NationStates Jolt Archive

The Kyube Freespace was rather new to the life of spaceflight. Their technology was far different from most space faring people for it's machines were plants crafted by skilled Nogitsune that would use spirit sorcery and energy from intergalactic ki lines. The plant ships would take strong metals such as adamantium or orihalcon to make the hull. Even the Ships weapons and shields were made from the plants enhanced with sorcery. Every piece of the Kyube technology was based on the merging of plant, sorcery and technology.

Planet Yukikaze: the fringe of Kyube Freespace

Daimyo Ken cursed his luck once again for getting his promotion. Daimyo was the second highest rank of the Kyube Samurai but the devil was in the details, his system was on the fringe and the capital planet was a would rich in orihalcon but never saw the light of day. The world of Yukikaze should have been profitable in the least, being one of the few resource rich worlds under control of the samurai and not the anarchistic whims for the civilians or the Ronin. But the fact the world was cold and far from the sun, needing several spirit stars (the strongest Kyube power source) to keep the Nogitsune, their tree homes and the Kodama alive. Ken had to spend every ounce of orihalcon to get nine tailed sorcerers to come and collect the layline's ki into spirit star to power the mining equipment and keep everything alive.

“Soon, soon I'll have enough spirit stars and Trading will be more profitable.” Ken said to himself as he looked at the ship in orbit next to his. A ronin battleship that the nine tails hired to take her throughout the freespace, heck she probably made them the ship as payment. Not cheap payment, a ship like that would take years to grow, the ronin were probably paid off for several decades.

“I'm done...” A tired girl said as she entered the room. She was young for a girl traveling to the fringe with an escort of ronin and young to be forging spirit stars and managing FTL travel. But she had nine tails and the ability to access the ki to grow the strongest ships and create a ki burst that could send several great ships between star systems. She had orange hair that ran down her shoulders and nine orange tails with black tips and her ears were on the top of her head, pointed and fuzzy.

“I'll have the payment loaded into your ship, Kirin” Ken said flatly.

“I, I'm not ready to leave yet, can I stay a few more days to rest?” Kirin smiled weakly, she was definitely too young to be in the fringe.

“eh I guess so, tire yourself out?”

“yeah.” The girl was panting and helper Kodama was using it's spindly vines of a body to prop her up. “I'm really not used to making spirit stars and the ki lines shifted from a samurai ship jumping.”

“Fine.” Ken agreed even though that he was tempted to force her off and send her back to the core worlds with a three tails underling to handle the jump. Heck there were probably quite a few ronin three tails on the ship that could do the job. But she was too small for that kind of treatment, and he might be able to win her over to give him a discount for her service if he was nice to her.

((OOC: this thread is open, feel free to have a scout or something discover the fringe world for a first contact. I prefer starting out peaceful but I'm open to anything.))

A Pressure Space Rift opened up on the edge of the system, causing a gravatational disturbance as it did so. It was not a Greywatch ship that came from the PSR, instead it was an FM ship. A small one at that, being only a kilometer in length. Scans were quickly being performed as the ship moved forward, closing the PSR behind it as it did so. Life could be detected, interesting. Another race that could be recorded was always good. What special wonders awaited the FM ship?

The strange energy readings coming from Unknown Sector 32A had been received in increasing quantities by the sensor stations of the Corporation and so a ship was sent to investigate. In the system, just after the Greywatch ship appeared, a yawning hole in space opened up and an Intruder-class frigate shot forth into real space. The sensors began to take in the system and data streamed in. Captain Amara sat on the bridge, watching the screens flash with new data and waiting to see what would happen.

Space. Space is vast.

In all honesty it was almost a surprise to the Myenyans that as they strode out amongst the stars, beyond their own meagre and humble holdings, that they were able to encounter so many beings. It wasn't simply the volume that struck them, of course, it was also evident in the variety. They had befriended gas giant dwelling aeroforms, they had met humans and machines like themselves (or as close as one could hope to get) and even bizarre creatures, not quite human.

And now they once again stumbled blindly into the void, traversing the spaces between worlds and stars in their immense hyper-intelligent machines, looking for new races, for new species that they might commune and mingle with.

The DEV Intestinal Fortitude appeared without warning in the space of the system, it's gleaming hull a pale blue in the starlight, glimmering in the solar resonance. Sensors flickered across the surroundings, taking everything in with a bemusedly logical efficiency, mere seconds passing as the immense shipbrain considered it's options.

