NationStates Jolt Archive

(This supposedly takes place BEFORE my purchase of books from Camel Eaters)

A lone ship, drifting aimlessly through space beyond the reaches of the Sirius system, is shrouded in what appears to be a dark cloud of gassy material. The gas seemingly emanates from the hull itself, eventually fading away into nothingness some minutes later.

It is a small ship, just a merchant vessel in fact. Only two hundred meters from tip to stern, standard crew of thirty, lightly armed, empty cargo hold considering it was just returning from a trade expedition. The corridors within the ship are seemingly empty, not one sign of activity throughout the main causeway going through the center of the ship, although strange whispers of... something... are audible in the walls. Somewhere.

On the vessel's bridge, a single computer reads "TRANSMITTING SIGNAL, AWAITING RESPONSE"

The signal itself, a simple audio message, plays the following in a constant loop:

"This is Captain Herlon Craile of the Godulan Merchant Vessel WindRider to any GEDRA ship or any ship willing to assist. S.O.S... S.O.S... we are under attack by unknown forces encountered during ProtoSpace transit.

>sounds of gunfire off in the distance, muffled shouts<

"Enemy force appears to be organized, but signs of intelligence are nonexistent. We don't know what they want, but guesses are they want us dead. No matter how much we shoot at them, they just reform and get back up. Half the crew is dead already, the rest are holding them off so I can get this message out.

>muffled screams, one voice calls out "By the Archons! They're coming through the fucking walls!", more gunfire, though less intense than before<

"Is anybody out there?! If you're reading this please help!"

>more screams in the distance, an odd, lilting, hooting type sound is heard, getting closer<

"Oh, fuck. Purging database, they may have us, but they won't get our homeworld. Computer, repeat previous message and execute protocol 1, code alpha-one-two-gamma-niner MARK... OH YOU WANT SOME OF ME YOU SONS OF BITCHES?! COME AND GET SO--"

Message Repeats.

OOC:
Can I rp as the raiders? I rp as Dark Eldar. They are humanoid space "elves" that act as piratical raiders and they desire nothing more than torture...

/ooc I know of the Eldar (WH40K dawn of war rocks yay), but these things are more... unique...

"Sir, we've got a ship on long range," Leutent Soylas said.

"Not another one. Make sure it's not another asteroid," Enigma said.

"Sir, it's drifting towards Terrator. It appears to be a derelict," Soylas said.

"Damn it! I've lost two ships to mysterious cirumstances, nearly fought a war, and now we've got a derelict floating towards us? Major, power up the disruptors. We're going to blow that ship and any mejnots on board to pieces," Enigma said.

"Sir, you're overreacting. The ship will take years before it gets out of mapped space anyway," Soylas said.

"Fine, we'll investigate. Get the marines prepared. There is no way in hell I'm going on that thing," Enigma said.

OOC: Placeholder post.

OOC: If this thread is closed just say so and i will go away.


The Imperial Star Destroyer Hallfire sped through hyperspace on the way towards the Hades system. The bridge a flurry of activity was nothing unusual for a Victory II Star Destroyer. Captain Malin was sitting in his command chair, reading through his mail from Curouscant. He was to be promoted, well not in rank but in position anyway. In five days he was to depart for the Super Star Destroyer Palpatine where he would be under the direct command of Grand Admiral Thrawn one of the greatest military minds in the Empire. Falling into a dream of grandeur the captain was suddenly roused by a petty officer serving for the first time on the bridge. “Captain.” The young officer said nervously. “We have detected an emergency transmission coming from the Sirius system. The translator has analysed the language and it is very similar to Galactic Standard.”

“Hmmmm, what type of craft?”

“Unknown sir, shall we alter course?”

“Indeed alter course immediately, the Sirius system is only eighteen minutes away.”

“Yes Sir.” The petty officer said standing to attention.

The Imperial Star Destroyer slided out of hyperspace within range of the now desolate freighter. Captain Malin looked towards the Sith Darth Haral wishing to know of survivors.

“This vessel eludes to force captain.” The Sith Knight responded. “Beware of it.”

“Very well, helm I want a full scan initiated and prepare several boarding droids.”

“Yes Sir.”

/ooc oh, its quite open. I should prolly put that in the title...

Edited to Add: Waiting to see if more people want to get in on this before things get weird.

The mist surrounding the ill-fated Godulan vessel trembled slightly, registering the approach of the enormous triangular vessel.

ALONE...

ALONE...

ALONE...

OTHERS...

WHERE?

THERE...

HERE?

SOON...

HATE... KILL... EAT...

Three ships moving quickly through space in a convoy, headed home after recieving their cargo. The head officer on the lead ship (a Shrike class light cruiser), Sub-Commander Laziric was going over his mission reports when he heard the ship Comm Officer speak.

Comm: "Sir we are picking up a message. it appears to be an SOS sir."
Laziric: "What is our ETA to that vessel."

Tactical: "36 min sir"

Laziric: "Are there any other ships in the area?"

Tactical: "yes sir, picking up a Unified Sith ship as well as maybe a couple of others."

Laziric: "very well, notify the Freighter that we will be departing to give assissta...."

Befor Laziric could finish he was interrupted by a vissual comm from the Freighter.

Freighter: "this is Commander Hera of the Tal Shiar. i have command of this mission and it is of our up most priority at the moment. you will think twice befor ventureing off."

Laziric: "the Haakona (also a shrike class light cruiser) will stay with you as your escort. besides we might be able to help or even better gather intelligence about another race."

Hera: "I will log this in my report and we shall se what the Brass thinks about it. you just better hope you do gather intel."

Laziric: "do what you want the Tal Shiar doesnt scare me. Comm officer, turn that screen off."

Laziric: "Engage Cloaking System and Set course for the Vessel, even if the other ships get there first we can remain cloaked and wait to see if we are needed. our involvement isn't necessary if the other can handel it."

Helm: "Course laid in and engaged sir."

Tactical: "Cloak engaged and functioning properly."

Laziric: "excellent" with a smerk on his face

"Sir, we're detecting other ships. Including one that disappeared off our sensors as soon as we detected it. Sir, I think it''s cloaked," Soylas said.

"Send out a general communication. I don't want to be fired at just yet," Enigma said.

~Electronic Communication to All Ships in area~
I know you're there, and I suspect you're interested in this derelict. So I'll offer a deal. We work together, you get most of the tech. All I want is star maps of the local area and maybe a weapon or two to hand over to my scientists if they are portable. I'm proposing we work together. I get my star maps and my gun, the rest of you fight or whatever you do best for the rest. We have a deal?
-General Enigma
~Communication remains open~

OOC: Unified Sith, Check TGs...

the Cirsinusan federal vessel ''star angel'' while on one of cirsinus's first deep space missions mapping the region passed through the outer limits of the Sirivs system with the objective of cataloguing the planets in the system.
The Star Angel is a small ship with about 55 crew members.the ship has low strength weapons and primitive shields(keeping in mind that The federated territory of Cirsinus and its commonwealth of nations has only been capable of long term deep space travel for 30 years)however the Star Angel was gifted with the ability to travel at speeds much greater than one might expect a people that have only been able to travel in deep space for 30 years would be able to go.

Helms man 1#''Captain I believe we have finished scanning this region'' ''BEEP BEEP BEEP''

captain '' commander what's that?''

commander Parry '' We're detecting a group of ships sir,they appear to be surrounding a smaller vessel.I cant be sure but I thing they've found a derelict.

chief Ellison '' saints protect us,we've only ever came across 1 other alien species before,and just look at this sir,there must be three or four different ship designs here.''

Captain ''Yes an with four totally new spices on them''

The captain stand staring at the flashing computer screens,the bridge crew watching him intently.

Captain ''Helms man position the ship behind the largest moon of the planet furthest from the systems sun.im not willing to put the ship in un necessary danger when we don't know their objectives,and many of those ships appear to be centuries more advanced,I don't want to show up uninvited unless I know their not a threat.We'll watch and gather information on these species for know.................yes that's what we'll do.

commander Parry '' yes sir'' (he turns to the chief) I cant understand why they might be interested in that vessel?

Chief Ellison '' well maybe their just interested in why is drifting in space with no crew,I guess well find out.

Capitan '' commander also have a scan at that cloud by the derelict,see if we can find out what that is and contact Cirsinus Galactic command and report our findings.when your done take us to stage 3 alert also.

and with that the Star Angel moved behind the moon and started its watch of the group of alian ships.

Onboard the Tennis:

comm: "sir, we are picking up an open hail to all vessels."

Laziric: "very well, play it back."

Laziric listens and wonders what to do.

Tactical: "sir, maybe we should decloak and go along with their plan."

Laziric: "NO, we shall wait. I want to know what that Victory ISD is going to do. we shouldnt show our hand till we know the all that we are dealing with first."

Tactical: "yes sir, of course sir, Cloaking systems still funtioning perfectly"

The tendrils of black mist surrounding the derelict trembled imperceptibly once again.

HATE...

KILL...

FEED...

The dark tendrils began to reach out, extending incorporeal 'feelers'...

OOC: who wants to be the closest ship to the derelict?

The Drake, a Leviathan class carrier based out of Transit, was just cruising along on a simple very long range patrol. It had dropped out of Blue-Space to conduct a test of its GAD array when the message was received.

Open examination of the contents and a hasty meeting of the ships officers, the 4.5 kilometer long starship slipped into Blue-Space and headed off to investigate.

OOC: I'd have a image of the ship, but my computer is down for the moment. And its about 45 lightyears from the source of the signal.

OOC: I will, but seeing that my ship is cloaked, i guess this thing senses my ships or its crews presence. the Trennis is about 1500meters off the derilics bow

onboard the Tennis:

Tactical: "sir, the cloud it seems to be reaching for us."

Laziric: "SHIT, i guess we have been called on this one. DROP CLOAK AND RAISE SHIELDS" the Commander yelled.

Tactical: "DONE." "SIR, Should I power weapons?"

Laziric: "NO NOT YET. but get the Pilots to their fighters and prepair to launch them."

the tension on the ship getting very high now.

ooc: there are 2 Scorpian light fighters and 2 WarHawk Heavy Fighters. stats are on my webpage, link in my signiture.

OOC: Alrighty. And it doesn't so much as detect ships as... feel their mass signature.

One of the tendrils connected with something. Invisible, but it could still feel it, like a breeze across the arm. The tendril latched on like a strand of spider silk, then detached from the derelict, wrapping around the cloaked ship with its limited volume.

It wafted through the ship, imperceptible to the inhabitants except as a light black mist, noting every nook, every panel, every ventilation shaft. Crew strode by, completely unaware of the thing watching them through the walls.

It didn't so much see them as it detected their neural signatures... individual synapses firing registering as little flecks upon its whiskers.

It detected their energy.

It was looking for a specific type of pattern, however. Completely disregarding those who walked the corridors of this new environment for those registering neural activity in a dormant stage.

It would find the sleeping quarters eventually...

EDITED TO ADD: Serpantol, Check TGs...

Onboard the Tennis: Now visable to all the ships around the derilic or in scanner range

Random Bridge crewman: "what happened, whats going on." in a very

fearfull voice.

Laziric: "calm down crewman. Tac, what did happen?"

Tactical: "unsure Commander, i think it made Contact with the ship befor the shields were up, but i dont know sir."

Ops: "commander, there has been a couple of reports of a mist sir but

everything else is normal."

Laziric: "mist, maybe a leak in one of our plasma cooling systems."

Laziric: "engineering, check all systems. see if there are any leaks in

the cooing system."

Engineering: "yes sir, we will, but i dont think anything is wrong."

Laziric: "Comm, Transmit a message to RIS Fleet Command. let them know

whats going on and let them know we may need assistance."

Comm: "yes sir, sending message now"

Laziric: "Tac and ops.. continue internal and external scanes of our ship as well as the derilic vessel. continue monorting the alien ship as well.

There was a bluish flash in the void and the Drake re-entered our universe. Noting that other ships were present on the GAD, Captain Hugo Smith ordered the ship to coast into the area in order to prevent the drive flare from damaging other ships or at least alerting them.

Four StormGremlin fighters launched and took up positions around the carrier, a MC-23 AWACs vehicle was also deployed and sent ahead to inspect the derelict; the experiance of the Oberon-II was not lost on them.

Aboard the DLE ship, the crew was silent. They had just observed a cloud of some unknown substance enter a ship and disappear. And right now, all aboard the ship were considering whether or not to open fire on the derelict and the ship infected with the cloud.

"Sir, your orders?" Soylas asked.

"Hang back. If that cloud has dispersed, we'll enter the derelict and see what we can find. Radio the infected ship and ask them to observe our quarantine rules by keeping their ship at least thirteen hundred meters away from us and their personel at least five hundred meters away from ours when on the derelict. If they come closer to that, permission to enforce standard quarantine break procedures is granted," Enigma said.

