The Chief can't argue with the convenience of that. Or that the ship couldn't have altered the others' memories, she seems to have no problems doing that besides.
"They don't kill dimensions. Just worlds," he says. "They hunt down and destroy sentient life. That's why they used a nanite bomb. Set it to target humans and let it loose, problem solved."
He sounds rather grim. The Chief's not one to soften the truth, or what he's fairly certain is the truth. Ben's obviously not a little kid, so he'll be level with him.
"As for the message... I think I still have that. It was a warning."
The Chief's made a habit of keeping dumps of his helmet's logs to his omnicomm. He was wearing his suit during that mission, even though he hadn't been given full time access back. He pushes the current file aside and flicks through his archive.
"Here. Comm audio's not great, I'd take it to media if you want it clearer."
A message plays. It's in even worse "condition" than it already was, due to the omnicomm's very meager audio capacity. It sounds heavily digitized with an odd, blearing effect to the sound.
"--last log of Captain Amadeus Privost. I've volunteered to stay behind in my fighter to coordinate the last of the evacuation efforts and to transmit this to every operating communications outpost on every planet still in communication with the Alliance, so that they broadcast this warning as long as they're functional. -kssh- They came from nowhere. The Black, the outskirts, the sectors of the Multiverse that are mapped as uninhabited. They came without warning, they attacked without mercy. -kssh- were warned by our interdimensional allies the Da-krssh-g but we barely had time to evacuate. Millions. Millions gone in just hours. -kssh- Nanite device in Pleirdes Swamp--they were biological in nature, we couldn't stop them with EMPs, with anything. -kssshck- Swept through the world in a gray cloud. Targeted the major cities first--only targeted humanoid beings, instead of all organic life. People just...disappeared. The cloud swept over them and they were gone. Just...gone. We've gotten word that the colony on Mars has been attacked and destroyed the same way, the other planets in the Alliance, all -kssssh-. The Vespar managed to destroy the nanites but were nuked from orbit with point-singularity weapons. The -kssh- have offered us refuge, helped the survivors of our worlds evacuate from this dimension."
The voice is desperate. "-ksssh- this is not -kssh- SOS or a request for aid. this is a warning. If you have landed on our world, evacuate immediately, to the nearest parallel dimension. This entire universe is now classified an interdimensional hot zone, charted as dangerous on all interdimensional maps. They've found it. They've found it and just like every other dimension they've found, they won't tolerate any sentient life besides themselves. If your universe has interdimensional defenses, keep them ready. If they're breached, evacuate your worlds before it's too late. -kssh-y won't stop. The Ohm won't stop until they're the last ones left in the Multiverse. They -kssh-"
That's all there is. All the static is lost data.
"The system this was on was pretty degraded. I'm surprised we got that much out of it."
no subject
"They don't kill dimensions. Just worlds," he says. "They hunt down and destroy sentient life. That's why they used a nanite bomb. Set it to target humans and let it loose, problem solved."
He sounds rather grim. The Chief's not one to soften the truth, or what he's fairly certain is the truth. Ben's obviously not a little kid, so he'll be level with him.
"As for the message... I think I still have that. It was a warning."
The Chief's made a habit of keeping dumps of his helmet's logs to his omnicomm. He was wearing his suit during that mission, even though he hadn't been given full time access back. He pushes the current file aside and flicks through his archive.
"Here. Comm audio's not great, I'd take it to media if you want it clearer."
A message plays. It's in even worse "condition" than it already was, due to the omnicomm's very meager audio capacity. It sounds heavily digitized with an odd, blearing effect to the sound.
"--last log of Captain Amadeus Privost. I've volunteered to stay behind in my fighter to coordinate the last of the evacuation efforts and to transmit this to every operating communications outpost on every planet still in communication with the Alliance, so that they broadcast this warning as long as they're functional. -kssh- They came from nowhere. The Black, the outskirts, the sectors of the Multiverse that are mapped as uninhabited. They came without warning, they attacked without mercy. -kssh- were warned by our interdimensional allies the Da-krssh-g but we barely had time to evacuate. Millions. Millions gone in just hours. -kssh- Nanite device in Pleirdes Swamp--they were biological in nature, we couldn't stop them with EMPs, with anything. -kssshck- Swept through the world in a gray cloud. Targeted the major cities first--only targeted humanoid beings, instead of all organic life. People just...disappeared. The cloud swept over them and they were gone. Just...gone. We've gotten word that the colony on Mars has been attacked and destroyed the same way, the other planets in the Alliance, all -kssssh-. The Vespar managed to destroy the nanites but were nuked from orbit with point-singularity weapons. The -kssh- have offered us refuge, helped the survivors of our worlds evacuate from this dimension."
The voice is desperate.
"-ksssh- this is not -kssh- SOS or a request for aid. this is a warning. If you have landed on our world, evacuate immediately, to the nearest parallel dimension. This entire universe is now classified an interdimensional hot zone, charted as dangerous on all interdimensional maps. They've found it. They've found it and just like every other dimension they've found, they won't tolerate any sentient life besides themselves. If your universe has interdimensional defenses, keep them ready. If they're breached, evacuate your worlds before it's too late. -kssh-y won't stop. The Ohm won't stop until they're the last ones left in the Multiverse. They -kssh-"
That's all there is. All the static is lost data.
"The system this was on was pretty degraded. I'm surprised we got that much out of it."