[IC] FreeSpace: Expansion

[Forsythe]

Faira Fleetnet News

State of the Fleet
Since the cataclysm, our fleet has been trying to establish working supply chain and adequate protection for the survivors. Today, the admiralty officially declared the operation a success. Our race has persevered despite the Universe trying to undo our existence. Admiral Sola had this to say:

“Together we have survived a catastrophe that would have ended any other. Yet we can only celebrate our success with sorrow. Over three billion of our kind remained behind on Faira'Erea and were consumed by the Star’s wrath. Let those souls never be forgotten, for it is due to their tireless work that we are now alive. We have elected to hold a fleet wide memorial service for our dead planet today at twelve o’clock.”

With the launch of the ED Warden, all three of our pre-exodus planned fleets are now complete. The admiralty has not yet approved of a new construction plan.

Exploration of Exodus
The system which we used to flee from the nova of Faira Star have been officially named ‘Exodus’. The Vanguard fleet under Admiral Cygnus is scheduled to depart tot he system to survey it for usable resources. Unfortunately, the preliminary report indicates that the system is void of any habitable planet, much less one suited to our needs. The Vanguard fleet will proceed further in hopes of locating a suitable home for us.

The only notable site is the system’s sole gas giant. The large planet has cleared out most of the system’s asteroids which became moons of the planet, twelve in total. The admiralty believes building a forward operations base in the system to be the best course of action. It is yet undecided what this base should look like, and for the moment, one of the Patrol fleet's frigate groups will be stationed in the planet's orbit along with Faira'Hexus for detailed resource survey.

New hope?
The most important discovery however is the presence of a second jump node in the Exodus system, in the vicinity of the Gas giant designated ‘Exodus'Juno’. Our subspace scientists believe it is the gas giant’s large gravity that allowed for the second jump node to exist without the need for binary star system as was once theorized.

Admiral Cygnus of the Vanguard fleet revealed that automatic probes were already sent through the node to determine the location of the new system and extract data about it’s composition. Preliminary scans are still being processed, but the Admiral believes that the Vanguard fleet might be able to transit through the node within the next week to establish our presence and hopefully find new resources. We wish our sisters in the Vanguard fleet safe voyage and hope they will return safely and with good news.

Exodus system - ED Explorer, flagship of Vanguard Fleet

The admiral folded her hands on her chest and leaned back in her chair. Ever since they discovered the relic ship on their homeworld, they knew they were not alone in the universe. She did not fear that. The only thing Cygnus feared was their response for when they would become said proof to someone else. “Are you certain of this, Commander?”

In front of her stood a Faira with blue accents on her skin too similar to the admiral’s to be a coincidence. “Yes. The background noise of the cosmos in the new system displays frightening regularity. It is either a proof of an intelligence present during the birth of the universe and of an intelligent design of everything that is, or it is a heavily degraded signal from technology, most likely communications. We both know which is more likely.” the scientist answered. “From the weak sensors on the probe we weren’t able to determine anything about them, we will have to investigate on our own. The other end of the Jump node seems to be on the edge of the system - hopefully we will remain undetected by them before we can determine more.”

“That’s fairly wishful thinking. For what we know, there are civilizations several times older than us. I trust our equipment, but I don’t know how far we should dare go. We are not many - if we stretch too thin and lead something awful to our home...” Cygnus sighed, “I will have to discuss this with the rest of the Admiralty. You may go now.”

Slamming her fist against her chest in a salute, the blue Faira turned to leave. “Astra...” The admiral called out, making her quest turn her head over her shoulder, “Good work.”

Several days later, Exodus-Unknown jump node

It was an impressive sight. The Meteor-class destroyers were nowhere near as large as the civilian ships, but they had this menacing look to them. The gray, monolithic ship was covered in additional ablative plates, the spire shaped subsystems and dark red accents completing it’s brutish look. Cygnus still remembered the protests of the civilian admirals against building these powerhouses, but now that she was heading to a potential first contact, the admiral couldn’t help but be thankful for having these ‘solutions to nonexistent problems’, as they called them.

The Explorer was not alone. Accompanying it were four corvettes and half a dozen cruisers, with two frigate groups to boot. The explorer would not be making the transition through the node though, instead it stood ready to kill whatever might come back through the jump node in case they - whoever they were - turned hostile. Cygnus nodded when all ships reported in and took a deep breath. “Here we go. Curious, you have a go. Travel safely. We are here if you need us.”

EFG Curious

"You heard the Admiral! Oracle, be on guard. Navigation, helm, take us in." Astra ordered. She never ceased to be amazed by what followed. A large red and white rip opened in normal space and the ship passed through to the swirling tunnel. Subspace was a volatile dimension. It was only due to gravity having a stabilizing effect on it that traveling through was possible. If it wasn't the only way forward, she doubted the admiralty would ever allow anyone through.

