NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC skip forward a hundred years or so after the last thread, which didn't go anywhere, I intended to use that thread to kill some of my characters, you can get the gist of the idea from what is written below.

IC

I failed.

For a time so long even I can't wrap my mind around it, my kind simply killed all aliens that landed on our planet, so they could not disrupt our paradise. Then, when I was just a little kid, the humans arrived. Their vulnerable bodies and social behavior reminded me of the Qifs (tiny lizard-like creatures) I kept as pets, so I wanted to keep these humans as pets too. My mother let me. Sometimes I wish she had instead killed them before I could grow fond of them.

At first my humans didn't do very well. I had to keep them inside because many of the things outside (plants, insects...) would kill them. I convinced the others to make every lifeform contain an antidote for its poison, so human lives could be saved. I said that since humans were capable of communicating with other aliens, they could tell those not to attack us. I believed it.

To help the humans even more, I created hybrid creatures: half fir!nan like me, and half human. The human and hybrid populations thrived, and they built a beautiful city. I solved most of their technological problems for them. I even did the same for some aliens. Everything went exactly according to plan, it was wonderful.

But then....

[the handwriting becomes unclear and shaky here]

One of the hybrids was the closest thing to a daughter I ever had. Her name was Aniska. She was adopted by Natalia, a woman who became the leader of the humans and hybrids. Aniska in turn adopted some important foreign human with some immaterial abilities I do not understand - they had something to do with the beings humans call "gods", which I also do not understand. The humans talked about "psi". I really don't understand.

Something that meant harm to that child killed Aniska, her mate, their biological children, the smartest hybrid and the smartest human - all of them except for the kid itself, when they were out in space. The child did manage to come back to fir!n, where her negative emotions somehow infected all of the humans and most of the hybrids. They were doomed. Natalia even committed suicide.

Maybe because they didn't know what else to do, the humans and hybrids built the huge spaceship they had been making plans for. They named it after me - Asanna. Now their city is in ruins and there's a never used battleship in orbit around Fir!n.

I failed. All my human pets are dead, and there are very few hybrids left - just the ones who, like me, cannot communicate with "gods". Some fir!nan technology is now in the hands of aliens. I probably harmed our paradise when I meant to protect it. I am such a failure.

But I have grieved for long enough. I will leave Fir!n so I cannot do any more harm to it, and will take all hybrids with me. We have filled the ship with lots of fir!nan lifeforms, hopefully that way we won't die like hybrids and fir!nans normally do when they're away from the planet for too long. Isn't that ironical? I, the biggest failure ever, might become the first pure fir!nan who goes into space and doesn't die. Maybe we will find a new home.

The only thing on Fir!n that will remind of me is this message. Let it be a warning to every fir!nan who reads it: kill every alien at first sight. It's better for everyone, including the killed ones.

---

The 5 km long battleship -x-^^- (Asanna / Mother) folded its way through space, stopping at potentially inhabitable planets and then continuing, on to the next planet to have a look at. The plan was to colonize one eventually, but the beings on the ship had plenty of time to be picky.

Anyone advanced enough to scan through its cloaking layer would notice three things:

the ship had a large variety of weapons
the architecture inside was remarkably beautiful
it literally was a jungle inside


In orbit around yet another planet, the Asanna was not alone...

OOC:

Random encounter? Perhaps I'm in your space? The first one to reply is the one who decides that!

I won't shoot at first sight (the fir!nan may be bitter, but she isn't stupid), but I won't be exactly friendly either. Please don't bring stuff with which it would be too easy to kill me, that's not funny.

The blacken sphere slowly orbited the planet the twenty fourth built by the Technonaut Collective, its outer layers still shining from the recent repairs to its outerstructures. It had stopped at the planet to restock and repair damages entailed from a fight a few days and a few light years away. The nanobot outerlayer was finishing the last patch when it detected the new arrival. Immediately the Overmind began its scannings and notified the Master of the Sphere. By the time the Master had been found, contacted and warned. The initial scans had been completed and shields had been raised.
What kind of Trouble did we get ourselves into this time?
Unknown, shields have been raised. Commutation protocols have also been activated, they are rather heavily armed through life signs are rather low for a ship of that size.
Most unusual...

