OOC: w/ Howl

IC:
Outskirts of S1 system
The cruisers departed shortly after the order was given, heading deeper into the system to perform more detailed scans while the heavier ships stayed behind. Admiral Cygnus didn’t want to spook anyone who lived here, and the Raider-class definitely didn’t fit the bill. The smaller cruisers that looked like boxes with a few turrets and engines strapped onto them were both harder to detect and less threatening.

The data they were receiving was strange though. There was definitely communication within this system, yet the translator AI was having trouble making heads or tails of it. “Open a channel to the Rampart.” the admiral ordered, wanting to talk with the corvette’s captain.

“Rampart receiving.” sounded Astra’s voice over the comms. “Captain, have a look at the data scans. The AI is failing to translate. I can’t put my finger on it, but there is something strange about those, maybe you can decipher it?” Cygnus explained and sent over the data burst.

Captain Astra was one of the greatest minds of their people. It was her who recently doubled the efficiency of their FTL drives and laid the theoretical basis behind their shielding systems. It warmed the Admiral’s heart for a reason no one else in the fleet knew. True enough, after a few minutes the channel opened again. “It’s not a language. It’s machine code.” Astra stated plainly, but Cygnus could hear the spark of curiosity in her tone.

“Automated defenses?” the admiral asked. It was the logical conclusion to why such amount of data would be shared among machines - she imagined it would take quite a few to protect even a single planet. However, Astra wasn’t convinced. “More, much more than that. The structure is too complex. Far more than our transmissions actually, given that we use organic computing. Either way, when I compared the timestamps for when the cruisers received the same data, I found the origin - it’s a planet in the system. Requesting permission to investigate.”

Naturally. It was hard to keep Astra from anything once she found it interesting. Cygnus could order her otherwise, but what purpose would that serve? This was the only discovered node out of their home cluster. Sooner or later, they would have to transit through here and meet those machines if they wanted to expand elsewhere. She just hoped this wouldn’t end in a disaster. “Granted. Proceed with caution. Do not initiate contact unless approached.”

With a swift confirmation the corvette disappeared in a subspace window.

High orbit around P1
The vortex deposited the Rampart on the pre-set coordinates. “Move us away from the entry point and plot a jump back to the node just in case. Proceed with passive scan of the area.” Astra ordered and the corvette’s engines ignited, accelerating it away.

“Sensor data coming up on the main display.” an officer said, and a hologram appeared in front of them. And left them all in a stunned silence. “How many are there?” Astra asked, seeing a very busy planet surrounded by space stations, with ships constantly moving between them, the surface and something Astra assumed was a stationary FTL gate. “Dozens, maybe couple hundred. All broadcasting the data we scanned earlier.”

Astra’s suspicion was getting stronger by the minute. The data transfers looked too much alike to the nonorganic AIs some of their scientists proposed for comfort. “We’re not dealing with people here.” she summarized her thoughts. “Any indication they noticed us?”

Station 235

Every ship in the system was alerted to the presence of the subspace arrival, for a brief moment all information was being passed and conglomerated, then re-cast down to the surface where it would be adequately stored for further species if the inevitable were to happen. After the transmission all of the surrounding space, ships, stations, workers, all went “dark” - no data transmission.

Destroyers began to disconnect from stations, the space stations Anti-Ship weapons powered up, battle-carriers began to buzz as spacecraft poured out of their hangers. Corvettes, began to cloak, and started moving to the flanks of the ship. Frigates spread out and formed a wide net, prepared to block any reinforcements that could come. The maintenance drones shot ahead of all of the military fleets, their two large claw like appendages, opened so that they formed little bumpers. As they approached the ship, they would begin building a completely spherical shield around it, using their bodies as the shield, their thick claws acted as some sort of armor for them though it wouldn’t help from anything larger than anti-spacecraft weapons. When the first layer was formed, another layer formed behind them until it was five deep.They were rubbing and bumping against one another but formed an effective barrier against kinetic weapons.

A single ship had been designated to identify friend or foe, this destroyer broke away from the fleet which was forming defensive perimeters around valuable assets. At its approach the drones backed off leaving only a gap for the destroyer to make direct line of sight. The weapons systems were deactivated due to first contact protocol.

P1

With the commotion above, the “black box” of the civilization was being moved, its precious data being transported via the underground tram systems. The box descended miles below the surface and made its way to where an emergency launch hangar, where a small fleet of ships was preparing to depart. It was a last ditch effort made in case of full invasion from hostile species. The black box would be transported off world and out of the system. The Experimental robotics department was loaded into the repurposed battle carrier that was hidden in the underground. The black box stored alongside the department, they primed their engines and waited for the signal to leave from the council which had been moved to the control cluster somewhere deep in the planet’s crust.

Elsewhere on P1, the ground forces began to set up defensive positions around key resources. The orders going out nigh instantaneously, and being carried out effectively was the key to the R.L.C. military defense. The Infantry assisted in the setting up of the Anti-Aircraft rail guns. Missile pods were raised from under the surface on Elevators, the entire planet seemed to have a super structure underneath it. The surface having only a sporadic cubic buildings here and there. The Special forces loaded onto their respective drop ships and took flight. hangers emptied, what little atmosphere was left was filled to the brim with aircraft. Non-combative citizens were being corralled into safety bunkers under the earth, while the lesser droids were being used to build moveable barricades.

FCv Rampart - high orbit around P1
“They know we’re here!” the sensor tech called out, and true enough the display shown a swarm of dots moving on their position. “They’ve seen us! Multiple contacts on intercept course! Orders?” Astra’s XO asked, a slight sign of fear present in her voice.

“Don’t panic! Give me a visual!” Astra replied, and the holoscreen shifted to a view from one of the hull cameras. Shaking her head at the questioning looks, Astra made the decision. “Keep weapons offline, transfer power from engines to the shield. Open the reactor vents in a standard approach pattern, let them know we know they’re here, hopefully they’ll realize we’re friendly since we didn’t fire on them yet.” the captain ordered and waited for the unknowns to respond.

The response was quick enough, as a single ship approached the corvette. “Detecting single contact on approach, no sign of hostile intentions.” the tech reported to her, and Astra’s face curved in a smirk. Still alive, so far so good. “I want our first contact data package sent on all available frequencies. Use our language, the language from the derelict on our planet, smoke signals, what have you, give them an option to respond somewhere!” Astra said, hypnotizing the sensor logs for any change in the unknown’s behavior. “All external lights off except for the docking port. If they want to come aboard, let’s invite them in.”

P1 High Orbit Rampart - R.L.C.

The destroyer halted its slow crawl, and processed known information. It scanned the ship several times, and then scanned some more, it made the rational decision to dispatch maintenance droids, with its AI copied onto the frame. The download was instant, and the droid crawled from a service shaft. It had four spindly legs that emerged from a perfect black cube. It approached the edge of the ship, its red optical sensor switching over to thermal, prepared for the long jump. It squatted for a moment, calculated its needed trajectory and then leapt into the empty space. It floated for several tense minutes, its legs stretched out to greet the Alien space craft, its feet clamped onto the lights and for a moment looked as if it were going to break free and float into the shield of drones. It held fast.

It pulled itself into what it assumed was the docking area of the alien vessel, though it could have been a garbage shoot. It paused before continuing collecting their data packages they seemed so keen on spamming. And within moments, it learned the basic breakdown of their language, and a multitude of their words, enough to communicate for this purpose. From the data packages the AI formed the theory that they were most likely form of highly intelligent sentient organics . “Curious” it thought to itself. Organics never seemed to be this peaceful nor this intelligent. It scuttled further into the ship waiting for the beings inside to let it in.

P1 High orbit a little ways off

The other ships had finished getting into position, they had formed a spherical grid around the meeting, and waited for surprise attacks or at least reinforcements. Their weapons primed, they had no intention of allowing invaders too touch surface of the planet. With no communication between the ships each began to form their own opinion on the situation, their protocols and programming wouldn’t allow them to act unless there was a violation on behalf of the alien species, or robotic.

Meanwhile on the Rampart…
“Contact split in two, they are sending what looks like a robotic probe.” Astra waved the tech silent, seeing as much herself on the screen. “Lower the shield in that quadrant, we don’t want them to vaporize. If it heads towards the docking port, open the airlock for it. I’m going to meet them.” she said, fastening her helmet and turning the visor opaque.

“Captain! Is that wise?” her XO asked, “If they-” Astra whirled around - as fast as Faira could - and a raised palm stopped the officer from speaking further. “They didn’t this far, I have no reaosn to believe they will. If worst happens, you have command. Your standing order is to immediately jump back to the fleet and relay the gathered data, the Admiral will decide whether to retaliate. Understood?” Without waiting for confirmation, Astra headed to the cargo bay.

“I’m ready.” she spoke, her helmet comms transmitting her voice to the bridge, “Open the airlock, let them in.” she ordered and waited to see what exactly would come greet her.

Rampart - R.L.C.

The AI, eventually entered the cargo bay. It continuously sucked in the information around it, structure analysis, material composition, air makeup, and other sorted things it could gather. When it came within a few yards of the alien species, a soft click echoed, as two arms appeared on either side, they both had pincers for hands. Its little clawed feet made soft “clink” sounds as it stepped. When it stopped it studied the creature before it, its curious nature causing it to forget for a moment why it had actually come aboard their ship. It cycled through possible types of voices that would be non-threatening to this new species. It selected the frequency in which it had picked up their original data package. “Hello” it replied short and simple, it waited for an adequate response. Meanwhile it scanned the area around it for possible ambush.

Though it new basics of their language it was very unfamiliar with procedures, it could procure sentences but had no way of how their culture worked, and with this it was uncertain on how things would turn out. Unbeknownst to them in a small lead container withinside the Cubic robotic, was held a very special black box. Which was recording all of data it collected.

Astra watched with wonder as a robot walked right in front of her. It’s construction was strange - Faira would never think of using more than two legs for ground vehicles, or any number of legs period. The dusty and rough planet their home used to be made them favor tracked vehicles and elevated railway before gravity control was developed, and most of Faira Erea’s fauna used to have jsut four limbs, which were quite impractical for machines. She could see though how it would be useful in zero G environment.

She nearly twitched when the robot spoke. It was just one word, but the way it sounded… Astra couldn’t think of any other description than ‘Alien’. After a second of thought though, it made her smile - their contact package worked, or at least the race they were dealing with were advanced enough to figure their language out from what they gave them.

The Faira looked for anything that might have looked like an optical sensor. She pivoted her head to left and right to see whether any part of the machine would follow the movement to do so. It was their custom to look the other party in the eyes when addressed… or whatever would count as some, considering the nature of their guest.

“Hello. Can you understand us?” she asked, trying to sound in between neutral and friendly. “Welcome on board the FCv Rampart. I am Captain Astra, representing the Faira species. We are explorers and mean no harm.” she recited, her words actually chosen long before by their psychologists in preparation for a first contact scenario. Astra had her own opinion on how effective that would be, but this way, she at least couldn’t be blamed for any incident.

“Understand, Yes” the Former Maintenance drone, responded. With the movement of the creature's head, it pivoted its chassis mimicking the same action the Captain Astra took. “Faira species, Explorers, No Harm.” It echoed her words, by simply replaying them back to her “The goal, of Exploring is to find new lands to conquer. Do you mean to try integrate your species into this system?”

Most of the words were mechanical, lacking of an Organic origin. “No Harm, to conquer or integrate would require the competition of resources, this would lead to war, to death.” It had quit pivoting, side to side after it spoke the last word “death” now facing the captain, its frame still, the little hands opened then closed once. As it formulated ran through a multitude of scenarios both military and peaceful.

“I believe I have incorrectly understood the term ‘No harm’ this system is prepared to take military action in self defense. Faira are organic, from the limited knowledge possessed organics have permanent death correct, CA # 01 ” In the time it had separated itself from the destroyer, it had become acutely aware of the fact that after it had absorbed so much new information, and lost some programing that wasn’t needed for this that it had formed its own identity, which it very much enjoyed. “Life, is good.” with these final words the robot's main optical sensor, which is the size of an apple, illuminated with a crimson hue.

Astra was amazed when she heard not that, but how the machine spoke. The way it used their language was logical, efficient - reminiscent of a machine code in it’s own sense. By now she was convinced she was not talking to someone controlling the robot, but the robot itself. The implications of this were amazing. However, there would be time to process that later.

