Chapter 896
Whatever caused the destabilization Varghese was now wrestling against, it was similar to what had destroyed Zunroses star. To that end, the odd neutron star there was not experiencing much in the way of secondary fluctuations. And with Anton helping balance other stars, Varghese could focus on Egnos star.
With one destabilized red dwarf currently fusing with Egnos central star, Varghese had to focus on keeping his connection intact. At first he was fighting back against the fusion, but it was inevitable. What he needed to resist was not the joining of stars, but the distortion that came with it. At least the unstable star was good for one thing- there was a burst of energy on the surface, which he used to lash out at the various ships that were trying to ruin his connection. One by one they fell, but there were still hundreds. Many less than Zunrose, but still numerous.
Though the red dwarf was smaller than the central orange star, the distortion the new mass caused when infected by foreign energy was too much. Varghese could barely handle it and fight back against what else the enemy might try. It was so unbalanced.
That simple thought made him reach out, connecting magnetic fields under his control to further ones, reaching out towards the third star in the system. And perhaps not a moment too soon, because Varghese noticed the ships pulling away from his central star, angling towards the third of the cluster. But by the time they got close to the star, it was almost flying past them towards Varghese. Not that the task of pulling two stars together over such a great distance was a quick one.
They tried to distort the star as it was pulled towards him, but while they could more easily alter its shape, Varghese kept control over its core substance and stability. He sent it on a trajectory to orbit around the central star- too close to ever escape. Indeed, he was hoping to pull off layers of it a bit at a time.The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))
He could feel the pain of the star. They were not meant to absorb other stars, not in a short time period. Such events were usually catastrophic for the system around them. Perhaps the Trigold Cluster didnt care about what happened to the system, if they could cause a chain reaction with his other bound stars. That appeared to be the intent.
But Anton had a tight grasp on the others, his greater experience and power letting Varghese focus on just one. He was also able to draw on the experience with Zunroses star. He had the feeling it wasnt supposed to end up in that state, a consequence of his earlier connection. He didnt want Egnos star to end up like that either, and this time he had a chance.
The second red star, while destabilizing the physical form of the star mass even more, was able to mix with the matter of the first, diluting the energy fluctuations. The process was either long and drawn out or extremely quick, depending on which time scale you looked at. Fusions of stars would tend to happen over a very long time, rather than being intentionally crashed into each other over the course of hours. But as far as sustained battles went, it was quite long.
Varghese felt mental fatigue building, and his own personal energy was draining as well as he exerted his control over the greater part of Egnos star. Hed never controlled so much energy at once, nor had he ever intended to do so before the Enrichment stage, if even then. It was only working because, to some extent, the stars were working with him.
The rate at which the central mass was wobbling back and forth began to increase, and with that the distance the surrounding ships were shrank in certain places- Varghese continued to lash out as he could, and soon enough the fleet began retreating. Their individual resolve seemed to be faltering. Those who were bravest died first and that lessened the pressure on Varghese.
The fusion of the stars was increasing the power as a single star, including his radius of control. And he was beginning to get a handle on the unnatural energy fluctuations. Once those died down, a full day later, any ships pestering him had long since left. So all he had to do was complete the fusion of the stars properly, without letting them tear apart as might happen due to natural forces- after the truly unnatural collisions.
Either way, the takeover of the planet was a great victory. Enemy losses werent as high as they might like in terms of combat forces and fleets, but the removal of another system from their economy would hit hard. And they had seen clear demonstrations of the ships that had tried to destabilize the star and their formations, which meant they could potentially be countered- though they only had Varghese recollections and a small number of surviving monitors dropped in the system. And some destroyed ships, which hadnt all fallen into the new star.
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Far away, Anton didnt have a clear grasp on what had happened except that some sort of disruption had echoed through Varghese to their shared stars. He was proud of his disciple for fighting it off, as even the echoes had been quite significant. Lending his own hand to the effort was the least he could do there, even if it had been the case the consequences wouldnt affect him as well.
Hed get an explanation sooner or later, but the incident steeled his resolve to find something. He didnt want to enter the war directly still, but he still believed his plan had merit. He was still in the process of binding to Naewu, the central star in the cross-sectional region he had chosen to patrol. Hed nearly reached it in his back and forth route while still having found none of what he was looking for.
No enemy bases, no ships flying back and forth. He might simply be wasting his time.
It was easy to think that, until he sensed something out of place. A trail of ascension energy. It was extremely faint, but he immediately changed his own trajectory to chase after it. It took days to catch up to an object simply drifting through space- though drifting didnt quite describe its very significant velocity. It was moving a significant portion of lightspeed, but not through subspace.
Pieces clicked into place in Antons head. Indeed, that fit with their own theories and singular point of experience. The transition between upper and lower energy required more than redundant systems on ships, as they might still interact with the wrong form of energy and have formations that acted unpredictably. So something close to pure technology like Ruteras expertise was one method.
The other was simply to have none of that to begin with. What was in front of Anton was basically just a massive crate. How long would it have taken to come from the upper realms? A decade? Two? Potentially more, but if they brought it up to speed at the very border, having to pass through the empty border zone it might work out. And before that point, they could transport it in their ships.
It was genius. But theyd gotten careless. The fact that this package had made it to the lower realms systems- even if just barely- without having been received it opened them up to quite a bit of risk. Such as Anton snatching it away. Or more likely, waiting for whoever was coming to get it to show up. Then he would capture them and their ships, while shunting the very large container onto another trajectory so someone else could come pick it up later.
There could be more that he was missing, of course. The material of the vessel was extremely resistant, blocking out the majority of his senses while mostly concealing what was inside. He could crack it open, of course, but he couldnt know what dangers there were. Probably very little in the way of formations, though. Those would have easily been damaged in transit.
Still, he wasnt going to mess around with possible deathtraps. Best to let people who knew what they were doing in that regard be involved.
