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The <span class="mu-s">Oon</span> are indeed a race of “crystalline” beings from a distant solar system. It seems they evolved in a planet rich with geothermic activity and high rates of mineral formation and complexity, but without any traditional biosphere. Instead of evolving from organic compounds, they evolved from silicon instead. The crystals are similar to quartz, but are seemingly capable of containing a complex set of vibrations or signals within them, which is where your discovery starts to breech into undiscovered territory. The destroyed crystals from the rogue satellite are deactivated, containing no signal, but these ones given to you by the Consortium are, and they share the same signal.
You see, the Oon are not <span class="mu-i">really</span> crystals. The crystals seem to be their bodies or physical antenna, but what they really are is a <span class="mu-i">vibration</span> or signal. They are your first known species that seems to be <span class="mu-i">energy based</span>, evolving not genetic codes in genomes but instead as complexity in vibrations and frequencies. Frequencies that were more stable and able to spread between these crystals, like tuning forks grown from chemistry, were able to “reproduce” and “evolve” into higher and higher forms of complexity. You always assumed a mineral based form of life would be relatively peaceful, given their sedimentary lifestyle, but they are actually quite belligerent, attacking and expanding among each other with waves to change the vibrations in the crystals from rivals to their own; a form of aggressive takeover that means life or death. As the more crystal “bodies” one has access to, the more power they seem to be able to draw from realspace into hyperspace, similar to how energy disappears when traveling Faster-Then-Light, and the larger the reach of their “signal” gets. This also explains why the asteroid reacted so violently when you attempted to communicate with it, as this would essentially overwrite its brain within its crystals, killing it in the same way the Oon “fight” each other.
But it is only when you have your Starseers investigate the crystals do you get the full picture. As far as your understanding goes, creatures tend to “look” the same as they are in their Starsight projections, their own self image or neurology creating the avatar. It is their “presence”. But the Oon do not appear as stones at all, instead as complex geometric shapes and forms. This is their true selves.
It is revealed that the crystal satellite who attacked you is <span class="mu-s">Eight by Six Degrees</span>, an Oon frequency who has expanded to almost all of Oon space. This frequency is very aggressive, but affable to communication from outsiders, which is why the Consortium seem so keen on it. After defeating your ship, Eight by Six seemed to want to convert your ship's frequency into its own, which is where the namesake of the Oon comes from- the sound of vibrational conversion.