"So you want us to destroy them or kill any of their personel that get too close?" Soylas asked.

"Yes. Let them know that is part of the standard. Tell them we are sorry, but that we cannot legally break quarantine. Also, tell them these are not hostile intentions, but standard procedure we must follow. We are sorry to have to make such a request," Enigma said.

"Sir, I'm transmitting now," Soylas said.

~Electronic Communication to the Tennis~
Please observe our quarantine procedure and keep your ship 1,300 meters awayy from ours and, when on the derelict, your personel 500 meters from ours. We are doing this because of that cloud you encountered and our law causes quarantine procedures to come into affect. That same law specifies we are to open fire with intention to destroy or kill if anyone breaks quarantine. We do not wish to this, but cannot make an exception out of fear of possible contamination. We hope the cloud has done nothing to your ship or personel and that we are just being paranoid. In any case, the offer we transmitted last time still stands.
I do hope this event resolves itself to our quarantine procedures being just an annoyance and that we can resolve this, with possible compensation for the annoyance, at the diplomat's table.
-Dictator Enigma
~Communication line remains open~

Onboard the Tennis:

Comm: "sir, we are being hailed by the DLE ship. they say if we break their quarantine procedures they will fire on us."

Laziric: "route the full messege to my command chair."
a few moments pass
Laziric: "i see, well, comm, transmit this message"

~ Communication ~

To the Commanding officer of the DLE ship.
We do not believe that we are contaminated by anything, however out of good faith we will not get close to your ship or your crew and your deal seems fine. However, Under no circumstances will you fire on my ship. if you do, then under RIS (Romulan Imperial Serpantol) rules of engagement i will be force to return fire. i hope that it doesnt come to that and i hope we can work on this opperation together.

~ End Communication ~

Laziric: "the communication said that the cloud might have entered the ship. well, maybe but...."

Comm: "Communication incomeing from Fleet Command sir."

Laziric: "Ok, lets see it."

on the Viewscreen was Fleet Commander Vizaric Azrikolov (pic under pesonnel on webpage)

Fleet Commander Vizaric Azrikolov: "Command has decided this could be a dangerous situation and has dispatched the Two Closest Ships (Norexam "Valdore" Class Warbirds). they should reach your position in aproximatly 1 hour 10 mins.

Laziric: "thank you will there be a higher officer onboard one of the ships?"

Fleet Commander Vizaric Azrikolov: "yes but you have Command of this Opperation at this point."

Laziric: "yes sir"

Fleet Commander Vizaric Azrikolov: "Fleet Command out"

The Viewscreen turns off and a picture of the RIS Flag and logo displays.

~Communication to Tennis~
We thank you. We will also do our part to help keep the distance of the quarantine so as to prevent that nasty section of our law comming into effect. Sometimes in navigation or exploration, accidents happen that cause people to get closer than intended. As such, any case of your ship or personel getting too close and not holding making hostile actions will be assumed to be a simple unavoidable error with neither side being faulted for it. With that in mind, my people are ordered to begin moving and try to get at least half the distance required, if not all of it depending on circumstances, away. Of course, this will have to be our secret to prevent any trouble for my crew members.
We find your terms acceptable. We don't shoot you, you don't shoot us. And vice versa.
Perhaps we can start at opposite ends of the derelict. We can cover more ground that way. Plus, we can pile anything we find that may be of interest to the other which we don't want in a chosen location in the center.
-General Enigma
~End communication~

~ Communication ~

To the DLE ship

Agreed then, opposite ends of the derelict. considering we are

1500meters off the bow i suppose we take the forward you take the aft

section. As for movement we are very close to the derelict (in space

terms) not much room to move however we plan to move 3600meters off the

bow. at these cordinates: (generic place in space). however know that

our boarding party will be armed but not with the ideas of shooting at

your crewman. Good luck to you. Laziric out.

~ End Communication ~

HATE...

It had wandered into what appeared to be a berthing area. The room sported several bunks set into each side of the cabin, only a few of which contained sleeping crewmembers.

It was drawn by them. It was drawn to them.

HATE...

KILL...

FEED...

HUNGRY...

A small tendril of mist flicked across one of the sleeping crewmen...

OOC: Serpantol, incoming TG

OOC: Damn! I ran out of ideas. I'll be off for the night. See you guys tomorrow.

OOC: Serpantol, incoming TG[/b]

ooc: Godular, incoming TG response to TG

OOC: Kewl... time to get the party started, so to speak...

HATE...

KILL...

MURDER...

The poor sleeping crewman knew not why his pleasant dream involving him, three supermodels, and twelve tons of peanut butter suddenly turned into a horrific visage of terror and madness. All he knew was that he SHOULD have woken up long before it got this bad.

The words repeated themselves in his mind, over and over again, getting louder and more forceful with each repetition.

HATE KILL MURDER HATE KILL MURDER HATE KILL MURDER HATE KILL MURDER...

The crewman tried to block the words out, but they were too strong, too forceful, the images flooding his mind too ghastly, too horrific.

HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE...

His mind locked just then, and he let out a gasp of terror, unable to utter anything beyond that. Then he fell still, unbreathing, unblinking in his expression of mortal terror.

Then he rose.

The word "Rose" is not meant to convey the meaning of him "Getting Up" but rather, levitating to an upright position while maintaining a rock-still position. The only parts moving were his lips and fingers. Complete gibberish issued from his lips, as the entity controlling him knew not what words were. His fingers worked like a grandmaster pianist working his magnum opus, and his eyes stared at his surroundings with a glow of total... murder in his eyes.

He, now It, regarded one of the other sleeping crewmen, then wafted towards him, arms stretching out, promising an iron vice grasp, and black mist issuing from his eyes...

Meanwhilst

The mist around the derelict shuddered again, this time extending itself to meet the other nearby ship.

This was no lazy feeling-out of surroundings, a single spike of dark mist erupted out of the cloud and swept through the DLE ship.

HATE...

KILL...

EAT...

Onboard the Tennis:

Tactical: "sir......., the cloud around the derelict. it just hit the DLE ship."

Laziric: "you mean the cloud is drifting torwards their ship as well."

Tactical: "NO SIR. I MEAN THE CLOUD HIT THE DLE SHIP SIR..." seeming very scared and uneasy.

OPS: "hes right sir. it did."

Laziric: "If it sprang forth to HIT the DLE ship, perhaps there is more to work here than just a leak weather it be here or on the derelict ship. it just may be that we really are contaminated."

Laziric: "Place the Ship on Full Alert. Place Guards throughout the ship in vital areas. Issue RDRm2's (Romulan disruptor rifles M2 model) to the RIS Troops onboard and Zat Disruptors to non-security, non-combatents.(Although Romulans are usually always armed) Something just isnt right here. and we need to figure out what."

Tactical: "yes sir, sending orders to Security personel and troops."

Laziric: "Comm, Send this message to the DLE ship"

~ Communication ~

To the DLE ship:
General Enigma, it would seem that the need for space between us is no longer needed. The cloud was seen entering, or attacking... what ever you want to say, your ship. I believe that we are both "Contaminated" as you would say. Something is going on here and we need to find out what and fast. Laziric out.

~ End Communication ~

Comm: "message sent sir"

Laziric: "good now contact Fleet Command and the Incoming ships and Tell them what Just Happened. Let them know they need to stay at range untill we know what is going on."

Comm: "yes sir, sending now"

OOC: Most likly the last Post tonight

Now there were four. One for each of the dead Serpantolian crewmen it had caught unawares.

Each of them floated several inches in the air, expressions of abject terror intermixed with unsurpassed rage on their faces, fingers flexing and working at nothing, and lips issuing whispered incomprehensible curses.

HATE...

HATE HATE HATE...

Something approached, outside. They felt the neural signature stop at the berthing room door.

They fled into the walls, leaving nought but an empty room behind.

EDITED TO ADD

And on the DLE vessel, clouds of dark mist flitted through the ventilation systems, searching for more dormant neural signatures...

Enigma stood up at the communication, looking around. The cloud was all around them, filling the entire bridge, only to then vanish. He wasn't about to wait for the inevitable. With a movement none of the living creatures on his ship could see as a more than a blur, the android activated the emergency klaxons.

Within only two minutes he heard the marines awake and grabbing their weapons. They were trained to deal with this, having been through a dozen contamination drills, but this was their first with the Dictator himself onboard. The marines were obviously trying their best to impress.

Suddenly, Soylas cried out in pain, bending over and kneeling to the floor as best she could in the cramped space. From the way her face twisted, it was not a pleasant experience. Enigma looked at her and indicated a want to know what is wrong.

"Sorba Syndrom, sir. Had it since I was young. I don't know why the meds are not working," Soylas said.

Enigma nodded. Sorba Syndrom was a misfiring of the pain neurons in the stomach, causing the victim to double over in what they can only describe as the worst pain they ever felt. The disease was caused by an incurable viral infect of the nervous system and so far no method of infection had been found.

"Marines! Get Soylas to a room and give her a dose of Seraton. Guard her while she sleeps," Enigma said.

As Soylas was helped back into the sleeping area, Major Setos took her place. He had questioned the need for a full dozen marines, but the look on his face now said he was glad he wasn't listened to. He was obviously relieved to have the firepower behind them.

"Sir, a communication from the Tennis," Setos said.

"Let me see," Enigma commanded.

~Electronic Communication to Tennis~
We noticed. I'm beginning a general broadcast of a quarantine message. I'm setting the requested distance to one full light year. Maybe this damned cloud can keep from reaching that far. Since we are already infected, I doubt either of us need to maintain any distance
One of my command staff has had an unusual reaction to this. The cloud seems to have caused the medication she takes for a genetic defect she has to stop working. The defect is a neural problem. I suggest you keep a close watch on everyone on your ship for unusual behavior.
In ten minutes, I'll be sending a major transmission to my homeworld. It'll contain a copy of our logs, where we are, and what has happened. It'll also include orders for diplomatic relations to begin with your nation. Even if I don't survive, what we agreed to today will.
-Dictator Enigma
~End communication~

"Major, prepare the transmitters. In addition to what I told him I am sending, I want a copy of my program forwarded as well. This way, I survive even if my body does not," Enigma said.

Edit:

OOC: Yes, Enigma is an android. No, they cannot replace him if he is destroyed. He's one of those rare remnants that survived the destruction of a certain empire.

Onboard the Tennis:

Comm: "sir, transmission from the DLE ship sir"

Laziric: "rout it to my Chair"
serveral moments passed
Laziric: "comm, replie with this message"

~ Communication ~

To Enigma, DLE ship
Agreed, send your signal, I have already transmited the data and requested that the inbound ships remain at distance. I plan to order a ship wide search as well as a mandintory head count. Reports will be in shortly. i will notify you of any thing we find wrong so that you may check yourselves aswell. Laziric out.

~ end Communication ~

Laziric: "ops, order a ship wide search for anything out of the ordinary and have all personel report for a head count."

Ops: "sir, yes sir, done sir."

Secret IC:

RIS Fleet Commander:

Fleet Commander Vizaric Azrikolov Stands Up from his seat in front of the Fleet Council. In a Great Hall, A Large round room with a massive Wooden Round Table with control pads on it. the room decorated with massive dark green banners with the Serpantolian Flag on them and two large Arched doorways one leading to the Command and communications Center. The other Leading in to what seemed to be a massive projection room. where Fleet coordination as well as combat analyse is Completed by the Fleet Commander.

Fleet Commander Vizaric Azrikolov: "This is a Grave Situation The Tennis is in. We do not know what this "cloud" is... ideas?"

Councilman #1: "It could be a new weapon. something our enemies created to destroy us."

Councilman #2: "maybe some form of radiation."

Fleet commander Vizaric Azrikolov: "Perhaps but i dont think so. right now it is up to Laziric, if for any reason this could be a weapon or any other thing that could harm the RIS Empire, well.... we would have to give the Warbirds waiting for them the order to eliminate the threat. i hope for Lazirics sake that it doesnt come to that.

Councilman #1: "agreed"

Councilman #2: "agreed"

Councilman #3: "agreed"

Councilman #4: "agreed"

Councilman #5: "agreed"

Fleet Commander Vizaric Azrikolov: "fine...., Agreed then, we will wait for know, but if anything dangerous shows itself, the Tennis and all things there will be destroyed."

The AWACs returned to the hanger of the Drake and the crew gave a full report on what was occuring. Captain Smith decided to reveal their presence to those already at the ships side.
"Greetings, we were just passing through the area when we recived a distress signal; how can we be of assistance?"

OOC: The message was transmitted to all ships present.

OOC: DLE, didja get my TG?

Also waiting to infect United Sith's ISD until I figure out if he still wants to be a part or not. He's prolly dealing with another declaration of war...

