this, hence granting him the right to oversee an entire cell of the organization.

Though grossly overqualified, he often undertook these scouting assignments under one excuse or another, as traveling through the barren voids helped ease his mind, take the edge off the myriad of problems and suspicions that haunted his every waking hour. Out here, he could feel the immense pressure of their proximity, that invoked in him both fear and admiration in equal parts. Out here, where he could nearly once again hear the song that was lost to him, so long ago.

He was also drawn here, to Omicron Lost, more and more each day, and these trips were often the only thing he could think about while he was alone, while there was no one around to drown out the noise. He himself didn't quite know why he did this, but he just knew that he had to. The part of his mind that somehow always knew when a dagger was about to be lunged in his direction, when someone lies or is simply afraid bid him to, and he learned early on never to disobey it.

Usually, on these trips, he shied away from the imposing and foreboding Planet Moros, but today was different. He felt compelled, no, commanded to approach it. Something unspoken was drawing him closer in, a presence, and he was powerless to fight it. Resisting it was as futile as fighting the instinct to breathe.

Left without a choice, he promptly turned the autopilot off and grabbed his Raven's Talon's stick, and turned it slowly...towards the planet.

The ship tilted forwards, correcting through his input the course towards the planet with a purple hue before the cruise engines started to charge. Omicron Lost, when not swarming with either the Core, the Order, or the Nomads, could actually be a rather quiet and lonesome place, and currently, neither of the three was present, not to exploit Lost's natural Iridium sources, and not to kill the exploiters. The lack of movement, of action of any kind, with only the inertia of a movement long past moving the asteroids around the system to converge around the gravitational well of Moros created a serenity that was almost tangible to Hussaini. It invited, begged, coerced those in its grasp to stay, to marvel at how innocent the universe could be. It was a stark reminder of how quickly this kind of idling could have a stray wanderer reduced to cinder by pretty much anyone in the neigboring systems, with both the Core and the Order hostile to anything related to the Maltese and the Nomads being as unpredictable as they were.

A slight tremours went through the ship as Hussini's Raven's Talon entered the gravitational well of Moros and dodged some of the asteroids orbiting it, only to slowly to be drawn towards the planet to collide with it. He noticed how far apart these asteroids actually were, now that he was next to them, but it was not surprising, all things considered, given the vastness of space. Another tremour went through the ship as it pierced the atmosphere and disappered inside the gaseous shell. The deeper he went, the more his board computer would make him aware of extreme wind speeds outside the windshield of his snubcraft. A blinking light on his console informed him soon enough of pockets of wind inside the cloud that were not traversable, and with the help of the computer, he managed to breach the haze that had completely engulfed the ship for about ten minutes.

To say that the surface of Moros was bright would be a gross overstatement. The purple haze above absorbed a lot of the light of the sun, only certain patches of it being thin enough to admit a degree of sunlight to directly hit the arid earth. Occasional lighting from the cloud overhead allowed the occasional glimpse at the jagged rocks below, but other than that, it was gloomy. There were no mountains, no vegetation as far as Hussaini could see, which was to say, only as far as occasional rays of lights permitted him to. A quick glance to the computer would tell him that the wind speeds below the purple haze were much slower, yet it stood to reason that, sometimes, gusts of this cloud would reach down to the surface, which might be the reason why the gound was just so... flat, almost as if profusions would steadily be whetted away by the unrelenting force of Moros' weather. This could not be true for the entire surface, though, as it was reported that Moros had an abundance of xeno-ruins, and surely those would not survive long if these sorts of conditions were present anywere.

This was not be the only thing immediately occuring as odd to Hussaini. As he descended towards the surface, decreasing his speed to not be immolated by the atmosphere, he could swear there were occasional flickers of a blue-ish hue just above the planet's surface, below the cracks of the arid, stoney ground. The first time, he was ready to attribute it to his eyes being not used to the lighting, but then it appeared again, fleetingly, only lasting for a blink of an eye before disappearing, leaving him to wonder whether the lightning of the clouds was playing tricks on his eyes.

