4994 Grand Convergence V Penance. That had become the latest preoccupation of the nunser known as the Trampler of Stars. What the alien could not accept was the understanding and forgiveness expressed by the leaders of the Red Cabal. The wise and powerful descendants of the Elder Gods did not cast any blame towards the lesser nunser god. The Fractured House of the Collapsing Star had only been constructed fairly recently, and already the hybrid alien homeship had been felled by a fleet of inferior human irregulars. The Trampler of Stars could accept defeat at the hands of the 'Mech Trade Association' or the 'Common Fleet Alliance', but according to the information supplied by the honorless human sycophants, the group that managed to defeat him and his homeship were nowhere near as important! This caused his defeat to shame him even more. If not for the fact that he needed to abide by the directives set by the leaders of the Red Cabal, the nunser god would have preferred to stay and fight to the bitter end! Instead, he had run back to one of the headquarters of the Red Cabal like a nunser who had lost his herd. As his combat four-legged form strode down the center path of the Sixth Tide Station, all of the nunsers, puelmers and other indigenous alien soldiers striding on the side paths gazed at the living god with awe, worship and respect. The mortal aliens revered their gods far too much to recognize that the objects of their worship possessed their own flaws and shortcomings. The Trampler of Stars felt more ashamed as the amount of adoring looks increased. The metal deck underneath his powerful hooves strained even more as they struggled to contain the shockwaves generated by his increasingly less controlled gait. The alien god deeply wanted to get back to the frontlines so that he could earn his penance by fighting the powerful human mechs and starships. Yet as much as he wanted to break through the station wall, warp out of this star system and make his way to the nearest nunser-controlled region that had come under attack, his orders compelled him to stay in place. He did not have the courage or will to defy his orders, not when he thought about the powerful god who issued them in the first place. The Trampler of Stars happened to be on the way to meet with the powerful descendant. One of the main reasons why the nunser did not dare to defy the descendant was because this older and more ancient being had mentored the Trampler of Stars. It was through the help of this higher being that the Trampler of Stars had been able to increase his godblood concentration and master the art of trampling space. As the nunser god entered a more restricted area of the gigantic Sixth Tide Station, he felt more relieved as he no longer received as many worshipful gazes. These aliens should be praying to other gods. The Trampler of Stars continued to stomp forward until he approached a massive metal gate. A large amount of godblood had been infused into the gate, so much so that not even the Trampler of Stars possessed the confidence to breach it with his own power! No guards or automated defense systems protected this gateway because none were needed. The gate slowly slid upwards as soon as the Trampler of Stars came within sight. Once the nunser god stepped inside, somehow entered into a completely different environment! A highly toxic gas mixture surrounded him from all sides. The dim lighting was only enough to make the Trampler of Stars see swirls of beige gasses in every direction. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢 The pressure, heat and radiation were much higher than before! The majority of the Sixth Tide Station had set its environment at an acceptable middle ground where most of the races could endure with the help of relatively thin protective suits. The new gaseous environment that the Trampler of Stars found himself in was never meant to accommodate mortal alien life forms. Only the most advanced and resilient vehicles had any hope of allowing them to enter this holy enclave. Even the Trampler of Stars himself struggled to protect his resilient body. He summoned and strengthened his transphasic barriers in order to reduce the pressure on his flesh. The nunser god kept striding forward. His hooves no longer enjoyed any solid footing, so they dug into the folds of space instead! On and on the phase lord kept moving. It was extremely difficult for anyone to determine his direction or navigate towards a specific destination, but the Trampler of Stars did not suffer from these limitations. He was a god, one that had succeeded in holding and utilizing the power of the godblood that flowed through his strengthened veins! An unknown amount of time went by as the Trampler of Stars kept exercising his body and organs further. Even for a god of his strength, it was a considerable burden for him to remain in this gaseous environment. Still, he persisted in his journey. The summons was absolute and there was no way the Trampler of Stars would allow himself to delay his arrival. Slowly but surely, the illumination grew brighter. The Trampler slowed down his steps as he approached what looked to be a miniature star. It was not a real star, but still possessed a fraction of one! Such a weak and tiny star could not possibly exist in a normal reality, but the descendant of the Elder God who shaped this enclave had rewritten the fabric of space in front so that an anomaly such as this could exist in a stable form! The Trampler of Stars did not possess the power or the wisdom to reshape space and create a miniature star by himself. Yet his alien eyes gazed hopefully at the tiny stellar object as knew that he could make one of his own, so long as he managed to evolve and attain the strength of the descendant hovering before his body. Compared to the miniature star, the phase whale that