“Who the fuck is in my shuttle bay now?” Zey demanded over comms. Wodan answered immediately over the intercom - they had been watching closely via cameras from the moment these creatures came into range.

“Based on Supplementary Crewmember Jonsdottir’s current line of inquiry, it is possible that two of the creatures are named Kareet and Kerchak.”

“Creatures? What is that supposed to mean?” Zey snapped as she left her cabin clothed in her regular uniform trousers and a white cotton vest.

“These individuals do not match any of my biota records; I have now published lookalike physiological profiles on the intranet. Would you like me to read them out?”

“Shut up and track their positions - transmit them to our tablets. Don’t let them out of your sight.”

The Captain’s quarters were the closest to the stairwell down onto the operations deck, but Zey still found a gaggle of people had got to the airlock before her. The engineers were working pretty much round the clock, and Mallory had the Bridge, so she wasn’t surprised to see them. She was surprised to find Tyreese Darnell exiting the conference room as she reached the armoury.

“What’s happening?” Darnell slurred.

“We have unexpected guests. Are you drunk? Go upstairs, sober up and don’t let any passengers down here.” Zey barked, before striding into the armoury and grabbing a pistol. It was the only type of gun she had any experience with, but she figured it was better than nothing. Locking and loading it, she stuffed it into the holster attached to a plate carrier and hoisted that over her head and onto her body. She finished up by donning an anti-flash hood and gloves along with an oxygen mask. Zey usually erred on the side of caution, but there was no time to put a full fire retardant suit on now.

Vigdis had begun giving them some very strange intelligence over comms while she tooled up. Zey was listening intently when Darnell steamed into the armoury, followed by a stiff Danny Varen who already had a Benelli in his hands and a fresh, unburnt pair of beach shorts over his bandages.

“Are those terrorists back? I can help - this is my ship too, you know.” Darnell interjected. He eyed up some of the weapons but appeared hesitant. Zey didn’t have time for this shit.

“Fine. Stay behind Danny and stay quiet, let me do the talking. Understood?” With that, she headed out and linked up with Mallory, Dr Ibarra and Zhao Jiayin in the airlock. The first two were armed to the teeth; Zhao appeared to be equipped with nothing but one of her nighttime flip flops. Zey immediately knew from the look on the lead engineer's face that nothing the Captain could say would stop her from going in. One of Zhao’s own was in danger.

“Ok Vigdis, we’re coming in now. Tell your friends to cool it. Mallory, cycle the airlock.”

---

Even though the soldiers were now able to properly identify the strange, smoldering figure form earlier as an Iriad, they were still understandably nervous around it. It's appearance was only one of the reasons. The other was the fact that not only it was a mage, but it seemed to be a rather powerful one. Fortunately, despite the soldiers being rather on edge, the fact that the Iriad didn't seem to invoke his powers, coupled with his rather slow movements, made them feel a bit less apprehensive. The moment it finally identified himself, the soldiers seemed to relax a little bit, at least enough to make them take their hands off the hilt of their weapons.

The fact that it identified himself as the companion of an esteemed Seeker coming from Arcaeda, which was probably the female Tekeri they saw earlier from a distance, was more than enough for them to not see it as an immediate threat. It was thanks to that fact that the soldiers didn't react in an adverse manner when Shirik simply continued walking after getting his walking stick and instead, simply ended up 'escorting' him inside.

In the other hand, the Glen seemed to be much more... reactive and uncooperative. Identifying himself as a master from the Blacksmiths guild and showing them the official emblem of the Blacksmiths' guild, he continued to show his displeasure, going as far as asking if they were the ones to bring down that huge fortress-ship.

The very moment J'eon asked that to the soldiers, they couldn't help but look at each other, incredulous. Even if they were both mages, which they weren't, it would still be highly unlikely that they could do anything to bring down that hulking steel fortress.

"We are soldiers of Lenkik, under direct command of Castigator Nellara to investigate and secure the crash site. Our objectives seem to align, so we ask you for your cooperation for the time being, Master J'eon. We are under strict orders of Castigator Nellara to not engage in combat unless strictly necessary." One of the soldiers said with a serious tone, unfazed by J'eon's threat of them being interfering on the guild's business. The way the soldier empathized Nellara's title was a clear way of saying that they were under orders coming from high enough that they didn't need to be worried about such threats.

Meanwhile, Nellara, who was already inside the ship, quickly had her attempts of communicating with the strange creature from the ship frustrated. Not only it didn't seem to understand her words, but it's sudden reaction to aim at her with the strange object she had on her hands and keep it aimed despite having fallen on the ground, was almost enough for Nellara to send a burst of electricity through her orbs to incapacitate the strange creature.

Fortunately, on the very moment Nellara was about to do so, with the metallic orb the creature had nudged away having already re-positioned itself near her, the female Tekeri was quick to explain to her that the beings from the ship didn't seem to speak S'toric before she identified herself as a Seeker from the Order of Sages, showing Nellara the unmistakable medallion, symbol of her position.

"Well met, Seeker Kareet." Nellara said, greeting Kareet with a respectful nod.

"I understand the situation, but we still have no idea of what they are capable of, nor if the other beings inside this fortress-ship will end up being more hostile than this one." Nellara said, lowering her hands and putting them behind her back.

"With that said, you have my word that neither me nor my soldiers will engage in combat or display any overly hostile behavior... Unless strictly necessary." Nellara said, reassuring Kareet that she didn't want to escalate that situation any more than it already was.

Following Kareet's example, Nellara looked to he strange being after it introduced herself as 'Vigdis' and lowered the object on her hand, before she pointed at herself speaking her name out loud.

"Nellara." She said, introducing herself.

At that moment, Vigdis would notice that the metal spheres, which seemed to immediately reposition themselves whenever she tried nudging them away, seemed to back away, rolling back to where Nellara was, making a circle around her.

