Touching a small sphere embedded into the stone-like walls of the hallway, a doorway in the wall opened up in front of Miranda like an Iris. Nomad structures used a combination of organic and inorganic materials, with organic - but nonliving - membranes like this one in place of the typical doors used on human-built stations. Most of Altair was human-built, though it had been expanded upon heavily once it came under Nomad control.
She stepped through the iris, followed closely by the Wilde who had lead her here. The room that lay beyond, a sanctum he had called it, was circular, with a stepped dome ceiling and a sequence of ring-like patterns running across the floor. The far wall contained a window-like opening that extended into a larger chamber, at the center of which lie a massive Nomad power cell, similar to the one she had interfaced with previously. Several other sanctums like this one were built around that central chamber, giving their occupants a view of the cell which they could draw power from.
A ring like inlay on the walls that ran the entire circumference of the room was etched with glowing symbols, the Nomad written language, and a short circular bed took up the center of the room. Other than those few details, it was a spartan living space, with no storage for personal items, no clothes wardrobes, no computers or desks or chairs. Nomads had no need of such things, all data was available to them through the everpresent link to the mindshare, and they had no physical possessions aside from an artifact or two and the clothes on their host's body. Of course, if anything more was needed it could be found in the human-built areas of the station.
Miranda walked to the window and stared at the power cell in the chamber beyond, marvelling at it's beauty as she spoke to the Rheinlander behind her, "What exactly is it that we're looking for? What was the Shrine after, what do you and the others think it left behind in my mind that's so important?"
The man thought to himself for a moment, though it was in vain as his thoughts could be heard echoing through the mindshare. In part, he was accessing the knowledge of the others to form an answer; still, Miranda heard it all. Finally he spoke, fully aware that she already knew what he was going to say, "A ship. Our operatives at the Valhalla facility recently decrypted information regarding the third major structure left behind by the Daam K'vosh for us to find, a vessel of theirs which we are calling the Progenitor. The other two structures, as you're aware, are Valhalla itself and the Shrine. We believe the Progenitor is the final test we must pass before we can reunite with the K'vosh themselves, somewhere outside of Sirius space."
"Then why would the Shrine be seeking it as well? Wouldnt it already know about the ship?"
"We believe the Shrine's occupant to be an artifical intelligence of some sort, a bodiless consciousness left behind to safeguard the structure itself from damage, maybe even to watch over the stasis chambers in the system to ensure that we werent harmed. It could be damaged after so much time, but there's no way of knowing what it was after when it used you to find the ship, or what it might do with the ship. We assume that it can transfer itself into the core of the K'vosh vessel just as it was once transferred into the core of the Shrine. Ultimately, regardless of it's goals, we cannot risk losing the Progenitor, it is our only way of discovering why we were made, or of meeting our creators face to face. Finding something like this has been the single goal of all K'hara since we emerged from those stasis cells surrounding the Shrine. We have to find it before that entity does, or it may be lost to us forever."
Miranda absently lifted her arm up to the window, extending the tendrils from her fingertips towards the power cell, absorbing more energy. The effect was calming now, not so powerful as before, not as intense. "I should return to the Shrine, there may be some clues left behind that can help me regain my memory, do we have any ships?"
He shook his head, "We have nothing immediately available, you'll need to stay here for a while and do what you can to remember. Since you left the Shrine, the Oracles have expanded drastically, and merged with a group of similarly minded Outcasts; we've already sent a message to them requesting a ship for you to use. Meditate here, for now, perhaps it will help, you should also get used to your link to the mindshare, we know it can be difficult to sort through at first... we'll be around the station, if you need us."
He turned and stepped back through the iris, and she heard it close behind him with a slimy swishing noise. Miranda lowered her arm and turned her palm towards herself, studying the tendrils that were extended through her skin. Before this ordeal she had been human, as human any other citizen of Sirius. To wake up and suddenly find yourself missing half of your memories, and to find that you were no longer yourself, that you were now something entirely different, entirely unique from everything else imaginable... she felt an onset of loniless and smallness creep into her being. She was the first, and maybe the last, of her kind, and that realization dawned on her with such effect that she felt like the wind had been knocked from her lungs.
She stumbled over to the bed at the center of the room and sat on it's edge, holding her head between her hands and closing her eyes, feeling the room spinning around her from the onset of panic. Almost as if by instinct, her mind turned its focus inward, blurring out the room around her. She felt herself pass out, everything went black momentarily, and then it was as if she opened her eyes and was in an entirely different world. Purple and blue and teal and white lights all swirled around her in a chaotic maelstrom, tranquil tones echoed around her like she was surrounded by an orchestra, the music was almost tangible. She felt like she was floating, and as she turned her focus towards her body, her hands, her feet, she found none, she was no longer in her own body. Wisps of light floated around her, each one looked identical yet she could sense they were all unique. As she gazed upon each glowing orb, she could hear its thoughts like they were part of the music, reverberating around her, through her, beyond her.
This was the true mindshare, an ethereal world where the minds of millions existed, bodiless, seperate but existing as one. They spoke to her through her own mind, their thoughts were her thoughts, they shed information onto her in droves. The glowing orbs were the nomads who existed solely in this inphysical realm, waiting for a body to inhabit. The music, the streams of light that swirled around and between the orbs, were those who had a physical form and were simply linking their thoughts to the others, just as Miranda was doing now. Her body was still in the sanctum on Altair, in an unconscious and lifeless state, while her mind resided in this place.
