Dragonruby

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

@MissingAxis

Admiral Erling very nearly recoiled at the sight of the alien's "head", if it could really be called that. It was something out of a nightmare. A compilation of hundreds of writhing worms and eels, beady eyes and razor teeth. The gurgling and shrieking was slightly more expected due to their earlier, brief, communication between their ships, but it was still no less disconcerting. To his credit, though, it only takes a moment before Erling composed himself again, giving the alien a bit of a strained smile at their appearance.

The alien's ability to apparently both focus on him and work the device with a single... limb, was a bit on the unnerving side as well, but all that was driven from his mind, at least for a moment, as the machine began to emit an image. He studies it for a long moment, attempting to piece out exactly what the alien was trying to signal to him. In the end, Erling decides to match its stance, pressing palm against palm as he turns his head up towards the ceiling, his eyes glancing back down towards the creature in question of what exactly he was doing.

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

No objections from me for the new modified sheet.

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

@Icepick

Two big questions from me. First is, I'm not exactly sure how plasma is supposed to help hide ships from visual and thermal scans. I also wonder how useful it'll be when using fusion like that would likely leave a bunch of other emissions that can be tracked as well.

The other big thing is the question of how the Vort Nexus basically spans several star systems? Wifi doesn't really work too well across light years of space, so how does the Nexus stay as one whole constantly updated entity connecting every robot?

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

@ClocktowerEchos

Exactly how far do Ivrah stations/observatories and all that extend from their core 4 tiles?

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

@MissingAxis

With the envoy securely within the bay, along with their escorts, the bay doors began to slide closed behind them. They shut with a bit of a rumble, though not an audible one in the vacuum of space, as the bay shakes slightly at their closing. Once the doors are closed however, a quiet hiss begins to fill the air as vents begin to pressurize the room, returning atmosphere to the previous void. The soldiers remain still, however, though some of them shift a little nervously behind their crates.

Several minutes tick by before a set of doors behind armed men slide open with a pneumatic hiss. From the doorway walks Admiral Erling, having since changed into an environment suit, its helmet attached to his side by a clip. Under one arm, he carried a thin looking pad, and behind him was a hurried looking ensign carrying with her a collapsible table. Admiral Erling stops for a second, blinking as he takes in the full size of the aliens in front of him, before he lets out a quiet huff and walks forward with all the confidence he can muster.

The pair of them stop two or three feet in front of the alien envoy, Admiral Erling nodding once in greeting. "Hello there, gentlemen..." The ensign hurriedly sets up the table, glancing towards the Admiral as soon as it's done. Admiral Erling dismisses her with a nod, and the woman quickly hurries out. Erling sets down the pad onto the table, opening it to reveal it as a miniature computer, magnitudes times smaller than the immense hulking box the aliens carried with them. "I see you came prepared as well." Erling said, more for his own benefit than anything else as he waited for the laptop to start up. "I hope that we can come to a peaceful accord here, and that there will be no need for the weapons we have pointed at each other."

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

@ClocktowerEchos

I'd be willing to start something with you, though we're honestly a little far away from each other. I'm not too sure what we could start.

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

@MissingAxis

"Well... At least they gave a response..." Admiral Erling muttered quietly under his breath as he stared out at the ships orbiting them.

"Do you think that was a happy gurgle? Or an angry one?" Erling's XO deadpanned from beside him.

"Sir, it looks like they're sending a shuttle of some sort!"

Instantly, all of Erling's attention returns to the situation at hand. "Is it armed?"

"It... Doesn't seem so, sir... If anything... It's barely a shuttle at all." The bridge crewman was right in that regard. As Erling gave the thing a closer look, especially as it neared their vessel, it seemed more like the skeletal superstructure of a small ship, open to the vaccum and equipped with nothing but engines and propellant tanks.

As it lingered, matching their velocity, they were able to get a good look at the figures within, particularly as the pilots reported in what they saw, and the drones still latched onto the hull of the ship oriented their cameras onto the vessel. Within were three solitary figures, standing stark against the vaccum of space. Each of them wore what looked to be enviroment suits, full body coverings of some sort of dark blue alloy. Two were armed, the third and shorter one was not. An envoy of some sort?

The alien's earlier message seemed mostly clear now. "Alert the marines. Have them get a squad, or more if they can manage, into shuttle bay two. Open up the doors, and pop the landing lights. We're going to be accepting some guests." As the bridge crew moved to relay his orders, Admiral Erling moved to step off the bridge, only stopped by Commander Ruthyard, who clasped him by his shoulder.

"Woah, hold up there. Where do you think you're going?"

