NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Vagari fact book here: http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=138179
Should put some of this stuff into context.


Unknown Galaxy, interstellar space

The wormhole generator was huge; over two kilometres across, certainly the largest space structure ever built by the Vagari, if not their largest structure of any variety. It consisted of a huge ring, surrounded by capacitors and generators, and dozens of miscellaneous emplacements. Over 20 solar years work, and it was finally complete, ready for its one and only use; to flee back to the Milky Way, from where the fleet had originated over six centuries ago.

Nearby space glittered with the hulls of thousands of ships; the entire Vagari population was assembled in one place, awaiting the opening of the wormhole that would lead them to what they hoped would be a less bleak future.

On the bridge of the command cruiser Vinsibi I, a roughly spherical chamber, with work stations scattered across all its surfaces with little regard to the concepts of up and down, Fleet admiral Jak Atva, currently elected leader of the Vagari people, regarded the large holographic radar-map that occupied the central space of the chamber. It was scattered with green contacts of all shapes and sizes, decreasing in size the further out from the core of the fleet they were. Then, a few red dots began to appear on the outskirts, moving slowly because of the slow radar-update at that range.

A crewman confirmed, "Coalition forces have engaged the outer picket line."

The Fleet Admiral nodded, "I see. Is the generator charged yet?"

After a few moments, another crew member responded, "Affirmative - countdown is underway; Galactic gate opening in thirty seconds."

The Fleet Admiral sat in silence - in thirty seconds, they would know if their last gamble had paid off.

On the outer perimeter of the fleet, the battle was getting intense. To any spectator, the fighting would not seem that heated - all the combatants were thousands of miles apart. A cluster of missiles streaked out of the blackness of the void, one or two being intercepted by bright flashes of laser fire, before a corvette errupted in a glittering shower of sparks. Relatively near, compared to the blackness of space, another missile salvo was intercepted by an anti-missile frigate, its multiple laser banks tracking each projectile separately. Larger caliber missiles hurtled past from the larger cruisers in the centre of the fleet, and a small salvage corvette dared to venture out, to tow away a frigate that had taken engine damage.

A few missiles managed to penetrate the anti-missile screens, and head in towards the centre of the fleet, causing damage to the auxiliary vessels. Communications frigates sorted through the mass of reports flooding in to the Vinsibi I.


"We've lost one Habitat vessel, and three others have taken damage." a crewman reported, "The outer line is holding."

"Countdown complete! wormhole activation initiated!"

Fleet Admiral Atva took a deep breath, "Recall all corvettes to their carriers; the moment of truth is upon us."

A crackling grid of electrical energy flashed into existance across the huge, circular gate, flashing and pulsing ferociously, like a strobe-light gone mad. Then, the whole grid errupted inwards, as though some giant finger had poked a hole in the fabric of reality. Ships edged forwards carefully, eager to depart.

"The outer defence line is breaking, Fleet Admiral. More missiles are getting through."

Atva considered for a moment, "There is no time to run trials; it is now or never. We put our faith in technology, hold our breath, and charge headlong into the abyss. Send the fleet through. Have the outer screen deploy mines, and retreat."

One by one, the Vagari ships tumbled into the artificial wormhole, the missiles of their enemies biting at their heels.


Outskirts of Blanché System (uninhabited), Milky Way galaxy

Slowly, Vagari crews drifted back to consciousness, and active radar scanning began once again. Fleet Admiral Atva floated back to his command station, "What's the status of the fleet? Did we make it?"

A few moments of rapid data gathering later, a crew member turned, "We... think so. We are no longer under attack. Position roughly matches the Milky Way galaxy. Star system unknown, however. We're recieving damage reports from the fleet..."

A few moments later, and the crewman added, "Initial reports indicate thirty-two vessels lost in combat, six vessels lost in collisions in the wormhole, and another eighty three damaged. Eight ships still unaccounted for. Wormhole instability may have caused them to have been drawn in by a different gravity well upon arrival."

Atva nodded, and reclined back against the wall of the bridge, hooking a foot against his console to stop himself floating off, "I trust repair crews will do their duty. Organise search and rescue groups, to search nearby systems for our lost ships."


Outskirts of Struve-768 system

If sound could travel in the abyss, then the arrival of a damaged Vagari habitat ship in the Struve system would have caused a sound like the cracking of a very large whip; as it was, the arrival of the Amstey IV caused little more than a brief flash of light.

The ship, approximately 740 metres in length, with a blocky, modular design that looked like the original design had been upgraded and modified so many times, that it was now a completely differernt ship, was covered in small black streaks and dents from missile and debris impacts. It floated haphazardly in no particular direction.

After a few moments, a small pod detached itself from the rear end of the vessel, and disappeared with a flash, and a ripple through space-time. The ship began to transmit a recorded message, over and over, in a rapid, clipped accent.

"Mida, mida - disi abtavis Amstey-fu; dy nida hapa - luz sista fasa! Mida, mida..."

OOC: Note, Struve-768 is controlled by Arenumberg. Other parties are welcome to join after initial contact is made, and the information becomes available IC.

Struve-768 - AAS Bryt Patrolling Trade line Alpha

Praetor Kay'Lan Stood on the bridge of the AAS Bryt.. one of the Saxony Class Cruisers recently stationed on Patrol in the Core Worlds.