Communation sent
"Greetings Sentient(s), we are of the Technonaut Collective and wish to inquire into your mission and purpose of being here..."

OOC:

I use {} for fir!nan language and "" for standard galactic. Hybrids have weak voices and pure fir!nans have even weaker ones. Fir!nan language sounds a lot like whispered imitations of forest sounds. Both species are carnivores.

"Firna" (obviously) isn't the same one from earlier threads, but chose that name as a tribute.

If you have any files on me, the ones that are multiple hundreds of years old would warn not to land on the planet Fir!n, and the newer ones would say my nation is pacifist but hasn't been heard from for about 100 years.

IC:

The computer of the -x-^^- noticed the message and immediately notified the leader of the team that was studying the planet surface.

{A message? I thought we were alone here?}

{It appears to have been sent from that moon}, the computer replied. It highlighted the sphere on a screen showing the entire system.

{Give me a closer view... That's not a moon! ... what was that message?}

"Greetings Sentient(s), we are of the Technonaut Collective and wish to inquire into your mission and purpose of being here..."

{End of message. Instructions please?}

{Wake up everyone, charge and load weapons... and open a channel as soon as I've put on my collarbox.}

A video signal was sent to the source of the message, showing a female humanoid with snow white skin, dark blue hair, somewhat larger than human eyes, and a somewhat smaller than human nose. She wore a simple gray uniform and a collar with a tiny box on it (meant to amplify her voice). The points of sharp teeth were visible as she spoke:

"I am Lady Firna, commanding the ship Asanna on behalf of the fir!nan Asanna. Our business is none of yours, but if you really have to know, we're somewhat interested in this planet, and will probably gather some food if there's anything suitable down there."

Asanna herself walked into the room, cloaked as usual. She was invisible to the camera, but those on the other side of the connection could see Firna turn her head to the side and up, and could see her lips move. If they were paying attention to her rather than the surprising background, a mixture of flowering plants and computer displays, anyway.

{What's going on, little one?}

Firna simply replied {Aliens.}

{Damn. What kind?}

Do we have anything on file?
A few scattered reports but nothing major, none of the Spheres have encourted them though a few of the cleaned may have.
Ah, what do they suggest/say?
Not a whole lot, just to avoid any of that Tech group.
Hostile?
Quite possibly, most travelers did not return.
Ah, a threat possibly?
Likely, but not one we should take on lightly, scannings are still ongoing, our own anti sensors shielding is also up.
Have we detected any commutations not directed towards us yet?
No, as far as we can tell they are alone for the moment.
Well we aren't really in the condition for a fight. How long until we can jump?
Navigational Data is still incoming but we estimate twelve minutes until first jump possibility.
Try to lower it as much as possible, I think we'll avoid Ava for now a ten minute chat isn't worth it.
Aye, do we have anything else to ask them?
Not particularly and using the Bov isn't worth it either. Just continue to monitor and prepare for the jump.

OOC

scanning hints:

31 hybrids (human sized or a bit smaller), 1 fir!nan (about 2 m tall humanoid), lots and lots of plants and small animals.

The ship has a layer of nanomaterial that serves as cloaking and self repairing armor.

*patiently waits for WIP post to be finished*

ooc
Sorry about that got called and couldn't return until now...

{What kind? Does it matter?} Firna shrugged and turned back to the camera. "Asanna asks what species you are. I'm more interested in what caused that damage to your ship. We'd rather not get attacked by anything you see..."

A small ship was having rather large troubles, it didn't really matter why, or the events that lead up to it, what did was how it reacted to them.

A green ray fired from the ship as it was trying to get away from it's pursuers The energy of the ray crackled around the exterior of the ships. The ray didn't cause any physical damage but it caused disruption of a number of crucial systems. Nothing that would cause deaths just giving the ship the extra time it would need to escape, or so it thought.

As the pilot was plotting a new destination for the FTL Engine 2 distinct shots hit and shuddered the vessel. It was now or never another volley was coming in and the vessel would not last a single hit let alone multiple hits.

