NationStates Jolt Archive

"This is a general message to any who can receive it. This is the Dominion of Black Draconis, requesting aid or purchase of resources required to produce starships. We are a small nation wishing to explore the stars."

"Well, now that that's done.." Tlanextic rasps, moving away from the communication system. This sorceror was a trusted aide of a Lord Drake.

"Excellent," Lord Drake exclaims, looking towards the sky from the viewport in his massive castle overlooking the small nation of 5 million, "Hopefully my idea will work, and we will be able to negotiage parts and resources to contruct a small fleet."

"My lord, that was my idea" Tlanextic says sardonically, the Chaos Lord simply ignores him. The sorceror sighs, cursing the dark gods for letting Lord Drake be in charge. At least he knew the real power behind the operation, and it wasn't Lord Drake. As strong as he was, he was still a stupid fool and should stay far away from diplomacy, no matter what his objective was.

"Anything yet?" The follower of Khorne says out loud.

"Lord Drake, we just sent the signal, it will take some time..." Tlanextic says, sighing.

Any object that would come into orbit near their position in the South Pacific can be picked up by the slowly orbiting satellite and would alert the leader and his aide immediatly.

A while later...

"Bah, perhaps we should send another message.." Lord Drake says impatiently, heading back for the communications room.

Tlanextic eyes widen, "My Lord, I'm sure we can just plunder the resources of this area, there are 5 million in population after all."

Drake nods, "What do you propose?"

"Simple, we have plenty of credits we can shift around from areas of least important to 'defense'" The sorceror starts to say, "And our exchange rate is currently intolerable, but we can give rewards to those who choose to mine the resources we want, and to those who help build the docking array."

Lord Drake blinks, narrowing his eyes, "I thought we had direct control over these people."

"Well, considering you have yet to follow through with any of your threats, they could really care less." Tlanextic says, smirking a little. He had a one-up on that Khornite follower, "and besides, it may be better for them to beleive you like them and want them to be well off."

"Hmpph... I don't beleive so," Lord Drake says, fuming.

"My Lord, we also have to keep appearences up for the other countries. They had not minded us for so long due to your inaction. I assure you this will work in the long run."

"It better," The chaos lord growls.

A few hours passed, and the sorceror somehow attempts to get the meager amount of citizens to begin mining operations. 48,477,220 credits have been removed from the Social Welfare funds to Commerce regarding the mining of required materials.

"Give this a week and we can start building a spaceport,"
Tlanextic says, proud he did something the Chaos Lord couldn't screw up.

"We need this done faster..." Lord Drake demands, "We need to move to other planets and expand."

"My lord, this is the fastest they can work," The sorceror protests.

"Give them highest rewards," The chaos lord says.

"It won't make them any faster..."

"I knew that... I was just... testing... you..." Lord Drake starts, "This was my idea after all."

"If you say so my Lord." Tlanextic sighs.

***Earth Orbit:four hundred and eighty kilometers over the South pacific***

The message broadcast only a short week before had been heard by some ears at least, these ones had heard the Draconis request for aid. So it was that Prefect Hama Terelian decided to offer the services of his shipyards to these newcomers to the political scene. After all a contract is a contract, and in the Prefecture in the cluster, the most democratic and commercial of the nations of the Divine Celestial Federation, that meant quite a bit.

So they dispatched a Solaris battleship and a diplomatic team to return to Sol to do business with the Dominion of Black Draconis. After all securing a contract with a fledgeling space navy of a nation that is so young can only grow exponentially more profitable.

The GAP Solaris Battleship Voice of Reason exited the Aether above the Earth, and immediately sent a return transmission to the point of origin of the Dominions transmission.

Greetings to the Dominion of Black Draconis from the Prefecture and the Divine Celestial Federation of Tannelorn, we have heard your request for ships of war and have decided to answer your call with offers of sale of ships and materiel. We have as much need of new trade contacts, as you have need of ships and we can assure you powerful ships, at a reasonable cost. Please respond to this transmission as soon as possible

Lord Drake smirks, looking towards the communication's room, as a resonating noise echoes through the fortress. Tlanextic was already there as the Chaos Lord waltzes in. The Khornite Lord frowns, and the sorceror turns around.