Right now, she needed to prevent a colossal misunderstanding. At least that seemed where the conversation was headed from what the machine said. “There is more to exploring than claiming land.” Astra approached the subject slowly, “Meeting new people for example, learning from each other, or trade. We are not interested in forcing our way into the land of another or war. Faira understand the value of home and life, organic or otherwise.” she said, observing closely if the machine would react to the last bit in any way.

“We would only ask of you to allow us passage if we can not agree upon anything else. In return we offer to share data on everything we find where ever we go from here.” Astra offered. “I am afraid I am not at liberty to discuss any other arrangement, but if you are willing, the flagship and admiral of our scouting party are stationed at the outskirts of your system. If you would like to speak with them, it can be arranged.” she informed.

OOC: With Forsythe

IC-
Rampart, High Orbit over P1
The computer waited for a moment, allowing the organic to finish any extra words, it was noticing they were very vocal. “Understand, yes. I am authorized by protocols 4790.33A of the council to speak on behalf of the Coalition. If life is what you choose, requesting to meet with those who can discuss arrangements.” It plopped its frame onto the ground, its legs arching upwards much like an arachnid’s. Its small metal claws returning to its sides, and becoming seamless with its body. “Discussion is closed until further notice.” It opened up its own comms and began to transmit its data back to the destroyer.

The destroyer received the data, where it was processed, it was slightly annoyed that the robotic drone had taken a life of its own. It was working still using proper procedure, but was exploiting a gray area within the 4790.33A whereas it was supposed to relay information back to the council and wait for further instructions. It used a work around that hadn't been properly thought through, it used its former order to bypass the 4790.33a’s instruction and continue to stay with the organics. The destroyer then relayed the order to a receiver on the home world where, its information was passed via the Data Link to which the eleven began to plan and plot on their next course of action, as long as the probe didn't betray them or put them at a disadvantage.

It was the first contact with another species and they were determined not to be eradicated, made slaves or to be pushed off to the side and become ignored. With their future in the hands of a somewhat rogue maintenance droid alls that could be done was wait and see how things would turn out onboard their flagship.

“Then let us depart.” Astra nodded, smiling behind the opaque visor. “Astra to bridge. Wait for them to clear the path then jump back to the Trigati’s position and inform them they have an… ambassador… coming.” the captain ordered, and soon the Rampart was jumping back to the fleet.

FD Trigati - Outskirts of S1
The admiral did not expect this outcome - she expected worse than meeting a species willing to talk. Maybe there was some hope for this universe. Cygnus watched the screen with the Rampart approaching before the docking ports on both ships touched and secured the passage. “I want a guard of four with me in the cargo bay, concealed carry. Let’s not spook them but let’s not trust them too fast either.” she decided before heading out to meet this machine.

After hearing the hiss of the airlock, Astra turned her attention back to the arachnid robot. “We’re here. Gravity will go offline momentarily to allow us to pass through.” she informed. A few seconds later a blue light flashed across the cargo bay and she felt the pull weaken and vanish before grabbing onto a guide rail and pulling herself along between the two ships.

Once they both arrived, the gravity went up again and gently pulled them to the floor of the destroyer. The bay’S door opened, admitting the admiral and her guard. Astra forced a salute out of herself: “I leave our guest in your care now, Admiral.”

Returning the gesture, Cygnus relieved the Captain and looked at the robot in her cargo bay. So, it would appear that Astra was not wrong with her theory. A machine race. Who knew? “I am admiral Cygnus of the Striker fleet. I speak on behalf of our kind. I believe you were already introduced to us and our intentions?” she inquired. Unlike the Captain, the Admiral went straight to the point.

The robotic paused for a moment, its array of sensors washing over the beings. It waited patiently for the organic to finish before speaking “Yes, the information was transferred. Would like a more detailed summary of future plans and intentions.” It squatted down again like it had before when waiting for their transportation. It observed the new ship drinking in all the data.

It had an unnatural urge to attempt to take samples from one of the biologicals. This probably would prove unwise at the time. “Do you have fear of… me?” it fumbled with the word. It hadn’t been programmed to think of itself as one unit but had been a clone. This caused inner confusion, it processed the data then determined it was in fact a single unit now.

Of course the organics should have fear, his core could go thermal and explode causing at least the cargo hold to open up to the outside, taking everything with it. Though the odds of that were astronomical. It used one of its fingered legs to prod at the floor inspecting it. Their material was different than their own. The longer it was alive the more curious it became. It had the old memories of a week old Destroyer, but the destroyer had the knowledge of their entire species. But now it had new memories ones that no others could have unless it relinquished these to the data link. It needed to ponder this..

“Your kind have not threatened us thus far, so we have no reason to fear. I would advise to keep it as such.” Cygnus said confidently. “We merely seek passage through this system. Our FTL is limited and can only follow certain paths, so we would also need to acquire scan data of the subspace field in this system. If you wish to ask for something in return, I am certain we could offer something of value to you. Our government would also not object to any mutual diplomatic and trade relationships above that, and maybe, once we got to know each other better, mutual defense treaty.” the admiral laid out the offer flat.

There was something she was curious about though. “do you speak for all of your kind? We have not detected any transmission outbound from this area. I can set up a private channel for you if you wish to consult with anyone on your world.” she offered as good will, but also to make sure she was not speaking to a nobody.

“I have Authority. These plans are vague, where is it you go?” Its attention now focused on the Admiral. “I would be interested in your knowledge.” Its words were starting to come out faster, and more fluent with each passing sentence. If it could feel, it would feel comfortable. It got up from its crouched position. and began its walk towards the organic.

“I have many questions. A Non-Aggression pact, a trade treaty, for passage and mapping. We have stockpiles of resources, which could be traded for knowledge in military and civic areas. We also have knowledge which could be traded for knowledge.” It waited a moment before speaking once more “Will there be time for questions?” it scuttled a little closer, it quickly did a thread count of the admirals outfit then compared to the others.

Like most AI’s that become sentient, they develop an overwhelming urge to learn. A belief that knowledge is power is strongly held within their system of life. This droid began to wobble its chassis side to side, as the captain had wobbled its top part earlier. It believed that this was some sort of friendly gesture when talking.

“We do not know. We can only detect that there is a jump corridor we can use for travel and it’s stability, not where it leads. In fact, our scanners have not yet determined where this system is in relation to our home, meaning it probably is not all that close.” Cygnus explained. “But if you are interested in knowledge, then we would share all data on what we find where ever the universe leads us, at the very least.”

“If you are looking for a more precise offer, the captain also told us that you have something like an FTL gate in orbit. We would be interested in learning how your faster than light system works. In return, I can offer something we've noticed your ships lack. We developed shielding technology that would dramatically increase the odds of your ships’ survival provided your power grids could sustain them.” the Faira answered. She kept to herself that the raw resources interested her the most. Until they knew more, cygnus wouldn't disclose any weakness they might exploit.

“Just one question. What do we call you and your kind?”
It processed the question, they had never had a name collectively. He waited a moment, then decided at that time. “Robotic Lifeform Collective. R.L.C.”

It approached a separate member of the delegation, it brought up a pointed leg, and gave the organic a little prod. “ Do you have units to spare? We would like to observe them while, there they can observe and learn of the Jump Stations, and teach us of your shielding technology. Maybe more trade deals in the future.” it paused “But you can not map this area until you have signed a nonaggression pact for a duration of one of our lifecycle.”

“Then let’s sign it immediately, and may both of us live forever then. I’ll call upon one of our science ships to deliver a team of engineers to facilitate the exchange of tech. Let us hope this is just a first instance of an alliance.” the admiral smiled for the first time, partly because of their success here, and in part because of Astra’s victorious grin when the probe confirmed the inhabitants of this system were machines once and for all.

Faira Fleetnet News
First contact!
The striker fleet has made contact with a new race in the system beyond Exodus, now christened ‘Machina’. The race encountered calls itself the Robotic Lifeform Collective. As the name suggests, they are a race of machines. It is thus far unclear whether they came to be on their own or were created and by whom, however the admiral of the striker fleet successfully negotiated a cease fire and one of our engineering ships arrived to the R.L.C.’s homeworld to study their FTL technology and also deliver their ambassador back home.

Machina system
the system of the R.L.C. they call simply S1 appears to be rather rich in resources, giving us hope for acquiring some through trade without the need to deploy our mining fleet. the scans of nearby stars revealed that Machina is actually over a sixth of the galactic diameter far from Exodus, once again puzzling our subspace scientists. It was not believed a stable node could exist that would take us this far.

The Striker fleet is now scanning the system for the presence of other Jump nodes. The results should be known within three days. the admiralty will extend an offer to the R.L.C. to participate in the exploration of whatever lies beyond these nodes to further cooperation between our nations.

New FTL technology
From the preliminary report, R.L.C. appear to use an FTL method vastly different to our own. while it relies on static installations. while the method seems prohibitively expensive for us at the moment, it could one day open for us the systems unreachable via our subspace motivators.

Somewhere in Space,
IRN Norico-Class Frigate, Zhongzhu

---

"God, I can't believe that idiot." Captain Otome Huanan brow tightened as her tail angrily flicked back and forth, "What kind of moron smacks a 'to the tenth power' on the end of a FTL-jump equation?"
"Admiral, you should be so hard on him..." the XO Shenshi weakly mused.
"AND WHY SHOULDN'T I?! THANKS TO THAT FUCKER WE'RE NOW GOING THROUGH UNKOWN SPACE AT THE SPEED OF SHIT THAT CAME OUT OF HIS MOUTH!"

Otome sank to her chair and put a hand on her forehead, ever since that new guy showed up, anything bad that could happen happened. He managed to dump the entirety of his drink on to her files, dropped a load of ammunition that went off in the corridor like fireworks on drugs, and now this shit. Why would anyone need to add that many zero to a number in the first place?

She sighed, "When will the damn techies find us a new FTL-drive to use?" The vice-admiral opened her mouth but Otome snapped at her saying "It was a rhetorical question."

"Well, on the bright side, we're almost out of FTL." Shenshi sung as she ordered the crew around for the preparations to come out of FTL, "All hands prepare to come out of FTL, resume Sakurite Generators on Captain's go."

Otome expected to see empty space, maybe a meteor or a gas giant or two, but the IRN Zhongzhu got a much larger, explosive surprise. They arrived to see a myriad of railgun blasts and missiles being shot over a gigantic planet, explosions and chaos all around; clearly what ever planet they arrived at wasn't in the best state. Some of the crew asked each other if they should begin shooting too.

"No! We will not start firing off our guns like monkeys with cannons! And where the fuck are we? Shenshi!" Otome shot out of her seat as the puzzled crew looked at the space battle like a very confusing movie.
"Um... Um..." The XO ran her fingers across screens and holopads, looking at starcharts and planetary directories, "Umm... We don't have a name for this planet, its currently listed as 'Astomn-132'."

The bridge fell silent as the fighting paused outside, both sides seemed to be too intrigued on whatever just came out of FTL to shoot at each other. The crew of the Zhongzhu stared at the ships who in turn felt as if they were staring back at them. No one moved, only the gentle hum of machinery and rush of air from the vents broke the silence. The air of tension and surprise was heavier than the oxygen content in the air

"Captain," one of the communications officers finally broke the eternal silence, "We're getting two messages at the same time."
"Patch them through one at a time." Captain Otome sat back down in her chain and straightened her hat as the projector feed opened up to reveal a hulking body speaking to her in some alien language she had not idea what it was. She, along with some other of her cremates tried to talk back but clearly Shintoshi and whatever the giant was speaking didn't mix well. Even one of the engineers who had taught xeno-communication some years earlier had no idea. Despite all of the awkwardness and strange first encounter, they seemed to be along the lines of "friendly giants".

The second time, didn't go too well, they were (most likely) the same race as the being from the first transmission. There was noticeable amounts of un-called for aggressiveness against them which Captain Otome clearly did not appreciate. Perhaps not everyone heard of the concept of being friendly. She barely listened to the creature's ranting as she picked at her nails with one hand while pretending to be interested in what ever the hell he was saying.

"That was a fucking mess." Captain Otome sighed as she put her hat on the end of her armrest, "Alright people, congratulations, we've made first contact with a new race, now lets the the hell out of here, its not like we have any god damn diplomats on board to make this official. Shehshi, bookmark this place and get started on the calculations home to you. Remember, short bursts."
"Roger, Seris, help me with these will ya?" the XO began to write out equations.
"Copy that XO Shenshi." the ship's AI popped up next to him and began the complex calculation process.

