NationStates Jolt Archive

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MAY 02, 2xxx (YEAR DISPLAY FORBIDDEN)

It's almost funny to consider that just twenty years ago, the Grand Unified Federation of Perimeter Defense considered FTL travel to be impossible to research, while possessing zero-time communications equipment based around quantum disentanglement information transfer principles. Within five years of the discovery that FTL was, in fact, a possibility (and a very reachable one at that), simple drives were constructed, reaching up to 100c, or a hundred times the speed of light. Considering intelligence reports on neighboring systems and nations, 100c isn't much at all. But for a nation that put men on its rocky satellite just eighty years ago, it's a fairly good achievement.
The name of this nation, Perimeter Defense, is a carryover from the old days of alien invasion. In the twenty-fifth year of its spacefaring status, a large fleet of alien transport vessels emerged from high-speed travel and unloaded troops all over the solar system. Thankfully, despite advanced drive tech, the aliens' weaponry comprised magnetic projectile and basic plasma - barely three decades away from the technology of Perimeter Defense. Following through with superior numbers and tactics, the citizenry and government were moved inward towards the center of the solar system, while a large alliance of all superpowers established Perimeter Defense. A year of war successfully repelled the aggressors, and earned the nation a motherlode of reverse engineering prospects. The invaders weren't seen again.
Since this incident, exploratory probes were continually deployed, fanning out from the little nation by the hundreds per year, carrying progressively more advanced technology. The grandiose idea of second contact or new scientific observations by the week was always in the heads of explorers around this time. You'd think that after first contact turned out to be wholly hostile, a nation like this would be extremely apprehensive, but not really.
It came to pass that a little probe, launched four years and three months ago at 103c, carrying a full DE transceiver, just yesterday came across a large installation some 440 light-years away from the system 5a94eb (primary star: "SOL" main sequence yellow). The structure and apparent function of this object were clearly artificial. Officials at SciCom Juliet Uniform immediately set this probe's stream to full priority.
Surprisingly, markings were arranged horizontally, and left-to-right, on some sections of the structure. They very much resembled standard alphanumerical symbology back home. In the text, it was written: "KAJAL".
Signals on unnatural bands of the electromagnetic spectrum were sent out, in patterns that could only be made by intelligent life. Attention!

The SciCom Juliet Uniform Head of DECommunications was named, quite apropos, Marshal Juliette Dunlop. Dunlop was a brunette, somewhat stern-faced woman of thirty-seven who, it can be said, had the aura of Janet Reno, and this had the tendency to scare her subordinates. Most of her even superiors had trouble ordering her around for fear of irritating her. Her own husband, a hotshot boarding-party marine commander, was unusually meek and quiet around her.
Three years in the quietude of a science space station, however, was enough to slowly burn off that aura of hers. SciCom JU was located at the outskirts of the tertiary Perimeter Defense solar system, and no one from closer inward really cared to contact this backwater. As far as Central was concerned, each station owned and took responsibility for the probes they launched. Dunlop was happy enough here therefore.
But Kajal would change it all.
"Uh-oh. Ma'am." A tall man stationed at a communications console beckoned.
Dunlop walked over. "What is it? You have something for me, or are you going to complain about claustrophobic cubicles? The latter will kill you, so think wisely."
"No, ma'am. Look here." He used his gloved left hand to pull a small holographic projection of an image of a large installation. "One of our probes got this. It's 445 ly from us. I stopped the probe as it passed to get a better image, and, well..."
"Have you done standard prelim scans yet?"
"Yes, ma'am. They were done an hour ago."
"Why didn't you call me then? Or even when you first made contact?"
"Well, I...it didn't look important at all. I just wanted to make sure it was a valid contact before bringing it up."
"Very well. What can you tell me?"
"Nothing that you don't already see. It's beaming out all sorts of EMS signals, and there's linear activity going on all around it. So much more than that- I'm willing to bet my life that it's artificial."
"Are you absolutely sure?"
"Absolutely, ma'am. I even have what looks like alphanumerical symbology on the "hull." It's almost exactly like our own. See here-" He played back a video. "-and here too."
"'Kajal'?"
"That's what it says."
"Damn. All right, then, this stream will be tagged as such, 'Kajal.' System! Set stream c32f9 to code 'Kajal'. Priority is now maximum. Passcode is." She mentally said the passcode, and a scanner on a wall read it. "We're in for a lot of action tonight. Send a message to Tertiary Command."