"Praetor.. i just picked up a very large energy burst.. its the equivalent to a rudimentary version of one our exit wormholes.. but i dont have a ship on sensors yet"

"Strange.. keep watching it.."

"Uh.. Praetor sir.. we have a communication coming through.."

"You know what to do comms!" Praetor Kayl'Lan barked at the comms officer.

A Message played throughout the bridge.

"Mida, mida - disi abtavis Amstey-fu; dy nida hapa - luz sista fasa! Mida, mida..."

"Sir.. the translator is having some difficulty.. this language isnt in the database"

"What do you mean not in the database?"

"Its never been encountered before.."

"Dear god.."

"Sir, i have a ship in range.. Around 700 Metres.. its Drifting sir.. but we do have a problem"

"Yes?"

"Its drifting straight towards trade lane Gamma"

"But gamma is packed!"

"I know sir.."

"Helm, get us to that ship ASAP!"

Blanché System

Work was still frantically continuing to process reports from all the surviving ships, and to re-organise the scattered mess the wormhole jump had made of the fleet's organisation. Reports were coming into Vinsibi I in their dozens.

"Sir, our rescue ships have located the Refinery ship Humaaf XII; their hyperdrive is fried, and they're adrift on the proto-dimensional plane until it can be repaired. Still no word on the other missing ships."

The Fleet Admiral felt like his head was going to explode; the hierarchy would have to be further expanded for crisis-situation handling in the future.

"Detail an escort group to the Humaaf XII, and keep searching for the others. If there are hostile forces in this sector, then there's a high chance they might find our ships first."


Struve-768

The Amstey IV continued to drift; onboard, the bridge computers made loud tones of warning, but the crew were in no condition to answer. None had yet returned to consciousness, and judging from the floating globes of blood that drifted round the bridge, some of them never would.

Fires had started onboard, but automated systems had either eliminated or isolated these, and the small amount of smoke that had found its way into populated areas was being pumped out by the ship's environmental control systems.

Most of the ship's roughly nine hundred crew and passengers were strapped into their bunks or duty stations for the trip, although a few floated randomly among the corridors, having not been prepared when the jump was made. Most of the passengers were off-duty crews and the like, and from the amount of fires that had been started and suppressed, it was just as well that the ship was not carrying its full capacity of inhabitants, around 1400.

The ship's main fusion plasma coils were down, but containment hadn't been lost on the backup fission reactors, which was just as well, as they were now keeping the ship's life-support systems active. Unpiloted, though, it continued to drifted dangerously towards the Arenumberg trade lanes, still transmitting its recorded distress signal.

"Closing sir.. do you wish to perform a detailed scan?"

"Yes, i want to know what we are dealing with.. and get the traction points ready"

"Yes sir.. scanning now"

"What are you getting?"

"Mostly point defence laser batteries.. 10 to be precise.. thick armour.. 884 Lifeforms... Humanoid.. 94% definatly human.. very slow heartbeats.. i do have 5 dead weights aswell.."

"5 dead? ok, get us close, start up the traction points and stop it from heading into Gamma lane.. here goes people"

The AAS Bryt began to get closer to the Alien vessel...

"Sir.. i think we have a name for our discovery..."

"Ah.. Amstey IV.."

The Words Amstey IV were written on the ship's hull, in blocky, angular roman letters.
4 points on the front of the AAS Bryt began to shine, and beams latched onto the Amstey IV and began to slow it down to a stop.

"Now.. get 2 security teams and a medical team to transporter room 1, lets see what we are dealing with"

First mate Tal Samsu, of the Amstey IV drifted blearily back to consciousness. He felt numb all over, and the long-unused balance mechanisms in his inner-ear seemed to have been stirred into action by the wormhole jump, and were going mad trying to work out what had just happened to him. His stomach felt like there was a nuclear war going on in it. He opened his eyes, and blinked a few times; he was strapped into his duty station on the bridge. The air smelled of smoke and blood, and pieces of shrapnel - shards of plastic, metal and glass, mingled with blood - drifted around him. It looked like a power surge had caused some of the electronics to explode.

He unstrapped himself, and tried to move, but this proved to be a bad idea; his stomach seemed to be trying to escape, and his arms and legs felt as though they were flying off in random directions. Groggily, he tried to see what the rest of the crew were doing. Nobody else seemed to be awake; Captain Turtz was still unconscious. He spotted what appeared to be at least one of the sources of all the blood; the communications officer Fibak seemed to have a shard of metal stuck in his throat; he was clearly dead. Samsu sighed; the crew were like brothers and sisters to each other, and each loss weighed heavily on their minds. He laid a hand on the dead officer's head. Follow the light, my friend....

After a moments thought, and nobody else seemed to be stirring, he saw that the radar display was dead, and glanced towards the shuttered windows of the bridge; currently they were locked down by armoured plating, but the computer controls insisted that integrity hadn't been lost. He flipped a few switches, and the shutters slowly drew back, revealing the glittering blackness of space outside.