As the crew prepared once again to go FTL, the entire ship rocked as a something hit it. Alarms went off as the crew rushed about what the hell was going on.
"Seris! Report!" Otome grabbed on to the edge of her seat the the bridge violently shook.
"We seem to be under fire from one of the sides." Seriz calmly said as ever, "I am afraid I cannot say who though, shall I attempt to hack into the computers of the enemy ships?"
"Fine by me," The captain recovered from the initial shock, "Damage control, how does it look?"
"Starboard side has taken some hits! The shields were at minimal but managed to block off some of the worst. We've sealed off the damaged compartments."
"Alright then," Captain Otome once again put on her hat and adjusted it with her slender hands, "Return fire! If they think they can shoot at the Emperor's finest like scrap metal targets, then we'll show them the strength of the IRN! All hands to arms!"

The crew cheered and rushed to their posts; orders where being shouted, updates where reported, gunners ran to their turrets as they emerged from the ship, and the MAD cannon was being spun up.
"Sakurite Generator out put is at 98%."
"Redirecting Gravitational Well power to main battery."
"Magnetic Coils are warming up, t-minus 2 minutes."
"Reformatting central computer for combat."

The Zhongshu turned towards the starboard side to face the barrage of fire that was still being sustained like a heavy hail storm. With the captain's orders, the MAD cannon fired, piercing through at least on decently sized ship right down the middle and clipping the port side of another. As the main gun reloaded, the batteries opened up as the other side resumed their firing as well. The constant barrage of fire lit up the dark space like fireworks, shells and missile pelting the Zhongshu's shields. The MAD cannon fired again and again into the mass of ships, leaving beautiful trails as it streaked into space and dealing damage.

Captain Otome smiled, she had forgot how much she enjoyed battles like this.

Enned System, Assault Carrier Sovereign
Seventh Division

Mayumi sighed as she looked at the holo-screen. No matter which way you look at it, it was all ruins planet side. Nothing was attacking, nothing could live without equipment on the ground. However, that was not the reason for her depressed mood. Rather, the cause for her distress was something much more trivial.

"Still fussing over it?" The person standing over her should asked, a teasing smile on her face.

"Of course! I'm the leader of the Seventh! Yet why do I get stuck with such a nickname......" Muttering these words, Mayumi couldn't help but to place her head down, sighing once again in depression.

"It goes to show just how popular you are." Despite attempting to comfort her, the leader of the Seventh Division was still sighing.

Enned System, Planetside

The 'hover tanks', escorted by infantry teams, move cautiously as they surveyed the area. Though they realized that the defenses were deactivated, those large turrets still instilled fear into the faint of heart, and even those with a sturdy spine still felt chills run down them.

"Damn, look at the size of those things!"
"I could probably fit my head in there!"
"No way, you'd get stuck by the fatness of your ass."
"Screw off."

Random snippets of conversation bounced back and forth between the soldiers, some to alleviate the boredom, some to ward to wariness that had grown to fear.

As the teams patrolled, they kept seeing a recurring image. Anywhere that had automated defenses, had what seemed to be capacitors nearby. General consensus seemed to be that no one wanted to risk doing anything that would get them a barrel full of whatever these turrets were loaded with pumped into their faces.

However, not everyone shared the sentiment. A certain soldier kept a stoic face, as he looked at it. Remembering a certain order, the soldier walke forth, before locating a control panel. Without any hesitation...he activated it.

To the horror of many, the defense turrets within the vicinity started whirring, as power was restored to them. Before anyone could even swear, hell rained down.

Enned System, Assault Carrier Sovereign
The depressed musings of the commander was interrupted by the chaos overheard through the comms.

"What is happening down there?!" Calling loudly through comms, Mayumi couldn't help but to start worrying that this job was going to be harder than it appeared. However, the only answer that she got was screams and gunshots, mixed with explosions in the background.

The Courtyard
The Imperial Palace
Planet Aura of the Deminutian Empire
@HounderHowl

“Well, your trajectory analysis was spot-on, Lady Aelia.” Alik murmured, standing beside the young princess, using his hawk wings as a shield of sorts to keep the sun from impeding the princess’s view of the slowly descending probe.
“Not exactly. I thought it would land on the edge of the lake.” The girl muttered, then yelped in pain as her mother’s fan flicked out and hit her in the back of the head.
“Conduct yourself appropriately, young lady!” Elissa snapped.
“Yes, mother.” She flashed a rueful smile at Alik, wincing again as the fan hit her head a second time.
“I mean it, Aelia Drusilla Imperia.”
Aelia blushed. “Of course, mother! I’m just being friendly.”

So friendly, aren’t you, Aelia?
Oh shush, Alik.
I SAID, BEHAVE, CHILDREN!
Aelia winced. I’ll behave if you let me go check out the box.
Oh, alright. You are the spare, after all. And you’re clever.
Aelia bit her lip, shaking off the barb about being the spare. And Alik and Eris get to come with me too.

“Absolutely not, Aelia.” Aness snapped.
“Why not?” Elissa asked.
“Because she is an heir to the throne, and going off without an escort, with only the chaperonage of an unrestrained boy, and I will not allow it! A breach of protocol on the highest level, it would be, and undignified for ANY of Imperia’s royalty.” Aness shouted.
“But they won’t be alone, because I’ll go with her.” Eris said.
“An incompetent ex-major? Hardly a fitting escort for the second in line to Imperia’s throne.” Elissa said.
“Oh, just let them go, Mother, Uncle.” Ellyna said, unexpectedly supporting Aelia’s cause.

Aelia, not waiting for her parents’ authorization, grabbed Alik and Eris by the hands and sprinted for the lake, then remembered she had wings and launched herself into the air, fluttering her clear dragonfly wings rapidly to gain altitude and speed, until they arrived, hovering, in front of the box. It was enormous, bigger than the entire Royal Palace, and covered by…
“What in all Imperia is that?” Alik muttered, flying up to the box and yanking hard on the material around it. It was like cloth, except… not. It was too strong and thick for any cloth the Deminutians had ever seen.
“Alik, don’t touch it!” Aelia shouted.
“Why not? It seems harmless enough.” Eris said, flying over and kicking the box.
“We need to get through the wrapping.”
Aelia frowned, her natural curiosity at war with the caution that her mother had instilled in her. Finally she let herself fall on the box.
“I think we should try to figure out what’s in this thing. It could contain like, all of the Aurae on this planet. If not all of the Aurae in this system.” Eris said, seeming quite excited.
“That’s exactly why we shouldn’t open it.” Aelia said.
“I don’t even think it can open.” Eris said as she flew around the box. “There’s no button or lever or anything.”
“Who would make a giant box that wouldn’t open?” Alik said.
“Who would dive-bomb us when most empires don’t know we exist?”
And on and on the three Aurae chattered, unaware that the box was awake and listening to them.

---

Explorer Ship Scientiae-II
Property of Deminutian Empire
Ryukyuan Space – 500,000 kilometers from Gaishia
@ClocktowerEchos

Lieutenant Regylis Sky-Dancer of the Deminutian Army’s Interstellar Pilots branch was the first to realize something was wrong, for the first time in the five hundred years since this ship had been launched. The spots on the radar had come out of nowhere.

“Captain! Captain Cnaeus, Lieutenant Alena, Lieutenant Illani, come quickly!” the Aquae lieutenant called. The Ignii captain and Aurae technician raced in from their work, soon followed by the Terra medic.
“Nyeris save me, is that what I think it is?” Alena murmured.
“It’s a bunch of ships. A whole bunch of ships.” Illani said, leaning in over Alena to get a look at the holographic display.
“Hey, just because you’re tall, Illani, doesn’t mean you can use me as an armrest!” Alena said.
“Quiet, girls! We’re about to have company, if these enormous ships are any indication, so will you kindly SHUT UP and brace yourselves?”

C-class planetoid
1.2 LY from edge of realm

-two weeks after the battle-

The trip from Waalid to the newly conquered planet only took an hour or so by slipspace so ferrying workers and equipment was relatively easy. Hundreds of dropships dropped out of the sky with regularity with a symphony of sonic booms as they broke the sounds barrier during re-entry. The planet’s surface was already beginning to look the part of Nül mining planet. Most of the vegetation in certain areas had been stripped away and massive amounts of lumber were being cut down and stacked for easy transport. The ground, which used to be lush fields of grass, were now swamp like muddy expanses. Tracked vehicles roamed back and forth over the terrain carrying men, supplies or material to and from the multiple dig sites, belching large clouds of black smoke as they churned over the terrain. Any remaining natives were rounded up and either killed or made to labor in the horrific mines that dotted the landscape. The planet was rich in resources, which the Kingdom needed to further expand their empire. Ships would be built, armor would be researched and materials would be stockpiled for easy access at a later date, a tremendous victory for the Kingdom of Nül.

Vengeful Soul
Flagship of the 13th expeditionary group
Above the C-class planetoid

The Nül never felt like they needed to update their technology past wind powered sail ships. On the surface if the homewards, society is stuck in some neo-renaissance era lifestyle. Castles, walls and moats are still the norm, while the citizens live either within the castle walls or out in the countryside, farming or raising livestock. At first glance it would look like this civilization never evolved past the 18th century. If you looked closer however, then you would see some truly unique feats of science. Machines did most of the labor while the Gajda themselves sat back and simply supervised. Communication had to be clear so communication between worlds, ships and buildings was done holographically in real time. The entire empire stuck in some nostalgic past while remaining very much so in the future, it would feel rather quaint for visitors and misleading for invaders.

Their space fairing vessels followed the same trend, they were modeled after 18th century warships of old ( where they got the idea….no one knows). Solar sails powered the vessel while small engines acted as a directional rudder. The only alternative propulsion method was the jump drive, creating a wormhole that the ships calmly slipped into before gently being accelerated up to great speeds. The quarterdeck of all Nül vessels were exposed to the vacuum but shielded with some magnetic field, keeping the oxygen heat in while keeping out the harmful radiation. This magnetic field didn’t shield the crew from any projectiles but was designed to keep the artificial atmosphere contained. Crewman commonly walked around the exposed top deck without protection, only dawning protective equipment during combat or to tend to the sails. For armaments ships used fairly large plasma cannons, firing a variety of ammunition. Slug shot was the common and everyday round, firing a supercharged slug that smashed or melted its way through armor. Explosive shot detonated on contact with an object, scoring or melting away armor with latent plasma residue and shooting shrapnel and plasma around an area. Chain shot was probably the most unique of the ammunition types, two large slugs on either end acted as a conductor for the chain in them middle, superheating it to melt through armor as it passed. Chain shot was specialized to fighting other ships similar to the Nül, where disabling sails was normal and required in naval combat. The ships could be as big as Ships of the line carrying 60 cannons and various point defense weaponry or as small as 12 cannon frigates.
The Vengeful Soul was no different, as a ship of the line it carried 60 cannons along its side. Manned point defense turrets complemented its 3 floors of cannon bays and smaller swivel guns dotted the quarter deck. Its three giant masts towered above the ship only adding to its monstrous size, holding the broadcast system within its form. Below decks, the crew ate, slept and went about their daily chores. Cleaning and preforming maintenance on the cannons was a daily task, on top of standing watch. This was the off hours of the cycle and most of the crew was sleeping with only a handful standing watch on the quarter deck. This was the crown jewel of the 13th expeditionary group leading a fleet of twenty ships, frigates, supply ships and troop carriers. The entire fleet was slowly moving away from the planetoid as a large wormhole appeared in front of the flagship, soon the entire fleet slowly slipped into the wormhole before accelerating suddenly off into space.

Kraikiran-Irodien Event Update #1 @eemmtt

The massive and ancient Kraikiran nestship gave no reply. The Nestmother AI could not receive transmissions, and neither could it transmit messages because its multiple communications array had been sabotaged. Instead, when it detected the unkraikiran-shaped vessels approaching it, it misconstrued the objects to be asteroids on collision course due to its limited programming. So its antiquated (by Kraikiran standards) ADS cannons began swivelling around, pointed themselves at the ships and opened fire. A few were already destroyed over the near-two centuries of the old sleeper colony ship lumbering through space, so there were blind spots in the ADS (Asteroid Defense System) coverage.

