NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Let's try this again.

1,000 Golugani Years Ago

Thane Okrik XL was at the Temple of the Thane when the courier came running in, gasping for breath and with sweat soaking his beard. The Thanedom's ports had been blockaded for several decades now by an alliance of the Thanedoms of the Branak and Kronaz clans, and the look of alarm on the messenger's face made him fear the worst. "Have they finally launched an attack on the docks?"

"Nah, milord. The blockade has been broken!" The courier fell on his knee to bow to his lord, then pointed behind him out the door. The Thanedom was built on a slope that lead down to the shore, so the Thane could see the besieging ironclads were departing, and a column of steam was rising from the water. "A finger of fire came from the sky and pushed the ship Thane Branak XXX was aboard into the sea, and Thane Kronaz LI ordered his fleet to depart almost immediately after. Apparently their alliance was only as long as both Thanes lived."

"The Kronaz clan has always favored individual character over clan reputation... What do you mean by a 'finger of fire' coming from the sky?" The Thane bid the courier rise, and with a beckon the courier followed his Thane out of the temple. "Now, I've seen artillary arc shots and flaming ammunition, and I know that the dockmaster has as well, so it can't be that."

"It definitely wasn't, sir, I saw it myself. Someone was pointing skyward and shouting, so I looked and saw a bright flash in the sky. Only the flash wasn't fading, milord, it was staying bright! The fire came down seconds later, the column was thicker than the ironclad it struck was long by over twice the distance. It was a mercy to Thane Kronaz LI that his ship wasn't laid low as well."

"Honoring an oath to a dishonorable dwarf requires patience that would earn the mercy of the Gods, that's certain." The Thane and courier turned a corner and now walked along the main street, moving downhill adjacent to the canal central to the Thanedom's aqueduct system. "Has anyone launched ships yet?"

"Not to my knowledge, milord, but the dockmaster was mobilizing our ironclads to reclaim the island outposts. The Engineers' Guild and High Temple will probably want your attention regarding the finger of fire as well, although that's just speculation on my part."

Thane Okrik XL stroked his beard and nodded, handing the courier the standard payment for his services, as well as double the normal tip. This would no doubt change things considerably.

950 Years Ago

Thane Okrik XL was in full ceremonial armor as he stood by the deathbed of the last living member of the Zonankori crew that had crashed into the blockade half a century before. They had been welcomed cautiously as gratitude for their aid, and after the language barriers were steadily broken by the High Temple's scholars, the crew contributed to the Thanedom by joining the Engineers' Guild. Not since the development of blackpowder weaponry had the Engineers' Guild demonstrated such progress so quick with so little mishap.

"Zonankori, it seems that you will not be able to return home. I am truly sorry for this."

"It was not your fault, you couldn't have known my people aged so much quicker than yours. It would have been nice, though, to see my children make their families."

"That is always nice to see."

"Milord, just how long has it been since our arrival? By your calendar?"

"In ten days it will have been fifty years since the fall of Thane Branak XXX."

"I see... Upon the hundreth anniversary of our arrival, the core of our ship will cease to be volatile, and the Engineers' Guild will be able to salvage it safely."

"...Your people have kept this knowledge secret ever since your arrival, Zonankorazi. Shall I assume you have a request in exchange for it?"

"Not in exchange, what I have given you is the means by which my dying request may be fulfilled." The Thane nodded in understanding. As Thane he was oathbound to fulfill the dying request of exemplary servants of his Thanedom, so long as they did not conflict with prior oaths. "I ask that my people will someday know our fate, and that we died comfortably after having lead as fulfilling a life as circumstances allowed."

To the surprise of the priests gathered, Thane Okrik XL took a bended knee in response to this. "I swear, by Gods and clan, by stone and iron, your people will know your fate."

With that, the Thane rose and departed, and the High Priest closed the eyes of the departed human.

Present Day

"This is a long way from home we're going, even by the Zonankori maps." The pilot began plotting the course, factoring for all the variables in the system: Planetary revolution, trip duration, a millenium of stellar drift...

"That it may be, young one, but the Imperial Clan is bound by deathbed oath to have this mission fulfilled. As Imperial agents we are similiarly bound." The High Priest glanced down at the pilot from the throne of the frigate. "Your honor has a stake in this."

"I'm not afraid of what we must do!" This drew a glare from the High Priest, and the pilot sheepishly turned back to his work. "Not enough to comment, anyhow. I spoke because I'm... awestruck by the scale of what we're about to do."

"...Aye, as are we all. May the Gods guide us in our trek."

"Course set, sir."

The High Priest nodded and tapped the intercomm. "All hands ready?"

When the question was answered with a resounding cheer from all decks, the High Priest smiled and whipped his index finger in the direction of the pilot. The pilot nodded and launched, and in a flash the frigate was gone from the home system of the Golugan Empire, off for the home system of the humans that had come to them one thousand years ago.

<RBS Valiant>

"Captain, we're picking up a strange reading coming from a ship nearby" Jenny reported.
"Strange in what way?" Elizabeth asked
"Interesting warp drive, " Engineer Lefler commented.
"New species?" Jenny suggested
"Perhaps, get me the Defiant..."

<RBS Defiant, four hundred metres off port bow>

"The Valiant's hailing" Tom Lennox reported from tactical
"On Screen" Johnathan ordered.
"We've picked up an unusual reading on LRS" Elizabeth commented on the viewer
"Let me guess, you want to take a look?" Johnatahn asked
"You got it" Elizabeth grinned
"Thanks, I pride myself on my reasoning skills, lets get going"

A minute later the two ships jumped to warp heading to the frigate

OOC: Pardon my confusion, but just so we're clear; are the two ships heading on an intercept course for the target system, or are they trying to intercept the frigate midroute?

OOC: THeir heading for the Frigate, and their not 'intercepting' per sa, their just heading for the frigate to investiage and say hello.

OOC: So... are they going to the system the frigate is bound for, or are they meeting the frigate along its route?

OOC: My IC post should explain it

IC:

The Two starships dropped out of warp, half an AU ahead of the unidentified ship. They both quickly ran a sensor scan as the ship dropped out of warp, seemingly nettled by their sudden arrival.

