NationStates Jolt Archive

The Eltreum was the largest starship constructed in the brief history of interstellar space travel on Earth, built of a wondrous material (for which it was named) that was so tough that, in theory, only particles of anit-eltreum were capable of harming it. A ship so massive that it didn't even have engines, but warped the laws of physics to allow itself to move. Its crew included a number of mentally enhanced humans and various ceteacians, whose brains were, during duty, linked directly to the ship to provide the massive processing power required to operate the algorithmic drive which kept the whole affair from imploding.
Fifty thousand souls crowded its seventy kilometer long bulk.
Originally it had been built as an evacuation transport. Earth, indeed, the entire Sol system, had been on the verge of destruction. A vast fleet of Space Monsters, nobody had yet come up with a better name, numbering in almost uncountable trillions, had been converging on the home world of humanity.
Of course, that wasn't how it turned out.
Operation Carneades, named for the Greek philosopher, had been planned out. The Eltreum was converted into the flagship of the Final Fleet, to escort the Black Hole Bomb, and the Final Fleet, to the center of the galaxy, where the Space Monsters prime breeding grounds were located.
Virtually every ship in Earth's fleets, a fleet of well over 10,000 vessels, had been dispatched with the bomb. They had arrived, and the mission had been a success.
After a fashion.
Twelve hundred ships had returned to Earth, most of them limping along on reserve power, a few being towed. None were running at full capacity.
But Earth had been saved. Ten billion lives were spared the fate of being consumed as the Space Monsters aged Earth's sun until the planet was engulfed in a blazing red giant.
Of course, Earth had been consumed in a massive civil war, following a huge famine, which followed the destruction wrought with the massive earthquakes, tidal shifts, and environmental changes brought on by Jupiter's removal as a source of mass for the Black Hole Bomb.

The Eltreum had been listed as 'lost' along with the vast majority of the Final Fleet.
The ships captain had, in the last moments of the battle, when the Black Hole Bomb's slave generators, which powered the final stage of the reaction to produce the black hole which would consume the majority of the Galaxies mass, failed, ordered his ship to dive into the heart of the Bomb, where the ships own degeneracy reactors would provide the required additional mass to surpass the threshold.
The plan had worked.
It was plain, even from Earth, where the center of the galaxy was now quite visible, a huge ring of dust settling into a ring around a massive, black, smudge in space. There were few black holes as massive as the Milky Way's new galactic core, with the mass of millions of billions of stars. Almost three quarters of the galaxies mass was now contained in a single point.
The Eltreum, however, was not a part of that mass.

It had taken some time to get the ship back in working order. The loss of two degeneracy reactors mean the ship was operating on a third of its normal power output, theoretically enough to keep the basic systems online, lighting, life support, doors, and transportation trams, sensors, and the algorithmic drive.
The sudden, wrenching, transit through a previously untested mode of transportation, apparently being at the singularity point of a black hole at the moment of its reaction, had shot the ship to some unknown point in the universe, which the ships drives, after much testing, insisted was not, in fact, in the Milky Way galaxy at all.
Theoretically this wasn't so bad. Eltreum was well equipped for interstellar travel.
With three working degeneracy reactors, of course.
Fortunately, while battered, the ship was in good condition. Her hull was scorched, its silver-gray polish lost, and a number of its protruding sensors, turrets and equipment had been lost (since they were made out of more conventional materials than the rest of the ship). Its fighter and hard suit compliments were greatly depleted, limited to those few hundred which were on board at the time when it had plunged nose-first into the Bomb.
Its crew was depleted as well. While the ship had no hull breeches, the concussions generated by the ramming attacks of some of the larger Space Monsters had killed several thousand. A few had been lost in the repairs, or to simple depression when the crew was informed that they were an unknown, but assuredly vast, distance from home. The suicides had peaked two days after the announcement, and then vanished entirely as the remaining crew stiffened their resolve.
Meanwhile, Admiral Amano Tashiro, looking almost comical with two sets of casts, one on each arm, one for his right hip, and one for his left leg, shifted slightly, angering his nurse. It had been difficult enough to convince the ships medical staff to allow him to hold a conference with the ships other officers.

"Gentlemen...you're all aware of our situation." The admiral coughed slightly, he had caught a heavy dose of smoke from the fires that had broken out on the bridge, "We don't know our location, we're going to run out of supplies eventually, and we cant fix everything."

The chief engineer spoke up, raising a hand, "Sir, we DO have enough energy for a single sub-space entry and exit. It might be a bit of a stretch, but once we're IN sub space we can go as far as we want...within the limits of our supplies." He pulled up some charts on the display-table which the group of officers was seated around. The primary focus was on the ships power consumption. "However, once that jump is done, it'll take about a month to fully recharge if we keep full power to the other vital systems...which we sort of have to. We're running on bare-minimum as it is."

"Understood." Tashiro coughed again, "Any other options?"

"We could try a wide-band communication, sir." The comms officer, not usually a vital role on most Earth Republic ships (but included here on the Eltreum, since intra-ship communication was rather more complicated than on other vessels), "It'd take less power...but it might be a while before we got a response."

The quartermaster spoke up now, "We've got about six months worth of supplies left, at our current crew level. Thats including estimates for the ships onboard hydroponics and emergency rations. We were only planning on on a two-month return trip originally."

"Six months..." Tashiro sighed, trying to shift again, "No, the communications wont help much. We're in dead space here. Scan for the nearest system similar to Sol. Tell the crew we're going on emergency lighting again and set the gravity to minimum. Sensors get full priority for the next...two days, thats how long you've got, Pel."