She could only conjure up a single expression, a single word, a single thought, so overwhelming was the presence around her... ***Beautiful...***
// Notes: This was the first time Miranda truly connected with the mindshare. Even though she had been host to a Nomad, it was too far away from Omicron Iota - the center of the mindshare network - to properly connect. This is why Nomad ship groups often have a larger ship, like the nammu mindnode, accompanying smaller ships: the larger ship acts as a stronger link to the mindshare, extending the range at which the other nomad forms can communicate. The further from Omicron Iota that nomads get, the less clear their connection to the others is. This is one reason that wanderers existed in the keepers: they would travel out and collect information from other nomad scouts, and then bring it back to the collective. //
Miranda stood at the forward viewport of Altair's flight control deck, staring out into the dense, shifting purple and blue clouds that surrounded the station. Intermittent breaks and gaps in the dust revealed glimpses of the shielded fortress known as Dur Shurrikun, or the impenetrable minefields hidden throughout the nebula to deter intruders. The occasional Nomad form slipped by the viewport, a Labraid, a Sascya, even one unimaginably massive but somehow graceful Marduk and her escorts. Miranda found that she could link with the mindshare more easily now, and at will, and exercised that connection to link to the thoughts of the passing forms to learn where they were going, what they were doing. The Marduk was a mini-mindshare of its own, forming a stronger bond with its escorts so that the forms could all work in perfect unison and share their information freely.
"Miranda..." the man behind her spoke with his thick Rheinlander accent, and she turned to look over her shoulder back at him, "Your vessel should be arriving momentarily." She nodded and turned back towards the window, searching for any sign of the ship that they had procured for her. Gradually, a shadow appeared in one of the far clouds, and as the purple dust of the nebula boiled forward, pushed ahead by the object behind it, the vessel's forward section broke through, transforming from a dark silhouette into a bright steel starship lined with glowing windows and lights.
Miranda recognized the vessel almost immediately, a Storta-Class Outcast warship, an odd choice for her mission to be sure. She had captained a large ship in the past, during her days as a Zoner, and knew well the crew requirements necessary to keep such a vessel operational. Searching the Mindshare for information, stellar maps, she turned back to the Wilder, "Malta isnt that far from here... why did it take so long to procure the ship?"
The man grinned, "Follow me down to the airlock, I think it's time you had a tour of your new home."
---
As the airlock pressurized and the Storta's interior door opened, Miranda was met with dim lighting, a thick bluish-purple haze settled at waist height, and an odd smell... something akin to a combination of mold and alchohol, but almost sweet somehow. The Storta's interior temperature was set below normal levels, but the chill, although quite apparent, did not seem to effect Miranda as much as she had expected.
As the two stepped out of the airlock and into the middeck hallway, Miranda's eyes ajusted to the low light and began to focus on the walls, floor, ceilings, consoles... everything was covered in tendrils that looked like living glass, pulses of light intermittently ran along the length of the tendrils like blood through veins, being moved by an unseen heart beating. The tendrils ran through the ship's air ducts, along the sides of the hallways, underneath the grated floor, and they accumulated wherever there were system control consoles or mechanical equipment, running in and out of the panels and machinery like worms devouring an apple core.
The Wild beckoned her to follow and made his way towards the bridge of the ship. As they passed through the dim hallways, they left a trail of disturbed purple haze in their wake. Occasionally, Miranda caught sight of the tendrils moving, spreading to new systems, still growing to fit the ship they were confined in. Taking notice of her focus, the man motioned towards the tendrils with a hand, "The growing process should be completed within a day or two, but most systems are functional."
Miranda turned towards him with a concentrating look, "What are they doing?". As she asked the question, she had to sidestep to avoid a tendril as it slithered down the side of the hallway, growing back towards the rear of the ship.
"Obviously one person cannot control a ship of this size on their own, and we dont have enough Wild or Spectres to crew an entire ship for you. A smaller vessel would not be able to survive where we assume you'll need to go, so we had to come up with a compromise. Roughly two weeks ago, we contacted the Oracles and requested this ship, which was moved to the Ravine shortly thereafter. One of our Power Cells, along with the seed of an Irra form, was implanted into the ship. The form began to grow, forming to the interior of the ship, interfacing with the systems, and linking them all back to the neural node at the seed's core, located on the bridge."
"So this ship is a Nomad, then?"
"Not entirely, no. The neural node, which normally contains the consciousness of a K'hara once transferred into the form, was modified to allow an external physical interface." She gave him a confused glance, "Essentially, a Nomad cannot transfer itself into this ship like it could with a normal Nomad form. Instead, you can link with the neural center of the ship on the bridge, the same way you linked with the power cell to absorb energy from it. Once you've established the link, the ship will become like your new body, allowing you to control every system onboard directly, and through thought alone. When the connection is severed, your consciousness will be back in your own body, allowing you to perform tasks away from the ship as needed. There's a scimitar-class fighter in the launch bay that you can use to travel to planetary surfaces and the like."
Miranda nodded, "I guess that answers how I'm supposed to control this thing by myself."
"The sanctum at the rear of deck three contains the Power Cell. That section of the ship is designed with a full view of surrounding space, allowing the Cell to absorb solar radiation and store it, you can use it to recharge and to extend your linking range to the Mindshare. Still, if you get too far away from Shurrikun you wont be able to communicate with us, you'll have to find a wanderer to relay information back here for you. Here's the bridge..."
They climbed up a small spiral staircase leading up to the bridge, a small room in the forward tower of the Storta. Each side of the room had a small console, covered in tendrils and pulsing with light, and two more similarly swarmed consoles lay at the front of the room. Where there would typically be a Captain's chair at the center of the bridge, there was instead a pedestal holding up a ball-shaped mass of small, interwoven tendrils, forming the neural center of the Nomad form inhabiting the ship. The other tendrils spread throughout the ship all connected here, reaching up into the base of the brain-like sphere.
Miranda approached the object, studying it with a childlike curiosity. "Go ahead, give it a try.", the urging voice of the Wilder behind her was almost blocked out, so intense was her focus on the ship's brain. She turned her hands upward, looking at her palms as tendrils of her own sprouted from her fingertips, each only slightly thicker than a hair. Turning her hands away, she placed them on the surface of the sphere, it felt like touching a pile of still snakes. As the tendrils emerging from her fingertips burrowed into the brain she felt something pulling at her mind, tearing it away from her body. At first she felt panic, but as her mind reached away from her body and into the sphere before her the feeling faded rapidly.
