The silence that followed was heavy enough to bend the edges of the holographic field.
"You underestimate the Selyth," Saryth said eventually. "Pacifists they may be, but they are not naïve. They understand leverage. They would sooner destroy their method of refining, than allow them to fall into hostile hands."
"Then we ensure they cannot destroy them," Varine replied smoothly. "Your operatives — the ones you will deny having — will secure key facilities within the first twenty-four hours of the garrison landing. We follow with Dominion forces to fortify. By the time the Selyth realize their mistake, it will be… irreversible."
"You speak as if you intend to lead this operation." Saryth leaned fractionally forward. "That said, it a bold assumption regarding the infiltration, but that isn't possible. Only sheer force can punch a hole through their array."
"I intend to ensure it succeeds," Varine said. "The Imperium can take the lead publicly. Your banners will stand over Tryllor. The Dominion will be… the shadow beneath them."
"A shadow with equal claim to the resources," Saryth noted.
"Equal on paper," Varine allowed. "In practice… shares can be adjusted. Quietly. As situations demand."
"And you expect me to trust that those adjustments will not favor the Dominion disproportionately?"
Varine's expression did not change. "Trust is irrelevant. Mutual dependency is what matters. You cannot hold Tryllor without us, and we cannot hold it without you. That is the balance."
Saryth's gaze sharpened. "Balances have a way of breaking."
"Only if one side grows careless," Varine replied. "And neither of us is careless."
The Regent said nothing, letting the silence stretch long enough to force Varine to fill it.
"We have a narrow window," the Chancellor continued. "The Confluence is embroiled in the Tethris Rift incident. The Selyth's outer trade routes are under quiet harassment from our agents — and, I suspect, yours. The pirates will escalate in the next arc (51-52 days). That is when we approach the Selyth as protectors. We 'negotiate' terms, deploy the garrison, and secure the planet. The cull — if necessary — follows within the first standard month."
"And if the Confluence moves sooner than expected?"
"Then we force them to choose between defending the Selyth and protecting their own Rift interests. They will choose the latter. The Rift has blood in its water. They will not abandon it."
Saryth's light-born hand curled loosely at his side. "You are certain."
"I am certain of the mathematics. And war, Regent, is just mathematics applied to flesh."
"Mathematics can be wrong," Saryth said.
"Not if you write the equation yourself."
That drew the faintest flicker of a smile from the Regent. "Your confidence," Saryth said, "is almost convincing."
Varine inclined his head. "Almost?"
"Almost," Saryth repeated. "You see, Chancellor, when someone brings me an inevitability wrapped in silk, I know to look for the knife inside."
"And what do you find?"
"That the knife is sharp enough to cut the hand that holds it."
Varine's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Then perhaps we agree to keep both hands on the handle."
The Regent regarded Varine for a long, unblinking moment. The drav-wave distortion between them made the Chancellor's silver eyes shimmer faintly, as if alive.
"Two hands on a knife," Saryth said quietly, "is still a knife, Chancellor."
"And one hand alone is suicide," Varine replied.
"Then we begin with the understanding," Saryth said, stepping down fully into the dais, "that the hand which lets go first will be the one cut."
Varine inclined his head the barest degree. "Agreed."
The Regent's fingers flexed idly at his side — not a gesture of thought, but of signal, unseen by the man across the link. The room's resonance shifted, a subtle alteration in the drav-wave harmonics that tightened the already secure encryption. They were now in a closed layer of conversation no listening device outside the chamber could penetrate.
"Then we speak plainly," Saryth said. "You propose a siege disguised as guardianship. A joint garrison. Equal banners. Initial deployment under the pretext of suppressing piracy. Subsequent… conditioning of the population to accept long-term administration. And a calculated reduction in numbers to ensure compliance."
"Correct."
"And you propose," Saryth continued, "that the cull be conducted under the shadow of accident."
"Yes. Accidents are difficult to prove, and more importantly, difficult to avenge without evidence. If the Selyth cannot prove who killed their own, their outrage disperses into mourning. Mourning is… pliable."
"You would make the Imperium carry the public blame," Saryth said flatly.
Varine's expression was calm. "I would make the Imperium carry the public attention. There's a difference. We can operate in your shadow while the galaxy stares at you."
"You have an irritatingly glib tongue..." Saryth's tone didn't shift, but the words landed like a blade sliding between ribs. "And when the galaxy turns back to you?"
"By then," Varine said, "the facts will be unrecognizable, the witnesses curated, and the planet already producing at capacity. Outrage fades. Profit endures."
"You mistake endurance for victory," Saryth said. "I've seen outrage buried for centuries, only to rise and burn empires."
Varine smiled faintly. "Then we make sure the Selyth have no centuries left in them." That earned him a moment of silence—not hesitation, but a deliberate pause.
"Very well," Saryth said. "If this is to proceed, conditions must be set."
"State them."
"First," Saryth said, "Imperial forces will control all planetary orbital lanes. No Dominion vessel enters or exits without Imperial clearance."
Varine shook his head. "Impossible. Orbital control is leverage. We cannot cede it entirely to you."
"You may have control of outbound freight inspection," Saryth offered. "Mineral shipments only. Passenger and non-mineral cargo remain under Imperial purview."
Varine's silver gaze sharpened. "Inspection only works if we have real enforcement."
"You will have embedded inspectors aboard Imperial patrol craft," Saryth said. "Their presence will be enough to ensure transparency."
"And if your patrols simply decide not to encounter certain shipments?"
Saryth's voice cooled. "Then those patrol captains will suffer accidents of their own."