It clung to the woman as they brought her to her quarters, remaining unseen within the very fabric of her being. It understood that it had somehow disrupted her neural pattern and presented an easy target.

HUNGER...

It waited.

Onboard the Tennis:

Comm: "sir, another transmission, seems to be from a different ship,... the Drake sir."

Laziric: "very well, lets hear it" Listens to transmission. "well this
isnt good. if more ships are infected the harder the mess will be to
clean up.... Comm open Communication to the Drake."

~ Communication ~

TO THE DRAKE
This is Commander Laziric of the RIS Crusier Tennis. I would recommend
that you stay clear of this area untill we are clear what is going on.
however, Proceed at your own risk.

~ End Communication ~

OPs: "Sir..., we are recieving the crew counts from all ship sections."

Laziric: "and?"

Ops: "well sir, everything seems good.... no, wait... Engineering is
reporting 4 team members unaccounted for."

Laziric: "unaccounted for?" "what the hell is going on." "comm, open
channel to the DLE ship."

Comm: "channel open sir"

~ Communication ~

To Enigma, DLE Ship
Enigma, we have discovered that there are four members of my engineering
team. we have not yet found out why. I will keep you posted.

~ End Comunication ~

Laziric: "begin a ship wide search.. i want those team members found now

damn it"

OPs: "reports say that the missing crew members shift was over and they
were sleeping. but vanished"

Laziric: "just find them"

The tension on the ship at an all time high. the stress of the situation
even showing in the Commanders eyes and voice. This added to the stress
of the Crew.

OOC: yeah i think i saw a new thread riseing up against Unified Sith.

Onboard the Tennis:

Comm: "sir, another transmission, seems to be from a different ship,... the Drake sir."

Laziric: "very well, lets hear it" Listens to transmission. "well this
isnt good. if more ships are infected the harder the mess will be to
clean up.... Comm open Communication to the Drake."

~ Communication ~

TO THE DRAKE
This is Commander Laziric of the RIS Crusier Tennis. I would recommend
that you stay clear of this area untill we are clear what is going on.
however, Proceed at your own risk.

~ End Communication ~


"Understood Tennis, we shall maintain a 200 kilometer distance between our ship and the object. Let us know if you need anything further. Smith out.'

It was easy to follow the movements of the security teams as they conducted their search of the ship. It could read their neural signatures from within the walls themselves.

It made certain to avoid them, it did not wish direct confrontation yet.

Instead, it ventured further into the ship, searching out smaller groups. The tension it had aroused in the ship had caused them to congregate together for safety. It never detected less than two at any one time. It would have to live with something far removed from the enemy.

It settled upon a group of six people doing their own unfathomable things in a room that radiated another form of energy signature. This other energy signature was too stable to be natural, and therefore distasteful. It resembled the energy signature that had drawn them into this reality. It did not like this reality. It was mad.

HATE...

KILL...

FEED...

One of it emerged from the wall closest to one of the Neural Signatures, and it was surprised again at the return of its normal vision. It heard itself uttering some form of hoot like gasp that conveyed curses and hatred upon all who heard it. It seemed to be reacting to its own thoughts. It had not been able to establish a similar connection when its brothers attacked the first thing-that-brought-them-here...

It attempted to clarify the synaptic pattern in order to understand better what it itself was muttering:

"Heeh... Heeh... Heey..."

The closest crewman spun around and shouted in surprise. The others turned to consider this new development then, ran to a panel on the wall, triggering a disruptive buzzing sound that repeated once a second.

"Hey... Hay... Hate..."

The synaptic pattern clarified as much as it could, and the voice finally hit on something coherent. It amplified the word to counter the annoying buzzing sound.

"HATE! HATE! HATE! HATE! HATE! HATE! HATE!"

It floated towards one of the crewmen, who was scrambling to leave the room, gaining speed and reaching out maniacally.

Onboard the Tennis:

The Bridge crew had gathered to discuss their current predicament. As Alarms rang out, the crew scaddered to their posts.

Ops: "sir, Deck 10 section C Room 325a."

Laziric: "dispatch the closest Security detachment to that area."

Tactical: "YES SIR, team 3 is closest, 4 men, they are one of the Light troops sir, 4 men... they are on there way.."

Team 3: "be there in less 2 minutes."

In the background of the Comm.... "Charge up Boys... lets make this ships problems go away." "yes sir... go.go.go"

Meanwhile:

The man at the door tried to run but the entity was just to fast. it easly overwelmed him. One of the other men that made it to the security pannel drew a Zat Disruptor and attempted to fire at the thing befor him.

OOC: INcoming TG/Godular

OOC: May I still join? If so. I'm Fantasy/FT

The Goodship Lyre was a small bardic vessel. Its crew consisted of three men. One was Ramblin' Fey the other two were technicians. Mischief o' the Eternal Seas (the fey) recognized evil when he saw it and that cloud was evil.

He piloted the tiny blue ship closer to the Serpantol dispatch team. Mischief raised the signal on his craft.

"Death rests in those clouds. Pull back before death takes you." He prepared himself for a battle that was not a possibility but a fact.

OOC: Responded to TG, then read thread. wee!

The zat pulse took It right in the chest, stunning it and causing its expression to include something akin to shock in its horrendous visage. It had dealt with simple metal slugs before, those hurt not at all. But this... this HURT...

This was PAINFUL.

THIS MADE IT MAD.

It let off a piercing shriek completely impossible in Serpantolian physiology. There was simply no way its host's throat could support such a screeching wail.

The man it had pinned managed to wriggle free from Its grasp and tried to scramble further, but one of Its brothers lunged from the floor and dragged the man into the floor.

The other man bolted from the doorway, firing another blast that sailed over Its right shoulder.

Its expression had intensified, nearly causing veins to pop in Its neck, and it now visibly trembled with rage.

"HATE! HATE! HATE! HATE! HATE! HATE! HATE!"

Its three brothers echoed the wail in their own mindspeak, unable as yet to duplicate the physical keening.

It felt only slightly calmed as It felt Its fourth brother spawning beneath Its feet. It drifted back beneath the floor and joined its brethren, seething with rage...

OOC to Camel Eaters: Its an open thread, I don't see why not. This will pretty much explain why I bought so many demonology books from ya (this takes place before the purchase, of course)

Onboard the Tennis:

Ops: "definite weapons fire sir.""reports say one of the men fired and the attacker took a direct hit but was only slitly fazed."

Laziric: "a disruptor blast from that range should have disintegrated him."

Ops: "yes sir i agree. however they also report that the attacker.. no wait attackers just vanished and appeared into and out of walls bulkheads and flooring. i feel that there is something very very wrong here."

Laziric: " i agree, this just isnt normal. how long till team 3 gets there."

Tactical: "SECONDS SIR"

Laziric: "seel off that deak.(forcefields) post guards there. get some guards up here to the bridge. and people... Arm Yourselves. This shit will not happen on my ship."

Team 3: "Sir... we are in position" "its a real mess down here... got some injured."

Laziric: "take them to the infirmary. and make a full report."

Laziric: "comm, open channel to all ships"

~ Communication ~

General Transmission
Our missing people seemed to be able to vanish and attack from walls, We are still unsure as to what is going on... but it has got to be that cloud. Our weapons are haveing limited effect on these things... all i know is that they are not our people anymore. im sending a team to the derelict ship, try to find something about these things. all i can say is watch your backs, and good luck.

~ End Communication ~

Laziric: "Prepair a boarding party, Take six Troops fully armed (DRDm2's and Zat Disruptors), as well as a medic and one of the engineers. FIND ME SOMETHING PEOPLE" "Sub-Lieutenant Nirx you are in charge, arm yourself as well. suit up and head out (space suits to check for breathable air first)."

Nirx: "yes sir"

Nirx walks over to a weapons locker picks up a ZD (Zat Disruptor) and heads out for the transporter room. on the way Nirx stopped at a one of the heavy ordinance lockups and picked up a few supprises.. (plasma granades).

OOC: TG for Godular

Secret IC:

RIS Fleet Command:

Back at Fleet Command things are heating up. This new creature or entity is seen as a dangerous threat to the empire and the Council are Frightened by the idea of it not beening stoped by their weapons.

Fleet commander Vizaric Azrikolov: " As you know gentlemen, we have been
monitoring the situation on the Tennis. Commander Laziric is holding
himself well, but he is young and lacks the experience that may be
needed to bring them through this. we shall see if His team finds
anything usefull. if not... we will have to do something, i hate to
loose such a promising Commander."

Councilman #3: "i agree... but if this thing.. what ever it is threatens
the Empire.. then it must be destroyed."

Councilman #5: "i agree"

Fleet commander Vizaric Azrikolov: "yes something will have to be done
but what i ask, destroy it... can we... you saw the reports, the ZD's
had little effect."

Councilman #5: "yes but a WarBirds Medium Disruptor cannon are far from
that of a ZD."

Fleet commander Vizaric Azrikolov: "yes that is true... but im still not
convinced yet." "lets see if Laziric can come through for us."

Councilman #3 "very well... we will wait."

Its brothers had begun to formulate words of their own, each gravitating towards the word they repeated in their own minds over and over.

Hate trembled visibly with rage, still aggravated by the blast it had taken in the chest. PAIN...

Kill and Murder sent soothing energies in Hate's direction, doing their best to calm him down, but he would have none of it. KILL!

The fifth and newest one, who had not yet formulated a word, shivered. HUNGER...

They all twitched in surprise as some layer of energy wrapped itself around their area. Eat floated to the nearest energy field and tested it, placing his hand on the field and seeming surprised when his hand couldn't penetrate.

Eat gathered himself, then slammed through, penetrating the force field through sheer willpower more than anything. WEAK, it sent back to its brethren.

The newest one noticed the neural signatures above them, and couldn't resist himself. He flew up to intercept them. Hate followed immediately, followed reluctantly by the other three. The disruptor blast had disconcerted them, but it had not killed them. So far, nothing had killed them. They had no concept of death. Such things did not even come to their own incomprehensible minds.

They arose from the floor all at once, effectively surrounding the guard group that had come to investigate and keep watch. The newest one and Hate being the first to lunge.

OOC to DLE: I'm gonna haveta take your ailing crewmember. I think I sent a TG about it...

It wafted toward's the woman's neural signature, vaguely feeling the combat emotions of its brethren on the other ship. It was surprisingly stressed by these emotions, and lost all sense of its patience. It needed to act... NOW.

It entered into her mind, flooding it with horrific images and words of pure insanity, its surging efforts purely designed to overwhelm her before she could scream in surprise. That had been their mistake on the first ship, it wouldn't be the case this time.

Finally, she gasped violently once, then lay still. Shortly after, she floated through the floor.

Edited to Add: Serpantol, sent a TG about your boarding party.

Mischief recognized them all. Hate Hunger Kill and Murder. He would have to fight them in a way that would do them justice.

He prepared a fullfilment spell and launched it at Hunger. For Kill he prepared the Pacifism spell and launched it. For Hate he prepared a love spell basic attraction but any love should be able to counteract such vile hatred for all. For Murder he prepared the most powerful murder reversal spell he knew (it makes the murderer experience the victim's standpoint of the murder) and launched it...

OOC: What he's Fey.

Onboard the Tennis:

Nirx stands on the Transporter pad with his team and prepairs for his mission.

Nirx: "EVERYBODY READY"

"YES SIR" replied the men

Nirx: "Good.. LETS GO"

and whith that the men disapeared from the Tennis in a Green flash of light and Reapeared on the Derelict ship.

Nirx: "Alrigh men.. we have a crossection of the ship from the Tennis's sencors.. lets make our way to the command center of this ship and find out what the hell happened here."

and with that note the men begain to make their way to the ships bridge be ever watchfull of what was around them.

Meanwhile Back on the Tennis:

As the things lunged forward at the men the guards were cought by supprise.. the entities easly took down the first two men. however these were highly trained combat troops. the other two men did not hesitate and begain to fire there Disruptor rifles very rapidly at the attackers. one of the men reached for his Comm...

Team member #3: "this is Pratrol Team 5 We have just been attacked by two of the things."

Laziric: "tactical... get support down there to those men.""tell them to fall back to a defencive position."

Team member #3: "got it"..."Fall back get to that room"

The remaining team members pulled back away from the attackers while continueing to fire heavily leaving many char marks on the bulkheads around the targets. they were unsure of the damage they inflicted on the entities. the men move into the room. it was the crews mess hall. the men went over behind a set of tables and waited, all while keeping a close eye for anything.

Team member #4: "the Lieutenant is down man... we gotta help him he would do it for us."

Team member #3: "i know but our orders are to fall back and wait for help... so that... thats what we are going to do."

Team 6: "We are one deck up... just hold on we will save your asses"

on the bridge:

Laziric: "DAMN IT... i want one of these things brought down... we need to know what is going on..."