"Let me play it again," Tlanextic drones, pushing the replay button.


Greetings to the Dominion of Black Draconis from the Prefecture and the Divine Celestial Federation of Tannelorn, we have heard your request for ships of war and have decided to answer your call with offers of sale of ships and materiel. We have as much need of new trade contacts, as you have need of ships and we can assure you powerful ships, at a reasonable cost. Please respond to this transmission as soon as possible

"Excellent, so our plan bears fruit..." Drake says, walking towards the machine.

"Let me reply to them My Lord," Tlanextic says, trying to hide his nervousness. He knew that the Chaos Lord could potentially ruin this diplomatic process.

"Nonesense, I'm sure they want to hear me and not you," Lord Drake demands, inching closer.

The sorceror sighs and points in a random direction of the castle, "Look My Lord, a WMD..."

"Where!?" The chaos lord exclaims before running off into said direction.

"That was easier than I thought.." The sorceror mumbles, pressing the record button, "This is sor-*ahem*," Tlanextic sighs, remembering that using his own title could potentially be disasterous. He restarts.


"Greetings Prefecture and the Divine Celestial Federation of Tannelorn, I am Tlanextic. An aide to Lord Drake, the leader of the Dominion of Black Draconis. We have plenty of credits to spend regarding the purchase of required materials to build starships and the starports to create them. We already have some blueprints to the ships we desire to have. May I ask the average cost of your supplies and starships?"

Tlanextic nods in satisfaction and hits the send button, bouncing the message off their satelleite and towards the Voice of Reason.

Lord Drake walks back into the room, with a angry frown on his features, "I didn't find any weapons of mass destruction..."

Tlanextic smiles wearily, "You mis-understand, they're weapons of mass distraction..."

"Well?" Drake asks.

"I sent the message, nothing yet," Tlanextic says, "remember how long the other one took?"

"I suppose..." The chaos lord starts to say.

"Why don't you go outside and give the citizens some incentive to mine faster?" Tlanextic asks.

"I was going to do that before you said something," The khornite one says before walking out of the room again. Tlanextic smirks, Lord Drake was easy to control sometimes...

***Earth Orbit***

Prefect Hama Terelian grinned as he recieved the message. Things were going well today for him, the Prefecture would gain a valuable, albeit new business contact.

"Captain, please open another link." he stated as he looked out of the viewer at the blue orb beneath him. Captain Remiel Stern nodded and ordered his crew to action. "Greetings friends and potential customers, I am Prefect Hama Terelian, this ship now in orbit is but one of the designs we have available for purchase, but if it is aid and shipbuilding material one seeks, then look no further. Everything we have to offer can be obtained at a low rate, we have more resources then we need by many times." he paused a moment.

"Our prices are negotiable, as is the fee of the aid we offer in construction and material, perhaps it would be best if we came down in person to negotiate this deal." he finished and ended transmission. "Adjutant, prepare a lighter, we go to the surface upon confirmation." he finished with a smile.

"In person?" Tlanextic muses, "Well, good thing Lord Drake left the castle..." the sorceror fiddles with the communications device, wishing they brought a more advanced version with them when they left for this island so long ago.

"As we are still interested in your proposal, and that you feel best that we should meet in person. I will provide you with landing coordinates on the landing pad located on the roof of our fortress. We are eager to begin negotiations." The lord sorceror takes a breath, and hits the send button. He had to keep Lord Drake from noticing unless they specifically asked for his prescene. The Chaos Lord should be too far away to notice anything landing, and if he did, the sorceror had to keep him from ruining things.

Whenever the chance to expand markets arose, the post-scarcity corporation readily jumped upon the opportunity with a vigor not before seen since the days of enraged barbarians on the ancient battlefield. Of course this excitement was always revealed in the most formal and efficient way possible; no one wanted to do business with a squall of maniacs.

So it took a few moments for things to calm down at the headquarters of Ambrosia Incorporated after the first message from Black Draconis had been received. Managers scrambled to meetings, memos were sent out like bullets from modern-era machine guns, and upper-level board members made critical decisions whilst the pertinent information about the interested nation had been pulled up; all in a blink of a digital eye.