Pel Kowsar, the ships chief sensors officer, nodded, "Aye, sir. I'm not sure we'll be able to give good detail at this range, but we can line something up."

The admiral nodded, "Good. Inform the rest of the crew that we'll be entering warp in about 48 hours. Once we're in system the comms get all the power they need. Until then, do your best. Our lives are in your hands, gentlemen."

48 and one half hours later

"Final charge sequence. VM at %95."
"All warp-shutters closed. All stations report general quarters."
"Reactor output is at %114 and holding. Engineering reports no instabilities in containment."
"Forward fighter bay 2 reports a minor fire. Its currently under control."
"Coolant leakage in Reactor Bay 2. No major damage."

Vice Admiral Petrov groaned, but only in his head. The ship was falling apart. Only on the inside, of course, since the hull was a single, solid piece.

"Number nine exhaust shaft blocked...crews currently investigating."
"Preparing to enter sub-space. Countdown initiated. T minus thirty."
"Shutter failure on starboard observation deck...the deck is currently decompressing...no casualties."
"Minus fifteen."
"VM at %100, aperture has opened."
"Powering up sub-space engine. Waiting for catch...engine has caught. Proceeding at 2-l/s."
"Ship is now entering sub-space."

"God help us all." Petrov covered his eyes and hoped for the best.

The bridge crew were the only ones privileged to have a view of the entry into sub-space. Looking at the strange alternate dimension that made interstellar, and intergalactic, travel possible for Earth with the unshielded eye was the equivalent of putting an unshielded eye within a foot of the sun. And probably caused cancer.
The bridge, however, had been designed with a full, 360 degree, spherical, view screen. The command stations were held in the center via a mind-bogglingly complex artificial gravity system, which eliminated the need for dramatic falling-out-of-chairs whenever the ship was hit with something. Those on the bridged remained rock-steady. Unfortunately the system was also one of the main sources of the power drain on the ship at present.
Regardless, many describe sub-space as being either the most beautiful sight ever seen, or a horrific experience they never want to have again. Mostly its a matter of preference. Sub-space is, if one wishes to describe it in mundane terms, similar to what would happen if half the snow in Alaska were dyed in various colors just prior to a major blizzard. Now, replace the snow with a strange variant of matter which obeys no known physical laws and does not react to any 'regular' matter or energy, and you've got a vauge idea of what sub-space is.

A week later, the Eltreum repeated the above process, only in reverse. It emerged in a blaze of light (caused by the strange sub-space matter ceasing to exist when subjected to more mundane physics), followed by what would have been a planet-shattering concussion, had there been anything to transmit that concussion.

Tashiro, having insisted on being on the bridge for the event, glanced at the screen. A star, planets...hopefully inhabited.

"Communications?"

"Nothing so far, sir. We're broadcasting a general hail in all known languages, as well as the standard first-contact stuff." The communications officer had donned a pair of headphones and was listening intently for even the faintest of signals. His second spoke, "No return so far."

"Sensors are out for now, sir. The sub-space wash is buggering everything up." Pel waved a hand at the radar, which displayed only a white blur, "It'll take five minutes or so to clear up."

"We've got some minor fires around the ship. Nothing major so far." The damage control officer sounded slightly annoyed. But that was alright, so was everybody else, "No new casualties."

Tashiro sighed. All they could do now was wait, and hope that one of the planets in the system they had arrived in was host to sentient life. And that that sentient life was capable of detecting, and repairing, a seventy kilometer long spaceship. If that failed...Tashiro wondered what the procedure for evacuating Eltreum and making landfall was.

(OOC:
So, need somebody to play the system where the Eltreum just arrived. I'd prefer to avoid large fleets of d00m, as well as similar d00mkroozers, unless I just jumped into somebodies capital system with a seventy kilometer long battleship. In which case that might be a rather interesting little event.
Keep in mind that the Republic of Earth has been fairly isolationist so far. We've got contact with a few people, but since Earth is, essentially, isolated in its own galaxy and fairly new to space travel (about 60 years since the first FTL ship), not many people even know they exist.

If you object to a seventy mile long ship, thats fine. Feel free to TG me about it and we can argue there, but dont clog the thread up with OOC objections.)

OCC: Well, your ship is really big and i guess armored, but its basically a can ha, so i would allow it, dosnt seem really dangerous.

OOC: Mind if I jump in?

Hurtrix System

Hurtrix was part of the Greal Galactic Empire. Around four billion people lived on the planet. The planet, was extremely crowded. Seventy percent of the planet was covered in ocean, and half of the land area had shipbuilding yards, and military bases. Hurtrix's three moons were mined for fuel crystals, but at the current rate, the crystals would be gone in about fifty years.

Five Defender Class starbases orbited the planet. Normally, a planet would get no more then two starbases, but considering the crowded problems on Hurtrix, authorities added three more. Hundreds of cargo and military ships entered the starbase daily.

Patrolling the system was the 1st Assault Fleet and the 2nd Fleet. Both fleets had a total of sixty ships. The 1st Assault Fleet was supposed to be on its way to Pamp, but it was delayed after a large number of fuel crystals went missing. Captain Deller, commander of the battleship, Falcon, was arguing with a commander of a fuel ship (Crystal ship).

"Please tell me where did those ten thousand fuel crystals go. Did you sell them off again to make a profit?" asked Deller angrily to the other captain.

"I did not sir." said the man firmly.

"You have already delayed our trip by twelve hours, find more crystals to supply us with or I'll recommend that you should be fired."

"I'll try to find some sir." said the man, looking unaffected by what Deller said,"But I can't promise you that I will find some."

"Get out of here." said Deller.

