NationStates Jolt Archive

She kneeled for a full five minutes, hearing the proclamation of her superiors as they ordered an end to hostilities. For the first time in over nine billion years, peace had come to their world and the old wounds were beginning to heal. The peace had been a necessity, a world that once supported twenty trillion now reduced to handful of millions. But nine billion years is a long time, and the people themselves had changed.

One time, they had been one species. No one remembers who they were or what they looked like in those early days, the information having been long erased by constant warring over the generations. No one knws why the war started, only that some dispute caused one species to split into two people and fight with one side being only half the size of the other. The disparity in size soon evaporated as the larger side, plagued by petty squabbles and power struggles, split in two. Billions of years later, three sides had evolved into three distinct species with dozens of subspecies, each existing according to their role in the conflict.

It was the leaders of these three sides, seeing their world reduced to ruins and their people nearing extinction, who finally put an end to the war. But the people in general had spent too long in conflict, and even now rumblings on all three sides suggested they should strike while the others were distracted. Of course, this wouldn't happen. The three sides were too evenly matched for the plan to work, no matter which side attempted it. But, it was a sign of the countless centuries spent fighting that such rumblings continued.

She cleared her mind of the past, focussing on the present. As much as her wings ached for the joy of flying and the feeling of wind beneath them, she had a job and could not afford the luxury. She was part of a team assembled by all three sides for a simple mission. Their world was dying and could not support life for more than another five thousand years. Her job was to help construct specialized ships to travel to new worlds and colonize them. The survival of her people now depended on finding a habitable world within reach. She was chosen because she had already started a similar project, one to build ships capable of short-term space flight as part of a new weapons system to strike their enemies from orbit. But now, she was to use her expertise to help in building the ships for another world.

She nodded her acknowledgement of her orders and, turning, quickly left the room. Strangely, she never remembered anything about the room or people as soon as she exitted, just her orders. She shrugged, guessing it to be just a defensive measure, and then caught herself in the mirror. She had the basic body shape of her subspecies: two legs, two arms, two bat-like wings, a single head with two eyes above a nose and mouth, and a long forked tail. The head usually included horns, but some variants had minor wings or no horns or wings on the head at all. The hands had long, claw-like nails while the tail was mobile enough to almost be used as a fifth arm. She smiled, her long fangs held in mouth and eyes mildly glowing red merely adding to her appearance. In all other respects, she was a typical red-haired humanoid of about six feet in height. And that was what gave clue to what she was.

She was General Lina Morelisky, a succubus. Her main species was officially Demonus, or Demon. The other two species of her world were the Devils and the Celestials, and the three sides had taken a once-beautiful world and reduced it to ruins. And now, irony of ironies, they were forced to work together to build the first of many ships to begin exploring and colonizing space. Naturally, they had no idea what was out there.

OOC: If you wish to participate, please TG me with the details of how your nation would have found the world they are on and your intentions. The nation is too young for warfare at this point. Anyone not given approval through TG is not allowed to post here except to offer comments or advice on the writing. The above is just a set-up for what will be happening in future posts.

OOC: By FT, are you talking Fantasy Tech or Future Tech? Kinda hard to tell, with Celestials and Demons on one end and ships on the other end. Or are they ships for planar travel, like the Weatherlight in MTG?

OOC: By FT, are you talking Fantasy Tech or Future Tech? Kinda hard to tell, with Celestials and Demons on one end and ships on the other end. Or are they ships for planar travel, like the Weatherlight in MTG?

Well, the fact it mentions Space Ships would suggest it is Future, while the wings would suggest Fantasy, try reading the post. :p

OOC: By FT, I mean Future Tech. It will sometimes appear to be fantasy tech from the descriptions, but that's from the perspective of the people. The wings are a result of evolution.

The second post will come in a bit.

OOC: Excuse the lateness. The forums lost my post for me.

IC:

She stepped outside, sighing. Today, she had to deal with enemies she hated. But first, she had to deal with the awful air of the city.

The air of the city always stank of filth, grime, and decay. This was because all air that didn't smell like death and was breathable stank that way. The areas that weren't filthy were filled with death, and even many of the areas that were had their share. The huddled, huge buildings spoke of the fear and pain that people endured, while the street made from the bones of the fallen laid as a memory of the countless invasions before.

