NationStates Jolt Archive

"Fire!"

The three antimatter beam cannons of the Assault-class Heavy Cruiser sliced through space and impacted with two War Discs. The bright blue beams slammed into the green energy shields of the Arl'skich ships, who had been doing their best to avoid the Heavy Cruiser in the asteroid belt. As the weapons wearing down their shields were showing, they had not succeeded. The beams overwhelmed their shields capacity to sustain the damage, and minor explosions washed over the discs before the beams sliced in, and destroy the ships in two large explosions of crackling energy and debris. The Heavy Cruiser moved through the debris field as it took stock of the situation. The remaining Arl'skich forces, greatly weakened during the campaign to clean up this system after it had been conquered three cycles ago, were now all but annihilated. The remaining few would be continually hunted until they died of exhaustion and food/water deprivation, or they were destroyed on sight by a Kelauan ship. War Commander Ke'shar stood on the bridge of Heavy Cruiser "Telesa", named after the previous War Commander who had died in the Battle for Hypax IV. He was leading the battle group that had just finished off the Arl'skich in this area, and was glad to see his job was almost over.

As much as he liked battle, patrolling did become nice after the enemy was so weak so as not to be much of a challenge. Signaling to the comm officer, he opened a channel. "Karsis Command, this is War Commander Ke'shar. Enemy forces have been neutralized."

"Understood, War Commander. You can break off and come back home. War Captain Lasair is taking over the search for the survivors. Get your men some rest and food, and then come down to Command for reassignment."

"Understood, Ke'shar out." He turned to the bridge and grinned as he slammed an armored fist as his power armor. "Good job, people. We cleared another sector." A series of three loud roars sounded from the bridge and they sent out the orders. The battle group turned around, and began to power up their Jump Drives, a visible rippling beginning to pick up speed around the ships as the drives powered up. Then, they shot off into space at high speed, their after-images remaining for a second before they, too, vanished from view. Only for them to reappear above a reddish planet with bright, flashing yellow spots all over the planet. This was Karsis III, the "capital" world of the Karsis system. As was colonization protocol, they named the systems after the worlds chosen to be the capital. As such, Karsis III became the capital. A volcanic world, it was constantly experiencing explosions and was an immensely hot and dangerous place. Before they changed during the war, the Kelauans would have never been able to colonize this place. Now, it was simply another home for them, and a valuable place for raw minerals and metals.

Ke'shar got his ships into the shipyards above the planet, moving past completed and uncompleted Orbital Defense Stations. This planet was becoming more and more defensible over time, as this was not a core world, but it wasn't out too far either. Just enough to be in the middle, and as such, had more construction on it than the others. He noticed a smaller group of ships leaving. and surmised that it was War Captain Lasair. Silently wishing him luck, he opened the door to the docking tube and walked through. He could hear the raucous cheering of his soldiers and crew as they entered the station, and were responded in kind by the members on the station. They had a flourishing warrior culture, one that had been in the works since they first enhanced themselves into the beings they are now. Glancing down at the sinewy dark green skin of his body, Ke'shar had always wondered if they had made the right choice. Looking at his happy soldiers and crew, his family, boasting of their achievements and already speaking about the battles, he realized he wouldn't have it any other way.

Nodding to a crew member, he walked out of the lobby area and headed for Karsis Military Headquarters, where he would meet with Overseer Ja'keel over his new assignment. It was probably some time off, as he hadn't seen any leave since before the war began. Now, he'd be able to relax a bit, and find out how he would piece his life back together to fit the changes that had occurred so rapidly over the last seven years. Little did he know that he was to become the official liaison between the Kelauan Dominion and the Empire of Balrogga. After several minutes, he came back out with an order to go to the capital of Kelaua IV. It was a thinly-veiled gift from his commanding officer to allow him some time with his family and some relaxing time away from war and combat. While their culture loved war, one did get tired after fighting for so long.

And so it was that he was headed on a ship towards Kelaua IV, with nothing but a bag of his stuff, and the anticipation of going home once more. After a week of travel, Ke'shar finally walked out of a ship and onto a planet full of air, and without a single sound of war. He could see the shining spires of Kelaua rebuilt once more, and the shimmering magnificence that was their capital, their homeworld. With a new beat in his step, he hefted his bag over his shoulder and began to walk towards the nearest transportation center. He needed a ride to get to where his family was living, after all....

