NationStates Jolt Archive

A tall but built figure in a black Grey uniform with an over coat stood on the well lit bridge , his black hair absorbing the white light of the busy bridge, and his body shimmering ever so slightly in the incandescent glow, his brown eyes panned the view screen ahead, it lay blank looking out in to nothing but the vast lifeless emptiness of space. The bridge was filled with light noises, beeps from consoles filled the air, doors opening and closing with a whoosh. Officers worked quietly along there pale hands taping on the consoles in front of them. The tall figure glanced ever so slightly towards his first officer, he took a step back and sat down. Quickly he leaned over sighing a bit, he started to speak.

“Tom how long do you think these surveys are going to take?”
The younger but equally tall first officer responded.

“I don't know starfleet wants us to find some one out here, either that or chart some new systems for colonization”

The captain sighed “what we are doing this close to sol ill never know, at least we're not in that powder keg”

Tom chuckled a little and leaned back, the captain did the same. The ships bridge was well lit its light shimmered and gleamed across its panels. The captain looked over to his helms officer, his brown eyes panned the station, as he was about to give an order he lifted his hand fluidly and unconcernedly.
He ordered in a semi tired voice.

“Get us out of here, warp factor 3, tell the fleet the same”

the younger helms officer nodded his hands quickly pushing on the beeping and gleaming control panel , they guided across it gently.

The fleet gently began gliding towards the vast emptiness of space, there saucer sections gleamed in the dim light of the void, there bodies ominously floating towards a point gently and swiftly, there nacelles dimly lit with dark blue as several ships of different classes made there way towards this point. The lead ship was the USS Washington an excelsior class destroyer, it was 469 meters long, its engines dimly light with the same dark blue as the other ships it floated gently and ominously towards that same point in space, the other ships were of nebula, Constellation and and orbeth classes. suddenly the fleets lead ships including the Washington began to swoosh in an energetic crackling sound towards a single point, the bright white and blue energy engulfing them as they went in to hyper warp space, other ships followed going at incredible speed. The captain sat in his chair sighing gently his lips still as he breathed in and out, his brown eyes panning his bridge again, his first officer sat next to him, they both had uninterested dull looks in there faces, they were not expecting to meet any one especially any one worth meeting.

The crew themselves worked diligently, they were constantly attending there duties and maintenance, it would take about an hour or so before the small scouting force reached there detestation. The captain in his head thought of this being “dulls ville“ and thought of the whole notion of even trying to meet people around sol as just another recipe for either disaster or just arrogant bragging by the other party, how ever his personal opinion didn't really matter after all starfleet had its reasons for sending his group out there. It wasn't like any thing bad could happen in the span of a few hours while they surveyed right , but his star fleet training conflicted with that, an hour had passed oddly enough and suddenly he was thrown back in to the mundane bored reality that had plagued him recently, the ships guided through the white blue crackling energy wormhole quickly swooshing passed stars at an incredible rate, suddenly it all stopped the ships had drooped out of hyper warp, the ships fell still there ominous bodies floating gently in the darkness of space near a pale yellow star similar to sol, there engines powered down to sub light drives and they began to move.

The captain sighed a little looking to his science officer, and saying with an uninterested voice
“lets start surveying and get this over with before we get in to a cluster fuck the size of Terran prime”

the officer nodded his hands tapping on the glassy console in front of him, the fleet split up slightly moving in different directions as they headed in to the system, the Washington floated towards one of the inner planets its scanners going all the way through mundanely doing sweeps of the area, the other ships floated gently there chrome Grey hull gleaming in the yellow light of the alien star.

Anla'Shok Verlan sighed as he sat down at the head of the situation table. Border patrols were bloody boring, especially here on the far outskirts without populated planets to stop at. Even travelling in a small fleet like they were didn't help, as there wasn't really room aboard ship to do much visiting, considering it was a fleet of two Leandra class vessels and a White Dwarf.

"Watch officer, you're relieved. Communications, what's the chatter today?" He asked causing a small flurry of activity as the third shift watch officer left the Command Center and the communications officer moved to hand him a report. The young male reported, "Nothing much sir. The Valen reported spotting an unkown, but superior force yesterday. They report that they employed their cloak and avoided detection. They indicate it may be headed in this direction."

"Very well. It's probably nothing major. Other races do scouting missions around here all the time. All the same, we should be prepared."

"Sir, multiple unkown contacts have jumped into the system. Passive scans indicate 4 vessels with power signatures of magnitudes comparable to ours. They don't appear to be taking hostile actions," reported the tactical officer. "I recommend we initiate contact," he finished waiting for the Anla'Shok Na to issue orders.

"I don't see any reason why we shouldn't. Communications, order the Liandra and Diem to take up escort positions around us. Also, send a message to the Valen indicating that we'd be pleased to have them join us at their first opportunity. If things go badly, the extra firepower would be nice, and if things go well, we could use the extra space," Verlan ordered quickly coming to his feet to get a good look at the situation table. It appeared that the ships were currently on the far side of an interviening planet, and apparently not really expecting to find anyone, judging from how they were deployed.

