NationStates Jolt Archive

"Alduurian's have a tendency to encircle their enemies, forming an attack ring which allows them to assault the target from several sides at once; this is analogous to the standard treatment of predator species on their home world, which are dispatched in a similar fashion. Alduurian's will always target an enemy’s engines if possible, not only to spare the lives of the crew but to preserve any useful technology or data that might be gleaned from the undamaged remains of the ship. Their reverence for life has given them a strong aversion for high-explosive weapons, and they dislike the indiscriminate bombardment of planets. When Alduurian's attack, they strike with surgical precision."

-By Unknown, Report To Vakosian Military Command.

In Orbit Of Sakarin Prime, Sakarin System. Two Years after the beginning of the "Dark Water Conflict".

The shifting forms of the fleet were not visible to the naked eye, nor to anything else for that matter. Vakosian sensors had long since given up trying to detect the enigmatic fleets of the Alduurian's. Silently, slowly they crept ever forward, apparently gliding through space, if you could see them, that was.

Sakarin Prime was an administrative hub for the Vakosian Imperium. It directed, and thus, was responsible for the recent deadly incursions into Alduurian space.

It would be crippled.

AEV Mantis, Command And Control Ship, Alduurian Strike Force "Retribution"

The Bridge, much like the rest of the ship, more closely resembled the ocean floor of an aquatic planet than what it actually was. The rapidly fluctuating screens littered with information, and ultimately the metallic walls and windows enlightened one to its true purpose, however.

Alduurian's of many sizes darted between control panels, much like playful schools of fish in an open sea, But this was far more serious.

The Immense form of an Alduurian floated about the centre of the "bridge", his "crest" was far more ornate than any surrounding members of the crew, Giving the impression he was, very much incharge. As the captain should be.

His "mouth" did not move, but his commands reached his crew nonetheless.

"Prepare for Fleetsong transmission, The song of our unbridled fury shall be felt by the Vakosian navy today. Traditional battle techniques will suffice, Vakosian fleet is not a threat, However, Destruction over disabling of enemy vessels. Destruction over disabling of all orbitals of military construction. Disabling only applicable to civilian vessels that may obstruct operations. Mantis and Venosi will conduct surgical strike on Vakosian fleet command. Estimated Civilian Casualties: Minimal."

A voice "sung" its response in return, as the commands were relayed by "fleetsong".

The Alduurian fleet finally reached optimal range for its carefully planned strike. Yet again, silently, the Alduurian ships slipped out of their carefully placed veil.

And they were unleashed on their unsuspecting prey.

Vakosian military vessel's exploded in furious fireballs as they were hit with relentless assaults of pure energy. Although slowed by the gravity well of Sakarin Prime, the gliding forms of the Alduurian vessels swiftly darted between targets, carefully encircling and destroying key command vessels of the Vakosian fleet aswell as Installations of a military nature. Although it was not the Alduurian way to cause total destruction - this navy had killed many and spilt much blood, and needed to repay in kind.

Slightly removed from the context of the somewhat one sided battle ongoing around them, The Mantis and the Venosi slid into position above the glittering lights of Sakarin Primes dark side.

Without warning, Small precise barrages of light erupted from the Behemoth forms of the Mantis and the Venosi, smashing into small balls of light on the surface of Sakarin Prime, seemingly causing very little damage to a pattern of lights one would presume was a city.

"Fleet Command Destroyed, Civilian Casualties Negligible, Mantis And Venosi Withdrawing, Fleetsong relay and confirm withdrawl."

As silently as they had come, the Alduurian fleet vanished, Leaving a very perplexed civilian population and the wasted remains of a Vakosian fleet and its support structures.

This was the pattern that the "Dark Water Conflict" had taken in the Dark Ocean that was space. The Vakosians would inflict horrific civilian and military damage on the Alduurian people, the Alduurians would respond with destruction of key military installations and total destruction of the fleet that had committed the last attack.

The Pattern needed to change.

"Venosi, You are not cleared to remain, rejoin the Fleetsong immediately or the Elders will revoke your battle privileges!."

The lone mammoth form of the Venosi looked quite apt amongst the wreckage of the Vakosian fleet, littered with disabled civilian vessels.

But this time, Something was different. The Venosi began to charge up its weapons, aiming right at the surface of the planet below.