Laziric: "Comm, get me the boarding team"

Nirx: "Nirx here sir. what can i do for you?"

Laziric: "You can find me an answer for one thing soldier."

Nirx: "we are on our way to the ships bridge sir. we'll be there shortly."

Laziric: "Notify me the second you find something."

Nirx: "will do sir... Nirx out."

Secret IC:

Onboard the Goraxus:

(one of the Norexam class Warbirds that are waiting for orders just out of range of the derelict so that they can monitor and relay to Fleet command about the situation as it unfolds)

Commander Tieberoc was in his office just off the bridge making out his reports on what was happening when he was interrupted....

Comm: "Commander Tieberoc, we are receiving a communication from Fleet Commander sir."

Tieberoc: "very well route it to my office viewscreen."

The message reads..

~Commander Tieberoc, considering the situation at hand. RIS Fleet Command has deamed it necessary that, if for any reason a ship tries to leave the area that you have reason to believe is infected by these things. you have direct orders from Command to intercept and destroy the vessel.

Fleet commander Vizaric Azrikolov
RIS Fleet Command, Serpantol Prime ~

Tieberoc, a seasoned combat Commander thinks to himself, "what a grave situation this has become. to destroy the Tennis or one of these other ships. this could be a day to be mourned by many."

ooc CE... their names don't have anything to do with how to beat them. Though they might be perturbed by the magical energies thrown at them. Might also want to ask about getting on the ship before slinging spells around, the Serpantolians are likely a TAD on edge at the moment...

They felt satisfied... for the moment. They were in the process of spawning two more brethren, though the more recent one, who had evidently settled upon Pain, was... regenerating strangely.

They knew not what was happening, but Pain was changing shape. He seemed to be... sprouting things.

He was going through a series of memories in his host's mind, sprouting mental facsimiles of leaves, wheels, faces... Then he fell upon a memory of an ancient history book, particularly something called a "Suit of Armor"...

PAIN... NO PAIN...

It took a while, but he somehow managed to absorb some of the metal surrounding it into his own body, forming armored plates on parts of his body that had caused the most pain when hit. It seemed as though Pain had somehow acquired a metallic sheen.

The others cowered at this, knowing that Pain had somehow risen above them, despite his youth. They knew not how to duplicate what he had just done to himself, for they had not been as seriously injured as Pain had. He had failed to rejoin the wall before taking a large series of painful disruptor blasts.

NO PAIN... NO PAIN...

For the first time for all of them... Pain grinned.

Meanwhilst, on the Godulan Vessel

Too many of them had faded away, but Massacre remained. He had chosen the word after the last word that passed through the mind of his host before his mind was destroyed.

He watched the boarding party stalk their way towards the command center. He had long since lost his ability to create brethren, as his power had grown too strong, and he was distressed that these people were making their way to... The-Thing-They-Couldn't-Take.

It fell out of a wall, somewhat removed from the enemy, and started making his way towards the bridge via an alternate route. Its command of language was somewhat more improved than those on the other ships.

WHYYYYYYYYYY...

Onboard the Derelict ship:

Nirx: "Commander Laziric, We are just out side the bridge of the ship, we are going to enter now."

Laziric: "very good Nirx, Be careful."

Nirx: "Yes sir"

the Comm was left open to allow the Commander to hear everything that went on at this point.

Nirx: " you and you cover us... you open the door. ill take point you.. soldier follow after me. careful doc... watch yourself." "GO"

The men pried open the door and Nirx and one of the soldiers rushed in, followed by the rest of the troops. as they came in they notice the figure of a man, standing with what appeared to be a weapon. Two soldiers approched the figure and examined it. Nirx approched one of the control stations.

Nirx: "get that engineer in here and see about translating and accessing this system"

Soldier 1: "yes sir"

one of the two soldiers that was examinating the statue of a man left to get the engineer and the medic. Nirx decided to report in.

Nirx: "commander we have the bridge secured. im bring in the engineer to see what he can do here.... hay soldier get away from that thing.."

The soldier responded with "yes sir" but befor he did he poked at the statue.... the statue came alive firing at the door as he yelled "OOMMMMMMEEEEE". one of the rounds lodged itself in the wall very close to the door that the soldier, engineer, and medic were walking through narowly missing them.

Laziric: "What was that... What the hell is going on there."

Nirx: "its a survivor sir... we have a survivor"

Nirx: "medic.. get over there and check him out... engineer see what you can do with the ships systems"

One of the soldiers quick in his thinking is fast to disarm the man. The man seemed lost or incoherent. seeing that the man was disarmed Nirx approched him.

Nirx: "Sir, Can you hear me... can you understand me... My name is Nirx, i'm an officer on the RIS Crusier Tennis. We are here to help you.. sir do you understand. Our ship and its crew as well as another responding to your distress call has been infected by something from your ship. can you tell us anything about this..

(Nirx waits for the man to reply)

He stood there, dumbfounded momentarily. "Fuggin' smokey bastards!" then he noted the several newcomers. "Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?.

Straightening his black and gold uniform, he walked up to one of the bulletholes in the far wall.

"Shit... my brainsafe musta kicked in. Left me rock still until somebody touched me. Happens whenever I'm exposed to lethal circumstances."

Noting the confused looks on the others, he shrugged. "Eh, never seen a full cyberbod before? All the officers get it. Really nice for developing skills when you don't need to worry about physical strength or speed anymore.

"Gonna ask again. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Gonna ask again. What the hell are you doing here?"


Onboard the Derelict:

Nirx: "My name is Nirx, i am an officer of The RIS Cruiser Tennis, and these are some of our crew. We responded to a distress call from your ship. it would appear that our ship and crew as well as another have been infected by something from your ship... is there anything else you can tell us of this mist... or the entities that it seems to create?"

OOC: last post tonight

Craile considered this response.

"Shit... I thought y'all were raiders, armed to the gills like that. Thought you were gonna gank, or had already ganked, our cargo. Raw materials n' shit for the homeland, steel, superconductors, what have ya.

"We were bookin' it through protospace at our normal breakneck speed when we started getting a little clunky around the britches. Now keep in mind that in protospace, the only crap that's solid is stuff that we bring in with us, so when we smack into something, its a big deal. We dropped out of protospace and started up an external scan to figure out what the hell had bonked us, and found this nasty mist all over us. Didn't want to disperse either! Protomatter mist usually fades back into protospace after just a few minutes, but this stuff just wouldn't poof!

"Then people started going completely wacko. Some poor newbie schmuck was off in his quarters taking a quick nap before his shift, next thing we know, BAM dude's a fuggin' demon, walking through the corridors with this spooky look on his face and his hands making like a master of sign language.

"Don't think we just sat around wondering what the hell had happened. Oh no, soon as he responded to our initial questions with tackling one of the guards and turning him into one of... him, we started shooting like madmen. Put thirty bullets into each of their heads, and by the Archons, those sumbitches got right back up and started making with this freaky scream like you wouldn't believe! One by one those pricks got us, and I decided to fire off a quick distress signal, guess I was kinda hoping that some of the other Godulan vessels that book it through this route woulda picked up the message and called fer help from high command. I'd heard rumors of demons and shit floating about protospace. Critters that shouldn't be, but were, yanno? Real mystical and shit.

"Guess you could say I was hoping for an exorcism. HEH!

"So, yer sayin' its on yer ship now too? Spreadin' like a plague, huh?"

Enigma visibly paled as he listened to the last gurgles of two guards over the comms. They had just said something about Soylas being up and about. Despite being completely mechanical, he was designed to be replica of humanity, at least in the form the Sarkarasetans presented. Now, however, he was getting an idea of what was on his ship.

"Major, get security personel prepared to fight for control of our ship. Major? Major, pay attention!" Enigma said, turning to view the Major.

Setos was doubled over as well, but the look on his face was different. It was one of discomfort, but not pain. Enigma swore, recognizing exactly what was happening.

"Attention all marines. Soylas is now a hostile and the two guarding her are either dead or hostile. Shoot to kill. Also, it appears Nature decided now was the time for the Change. I want a full report of everyone on this ship who was shown to be one of the early changers. They are to be protected while evolution takes its course," Enigma said.

"Sir, Soylas was one of those marked. The virus... Sir, she's expected to become a terravorla," Setos said.

"Damn. The marines are not going to like what they must do now," Enigma said.

OOC: If you are wondering what is going on, just ask.

Terravorla? Yeah, I'm gonna ask what's goin' on.

OOC: Evolution. Basically, they are undergoing an evolutionary change. This will take days to complete, so they'll all be dead long before the results become an issue. Basically, look at it as half of the total crew (before the deaths) being incompacitated.

Terravorla is, well, a temporary name thrown out until they can figure out what she really becomes. It's mostly a combination of their word for "vampire" (vorla) with the name of their planet (Terran). The name is chosen to cover the fact they actually have no clue as to what is going on.

Oh, my TG about Enigma not dying wasn't clear. I meant as long as he didn't die from those beings taking over him. Other than that, he's as vulnerable as everyone else.

Edit: This is not to seem godmoding. Beyond the inconvenience, it really has not effect on the country as a whole. When the country as a whole changes because of this, I'll make a topic. Until then, RP weakness.

OOC: They seem to have difficulty with mechanical critters. Even cyborgs, like the captain of the derelict who just came back to life, seem to stymie the attacks of the mistcritters.

OOC: Sorry didn't realize that the names had nothing to do how to beat them. Can we just pretend he never launched the stuff?

The human technicians were preparing Mischief. They folded his wings in as they readied his armor. It was large and deadly with a hundred different spells dotting the surface.

The Tesla Hand Cannon (TTHC) floated in zero g as Mischief grabbed it and primed the superheated coils. The techs were both in basic marine combat suits with a bit of an upgrade. Rocket Launchers and High Velocity Flamethrowers were in the arms of both as they primed the Rambler to drop the three warriors on the derelicts hull...

Onboard the Derelict:

Nirx: "protomatter, from protospace, and protodemons... well ist this wonderful... "

Laziric: "Nirx, What is going on over there?"

Nirx: "Demons sir, Protodemons"

Laziric: "Demons?"

The Serpantolian people do not have gods nor devils or demons, therefor this is something very new to them. something that they have a hard time grasping and understanding.

Nirx: "yes sir, Mystical the man says, i suppose some sort of creatures sir."

Laziric: "well why was it that is man survived when none of the rest of his crew did?"

Nirx: "well sir, he mentioned an implant or cybernetic system. perhaps this has something to do with it. he also said that the person that the creature took was sleeping sir. wasn't our crew members that were taken first sleeping as well. this seems like more than just a coincident sir."

Laziric: "I agree, ill get the med team to come up with testable theories. ops the the med team what we have learned and tell them to work on possible solutions..., Nirx, find out anything else you can then get back here leave the troops and the engineer there. see if the engineer can get the ship up and running and the troops can guard him and the survive.

Nirx: "yes sir. nirx out..."

Comm is now closed.

Nirx: "Sir,(talking to the captain of the derelict) is there anyway to stop this things. you mentioned an exorcism i believe you called it. i dont understand but is it posable and what would we need." "you also mentioned contacting your homeworld. we have powerful sub-space Communcation systems. perhaps with your help we could contact you people"

"Well, the comm unit on this ship transmits on all frequencies and on a Godulan-Only gravwave system that can be received in Protospace. Its kinda like when somebody taps the side of a boat in morse code to send messages to submarines, yanno?

"If any other Godulan ships went by this route since we dropped out, they should have brought word to the homeland long ago.

"'Sides, we have two problems. One, I don't know a damn thing about exorcisms and whatnot, only that a priest is involved, but we're not exactly a God-Fearin' bunch ourselves, if yanno what I'm sayin'.

"Two, I purged the database on this computer, which unfortunately included the codes to start up direct comms with the homeland. When them floaty bastards got too close, I pulled the plug, pretty much. Standard protocol when a vessel is compromised. Ain't gonna let 'em get a hold of jack, shit, anything in between, and THEN some, believe you me!"

Craile was about to continue when the doors on the far side of the bridge reverberated with an eerie keening wail.

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY...

Craile reached for his pistol, grunted when he realized that one of the boarding party had his gun, and held his hand out.

"I would REALLY like to have my magnum back, yo. When our happy happy friends start speaking in ghostwhimper I figure it ain't long afore we're neck deep in those bastages."

::Ready Room::

<Captain's Log, Stardate 50411.13>

The U.S.S. Eagleton is back enroute to Starbase 312 after completing our investigation of Protostar Alpha-CN625. With no changes to report in the star's core, and nuclear fusion within the star itself stable, we have successfully completed the objectives Starfleet gave to us.

Although passing relatively close to Tzenkethi space, we encountered no hostiles and were able to complete the mission ahead of schedule. I would like to personally commend Chief Engineer Kat Ca...

