A-Traveller

The Stars Themselves || Sci-Fi Nation Roleplay

@Meeky
Glad you're interested. You're welcome to use a previous species. Many people in this roleplay are re-using factions and species from previous roleplays.

The Stars Themselves || Sci-Fi Nation Roleplay

@Sauron the Dark Lord
It is most definitely still open.

The Stars Themselves || Sci-Fi Nation Roleplay

What followed could best be described as a tour, with the jhingese excitedly talking and skittering through the hallways. They passed rooms with large glass windows, with counters and strange instruments. The jhingese in these rooms did their best to seem uninterested, warned as they were of an alien presence on board the ship, but many could not help it, and they stepped up to the windows as the alkay went by, watching. Ahead, the curve of the habitation ring could be seen, slight due to the sheer size of the ring, but visible nonetheless. It took near half an hour to do a full walk of the ring, at which point the party found themselves back where they started.

The contact team's jhingese escort stepped up to a wall and flipped open a panel. A few button presses later, and it was revealed that the subtle depression in the wall was a door. The jhingese stepped through and waved the alkay into the train-like car. Small windows were set into some of the walls, and the spine of the ship as well as the moon and gas giant were all clearly visible through them. The jhingese fastened themselves to simple harnesses along the wall, little more than mesh webbing with straps. Giving the alkay just barely enough time to get somewhat strapped in, the jhingese activate the car, and it zips off along the ship's structure.

There was some jostling as it switched orientations, slipping through the spin axles and crossing the short distance from the innermost ring to the command section of the ship. Each time the car stopped, its occupants felt the effects of freefall, with the final stop being no different. The command section was clearly void of any gravity when not under thrust, and jhingese floated and skittered to and fro, using the ladder-like handholds in the walls to direct themselves.

The jhingese here paid less attention to the alkay, little more than a cursory glance in their direction. The escorts led the alkay straight to their destination, a large, cool room nestled in the command area just above the lowest deck. It was here that the alkay witnessed the most excitement from the jhingese. The massive computer in the room was manned by half a dozen technicians, and all of them rushed excitedly over to the alkay to begin inspection. It was a faster paced repeat of the events by the airlock, with a lot of clicking and rasping and skittering. When they finally calmed down, one technician came over with two large syringes, passing one to the nearest alkay and demonstrating the device's usage on itself, drawing half a vial of blood and plugging it into the computer.

The jhingese waited to see what the alkay would do. Was the atmosphere suitable for them? Would they hesitate, showing that they couldn't safely fulfill the technician's wish? Or would they outright refuse?

The Stars Themselves || Sci-Fi Nation Roleplay

@Gowia
That's unfortunate, but thank you for letting us know. Good luck.

@AlienBastard
Looks good so far.

The Stars Themselves || Sci-Fi Nation Roleplay

"They look strange."

"We've seen stranger."

"Not intelligent. Things become stranger when they have technology."

"They certainly become deadlier. There's no room for error here."

---

The iris valve opposite to the airlock opened, and two people stepped through. The Jhingese entered on all fours, their forelimbs clicking on the plated floor while the rear legs shuffled quietly in padded footwear. Their suits were rigid and form-fitting, like a second carapace, white with red outlining wrapping around the grey and pink of their bodies. They carried weapons, compact and somewhat blocky, as well as what appeared to be surgical tools on a belt, tightly fastened around the lower portion of their torso. The smaller sets of limbs on their torso fidgeted nervously, the top and most developed pair lingering near the shoulder holsters of their weapons.

The second through the door immediately skittered up to the nearest alien, getting very close and inspecting their suits, occasionally standing up on their hind legs. No matter how close it got, however, it was careful not to touch. The other simply walked circles around the group, once or twice stopping to lean in.

"Flesh suits?"

"Is the arthropod of the same species? I'm not sure I've seen such radical sexual dimorphism."

A few minutes passed like this before they broke off from their examination and stood in front of the iris valve. A screen next to it flickered to life, previously almost invisible against the wall. It displayed an animation similar to the alkay's own, but the Jhingese ship instead continued along its present path and looped back around to the moon, where the corvette redocked and a bubble with a live feed of the contact team from the camera moved between the science ship and the corvette. The Jetha then joined its sister in orbit around the gas giant. The animation played several times.

