NationStates Jolt Archive

The TRIAD Enterprises frigate "Destiny's Horizon" fled from an escalating battlefield, what had once been a possible first contact situation had very rapidly devolved into an all out war. Owing to their small size and inability to make any meaningful impact on the battlefield, the captain of the small vessel had opted to retreat. A message had been sent to two of the combatants which showed the most promise for peaceful contact just before the Destiny's Horizon had escaped on it's slipstream drive.

As the ship settled into a far orbit of the single planet in this binary star system, they effected further repairs from the fight and settled down to wait and see if anyone followed to make contact...

The Dreadnought Transcendant Ascetic decelerated from relativistic speed approximately sixty-two kilometers from the Destiny's Horizon.
The commanding officer of the Dreadnought, Commandant Artemidoros, hailed the TRIAD vessel.

"Greetings and salutations Commander Halloran, we have been sent by Dominion Aerospace Command to facilitate further diplomatic relations. We can have a Consulate-class diplomatic servitor transported to your vessel at your nearest convenience, or we can recieve a delegation from your vessel, whichever you prefer."

Erm.....Bump?

~Sir, a Theline ship has just entered the system, they are moving into formation with us.~ Halloran had finally gotten his avatar online, and gestured to the sound tank where the sonar 'image' of the dreadnought was moving up alongside the comparitively tiny TRIAD frigate.

Star Diver clicked to himself as he listened to the image, then the message from the Theline shil came in.

"Greetings and salutations Commander Halloran, we have been sent by Dominion Aerospace Command to facilitate further diplomatic relations. We can have a Consulate-class diplomatic servitor transported to your vessel at your nearest convenience, or we can recieve a delegation from your vessel, whichever you prefer."

~Hal, open a channel to the dreadnought, and prepare a transport pod. I will be going over to their ship myself. I want to see what these people look like after all.~ Star Diver waited for the confirming chime before he started speaking again.

~My name is Star Diver, captain of the Desitny's Horizon. I will be coming to your vessel on a transport pod shortly. Were our previous sensor readings right, and your ship has an aquatic environment? If that is the case, a meeting aboard your ship would be simple.~

Shortly afterwards a port opened on the ventral side of the frigate and a small craft emerged, only ten meters long, and shaped roughly like a worm or caterpilar. The transport pod made it's way over to the Transcendant Ascetic and waited for docking instructions.

((OOC: Now, I'm not sure of the protocol here, so if I'm being too presumptuous, let me know))

Artemidoros wired a message to the pod;

"Welcome Captain Star Diver. There is a hangar bay just below the closest radial arm to you; if you would redirect your ship there, we can begin diplomatic negotiations"

A sphincter-like opening irised open under one of the radial arms, revealing a passageway lined with organic membranes and cast coral. The pod flew into the passage, which irised shut behind it. An oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere flooded into the passageway, and the proceeding membrane opened in front of it. A large hangar bay lay before it, and fighter and bomber drones hung from the ceiling like bats, connected to the ship's control systems via a system of veins, arteries and a nerve connected to the cockpit. The pod touched down on the hangar floor, and more iris-like openings opened in the walls, and water began to rush into the room, filling it to about 25m deep.

**********
Transcendant Ascetic - Docking Bay
**********

Star Diver checked the environmental readings before clicking to himself. The locals certainly seemed to be aquatic, or else were going to a lot of trouble to accomodate him. Making sure that his encounter harness was secure, Star Diver opened vents in the transport pod and allowed the water outside to flow inside until the pressure equalized enough to allow the hatch to swing down to the submerged deck.

Glad to be in a real water environment again, Star Diver clicked happily to himself as he swam out the hatch and looked around, sending several sonar pulses to get an idea of the space around him.

At first glance one might mistake an Star Diver for tursiops truncatus. On closer inspection however there would be distinct differences in overall physiology. Two pairs of eyes set in tiered sockets on either side of the skull; a bifurcated blowhole partially concealed by a ridge at the back of the skull; two dorsal fins, one set slightly behind the other larger one; three pairs of ventral flukes, one large forward pair and two smaller rear pair; and finally a tri-finned tailfluke at the end. Where his skin was not covered by the harness, complex tattoos could be seen covering a significant portion of his body, with a distinct, tribal feeling to them.
Star Diver wore an encounter harness, with straps criss-crossing to hold the equipment in place. The straps were periodicly studded with small rounded discs, emitters for a gravitic float device. Since he was in water, he chose to swim under his own power however. The harness held what amounted to cetacean scuba gear in place above his blowholes, and also sported multiple robotic arms, now folded and stowed in recesses on the 'backpack'.

