NationStates Jolt Archive

The brilliant star, Incandus, slowly rose over the curved horizon of the planet far below, Mir. It was a sunrise of unimaginable intensity, great tendrils of flame rippling across the black void of space, licking the very edges of the Torrent Nebula that hung light years away. Tiny black dots, clusters of ships, purpose obscured by the incredible light behind them moved across this plain of fire. Far below the orbiting superstation, Delta Oservatorri, a massive industrial planet brimmed with lights. Great lines stretched from pole to pole, super jumpways. The landscape flickered as experimental webways burst into existence.

The Crucible had undergone a renaissance of sorts within the past two hundred years, sparked by the first contact with a race other than their own. Of course at the time it had simply been stray radio messages, the flickering of great interstellar lasers which revealed alien life, and all the great and hardy people could do was watch with envy. Aspiration, however, is a powerful emotion. Over the two hundred years the few remaining super-nations of the planet banded together forming the first United Crucible Government. With unimaginable resources at their disposal a united people strove for the heavens with outstretched hands, more magnificent then rising Incandus.

The crowning achievements of the age were Tyr’s hand and the discovery of webway technology. Tyr’s Hand, an epic tower that springs from the earth with reckless abandon, tearing its way free from the atmosphere and plunging deep into the cold of space, now serves as a space port tens of thousands of ships, both civilian and military. Even greater, however, are the budding webways. Although FTL drives had been developed many decades ago, they were seen as too slow, to fragile and infrastructure for the budding empire. As such massive research into teleportation and other forms of instantaneous travel were carried out. However, nothing stable enough was ever invented…

Trailing the brilliant sunrise a rippling planet, torn asunder, thrashing in the death throws of a generations ambition. Mir was not the home planet of this race, Eve was. In the race for faster and more powerful travel, thousands of microscopic singularities had escaped to the planets core. Over the course of a decade the once lush planet was reduced to a living hell. Fortunately the people of The Crucible had colonized and terra-formed Mir in the previous years. With this catastrophe the race for supreme speed would have come to a close, however, one of the races oldest inventions would prove its arch.

Artificial intelligence had been developed before first contact had ever been made, and for the most part had been allowed to run free. No great apocalyptic wars broke out, no machine uprising. Man and machine lived in harmony. However, mans pride had kept AI away from research and development for decades. Following the disaster a lone evolving program, Harpius MK. XIV, took up the mantle of pioneering instantaneous travel. Three years ago the first ever webway was revealed, supremely stable and utterly instantaneous they had received massive funding, and began to appear within government facilities around the globe. Within a matter of years it is believed they will reach prime affordability allowing a truly linked people.

Marcus Singer looked out from his panoramic window aboard the Delta Osservatorri. He had spent the last few minutes gazing out over rising Incandus, pondering the wisps of the past. The beautiful scene was forced into shadow as a military carrier passed the station, dozens of fighters in escort. He turned from the window and motioned to the computer. Within moments the glass tinted, dimming the room to a more tolerable level. Despite the technological growth of the Crucible in the past years, much remained in the styles of old, and Singer’s office was no exception. Hard varnished wood covered the floor, and antique chairs sat in an inviting semi circle before his desk. Pictures of nationalistic pride and family memories coated the walls, along with dozens of medals and commendations. Even an old pipe sat on the fore of his desk, not for smoking, he simply felt it added to the mood.

With quick clicking strides he made his way towards the automatic door with opened revealing on of the many corridors aboard the Delta Osservatorri. His two personal guards saluted and took positions at his sides. As he walked the numerous halls and bulkhead that slowly took him to the bridge, he could not help but smile. This was a grand day. Despite the ability to expand into deeper space, the ruling government had remained cautious, it was a dangerous place. However, with the invention of the webways, they believed it was finally time to expand and “meet the neighbors” as many a civilian put it.

After a few minutes of walking he arrived at the command center of the station. All about him hundreds of officers worked at consoles and stations, coordinating the days efforts. He slowly made his way among the men, arriving at his command chair.

He looked from side to side then focused on the holographic array before him, “Alright let me see it.”

