NationStates Jolt Archive

((A brief note...I am no hard sci-fi writer. My grasp of math is basic at best and my scientific prowess is definitely not up to the task of writing proper hard sci-fi. I like to think of it as 'glazed' sci-fi, IE: It looks hard, until you poke it a bit. Its also more shiny than the regular sort ;) ))

Space is a strange place. In some of the stranger places, things are so strange that they're downright ordinary, as if they're so strange that they approach the ordinary coming from, as it were, the opposite direction. This is once such case. In a galaxy not dissimilar from our own, with roughly an equivalent number of stars, we find a solar system which, while similar, is not precisely identical to our own.
Focusing further, we find ourselves looking at the systems four inner planets, spinning happily around a yellow sun. Venus, its still called Venus, is rotating in the proper direction for a planet this time and is a bit more mild. A human might possibly last for a whole minute on the surface before succumbing to a horrible death by suffocation and being dissolved or dessicated in the hundred degree heat.
The next planet along, much more hospitable this time, is Earth. All the requisite continents are present, and most of the islands. The inhabitants are generally born with two arms, two legs, two eyes, ears, etc. etc., except in a few sad cases which don't bear mentioning. Regardless, its Earth as we know it. With a few minor changes. For instance, the language of the Roman Empire was English, spoken with a British accent of course.
So, skipping all the boring bits, let us focus on the immediate history of the planet, starting with what most humans born and raised on Earth would think of as 2013 AD.

The First International Space Fleet, all of ten ships now, hovered in a fashion which, if the vessels in question had been capable of emotion or thought, might have been construed as 'nervous'.
IN particular, the captain of the Luxion, the first ship of the class of the same name, was especially nervous. Until recently it had all been jokes about the shape of the ship. They didn't seem to funny now, really. He was about to be, as far as he and everybody else on the ships nearby and the planet below were concerned, one of the first humans to travel faster than the speed of light. The bridge of the Luxion was not overly cramped, indeed, it had a large window of sorts, which provided a fine view of space. The bridge itself was fairly large as well, having space for an elevated command deck, on which the captain and the more important crew members could sit. The whole affair was somewhat utilitarian since there was a strong possibility that the ship wouldn't be coming back, and nobody wanted to spend more money than was required on what many viewed as a one-shot vessel.
Still, they had could have at least spared the money for a decent chair for the captain to sit in.
Sqruweeeeeeeeeeeerk
The captain winced as he rotated the chair to take in the equally nervous crewmen next to him.
"Is everything prepared?"
"Aye, sir. The crew is currently on level-two alert. Engineering reports that the V-M will be charged in thirty seconds."
"Good...good. Close the viewscreen and lets get this done."
Early trials had shown that while theoretically safe to view, the light show that was subspace would certainly be distracting for those on the bridge. It probably caused cancer too.
Thick metal screens ascended from the sides of the window, closing out the stars. Navigation would be via sensors from this point onwards. The officer at the sensor station reported that their acceleration path was clear.
The mission was fairly simple. Accelerate to .9 lightspeed, then warp to BK-205 and back. Not a long trip...if the technology worked.
"Inertial canceler is at full power." The ships computer reported in its standard blank monotone, "Preparing to accelerate..." Somewhere at the back of the ship, something roared and the vessel shuddered, "Acceleration successful. Present speed is .05 lightspeed. Second acceleration phase begins in one hour."

"The "Luxion", Earth's most advanced starship to date, began what is to be a historic journey today. The ship is equipped with a new 'degeneracy drive', a miracle of modern technology which allows the ship to surpass the speed of light, more on that story at five. And now the local weather. Reports of showers of fish in the Sahara are greatly exaggerated, says a Berber chief, according to local sources it was only one fish..."

One day later, for the crew of Luxion, anyway, they emerged above BK-205 and were promptly welcomed with a barrage of bright projectiles, which seared ship and fried most of its sensors. Something large and unpleasant made itself visible to starboard. It was, vaguely, spaceship shaped. A huge triangle, perhaps a mile long. Mostly it was shades of green and purple, with an occasional pink patch. It pulsed in places. Tubes floated from various bits of it. It was, horribly, menacingly, alive. A second barrage of lights smashed into the ships rear, destroying half its engines and sucking a good portion of the crew into space.
In this time, the Luxion managed to perform an about turn and make an emergency acceleration, dispatching a message ahead of itself, just in case.
Luxion never came back, in 2015 it vanished 250 million lightyears from Earth. Its message did, though.
It showed the aliens, thousands of them, maybe millions. It was hard to tell, since the cameras view was somewhat restricted by the viewport.
There was a silver lining though. The degeneracy reactor worked perfectly. Humanity had a weapon to fight these things, although right now their greatest weapon was secrecy. The Luxion reported that they would change direction repeatedly to shake of pursuit, and if pursuit could not be shaken...
The last part of the message was a goodbye from the crew. There was a size limit, but enough space for ten seconds from each crewman. Not nearly enough to say goodbye, but far better than nothing.

We interrupt your regular programming to bring you this emergency announcement. The exploration ship Luxion has reportedly vanished, having failed to make two scheduled check-ins. Currently authorities are investigating the matter, but few are expressing hope that contact will be re-established with Earth's first faster-than-light vessel..."

"...and, therefore, in the spirit of the continued survival of humanity, the government of the United States of America signs these accords, pledging our support to the Republic of Earth." The man in the blue suit spoke gravely. The United States had been a holdout, along with the Soviet Union, most of the larger European states, China, Japan, and the other 'powers'. In the end, the threats of economic sanctions, their own citizens, and giant space bugs had gotten to them. One after another, Earth's governments had signed on with the RoE, which, while theoretically allowing its member nations to retain their sovereignty, maintained an iron-fisted grip on any real power.
It took a mere three years for the entire planet to come under sway of the Republic of Earth, a further two to stamp out the last nationalist rebels, and one more year to determine who was in charge of what.
Still, the formation of the Republic was, for the majority of the planets population, a great improvement. A global standard of human rights was rigidly enforced, proper agricultural aid was provided to famine-stricken areas and, for once, not promptly confiscated by local warlords. The world economy, suddenly finding itself without borders, promptly exploded and, although it leveled out fairly quickly, it also remained somewhat stable.
The Space Forces had promptly boomed as well. A flood of recruits, overflowing with patriotic spirit, had signed up for A Life of Adventure!, enrolling in specialized schools. Four years of RSF High School, two to six years of RSF College, depending on your post, got you into the Space Forces. In theory. In practice there were a slew of other requirements, and these, while unpublished, were well known. Nationalists weren't welcomed, for example.
Meanwhile, the military budgets of the world went into orbit. Shipyards, easily doubling and tripling the size of the one that had constructed the first-generation Luxion began pumping out the Human races next generation of starship, sleeker than Luxion and much more heavily armed. These formed the First Earth Expeditionary Space Fleet, which would destroy the Space Monsters, as they were popularly known, ridding Humanity of the only threat had, thus far, encountered.
Of the thousands of ships dispatched, five came back. Barely. One emerged from warp six thousand miles out from Pluto's orbit. Another fell into Jupiter. Another, its failsafes failing in spectacular fashion, crashed into Earth's moon at %12 of the speed of light. This doesn't sound like much, but at eighty million miles per hour, the crew of the ship had little time to react. The resulting impact was quite impressive, and killed an estimated two million people in the resulting impacts on Earth. Not a high death toll considering the event which they were connected with, but enough to shake things up, certainly. For instance, the company which designed the failsafes to prevent a ship from exiting warp too close to celestial objects was not chartered to design systems for the third generation ships.

