NationStates Jolt Archive

Ma'Taal watched as Lu'Kaar materialized infront of his eyes,or the viewer nanites that made up his eyes.
"Welcome, Lu'Kaar," Ma'Taal intoned in an eerily synthesized voice.
"Greetings,Ma'Taal," Lu'Kaar replied.
Ma'Taal didn't say anything and instead looked out of the view-screen.He was the Ship Captain of the Kuraal, small by the standards of the Worldfleet,but equivalent to what the biological beings called a "Capital ship".They had just left the Perseus Arm several hundred years ago,and had now arrived at a solar system in the Orion Spur.Readings showed that many planets had biologicals and many of which had space capabilities.
"We can only hope that those who do are not hostile..."
Ma'Taal thought aloud.
Lu'Kaar shared a Hive Mind with Ma'Taal,so he did not reply.He already knew what Ma'Taal was thinking before he announced it.
The nearest inhabited planet was an icy rock called by the biologicals "Pluto".
Strange.
They would arrive there in a year...

*Huge tag for later viewing purposes*

ooc:Whoa o_0. I got a reply from CFH?Cool.

IC:
Pluto was looming up before them.The Worldfleet would pass it in several days.Strange -- They had not encountered any of the biologicals' security vessels,although the planet was teeming with life.
Ma'Taal realized with a jolt that the Worldfleet was larger than Pluto itself.
If they had decided to colonize the World -- No,they were nomadic.Their Code forbade it.
Pushing the thought out of his mind,he turned his mind to resources,and they were running low.Readouts showed that the nearest moon,which the biologicals called "Charon". Another strange name.However, Charon was mineral rich,and they needed it!

TAG, Now I wish I was a space tech nation.

OOC:AND Aust? *Faints* ;)
IC:
The egg shaped drop pods silently detached from the Kuraal and silently glided,like ghosts,towards the surface of Charon.Ma'Taal was one of the first to enter the planet's atmosphere.The nanites that made up his brain immediatley activated the little bit of cooling gel stored in each of the nanites that made up his body when the first layer of the drop pod peeled back,like skin shedding,and revealed the precious second layer of protective coating,thus exposing Ma'taal to even more heat than he was facing at the moment.Just as the second skin was peeling off,and about to expose him to the fatal heat,Ma'Taal's sensory organs detected a lowering of the heat level ,there was a moment of free-fall,and his parachute opened up behind him.
I am safe!
He floated down towards the ground lightly,bobbing sidewards.Finally,he felt a jolt and knew that the pod had found land.
The creaseless pod split up into 4 pieces with a hiss,and Ma'Taal stepped out,rather shaky from the landing.Immediatley,his sensors detected strong traces of metal,uranium,ore,and other valuable materials.
They would get to work soon...

Just FYI Jordaxia owns Pluto

Or perhaps SN is a puppet of Jordaxia :p

OOC: Anyone got a spaceship or something that they could take a citizen up to polto? We could make it out to be a diplomatic mission or something. This looks like a really good RP.

-OOC-
Mekanta could help you out there, Aust. There's a Mekantan base on Earth where the Underpact (Modern) and Grand Armada (Future) Sol Fleet recieve thier orders.

You can arrange for transport there. Mekanta's AI pilots and a lot of the Organics are getting restless. What's left of the Grand Armada is locked down in defensive mode since Mekanta got fairly well owned by a "Mysterious Enemy". ^_^

OOC: I'm flattered,but I am not a puppet of 5CN.Just another newbie! :p
IC:
Ma'Taal donned his power armor and personal plasma launcher and stepped out of the hastily erected mining base. A large group of biologicals had gathered before the construct,and some were pelting it with rocks.
Ma'Taal's facial nanites formed into a frown.
His brain nanites sent out a signal to his vocal nanites,telling them to raise the volume of his voice.They complied.Speaking out in his quadrupled in volume synthesized voice,he stated calmly to the shouting crowd; "Unacceptable,biologicals!Stand down and disperse,or we shall be forced to take care of you properly!Stand down!" However,the crowd continued to shout an yell,and one came up to Ma'Taal and slammed an iron bar into his head,denting the armor and yelling,"Get off our land,alien scum!"
Ma'Taal didn't even flinch.Instead,he wrenched the bar out of the biological's hand and stated calmly,"Unacceptable,biological being.Prepare for dispersion."
And,grabbing the man's head in his hand,he squeezed until the head exploded,showering Ma'Taal with gore and blood.
The crowd froze and stopped shouting.One or two people screamed.Then,slowly,inevitably,a group of nanite soldiers slowly converged upon the crowd from all sides.The crowd,bewildered,backed up against each other.Some tried to run,but were pushed forcefully back into the tightening circle.Suddenly,the nanite soldiers opened fire with their plasma launchers,the purpleish spheres of light lobbing into the air and then coming into contact with the screaming humans,exploding in their midst,ripping off arms,limbs,heads.The soldiers were showered with blood and gore,but didn't relent until their HUD's showed no biological being alive.They then went back to guarding the perimiter.
Ma'Taal "watched' for several seconds --emotionlessly,of course-- then turned and went back to overseeing the worker nanites...