He couldn't really miss the huge ships passing by outside; at first he thought that another habitat ship was drifting dangerously close, but then his eyes adjusted to the perspective, and he realised that it was actually a vast ship, over a kilometre long, still a reasonable distance away. He looked at it, with a slightly stunned expression for a moment, before his stomach gave up trying to cope with all the crazy information his brain was trying to process, and he threw up. In zero-G, that usually tended to be a bad thing, which is why the humble barf-bag was one of the more developed features of Vagari technology. Right now, though, Samsu didn't care; he was transfixed by the sight of the massive vessel, knowing he should react, but also knowing that there was nothing they could do if such a leviathan was hostile anyway.

"Sir.. The Amstey IV Has come to a stop"

"Good, the medical and security teams?"

"On their way, theyve been breifed.. including one thing extra.. there is no gravity on that ship... and i cant find any gravity plating or gravity generators.. it must be permanent"

"Ah.. Zero-G.. fun for the teams"

"Zero-G.. i wonder how thats influenced those people.. this ship.. it seems like a Permanant mobile settlement in space."

"Interesting, make sure you keep in contact with the teams at all times.. make sure they end up on the command portion of the ship"

--Transporter Room 1--
"Initiate Transport"

The 13 Men and Women disappeared from existence ...

And reformed on what appeared to be the bridge of the Amstey IV.

The Men and Women began floating... Lucky for them, being so tall in thsi little enviroment they started to tilt alomost instantly, otherwise there would of been some headbanging in the literal term... then they spotted a lone concious crew member, staring out of the window.

"Praetor.. we have someone" The Team's Leader, Lieutenant Kurile Reported

"So it begins" The Praetor Kay'Lan said back over the comms.

Samsu eventually tore his eyes off the huge ship, and decided he'd have to wake the captain up, before the shark outside decided to eat their minnow of a ship. However, when he turned, the bridge appeared to have suddenly become much more crowded. It only took him a second to realise that these people certainly weren't vagari, who rarely grew taller than about 5'7". He stared, slightly stunned, at the newcomers, completely at a loss as how to react.

"Y... yuwa?" he stammered after a while, "H... hu yuga nihiy?"

At that point, captain Turtz, strapped into the command station, appeared to finally come round, blinking and focusing on the unexpected guests crowding up the relatively compact bridge. He gaped momentarily.

"Catin-Turtz?" Samsu peered uncertainly at his commanding officer.

"Frin-Tal?" the captain inquired, dazedly, "Uditi?" he indicated the newcomers with a thumb, while giving Samsu a confused look.

"Nanu." Samsu shrugged, returning an equally confused look, "Di yus brutata pipira!"

Both Samsu and Captain Turtz turned highly bewildered expressions on the group from the AAS Bryt, as if expecting them to explain themselves.

"Praetor.. our translators still havnt adapted... Their Captain i beleive has awoken, and they want answers understandably" Kurile Reported

"Ah.. Just say something.. try the good old my name is Trick.. the translators should adapt within the next few minutes.. report to me again shortly"

Kurile wondered what to do, he signaled the rest of the teams to keep quiet and still, he floated forward

"My name is Christopher Kurile" He said pointing to himself
he then pointed at the 2 men infront of him in turn

"Who are you?" He said, trying to smile in a friendly way

Captain Turtz observed the Arenumberg party, before unstrapping himself from the command station, and floating up slightly, to a more dignified position. Other crew members were groaning slightly, as they stirred from unconsciousness. Including the dead communications officer, the bridge complement was eighteen.

"Rufu Turtz" the captain indicated himself, seeming to get the message, but still highly bewildered, "Iy catin divisa." he glanced to Samsu.

"Tal Samsu" the first mate indicated himself, "Uh... yuwanta?"

Just then, a series of lights began flashing on the communications consile, accompanied by a chorus of attention-getting tones. Samsu abandoned pretences of conversation, and drifted over to begin attempting to answer dozens of queries coming in from the rest of the crew, who were awakening also.

Captain Turtz regarded the man identified as Kurile for a moment longer, still with the same confused expression. He looked around at the bridge doors, which where still locked down, "Hu yuga nihiy, on conndak?"

A few whispers are exchanged between other members of the bridge crew, who were coming to their senses. A slight murmur emitted from one officer, who woke up to find a sharp slice of plastic lodged in her shoulder.

A Medic began to float towards the affected female officer.

Kurile still didnbt know what to do, he needed to wait a few more seconds for the translator to finally get analysis.

He pointed at the female medic floating in the air

"That is a medic, she will help her" He pointed to the hurt woman with plastic protruding from her shoulder

"So.. Turtz, Samsu, Yes?" Kurile said

A couple of Vagari crewmen rose from their stations, to place themselves between the medic and the injured officer. Then, they seemed to work out that there were no harmful intentions, and backed off slightly. One of them spoke softly to the injured officer who nodded, but still looked rather apprehensive. The two crewmen still floated nearby, however, as if to say that they weren't going to take any trouble, although, by the look of them, neither would weigh much more than 100lbs at 1G, and probably couldn't do much to stop the medic anyway.

Captain Turtz scratched his head, not entirely sure how to handle the situation either. Then, he glanced towards Samsu at the communications console, and noticed the dead officer apparently for the first time, and Kurile and his party were immediately forgotten, as he darted over to the dead man, and cradled him in his arms.

"Frin-Fibak kutik, et yunata mitalu?" he said to Samsu, in a slightly strangled voice.

"Iy wa gandutu! yfida hi kutik, dinata anytiy ycudadi!" Samsu protested. The captain nodded, and blinked a tear out of his eye.

