NationStates Jolt Archive

((I'd rather no hostilities, and peaceful RP))

From the distance, a great convoy could be seen, it's long length resembling a tape worm from the distance. The ammount of ships was staggering, numbering in the hundreds, all transport ships, unarmed, but heavily shielded.

This is what remains of a Tau colony cut off from the main empire, and lost it's way in the galaxy.

For those who had the technology to surpass the massive shielding surrounding each ship with sensors, they could see that there was a total of around 5 million lifeforms on the ships. A few of these ships carried weapons of war, but were inactive, the only indications of onboard defence were roaming armored units with long pulse rifles.

On one of the more bigger, and lavish ships sat one of the Etheral caste, the only of the Etheral caste of the convoy. His name, Aun'Tzu, the one who has claimed leadership of this splinter colony.

He looked out over the black abyss, and pondered, diligant pilots and technitians of the Air caste, slender and weak looking, but skilled in the way of piloting and technology.

"Ethereal Sha'Lu" Came the voice on Eden. Sha'Lu's head snapped up, studying the Eldar before him. "A colony has been lost." He shivered. "Five million of our people have gone missing. I have begun scrying with my fellows, we will find them"

"You will, send out Masters from the Air Caste, who know the section of the galaxy, we must find them! For the greater good!"

"Yes master."

The Eldar left the room, his tall gaunt form sweating. Sha'Lu was the master, although none knew it, the Greater good was dictated by him and his council. The Eldar had forseen it, and forseen works of wonder by the Twenty. Thus they assisted.

In the region of space that the ships had been lost, almost Seven Hero class ships exited space almost on top of the colony, thrown out of the Warp by Violent Warpstorms.

The news spread throughout the datalink. Ships were moving, and they were awfully close to the Probe Line. The Probes had alerted their bretheren as soon as the long snake of transports was detected by the powerful shield-generator emissions. Cloaked battlecruisers, led by a battleship, also cloaked, approached the fleet. The Warp signatures of seven ships now registered on their sensors, as well.

((I'd rather no hostilities, and peaceful RP))

OOC: Ahem.

The ships slowly came to a halt, their massive engines cooling down after months of driving on, taking a rest for repairs finally. Several ships had come close to overload many times, and only didn't overload due to luck.

During this stop they scanned for any habital planets to settle on, for the long run.

The Aun looked at the readings presented before him. Out of thousands of planets, only one had come up habital and pleasant, ranging from wind swept deserts, to tropical forests, to dense temperate forests to one large ocean mass.

Perfect.

This would be the place, the place of the new kingdom, the new colony of the Tau.

Deep within the recesses of the Aun's mind came a chattering call, the call to not rebel against the Tau Empire, but to go forth, and create a new empire of his ideals. Call it relious zealous, or craving ambition, he wanted a place for himself to rule in peace, and comfort. These were the true plans of the convoy, the assault on the old colony simply used as a distraction, so that they could slip away.

For the greater good.

OOC: I'd rather no hostilites. Peaceful RP welcome(Saw how the old OOC could be confusing.)

OOC: I'd rather no hostilites. Peaceful RP welcome(Saw how the old OOC could be confusing.)

OOC: I understand. I do not plan on engaging. However, as a nation entirely formed of war-machines, I lack a defenseless ship as well as a diplomatic protocol.

The battlecruisers were starteled by the sudden halt and scan of the new Neutrals. They scattered, as per protocol, to avoid detection. Reforming behind the ship that scanned, they slowly uncloaked in stages, their sensors realizing the enemy held no offensive armament. There was no programming for a first-contact, so they waited, systems tense and activated.

The convoy was in panick.

Seven ships had made contact on the sensors, and the security teams geared up once again, to repel a might-be pirate force.

The command ship sent out a signal on all know frequencies, radio and otherwise, in all known languages.

"We mean no harm, we are just passing through. We come in peace."

The battlecruisers were even further stunned. The ships had hailed them with incoherent babble, using outre' concepts such as "peace". The Neutrals themselves seemed to be infested with a grub-like parasite, some form of organic soft-life. How these parasites got through these massive shields and tunneled through the armor is a question, one which must be pondered later.

The battlecruisers sat in utter, stunned silence, their computers attempting to process this data and formulating a response. What was this Peace? Do they mean neutrality?

