NationStates Jolt Archive

Commander Justiah Feranor sat in his chair, looking over the schematics of their current ships. He scowled. The ships he could see of those who met them were clearly superior in weapon design. It would take massive amounts of resources and time to upgrade their entire fleet, and he was not sure he quite understood the weapons. He could see those weapons had the weakness of requiring power to operate properly, while the majority of those on his ships did not. Still, he did not see the advantage in wasting time retrofitting his ships right now when they could still serve as they are.

"Um, sir, a woman would like to see you. She says it's important," Major Girila Gentranis said, having taken over Major Gentrenis's position while the other was mourning.

"Tell her I'm busy and I can see her later," Justiah said, not even looking up.

"Justiah, you really need to see her," Girila replied.

Justiah paused. Unlike Sherla, who prefered his first name off duty, Girila had only used it when she felt what she was dealing with was of absolute importance. He turned, seeing the woman in question. Leutenant Nerlata Quentas, a minor security officer who was a recent arrival when the war started. Due to her body's incompatibility with cyberwear, she was unenhanced, something that most security personel considered a liability. From the reports he recieved, she had more than worked past that liability through the use of external tools and making a point to know as many types of martial arts as she could. He remembered reading, with amusement, her commanding officer's account of her defeating him in a sparring match. She was promoted not long after that, based on recommendations from everyone who witnessed the match. So why was she so important?

"So, how can I help you?" he asked.

"Sir, you can't. But, I can help you. This must not leave this room," Nerlata said, pulling up her sleave to reveal the crescent moon on her shoulder.

The mark of Elune. Of the gods, only three chose mortals to carry on their words. Lilith chose those who would become the Daughters of Flame, Baelzebub chose the Swarm Lords, and Elune made the Keepers of Prophesy. Each group was an open secret, and each group had particular markings. No Doranori would dare get a tattoo of a crescent moon on their shoulder unless they were a Keeper of Prophesy, as that was punishable by death. No official law backed the punishment, but then not all laws were official. In any case, any who knew someone was part of one of those groups knew enough to keep their mouth shut about it. These were people you did not mess with, no matter who you are.

"Only Major Gentrenis shall be told of this. She can be trusted to keep quiet. I assume you are here to tell us to search for the Gods? No need. I fully plan to seek out their wisdom. We need their help to survive," he said.

"I am here to tell you where to begin your search. Look for a world named Terra or Gaia. It is called the Ground, but to those who call it home it is the Mother. Once you have found it, the search begins," Nerlata said.

"Sir, we're approaching the Phalanix system. Should I transmit the security code they gave us?" Girila asked.

"Yes. Also, begin querying the Theao and Phalanix ships about a planet named Terra or Gaia. Tell them we'll be ready to begin negotiations in a few minutes," Justiah ordered.

OCC: -twitch- Jolt ate my post...... -goes balistic and axe murders the jolt systems- Hence the poorer quality of this one.
IC:
Epsilon Eridain
The system was on a high alert status as they waited for their latest authorized visitors.
The welcome mat was realy rolled out as some of the new proto-type class ships (Genesis, Serenity, and Exile) that belonged to the Phalanix Special Forces.
Of the three proto-types the PSF-N False Shadows (the Serenity class) was a special one. On board she carried someone that was of intrest, Joshua Roe a member of the recently formed Serenity unit. He stood watching the main view screen on the dimmly lit and sparcely crewed bridge.
It dind't take to much longer as the signiture of a ship or ships appearing from one of the many forms of FTL was picked up and the friendly code picked up and the area the False Shadows moved closer waiting for them to arrive.
As they arived the first thing they would see was three ships large and menecing ships, though the feeling of danger wouldn't exist as any person could tell that thier intent wasn't hostile.
"This is the PSF-N False Shadows. We are here to escort you to Signas, the fifth planet, to meet with the current commander of the PSN. If you will please follow us while the Exile (Exile class) and the Genesis (Genesis class) act as the rear gaurd," was sent as they exited.

An cadre ship, which to all appearences, was identical, had replace the scout ship for the negotiations and interaction with the Phalanix and the newly arrived fleet. On board was most diplomatic of the cadre agency.

"So, how do you think these will go Kel?" Leo asked the ship as they entered into Phalanix space.
"We shall see."

Justiah could only sit still, going over schematics again. There was no way they could replace the battleplates or superdestroyers. Even if the nations were willing, he simply lacked the people necessary to operate them any the resources to keep them operating. So, he set aside the plans and moved on to the clues left by the deities. Seven deities, seven clues, and each less comprehensible than the last. Elune's love of rhyme, at least, made it through. He made a note to add her quality as a goddess of music to their factbook later, though it would be some time before the project was completed. After all, the information was scattered across damaged and malfunctioning computer networks.