There was no news that day. The Impact Event took out most of the planets smaller satellites.

And now we come to the present...

Many changes had been made over the past decade. The occasional human foray against the Space Monsters had produced the occasional success, as specialized technology was developed to counter their thick hides and healing abilities, as well as their seemingly supernatural resistance to conventional mass driver weaponry.
The Exellion was the pride and joy of the Republic of Earth. A massive arrowhead shape, nearly eight kilometers long, mounting enough heavy weapons to take on the entire First Expeditionary Force and with numerous improvements to its equipment. Gone, for instance, were the days of month-long accelerations to the other side of the solar system prior to warp, the new models could jump from anywhere, anytime.
The new Iesurgi Heavy Industries RX-5 model hardsuits had proven successful as well, equipped with what was essentially a combination cattle prod and spear, they were an effective counter to the Space Monster 'fighters', basically a sort of giant flying crab with tentacles. A development by the Japanese, they retained several aesthetic features of one of the nations which stubbornly retained its national identity even in the days of world government. Giant robots were something of a passion, and, although not the most efficient configuration, they worked, and the military liked them for a slew of reasons. They were impressive, provided plenty of weapons space and proved easy for new recruits to orient themselves in.
The Soviet-developed F-2 'Cosmo Attack fighter' showed some promise as well, carrying the traditional carrier-fighter over into space with its detachable wings. Space was a critical factor in space, after all. The fighters weren't very effective at combating the Space Monsters 'fighter' crabs, which could charge direction and orientation in such a way that a person in a fighter would find it hard to keep up, but they had proven quite effective against larger configurations when armed with atomic weapons.
Exellion itself mounted banks of lasers, huge lenses twenty feet across mounted in banks of ten, supplemented by 'light' versions to deter smaller enemies. Exellion could deliver a broadsides of a hundred and twenty of the larger beams. Several 'tricks' even enabled the beams to be 'guided' slightly, adding a little curve to their path, allowing for the beams to be 'aimed' to some degree. Supplementing these armaments were sixteen photonic torpedo bays, eight to a side, which could have, if deployed on Earth, destroyed an area roughly the size of Belgium. While not terribly impressive this was sufficient for the mission designated to Exellion and its fleet.

Exellion was not the only undertaking of the Republic Space Fleet. Three 'defense rings' were planned, should the enemy ever locate the home of mankind. A variety of space stations, equipped with warp engines, were established at a designated distance from the sun. The closest to Earth, roughly the same distance from Earth as the asteroid belt, called for nearly the same amount of resources per kilometer defended as the Exellion. Thankfully, humanity was no longer restricted to Earth's resources. A number of asteroids had found themselves cored out. Mars had a population of a million and Venus was rapidly being stripped of anything useful.
Some felt guilty about this, strip-mining on such a scale simply to enable humanity to survive, but most adopted the "At least our future generations will have SOMETHING to worry about, and if you don't like it youre welcome to leave." attitude.

The Luxion came home in 2031, although for the ship it had only been a month. The bridge was gone, but the ship was managing to maintain .97 lightspeed, with no crew. Unable to halt the ship, it was allowed to continue barreling off into space, although its estimated path was tracked, carefully recorded for future reference and, one might hope, retrieval.
Luxion was lost after some time, but construction on its successor was rapidly completed.

((OOC:
I guess a few things can happen at this point. It seems HIGHLY unlikely that anybody is going to happen upon Earth (II) with a fleet of warships or anything, since its in a different and, apart from Earth and the Space Monsters, uninhabited galaxy. An explorer ship of some sort though might just happen upon the silly humans though. Considering the method of power theyre using the destruction of their ships would be quite noticable to anybody with decent sensors. Those mini-black holes tend to make themselves known when they (metaphorically) go 'boom'.
The Luxion might be found somewhere or other if it fell into a wormhole at some point somewhere. Stranger things have happened.
Last in my theoretically 'ways things can happen' list, somebody might happen upon the Space Monsters, but, keep in mind, there are many billions of them and theyre very tough. Those who've seen Gunbuster will know what I mean. But since theyre in this particular galaxy, I dont think they'll be following anybody home unless you really, really, want them to.))

OOC FYI i would find it with a fleet as i don't waste money on explorer ships and been to II earth many times, but welcome to FT

OOC FYI i would find it with a fleet as i don't waste money on explorer ships and been to II earth many times, but welcome to FT

OOC: You don't 'waste money' on explorer ships, and so instead you have entire fleets on exploration duties? That's a bit of a backwards way of looking at things, seeing as fleets cost more to operate...

Plus, I think by Earth (II) he means Earth (2), not Earth (International Incidents), meaning that it's a parallel Earth in a different galaxy.

Anyway, I might post here later on if nobody else does. I would do so right now but the gym is calling...

OOC: Anything special you are looking for in this rp?

OOC: You don't 'waste money' on explorer ships, and so instead you have entire fleets on exploration duties? That's a bit of a backwards way of looking at things, seeing as fleets cost more to operate...

Plus, I think by Earth (II) he means Earth (2), not Earth (International Incidents), meaning that it's a parallel Earth in a different galaxy.

Anyway, I might post here later on if nobody else does. I would do so right now but the gym is calling...

ooc I said a fleet which are made of 4 Drone Corvettes , but hey if you like using entire fleets go ahead

and are Earths no long around due to the ruling that was passed

OOC: http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=528525

Its for the alternate Earths where people plays as the various nations of the world? Its the real life alternate history based threads, not Earth is my homeworld too.

OOC: Anything special you are looking for in this rp?

((Not particularly. Eventualy I imagine most of the NSverse (if there is such a thing :P) is going to notice my little galaxy.
I am rather hoping that nobody is going to step in with some Goddevice and wipe out all the Space Monsters in one fell swoop. That'd be rather annoying :P))

((Due to RL drama and some duties relating to another board, this story will be going rather slowly, sad to say. BRACE FOR IMPACT, 10,000 INTERNETS, etc.))