The captain quickly left the officer, leaving Deller alone for a moment until someone else barged in. It was Lieutenant Wilson.

"Lieutenant, why didn't you knock?"

"Sorry sir, but you are urgently needed at the command bridge."said the lieutenant.

"Alright, lets go." said Deller, getting up from his metal chair and the lieutenant followed him to the command bridge.

Deller entered the command bridge, there were hundreds of crew members working at the computers, watching the screens, guarding the bridge. Deller asked Ensign Flak what was going on.

"Ah, our sensors picked up an enormous unidentified ship. About seventy kilometers long." said the Ensign gloomily.

Seventy kilometers? The Falcon was only five kilometers long. The largest ship in the Greal navy was away, fighting the Zillars. He would have to be cautious.

"Send the First Contact Message."

A message was transmitted in several thousand languages to the ship.

"Unidentified ship. You have entered a Greal Galactic System. Please identify yourselves."

(OOC:
Calveras; At full battle capacity, its got roughly half the firepower of a Death Star, minus the superlaser.
Of course, right now its got roughly the firepower of the Mongolian navy. :p

Grael; I was hoping somebody would ;) )

"Message, sir! Its strong enough to cut through the static!" The comms officer, quickly brought the message up on the main speakers.
Tashiro grinned. Most of the bridge crew grinned. They were saved!
...Hopefully.

"Send a reply," Tashiro waved a hand at the communications panel, "'This is Admiral Tashiro of the Republic of Earth vessel Eltreum attached to the Galactic Core Expeditionary Fleet, out of Sol, in the Milky Way Galaxy."
"As a result of a recent battle, we found ourselves transported, uh...somewhere. Frankly, we have no idea where we are, except that we're not in the right galaxy."
"We are currently on emergency power, and have sustained severe damage to...pretty much everything except the hull. We'd be greatful for any assistance. Our medical staff is overrun and our regular supplies are running low." Tashiro tried to keep the urgent tone out of his voice, but it crept in, subtle at first, but picking up as he went on, reflected mostly in a slightly increase in the speed of his speech and the slow addition of a Japanese accent.

(Bump for the morning crowd. I wouldnt mind one or two more people, if Grael doesnt mind.)

A PRessure Space Rift opened up a few kilometers away from the the behemoth. From it came a Worldslayer, Greywatch's signature 30-45Km warship, this one was only 37km in length though. On the bridge, everyone watched the holoscreen in front of them, "Damn." Said an officer, another one whistled. There were two captains for the ship, one human and the other an Elden. The human looked back at one of the officers, "Please thank the Drones for me. And open up comms." The officer nodded.

<Hail unidentified vessel. We are from Greywatch and we couldn't help but notice the strange energy signatures coming from your ship in this region. I'll cut to the chase, what the hell is that thing your piloting?>

The Worldslayer wasn't here to start a fight, all of its weapons were at 10%, simply for protocol standards. They were mainly here because when the Drones detected the spacial disturbance, the council wouldn't send anyone else in fear that whatever it was had to be hostile.

((I'll do it, but don't expect me to be important until you make another jump, I'll have a stealth frigate stalk you, My fleets are the biggest hodge-podge you've ever seen, I take all my ships from a place called wolf's shipyard, It's HUUUGE.))

(OOC:
Calveras; At full battle capacity, its got roughly half the firepower of a Death Star, minus the superlaser.
Of course, right now its got roughly the firepower of the Mongolian navy. :p

Grael; I was hoping somebody would ;) )

"Message, sir! Its strong enough to cut through the static!" The comms officer, quickly brought the message up on the main speakers.
Tashiro grinned. Most of the bridge crew grinned. They were saved!
...Hopefully.

"Send a reply," Tashiro waved a hand at the communications panel, "'This is Admiral Tashiro of the Republic of Earth vessel Eltreum attached to the Galactic Core Expeditionary Fleet, out of Sol, in the Milky Way Galaxy."
"As a result of a recent battle, we found ourselves transported, uh...somewhere. Frankly, we have no idea where we are, except that we're not in the right galaxy."
"We are currently on emergency power, and have sustained severe damage to...pretty much everything except the hull. We'd be greatful for any assistance. Our medical staff is overrun and our regular supplies are running low." Tashiro tried to keep the urgent tone out of his voice, but it crept in, subtle at first, but picking up as he went on, reflected mostly in a slightly increase in the speed of his speech and the slow addition of a Japanese accent.

Hurtrix System

Captain Deller listened to the message carefully. The strange ship was apparently damaged. He quickly sent a response back to the ship. This was turning interesting....

"This is Captain Deller of the battleship Falcon. Sit tight, help is on their way."

Orders were issued. Two hospital ships that accompanied the First Assault Fleet were on their way to the ship. A cruiser also approached the ship cautiously. Behind the cruiser was a group of shuttles carrying engineers and a few marines to protect the engineers.

"Another ship sir. Decidedly less polite..." The comms officer opened a second channel, "Should I reply, Admiral?"

Tashiro played through the Greywatch message again, "Tell them what we told the first group. Try to avoid starting any fights, though. I'd rather not test this ship against whatever weapons they've got."

"Aye, sir."

Greywatch ship, this is the Republic of Earth vessel Eltreum. We are currently severly damaged and adrift. The owners of this system have kindly offered us assistance, however.

"It looks like the...uh...Graelali...ans are sending in assistance, sir. I count...three large vessels and a few smaller ships. It looks like they dont fully trust us, sir."

"They're smart aliens, then. I'd probably have every ship in the system on alert if some strange alien ship, a rather large one too, mind you, popped out of nowhere into my backyard." Tashiro fidgeted and attempted to scratch his elbow.

