NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: I must make a few assumptions to get this started. This thread is a private affair between myself and all other participants.

IC: It was perhaps an hour after the first meeting of the ITF, and Calimari had put the affiar out of his mind and into the hive mind, he would simply not think about it, his job was over. Now he had a new job, during the meeting he had sold an old mothership to one of the other nations represented there, and was taking the new owners to their ship, to teach thm to fly it, and a few other things as well.

"Entering Fluidic Space, please be careful." the computer said in its light airy female voice. The announcement was for the benifit of the Northren Rangerians, being land dwellers, they were ill equipped to ride in the normal water-filled areas of the ship, so a room had been pumped dry and filled with comfortable furniture for their benifit. They even had a window with which to see the outside.

Out the indow now, all they would see was a bright white light as the ship penetrated the dimensional barriers, and then, darkness. In the distance were tiny pinpricks of light, stars? possibly, but then a large glowing fish swam by the window. In the distance, the tiny pinpricks of light proved to be also moving. Ahh, just fish then. However, there were a few extraordinarily bright spots that weren't. Those were stars, yet the question remained, how did stars shine here?

The ship turned, and they came face to face with a giant eel. When it moved, they could see what the ship was moving towards, one of those stars, and as it approached, a whole variety of interstellar life was seen.

Fish of all kinds, each larger than a blue whale, the smallest, matching the creature in size. None were larger than a large asteroid made entirely of some sort of coral reef. A large world made of reef, sand, and dirt loomed in the distance.

"Now approaching Oceanus." The computer said. The ship was at the valley of unused tech, a deep trench in oceanus where a variety of things were stored. The ship entered a planetary shield, and touched down in a hanger.

Calimari crawled into the room, out of his wetsuit. He was pure white, but near him hovered a red Aquamarinian in the water filled hall. His eyes were pure Aquamarine blue, and he smelled, fishy,

"We have arrived, the hall will be emtied momentarily as the hanger is dried. On the surface each of you will be incased in your own private air bubble, please don't try to pop it. We will be taking a sub to the ship. I assume the volunteer's are ready, or do we need to tow the ship to your world first and then get the volunteers?" Calimari asked.

Despite Minister Canerw's protestations, Lord Samuel Halsar had been the first to offer to join the Hive Mind for this "training session". He had also handpicked the group of twelve KATK personnel, ranging from pilots to officers to engineering tech, who would join him.

Each of the Northern Rangerians was wearing a pressure suit, holding the helmets under their arms. Apparently a measure of caution, should something go wrong.

"Lead the way, ambassador", Lord Halsar said calmly.

"No longer an Ambassador am I. Aquamarinians are interchangable in their tasks, du to the nature of the hive. I was merely the closest, and had my normal merchant knowledge swapped out for Diplomatic knowledge and skills. As we traveled, I was changed into a Merchant again, but have the added status of Tour Guide. Who knows what I'll be tomorrow. The only ones who never change are the Royal Aquamarinians, and there are only Six of them. Anyways, here's our sub." Calimari said.

As he spoke the hallway had cleared, and he had levitated himself along with his mental powers, entering the area outside of the air bubble. The area outside was a large sandy plain, with various types of seaweed growing like it was grass. A sub without a top waited for the group.

After they boarded, they moved along the bottom, Calimari was steering.

"Here we are, at the great city of Atlantis. I understand it is a name associated with an ancient civilization on another world, Earth I think. I assure you we have no ties with any ancient civilizations." Calimari said.
Was he blind? there was nothing before them, just an empty barren field of sand.

However, as they entered, buildings began to fade into being around them as they passed the city shield. Buildings made of Coral Reef, but these buildings were not assembled, they were grown, over many thousands of years. Hyperspeed transport tubes ran like a spider's Web, connecting one side of the city, to the other, like a futuristic Highway system, which was precisly what it was.

Calimari passed a park, and inside squidlets, the children of the Aquamarinians, were laughing screaming, swimming, playing, and generally just being kids. They were all the same uniform color of dark slate grey, compared to their parents, which were one of six colors: White, Red, Green, Pink, Purple, or Black. Males were one uniform shade of said color, Females were many shades of the same color.

Calimari of course had been filling in his guests on all this information. They passed a large collection of buildings, various shops and buildings, and finally, they left the City. They entered a large valley, with a massive mountain of Coral Reef.

"Up ahead, The Grand Palace of Aquamarinia, a treasure like it, you cannot find elsewhere." Calimari said.

Lord Halsar barely stifled a whistle when he saw the mountain of coral. Over all, he was amazed at what he saw around himself, though at the same time he wondered how the mainly humanoid and land-based representatives of the Trade Federation might fare in this aquatic environment.

"I must say, I am truly impressed what I see here... um... Is there any name by which I can address you? I know it may be redundant due to your species' communal nature, but we are not connected like you are."

"Our names are unneccessartily long and complicated for non-aquatic beings, but you can still call me Calimari." Calimari said.

They entered the palace, driving thrugh the main hall.

In the walls were embedded pearls, Gems, Crystals, Gold, Silver, the floors were soft and mossy. Small fish swam about, and Glass hung in the walls, but by far, the most interesting sight was the giant sixteen foot Aquamarinian, White, like Calimari, sitting in the middle of the floor. It had 16 Tenticles, and it's eyes were Aquamarine blue, but of a lighter shade.

"And who are these land dwellers you bring through the palace?" the creature asked.
"My apologies, we go to the graveyard of ships, they purchased the Mother." Calimari said. He had turned to make introductions, but the creature beat him to it.

"Ahh, Lord Halsar and his party? It is a pleasure to meet you, I am King Edward, head of the Warhaven Department of Foreign relations. Lord Halsar, I wonder, how high up are you in your government, the leader maybe?" King Edward asked.

Halsar chuckled inside his helmet. "It is an honour, Majesty. And no, I am not the Prince. My cousin, Mikhail, is. But he trusted me to be his voice in the ITF meeting."

"I see, well, we will meet again, soon." King edward promised, and swam off. Calimari exited the other side, and vefore them was a deep trench, possibly deeper than the Marianas Trench on Earth. Buildings were built inside of it. Calimari parked the sub, and motioned for them to follow. He lead them to an elevator. He gave an optical scanner a good hard stare, and the elevator began to move. They went down, deep into the Chasim.

"We descend beyond Reefstar's light. Reefstar is the name of our star, named so, because that is what it is made of, Reef that glows with the intensity of one of your dry dimension's stars." Calimari said.

Indeed, they did descend into darkness.

The Elevator stopped, and a hallway lead to a giant round ship, the Mothership.

Halsar nodded. "I am sure that some of our scientists would certainly like to study such a star in greater detail. Me, I'm more of an aesthetic that way. A nebula is beautiful for me, even if I do not know its composition or the different radiations it emits."

Once the elevator had stopped and the Mothership came to view, Halsar drew a deep breath inside his helmet.