"We mean no harm. Come."

The iris valve opened and the Jhingese left through it, beckoning with their forelimbs.

The Stars Themselves || Sci-Fi Nation Roleplay

As the first of the contact team reached the airlock at the end of the tunnel, it opened. The cycling room within was large enough for three bulky human-sized individuals to stand in, though cramped. Cycling would not be an issue however, the pressurized tunnel sealing the contact team in and preventing them exiting into the void. So the interior airlock opens as well, and bright lights shine on the boarders. The room was large and empty, a featureless white room.

If the boarders enter, the airlock seals behind them and the pressure tunnel will retract from the corvette. Either way, the Jetha maintains course, and a soft but raspy voice emits from a camera speaker in one of the upper corners of the room, punctuated with the clicks and hisses common in the Jhingese language.

"Visitors, we welcome you. Please, enter."

Standing out in the message is the 'you', spoken in the best representation of the alkay tongue the creature could manage, clearly identifiable by the pause before and after. Whether or not the correct word was used to replace 'you' remained to be seen.

The Stars Themselves || Sci-Fi Nation Roleplay

Terminal, you have been accepted and added to the main post. I couldn't transfer your map symbols to the master copy without things being messy, but I intend to update with them at some point in the near future.

Map updated, with Kangaroo, Gowia, and Terminal.

The Stars Themselves || Sci-Fi Nation Roleplay

Sorry, I had forgotten to update the map with Kangaroo and Gowia. I'll get on that when I return from class.

The Stars Themselves || Sci-Fi Nation Roleplay

The Jhingese ship once again forwarded the message to its processing computers, queuing it up for processing. So far, the linguists believed they had identified "Yddr States" and "Iliptic Sphere" as proper nouns, but had yet to find meaning in them. They had also figured out "you" and the forms thereof, or at least they thought they did.

The crew was nervous as the corvette flew alongside them, but the Jhingese manning the telescopes pointed out the flashing lights and the opening airlock. Taking another gamble, an airlock on fore end of the ship was opened. The airlock's lights flashed in matching hue and rhythm to the corvette's, and a pressurized docking tunnel* extended from it, the magnetic grapples on the end waiting.

Oblivious to the alkay's messages, the ship maintains its course.

*If the alkay choose to dock, they will notice the atmosphere is high humidity, relatively high pressure, and relatively low oxygen levels (compared to Earth; adjust compared to alkay if necessary)

The Stars Themselves || Sci-Fi Nation Roleplay

I-Sphere Space

Within minutes of receiving the message, the crew of the Jetha -- the first research ship -- had it transferred to the ship's massive computers, normally used for DNA processing. Linguists on board the ship, long lacking a new subject, also began to view the message. The brute force method of the computers would take ages if left alone, but the linguists would be able to add their theories along the way, hopefully speeding up the process. However, what was nearly immediately deciphered were the attached coordinates. Punching the information into the smaller bridge computers, they narrowed down the locations in the system that the coordinates could be referring to, and decided the Jovian's moon was the most logical one.

The astrogators did their work, and the pilots initiated a brief burn. The Jetha was therefore set on course for a lunar flyby, after which, it would fall into an orbit around the Jovian. It was risky, heading towards a set of coordinates without context. It could just as easily be a warning as an invitation. The crew of the research ship could only hope that they weren't fired upon, as the Jetha was fragile and the cargo valuable. In the event of attack, however, the six frigates following behind could release their nuclear payloads rapidly and avenge the fallen.

The second of the research ships, Sajaga, having heard of the first's plan, took an alternate route, burning straight into an orbit around the Jovian. She found no need to expose herself, especially when her sister already intended to do so.

Hours passed as the ships sped through the void. When it was finally in visual range of the moon, it slowed, just enough that it would whip around the satellite and fall into place around the Jovian. As it passed, the vulnerability of the ship would be obvious to all who were looking, the Jetha's structure thin and hull minimal on the many rings around its spine and the fuel tanks around its tail. The assault frigates were a different matter, bulky and lacking rings. The crew hoped the contrast would be apparent, as they passed above the moon's surface.