Designated Survivor 5

"With that said, I will answer your more pressing question first." The Captain finished his lecture. "I do not understand the specifics, but it is something along the lines of a tolerance for a poison. Your people have lived below what is considered the minimum for life to flourish. When you were thrust into even the most minute amount of Split it was like you were drowning. Your body ate itself up.

Do you find that to be an adequate explanation?"

"I'm still mushy on the whole Split deal, but I think I get it."

The Captain nodded. "Good. As I was saying, red stars, plentiful, not powerful enough to let life sustain itself for any extended period of time. There is obviously more to it than that, but this is just the basic concept. Orange stars are capable of that, but not to a great degree. Yellow stars, often called Gilded Stars, are where the ecosystems of planets begin to flourish, often featuring native organisms.

These stars are somewhat rare, but nowhere near as rare as the green stars, the Verdant Stars. In a cluster of a million, perhaps only one or two will be the type of green you see before you. Major wars are often fought to control these stars.

Beyond this there is a class of star, no, two classes now, that are stronger. Before coming into contact with your star, the strongest star was colored blue, the Azure Dot. They are rare to the point where I have only ever seen two, and I was called to fight both of them."

"Fight them? Like you are doing now?" Don had many questions, the number bloating as he got answers, but only one could be answered at a time.

"Indeed. Although rare, stars have the chance to become 'hostile'. This usually has a higher chance of occurring in more powerful stars, but the relative abundance of the lower quality ones means that their rate of occurrence is relatively the same. Azure Dots, to my knowledge, will always be hostile. They send those beams out in large numbers in the general direction of living beings. Many times in the past stars have turned rogue with habitable planets in orbit, resulting a tremendous loss of life.

When that happens, it is up to a ship like this one to end the threat."

"So... will you be killing our Sun?" Diana was the next to ask a question.

"I know it might be difficult to accept, but unfortunately we have to. In order to return through the veil, certain conditions have to be met. I understand that you might have cultural connections to it, but it is something that we have to do."

Diana seemed a little saddened by this fact, but ultimately understood. It was trying to kill her after all.

"You keep talking about this veil, what is it?"

"Veyal?" His accent was heavy when he tried to repeat the word in English.

"Uh, the thing we need to pass through." Diana elaborated, realizing that the Captain did not recognize the word.

"So that is how it sounds to you. I had hoped to delay revealing this to you assuming you would be traumatized from the loss, but given my interactions with you, brief though they may be, I feel you are in the proper mental state to handle it.

To put it briefly, and I feel you may have picked up pieces of this, but your universe is not entirely real. It is a fabrication of sorts, an experiment of the Great Csillacra. I know not what it was looking for, but a dearth of Split was the focus.

The space inside the veil technically does not exist, but it can become realized. Do not ask me how that works, only the Great Csillacra knows. What I DO know is that it acts as a means to control the level of Split in the region being examined.

It is a very strong barrier designed to make interference impossible, but when certain conditions are met the veil will weaken. When this happens, special permissions are granted for people to enter, but to exit the veil must be weakened further.

These change depending on circumstance, but for the most part they have something to do with interacting with the inhabitants of that iteration."

"So what are the conditions this time around?"

"I was informed that it was the elimination of threats towards the designated survivors. As far as we can tell, the only threat that remains is the star."

"But aren't you also a threat?"

"Donovan!?!?!"

"While it is true, we do pose a threat, the conditions only apply to things originating in the veil. Seeing as we come from beyond, we are not included in that number. While I know you cannot necessarily trust this statement, I will reiterate. We mean you know harm. We are more interested in your success than your failure. We have no reason to harm you." The Captain disregarded Diana's interjection, recognizing that Donovan was acting in the interests of survival. "Do you have any other questions?"

Diana still wanted to hit him. "What help can we expect from you?"

"To be completely honest, I do not know what extent we can safely assist you to. I know that new species are given a host nation that will protect them for a time before either letting them roam free or welcoming into their fold, but I can tell that is not what you want."

"How so?"

"Ambitious is probably not the most accurate way to describe you, but it fits closely. Desperate, perhaps for the moment, but that desperation will only last until you establish yourselves. I know from the Doctor your kind are good at war, perhaps among the best if the stories I am told are truth, however you lack the manpower.

Your culture and way of thinking will not tolerate nor be tolerated by the vast majority of parties.

I believe there may be one whom you will be friendly with, but they are isolationist on principle. Getting them to agree to support you may prove difficult."

"I don't think we need them to support us, they just need to protect us."

"The difficulty remains. Despite being one of the more powerful and politically stable regimes, diplomacy is very difficult with them. Trade is practically non-existent, and very rarely will they be proactive in their relations with others, those rare occasions being to assist in a catastrophe as dictated by their religion.

However, given how few in number you are and how self sufficient you will likely be, I believe it may be possible to persuade them to allow you to live close to their borders, if not within. Given their relative power, prosperity, and control of their populace, neither pirate raids nor skirmishes are common."

"Is there anything that can be done beyond that?"

"That is where the uncertainty arises. Your situation is unprecedented to my knowledge, so the exact options are not anything I am aware of. I do believe it would be possible for me to sponsor your enrollment into the Sanctum's Academy. I possess the required funding to pay for the expenses, and I believe you have a more than decent chance at acquiring some form of title or prestige through achievements academic and practical."