NationStates Jolt Archive

Tarren prime FY 200, 10:20 am

House of the Federation:
President Buchanan sat down on a glossy leather chair over looking crystal clear view of New Union city, he sighed gently as his eyes panned and looked around the huge city watching as sky scrapers gleamed in the light of the yellow star, the blue sky crisp and clear was crowded with metallic chrome shuttles and hover cars, sky scrapers gleamed in the blue and yellow light, there glassy chrome metallic bodies showing the true economic might of the union. Buchanan planted his hands on his lap folded gently, his rough some what old face being enhanced by the light of the sky and sun. His mind was filled with thoughts of work, pleasure and personal time with his family. His hair was salt and pepper black turning grey in some areas he was an elder statesmen experienced in both politics and foreign affairs. His mind was in a float of confidence and calm as he peered at his massive city, just one of several in his country. Suddenly from a gleaming black oak like desk behind him full of crystal pyramids pictures and odd figures, an HLCAR panel beeped, with swift action Buchanan swiveled his black leathery chair over and faced the desk, his hand shifted slightly over the glossy black oak like martial, and tapped on the electronic platform. His rough hand rested on it slightly as he looked in to the engulfing bright light of photons that initiated a hologram. Senate majority leader Richard a Bester was on the other end, his own grey suit gleaming in the light of his own chambers office, his hair was grey and his face was slightly wrinkled and toned, he looked at Buchanan with a smile and nod. Buchanan with haste said a word of greeting in a friendly calm voice “Hello bester” Buchanan smiled in a TV camera way, Bester in a quick response said “hello Mr. President it’s a pleasure to see you again, Though I’m afraid this isn’t a cordial message, the senate has just passed a proposition to send a ship in to the sol system to reestablish contact, its time to show people that the Federation has indeed changed” Buchanan Rises an eyebrow at the message and says in a rather toned soft voice again “Well I don’t know if sol has gotten over what the Condominium incident over mars but I suppose its worth a try, who do you suggest?” “Well” bester said in a rather coarse but friendly voice and then continued “We can send the USS dauntless” Buchanan nodded and said in a sighing voice “All right, but I don’t expect much out of it”…

USS Dauntless: the large galaxy class cruiser floated above a desolate moon, it started to move out of the planetary system slowly, on board was the lead ambassador of the union. The captain stood on the carpeted gleaming bridge looking towards the stars his brown eyes looked forth in to the dark shimmering void that was called space, beside him was his younger xo and the ambassador slated to talk to who ever was interested. The captain stared down to the near by helm officer and nodded saying with a commanding loud tone his lips quivering up to a open “Engage coaxial warp drive”.. With a sudden push of a button the entire six hundred and forty two meters of metallic might floated in a massive rush of speed, stars rushing past in huge numbers. The ship finally arrived at sol several moments after departure. The captain was standing on the bridge over looking several operations at once, the helm officer had started to press HLCARS buttons and panels slowing the ship to sub light speed. The captain looked over and said “Adjust our course to go in to the asteroid belt full speed ahead” the helm men nodded starting to presses buttons her smooth hands taping lightly on the panels , the huge metallic ship started floating towards the center of the system at full speed.

While it was traversing the ship sent out a peaceful message.

This is the United Federation of the Federal Union star ship Dauntless, we have come in order to reestablish contact and seek peaceful negotiations with the nations of sol, we know what we have done in the past was wrong, but it has come time to show you we are willing to try to change and un do what we have done. We invite you to a diplomatic conference on the dauntless if you wish to attend be our guest, we will not refuse any one the message floated throughout sol as the ship glided , Jupiter mars and in to the asteroid belt it slowly came to a halt waiting in a position

To the Keigh the TFU incident had been a minor one, yes Mars had faced a pretty major extinction level event, yes that meant their colony was placed at risk but… mostly that just meant a few Mon-Keigh, in the great scheme of things it had been an acceptable risk. Especially the gains in the light of events afterwards, the TFU incident had been the touchstone, the trigger to the cleansing of Mars. It had taken a while, and a few sidesteps along the way, but it had been the war that followed that had cleared Mars of the ever present threat of the League. So in the end no grudge was felt by the Keigh over the matter, the Federal Union was viewed much like they viewed most strange Mon-Keigh, with distaste and a little hatred, but they where willing to hide such feelings, they had been doing so to most of Sol now for so long it was almost second nature.

Indeed seemingly the only negative about the Federal Union was their alliance, or at least tolerance of the worshippers of the Ruinous Powers, but perhaps in meeting with them, and starting the ground work of contact they could pull this little alliance apart. It all started with a pull here and there. Of course having said all this Keigh didn’t exactly trust the Federals they had shown their ability to make rash decisions and sending too important a member of the Kionash was asking for trouble, on the other hand for such a delicate task the council needed to send one of its own. Still if the Mon-Keigh merely thought the person they had was unimportant it would be enough, it was not as if they had much information on the Keigh to go on.