"Communicating through mimic and hand signals, while primitive, seem to be our best bet for establishing friendly relations with these strange beings for now." Nellara said, agreeing with Kareet.

It was only at that moment that the other members from Kareet's group, the glenfolk and what appeared to be an Iriad, despite it's strange appearance, arrived inside the ship, being 'escorted' by Nellara's soldiers, one of which approached Nellara, quietly telling her about the glenfolk and the Iriad, before backing away again.

"Thank you for your report, soldier." Nellara said with a nod to the soldier before she turned to both the Glenfolk and the Iriad.

"J'eon and Shirik, my soldiers have already told me that you are Seeker Kareet's companions and I am sure they have already explained you about our objective. I assume I can count with your cooperation, yes?" Nellara said, making a hand gesture for the soldiers to relax.

"I am Castigator Nellara, assigned to the city of Lenkik under direct orders of the Order of Magisters of Arcaeda." Nellara said, introducing herself to them, without taking her eyes off Vigdis.

Vigdis, despite apparently being a bit overwhelmed about everything that was happening, slowly took something out from inside her clothes before she slowly moved towards a nearby wall and started doing something.

"Is she... writing? It doesn't seem to be like any other language I've ever seen..." Nellara said, curious as she gave a step forward, leaning and trying to see what Vigdis was doing.

The explanation about what Vigdis was doing only came a few moments after, thanks to Kareet and the other male Tekeri's cooperation, whom introduced himself as Kerchak. Apparently, the things Vigdis was writing weren't exactly letters or words, instead they were numbers.

"It seems to be trying to gauge our level of intelligence... Perhaps by using numbers instead of trying to communicate with words or by writing? Intriguing..." Nellara said, watching Vigdis' actions with clear curiosity and interest.

While she was by no means a scholar like Seeker Kareet or apparently, her companion Kerchak, Nellara was still well versed and educated in many areas which were necessary for a Castigator. Unfortunately, linguistics wasn't one of them and as such, Nellara could offer little to help decrypting Vigdis' writing.

Surprisingly enough, it seems like Vigdis did notice how Nellara was a bit outside of her field of expertise when compared to Kareet and Kerchak. As Vigdis began staring at her, she raised one of her hands and began talking into what Nellara could only describe as some kind of metallic bracelet. After she finished speaking, she slowly approached Nellara, removing a metal projectile from inside a small case and offered it to her. Curious, Nellara slowly took the strange projectile from Vigdis' hand with the tip of her claws.

A quick inspection quickly revealed that the projectile was made of a very rare metal. Definitely not something any Tekeri, no matter how wealthy, would consider using in something disposable like ammunition. It was much denser than iron or steel, much harder to work with and it was also immune to Nellara's magnetic or lightning magic. Those characteristics, when coupled with the format of the projectile would surely make quite a dangerous projectile. If Nellara assumed that the metal object on Vigdis' hand was a weapon able to shoot this projectile repeatedly, it would definitely make her initial assumption even more likely. Those creatures were dangerous. Very dangerous.

As a means to offer something back to Vigdis, after returning the projectile, Nellara extended her hand forward, making the metal spheres, which were previously rolling on the ground, float to her hand and begin slowly spinning. This continued for a moment, before Nellara made a strong arc of electricity jump from one sphere to another as they continued spinning. After that small show of skill and magic control, she made one of the spheres separate from the rest, floating to her other hand as she grabbed it with her claws, offering it to Vigdis.

Upon close inspection, Vigdis would find that despite seeing them not only floating and moving by themselves, but producing electricity, the metal spheres were totally unremarkable. Other than the fact that they were almost perfect steel spheres, there wasn't anything else going on with them.

Meanwhile, Shirik, despite not seeing to be particularly well versed on those subjects like the Seeker and her companion, was still paying enough attention to use fire magic to draw in the air a small summary of Kareet and Kerchak. Which would undoubtedly be helpful both for Nellara and the others to not be completely clueless of what was going on.

When he asked Nellara if she thought Vigdis was alone, she immediately shook her head.

"Considering the amount of equipment they have around and the size of this fortress-ship, it's highly unlikely that she is alone. She also seemed to be communicating with someone by using the strange bracelet on her wrist. Judging by the projectile she just handed me to inspect, which is made of an very rare metal, they seem to be very well armed..." Nellara replied, still carefully watching Vigdis' movements and her surroundings, preparing herself if others like Vigdis approached the group.

@Starlance @Blizz @13org

Kolvar Stilmyst

Kolvar still did not understand the equation and what the pinkie was trying to say. “Damn if only we had a thought mage here.” He cursed under his breath with a grimace on his face. He took a closer look at the equation in front of him. “It seems the pinkie wants the aluminum quill.” He wanted Kareet to trade the pen for the strange tape. Watching the alien writing down another equation this time on the metallic wall. Taking a moment to try and figure out what it meant. “Do you have any idea what this new equation means? Does it look like some sort of measurement of some kind?” Tapping his clawed hand towards the bottom of his beak. Again he was having a hard time trying to figure out what the equation meant.

Extending it out while reading the numbers along the tape. Letting go and looking scared as it snapped back into place. “Strange.” He once again extended it out for Kareet to have a better look at. Perhaps this measuring tape would be the key to them solving the equation. “No I do not think this creature is alone, so we should be ready in case the others come. And I assume the other crewmembers will be quite aggressive.” He said pointing towards Vigdis.

“But we should keep a levelled head, and keep trying to keep making communication with these foreigners.” He did not like the introduction of Nellara and her people waiting outside. He did not want to lose the valuable information inside the ship to the Order. He felt like an idiot for not being able to figure out the equation. But he would try his best to help them.

"So, ask yourself this then - who did bring down this city of metal?" J'eon asked, waving his upper arms. "And why are you in here instead of out there, keeping an eye on the skies?"

"This is a trade," the Glen continued. "Information for information. You'd do well to remember that, Castigator Nellara."

