Star Chronicles: A New Light

[RayPurchase]

UFV Jaxtus, Rassillon G-Class Destroyer, Endoval System
People of Interest: Captain Julius M’Butu (Union Fleet)

The figure that filled the screen hadn't exactly been expected. It was under M'Butu's watch that first contact with an alien species was being made since.... well since the collapse. The borders had solidified after that tumultous years, the Colonial Union knew what was out there, but had no interest in contacting it or being contacted, a hard taught lesson from history. The bridge crew had gone silent as a figure emerged on screen. After generations of history bordering on mythology lessons on the various races and species that had broken the frontiers and descended with tooth and nail, the small furry creature that filled the viewscreen hadn't exactly been expected, and was far more at odds with the hulking brute that had filled it previously. M'Butu's eyes narrowed as it spoke, the odd word filtering through, either progress was being made by them or by truely remarkable set of Galactic coincidences, their languages weren't all that different. Almost certainly the former. He turned towards his Communication's officer.

"I want all of this filtered through the translation software, everything that thing said earlier and everything this one is saying,"

He had no idea if it was going to work. It was a prototype at best, and had passed all sorts of field trials, but this was the first time it wasn't just dealing with a complex linguistics puzzle some Suatern anthropologist had come up, this was a real world situation. "I want everything gathered so far sent back to the Admiralty. Ship scans, everything they've said so far, and keep it sending. We're too far to receive help or even a message back for now, but we can keep broadcasting."

M'Butu cleared his throat and focused back on the screen. Interest to do so... that had been clear. A threat perhaps, a warning? This was uncharted territory, regulations only dealt with incursions, but as much as they were claiming that this was Union Space, Endoval hadn't really been part of Union space for generations, driving them out whilst stinging their heels with munitions wasn't the best option here, he didn't want his name going down in the history books for being the spark that lit a powder keg, 'M'butu's War'. Keep up the communication, see if they could get through to each other, time for the software to work its magic, as well as whatever they were using.

"Whilst your presence here is a breach of Union sovereignty, we hope that this was a oversight as opposed to a planned incursion. The distress beacon originates from one of our ships, and any attempts to interfere with the rescue operation will be met with a similar response. Any survivors, technology, or materials are Union owned, and any move to salvage or claim this for yourselves will once again result in a forceful response." He paused for a moment, a few beads of sweat were pooling at the base of his neck. "We wish to avoid any conflict here. This is a ship of war, but today I extend an olive branch towards you, I say take it,"

GrieveWriter

 

[Nyq]

Unknown Space, the Lwarp

After what seemed like an eternity(especially so for the survivors), the metal finally melted away to create a hole big enough for the rescuers to enter. Air gushed out from the hole into the vacuum as the rescuers prepared to enter the Lwarp. Once they went inside, they would find themselves in near total darkness, the only source of illumination being from their own lights. If they looked to their right sides, assuming that they shone their lights at it, they would find a hallway that suddenly ended in what is clearly the surface of an asteroid, with a few crewmembers melded into the rock, their faces permanently frozen in terror as they attempted to flee from their grisly fates.

Meanwhile, the survivors continue to stare at the distress beacon with hope in their eyes, praying that their saviours would arrive soon.

 

[The Governor]

Unknown Space, Lwarp Interior

As the Pegasus flew deeper into the massive freighter, Blaise's commandos looked for life signs on the gunship's sensors. As they got closer to the survivors, all of them strapped into rocket packs, sealed their armour, and put their helmets on. When the gunship doors opened, the boarders secured harnesses, and descended into the darkness of the ship. Helmet lamps flickered on, low light vision modes were activated, and the spotlights of the transport tried to make the area as bright as possible.

"Lampago Company to Captain St. Clare. Boarding successful," Blaise said into his helmet's comm system.

"We read you loud and clear, Blaise. Are you picking up the life signs of the survivors? They won't have long with the vacuum we had to create," the Captain answered.

"I know. We're moving as fast as we can. Faster than any ordinary human could. We all went through Stages One and Two, after all."

"I know. Still, hurry up. Let us know when you find them."

"Acknowledged." With that, the commandos continued their search, finding the grisly remains of the crew that had been fused into the rock. They kept moving through the ship, running closer and closer to the life signs. Then they reached the refuge of the survivors, and saw them.