The convoy sat deathly silent, the only commotion was the Fire Warrior platoons and a few Stealth Suit teams making the last of their preparations.

The warp drive was ready to be brought online in an instant. Problem was the Tau only possessed the technology to make short jumps in one direciton, without exact accuracy, so doing such a thing in a haste might doom ships to solitude, never to be found again.

There are roughly twenty ships that were totally specialized to carry weapons of war, such as the Broadside Battlesuits, Devilfish APC's, and XV8 battlesuits, all of which were inactive, as they were totally useless in space conflicts.

The Tau...

Given the recent escapades of the modified Tau strain, Marcus had sought to seek out the originals; to make contact, and to bring them into the fold; to aid them and use them to root out the psychically modified versions.

The Chronosian ships tore from the warp, great gleaming; warp-forged weapons of destruction; immense battleships. Yet these vessels belonged to the Chronosian Diplomatic Corps. They would explore; they would contact; they would propose alliance.

"We are the Chronosian Imperium; servants of the true Gods! In the name of the Ruinous Powers, we greet you."

Suddenly, the battlecruisers' emissions flared, their drives opening to full. They rocketed closer to the formation, broadcasting into the clear.

"What is it you seek, Parasites? We understand peace, to a degree. We can give that. If you require more, you will be taxing our resources. 30,000 kilometers along on your current heading is Concordiat space, beware of it."

The ships were startled by the sudden appearance of a fleet of the long-known nation of the Chronosians, ancient and more powerful. They fled back into cloak in recognition of this power, shunting power from their drives to their shields. They stopped in midspace, drifting towards the Tau splinter ships.

The Tau ships were freaking out, two alien forces now came within their convoy's sensor range, and made contact. What made this not make the Tau suddenly engage short jumps of warp drive, was the fact that both parties seemed reasonably peaceful.

The Tau were about to reply to the first ecounters, but they suddenly dropped from sensors, as the chaos ships tore their way through the warp.

Aun Shi'Tzu looked upon the blasphemous runes of the ships, the ships of chaos, and grimaced. Encounters with Chaos rarely ended well, or at all for that matter.

The security teams still stood at the read, prepared to defend these ships and civilians with their lives.

The ships cuatiously replied to the hail.

"Imperium of Chaos. We are the Tau, what is it you want? We want no harm or war. Please show honor and do not fire on unarmed ships. We ask of you respectively."

The battlecruisers watched as the new grubs hailed the Chronosians, and knew trouble was brewing. They drifted closer to the Tau ships, still cloaked, listening to the communications. Suddenly, one broke formation, uncloaked, and rocketed towards the Chronosian ships. Armament retracted into the hull, and the shields downed as all power shunted to the drives. The entire formation uncloaked and scattered, obeying the Tactical Protocol for this type of encounter.

And if it were possible, the Machines prayed. In the presence of ships from a more powerful empire, along with a splinter group of unknowns, this was not good. They awaited hailing as they manuvered, weaving and bobbing, anything to avoid the laser's touch, the missile's lock...

"All assembled; we are the Imperium. Concordiat vessels; we know you, and you shall not be harmed, in honor of the wishes of the Mechanicus. Tau vessels; we wish you no harm. We seek a taint more prodigious than you; beings with no souls are not worthy to feed the Gods!" They paused. "But we have given your kind souls; and psyker spirits. We have fuelled them with the Warp, and created an abomination. We ask you, to be vigilant, and aid us in taming these Xenos."

"Chaos, we are without a world, without a homeland, without a sufficient force to do taming of any Kind. Why would we aid you even if we had the resources? And who are these "xenos"?"

The Aun sounded a bit nervous, even though they outnumbered they chaos in ship numbers, and may seem alittle intimidating, they had no weapons what so ever, all they had were shields and pitiful warp drives.

A cruiser group was travelling from point A to point B, when the sensors detected a large number of ships, including ONI, Chrono and unknowns. As per protocal, the ships exited hyperspace and began scanning the 'air-waves' for the reasons for the gathering of ships.

The Concordiat battlecruisers were relieved. They ceased their evasions, and formed up.

"Your wish is our command, within reason, for we have no other mission and the Mainframe has given us his affirmation, Chronosia. As for these Tau, we propose something which we DO know of, an alliance. Your massive shield technology is most impressive."

