NationStates Jolt Archive

+++Deep in the far reaches of space, over three hundred light-years spinward from Earth, there lies a system. And in this system, lies a handful of planets, orbiting three stars. One, a G0III, is the primary, and is dubbed "Halifax-A." Around this star orbit the main body of planets, while Halifax-B and -C orbit each other--an M9Ib and A2V, respectively--much farther out-system.
+++Closest to Halifax-A is Emerald, a green gas giant, with a diameter of 87,653 kilometers, and several dozen moons. Between this planet and the second gas giant--called Topaz, and smaller than Emerald, with a diameter of 44,855 kilometers--is a small asteroid belt, rich in minerals, and the location of a special chemical compound, called claudia, which powers the massive armored airships of the Claranese Airfleet and vanship alike, and allow them to float off the ground, the altitude depending on the setting in the engine room. The explanation is not known extensively by even Claranese scientists, and it is doubtful it will ever be known, being part real-world science and part age-old magic.
+++Orbiting Topaz are two planet-moons, both with liquid oceans, but not very many of them. One is Clara, one, Austin, the former of which is the capital of the system and the Claran Empire. Austin is a drier planet, cool and resembling a steppe from Earth. Small scrub brushes and other hardy plants and animals live here among the year-round permafrost.
+++Clara is more hospitable, but lacks much more water than Austin, barely meeting the demands of its inhabitants. The atmosphere is breatheable, a nitrogen-hydrogen-oxygen mix, with small concentrations of other gasses. There are two main continents on Clara, Anhydroia, and Irriguia, the latter of which is the main body and divided into three sections: Upper, Middle, and Lower.
+++Orbiting Clara are several space stations, constructed by the Claranese, a humanoid race that, to a contemporary human, would appear to be elves with very blunted and short ears. These stations serve many purposes--shipyards, repair slips, traffic control, Customs, naval bases, research stations, orbital farms, and, nearby, mineral extraction bases and smelters draw from the ring around Topaz. In one of these stations, a research station, sits a massive communications array, whose sole purpose is to broadcast the existence of the Claranese Empire to the rest of the galaxy--for while Claranese starships can reach speeds in excess of the speed of light, those ships thus equipped are far and few between, and guarded jealously.
+++So it is that a message is continually broadcasted over a wide assortment of radio frequencies, projected omnidirectionally. The message is simple: a simplication of the Claranese genetic code, stellar coordinates, a basic diagram of a Claranese airship and starship, and some other small items, all crammed into one tiny piece of code. The message has been repeated for just over a century now, and the Empire looks to the stars both anxiously and eagerly, wondering, watching, waiting. . . .

[ Bump. ]

[ Bump. ]

OOC: Hmm, I wonder how you've taken Last Exile tech into space. We'll there is only one way to find out.

IC: I.S.S. Aquarius - Main Bridge

"Are we en route still?"

"Yes, ma'am. We are still on course for the source of the signal."

"Good. I'll be on the Observation Bridge. Inform me when we return to Real Space."

"Aye, ma'am."

Exterior

The sleek form of the Atlantis class (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10177399&postcount=4) advanced command battle cruiser slid gracefully through the eddies and currents of the red-orange nebula like enviroment of the dimension known as Hyperspace.

A small task force of ships flew in the lonely void, there long sleek grey bodies gleaming in the light of the stars in the sector, the lead ship was the USS Freedom, a Martin Luther king Advanced class Battle ship.