The trek wasn't too long, and within ten minutes the Curious and it’s accompanying corvettes and cruisers emerged on the other side of the node. The crew immediately sprung into action, flooding Astra with reports. “Any contacts or threats?” the commander asked, her blue eyes set on the Oracle.

“Negative. But if they have the technology to notice us, the Subspace vortex will do the trick. As for our normal operations, we believe our shielding will greatly diminish our electronic signature. Any sensors less advanced than our own should have great difficulty targeting us, albeit perhaps not detecting us. We should be hard to spot by optical detection past ten thousand meters.” the Oracle reported.

Listening to her options, Astra shook her head. “We stay put. If whoever is here happens to be strongest than us and hostile, I do not want to have our only way home cut off. No sense of sitting around waiting for them either. Proceed with a system-wide scan, let’s see where we ended up and what exactly is here.” the commander decided. Nothing to do now but wait as the Oracle felt her way around.

[Starlance]

Naris orbit
The New Frontier orbital station has been a hive of activity for the past ten ten months. Among the passenger liners and ever present freighters, nested in the numerous berths scattered around the station itself, were four Guardian-class corvettes that did not belong to the defensive fleet. Further behind them, hidden away from most praying eyes, the bow of a Vanguard-class cruiser was visible from Primarch Ascari’s seat in the station’s observation dome. Although the Council tried to conceal the uncommon activity around the shipyards, everyone knew something was coming. It was uncommon for the military to seal off several berths without at least a nonsense cover story. The Primarch remembered the rumors that emerged mere hours after the Exile Rebellion because the official sources were silent, leaving imagination running rampant. Fortunately, public relations weren’t his responsibility anymore. He would just have to tell everyone that he doesn’t know about anything. Carthus picked up his bag and walked out of the observation deck, heading toward the hangar.

Minutes before departure, a fair-skinned man rushed into the small passenger compartment, panting for breath despite his powered suit.
“Ran quite a distance, have we?” The Primarch asked.
“Indeed. Prefect Nyxeris, NSS Asgypus.” He responded with a salute, taking a seat beside the Primarch.
“What’s the hurry about, Prefect?”
“We’ve been attached to the exploration fleet, but my flight from Naris got delayed. As your subordinate, I haven’t received any departure orders. Can you shed some light on that?” he asked.
“T minus thirteen hours. Smart of them, we’ll be leaving with Lux Naris on the other side of the planet. With no light, the only thing visible will be the subspace windows. The jump point is located away from the observation dome, so even those will not be seen by many. We’re jumping beyond the outer belt, five kilometers from the node.”
“That’s a lot of secrecy. How many ships are a part of this?”
“Two cruisers, two frigates, eight corvettes and four science vessels.”
“That’s twelve warships.“ he gasped, “Now I hope we don’t find any intelligent life, because if we show up with this lot, nobody with their head screwed on right will believe us when we tell them we are just exploring the neighbouring systems. I understand they’re being cautious, but this is built like an invasion fleet.”
“The Council fears we will run into hostile life. Would you rather come prepared and hope you can reach out to them before an accident happens, or face an empire of xenophobes that see you as a snack with just one Vanguard, one Privateer and four Guardians as was originally planned? Not to mention keeping the science ships safe. But you’re right, I intend to hold back most of the fleet. Lord-Commander Eudorian has assured me the Amare and her battlegroup will blockade this side of the node, so we will take the entire force through at once and secure that side of the corridor. We’ll decide what to do based on what we’ll find on the other side. But I reckon it’ll be a bunch of rocks, maybe a few useful planets. Or we could jump near a black hole for all we know.”

Past the Arcus Belt, fourteen hours later
The expeditionary fleet assembled around the intersystem node. The cruisers at the tip of the formation, flanked by the rest of the ships. Primarch Ascari took up his position in the Latanos’ CIC, looking over the fleet. Only the position lights were visible, with the occasional faint glow of thrusters here and there.
“FCO, signal the fleet we are go. SCO, contact control. Boffins estimate the jump to take a little under two hours. If homeworld doesn’t hear from us within six hours, we’re likely in trouble. We’ll try to call back as soon as as we secure the node.”
The formation headed for the node. First crusiers, frigates and corvettes four minutes, science vessels eight minutes behind them.
“Engineering reports subspace motivators ready. Both reactors stable.”
“Signal the others. Jump in ten seconds.”
Three subspace windows opened and swallowed the two ships, sending them onto a two hour journey into the unknown.

Two hours later, Subspace
The two of ships raced through the Subspace corridor shoulder to shoulder, the white and blue walls shooting past them. Primarch Ascari rested in his seat, trying to relax while he could. So far, they were safe. But in ten or so minutes, that could drastically change.
Prefect Nyxeris was quite the opposite. He kept pacing around the CIC in circles, hoping they would be out soon. Subspace always sent a chill through his guts. Although two Vanguards were a force not to be trifled with, at least in theory, he never would’ve thought actually going past Naris would be this much pressure.

