8 RUIN

Solarite, basically an overcharged version of hydrogen, can release about 10000 times the energy compared to hydrogen, is inert most of the time, would not decay, and could only be used as part of nuclear fusion, the Psionics loved to use it because it was literally extracted from the heart of a star. It also made nuclear fusion more controllable, since Solarite only consumed exactly enough to deplete itself at the impossible rate of 100% mass depletion for each reaction.

This thing was super volatile, put a gram of it in your FTL drive and engines, and your ship can use the same amount of fuel to run faster, longer and have higher component longevity, it was a blessing, or you can throw that same one gram into any type of star and watch, as it will burn its fuel reserves in a few days, collapse under its own gravity, then boom, anything within a few light-years gets treated to a feast of existence-ending radiation and energy blasts.

Orin wouldn't mind giving Rin a nanogram worth of the stuff, she would be so happy when she blows it up, she might laugh happily for a month afterwards, other than making sure she blew up anything but the ship, there were no downsides to giving the most explosive catalyst to a gun maniac, engineer would think watching Rin have some fun would bring some joy, as for for Ina, she just thought Rin was worth the risk.

All three, however, agreed that if Jester knew they even had such contraband on board, she would keep it and throw the four of them out of the airlock, what were they thinking, bringing anything worth any amount of risk to her ship was by definition, seeking for death, but hey, who in this ship did not seek death on a daily basis.

While Lars and Mist were in the comm room with Jordan making fun of the secret experimental data in the Lab, M and Argus were having a very bad day in the charter room, the two were literally trying to find footsteps in space, Jester has ordered to find anyone coming and going, it would have been a nightmare, thankfully Argus and M were adept at doing this, when Jester walked in, both began to complain about how they were not paid enough, but still provided the captain with what they found.

Nothing, other than those impressive jammers and broadcasts, left the planet, a few pirates passed by, but ran away as soon as their comms were fried, there seem to be traces of the transport that brought the spectres, it should have ran away after things went south, according to Argus that ship doesn't exist officially, it was a transport made especially for transporting the specters, it had some serious shielding capabilities, most likely to hide them from both Bionics and Psionics.

Other than that, the federation has yet to launch anything to this side, as for the civilian ships, it seems that the federation has made this system a military base, anything big enough to get here has changed routes, basically they were alone, unless they decide to leave or the federation decided to send someone over.

Jester was not too enthusiastic since the federation already gave them the mission, they had to sit and play detective for a few more days, she was determined, if the federation saw fit to interfere further and make the ship do even more nonsensical things, she may go, rogue, if the federation push her buttons any more.

On the side of the federation, people in high places were discussing what to do with the "nightmare sphere", it was something that could ruin the entire star sector, it was sealed currently, away from the pollution that Terrans cause, but why would they keep it sealed in a dead planet, that thing had the capability to make the entire galaxy burn, but if you look at it from another angle it was the key to Terran domination, any race capable of fear would be trounced by the sphere, the only problem is using it safely.

The Psionics have already sent words asking about the mental spikes released by the sphere. According to them, a research colony 5 star systems away picked up the fluctuations, and they thought that Terrans are making tests on Psionics, the fluctuations of mental energy sounded like the screaming of a tortured mind.

The federation did not know that the Bionics had already fled the star system they occupied a few jumps away, they feared the mental fluctuations and did not dare to get any closer, the hive mind in their home planet was shivering from fear.

The Psionics did not feel any better when the recordings of the mental energy spikes were sent to the homeworld, mass panic followed after, the thing that their ancestors buried so long ago had resurfaced, and it took the last month to calm the population down. the nightmare sphere was what caused the truce before the Terrans came to this star sector.

Long ago, there was war, the Bionics tried to assimilate everything and decided that the Psionics were the ultimate food, while the Psionics decided that the policy of integration of everything was too dangerous, for the ecological evolution in this galaxy. Thus war raged for aeons, then came a scientist, he somehow convinced the hive mind to allow him to start an experiment. since Bionics failed at assimilating Psionics and the Psionics couldn't eradicate the scourge of Bionics, why not force the existence of a race that is a combination of both, a race that would be a mediator between the two forces.

The scientist, whose name has been stricken from memory and all of history, started with the two most exclusive organs of the races, the organ that could convert all kinds of energy into food, and the organ that could project thought, the result was the abomination they called the Ender. The research facility, the star system, and the star sector were annihilated by the Ender, it grew strong enough to hop between worlds.

It took the sacrifice of both races, literally, 99% of both races' population and resources were sacrificed to deplete the Ender and then bait it to jump into a vault made inside a moon, the depleted ender sat still ever since, and then the Terrans found it.

The hive mind, for the first time since the truce made contact with the Psionics, his one-word message was enough to bring the hierarchs to despair, it only said "ruin".