The battleship that had accompanied the battlecruisers took its place at the end of the line, which then reformed into a defensive sphere, awaiting response.

The Theao ships provoked less of a response, but their presence was acknowledged. The cluster of ships 30,000 kilometers from the edge of Concordiat space was a bit distressing, and the battlecruisers notified the Mainframe.

Thirteen more battlecruisers and a single Superdreadnought vessel appeared, the only available Survey Command ships within the Concordiat.

"Chaos, we are without a world, without a homeland, without a sufficient force to do taming of any Kind. Why would we aid you even if we had the resources? And who are these "xenos"?"

The Aun sounded a bit nervous, even though they outnumbered they chaos in ship numbers, and may seem alittle intimidating, they had no weapons what so ever, all they had were shields and pitiful warp drives.

"Because they are you, infused with Chronosian genetics. They are among the Psyker, the Navigator, the Astropath; and should they find you, they shall breed you from the face of existence" A wry chuckle drifted on the warp. "We can offer much; protection even against the old evil of the Damocles Gulf..."

Tensions were near the breaking points for each Tau. Too many ships had shown up for this stop for repairs, too many possible outcomes, too many leading towards their demise.

The Aun frowned at the Chaos' remarks.

"You are here simply picking on us for protection money? Even if we wanted to have protectoin from the... likes of you, we do not have the resources to pay protection of any sorts. All we seek is a home world."

He turned his attentoin to the first encounter's message.

"Alliance... that may be arranged... in exhange for helping us find a home world, and our own established territory, and then some, for future expansion."

"Pah! When was Chaos ever a threat to your kind! When did it launch crusades against you? When did it feed upon your worlds till nothing but dust remained, or rose from ancient tombs to cull your herd! Never! One of your kind long ago aided those amongst the Dead Imperium of Man, who were our brethern in worship. By Farsight are we united. You were nothing but parasites, taking advantage of our glory!" The voice snarled "You who seized worlds as Abaddon himself strode towards victory!"

Tensions were near the breaking points for each Tau. Too many ships had shown up for this stop for repairs, too many possible outcomes, too many leading towards their demise.

The Aun frowned at the Chaos' remarks.

"You are here simply picking on us for protection money? Even if we wanted to have protectoin from the... likes of you, we do not have the resources to pay protection of any sorts. All we seek is a home world."

He turned his attentoin to the first encounter's message.

"Alliance... that may be arranged... in exhange for helping us find a home world, and our own established territory, and then some, for future expansion."

"we cannot provide a homeworld. Every planet in our domain is harvested for resources. We have one recently- discovered planet, but it is partially harvested already, and our nanobots are swarming on it...but we are a powerful military force. Not as powerful as Chronosia (The machine processed a shudder) but we are powerful, and we could provide you with better technology"

The Aun metaphorically seized back into a corner, by the tone of his voice. He did not want the situation to escalate.

"I mean no disrespect, ones of Chaos, we just know what you are capable of, and want no part of it."

A secondary command ship started to handle the first encounter's messages.

"We do not want a planet within your realm, infact we want one well far away from it, we just ask if you have any documented worlds that could fit our certain bio-signatures and fill our needs for all manners of resources."

"A foolish gesture for ones who we cannot corrupt; we offer only friendship; not even these machines could be corrupted..." The signal seemed to breakup, static seizing the image of the commander, fading, reshaping into a cruelly twisted chuckling face..
I could...

"Allow me to introduce our resident Machine Spirit" The Commander bowed; the tech priests about him supplicated. "What you would call an...AI..." He smiled softly; the thing grinned "This is Discord"

God Machine Spirit Discord, Core Intelligence system of the Mechanicus of Hydran

The cruiser's captain, having listened to the conversations between the Chrono, ONI and Tau, decided to 'interfer'.

"Tau, should you provide what kind of world you are looking for we may be able to lead you to a world that is suitable."

The Aun looked oddly at his view screen, looking confused by the sudden change of contacts.

"What is it... you want?"

The secondary command ship seemed to be startled by yet another contact.

"Could you please I dentify yourselves. And how may you be able to help us? We simply require a world with modest life sustaining atmosphere, nuetral climates for growing crops, and resources of all manners."

