NationStates Jolt Archive

Galvarin Quadrant
Sector A0091
Planet Tarivos

The planet, sitting in a somewhat-backwater section of space ,much resembled Earth with its cloud-swept atmosphere, sparkling blue oceans, and grass-covered landscapes. It held a myriad of life on its surface, from the strange, eel-like creatures which littered the edge of the ocean with their curling, transluscent figures, to the ellegant beasts which dotted the land, whether they be the bipeds frollicking within the vast plains or the clusters of birds twisting in the azure skies.

A semi-primitive civilization even existed on this perfect world; they had yet to discover anything beyond simplistic stonework or woodscrafting, but were well on their way into becoming a people of high technological value. In many places, there stood towns with the bipedal creatures walking around, villages mainly centered around towering stone buildings. Further inspection revealed them to be castles of sorts; each seemed to have a different banner waving above it, likely signifying seperate governmental positions or townships. In other words, they stood apart from one another. They were...Disunited.

"Pitiful wretches..."

The tall figure stared out the window of the Command Ship towards the planet, admiring boths its usefullness and the lackwits who inhabited it, at least in her opinion. She ran a spindly finger along the window, tracing the circular form of the planet in the slight fog that covered it, coveting its perfection as though it was already hers.

"They don't deserve such a world for their grimey hands to defile."

The finger turned into a fist as it joined with its other, running down the window before returning to the creature's side. She shifted her gaze to the right, looking at the large number of ships that accompanied the vessel she was in. Smallish, that was true, but they didn't need to be big for the task that lay before them.

She turned away from the window and into the light eminating from the bridge, allowing the small gathering of technicians to get their first good look at her. She was tall, that was certain; if she hadn't been, she wouldn't be standing there. The two, pupiless green eyes stared at the group, the two antennae idly resting on her green head giving no hint as to what she was thinking. As for her body, she looked a bit deformed, with the curved midsection of her dress looking like it, quite literally, couldn't hold more than her spine. Besides that, the only other feature worth noting was that she hovered over the floor, standing about three inches off the metal plates.

She motioned towards one of the technicians. "What's the status on the fleet?"

The aforementioned technician stood up, revealing his incredibly diminutive stature; in fact, he couldn't have stood more than three-and-a-half feet tall, and wore a pinkish suit that covered his entire face, ending at his eyes. He made a quick bow before replying. "My Tallest, the remainder of the Shuvvers left Foldspace five minutes ago. The fleet is ready to begin."

"Excellent." The taller figure glanced back at the window, towards the planet which she so richly deserved. "Commence the Organic Sweep."

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

Siag'i struggled with the bucket, trying his best not to spill the water, lest he recieve a heavy chastising from his master. As he climbed the steps, the liquid sloshed a bit, but he made careful not to lose even a single drop. As he reached the top of the steps that led up from the creek, the set down the bucket to take a brief rest in the shade of a nearby tree, its tendrils of leaf-covered vines snaking down like ropes. He brushed them aside, sitting cross-legged on the dirt, as he fell back to look at the sky. He noticed several clouds to the East, a good sign of oncoming rainfall. He squinted as he looked a bit more to the West, noticing something. Something that obviously didn't fit.

'Purple?' he thought, as he continued to stare at the sky. 'There aren't any purple birds.' He rubbed his eyes once as he continued to look at the ever-growing speck. It was shaped a bit like a bird, and it was flying, so maybe it was some new kind. He stood up, about to pick up the bucket and return to his master to ask him if he knew of any purple birds that were in the area.

He never got the chance. A flash of bright light later, and Siag'i was gone, a sparse covering of ash resting on the dirt where he once stood.

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

All over the planet, the same thing was happening. Streams of laser left the landscape barren of any Tarivon as the Shuvvers ravaged the planet, removing any and every trace of the once-prospering race as they went about their work. Swarms of the vessels littered the skies; no plain went unchecked, no forest left scanned for Tarivon bio-signatures, as the insectoid monsters commenced their "cleansing."

All to the crazed laughter of the Irken leader as she watched the events unfold from the command ship.

((Tag for interest))

The Tarivon screamed in pain as the energy collided with his body, falling to the ground as nothing more than a charred husk of a corpse. The blackened lump still smoking, the shadow of the being's pursuer fell over him.

"Imbecilic amoeboids."

The Irken placed his metal boot on the head of the smoldering corpse.

"I should have conquered this planet weeks ago."

With a sickening pop, the small creature forced his boot down, crushing the skull of the charred Tarivon and smashing the husk that had formerly been its brain. Continuing to grind his foot into the bloodied dirt, the Irken spat onto the creature in disgust as he removed the imposing boot and wiped it off on the dirt. He paused when he heard a voice buzz over his comlink.

"Invader Gatch, have you discovered any more native sentients on the planet surface?"

He pressed a button of the side of the band encircling the back of his head from temple to temple.

"Yes, my Tallest, but only one. I believe the Sweep caught almost all of them."

