Shocca does some math. "So we've been travelling in the Rel for a while now. Definitely don't want to pop back into real space here. Especially without the Starstone in it's rightful place, that's a long trip home. So we need to guide this ship back in this realm first." The ikeshti calls up the AI on the nearest ship terminal. "We need to input new coordinates. Will you be driving, or should we head to the Helm?"
Ajithu generally agrees with getting the Ark's inhabitants back to Absalom, though he'd prefer if they can find a way to not have the hulking megaship simply appear in the station's viewports. Medical emergencies indeed.
While Shocca is working through the particulars of navigating the ship back, Ajithu will focus on what is needed to keep the starstone safe on a smaller ship as they transport it back to it's original place.
"Alright. So first we need to navigate through Rel State back to within the Pact Worlds."
"Let's aim to pop out a day's travel away from the Station. That will give us time to explain to everyone that We Come In Peace."
She lets Ajithu and Arc handle the magical and social aspects of transitioning back into the Pact Worlds and speaking with those in charge of what remains of the fleet.
The day later, Shocca would like to help Arc welcome the Starfinder Society and other government entities on board the ship to do... whatever oversight organizations do. Verify our claims that it's not about to nuke everything, transition the Starstone, look at the hibernating Sivv and servitors, etc. She'll examine those coming onboard in an attempt to prevent any with bad intentions from being left alone (or coming onboard at all).
She'll assist the Station's medical professionals to release the servitors from hibernation. (Still morally conflicted, she'll let someone else handle bringing the Sivv back - if that's what the leadership decides.)
Finally she'll partner with her compatriots to move the Starstone back to it's place. Surely the Starfinders and a dozen other organizations will want to assist in this - if they don't want to intervene. This trio can act as intermediaries, ensuring that the Stone gets back to where it belongs.
That is a good idea. Far better than just appearing outside of the station.
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Arcalinte nods to Shocca.
"Absolutely, we don't want to start a new battle that we'd presumably lose with the Ark's defenses down."
He attempts to manage the Ark's computer systems while Shocca tries to steer the great vessel, hoping that will at least get them on the right trajectory.
He also works to shore up Ajithu-Ko's technomystical work.
As they arrive, he tries to open communications with anyone in Absalom Station space who can receive his hail.
"Soter to Absalom. Soter to Absalom. This is Venture-Captain Arcalinte Soter of the Starfinder Society. The Devastation Ark has been disabled, we have the Starstone secured. We require an escort to Absalom Station to return it. We've won!"
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With the Starstone secured in a smaller ship ready to launch, you make your way back through the enormous ship until you reach the bridge. The cyborg Sivv defenders pose no obstacle to you, but the strange controls and the limitations of Rel-State travel leave you uncertain on how best to reverse course. After some study, Shocca takes the lead in plotting a new course that doesn't raise the ire of the Ark's new AI. Arc does his best to aid her.
When you emerge back into regular space, you brace yourselves for the surprise you'll inflict on the Pact Worlds... only to find yourselves in another, completely unknown system. You spend a few hours trying to reassess what you understand of Rel-Space, replotting your course, and engage the drives once more. A few days later you emerge again, once more not on target. Its only once you stop and reflect on your brief experiences as sivv in the strange simulation you were trapped within that navigation finally clicks. A few days later you emerge from Rel-State just beyond the orbit of Verces!
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Opening comms, you find the Pact Worlds in shock at the return of the Ark, and woefully unprepared. You take in the remains of Absalom Station, the debris clouds left over from the fight against the Ark. It seems after your entrance into the Ark, the fighting must have continued for some time... to the detriment of the Pact fleets. However you're able to confirm soon enough that the Station had been mostly evacuated and the other worlds had been spared from the Ark's predations. Your intervention, as well as the bold resistance from the Pact's defenders, had proven enough to protect the system.
With Arc taking the lead in communication with all of the worlds and their remaining military presence, you're able to quickly allay concerns and explain the situation. As your allies within the Pact approach, you begin the long work of unpacking the Ark and its occupants and attempting to transition its contents.
Moving the Starstone back to its resting place at the core of Absalom Station proves straightforward enough, between Ajithu's forethought in warding away any sort of physical approach or magical tampering (with Arc's help), and Shocca and other volunteers operating the drones to move it safely. It soon is set to rest within the remains of the ancient cathedral, now a scattered field of floating stone, at the torn-open heart of the near-derelict Station. The repair of Absalom Station will take years, but with the power granted by the Starstone back in the Pact's hands, it will certainly be possible.