For the past few hundred years, English had become a sort of second language for the majority of the Kajali people, and to most, it wasn't much of a surprise that their craft carried markings in both Riikan and smaller English text. The particular station that the drone had spotted was one of several border outposts, and the full text of what it had seen was a fairly simple registry marking.

The more prominent were the likely unintelligible scribbles of Riikan text, but below, it read quite clearly, "Starbase Gamma-Echo, Combined Federal Services Border Patrol."

Below that was a small flag, followed by "Federated Imperium of Kajal". Other markings on the station matched the insignia on the flag, though they were not always accompanied by any of the text.

Eventually, of course, the small probe was picked up by a variety of means of detection, which were confirmed rather readily when the device started transmitting. The bandwidths were wholly unnatural, though there wasn't any particular audio or visual component detected, which made the quick and easy route somewhat difficult.

Minds that lived in nanoseconds were quick to analyze it, even as those organic minds on the station began to comprehend themselves. Orders were given, and standard protocol followed. The signal that had been detected was replicated and directed back at the probe, which appeared somewhat primitive but otherwise was of a type not yet explicitly encountered. Scans revealed that it was capable of 'limited' faster than light capability, and theories about why they'd never seen this particular model before circled around the fact that it would effectively be invisible while in transit, though it was still slow enough that for distances such as this, that the chances of just bumping into one in the vastness of space were exceedingly small.

Still, however, it was business as usual. This wasn't the first time an automated device had shown up in the borderlands, and it was cataloged away by computerized minds with over a hundred other varieties.

Messages and reports were filed, and they went about their normal business as other minds waited for confirmation that the device had recognized the duplication of its own signal. There wasn't too much else to do.

It is impossible in principle to transmit any useful information faster than light by using the properties of quantum entanglement. One of the reasons for this is that it is statistically impossible to determine if any observable changes to one "paired" particle are attempts at communication, or just random noise. One can use basic quantum teleportation, but this results in information transfer at only c speed. "So much for Le Guin's ansible", it was once said, due to this.

Disentanglement fixed that even before Perimeter Defense put a man in space. It was discovered that if paired particles are separated somehow, they temporarily achieve an identical quantum state that is totally measurable, and an aggregate of these used as a data channel would have zero degradation over any distance, and would be virtually error-free - margins only limited by the sensitivity of the equipment used to identify the states. The method was discovered after many years of research, and through this, disentanglement computing revolutionized hardware, enabling the creation of computers consisting of only a few elements, but with response times in the fractions of picoseconds. Low heat, very low weight, and extreme efficiency, with limits only set by the nanoscopic probes that disentangled the relevant particles. When Perimeter Defense men (and a woman) set foot on the satellite Hyperion, very high-definition video was transmitted back to earth in true real-time, so quickly that the action was actually ahead of viewers' eyes not due to the signal travel time, but owing to the time it took for photons to travel from screen to retina, and for optic nerve signals to reach the occipital lobe.

It is so that 445 light years away from SciCom JU, the old probe had just received its own transmission greatly amplified. The result was the disentanglement and re-entanglement cycles of quadrillions of particles per second, translating into information back in the station. An AI aboard pre-analyzed the signal, filtered out noise that neutrinos loved dragging around, and realized that the "receive" packets were identical to the "transmit" ones. It logged this, and then displayed the notice to the tall man at the communications console.

