NationStates Jolt Archive

Over Sisgardia, Earth.

With an uncharacteristic flash, the Elentári Sirithil class liner 'High Queen Azura'appeared over Der Angst, carefully just out of range of likely defence installations. A split second later, a transmission was sent to the horrendously overpopulated area below. "Greetings," it said, "I would rather like to speak to someone in a position of authority, I believe we have some persons to return to you."

Maxwell was a mechanician, busy with repairing one of the communication units in Mother. In fact, he had just finished his job, and was more than slightly surprised when the message came.

Damnit, I thought I had it switched off... "Uh... Position of authority... A moment, please..." He was slightly nervous, diplomacy, or generally contacts, weren´t his thing, in fact, he tended to spend most of his free time online, reducing his ability to react to situations like, well, this one.

Luckily, Jeanne, Mother's current core, had already noticed the arrival.

Thanks, I will take over.

With a sigh, Maxwell left, minding his own business.

With that, it took only a moment until the answer arrived.

I'm Jeanne, currently operating Mother, and your requested person in a position of authority.

If I may inquire... What persons? I'm not aware of any- Goddamnit, Maria, stay the f*ck out of my bios! Errr... Sorry. I'm not aware of any kind of tourism from DA to the C'tan.

A flash of light, apparently, Mother fired a (harmless) beam of energy at a smaller station close to it. A psychic giggle filling the space close to said smaller station, though only for a moment. Family issues.

"Understood," sent the vessel in response, quietly taking a look through its cargo as it did, and monitoring local space, "however, these persons were abducted from your nation's shipping, or so we have been lead to believe..."

It waited for a reaction curiously, half interested in the way they'd take it.

Being a shipyards' core is, in some way, like being a receptionist. And like every receptionist, it is completely impossible to surprise or impress Jeanne.

I see... She hesitates, checking the data... A few accidents, pirates... Ah, there...

The incident near Uranus? I see... A short check. Could it be a trap? But the C'tan wouldn't need a trap. You're cleared, welcome on mother. If the condition of your cargo allows it, we would like to transfer immediately. We do, however, have certain questions and would like to have an envoy of yours to answer them.

Hesitation.

If you would like to.

The ship glided in a little closer, preparing to dock with the Angstian station, "We see no reason why a representative cannot be supplied immediately. I shall send my avatar as soon as my passengers are disembarked."

It closed the distance, and eventually, after a few slight problems, managed to dock with the detestably organic space station.

A few doctors, assistants, and a couple drones were already there to get a hold of their vict... patients, the whole process being rather smooth, though, considering the (surprisingly healthy) status of objects, there wasn't much they had to do... The local authorities would likely organise in depth- analysis of their minds.

Later. Being Angstian, things had time... They weren't the fastest ones.

Someone else was waiting there, a young woman, somewhere in her twenties (Though she could have undergone certain procedures to just look like it). Looking for the avatar she expected, she twiddled her thumps, slightly distracted, or so it seemed.

Check and mate.

ARGH. Admit it, you cheated.

A giggle, only she could hear it in her mind

Oh, f*ck off.

The Avatar meanwhile, debarked. He was apparently human, like some chiselled statue of ancient times, a masterful creation of Hephaestus, in flowing robes of gold and silver that concealed little of his ebon skin while doing little to obscure his statuesque form. His skin glittered with glimmering points of diamond, linked by intricate silver traceries, and his eyes glowed with a distracting azure light shimmering around the irises. He walked with a catlike, sinuous grace.

He was of course, not the avatar of the ship, as had been claimed, for its, her, avatars were of course, designed to put one at ease, to be relaxing, charming. This however was far unlike those, a representative of the distant intellect ensconced deep in a crevasse on a deserted rock called Sigma Orichalae, very far away indeed.

He approached the woman and nodded his head a little, "I believe you wish to speak with me," he stated, in, surprisingly, fluent {if such was truly possible in such a language}Angstian.

The woman, Susanne, bowed all so slightly, smiling. Kinda neat... she thought, watching the avatar. It was, indeed, intriguing. Although... A bit extreme... Should learn how to restrain oneself from overdoing it.

"Indeed. I'm Susanne, local soldats liaison." She smiled, again. "I have been told that your passengers fell victim to an incident at Uranus... Since you were be able to retrieve them, I would love to know more... if you would like to follow me?"