"Sir, we've got a communication from the Phalanix forces. They're going to escort us into their system," Girila said.

"Send them our willingness. And, remind them we're effectively blind, so warning are appreciated. Say, is the Theao ship still with us?" Justiah asked.

Girila looked out the window before saying, "Yep."

"Good. Okay, let's get working on these clues. There has got to be some guide to interpretation. I know Lilith is describing a planetary system, but I'm not sure what Elune is talking about. And I don't even want to guess what Chronos meant with his. Maybe we can get our allies to give us a hint later," Justiah said.

"Sir, we're comming up on the location in question now. It's up to the Phalanix how we are guided in," Girila announced.

"We've got a response. They're complying with us," the ship board AI said, "Though they're flying in blind. Might I suggest that I divert a portion of my systems to ether taking contorll of their helm or should I send them a flight plan?"
"Flight plan. We don't need to show off to much," the capitain responded.
The ships that were being escorted suddenly recived a burst communication with a detaled flightplan that included everything from required speed to things they will encounter. The flight time was surprisingly short as the planets orbit would be in their favor for speed as it was close to them. In total the short trip would take roughly thirty minutes at the suggested speed.

((Gonna jump the travel time and have the orbital docks waiting))

In orbit the orignal single orbital dock was replaced with three additional ones that haad been folded in from the other worlds. The False Shadows advanced upon the primary dock and sent a message to the ships,
"Ships that require supplies are to dock with the second station, repairs on the third and forth, while primary and diplomatic ships are to dock with the first station. If any of your people wish to rest or take shore leave on the planet's surface the ship they are on can request a transport to bring them down where they may find something to do. As for negotiations, the commander of the fleet, and anyone else required, and the Theo diplomats are to board the primary station. They will be escorted to the planet's surface as well where talks will take place at an agreeable time. Up to three armed escorts are permited. During the time the ships are docked repairs and resuply operations shall be on going as a sign of friendship."
On the primary dock everyone was in dress uniform (except the guards on duty who were replaced by Elites in their black power armor) and at each docking point a military escort as well as a commisioned officer waited for the parties to arrive.

Leo followed the instructions and docked with the station as directed.

[Please excuse my delay. Just... some heartache recently.]

The ships at first paused, as though confused. They all needed supplies and repairs, just not in the same quantity. That quickly ended when the ships were told to see to their most dire need first and then deal with the secondary need. This separated the ships, sending most into repair and a few lucky ones in for supplies. Justiah, Girila, and Nerlata headed over to the first station in fighters, taking the time to unload magazines and missile racks before launching and choosing to leave their sidearms on the ship. Going in armed when you have a heavily-armed fleet within firing range while dealing with an ally just seemed redundant and silly.

As Justiah stepped aboard the alien vessel, he noticed the guards with the diplomats. These people had some precaution about them and appeared to not be willing to just give an as-yet strange species full run of their facilities. This spoke highly of them in his mind. He was not sure if such precautions were typical in this region and era, but he knew they were not in the region and era he had called home. Then again, the other species typically couldn't match his firepower while these people appeared to exceed it with ease. Perhaps an advancement in technology also provided the experience necessary to have proper caution. If so, likely these people were more cautious than his own. Then again, with their emotional states, he was not sure he could entirely trust his people.

"Please notify your security to watch my people closely. By our perspective, we just retreated from losing our homeworld. It happened thousands of years ago, but my people have not had a chance to mourn yet. If you have to arrest anyone for unruly behavior, please do so," Justiah said.

The diplomatic officer simply nodded and calmly responded, "If any of your people are behaving in a fashion that is viewed as disruptive they will be restrained until your own security forces can deal with them. Now if you will please follow me I can lead you to Lt. Commander Roe who will be in charge of escorting you and assuring to your needs." The diplomatic officer began towards one of the larger doors in the greeting area and opened it exposing a fairly large open area normally used as a place for bars and such though it was almost empty with the exception of troopers at attention along the walls. At the far end of the area two figures stood waiting by an open door, both not wearing the jet black Elite armor and with no weapons in sight.
"So, these are the diplomats," one of the figures, a male at least in his early twenties, said to the other.
"Yes Lt. Commander, those are our charges. Hope you don't screw up like last time. I don't think the last charge you had enjoyed having a rifle barrel only a few millimeters from his crotch. To bad we had to remove that race from the picture because of that," the other figure, a woman who looked around nineteen, responded with a laugh as she straightened her black and crimson uniform.
Before Roe would be able to respond they both stood at attention as the diplomatic officer was about to hand over their latest mission objectives.