Hello? The signal cut across the vasty nothingness. Hello? This is the DEV Intestinal Fortitude. We come in peace. Anyone there?

A small group of ships rumbled through the darkness of space, their bodies slicing through the darkness unimpeded or dwarfed by* any objects around them. Streams of white particles flew out from the various sized ships engines pushing them forth to the unknown. The UTS Stalingrad was the lead ship, it was a Specter class tactical cruiser, only one of four in service. The commander of the ship was John Santana a Veteran of the steppe wars and a career military man since the age of 22.

He stood on the bridge of the Stalingrad peering out in to the unknown, the powerful yet angelic hums of the engine reverberating through out the large spacious white and chrome bridge. Soft white lights all over the bridge graced his semi muscular and tall form . Flickers of blue, red and green from various menus washed over him at times from the holographic consoles lining every part of the bridge. He just stood there looking out as various officers walked behind him to and fro attending to their duties.

suddenly the ships avatar appeared in a flash of bright white and blue energy in front of Santana. The commander was slightly taken aback but quickly came out of his near trance like state. He Looked over the holographic female representation of the ships AI and crossed his arms behind him , The Avatar spoke with a soft gentle voice.

"Greetings commander, the time on deck is 1800 hours, I have a report of activity several light years away from here, we have multiple signatures of ships and some sort of odd signals..”

The commander responded as he placed his hands on a console in front of him leaning on to it.

“I see, we're not doing much of any thing here, so lets go investigate it, set a course and engage Star line drive”...

The avatar nodded with a smile disappearing in a flash of blue and white in to nothingness, the ship began to move faster the hum of the powerful engines reverberating even more now , Santana looked out side of the holographic port hole seeing a bright flash of white spread open a aqua blue and green crackling vortex of energy. The two kilometer Battle cruiser rushed it was absorbed by the crackling energy, its escorts followed creating their own portals as the ships disappeared one by one the portals did so to closing like nothing had ever been there in the first place.

The commander sat down resting and folding his hands over his lap, his blue uniform emphasized by the dim white lights on the bridge. Several moments passed as the commander once again became lost in thought, mainly of retirement as he had been in the Federations star navy for twenty five years now, he was on the verge of gaining admiral. He sighed gently leaning back on the hovering leather like chair.

The ships came out of Star line in the middle of the system , their massive forms ominously imposing on many things in the system, the Stalingrad was the largest at 2.1 Km long followed by two light cruisers two destroyers and three crossairs, the small task force was a standard patrol group assigned to federation borders the Aries class was becoming replaced the Specter classes like the Stalingrad.

A message was sent By Santa him self, he stood up speaking in a diplomatic yet loud tone.


“This is Commander John Santana of the Terran Federation Star ship Stalingrad, we have come to investigate odd readings we have detected in this area, and the sudden appearance of other ships. Please respond.”

“This is not good Daimyo...” Samurai Mitsugi cursed as her two tails puffed up. “The ship's soul has detected several spacial distortions and there seems to be matter and energy left over. It's pretty sure that the objects are ships.”

Ken shook his head and looked into the amber view screens scanning the void. He wasn't sure but he thought he could make out ships. His gray tail drooped when he thought about what it meant. “Ronin pirates?” He asked expecting that he answered his own question.

“Not unless the Ronin no longer use Nogitsune technology.” Mitsugi smiled as she showed the readings. “most the ships have minimal ki flow while it seems like one lacks it all together. It's hard to tell with the flux of ki in the layline.”

“So you think they're alien?”

“Bingo.”

“You sound like a ronin saying that.”

“Sir, sorry sir.” Mitsugi stood up strait in instinct from training.

“Don't worry samurai. I think your right.”

At that one of the Kodama turned a visual sensory stock to the Daimyo. “We have received two messages from some of the craft but others are remaining silent.”

“What does it say?” Ken asked as he started to stroke his gray beard.

The Kodama said nothing as the messages plaid out loud. The first one was about a DEV able to hold his sake and coming in peace. Something was lost in translation. The next one was more strait forward and about odd readings.

As the last message was playing, a blur of orange had entered the room and Kirin was practically standing on one of the com officer chairs.

“Kirin, that is for Samurai and not free Nogitsune.” Ken berated her.

“but I know what's going on and I don't want to miss it and they need a representative of the free Nogitsune and not just the samurai.” Kirin showed no disappointment as she made her case, knowing full well that Ken would give her a little slack for being a nine tails.

Ken laughed at the idea of her making the response, wouldn't that give them a taste of Kyube.

