Chapter 596: Stock Car Race (1/2)

>MANTID has entered Interactive Space #34911Q82A1

>MANTID has been set -m +v

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Are you in here?

Hello?

Wow, this place is creepy.

Hello?

Are you idle or active in

CONFEDMIL

What?

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here.

Oh, there you are.

Everyone's been wondering where you are.

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CONFEDMIL

I'm looking over the latest data.

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CONFEDMILIINT

I'm in here too.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

Heh. Glad I didn't bring Trea, you'd have scared him.

What are you two doing in here?

Or is it secret?

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CONFEDMILINT

We've been looking at the Atrekna spread, looking for answers.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

Figure anything out?

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CONFEDMIL

We think so.

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...

...

...

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Going to share?

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CONFEDMIL

Oh, sorry, yeah.

OK, look at this:

CONFEDMIL has shared galac.movement.his.holo

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

OK, what am I... Oh, it's a time-lapse estimation.

What are the red dots?

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CONFEDMILINT

Those are systems that the Atrekna have attacked.

Watch closely.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

OK, there doesn't seem to be any...

Wait.

OK, pattern recognition isn't really our highest skill.

But I can see the pattern.

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CONFEDMILINT

You can see why we've been examining it in a secure interactive space.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

Let me get this straight:

The Atrekna are able to shift from one planet to any planet that has crossed the physical space that planet is in, regardless of how long ago?

But the galaxy is moving toward the universe border, so it would mean that those strike points would be left behind at 1.3 million miles an hour.

And it only goes back 135 million years?

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CONFEDMILINT

OK, here's the thing: We think that 135 million years is a hard coded limit. Think a 'fixed point in time' reverberation, like a temporal stabilizer or a temporal shockwave.

We're calling that, tenatively, First Atrekna Incursion.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

The Precursor War.

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CONFEDMIL

Exactly.

Now, rough papernapkinmath puts it at a movement of 1.3 million mph, for 135 million years. Now, a LY is 1.5 billion mph, roughly. So, with that in place, the galaxy is roughly 125K LY wide.

So you can see how the points are not exactly fixed in space-time that they are moving to.

We have been trying to figure out exactly what they are doing.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

OK, I see what you're saying. Roughly speaking, over the time since the end of the Precursor War, the galaxy has actually moved completely through the area it once was in by about thirty thousand light years.

The entire Milky Way has swept through where the leading edge was located at the start of the Precursor War, meaning it isn't exact as to where the physical locations were.

Not to mention, it's not moving in a level plane, but more at an angle.

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CONFEDMILINT

So, we have been attempting to figure out how it works. Is it stellar masses, it is gravitational force, is it planetary bodies.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

You're attempting to predict where the next attacks will take place.

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CONFEDMILINT

They put a LOT of resources into trying to take Hesstla. A LOT. Twice.

We believe, if it was not for the temporal resonance weapon use, the stellar mass stabilizers, the temporal stabilization systems in the star, they would have already attempted a third attack.

We began looking at their targeting, both while they were in the Hesstla System, and afterwards.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

What did you find?

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CONFEDMILINT

When they were in possession, or at least had signifigant force in the system, before P'Kank's counter-attack, they took approximately 500 systems. You can watch the progression.

One they lost the system, they've only been able to take two or three a month.

Now, remember, P'Kank used a MAD system against the stellar system they were occupying.

We now know where that system is. Stellar color shifting has shown us exactly where they are hiding.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

So, if they own a world, have 'sunk' a system, so to speak, they can then jump to any stellar system that has crossed that system's path in the past?

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CONFEDMILINT

Not exactly.

The system they hid, Hesstla, and two other systems they've heavily defended gave us the clue we needed.

Triangulation.

Without the correct set of stellar masses, they cannot shift. However, once they do shift, they can grab resources such as PAWM or Dwellerspawn from anyplace that crossed their path.

That led us to figuring out another assault path.

But....

There's some problems with one of the plans.

One that you, in particular, will have serious objections to.

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CONFEDMIL

Which is why we invited you and have explained all of this to you.

You need to understand the stakes, now that we are missing Terran Descent Humanity.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

I'm not going to like this, am I?

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CONFEDMIL

No. You aren't.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

ALl right, tell me.

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CONFEDMIL

We have determined the source of the Doom Tubes and the Infected Niven Rings and eliminated it. We were able to ascertain, using temporal lensing and the old 'go 5,000 LY out and look with a telescope' the trajectory and speed of the Doom Tubes and INR's launched from the facility.

We then cross-referenced it with the Atrekna assaulted planets.

They matched.

We now know the purpose. To provide the Atrekna with Dwellerspawn reinforcements in these systems that they are assaulting.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

All right. I follow.

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CONFEDMIL

During General Hardgwrark's defense of Nemtella-168, we located the INR that was being used to bring in Dwellerspawn reinforcements by tracking chronotron eruptions.

We sent in a task force and planet cracked it.

With adjustments for time and distance, the second it was planet cracked, the Dwellerspawn under transport were reduced to subatomic slurry and the Atrekna could no longer bring in Dwellerspawn reinforcements from that INR.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

Makes sense.

But that takes a lot of firepower.

And presents additional difficulty with...

...

...wait.

You aren't suggesting...

...are you?

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CONFEDMIL

It is a logical course of action.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

Are there even enough Terrans to be able to find more than one or two?

And doing that? Again?