OOC:
You seem aquainted with nanites and the abbrieviation for Central Facehuggeria. I smell a puppet! I wish i could IP Scan :p

OOC:Well,being aquainted with nanites doesn't really require much (~_^) but I must admit something:I had a nation on NS a long,long time ago,but I have never recieved such a good response from 3 "veteran" nations on my RPing skills. o_0

OOC: Tag. Indeed, s/he is also aware of the ex-Shivan nanites that became sentient (or so it seems, perhaps this was an original idea devised completely seperately.)

OOC:Actually,I had no knowledge of the Shivan(Who the hell are the Shivans? ;) ) nanites when I created Sentient Nanites. In fact,I still don't.Perhaps you could fill me in? :)

OOC: Well,I might as well type up something IC,eh? ^_^ Oh,and just as a side note,1 unit=1,000 pounds
IC:
Ma'Taal's visual nanites scanned over the report.
6 units of iron harvested,7 units of tin,4 of copper,3 of steel,and 1 unit of titanium.Very acceptable.This world is perfect for harvesting!
Switching off the holo-report,he donned his armor once again and strode out of the mining base,but this time he did not equip his plasma launcher.
Ineffective,he chided himself as he walked out.For a fraction of a second,he stood still,his mind nanites processing the question whether to turn back and recover his sidearm,or to trust the soldiers.In the endmhe shook his head,and walked away towards the labor crews.He would see if they had discovered any more things of value...

OOC:I'm really waiting for someone to come in IC.Without anyone to RP with,I can't really do anything. :/ Oh,you can count this as a bump. :)

-OOC-
Eh, I'll bite. ^_^

-IC-
-Assault Ship Tsairung

Stupid tak'aath (Trans: Various obsceneties rolled into one) High Command!

Unit Commander Xoranth growled, pacing the bridge of his ship. Thanks to the attacks on Mekanta, all of Sol Fleet was locked down and they were being actively denied authorization to spacefold beyond the system.

He punched the wall in frustration, the hull softening before he hit it.

"{Of Violence, of problem, to solve, negative.}" Tsairung, or rather the ship's control AI, hissed. "{Of Ninth of Planet of System, of New Presence, to be.}"

A presence within the star system... How... interesting...

"{Of This Self, of That Self, to know of to be lack of activity.}" Tsairung said, seeming pleased with himself. "{To Investigate?}"

"{Of which, to be.}" Xoranth replied, smiling. Finally, something to do...

The ship vanished in a burst of light and color, spacefolding to the edge of the system...

I would join in, but as a rule I try to avoid the Sol system, too many chances of being tracked back to my homeworld, and everything is already claimed.

TAG for when you move back to deep-space, and while you're in Sol, try to steal some FTL technology, this one year passes stuff makes it easy for people to prepare a defense against you.

ooc: Damn! Mekanta just had to post when my dad cam back from work and chased me off the computer.Anyway,this'll be short.
IC:
Lu'Kaar had sent a message down to Ma'Taal as soon as they had detected a organic vessel.It was traveling down to the surface right now,as Lu'Kaar opened up a channel to the vessel.
"Organic beings!State your reason for intrusion into our territory and objectives.Failure to do so shall result in your dispersion.Comply.Reply."
OOC:See,I told you it would be short ^_^

OOC:Yay!I have more time to type up a reply now!
IC:
After receiving no reply from the organic vessel, Lu'Kaar had ordered the warrior nanites to gear up and prepare for the dispersion of the organic vessel if it didn't reply soon.All around the launch bays of the Kuraal,the warrior nanites, loaded their plasma launchers and geared up for assault.
The drop pods readied themselves for launch,and the ships plasma turrets came on-line...
Meanwhile,Ma'Taal had dispersed a biological squad consisting of several biological's with projectile weapons.
Primitive.
But he knew there would be more to come...

OOC: Warrior nanites:http://us.games-workshop.com/games/40k/spacemarines/catalog/ironhands/images/iron_hands_lg.gif

"We come only to investigate a new presence."

"We wish to speak peacefully with you..."

The Tsairung's sensors noted the activities, ready to quickcharge its weapons and open fire if the new entity proved hostile.

"We have no ill will towards you. Refrain from further threats or we will be forced to respond... unfavorably..."

OOC: Mekanta, I'll send a citzen to wherever that base is. I'll RP it out later.

"Peace?" Lu'Kaar tilted his head questioningly.Such a word did not exist in the worldfleet.
Then he realized what the biologicals meant.
"Aaah!So you are non-hostile!Very good!Shall we send a diplomat to your craft or shall you send one to ours?Please reply."
Switching to another line,he order the oversser nanites to tell the warrior forms to stand down.
Perhaps the biologicals would be of some use...