"Oh damn," the response came. "Another minute with Dunlop," he muttered under his voice.
"What the hell did you say, Cue Ball?" The voice of Marshal Juliette Dunlop came from about twenty meters away.
"Cue Ball! What the f- nothing, ma'am." The newly-christened Cue Ball struggled to regain his composure. "Actually, ma'am, our probe got an echo."
"An echo, you say? I don't think basic properties of electromagnetics is a hot item with me right now."
"No, ma'am. It's a response, from the, uh, structure."
Dunlop's eyes widened. "What is it?" She walked over.
Cue Ball motioned towards the screen. "Our signal was duplicated and sent back, but amplified ten times. Crystal clear reproduction. An echo off a lead block wouldn't be as clean as this."
"What do you think, Cue Ball?"
"Cue B- it's a clear sign of something working over there."
"Mmm. This looks like something straight out of Contact."
"Do you suggest a course of action?"
"Of course I do. This is a friendly interracial conversation. We ping, they respond, and we introduce ourselves."
Cue Ball gave a puzzled look at Dunlop. "What exactly do you mean, ma'am?"
"We have a disentanglement transceiver on this probe, right? Otherwise we'd be having this conversation five years from now."
"That's quite obvious."
"And we can transmit any sort of information?"
"Yes."
"And let's assume that binary, trinary, or qubit-based computer systems are responsible for decoding information across the universe."
"All right."
"So let's open a video channel."

After some manner of setting up, and an argument with an ethics AI over such immediate contact without even the approval of Tertiary Command, Dunlop stood in front of a little holographic screen, and spoke.
"Hey there. Anyone listening?" She was frank, and had always been. Diplomacy was never her strong point.

When the probe begins to transmit a stream of high bandwidth data, and a goodly amount of it, there's some slight confusion as to just what exactly it could be. They've scanned the device a few times now, and knowing the mechanical makeup of the thing hasn't quite explained all of it, given that it has limited faster than light capability but apparently rather more complicated communications equipment. That particular section of the probe is likened to the Trium's ansibles or more commonly to the Kajali transceivers, though there is something slightly different about it.

The stream of data itself is deduced to be simply too large to have been stored on the probe, and it is still sending new data. It is quickly reconstructed, and given the nature of it, the video is displayed and viewed, though with some artifacts given the alien nature of the receiving party, at least in relation to those who sent the probe.

Optimizations are made on the other end and it's cleaned up a bit, and the fact that the person displayed is waiting for a response seems to clinch it.

"Comms, open a channel to the probe."

"Channel open, sir."

Serenn glanced around slightly, before continuing. This was supposed to be a probe without FTL communications, as far as he could tell...

"This is commander Serenn Ierval, Combined Federal Services Border Patrol. I am empowered to represent the Federated Imperium in contact situations. May I ask to whom I am speaking?"

That he spoke English would, perhaps, be incredibly confusing, though that would be one of the easiest things for him to clear up. After all, he'd taken vacations on Earth before... and so had a few million other people living on Mars and Venus.

"This is commander Serenn Ierval, Combined Federal Services Border Patrol. I am empowered to represent the Federated Imperium in contact situations. May I ask to whom I am speaking?" The stream came out crisp and clear, although the midrange frequencies in the audio were a bit distorted. It must have been a minor incompatibility issue. And it was in English, too.

"Okay, what is going on here?" Marshal Juliette Dunlop was perplexed as she quickly silenced her side of the stream. "I did not ask anyone to turn the translation algs on."
"Marshal Dunlop, if I may." A woman working on a console next to Cue Ball's spoke.
"Go ahead, Karlsson."
"The translator isn't on, and even if it were, the audio appears to be synchronized with the speaker's mouth. The voice also produces excellent grammar. At best, we have subject-object-verb with bad connectors on our translator."
"So what are you telling me? That this alien guy, a couple of exameters from Sol, is speaking English?"
"Frankly, ma'am, we are a 'couple of petameters' ourselves from Sol, and we speak English too."
"Yes, yes, but..."
"Advise you maintain your head, Marshal Dunlop. We have first contact with a distant alien, and he is currently on an active transmission."

