NationStates Jolt Archive

The Five Worlds System, a small system on the outer fringes of Milky-Way Andromeda. In time, it will be destroyed when Andromeda and Milky-Way collide. On the systems largest world, Aroma, citizens from all five worlds gather in excitement, for soon, their favorite band, The Ministry of Shadow will play a concert.

The stage is dimly lit, gears grind into motion, and the crowd cheers, as the groups drummer, sitting before his expansive drum kit rises from the ground. The crowd cheers his name: Wilhelm Demonscreamer. It’s not his real name, but it may as well be, his real name, and those of his band mates, his friends, are all lost in the sands of time. A light brightens only enough to make out his long blond hair, and green eyes. His face is painted white, all else is shrouded in darkness.

Next to him, a small distance away, also rising from the ground comes a man carrying an electric guitar with two long necks. Light reflects off his skin. It unnaturally reflects light somewhat, due to the Nanite implants that allow him to play faster than sound itself can travel. His ability to weave complex harmonies on a stringed instrument is legendary. Light rises on him, his hair is red, and his eyes are blue. The crowd chants his name over and over, Eric Bloodletter. Another Stage name.

Two more men rise from the ground, twin brothers, one playing a bass guitar, the other playing a Metal Guitar. Both have Brown hair, and brown eyes. Bass master Alec Grimmn and his twin, Rick Grimmn.

The group begins playing, a song they call The Rite of The Ministry, The shadows themselves seem to move and sway in rhythm to the music, and some swear they see white eyes in the darkness. Rumors and Heresy, no one can prove a thing.
Suddenly, a fireball erupts onstage, and the crowd goes wild, the Riot police ready themselves, and from the fire comes a Black haired man with eyes that change color whenever he wants them to. His demonically gravely voice erupts from the stage.
“SILENCE!” he bellows, and even his own bandmates go quiet.
His name is unknown, but he is the lead singer, all anyone calls him, is Shadowlord.
No light shines on him, and anyone who tries, is promptly beaten senseless by The Shadow-puppets, the devoted roadies lucky enough to serve The Ministry. No Shadowpuppet’s true identity is ever known, once they become a Roady, they are known only by their number, and they all wear a Grim Reaper style set of robes, with black masks, that have voice changers built into them.

He turns to his bandmates and grins.
“Lets see just how much power we have over these jerks now. Let’s see if our talent has fully matured, and order them all to die.” Shadowlord said.

The concert is long, and loud, and the band plays a variety of songs, including their current hit, Die, Die, Die. After their last song plays, the lights just suddenly cut out, and the band seems to disappear on the spot. The crowd goes wild, and turns on itself, within moments, nearly everyone has killed either themselves, or someone else, and then themselves. The Riot Police, normally a force against chaos entered in the fray, and shot down about 30 people before they themselves had died.


Remora, Location: unknown, 24 hours later…

The group sits in their hot tub.
“So, killing your fans again, are we?” The voice is from a man that emerges from the shadows. He has black hair, black eyes, and wears a business suit. He is the bands manager, and somehow, remains unaffected by The Ministry’s music.

“You should’ve seen it Donald, it was hilarious. Those morons actually killed themselves because we suggested it.” Shadowlord said, chuckling with his bandmates.

“Yes, well, funny as that may be, without fans, your nothing. Without people willing to buy your albums your just five drunken hobos. If you’re going to use your talent for something, why not use it to rule the world?” Donald said, pushing his glasses back up on his nose. He turned, and walked off, his steps echoing in the now silent hall behind him. He smiled; he was sure no group of people would actually let a band rule them. He entered the elevator, and the doors shut silently behind him.

Shadowlord just looked down at the water, while the other four exchanged glances.

Shadowlord looked around the hall, with its black polished steel, and obsidian sculptures of fallen angels, dried blood from trespassers and those unfortunate to cross the Ministry decorated everything. He thought back to that night when his half-brothers and he all shared that same strange dream, with the voices whispering to him from the shadows. When they went from being The Soul-Miners, a garage band that nobody would listen to, to The Ministry of Shadow, a group everyone wanted to hear. Shadowlord got out of the tub, and walked down to a skeleton that was propped up against a wall.

