NationStates Jolt Archive

[OOC]: This is my first FT nation and my first NS nation in a while. I started off with a relatively low tech nation so I can grow and learn the ropes of FT. Any help in terms of feasibility or general FT protocol would be much appreciated. Oh, and in case it’s not obvious enough, which I am hoping it is, this is an opportunity for ships to stream in from hyperspace to meet my nation.

One last thing, please forgive any typos, this was a pretty quick job.

:

“Life support systems operating at full capacity. Hull integrity is 100%. All systems are green. Shall we prepare to initiate, captain?”

Captain George Titro looked around the command module of the MSS [i]Explorer as it sped slowly away from the planet Mora, escorted by the tiny flotilla of Moravrian “warships”. The Explorer was an experimental Moravrian vessel built to test the newly built XFTL-001 Faster Than Light engine designed by Moravrian scientists. If the engine worked it would allow Moravria to explore areas of the galaxy once thought to be unreachable by the Moravrian people.

Most of the small hull of the Explorer was taken up by the FTL engine, with a small, two room command module. The “bridge”, if that is what it could be called, consisted of two chairs, one for the captain and the other for Lieutenant Bagbridge, who also served as Titro’s XO, and a control panel where two engineers sat, continuously monitoring the FTL drive to ensure it was operating correctly. The other half of the module housed four beds and enough food to last them about a week if they became lost in space.

“Yes, lieutenant, prepare for launch.” Titro grabbed the com-handset from its perched and spoke into it “All hands, this is your captain, prepare for Faster Than Light initiation. I repeat, prepare for Faster Than Light initiation.” He put the handset back on its perch, thinking that it was hardly necessary to announce the fact to the four others on the ship. “Lieutenant, open a comlink to Admiral Portrikar.”

“Yes sir.” The lieutenant pushed a few buttons and the said, “it’s open, sir.”

“Admiral Portrikar, this is Captain Titro, all systems are go and I am requesting conformation of a green light.”

“Excellent, Captain. You have a green light for initiation. Good luck and may the Spirit guide you through your adventure.”

“Thank you sire, Titro, out.” Titro looked to Bagbridge. “Prepare the final countdown, lieutenant.”

“Yes sir. Shutting down Slower Than Light engine system’s rerouting all non-essential power to Faster Than Light drive.” The lights dimmed as power was pulled away to be used by the FTL drive. “Requesting final confirmation of Faster Than Light capabilities.”

“Confirmation positive, Faster Than Light capabilities fully functional,” one of the engineers said without taking his eyes off the panel.

“We are ready for launch captain, just press the button.”

Captain Titro looked down at his command panel eyeing the small button labeled “FTL” cautiously. Slowly he brought his hand from the arm of his chair toward the button. He finger extended as he slowly grew closer to it. “Faster Than Light initiation…now” He pressed the button and the FTL drive began to awaken. Slowly the stars began to elongate, and Titro suddenly felt dizzy and nauseous. The bridge seemed to spin around him and colors randomly flashed from every corner of his vision. The dizziness and nausea passed a few minutes later, and the colors retreated back to his peripheral vision then disappeared completely.

Bagbridge piped in “Sir, we have reentered real space, initial calculations place us at 0.67 lightyears from Mora.”

“Get me an exact navigational fix; I want to know exactly where we are. I am beginning initial scan for life forms.”

OOC: A bit of background, here. I play as the Realm, and, at present, I'm at war with one Fleetmind Kara, an AI distributed over a heckload of ships. In order to discover the Fleetmind's location, millions of probes were distributed across the galaxy. So, hey. I have a half-plausible reason for being here!

You're doing fine so far, by the by.

IC: It was probably luck that brought the Realm vessel there. Sheer coincidence, by the looks of things. Of course, that excuse was as implausible as it was a lie. The vast probe-network that had extended its feelers throughout the galaxy had brought them here. Within minutes of the ship's arrival, the probe had sent back messages to Hypatia, quietly informing the Realm of another diplomatic contact that could be made.

Of course, it helped that the Moravrian ships had jumped into the outskirts of Realm territory. Although uninhabited, this system was home to a single refueling station, which constantly collected fusionable materials - so that diplomatic vessels and scouts were able to refill their drives once they re-entered the Realm sphere of influence.

Right now, there was nothing but a probe, and an old refueling station. Completed automated - no Realm citizens were this far out. Yet.

The probe sent back streams of data, noticing that the ship was not a Fleetmind vessel - or anything they had on file, in fact.

Greetings. This is a probe of the Realm. May we enquire as to your presence on the outskirts of our system?

A basic diplomatic message was loaded, along with sets of mathematical and language data. This would be transmitted, again and again, on different frequences, until such time as the newcomer was able to understand them.

OOC: Thanks man...I'm working on background of Moravria and will have it in a few days.

IC:“I am reading no organic lifeforms. Do you have a navigational fix yet lieutenant?”

“Yes sir, initial calculations were way off. We are actually 2 light years from Mora. How long were we in Hyperspace, captain?”

“I don’t know. I thought it was only a minute or two, but perhaps it was –“

“Sir, we have an incoming textual message, as well as other data coming from an unknown source.”

Captain Titro suddenly became worried as he slowly sat down into the captains chair, “Patch it through.”

Greetings. This is a probe of the Realm. May we enquire as to your presence on the outskirts of our system?

The Captain considered this message for a moment before saying to the lieutenant, “send a message back on the same frequency. Say…” Titro was not a diplomat and struggled to find words that he thought we be unthreatening. “Say, ‘We are from the star system Moravria. We come in peace. We are testing our first hyperspace drive and seem to have accidentally entered your territory. May I inquire as to whether or not you are human, or where you are?’”

“Message sent sir.”

“Good Bagbridge,” Titro took a deep breath. “Let us hope the spirit protects us from harm.”

"Can we transmit another message through the probe? They're speaking Solstandard, or some variant of it, apparently. Nothing too alien. Probably just a human colony."

"Jarvik, why can't you just wait until we get there? It's only a few hours."

Diplomat-Captain Jarvik D'Anconia sighed.

"Because they might leave. Or think that we're crazy! Or something! I don't know their cultural vagaries! But it's not every day we make contact with a new species, you understand, yes? Besides, this is a promotion in the making. I've been commanding a diplomatic corvette for fifteen years. If I manage to pull this off, I could get a posting on a proper ship. Like a battleplate."

Keleyn, the ship's navigator, sighed.

"Jarvik, is that all you think about? You have the oppurtunity to do something new, and you just think about battleplates?"

"You're right. It's undignified. But nevertheless. I'm going to access the probe's system. Get it to send a text message."

Greetings. I am Diplomat-Captain Jarvik D'Anconia. At present, my ship is en route to the system you are presently in. Transit time will be a few hours. I can, however, send information to you, textually, via this probe. Firstly, we are a variant of human - genetically engineered to some extent, in order to survival various planetary conditions, but still within the homo sapiens definition. Our homeworld, Hypatia, is a few hundred lightyears from your position, though we are somewhat wary of disclosing its location. As a representative of the Realm, let me reciprocate your peaceful intentions.

A brief pause, and then a second message.

The nearby station has an abundance of fusionable materials, if you require any extra fuel for either your power plants or engines - assuming you use some form of fusion power for your ship. We are instructed to aid you if you require it, or, otherwise, to open what diplomatic relations as you would care to have opened with your people.

Titro read the most recent messages from the telescreen imbedded in his control panel. "Bagbridge, prepare to send another message, use the same frequency."

Greetings Diplomat-Captain D’Anconia We eagerly await your arrive. It is good to hear that you are human, as we feared a militaristic alien race would be our first contact. We are checking our fuel supplies now, but if our calculations held up we should have just enough fusion material to get us back to Moravrian space.

“Message sen sir.”

Titro eased back into his chair and let himself recline a little. “Run diagnostics on all systems and subsystems, including the Faster Than Light drive. I want to know every bolt that popped out and every chip of paint that fell off. Then go get some food. We may have a busy time ahead of us.”

At the edge of the Moravria system a single J'dadek (http://warlords.swrebellion.com/shipdbimages/Jedi_Attack_Cruiser.jpg) class cruiser drifted lazily, another patrole in search of FTL travle, proboly one of the dullest asighnments for any captain in the empire.

Imagin Captain fowles suprise when his tactical oficer informed him of an FTL window opening near Mora.
"Can you predict thier destination?"
"They are exiting FLS now by the looks of things. They are in the next system, problem is thats Realmn teritory."
"Hmmm. We cant pass up this opurtunity, set corse, maximum Transwarp"
"Aye sir" replyed the helm as the ship sped into a teal vortex that materialised seemingly from nowhere"

2 minutes later the vortex reapeared in the next system and the cruiser shot out, rapidly slowing. "We where unuseualy acurate today sir, they are directly ahead"
"On screen" and the ship came up on the viewer "Bit primative isn't it?"
"We have seen worse, rember the Gorn?"
"Dont remind me. Anyway, open hailing frequencys"
"open sir"
"Unknown vessle this is Captain Fowle of the D.E.S. Gunthar, I am authorised to open diplomatic relations with you as you have FTL technology, please respond"

Meanwhile, hiding in the vast darkness of space, the small vessel 'Solar Strike' silently watched the happenings outside. They had been positioned at that exact same position for nearly two weeks now, making sure nothing would detect it. Hiding was it's speciality.
Inside the ship, though, they made no try to keep their voices down.

'Wooho! This is freaking awesome! That last bust has made us rich! Mac, can you believe it?!'

'Yeah!', the other man shouts while hel fills another glass with some kind of homebrewn beer. 'Here, Yan, have another! This is for the captain!'

Music and singing echoes through the inner walls of the ship. But, suddenly, the music stops and everyone looks up to see the captains finger at the Stop-button.

'Enough! You guys did terrific in the last job, and made yourselfs rich! That's not bad for scumbags like us. But you all know that there is more cash to get!
Keep in mind, we wouldn't want that pig Kymrial to take everything away - again! He wants us to do one final job and then return to safe space.
Your faces can't fool me. I do see that you have been out here for quite some time now.
Therefor, I promise this last job will be quick! In fact, I've already spotted a potential target. You'll have one hour to clean this mess up, then I want every man to battlestations. Let's do this!'

The crew responds with a massive 'Hooray' and fnishes their beer-looking beverages.

The four man crew of the Explorer sat at their stations, lazily eating a lunch of space rations. The engineers were rambling on in the technobabble only they understood, and after a time Titro ceased trying to even remotely understand what they were saying. He began to daydream, remembering the days of his childhood spent playing with his sister and the neighborhood kids, the time spent at the academy, his first assignment on a sea-borne vessel, his posting at Space Command, and –

“Sir, we have incoming audio message. I am patching it through now.”

"Unknown vessle this is Captain Fowle of the D.E.S. Gunthar, I am authorised to open diplomatic relations with you as you have FTL technology, please respond"

Titro shot up from his chair. “Open a comlink.” Bagbridge nodded to indicate that a link was open. “Captain Fowle, this is Captain George Titro of the Moravria Space Command. We welcome diplomatic relations with your ship. We come in peace, testing our first FTL drive.”

Aboard the 'Solar Strike', the mess had been cleaned up - though it still looked like a battlefield in there. The ship still layed low in the dark shadows of space, but a light glow breached the darkness and disappeared after a few seconds.

'Sir, all systems are go!, one of the men said.

'Excellent. Ryker, search for comlinks, transmittors and probes. Mac, make sure our signals won't be detected. Yan, prepare the engine for acceleration., the captain answers.

Aye, sir! Search, check. Signals, check. Engine, check. Everything is go!

Ryker, anything out there? Those ships oughta be talking to eachother, and I want to hear what that might be about.

Yes, captain. It appears to be several conversations, though all is connected to the target. We aren't the only ones interested in that primitive piece of junk, sir! I'll see if I can get some of it through, wait...

"Unknown......this....Captain...Fowler..of...e..D....."

'Crappy machine! I'll put the filtering systems online, sir.'

"...Gunthar, I am authorised to open diplomatic relations with you as you have FTL technology, please respond."

'Very well, men. It seems as if they are diplomats. They may be armed, but i doubt it - but it's unnecessary to take that risk. Ryker, I want you to copy the voicepattern of this Captain Fowler and send some nasty message to our primitive friend. Maybe we can get that primitive ship think they are in trouble, then we won't have to worry of those diplomats.

'Aye, sir! I'm on it. Guys, it's entertainment time!

*Message to Explorer from Gunthar*
This is Captain Fowler speaking. You are carrying illegal cargo! We cannot establish diplomatic relations with you. This is ridiculous! Such a primitive piece of junk, carrying that type of device. Frankly, I don't see why I shouldn't destroy you. The Realm will destroy you if they see what's in your cargo, so maybe I could spare some ammo by just telling them.
No, I'll be reasonable. You'll have five minutes to leave this area and head for sector 12 in the neighbouring system, there you'll be safe...Fowler Out.

The tension aboard the Explorer became thick enough to be split by a dull steak knife after the newest message was received. “Sir, what do we do? We don’t even have any cargo, let alone illegal cargo.”

Titro pondered for a moment, using his hand to slowly stroke his jaw line. “Open a link.” Bagbirdge nodded to indicate an open link. “Captain, think is Captain Titro of the Explorer, I am a bit confused, for two reasons. One, what cargo are we even carrying? Two, is your name Fowle or Fowler. Please respond promptly, Titro out.”

One of the enginners took his eyes off his control panel just long enough to look over at Tirtro, “Captain Titro, what do you make of this?”

“I don’t know, but may the spirit guide us and protect us for total annihilation.”

After a few seconds delay, the message from the Explorer sounded through the old speakers aboard the 'Solar Strike'. The face of the captain turned red, and he slowly turned towards Ryker.

'Ryker....What the fuck? Fowler? It's Fowle! Without the freaking "R"! Mac, try to block the response from Gunther. It's nearly impossible, but it might work.
How are the engines warming up, Yan?

'Sir, the engines are ready for acceleration. Temperatures are still under detection levels.'

'Alright, Yan. Jenkins, prepare shield and weapon systems. Mac, how's the holografic beam holding up?'

'Shield and weapons are ready to go online, sir. The holo-beam is currenctly inactive and offline but I can get it to work in a couple of minutes. What did you have in mind, sir?

'Well, Mac, maybe our primitive friends havn't seen this holographic technology. I'm wondering, it's powerful enough to simulate an attack...isn't it?'

'Yes, sir! I see where you're going with this. It's smart, sir! Though it would take some time, like two hours, to heat it up for that kind of holo-beam. Maybe I can just set it to simulate one single shot - like a warning-shot into open space - sir?'

'Do it, if the Gunther "fires" upon the Explorer they must buy it, otherwise we might be in trouble.'

"Sir im detecting another signal patched into the comm chanel" said the comms oficer before the message from the explorer came thrugh.
"What are you talking about? I have mentioned no cargo, nor have i mispronounced my name for over 100 Sol-years. We are detecting another signal attached to ours from an external sorce and are atempting to trace it."

“Sir, I don’t like the way things are panning out,” Bagbridge said while running system checks for the fifth time since exiting hyperspace.

“Neither do I lieutenant. Do we have an accurate location for that Realm refueling station?”

Bagbridge looked to the 2-D map of local space that existed on the left side of his control panel, “Yes sir, at maximum safe sublight engine power we can make it there in half an hour.”

Titro did a few rough calculations in his head, “Good, head for the station at 85% power.”

“But sir, protocol calls for –“

Titro slammed his fist down on the arm of his chair, “Damnit, I don’t care about protocol right now, we could be in emanate danger and I want to make sure we have as much fuel as possible. Put the engines at 85%!”

Bagbridge’s shoulders sank as he began to bring the engines online, “Yes sir, anything else?”

“Yes, send another message to that Realm drone. I am typing the message now.”

Diplomat-Captain D’Anconia, once again greetings from the Explorer. I come to you now in a bit of a muddle. The D.E.S. Gunthar has threatened us for having illegal cargo, which we have none of, at least to our knowledge. We have been threatened with annihilation by the Gunthar if we do not leave this system and to head to sector “12” where we will be safe. I am hoping my ship can claim refuge in Realm space, and I am heading toward your refueling station now. Please respond immediately

"Sir, we are receiving another message form the Gunthar"

After listening to the message from Fowle, or at least the latest message, Titro was thoroughly confused. “Send a message back then, open a link.”

“It’s open sir.”

“Captain Fowle, I am quite a bit confused. Can I have your exact coordinates in space so I can get my bearings? I am heading toward a local Realm refueling station. Please meet me at the following coordinates.” Titro read a string of letters and numbers that made little sense to him, but seemed to be the standard form of coordinates used by the Realm, and hopefully by the Gunthar as well.

Titro walked around the small bridge once, arms behind his back, lost in thought “Send another message to D’Anconia, say ‘threatening message appears to be coming from an outside force. Request immediate back up if possible. What is your ETA? Titro out.’”

“Message sent sir”

“Excellent. Await new transmissions and ready the FTL drive for emergency jump.”

"The explorer is going to dock with that Realm refuling station sir, they have given us a set of co-ordianted in the Realms standered form and request we meet them there" said the comms oficer
"Helm can you make sense of them?"
"That I can captain"replyed the helm officer
"Good set a course"
"Sir they also request we transmit our position. They don't specify why, I asume its because of that other signal but.." the comm oficer continued
"Send the transmition. Tactical, any luck tracing the signal yet?"
"No sir, it apeares to be a Merc or Pirate transmition." replyed the tactical oficer.
"Yellow alert, shields up, prep fighter wings 1 thrugh to 5"
"Aye sir, ALL HANDS YELLOW ALERT" replyed tactical.

On the outside, the Solar Strike was completely invisible and silent - like a dead stone floating around in deep space. But inside, there was chaos. Alarms sounded, lights were flashing and even the captain was beginning to get nervous.

'Sir! They've got us! Our link has been detected!', says Mac.

'Fuck! Mac, Exit their channel and turn off all communication devices. I want temperature checks ASAP, Yan! Ryker, can you handle the holographic beam?'

'All communication is offline, temperature is below detection levels. They know we exist - but they can't know where we are, sir!'

'That's great, Yan.......Ryker?!'