Samsu glanced up at Kurile and his people, suddenly remembering they were there again, and offered a shrug, as if to say really, what do you want?.

The Medic managed to stop floating by the Female, and placed a hand on her arm, as if to say do not worry, The medic produced a tool from her belt, and ran it over the injury, she then produced another tool, and then placed it on The females shoulder, the Medic then slowly pulled out the plastic painlessly with the inhibiter in place, then ran her tool over the wound once again, and in the blink of an eye.. it was gone, the medic put her tools away and smiled at the woman.

Kurile still didnt know what to do.. He hoped the translator was finally working.

"We are here to help, Friends" The words in his head were english, but what came out of Kurile's mouth was not English, but a language he did not know, but now understood perfectly.

OOC: Translators are fitted on ships for computer interaction, and a small device Officers wear on away trips.

The bridge crew seemed to be having immense difficulty understanding what was going on; aside from the fact that half of them were barely conscious, and the rest were quite dazed, it seemed to be one incomprehensible development after another. The consensus seemed to be a stunned sort of silence, and let the captain do the talking.

Captain Turtz looked up from the prone form of the dead officer in his arms, "What... how... ?? What is going on? Who are you? How... ??"


A few thousand kilometres away, there were a series of bright flashes on the electromagnetic spectrum, and six vessels appeared, much smaller than the Amstey IV, each in the region of 60-80 metres long. There was a pause, no doubt as the crews took in the size of the contacts on their radar screens, and then a message was transmitted, "Amstey IV, this is sensor frigate Fasum II; we located your automated distress beacon - do you copy?"

"You know who i am, i am Kurile, and Your in the Struve-768 System a core system in the Communist Dominion of Arenumberg, We stopped you crashing into about 30 MegaFrieghters, We are here to help, but i beleive you have alot of Questions to answer yourself"

A beep came from a console

"I beleive you do have a matter to attend to, please excuse me a moment"

Kurile looked away and placed a hand to a device on his wrist.

"Praetor we have friendly first contact."

"Good Job Kurile, weve downloaded your translator data too, and uploaded it into the network, we will leave this under your juristiction now, if you need anything report back" Kay'Lan said.

Kurile looked back to the console that had beeped, and waited.

Samsu listened to the message from Fasum II, and responded, "We read you, Fasum II. We have major damage to our guidance and tracking systems, but fission processes are contained, and we should be able to jump-start the fusion reactors in a few minutes. Fires and medical emergencies are being dealt with. Stand by."

Turtz glanced across the bridge to the other crew members, who were still staying mostly silent, "Well, it looks like the wormhole must have worked, to some extent, anyway." he turned back to Kurile, "If we have trespassed on your territory, we apologise, and will leave as soon as our guidance systems are operational."

Another message came in from Fasum II, "We are picking up some... well, very large ships in the vicinity. Are they friendly?"

"Yes," Samsu responded, "They aren't currently hostile. We're... uh... dealing with them, sort of..."

"Would it be at all possible for our ship to accompany you, we would like to get to know you.. ?"

Kurile smiled

Samsu continued to communicate with the Fasum II, "What is the status of the fleet?"

"Mostly intact. We're just rounding up the stragglers now. Our position seems to match the Milky Way galaxy. We are about to send a message to the fleet; do you need spare parts and personnel to conclude your repairs?"

Samsu scanned the list of operational systems, "Uh... no, I think we have the necessary components in storage. Er... and we'll need a quarantine ship on standby - we have experienced unquarantined first contact."

"They boarded you?"

"Yeah... like I said, we're dealing with it. Contact the Fleet Admiral - he might want to handle this."

"Roger that, friends, stand by."

The transmission cut off. Shortly afterwards, the communications frigate in the Vagari group fired off a small pod, which quickly exited via hyperspace.

Captain Turtz was staring in disbelief at the massive vessel outside, shaking his head slightly, "But... it must be a mile long, or more... I... if you want to meet the Fleet Admiral, you will have to bring a smaller ship; that one is rather menacing." he noticed the amount of debris that was still floating around the bridge, and wrinkled his nose slightly, "And someone clean up this mess on the bridge."

A couple of the bridge crew took hand-held vacuums, and started to suck up the various bits and pieces of crap floating around, occasionally darting over to some kind of waste-disposal unit to tip it away.

"I'm afraid your unexpected appearance on the bridge of my ship has breached our quarantine protocols." Turtz explained, "We do not usually take any risks where there is the potential for unknown bacteria or viruses to be transmitted to the crew. I suppose it is too late for us now - my crew and I can look forward to a few months in quarantine, but if the Fleet Admiral does choose to meet you, I ask that you follow our quarantine protocols."

"You are afraid of disease, we see, But we must tell you something, we have not had disease for over 500 years.. well.. not until 100 or so years ago when the Tenrar plague wiped out most of us, but we managed to even conquer that, we had no fear in seeing you as we knew anything we may pick up could be subdued.. and as for our ship sizes.. one of the smallest ships in the fleet, apart from our fighters, in the AISV Neurnbarge, a Attack Frigate, about 325 Meters long.."

Kurile took a deep breath

"However, the AAS Bryt .. our ship, is the only vessel in the area that command has cleared to interact with you."

