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We warned you, Crux sssavagesss! We warned you to ssstay away from the Haven of the Lk! We thought your mastersss understood this when lassst we crushed Crux thrallsss and sssurrogatesss. Now that you have breached our ssspace, we mussst teach your Crux Mastersss thisss torturousss lessson all over again!
Sssuch a pathetic ruse. Not only isss that a foolish lie, but it is a foolish lie that you have used before, when you tried to pretend that the K'tang were not a member of the Crux! Time for you to die.
Do not try to deceive usss!
We will relish dessstroying you.
You may have dessstroyed an entire Lk battlegroup, but you cannot ssstop the combined might of the Lk. Die, Cruxsss sssavagesss!
Ah, we shall relish your deaths!
If you were not the Crux, you would dessstroy all the heretical Daktaklakpak! But you won't, because they are your trusssted alliesss!
Ssso you sssay.
The Daktaklakpak believe that they are direct descendentsss of the Precursorsss. That is nothing less than heresssy! Only the Lk are connected to the Precursorsss.
We do not trussst you enough to tell you how we are related to the Precursorsss.
You can prove that you are not of the Crux by attacking the Daktaklakpak and bringing us a Precursor artifact that looks like a Red Ssspiral Rail. The Daktaklakpak will never sssurrender it, so this is a good test of your honesty.
You can prove that you are not of the Crux faster than that. You can attack the Daktaklakpak and bring us a Precursor artifact that looks like a Red Ssspiral Rail. The Daktaklakpak will never sssurrender it, so this is a good test of your honesty.
We will tell you when you actually give it to us.
Good. You can likely find the Red Ssspiral Rail at a Crux base at Antaeus One. Now go, Crux spy.
And we have many answersss. But they are only for thossse sentientsss that are NOT membersss of the Crux.
Ssso. The preciousss little Crux ssspy is back to tell usss why we should trussst him, even though he cannot bring us the Red Spiral Rail! Yesss?
Good. You can likely find the Red Ssspiral Rail at a Crux base at Antaeus One. Now go, Crux spy.
Why do you return, violent human?
Greetingsss, fellow sssentient. Do you have the Red Spiral Rail? Or are you prepared to admit that you are a Crux ssspy?
What isss it now, violent human?
You may proceed to Haven, the home of the Lk. Give the Rail to the Master Inheritor.
Greetingsss, fellow sssentient. I am the Massster Inheritor. Do you have the Red Spiral Rail? Or are you prepared to admit that you are a craven Crux ssspy?
We sssay nothing until you give it to usss. It's jussst like you craven Crux ssspies to try to get information from usss without ever giving usss the Red Spiral Rail.
Ah! We knew you were a Crux ssspy. We'll jussst have to keep our sssecretsss to ourssselvesss.
Ahhh! The Rail! Sssymbol of Precursssor heritage! Now none can deny the Lk as full inheritors of the Precursssorsss!
Impatient sssentient. You will learn all in time. What are your questionsss?
Trussst? That is going too far. We know you are not a Crux ssspy, but then, we knew that long before we met you. Yesss, we know all about you. The Crux told usss that you are their sssworn enemy.
You cannot destroy the inheritors of the Precursors!
We attacked you ssso we could dissscover the sssecretsss of your ship! We lied to manipulate you into attacking the Daktaklakpak ssso you could bring usss the Red Spiral Rail.
Bah! Issues of sssimple morality are far below the inheritorsss of the Precursors!
Hurrrm... I... Hurrrm. You irritate us, human! You ssstir usss to doubtsss... We do not wish to discuss this any further!
You would have risssked life and limb to get the Rail for nothing more than our good will? I think not.
Of courssse not. You would have been too tempted to keep the Red Spiral Rail for yourself. And we could not risssk it.
We will anssswer. Not becaussse you brought the Rail, but because it sssuitsss our purposssesss to anssswer.
Urr... You would? We cannot believe such a thing. Hurrrm... I... Hurrrm. You irritate us, human! You ssstir usss to doubtsss... We do not wish to discuss this any further!
Enough! Asssk your questionsss or leave!
Ssso. Do you wisssh to kill usss to sssoothe your injured pride? Or do you want your questionsss ansswered?
Ssso be it.
No.
You may seek the Master Inheritor on Haven.
You may seek the Master Inheritor on Haven.
You may seek the Master Inheritor on Haven.
You may seek the Master Inheritor on Haven.