Its bleached white bones had once belonged to their father, the womanizer that had slept with all of their mothers on different worlds, and even separated Alec and Rick when they were younger.

“I’ll bet you never saw this day coming, did you dad?” Shadowlord asked the bones. It was the same question he had asked moments before his bandmates had joined him in torturing their father to death.

“You know, our ten year anniversary is coming up.” Wilhelm said from the tub.
“Yeah, when the Shadows came to us.” Alec said.
“We should hold a concert, give everyone nightmares.” Rick said with a laugh.
“Or make them riot against the police, just for laughs.” Eric said.
“No.” Shadowlord said. He turned, and walked back, enjoying the soft plush red carpet beneath his feet.
“Donald was right. If we really want to pay tribute to the shadows, then we should take over.” Shadowlord said.
“Which world?” Alec asked.
“The entire system.” Shadowlord said. His voice was always gravelly, and somewhat demonic, but now it was even more so.
“How, we don’t have those kinds of resources?” Wilhelm said.
“The Shadow-puppets will connect us to the interplanetary communications system.” Shadowlord said.
“We’re touched.” Seven voices said from the shadows.
Everyone turned to the location the voices came from, and was startled to see seven pairs of white eyes staring at them from the darkness.
“However, we don’t want to rule, we want you to rule in our stead, and we want more than just this system.” Said the seven voices.
“I don’t understand.” Shadowlord said.
“We gave you Father’s name on the condition that someday you would do us a great service of our choosing. Rise from these small humble planets, and seek your fortunes across the universe. We want more than just a system, we want complete domination.” The voices said.
“How?” Eric asked.
“Did we not give you the music? Make this system your own nation then, your home base if you will, but bring us The Milky Way Galaxy.

OOC: Once the concert starts, it'll be open, because the concert is going to be "accidentally" broadcast accross the Galaxy. After the concert, still in this thread, will be a brief Civil-war, and then a peace treaty, offically ICly starting The Unified Fans of The Ministry of Shadow.

Nari, smallest world in the five-worlds system, three days later...

Ten shadow-puppets creep through the darkness, towards a mostly forgetten, and mostly unattended communications network interlink shack, a place where, with the right skills, one could easily broadcast a message to the entire system...

The place isn't entirely forgotten and unattended, the lone anarmed guard is easily surprised as the Shadow-puppets come out of the darkness, and rendered unconcouss.

Eight stand watch as two enter, and upload a small untraceable virus into the communications network.

The ten roadies silently celebrate, as they slink back into the darkness, and virtually disappear.

When the guard awakens, he can find nothing wrong, and too embarrassed to admit what happens, pretends it never happened.

Back at Remora, the Stage is prepared, but the concert isn't for another couple of days. No one knows, no one is prepared, soon Five nations will fall into Chaos, never to fully pull themselves out.

OOC: Anyone whose reading, my next post will open the thread.

Remora, soundstage, Midnight, exactly ten years to the day, or so it has been said, that The band encountered the Shadow Demons in the darkness, sold their souls for talent.

The band is in place, cameras turn towards them and turn on.
"Lets do it." he says.

The Shadow-puppets access the Interplanetary communications system, and activate the Dethklok Virus. All over the Five Worlds system, All forms and methods of communication switch to the Emergency Broadcast message channel.

"The following is an unpaid message from The Ministry of Shadow." Shadowlord says, seconds before the group erupts into song, but the music they play is diffrent than their normal songs. These songs contain complex melodies and sonic pulses that directly influence and control the mind. Shadowlord doesn't sing, but instead hums in his deep gravely voice.

Governments try to shut down the channel, but they can't, the virus has already blocked them from their own computers. The Melodies begin to work on the citizens, asleep and awake, all unable to pull themselves from the music.