*TAG* because this is gonna involve an ESUS nation or two.

Pluto, nearby charon.
A holographic map of charon appeared, showing Jordaxian domes above the surface, slowly turning transparent, revealing the depths of charon below, along with the large cities burrowed deep into the planetoid.
It flickered, resolution slowly returning to normal, blue outline regaining its clarity.
A figure strode in front of the projector, sillhoette blackening the room further. As he moved out of its path, he turned to face the Padshah, Yang Chen. When he spoke, a loud and oppresive voice emerged.

"My Padshah, we have disturbing news. It would appear that our second homeworld has come under colonisation." We can see here (the map focuses in on a site) that these intruders have already begun to exploit natural resources here."

The Padshah, normally the personification of calm, turned ever so slightly red at this statement.

"And..... Admiral...... How do you go about explaining this, this incident? Surely we should have noticed this coming?"

The Admiral figure cringed at this statement. This was the question he was unsure how to answer.

"Well, it appeared that nobody told us about it until just there. We had them on sensors, but no-one had the brains to do anything about it."

The Padshah had no response to this, though he made a mental note to be a little more sensible when dedicating the castes. Picking at random had its drawbacks.

"hmph. Well, assemble the warrior caste leaders, and tell them what you intend to do about this, and inform me at once when you have a suitable plan of action."

The Admiral figure snapped to attention, and said:

"At once, Padshah. The warrior caste shall not fail you again. I would not exempt the priest caste from your judgement either."

With that, the admiral strode off, leaving Yang Chen contemplating.

what did the priests have to do with this?


(OOC: That's my planet, and it does have SD platforms, space bases, huge manufacturing facilities, 1/3 of the fleet next door, etc. But this is interesting. Please continue. I want to see where this goes.)

OOC: Not to rain on anyone's parade, but isn't 9 million population and an existence of only a few days a bit small for a space nation? As I recall, the average starting point for space tech is >400 million. If I'm wrong, of course, I willingly submit my reputation to a ritual drawing and quartering.
After I sew it back together, that is.

Who cares?

OOC: Not to rain on anyone's parade, but isn't 9 million population and an existence of only a few days a bit small for a space nation? As I recall, the average starting point for space tech is >400 million. If I'm wrong, of course, I willingly submit my reputation to a ritual drawing and quartering.
After I sew it back together, that is.

*Tars and feathers Gurguvungunnit*

If the nation RPs well enough, they can start off as a space nation. Not a very powerful space nation, but with a ship or two.

This has officially been tagged by Feazanthia.

OOC:Whoops!Sorry for not replying in the past few days.I've been caught up in personal affairs. :) Oh,Jordaxia,I wanted to post that we encountered defenses,etcetera,but I didn't know who they belnged to,so I didn't want to go around destroying Klonor's gun platforms!;) :p
IC:
Ma'Taal had returned to the Kuraal as quickly as possible when the biologicals made contact with his ship.And he jumped when he was told they were non-hostile,at least some of them.However,holomaps showed many biological craft closing in on the Kuraal.
Many of them were armed.Many of them were not friendly.Many of them would require dispersion...

You got a TG, Sentient.

You got a TG, Jordaxia.
;)

In B-space a scoutvessel was passing by when it detected something in normal space.

Event: Unidentified anorganic sentients detected in system 2-104651.
Directive: Learn
Action: Change course and investigate.

Minutes later the sphere phased back into normal space above Charon, ignoring the organics and sent out a message.
*We are Species 1. State your identity and purpose.*

"Master Ma'Taal."
"Speak,Lu'kaar."
"An unidentified anorganic [ OOC:I like this word,just so you know. ;) ] vessel has been discovered."
"Is it hostile?"
"Not at this moment,Master.It has sent a communique,asking us who we are and what our purpose is."
"Tell them to leave our territory*,or prepare for dispersion."
"Yes,Master."

OOC:
*=Ma'Taal is sentient,and has some human emotions.Therefore,his pride sometimes overrides his mechanical programming.

IC: Scout 45671 was at a loss what was meant by dispersion, but after several nanoseconds concluded that it must mean destruction. It would try again to speak with them. Now the 10 back in System 2-1 were also watching this encounter, to learn and assess.

*Dispersal is irrelevant. Any hostile act will only result in your destruction. State your identity and purpose, Species 2874*

OOC: Congrats, you have just been logged as a seperate Species. Your name will be added to my list shortly.

"Master Ma'Taal."
"It is refusing,and there is a larger battlegroup near the anorganic vessel."
Ma'Taal had activated his hivemind with Lu'Kaar.
"What shall I respond to this...demand?"
"We have no feasible tactical choice.The Mother is too far for us to flee,pursued by better armed opponents,and we are too weak to oppose this battlegroup.Reply to this anorganic vessel that we are a nomadic race,here to mine resources.Engage the Foldspace engines to standby mode."
"Yes,Master Ma'Taal."

