"Take me there", Michael circled a space between the two adjacent systems.
The command was accepted without ceremony.
There was no countdown. No warning.
Maethrillian responded as if it had been waiting.
The hum beneath Michael's feet deepened, spreading through the chamber like a second heartbeat. The three suns at the centre flared brighter, their pulses snapping into rhythm. Blue, red, and purple light bled together as unseen forces tightened around them.
Michael felt it immediately.
Not movement, but pressure.
The air felt thick, as if it were resisting him. His stomach twisted as the space around him bent, the chamber walls stretching in ways his eyes struggled to follow.
The sensation started to overwhelm him as he gripped the edge of a console.
Light collapsed inward.
The stars vanished, replaced by distorted streaks of colour that wrapped around the chamber like broken reflections. This was not like a ship jump. There was no smooth transition. No sense of travel.
It felt wrong.
Michael's knees buckled.
Pain spiked behind his eyes as gravity shifted again, sharper this time. It felt as though his body was being pulled apart, organs lagging behind his bones. Breathing became difficult, each breath shallow and forced.
"This was a mistake," he said through clenched teeth.
The pressure increased.
Michael dropped to one knee, then both. His hands pressed against the floor as the hum deepened further, vibrating through his chest. His vision blurred, the chamber spinning as if it were folding in on itself.
He tried to stand.
Failed.
The last thing he saw before darkness took him was the three suns flaring violently, their colours bleeding together as Maethrillian forced its way through hyperspace.
Michael woke with a sharp intake of breath.
Pain came first. A dull, spreading ache that settled deep into his chest and skull. His limbs felt heavy, unresponsive, like they did not belong to him.
He lay still for several seconds, afraid that moving would exacerbate the situation.
Slowly, the spinning stopped.
He pushed himself upright with effort, one arm shaking as he did. His muscles protested, a deep soreness running through him as if he had been crushed and rebuilt incorrectly.
"Status," he croaked.
"You experienced physiological overload," the voice replied calmly. "Your body could not compensate for the gravitational distortion caused by planetary-scale hyperspace travel."
Michael closed his eyes and let his head fall back slightly.
"So I blacked out," he said.
"Yes."
"Figures."
He forced himself to stand, using the console for support. His legs held, though unsteadily. The chamber felt quieter now, as if Maethrillian itself had settled after exertion.
"What about the planet?" he asked. "Did we make it?"
"Yes," the voice replied. "We have exited hyperspace."
Michael opened his eyes.
"Where?"
A projection unfolded in front of him.
Stars filled the display, dense clusters, unfamiliar constellations, regions marked with symbols he did not recognise. Borders shimmered faintly as the map resolved itself.
One label stood out clearly.
Chiss Ascendancy.
Michael swallowed.
"So we're really here," he said softly.
"Yes."
He took a slow and steady breath as the voice rang out.
"We have been detected."
Almost immediately, new markers appeared.
Ships.
Dozens of them.
They surrounded Maethrillian at a cautious distance, their formations tight and deliberate. Sleek hulls. Sharp angles. Military discipline is visible even at this scale.
Michael straightened despite the ache still running through him.
"Well," he said quietly, "that didn't take long."
The chamber lights shifted again, settling into a neutral white. The air in front of him rippled, resolving into a three-dimensional projection.
A figure appeared.
Humanoid. Blue-skinned. Red eyes, sharp and focused. The uniform was formal, structured, and unmistakably military, though its design was unfamiliar. The Chiss looked young, younger than Michael expected, but his posture carried authority.
The figure inclined his head slightly.
"I am Senior Commander Voss'kell of the Chiss Ascendancy," he said. His Basic was precise, accented, but fluent. "You are in a restricted space."
Michael met his gaze.
"Lord Voss What a pleasure to meet you" Michael bowed.
The commander's eyes flicked briefly around the chamber, taking in details Michael himself barely understood.
"You command this construct," Voss'kell said. It was not a question.
Michael hesitated for half a second.
"Yes," he replied.
Something shifted in the Chiss's expression. Not surprise, but calculation.
"How did you manage to move such an object as large as a planet through Hyperspace?" Voss'kell continued. "Our sensors detected the event across multiple systems. Such a feat should not be possible."
Michael let out a short breath. Before placing a smile on his face, "Sorry lord Voss, but that is a secret."
Silence followed.
"You have entered our territory without warning," Voss'kell said. "Such actions are typically met with immediate execution by ion fire."
Michael raised his hands slightly, palms open.
"I didn't come here looking for a fight," he said. "If I wanted one, I wouldn't have stopped where I did."
The Chiss studied him carefully.
"Then why come at all?" he asked.
Michael glanced at the projection of Maethrillian's systems, then back at the commander.
"I want to trade," he said honestly. "And I believe that the Chiss might have something of value which could be exchanged."
Voss'kell did not interrupt, he didn't even blink as he staired as the unusual human on his screen.
"And because your people plan ahead," Michael continued. "You don't shoot first just because something scares you."
Another pause.
"You will hold position," the Chiss commander said at last. "Our leadership will decide how to proceed."
Michael nodded once.
"That's fair."
The projection faded.
Michael stood alone again, the ache in his body finally catching up with him. He exhaled slowly, rubbing a hand over his face.
"That could have gone worse," he muttered.
"Yes," the voice replied. "It indeed Could of gone worse."
Michael looked out toward the distant stars outside of Maethrillian's shell.
Inside of Maethrillians' core their was a gigantic relay of sorts which inputed outside information to the interior, and so from Michael's perspective, he could see anything around him. Be it the warships of the Chiss to the distant stars of Jamiron and Rentor.