The Music reverbrates through their mind, echoing over and over again, and compounds upon itself, until it drives nearly every single listener insane.

The Communications system is blown up with an old missle, but its too late. everyone pours from their homes like a a drunk and forms a disorderly mob, looting shops and destroying anything connected to the governments. They all have the same glazed glassy look in their eyes, all under the influence of The Ministry.

Whether by accident, or by fate, some of the satelites repeat the music, sending it off into deep space, for parts unknown. What happens next? nobody knows for sure, however, if someone did arrive, they would find a massive full scale Riot quickly escalating into a civil War.

OOC: Okay, so here's the breakdown.

What I have described, was an idea based off the research of Dr. Jeffry Thompson, a specialist in the field of Neuroacoustics, Music that literally influences and alters the mind. If its possible in some small way today, imagine what's possible hundreds of years into the future.
http://www.neuroacoustic.com/ They can explain the type of music I used better than I can. Its not like I made this up, just extended what I've already personally experienced.


Anyways, onto the RP.

Feel free to post your arrival. Like I posted, you'll find Rioters on the surface, no one in space yet. Feel free to ICly discover that the music was the cause of the Riots. You don't have to be effected by it ICly if you don't want to. We can always say it didn't work on you, for whatever reason.

The order of events (That I have planned) are as follows:

- everyone arrives to find the Riot

- After some interaction, and the Riots go on for a day or two the survivors of the old Government will gather in a secret underground location on Arom, and form the Fedral Tribunal, and attempt to regain their old governments. At the same time, The Ministry will play more music, and stop the Rioting, while installing themselves as the new government.

- Then we tie up all the loose ends as they try to either convert you to their fanbase, or draft a treaty with you, or have you dragged out back and beaten for being irritating. There is plenty of room for something unplanned/suggustions.

Bump, incase someone wants to join, before I go on.

OOC: All right, then, I'm going to fast forward to the Fedral Tribunal, and wait awhile longer. I don't have steam to go on forever, not in this thread anyways.

IC:

Days passed with millions in the streets, eventually, ships took to space and started shooting at each other. There was no pattern, no logic, no method, just mindless violence.

Unnoticed, five small ships weave through the violence, and disappear in the mountains of Arom.

Deep in a secret underground facility:

The 20 men and women ride a large elevator down an old mine shaft. Its walls are steel grey, made of bulkheads that stabilise the shaft. Eventually, they reach the bottom, more than 50 miles beneath Arom, and open a pair of blast doors that could withstand a thermonuclear blast if neccessary, and inside, in the darkness, turn on the lights to a secret facility.

Moniters line the walls and whirr to life, as computer systems kick in and start up.

The Ministry's attack wasn't entirely unprepared for, a large scale uncontrolled Riot was prepared for, but not the outright mutany of the five combined civilizations.

At the same time, Satelites are launched from the five worlds, emblazoned with with the Ministry's group logo, 14 vertical lines, that seem as eyes, watching from the darkness. These satelite are avoided, even escorted, but only because they have the group's seal.

Back in the secret underground location of the Tribunal:
an aged man with white hair and olive skin sits at the head of a table.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are in a crisis. The Ministry of Shadow has incited a Riot so large, that we've lost most of our control over the public. inside spies report that the group intends to take over and rule all five worlds jointly, as a single government." the man says.

The 19 gathered around him whisper among themselves.

"We are not just giving up. although we don't have the power to directly confront The Ministry, we can oppose them silently, from their own shadows. We will let them act like they have control, but at heart, the Ministry is still just a band. Acting as their voice, we can undermine their authority, until such a time, as we can take back our worlds,without any civilian casualties." The man said.

Meanwhile, the satelites all linked uo, and broadcast a message, all throughout the system, and to the worlds beyond.

First it was more strange mind-bending music, then, silence as Shadowlord appeared on-screen, with his face all painted white, and his eyes painted black. He wore a ripped black tee shirt and black jeans, with boots to match.