It was not particularly common to see a Vojvodina-Nihonian starship making the Sol run. The run took a week or more, requiring dozens of separate jumps and at least one stopover -- this one on the world of Patria, an independent and rather sparsely populated planet that nonetheless was wealthy enough to afford a full-size starship landing facility. They had seen envoys of the Federation every so often for seventy or eighty years now, ever since K. D. Eischmann's three-hundred-year-old jumppoint theory was proven when a combination of experimental shielding and power drain transported the RVNS Kythera a thousand light-years away. Patria also had a network of casinos, shops, and tourist attractions designed to siphon away even the tightest-fisted miser's cash.

Lighter in spirits and pockets, the last of the few Vojvodina-Nihonian crewmen were even now boarding the RVS Contrived Coincidence, a med-size freighter with a microindustrial-class fabber on board, and also their transport to Sol where they would pick up assorted electronics and import products in exchange for shipments of lampshades and whatever export products they'd been stacked with. Honestly, nobody cares too much what freighters are transporting around here. =) On board the Captain was watching the feed from a wormhole array sent through the jump point earlier, and wondering if it was important enough to warrant an announcement.

There was a ship out there, the (nearly) real-time feed was telling him, moving quickly, and quite possibly of a military class. This was not too unusual, but the freighter was unarmed, although shielded. Since reaching the second jump point required only a few minutes of travel, he decided it wouldn't be much of an issue.

As a result, he didn't mention the ship when the last of his crew was aboard and the automated systems at the facility were finished up their final checks. It might be gone by the time they got there. He didn't see a need to mention it until the ship had reached the jump point and activated the jump engine, emerging into the other system, and the other ship was still there.

"Captain! There's a ship out there!" said the First Officer, rather unnecessarily, since the ship was visible on the main screen. He liked to feel useful, presumably.

"I'm aware of it, First Officer. Send a standardized message of peace and greetings and keep going."

The ship's MADISON unit opened the comlink and transmitted the message automatically, on a keystroke from the First Officer. (That was his real purpose: pressing buttons. Glamorous, no?) The Contrived Coincidence itself kept moving, heading for the second jump point at the low, low speed of fifteen thousand meters per second. You couldn't always get a science vessel to a first contact.

"Greetings, alien vessel. This is the RVSN Contrived Coincidence, a civilian freighter on a peaceful mission originating in Vojvodina-Nihon. We intend no ill will towards you or your crew."

This is a star system your frigate is passing along its route, not the endpoint. I'd be glad to play as the endpoint, but V-N didn't have FTL travel a thousand years ago, so the only way we could have crash landed on your world would have been with a scoutship or something originating from one of the generation ships, which would have been tracked down and recovered fairly easily.

"Sir, we've fallen out of Warp. It seems the system has finite range." The pilot looked up from his control panel to the holographic display in front of him, then idly started scratching his beard. "...Or that we've been stopped by those two."

The High Priest nodded, and noticed that they were receiving a transmission from a third party. Despite his intimate familiarity with the human language, a prerequisite of High Priest status since the launch of the first satellite, he found them difficult to understand. A different dialect from a thousand years of linguistic decay, perhaps. Maybe a different culture? In any case, he dismissed the message for the basic jist of "Just passing through."

He then hailed the two ships in front of him, audio only. "Unknown craft, we are an expedition frigate tasked with the fulfillment of a blood oath of the Imperial Clan of the Boundless Empire of Golugan. What business do you have interdicting our progress?"

The frigate itself was a rather boxy and geometric vessel, one could call it a flying brick if not for the intricate architecture decorating the exterior... not to mention port and starboard turrets and a rather large barrel at the head of the ship.

<RBS Valiant>

"We really should stop flying in front of other vessels" Elizabeth commented.
"I guess" Jenny replied
"Open frequencies"
"THis is teh RBS Valiant, our apologies, we are merely wishing to make contact"

"Hmm... Then make contact you shall. However, it is important that we see to our task with utmost haste. We are transmitting the coordinates of our home system," The High Priest nods at the pilot, who attends to the transmission. "When the patrols hail you, inform them that the High Priest of the Temple of the Kronaz Thanedom attests to your nonhostile intentions."

"Of course" Elizabeth smiled "We wouldn't want to hold you up on your mission, Valiant out"
"Well that was interesting" Jenny commented.
"Indeed, get me the Defiant"
"Defiant here Captain" Johnathan said ten seconds later.
"We're you watching??
"Indeed I was" JOhnatahn replied "Let me guess again, you want to follow them?"
"We've got a cloaking device each, they wouldn't even know we are there" Elizabeth commented.
"It's never been tested" Johnathan added
"What a better time" Elizabeth commented with a grin
"Fine, we'll go to these co-ordiantes, cloak and then follow"

<Twenty Minutes Later>

Both ships were cloaked and following the frigate through space

As the frigate returned to its journey, the pilot glanced over his shoulder at the High Priest. "Not to question your judgement, your holiness, but why did you give the coordinates of the home system so readily to strangers?"

The High Priest chuckled and stroked his beard before holding up his golden clasp, pointing the tip of his beard at the pilot. "Khazukan Okar, young one. I've studied the behavior of the Zonankori during their lifetimes on Golugan, and I've found that the ones that could be trusted to respect our ways were the ones that demonstrated gnollengrom. If these strangers can be trusted, they'll follow my advice."

The pilot raised his eyebrow, then on a hunch channeled some power from the presently unneccesary weapons to active scanning. "And if not?"

"They'll either give up on us out of lack of interest or they'll trail us like hunters trying to pick out the children from the herd beasts." The High Priest smiled in amusement of his metaphor. "That is to say, they'll assume that just because we cannot see them we'll assume that they aren't there."

"They underestimate our vigilance, then."

"Oh, no. That's just a funny thing about Zonankori, a thing that the ones that came to live and die on our world attested to: They always assume that those that they consider alien think like they do. Any results on the active scans?"

"Nothing yet, your holiness, but that doesn't mean there won't be."

"Good answer. Let's get to our destination, then."