Exellion, when viewed from a distance, in space, was not terribly impressive. Its weapons were mostly concealed, is nondescript blue hull showed little in the way of decoration. The kilometer long viewing gallery along the ships spine looked like a small greenhouse, which is sort of what it was. The bridges were even less impressive, when viewed from the outside.
Closer in, though, the impression changed.
Eight kilometers of armor plate, engines the size of a small town, massive hangars holding the ships compliment of eight hundred hardsuits, a thousand fighters, and, quite simply, the ship itself. A huge arrowhead, prominantly displaying the flag of the Republic of Earth on its bow. The flag didnt do much, it was in space after all, and it had to be retracted during Warp, but it was the thought that counted. The original design had called for a small device which would make the flag wave dramatically, but this had been removed to save resources.
Around Exellion the fleets of Earth were assembled. TWo thousand ships, complimented by the Defence Rings encircling the system. It had taken many years and the combined effort of most of the population of Earth, but when the entire species is at stake, one can only take so many options. The military forces of the combined militaries of Earth (only one military, actually, but many nations liked to think they had some measure of control over their armies at this point) easily totaled in the hundreds of millions now, although even that combined effort was not enough to provide for the ravenous resource consumption required to build such fleets as were now in orbit of the planet.

A new bridge now. This one is slightly better decorated than the Luxions.
The first impression that strikes one on entering the bridge of the Exellion is the open space. It looks vaugly like an old-fashioned stock market back on Earth, the displays spready out over a large area in order to allow traffic flow. A massive curved window many meters above the deck allows a view into space, reducing the sense of claustrophobia even more. Above the main deck the command deck, where the captain, high officers and the more essential combat-related stations were set. Here a small botanical display is set. Plants are common around the ship, large and small, more as a suppliment to life support than life support itself. Still, they looked nice and helped to keep the 'recycled air' taste under control, which had plauged Earth's previous ships where space was more of an issue.
The ship had six rail lines, allowing rapid travel from virtually any point on the ship, a fine thing considering the sheer size of the vessel. One COULD, in theory, walk from one end of the vessel to another, but it would take some time.

It was December of 2031, although you would'nt have known it in space, where it was basically the same climate year round.
Exellion and its compliment were slowly manuvering into position, angling for the best position to enter Warp.
"VM charged to %103, ready to initiate entry to sub-space."
"Sensors report entry path is clear."
"Sub-space engines ready. Engineering reports that first-phase acceleration motors are prepared."
"Northern Fleet reports ready...southern fleet reports %99 charge, estimate one minute to full charge. Western fleet reports ready. Eastern fleet reports ready."
The ships captain, a Japanese man by the name of Tashiro, stood in front of the command chair. It was a very impressive chair indeed, complete with a small display built into the arm. It didnt squeak.
"All ships," The Captains English was close to perfect, the product of the military schools, "...is this on? Ahem...we are embarking on a historic journey, one from which we may not return. Until now our ships have proven ineffective against the Space Monsters, our expeditions have returned in poor condition or not at all...many soldiers have lost their lives in our struggle for survival."
"This ship, and the rest of our fleets, are the most technically advanced ships yet produced by Earth's shipyards, a combined effort by all of Humanity to give us a fighting chance against an enemy who knows no pity, and who seeks only to destroy." Tashiro paused to wipe his brow with a handerchief, "All ships, commence warp!"

With that, space was ripped open at two thousand points across the sky, generating a lightshow visible from Earth, as each ship made its own entry into subspace, begining the long trip to BK-205, the site of humanities first encounter with the Space Monsters.

BK-205 stood out like a huge red wound on the screens and in the windows of the ships of the Second Expeditionary Force. Sunspots, like livid, running sores, moved across its surface. Even those without the benefit of scientific training could easily see that it was a dying star. An ugly black belt had accrued around the star, giving it an even more sickly appearance.
"This is impossible! Luxion reported a young yellow star here! We all saw it! What the HELL is going on?" Even Tashiro momentarily lost his cool, seeing a star age billions of years in a decade was not a normal occurence.
"Navigation reports in. Constellational data is a match. This is BK-205."
Tashiro, and most of the crew, were dumbstruck. But time is an expensive luxury when campaigning in space.
The captain was one of the first to escape inertia.
"Sensors, full sweep of the system! Report all contacts. All other ships prepare for micro-warp if required. Issue a level-three alert, I want battlestations NOW!"
"Contacts! Sensors report thirty contacts...fourty now...fifty and climbing! The enemy is rounding the systems star. Estimated distance is eight AU. At present course contact will be in fourty three hours...around the fourth planet."
If pointed out, one could just distinguish the Space Monsters now pouring out from behind the sun. Each the size of a standard human capital ship, some the same size as, or larger, than the Excelion. The fast-moving (for a stellar object) dots twinkled in an almost-friendly fashion...except to those who knew what they were.

"Distance is 1.8 light seconds, 3.6 seconds required to confirm accurate hit! All batteries ready!" The officer at the tactical station was frantically managing the information pouring into his console. All across the bridge frantic action was breaking out as the ship prepared for its first taste of combat.
"Enemy count has passed four thousand! We cant track all of them!"
"Theyre launching fighters, estimate over ten thousand!"
"Julion reports engine two has failed, theyre taking a reserve position."
"Prepare to load, torpedo tubes open!"
"Open the shields and fire when ready!" Tashiro bellowed over the ever-increasing babble which now permeated the bridge, one hand indicated the fleet display which was positioned prominently at the front of the bridge, allowing easy viewing for all, "Have Tarzion and Halion take their sections below the main enemy force, all ships to full speed!"
Across Exellion's hull the massive doors protecting the laser lenses slid out and up, providing a clear field of fire for each cannon. Red lenses winked brightly as the mechanical devices beneath them brought emitters and focusing lenses into alignment.

"All Hardsuit Divisions, this is Lt. Commander Fedotov. As you know, we are about to engage the enemy. This will be the first use of hardsuits in actual combat, but rest assured, your training has not been wasted! You are some of Earth's finest pilots, trained to the highest standard! Remember, the half-life of the Californium bombs is three hours. Return before that time is up. Use your own judgement to maintain a 1000 meter distance between sutis and if the order to retreat is given, you are to follow it immidiatly. You hold back we'll leave you to dry out in space! That is all!"

"FIRE!"
Starting from the ships bow, each laser lense discharged its pent-up energy, unleashing a broadsides which would have made Wellington and Nelson envious to the very core. Firing for a full second, a single beam was enough to reduce a mid-sized country not only to ash, but to a crater with its bottom well below sea level.
The beams, arcing slightly in their path to correct for the formation of the Excelion and its fleet, each beam left a faint trail in its wake.
Three seconds later, with their impact, space itself seemed to catch fire. With the sheer number of enemy ships it was virtually impossible to miss. Accurate damage assessment at this distance was virtually impossible in the current circumstances, but it was hoped that the laser volley could, at least, deter the enemy fleet from making direct contact so soon.

"First volley hit...waiting to confirm damage. Begin launching fighters and hardsuits!"
"Roger. Clearing gases from launch chambers..."
"Gases clear. Opening launch tubes."

The seried rows of hardsuits in the hanger of the Excelion were impressive, even when inside another hardsuit. At eight meters each was equipped with a single Californium bomb, highly explosive and highly radioactive, and an electric lance. As yet no effective laser armament had been developed that could fit into a standard hardsuit design, but the lance was shown to be effective in experimental conditions.
Pilots willing to pay could adopt their own paintjobs, within regulations. As it was, the hangar looked like a gathering of giant medieval knights. With jetpacks.
The other ships of the fleet, visible against the blackness of space, were already unleashing their own ships and suits into the void, leaving behind a trail of bright points as they accelerated towards the oncoming enemy fleet.

