NationStates Jolt Archive

“As we can all plainly see, these creatures are quite formidable, effectively disabling numbers of ships, and even successfully distracting others.” A high, male voice said in the background. The holographic viewer of a space battle between holographic Kythons, and GFFA forces.

A metal, raspy voice spoke up from the far back in response. “We do not need these heretical machines in our naval forces. This is a plain slap on the Machine God’s holy visage. What you speak of is heresy.”

A large silhouette, standing at least nine feet tall, with extremely thick and bulky features spoke up as well. “Yes, not to mention these are xenos scum. You walk the dangerous line of curiosity, and suicide, scientist. Be gone from our sight.”

“But, but, there’s so much more I need to speak off, their foot soldiers, the-“

“LEAVE!” The voice boomed. It would have shaken the room if it weren’t thick metal bulkheads.

With a startle, the small meek man quickly ejected the holographic recorder, packed up a small bag, and left the room quickly. He left the massive citadel, almost moving as a run. But he held his composure, and briskly walked to his vehicle, the sky still thick with hovering vehicles that late at night.

He set his hand on the door handle, the computer inside reading his finger prints, and unlocking the door. Then out of the shadows, a tall spindly man emerged, the small rosette of the Ordo Malleus perched upon his collar. “Good evening, Stien.”

Stien turned around at a start, but quickly recognized the rosette. He quickly bent down to a knee, and recited, “Lord Inquisitor!”

“Stand up Stien, I wish to make this quick. I want to know everything about these.. Kythons.”

He slowly looked up, his shakey voice responding. “Of course, my lord.”

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A simple message was sent out, in the direction of the Godulan, and Balroggan Empires. It entailed coordinates near a black hole in the middle of nowhere, far from any controlled space. It also had a simple message held within it.

Prime for a prime. An exchange for our brainchildren.

The message came, recieved by one of the sentries on the edge of Godulan-held space and instantly relayed to the rest of the Legion. Few knew what to make of it, so it was sent directly to the top.

"I still do not understand why you do not wish to remain in the Legion form," Skye commented, stalking about the well-appointed room as though uncomfortable about something. "It would make conversation so much easier."

"Screw that," Maximillian replied with a snort. "For you its as natural as night and day. For us... its bloody wierd. There's nothing natural about us, not anymore. I'd like to at least try to retain the habits of my past."

"And what good is my spellsinging if I'm some disembodied mouth in many? Only I can do it. I can't channel the damn stuff like you can with your psionics."

"No matter. I trust you know of this message then?"

"Yes," came the chorused reply, followed by Maximillian's "And I've been involved in a couple discussions about it already."

"Good. I guess that means you are leading the team to respond to them."

"Oh joy! I can finally do something! Erm... respond how?"

"We shall issue a confirmation of reciept message, and you shall travel to the coordinates indicated in their message. We wish to understand what it is the Azahans wish for."

"I'm gonna take a Mako, if its all the same to you."

"Do whatever, as long as this issue is taken care of."

"Awesome..." Maximillian's gaze turned away from his two companions as though his attention had gone elsewhere. "Hey, fleet control? Yeah, gonna need a Mako star-destroyer pulled outta mothballs. We still keep a few up on blocks, don't we? Diplomatic vessels? Diplomatic use only? Don't take that tone with ME you frazzled mote of a memory. As it happens I actually DO need it for diplomatic purposes, so you can take that attitude and shove it down your metaphysical windpipe. YES Skye endorsed it. Ask him!"

Skye rolled his eyes for a moment, but also drifted off somewhat himself.

"You get all that? That's what I thought. If you don't have that sucker ready to go inside the hour there's gonna be hell to pay... woo lookit 'em run..." Maximillian grinned widely as his attention returned to normal. "Bloody hell, they sure like to push nowadays, don't they."

"The system relies more on willpower now, so a baseline measure of belligerence is to be expected."

"Not that I don't mind, of course. It makes things interesting. I'm gonna go get ready."

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And so it was that a single Godulan Mako, recently dusted, made its way out of Godulan space, a simple message preceding it as the vessel made calculations for a probability jump to the listed coordinates:

You have our attention.

The black ship if the Inquisition seemed to hover in dead space. However, closer inspection would reveal its engines flaring at almost full power, just to keep it at a stable position. The black hole set behind it, though several billion kilometers away, was still quite powerful.

On the bridge of the black ship, which measured to be about 3 kiolometers in length, Stien, and his Inquisitor leige stood. The Inquisitor was dressed in a simple robe, Stien dressed in a business suit. The bridge buzzed with half human, half machine servitors tending to the systems, especially the engine control and structural integrity. Even then, the ship mained and creaked.

The reply to the message was sent in quick response. They wanted to look eager, but not desperate.

You have something we may have great use for. And then again, we may have somethin you have great use for. Meet us quickly, for full details.

The sudden appearance of a ship within the Thorn system would normally cause several dozen defense systems to go immediately online but the appearance of The Serendipity was another matter entirely.

