NationStates Jolt Archive

According to an announcement broadcast, as well as advertisements placed with various marketing companies, a race calling itself the 'Blub Colony' is seeking retailers to provide services.

Interested parties are to travel to *coordinates*, the Juno System and make their way to the 7th planet from the sun. They are instructed to land at *planetary coordinates* on the planet, where they can discuss business with the Blubs themselves. All parties are promised safe conduct.

Services needed/jobs offered:
Contract to build a hypercommunications system.
Contract to bring food to Juno.
Contract to build housing.
Contract to build infrastructure.
Contract to help train a military.
Immediate military equipment needed.
Immediate food stores needed.

Immediate needs basicly mean that these items are needed as quickly as possible, and can be purchased outright by the Blubs. Contracts are typically longer-term deals, which take place over a period of time.

Misc. Shopping List (If you can provide it, name a price.)
5 power generators that run on water
10 acres of high-preformance solar panels
50 miles of power lines
100 miles of fiber-optic lines
3 communications sattelites
2 industrial metal forges
5,500 bags of concrete mix
300 complete tool sets
50 chainsaws or power cutters
5 heavy dozers with backhoe apendages
10 industrial water filters
20 miles of water piping

Any parties (Private companies or governments) responding to the call, will find themselves traveling to a slightly remote world in the middle of an otherwise uninhabited solar system. Coming down through the cloud cover, the parties will arrive at said coordinates on a large, grassy plain with plenty of landing room on the outskirts of what seems to be a small, somewhat primitive town.

Moving about in the town are of course, the Blubs. They're small, green creatures that seem to be sentient blobs with tentacles and eyestalks. They're odd-looking, but quite social and very curious.

The town is made up of huts and tents, and there is a big bull dozer type machine near one end of town, where a half dozen Blubs are cleaning or maintaining it. The machine seems to have been at work on the outskirts of town digging a canal through which fresh spring water flowed into a pool in the middle of town.

Cthulhu Corporation

Greetings from the Corporate Empire! We at Cthulhu Corporation believe we have exactly what your fledgling colony needs for it's rapid success and growth, and that you will be immensely satisfied by our goods. This company can provide all of your needs immediately, and we can deploy a negotiator to your colony if you wish or if you wish to talk to us through secured FTL communications that is possible as well. We have supply ships standing by for orders you may make, and we're looking forward to doing business with your colony!

Mark Cthulhu Jr., CEO, Cthulhu Corporation

Cthulhu Corporation

Greetings from the Corporate Empire! We at Cthulhu Corporation believe we have exactly what your fledgling colony needs for it's rapid success and growth, and that you will be immensely satisfied by our goods. This company can provide all of your needs immediately, and we can deploy a negotiator to your colony if you wish or if you wish to talk to us through secured FTL communications that is possible as well. We have supply ships standing by for orders you may make, and we're looking forward to doing business with your colony!

Mark Cthulhu Jr., CEO, Cthulhu Corporation

The reply would take some time to arrive through third-party channels.

"Currently, we do not have a way to communicate other than through third-parties. We politely request that you send someone to Juno for discussions. It is getting expensive sending these messages through side channels, and we have few sources of income."

OOC: Tag for PRA sales pitch as soon as I get back to my own computer.

Cthulhu Corporation
Agreed. A negotiator will be at your colony in approximately thirty-four Empirici Standard Hours.

Juno System
An HPL class transport shuttle dropped out of lightspeed in front of Juno VII, escorted by two Magister class escort destroyers. Following it were massive cargo shuttles, carrying some of the things the Blub Empire wanted, on the odd chance that a deal was struck right then and there. These goods were simply moved from a Cthulhu Corporation forge world to a shipping station, and sent on their merry way to Juno.

The shuttle entered atmosphere, her heat shields doing an adequate job of dissipating heat so the ship didn't go boom. It set down on the landing zone, and a Cthulhu Corporation representative stepped down the landing ramp cautiously.

Good, he thought, the air is breathable. He said in Galactic Basic, "Is there a representative of the Blubs anywhere here?"

And at the appointed time, a group of Blubs gathered on the outskirts of town. They all craned their eyestalks towards the sky, looking up and waiting for the arrival of these new visitors.