“Yes sir.” Instantly a three dimensional model of the space surrounding the Delta Osservatorri appeared. Fifteen distinct clusters, eleven ships each, orbited the station. Each one contained a Drone Carrier, an escort of two cruisers and four destroyers, one expeditionary ship, one electronic warfare ship, one diplomacy ship, and finally an arsenal ship, which would stay far behind the fleet in friendly space supplying the drones through the webway. The arsenal ship and drone carriers were among the newest ships in the navy, making full use of the new webway. Each of the fifteen groups had a specific jump coordinate located relatively close to friendly territory. They were to remain at this perimeter for a week, scouting out possible resources and claiming untaken galatic territory. Following that week they would jump farther away, claiming more territory. However, they were instructed to become less zealous with each jump, and never claim territory that already belonged to another empire.

Singer looked over the display, the fleet was due to jump within the hour. Despite being a stalwart man, he couldn’t help but feel a wave of anxiety. This was it, they were heading out. The hour passed with Singer moving amongst the officers, and all final pre jump diagnostics being carried out. Thousands of civilian vessels appeared outside the military perimeter manned by hundreds of military craft.

Suddenly alarms and klaxons blazed. Tactical scanner immediately locked on to a small unmarked craft that had breached the set orbit distance and was rapidly approaching the military line.

Singer roared at an officer, he was enraged any would attempt to stop this, “Get on the hailing channel, now!”

Within a second an official military voice blared over the speakers, “This is the Dreadnought Reaver, unidentified vessel, hold position and remain as such until an authorized military carrier can approach for pickup, do you copy!” There was no response the small ship continued to speed up, drawing uncomfortable close to the lines.

“You will be fired upon, unidentified vessel, do you understand?” the voice continued growing sterner by the second. Still there was no response. Instead of sending another comm. message a series of three torpedoes erupted from the dorsal edge of the Reaver and ripped through space towards the approaching ship, leaving long trailed of white like some crayon on the black of space. Within seconds all three slammed into the hull of the unidentified vessel, engulfing it within a firestorm. When the raging inferno imploded from lack of oxygen, nothing remained.

Following that event the jumps were accelerated, and minimum safe orbit was pushed out a substantial distance. With only a few minutes to spare, Singer was put on fleet wide communications.

“Today is more than day, it is the culmination of two hundred years of cooperation and technological advancement. In those dark Eve bound days, our ancestors first heard the voices of space, the lights of immortality. Ever since that fateful moment we have set our eye’s on heaven, and strived with perfect cooperation for the stars. The cost was immense, billions dead and a home planet we can never set foot on again. This cost has made us a wise people, knowledgeable about all that can be lost. However, today, we learn of all we can gain. Today, we realize the dreams of seven generations. This day belongs to everyone. Remember it, cherish it. Godspeed men.”

With that all fifteen clusters jumped to their set positions. Singer sat and breathed for a moment then leaned over to a petty communications officer, “Did you feel that?”

“Yes sir, I did.”

“Remember that feeling, for it is the birth of a new age.” Indeed with those very words Incandus rose once more above the spherical Mir, its long tendrils of light soaring for the outermost reaches of space with new company.

Not far from the space of Mir lay the border regions of Dominion space, a long tentacle of several systems bulging off of the circular region of territory the Dominion dominated. It was this same territory that remained extremely contested, splinter factions and pirate groups threatening the very existance of Dominion control over the localized space. The region was advantageous: several gas giants provided raw materials while a group of M-Class planets provided area to set up remote colonies, far out from Dominion foundation worlds. And the Dominion was determined to keep it.
The military contingent in the region was strong, and fierce, battles raging daily between pirate and splinter factions and Dominion Imperial war vessels. Casulties mounted high, civilians were not spared in the planet-sweeping conflagration far from the seat of power where the Emperor himself sat, issuing the orders that sent thousands into combat, many to never return. Contact with strangers, particularly explorers, would not bode well for the aggressive tensions strained so tight in these areas.

3 small ships came along the way. They exmained the area looking for suitable planets for The Combine to invade. They picked up signs of a recent explsion from small bits of metal or whatever the now gone ship was made out of. This interested the little scouting ships. Where there where ships there where planets near by. Where there where planets there where slaves and resources.


But there senseors indicated not planet,atleast not a inhabitable, where present. They calulated and determined that there must have been a small or large fleet coming threw that destoryed the ship. This also interested them because if they could find a fleet. they could find a home planet or be lead to another one.



(( Here are the ships. There no bigger than a small car http://www.cs.unimaas.nl/p.spronck/picoverse/spacetrader/E13-statek1b.jpg ))

They picked up signs of a recent explsion from small bits of metal or whatever the now gone ship was made out of. This interested the little scouting ships. Where there where ships there where planets near by. Where there where planets there where slaves and resources.