---

"Personally," Jack sighs, cycling the inner lock, "I'd say we couldn't risk the captain on this, and that I'm the one who should go in there, alone. But there are multiple races in there, so we need to show we're different, as well."

Handing the carbine back, he patted his handgun. "Best hold onto that if you need to rescue us. This will not be as intimidating."

Stepping inside, he waited for the captain to join him.

Tired as she was, having not slept for three days, Mallory’s words served to jolt Zey awake. Her chemical gland followed suit, pumping stimulants around her system. If they all went in and things turned hostile, the Jo could lose its Captain, XO, four engineers and a senior Tamerlane contractor. The rest of the crew and passengers would have next to no chance of leaving this planet without a rescue team. Zey was already bending all the rules of first contact by going in there; there was no way she was going to sit back and let the others reap all the glory. But there had to be some sort of counterbalance.

“Noted, but there’s no way I’m letting you go in alone. Too dangerous. That being said…” Zey replied to Mallory, then turned to Zhao.

“Zhao, I know you’re going in for Vigdis but I'm pulling rank. You’re staying put - Anselm can take over Command, but we can’t lose all our engineers. Organise the crew and take defensive positions by the airlock. We won’t be long.”

“Captain!”

“That is an ORDER!” Zey snapped, face rippling with adrenaline.

Zhao let off a string of expletives in Mandarin that the Captain didn’t catch, then stormed off.

Zey followed her away with a stern look, then turned to Danny Varen and Tyreese Darnell.

“You too Danny. Can’t let you and Dr Ibarra both in that room…Mr Darnell, If I give you a weapon, will you shoot me in the back?” Tyreese sniffed nervously and shook his head.

“No ma’am.” He replied sheepishly.

Zey stared into his eyes for a moment. He wasn’t that drunk, and she needed someone imposing to show that while they spoke softly, they had big sticks too.

She took Danny’s Benelli shotgun and put it into Darnell’s grip.

“Stand in front of me and don’t do anything stupid or I’ll kill you myself. Everyone ready?”

With that lightning reshuffle completed, Zey filtered into the airlock behind Mallory, followed by Dr Ibarra, and Tyreese Darnell. The airlock cycled again, and they emerged out into the shuttle bay. Zey held her palms out and tried not to panic as she saw the creatures at one end by Vigdis. Her heart rate and breathing increased, and her mask made a rasping sound as it processed the air.

Kareet was only half-listening to what was going on around her, preferring to put most of her focus on trying to interpret what Vigdis has written. Unfortunately, she and Kerchak did not have too much success this time. The fundamentals of mathematics had not been too difficult to convey. Counting was easy enough, and they could relate counting to symbols and basic operations. However, whatever Vigdis was writing now was difficult to convey without words. She doubted the math was too complicated in itself, but whatever notation Vigdis was using was entirely foreign to her. There was no frame of reference to what they were trying to convey. Perhaps, with more time and effort, they might have been able to discern it, but it seemed they would not have the time now.

Kareet gave a glance back at J’eon, having picked up on some of what he had been saying. “J’eon, we are in Ascendancy territory, and Nellara is an enforcer of Ascendancy law. Or can be, at least. It is in your best interest to be polite and cooperative with the Castigator.” Kareet warned.

It was just a few moments later, though, that a noise turned everyone’s attention to what looked like a door nearby, albeit a rather strange door. It hissed, then seemed to slide open on its own. From the other side, more of these beings stepped into the room. They were dressed just as strangely, or at least some were. One had a mask, though Kareet could not guess at its purpose. If it was armor, then why was the rest of its body not armored as well? They all looked like they could be the same kind of being as Vigdis, though even in this small group, Kareet could already note some variety in their bodies. There was considerable difference in size and build between some of them. Male and female, perhaps, though she would have to figure out how to confirm which was which. They also had significantly different hues to their skin, much like the variety in scale colors of the S’tor. Some of them were carrying large objects of some sort; tools or weapons perhaps? The safest choice was to assume the latter and be watchful of what they were doing with them.

Kareet stood up to her feet, looking down on the new arrivals, though staying in place near to where they had been writing on the wall. After a moment’s pause, she pointed a finger down to Vigdis. “Vigdis.” She said as clearly as she could, then pointed to herself. “Kareet.”

Itxaro was still reeling when the commander appeared in the airlock with the others. She snapped back to the airlock window, now laser-focused on the scene playing out in the shuttle bay. The creatures looked like something out of a medieval artist's fever dream, a mix of human and animal physiology. The dominant caste was a massive, upright bird, easily a foot or more taller than her, but they varied widely in appearance as much as birds on Earth. A second species could only be described as a centaur with the head of a stag, wearing leather armor; Itxaro briefly imagined herself riding the centaur-elk into battle in full plate armor, thrusting a spear into her foes, but figured the creature wouldn't appreciate being ridden like a horse. The third took a moment to even recognize as a living being at all; it had a roughly humanoid figure, but resembled a smoldering tree more than anything. Perhaps it was some form of protection, she reasoned, but how could she even begin to speculate?

Even from her cursory observations, Itxaro knew these natives were sentient. The intricate armor one wore was the first giveaway, but she could tell just from the way they carried themselves that these interlopers were probably just as intelligent as the entire crew of the Jo. Compared to the Yenge’s cephalopod-like anatomy, they almost seemed human. A thousand questions ran through her head, and she found herself totally entranced. What was their history like? How did a world develop differently with multiple sentient species? Had they achieved world socialism yet? That would give the neo-Posadists back home a fit.

Her eyes grew even wider as several metallic orbs seemed to float about the shuttle bay. The objects sparked like a plasma globe and moved with purpose, manipulated by one of the bird-like entities without any physical touch. She watched in a trance as the blackened tree-thing conjured flames from nothing, creating symbols that hung suspended far longer than ephemeral sparks could. They're trying to communicate.

