NationStates Jolt Archive

On the edge of the galaxy, in the midst of an area commonly known as Wild Space a tear in the fabric of space-time appeared over a seemingly uninteresting asteroid. From the yawning gap emerged a large writhing shape with a large 'head' and many, twisting 'limbs'. Inside the organic-esque head was a bizarre non-nondescript chamber whose only features were tissue-like walls and a sleek, featureless door. A securely bond man writhed with pain in the room before a man shaped creature whose head was that of a four-limbed octopus.

"...Yes, I am certain it is here! The artifact we excavated was found on this lifeless orb! Now, please! Just let me die!" spoke the ragged man clutching his head in pain as his mind was filled with horrors beyond imagining.
"No." boomed a voice like that of heavenly choir driven mad, "Even psionics may mistake truth with lies at this stage of torment, Doctor Brian Williams. We are afraid that you may have begun to believe your own fiction. You will be kept in this current state of pain until the rock is thoroughly searched. Guards!"

Upon their summoning two humanoid figures in heavy robes, clothed as to hid their faces with goggles and rags, emerged through the featureless door and drag to the screaming Dr. Williams away.

"Lord Yrik'lith, the prisoner has revealed little other details, however, I believe strongly that the key to our race's revival will found upon this long forgotten rock." reported the interrogator, telepathically, to his superior.

"I pray your beliefs are true, Inquisitor Ryl'yth. We've lost contact with our escort that remained behind to fend off our 'guest's' friends. We may be the last remaining Rasthorids in the universe. The Elder Brain or that book must be found soon." replied a Rasthorid dressed in robes that would not look unseemly on a Chinese emperor, but otherwise identical to the inquisitor. Towards his crew he began barking orders: "Send the humans worshipers down in their preferred ships, "tripships" or whatever they call them. Scan the system for potential hostiles. May as well attempt to gather some allies, if any can be found out here. If it is here, we will be here a while. Send a request for alliance to any ship that gets curious to our FTL signature. Preferably those that don't shoot first, ask questions later."

Eighteen point four million probes. To the ordinary mind, a staggering number. To the galaxy, they were insignificant. Utterly so. For they existed only to serve as a system of warning, not of informing, merely to find peculiarities on the scale of fleets, and thus to facilitate an evacuation of the one world the Realm inhabited if one was required.

For the Realm had faced annihilation too many times, and was dedicated now to its own survival.

So a tiny hunk of metal drifted through the area, silently observing, as it had done for months, perhaps years, now. There was nothing interesting here. Still nothing interesting.

The AI aboard was an idiot-savant, able to keep itself entertained until something it was designed to investigate came up. Finally, something did.

Unique signature. Probably faster-than-light. Gonna report this one back to base, orright.

If the Rasthorids were looking, a tiny fluctuation in energy took place some lightminutes away. It was unlikely that they were, but nonetheless. On Hypatia, a moderate amount of interest was piqued by this new development. It was most likely an anomaly - thousands were reported each month, and scout vessels were sent to investigate most of them, if only to note them down to see if there was any use in them.

This, however, was different. It was noted down, and a scout was ordered to investigate.

Another boring mission, Kentharis thought to his partner, through the neural networks that linked all within the Realm. Still, it was the long absence from one another that gave their romance fire, and, although he would miss her, he had began to tire of her in the year he had been back.

(OOC: Really a placeholder post. If this gets overwhelmed with the customary ten thousand ships from fifty nations, I won't send the ship, but if there's no real interest after a day or two, I'll jump in with gusto.)

It had been mere weeks since the incident at the Ice Planet, and the Setains of the Andermani Empire had come out well ahead. Now, with vessels to study, the Fledgling Andermani Navy boasted a round 3 vessels, a pair of what the humans called "Destroyers", mildly ironic, due to their being so relatively fragile compared to other vessels, and a single of what the humans called a "Heavy Cruiser", a mainline combatant they seemed to favor for exploration and light defense. The Setians had a different approach. Nearly 3 kilometers long, the Setian Destroyer entered the system with barely a ripple, silently exploring the space near their newest holdings. They didn't send out any messages, or announce themselves in any way, they just appeared, and watched.

While the few nations that had noticed this wayward activity lurked in the background two small, blocky drop ships descended through the gaping maw of the the massive vessel. These metallic ships so starkly contrasted with the Rasthorid ships that it would appear obvious they were made by a different race.

