NationStates Jolt Archive

On board of the Light Cruiser Divine Purpose 29

War.

It had been a long war. So many decades... A long and bloody struggle. Billion of lives had been lost. Planets, species, even the very stars themselves had perished.

And eventually, they'd lost, overwhelmed by an enemy they'd foolishly underestimated, believing that its pacifism, its softness would be no match for the Idiran warmachine.

Xendragal sighed, his tripod of legs slowly walking down the corridors of the light cruiser Divine Purpose, remembering the war, replaying it in his mind. It was a war he now knew had been begun under a false sense of superiority, not realising their - His - own weaknesses, nor the strengths of their enemy...

Well, what surprise, though? They'd been victorious for centuries, ever growing in power, their hold over the galaxy ever growing, becoming more and more of a major player - Not the major player, certainly, but one of them.

But now? Now it was over. Treasured Idir had been taken over. The immortal had failed.

A thin smile appeared on Xendragal's saddle-shaped head. Or perhaps not...

They'd gained the information, the blueprints. He was commanding this newest - And last - fleet of the Idiran Empire. Ships, more advanced than what they'd ever had before, more advanced even than the best of their opponents' craft...

The smile disappeared.

Too late. Just... Too late. They had 'acquired' the plans from the Homomda, all right... But God didn't seem to want to give them another chance. The enemy was closing in, and the world Xendragal and the rest of the fleet were holding would soon fall... Their ships, so precious, would certainly make a glorious last stand: They were ready for it, and they would not hesitate. But the odds were overwhelming. Impossible.

They could only lose, their very souls, immortal like their bodies, would perish in the chaos of gridfare and CAM dust, eliminated by an enemy that despite all its show-off niceness and so-called benevolence was even more ruthless, even more brutal than them.

No doubt that many of their enemies would fall when they burned. But winning? Turning the tide? Xendragal grimaced. Too late.

And just then, something appeared.

Two hours later

"So... What is it?"

"We've no idea."

"..."

Xendragal looked at the screens and projections, reading through the vast amounts of information presented by the ships' sensors.

Unfortunately, it was fairly incomprehensible information.

However, as incomprehensible as this thing was, it seemed to offer opportunities. The enemy was cruising perhaps a day out, a fleet of a few thousand vessels waiting to destroy them utterly, to defeat the last remaining force of the Empire. They'd kept quiet, building their forces up slowly - But eventually, they'd been noticed. Nemesis was close.

This could be their escape.

Or the start of their apotheosis. The sheer power this thing just had to have... If they could control it...

If they could take it, it could turn the tides. Would turn the tides.

"I want to know more. Have you attempted contact?"

"Yes, repeatedly. No reply."

"I see..."

Seconds of consideration. Every second would bring their done closer, roughly ten terameters...

"Well, if it wont reply to us knocking politely, we'll have to force our way in."

"Yes, Querl."

The 'dumb' sensor package, in its essence a gunplatform stripped of guns and equipped with a hyperspacial drive and a fair amount of sensors, jumped, for a moment oscillating between the hyperspacial volumes, then returning into the 'normal' volume of space that lies in between the hyperspacial layers.

A fraction of a second later, far too small to even be observed by the Idiran' computers, the universe had changed.

Later analysis would show that it wasn't actually the universe that had changed - They'd 'just' been displaced into another universe by this object that had just appeared, for a reason they couldn't comprehend. Together with the solar system they'd been in. Had they missed a chance? Had they received one? Nobody could tell. A few were frightened - Whatever had done this was so infinitely more powerful than them... But then, perhaps it had been an act of benevolence. Perhaps.

After a number of discussions and conferences with the other officers in the fleet, Xendragal eventually returned to the Divine Purpose, shaking his head. Was this good? Bad? He didn't know. All he knew was that for the moment, they were an eternity and an infinity away from where they had been, with no way to contact any of their kind they'd left behind.

He looked at a medjel running past him, apparently delivering some orders, and kicked at it, somewhat frustrated.

We have a lot to discover.

The whirring within the ship was loud and at a constant speed. The shields were weak but functioning, as normal. A pur was heard, and Jebula Qw smiled. Commander of the new fleet, he was the person in command of the biggest, most advanced Minutan fleet yet.

He walked onto the deck with some authority. He approached a Minutan. "News?"

"There has been nothing yet." The Minutan turned his head. "But sensors have just picked up an anomaly."