The comm beeped, jerking me out of reverie and back to my Ready Room, aboard the Akira-class starship U.S.S. Eagleton. I glanced at the chronometer and saw that I had only been off the Bridge for an hour, maybe less. The soothing hum of the engines at warp calmed me, as I tapped my commbadge.

=/\= McAllister here =/\= I said, reaching for a cup of tea which had grown cold.

=/\= Captain, we're receiving a Priority One distress call, broadcasting on all subspace channels. =/\= It was my First Officer, Commander Hannah Cooper; a sound officer, someone who I found myself relying upon more and more.

Smoothing down my uniform, I stood up and strode towards the Bridge.

::Bridge::

"What seems to be the problem Commander," I queried, looking up at the viewscreen to see the stars streak by.

Nodding, Cooper answered "I'll let you see for yourself sir." She pressed a few buttons on her console, and the image on the viewscreen changed to one of an alien species I had not seen before. Static interlaced the image, and the voice coming over the speakers was crackly...distorted.

=/\=...Godulan Merchant Vessel WindRider to any...ship willing to assist. S.O.S... S.O.S... we are under attack by...encountered during...transit...=/\=

Abruptly, the screen blinked off and the message ended. Communcications Officer Thomas Rulde spoke up "That's all we got Captain, the message was badly degraded...I guess their transmitter wasn't up to all that much."

Lowering myself into my now vacant Command chair, I gazed upwards, recalling my Starfleet training. "Starfleet General Order 6 requires its officers to respond to distress calls made by Federation citizens It is Starfleet's policy however, to answer all distress signals." I said, rubbing my chin. "Lieutenant Wright, lay in an intercept course and engage at maximum warp. It would appear that this mission is about to get interesting. Yellow Alert!"

::Time Lapse::

::35 minutes later::

::Bridge::

Dropping out of warp, the Eagleton found itself several thousand metres away from what appeared to be a small armada of ships...although none appeared to be of the same design, and sensors detected several entirely different species aboard all vessels, including

"Romulans! Captain - I'm detecting Romulan biosigns!" This came from my Science Officer, Ensign Pearman.

"On which vessel?" I demanded.

The officer struggled with his console for a few seconds then spoke again.

"Unknown sir, there appears to be heavy subspace damage in this area...cause unknown. Recommend proceeding at low impulse."

"We're not moving until we find out what the situation is - Open Hailing Frequencies."

Cooper flicked a button on the armrest of her chair, and the familiar beep of Channel Open sounded.

=/\= "This is Captain Ollie McAllister of the Federation starship Eagleton. We received your distress call - how may we be of assistance?" =/\=

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY...

>beedeedeedeedee... beedeedeedeedee<

Craile blinked in surprise at one of the command panels. "Well huh... phone call."

He flicked a small button on the command panel an an image of some guy in a red uniform popped up on the screen. After receiving the pre-sent message, he sent back:

>TO UNIDENTIFIED TERRAN VESSEL<

"Well... We don't really know how to respond, though I suppose it would likely help your decision making if I told you that the romulans and the other vessel besides ours have declared this to be a quarantine zone... I can only hope you haven't been spotted by the smokey bastards yet."

But it had. And it acted almost instantly. Throwing one of its tendrils in the general direction of the new ship, but finding it couldn't quite reach it. This only made it mad.

The ship trembled slightly under Craile's feet.

"Sunnuva...! Will you smokey wackos STOP DOING THAT?!"

HUNNNNNGGGEERRRRRRRRR...

"GO EAT A HAM SANDWICH!"

The keening stopped... in such a manner that indicated to Craile that he had confused the creature.

"What... ya never heard of food?"

Onboard the Derelict:

After Craile asked for his weapon the Soldier holding his weapon looked at Nirx for the ok. Nirx shook his head yes and the soldier turnned and handed the weapon to Craile saying "here you go... looks like you'll need it." with that Nirx activated his comm again

Nirx: "Tennis, we may have a few of those demon things still hear."

Laziric: "Thats not Good, but i have Worse news then that, one of the Tal Shiar Operatives onboard picked up and decoded a transmission from Command to the Warbirds, they have orders to keep all ships here untill this is figured out, and if its not figured out soon they have orders to destroy everything here."

Nirx: "SHIT... thats not good at all.. we have to work fast.""boys weapons ready... who knows what these things will do."

Onboard the Tennis:

Comm: "Commander We have a communication from a FED SHIP."

Laziric: "patch it in"

Laziric stared at his viewscreen and wondered what to say. He didnt want to escalate this problem any further. knowing that there were two Norexam "Valdore" Class Warbirds cloaked out there this could get very ugly very quickly if he didnt handle this perfectly. Haveing a Federation ship here would complicate things somewhat.

Laziric: "Comm, open channel to the Fed Ship"

~ Communication ~

Captain Ollie McAllister, I am Sub-Commander Laziric of the RIS Cruiser Tennis. We responned to the distress signal same as you and are not the cause of the problem. It is recommended that you stay away from this area. If you are infected by this demon thing you will not be able to leave. despite our differences we are both here to help. hopefully we will be able to get through this peacfully.(knowing verywell that romulans are not the most peaceful race out there.)

~ End Communication ~

Secret IC:

Onboard the Goraxus: (Currently cloak along with the other Warbird)

Tactical: "sir, we are detecting a Federation Vessel, Akira Class sir"

Commander Tieberoc sat there in his command chair and debated. What should he do, he has his orders, but if this goes wrong... Destroying A Federation Ship.. Could cause a massive backlash in Romulan Federation relations.

Tieberoc: "Maintain Cloak... We wait. continue monitoring all communications and ship movements. keep a close eye on the Fed ship"

Tactical: "Yes Sir."

OOC: INCOMING TG FOR GODULAR

Onboard the DLE ship, things looked grim. Fully half of Enigma's crew were now either dead or incompacitated, and only three of them were actually taken out by the cloud. Evolution had chosen a bad time to come into play.

"I want Everyone not incompacitated to be armed at all times. The rest I want sealed in a room with two guards, one inside and one out. If you see Soylas, don't engage. I must kill her myself," Enigma said.

At this moment, Enigma was standing just outside the bridge with his crew, giving orders. But then they all felt it: The minor tremors, noticeable only during those times when adrenaline was at its highest, that indicated the disruptors were firing. Enigma quickly rushed on the bridge, only to be temporarily shocked by what he had seen. It appeared, for a moment, that Soylas was in the room, only for him to blink his eyes and see a mist vanishing into the airducts. It had just been an illusion.

Enigma checked the controls and found it was firing on a new ship that had shown up, a human ship named the Eagleton. He punched a couple of buttons, turning off teh disruptor cannons, but found it odd the cannons kept missing a ship sitting perfectly still. It was only when he looked at it carefully that he realized the answer: The disruptors had not been charged. That meant it wasn't the bridge that started the guns firing.

"Whatever you are, you have Soylas and know exactly how to keep me stuck in this area. Throw in an optical illusion or two and fire the guns from the engine room. Clever, but not enough. Guards, to the engine room," Enigma said, the last sentence being a loud command.

OOC: This is just an interesting path I'm looking at.

Onboard the Derelict:

Nirx: "the Creatures seemed to have fallen back. none the less keep your eyes open and weapons armed" as Nirx draws and arms his ZD.

The men recheak their weapons and take up defencive positions covering the entire bridge.

Onboard the Tennis:

Tactical: "sir, the DLE ship just fired on the Federation ship!"

Laziric: "ON SCREEN" "it doesnt appear to have taken damage."

Tactical: "no sir, the DLE ships disruptors missed sir."

Laziric: "well i suppose that is good, would hate to think that the Feds might mistake their disruptor fire for ours, who knows how on edge they are with "Romulans" here."

Tactical: "Quite True Sir"

The Ship is quiet for a moment, everyone is pondering the outcome of this horrific event.

Laziric: "Laziric to Infirmary, have you found anything useful yet?"

Infirmary: "Sir, Head doctor Azirx here, i believe so sir."

Azirx: "We were thinking that seeing that the creatures are from Protospace, they seem to be made of energy. being made of energy they could easly pass through the ships walls, floors, and so on."

Laziric: "and?"

Azirx: "well sir, they also responed to the disruptor blast, it didnt kill the creature but it did, piss it off... you might say. assuming that you might take that reaction as maybe that it did accually hurt it. meaning that energy will hurt it..."

Laziric: "your point doctor!?"

Azirx: "Well sir, the report mentions on several occasions that the creatures attacked sleeping crew members...." Laziric inturrupts.

Laziric: "but they also attacked guards that were very much awake. hell most of the crew can not even sleep now."

Azirx: "yes sir they did, but try to understand, at that point they may have been injured, the reports did say they seemed fatigued. Perhaps they attacked becouse they felt they had to... maybe sleeping is just how they prefer to attack..."

Laziric: "ok i understand that... but how does this help us."

Azirx: "well sir, i believe that it has something to due with the energy sir, im not sure what yet... maybe a frequency. energy often responds differently to different frequencys of energy... the Rommulan, terran, and other hummanoid bodies give off many different kinds of energy. perhapes one of these energy types has a pleasing frequency to them. at this point i still do not know."

Laziric: "well keep working we dont have much more time if we wish to live"

Azirx: "Yes Sir"

OOC: Being a Romulan Race and being "hawk" or evil i have only so many avenues i can go towards. Serpantol and the RIS star navy are very War like and ive been very conservative in this rp reguarding trying to make it a little longer and enjoyable to read instead of just blowing us all to hell with the demons.. NOT that that would probably fail to destroy these things.

OOC: Yer right... TG inc to Serpantol to explain what'll happen if the derelict blows..

Onboard the Derelict:

Nirx: "you two, soldiers, escort the Engineer to the engine room... see if you can jump start this ships powercore and get the engines online or something useful." "the Captain will stay with us and can answer any questions you have over the comm system." "Soldiers.... watch you backs damnit."

Solkiers: "Yes sir,"

Engineer: "but...but... I dont..."

And with that the Soldiers dragged him out and headed towards the engine room.

Nirx: "you seem to confuse them Craile, i think we should use this oppertunity to do as much as we can..."

Nirx: "you said you purged your data core... is there any backup onboard or anything... that computerize brain of yours or something.""we have not delt with this protospace you talk of... i believe it would be best to get ahold of your people if we can."

Nirx: "Laziric, we could use another engineer over here if you can spare one."

Onboard the Tennis:

Laziric: "Very good Nirx, ill have one sent over right away."

Laziric: "engineering, get a man to the transporter room, we will beam him strait to the ships bridge."

Engineering: "Yes sir, one is on his way."

One of the engineers grabs a repair and tools pack and headed for the transporter room. once there, the transport operator already had the location set in and activated the transporter system. The engineer vanished and reappeared on the derelicts bridge in a flash of green light.

Onboard the Derelict:

Soldier: "sir, the engineer is here."

Nirx turn away from his discussion with Craile and spoke.

Nirx: "good you are here, i want you to take a look at this ships communication system and see what you can do... find an old record or something that the ships core purge missed or something anything.

Engineer(bridge): "yes sir"

The engineer began to work right away, attempting to access any information he could. then he would take the system appart attempt to manually look for reserve data storage or comm system backups.

Back onboard the Tennis the doctors and engineers toiled with a plan. perhaps a way to draw the creatures to them but nothing to destroy them yet.

~Electronic Transmission to All~
My ship has been compromised. I repeated, my ship has been compromised. At least one hostile, is loose and messing with internal systems. Half of the ship is incompacitated due to medical reasons or being dead. Full control of the ship to be reestablished shortly.
-Dictator Enigma
~Transmission repeats~

Onboard the Tennis:

Comm: "Sir, a genneral transmission from the DLE ship"

Laziric: "alright, lets hear it."

The message played back over the bridge comm.

Laziric: "well thats bad news, comm, open channel"

comm: "channel open sir"

Laziric spoke.

~ Communication ~

To the DLE ship, is there anyway we can help.

~ open communication channel ~

Laziric: "comm, leave the comm channel to the DLE ship Open in case they
need help."

"Nah, there's pretty much no way ta restore any information once the mainframe is purged. It pretty much gets fried in the process. Prevents people from trying to recover the information. We have a backup mainframe that comes in with bone-basic information, but nothing critical. That starts up when the primary is wiped, and its pretty much the reason why everything still works at least in some measure..."

The ship rocked slightly, and Craile stiffened at the sound of a beam weapon firing past the ship.

"SON OF A BITCH! WHO'S FIRING ENERGY WEAPONS OUTSIDE?! THEY'LL KILL US ALL!"

As Craile ran to his command panel to send a general communique to all the surrounding ships, he heard the message from the DLE vessel.