On board the large ships bridge, things were hectic like usual, officers AI's and augments rushed around tapping on there holographic consoles and wireless neuro pads , sending messages ti each others brains. the commander was a very young 18 -19 year old boy, he was tall skinny with black hair brown eyes and a hint of tan in his skin. He Over looked The large table and sensor stations in front of him the table had a large picture of the area of space the ships were in. he grinned a bit, the con officer yawed a bit and scanned the area fro the usual , communications and such .... in one of the scans he heard a blip on his console, he raised an eyebrow and taped on the play back button on the semi holographic panel.

the message was played and he looked back tot he commander who listened in as well the commander said with a loud, commanding voice "Tell me were that message is coming from?"


the con officer nodded scanning for the source Immediately he found the system he looked back and said, its coming from 1890-mark 29905"

the commander smiled and ordered "well, helm set a crouse, tell the task force to jump with us"



the medium 15 ship fleet was absorbed by an orb of white blue energy, they disappeared Immediately after, serval moments passed and they re appeared just inside the system were the signals had been emanating from.



the commander smiled and said "send a message"

a message was sent out
This is the USS Freedom from the united states of the federal unions Federal defense force, we are here to investigate the recent signals we have been receiving from this system please respond

The ships had emblems of the FDF Eagle, with white stars around it and a shield it was well lighten with lights from the hull gleaming on it brightly to make a testament to the country it was from.


(ooc the task force has 3 destroyers, 3 cruisers, carriers and one battle ship)

(MLK class the Freedom http://www.deviantart.com/view/29762810/
Nova destroyers http://www.deviantart.com/view/29892028/
Carriers: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/29485169/)

The Aquarius appeared to shimmer in out of no where as she Phased back into Hyperspace.

Main Bridge

"We've arrived. Inform the Captain."

"Aye, Commander."

Observation Bridge - Few minutes later

"Captain, we've arrived in the target system."

"Understood."

Main Bridge - Few minutes later

"Captain on deck!"

"At ease, people."

"Captain, we've detected a group of ships that dropped out of some form of F.T.L. in-system at around the same time we did."

"Hmm, interesting. Do we know which nation they belong to?"

"None, ma'am."

"Ahh, so we're looking at a double first contact situation."

"It would appear so."

"Send the signal we prepared to the locals and hail the unidentified fleet."

Messages

Transmitted to the Federal Union ships:

This is the I.S.S. Aquarius 8200 of the SeaQuestian Empire. Please identify yourselves and your intention here.

Broadcast to the Clarans:

This is the I.S.S. Aquarius 8200 of the SeaQuestian Empire. We have come in peace in response to your signal. Please respond.

The con officer sat in his chair over looking his console, the sensors easily detected the other ship jumping out of FTL and received the message, he turned over to the commander and taped on the flashing play back button on his semi holographic console.

the commander sighed "ohh grate sequestians, just like we need them poking in our Business.. well send a reply no use being a jerk about it .. we need all the friendly contact we can get.."

The Con officer smiled and laughed a bit turning back to his console and taping a few buttons, the then turned and nodded.


The commander seriously spoke "This is the Federal Defense force task force 35, you are speaking to the commander of the USS freedom the lead ship in this fleet, we have come here to investigate these signals, and establish relations with this nation, we do not wish a conflict how ever we are prepared for any thing..." '

The comn cut, the medium sized fleet floated in to the system slowly in a non hostile formation there hulls gleaming from the light of the star, and there hull lights blinking on and off slowly as they rumbled in very softly.

[ A larger version of the airship engine, with forward-facing claudia-based shields to protect against particles. If it repulses the ground, it stands to reason it would make a good shield, at least in that function.

As for my FTL ships, they function like BattleTech JumpShips, Honorverse Junction terminals, and Crest of the Stars ships (All in one! :o), with a generator that punches a hole into a two-dimensional space, the height of which is infinitely small, and is amplified to fit the entire ship. The strength of the drive is calculated, reaching up to 30 light-years. The ship actually ceases to exist for the immeasurable time that it is in the "wormhole," as a bit of trivia. ]

+++As there was no prior indication that the universe was otherwise inhabited, there were no ships on patrol to intercept them. However, the Claranese had constructed a small Space Navy for exploration purposes, with but a few armed ships, but they were otherwise engaged at the moment. Until such a time as a ship could be pulled from its duties to see firsthand the aliens, communication would be facillitated from the station where the array was housed. After a several-minute pause, owed to by the limitations of light-speed communication, the reply came back to all the ships, on the same bands they had utilized.
+++Greetings, fellow travellers, and welcome to the Claranese Empire. It seems as though our search was not in vain.