"She's a beauty..."

OOC: I'll be gone for two days next morning. I hope this is okay?

OOC: And if its not, are you going to stay?:p

IC: The ship measured one mile exactly in diameter, and while having the edge of a Katana, its center was as wide as a three story building was tall. Its surface was perfectly smooth. Calimari touched a section of the ship, indistinguishable in the dim light from the rest, and a key pad lit up, Calimari punched in the numbers 6643, and a door opened.

"Shall we enter?" Calimari asked, and entered without waiting for an answer. The inside was devoid of water, lit up, fully staffed and ready to take off. A four armed creature resemblant of an unevolved human came over. It wore no clothes except a loin cloth, and had a collar about its neck. Calimari climbed on its back.

"These are Gareens, they are quite possibly the most unintelligent creatures in all of creation, lacking even the basic intelligence of a wild beast. The only thing they understand, is their own insatible urge for agression, and thus the collars. We keep them calm, and in return, they help us out, out of water. For your own safety, do not mess with the collar." Calimari said.

He lead them past a series of rooms, private rooms the crew slept in, each crewman had their own private room, and there were several extra for passengers. He led them to the sickbay, far beyond most eartbound nation's hospitals, far behind most others.

"Here, you will all begin the connection process here, together, where we can keep an eye on you all at once." Calimari said.

He waited while they all sat or layed on the bed of their choice.

"This will hapen in three stages, and the first, depends on you calming yourself down, emptying your mind of any thoughts, essentially, opening your mind. You should hear a whisper of voices not your own, maybe see things not in this room. Thought totally alien to your mind might even cross your mind." Calimari said.

Indeed, first, they would hear a whispered conversation between two young lovers, sweet nothings that meant the world to each other, but were meaningless to the outside world.

Second, They would all find the Pink Aquamarinian female nurse totally attractive and completly irresistable in her charm, and seconds later realise Calimari had a crush on her.

Lord Halsar would be the first to see through the eyes of another. He would see through the eyes of a man with dark eyes, white hair and flesh, wearing red leather, red, as though it had been soaked in blood. He looked at himself in the mirror finish of the Concert Grand Piano he was playing.
"Are you enjoying yourself? Who are you, your certainly not Aquamarinian, their minds feel somewhat slimy, and wet, yours feels diffrent, a human? Who cares, either way, I am The Emporer of all Warhaven, and my mind is not subject to public trespass, get out." The man said.

The others would see through the eyes of others, one in particular, a man, would feel the pain of a woman giving birth.

Your minds are only touching the hive, not even connected to it. Tell me, how have your experiences been so far, anything interesting to report?

OOC2: At least stay until your fully connected to the hivemind, 2 more posts.

Halsar shook his head, as if trying to stir himself awake.

"Uh... I'm not sure... I think I just saw a pianist who claimed to be your Emperor", he said, sitting down along with his men.

"So... How will this process go?"

Well, as I said, your only touching the hive, your not even in it, or supporting it. We have already studied your minds and know how much of the Hive your mind can support, the second step, is to connect your mind to the hive, it is the same as reaching out and touching someone, the hive is merely reaching out to grasp your mind. That takes place, now. The words were not spoken, only thought, yet were clearly heard, but no sound moved through the air. Calimari was speaking to them through the hive.

Suddenly they would har billions of voices speaking at once, and see a great confusion of images before them, to many to even attempt to describe, smells, a number beyond description, it was complete sensory overload on all five senses. Then it all went down to a manageble backround roar.

I apologise for the sudden onrush of senses. Normally our own children aren't even allowed to develop their own psionic abilities until they have matured twenty Revolutions of Oceanus, in your time that's close to ten years, and even then when they start it takes another ten to completly mature and connect. It is also true, that your minds are more developed, and stable.

They would find the effects of sensory overload were gone, The hivemind healed their minds and removed the effects.

Random images appeared in the sickbay, , first it appeared to be filled with water, then various people appeared to be walking in it, then both images went away. Then came the strong scent of roses, and those too went away. Then the man playing the piano appeared in the center of the room. He went into the first few strains of Ludwig Von Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

Clearly he wasn't here, for the piano was where a bed was, yet everyone could see him with ease. He was very good at playing the piano, skills worthy to be called masterful, for he did not miss a note. It was important to note this, for the emporer was only human, like lord Halsar, yet was doing many things at once, playing the piano, reciting music from memory, supporting the hivemind, looking directly at Lord Halsar, effectivly playing the piano blind, and in seconds, talking to them. Such was the power of his mind.

"I am Tajen, son of The Darkness, known to outsiders as Tajen Darkson, Lord Emporer of Warhaven." He said, and the way he said, The Darkness, he spoke as if it were the name of some super entity.

"I do believe we know of each other already, do we not, Lord Halsar? Don't be surprised I know, this is the Hivemind, what one knows, all know, but even the hive has secrets off limits to most users.You are partially connected to the hive, and your name floats at the top of your mind like driftwood upon the ocean. Such a high ranking person from a foreign power deserv es at least a passing nod from the ruler of another land, but I have more purpose here than mere ceremony. While each of those will be trained fully in each of the areas agreed upon, you, having such a close bond with your leader, The Prince, is his title? I think you said as such, you, will be given the training of space theory, like a few others wll, but much more fully. You will be given a complete education on each subject taught to the others, and more. All in all, you will be given enough knowledge to graduate from the Warhaven Academy of Science with a general diploma. This does not mean you will know things light years beyond the others, only that you will know many things about space. I have commanded this for one reason. I have experience ruling a space faring nation. Space needs rules and regulations just as land territory does, and there are things in space that if handled incorrectly, will spell disaster for your nation. I am not saying you will make rules in place of your prince, only that you will be in an excellent position to fully advise him in areas that will sooner or later require his attention. You have already made such decisions, such as joining the ITF, but there will be more. Each of you will have suggustions and hints buried deep within your mind, which will lead to the development of new technologies, and expansion into new territories, and these new thing will need rules. I doubt neither your ability, nor those of your prince, nor those of your nation. Think of it as something an older relative shares with a younger. It is better to learn the easy way, instead of the hard. But all the same, you cannot learn only partially connected. Trust the Hive, it already healed you when sensory overload hurt you. The third step is entirely dependant upon you. We cannot do it for you. What is that saying, you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink? Lay don, close your eyes, and fully embrace the hive. You are too inexperienced to do it any other way." Emporer Tajen Darkson said.

Once they did, a most marvelous thing would happen, they would promptly find themselves standing, eyes open, in Northren Rangeria, in front of the Library at 23 Shepards square, just inside the doors. They would be the only persons in there. The doors were closed, and if they looked through a window, they would see the same views one could always see, except there would be no people. It was as if Their entire world had suddenly been emptied of people overnight, save for them. The doors would remain unopenable for now.