As the battle opened between the Humans and the Space Monsters, a single ship suddenly appeared in the system, about twenty-five kilometers from the battle. Ridiculously close, but then the Novus hadn't anticipated any life in this region. Their probes had not covered the entirety of this galaxy yet, and as such, they had not encountered anything on either race yet. So, they simply sent a single frigate, using an Inertial Accelerator, to go scope out the system and see if it was worthy of colonization. The ship appeared instantaneously, but was really just slowing down from the astronomical speeds that were normal for using the Accelerator drive.

This ship was a simple, little, Particle-class frigate. It was not capable of standing up to enemy capital ships in a one-on-one fight. However, the Novus ships, even when having numerical superiority, never took ships head to head unless they knew they could win. As such, this ship was designed to use hit and run tactics, and use its superior speed and maneuverability to make the enemy try to chase them and pick them off as they came. Even the frigate, however, would be hard put to face the horde that was coming at the Humans now. The A.I. in control of the ship, a unit known as Cellus, stood on the "bridge" of his ship, his small OHM Robot body not giving justice to the immense mind which ran the ship. Then again, he wasn't truly standing; he was immobilized by the machine he was in, which ran the ship and allowed him to essentially "be" the ship.

This eliminated the needs for crews, even other A.I.'s and made ships one entities; communications and fleet maneuvers were as easy as cake for the Novus. Cellus, as soon as he arrived knew he was in trouble. He jerked the ship awake, the shields and weapons coming online. He had it veer off to the right, and set the engines on full burn. He had to attempt to get some distance between him and the immense forces battling each other in the system, to buy time for the interplanetary node to be built so he He sent orders for the nanite fabricators to come online and began generating an interplanetary node. It would be the basic one and drift through space but he needed reinforcements and needed them now. Orders for startup reached the few interceptor squadrons Cellus had on board, and they began to initiated power-up protocols, as arms moved them into position for deployment. The ships sensors washed over the battle, trying to take in all the data it could handle, while trying to match the energy signatures and the ships of both sides with their databanks. When they ultimately failed, as Cellus knew they would, to make a match, Cellus opened a channel to the Great Network, seeking contact with Mirabel. All of this so far had taken one second to initiate.


*****************

Mirabel (http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k308/Nirokasa/?action=view&current=viktor_mirabel.png) was the standing general of all the Novus forces. She had fought on, and continued to do so on Earth, in an effort to win out against the Hierarchy. The battles with the Masari were lessening, as the ancient race and the Novus appeared to have gone into an unofficial truce, struggling to put a stop to the Hierarchy forces left on Earth. It was a fierce struggle, with the Hierarchy refusing to back down. Her frail, human-like body was encased in the massive suit of armor, known as the semi-sentient Viktor. Together, they fought tremendous battles in the name of the Novus and to avenge those who had been lost.

As she watched construction of one of their bases to protect one of the few remaining human outposts left, the rumbling voice of her suit sounded in her ears. "Incoming message from Unit 0034567 Cellus. Classification of signal: Priority One."

Mirabel started from her seat. It had to be serious if a single frigate was calling for help on a priority channel. She mentally opened a channel and look to see Cellus, who looked a lot like she did. Not surprisingly, the Novus wanted to bring back her race, so they took on virtual avatars as they would look if they were Creators; the ultimate form of worship. "What's the situation, Cellus? You were just on a scouting mission, weren't you?"

The A.I. let out a worried breath. "Don't I wish, Mirabel. It would appear our probes didn't catch everything in this galaxy yet. There appears to be a human like race, if I can match some of the constructions I am reading on sensors here to known records of humans on Earth. They are currently some unknown type of alien. There's a lot of both, though the aliens are much more numerous. Whether either are hostile to me, or both, I am seriously outnumbered here. I am currently setting to work on a basic interplanetary node. I call, no, I beg to have a battle group sent to aid my position. I am in danger of being overwhelmed as we speak. I am certain they will begin chasing me soon." The A.I. paused and cursed. "Looks like I was right. Send the reinforcements quickly; I do not know how long I can delay. Cellus out."

The channel cut off and Mirabel's brows furrowed. They needed every ship right now for defense, but they weren't at the point they could just shrug off the loss of a ship either. If Cellus was destroyed, he wasn't in any danger. A backup routine on the ship would send him back home safely far before the ship was destroyed, keeping him safe. However, the loss of a ship right now would set back the Novus significantly.

And if they found humans, she could find a race a lot like herself that she could talk to.....

************

Cellus cursed as his ship rocketed a bit away from the battle, going in the direction the Human fleet was coming from, being chased by hostiles. He didn't know who exactly, he had been distracted at the time, and the many tasks he was running were holding up his resources from investigating for the moment. Work on the interplanetary node was just beginning, the nanites have gone through the awakening process and beginning to draw from the raw material stores to begin their construction. He was also informed that almost all the interceptors were awake, all diagnostics looking good, and in place for deployment. He just needed a bit more time. Just a bit more....

He configured the energy cannons for scattershot mode, allowing it fire bolts of energy at high speeds, giving it good anti-fighter/point defense properties, as well as prepping the antimatter beams and cannons for heavy duty. The enemy wasn't in range yet, but they would be soon. He thought of changing a communication, but he decided not to chance it. It would use up vital resources and may even draw more on his head. He glanced at the mission clock. Five seconds. Dammit, a second slower than last time; he'd have to make up for that somehow.

He kept an eye on the incoming enemies as he rocketed around, buying time for the interplanetary node. If he only had more time.......

OOC:

With your permission I will participate.

It's been a long time since we RPed together. A couple years at least.

OOC:

With your permission I will participate.

It's been a long time since we RPed together. A couple years at least.

((I'm not the original DGNT. He gave me this nation since he didnt want it to die when he left.
You can participate though :D
I'll respond tommmorow if I have time, but its pretty busy this time o' th' year.))

((Alright...long story short, stuff happened and my post was lost. I cant STAND rewriting -_-
So...here is an abbreviated version.))

"Sir! Contact five light-seconds off the starboard bow! Its a ship, sir!"
Tashiro blinked, he didnt have any ships out there, "One of ours?"
"Nosir, we cant identify it. It isnt a Space Monster, though!"
"Thank God," Relief was evident in the captains voice. The last thing the fleet needed now as more enemies...unless this was a new enemy, "Try to get them behind our own fleet. If there's another intelligent race out there they might be willing to help us! Use English, if they dont understand that flash the landing lights at them or something! Just dont blow them up." The captain was sweating slightly. Almost a quarter of the tactical display was concealed by a solid field of winking red dots now. The laser barrages apparently hadnt done anything to slow them down.
"Aye, sir. Signalling now..."