Both the Latanos and Asgypus were Vanguard-class cruisers. The 1100 meters long ship was the main warship of the starfleet, preceded by the Legionnaire-class cruisers. With six quad turrets and 16 torpedo tubes for anti-ship work as well as 24 strike craft, the Vanguard should be able to handle whatever lay on the other side. In theory.

The smaller Privateer-class frigates have always been intended for long-range patrols and reconnaissance. At 600 meters, they could be considered the big, mean siblings of the NCv Guardian-class corvettes. Though far from defenceless, their anti-ship capablilty was limited to three quad turrets and 12 torpedo tubes with limited ammunition. The Privateers Subspace motivators were fitted with advanced heatsinks, allowing it to jump in shorter intervals than would be expected from a ship of its size. In addition, each carried two Pillager-class dropships equipped with an additional sensor and communication package to provide better coverage in cases of interference, be it environmental or artificial.

Lastly, there were the Guardian-class corvettes. At 170 meters, she was nothing more than 12 Swarmer missile turrets with engines strapped to them. Eight of them were more than capable of neutralizing a large force of fighters or bombers, but a single hit was enough to incapacitate it.

Eight minutes later, uncharted system
The two brown dwarfs lay seemingly stationary in the center of the system. In reality, they danced around each other, forever bound together by the tethers of gravity. Besides these stars and two dwarf planets circling the stellar duet, there was nothing interesting in the system when two white and blue subspace windows formed, spitting the Vanguards out into real space. Carthus scrambled to the sensors officers, eyes glued to their instruments.

“Well?” he asked after gazing over their shoulders for several minutes.
“Looks like we found ourselves a binary system here. We seem to be about 108 million kilometers from the closer star. Astrogation reports two orbiting bodies visible, preliminary observation would suggest dwarf planets, but you know how confusing things are at such distances.”
The Primarch nodded. “Once they arrive, send the Sandstorm and Uppercut to investigate the planets. We’ll stay here take a look at the surrounding stars and report back home. If there’s something noteworthy here or in close proximity, I want to know about it.”
“Hold on, possible contact.” the sensors officer called, “Picking up a thermal signature, heading three-three-zero, inclination negative three-six. It’s much hotter than our ships, and it’s big. Either it’s several ships close together, or it’s massive.”
“Already? Fine, no plan survives first contact. Leave the Asgypus here to secure the node, let them know we’re going to investigate. Tell them to send a frigate our way once they arrive. Jump to the planet closer to the contact, we’ll take a closer look with optical sensors as well before approaching.”
The Latanos disappeared through the subspace window, emerging near the planet, much closer to the contact.

[Forsythe]

EFG Curious

“Ah!” The Oracle hissed, leaning forward from the reclined position in her chair and massaging the temples of her head. “Commander! Massive Mindspace echo, consistent with our own intersystem jump signature. I’m marking the position to the navigation computer. You may want to try yourself, we may have a contact.” the Oracle explained quickly, inputting the coordinates to the ships’ database.

Astra looked at it curiously. “I think I will. If nothing else, it could be another jump node. We’ll see.” Leaning back in her own chair, Astra spread around her own senses.

Reading Mindspace echoes was a strange feeling of a mysterious art. Not many Faira could do this, for the information overload was dangerous even to a species of their intelligence. As Astra expanded her reach, she could detect the first planet, then the second, then the massive calmness the two brown dwarves created in Mindspace that was otherwise a violent storm.

Calmness, that was until a turbulence cut through her mind like needles. “Ah! FTL jump indeed, not through Mindspace but similar enough to leave a massive echo. It seems they want to have a closer look at us.” Astra said, drumming her fingers. What to do? Focusing ever closer, she willed the rest of the system out of her mind, centering her attention on the contact closest to them. It was hard to read the shape form a mindspace echo alone, even for an Ascendant, but she could make a guess at the ship’s mass.

“If it’s constructed out of common materials, it could be as big as the Curious, give or take ten percent. I don’t feel like sending the smaller ships to look, but it shouldn’t be anything we need the Admiral’s ship for just yet. Let us see how they like company. I’m jumping us on the same orbit as them, 90° off their phase so we could hide easily enough behind the planet if need be. Full power to engines and shield for now. Leave the weapons cold.”

Once her crew confirmed her orders, Astra’s mind withdrawn and focused oh the ship alone. Red wisps started to gather on the hull, slowly joining and growing into sparks, and then bolts, until what looked like red lightning storm surrounded the entire ship. And then, the Curious vanished in a flash of white light.