They could all see each other, standin, or seating, in various places, all appeared as they normally did. They could hear the Emporer playing the Moonlight sonata from somewhere, outside the doors. Suddenly the doors unlocked, and he walked in the Library. Oddly, there was no Northren Rangeria outside this library, only a vast long hallway filled with doors in a field of bright white light which completly obscured what the ceiling, floor, and walls looked like. yet looking through the windows of the open door, one could still see that outside image that was presented with the doors closed.

"This, is a single image of a place in your land we've seen and been to. We felt you would be comfortable starting here. This is representative of your minds. I must leave you now, but when you feel comfortable enough to continue, leave the library, and go to the room at the end of the hall. When you do leave, you will literally be out of your minds, but not in an insane psychotic manner. Each of you has in his or her pocket, a gold key. Those keys will lock these doors, and unlock them, so that only you may enter. I have the master key, which is how I was able to enter. I am literally inside each of your minds at this very minute. I have been told my mind feels like the dark chill grasp of death. In the room at the end of the hall, waits your instructors." Emporer Tajen said. He left, walked to another door, opened it, and closed it behind him. He was right, his mind did feel like the dark chill grasp of death.

They could hear Calimari's voice, from the far end of the hall.

"We heard of a film once, called The Matrix. We were amazed at how accuratly The Wachowski Brothers could depict the fullness of The Hive Mind. But they were wrong, Its not a program, it is the mind. The Mind is powerful, and capable of many things, and each of us is capable of amazing things, in our own mind. In a mind like this, your capable of many feats not normally availible to you in the real world, but you cannot harm another, that power is not availible to you. We are waiting." Calimari said.

The hallway seemed at least five miles long.

Lord Samuel Halsar, descendant of princes, rulers, patriots, scholars, was not a man that was easily intimidated. He had known death, serving aboard the Ilmatar during the Vuhifell Campaign and the Frieden Incident. Still, he could not help a chill running along his spine at the presence of the Emperor, and the words he spoke. So far Northern Rangerian expansion beyond Earth had been gradual, consisting of the colonization of half a dozen worlds in the Infinitus Tractus Cluster - yet still containing less than five percent of the Principality's inhabitants. To hear this unmistakeably human ruler of the race of squid-like aliens speak of such new responsibilities, new rules... it would be a suicidal thing, not to feel awe at such prospects.

Halsar looked around himself, seeing his comrades once again. Some of them looked rather petrified, others looking around with caution. It was, however, one of the engineers that drew his first breath and began the walk down the corridor, deciding to do what they were here to do.

Calimari's words echoed in Samuel's mind, and he looked down the corridor. He had seen the movie... Could he, then...? He looked at his hands and legs, tightening his fingers into fists. He drew in a deep breath. Time to see if he could break his own running record in this artificial world...

OOC: Sorry to keep using Halsar, its just easier to do things from one man's perspective.
IC: Now fully connected once they stepped outside into the hall, Halsar could indeed break his own record, and coul run as fast as he wanted, infact, he could fly if he chose. At the end of the hall, they would find the door, and it was open, but beyond was darkness, once through the door, they would find, they were sitting in sickbay, waking up!

"I hope you had a good night's rest, connection was successful. Your still in the virtual construct, so, lets begin." Calimari said.

At that point, he began to inscribe on a virtual chalkboard, the basics of everything, because it applied to everyone, it was advanced physics, for even in flying, one needed to understand the math involved in directing a ship's flight, yet, as he wrote, the words copied themselves, and flew into their minds, they would find they understood it, as though they had spent days covering the subject. He seemed to be saying othr things too, at the same time, at a diffrent frequency, but the words were just barely out of hearing range.

Suddenly, it all dissolved away about half an hour later.

"Now, let us assume you flying along minding your own business, when suddenly a freak anomaly comes out of nowhere. This anomaly has massive gravity, comparible to that of a black hole. The uneducated simply assume they should fly directly away, but we all know better, our momentum is too great. Swing around it and use its gravity to slingshot you out of it's area of effect. How? Well that's what the math's for.

What about weaponry? Even old fashioned bullets require a careful portioning of gunpowder and other related weapons, but bullets suck in space. Sooer or latger, your going o need to figure out some sort of handheld energy weapon, or a better bullet. But use too much force, and you kill yourself pulling the trigger. Math helps here, along with careful experimentation.

I'm sure you get the idea." Calimari said.

Meanwhile, they were in a new environment, a large neverending field.

"You get a fifteen minutes to absorb and adjust to what I've told you, any questions?"

OOC: Quite alright. It's your Hive Mind, after all ;)

"Um... No, not at the moment", Samuel said, nodding politely to Calimari. He had done his best to keep his calm appearance, even though he was still getting used to the changing nature of the Hive Mind. He looked around himself, and saw that some of the engineers were already packing together, hands drawing figures and arches in the air, the officers discussing some finer points of strategy that Calimari had told them.

Samuel smiled slightly to himself, joining the conversations...

15 minutes later...

"Alright, no we're going to break into groups, Pilots first, yes that includes you too Lord Halsar." Calimari said.

He joined the Pilot group.

"Now, the rest of you, for the sake of all that's decent, try to control yourselves while we're gone." Calimari said, and then the pilots, Halsar, and Calimari all disappeared!

Seconds later, a giant, pink, definatly female Aquamariniian appeared. All those present felt the overwhelming urge to turn to the closest living entity and mate with it. No wonder Calimari urged them to control themselves.
"Hi, I'm Queen Lucy, the Amorous. I felt the presence of new beings, and thought I'd pop on in to say hello, maybe even get a little friendly." she said.

Manwhile, elsewhere in the hive...

The pilots each found themselves contoling a little scout ship UFO.

Calimari spoke to them at great length about what each button did, and how to control it.

"Now remember," he said, continuing onto a diffrent course of the same subject," that when piloting a larger ship, you'll need more than one pilot, one to steer, and at least one to navigate, but on a small ship, you are your own navigator. I'm certain you'll come up with your own system of course, but on a large ship like the Mothership, there's just so much to do, one pilot cn't handle it all. We usualy have four such persons, one to do the actually flying, one to navigate, one to scan the surrounding and outlying areas for dangers, obsticals, enemies, allies, and other such stuff, and the Captain counts as the fourth. Actually the Captain must know everything about his or her ship, but refrain from micromanagement. Now, before you is a random stretch of space we have created. Each of you is in your own scout ship, you can go up to 3 times the speed of light. we shall asme all parts of your ship are working correctly, you just worry about getting to the end." Calimari said.

What he didn't say, was that the space was littered with random obsticals each one imagined to be littered ahead of them.

Halsar drew a deep breath, and for a moment he and the other three pilots seemed to test the capabilities of their vessels in this patch of space, much like a rider seeking a balance with a new horse, finding a way, a harmony between the two. Halsar smiled to himself, feeling the hum of the engines, the slight tremor vibrating through the ship. For him, it was like the heartbeat of the ship, a union of pilot and the plane, the rider and the horse.