Anorganic vessel.We are a nomadic race,and are mining resources so that we may advance further into the galaxy.We are not hostile,but if attacked,prepare to be dispersed.Respond.

Though not many people know this, there is a large amount of money spent on the Jordaxian cities. Most of this money, naturally, goes into keeping these cities working in the first place, each and every one of them requiring massive sums of money just to keep everyone alive. Entire planetoids were turned over to storing livestock and plant based products. However, every now and again, enough spare funds accumulated to splash out a little, to really express "civilisation" to the universe at large. The Golden palace was one of the more grand, yet foolish, investments. A huge palace, similar in design ethnicity to the Taj Mahal tomb, though not actually made of gold, sitting a few hundred feet below plutos icy surface. Grandiose to be sure, but there was little point when the lighting was so bad that you couldn't see it. So, once again, huge cost went in to producing floodlights to pound it with light. Also, a sound idea in concept, but after numerous medical complaints due to people going blind because of them, this again, was more trouble than it was worth. Also, apparently, they made the palace look cheap. There were several other aspects to this palace which seemed not altogether thought through. The plumbing, for example, was terrible, as were the electrics. Quite ironic, when the Padshah thought about it, that the warrior caste had a better plumbing system than he did. It was why he spent most of his time in a small dug-in apartment at the back of the palace, which was technically called "the emergency personal storage vault", though it was more informally called "Pads pad." (Just because he's Padshah, doesn't mean he's hilariously witty.) The "emergency personal storage vault" was, all in all, the best place to do anything that wasn't dominated by protocol.
Unfortunately, this situation on Charon was dominated by protocol.

The admiralty was pacing round the room, semicircular table going unused save for piles of paperwork that had been hastily written. Nervy soldiers in full Doc Ock class power-armour were jittering in their 8 limbed suits.
For some reason, the admiral figure was wearing a gasmask.
He marched round to the inside of the semicircular table, opposite where the Padshah was sitting. The room was, once again, poorly lit, though you could almost feel the floodlights irradiating you from behind the wall, if you thought about it. Straightening up, the Admiral took a deep breath, and began.

"*Kffk*. My padshah, we have news for you concerning Char*kfffk**kffk* concerning Charon. It seems the guests we have there aren't just mistaken miners. No, it isn't that simple at all. It turns out that they knew we were here all along. In fact, we have photographs taken from our self defense satellites that they are landing a huge amount of troops to storm our domes, steal our precious bodies, and destroy Charon completely.*kffk*

*He hands the pictures over to the Padshah, who doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.*

"Admiral, these pictures look like they were made in some kind of primitive rendering program."

"*kffk* that's because they were, sir, but continue*kffk*"

"Indeed. How many troops would you say are landing that present a threat to us?"

*Kffk*Well, Padshah, I wouldn't want to trouble you, but best estimates we have at the moment are infinity billion troops, with more arriving per day.*kffk"

"I.... see. You didn't think, when you were coming up with this obviously falsified information, that I might see through it?"

"*kffk*No, Padshah, and I still hope that you might not.*kffk*"

"Right. And this gasmask. it's supposed to intimidate, or scare me in some way, that I'll let you take the fleet out, and blast these people into pieces?"

"*kffk*That's the gist of it, my Padshah*kffk*"

"Well, if that's it then. You may take the fleet, and shoot whatever is actually down there. No doubt some small drone accidently left by a new warrior caste. You know, sometimes, I think your incompetance knows no bounds."

"*kffk* Thank you Padshah. I try not to be bound by anything.*kffk*"

*The Padshah gets up, shakes his head in disdain, and leaves swiftly. The rest of the admirals cease pacing, and walk up to the one in the gasmask, who takes it off. A hiss of heavily recycled air escapes.*

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be. Idiot. You *he points to an admiral*, assemble the Charon based defense fleet, and relay instructions to the satellites to commence target location and targetting procedures. You *he points to another* You go and find the land-warfare generals, and get a few thousand "Doctors" onto our ships."

*The two admirals given orders file out first, whilst the other three follow shortly behind. The previously masked admiral, high admiral Daibai, sits on the Padshahs cushioned throne, and flicks the home cinema system on.*

"Well, this should be almost entertaining."

"Attention,Ship Master Ma'Taal.Hostile enemies inbound.Most tactical strategy to implement is to engage Foldspace engines.Attention,Ship Master Ma'Taal.Hostile enemies inbound.Most tactical strategy to implement is to engage Foldspace engines.Atte-"
The ship's AI's mechanical voice rang out across Ma'Taal's private decision room.
Ma'Taal ignored it,scanning the readouts,of the fleet and mining status.The last shipment had been just a day ago,with several units of steel,iron and tin coming up from the surface.Several billion nanites were down on Charon,mining and unaware of the impeding danger.
Then he scanned the readout of the hostile fleet.
Too large for interception and dispersion.
The he thought of the "lives" of the nanites on Charon.
Irrelavent.Too protect minerals is primary objective.Complete it.
The machine brain overrode his sentient one,and Ma'Taal strode over to Lu'Kaar,who was waiting outside the door.
"Engage Foldspace engines.Fold to Mother."
Lu'Kaar hesitated for a moment,then nodded and walked off.
15 minutes later,the Kuraal vanished with a crack,right in the face of the organic fleet,with a temporal erasure wave spreading from the jump point for several lightseconds...