The Blubs hadn't had contact with outsiders since their rescuers left them here on the planet. When the strange new ship arrived, the small group of Blubs let out a collective 'oooo'.

Standing at the head of the Blubs was a protocol droid, which bowed its head politely. "Greetings. I am newly-designated protocol droid, Mike. The Blubs will communicate through me, and I am also authorized to speak for them on basic issues. These are the leaders of the Blub, their designated representitives." The droid gestured at the handful of Blubs, a couple of whom lifted tentacles and waved them shyly at the visitors.

"Okay," the Cthulhu Corporation representative said.

He gave a polite wave to the blobby things behind the protocol droid and said, "Shall we get down to business?"

"Absolutely!" The droid turned and lead the representitive off to a large tent set up. Inside there was a table and around it some chairs. After everyone was seated, one of the Blubs fetched a pitcher of water and some mugs, which it filled with the water and set down before the representitive.

The droid continued, "What is it that your company can offer the Blubs?" In the backround, another Blub was digging through a chest set at the back of the tent.

"We can offer you everything your communication specified," the representative began, staring at the blobs with an odd sort of look. Oh well, business was business.

"Cthulhu Corporation employs 431 million people across twenty-two planets of the Corporate Empire, and we produce everything from furniture all the way up to complex military dreadnoughts. We have several supply ships in orbit with some of the items you wished to purchase - the industrial water filtration, water piping, electrical conduits, lining, concrete, power lines, solar panels, satellites, andheavy vehicles. All that needs to be negotiated are the long-term contracts, short-term purchases, and the pricings. Now, we feel that a lump sum of 4.5 billion universal standard dollars is retail price for this first shipment of equipment. However, since you are a first-time buyer from Cthulhu Corporation, a 500 million dollar discount has been authorised, bringing the price to 4 billion USD."

The droid looked down at the Blubs gathered near the table and made an odd chattering noise, obviously talking to them. They looked at each other and jabbered back and forth.

The one at the chest nodded and picked through the chest again. A tentacle pulled out a small bag, and went to the table. The bag was dumped out, and out spilled several -stacks- of bank notes held together with a rubber band. The Blub pulled the rubber bands off and shuffled through the notes, then looked at the droid and chattered.

The droid spoke again, "That would stretch the on-hand funds of the Blubs deeply, sir. However, they have a wealth of other resources they are willing to offer, provided your company can accept." The droid glanced at a note the Blub held up.

"The Blubs are currently in possession of six tons of Quantium-311. This material is typically used as focus crystals for energy weapons such as lasers. Further, they can offer ..." looking at the note, "Seven hundred-thousand liters of premium hydrofuels. Perhaps we can work out some sort of compromise?"

"If cash on-hand is a problem, Cthulhu Corporation can offer you a structured payment plan where you pay parts of the total order yearly, biyearly, in whatever you need. As to your offer of resources, Cthulhu will accept that offer in addition to 250 million Universal Standards. We can also establish a small base on this world if you wish to have further communications with our Corporation. As for your other contracts, we need to know, for example, what sort of food you need shipped here? How many houses? What sort of military equipment? My employers are very diverse, but none of them are prescients, Mr. Mike." the representative said with a chuckle at the end.

The droid relayed this information to the Blubs who chattered amongst themselves. Eventually, the droid recieved an answer, "Yes, that deal will work out very well. As there are currently no merchant ships traveling between Juno VII and the rest of the galaxy, credits are hard to come by. The Blubs have a lot of resources and services for sale, they just need a market."

"The foodstuffs should consist of bases and basics. Flour, sugar, salt and spices, wheat and grains, meats in the form of beef, buffalo, pig and other typical livestock. The Blubs are putting their money into a pool based on the resource coming in. Blubs that wish to open bakeries and restaraunts are mainly the ones buying these goods, and they will turn them into foods for other Blubs to purchase."

The droid continued, "As to the housing issue, we are looking at around twenty thousand large homes and fifteen thousand or so medium-sized homes. We will also require other structures such as buildings for stores, a police station, fire-fighting, schools and hospitals."

And then to the military issue, "The Blubs are seeking military training most of all. However, the initial outlook for a small self-defense force envisions perhaps five squadrons of interceptors, ten squadrons of attack-fighters, maybe a handful of frigates or corvettes. Also, we will need rifles, sidearms and communications equipment. Electronics such as night vision and thermal would be helpful as well."