“Hello, this is Kirin, Nine Tails of the Kyube Freespace. You are welcome here and if you care to land we could have some tea together.”

No, wait that didn't sound like Ken's imagination. “You Didn't?” The Daimyo groaned as he looked at the smiling nine tails.

“I did, and I even made sure the ship sent it out on similar frequencies so there's a big chance thy'll get it.”

The Daimyo sighed as he signaled Mitsugi to reopen the Channel. “I do Apologize for one of our more excitable citizens. I'm Ken, Daimyo of this System. The Kyube Samurai welcome you if you hold violence towards the Samurai or the Freespace citizens.”

Several other ships have appeared, including another one that came out further in system. A voice echoed through the dark, black and red command hall of the ship. The overseer sat on his throne, looking at the tapestries that hung from the ceiling.
"It was to be expected..."
A wall morphed, fluidly moving itself and making an opening for a Drone to proceed through. It was an Archivist Drone, one of the rarer types. "Overseer Airex, shall I notifiy the Council? They would no doubt like to know of our discovery..."
The Overseer shook his head, his body consumed in a cloud of darkness. His violet eye looking to the Drone, "No. This will remain our discovery. We will send word to the Council in due time and they can decide what they wish to do."
You know they will not be pleased... such a dangerous move. You humans never cease to entertain me. A dark, almost evil energy radiated from the ship as it chuckled to itself. The Overseer gave an invisble smile, "I'm glad I entertain you so. Now then, Archivist?"
"I understand, sir. I will prepare to move out now."
"Good. Hierarch, please form a shuttle for the Archivist. I'd rather use a shuttle than a pod..."
On it. It's growing now, should be done by the time the Archivist reachs the 'Hanger.' Well then, here's something. The ship played the various messages from the different ships gathered in the system. The Overseer though for a moment, "So, the system belongs to these Kyube folk? Very well, regard them as important. I care not for the others in the system."
That's so cold. The ship laughed, Shall I respond to our new Kyube friends? Or maybe we should do something more?
"Initiate a Cryptic Sweep all everything close to us. I want to know what we're dealing with."
Done and done. I love Cryptic Sweeps; they're so much better than normal scans. No one can detect them. It's just so stealthy. Well now, it doesn't look like anything special from anyone else. Our hosts seem to be using something different, however. The ships seem to be biological in nature... interesting. Also, I can detect an unnatural energy around them. Perhaps this race has a special trait like the Xiscapians and their 'Force' abilities.
"Or like us and our Cryption... either way, I want to know them a little better. Record everything you've picked up from the sweep then reply to them." The ship turned its full attention to the Kyube vessel which had sent the hail out. It contacted them using an encrypted channel:
Greetings to you. My name is Hierarchy, my Masters detected something interesting in this system and my crew and I were sent in to investigate. We are pleased to discover a new race and would enjoy opening diplomatic talks with you and anyone else who would be willing to speak to us. May we send a diplomat over? As it sent the message, dark energies rippled across its black hull. Scans performed on the ship wouldn't be able to comprehend the energy that surrounded the ship, much less pierce the surface of the hull. The ship was definately unnatural in nature, that much was clear.
As the message was transmitted, the Archivist left the Command Hall, the wall closing itself as it left. The Drone proceeded through different levels of the eerily empty ship. After a few minutes, it entered what could only be described as a hanger. Though it was just as empty as the rest of the ship. A single, dagger-shaped, one-person vessel finished forming itself from the floor. The ship's voice rang throughout the hanger, Your shuttle is ready. Now all we need is a green light. The Archivist nodded, "Indeed." Proceeding to the shuttle. The strange machine absorbed the Archivist into it and activated. I can sense your comfort. Well then, I'll be sure to let you know when they answer.

Santana raised an eyebrow his hands folded gently over him self as he heard the message. He looked up and said to the computer.

“Send a response.. tell them we'll be beaming down also move our ships closer to the planet ” the computer responded in a soft female voice.

“Aye sir”

Both things happened at once, the large ships began to move towards the world, their hybrid gravatic-String manipulation drives working at nominal levels pushing the ships closer to the planet at high speeds. The message was sent with the kindly diplomatic voice of the AI it was both in text and visual/audio format. A soft skinned long black haired Female appeared in the message.