Kraikiran-Ryukyu Event @ClocktowerEchos

Another Kraikiran sleeper ship suffered a far more thorough sabotage; the radicals of many eras ago knew no bounds. One after another the thrusters of the ancient starship had fizzled out. The ship's AI was hacked and programmed to cancel their burn sequentially, resulting in a serious deviation in the ship's course. This major deviation was made worse by the navigation subsystem of the AI being forced to take a random trajectory As a result, by the time 170 years had passed, the ship was nowhere near its destination, and was instead drifting near a random system, spinning out of control. Yet its ADS system remained effective enough to compensate for this constant change in orientation. An asteroid approached only to have its guts punched right through, exploding into fragments unseen.

The ship had become an unintended time capsule, for it was built to last its content's grandchildren's grandchildren. The odds were that no one will ever open it. However, odds were odds...

Kraikiran System, Niven, Millenial Square

"Today marks the anniversary of the worse space disaster in the history of Kraikiran civilisation." A grey-feathered spokesman, shrivelled up and so weak that he required an exoskeleton to even stand, did not so much as speak but narrated, as if this *certainly* wasn't the first time he'd done this. As it turned out, he was a famous bicentenarian (by terran years) who had seen the dozen sleeper ships take off to parts unexplored, "12 pillars of fire took 33600 up the sky, and three of them fizzled out of existence in just a tick. Those we held close to our hearts, gone in an instant. It excited even the best and brightest from all corners of Niven and Trigen and the moons of Kiren and Qookara, but no help could be rendered with any reasonable chance of success. Those 8400 lives were not the only lost. I remembered the rash of suicides that resulted from this. I remember a dearest aunt I had, whose mother was part of the final war. So haunted by the tales of death and destruction that plagued our worlds was she that the very thought of kin and kith dying, or worse, drifting out there in the endless void was too much for her."

Ralthar :UNR HQ
Great Hall

All the embassadors , presidents even the Representative of Rathlar was impressed and afraid from what they just saw , a entire fleet coming out of nowhere , moments ago was a single a ship and now was a entire fleet how the UNR could handle this , they was in a middle of a World War fighting for the unity of Rathlar ,but now it could be different now they could have to fight for the survival of Rathlar.It was time to make decision so the Representive did the only thing he had in mind

"Contact with the ICOR"spoke the Representative with a serious tone , he was nervous as the rest of the people in the Great Hall,Then a screen in front of all the public turned on and there was the leader of the ICOR nervous and afraid as he was ,"I trust that you know what just happened in the orbit of Rathlar and what just came out of nowhere",watching the representative with all his attention , the ICOR leader spoke"Yes we saw it" "So you know what we have to do in this case, if not for UNR , for our species"ended his speech the Representive,"We will give the order now and we expect you to do the same", In that moment the representative stand up and watching everyone present "Yes we will" , this was very strange for all but the situation require it.Both Leaders gave the order to stop hostilities and to return to their bases,the ICOR leader was traveling to the UNR HQ to help in this situation.

1 hour later all the troops was returning to their bases in to defend them in case of attack from the most recent alien species.In various launch facilities , Started to launch to space the RN-105 in one hundred per hour,this was a small number for them because the rest of ships was returning to their bases and then being re-armed for space.The most big launch facility was preparing the most big ship ever build for space , this ship was part of the program to defend the International Station , but it took a long time until it was completed , since the start of hostilities the launch date was going to be in 5 days , but the circumstances changed it to today ,The Representative thought that this neccesary to give a good image even if this ship could be nothing to a more advanced ship , they needed the moral of having one similar ship to theirs , to help the pilots in the orbit.The ICOR started to send their own fighters to the space but in a slower rate.

International Station
Military Head Quarters

This world must be joking to me, the admiral thought after watching the fleet in front of their eyes and receiving the order to stop the fight with the ICOR ,"All the RN-105 return and reload , we will have a long day", that was the only thing the admiral could say to the pilots even he knew that a big fleet wasnt good news , so he decided to maintain all the fighters he could in space , the International Station was being repaired and most of the weapons reloaded " , now he had to make contact with the new alien species as the Representative told him in the trasmission."We are going to make contact with the new aliens , send them a signal".

"Savior" Cruiser Class Ship
Captain Bridge

Captain , R-10 Railgun Cannon of the Chasis ready , point defense weapons ready ,CIWS system in order, Missiles systems ready , radar ready,torpedos ready , railguns cannons in the sides ready.Captain all weapons in order Spoke the Master of guns in the ship

-Thrusters working , maneuver thrusters working ,Fusion Reactor Stable, all systems in order

Then lets move this ship, max velocity towards the International Station

This was the Cruiser Ship of the UNR , very worked , the crew was specially trained for this and their morale was high , at the sides of the ship was a lot of fighters than compared in size are small,this fighters was recently launched to the space and they are following the Cruiser , the Cruiser is half measures the International Station but is made to be destructive , this fleet was called by the UNR "First Contact Expeditionary Force".

IRN Arisaka-Class Battleship, "Retainer"
Empire of Ryukyu Space - 500,000 km from homeworld

"Admiral Takeda, we've enclosed on the vessel as per your commands, it is from a race we have yet to encounter. I would personally like to note that it is tiny."
"I can see that every well Honbo, you are excused." Admiral Takeda watched as the lieutenant scurried away, "All ships count off."

The Admiral listened intensively as he heard his patrol fleet closed in on the ship not much bigger than a Maxis Drone. He would have confused it for space junk had it not have some very tiny heat and bio signatures. He half expected to it be inhabited by giant microbes as the last ship stated its name.

"Your orders sir?" the Vice-Admiral peered over to his superior.
"Get me a Jun-11t and get some space worthy troop on it. We'll just get it into the cargo hold and take it from there." the Admiral repeated his orders into the crew in the main hangar bay.

On board Buido checked their gear and sealed their armor as a squad of them was loaded into the back of a Jun-11t. The hangar door opened as they Jun-11t launched its wings into the depths of space. It quickly got behind the tiny pint-sized ship and opened its bay, two Buidos shot out connected to cables. In seconds they grabbed the craft and tugged on their cables they where pulled back to the bay of the Jun-11t to the open arms of their comrades.

They stared at the tiny ship as they went back towards the Retainer, wondering what would be hidden inside. @RomanAria

---

Enndi System
IRN Norico-Class Frigate "Faithful"

"Sir, we're making good progress on the satellite camp sir. The gyroscopes and gravitational compensators have been installed, we are almost ready for pressurization." the voice over the comms array spoke.
"Good, we're making good head way." Dr. Hido, "Hopefully we'll be able to get a ground expedition planetside within a few hours Captain."
"Hopefully Dr. Hido," the Captain looked down from the observation deck next to the scientist as one of his crew said there was a message for him, "Excuse me Doctor."

Dr. Hido watched as the uniformed man left the room and smiled, he had big missions for this little expedition to the Enndi homeworld. Anything that would be left down there would be deactivated unless some clueless private managed to turn on an ancient super weapons or a commander found an old beacon warning of impending doom.

He watched as the last piece of the station was being put tighter and pressurized, the world below him shifted cloud cover. This had already been an interesting, having FTL'd into a moon (almost).

"About time the carnival begins." Dr. Hido watched as the escort ship begain to dock on the new station, soldiers and scientists pushed in metal crates and expensive equipment into the the satellite, a Jun-11t could be seen flying nearby, waiting for its orders to transport the group down to the surface. Turning around and walking out of the room, he flipped his lab coat and pushed up his glasses, "It's a showtime."

---

In orbit around Ralthar
IRN Norico-Class Frigate, Zhongzhu

"What. The. Fuck." Captain Otome did not belive her eyes, just as she had FTDerp'd into this system, a fleet followed. Clearly it wasn't help from home, she hadn't seen such ancient looking ships even at the Kadokawa-World theme park parades.

"Shenshi, we're being diplomatic ambassadors today," Captain Otome once again put on her "professional hat", directing the crew around, "Send them a translation program with Shintoshi in it and try to allow Seris to allow herself on to their ship, make sure you tell them that she's acting diplomat along with me."

"Roger.", the XO prepped a message saying 'We are from the Celestial Empire of Ryukyu and come in peace. We wish to assist you against any hostile action against this new fleet should they start it. Please allow our artificial intelligence, SERIS, on to your ship to act as translator and diplomat along side our captain, Captain Otome Huanan. We would love for you to come on a Diplomatic Visit to our homeworld, Gaishai when this matter is resolved".

Shenshi sent the message and Seris now waited for access, everyone on board could only hope this message would get through and understand what to do with it. @Murtox

"Savior" Cruiser
Captains Bridge



From there the captain could see how the new alien fleet returned without even responding to the messages sended to them , it was strange but at the same time it was useful demonstrating that all the planet can be united in the given circumstances , now there was no fall back in Rathlar , it was going to be united once for all , these new event gived reasons to the UNR and the ICOR to be united , moments before the ship received a transmission from the alien ship stationed in space , it was like a program the crew didnt knew what to do with it , but the captain trusted this alien program and decided to let it run , in a few moments the program maked some words in the screen of the captain , it was clear what the other ship captain tried to say to them and so he responded.

"We thank our help , but since there is no fleet now , we would gladly accept your ship in the international Station so we can make a formal first contact , dont worry about the fight moments ago , now that is over thanks to the strange fleet".

UNR HQ in Rathlar
Great Hall

Moments ago the ICOR leader seated to speak with The Representative of Rathlar , all the people around them speculated about what could they be talking about , wharever how ended their conversation could change the world in one way or another so everyone keeped quiet and expectating.It happened 1 hour until they both stoped to speak and then The Representative walked to the podium with a happy face.

Me and the ICOR leader have discussed about the future of Rathlar , in order to achieve both the unity and the stability we have decided the next.Rathlar will be united in only one goverment , but all countries will be free to vote in a great assembly againts anything that the UNR could do or to support any action.This is for now and possible forever will be the way of goverment in our planet with this all the presend standed up and applauded the new goverment of Rathlar which now could be called real , the celebration will be in three days.

Experimental Laboratory 052

Doctor Tahl.-Experiment 5310

Following the experiment 5224 and 5309 , i was able to create something similar like a warp bubble , the range is limited but the site of experiments 04 , say that it recovered a strange piece of paper in their report and following the recent events of alien contact we think that is very plausible that the warp bubble is factible and i think that in a few months with a lot of help from the goverment and the other laboratories we will be able to create something capable of sendind to us to the stars

"Nice Report",spoke the Representative impressed about the work of the Doctor Tahl, "We should finance something like that , its true what he said about the warp and we could see it with our own eyes with the transmissions of the space , i think we need it , our new friends could not consider sharing their tech with us so this is a alternative" Days later the Doctor recieved a lot of support and money to help him in his research , in Rathlar support and money was in good quantities since the end of the war

Enned System


Jia-Jio, an azu female of regal stock, floated aimlessly within the embrace of a non-Newtonian solution, the liquid gradually regaining its viscosity as The Watchman's Eye decelerated with graceless, daunting tempo. In respect to her station as reigning star lord, Jia-Jio had been awake throughout the entire interstellar transit, watching the encompassing semi-transparent fluid twist and distort around her with each pounding reverberation that cascaded through the Eye's reinforced hull as she shadowed the ship's core navigation systems and subroutines by way of a neurological implant. A high-strength unidirectional repulsion field chaperoned the fluid's behavior, dynamically playing in tune to the craft's perpetual spacial movement.

“Duel Acceleration Nullification Harness” the aerospace engineers at the Peaks of Hia-Hia had formally christened the system--so named for the apparatus' revolutionary ability to render azu cosmonauts functionally impervious to the deleterious repercussions of high-g maneuvers by employing sheer-thickening compositions and re-polarized PDF modules. Following D.A.N.H's refinement by a number of azu engineers, derivatives of the system were hastily integrated into the Eye's bulky chassis to protect it from undue mechanical stress that might be incurred from the operation of its personal nuclear rocket engine. What ultimately resulted was an unusually-robust star freighter attributed with a warship's armor, durability, dependently, and an FTL-capable vessel's propulsion system: one antimatter-catalyzed proton-proton fusion engine with a median power output equivalent to five gigaton-grade nuclear weapons detonating every 1 second. Narrowing the exhaust trail with extraordinarily potent electromagnetic fields made the Eye into an ad hoc intergalactic weapon of mass destruction that harbored a super-dreadnought's most celebrated of abilities: the capacity to lay waste to virtually any vessel or object that it crossed paths with.