OOC:
My Foldspace engines work like that.They drain pretty much all the power from a ship and then emmit a temporal erasure wave when the ship Folds to a location.

The response was anaylyzed and this combined with the data they had collected about what they had done on the surface lead to only one conclusion. Although small now, they would become a threat eventually to their own growth.
The logical course of action was to neutralize them now. The scout raised its shields and energized its weaponry, targetting their ship. But then it vanished leaving behind a temporal wake. Luckily all Species 1 ships had protection against such low level temporal disturbances for some time but this meant that they could not be neutralized at this time.

The scout turned its attention to the nanites on the surface. They could still study them, so it sent a cloud of its own nanites down. They would try to assimilate the sentient nanites and see what could be learned that way. Even failure would provide valuable data.

Aboard the nonsequitor "pigs might fly admiral Daibai, who gets everywhere, was suddenly in a foul mood.

"They just... left."

The usual Captain of the ship was still on board, serving out the orders of the admiral. He seemed particularly adept at stating the obvious. Good officer material. He'd have to give himself a medal for that.

"I can see that, Captain. Are they still there on the surface?"

*admiral Daibai removes his brandy from the gyroscopic brandy holder, swirls it, the sips it slowly.*

"Well, what about the mining installation on the surface. Is it still there?"

"Yes, admiral, sir, it is."

"Excellent. Land immediately, begin to remove the nanites into the gravity brigs."

"Sir, we don't have need for most of them. What should we do with them?"

"Destroy them, you idiot!"

*4 nonsequitors break away from the group (about 120 nonsequitors total) and begin to descend to the surface. SD installations ready hummingbirds as the saucer shaped spaceships descended.*

"Sir, one last thing. It also appears that there is another, unidentified craft nearby. We didn't see it at first, but it sent out communications to the other craft before it left."

"Well, hail it you imbecile!"

"Opening channel"

"Um.... who are you?"

(OOC: if you were staying uberstealthy and it's really really doubtful I'd see you, just ignore it.)

-The Tsairung

"{Of 'Species 1', to be. Having presence.}" Tsairung stated bluntly, projecting a holographic avatar of a Mekantan male onto the bridge. The Spacial Scanners were sweeping the area, detecting any disturbances in the fabric of spacetime caused by the presence of ships. "{Of ally Jordaxia, to be. Having presence.}"

"{Of Yamato Cannons, to charge. Of barrier, all to be, to set. Standby of action to readiness.}"

When the Temporal Erasure wave was released, Xoranth's eyes shot open.

"{EVASIVE, TO ACT!}"

The Tsairung executed a short spacefold, evading the wave and closing with the Jordaxian ships.


TRANSMISSION TO JORDAXIAN ARMADA
This is Mekantan Assaultship Tsairung here to investigate and provide assistance.


As the Mekantan Capship brought its impressive arsenal to bear, it locked onto anything not Jordaxian or Mekantan, ready to unleash a hellish barrage of weapons fire on anything that attacked...

The scout was still investigating when the annoying organics arrived. The Mekantan ship had locked on to them and the Jordaxian fleet had hailed them.
Scout 45671 raised its shields, charged its weapons and sent out a reply to the Jordaxian fleet.
*We are Species 1. This vessel is investigating the technology of Species 2874, you will not interfere. Any attempt to obstruct our mission will result in your destruction.*

...
...
...
...
"What did that thing say to me?"

"ah."

"What. Did. That. Thing. Say. To. Me?"

"It... uh. It instructed us not to interfere."

"Really?"

"Yes, sir."

"That's interesting."

"Yes, sir."

"You know what that means, don't you?"

"Indeed, sir. Commencing gridfire safety reduction procedure."

"Are you learning?"

"One would hope so, sir."

"Can you fire yet?"

"Yes, sir."

"What about the rest of the ships."

"They don't see the point in all of them firing on a scoutship."

"Ask them if they'd rather have style or functionality."

"Most reports come back functionality, sir."

"Tell them that style equals medals."

"They report weaponry is charged, sir."

"Grand."

"Send a message back to the Scout. Make it simple. We can't assume that it's too intelligent, going up against a fleet."

"Species one. This is admiral Daibai of the Jordaxian home defense fleet detatchment sent here to restore order. We order you not to interfere. Leave now, or be pacified."

"Message away, sir."

"Do you think I sounded menacing enough?"

"Yes, sir."

