NationStates Jolt Archive

Cruiser People's Hope, you are cleared for FTL travel. You may activate your rift drives at will.

Richard Greyler finalized his pre-jump checklist, insulating his body for the shock of the Rift. A bit of flux in the aft feed, but nothing that I can't handle... He finished his checklist, and began to power up his drives. Nothing I can't handle...

The grigleapers nesting in his aft feed seemed to disagree. As the beasts tried to escape the nest that had quickly become a tomb, their razor claws ripped at the edges of the feed, tearing through in places. Greyler's body began to spin, cutting through the air at a sickening angle. The drives continued to power up and...

Shitshitshitshitshitshiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!

He was gone.

A slash of blue-white across the black of space, and People's Hope was spinning through the darkness. Activating thrusters, Greyler retook control of his body, ceasing the spin facing towards the local star.

Bloody hell, where the feth am I? This sure as hell isn't New Quebec...

Pumping his sensor banks to full, his surrogate eyes scanned the system, taking in the light from the past hour or so. A sun, a few planets, moons, asteroid belt from some age-old catastrophe... Hello, what's this now?

Focusing on a small high-albedo object, Richard zoomed in and cursed. A space station, of unfamiliar design and manufacture. Just my luck. I feth up and flash to anywhere in the galaxy, and I get stuck in one of the xenoc infested one. Might as well do some house cleaning while I wait for repairs to finish...

Powering up his weapons and drives, he accelerated to combat speed, swooping in towards the station while launching missiles and laser blasts. Activating the wi-specs, he blared a message across all channels.

"Attention, squatters: This is the People's Hope of the Coalition States. You are illegally settled in territory rightfully belonging to human kind. You shall be exterminated as an example to your species. People's Hope out."

Klaxons blared suddenly as the sensors picked up an intruding presence. Automated railgun batteries and plasma throwers responded in kind to the invading ship, pouring fire out at it in waves.

An explosion jolted Commander Felox out of a bored daze, and he jumped to attention eyes darting around at the screens showing an unexpected enemy.

"What the hell? Oh great... Computer, missile lock on incoming!"

As the station's battle computer complied, the Commander keyed the broadcast communicator.

"Incoming ship, this space belongs to the Imperium. This system is being colonized for the Emperor, who rules humanity around these parts. It is suggested that you stand down and submit to us, or else be atomized. Your choice."

Paying no attention in the slightest to his comms, Richard dodged the projectiles, swooping through the clouds of plasma and railgun shot. Damn, these xenocs are more heavily armed than I thought... The projectiles continued to spash around him, a few impacting on his field, turning it cherry red. Not going to survive much more of this, better rift out of here as soon as possible. Goddamnit, how much longer is it going to take those drones to fix that feed?! There we go!

With a flash of bright blue light, the People's Hope vanished, reappearing far above the surface of New Chicago.

Coalition Naval Command, this is Cruiser People's Hope. We have come under fire by xenoc forces in unidentified system. Transmitting all sensor logs of encounter now.

Roger, Captain Greyler. Your logs have been received, and will be reviewed by Command at the earliest opportunity. We thank you for your service to the Coalition.

It would be an hour before the logs were scanned and dissected by fleet techs, an hour before a very suprised analyst discovered the transmission to Captain Greyler's body, a transmission in perfect Terran. After that, techs scrambled to deduce the location of the system from the stars surrounding the vessel, from sensor readings of the anomalous rift and from sensor readings obtained by third party vessels. Finally, after hours of work, the map had been completed, a location divined.

Within days, an envoy was sent out with a ceremonial bodyguard, bright with hope of reuniting the scattered branches of Mankind. Their rift drives engaged, and with a flash of blue light, they were at their destination. Their wi-specs engaged, sending out their message to the station.

Hail, fellow humans. We represent the Coalition States, one of the last bastions of uncorrupted humanity throughout the galaxy. Despite our previous encounter with this station, I would like to start our relationships with the following age-old greeting:

We come in peace.

The maintanance workers hanging onto the sides of the outpost were busy buffing out blast scars and welding new plates over laser gouged sections of hull, when the Coalition vessels arrived in system. They kicked away frantically, scrambling to get away from the deploying auto turrets, but collectively breathed a sigh of relief when they didn't start firing.