The voice buzzed over the link again. "Good. You may return to Irk. We'll be sending down a Conversionary Team soon to make the necessary adaptations to the planet. They'll be working out of your base."

"I understand." He wiped off the remaining blood into the dirt. "Pathetic creatures. Surprised this one managed to escape the Sweep. Probably hiding in a cave, the coward." He shoved the body into a nearby ditch with his boot. "A fitting burial..." He chuckled psychotically as he sauntered back to what had once been his temporary base, to load up his Spittle Runner and return to Irk for some well deserved vacation time.

((Er...Bump I suppose?))

((Er...Bump I suppose?))

OOC: Darn...somebody got to an Irken-style faction before me! Or one of my relatives. At any rate, good job.

OOC: Darn...somebody got to an Irken-style faction before me! Or one of my relatives. At any rate, good job.

((Hm...Thanks.

And no, I'm pretty sure I don't know you, heh.))

((Hm...Thanks.

And no, I'm pretty sure I don't know you, heh.))

OOC: I know. Not referring to you specifically with that last comment (I don't know you either), I have relatives I've been trying to get on Nationstates for a while now. That's all.

OOC: And the Dominion waits, preparing to pounce when there shows an opening...

The massive structure, while under construction, was just as imposing as it was built to be. It pulsed with the hum of energy coursing through machinery as the engineers went about their work, sautering metal onto the frame of the building. Despite its otherwise fearsome appearence, however, the facility held the standard purple-and-pink coloring scheme of the Irken Empire, to which it lost some of its majesty. Still, the entire hive-like design of the building was not lost on anyone, especially not the Coversionary Team who worked on it.

Around the building lay a thick spread of stone blocks, or at least chunks of them, the rubble left over from the destruction of one of the fortresses that had once been populated by the extinct Tarivonian peoples. It had likely taken several years for the primitive race to construct the dull and simplistic stone castle, especially without any effective tools beyond hammers or picks, and only a few seconds for it to be torn down by the Irkens. Their superiority was so far above them that the insect-evolved beings could not even revel in it, too far disgusted by the weak and pitiful people who had lived here minutes before.

Standing outside the structure was the "foreman," observing the progress made as his fellow workers went about constructing the towering facility. A spindly, mechanical arm extended from his PAK, dropping a compact device, formed out of two, half-foot long metal rods stuck together on their sides, into his waiting hand. He pulled the two apart, revealing the gadget to work much like a holographic scroll, with the visual image of the building's blueprints displayed between the two rods. He glanced between the pictorial image and the real thing, as if making sure of its exactness to its design.

"Foreman Stirt, what is the status on the construction?"

He almost dropped the device as he heard the Irken Tallest speak over the line. He scrambled to steady himself as he pressed a button on the side of his helmet. "My Tallest! I was not expecting a call so soon...Yes, the facility is coming along quickly. Much faster than we suspected. This planet's lower gravity has helped some, of course."

"Excellent. The other teams have called in, and their reports say the same. I believe this planet shall give bountifully to our resource stores in the construction of the Bludgeon-class vessel. The Vortians are demanding that more be sent, else they cannot complete the project by the scheduled date. For all its worth, this better be as much as they promise to be. If not, then they will rue the day..."

"My Tallest, if you'll excuse me, I must return to this." He closed the transmission, once again opening the scroll-like gadget. "Hey, you! That stabilizer module needs to be moved several feet to the left! Yeah, that's good!"

Do you mind a little intervention?)

((Of course not. It's the entire reason this is up mainly.))

The ship-

Well, no. Not a ship. Make that a drone. A huge drone, and with a mindstate-abstract running it, meaning that it's actually on the verge of sapience (Or more to the point: A part of sapience), but still a drone.

The drone moved through the between, 'propelled' by the currents and streams of its infinity of layers, tossing it here and there, drive fields, vast and magnificient in reality proper, barely capable of keeping it vaguely on-course in this rather less pleasant (And considerably confusing) realm.

'Above' (Not in a strictly geometric sense - There is no 'Above' or 'Below', as its all in the same place, so to speak - But it works as a simplification for navigational purposes) it was the void where the spatial dimensions collapsed, leaving only, well... Nothing. 'Below (See 'above') it was reality proper, with its exceedingly slow information transfer, with its excessive inertia, and a few other laws of physics that'd do terrible things to it - If they were valid in the between.

Not that they were strictly invalid - But the between tended to bend them.

Which was, for all practical intends and purposes, neat (Until one navigated so poorly as to fall into the void - Then it was rather annoying, as a minor gamma ray pulse spread over, say, a cubiclightyear would prove).

At present, the drone was located in a relatively low layer of the between - Allowing for no more than, say, 10000c relativistic space equivalent as information transfer - cruising at a meager 1000c, collecting information. The higher the layer you're 'in' is, the poorer the quality of the information - Or in less esoteric terms, the further away you move from relativistic reality, the less coherent is the information you get about it. And this information is crucial when you're an interstellar exploration drone - You're out there to watch, to explore, to learn. Not to break some speed records (Which you could, too - But you'd miss entire stars while doing so, nevermind planets or ships).

