The hangar bay of the Voraascant was what one might expect, mainly full of transports that were intended to convey a civilian population down to the surface of a planet for colonization/recolonization. That meant that they weren't exactly best for ship to ship transport, sizable as they were. It might not be a Missionary Frigate, but it wasn't the smallest craft that could be available for the Advent to travel in.

That was what Carina went to one of the vessels in their strike craft squadron, a fighter that had been built as a space superiority fighter. Not something you would want to take up against a capital ship, but it was useful against frigates, and for clearing the skies of enemy strike craft so you could send in the bombers. It was fast, and well armed, just what she needed for a diplomatic mission to an unknown vessel.

She strode up to the waiting fighter, letting a hand run along it as she accessed the PsiTech inside. Everything seemed to be in working order, and it was ready to be used. While some Psintegrates were able to fly their strike craft without having to be in the ship themselves, that would somewhat defeat the purpose of this meeting. She was supposed to be there in person after all.

Coming to a stop, she tilted her head slightly as she sent off a message through the Unity. 'I am leaving now. Let us hope that this provides answers, and that they are willing to accept the word of the Unity.' That earned confirmations and well wishes from across the ship, a much smaller voice than she was used to but comforting nonetheless.

With that readied she clambered up the waiting ladder, and slipped into the cockpit of the fighter. It was comfortable to some extent, made to deal with whatever G-forces might arise during complex maneuvers in space. Carina smiled as she picked up the tiara that rested in front of her, the mental headset that she would use to command the fighter while flying it. Once it had been placed upon her head the uplink began, connecting her to the PsiTech of the ship.

The Engines let out a hum as the vessel picked up off the deck, hovering in place as she adjusted to flying the ship. After a few moments she indicated for the doors to be lowered, allowing her to escape into space beyond. A confirmation was sent off t the bridge before she set a course for the Paramount.

At the same time she sent off a message, to make sure she didn't earn a hostile response. 'This is Coalescent Carina Hamp of the Advent. I am currently en route towards your vessel. Requesting landing instructions.'

Captain Venera Romanova:

Venera doublechecked the spacesuit's glove. It was sealed, just like it was two minutes ago. Dr. Zelinsky was attacking the airlock control panel down the passageway with a crescent wrench, muttering something about the fine Soviet engineers that made the thing. To her left, Utkin stood placidly in his own suit, watching Zelinsky's efforts. She wasn't certain, but Utkin didn't even appear to be breathing. It was unnatural.

"Got it!" Zelinsky said, a tangle of wires drooping from his ungloved fist. The clanks of the outer airlock cycling reverberated in the narrow passageway.

"This is Volkov. I confirm the exit of my comrades-in-arms," Volkov said via radio. The trapped cosmonauts were finally released, and assumed a defensive formation around the ship. The airlock cycled back, and the inner door opened with a hiss of slightly-unequal pressure. Zelinsky was talking to his engineering teams on a different channel while he put his glove back on, brow furrowed as he tried to remember all the things that needed to get done with him off the ship. Every once in a while, he'd send an annoyed glance Venera's way.

And then they were in space.

The Romanova towered above them gloriously, a monument to all of Soviet might and technological prowess. Ambient noise faded to nothing but her suit's air supply and her own breathing. Her world was very small, and the universe was very, very large. In the distance, alien ships hung like flies on flypaper. The Romanova was in a small cloud of engineered living space among an enormous amount of nothing. She inhaled deeply and let the breath out slowly.

"Utkin, Stanislovsky, to the Paramount[/i]. Zelinsky, Kozlov, with me to the [/i]Helios." The two small teams and their cosmonaut escorts set off. Her training kicked in. Space-walking was her least favorite part of her career. Too much nothingness, seeping in all around her. She missed the comfortable, solid bulkheads of the Romanova. She hated to rely on fabric and rubber to keep the nothing out.

Mostly, she subtly relied on their cosmonaut, Kozlov, to point the way to the Helios. At this distance, the Helios was a small grayish rectangle, barely bigger than her pinky nail. The cosmonaut cut his maneuvering thruster. Now they were relying on kinetics and time. Perspective shifted, and suddenly she was staying still, watching this smallish rectangle slowly stretch itself out. She could make out hangar bays and antennae. There were even large portholes. Eventually the ship assumed a velocity, coming straight toward her. Still, the cosmonaut hadn't flipped around for the braking burn.