'Yes, sir! Holographic beam in three, two, one. Holo-beam initiated!

A small, not visible by the human eye, beam pierced through the dark space surrounding the three ships and landed between the Gunther and the Explorer - and suddenly it seemed as if the Gunther opened fire against the Explorer. One single shot that missed by inches.

'Now we'll see what they do...

"Diplomat D'Anconia, this is Fleet Command. Kindly be advised that we've detected several more unknowns in-system. Their message has been relayed to us - we're going to dispatch a wing of laser-drones to ensure the law there is kept."

Jarvik winced. How paranoid was Fleet Command these days? Yes, they were at war, but it was probably nothing more than a stereotypical first contact misunderstanding. He honestly doubted there were Fleetmind vessels lurking around RS-15, especially considering the system didn't even have a defensive gridfire system. Besides, he thought. If this was an attack, it would probably be a feint to draw fleet assets away from Hypatia.

This is Admiral Alexios Palaiologos, of the Realm. Presently speaking, we are aware of the threats you have received. Disregard them. While our refueling station is only armed with the basest of defensive system, we're dispatching a wing of drone craft. Furthermore, this is a Realm system. Unfriendly intrusion is frowned upon.

The message was broadcast across the system. If anything else was out there, it would know what was coming. He laughed. A wing of drones wasn't the most intimidating thing a fleet could send out, and, of course, if it wasn't for the war, there'd probably be something bigger out there.

Ah, well. A few thousand laser-armed drones, while fairly ineffective against larger craft, would still intimidate somebody.

He checked the data he'd been given. He'd be arriving maybe ten minutes in front of the drones.

"Oh, just wonderful. Send in the diplomat, to see if he gets killed. Then, when it's safe, send in the cheap mass-produced robot ships. I like to know I'm loved."

Keleyn looked up at him, and raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, you'd be killed too, dearie."

"Charmed, I'm sure."

The corvette was well on its way to the system.

In-system, the refueling station's maser systems were heating up. They weren't entirely sure who to fire at yet, but it seemed to be almost certain they would have to fire at someone.

Slowly the small Moravrian craft crept toward the Realm refueling station. “Sir, we are on final approach to the station. How do we plan to get fuel out of the station?”

“I don’t really know,” Titro said in a nonchalant tone of voice. “I was hoping to get some help from D’Anconia when he finally arrives.” Suddenly, and without warning, a bright light flashed across the bow of the ship. ‘What the fuck was that?”

Bagbridge began to look at sensors on his panel. “I don’t know sir, it seemed like some sort of energy beam or laser coming from the direction of the Gunthar.”

Titro’s face became bright red as he heard the news. Angrily he jumped up from his command chair, “Open a link to the Gunthar and prepare for immediate emergency FTL jump.”

“It’s open sir, and jump preparations are complete.”

“Gunthar, what in the hell of the spirit was that? I assume that was an accidental shot. Cease and desist. The MSS Explorer is claiming refuge within Realm territory. Any shot against us should be considered an act of war against the Realm. Titro out.”

“Sir, incoming transmission from the Realm, patching through now”

Titro listened to the message from the Realm and pondered on it for a minute. “I don’t think I can disregard the threat, not after the Gunthar shot at us. Move onto the far side of the refueling station, so the Gunthar doesn’t have a direct line of fire. Keep the FTL drive ready in case we need. I pray t the spirit that D’Anconia gets here soon.”

"Gunthar, what in the hell of the spirit was that? I assume that was an accidental shot. Cease and desist. The MSS Explorer is claiming refuge within Realm territory. Any shot against us should be considered an act of war against the Realm. Titro out."
"Once again you are decived. Do you not think that if we wished to destroy you we would fire our 18 heavy mac guns at you and rip you apart rather than fire a single anti-fighter laser at you?" the Captain replyed "That blast was even the wrong colour, our laser shots are blue, that was not. I would advise you to be swift with your refuling thoe. We have analysed the signal, which has been cut off now, and have found it is that of a pirate or mercenery groupe." he continued as the Gunthar began toblast away towards the designated co-ordinates.

The panic had slowly died aboard the Solar Strike, the worst was over and now only the waiting remained.

'C'mon! They must buy this! Damn, even I would have fallen for this one!
Mac, all communications are gone right? I mean, we don't have a clue of what they are saying...'

'That's correct, sir! I could send out a small probe, but that would remove our cloak.'

'Hm. It's not worth it. We have one other option, but it's a dangerous one. Plus, it was long time since we did that routine last time. Remember when we boarded that ship and convinced them we were merchants and priests?'

'Haha, yeah, sir! That was good times. But, err, are we going to do the same trick again? Don't you think it would be weird for merchants to suddenly pop up out here, sir?'

'Ofcourse, but if we get a visual on that ship following our target, maybe we can use their flag and numbers to convince the target that we are diplomats. All we have to do is use our speed - our ship is much smaller than theirs so that won't be a problem. What do you say, guys?'

'It's on, sir!'

'Great. Mac, get a visual scan of that ship and copy it's flags and numbers. I won't tolerate any mistakes this time - we'll have to be an identical copy of that ship! Yan, heat up the engines for acceleration in 45 seconds. Jenkins, turn shields and weapons offline and array the energy to the engines.'

And suddenly, in a dark corner of the space outside the realm, a bright glow turned up. After a few seconds that bright glow grew into a small ship and with incredible speed it disappeared once more - this time heading towards the fuelstation.

OOC: Helveticuz, what precisely are you doing? I'm not entirely sure. Aaand.. I managed to have put a thumbs-down on the top of my post. I'd ignore that, guys. I'm just incompetent, not judgemental.

IC: *pop*

The corvette emerged smoothly, a small distance away from the refueling station. Jarvik pumped his fist in the air.

"Yes! Another perfect jump, Keleyn. Good stuff!"

"You're enthusiastic, aren't you?"

He grinned. "We're here, y'know. We have some time to burn before the little armada gets here. I would've asked for something bigger, but there's no way Command would've complied. So, fire up the annie-plant, prepare the guns, and hope we don't have to fire. It's not as if this corvette is a battleplate, after all."

He looked around. "Oh, hey. Gonna send a message, now, by the by. If someone shoots at us, can you do your best to keep us alive?"

Keleyn sighed. "Of course, captain-oh-my-captain."

He laughed. "I like it. Keep calling me that."

Gentlemen, this is Diplomat-Captain Jarvik D'Anconia. I'd like to note that any vessels in this system, provided they keep their weapons powered down, are officially under my protection. Now, my little corvette may not look like much, but rest assured, we've got one hell of a fleet ready to back us up.

A second message, much briefer, but this time to the Explorer alone.

Oh, and Captain Titro, if you'd be so good as to get within a few klicks of our station, we can transfer fusionables quite easily.

“Bagbridge, send a message to the Gunthar, apologizing for my previous harsh language.”

“Already done captain. We have an incoming transmission from the Realm. Two actually, putting them on the loud speaker now.” The crew of four listened to the radio transmission, relieved that the Realm ship was finally in sector and could protect the Explorer if the situation warranted it.

“Open a link to D’Anconia’s ship,” Titro waited in his chair for the nod from Bagbridge that the link was open, “Captain D’Anconia, it is a pleasure to finally hear your voice. We are approaching the refueling station now. Please be advised that there have been some strange happenings as of late, including what seemed to be a laser shot from the Gunthar another vessel in this sector we are currently trying start diplomacy with. The Gunthar denies this claim and, well, I believe them. Something strange is going on.”

D'Anconia spoke slowly. While a diplomat, he had also served as a captain of a frigate for many years, before the navy had been phased out, and the present system of a very small number of very powerful ships, or "supercapitals", had been phased in.

Odd, though. They spoke Standard. A heavy accent, to be certain, but it was not hard to make out

"I'm not entirely sure. The mass spectrometer on this vessel isn't nearly as advanced as it would be on a proper navy vessel. I'm getting odd readings, but.. not much more. For now, just keep your vessel on a decent alert. We saw the shot, but there was no proper energy behind it. It was a burst of barely-coherent light, not a proper powered laser. Had it hit you, it might've brushed a few atoms off your armour. I'm inclined to think someone's trying to incite combat here."

He sighed. "We'll have a minor automated fleet along here in a bit. Hopefully enough to spread out and scan the system. Until then.. what would you know of us?"

OOC: I'm not that experienced in roleplaying so I'm sorry for any misunderstandings and such. What I'm trying to do is to let Solar Strike become a digital copy of the Gunthar, travel to the refueling station where I convince the Explorer - who will think the Solar Strike is the Gunthar, unless he actually looks directly at the ship and sees that it's much smaller than Gunthar - to let me board them for "diplomatic" reasons.

IC: Not far from the Explorer, the Solar Strike roamed against them with incredible speed - closing in by the seconds.

'Alright, this is it. Yan, turn engines on 20%....and make a cool entrance, hehe. Jenkins, array energy to the shields and turn them online. Mac, turn on all communication.'

'Yan: Yes, sir! Engines on 80, 50, 30, 20%, sir!
Jenkins: Aye, sir! Shields are at 60%, online, sir!
Mac: Will do, sir! All communication is online.'

'Great. Now, one last check - are an exact copy of the Gunthar now?'

'Yes we are, sir. Unless they see us with their own naked eyes, they can't possibly tell we aren't the Gunthar.'

'Good work, Ryker. OK guys, after our entrance I want you to scan the surroundings for ships and hail them. Today we are diplomats so mind the language!'

'Haha, aye, sir!'

And with a flash the Solar Strike emerges in the empty space near the refueling station.

"Interesting. We have.. two of the same ship in-system. That's odd. More than odd, in fact. Wait a second. If you'd care to accompany me down to the refueling station, we have some fairly accurate mass readers there, not to mention other scanning methods. I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but we might well be able to find out."

Jarvik sighed. "Of course, Captain, if you'd care to stay aboard your ship, I'd understand. I just want to figure out what on earth has been happening in this system, and as soon as possible."

He turned the link with the Moravrians down, and spoke to the ship near the refueling station.

This is Diplomat-Captain Jarvik D'Anconia of the Realm. What are you doing so close to our refueling station?

Aboard the Solar Strike...

'Sir, we have an incomming message...I'll patch it through. Fowles voicepattern is still online.'

"This is Diplomat-Captain Jarvik D'Anconia of the Realm. What are you doing so close to our refueling station?"

'Greetings Captain D'Anconia. This is Captain Fowle of the Gunthar, a diplomatic corvette. We come in peace, and you'll notice that our weapons systems are all offline.
We have been talking to the primitive ship named the Explorer and we are interested in starting diplomatic relations with them.
You seem, after a careful scan of your ship, to be a serious spacefaring race. perhaps we could talk more later, friend?'

'Message has been sent, sir! That was great.'

'Thanks, Ryker. Now search for the Explorer and hail them - we need to get aboard their ship ASAP.'

Minutes away. Damn. If anything was going to happen, it needed to happen soon - the drone armada would be able to, he hoped, enforce the peace.

There was.. one thing. He couldn't place it. Two ships. But they were the same ships! Same energy outputs, same scans, same.. it didn't add up. Not at all.

I apologize, but there's one thing I have to do first. There are a few issues aboard our refueling station. I'll investigate it, and speak with you in a minute.

The corvette docked, the airlocks between the ship and the station linked with a long metallic walkway. Jarvik opened the door, and stepped on to the walkway..

The crew of the Solar Strike cheered.

'Yeah! Sir, they bought it!'

The captain was now walking in cirlcles, crisscrossing amongst his crewmembers in the bridge.

'I don't know. It feels like they somehow know we are up to something. But they could impossibly know anything! Send another message...'

'...Ofcourse. There has been a couple of mysterious happenings and our security devices detected that someone was listening to our conversations with the Explorer. Probably some pirates, wich wouldn't be a threat to the power of the Realm. But - if anything would happen, can we count on your protection, dear Captain?'

The Captain smiled and turned away from the screen.

'How about that one, guys?', he says and laughs loudly.

A ship (http://www.st-intelligence.com/ship_database/dom/images/Sov_main.jpg) jumped into the system. It send a hail as soon as it picked up the other ships.
"Hakail noa maja. Ilo a nassano pal shika i. Chup'ake, malanu qis?" An AI popped up on each ship as the message was sent, analyzed the ship's language systems and translated.
"Greetings, unknown life. We are simple explorers. Please inform us, who are you?"

"Sir it seems that another J'dadek has materialised out of nowhere near the station."
"Run a detailed scan, put it on viewer" the ship come up on the view "Well it looks like one of ours, bit small thoe, alarmingly so. Alter our corse slightly, make it look like a standered manuver, head to intercept, launch stealth wings 1 and 2*"
"Aye sir" replyed the relavent bridge crews as they caried out thier orders.

Alarms rang out around the ship as the new ship droped in "Sir, incoming ship. Templars!" yelled the tactical oficer
"Hail them, as them what they are doing here" replyed the captain "and in the name of the ancesters shut those infernal alarms off!"

OOC:* Stealthwings are wings consiting of Slient hunter fighter bombers (http://us.games-workshop.com/news/events/trade/dallasapocalypse/images/oohbaracuda.jpg).

"Maek sio Dragona he!"
"Tau conar."
The ship sent a reply.
We are the VTN Wings of Kal. We are here on exploration purposes, to find new life and establish contact. We are not here to wage war. The ship flashed it's forward green lights, a sign of peaceful intent. Please tell us, what is happening? We are picking up double of your ship.

"We too detect the other ship. We don't know who they are but its a safe bet that they are members of a rouge groupe. We are here simply to establish first contact with the Moravrian vessel *co-ordinates attached* here as they have now achived FTL travel.

A flash of light appeared in the centre of space as a tri-engined warship emerged from hyperspace. The vessel tapered to a gentle point at it's bow while the nearby starlight reflected off the turbolaser turrets and the side of the bridge. Along her side was the Registration Code AWC-19304-2 while above that, the ship's name was written in bold capitals APS IMMENSE.

On board, the Captain brushed her blond hair out of the way and frowned at the console,
"Send a message if you must" She sighed, Captain Naomi Lewis did not enjoy being part of the APN DSF but she must do what she must to fulfill her duty to the People.

TO: Any Vessels in the area

This is the Alversian People's Starship Immense, making diplomatic
with any vessels in the area.


"Ma'am, there's a Station nearby" One of the Ensigns reported, "It seems there's a vessel connected to her."

Naomi shrugged,
"Worth a look, set a course"

"Alversian ships has also arived in the system sir" said the tactical
"Send them a message of greeting and inform them of whats going on" replyed the captain.

"Karo Alversians eh he Dragnona."
"Rei, Tau conar."
Alversian ship, this is the VTN Wings of Kal, here on a Diplomatic mission. Query; Do your sensors detect two identical Dragona ships?
Dragona, thank you for the knowledge. We hope we can co-operate in our common goal.

'Sir, we have several new ships in our sector! This is creepy...', Mac said stressed and nervous.

'Oh fuck! Where the hell did they come from? And this is just sick - we're in the middle of nowhere with a perfect target infront of us and all the sudden we have a smaller fleet here?'

'Yes Captain, this is seriously fucked up. Let's just get the hell out of here - we haven't got a chance against those ships.'

'Indeed. Mac, Cut all communication and just for the fun of it try to disturb their comlinks. Yan, heat up the engines to 100% and set course for sector 12. Jenkins, activate one of the escape pods and set the course for it towards that Alversian ship - they seem rich!', he laughs.
Now, here's what I want you to do. When you get to sector 12, head for the asteroid belt as usual and gather as many ships as possible - just tell them that there is an insanely amount of cash involved - and get them over here. With the right amount of ships we could win this one simply. I will go with the escape pod, that Alversian ship will pick me up and I'll prepare for your arrival. C'mon people, let's do this!'

The Solar Strike leaves in a flash, but left behind is one single little canister-looking thing. It shines brightly as the nearby stars reflects on it's surface. Inside is the Captain, taking a sip of homebrewn beer from the small bottle that he carries in his belt.

"Ahao si!"
"Lae ur, ayo."
"Cao hia tu Alverisan sha."
"Hmm.... Yuak ona. Laue ur, gaoi."

APS Immense, there is an escape pod coming towards you. Heads up, it comes from an unknown source.

A bolt of blue light shot past the escape pod as the stealthwings soared past.
The lead fighter hailed the pod " Attention unknown persons. You have comited the offence of impersonating Dragona militry personel and are hearby sentanced to death for your crimes. How do you plead?"

The I-Class Cruiser continued to drone on until she noticed the Escape Pod that was floating nearby. Immediately, she diverted to the Escape Pod and began to scan it while sending a message to the it's Occupier,

Escape Pod, What is your Status?

Naomi sighed, this was just not gonna be her day. She was gonna have to pick up an Escape Pod and that could mean fatalities. All she wanted to do was get to that Station.

She was new to the job of Captain, she hadn't even served as a First Officer before. She had been a Communications Officer for several years and a Lieutenant Commander, but this was her first command. She had been chosen as the Captain of the new Cruiser Immense because she was a quick thinker and a confident Diplomat. Two things one needed in the cold confines of Deep Space. Her crew were all new to the APN, she was the most experienced on the ship. Most of the Senior Officers were Ensigns and even her First Officer was merely a Lieutenant, the APN Officers Corp was still suffering after the SASM war.

Still, she should be able to get through this mission without too much bother. Hopefully.

"Alversian ship, This this the D.E.S. Gunthar. The person aboard that escape pod, and those aboard his ship are guilty of crimes against the empire, relinquish controle of it at once or we shall be... displeased." sent the captain of the Gunthar.

Inside the small, but still comfortable escape pod the Captain dropped his little bottle of beer when something roamed by the pods side.
The screens before began to flash 'Incoming Message - Incoming Message'.
He leaned forward and pressed on one of the buttons on the see-through panel infront of him.

"Attention unknown persons. You have comited the offence of impersonating Dragona militry personel and are hearby sentanced to death for your crimes. How do you plead?"

He sighed, pressed the 'Cancel Message' button and reached for the bottle on the floor. 'Incoming Message - Incoming Message'.

'What the fuck?!'

"Escape Pod, What is your Status?"