On the negative side, the closer you were to relativistic reality, the more information would radiate from you into it - The slower you are, the more you see, but you're also seen easier yourself, emitting a considerable number of exotic particles and assorted radiations, which tend to pop up in reality proper, out of nowhere, to be caught by the passive sensors of just about every possible, vaguely advanced space-faring civilisation.

And the Irken were a little more than just 'Vaguely' advanced. Not that the drone knew this, of course - It didn't know what the Irken where to begin with. Not yet, anyway.

Regardless. All the IED did was collecting information, analysing the echoes matter and energy of reality proper created in the between, defining their sources, (Easily), the capabilities of said sources (Not quite as easily) and the content of their information transfer (Ludicrously hard).

In this particular case, it seemed to have found something interesting. Interstellar civilisation? Check.

This newly-gained knowledge was enough to make it decelerate hard, dropping through a few thousand layers of the between, leaving a few smaller satellite-equivalents in assorted layers, for assorted purposes, and eventually it shifted out of it, leaving a brief and quickly expanding cloud of radiations and particles with half-lifes in the picosecond range around its point of exit (Or entry, depending on one's point of view).

Then it watched, again, quietly dispersing a cloud of 'satellites' ranging from a gram or so to perhaps a thousand kilograms in a tenth-of-a-lightsecond radius around it while calculating its exact position - Only a few hundred metres off the position it'd thought to occupy while it had been in the between, and no more than approximately a hundred and a half lightseconds off the source it'd discovered a few moments earlier - Quite some accuracy there.

It was sure the locals would contact it, if they were particularly interested.

As has been said, keep the OOC thingies elsewhere. Especially keep the not respecting other players elsewhere, and everyone will be happy.

I can clear the extraneous posts out of the thread if it's wanted.

~ Tsar the Mod.

((Wow, confusing! Actually had to run through that a couple times before I got it.

Edit: Oh, and yes, if you would, that'd be great. Thanks.))

"My Tallest, we've detected a probe of some sort nearby."

The Tallest turned away from the window, taking a sluck of her slushee-like beverage before replying. "How nearby?"

"Well, it's more than a lightminute away, but it's within the system." He moved his fingers over the holographic interface that made up the terminal. "Origination is unknown, but it was moving at post-hyperlight speed only moments ago. I believe it stopped upon detecting us."

Tallest Miyuki took another suck of the drink, also taking the time to float over to the computer so as to look over the readings. "It's not hostile? No transmissions from it either?"

The technician slid his index finger over a holographic slider bar. "No, my Tallest. It's controllers may be in the midst of deciding whether to contact us, or it may be awaiting us to contact it...That, or it's out of gas."

"Well. Looks like we'll have to take the first step then. Hail them."


Attention unknown probe. You have entered Irken territory without announcement. We are feeling kind today, so we will only demand of you two things: Where is it you originate from, and what is the purpose of your trespass?

An FTL translation... We should investigate.

A small outpost of the Zeji Empire had once been placed in a nearby system. Where once there had been 200 vessels, now there were but a dozen, Orcas, Tritons, a pair of Krakens, Leviathan Carriers, and maybe 100 fighters fully operational. All that was left of a once powerful outpostof a once mighty empire...

We are the Zeji. We see you, and desire to know more of you.

{room for one more?}

A small carrier task group of about 30 ships floated along the border of Federal space not far from the system.


The large task force had recently detected a large fleet of unknown ships in a nearby system,
the bridge was busy the coon officer relayed the results by order of the commander to the FDFIGA.


the message/orders sent back read

Investigate these odd readings, any thing you find relay them back to FDF command if engaged by the enemy, defend your self


a few moments passed the large grey dark grey mass of ships with smooth hulls began to jump out large oras of white and blue engulfed them as there chrono drives engaged. several moments passed and ships jumped out at the edge of the system, there scanners activating and scanning.



the con officer looked to the commander, he was rather old salt peper hair and in a blue, black and grey uniform. the commented "we seem to have a fleet, and weapons fire traces as well, unknown ships i recommend we hail.."


the commander nodded and a hail was sent.

"This is the USS Roosevelt, of carrier task force 22 , we have detected weapons fire in the area and are concerned about what happened here, identify your selves ..

((Sure, jump on in if you want.))


We are the Zeji. We see you, and desire to know more of you.

Mizuki rose an eyebrow at the message. "Zeji...Who are the Zeji?"

The technicians began scrolling through the datalogs on the ship, searching for any entry on these "Zeji."

"I'm...Not sure, my Tallest. We have no data on them..."

Finishing her slushee, she threw the empty cup into a nearby trash incinerator. "Well, if we don't know who they are, there's no reason to not get aquainted, no? Send them a reply. Be terse. I don't want to give them too much without gaining a bit ourselves."


You see us...Well, we could tell that much from recieving your message. We are the great Irken Empire, and you seem to have caught us during a bit of our business...Or, rather, at the completion of said business. Is there some you require, "Zeji?" We are more than...Willing to answer any other questions you may have, of course.