"Let's see what you can do, beautiful", he spoke to the ship before pushing the control bars forward, the ship taking off, accelerating towards the speed of light. Halsar almost hummed to himself, listening to the humming of the vessel, the pitch changing as the ship picked up speed. The others were already following, flying in formation as they approached the first obstacles.

Meanwhile, the rest of the volunteers had greeted Queen Lucy with polite bows and "Your Majesties". These were not noblemen, but career officers, technicians, scientists. It seemed that they showed a certain deference towards loyalty, perhaps because of the monarchist streak that Calimari might have picked up. It was a strange thing... They considered Lord Halsar their superior, yet were pleased to see he was willing to put himself through the same rigours they did.

Calimari wasn't trying to be monarchist, merely trying to help out alien beings in what was surely an alien environment to them. He waited at the finish line, intrested in who would finish first.

Meanwhile, the computer responded to Halsar.
"I like you too, but, our relationship, it just can't work out like this, I'm a machine, and your not, there's just too many diffrences. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to keep our relationship professional." the computer said. Appearently someone, somewhere had a sense of humor.

First up came an asteroid belt, a common enough obstical, followed by randomly placed planets on the side with diffrent gravitational pulls, then came a meteor shower, and the occasional streaking comet to avoid. Finally, that freak anomaly Calimari had spoke of earlier came out of nowhere, with massive gravity pulls.

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

"Its a shame he left all of you here alone, Do you have any questions about Auamarinians in general?" she asked.

"Oh... Sorry about that. I didn't know you could answer me", Lord Halsar said with a chuckle. Apparently this wasn't the first time he was operating an airborne vessel, though he and his comrades clearly showed signs that their training had been done mainly with atmospheric fighter planes, not FTL-capable one-man vessels.

Samuel saw the radar warning about the asteroid belt and slowed down to a more manageable speed, trying to get past the field. Calimari might notice that the young nobleman had some talent: instead of trying to simply avoid all asteroids, he used the larger asteroids - some of which measured close to a small planetoid - and their gravitational pull to slingshot his way into open space. One of the other pilots seemed too hesitant for his own good, and actually had to land on one of the asteroids to wait for a path to clear up.

They were new at this, for sure, but apparently Calimari's lessons had paid off. Instead of flying simply in a straight line, the Northern Rangerian pilots calculated their trajectories so that the orbits of the celestial bodies would actually help and not hinder them.

Still, the appearance of the anomaly showed its toll. One of the pilots panicked and tried to veer off, but could not keep his scouting vessel from being pulled towards the anomaly. The other three were already picking up speed to use the slingshot effect, but Halsar quickly looked at his console table, trying to find something - anything- that could be used to pull Number Four out of the pull.

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

"Ahem, Your Majesty", one of the Northern Rangerians wearing an engineer's marks on his jumpsuit. "I... Well, I don't know if I should address this question to you, but... I was wondering about the building technology we saw while we were coming here. It is organically grown, I suppose?"

Halsar would notice a tractor beam option, a description next to it read "An energy device that can pull objects toward or push objects away, from you."
Calimari looked at the anomaly, in the center of it was, well, hopefully they didn't have to learn that lesson just yet.

*****************
"The buildings of Atlantis were grown over a great many years, yes, their pure natural Coral, seven diffrent varieties. Thousands of years ago, we used our hands, if we understand your histories right, so did your ancestors, then came the advent of tools, and things got remarkably easier. WIth careful guidance and precision, you can guide how something grows." Queen Lucy said.

Samuel cursed, engaging the beam to seek a lock on Number Four.

"Jare, I got you in my tractor beam. In three, put your engines on full throttle!" he almost yelled into the comms, punching the tractor beam to flip Number Four out of the pull of the anomaly. "Now, goddammit! Now!"

Halsar's ship had been behind the doomed plane, but he had manage to 'shove' it with the tractor beam, enough to loosen the hold of the gravitational pull - and paired up with the thrusters of Number Four starting to blaze like a candelabra of blow-torches, he was able to get his team mate back to the sling-shot.


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

"I see", the engineer said, absent-mindedly tapping his chin. "I would love to hear more, especially since we're currently lacking housing in some of our colony worlds. It is quite a project to transport even the most basic material for permanent housing on a large scale..."

"Don't you have Replicators?" Lucy asked.

********

The were finished, Calimari directed them to look behind them, the anomaly with drew, and at it's center was a giant space hip eating Space Octopus!

"Be careful of those suckers, we're distant cousins, and they have indiscriminate appetites. They thrive on metal, seemingly of all types." Calimari said.

He turned to Pilot four and Halsar.

"Now, what have you two learned from this experience?" he asked.

The engineer shook his head. "Uh, no, Your Majesty. We hope to trade for that technology soon, but at the moment we still rely on transport vessels."

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

Number Four, a pilot by the name of Jare Lemus, was apparently ashamed of having forgotten the very tenet that Calimari had pounded in his head.

"Not to forget the maths", he said, looking at the squid-like alien. "...sir."

"Well, if the mothership is the best in your fleet, their a bit beyond your capabilities, but not by much. Your close, though, their going to be one of those subconcious suggustions implanted on your minds somewhere." Queen Lucy said.
A second later,

"Meanwhile, the technology is the same as those used by gardeners to convince a vine to grow in the shape of a heart. Just let it go, and train it to grow over a wire shape. IT was the same thing, only we used dead coral mined elsewhere." Lucy said.
**********************************************************
"Don't worry yourself about it. If you practice something enough, it becomes second nature. You won't even realise your doing it. Now, I shall leave you all here to practice flying. The obsticals and space will each reflect whatever you want it to. I musn't forget the others." He said, disappearing and taking Halsar with him
**********************************************************
"Alright, now for round two, Weapons, and defences, for sometimes the best of one, requires the other. Those in these two fields should step closer to me. A pleasure to see you again Queen Lucy." Calimari said, smilin an unusualy big smile.

"Of course it is, you could get a substitute teacher, and we could go have a nice long swim together." She offered.
"I can't, i'm sorry, I must refrain."Calimari said.

"I see, I see... Well, we will have to see if anything comes out of that. I am sure the patent office will go crazy trying to figure out whether anything this group invents is a creation of our own minds or those of Aquamarinians", the engineer said cheerfully, just as Calimari and Halsar reappeared.

"Huomio!" one of the officers yelled, and every KATK personnel present stood in attention at the young Lord's arrival.

"Lepo", came from Lord Halsar's lips just as he was listening to the two Aquamarinians discuss. "I believe it is then time for our officers?" he asked briefly, bowing politely to the female Aquamarinian after hearing Calimari address her as Queen. "Your Majesty..."

Queen Lucy almost managed to nod her head in return, but most aquatic species were not known for such an ability.

"As I was saying earlier, Queen Lucy is one of six of an enetirely diffrent species of Aquamarinian, their species dominates our own in many ways, which is why they have the appelation Royal Aquamarinian. She is the only female of the bunch." Calimari said.