Kurile smiled again

"Anything else you wish to say?"

Captain Turtz drew a breath, and looked around nervously.

"Well... you may be telling the truth. However, we have had our trust betrayed in the past, and are not willing to take any risks. There is also the risk that you may carry any number of microbes that are not harmful to you, but could be lethal to us, because we lack the immunological protection."

He glanced around at his crew on the bridge, and then back to Kurile, "We will have to insist that you observe our protocols until we understand you better. From what I have seen, you possess sufficiently advanced technology to pose an extreme threat to us, should your motives not be what they seem. Forgive our distrust, but we cannot allow any potential threat to the fleet."

"We will adhere to your protocols, however, we are afraid we cannot bring a smaller vessel, as i said, the AAS Bryt is the only ship cleared for interaction, we are intrested in your history, and we would like to make some agreements that i beleive would be beneficiary to you."

Kurile floated around.. waiting for a reply, a few of the team mebers behind disappeared, they had gone back to the ship.

Turtz shrugged, "Could you not clear a smaller vessel instead? I don't think High Command will appreciate it if I let you bring that," he nodded towards the ship outside, "anywhere near the fleet. I expect they will send an ambassador to you."

He glanced around the bridge, at the damaged systems, "By the look of it, this mess will take hours to clear up, anyway." he turned to the bridge crew, who were still watching intently, "We've got work to do, people! Undo the bridge lockdown."

A few levers were pulled, and switches flipped, and then there was a click and hiss of airlock mechanisms, and the two small, round, armoured doors to the bridge slid open, revealing a small gathering of curious Vagari outside.

"Friend Tal, you have the conn. Detail someone to communications, and bring Fibak down to the medical sector, until we can send him off." the captain began to float towards the airlock, and turned back to Kurile, "The bridge is going to get crowded shortly. If you want to talk further, you can accompany me to the mess."

The rest of the teams disappeared, they had returned to the ship.

"We could launch a ambassadorial yacht, accomapnying the yacht could be 3 fighters, if this is acceptable, these are fitted with long-jump drive systems, is that ok, and i think i will acommpany you, i hope there is abit more room there though!"

Kurile laughed

Turtz smiled, "We believe compactness increases efficiency; of space, if nothing else. Come this way."

The passageway outside the bridge was fairly broad, to accommodate all the traffic that might occur on the command deck, during a busy incident. Cylindrical in design, more passages led off from the main corridor in all directions, the kind of design that might cause disorientation or even slight dizziness to someone whose sense of balance was used to the idea of up and down.

A crowd of possibly up to a hundred Vagari were milling around outside, in their blue uniforms with Amstey IV tabs on the shoulders. As Turtz emerged from the bridge, they began to crowd around, all smiles and bright eyes, apparently glad to see that he was safe; each individual seemed to move in to make some minor physical contact, maybe a pat on the shoulder or shake of the hand, and a brief exchange of words. A few even came up and gave him a hug. By stark contrast, the crowds parted nervously for Kurile; none seemed to want to come within three feet of the outsider. The buzz of conversation in the passageways was nervous and slightly excited, but also relieved; they had, after all, just escaped from their enemies in a galaxy far, far away...

Moving as naturally through the wieghtless environment as a fish through water, Turtz led his guest through the maze of snaking passageways, past occasional large chambers where Vagari crew sat in rows at computer terminals, sometimes upside-down to the perspective of those passing outside, towards a large blast-door printed with the words "Habitat decks".

Beyond the blast doors, the corridor opened out into the largest open area in the ship, a great (or at least, compared to the rest of the ship, and given the small size of the average Vagari) plaza, from which dozens of passages led off, to sleeping quarters, medical centres, gymnasiums and sports centres, arcades and theatres, and all manner of other services deemed necessary for the health and wellbeing of the crew and passengers. A few Vagari were drifting through the large open area, turning to watch Turtz, as he led Kurile down towards an opening marked "Crew mess".

Inside this room, which was fairly large compared to the bridge, but nothing compared to the plaza, and fairly tiny compared to what one would expect for a cafeteria on a ship this size, automated food and drink serving machines, storage areas for equipment and such like, and large areas of what appeared to be soft, upholstered padding, covered the walls. A few crew members were congregating in there, huddled in little groups talking together; one thing that became noticable about Vagari, is that even when they have a large amount of space, they still sit practically shoulder to shoulder. Cramped living conditions tend to eliminate an attachment to the idea of personal space, and Vagari communications seemed to involve physical contact as much as verbal. When dealing with each other, anyway; Kurile was, again, given wide berth.

Captain Turtz pressed a few buttons on a vending machine, and a small, spherical bottle tumbled out, along with a pair of spoon like implements. He offered one of the odd spoony things to Kurile, "Well, since you're so confident in your science to protect you from any impurities in our biosphere, would you care for a drink while we talk?"

"Well, it would be rude to refuse, however, i cannot help but feel.. rejected .. if you will, or feared, yet we are pretty much alike.. except for the whole.. height buisness.. and my unfimilalarity with Zero-G"

Kurile sighed and then perked up when he thought of something.

"I just had an idea, as we have no such sort of .. qaurantine protocols on our ship, if you would come to it, .. im interested, how many people are on this vessel?"