The XO, by the name of Darlin, went to stand beside the captain. He barked, somewhat more harshly, "Flight Control, take us into visual range. Bow pitch 45 degrees up, correct yaw to reference flatline, I want to come around the planet underneath them. Tactical, have weapons ready with a firing solution prepared for their tactically superior vessel. Bring the shields online."

Rather quickly the Minbari force repositioned itself into a classic wedge shape as it moved under the planet to face the unkown intruders. Within a few minutes they had closed the distance until they were within visual sight range of the other vessels.

"Sir," the tactical officer began. "This is strange, but it appears that drive emissions emmerge from at least three places on most of the ships, and five places on another. One set of emissions matches the pattern for simple fussion generated physical thrust. The other sets of emissions are identical to each other but originate from more than one point. I've never seen anything like them. They appear to come from those things on the pylons."

"Interesting," commented Verlan. "They make rather large targets out of their engines. That doesn't strike me as a particulary intelligent thing to do. Tactical, update your firing solution to target those. Communications, broadcast me on all frequencies."

"Yes, sir!" came the reply from both of his officer.

"Unkown vessel. This is Verlan of the Anla'Shok in command of the Minbari Vessel Draga Guhl. Be aware that you have reached the border of Minbari space. Please be aware that hostile actions will not be tolerated. Please identify yourselves and your purpose in coming here."


-------------------------------------

OOC: And here I said you couldn't convince me to do RP...

Most of the scans were paved with mundane pictures of the same thing over and over again, the communications officer uninterestedly peered down at his glassy console not really expecting to find any thing of course, he looked at the scans one after another his hands resting on the side of the console
getting a grip of the white Grey material around it, the captain meanwhile was in his chair over looking the bridge and the view screen that had a picture of a class O planet, it was a jewel in vast lifeless expanse of the dark void, he was fixated on it thinking about it to get his mind off the mundane boredom that plagued him.

Suddenly the communications officer got a wind of some thing in the scans, his console began to beep widely off and on, he looked at the scanner and noticed a small fleet of ships approaching, suddenly the communications channels began beeping in the same tone he looked over to the captain his head moving and peering at the man in the chair, his mouth opened with haste and he began to speak in a energized voice.

“Sir, we're detecting incoming ships, and they seem to be hailing, on the other hand they have there weapons targeted on us.”suddenly
The captain stood up and looked surprise he nor the other ships planned on finding any one here or at least planed on not getting some attention. He looked around and said to the officer

“Go to yellow alert and raise shields, put the communique on screen”

the tactical officer nodded his hands quickly moving over the glassy beeping panel, suddenly the bridge lighting turned in to a yellowish tint glowing off and on the light emphasizing the consoles and equipment, It gleamed off and on the captains tan face being lit up by the yellowish glow.


He Sat in his chair his hands rested on the arm rest, his face turned from uninterested to diplomatic in a split second, he hoped that this would not be some thing that could hit the fan, he knew that tempers in this region of space were far shorter than were the fleet was from. He smiled a bit as the screen opened his hands on the rest.

“This is the Federation star ship Washington, we are sorry if we intruded upon your space, we are only here to survey this system, we come in peace, there is no need to target us with your weapons. If you want us to leave we will oblige to your request and continue on.”

The captain smiled, his first officer sat up looking at the screen his own thoughts filled with hope of a peaceful resolution to the situation. The captain and the first officer shared those thoughts they both ran through there heads that they hoped it wouldn't come to fighting but they would be prepared if they had to.”


The Washington floated in the darkness of space facing the blue ocean planet, its nacelles glowing dark blue as its hull gleamed in the light of the star, the saucer section and star drive reflecting in a chrome white glow the yellow sun.

Verlan waited patiently after his message for a response. He was mildly suprised when not only did he receive one, but, as the startled communications officer had noted, the strange vessels were offering visual. "Put them on."

A few minutes later, the opposing language giving the linguistic routines a workout from hell while still producing only a broken translation, he looked lightly around the room, "Stand down condition 1. Assume diplomatic posture. Establish proper communications." He turned back to face the table and spoke to the other ship commander, "Acknowledged receipt of message Washington. If you truly come in peace there's no need to leave quite yet. A vessel more appropriate for formal first contact should arrive here in several hours to a day at most, depending on whether it chooses to cruise or jump. In the mean time, on behalf of the Minbari Federation, I ask the name of your government and race as well as its age?"


OOC: The Minbari understanding of what you said is as follows since English grammar is a bit too much for the algorithim to make heads or tails of with what little you said:
We are vessel Washington. We apologize for intrusion. We want scout system. We here for peace. No target with weapons. You ask us leave, we leave.