"What is our strategy?" Marlon Horecker, an older board member said from his seat at the giant virtual conference table.
"Going on the offensive is a bad idea; we'll take it slow and worry about the absolute maximization of profits at a later date assuming everything pans out." Current CEO Yver Ulm said at the table's head.

"So we're going to send someone then is it?" Another board member said, enshrouded in a fog of darkness as was customary for lower-level board members.

"Indeed. I'd say we should send our best considering the circumstances." Yver said confidently. His eyes of violet chroma scanning the participants of the meeting, as they did every so often.

"No doubt you have someone in mind already." The darkened figure said, with nods of agreement from all, be they lit by the indiscernible yet bright light that gave an angelic hue to all under its circumference, or those who had no light at all in a room without physical dimensions beyond the meeting room.

"We'll be hearing from him soon enough." Ulm said with a chuckle as the meeting continued.

--


TO: The Glorious Leaders of Black Draconis
FROM: Officer of Ambrosia Incorporated Diplomatic Affairs
SUBJECT: Ship Production

Hello,

We here at the Ambrosia corporation are replying to the message sent by your government inquiring about the procurement of ships and/or the building materials thereof. Our corporation specializes in that very field, and we would be interested in conducting negotiations to best meet our mutual goals. Please respond at your convenience.

- A.D. Friedrich Trotsky

Tlanextic tilts his head slightly, noting something else coming up on the display scren, "Hmm..." he ponders looking through the message, "Excellent..."

"Greetings Ambrosia Incorporated, I am Tlanextic, advisor to our leader Lord Drake. We are curios about any proposals you have to offer regarding materials for ship design. It may be easier to speak together in closer quarters, as our communication system is a tad out of date."

The Sorceror takes a breath, pressing the send button yet again, this time directing to Ambrosia Inc. Lord Drake should be back eventually, and he supposed the chaos lord would have to speak to either one of the representatives from either faction, as the Tzeentch follower can only be in one place. Downloading his current personality to the communications device, so that he himself could auto-answer, Tlanextic leaves the room, heading for the roof so that he could receive the representative of the Divine Celestial Federation of Tannelorn.

TO: The Glorious Leaders of Black Draconis
FROM: Officer of Ambrosia Incorporated Diplomatic Affairs
SUBJECT: RE: RE: Ship Production

Greetings,

Indeed; personal contact would be a more convenient way to conduct business for both parties. Please send the desired coordinates for contact at your leisure.

- A.D. Friedrich Trotsky

A reply was quickly transmitted to Black Draconis.

Given that this response was expected, Tlanextic had already auto-reponsed the coordinates with a message stating they were to meet on the roof of the fortress, which was one of the few landing pads availiable.

Above the Draconian fortress, a long rectangular shape blinked into existence in a quick flash of cobalt and silver. It's electromagnetic drives sent it slowly towards the received coordinates as various systems, benign in nature, began to power up. Causing an explosion of light to cascade all over the cruiser's hull, forming up small rows of red incandescent sentries.

The ship descended into the atmosphere towards the fortress, broadcasting a simple signal as its metal body burned brightly through the gaseous shield enveloping the planet.


TO: The Glorious Leaders of Black Draconis
FROM: Officer of Ambrosia Incorporated Diplomatic Affairs
SUBJECT: Meeting

Greetings,

We have arrived.

- A.D. Friedrich Trotsky

(Bump)

House Ordus of the Draconic Order was not one to shy away from a potential trade partner, especially one rich in exploitable resources with little military strength and population to control it. This would be one of their most lucrative contracts. They dispatched a ship immediately.

A cruiser class vessel appeared at the edge of the system, a jump conduit closing behind it in a flash of space vapors. The jump would register as a large energy blip on most void born sensor grids. The 'jump cloud' dissipated quickly as the ship was moving forward under it's own momentum.

The ship began to scan the system, their sensor range was able to cover the whole system at a glance, deeper scans would require closer contact. It picked up at least one ship of an unknown design. The cruiser sped forward toward the planet; it would be the first to gain a foothold here.