As she entered through one dark, greasy door, she found herself facing her counterparts. They looked like her, except the devil had black feathered wings while the angel had while wings and was missing the glow, claws, and fangs. This immediately made her suspicious.

"I know you're surprised. This resulted from espionage and cloning important officials of other sides. Turns out all three sides have done it, so none of us are sure which side has the original at this point or even if there was one. That's part of why it was so easy for the leaders of our sides to agree," the Devil said.

"Great. I have to deal with two of myself. In any case, I'll get on with this. Read this packet of data and try to stay out of my chair. I know it's the only chair in my office and all else I have is a desk and some carpetting, but I see just fine in the dark and the rest is being cleaned. That creature in the picture has the secret we need in the form of what appears to be a new type of ion engine. Perhaps..." Lina began.

"Excuse me, but what, exactly, is this thing?" the Celestial interupted, holding up the picture.

http://www.freewebs.com/thethreearmies/Obitoid%20Larva.JPG

"It's an Obitoid. That is the larva form, right before it starts to take on other forms. We found a huge colony of them in orbit when testing the prototype for an orbital fighter. The prototype nearly ran into one of the larger varieties, but managed to capture a few larva on its way back. I don't know who built them, but they have infested this entire system and are beginning to spread to others nearby. We have four queens in orbit, preparing to launch themselves to other worlds. It is the engines on their backs that we are interested in," Lina replied.

"Just, exactly, how big do these things get?" the Celestial asked.

"The one in the picture is the smallest. It measures ten feet from wingtip to wingtip. The biggest measure thirty. They use the yellow lights you see as laser emitters. The lasers melt metal and then act as a tongue, effectively 'slurping' up the metal. They use the metal to grow and change as they need. They're highly adaptive and capable of taking on a variety of forms. I lost six researchers when one got angry and grew into a tank. Now, do I finish my presentation, or do we talk about the damn space robots all day?" Lina asked.

"Just one final question. How aggressive are these things?" the Celestial asked, now looking worried.

"They're pacifists. The one that lost its temper had just witnessed twelve of its number disected and figured out it was next. If an alien race were to invade us, the most the Obitoids would do is get out of the way. Now, shall I continue?" Lina asked.

When she didn't get a response, she shifted her eyes away from the group and, ignoring the beige walls she had tried for years to get changed, continued, "They use what we think is a powerful type of an ion drive. It's completely unlike anything we've seen before and is fully capable of entering and leaving the atmosphere. Our job is to reverse-engineer it and figure out how it works. If you turn the page, you see the current results of that."

"You mean this ugly ship with the ring of fire?" the Devil asked, holding up a picture of the ship.

http://www.freewebs.com/thethreearmies/DemonShip1.JPG

"Yes. That 'ring of fire' contains superheated plasma used to generate an ion field. It isn't energy efficient by any stretch of the imagination, but it works. The wings are there mostly for decoration, as someone in my department felt it needed wings for some reason. I argued for six hours against it, and you see the results. The idea is to take that massive 'ring of fire' and fit what it does into two engines of a much smaller size. Now, any more stupid questions, or do we get to work?" Lina asked.

Johan's hands were deft on the ship's controls. Several hours out of transdimensional space, the rest of the scoutship's crew rested. Johan had thought to leave the ship on autopilot and get some sleep himself, but scouting was interesting to him, and not just a way to pick up a few extra kerotars. Besides, you never knew what the next dimensional shift was going to bring.

He checked the coordinates again. Damn, he thought. We're pretty far out of Krioval space this jump. Wonder if we'll find anything interesting. Looking at the long-range scanners, Johan paused for a moment, quickly analyzing the data. Robots? He ran the numbers again, and his observation was confirmed. Mechanical objects of some sort in the distance. Without bothering to awaken the crew just yet, the Kriovalian set a slow course for the machines. If there was a peaceful intelligence out there, the delay wouldn't matter, but if they were hostile, he'd need the extra energy for a reverse jump. As the scout glided forward, Johan began plotting the values for an emergency dimension shift and checked to see that the shields were operational. No sense taking too many risks.