Activating the emergency protocol the FTL choose a new destination and Poof, the ship was gone. It appeared at a new location, where the Technonauts and the Asanna was not far at all, however with further damage from the FTL event the small vessel was in bad shape.

It was heading straight into the planet, communications was down and the sub-light engines weren't up to the task of missing the planet. It was destined to crash... and the inhabitant of the shuttle could only watch and try to minimise the damage.

The Master grimaced as alarms sounded throughout the Sphere specially in its consoles.
Sensor Contact?
Indeed, Incoming ship, initial scans indicate that it is pretty banged up. Jump protocols have been temporary stalled. Sub-light engines have been engaged, if we take a very tight orbit we may be able to reach it before it crashes or at least get close enough for Chav protocols to activate.
So its shields are also off line?
Yes, and a number of other critical systems…

As the Master continued to quiz the Overmind about the new arrival, the Sphere at first slowly but gathering speed began an intercept course to try and catch the shuttle before it crashed. The repair and jump powerups were forgotten as almost all power was diverted to the engines…

The crew was surprised by the arrival of yet another ship with battle damage. Asanna didn't seem to want to say anything, but the others on the bridge did.

{I guess we won't get a reply now they're busy...}
{So is this just the universe being random or is this planet in a bad neighborhood?}
{Those ships don't look like they were built by the same civilization.}

Firna typed a short message on her WMDA (a device worn on the arm) requesting the presence of Lady Niranna on the bridge. Niranna had apparently already been on her way there, because only seconds later she walked in, yawning. Firna quickly explained the situation, after which the two team leaders agreed a shuttle should be sent down to a place near the crash/landing site. The word "help" wasn't mentioned, but "intel" and "prey" were.

Niranna told her team (nine men and women, not counting her) to get their rear ends to the hanger. They got ready to land as quickly as ten sleepy heads possibly could.

OOC:

No, they wouldn't eat sapient creatures. They're just being efficient by sending one team for two tasks.

The ship was heading for it fast though slowing down, according to calculations the Technonauts should be able to intercept, except something happened that they didn't account for. The engines violently seperated from the hull of the small vessel, achieving what the ship itself could no a relatively stable orbit around the planet. The ship in reaction was thrown farther forward dashing any hopes for the Technonaut rescue, soon it started to enter the atmosphere and shone brightly as the flames of entry danced around it's exterior. After which it fell behind cloud cover.

As the engines fell off the alien vessel, the sphere shimmered for abit before releasing a beam of green light roughly towards the spot where the vessel would crash, its own thrusters also kicked into overdrive to slow its own descent, the Sphere would still crash but it was trying to stop itself from crashing so hard as to vaporize everything in a several kilometer range it also angled away from the purposed spot of the crashed vessel to save it from anyother undue harm unfortunately that could very well make it crash into the other shuttle(s) heading towards the surface...

(ooc The green light is a technowacky thing that will suck/absorb/create all the water in a roughly 20 kilometer area to create a very short lived lake(however large your ship is plus twenty percent is roughly the size of the new lake.) where your ship is about to crash)

Hitting water at high speeds was just like hitting concrete... however the occupant of the ship had an ace up that sleeve. The damage didn't totally destroy the ships weapons. The same green ray that was fired before fired directly ahead at the pool of water suddenly appeared.

The weapon hit the water and disrupted it's surface cohesion to allow the ship to come to a safe and Gradual stop in the water. There was now only the question now was ... how would the inhabitant get back to the surface?

One thing that TFP ship AIs are very good at is avoiding objects that move in their direction at a high speed. In friendlier times all TFP ships were unarmed - a decent layer of armor and the ability to maneuver quickly were necessities back then.

The shuttle did not hit anything, but the strange water did confuse its sensors, causing it to splash into the temporary lake instead of hover above it. This was no big deal until it opened a door...
The AI quickly shut the door when it realized something was wrong, but because of the disrupted surface cohesion quite a lot of water did get in. The engine control circuits shorted, and the shuttle sank like a brick.