House Ordus was extending their reach, but there were always other space faring species in the way of profit. Their attitude towards other races was not very friendly... if they could not get a piece of the pie, they would smash it.

((OOC: Sorry I haven't been posting, been distracted by reality ^^"))

The sorceror activates his personal communication unit, usable at this point due to the proximity of the vessel.

"Welcome to our territory Mr. Trotsky," Tlanextic says over the communication system, "We hope that we can accommodate you and your vessel to our fortress, and be a hospitable as possible."

At the same time, Lord Drake couldn't stay away from the fortress after seeing the foreign vessel, "What in the name of the four gods is going on around here..." he exclaims, kicking open the fortress door, passing by the sensor room, which picks up the jump signature and makes a protesting beep. "Eh?" the chaos lord walks over to the sensor chart.

"Who the hell could that be...?" He wonders, looking to the communications system in the same room, wondering if he should talk to them first before they speak to him. All the same, he wanted space vessels quickly to further his plans to convert the populace to chaos cultists and extend his reach beyond the planet he was currently stuck on.

Another Chaos world. They seemed to be spreading across the galaxy like a plague. The neutrality of the Order to the Chaos gods was still in effect, but their expansions would buffer the Order's own eventually.

A problem presented itself... should they take the fledgling world and its vast untapped resources, drawing the possible ire of Chronosia and their allies, or go about business as usual?

The vessel slowed as it closed on the planet.

OOC:

Another Chaos world.

I know I wasn't specific enough, but there shouldn't be any indication that the planet is corrupted by chaos (Except if you manage to see him or his sorceror face to face of through a vid-conference and they didn't bother disguising their origins, and possibly if you can identify their flags on the fortress as a Chaos Legion). I'm merely mentioning things for OOC knowledge for no particular reason. Lord Drake hasn't remotely started his plans except for gathering things that he needs for a fleet. As I think I said at the beginning that all his nation is in the south pacific thinks of him is just a psychotic dictator that can be safely ignored as long as they didn't break the law. Hell, if you would ask a random citizen about Chaos, they'd be clueless.

And with that said...
------------------
IC:

Lord Drake watched the status display, noticing the newcomer moving closer. Something in his head told him he should recognize the ship, but he had hardly seen any of the other legions of chaos since he stranded himself on this planet. The chaos lord shrugs, and makes an audio-only hail.

"Greetings foreign vessel, I am Lord Drake. Leader of the Dominion of Black Draconis," He starts, then inquires, "Are you interested in our proposal for the purchase of materials for shipbuilding." With that, he sends the message, and the out of date communication system bounces it off the satellite and towards the Draconic Order's vessel.

((They have been monitoring transmissions... most ships have one 'seer' as well, chaos taint is common among those races who have sorcerors.))

<Transmission: Douta planet uriu wer materials neccessary ihk shipbuilding. Yth geou gultah hesi assistance, ihk vi price.>

((Translation: Your planet has the materials neccessary for shipbuilding. We will offer our assistance, for a price.))

"Thank you, good sir." Trotsky said as he exited the ship. The first thing those from Black Draconis would note was that Trotsky was not human, or organic for that matter. He was very much an artificial being in a roughly human shape. He was skinny, had very long red hair that frizzed into the shape of a blunted, two-pronged fork. Creases indicating joints were also clearly visible.

"I am Friedrick Trotsky, head of this sectors Diplomatic Department of Ambrosia Incorporated. I am pleased to meet your acquaintance."

((That would make sense then))

Lord Drake frowns, getting nothing but gibberish. With a kick in the translation matrix, the message comes out correctly.

"Stupid machinery, why didn't we bring any tainted techpriests with us?" he growls.

"We're still interested, what is this price you speak of?" The chaos lord says through the message that sends itself to the Draconic ships.

----------------------------------

Interesting,Tlanextic thinks, observing the newcomer. the sorceror's hand rests on his staff, which ends on an eight-pointed star. The follower of Tzeencth forces a slight smile and says, "The same for I, I welcome you again to this planet and our nation." he motions towards the stairway behind him, "If you don't mind sir, let us head inside and discuss matters."