created it was much more impressive! The god was not a regular member of his eminent race. As an ancient phase whale, the one known as the Tide Caller had lived long enough to witness the passage of several eras of the Red Ocean! All of the inferior blood that had once circulated through his body had disappeared long before the Tramper of Stars had been born. An unimaginably huge quantity of pure phasewater flowed through the ancient phase whale's aquatic body. The extreme phasewater concentration made it so that the Tide Caller's true physical body was as large as that of a moon or a small terrestrial planet! No singular intelligent organism in the Red Ocean could boast a body that was large enough to generate its own gravity! The Tide Caller's near-total mastery of spatial manipulation allowed him to shrink and fold his real body so that its outward size and dimensions closely matched his appearance in his distant youth. Though the Tide Caller shunted away all of the gravity and immense phasewater fluctuations generated by his titanic body, the Trampler of Stars possessed enough sensitivity to know that the ancient phase whale could crush the nunser god when letting go of any restraint! The Trampler of Stars did not dare to act presumptuous in front of his mentor. "I am here, oh caller of storms." The ancient aquatic alien being had noticed the Trampler's approach a long time ago. His deep and enormous eyes seemed to gain focus as they gazed at the relatively tiny nunser's humble posture. Space seemed to ripple as the Tide Caller generated a low spatial vibration that actually comprised an alien language! The nunser phase lord bowed as he struggled to formulate his answer. "We have failed... to protect our Refuge Plan. The 'Big Two' will soon learn of what we intend to do to save our races, preserve our stars and wipe out every detestable human in our galaxy." Another spatial vibration buffeted the Trampler's body. "You... do not care? I have the greatest respect for your awesome power, but we have continually underestimated the human invaders. Our latest reinforcements to the front have successfully stalled the fleets sent by the MTA and the CFA, but these powerful human groups are about to send reinforcements of their own. Not even the technologies traded by the humans themselves can stop the collapse of our lines. We do not have enough time and resources to build enough advanced warships." The ancient phase whale remained unperturbed. It was as if the human threat was inconsequential. Space vibrated yet again. The Trampler of Stars reacted with shock! "That does not conform to the Refuge Plan! We are nowhere ready to implement the plan that will save us from the humans that are arriving from the Great Hive. The plan shall fail if we commence the Great Activation." Space vibrated a bit more this time. The Trampler became shocked yet again! "Is that... true? Can human high technology truly make up for the preparations that we have yet to make?" Space ripple a few times. The Trampler of Stars started to come around to the idea. "I comprehend... not all can be preserved. We do not have more time to wait until everything is in place. We must trigger the Great Activation quickly before it is too late." Space rippled in a different rhythm. "Is my power... needed?" Space rippled a single time. "Everyone's power is needed." The Trampler of Stars could not shirk this duty because every native god must contribute to this great endeavor! The nunser phase lord listened to the instructions of his great mentor and began to activate his body in a certain fashion. Soon enough, the gaseous environment around the Trampler began to shake and vibrate as the alien god exerted more of his power! At the same time, the one known as the Tide Caller began to generate his own spatial manifestation. The humongous pocket space began to shake as the Tide Caller's power not only spread through the entire volume of space, but also to ripple outside of this contained region! The Sixth Tide Station itself began to absorb the powerful spatial energies released by the local phase whales and the phase lords! Many alien crew members assigned to the station quickly learned what was happening. A lot of aliens lowered their bodies in awe and devotion as they all knew that the mighty Tide Caller had started to take action! This was not the only site where the native gods began to channel their power to such an enormous extent. The Red Cabal had built 26 other Tide Stations! Each of these large and special constructs were spread throughout the Red Ocean in a circle pattern. They collectively began to accumulate an enormous amount of spatial power. The gigantic quantities of phasewater that the Red Cabal had incorporated into the station all began to do their work. They could not have worked so well if not for the recent installation of highly advanced power generators and other potent human devices! As these Tide Stations began to charge and ripple the surrounding space, they began to trigger secondary ripples as other gods began to cooperate with the Red Cabal! A large number of phase whales and phase lords who were hiding in the nooks and crannies of the Red Ocean had begun to channel their powerful in special ways, enabling their strong bodies to amplify the spatial ripples in their immediate surroundings! The humans remained clueless of what was taking place. The spatial ripples that engulfed almost the entirety of the Red Ocean were so faint and subtle that they resembled the ordinary spatial tides that beset the dwarf galaxy from time to time! Only a few sensitive humans sensed an ominous undercurrent in the Red Ocean. One of them was the latest god pilot to pass through the greater beyonder gate. All regularly scheduled traffic in Bridgehead One had ceased as the humans awaited the arrival of one of their greatest heroes!