The human made vessels clumsily plummeted to the surface, landing with an unnerving but harmless crash. A ramp lowered from each and out poured about twenty cultists dressed in rags, oxygen masks and goggles and armed with Imperial lasguns and digging equipment. One seemed to note that there was a livable atmosphere, excluding oxygen of course. Following the ragged cultists emerged what would seem to be a highly decorated Imperial Commissar fitted with what might have been a gasmask, he held in his hand a peculiar organic device of obvious Rasthorid origins. The officer pointed the squirming device about until it suddenly froze stiff when pointed northwest of their position, towards a rather large, white mountain.

"March towards that mountain. Do not let your guard down, this is an unknown, potentially hostile world." spoke the leader in a human-like voice with a robotic accent on the vowels.

"By the Great One's will it shall be done, Lord Thule."

In Orbit:

"Almighty Lord Yrik'lith, We're detecting unfamiliar FTL signatures within the system. Preliminary scans reveal vessels of unknown origin."

"Hail them. Inform the officer planet side of this. Prepare shields, weapons and a jump point in case of retreat"

To Unknown vessels:
This is the Worldship "Last Haven". We are, for all intensive purposes, the last remaining Rasthorid vessel and bear inside the last of our kind. We would greatly appreciate your assistance as we colonize this world, which is believed to hold the last hope for our species.
-Lord Yrik'Lith

OOC: Hmm, two days and no response. I think that is appropriate time for a bump.

"Are we sure this is the one?"

"The one in the image? yes... The rift, the oddly bio shape, the desolate asteroid. It all fits."

"So you are saying theres an artifact there something of great importance?"

"Maybe there is, maybe they think there is, maybe they are looking not for something but for a contact. Who knows what these prophetic images say."

3 humans and three dinosaur-type looking things where standing together in pairs looking at this image that had recently appeared, before there was nothing there and boom there it was. No one had been in nor out since then but then again things like this always seemed to happen it seemed the future isn't as set as it seemed to be.

"We should tell the council, we'll probably want to send some sort of ship to investigate. As to whether or not we should help find whatever they are looking for, or whether we should actively hinder. We don't know."

2 hours later, it was agreed by the assembled Novaen Council, the effective government of Nova Bazalonia, that a single ship would be deployed, it's mandate open-ended having permision to initiate first contact and with freedom to 'persue Novaen goals in a manner determined by the situation."

The ship was shaped like an arrow-head as it glided through space in an altered timeflow.Time going much slower directly around the ship, thus bypassing the impossibility of truly going faster than light.

Scoutship Ozymandias, Day Two of Investigation



"Well, Kentharis. We will be arriving momentarily."

Kentharis laughed. "Brilliant. Yet another boring mission, with another boring anomaly to investigate."

The AI paused for a moment. "You are psychologically perfect for investigation missions. In-ship NeuralNet transmissions indicate you are happy. Why are you speaking so miserably?"

Kentharis smiled. "I like complaining."

The ship departed Truespace, entering the Rasthorid system smoothly, unnoticeable to the naked eye.

Immediately, a vast deluge of pent-up transmissions from the in-system probe was flung towards them, most dismissed by the onboard AI, the remainder investigated most closely.

"So, we've got something new, here. Send out a transmission, then, Ozzie."

Naturally, if there was an intelligent species, there was only one message to send out. A series of pulses. First two pulses and a pause, then three, then five, seven, elevent, thirteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty-three, twenty-nine, thirty-one, thirty-seven, forty-one, forty-three, forty-seven, and, finally, fifty-three. One of the most obvious mathematic sequences that could be sent, and hopefully be identified by most, if not all intelligent species.

The orderly, mathematic pulses of the scoutship were received without much notice from the crew. The 'Artificial' intelligence that govern most of Last Haven's operations sent back, preambled by some high-pitch static relay, a four beat pulse. Repeating endlessly over all known frequencies until someone would take notice.

"Milord, Last Haven has noticed another visitor to the system."

"Repeat the hail we sent earlier. Find this new ship's location as soon as possible. ... And get rid of that damned racket! I get enough of that when we're around the Great One!"


"We're also detecting an incoming temporal-spacial distortion."

"We just can't get a break in this plane, can we?"