“The Commander of the Stalingrad wishes to inform you that , the Terran Federation Will be beaming in representatives with a small security contingent, we hope you wont be alarmed”


Mean while Commander Santana was already making his way to the transporter room, he was flanked by two Marines a private and a lance corporal, the marines wore black body armor, it was semi powered NBC sealed with a buffer to store extra power packs and other things in an atomized state for battle. They were equipped with the M18 SDPR complete with enhanced holo scopes and sights. Their hasty movement was surprisingly silent through the long well lit large winding halls of the ship.

Once they reached the transporter room they stood at attention at the door waiting for him to go in. Santana stepped through shimmering double doors in to a well lit smooth walled room lined with holo panels, he stepped on to the pad motioning the two marines who followed in quickly. In a flash of bright white light the forms of the three men disappeared leaving nothing but empty air behind. The target area for them to beam in to was were that message came from the sensors of the Stalingrad were able to pin point the exact location and set the beam to deposit the delegates accordingly.

A flash of light appeared there, three forms shimmered in to existence the light dimming as they came all the way through the dimensional corridor.

Mean while the ships began to slow, the distorted exotic particles streaming behind them in a flash of blue and white wisping in to the darkness of space. On sensors the noise would be almost unbearable filling them with so much noise nations without technology advanced enough to filter it out would be at a disadvantage. This was meant this way as a defensive measure.

Space. A immense emptiness. So large, you think you can escape from anything - your past, your enemies, your friends - just as long as you can run far enough. But no matter how small you think you are, fate will find you - wherever you run to.

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

The Space Marine Battleship Odin burst through the warp into what appeared to be a totally unexplored part of space. It floated in space, waiting.

Aboard the bridge of the ship, a huge soldier wearing black power armour stood, observing the scanners.

"Report, Initiate" he ordered in a low, gravelly voice

"Captain, the ship has brought us out of Warp Space too early" reported the red robed Initiate "We are now in uncharted territory"

"What happened to our escort ships?" asked the Captain

"Sir, I believe they may not have been brought out of Warp" replied the Initiate "They are probably still in pursuit of the traitors"

The large marine merely grunted in recognition. He turned to look at the screen

"These must be other ships, possibly planets" he said, pointing them out

"Shall we make contact, sir?" asked the Initiate

The marine pondered this question

"No" he said, finally "Not yet"

The Comm room was abuzz with activity. Several alien transmissions were coming in and several more alien ships were at various places in the system. Many of the Samurai were hectically touching the amber screens to figure out what readings the other ships gave off. Most were giving off energy signals but very little disturbance to the ki flow and it seemed that most the aliens preferred inorganic matter for there ships.

Another communication came in asking for permission to send a diplomat down to the planet to begin talks. Ken was quite glad that Kirin's invitation wasn't taken at face value but he did feel like it might be best. The Daimyo sent another communication out to the Hierarchy saying : “Yes we would be pleased to have talks with your Diplomat.” He smiled as he looked to one of the younger samurai, “Go get some tea, in case they're expecting any.”

But while that race seemed to be more polite, another announced that they would be coming. It was true that the nine tails did invite them but she was not in control but then again free Nogitsune rarely cared about who was in control.

Then in a flash, and a yelp from Kirin who had fallen backwards in surprise, three beings appeared in the comm room. Most the Nogitsune including Kirin but excluding Ken had their tails puffed up. The security detachment weren't just yojimbo (bodyguards) but soldiers in combat gear.

The visitors would see the place was made entirely out of wood save for the amber glass display screens.

Ken took a deep breath to stay cool. These men were different and even lacked tails and their armor was different. “Welcome to Yukikaze, I'm afraid that this is not a good place for talk so would you kindly follow me to the garden.” The old gray nogitsune smiled as he made his tail wag a bit. “Kirin, would you mind coming too?” he asked the nine tails to join him. He didn't want the girl out of his sight when there were so many foreign starcraft about.

“Oh, well um sure.” Kirin agreed as she got up and brushed off her tails and gave the aliens a nervous smile. She may seem young and harmless, but her nine tails sorcery was far more dangerous than any of the warriors.

“Mitsugi, you take command of the comm room, send any guests to the great garden and make sure that the samurai in the hangers know that as well.” The Daimyo turned to his new guests and led them to the garden. “This way”

The garden was filled with all kinds of flowers and trees but in the center was of grass with several ankle high tables and cushions to sit at, under a large gnarled tree. “Please sit” The Daimyo asked as he sat cross legged in front of the great tree while Kirin folded her legs under her.