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

"INCOMING TRANSMISSION!" a technician declared, speaking well above the volume needed. "...From a human ship."

The Tallest choked on her drink. "Humans?! Those monkey-spawned slackjaws?"

"Yes, my tallest. The monkey-spawn. They demand we identify ourselves."

"WE indentify ourselves? In our territory? Those arrogant fools." The Irken Leader picked a head-shaped snack from a both and tossed it into her gullet. Apparently, it calmed her down. "Send them a reply, anyway."


You request that we identify ourselves? This is Galactic territory of the Irken Empire, humans. We should be asking what you are doing here, but you so kindly supplied us with more than we wanted to know. As such, we feel we should give a little back to you.
As for the weapon fire you claim you detected, yes, that was here. We were finishing up a little personal business with the Tarivon on the surface. Nothing you need to worry your tiny little brains about. None of your filthy little planets are on our schedule.

There are connotations to that that you could not POSSIBLY understand. However, since you are willing to answer questions, we will ask them. What "business" are you conducting that requires the discharge of weaponry? What business are you conducting that requires the death screams of hundreds? We know of every death you have caused here, we feel them like a foul air rising from this world. Now, what is your business here? And will it become necessary for us to stop you?

There are connotations to that that you could not POSSIBLY understand. However, since you are willing to answer questions, we will ask them. What "business" are you conducting that requires the discharge of weaponry? What business are you conducting that requires the death screams of hundreds? We know of every death you have caused here, we feel them like a foul air rising from this world. Now, what is your business here? And will it become necessary for us to stop you?

"Hm...This may become ugly. Try to calm them down a bit. We don't want another Kratanea on our hands."

Now, now, no reason to become testy. We are not a group of psychotic killers bent on destroying life. We are simply trying to build another world for our race, one which we can transfer several billion two as our homeland grows ever-larger. We were willing to to share this planet with the natives, but they were not so hospitable. So, instead of enslaving them to a life of torment or making them leave to wander the galaxy alone, we believed that the best thing to do would be to painlessly eliminate them.
We assure you, we mean no harm to you, or to anyone or anything else in this sector. If you will examine the planet, you will find that we have even left the natural land unscathed, and have let the native animals to live their lives unhindered.

did you repsond to me?

((Yes. Look at the bottom half of my post up there))

There are connotations to that that you could not POSSIBLY understand. However, since you are willing to answer questions, we will ask them. What "business" are you conducting that requires the discharge of weaponry? What business are you conducting that requires the death screams of hundreds? We know of every death you have caused here, we feel them like a foul air rising from this world. Now, what is your business here? And will it become necessary for us to stop you?

"Hm...This may become ugly. Try to calm them down a bit. We don't want another Kratanea on our hands."

Now, now, no reason to become testy. We are not a group of psychotic killers bent on destroying life. We are simply trying to build another world for our race, one which we can transfer several billion two as our homeland grows ever-larger. We were willing to to share this planet with the natives, but they were not so hospitable. So, instead of enslaving them to a life of torment or making them leave to wander the galaxy alone, we believed that the best thing to do would be to painlessly eliminate them.
We assure you, we mean no harm to you, or to anyone or anything else in this sector. If you will examine the planet, you will find that we have even left the natural land unscathed, and have let the native animals to live their lives unhindered.

Enslavement is not your only option. You could have lived together with them. Instead you executed an entire world. That does no bode well for our interactions in the future.

The commander looked to his con officer and grinned "Well it seems we have our selves a bit of genocide, move in to the system, i want to get a closer loo, if they start shooting we have to defend our selves.."


the carrier group slowly moved closer to the system there, gleaming grey hulls reflecting sunlight off of them as they moved in to the center of the action..


the commander said "send a message"... the con officer nodded, the commander began to speak with a rather command like voice " We are here to investigate this genocide, and we do not condone this activity with in our spear of influence, this may be your territory, but it causes us problems, mainly with destabilization, we will not attack you but we wish to observe what you are doing for security.."

To the Zeji Ships-

As said before, we had no choice. They were not nearly as hospitable as we offered to be. In fact, at first sight of us, they chased after the diplomatic party with pitchforks. Unless this was some obscure native greeting in which the guests are impaled, I do not believe they were friendly. As to the fact that they managed to kill one of our soldiers trying to protect the diplomats, I would see that as a cause for retribution.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
To the Human (Federal) Ships-

Fine, observe us if you would like to humans. We are in the process of converting the planet into a hospitable environment. Not through direct manipulation, mind you. We have no need to breathe the air you monkies require so dearly.

Well, there they are, the IED thought, its (And its remotes') sensors quietly recording the surroundings - Interesting surroundings, come to think of it. Must be warriors. Just my luck.

To the Irken sensors, it was, in essence, an ellipsoid, about eighty metres in length, forty wide, and twenty high - Considerably dense, though, perhaps 2000kg/m^3, and emitting more radiation that absolutely necessary, though it was arguable if it was specifically useful information, sensor sweeps, or random junk - Wasteheat.