<UHS Valiant>

"They've ramped up Active Scan levels again" Lelfer commented
"Back us off another 50kms" Elizabeth ordered helm, who nodded and complied

"Looks like we're going to have to come out of Warp again, your holiness. This planet may be lifebearing, but it's not our mark."

"It'll be an opportunity to see if we're being followed. Maybe encounter a new culture. Drop out, search the local planets for life."

The pilot nodded and complied, and the Golugan frigate came in within orbit of one of the system's planets.

OOC: Hello, opportunity for someone to pop in!

"They've dropped out of warp" Vaugn commented
"Follow them" Elizabeth ordered "Where are we?"
"System P153A" Vaugn reported "5.1 Lightyears from home"

The Excelsior-class starship USS Beagle had been in orbit of the terrestrial planet, designated UFIPAD-9876 by the Federation Astrophysics Department, for almost a week now, conserving their fuel. Their warp drive had malfunctioned en-route to Federation space, some three thousand more lightyears away, leaving them stranded until chief engineer Lieutenant Commander K'pal and his department was able to effect repairs. So far little in their status had changed, and Captain Melissa Palmer had considered contacting Starfleet Command for a rescue ship, but her pride forced her to wait and see if it was at all possible to make repairs on their own before resorting to such a measure. There was no point dragging another starship out here if it was unnecessary, after all, and Palmer preferred for Beagle to return home under her own steam to prevent an embarrassing situation. By all accounts, K'pal assured the Captain that it was a fully repairable fault, but it was simply a 'tricky procedure', whatever that was supposed to mean.

Meanwhile, Beagle had established an orbit around this planet, which Franks claimed would help in their work by reducing power requirements. Regardless of whether it actually had any benefit for the engineers, it was a reasonably habitable world with several pleasant vistas. Accompanied by armed and armoured security teams, several groups of the crew were being treated, one at a time, to twenty-four hours of shore leave on the planet. Their journey had been long, and the seemingly endless wait in space had taken its toll on the crew, so Palmer decided it was for the best to give the crew a break while there was nothing better for them to be doing.

Palmer, on the other hand, availed herself of the time to indulge in some paperwork, and there was plenty of that to go around right now. This particular mission had been a last-minute affair, during which she was supposed to be enjoying shore leave of her own and spending time with her husband and children back home on New Eden - Beagle breaking down and leaving them stranded for a week was the last thing she needed. Few crew members had dared to disturb her during her self-imposed isolation in her quarters, aside from the engineering department, who were under orders to deliver progress reports every five hours.

Remaining in her quarters without human contact wasn't the paradise she had hoped for, however. Even the Captain's cabin was reasonably claustrophobic and dull, with white and blue walls, a single wardrobe and a reasonably narrow bunk. The lighting was better though, and she had her own porthole on the far wall which at least created the illusion of spaciousness. She also had her own desk and computer terminal, allowing her to complete her work. Aside from a plant pot complete with plastic flowers, and a framed photograph of her children, there was nothing much there to indicate anybody actually lived in the quarters.

Her self-imposed isolation was about to come to an end. Half-way through a crew performance review, she was stirred from her semi-dazed state when the main computer chirruped across the intercom.

"Now hear this, now hear this: all senior officers to the bridge. Repeat, all senior officers to the bridge. Unidentified starships detected off the port bow," the computer announced in that irritatingly smug female voice. Palmer always hated the idea of meeting whoever provided that voice, as she was doubtlessly the most egotistical person in the universe.

Disbelievingly, Palmer squinted out of her porthole into space, naively wondering if she could spot the intruders with her bare eyes. It didn't take long for her to shake her head and scold her own stupidity. It was still curious to find ships out here, in a system they thought to be remote. Hurriedly, she saved her work, grabbed her burgundy tunic and made her way to the nearest turbolift.

***

"Report," Palmer asked as she paced off the turbolift and onto the large, circular bridge, still fastening the front flap of her tunic.

"Unidentified starship has dropped out of warp, bearing zero-zero-one mark three-zero-nine," Commander Telno Marin announced, rising up from the central chair in the recessed area of the bridge to allow his superior to sit down. "They've established standard orbit on the far side of the planet ma'am."

"Captain, I'm also detecting two additional, distinct ion trails, not emanating from that ship," Lieutenant Peter Kelsey announced from the science station, his head firmly buried in the sensor shroud. "I can't get a lock on any other ships in the area, however."

Palmer nodded as she took over the warmed-up command chair, tapping some buttons on the arm panel before looking up, deep in thought. There would be no running away this day - they physically couldn't.

"Let's establish contact before we overreact," Palmer said. "Green, send standard hail and request response. And prepare to recall shore parties."

"Aye ma'am," Lieutenant Green nodded from her position at the communications station, before picking up an earpiece and operating her controls. "Unidentified vessel, this is the Federation starship USS Beagle, please acknowledge and identify, over. I repeat..."

The High Priest smiled in surprise, these people spoke a dialect much closer to the old Zonankori tongue. He returned the hail, audio only, and waited for a pause in the human's speaking. "Acknowledged, Beagle. This is the Third Generation Exploratory Frigate of the Kronar Clan in Service to the Boundless Empire of the Golugan Khazukan. We're en route to another system, but evidently our Warp system, which is being tested at this point, only allows for short-range jumps. In my day, we had one word for Warp drive, and it was inertia! If the Emperor's ancestors weren't bound by blood oath to the Zonankorazi, why we would most likely-"

"Your holiness, you're grumbling to Zonankori."

The High Priest blinked a few seconds, then smacked his forehead. "Ah, my apologies, people of the realm of stars, the old texts did mention that your kind had little patience for the ranting of elders. Must be the shorter natural lifespan, no time to heed the wisdom of the centuries. Of course, it seems that even our youth think-"

"Your holiness!"

"Gah! Thank you, pilot. Now... Ah, Beagle, is there any indication that we've been followed? We encountered a pair of ships at our last stop and gave them coordinates to arrange a formal diplomatic meeting, but I doubt they had a thought toward gnollengrom between the two ships."