Suddenly, she felt numb... she wasnt breathing, she had no heartbeat. When she tried to move a finger, she felt the mechanical grinding of a turret turning in place. When she tried to move her legs, she felt the explosive force of a thruster kicking on, and the groaning sound of the airlock connection to Altair being stressed. When she tried to focus her eyes, it was as if she could see a dozen kilometers off into space, peering through the sensors of the the ship. The ship was her, she was the ship, they were one, almost everything onboard was linked directly to her mind and with a simple thought she could activate and control any system she wanted.
Thinking back to her body, drawing away from the brain, she pulled herself out of the link, the tendrils in her fingers withdrawing into her skin as she caught herself from falling backwards. "Well that was something new... I didnt expect it to make me feel like a machine." She gave the Wilder a mixed look of excitement and confusion.
"Well, it is a machine, it lacks the... grace... of our own forms, but at least you wont get shot on sight, at least not as often as the forms do. I need to get back to Altair, feel free to take the ship for a spin... ah, and she's named the Ascendant, we thought it was suitable for your unique nature."
// Notes: Following the acquisition of the Ascendant, Miranda spent several years seeking out K'vosh artifacts and ruins, and gathering information on The Progenitor - the ship that the K'vosh left behind. It has still not been found, however.
During this time, the Battle of Omicron Minor occurred, wherein the Nomads launched a massive assault on the Order at Planet Toledo while they were engaged in battle with the Core. Utilizing a unique shipform designed to destroy planets, The Nomads nearly wiped out the Order in one attack. //
// Following the battle of Omicron Minor in 819 A.S., as The Order began to rebuild and establish a new foothold, Miranda's ship was discovered by an Order patrol in the Omicrons. The Ascendant was pursued and harassed relentlessly by Order pilots and officers who were furious and hellbent on revenge after the destruction of Toledo, and they saw Miranda as a target upon which to take out their grief and remorse.
The Ascendant was destroyed in Omicron Delta, and Miranda was lost with it. However, her consciousness was preserved by the mindshare, and she remained a disembodied consciousness for several years until the Wild and Nomads were able to grow a clone body for her to download her mind into. This represented the beginning of Miranda's Immortality, marking her as more nomad than human.
At this point, Miranda set out on her quest once more, continuing to seek the Progenitor for the Nomads. She awaits the construction of a new ship designed for her unique physiology; she is no longer able to pass as human, and is easily identified as something alien due to her altered skin color, glowing eyes, and the nomad tendrils that frequently emerge through her skin.
This brings Miranda's story to the present, 825 A.S.. I have submitted a Special Roleplay Request in order to acquire a Wild ID and Scorpion for the character, so that her story may be continued. If you've enjoyed reading this, or have any comments or feedback, please feel free to post in the feedback thread located here: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...tid=165124 //
Location: Altair Research Complex, Omicron Iota
Date: 825 A.S.
Miranda's mind was adrift, floating and flitting between orbs of light suspended in a purple haze. Each Orb was another mind, like hers, disembodied and separated from the physical universe as it roamed the Mindshare. Some led a dual existence, partitioning their minds as they both flew through the stars and floated in the haze; others existed solely in this metaphysical dimension, formed and sustained by the gifts of the Daam K'vosh, the creators.
Navigating the mindshare was something that took a significant amount of practice to one who wasnt born in it. Miranda had first touched this realm after being revived aboard Altair by the Wild nearly 8 years ago, but it wasnt until her death at the hands of the Order some years later, in retaliation for the loss of Toledo, that she had been imprisoned here. Without a physical body to inhabit, her consciousness was pulled into the mindshare, just as it would for any K'Hara who lost their form, and she drifted among the orbs and haze for what had felt like an eternity; long enough, at least, to become familiar with this place.
The Wild at Altair had, eventually, been able to create a clone of her original body, a nomad-human hybrid made possible by genetic manipulation via Daam K'vosh technology. Once grown, Miranda had downloaded herself into the clone, just as any Nomad would possess a shipform, and lived once again. So much time spent as an incorporeal form had taken its toll, however, and even taking her first breath was laborious agony.
Since then, Miranda frequently departed from her body to rejoin the mindshare. Doing so left the body vulnerable, of course; it entered a comatose state without a conscious mind to control it, and little more than basic life functions were maintained. Still, Miranda now enjoyed spending her time floating through this transcendental world, connecting with the minds of other K'Hara and Wild, sharing thoughts and experiences. Each mind in the share was individual, but all were connected; each piece a part of a greater whole, and it gave Miranda a feeling of purpose beyond what she had ever experienced prior to the connection.
In addition to the clone bodies the Wild grew for her, Miranda was also capable of merging with the vacant shipforms scattered throughout Sirius. It was quite a different experience, transferring into a body that lived in space, fed on solar radiation, swam between the stars, and sensed the world around it through energy fields rather than eyes or ears. On the one hand, experiencing spaceflight in this manner, without the need for a ship, feeling as if you belonged among the stars and in the void, was an exhilarating experience... on the other, it was deeply disturbing. Miranda's humanity fought relentlessly against her every time she took such a form, her mind instinctively gasping for breath, panicking at the loss of sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste, replaced by senses and an environment that were completely alien to it.
Taking on such forms had other drawbacks, too. Much of Miranda's usefulness lay in her unique physiology; as the first true hybrid between human and nomad, she retained many of the strengths of each: a capable body, telepathic communication, relative immunity to many forms of energy and radiation, vocal speech, and the ability to interface with both human and alien technology. Further, the modifications to her genome that had occurred at the Shrine allowed her to activate and utilize Daam K'vosh relics that neither humans nor nomads could operate on their own. She also retained many of the weaknesses of each: her human body could be killed, and she was not as passably human as the Wild - her skin was desaturated and pale, her hair held a purple sheen, and her eyes lit with an inner glow. She was readily identifiable as nonhuman, even without being subjected to the specialized scanners and equipment used by organizations such as The Order to weed out the infected.