"What do you mean?" Jebula Qw seemed worried.

"The ship has detected a, I don't know how to describe it. Somethings wrong." The Minutan tried to gather more information.

"Something?" Jebula walked over to his control panel. He bought up an image on screen with readings from sensors and energy patterns. "Oh."

"Yes, something is wrong. Orders?"

"Wait, we shall see what happens."

The image on Jebula's screen was that of a wierd light, eminating from the eternal darkness. The light suddenly merged together and formed a ship. "What the hell is that?"

"It appears to be a ship."

"I can see that!" His tone was harsh and worried. "Get communications open."

"Opened."

"This is Jebula Qw of the Minutan. Please explain your presence in our sector." He waited for a reply. A million thoughts were rushing through his head. He had no idea who they were or what their intentions were. By what he had seen, the whole fleet could be wiped out within a millisecond. They seemed more powerful than themselves.

Not just a ship, come to think of it... More like, well over two hundred of them, plus a number of planets, and a yellow dwarf - A sun.

But then, the radiation and general traces produced by the 'Displace' had had effects on everyones sensors, which explained why the incoming ship(s) hadn't been noticed earlier...

Way earlier.

Well, that and the fact that they were in the general area to begin with.

The ships in the fleet got busy. They were in another universe, and everything was unknown. Medjel yelped and ran, their many limbs almost in chaos, while Idiran warriors cursed and concentrated on the task at had, their obscenely powerful but nonetheless subsentient computers calculating, analysing, coordinating.

An incoming message. From a craft rather less than a trillion kilometres away - At least that was what the sensors were saying right now, within the slowly subsiding interferences - worrying, that. If something happened, it'd be something happening at a very close range... And right now, this wasn't something Xendragal and the others wished for.

First things first: Translate the message.

Impossible, due to a distinct lack of reference frames. They were lucky enough that the basic universal constants were the same in this universe, who cared about languages?

Xendragal sighed. "I hope they become smart enough to transmit language codes as well. Damnit. Ok, send them the codes for standard Homomdan-"

"Not Idiran?"

"Giving away our own language? No. Rather another one."

The codes were sent quickly enough, together with a request - It actually sounded more like a demand - to send the original message, again.

Translated, this time.

"Damn. We could be facing a battle here with an unknown enemy, and you don't send translation codes?" Jebula was shouting at the Minutan.

"Im sorry. Resend the message. Translating into some language, must be their own."

"This is Jebula Qw of the Minutan. Please explain your presence in our sector." He was getting used to doing this. "We will not attack you without reason." Since he had mucked up the first time, making it sound like a hostile comment, he added to it.

The fleet was cruising closer towards them. The deck was alive with activity, but silent.

OOC: Sorry about the short post, I have to go for the night.

The Recon vessel Kortor had just finished a sweep of a nearby system, the planets within were mostly Gas giants with no planet capable of sustaining much life, DSRBOTs had been sent out to scan other parts of the nearby systems.

DSRBOT-1001 clicked and whired as it found an anomoly, it continued to click and whir until it found itself mysteriously in the middle of a large fleet, for such a simple BOT to comprehend this mysterious phenomena would mean that it would yield some form of intelligence, unfortunantly it was not within it's programming to be able to understand these events and so it merely acted as though they just happened.

The BOT, despite being void of the ability to understand spacial phenomena, was programmed to be curious, it scanned the vessels closely looking for weapons, shields and anything which could threaten the mother-ship, after scans were complete it relayed the standard diplomatic message to what appeared to be the largest of the ships.

Message received, read, interpreted...

A grin appears on the faces of a few saddleheads - Captains of the fleet, the more adventurous ones, anyway.

Xendragal, somewhat more suited for diplomatic tasks than captains seething with a lust for revenge after the many defeats of the last years, eventually replied, not without showing a grin hismelf - He was nervous, but still... This could become an interesting task.

[tight beam, open transmission]
xQuerl Xendragal, Light Cruiser Divine Purpose 29
oJebula Qw of the Minutan

We were displaced to this universe/ sector of space by an anomaly taking place at our former position within the multiverse.

Is this answer satisfactory?

Oh, and might I ask what reasons for attacking us would be?

---

Meanwhile, the bot was properly noticed, and immediately screened by effector-and other scanning resources, and then the message came...