Once the communication barrier between mankind and Yenge had been broken, it was almost a disappointment; yes, the Yenge held the secret to faster-than-light travel, but humanity had already been on the brink of that discovery. Another 100 years and Itxaro was convinced they would have been colonizing the stars, Yenge or not. Outside of that, the Yenge were a letdown. No galaxy-spanning civilization come to dazzle them with new technologies or uplift them to an interstellar government, but instead a decimated people seeking asylum. These natives, on the other hand, might hold even more mysteries than the Yenge. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. A trite old saying, but to Itxaro it felt appropriate.

Itxaro was brought back to the present when the carbine was thrust back into her hands. "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" Itxaro muttered, as if she hadn't been the one who took it from the armory for a last stand against interstellar mercenaries. She clumsily removed the magazine and stowed the rifle against the airlock wall, favoring the revolver, though she didn't intend to use it on their guests. Still, as the airlock hissed open, she held the gun loosely in her hand. Insurance in case the Tamerlane men decided to try something. She made sure to follow the commander's example and keep Darnell in front of her.

Of course, Dr. Ibarra immediately broke rank when she spotted Vigdis working on what seemed like mathematics with one of the aliens. "Playing nice with the locals Vigdis? Who's your friend?" She asked as she strode over, eager to investigate. The engineer seemed a little frazzled, but the aliens hadn't done her any harm; if anything, they seemed just as interested in the humans as she was in them. As if on cue, the one nearest to Vigdis spoke, much to Itxaro's delight, and said both Vigdis' name and what she assumed was its own. The voice reminded her of corvids from Earth who mimicked human speech, but only in the broadest sense. "Kah-reet. Kareet," she repeated as she pointed to the creature, both to indicate her understanding and test out the alien language on her own tongue. She pointed to herself and said, "Itxaro," deciding to save titles and surnames for later.

Dr. Ibarra felt like she was meeting a celebrity. She wanted to reach out and shake the alien's hand, but decided against it, instead turning her attention to the figured Vigdis and her figures scrawled out on a piece of aluminum. "Hmm, I would have started with Spanish and worked from there, but I get where you're going," she joked. In truth, it was a solid foundation to work from. First contact with the Yenge had been purely mathematical, a transfer of data back and forth until a common language had been established almost from scratch. Itxaro wasn't sure if they had that kind of time or resources though. Instead, she opted for the old-fashioned way that cultures throughout mankind's history had used when encountering each other. Pointing. Itxaro pointed at each human in the shuttle bay and said, "Human. Human. Human. Human. Human." She finally reached herself and put a finger to her chest, hoping the message would get across. "Human."

Itxarto felt a growing desperation to communicate with the natives. There was so much to learn, so much to share. Her head was reeling with the possibilities, the Jo's busted FTL drive the last thing on her mind now. She wondered what resources they had on the ship that could be used to teach the aliens one of Earth's many languages. Did they even have a physical dictionary on board the Jo? Probably not. Perhaps the ship-bound AI could be used to translate, as much as she hated to use the dreaded technology. If it came down to it, she was perfectly content to sit here the rest of her life, pointing at things in the alien's presence.

The Paladin joined in on the introductions. Nellara. All of the birds so far had fairly nice sounding names, and after all, why not? What did she expect, cawing and hooting? As soon as Nellara put its hands behind its back, Vigdis immediately pointed at it, mimicked its posture and brought her hands in front of her. She was outnumbered and trying to pay attention to several things at once, not being able to see someone’s hands on top of it did no favors for her peace of mind.

Up until that moment, she thought that the strange happenings with Nellara’s orbs and Kareet’s badge might have been some local technology, like electromagnets or miniaturized tractor beams or whatever, any sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic and all that. Before the Yenge showed up, no one thought FTL was possible either. But Nellara and Humanoid Torch’s shows shattered that idea so thoroughly they might as well have used a wrecking ball. “What the FUCK is that?!” She took a few long steps to get away from whatever witchcraft was taking place, slipping into Venerian Russian in the heat of the moment. After that demonstration, Vigdis was visibly reluctant to accept the ball from Nellara, first walking over to the welder and donning her welding gloves. Not a perfect insulation, but better than nothing. A tiny ball made of metal, like you’d find in ball bearings. She rolled it in her palm and threw it up and caught it a few times. Too heavy to be aluminum or titanium, too light for tungsten, wrong color to be silver or silicone… Probably steel or iron, maybe cobalt or nickel. When they figured out how to talk to these people, she’d have to ask if she could break one to figure out what it was made of. Kareet and Kerchak would probably enjoy a demonstration of the metallographic instruments they had in the workshop.

With the captain’s warning, she returned the ball and clapped her hands a few times to get everyone’s attention, then pointed at the airlock, jabbing her finger in its direction a few times and raised her hands in front of her, open palms facing the locals. She didn’t know how else to convey urgency and demonstrate something to be non-threatening.

Of course the first one through the door was a big guy with a big gun…

Getting another idea about how to potentially convey something important to the locals, Vigdis turned to the Captain as soon as she entered, stood at attention and saluted before speaking. “Captain, I was on my way to seal the last hull breach as per the day’s order when these locals caught me by surprise. I’ve been trying to set up some foundation for communication.” She gestured to the writings covering a decent wall area by now, “It looks like we’ve managed to figure out numbers and names. As you can see.” She added when Kareet introduced herself, “I was about to start length and time measurements, but you’re welcome to take over, I’m running out of rope.”

“Doing my best, doctor. To be honest, I nearly shit myself when Nellara showed up.” Vigdis replied to the FTL specialist, indicating the armored bird. “Speaking of which…” Vigdis made her way through the gaggle of humans to clean up the box she kicked over during her panicked retreat from Nellara. She chuckled at Ixtaro’s joke about Spanish, having given that some thought already and decided that she wasn’t cruel enough to confuse the locals with Cyrillics, learning one new alphabet would be enough. Another problem would be actually learning the language, but the mind of an engineer is always working on solutions to problems. And if problems aren’t available, engineers create their own. They’d need to build a library of both alien words and grammatical rules first. She could make a gizmo with a microphone, a speaker and a wristpad connection in half an hour. Then, they’d need someone who knew how to code.