"To meet our new guests. What else?" Erling replied back as he glanced over his shoulder.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Erling gave a snort. "No, not particularly, but who else would go? You? I need you here to take command in case things go sideways. Besides, it's a safer option than bringing them up here to the bridge, don't you think?"

Ruthyard seemed to deliberate that thought slowly, before giving a nod. "I suppose so..."

"Good. Then you have the conn."

-----

A set of bay doors slid open on the outside, near the forward bow, roughly centerline of the ship. Not quite large enough for the shuttle to land in, but the invitation was obvious nonetheless. Several sets of flashing lights lit up in order to bring attention to it, greens and reds lined around the bay.

Within, the boarding party would find a relatively spacious room, though the warriors may find themselves uncomfortably close to the ceiling. All around were metal crates and boxes, haphazardly set up in a semi-circular position as makeshift cover for the roughly dozen men that awaited them. All were dressed in vacuum proofed suits, plated with a combination of thick bullet-resistant padding and titanium alloys, colored a mixture of black and matte gray. In their hands were ballistic rifles, utterly puny compared to the bulk of the Ophisian warriors. The tension in the air seemed to rise as the gathered soldiers first set eyes on the boarders, beginning to doubt if their simple rifles would do much against the seemingly impenetrable armor of the aliens, and several quickly radio for heavier equipment to be prepared if necessary.

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

@ClocktowerEchos

Considering how old Palamon's faction is, and combining that with the Terran Remnat's supposed ancient history, it's quite possible that humanity knew the Mon'Hali, or maybe even the Aztrovans depending on how long ago they ascended. Just food for though, and something that could be interesting to consider.

At most though, the Terran Remnants would have vague and spotty records of the various Aztrovan Lineages.

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

It didn't take long for the ship's sensors to begin receiving, and almost immediately the bridge was abuzz with activity and excitement. Ships with nuclear torches burning across the dark sky, satellites orbiting nearby planetary systems, very soon afterwards radio signals old and degraded flooded their antennae. It was evident to everyone present onboard those seven ships that there was life here and it was reacting to them.

Radar came online, mapping the system around them, but even without it they could see a distant cluster of ships near orbit around the frozen world before them. The crew was already gathering firing solutions on these closest vessels, and parasited on the hulls of the various escorts, drone swarms and their accompanying fighters activated, hiding their emissions amog those of the larger escorts and waiting for the order to deploy. Nearly an hour passed as the bridge crew busied themselves with sorting through and decyphering the various sensor readings they'd picked up, or at least doing their best too, and splitting up the work between themselves and their fellow navy vessels.

"Admiral, the unidentified vessels are beginning to reorient and move towards us." One of the bridge crew called out.

"...Stay steady, we remain here. Let them come to us. We won't foul this up by appearing to be hostile." Admiral Erling could feel his veins tighten as he gave that order. Battle doctrine for the Terran Remnants involved shooting first, and then escaping before the enemy had time to orient and return significant fire, especially with their vessels' limited firing arcs. Sitting here and allowing these aliens to take the initiative went against all of his training. At the very least, their position so close to the rip lane meant they could make a hasty retreat back into the safety of an entire carrier fleet.

"We're recieving a hail!" The new, excited sounding, voice screeched shrilly, for an instant seeming to shatter all of the tension that'd been building up in the time spent waiting, before just as quickly seeming to make it twice as thick as the implication struck them. Admiral Erling blinked in response. His body was frozen. This was it. His reponse here would perhaps shape the entirety of Terran Remnant history.

"Nervous, sir?" The voice of Commander Ruthyard from besides him nearly had Erling jump in fright. He'd forgotten the man was there. Commander Ruthyard was his XO and right hand man, and while Admiral Erling was tall and commanding, Commander Ruthyard was easy-going and relaxed. A warm ember to Adiral Erling's cold focus. "You really shouldn't have any reason to be, you know? I mean... You think they'll understand us. You could call them all the worst things you could imagine, and it'd all be the same."

The Admiral simply stared back at the man for a moment before giving a gentle smile. His quiet words had been appreciated, and he nodded at the man before turning back towards the bridge. "Accept the hail. Broadcast my words to them."

He closed his eyes and took a breath, before speaking. Might as well have his first words be professional, no matter how much of a point his XO had made. "This is Rear Admiral Erling of the Terran Remnant Navy from onboard the TRNS Audeamus. Humanity greets you with open arms and open hearts. To whom am I communicating with?"

@MissingAxis

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

Me and MissingAxis were chatting elsewhere about how we wanted to do first contact since I ended up placing myself right next to him on accident. We ended up deciding that the Terran Remnants initiating contact with the Ouroboros made more sense, so I threw up the first post to start things off with him.