"Attention all you regular dipwads out there, we are in control now, and we rule The Five Worlds system with a Heavy Metal fist. As long as you cooperate, we will not have to resort to bloodshed. Even now, The Shadow-puppets are organising the fallen governments into one large-scale interplanetary government, and the first rule is, whatever we say, goes. every man and woman between the ages of 18 and 24 will be forced to serve in the Military until they turn 25, regardless of what ever they want. By order of The Ministry of Shadow, the rest of the Galaxy will be ours, not that we believe there is any intelligent life out there beyond our own system, and if there is, then clearly their too weak and not advanced enough to oppose us." Shadowlord said moments before the screens cut out.

Back at the Tribunal, the man who had spoken earlier had to fire off a gunshot into the wall just to get silence.

"What are we going to do General Ashati?" asked a nervous woman at the far end of the table.

"Wait in silence and hope someone with more strength than The Ministry shows themselves. Meanwhile, we should send our agents out to infiltrate the Ministry. They've all but declared open war with the Galaxy. I, I didn't want to admit this, but, there are other civilizations out there, far stronger than what we are, but they've always left us alone. We need to try and keep the Ministry from getting us all destroyed." The General said.

So it was that a written message was broadcast from the satelites, undetected by any security system.

"Dear sirs and Madams. Contrary to what our new dictators indicate, we do not wish war, but rather welcome peace. We invite you to The Five Worlds system to perhaps scare The Ministry into being a little more polite. We beg you not to publicly acknowledge our existence, or The Ministry will stamp us out.

Yours, The Fedral Tribunal
The secret government of The Five Worlds system"

OOC: So, if you had just wanted to make contact some other way, now's your chance.

Otherwise, I'm going to end it in the next post and go on to my real thread.

Unbeknownst to any of the systems, a small probe no larger than a coke can was gathering data on the situation several systems away. It was a probe sent many millenia ago by the Clans during their Second Exodus to find new worlds on which to live. The systems they had surveyed in this area had been passed over in favour of their current home.

Now, however, with this concert and the events unfolding, these systems had become of particular interest to the Clans.

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

"Hmmm..."

A dark room, and seven dark figures sat within, surrounding a large table. Before them, a holo-video of the concert was shown, and many of the riots were displayed on smaller holo-videos around the table, each of the individuals surrounding the table observing them individually.

The ilKhan of the Clans sat before the rest of the council, observing the main concert. Being a trueborn, he was resistant to most forms persuasion, and torture was a means by which no Clanner, freeborn or trueborn, was susceptible to. However, this concert was providing very many troubling events that even the Clans found to be important.

"Well, what do we have here, Scientist?" The voice of the ilKhan was that of stern foreboding.

"Well, from what we can see here on these videos, it is obvious that this 'band' is using music as a form of mind control," said the seventh member of the council, who was only here because of what was unfolding. "Having witnessed the events unfold live, I can confirm that the music is the source by studying the sound waves." The scientist then pressed a button near where he was sitting, and the holo-video feed went directly to a closed room with a two individuals in it.

"These is our first test subject," he began. "One is a freeborn warrior, and the other is a trueborn. Please pay attention at this point."

The scientist then pressed another button, and the music suddenly began playing in the test room. The freeborn warrior suddenly went into a fit, charging the trueborn warrior, who backed away, trying to defend himself.

"As you can see, the freeborn warrior was the only subject to react to the music," continued the scientist. "Because of the neural training we put our trueborn warriors through, it has made them insusceptible to the music's influence. However, freeborn warriors are incapable of resisting the music's influence. Thereby, I must advise that no freeborn warriors be sent into battle against these people. The effects would be tremendously lethal to our way of life."

"Thank you, scientist," the ilKhan spoke as the scientist finished his prognosis. Now he addressed the council. "Now, the question is, should we consider them a threat, and should we spare the resources to combat them?"