Turtz squeezed the bottle, producing a sphere of some clear liquid, that settled into what appeared to be some kind of suction cap on the end of the spoony thing, that held it in place. He poured a similar blob onto the instrument he passed to Kurile, then left the bottle floating nearby, while he sat cross-legged in mid-air.

"Well, we have learned to rely on each other, and only each other. One can never discern the intentions of someone who has not been brought up as part of the fleet; in our experience outsiders tend to be greedy and manipulative. While I'm not applying this label to you, until we understand you better, most of my people will not go out of their way to interact with you." he took a sip from the blob of liquid, "Oh, I'm sorry; this is a traditional drink called fiti. It's made from various vegetable extracts."

"There's around nine-hundred people on board, although only about two hundred and fifty are crew; most of our systems are heavily automated to reduce workforce. You say you're not used to weightlessness? Does this mean you equip your vessels with some kind of gravity well generators?"

"Yes, a gravity generator or 2 powers the plating in the corridors and in rooms, normally covered by something else, although, that can generate a gravity field, it can be altered at will, and probably would be for the areas we would take you too, as we dont know what could happen to you in normal gravimetric conditions."

Kurile attempted to copy Turtz with some success

"I tried"

Kurile laughed.

Turtz smiled, "I expect I'd have trouble getting about. It's common knowledge among the fleet, that our blood pressure is too low for us to survive in gravity, not to mention the difficulty of moving and breathing. Those conclusions were made five hundred years ago; I suspect we've only got worse since then."

The captain took another sip of the clear liquid, reducing the blob to about the size of a grape, "It appears that your people possess much technical expertise that we have barely even conceived of; how is it that you were able to learn our language so quickly, and appear on the bridge of my ship? I can't even begin to imagine how it could be achieved."

"Well, reducing the gravity would be no problem, yet you would only be able to experience the wonders of some planets via images and visual uplinks... as for the language, we have a translator device"

Kurile unbuttoned the top of his uniform and lowered it a little to reveal a small device.

"It analyses and constructs your language, also decpihers it.. it is a rather old invention, and i am at a loss to explain it to you, though it is beleived to also work on our PSI capabilities aswell, as for getting to your bridge, mollecular relocation."

A large crowd of Vagari was beginning to gather again; these wore the same kind of uniforms as the Amstey IV crew, but in different colours, with all manner of different badges and tabs adorning their shoulders - off duty crews from other ships, currently staying aboard the Amstey IV. It looked like they were congregating to watch captain Turtz talk to the outsider.

Turtz shrugged, "Well, I for one can't imagine living on the surface of a planet. It must be horribly constricting."

"Molecular relocation? And it's perfectly safe? I..."

He was interrupted by an announcement over the ship's intercom, "Plasma coil initiation in five seconds. All hands stand by."

After a few seconds, there was a distant mechanical clattering, echoing through from the rear of the ship, and the lights dimmed briefly, plunging the ship into darkness for a split-second. Then, a mild pulsating hum began, quickly becoming background noise, as the lights returned to their previous luminosity.

"Plasma coils fully activated." the intercom confirmed.

Turtz looked around, as the lights came back, "Ah, that's better. As for using your ship for a venue, we'll have to wait until an ambassador arrives. I'm just a starship captain; I'm not authorised to conduct diplomacy. I'd probably get in trouble for allowing you on my ship, if I'd had any choice in the matter."

"Planets, constricting? No .. no.. i dont think so, and molecular relocation, perfectly safe, weve had long enough to refine it"

Kurile thought about something again

"Yes.. yes.. An ambassador would probably be best, im authorized to do what i beleive is best for the nation here at the moment, but i presume your not."

Kurile glanced at the congregation.

"I see what you meant.."

Further out, near the six frigates that had recently arrived, another group of Vagari ships dropped into the system from hyperspace; another pair of frigates, three larger ships that were probably military cruisers, and a fifth, even larger ship, that seemed like a smaller version of the Amstey IV, about a third its size. It bore the highly imaginative name Quarantine VII, written on its hull.

One of the cruisers sent out a transmission to AAS Bryt, an authoritative female voice that declared, "Greetings. I am Mayor-Admiral Itatu of Fleet Echo; I have been authorised by high command to conduct diplomatic negotiations with the Dominion of Arenumberg. Please respond."

"Mayor-Admiral Itatu of Fleet Echo, this is the AAS Bryt, we are recieving and acknowledge you, we are pleased to hear this, and look forward to the prospects of a meeting of our 2 parties, we see the "Quarantine" Vessel ,we understand your policies, however, disease has been cleansed form our society, we do not wish the Amstey IV to be Qaurantined uneccesarily"

The Mayor-Admiral responded, "Well, rules are rules, I'm afraid, and I really cannot make exception. We have had such assurances before, believe me. From what I've heard of your technology, I'm inclined to believe you, but what may be harmless to you, could potentially be devastating to us; we live in a closed system, and our immune systems don't have the benefit of constant exposure to a planetary ecosystem."

The Quarantine ship headed off towards the Amstey IV.

Mayor-Admiral Itatu continued, "I would suggest the Quarantine VII as a venue for diplomacy. Hopefully future meetings will not require such procedures, once we have confirmed for ourselves that your biosphere contains no dangers to our wellbeing. Is this acceptable, or do you have another proposal that would comply with our quarantine protocols?"