He immediately pressed the 'Do you wish to answer?' button ahead of him:

'*Cough* Hello! This is Rian Tarmagella of the helium-3 freighter Solar Express. I am in great need of aid, er, medical aid! My ship was boarded by pirates...and...*sigh* my crew, they're all dead! Please, help me!'

He turned the mic's off and looked at the bottle in his hand, and with force swung it against his head and blood began to sip out of the wounds.

"Gunthar this is green leader, no responce from the pod. Should we destroy it?"
"Green leader this is Gunthar, negative, return to hanger" the captain replyed, turning to the tactical oficer he said 2" Beam up that pod"
"Energy.. Damn too late. The Alversians have him sir"
"Open a chanle"
"Chanle open"
"Alversian craft come in plase" the captain said into the com, his voice poisened honey "We request you turn the escape pod and its inhabitants over to us at once that our laws may be placed in effect. over" Muting the comm for a moment he said "Ready the Mac guns, well take him by force if we have to" before reinitializing the com.

OOC: happy now Alversia?

Hello! This is Rian Tarmagella of the helium-3 freighter Solar Express.
I am in great need of aid, er, medical aid! My ship was boarded bypirates
...and... my crew, they're all dead! Please, help me!

Naomi listened to the message and instantly, her mind was made up,
"Catch the Pod in a tractor beam, Ensign" She ordered the man in front of her, "and prepare to beam the passenger to Sick Bay"

The Ensign saluted and began to type the necessary commands into the correct console in front of him. A light blue, coned beam shot from the Cruiser and surrounded the Escape Pod, firmly anchoring it to the Immense. When that was done, the Captain would find himself in a clean and modern Medical Bay, being scanned by a female Doctor who was using a small advanced machine to take readings from him,

"Relax," She said carefully as she swept the device over him, "This is a Neuro-scanner, it will help me plot any damage done to your vital systems"

OOC: Alright this is a mess. Gunthar has a tractor beam on me and so do the Immense - who also have the Captain in med bay.
I'm not that experienced in roleplaying....what to do?

The crew of the Wings watched in amusement before sending a message to all the local ships.
This tug of war is futile. Allow us to pick him up, then send representatives to our ship to check his health and brings charges. However, he will not, and I repeat, NOT be removed from the ship until a decision is reached. Are we in agreement.

OOC Edit: Well, Alversia, I reckon you should edit that post, and then we can continue on with the RP. My suggestion is in IC terms above.

OOC: Well, up to you. You could say that the Captain has been beamed to the Immense and the Gunther has an empty Pod. The problem is that everyone is posting too quickly

BTW What's he done to so annoy you Ih8?

ooc: He aint really done anything but his char and resultant crew pretended to be part of my forces and thats punishable by torture and eventual death. Not to mention hes tried to incite hostilitys lol

OOC: Wow, I'm gone for a few hours and all this happens...I like it, I like it

IC:
“Bagbridge, is our docking ring compatible with the Realm’s?”

Bagbridge studied the 3-D image of the refueling station on the screen in front of him, “it appears so sir, should I initiate docking?”

Titro rose from his chair and began to walk into the rear portion of the ship, “Yes, and send a message to the station informing them that I will be coming aboard.” Titro entered the small quarters for the ship and picked up a small suitcase. He opened the case to make sure the peace offering, a branch from the Spirit tree, the most holy place of worship on Mora, was still in pristine condition.

“Sir!” Bagbridge screamed over the intercom, “we have multiple ships that have just entered the system, an one ship appears to have left.”

Titro ran back into the bridge, accidentally pulling the briefcase with him, and in doing so made it fall to the ground. He left it there while he assessed the situation, “send out a general message to all vessels.”

“Link open sir,” Bagbridge said after dialing in some codes from his console.

“Attentions all vessels within system, this is Captain Titro of The Democratic States of Moravria. Please be advised, I am docking with the Realm refueling station to begin diplomatic talks with that nation. Anyone wishing to talk to me should ask for Realm permission to dock to the station. Thank you, Titro out.”

He walked back into the rear quarters and saw the briefcase on the ground. He sighed better make sure it’s alright he thought. He opened the case again, only to see that the branch had split into two separate pieces. Damn, may the spirit forgive me for my transgression, and may it grant peaceful relations to flourish with all involved. With that, he prepared to meet the first non-Moravrian humans, or any other spieces for that matter, in Moravrian history.

ooc: well i beamed you into my hanger so Alversia should edit his post

OOC: No, you beamed the Pod, I beamed him. It's a fair compromise

OOC: Wait, wait, wait, before this escalates into an argument, because I can see it coming and I don't want the RP killed, let us come to an agreement. It seems we have three options:

1) Alversia gets the captain and Ih8 edits his post.
2)Ih8u gets the captain while Alversia edits his post.
3) You use my suggestion on page 3.
This is really up to Heleveticuz.

ooc: He aint really done anything but his char and resultant crew pretended to be part of my forces and thats punishable by torture and eventual death. Not to mention hes tried to incite hostilitys lol

OOC: Come on, He was gonna start a plot to take over my ship and you wanna shoot him? Great Rping there.

A small shuttled, containing the Flight Liutenant of the VTN WOK, approached the station and sent a request to dock.

OOC: Come on, He was gonna start a plot to take over my ship and you wanna shoot him? Great Rping there.
OOC: Fine ill edit the post but it means bending the laws of my entire nation.
Oh and ouch, no need to get ofencive. I like to try and keep a vauge sense of continuity with my species thank you.

OOC: You can always pull the old "I told you so" after he tries to take over Alversia's ship. It's always sweeter when someone else makes a mistake that you foresaw.

OOC: Alversia is right, it would be more fun for me if my char didn't died - at least not now lol. I'll go for the Alversian version. Gunthar got the pod, Immense get's the captain. Sorry ih8 :/

IC: The dizzy Captain was confused, how the hell did he get here? He had never heard of a tractor beam so strong it actually could teleport individual beings.
This was a good target, full of exciting new technology - wich ofcourse ment that there was a huge amount of money to be made!
Then he was reminded of his headwounds again:

'...Neu...neural-what? How did I get here? Oh, my head...'

OOC: See? My way's better for now :p
And Ih8, no offense was intended, I merely meant to point out that this could go somewhere, your Imperials could end up being the heroes here

The Doctor gave a gentle smile as she finished her scans,
"Relax. You have suffered no serious injuries. You are on the Alversian Warship Immense. I am Doctor Dempsey."
She looked up as the doors to the bay hissed open and gave a salute as three people entered and approached the Captain (OOC: No Name?).
"Captain?" She said then stepped aside and her place was taken by a woman of medium height. She looked as though she couldn't be older than 21, with rosy cheeks, a full mouth and gentle blue eyes. Her blond hair ran over her shoulders and down her blood red Tunic. She gave him a small nod and smile,
"Welcome to the Immense. Can I assume you have a name?" She asked politely, "By the way forgive the precaution," She waved to the two armoured and armed Marines who had entered with her.

A message was sent to the Immense.
APS Immense, this is the VTN Wings of Kal. We request permission to board your ship and talk to the being in the escape pod to see if there is any danger to those present and whether this being needs increased protection. We would send one man, unarmed. Out.

"No responce from the alversians sir"
"Resend the mesage and ready all suport craft and weapons. Escalate aleart status to red and ready a reinforcement call if need be."

OOC: He has a name, but for now he will go under the alias Rian Tarmagella - the freighter pilot.

The Captain was stunned, he hadn't seen a woman in several years. Except the ones at his homeplanet, but they were all prostitutes, slaves and bad beaten.
He was a man that had grown up in a rough world of violence and poverty and knew no other way to talk to women than the one he had learned when he was a child.

'You....you're a woman! I mean, you are the Captain, right?', he laughs and nervously looks at the two marines.
'I...my name is Rian. First Pilot Tarmagella, that would be if we are to be professional. How did I get here, woman...*cough*...I mean, Captain?'

The bridge was being held by the First Officer of the Immense, a Lieutenant Miranda Louis. She was only 20 by Alversian standards but to Humans, she would be 40 years old. She had been a Tactical Officer at her previous posting but now she was a First Officer, even though she had not yet taken either the Course or the exams that would see her promoted to First Lieutenant. She heard the two messages come in at once, and sent two responses one after the other

TO: VTN Wings of Kal

We shall permit one unarmed Man to talk to the Passenger. Beam to Transport
Room Two, we shall have a Party waiting for you there

TO: Imperial Warship Gunther

If you would like to beam an Interrogator into Transport Room One, We shall
be gladly allow you to talk with him. However, there must be no more than
two Interrogators and they must be unarmed.

Medical Bay

Naomi looked a little confused but still gave a gentle smile,
"Well, First Pilot Tarmagella, Your vessel, it seems was attacked by Pirates. You are the only Survivor of the crew. We brought you aboard for Medical Treatment and there are two teams of Investigators coming to speak with you."
To Naomi, the only unusual thing about her being appointed a Captain was that she was very young. Alversian Women did often serve in the highest echelons of the Government and Military. The currant, Head Admiral was a woman and not much older than Naomi.
"You may call me Captain Lewis, or Naomi, if you wish" She said shyly, "Why were you out here?"

A man appeared in the transport room. He was 6'2 and attired in Marine uniform.
"Hello. I am Captain Alex DeLarge, chief of security on board the Wings. "May I speak to the passenger please?"

"Hmm. Very well, i shall beam over with a member of my crew but i shall be bringing over some equipment for the interagation" the captain replyed, turning to his econd in comand he said "Stay at red alert and have docter Scarface meet me in transporter room 1 with his interagation tools"
"Yes sir"

DeLarge was greeted by a team of four Marines armed with Blaster rifles and full battle armour. In front of them was a man of 6'4'' with the APN's blood red Tunic. He was well built with gelled up black hair and a thin black beard,
"Lieutenant Harrison, Tactical Officer, Please follow me" He indicated to the door, with a gentle sweep.

TO: Imperial Warship Gunther

Negative on the tools. If there is anything you need upon meeting the Prisoner,
we shall approve for itfor now, however, please come unarmed and with no
equipment.

He assumed that neither the Doctor or the Captain would like to talk about how he actually got there - but he was so interested in the technology of that tractor beam. He knew that he had to somehow get hold of a map of the ship and find the device to see it for himself. It could be worth hundreds and even thousands of tons of iridium!

'Naomi, what a cute name. What are a good looking girl like you doing aboard a warship? Ah, never mind. It's just...I'm not used to see women. At all.', he sighs and turns his head down.

'Well, as I said I'm the pilot of a helium-3 freighter. What do you think I was doing out here? I'm shipping H3 to Benacreon, a small planet outside the ruin-worlds of the old Helvetian Empire. But that's another story - Banecreon is paying me big money to transport H3 for their powerplants.'

Suddenly it was as if he just had realized something, as his eyes widened.

'..So...interrogators? What for?'

"Very well. Lead on."

When he (http://img004.photo.wangyou.com/2004/10/6/22794/200511047481993.jpg) thanked his escort and smiled at the man.
"Hello. Captain DeLarge of the VTN Wings of Kal. I'm here to ask you a few questions, starting with what happened to you." He took a small device out of his pocket. "This will record what you say and send a copy back to the Wings." He pressed a button on top of the device and it glowed blue.

Naomi smiled,
"Just something to do. For adventure, nothing really that vital. I wasn't forced and it wasn't out of desperation, I just...wanted to see the Universe"

She was about to reply to his other question when her Tactical Officer arrived with the first Interrogator. She nodded at her Officer and he gave a salute and left with his Marines.
"Captain Lewis," She then saluted DeLarge, "I don't think we've been formally introduced?" Her thin eyebrows arched up slightly.

In the Alversian transporter room the Two dragona steped off the transporter, the Docter still holding his box of instruments.

The two Dragona were greeted by the Security Officer, Lieutenant Natasha Bergen and a dozen of her Marines. As soon as they appeared, the young redhead's hand strayed down to her holster,
"Sir?" She said lightly, "I believe you were told not to bring any tools with you?" Her Marines were fanned out behind her and now they lowered their rifles slightly to a more alert position.

"These are not weapons" replyed the captain, taking the case and opening it to reveal several needles, a few philes of clear liquid and a mind probe "And we recived no such warning, unless that request was sent just before we were transported. Oh and I trust you will need no reminding that killing either of us is an act of war, not to mention punishable by a tortured death."

Alex bowed to Naomi.
"Captain Alex DeLarge, chief of security on board the Wings, and leader of the Clockwork regiment of the Marines. Tempers are rather flared, eh?" He looked at the passenger in puzzlement. "All for you. What did you do to anger the Dragnona so?"

Meanwhile, in the medbay.
The Captain attempted to rise from his seat when the VTN interrogator entered the room, but changed his mind in the middle of it and made it all look really awkward.

"All for you. What did you do to anger the Dragnona so?"

He stared right into the eyes of DeLarge and began to speak of his helium-3 freighter, his shipment to Banecreon and the powerplants.

'..and then, it could have been sector 12 or 11 - I don't remember, I heard over the intercom that my engineer, Eli, had been found dead in the cargospace. My first thought was "What the heck is he doing there?" and then I realized that he was dead. After that I got reports that someone had actually landed ontop of my freighter, entered the cargo space and there they had killed Eli. Ah, hm, then I was knocked out, because it's pretty much black from there 'til the moment I woke up in that pod. Those bastards must have threwn me out to steal the freighter and it's cargo. But...I know nothing of this Dragona you speak of.

Transporter Room One

"It was probable relayed after you departed from your vessel" Natasha concluded patiently, "But I'm afraid I must insist you leave them here. If need be, they can be fetched for you, but they will remain here until that time" She said this part firmly and one of her Marines moved forward to take the box from the Dragona.

Medical Bay

"You were left alive?" Naomi looked surprised, "What happened to the rest of your crew? Do you know?"
Naomi may have been young, but she was a Diplomat by nature and, as soon as her five years in the APN were over, she planned to return to Illesia University and study Intergalactic Relations. She thought she had built up enough knowledge in the Navy to breeze the course, but for now, she stared at Tarmagella with her deep blue eyes,
"The Dragona are accusing you of imitating one of their vessels. it is a crime that carries the death penalty for them"

"That other ship that tried to beam you up. I tell you, your lucky the Alversians got to you first. Dragona tend to be... less then reasonable." He drew his finger across his throat. "Anyway, you say your freighter was boarded? I can't see pirates taking the time to put you in an escape pod. They'd usually just kill you or enslave you. So tell me..." He leaned in. "What makes you special?"
He turned to Naomi. "Excuse me captain, do you have any veritasium on board?"

"Very well. Now let us go to the 'patient' before we miss anything majer" Replyed the captain, closing the case and handing it over to the armed man and heading to the door.

The Marine took the box and set it down on the ground,
"Now then, we can go" Natasha politely indicated that the Dragona should follow her and her Marines to the Medical Bay.

Medical Bay

Naomi frowned and slowly shook her head,
"It's against APN regulations to force a Passenger to speak against their will" She stated, "We do gave a limited dose but only for dire needs and I don't think this qualifies as one"

"Huh. I suppose. Very wise." He looked back to the passenger. "May I see your hand please?"

After several minutes the Captain and Doctor entered he Medical bay "So this is him? I expected him to be a little more intimidating, for a human anyway. the captain remarked "Captains" he said, giving a brief salute to both in turn and saying "So.. what have i missed?" whilst making a point to ensure the the man on the bed could see his scaled hand with ivory talons.

With his left hand up in the air, doing as DeLarge told him to, he was very surprised by the other interrogator entering the room.

'This is weird. What exactly have I done to make you give me this much attention?'

He turned to Naomi and smiled. Something inside his head was telling him that he could trust her. She gave him a warm and welcoming feeling, in another way than the other women he had met before had given him.

'I really don't know what happened to them. I suppose they're dead. We've had several accidents like this one, though I haven't been targeted before. That's why they pay us so much, because of the risks.'

DeLarge grabbed the hand, studying it.

OOC: Halve, do your pirates have any markings?

OOC: Since it looks like there may be some combat in the near future, and I want in on it, I am bringing in this ship. Please excuse the poor story behind its FTL drive.

Basic stats, it is a small excort vessel, outfitted with nuclear-tipped missiles and four railguns, which compared to the MAC guns of other nations are incredibly underpowered. It has no shielding and no fighters. Pretty low tech, and couldn't stand up in a fight against any larger ship, but against smaller pirate vessels it can hold it's own.

IC:
Meanwhile a small warship suddenly appeared out of seemingly nowhere. The MSS Moon, a Moravrian Moon-class frigate, came out of hyperspace a few thousand kilometers from the refueling station. Captain Johan Roberts was sitting in his chair as reports flew in from the officers on the bridge.

“Initial scans show multiple ships and one space station in the vicinity”

“Scans are positive for organic life.”

“All systems are green, no personnel hurt.”

“Sublight engines are online.”

After hearing the initial reports about the situation Roberts ordered all hands to battlestations. “Leave weapons offline, but prepare to bring them up if necessary. Send out a message to all ships in the area.”

The communications officer worked furiously for a few seconds, then gave a nod to indicate that the link was open. Roberts began, “Attention all ships in the area, this is Captain Johan Roberts of the MSS Moon. We come in peace, in search of the Explorer, Moravria’s first experiment in FTL travel. Captain Titro, are you there? Alpha, Alpha, Gamma”

Back on the Explorer Titro was making final preparations while the ship docked at the refueling station. Suddenly the intercom came on, with Bagbridge speaking, “Sir, we have a transmission from the Moon coming in.”

Titro turned back toward the bridge, “From the Moon? How is that possible? Put it through.” After listening to the message, and hearing the three letter code used by Moravrian ships to confirm identities, Titro reentered the bridge. “Open a link, Bagbridge...Roberts, what is the spirit are you doing here? We are lightyears from Mora!”

A laugh came over the comlink as Roberts began to speak, “When the Moon went in for refitting, you know, the new rail guns taking the place of the forward missile bays, we were secretly outfitted with a FTL drive. When scans indicated that a hyperspace hole had been created, and then confirming that another hole of the same signature was created lightyears away, we launched to see if you needed any help.”

“Sure, send in old Captain Titro to test out a system, if he dies then we know not to use it. Just like that time I had to test the new pressure suit in a combat situation while doing repairs to the Moon.”