So it was she sat in the Transport winging her way from Mars to the strange little ship, her name was Mel’Nais officially she was attending as a Catechumen, an ambassador of the Keigh, in reality she was a Farseer of the Council, if a little different. A while ago she had been captured by the yngir, who had been at the time foes of the Keigh, ancient foes; she had changed in her time with them. Before her capture she had been like most of the Keigh, stubborn, proud and filled with contempt for all other sentient species. Upon her return she had mellowed, she was still proud, still stubborn but she seemed far more tolerant of the Mon-keigh. Rarely, if ever, using the word in its harsher manner, that of meaning ‘That which must be destroyed’. Indeed she was the most likely to refer to Humans by their specific species name rather than the wider term used for all aliens.

As her transport neared the ship it broadcast its intention to land, and then simply waited. After a while with clearance granted her craft approached and landed. And then a small ramp descended, and she strode into view. Fine robes and loose clothing adorned her, as she stepped down into sight. Adorned in the colours of the Yvrsse, Black and a dark green. Behind her strode her escort, Two seers of the Warlock path, they too where dressed in the colours of Yvresse, their faces masked by smooth helmets and carrying aloft blades of great age, that crackled with eldritch energies. Stepping forward she looked across the landing area and awaited her host’s attention.

Travelling most of the interstellar distance with a full accompaniment of Iuthian vessels, the ISNV Liessa's Joy was escorted to the edge of asteroid belt near the meetings final co-ordinates sent to them by the USS Dauntless. The small group emerged from hyperspace with a bright, piercing flash of white light, the eight Destroyers and two Cruisers still large enough to give a conciderable feeling of military presence despite it being a clear diplomatic mission. The group continued to escort the Assault Destroyer for a short distance before finally stopping a fair distance away from the meeting point itself, so not to cause too much of a stir.

The frigate herself was fully a large fully kitted out Iuthian Assault Destroyer, not the most powerful vessel of war the Iuthian's had but it represented some of their newest advances in the field of space exploration... ironically perhaps the smaller Fedral vessel was still by far more advanced then the Liessa's Joy, a sign of Iuthia's relative age in comparison. The outer hull of the Liessa's Joy was as blockly as one would expect from such a primative vessel with size compensating for it's lack of advanced shields and power requirements for it's FTL systems. The dull gray metals of the hull we decorated slightly with the Iuthian colours painted in part in order to give a more regal feel, regardless, it was quite the ugly (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/Iuthia/Space/AssaultFrigate.jpg) vessel.

"We're here, Ambassador." Captain Kay stated his simple stern voice. Ambassador Torvek nodded belatedly, her face still a little pale from the experience of faster then light travel.

"Crewman Jones, escort the Ambassador to her diplomatic craft, please" The Captain asked with a faint smile on his face.

"Right away, Captain." The crewman helped Joanna from her seat and assisted her off the bridge. Along the way the Ambassador improved until she was back to her normal slightly cheery self, carrying her diplomatic briefcase along side her.

At the hanger she was taken to a slightly modified Kritton Heavy Corvette, there were no guns on this version of the strikecraft and instead it was kitted out with more point defence and communications equipement, along with an improved engine and dampener system for the pilot. There was enough room for the crew, Ambassador and her three man security detail, but it was cramped and not very comfortable for the passengers, but comfort was a luxury hardly ever concidered before practicality. Getting their permissions from the Fedral, the craft landed proceeded to the meeting point to land under the watchful eyes of the Iuthian battlegroup.

The Ambassador slowly walked down the ramp of her ship and approached the airlock accompanied by by the two smartly dressed security personel wearing the same dress uniforms as were common at the Embassy, one a tall blond man, the other looking to be an average woman with red hair. Behind them walked a much taller creature of about eight foot in height, commonly described in some nations as being a 'Gnoll' this walking hyena-man sculked out of the ship in a uniform which seemed to barely fit him but kind of smoothed the edges of his normally primal appearance (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/Iuthia/Characters/Gnoll2.jpg).

As for Ambassador Joanna Torvek herself, she was wearing mostly formal, ableit not for this situation, long black dress with a almost tasteful cut down the side of one leg reaching up to her hip, though thankfully it didn't show much cleavage. The woman looked to be in her late twenties with short, dark brown hair and was clearly of elven decent, her ears were pointy and she only stood at a total height of five feet tall, completely dwarved by her larger bodyguards. Her figure was thin and slender, as one might expect of an elf of her stature, though she clearly made a point of working out in order to keep in good physical condition. As she approached the representative she had a reserved smile on her face, suggesting a friendly attitude.