Kirin stayed quiet as she studied the guest's strange clothing. Nogitsune clothes were often loose robes since it was a pain to adjust tighter closed legged clothing to accommodate the one to many tails on a kitsune. Kirin was in a bright blue kimono with a pattern of flowers while Ken was in a simple gray samurai kimono with a wakizashi and laser pistol tucked in the obi.

Ken then spoke, “So what shall we discuss?” The nogitsune swished his tail nervously as he wasn't terribly sure what to to do. This was the first time the Kyube Freespace had diplomatic talks with anyone.

I repeat, this is the shipbrain of the DEV Intestinal Fortitude, the name of this vessel and its controlling conciousness. We represent the Myenyan Collective, an oddball sort of symbiotic society, comprising of intelligent and hyper-intelligent machines, and our human friends and charges.

We come in peace and with the full intent of initiating productive, open, diplomacy with you and yours. We're sending a module down as we speak, please don't be afraid.

Thank you.

The module zipped from one of many general bays which dotted the vast vessel, a vessel large enough to hold millions of travelling passengers, millions of curious exploring Myenyans, vast in the scale and intellect one might once have attributed to deities. They were wanderers, willful anarchists, self-improving, boundary pushing, hedonistic nomads across the stars.

And now they had found this. These. Them.

The module contained only two people, two beings to be entirely accurate. Dirha Nkir sat in a form-fitting formal suit, clinging to her skin, almost seamless. She brushed a hand across one grey-enfolded thigh, before raising it to toy with her light brown hair, smiling gently. She had been chosen, out of all those present, to go forth and see these new aliens.

With her was an avatar of the Intestinal Fortitude itself, a tall, slender figure, the pale metallic blue of the ship. It had no features to speak of, being entirely smooth, entirely as if it had been precision carved from ice, or precious metal.

"This..." It intoned lightly. "Ought to be fun"

"Oh I'm sure it will. Things to do, places to see, people to meet. It's all so fascinating, and for us to be a part of it! Oh, isn't it wonderful?"

The avatar paused, stationary for a second as a light pink aura seemed to circle it, indicating amusement and pleasure.

"It's certainly a turn up for the books. An interesting honor we share with other ships and crews, to walk the stars and stumble upon its inhabitants. I'll broadcast some general good will to the other vessels, see if there's anyone we recognise out there.

In the meantime, let us simply take in the view."

The large marine, still dressed in his black power armour, headed down into the bowels of the ship (http://es.games-workshop.com//especialista/bfg/images/galeria/img002.jpg). As he came to a door, the light shone onto his armour, revealing a symbol (http://www.ironhands.com/mp_aoven.gif) on his shoulder pad. He typed a code into the the keypad, and the heavy door slid open. As it did, blue light flooded out of the sealed room. The marine stepped in, his armour bathed in the blue light. As the door closed behind him, it was possible to see a figure in the room, suspended in mid-air by some unseen force. The marine addressed him.

"Sicarius" he growled "Did you see this happening?"

"I did" replied Sicarius, his voice quiet

"Why did you deem it neccessary not to inform me?" asked the Marine

"I was otherwise occupied"

"Damnit Sicarius!" shouted the marine. He composed himself, before addressing him again

"Will they catch him?" he asked

"How should I know?" replied Sicarius. The marine looked at him with a steel face

"Oh, very well - yes, they will catch him" sighed Sicarius "Well, what else do you want to know, Uzziel?"

"Well, since you already know what i'm going to say, where -" began Uzziel

"The Kyube Freespace" Sicarius told him

"Goodbye" he said as Uzziel began to open his mouth. He closed it again, turning away and walking out. He returned to the bridge.

"Sir" called the Initiate "Scanners report a Greywatch ship in the vicinity, but we're having trouble identifiying the others"

"Very good Initiate, carry on" said Uzziel. He entered his private quarters. As the door closed behind him, he removed his helmet, showing a scarred face (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/4/4d/ErasmusTycho.jpg) underneath.

"Main screen turn on" he said aloud. A large screen appeared in front of him

"Transmit to Kyube vessels" he said

"Good day. I am Captain Jeremiah Uzziel, Captain Of The Battleship Odin. I'm afraid we have ended up in your territory due to unforseen circumstances. We may need to make repairs, and I am requesting permission to dock and carry out those repairs before we leave"