Roberts laughed more, and then said, “Oh shut up you cry baby, you know you love the thrill of combating pirates, now where are you located? There are multiple ships in the system, and I can’t find you.”

“I am docked to the station in the area. It is a fusion refueling station used by a nation called the Realm, I was just about to go meet a diplomat on the station while the ship refuels.”

“I will head over to your position. Roberts out.” He looked at his control panel, eyeing the map created by the sensor systems aboard the Moon. “Helmsman, head for the space station, engines at 60%”

“Yes sir,” and with that the Moon began to move toward the refueling station.

When the Dragona entered, Naomi gave Natasha a nod and she left the Medical Bay, although half a dozen of her Marines remained with Naomi's pair. They stood along the wall, rifles slung over their shoulders but always ready.

Naomi looked thoughtful for a few moments before turning to the Dragona,
"Captain Lewis" She saluted and felt a tingle in her body, it still felt weird saying that. Captain Lewis,
"May I ask what you say this man has done to so offend your people?" She asked politely.

She smiled back at Tarmagella,
"We need to know exactly what happened? Where was your ship when this happened? What crew did it carry? What weapons?" Although she was insistent, she was gentle as well. The more experienced amongst her crew already called her 'Petal' because she always seemed so delicate.

"Mam another ship, similar to the first primative vessle has exited FTl in the system, it apeares to be armed, all be it extreamly weakly."
"Leave it be"
"Yes mam"

In the medical bay the doctor said to the captain "You wouldn't happen to have some Veritaserium aboared would you? I broaght some with me but im loath to trubble your guards with hauling that case here"

"May I ask what you say this man has done to so offend your people?"
"His escape pod was jetasoned form a vesle that was impersonating my ship. It was a very good disguise exept for the fact it was far smaller visualy. You are aware of the penaltys for this. Much less the fact that the ship he was on is suspected of atempting to incite hostilitys between us and our primative friends out there.

"As I have already told Captain DeLarge here" She indicated to the other Guest, "We do not believe in forcing people to speak against their will. Our small supplies are kept for a dire emergency only. As I have already told the Captain here, I do not think this situation meets that requirement." She spoke in a calm voice, staring the Dragona straight in the eye even though he was slightly taller than she was and a lot more intimidating.

"Forgive me. I was not here at the time." replyed the doctor coldly, glaring back at her.
"I do feel however that veritaserum is needed captain. He is acused of serius crimes and it may spare him much pain to tell the trueth." the captain said.

"Stay your hand, Dragona, until we know whether this man is innocent or not. His ship did project the false image, but that may have been the pirates doing so. Your race always has been overeager." He frowned. "Although..." He leaned closer to the passenger again. "I'm not sure I believe you. I used to be a pirate, and we killed what we didn't keep. So either your lying, or you are a pirate." He cocked his head to one side. "Why are you really here?"

"Fortunatly for you Templarian the tearms of the ISIS aliance prevent me from killing you. However I too have had many dealings with pirates and agree with you. It is unuseual for them to spare someone in this manner."

"We are outside of the ISIS zone here, Half-breed. Do not test my patience, lest I wear your hide as shoes. We are, however, on a neutral ship, most fortunate for you." He turned to Niomi. "I recommend this man is kept in the brig until his story can be proven." He then turned back to the passenger and asked again.

OOC: Moravria, I asked for landing permission earlier. Can you confirm or deny it please?

"Empty threghts do not scare me death worshiper. But yet again I must agree with you on both the fact the we are on neutral 'ground' and about your sugestion, or we could just use the mind probe we braught with us. It wont reveal embarasin memorys, invade privacy or generaly prove uncomfertable. It will however prove if he speaks the truith, you will see how if we use it."

He still looked at Naomi, amazed as he actually was speaking to a woman - who was neither slave or prostituted. he had never felt this feeling before. How could a woman possibly have so much power? What strange worlds did these Alversians come from when they could trust women to rule over men.

'I don't know. Everything is recorder into the ships computer. But as I said, it was somewhere in sector 11 or 12. I wouldn't know what you call that territory, but I can take you there for sure - I know the shipping lanes pretty well.
We didn't carry any weapons, except a few laspistols for security reasons. Our only cargo was helium-3, common repair-parts and food. Nothing else. But H3 is a very interesting thing - it can easily be used as fuel for bigger ships, so that's my guess.'

He sighed and turned to the interrogators:

'No, well, alright. My father was a member of the infamous Space Raiders that plauged the coreworlds around Hella. I really donät want to talk about this, it's a dark part of my life and...yeah...maybe that's why they spared me.'

'No, well, alright. My father was a member of the infamous Space Raiders that plauged the coreworlds around Hella. I really don't want to talk about this, it's a dark part of my life and...yeah...'

Alex's eyes narrowed.
"You will speak. Surely if your father was a famous pirate, why not ransom you? Your story makes no sense. I agree with my idiotic compatriot here, we need to loosen your tongue."

"Gentlemen" Naomi, blushing slightly as she was no older than 21, stepped between the two groups of Visitors, "I thank you for your advice and I will take it onboard but for now I want to know a few more things of my own. We will not be using Mind Probes on this ship. Not while I am in charge, although I appreciate the offer."

She turned back to Tarmagella and gave a reassuring, comfortable smile,
"I would like to dig into your past with your rather if I may. It could be important," She insisted, "What did you do? When you were with your father?"

OOC: Templar, it's not my station. You'll have to wait for HT to come on in order to get confirmation.

The captain scowled, his crests slowly rising in anger, his nostrils smoking slightly, whisps of grey smoke spiraling up towards the ceiling "Regardless of the terms of the alliance, or where we are i swear ill kill you is you do not cease these insults. Do not think the Alversians will be able to kill me first"

He tightened his eyes and stared at the Dragonan.

'Alright, as you wish. My father did some aweful things - but nothing that wasn't unusual where I grew up. But my father managed to organize it all, all violence, the drugs, the women, the weapons. He became a leader. I'm one of those who were supposed to have taken his role in his abscense - but there's no future in doing that anymore. But every pirate and merc know my fathers name sp perhaps they simply just saw my nametag and let me be...what's so unlikely about that?'

"Enough!" Naomi snapped as her patiently ran out, "There will be no truth serums and no mind probes on this vessel! Not while I am captain! Not while it flies an Alversian flag! Is that clear?" She asked her two guests. The Marines gave small grins behind their helmets. Petal was showing she had thorns.

"Now," She turned back to Tarmagella again, "What did your Father do? What was your relationship like with him?"

"You are, what we call in the business, a meal ticket. You are the son of a well known, rich pirate. Hell, you are supposed to be a well known pirate. Back in the day, I'd have ransomed you to the Hella government or just a cartel." He frowned. "Ma'am, if you choose to believe this, it's your call. However, I will not risk my fellow crew members lives. I implore you to use some method of discovering the truth once and for all. If you will not do this, I fear all our ships will be endangered."

The Captain was furious on the inside, but managed to keep a calm face.

'Hey! There is no government. Have you never been there?', he laughs.
'There hasn't been any for 60 years or so, atleast for my whole lifetime. The only thing that remains from the old empire is the ruins at the coreworlds and ofcourse on the surface of Hella itself. All system that the empire ruled has fallen into barbary and poverty. That's common knowledge, I don't know anything else about our worlds history. But that's it - nobody wants to deal with me as it could lead to some sort of civilized organisation. No pirate-lords want that, they want chaos! They want it to be even worse. But as long as I get money from the Benacreons I don't mind. There's nothing I can do.

"It seems the flowers beuty is decptive" said the captain to Naomi "And it seems that this Templarin does have honour after all for her cares for those he works with. I however am not willing to face a court marshial over what should be a simply diplomatic mishon and arest of a suspected villan."

ooc:going to eat foodz now so i wont be posting for a short while

Naomi listened sympathetically to both DeLarge and Tarmagella,
"Listen, Captain DeLarge, we are going to be leaving this area shortly, at which point, your ships and crew will be safe of any threat. I will be taking Pilot Tarmagella into custody myself and holding him for trial. When the time is right, what he has done will be found and all this can be ironed out by the Alversian Government."

She then turned to the Dragona and bowed, blushing slightly as his comment.

"If I find that he has indeed, committed a crime against your Empire, I shall rendezvous with one of your vessels and hand him over for punishment. Does that suit?" She asked.

Alex frowned and shook his head.
"Ma'am, I thank you for listening to me, even if you do not believe me, but I must take my leave to ready the marines. I do not believe this man's story and, as such, it is my duty to prepare my men for a possible attack. So, if you will let me, I will return to the Wings." He bowed to Naomi, then to the passenger, then to the Dragona.

Returning the bow both Dragona turned to Naomi "That will be satisfactory " said the captain " We should return to our ship also, I too neither belive this man and feel this is mearly a ruse to lure us into a false sense of security" he continued, his crests lowering oncemore and the smoke trailing from his nostrils began to disapate.

"That may be the case, Gentlemen and if it is, I shall call for help" She gave a small smile and bow, "I thank for your time. Lieutenants Harrison and Bergen shall escort you back to the Transporter Rooms. Good Day Gentlemen"

She finished, indicating that the talk was over. However, she remained in the Medical Bay with the Doctor, who had watched nervously from her office during the entire conversation.
A half-dozen Marines escorted the two groups back to the transporters while another two stayed in the Medical Bay with Naomi

As he was beamed back in, a number of marines were waiting for him. He banged the side of the teleporter gate and the troops all jumped.
"Marines! Gear up! I have a feeling in my guttywuts that some pirate bastards are going to be here real soon, so get ready. Use Close Combat guns and gas grenades. Also, if you see a guy with wounds on his head not wearing an Alversian uniform, shoot to kill." "Aroo!"

As the interrogators left, the Captain regained his calm. As he was a serious alcoholic he began to feel thirsty, but he tried to keep his mind focused on Naomi.
He leaned forward and carefully said:

'Thank you, Naomi. You may have saved my life. Now I owe you big time!', he says with a generous smile on his face.
Suddenly, his face reshaped and became serious again.

'But, you do believe me, I hope? I am still confused of all this, as I have done nothing wrong. How can I convince you that I am innocent?'

Naomi waited until the last of the Marines was gone then turned back to him,
"I'm not saying I trust you entirely," She said in a serious manner, "I don't think you have given me the whole truth. But," She shuddered, "I don't think anyone should be killed for nothing, even a Pirate" She gave him another glance and sighed,
"You will have a free reign over this ship but certain areas will be off limits. You will have an Escort at all times and you may not use the ship computer. You are still a suspect and I was not joking about handing you over to the Dragona if I find you guilty of a crime" She reeled off the rules then gave him another graceful, petite smile, "Enjoy your stay."

She turned and left the Medical Bay, exhilarated. She had just faced two very tough opponents and walked away calmly with what she had wanted. She had saved his life. Now to see if he was a Criminal or not.

Medbay.
He watched her behind as she left. The Captain was impressed, amazed, by the power of this woman. But after a few seconds he came out of his daydreaming and realized why he was there - he had a mission.
Somehow he had to weaken the ships defences, try to get a glimpse at that incredible tractor-beam device and, maybe, he could get that amazing woman to follow him.
He stops and thinks 'No. That woman is too dangerous. And she's a freaking woman. But...there's something about her.'

He walks out of medbay and out through the corridor, searching his pockets for the digital-scanner - and there it was.

'Hehe, they never search inner pockets', he says quietly to himself while laughing.

The digi-scan scans the ship for a raw specification, not precise at all, but it gives a good overlook of the ships strong and weak sides. He walks and thinks: 'Damn. It's a fucking warship, it doesn't have any weaksides for an attack. Except the inside.'

'Hey, marine!', he shouts at his escort.
'I've never been on a ship of this size before. How does the gravity work?'

The dragona returned to thier ship with thier equipment "Go back to the medical secter doctor" the captain said and went to the bridge.

OOC: And this is why I can never go to sleep. Threads explode.

IC: Jarvik sighed. The scanners on the station, while more than adequate, had been updated almost five years ago. He fed new data from his corvette in, and symbols popped up on the screen, and, as he slowly read them, his eyes widened.

"Templar, Alversian.. that other ship left. Damn. No time to get a proper reading on it. Escape pod runs out, get picked up by the non-Templar ship.. lifereadings then remove. Someone.. teleported them out."

A look of revulsion twisted his face. "Let's just hope it was a proper dimensional gate. If it was one of those matter converter types.."

He shuddered. "Disgusting."

As he finished the last of the scans, and linked the station's sensors up to his own, a few hundred dronecraft entered the system. None of them were particularly large, nor powerful. Rather, each one was armed with a simple maser, and was more than capable of self-detonating, as a missile would, should it come to that.

Jarvik sighed. "Would've liked a superfortress, but, hell, I'll take what I can get."

The drones spread out, forming a sphere around the craft presently in-system. It's more for intimidation than it is for effective combat, though. Right now, at least.

Gentlemen, we're a little perturbed by all these happenings in our system. We'd like to note that our refueling station is the perfect locale for a neutral meeting, and the Moravrians are already preparing to dock at our station. A rudimentary police force of ours - you might notice our little fleet, has just turned up, and so we're more than willing to enforce our belief that there will be no violence in Realm space. Whether you send a shuttle with a single representative, or dock with the station, we'll not be firing on you either way, unless you decide it's a fine idea to start trying to impress one another with your little laser pop-guns.

ooc: I know the feeling m8

IC: the captain reached the bridge and imediatly said "Thanks for telling me about the no equipment rule they sent over"
"Sorry sir" replyed the first oficer
"No matter. They didn't notice my wrist knife, youd think theyed have laerned by now. Any way, anything happen whilst I was gone?"
"Not much sir, the Realm ship sent a reminder that hostilatys in the system wont be tolerated and some 100 small dromes entered the system, baisic armament but could still prove a threght" came te reply.
"Very well. Keep us at red alert , I don't think its going to be safe around here for long."

"Pop guns?" The captains eye twitched and the entire crew backed away as one. "Fine. Tell the shuttle to resend the docking request."
This is the VTN Ferryman, requesting permission to dock.

“Docking procedures complete. Airlock is pressurizing now. You can head out, Captain, and good luck.”

Titro moved to the entrance to the airlock, waiting from it to come to full pressure so he could enter the space station, “Thanks Bagbridge, radio the Moon informing the I am going station-side and reminding them that under no circumstances should Roberts fire any of his weapons, unless contact has been made with Captain D’Anconia. I don’t want us spoiling a potential ally in the future.”

“Yes sir, I’ll do that as soon as you leave. Could you also ask how to begin refueling efforts? I am sure it’s a simple process, but I honestly have no idea how to even begin.”

“I’ll be sure to do that, I’ll see you later,” Titro said as he open the door to the airlock, now fully pressurized. “Unto the breach once more…”

“What was that sir?” Bagbridge asked with a puzzled look when he heard Titro utter the strange phrase.

“What? Oh, nothing, just a verse from an ancient text discovered in some ruins.”

Bagbridge continued to look somewhat puzzled, but he decided to give up trying to gather any more information, “Whatever, captain, have fun in there.”

“Will do, see you in a little while,” Titro said as he walked into the airlock, and then onto the alien station.

Airlocks clicked into place as others made ready to land. The station was not a diplomatic post - it had a lounge, back from the time it had been more crucial, and thus not automated, but little more. A few seats, a vending machine - hardly the place of grand diplomacy.

Nevertheless, it was really the only place large enough to meet. Jarvik shut the navroom's doors, locked them, and left to go to to the lounge. As ships docked, coloured lights, from inside the airlock, would lead them into the lounge.

As an afterthought, he sealed the doors that didn't lead the lounge. No need to have people wandering around, after all.

Permission to dock is granted, Ferryman. The airlock is automated - I'm the only person aboard, at present, so there will be a small line of lights on the wall. Green, I believe. Follow them along to the meeting-room.

The station was not unusual. The roof was a little lower than most would feel comfortable with, standing a mere seven feet high, but the corridors were wide enough. Green lights blinked along the wall, under them, in black paint, was written a single word.

Lounge

A voice came out of a nearby speaker, direct to Titro.

"This is Captain D'Anconia, Captain Titro. Simply follow the green lights - I'll be waiting for you in the lounge. I would come to meet you, but there's quite a few people coming aboard, and meeting some of them would necessitate not meeting others."

The station, however, had already been set to refuel the Explorer. Whether it needed to take in its fusionables by crate, by tube, or even just have them hurled directly into an open engine, the station would suffice. Though, Jarvik chuckled, as he thought of the last option, the Moravrians were hardly a Guverian racing crew. No. No time to reminiscing. He put away his thoughts of racing, and thought of diplomacy.

It would be nice to get all this mess finally out the way, would it not?

Rodger that, proceeding to dock.

As the shuttled docked and it's bay doors opened, First Lieutenant Elizabeth Gyges (http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x266/SN1P3R_817/Riza_Hawkeye.jpg) stepped down from the ship, dressed in the same attire as Captain DeLarge. She headed for the lounge, hands in jacket pockets and a cigarette in her mouth.

Titro slowly walked to corridors, following the green lights on the wall, noticing the relatively large ceilings, as compared to the barely six foot ceiling of the Explorer. He looked all around him, amazed at the striking similarities, yet incredible differences between Moravrian stations and this one. He finally came to a large door that read, quite simply, LOUNGE. The doors opened automatically, and he stepped inside.

He immediately saw Captain D’Anconia and headed toward him, “Captain, it is truly a pleasure to finally meet you. This,” he laid the briefcase of a small table and opened it. He took the branch out, now in two pieces, and offered it it D’Anconia. “This is a peace offering, a branch from the Spirit tree, the holiest place on all of Mora.” Titro handed him the branch, “And,” he added, “as a personal demonstration on our peaceful intentions, I present to you my sidearm to keep in your custody while I am on the station.” Titro debated about whether or not to give D’Anconia his sidearm, but decided that this first contact was too important to risk offending anyone.

"This roof's pretty low." She looked up as she walked. "More headroom in the Ferryman." She continued on, following the lights to the lounge. As she entered, she bowed to the two captains.
"First Lieutenant Elizabeth Gyges, an honor and a privilege." She took two small gems out of her pocket and handed to the two.
"Shape shifting Emeralds. Only found in the Void. They change into any shape, even adopt its mannerisms. Just wave your hand over it and think what you want to turn it into."