MESSAGE BEGINS...UNKNOWN VESSEL PROCEEDE AT BEST SPEED TO PORTSIDE OF THE FLEET...STOP...WE WISH TO INITIATE DIPLOMATIC CONTACT IF POSSIBLE...STOP...PRESENT SITUATION IS NOT CONDUCIVE TO STEADY NEGOTIATIONS...FULL STOP...MESSAGE REPEATS....UNKOWN VESSEL...

Launching in pairs, the hardsuits of Excelion and its acompanying starships rapidly formed up behind the screen of fighters, ready to recieve the brunt of the initial enemy fighter assault. Typical Space Monster tactics seemed to consist of a massive fighter assault, followed by the larger and tougher 'capital' space monsters. These were equipped with a variety of weapons and came in a slew of different designs. The two primary types seemed to consist of a 'barrage' vessel armed with an organic plasma weapon, and a more streamlined sort which launched miniature versions of itself ('miniature' being up to two kilometers long.), which acted as huge projectile weapons.
Virtually all Space Monsters carried a compliment of 'fighters', which employed their claws to deadly effect against both fighters and, if allowed, the hulls of larger ships. Most theorized that the 'fighters' were some sort of 'worker' which maintained the larger ships when they werent in combat, but with so few specimines captured, none alive, it was hard to determine anything at all about them.

CRACK!
Lt. Cross winced...this was his...well...it was EVERYBODIES first taste of combat with the Space Monsters. In untested suits, against some sort of vetrans...maybe.
Well...it wasnt all bad. At least the Space Monsters werent too smart.
"Contact, coming from above! Cross, take it down!"
With practised ease, Cross lauched himself upwards, extending the spear in front of him. The small screen that was his view to the outside world suddenly filled itself with a huge battlecrab, which had a spear in its face. Grinning grimly, Cross jammed a button on the side of his left joystick sent a jolt of electricity through the spear, causing the creature he had impaled to twitch madly for a few seconds before going limp, its numerous limbs floating randomly instead of moving with deadly purpose as they had been just a moment ago.
Suddenly, his monitor scrambled, displaying static in place of the starfield. A moment later it flicked back into focus, and then the wash of radio static cleared.
"Tarzion has been hit! Sever damage...no! Theyre going down! All units in the area brace for the shockwave!"
The pilot glanced around frantically. Tarzion was in the upper-left quadrant, right?
The suit suddenly shook, its joints popping and groaning as a wave of debries and gas blew past him. The shockwave mainly came from the virtually simultanious implosion/explosion of the ships degeneracy reactor. Once exposed to a natural environment they deteriorated in a matter of picoseconds, generally drawing in the majority of the mass in the area, then popping out of existance, sort of.
Cross vaugly wondered if the x-rays would make everybody in the area sterile.

((Hello...?))

OOC: Joining in rather abruptly if you don't mind.


UNS Valhalla


The ship jerked out of sub space, hurling anyone standing to the ground. "Report!" The crewman whipped his fingers over his console. " To much subspace interference." The Captain noded. "Bring it on screen." The screen resolved into a massive battle, several ships engaged strange pyramid constructs. "Who do we help, sir?" The captain scratched his stubble. "Arm the SD cannons and Mass drivers, lets see how well those pyramids hold out. In the mean time, get me a line to all of the other ships." The crewman noded and the Captain cleared his throat. "This is Captaim Jason Templar of the Union Naval Ship Valhalla, need any help?"

((Pyramids? >_>))

"Another one, sir!"
"Another WHAT?" The captain of the Excelion was looking somewhat harrased now, "We've been in space for decades and NOW all the aliens show up! Tell them to get out of the way!"
"Err...aye, sir!"

MESSAGE BEGINS...EXCELION REQUESTS YOU MOVE TO THE PORTSIDE OF THE FLEET AND AVOID ENGAGEMENT...STOP...ADVISE YOU AVOID ALL WRECKAGE.

Moments after the message was sent another capital ship went up, its degeneracy reactor peforming the standard spectacular simultanious implosion/explosion, throwing out all sorts of unpleasant radiation and wreckage as those bits that didnt get sucked in were promptly accelerated to insane speed.
The two fleets were now at a distance measurable in kilometers, which, in terms of capital ship combat, was almost a fistfight. The Expeditionary Force's ships were starting to look slightly worn, whereas the Space Monsters virtually inexhaustable numbers kept their ships looking mostly fresh, although to judge by the amounts of wreckage visible both sides had suffered heavily.

"Numidion reports heavy damage to bow, their primary targetting systems are offline!"
"Captain! The bow is gone! We've lost the secondary bridge!"
Tashiro grimaced, his hat had been lost in some previous impact and he hadnt been able to find it. The tactical display was offline now, and the damned Space Monsters just kept coming.
Suddenly, a massive impact rocked the entire Excelion, followed immidiatly by an echoing explosion and a hissing noise audible even on the bridge.
"Report!" The captain practically leaped out of his seat.
"We've been hit by one of those spikes, its gone all the way through! No boarders reported ye-!"
The report was promptly cut off as a horrible screech, the sound one might imagine a sentient washing machine being run through a sawmill might make, signaled another hit.
"Another one! Grazing hit to the starboard side, it didnt stick but its torn a hole across the top of the ship!"
"Laser function is down %87, three torpedo tubes are still operational!"
"Medic! Get a medic! Louis is bleeding!"
"Recall the hardsuits." Captain Tashiro suddenly seemed calmer, "Order the fleet to prepare for an emergency warp! Signal the aliens to follow us using whatever it is they used to get here in the first place, because we're getting out of Dodge!"
"Estimate ten minutes to charge the VM...we've lost most of the secondary reactors, sir!"
"Alright, that gives us time to recover the hardsuits and fighters..." Sitting back in the captains chair, Tashiro winced as something impacted on the bridges shielding...Now it was up to the ships themselves to hold out...
There was a cough behind him.
"Sir." The accent was unmistakable. Somehow the former Soviet Union's ethnic Russians had managed to hold onto their accent, despite the near-universal implimentation of English as a global language.
"Commander Fedotov, we're a bit occupied right now. Shouldnt you be in the han-"
Fedotov promptly cut the captain off, "Sir, I request permission to use it."
"...Its not even fully operational yet! And totaly untested! Who the HELL would be dumb enough to pilot it?" Despite his previous calm, the captain had developed a facial twitch. Normally he dealt well with stress, but the casualty figures had unnerved him.
"I have full confidence in the pilots, Captain. Lt. Kiel is one of our best pilots."
"I wont allow it! The machine is a last resort only! We wont use it unless there is no other option!"
"We may not have many other opti-"
"Captain, hangar seven is opening! Its an unauthorized launch!"
Fedotov did his best not to look too satisfied.
"He seems to have decided on his own, sir."
Tashiro swore, "Get him on the radio! I wont sacrifice the Buster Machine to cover our retreat!"