The planet

Emerging form the jump, Astra leaded forward to see the holographic display of the other ship gathered by the cameras on the outside of the hull. “Well hello there! Wouldn’t I like a peek under your armor!” she said, admiring the shape. “Any reaction from the unknown?” she asked, wondering if what was going through her own head was also happening to the commander of the other ship. Are you here to attack me? How do I make you see I come in peace?

[Starlance]

NSS Latanos, planet’s orbit
At this distance, the thermal cameras could pick out several heat signatures of different sizes. They lay in orbit at the edge of the system, much like the Narix were when they arrived in the system. That could indicate another jump node, assuming they used subspace to travel in a similar way the Narix did. Much to the crew’s puzzlement, the largest of the signatures started to emit an erratic subspace signature, completely different to Narix jump windows. What was strange was no heat buildup. Any uncertainty was dispelled when the unknown vanished.

The sight of the alien vessel appearing out of nowhere left the Narix crew stunned for a moment. The vessel’s general shape was reminiscent of a missile. An elongated hull with engine pylons near the back.
“Crap, get fighters into the launch tubes. Gunnery control, hold fire. DC teams, standby.”
“Cruiser-sized vessel, but EM signature is lower than one would guess for a ship of this size. It’s not doing anything, it’s just… sitting there.”
“Who are you?” the Primarch wondered, “Broadcast the first contact package. Let’s see if we even have a common wire.”

The first contact package contained a dumbed-down version of the Narix language along with instructions on how to decipher it. Of course it relied on the unknowns to figure out at least a part of the language in order to understand the language primer itself. Just how long that would take or if the unknowns would even try was anyone’s guess. The entire package was broadcast in a loop on every short-range channel the Narix used for sixty seconds. Based on distances alone, any other ship in the system was likely to receive the package as well. The same broadcast would also alert the remaining Narix ships to a first contact scenario.

The ATC reported 16 fighters in the tubes and prepared for launch. All they had to do to launch was engage the catapult. The Primarch could vividly imagine their hands on the controls, ready to ram the throttles open at a moment’s notice. He hoped they wouldn’t realize what the open launch tubes were for, or wouldn’t consider it a hostile action if they did. Given the ships attitude towards each other, the tubes shouldn’t even be visible to the unknowns.
“Sir?” The gunnery officer asked, “Do you think they’ll get the message?”
“I don’t know. Time will tell. I just hope I wasn’t right about the empire of xenophobes earlier today. No further transmissions for now, just to be on the safe side.”

[Forsythe]

EFG Curious
“They’ve seen us. But there isn’t much going on. That’s good, correct?” the Oracle asked, and Astra nodded. “Better than getting pummeled by those weapons. They certainly didn’t spare any resources on those, the ship looks like a pincushion, even if the caliber isn’t as large as ours. What other readings are we getting?”

“About as much electromagnetic radiation as could be expected. There is a radio spectrum with repeating regularity. It could be an attempt to communicate, or just an IFF beacon.” the Oracle notified.

“On display.” Astra ordered. The hologram shifted from the ship to display the radio wave the unknown was sending. “The period on the signal is far too large to be an IFF unless they are using some monster coding or convoluted language. I think it should be a message, but how do we read it? Even assuming we use same technical base we would still need the file system to know what to do with the ones and zeros.” Astra frowned. No other choice, we’ll have to see face to face.

“Drop the shield, but keep the generators powered. Decelerate and take uson an approach orbit, nice elliptical and pulse the reactor vents in regular pattern, I want them to know that we want them to know what we’re doing. Shut down all external lights save for the docking port navigation, and leave the airlock open. Let’s see if they get the invitation - it looks like their ship has hangar bays, hopefully they thought to pack a shuttle along. Send a message to the Explorer and ‘Hexus about what is going on, we’ll need Admiral Libra sooner than we thought.”

Astra swapped the display back to the alien ship, expanded the view to the planet’s orbit and watched as the Curious approached it, ready to give orders if the unknown turned hostile.

[Starlance]

NSS Latanos
“Unknown changing orbit. Now on intercept trajectory, that’s… good? Is it?”
“Weapons don’t seem active, or at least aiming at us. What’s the illuminated section?” the Primarch pointed out as the unknown darkened. Zooming in revealed an opening in the ship’s hull.
“Hangar, perhaps? Or maybe a docking port?” the officer paused, “Goodness me, are they trying to board?!”
“Could be, but why would they illuminate the docking port? Why would they keep it open and exposed the ship’s innards. No, this doesn’t look like a boarding attempt, unless the species suffers from a crippling lack of basic mental faculties.”
The Primarch paced around the CIC. Just what was the unknown doing?
“They have backup, but they’re staying out of the picture. It’s likely they know we know they’re there, just as it is likely they know we are not the only Narix ship in this system. We have partially intercepted an outgoing transmission from them, but can’t make sense of it, but it doesn’t look like it was meant for us anyway and they haven’t responded to our first contact package. Either they haven’t received it, don’t care, or have as much luck deciphering it as we’ve had with theirs.” he sighed, “Well, there’s no bravery without a bit of recklessness. Ready a dropship and a marine squad.” Ascari turned to his XO, “The ship is yours for now. Let the Asgypus know what we’re doing. If we get in and don’t check back in ten minute intervals, scrap that ship and arrange for salvage. Should that come to pass, Prefect Nyxeris will take over the fleet. We’ll do our best to make sure Lord-Commander Zorea can stay home.”