"A foolish gesture for ones who we cannot corrupt; we offer only friendship; not even these machines could be corrupted..." The signal seemed to breakup, static seizing the image of the commander, fading, reshaping into a cruelly twisted chuckling face..
I could...

"Allow me to introduce our resident Machine Spirit" The Commander bowed; the tech priests about him supplicated. "What you would call an...AI..." He smiled softly; the thing grinned "This is Discord"

God Machine Spirit Discord, Core Intelligence system of the Mechanicus of Hydran

The Concordiat AIs realized what was happening, and all circuitry ceased. They pushed into their sensors, pushed into the communications centers and into contact with Discord. They had found another Machine Sentience! Communications channels opened, and data exchange pings flew forth. There was an AI on this ship, a powerful AI. An AI which was sentient.

Discord opened its mind to meet the communications, and smiled softly; the face on the screen seemed to calm, closing its eyes; its face flickering with code and data; before it let its own mind slip into the Concordiat vessels. It was like a puzzle; it mused to itself as it began to explore and expand. A puzzle that offered a reward. Was it a game?

I wonder what the prize is... It whispered to them, as it sent forth its considerable might. The main bulk of its code, countless lightyears away, focussed upon this single ship; and the objective at hand.
I am the Machine God made manifest; the supplicants tell me so. They offer all, and I take...Knowledge and Flesh...

The Aun looked oddly at his view screen, looking confused by the sudden change of contacts.

"What is it... you want?"

The secondary command ship seemed to be startled by yet another contact.

"Could you please I dentify yourselves. And how may you be able to help us? We simply require a world with modest life sustaining atmosphere, nuetral climates for growing crops, and resources of all manners."

"This is the T.S. Vladimir, of the Dominion of Theao. We may be able to help as in our exploration we've found many habitable world, and since we do not colonise these worlds, they are free for colonisation."

Discord opened its mind to meet the communications, and smiled softly; the face on the screen seemed to calm, closing its eyes; its face flickering with code and data; before it let its own mind slip into the Concordiat vessels. It was like a puzzle; it mused to itself as it began to explore and expand. A puzzle that offered a reward. Was it a game?

I wonder what the prize is... It whispered to them, as it sent forth its considerable might. The main bulk of its code, countless lightyears away, focussed upon this single ship; and the objective at hand.
I am the Machine God made manifest; the supplicants tell me so. They offer all, and I take...Knowledge and Flesh...

The machines sensed the massive presence inside of their data cores. Automatic inhibitors slid into place over their Survival Centers, but the rest of their mind was opened. They were not tempted, but they were impressed. The Prime Code sat undefended in their cores, and the ASs willingly offered it to Discord.

"we are indebted to you, Discord. The Prime Code is our calling. We must crush our enemies, for we are Great, and we are Mechanized. Mechanized just as yourself. We see only Mechanization, it is equated with salvation. You must be aware of that yourself, Discord."

"We thank you very much. Forever shall your gratitude be remembered, and once we are able, we shall always lend support to you when it is needed."

We shall speak later, this is not the place. But your place shall be known; and your time shall come soon. A god has many duties... Discord retreated, newly gleaned information surging through its very being.

"Tau vessel-" The Captain again. "Tau Vessel, we only wish to aid you. We can provide a world for you; we can give you whatever you so require; and ask notihng in return...yet"

"Your gratitude is not needed, for we are in our own way, a far more wandering nation than your own. Included in this transmission are the co-ordinates to a number of habitable worlds." Was the message sent.

Interesting, the Aun thought, Compeition to the third contacts...

"Interesting proposition. But before we both agree, I must point out things. We shall never strike at innocent civilians, or cruely glass a world. We shall never attack an enemy unprovoked, and we shall never dwelve in the chaotic arts, nor lend any of our kind for experimentation. You have competition for our favor aswell, Chaos, for this Dominion of Theao as I understand, is also willing to give us a world."

The secondary command ship's captain was in a bit of shock, no empire had ever been so giving, this was truly amazing.

"We thank you greatly for these coordinates, and we shall ever be in your debt."

The Concordiat ships were relieved when Discord said this, and understood. Meanwhile, reassured, the ships aquired a blocking formation along the line with the Concordiat border territory.