"Indeed." Trotsky said simply, allowing the sorcerer to take him wherever the planned business meeting were to take place. His scanners indicated strange energies flowing throughout the area, an aura of something that he could not quite bring to meaning. He chalked it up to an anomaly in the local environment, and moved on, being sure though to keep in the back of his mind the possibility that something might still be off.

"Sorry to say that I know relatively little about your planet, society, and culture. If the trouble is not too much, would you mind explaining some things to me on our way to the meeting?" He asked as they embarked.

<Costs ihk conversion di materials ias alloys ihk ship construction. Costs ihk shipyard(s). Costs ihk ship construction.>

((Translation: Costs for conversion of materials into alloys for ship construction. Costs for shipyard(s). Costs for ship construction.))

ooc sorry for the delay, RL concerns.

It had taken some time for the Prefect to prepare his staff and a proper catalogue for the trip down to earth, however now he was prepared and en route to the landing pad. For the moment they could easily sell them a few ships for self defense..or whatever they intended to use them for as well as set up deals for such essential materials as metallic hydrogen gathered from the heart of gas giants, raw building materials and even shipyard leases.

As the horizon shuttle landed at the proper coordinates they sent a second transmission as they exitted the lander.

We are here to see a mr Tlanaxtec about some ships.

The Prefect and his small entourage awaited the return signal and an escort to wherever they would start negotiations.

Again with the smacking of the outdated technology. Lord Drake mentally curses and swears to return to planet Draconis whenever the hell they get a starship and get some techpreists over here and fix all this nonsense.

The translation comes through, and Drake answers with, "We would like to discuss terms immediately as per your convenience..." he was eager to get starships as soon as possible so that he could drag reinforcements from the Legion's Demon World.

-------------------------

Tlanaxtec continues walking down the stairs, contemplating the construct's question. "No, it's no problem, I'm sure you come from far away from here." He gestures to one of the flags hanging on one of the cold stone walls of the fortress, "That's the standard of our homeworld, we come from another star system attempting to spread our influence." he sighs audibly as they pass a closed door, a weird glow emanating from the bottom of the door. Tlanaxtec continues talking in the attempt to distract his visitor from the proceedings taking place in the room. Experimentation of the followers of Tzeentch, which is better left un-explained.

"However, our pilot managed to crashland in the middle of this region, which we used the materials to contruct this castle." He continues, leaving out the fact the pilot was killed afterwards for his stupidity. The sorcerer finally stops at an open door, "And we have need to travel back to our homeworld, as well as have a defensive fleet." The room the door opened up to was a bare minimum meeting room. There was a table surrounded by chairs, a holo-projector located in the center, "One more thing of note in our recent history is that we became the rulers of this land through... democratic election... and therefore took it upon ourselves to make sure we stayed in power, for the sake of the populace."

"The meeting room is here."

The sorceror mentally irks as the message is received from the Prefect, cursing himself for forgetting about him. He was aware that Lord Drake was busy with another nationality, and the handful from the legion may be perhaps too much for the Prefect. They tended to be overzealous. The cultists locked down in the fortress were also out of the question.

So who to turn to....?

-------------------

Chaos Champion Berserker Zagato stomped the lower hallways of the fortress, ordered to look for a suitable ambassador to speak with the last envoy here for business dealings. Most scurried away to their assorted living quarters, and the Chaos Marines located through the fortress weren't too keen with shrewd negotiations.

A lesser sorcerer, curios at what was going on, stepped out into the hallway. The follower of Khorne didn't trust the sorcerer, and wondered why Lord Drake kept them around.

"What is going on here...?" The sorcerer rasps.

"Tlanaxtec is looking for someone 'sane' to speak with the foreign delegates. I don't see why he doesn't simply destroy them, I detest skulking about." The champion growls.

"I suppose I can speak for us..." The Tzeentch follower says steadily. He and Tlanaxtec were the only sorcerers in the compound, and the few speaking for the Lord of Change. Supposedly he was behind all of this, and the god wanted to make sure things went smoothly.

"If you need me, I'll be amusing myself with our 'criminals' ." The monstrous man stomps loudly down the hallway, heading towards the distant screams.