"Sir, we also recieved a message from the Mekantans who arrived, offering their assistance."

"Is that good news?"

"Yes, sir."

"Ah, well then, send the following reply to them."

"Good to have you with us, "Tsairung." Your assistance is much appreciated. If we can ask, can you give us any reading on where that ship was headed to? I ran off on us before we could get a likely course heading."

"Message away again, sir."

"Good, good. Get me some more brandy."

"Yes, sir."

(OOC: I'm not sure about your ships in general, species one, but I have severe doubts as to whether a scout can take as much firepower as one hundred nonsequitors can direct at it.)

OOC: No, it can't. But personal sacrifice is common among species 1 since death is irrelevant. If one body is destroyed they just place the last backup in a new body and no harm done. Unfortunatly SN hasn't posted yet so I don't know what kind of effect my nanites have on theirs.

IC: The scout detected the Jordaxian fleet powering up, their weapons configuration was unknow to them but it seemed advanced. Their technology was immidiately put on the list of technologies to be assimilated.

Didn't these organics understand that destroying this vessel would result in a fleet of warvessels coming here to retaliate and acquire any useful technologies. It couldn't allow their technology to fall into the hands of organics, so it fired several plasma bolts at the area where it had released its own nanites incinerating the nanites of Species 1 which had been ordered not to replicate moments before the bombardement began.

The reaction of the organics had to be delayed so a few seconds before the orb began firing its weapons, it sent a response to the Jordaxian fleet.
*Your orders are irrelevant. We will leave in 1.2 of your minutes.*

OOC: What is gridfire?

(It's a variant on a Wettic Ripper beam, causing a rip in space that leads to the grid (it's also variant on the culture weapon of the same name (gridfire), but with the power reduced.) Essentially, the grid is an infinite energy source, brought into this universe by a fine beam projected down space itself, in opposite phase (crests meet troughs, troughs meet crests) cancelling it out. It allows it to get underneath most shield techs, and can slice a target cleanly, unless that target takes it upon itself to explode. It can tear a planet clean in two, but doing that isn't particularly difficult, since starship hulls are stronger than planets, there's just more planet to slice. Anyway, back to the serious writing. I don't like giving even vague descriptions of my weaponry away.)

The Species One response came over the bridge, peculiar in its artificiality.
Admiral Daibai was incensed. Species One began bombarding his planet, then calmly, and cooly informed him that his orders were irrelevant? No-one had dared talk like that to him before, although he'd never had to deal with such creatures before.

He yelled at the alien ship, furious at the distant mockery it was making of his command.

"This is my planet, you idiot! My orders are the only relevant ones!"

"Sir, would you like me to send that in a message?"

"You mean, the channel wasn't open?"

"No sir, though your message was automatically recorded by the computer."

"Oh. Well, send it then."

The channel opened again, the message screaming through. Admiral Daibai didn't seem too impressed at hearing it fade through.

"It's not so impressive when it loses its spontaneity, is it?"

"It would appear not, sir. Shall we fire upon them now?"

"....No. This is interesting, and we can't go blowing a first contact situation, regardless of how they provoke us. "

"Sir, it appears they are bombarding the Others mining facility. Our ships report they have gathered enough specimens for examination, and are on their way back."

"Good, good. I want you to focus every sensor you have on that "Species One" ship, I need to see where it's going. Size, mass, shape, readable power output, the works. Get on it, Captain."

"Yes, sir."

"And bring me a bagle."

"Yes, sir."

What was it with these ships that interests me so? Since we became active in the galaxy we've seen countless alien species. What is it about this one that is the exception? Damn it, I don't like this. Where is all this headed? What now?

(of course, Mekantan rapid armed response would probably make all of this kinda obsolete. There's the difference in appreciable time scale for you. Also, writers block meant that even if I wanted to, which I do, I can't make this post any longer or more interesting than as is, without doing some major assuming for both sides. I already kinda did by assuming the sentient nanite base would be captured so easily, but I was told that I could do as I pleased with the base, so I chose the option with the most conceivable information gain.)

(OOC: LOL @ "Get me a bagle." and "Get me more brandy". :D)

/Tag\

The scout ignored the emotional response from the obviously deficient individual and continued bombarding the facilities of SN thoroughly and the area around it. It wouldn't stop until there was no detectable activity of the SN left.

The ships that were lifting off from the planet were also detected and given the place were they came from, they must have collected samples of SN technology. However they could also have samples of Species 1 technology, they would have to be destroyed to make certain.

As the scoutvessel continued bombarding the planet with plasma bolts, it used its focused energy beams to fire on the Jordaxian ships leaving the planet. It also began powering up its B-drive so that it could retreat quickly. The organics would certainly respond hostile to this act.

