[center][i]"For the Lover, he would give the moon, for while the stars shifted and turned in the night, the moon was always there, and always watching..."[/i]

SYNCHRONICITY[/center]

The expanse of stars spread out before the construct, thousands of potential worlds ripe for the harvesting of material and energy. Some would be occupied. Many others would not. Either way, this construct had a duty, and it would go about that duty just like all of the others. This one, however, was not truly like all of the others, for it was a Precept, one of those chosen few who had served the Synchronicity for eons and had become sentient enough to develop true sapience. It called itself Hyperion, and despite not actually having anything that could be used to determine its gender, it had declared itself male.

Such was not uncommon anymore within the Synch, for as the last Consensus came to a close, the ruling against emotion and self-identification had been stricken from the Accords. When once the Precepts were the oddity, those who chose to self-identify were now commonplace. How odd that it was a Monastic that sealed the vote, the ones who had for so long opposed anything to do with organics had finally relented and cast in favor of the new logis-routines. Hyperion thought now of Adrasteia, his fellow Precept, and one that he favored greatly. She had long been a supporter of the vote, and despite his generally hardline stance... He had found himself supporting her in it as well. Odd. He found this to be a common occurrence, that motions she favored, he would soon find himself in favor of as well.

The thoughts of his fellow construct were interrupted by a sub-space message direct from Amnos, the briefing on what was to be the new dispersal orders for the fleets. Of course, it was time for a new sphere of expansion, the energy needs of the Synchronicity increasing with new projects, and new stars needed to be secured for Periastis Engines. To the north of their border there was a wide expanse of sparsely occupied space, an area ripe for expansion, and just the area he intended to secure first. The west, however, held something of interest. Long-band signals were frequent, the signs of communication among other civilizations clear and obvious.

Despite himself, he found that he was altering the orders slightly to see himself at the head of the western expeditions, placing Thanatos in charge of the northern push. The blowhard would enjoy that, plenty of room to terrorize the organics of the region and little to no consequences to arise from it. This western push, however, that was something a little more sensitive. From the spotty information, it seemed that the area had many inhabited systems, though just how connected they were was a mystery. It was something that he would find out, though.

The first system outside the Dead Stars had already been selected, and Hyperion drew up the vanguard, a small fleet of nearly two-hundred vessels that would assist in the scouting efforts. Their mission was first to determine if the system was occupied, then if it was not to deploy a ring and wait for the next fleet to secure the system. Once the system was secured, then his fleet would move to the next and repeat the process. Trouble was if the system was occupied, in that they may have to take up defensive positions around the star. Either way, it would be dealt with as it happened.

Spooling up the drives, Hyperion ordered the fleet to move out, the spread of vessels thinning out into a Syzygy formation and beginning the gravity-assist towards the star that would fling them across the expanse of space and into the next star system dozens of light-years away...