'Infected'... Miranda scoffed at the term. The Order viewed nomads, indeed any alien influence, as anti-human, a threat to the survival of their species. They had a single-minded focus geared towards the destruction of everything alien, and their resolve had only been strengthened by the destruction of their homeworld. Miranda knew the truth, though: neither humanity, nor the nomads, were an end product, they were paths to that end, mere steps on a journey towards perfection. She had her doubts that even the Daam K'vosh, the creators, were perfect in their own right; more than likely they, too, were steps on the journey, though many steps ahead of the rest.
The greatest difference between Humanity and Nomads was a willingness to change. Nomads were a species of constant evolution; in a mere quarter of a decade they had completely changed their purpose and their appearance, becoming more aggressive to the aliens that now intruded on their sacred birthright. They were eager to learn, to evolve, to follow in their creators' footsteps, while humanity sat stagnant and never-changing.
There were always individuals among the greater masses, however, who were open to new things. The Oracles, Miranda's creation, had flourished after her departure, spreading their ideology far and wide throughout Sirius. She was proud of what they had become, though they still had far to go and much to do. Perhaps she would check in on them, when she had the means; for now there were no ships available, and she was marooned in Nomad space. Soon, the Wild would have what she had requested, and her journey would begin again... one more step.
Withdrawing her mind from the collective, Miranda opened her eyes and took a deep breath. She was once again in her chamber at Altair, the Wild facility hidden deep within Omicron Iota.
Location: Altair Research Complex, Omicron Iota
Date: 825 A.S.
Miranda slumped back into her chair at the communications console. The control tower at Altair was vacant, she could hear her own breathing echoing off the walls and the low, reverberating hum of energy from the nebula surrounding the station. Three transmissions sent, now all she could do was wait for a reply. The first had been to the Aoi Iseijin, based out of the Arch in Tohoku. They were actively embroiled in hostile operations against the Blood Dragons, allies of the Order in Kusari, and it had kept them distracted from further pursuit of their agenda infiltrating the Kusari government. She wasnt sure much aid would come from that front, there was much hostile space between them.
The second had been to her children, the Oracles. She had heard whispers through the mindshare, sent by the wanderers, that the Oracles had grown into a trans-sirius organization with influence in every house. She was prideful that they had evolved so much on their own, without her guidance; Zenon must have been successful in leading them after her departure. Beyond the estimates of growth, however, she knew little. They had changed in her time away, and she was curious just how much. She imagined it was a significant thing she offered, inviting them to Iota; to her knowledge, the Oracles had never seen nomad space firsthand.
The final transmission had been to the Wilde; their numbers had gone relatively silent in the mindshare, and the wanderers no longer brought new memories from them. Some of the K'Hara took this as a point of concern, unsure if their infiltration of Rheinland had been entirely snuffed out, somehow, without their awareness. Miranda hoped that wasnt the case; the Wilde had created the drone line she sought to alter, a genius blending of human and nomad architecture, technology and biology intermingling into a perfect hybrid, not unlike herself. Their expertise would be invaluable in realizing her goals.
Miranda stood, walking barefoot over to the window overlooking the Altair drydocks. In the thick haze of the nebula, three drones hovered silent, cold, and lifeless. They remained unfinished, abandoned to dereliction when the last of the Wilde had left Altair to reinforce the Rheinland front. They had presented an opportunity to her that she intended to seize, if she could bring the appropriate individuals her to aid her in the task. These drones would be modified, hollowed out, laced with Nammu formseeds, and if successful provide her with a means to continue her mission in seeking the Progenitor.
She sighed, her breath fogging the window of the control room. It would be nice to be among humans once more, her only interactions these past years had been through the disembodied realm of the mindshare, and through her intermittent jaunts through space as a nomad shipform. She supposed the longing was just a remnant of her humanity tugging at her.
...Incoming Transmission...
Source: Altair Research Facility
Subject: Miranda
***The transmission is hazy and full of interference, transmitted from the furthest reaches of Sirius***
"Altair has been quiet as of late, and our agents in Rheinland have become mysteriously silent, causing concern among the K'Hara. Many of you may be unfamiliar with who us, so we will attempt to explain. We were once of the Oracles, human and seeking knowledge. We found relics and joined with a remnant of the creators, before it abandoned us. So, too, did we join with the K'Hara; it is still a part of us, though sacrificed. We are no longer human, nor are we nomad; we are Miranda, and we are hybrid."
"Some years ago, Das Wilde and The Oracles aided us in the procurement of a unique vessel with which to continue our pursuit of the creators' legacies. The Ascendant was, unfortunately, lost to an ambush by The Order. We were lost with it, but the mindshare preserved us while Das Wilde and Keepers grew a new form, identical to the original, for us to take on. We have been contained to Altair, unable to venture forth and continue following in the footsteps of the creators. Our mission must continue, for the good of the mindshare and all among it."
"Ours is a unique form requiring unique facilities. We wish to extend an invitation to any of our members in Aoi Iseijin who may be possessing engineers or scientists: join us at Altair, helps us construct a new vessel worthy of our cause. We await you."
***The transmission ends***
---
// Response from the Aoi Iseijin, Muramasa //
Blossom on the breeze,
settles on the face of a corpse,
beauty masking death.
Well look at this, it isn't that bad if the departure of Loyola brought you back in return. Your cover letter looks convincing, in fact I met one of your kind not so long ago... I suppose I'll have to get used to it.
There is a fair number of Kusari engineers and scientists who have been working on the Musashi's retrofitting at Altair. They will be posted there for a while until we can confirm the battleship is fully functional, but so far the test runs have displayed... amazing results, so they were expected to return to the Arch soon. However, I will personally relay this request of yours so that they help you in putting together your new vessel.
I am eager to see the outcome of this joint effort.
---
...Incoming Transmission...
Source: Altair Research Facility
Subject: Miranda
Miranda snapped back from the Mindshare when she heard the beeping of the communications console. Someone had replied to one of her transmissions. She read over the message and submitted a response...
"Thank you for heeding the call. We doubt you've met our kind before, we are the only one of our kind, but we understand the meaning. We will prepare Altair for your arrival."
