Point Zero by Aer-ki Jyr (christmas read aloud TXT) 📕

“Are you saying you have a Force Ghost talking to you?” Wilson asked, his jaw agape.

“Pretty much, except that Azoro was used to having an Avatar of his own. A biological body without a Core in it that he could meld to permanently. When it died he would not, for his Core was attached to the Saiolum, and then he would meld with another when available. Because his Avatars were destroyed, and all of the Ke’lars were killed, he has been able to view events but not interact with anyone. He can’t. He can see, both physicality and our active thoughts, but he cannot touch anything that hasn’t made the breakthrough to the Saiolum. So when his empire was destroyed, he was left to sit and watch his people die after he was out of the combat. Oh, and this was probably over a billion years ago, and his civilization had firm control over 28 galaxies and colonies in many others, including ours.”

Every other jaw in the room save for Cal-com’s dropped in unison, and Paul let that statement sink in until Liam-090 finally swallowed hard and spoke.

“What killed them?”

“A coalition of enemies that jumped them like pack of wolves once weakness was shown. The Hadarak were included, but not the primary force. There are huge threats lurking out there waiting to be tripped over, and boss battles that we will lose if we get that far before we’re ready. Azoro wants to help us upgrade along the lines of his civilization, but since we know things he doesn’t, the combination of the two empires’ tech trees should theoretically give us enough power to be able to defend ourselves against all the enemies he is aware of in the local galactic region…but he doesn’t know all of them, and a billion years or two is a lot of time for change. He’s been looking around since he can’t do anything else, but he can’t be everywhere at once. He’s been following us all for a long time, hoping that we’d make the breakthrough, so you guys are close, just not there yet. I showed the most promise so he tagged along with me, riding on my body across the stars and breathing the Saiolum. Where it is thick he can live forever. Where it is thin he cannot exist, and cannot go there, as if a force field prevents him. But if he is caught on a world that is being purged of all life, then he will essentially run out of air and die. So traveling on a starship is one of the riskier things he can do.”

“Seriously?” Jason asked.

“Completely.”

“Is he here now?” Davis wondered.

“I assume so, though I can’t make contact with him yet. He has to initiate it, and our communication is so limited he has to use memories I already have to limit the stress on me. Memories that he has seen, but he can’t dig out new ones without harming me, and he can’t dig them out of you period. He can only see your active thoughts, like a shadow from a cloud. He can touch the shadow, but not the cloud itself. And he’s been monitoring us for long enough he knows our empire’s secrets better than any other outsider, though he doesn’t know everything, because there’s a lot we don’t actively think about that we have stuffed away in memory.”

“Friend or frenemy?” Kara-317 asked.

“I think a friend. He hasn’t been able to talk to anyone for a billion years, and I’m his only link to the universe. The fate of the other Ju’en’xa is unknown, and without knowing where to look he can’t find them. Some may be alive, but he’s doubtful they all are, or they would have found each other by now. But 28 galaxies plus colonial galaxies is a lot of ground to cover, and their instant communication links were cut when their Avatar bodies were destroyed.”

“Instant?” Davis said before the others could even process the thought, though to be fair they were all physically hindered and he wasn’t, but his mind was racing faster for other reasons.

“Yes. Distance diminishes connection, but there is no lag in the Saiolum. They could communicate from person to person across galaxies in a limited fashion instantaneously after first making physical contact with the person to establish the Saiolum link. Without the Saiolum, there was no way they could have risen as far as they did, and the fact that they were able to do so without self-sufficiency or Essence…but especially self-sufficiency…should indicate how powerful the Saiolum is when its applications are explored, though they’re pretty much non-combat applications. No Force lifting of rocks, but the rest of the Star Wars Lore matches up fairly close.”

“And they got their asses kicked?” Enrico-094 pointed out.

“Yeah. That’s why we’re not going to go beyond our galaxy in the near future. Not even on scouting missions. We’re turtling up here, dealing with the Hadarak, and cocooning ourselves in heavy defense mode as we transform into a higher power. If we don’t, or we move too soon, we’ll attract unwanted attention that we can’t handle. As it is, we’ll attract some anyway that will come to us, and more so Saiolum-related than Hadarak-beating. So we’re not safe in this galaxy, and some of the mega threats have a presence here too, but not all are what they once were, and we’ve already met one. The Chixzon are a fragment of another fallen empire, one that has lost much of its power, but the limited legacy they hold onto is a testament to how much they lost…and they don’t even know it. They are a fragment of an enemy of the Sha’kier who helped defeat them, but in the process the Ni’o’zon’chi were ended and the survivors scattered. Apparently some lived long enough to form the Chixzon and use the shards of their