Dunlop scoffed, fixed her hair, her suit and skirt, and sat down. "Give me a moment." She thought about the situ for that moment. This was a totally unplanned encounter, one for the books! In the vast emptiness of space, with the comparatively limited range of the probe sensors, they have hit the "Border Patrol" of the "Federated Imperium!" This man, this Ierval, was diplomatic enough to seem initially respectable. Now, it wasn't her job to be apprehensive, but she was one of those who wondered why the Federation was so eager to meet aliens, despite their first contact being fairly sour in the stomach.

The visiting Australasians brought technology and progress upon their hosts in the old days. That thought wasn't hers - far from it. This one was being projected by her right-hand man, Benedikt Metzger, a powerful psionic. Dunlop had the gift herself; far from being as powerful as Metzger's, who could telepathically lift twenty tons without stress, but she could communicate, and occasionally grab her mug from across the room. Sometimes she could read thoughts, too.
What do you mean? she threw back in a thought.
Earth history. It reflects many other things in life. The race's history was a hodgepodge of mixed events, lots of social anomalies, et cetera. It's a good thing to study.
I still don't understand.
There are conquerors, and there are pacifists. Either way, you still have to meet the people who come to you, or to whom you come. You can't just play dead probe, either. That choice went away when you called for a response.
I don't even know why I did that.
Easy. You're just as curious as Federal Science is. Now go get some.

This exchange occurred within a span of two seconds, at the end of which Dunlop stood up and re-opened the channel.
"This is Marshal Juliette Dunlop of Tertiary SciCom Juliet Uniform. I've been authorized by the Grand Unified Federation of Perimeter Defense to serve as its voice and body in initial encounters by this science station's probes and ships. And you, sir Ierval, are most certainly an initial encounter."

"Dead probe?" Dunlop queried with a rather sour face.
"No, sir," Cue Ball stated. "Diagnostics report a green-across-the-board probe."
"So it's dead comms, then," Dunlop concluded.
"Not that either, ma'am," Karlsson quipped. Our array is broadcasting clear. Self-detection proves it."
"Then why have we been sitting here for six hours?"
"Maybe they don't like us. Maybe we're too far down the food chain or something like that."
"Can't confirm anything," Dunlop provided. "Keep this at full priority. I don't know what to do, but we're waiting for history to be made here."

Back in the homeworld of Cyvils, the great researcher Sirendra Carolus and her team had just released their 2300c drives. The absurd jump from 100c to 2300c was facilitated by the introduction of new and improved methods of defeating Einsteinian laws. No hyperspace-type drives had been figured yet, but the Carolus drive used weird Mobius strip-like wormholes that were easily extended, and did not need an end destination to be opened. The drive was cheap, quickly reproducible, and regardless of vehicle mass, was more or less the same size.

In a week, new ships carrying this engine would be sent out to SciCom stations across the territories to deliver probes and equipment. Of course, no one needed to fix disentanglement communication, so those things remained pretty much the same. Apposite to the new technology were briefings, and some specification documentation, but in all, 2300c was basically...well, 100c, but eating a whole lot less time.

At 2300c, the probe's location was reachable in two and a half months. This would certainly speed up physical first encounters, if any would be made. But nothing was certain, especially when no activity from the Kajali had been recorded in quite some time. Well, perhaps six hours wasn't enough to be considered "quite some time," but this was a live diplomatic exchange. Time's measured and perceived a bit differently here.

"Marshall Dunlop, this is Ierval. Are you still there? I have been conferring with my government. Regretfully, they are not known for quick response times.

The Combined Federal Services, Diplomatic Division has reached an agreement with the Parliament on this issue, based on my advice, and it has been decided that a ship is to be dispatched to your location with a full Ambassadorial delegation.