Heavy airlock doors, powered by a combination of pneumatic cylinders and crystalline tendrils, split open and receded into their bulkheads. The air differential blew past, wisping Miranda's hair forward and into her face for a moment as pressure equalized. In the landing bay ahead, now closed off from space by an even larger airlock mechanism, a Kusari shuttle floated down gently onto the landing pad, setting down on feet-like landing gear and looking wholly like an oversized beetle with tiny, solar-sail wings protruding from its back. As the full weight of the shuttle settled, Miranda skirted around it to the rear cargo ramp.
A small team of six Kusari personnel stepped down the ramp, leaving the pilot and copilot alone in the purple and bronze insect to begin their post-flight check and prepare for return to the Musashi, a massive Kusari battleship that hovered just beyond the walls of Altair. Miranda greeted the group of scientists and engineers that had been sent to her from the arch, though each of them seemed curiously offput by her appearance. The Iseijin, like the Wilde, maintained a mostly human appearance, with no outward differences other than the occasional glow behind their eyes. Miranda, on the other hand, had pale skin, slightly purple-tinged hair, brightly glowing eyes, and an unnatural light inside of her that made it appear as if her skin was irradiated from underneath, barely able to contain an explosion of light within. Despite the mental connection they, and indeed all nomads, shared, seeing each other in person was altogether different.
"We're pleased you could spare the time to aid us, all of you will be invaluable to this undertaking, we're sure. Altair has been lonely as of late, but we've taken the time to prepare rooms for each of you, and your hosts. Settle in, and when you're all ready to begin, we will be waiting at the dockyard."
Miranda turned and the Aoi group followed as she showed them to their quarters. She was eager to begin the project, but knew that their journey had been a long one, and likely fraught with battle. She could wait another day.
---
Miranda's face glowed from the light of the holoprojector at the center of the command tower. Floating in front of her were two wireframe images, one depicting an unusual looking storta and the other a half finished scorpion drone. The aoi team encircled the projector with her.
Miranda gestured towards the image of the storta, "Some of you may recognize this as the ascendant, our ship from many years ago. The Oracles procured it and, with the aid of the wilde and keepers, implanted it with an irra seed. Through this process, we were able to interface and control the ascendant by thought, it served us well but had its shortcomings." she swiped at the holographic projection and the storta wireframe disappeared, allowing the scorpion drone to be enlarged, "What we aim to achieve is the conversion of the unmanned scorpion drones left here by the Wilde into habitable vessels that we may interface with in the same way. A chamber to sustain our human form while our mind is linked to the drone will be necessary. A nammu seed will need to be melded with the drone to allow a mindshare linking. We will also require an area to be dedicated to cargo storage for the progenitor keys, made as secure as possible. Is this possible?"
Miranda waited patiently as the aoi scientists and engineers muddled over the blueprints and schematics for the drone and, periodically, called back those of the ascendant for comparison.
---
Weeks passed with no progress. At every turn the scientists found another roadblock, another problem to be skirted and worked around, and in some cases drastic modifications were made to overcome the hurdles. Loopholes like this reduced the viability of the drones, made them less than they were originally, whereas Miranda required them to be more. She grew frustrated, pacing the halls of Altair more each day, spending more time exploring the mindshare and losing herself in the thoughts of the others. While she was no longer human, not entirely, she still suffered frequently from human qualities. Emotion, frustration, anger, aimlessness; all the traits she wish she had lost with the conversion. Alas, those remained while other, more personal aspects of her humanity had been eradicated. Frequently she would stare into the mirror, seeing the glow beneath her skin, the crystal lattices just below a thin canvas of human shape and appearance, pondering if this was truly a better form of existence.
The concerns were always shrugged off and forgotten when she merged once more with the mindshare, relishing in the overwhelming plethora of information, the feeling of absolute omnipotence as her soul seemed to stretch across the entire sector and connect with each K'hara and Wild in range. It was a truly enlightening experience, shifting at whim from an individual to a hive.
She reverted back to her body, snapping out of the mindshare with an abrupt disconnect. She stood in a control room, overlooking a hangar on Altair. One of the scorpion drones sat in the center of the landing pad, scientists and engineers scuttling about it like bees on a flower. The impending sense of failure began to grow once more, pessimism taking root in the deepest corners of her mind. How long would they continue before giving up?
Miranda laid back onto the bed in her room at Altair, letting her eyes lose focus as she stared up at the ceiling. It began to blur and swirl, then crack into fissures of light. The ceiling fell away, followed by the walls and the floor, ripping her body into the abyss with the shattered room. All that was left was her point of vision, floating in a sea of shifting lights and colors. She looked back, seeing her body fall away from her, comatose and vulnerable, no longer supporting a consciousness and only sustaining itself on subconscious instincts. She turned away from it and again towards the light, letting her body disappear into the abyss.
She needed an escape, the Aoi were frustrating her with their constant self-doubt and lack of zeal in tackling the problems surrounding the drone project. She abandoned herself to the mindshare, letting it pull her spirit into the other dimension wherein it resided. Here she was free, free from mortal bonds, free from emotion, free from even the laws of physics that governed the galaxy she had been born unto. Here she flitted from one stream of thought to the next, all vertices on an infinite spider's web of interlinked consciousness. A 'swim' would be good for her, let her relax even.
She reached out into the mindshare, the flowing stream of information pulling her along within, until she sensed a young form, growing but lightless. These husks were bodies without minds, nomad shipforms grown within the lairs to one day be a fallback for those who lost their active bodies, or for new lights joining the mindstream. For now, it would serve her as it would any other light.
Miranda began the descent, a free fall from the higher realm of the mindshare into the physical world below, this time into a different body not her own. As she opened her 'eyes', for lack of a better term, the organic walls and webbings of the lair became clear. Sight in this form was unlike anything her human body could achieve. While she was a hybrid, and as such was able to see higher and lower wavelengths of light with her otherwise human eyes, the senses of a Nomad shipform were something else entirely. She basked in the onslaught of photons, radiation, atoms and molecules, all assaulting her alien senses. To see the universe through the eyes of a creature bred to live in space was a profound experience.
