The Guests Are Coming

Posted on Mon Sep 7th, 2026 @ 8:39am by Avalon [ADMIN NPC] & Commodore Phoenix Lalor-Richardson

Mission: Season 6 - Episode 8- The Price of Home
Location: Zyphera System
Timeline: 11 August 2398
1410 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Zyphera Prime appeared first as a distortion against the light. For several seconds, it was difficult to tell where the station ended and the space around it began. Then *Elysium* drew closer. And the illusion resolved itself. The white-gold brilliance of Zyphera IV dominated the background, its light washing across an orbital structure unlike anything the Federation vessel had encountered since arriving in Circinus. Zyphera Prime was enormous. Not merely in physical dimensions. It seemed to occupy more space than its structure should have allowed. Translucent shielding curved around portions of the station like enormous panes of glass suspended against the stars. Holographic architecture extended beyond physical superstructures, creating towers that did not entirely exist, bridges composed partly of light and entire sections that seemed to shift depending upon the angle from which they were viewed. Gold. Silver. Violet. Pale blue.
The colours changed constantly. A city caught somewhere between engineering and imagination. And around it moved ships. Hundreds of them. Merchant vessels. Passenger liners. Private yachts. Cargo haulers. Diplomatic couriers. Warships.
Small craft darted between larger vessels while enormous freighters moved ponderously toward commercial docking facilities farther from the central complex. Some designs were now familiar to *Elysium*.

Most were not. For nearly eleven months, the Odyssey-class starship had frequently been the largest and strangest vessel wherever it went. Here, size alone barely earned attention. Its origin did. The ship from another galaxy had arrived. And people were watching. Phoenix Lalor-Richardson stood looking at the main viewscreen. “So that's Zyphera Prime.”

Lieutenant Commander Elias Venn stood nearby with a PADD containing the latest arrival information. “Yes, Commodore.”

Phoenix watched another holographic structure shimmer into existence along the station's outer edge. “Which parts are real?”

Venn looked at the station. “I believe that's considered an impolite question.”

Phoenix glanced toward him. “You don't know.”

“No.”

“Excellent.” The computer chimed. Another transmission. Venn checked it. “Zypheran Traffic Authority confirms our approach vector. They've assigned us an outer diplomatic berth.”

“Outer?”

“Apparently vessels carrying more than twelve thousand metric tonnes of antimatter aren't permitted within the inner diplomatic zone.”

Phoenix considered that. “Reasonable.”

Another notification appeared. “They require a complete declaration of offensive and defensive systems before docking.”

“Also reasonable.”

Another. Venn frowned. Phoenix noticed. “What?”

“They've requested a diplomatic liability bond.”

Phoenix turned. “A what?”

“In the event *Elysium*, her personnel or associated diplomatic representatives cause damage to Zypheran property during the summit.”

There was a pause. “Do they require that from everyone?”

Venn scrolled. “Yes.”

Phoenix relaxed slightly. “Ours is substantially higher.”

She stared at him. “Niea IV?”

“Niea IV.”

Phoenix looked back at the viewscreen. “Of course it is.” Zyphera Prime continued growing ahead of them. Somewhere inside that impossible city waited the first real chance *Elysium* had found to construct a road home. And apparently an invoice.

---

The invitations had worked. Mostly. The **Rin'thar Coalition** had accepted. Their response had been formal, concise and noticeably devoid of enthusiasm. They would attend. They would hear the Federation proposal. They would make no commitment regarding participation until the full technical and strategic implications of Erebus had been presented. More importantly, they had insisted that their attendance should not be interpreted as acceptance of Federation conduct elsewhere in Circinus.

Niea IV again.

The **Varn Ascendancy** had accepted considerably faster. That had worried Phoenix more. Attached to the Varn acceptance had been preliminary questions regarding manufacturing rights, technical ownership, future commercial access, licensing arrangements and whether contributions to construction would translate into preferential use of any completed transit system. Erebus did not yet exist. The Varn were already attempting to determine who could charge people to use it.

The **Ael'ven Enclave** had eventually agreed to send representatives. Observers. That distinction had appeared several times in their response. They were coming to listen. They had not agreed to construct anything. Their concerns centred upon consequences. What would happen to Circinus if distances that had shaped its cultures, borders and wars suddenly ceased to matter? It was a good question. Phoenix wished she had a good answer. And the **Zypheran Concord** had agreed to host the entire affair. Enthusiastically. Perhaps too enthusiastically.