Inside the Hierarchy, the ship gave the Drone the green light to move ahead. The shuttle activated and began to hover, red and orange lights appearing on its hull. An atmospheric shield came online as the ship opened its maw, allowing the Drone to see outside into the darkness that was space. Once the maw was open, the shuttle was on its way, moving slowly as it exited but increasing speed as it got further away from its home vessel. The shuttle, for its small size, was suprisingly quick. The Archivist set a course for the planet and initiated a PSR, vanishing into the rift and appearing over the planet a second later. It put out a single message before initiating land procedures:
<This is the diplomat from the Hierarchy, I am preparing to land and would like to know the coordinates you would like me to arrive at.>

Amara watched as, in quick succession, several other ships jumped in the system and began to broadcast a very elaborate version of a simple "hello". He shook his head and sighed, playing with a coin in one hand. He was getting sick of tired of missions like this. As of late, strange transmissions would be detected, a ship was dispatched to go see what was going on and out of the blue, it becomes a clusterfuck. He sighed and sat up, his fist closing around the coin as he turned to business. "Report."

One of the officers spoke up. "All ships are unidentifiable, sir. No records in our database. We have been monitoring comm traffic and we have discovered that one of the ships belongs to the Terran Federation, while another has the seemingly identical appearance to a Pre-Chaos Imperial battleship. The host of this system, the ones we have been getting the signals from are the Kyube Freespace. A rather odd name, sir."

Amara nodded. "Understood. Send the automated hello to all ships in the area and then get me a comm channel with the...." He picked up a datapad and glanced at the last transmission of the Kyube representative. "...Daimyo of the system. Odd, I know that term from somewhere...."

Soon enough a channel was opened and the appearance of a tanned human with blue eyes and a black goatee and mustache appeared. Nodding to the Daimyo, he spoke. "Greetings, Daimyo, I am Captain Amara of the Exchani Corporation frigate, the First Contact. We came investigating some signals. I would like to meet with you, although by the looks of things I may have to wait awhile."

Mitsugi laughed a bit as several more com channels lit up. “seems like we're getting popular all of a sudden.” The fox girl samurai smiled as she signaled the Odin: “you are welcome to dock for repairs, but I must warn you that we are not familiar with your ship designs and may not be much help. Here's the coordinates to the repair bay” The tech ended the com with a set of coordinates.


Next was the Hierarchy. “ok here are the Coordinates to the docking bay you'll use. A Samurai will meet you and bring you to the Garden where Talks with the Daimyo are Taking place.” The tech gave a set of Coordinates as well.

Then there was another Transmission of greetings from the first contact. Mitsugi wished the Daimyo was there to address it. “welcome to the System, the Daimyo had to do some talks with diplomat in the garden. But I'm sure he would like to meet with you when you are able.”

Another day, another First Contact. And another bundle of joy in the form of paperwork to fill out. Shaking his head, Admiral Errol Jeth placed his head in one of his hands, massaging his brows with his index finger and thumb. The bridge of the Famine, a Death-Class Battleship (http://img03.picoodle.com/img/img03/3/9/30/f_Deathm_5e8daa3.jpg) that commanded the 2nd Battle Fleet, was silent but for the hums of machinery and occasional sounds from the crew.

The Fleet was composed of 4 Death-Class battleships, 9 Doombringer-Class Carriers, (http://img263.imageshack.us/my.php?image=g3empresslowressj2.jpg) and 3 Plague-Class Destroyers (http://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=galleonxq0qj9rg8.jpg). It was a quite sizable fleet, intended for (as its name suggested) combat, rather than expeditionary missions such as this one. That was a task geared for the Expeditionary fleets, which didn't contain the powerful Deaths; however, one was currently on its own first contact, and the other had a CO under review for a catastrophic breakdown in diplomacy that led to multiple ships of the Immortal Lands of the Great Lord Tiger (Imglot) being lost, in addition to several ships of other interstellar nations.

Still and all, this was a task that Jeth hadn't performed in years. And it actually was a discomfiting thought; why were so many new contacts showing up in the galaxy? It used to be supposed, according to an ancient Earthling equation, that intelligent life likely existed, but were few and far between, and would bear no resemblance to human beings. While there had been some curveballs (such as the "Kitsunes" of Xiscapia, which Jeth figured were about the oddest thing he had ever seen), the galaxy seemed to be a primarily human-run one.

Shaking his head, the admiral checked his display. Including the First Contact ship (which was transmitting a signal that had caught their attention in Slipspace), there were five other nations, including their Greywatch allies, or some representative thereof -- comms signals from it left no other possibilities). Nodding at his navigations officer, the Admiral spoke to the bridge:

"Punch a hole, and take us into Realspace."