They continued through the station, slowly, at 1g level, heading for Susanne's office, talking various less important things. The station was fairly busy, however, not much of it could be seen on the (expensive) 1g level, here, people acted rather dignified... Definitely upper class, and the interior, available services, shops and whatnot reflected this fact.

Incidentally, though the avatar did certainly arouse interest among the people, they rarely showed it, and if they showed it, it was shown in rather decent, hidden ways, barely noticeable.

Eventually, they reached Susanne's office, and, turning around, not paying much attention to the apparent chaos in her office, and not exactly caring about the effect it could have on her guest, the crucifix on the back wall, just above her head, she lowered her voice a little (Uasually, she would have offered a glass of wine, but that didn't exactly make much sense, with an avatar). "So... In more detail... Who did it, why, when, how, and how the hell did you find them in time?"

"In time?" it asked, sitting and taking hold of the armrests, "we did not find them in time. Allow me to elaborate. We located a vessel carrying them, approximately two weeks ago, fourteen lightyears out. It was engaged by the warship Death's Gaze and several escorts, who prevailed and sucessfully borded the enemy vessel. We, unlike the Eldar, do not have any particular desire to harm you, and thus we returned them, having done some neccessery... healing, as we doubt it would be kind to return them as we found them."

He looked up behind her, at the religious icon, and took a wild stab in the dark at its significance as regards her post.

"The Eldar, hmmm?" Susanne looked slightly surprised, even worried. "I see..." She poured herself a drink, slowly, considering various things. "You don't have a... detailed description with you? Casualities, problems, a detailed log?" She hesitated. "Oh, and by the way... What kind of... healing, if I may ask? Might be important to know."

She took a sip from her drink, then continued. "Oh, and, while we introduced... sterner security measures since this particular ship was lost... If you have any more detailed information on the Eldar... As I am sure you have..."

She pondered for a moment, waiting for the reply... It was sorta inappropriate for her, being in this job while being a devout christian... But then, that was true for all of soldats.

"I'm afraid not," he said, "such logs are classified, though as far as we know, all the Angstians that the eldar had have been returned. As for the healing, we had their memories erased up until shortly before the raid, and removed the physical damage as best we could," he paused, "General information on the Eldar. Well, the Keigh as they tend to be called are a violent species, prone to acts of agression on pretty much a whim. Data on their MO and technology can be provided in electronic form if you wish..."

Susanne frowned. "Erased? That is... Unfortunate." All friendliness vanished from her face, and she begun looking rather... Cold. "You might not know this, but we generally tend to prefer bad memories to no memories at all... So, your help might have done more damage than the eldar."

Not to mention that we will have trouble getting detailed information from what is saved in their minds.

"In any case... Such data would be more then welcomed by... Me and my superiors. Further... Cooperation on this issue, despite your initial... mistake, would be useful, too. If that is in your mind, that is."

She pondered, for a moment. In any case... I have to thank you, or rather, your kind, for the information you provided, as well as for... rescuing the victims. To bad we cannot access the logs, despite being the victim of the foe..."

Meanwhile, the 'passengers' were all on the station... One person was missed, the actual pilot of the original vessel. Apparently, there had been one victim to the eldar.

And, while the majority of the passengers could immediately call come, preparing for their return, the first checks were done... physical constitution (Damage the Eldar had done), but also probing of their minds... Not very specialised ones, that could (and would) be done on earth, but still, better than nothing.

Granted, it happened only to a few of them at the same time, but... Well, it happened, and soon, all of them would be 'finished'.

The Avatar smiled alittle, "You prefer bad memories to no memories at all? Tell me? Do you prefer the number of mental problems that eldar hospitality induces? Somehow," he said, "I doubt it. In any case, I shall send the data you desire on. As for cooperation, would you care to define what kind of cooperation you desire?"

There had been no noiceable effect from her change in tone. The mind that controlled it was vastly superior to her in every measureable way, and it most certainly had no reason to be bothered by her reaction. Add to that the fact that it had read, in mere body language, her disguised and measured contempt since first meeting the 'soldat' woman, the effect overall was merely to amuse it.

"That depends." Was the prompt answer. "Mainly on your... Limits. Well, and on the data you will provide us with. It could be anywhere between basic security... instructions, since this threat is new to us, and aggressive... prevention."

She hesitated. "As for our mindset, Believe me, I'm quite capable of understanding it. You may have your doubts, I don't."