"Demon Lord Enigma Vessel! Cease fire! Cease fire by any means necessary! Shut down the power core if you have to, just CEASE FIRE! I don't know what the hell these critters are, but they are VERY close to Protomist in their normal form, and normal Protomist fugging EXPLODES when hit with energy weapons. If one of your cannon shots clips the cloud, we're ALL dead. This wouldn't be a problem normally, I'd easily commit suicide if it involved me taking thirty or forty of the enermy with me, glorious death and all that, but I don't even know if the blast will kill the ones in human form!"

He turned off his comm, then looked off into the distance as he heard the sound of metal crashing to the floor.

"The hell? Something's in the mess hall..."

Onboard the Derelict:

Nirx: "Craile, one the creatures was hit by one of our ZD's, the hand weapon i hold here" Nirx extends his hand with the ZD in it. "it seemed to piss it off or something like that."

Suddenly a message comes from the Tennis.

Laziric: "Nirx, are you there?"

Nirx: "yes sir"

Laziric: "we think that the doc and the engineers may have a plan but you need to get the derelict ships Protodrive thing running again."

Nirx: "Alright sir, the best news ive heard all day" "Engineering room team, how close are you to getting this thing up... we need that protodrive thing up."

Engineer(Engine room): "sorry sir, im working as fast as i can. its all Cardassian to me sir, but ill do my best."

Nirx: "alright, keep it up. im sending our other engineer to help you" "anyway, can you think of to get the protodrive up and running a little faster Craile?"

Onboard the Tennis the Doc and the Engineering team are working to complete their end of the plan. their fate may be dependent on this working.

Doc: "Bridge... we are almost complete down here....we believe that the creatures are drawn to one of the many energy sources the humanoid body produces. this device will simulate all the energy sources; heat, neural, and several others... the neural energy will be on an alpha wave frequency sence the primary attacks where done while the crew members were asleep."

Laziric: " i get it... once the derelicts engines are up we can try to lure the creatures back to the ship and send them back to the hell they came from... very good Doc!"

Doc: "well sir, we are not sure it'll work."

Laziric: "well.. its the best thing we got right now.. do it.."

The Doc continued to finish, hoping that the engineers on the derelict could get the damn thing running again.

Craile grinned happily.

"Need help turning it on, ya say? Shit, I'm gonna go down and show them what's what... and mabye check what's going on in the mess hall too... you hear that noise?"

He trotted out of the bridge and headed down the corridor, making his way towards the engineering section. As he passed the mess hall, which was relatively close to the bridge (it was a small habitation section, after all), he took a quick look in, then quirked an eybrow.

One of the nasty former crewmen hovered over a stove, munching on a sloppily-made ham sandwich. It noticed his presence, but did not make any moves. Instead, its eyes rolled about as if it was trying to remember something important, then paused.

YUM...

"Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay..." Craile replied, then continued towards the engineering section.

Once there, he muscled the others out of the way and looked at their work. "WHOA. Thank the Archons I got here when I did. You turn the engines on with this setup you would've blown us the hell up. Lemme get these sumbitches back on line. All Godulan Military are trained in how to repair essential systems. Hell, gimme a pair of big sticks, and I'll make you some nice arrows. Ya got a wrench and pliers?"

Onboard the Derelict:

the engineer gladly handed him the tools he asked for and said.. "yeah
sure, here ya go." the engineer noticeing something began to ask the
Captain a question.

Engineer: "military you say.. isnt this a transport ship, what is it
that you would need a military Captain to transport?"
on the bridge of the derelict:

Nirx: "Tennis... we believe that the ship will be running shortly, the
captain of this vessel is fixing them now."

Laziric: "very good.. i think we are done here too." "someone will beam
over shortly."

onboard the Tennis:

Doc: "yes sir, we are done here."

Laziric: "good... im sending a man to get it."

Doc: "alright sir, we will have it ready to go."

Laziric: "Tactical, Get a Heavy Infantry man up here now."

A few minutes past, and a Heavily Armed and armored man walked in.

Laziric: "good, you are here, i want you to go to the engineering
section and pick up the device they are working on. On your way there i
want you to stop at the ordinance bay and pick up a plasma core detonator.(a small exsplosive device, about the power a heavy torpedo,
but inside a ship can cause the intire ship to go up if well placed.), i
want you to place it next to the derelicts powercore along with the
device."

Soldier: "YES SIR, RIGHT AWAY SIR!"

Laziric: "alright go then"

The soldier made his way to both the ordinance bay and the engineering
section and picked up both packages. He then made his way to the closest
transporter room. He set the controls, then stepped onto the pad.. he
then disappeared and reappeared in the Engine room of the Derelict ship.

Laziric: "comm, channel to Nirx"

Comm: "channel open"

Laziric: "Nirx, a Soldier just transported into the ships engine room.
he is going to plant the device there as well as a Plasma Core
Detonator. I want you guys back here now. The soldier will remain to
attivate the devices. then we will do an emergancy transport."

Nirx: "yes sir, we will return asap"

Laziric: "this hast to work.. it will take them back to that damn world
they came from... destroying the ship will keep them from comeing back.
we already know they can fire weapons of a ship. it must be destroyed on
the other side"

Nirx: "Understood sir, on our way back now."

Onboard the Derelict ship:

Nirx: "Captain Craile, when you are done, could you come back to the
bridge."

Meanwhile the soldier was connecting everything in the engine room. and
prepairing to complete his vital mission.

Hearing the engineer's question about military on merchant vessels, Craile snickered happily.

"We put the Marine back into Merchant Marine. All Godulan vessels are commanded by Military. We rotate around more rapidly on Merchant vessels, but its great practice for when we get in on the big guns. Would YOU want somebody commanding a space borne weapons platform who had only commanded textbook study groups before?"

A very heavily armed romulan materialized nearby, holding two large pieces of machinery.

One looked quite explosive.

"Don't tell me yer gonna blow the ship... after all this work I did on the Engine too..."

Nirx's voice came on the intercom, asking Craile to head back to the bridge after finishing the engine.

"I hate being left outta the loop."

Craile sighed, then returned to his work. "Yow, y'all fugged this thing up BAD..."

On the Derelict:

The engineering officer responded to Crailes question "i suppose not, Normally on Serpantolian Freighters. Military commanders are only for special missions." as he spoke he noticed the Soldier glare at him, as if to say shut the hell up. the engineer knew it was time to be quiet and hope for this to work. The Soldier Looked at Craile after his comment.

Soldier: "how bad.. can it still be fixed... i need to know!"

"Sir, we discovered the problem with the guns. A stray bullet went through the computer core. We've pulled the circuits controlling the disruptors, but the computer won't hold out for more than two jumps," a marine said.

"And we're at least six from a reasonable rescue point, let alone being twelve from home. We're abandoning the ship. Once we get onto that derelict, set the self-destruct and cut this ship loose. I want it to do one jump before it blows," Engima commanded.

"Yes, sir," the marine said.

~Electronic Communication to All~
Disregard previous comments about hostiles in control. We have been unable to locate the hostile forces and our computer core shows extensive damage from a bullet. We do not know how the damage happened, but it does explain sensor readings not matching up between ships.
I have ordered my ship abandoned and destroyed. Our only hope is the derelict and a friendly fleet to take us home. Otherwise, we are effectively lost and dead.
-Enigma
~End communication~

Enigma sighed and began to move the ship towards the derelict. It was their only seeable hope for regaining control at this point.

OOC: Yes, I semi-planned this, but not in how late in the posting. Damn NS kept logging me off while typing, so I went for this shorter version instead.

"I can fix this easy. I was just thinking that if y'all were to have turned it on like this we'd all be very dead."

After several minutes of Craile "Reversing the Polarity" "Modifying the Phase Variance" and "Restructuring the Plasma Coil into an Inverted Conducting Conduit And Whatever Other Sci-Fi Hocusy-Pocusy Terms I Can Think Of", Craile stood up and pressed a small red button on the engine's control panel.

Nothing happened.

The romulans looked at him desperately.

"WAKEY WAKEY, EGG'N'BAKEY!" Craile kicked the engine, leaving a sizable dent in the side paneling.

The engine kicked to life, instantly creating the familiar matte black window that was a ProtoSpace gate in order to fuel itself. Nothing issued from the portal, however.

"I turned off the refueling process. The engine is using what's left of battery power to start up a small ProtoSpace gate. That way, the smokey punks will at least be able to get out. Now you just need to get them to notice. Now if you'll excuse me, your boss person wanted me back up at the bridge."

Craile walked back to the bridge, noting that the creature in the mess hall had stopped cold and was staring in the direction of engineering. The heads of several of his former crewmates popped out of various parts of the wall and stared in the same direction.

As one, they bolted towards engineering.

HOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMEEEE...

Craile quirked an eyebrow again, then thumbed a small comm unit at the door.

"Hey, y'all in engineering, get out of there. Incoming lots for the portal."

He then continued on his way to the bridge, whistling.

Onboard the Tennis:

The crew waited as the plan was carried out. all hoping it would be successful.

Comm: "Sir, there is a transmission from the DLE ship."

Laziric: "lets hear it"

Laziric listened and relized this could ruin the plan and he knew he must act quickly.

Laziric: "open communication to the DLE ship.. Quickly!"

Comm: "comm opened sir"

~ communication ~

To the DLE ship, we are prepaired to take your crew aboard if you would like. it is not recommended that you board the derelict. it could complicate things. give us the word and we will begin transporting your people aboard the Tennis.

~ open Communication ~

Onboard the Derelict:

The soldier was finished and awaiting the orders to continue when a comm was heard from Craile. hearing what they did they quickly dashed out the door of the engine room and found places to hide.
When Carile got to the bridge Nirx informed him of the plan to lure all of the creatures to the ship then send it back and blow it up.

OOC: DLE yeah that used to happen to me.. type it in notepad, word or wordpad then copy and paste.. just so you have it incase it logs you off then you dont have to try retyping really quick.

"Well, that's all well and good, but they acted as though they were more attracted to the portal itself, what with screaming 'HOME!' and all... Besides, there's something I'm wondering.

"Have the people on your ship reported any movement on the part of the nasties? I have this odd feeling that they can't travel through a vacuum in their hosts. Sorta like they need some sort of medium to move about in, which explains why they can shift through walls, anyway. Air to metal. Its just a change in medium to them. But vacuum is kinda... an absence of medium."

Craile headed over to one of the other panels on the bridge and began typing commands.

"Gonna check sensors to see if I'm right. If I'm wrong, I should see them swarming from your ship and the DLE ship... THE HELL?!"

He looked at Nirx, who was now giving him a confused look. "There's people on the starboard bow. Normal people... mucking about with the hatches. They don't look like yours, ours, or theirs. Oh, and nothing happening between your ship and mine... although the mist is gone!"

OOC: Poor Camel Eaters has been sitting around on the Hull for god knows how long...

Onboard the Derelict:

Nirx: "very well, we will try it your way."

And with that note, Nirx opened his comm to the Tennis.

Nirx: "SIR, Craile seems to think that theses things will leave if they have a way to travel to the derelict ship."

Laziric: "And how does he propose we do that?"

Nirx: "Well sir, he said they might need a way to travel, being unable to travel in the vacuum of space." "i guess we would have to dock with the ship."

Laziric: "Dock... that ship isnt exactly a station you know."

Nirx: "i understand sir but i believe its the only way short of bumping the two ships together sir."

Laziric: "i see your point, very well, we will begin docking procedures at once.""Laziric out."

Onboard the Tennis:

Laziric: "Helm, prepair to take us to a docking position with the derelect ship."

Helm: "SIR?"

Laziric: "Just do it Helmsman."

Helm: "Yes Sir."

The Tennis begins to move with maneuvering thrusters only. the Tennis attempting positioned itself over the derelicts docking clamps... but befor this could be completed...

Tactical: "Sir, a Shuttle is attempting to leave the shuttlebay."

Laziric: "What the Hell"

Tactical: "Sir, Should i stop the shuttle sir."

Laziric thinks to himself... damn the little buggers are smarter then they seem.

Laziric: "No, let it go."

The Shuttle left the shuttle bay and streamed off away from the Tennis towards the derelict ship.

Laziric: "helm, move us away from the derelict."

Helm: "yes sir, already on it."

The Tennis move away from the derelict ship to what they believed would be a safe distance and waited for a responce from the DLE ship about their evaccuation.

OOC: INCOMEING TG/GODULAR

All five of them had felt the portal opening on the derelict. They tried to rejoin their brothers, but something outside the ship kept them from returning.

Pain was the first to offer a solution. He'd filtered through some more of his host's memories, and had found something called a "shuttle", learning somewhat about how to pilot the thing in the process.

He sent pleasing energies to his brothers, then moved in the direction of the shuttle bay as he "Remembered" it.

Getting into the shuttle bay, and indeed the shuttle itself, was little trouble, as was starting the thing up and bringing it into the cold of space.

The only thing that Pain had failed to pay attention to was... landing procedures...

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

Craile backed away from the sensors.