Varine studied him for a beat, then inclined his head slightly. "Accepted."
"Second," Saryth continued, "the cull will be conducted by Dominion forces, but staged to implicate rogue pirates. The Imperium will provide falsified sensor telemetry to corroborate this fiction."
Varine's brows rose a fraction. "You trust us to conduct the cull?"
"No," Saryth said. "I trust you to get your hands dirty while we hold the washbasin."
A ghost of a smile touched the Chancellor's lips. "As long as the basin is deep enough."
"It will be. Thirty percent, no more. Precision targeting through planetary bombardment. Any individual or group with the capacity to unify opposition. The rest remain alive to serve as the working body."
"And the Selyth government?"
"Left intact," Saryth said. "A puppet in familiar robes is less likely to provoke revolt than an outright occupation government."
Varine considered that. "Puppet governments have a way of snapping their strings."
"Not when the strings are wrapped around their children's throats."
That, at last, drew a low chuckle from the Dominion Chancellor. "Cruelty, Regent, looks good on you."
"It's not cruelty," Saryth said. "It's efficiency."
"Call it what you will..." Varine leaned slightly forward in the drav-wave haze. "And your third condition?"
"You will provide full access to Dominion mineral refining algorithms for Quantalyte and Onytheris, in the situation where... complications occur, with the Selyth." Saryth said.
The Chancellor's expression chilled. "Those are Dominion secrets."
"And without them," Saryth said evenly, "our refining efficiency will be half yours. Which means twice the shipments, twice the orbital traffic, twice the exposure. The more we move, the more the Confluence sees. Unless, of course, you intend to use your advantage to outproduce us and undermine the agreement from within."
Varine's gaze did not waver. "You think like a Dominion statesman."
"I think like a man who has been betrayed before," Saryth said. The pause that followed was thin, stretched like a wire pulled taut.
"Very well," Varine said at last. "You will have the algorithms. But only under the safeguards we design."
"That is acceptable," Saryth said. "For now."
Varine's eyes narrowed. "And your fourth condition?"
"There is no fourth condition," Saryth said. "Only a truth: if the Dominion moves to take full control of Tryllor, the Imperium will scorch the planet before letting it go."
Varine smiled — not in amusement, but in recognition. "And if the Imperium does the same?"
"The Dominion will salt the void where Tryllor once orbited," Saryth replied.
They regarded one another for a long, silent stretch — two predators agreeing on the kill, but not on who would feed first.
"Then we understand each other," Varine said finally.
"For now," Saryth agreed.
"And the timing?"
Saryth stepped back from the dais. "The escalation begins in one Arc. Pirate activity increases by thirty percent. Civilian casualties must be visible enough to provoke fear, but not so large as to invite premature intervention."
Varine nodded. "The cull follows within thirty days of garrison deployment."
"Thirty-three," Saryth corrected.
The Chancellor tilted his head. "Superstition?"
"Pattern disruption," Saryth said. "People expect round numbers. Fear settles deeper when it comes from angles they didn't calculate."
A small smile. "You truly do think like us."
"No," Saryth said, turning away. "I think like me."
The drav-wave shimmer began to collapse, Varine's image folding in on itself. The connection severed. The chamber fell silent except for the faint hum of the transceiver's cooling cycles.
Saryth stood alone for a long while, his gaze on the darkened dais. Every agreement had its expiry. Every ally was a future enemy. And Tryllor… Tryllor would be the first step toward the war neither of them intended to lose.
...or so they believed.
————————————————
2 Years Later
In the year 4275 of the galactic calendar, the Imperium and the Dominion staged a series of events that ultimately led to the encirclement of Tryllor.
There and then, a joint siege on the planet began. The planets shields stood against the combined assault of both fleets for six hours, a feat that was unbelievable to those staging the assault, and those spectating the events that were taking place.
It was expected given the first of the Selyth were much more advanced than the rest of the universe, but it shook the rest of the Galaxy.
In that moment, something that no one had anticipated, occurred. An overzealous captain of the Dominion, happened to fire a volley of beams from an Imperator-class dreadnought, meant to be used only when the goal is planetary annihilation, in hopes of destroying the shield with it.
Unfortunately, he gave the command to fire right as the planetary shield arrays crumbled under the 6 hour bombardment. The consequences... were catastrophic.
The volley that was in essence, a planetary blanket bombing, swiftly wiped out the population on the side of the planet facing the dreadnought, as the wave of destruction closed in on the other side of the planet, with both the Dominion and Imperium watching in horror.
For a planet with resources such as Tryllor, such beams hitting the planet would pierce the surface, and this was a problem. The beams from the imperial ship indeed pierced the surface, with many hitting massive mounds that stretched seemingly endlessly under the surface.
The resulting product of the beams hitting ores that were already charged with energy, and were known for their unique properties, was the implosion of the planet.
At least that was what everyone present thought.
As the wave circled the last bit of the planet, which held the fifth largest city on the planet, the wave of energy that was assumed to annihilate the planet was suctioned into the center of the city, right before it consumed the last bit of the city, like a cosmic vacuum.
No one knew how, or why. All anyone knew was the wave was absorbed, as was the energy of the planet as a whole.
This single moment would go down as the 'Arvagne', a term that meant 'erasure' in the tongue of the Selyth. Symbolizing the unintentional genocide.
The reason being, the moment the last of the energy was absorbed, the planet imploded leaving in its wake a black hole that grew rapidly wiping out the Imperium and Dominions fleet, as well as any other spectators, as it grew to the size of the star system in an instant.
That event go down in history as the 'singularity.'