---

Both Lt. Kiel was feeling slightly flushed at the rebellion. Of course, he was in for it, win or lose. He might well end up being shot for disobeying orders. But in this situation...
The massive black-painted hardsuit was easily over a hundred meters in height, massive motors, silent in space, would probably have deafened anybody standing near the machine on Earth. Compared to the ship it was standing on, indeed, the ships around it, the Buster Machine virtually gleamed, its pristine hull having not yet been marred by combat.
"...to return to the hangar IMMIDIATLY!"
Kiel shook his head, even if the gesture couldnt be seen by those on the bridge, "No, sir. We've got thirty minutes of power and we're damn well going to use it! We can hold out, sir!"
There was silence for a long moment, then;
"We cant stop you, I guess. Just keep in mind that the Buster Machine is worth more than everything else on this ship combined! If you lose it I'll hunt you down in whatever afterlife you believe in and ensure that you suffer for a LONG time!"
"Aye, SIR!"
If the universe had any sense for this sort of thing, dramatic music would have begun to play at this point. It didnt, though. Kiel was slightly disappointed.

"The Buster Machine has launched sir, contact in twenty seconds..."
"Wish him luck." Captain Tashiro glared at Fedotov, "Your skin is on the line too."

The Buster Machine, the designation for a hardsuit equipped with one or more degeneracy reactors, was probably host to the heaviest concentration of weapons ever crammed into a single platform by humanity. Five miniaturized laser cannons, on each hand, missile launchers in the wrists, a variety of melee weapons incorporated into the hands and feet, and, best of all, a high-powered energy-beam which took up most of the 'head'. This had been christened the 'Buster Beam' by the inventors, resulting in the name for the mech itself.
Presently, it was living up to its name.
Easily brushing aside lesser foes, Kiel was able to concentrate on the capital-class space monsters.
One key aspect of the Buster Machine design was that its power plant produced roughly half the power of the design on the Excelion, despite heavy miniturization, allowing for massive amounts of power to be delivered to its weapons systems.
The primary challenge in construction had been preventing the machine from ripping itself apart when turned on. Eventually a system of artificial muscles, combined with special alloy 'bones'. Even so, if the machines power was to fail there was a good risk that it would collapse on itself if in a gravity field.
Now, focus...
A cluster of Space Monster capital ships, overconfident or assuming the Earthlings were retreating, had gathered too close together for its own good.
"Buster beam, FIRE!" Voice commands had been implimented to allow the pilot to concentrate on piloting. Not a simple task, despite the simple controls, consisting of four 'joysticks' (two legs, two arms) and a 'mouse' that responded to a small pointer on the pilots head for targetting. It required concentration, skill, and stamina to keep the Buster Machine operating and in one piece.
Kiel practically laughed, if the action wouldnt have caused the whole machine to convulse wildly. The purple-white beam seared through space, tore apart a wreck, and sliced through the group of space monsters as if they werent even there. Kiel adjusted his aim slightly, drawing the beam up through another group, with equally devastating results.
Kiel wasnt too sure, but it was fairly safe to assume he now held the all-time record for number of Space Monster capital ships downed.
A mere hand gesture took out a group of smaller ships, rendering them into neat sections with the hand-mounted lasers.
And so it went...

Meanwhile, the Expeditionary Force's remaining ships were rapidly forming up for the retreat. With their varying conditions it would take some up to twenty minutes to charge for a entry into subspace, but considering the level of destruction being inflicted by the Buster Machine it seemed that all the ships needed to do was sit back and wait.

((Novus, you still alive?))

Captain templar watched the fleet opposing the pyramids take massive losses. "Open the channel again." The crewan noded. "This is Captain Templar, you guys could really use some help." He noded to the crewman and the channel was cut. "Fire everything we have at those pyramids, I don't want a single living being left on those things." Ports in the hull of the Valhalla opened, revealing its massive armamanets. In less then a second, the SD cannons fired, sending bemas of highly concentrated solar radiation at the pyramids, overwhelming their sheilds and incinerating most of the ship, followed by volleys of mass driver slug, tearing into the other ships. "Open the channel again. This is Captain Templar, where do you need my ship?"

Sorry, been busy prepping for the holiday. I will post as soon as able.

((Theyre not really pyramid shaped, I'd call them conical. Think REALLY BIG cactus spines.))

Excelion was in more than a little trouble. Listing heavily to one side as its failing balancers tried to keep the ship level with the rest of the fleet.
"Fires in blocks 2-5, we're trying to evacuate!"
"We have to vent block 3! If we dont the reserve reactor will go!"
"There are still people in there, though, if we vent it..."
"Phazion is hit! Critical damage to the engineering section...theyre losing the degeneracy reactor!"
"The alien is firing on the Space Monsters! Minimal effect...it looks like theyre trying some sort of solar cannon..."
Tashiro, his cap discarded at this point, slammed a fist onto his command chairs arm, "Tell those idiots that if they dont retreat we're going to leave them! Those bastards are getting reinforcements from somewhere and its more than we can deal with!"
"Aye, sir! Sendi-...sir! Message from Sarion, they've found the source of the Space Monsters reinforcements sir! Its the sun!"
"Who cares!? We're getting out of here, NOW!"
"Sir, theyre coming FROM the sun...inside it, sir!"
The captain blinked once or twice, "There are rumors...it doesnt matter! Send the aliens our estimated emergence coordinates and get out of here! And make sure to recover Buster Machine #1!"

Kiel had been enjoying himself immensly, Buster Machine #1 was far easier to pilot than a standard RX5. The display was intuative, responding to his needs at the time, the voice commands were far easier than memorizing button sequences in the smaller mechs.
Something red flashed in the corner of his eye, a message had come up on the sphereical 360-degree display that surrounded him.
WARNING...POWER RESERVES DOWN TO TEN MINUTES
"Damn! Just when things were getting good, eh? Fine...one more time! Busteeeer...BEAM!"
Once again the strange purple-white beam, unlike any of the lasers mounted on the larger ship, reached out, slicing chunks off of anything it came in contact with, occasionaly leaving a Space Monster to explode as its various fluids came to a boil in less than a milisecond. Explosions, many Space Monsters exploded on death, presumably a chemical reaction of some sort, filed across a near 180-degree arc in front of the massive machine.
A few floating chunks splashed across the machines, quickly boiling into nothing from the heat eminating from the machine.
"This is Excelion, BM1, the captain is recalling you. Excelion is preparing to warp!"
"Roger, Excelion! Just wanted to give them something to remember us by!" Kiel practically laughed. If he'd had more power he might've risked staying and hitching a ride with one of the aliens. "Coming in now..."
Executing a not-so-graceful backflip (the controls were nice, but not perfect just yet), Kiel managed to gouge a couple of trenches in the landing platform, but avoided any excessive damage.

"Buster Machine #1 recovered, all ships, warp NOW!"
Space was, once again, rent asunder as the remainder of Earth's Second Expeditionary Force engaged their VM's, vanishing into subspace in a matter of moments. The strange shifting-white kolaidascope briefly shining out on true-space before vanishing as the engines keeping the rips open passed through and the force withstanding reality was cut off.