OOC: I believe you may be refering to the small terrorist ship that attempted to run through the military line. If so, you would definetly see my home planet. However, I would like to keep this reletively peaceful. Reletively...

OOC: I believe you may be refering to the small terrorist ship that attempted to run through the military line. If so, you would definetly see my home planet. However, I would like to keep this reletively peaceful. Reletively...
OOC: Heh, good luck with that in today's violent galaxy...

OOC: Yeah... I blame the education system. Can you give me a little info on your home planet?

OOC: Yeah... I blame the education system. Can you give me a little info on your home planet?

Hah, the education system. Alright, so here is a crash course on Mir. So with the exception of the orbiting superstations and a handful of lunar colonies within the solar system, the vast majority of my population lives on Mir. It is a large, planet that is still subject to adverse weather and climate due to its imperfect terraforming. There is no wilderness to speak of, however a few massive parks do exist. The majority of the planet is a city, crossed with numerous forms of transportation. The most common are jumpways, which accelerate whatever vehicle you are in to extremem speeds, allowing quick movement. The newest, as the first post reveals, are the webways, which allow instant transportation to any other webway, no matter the distance.

The most prominent structure is Tyr's Hand a massive tower that actually reaches into space, and acts as the primary spaceport, housing both civilian and military ships. In addition to Tyr's Hand numerous superstations, think big space station, are in orbit and serve purposes both civilian and military.

In a closer orbit to Incandus, the sun of this system, the remains of Eve, the true home planet slowly break apart and reforms depending on the "mood" of the tiny singularity at its heart.

As far as military presence goes, its massive. This is really do to the fact my nation holds next to no territory, so my entire fleet is located in a small area. I dont really have a set number, but its definetly in the many thousands. As far as ships go, they are sleek in design for the most part. Uh that is just some general details off the top of my head, feel free to ask about anything else. Also IC post coming soon.

OOC: What about Natural resources? Are they present or all used up?

Exploration Cluster Epsilon dropped out of hyperspace with a thunderous crash. Excess energy cascaded through the void in great arcs of color. Unknown to the cluster’s crew they had jumped into the fringe of Amazonian territory, an area rife with conflict. Within moments the expeditionary ships sensors were actively and passively sweeping the area for resources, but more importantly information on whether or not this area had previous owners.

As the readings came in and were transferred to the Carrier Betty, Commodore Tattersaul marveled at images taken from external cameras. They were explorers. The Torrent Nebula was still quite visible in the distance, but he couldn’t seem to find his home solar system, lost amongst the myriad of shapes within this alien sky. After a few moments the preliminary scans arrived on his command console and were displayed on the holograph table.

His eyes slowly moved about the images before him. There were multiple gas giants, great sources of energy, and a series of inhabitable planets that could serve as colonies for the newly expanding empire. He smiled, this was good space. Suddenly something caught his attention.

“Ensign, may I ask what these other readings are?” he spoke in a powerful voice.

“Uh yes sir, while we are not 100% sure yet, they appear to debris of unknown origin and multiple unexplained energy signatures.”

He raised an eye, “Energy signatures?”

“Yes sir, most likely weapons of some sort, possibly particle in nature.”

Tattersaul sighed, this space was taken, or at least in the process of being taken by other parties. After a few moments he gave the order to begin broadcasting messages on all channels explaining their intentions were peaceful in nature. He also order FTL drives be spun up, in case a quick jump was needed.

“Sir, would you like weapon systems online.”

“No, but make sure we can get them up within a moments notice.”

“Yes sir.”

OOC: What about Natural resources? Are they present or all used up?

OOC: Mir has pretty much been strip mined completely, however the three native gas giants still house extensive natural resources. The one other solid planet is about half way depleted by mining. The most interesting aspect are the remains of Eve. Although the region is incredibly dangerous to enter, it houses many exotic materials forged under the powers of the singularity and slightly unstable reality.

As far as mining goes, there are extensive facilities at each planet, save the outermost gas giant. There are also a few stations on the border of the singularity's grasp which launch both brave and foolish miners into the maelstrom. Its high risk business, but extremely profitable.

A tiny itty bitty... bump

ooc: Can I be the owner of the system you just ran into, or do you have something lined up already?

ooc: Can I be the owner of the system you just ran into, or do you have something lined up already?