"This is not the Alduurian way!

Nothing, alone, the Venosi continued, But it did not yet fire. The ship, already stressed by overcharging of its weapons buckled slightly, shooting a jet of water into space that promptly froze.

"Fleetsong withdraw! Venosi criti.."

With that, The Venosi imploded on itself, A ball of energy visible for all but a moment before it expanded in a wave of destruction. Again, Sakarin orbit was filled with fire as disabled civilian vessels were destroyed in a blink of an eye.

Then the wave hit Sakarin Prime, gradually, but surely, searing its entire surface of life. Then, as quickly as it began, the wave dissipated.

"Fleetsong report.... Negative.. Severe damage to Mantis's drives and key systems disabled... Mourning"

Alone, The Mantis sung into space, with a sound almost like a whale song in the oceans. It sung of pain and... grief.

OOC: Just a small thing, This is a project im engaging on after not using NS proper for a long time. All credit for my inspiration goes to Kerberos. They know who they are :). Although this is technically an "alt" I do intend for it to become my primary RP outlet, and as such I merely ask that I am taken at face value and not on my population or other such nuances. I also apologise for the quality of this, as its not too amazing, but is merely meant to provide a springboard for people to interact and me to introduce myself as this race. And it is early morning :D. Thanks.

Also, Please display interest before jumping in, This is open, as such, But would prefer to know whos coming and doing what. Either post here or Telegram me. Thanks!

<Pie> ?

Another little bump, lets see if we can stimulate interest - Afterall, theres what seems to be a whale singing in the middle of space.

The comms section had recently seen an influx of crew due to the exceedingly busy nature of their business. Now every signal was analyzed and dissected immediately upon its receipt. Day in day out, there were crewmen sitting at their stations, listening to everything that was going on in the void. And some strange things had been heard, yes, but nothing as strange as this new one. At least, that was how it was explained to the Senior Comms Officer. He knew of the crazy messages that were sometimes intercepted, but after listening to this one he knew it was something of a whole new magnitude.

~~

"A whale? In space? What are you yammering on about nonsense like that for?" Councilman Dreiam asked with a hint of amusement.

"Yes ma'am, we have audio confirmation of a, um, whale. In space. It is roughly 40 lightyears away. Unfortunately we do not have any ships within sensor range to confirm anything more." the Senior Comms Officer replied.

"Very well, route the message through to me and return to your post." Dreiam ordered.

A few minutes later after the officer left, she played the transmission. Sure does sound like a whale, she thought, but it doesn't sound quite like I remember whales. Somethings off.

~~

A short while later, a flotilla separated from the main World Fleet and made it's way towards where the originator of the signal was located.

OOC: May I be allowed in this rp? If so, what are you looking for exactly?

OOC: Tag for 'Burgs's new pets. :D

OOC: Im looking to not be blown up instantly, and so forth. The language is meant to be pretty much untranslatable at the moment to help introduce methods im intending to use to facilitate "funtime" communications. So go wild within those simple constraints :).

FS, Ill poke you elsewhere for more to go on! :P.

"Any given Elder will usually be surrounded by a cloud of younger Alduurian's, who listen to the songs, ask questions, and telepathically explore the complexities and subtleties of the Elder’s mind. This period of “swimming alongside” is considered a vitally necessary part of any young person’s education. The aged are highly revered in all Alduurian subcultures, and younger Alduurian's will gladly sacrifice their own lives or embrace great personal risk to protect an Elder from any possible harm. Their ancestors are living treasures in their eyes. A sizable number of Alduurian's spacers regard their service as a duty to the species, and volunteer to “scout the empty sea” in order to protect the Elders who must remain behind on Alduuria Prime."

-Unknown.

Meanwhile...
Roughly Half A Mile Below Sea Level, Alduuria Prime.

Much like its orbit and skies, the ocean floor was a hive of activity, Millenia had passed since the first Alduurian's had settled in this favorable position near a mineral rich trench, with easy access to food supplies - Both Plant and Animal alike, only the physical features had truely changed.

Careful management had kept the ecosystem thriving around what was now the Capital of the Alduurian Empire, Muuria, Seat of the Elders. A Swirl of Glittering lights on the ocean floor, a beautiful metropolis carved out of coral, gems, strange stones and strong alloys, intertwined with roaming schools of colourful fish and Alduurians, both small and large, going about their business.