As for the various servitor species aboard the Ark, you find a surprise upon exploring the Ark to free them from their servitude. Hundreds of the Ark's transports and battleships are missing, and after assessing the logs, you find they left during the times you dropped out of rel-state while navigating back to the Pact Worlds. You eventually tease out of the ship's AI what happened - a quiet exodus of aliens taking the opportunity to leave while they can. More worryingly, you find that not all of the preserved Sivv are accounted for either.
For those servitors that remain, their deep brainwashing is apparent the moment you and your chosen medical professions begin taking them off the Ark. Deprogramming them, and teaching them about the Pact and their new potential ways of life will be a decades-long endeavor. But it will also potentially be a very fruitful one, as their near-forgotten cultures and languages offer a glimpse into the distant past.
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As for your trio, you find yourselves at the utmost heights of fame. Heroes known across the Pact Worlds. The ones who recovered the Starstone from impossible odds, who neutralized a seemingly unbeatable threat, and who've now brought back a treasure of technology and opportunity to the system. Doors across the system are open to you. And while some are jealous of your success, or suspicious of your story, that does little to dispel the golden glow that surrounds you.
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We lost so many sivv along the way. I wonder what seeds of destruction they may plan in unknown reaches.
Ajithu is a little unnerved by the fame. In his years as a psionic operative in the Mindbreakers, on the icy Brethedan moon Kalo-Mahoi, inconspicuousness and obscurity were some of his chief tools. He almost hopes the skeptics win out (almost).
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Hey, Iceman! The familiar voice of his friend Lenny booms out across the gym. Other members stop their exercises and look up at Ajithu.
So much for inconspicuousness.
I told you not to call me that!
After glaring at Lenny for several seconds, he lets the warm smile escape and chuckles.
I've been waiting to hear the whole tale. Let's duck into my office where there will be less ears. Lenny suggests, before leading the kalo out of general sight.
But first... what's next? the old Solarian asks.
Ajithu frowns, wishing his plan was clear.
We left... loose ends in our endeavor. Some sivv didn't make it back to the station for assimilation into peaceable society. I know what kinds of plans they can hatch when left to their ancient festering. You know this too. I want to track them down...
Lenny gets a skeptical look. And then what?
Bring them back of course!
The gym owner laughs. Oh. You mean using your "persuasion."
Ajithu doesn't answer.
The two return to more pleasant subjects, swapping stories at length for what feels like the whole night.
But it's not. Sometime before midnight he exits Pilates of the Carribean.
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The next day Ajithu jumps into action, putting out feelers to interested parties. Obviously he extends an offer and right of first refusal to Arc and Shocca. He makes his intent very clear, and the use of his methods. They may not like it. Then again they of course get the gravity of their recent situation.
After that he reaches out to old members of his Mindbreakers force. Really... this is the group he's getting back together. Within three days he leaves the station to collect fellow operatives and begin searching.
If I can accidentally find a galactic threat on Jedarat, surely I can find ill-intending sivv amongst the Pact worlds and beyond.
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Shocca is astounded and afraid that they lost so many of the rediscovered races. So many species, popped into the future, without any guidance. Not to mention the danger of the Sivv. But, this is something beyond her control. The ikeshti does not fit well to fame, never having been a good fit before her name skyrocketed in the public conscience.
She takes some time to wrap things up on Absalom Station, making sure the situation on the Arc is well understood. She connects with the local medical and scholastic communities, pointing out landmarks on the enormous ship and sharing what she can. Avoid the garbage rooms! After a few months, she leaves the rebuilding and the discoveries to those who remain. Before leaving the Station she connects with Ajithu again. "I cannot join you, unfortunately. Your cause is noble, and personally I appreciate you continuing the fight. But... head popping is more your game than mine. My work is... elsewhere." Shocca says goodbye to him, then stops off at the Starfinder lodge to say goodbye to Arc. "It's been quite the ride from that shuttle ride. I'll never look at snow or hot chocolate the same way. I have to say... I can't say that I understand your meditation or your philosophy. But... because I knew you... I have been changed for good." She smiles awkwardly and shuffles away after a brief hug.
The ikeshti returns to Qabarat University, calling in her local Xenowarden ties. She leverages her fame to garner enormous grants and begins a high scale research effort into leveraging the sivv technology into gene manipulation. Her work on The Rivenning must continue. She'll lead an expedition back to the Arc when the preliminary research justifies it. If they don't make new discoveries, perhaps she will reach out to Ajithu and join the search for the Sivv. Having seen their advancements, and lived in their crabby-boots, she's confident that if a medical miracle for the ikeshti curse exists then it lies with the Sivv.