OOC: Oh yea sure, fifteen clusters have jumped out, so it quite possible you run into one.

The twenty-metre asteroid driller engages another set of engines, gently drifting to a near halt. A cloud of ions and plasma shoots from exhaust vents at what could just about be said to be the rear of the vessel, although it is hard to tell. The asteroid miner is essentially box-shaped, with no real indicator of which end is the cockpit and which end the cargo bay. The bay doors are roughly central on one of the large sides, although whether it is top or bottom is impossible to tell, as the landing clamps and cargo crane have been retracted.

Inside the ugly but functional ship sits Janus Michaels, altogether an unremarkable man. He is middle-aged, his once-brown hair beginning to turn to grey and his face wrinkled by fifty long years. For twenty-five of those years he has worked for Arondil Mining and Metallurgy plc, first as a gas miner operating on Augustus, the emerald-green giant world fifth from the sun, and since the opening of the outer system to mining ventures and the subsequent construction of Leif Erikson Station ten years ago, an asteroid driller. He works alone, long shifts with only rocks and a particle drill for company changing from dangerous to mind-numbing with experience. Still for now his work is done, and his family is waiting back in the apartment on Deck Three of the station. All he has to do was park the driller and let the processing team pick it up. He pushes the short-range communications button and speaks into the helmet headset microphone.

"Leif Erikson Station, this is Arondil Mining and Metallurgy asteroid mining vessel, registration code 448/GE/9272, pilot name Janus Michaels, requesting docking permit."

There is a short pause at the other end as the ship identity is verified. Doubtless computers are cross-referencing everything from his voiceprint to the scarring on the ship's hull against records to make absolutely sure that he is who he says he is.

"Permit transmitted, 448/GE/9272."

This is another pet peeve of Janus's, the way that the registration code of the ship is used rather than the name of the pilot.

I guess they know where their loyalties lie.

Moving his hands back to the controls, he begins to slowly approach the slowly-opening docking bay doors. The asteroid miner design used by AMM is notoriously unresponsive, and his hasn't improved from aging and occasional collisions. The manouevre is therefore a slow process, punctuated by cursing at the poor handling. So Janus is even more annoyed when, at around five metres from the doors, they slam shut.

"This is Leif Erikson Station to all Taldaani ships in vicinity. All arrivals and departures are hereby cancelled under the Emergency Powers Legislation. All vessels still spacebourne are ordered to proceed to either Vasco da Gama Station or Zheng He Station immediately, dock, and remain on board stations until further notice. Repeat, this is an emergency. All vessels to dock at either Vasco da Gama Station or Zheng He Station immediately."

Janus swears loudly, although the communcations have cut out. Vasco da Gama is around eleven hours travel by miner, Zheng He even more. Not only that, but he will have to sleep onboard ship: he has no money for accomodation. Still, breach of law during an emergency is treated harshly, and he knows that he must comply. Sighing, he swings the asteroid miner around to begin the long trek to Vasco da Gama Station. And nearly screams out loud at what he sees.



The situation in the Command Rooms of Leif Erikson Station is frantic. Various minor administrative staff mill around like ants, occasionally doing something of some small worth, but mainly contributing to the feedback loop of panic that is spreading through all of the top deck. Junior General Administrators, Senior General Administrators, Public Health Officers, Security Advisors, even the rarely-found Citizens Advice Staff are rushing around, bumping into each other, attempting to look like they are actually contributing something to solving problems while making snide glances at those less talented at acting than themselves. The bureaucracy is out in force today.

The only person actually making an effort to quell the panic and remedy the problem is making very little headway, and trying not to resort to breaking heads. Governor Miriel strides through the crowd, although as it does not part before him due to the chaos he is forced to wade through. Spotting an unfortunate Junior General Administrator, he collars him.

"Order Security to seal off all observation decks. We can't have this getting out or there'll be a real panic on our hands."

"But sir, I'm a Junior General Administrator. I don't have the necessary authority to..."

The governor takes a small electronic device out of his pocket and punches a few buttons. He then puts a massive arm across the young man's shoulders and shows him the screen.

"Congratulations, kid. You just made Senior rank. Now get out of here."

The newly promoted flunkie scurries off, leaving Miriel shaking his head as he realises that hes probably just made the kid's week. He continues to push his way through the crowd, headed for his control room. He signals to each of the department heads to follow him, before finally reaching the door at the end of the room and opening it. The five most powerful people on Leif Erikson Station pile inside.