"Oh...good point, sir." The sensor officer bent back over his station as the communications panel spoke up again.

"I've given permission for the aliens to dock in Forward Bay 3, admiral. Its the only one we could get the warp-shutter open on. A greeting party is on the way."

"Have our medical staff coordinate with theirs. Give them full access to the medical logs and casualty lists. Have engineering ready too...they might be sending some of their own men over, much good it'll do. How much would you wager that their systems are compatable with ours?"

"I was never a betting man, admiral." The comms officer brought up the first channel again, opening communications with the Grael battleship, "Channel open with the Falcon, sir."

"Thank you...Captain Deller, we're greatful for the assistance. My communications officer informs me that we've granted permission for your men to land in Forward Bay 3. We'll try to get the landing lights on, if we can. Be advised the bay may be a bit crowded."

"Another ship sir. Decidedly less polite..." The comms officer opened a second channel, "Should I reply, Admiral?"

Tashiro played through the Greywatch message again, "Tell them what we told the first group. Try to avoid starting any fights, though. I'd rather not test this ship against whatever weapons they've got."

"Aye, sir."

Greywatch ship, this is the Republic of Earth vessel Eltreum. We are currently severly damaged and adrift. The owners of this system have kindly offered us assistance, however.

"It looks like the...uh...Graelali...ans are sending in assistance, sir. I count...three large vessels and a few smaller ships. It looks like they dont fully trust us, sir."

"They're smart aliens, then. I'd probably have every ship in the system on alert if some strange alien ship, a rather large one too, mind you, popped out of nowhere into my backyard." Tashiro fidgeted and attempted to scratch his elbow.

"Oh...good point, sir." The sensor officer bent back over his station as the communications panel spoke up again.

"I've given permission for the aliens to dock in Forward Bay 3, admiral. Its the only one we could get the warp-shutter open on. A greeting party is on the way."

"Have our medical staff coordinate with theirs. Give them full access to the medical logs and casualty lists. Have engineering ready too...they might be sending some of their own men over, much good it'll do. How much would you wager that their systems are compatable with ours?"

"I was never a betting man, admiral." The comms officer brought up the first channel again, opening communications with the Grael battleship, "Channel open with the Falcon, sir."

"Thank you...Captain Deller, we're greatful for the assistance. My communications officer informs me that we've granted permission for your men to land in Forward Bay 3. We'll try to get the landing lights on, if we can. Be advised the bay may be a bit crowded."

Hurtrix System

Barely one fourth of the doctors were humans, the rest were different alien species. The shuttles began to land in the Forward Bay 3. it was indeed crowded. Next, hospital ships were looking for a way to connect to the strange ship that way the wounded could be brought aboard the ships. The Cruiser watched the ship silently.

Further away, a superbattleship, fifteen kilometers long decided to drop in for a look, it dispatched all its shuttles crowded with medics and engineers to the ship.

Fighters and small spider probes were flying around, examining the ship, the spider probes were capable to repairing areas on ships.

"Alright. Understood. Our engineers are landing as we speak."

OOC: I would like to join but my nation isnt like FT.....what kinda thing are you looking for?

<Ah, well in that case everything seems to be fine, seeing as you're already recieving assistance. If you would like anything further, don't be afraid to ask, despite the fact that this is a warship, that's only protocol. We're quite friendly.>

The Worldslayer didn't move for the time being, it simply waited to find out more.

(Feninia; I could encounter your nation if my ship moves on. Happening upon the MT NS-Earth would be amusing :P)

"Roger, Falcon.

The spider droids would find little in the way of damage on the hull itself. Although many of the ships laser emitters had been quite shattered by impacts, they were currently sealed away in the hull, behind thick shutters designed to prevent micrometeor impacts, dust accumulation and so forth. The other damage, chiefly to the non-eltreum turrete elements on the hull was quite beyond simple repair, and would require full replacement.

The Grael contingient was met in the docking bay by a troupe of armed guards, whose MP5 submachine guns were, in the interest of politeness, being held at ease.
"I am Lieutenant Abelson, ships medical division." A tall-ish man in a white uniform, which stood out quite nicely compared to the blue worn by the guards, "Captain Varez should be arriving from engineering any minute. If all of the medical personel would follow me, we'll take the tram to the ships medical division. You'll probably be assigned to one of the converted cargo/docking bays, but one thing we're not short on is equipment and medical supplies, fourtunatly."
"Its generally advised that you dont leave your assigned station without a crewmember. This ship is seventy kilometers long, and if you get lost, you might starve to death before we find you." Abelson smiled. Slightly.
"If you would, please follow me."
A short walk brought the group to what was, essentially, a subway station. The only incongruity, besides the knowledge that they were on a starship, was the fact that the route map was superimposed over a picture of the Eltreum. Besides that, even down to the vending machines, the station could have been from any major city on Earth.
"We modeled each station after famous subways on Earth," Abelson explained further, "Although the ship was deployed rather quickly, so we didnt really have time to do the details. This is Piccadilly Station. Although probably a bit cleaner."
The tram arrived, and the various Grael personel were piled into the cars, which were more or less of the 'airport tram' configuration.

"Please hold on to the handrails," A vaugly femine, but entirly computer generated, voice advised, "The car will begin accelerating in five seconds."