Asssk your quessstions.
Yesss? Have you more questionsss for the wissse Master Inheritor?
Ask your questionsss, human.
We are the Lk. We are a great race of brilliant scholars who study the great mysteries of the Precursors. We are the true inheritors of the Precursor legacy.
The Precursors were the greatest race that ever lived in the galaxy. They created the greatest civilization ever known, and then mysteriously vanished, leaving their legacy for the Lk.
We are all that remains of the Precursors, for we evolved from saprophyte spores in the greatest Precursor base in all of known space!
We neither expect you to understand or appreciate the beauty of such a relationship.
We evolved by growing from spores in the Precursor food stocks, and possibly as spores on the very bodies of the dead Precursors - if they died and did not translate their bodies somewhere else. We don't know for certain.
But we do know that thisss is the closssest posssible connection to Precursors, and legitimizes our claim as their inheritors!
It alssso gives usss a deep, enduring connection to the Precursors that lessser species could never understand. It allows us to maximize our Precursor Potential.
Evolution of intellect appears to occur in a remarkably similar manner in all parts of all galactic quadrantsss.
Through a process we do not fully understand, all races evolve toward a single master form of forms, as if driven by an unssseen, but all-powerful formula.
The Precursors were the pinnacle of this form of forms. Sssave for the Lk, all races are but a whisper of the Precursssorsss' towering intellect.
You must understand that the Lk evolved in the greatest Precursor cache known to exist!
Races which evolve near a Precursor site take a great leap in intellect when they reach the advanced stage of development when they can decipher the Precursor technology.
You are a good example of this, Captain. You see, all your accomplishments in defeating a powerful slaving empire in your home quadrant and ending their doctrinal wars can be traced to one sssource: the fortuitousss accident of your having been born upon a Precursor planet.
So imagine how far our ssspeciesss could advance evolving here in the midssst of the greatest Precursor cache known to exist!
That isss true. To begin, your species had developed far enough to be capable of the most rudimentary understanding of Precursor technology.
And you were born with a mutation that allowed for a precocious intellect.
But ultimately, you were born and raised on a Precursor treasure trove, where you could unleash the full extent of that intellect.
You maximized your Precursor Potential. This allowed you create an actual Precursor vessel. Though you did not actually create anything, did you? You merely deciphered how to push the Start button.
Hurm.... It is odd that you would be able to accomplish that so soon after your race developed spaceflight.
Most races cannot interpret Precursor devices until many centuries after they have left the surfaces of their worlds. But then most races are given space technology by other races.
Humans are one of the few races that uplifted themselves. That shows an ability to manifest your Precursor Potential.
But nevertheless, your race has far to go to begin to truly comprehend the mysteries of the Precursors.
That is all I will tell you about that.
Ah, the Rail! The Red Spiral Rail! Built eons ago by the Precursors to ssseek out the true inheritors of their agesss-old dynasssty!
When the Precursssors mysteriousssly vanished millennia ago, they left the Rail to find those racesss that have manifested their Precursor potential.
Is it not obvious? The Rail must be broken! Those thrice accursed Daktaklakpak must have tampered with it.
The Daktaklakpak are notorious for defiling the most sacred of Precursor artifacts! They seek to force the Precursor artifacts to prove their deluded, narcissistic theories.
The Daktaklakpak may well be a Precursor creation, but they cannot be the inheritors of the Precursors!
Their thinking is utterly alien from the other artifacts, and far less elegant! Though we will assist the Crux when it helps us, we will not work with the Daktaklakpak!
We do not ally with the Crux, but we help them when it suits our purposes. Likewise, we do not ally with you, but we will help you. When it suits our purposes.
Do not underessstimate the Crux. Though the Daktaklakpak are deluded and the K'tang are drooling halfwits, the Ploxis are ruthlessly clever and wickedly deviousss. Overconfidence can kill.
Of course! It is a matter of WHEN they betray us, not IF they betray us. But we are prepared for them.
That I will not tell you. But I will tell you that we fully expect you to betray us as well. All creatures can be expected to betray others when it meets their needs.
We shall see, human. We shall see.
The Rainbow Worlds point the way to the galactic core, and the ancient powers that slumber there. Sssstay away from the galactic core. Sssertain death liesss that way! The greatessst Precursssor ssseccrets are not for the likesss of you! All knowledge has a price, and thisss knowledge may harrow your sssoul!