Zyphera Prime had hosted wars without battles, peace negotiations between governments still actively shooting at one another, commercial agreements between criminal organisations and the governments trying to arrest them, and diplomatic meetings in which half the participants refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the other half.

Apparently four mutually suspicious governments and one stranded Federation starship barely qualified as unusual. There was only one problem. They were no longer the only ones interested.

---

“Put the regional traffic report up.” The display changed. Phoenix studied the icons surrounding Zyphera Prime. There were more ships arriving than there had been when the summit invitation had first gone out. A lot more. Some were ordinary commercial traffic. Others weren't. “Coincidence?” she asked.

Venn did not immediately answer.

“That means no.”

“It means Zyphera Prime is one of the busiest neutral stations in this region.”

“Elias.”

“It also means Intelligence believes rumours concerning the summit are already circulating.”

Phoenix's jaw tightened. “How much?”

“Enough.” The display shifted. Fragments of intercepted commercial traffic appeared.

**FEDERATION TECHNOLOGY EXCHANGE.**

**INTERGALACTIC VESSEL SEEKING INDUSTRIAL PARTNERS.**

**THAIH'EA TRANSIT RESEARCH.**

**LONG-RANGE APERTURE.**

And finally:

**GATE.**

Phoenix stared at the last word.

“We haven't used that word publicly.”

“No.”

“Have any of the four?”

“Not officially.”

Which meant someone had. Or someone had guessed. Neither option was comforting.

“Lonians?”

“No official delegation registered.”

That meant very little. Phoenix knew that now. The four Houses did not need to announce themselves to have eyes somewhere. After Niea IV, *Elysium* had become part of Lonian politics whether anyone aboard wanted that or not. If rumours reached the Houses that the same Federation ship that had broken people out of one of their detention facilities was now attempting to construct a transit system capable of crossing enormous distances, there would be consequences.
Especially if those rumours reached Lady Sama.

“Galatonians?”

“No registered presence.”

“That's not what I asked.”

Venn looked at her. “No confirmed presence.”

Phoenix exhaled. The Galatonians did not negotiate as *Elysium* understood the term. They hunted. A functioning aperture in their hands would not become a transportation network. It would become access to prey. Entire regions presently protected by distance could become hunting grounds. “And the Thaih'ea?”

This time Venn was silent longer. Phoenix turned. “What?”

“Three separate commercial information brokers have received requests over the last four days for data relating to Thaih'ea transit structures.”

“From whom?”

“Unknown.”

“Can we trace them?”

“Not yet.”

Phoenix looked again at Zyphera Prime. The Thaih'ea had already possessed technology capable of doing something frighteningly close to what *Elysium* now intended to build. They had used it. They had guarded it. And when *Elysium* had encountered one of their structures, they had destroyed it rather than lose control. If they discovered someone was trying to reproduce the principle... Phoenix did not need to complete the thought. “Tell Intelligence I want everything they can find.”

Venn nodded.

“Quietly.”

“Of course.”

“We're here to start a diplomatic summit, not announce that we're expecting spies.”

Venn looked toward the station. “On Zyphera Prime, those may be the same thing.”

Phoenix sighed. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

---

The first summit vessel arrived twenty-seven minutes before *Elysium* reached its assigned berth. Rin'thar. Their warship did not possess the elegance of the Zypheran station. It looked built to survive. Heavy structural sections surrounded a powerful central hull, armour layered over armour without obvious concern for aesthetics. It moved into its assigned position with military precision.

The second arrival belonged to the Varn. Its design could hardly have been more different. Energy patterns shifted constantly across the hull, illuminating sections of the vessel in sequences that initially appeared decorative until sensor analysis suggested they were part of the ship's active systems.

Power management. Communications. Shielding. Possibly all three. Nothing about Varn technology seemed content to perform only one function. The Ael'ven arrived last. For several seconds their vessel was difficult to identify against the surrounding stars. Not because it was cloaked. Because its hull seemed to interact with the light around it. A faint luminescence moved across its surface in slow waves. Almost like breathing. Three ships. Three delegations. Three pieces of the impossible machine. The fourth was already waiting. Zyphera Prime. Phoenix looked at the station.

“Bring us in.”

---
TBC - Senior Staff Briefing