"Vidgis?" Jack Mallory asked, keeping that calm timbre in his voice despite the mask. "Did you determine what structural damage this hanger suffered from the missile attack and from the crash, especially with the shuttle ejection? I'd hate for everyone to be standing here should the roof suddenly cave in."

Especially that burning tree-man, he left unsaid.

He glanced at the numbers on the wall, then at the hands of the locals. Base 8 math? He'll have to schedule courses with the crew and the passengers, then. But why did people start with numbers and not the most important concept?

A roiling fog had rolled across the marshy plains south of Lake Núr overnight. The first pale rays of dawn crept over the horizon and danced across the Jotunheim’s battered hull. Ezra turned off his night vision and surveyed the crash site again as first contact went ahead.

The Jotunheim was in an awkward, difficult to defend position, perched on the side of this hill. The firestorm immediately following the crash had burned away everything within fifty yards of the ship, leaving a charred circle. Ezra was no expert, but it seemed odd to him that the fires didn’t extend further out considering the oxygen-rich atmosphere. There were still a fair amount of trees and bushes surrounding the crash, even if some were still charred and smoking. This meant line of sight was choppy - no easy way to cover all approaches without more people. Ezra understood the Captain’s resistance to committing either her crew or frightened passengers to an external role right now. In fact this suited him - it meant he was indispensable while he figured out his next move.

The mercenary eventually opted to position himself up the hill from the ship, towards the cockpit end. There was a cluster of bushes that he could lie under which provided him a good vantage point to look out over the crash site and the marshes beyond. The other two androids controlled by Wodan (but accessible by any authorised personnel) completed a triangle around the ship. One was above and towards the engine end, with an OK view of the crest of their hill. The other droid blended in with the tangle of metal and broken trees that littered the Jotunheim’s path.

As the alien creatures arrived and investigated the ship, Ezra and his droids remained hidden. Their rifles were trained on the groups at all times. Once these initial guests filtered through to the shuttle bay on the marsh-side of the ship, they carefully tightened the triangle around them. Ezra changed position slightly to give him LOS on the jagged gash towards the fore corner of the shuttle bay. Peering through his scope, he saw multiple creatures in metal plate armour standing guard at the entrance.

“I have eyes on the shuttle bay opening. Two tangos are external.” Ezra sounded off over comms for the crew to hear. They looked like birds in armour through his scope.

“What is your status?”

The world spun around Eva for a moment, it was fairly concerning how often and easily she could pass out in such situations... then again when you have to sleep through gunfire barely inches over your head it's to be expected. The familiar tightness of her Javelin kept her calm however, as the suit itself hummed slightly as it came to life and opened her to the outside world again. First came sound and Eva sighed, mirroring her wakeup command to her remaining SEU spiders, the little bots rising and moving to scramble around the bay searching for any of Eva's goods that may have shaken loose, little limbs pushing open containers and moving smaller fallen crates.

Then came a reconnection to the local Intranet, and Eva began slowly catching up on what little was actively being recorded... and Eva had to stifle a laugh as she could finally move, rotating her arms as she stretched in the Javelin, testing it's joints as she continued her Diagnostics. Alien life, higher than normal oxygen in the atmosphere... somebody was getting a bit too open with their roleplaying on local channels weren't they? Plus, this wasn't exactly the time to think up Isekai scenarios about their attack and crash now was it?

Then finally came sight as the Javelin's systems finished their diagnostics, SEU bots scrambling over carrying wires and parts to repair the superficial damage to the Javelin that may prove annoying to deal with in the short term.... and Eva was silent, peering at what she had assumed was a joke. "Wakeup protocol finished, sorry for the absence folks but I take my naps whenever I can... can anybody please explain what the hell any of that is, plus why it's in the bay and not being shot at?" The SEU, reflecting Eva's confusion moved on their own, little metal limbs clicking across the bay floor as they approached the locals, stopping just shy of them as their little optics peered closely. "My bots REALLY want samples, but I'll assume that's rude." The SEU retreated almost as quickly as they approached, moving backwards to keep watch on the strange life-forms as if the little bots were hesitant to obey their handler.

---

The very moment J'eon started voicing his disapproval, in a rather abrasive and disrespectful manner, the soldiers who were accompanying Nellara immediately put their hands on their weapons and began approaching J'eon. Nellara, seeing that, raised her other hand after Vigdis got the steel sphere from it, in a clear signal for them to stand down.

"Do not mistake your own position and role here, Blacksmith. The Guild has no saying in what happens inside Ascendancy territory... You have no authority to order even my soldiers. Much less a Seeker or a Castigator." Nellara said, both the tone of her voice and her eyes sending a very clear warning.

"You should listen to Seeker Kareet's words very carefully. I would like to solve this situation in a peaceful and diplomatic way, but I will not hesitate to to use force and the authority I was invested with as a Castigator if I deem necessary." Nellara said, still looking directly towards J'eon after Kareet reminded him that it was on his best interest to cooperate.

"Now, I will ask you once again. Can I count with your cooperation, Blacksmith J'eon? For both of our sakes. We are dealing with a very delicate situation and I would like to avoid any internal conflict between our group." Nellara said, her eyes still fixed on J'eon before she slowly looked towards Vigdis once again, curious about her reaction.

Focusing her attention on Vigdis once again, Nellara found curious how she seemed to be shocked, almost afraid by her small magic demonstration, going as far as giving a few steps back when Nellara showed the electricity jumping between the steel spheres. Despite the initial shock though, Vigdis' curiosity seemed to win over her fear as she accepted to examine one of the steel spheres from up close after wearing a thick glove, possibly to protect her against electricity.