Momentarily she struggled to coordinate the chemo-nuclear reaction in the form's osculum, the propulsion organ nomads used to move through space. Achieving locomotion in this way was vastly different than walking on human legs; indeed, it was more akin to 'swimming' through space. Every time Miranda took on this form, she underwent the same process of re-learning how to see, and then how to move. Other actions, too, were more complex; even speaking to others in this form required concentration, though she had noticed a clarity of communication with other humans over what the K'hara expressed. Perhaps it was because of her human mind that she was able to transmit her thoughts more clearly and with less emotional calligraphy than a true nomad.
Younger forms such as this one were easier for her to control, and often what she preferred to become. It was a simplistic thing, small and agile, yet thin-shelled and without the micro-organism lattice that shielded mature nomad forms. This meant she had to be cautious, these forms were exceptionally susceptible to damage and injury. Further, they had little offensive potential, with the energy-expelling 'tumors' that nomads used as weapons not yet developed. Singular pulse blasts were typically the greatest force she could reliably assert, enough to scare off a weak-willed attacker at best. Caution was her ally in this endeavor.
As she left the hive, Miranda set course for deep space, beyond Omicron Delta. She sensed others there, of the divergent mindlink; the ones called Vagrants by the K'hara mindshare. They were the nomads that had been pulled through the hypergate following the Order's attack on the Dyson Sphere in the nomad war, sending them to the distant, unknown recesses of the galaxy. Though the mindshare held any information she might truly need regarding their kind, Miranda had not yet had a chance to meet one face to face, as it were. Perhaps the meeting would prove interesting.
As she approached, finally coming into range of the larger mind-node vagrant form, she could sense a human ship here as well. At first her mind rang in alarm, expecting an attack; only the Order typically came this far out from Sirius, and she had no love for their kind after they had killed her first body. As the distance closed, she scanned the mind of the human piloting the small havoc-class craft, gleaning precious little information. Jane foster, commune, allies, unthreatening.
[01.11.2018 03:31:00] Jane.Foster.: Hm. We're not alone here.
[01.11.2018 03:31:39] Miranda: *You have nothing to fear from ours, ms. foster*
[01.11.2018 03:32:10] Jane.Foster.: I don't, actually. As long as there's no angry voices.
[01.11.2018 03:32:47] Miranda: *It isnt often we leave Altair, this outlet feels... good*
[01.11.2018 03:33:14] Jane.Foster.: Al..tair?
[01.11.2018 03:33:48] Miranda: *We arent entirely familiar with the commune beyond what the mindshare whispers, we assume you're unfamiliar with it*
[01.11.2018 03:34:10] Jane.Foster.: No. But I assure you, I am more than a friend of yours.
[01.11.2018 03:34:13] Vagrant.Melia: "Curiosity."
[01.11.2018 03:34:53] Miranda: *Altair is... or was... a stronghold of the Wild. Her halls are mostly silent now*
[01.11.2018 03:35:07] Vagrant.Melia: "An aspect of the Bretheren. But it does not sing like the others."
[01.11.2018 03:35:26] Miranda: *Yes, we are different, not unlike yours, detached as they are*
[01.11.2018 03:35:44] Jane.Foster.: I... Think we've met something that does nt "sings" like the others.
[01.11.2018 03:35:52] Jane.Foster.: Was it called "Vatan"?
[01.11.2018 03:35:59] Jane.Foster.: //not*
[01.11.2018 03:36:09] Miranda: *We're... not familiar with that*
[01.11.2018 03:36:26] Miranda: *To the best of our knowledge we are unique, there are many hybrids before and after our creation, but none quite like us*
[01.11.2018 03:36:30] Jane.Foster.: The hybrid Gallic Battlecruiser. Had a mystic cloud all over it.
[01.11.2018 03:36:52] Jane.Foster.: Then... Who are you?
[01.11.2018 03:36:53] Miranda: *Taurvi was the first, but imperfect*
[01.11.2018 03:36:57] Vagrant.Melia: "Vatan is bound to metal. This one is not."
[01.11.2018 03:37:17] Miranda: *We are human... or were. Now we're also k'hara, among other things*
[01.11.2018 03:37:33] Jane.Foster.: I am relatively new to everything that is related to you, so please, enlighten me, pardon the pun.
[01.11.2018 03:38:11] Miranda: *It is a long story, and words are such an inefficient way to communicate after having walked the mindshare*
[01.11.2018 03:38:23] Miranda: *We are the mother of oracles, perhaps you know of them*
[01.11.2018 03:38:38] Jane.Foster.: Heard. Didn't had the... Best impression.
[01.11.2018 03:39:55] Miranda: *We began human, became host to a creation of the creators, we were abandoned, we became host to K'hara, it died*
[01.11.2018 03:40:06] Miranda: *Now we are a blending of all, the only blending of all*
[01.11.2018 03:40:21] Jane.Foster.: Wow.
[01.11.2018 03:40:53] Miranda: *our... mind has changed. these incidents have shattered it, and it is not so easily rebuilt as the shipforms*
[01.11.2018 03:41:02] Jane.Foster.: So you're... Some sort of ultimate hybrid?
[01.11.2018 03:41:17] Miranda: *Ultimate would imply a final product, we are merely a part of the journey*
[01.11.2018 03:42:00] Miranda: *We are the emissary, from K'hara, Oracles, Wild, even Vagrants, to the creators we hope to one day rediscover*
[01.11.2018 03:43:11] Jane.Foster.: Yeah... You're not the only ones who hope to find K'Vosh one day.
[01.11.2018 03:43:21] Jane.Foster.: Many have alot of questions to them.
[01.11.2018 03:43:29] Jane.Foster.: Doubt they'll bother answering them.