OCC: Ah it's understandable. Take your time if you need to.

Justiah entered, followed by the two women he chose to accompany him. He paused, looking around, and made his decision. He was beginning to doubt this, but decided it did not matter. If these people were going to turn on his nation, he doubted his people had a chance of stopping them anyway. Still, something about this had an underlying tension, but he could not put his finger on it. If they were expecting his group to be a challenge and planned on attacking, they would be sorely disappointed.

"Can we get straight to business? I'm proposing an alliance. What we need is supplies. What we're willing to do is trade our services in scouting and military backup. Of course, there are areas you will wish us to stay out of, and we'll need to access your nations on a regular basis. We should only do so as long as we don't endanger your security more than simply having us around would. This also means we'll need someone else to construct our ships until we get our own facilities set up. And, we should keep from competing with your own agencies for jobs. How does this sound so far?" Justiah asked.

"Please excuse the commander. We've all had a rough time lately," Girila said, giving Justiah a dirty look.

"It's understandable to wish to get down to the matters at hand after going through that kind of nightmare. So we'll skip the flight to the surface and use one of the bars for the meeting. We can have the councilers use the emiter system for the talks," Roe said as he motioned to one of the more fancy looking bars, "Also please do not be to disturbed by the level of gaurds, it's an old tradition to welcome possible allies with a Elite honor gaurd taking the postion of the normal marines. It's a thing of respect and sign that no external force can cause anything to go wrong when they are on duty."
The Lt. Commander opened the solid oak doors to the bar and motioned for them to enter. Upon entering a humming sound could be heard before the holo-emiters on the roof generated the figures of two men and a woman hidden by shadows.
"Welcome. I am High Council Member Richard Lance. To my left if Council Member Taggart, and the woman to my right is Council Member Alicia Dekker," the central figure said, "As we already know what you are offering and what you need, let us get down to the finner points."

Leo followed the Phalanixians, taking a third seat for the negotaition. "As Mr. Richard Lance, we already know what this is about and what's needed, so we just have to get down to official wording. Supplies, first of all, what are the kind of supplies you need most, raw materials, fuel, foodstuffs and civil supplies, or someother good?"

"I am Commander Justiah Feranor. The woman with the cybernetic arms is Major Girila Gentranis. The other is Leutenant Nerlata Quentas. Gentranis is part of my command staff while Quentas is a special advisor. In the case of supplies, we are not going to run into problems with food until we reach twelve million people. Otherwise, we need spare parts, ammunition, raw materials, fuel, limited civilian supplies, starmaps, ships, computer repairs, cybernetic implant clinics, and proper medical facilities. We have medbays, but they are not equipped for extended service. Typically, we'd resupply them once every three years during peace. Considering we just came from a major battle that we lost, we need to resupply them quickly. We're going to check out local nations trading arms and see if we can buy medical ships and construction drones. If we get lucky, we can begin to move towards being able to operate on our own without running to one of your docks every time we get a hole in a ship," Justiah said.

"We also will need to be able to follow through on searching for survivors of our nation. Also, we will be searching for the Gods. If we get lucky, we can find three or four of them quickly. With them helping us again, we should be able to begin advancing rapidly. If we're lucky, we can catch up to average within a century. Potentially, we can find six of the seven. So, uh, is this a bad thing?" Nerlata asked.

"Those sound like things we can provide. We won't miss a few hospital ships and their escorts as well as the supplies listed," Richard responded, "However there is one minor catch. The recently formed special forces unit Serenity is to be attached to your fleet to serve as a dricret link between Phalanix and yourselves as well as to deal with the more sticky situations. Other than that the use of our docks, equipment, and ships is fair enough for your assistance in military opperations. As for searching for your people and gods, if it helps you advance and begin to settle your populace on a new home world then we are all in favor of assisting."
Lt. Commadner Roe was a little surprised that he was to be reassigned from his current postion in the PSF, though being reassigned is almost a daily thing.
The woman beside him, a member of the Exile unit, elbowed him gently (their little way of congratulating each other) and smirked.
"Also if you wish we can let you use Signas as a temparary home for your civilian population that wishes to stay on the planet, and the local population wouldn't mind since it's just a 'vacation' world for this systems occupants," Alicia said and managed to invite a hidden glair from Taggart.