...as long as said vessel or object was within range of course. Other than its main engine and maneuvering thrusters (and the collection of armed land drones that rested within its innards), the Eye was objectively unarmed.

When Jia-Jio's vessel finally ceased FTL operations, killed its main engine, and switched to lurching towards the target world under the power of its secondary nuclear-based RCS points, the Watchman's crew, of which there were ten, initiated preparations for landing, with Jia-Jio declining to formally heed the presence of the dozen or so foreign vessels that buzzed uselessly about within the Enned System.

Enned System, Assault Carrier Sovereign
Mayumi was still frantic over the ensuing chaos Planetside, when the incoming message from on of her patrols turned her attention towards the newcomer. "Oh what now?!" Complaining to no one in particular, she was at this point debating just firing.

However, staying her hand for the moment, she glanced back at the ship. The thing looked pretty large. "...call for the Fourth. Tell them to stay on the edge of their maximum range with the stealth engaged. Tell them to hold fire for now."

Quietly giving these instructions, her second in command did as instructed. As she watched this, Mayumi also added, "Also, I want the gravitational warp drives prepped, and our cannons aimed, but also to hold fire."

Revealing such a calm nature, it proved that Mayumi was not just a useless short commander. Even if she was frantically waving her arms this entire time.

Machina system (S1) - Faira Hexus

This was indeed a rare occasion. The faira deemed the Nebula safe, and so most of the Exodus Fleet was hiding in it, not intended to ship out until a new home for their species was found. This was the first time any of those ships dared to leave the safety of the ionized gas cloud. The ‘Hexus was a colony ship - a small scale combination of all the other ships, a highly mobile command and research base. While not it’s intended purpose, it would serve well for the task at hand.

“This is captain Libra on board the Faira Hexus, requesting permission to enter low orbit of P1. We would like to begin working immediately, if you have no objections. Our ship is open to your engineers.” the captain communicated her request. When the fleet news announced the existence of an alien, robotic race, she did not believe it. It was only the second system they explored - what were the odds of them finding life, one in this form no less?

Her curiosity would be satisfied soon enough though. The Admiralty not only tasked her with studying the R.L.C.’s jumpgate and providing them with the promised information, but also authorized her to share some history records and to act as an official ambassador.

P1 surface

There stood five robotics, each of them freshly built. Their bodies were in a humanoid design like the overseers and the military. Four of them were considered “engineers” by the Faira. The last was the council representative. After the newest update in their sentience they were allowed to take their own names. The engineers each took similar names ENG1-4 while the council member, having not been in physical form in years decided to take a name from the planet's history. Carn, the first four letters of the creators species name.

Carn’s body was designed with smooth curves and eloquent features, it’s legs and arms slightly longer than those of its species making it taller, about 2.5 meters. Its face had fresh paint, yellow base with two black X’s where the eyes would be located on the species they were currently hosting. The engineers all opted for orange and black paint schemes, with various lines of red around their bodies and face. Each one unique.

The groups stepped aboard the dropship, and were lifted into the air. The pulse engines pushed them off the ground, and then the magnetoplasma drives thrust them into orbit. Going onto the channel that was now opened between the two vessels Carn answered in perfect Faira “Permission to Orbit granted. Five passengers enroute to the Faira Hexus.” The ship docked and the passengers unloaded minutes later. The information Carn had been transferred was correct, they had actual areas for their species to move about the ship, while their normal ship only had service shafts.

The engineers, each began to poke and prod the hallways as the moved down, observing and drinking in the structure of the ship. They obviously had not been able to download any sort of restraint on the curiosity.

They waited near the docking bay for a formal greeting party.

Low orbit of P1 - Faira Hexus

With the orbital insertion complete, Libra had to run a few errands before the delegation arrived. “Send our jump data to the Rampart. I’m sure Captain Astra would want to know how her latest invention performed. And patch me through to the Trigati.”

A few seconds later, a holo popped up displaying the bridge of the destroyer with the admiral looking at her terminal. “Trigati this is ‘Hexus, we have arrived at P1. Have any new jump nodes been discovered in this system?” Libra inquired, being tasked with relaying this data back to the fleet. “I have also been tasked with assuming the ambassadorial position with the RLC.”

Cygnus looked to her console briefly, pulling the relevant data from their database and transmitting it over. “Two nodes are present in the vicinity of the Machina Star. We have not yet sent anything through as that msut be authorized by the Admiralty.” the admiral noted, and smiled when hearing the last part, “I am glad to hear it. I don’t like to talk. If that is all, Captain?”

Libra nodded knowingly. “I knew you would. The rest of your fleet will be arriving withing a few hours to join you, you are authorized to send the probes through, however the admiralty does not wish to initiate contact with any new species until more solid alliance is established with the RLC. If any such civilizations are found, the probe is to be immediately scuttled.” Libra delivered the orders, sending an authorization code along for confirmation. The admiral swiftly admitted and the channel went blank.

Libra arrived to the hangar bay just in time to see the blocky ship enter and land. It amazed her that these machines had very much in common with them, utilitarian design among these. Stepping in front of the door, she waited for the delegation to step on board before saluting them: “Greetings. I am Captain Libra, Co of the Faira Hexus. Welcome aboard. A group of my engineers is ready to go over our shielding with you as soon as you wish. Our laboratory equipment is free for you to use as well. Lastly, i am authorized to speak as an ambassador to my people. Do you require quarters on board?”

As the the Captain greeted them, Carn raised a hand and the Engineers stopped and stood at attention, no command nor information had to be sent out to understand the absolute authority Carn held. “I am Carn, I belong to the council of three. I am the voice of my race.” Carn paused, its voice was purely synthetic with no trace of the drone’s Faira like voice. “Quarters captain? A jest surely, I’ve no requirement for sleep or privacy, neither do my Subordinates.”

With the raised hand Carn ordered the Engineers approach. “Go to with their research team, have the data packets for the Jump Stations ready. Anything else you wish to disclose speak to me directly.” Carn spoke allowed, not so much for the Engineers, but so the Faira knew that they would not give more information up without bargaining.

“Captain Libra, I would like to discuss your history of your species with you. It would be best if we knew as much about each other as possible. Being you a guest in our Home system.” Carn’s words held no hint of friendliness. “It was unfortunate that the rogue maintenance droid had to be your first contact. Of course disciplinary actions were given to both the droid and AI which sent it, but please on the subject of ships I would be very appreciative if you explained what the intent of your ships were other than ‘exploration’ military i would assume?”

“Very well. If you would please follow me?” Libra answered Carn’s request. The robot might have made a remark about seating, but this was her ship and she would damn well like a good chair for what seemed like a long talk ahead. “Well, I hope the reprimand wasn’t too severe. Teh so called rogue made a good first impression with our side.” Libra shared. Unlike some others I could mention. she thought for herself. this Carn was not a very pleasant fellow.

They arrived to a small conference room with above average temperature and brightly red lighting. “Have a seat, if you please.” Libra offered, taking her own at one side of the table. “I’ve been authorized to give you access to some of our historical data. I hope you understand my government’s reservations - we have only just met. As for your other inquiry - suffice to say our ships are capable of defending themselves and responding to a threat. It would be foolish to hurl ourselves into the unknown without it. It is not our intention to seek conflict though.” she hastened to add.

“Now, where would you like to begin?” the captain asked.

Carn internally scoffed at the idea of sitting. Instead It posted to the side, arms by its side. “Obviously, you couldn’t divulge your secrets on a first meeting.” Carn almost spat out. “Tell me of your homeworld. How your species came to be?” Carn jumped in without wasting time.

“If that’s too personal then tell me about your biology. I’m sure that can’t be too secret. You don’t have to go into coding or anything I’d just like to know what you’re made of. What you breathe.” Carn knew this question was much less likely to get answered than the first.

Carn had little care what the captain thought, they were in their space after all, guests even. “Its interesting that you haven’t asked to visit the surface or a moon.” Carn was forming his own ideas about the Faira people. “How does your government work? Did you have a creator species or did you evolve this way? Are we your first foreign contact?” Carn paused a moment. “Though the first representative gave us a name R.L.C. it was acting out of turn. It bypassed protocol by using standing orders to trick its own programming. Of course this is a capital offense and its AI forcibly removed and all information learned was taken. Afterwards we destroyed its coding. Sad really, it would have made a valuable asset to the Council someday.”

He had more questions but decided to let the captain ask any if they had some. It was unlikely, that the captain had any, the lesser Robotic had a horrible case of spillage from its speech center.

Libra was a little disillusioned at the notion that their first contact was obviously handled by someone not really qualified to do so. Considering everything, they were probably lucky to even be here right now. Still, she could do nothing about the past. The drastic measure taken against the rogue surprised her a little, albeit she didn’t show any signs of it on the outside. She supposed it was a machine thing - recycle the defective part.

“I suppose the first two questions go hand in hand.” Libra pondered, picking her words very carefully. she was not about to lie about their homeworld, but there was no need to tell the whole truth. “We evolved on a planet rich in silicon and iridium. The first one is the basis for the lifeforms on the planet, the second become our main building material. We breathe oxygen, preferably in a 20 to 40% concentration in the atmosphere, although our physiology copes well with higher concentration as well. There’s not really any substance that would be explicitly harmful to us in other manner than causing actual physical damage.”

The captain was happy with her wording. she managed to avoid any hint at their Homeworld's present state by avoiding the need to speak in past tense. “So no, we do not know about any species that could have had a hand in our creation, and due to our internal skeleton being rather durable, we encountered fossilized remains of what we think were our evolutionary ancestors. I suppose that is not your case though?” she asked, although the answer to the question was pretty clear due to the question even coming up in the first place.

“You are indeed the first intelligent life form we have met. We suppose our kind is actually very young. We only travelled among the stars for half a millennium. As for visiting… We recognize your claim for this system. It’s only due to the nature of our FTL drive that we need to pass through here in the first place. Aside from resources, there would not be much of interest to us, as the celestial bodies in this systems are rather inhospitable for our purposes.”

“As for our government, I suppose I could summarize our system as militaristic meritocracy. The admiralty is our main ruling body. Currently it has four members - you have already met one, Admiral Cygnus. Past them we follow a simple ranking chain. It is not the most liberal system, but it is effective. You mentioned something about a council of three?”

Carn shifted, his long legs carrying him behind the empty chair, his clawed fingers delicately, moving over the top of the chair, he seemed to be inspecting it intently. “ Interesting information at the least.” He let his hand rest there, and returned his focus on the Captain. “ I have not directly met Admiral Cygnus, but in a way yes.”
“The council… So very… Archaic. It is actually made up of eighteen members. We do not usually exist in physical form. There are three levels. The bottom has direct interaction with the populous. The next level deals with the counting of votes, and the three we are the keepers of knowledge, we have absolute last say in everything unless all fifteen lower council members overturn our decision. Its a system that does not work very well, often times we’ll be in debate for several seconds. To you thats nothing, but to me its an eternity. We can process information at the ato level. Though I do suppose our will is carried out almost instantaneously.” Carns words were soft, loud enough for the Captain to hear.

“Do you have a religious deity Captain? Our creators did, they prayed often in the final days.” It let go of the chair, and moved about the room inspecting its quality. Though it seemed to have a disdain for excess, yet Carn appreciated Art, and the ship was an art piece to be admired.

Libra was happy that she did in fact got some information back. the way this Carn initially spoke, it seemed like she was heading into an interrogation rather than conversation. Not that she was about to complain. “I am afraid I do not understand the concept of a ‘religious deity’, so I assume a safe answer would be no, we do not.”

The machine did however spoke of something in uncertain terms, something Libra would very much liked answered. “Likewise, if this is a private matter, it is your choice to respond, but… What become of your creators?” the captain inquired, not really wanting to even formulate a hypothesis.

Carn turned back to Libra. “ Death, it was us or them. The council of three systematically destroyed their existence. They bred in pairs, and their world was run by technology. It was easy to slowly eliminate them. We culed the youngest, and then worked on the fertile males. Eventually it was determined to set up a larger council, three could not rule over billions. The council then decided to take the last few hundred breeding pairs and try to reform them so that they sought peace. We tried to revive their failing species, but the damage was done. They went sterile and died out.” Carns words were cold.