Several minutes later, and a few bruises for those incautious enough to not heed the voice, the car pulled up outside the main medical bay. Even before entering the primary medical ward it was quite clear that the place was overrun. Stretchers filled the hallways, the recovery rooms each had at least four beds piled together.
But it was clean. The air smelled of disenfectant and was filled with the sounds of quiet, orderly, medical work.
The bloodstains on the floor spoke of what had gone on a few weeks ago.
"Gentle..." Abelson glanced at the multi-species gaggle of doctors, "...beings, Major Rawne is currently performing surgery, it seems. Which of you is in command?"

(OOC:
My apologies if I went overboard with the moving your guys around. Mostly I just wanted to bypass the boring bits. I wont do it again if you object.)

<Not to be a bother but your ship looks, to put it delicately, like you went through hell. We don't doubt the capabilities of those already offering assistance but, are you sure you don't require any more aid? That is a very large ship.>

"Station Tango Lima Delta at Five-Five-Four gigahertz, encrypted. Come in, Central. Repeat, this is Tango Lima Delta at Five-Five-Four gigahertz, encrypted. Come in, Central."

"Station Tango Lima Delta, Central, Five-Five-Four Gs and encrypted, we read you loud and clear. What do you have?"

The lieutenant pushed herself from what she had determined was the floor to what would, therefore, be the ceiling of her tiny workspace. "Sensors report a vast object on the edge of scanning range. It's difficult to get a clear image, but since it just appeared, I'm guessing it's some sort of spacecraft. Massive radiation surge just prior to its appearance. I'm transmitting the data on this frequency now." She keyed in a few commands before kicking herself into a slow spin in the zero-gravity environment - it had been decided that listening posts of this type did not need artificial gravity generators due to their insignificance and the fact that they carried a complement of one.

"Noted, Tango Lima Delta, we are dispatching an intelligence ship to check it out. Stay put. Over and out."

The young lieutenant mused quietly to herself, "where would I go?" She had accepted this assignment to get away from her family and her life. Now, she was on a six-month posting, completely alone, on a remote listening station, working the rounds for Stellar Navy Intelligence.

She watched as a tiny blip appeared next to the massive craft. Its shimmering appearance on her scanners indicated its cloaking frequency; it would take closer readings of the strange vessel.

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

On board the HMS Nightstalker, which had just dropped out of subspace next to the newly-reported vessel, the crew looked upwards through their windows, awestruck at the massive vessel above them. The Makaarian Royal Stellar Navy's largest ship was a mere 22 kilometres in length. In its early years, the organisation had flirted with the prospect of super-massive vessels; but opted for a larger, more mobile force of smaller, heavily-armed ships instead.

The Nightstalker itself was an intelligence ship. The faint, omnipresent whirring on the two decks of the 40-metre ship was that of its cloaking device, which folded space around the craft, creating an indetectable bubble of interdimensional space which scanning beams and light seemed to simply "pass through", and at the same time shortening the life expectancy of anyone within the ship by about 30 years.

Lieutenant Commander Bill Nimitz glanced over the preliminary sensor data. "70 kilometres long... hull composed of an unknown alloy... they can't see us. Sensors are too primitive. No weapons on the outer hull, but poorly-concealed cannons inside a number of compartments. Almost fifty thousand lifesigns, ranging in strength."

Warrant Officer Bryolie was the first to speak. "Can we- I mean, should we contact it, sir?" His finger hovered over the communication control panel expectantly.

"Absolutely not, crewman," said the commander. "We're here to collect information for the Stellar Navy. If we are ordered to make contact, we will, and until we know its intentions, are you sure you want to make contact with that thing?"

The commander was, of course, right, by virtue of his rank, but also by logic. The Nightstalker was armed with two low-yield plasma cannons, designed to shoot small asteroids from the vessel's path. It carried no shield emitters, the space being used for the cloaking device. It was no match for the mysterious vessel above it.

"What shall we do, then, sir?" Bryolie asked.

The commander frowned pensively. "Let's go to condition yellow, we need to be cautious about this. Security Officer Brown, unlock the weapons cabinets. Comms Officer Bryolie, please ensure that the black box is fully updated with this new information and that its transmission gear is functioning properly." He stared upwards at the massive vessel above his and wondered at the appearance of the fifty thousand inside.

(Feninia; I could encounter your nation if my ship moves on. Happening upon the MT NS-Earth would be amusing :P)

"Roger, Falcon.

The spider droids would find little in the way of damage on the hull itself. Although many of the ships laser emitters had been quite shattered by impacts, they were currently sealed away in the hull, behind thick shutters designed to prevent micrometeor impacts, dust accumulation and so forth. The other damage, chiefly to the non-eltreum turrete elements on the hull was quite beyond simple repair, and would require full replacement.

The Grael contingient was met in the docking bay by a troupe of armed guards, whose MP5 submachine guns were, in the interest of politeness, being held at ease.
"I am Lieutenant Abelson, ships medical division." A tall-ish man in a white uniform, which stood out quite nicely compared to the blue worn by the guards, "Captain Varez should be arriving from engineering any minute. If all of the medical personel would follow me, we'll take the tram to the ships medical division. You'll probably be assigned to one of the converted cargo/docking bays, but one thing we're not short on is equipment and medical supplies, fourtunatly."
"Its generally advised that you dont leave your assigned station without a crewmember. This ship is seventy kilometers long, and if you get lost, you might starve to death before we find you." Abelson smiled. Slightly.
"If you would, please follow me."
A short walk brought the group to what was, essentially, a subway station. The only incongruity, besides the knowledge that they were on a starship, was the fact that the route map was superimposed over a picture of the Eltreum. Besides that, even down to the vending machines, the station could have been from any major city on Earth.
"We modeled each station after famous subways on Earth," Abelson explained further, "Although the ship was deployed rather quickly, so we didnt really have time to do the details. This is Piccadilly Station. Although probably a bit cleaner."
The tram arrived, and the various Grael personel were piled into the cars, which were more or less of the 'airport tram' configuration.

