NationStates Jolt Archive

They had lain dormant for decades. Built into the trees, giant spheres of amber suspended above the forest floor by having been constructed into the massive trunks themselves. Vines were strung about them, connecting all the trees together, but this was simply due to natural overgrowth. Colorful birds sat peacefully within the branches. Some upon the high pines that dotted the forest, and some upon the spheres that were carved into the towering oaks and other broad-leafed trees.

A creature peered out from the forest, curiously surveying the scene before emerging to reveal its giant, humanoid form. Covered completely in brown hair, and with small, black eyes, it cautiously moved to the waters edge and scooped up some water with its paw. It continued to drink, then suddenly looked up startled. Turning from the shore of the large lake in the midst of the forest, it peered up at the amber domes, some of which were now glowing. The Sasquatch fled. Bubbles began to form in the water.

Branches began to extend from the water, hundreds of them, growing thicker as they emerged. The amber spheres that had began to glow were now settling into a duller, more calm shine of yellow and orange tones that swirled around the hardened bubble. Massive energy stores were now active, generators producing immense quantities to continue to wake up the forest city.

Such a strange thing, it would be, for passerby to register such massive energy signatures from a forest....

The Explorer-class scoutship Anenome was skirting the borders of unknown space, taking in all the sensor data it could as it went. Well, in the Colonies eyes, everything outside of the Sol system was unknown, since they had only been confined into that space for the entirety of their existence. With the end of the Great War and discovery of the fact that alien species did exist, High Command had ordered exploration to begin en masse, and had even drawn up plans for a new scout ship, which resulted in the Explorer-class. Now, plenty of data was going into the computers of the [b]Anenome[/b, and they had viewed several systems so far that held good routes for expansion, either for industry and construction, or for colonization. Captain Maria Samson was the commander of this vessel and she was very aware of her orders as she went along, scanning.

The scout ship class had no weapons, simply a good amount of shielding, so she had to be careful when entering a system. For all she knew, she could have entered a hostile race's territory and be annihilated without warning, if she didn't pay attention. With her three other crew members, they formed the core of the scout ship. Sitting in her chair, she watched, bored, as the endless stream of numbers and symbols scrolled down the screen. The same as it had been for the past two days. Suddenly, the screen froze and the data fell away. She started in surprise, looking at the officer in control of the data stream. "Ensign, what is going on?"

"Unknown, ma'am. One moment..." The woman typed in commands and there was a pause. Then data streamed out like mad, finally ending in a coordinate that showed the source of whatever had caused this. "The computer has detected some kind of large power source in the next system over. It's...very large commander. It's stronger than any of our own generators that we have made so far. Orders?"

She sat in her chair, chewing on a knuckle as she thought. As much as she wanted to not investigate, she had to check. Not to mention her orders were to investigate anything strange or out of the ordinary. "Alright. Helm, set course for that coordinate and have the generators ready in case we need to jump away." The ship turned in the direction of the system they were heading to and the computer began to compute the distance, the energy needed and the other factors involved in faster-than-light travel. Soon enough, the space in front of them began to darken and twist, blurring as the generators exerted their force over the natural laws of physics. Soon enough, there was a silent tear as the fabric of space-time tore asunder and a wormhole opened. The ship gently accelerated into the wormhole, which closed around it, no sign of the damage it had caused remaining.


Several hours later, the wormhole opened not too far from the planet and disgorged the scout ship. The Captain sat forward as she waited for the screen to clear out the interference from the wormhole. A calm, green planet appeared in view soon enough, and her eyes narrowed. Several gold diamonds appeared, showing where the power signatures were coming from. "Alright, bring us into geosynchronous orbit above those spots and get ready to deploy satellites. We need to get a better picture of what is going on. A simply nature planet like this should not be giving off these kinds of signatures....." The crew acknowledged and set to work, not knowing of what lay ahead for them and the Colonies.....

They stood on the sandy shore, just short of the grass line that separated water from forest, dripping water from their dark limbs. Their eyes, green marbles that glowed dully, showed now sign of movement for lack of iris or any distinguishing marks. They were trees. Their skin was bark, hard and moss covered. Smaller branches protruding out of their bodies at random, bearing leaves and cones. They surveyed their city; their buildings deep within the trees surrounded by amber covering. The power plants were at full capacity, bringing all systems to active once more.

They had learned eons ago that automating their systems to become active before they had awoken was much more efficient than activating them manually. The beings moved out, knowing full well what needed to be done. They had performed these duties for generations. A massive electrical pulse suddenly shot out across the planet, leaving the natural life unharmed, but reaching deep within the dirt.

The Setulanite Republican Vessel Numar IV powered through space, faithfully continuing its mission from nine months prior. A Storm class frigate, it was one of the six "second wave" exploration ships launched to find new races. The Great War, now fifty one years in the past, has left deep scars on the Setulan system, but finally, expansion had begun.
And none too soon, Captain Chambers thought. Refugees were a huge issue on Setulan, left over from the war, and if they found someone friendly out in space, maybe they could ship them off. Cruel? Yes. But members of the Chambers family had been serving in the Setulanite Navy for thirteen generations, and were considered part of the unofficial naval aristocracy. He was entitled to look down on the refugees so long as he did not do it out loud.
He was interupted from his pondering by one of the watch officers.

"Sir, I read a huge energy spike in the system we just passed," he called out excitedly. Chambers stood, invigorated. They had not had any contact so far, but they might just get lucky.
"How long to get there?" the ensign did some quick math.
"Three hours, sir!"
"Let's do it. When we get close, max power to shields. Ready weapons, but do NOT arm them. I don't want to get into a firefight."
"Yes, sir!"

Three hours later, the planet was in view, and another ship was on sensors. Captain Chambers grabbed the vox link.
"Send it in the clear-I don't know if they could read any encryption we have."

Unidentified ship, this is Captain Chambers of the SRV Numar IV, sent on a mission of peaceful exploration by our leaders. Please identify.