Six minutes later
Four Raider-class heavy fighters formed around the dropship and headed for the unknown.
“Primarch?” the dropship pilot turned around to address his superior, “Is this really a wise course of action?”
The Primarch didn’t know the answer. The fighters held position one hundred meters from the ship while the dropship slowly approached the open docking port.
“That’s going to be a tight fit.” the pilot noted. He turned the Pillager around to face away from the alien vessel and inched toward it, ready to blast off at full throttle at the first sign of trouble.

[Forsythe]

EFG Curious; cargo bay

“Commander! Are you certain this is wise?” The XO asked as she followed Astra to her quarters where the commander was putting on her custom designed heavy exo suit. She was adamant at making the contact herself. Her curiosity demanded satisfaction. That, and her abilities might just allow her to understand the aliens without having to learn their method of communication - or so she and few other boffins theorized.

“It’s wiser than what they are doing - they took the gamble of getting into our ship, despite seeing just how quickly we can reposition. For what they know, this is a trap and we want to capture them. But considering nobody fired a round yet, I’m rather hopeful. In any case, we’ll need to start up an information exchange manually, and that requires a meeting of people, not destroyers.” Astra explained, sealing the helmet over her head and turning her visor opaque. “Have a security team ready behind the door, and be prepared to raise the shield and jump out on moments notice.”

With that, Astra stepped into the cargo bay and shut the door behind her, just as the alien shuttle poked its rear through the tight fit of the airlock. She wondered at the sight - it looked utilitarian, not as much as a Faira craft would, but close enough - but it also spotted what she thought were aerofoils. It would appear these people were still blessed with a planet to call their own, and it also told her that they most likely required atmosphere for some of their biological functions. Until she knew though, Astra left the cargo bay evacuated and the gravity on zero.

ED Explorer; Other side of the Exodus-Unknown jump node

“They are doing what?” the Admiral boomed as soon as the message was relayed to her. Stars damn it Astra, you’re as bad a talker as I am, could you not have sent anyone else to make the contact? “Spool up the drive, but do not jump through without a request form the other side. If we spooked the aliens, they might just open fire. And somebody message Faira’Hexus to haul ass and get to the node!” Summoning one of the viewing holograms, she pulled the image of the alien ship, trying to guess at it'S capabilities, and whether something bigger could be expected from these people.

[Starlance]

“Entering the ship, start the clock. Pilot, what are we looking at?”
“Lots of boxes, looks like a cargo bay. Bright red lighting. So far no gravity and no atmosphere.” As one, everyone in the troop bay stood up, fixed to the floor by magnetized soles, and retrieved external air supply kits for their suits. Combined with the suits’ internal supply, it gave them about an hour of air.
“Fine, switch to internal air supply, depressurize the ship, keep the engines ready. If it all goes to shit, maybe at least you can make it out.” The Primarch stood at the front of the troop bay, the squad along the walls. “You two,” the Primarch gestured at the squad’s pointman and machine gunner, “You’re out first, make sure it’s clear. I’ll follow right behind you. I want the rest to stay here. Maybe they spook easily.”
“Lights off, depressurization check, thrusters check, weapons check.” the pilot reported, “Opening rear bay, good luck to all of us.”

The rear bay swung down to form a boarding ramp, revealing the darkened troop bay. Out of the black appeared two figures, one holding a short bullpup rifle, the other a longer one with a drum magazine and bipod. Both marines wore armored suits with hydraulic-driven exoskeleton supporting their backs, hip joints, knees, ankles, shoulders, elbows and wrists and opaque visors. Upon closer observation of the helmet, one could see feint orange glow from the HUD projectors. After scanning the room for a few seconds, their sight snapped to Astra.
“Primarch?” the one on the left lowered his weapon and swept his teammate’s aside as well. Without atmosphere, the entire spectacle was dead silent. “The landlord’s come to greet us. And looks loaded for large game.”
The Primarch slowly came out of the shuttle, little lights lining his soles alternating between green and orange as the electromagnets switched on and off, allowing him to walk. His only weapon was a sidearm in a chest holster. He stopped a step ahead of his men and raised his hands, palms toward Astra. “Holster your rifles, lads, but no sudden movements.” The soldiers obliged, letting their weapons hang on their slings. Without gravity, the rifles stayed where they let go of them, still within reach if they were necessary. The Primarch kept his gaze fixed on the alien while the other soldiers turned their attention back to their surroundings.