"I hope you realise the magnitude of this situation."

Miriel's voice is low as he speaks to them, although each of them can hear it clearly.

"This is a first contact situation. Whatever those ships are, they sure as hell aren't ours. We know nothing about who they are, what they are, or worse, what their intentions are. Now, Jackson, talk me through this again. How did they get here?"

The Head of Security answers, also in a low voice. To talk loudly could alert the baying bureaucrats outside and contribute to the general panic.

"To be absolutely honest, we don't know. Sensor readings indicate that they simply appeared in-system. One moment, empty space. The next, a fleet. Worse still, they look armed. No contact has been made yet."

"Appeared in-system? Thats impossible!"

The Chief Public Administrator, Sam Marle's, voice cuts through the exchange like a chainsaw.

"Mr Jackson, I'm afraid that you must be mistaken. Not only have Taldaani scientists completely failed to make any kind of teleportation device without previous construction of a gate, they have also come to the conclusion that it is completely impossible. Imagine, if you will, a tunnel through a hill. If you want to go through the tunnel and out of the other side of the hill, there must be a hole at each end."

"I've heard that analogy before, but our scientists could be wrong. Sensor readings clearly show that the fleet appeared from nowhere."

"And I'm telling you that that simply couldn't happen. Could it be possible that they moved insystem using superluminal engines and made a superrapid deceleration burn?"

"No. The g-force would liquidise the crew. Even if the vessel was unmanned the momentum would be too great to stop so quickly. The power needed for such a deceleration would have to be implausibly massive."

"More implausible than your theory of gateless teleportation?"

Miriel finally speaks over the two men, cutting them off.

"Jackson, Marle, we aren't here to bicker over how they got here. This meeting is about why. Part of our mandate is to keep Leif Erikson Station in one piece. To be honest, the Outer Rim Self-Defence Fleet is probably incapable of defending us. They're at Vasco da Gama, their potential enemy is here. Not only that, but they're partly a training fleet, and they have too few men and ships to help us out. Our defensive options are mainly point defence, so in the event of a battle they win. The nearest large fleet is stationed off Augustus, over two days away even for military vehicles. Essentially, if this fleet is hostile, Leif Erikson Station is destroyed, with Vasco da Gama and Zheng He likely to follow.

Hence our only option is to make first contact. We need to ascertain their mission as quickly as possible. We talk to them, we try to look strong but friendly. If they're friendly, we invite them aboard for drinks."

"And if not?"

"Then we send out a call to the Augustus fleet and try to stall them."

"Governor Miriel, this goes completely above and beyond our clearance! This is clearly a matter for the central governing bodies! To act now would be rash to the point of suicide!"

Miriel tries to remain composed. He breathes in deeply, and out slowly. Once, twice, three times. Then he answers.

"Marle, this isn't a central government matter. This is purely a Leif Erikson decision, because at this moment we are the only ones who will be affected. And I'm not going to endanger this station and everyone aboard because you can't get over some stupid fucking legislation that rational minds forgot long ago. Jackson, get me a tightbeam communicator to the fleet. Take all encryption off: we don't know if our comms are compatible with theirs, but one sticking point could be the encryption."

Jackson punches a few buttons on a wall panel to open the channel, then patches it in to Miriel's headset. Marle looks outraged. Miriel begins to speak into the communicator.

"Unknown fleet, welcome to the Taldaan system. This is Governor Andreus Miriel speaking from Leif Erikson station. Please state nation and system of origin, fleet numbers, and purpose of visit."

ooc: I think there was a small misunderstanding in my description of the webway technology. It cant be used to get something somewhere it has not already been. A webway is a bit like a stargate I suppose, in that they are actual structures. The reason the empire did not push until they were invented was because they felt a solid infrastructure could not be maintained without. So the ships would have arrived with a standard FTL drive, no need to change it, just don’t want to confuse you.

IC:
The ships of Exploration Cluster Lambda like those of Epsilon had begun scans of the area surrounding their jump point almost immediately. Aboard the bridge of the Carrier Falstaff Commodore West looked over the information before him. The air about the holotable was rippling with information. Neon lines cut through the air, bits of flickering text blinking along. A belt of floating pixels, the asteroid belt, floated rather calmly amongst the dancing lights. It seemed as if the exploration cluster had jumped into the center of an extensive mining operation.