"Please hold on to the handrails," A vaugly femine, but entirly computer generated, voice advised, "The car will begin accelerating in five seconds."

Several minutes later, and a few bruises for those incautious enough to not heed the voice, the car pulled up outside the main medical bay. Even before entering the primary medical ward it was quite clear that the place was overrun. Stretchers filled the hallways, the recovery rooms each had at least four beds piled together.
But it was clean. The air smelled of disenfectant and was filled with the sounds of quiet, orderly, medical work.
The bloodstains on the floor spoke of what had gone on a few weeks ago.
"Gentle..." Abelson glanced at the multi-species gaggle of doctors, "...beings, Major Rawne is currently performing surgery, it seems. Which of you is in command?"

(OOC:
My apologies if I went overboard with the moving your guys around. Mostly I just wanted to bypass the boring bits. I wont do it again if you object.)

"I am." said one of the few humans in the group."I am Lieutenant Rerrax. I am in charge of the medical personnel on board the Falcon."
The doctors looked at the blood stains with curiosity. What ahd happened a few weeks ago?

meanwhile, engineers under Robert Swann arrived at the ship. they were there to repair the ship the best they could.

Greywatch ship, currently our only functioning docking bay is in use by the Grael. If we can get additional bays open, your help would be appreciated. Currently our own engineers are working with the Grael to restore some functionality.

---

Abelson nodded, "Ruptured eardrums, eyes, severe hemorhaging. Mostly due to overpreassures from the concussions on the hull. This ships main hull is pretty much indestructable, otherwise we wouldnt be here right now."
"I'll spare you all the background, but...basically it was a rather large battle," Abelson smiled slightly, apparently appreciating the irony of that statement, "The enemies we were fighting, we call the 'Space Monsters', they're basially huge space-bound insects. A lot of them attack by ramming, and since they can get up to eight kilometers long...well, you can imagine what happens to anybody near the impact point, even if they cant get through the hull."
Abelson withdrew a clipboard from a desk drawer nearby, "These are the duty stations...Uh...do I need to translate anything? We've been speaking English and all, but...?"

<That isn't a problem, Greywatch ships are able to create blink networks. As long as you don't have shields obstructing us, we can simply blink engineers and technicians into your ship. Provided we have somebasic schematics so we don't blink our men into a wall or something. Just let us know if this is okay.>

Greywatch ship, currently our only functioning docking bay is in use by the Grael. If we can get additional bays open, your help would be appreciated. Currently our own engineers are working with the Grael to restore some functionality.

---

Abelson nodded, "Ruptured eardrums, eyes, severe hemorhaging. Mostly due to overpreassures from the concussions on the hull. This ships main hull is pretty much indestructable, otherwise we wouldnt be here right now."
"I'll spare you all the background, but...basically it was a rather large battle," Abelson smiled slightly, apparently appreciating the irony of that statement, "The enemies we were fighting, we call the 'Space Monsters', they're basially huge space-bound insects. A lot of them attack by ramming, and since they can get up to eight kilometers long...well, you can imagine what happens to anybody near the impact point, even if they cant get through the hull."
Abelson withdrew a clipboard from a desk drawer nearby, "These are the duty stations...Uh...do I need to translate anything? We've been speaking English and all, but...?"

"No thats alright." said Lieutenant Rerrax, he was wearing a translator on his ear which could translate what Abelson was saying. He could respond through the translator also."What happened to the Space Monsters?" Rerrax was a bit curious about them.

Teleportation is generally not advisable around our degeneracy reactors. Our own teleportation technology is rather limited, but given the distortion effects you might want to make some kind of test 'blink' first.
As to the ships schematics, we really cant just hand those over to an unknown ship. Its nothing personal, just standard caution, you see.

"Ah, alright, then. Assign your men to whatever they're best at. We're shorthanded all around, but most of what we need is skilled surgeons. Like I said, most of the current casualties are stable, but awaiting operations or other major proceedures. Any radiologists would be welcomed too."
Abelson smiled, "As to the space monsters...we gave a lot better than we got."

<We don't mean hand over the entire detailed overlook of the ship, we mean, tel us where there is a relatively safe passage or open area we can try test blinking a relatively harmless object into. We have nothing to gain by attacking you, and we're certainly not even going to think about it while in someone else's system. We're here to help, and possibly learn.>

Teleportation is generally not advisable around our degeneracy reactors. Our own teleportation technology is rather limited, but given the distortion effects you might want to make some kind of test 'blink' first.
As to the ships schematics, we really cant just hand those over to an unknown ship. Its nothing personal, just standard caution, you see.

"Ah, alright, then. Assign your men to whatever they're best at. We're shorthanded all around, but most of what we need is skilled surgeons. Like I said, most of the current casualties are stable, but awaiting operations or other major proceedures. Any radiologists would be welcomed too."
Abelson smiled, "As to the space monsters...we gave a lot better than we got."


"Alright, I'll have surgeons assigned here immediately. I have around two hundred available, is that enough?" asked Rerrax," And, are the Space Monsters still around?" He sounded slightly worried.

If you send a person over following a successful test, we can give them a crew map. Its not to scale, but should let you find a good spot to teleport in. As we said, we're just being a bit cautious. We have enough problems right now as it is.