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Becoming the hero of a second, even greater crisis in the Pact Worlds changed surprisingly little for Arcalinte. For all the accolades he'd earned and the awe he inspired, he knew the work was only beginning. He immediately threw himself into aiding and helping organize Absalom Station's reconstruction efforts, finding himself spending much more time in a Lorespire Complex office than anywhere else as politicians, corporate executives, priests, mages, solarians and of course Starfinders sought his counsel.
His first concerns, of course, were guiding the securing and exploration of the Ark; with Shocca and Ajithu-Ko's aid, he began organizing expeditions, filled with his fellow Starfinders and members of the Order of the Empty Orbit, to plumb the depths of the ancient colony-ship and war-machine. He also began seeking counseling and advocacy for those few denizens of the Ark that they'd secured to determine who among them could be safely integrated into Absalom Station. The idea that there were Sivv, and those the Sivv had caught and brainwashed over the years could be redeemed was a long-shot, but by this point long-shots seemed to be a specialty of his. And they deserved that chance.
As Ajithu-Ko offers his friends an opportunity to join him in chasing down the seemingly-escaped beings from the Ark, Arcalinte fully acknowledges the essentiality of this mission. "Thank you, but I think I would best help your mission here. My work will only increase in the days to come, but a mission like this needs information, needs material, needs allies. These are things I can supply you. It seems I may be serving as "mission control" for the foreseeable future. As much as my sword-arm has seen us through battle after battle, now the time has come to be a force multiplier, so I'll get you as many sword-arms as I can find." He accepts Shocca's hug. "Give my regards to my father, Dean Theraels. I imagine he'll be relieved to hear we both made it out of there."
The years that follow the Devastation Ark crisis are no less eventful, but Arcalinte finds himself drawing Skyndi less and less. Even as the Drift Crisis effectively strands him on Absalom Station, he finds that while people still look to him for leadership, others begin stepping up to take on the mantle of hero, Starfinders and otherwise. He certainly didn't waste the chance to continue advocating for reducing Absalom Station's dependence on the Starstone, both as a power source and the political and economic leverage it granted as the greatest Drift Beacon in the galaxy. Even as he worked to aid the influx of refugees and his experience with rel-state technology was sought by both the Church of Triune as a potential solution and Circles of Eloritu's faithful as validation that these technologies would create more problems than they'd solve, to better advocate for a magical alternative, Arcalinte continued to remain focused on this purpose. While others saw the eventual restoration of Drift travel two years later as a chance to return to normalcy, for Arcalinte it was an object lesson of the importance of that purpose. But he took some comfort in the fact that he no longer needed to do everything by himself.
Not even a year later, Arcalinte's belief in this mission was galvanized when Aucturn hatched and the psychic cry of a Newborn god rocked his mind. For a brief period of time, he struggled to cope with the damage the Ark's tampering had done to his identity, struggling to sort out which of his memories were real and which were simulated dreams of Vheiransch's life, his dark hair beginning to prematurely grey in streaks. He sought solace in Sarenrae's light, in his friendships with Shocca and Ajithu-Ko and so many others, and found looking at Skyndi, even lying in its sheath, helped him ground himself anew, reminded him of his promise. Upon recovering, he learned that the Ghost Levels of Absalom Station, long sealed and empty, had opened and that the Starstone had been sought by strange beings in service to the new god. Immediately he began to integrate himself with the network of Ghost Couriers forming to explore and catalogue its depths, certain that the solutions he sought would be found there, organizing team after team of Starfinders to learn more about this Station he'd called home for so long, but knew so little about. Learning the Sunrise Maiden had been lost in the first battle of the Vesk-Azlanti War on Kehetaria saddened him greatly, but his relief at the survival of her latest crew was immeasurable.
After reading every report, after closing each video call, he would meditate. Look inward at his place in the grand, strange Cycle he'd been part of, from that incident at Docking Bay 94 to the farthest reaches of the Vast, through death and back again, into history and another being's mind, and into the future. He would look upon Skyndi, balanced before him with gravitic energy and remember his promise to Nirin. And how tired he was striving to keep it. But then he would smile and remember that he'd inspired, even trained, so many men, women and non-binary people to take up these causes and continue his work. Arcalinte Soter, Sola of the Order of the Empty Orbit, Venture-Captain of the Starfinder Society, was a hero of the Dead Suns Crisis and the Devastation Ark Crisis. And now, it was his honor and privilege to allow a new generation of heroes to dawn and bring new light to the galaxy.
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The sun rises on the rebuilt Absalom Station, the light of Mataras bathing the station in a soft glow. The station is as ever an evolving structure - the Arms now spiral outward to connect with the new Armada, the Spike is longer than ever, and the core of the station is a gleaming hub of new construction. Only some of the old topside structures seem unchanged, but those familiar with the station know how much has had to be rebuilt even there.