"Put us behind the third moon, we'll use the moons magnetic field to hide our presence, we don't want it to seem like we've been following them" Elizabeth ordered

The High Priest smiled in surprise, these people spoke a dialect much closer to the old Zonankori tongue. He returned the hail, audio only, and waited for a pause in the human's speaking. "Acknowledged, Beagle. This is the Third Generation Exploratory Frigate of the Kronar Clan in Service to the Boundless Empire of the Golugan Khazukan. We're en route to another system, but evidently our Warp system, which is being tested at this point, only allows for short-range jumps. In my day, we had one word for Warp drive, and it was inertia! If the Emperor's ancestors weren't bound by blood oath to the Zonankorazi, why we would most likely-"

"Your holiness, you're grumbling to Zonankori."

The High Priest blinked a few seconds, then smacked his forehead. "Ah, my apologies, people of the realm of stars, the old texts did mention that your kind had little patience for the ranting of elders. Must be the shorter natural lifespan, no time to heed the wisdom of the centuries. Of course, it seems that even our youth think-"

"Your holiness!"

"Gah! Thank you, pilot. Now... Ah, Beagle, is there any indication that we've been followed? We encountered a pair of ships at our last stop and gave them coordinates to arrange a formal diplomatic meeting, but I doubt they had a thought toward gnollengrom between the two ships."

Palmer fidgeted in her chair briefly as she waited for Green to deliver a 'yay or nay' on the hail. The ship, which didn't appear to be threatening, could have any of numerous responses to their presence in the system - of all the possibilities, Palmer always preferred for the response to be either casual indifference, or warm, open-armed friendliness, for the other choices were decidedly less pleasant. It was in these moments between sending a hail and waiting for a response that she was at her most discomfort.

"Captain, we have received a response," Green said at last, playing the somewhat disjointed message back on the main speakers. Palmer wasn't sure whether to sigh inwardly with relief that these Golugans had no apparently belligerent intent, or to furrow her eyebrow in confusion.

"Are there any records of encounters with this 'Boundless Empire of the Golugan Khazukan' before?" Palmer said, asking nobody on the bridge in particular. It was an open question, as she was perplexed. "He speaks like we've met before..."

Kelsey immediately dove into the computer archives, briefly cross-checking the ship and their details with the Federation database, but looked up with a negatory expression on his already-sullen face. "Nothing on record, Captain. Could be that they've bumped into someone we remind them of, I suppose."

"Alright, open a visual channel," Palmer said. She rose to her full height before the main viewscreen, tugging her tunic straight and placing her arms behind her back. Green nodded that the channel was open, and she began her wholly unrehearsed opening. "Good day sir. I am Captain Melissa Palmer, commander of the Beagle and a representative of the United Federation of Interstellar Planets, the nation we hail from. It is a pleasure to meet you both. I'm sorry to hear about your warp drive problems; ironically enough we are presently enacting repairs to our own systems. If you need assistance, or help resuming this 'blood oath' of yours, we can always offer some aid to help you get on your way."

She cleared her throat and looked at somebody off-screen for a moment before returning her steely gaze to the viewscreen, her sudden head movements causing a wisp of greying hair to droop down over her forehead. "As for whether you are being followed, my science officer has detected two particle trails which could be being caused by the impulse drive exhaust of cloaked starships. They appeared shortly after your own arrival, and we would have dismissed them as flukes of nature or byproducts of your own vessel, if they were not apparently moving away from you towards this planet's moon now. If you believe you are in danger of attack or interference..."

"Captain, I think we've been detected" Science reported on the Valiant.
"Alright, helm, full stop, prepare to drop the cloak" Elizabeth ordered.
"Our story sir?" jenny asked
"We were curious on their mission, they intrigued us so we followed them, under cloak both to test it, and to not disturb them" Elizabeth replied truthly "Scan that ship"
"She's armed with Phasers, Photon Torpedos and shields, same technology as us, could these be the people the parables talk about?" Jenny suggested.
"It's possible, alright, drop the cloak of their port bow, keep the shields down" Elizabeth ordered.

The Valiant and Defiant decloaked off the Beagles port bow.

OOC: My tech is also Federation, however the 'Valiant class' is like the NX class, our parables have a story of people like us who brought the tech that our ships are made of to a planet in our system. That could be you UFSP, or somebody else with Federation tech.

The Beagle didn't have any visual from the Golugani frigate, but Palmer could hear the High Priest laughing on his end. "Ah, pardon the informality on my end, Captain Melissa. I am Kronar Ganden, High Priest of the Temple of the Thane in the Kronar Thanedom in Service to the Boundless Empire of the Golugan Khazukan. To keep it simple, though, you may call me High Priest Kronar.

"Our engines are in no need of repairs, our engineers report that they are functioning properly. Evidently, it is just the nature of the device to come out of Warp after a preset duration. If you would be interested in assistance with your repairs, however, any khazukan aboard this ship is a competent enough engineer to work with basic Zonankori systems.

"As for our guests... They're curious as to the mission that we're on, it would seem. If they were to engage us in hostilities, they would find that whatever tricks and sneaking they have are no match for khazukani craftsmanship. Not an inch of this ship was handled by anyone that didn't have at least a century of experience in their craft and beards to their beltline, there wasn't. Well, the women don't have beards, they have braids, but the gnollengrom is the same whether their wisdom is born from their face or the back of their head...

"Ah, it seems our friends have decided to show themselves. I suppose they figured out that we knew."

"Lets just hold our postion" Elizabeth ordered and the two ships hung in space

The Golugan announcement coincided with the bleeping sound emanating from the tactical console on the right-hand side of the bridge, with several monitors automatically switching to three-dimensional tactical scans. It was almost reassuring in a way, as the short conversation with the commander of the alien vessel was rapidly confusing her with talk of beards and braids. Palmer looked over as the Romulan tactical officer nodded towards her solemnly.

"Two starships have surprisingly decloaked off the port bow ma'am," Commander Lovok announced in his monotone, seemingly uninterested voice. "Both about half our size - no active weapons or shields detected. They're holding station, a few thousand kilometres distant."

"Lieutenant, find out who they are," Palmer ordered Green, who quickly set about sending the two decloaked starships a communiqué asking them who they were and what they were doing skulking around without announcing themselves. Unperterbed by the abrupt arrival of the sneaking spies, Palmer turned her attentions back to the Golugans - she got the impression that they weren't staying in the system for long, and they were a curious bunch from all appearances.