A young officer chuckled, marveling at his own ill found sense of power, “Looks we gave them quite a scare!” Numerous power signatures iconic of ships were breaking away from the cluster, headed to safety in some unknown space.

Commodore West shot the officer a fearsome look, “You are relieved of duty for the day, return to your quarters and cool your head.”

“Sir?”

“I normally don’t explain myself to petty officers, but I’ll make an exception in your undoubtedly slow case. We, an alien race with armed vessels, just jumped into the center of a majority civilian operation. How the hell do you expect them to react!”

Without saying a word the young officer bowed his head and slowly walked off the bridge in shame. West continued to survey the room, “Anyone else feel like insulting a friendly neighbor?” The room was silent. “Good”

West looked down at his command console and saw that a newly translated message had arrived from the exploration ship. The notice sat blinking as he stared at it for a moment. He couldn’t help but feel that everything he had ever known would change upon the message’s completion. He motion to the comms officer to play the message over the bridge speakers.

“What you are about to hear men, will change the course of history forever.”

After a few moments a lovely AI voice spoke over the speakers, "Unknown fleet, welcome to the Taldaan system. This is Governor Andreus Miriel speaking from Leif Erikson station. Please state nation and system of origin, fleet numbers, and purpose of visit."

The message was followed by a tag from the exploration vessel, “Commodore West, we can not be certain on the accuracy of the translation, but the shipboard AI believes it is accurate.” West smiled, any wise man knew that the AI was growing in strength and had already far surpassed humanity in intelligence. The translation was correct.

West held for a few moments as he looked over the message, it was short and industrial, the mark of serious people. He smiled, just his type. He began to compose a reply and after a few moments it was shot out through the void towards the Leif Erikson station.

“This is Commodore West of Exploration Cluster Lambda, we are grateful for your welcome. We are members of The Infinite Crucible, and our home planet is located around the star Incandus. A map had been tied to this message to give you a better idea. As far as fleet numbers, what you see is what we have, ten ships. As your scans have undoubtedly told you, the majority are military in nature. It is a rough galaxy after all. Our primary intentions are those of expansion, however you need not worry, we are only interested in claiming vacant territory. Secondary is the establishment of diplomatic ties to willing nations, are you a willing nation?”

Everyone in Miriel's command room sits still, fingers crossed. A bead of sweat begins to form on the governor's forehead as he realises the gamble he has taken. With the soundproofing keeping the noise of the panicked command staff out of the room, the only sound is the whisper of background noise on the communications channel. Miriel has patched his headset microphone into the room's
speakers to allow the other four in the room to hear any reply.

A crackle of static as a communications band opens, and all five crowd around the speakers. And then a message.

ontacting them, but also to masquerade as Head of Government and sign the whole of Taldaan into a binding treaty with these aliens?"

"Of course not, although I'd appreciate it if you didn't call them aliens again. Insulting them would be an excellent way to scupper any future diplomatic relations with them. In fact, if you do anything to offend them, you'll find yourself in a Drainage Maintenance Team before you can blink. As for what we do, we tell them that we can't make a binding decision on the entire nation. However, we stay friendly. We allow their ships to use our docking facilities, and we invite them aboard."

Marle once again looks aghast, but remains calm and seated.

"Invite them aboard? You mean to tell me that you recieve one badly translated message saying that they want to expand and you plan to invite them aboard? Remember our mandate: we have to keep the station secure. That hardly includes inviting armed expansionists aboard for a cosy chat. Suppose they try to take over the station."

"Be reasonable. If they wanted to take over the station, they would have done it by now. They must have been able to tell from scans that out military presence in the area is almost non-existant, and they likely have enough soldiers in those ships to storm Leif Erikson easily."

"But we can't make assumptions about them. They may not have enough soldiers to take us over, and an internal strike may be their only option."

"Likewise they can't make assumptions about us. They don't know that we don't have, say, a hundred thousand guards aboard. They don't know that the Outer Rim Self-Defence Fleet is really a bunch of Fleet cast-offs crewed by trainees and incompetents. They don't know how long our fleet at Augustus would take to reach us. This situation is a stalemate as far as military strategy goes. Now lets settle down to the diplomatic portion."


Unencrypted Transmission, Tightbeam, to Exploration Cluster Lambda

"We are pleased that you have come to Taldaan on peaceful business. However, I regret that I am not in a suitably high position to grant diplomatic ties. However, the message has been forwarded to the central government, and I assure you that when the voting comes around I will move in favour of relations.