"There are currently about ten thousand Blubs. They are nearing the point where they will split, and the population will expand by three fold basicly over night. You see, the Blubs can reproduce by splitting, much like other simple lifeforms. Hence why we need so much housing."

The Blub with the money counted out 250 million in bank notes, then bundled it up with a rubber band and extended a tentacle, offering it to the representitive.

The representative took the stack of bills, counting it out quickly mentally, making sure the Blubs weren't stiffing him.

"It is agreed. I will send a signal to the transport shuttles to land, given coordinates, so they can begin offloading the goods we brought with us. Now, as for the housing issue, we can manufacture houses in several prefabricated pieces for ease of use. Thirty five thousand homes is nothing to sneeze at, understand, but we can provide everything within six local months to the planet, and all of the houses can be constructed within another three months. My estimation for the total price is," he did some fast math, "approximately 850 million universal standard dollars. We're open to negotiation on the final price for that contract, and we can also accept payments when we complete every batch of housing."

"On the military contract, Cthulhu Corporation has a package deal in the general area of what you are looking for, however, we need to know if the Blubs have any specific needs for their military equipment. Seeing as they aren't, ah, anthropomorphic, we need to figure out how they can control the complex systems on, say, a fighter or a frigate. We can construct ships very quickly on our forge worlds, however, we need to know the specifications."

"Foodstuffs is once again, no problem. We control several worlds dedicated to agriculture in varying forms, and we can arrange regular shipping to Juno VII with your required goods for a price. We can also arrange a partnership with my employer, where the Blub population ships us goods such as hydrofuels or quantium-311 in exchange for manufactured goods they need."

The droid looked down at the Blubs and communicated. The Blubs again went into a huddle and chittered back and forth. This conversation took a while. But soon the droid had an answer for the representitive.

"They are fine with equipment designed for people. Their tentacles serve as hands well enough, and the Blubs have suprising dexterity. Probably better than our own, infact. They tend to get around just as quickly as people do, a little faster actually."

"Further, it should not take more than a month or so to start shipping out some of the goods that the Blubs can produce. So, lets give it a month and a week. Shall that be the date when the first payment installment begins? In the meantime, construction on improving the colony may also begin?"

As the droid was talking to his Blubs, the representative pulled out a small handheld computer and keyed in coordinates for the Cthulhu Corporation ships to land in. Soon enough, massive roaring engines were heard as they went atmospheric and landed near the transport shuttle that brought the representative here. Robotic 'dockworkers' began unloading material onto prefabbed unloading bays, along with the heavy vehicles.

When the Blubs were finished discussing, and the droid conveyed his offer, the representative said, "That is acceptable to Cthulhu Corporation. Our transport shuttles are offloading the goods you purchased earlier onto pads, and as a showing of good will, we have provided transport vehicles and utility vehicles so your people can move these goods around with less difficulty. Now, for the military, I have a catalogue of vessels and equipment with me that you can purchase."

The representative handed the droid a real catalogue made of paper, printed in Galactic Basic for his reading.

"You're probably interested in the Strike Fighter package, which is four squadrons of Avenger space dominance fighters, an escort carrier, two squadrons of Wasp point defense fighters, a frigate squadron, four squadrons of B-29 bombers, and some corvettes here and there."

While the talking was going on, robotic dockworkers continued to offload supplies onto trucks and drive them into the town, waiting for official orders from the Cthulhu representative as to what exactly to do with them.

The Blubs out in town were gathered around the machines, clapping excitedly. A couple Blubs approached the trucks cautiously, poking at their wheels with tentacle tips before retreating with squeaks.

The droid quickly flipped through the catalogue, its memory system taking a snapshot of every page and storing it away. Then it handed the booklet to the Blubs, who for a half minute or so, fought over it, tugging it back and forth. The droid emulated a sigh and leaned down, gently taking the booklet and laying it flat on the floor for them to look at.

The Blubs 'ooooo'd softly as they flipped the pages, pawing at the images and text. The droid spoke, "I am not too sure the Blubs can afford a carrier just yet. Is it possible to purchase the items seperately from each other?" (Further, do you have a storefront?)