"I vote for war!" The Jade Falcon Khan slammed her hand down onto the table. "If these people can do what the scientist says they can to, who is to say that they won't try it here?! We must eliminate this threat before it grows out of control!"

"I agree," stated the Ghost Bear Khan, his deep voice resounding within the council chambers. "The reprecussions of allowing such an event to unfold would be catastrophic."

"I, too, agree." The Nova Cat's Khan was a rather elegant man, despite him being a warrior. His voice was smooth, and was higher pitch than most. "We must go to war."

"As do I," said the Star Adder Khan, her ancient arabic accent the most exotic of them all.

"While I do not believe war is always the best solution, I, too, believe that war is inevitable," stated the Wolf Khan. "This threat is too large to go unchecked."

"Then it is settled," said the ilKhan. "By the morrow's eve, we shall send a fleet to neutralize this threat."

OOC: Check your TG's.

OOC: Now that we've got that settled....

IC:

When the fleet arrived, it would find 12 battered ships patroling around the worlds. sensing the approach of the invasion fleet, the twelve ships stood in a line, unevenly and a little brokenly, blocking progress into the system.

"In the Name of all that is Brutal, Identify yourselves and state your intentions"

The message was automated, but did not repeat. Shields were raised and weapons were readied. The shields flickered like they only had 30% effeciency left in them, and the weapons systems were slightly damaged. It was like watching twelve worn-out and under trained people trying to defend a city from a ferocious beast. But they were loyal, and would fight with all their hearts.

OOC: Tag for interest.

OOC: Now that we've got that settled....

IC:

When the fleet arrived, it would find 12 battered ships patroling around the worlds. sensing the approach of the invasion fleet, the twelve ships stood in a line, unevenly and a little brokenly, blocking progress into the system.

"In the Name of all that is Brutal, Identify yourselves and state your intentions"

The message was automated, but did not repeat. Shields were raised and weapons were readied. The shields flickered like they only had 30% effeciency left in them, and the weapons systems were slightly damaged. It was like watching twelve worn-out and under trained people trying to defend a city from a ferocious beast. But they were loyal, and would fight with all their hearts.

((For reference on what I've brought to bear, please review this site: http://skaugra.proboards55.com ))

The Star of five Patriot JumpShips sat silently, their scanners reviewing the battered starships that confronted them. After a few brief moments after the scanners had finished their work, the JumpShips then began to move towards the small fleet. No weapons had been brought to bear upon the defense forces, however. The Star simply...moved forward.

That's when a transmission from the lead ship was broadcast.

"In the name of Nicholas Kerensky, lower your shields, power down your weapons, and withdraw from our path. We, the Clans, have come to purge this system of the organization calling themselves the Ministry of Shadow, and to potentially capture their leader, the so called 'Shadowlord.' If you do not comply within five minutes, you will have made yourselves forfeit."

Deep within the secret location of The Fedral Tribunal:

General Ashati entered the main chamber, where the 19 representitives sat waiting.

"This is everything we hoped for, a strong alien presence to scare The Ministry into retreat." He said.

He went to a nearby computer, and showed the alien vessals onscreen.
"They call themselves the clans, and all they want, is the Ministry. We're going to give them all the help we can. Does anyone know where Remora is?" The General asked.

At that moment, the interplanetary Communications satelites kicked in, and broadcast a message.

The things onscreen were seven shadows. The only single description that could be given of them, were White Eyes shining in the darkness. They inspired fear, and if one got close enough, could use one's own mind against you. when they spoke, it was in unison, and their voice inspired thoughts of cutting one's own ears off, so as to not have to hear it ever again.

"So, you want The Ministry of Shadow, but which Ministry of Shadow do you want? Both are responsile for how this system has become, and both revere a Leader named Shadowlord, but one is in servitude to the other, one is made of creatures born from the pure undistilled essence of the night.