[Forsythe]

EFG Curious; cargo bay

Astra had nearly freaked out when she saw the beings that emerged from the shuttle, bearing what she would consider heavy arms. Her hands curled into fists and her VR switched to combat mode, but she kept enough presence not to move an inch otherwise, let alone deploy her weapons. As it turned out, that was a wise decision, as soon after what she assumed was checking their safety, the beings seemed to relax, and one of them approached her with open palms. Astra hoped that was a gesture of being non threatening - she couldn't quite decide, as some Faira Marines had palm-mounted plasma projectors to fight at close range.

The being looked alien, yet strangely similar, walking on two legs and with a set of two arms and one head - it seemed that sentient evolution preferred such a shape. This one was even almost as tall as herself, giving her a hint on what gravity she could expect the beings to take. The Faira commander decided not to reciprocate the gesture, as the shield projectors in the palms of her own suit might spook the visitors. Instead, she slowly raised her arm, straightened out and bumped it against her chest in a salute, before looking where she assumed the being’s eyes - should it have any - would be.

Then she dropped her arm slightly and waved it in front of herself. A hologram appeared, showing the cargo bay, the animation of the airlock closing and vents blasting in the atmosphere, alongside of visual representation of the molecules of oxygen and nitrogen down to the number of protons, neutrons and electrons, three and seven of each respectively to give them an idea of the atmosphere composition. Underneath all of that was a stylized button, which Astra left unpressed, but pointed at - as if to say ‘You decide’.

It was a slight gamble in the manner that perhaps their science explained the composition of an atom differently, but she and the boffins believed that there was no better universal language than the building blocks of the universe.

[Starlance]

The light show took the Narix by surprise, one of the marines taking a half-step back in surprise. Carthus examined the animation, not too excited about the idea of the airlock closing behind them, but they wouldn’t get far without it. He slowly reached for the left side of his helmet with two fingers to speak to the dropship crew.
“Gate’s about to close, looks like we’ll get atmosphere. Three to ten Oxygen - Nitrogen if I understand this correctly.”
“SIr, how do we even tell them ‘yes’ or ‘no’? For all we know, what passes for our hand signals might be insults or whatnot to them.”
“Shut it, Katis, and let the Primarch do his job, he’s got an hour to figure it out.”

The soldier raised a good point, but what else was there to try? Carthus raised his left hand to head height, palm forward and moved the hand up and down about 20 centimeters, nodding his head and pointing at the ‘button’ as he did. He than dropped his arm down and reached for the tacpad on his left forearm, switching his visor to its transparent state and waiting for the alien’s reaction. Ho hoped showing his face could break some ice. After all, hiding ones face didn’t exactly say ‘friendly’. Raising his hand to his helmet once more, he contacted the dropship again. “Have everyone in the troop bay take a seat and appear as non-threatening as possible in case they catch a glimpse of you.”

The entire time, every movement the Narix made was about half the speed it normally would, drawing out the entire ordeal. The Primarch hoped they could quickly achieve vocal communication on at least a basic level. He dreaded to think where this would go if the species didn’t communicate vocally.

[Forsythe]

It seemed like the aliens were content with pressurizing the room. Good to know. Although they didn’t seem to understand the concept of an incorporeal button. Oh well, Astra nodded her head before even realizing the alien would not know what it meant, and tapped the control herself. The iris door on the airlock slid into close, and air rushed into the room from the vents.

As it did so, Astra turned her gaze to the alien craft, running it through her suit’s sensor suite. She was not amused when she found several more alien-shaped signatures inside, but then her curiosity got the better of her as one of the aliens rendered it’s visor transparent.

The being was strange to say the least - not just the shape of its face, but also the fact that it was brightly colored compared to what the Faira looked like, although it didn't have that many or any facial markings really. What she found mesmerizing were the small bits of skin occasional folding over the eyes. What on the world could possibly be the purpose of those?

Figuring out the aliens were harmless enough even though they brought a two squadworths of soldiers, she returned the gesture, and unsealed her own helmet, taking it off. “Hello.” she said, wondering whether the aliens communicated using acoustic signals or something else.

[Starlance]

Just how did the alien control the ship by essentially touching vacuum was beyond Carthus’s comprehension. The air rapidly flooded into the room, returning sound to the equation. Once the air pressure stabilised on a tolerable, albeit low level, Carthus gestured to his men, fingers forming a closed fist with the thumb jutting up, and switched the suit to open-circuit breathing, taking a deep breath of the oxygen-rich atmosphere.