Planetside:
Lord Thule and his escort had finally arrived at the mountain's foot. It was more like a steppe or perhaps a large hill with a bluff along most of its sides. Small, simple tents made up the expedition's camp after it was discovered that the atmosphere contain oxygen. Lord Thule remained there finishing his report of the rocky orb to Last Haven.

"Lord Thule! The second recon team has found an entrance in the face of the mountain. The runes around said entrance looks like the Script of the Ancients."

"The Ancients? That could be ... problematic. The Ancients were no friends of our masters, if they are involved in protecting what we seek there is likely to be traps and defenses. I'll contact our Lord to try to get some captives to clear the way. In the meantime, prepare trenches around that gate and be ready to fight to the death to defend it. I've received word from the Last Haven that we have guests."

The Novaen ship slid out of the distortion with no bright light announcing their prescence but with the fairly primative way (in terms of space travel) they arrived there they didn't expect their arrival to go un-noticed.

"Are you sure this is what our orders are?"

"Yes, we're sure" responded a human-sauron pair, "we received them ourselves."

"We're detecting multiple frequency broadcast."

"Play it."

A moment later... " Okay, shut it off. create an Audio-only link with that frequency aimed at it's location, that's the ship we need to talk to."

"Ready when you are sir."

"This is the Novaen Scout ship the NBS Dart, What is your purpose here?"

The Andermani ship remained silent and motionless, simply gathering information on everything moving within the system, watching and waiting for their moment to reveal themselves to the locals and arrivals.

OOC: Sorry, lost track of this for a bit.

"Why is that damned rhythm still playing, ensign?! its driving me mad!" screamed Lord Yrik'lith over the ever increasing volume, his fingers were beginning to involuntarily follow the pulses.

"Lord, our Enginseers have determined that the 'brain of the ship is resonating with the artifact we believed to be planetside! They assure me that this is good new, master!!" a more ornately covered man in robes screamed back, "We have a request from Lord Thule for prisoners to clear traps from his path and a hail from that primitive, apparently human vessel! They want to know our purpose here!"

"Give Lord Thule anything he wants, I want this noise silence and that object found! I'll speak with the primitives."

* * *

"This is the RSS Last Haven, the final hope and refuge for our kind. We are at this place to find something that could keep our kind from going into extinction."

A response was quick...

"Then perhaps we are not here by mere chance, our very own history contains a story of cataclysm and if it were not for the aid of others we ourselves would have not been established. I have been granted the authority by the Novaen council offer your people aid in finding this artifact as well as assistance in finding a suitable world to settle on after this is over. We have forces on board that are ready to be deployed to a designated area on the surface as well as commanders, shoud it be deemed appropriate, to come aboard and plan how to achieve your goal."

<Milady, I'm detecting unusual surface activity, I'm not sure what it is...>

<I do not know, but I see it also. Prepare a Boson Gate, and ready a platoon of Wyverns. I will investigate, something about it seems most malignant, almost...cancerous.>

<You are the better informed on such matters milady. I will have the Lieutenant ready his troops and meet you on the Staging Deck.>

<Very well Captain, this will be most revealing I am sure.>

Ten Minutes Later, Staging Deck, IAN Destroyer Battery:

Shortly after the mysterious "lady" to whom the captain referred had made her request, a platoon of the Setians signature combat armors were prepped and fully armed, awaiting her arrival in the launch bay. At first glance she was no different from the rest, seemingly encased in the powerful combat armor that had so shattered the human offensive which nearly destroyed their race. And yet they all knew she was not. None questioned her reasons, and in silence the gate to the surface was opened, not far from the search party of Lord Thule. From the gate emerged 28 Wyverns, a small force, but enough to make trouble if that was what was needed. The silent soldiers moved across the ground with a disturbing smoothness, and any who saw them would likely note the small size of the force, as well as its continuing, incredibly unnerving utter silence.

Planetside:

The expedition aimed their weapons frantically at these bizarre beings that materialized about them. All of them appeared nearly frightened out of their wits. All save Lord Thule who calmly approached these animalmen and placed his luger-like laspistol on the ground. The ragged cultists followed suit.

"Good evening, I am Lord Thule, Human representative and taskmaster of the Rasthorid. You are...The Ancients, I presume? Or at least their decedents. We are here to retrieve something called the God Mind. I assume you are here to impede that effort?"