"SUNNUVA, that thing's coming at ramming speed! Get us the hell outta here!"

Onboard the Tennis:

Tactical: "Sir.. i think they are gone."

Ops: "I think so too sir, im not getting anymore wierd reports."

It felt to the crew of the Tennis that a massive weight was lifted from them... a breath of relief. But the Commander was Still Tense, he still had crew on the derelict.

Laziric: "Comm, get me Nirx."

Nirx: "Nirx here sir"

Laziric: "thank the captain for his help and get your men back to the Tennis. yourself, and one guard may stay to make sure this gets done, but i dont want anymore of the crew over there than has to be."

Nirx: "Understood Sir."

Onboard the Derelict, Nirx ordered everyone but himself and the heavy soldier to return to the bridge for transport to the Tennis. And they did as they were told.

Still on the Tennis, the Tansporter crews beemed the awaiting party back in two groups. It was safe to say they were glad to get the hell of that ship and back aboard the Tennis.

Nirx still being on the derelict turned to captain Craile.

Nirx: "Well sir, it would appear that the little demon bastards stole a shuttle. I hope you have a way for them to land... if not this could hurt a bit."

"Uh... like I said, those buggers are coming at full tilt. And we only have a couple airlocks and a cargo bay that's completely full. That shuttle's gonna hit us. Hard. I say we get the hell out afore we all get whacked..."

Onboard the Derelict:

Obout to be hit with a shuttle at high impulse....

Nirx: "Yes, well..., SHIT... Nirx to Tennis... EMERGENCY TRANSPORT!!!" Nirx now screaming into his comm... "WE NEED THAT TRANSPORT NOW SIR"

The men aboard the derelict quickly dematerialized and reappeared on the Tennis in the transporter room.

On the Tennis:

Laziric: "Get your green blooded ass up here Nirx and bring your new friend."

Nirx: "yes sir"

Nirx and Craile made their way to the Tennis's bridge to find Laziric standing waiting on them.

Nirx: "SIR"

Laziric: "What the Hell is going on?"

Nirx: "the shuttle sir... its going to be a Big boom"

Laziric: "Helm Get us farther away from the Derelict."

The Tennis Quickly backed away from the derelict coming to a rest in space about 10km off the ships bow, The bridge Crew watched on the viewscreen as the shuttle hit the ship.

Craile also watched the impact, then felt it necessary to explain something:

"Okay, so I haven't seen ramming impacts on a Godulan vessel before now, but I've heard how it goes down with the engine running. First there's the impact, of course, which effectively causes the entire ship to go up in a ball of fiery glory. THEN there's the secondary explosion resulting from the first boom reaching the engine Protospace portal. It blows big."

The shuttle smacked right into one of the WindRider's auxiliary fuel tanks, enveloping the entire ship in a devastating fireball as the antimatter lost containment and vaporized a good portion of the ship. Not one second after this first explosion, the entirety of space around the ship seemed to warp and flex around itself as the portal reacted to the direct introduction of heat energy. To outside observers it would have seemed as though space had temporarily shattered like a broken mirror, tearing what remained of the vessel to pieces. Space slowly realigned itself, and the small cloud of shrapnel that was the WindRider slowly dispersed into all directions, leaving nothing behind. Not even mist.

"Pretty cool, huh?"

OOC: Yes very cool... one problem what about the creatures on the DLE ship... they havent left it yet?

IC:

Onboard the Tennis:

Everyone gasp as the ship exploded in a glorious firey hellish boom.

Laziric: "i am sorry about the ship Captain."

OOC: I have three on my ship at last check, maybe as few as one. Soylas is one, and maybe a couple of marines. To this very moment, the DLE crew knows nothing about the location of Soylas or the two missing marines and cannot seem to locate them. Since this is a very small vessel, that should be enough to worry anyone.

Also, docking or landing are pretty much the only ways on or off that ship. It's too small for even escape pods.

IC:

Enigma looked at the communication and frowned. He then saw the shuttle ramming towards the derelict and, not wanting to be caught in a potential explosion, punched a few keys to take the ship to what he hoped was a safe distance. The explosion, and rip in space, were both quite spectacular to watch as far as he was concerned.

Unsurprisingly, Soylas appeared in the bridge, seeming to melt out of one control pannel, and seemed to let out a scream far beyond the capacities of Soylas's mortal body to produce. Enigma was slack for a moment, that being the only time in his life he had ever experienced a psionic sense, and he could do nothing. Even as Soylas whirled and looked at him, anger filling her now-alien eyes as she floated in the room, he found himself unable to move.

Soylas's body floated fast towards Enigma, rage overcomming instinct, and drew back a hand as though to strike. Then, suddenly, she paused and drew back, almost seeming in pain. It was at that moment Enigma understood. And at that moment he chose to send out a communication to the others.

~Electronic Communication to Tennis~
Be warned I still have a creature on my ship, maybe more. You'll end up with them on your ship. But I have no other choice but to choose to accept. My weapons are permanently disabled and my computer core won't last past 2 FTL Jumps. All other systems are questionable at best. In effect, I'm stuck.
I know this is a risk. But I have a feeling these creatures no longer present a danger. At least, I hope they don't. But if they do, it is easy to be rid of them now that we know how.
Oh, for the Gondularians: Didn't I make an offer to your government awhile back? I now have close to the forces I was hoping for back then.
-Dictator Enigma
~End communication~

"So, what do I call you?" Enigma asked of Soylas, now knowing for sure the creature before him is no longer the one he knew only a few hours ago.

OOC: Yup... I realized that several posts ago, but hey, who sez the end needs to be the end?

"Eh, was just a ship. If it had been completely captured, I would've freaked the hell out, but oh well. That explosion HAD to have gotten the Homeland's attention. There'll prolly be about a few cruisers popping in to investigate in at most a few hours.

OOC to DLE: Yeah, I think you wanted to get in on a Ship Construction contract when ya heard about us building a ground based shipyard for crafting Starships. The offer is still open on that, as we can churn out medium-sized ships with relative speed now, capitol ships take a bit longer, and the Super Capitol ships are gonna be Godulan only, once we finish off the space-borne shipyard. Gonna need to have your tech specs to make ships though. Godulan ships in and of themselves are not for sale, but we will gladly construct other types of ships if given the specs.

Also, I was kinda hoping we'd be able to keep some of them body-snatching nasties around. Sorta as a recurring critter that'll pop up now and then... sorta like Acigoo.

Onboard the Tennis:

The ships comm officer alerted Laziric to the DLE ships Problem, He
debated what to do.. there was a chance he could have those things back
on his ship.. none the less these people were willing to help them, and
they must do the same.

Laziric: "Alright... lets get this thing done... transporter begin locking onto the DLE crew and bring them aboard right away." "Comm, open a channel."

~ Communication ~

Enigma.. we are bringing your crew aboard our ship now.

~ End Communication ~

The Transporter crews began... Quickly transporting the DLE crew members
aboard.. the DLE crew members seemed dazed as they were taken from their
ship while they were still working.

OOC: Enigma will the the Last to come aboard so that they can do their
thing talking to the creature.

"No name? Too bad. Look, I'll make you an offer. You and your kind come with me, you to my homeworld and the rest to their homes. I want to figure out a nonpainful way to separate you from your hosts so you do not have them tying you down. Or, I can leave you here, trapped forever on a dead ship that won't get you anywhere inhabitable. Do you agree to my terms?" Enigma asked.

Agree.

"Good. So it looks like I won't be the only unique creature in my empire. I'll send a message to our friends to let them know what is going on," Enigma said, sending a summary of the conversation and wondering if they were agreeable.

Onboard the Tennis, Laziric heard the report from the DLE ship. This made him very un easy... haveing these things in the Empire, it would surly be frowned upon by Fleet Command. Letting these things go... could he do this.... befor he could answer his own question. Two ships decloaked of the bow of the DLE ship.

~ Communication ~

Open to all ships but directed at the DLE vessel.

This is Commander Tieberoc of the Warbird Goraxus, Under offical authority of the RIS Fleet Command We are here to assist you in getting back to your respectful nations.. we will transport these things you spoke with however they will not be permitted to enter Serpantolian space. This will be your responsability to keep them under raps. We would like to further our relations diplomaticly but have no desire to have these things living among us. We will spooth out the details at a later point... now lets get you guys home... Tieberoc out.

~ End Communication ~

Onboard the Tennis:

Laziric looked at Captain Craile then back to the viewscreen which displayed both the warbirds and the DLE ship. Still gazing at the screen he spoke.

Laziric: "well captain, there really isnt anything i can do now, it would appear that my part in this mission is over. Commander Tieberoc is a good man, he will take care of everything. I hope Enigma has good fortune in bringing his crew members back.... i do not know if things would have been different if our crew survived, but i doubt it... Good Luck to you Sir."

Laziric proceeded to walk off the bridge of the Tennis to his command office, where he began wrighting his reports. When this is finished the Tennis will be brought into stardock. it will be repaired and examined to find out as much as they can. Fleet Command takes many risks in times of war, but in a time of peace they do not have the room to make mistakes. They may have been able to learn much about these creatures, but the risk of them becomeing unruly was to great. If diplomatic relations with the other Empires involved continues, perhaps it will be possible to learn of these things in greater detail but untill that time, At Least the Empire might be safe from them for now.

Craile sighed. "All the crew... Bastards owed me poker money!"

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

At about that time, a colossal portal opened in the space near the three romulan ships. Approximately a kilometer long, it was a menacing ship, shaped like an iron spike and bristling with armor and weapons ports.

Craile squeaked in surprise, then ran towards what he hoped was the comm channel.

"Lemme talk to 'em! Cloud of debris formerly known as godulan freighter plus three Serpantolian ships equals a BAD first impression!"

Onboard the Tennis:

Comm: "Genneral Comm Channel open"

Captain Craile procceeded to tell the Godulan war ship what happened.

Onboard the Goraxus:

Tactical: "Sir, Ship jumping in. Its a Godulan Warship sir, should i arm weapons."

Tieberoc: "NO, do not do that, this has gone well up to this point, there is no need for an Interempiral Incident now.... keep a lock on them and prepair but do not inticate hostility towards them."

Tactical: "Yes Sir"

~Electronic Communication to Serpantol Ships~
Understood. One of the creatures will be going back to my empire. The other two, if I can get help from Gondular, are to return from where they came from. One creature should be easy to handle, but if that proves false I will make it my personal responsibility to make sure the creature is dealt with in a permanent fashion. The rest of my people do not know my decision in this matter and, I think, are best kept in the dark about it.
We require someone to dock with the ship for the creature transfer.
~End communication~

**Open Communication To All Ships**

This is Commodore Athrael of the Godulan Battleship FireStorm. We demand an immediate explanation as to what occured here, and as to what happened to our freighter.

Craile activated what he hoped was a comm channel.

"DON'T SHOOT! This is Captain Craile of the Godulan Freighter WindRider, these ships responded to a distress signal I sent out after we experienced an attack by some form of apparently sentient yet very hostile creatures that we accidentally brought with us back into realspace. In order to properly contain the creatures, we were forced to send them back through, but in the process of doing so, the ship was destroyed through unavoidable circumstances."

"Acknowledged. We are aware of the M'Lekk'Torr. Are any of these creatures still present?"

"M'Lekk'Torr? You mean you've known of these things?"

"Yes. We've been undergoing diplomatic efforts with them for some time. Further information is classified. Repeat of question: Are there any of these creatures still present? They must be returned to ProtoSpace as soon as possible.

Onboard the Goraxus:

Tieberoc: "Comm, open channel to the DLE ship,

Comm: "channel open"

~ Communication ~

DLE ship
The Godulan warship will take the creatures from you and we will transport the rest of your crew from the Tennis as well as yourself to the Coraxus. We will escort you back you your nation. the Tennis must be debriefed and will not be able to assist you any further. Good day and ill see here on the Gorazus.

~ End Communication ~

Fleet Command knew that from this point Commander Tieberoc would be more suited for the diplomatic missions ahead, untill an offical diplomat could be assigned. Laziric would now be sent to the RIS Fleet Command HQ on Serpantol Prime, where he will be debriefed and most likely be commended for doing his duty so well.

~Electronic Communication to Serpantol Ships~
Understood. I thank you for doing this. I shall not forget it and it will look favorably in diplomatic relations between us in the future.
The creatures I was hoping to study, but returning them home seems more practical. That, and I don't want to mess with a ship with that many guns when I'm not even sure I can rely on my engines, let alone anything else. Besides, it would be bad for diplomacy.
-Dictator Enigma
~End communication~

"Looks like you are going home instead. The next time you are in this universe, visit me. Soylas knows how to get ahold of me. Until then, try not to be a mejnot around these people," Enigma said, right before being teleported to the Serpantol ship.

As he appeared, he looked at their reactions and said, "So I'm an android. You've never seen one before?"