With part of the surface of Charon lit up with plasma fire, every sensor not actively tracking and scanning the species one ship was running full time in detecting damage. The Others mining facility wasn't too near to a dome, so damage wasn't a consideration. When the first beam struck the nonsequitor though, the reports from the sensors nearly overloaded Daibai's neurite system. He twinged at the influx, slowly sorting it out into priorities. They all said the same thing.
Species One ship firing on Jordaxian Nonsequitor.

"Just what the hell is going on here?" admiral Daibai yelled. "What are they attacking us for? They're mad!"

"Sir, our ships are asking for combat duties sir, the ones near the surface are requesting permission to dive."

Diving was a risky manoeuvre that only the Nonsequitor could pull. Involving shunting most of the power into the gravitational shielding, before firing two
precharged gridfire shots in a contracting sphere pattern. It, essentially, moves you down a plane, below the universe, much in the same way a submarine dives beneath the surface. (Given that this is the first time such a manoeuvre has been pulled, and I'm the only one with the tech to pull it, it's unlikely you can stop these ships leaving.)

"Granted. Tell them to initialise the procedure at once."

Near the surface, four blue/purple saucer shaped objects started to change. one was billowing smoke at a rapid rate, though the gravity shielding was holding everything together. The began to turn reflective, the ovoid shield pushing light back the way it came. as it finally turned truly reflective, like a silver egg, it shone. Bright white light overlapped the shield, moving under it. The reflection promptly stopped, white light shrinking down to a pinpoint, to disappear seconds afterwords. And nothing was left of them.

"It appears the manoeuvre was successful, sir. We won't have confirmation until they re-appear though, if they do so at all. The Species One ship is still present though. What will we do about it?

"Launch a salvo of hummingbirds at the ship. Try to make it run, don't pulverise it. And make sure you can track where its approximate heading is."

"The order has been sent to the first 20 ships, sir. The rest are attempting to surround the ship to prevent a pre-emptive sublight escape."

6 Hummingbird missiles from each of the twenty launched at the ship, submunitions primed to launch when they came within range of the Scout.
The others sped away to the flanks of the Scout, attempting to cut off any sublight route of escape.

"Missiles have been ordered to target weaponry, though we don't notice any familiar life support systems. Maybe they use some new form of support mechanism?"

"Perhaps, Captain. Inform me as soon as the situation changes."

Admiral Daibai, brain aching from the near overload, left the bridge, probably to return to his quarters.

The disappearance of its targets was unexpected, by now it had removed any trace of their technology from the surface and they were only firing to remove the facility of NS.

It detected the launch of the missiles but it wouldn't be able to evade them so it rode out the attack. The missiles hit the shields and some got through damaging the vessel itself.

The scout had stopped firing at this time and now it engaged its drives, phasing back to B-space and leaving normal space behind. Repair systems were already hard at work to repair the damage and it decided to wait and see how the Jordaxian fleet would respond. The fleet was too large to take on, but a surprise attack on one of them could yield much new technology.

with a temporal erasure wave spreading from the jump point for several lightseconds...

OOC:
My Foldspace engines work like that.They drain pretty much all the power from a ship and then emmit a temporal erasure wave when the ship Folds to a location.

OOC:
A light second is 300'000 kilometers; you would have easily wiped out the entire Pluto-Charon system with that jump, along with everything near by.

A blaintent godmod, to be sure, even for an established nation; I hope you simply didn't realise just how large a light second was.

Several hundred kilometers would be more reasonible.

As the Species 1 ship phased, Mekantan Trans/space scanners began examining the area closely, readying the Mekantan ship to strike as soon as the Species 1 vessel emerged back into Truespace.

In preparation, the Tsairung's twenty-five Yamato Cannons began charging, ready to unleash a hellish storm of Reflex Weapon Fire on the Species 1 vessel...

(Standard Assaultship Yamato Gun power: 20 Gigatons)

There was no great surprise when the Species one ship disappeared. After all, the point was to get it to run away. The surprise came about 10 seconds afterwards, when Captain Mui (so it's a zen buddhist joke, ten points if you know what his name means. Not ha ha funny, but should make you smile.)
realised that though they had disappeared, they couldn't see where to. There were no tell tale trails, no engine discharge, nothing. It was as if they just disappeared. Perhaps they could gain access to the grid as well? There was so much energy in there that it was practically impossible to see anything. It was doubtful though. No-one else had the ability to get energy from it, at least that he knew of. This could be a disaster. This could be bad for his career. First time in charge of a section, an admitedly small section, of the Jordaxian fleet, and he lost the one thing he was to keep an eye on. There was a perfectly reasonable explanation for it, he supposed, but rarely do such things come up when the promotion shortlist was being devised. He needed to do something to show that he wasn't an incompetant. The sensors officer, silently searching through his reams of data, spoke.

"Captain Mui, sir. The Mekantans are charging their Yamato cannons. We can't see if they've locked onto us or not, but we can't see anyone else to fire at."

The situation was rapidly going from bad to worse. Mui turned to the ensign, looking exasperated, breathless in his plight of command.