After getting his bearings, Star Diver swam for the nearest open hatch or hallway, trusting that sooner or later he would find his way to his host, or else someone or something would find him and show him the way.

((OOC: Reference picture (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/TracerFox/Shattered%20Prism/Aquatian_Rough_Sketch_by_JoshuaMunkers.jpg) for what the Irukan species looks like.))

A serene computerized voice echoed through the chamber;

"Greetings Captain, Welcome to Transcendant Ascetic. If you would follow the pulsating lights along the corridor, we can meet in person."

A corridor irised open near the pod, and a pulsing pattern of blue-white lights led along the corridor, winding further into the vessel. At the end of the passage, an iris-like airlock slid open, leading into an enormous oceanic habitat, almost 1000m deep and 1.6km wide.

((A rough approximation to what a Theline (http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt41/Avenio/ThelineFamily.jpg) would look like))

The Theline were a large cetacean species, with adults ranging in length from 12–16 metres (40–50 ft) and weighing approximately 36,000 kilograms (79,000 lb). There are many subspecies of Theline, due to the isolation of family groups over the oceans of Phorcys. Artemidoros is a member of the Boreal subspecies, and has colonies of phosphorescent blue-green algae growing on his skin, stylised in kelp and sea-flora patterns. He has three blowholes in a line on the top of his head, used to gather as much air as possible while travelling amongst the northern ice sheets. His subspecies' flukes are longer than their more southern cousins, and their eyes are a bright, icy blue. As well, his species is renowned for their ability to store air in their highly efficient set of four lungs, and don't need to breathe for almost 16 hours if under the right conditions. The Boreal version of Symbiosis, the Theline religion, involves meditating for extended periods of time, as the lack of oxygen allows one's mind to clear of all thoughts.

**********
Transcendant Ascetic - Habitat
**********

Star Diver quickly swam after the guide lights, lowering his jaw in a delphine grin as he tried to outrace each pulse. When the last airlock opened, he whistled in astonishment at the oceanic habitat section! When he tried sounding the expanse of deep blue, it took some time for his pulses to return, and it was in this way that he first 'saw' his host.

~Abyss! They are cetaceans!~ He couldn't help the outburst of Trinary, his native language which was only 'spoken' using Irukan sonar. To an outsider, the burst of sound would resemble a mismatch of whale-song and the grinding shriek of an acoustic modem.

Once again glad that he had chosen to wear an encounter harness, Star Diver eagerly swam down to meet the Theline captain. This time he used his implants to vocalize in Instella, "Greetings Star-Cousin! It is an honor and a pleasure to meet another aquatic species in this unknown Deep Black. Thank you for watching over our ship during that battle."

((Sorry for the short post, my muse seems to be on strike again. Need to try and get together via IMs or IRC sometime so we can figure out where this thread is going to go.))

A wormhole tore apart reality as a single shuttle sized craft emerged from the rupture. The craft shot away from the closing aperture and changed vectors to head toward the wounded ship.

“This is Advisor Lar’Sohn. I have been asked to come here and speak with you.

Please direct me where to bring in my craft.”

The Theline Commandant wired a transmission back to the Ta'Nar representative;

"Greetings Advisor Lar’Sohn. There is a docking bay directly underneath a radial arm that should fufill your needs, the entrance should be open shortly.
(An organic door irised open under a radial arm, with bioluminescent tissue surrounding the opening) The TRIAD representative is aboard my vessel, if you wish, we can organise a joint meeting, perhaps using your avatar, as we are both in an aquatic environment"

Artemidoros terminated the transmission and swam to face the Irukan delegate.

"Welcome Captain, the honour is all mine. It is my people's belief that one should always help someone in need. The Balroggan delegate has just arrived, so we can begin diplomatic talks shortly."

Star Diver grinned to the much larger cetacean, a sense of awe and deference ingrained into his psyche at the presence of the Theline. Curiousity compelled him to 'sound' Artemidoros again to fix the being's features in his mind.
"How is it your people managed to rise to the stars? We were fortunate to have been contacted by other star-farers early in our history. We purchased the tools which allowed us to swim the Great Black on our own. How did your people accomplish it?"

((Sorry for the short one, but not really sure what else to do yet.))

