"Approaching Spawn of Grienwuld, m'lord."
"Excellent." Te'Ess-Arr turned to look out the port of the black angelship, his shuttlecraft, to see his command craft shining in the distance. From a distance, it appeared to be anything from a star to a distant opening into the flow, but when one got closer, they knew it was a massive diamond flying through space.
Since the fall of the Vodoni Empire three solar years past, the Arcane moved in and took over the Vodoni economy, helping a poor economy with an infusion of ready cash. The Arcane turned the Vodoni people into shipbuilders, investing time and gold into shipbuilding.
The zenith of their work was a new Diamondship, commissioned by Te'Ess-Arr himself, for his personal command ship. Roughly the size of an asteroid, the Diamondship soon became the ultimate symbol of Arcane power. However, the Grand Arcane Trading House waited until they took delivery of the Diamondship, christened it 'The Spawn of Grienwuld' (rumored to be some major deity in their religion, right up there with 'The Holee Dollah'), and then abandoned their Vodoni ports. The layoffs of literally millions of workers threw Vodanispace into chaos, and now they're on the verge of a civil war.
Te'Ess-Arr orchestrated the entire deal, planning to keep Vodanispace around for awhile. It was only when he realized he could make far more gold cashing in on the Planes that he began his plans on abandoning Wildspace. Now, the Arcane looked out upon the greatest prize, his symbol of authority.
The diamondship loomed closer, growing in size as they approached. When the ship was within range, it slipped out of spelljamming speeds and entered a low orbit. The diamondship was obviously larger than 100 Tons: how it could move about defied all logic. While few outside the arcane were aware of its existence, none knew how it travelled the stars. Dowhar 'Corporate Raiders' (the name of their spy network) tried for months to learn its secrets. Of the dozen Raiders launched against the diamondship, none returned.
The diamondship was polished and immaculate: it looked to be the largest, purest diamond ever created. The cut was perfect. Every facet was angled properly, and there appeared to be no entrances or ports onboard the massive ship. The black angelship floated like a dark speck against a perfect sheet of glass toward the top of the diamond. While about halfway up, part of the diamond's shell slid out of the way, revealing a docking bay large enough for even an Elven Man'O War. The graceful little ship entered silently.
Within, the diamondship was alive with activity. Dozens of Arcane moved around the docking bay, repairing other ships, moving others up and down complex mechanical shafts, and guiding the dark angel in for a landing. Minotaur bodyguards stood at every port; security on the Spawn appeared to be very heavy. When the ship landed and the hatch opened, all arcane stopped and stood perfectly still until Te'Ess-Arr exited the ship.
The tall Arcane looked over the crews, slightly nodding. Crews began resuming duty with permission of their leader. One Arcane, dressed in a long, light brown robe and silver belt, awaited Te'Ess-Arr at the bottom of the ramp.
Te'Ess-Arr nodded to the other arcane, and began walking to the far end of the bay. The assistant fell into step behind him.
"Report, Kob" Te'Ess-Arr commanded.
"M'lord, we have confirmation that all planar gates have been interlinked and are networking together. Your operatives on Omni Prime have begun installation of the artifact."
"Excellent." Te'Ess-Arr and Kob arrived at the far end of the silver docking level, near a transport tube. The taller Arcane entered and begun to rise slowly. Once he was clear of the level, Kob followed. The pair moved quickly through the center of the craft, passing level after level of ships, equipment, and Arcane.
After a minute, Te'Ess-Arr stepped out of the tube onto a richly appointed bridge. Although dark blues and golds in color, many small globes of light kept the workstations lit. The gathered Arcane stood in the presence of their lord. He nodded, and they returned to work.
He walked down into the circular bridge, crossed its length (mapmakers would mark it at about 150' circular) to a raised podium. Surrounding the podium were four extremely large Minotaurs. It seemed that Te'Ess-Arr favored them as bodyguards. Stepping up, Te'Ess-Arr took his command seat and surveyed the entire bridge. Kob stayed down on the main level, since no arcane other than the head of the Grand Arcane Trading House was permitted there unless invited.
"Continue," Te'Ess-Arr nodded toward Kob.
"M'lord, we have also received a report from your operatives on Astromundi." Kob removed a scroll, unfolded it and read the contents. "'Crews in Clusterspace still searching for egg. No success yet. Construction of gate continuing slowly, but still on track for five-year completion. There is a new development however.'"
Te'Ess-Arr's left eyebrow arched.
"'Adventuring party has located stable gate through spherewall. Portal permits passage for any type vessel. Adventuring party was disposed of. Gate is located near southern pole of sphere.'"
"Anything more in the report?"
"Only, m'lord, that Arcane-manned Vodoni Hunter-Killers are patrolling the stable opening at all times. To date, no one has attempted to breach the port. They do report that an elven leafship containing possibly vital information escaped the Cluster, but they have been contained."
Te'Ess-Arr reached down into his robes and removed a scroll, and handed it to Kob.
"Have a messenger ship send these instructions to my operatives in Astromundi at once," the arcane said. "Also inform them to stop in Solarispace on their way back. I want a report on events there. Use one of the new jumpships."
"Aye, m'lord." Kob took the scroll, bowed, and hurried off to the transport tube. Te'Ess-Arr looked out the portal to wildspace, to Omni's sun off in the distance. He folded his long fingers between themselves as he lost himself in thought.