The Station's near neighbor however cannot be ignored. The massive Devastation Ark (now just the "Ark" to the residents of the station) lies tethered to the station by a semi-permanent crawling line. Thanks to guidance from the three of you, its presence here is a boon rather than a terror, with expeditions by Starfinders, Stewards, Xenowardens, and other interested parties often entering to explore its vast complexes and retrieve new technologies and alien species. Its interior spaces remain dangerous to all but the most well prepared, but that's never stopped an intrepid explorer before... and the riches and discoveries within have been worth the risk.
The residents of the Ark have been as varied as the species of the Pact Worlds themselves, both in type and temperament. Some have adapted well to being thrust far into their relative future in an unfamiliar environment, while others have retreated into the depths of the Ark to seek isolation or to plot ways to serve their "gods". Still, thanks to Arc's leadership, many unknown aliens have found new homes on Absalom Station and beyond, bringing their unique cultures with them.
The true impact of the influx of sivvan technology still remains to be seen, with researchers in all of near space scrambling to understand and utilize what's been uncovered. For Shocca though, it doesn't take long for her research into sivvan genetic engineering to bear fruit. The Rivening had long been a struggle for the ikeshti species. But thanks to the techniques Shocca has developed, the species now has the means to grant new options to its young. These genetic treatments on pre-larval ikeshti have introduced a cyclic period to the natural rutting phase of an ikeshti's life, allowing the bodily transformations to grow and ebb with the seasons for those ikeshti that do not find partners. Importantly, in those young ikeshti for whom the treatment is performed, the threat of the Rivening will be a thing of the past, the transformation now tamed.
This discovery revolutionizes ikeshti society nearly overnight. The prospect of the Rivening no longer hanging over the species seems a glorious victory for many, but many others decry the treatments as unnatural and unwelcome. Like with all major changes, it will take time to see where the ikeshti people will end up. However it cannot be denied that Shocca's work has changed millions of lives.
As for Ajithu, with his contingent of volunteers from the Mindbreakers and many other factions, he's able to head out along the path the Ark took, tracing down the escaped aliens and their Sivvan masters. Even Kalthlo joins the team, eager to trace down the sivv and their collaborators. Time however is not on the side of this group, and while they find many hasty outposts and fleeing ships and defeat splinter group after splinter group, the further they go the more they start to come across nothing but traces and signs. Derelict ships. Strange wormholes. Moons and asteroids with their valuable minerals stripped clean out. Signs that Ajithu's prey know they are hunted and they're scattering and gathering what they need to survive. Tracking them all down will be a lifetime's work. More than a lifetime. And yet, to stop the sivv from ever rising again to menace the galaxy seems a worthy cause to those that join Ajithu's banner.
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Your journey has led you from frozen moons, to the deep secrets of alien species new and old, and to grapple with the distant past and emerge victorious. For saving the Pact Worlds, and for recovering the Starstone, you've become household names, and your impact will be felt for generations to come. But the sun ever rises, and as Arc muses, new heroes will always be needed. Inspired by your legacy, they too will rise, and face what comes with bravery, smarts, and a little bit of magic.
So ends Book 3 of the Devastation Ark. Thanks all for playing these last few years!
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Nirin leans on the woven silver railing of the balcony, overlooking a vast contraption that seems woven of innumerable silver gears all interlinked. The great machine sings as it works, the designs within its dreams changing piece by piece, form by form. Clutched in the great machine's grasp is a gleaming faceted stone. Tens of thousands of silver threads reach up from the great machine's depths to trace paths across the surface of the stone, writing, reading, understanding. The great machine has much to do, much to create, much to iterate and develop. It has found its means, but is still refining its methods. In time it will travel the galaxy.
Nirin peers at the stone, the rock they called in Starstone in the ancient past. Or was it the distant future? It was, as ever, difficult to tell. Regardless, the weight had been lifted and the timeline returned to its normal flow. Perhaps the flow had diverted a little too long here or there, the beauty briefly spoiled by mortal foibles, but it had been righted before it had twisted too far.
And yet Nirin feels some lingering tension. As if some force still dangles its finger in time's stream. Nirin recalls that blank spot in its memory. Was the problem there? It had been certain that this matter of Aroden was the culprit. Perhaps this event had just been the most obvious one. Did it need to venture into the dark and find what even time could not record? Into the space between moments in its memory?
Skyndi and Seinn find their way into Nirin's hands. They would not remain idle. Nor would Nirin.