Not Actually a "Phoenix Needle Ghost," But a Ballistic Acupuncture Appointment Still Is Not What You Want

A pure fractal made in Apophysis 2.09, mirrored and overlaid upon itself

“Sometimes, humans just need a story to let them know we're not the only fools out here doing stupid stuff and getting blown back” – so said my chief engineer, Lt. Cmdr. James Doohan, in the wake of the loss of one of our lieutenants on leave, on some foolery.

I held my commentary on that because as captain it is not my job to tell any crew members how to feel when confronted with loss of their crew mates. Sometimes, as captain, you just have to hear your command staff out.

I will not say who exactly among the human-led consortium's enemies it was who found out the relative accuracy of the human appellation of “Phoenix Needle Ghost” for the creature above in the form it took on when speaking with humanoids. The phoenix bit was for the pattern across its lower front area, ghost for its overall spectral appearance, and needle because of its sharp lines of light intersecting.

But of that whole idea, the part that was right was needle – photon needle. torpedo.

In the quiet arms race of the galaxy, we humanoids look at shield strength and deflection vectors when designing the next photon torpedo. The being above was given powers that renders all that irrelevant, for its photon needles have that special quality so notable about Uppaaimarn travel technology: the ability to pass through higher dimensions to emerge in any position in the third.

In other words, their needles bypass all shielding located in the third dimension.

The other thing to realize here: intergalactic Neutral Zones are not entirely fixed, because the different powers on either side tend to develop parallel to the border and occasionally reach a point that is right on the line. That line will eventually curve to accommodate whatever that border civilization decides to do or has decided for it by the galactic imperial types, and with that in mind, the human-led consortium has little trouble persuading most civilizations along that line to join up with us.

However, on the rare occasion a civilization decides to stay neutral, the consortium's general attitude is that if a civilization can look at the evidence and be confident it can maintain its neutrality, it generally can – and rarely has this not been the case. Sentient life is much more resourceful than one often thinks. Some planets, for example, just rent and keep tribbles around in great numbers.

But, in the case of the above being, it appeared and gave a friendly warning to the flotilla of warships that arrived just a few days after the declaration of neutrality. The warning was not heeded and the flotilla advanced on the system only to be greeted by the local hospitality: ballistic acupuncture. The lead ship died the death of a thousand cuts, up to and including a warp core breech that took out the flotilla behind it in terms of ability to continue to advance.

Of course, the flotilla's survivors, not understanding what had just happened, thought they had been ambushed and called for big fleet help. A whole full fleet admiral and a grand fleet duly arrived, breathing out threatening and slaughter just in time for its ballistic acupuncture appointment. The victors hauled all of the complete wrecks into their sun, packed the survivors on the three remaining vessels that at least still had some hull integrity, and sent them limping on impulse power back into their own territory.

“I would have warned them if they had asked me,” consortium full fleet admiral Vittorio Siriani said about it, “but nobody over there ever asks me about these things! I mean, I know my track record is boring – I've never even considered getting myself, about 100 ships and 44,000 crew members a ballistic acupuncture appointment, so, you know what? Maybe I'm not the person to ask!”

To his credit, Admiral Siriani was sick over the needless loss of life, and had tried to warn those who considered themselves his enemies.

By contrast, Lt. Cmdr. Doohan and other members of my crew were having some amusement at the news, but they were much further removed from it, and there was another dynamic in play: we of the Amanirenas had been picking up after losses for now our second year after the trans-warp accident that one of our fellow fleet ships had occasioned. This had a greater effect on my crew than I realized it had – some of them just needed to see someone else taking the loss and giving humanity a day off the humiliation brigade.

“We do need a win and we are soon going to get it,” Admiral Benjamin Banneker-Jackson, my uncle said. “Admiral Jefferson has completed his survey and has found a star sufficiently like our sun but also with enough interference in viewing between us and the biggest prying eyes.”

“You said interference, not just dust or nebulae,” I said.

“The Amanirenas, for its relaunch, is going to get a chance to observe one of the galaxy's most lovely recurring natural phenomena – it's on the science track, after all!” my uncle said. “This crew needs a little cheering up, and Adm. Jefferson and I have quite a show for us to see and make!”