Council Hall, Coralise Square, Muuria.

The Council Hall was, for the Alduurian's, their seat of government. The Emperor, The Eldest of the Elders, ruled from here with the help of the council, A selection of Elders and "Younglings" alike.

The Council Hall used to be a thriving centre for debate, for looking towards the future and ensuring that the best needs of the Empire were put before all else - but its numbers of attendees had diminished.

Elders and younglings alike, drawn to conflict. Killed, wounded, or carrying on the fight, it mattered not, for nonetheless, they were not present. The Vakosian's relentless assaults on the Empire did not only cause senseless bloodshed, but fractured the ageless and wise council aswell.

For now, As was tradition these days, The Elders still convened, Although now it was only two, including the Emperor himself. Nevertheless, daily they arrived to discuss matters of importance. The Emperor himself dwarfed the other Elder in size, attesting to his age, and indeed how dire the situation had become for the other Elders to be called away.

A voice sung amongst the hall, the smaller Alduurian Elder who had assumed the name "Ishiiliana" along with a female gender, (As All Alduurians are born hermaphroditic) was informing the Emperor of recent matters.

Ishiiliana was one of the longest living elders of the assumed female gender, at around half the emperors size she wore only a small decorative crest to indicate her position. Her "coat" was blue and white, and the light trickling through the kelp above her made the white even more brilliant.

"The Fleetsong of the Vakosian's is hard to interpret at the best of times, Emperor, we are doing our best to understand their motives, but it seems that, by our definition, they only wish to inflict harm. There is no other purpose to it."

The Emperor's large form shuffled slightly, causing small ripples to pulse through the surrounding water, he sung a short affirmation for her to continue. Ishiiliana's brilliant aqua coloured eyes flickered from one screen to another, the databank before her being manipulated by her thoughts alone.

"We have lost contact with Strike Force Retribution at Sakarin, We received a confirmation signal that the objective had been destroyed, but after that.. nothing. They were due to arrive at our Rally Point above Rashara for a large fleet effort to destroy the Vakosian Supply base at our former colony in Adlana, but have not arrived."

Ishiiliana paused in her song as the Emperor sung to her in response. The Emperor was a mighty sight to behold, an ornate gold crest atop his head, his entire body black and sleek. His song's could bring tears to many of the youngling's eyes.

"Ishiiliana, This is not good news, you of course understand that the Captain of the Mantis involved in that strike force is of the utmost importance to me personally..."

The Emperor's body moved in a manner akin to a sigh as further ripples coursed through the water around them. He continued in his song.

"Of course, this is not your fault, I apologise... It seems I am to loose another Elder to this senseless war, Ishiiliana, Please, Take one ship to investigate this disappearance. If you can uncover anything then it will be enough, I trust in your abilities, Elder - And remember, remain in veil (Cloak) at all times"

Ishiiliana sung a affirmation, moving her body in such a manner as to display the affirmation she sung. She turned her form and darted off into the distance.

The Emperor looked down at the databanks before him, and sung a small song of mourning as the casualty reports continued to filter in.

1 light hour from the signal source

Elongated points of light shifted quickly into the shapes of ships, and in a quick burst of neon the light disappeared, leaving behind the ships of the flotilla. Two Leo Class Moonships had been dispatched, with full compliments of Occults, Capricorns, and other support ships. Slowly, the sub-light engines flickered to life, providing a minute amount of thrust towards the source. Even slower, non-critical systems were being brought online. Within half an hour the sensors, having been prioritized to be the first brought online, lit up, scouring the void around the ships. Within ten minutes of the sensors coming online, reports were being archived with information about the location, trace elements present and nearby systems being the most notable. Long range scanners warmed up and peered at the systems, gathering relevant data for archival. While these routine scans were being performed other, less used, sensor arrays were pointed at the object which sounded so much like a whale.

~~

1 hour after arrival, 43 light minutes and 26 light seconds from source

Lilian Dreiam woke up with a start. Something was out of place, and it had caused her to bolt awake. Quickly, she assed the situation, and then realized it was the fact that the ship wasn't shuddering from the FTL engines. Dressing herself, she accessed the shipboard computer, requesting that all data relevant to the communication that had brought them out here being transferred to her cortical implant. She reviewed the data on her way to the bridge.