However, this raises the issue of transmitting coordinates, which you may or may not be opposed to, which would of course, be understandable. If you wish, a neutral location may be specified.

The frigate carrying the Ambassadorial delegation is currently awaiting further orders at Mars, within the Sol star system. It is capable of reaching any specified point within two hundred light years in approximately one hour, if required."

OOC: Hey. Nice to see ya again.

"What the-" Cue Ball said to himself upon cognizing the blip on his screen. "All right! We have confirmed response from contact 'Kajal'. Marshal Dunlop, you're on at your command."
"About goddamn time, too! Play back the message first."

"Marshall Dunlop, this is Ierval. Are you still there? I have been conferring with my government. Regretfully, they are not known for quick response times.

The Combined Federal Services, Diplomatic Division has reached an agreement with the Parliament on this issue, based on my advice, and it has been decided that a ship is to be dispatched to your location with a full Ambassadorial delegation.

However, this raises the issue of transmitting coordinates, which you may or may not be opposed to, which would of course, be understandable. If you wish, a neutral location may be specified.

The frigate carrying the Ambassadorial delegation is currently awaiting further orders at Mars, within the Sol star system. It is capable of reaching any specified point within two hundred light years in approximately one hour, if required."

"Two hundred ell-why in an hour? Who the hell are these people?" Karlsson allowed herself a minor break in her cool mode.
"People a whole lot older than we are, probably," Dunlop commented. "What do you people think about coordinates?"
"Sol's five light years away. We're a long way out from Cyvils."
"You sent a copy of this to Tertiary Command?"
"Aye, ma'am."
"Then we're all set. Transmission up, Cue Ball."

The screen appeared right in front of Dunlop's face. She waved it back a bit, showing visible signs of anxiety. Again she fixed up her appearance - it didn't hurt, did it? - and then she was ready.

"Commander Ierval, I'm right here, and I absolutely understand the filtering of such things through monolithic bureaucracy. That's all right.
"Two hundred light years in an hour, you say? That's extremely impressive - but distances like that won't be necessary if you're coming from Sol. My outpost - known as SciComm Juliet Uniform - is a backwater of Perimeter Defense. It is located approximately five light years away from Sol, and hence Mars. I'm sending the coordinates through the probe right now - done. Your delegation may meet with us at this station.
"I sincerely hope that this meeting will bear good fruit. I'm certain that you understand the many possible results of diplomatic failures.
"Um...excuse me." She broke off the communication.

"You scared, Dunlop?" Metzger asked.
"Shitless," she replied. "I signed up for this expecting peace and quiet - and this is not peace and quiet - not for anyone! Did I sound--"
"Threatening? Hostile? Ready to start a war that will destroy us all?" Seeing Dunlop's visible fright, he stopped joking. "None of the above. Trust me."

The crew knew that despite the scary aura that Juliette Dunlop exuded, she was still a human being with her own fears. They just didn't know what those fears were. Now they knew - diplomatic relations. Whatever the reason was, they'd find out very, very soon, as the Kajali Visitation took place.

Dunlop returned to the screen. "Forgive me, Commander. I-- to be entirely honest, I am not rightly accustomed to this sort of exchange. I apologize again. Do you accept the location that I offer?"

"We have confirmed receipt of the coordinates... such an arrangement will be perfectly fine. Of course, the longest operations for spacecraft always seem to be the preflight checklists, and directing all the delegates aboard is like herding cats...

Our frigate should arrive at your coordinates in about twenty minutes, assuming that the Ambassadorial delegation has embarked by now... They will be more suited to this type of exchange than I, as I would hope, given how long some of these people spend studying to get into such a career...

May the Seraai keep you in good health."