Anthony walked out of the audience chamber wondering how the trip will be. His Grey robes marked him as one of the Advisors, the personal attendants to Nhur-Galladu, his eyes and hands for distant actions far from his nomadic fleets.

He hovered down the hallway of The Fist, the Fortress used as the Imperial Palace. The Ta’Nar went straight to the docking level at the end of one of the arms and boarded his Stiletto shuttle. A couple minutes later he was speeding away from the monstrous space station heading toward his waiting ship.

The Sagan was a converted freighter. It was reconfigured to attend to the needs of Dr Stark’s profession and was now considered a Diplomatic ship. It contained no weapons for it didn’t need any. Ambassador Stark was the most dangerous thing on the entire ship.

The Sagan turned and headed away from The Fist, entering a newly opened wormhole as it left. Ten minutes later it was emerging from the other end of the wormhole in the Kelaua system. After emerging, The Sagan cut its engines and announced its arrival clearly identifying itself and waited for the natives to get stirred up by their sudden appearance. They were expecting him but Anthony suspected they would not have expected a wormhole suddenly opening and depositing the ship here. Sensors would detect the craft as having the mass shadow of a small star and the power levels could only be described as incredible. They would also possibly detect the absence of any weapon arrays but the presence of sheilding, although the latter were at minimum power. It was a good thing the ship was quite a ways away from any populated areas or the warlike natives might shoot first.

The arrival of the Balroggan ship caused a stir in the system indeed. After all, this was the heart of all Kelauandom, and the most well-defended place in the Dominion. Hundreds of Orbital Defense Stations (ODS) turned their weapons on the shuttle, but did not activate as the Kelauans were not THAT hasty, especially as they did not start wars so easily. They ran identification programs through all their systems, and found that the shuttle, with its amazing power levels and mass, was property of the Balroggans. All the defenses locking on, the frenzied call for ships, rush to battle stations, all that was called off sheepishly as a calm and calculating voice filled the channel to the shuttle, obviously an A.I.

"Greetings, Balroggan ship. We apologize for the reaction, but we did not recognize you at first. We welcome a fellow ally in the Extra-Solar Union of Systems. but we are curious as to why you are here? Compared to the other nations in the ESUS, we are not that renowned, nor remarkable."

They calmly waited for an answer, while a meeting place was being established at the Praetor's palace, for the Balroggan to come and visit. However, seeing as the Praetor was away at the coronation of the Realm Emperor, he was to be met by one of the high-ranking Warlords, if they chose to come down and talk.

A return message was sent, both audio and visual. The face was that of an older gentleman, possibly reminding the viewer of a teacher or even a college professor.

This is Anthony Stark, I have been sent here to act as the ambassador from the Fallen Empire. I was on the understanding that I was expected. I was asked to come here to your nation not less than 30 minutes ago by none other than Warlord Nhur-Galladu himself. I made the best haste possible to be here in an efficient manner.

The Sagan will remain here and I will use the old freighter as my diplomatic residence if it is needed. If you wished me to come down to the planet I can easily take a shuttle to the surface or you can send one to dock with The Sagan if you wish. I have been doing this for years so I can adapt to whatever you wish.

If you wish, you can send over any data you wish me to know regarding your Contact Protocols so I do not make any mistakes or violate any social taboos. It would be greatly appreciated.

The gentleman, slightly graying at the temples waited to find out what the new friends of the Fallen Empire wished him to do.

This is Anthony Stark, I have been sent here to act as the ambassador from the Fallen Empire. I was on the understanding that I was expected. I was asked to come here to your nation not less than 30 minutes ago by none other than Warlord Nhur-Galladu himself. I made the best haste possible to be here in an efficient manner.

The Sagan will remain here and I will use the old freighter as my diplomatic residence if it is needed. If you wished me to come down to the planet I can easily take a shuttle to the surface or you can send one to dock with The Sagan if you wish. I have been doing this for years so I can adapt to whatever you wish.

