Forsythe

FreeSpace: Expansion

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.

FreeSpace: Expansion

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.

FreeSpace: Expansion

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.

FreeSpace: Expansion

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.

FreeSpace: Expansion

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?

FreeSpace: Expansion

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.

FreeSpace: Expansion

Expansion

“That is the exploration that awaits you! Not mapping stars and studying nebulae, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence.”
Leonard Nimoy

Introduction
This is a Sci-Fi NRP set in the FreeSpace universe created by Volition. It is focused on controlling your nation as it enters the age of space colonization and expands into the galaxy.
This will be a hybrid of a character driven and nation roleplay, but leaning towards the former.
This starts as a game of two, but if you find this to your liking - and know the universe - shoot us a PM, we'll see if there is space for you.

Players and races
Forsythe - Faira
Starlance - Narix

Marvel AU - The Champions

ASTRA

Champion's peak...

"Sorry I'm late!" Alex shouted from the door as she slammed on the brakes, nearly tumbling into her would be-teammates like a bowling ball. Falling in line with them, she straightened up. "Don't worry, hacked the security cams, I heard and saw everything." she whispered to the closest attending Avenger, partly to make them know she actually knew what was going on, but partly also because bragging was one of the personality traits that rubbed off on her from her father.

Considering said footage, she was reviewing it in another processing thread, trying to get a glimpse on the other future Champions that she would spend most of her time with from now on. They seemed like an interesting bunch, as soon as she found her way into the SHIELD database and started pulling data on them. She didn't need the camera to get a look at the one right next to her, instead turning an eye to her and winking playfuly. This one was well documented, as an active SHIELD agent. Her powers were interesting, and at least partially able to do something that Alex couldn't on any scale. There was the minor threat of her attempting to possess the ASTRA and finding out, but Alex was reasonably certain she could keep her off. Perhaps a gravitational field to cause a bit of a blow in the air? they'll see in the training.

It was hard not to place the Wakandan, he stuck out like a sore thumb. The new black panther would be joining them for now, albeit reluctantly it seemed form his body language. She made a note to mind the anti-metal claws on his suit, although both her nano skin and her own suit's composite armor panels should be immune, if he sank the claws deep enough, she would be in trouble.

Then there was an X-Man, someone she didn't think would be attending this party. They tended to stick with their own. Alex never quite understood that - if one wanted to be recognized as equal, why would they intentionally segregate themselves? Finding the PROTECT recruit files on the infonet, she found out the 'soulless' redhead was a telepath. That could be a cause of significant consternation, when she looked into her head and found either nothing, unintelligible static or a bunch of qubits. Alex was wondering jsut how long her cover will hold.

The SHIELD tech finally noticed her entry into the system, and she promptly withdrawn. She could of course outsmart one techie, but if the whole cyber security department was alerted, her cover would be blown for sure. Better not risk it and find out about the others the good old fashioned way. Looking on, she watched as the Shadow went to demonstrate the method of training they were supposed to use, curious to see how it would compare to the Starke Industries built air force training simulators she was using until now, courtesy of unca Rhodes.

Marvel AU - The Champions

@Forsythe - I'm keeping the part about the wink xD

@CaughtInTheRiddle

Easy on the copypaste champ :D Alex isn't wearing the armor, and she jsut came back from the first ever test, so Anomie can't associate her as 'iron girl'. She'd be a bit of an enigma really, other than 'Titanius' daughter'.

That said, I'm happy to keep the wink. I ship it ;P

Marvel AU - The Champions

+1