I warn you, human! Do not test the patience of the Lk on thisss score! The greatessst sssecretsss of the Precursors are for the Lk ALONE!
You have been warned!
It is with grave uneasiness that I must concede that the Lk do not know. But lest you think usss helplesss here on Haven, I mussst inform you that we do have emergency transssport between the ssstarsss.
We will not tell you what it is. Ask a different question.
Do not taunt us, vainglorious human! You try our patience! Ask a different question or leave!
Ssso be it.
Sssuch information is not meant for the ears of lesser sssentientsss like you. It would harrow your very sssoul!
We are ssstrictly neutral! We join none, but exploit all for our own purposssesss!
We shall not change our minds.
Ah, yesss. A Conc rock. Many Clairconctlar are born from that living ssstone, flakesss from the mother rock.
It is of sssuch overwhelming value to the Clairconctlar that if you broke the rock, the Clairconctlar would reject all other orders and follow you to the ends of the universe to try to destroy you.
The safety of the Conc Rock overrides everything else to the Clairconctlar.
No. It kills no living Clairconctlar. Just potential life. The Conc rock is less a living being than a strand of genetic material is a sentient being. Destroying the Conc rock kills no Clairconctlar, just as destroying a handful of seeds kills no forest.
Ah, yesss. We have a Sun Device. But it will cossst you dearly.
I will give you the Sun Device now. But if you find a Precursor artifact called the Eternal One Signal Deflector, you must give it to me.
Consider this a test of your vaunted League honesty. For I believe that your precious League rules are a sanctimonious strategem designed to inculcate in you a sssensse of piousss sssuperiority.
But you will jettisson those rules as soon as it becomes convenient to you. Once I give you this Sun Device, I believe you will not return, but keep the Eternal One Signal Deflector for yourself!
Here is the Sun Device. I await my Eternal One Signal Deflector.
I will answer no further questions. You must choose.
Return when you are ready to make such a promise.
Return if you have any more questions. Farewell, human.
Ah yesss. A Vyro-Ingo Encrustation Matrix. I have only seen the Precursor blueprints on thisss. I had never thought I would actually sssee one.
The Vyro-Ingo are a Precursor experiment gone out of control. The Precursors sought to understand their own Precursor potential by isolating it in other beings.
They divided the genes of one race into two sets. This effectively created two different species and raised them in different quadrants of the galaxy.
Both races evolved toward sentience, but both lacked Precursor potential. They feel their flaw as grinding, incessant, agony.
So they have an instinctive hatred of genetically undivided races. The Precursors intended to rejoin the races again, but they...disappeared... before they could do so.
So the two races remained genetically fragmented; complete enough to breed and evolve sentience, but without potential to evolve toward full Precursorhood.
Alasss, I do not know. I only have records on the Vyro-Ingo, the race that the Precursors transplanted into the Kessarri quadrant.
The Precursors transplanted the elusive other race into YOUR quadrant, so I have no records of them.
How horrible that race must feel! Like the Vyro-Ingo, they must feel a deep, instinctive hatred of all other races. If they are even alive.
They may be long extinct. Wiped out in those Doctrinal Wars your quadrant has so often. If they are extinct, the Vyro-Ingo are doomed to live with an enduring genetic defect.
No. It is the truth. When the Precursors sundered one race into two, it left the two races with extreme genetic abnormalities capable of making daily life an excruciating busssinesss.
Ah yesss. Another Encrustation Matrix. Hmmm... By the bones of the Precursors! Thisss Matrix isss for the Vux! The Vux are the missing piece of Vyro-Ingo DNA! The Vux must be genetically flawed as well, and hateful of all other species.
Hurm. Our lore reveals that the Vux are indeed a viciously unpredictable race.
Yesss. But it isss an arduousss processs that involves joining the twin Encrustation Matrices. We are sending information on the joining process to you, and then you can join the Matrices together.
No. We wish to observe the results of the conjoining. Such a restoration has never happened in recorded history.
Amazing! You have actually kept your promise! You have actually given us the Eternal One Signal Deflector! We won't have to destroy you for it!
Ah, for a moment I thought you were free from the taint of crippling cynicism.
I see that now. And I am astounded.
Greetings, high-minded, surprisingly ethical Captain.
Amazing! Such a thing is almost unfathomable! But we will do all we can. Good luck!
The Master Inheritor says to come back when you have used the Eternal One Signal Deflector.
Then begone!