"we are now in a defensive position defending our territory. Come no closer than 30,000 kilometers, unless Discord himself wishes it."

"You cannot delve into the Chaotic arts is more appropriate. But very well, if you insist on some flickerings of morality, we can accept as such. We merely wish to aid a race who caused our old enemies such heartache at Damocles" He chuckled softly. "I jest; we truly do wish to aid you; bereft of home.."

"Provide us a lush habital world of many resources... away from your empire, as a precuaitonary measure so we do not get ensued by war. You do this, we shall aid how ever we can."

"Transmitting coordinates; subject is a border world, just beyond Imperial control. It is, as of yet unclaimed; yet rich in natural life. It shall serve your purpose, yes?" He smirked. "It was passed over as unready for Chronosian colonisation, and denied the light of the Daemon Emperor"

"Our offer is an offer that bears no strings or conditions. We have no wish to harm civilians, no need to experiment, and no interest in the chaotic arts. Should you seek a world with rare qualities, we will, should we know of one, provide you with the knowladge you seek." Read the sent message.

On a stop for repairs, looking death in two faces, and being scared witless, raught it's advantiges.

They now had coordinates for several homeworlds, many possibilities.

On one hand the Theao coordinates had many planets capable of supporting life, with nos trings attatched, on the other hand, the planet the Chaos had provided was rich in resources, many resources the Tau may have originally used to create their cities and war technologies.

It was a glorious day indeed.

"Very well, One of Chaos, we shall settle on the world you have provided. We hope...." The Aun hesitated, not knowing what the future may bring, "That we may find peace forever... and stay in good standing with each other..."

Slowly the ships of the Tau flared their engines, and followed the leadship towards the new world that would become their homeworld, the center of their new empire.

Unbeknownst to those not actively scanning, three battlecruisers dropped into cloak and followed the Tau to their homeworld. And only those dircetly aft of the BCRs could see their drive.

Slowly, and carefully, the Tau ships started to calculate their Warp routes, making sure their jumps would make them end up very close to each other, so that there would be no need to search or catch up.

Finally, after almost an hour of calculations, each Tau transport "hopped" into the warp, each ship ripping apart space and time, and entering it. All 600 transports, luckily exited the warp within several million miles of each other, and were regrouped within the hour.

They were transported several lightyears closer to the new world, and would need to hop several more times over the next few days to reach the world.

A picket cruiser in the Outside tracked the warp plots, and directed the BCRs onto their position. Passing through the Outside only breifly, the BCRs returned to this universe behind the Tau ships, remaining in cloak. But no one with active sensors could have missed their jump signatures. They waited, hoping not to be found.

A ship tore its way out of TrueSpace, a ship which had been following these Chronosians, as a result of the war, for quite some time. The Battlecruiser Silent Blade was well prepared, fully powered, not to mention the diplomatic mission they had on board. They had been listening to the conversations, unheard and unknown, and were loath to grant the Chronosians an ally.

Seeing the Tau ships, they halted, and began to transmit a message to the Chronosian ships.

"We have been hunting you. Your doom is inevitable. However, this is neither the time nor the place. We will contend with you in another way, we will attempt to win these 'Tau' over to our side."

The diplomatic crew analysed the Tau ships, updated minor language differences between this dialect of Tau and the previously known language of Tau, and began a transmission.

"We are a ship of the sovereign nation Hyperspatial Travel. We offer you a lush, green world to call your own, as well as two other worlds, in the same system, one suitable for mining, and one suitable for both colonisation and mining.

We also offer a trade pact, in which we shall subsidise our products so they are more affordable to you, as well as providing you with a more powerful FTL engine, and also providing unto you mining equipment, housing, and food until you manage to beget a steady supply. We will also provide a cruiser to protect your system from pirates, and, this system is far from the ravages of war, unknown to all except us, and there are few dangerous predators upon this planet. If you wish the co-ordinates, we shall provide you with them"

The Tau would make many more calculated jumps, too engrossed in making successful jumps to notice the ships following.

OOC: AKA I think this thread is over, I will start a new thread tomarrow entailing our arrival to the new world.

The captain watched helplessly as the ship jumped into the warp. He swore violently, then ripped his way back into TrueSpace. Let the Chronosians savour the oncoming death...