When given word that the DLE ship was unmanned except for the aliens, the Godulan vessel aimed its nose at the vessel. The nose began to crackle with energy, and a new ProtoSpace portal emerged, sweeping over the DLE vessel and taking it into the other dimension.

Then, just as quickly, a second portal emerged, sweeping over the space that the DLE vessel formerly occupied, and leaving the vessel just as it was.

FireStorm To All Ships:

They only needed a chance to return. Your ship did not require sacrifice. We will be taking our Officer back now. Apologies for the inconvenience.

"Inconvenience, he calls it..." Craile snorted.

Onboard the Goraxus:

Enigma was escorted to the bridge by two RIS Praetoriate Gaurds, where Commander Tieberoc was waiting.

Tieberoc: "Well its good to see that you made it through all of this Dictator. Your crew is welcome to the mess hall, and we are setting up bunks in cargobay 3. If you would like i can assign you an officers state room. We can tow your ship with our tractor beam if you would like but it will be slow going. If you would like you can arrange for the Godular Ship to pick up the creatures from your ship useing our communication system, all you need to do is tell our comm officer here, and he will arrange for the transmission. If there is anything else we can do feel free to ask."

Meanwhile, The Last of the DLE Crew was removed from the Tennis.

Onboard the Tennis:

Laziric was still in his office prepairing his report when the Ops officer informed him that the last DLE crew members had been transfered to the Goraxus. Laziric put down his report and walked back onto the bridge of his ship and stood in front of this command chair.

Laziric: "open comm to the Goraxus"

Comm: "open sir"

Laziric: "Commander Tieberoc, We have transfered the last of the DLE Crew to your ship and are ready to get underway."

Tieberoc: "Very good Sub-Commander Laziric, your new orders are to report to RIS Starbase 613a for repairs then you will procceed to Serpantol Prime to meet with Fleet Commander Vizaric Azrikolov at RIS Fleet HQ."

Laziric: "yes sir"

Tieberoc: "you are free to go Laziric, and good job... Tieberoc out."

Laziric thought to himself and said in a very low tone.."thankyou sir". Laziric gave his order to set course for the starbase. The Tennis moved out beyoned the small fleet of gathered ships then went to warp. bursting off through space with a flash.

Back Onboard the Goraxus:

Tieberoc: " Well, Captain Craile, i suppose it is time that you depart from us as well. if you would like we can beam you directly to Godular Ships Bridge."

"Yes please! That was fun the first time I did it!"

Onboard the Goraxus:

Tieberoc: "Very Well, Transporter room" Ops had already relaied the orders.

And on that Command, Captain Craile dematerialize from the Goraxuses bridge and rematerialized on the bridge of the FireStorm.

Tieberoc: "Comm, open hail to the FireStorm."

~ Communication ~

This Is Commander Tieberoc, RIS Fleet Command has authorized me to give you this (Diplomatic Communication Data, explaning how to contact Serpantol officals if they wish to continue diplomatic relations.)"He transmits the data to the Firestorm." We the RIS hope to hear from you, and good day. Tieberoc out...

~ End Communication ~

Enigma watched a few of his crew as they were stripped of their weapons, smiling. The weapons were primitive compared to those on this ship, which meant he was likely to get them back. After all, he had enough to worry about replacing.

"I thank you for that hospitality, but I will stay with my people. I am worried about them. Plus, it will do them good to know their leader is close by after what has happened. I consider the ship a total loss. Leave it with the creatures through that portal. Maybe they can learn enough from what they can access to prevent these problems next time. Plus, it'll give them a souvenier of their stay with us. But, I do want the option of them comming with us extended. If they choose not to, I'll understand," Enigma said.

As he watched his crew, he presented an unusual figure. The fact he was an android was not easy to accept to anyone familiar with humans. He acted human, looked human, and even breathed like one. His face displayed emotions, changed color as it needed, and even his hair grew as time passed in the same manner as a human. He was also tall by human standards, but not quite up to the height standards of the 2 meters the Sarkarasetans averaged. Anyone observing him could not tell he wasn't human.

Onboard the Goraxus:

The crew of the DLE ship had settled into there bunks and was eating a hot meal. seeming fairly calm considering all that had happened.

Tieberoc: "If you wouldnt mind Enigma we need the Coordinance of your homeworld or perhaps any other place you wish to go."

FireStorm to Goraxus:

The Dominion appreciates the assistance you gave to our vessel in need, even though it was lost due to unavoidable circumstances as we are told. We will mourn the loss of the crewmen who died in this unfortunate misunderstanding, and we will have to put Craile through some rather hefty debriefing. We will relay your diplomatic information to the higher authorities. I cannot myself speak for the Godulan Governate, but I suspect that we will likely take you up on your offer for diplomatic relations.

One good turn deserves another, as they say.

Onboard the Goraxus:

Comm: "sir Transmission from Firestorm"

Tieberoc: "Lets hear it"

Tieberoc listen to the message and appeared to be very pleased with their decision.

Tieberoc: "hail the FireStorm"

~ Communication ~

Captain of the FireStorm, We are pleased to hear this and we hope to hear from your diplomatic corp soon. As for your Lost crew members we are sorry to hear of the loss. To speak on behalf of Captain Craile, He held his own and was very helpfull, you couldnt ask for a better officer. tellisavine..good sir.(serpantolian slang for goodbye). Tieberoc out.

~ End Communication ~

Enigma laughed at the idea of coordinates. It wasn't that he thought it was funny. It was a simple problem of not having them. Thus, the reason they were out in the middle of nowhere to begin with.

"Sorry about my laughing. You bringing it up reminded me why we were out here. You see, we can't make star maps where we are. We try, but something blocks us. Same thing happened to our predecessors. I can, however, provide you with directions on how to get there. Just be prepared for it to be a bit unusual," Enigma said.

He quickly gave them the directions to his planet. It involved stopping at three star systems on the way, each time to get bearings of where they were and had to go. Then he warned them to be prepared if they were unable to make star maps, as that region was unmapped for a reason.

Onboard the Goraxus:

The crew of the Goraxus has been prepairing for their reasonably long trip to the DLE drop planet. Commander Tieberoc has been in direct contact with RIS command. The Praetor himself authorized the release of Two Diplomatic Envoys from Serpantol to the DLE Empire.

Tieberoc: "Very well, we will do the best we can. our sister ship the Vellius will continue with us. As for getting back. perhaps you could provide, an escort back to a chartable system. As well we have direct authorization to Provide Diplomatic Envoys to the DLE Empire. perhaps you would care to do the same."

"That depends. How good are your sensors? My ships use FTL Jump drives and typically jump fourteen parsecs at a time, though they are currently able to do twenty and the new ships might reach twenty-five when they are completed, at least until our new FTL Jump drives capable of higher numbers are ready for use. I'll have them use smaller numbers if needed. It'll require using two ships as beacons for travel, but it can be done. The two ships I'll send along will be the diplomatic envoy," Enigma said.

Onboard the Goraxus:

Tieberoc: "We do not utilize jump drives... our FTL technology is based on a Warp system. The Goraxus is capable of reaching Warp factor 9.99 for around 12 hours but we have a normal cruising speed of warp factor 6 which is roughly 392.50c. The Tal Shiar have been... well forget about them... we have been looking into acquiring an auxiliary form of FTL travel but have yet to produce a new form of our own.... as for our sensors, the Goraxus is a Norexam Class Warbird, one of the newest designs in the RIS Fleet. They possess the best Sensor technology the Empire can offer, easily capable of charting new systems in very short time." "RIS Command has the Vox, a Talon class Frigate that will intercept us on the way to your planet and transfer our Diplomatic Envoys to the Goraxus."

"It won't present a problem. One ship will jump ahead of you and you'll use them as a beacon. Around the time you reach them, a second ship will jump ahead. This will provide the added bonus of marking you as being considered a local to those native here. While we're out here, be on then lookout for ion storms and other ships. Even if the other ships are not raiders, they're probably lost explorers who have become desperate. The route I have plotted keeps us mostly away from the hunting grounds of the raiders and on a path mostly lacking ion storms, but the occasional one pops up now and then. Most of the raiders won't attack us due to some stigma about attacking locals, but the occasional one may get desperate. You should easily overpower the most advanced ship they have," Enigma said.

onboard the Goraxus:

Tieberoc: "That Should be no problem, we will fallow your path and the ship beacons on the way back. As far as Raiders are concerned, The Goraxus and the Vellius are state of the art, heavily armed and armored, and maneuverable for their large size. If there is any tactical data you can give us about the raiders and their ships please direct your knowledge to our tactical officer here." "Helm set course along the dictators ploted path, Comm inform the Vellius to fallow suit."

And with that the Goraxus and Vellius moved out past the Godular WarShip and warped out.

On the way to the DLE Homeworld, about half way to the first waypoint, The Goraxus and Vellius meet up with the Vox (Talon class Frigate). the Goraxus recieved a hail from the Vox...
"Commander Tieberoc, this is Lieutenant Alexia, of the Frigate Vox. I believe we have a couple of Diplomats aboard that you are waiting for."
"Ah Yes, Lieutenant Alexia, We thank you for delivering the Diplomatic Envoys to us. You may Transport when ready."
"Very well Commander, Transporting now."
The two diplomates materialize aboard the Goraxus.

Onboard the Goraxus:

Tieberoc: "Lieutenant Simonox, please see that the diplomats are comfortable in their quarters."

Simonox: "Sir, right away sir."

Simonox escorted the RIS diplomats to their rooms and said... "We are sorry that the occomidations are not more hospitable but after all the Goraxus is a WarBird (Heavy WarShip)."

Diplomats: "That is alright... under the sircumstances we more than understand... do you know how long it will take us to get to the DLE Homeworld"

Simonox: "We expect a few days.... it would appear that we are kinda far out here in DLE standards."

After the diplomatic enoys were aboard the Vox headed back to RIS Command and the Goraxus and Vellius continued on their way to the DLE Homeworld.

OOC: Guess I shoulda mentioned that the Battleship reverted back into ProtoSpace after that last message...

OOC: Everything you need to know about the area: http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=372928

I would say we started at the equivolent distance from Terran as halfway from Terran to Earth.

The Diplomatic Convoy was on its way to Terran, the DLE Homeworld. Much time passed on their long journy which seemed to become more of an adventure. The time it took them gave them a great deal of time to discuss their futures as allies. Enigma was very helpful in describing his planet and culture, as well as the ways they navigate the vast space of their glorious Empire. During this time the Serpantolian and DLE crews learned and shared much with each other. Tieberoc had found that he shared many common intrests as Enigma and they seem to get along very well. They agreed that the sharing of knowledge between their peoples would highly benifit both Empires. When the journy was at an end Tieberoc returned the DLE Crews weapons. Seeing the technology they possessed he saw the massive potential that their Empires could share. As a gift to Enigma, Tieberoc presented a small Metal Crate. "Go ahead Enigma..open it". Enigma procceeded to open it revieling a soft foam lineing which held four RDRm1 models and four RDP's (Romulan Disruptor Rifle M1's and Romulan Disruptor Pistols). As well as Specs for the Basic disruptor weapon components. "they are not the best we have, The better models are resricted to RIS personel, you understand... i know you will have good use for them and their designs for your resurchers."
Enigma as well as the RIS Diplomatic Envoy boarded an RIS shuttle which delievered them to Enigma's planets surface. The Goraxus and Vellius Set course back for the RIS Empire With the help of two DLE ships to assist in navigation of the Dead Zone.

OOC: Weapon specs are on my webpage, link in the signature

As Enigma's people and the diplomats stepped onto Terran, Enigma smiled. Despite some of the reservations of the Serpantol people, they were an honorable people who stuck to their military code. Their differences were obvious, but as a whole they were similar enough to get along with ease. That meant they could possibly become close allies in the future.

Then, he looked at the weapons they had gifted. The basic plans for portable disruptor weapons showed him how to miniaturize the weapons his ships used and even offered the opportunity for adapting his technology quickly. He smiled as he imagined the surprise many would have at encountering his nation with what looked like projectile weapons that were actually energy weapons. Plus, the new allies he had made were well worth the lost ship.

"You'll find our stretch of the universe to be a place of danger, excitement, and adventure. I'll have your rooms inside my palace so you are the safest from possible danger. You'll find translation pads in your rooms to help you understand our native tongue. Most people here do not speak any other language and I would rather you know everything said about you. So, shall we?" Enigma asked of the diplomats.

"Yes indeed." the diplomats responded

The RIS Diplomats now knew that they were in good hands with the DLE people, and settled in quickly for what they believed would be a very long stay.

OOC: I assume this is finished?

OOC: yes, good luck and let me know if you need help on anything.

OOC: Oh, don't worry. I will. Expect to see me update my storefront in a few days with upgraded weapons.