Led by instinct and drawn by the faint blueish lights like a moth to the flame, Hussaini descended the ship with a crawl. He took his time, knowing that even a slight mishap could mean a certain death in this foreign, hostile environment. As the ship descended, with the auxiliary thrusters burning almost on full capacity, Hussaini seized the opportunity to start up his ship's instruments and see if he could get any helpful readings of the surface.

As the instruments ran and the computer compiled the data, he looked out the cockpit towards the surface, to the place where he last saw the blinking lights. He strained to make them out again, to catch a glimpse, but to no avail - they were simply not there anymore. The computer beeped several times, the analysis now complete, he rushed to open the interface hoping that the sensitive instruments picked something up. It displayed no anomalies, no out of the ordinary energy signatures, nothing. A simple mirage, he thought, lightning playing tricks on his eyes. He was good at conjuring up convenient rationalizations at a moment's notice.

He sighed and looked at the rest of the data. Surface features, atmospheric pressure, and composition. The surface was mostly flat and barren, with the occasional rock outcroppings and cracks, the air, though not breathable, was of a suitable if not slightly under the average atmospheric pressure. He sighed again, this time in relief, now knowing he wouldn't need a thick atmospheric suit if he wanted to explore the surroundings - the pilot suit would do, with a full helmet, of course.

"Warning: Auxilliary thruster fuel reserves are low. Please land as soon as possible." - The ship AI announced, and started repeating on a loop. Conveniently, it also brought up the image of a suitable landing spot, and marked a waypoint on the holographic cockpit interface.

Hussaini tapped a button to disable the AI's voice, and took the steering stick into his hands, turning the ship slowly towards the waypoint, then engaging the main engines, albeit at a low power. Getting closer to the landing spot, he could make out a visual of the location, a distinctively flat area, even flatter than the rest of the landscape - and surrounded by jagged structures protruding from the ground, artificial by all accounts. He had heard of such discoveries on this Planet in the past, but it never occurred to him he would personally investigate them.

Now hovering over the landing spot, he killed the engines completely and started the final descent, maneuvering with thrusters. The landing was mostly smooth, the ship kicking up dust as it extended landing gear and touched down. Hussaini took a deep breath, the realization of how foolish this whole escapade was, only now fully dawning on him. This sort of irrational, thrill-seeking behavior will kill him one day, he thought, but he got this far, no point in going back without at least looking around.

He disengaged the belt security lock and got up from the pilot's seat, making his way towards the cargo hold. The pilot suit was already suitable for exposure to light-to-medium hazards, though he needed a full helmet with a breather if he were to survive. Locating it finally, he put it on and applied the locks, the mechanism automatically connecting with the rest of the suit. He cracked his neck left and right and stretched a bit, then entered the small airlock chamber, closing the door behind him.

He straightened up and assumed a confident stance, almost as if an entourage was about to greet him on the other side, then quickly disengaged the locks, opening the outer doors. A small gust of wind whooshed as the pressure equalized and the door slid to the side. He looked around and to the distance, the landscape, though barren, had a subtle but palpable beauty that was accentuated by the faint light filtering the through the purple haze.

He took a step forward, his leg kicking dust up as it landed, then another step, fully out of the ship. The door slid closed behind him.

The dry stone beneath his foot crunched softly. It was immediately apprent upon exiting the vessel that traversing the surface of Moros would be harder than that of most planets, given that it was more massive. Gravity was tugging at Hussaini's body noticably, although not to the degree where it would be debilitating. Running for prolonged periods of time, however, seemed rather out of the question. Looking up, he saw the swirling mass of purple above, casting the same, filtered hue upon the jagged structures around him, making them appear almost threatening. They appeared to be completely made of stone, or if they hadn't been, time had whetted away everything ornamental about them at this point.

The skyline.

Looking around, he appeared to have landed on a quasi-plateau, if one could call it even that. It hardly protuded even ten metres from the usual rocky, uneven ground below. Come to think of it, it almost looked like the ground of a dired out ocean, although nothing really suggested that an overabundance of water had been on the planet. Then again, it had to be somewhere, given that the air here was remotely breathable, although very thin. It would probably be prudent not to exert oneself too much and asphyxiate. That was pretty low on his list of priorities. Taking another step forwards, he wondered where he should go. The surroundings were quite fascinating, and it was quite likely that, if there had been other attempts to visit the surface, this would be a prime spot for passing ships to see his vessel from the air, given that there was literally nothing to use as cover for it. It was simply too big.