[01.11.2018 03:43:47] Miranda: *The journey has been long and has longer yet ahead, we gather one key at a time, but it has been difficult*
[01.11.2018 03:44:05] Miranda: *Particularly stranded as we are on Altair*
[01.11.2018 03:44:55] Jane.Foster.: Is... Altair within your system, the one with two nebulas?
[01.11.2018 03:44:59] Miranda: *We have even suffered death, the mindshare is all that preserved us*
[01.11.2018 03:45:32] Miranda: *It is hidden, and not for us to reveal*
[01.11.2018 03:45:48] Jane.Foster.: Yeah... Well... How was it? To... die?
[01.11.2018 03:46:14] Miranda: *Exhilarating... and terrifying. To be yanked from your mortal form is something humans are never prepared for*
[01.11.2018 03:46:35] Miranda: *The K'hara are accustomed to it, but it is uncomfortable and undesirable even for them*
[01.11.2018 03:47:11] Miranda: *We were dead for three years, disembodied, walking the mindshare*
[01.11.2018 03:47:14] Vagrant.Melia: "Destruction is pain. It burns."
[01.11.2018 03:47:33] Miranda: *The wild fabricated a new body for us, after a time*
[01.11.2018 03:48:21] Jane.Foster.: Yeah... that's a "yikes".
[01.11.2018 03:48:27] Miranda: *Painful, yes. Not so much physical pain, more a psychological trauma of sudden detachment, losing memories, time*
[01.11.2018 03:49:15] Miranda: *In past shifts and cycles, new forms took time to grow. Now there are reserves, recovery is quicker, less traumatic*
[01.11.2018 03:49:18] Jane.Foster.: Yeah, there isn't so much physical pain if you die fast, but if you manage to retain you consciousness after dying...
[01.11.2018 03:49:22] Jane.Foster.: Dear goodness.
[01.11.2018 03:49:36] Miranda: *It is a boon, if an unpleasant one*
[01.11.2018 03:49:53] Miranda: *As a human, death would have been an end. As K'hara, it is a learning experience*
[01.11.2018 03:50:07] Jane.Foster.: Can't even imagine what K'Haras been through if they suffered all that through all these years while fighting us.
[01.11.2018 03:50:47] Vagrant.Melia: "The constant struggle shaped the Bretheren."
[01.11.2018 03:51:08] Miranda: *Growth. Each death teaches a new lesson in avoidance. We become more resilient*
[01.11.2018 03:51:21] Jane.Foster.: Yeah. No wonder why they're so apothetic.
[01.11.2018 03:51:53] Miranda: *We wonder... Melia, yours returned from the hypergate, yes? The mindshare is clear on this*
[01.11.2018 03:52:39] Vagrant.Melia: "The Banishers cast the Vagrants into the Abyss. We returned."
[01.11.2018 03:53:03] Miranda: *This is a journey we wish to undertake, or possibly relive, one day. What was seen along the return*
[01.11.2018 03:53:23] Miranda: *What might such a journey teach us, of our creators*
[01.11.2018 03:54:19] Miranda: *A maddening thing, being separated from the mindshare must be, unable to join your memories to ours*
[01.11.2018 03:54:53] Vagrant.Melia: "The Abyss consisted of harsh voids. We adapted in our separation."
[01.11.2018 03:55:22] Miranda: *It is a human comparison, but as they say, the strongest steels are tempered in the hottest flames*
[01.11.2018 03:56:14] Miranda: *We respect the vagrants for their journey, some day we will endeavor to undertake the same trial*
[01.11.2018 03:56:35] Jane.Foster.: But the blacksmith gives the blade it's shape.
[01.11.2018 03:57:03] Miranda: *A function to be sure. The same hardened steel can be a tool or a weapon, just as our forms*
[01.11.2018 03:57:21] Miranda: *When humanity came, K'hara were not weapons. They became such out of necessity*
[01.11.2018 03:58:01] Vagrant.Melia: "Few minds, few shells, few materials. The voids themselves became the threat to the Vagrants."
[01.11.2018 03:58:44] Miranda: *K'hara became swords. Vagrants, cast out of Sirius and forced to return, became weapons of a different kind.*
[01.11.2018 03:58:51] Miranda: *A crude comparison, but it conveys the meaning*
[01.11.2018 03:59:23] Vagrant.Melia: "The Bretheren learned the way of spitfire. We learned the way of endurance, of survival."
[01.11.2018 04:00:36] Miranda: *K'hara were left with few, they adapted, learned to hide and ambush and infiltrate
[01.11.2018 04:00:51] Miranda: *Vagrants learned to bend space to their will*
[01.11.2018 04:01:22] Vagrant.Melia: "Yet the Bretheren still possessed their hives. We had none. We sought the spheres."
[01.11.2018 04:01:22] Miranda: *Both necessary and useful adaptations, both part of the path, the journey to the creators*
[01.11.2018 04:02:15] Miranda: *As our children of the oracles say, let not prejudice cloud judgement*
[01.11.2018 04:02:45] Miranda: *K'hara were forced to take extreme measures for survival as well. Burrowing into xerna*
[01.11.2018 04:02:55] Miranda: *No source of life but the dark core of the world*
[01.11.2018 04:03:12] Miranda: *That was before the clouds were made*
[01.11.2018 04:03:17] Vagrant.Melia: "Curious."
[01.11.2018 04:03:20] Jane.Foster.: Months ago we were talking about how Vagrants are "incompatible" with K'Haras. And one day I saw the same node as Melia, but it
[01.11.2018 04:03:23] Jane.Foster.: was a K'Hara.
[01.11.2018 04:04:07] Miranda: *From our understanding, it is the divergence in purpose that has created incompatible mindlinks*
[01.11.2018 04:04:13] Jane.Foster.: And surprisingly enough, there was no frustration in the air.
[01.11.2018 04:04:41] Miranda: *K'hara adapted as one, became more unified following the great war. Vagrants focused on returning.*
[01.11.2018 04:04:55] Miranda: *Such a distance and length of time apart created inconsistencies in the telepathic matrix*
[01.11.2018 04:05:22] Vagrant.Melia: "The song has diverged."