The ten kilometer vessel was not heralded by an escort of other ships or even fighters. There was no message arriving ahead to announce the coming of the behemoth. There was no possible way to know the ship was there until after it already arrived.

The Serendipity, the personal flagship of the Emperor himself, just existed suddenly alongside Ga’Ton’s dreadnaught. Several patrols enacted emergency maneuvers in order to avoid colliding with the unexpected monolithic obstacle of black Thur’Tahg.

Ga’Ton was in his office aboard The Hades when alarms went off from one end of the ship to the other. Crew was rushing to emergency positions and Control was signaling the fleet admiral to alert him of the situation before the recognition programs identified The Serendipity.

Ga’Ton contacted the bridge.

“Captain, what is the situation?”

“The Serendipity appeared right next to The Hades without any forewarning. All defenses are standing down but she did give us a bit of shock.”

“Inform The Serendipity I will be over in a few moments.”

“Yes Sir.”

Curious, Ga’Ton activated his Tele-relocation ability and willed himself to appear within a chamber deep within the ship only a few have ever seen.

As the spacious room materialized around him, he became aware of an elderly man seated at the head of a table. The rest of the room was concealed within shadows with the only light directly above the empty chair. Ga’Ton went over to the waiting position and took his expected place.

Bowing his head, he waited for the individual to address him first, as was custom. After a scant few moments that seemed to stretch on for millennium, the Emperor spoke. His voice was low but behind the words, there was something that made sure they would be heard even in a crowd.

“Ga’Ton, I have need of your services.”

“Anything, my Lord.”

“I have received a message from one of the ESUS allies requesting a meeting. I wish you to attend this event in my place for you possess the knowledge that is needed.”

“Yes, my Sire. What of the War Efforts?”

“I will remain here to direct things until you return. There are very few systems safer than Thorn. Take The Hades to these coordinates and return when you are done.”

Ga’Ton felt the information enter his mind where he could feel its presence.

“Yes Lord Emperor.”

Taking his cue, he willed himself back to his own office aboard The Hades. He quickly contacted the bridge.

“Captain, set course to the coordinates I an entering into your logs.”

“Sir, it will take time to arrange the Wormhole. According to the data file, there is a black hole nearby. It will draw the wormhole to it.”

“That is fine; we can use the hole to get us there faster. I want us jumping now.”

“Yes Sir.”

Moments later, The Hades sped forward into the maw of an opening wormhole.


Elsewhere, the mass of the local black hole increased momentarily as the end of a wormhole transit latched upon the gravity sink. The manifestation would be unseen by anyone as well as the emergence of the single ship into the atmosphere around the corona of the single quark, the size of a moon. The immense gravity needed to create such an anomaly would bend light itself back to circle forever or to be drawn back to the surface of the star. The dreadnaught, encased within the purple solid form of its Shield Manifestation merely began to rise from the surface. Its unseen transit of the surface of the object through the upper reaches of the condensed atmosphere out until the ship was accompanied by an infinite illusion of itself as it neared the point where the light merely circled around the object, allowing those on the ship to see an infinite progression of itself in every direction. This illusion vanished as the dreadnaught rose above the event horizon and then made its way through the superheated accretion disk of hot gasses swirling and condensing until they glowed with energy. The shields kept the massive gamma emissions from damaging the ship as it continued to move outwards.

After a few more minutes the ship continued to pick up speed as it literally emerged from the black hole and began to approach the two waiting ships.

A single message preceded The Hades as it neared the other two.

“Yes?”

The Hades (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/beldragos/HereIAm.jpg)

At approximately the same time, the relatively simplistic yet elegant form of the Godulan Mako materialized a safe distance away from the black hole, drifting lazily for a moment before boosting somewhat closer to the other vessels.

"I wonder what it is they want. Being way the hell and gone out here offers the distinct suggestion that whoever this one is does not wish it to become quite so... public. Whatever it may be, business is business. The nature of the patron is of no concern to us."

"Shall I transmit a reply, sir?"

"Yes. You do that."

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We have come. Let us understand this barter.

"They have come."

"Indeed they have, Stien. Prepare your notes and research on the conference room. I wish to speak with them, maybe even have them board the ship so we may converse more readily."

"Uh, yes, Lord Inquisitor."

Greetings and Salutations. I am Inquisitor Raysno, Azahan Ordo Malleus.

Let us be blunt. I want Kythons for my Ordo, and you have problems with certain types of weapons. We have the cure for such.

But before we speak any further, I would like a representative or two, body guards optional, to board my ship, so we may converse more freely. It is unknown who may be listening in.

The reply came after a few seconds

We shall transport the representative to you. Do you have any preference as to the location of his arrival?

Directly into the conference room behind the bridge would be lovely.

.

“Inform them we will be sending a shuttle over immediately.”

“Yes Sir.”