Ierval's transmission ended, and all of twenty three minutes later, the frigate would arrive. It was a newer craft, bearing little to none of the usual wear and tear a ship would show after a six month deployment. She wasn't particularly large, though by all accounts she wasn't exactly small, either, at a little under 270 meters in length. The hull was all one smooth painted surface, sleek except for the two wing-like sections projecting port and starboard before the vessel's lines flowed into the exhausts of two massive engines. She was classed as a /Serrano/ (http://palara.sularan.net/gallery/albums/ships/blackbird2.jpg) type frigate, though such distinctions were unnecessary at this point.

Like all craft of her class, she was fairly well armed, and given the arrangement of her weapons, would quite possibly appear somewhat menacing. To attempt to offset this, they'd approach with even the passive defenses disabled. There was, after all, nothing to gain from pointless posturing.

"...may the Seraai keep you in good health." The transmission ceased there.

"Seraai?" Cue Ball asked himself.
"It must be like 'God bless' or something. Cultural affix to message?" Karlsson offered.
"Should be," Dunlop said. "In any case, we'd better get started on preps. Mr. Metzger, do you think they'd be offended by bright blue banners laid out?"
Metzger replied, "If they're diplomatic enough it shan't matter."

SciComm Juliet Uniform was basically a thick, greebled cylinder with a hemispherical shape on one end, and five nacelles held out by struts at the center. The cylinder was 650 meters long, and the dome was 135 meters in diameter. That was it. Now, though, blue banners were let down from the five nacelles - one for each of the five nations under the Federation. Without thinking quite straight, Dunlop had had one of the banners unfurled right over a docking area, and it would take a while to iron it out again if they rolled it up, so she rotated the station some 30 degrees, and faced Sol with another side.

Twenty-three minutes after the transmission had closed, a large vessel of around 270 meters stern-to-bow arrived from the direction of system 5a94eb. Station occupants were gathered at windows to see the new alien ship come in. The exposed weapons turrets and sleek, battle-ready appearance were intimidating, but as a diplomatic send-out, nothing militaristic seemed to be active. The sensors were totally unblocked by any shielding or electromagnetic interference. In response to this appearance, aboard the station even the light fire shields, which were always kept in action at around 25%, were shut down, and the station deployment engines were closed up. One of the nacelles - the one that had not been covered by a banner - lit up with a green light, and a male fluidic docking port was extended, to fit into female ports of any size or shape.

Marshal Juliette Dunlop, Benedikt Metzger, diplomatic relations officer E.S. Redding, and not a single armed guard stood in front of this dock on Extension Three. The necessary pressure changes would be made across the semiliquid pipeline. Initial atmospheric scans indicated more argon on the Kajali ship than was normally present on a Federal station. They pumped some more into the local atmosphere on Extension Three. Argon at these levels caused some minor itching in the people of the Federation, so they expended some willpower in suppressing the desire to scratch, and scratch good.

"Hard seal is confirmed... Atmosphere's been matched by our hosts, though artigrav is about a tenth less than normal. Not nearly bad as Mars, mind."

"Alright, then. Ambassadors, you may proceed when ready."

The large, circular outer door of the airlock was drawn back into the frame of the ship with an imperceptible hissing, before rolling out of sight along the track and exposing the entirety of the airlock to view. It was understandably spartan, with a few emergency controls within and another circular door at the back, and in it stood the delegation, numbering six in total.

Physically, they were perhaps taller than the average for most human civilizations, though thinner in a strange way - Some of them were most certainly athletic, but the proportions would seem slightly wrong, as if they'd been exaggerated in ways familiar to the editors of fashion magazines across Sol. The first one to step across the threshold, Ambassador Loraal, had strikingly dark skin, noticeable even among his colleagues, and equivalent to the darkest natural colorations for those originating from the Indian subcontinent. His features were almost chiseled, and a sort of odd, in the same way that the delegation's body structure was, given that the structure of his face was more caucasoid than asiatic, topped off with a set of piercing blue eyes.