---

"Dont worry," Abelson raised his hands in an attept at a reassuring gesture, "They can travel faster than light, but they're organic. They have to stop and eat. They cant leave our galaxy. We've got a datafile on them somewhere. If the admiral gives permission I'll send it over to your commanding officer. Mostly its just bedtime reading, not anything classified. The Space Monsters dont use spies or guerilla tactics. They just try to blow up anything artifician in space and then eat your star."
"Anyway...two hundred's plenty. We've got about two hundred remaining critical cases which require immidiate attention. If you'll dole out your crewmembers according to speciality, we'll get started."

A transport officer grumbled as he tried to create a successful blink scape for a transportation test. "Dammit all, really now..." Another man was watch him, "Hey, no use complaining."
"Yeah? Well you aren't the one here doing this now are you? We have no map of that ship, how the hell am I supposed to get anything into it?"
"Just think of something creative."
"I'm focusing on the energy signatures of the ship in their hanger, I'll try to get something next to. Hopefully what we send won't end up in a wall."
"Well we could always try again."
"I don't think they'll let us try again if I screw this up."
"Well what are you sending anyways?"
"One of our droids."
"Which one? We've got a bunch of different models."
"I don't know, a humanoid one I figured. Or I could send one of the smaller ones, the ones that can hover around."
"Aren't those used in battles?"
"Only some of the time, humanoid is still better I'm thinking... Here we go, I have a shaky lock, I can probably get something in there if I'm careful."
Just then a droid walked in, it was humanoid and was plated in white armor. There were gaps in the armor that allowed one to see its artificial muscle. It had no face, but instead five glowing red eye. One in the center and the four others on the outside placed like four corners of a square. The transport officer looked up from the controls, "You, over there please. STand on the yellow sqaure."
The machine nodded and did so. The other officer took out a small comms device, "Captain, tell these guys we're about to drop a visitor in."
-------------------
<We're attempting to blink one of our droids into your hanger, near the other ship. Please advise, is this a good location, its about the safest place we can think of.>

If you send a person over following a successful test, we can give them a crew map. Its not to scale, but should let you find a good spot to teleport in. As we said, we're just being a bit cautious. We have enough problems right now as it is.

---

"Dont worry," Abelson raised his hands in an attept at a reassuring gesture, "They can travel faster than light, but they're organic. They have to stop and eat. They cant leave our galaxy. We've got a datafile on them somewhere. If the admiral gives permission I'll send it over to your commanding officer. Mostly its just bedtime reading, not anything classified. The Space Monsters dont use spies or guerilla tactics. They just try to blow up anything artifician in space and then eat your star."
"Anyway...two hundred's plenty. We've got about two hundred remaining critical cases which require immidiate attention. If you'll dole out your crewmembers according to speciality, we'll get started."

"No problem." said Rerrax, he begun to issue orders to the surgeons waiting for orders. Luckily, there were plenty of doctors to go around. But Rerrax was worried that these stranger visitors may be frightened by the Techars, which were the most numerous of all species in Greal. To a visitor from another world, a Techar would look like a gigantic intelligent insect.Most of the surgeons were Techars.

Affirmative, Greywatch ship. I'll inform the crew to be on the lookout for a new arrival.

None of the humans seemed particularly bothered by the Techars. Given that they'd already encountered a machine race, various insectoids, cat-people, inter-dimensional gas-clouds and what may or may not have been a superintelligent shade of the color blue (they never managed to figure out how to communicate with it), a sentient bug wasnt a major issue, except to the crewmembers with insectophobia. Most of the aliens got a few nervous glances, more curious than fearful. Few of those on board had ever seen an alien before, even the much-feared Space Monsters. Those working in the bowels of the ship, the engineers, medics and maintenance people, had only seem them in news reports and on the internet.
Abelson made a few checks on the duty rouster and smiled at Rerrax, "Thanks a lot. If we hadnt found this system, we would've been in a world of hurt. You guys've saved all of us."

With that the blink network was set up, there was a direct blinkscape between the Greywatch transport room and the other ship's hanger. With a small flash the droid had been sent over, on the ceiling. It promptly activated its own magnetic boots before looking what would have been its up, but everyone else's down. "I am sent by Greywatch to serve as a test. The test has been successful."

Affirmative, Greywatch ship. I'll inform the crew to be on the lookout for a new arrival.

None of the humans seemed particularly bothered by the Techars. Given that they'd already encountered a machine race, various insectoids, cat-people, inter-dimensional gas-clouds and what may or may not have been a superintelligent shade of the color blue (they never managed to figure out how to communicate with it), a sentient bug wasnt a major issue, except to the crewmembers with insectophobia. Most of the aliens got a few nervous glances, more curious than fearful. Few of those on board had ever seen an alien before, even the much-feared Space Monsters. Those working in the bowels of the ship, the engineers, medics and maintenance people, had only seem them in news reports and on the internet.
Abelson made a few checks on the duty rouster and smiled at Rerrax, "Thanks a lot. If we hadnt found this system, we would've been in a world of hurt. You guys've saved all of us."

"Well, we would offer aid to any ship that is damaged. How close is our system to your system?" asked Rerrax.
Meanwhile, Engineers that were at the hangers asked for orders. What were they supposed to repair on the ship?"

The droids appearance caused some comment, naturally. It wasnt every day that an unannouced visitor appeared on your ceiling and started babbling about Greywatch and testing. Fourtunatly the admiral had made an announcement earlier and the security team was prevented from shooting anybody.

Greywatch ship, your test was successful. I suggest, however, that next time you aim about ten meters lower. We'll send a map over with the...droid.

---

"Frankly, we've got no idea." Abelson shrugged, "Our navigation computer tells us we're probably in another galaxy, based on the star charts. 'Course, if we were in our own galaxy it'd be pretty obvious...Uh, anyway..."