As Excelion cleared subspace at its destination, an immidiate scan revealed the severity of the damage to Earth's fleet.
"Sir, we're detecting only %8 of the fleet...most have sustained sever damage..."
"Report from Halcyion, Captain Tyler is requesting permission to evacuate most of his crew to other ships..."
"No response from Farion, Captain. Their comms appear to be damaged..."
Captain Tashiro nodded blankly, staring at the tactical display which flickered back to life. It was little comfort.
Most of the previously glowing-green dots which represented the major vessels under his command were now dull and dead. Some might be broken, of course, but far too many were out even so.
"Order all captains to halt their ships and initiate repairs. Have Tyler move as many men as he can to Excelion. If the aliens followed us tell them I will receive them in my stateroom at their convinience. Its not as if we have anything better to do."

MESSAGE BEGINS...ATTENTION ALIEN VESSEL...STOP...CAPTAIN TASHIRO WILL RECIEVE A DIPLOMATIC PARTY ON EXCELION SHOULD YOU WISH TO ENGAGE IN TALKS...STOP...IF YOU REQUIRE ANY REPAIRS OR ASSISTANCE WE WILL PROVIDE WHAT WE CAN...STOP...MESSAGE REPEATS...ATTENTION ALIEN VESSEL...

Cellus moved his ship with practiced ease, as it headed away from the battle, shooting towards the back of the humanoid fleet. He had deployed several squadrons of interceptors, which were currently running defense around his vessel. They had forced away a couple of these aliens but if they came hard, it'd be almost impossible to stop them.

Cellus noticed an incoming message coming from the fleet he was bypassing and he put the message through:

MESSAGE BEGINS...UNKNOWN VESSEL PROCEEDE AT BEST SPEED TO PORTSIDE OF THE FLEET...STOP...WE WISH TO INITIATE DIPLOMATIC CONTACT IF POSSIBLE...STOP...PRESENT SITUATION IS NOT CONDUCIVE TO STEADY NEGOTIATIONS...FULL STOP...MESSAGE REPEATS....UNKOWN VESSEL...


Cellus was surprised, then relieved. They weren't hostile; at least overtly. He pulled the ship into an insane maneuver most other ships could not match, due to having to keep their organic crews alive. The interceptors followed as he headed for the portside of the fleet.

This is Cellus of the Novus Empire. I am heading for the portside area now. I suggest we save the negotiations for after the battle. We need to focus on fighting back these creatures, then contact can be opened. Cellus out.


The subspace alarms blared, as they detected the arrival of the UHS Valhalla, and he received the subsequent message. For the moment, he ignored it. It was mostly directed to the fleet of humans, and he had a interplanetary node to tend to. He quickly checked on its progress and saw that it was complete. Relief would have flooded him, if his programming didn't allow for that kind of thing. He jettisoned the device and had an interceptor grab it. As it flew away from the fleet, to gain enough distance to allow the reinforcements to enter without danger of collision, he took note of the tactical situation again.

The human fleet was getting pounded hard, with multiple scars all over the fleet to show the ferocity of the battle. Weapons fire was exchanged but it seemed to do almost nothing to the aliens. However, a single object appeared; some kind of suit. Cellus focused the scanners on it. It appeared to be like the others they had but it had higher power readings. When it fired a beam and destroyed a large alien vessel, Callus made a recording and saved it. The Founder would be interested in this information.

The node was deployed, while all this was going on, and a massive blue portal appeared in space. From it came four ships: two frigates, a cruiser, and a destroyer. They moved forward, deploying interceptors and activated weapons and shields.

”Fleet Unit Farsis to Unit 0034567 , please respond.”

Cellus quickly moved to open his side of the channel.

”Cellus here, good to see you Farsis.”

”Gratitude is nothing. I am doing my job. Be ready; we are engaging the enemy.”

Cellus moved his ship and interceptors to engage alongside the battle group which had arrived.

”Sentients, this is Fleet Unit Farsis. We have come to aid you.”

The ships flung themselves into combat, at speeds which ships normally did not take. They ran circles around the aliens, but the aliens had numbers, and the Novus ships were not that durable. Antimatter beams, pulse fire, and railgun shells going at fractions of .c were fired across space, countered by the aliens own weaponry. Energy scythed through space, kinetics tore through space with silent screams, and interceptors battled enemy fighters in duels to the death. Explosions made a light sky across the battlefield.

Cellus ducked under an energy barrage and moved past the wreckage of fighters, as one shot past his port side, out-of-control and on fire. An explosion registered on sensors near the rear, but he ignored them. He opened fire with everything he had, but they were barely making a dent in the aliens numbers. Energy fire slashed across their shields and the energy levels dimmed quicker than expected. They pulled away for another round, but one of the frigates didn't get away in time. It's shields failed just as a salvo hit it. The massive wave of energy cut through the armor; their hulls just weren't made to handle the firepower being leveled at them. The ship was punctured full of holes, with one blast causing the antimatter reactor to destabilize and a huge explosion tore apart the ship. It was at that moment the sound of retreat was heard from the humans.

”Farsis here. The humans are right; we couldn't win this fight, even if we put everything into it. They are getting reinforcements from the sun.”

”How the hell is that possible?”

”How should I know, Cellus? All I know is we're bugging out. Pull back all fighters, and prepare to follow the coordinates given. Cellus, destroy the gate; we don't want them appropriating our technology and finding where we came from.”

Cellus did as he was ordered, recalling the fighters and turning the node into space dust. The battle group slipped away from the battle, its point defenses furiously batting away the smaller alien craft, to line up in formation. They aimed for the system given by the humans, and then activated the Inertial Accelerators. They built up speed slowly, pushing the engines higher and higher. When they reached a certain point, the IA's kicked in and they shot out of sight.

Twenty minutes later, the Novus battlegroup appeared in the system alongside the humans.

"Captain, at least one of the alien fleets has followed us. They look pretty worn as well, sir."
"Message from Halcyion, they cant stabilize the ship. Captain Tyler is shutting down the reactor and evacuating his remaining personel, sir."
Tashiro, his adrenaline levels now returning to normal, reclined in the captains chair, sweating slightly. He felt that he was, perhaps, getting too old for this sort of thing.
"Comms, invite the aliens over. I'll meet them in hanger three." The captain withdrew a handkerchief from his pocket and mopped his brow, "The bridge is yours, Akasaka."
Tashiro stepped off the bridge, his XO looking slightly worried. Of course, anybody who had just been handed a situation like this should be worried, but protocol was protocol, and Tashiro was technically the only one on board with diplomatic authority. Nobody on Earth had anticipated the need for diplomats in this conflict, as, by all indications until now, humanity and the Space Monsters were the only living things in this galaxy.
After a seemingly endless tram ride, the captain arrived in the hanger, where a small honor guard was being assembled already. A few had managed to obtain uniforms not stained with blood, grease, or any of the thousand other substances which acompanied rapid-repair operations, but many were looking decidedly worse for the wear.

MESSAGE BEGINS...ATTENTION ALIEN VESSELS...STOP...CAPTAIN TASHIRO WILL MEET YOU IN HANGER THREE OF EXCELION...STOP...CAPTAIN TASHIRO ALSO EXTENDS AN OFFER TO ASSIST IN ANY REPAIRS YOU REQUIRE...STOP...OUR THANKS FOR THE ASSISTANCE...STOP...ADVISORY STARSHIP HALCYION IS DRIFTING AND UNPOWERED...STOP...MAINTAIN AT LEAST 100KM DISTANCE...FULL STOP...