"They don't seem to know the concept of magic... Are they... unable to use it? If so, how does even this huge fortress of a ship is capable of flight?" Nellara said, still observing Vigdis as she carefully examined the metal sphere.

After a quick examination, Vigdis returned the metal sphere, which Nellara promptly made it return to where it was previously, spinning on top of her other hand together with the rest.

After that brief exchange was done, Vigdis clapped her hands, probably trying to draw their attention before she started pointing towards the strange metal door on the other end of the room, raising her hands after she did so.

Before Nellara could ask Shirik, Kerchak or Kareet about what was Vigdis trying to say, a loud noise immediately echoed through the room. The moment the noise stopped and other beings like Vigdis started entering the room, Vigdis' strange signals finally made sense.

"Stand down. Be on your guard but try not to show any hostility." Nellara said to the soldiers.

While Nellara was definitely focused on the metal objects some of them were carrying, which she now knew that were weapons, she couldn't help but notice how different they were from one another. Not only regarding the skin color, but the size and even the very build. Some of them were so different that Nellara wouldn't be surprised if they were different species... Another thing that immediately drew her attention was the fact that one of them seemed to have an arm completely made of metal.

"Shirik, remember what we talked regarding how they seemed to be dangerous...? I am not sure about the one with the metal arm, but those metal objects the bigger ones are carrying are definitely weapons..." Nellara said, pointing towards the long metal objects some of them were carrying.

Despite not reacting badly to the fact they were armed, Nellara didn't try to hide the fact that she was carefully looking towards the metal objects they carried in their hands as they entered the room, almost as if she wanted them to know she knew they were armed. Her attention was particularly focused on the one that was in front of the others, both due to his bigger build and the fact that it was armed. Despite that, the hand signal some of thmy made, by raising their hands, made Nellara a bit less worried about their weapons. As long as they didn't point those at them, she wouldn't react in any way.

After a brief moment, the one with the metal arm approached Vigdis, talking something with her. The metal armed being seemed to be quite surprised when Kareet introduced herself, repeating her name before saying her own, Ixtaro, before she started pointing to all the others that entered the room with her, saying a strange word: 'Hoo-man'.

Once again Nellara chose to follow Nellara's example as she introduced herself.

"Nellara." She said, pointing to herself, before she turned to Kareet and the others.

"Is that what they are? It seems they are all 'Humans', even those bigger ones... Curious." Nellara said, repeating the word Ixtaro said as she pointed towards her companions.

Nellara was about to do exactly the same thing, pointing to her, Kareet and Kerchak to tell the humans her race when the huge suit of armor on one of the corners of the room, which she assumed that was empty, suddenly started moving and releasing many metal spiders, which started roaming around the room while the remaining metal spiders continued cutting open and apparently fixing the suit of armor.

Despite everything that was going on, including the entrance of the other armed humans, Nellara was still relatively calm but when the suit of armor started moving, releasing many small metallic spiders around, she immediately assumed a more alert posture, with the electricity arcing from each metal sphere to the other getting stronger and louder. As the metal spiders started getting dangerously close to Nellara and the others, she immediately made the steel spheres float to the ground, positioning themselves between them and the spiders in a line on the ground, with the electricity arcs forming almost a fence separating them.

"Vigdis, Ixtaro." Nellara said with a firm voice, pointing towards the spiders and the armor, her tone of voice making it clear that she didn't like how the spiders were approaching them and how the armor suddenly started moving.

Just as she said so, the metal spiders started backing away just as suddenly as they approached Nellara and the others. In response to that, Nellara made the steel spheres go back to where they previously were, spinning above her hand. Her eyes were carefully sweeping the area though, making it clear she was keeping an eye both on the gigantic suit of armor, the spiders and the strange guns the other humans had on their hands.

As if the situation wasn't already tense enough, the two soldiers Nellara had left on guard were soon about to realize that they weren't alone...

"Are those... metal scraps from the ship...? Wait... No, they're moving!" One of the soldiers said, as he suddenly saw something made of metal start moving on the ground on the hill a bit far away.

"They're getting closer! Warn Castigator Nellara, now!" One of the soldiers said to the other, as it immediately unsheathed his halberd, wielding it in a combat stance.

"Castigator Nellara! The metal scraps from the ship! They... are moving and are approaching us!" the other soldiers shouted, already with his spear and shield on his hands.

Immediately upon hearing that, Nellara turned towards Vigdis, Ixtaro and the others, looking towards them with a cold, threatening glare, before turning towards the other three soldiers that had came inside with her.

"I want you three outside. Secure the perimeter around the entrance and be particularly careful about projectiles. One of you! Be in standby, ready to immediately run back to Lenkik to report what is going on, should those metal things engage in combat." Nellara said, ordering the remaining soldiers as she pointed outside, before she turned to the rest of the humans.

Language barriers proved to be no obstacle for the humans to understand Nellara, even though there was nothing Nellara said nor any movement with her hands. Her stare was already enough to clearly convey the fact that her trust on them had dropped to rather dangerous levels.

"Seeker Kareet, Kerchak, you should probably give a few steps back. I don't think our guests can be totally trusted." Nellara said, all four of her eyes still watching every single movement the humans made.

"Vigdis, Ixtaro, Humans..." Nellara said with a firm voice, drawing the humans' attentions as she pointed outside, demanding an explanation.

J'eon sighed, the mightly glen shaking his head slowly. Was this not like what happened in the fifth voyage of the sailor? Perhaps his fellows were right to recommend him to pay a storyteller to hear this tale?

"I, too, would like to avoid needless conflict, Castigator," he says. "So I shall take my leave."

Holding his massive arms in front of him, palms open, he turns with a flick of his tail and heads past the soldiers into the clear air, paying no mind to the bits of animate metal. Hopefully the lesson to be learned would not come at too great a cost.