"Fuel, raw materials, maps, as well as civilian goods, and medical supplies we have in abundence. Ships, parts ammo and other ship related goods, it's doubtful if they'd cross function." Leo replied, "In terms of implants and computer repairs, those may or may not be possible."

After a moment's consideration, he asked "Gods?"

Justiah merely smiled before saying, "It would be nice, but we currently do not have any civilian personel. My fleet was a battlefleet, intended entirely for major conflicts. When we were forced to abandon our homeworld, we could not pick up any civilians on the planet due to a biological weapon used on it. Which is a pity. There were many technological marvels the Gods left behind we could have used. The condition you give is acceptable. I'll keep my fleet from initiating hostilities with other races for as long as I can, so as to make sure you don't have a need of reconsidering the ships you send along."

"I think we should tell you of our Gods, so that you'll know why we seek them. Our species was extremely primitive when they found our world, and as such we were not prepared for contact with creatures capable of travelling between galaxies. They were patient with our ancestors during their stay on our world and ran a few tests to determine if we should recieve their help. When they finally left, left behind was a structure that contained technology. It was awhile before we gained the knowledge to open it, but inside we found many technological marvels that spoke of how advanced they were. Our current FTL drive differs from the one they left behind in only two areas. Many of the gifts we had not figured out when our world was lost. But, we got lucky. The Gods told us to seek them when we were ready or needed their help, and they left behind a series of clues to help us. Their species is unknown to us. They are not all the same species, but they were all equally advanced. If we find them, they can provide us with the necessary advancements. They'll do it piecemeal to give a chance for us to learn it, but they'll still be around to help us," Nerlata said.

"But, we do not know why they helped us. People as powerful as them, wanting to help a primitive species like us?" Girila asked.

"Enough! I won't have any more of this argument. Girila, we will seek them. If we find them, you can ask them yourself why they did it. But until then, just be glad they did," Justiah ordered, looking at the two before turning back to the others in the room. "Please ignore. It's an old discussion from our world. Early on, we never questioned the reasons why. It was once we got into space and begun building an empire we started this infighting over the intentions of the Gods. The fact remains that they chose to help us."

"We refer to them as deities because that is how we knew them. Our ancestors worshipped them. We know what they are now, but the effect they had remains. Even the name of our fleet shows the influence," Nerlata said.

"Anyway, back to business. We'll appreciate what help you can provide. And if both nations cannot supply something, we can do without for awhile. Our real problem is going to be adding more worldships. I'm planning on keeping my people mobile for awhile, until we get a high enough population to secure a small world. This means we'll need ships capable of providing food for millions of people," Justiah said.

"Theological debates. Ever popular with the less up tight PSF members," Richard said with a slight laugh, "Anyways, how advanced is your food replication process and what is it? If it is the normal hydroponic process and what not we could supply you with nano-tech food replication process. As for the augmentation clinics and such, since every single member of our forces are equiped with cybernetic and other kinds of augmentations. Just ask your new PSF escort about the augments he has. If there are no compatability issues we can supply a sample or two."

Roe was quiet this whole time, listening carefuly and studying his new "partners" and making sure he learned their traits that would help him identify them. However the mention of his augments made him wince slightly and gently place a hand on his right arm (it was orignaly blown off in a obital drop opperation that went wrong).
Over his perosnal cybercom he heard his "ex"-partner, Bad memories eh? That drop went to hell and back.
Ya...we can continue this conversation later.

"I have a suggestion for adding worldships, something from our history. If you tunnel out and seal off an asteroid, install an engine, you have a serviceable ship. Also, as you get materials, you can slowly turn the entire thing into an entirely metal ship." Leo commented, "If food is in issue, we have a number of techniques and crops that may be able to deal with the problems."

OOC: Please excuse the extreme lateness of this post. I did manage to fix my computer problems, luckily.

IC:

Justiah considered. They had presented interesting items to date. Finally, he nodded. He decided to speak on what he had decided, "I will do that with the asteroids. And, our food process is hydroponic. It also helps with our water supply, something that was a problem in the past. And I am sure what differences there are between our technologies we can deal with. Due to how heavily our population is modified, all ships are required to keep up to date information on all cybernetic implants available. As you can see, we do not hide many of our implants. It is rare to find a person unmodified, like Nerlata, and always it is because their body is not compatible with cybernetics."

He then waited a couple moments before speaking further. "I am sorry we are unable to provide you with an updated factbook at this time. An unfortunate side effect of what has happened forces us to build one from scratch, and the information is scattered across the entire fleet and often hidden in systems we cannot access due to damage or which were taken offline due to malfunctions.