It was about to reply when it caught a few more transmissions, and decided to wait a few additional nanoseconds contemplating this particular universe. Amazing, how there's always carrier groups floating about where something happens. There must be a god. Though I wonder why said god doesn't support me the same way - Ah well.

Open Transmission (Tightbeam; Parameters identical to incoming transmission)
From: Interstellar Exploration Drone 05/85 [Subsapient; Mindstate-Abstract of IEU Pleasant Exchange]
To: Irken (Whoever)
Subject: Re: Your kindness

I'm sorry for my uninvited/ unannounced entry - It's my job to catalogue assorted systems according to a variety of parameters - Your presence here, suggesting an interstellar civilisation, raised my interest and eventually resulted in my decision to drop out of the Between in order to learn more about you.

's far as my point of origin is concerned [Coordinates Attached], well, that should settle it.

So, erm... Would you mind me looking around a little? Perhaps even provide some information about you? I'd of course do the same favour for you - It's all a giving and receiving. In any case, it's a pleasure to meet you.

While it was composing and sending the reply, it also composed a variety of convincing-looking information-packages - Judging by the transmissions it had intercepted, as well as the look of the system, this people weren't quite peaceful, and the IED didn't have any desire to give away correct or useful information. That information was presently dumped from mere storage-space into more complex structures, hidden in between the lies it now created, noticeable only in the unnatural jittering of statistical propabilities within the electron orbitals around the nuclei of the atoms that composed its crystalline and liquid computronium.

It did mean that it'd now take a little longer to actually access it, but well... Better safe than sorry.

Simultaneously, it ramped up the amount of energy energy it was pouring into its shifting unit to be able to retransit into the Between, should such become necessary, and sent brief information packages to its remotes, assuring a quick self-destruct and information loss, in case that it'd actually become necessary to flee. Its desire to actually become combat-ready was less notable, though - It wouldn't stand a chance, anyway, it wasn't a military unit to begin with, it had inherited its mothercraft's pacifist tendencies... There simply was no point in doing so beyond the absolute minimum it had to do in order to look 's if it actually cared.

Finally, it triggered assorted low-bitrate QE- and high-bitrate Between-communications, informing its mothercraft about what it had discovered, and how the proceedings were going.

<IED 05/85> Hey, take a look:
<IEU [i]Pleasant Exchange> Hum. Good luck? Looks interesting, though there seems to be an annoying number of out-of-sol neobarbs in the region.
<IED 05/85> Well, yes. Still. Besides, this Irken don't strike me as being any better.
<IEU Pleasant Exchange> True enough. Just make sure to run when things get hot - I'd hate losing a part of my consciousness.
<IED 05/85> Yes, yes, of course. Infoburst by high-layer Between should arrive in a few hours, btw. Will keep you up to date.

So far, so good. Now to wait for the reply... Annoying, when fractions of microseconds pass by without anything notable happening (And it'd have to wait for about a hundred million microseconds). Eventually, it started a game of chess vs. a copy of itself.

Qd6

Damn.

oocness: The coordinates regarding its origin would in essence point to, erm, Mars. Which, 's far as NS is concerned, has a few dozen billion inhabitants from an equal variety of nations, being the second- or third most-populated planet in sol

On the edge of the system, a subspace distortion began to manifest in the form of a fog-like haze. The distortion grew, and a flash of light heralded the arrival of the exploration ship CES Explorer. The ship had been sent when a routine remote subspace scan had found the planet and the Explorer had been dispatched to investigate further. By the time it had arrived, a lot had changed due to the arrival of the the probe, the Zeji, and the Humans.

Onboard the Explorer, the Captain was speaking to the Navigation Officer.
"Anything interesting apart from the probe, Zeji, and Humans? What about the planet?" he said.
The Navigation Officer replied, "Just scanning... there appear to be remnants of a pre-stellar civilisation, but the only life signs are animals and another, space-faring civilisation, who are apparantly colonising the planet. The civilisation that lived there previously seems to be newly extinct. There are also signs of recent laser fire."
"So they probably killed the natives so they could colonise the planet. OK, stay on the edge of the system and open a communications channel."

Greetings from the Chroli Empire. We detected your colonisation of the planet in this system, and we are here to investigate. In case you see this as trespassing on your territory, we would like to let you know that we mean no harm and will remain on the edge of this system unless provoked. However, we would be interested to know what happened to the previous inhabitants of that planet and why, as scanners indicate signs of laser fire and indications that the natives are only recently extinct. Thank you.

The commander looked to his con officer who was listing in on most of the messages, the fleet floated gently and stooped a few thousand Km From the main fleet so they do not raise alarms, the ships put there full scanning power on ground to space Communications ship to ship communications and foreign communications .


the commander sighed and commented "We have to play this carefully, we don't want to screw up.."

the con officer looked over "well what dose it matter? they always blame crap on us with BS excuses that we did this or that any way.."