"Well High Priest Kronar, we'll try to find who those ships belong to and why they're following you around," Palmer said, trying her damndest to sound reassuring, until the confused frown returned to her face. "Thank you for your counter-offer for assistance, but my engineering crew continues to reassure me that the problem is serviceable and I wouldn't want to hold you up on your mission, whatever that may be. I would extend an invitation to yourself and your crew to be our guests for lunch in the wardroom later this afternoon, in order that we might formalise our thankfully cordial encounter, but you appear to be on a tight schedule. Should you believe that your government wishes it, however, we can provide you with the appropriate communications channel to contact the Federation Department of State."

She paused from her poorly-worded speech. Not expecting to encounter anybody in this remote system, and not having had much sleep in the last few days, she was somewhat ill-prepared for diplomacy,- and the arrival of two cloaked ships in the midst of their first contact had further complicated her concentration. All the while, she continued to mull over a question that had occupied her thoughts since they had first started talking. Deciding to risk appearing ignorant, she asked it anyway.

"With respect High Priest," she began, not sure exactly how to address the point. "But out of curiosity what is a 'Zonankori'? I'm unfamiliar with the term, but you've used it several times in our correspondence."

OOC: My tech is also Federation, however the 'Valiant class' is like the NX class, our parables have a story of people like us who brought the tech that our ships are made of to a planet in our system. That could be you UFSP, or somebody else with Federation tech.

OOC: I don't think the back history or current level of technology of the UFIP would really be compatible with that sort of intertwining...

meanwhile a small exploration craft named INN-Anaconda was hurtling towards the 4 ships
"4 unidentified vessels coming into range,do we alter trajectory?"nav-officer Carney stated
"no, continue on this heading ,scan them as we pass"capt.Vossler said

(OOC my tech level is based loosely on the ancients from SGA)

"Ah, yes, some terms are easier to translate than others. Zon is our word for sun or star, and ankor the term for realm or territory. The last syllable is a suffix to signify a people, so the term roughly translates as meaning 'people of the realm of stars.' It's the term we use for people that aren't khazukan," The High Priest strokes his beard in thought, reviewing what he said mentally to assure he didn't leave out any details. "Khazukan being the term for our species.

"As for your offer to communications channels, I'm afraid that our interstellar communications systems are a bit behind the curve. The Engineers' Guild has been extremely meticulous in reverse-engineering the original Zonankori relics. We will transmit the coordinates of the Golugan system, and your people may visit for diplomatic meetings or trade as they see fit."

The pilot glanced up over his shoulder at his elder, gesturing toward the control panel. "Your holiness, it seems another ship is passing through."

"They seem to do that, young one. Pay them no mind so long as they leave us be."

onboard INN-Anaconda:
the display lit up with schematics of the ships what the crew saw was astounding
"sir there ships use tech like we have never encountered"said col.Brunswick
"i know!,bring us about we need to communicate with these people "
"yes sir!"col.Brunswick said excitedly.

"open a comms channel to one of the ships"capt.Vossler said
"sir the comms link is established, receiving video feed now"
"put it on the main screen"
"understood"
Seb was tired, he thought 'I've commanding this tiny little explorer ship for 2 years now and today the day before my retirement we meet aliens with tech as great as the ancestors his day couldn't get any worse'.

(OOC the ship is here http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/048/d/6/INN_Anaconda_by_seb_deadzedcomics.png

"Your holiness, the new vessel is hailing us."

The High Priest glanced down at his control panel, listening intently to... nothing. "They don't seem to be saying anything. Odd."

"sir you can talk now"
"thanks i nearly dozed off."
"this is Seb Vossler captain of INN-Anaconda identify yourselves"

The High Priest flared his nostrils at the manner of the newcomers, opening the channel for audio communication. "Or arm na khazukhanaz ek gronit dammaz a gnollengromit, Zonankoriha! Or arm-"

"Your holiness, the language barrier."

"Ah, right, of course. Anaconda... I am not someone that you should insult with your disrespectful manner."

"very sorry we mean no disrespect by the way we hailed you we are an exploratory vessel from the planet serenity in the Poseidon star system,may we ask where you planet of origin is?"

"Hrm... Apology accepted. We are khazukan from the planet Golugan, of the star system by the same name. We were just passing through on a mission to deliver a message of dire importance." The High Priest lets out a sigh after this, drumming his fingers on the armrest of the command throne, and he found himself hoping that this tour of duty would be brief and productive.

"im verry surprised our paths haven't crossed before now we have explored nearly 70% of Poseidon. Would you be interested in diplomatic relations with our government? Assuming that you have jump capability we haven't seen tech like yours before so its hard to know."

Paths crossed... It couldn't be... But then, a thousand years is a long time for humans. "70% of... Poseidon, you call it? My apologies for changing the subject, but how long have your people been exploring the stars?"

"15 years now, we have explored Poseidon which is our home,a solar system called Pegasus and a solar system known as the milky way by its local people. but this ship has only been exploring for 2 years"

OOC: Ah, that explains the confusion. Solar system is the term for a star and it's surrounding planets. The term you're looking for is galaxy.

IC:
"Never mind then, I had mistaken your people for-"

"Your holiness, engineers report the Warp engine is ready for another jump!"

"Thank the Gods!" The High Priest switches frequencies to hail the Federation ship exclusively. "We'll be passing back through on the way back from our mission. Our apologies for the sudden leave, but if my math is right this jump should take us to our destination. Launch, now!"

With that, the frigate Warped out with a bright flash of light and motion.

on the bridge of anaconda:
"sir the ship just jumped"
"follow it,this is the biggest discovery of our time as for Pegasus im glad we didn't tell them the truth."
"jumping now!"
the small ship jumped to the destination of the frigate
just before the anaconda jumped it sent a message back to serenity stating it had made a discovery and that its tour of duty would continue.

"jump complete"the computer stated
"look there's that ship hail it again!"seb shouted with anxiety"
"this is the Anaconda what do you know of the word stargate?"