His colleagues varied in appearance in much the same way any other population would, in almost all aspects. It was clear, from Loraal's stance that he was the head of this delegation, as he simply commanded an air of authority about him that suggested that the rest were simply aides, employed primarily as required for activities of less formal importance or rarely, those within which paperwork would require two persons and legal counsel.

Perhaps most striking, above all, though, was the clothing worn. Loraal's elaborate robes appeared almost as if taken directly out of an epic film, almost anachronistic given the appearance of the vessel that had delivered the delegation. They were lightweight, yet expansive, and while predominantly white, incorporated bright golden trim and fabric. The rest of the party was dressed in a similar fashion, some opting for jackets instead of the more traditional robes, though even these were still themselves knee-length, and all seemed suited to relatively arid, warm places.

Loraal thusly stepped forward from the rest of the group, and gave, to the hosts, a small bow, and a hand crafted wooden box, containing within it a compass of traditional Kajali manufacture.

"I am Ambassador Loraal, empowered by Her Imperial Highness, Lirella Meraia Keral, to represent Her Federated Imperium of Kajal and all associated territories abroad. I offer, to you, a symbol of the naval tradition, hand crafted over three hundred years ago. With it, one can never stray too far off course."

They were quite well-dressed; even the "aides" or equivalents had a rather regal air to their attire. The lead looked as if he'd been pulled straight out the minds of popular fantasy writers. In contrast, Juliette Dunlop wore a very simple grey coat and knee-length skirt, and Metzger had a dark body uniform; these reflected the militaristic nature of Perimeter Defense - even prior to the invasion days, this is how things worked. E.S. Redding, though, took to a significantly more elaborate manner of clothing fashion, wearing more traditional robes that represented one of the ancient civilizations which were famous for their extremely rapid advances in social progression and technology, while still attached to their fundamental beliefs.

The people of the Grand Unified Federation of Perimeter Defense were basically two races that had co-existed for a long time; one seemed to be based off the vanilla human blueprint, and the other was basically a round of taller, faster, and quick-thinking people, who averaged 7'6" for males and females - but they were basically compatible with each other (although interbreeding was both discouraged and uncommon). They also happened to reach up to 300 years of age, for some of the more exceptional old-timers. Strangely, due to very little genetic difference and, in the end, social separation, in popular language no words exist to differentiate the two races.

Marshal Dunlop and Metzger were both standard humans, while E.S. Redding, the resident diplomat, wasn't. This was one of the reasons behind his being the diplomat on the station. As Loraal presented the gift, Marshal Dunlop went:
"I, er..." At which point Redding stepped forward.
"We thank you, Ambassador Loraal, for this symbolic gesture. May we both keep a course that remains favorable to both of us. As our own gift," Redding revealed that he was carrying a long box. It was sort of hard to hide, though, given that it was about a meter and a half long. It was black and smooth, and seemed to be highly reflective. The box was composed of B-80 fullerene, stronger than diamond and somewhat less dense. He opened the long container and inside was what appeared to be a sniper-type firearm. "We do not know," Redding said, "how your culture views war and death. We strive to be honest, however, and our nation has always been about defense, both tactically and metaphorically. This railgun weapon was one of the thirty used in defense of our proud capital during an invasion many years ago. May its origin not be the nature of our relations to come, and instead defend us against internal conflict and dissent."

Redding bowed gently back, and returned to his position. "I am E.S. Redding, part of the Diplomatic Corps of the Grand Unified Federation of Perimeter Defense, and sub-authorized by Marshal Juliette Dunlop to serve as the voice and body of the Federation."
"I'm Marshal Juliette Dunlop," Dunlop introduced herself. "Director of this station, designated SciComm Juliet Uniform. This is my second, Benedikt Metzger. We're...honored by your visitation. We've prepared a meeting place at the central station hub. If you'll...um...follow us, please." Blue lights across the corridor selectively activated, lighting up a path towards the conference room prepared in advance.

