[b]Unknown Space Valara Valar Major Hirathaxis The Aquamarine Senate[/b] In the Valaran capital of Hirathaxis, it seemed as if the Senate was - for the first time in over three thousand years of existing - unsure of its own future and that of the Empire. The shimmering chamber, so named because of its construction from the shining Kirathani stone mined from the eponymous asteroid belt that ringed Valar Major, was in a state of disarray as various senators spoke over each other, argued, and - in a few scattered cases - panicked. The administrative body of the Empire had been in session since the first reports had come from the furthest reaches of the Empire of what was being dubbed 'The Great Happening', and senators had drifted in and out as the sky outside seemed to cycle rapidly between light and dark. Outside, Valar Major seemed to operate as normal. Truth be told, the centre of the Valaran Empire was populated mostly by the elite of the Valaran race, many of whom had been totally lost for centuries for what sardonically called 'philosophising' by the industriously minded Kirr in an echo of what many of the leading Valaran aristocrats gave as their occupation on official census forms; essentially, they had become hedonists, content to try the newest pleasurable substances synthesised by the lizardmen and behave irresponsibly within the confines of their sprawling palatial pleasure yachts and homes. Hirathaxis, by contrast, eschewed the fountains of wine and the sprawling orgy-houses in favour of necessary but reluctant governmental and administrative efficiency. The Senate House itself was an unspectacular building by Valaran standards, attached by an elevated bridge to the Imperial Palace that dwarfed it. The aquamarine, octagonal building, in truth, seemed more of an afterthought than an intentional part of the otherwise meticulously planned city, and that was true; it had been built in the wake of the formation of the Valaran Empire, while the rest of the city had been designed during the heyday of the Valaran independent Kingdom. Inside, a particularly rotund Valaran was speaking at some speed. As he spoke, his language - in the clicks and whistles of the Valaran tongue - was translated at speed into both the hissing, guttural language of the Kirr and the chattering, quick language of the Draxakori'i. This was broadcast automatically into the minds of all of the senators by way of a small cybernetic implant in the side of the head: "We have intelligence of the Red Dawn Cult operating at three times its original number since The Great Happening - some thirty million members are now said to exist among the Valaran race, all of whom are calling for the dissolution of the Empire and the death of the Emperor. They are a dangerous threat to the stability of the Empire--" He was suddenly interrupted by a Kirr female, dressed in the austere black jumpsuit that nearly all of her race seemed to favour. "With due respect, Senator, that is an issue of Valaran rather than senatorial importance. You must deal with your own issues on a domestic level. There is nothing my people can do," She said condescendingly, to a chorus of hissing approval from her fellow Kirr and a few tentative hoof stomps from the Draxakori'i in the chamber. The Valaran retorted quickly, his purple skin blushing to a magenta. "This issue will become of imperial importance when the Empire is threatened in all its facets. These may be Valaran religious terrorists, but they threaten the entire Empire's stability if their poisonous ideology is allowed to spread much further," It was the turn of the Valaran to sound their approval. They did so by simply clapping their hands together three times. Another Kirr senator spoke now, an elderly male whose scales had begun to blacken with age. "Very well. We must advise the Minister for Domestic Security to act in a satisfactory manner to stop the spread of this poisonous ideology," He said sagely, nodding conclusively. There was unanimous agreement now. Deferring matters either to devolution or to a ministerial capacity was the senate's preferred method of doing as little work as possible. *** [b]Unknown Space Valara Valar Major Hirathaxis Imperial Palace[/b] Emperor Kirathaxx XX was looking extraordinarily aged all of a sudden. At a hundred and eighty three, he was of an advanced age, and it seemed 'The Happening' had aged him further. His skin was a pallid violet, and it seemed as if there was a cloudiness or a confusion in his eyes as of late. Rumours abounded that he had fallen ill - others still, in the distant corners of the Empire, where news had spread slowly of The Great Happening, whispered that he had been murdered in the chaos. To the Minister for Scientific Development, Salassaia Thak A'Kira-Ak-Tarani, one of the brightest minds in Kirr-Space, he merely seemed weary. The Emperor had summoned her after what he had said was a particularly arduous meeting of the Valaran Verdant Council; the Kirr female suspected the scions of the great houses of the Valaran nobility were in much more disarray than the elites of their the Kirr or the Draxakori'i. After all, the Valaran had been happy with blessed, opulent, stagnation, and the Great Happening had shaken their once uncontroversial religion to demanding an end to the hierarchy with seemed to govern every aspect of Valaran behaviour. Like anyone in imperial governmental service, Salassaia was equipped with a three-way translator. For his part - in order to avoid the indignity of cybernetic implantation - the Emperor held a small translator in his hand that spoke the female's words to him immediately following anything that she said. "As I understand it, minister... we are unsure as to the root of this... event," The Emperor's words were relayed with pauses. The minister nodded for a moment. "Your Imperial Greatness," She began with learned deference. "Kirr research stations indicate that nothing within the confines of the Empire has changed. Agricultural production remains stable, as do internal defence systems and other such technologies. We theorise that the whole Empire was - coincidentally - transported to some distant corner of the universe by some phenomena such as a large wormhole or other such occurrence," It was, truly, a roundabout way of saying that in Kirr space researchers were working with great haste to find out anything at all about the mysterious circumstances of the Happening. "I see," The Emperor spoke after a moment. Salassaia had a sneaking suspicion