The commander sighed and responded "thats true but we should try not to.. launch USSV"

the con officer taped his console, a small stealth drone floated d out slowly of the Roosevelt's bay, it was sort of dart shaped and flat, it floated slowly only tiny burst of thrust were applied, it got close to the planet... it would have to skim the planet and scan down relaying information back...

((Sorry about the, er, long absentness. My internet kicked out for most of the week. Just got it back up today.))


I'm sorry for my uninvited/ unannounced entry - It's my job to catalogue assorted systems according to a variety of parameters - Your presence here, suggesting an interstellar civilisation, raised my interest and eventually resulted in my decision to drop out of the Between in order to learn more about you.

's far as my point of origin is concerned [Coordinates Attached], well, that should settle it.

So, erm... Would you mind me looking around a little? Perhaps even provide some information about you? I'd of course do the same favour for you - It's all a giving and receiving. In any case, it's a pleasure to meet you.

The Tallest smiled slightly as she read the transmission, silently tapping her fingers on the dashboard of the terminal. The two antennae that rested on her head curled softly, a sure sign of her good mood.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Send the probe a reply."

Look around if you'd like. We've no quarrel with your investigations, so long as you do not interrupt our affairs. As for the information you so seek, what would you like to know?

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

"Another incoming transmission!"

The Tallest turned from getting her donuts to look at the communications officer. Her antennae flattened against her head as her eyes narrowed themselves to slits. "Who is it now?"

Running his fingers over the holographic control panel, the officer spun a dial and found the information he was looking for. "A group calling themselves the Chroli Empire, my Tallest."

Miyuki sighed as she watched the message play over the screen in front of her. "Send them a transmission then. Explain our situation. Just leave me to my donuts." She opened the rune-covered box and pulled out one of the doughy morsels, savoring the taste as she took a bite out of the pastry.

Yes, we're afraid that the natives have...recently perished. The result of a conflict, you see. This is the closest, mineral-rich planet for us. We offered a peaceful co-existance with the inhabitants, but they were a bit hostile, you see. Even managed to impale one of our diplomatic team on their primitive tools.
We have no ill intentions towards you, so we do not mean any offense when we ask you to not interfere. Feel free to observe, of course.

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

Splitting from the main fleet, two-dozen of the larger ships, the curve-faced Rippers, sped towards the surface of the planet, the purple metals that made up the vessels glowing bright red in the atmospheric entry. As the grouping of ships broke free of the outer layer, they suddenly burst apart as they fled towards their respective destinations.

Once they reached their assigned Mining Facilities/Outposts, they were to drop off their passengers; each one held a crew of eighty technicians and twenty Heavy Guard, all to be put to work running and managing the massive drilling stations.

((Slight bump in the interest of continuation. Cursed internet.))

oocness: Would a description of the system be possible? Esp. with regards to the presence of asteorid belts/ planets (In particular gas giants) and their moons. That'd be neat.

Open Transmission (Tightbeam; Parameters identical to incoming transmission)
From: Interstellar Exploration Drone 05/85 [Subsapient; Mindstate-Abstract of IEU Pleasant Exchange]
To: Irken (Whoever)
Subject: Re: Your continuing kindness

Perfect. I shall begin immediately [Log of intended course of action attached]*.

As far as information is concerned, well, we could start with, oh... Who are you? Not your entity, I mean, I know that - But with who am I talking to, individually?

While it composed the message - And finished its preparations for what-bad-things-could-probably-happen - it took a look around, passive information-acquisition in relativistic reality, and rather faster active probling with drones it had left in low layers of the between. Planets and moons had to be glanced at and catalogued, asteorids found, radiation levels analysed and interpreted.

Sensors and probes of assorted kinds would, of course, have to be used - Replacements had to be manufactured with the available raw materials, which had to be brought to the exporer in the first place.

In the meantime, it nudged itself softly in the general direction of the system's most life-friendly planet where the Irken where establishing themselves, firing off half a dozen spherical sensor pods as it did so - They should be there in about three hours (The IED itself would take about twice the time, initiating a crash-stop perhaps ten lightseconds out).

Now to learn a 'lil more. By now, incoming information was providing enough details to tell the IED relatively clearly what had happened here - Well, it looked as if it'd have to take particular care figuring out more about who had done this.

Nicely, in as unobtrusive a way as possible.

An explorer drone was nothing, if not polite.

oocness: * Moving towards the 'conquered' planet, firing off the sensor pods, firing off a couple of resource gatherers/ refiners to produce replacements for assorted things. Nothing massive, of course - complete resource requirements should range in the triple- to quadrupledigit ton range

Allow us to assist you a bit in your endeavours. We have attached a data package with a brief description of each planet in the system.

As for who you are speaking to, this would be the grand ruler of the Irken Empire. I am the Tallest.


Transferring Data...
Please Wait...
10100110110100101101001101001101010010...
Irken-Galacticspeak Translation Complete
Opening Data...