The 'Largest' ship wasn't actually all that large - Unlike their adversaries, the Idirans had never bothered with ships tens of kilometres in size. Planets were places to live on. Orbitals or ships? Technological marvels, but they were lacking purpose, destiny - all in all, it was perhaps a kilometre in length, half a kilometre wide and a tenth of a kilometre in height.

Of course, it lacked a relatively 'diplomatic' Qeryl like Xendragal...

[tight beam, open transmission, language codes (Homomdan) included]
xCaptain Zeratocra, Battleship Heavenly Order 3
oDSRBOT-1001

Tell your masters that they should come by themselves.

A fraction of a second later, the drone - After being thoroughly scanned for security purposes, and receiving a brief dose of effector fire to make sure its systems are under Idiran control - was displaced aboard the ship, for a more thorough analysis, the drones' communications possibilities either jammed or taken over.

Or both.

"Captain Krotor, we have lost our link with DSRBOT-1001!"

The ensign had a hint of panic under his breath, and rightly so, the Warrior Priests could be near, there was very little that Krotor could do.

"Ensign, how far away is DSR-0091 from a Kaduna relay point?""

"Approximatly 3 kilometers, do you want me to send a message back to the Homeworld?"

This was exactly what Krotor wanted to do, he gave a nod before dissapering into his cabin, it would be while before the Homeworld responded, he walked over to a rag which was hiding an object beneath it, a quick flick pulled the sheet away revealing a statue of a man, beneath was a bowl, taking a small axe Krotor slit across his palm and let the blood drip into the dish.

"I am sorry I am late my Liege, please forgive me."

After the apology Krotor took a small pen like device and ran it over the gash, it healed with little trace of it ever having existed, with the deed done Krotor returned to the Bridge.

"Any word?"

"Yes captain, the Kraytar and the Krushdan are on their way, ETA 6 hours."

6 Hours Later

The Kraytar arrived first, it's destination was a mere kilometer from the Krotor which was to return immediatly to Homeworld, the Krushdan then appeared about ten minutes later within hailing range of the unknown fleet.

"Alien fleet, this is a warning message return our Deep Space Recon BOT or we will be forced to enter into a needless war, please respond."

The message was sent along with a translation matrix in the likely event of these aliens not speaking Kadunese, weapons and shields had been turned online awaiting the response.

Jebula Qw was pleased. THe wait had been hell, but the result had lifted the weight from his shoulders. His fleet wouldn't have to fight a battle just yet. He replied to the message swiftly.

We will be given reason to launch an attack on your vessel should you show yourself to be hostile in any way. Your reason is intriguing. I have contacted my leader and he has asked we open diplomatic relations with you. We have also been asked to find out how you got here.

Thank you,
Jebula Qw

He stood from his command panel and walked over behind the Minutan who had played such an important role in things so far. "I want you to keep an eye on their weapons. If they become armed, arm our weapons, and call me immediately. All other ships in the fleet should do the same."

The Minutan hurriedly relayed his orders into the computer. Messages were sent out quickly to all ships, and the weapon status of the other ship flashed up on the main command panel and the Minutan's own.

Jebula Qw sat back, and fell into deep thought. Can our fleet handle a ship such as that, that can appear and dissapear as it pleases? What are their capabilities? Will they open fire? Can they open fire? The world around him seemed to move slower as he pondered these thoughts.

Kaduna

There had been discussions, conferences, arguments, the likes.

If one looked at the surface, this universe was no different than that they'd come from.

If one looked a little closer, it very much was.

The basic properties of 'Normal' space, sure, they were present. The same was true for the energy grid(s): They were there, alright.

However, sad as it was, there were more properties than just this few. Many, many more hyperspacial properties, ways-around-the-light-barrier and so on.

In other words, Idiran technology was suddenly insufficient to fit all the new roles - And holes - that had opened up.

This simple fact - The fact that they had to learn a few things, and cope with the realities of this universe - was the reason - The primary reason, anyway - that they didn't immediately start shooting.

Not that they - That is, Captain Zeratocra - thought this minor disadvantage was a reason to be particularly polite, but they could at least try to avoid hostilities before they were prepared for them.

Thus, essentially speaking, Zeratocra would actually have liked to return the Deep Space Recon BOT, due to the present circumstances. Unfortunately...

Unfortunately, it was presently in about a million pieces that were in the process of being analysed in considerable detail.