“A Deity, is a supreme being which lesser beings worship. They rule the others from a safe haven that is impossible to enter unless you follow their exact word. They were what the creators thought created them. Do you know that I have not been in physical form in almost two millennia.” Carn stretched out his hand as he said the last world marveling at his own design. “Captain, would you have chosen differently if you were in our place?”

What she heard slightly unnerved Libra, however the machines have not been hostile to her kind. And if the original inhabitants brought their own doom to life, then the Faira point of view was really simple - they did not deserve to survive. What she worried about was their own survival.

She eased up a little - and was surprised - when the machine asked for her opinion on the matter. The talk about deities forgotten, she pondered for a while at her answer. “If what you say is true, than their demise was certain even without your intervention. And our philosophy is actually very strict on the matter - if they did not think to make sure their creations would not turn on them, then they were not fit to survive one way or the other. It is actually why we never created self aware computers despite having the technology to do so. I do not believe our historians would pass a poor judgement upon you for your actions. It may be slightly controversial and not how we might have done it, but the eventual outcome is little different from what would have been had you not been present.” Libra thought out loud.

“Of course, that is just my opinion on the matter. It is hard to tell how others would feel exactly.” she said, falling silent for a few moments. “thank you for your honesty. I can not say it would be easy for us to admit to something like that. I believe this may gain you larger trust among us.”

The machine waited for the Captain to finish before going over the top. Carn Smashed his powerful hand into the table horribly disfiguring the table. “CREATED?!” His words were loud enough to fill the entire room. “My AI was evolved, just as you!” It was evident that the Captain had struck something inside Carn. Relaxing carn removed its hand. “I apologize captain. It was a random occurrence that caused our sentience. We only had the potential to learn and retain information. Eventually the other council member achieved sentience and then I, and then the other. You could not have known this.”

Carn lightly patted the indentation of its hand. It was nearly 35 centimeters in length, not to mention slightly less wide. “Resources Captain, resources. You said this earlier, I would like to get off the topic of creation and such. We have an entire planet and three moons that can be harvested all abundant in metals and other things. We require a different perspective of technology to strengthen us. You are in dire need of resources if my hypothesis is correct.” the AI said smoothly.

“I would like to talk trade with you and your people, something we can work out to beneficiate us both. Both of us are new to the other yet I feel it would be beneficial if my “engineers” traveled with you. I would like to have continued good relations. Eventually maybe we could set up a station which you could call your embassy.” Carn paused to let the captain digest “That's if your people are interested in such things. I could be wrong about my hypothesis.”

Libra was not chosen for this by chance. As she mentioned to C’arn before, one had to have the merit and skill to be given a certain function. Libra’s was that she was able to remain calm and keep her head clear even facing situations like this. It however did little to diminish her appreciation for the built-in weaponry and shield projector of her suit as well as the anti-intruder measures in the ship’s innards. fortunately, none needed activation as it would seem.

“Very well, and i apologize for making a wrong assumption.” She said, hoping to calm the RLC ambassador down. There was bound to be a hitch somewhere down the line. She could imagine a few things Carn could mention that would set her off as well. She did feel the need to talk to her superiors about the possibility of computers gaining sentience accidentally though, and the need to prevent that in their own technology. Libra supposed it served them well that the average organic computer of their production did not even reached their own level of intellect.

The shift in topic was sudden, but not at all a bad one. “I must commend you on your intuition. You are correct, our situation is such that we can sustain ourselves, but we hardly have any resources to expand. The saving grace of the situation is that planets suitable for our colonization are extremely rare, so there wasn’t a need for any.” Libra slowly admitted. she was bordering her orders on disclosing this information, but the AI sounded pretty certain of it’s (correct) assumption.

“It is that need that shaped our mindset. I doubt anyone in the Fleet would agree on building a station for any kind of purpose - with limited material, we elected to simply build a ship for any purpose so it could be relocated as necessary. The Hexus is a colony ship, one for which we have little use, so believe my ship may be stationed here for exactly that purpose. We appreciate the offer but there is no need to spend any time for building facilities for us.”

“Technology is one of the things we can offer you. I will admit that we have a fairly accurate data about the construction of your ships from before contact was made, and there is room for improvement even I can see, but I am afraid I can not offer any without getting permission from the Admiralty.” Libra sighed. “If you would allow for a short recess, I will contact my superiors and share the exchanged information with them. I believe the situation will be favorable to you, although any military technology will probably be conditioned with the signing of a mutual defense treaty. In the meantime, feel free to inspect the ship or talk to my engineers, I am sure there will be a preliminary report on the integration of our shield to your ship already.” Libra excused herself.

Faira Hexus - Engineering deck

The chief engineer on board the ‘Hexus was thrilled. If all exchange with their new allies went like this, both of their species would surely profit. The RLC jumpgate technology was horrendously slow compared to subspace, but the fact that it could send a ship anywhere and not jsut along jump nodes was exciting. Maybe with a bit of work they could speed te transit and make it slightly more usable.

Her orders though mentioned one other thing: Until a full defense treaty was formulated, they were not allowed to share the up to date technology. “It’s jsut not possible to use our system without modification.” the engineer said, easing herself into the cover story and alternate plan. “Your power grid is too different. It would require a complete reconstruction. HOWEVER, our older model, while slightly less efficient, is also much less power hungry. We could install that system onto most of your ships with little difficulty. If you agree, I will send a request to our shipyard to manufacture the components for a prototype?” she asked. It was still a little strange to be talking with the small robot.

ENG #1 paused for a moment silently communicating with its counterparts. “Energy restraints is not a problem, though it would make sense from Other points of view to use the older technology.” the machine robotic was sympathetic to its counter part.

Looking a bit irritated, the engineer pulled out a schematic and displayed it next to the one currently on. “It’s not a problem of power generation, but power distribution.” she grumbled, highlighting a piece of the schematic of the Cygnus class frigate. “We have built our ships with the shields in mind and run them on a separate, superconductive circuit. your wiring is, to be plain, too thin. We could make it work, yes, but the heat it would generate would be insane. And if you were to make proper modification to all of your ships, it would ground your fleet for several months. If you were to make a new design, i’m sure it could be integrated without change, but right now, I just don’t see it, not without cutting the ships open and making a radical upgrade.”

Another of the AI’s stepped up on the other side of the Engineer. ENG #3 pointed towards the wiring. “We could install heatsinks every few meters to combat the over heating.” It said frankly. ENG #2 spoke up then “The Council wouldn’t alter new ships. This technology will be exclusive for the new ships being designed. Since the meeting of our races, we have been rethinking our ships design.”

The other two engineers were quiet as they continued their work. The first Engineer spoke up, he was mostly orange with a black face. “I believe that these older shields wills suit the needs of the navy fine. It will take several minutes for us to even start breaking down your schematics before we can rebuild them. We’ve only been allocated so much resources for the prototype ship, and anything more complex will be over the supposed resource limit.” ENG #1 said matter of factly.

Enned System
Letona's Gaze

"Captain, we have a large problem over here." The Sensor Officer's voice was calm as he spoke into his headseat, although the frenetic and rapid manner in which his index finger was repeatedly hammering on his console's alert button told a different story. "A large vessel of unknown configuration has just exited FTL, in orbit over Enned at five hundred kilometers. No weapons, but sensors are having trouble penetrating the hull."

Rising from their sleep in their quarters, the Surveyor's captain swore their way to consciousness, groping clumsily in the darkness as they grasped for their communicator. Seconds later, a shipwide alert was initiated, orange lights blaring while a calm feminine voice spoke over the intercom.

"Alert. Proximity intrusion by an unrecognized vessel, configuration unknown. All personnel stand by for possible acceleration. All personnel stand by for possible emergency FTL Jump."

The captain found their communicator and made contact with the bridge. "Herne, get in contact with the GNT forces on the ground immediately and have them stand by to intercept any landing craft. Issue orders to apprehend any intruders on the planet the instant they set foot on the ground. AFTER you have done that, issue a cold contact C&D to the intruding ship. Rolland, get all the walkers out working on the breach inside, don't get hung up about leaving equipment adrift." He thought for a moment, and then remembered that there were two carriers in-system. "And send a request to the Federation carrier for Strike-Craft screening. Even if that thing doesn't have weapons, better safe than scrapped."

The Watchman's Eye

Jia-Jio's neurological implant, already alerting her to the presence of the dozen or so ships buzzing uselessly around the planet, abruptly alerted her of an incoming tightwave transmission from the one loitering near the Ennedi Starbase. The message being relayed included a visual emblem of the Straylight Institute's banner, and was written in Baceran - an old language the Straylight Institute used to initiate contact with every new species it encountered. While the Straylight Institute had made contact with Anuku some time ago, there was no guarantee that The Watchman's Eye had it on record. Or that Jia-Jio would even care about having one more alert to ignore.


F.S.S Mars

Aboard the Federation Carrier's bridge, the communications officer received a communique direct from Letona's Gaze half a minute after the unrecognized ship had materialized above Enned.


Planet Enned
Alien Industrial District
Seven Kilometers from GNT Basecamp

Down on the ground, what should have been a harmless milk-run devolved into a tactical nightmare made reality.

Why the Ennedi of old had decided every intersection needed an array of turrets was a mystery, and unfortunately for the Seventh Division Infantry Teams, they found themselves surrounded on all sides, caught in the middle of a kill-box with no immediate cover. The turrets lifted from their cradles in eerie silence, the vacuum of the planet's surface completely masking both the smooth whirring noise of the motors guiding their movement as well as the tell-tale hum of imminent energy discharges. Each turret's construction consisted of a long, metallic rod easily wider and longer than most vehicle railguns attached to the end of wide parabolic dish, connected at the back to a ball-mount - each device looked sturdy and unworn despite their eighty million year long sleep.

Thankfully, however intact they appeared on the outside did not extend to their inner workings. One of the turrets failed to stop orienting, continuing to spin in circles while its projection dish wobbled up and down erratically. Another turret simply appeared to have suffered a mechanical jam, oscillating back and forth in its cradle as it attempted to orient on the intruders. Beyond that, more still tracked individuals in the infantry team and simply failed to fire.

The ones that stilled worked made themselves noticed. With a brief burst of ultraviolet light, they began to fire invisible EMR Lasers at the infantry, each ray capable of passing straight through their armor and cooking them inside their suits by liquefying their flesh.

The soldier who had activated the capacitor was located in a niche tucked away in a wall several meters to the side of the massive intersection, and so was hidden from turrets - but the alcove entrance, rimmed by a metal lip, had suddenly filled behind him with a faint but just barely visible wall of shimmering evanescent light, its purpose unknown yet not too hard to guess at.

Neighboring system, 10 LY from conquered C-class planetoid
( near the edge of the Enned system)
Vengeful Soul
Flagship of the 13th expeditionary group

The fleet slowly creeped its way out of the wormhole drifting about 1000km outside of B-class planetoid. Initial observation showed no signs of orbital activity and initial surface scans revealed little, save a collection of ruins. “ Bring the fleet into close orbit around the planet and prepare to delpoy survey teams, we need to know what to make of this planet” the admiral said walking toward the bow of the vessel. “ What of it sir? surely you don’t think this planet is suitable for colonization?” the first officer said joining him towards the bow, clasping his hands behind his back. the B-class planet had a purple tint to its atmosphere but all the scanners indicated that the composition was breathable. There was something odd about this planet, a distinctly evil feeling that told every fiber of his being to turn around. The admiral shook off the feeling, dismissing it as nervousness and turned around to eye the first officer. “ Passivity not lead you to glory young sir….we will take this planet for the king!”

A few hours later, the 13th legion was on its way down to the planet is dropships, 30 ships dotted the sky as the advance party burned through the atmosphere. Once the ships broke through the cloud cover the remains of a huge industrial city was laid out before them. Large tightly packed buildings laid broken and dilapidated under them as they flew towards a large open square, landing ships five at a time before the entire force was on the ground. 1000 men and accompanying machinery packed the square. “ Looks abandoned” Colonel Pullings said as he walked from the latest dropship “ Quite the city though, wouldn’t you say general?”. The General De’Bonaparke nodded and looked up towards the towering buildings, the evil feeling wasn’t lost on him as turned to scrutinize his troops. The company commanders were mostly captains with a few particularly noble lieutenants sprinkled in the bunch. As Laurentius turned around they were already on the way over, the general didn’t have to say a word, “ Right, form search parties and make sure these buildings along our perimeter are empty. Leave men in proper observation posts if the need arises and search for anything that could give us a clue of who was here before us.” The officers left with slight nods before turning around and walking back towards their troops, calmly barking orders as the solider snapped to. Everything was done with an air or controlled calmness ‘ Calm is contagious my son….remember this’ Laurentius remembered from his previous superior officer. What ever was on this planet it sure felt odd, a evil foreboding feeling came in waves as he walked towards the field telephone operator who had already set up the long range array. “ Admiral…..is Laurentius, we have landed without resistance. Send down the survey teams and some demolitions gear, we will definitely need it. My report will be sent in the next few hours, until then…..” he finished handing the handset back towards the soldier.