 

[GrieveWriter]

Unknown Space, Morfus

Interaction/Mention: The Governor Nyq​

Someone was in distress, that was what the sudden beacon that had lit up their systems said. Distress meant they had the advantage, and that meant one thing. For the crew of the Morfus, what had been a simple patrol keeping track of any idiotic traders stupid enough to venture through a certain route beyond known Space became far more entertaining when they picked up what could only be a distress beacon. Those in distress were even better targets than idiotic traders, as they had far less of a chance of escape.

Almost immediately the Captain of the Morfus had turned the stolen vessel towards the signal whilst yelling for the crew to prepare for a raid. Laughter and roars of eagerness echoed throughout the Morfus' halls, the only proper response from true Rustafan Raiders. Drones and hesitation were the staples of those Consulate dogs, true Drovakki like them knew nothing but glee at the mere prospect of combat. Still, the Captain attempted to curtail her excitement, from the sounds of it, this wouldn't be much of a fight for life. Their target was in distress, far from any Consulate aid, ripe for the plundering. Best case scenario is the desperate crew put up enough resistance for a good time, worst case is that they get a bunch of free scrap to haul outta there.

Either case, win-win.

But that wasn't exactly what they found when the Morfus tore out of the warp and sighted the source of the signal. Sure, the battered and semi-destroyed ship was right where they anticipated, but there was another ship as well.

"A trap?!?" One of the raiders piped up as the Captain slapped him over the back of his head.

"Use your eyes you pus-sucking filth!" she shouted before pointing "Only one o' them, they's takin' our loot!"

Snarls and growls of anger flared up as the Captain reached over and slammed a fist on a button which filled the halls of the vessel with her voice, "We got us some two-bit scavs tryin' to make off with our find, lads! Let's hope they's willin' to brawl for it!"

Pulling his hand back, the Captain shouted over to another Raider, "Get me a line over to whoever these things is!" she shouted "I wanna look 'em in the eyes when we start's blasting!"

"You got it, Boss!" another raider called out as he rushed to another console and happily twisted a few nobs as his Boss began angrily pacing, gnashing her many teeth impatiently.

 

[Nyq]

Unknown Space, the Lwarp

As the ship's air vented itself into the vacuum of space, the survivors started to find the air progressively harder to breathe. Despite this, morale is high within their ranks, as their salvation is just over the horizon. Some of the survivors began to munch on their rationed supplies, with the expectations that they no longer would need them. Then, they started hearing footsteps moving towards them.

"They are here! They are here!" A voice cheered out.

The survivors turned towards the direction where the footsteps were coming from, and were greeted with gigantic, black and orange armoured figures rushing into the room. The figures were about as tall as five Gorstak combined! The survivors stared at their saviours for a brief moment, half in awe and half in apprehension, before their leader stood up and greeted them.

"Greetings, you must be from the Envouira. Thank you for coming all the way here to save us."

 

[The Governor]

When Blaise and the others entered the room where the survivors waited, they were surprised by the small size of the beings in the room. When the leader of the survivors spoke, Blaise was filled with a strange sense of unease. He couldn't figure out what was driving it, but there was something very unsettling about the little creatures. After a moment, he shook off the feeling, at least for a moment. The commando officer had fought in dozens of battles during his career, and conversation with friendly life forms shouldn't bother him.

"Yes. We came from the Envouira. I'm Ensign Blaise Bescond, of Lampago Company. It's nice to meet you. And it's no problem to rescue you. We heard your signal, and weren't far when we received it. We don't have much time, with the air venting. Follow me to the transport. The Envouira is waiting to take you out of here."

Switching to an internal helmet comm, Blaise said, "Captain St. Clare. We've found the survivors, and are going to depart soon. Something about them is odd though. I don't understand why, but every time they speak, waves of uneasiness was over me. It isn't rational, but it's here."

"I know, Blaise. I felt it too. We'll find out more when they're aboard. Hurry up and bring them aboard. We have company in system. One ship, and I haven't seen its like before."

"Understood," the officer replied. "I just spoke with the captain. It seems we have unknown company in system. If you don't mind me saying so, we need to leave the ship before it falls apart or our friends decide what to do."

With that, Blaise activated a signal in his gauntlet, and the gunship flew close towards them.

 

[Nyq]

Unknown Space, the Lwarp

"I see, we'll make haste then. We'll need to take the transmitter with us. Standard Gorstak procedure, apologies for that." The leader then turned towards their fellow survivors and shouted something before pointing at the gunship, causing them to stand up and start heading towards it. Those that cannot walk were carried by others, while three of them ran towards the distress beacon and pressed a few buttons, causing it's exterior plates to fall off and revealing a black-coloured box within alongside various electronics. The crew pried the box off and carried it into the gunship, followed by the leader.