Jarvik inclined his head, taking the

"There is no need to give your sidearm, Captain. While this is an ancient station-"

He snapped his fingers, and one of the seats was hurled up into the air, and pinned against the wall, and, after a moment, crushed into pulp.

"-the gravitics it has still work just fine. Although the AI here is not fully sentient, it will detect a threat, and nullify it, should someone decide there is a need for violence."

He smiled, understanding that the oddities of Realm gravitics sometimes unnerved other races.

"But I doubt there will be a need to stop any violence. No, Captain Titro, keep your weapon, as a sign of my faith."

The tree-branch, however, was a slight issue. He was not sure how to handle it, and handled it gingerly, placing it within a large pocket on the side of his coat.

"I thank you, Captain. I imagine, however, the Realm will want this as a relic of our first meeting. I will keep it safe until it can be stored somewhere on Hypatia."

The second gift was accepted with no less grace - he took the stone, and put it in another pocket.

"Fascinating. While not a psionic race ourselves, there is always room for study of the stranger aspects of the universe. I apologise, Lieutenant - I am no scientist, nor am I a particularly imaginative man. Just as I have done with the good captain's gift, I think I shall keep this safe, so I can pass it on to those it might do the most good for."

He winced internally. The Realm was not in the habit of giving gifts on its first meeting, and so he was, unsurprisingly, unable to return the custom. And somehow he felt a bar from the vending machine would not quite match the gifts of the others.

He smiled, though. "Now. I am curious. I have only arrived recently, and have been much engaged in updating this station's sensors and IFF systems. Would you both care to relate to me your version of events?"

"Yes, I would. The Marines feel a threat is coming. You see, the Alverisan ship picked up an escape pod of a man who claimed to have his ship absconded with by pirates but the rest of his crew murdered. He then claimed to be the son of a pirate lord, which is why he was left alive. But my college, who used to be a pirate Lord himself, disagrees and says that the man would have either been killed with his crew or ransomed."

"However, I feel that your ships, Captain Titro, no offense intended, are rather basic, and would be prime pickings for a pirate clan. Perhaps he is telling the truth, perhaps not. One thing is sure however. If the Pirates intend to take us all on, they'd need an awful lot of ships." She proffered the cigarette box to the two captains before continuing. "Also, the man is wanted by the Dragona for crimes, apparently punishable by death. In other words, this could be a rather interesting first Contact". She smiled.

Titro put his pistol back into its holster, thanking D’Anconia immensely, “your faith in me shows great honor, and your, er, what did you call them? Gravitics? Well, that was quite impressive.” Titro sat down, trying to act as dignified as possible. He had never trained to be a diplomat and truthfully had trained to be an officer of a planet-born sea-going vessel still employed by Mora. “As far as the course of events – I am, quite frankly, extremely confused. We entered this system after our first jump through hyperspace, and soon after were contacted by your probe, and then yourself through the probe. After that we were in contact by another vessel who, after a few transfers of friendly messages, claimed that we had illegal cargo and would be forced to jump to sector 12 or be destroyed on site. Then it seemed a third ship had sent that message. Then things went to hell. Shots seemed to have been fired, but then it turned out to be a light show, more ships entered the system, and I took a beeline for this station, hoping it would grant me and my crew, all three of them, some safety. Another Moravrian vessel, an attack frigate, also entered the system while I was completing docking to the station. I was quite surprised to find it here, as I did not know another other Moravrian ship has FTL capabilities. It is now stationed next to my ship.”

Titro now addressed Gyges, “Yes, our technology and ships are inferior to more advanced nations, but we do not back down from a fight. If pirates wish to claim even one Moravrian ship for their own, then we will fight tooth and nail to stop them. We will do everything possible to stop them, even sacrifice the ship in combat. Capitulation is not an option.”

“Yes, our technology and ships are inferior to more advanced nations, but we do not back down from a fight. If pirates wish to claim even one Moravrian ship for their own, then we will fight tooth and nail to stop them. We will do everything possible to stop them, even sacrifice the ship in combat. Capitulation is not an option.”

"Very brave, very honorable, very commendable. I expect we'll get along fine."

"Then the situation seems simple enough, though I am loath to see the day that even the lowliest border outpost of the Realm would be enroached upon by pirates. With the war ongoing, we are not what we once were, I fear. At present, there are few enough unengaged fleet assets - I could probably mount a sufficient defense of the system with the station and drones right now, but if something more crops up.."

He winced. "Let us not linger on that. I would care to meet with the Alversians, and see what they make of this escapee. I feel his contributions will probably be crucial in finally working out precisely what's happened."

He took a cigarette, holding it between two fingers, as if not entirely sure what to do with it. After a moment of indecision, he tossed it into his mouth, chewing with some distaste, though he tried not to show it.

Of course, he was built to absorb almost anything, and, while cigarettes were hardly nutritious, they were broken down by his nanites, carrying away what useful components they could.

Most narcotics had left the Realm a long time ago - if you were overexcited, or needed calmness, one could use in-body glands, administered by nanites, who would deliver the hormones, and the chemicals needed in order to achieve stability.

Noticing the odd look on the faces of the other two in the room, he smiled, somewhat nervously.

"Oh, and Captain Titro. That is a most commendable attitude. While ships and their components are replaceable, allowing your enemies your data - especially the locations of any worlds you might have, is always a concern."

He smiled, showing teeth that had been slightly browned by the tobacco. He closed his mouth, and, concentrating, allowed his nanoscrubbers to go to work. After leaving his mouth closed for fifteen seconds, he grinned, again, displaying sparkling white teeth.

Titro watched at the captain ate the cigarette, secretly wondering if all species in the galaxy were as peculiar, and advanced, as this one was. He quickly pushed the though out of his mind, knowing full well that this meeting, and perhaps a future relationship, was vital to the future of Moravria. He suddenly noticed that he had begun to slouch in the chair he was sitting and, and quickly regained his composure, “thank you both for the complements. Rest assured, Moravria will never fall for lack of trying on the part of its military forces. But I digress, this is a diplomatic meeting, and Moravria’s first involving other space-fairing nations.

Titro began to feel more comfortable in the position of a diplomat. The words seemed to roll of his tongue, and the strange he feeling he felt in the gut of his stomach had subsided. “Please, feel free to ask any questions you have about Moravria. Our history, our present situation, our customs, anything at all. I, to the extent of my knowledge, am an open book.”

In the corner of the room there was a slight humming sound, followed by the materialization of a humanoid form coloured in the entire spectrum (blue-red). The colours melded together to reveal a Dragona (with pale brown scales) in Silver armor standing calmly. For amoment she was motionless then she steped towards the table and said
"I am leutenant grimest of the D.E.S. Gunthar. I'm here to start proper negotiations. I'm sorry that I couldn't come in person but we haven't got any transports onboard, all destroyed in a battle with the Borg sadly. Forgive me for not siting either but I would proboly go thrugh the chair, thats the problems with holograms."

"Ah, a Dragonan. Greetings, Lieutenant. I'm First Lieutenant Elizabeth Gyges." She bowed, the turned to the Titro.
"What is Moravria's religious beliefs? You mentioned (and gave as a gift) a sacred tree?"

"Really? we too have a sacred tree, the Meaona tree. It was planted by Junal to serve as a reminder that life goes on. It has remarkably never died, even when we went thrugh a masive polution phase on our world."

Fear overcame Titro for a brief moment when he saw the strange life form materialize. He regained his senses, however, and convinced himself that good diplomatic relations are more important than any silly fear, “Welcome, Lieutenant, I am Captain Titro, a representative from Moravrian space.”

He turned toward Gyges quickly, forcing himself to stop staring at the Dragonan, “Moravria’s majority religion has no official name. It is an intense belief that all things come back to their place of origin eventually. The Spirit Tree is the place of Moravrian origin and we believe that every Moravrian that dies makes his or her way back to that tree. We believe in no afterlife, it is merely the physical remains of the person that will return to its home. The spirit is an entity that goes to collect deceased people so that they may return to the tree.” Titro paused, debating whether or to go on, he decided that it was for the best, “Most Moravrians don’t actually believe in the religion, it’s a nice thought and we use it for comfort in times of crisis, but the majority of us just hold the Tree in a place of reverence because it is believed to be where we first inhabited the planet Mora.”

"Well the templarians already know of our religion but you dont so I shall give you a brief overview. We belive that when you die your spirit goes to your ancesters and that you protect all the mortals on this plane. We have proof of this but we now know that this is acension, ill explain that to you later if time permits. However our sacred icons are simply objects that our Dragon ancesters used to help establish our civilisation." she briefed them.

“Interesting. It is fascinating to hear of other peoples, other species, religion. May I inquire as to your form of government? This question goes out to all three of you.”

"Interesting..." She took notes on a small notepad. "Templars all worship the Void and the god of the Void, Kal. The Void's an Empire, rule over by Emperoress Tara Whyt V. But we've stopped expansion policies, so don't worry."

Many lightyears away...
The Solar Strike arrived to it's dock in the Siweran system, consisting of only a few planets with their little weak suns but surrounded by a massive asteroid field - a perfect place for hiding.
A long time ago, the asteroids were used for secret imperial military outposts, prison camps and huge docks for the imperial warships. However, this was a very long time ago and the remainings are in terrible shape.
Today, several criminal gangs, pirates and mercenaries have their headquarters hidden in these fields, making it to some sort of regional criminal capitol of the old imperial systems.

The crew of Solar Strike left their ship and headed out to the meeting halls, made of solid concrete, filled with people. These people all worked together for the criminal band named the Space Raiders.

Mac, communications specialist of the Solar Strike raises his hand.

'Oi! This is a fuckin' glorious time to be a pirate! We have made tons and tons of iridium, adamantium and even some imperial creds!', he shouted.

The crowd went silent and turned towards him.

'...and I know how to get even more, you slobs! We can make hundreds of thousands of creds, tons of iridium and all the booz you can get hands of! Aye! I am speaking truth, join the Solar Strike and we'll show those Banecreon fuckers that we are there to stay! Who's with me?'

The crowd raises their beer-filled glasses, swords, rifles and pistols and loudly sings 'Hooray'

Aboard the APS Immense...
The Captain looks around and finally is able to focus his eyes on the marine that is assigned to escort him.

'I've never been on a warship like this. Why don't you give me a quick tour?'

OOC: Quarian? You ever played Mass Effect?

"We are an imperial government. We are not expanding but we are swift to react to a thret" replyed the Dragona.

OOC: Quarian? You ever played Mass Effect?OOC: Nope, what is Quarian in Mass Effect? I could edit the post, if it is something that could be a problem or annoys you that much :P

OOC: Nope, what is Quarian in Mass Effect? I could edit the post, if it is something that could be a problem or annoys you that much :P

OOC: No, keep it. It's a race that were forced into exile. (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Quarians)

“Again, very interesting. Two imperial civilizations. Moravria itself is democratic, with a representative from each colony and one from each region of the planet of Mora itself. We have a figurehead monarch, but the position holds no power, left over from the time when many kings ruled over small portions of the planet.”

"Democracy... Figurehead monarch..." She scrawled this in the pocket book. "And you only recently have working FTL technology... How long have you had space craft?"

OOC: I have a brief factbook describing in some more detail the history or Moravria, but when I posted it, it said the mods had to approve the thread, which is looks like they never did. I'll try it again. EDIT: It actually did get posted. I'll add a link to my signature.

"Here is where it gets interesting. Our recorded history dates back around 300 years, anything before that was lost in a long, costly war and a resulting plague. With that plague and war much of our technology was lost, though we still had some spaecraft, mostly satellites. We speculate that before the war nations had spacecraft capable of fighting out of atmosphere. Since recorded history we have had spacecraft capable of colonization of moons and long-term space stations out of Moran orbit for around 150 years. Our navy, if you could call it that, is about 100 years old, but still in its infancy, most of its combat experience coming from low-tech pirates.”

"The Templarian Navy has recently underwent reforms, so we have some ships surplus. We may be able to give them to you as a gesture of goodwill." She made a note in the margins of the pad. "Or perhaps help train your crews?"

Aboard the APS Immense...
The Captain looks around and finally is able to focus his eyes on the marine that is assigned to escort him.

'I've never been on a warship like this. Why don't you give me a quick tour?'

"I'm afraid that's outside my authority. You must ask the Captain for permission" He contacted her again and this time he nodded his head,

"Captain Lewis has agreed to show you around personally. We must report to the bridge" He indicated the direction that the Captain should travel in. All around the sparkling clean white corridors, crew in various colours of uniform were moving about, chatting or giving commands.

"I have no power to accept a gift like that, but if a Templarian representative could visit Moravrian space I am sure that our senate would be more than happy to get some more advanced ships. What types of ships do you have in surplus?"

Almost an entire battlegroup. A number of frigates, some cruisers, two battleships and a Warp Ship. Warp Ship's are portable jump gates."

"Most impressive. I am slightly heasitant to give you the coordinates to Mora, is there any other way you could be in contact with the Moravrian senate?"

APS Immense
The captain had some trouble to go around the many crewmembers occupying the corriords of the Immense. He was impressed, but at the same time a little bit disgusted, of how insanely clean it was everywhere.
He followed the directions of his escort and after a while he saw a large door with the big letters 'COMMAND BRIDGE' on the side.

As he walked towards it, the door slided open to reveal the large command bridge and his jaw dropped to the ground....

'Wooah...this..ship...is amazing!', he said and then realized that his mouth wide open, quickly shuting it.
His eyes searched for Naomi - and there she was...

The bridge of the Immense like all Alversian vessels, was divided into three tiers, each slightly on top of each other. The bottom tier held the flight control panels and navigation controls. The third tier held the tactical and communications stations as well an internal sensor screen. Each station was manned by silent crewmen, busily working away. There were also more Crewmen walking about and two Marines.

The second tier was where Naomi was situated, standing in front of the Captain's chair. She had her tunic off, it was resting over the end of her chair. Her hair was also a different colour. Instead of blond, it was a dark black that seemed to shine like diamond on the bridge. She was wearing the white t-shirt of the APN uniform, but it was short on her and between the edge of her t-shirt and her tight-fitting trousers was a four inch belt of delicately tanned, porcelain skin.

She turned to stare at the Captain and a small tinge of red appeared in her cheeks,
"Sorry, I'll be with you now" She stated, grabbing her tunic, "This is the bridge" She indicated.

Her crew grinned to each other, they all saw their Commander's supple and perfectly curved young body, but she was their Captain. They saw her more of a kid sister than anything else. But they couldn't deny the obvious

"On the subject of suplying technology. My captain has been relayin important details to high comand, I hope you dont mind. They say that they will review the rules of the ISIS polacys regarding this. If it is permited then we will gladly show you how to build MAC guns and Prism cannons and transfer the relavent data. In regards to a meeting place outside of your home planet a city-ship can be dispatched to a destination of your choice." piped in the LT.

OOC: oh, if you want I can bring in a city ship as a plot device for the pirate fleet to chase us, be warned thoe its armed with turbolasers and a type of drone called a Death dealer (http://www.sg-ol.com/images/join_images/replicator.gif). These drone can bypass shields unless they can withstand a MAC round and form into a large projectile that they propell using thier minature impulse drives. Once they breach the shields they melt thier way in with acid and kill every crew member they can find, hack into the ship and cause it to wreak havoc.

The bridge of the Immense was much much larger than any bridge he had ever seen on a ship. Even the largest ship in his stock wasn't nearly as brilliant as this one. But there was one other thing on the ship that amazed him even more than the ship itself - and it was it's Captain.
He caught himself staring at her, as if he was searching for flaws - but couldn't find any.

He coughed and his cheeks turned slightly red - if it was because of her or his increasing need of alcohol he didn't know.

'I like it, but I think it's a bit to flashy for me. I mean, my freighter just had the basics. I'm very excited of being able to visit such a large warship. We don't have any where I come from, except some old imperial ones that the Banecreons use. How does the gravity work on this one? We have small gravital generators on the freighters but a warship like this ought to be more sophisticated than that...'

He once again thought of his mission: This is a warship, it doesn't have any weak points. Unless you're inside it.

He looked into Naomi's eyes and smiled.

Naomi draped the tunic over her shoulders and nodded,
"The ship generates an atmospheric field within the vessel that replicates the production of items such as trees and water. Oxygen is created within this atmosphere by a reaction with the crew's carbon dioxide emissions. The result is that this ship can never run out of air. In a similar way, the hull is designed in such a way that a single generator can create a powerful gravity field throughout the entire ship, we have others of course as backup but one will work effectively for a crew of 600."
She gave another smile,
"Where do you want to go next?" She asked gently, arcing her eyebrows slightly.

"On a neutral planet, perhaps? Or through some sort of broker?"

On board the Wings, the Marines (http://sentry.be/pics/BehindtheScene_12369/ODST2.jpg) were assembled at the side of the ship, specifically at the breach pods. These were round objects which were designed to spin, bypass shields and smash into the hull of a ship and open, allowing the Marine's inside to enter the ship. Meanwhile, the captain kept a close eye on the long-range radar scanner.

He smiled while he was thinking: Great, they have back-ups. Without gravity, nothing will work - unless they strap themselves to the chairs but it will for sure delay them from using their weapons. But, without power - neither gravity nor weapons will work.

'Oh, how interesting!, he said while slowly turning around - facing the sliding doors.

'I would very much like to see the power plant of this ship - it must be huge! That is, ofcourse, if you have a power plant. The old imperial warship I've visited had one gigantic fusion drive, functioning as both engine and power plant - self-repairing! My freighter used an old rusty helium-3 drive. But, I can understand if I'm not allowed to see it, as you think I'm some kind of criminal...', he sighs.

He turns around once more and smiles at Naomi.

'Otherwise, it would be cool to see some of your starmaps. The ones we used on the freighter were over seventy years old.'

Naomi gave a light frown,
"I suppose I could let you have a look around but I cannot tell you much about it, except it's multi-fusion and can make this ship very fast" She thought again then as she zipped up her tunic zip, "You can look at the Star Charts if you wish. There's nothing there that can cause any harm" She said thought carefully.