The Kajali party soon found itself in the designated room, having followed their hosts as instructed, though there was a fairly common thought amongst them.

"Now," Loraal began. "My people have fairly established protocols, concerning situations such as these, though many are proscribed concerning contacts with groups somewhat less advanced.

Most important, I believe, is that we, as a people, come to understand each other. To facilitate this, there is, necessarily, a period of cultural exchange that precedes closer diplomatic ties. With better familiarity, it becomes only natural for nations to increase international relations, both diplomatic and economic.

To that end, seeing as we are, perhaps, unknown to each other, My delegation and I are open to answering what questions you may have, just as we have questions that we wish to ask of you.

At a point where both parties are comfortable, I am authorized to draw up a treaty which would facilitate further cultural discourse, and, if allowable, the establishment of a small embassy."

Back home, the new superluminal equipment submitted by the "great researcher" Sirendra Carolus was discovered to be dangerously fudged in terms of specification. Apparently, while indeed there was an increase from 100c, it was to 200c, and not the incredible 2300c item that was so gleefully announced by her team and her. The cause behind this was a covered-up issue with the post-c null-accelerator that set up a major disconnect in time dilation. While traditional Gardner engines, by nature, self-compensated for dilation, the Carolus drive needed an additional compensator for this purpose, and very detailed tests confirmed that time inside a Carolus ship streamed by at approximately 1/12 of the absolute Chronos reference.

This extremely frustrating error was explained with the statement that Carolus was almost done with the research towards fixing this issue, but that alibi was downplayed by the discovery of a limiter inside of each drive, that caused them never to reach the actual VMAX of 450c. In addition, an unlimited shuttle discovered at the orbiting port, with her name attached to its maintenance and engine replacement, brought up the idea that she was attempting to escape responsibility for this madness by outrunning anything that would try to chase her. It was all badly planned, though.

Back to the diplomatic issues at hand, however. After Loraal had spoken, there was some murmuring about the Federation's men and women, who had considered some of these items beforehand and, with the discourse that followed, took them down as far too advanced for such a limited timespan of communication. Now that the visitors themselves proposed it flat out, they were confused beyond description.

E.S. Redding took the stand here. "Correct on all fronts, Sir Ierval, although I think the advised treaty should be given time to...simmer, so to speak. I suggest allowing the issue to impress itself on both our governments, that no misunderstanding may occur. On the topic of an embassy, Tertiary Command, Diplomatic Sector is approximately...Mr. Metzger?"

Metzger filled in the blank. "Tertiary Command, DiploSec is forty light-years in from this station. And yes, that would be a fine location for an embassy."

Redding nodded. "Tertiary's DiploSec is a large annex to a major trading hub, and consequently a melting pot for diplomatic relations. Interaction with the rest of Perimeter Defense will be very convenient from there, until as such time as the embassy will be approved for relocation at intra-Cyvils territories. This should also become our conduit for cultural exchange; the inherent hodgepodge of such a setting will facilitate this approach.
"As for questions, while I understand that we may have many, perhaps to ease off our insecurities we should allow your people to go first."

Meanwhile, the content of the whole meeting was being transmitted to Secondary Command Internals, which in turn relayed it to Primary after some processing involved. The world was watching the next event of the century unfold.

The Kajali ship remained at the Perimeter Defense station for a week, as the diplomats conversed and made arrangements...

Eventually, of course, there was nothing left to do, and further interaction would be through somewhat more official channels. While the new establishment was, technically, an "embassy", it barely met requirements, or, perhaps, did not, by local standards. It was staffed lightly, with two Kajali diplomats from Mars, and a small amount of support staff. They would continue to interact with Perimeter Defense, and forward the usual diplomatic reports back to the Four Worlds...

At some future point, a real embassy could be established... for now, the approach remained cautious.

It was, perhaps unfortunately, unlikely that Kajali vessels larger than small transport craft would be seen for some time, though of course, no one necessarily wants to see large warships on a regular basis.