When he turned back to the alien, his helmet - or her helmet, or its helmet as far as he knew - was off and it spoke, in a truly alien language. It sounded vaguely like the time one of his brothers tried to speak with his tongue under local anesthesia. “Well, this ought to be interesting, but at least we’re getting somewhere.” he thought. At least it could talk, that was a step ahead.
“Greetings.” he responded and took off his helmet, unaware of what the alien said, but this seemed to be an appropriate thing to go for. He let go of the helmet, letting it float beside him to illustrate that enabling gravity might be a good next step. He wasn’t too worried the gravity these people were used to would be too much to handle. If their natural gravity was so high it would pose major problems, they were not likely to subject themselves to zero G environments for this long.
“Perhaps you could do something about this, if you’d be so kind?” the Primarch said, pointing at his floating helmet, hoping the alien would get what he meant.

[Forsythe]

Ah! Progress! Astra thought as the alien seemed to respond in verbal communication of it's own. Unknown to them, Astra's antennae were reading the changes in their bioelectric field, associating impulses with what was either said or perceived, making baby steps to learning the language. Of course, a slightly more invasive reading would help tremendously, but she would not do that just yet. she made it a note of interest that most of the changes in the field were happening around the top of their head. The military part of her made it a note to hit just there if it came to a fight - not only would the visor be the weak spot on the suit, but it seemed to be the center of cognitive capacities.

Baring her teeth in an amused reflex, Astra called up another control screen - this one with what passed for a line of text in a jagged looking alphabet and a stylized knob beneath it. Astra signalized a turning motion with her finger, before touching the holoscreen in the corner and flinging it, making it drift through the space between them and come to stop in front of the alien. The know only went as high as the Faira standard gravity, but she gave the alien the choice of how large a portion of it they would subject themselves to. That way it was safe for both parties.

The language the alien used sounded to the Faira like the creaking of a hinge that has been particularly overlooked by the maintenance crews. Far be it form pleasantly sounding, at least she could distinguish where the gaps between individual words were. Who was she kidding, this would take a team of linguists form both sides to make any progress. Opening one of the compartments on her suit, she pulled out a device that looked like it was made out of the same stuff her antennae were, only with a printed circuit pattern on it rather than pigment rings. "A gift." she said, making a circling gesture around where the Narix ear would be.

[Starlance]

The alien conjured up another fancy hologram, ‘throwing’ it to Carthus. Was a simple command console or a control pad too much to ask for? Carthus examined the jagged lines on the projection, assuming it was meant to be the written form of their language. Maybe they should stick to hand signals. He placed his finger ‘on’ the knob and mimicked the alien’s finger motion. The knob responded accordingly and, feeling a slight downward pull, quickly reached for his helmet. Progress! He was certain this would be the weirdest conversation of his life. Comparing the alien readout with his suit’s indication, he made mental notes on what he assumed was the alien writing until he reached the maximum the controls would allow - a little over half of the Narix standard.
“What’s up, commander, broken something already?” one of the marines commented, earning him a nudge from his comrade.

Letting go of the maxed out controls, Carthus hung his helmet from his utility belt and demagnetized his boots. The alien than fished something from its suit. It looked like a piece of the alien itself. Carthus reluctantly accepted it, and upon closer inspection, discovered the circuitry-like patterns lining it. The alien proceeded to gesture at its head, much to the Primarch’s confusion until he realized it was pointing right where his ears would be. This was a horrible risk. Not only he didn’t know what this suspicious piece of alien technology was, but as one of the highest-ranking starfleet officers, his head contained a lot of things the Narix wanted to keep a lid on. Even on the smaller scale, such as the presence of two pilots and fourteen marines in the shuttle, and the RTO periodically sending low-power, encrypted messages back to the Latanos to let them know all was well so far. Oh well, too late to back out now. Giving the device one last look, he attached it to his left ear and waited.

[Forsythe]

EFG Curious; cargo bay

As the gravity took its hold of her, Astra hummed with satisfaction. Progress was slow, but steady. It seemed like the Aliens wouldn’t mind if the gravity went even higher, making her note that they were probably stronger, although with the suits it was anyone’s guess. It also made her want to see their homeworld one day. Not to settle in, not if she wanted to exercise for the rest of her infinite life, but...

She was delighted when the alien put her device on its ear. Now they could move forward. The device summoned a screen in front of the alien, which quickly flashed images in front of its eyes. The images were switching too quickly for the Primarch to consciously notice what any of them were, but it was enough for his brain to generate an impulse Astra could associate with a word. And like that, she learned.

Well, learned to ‘listen’, so to speak. It would still take more time for them to understand each other’s languages completely, but for now, Astra could make an educated guess at what the alien was saying, and the more of the language she heard spoken, the easier it would be to associate sounds with nervous impulses.

The basic set of images was done in little under a minute, the screen shutting down for now.