We gave our sevants their talents, and we shall protect them from harm, having a further use for their particular talents to ressurect The great darkness that no light can conquer, to reopen the pathways to The Place that is No Place. If you wish to be spared from The Wrath that devours all before it, then turn away and flee like the mindless peasants we believe you to be. We have no true form, but if you press us, the we shall show you Seven Forms that will bring you misery and despair." The voices said. The picture flickered, and The band was onscreen.

"Besides, Remora is not in that system. The Universe is big, but you find us in it?" Shadowlord said.

A quick transmissions trace would find it was routed through a satelite near a giant space Rock named SR 358, just 100 light years away, and came from a Wormhole that lead to Andromeda Galaxy.

OOC: I never said Remora was in The Five Worlds system. The Shadow beings that first spoke, are the Original Ministry of Shadow. Think of them as Shapeshifting aliens with strong minds, like a Jedi has a strong mind. Their attacks will consist mainly of shifting to various forms with powerful natural attacks, or making one of their tendrils of Shadow become a weapon like a Hook or something, and unless you give me a few generalised fears to work with, they won't actually use your fears against you. (That Neural Training is good for many things, like shielding against their Fear effects) They are the only serious threat you will face if you choose to go to Remora.

Everything else is practicly one-hit wonders that won't do much to you, and can't take much from you.

For four hundred years, they watched. It was a rarity, and an intriguing one at that. Five planets in one system, all naturally capable of baring life. It was too good to pass by.

Ironically, the Trailarii had adjusted to the mindless electromagnet chatter between these five ripe little planets; so the concert which had had such repercussions amongst these five colonies of Man passed by all but unnoticed by the omnipresent Scryer AI.

What the Scryer DID notice however, was that after a peculiar spike in chatter amongst the target planets, there seemed to be a mysterious increase in civil unrest. At least that was the Scryers best guess, since the native tongues of the indigenous had not been fully translated. This was little cause for alarm..the wax and wane of a cultures government ment little to the Trailarii..what gained the Scryer's full attention was the sudden and unexpected presence of a foreign and unknown power in Five World airspace.

This was not part of the plan.

Within minutes the AI had dispatched current and progressively updating data of the system's interior to a master AI construct that called itself "Mort". It was Mort's job to decide whether or not such data was important enough to bother the meatbags with.

It only took Mort a fraction of a millisecond to rate this as a high priority alert, and proceeded to move the data up the ladder; right up the ladder to a small patrolling carrier of the twenty-first Traileric Legica. The Holder of the vessel (who is thoroughly unimportant, and thus I will not pull a name out of my ass for him), once he was done spluttering, forwarded this to the regional Holder.
===================================================================
"Holy Majesty?" The mid-shipman was newly assigned, and thus a little timid.

"Yes, Adesthenas?"

"We, uh, we have a problem in what I was told was a dormant sector.." came the cowed reply.

"Not very dormant than is it? Oh, don't give me that look. Here. Glyph me." The large, armored figure gestured to the Cauldron at the base of his throne. The mid-shipman stepped up to the large black iron contraption and placed a small blue orb into a cleft in the front of the thing. Immediately, the waters began to boil and churn, displaying to the High-Holder the live data of the Five Worlds system.

After a few moments, the Holder spoke, "We need more than just a Scryer monitoring this situation. I need eyes on. Dispatch a sloop or two from the vessel closest to the event..I believe that would be Hiveship Delesseyus. Well don't just stand there, make it happen!"

The mid-shipman scurried away, much to the Holder's amusement. He loved messing with the new guys..
=====================================================================
Two hundred and fourteen light years from the edge of the Five Worlds system, a slipgate opened, immediately followed by another but a few hundred meters in front of it. Out of the first emerged a slim, long vessel. It was smaller than a frigate, but larger and more heavily armored than a strikecraft. Afterburners kicked on, and it skimmed forward with impressive speed for a ship of it's size, reorienting it's direction and entering the second slipgate, this jump destined to take it to the Five Worlds system in which the Empire had such interest.

As the captain was about to reply, a quiet, yet commanding voice, spoke.