[01.11.2018 04:05:26] Miranda: *The mindshare is extradimensional, but also localized*
[01.11.2018 04:05:52] Miranda: *The old mindshare was the sphere. It was shattered by the order in the great war.*
[01.11.2018 04:06:08] Miranda: *the K'hara formed a new mindshare, the vagrants were already gone and not connected to it*
[01.11.2018 04:06:16] Miranda: *Dur-Shurrikun*
[01.11.2018 04:07:23] Miranda: *We are unclear if reconnection is possible, or even desired. Reunification may dampen adaptation*
[01.11.2018 04:08:08] Miranda: *The commune form a similar link, do they not?*
[01.11.2018 04:08:42] Jane.Foster.: We eh... Have our own tinkering. Imperfect, but we're working on it.
[01.11.2018 04:08:51] Vagrant.Melia: "An imperfect construct."
[01.11.2018 04:09:32] Vagrant.Melia: "They wish to sing, yet they are still distant from such."
[01.11.2018 04:09:32] Jane.Foster.: Not as good as Mindshare, won't prevent you from dying, but still.
[01.11.2018 04:10:03] Miranda: *Interesting*
[01.11.2018 04:10:24] Miranda: *We would like to meet the commune in 'person' as it were, some day, when we leave altair*
[01.11.2018 04:10:55] Miranda: *as liberating as it is, taking this form, its senses are confusing to us*
[01.11.2018 04:10:57] Jane.Foster.: Whenever Azhi decided to show up... Or if we ever find our head...
[01.11.2018 04:11:30] Miranda: *We see light and hear sound, K'hara forms see radiation and hear... something*
[01.11.2018 04:12:03] Miranda: *as a hybrid we have the unique privilege of experiencing both worlds, but our origins were human*
[01.11.2018 04:12:20] Miranda: *We are still bound by human thoughts and experiences*
[01.11.2018 04:12:43] Jane.Foster.: There's always ways to grow though.
[01.11.2018 04:13:25] Miranda: *We must return, this form is young and unprotected, it needs the lair*
[01.11.2018 04:13:32] Miranda: *We will meet again, perhaps in another form*
[01.11.2018 04:13:39] Vagrant.Melia: "Perhaps."
[01.11.2018 04:13:56] Jane.Foster.: Sure. It was a pleasure meeting with you.
[01.11.2018 04:14:56] 2018-11-01 04:14:55 SMT WARNING: A hyperspace breach is being opened by Vagrant.Melia
[01.11.2018 04:15:13] Vagrant.Melia: "We shall convey."
[01.11.2018 04:15:20] Miranda: *we appreciate the aid, Melia*
[01.11.2018 04:15:27] Miranda: *this form tires*
[01.11.2018 04:15:54] Jumping...
[01.11.2018 04:16:34] Jane.Foster.: I just wish our ships were looking as half magnificent as your shells.
Miranda rejoined the lair, leaving Melia and Foster behind in the clouds of Omicron Psi. As her form became one with the organic walls of the lair once more, she rejoined the mindstream and let it carry her back to her own body, lying comatose in Altair. She was once again surrounded by steel walls and artificial gravity pulling her into the fabric of the bed.
Once again, Miranda overlooked the docking bay from the control room, watching the Aoi work, cutting and tearing into the third drone. The others had failed, and their deadline was nearing; the Musashi had returned to recover its personnel and take them back to Kusari.
"Knock, knock. Can I come in?" Muramasa stepped into the control room, displaying his ever-lasting serene face expression. Hands on his back, he approached Miranda and looked down at the hangar, shrugging lightly.
"I think about everyone at the Arch heard your sighing already. I know it's frustrating, but those... things were designed to predate anything that contained a heartbeat. Needless to mention the human DNA fused with our technology, eh, in reality we're standing in front of a true hybrid!" He chuckled, now looking at Miranda and saving a pitiful face for himself. "I think that makes the third drone we have carved in a month, it's not like we have made any progress and sometimes we couldhear them cry in pain. Or so they said."
He turned around, walking across the room as he spoke again. "Experience with human-crafted machines, and war machines more specifically, have taught us it's easier to adapt such ships to us and not the other way around. You have seen the Muramasa already, not sure about the Schiller, but that's another jewel worth looking at with your own... eyes. Oh, and the Tundra, that's definitely the best engineering you would find around, unless you want it to be less evident to the human eye. So let me ask you, do we have any other options?
Miranda faked a smile, "Other options? Sure, we'll go to the nearest shipyard and just buy one, they're sure to deal with our kind."
She looked back out into the hangar. The engineers were already packing their tools, they might as well have given up days ago, the project was doomed to fail from the beginning.
"We're not overly worried about being less evident to human eyes, integration is the most important thing, and having the facilities and resources onboard to continue our mission. Few human-made ships, if any, have links to K'vosh technology, something for us to turn into a receiver and track down the other progenitor keys. We suppose you have nothing of that sort in your fleet, Muramasa?" He shook his head.
"The search will continue, then. We will listen to the others, open ourselves to the mindshare, and hopefully an opportunity will present itself. Please give our regards to your people for their aid, fruitless as it was." Miranda returned to her quarters to integrate with her other form once more, something must exist in the depths of space that would be of use to her.
![[Image: ngr6z6.png]](http://i43.tinypic.com/ngr6z6.png)
![[Image: Tenacity.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/Tenacity.gif)
![[Image: 18gbc8.png]](http://i41.tinypic.com/18gbc8.png)
![[Image: fv8haR5.png]](https://i.imgur.com/fv8haR5.png)
![[Image: NxQbyJN.png?1]](https://i.imgur.com/NxQbyJN.png?1)
![[Image: YQtcPc4.png]](https://i.imgur.com/YQtcPc4.png)
![[Image: cVW7bgU.png]](https://i.imgur.com/cVW7bgU.png)
![[Image: iC4BeaU.png]](http://i.imgur.com/iC4BeaU.png)
![[Image: Sxlemhr.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Sxlemhr.png)