"Actually there's no such thing as a male or female Royal Aquamarinian, we're all asexual and reproduce an exact clone of ourselves once every few centuries, which then takes on a complete copy of its parent's mind, thus giving us the illusion of immortality. I just happen to have a more feminine appearence than the other five, thus I am Queen, not king." Lucy said.

Calimari had the look of a man that had just discovered his gods were false idols.

"Really now, don't look so shocked." Lucy said. She waved him away, and he disappeared to somewhere.

The environment changed, leaving behind the engineers and theorists behind.

"Now, as you already know, Space sucks, wait, that's not the words, Ah, right, Space is a vacuum. Regular offenses and defenses just won't work." Queen Lucy said.

"Right, that's why you have to use energy based weapons, or develop a bullet that uses a powerful force, like Fredrick Gauss did with his magnetic gun. We use Phasers and our own Psionic energy. We've also tapped into The Force Jedi and Sith use regularly." said a Red Aquamarinian that was nearly identicle to Lucy, except mre masculine.

"This is King Mark, The Angry, called so because he has a remarkably short temper. He's also in charge of the Military offensive wing. My name is Crimos, the Defender, I'm in charge of the defensive wing. I'm called the Defender because I place The Hive first before all other things. Each Royal Aquamarinian has a suit of special abilities, thus our nicknames. You've met Edward, he's the fair, The most balanced of us all, and most similar in mind set to most land dwellers. He takes care of foreign relations. If you meet one of us that's green, That's John, the poisonus, even his mind is poisonus. Do not touch him, even with gloves on, his poison is acidic and eats through defenses. Lastly if you see one of us that's purple, be your most respectful, that's King Howard, The Leader, Ruler of The Hive Mind, he gives us direction, and keeps us from being a useless pointless committee." Said a black Aquamarinian. Lucy left.

"So, introductions aside, lets get to offenses. We're going to teach you about energy weapons, and weapons that use a powerful energy, like Gauss's gun. We will not teach you about The Force, if you become Force sensitive, we'd be happy to direct you towards a willing Jedi Master to teach you to control yourself." Mark said.

With that he began to lecture on the basic princples behind an energy weapon, and spoke at great lenth behind Gauss's gun. His words seemed to copy themselves into the listener's mind.


OOC: Look up Amorous if you don't know the word. You could also replace it with Lustful, to understand Lucy's role in the hive. She influences others towards reproduction, and also heals.

Nothing specific, just groundwork so you can A, understand the ship's weapons, and B, design your own later.

Lord Halsar and his officers proved to be apt students. While clearly having begun their training using ammunition-based weaponry, they had clearly had plenty of success reverse-engineering Kostemetsian weaponry. In space-faring warfare, the Kosto-Rangerian technology seemed to be based on using missiles and plasma weaponry instead of energy weapons, but they were keen on learning.

At one point, Lord Halsar even introduced the Warhavenians to a modified missile their nation had created. "While most missiles explode on contact, we wanted to create something a little more... subtle, if you will", Halsar said, running his fingers along the missile's surface, as if caressing the projectile. "This is why we create these 'Bees', as we call them. 'Crippler' is also a common name for these, mainly because we use them either to incapacitate or destroy vessels. First, we use conventional weaponry to weaken the shields and ablative shielding of the enemy vessel. Then we launch the 'Bee'", he said, opening the front of the missile. "As you can see, it has no explosion trigger: its purpose is not to explode on contact, but to penetrate the weakened shielding. That is why the use of this", the young lord continued, tapping on the small, needle-like protrusions on the missile's tip.

"High-powered lasers, meant to cause and maintain a hull breach until the missile makes contact. Once inside, the main warhead detaches", Halsar said, pointing towards the revealed head of the missile, along with a set of secondary propulsion. "The lasers dig the warhead's way through the ship's bulkhead, and heat-seeking sensors guide it towards the ship's engines. Once inside", he continued, showing his fist to the Aquamarinians, then opening it. "Boom. Massive structural damage. We used these during the Olympian Expedition, using them to cripple capital ships."

"We just use The V-Ray, an energy beam that uses Distortion Tech, technology based on The powers of The Void, to sap and destroy all the energy of an opposing ship. Its kinda hard to fight when you don't have energy to do it with. It's the most powerful Non-lethal weapon we've ever devised." Mark said.

"Anyway, that's the basic theory, and it looks like you've got a pretty good start already. So show me how good your aim is." Mark said, indicating targets at various places, at various ranged behind him.

Hand held phaser pistols lay on a nearby table, ready to go. The targets did not move, yet.

Halsar nodded, taking one of the pistols and studying it closely, seeing if was a simple point-and-shoot model, or whether it contained various settings like some of the more advanced weaponry that he had heard being in use. Their own sidearms were simple but high-powered pistols, meant only for atmospheric combat.

The guns were for the most part simply point and shoots, however there was also a small touchscreen that offered enough choices to make even the engineers that designed the darn things nervous.

"Their set to stun, I promise, they'll hurt like hell if you shoot someone with them, but it won't kill them." Mark said.

Halsar smiled to himself at Mark's words and turned his hand-gun towards one of the targets, firing.

And the targets were hit as expected, but then their collective ashes reformed the orginal targets, this time they were exact visual replicas of the targets that shot them, and each one was armed with a similar gun....

Crimos took the defensive personel off to another area, where he began to explain how shielding worked.

Meanwhile, the offensive personal found themselves in a massive complex.

"So, you shoot pretty well. Let us play a little game, I am the premier expert on all things offensive in the hive. As I control the target clones of you, I wonder, can you outwit and beat me? If you do, I'll give you something special. Once again, all things are set to stun." Mark's voice said from somewhere. The Clone targets scattered in seperate directions. Clone Halsar stuck his tongue out at Real Halsar, just before he disappeared around a corner.

OOC: So, how many people? The complex is a fairly large industrial coimplex, complete with secret passages, look throughs, perfect sniper spots, the works. It's like the ultimate spy shooter game.

OOC: Five, though I think it would be good to teach the KATK personnel both to defend and to attack. Just my opinion ;)

IC:

Lord Halsar frowned as he looked at his clone. He barked a command to his men, using the Hive to give them their basic equipment in a ship-side combat: small ear plugs appeared to their ears, signifying radio contact, as well as small, wrist-mounted radars. This probably meant that the enemies had them, too.

Quickly he then signaled to the four other officers with his hand, then dispersing with them. Two groups of two, with Halsar going by himself. They moved with a hunter's grace, sticking to the sides of the wall, ready to fire more reflexively than anything else...

OOC: Don't worry, one group has fun, then we switch. They learn both, after all, did I not say, Halsar learns everything? How could I keep my word if he was still in offence while defence training was going on?

IC:

The clones didn't need them, they were operated by Mark.