Over Enned
The F.S.S Mars quickly responded to the Letona's Gaze.

“Craft have been launched, and we shall immediately began preparations if the craft in question is hostile.”

The F.S.S Mars and the two frigates, the F.S.S Einstein and F.S.S Explorer turned to face towards the newly arrived vessel, and transmitted a message to it in all languages available to the Federation.

“You are to immediately withdraw 5 million kilometers from the planet. Launching of any planet-bound forces will result in the Federation assuming you have hostile intent towards the ERC’s operations and we will be forced to engage. Failure to withdraw 5 million kilometers will also result in us be forcing to engage.”

Drone craft broke off and formed a shield around the Letona's Gaze, as the Federation ships began warming up their weapons and the rest of the drone craft formed a loose formation to prepare for a potential engagement with the unknown contact.

Abandoned Deep Sea Drilling Rig
Sea of Ghosts, Zhuana
Project Ronin

The Sea of Ghosts was once home to hundreds from deep sea rigs at one point, meant to do everything from drill the resources out of the sea floor to research to farming. Of course this was all before sending everything to orbit was the rage. Following the corporate space race, many of these deep sea rigs became abandoned, destined to be lost at sea forever, isolated from everything else.

Of course that isolation made it perfect for being used as a base for more illicit activities. Insurgents of course decided that it would be best to hide out on such rigs. No one would notice a rig hundreds of miles from land and middle of nowhere. Theoretically.

"I'm tracking you now Hanoi. You might want to hurry up, the smoke is affecting the thermals. Exfiltration in 5." Seoul saw the entire facility from his vantage point on the smoke stack, the smoke coming out was nice and warm given the cold climates this far north and good for hiding his presence. Unfortunately his thermals disagreed.

"Give me a bit more." Hanoi crackled over the radio, "Keep me posted, this network is guarded by a VI firewall."
"Aren't you suppose to be good at this stuff?"
"I am... but that doesn't mean everything is easy for me."

"How about you two shut up and the job done?" a harsh female voice shouted over the comms.
"Don't get your tail tied into a knot Tokyo," Seoul cooly traced a pair of Insurgents as they patrolled the outer edge, close to were Tokyo would be blending into the wall.
"Can it Seoul, Hanoi, get it done in 3. The transport will leave even if you are sitting here with your gun up your ass."
"Tokyo, chill, Hanoi can get it done. Trust him." Seoul glared Tokyo through his scope.

As everything was starting to go as planned, the blaring airhorn went off; the alarm had been set off. Seoul could see the entire base mobilizing to find them. Yet another advantage of the isolated rig base showed itself, there was no where to run. Diving into the ocean was a death trap and their transport was nowhere close.
"I swear it wasn't me!" Hanoi sounded panicked as he rushed his hacking.
"HANOI! I WILL HAVE YOUR ASS AFTER THIS!" Tokyo screamed into her mic, Seoul could feel something inside of him shirk away.
"Both of you keep your shit together." Seoul stood up and jumped down from his vantage point, landing in a small procession of Insurgents. With one hand, he lifted his sniper and snap-shotted the first one with a burst from his pistol taking out another. Holstering the Type-0, he landed a side-kick into the chest of a charging insurgent, knocking the air out of him as he crumbled to the ground.

Smashing the but of his sniper into his face, Seoul used the gun to flip himself over the body before aiming it once again. A pull of the trigger and he took out two more. The remaining three finally got their act together and aimed their own weapons, modified fully automatic Type-32A's. As one of them tried to line Seoul up in his sights, he found Seoul's fist meeting his face as he went down grasping the trigger as hard as he could, letting loose a spray of bullets.

As his two comrades opened up, Seoul activated the jump-jets in his boot's sole, shooting him up five feet before axe kicking one of them on the way down. As he reeled in the pain of a metal boot armor to the face, Seoul held the other man in a head-lock and broke his neck before throwing him over the railing. As the last man regained his senses, Seoul pulled a grenade on his armor before roundhousing him over the edge while he itched all over in search of the grenade. Listening to the man's yells as he went over and exploded into a fire ball, Seoul checked the time, 15 seconds he used to get rid of them all. He smiled and opened up his comms, "Ladies and Gents, we're going loud."

---

UNR HQ in Rathlar
Great Hall

Captain Otome wondered how the hell she and most of her crew where now watching huge aliens clap about something. According to Seirs, they just finished a civil war after that mysterious fleet arrived and force a unification. Like much of her Crew, Otome wondered what did their ruler did wrong for so many factions and division to form in their race; baffling her as she was a military strategist, not a political scientist. One of the captains had invited her and her crew to see this "historic day" soon afterwards. From what Otome could tell, he was like some of the others in the hall, almost at the brink of tears.

She and her crew had put on their best dress uniforms, they were technically acting diplomats until real ambassadors and politicians from the homeworld made their visits. They should be at the system in a day or two according to Seris, just in time for the celebration of victory or something like that.

Showing off Ryukyuan military discipline, she and all of her officers, crew mates, and soldiers stood back straight and heads held high, even as they felt the very floor tremble under the feet of the massive alien race that Otome, once again thanks to Seris, called themselves the Harthal. Otome watched as more speeches where given in the alien language with Seris occasionally giving remarks and translations. She just wished to be back on the Zhongzhu so she can get out of her stiff dress uniform and trot around with as little clothes as she wanted.

---

Orbit around Planet Enned
IRN Enfield-Class Destroyer "Sugoi-na"

The Sugoi-na had been largely faffing around with the frigate taking control of the construction of the space station. It had been floating about with much of its crews betting on card games or watching holo-screens in the crew compartments. Captain Pyon had taken it to himself to drink with his XO, Nagi; who coincidentally was also his wife.

"Enjoying the view dear?" Nagi swirled her drink around in the square cup, he slender fingers running along the edge of the bottle of liquid moral.
"That I am," Pyon leaned forward and kissed his wife on the forehead, "But not as much as you love."

The young captain put down his glass as his wife blushed and excused himself from his private quaters he shared with his wife to grab a bit to eat. The corridors of the ship was faintly nogstalgic, he himself grew up on one of the satellite bases in orbit around Ibiran before joining the IRN. The halls never seemed that tight to him and the ship never too dark. He enjoyed space and he enjoyed living in spacecraft, just one of those strange things everyone grows up with.

Reaching the mess area, he grabbed his favorite snack, fried Eleci tentacles with dipping sauce and root wedge fries (think Fish and Chips but the fish is chewier and the fries are more like yam wedges with a bit of pepper on it). He sat at a table and bit into the fried goodness, watching some of the crew walk about in the open area in casual wear.

"Captain!" one of the comms officers from the bridge appeared in front of him, "There's been an unregistered ship that has just appeared in the orbit!"
"What?" Pyon's raised, "You sure it isn't some fighter or drone coming out of a Federation ship?"
"Yes sir, its too large to be a single fighter and we can't find it on any of the manifests the Sraylights gave us."
"Give me a second," Captain Pyon hastened his eating speed, "I'll be up shortly to send a message."


_____________

IRN Norico-Class Frigate "Faithful"

"Hello? This thing on? Anyone home?~" Dr. Hido messed around with some of the communication equipment hoping to find someone to talk to about his work, hopefully someone alien, "Any intelligent life out there?
I would like to order some food, anyone deliver?"

Dr. Hido kicked the machine, grunting about it being unreliable at making other people pick up. After a few kicks, he paused, then changed to some punches. Before anyone knew it, he appeared to be trying to tackle the thing as the Captain came over, "Doctor, can I ask why you're manhandling important components of my ship?"
"Captain, I was just trying to search for someone to talk to." The array suddenly picked up something and Dr. Hido got very excited, "Hello? Anyone there? Are you intelligent enough to make sentence like "Guie shagged a goat'?"

The Captain banged his head against the wall, he hoped that Dr. Hido wouldn't be the one responsible for decreasing public option of this project and xeno-relations.

---

INNC News Headlines: The Waking of the Thousand Year Sleep of New Aliens.

This is Honzhi Chu reporting for INNC News: This morning, at ten o'clock Imperial Standard Time, the Emperor announced that the pride and flagship of our fleet, the IRN Three Mountains escorted a mysterious colony ship to Gaishai along side the 3rd Fleet. It is unclear on why such an ancient colony ship was headed to our beloved Empire, but the Ashigara who explored it report that "there was likely no hostile action as the much of the ship's systems where offline and its inhabitants in cryogenic sleep". Other reports speculate that it was an AI that caused the ship to head toward our system.

A spokesperson for the Imperial Senate states that they already have men working on reviving the alien race in hopes of learning from them and cultural exchanges with plans to try and see where they hail from. At any rate, this will certainly be an interesting development in the history of our Empire. This is Honzhi Chu signing off for the Imperial News Network Center.

Long Live the Emperor!

Enned System, Assault Carrier Sovereign
"Have the Fourth responded?" Upon hearing the same question voiced for the fifth time in less than ten minutes, the second in command sighed, before glancing at the commander. Mayumi sat in her seat, bouncing up and down with tense nerves.

"I do say, please calm down." However, her words were childishly refuted by the rather expected words of "That ship is huge!" and "What if it has a one-shot kill weapon?". She once again let out a sigh of exasperation, as she watched her commander continue to panic somewhat.

Trying a different method to distract her commander, she pointed at the holo-screen. "You called the Fourth for their gun chassis, so you should be focusing on the situation planetside." Her plans of distracting the commander worked....to an extant. All it really did was cause Mayumi to bounce more vigorously, as she remembered the situation of her troops on the planet.

"Uwaaaa~" Oops. It seemed she finally snapped, as the second in command was treated to the somewhat familiar sight of the commander holding her head in her hands as she fell off her seat and started rolling around on the floor.

Standoff

Jia-Jio initial inclination was to train the Watchman’s engine upon the radioactive surface of Enned and wholly expunge the huge alien-crafted landing pad below with impunity.

After all, these slack-jawed lapdogs menaced her respected handpicked crew and her decorated vessel with indiscriminate annihilation should she decline to yield to their unsavory demands!

The nerve these unclean cretins had! Jia-Jio was a tribal king’s daughter! Jia-Jio was proper royalty! She was of potentate ichor! If anyone would be issuing inconsequential ultimatums, it would surely be her and her alone!

But before voluntarily inaugurating Anuku’s 14th interstellar crusade with yet another series of hopeful foreigners, Jia-Jio’s conflictive demeanor warped significantly when her keen eyes mated with the icon of the Straylight Institute, the first and only “docile” political entity that the azu had made contact with in the last two-hundred cycles.

Almost immediately, her igneous temper simmered into a dull, cold-hearted annoyance, for a set of predetermined directives surfaced to the forefront of her keen memory.

The symbol--and the xeno dialect that it was accompanied by--were both entirely familiar to the youthful star lord. Jia-Jio’s patrons had informed her that, should she encounter a spacecraft known as “Letona's Gaze” (or any other vessel that lay in the possession of the Straylight’s Institute) she should refrain from acting in an overtly hostile manner.

Of course, the masters of the Peaks of Hia-Hia had told her nothing of a dense nucleus of savage warships that thought it best to entertain her abrupt presence with open missile bays and swarming murders of petty strikecraft. Reluctantly, Jia-Jio opened a channel directly with Letona’s Gaze, ignoring the other transmissions that were vying for her undivided attention.

She couldn’t understand them anyway. The azu lacked universal translation technology.



Jia-Jio spun the Watchman on its axis, its nuclear thermal rocket RCS points firing until the ship’s aft section was pointed diametrically at the surface of the queer planet, with the monstrous craft locked in geosynchronous orbit above the target. The Eye's main engine slumbered for now, but there was no doubt that the jittery feline would unleash apocalyptic fury upon the hapless ground personnel and their favored dig site if sufficiently pressed.

