Getting a Technology System in Modern Day

While Kumakar was finding a strange satisfaction in how things were unfolding, despite the economic pain his civilization would soon face, the issue of the recent pirate attacks was still being investigated. It had only been a few hours since the incidents occurred, and the Empire was still gathering information from both the ships involved and the few captured pirates who had survived.

At that moment, Aron and his top cabinet were receiving the latest report from the investigation.

{Although we have yet to identify who is ultimately responsible, what is now clear is that this was orchestrated by a single individual operating from behind the scenes,} Nyx said as she began presenting her findings.

{And here’s why we believe so: despite the pirates using different ships with no records of prior communication between them, and even brain data indicating they had no knowledge of or means to contact one another, there’s something peculiar about the behavior of their leaders.}

A hologram appeared, displaying the faces of twenty leaders of the pirate groups that had attacked the wormholes. They were of various races and civilizations, with no visible connection between them.

{Although brain scans from the captured members showed the leaders each behaved in unique ways, we found that during certain periods in the last two months, all of them exhibited extremely suspicious and abnormal behavior. The nature of this behavior was almost identical across all leaders, even though it occurred at different times.}

Nyx then played side-by-side footage of each leader’s usual demeanor compared to their abnormal behavior, highlighting eerie similarities in their conduct. If not for their differing physical features, the profiles looked almost identical in those moments.

{Unfortunately,} she continued, {these leaders were among those who sacrificed themselves during the initial attacks. We couldn’t recover their brains, and all traceable data about them has been wiped.}

She displayed their records from when they passed through wormhole security, a process that pulled identity information from their respective civilization databases. The profiles were spotless, with nothing indicating any connections between them besides their leadership roles in companies and organizations.

“So someone was, or rather, had been, controlling them and used them as disposable assets for this final mission?” Aron asked, his thoughts turning to Rick Ashley, who had once used a terrifying ability to control people without their awareness.

{That’s one of the leading theories,} Nyx replied, {but we suspect the ability is different. If it were the same as Ashley’s, we would expect evidence of a cult or religion channeling power to the user through collective faith. But none of the known religious groups fit that profile.}

Aron leaned forward, thinking aloud. “What about the leaders of the civilizations themselves? Could one of them have used their position to amass faith discreetly? Given the scale of these civilizations, such a user would have access to power levels far beyond Ashley’s, and possibly an interstellar range of control.”

The suggestion drew a tense silence across the meeting room. The thought of a Conclave leader possessing such an ability was chilling. Rick Ashley had caused significant trouble with just a few million scattered followers. A civilization-spanning cult leader with billions of believers? That would be a threat of an entirely different magnitude.

{While that scenario is possible,} Nyx responded carefully, {it’s highly unlikely. The range of control seems limited, it affected only twenty civilizations, and the reason the damage was so large was because of the leaders’ positions of authority. If a civilization-wide leader had this kind of power, they would be among the strongest individuals in the Conclave.}

{Yet, the only top-tier individuals we know of derive their strength from advanced technology or unique race-dependent capabilities. Someone with an ability like this wouldn’t likely hide, they’d be pushing their limits, trying to expand. So while we can’t rule it out entirely, we believe the ability in question is distinct, possibly only partially similar to Ashley’s.}

{That said,} she added, {we’re still monitoring for any indicators that might point to this being something more.}

“What do you mean by the control being limited?” John asked, his curiosity piqued. “Didn’t they use their ability from entirely different civilizations’ territories? What about that says ‘limited’ to you?”

{The long-range aspect of the control can be explained by a phenomenon we refer to as connection transfer. In this case, an individual under the influence of the ability passes it on directly or indirectly to someone else, who then continues the chain. Through this ‘hitchhiking’ method, the influence could spread vast distances over time, decades, maybe even centuries, without the originator needing to directly reach each target.}

She tapped a control, and an overlay of the timeline of known behavioral shifts lit up on the display.

{The reason I classify the control as limited is because the instigator hasn’t targeted individuals in true positions of power, governors, military heads, or Conclave delegates. If they had, the resulting damage would’ve been on an entirely different scale. Instead, they used pirates, disruptive, yes, but ultimately expendable and of limited strategic impact.}

She turned toward Aron and the rest of the high command.

{Alternatively, if the user is more powerful and simply limiting their attacks on purpose, their motives become questionable. These attacks weren’t a show of force or a subtle warning, they were meant to destroy the wormholes completely. We know this because the final level of security was triggered, something only a handful of us knew about, making it unknown to them. This wasn’t about shutting down infrastructure, it was sabotage with insider knowledge.}

Nyx then narrowed the display to focus on the pirates’ behavior.

{Furthermore, if this controller were capable of mass domination, they wouldn’t have needed to use persuasive tactics, logical explanations, or manipulated motivations to push their workers into action. Instead, they’d have operated with an army of mindless thralls under their full control, something we’ve seen before in cases like Rick Ashley. That’s not what’s happening here.}

{Our current theory, based on all collected evidence, is that the controller’s ability has specific constraints, either in reach, power, or number of targets. But this remains a theory. If we receive new data suggesting otherwise, we’ll reevaluate our position accordingly.}

Youssef leaned forward, absorbing the implications. After a moment, he posed a new question.

“What if the enemy isn’t from the Conclave at all? Could this be an outside force, someone using these attacks to drive a wedge between us and the Conclave, to destabilize us both for their own gain?”

Nyx gave a small nod, acknowledging the possibility.

{There’s no evidence currently confirming or ruling that out. So yes, it’s within the realm of possibility. But the same logic applies to someone within the Conclave doing this for internal reasons, power, revenge, or manipulation. Until we gather more definitive intel, we must treat both internal and external sources as equally plausible.}

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