Artemidoros dived slowly towards his guest and launched into a history of the Theline;

"Our people discovered starflight, unfortunately, through the misfortune of others. Our records indicate that we, as a species, have been sentient for about 10000 years, however, due to our oceanic environment and lack of opposable appendages, we could not construct tools or advance ourselves. That changed when the M'Aiq came into sentience about 4000 years ago. They were a reptilian species that evolved on our planet's only landmass, and quickly developed atomic power, the internal combustion engine and robotics. Unfortunately, there was little in the way of water or arable land on the continent, and skirmishes broke out frequently amongst the factions, becoming worse as the city-states raced each other to discover faster and more efficient ways to kill each other. One of our Matriarchs, Arethusa discovered that by using our species' specialised magnetic communication organ, she could control some of their primitive robots using her thoughts, and attempted to communicate with them. They percieved this as a malfunction, and shut down the robot and put it in storage. Shortly afterward, nuclear war broke out amongst the M'Aiq, and the majority of their civilization was destroyed, and what remained devolved into tribal anarchy. Several years later, Arethusa tried again to control one of the servitors, and discovered that the warehouse and adjacent factory that held and constructed the robots were largely intact. She then taught the technique of magnetic control to her podmates and they brought the factory online and began to constuct more robots for her podmates and any family groups they came into contact with. Over the coming centuries, the use of the first "servitors" became widespread, and our species' first scientists developed more advanced and more efficient servitors. About 40 years ago, an archaelogical team discovered a prototype microsingularity drive buried under a M'Aiq city, which spurred a technological, cultural and scientific revolution known to us as the Age of Enlightenment, which led to the development of spaceflight, the construction of our underwater capital, Elysium, and culminating in the achievement of the first FTL penetration of the nebula that encompasses our local group of stars."

((OOC: Phew. That took a while. I've invited Balrogga to join the conversation, so maybe this could be a diplomatic thread.))

The shuttle changed its heading and accelerated toward the opening docking bay door. As it closed, the shuttle allowed the ship to take over the approach vectors and to guide it safely into the immense vessel. As the doors closed behind the shuttle, the small craft came to a halt a couple centimeters above the decking and simply held position there. The side of the ship appeared to melt, black metal running down the side of the shuttle like mercury revealing a closed door. The liquid black metal formed into three individually levitating steps and the door opened.

Lar’Sohn stepped out of the shuttle to meet her reception committee. She was wearing the grey robes of a Ta’Nar Advisor but her head was uncovered. Her black hair flowed down her back and her eyes were unusually bright and attentive.

“Greetings, I am Advisor Lar’Sohn. I believe I am expected. Don’t worry about any environmental changes, I do not need them.”

Two humanoid servitors (http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt41/Avenio/ThelineServitor.jpg) stood in front of the vessel and proceeded to bow in deference to their guest. One of the servitors spoke in a soft computerized voice;

"Welcome Advisor Lar’Sohn. It is a pleasure to have you aboard. If you would follow us to the conference room, we can begin."

It gestured towards a door that had just opened into a corridor lit by blue pulsing lights. Beyond this was a small conference room, with several chairs and a table facing a large glass viewport looking onto the oceanic habitat where Artemidoros and Star Diver were swimming.

Lar’Sohn returned the bow the servitor executed making sure it was deep enough and long enough to show the proper respect to the mechanical and organic entity who met her. She has seen Cylons before and had much interaction with them so the appearance of the Centurion did not surprise or unnerve her in the least.

“I thank you for your most gracious and delightful greeting. You do yourself great Honor.”

Lar’Sohn followed her guide to the room and when he left, she placed a small case on the table. Turning around, she watched the two aquatic life forms swimming and frolicking in the huge tank. She briefly wondered at the sheer coincidences of two water dwelling life forms meeting in space since it is hard to forge metals underwater. Without some sort of assistance, many never made it into space.

Well, she said to herself, time to get to work.

She then stepped through the thick glass and steel into the tank. It was immediately noticeable that the water did not affect her and she appeared to be dry while standing motionless underwater. Re-solidifying the telekinetic form she dropped to step through the barrier, she willed herself forward and sent out her thoughts toward her hosts. The sonar would detect the Ta’Nar as possessing a solid body so the two cetaceans would not impact with her.

Greetings, I am Advisor Lar’Sohn from the Fallen Empire. It is good to meet with you.

The Ta’Nar waited for them to answer.

((OOC: They're not necessarily Cylons, that's just the most convenient form I can put them in because of my extreme lack of artistic abilities, and because almost everyone knows what they are and what they're capable of.))