(Working on the storefront)

"We can remove the carrier from the package deal if necessary. All fighters, frigates, and corvettes are atmospheric. Now," the representative looked at his pocketwatch, "The first load of goods should be in your town centre. Are you going to allow the Blubs to install it themselves or do you require assistance?"

The droid looked over at the Blubs, several of whom were looking at the catalogue upside down, all gathered around it there on the floor. Tentacles continued flipping pages. "Well, I think it will be fine to have them do it themselves. They are suprisingly good at following directions."

"That is fine with me. I will have technicians overseeing the construction of some of the materials."

Outside, some robots were unloading the supply trucks, pointing areas for Blubs to move things, and failing to comprehend noises they were making. They weren't protocol droids, just robotic muscle, as it were.

"We can train your military in ground warfare and space warfare for no added charge if you purchase the strike craft package, sans carrier as you requested. We also produce myriad ground vehicles and sidearms. Can the blubs use standard bipedal weaponry meant for terrans?"

The droid took more mental notes. "I believe the purchase of the package can be arranged. The training would be most helpful and appreciated." Then the droid went on to the next question, "Yes, they can use anything that people can. They get around very well."

Outside, Blubs were scurrying about, moving things as told and as often as not, moving things even when they weren't told to do so. The Blubs got into everything with their natural curiousity. At one point, the Blubs gathered up items from a large crate of tools and shuffled off through the street to begin helping errect whatever project the mover-bots were working on.

"Seems the Blubs aren't stupid afterall, but really quite productive." reported an officer to the Captain of the Cosmos, the Taledonian vessel currently on surveillance duty of the planet. Since they had picked up the wierd beings from their wrecked vessel and took them the rest of the way to their new home, they had been under Republican surveillance.

"They've already launched that wrecked fighters and conducted faster than light travel, and now they're beginning trade for items that will bring them into a more suitable position. Remarkable what a bunch of jelly creatures with ADD can do eh?"

"Seems the Blubs aren't stupid afterall, but really quite productive." reported an officer to the Captain of the Cosmos, the Taledonian vessel currently on surveillance duty of the planet. Since they had picked up the wierd beings from their wrecked vessel and took them the rest of the way to their new home, they had been under Republican surveillance.

"They've already launched that wrecked fighters and conducted faster than light travel, and now they're beginning trade for items that will bring them into a more suitable position. Remarkable what a bunch of jelly creatures with ADD can do eh?"

Somewhere down on the planet, two Blubs bickered over a flower which they'd both found at the same time out in the fields. They flailed tentacles at each other briefly, then went into a wrestling match. As they fought, a small lizard-critter waddled up and began chewing on the flower.

The Blubs looked at each other, then the lizard, then glared! With angry hoots, the pair of Blubs chased the lizard about.

"Now, if that concludes our business, I will be heading back to Cthulhu Corporation's capital planet so I can requisition the goods you want to purchase."

"Now, if that concludes our business, I will be heading back to Cthulhu Corporation's capital planet so I can requisition the goods you want to purchase."

The droid nodded enthusiasticly, "Yes, absolutely!"

The representative nodded, and left the little hut thingy he was standing in. He barked an order to the Empiricalite foreman to, "Help the damn Blubs out putting this stuff together," and he went back to his transport shuttle.

It lifted off, beginning the journey back to Cthulhu III, the representative happy that he just sealed a multi-billion-dollar deal, which even with his 0.5% commission was still a massive chunk of change. It pulled away from the planet, accelerating to faster-than-light speeds once safely away from the gravity well. It would be back in approximately 48 hours with more gear and a contract for the Blubs..

Meanwhile, down on Juno VII the Blubs were mostly getting in the way of the workers. Often they'd squabble for possession of one particular tool or item, then stare at it in bafflement once they had control. Eventually however, they began to get organized.

The Blubs mostly helped by pointing out where things should go. When the mover-bots would lift an item or piece of a structure, one Blub would scoot forward and show the bot where to place it.

The little colony was coming together finally. With the piping brought in, there was fresh water and with the foodstuffs, little bakeries were opening up here and there.