She indicated to the door,
"Shall we head to Engineering?" She asked politely, and headed through the door. The Marine that stood to attention as she passed, snuck a quick look at her behind as she walked beyond him. It was perfectly formed and he thanked his lucky stars he had such a fine young woman as a Captain.

He looked at the star charts with curiosity.

'Multi-fusional, you say? Sounds interesting. But I think I've hea...'

Suddenly he stops speaking and just looks at the charts, thinking: They haven't plotted out my homesystem. Hm. They have to be a young race, or maybe they're just not into exploring. How could they have such fine ships, then?

"Shall we head to Engineering?"

He looks at her with a smile on his face.

'Yes, ofcourse. Is it far?' He says while noticing the marine beside him looking at Captain Lewis behind and then gives him a discrete nodding.

Naomi almost seemed to sense what he was thinking and smiled,
"We haven't explored this far into space yet," She explained for the poor maps they had of the area, "We are quite a distance from this area and so we have not yet explored her in any detail. I'm afraid we're very far from home," the ex-student sighed sadly.

She was walking slightly ahead of the Captain as she spoke,
"Anyway, we have one of the modern ships in the Alversian Navy, even though she is little more than an escort. They wouldn't trust me with a Dreadnought," she gave a small laugh and continued through the corridors, gaining salutes from the front and admiring glances in the rear.

He was still impressed by her charisma and the power she seemed to have over the crew. The Captain hurried forward so that he would walk alongside of her.
The conversation of charts had woken his historical interest to life - an old hobby of his.

'It's ok. Atleast your charts are new. Mine have a whole bunch of weird empires, republics and even systems that doesn't exist anymore. But they are fine for reading old shipping lanes, except there are pirates in most sectors today.'

He once again felt his need of alcohole and he knew that he must have something to drink in the next couple of hours.

'If it is far to Engineering, maybe you could tell me about your home - Alversia?'

"Yeah?" The young Alversian asked, "We don't really have many pirates in our area, the People's Navy keeps most of them away"

At the mention of Alversia, Naomi's face fell slightly and her glistening eyes became sad,
"Alversia is a utopia, she's a democracy were everyone has a voice and no one is ignored or forgotten. No matter your background or your beliefs, Alversia will welcome you. There is no poverty, almost little crime and friends are everywhere you turn."
She stopped and gave a small sigh, as if talking of her planet was bringing home the names and faces of friends long forgotten, her beautiful face was created with sorrow, then she gave a small smile,

"But it's boring. There's no crime, no interesting things happen there at all. I would have been in my fourth year of my University course now but I was bored with my life. So I took five years out and joined the APN"

She looked at the Captain,
"What about you?" She asked him, "How did you end up a Pilot?"

She yawned and stretched at the same time, revealing another small crack of skin under her tunic.

OOC: HELVETICUZ CHECK POST 145

IC: "Hmm a good idea. I supose a city ship would be a little unfair in negotiations."

OOC: Oh, on an unrelated note, Alversia, feel free to have Julia appear in the Castle on An Unfortunate Effect.

'Sir, we've got a small colection of ships about 35 mins travel away. The only stange thing is, theres one Templarian and one Dragona ship there...and you know how much those guys love each other...'

'Thank you, Yakul. Send a message to both ships asking about whats going on, exicting chartin can wait I think.'

"Captain, theres a message here from a Chupakabran ship."
"Hmm? Whats it say?"
"It's asking what we're doing out here."
"Well, reply I suppose."

Chupakabran ship, this is the VTN Wings of Kal. We were on an exploration mission when we found two new races. However, we believe there may be pirates operating in the sector, so keep your guard up.

"Sir we are reciving a message from a Chupakabra ship in the are, orders?"
"Yes, ignor it, it'll go away."

OOC: Can I point out that the Immense has know left the immediate area and is at least a dozen lightyears from the nearest vessel.

OOC: oh, if you want I can bring in a city ship as a plot device for the pirate fleet to chase us, be warned thoe its armed with turbolasers and a type of drone called a Death dealer (http://www.sg-ol.com/images/join_images/replicator.gif). These drone can bypass shields unless they can withstand a MAC round and form into a large projectile that they propell using thier minature impulse drives. Once they breach the shields they melt thier way in with acid and kill every crew member they can find, hack into the ship and cause it to wreak havoc.OOC: In one way it could be fun, but the pirates aren't that much of a threat. They only have access to small ships, although they would be quite fast.
To be honest, their only chance is to create a diversity, get the attention, flank and isolate one of the ships, loot it and then get out of there quickly.
They wouldn't have a chance against a warship, and certainly not one of your City-Ships and it's drones :P

But I'll think about it.

yea, it would just run
it only stays an fights when its cornered so 2 speak

'Captain, we have a reply from the Templars, but not the Dragona. Templars say theres two new races there.They also say theres Pirates close.'

Hmm, maybe somethings gone or going down. 'comms, send a mesage to the Templars saying we're moving on and send a message to Tyraniune telling them the situation and that we are going to observe and assit if need-be. start up the cloak and move in on the situation.'

He listen to Naomi as she described Alversia, wondering if that was some kind of standard answer they had to learn at boot camp - because everything can't be that well. He had grewn up in a world of violence, slavery, poverty and fear and could not imagine any world without it.

'That sounds pretty incredible to me. Maybe you should visit Banecreon and it's neighbourning systems for a time - there's and adventure you'll never grow tired of!'

He laughed, thinking about how he had convinced everyone that he was a simple freighter-pilot.

'Uhm, I was good at flying aircrafts as a kid. My father teached me the most basic of deep space survival, and maneuvering an air- and spacecraft is vital.
When I was a bit older I joined up with some industrial company based at the moon of Banecreon and since then I've been transporting different minerals and metals. So if you want to know anything about mining in the Siweran systems - I'm the man to ask!'

(edit.)OOC: I have to leave now, so don't be furious about me not answering for a while tomorrow as I'll probably have to go through five pages of Thread-Explosion. 'Night!

"These systems are completely alien to us," She gave a small smile, "We must have a look at them at some point. I'm sure we could throw off any Pirate attack"
That was bravado on her part, she had no idea how she would react to an attack on her vessel. She was a Captain, but she'd never been in battle before. Never properly.

She led into a vast room, in the centre of which was a large blue dome of pulsing light. There were many different crewmen surrounding it and the other panels that were scattered throughout the room.

"Engineering" Naomi stated as they entered, "As you requested"

OOC: Templar, what is your tech base? I want to know to see if the tech is similar to the direction I want to go with Moravria. Also, I’ve thought about it, and I think that maybe it would just be easier to meet directly on Mora, as long as you agree not to do anything treacherous.

IC:
“Could I trouble you with a question, Lieutenant? Would you happen to have any radio transmitter capable of FTL communication? I would feel more comfortable talking terms with you if I knew I had to blessing of at least one senator.”

As the hologram sprung up, Jarvik raised an eyebrow.

"No anti-pentrative shielding on these things. Pity."

As he listened to the offer, and the discussion of civilizations, he spoke.

"The Realm is a society bound together only by the constraints of mind. Each person is capable of speaking mind-to-mind, yet there are no requirements on a citizen. Freedom is an absolute, yet the bonds of what many of us consider our duty hold us tighter than any laws ever could. And, of course, our military is... sizeable. Let us simply say that there are few powers in the universe who care to tangle with us. Though I am hardly empowered to offer you ships, especially with the immense cost of the Fleetmind War ongoing, there is a wealth of technical data that would probably be more useful - especially considering the fact that the upkeep of a completely foreign fleet of ships would be difficult, to say the least."

After a moment, he listened to Titro - and spoke again.

"If you wish, captain, I could send a transmission from this station. It would be rather slow, as there's a time-delay of almost a tenth of a second per light-year, but it is an old piece of equipment.

"These systems are completely alien to us," She gave a small smile, "We must have a look at them at some point. I'm sure we could throw off any Pirate attack"
That was bravado on her part, she had no idea how she would react to an attack on her vessel. She was a Captain, but she'd never been in battle before. Never properly.

She led into a vast room, in the centre of which was a large blue dome of pulsing light. There were many different crewmen surrounding it and the other panels that were scattered throughout the room.

"Engineering" Naomi stated as they entered, "As you requested"
He laughed as he knew that one single ship of this size was no match if it was outnumbered by smaller and faster ships - like a pack of Space Raiders.
This could be the weak point he had been waiting for.

'Yes, for sure. This ship is in excellent shape and the technology is way ahead of pirate low-tech.' He said with a smile.

'If you want to, I can guide you to the nearby system and from there we could explore the inner worlds - the ruinworlds of old Hella, the scavaged imperial spacefortresses and of course the only "civilized" world out there - Banecreon, though it's not much to see.' His eyes sparkled with excitement.

As he entered the vast room, he stared at the enormous blue dome ahead of him. He had never seen anything like it before. It pulsated with a bright blue light - on and off, on and off.

'It's so beautiful...nothing like I imagined!'

He was amazed, but still the only thing going through his head was: Damn, there are too many people here to make any damage to this thing - and I don't even know how it works. Hm, so - the gravity generator is out of the question and now the power source is too.
He must convince her to let him guide them to Banecreon - it would be his only chance.

"Yeah?" Naomi looked on with interest, "We're here on a mission of exploration, so why not? One thing though, we go in cloaked. I have no idea what's in that system"

She only have been a Captain for less than a month and she may have been the youngest person onboard, but Naomi Lewis was not stupid. There were precautions that had to be taken in her eyes. She gave him another cute smile,
"Is there anywhere else you would like to see?" She asked kindly.

He had succeeded with his plan, but he still needed a back-up - just like the gravity generators needed.
What else could be used? Gravity? Check. Power? Check. How about that cloaking device she was talking about, that would make this lone ship very vulnerable in the darkness of deep space.

'Ofcourse, anything else would be pure stupidity. These systems are barbaric and there is no guarantee of...well...anything!'

He was pleased of how things had evolved during the last hours.

'Yes, there are many things I would like to see - this is truly an incredible ship! I'm interested in this cloaking device - maybe you can show me?'

OOC: We're going further and further away from Moravria's main story here, mate.

OOC: I noticed

Naomi shook her head stubbornly,
"That's one of the things, I can't let you see. Needless to say that if we wanted to tail a ship for months, we could with this cloaking device. We could be beside their bridge and they'd never notice" She said proudly, thinking of the advanced cloaking device they used.

"I'm afraid that is a no go. Anywhere else you would like to see? Other than weapons of course" She gave a cheeky smile.

OOC: Well, we could always start a new thread - if our little side-story annoys Moravria.

IC:

The cloaking of the Immense must, as everything else on the ship, be very advanced but he still thought about his very own Solar Strike.
In his eyes, it was a highly technological piece of junk - but he loved it like nothing else. It was able to sneak past cruisers and frigates, merchant tradeships and well guarded freighters - without they knowing of it's existance. In his eyes, it was perfect - well, except the non-working airconditioning system and it's useless weaponry.
Though, he had no idea of where the cloaking device itself came from. Probably some old imperial technology left behind in the asteroids.

'To be honest, I'd like to see the whole ship! But there is no time for that. Let's head to the bridge and begin our adventure!' He said with excitement.

Naomi gave a pleased smile,
"We shall head to the bridge then, shall we?" She laughed,
This was why she had joined the APN, to see the universe, have an adventure, something to tell her Parents and friends at home about. As if being a Captain wasn't good enough. She had the most exciting job an Alversian Girl could have,

"Let's get this adventure underway" She laughed to herself as she headed for the Bridge with the Captain and their accompanying Marine.

OOC: I don't mind it at all. It seems like the talks aboard the station are coming to a close, and I may get a few warhsips out of it. Oh, and I'm loving the sexual tension between the two characters. It's sort of like high school, except with spaceships and FTL travel.

OOC: Templar, what is your tech base? I want to know to see if the tech is similar to the direction I want to go with Moravria. Also, I’ve thought about it, and I think that maybe it would just be easier to meet directly on Mora, as long as you agree not to do anything treacherous.
IC:
“Could I trouble you with a question, Lieutenant? Would you happen to have any radio transmitter capable of FTL communication? I would feel more comfortable talking terms with you if I knew I had to blessing of at least one senator.”

OOC: Well, its varied. I have Stargates, Star Destroyers, lots of X ,Starlancer and Freelancer tech, some star trek (hence the freakin' sovereign) and a teeny bit of farscape. And I promise. Sorta.:rolleyes:

IC: "Sure, if you need to send a message. She pressed a few buttons on a wrist device, then said, "Captain, one of the FC Species wants to send a message to their homeworld. Can you patch them through?" The captains voice came in icy and robotic. In other words, the transporter had a full signal. She detached the device and passed it Titro. "Type in the co-ordinates of the planet. We'll patch you through."

On board, the captain also sent a message to the Chupakabrans.
Send someone on board and we'll brief them. Best hurry.

Daehai III, desendant of a Chupakabrian war-hero of the Liberation war, was siting in his quaters sharpening his prized blade when the comms officer's voice came over the intercom, 'Sorry to interupt sir, the Templars are requesting a meeting on board their ship. They suggest we hurry.'
'Thank you, prepare to covecs to come with me make sure they only have sidearms and blades. Keep the ship cloaked at all times. how long till we get their?'
'About 3 sir. the covecs will be ready in 2.'

Daehai III got out his chair, replaced his prixed sword and, raising to his hide legs and removed a surrated blade along with a mauler. Falling gently back to all fours he walked out to the transport room. A few minutes later he and the 2 covecs steped into the bluey-green portal and where on the Templar ship...

OOC: I’m interested in the Freelancer tech. I was hoping to loosely base my tech off of that, especially Liberty battleships.

“Thank you, very much,” Titro said as he too the communicator. He slowly dialed in the coordinates of Mora, or at least what he hoped were the coordinates. He was not used to intergalactic coordinate systems, being used to the solar system coordinates he used while near Moravria. When he finally spoke into the communicator he was pleasantly surprised to find a communications officer from one of Moravria’s two cruisers on the other end of the line. After a brief, quiet conversation Titro ended the transmission and handed the device back to Gyges.

“My senate would be happy welcome any of your nations to send diplomats to Moravria. We will welcome them with open arms, and hope that positive relations with your empires will…flourish, if you will.”

OOC: Most of my tech is... dang, I haven't played it in so long I forgot the race names... It's the Japanese race (Kusari?) and the German race, with a few liberty and brettonian ships thrown in to the mix. Oh, and I'm thinking of introducing Homeworld tech, but I'm not sure...

IC: Elizabeth replaced the device.
"Well, I'd be happy to visit your system. I am the only qualified diplomat in this region of space for the Void, so I suppose I'll have to do."

On board the Wings, Alex was waiting in the Teleport bay with two armed marines. When the Chupakabrans appeared, he bowed.
"Ah, you must be the delegates from Tyraniue. Please, follow me." He walked out of the doors, headed towards the bridge.

Daehai and his covecs followed the Templar out of the transport bay. 'I'm guessing you trust us about as much as we trusted you.' He laughed to himself slightly, he had expected more Templars and even half expected to be taken hostage. Daehai never really had trusted Templars, with good reason to. 'Anyway...why have you asked us here?'

Naomi gave a pleased smile,
"We shall head to the bridge then, shall we?" She laughed,
This was why she had joined the APN, to see the universe, have an adventure, something to tell her Parents and friends at home about. As if being a Captain wasn't good enough. She had the most exciting job an Alversian Girl could have,

"Let's get this adventure underway" She laughed to herself as she headed for the Bridge with the Captain and their accompanying Marine.
The Captain followed her lead, once more noticing how smoothly her beautiful body moved in front of him.

'Yeah, let's go'

He was disappointed to not have seen the cloak device, but as they entered the bridge he quickly forgot about it. He headed straight for the star charts and waived at Naomi.

'Naomi, come and have a look! We have three easy routes to enter the nearby system. The first one is just plain straight ahead - with minor asteroid fields. The other is via sector 12, where my most recent shipping lane is - but that's where I got attacked by the pirates. The third is via an alternative shipping lane, used mostly by the Banecreons and they might be a little bit, how should I put it, intense.'

He was talking so fast he had to pause to take a breath, and then continued:

'Once we're past the first asteroid fields I can show you some of the imperial remains and ruins, maybe you'll find it interesting. Most of it has been scavaged and looted a long time ago, so personally I think it's kind of dull. But for you, Naomi, I think it could be apropriate. (OOC: Correct spelling?)' He said, once again taking a deep breath and realizing that he just had spoken over ten sentences in record time. He blushed and smiled.

"Quite simply, the Captain wishes to speak with you regarding the pirates. She's just through here." As they passed through the door into the bridge, the lights seemed to be cut off. The bridge seemed to be bathed in a green glow from the panels, apart from an orange symbol in the middle of each panel. The captain stepped off the chair, and there was a tapping as she stepped towards them. As soon as she stepped off the chair, the lights cut to normal light and she could be seen normally.
"Gentlemen." She (http://www.igniq.com/images2/masseffect0307.jpg) smiled, though it was hardly visible through the visor.

Daehai bowed , the covecs follwing his lead. 'Hello ma'am, your officer imformed me that i was called here to help deal with some pirates, but i wouldnt think that you would ask us just to help fight, being the mighty Templars that you are. So whats the real reason?'

The Captain followed her lead, once more noticing how smoothly her beautiful body moved in front of him.

'Yeah, let's go'

He was disappointed to not have seen the cloak device, but as they entered the bridge he quickly forgot about it. He headed straight for the star charts and waived at Naomi.

'Naomi, come and have a look! We have three easy routes to enter the nearby system. The first one is just plain straight ahead - with minor asteroid fields. The other is via sector 12, where my most recent shipping lane is - but that's where I got attacked by the pirates. The third is via an alternative shipping lane, used mostly by the Banecreons and they might be a little bit, how should I put it, intense.'

He was talking so fast he had to pause to take a breath, and then continued:

'Once we're past the first asteroid fields I can show you some of the imperial remains and ruins, maybe you'll find it interesting. Most of it has been scavaged and looted a long time ago, so personally I think it's kind of dull. But for you, Naomi, I think it could be apropriate. (OOC: Correct spelling?)' He said, once again taking a deep breath and realizing that he just had spoken over ten sentences in record time. He blushed and smiled.