that he did not, in fact, see, but said nothing. "We must map out the territory around us," He said tiredly. "Yes, Greatness, ships from the various megacorporations are already making small excursions into the nearby space in order to see if any other sentient species survived the Happening. We are confident that the chaotic state of this part of the universe suggests the present of various rare or perhaps as of yet undiscovered minerals," The minister said, a touch of excitement creeping into her voice. It truly was a new opportunity to make a lot of credits. The Emperor seemed to register this and frowned slightly. "The Drax are surprisingly quiet on this," He concluded carefully, then waved for Salassaia to leave, which she did immediately. It was never a good idea to try the patience of the Emperor and, besides, it seemed as if the wizened ruler needed a rest... As she retreated from the chamber, the Minister retrieved her an ovular communication device from the pocket of jumpsuit. Tapping it with a scaled finger, a holoscreen popped up, showing the current stocks in Kirr space. They were flashing wildly. Unbeknownst to the Empire at large, Kirr space was engulfed in a trade civil war as the megacorporations wrestled for Imperial contracts to mount expeditions into the new space. One of them, InterGlex Corp, had constructed within a matter of days a huge dish that sent our periodic, powerful pulses in an attempt to find a response from any other sentient life, a decision that had been critiqued endlessly by various others as reckless and dangerous. Salassaia sighed, replacing the device in her jumpsuit, and stepped out of the Palace's throne room into one of the imperious atriums that composed the bulk of its interior, where members of the Valaran high aristocracy stood around in their variously ridiculous gem-studded multi-coloured robes, all of them chattering excitedly. The Kirr shuddered with distaste. *** [b]Unknown Space Kirra III GloboHantex Headquarters Somewhere over Narax[/b] The GloboHantex headquarters was, essentially, a mobile skyscraper - it was the administrative centre of an interstellar company, and so it only made perfect sense for the headquarters to be mobile enough to keep a true eye on mining operations, terraforming and ship production in person. Within, it was a flurry of activity as various members of the conglomerate hurried back and forth excitedly. The Great Happening had affected the Kirr more than they would care to admit to either of their co-races in the Empire; for several hours, nearly all of Kirr space had went dark as an unknown pulse of activity knocked out nearly all communication and technology throughout the four systems that they called home. Even the great floating conglomerates had been reduced to hunks of metal as Kirr engineers had laboured to restore energy on a huge, uncoordinated scale. For a few moments - though many Kirr would be loathe to admit it - it had felt like a whole species had been plunged back into a day before even the most basic of technologies. Precisely why neither the Valar or the Draxakori'i were reporting any similar phenomena was a mystery. The board room of the GloboHantex Conglomerate was housed at the top of the ship, with huge, multi-panel glass windows looking out into space. Today, the view was Narax, the gas giant that seemed to dominate the Kirra III system. Visible too was its moon Dasris, notable for the lush and impenetrable jungle that dominated its ecosystem. Various colonial efforts had been attempted there in the past, all of which had failed - whole expeditions disappearing into the dark canopies of the jungle, and after preliminary sub-atmospheric testing had revealed that the moon held no rare minerals and an abundance of snakes of up to 50 feet of size, only the occasional prospector made their way to its surface (the snakes themselves being an expensive addition to any Valaran menagerie). Within the confines of the board room, the CEO of GloboHantex was joined by his various representatives and departmental heads, many of them appearing via hologram as they attended to business in various other sectors. Salashis J'Kara-Ni-Quifarra was one of the most influential beings in Kirr space, but the lizard-man wore the same indistinct black jumpsuit as nearly all other members of his race, and was of middling height and middling age. He was, in short, physically indistinct, but had a interstellar reputation for brutality and financial genius. He was speaking, at some length, to his subordinates: "..there will be disruption amongst the various institutes of learning around the Empire. They will have to learn astronomy from scratch, essentially, and there will be considerable profit to be made in the production of learning aids and other such goods - including, of course, scientific instruments. We must dominate this market. Which of our subsidiaries can prove useful in this regard?" He directed the question at a holographic man to his left, the company's Director of Internal Management. There was a brief pause. "...NovoAid Incorporated...Myriad Limited...YanTek-Harman... they all possess long standing contracts with the Valaran universities," Came the eventual reply. "We will work on renewing them and potentially increasing their worth in the wake of this event," 'The event' Salashis thought to himself. It was always 'the event'. While the Valarans panicked and the Drax meditated, the Kirr had sprung into mediate action in attempting to find profit in what could have been the end of all existence. It truly was admirable. "Very well," The CEO said with a nod. "As for exploration? There could be new deposits of material available. Research tells us that the composition of this area is much different to that of what we knew before. Could it be that rare materials are in abundance here?" One of the other Kirr physically present in the room piped up, a surprisingly thin Kirr female who served as the Director for Scientific Development. "Yes, sir, that is potentially correct. It is also worth noting that certain previously abundant materials may have suddenly become scarce-" This was met with various murmurs of excitement around the table. "-and we may have the opportunity to artificially inflate that scarcity, should profits falter in the wake of trade disruption," She finished with a satisfied smile. The CEO smiled, revealing rows of sharpened teeth. He flicked his tongue out of his mouth pensively. This could turn out very good for business indeed.