The Rasthorian cultists glanced warily from their dropped weapons to these 'Ancients' and back again at this statement from their leader. Fortunately for them, he went on:

"However, it is under my understanding that your kind is having some...difficult with the human race. An impasse of hostility if you will. Our masters have nearly been wiped from the universe by their kind, with only a couple hundred thousand of us realizing them as our lords. Maybe our two nations could join forces against those that fear and hate your's and our master's kind."

While Lord Thule attempted diplomacy on the Andermani, the Ancient writing was beginning to fade. Those that might have had the patience to watch would notice several small, snake-like tendrils slithering, inch-by-inch towards the cave's entrance. The God Mind was slowly rousing from its centuries long slumber.

In Orbit:

"Lord Yrik'lith! We have managed to disconnect the Intelligence from the speaker and comm systems. Oh, and the NBS Dart has responded favorably. They seem willing to help us. However, we also have potentially bad news. An energy burst has been detected very near Lord Thule's position and we're picking up many more life signs in his area. However, our sensors began to lose signal afterwards. It is as if something is blocking out any contact with the surface. Electromagnetic, psionic or otherwise."

That is most troubling. Keep trying to hail Lord Thule over any means of communication. Inform the human vessel of the comm blackout and tell them that we would appreciate their help immediately.

Without realizing it everyone on board the Last Haven still did everything according to the Intelligence's four beat rhythm. Walking, talking, breathing, all on four beats, over and over. Tap-tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap-tap.

NBS Dart, we would greatly appreciate your assistance. especially since, just recently, we've lost communication with our away team. This blackout was preceded by an energy burst. We would most thankful if you could go planetside and help re-establish contact.

<Our war with humanity is ended, and those that did battle against us are al slain. We remain, alive and triumphant, while their corpses fed the scavengers. I may be inlined to aid your masters for a time, though my aid is fickle. You must be willing to accept my actions without question if you desire my assistance. If you are not, my wrath can be more terrible than any human offensive. Do you still desire assistance human? Would you like the aid of the Dragon of Souls?

The metallic armor shimmered, and the true being to which he spoke emerged, shorter than the Wyverns of her escort, the ten foot tall dragon of quicksilver was obviously addressing Lord Thule, and she was not quite hostile, but not at all friendly either.

OOC: I'd respond now but... I can't. I'm moving (and yes Andermani, the same person controls TGM controls Nova Bazalonia too)

At such demands of Lord Thule and his contingent, this enigmatic overseer began to shift from diplomatically trying to keep his butt from frying to its more usually state of curiosity and mild paranoia. The thing they sought to free from this ancient prison might also be the thing this 'Dragon' sought to destroy.

"Before I come to any decision regarding your assistance, I'd have to know what you and your people are doing here. Surely, such an impressive and well armed entourage is not here merely as scientific observers or local defense. Also, I might like to aid that humanity is far from a negligible concern, as the near extinction of my Rasthorid masters proves."

OOC: Bump because I post at like 3 am CST.

NBS Dart, we would greatly appreciate your assistance. especially since, just recently, we've lost communication with our away team. This blackout was preceded by an energy burst. We would most thankful if you could go planetside and help re-establish contact.


"Forces are on their way."

that was the short reply the recieved meanwhile a number of dropships left the Dart and where on their way to somewhere near the last known co-ordinates of the.

Inside were a number of units including a squadron of uniquely Novaen Skybax.

At such demands of Lord Thule and his contingent, this enigmatic overseer began to shift from diplomatically trying to keep his butt from frying to its more usually state of curiosity and mild paranoia. The thing they sought to free from this ancient prison might also be the thing this 'Dragon' sought to destroy.

"Before I come to any decision regarding your assistance, I'd have to know what you and your people are doing here. Surely, such an impressive and well armed entourage is not here merely as scientific observers or local defense. Also, I might like to aid that humanity is far from a negligible concern, as the near extinction of my Rasthorid masters proves."

<Humans are frail. They are of little consequence, with primitive technology and inefficient weapons. Their "tanks" were unable to penetrate the armor of my soldiers, and their warhulls now litter the fields of our homeland. It is a reminder to any who might threaten us. We are here because I choose for us to be here, that is all that matters. Specifically, there is something here that has caught my attention. I wish to investigate it, and so I shall.>