"Hello Everyone, I'm glad I could make it on such short notice..." She put down her diplomatic black briefcase on the floor, which the large dog-man guard automatically stood next to as she approached the highest ranking person in front of her to shake their hand. "Ambassador Joanna Torvek, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Why. Why me. Again." Senior Diplomatic Officer Jennifer Ngabese rubs her temples with her hands as she sits in the most comfortable seat of a very small lounge aboard Fast Corvette Pähoa a’ukï, bemoaning her fate. Admittedly, a short vacation from Mars Theatre is a good thing, sort of. She should be there, dealing with all of the insanity going on with the Port Authority establishing itself and the fallout of the Aumani Impact and the quickbronze incident and whatnot, but she's honestly rather glad that other people seem to be leading the charge for once and there's no real need for the Triumvirate to play policeman or facilitator or anything else. Downside is that now she's on a cramped fast attack corvette, the smallest WarShip in the Combined Services, and being shipped out to the ass end of the belt. "Why the hell are they even dispatching a corvette for an insystem job, when they could send a shuttle or a Loki or some such?"

"Well, ma'am," says the portly-by-muscle Hawai'ian native man in the Fleet uniform across from her, wearing the truncated stars of a commander, "I think they're sending me because I do have large capital-scale weapons that come standard. They'd be somewhat obviously bolted-on if they sent a Loki with a cap-killer MAM pod. As for why they're sending you, I'd guess that's because you were in charge of the Fedrals previously over Mars."

She sighs and shakes her head, frowning slightly. "Didn't mean to offend, Corvette. It's just that, yes, I've dealt with them before and I'm not looking forward to doing it again."

"We did give our word, ma'am."

"And we were right to. Doesn't mean I have to like it at all." She sighs. "Estimated time to arrival?"

The starship's avatar grins. "Microjump, ma'am. We're there. If you'll just follow me to the displacer room..."

* - * - *

At a point prearranged with USS Dauntless--well, less a point so much as a spherical volume--there's a pop and gentle breeze as marginal differences in air density find an equilibrium and two uniformed agents of the Triumvirate drop a few centimeters onto the deck. One, with a plastron of sky blue and silver piping on her double-breasted uniform, is a tall woman with skin the consistency and color of milk chocolate and short-kinked black hair done in cornrows. The other, green-plastroned, looks slightly stuffed into his uniform and has a rich Polynesian tan and by the folds of his face appears prone to smiling. He's smiling broadly right now. She isn't, instead opting for one of those professional business smiles.

The woman, labeled 'NGABESE' on a silver plate on her right breast, steps forward and bows shortly, formally. "So good to see your people again. I'm Senior Diplomatic Officer Jennifer Ngabese of the Triumvirate of Yut Diplomatic Corps and this is Fast Corvette Pähoa a’ukï"--she says the name with the seamless transition of accent and intonation that practice and perhaps a little unfair augmentation and coaching brings as she presents the Hawai'ian with a subtle motion of her arm--"of the Triumvirate of Yut Combined Services."

"Glad to meet ya," the starship says jovially.

“Well seems we have quite a response” said the captain standing on the bridge over looking the holographic view screen, his skinny slightly built form gleaming in the bright lit bridge his eyes panned around as his lips curled up for a smile, ever so gently his lips curled up, he nodded to his second officer and said “Do a point to point beam, I’m sure ambassador locke has his hands full”

Locke was in the shuttle bay already ready for the diplomats; he smiled as he saw them appear seemingly at the same time, his lips ever so gently turned in to a diplomatic smile his black suit gleamed in the shuttle bays gentle and soft utilitarian bright white light that gleamed across the grey white dull deck, he started to strut slightly along gently walking along the panels his feet tapped against the metallic under side as he passed fighters and drone fighters that were lined up facing the diplomats and the out side of the bay, only as a sign of respect. He came to a stop several fleet from each party, his black hair, skinny body, and pale tanned skin glimmered in the light of the shuttle bay, shimmering as he turned to face the diplomats, he was accompanied by two marines wearing power vests and carrying phaser compression rifles, there grey and black uniforms softly absorbing the light as they stood at attention on both sides of locke there hair shimmering ever so slightly as they panned around the group, ever vigilant of any thing. Locke began to speak after a split second of silence his voice filled with enthusiastic yet cold and emotionless tones.

He said “it’s a pleasure to meet you all; my name is ambassador Thomas locke of The United Federation of the Federal Union its quite a pleasure to meet you all, I apologize for any inconvenience that may have happened, but at any rate It is nice to meet you.”