~~

2 hours after arrival, 30 light minutes and holding

She had ordered the ship to maintain a minimum distance of 30 light minutes until it was determined without a doubt that the ship, as it had been tentatively labeled, did not pose a threat to the flotilla. All available display screens on the bridge had been focused on the ship, and magnified to a level where details could easily be discerned. It was perhaps the oddest ship yet to be seen by anyone in the FS World Fleet.

If one were to judge by the ships appearance, it was definitely a race of aquatic beings, as the vessel wouldn't have looked out of place underwater amongst the shoals with schools of fish flitting around out. The other major tip off had to be the hundred of meter long icicles protruding from it. Even not knowing how the ship should look normally, Lilian knew that this one had seen better days.

"Well, we don't know if anyone is even alive on board, but if there is we have a duty to assist them. I just hope that they understand us," she stated, "because we sure as shit don't understand them."

Various crew chiefs nodded their head in assent.

"Ma'am? We have isolated the signal frequency and are ready to send them a message, should you desire." the Communications Duty Chief said, breaking the silence.

"Alright, begin recording." she said after clearing her throat.

We are representatives of the nation of Flaming Souls. We received your message and came to investigate. If you require assitance, or anything, please respond.

AEV Mantis, Command Dreadnaught, Captain Shyrale Commanding.

The Mantis's crippled systems desperately struggled to cope with the expending pressure, aswell as trying to provide the unnecessarily large amount of energy to maintain a constant communications stream to every quadrant possible.

The Captain was alone on the bridge, singing his mournful song. The Bridge had survived fairly well, at least compared to the rest of the ship. The only reason his fellow shipmates were not present here was due to the fact they were needed for repairs elsewhere.

The Mantis was effectively blind in space, and when the strange and intelligible message came through it startled the captain. He could not respond to a communication he could not comprehend. He could only stop his song to sing a new one, as the Mantis finally began to buckle.

Numerous "escape pods" began to break away from the Mantis as its finally began to crumple and snap, its form finally breaking into numerous pieces, venting further water into the cold reaches of space.

The Escape Pods did nothing but float like lillypads on a pond as the debris of the ill-fated Mantis drifted apart.

AEV Shoal, Barrage Dreadnaught, Elder Ishiiliana Commanding.

The AEV Shoal had recently arrived, long enough for the message from the Unknown vessels to be analysed by the Elder herself. It continued to conceal itself - Although Ishiiliana had ascertained these unknown beings were not responsible, Their message did not indicate that at all.

Ishiiliana found herself on the bridge, overlooking the debris of the Mantis, The seared surface of Sakarin Prime and the flotilla of strange alien vessels. They were definately not Vakosians.

"Remove the Veil, I will communicate to the unknowns in their fleetsong. Stand down all weapons systems also, there is no need to alarm them."

With her small song, The behemoth form of the Shoal appeared from nowhere, not too far from the Unknown Flotilla, and not too far from the Mantis's escape pods.

Ishiiliana began to communicate in the only way she could with the strangers, Through singing in their fleetsong, telepathically. She only hoped that they were not hostile to such actions.

"Unknowns, I am Elder Ishiiliana of the Alduurian Empire. We see you have responded to our vessel in distress. Please do not be alarmed by the apparent lack of direct communication, For we have only opened a passive link - For I am a “Singer to the Deaf”, Your word would be... Ambassador, I expect."

Ishiiliana paused in her song, checking her thoughts to ascertain whether she had indeed used the correct fleetsong.

"I am communicating through telepathy, for this is our only means at this time, and you may return inquiries to me through this link. There may be much we can discuss, but time is of the essence, Please can you assist us in retrieving the escape pods jettisoned from our destroyed vessel?"

With that, Her Song ended, and she waited for any kind of response.

Lilian was unique amongst the Soulian population, part of the reason for her having achieved her station at such a young age. She had developed a gift that only surfaced in every 10 billion children, telepathy. However, due to the recent developments on Eska, and the nations massive retreat from their former holdings, she had not had the chance to hone it to its fullest potential. Although still a novice, she was quite adept with the basics, and as such when her head was filled with a beautiful song she barely flinched. Listening carefully she discerned the words and, while the grammar was rough, understood. Focusing her thoughts, she responded in a similar manner.