"So, asteroid is the best way then?" She frowned lightly looking at the Star Charts before gazing up at the Captain and glancing down again quickly. There was something about his appearance that she liked. Adventure. He looked like an adventurous type.

"I shall plot it immediately" She turned to face the console,
"Set a course for this system, Ensign" She ordered, then watched as he carried out her orders. He had to be at least ten years older than she was.

"Do you mind if I take my tunic off?" She asked innocently as she began to pull it over her head, "I hate wearing this stupid thing" As she did so, her t-shirt underneath slipped right up to the top of her belly,
"So what's in this area I should know?" She asked from under the tunic

Daehai bowed , the covecs follwing his lead. 'Hello ma'am, your officer imformed me that i was called here to help deal with some pirates, but i wouldnt think that you would ask us just to help fight, being the mighty Templars that you are. So whats the real reason?'

IC: "You are an ISIS nation. We can't let you perish at the hands of mere pirates. As much as many of the crew here would like that. Also, I thought you may want to know that we believe a pirate is undercover, attempting to sabotage an Alversian ship. However, if this does happen..." She walked over to the view port. "We would very much like to claim that ship. And because your people are unknown to the Alversians, I was thinking a little quid pro quo could be arranged. If you can get me that ship, should you see an opportunity, you would be richly rewarded."

OOC: Plot twiiiiist!

IC: "You are an ISIS nation. We can't let you perish at the hands of mere pirates. As much as many of the crew here would like that. Also, I thought you may want to know that we believe a pirate is undercover, attempting to sabotage an Alversian ship. However, if this does happen..." She walked over to the view port. "We would very much like to claim that ship.

OOC: Hould on one cotton picking second!!

OOC: Hould on one cotton picking second!!

OOC: It's all up to you of course, but it wouldn't be Void Templar without some shameless backstabbing. :D

OOC: Since when did I paint a bullseye on my hull? :confused:
Pick on the cute Captain eh?

OOC: Since when did I paint a bullseye on my hull? :confused:
Pick on the cute Captain eh?

OOC: Yup.
...
What? What? At least I'm not a slaver!!!
Hmmm... Now that I come to think of it...:p

Daehai walked to the window and looked out at the ship. 'The whole ship?' He turned back around he said 'ok, a few questions. One; why dont you do it yourself, 2; what do we get, 3; why and finally how...shall we say...welcoming are they?'

OOC: Seriously :confused:
Poor Naomi, Is this the same group that came to question the Pirate in the first place?

OOC: Well, lets assume you say a hologram of it on the ship because the actual ship is out of eyesight range.

IC: "Capture the ship, capture the passenger and if possible kill the crew. Although they are a minor concern, it will make sure no one will be able to spread the walk. You don't have to accept of course. We will think no less of you." She turned to Daehai. "You get anything up to 30 billion standard galactic credits or equal worth, except ships or technology. Also, I'd say this mission would be rather dangerous, as you would be fighting the Alverisans and the Pirates, if they do indeed appear and board the ship. Well?"

"So, asteroid is the best way then?" She frowned lightly looking at the Star Charts before gazing up at the Captain and glancing down again quickly. There was something about his appearance that she liked. Adventure. He looked like an adventurous type.

"I shall plot it immediately" She turned to face the console,
"Set a course for this system, Ensign" She ordered, then watched as he carried out her orders. He had to be at least ten years older than she was.

"Do you mind if I take my tunic off?" She asked innocently as she began to pull it over her head, "I hate wearing this stupid thing" As she did so, her t-shirt underneath slipped right up to the top of her belly,
"So what's in this area I should know?" She asked from under the tunic
"So, asteroid is the best way then?"

He nodded; 'Yes - it could be. You'll never know in these territories.' He said with a laugh.

Watching how she ordered her subordinates amused him. A woman with such power was, once again, truly amazing. He wondered that if he would be a member of the crew - could he take orders from a woman? Probably not. He smiled just thinking about it. It was ridiculous!
He was daydreaming again but woke up with an awkward sound when she was taking her tunic off.

'Uh, oh...yeah, I hate them too. I mean...' He sighed and smiled, realizing he couldn't come up with something good to say.

'In this area there's not much to worry about. A couple of lightyears to the west there's an abandoned space fortress. Straight ahead is an asteroid belt. I would go for the fortress...'

Daehai turned his head back to the ship and was quiet while thinking to himself. 'Well...of course we would have to aquire some details of the ship, and alos see if i can find a way for them to let me on. Esencially [OOC: i think i spelt that wrong] we need to return to my ship.

Without waiting for a reply he started to walk slowly towards the door.

The marines lowered their guns at him but the Captain held up a hand.
"No, let him pass. If he should choose to betray us, I believe he would come to a rather slow and interesting end." She nodded to Daehai and sat back down in the chair.

"That's better," She said happily as she threw the tunic onto her chair, letting her t-shirt slip back down to it's original position, still showing a small belt of flesh,

"We need to go to this fortress then?" She asked, perring back at the map. She only stopped gazing at it to look at her Tactical Officer,
"Raise cloak" She ordered.
The Tactical Officer tapped a button and saluted,
"Cloak raised ma'am. We're invisible."

"Very good," She rewarded him with a smile and looked back to the Captain,

"Anything else we should be looking out for?" She asked, bending over to get a closer look at the map. Even her crew shifted slightly, knowing the Captain's trousers were rather tighter than they should have been.

Back on his ship Daehai walked up to a small comm station on the wall, pressed the bridge button and spoke into the microphone 'lieutenant send out a message on CHS-893-E frequency to any of our ships close by, tell them to get here ASAP and arrive in cloak and ready for battle. Also scan the big unknown ship to find any weaknesses or easy acces points those kind of things, send them a message asking if we can come aborad for dimplomatic reasons and tell them we might just have some useful info.'

He next pressed the 'ship-wide' button and spoke 'All hands be ready at battle stations and all boradin forces get kited out. We are at Ifa alert.'

'Sir, the unknown ship seem to have cloaked while you were giving orders' the comm officer's voice came over through the comm stations speaker. 'Daehai pressed the 'bridge' button again 'well then send the message to their last know area and a little way around it!'

OOC: sorry i was posting while Alversia posted

ooc: she isn't the only cute Captain around. Mind you most Captain's wouldn't kill you if you insulted them ;)

Back on his ship Daehai walked up to a small comm station on the wall, pressed the bridge button and spoke into the microphone 'lieutenant send out a message on CHS-893-E frequency to any of our ships close by, tell them to get here ASAP and arrive in cloak and ready for battle. Also scan the big unknown ship to find any weaknesses or easy acces points those kind of things, send them a message asking if we can come aborad for dimplomatic reasons and tell them we might just have some useful info.'

He next pressed the 'ship-wide' button and spoke 'All hands be ready at battle stations and all boradin forces get kited out. We are at Ifa alert.'

OOC: Can I point out that my ship is cloaked as well.

OOC: Can I point out that my ship is cloaked as well.OOC: yeah i edited it

"There is already a City ship on its way to your world with the councils leading diplomatic reprisentatives onit, aswell as some old tech nology in tow, namely several Kordub'ah strike cruisers, we will show you how they work dont worry." The LT replyed to the Moravian (right denomination?).

"Sir the templars have had a few Chupakabra aboard"
2Send them a request for a hologram to begin transmition to the Templars"
"Aye sir" replyed the comm oficer as hey sent the request.

OOC: alversia, why not go the holw hog and have ur charicter do a strip tease for the captain lol.

OOC: Funny man, Ih8, funny man :p

Jarvik smiled.

"In any case, Captain Titro. As this system seems to be rather close to Moravria, we may well set up a trade station here. If your people import any quantites of fusionables, or antimatter, we can most assuredly provide. While we don't produce ships small enough for the use of any of the participants in this conversation - and military ships are rarely given up in any case, when it comes to raw materials, we'd be more than willing to trade with you."

That was, of course, all that remained to be spoken of. He shrugged, and finished.

"If there is no further business to conduct, you may well wish to go on your way."

"Thank you, all of you. Moravria is forever indebted to your nations. We do not easily forget friendship, and rest assured that, though we may no be powerful, we will come to your aid in a time of need. Friendships are valued above almost anything in Moravria, and we will never leave you. Captain D'Anconia, as soon as merchant vessels have been outfitted with FTL drives we will begin trading with the Realm. Fusionable materials will be at an all-time high, and I am sure we will have a shortage.

Remember, any of you are welcome in Moravria and on Mora anytime. Here are the cooridnates to the planet. I hope to see you soon," Titro pulled three slips of paper (yes, Moravrians still use paper) and wrote down a set of coordinates on each. "Farewell gentlemen, and, in what I hope is a semi-universal term, God speed."

And with thatm Titro began walking to the docking ring where his ship was anchored.

"That's better," She said happily as she threw the tunic onto her chair, letting her t-shirt slip back down to it's original position, still showing a small belt of flesh,

"We need to go to this fortress then?" She asked, perring back at the map. She only stopped gazing at it to look at her Tactical Officer,
"Raise cloak" She ordered.
The Tactical Officer tapped a button and saluted,
"Cloak raised ma'am. We're invisible."

"Very good," She rewarded him with a smile and looked back to the Captain,

"Anything else we should be looking out for?" She asked, bending over to get a closer look at the map. Even her crew shifted slightly, knowing the Captain's trousers were rather tighter than they should have been.
While Captain Lewis gave new orders to her subordinates, the pirate Captain pondered of how to contact his crewmembers. The Immense was lightyears away from where the Solar Strike had encountered it the first time.
He had a small transmittor - but didn't have the exact coordinates of the ship.

His eyes stared at Naomi - she was just too good to be true. But now was the time to act, he had to get the position of the ship!

'Yeah, the fortresses is a must-see. They're huge! But, wait...exactly where are we now? What are the coordinates?' He said with calm.

'There might be one thing to watch out for...'

"Come on now, I couldn't give our position away," Naomi replied firmly, but teasingly "I may be young and inexperienced but I'm not naive enough to give our position to a potential criminal." She was looking at him with a strict eye,
"What is this one thing we should be looking out for?" She asked, her eyes gazing down at the map again.

"What a pleasant species" remarked the Lt. She was about to say something when the hologram flikerd. Looking around nervosly the Lt said "Somethings wrong. The bio-cargo has escaped. *Blaster fire can be heared out side the holo-transmiter and subsiquently in the diplomacy room* Barzlun, you have to he..." The Lt never finished her sentance as she was nocked over and riped apart by a large, jet black creatur, in holographic rendition (needless to say not pretty).

OOC: HUUUUUUUUGE plot twist, if Moravia wants ill change the post, after all it is suposed to be a 'friendly' first contact meeting :S

The lieutenant growled and spoke into her comm.
"Captain, somethings happened to the Dragonas. Try to get a hail to them. Also, send a localized hail around the area." She then turned and bowed to Jarvik. She handed him a Datapad containing a map of the Void and the co-ordinates of Karasi, the Void's capital planet. "That is some information in case your government wants to further relations between us, but I'm afraid I have to leave now." She walked out and onto the waiting Shuttle.

BREACH COMMUNICATION
All ships hearing this, listen. There has been some kind of accident or attack on the Dragonan ship. Apparently, some form of 'bio cargo' has broken free. We are sending a marine team to investigate.

'Captain, theres a text message from the Templars. It seems the Dragona are under some sort of attack from 'bio cargo' they had on-borad, the Templars are sending a marine squad. Any orders sir?'

'Well...we do owe the Dragona alot...and we do have all these covecs ready fo action. OK, send a message back to the Templars and one to the Dragona telling them we're going in too. Try to organise some sort of sweep of the ship with the Templars.' With that Daehai walked out of the bridge and into the nearest arming room, while over the ship intercom the covecs where being called to transportation rooms.

On the bridge of the Gunthar about 30 people stood, kneeled and generaly ocupied space in an atempt to aim a weapon at the door. Almost half the ship had been completly overrun by the creatures (http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh161/dragonsclaw56/untitled1.jpg) before any type of action could be taken to stop them as comm systems where rapidly disrupted by the organic 'hive materials' rapid spread.

"Sir we are reciving a message from the Templars and Chupakabra, they say they are sending help over to us!"
"Send them a message of thanks and tell them we are scattered all over the ship and that they should avoid the aft cargobays"
"Yes sir!"

In Armory 12A a squad of Dawnfall legion troops where arming themselves with the most powerful weapons they could find* in preperation to fight thier way to the next group of survivers.

OOC:* there are about 10 men.
2 have Dawnfang heavy flamers
1 has an M12Ripper(fires incendiery ripper rounds)
3 have Las-speares
The rest have M8 rippers or sonic SMGs

"Come on now, I couldn't give our position away," Naomi replied firmly, but teasingly "I may be young and inexperienced but I'm not naive enough to give our position to a potential criminal." She was looking at him with a strict eye,
"What is this one thing we should be looking out for?" She asked, her eyes gazing down at the map again.He sighed.
'Aw, this nonsense again! I'm just an ordinary freighter pilot. Nothing more, nothing less. My history and my father cannot change that fact, and neither could any alien interrogator!'

His eyes stared at her with anger.

'Never mind. Hey! Look at the asteroid over there....what is that?'

He pointed at one of the larger asteroids ahead of the ship - it seemed to have a small metal gate in it's side.
Meanwhile, he turned on his small transmittor in hope of the space raiders to find it's signal - even if it was impossible. The Immense was far away from the Realm refueling station.

She raised her eyebrows and took a small step back from his outburst but recovered almost immediately,
"Just looking out for my ship and crew. No need to take offense" She sulked before turning to look at the gate,
"I don't know and I don't like it. Edge us closer, Ensign, but keep cloak up and weapons ready."

"Aye Ma'am"

"So then," She turned back to the Captain, "You know this area better than I do, what should we be looking for? Stars? Planets? Ruins? Civilisations? What" She asked politely.

On the bridge of the Gunthar about 30 people stood, kneeled and generaly ocupied space in an atempt to aim a weapon at the door. Almost half the ship had been completly overrun by the creatures (http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh161/dragonsclaw56/untitled1.jpg) before any type of action could be taken to stop them as comm systems where rapidly disrupted by the organic 'hive materials' rapid spread.

"Sir we are reciving a message from the Templars and Chupakabra, they say they are sending help over to us!"
"Send them a message of thanks and tell them we are scattered all over the ship and that they should avoid the aft cargobays"
"Yes sir!"

In Armory 12A a squad of Dawnfall legion troops where arming themselves with the most powerful weapons they could find* in preperation to fight thier way to the next group of survivers.

OOC:* there are about 10 men.
2 have Dawnfang heavy flamers
1 has an M12Ripper(fires incendiery ripper rounds)
3 have Las-speares
The rest have M8 rippers or sonic SMGs


Daehai walked into tranportation room 4 wearing black and sliver armour, it would protect him agasint most tyepes of weaponry, and all but the strongest baldes would glaces off. ITs lightness was such that he could still fly with just a mgiht more effort. Weapon wisse he had two swords, both slightly curved at the top with a surrated back, one mauler, two CHU-56 assult rifles with lazer sight and scope, along with a few grenades just incase.

'OK troops' Daehai was adressing the covecs, 'we're going in through the fore side of the ship. We dont quite know what we have to fight, so be prepared for the worst. Our main objective to the get the Dragona out alive, and if they wish, help get the ship back...MOVE OUT!'

Daehai steped onto the transport ship and the covecs followed him on, while the rest got on their own ships.

"Alright men! We're going in all guns blazing, and bio scans indicate a xenomorph hive. Your objectives are to locate and aid any Dragona (this drew a groan from the crowd), hey, I don't like it either, and then either reclaim or scuttle the ship. Got that?" "Aroo!" "Good. Right, 3rd unit with me, left side entry, breach. 17th, with Liz, right side. The rest enter from the back." The marines cheered, then ran to the 3 ODAD ships.

The three ships quickly formed a semi circle around the ship, at the left, right and back.
"Right men. Equipment check. Power armor?" The marines checked their armor was on and fully shielded.
"Yessir."
"EPS active?" The marines checked their grav boots and oxygen tanks were working.
"Yessir."
"Get moving!"

Pods suddenly shot out from the three ships, smashing into the Gunthar. The front of the pods opened and the marines poured out with mixed cries of 'Hoorah!', 'Aroo!' and 'F**k 'em up!'

The marines with Lt. Gyges and Cpt. DeLarge, however, were of a higher caliber. Elite DeathSquad (http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z107/Kain1235/armoredsoldier01.jpg) troopers, they were renowned through species known to the Void for their coolness under pressure, skill and all round viciousness.

"The chupakabra and Templarian forces are moving to board now sir"
"Good, transmit a map of the ship to them"

The doors of the armory opened silently as the 10 men filed out. Something black was creeping slowly down the coridor, 2 of its kin behind it. These were not ordinery xenomorphs, the last 2 had wings and vaugly dragon like features. There was a click as one of the men loaded his M12, instantly alearting the creatures.
"TAKE EM DOWN!" roared the leader of the groupe as anoth 10 of the beasts began to swarm towards them.

The marines poured through the ship, the majority of the marines, with ODST armor, simply scoured the ship to eliminate every Xenoform they found. However, the two Deathsquads made a beeline to the armory. Upon reaching the corridor where the Dragonan survivors where fighting off the aliens, Alex spat his cigarette out and hefted his Heavy Bolter. He grinned, then loosed round after round into the aliens.

There was a series of thuds as 3 ravagers lumbered down the coridor, thier claws sything into the nearest Templars.

There was a roaring sound as the Dawnfangs ignited, both frying the aliens and boiling off thier acidic blood.