For lack of anything better to do, he approached one of the stuctures. It didn't look like a house, or anything approximating a dwelling at all. In fact, nothing here really did. Coming to a halt, he inspected what appeared to be a simple rock formation, but it was just off. It was way too symmetrical, almost polyhedral in shape. There were quartzes and other gemstone formations that grew like this, but not stone. With a hand, he stroked along the surface, and found it as rough as was to be expected, given the age and the complete exposure to the elements. With his hand lingering on the cold stone for a moment, he made another step away from his ship, past the formation he'd just inspected. Maybe all of this had actually been some sort of dwelling before, and what remained was simply splintered and beaten debris of what remained of it over the eons.

He spent another half hour scouring around the remains of whatever civilization had ever traversed these ruins before. There was nothing that would strike him as particularly odd, as in, something that seemed like it didn't belong there, which in and of itself, was a good sign. Then again, it also wasn't too useful what he was doing either. Curiosity soon gave way to frustration the more time passed, and at the end, he stood on the other side of the plateau and looked at the rocky desert only a dozen metres below.

A glint, little more than a reflection, but it came from within one of the cracks. Narrowing his eyes, he concluded that this couldn't have been imagination, however. Just like before when he had landed, this apparatition had been fleeting, but he was now close enough to conclude that it could not have been a mirage.

He needed to descend to there somehow. This, however, was easier thought than done. Looking back at his vessel, than at the downfall to reach the ground from the plateau, he figured he'd need at least ten metres of rope to repell himself from the ledge, but he had no clue what he would be expecting once he was down. There was, however, little more to do than that, and should this prove to be futile and a waste of his time, he figured he could just climb up again and leave, forgetting about this whole affair.

Hussaini stared down the cliff into the abyss, straining his eyes to see through the darkness, pushing his inhuman perception to its limits, the headlight of his helmet not helping much either. He consciously dilated his pupils over the entirety of his irises to allow for as much light as possible to enter his eye. Normally, this would have worked to shed light on most places, but this planet was not 'most places', it was hard enough to see on the surface with the light barely reaching it, let alone gauge the depth of an abyss. Frustrated, he lifted his head up, away from the abyss, a transparent two-part nictating membrane slid over his eyes for a split second and his pupils shrink back to normal size.

He was about ready to give up, when he saw it again, out the corner of his eye - a blue light flickering - he turned his head to meet it and he caught it for a moment, before it disappeared again. He was sure of it now, something was down there, whatever drew him here - resided in the dark below. The idea of descending into the darkness both frightened and intrigued him, and though the rational part of his mind screamed at him to turn back, the other part bade him forward, to destiny.

He took a side-step, and his foot bumped into a small rock that bounced away and fell into the fissure, audibly ricocheting from one side of the cliff face to the other on its way down. He bent over and picked up another rock, straightened up, and felt the rock's weight in his hand for a few moments. He took a step towards the abyss and extended his hand over it, then dropped the rock. He listened intently and counted, it wasn't long before there was a bump as the rock hit the bottom. Convinced now that the descent was doable, he made a trek back to his ship, bringing back with him a water bottle, a length of titanium cable, a pike to transfix it with - and of course, his trusty gauss pistol.

Having fastened the hastily assembled climbing gear, he made his way downwards, into the darkness. The trip down was relatively easy, with enough space for hands and legs in the cliff, the occasional misstep threw him off balance for a few moments, but the cable and pike held. Touching down finally on solid ground, he sighed a sigh of relief, then turned his headlights on to scout out the surroundings. He couldn't see too far, but it was obvious to him that he was inside a claustrophobic, but branching cave system. All entrances looked particularly uninviting, all but one, for he could definitely hear a draft and more interestingly, the drip of water coming from the inside.

The opening was small, and he struggled to squeeze through, but luckily it became somewhat wider further in. He pushed on, crawling on all fours, going mostly upwards as the tunnel got wider and wider. Further in, the tunnel seemed to end, his heart skipped a beat as the prospect of crawling out backward dawned on him, though on closer inspection he realized that it simply changed direction downwards, and steeply so. He stopped for a moment, the tunnel was wide enough to squat and so he did, looking down the steep tube leading into the uncharted depths. The tube looked as if carved by water flow at some point, like it would be easy to just sit down and slide down the smooth rock. He questioned his sanity.