The High Priest took several heavy breathes, looking down at the pilot. "Scan the system for the locals, this should be the home system of the original Zonankori. I'll deal with these... people."

Reopening transmissions, the High Priest's response was curt and blunt. "We've never heard the term before. Is that your word for an airlock?"

*wonders whether it would be too much of a stretch for the Zonankori to have in fact originated from Earth/Sol, allowing you to encounter those wacky Vojvodina-Nihonians again among the dozens of other nations in the system.

and if it would be too much of a stretch, if so, for me to RP it. simply for the sake of scenery porn. your call, Gol.*

"no its an instantaneous travel system which we found in both Pegasus and milky way galaxies and we are picking up a stargate network here in this galaxy all so we haven't been completely truthful about our home galaxy our home was Pegasus until an enemy was too great for us to defeat we fled to what is known as the milky way galaxy where the humans originate from our real species name is alteran. we then left that system for Poseidon."

OOC: That would not be too much of a stretch at all, although it would mean that the NERV explorers are hopelessly off course, what with being in the wrong galaxy.

"they say over 1000 years ago our race met up with a race similar to yours."Out of Character: The ship that crashed in the Okrik Thanedom never made contact with their people again. That's the point of the frigate's mission: To let the people that sent the ship out know what happened to their people. Because they were never heard from again.

Furthermore, it has been established and repeated several times that the frigate does not have a visual feed, so saying that they met a species similar to the khazukan does not make sense since your people have no idea what my people look like.

"Now, it cannot be said that the sons of Grungi are an impetuous people, for our anger is liken to the fuse of the cannon and burns slowly. But just as assuredly does a cannon fire when the fuse is full burnt, so too does our anger erupt and roar into life and portend great devastation for our enemies." -Excerpt from a relevant short story

I have been patient with your railroading. I would like to bring your attention to the past tense of the verb used. You are on your last thread, if you try to force the situation in the direction your whim demands at the expense of decent RP then the ignore cannons will open fire.

OOC:okay,okay ill delete parts of my last statement and i will no longer railroad this tread my small exploratory craft will help your frigate and your nation.
i am sorry for railroading this thread.

Lol. Well, one galaxy does look a lot like another, except for the ones made out of dark matter, and it's not like they're regularly going to go many light-years off course to the galactic plane to catch their bearings.

Things have changed in Sol over the past thousand years, as should be evident. :P

Sol System was one of the most overcrowded locales in the galaxy, it was said. Hundreds of billions were scattered across Venus, Luna, Mars, Europa, Io, two or three dozen space stations, and anything else they could terraform to their needs; humans were still a plurality, but dozens of other sapient species occupied it as well, from closely related primates with unusual forehead ridges to many-tentacled fish-tree hybrids that communicated via scent. The overcrowding was not at all helped by Earth's conversion into a Galactic Protected Biosphere, to be left alone by sapient species to allow its biodiversity to thrive away from interference. Only a small island on its surface remained occupied by humans (and that by almost two hundred million inhabitants), one generally known as New Callisto, although purists insisted on calling it something like "Brittania".

Earth was apparently the origin of humans, or at least billed itself as such; the heavily commercialized tours to visit its unique wildlife insisted that human remains had been found going back well before the first known instance of space travel, although many of these were widely thought to be fabrications by the rest of the galaxy. The frigate had come out as close to Earth's orbit as the system's interdiction system would allow, and would be amazed at the ample life it detected immediately: no fewer than five large space stations orbited the world, each large enough to dock numerous ships (they might recognize the Contrived Coincidence at one of them) as well as hosting thousands or millions of people. Other starships passed by, some of them only a few hundred kilometers away, with brightly painted messages visible on their sides: "BETA-TEK™ Genetics. It's never too late for change®." "Sunstone, the Original Spaceborne Restaurant." "Nanobots changed my life. They can change yours too. To find out how, connect to IRC-17533."

As they looked around for an authority, a Heavy Cruiser came into view from a smaller station off Luna, the densely populated world that was almost equally divided between a huge megacity and acres of endless farmland. It was instantly noticeable; the Cruiser was over a kilometre long and its weapons were quite obviously visible, and quite obviously pointing at the frigate. As a large ship carrying huge quantities of solid water from the outer planets popped out of FTL a short distance above it and began slowing its rapid descent towards Luna, the Cruiser hailed the frigate in (of all things) the Goluganis' own language, evidently having figured it out through scanning their computer systems, or perhaps simply filtering its message through a very sophisticated translation system:

"Greetings! I am Peacebringer, a military-class AI. To proceed into Sol System, please state your ship name, Solar designation, and intentions. If your ship has no Solar designation, key in the numeral for '1' on your main console to be sent a registration form."

"what system are we in?" the captain asked
"sir your not gonna believe it but we are currently in orbit around the planet earth in the milky way galaxy"
a heavy cruiser similar in size to a orillon class dreadnought sent a message using a system that was so old the computer had difficulty understanding it.
"sir, the earth cruiser is sending a message"
"this...s........A.I.......key ...n.......1"
"send back the number 1 in that old system"
"yes sir"

At first, the High Priest was very much confused as to how the machine was so proficient with Khazalid, but then he received a report that the computer systems had been accessed. Not very surprising, this particular frigate was built before precautions against such intrusions were taken into consideration. With a click of a button, he replied, "Our ship name is Third Generation Exploratory Frigate of the Kronar Clan in Service to the Boundless Empire of the Golugan Khazukan. Our intentions are to deliver a message to the natives of this system that our records indicate identify themselves as 'humans.' Keying in the numeral '1'... now." With another button clicked, the High Priest applied for registration.

The pilot turned around in his seat, smiling nervously. "Things are going to be busy when we get home, aren't they?"

"...You can bet your beard on it."