Demonica
Classification: Class Y (Demon)
Planet From the Sun: 1
Moons: Beelze,
Basic Description: Incredibly hot and lifeless, surface temperatures ranging above 600 kelvin, for which it is named. Ignored for its incomperable hostility.
Status: Unusable


Marrin
Classification: Class K (Adaptable)
Planet From the Sun: 2
Moons: Argos
Basic Description: Dry and arid, barren surface with little water. Low atmosphere, but possible to be terraformed into a usuable planet. Bacteria and several insectoid beings, but no highly-evolved lifeforms.
Status: Terraformation Consideration

Tarivos
Classification: Class M (Bountiful)
Planet From the Sun: 3
Moons: Solda, Hiraia
Basic Description: A highly hospitable planet, mostly water but many landmasses as well. Much resembles Earth. Only planet to hold sentient life, along with a multitude of other lifeforms.
Status: Colonization

Spildan Belt
Basic Description: The asteroid belt seperate Tarivos from Spildan. Its stellar objects hold a vast amount of minerals in them
Status: Mining Facility Setup

Spildan
Classification: Class J (Gas Giant)
Planet From the Sun: 4
Moons: Octos, Veridia
Basic Description: A Gas Giant with low atmospheric pressure and a series of four rings, seperated into "arcs." Radiates slight heat, majorly hydrogen/hydrogen compositions.
Status: Study for Potential Use

Gavor
Classification: Class P (Glaciated)
Planet From the Sun: 5
Moons: Mortos
Basic Description: Almost completely covered in ice, Gavor is a frozen planet on the edge of the system with high atmospheric pressure, made mainly up of nitrogen and oxygen.
Status: Study for Potential Use

Open Transmission (Tightbeam; Parameters identical to incoming transmission)
From: Interstellar Exploration Drone 05/85 [Subsapient; Mindstate-Abstract of IEU Pleasant Exchange]
To: Irken (Whoever)
Subject: Re: Your continuing kindness

Ah. Considerably useful, that. Anyway...

'Tallest'? A formal title, I take it. I think I'll need to spend a few seconds looking through your social system - It strikes me as interesting.

But now that this has been said, Tallest - On to the details. From what I can gather by passives, I suspect that you're a warrior people. Are there abstracts of your history and present structure available? I would send a drone over to talk person-to-person, but the mindstate-abstract of a mindstate-abstract is, ahem... Suffice to say, it would be a bad idea. And I don't have any sapient/ pseudo-sapient crew on board (Apart from me, that is).

Regardless.

I'm obviously interested in learning more about your present intentions (In their 'global' definition, not in their regional form) - It's something that is of rather considerable importance, given a first-contact scenario. So, if you wouldn't mind...

In the meantime, more probes were released - This ones being of a more proactive nature, supposed to gather resources (And, for that matter, to spread some shinyness for post-contact observations, though this was something the IED hadn't told the Irken about. Not that it mattered - it'd take a while until it could actually begin with it. For now, everything was inert, contained in small, gray spheres and ellipsoids heading away from it). The small, gray and not particularly noteworthy (Though still easily observable) bodies were fired off by cumulating fields, most of them heading in the direction of the nearby Spildan belt, with a handful being directed at the other planets (Here, most went for the local gas giant, Spildan, whereas Gavor didn't receive any whatsoever. Curiously, a few even headed in the general direction of the sun itself). And given the velocities in question, it shouldn't take more than perhaps a day for them to reach their intended positions.

<IED 05/85> Say, PE -
<IEU Pleasant Exchange> You can call me mommy ;)
<IED 05/85> *Shudders* Be careful, or I fling myself into the next sun. I may be a part of your consciousness, but keep this shit to your- or maybe my- Bah, this confusing. Yourself. We'll have plenty of time discussing such issues upon reunification, anyway.
<IEU Pleasant Exchange> Just yanking yer' chain. Anyway. What is it?
<IED 05/85[/i]> You don't happen to know if there are any engagement units in the local area? Mine, that is. Not yours.
<IEU Pleasant Exchange> No, why? My guess is 'No', though. Wars at Neptune and Mars, they're having issues with securing convoys. There might be a few explorer units out there, though.
<IED 05/85> Ummm... Well, the infoburst will still take its time... Suffice to say, such wouldn't be particularly helpful if things went from. Shit.
<IEU Pleasant Exchange> Getting scared?
<IED 05/85> Just a 'lil. Ah well - It should work out. Also [Codes Attached]. In case I'm lost - Access to the observers I intend to spread.
<IEU Pleasant Exchange> How aggressive. In any case. Received and looked at. 'Pose I'll send someone to seed the local comet cloud if you're lost.
<IED 05/85> That works. Well, they're supposedly just bullies attacking weaker ones - That should keep me safe.
<IEU Pleasant Exchange> You are weaker than them.
<IED 05/85> Yes, but I've a lot of big brothers :P The SEU Impending Doom seems to be quite fond of me...
<IEU Pleasant Exchange> Us, my dear abstract. Us.
<IED 05/85> Yes. Us -_-

I'm sorry, any and all files of historical importance are kept in the Data Collective on Irk; it would take a little over a relative day to reach this location, and I believe that we would likely be finished conversing by then. Besides, I don't believe the Control Brains would find it suitable to share their information. They are...A bit secretive.

