II. Beginning
Great Vatni
Terrestrial Homeworld of the Hissma
First Rotation, 2200 N.D (Natural Date)
"So he has rejoined the Great Vatni?" Daggagom said, across the great shroom table of which a dozen other Hissma sat.
"He has, Your Emperor," Maggrot's Whisperer croaked, his four laden eyes fixated on Daggagom, the New Emperor. "And I too will join the Great Vatni, now that my purpose too has finished." Daggagom's Whisperer, Meeegunnum tilted his cranium, his outer eyes blinked. The Whisperer, forever the servant of the Hissma Emperor in life--but also in death--stood from the shroom table, turned and trudged toward the great entry out of the antechamber. Two Suramo's flanked the doorway, ceremonial pikes held across their chest. Their eyes moved, tracking the Whisperer's stoic journey until he had passed through. Eyes darted to and fro, an evolutionary trait which allowed the Hissma to keep their eyes on two different targets at one time.
"And what other business has this counsel to speak upon?" Daggagom said, inner--and outer--eyes moving from person to person. The Great Vatni was not just the material plane, but it's great fungal structures held the Returned--that former life which had completed it's great cycle to once again grow again--on its surface. Great Vatni was not just where the Hissma began life, lived life and ended life, it was also where they fostered their afterlife.
The Great Vatni, Kramak System, 2200 N.D
"Do the Ministries of Science have anything in which to comment?" Meeegunnum asked, prompting the Emperor's eyes to turn toward the far end of the table. Seated there were
Glaggro, Minister of the Sciences of Great Vatni,
Kuhdtad, Minister of Life of Great Vatni, and
Shiglaarg, Minister of the Structures of Great Vatni. Glaggro's golden flaked epidermis gave away his heritage as a Centerdweller, his family hailing from the equator where Hissma life had fought to grow in the openness of the sky.
"Per the orders of the Returned Maggrot, work is being finalized on a Great Spore, which can power a much larger ship than our typical self-replicating engines. Much work was lost during the Last Happening, but we anticipate the work being done under Your Reign, lest you are Returned yourself, Emperor." Glaggro stood and relocated to the front of the table, the spiny appendages that dartedfrom his cornhusk-like forearm navigated a set of protruding buttons on the edge of the table that activated a hovering virtual display. "We believe that by harnessing this great power, our orbital craft will be able to retain their size while expanding their power exponentially."
Glaggro's Contribution to the Hissma Dominion
"This is acceptable, Minister Glaggro, you may be seated." The Whisperer waved his tendrils and Glaggro returned to the shroom table. "Minister Kuhdtad, what is it the Ministry of Sciences has to showcase for the new Emperor?"
Kuhdtad's Project Senestras
Minister Kuhdtad rose and replaced Glaggro at the head of the room. "Given our assumption of hostile. . extraterrestrial life, we have begun fulfillment of
Project Senestras--turning the Regional Provincial Army's into a single unified command--a grand army--which can be called upon to defend not just the Dominion, but the Great Vatni,
and the Returned. We have dissolved the Dominion Navy and the Dominion Army and instead ensured that logistics, command, strategy and all resources are funneled into a single branch. Thanks be to the Returned, Emperor Maggrot, there are no longer enemies upon the Great Vatni, but we know not what exists in the nebula beyond."
Daggagog nodded and the Whisperer waved Minister Kuhdtad back to his seat. "Minister Shiglaarg, will you brief us on your contribution to the Dominion?"
Minister Shiglaarg's Exoskeleton Design
Minister Shiglaarg stood, stoically paced to the front of the room and activated the virtual display. A Hissma soldier, fit in a black and grey flexsuit with a modern shadethrower clutched between his arm, appeared over the table. "Compared to the Subservant, the average Hissma is two and a half times stronger and markedly more resilient. In cooperation with Minister Glagglo's xenobiology department, we are operating under the pretense that any future conflicts may utilize technology so destructive as to render our own biological advantages null and void. In lieu of this, we have made the decision to utilize an armored jacket technology, one that fully encases the average Hissma soldier." Spidery tendrils flicked the oval tactile buttons and the image flickered; in it's place was a Hissma soldier, encased in a shiny suit of reptilian like scales that crawled up from his feet, enshrouding his figure until it reached the neck, where it stopped.
"Current tests however have shown improved cognitive ability when the dry, open environments are removed, like so," another flick of the buttons and the armored casing crawled up the sharp exterior of the Hissma soldier's neck, face and skull. "When deployed, the interior of the helmet sucks all light free and keeps the soldier's skin moist and dark, perfect for Battlefield Replication and Regeneration." Minister Shiglaarg's inner eyes caught the wave of Whisperer Meeegunnum and he promptly moved to sit back down.
"It appears harmony has brought a great bounty to our people," Daggagom said, to which everyone echoed in agreement. "I thank the many Ministries for their continuing work even in the face of a Great Returning. I know my father will be rejoiced when he once again Rejoins. It is for now, however, that I must call an end to this meeting." Those assembled, many regional governors and well uniformed staff of the Dominion Armed Forces, who did not get to speak did not fuss, but instead filed out of the room in spartan fashion and without fanfare. Only the Emperor and his Whisperer remained.
"There is yet more, Great Emperor," the Whispered said, waving another hand toward the Suramo guards who half turned and closed the ancient doors of the antechamber. "A project, known only to the Emperor and kept even from the Ministries. A project which you must now be made aware of."
Daggagom's outer and inner eyes both focused on Meeegunnum. If he had wanted the new Emperor's attention, he had it. "A ship. A ship sits just now in it's berth on the far side of Great Vatni, the likes of which has never been seen. It is capable--how might it be said--imagine a seedling, buried on this end of the Vatni, and from whence, popping free the other side. Instantly."
"It is not possible in a great many life times. Or ever," the Emperor spat.
"Not only possible, it is here. A dream of your Returned father, my Emperor, to seed a
new world, a new galaxy. And now, this ship is yours to command."
"Of what danger is it to commandeer such a vessel?"
"Marginal, given testing. We have never bore such fruit as to attempt it, though the Returned Maggrot had pushed dearly for it. We believe the nearest Soil to be several layers away, but the chance of failure is infinitesimal." At such words Daggagom stood, his outer eyes glued to the Whisperer and his inner eyes pulled to the great Viewpanel. Out beyond just the soft shaped fungal towers were the great Spores, and out past them was an emerald sky. Beyond that, more Soil, so his Whisperer said. "As we wait, the Soils are planted without us."
"And those that go? How would they be Returned, if they failed, if they. . fell?"
"The same question the Returned Maggrot posed--and perhaps one we cannot answer. There are many risks leaving the Great Vatni, among them such a chance to never be Returned. Never be Rejoined," an answer which forced Daggagom's eyes closed, an answer which was simply inconceivable. You were breathed life into from the Soil, the
Vatni, and from it you manifested purpose. When your lifeseed dried up, your physical essence was reseeded; Returned, and from whence you could Rejoin, your very own seedling resprouted from a great Spore. So it is, and so it had always been. To not be Returned was to simply cease to exist. "Will you send it? Will you send the ship?"
"I am
thinking, Whisperer."
"The time for thinking Returned your Father, do not let it do the same to you. Will you send it? Will you send it now? Answer, Daggagom, lest you too be Returned before your own legacy can be remembered!"
Daggagom turned back away from the Viewpanel, four eyes burning across the table into the Whisperer's own greying features. After a short eternity, the Emperor made his first decree, one he knew he would not see long until he Returned.