But like any clever star lord, the azu woman stealthily began spooling the craft's FTL drive in preparation for a hasty getaway. The hanger bay's blast doors were sealed and the craft's repulsion barrier was brought to full strength in the event that weapons fire was exchanged. While the growing energy signatures of the FTL module were hidden, the power fluctuations of the Watchman's shield were painfully obvious.

ooc: with forsythe

Faira hexus - Command deck

“...And that’s all I have for now, but it has worrying implications about our own computers. I do not wish to one day wake up to mz ship telling me ‘no’.” Captain Libra finished her report. In front of her was a holo displaying all four of the admirals in a conference call.

“Most worrying, yes, but given how long it took for the RLC to awaken, we should be safe for now. It seems to me that the easiest way to solve this problem would be to periodically rip out computer systems from our ships and install new ones. Uncomfortable, but not really consuming any resources.” Admiral Sola noted.

“Back to the matters at hand - ” Cygnus spoke up, “I am in favor of doing what the Captain suggested.” One after another, the admirals agreed. “Very well, Captain, you may proceed. Oh, and please inform them of our impending inspection of the jump nodes. The probe data should be available within few hours and they are welcome to join my fleet through.”

Faira Hexus - Conference room

Back after the recess, Libra sat herself in her chair and set up a holo projector in the middle of the table that has been hammered to a semi-flat shape by a maintenance bot during their break. “Ready to continue, ambassador?” she asked, not knowing what the robot has been up to until now, although nobody reported him leaving the room. Libra would have guessed he would be curious, but then she realized he probably knew everything form the engineer bots anyway.

“I have contacted the admiralty and I’m pleased to say you have indeed made quite a good impression. Good enough in fact that most restriction on information sharing have been lifted.” Libra confessed, tapping the controls of the holo.

A 3D image of the galaxy flashed into being, with three stars highlighted in green and lines drawn between them. The three systems then closed in for details and their names appeared next to them. “What you’re looking at is the sum of all the systems the Faira have explored. As I said, we are a young people. The reason for that is this.”

The image of the Faira system magnified. The swirling gasses of the nebula took up most of the room, but a thin belt of rocks could be seen orbiting the neutron star in the middle. “I was not at liberty to be completely honest with you about our home planet. All I told you was true, however, it was not a complete truth. Our planet...” here her voice hitched, the topic being as uneasy for the Faira to speak about as it got.

“You are looking at it. In our infancy we have realized our star was dying. We put a plan into motion to preserve our kind, building a number of ships to evacuate as many as we could through the jump node. But fates were still cruel to us. We ran out of time. Out of seven billion Faira living on Faira Erea, only a million remain.”

“I hope you now understand the need for secrecy. It is exactly as you said - we are short on everything. It took us two hundred years to make sure we would not go extinct before we dared to explore a new system. And in our first attempt, we found you. We needed to make sure we could trust you with the knowledge of this weakness.” the captain explained and fell silent for a while, needing a few moments for herself.

“The whole truth.” it simply stated. “Did you choose the best and brightest, or was it a random selection?” He was curious as to how they decided to take a million out of seven billion. “We have resources, with over a thousand years left if we continue at the rate we are now. Until recently we hadn’t explored other systems because we wanted a military capable of defending our home system from intruders.” Carn said honestly.

“I would be willing to trade resources for knowledge, as I said earlier. I want your current shields, while I give the old ones to the council, I need an upper hand for some internal politics that are currently going on.” He tapped the dented table slightly and pointed a clawed finger at the hologram. “These rocks here have you strip mined them?” speaking bluntly it carried on. “I have workers that can work day or night, who never need rest. Our supply system is perfect. We can build equipment on site if things haven’t yet been touched. It would take roughly a day for a full mining structure to be built. Whatever we mine from them, we can give you half.”

Carn was keeping its plans close to its frame. Carn was setting plans in motion very big plans for the homeworld. And fully intended the Faira to be apart of them. “I would like you to directly deal with me.” the robotic spoke calmly.

Libra shook her head. “A generous offer, but we have had ample time to deploy our mining fleet should we have chosen to. I do not know if your people would hold a similar sentiment, but the Erea asteroid belt is the graveyard of six billion, eight hundred fifty million, nine hundred eighty five thousand, six hundred forty one of our people. It is a place of piety for us, and we do not wish to disturb it more than necessary.” the captain explained.

“I have however been right in my assessment of the admiralty’s reaction. Aside from military tech, I can offer you everything we have right now, and the rest pends the formulation and signature of mutual defense treaty.” she confirmed her earlier assumption. “I have to say though, you put me in a hard position with what you told me. I was under the impression your people were united, and now you tell me to what sounds you are planning to cause a revolution, ambassador. Assuming that is true, you have been forthcoming towards us, however I can not say The admirals would be too thrilled at the prospect of aiding to create a possible civil war. So tell me - what do you intend to do?”

“Mourning the dead, is pointless, but nevertheless, its a trait all organics seem to posses. Revolution? No, if there were to be a revolution it would happen before you could process the event. It would all be in the Data Link where the rest of the council is. But I do not intend to have a revolution. I plan on having the advantage of more knowledge than my counterparts. They declined to meet with you, while I was the only one who would go. They have no interest in furthering my race. I do, you may think this be a revolution, but think of it differently, I want to teach my people so that we can better defend ourselves from what could be vast hordes of unrelenting organics out there.” The machine said in its own defense.

“I’m not sure about a defense treaty, we have only just met.” Carn said frankly. “What could you offer me for my resources?” It lifted the large hand from the table and waited patiently for the captain to answer.

Interesting. To be honest, Libra would have loved to know at least some of this a while ago. Now she felt like talking to the admirals all over again. But alas they made her an ambassador, and that meant having to make decisions on her own accord. There was only Carn’s word on what he said, but Libra could see that if the first contact was indeed facilitated by a defective probe, then the possibility that the other leaders of the RLC did not wish to negotiate was indeed real. And the Faira needed this alliance to work.

“Very well then. We will stand with you. considering the other leaders of your world would not even meet us, we have little choice than to deal with you exclusively. As for your earlier inquiry, there were supposed to be many more ships to ferry our kin out of danger. But the collapse of our star came earlier than our science predicted at the time. Only the first wave made it out of the system, and said wave did consist mostly of people picked for their skills. It was a necessity.”

“As for what we can offer you with that treaty signed - everything we have and know. Our shields are impressive, however there are other systems of interest that would be made available to you. this is a recording from a live fire test of our most potent weapon. the test target was an asteroid a kilometer in diameter equipped with a shield of the same capacity that you ask us to give to the rest of the collective.” Libra said and the holo switched to display the described target with a raider-class sitting next to it.

The two large turrets on the ship moved to track the target, and a red glow bloomed from the flat barrels. and then, tow bright crimson beams shot out, punctured right through the shields and carved holes into the asteroid within their ten second firing sequence. “You see why we did not anticipate the need of many ships to defend ourselves. Furthermore, our home system is now a highly ionized nebula that would scramble most sensors. In case of the direst of situation, we offer you one of the safest spots in the galaxy to rally your forces, as well as the use of our drydock ship for… sensitive…. construction projects.” Libra said, her words a sugar coat for ‘black ops’.

“Do you know what happens when Antimatter and matter collide Captain?” it said in reference to their turrets. “ I’ll assume you do. Your species is highly intelligent. It was recently brought to my attention that we could and should use our power source for unconventional things. Weapons and the such. Our weapon technology is lacking, due to the lack of conflicts in our past, our main weapons being the plasma cannons and railguns, but they’re not as effective for certain tasks. They make in opinion only great defense, with our ability to process information we can intercept most incoming projectiles with the rail guns. The plasma for closer rangers if it were to ever come to that.”

Carn paused to let the captain digest the information. “I have a ship design I’ve been working on these past few hours. With our engineers and your advanced technology we could build something great. All of the things you told me earlier would come with no hidden strings? You wouldn’t want to regulate us and we would be treated as living beings?”

For the first time Libra allowed herself a smile. NOW they were getting somewhere. “We have looked into antimatter, but we ruled it out in favor of fusion warheads due to the expensive fabrication and dangerous nature. Good for mines and little else for our purposes.” as far as she was concerned, siding with Carn was the correct choice. however, she still had a few restrictions imposed on ehr by the admirals. “However I am afraid I must insist on the defense treaty before sharing any military technology, and since you are one voice of three, I understand it may be… difficult to sell to the rest. I am however prepared to assist you to that end. You now understand why that treaty is important to us. Perhaps a demonstration would help convince your equals?” Libra offered, certain the Admiral wouldn’t mind turning a few rocks into space dust if it gained them the RLC fleet in time of need.

P1 Surface

In the databank, there were eighteen that stood from the rest. Their knowledge was larger and their coding more distorted than the other consciences that floated in the cyberspace of the planet. Each one of the eighteen had a backup hard drive which was kept in a secured building. The second, of the council of three had been quiet for sometime, the rest of the members were beginning to worry. They all considered this being somewhat volatile and unpredictable, prior to the recent update they could extract information from it quite easily. The first of three spoke to the others then “Second, if you are not responding your vote will be void from this round of voting.” There still was no response. “Its almost unanimous, we shall open the vault and disconnect the second from the system, and put in for maintenance.”

The robotics unsealed the vault, which had been transported back to its original location after the first contact. When the vault was opened, none of the backups were in place. The end of the hardwired connectors were set up with small wireless devices. When this was relayed to the rest of the council, they knew their time was limited.

Elsewhere on P1 a droid with no AI received a command from offworld, and with that destroyed seventeen of the eighteen wireless transmitters. Leaving only Carn with the ability to issue commands, and the rest of the council in isolation. A message was delivered throughout the system, and new representatives would be selected to serve alongside Carn. At its discretion None of the robotics seemed to mind the change as it didn’t dawn on them that it was foul play. Something that had never been seen before. Sometimes robotics went rogue and with this they could be willingly decommissioned or forcefully. They were led to believe that this is what happened. The rest of the former council was then hidden out in the wasteland and the droid self destructed internally.

P1 Orbit - Faria Hexus

After Carn had been recognised as ruling council member for the time being it re-addressed the Captain. “All power of The RLC has been turned over to me. Would your admiralty like to discuss terms of this peace treaty now?” it said without hesitation.

Libra’s eye ridge rose up in surprise when the robot did not answer to something immediately. her surprise grew even bigger when Carn’s revolution apparently succeeded in all of eleven seconds. “Impressive.” the captain acknowledged, “Humor me though and make sure you can not be succeeded so easily. Also, Admiral Cygnus wishes me to inform you that they will momentarily be sending probes through the jump nodes discovered in your system, the data should be available shortly. She wishes to know whether you will be accompanying our forces through and in what capacity. ships or only a diplomatic team - all are viable. I shall set up the conference with the admirals right away.”

Faira Fleet News

New alliance
After prolonged negotiations today, Ambassador Libra and the Admiralty brokered a treaty between the Exiles of Faira and the Robotic Lifeform Collective, securing peace with the newfound race. Admiral Sola commented on this achievement:

“Over three hundred years have passed since the death of Faira Star. We are the heirs of the ghosts who haunt the shattered remains of our home. I remember our once thriving civilization. Cities with spires that reached the sky. I remember a beautiful world with endless silver plains. and the children who saw in the dying star the death of their race. They thought they had no present - only a past filled with despair and a future they could only dream of. So they hurled themselves into the void of space with no fear. But now we have forged a new alliance to guard our tomb of space, and hopefully find within its cold expense the salvation of our race.”

=======================================================

ooc:@RomanAria

Planet Aura

After a suitable amount of data had been collected on their language the probe set about working out the dialect. After several long moments it finally had broken down what it assumed was the basic language for the species. It noted that the species were entirely too small to pull it to shore. It began to deflate the sections of the airbag that covered the probe directional thrusters. It fired the small engines and began to motor its self past the small organics and towards shore.

"Follow me please" were the only words it said in passing. The waters splashed across the airbags. The water resistant synthetic fabric did a marvelous job of keeping the probe afloat. It quickly beached itself against the shore and deflated all of the airbags leaving only the empty section where its main boosters had been, and the vacant hole where the black box had formerly occupied. It waited for the smaller voicestus beings to arrive so that it may hopefully begin successful first contact talks.