"sir the earth A.I is really low tech and the ship to which it is mounted could be destroyed by one of our drones by our standards this is obsolete" said co.Brunswick
"its funny i haven't seen ships like this since planetfall."seb murmured
"data burst received"the computer droned
"sir we seem to have been issued with registration details"
"activate them now"seb said

The registration form was computerized and showed up easily on their main systems. It called for ship's name, captain's name, captain's details, a facsimile of the ship's certificate or another identifying document, name of inviter (leave blank if invalid), docking station sought (leave blank if unknown), and several other minor details about the ship's technical specifications. There were also additional options at the bottom of the form (as, like practically everything else in the system, Sol's government had been partially privatized), like so:

[ ] Yes! With my FREE registration I wish to purchase a Luna & Meyers AI module to upgrade my ship's computer systems!
[ ] Yes! With my FREE registration, subscribe me to Galactic Defense Weekly, the award-winning publication covering battles and military equipment around the galaxy, first six months 50% off!
etc.

and finally one item that might actually be of use:

[ ] If you do not know your docking station, tick this box and a Solar Navy vessel will direct you to the nearest available one.

Once the form was filled up and sent to Peacebringer, there was a brief pause; then the AI's curiously upbeat female voice returned. "Thank you, Third Generation Exploratory Frigate of the Kronar Clan in Service to the Boundless Empire of the Golugan Khazukan! Your registration is complete and you are free to enter Sol System at this time. You may now proceed to your designated docking station, which is Station Five."

Without disengaging weapons or shields, the Peacebringer moved slightly, then accelerated much faster than something that size should have been able to do, and disappeared from view. Presumably someone else had intruded elsewhere. It was a large system.

OOC am i being ignored i can't tell?

ic
meanwhile "fill out the registration details and also try to interface the old computer core with the A.I on that ship"
"sir its working we have now sent the registration details to the cruiser"
"explorer jumper of the Imperial NERV Navy you are to await further instructions."
"sir? do you think they could be hostile?"
"maybe, we haven't been here in thousands of years they may have forgotten as a people or maybe an organization on earth uses the word NERV who knows?"

Other than taking the time to read over all of the options that came with the FREE registration, being sure to include the entire geneology of his clan going back over four thousand years as part of the captain's details, and marking the inviter as "Native Delegation (Deceased)" the application process was without note. With a gesture of affirmation, the pilot sets a course to Station Five, and the High Priest leaves the bridge to meet with his honor guard at the ship's main access hatch.

"Imperial NERV Navy exploration jumper this is station five you are to report here in regards to your connection with the NERV organization of the year 2010 AD"a gruff military voice stated.
"station five have no connection to NERV here we are from a different galaxy."
"that remains to be seen if you do not comply we will be forced to take action."
"okay we will comply."
Brunswick set a coarse for station 5"

As they came into Station Five they could appreciate the enormity of the habitat-slash-spacedock; alongside it ships from many different nations were docked, visible stretching down a line several kilometers long. The frigate was guided into its docking port via gravitics and then gently released, with a spaceway extending from the side of the spaceport, passing over the side of the ship like a scanner until it found the hatch and clamped onto it with a faint hiss. There was a pause as the spaceway's outer door slid back, then the frigate's airlock opened and the Goluganis emerged.

The High Priest would find nobody to meet with him and his guard. They moved down the spaceway and into a wider passage it opened onto, this one containing moving walkways on which several aliens (including a few humans) were traveling, but large enough as to appear mostly empty. To the left was a mostly blank wall with a universal symbol for restroom visible at one point, although no door appeared to open onto any restroom. To the right, vast windows opened out onto space and views of the system beyond. Overhead were signs; technology had advanced since the "Zonankori's" departure a millennium ago, and the signs now used a sort of psionic technology to appear to each being in its native language. The messages rotated.

"Welcome to Sol, humanity's ancestral home!" / "Proceed straight ahead towards immigration and in-system transport." / "Restrooms are located every one hundred and eighty meters on the left." / "Traders must declare all goods they are bringing into Sol." / "Diplomatic and first contact missions, turn right at the end of this passageway." / "Station Five is currently at Green threat level." / "Personal translator devices available upon request." / "Welcome to Sol....."

OOC: Zonankori is the plural, Zonankorazi is the singular.

IC:
The High Priest smiled and nodded in satisfaction. He pointed out the sign indicating diplomatic and first contact missions, and signaled for the half-dozen infantry in five foot power armor suits to follow him to the specified destination. The High Priest himself was clad in old, ceremonial plate armor from the ages before the arrival of the Zonankori, possibly before the Council of Thanes, and carried himself with no small amount of pride down the corridor, using the halberd forged by his great-great-grandfather's mother's grandfather as a sort of walking stick so as to avoid alarming any passers by with an unsheathed weapon.

Sorry 'bout that.

Some eyebrows were raised at the sight of the procession of what appeared to be heavily armored dwarves with archaic weapons and faces nearly invisible under large beards. Old-timers, however, dismissed it as just another one of those diplomatic things, and continued in their passage down towards the in-system shuttles, intent on getting to Io or Ganymede or Mars as soon as possible.

The turn-off to the right was carefully marked, and they proceeded down an equally large and this time empty passageway, windows still on the right. At the passageway's end an impressive double door loomed, with the sign "Station Five Diplomatic Outpost" above it. As they approached the doors creaked open slowly, to reveal in the dramatic illumination of the chamber beyond .... a desk, a carpeted room, warmly lit, walls made of genuine wood; and a short-haired girl, probably in her late twenties, with a small electronic datapad in her hands and something like a communicator attached to her head and right ear. She looked up as the door opened, and beamed widely at the Golugani envoys, walking forward and dropping the hand with the datapad to her side so she could raise the other one for a handshake (or whatever these people did).

"Welcome to Sol!" she said. "I understand this is the first time you've been here. I'm Miyako Shikari, one of several consuls stationed here, at S5. And you are....?"

The High Priest met Miyako's handshake with a firm grip, smiling politely as he looked up to maintain eye contact. "I am Kronar Ganden, High Priest of the Temple of the Thane in the Kronar Thanedom in Service to the Boundless Empire of the Golugan Khazukan. I have been sent on behalf of the High Thane Okrik LII of the Imperial Clan to deliver a message to the native people of this system and, in doing so, fulfill an Imperial blood oath on behalf of my liege."

I'll be back tomorrow to continue this.