"Do not bother," said the voice, hushing the captain. A man (http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/5184/illustaru5hx.jpg) would then walk forth into view so that both Ministries could see him. He was very calm when he spoke.

"Shadows such as thee have no place in this realm," he spoke. "I, Albireo Imma, present thee with a challenge. Should you and your mindless mass of servants succeed in repelling us, we shall leave you to your machinations. However, should you be unsuccessful, I cannot promise you your survival in this universe as sentient creatures. Good day to you."

Upon the transmission's end, Al turned to the Star Captain. "Send five Stars of infantry to each planet to quell the populace," he said, his voice completely calm. "Give each set of infantry one Binary of armour support, and attempt to contact the local government in this system."

"Aff, Master Imma," replied the Star Captain. Turning to face his men, the Star Captain raised his voice. "You heard what Master Imma said! Get those DropShips going now!"

"Sir, there is a ship jumping in system," said the tac officer. Again, just as the Star Captain was about to speak, Al spoke once again.

"Relay a comm to my personal quarters," he said. "I shall speak with them there."

"Aff, Master Imma," said the comms officer.

As the JumpShips began to ready deployment of their landing forces, a short-range burst transmission went out to each of the five planets.

"To the leaders of these five sovereign planets, we of the Clan wish to hold conference with you. Please reply."

Meanwhile, Al, who had chosen to keep his personal quarters right next door to the bridge, sat down at his personal desk, seating himself just before a computer. Pressing a button, the computer opened up a direct video/audio link to the unknown ship.

"I am Albireo Imma, representative of the Clans," he said. "To whom do I owe the pleasure of speaking with?"

OOC: Oh come now, a sloop isn't so small as to go unnoticed. :/

OOC: Trailers, reread the last part of his post, he edited it to acknowledge you.

Guys, I just realised, this could spill over into Dark Ressurection.
Think about it, if The Ministry escapes and you really want to get them, what else are you going to do but follow them? Not that their going to come after you at first, their not that stupid.

IC:

As the Sloop entered the system, one ship trundled over to the new intruder, and repeated the same demand to identify themselves and state their demands.

Meanwhile, in Remora...

"Let us stay here, it is like a bad move in a game of chess to draw out a well protected king, the way they challenge us. We shall not be so easily decived." The original Ministry said.

Down in the secret lair of The Fedral Tribunal...

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have with me here Mr. Wier Doh, an expert in foreign relations. Wier?" The General said.

A man in a blue suit with skin tanned from being in the sun too long and black hair cut short stood up.
"Thank you Mr. General, upon close study of these ships I can verify that they hold more power than we do, and if we were to try and fight them we would be easily overpowered." Mr. Doh said. He spoke quickly, and with a Japanese style accent. Wier Doh pushed his glasses up on his nose, cleared his throat, and continued speaking.

"Our best course of action is to go to this meeting they propose and try to keep them from invading peacefully. I have already constructed a reply and broadcast it to them as a written reply. It states as follows" Wier Doh said as he pulled a peice of paper out of his inner jacket pocket and began reading. At the same time, the Clans would recive the reply.

"As the chosen representative of The Five Worlds System I am authorised to inform you that we agree to this meeting. The public is at present nervous and unwary, remembering nothing of their previous civil unrest. We do not hold them at fault, and wish no casualties on our citizens, or yours. However, The Ministry of Shadow has eyes everywhere, which is why we must ask that this meeting be held on your ship. Even now I am preparing to leave embarked on a small unarmed vessal from the surface of Arom, our largest world. Blessed are the Peacemakers."

Meanwhile, the battered warships warily eyed both sets of intruders.

Unnoticed by the 12 ships, a small vessal coming from Arom was gliding by beneath them.

The mini-cauldron situated in front of Coursemaster Aleocles burbled momentarily as the communication AI sifted it's memory for any linguistic data it may have on the Clan vessel which had pinged them. Finally, after a few moments, a reference was found tucked away in the ESUS databanks. Truly, the Trailarii cared little for cataloging the languages of what they considered to be lesser cultures, and more often than not relied on the efforts of their allies for such information.

