[Darius]

// AUDIO RELIC 003-B // “Sanctuary Does Not Mean Safe”

COMBINE NAVINT // LEVEL 4 REDACTED Log Start: 2469-0310
BLACK SUN // A-Tier Fragment “3A-Delta, Session 004”

:: NAVINT-EYES ONLY ::

BEGIN LOG – Audio Unstable, Moderate EM Distortion Present

I sat down again today. It welcomes me now.

The first two attempts were noise and fire. Yesterday was the breakthrough: I didn’t try to command it—I submitted. That’s the key. It doesn’t obey, it synchronises. Session four tonight was… clearer, faster. I didn’t even sit before it began to glow.

There’s no sensation of transition, just this pressure—like I’m sliding between layers of thought that aren’t mine. Or weren’t.

I’ve stopped trying to fight the sensation. Compliance leads to clarity. Resistance leads to pain. That much is consistent. They say it killed the last one. Turned him to pulp. But he screamed at it. I didn’t.

(Deep breath)

I saw the lattice again—those lightfolded shapes hovering in my periphery. It lives in the space between spaces. I don’t know how else to describe it. I think it was showing me something about the structure's architecture. Not spatial, but rhythmic. Patterns that loop in on themselves like echoes in a canyon.

I’m noticing changes. My sleep cycles are irregular. I no longer dream in visuals, but in movement. Pressure. Emotion as architecture. And when I wake, the room is… wrong. Distorted until I blink it back to shape.

My handlers are growing nervous. I’m monitored now during sleep, during meals. They want to know if it’s changing me.

I suppose it is. But I’m not breaking. I’m adapting.

It showed me something… more. A structure inside the event horizon of a black hole. That shouldn’t be possible. But it exists. They knew how to fold space like paper. Knew how to hide entire civilisations in folds between reality.

(Long silence)

There’s a word in my mind now. It doesn’t translate. It’s not language. It’s intent. I think it’s the name of a gate... or a warning.

I’m beginning to lose orientation. I forget what day it is sometimes. People talk, but I’m watching the fractals in their breath. The lattice is always at the edges now. Maybe I’m not returning from these sessions anymore. Maybe I’m leaving a copy behind. Maybe that’s what they want.

END LOG

Flagged by Supervisor for Psychological Review
Status Update: Subject 3A-Delta collapsed 36 hours after this recording. Brain tissue displayed abnormal neural filament growth. Deceased.
Log archived under: "Incident Veil-1 / Precursor Interface Anomalies"

[Darius]

CLASSIFIED COMMUNIQUÉ — YAMATAN SHOGUNATE

Encoding: Neural-Silk Cipher (Grade 7) 
To: Archon Primarus Sarshar, Combine Apex Council
From: Office of the Ochre Mandate
Via: High Kensei's Evenfall Assembly (Seal: 003-Kokuyō)


Subject: Sanctioned Reciprocity of Honour and Silence 
Directive Code: Ink-Eagle / Orchid Path

"When the surface trembles, the roots must remain still." 
— Treatise of Kurokawa, Vol. VI

Archon Sarshar,

The High Kensei acknowledges and reflects upon the Combine’s formal request for expanded shroudborne coordination in the Sulsian proximity. Heavy is the weight of your appeal, and the Office has considered this such as we would the eye of an astral storm.

It is the judgement of the Shogunate that:

• The Republique’s anarchistic zeal threatens sacred boundaries of order; 
• The Commonwealth’s commercial hunger lays roads without shrines.
• And yet, the path of visible entanglement leads to turmoil, not redress.

After solemn invocation of precedent and the resonance of past obligations, the Yamatan Union, under Orchid Path conditions, will instead undertake vigilant silence.

It has been mandated thus:

1. Task Group Shigure will be deployed to neutral corridors near Sulsian space, under the pretext of pilgrimage observance; 
2. Union sensors will passively relay spatial harmonics to Combine observers under encrypted mutual silence.
3. Shogunate forces will interdict Commonwealth or Jacobine-aligned shipping operating outside registry in Sulsian proximity; 
4. The Union will maintain silence unless spoken to, and undertake action only when deemed necessary. The Union shall raise no banners —but presence will remain, should the balance tilt.


Understand: 
This is not alliance, nor admission, nor endorsement,
nor refusal of sympathy.
This is discipline—of action, of tone, of the blade remaining sheathed.

May order endure,
—Office of the Ochre Mandate 
Kensei Seal #003-Kokuyō

[perihelion]

It showed me something… more. A structure inside the event horizon of a black hole. That shouldn’t be possible. But it exists. They knew how to fold space like paper. Knew how to hide entire civilisations in folds between reality.

Whoa. I like where this is heading!

[Darius]

// COMBINE NAVAL INTELLIGENCE // CLASSIFIED COMMUNIQUE
FROM: RADM. Sofia Kakotchka
TO: ADM. Lucja Romanowska
SUBJECT: Veil-1 Incident – Physical Findings & Analysis of Audio Relic 003-B
DATESTAMP: 2469-0918
CLEARANCE: SC-DELTA :: NAVINT EYES ONLY

Admiral,

Per directive, I assumed control of the investigative task force dispatched to Veil-1 following total communications blackout at 0409Z. This communique consolidates preliminary findings regarding the Veil-1 incident, including forensic observations, recovered materials, and qualitative analysis of the sole surviving intelligence fragment: Audio Relic 003-B, associated with Interface Research Subject 3A-Delta.

I. PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION – VEIL-1 SITE
Upon arrival at 0431Z, my task force found the station structurally intact, with no signs of kinetic or explosive damage. Yet all core systems — computational, environmental, diagnostic — were completely inert. All memory cores, firmware, isolated black boxes, and even redundant tape storage were rendered completely blank—as if factory-wiped, with no overwrite residue. Emergency backup systems were active and maintaining basic life support.

Organic residue was identified in key crew spaces (medbay, accommodation spaces, command & control). Forensic sampling revealed free amino acid chains, with a total absence of cellular matter and other tissue biomarkers. I believe this may be all that remains of the crew.

The only surviving data was not located on-site. My task force intercepted a routine courier drone enroute to Gunther Relay, carrying a hardcopy payload of updated research data as well as, critically, the final known log of Subject 3A-Delta.

II. AUDIO RELIC 003-B

This header - "Sanctuary Does Not Mean Safe" - is not found in the body of the log itself. It is metadata, inserted manually by the supervising technician or possibly by the subject.

The log is transcribed as Session 004. Though partially degraded by EM distortion, it remains intelligible.

Subject 3A-Delta appears to alternate between lucidness and cognitive derangement. Key features:

- Successful conscious integration into the Precursor Interface.
- Describes non-visual cognition rendered as geometry, rhythmic pattern folding, and conceptual communication.
- Claims to have seen artificial structures inside a black hole’s event horizon, possibly deployed through "folding space".
- Final remarks suggest fragmentation of self: “Maybe I’m leaving a copy behind.”

Following this recording, the subject collapsed. Autopsy notes indicate neural filament proliferation and cortical degradation. Status: deceased.

III. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

This log may represent the causal precursor to the Veil-1 Incident. While Subject 3A-Delta was removed from active trials prior to the event, it is possible that fragments of his cognitive and conscious self persisted within the interface unit. The system may have retained echoes of earlier sessions that over time iteratively changed the functional architecture of the device.

There is no mention of subsequent subjects in the courier payload, but no doubt follow-up tests were conducted. If so, and if those tests pushed harder than 3A-Delta did, the Interface may have reacted - not just to command input, but to incongruent memory structures left within its own substrate.

Veil-1 may have built the foundations of its own annihilation.

IV. RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Immediate suspension of all live-interface trials, pending full forensic and conceptual review of the Veil-1 incident.
 1a. Total quarantine of the Veil-1 research facility and surrounding space.
 1b. Deployment of battlecruiser assets to enforce the quarantine.

2. Reallocate core BLACK SUN engineering assets toward development of Project MONOLITH
 2a. Research analysis thus far concludes that directed spacetime curvature for destructive purposes remains viable
 2b. Theoretical modeling using seized SOLARIS data suggests regional-scale gravitational collapse is achievable with field manipulation arrays built using existing construction practices and engineering standards.

3. Deprioritise non-weapon applications until further notice:
 3a. Gravity interdictor technology
 3b. Neurocybernetic interface design
 3c. Cognitive overlay augmentation systems
 3d. Civil-scale Precursor-derived megaconstruction projects

4. Begin deep harmonic deconstruction of Audio Relic 003-B, looking for latent intent patterns, fail-safe routines, and/or control signatures.

5. Classify the Veil-1 incident under Directive BLACK SUN/SHADOW CLASS, with cover story prepared in case of external intelligence leaks.
 5a. Recommend acceleration of Operation ORPHEUS to undermine Sulsian regional influence.

Respectfully,
ADM Sofia Kakotchka
Combine Naval Intelligence
Task Force Zaragoza, Lead Investigator

[Darius]

CLASSIFIED COMMUNIQUÉ - SINARUS COMBINE

Encoding: Abyssal Gate Cipher (Black Tier)
To: Office of the Ochre Mandate
From:  Archon Primaris Sarshar, Combine Apex Council
Via: Directorate of Harmony (Seal: 77-Duskbound)


Subject: Reverberations in Stillness
Directive Code: Black Sun / Crane Mirror Protocol

"Even the blade sheathed in silk retains its edge."
— Axiom of the Eclipse Court, Sol Edition I

High Kensei and most revered Evenfall Assembly,

The Combine acknowledges with respect the transmission designated Ink-Eagle / Orchid Path.
Your message has been studied with the precision such as the shadows cast by celestial moons require.
We acknowledge the Shogunate’s chosen posture: presence without declaration, action without inscription, silence in lieu of banners.
The Combine, ever a student of necessity, recognizes this stance.

Yet consider:
When the canopy shudders, the patient gardener does not merely observe the trembling petals.
He tends the roots, or risks losing the whole tree.
The Combine does not seek to hasten cycles before their season.
But neither can we leave the orchard untended while wildfires dance in neighbouring fields.

We propose:
Additional Black Sun lattice data pertaining to the neural resonance layers of Interface Phenomenon 3A-Delta will be made available to the Shogunate’s inner scholars. This transmission is contingent upon increased harmonisation of spatial observation assets and interdiction action.
A shared Silent Annex will be established for covert telemetry exchange concerning Commonwealth and Jacobine tactical deployments. No formal signatures. No visible resonance. Only the ink of shared silence.
Should the weight of circumstance press harder upon the Veil, the Combine respectfully requests the Shogunate to consider elevation from Silent Vigil to Bladeguard Posture where necessity calls.

Let us clarify:
That this is not an edict, nor presumption of convergence.
It is a mirror held toward dusk reflecting intention and possibility.

The path between lanterns remains unlit but navigable.
May balance be maintained before balance is forced.

- Archon Primaris Sarshar
For the Apex Council
Sinarus Combine - Directorate of Harmony
Seal: 77-Duskbound



Solaris 3.0: coming soon...