Artemidoros turned and swam before the Ta'Nar Advisor;

"Greetings once again Advisor, its a pleasure to meet you in person. This is Captain Star-Diver of TRIAD Enterprises. [Sorry if this is the wrong denonym] Now that we are all present, we can get down to the diplomacy at hand."

((OOC2: I'm not sure what TRIAD wants exactly with this thread, so we'll have to wait and see))

((Placeholder. Sorry I haven't responded yet guys. Muse has taken a sick day today and I have been almost totally unable to muster the creative energies required to write a post. *sigh* I will however get to posting as soon as I can. Again, sorry for the hold-up.))

((OOC: Don't worry about it. I get writer's block quite frequently as well))

OOC:

I had her ICly recognize and mistake them as a Cylon since that was your picture. If you wish me to change anything just shoot me a telegrao or something and I will.

((OOC: Don't worry about it. Its just a visual aid.))

((OOC Note: Bad news I'm afraid. Least bad news for me. I and my housemates have just been served with an eviction notice this morning. The notice states that we have till the end of the month to vacate. The landlord is being an ass and kicking us out because on of the roomies received a service dog. Technically, it is illegal to refuse a tenant to own and house a service animal, as it is an ADA violation. Our landlord however is ignoring that and looking for any excuse to evict us anyways.
We are going to be fighting this, however I don't know what is going to happen at this stage in time. I am going to *try* and keep up with things here on the forums, but consider this a heads up if I suddenly stop responding. Even if I can watch, I may not have the time to write replies in a timely fashion. For those who care, please bear with me and be patient. I will return actively as soon as I know what is going to happen.
Thanks in advance for any prayers or well-wishes.))

((OOC: Ouch, hopefully you get through that mess soon, and take as much time as you need. Good luck))

OOC:

Talk to free legal aid and other services to see what recourse you can use. Get that landlord good.

Take care of RL first and keep us appraised.

Star Diver waited for the newest arrival, then chattered in suprise as the seeming human just walked right through the wall of the viewport, and into the larger oceanic habitat. A quick pulse of sonar indicated that the humanoid was solid, despite what she had just done. Blinking twice, the Irukan swam over and adjusted his vocoder so that he'd be understood despite the water's distortion to sound, "That was certainly a unique trick! How did you walk through the wall like that?"

The Theline captain interrupted Star Diver's question, and the Irukan quickly nodded, "Right. Back to the point. Thank you both for offering my ship assistance during that conflict. I am sorry for the loss of your other vessel Artemidoros. I will pass the song of it's captain's passing to the rest of my people. I invited the two of you to this place in the Black to introduce our peoples. My ship is on a mission of exploration for my nation, TRIAD Enterprises."

After a brief pause for comments, Star Diver went on, "TRIAD Enterprises is a corporate state, and we are only recently arrived in this universe. Some time ago, we discovered a wormhole passage which lead us from our home universe to another completely distinct universe, and from there a nexus of passageways which lead to further more universes. When we charted the passage to this universe, the Board of Directors decided to establish a Branch Office colony here. We located the nearest suitable planet to the passage, and founded our colony there."

Turning back to Artemidoros, the Irukan grinned again, "Mine was just one of several frigates sent out on likely vectors to try and establish contact with any political entities out here. We are hoping to find out who will be friends, enemies, or customers. It is my hope that the both of you can be the first and third of these."

How? I just adjusted the solidity of my fields to allow me to pass through. It seemed to be a bit impersonal with me stuck in the glass cocoon when we can get things done easier out here.

The soundings would have detected a solid body and Lar’Sohn moved through the water without moving her limbs. It almost appeared as if she were standing in the water and there was no breathing or air bubbles. When she spoke, the words were heard by the minds of those she was meeting with and her mouth remained closed. She did turn to face the one she was replying to but both easily heard her “words” even though they were not uttered.

We were happy to assist you since you were damaged while being our guest. It was not only the right thing to do but also the prudent option to take. We also mourn the loss of your sentient.

Lar’Sohn paused while the captain spoke.

We certainly mean you no harm and would count you as a friend unless you proved our intuition wrong. The Fallen Empire does not maintain any territory but travels from star to star mining degenerative matter from the cores. We use this matter for both power and as weapons if need be. I am sure the Warlord would approve of your status as Friend.

((OOC: I think I'll wait for Avenio before I make my next post. Sorry I've been AWOL.))