This entire escapade reminded him of the time he rescued Nomak from the black depths of a Samarran ziggurat, and he smiled in remembrance. He took a deep breath and extended his legs into the tube, holding on with his hands to the walls, he closed his eyes for a moment and then slowly - let go. The slide started off slowly, but quickly picked up speed, the level of his regret for this decision also rising in direct proportion to the rising speed of the descent. He closed his eyes and braced himself as he rushed forward at what to him seemed a terminal velocity, first feeling the tube disappear from beneath him as he rushed through open space, then a painful fall as he crashed against (or into?) something.

He flailed his arms for a few disoriented seconds, as he was trying to find his bearings, he wasn't dead - this much he knew, but where he was eluded him. He noticed it was difficult to move around, a crushing pressure was about him, and he knew - it was water. He calmed himself and instinctually swam towards the top, quickly emerging to the surface. He removed his now cracked helmet, and desperately gasped for air for a few seconds. He struggled to keep his eyes open, as the water was irritating them, the nictating membrane slid across them a few times, clearing the water out before he was able to focus on his surroundings.

The first thing he noticed, is that the chamber he was in was impossibly bright and almost impossibly vast. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that on the banks of this underground lake, grew plants - no, fungi - and crystalline structures, some towering perhaps twice his size, emitting a bioluminescent blue glow that lit up the chamber like daylight. The other thing he noticed, was that it was particularly easy to breathe in here, as if something was producing oxygen, perhaps these native lifeforms. He looked around in amazement as he swam in place, keeping himself afloat. The beauty had him mesmerized for a moment, but he quickly snapped himself out it and swam for the shore.

Getting to dry land at last, he waded out of the water and stood for a moment, trying to catch his breath. Regaining his composure, he took a closer look at this wonderous world he found himself in, and he saw in front of him, a venerable forest of fungi and crystals extending towards the end of the chamber, and at the outermost wall - an opening further in. He stared at the opening and noticed that it leads to an even more powerful source of light - as rays were quite literally shining out of it. This is what he was looking for, he thought, it was all worth it. He took a deep breath, straightened up and started making his way through the forest, towards the opening, and whatever lay on the other side.

With his path set, it was easy to overlook the sheer vastness of the place. The fact that he was able to breathe did not rightly occur to him, considering that he was multiple hundred metres beneath the ground at this point. It should be way thinner than it was right now. Looking up, he was that many more openings like the one he had slid out of were adorning the walls, though many of which smaller, and some of them actually let water flow into the lake below, making it a quasi underground basin. Where did the water go, though? The waterlevel should rise like this. Looking back at the 'shore', he figured that the chamber was simply so big that he'd not notice it even if he watched for hours. It made him wonder how deep this actually was. Given that most of these tunnels did not lead into the water like the one he'd emerged from, it was more than possible that the water had been slowly flooding the chamber up until this point.

Now, however, drenched as he was, it started to become rather chilly. The draft he'd felt earlier was quite profound down here, and although it did not impede his process in any way, it did enough to discomfort him, leaving him clammy from the water. His destination lay only a little while ahead, though it required a degree of climbing to get there. It was rather obvious that this maze of corridors had not been intended for humans, if it even followed any logic or plan at all. It all seemed so asymmetrical, at least, and considering the stone seemed slippery enough, as if water had eroded it, it was quite possible that the water from the surface had stimply started trickling through the cracks in the surface into repositories like these here. Given the sheer vastness of the dried land outside, it seemed like a rather logical explanation.

Ascending the last ledge, he had to shield his eyes from the light of the opening in front of him. It wasn't really big, now that he was directly in front of it, and it didn't even look like it was here intentionally. A pile of rocks at the foot of the opening told him that it had probably broken away at some point. Still, the rather harsh difference of the obscure twilight below and this almost normal lighting that was coming out of the opening disoriented him at first, but his stance was firm, and so it only needed a few moments for his eyes to get used to the lighting to make out what lay beyond — and it was breathtaking.