The Hantog Slipspace drives roared somewhere in the middle of the Famine as the viewport went from a hazy whiteness to black in an instant. Externally, viewers would see a 'ripple' appear in the middle of space, followed by a tear leading to a visibly different dimension: Slipspace. It remained the fastest way for Imglot to move through the galaxy at decent speeds, but was also incredibly dangerous. No doubt, the sight of a fleet tearing the fabric of space and time to shreds would leave the first contacters disoriented, so it had been arranged for Jeth's ship to punch through singularly. If something happened, the other ships were arranging themselves around the perimeter and could cover the area completely.

"This is Admiral Errol Jeth," he said simply in greetings. "We come to make Imglotian first contact."

<Confirmed, I am proceeding forward now.>
With that message sent the single person shuttle began its descent, approaching the coordinates given to it with due haste. Once it had found the place it had been asked to go, it quickly entered and touched down. From inside the Cryptic hull of the shuttle, the Archivist observed the inside off the docking bay. This race was quite different, there was so much biological mass. The Archivist reached out, the shuttle morphing as the Archivist seemingly grew out of the shuttle itself. Once having both feet firmly on the ground, the Archivist moved forward. The shuttle's lights began to dim as it began to sleep. Now it was time for whatever would come next. The Archivist looked like most other Forbidden Ministry Drones. It had medium length, tidy, black hair. Its eyes, teeth, nails, and lips were also black as were its robes that hid much of its pale skin. Just by looking at it, it was obvious that the creature wasn't a natural being. It wore a neutral expression, but underneath the stone face was a creature interested in learning all it could about this new race.

Santana Stood in the center of the room looking around, the two marines gripping their rifles pointed downward, obviously not threatening any one, the commander promptly spoke.

“I bid you hello from the United Terran Federation, I am Commander John Santana , representative of my nation here. You have quite an interesting culture from what I see so far”

A smile came across his semi toned face as he adjusted his blue uniform; he held a hand out to the one that seemed to be in charge.

Santana was a tall man, black hair brown eyes tanned skin, a short crew cut, with a semi muscular build. The two marines stood by him looking around slightly, their opaque helmet visors rendering their faces invisible.

Mean while the executive officer on the Stalingrad was looking over various sensor readings, he watched as several ships entered space above the planet, his eyes fixated upon the screen now. He placed a hand over his chin thinking of what was going to happen next, the formation of Federation ships were in by default a defensive pattern.

Kirin could not help but to glance at the soldiers from time to time to see if they moved. They were heavily armed and if they wanted to cause trouble they probably could, if the armor was as strong as it looked, it would take more than a sidearm laser pistol to down one of them.

Ken smiled and accepted the handshake. “I'm glad that you enjoy our culture. I'm sure your people know that it can be difficult to keep a civilized life at the fringe of civilization.” The old samurai went back to sit down. “It's good for us to meet, hopefully we can be friends and trade partners.” Ken really liked the idea of trade partners, if they did the trading through him, he could get the resources to build a fleet that would rival the home world.

Kirin started to smile. “I think we'll be having more guests soon.” Her tails were wagging, she could sense the ship had landed and that there would be another person coming.

* * *

At the the dock of the dock of Hierarchy's Diplomat, a lone samurai waited and then bowed to the odd expressionless creature that came forth. Whether the being could not show emotion or or chose not to was beyond the samurai. “I have orders to lead you to the garden where the Daimyo is holding talks with other guests, would you please follow me.” The nogitsune soldier bowed and then started to lead toward the garden where the Daimyo was entertaining guests.

* * *

Mitsugi was a bit disturbed by the latest arrival. This one seemed to be the most battle ready fleet that was there. It would be a close fight if they were hostile. But she had little choice but to greet them like the others. “Hello, this is Kyube Freespace and we welcome you to our system. The Daimyo is currently speaking with other diplomats. I'm truly sorry about this, but it's been a rather busy lately with several other aliens arriving shortly ago.” The fox girl sighed as she felt that today was going to be overwhelming for her and probably the Daimyo.

The Archivist gave a respectful bow to the samurai that would be its escort. With a slight nod it replied, "Very well." The Archivist followed without question, its eyes taking in everything it saw as it walked. This race was very... different. The Archivist's aura shifted just a little, it was feeling just a hint of pleasure.

Mitsugi laughed a bit as several more com channels lit up. “seems like we're getting popular all of a sudden.” The fox girl samurai smiled as she signaled the Odin: “you are welcome to dock for repairs, but I must warn you that we are not familiar with your ship designs and may not be much help. Here's the coordinates to the repair bay” The tech ended the com with a set of coordinates.