If you wish, you can send over any data you wish me to know regarding your Contact Protocols so I do not make any mistakes or violate any social taboos. It would be greatly appreciated.


The A.I. paused to smile at the politeness of this man. She checked her logs, and saw that a second after the ship had appeared, a log detailing the negotiations to take place had been uploaded. She made a note to have Command update the hardware of the system; mistakes like this could be costly in the future. Returning to the conversation, with all her actions having taken milliseconds, she spoke. "I see. We received the message detailing your arrival too late, I apologize. We have a place already readied down here on the planet for you to begin negotiations. We are sending coordinates of the starport to you. It would be nice if you could take your shuttle down, we are quite busy with civilian traffic right now. You will be meeting the Praetor in his palace, and he looks forward to meeting with you. Have good day, Mr. Stark."

Anthony was relieved to hear the natives were going to be compliant in the meeting they asked for; he had rather hoped he didn’t have to defend himself. That would be a bad beginning for any diplomatic situation. The Ta’Nar opened a channel to return a reply to his hosts.

Thank you very much. I have received the upload and I will leave at once. My ship will remain here if this is not in the way. If you wish it to be parked elsewhere, just let me know and I will have it moved.

A few minutes later a single shuttle left the small hanger remodeled into what was at one time the cargo hold. The ship followed the course sent to The Sagan exactly. Anthony took several sensor readings as well as pictures of the planet as he approached. He put the shuttle into Automatic, allowing the local traffic control to guide it in.

Local traffic control quickly got Anthony's shuttle through the maze of civilian traffic that was the capital of the Dominion and it was sent, of all places, to land at the Praetor's palace. Kalthir had read much and heard plenty about the infamous Balroggans, the co-creators of the Kythons and the destructor of many, savior of some. As such, he was very interested in meeting one of their own. So, he had a place prepared and opened one of his private landing pads attached to the palace to the Balroggan. As he landed, he would see waiting to greet him a single person. They felt that a Balroggan could handle himself, should any trouble somehow come up in their nation, which on the homeworld was ridiculously low.

When he stepped out, he would see a young but beautiful, for Kelauan, girl with the racial lack of pupil red eyes, dark green skin, and silver hair. Bowing low, her black and red robe fluttering in the breeze of the planet, she gazed up at Anthony and spoke. "Greetings, I am S'zail, one of the Kalthir's aides. I have been tasked to be your guide during your stay here. If you will follow me, I will lead you to the Praetor."

Turning on her heel, she continued on the long pathway to the palace, expecting the Balroggan to be following her. They walked into the palace, a massive place of black and red, the favorite colors, it seemed, of the Kelauans. They moved through the halls, which were filled with rich light and art, some of it old Kelauan, some of it new art, depicting great scenes of victories and last stands in the Great War, and even some imported art. Every time they passed a guard, he/she bowed their head in respect to the Balroggan. Heads watched as the Balroggan walked along, curious yet awestruck at his presence. Soon enough, however, they came to a massive set of brown doors, which S'zail stopped before and knocked.

<"Yes?"> A vibrant voice said from inside.

<"The Balroggan is here, sir.">

A clap sounded as there was a rush of feet and the door opened to reveal the large form of the former Warbringer, Praetor Kalthir. Dressed in his golden trimmed black and red tunic and pants, with the golden cloak, he cut an impressive sight for a Kelauan. Opening the door, he waved the Balroggan.

<"Come in, my friend. Have a seat. S'zail, thank you for your help. You may go and take a break. If I need anything, I will call on you."> The aide bowed and walked away, a bounce to her step. It was not often aides were given extra breaks, but Kalthir decided she had enough to do for the day, she needed some free time. Turning back, he walked over to his desk and sat down, gazing at the Balroggan, if he chose to sat in the chair, or stand.

<"So, I assume you know we worked out this little meeting, between our nations. Before we get started, do you wish to mention anything, ask questions, etc etc?">

"The only question I have is what sort of taboos should I avoid, we did not have any listed to avoid. I do not wish to create a bad impression with your people so I figured I would ask before I accidently committed any."

Anthony was smooth and polite. It was almost like he could read the man like a book. Perhaps that was why the Warlord chose him to send as the diplomat.