[tight beam, open transmission, Kadunese]
xCaptain Zeratocra, Battleship Heavenly Order 3
oKraytar

This can be arranged... Though, you'll have to wait for about an hour, so we can reassemble it. Or would you prefer to do it yourself?

Already, a fair amount of available sensors and scanners was actively, as well as passively watching the incoming craft, just in case. Things could get hot.

Hopefully they wouldn't.

Yet.

Minuta

[tight beam, open transmission, Minutan]
xQuerl, Light Cruiser Divine Purpose 29
oJebula Qw

I understand. The fomer should be simple enough - We have to reorient ourselves, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue, and you could indeed be helpful in this.

As far as the latter goes, there might be some issues, though, but you're certainly free to try.

A thin smile appeared on the Querl's face. Hostile in any way. We probably are... Just, not yet.

Of course, just as the sensors of the Idiran fleet watched their present 'Neighbors', analysing them and their capacities, offensive ones, defensive ones, so the Idirans were watched.

And, well, they were Idirans. Their weapons were always ready to fire at a moment's notice. CAM launchers, nanohole-displacers, gridfire capacities, effector weapons, CREWS apertures, so many other systems...

They were always ready.

After all, they'd just been displaced out of a warzone. What else to expect?

Not that their 'neighbors' (Or guests) knew this, of course...

In the meantime, a number of ships - Perhaps half of the fleet that was spread all over the system, within a sphere with a diameter of perhaps twenty trillion kilometers, just over a two lightyears - entered hyperspace, to work with the 'faster' physics there, allowing them to take a closer look at things still far away, neighboring systems, civilisations, fleets.

"sir, there has been a.... problem, the DSRBOT is in pieces."

The officer spoke out over the buzz of action on the bridge, the Captain looked over to the officer with a look of contempt, the DSRBOT, although many would consider it primative, was a Kadunese feat of engineering, if they managed to reverse engineer it then the Kadunese could see a large amount of BOTs messing with Kadunese BOTs, not to mention that if they managed to break into the Hard disk the aliens could discover things about the Kadunese that would be rather kept secret, the look of contempt upon the captains face made it so that there was only one response that the Officer could give.

"Alien vessel, return all Kadunese technology, we will have a shuttle prepared for the pieces to be loaded on to."

Captain Zeratocra grimaced. He did not like the tone of the Kadunase, and briefly pondered a cloud of CAM dust... Over this distance - A few lightdays at worst - a more or less instantaneous hit could be achiveved with casual ease.

Alas... They still had to settle in.

Just, allowing a shuttle on board didn't sound too good, either.

Decisions, decisions... And eventually, an answer was found.

[tight beam, open transmission, Kadunase]
xCaptain Zeratocra, Battleship Heavenly Order 3
oKraytar

Acceptable. Keep your shuttle ten lightseconds off the Heavenly Order. The pieces will be displaced.

OOC:
Holy - Culture tech. :shock:

AFAIK that kinda kit's well beyond what most of NS Space would call godmodish ubertech(great writing, tho).

With the shuttle approved it began to jeyt slowly towards the fleet, it was only a small vessel intended for 5 man colonist teams, all the luxury items had been removed creating a large space for the DSRBOT, in the back was a man preparing for the risky space walk needed to retrieve the items.

The Kadunese didn't want a war but they did wish that other species would cease interfering with their attempts to colonise, it had become a tiresome action having to ask for a piece of technology back from some species or other, the ship had stopped just outside the fleet, it waited for further action.

Active sensors sweep the arrival, brief bursts of for now harmless effector fire analyse minds and computers, and, once security is guaranteed, cease their short-lived activities.

Apart from this, not much was happening. Quickly compensating for emissions and fields around and inside the shuttle, then displace - The spacewalk proved to be rather unnecessary, given that the items where displaced into the shuttle - and done.

[tight beam, open transmission, Kadunase]
xCaptain Zeratocra, Battleship Heavenly Order 3
oKraytar Shuttle

Our excuses for the somewhat tiresome procedure. We're new here and try to learn as much as we can, but I hope this will be the last such incident, for now.

Meanwhile, the information acquired from the bot until they had had to give it back, as well as the information gained from the relatively casual sensor sweeps of ships & shuttles, is analysed, and conclusions regarding Kaduna's technological capacities as well as its industrial strength are made.

Interesting enough, all things considered.