Consul Shikari could not repress a faint smile at this. "Quite pleased to meet you, High Priest Kronar." [She assumed Kronar was the clan name, as it also appeared on the ship's registration and other information, leaving Ganden as the given name.] "I'm glad to see how seriously you are taking this blood oath. Many species fail to honour them appreciably, which is most regrettable."

Within the High Priest's line of sight, several glasses slid into place in a tramway recessed a short distance from the wall, underneath what resembled a perfectly ordinary section of wall but was in fact a sophisticated auto-bartender that attempted to divine what drinks the assembled Golugani desired by scanning the uppermost conscious layer of their brainwaves. The glasses filled up one by one and passed along a conveyor belt in the wall to come to rest, each to the side of the Golugani expressing active interest in that particular drink. (If they didn't want anything, no glass stopped at them. Simple.)

"This message," Consul Shikari continued, "what would it consist of? Would it be preferable for it to be broadcasted across major holovisual channels, transmitted to planetary governments and authorities directly, sent to a particular group of citizens or what?"

The High Priest nods somberly at the Consul's commentary at the lack of honor among other races, then reaches for a scroll case on his belt. He removes the seal, pulling out a sheet of thin leather that has had each letter indented upon it as well as being inked. He presents the sheet to Consul Shikari, which bares the name of the original Zonankori vessel, the names of each crew member, and the names of their extended families. "I don't know how comprehensive the records of human family trees are, or if the human government has faced upheaval in the past millenium. If the descendants of the crew cannot be contacted, can the current government of the human homeworld be informed that the crew of the Wayfarer survived a crash landing outside the Thanedom of the Okrik Clan one thousand years ago, and lived long lives as free citizens of the Thanedom that eventually succumbed to old age?"

"USS Beagle, this is Captain Elizabeth Langley of the UHS Valiant, we have been following that ship out there to conduct research on their species before we go an introduce ourselves at their home" Elizabeth siad "We cloaked so we wouldn't distract them and breach our Starfleets Prime Directive"

on board INN Anaconda:
"sir station 5 appears to to be attempting to take us into custody"
"activate the cloak and spin up the wormhole drive we need to go!"
"where to captain?"
"take us to the Pegasus galaxy"
"jumping now"

Consul Shikari read through the sheet, murmuring to herself: "Wayfarer, Wayfarer...." Abruptly she looked up. "Oh." As chairs unobtrusively drew up behind the Golugani, allowing them to sit down if they so desired, the Consul continued, now brandishing the datapad in her other hand. "Yeah, things have changed a little bit since then. Wayfarer was operated by the United Solar Federation, a government no longer in existence. There was a nuclear war, and some weapons were used that are now banned under the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty CLXII -- long story. Fortunately, it kept very good records.... unfortunately, many of the families may have been wiped out. The datapad's getting a readout right now.

"As for the homeworld.... that's Earth, and ever since 4168 AD -- about six hundred Standard years ago, if your calendar's different -- it's been abandoned by humans, apart from the island of New Callisto, and left alone as a wildlife preserve. What government there is would be in Hlúndin, the capital city. But yes, I can definitely get word to them. That should be no problem."

The datapad beeped. "Ah, here we go." She took only a cursory glance at it before adding, "About six to eight thousand descendants of the original crew and their families are still alive and living in Sol, mostly on Luna, Ganymede, Mars, and Titan. There are a few other descendants mentioned here as having moved away, although it doesn't say where to, so we wouldn't be able to track them down, unfortunately."

The High Priest took a seat, but the honor guard remained standing. He nodded in thought, stroking his beard several times before speaking. "If those family members remaining in the system could be informed, as well as the government in... Hlúndin, that should be sufficient to fulfill the blood oath of the High Thane, and you will have his gratitude on account of it."

INN-Anaconda emerged from the jump straight in to a black hole,the ship was lost

OOC: hows that for an end to the railroading :)

we may re appear later in the RP so watch out cos NERV's coming back!:)
we will not railroad again.

OOC: And now, the Colbert BUMP.

OOC:lol

i thought that i was one of the few Colbert fans outside America!

good luck and may the truthiness be with you!!

"All right then," said the Consul. "I'll get on it immediately." She stowed the datapad by her side and carefully rolled up the leather sheet, handing it back to the High Priest. "Anything else I can do for you people while you're still in Sol? Arrange an official visit and tour of Earth? Are you qualified to and interested in opening trade relations?"

If any of the honour guard (or the High Priest himself) were watching they might notice the large double doors open again and a group of tall tree-like beings enter, hovering slightly above the ground. They simply passed straight through, ignoring the Golugani completely, almost as though there was simply a silent blank wall where the delegation was seated (and to their perspective, there was).

The High Priest stroked his beard in thought, his eyes moving back and forth rapidly as he performed calculations in his head. "Trade relations with Sol itself would be too far out of the way for our people. Can you arrange for the contact of third parties near our systems so that we could initiate trade with them?"

Two in the rear ranks of the honor guard were watching the door, and their free hands went to their wrists, and the micro-missile launchers mounted on them, as they watched the unreadable creatures pass through. Exactly twelve seconds after the tree folk passed the khazukan, the guardsmen relaxed and reassumed the ready position.

"I could try, yes," the Consul said, rather doubtfully. "Sol trades with almost everyone around, considering the huge variety of nations with land on Mars, Titan, Mercury, and other worlds in the system, so third party trade could involve any of a large number of other nations. Uh... how much have you mapped out the systems closest to yours?"

The Golugani felt a motion, and realized that the very section of floor they stood on was moving. It turned a corner and moved into another room, this one with a large 3-D starmap of the galaxy, mapped as far as Solar authorities knew.

Meanwhile, from behind Consul Shikari's eyes, via the implants connected to her optic nerves, information was being streamed to a more distant AI which would open communications with the Terran government and the home AI systems of the Zonankori descendants selected. The process would be finalized presently.

The High Priest sat upright as he pulled out a datapad that seemed to blend Golugani design with old Terran technology. He used it to create his own display of the same map, using two-dimensional views along multiples axises rather than a holographic projection. He offers the datapad to the consul after a moment's grumble about how the ground shouldn't move so much when there isn't a cave-in or quake occuring. "Is there any way I can get the map data from this to that?"