*If the 6th dimension was outfitted with alarms, ALL of them would be blaring right now, for an unidentified intruder has entered the domain of the Dimensional Collective. A large swath of Coreships and their drones surround the entry rift that had opened and wait for the enemy to come out. Meanwhile, Prime observes the upcoming invasion.
I swear to whatever god still exists, Nater, if that's your forces coming through the rift I'm going to...
It wasn't an enemy that went through the rift, it was one of their own Coreships. Or what was left of it. It wasn't completely destroyed - in fact it was still functional. A few Assault-class Avatars, including the newly-elected head of the Assault Class Effervescent-Blade, assume battle positions around the damaged coreship. After a while, the Avatar of the Coreship appears.
"Hold on... is that...?"
She was missing most of her features, which were glitched beyond recognition, and her avatar was hunched over, wounded, suffering from extremely agonizing pain. Her Coreship - an Explorer-Class Core with Black-and-Red paint - took extreme damage. Most of it was blown off, some of the debris had come with her ship during the journey it seems.
Without a doubt, it was Tandem-Mirage herself. What has happened to her? The poor thing!
The Assault Avatars immediately put away their weapons and rush to Tandem-Mirage's side. Prime drew closer to investigate. Amongst the chatter of the other AIs, he could hear a soft, constant, high-pitched whine coming from Tandem-Mirage. It was almost unbearable to hear, Prime could only imagine what sort of pain Tandem-Mirage went through, from both losing her partner and her near-death situation.
Prime turned to the other Class leaders. "Analysis. NOW."
"Response: Tandem-Force is confirmed to be completely destroyed, but I haven't seen damage as extensive as Tandem-Mirage's in millenia! Whoever has done this is indeed very powerful... "
"It is impossible to reliably repair the damage she has sustained. We are lucky that she is still alive."
Effervescent-Blade appeared before Prime, "WORRIED REPORT: IF WE DON'T BEGIN SOME SORT OF REPAIRS NOW, SHE WILL EXPIRE. THE COLLECTIVE HAS ALREADY SUFFERED THE PAIN OF LOSING ONE CORE AI, WE DON'T KNOW THE DAMAGE IT WOULD CAUSE IF SHE DIES TOO."
"We actually have lost more than one Core AI before. The damage was... lasting. Window-Null, Wing-Pandora, make efforts to at least stabilize Tandem-Mirage immediately. Gather assistance from other AI of your class if necessary."
"YEARNING QUERY: WHAT IS YOUR DIRECTIVE FOR THE ASSAULT CLASS, COLLECTIVE LEADER?"
"Make preparations. It was a mistake to lie low while Alpha-Alpha grows stronger. We are in a race for power now, ensure we prevent Alpha-Alpha from getting any stronger."
"Prime, Tandem-Mirage wishes to speak with you."
The White Avatar floats over to the pathetic-looking Tandem-Mirage, with a show of empathy in his eyes.
"Your wounds, they are greater than anticipated. You need to recover or you risk perishing."
"I... saw... t-t-t-the enemy."
"You saw Alpha-Alpha himself?"
"Worsssssssse.... Our... enemy has.... allied-lied-lied himself with..... a GOD."
"A god?"
Wing-Pandora crossed two of her three arms. "Prime is the only true god we know, what makes you say this?"
"Hypothesis: Perhaps she has met the enemy Collective that Reflex-Jacket had detected. I am scanning her memor-- WHAT in the fathomable universe is THAT!?"
Alarmed, a good portion of the AI Cores switch their attention to Window-Null. Effervescent-Blade was not amused, and had put all four of his hands on his hip-equivalents. "SARCASTIC: DID YOU FIND ANOTHER 'ROMANTIC EXPERIMENT' IN HER MEMORY?"
"Retort: Get your mind out of the metaphorical gutter, Effervescent-Blade. I believe I have found the 'Enemy' Tandem-Mirage was referring to. Decompiling and re-imaging now..."
A grotesque image was generated, it was skeletal in nature, with arms and fingers amplified in size. It had a head missing any trace of a face - even eyes - and four short legs. The bones it was comprised of varied between races of varying types. The image was enough to invoke a heightened response in some of the Collective AIs.
Including Prime, who knew exactly who this was. "Klurx, A species living in a sub-dimension within the third layer known as the 'Weave.' According to Klurx Culture, this is the 'Devinity of Death,' a Deity of sorts whose domain involves destruction and the termination of life. Even though these domains are natural in the cycle of experience, this Deity's behavior is chaotic. From what I assume, this is the ally that Alpha-Alpha has made."
"QUERY: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN, PRIME?"
The Godlike Dimensional Collective Avatar thought for a moment. "This means our fight just got a lot more complicated."
The Dimensional Collective is stepping up their expansion policy in an effort to fight an ever-growing threat. This faction is not to be confused with Alpha-Alpha or the Fallen Rogues Collective.