After a short delay...:

"There are no hard feelings. Mistakes happen, and misunderstanding is quite common. No permanent damage was sustained to our systems. The Emperor welcomes you onboard to begin relations, and has personally extended the hand of friendship to the Coalition States. We are preparing a room now for your arrival. Then we can start negotiations immediately."

With a thrum of its gravitic impellor, the Coalition diplomatic craft set down, its egress ramp opening with a hiss. Stepping forth, the diplomat craned his neck, taking in the familiar yet exotic layout of the Imperium vessel. A pair of massive humanoid forms (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/blaesa/Full_Conversion_Borg.jpg), heavily armored and armed, followed the ambassador from the ship, their demonic faces leering at the crewman standing about. With a clang, the pair stood at attention, arms to their side, weapons pointed to the floor. Stepping forward the diplomat inclined his head in what could have been the barest of bows.

"I am Daniel Orboros, appointed proxie for Emperor Karl Prosek. I represent the Coalition States, the last bastion of untainted humanity in our sector of the galaxy. These two Avatars are representatives of Jordan Antioch, who is currently sitting in the hangar, and represent the Fleet, as well as the State of Free Quebec."

The commander gave a graceful bow, and took a moment to inspect the two looming Avatars.

"I am Commander Felox, humble servitor of the Emperor and lord of this fringe outpost. I am sorry about the state of this place. Maintanance has been lacking for a month, and we haven't received the promised supplies needed to repair our failing computer systems. I'm afraid some parts of this station are completely lacking lighting and air recycling, so a tour isn't recommended.

Ah, I don't know why I'm rambling on like this. Please, if you would follow me to the conference room..."

He placed his hand on to a panel on the wall, and the door hissed open.
"This way, good sirs."

A squad of Legionnaires formed up behind, shooting nervous glances at avatars through the armored visors of their helmets.

The trio proceeded into the conference room, taking their seats around the table. Noting the unease of the Imperials, the Avatars took a moment to remove their faceplates, exposing human faces beneath the fearsome masks. The diplomat relaxed somewhat, settling into his chair before he spoke.

"Again, we apologise for the reaction of our first encounter. The vessel in question had experienced a drive malfunction, having intended to arrive in the orbit of New Quebec. You can imagine his suprise upon encountering an unknown station. As we had yet to discover a hold of humans like yourselves in our galaxy, and he had reason to believe that he was at least close to Coalition States territory, he assumed that you were xenocs in Coalition territory and acted accordingly. His error was only discovered upon return to New Chicago.

"Now, onto more relavent matters. Tell us, what of xenocs within your borders? How do you treat these... sentients?"

"Hah! Hardly sentients. They are good for nothing more than slave labor, and are put to extensive use whenever unskilled labor is needed. Why do you ask?"

Orboros smiled over tented fingers.

"Ensuring your purity. We find that extended contact with xenocs tends to sully the purity of humanity. Consorting with xenocs is a capital offense in the Coalition States, which is as it should be. After all, contact with the creatures gives them a chance to subvert those with weak wills amongst us. Your purity having been at least rudimentarily established, I believe we can continue our discussions with the threat of your extermination removed from the table."

"Well, that's a relief. My superiors were thinking along the lines of a strategic alliance, actually, as we have many enemies, and many more potential enemies that we have not yet encountered. The Emperor realizes that we are not all-powerful, and that allies can bring many benefits to our cause. Makes sense, no? We have much to offer in an alliance, I think you will find.

"I'm sure you do. Even if your contributions are meager, more warm bodies are always welcome... Emperor Prosek would undoubtably agree with me that such an alliance is in our best interest. Therefor, as appointed proxy of Karl Prosek, I accept your offer. I suggest that our lawyers and others proficient in the arcane tongue of legalese handle the details, as I somewhat doubt the ability of the lord of such a remote station to handle the complexities of this sort of thing. No offense intended, of course."

"Of course. I have no power over these situations, and a limited understanding. I am merely a representative. I'll have my people call your people, and they can work out the details. In the meantime, you can stay here as long as you want, but I'm sure you're eager to get back and make a full report to your government..."

The ambassador grinned at that last statement.

"Oh, but they already know. Captain Antioch's Avatars have been in constant contact with Jordan in the hangar, and he's been transmitting via his ansible to Coalition Command. So, you might have 'our people' calling yours slightly sooner than you might have expected."

Standing, the diplomat shook hands with his Imperial counterpart.

"Regardless, I should be getting back. Full hololith recordings don't mean that I don't have paperwork still."