After your long journey I am sure that your ships will need resupplying and your crews will need rest. Thus we are opening our off-station docks to your ships, as our station docking bay is too small to accomodate large ships. In addition, you and your crews are invited to Leif Erikson Station as honoured guests. Transportation can be arranged from the docks, or straight from your ships if you prefer."


ooc: Some words that I failed to translate are included in the message, eg. Commodore. The bulk of the message is in Taldaani, but those words are still in whatever language your people speak, having been extracted from the original message.

Exploration Cluster Epsilon dropped out of hyperspace with a thunderous crash. Excess energy cascaded through the void in great arcs of color. Unknown to the cluster’s crew they had jumped into the fringe of Amazonian territory, an area rife with conflict. Within moments the expeditionary ships sensors were actively and passively sweeping the area for resources, but more importantly information on whether or not this area had previous owners.

As the readings came in and were transferred to the Carrier Betty, Commodore Tattersaul marveled at images taken from external cameras. They were explorers. The Torrent Nebula was still quite visible in the distance, but he couldn’t seem to find his home solar system, lost amongst the myriad of shapes within this alien sky. After a few moments the preliminary scans arrived on his command console and were displayed on the holograph table.

His eyes slowly moved about the images before him. There were multiple gas giants, great sources of energy, and a series of inhabitable planets that could serve as colonies for the newly expanding empire. He smiled, this was good space. Suddenly something caught his attention.

“Ensign, may I ask what these other readings are?” he spoke in a powerful voice.

“Uh yes sir, while we are not 100% sure yet, they appear to debris of unknown origin and multiple unexplained energy signatures.”

He raised an eye, “Energy signatures?”

“Yes sir, most likely weapons of some sort, possibly particle in nature.”

Tattersaul sighed, this space was taken, or at least in the process of being taken by other parties. After a few moments he gave the order to begin broadcasting messages on all channels explaining their intentions were peaceful in nature. He also order FTL drives be spun up, in case a quick jump was needed.

“Sir, would you like weapon systems online.”

“No, but make sure we can get them up within a moments notice.”

“Yes sir.”

Jumping out of hyperspace came a small rebel flotilla, several capital ships, making haste to accelerate towards on of the larger green planets. The ships were still fairly far out from the Exporation group, but were speeding in that general direction. Quick on their heels, a Dominion battlegroup hypered out, not far behind, significantly larger in size. Fighter wings were already swarming out of both fleets as the opening shots resounded, mere flecks of colored light to the distant eye. The message that had been transmitted by Epsilon group was recieved by both parties, though ignored by the fleeing rebels, more concerned for their own survival from the pursuing Dominion warships.
One of the Dominion craft broke off from the fleet, a small, quick corvette. A single message was broadcast out to Epsilon group:

We would like to know the reason for your presence in contested Dominion space. Due to the recent rebel and pirate uprisings, we are sorry for the conflict and fighting, but once we wrap up this group we can greet you on better terms.

OOC: glad to see you posting again!

IC:
Not even decade had past, but this binary star system was now relitivly tranquil. Tyle made a sigh as he looked out from the bridge. For almost 100 years, this system was faught over by several factions. One of the grizzled verterans himself, he sported a crude cybernetic arm as many people now did.

But he was elected and he wanted to be fair, just, but equally strong and forcfull like his father, who was infact the captian on the very pirate ship he stood inside. Two inhabited planets circled two distant yellow suns, one was covered in jungle, hot and steamy it rained every second and sported innumerable flora and fauna.

The second planet was a toxic black and red and the home planet of the system. It was now a planet wide factory, its life blood was its many moons, filled with ore and a beeline os ships ferry back and forth. The main import was oxygen, determined not to ruin the healthier planet a conglomerate of foward thinking pirates and exiles formed to protect it as their own, and financed their campain with the oxygen recycling monopoly they had created.

Now decades later, it sported several small colonies and villages. Now they worked in conjunction, the younger keeping the other healthy while the, while the older constructed pre fabricated housing to protect it's new citizenry. But war was on the minds of nearly every inhabitant of the system and war verterans were known to ban together and form raiding parties. Such was the reson the pirates had come to power, they destroyed risistance with out pity and criminals were forced into slavery on the forge planet, to those who obayed the strickness of the pirates, they were garenteed a rule from a most benevolent leader.