On the positive side of things, the team carried by the shuttle now was very much awake.

"Irnirfka. Nenais. Irftirnenaisis kaka. Fe." Niranna, who had been closest to the door and whose clothes were soaked, was not pleased.
(translation: BadUglyWater! F*ck! UglyMonsterLotsOfF*cking! Lots of water! Sh*t!")

"Irn!e." said the AI. (bad concept / error)
One of the team members commented "Irnfe!eqe". (No shit)

After she had finished swearing, Niranna took a deep breath. {Seems like it's both dangerous and wet out there. Get out of your uniforms and apply armor-nanos. Cloaking on. We're going for a swim.}

As soon as her orders had been executed, Niranna pressed the button next to the door...

OOC: The away team is cloaked, the shuttle isn't.

OOC: I remember your first foray into RP with your unique race and I took great interest in it... My old username was A Utopian Soviet Union if it rings any bells. Hence although i've been slipping into retirement on Jolt i've decided to come out of it just to bear witness to what you tried to accomplish.

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

Space was infinitly dangerous, but it was also infinitly beautiful, and for the Phale A'Theins it was something to view in all it's majesty. For the Phale A'Theins were capitalist Objectivists through and through, and where theres a demand theres a supplier; and so the dreams of thousands would be fulfilled by a highly luxerious space cruisen where they would be entertained by the spectacle of the eternal night and epic games of sharads.

The luxery cruise liner Adytum entered the system, slowing down from FTL to more comfortable speeds it carved through the inky blackness of space. It was designed like an an old ocean going vessel, an immense polished aluminium hull adorned with intricate art-deco patterns and symbols made of silver, atop this 850 meter long hull was an immense glass dome which stretched from the front to the back. The entire dome was filled with water, withen it however were built dozens of expansive towers and buildings which wove through the dome, built in the same art-deco theme adorned with polished bronze and aluminum. Withen this collosal architectural acheivement swam the jellyfish like Phale A'Theins as they went about enjoying the vessels facilities.

In the ships control center the Navigator Iea Oietz Eia watched the situaation unfold, with a flick of his tentacle he "spoke" (for really Phale A'Theins communicated via electro-chemical signals and low sounds) into a translator which turned it into galactic basis, the message was sent to the first object their scans had noticed, the fir!nan vessel; for he had noticed the beautiful architecture which, although different from that of the Phale A'Theins, was majestic in it's own right.

To the remarkably expansive and majestic vessel lying before us. One extends greetings from the cruise liner Adytum and pleasentries from the Metropolitan Regional-Association of the Phale A'Theins, may one inquire as to the nature of those before us?

The ship shifted slightly, enough to cause concern, something was out there, the limited sensors had picked up a shuttle coming in behind, yet it seemed empty.

It decided to stay in the vessel, the air-lock controls were down so they couldn't be locked but they could be manually opened from the outside. This was for emergencies it let emergency personnel in as well as any people who where able to get to get out.

Oxygen supply didn't seem a problem it could probably easily hold enough for at least a couple of hours and the occupant was sure that they would get out by then. Just wondering what's going to happen.

On the planet...

OOC I just thought of it that if the water stays strange, I might just have killed my away team because it might be difficult to swim in such water. I'll just assume it has changed back into regular water.

IC

A few seconds after emerging at the surface, Niranna said the names of the members of her team. They all responded.

{This water wasn't here when we planned the landing. I suppose it might disappear any moment. If it does, try to grab a treetop or something. Let's try and have a look at that crashed ship, if we can figure out what's going on, we should get fewer surprises.}

---

In space...

To the remarkably expansive and majestic vessel lying before us. One extends greetings from the cruise liner Adytum and pleasentries from the Metropolitan Regional-Association of the Phale A'Theins, may one inquire as to the nature of those before us?

{Oh great, even more aliens. I thought we were looking at planets in more quiet parts of space?}

Firna sent a reply to the message:

"I am Lady Firna, commanding the ship Asanna on behalf of the fir!nan by the same name. Do you happen to know what's going on here? We didn't expect to meet anyone."

(Since she used video, most questions about what type of creature she was would be answered.)