"Would you consider having one of your medical staff examining our medical and air samples thus attached? These were recently taken from the crew"

[code:1:2c9a9882ec]Attached Files: Blood and Tissue Samples, Air Samples.[/code:1:2c9a9882ec]

"We do not mind coming to you, as we beleive it would be more comfortable."

"Excellent. We will conduct our own analysis of your samples, and examinations of the crew and atmosphere aboard Amstey IV, and ascertain whether they contain any elements that pose a threat."

The Mayor-Admiral cleared her throat, "I'm led to believe you posess some kind of... long range matter teleportation device? If this is how you will be arriving, we will transmit a plan of the quarantine ship, with an indicated safe arrival point for your delegates. I look forward to seeing your people onboard."

Shortly afterwards, a small transport pod detached from Mayor-Admiral Itatu's cruiser, and hurtled off to dock with the Quarantine VII, escorted by two frigates, in case something managed to happen over the course of a thirty-second flight. The quarantine ship had now pulled alongside Amstey IV, and a passageway extended from its side, to clamp over the Amstey's main airlock, attaching the two ships.

"Plans recieved, processed and relayed to Transporter room 3."

"Hmm, apart from Kurile who else is cleared for diplomatic relations"

"Ambassador El'Pras arrived a few minutes ago sir"

"Get him to transporter room 3, and his gaurds no doubt, lets get the ball rolling"

Sterile would be a good word to describe the interior of the quarantine ship; smooth, white surfaces and bright lights, and everything immaculately clean. The chamber given as a venue for negotiations was fairly small, like pretty much all Vagari living spaces, but large enough for a fair number of people to cram in. The room was divided down the centre by a transparent screen, to keep the two halves separate; on both sides were microphones and speakers, to allow the occupants to converse back and forth without actually coming into contact.

One side of the screen was reserved for the Arenumbergian party, while Mayor-Admiral Itatu and her guards and assistants took the other. The Mayor-Admiral herself was short even by Vagari standards, possibly only about 4'9" or 4'10". In her late forties, or early fifties, her neatly bound black hair was marked here and there with traces of grey. She wore a black uniform with gold tabs on, a four-star insignia on her shoulder. The two young men with her carried small laptop computers and wore throat-mikes, and could probably be described as protocol lackeys, although they both wore crew uniforms, and were probably operating in a secondary role to their usual one. Two guards floated just inside the airlock, behind Itatu and her assistants; these two were towards the larger end of the Vagari size scale, perhaps 5'6" and weighing all of 120lbs. They carried two-handed laser weapons, connected via cables to battery backpacks; one of the advantages of zero gravity, is that it allows one to carry around weaponry that would normally be very heavy. Their attire was a departure from the Vagari norm, which was usually shabby uniforms passed down from generation to generation since time immemorial; these guards wore reflective white padded suits, and some kind of broad goggles that concealed their eyes behind a broad, crimson band.

OOC: Time for images methinks, lol

On the reserved side of the "Screen" 2 Figures started to appear, they werre the ambassador's Gaurds, Wearing Silver armour, but appearing unarmed, Both Figures standing at a 6ft9"
http://knights.theforce.ru/knights/npc/sith_model.jpg
OOC:You know you love it :D

Then the Ambassador himself appeared, dressed in white nuetral robes, with untarnished blonde hair, himself standing at 6ft8", he looked young but had just infact turned 1000 Years old.

One thing appeared on each three of the figures, a small emblem, the sign of the dominion.
http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/arenumberg.jpg

Ambassador El'Pras Approached the screen, floating carefully towards it, and awaited the first words from the Vagari.

The Vagari took a few moments to size up their guests, 'size' definitely being the operative term; even the tallest of them were over a foot shorter than Ambassador El'Pras. The two Vagari marines exchanged a glance, as if to say, what are we here for, again?

Mayor-Admiral Itatu cleared her throat, "Greetings, and welcome aboard. I am Ria Itatu, Mayor-Admiral of Fleet Echo, and representative of the Vagari people." she glanced along the length of the screen, and back, "I apologise again for the rather stark venue, but it is a procedure born from previous experience, and not just unnecessary paranoia."

"Of course, Mayor-Admiral Itatu, I am Ambassador Kial El'Pras, of the Diplomatic core of The Communist Dominion of Arenumberg, i am cleared to interact fully with your people, To obtain knowledge of each others history, and hopefully negotiate to a degree that will result in agreements that benefit both of our nations."

Mayor-Admiral Itatu nodded, "Well, we have experienced over fifty first contact situations during the last six hundred years; in the majority of cases, the cultures with which we made contact were mostly indifferent, and were largely uninterested in us. Of course, with most races, language would present a problem, and only a few had sufficient patience and curiosity to endure the years of confused attempts at communication before translations could be made. For those races who did show an interest, we provided a standard 'information pack', if you will, a brief summary of our customs and history, so that any conflicts of interest could be identified."

Itatu glanced breifly to one of her assistants, before continuing, "I don't know if our computer architecture is compatible with yours, but we can make the files electronically available. Our communications technology seems to show a reasonable degree of compatibility, however, so a recording of the files could be made, and transmitted. Certain information, we are not prepared to give out at this stage, such as our numbers and fleet composition, for security reasons."