Thus factory world Cutlass and it's sibling world Corssair were ruled.

While on the brige over lookink the farthest moon of Cutlass, klaxons blared and lightes flashed on and off.

"Captain! We have a huge energy signature!" That didnt seem to make sence to Tyle.

"What is it danmmit, tell me!"

"Sir, it's a fleet of ships and they are armed."

Tyle didn't need war, espcially war from and unknown foe. "Prepare and alert all crew and signals our ships. And hail the fleet, we need to be diplomatic about this first. A huge fleet was circling the seventh moon of Cutlass and was moving in to back up their lord's ship, they made their way in a reletivly slow pace, as to not anger the new fleet.

Exploration Cluster Lambda – Taldaani Space

Admiral West slowly shifted his weight from side to side as he waited atop the captain’s chair. Despite being a formidable man, and incredibly stern, he had a habit of shifting when nervous. At the moment, he was the most nervous he had ever been. With a massive creek his chair shifted a few millimeters, the sound resonated throughout the deathly silent bridge. A few eyes shot over to him, he couldn’t help but smile at this. However, mid-smile the Taldaani reply came through.

"We are pleased that you have come to Taldaan on peaceful business. However, I regret that I am not in a suitably high position to grant diplomatic ties. However, the message has been forwarded to the central government, and I assure you that when the voting comes around I will move in favour of relations.

After your long journey I am sure that your ships will need resupplying and your crews will need rest. Thus we are opening our off-station docks to your ships, as our station docking bay is too small to accomodate large ships. In addition, you and your crews are invited to Leif Erikson Station as honoured guests. Transportation can be arranged from the docks, or straight from your ships if you prefer."

The comms immediately revved into the attached internal message.

Sir, once again we believe this is a highly accurate translation, in addition many of the words were already in Evian.

West smiled, and ordered a return message sent.

Thank you for your offer of supplies and board for our crewmen, but we are quite self sufficient for an indefinite period of time. However, I and a few of my chief officers would we honored by the chance to tour the Leif Erikson. As far as transportation goes, we can launch a shuttle from our carrier, all we need is your clearance.

Exploration Cluster Epsilon – Contested Amazonian Beasts Territory

The cluster had pulled in tighter as the two fighting fleets had passed in order to maintain a defensive formation. Commodore Tattersaul held his breath, ready to signal the weapons officer, but there turned out to be no need. The fleeing fleet of what appeared to be pirates passed without incident, and were followed by the majority of the pursuing fleet. A lone corvette flew over to the cluster and broadcast a message.

The message was quickly picked up and translated by the expeditionary ship. The message was than relayed to the carrier.

We would like to know the reason for your presence in contested Dominion space. Due to the recent rebel and pirate uprisings, we are sorry for the conflict and fighting, but once we wrap up this group we can greet you on better terms.

Tattersaul listen carefully as the message played over the speakers and was displayed on his command console. Tattersaul knew better than to interfere with a military action, especially those of an alien race. He quickly composed a reply.

We are an expeditionary fleet dispatched from the solar system surrounding the star Incandus. Our primary objective is to claim new territory, however all claims must be made in previously un-owned space. Secondary to that is the establishment of diplomatic ties. We understand the urgency of your mission, and would like to offer our aid in stopping the fleeing fleet.

He knew the risk of choosing sides, but strong allies would be needed in the future, and this new species may just fit the bill.

Dont worry I did not forget about you Bear, but I am a bit pressed for time, as you all can tell from the poor quality of this post. Meh

The translation software works better this time, translating every word successfully, although the grammar is somewhat scrambled. Nevertheless, the message is easily understandable, and a reply is quickly sent with only a token argument. For now, at least, the tension is off.


We welcome your visit to our station. Co-ordinates and trajectories for entering the shuttle bay are enclosed in the message, although if your shuttle can be slaved to the station traffic control system that may be a preferable option. The landing at Leif Erikson is tricky, especially the first time.

We would also like to request that no weapons are brought aboard. Your security will be looked after by our station security personnel.

The transmission was sent back to the command vessel, where another comm was dispatched to the corvette for relay to the expeditionary fleet.

Any assistance would be well appreciated. Once these rebels are mopped up, we can take you to the system station for more formal talks on the matter.

OOC: Like i care, er, i meant... yes i can see, take you time ;D