The groups would hear footsteps echoing down the halls before them.
Shots came rebounding off the walls at them. The clones had changed the settings from fizzle out when they hit anything, to rebound off walls and other objects, until they struck human flesh, or rebounded five times. They would each come into the same large area, it was filled with columns clusted so thick, it was hard to see who was who.

Halsar meanwhile came to an area where several levels intersected. The paths were ten feet above one another, and an opponet could easily hide down the path a ways on another level, and snipe his opponet from afar.

Infact a shot sizzled past Halsar's right ear from a level above him, a warning shot.

"I have you trapped. Move even a muscle and I shoot to kill." Clone Halsar said. The imitation was so complete it even spoke with Halsar's voice.

Halsar looked up. The clone did indeed have a superior position to him.

"Okay... Okay, you got me", Halsar said, lifting his hands over his head - but then he squeezed the trigger of his gun.

Halsar, too, had changed the settings. The energy bolt bounced on the bridges like a wild super ball, forcing the clone back or face getting hit. Halsar then turned his gun to his clone, firing controlled shots towards this doppelgänger as he retreated to a more protected position.

Halsar looked up. The clone did indeed have a superior position to him.

"Okay... Okay, you got me", Halsar said, lifting his hands over his head - but then he squeezed the trigger of his gun.

Halsar, too, had changed the settings. The energy bolt bounced on the bridges like a wild super ball, forcing the clone back or face getting hit. Halsar then turned his gun to his clone, firing controlled shots towards this doppelgänger as he retreated to a more protected position.

The teams of two...

The clones had seen from their various vantage poinnts who was pared with who. They copied the team formations, and then decided to pull a dirty underhanded and perfectly acceptable trick. One team of Clones ran past the originals of the first, with another team of clones chasing them firing at the first clone team (while missing, but just barely). As they passed, the second team would encourage the first team to join them in chasing down the clones.

If the originals were to do so, the second team of clones would run as fas as they could, but slowly fall behind the team of originals, and shoot them in the back.

OOC: I thought it was a good plan myself. ;)

IC:
Meanwhile, Halsar would notice one wall wasn't really there, it was a disguise for a secret hallway.

One of the originals took up a step forward, but it was his companion that stopped him and fired a repeated volley at the hunting pair of clones (hopefully stunning one and wounding the other, at least), while pulling his companion to safety.

"Why the hell did you do that?" the other man growled behind a bulwark, giving cover-fire from the now-angered clones.

The younger man grinned wickedly, tinkering with his gun. "They didn't have these", he said, tapping quickly on his wrist radar. He was working on his energy gun, trying to find something that might turn the situation to their advantage while waiting for the others to arrive.

Halsar, meanwhile, slid inside the corridor, his gun ready. He knew his clone was still there...

When the clones were hit, they both fell to the floor and started flashing.

"Five, Four, Three, Two, One." They both said in unison, and when they hit one they didn't just die, They Blew up with a very loud complex shaking bang taking out anyone within ten feet still foolish enough to be in the blast radius.

OOC: darn!
IC:

Meanwhile, there were a myriad of gun settings to simulate. Infact, these guns could simulate any RL weapon that took two or less people to move and use. It was after all, just an extension of Mark's mind. So long as they didn't set things to kill, they wouldn't have to find out why he was avoided in mind and in body when he was upset, he did have a very short temper after all.

The two remaining clones practically ran into the two other Rangerian officers who had heard the fire-fighting. The two men quickly jumped for cover, starting to fire suppressive fire, to keep the clones pinned down.

Halsar, meanwhile, peered around in his new surroundings, trying to see if there was something here he could use to take down his own clone.

What he found in the secret passage was of importance to his team mates down below fighting the clones, for the two that had blown up had respawned nearby and were sneaking up behind the ones laying down suppressive fire, and Halsar would know this, for the Passage lead to a high vantage point from which he could see his team mates down below, throuh a Camera control panel.

Meanwhile, there was another moniter that looked at his clone, it was in a wide open poorly defended area looking for the real Halsar.

The Computer bank nearby was lit up with a number of turned off options.
Halsar had discovered the control center for the Aquamarinian Training complex. There were drone guns, machine opponets, various weapons, a tank, and many other things the Aquamarinians had knowledge of to train against invading land dwellers. There was one marked Option V, and the button was red with a black skull and crossbones on it. Everytime the moniters hit upon Halsar's clone's area, it lit up, ready to be used, whatever it was.

Halsar studied the panels closely, before he placed his gun back in its holster. He decided to steer clear of the skull-and-crossbones button, instead activating the drone guns where his clone was prowling. He also studied the panel to see if there was any way he could keep the two revived clones from attacking his comrades, who had by now surrounded the 'last' two clones, catching them in the crossfire.

His first action answered his second, for the Drone guns fired Rocked Propelled Grenades at the approaching clones, both of whom were permanently defeated.

The first two meanwhile turned tail and ran, because the Drone Guns did not diffrentiate between sides, as it turned and fired at the two real soldiers that had them pinned.

The other two real soldiers were fired at by a Gauss machine gun with bullets that were attracted by the metal on the soldiers. (Gauss and his magnetic gun, given the Machine subtype, allowing for a very dangerous weapon.)

Meanwhile, Halsar's clone had to hide behind a box in a corner, it was the only way he could avoid the guided Missle launcher, that tracked his every movement.

Real Halsar wasn't free from attacks either.

"Unidentified Land Dweller spotted, switiching to Termination mode." the computer voice said as the panel dropped away to reveal Mark himself ridding a wheeled transport.

He fired Zero Point Energy from his tenticles, it was non-lethal the way he used it, but allowed him to manipulate the target's body as a whole object.
(ala Syndrome from The Incredibles)

If he successfuly hit Halsar, he would swing him around the room and throw him against the wall.

If he missed, he would keep firing with eight of his 16 tenticles until he got Halsar. Could Halsar stun Mark before Mark stunned Halsar by throwing him into a wall?

Halsar cursed his overeagerness with this new technology. He had apparently misunderstood how "dumb" the gun drones actually were, or how well they could be controlled from this location.

The appearance of Mark, however, was truly surprising, forcing Halsar to take cover and hoping that the rays did not penetrate the metal and plasteel that the console was made of. Still, he wasn't about to give in. Quickly re-setting his energy gun, he jumped out of the cover at floor level, firing repeatedly into the wheels of Mark's transport - and then, hopefully, retreated to his cover.

Halsar cursed his overeagerness with this new technology. He had apparently misunderstood how "dumb" the gun drones actually were, or how well they could be controlled from this location.

The appearance of Mark, however, was truly surprising, forcing Halsar to take cover and hoping that the rays did not penetrate the metal and plasteel that the console was made of. Still, he wasn't about to give in. Quickly re-setting his energy gun, he jumped out of the cover at floor level, firing repeatedly into the wheels of Mark's transport - and then, hopefully, retreated to his cover.