OOC: I remember your first foray into RP with your unique race and I took great interest in it... My old username was A Utopian Soviet Union if it rings any bells. Hence although i've been slipping into retirement on Jolt i've decided to come out of it just to bear witness to what you tried to accomplish.

OOC:

Thanks. I'm trying to accomplish something else now, though. The hybrids are still about the same, but without humans and with only one fir!nan, they're going to behave a bit different...

Once I have a planet again, things will become very interesting. Human FT nations should worry :) .

OOC:
Human FT nations should worry :) .

ooc not like they will

ooc not like they will

I didn't mean that in the "I'm starting a crusade" sense. The damage (if they decide to play) will not be noticeable to whole nations, but in character RP a few humans won't be happy at all. Not saying anything else yet. It will make a lot of sense.

The Sphere slammed into the harden rock twenty kilometers west of the freshly created water and landed other ships. Its shields and velocity super heating the first layers of rock and other materials to a flash boil. It continued on its downward travel for another three hundred meters before finally stopping, due to a slight tweaking of the shields nothing immediately outside the impact area was disturbed, little to no crushed rock were shot out, no fire were started nearby and no massive shockwaves were created though a slight hiss could be heard as the rock and outer shielding began to cool.
Status?
Minor reduction in shield power, slight compression of lower sections of the shield and armor. All and all a very decent landing with minimal impact to the surrounding wildlife what little there is anyway.
Good, hopefully that temporary gravital reduction won’t have any lasting effects.
Indeed, though the surface gravity in this spot may be slightly reduced for a number of years its likely it would only be seen/found by highly tuned sensors and they’d have to know what they’re looking for.
Whats the status on the other ships?
Both landed in the newly created lake, it should be draining any minute now, what was the setting?
A twenty kilometer radius absorption lasting twenty minutes and it has been eighteen. Have you established commutations yet?
Negative, still trying to hail the formally crashing shuttle though…

The computer of the shuttle was down. It would work just fine again after some drying and cleaning, but if anyone wanted to talk to the hybrids down on the planet right now, they would have to send a message to the Asanna and get it routed to their WMDAs.

They had almost reached the crashed ship when the lake began to drain. Most of them found something to hold on to, but three of them floated away and would have to walk some distance to rejoin the rest.

The shuttle was flipped over. Someone said {Being wet is better than being dropped on your head I suppose}.

{This looks like an airlock to me... Do we knock, try to open it, or wait?}

Niranna replied {Attack is the best defense, and I don't expect it would be boobytrapped. Let's go in.}

"The usual" Replied the Phale A'Thein cruise vessel which continued it's leisurley course through the solar system, "Random alien encounters in remote otherwise unknown locations in space. Happens all the time, are you new to the improbably nature of space?"

OOC: Sorry for the delay - I thought I had a post up but... no Jolt

IC:

The airlock opened with no hassles, with the air pressure being fairly equal there was practically nothing that it needed to do. As the internal door from the airlock opened, there were 2 things that majorly stuck out. 3 large pot plants were spread around the insides of the ship and the fact that there didn't seem to be anything else inside.

No sentient pilot was seen, though suddenly a console at the front did suddenly seemed to activate.

Hydrosteria:

Firna sighed. "Oh is it that time again? We got the impression there was possibly a war going on nearby. Alright, we'll just go back to looking at this planet then."

She gave the command {Weapons to minimal configuration}. Without any of the aliens looking for trouble, there was no need to waste energy on being ready to do lots of serious damage at once. Her WMDA beeped: {Shuttle crashed in water, we're OK. Investigating other crashed ship.}

---

The Garbage Men:

Some whispering sounds were to be heard, which just might be recognized as a language: {Plants? Reminds me of our ship, in a funny way. Do you think they also have some kind of cloaking?}

{Well there's only one way to find out...}
Niranna made her head visible. Humanoid aliens would consider a head floating around without a body an unpleasant sight, but on the other hand showing them everything might give them the wrong ideas.
"Hello? Anyone in here? Are you OK?"
{Qefir, you go have a look at that console.}