He reached out his suited black arm the cloth clinging to his skin as he raised it and put a hand shake grip out for any one to take, he smiled slightly his lips gently moving from a stiff look to a grin. Suddenly behind locke a bright white light engulfed a figure that slowly shimmered back in to normal space and time, the body of captain Richard kough stood behind the ambassador stiff and professional looking, his body glimmered and shimmered in the ever so gentle light, he stepped right up to the diplomatic parties with another pair of marines behind him and said in a rather stiff strong tone.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all, welcome to my ship I’m glad to be of service to you fine people, if you would like a tour I’m sure One could be arrange if you don’t mind, any one?”

He smiled breathing gently Locke looked around nodding slightly in confirmation , then turning back to the parties in a stiff ready to go professional look. The marines had already set up point around the parties making sure nothing went wrong.

"No, I'm sure we'll be quite alright for the time being, thank you." Joanna replied after shaking both the Captain's and the Ambassador's hands respectively. The two men both dwarved the Iuthian diplomat, each perhaps a foot taller then Ambassador Torvek, her small elven hand looking ever so delicate in their grasp. She had already taken notice of all the security the Fedrals had prepared so far, perhaps for the eventuality of more aggressive representatives having turned up... ah well, nevermind.

"Providing the other guests don't mind, I'd rather we started this as soon as possible, Ambassador Locke. Space doesn't quite agree with me; there is something about artificial gravity that doesn't feel quite right, though maybe its all in my head... I don't know." The young woman shrugged slightly and left it to the others.

The look on her face was unreadable for a moment and then it was all smiles, although she seemed to ‘miss’ the offer of a handshake, never pointing out that she had done so, or drawing attention to it, just seemingly not being aware that such was available. ‘While I would enjoy a tour of this vessel, I can accept the others desire to get down to business first. Perhaps afterwards we can have the tour, when we are finished here?’ As the two escorts with her took note of the security measures, and the approaching Marines, for a second they grew tense as only bodyguards could when men with guns approached their primary concern, then settled down. It lasted only the briefest of seconds, as they analysed the situation and concluded it was not intended as a threat, With a Nod from Nais they turned and filed back aboard the craft. If anything was to occur, they where confident she could handle herself in the time it took them to reach her, and at the moment they appeared to be the only armed escorts for the diplomats.

‘I am afraid however that we are unaware if there is any planned itinerary for this little gathering, or if you wish simply for a more open ended discussion and exchange of words. I am more than happy to proceed right away, if you had intended a little more structure to this gathering I will need ten minutes or so to prepare myself.’

The diplomatic officer and the starship make the rounds, doing the meet-and-greet with handshakes down the line of Fedral dignitaries--all two of them--and everyone else out of politeness. Ngabese's grip is professional; the corvette's avatar is so friendly that his grip is just on the polite side of bonecrushing. It's just a really nice guy who knows his strength perfectly well, but sometimes drops a decimal place when it comes to enthusiasm.

"A tour, you say?" Pähoa a’ukï ponders making a crack about not even having dinner first, not even a bloody movie, but decides against it after a warning glance from its charge on this trip. "I think that'd be lovely, for professional reasons and all that, dependent upon Officer Ngabese here's blessing of course."

Jennifer smiles thinly. "The Triumvirate has no particular agenda that needs to be addressed at exactly this moment, so I am more than willing to go along with whatever you have scheduled, Ambassador, Captain," she says with cool professionalism to the Fedrals. "Our concerns can be brought up when appropriate, which is probably not now."

Meanwhile, the warship looks over the Fedral Marines with a friendly professional interest. The avatar is packing, certainly--the same blocky powergun pistol that has been the standard issue of the TYCS for as long as the Services have been around--but that's just part of the uniform, just like the blocky terminal-come-communications-device-come-makeshift-bludgeon. Ngabese, being a diplomat, is not so uncouth as to have a regulation powergun sidearm, instead just having a little uninteresting cylinder on her belt. We come in peace, shoot to kill, shoot to kill, the starship hums in its head, recalling a particular parody song from a very, very, very long time ago. The more things change...

Despite the corvette's 'enthusiasm', Joanna just about managed to keep her delicate smile, resisting the erge to flinch in pain. Having shuck the hands of both Triumvirate dignitaries as they made their rounds, she decided to add to their reply.

"It's decided then, a tour it is." the Ambassador states in a seemingly cheerful voice, slightly contradicting her previous comments. "Though if you don't mind, Ambassador Locke, I would like to know a little more about the planned scheduled. I think some of us would like to use this opportunity to prepare should a more... structured discussion be planned."

"Personally I'm ready, so I'll join the tour group if only to allow yourselves and others the time to prepare."