The commander listened to the message and smiled "send a reply..."

the con officer opened a channel

the commander spoke again "We are glad that we ran across your people, we are always looking for new friends and allies in this grate universe, we request to meet face to face if thats possible..."


mean while the ships stooped a while from the seeming home world.

+++The reply was simple, short, and rather surprised. One could almost imagine the operator's eyebrows attempting to climb straight off his head.
+++There are more?
+++Radar maps and visual confirmation had not yet been made, so the Claranese had been assuming that this was all one nation's force. Which, with so much firepower in their home system, was quite unnerving to the various branches of the military. Still, they had not detected spikes in power that would indicate a targetting system coming online, or weapons charging, and they had not fired yet, despite the Claranese's vulnerability.

The Aquarius kept her 160 degree horizontal and thirty-eight degree vertical relationship with the Federal Union ships.

Messages

In response to the TFU message:

Why would you think we would mean you any harm? SeaQuest is not a warmongering nation.

In response to the Claran message:

We wish to initiate first contact proceedings. We can dock with the station if you wish, or we could land in any body of water large enough. Its your call.

+++We would prefer you to dock with our station. Sending vectors and coordinates now.

[ Whoops. Sorry, folks. ]

OOC: Lol, don't ya just hate it when that happens.

IC: Messages

In response to the Claran message:

Acknowledged. We are approaching now. If our docking seal proves incompatable, we can either transport over or use one of our shuttles.

+++Acknowledged.


[ It's actually "Claranese." But I can't change it now, so eh. ]

It is rarely a good idea to broadcast such information to the cosmos. It invites all sorts of..unpleasant..company.

The USS Freedom moved in as well, its engines rumbling slowly as it pushed its way through the, darkness of space its hull lights blinking as it neared the station, a message was sent out from the busy bridge.

"this is the USS Freedom requesting permission to beam over .."


the ship stood at its current position over looking the station its weapons un armed and shields down.

[ How else am I going to introduce myself? The Empire isn't a warmonger, so First Contact isn't going to be with them pointing a gun at someone else. That leaves passively letting everyone know, or looking for someone, the latter of which the Claranese don't have the ability for, at least not on a large-scale basis. ]

+++Please elaborate, Freedom.

[ Bump. ]

Another message was sent "telportation "

[ I say again, how else am I going to introduce myself? I have very few jump-capable ships at the moment, because of their comparatively recent invention and astronomical costs. So...that leaves me with this.

EDIT: 'Sides, if anyone wants to tango with my Space Navy, they can deal with T-missiles. >;D Let's see how they like multi-megaton missiles that bypass their oh-so-mighty shields. ]

+++A longer than usual time delay was experienced while the operator tried to figure out how they could transport themselves over such a great distance without a major sacrifice. Finally, the message reached the Freedom, albeit haltingly.
+++Permission...granted, Freedom. Best of luck.

(Trailers knock it off with the flame bait please )
The Freedom floated several meters, from the port side of the station, he young commander smiled as he walked on to the glassy telportation pad. an instant passed as the young commander was engulfed by an orb of white light, a few nano seocnds later he appeared (insert location here) and looked around.

[ I...hope you mean several hundred meters. Claranese controllers wouldn't be letting you get anywhere near to that range of the station. :/

And I mis-spoke; T-missiles are tele-operated (see, APOLLO pods), not teleporting. ]

+++The staff on the command deck of the station (one of eight equipped with claudian grav-coils) literally jumped out of their seats, despite the warning given, when the commander suddenly appeared on the deck. As heart rates slowed, however, things fell into their customary rythm.
+++Galaxy Banner Mnaachuag-Tliheotlaa returned to his seat, having left it involuntarily--despite what he might have liked to believe about his xenological fortitude--and swiveled it around to face the commander. He lifted both his hands, palms up and parallel to his angular face, in a gesture of greeting, and nodded his head toward the man. <"Hello, and...welcome aboard.">