Uzziel listened as the reply came in, then made his own reply

"Thank you for your hospitality. As for help, we have Techpriests on board, and will likely be underway in a few hours. Again, thank you for your hospitality"

He turned the screen off

"Helmsman, did you recieve those co-ordinates?" he asked the ship's pilot

"Aye Captain, powering main engines" came the Helmsman's voice

The ship (http://es.games-workshop.com//especialista/bfg/images/galeria/img002.jpg) shuddered, and began to slide slowly towards the repair bay. It came to a halt, and a docking bridge began to extend.

OOC: Changed the ship image a bit

The Archivist gave a respectful bow to the samurai that would be its escort. With a slight nod it replied, "Very well." The Archivist followed without question, its eyes taking in everything it saw as it walked. This race was very... different. The Archivist's aura shifted just a little, it was feeling just a hint of pleasure.
The Samurai led the envoy through the halls of the Yukikaze orbital platform. It was not the most exciting trip one could have though the wooden walls and occasional leafy branch broke up the monotony, it was a a short walk. And soon they were at the garden where the Daimyo was talking to another diplomat and his heavily armored security escort.

“I'm not terribly sure how to go about this. This is the first time we've had diplomatic talks so I'm not sure if you should enter, if it isn't a good idea, I could get you a seat and some tea.”

Uzziel listened as the reply came in, then made his own reply

"Thank you for your hospitality. As for help, we have Techpriests on board, and will likely be underway in a few hours. Again, thank you for your hospitality"

He turned the screen off

"Helmsman, did you recieve those co-ordinates?" he asked the ship's pilot

"Aye Captain, powering main engines" came the Helmsman's voice

The ship shuddered, and began to slide slowly towards the repair bay. It came to a halt, and a docking bridge began to extend.


The Odin had docked with the orbital station. Several Nogitsune flocked to the docking bay to gaze at the the giant metal ship. It was the first time the foxes saw a ship constructed out of metal parts of such size. Many of them were curious to how it would be repaired.

“Hello, this is Kyube Freespace and we welcome you to our system. The Daimyo is currently speaking with other diplomats. I'm truly sorry about this, but it's been a rather busy lately with several other aliens arriving shortly ago.”

"Confirmed," Jeth said simply. He signaled to the crew to maintain station, the order passing down along the bridge. He checked the realspace/slipspace dual display. The fleet was still in Slipspace, invisible to anyone in Realspace unless they had Nubansian Signal Receptors. With them, a somewhat-clear and relatively-accurate could be drawn of Slipspace -- distorted, however, by solid mass bodies.

Leaning back in his seat, the admiral crossed his legs idly. So far as these beings were concerned, there was only one ship -- there was only the faintest possibility of them either having their own methods of looking into Slipspace or somehow seeing the rest of the ships through the open dimensional tear before it was sealed.

The Archivist paid close attention to the the station's makeup. Wood, there was no mistaking it; interesting sight on a space station. When they arrive the Archivist nodded to its escort, "I believe my entry should be of no great disturbance. I will simply remain silent until someone wishes for me to speak."

Santana smiled again, his Cheshire grin putting across the feeling that he was liking were the talk was going. He nodded gently and responded in a diplomatic voice.

“Well I for one would welcome that, and could make official when ever you feel ready for it. The Federation will be interested to know of your origin and more of your culture if you do wish to share it with us.”

Santana was a man interested by other worlds and other ways of doing things, he was a battle handed man who also knew what to watch out for, so if these other delegates who would be coming posed any sort of threat, he would identity it and act accordingly.

The Federation has had a long history of both peace and war, the current treads are towards peace, but it maintains a massive military due to other aggressive powers threating that peace. Santana was a byproduct of that massive military. While in all honesty he wanted to be an exoanthropolgist, he decided through pressure from his family to join the TFSN.

The Odin had docked with the orbital station. Several Nogitsune flocked to the docking bay to gaze at the the giant metal ship. It was the first time the foxes saw a ship constructed out of metal parts of such size. Many of them were curious to how it would be repaired.

Once the docking bridge was secure and oxygenated, the door opened. Uzziel, flanked by two more Space Marines in black power armour, marched down to greet the Nogitsune crowding in the repair bay. Like the Odin, the Space Marine were huge, towering at over seven feet tall. Their footfalls echoed up the docking bridge. Their size was further reinforced as two black robed Aides exited the ship, neither of them was anywhere near as tall as the Marines