Skyfire Avenue

The Wine Master nodded. “It figures their scope of perception would be limited.”

The Accountant went on. “So it’s likely we were only spotted because we stumbled into one another. It felt us when we passed close, and focused its perception afterwards to cast it farther. Then once it locked onto us, it attacked. They must have some way to communicate with one another that we don’t know about it. Or maybe when one dies it releases a powerful psionic pulse, which called its friends and they started searching. It was a cluster of problems that lead to that situation.”

Lan Jue nodded. “That makes the most sense, but we’ll need to confirm it. If your analysis is correct, than we can still slip in to continue the mission. We just need to keep our distance.”

The plan was amended, and they continued to penetrate deeper into the Shattered Starfields.

A few hours later they came upon another alien, drifting through space. They maintained a distance of about fifty kilometers away which appeared to be enough to keep them concealed. “It seems our determinations were correct,” the Wine Master said, as the beast vanished into the distance.

A speculative look crossed Lan Jue’s face. “I don’t think it’s that easy. The Accountant is likely right, but we have to remember that there are different sorts of these creatures. The scope of their perception will also be different. Consider how quickly we were spotted by these. Now think about the alien planets. If size is power, how close is too close before one of those things see us?”

The Wine Master’s heart fluttered. This was a big problem, and if it wasn’t solved it could put them all in jeopardy.

“Stupid, can’t you simulate a psionic pulse?” Jue Di’s gruff voice drew their attention. It came from all around, though the man himself wasn’t present.

“Simulate a pulse?” Lan Jue inquired.

With a flash both Jue Di and Luo Xianni appeared in the bridge. Jue Di stared directly at his son. “Moron kid, a psychic burst like that is just another sort of energy. A thought given form. Theoretically you could manipulate energy to mimic an alien consciousness. We also have one of their cores, how could they tell the difference?”

Lan Jue smiled apologetically. “But… how do you simulate a pulse?”

“You can’t,” he replied, “but that girl there is a psychic. She should be able to mimic it after experiencing the sensation a few times. Not a problem.”

He was, of course, indicating Lin Guoguo.

“Guoguo.” Lan Jue looked at her.

She nodded. “I’ll try.”

She was already adept at psionic manipulation. With the ship as an amplifier her Discipline rose to frightening heights.

Lan Jue gave her instructions. “You’ll need to get close enough to feel it. Search for peculiarities. Xiaosu, we’ll pause our ingress, switch the search to any nearby aliens. We’ll proceed once we’ve got our cover.”

“Aye!” Su Xiaosu responded. She quickly went about enacting his commands.

The Starfields were indeed rife with aliens now, it didn’t take long for them to find another target. This one was different from the others, however. It was a hexagonal shape a hundred meters in diameter and flat that spun unceasingly.

Zeus-1 crept to within ten kilometers of the monster before they felt its consciousness.

Almost immediately the alien inflated, expanded to several times its former size. The edges crept over and around Zeus-1 in attempts to envelope it.

“Xiaosu, evasion maneuvers. Guoguo, learn what you can.”

Under Xiaosu and Mika’s command, Zeus-1 darted around, keeping a safe distance from the alien but not letting it get too far. The alien couldn’t physically see their ship due to its cloak, but its perception wasn’t fooled. Luckily it seemed this breed wasn’t equipped for long-ranged battle. It needed to get close.

Zeus-1 used the advantage of its speed and small size to evade. The two rolled around one another like a game of cat and mouse. Lin Guoguo’s eyes were closed and a pale golden light surrounded her head. She was channeling her psychic power through the ship to learn what she could from the beast.

As she learned, she continuously tried to mimic what she was feeling. The world of phycics was particular, and stratified. Specific mental energies had a frequency, and these frequencies were unique.

The chase continued for an hour. By then Lin Guoguo was drained.

“Should I go deal with it?” the Driver offered.

Lan Jue shook his head. “This time I will.”

They could have used the Wine Master’s powers to escape as they had before, but part of scouting was to discover what they could about the different alien breeds. You learned the best way to kill them by actually doing it.