Most of the engineering work was basic repairs. Wiring needed to be restrung, soldered and replaced, doors needed to be un-stuck, the occasional unfourtunate crewmember needed to be wedged out of whatever corner a massive concussive blast had smashed him into.
The more interesting work involved the ships hardsuits and CAF's, although the Terran engineers were careful to avoid letting the Greal engineers into the hangers where the new 'Sizzler' RX-8's, with their on-board degeneracy reactors, were kept. Friendly assistance was all well and good, but bleeding-edge, high-end technology wasnt something you let anybody who wandered in poke around with. Especially when fiddling with a degeneracy reactor might cause the ship to implode.

<Will do but as we said, we were going blind on our side.>

The droid deactivated its mag boots and, performing a flip on the way down, managed to land on its feet. "The map would be appreciated."

The droids appearance caused some comment, naturally. It wasnt every day that an unannouced visitor appeared on your ceiling and started babbling about Greywatch and testing. Fourtunatly the admiral had made an announcement earlier and the security team was prevented from shooting anybody.

Greywatch ship, your test was successful. I suggest, however, that next time you aim about ten meters lower. We'll send a map over with the...droid.

---

"Frankly, we've got no idea." Abelson shrugged, "Our navigation computer tells us we're probably in another galaxy, based on the star charts. 'Course, if we were in our own galaxy it'd be pretty obvious...Uh, anyway..."

Most of the engineering work was basic repairs. Wiring needed to be restrung, soldered and replaced, doors needed to be un-stuck, the occasional unfourtunate crewmember needed to be wedged out of whatever corner a massive concussive blast had smashed him into.
The more interesting work involved the ships hardsuits and CAF's, although the Terran engineers were careful to avoid letting the Greal engineers into the hangers where the new 'Sizzler' RX-8's, with their on-board degeneracy reactors, were kept. Friendly assistance was all well and good, but bleeding-edge, high-end technology wasnt something you let anybody who wandered in poke around with. Especially when fiddling with a degeneracy reactor might cause the ship to implode.

Greal engineers were secretly told to whenever possible, check out the ship, but they had to do so secretly. Another Greal hospital ship finally connected to the ship and could bring onboard more wounded.

"Well, anyway. if you have time, you can come on board our ship." Rerrax wasn't authorized to do that, but he felt that he should let some of their people come onboard the hospital ship, or even the battleship.

Besides the composition of its hull, everything the Grael engineers came into contact with was probably remarkably primitive by their standards. The RX-7 hardsuits, which they were allowed to assist with repairs on, were essentially constructed with the equivalent of 21st century technology. The ships weapons, such as were still intact, primarily consisted of linear cannons and laser weapons. While obviously capable of huge energy output, a four-meter diameter lense with capacitors and charging equipment taking up enough space to insert a starfighter into, they were still, essentially, your basic 'flashlight'.

"I'm a medical officer, I wouldnt be able to read a starmap, especially an alien starmap. I dont think it'd be much help, anyway, unless you know where OUR galaxy is."

---

A basic readout of the ships rooms was handed to the droid, although large sections around the bridge, remaining degeneracy reactor and other sensitive areas had been left blank.

We've handed over the map. We'll look forward to meeting you.

Besides the composition of its hull, everything the Grael engineers came into contact with was probably remarkably primitive by their standards. The RX-7 hardsuits, which they were allowed to assist with repairs on, were essentially constructed with the equivalent of 21st century technology. The ships weapons, such as were still intact, primarily consisted of linear cannons and laser weapons. While obviously capable of huge energy output, a four-meter diameter lense with capacitors and charging equipment taking up enough space to insert a starfighter into, they were still, essentially, your basic 'flashlight'.

"I'm a medical officer, I wouldnt be able to read a starmap, especially an alien starmap. I dont think it'd be much help, anyway, unless you know where OUR galaxy is."

---

A basic readout of the ships rooms was handed to the droid, although large sections around the bridge, remaining degeneracy reactor and other sensitive areas had been left blank.

We've handed over the map. We'll look forward to meeting you.

"Well, huge areas of the Universe is still not mapped. Its probably high unlikely that we know where your galaxy is. Our maps are very simple, I can change the words on the map to your language that way you may be able to read some of the map."

The Greal Engineers were sure they were hiding something, but they didn't investigate any further.

<Affirmative. Sending units now.>
----------------------
In the transport room, several teams of engineers, technicians, and some Drones had gathered. Many of them were human with a few droids helping them. A few of them were Leanorian, they would heal anyone who got hurt on the ship. The Drones would act as information relays and the droids would be doing any heavy lifting. All of them had a purpose of some kind and were ready to move, there were thirty of them in all. A good starting team for a blink onto an alien ship.
----------------------
Aboard the ship the initial droid had postitioned itself somewhere else in the hanger that had plenty of space and activated a blink beacon.
----------------------
With the initiation of the beacon the team was blinked over to the ship. Engineers had many different tools, both on their armor and in the tool case. Technicians had any equiptment they needed in their storage bracelets. Leanorian priestesses only wore their ceremonial garb and small combat knives, precautionary of course. Droids had whatever they needed inside their armor. Drones wore all black and had holdstered pistols, also following simple protcol. There were six Drones, three Leanorians, fifteen engineers (seven of them droids), and six technicians, not including the droid that had the map.
---------------------
<We've sent them. They are at this moment under your direction. Show them what needs doing and they'll do their best to get it done.>

OOC: The Leanorians look more-or-less like anthro lions, or rather lionessess since in this case they're all female. The Drones look human but have black hair, nails, lips, eyes, clothing, and dagger-like teeth.