The translation program now running, Aleocles answered, "I am Coursemaster Aleocles of Peleponna, commander of gunship 118-E of the Twenty-First Traileric Legica, seventh Hivegroup, ninth configuration.. Doubtlessly, the such cognomen mean nothing to you, so I leave you to make of it what you will. I assume you are curious as to why we have come to such a backwater place as this, conveniently no sooner than you yourself had arrived? In truth, Lord Imma, your appearance startled us a bit, and in truth my superiors were concerned. These are not Traileric lands, yet, so it cannot be said that you were trespassing; suffice to say a few influential individuals have set aside much in the future of this system, and outside influence may..muck things up a bit. Now, noble Lord, I have identified myself and from where I herald, more I have given you a reason for being two hundred or so light years from any others of my kind. Will you kindly explain in like fashion your purposes for being here?"

Aleocles sat back, satisfied with this message. He had followed the textbook responses he had been taught in his years at the Ludus Magna to the letter. By diplomatic theory, this should illicit a positive response. Having an auto-translator helped. And nine crewmates for company.

As for the Ministry vessel, he gave no response. It was a battered, sluggish thing, servant to those his masters practically considered Helots all ready. No, they could wait until he had figured out what these..what were they referred to, Clans? What these Clansmen were doing here, where much Traileric Corporate currency was tied up in future "mining operations" and the like.

OOC: I understand not everyone has internet on the weekends, and I fully understand some people may be traveling due to approaching holidays, BUT, if Skaugra hasn't replied by tuesday, then we go on without him.

OOC: If he doesn't post at that point, I'll amend my previous post to respond to the Ministry vessel, okay? Ill post here to let you know. That way we don't cut him out completely, just follow a different aspect of the storyline.

((Egads! I'm sorry I was gone so long! Shit hit the fan this weekend!))

The response from the Tribunal was translated a mere few minutes after it was received. While the Clans spoke the same language as the residents of this region of space, their writing was completely different in all regards. Once the Tribunal's small ship had launched, it had been immediately locked onto so as to keep it in visual as well as basic scans. The window of the bridge facing out into space presented a little target identifier that would grow in size as the Tribunal ship made its way up to the lead JumpShip of the Star.

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

"My purpose for being here is to quell any form of uprising that disturbs the local government, my dear Coursemaster," Al replied, tapping at his keyboard. "I am sending you data of what has transpired here over the course of the last few weeks pertaining to the Ministry of Shadow and its use of neuro acoustics."

A secondary window would then open up for the Trailari representative showing the mass riots as the Ministry's music played, as well as the taped results of all the Clans' own test subjects.

"As you can undoubtedly see, the Ministry's use of neuro acoustics has sway over the general populace at any point in this region, as well as in my own home region," he continued. "While it only works on those with weak minds, the effect it has over such a large quantity of people cannot go unnoticed, nor unchecked. This is why I, and a Star-Fleet's worth of strong-minded trueborn soldiers, have come here. Should this be allowed to go unchecked, there is no telling what events may unfold. I also believe it would be in the best interests of your own people to keep at least a wary eye on this region."

OOC: Well I hope the mess was easy to clean up and all.:) Happens to the best of us on occasion.

IC:

The ship facing the sloop began scanning it for all the relevant information it could find, and the other ships did likewise with the fleet infront of them, of course, it was like taking away a near-sighted persons glasses, and asking them to describe in detail a painting ten feet away, since the sensors were not at their peak.

OOC: and being such a person myself, I can tell you it would be nothing more than a blur of indescriminate color.

IC:

Meanwhile, the small ship found an appropriate place to dock, and did so.

Mr. Wier Doh had come alone, as a sign of good faith. He waited paitently for the doors to be opened for him.

OOC: I've re-written the ending I had in mind for this, I hope it doesn't die of inactivity. Either way, I can begin Dark Ressurection now.