The chamber was so humongous that all sense of scale was completely thrown off. He could feel the moisture in the air, and occasionally, drops of water would rain from the ceiling and patter down onto the stone, together with the glowing crystalline formations creating the illusion of a tinted nebula of the same color as she crystal's shine. There was movement in the distance, though it was hard to really make out what it was. Occasionally, there was a small flash of light in the distance and a rumble, as though an assortment of rocks was plunging into the distance, although that might just be the wind howling in his ears as well.

Then however his patience was rewarded by the light rushing directly above him, almost vibrant hovering in the space up there, moving to one of the tunnels with, compared to other lights, slow speed. The light was quite intense, and if his eyes were adjusting to it quick enough, he was able to recall the shape of the old so called Sascya nomad form. However, just as fast as it appeared close to him, like that it was gone, so he turned around again, with a certain feeling of satisfaction of this all being worth the effort.

And then...

The, compared to human size, enormous shell of the mindnode approached him slowly but steady, hovering above another lake. There was a very high-pitched sound and flickering around it, as if it had just uncloaked, and the lights it was emitting were weirdly colorful, not just the blue and purple he was used to. Maybe it were the walls, as there was some bismuth around. Maybe it was the nomad itself. He didn't know, and for the moment, he didn't care, as way more intense was the feeling of overwhelming. Not many humans had this experience, being that close to a nomad, especially not a mindnode. But this was real. Was it? It felt real. It must have been real!

"The Light welcomes you to the Sanctuary of Light, Sparkling Raider."

The sound, or more, the feeling, the thought, it was familiar. It felt like three or five deep voices together, talking to him in his mind, with echoes and humming. There was a feeling of warmth in his body. But there was something else as well. Trying to analyze it, it felt like the mindnode was pinging him. Or, not him, but the spark of light within him. Yet there was confusion about it not ponging.

"We are curious. We do not understand you. You are a Carrier of Light, but the Light is silent."

Subconscious, Bassam would feel their confusion and sadness. And more presences approaching him. Some of them in happiness. Some of them in anger. But all of them in confusion.

The appearance of the mind node had him locked in place, a mix of awe and fear rendering him immobile. This was the first time he was face to face with a morph, outside the protection of his ship, and it suddenly occurred to him how imperfect and vulnerable he was. A trickle of jealousy was added to the cocktail of emotions he was experiencing. He listened to the "words" directed at him, and felt the attempts to breach his mind, trying to tune into his frequency. He recoiled in discomfort and started walking backward, but caught himself in the act and willed his feet to a halt. No going back, no compromising, no giving up - the way lies forward, always forward. He took a step towards the morph and straightened up, his right hand trembled for a moment. Though he boasted a mastery over the spoken word, the careful weaving of words and manipulation being his absolute forte, he understood that wouldn't work on Them. So he resigned to the only remaining choice.

He tensed up, and took a deep breath, then exhaled as he relaxed. He locked his eyes on the morph, and gave in, a purple glow appearing first through his irises, then engulfing his whole eye, rays of light illuminating his face, the sound of crackling electricity filling the air around him. A human might interpret this as an intimidating stance, a show of inhuman force before an attack. But he knew they'd see it for what it actually was - an act of submission. He searched his mind and started transmitting the events of his life in the form of a quick succession of blurred images, to better explain himself, his condition and purpose.

[First image, a desert planet is seen, mostly barren aside from a few oases of life, all populated by humans, seen as tiny specks of darkness moving with a purpose. But even inside the darkness, some light exists, a few of them carry it inside. A stone tower surrounded by dunes and bombarded by sandstorms, isolated, a beacon of light in the eternal darkness. Inside it, is a presence, an old thing that sings to the carriers, a multilayered song that governs their paths, commanding them to watch over and govern over their dark brethren, to guide their way, so that one day they also may exist in the light. There is conflict between the humans, but the prevailing theme is peace, as war grows rarer each solar cycle.]

[The perspective shifts to Hussaini's view, the first year of his initiation into the light. The blurred memories are lined with an all-pervasive air of rage, fear, and sadness. Impotent rebellion against fate, pointless mourning for a freedom that cannot be regained. Slowly, the rage gives way to silent acceptance, then cooperation, and then finally love. The love for the perfection of the divine mindshare, the joy at being a single spark of the great flame.]