"Worse is the differences in technology levels. I am sure you have noticed that our frigates dwarf our battlecruisers. This is not an accident of design. The battlecruisers are the original design, back when our people were first starting out, and were built in a time when our ships were smaller. They remained in service this long because their rugged nature and ability to lay down a field of fire equal to a larger ship. We were going to replace the design with a more updated one, but at this time I believe the older design is more necessary than it was in the past. Even the one that is damaged the worst is still mostly operational.

"I'm sure you understand why it is we choose to keep such an ancient design along with our more modern ships. But, that is not the only issue. Looking at your ships, I notice how far advanced you are compared to us. I am not asking for help in advancing. We can achieve it on our own, and I believe it necessary that we do so. What I am asking is that you understand why we may need to send ten ships at a problem you would only send one.

"Well, I never intended that to be a speech. Do we have any further details to discuss?"

Leo grinned, "We could tug in a few meteors that are a decent size, and loan you the machinery to bore them out."
He thought for a moment, "I believe there are a few meteors in the system we're at that would be optimal for the purpose. If they havn't been slagged, which they shouldn't have been, then they'd be likely nearly perfect."

ooc: Talking about where Theao is, not Phal, Leo and LV

OCC: Sorry for my delay. Got caught up in UrbanDead (damn that adictive game and her offical unoffical forums) And sorry for my poor quality, used to RPing my gun happy corpral on UD than my corrupted FT nation here.
IC:
Richard nodded before responding, "Well it's understandable though we are willing to help give some of your weapons and defensive systems updates so that they can opperate on a level where you won't run the risk of more ships being lost. Also we're willing to let you explore the insystem asteroid feild here for anything that hasn't been used, most likely you will find several asteroids that are in a nice large size range. Also as for the odd few who are unable to be augmented. We might be able to slightly augment them with nano and biotech, though our biotech is still in it's infancy our nano tech is advanced enough to do jsut about anything we can program it to."

[One of these days, this computer will work as intended. One of these days... If I don't post for a couple of days, it means I finally gave up and took a bat to my computer.]

At the mention of biotechnology, Justiah gave Nerlata a nervous look. Now that he thought about it, he was sure she was enhanced. Biological implants were perfectly accepted among his people, but cybernetics were the most common, due in part to the wide variety of areas they could cover that organics could not. But now, looking at Nerlata and remembering those reports of her ability to fight, he began to use the clues from her actions and got an idea of how heavily she may be modified. And, if done right, no sign of the modification would be present to the casual observer. Considering the resources she had at her disposal even now by the simple fact of what group she was in, he figured she likely had biological enhancements that were not even in the databanks. Still, he did not expect that to be a problem he should worry about for now.

"I appreciate the offer of help in augmentations. We will probably take you up on it and later set up our own facilities to handle the augmentations. And, we will definitely accept the offer of loaned mining machinery and asteroids. The weapons I am unsure about. I'll need weapons systems my people are familiar enough with to potentially repair in the field. If it's too far beyond our technological expertise, we won't have that and remain able to act in the immediate. That is part of why I am relunctant to accept scientific advances at this time. I am going to set up a department for advancing us as soon as we find the planet named Gaia or Terra. It's near there we will find the first two of our Gods," Justiah said.

"I'd offer help with bio-enhancement, but it appears that you favour cybernetic enhancements. Those are also possible, but are a fair amount more specialized, and thus might present a few problem. Personally I'm both." Leo commented

He thought for a moment, Gaia and Terra where have I heard those terms before, With a quick smack to his forhead, as he remembered, Gaia is the religious term, and Terra is the scientific term for Earth.

"I'm almost certain I can help you in your search for Terra and/or Gaia." Leo added

Rischard had been listening intently preparing to respond when the mention of Gaia and Terra was mentioned. He hid the surprise but he couldn't control Commander Roe.
"Gaia? You mean Earth! You're looking for Earth!" he exclaimed un able to hold back his enthusiastic response.
"Roe.. shut up," Richard said in a darkly cool voice, though it had no effect.
"We came from Earth!" he finished as Richard jsut hung his head slightly and shook it muttering.
Roe's partner elbowed him very sharply, just enough to get him to wince slightly.
"Now before my subordinate felt the need to be rude I was going to say how we can supply your ships with missile pods and what not, though we arn't going to turn over our plasma cannons just yet," Richard said as he glaired at Roe.
"Damnit," Roe muttered.

OCC: Ah I understand don't worry.