---

Things were moving too fast. Why did their scout expose his position? Why did Eva decide to wake up now?

"Captain," Jack says quietly, "Everyone has gotten agitated. I suggest we all go back inside the ship."

Unfortunately, there was quite a lot happening around them in such a short time. The arrival of more of the beings, “Humans”, as they seemed to identify themselves, was not too worrying in itself. The Castigator had good reason to believe that the objects they were carrying were weapons, but again, that did not alarm Kareet. The Castigator’s soldiers were armed as well, and it was only natural that they would show some degree of caution when meeting something new and unknown. But then, there was more movement across the room. Smaller beings, like insects, but clearly not natural. They were made from metal and moved on their own, and on top of all that, the armor that Kareet had observed earlier began to move as well. All of that coincided with the Castigator’s soldiers alerting them of something approaching from outside. Perhaps the only thing that prevented the situation from escalating further was the fact that the metal insects did back away after a moment.

For a few seconds, Kareet had her eyes on the moving armor. She took a few steps back, falling in line alongside Nellara. It was a subtle thing, but the way that Kareet fell into a proper defensive formation did seem reflexive. J’eon had made the decision to try to leave entirely. There was good reason to be afraid, she had to admit, but she could not give up. Not something like this. Being among the first on-site for a discovery such as this…there would never be another opportunity like it. It was worth the risk. “These things…golems, maybe? They have to have some sort of magic to be able to make such a thing.”

Kareet was growing increasingly frustrated by their inability to effectively communicate. She had a strong suspicion that much of this tension was the result of misunderstanding. These Humans were entirely new, their ways entirely foreign. What would be offensive from their perspective? Or threatening? “This fortress, it is their home. In this land, they have nowhere else to retreat to…let us be careful not to provoke them. We need to find some way to communicate. A Thought mage could bridge this gap. If we could get to Lenkik, we could requisition the services of one. Either convince the Humans to send one of them with us, or bring a Thought mage back here.”

@Starlance @13org @EliteCommander

Kolvar Stilmyst

Kolvar looked quite frustrated as things were starting to get a little chaotic. The situation could go south if one of them made any sudden movement. His body tensed up a little as more “Hoomans” came into the room. He was not confident that Shirik’s fire show was much help in communicating with these aliens. While hearing them speaking to each other, obviously talking about them being in their flying ship. Kolvar opened his mouth trying to see if he can speak their language. “H…e…l…l…o…w…e…c…o…m…e…i…n…p…e…a…c…e.” Of course, this would sound like gibberish to the hoomans. His efforts to try and communicate with the aliens would be utterly useless. Kolvar seemed to back away as the giant iron golem soon came into the room. The wandering scholar looked quite scared of the golem. “What in the god's name is that?” He pointed toward the golem with a clawed finger.

“I could go and fetch a thought mage, I know of one that would be able to help us.” He was now standing behind Nellara and Kareet. Making sure he was not in the line of fire from the hooman’s weapons. Although he was not sure how to communicate this to the crewmembers. Nor would he be able to convince the others of his plan. “Perhaps the one named Vigdis could accompany me? Of course, if we can convince them to allow for such a thing.”

He suddenly took a few steps forward after gathering some courage, so now he was standing in front of the others. He pointed towards himself and then towards the hoomans, then pointing towards his mouth and his forehead. Using very crude non verbals cues to try and communicate with them. Tapping his head and then towards his mouth, before making a walking motion with two fingers before pointing towards both himself and the humans once again. Trying to convey the idea of one of them joining him to fetch someone who could read minds. "I could transform one of you and myself for faster travel to fetch a thought mage." He assumed Kareet or Nellara have access to a thought mage.

In response to Mallory, Vigdis walked over to him to point out things visible from where he stood. "Start with the port aft wall corner. See how the remains of the wall were bent inward by a force pushing on the outside? Missile. Then along the floor, ceiling and fore corner, it's all bent outward. Shuttle. The way we rolled, if the hangar was hit hard enough, the whole thing would've sheared off, starting in the starboard dorsal or starboard fore corner where it joins the hull." She fired off what she could say for certain from a cursory glance, "That's what you get when you have something sticking out of the main hull like this, a design feature the company went forward with despite our objections." She couldn't help adding loud enough for Darnell to hear, "Looks like we got lucky though. I didn't see any signs of such damage when I was up on the outer hull. If you'd like, I could take off all this interior paneling and go over the beams with ultrasound to make sure, once it’s airtight again. We could also have Wodan figure out the forces that had acted on the hangar from the acceleration measurements and check the strain against what the affected parts are rated for. Fortunately in our misfortune, with the long range dish torn off, the hangar isn't supporting as much weight as it was designed to, so we have a wider safety margin. As for why I haven't done it already, we were focusing on the parts of the ship that were immediately accessible and necessary for flight." She explained. 'If I thought the damn thing was gonna collapse, do you think I would be here trying to fix a hole in the wall?' Vigdis thought, but did not say out loud.

And then it all started to disintegrate. It wasn't her fault, but Eva could hardly have picked a worse time to wake up and the locals had just gotten the same scare Nellara gave her. Why was she even sleeping in that thing anyway? "Human, human!" Vigdis gestured to the talking armor, “Stupid human, fuck's sake.” She added in Eva’s direction, perhaps a bit hypocritical since the only reason Nellara didn't have a hole in its chest was the fact that Vigdis' weapon had not been loaded when she entered the ship, before turning to the captain. “Too many people, way too many people and not enough communication.” She said sternly, the last part while pointing outside to where the droids were spotted moving. It had been going rather well thus far, she was not getting gutted by one of these birds just because someone on this road trip can’t work within a chain of command. It was that fucking merc who brought the suit on board, wasn’t it? He was put in charge of security. In an attempt to salvage the situation outside, Vigdis pointed at herself, mimicked Kerchak's walking gesture and pointed outside. “Apologies, Nelly, someone out there needs his head examined.” She said to Nellara before walking out as fast as she could without running and stood in front of one of the alien soldiers, literally placing herself between the droids and the soldier…’s lower two thirds. These birds were big. She waved her arms above her head to draw the attention of whoever was giving orders to the two droids and ran the back of her open palm along her throat once in a standardized ‘engines stop’ signal. Not ideal, but it would have to do.