Their small flak adjusted right, partly through calculations done in their head, partly through experience, and partly through pure guesswork.

This is Commander Venera Romanova on approach to the Helios in a flak of three, requesting guidance to an airlock.

~o~0~o~

XO Yevgeniy Utkin

Every time he came out here, he had to second-guess his choice to go into command. It was so freeing, knowing that if he wanted to, Utkin could go anywhere. No papers in space. He loved the challenges. Nothing between you and death but your mind and a maneuver pack. Approach too fast, and you'd smash your innards out like a swatted fly.

He lead Stanislovsky, his cosmonaut escort, in a daring competition. Without saying a word, he'd continued accelerating far past the necessary or recommended speed. It was a "burn and flip" maneuver - continuously burn until the midway point, flip, and then continuously decelerate to the destination. It was extremely risky to do in a personal spacesuit, without a computer or reliable rangefinder. Not to mention the lack of visibility as you approached your destination backwards. The spacesuit's wrist-mounted mirror was very small. Every so often, Stanislovsky and Utkin would share a silent look. Neither backed off until what Utkin reckoned was the last second.

The Paramount rushed up toward their backs. Shaky details grew larger at an alarming rate in his wrist-mirror. The hangar that they were aiming for grew from a line to a rectangle to two open doors. Suddenly he could make out lights in the ceiling.

The two space-suited Soviet officers shot up through the bottom of the hangar, passing startled marines as they stopped, barely, a few feet shy of the ceiling. As they landed on the hangar floor, Utkin shared a last look of respect with Stanislovsky.

"Greetings from the glorious Soviet Union!" Utkin said to the nearest person who seemed to be in charge.

Aboard the ECV Spirit of Wind, in Intergalactic space, current time.

>!
>Incoming Scans
Let them scan us, erecting a wall of secrecy would not help our peaceful intentions. Unit One replied, he felt the Wind grumble. He knew that she didn't like invasive scans, she preferred that they ask, but under the circumstances of the language barrier that was not possible. Unit One peered through the Wind once again, picking up other transmissions, and noticing that several more ships had appeared. One in particular had caught his optic, a smaller organic ship. He was reminded of the Nebula Grazers of Ifri-Tanz, he'd never seen them in person, but many had commented on their beauty. He glanced to the other vessels, noticing that several more had arrived, and also noticing that a few were heading towards a particular ship.

>Power Levels at 67.174%
>Drone Cores Online
Unit One walked out of the bridge, Have The Remembrance of Setra meet me at Hanger A5.
In another part of the ship, racks upon racks of spheres, no larger than a human torso shifted, dusting themselves. One sphere detached itself from the ceiling suspended rack, falling towards the floor and being caught by a cube of black nanomachines. The nanites and the sphere connected, then the sphere sank into the center of the cube. Six legs shot out from the cube, lifting it from the ground. It then skittered away through a hatch into a tunnel, where additional bricks of nanites lay. Setra gathered the mass and modules it needed, then proceeded to walk to Hanger A5.
I have translated the messages, although the rest of their language remains a mystery. The Traveler said to him from the bridge, a package of data along with the translated messages appeared in Unit One's mind. He was correct, there was a meeting. He arrived at Hanger A5, seeing a sleek dart like ship ready. No weapons, only armor plating and a single thruster module in addition to it's gravitic engine.
I will be going alone. Make sure the Wind recovers and is at full power. He ordered. He knew that going alone and unarmed was an unwise decision, but he often found that synthetics were not often trusted with weapons. He stepped towards Setra, seeing that it formed stairs into its center mass. Unit One stepped into the drone and was enveloped by nanomachines. The drone cooed as it took off, flying towards the Paramount.

Unit One sent a message to the Paramount, using the words of Captain Powers, and Mach the pilot.

Diplomatic team. Requesting permission to dock, over.

"I've just received more transmissions, commander. One from what I presume is the Vorascant's captain, Coalescent Carina Hamp of the Advent. She's requesting boarding instructions. It appears that she is arriving on a single-man fighter. I don't think she's bringing any escorts." Nikolai reported. Powers simply sighed. "Make sure to tell the hangar control crew this. They know more than I do." What are the others?" Nikolai took a second to broadcast a message to the Advent craft, before coming back to the captain.