Elder Ishiliana, I am known as Councilwoman Lilian Dreiam, a representative of my race. We are known as Soulians, and I assure you we mean no harm. I am currently sending out some of my ships to assist your stranded.

~~

Several of the Virgo Class support ships fired their engines to full and approached the first vessel. Upon reaching a distance of a few kilometres, several cargo ships departed from hangar bays, swooping quickly amongst the floating pods and tractoring them into the cargo holds. In no time at all the pods were collected and safe within the Virgo's.

Ishiiliana breathed a sigh of releif that created a few bubbles in the water of the Bridge. She nodded at a crewmate at a console before her to open a proper visual transmission.

"Soulian Lilian, I thank you for your assistance, I have opened a visual communications link to facilitate other communication transfers. I must say I am thankful for your gift, This has aided my learning and shall expedite my creation of a translation program to allow verbal speech between us. However, we have a small problem. This vessel is a combat vessel and I fear its Cargo Space is not adequate for the amount of pods you have secured. I could, if you are not delayed from some other engagement, Provide co-ordinates to your Navigation System for you to transport the pods to. We need to ascertain what occured here."

Ishiiliana paused in her song to prepare the co-ordinates, just in case.

"The Survivors will hopefully aid us in this process, it is also imperative that you do not remain in this system long, It is territory of our enemy and we cannot ensure your safety whilst you remain here, Regardless of how well equipped you may be - We do not favour unnecessary violence upon any party."

With that Ishiiliana ended her song with a flourish to push her point home, and then again awaited a response.

OOC: Dont Forget.. Open! :).

OOC: I know where you got the Alduuria from... their basicilly the Liir, arent they?

My race was inspired by a video game also, see if you can pick out which one...

hint: It hasnt been released yet.

IC:Random Frontier System

The Heiarchy probe dropped out of hyperspace. It did a quick long distance scan, determining the number of planets, the life sustainability of the planets, and so-on, so-forth. It noted that one of the planets held water... alot of water.

And where there was water, there was life...

The Heiarchy probe then made a short jump into orbit around the planet. It did a quick scan of the area, processed everything, then sent a hyperspace transmission back to base before self-destructing... all in two seconds.

What it had determined was that the civilization it was encountering was too advanced for successfull harvesting, diplomatic routes would be followed instead. Sure enough, a Heiarchy diplo ship, about 400 meters in length, was dispatched to the system.

When it arrived, several hours after the probe came, it came several hundred thousand more kilometers away from the probes previous location... so as to lesten the alarm the intellegint beings would feel. They had no weapons and only rudimentary(by Heiarchy standards) shields. Currently the Heiarchy ship just sat there, doing nothing threatning.

OOC2: Heres the best description of the Heiarchy Diplomatic Ship I can give you: its a cigar shaped ship with odd glyphs carved on it, it also has a small docking bay for shuttlecraft, as well as vacuum protected windows at the front of the ship, for the bridge.

Feel free to describe the system as you see it.

OOC: Based on Liir yes, with a few alterations here and there.. Oh yes.. Universe At War: Earth Assault?

Dabiiri, Fringe Colony

Dabiiri was a placid world, a project prior to the Dark Water Conflict. It had been a project where the ice caps of the relatively barren world had been melted, underwater sea's released and other such methods of transplating life had been implemented, causing to create an environment suitable to colonisation.

It had survived relatively untouched for the duration of the conflict, and so when the signature of the unknown ship simply waiting in space was detected, it caused momentary panic before the sensor posts in orbit confirmed it was not of Vakosian design.

Having gifted most of its ships to the war effort elsewhere, the Elder of Dabiiri could not investigate at close range, nor was he advanced enough along the path to sing at such a range as to communicate. He did however have one piece of technology, a Vakosian translation matrix. Recently attained from a ruined Vakosian ship, it had been shipped to Dabiiri for safekeeping and investigation.

The Elder manipulated the device as he interfaced it with his colonies databanks, releasing a short mangled Vakosian translation to the alien vessel.

"Unknown you, intentions of peace have? Poor forgive speech."