OOC: A wikipedia (yes they have wikipedia stuff on video games!!) description of a Exnomorph Carrier (for l8r on in the thread):In Aliens versus Predator: Extinction, a Praetorian can evolve into two other forms of Xenomorph than just the Queen: the Carrier and the Ravager. The Carrier Xenomorph has the ability to carry 6 Facehuggers on spikes coming out of its back, and some can even carry 12. Their vulnerability is their weak armor and their fragility against fire, but their greatest advantages are the face-huggers they are carrying. After the carrier is dead the facehuggers riding will scatter everywhere.
And now the Ravagers:
The Ravager Xenomorph is possibly one the largest alien breeds ever created, it is familiar to the appearance of a normal alien except of their large armour-like shoulder bones and dark blue skin. This Xenomorph possesses huge, scythe-like claws have the ability to kill enemies with one swipe. They can slice through metal (although this is considered nothing particularly unusual in the broader Aliens Universe - most adult xenomorphs are capable of bending steel) and their powerful armor makes them impervious to all but the most intense assault. Ravagers can also heal themselves over short periods of time. It can be argued that Ravagers are bred to be more geared toward all-out warfare than most breeds of Xenomorphs, as their claws are more of a blade-like appearance rather than merely claws and the fact that Ravagers rely more upon brute force to overpower multiple enemies, whereas most Xenomorphs called upon stealth or numbers to overcome such obstacles. Even more important is the fact that Ravagers make no efforts in capturing hosts for breeding and will always kill or destroy potential hosts outright instead.

2 Deathtroopers were thrown back by the attack, while the others moved back, spraying fire at the aliens behind and in front of them. Captain Gyges men arrived and 3 of them charged the ravagers. Two were cut down, but one (http://www.freewebs.com/scar-predator/scar%20predator%203.jpg), who wore different armor to the rest, rolled under the Ravager's swipes and ended up behind one. Mounting it's back, the trooper fired a shot square into the back of the ravager from his CQC-7 shotgun. The ravager roared in pain, but was not downed.
"What the fuck does it take to kill these things?" He ripped the pin out of a grenade and dropped it in the hole before kicking off. He then rounded the corner and sighed.
"Seriously... Xenomorphs?" He shook his head. "Geth? They were easy. Zorg? Meh. Xenos?" He shook his head. "Stupid things."

The 60 Covecs landed and started to head striaght for the bridge. Daehai sent out a messgae through the whole ship telling anyone on borad that thye had landed and were headed for the bridge.

Their progress seemed to have gone un-noticed until they heard steps ahead. Instantly all the Covecs stoped and were on a high alert...down the end of the corridor behind them a swarm of countless Xenoforms sped along to some other part of the ship. 'there's to many' Daehai Whipsered to his troops, 'just move on'. And so they did.

They where nearly at the bridge, having had no more encouters, and just around the corner from it they could hear bashing, one of the Covecs peered round the corner, he gasped at the sight round it and a Xeno darted at him, removing his head in the same moment. Daehai and the others riped open a hail from their varius guns as more and more tore round the corner towards them.

There was a scuttleing sound nearby, louder than even the sounds of battle, then a stomping noise and a series of roars "LOOK OUT, CARRIERS!!" yelled one of the men yelled as several beigh beasts rounded the corner, butting two men out of thier way as facehuggers leaped of thier spines onto the enimy "SEAL HELMETS" shouted the same Dragona trooper as a facehuger shot past his head.

Behind the Corvecs there was a sudden patter of clawed feet on metal as 15 of the Runners they had seen earlyer saw thier chance and charged at thier pray.

"Damn it!" The marines moved back slightly, placing the Dragonans in front of them. "We got carriers!" The troops opened up on them with bolters and lasrifles. "Troops! Hold firm!" Alex tossed a grenade over the heads of the troops into a swarm of facehuggers. Meanwhile, the Deathtroopers that were killed in the initial assault were dragged away by drones to be turned into Xenos.

Also, the 50-odd marines wandering around somewhat near the bridge heard the commotion.
"Alright marines! Into the fray!" The marines roared and charged towards the sounds of battle.

'FALL BACK, FALLLLLL BACCCCCKKK' Daehai shoutd over the deafening fire. One of the Covecs at the back hit something as he moved back. Looking up he saw a rnner looking back at him, its drool landing on his visor. 'fu.......' the runner bit into his face and his last scream alerted the others who subserquenlty turned and opened a mass of fire[not burning fire]it to them. The blood of one the Xenos splurted onto a Covecs brest plate, corroding it and burning his skin. Roaring he un-sheathed his sword and charged into the runners, cutting one down instaintly, the warriors behind him followed his lead.

In front with Daehai the hail of weapons was only just keeping the xenos back.

"We need to get to the medical bay, there are mariens traped there with medics and some patents that cant be moved, they will need help." yelled the leader of the Dragona group, wincing as acid hit his wing, fireing a Las shot into one of the aliens. "We cant use the Jefrys tubes, to cramped, we have to go the long way!" he continued, slicing into another with his las-spear, pleased to see its solid nutronium blade could withstand the acid.

Tirto was walking toward the door to the lounge when he saw the hologram flicker, and then cut out. He turned back, curious, and then worried when he saw Gyges radio in the incident and ask for support on the Dragonan vessel. He turned toward D”Anconia, “Captain, if you don’t mind, would you mind if I remained in here while this situation is resolved?” Titro then radioed in to both the Explorer and the Moon, asking the Moon to prepare its weapons and move into position to attack the Dragonan ship if all else failed.

OOC: I'm thinking maybe it is impossible to scuttle the ship from within for some reason, so instead the troops inside the ship shut down the shield and all other vessels attack it. That is, unless you want to salvage the ship, ih8u.

OOC: if we go for the take down the shields idea then you might wanna inform the guys inside. plus im kinda liking the whole 'survivail horror thread' thing thats been made lol

OOC: Well yes, the whole point of the boarding was either to 1) retake the ship, or 2) save as many of her crew as possible, and then scuttle it. What I'm saying is to continue the whole "horror survival" thing for a bit, until you find a way to get everyone off the ship. Then a select few stay behind to get to the bridge to disable the shield and the get the hell out of dodge. The other ships then open fire and destroy the vessel.

OOC: ok sounds good, i doubt we can resuce the ship so try messageing the guys inside and telling us the plan. that is if the others wanna do that...

OOC: I was planning that the crew would set the self destruct and leg it. Alternativly the situation gets really out of hand and the hive spreads to the others ships, after all there are some 5700 exnomorps by now (there nwasa crew of 6000 on the ship lol) or theres the third option of the cityship diverting to this system and deploy its deathdealer drones, they can't kill the exnomorphs with acid but they can use thier cutting beams to great effect if given the chance i supose.

OOC: It's your ship, so you get to choose. If it does spread to other ships, I'd rather not either of mine get infected, and I very well may just get the hell out of dodge, just to be safe.

OOC: relax, im not gonna have it spread cause then the hole point of the thread would evaporate lol.
Still well go with the big boom option:)

OOC: Good, sounds like a plan. My role in this thread has, ironically enough, been reduced to sitting on the station wondering how the battle is going, and sitting in space with a crappy warship waiting for something to happen. Sigh. Such is the situation when you choose to RP a technologically inferior race.:p

OOC: On a brief tangent, Ih8uwannakillu, do you have any idea what neutronium actually is?

IC: D'Anconia sighed. From one irritating moment to another.

"Incompetence to greater incompetence. One would never see this on a Realm ship, to be honest.

He laughed. "Were they not the ones offering you a fleet? Perhaps you should look this gift horse rather carefully in the mouth."

Another moment. "By the by, if this little scourge of theirs decides to spread, I will be forced to exterminate it, along with whatever remnants they may have aboard their ships. Feel free to stay in the lounge, captain. I will be co-ordinating all safety protocols from the control room. Our automated defenses will take care of any boarders, though there are guns in the armoury if they're somehow disabled."

His soldier training suddenly showed through. While an able enough diplomat, Jarvik was, as all diplomats had been, a high-ranking commander. The man ran off, legs pounding along the corridors. The situation had abruptly changed - it was a military one, not a diplomatic one.

Attention infected ship. You will maintain your distance from all Realm vessels in-system, or we will be forced to destroy you in according with quarantine protocols.

She raised her eyebrows and took a small step back from his outburst but recovered almost immediately,
"Just looking out for my ship and crew. No need to take offense" She sulked before turning to look at the gate,
"I don't know and I don't like it. Edge us closer, Ensign, but keep cloak up and weapons ready."

"Aye Ma'am"

"So then," She turned back to the Captain, "You know this area better than I do, what should we be looking for? Stars? Planets? Ruins? Civilisations? What" She asked politely.
APS Immense

He ignored her and pointed at the gate.

'That's one of the old imperial docks. We think they used the asteroids as carriers - but it's so long ago that no one can really know if it's true or not.'

After a quick pause, he continued.

'There are no civilisations left, except from smaller rogue states - but I wouldn't call them civilized in any way. If I may choose, let's dock with the asteroid and I can show you some of the imperial remainings...what do you say?'

A few lightyears from the refueling station
A small fleet of even smaller ships roamed through space, with a large frigate in the lead. It was the old and rusty flagship of the Space Raiders - the Siwerian Whore.

Captain Romerick of the Siwerian Whore walked across the bridge.

'Bakr, what's our ETA?'

A tall, skinny black man answered him quickly:

'Fifteen minutes, sir!'

'Alright. Tell the Solar Strike, Prince of Pain, Revenge and the Filthy Rape to go for the eastern flank - I'll lead the others to the west.'

'Aye, sir!'

OOC: On a brief tangent, Ih8uwannakillu, do you have any idea what neutronium actually is?
Hell yea. Its bases of everything Asgard and is the favoured resorce for replication of the replicaters. It is rather dense and very strong, safe to assume it isn't easily coroded aswell cause replicaters use acid :P

APS Immense

He ignored her and pointed at the gate.

'That's one of the old imperial docks. We think they used the asteroids as carriers - but it's so long ago that no one can really know if it's true or not.'

After a quick pause, he continued.

'There are no civilisations left, except from smaller rogue states - but I wouldn't call them civilized in any way. If I may choose, let's dock with the asteroid and I can show you some of the imperial remainings...what do you say?'

"I say we scan it first" Naomi decided carefully, "The last thing I want is to run into an ambush." She turned to the scanner console and the Ensign manning it,
"I want a full sensor sweep of that asteroid. Give me everything about it"

"Yes, Ma'am" The Ensign saluted and went to work. Naomi settled down in the Captain's chair while she waited,

"You may as well have a seat," She said, indicating to the First Officer's chair, "I'm sure Sasha won't mind"

"Alright, heres the plan. We regroup with the Captain and the Lieutenant, then get the hell out. We still have an ODAB ship in orbit, it'll pick us up when we get to a place it can. Does the ship have a hanger?" He grabbed a facehugger that leapt at him and crushed it, the acid dripping off his power fist.

He calmly sat down in the First Officers seat, knowing that they wouldn't find anyhting on that rock. It was too far out - to visible - for any pirates to use it. But ofcourse, one could never know for sure.

'Thanks. You must have pretty advanced sensors to scan an asteroid like that one?'

He looked at her with a smile.

The Xenos pouring round the corner in frount were finally starting to dwindell. Although the hallway was now so full of Xeno bodies, and the odd Chupakabraian, that moving foward might prove a problem.

At the back Covecs were slicing and dicing their way through the runners until only one was left standing. A covec slashed at its leg, pulling back up and spining the sword in his hands, he stabed down into it, killing it. Pulling his blade out, holding it the the blades was pointing down, slashed upwards at stoped barely a few centimetres from a ODST, the Xeno acid blood slowly driping of the balde. Holding his blade there, the Covec was looking into helm of the Templar and spoke in a mild growl 'sorry...force of habit ya'know.'

He calmly sat down in the First Officers seat, knowing that they wouldn't find anyhting on that rock. It was too far out - to visible - for any pirates to use it. But ofcourse, one could never know for sure.

'Thanks. You must have pretty advanced sensors to scan an asteroid like that one?'

He looked at her with a smile.

"We do" She smiled back then turned to one of the Crew, "Well?" She asked lightly.

The Ensign shook his head, "No Ma'am, nothing that could be classed as dangerous in the area. I think we're on our own"

"Very well then. Let's have a closer look shall we?" Naomi said to no one in particular. She was staring at the screen in front of her, eyes fixed on the asteroid.

The marine growled and raised his rifle at the Corvec's head. He fired a burst, with killed the Runner behind him. He 'humphed' and walked away.
"Your lucky. Force of habit."

"We do have hangers but they have been over run, we had to disable the forcefields to prevent them from being infested. Now about that medical bay.." he trailed off as the pile of bodys began to shift as something began to force its way thrugh. A greyish-black something (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:XenoGuard.JPG)with a crown shaped head, then another, then another, a groupe of pretorians and other pue breed exnomorphs where forcing thier way thrugh and leaping over the pile of bodys.

One leaped right ontop of a Chupakabra, riping his head apart, another landed ontop of one of the dragona, only to be shot of by another with his ripper "RUN!! RUN TO THE MED BAY" yelled the lead Dragona.

"Med bay? We'll need more than insulin against these things!" The marines fired a few more rounds, moving backwards. The rear ten watched their back however, wary of flanking runners. "Lets hurry the hell up!"

The first of the Pretorians buted its way thrugh the pile of bodys, imeadiatly stabing one man with its tail, slicing another ones throght with its claws as 3 razer claws sprinted past, impaleing several men with thier claws and tails.

"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!!" yelled the Dragona, stabing another Drone as he ran down the coridor, blasting at another 3 persuing razerclaws

OOC: Wiki description of:razer claw
Another large breed with a purple coloration and large, sharp claws on its fingers. It is known for its great speed, making it hard to defeat or even keep up with. It is fond of using that speed to make dashing attacks in which it uses its namesakes to cause massive damage and slice its victims in half. The birth of the Razor Claws was a result of a genetic malfunction in the cocoon process.

Id post the Pretorian one but its HUUUUGE

"We do" She smiled back then turned to one of the Crew, "Well?" She asked lightly.

The Ensign shook his head, "No Ma'am, nothing that could be classed as dangerous in the area. I think we're on our own"

"Very well then. Let's have a closer look shall we?" Naomi said to no one in particular. She was staring at the screen in front of her, eyes fixed on the asteroid.OOC: How many of you are still at the refueling station or somewhat close to it?

IC:

'Yeah, go ahead! The gates should open automaticly. I've docked with my freighter a few times, but ofcourse not on this one.' He said with excitement.

Hopefully, he thought, there might be some equipment in there that could help him contact the space raiders but the chances were small - these asteroid stations had been looted and scavaged for centuries.

The Immense edged closer and closer to the Asteroid. She was still under cloak and her weapons were at full power. Naomi watched with wide eyes as the massive gates opened slowly. The gap was just wide enough for the Immense's outstretched engines to fit through. They set her down and for a few momemts, there was silence and darkness.

Then the Immense seemed to light the whole up like daylight and Naomi stood up,
"Care to join me for a look?" She asked the Captain.

The marines poured down the corridor before four of them stopped and drew APSC (Anti Personnel Spike Charges) and stuck them on the floor. After a second, the charges began to beep the marines scattered, sprinting away. "Get out of the radius!"

OOC: I'm still on the station, as well as HS. I think just about everyone else is still near the station too.

The Immense edged closer and closer to the Asteroid. She was still under cloak and her weapons were at full power. Naomi watched with wide eyes as the massive gates opened slowly. The gap was just wide enough for the Immense's outstretched engines to fit through. They set her down and for a few momemts, there was silence and darkness.

Then the Immense seemed to light the whole up like daylight and Naomi stood up,
"Care to join me for a look?" She asked the Captain.
APS Immense
'I'd loved to.' He answered, and joined Naomi.

They passed through the airlocks of the Immense and stepped out on the cold and wet concrete floor. Thanks to the bright lights coming from the ship, they could see all the way tot he other end of the enourmous hangar. It seemed to be built in solid concrete, with large steel corner pillars. Everywhere in the walls there where holes - small and larger ones - probably from gunfire and explosions.
At the very far end of the hangar there was one single large metal door, with a couple of numbers written on it in large bold capitals.
On it's left side a large screen could be sighted - it shined in the bright light although it was dead black.
A smell mixed of rusty steel, damp concrete, petroleum and dust had spread through the great hangar when the ship had docked.

'Wow....' He was stunned. It actually seemed as there were no pirates there - nor had it ever been anyone there.

Very near the refueling station
The small Space Raider fleet had reached the perimeters of the refueling station, still with the flagship the Siwerian Whore in the lead.

'All units, this is Captain Romerick. We have an unknown amount of ships in target sector, probably it less than five but more than two. All units with cloaks - this is the time to turn it online. Look for an Alversian ship named Immense - that's where Captain Thyrell is at.'

Romerick canceled the comlink and turned towards his own men.

'All weapons online, shields 60% - array energy to the engines. We will engage combat in five minutes, men. Don't fail me.'

OOC: Before we go any further with this pirate situation, exactly who - except HT and Moravria - are near or at the refueling station and how many ships are we talking about?
The pirate fleet is precisely 12 ships. 11 smaller of different quality and size and one frigate-classed warship.

OOC: Um, nearby theres my ship , Ih8uwannakillu's ship, Sith Tyanrus' ship, Moravria's two ships... I think thats it...

"Wow!" Naomi repeated, looking over the hangar herself, she was joined in her escapade by three Marines who were looking over the area. Naomi turned to the Captain,
"Who do you think was here?" She asked, she had never seen anything like it. She was delighted by this discovery, the first Alversian to ever see anything like this before.

OOC: Before we start the battle, just let it be known that though my warship is pretty basic, I would prefer not to loose it. Badly damaged it ok, in fact, maybe even a damaged FTL drive, but if the pirates could, for the most part, leave the Moon alone, or at least not board it, I would appreciate it. That said;

IC:
The Moon slowly drifted its way toward the infected ship, being sure to stop a far distance away. Captain Roberts was working at a furious pace getting the ship ready for potential combat, "Check all weapons systems! Make sure we have a full salvo of missiles ready and check the railguns for operability! Prepare to rerout power from the engine to the railguns, and for the love of the spirit, make sure everything is tied down!"

As he was issuing orders, all the while pacing back and forth across the bridge, the sensory officer spotted something, "Sir, we have multiple comtacts on long range senors. They could be ships, though the could be asteroids as well."

Roberts sat down at his chair, "Turn the ship to face the sensor contact and rerout power to weapons. Hail the contact to see if they are ships or not."