Zindelo, the sorcerer, laughs pitilessly, and activates his personal communicator linked to the comms system, "I apologize Prefect, my Lord Tlanaxtec is currently busy, but I will speak in his stead. I will meet you at the roof shortly."

---------------------

As said, Zindelo arrives on the roof, "Greetings, welcome to our world." He attempts a bow towards the prefect.

The Prefect Returned the bow with flourish, his long waist coat parting as his body lowered to barely a foot from the ground. Civilians in Tannelorn, even in the Prefecture had long been accustomed to bowing in respect to the Knights. Even with the Prefecture itself under the control of a civilian government, the old, familiar movements never grew rusty.

"Greetings to you, from the Prefecture of Tannelorn and the greater Divine Celestial Federation of Tannelorn itself. You need ships, materials, shipyards, and we have them in abundance." he smiled. "All within a relatively close proximity to Sol itself, however if its ships you need they can be delivered to you within the space of a few months, ready for any use you see fit."

He grinned. "If you have design specifications in mind, we can easily build within them, our shipyards are modular in construction. To begin all we need to do is simply agree upon a proper fee for our services, within a short time the first of your vessels will be rolling off the assembly lines and being delivered to you, free of charge on delivery of course." he laughed. "We are rather new to "capitalism", we are as much interested in lasting trade contracts with your people as we are in short term deals. Shall we begin negotiations?" he grinned and awaited a response.

Trotsky looked at the black with a degree of caution and amusement; the the n-node in his mechanical mind recognized certain aspects of the pattern that adorned the flags hanging from the wall, and every bit of information associated with those symbols was rife with bloodshed, in fact is was nearly synonymous: Chaos. This situation requires careful handling. He thought to himself as the information was subtly transmitted to the computer aboard his ship.

"Indeed. Calamity often injects itself into all ambitious ventures, I'm afraid." Trotsky said to the sorcerer after mentioned their desire to expand. "Though you appear to have done well for yourself in spite of all that. How fickle luck may be."

Any doubt about the nature of these people on this planet was shunted away into the bowels of his mind as they passed by the room the sorcerer did not want Trotsky to see. The various optical machines in his eyes were in no way connected to the iris of his cylinder-like eyes: he managed to get a rough picture of what went on through the x-ray and infrared scanners. And his ultra-sensitive ears picked up some interesting things as well, things better left undescribed.

"Yes, the people very often don't know what is best for them; I understand completely he need to sometimes take the power of self-determination away from the civilian populace. After all, I think there is a saying that goes something like, 'never underestimate the power of simpletons in large groups,' or some such thing."

Friedrich took his spot at the meeting table, with the noise of his joints lightly rattling together adding to whatever sonance was already gracing the room.

"So, where do we begin?"

The response from the Draconic Order vessel was, instead of more talking, a file containing a contract. The document was downloaded through the open communications line. It was a hefty volume, several hundred pages long, detailing everything from mining operations to ship construction. There was a line at the very end for a signature.

Tannelorn:

Zidelo nods softly, "Of course. However, I may tell you that we have our own designs that we wish to create." The lesser sorcerer knew at least this much, several starship classes taken from the homeworld, as well as one stolen from another legion, "We have all the credits we can spare regarding all of this, and, as you say, we just need to speak price..."

------------------------------------------

Ambrosia INC:

Tlanaxtec presses a few button on the console, and an image of a cruiser appears. "Well, we are more interested in creating the vessels of our own design, and we lack the resources for it. Our blueprints come from our top engineers, and details construction down to every last bulkhead." The image rotates several times before vanishing to a battleship, and does the same for a few other ship classes, "Now, I'm sure prices will be based on these ships, but we only need a few of them for now..."

------------------------------------------
Draconic Order:

Lord Drake was not amused, he hadn't expected a massive contract, and there were problably a lot of conditions. It seemed they were mostly interested in plundering the resources of the planet itself. Which was something he planned to do. He mutters some curses while looking over the contract, and manages to attempt to read the 'smaller' print.

He had to make sure if there was anything limiting their capabilities.

((Go ahead and negotiate the contract. It is an rp device and can be rp'd in different ways.))