“I’m going!” the Pauper announced.

Lan Jue couldn’t bring himself to deny the eager new Paragon. He could only let him go.

The Pauper exited the ship. Once out in space, his body immediately started to glimmer with a blinding golden light. He drew his hands together in a circle, and from them was birthed a golden dragon. The mythical beast flung itself at the encroaching alien.

When the dragon first appeared it was only a few meters long. However, the farther it flew the longer it became until was several hundred meters in length.

“Aaaaaggghhhhhrrrr!” The thunderous dragon roar was so intense that they could hear clearly it through Zeus-1’s thick hull. The two crashed into one another.

The alien responded by contracting, swallowing up the dragon inside of it. It shook and shuddered, and a purple light radiated out from it. As they watched, the alien grew larger.

“Wha?!” The Pauper yelped. Surprise was clear in his shocked expression. The alien’s defenses were staggering, and when his taming dragon palm exploded, the beast only got bigger to accommodate. The Taming Dragon Arhat hadn’t left a scratch.

What a guard! For it to swallow up a Paragon’s attack, it was must be stronger than most of the creatures they’d encountered before. The alien wasn’t fast, and it had no ranged attack, but it could take one hell of a punch.

The Pauper didn’t simply watch. He thrust out with his palm again, sending another golden dragon toward his enemy. This one reached the beast as the blast from the first was still raging inside. As the second dragon detonated, its intense release of energy was enough to obliterate it. He waved his hand, and a Core about the size of his fist appeared in hand. He returned to Zeus-1.

Everyone on the ship knew what was coming. They wasted no time, Zeus-1 set all the engine to full throttle and escaped as face as they could. Lan Jue didn’t want to give their enemies any chance to sniff them out.

“This vital crystal seems different than the others.” Once the Pauper was back on the bridge, he showed what he meant to the others.

Jue Di took it from him, peering at it carefully. It was a hexagon, like the alien itself, and it flickered with that familiar purple energy. He was quiet for a time as he sensed the forces within it. “It contained natural energies, pure and strong. There are very few impurities and it’s tightly concentrated.”

The Pauper gave his report about the fight, and what he felt. Everyone agreed that this alien was one of the more powerful kinds. If those longer carrier aliens were scouts, than this one must have been a defender.

“The taming Dragon palm strike is full of my perception,” the Pauper stated. “Within the monster it had some sort of sucker that drank up the energy. It releases some as well in the form of a corrosive air. It was strong enough to influence the protogenia in my attack. If I were a normal man that air would dissolve me into nothing. From what I could tell, the thing was meant for close combat. If that stuff fell over a battleship, it would eat away its energy shields in a hurry.”

Lan Jue nodded. “This is exactly the kind of information we’re out here to get. The mmore data we get the easier it’ll be when we have to fight. However, if I might give his Majesty the Taming Dragon Arhat a suggestion?”

The Pauper looked at him inquiringly. “What is it?”

“Let’s rein it in next time,” Lan Jue said. “We all know how strong you are, but we’re here to find their weaknesses, we can’t all blow them up with golden dragons.”

“Oh… alright.” He scratched his ratty head of hair. The Pauper was so eager to see how far he could push himself that he forgot their reason for coming.

Lan Jue turned his attention to Jue Di. “Father, this has given me an idea. I think we should skim the boundaries of the Galaxy’s interior before rushing in. We should focus on discovering the different types of aliens, I think that data would be priceless. With so many of these things around, we can already be sure the planets are nearby.”

Jue Di shrugged. “This is your business, you’re this outfit’s commander. It’s got nothing to do with me.”

“Alright,” Lan Jue said submissively. He knew it was his father’s way of teaching him, but it certainly added to the pressure!

Zeus-1 continued to skirt the edges of the Starfields’ interior. It had plenty of energy stored, and an energy recycling system as support. Running out of fuel wasn’t one of their worries.

After consulting with Xiaosu, they settled on a decaying orbit around the outskirts that would bring them closer to the center with each orbit. As they did, the search would continue for new sorts of aliens to dissect.