"Um.... Hail them, ensign. Ask them what they're doing now. It couldn't possibly take us all out."

The ensign flicked a switch on his cluttered console, and began construct his thoughts. He didn't have time for all of this Stellar Hike crap the admiral was pulling. He sent the message out using his neurite/ship comms system. This way was far faster than establishing a visual contact.

calling Mekantan ship Tsairung. We see that you have begun to charge your weapons, yet we do not see any enemy. Please explain your action. Message ends.

His eyes, which had been staring blankly into the screen for the last few seconds, regained focus, and he turned to speak to Mui.

"Sir, the message has been sent, we just need to await their response. They still don't appear to be targetting us, however."

The Captain very slightly relaxed at this statement. They must see something He thought. But what is it that they can see that we can't?

"Sir, the admiral is still unaware of what's just happened. Should I send someone to find him?"

Such a suggestion wasn't even considered by Mui. He hadn't fixed this situation yet. If the admiral came back and resolved it, he'd get all of the credit, whilst Mui would never be raised from where he is now. Most people would be happy just to be a Captain, but not Mui. If he wanted that, he could have bought a ship and been done with it. Mui wanted more than that. He wanted a legacy.

"No! I mean, no. The admiral is obviously exhausted from the trials of recent events. I wouldn't recommend disturbing him at all. When he is ready, he'll come back to assume command."

With that, the Mui and the Ensign sat back, still observing in silence.

Well, I'm gonna be gone til tuesday, at the very earliest... so this looks like it's gonna be held up for a few days. Not something I can help, I'm afraid.

OOC: No problem, I can wait.

OOC:
Kanuckistan:Yes,I'm sorry.I think I just forgot how much a lightsecond actually was.Thanks for reminding me.Anyway,several hundred kilometers is fine.Sorry about that. :)

Anyway,on to business.There have been so many quality,so many long replies that I don't know if I will be able to keep up!My ISP cut my connection until today,si this is a problem.Anyway,I expect to have a reply typed up by tommorrow. :)

I'm glad you appreciate the effort. I could do better, but it'd take longer than an hour, and I like to get my replies up promptly. Speaking of replies, the ball's in one of your three respective courts, I suppose.

OOC- I thought I might jump in too. If I am unwelcome, just let me know and I will scram.

AFS Exploration Cruiser <I>Sunsharis</I>

The Shalrirorchian starship breached into RealSpace, the shutdown of its' FTL drives creating a visual signature very much like a shower of silvery diamonds in space.

"Report." Captain Fieras said, looking a little alarmed at the screen. He didn't see the star formations he should have been seeing.

"We are off course." Spectra, the ship's AI, replied almost immediately. "In fact, we are about 12 kloms away from where we should be. That energy surge completely muddled the flight subroutines."

Fieras snarled in response. Like all Arisians, he was descended from a feline stock that most closely resembled terrestrial Earth lions on two legs. His mane, a flowing crimson affair, was braided with the colors of his tribe. To his race, the tribe was all...an individual's life was, in part, defined in the communal sense. He adjusted the charcoal-colored jacket with its' silver highlights, clicked his shiny black boots together, and regained his composure. "Where, then, are we?"

Spectra, possessed of a quirky sense of humor, was quick to jump on the opportunity. "We are close to -this-." she commented, and a picture of Pluto (though they did not know what it was called) appeared on the main screen. "Object is a Class-6 planetoid, Methane-Nitrogen atmosphere, 122.52 degree axis tilt, mean density of..."

"Thank you, that will be sufficient." Fieras cut her off.

The science officer, Kivet, peered at his instruments. "Scanner arrays detect substantial activity around the planet as well as its' satellite."

"Activity? Hardly a scientific appraisal." the Captain commented in good humor.

"My apologies, sir." Kivet said with a humble tone. "But specifics are too difficult to garner at this range."

"Very well." Fieras stretched a little against the blue cloth of his command chair, then refocused on the screen. "Engineering, report."

The intercom crackled as the Chief Engineer responded. "No damage from the jump, sir, but I'd prefer to recalibrate the entire system before we attempt another jump."

"You have the time, for once." the Captain responded with a grin. "Bridge out." he said, and hit the control switch to end the conversation. "Well then...since we're already here, why don't we just pay this Class-6 planetoid a visit and see what there is to see. Navigation?"

Ths starship's pale blue engines pulsed brightly, and the sleek, silvery (vaguely horseshoe-shaped) cruiser was off.

(OOC: Vaguely horseshoe shaped... like a Bentusi ship, homeworld style? If it is, very nice.. if not, still probably nice. If no-one else objects, I'm fine to one last player, but other than that... it might get cluttered. Unfortunately, since they're away on business, most of my main characters (Mui, Daibai, Padshah Yang-Chen) will not be able to communicate with you. If you can be bothered waiting a while, I'd rather craft a semi decent response. I just thought I'd clarify my position on your joining.)