While the comm. Officer was undertaking his task, Ga’Ton proceeded to the flight deck. Shortly afterwards a small black shuttle possessing the typical spikes of all the Imperial ships left The Hades and approached in a landing vector towards the alien ship.

After landing, the Admiral was escorted to the meeting in the conference room.


Shuttle launch (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/beldragos/shuttlelaunch.jpg)


OOC:

I left it kinda vague so you can retell it filling in any details if you wanted. When I get home I will supply a picture of the shuttle.

He materialized in the center of the room, a great "PWUMMM" accompanying his arrival within the conference room alongside the slight breeze of displaced air.

"It smells different."

He looked around the room and flexed his arms, his flesh intercrossed with veins of some form of metallic substance as well as veins of pulsing crystalline energies. As he brought his arms back down, the pulsing picked up for a moment, creating a strange thrumming sound for but a moment before slowing back into something reminiscent of a heartbeat.

He stood a little over seven feet tall, bald, heavily muscled seemingly beyond the bounds of mortal endurance, and tattooed in a fashion that complemented the veins of metal and crystal running through his body. He wore black pants, plated combat boots, and little else, choosing to flaunt his inhuman musculature as a point of pride. His eyes, wide and predatory, gazed out through pupils of indeterminate shape.

He sniffed the air with a great heave of his chest and cracked a shark-toothed grin.

"It's been so long since I've smelled anything different. Damned invigorating!"

As the Balroggan diplomat was being lead through the great halls of the cathedral, the vast architecture within the ship seeminly impossible, the Inquisitor and Stien took notice of the teleportation.

Stien was started understandably. He knew that teleportation existed, but it was only used by the most powerful warriors, such as the Adeptus Astartes. If these seemingly human xenos could use the technology willy-nilly, then they must have entered a huge investment.

Raysnor was unimpressed however. He had seen combat with many-a-daemon, and had uncovered multiple heresies in his time. He even had a great Daemon Hammer, awarded to him for downing a Greater Daemon of Nurgle. He had thought about wearing the mighty maul, but decided agaisnt it. This was diplomtics and science, not a raw show of force.

The tall slender Raysnor looked up slightly at the hulking Maximillian. Raysnor himself was very tall at 6' 2", but not nearly as bulky. He looked over the Maximillian, and casually stated, "So this is what an Astartes may look like underneath his armor.. without the Crystaline.." And ended with a curious 'Huh'.

"Smells different? This ship is completely sterile, besides ritual incents in the Cathedral. No smells to be found, unless you step too close to a Servitor." And just as he finished his sentence, one of his aides leading the Balroggans into the dark wood covered conference room, after a long detour through the ship. The plan had been to lead them through some of the more impressive parts of the ship. After all, they wanted to impress atleast slightly.

"Have a seat, gentlemen." Raysnor said, pulling out a seat for himself, and settling down in it, Stien proceeding to do the same. "This is Professor Stien. He is the closest thing we have to a Kython expert, and his work intrigues me. It intrigues me so much, I have decided I want Kythons for me and my Ordo. And in exchange, I am willing to share one of the greatest technological advances the Azahan Adeptus Mechanicus has come up with thus far. We are willing to trade valuable for valuable."

"So this is what an Astartes may look like underneath his armor.. without the Crystaline.."

Maximillian's grin widened. "Trust me. This is my kid-friendly side."

"Smells different? This ship is completely sterile, besides ritual incents in the Cathedral. No smells to be found, unless you step too close to a Servitor."

"I can smell your life pulsing through your veins. I can smell the power rushing along beyond the bulkheads. I can smell the color of the paint and the construction of the interior fortifications. I can smell the materials of your vestments. I can smell the people moving about the ship and the Balroggan envoy approaching even now. Its very much different."

Then Maximillian shrugged. "Also, that Mako I arrived in reeks of Ramen noodles."

As Ga'ton arrived and the various assembled folk took a seat, Maximillian listened intently, and even more intently after the mention of his Kythons.

"Another strain?" Maximillian said, giving Ga'Ton a curious look before turning his gaze back on Raysnor. "Well, its fortunate that you're talking to the same two folk what spearheaded the development of our deadly little beauties in the first place. They're... our 'masterpiece.' Like any masterpiece such a barter would have to be quite significant. We would like to know what this mechanism is you seek to offer in exchange for a Kython Template."

Ga’Ton chuckled.

“So, you are interested in my children?”

He looked over to Maximillian.

“Apparently our little project impressed them. I suppose we should play the proud parent types but I am not the mother…”

The figure stood around two meters in height and wore the simple black uniform of a Balrogga Imperial Officer. He did not seem to possess any weapons or for that matter did not carry anything else.

Looking back to Professor Stien, Ga’Ton continued.

“So you are an expert? What can you tell me of my creation? Let’s see what you do know before we start so we don’t waste any time going over things we can just get out of the way now. Also what would you offer for the privilege? My colleague Max here was correct when he said the offer would have to be significant.”