OOC: I can't be bothered to write out my factbook again ;) Assume the information pack, when you recieve it, is essentially the factbook but with the military and technology information removed.

OOC: Sure.. heres mine http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2783994#2783994 assume that my information pack, lol

"Our Computer systems can most likely process this, we thus offer you our own information pack, this we hope is compatible with your systems, as we have made a successful attempt to interface with the Amstey's."

"Now, give me a few monents"

El'Prase skimmed through something on a hand held computer, the computers were obviously compatible.

"Mercenaries.. hmm.."

El'pras continued looking.

"So.. onto diplomatic agreements."

Mayor-Admiral Itatu arched her fingers in front of her face, "What manner of diplomatic agreement were you hoping to reach? It is unlikely that we have any resources or technology that you do not also have a hundred-fold, so we cannot offer much by way of trade or services. We have extensive starmaps and species charts for a galaxy about 17 million light years from here, although I don't know how much use they would be to you. All we request is safe passage to neutral space."

"Well, we could hire you of course, you currently have nothing that could be used as currency here.. and your fleet may need a point of supply for now"

Itatu shrugged, "What good is a point of supply without any currency? And what mercenary services could you possibly need of us? Judging from your shipbuilding and technological capacity, there seems little we can offer. We are used to maintaining a technological edge over our potential rivals and employers; our meeting with you has shattered that - it seems we are now a considerable distance behind. However, if there is a way our service can buy starmaps of the surrounding areas, navigational data indicating borders and neutral zones, language files and other relevent information, then we will gladly hear it."

"We give you what you want, and you work to pay it off, does that not seem simple to you?"

Mayor-Admiral Itatu frowned slightly, apparently not impressed with that tone, "You do not need to tell me how a contract works. What I mean is, what service can we offer that a technologically sophisticated society such as yours could possibly need?"

"There are places we dare not tread, people we do not like, but cannot eliminate, and besides, helping you is part of our basic diplomacy"

"Well, I'm not sure how prepared we are to go where you daren't, having seen how far advanced your technology is. On the other hand, nobody hires mercenaries to do things they would rather do themselves." Mayor-Admiral Itatu glanced across at her assistants again, who were now going through the Arenumbergian information pack on their computers, "I think, however, it would help us if you were to give us some kind of solid proposal; we are new to this galaxy, and lack any local information, therefore I must leave it to you to propose the specific terms of any agreement we should enter into, and I shall review them. A simple non-aggression pact is all we really require. If you have any further offers, however, we would be glad to hear them."

"If you work to pay for what we give you, star charts, simple technology you will require and a base for you to repair at will be provided, a NAP aswell would be beneficiary"

"Well, we consider it critical to our survival that we never become indebted to anyone, especially at this early stage; we tend to make our contracts for specific missions and campaigns, rather than for a period of tenure. If you have a particular assignment, then by all means, but we cannot take the risk of accepting loaned supplies and facilities without full assurance of what we will be expected to do. The term 'work' is rather vague; we have found it necessary in the past to ensure that all employers state their terms explicitly. I apologise if you feel we are being difficult, but I am only trying to act in the best interests of the fleet."

"There, is a region of space nearby, it is highly volatile, and any ships with defenses strong enough to go into there is too large, your ships, with a light boost to defenses, would be more than adequate to scout such a region, there are numerous regions of this type, that is just 1 of the possible jobs we could offer."

"That sounds like something we can handle. If you give us co-ordinates, objectives, parameters, and payment details, then we can come to an agreement. If your intention is to hire us at some undefined point in the future, then we don't need a specific agreement for that; simply contact us as and when you need us. We cannot sit in your spaceports racking up debts until you find work for us."

OCC: Hello Vagari, I am one of Arenumberg's region-mates. She asked for one of us to post here, notifiying you that her comp has "shizzled", and won't be able to post for an indefinite amount of time. Just so you don't think she dumped the RP or anything.

OOC: Nothing like a hardware shizzle to stop RP in it's tracks :D

"Very well, but as a sign of peace, you may enter the Bastillion Nebula, and Overhaul, repair, and slightly upgrade your ships at the Bastillion Station and shipyards, but you must not report to anyone of its location and its co-ordinates will be deleted, then we will give you a job, and maybe an outlying station and shipyard to operate from, is this acceptable?"

Itatu nodded, "That sounds very reasonable, thank you. In return, for what it's worth, we shall treat contracts with Arenumberg as a higher priority than those with other factions, and hear your bids before anybody else's. If I could offer more, I would, but it is very rare that we ever have surplus time or resources."

"Then it is agreed"

The Mayor-Admiral smiled, "Excellent. I shall submit a transcript of this interview to the Fleet Admiral, for his approval; no doubt he will be pleased to find work so soon after our arrival."

"I am very sure he will!"

Mayor-Admiral Itatu floated up out of her seat, and bowed her head slightly to the Arenumbergian ambassador, "I'm glad we could come to an understanding so soon. In previous times, we spent months, sometimes years trying to understand other races. However, most of them weren't even vaguely humanoid. It was a pleasure to meet you, Ambassador."

After a quick exchange of radio communications, another small pod detached from the nearby communications frigate, and entered hyperspace.

"Like-wise, Mayor-Admiral, is there anything else?"

"I think that satisfies our diplomacy requirements, unless there was something you wanted to add?"