[The imagery shifts again, grim warnings of impending doom dominate the song's chords, and Hussaini is compelled to seek out allies, and rally forces against whatever is coming. He is seen with a man, a man that should be familiar to the Vagrants. Nomak, the leader of men, the relentless crusader, the fanatic - they join forces, and grow fond of each other along the way. Some darklings rise up in defiance of the Light's Order, and bring their chaos planetwide. Battles follow, some are won, some lost, the entire planet goes up in flames. But in the end, it's all for naught.]

[The darkness prevails over the light. The light is snuffed out, slowly, every carrier disappears, the death of each fully felt within Hussaini's being. He is left alone, the last ember of a great fire that once shone on Samarra. He coerces Nomak to leave the planet before the darkness swallows them as well. They are seen launching into space, then floating in the void, then leaping to Sirius. There is Light in Sirius as well, but something is lost along the way, the song is misaligned, different in substance, time only brings a small amount of understanding. He decides to follow them regardless, to do otherwise would be insane.]

[The imagery shifts to near-present. The Commune as it is, its assets, its fanatical followers, all brimming with the desire to change the face of mankind, to finally bring it into the light. To make it whole, to make it perfect, to finish the Great Work that was started on Samarra. Imagery ends.]

The flame in his eyes goes out, and they return to normal. He hesitates for a moment, but then chooses to address them with his voice. "You now know me, my plight, the burden I bear." - "You also know what we, The Commune, wish to achieve. Humanity must be remade, so that one day it will be worthy of standing in Your sight, of coexisting with You, in peace. Our determination is unshakable, no sacrifice will be too great, the coming utopia will justify the means. But we need Your help to have a chance." - With that said, he grew silent, and lowered his head, waiting for them to consider his request.

It took quite a few moments. The mindnode was hovering above the lake, the water, or whatever liquid this might have been, reflecting the lights just like the walls did. A feeling of warmth would caress the guest while he was waiting. It did take minutes, but something was telling him to be patient, not saying another word. As words were not necessary. And then, a sudden blink later, it looked to him like there was a smaller version of Dione right infront of him, with only a few meters between him and the nomad entity. It was pointing towards him. The feeling it caused was both intimidating but welcoming. Maybe it put him into place. Maybe it showed an equalty between him and the mindnode.

"The Light has found consent. It will guide the Sparkling Raiders. It will guide the Commune. You, aspect, will open your mind for us. You shall be our ambassador."

The mindnode shrinked again and approached him further. Unable to move, as if he was embraced by a thousand of arms, he could hear a high-pitched hum. No, not one. It was the humming of dozens. A humming in unity. The sting of Dione pierced through his chest, yet there was no pain. Blinking. It was gone. The feeling of a thousand arms was ceasing, allowing his body to move again. It felt like he was dragged into something his mind was unable to grasp. But it happened. As he raised his head again, he saw the giant Nammu right there where it was before, hovering above the mysterious lake, with wings of pure light. The humming was still there. As if something within his body was emitting the sound. Not his brain. It came from his spine.

Disoriented for a moment after this "embrace", Hussaini staggered left and right before finally gaining sure footing. He instinctively ran his hands over the point of perceived impact, only to find that there was nothing there. Then he felt the hum, the subtle vibration reverberating down his spine, a sensation he had not experienced for many years. He looked inwards, as the void of his inner being was filled with the warmth of the mindnodes near him, and he did feel gratitude, though he did not voice it directly. Gratitude felt, was gratitude known.

"I accept." - He murmured through the newly opened psionic link, first clumsily, then slowly with more proficiency. - "As long as I exist, the Commune will be in accord with the Vagrants. Through my eyes, you will see. And through your counsel, we will surely succeed. "

He bowed his head once more, before straightening up and turning back from whence he came. It was now time to make the long trek back to the surface, back to his ship and depart,
lest he overstays his welcome. Walking away from the chamber of light, he did not look back, though he smiled, knowing that everything was worth it in the end. And as he made his way back to the surface, and to his ship, then finally back to space, even as the planet left his sight - the hum stayed with him.

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