The large spike through Excelion's hull was proving troublesome. Attempts to hack, burn, slice and melt it had proven fruitless and explosives seemed to barely dent it. It seemed the only way to be rid of the thing was to gradually chip away at it. A rather thankless and stressful task, requireing long hours in a hardsuit, which was unpleasant enough without having to perform a repetitive and draining task.
Elsewhere, ships were swarming with figures in hardsuits or more standard 'soft' spacesuits, a few maintenance shuttles scooted back and forth, hauling needed supplies from one ship to another, or deploying crew to a particular spot along a ship.
Most of those visible were attempting to look busy and purposeful, mostly in an effort to impress the aliens. After all, having just witnessed humanities finest getting their asses kicked, it was vital to establish SOME good impression.

((Nooooooooooooooooooooovus, Noooooooooooooooooooooovus, dont make me get the water mister.))

OOC: Don't make me get the napalm.

IC:

MESSAGE BEGINS...ATTENTION ALIEN VESSELS...STOP...CAPTAIN TASHIRO WILL MEET YOU IN HANGER THREE OF EXCELION...STOP...CAPTAIN TASHIRO ALSO EXTENDS AN OFFER TO ASSIST IN ANY REPAIRS YOU REQUIRE...STOP...OUR THANKS FOR THE ASSISTANCE...STOP...ADVISORY STARSHIP HALCYION IS DRIFTING AND UNPOWERED...STOP...MAINTAIN AT LEAST 100KM DISTANCE...FULL STOP...

"So, they wish to meet us. Cellus, take over the fleet. I will go over and meet the humans personally."

Cellus was shocked by this. "Are...Are you sure? I've never command a fleet before and-"

"You'll do fine, Cellus. Trust me. They won't be coming here, there are too many defenses, and I doubt they'd follow. Besides, I have reinforcements on call, and plenty of nodes ready to bring them here. Don't worry."

A shuttle left the main ship of the Novus fleet, heading for the Excelion, a message being sent in reply.

"Thanks for the offer, but we will handle our own repairs. We don't want to risk ruining your own repair efforts. And don't thank us for helping; it's what we do. We will keep our distance from the Halyicon and keep an eye on her. I look forward to meeting with you."

MESSAGE BEGINS...AFFIRMATIVE...STOP...WE'LL BE WAITING...FULL STOP

The hanger bay was full of as many spare crewmen as could be mustered. Captain Tashiro stood front-and-center, sweating slightly, but composed enough to try to look like the captain of a ship and admiral of a fleet.
As the Novus shuttle drew even with the hanger, the honor guard snapped to attention and the small band began an assault upon an appropriate piece of reception music, almost as if they had some sort of grudge against the composer.
The bay itself had been selected as the least battle-damaged, although this particular one was showing some signs of wear as well. A few bits of scaffolding drooped slightly, evidence of some heavy impact against the hull which had been strong enough to deform the bulkheads above. The floor showed some burn marks and gouges where emergency landings had gone wrong, for better or worse, and several wrecked fighters and hardsuits had been hastily shoved into the wings of the hanger.
Tashiro hoped the aliens werent picky about organization or cleanlieness.

((OOC:
This RP is kind of important background for my nation, so if you've got other things to do and cant respond regularly, please say so.
I dont mean to sound like I'm demanding instant responses or anything, I'd just like to get on with this.))

OOC: Understood.

IC: The Novus fleet began to show signs of repair, as the hull began to slowly repair itself. Holes began to close over, carbon-scoring was cleaned off, and rents were slowly being healed. The flights of interceptors continued about the fleet, constantly on patrol, always seeking to protect and guard against any foe.

The shuttle, which arrived at the Excelion in short order, was a sleek and well-designed craft. It wasn't shielded, nor did it have any weapons. But it was an agile piece of work. It quietly landed, its hover jets activating and showing a white light as it slowly worked itself onto the ground. When it was about three feet away, it paused, and then proceeded to smoothly and quietly hover there. A ramp descended and a figure (http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/798/798546/universe-at-war-earth-assault-20070621054555677.jpg) walked out of the shuttle. He was immense, as tall as three humans. His eyes glowed an electric blue, scanning all the available beings here. Upon seeing their looks and realizing how tall he was, he focused, and the nanites in his body began to shrink him down, until he was the same height as some of the humans.

"My apologies; I sometimes forget how my real height is frightening to your kind. I am the Founder, leader of the Novus Empire."

As the strange, robotic being left its own shuttle the band re-doubled its efforts and the honor guard snapped to attention, the simultanious crash of many pairs of boots nicely complimenting the music, before a glance from the captain caused the conductor to wave the instruments into silence.
Tashiro had been vaugly prepared for something like this. Of course, he had also been prepared for giant millipedes, blobs and midgets. He kept his composure, although he had to think for a moment before he remembered to close his mouth as the figure began to shrink.
"Ah...Greetings. I am Captain Tashiro Tatsumi, admiral of this fleet and captain of this ship. I am fully authorized to conduct negotiations on behalf of the Republic of Earth and her people." He paused, "And, unofficialy, I must say that it is a relief to finally meet a non-hostile...being."

The Founder nodded. "Greetings, Captain. I must agree with your assessment; it is rare for the Novus to find species whom are not looking to pillage/conquer us for resources, planets, and who knows what else. It is very difficult to find true, peace-loving nations. Ironic as it is for me to say that, when my.....people are not that way, it is the truth.

I am here for a single purpose. We have aided you and I want to continue to aid you. The enemy we just aided you in fighting is a reckless danger to all nations and must be destroyed, or as you humans call it, 'brought to terms'. We may not be able to aid much, as we are currently dealing with a strong enemy that is seeking to conquer the entire Milky Way. However, we can supply you with technology that will vastly increase your production and military power. That is, of course, dependent on how the negotiations go."

He paused and then looked at the Captain. "I apologize for what seem like long speeches, but I am unused to speaking, I do not mean offense but, at such a slow pace. Being what I am, communications are done in fractions of seconds, and it is hard to say what I need to say at these speeds. So if I tend to ramble, just tell me and I will rein it in."

"It seems rare to find any species at all. We have explored some of this galaxy, although we have few resources to spare in our war with the Space Monsters. They are the only other species we've encountered so far." Tashrio nodded, "It sounds as though you are facing an enemy on par with our own."
"Ah, negotiations. If you do not mind, my senior officer has offered his quarters to us. Unfourtunatly my own are currently exposed to space." Tashiro nodded and a pair of guards hurried to open the bay doors, "Do you eat or drink? Pardon my asking, but I did not wish to be rude." The man smiled, slightly nervously, "However, your initial offers sound quite good. Hopefully our people will get on well."
"If you will follow me, I'll take you to the train. Its a bit of a ride to the senior officers quarters from here, but this was the only operational bay we werent using for shuttle launches."