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He was still uncertain what to make of the conversation.
Hectir had been pulled in many different directions. First, in his service as the director of the CSA. Second, in all things regarding the Ditufgne. Third, with all things regarding the IITO and IITA.
As an android, he had always been capable of coordinating multiple tasks nearly instantly. But this had proven upsetting to the sentient beings around him, so he’d learned to slow down.
After the death of his first body on Gilmard, the new Caslu body Hectir’s programming occupied was exponentially faster. Slowing to a pace that Humans, Ravusq, Yalifira, and the rest could work with took him some effort.
Prioritizing was the key. He would share only the necessary and only as requested.
But then, when he was faced with a situation like the unknown pending attack by the Ditufgne, computational processing speed was unimportant. While he could calculate the probabilities for the likelihood of where the Ditufgne might strike next, the when was virtually impossible to comprehend with any sense of accuracy.
Overall, the Ditufgne attacks had lacked a discernable pattern, save that they only struck the sectors of Humans, Ravusq, Doolari, and Zathru. The when of each strike, as well as the part of the given sector where they attacked defied definition.
The superweapon had appeared just once. One appearance gave no indication of a pattern. Even extrapolating three possible targets, distances between them, and estimates of flight time via wormhole – a wholly bizarre factor not fully understood – no when could be predicted.
That meant that the forces the IITA would have available to meet the Ditufgne threat would be another unknown. Even with Xorcerizt assistance, the coming conflict was full to overflowing with uncertainty.
And then there was this bizarre communique from Avra. Xez had never been given over to being cryptic, but in this instance, xez had been.
Hectir would share this with the rest of the CSA directorate. But not before speaking with his primary deputy.
Because of where Alvon was, a secure connection was a necessity. Though relatively easy to establish, Alvon needed to feel physically secure. That meant he needed time to get in position before responding to Hectir’s request for a confab.
It wasn’t more than ten minutes before Alvon signaled.
Hectir was in his office and set the “Do not disturb” indicator on. Then, he received the signal.
“Director,” Alvon addressed him.
“Alvon. How are things out there?”
“Hectic,” Alvon replied. “We’re in hyperspace presently, en route to a point where Navarch Dromm feels we’ll best be positioned to respond, wherever the Ditufgne are going.”
“He feels confident about that?” asked Hectir.
“As confident as he can be,” Alvon replied. “Three targets and no sign which might be favored over the other.”
“Unless it’s a bluff,” said Hectir.
“The Ditufgne are aware of military movements. But our civilian friends are not being tracked, as far as we can tell. The network was setup to actively scan for short bursts, and there would have been no pattern anyone could easily have picked up. Though it might be possible the ships sighted were part of a diversion, it’s not very likely.”
Hectir was aware of that line of thought and agreed with it. Still, it was not entirely outside of the realm of possibility.
“What did you wish to share with me, sir?” asked Alvon. “Although Captain Murtsharn is clear for these communications, we still felt it best he and the crew vacate the bridge. But I would rather not keep them away for long.”
“Of course,” said Hectir. He ran a new process in the background to determine if he’d developed some sort of artificial intelligence anxiety. He was normally much more direct and to the point, and idle chit-chat was not a common practice on his part.
But Alvon Gargarm was more than his immediate deputy, he was his friend. And although Hectir’s emotions and sentimentalities were wholly artificial, they were just organic enough that concern over the potential loss of someone close might form an undesired algorithm in his systems.
This new process took less than a hundredth of a millisecond to set up and run.
“I received a very unusual communique from Avra Pii K’tark’ah,” said Hectir.
“Unusual? How?” asked Alvon.
“First, it was a one-way message,” said Hectir. “Xez recorded and sent it via the most secure means. Avra has never done that before.”
“Go on.”
“Wherever xez was communicating from, it was a very long way away. Normally, we’d have no specific knowledge of such. But in this instance, because of the nature of the signal and various encodings and signatures from relay systems, it was noticeable.”
“I gather just how far is an unknown?” asked Alvon.
“Correct,” said Hectir. “But on running a thorough analysis, I would say xez was outside of regular sectors known to the CSA.”
“The CSA covers a lot of sky,” said Alvon. “You need to get out to the less familiar and less common races to reach such a point.”
“Exactly,” said Hectir. “And then there was the message itself. Xez said, quite clearly, that xez was on a self-imposed mission but wanted to check in so I would not be concerned if xez was unreachable.”
“That was xerz exact words?” asked Alvon.
Some people didn’t appreciate the perfect eidetic memory of an android. Alvon, however, was not one of those. “What xez said precisely was, ‘Avra to Hectir. Undertaking a personal challenge. Out of communications range for now. Wanted to make you aware.’ And that was it.”
Alvon was silent for a moment. Then, he said, “The message was one-play and unsavable, correct?”
“Yes,” Hectir agreed. “It was specifically encoded eyes only to me.”
“And you alone are capable of perfect recall, including intonation and intent,” said Alvon.
“This is so.”
“That’s really bizarre,” mused Alvon. “You have known Avra far longer than I, but for xerz to be cryptic in this way? It’s not some strange way of xerz telling you that xez has been captured and the strike plan revealed?”
“No,” Hectir said. “I know xerz tone. Xez would have been much more flippant and obtuse if that were Avra’s intent. This was something else.”
“Xez said out of communications range, yes?”
“Yes,” replied Hectir.
“That’s virtually impossible,” remarked Alvon. Though in his prior life, his job had been unremarkable, he had worked for one of the largest communications companies in the galaxy. “Hyperspatial communications are instantaneous across all of known space. However, that means xez is clearly in unknown space.”
“That would make a difference,” Hectir agreed. “But it would mean that xez is deep into some far, unknown region of space.”
“That’s not impossible,” said Alvon. “Which you know. The Wunatt are still learning how to even use hyperspatial communications. And until their network is more established, they are outside of the range of most races more well known. But the implication of this is fascinating.”
“The conclusion I draw,” Hectir began, “is that Avra is doing something far outside our normal channels.”
“And that something probably has to do with the Ditufgne situation,” concluded Alvon. “Or else, xez likely would not have gone to the trouble to send you such a message.”
“That is the conclusion I have reached as well.”
“Avra is full of surprises,” Alvon remarked. “Xez successfully got the notoriously xenophobic Gaeitsu-aqin to lend the IITA a hand. They knowingly gave us power systems that might wind up used in weapons, something very much against their ethos. Nobody but Avra could have made that happen. And because of xerz, there will be at least another dozen capital starships better prepared to join this fight.”
Hectir again marveled at Alvon. Though a man of average intelligence, his abilities to perceive complex notions were illogical. But Hectir was very glad to have him around.
“I will be presenting this to the rest of the directorate,” Hectir said. “But I appreciate being able to bounce it off of you first. Is the IITA truly ready for this?” asked Hectir.
“I am certainly no expert, but based on everyone else’s commentaries and my observations, we’re as ready as we can be,” said Alvon. “We’re getting frequent reports from Xorcerizt lookouts, keeping a watch for that awful weapon. They claim they will know when it’s preparing for its final wormhole transit to its next target and be able to warn us.”
“All we can do is wait,” Hectir said. “I appreciate that if anyone is there representing the CSA in this matter, it’s you, Alvon Gargarm.”
“Thank you, Hectir.”
“Good luck my friend.”