Eva sighed, watching the situation devolve almost as soon as she woke up. It couldn't quite be helped, these 'locals' for lack of a better term were fully in their right to be freaked out, given their group essentially landed in their backyard and don't speak their language. The SEU stopped in unison, crowding around the Javelin and gathering together as they shut down. Eva did the same, letting her armor slouch slightly as the back opened to let her slip free and drop to the ground, feeling far smaller now outside her suit.

Eva raised her hands a moment, making it clear she held nothing. "Friend, you folks know friends?" Eva's voice was different now, small and smooth, like she was talking to an animal. It's possible it might come across as demeaning, but with such a language barrier she had to try something, and none of them looked human so tone of voice was the best she could come up with. She kept her hands raised a moment more, hoping this place, wherever it was, shared any of Earth's body language that often existed regardless of distance. "Give us a moment okay? Let us breathe." As if to suggest the situation around her, Eva waved her arms in a pointed fashion, drawing attention to the clear mess in the bay around them that still had yet to be fully taken care of.

Zey had to check her chem-gland to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. Vigdis looked unhurt and mobile, praise be. But standing near her in the shuttle bay were five birds, some kind of elk-thing and…well, what the HELL was that thing in the leather robes? A burning tree from the crash? Why was there fire in the air when they were supposed to have fire suppression points in the ceiling? Zey had serious questions, and struggled to take her eyes off their new guests while Vigdis relayed what had happened to her so far.

Tyreese Darnell blurted out the first thing that came into his head.

“They’re aliens…not terrorists but fucking aliens!”

The large suited man shifted his grip on the unfamiliar shotgun as a tidy-looking bird came closer; he shakily half raised it before Zey put a hand on the barrel and pushed it back down.

The bird alien pointed at Vigdis and said the engineer’s name in a voice that struck Zey as similar to that of a parrot’s mimicry. Clearer though. The clothed bird then pointed to itself.

“Kareet.”

Zey was shocked, and hesitated for a moment or two. Then she cleared her throat, gulped and pointed to herself.

“Zeynap.”

She then put a hand on Darnell’s arm.

“Tyreese.”

Finally, she pointed at her XO.

“Mallory.”

In the heat of the moment, it struck Zey that she may have never used Mallory’s first name before. And now she’d just introduced him as Mallory to a new race of beings.

It seemed the engineers were making progress in setting up a basis for communication, so the Captain studied how these aliens were reacting. She noticed that not only was this burning tree apparently making notes with fire in the air, the most imposing bird also appeared to be remotely controlling a bunch of metal spheres with remarkable dexterity.

Mallory asked Vigdis about the roof. As the engineer was making her way over, Zey edged closer to her XO and surreptitiously placed a hand blocking visibility of her mouth while talking to Mallory.

“They have weapons, but where is the tech controlling all this weird shit? In their bodies? We need to get this burning tree out of the shuttle bay too, it's going to set something ablaze.”

Zey was listening in on the damage report with her eyes on their guests, formulating her next move when Eva and her suit woke up. Spider drones dialled in too, towards them from the back of the bay.. The reaction from the locals was understandably concerned, with everybody starting to move and some sort of electrical field appearing.

“Eva get your bots in line, you’re spooking the locals!” Zey raised her voice over her shoulder, palms out in a placating gesture again.

“I have a clean shot, I can blow this one’s head off!” Darnell urged.

“What is your status?” Ezra asked in her ear.

“Do NOT fire! Everybody remain calm - I’d rather not piss these things off.” Zey ordered, making a patting gesture towards the ground with her hands.

Just when Zey thought the tension couldn’t get higher, more bird soldiers appeared and this ‘Nellara’ became visibly more agitated. Zey's right hand crept up to rest on the pistol in her plate carrier’s holster, with her left still held out. The thing pointed its own feathery wing/arm outside, some others formed up while one bird started gesturing something quite different. The large elk creature and a few of the solders exited the shuttle bay. Suddenly Zey realised - Ezra.

Vigdis realised too, and charged towards the aliens.

“Vigdis, wait!” Zey called, but it was too late, she was among them and then outside.

“Oh fuck’s sake.” She groaned, exasperated. The sound of Eva’s suit opening filled the shuttle bay, and then the slap of feet on the deckplate behind her. Zey turned so she could see both her XO and her EVA specialist.

“Mallory, Eva, are there any trinkets in here we could give them as a peace offering? Nothing critical or offensive. Find something, now please.”

Zey looked back at the aliens and pointed to Eva.

“See? Human!”

---

“What is happening? You are in my shot.” Ezra asked calmly, staring at Vigdis through his scope as she gestured out.

“Ezra, i think the locals have spotted you or the droids, they’re getting aggravated. Stand down and show yourself or people are going to die.” Zey talked urgently into her radio.

“We cannot just surrender!”

“We’re not surrendering, we’re communicating! Now stand down and show yourself, that is a direct order.”

There was a pregnant pause over the airwaves.

“Understood.” Ezra crackled, finally.

Outside, the soldier crawled out from under the shrubbery he had set up in and walked a few paces forward, rifle cradled across his chest. He would be up the hill to the left of anyone looking into the shuttle bay entrance. He knew he looked like the bogeyman for humans, in his black armour and tactical mask. But who knows how these aliens would perceive him.

“Droids, step out from cover, holster your weapons and wave.” Ezra ordered, slowly wiggling the fingers on one raised hand. The robots obeyed instantly, both down in the furrow made by the spaceship as it rolled, and up and to the right.