"Coalescent Carina Hamp of the Advent, this is artificial intelligence program Nikolai of the UEGNC Paramount.I have sent a route to your craft's navigation system. Simply follow the marker to the waypoint destination."

"I've got one more. This one is from another craft leaving the Spirit of Wind. Unarmed, it seems. It is requesting permission to dock. The message is rather strange, as it is composed of chopped up previous transmissions." Powers raised an eyebrow at that. "I'm granting it permission. From the chopped up messages, I'm assuming that they can't speak our language."

"That is correct, as of now. I think I can communicate with them. Most A.I. constructs speak the same language."

"Unknown artificial construct, this is A.I. Nikolai of the UEGNC Paramount. Can you understand me?"

Nikolai broadcast the message non-vocally, using electrical signals instead. Most A.I.s communicated with each other this way, though most of the time they vocally conversed with each other, mostly due to the fact that humans and other squishy beings found it more appealing and natural. Not that it was needed, of course. The non-speaking robots spoke to each other in bleeps and whistles. Cameras and sensors picked up a pair of small unarmed craft heading towards the massive ship. "Captain, transports from the Intrepid and Oblivion have arrived."

In the hangar bay, Powers and Cornell traded a look. "Safeties off?" Cornell asked. Powers fidgeted with his chest of several medals for a second. "No." He said, looking at the power-armoured marine major. "The Vaskran War may have been the result of mistaken identity, and as much as we don't want another eight years of bloody conflict, I'm not taking any chances. So keep the safeties of your weapons off and get ready to shoot if debris hits the pulsar wave emitter." The major nodded and turned to the gathered marines.

"Alright people, listen up! Keep the safeties of your toys off, but don't get trigger happy! I know most of your served at some point during the Vaskran War, and we don't want another eight years of fighting a bunch of seven-foot tall, six-eyed lizard aliens now, do we?" He was answered by a chorus of 'sir, no sir!'. "And remember, if these diplomats try anything stupid, don't hesitate to tear them a new one... on my order, of course!"

"Oorah!" The marines all answered in unison. "Always remember the UEGNC motto: We go first! Ibimus Primum!"

"Ibimus Primum!"

Cornell nodded in satisfaction as he turned around back to face Powers. "That's what I wanted to hear." He told the captain. Powers nodded in agreement and put a hand on one of the major's golden shoulder pads. "Nice to see that you're the same person even after all these years."

Several orange lights flashed as a pair of small and sleek blue and white craft glided through the plasma membrane and into the hangar bay, where the ship's artificial gravity immediately took over, allowing the pair to gently touch down onto the metallic landing area. They were small, around half the size of a Talon, and appeared to be unarmed, though Powers didn't want to assume that just yet. Like the vehicles of the UEGNC, they appeared to be propelled by a series of repulsor engines. "Smaller than I expected." Powers heard Cornell say, when the doors of one slid open. Powers' hand unconsciously hovered over his sidearm, while his other had a final adjustment to his cap.

A pair of humanoids stepped out, each one wearing a spacesuit. They were very lightly armed, with each one holding nothing more than a simple handgun. However, when they took of their helmets, Powers, and Cornell, and basically every other marine and crew member close enough, immediately took notice that they were anything but human, despite their initial similarities. One of them had shaggy white hair and a pair of cat-like ears which sprouted from his head. And... was that a tail?

The other one had a pair of horns resembling those from that ancient animal on Earth, the ram. They curled from his forehead, and he had a pair of goat-like ears and tufts of grey-tan hair. At least this one didn't have a tail. At least not a visible one.

Powers said nothing, too surprised by this bizarre species of human-animal hybrids, and no one else did either. Out of the corner of his eye, Powers saw Cornell's trigger twitch. The captain quickly got over his momentary surprise and stared at the major and old friend. "I know what you're thinking, but don't do it."

Cornell growled, but said nothing. The ram-thing said something to the tiger alien softly enough for Powers to be unable to make out, and stepped closer. Powers immediately adopted his usual professional posture, as did Cornell. "You must be representatives from the Intrepid. I am Captain Leonard Powers, and on behalf of the United Earth Government Naval Command, we welcome you on board one of our finest ships, the Paramount." He stuck out his hand, but it went to his ear when Nikolai came to report, and he sounded slightly worried.