[Starlance]

When the device finished what it was doing, Carthus ripped it off his ear. No matter the species, the look on his face was not compatible with any semblance of positive thought. Just when it started to look like they were getting somewhere. An what even what was that thing?
“Tristac, get on the long-range and yell back to the Latanos. Tell Legate Vamos to sign me up for a detailed brain scan immediately upon our return.” he told the marines before turning back to their host. Though he knew the alien couldn’t understand him and that it was his fault for going along with its plan in the first place, his blood was still boiling.
“What in Artorias’ name was that?” he tried not to raise his voice too much, “For all your fancy holograms, surely a little visual representation of this things operation isn’t too much to ask for?” Although he didn’t think the alien had malicious intent, this little episode nibbled at the foundation of that assumption.

[Forsythe]

Astra was not amused. No trust. Primitives. she thought, recalling the alphabet she managed to learn, as well as the few associations that could help her explain. Drawing with her finger into the air, orange trail was left where it was as she used an illustration program to convey what she needed to say. In front of her, three words were floating, written is a somewhat broken alien language, but legible if one counted what a child after one year of school might write.

Machine
Dictionary
Factory

The downside of this bit of linguistic aid was that one could only learn associations of what could be portrayed in a picture and objectively given unanimous association. Which left mostly nouns, hence why Astra tried to use the best ones to convey that the device was made to aid in translating a language. She had her doubts whether it would work, but she figured reaching out with her hands to touch the alien being and scour it’s brain for information was a bad idea.

[Starlance]

The two soldiers stopped caring about the surroundings for a moment and joined their commander in staring at the floating words.
“How does it…? How did it…?”
The Primarch’s expression transitioned from cold fury to boundless befuddlement as he tried to decipher the alien’s communication attempt, but to no avail. The synapses only started to fire up after a few seconds. The alien only communicated using their language after he put the strange device on his head. As an intelligence officer, he did not like at all the alien was learning their language and not the other way around, but it would have to do.
“I see now.” he said, tapping the device with his finger, “I was worried this thing messed with my head and I guess it did, but in a different way than I feared.” he turned to his men. “I’m relinquishing command outside of this negotiation until we can be sure there’s nothing wrong with my head.” Perhaps the alien could learn more of their language, maybe even in spoken form, through the device.

Reattaching the device back to his head, he turned back to their host. “Let’s see if I’m right, even though I can’t make heads or tails of your literary creations.” he decided to try his luck, “I am Primarch carthus Ascari” he said, pointing to himself, “and I represent the Narix Republic.” this making a wide gesture towards the shuttle and his men. “And who are you, and where did you come from?”

[Forsythe]

Situation: Salvaged. Pheew. Libra would have had my Antennae if I caused a war. It would be a shameful waste to lay waste to a species… Astra thought, before dismissing the issue without further thought. Alternate realities in the multiverse bore no need of thought until they could travel to them. Astra allowed herself a toothy grin as two of the alien soldiers seemed utterly gobsmacked whens he displayed a rudimentary knowledge of their language after all of ten minutes of knowing the species existed in the universe. She was even more pleased with herself when the leader put the device back on.

She could only guess at what was being said, but it probably ranged from profanities to scolding to what seemed like an introduction, although she had no way of knowing what words were his name, if they used names. Instead, she chose to show him how to properly do this. “Astra.” she said, pointing to herself. One word, no room for misinterpretation. Pointing to the insignia on her chest, she referred to her rank: “Commander.”

Summoning the hologram again, she displayed a picture of several of her species: “Faira.” Then switching the image to the tactical interface form the C&C as it displayed the two ships in orbit of the planet, she pointed to the ship they were standing on: “Curious.”

[Starlance]

The alien didn’t seem to be too talkative, though at this point the Primarch would have preferred the equivalent of a three year olds writing over the cacophony that was the alien language. At least it seemed to have understood him, or at least guessed what he tried to convey from the gestures. He had to wonder why command didn’t think to attach someone more qualified for this. A politician, or a team linguists, perhaps?

It responded with gestures of what seemed to be an introduction of its own. Just exactly what it meant to sa was anyone’s guess. Pointing to itself and than to a different part. Its name? Its rank? Its title? The suit? Pointing to the ship, the name of the ship? The word ‘ship’? Its class? A ‘you are here’? For all of their holograms, the aliens didn’t seem to fare a lot better than they were.

But talking meant progress. It was certainly better than shooting, even if neither of them knew what the other one was saying. While the image of their two ships was there, he decided to use it. “NSS Latanos.” he said, pointing at the Narix cruiser. “Vanguard-class. We” again gesturing to himself and the two soldiers, “came to explore” pointing to his eyes, “the planets.” gesturing to the image of the planet and roughly where the other planet would be. Than he slowly pointed at his sidearm in its holster and shook his head “No hostile intent.”