Several Blubs had cooperatively guided a bot to construct a heavy-duty building around two of the huge, industrial metal forges. The Blubs disappeared inside to begin tinkering and setting the place up. Perhaps this would be the site of major experimentation and development of new Blub-Tech.

[APPROXIMATELY 200KM OVER THE BLUB HOMEWORLD]

Things already went to hell.

The Hiigaran vessel HGNS Haruhi, quite simply, hyperspaced too close to a grav surge.

“Grav surges rising!” Petchukov knew he was dead the instant the ship started rumbling in hyperspace. “The ship is tearing itself apart!”

Petchukov's last impression was of a red-hot glowing human figure before he was disintegrated in the atmosphere of the planet.

The freighter's bridge section tore off completely, killing everyone in there instantly. The hull remained very intact, actually, only breaking once it hit the planet about 100 kilometers away from the Blub's main, err, combined existence zone, because you can't very well call it a city can you? No, can you?

I lied. The ship was breaking apart slightly, releasing what just happened to be Hiigaran quick-grow chemicals. As a result, everything within a massive cone area leading away from the, err, "landing site" was growing at a horribly rapid rate. Just about everything within 10km of the blast zone was growing at an even more rapid rapid rate, which may or may not be good, since some of them evil lizard thingies got caught up in it too.

Oops.

And of course, eyestalks turned towards the sky as a glowing streak passed overhead, then a soft rumble was felt by the sensitive Blubs through the ground. The Blubs let out a collective 'ooooo' as it went over, and a 'aaah' as the rumble passed through the ground.

Several Blubs piled aboard the medium dozer, and it started to rumble off to the north towards where the meteor (That's what they assume of course) impacted. It would take a few hours just to get there naturally enough.

Soon enough, the dozer pulled up to the crash site followed by a handful of trucks. It was odd to see Blubs driving, since they tended to use their eyestalks like periscopes to see over the steering wheel.

And then there was a small crowd of Blubs gathered around the hulk of the once-starship. Several approached cautiously with sticks in hand to poke at the somewhat blackened and battered hull. One of the Blubs fancied himself a smart type, and began to assemble a team to board. They oozed through a crack in the hull, carrying their sticks with them.

Onboard they'd find of course, plenty of dead people. A couple Blubs stayed behind to poke at the bodies with sticks. Wake up! Hey, wakey wakey! And the rest continued on.

It wasn't too long before Blubs slipped into the cargo bay and went over to examine the rows and rows of huge, plastic barrels kept there. The barrels had suprisingly held together for the most part with just a couple leaking now. The 'smart' Blub approached a barrel and read the side, rubbing at his chin in deep thought for a moment. Then he gestured at his fellows, and they squeaked and hooted back. The Blubs spread out over the ship checking for survivors, but finding none.

As night began to fall, a line of trucks began to ferry the barrels back and forth. The smart Blub remained behind to examine the bridge of the starship in an attempt to find the ship's affiliation.

A Serenity class dreadnought, newly named The Blub by it's Generian purchasers, decelerated from Faster-Than-Light speeds near Juno VII, accompanied by several dozen cargo ships carrying all the gear and goods the Blubs recently ordered from Cthulhu. Once in orbit of the planet, a message was broadcast down to the planet, saying, "The Generian Empire has purchased this dreadnought for the Blub's use. There are trainers on board to teach the blubs how to operate it, and the rest of the gear they have purchassed is on the transport ships. Stand by for landing."

The transport ships undocked from the The Blub, careening towards the planet sorta gracefully. All 10 transport ships landed, with moverbots beginning the unload of supplies onto the planet. Boy, were the Blubs in for a surprise when they found their newest ship..

The Blubs of course, freaked out. There was much celebration in the streets of the little town by the Blubs. Infact, the party lasted right up until the transports began to land.

At which point, most of the Blubs boarded a transport and hitched a ride back up to the dreadnought waiting in space. Once docked, the Blubs poured out and into The Blub. They soon had their noses into everything, opening up panels and storage containers, poking tentacles into bulkheads and such.

A team of Blubs assembled down in the engine rooms around a huge book which held maintaince and engineering information on the ship. They would 'oooo' together, occasionally bickering over who got to turn the pages.

A message was immedietly sent out to Generia, a huge thank-you letter written in Blubbish, but certainly heart-felt.