"Lesson number one when dealing with Alien technology: Be careful what you screw with, The Skull and Crossbones would've unleashed the mind and powers of a Void Dragon into the simulation, and you all would've died, because you cannot kill a Void Dragon with energy weapons." Mark said.

He switched energy types, and the machine started exploding around Halsar, even as the wheeled transport was stopped.

OOC: Current score: your winning, despite appearences. after all, I'm short two clones. However, if you defeat Mark...

Halsar cursed and ran for cover, firing at Mark as he did so, trying to keep the Aquamarinian at the defensive.

"Duly noted!" he yelled and quickly peeked from his hide-out, trying to see how Mark controlled the vehicle. If there was some kind of a control panel, and he could hit it...

Meanwhile, the Rangerians were on retreat, firing at the gun drones as they tried to keep them at bay. The Gauss guns had laid one of them low before his companion had discarded his wrist radar.

"You've lost a companion, temporarily. We'll heal his wounded mind and if you still haven't won or lost by the time we have done so, we will randomly release him back into the simulation." Mark said.

Meanwhile, the guns were stopped one at a time, and then, silence. The clones had been completly defeated, except for Halsar's clone, who was still hiding behind the box avoiding the Guided Missle Launcher.

Mark was controling it with his mind, as he would have had the thing been real, for Cyberpsi was a well known branch of Psionics. but that point was moot, for he had ditched his stalled vehicle.

He began to pick up and throw anything and everything he could get his tentuicles on at Halsar.

Halsar didn't answer, deciding to play the simulation to the end. And for that reason, he began to run. The Aquamarinian king had the benefit of strength and reach, but the human had the agility and litheness on his side, compared to the large Aquamarinian.

So, Halsar's tactic was simple: keep moving and firing, moving and firing, while avoiding the barrels and ripped-off consoles Mark kept throwing at him. Still, one mistake and he would be smashed like a gnat.

Mark had one more benefit, Endurance. It would take more than one blast to stop Mark, good thing Halsar's troops and Halsar were reunited as Halsar moved through the complex.

"I'll get you, I'll get you all, with a Chaos Tsunami!" Mark shouted, his eyes beginning to glow red. He slammed all 16 tenticles on the ground with great strength, and an ever expanding ever growing wave of pure Chaos energy spread forth from Mark, taking anything and everything with it. Fortunatly, it only had a range of fifty feet, unfortantly, there was only 35 feet in the area Halsar and company were now. Fortunatly, there was a hall to escape to that would lead to Halsar's clone and the Guided Missle Drone. A Chaos tsunami may as well have been a wall of death, for Pure Chaos energy was lethal, as it caused any organic object to rapidly change too fast for it to adapt. very few entities could survive in pure Chaos and live to tell the tale.

OOC: Chaos energy? Giant Jedi squids with psionics and chaos energy? :eek: No insult intended, that just caught me off-guard... big time :D

"Takaisin!" was all that Halsar yelled when he saw the wave crack forward. The Rangerians began to run, Halsar continuing to fire at Mark, the ones running before him keeping their guns at ready in case there were still any trigger-happy drones around...

OOC: Aquamarinians are beyond Jedi/sith mind powers. well beyond. They are Master Psions, with a tendancy to establish group minds.:p

IC:

Mark slowly limped towards the group, and teleported himself ahead of the group. Halsar, Halsar's Clone, and the group all saw the same thing, Mark appeared in the middle of the room, The drone launched a Guided Missle, but Mark didn't know, he raised a Tenticle to fire energy, and the missle got him. Mark exploded into a million little marks that ran around trying to pull themselves together. Halsar's Clone just vanished.

Halsar and all of hiscountrymen, regardless of what they were doing, all saw the same thing:

They were seeing through the eyes of Mark, in the real world outside the hive. He was in the Cargo Bay of The Mothership. He whipped a sheet off a large refridgorator like machine.

"I keep my word. For beating me you get something special." he said.
He moved to the front.
"This, is a replicator. you can use a replicator to make the parts and fuel for another Replicator. Don't get us wrong, you'll still need Transports, for Replicators do have their limits, and do wear out eventually." Mark said.

Then things were back to their normal view in The Hive, Mark had pulled himself back together.

Halsar was actually quite amazed they had won. They had faced clones, violent drones - not to mention a very, very pissed-off Aquamarinian. Still, his regal upbringing shone through as he shook those feelings aside.

"We thank you, King Mark. Yet I hope in the next battle we will fight beside you, not against you", he said with a smile, offering a respectful bow to the battle prowess of the Warhaven monarch.

Halsar was actually quite amazed they had won. They had faced clones, violent drones - not to mention a very, very pissed-off Aquamarinian. Still, his regal upbringing shone through as he shook those feelings aside.

"We thank you, King Mark. Yet I hope in the next battle we will fight beside you, not against you", he said with a smile, offering a respectful bow to the battle prowess of the Warhaven monarch.

If they thought that was pissed, they should see him when he was really upset.

"Oh sucks, that was just a fun training game to help you get used to the energy weapons you'll find on your ship. You were good to though." Mark said.

He slapped the ground, and everything changed, as the two diffrent groups were finished. The ones that had learned defensive things, were switched to offensive things, and Halsar and his group were switched to Defensive.

"As I said before, I'm Crimos, the Defensive. Not everyone is going to be nice, and friendly, or want to be your friend. I'm sure you've probably already figured this out though.

So, with that being said, lets get started." He said, and then launched into a ginormous lecture on the nature of defense, what a good defense was, and how to execute it. He also went over the defensive capabiolities of the Mothership, such as The Shield, and its manuverability, which though was normally something reserved for pilots, sometimes knowing how to move was the better defense. By the time he was done Mark had finished terrorising the other group with another stirring round of chase your clones.

If the Principality officers had proven themselves capable in fighting, they showed they were good students at defense as well. Still, it would take quite a while for them to "un-learn" the defense tactics usually associated with naval or atmospheric combat, and learn to use space to their advantage.

They left the groups to practice their own special areas, as finally, Halsar, The Engineers, and the space Theorists were all gathered together for the final lecture, the biggest of them all. How to build the Mothership, and the scout ship sitting on the first Cargo Bay, from the ground up, how to maintain them, special areas of concern, Ideal materials, other Spaceship building concepts too small for their own area, and then the big general lecture on space.

For this mind numbingly giant lecture they were taken to a Hivemind simulation of the ship yards the Mothership was built in.

This time, the teacher was Edward, and he spoke eloquently, and in easy to understand terms. He was great at speaking, and occasionally sneak attacked them with a pop quiz to make sure they were all paying attention, and if even one person failed, he started all over again from the last Quiz, and would do this repeatedly, until they all passed.

But he stopped before he got to the general lecture on space theory, he was called away on business, so they had a few moments to recover from Edward's lecture on Engineering.