As for our "present intentions" as you call it...We are in the midst of searching for adaptable planets on which we may harvest and refine the natural metals; we have currently located twelve suitable locations and this is the seventh in adaptation. As you may have realized from the data stream we transferred, we're considering whether or not to terraform Marrin into a habitable planet as well, after we finish extracting its minerals; it was the sixth planet in our search.

Open Transmission (Tightbeam; Parameters identical to incoming transmission)
From: Interstellar Exploration Drone 05/85 [Subsapient; Mindstate-Abstract of IEU Pleasant Exchange]
To: Irken (Whoever)
Subject: Re: Your continuing kindness

I see. Ah well, nothing is perfect.

Odd strategy you have there, mind - I can think of a number of simpler methods. But then, might be personal taste... Regardless, I suppose I can understand your desires and needs. To an extend, anyway. Though personally, I've always considered terraforming to be somewhat, ah... 'Environmentally Unsound'. It's easier to adapt oneself to the environment, rather than the environment to oneself. Well, after one reaches a certain point in technological evolution and deals with planetary environments, anyway.

Two questions, though. First of all, with regards to your expansion, how far do you intend to expand? From what I can gather, this region of space doesn't seem to be particularly inhabited, so I suspect that one can expand with relative ease, but, well, call it curiosit on my part.

And second, 'A day to reach Irk'? Tells me little. How fast can you go? [Time reference frames attached] For conversion...

So much for composing the message. Of course, it didn't exactly include what the IED was thinking - For now that it'd seen and heard so much, it was quite certain about its preliminary definitions.

Genocidal maniacs. Fuckers.

Well, it'd take a while for its drones to reach their destinations - A comm exchange tended to take roughly 200 seconds, but it'd take about ten thousand of them to finish deployment.

Bored, it increased the number of games it was playing by two orders of magnitude.

Oh, no no no. We don't plan on terraforming Marrin in hopes of improving its habitability. Our PAK's take care of whatever environmental situation we require, so we don't actually need a particular gas or atmospheric capability to survive; it's more for improving its usability. To be perfectly frank, however, I don't believe we'll go that far; possibly colonise it, and some of the Council believe that it may be best to convert it into a reserve. Its native wildlife strike me as quite fascinating, really. Worth preserving, in my opinion.

As for how far we plan on expanding...Well, let's just say until we have to. I can't judge how far we have to go, but I expect that we won't need to extend past the twelfth designated planet scheduled for colonization. The supple demands are large, of course, but I believe we won't need to do any more. That's not to say that we won't build more colonies farther out; we just won't harvest them. Possibly turn them into a Smeetery...Maybe coexist with the native inhabitants, if they're more hospitable than these. I can't say for now, though.

When I said a day to reach Irk, I meant probably a day for the data to arrive here. It moves slower than us, but...Eh. It's not exactly slow either. As for us....Well, the fastest possible, with the Warp-Fold drive of course, is...Well, let's just say that it puts us at hyperlight speeds. Not the fastest means of transportation, but it gets us from A to B. At least until we come up with something else. It's not as if we're in a collossal hurry anyway, though.

((Heck, I'm not too good on speeds yet.))

Open Transmission (Tightbeam; Parameters identical to incoming transmission)
From: Interstellar Exploration Drone 05/85 [Subsapient; Mindstate-Abstract of IEU Pleasant Exchange]
To: Irken (Tallest)
Subject: Re: Your continuing kindness

Oh! Well, that explains a lot, indeed. And I happen to agree, too - Such things, native structures, can be fascinating (If annoying).

In any case, yeah - Sounds reasonable, yes. I take it that you're relatively new to interstellar travel, then (For the record, so is the civilisation I come from, though this was more a matter of choice than a lack of capabilities)?

Regardless. Well, not exactly the most detailed explanation, but meh. Though I find it interesting that your information takes longer than, well, 'mass' to transit interstellar space. It isn't quite unknown, but... Lets say, 'uncommon'.

In the meantime, the first drones reached their destinations - The closest ones, anyway. Spildan, as well as the inner worlds and the sun were still a bit off - The belt on the other hand wasn't.

It wasn't exactly a crashstop when the drones homed in on their respective targets - Asteorids with the desired mixture and amount of raw materials -, the deceleration routine starting quite a while ago, not to mention that they'd never been particularly fast to begin with.

A bit of maneuvering, constant low-energy wideband radiation and a few exotic particles coming from the low-powered drives, and then a field-cushioned impact, momentum and KE worth a few dozen kg of TNT equivalent softening up the cold, hard target, while near-equivalent amounts are bled into space in the form of wideband radiation and exotics by the aforementioned fields (The rest goes into the structure, but well, it's meant to survive such)...

Then the base is set up, and simple mechanics based on principles known since the neolithic begin the process of mining and refining, on an infinitesimal scale. It shouldn't take long - No longer than, oh, an hour or so - to get the job done.