"Captain, I'm tracking two small fast-movers, closing in fast!" Powers looked away. "Fighters?"

"No, too small for that. Uh, they're going into the hangar!" Not even a second later, the unknown objects that look a bit like oddly-shaped missiles shot through the bottom of the hangar, startling the gathered marines and Powers. They stopped just shy of the ceiling. Of course, automated ceiling turrets immediately deployed and locked on to the pair almost immediately and flashed red, but they did not fire. The pair then landed on the floor in front of the Paramount crew and two parties of diplomats. Now, Powers could see that they looked like ancient spacesuits. Then one addressed him directly. "Greetings from the glorious Soviet Union!"

Cornell acted purely on reflex, almost instantly hefting his assault rifle and aiming it directly at the suit, but was stopped by Powers, who shoved the gun away. "Don't." The gun shook in Cornell's tense arms, but was lowered when his they relaxed. That issue sorted out, the turrets folded back into the ceiling and Powers turned back to the pair. "Yes. Welcome aboard the UEGNC Paramount. I'm Captain Leonard Powers."

miles came up to the Hangar bay just as they other Shuttles left to other ships. Dressed in what he called his 'diplomatic uniform. Whilst Raiden had gone for his officer's combat suit. "you ready for this captain?" Miles asked walking into the shuttle's side doors, " about as ready as one can be in this situation," he jumped into the cockpit and loaded up the engines; "Buckle up my flying might be a bit rusty." He opened up the comms as the ship left the hangar, "Haines, Any news on this paramount cruiser?"

"I've personally checked through all of our records, and the only thing I found was a small insurrectionist group on BT_44, but I doubt insurrectionists, would act like they have"

"Understood, thanks for the info"

"Paramount This is Oblivion Shuttle 01 approaching The specified hangar."
the gravitational field kicked in as the shuttle drifted into the hangar the feeling of the sudden acceleration was odd as per the usual, but after all his years in space flight, it was standard. The door to the ship opened with the hiss of hydraulics. Moving out, both with breather helmets. after testing the atmosphere onboard. they removed them, He was going to move towards the commander before the sudden intrusion. The two men both pulled out their pistols, ready for whatever was coming, once the two men had landed Raiden and miles both holstered their weapons. Miles inspected them both and turned to Raiden; "Cosmonauts I believe, different era entirely, had a specific attitude to doing things their way," Raiden just nodded and continued walking. He was about to announce himself when a beep from his comms cut him short. "Commander We've just completed a scan of the ship as per your request, It's known as the spirit of wind, but we believe that it acts as a Hub for AI almost, It's weaponry is much similar to that of what we faced on Operation Genisis." a lump formed in Raiden's throat, as he looked at Miles. "Understood Haines, keep The APAC ready" he closed the comms channel and turned to commander Powers and introduced himself "Raiden captain of the SOSCOM HWRS Oblivion, and This is my XO Miles, I'm glad you set this up commander, This is a strange time for all of us."

Carina flew with a careful touch, moving fairly slowly as she waited to get a response from those at her destination. It would not do to alarm them while they were en route to diplomatic negotiations. The Advent might have a particular way of doing things, but they had been involved in diplomatic activity enough to realize when subtlety was needed. That was a lesson that had been learned over many years of warfare with the Traders and the Vasari.

at last the radio message came in, giving her landing procedures at the hands of the AI that ran the ship she was headed towards. The mere fact that she was communicating with an....artificial intelligence was interesting in and of itself, since as far as she was aware that was a technology spurned by the TEC. But she might be wrong. 'Understood,' she replied as she confirmed direction, moving in to follow it.

She proceeded into the ship after some other vessels had already passed in, the fighter transitioning almost seamlessly into the artificial gravity that took hold once entering the hangar bay. The vessel landed easily, near the other vessels that had arrived and by the designated areas. Guards seemed to have been deployed, but she was unconcerned with them. Death would not be the end of her journey, of that she was sure.

Powering the vessel down, she opened the canopy and hopped out of the fighter, descending to the deck of the ship. "Greetings," she said with a respectful nod to those who had arrived near her. "I am Coalescent Carina Hamp, representative of the Advent. may the blessing of the Unity be upon you." Well, time to let this little dance begin.