The latest lecture had indeed been grueling, although the members of the Engineering Corps were like a bunch of kids in a candy store, continuously making questions and queries about this and that. How did the Aquamarinians manage to maintain coolant stability? Would not plasteel make for a lighter and more aesthetically pleasing interior solution? What was the function of the hollow tubes that flashed red and white in sequence? Was the Mothership purely space-fit craft, or could it be operated in atmospheric or even aquatic conditions? Did the counter-measures operate active sensor jamming or cloaking devices? The pour of question was endless, and even after Edward's departure the engineers gathered together to "compare notes".

Halsar, on the other hand, was very pleased with what he saw. While his technical knowledge was limited to simple jury-rigging and basic repairs, he knew that the Mothership was a good and sturdy vessel. And judging by the hustle and bustle of the engineers, the Bovillia and Farhome shipyards would soon be expanding with the production of new vessels, as well as updating the thus-far constructed ships.

A Purple Octopus entered the room, bringing EVERYONE with him. He was a giant, even for Royals, being 20 feet tall. He wore a gold crown on his head, and had an Aura about him that commanded respect of others. All pilots, all Offensive, Defensive, Engineers, theorists, everyone without exception were gathered around him.

"I am King Howard, Leader of The Aquamarinians, and Prime Minister of The Dark Empire of Warhaven. I don't mind being second in command, I get to do more. I brought everyone together for one purpose, Even though what I am about to talk about in no way relates to anyone else but the Theorists, our term for those that study space without special regards to one area, usually they are the ones who advance technology and understanding, I bring everyone together, because what I will discuss, benefits everyone, each in their own manner. For instance, suppose an anomaly develops in a region of space, lets say it disrupts sensors, making a foot seem like a mile. While no such known phenominon exists, suppose it did. Does it do a group of scientists any good? Not entirely, while yes they might study it, figure a way around it, Anyone who flies in space should also be informed of it too, or else they may inadvertantly crash their ship. As well, it helps prepare for the unexpected. But then, what of weapons and defense? Sometimes the best solution comes at the end of a Phaser cannon. Regretable, but true, especially when it's a radioactive six Mile wide Asteroid hurtling for a colony world. But then what if it's not that big, what if the easiest solution, is the easiest defense of a simple tractor beam? As well, what of new areas of space, that contain new and unknown things, suddenly that Plasteel Tritanium ship just isn't so wise, newer, better ones need to be built, especially if you find a newer, better material, or synthesise such a material.
The point is, knowing what's out there will help all of you, even if it's just knowing it's there." King Howard said.

At that point he began to speak at great length about things, things that were interesting, things that were boring, things that were dangerous, things that were helpful. Things like the rare Space Octopus, that liked to eat passing ships. Things like Scaly's moving Wormhole, a wormhole that moved every minute in a random fashion. He told them of the Borg, and other such species that desired nothing more than the complete assimilation of all things into their collective. He pointed out some well known Space Pirate groups, and the areas they roamed. He spoke of hidden worlds, and strange dimensions. He warned them not to mess with Subspace, or venture into it, for there lay The Shivans, and they were all but undefeatable. He spoke of The warp, and how it twisted one's reality, he spoke of The void, and how it was the most lethal environment of all, for if one was there long enough, one would simply cease to exist.

He spoke of other things, and then took Halsar aside and told him a great deal more, secrets Halsar would not remember until it was appropriate.

"Now you know everything we planned on teaching you. You will remember absolutly nothing when you first wake up, but over the course of several days, it will all come back to you. Over the course of your lives, you will have ideas, experiment with them, you will discover something new we subconciously implanted in your mind. These ideas were planted in such a manner, you will unknowingly pass them on to your students, and you will have students, even you Lord Halsar, for you are now the smartest and most educated people in all of Northren Rangeria, and your knowledge must be passed on to future generations." King Howard said. He smiled.

"Now, Wake up." he said, and as he said wake up, they each would wake up, in seperate rooms, alone, and disconnected from The Hive Mind.

OOC: Oho, but we're not done yet...

OOC: Almost makes me sad I didn't send the Prince himself ;)

IC:

Halsar swallowed deeply as he listened to King Howard's words. He had been sent with the mission as the royal advocate, the voice of his ruler, his cousin Prince Mikhail IV.

"Your Majesty... I... I don't know if I would be worthy of such a title. My line is that of cousins, not Princes. If anyone should be here, it should be Mikhail. But... But I will do my best... and hope I can pass this wisdom on to my children. And the children of my Prince, once he marries."

It was a terrible burden, knowledge. Especially with extensive new technologies, new strategies that would now be living inside his mind, waiting to be born. To himself, Samuel Halsar wondered if all of this would change him. Would he try to use his power against his cousin? Would this new knowledge make people think he should rule in Mikhail's stead? Samuel shivered at the prospect... Northern Rangerians still spat at the mention of Duke Stapani Halsar, whose line had been extinguished after he and his sons had manipulated and murdered the true rulers.

Would his name come to means the new Princeslayer?

Halsar's worries, however, disappeared as soon as he woke up, his contemplations, his knowledge locking themselves inside his mind to seep out over the years. He felt like he had slept for days...

"The mind is a delicate thing, even if it is powerful. Changed to much at once, and it becomes shattered. However, you will remember enough to get your new ship home at the end of a 24 hour period, by the end of the month, your new knowledge will be mostly appearent, and others, will show themselves over the period of the following year. 365 Earth days from now, you will completly remember everything." a note said beside him. Everyone had a similar note.

Once he got up and left the room, he would find the crew had been reduced to a bare thousand. They were in orbit of mars, and earth wasn't that far away.

Now was the perfect time to actually physically explore the ship.

Halsar shook his head a little, still feeling a little bewildered by all this. Not to mention that he had no recollection where the crew of the Mothership had come from (OOC: assuming they are Principality men, here? If not, please let me know and I'll correct this). He remembered going to Oceanus with a group of about a dozen officers, engineers and pilots, no more...

Halsar shook his head a little, still feeling a little bewildered by all this. Not to mention that he had no recollection where the crew of the Mothership had come from (OOC: assuming they are Principality men, here? If not, please let me know and I'll correct this). He remembered going to Oceanus with a group of about a dozen officers, engineers and pilots, no more...

As the fog continued to lift from his mind, he would discover they were not principality men, they were humans, but they were also from The Dark Empire of Warhaven. the odd Aquamarinian still ran around doing this or that.

Meanwhile, King Edward was off to one side of the hallway looking out a space port.

Halsar shook his head and then went to search for the others. After a quick debriefing of what they remembered from the Hive Mind experience - which at the moment was very little - he then dispensed the orders. Engineers would go to the engineering section, pilots would go investigate the status of any possible scout ships on board, and the officers would follow him to the bridge. It was time to take the Mothership home...

They would find the scout ship in perfect condition, and everything else in perfect working order, and that a very large Octopus shaped ship had suckered itself onto the Mothership, with it's tenticles going into the second Cargo Bay. This of course was another more advanced Warhaven ship, and slowly the crew was filing out after setting things to auto.