 

[Succuboi]

Endoval System
Endoval IV
Western Lowlands
Contested Sein’Hae Land

Interaction: PixelSymphony Thrace Chuckles​

The Salvatore's landing onto the planet was a messy and nerve wracking affair as the ship attempted to breach the treeline. This jungle was a gargantuan and ancient beast, its trees unmoving sentinels far more resilient than even fortified strongholds. Repeatedly, the vessel bounced off particularly thick branches and tore through clusters of vines or leaves, each impact mauling at the hull and threatening to leave it a stranded wreck like so many others buried on the ground.

The bone-shaking impacts continued for several agonisingly long minutes as SIDNI would be put to its limit navigating without ending up entangled in the trees. Finally however, the ship touched down with an almighty crash, awkwardly coming to land on what looked like a patch of reasonably flat rocks. There was a loud creak and a crumbling sound as the ship leaned forward, the rocky terrain below giving way and collapsing a few feet into a swampy ditch, bringing the front landing gear with it. Mercifully, that seemed to be the extent of the collapse, leaving the Salvatore awkwardly parked on a slant with its cockpit staring down into a muddy pool of water.

As the sounds of the impact died out, even inside the ship the crew could hear an orchestra of noise outside as their landing had left wildlife scattering for safety. Screeches from above, hoots and bellows from all around, yet these sounds were getting quieter. It seemed they had avoided attracting the ire of any such creatures, as the ship was left be, the worst assault received caused by a few stray branches smashing down atop it from their impacts up above.

Interaction: GrieveWriter​

A tense quiet pervaded the area as the few IRDs left flying approached their quarry, giving a close up look of holes in the hull and what little of its exterior markings were still legible underneath rust, wear and foliage. The pods began filing in through gaps where they could find them, requiring light sources or other means of darkvision to view inside the hull. What they could make out was a chaotic mess; evidently this ship had been abandoned for several lifetimes, such was the sorry state that it was in. plants and small nests occupied many walls, nooks and gaps, and the floors seemed littered with vines and flowers.

A perceptive individual might note with some difficulty through the camera feeds, there appeared to be debris and particularly torn up plantlife in some areas of the ship, as if a battle had taken place here. The occasional beaten looking, crude weapon on the floor, a pile of strangely shaped metal plates or a few scattered bones, some of which still smoked faintly.

During its foray into what looked like a cargo bay, a lot more expansive than the rest of the ship, one IRD maneuvered around a corner and got itself caught on a vine, gently tugging at it as it tried continuing on its way. Yet, the vine seemed to be caught up in its chassis, causing it to veer a little off course and into another viney tendril, then another, then another. It had become stuck, its camera feed unable to identify the source of the hold, then it started to sputter and malfunction as the vines started secreting an oozing sap-like substance onto the IRD. The sap ate away at the pod, breaching holes in it and exposing its delicate innards to the unseen predator attempting to break in, its tendrils seeping into the IRD and sabotaging its interior. Burnish was left watching a dark cargo hold, the occasional sway of a vine and the sounds of his pod being damaged. The feed glitched and faltered, though managed to continue transmitting as the pod was jostled about and started moving a little, as if it were being carried.

-----

Many, many miles away from the crash site, the single IRD pod that was off course had begun clumsily sailing the skies, scanning the jungle from a safer distance. The rain clouds had been left behind for now. It weaved around mountaintops and large trees, eventually travelling up along a massive ravine that had split part of the jungle in two. A river flowed down below, and even from up high the pod could identify it as being teeming with peculiar aquatic life. The ravine’s cliffs were populated by bizarre alien reptiles of some kind, which clung to the rocky surfaces with claws, using long, flexible necks to reach down and drink from the river, or pull prey out from below its surface. Certainly a pretty and fascinating sight, but likely of little tactical advantage to Burnish.

What did seem promising however was nearer to the other end of the ravine as the pod followed its path, where it would find an overgrown hole in the cliffside at about water level. Even beneath all the plantlife it was easy to see that this hole was manmade, what with its neat semi-arch design and metal plating. A small, half-sunken platform jutted out from its front on both sides, with a narrow canal flowing into the hole, suggesting that this was some form of docking platform for a water-based craft. It looked disused, collections of bones and scattered debris strewn about around its entrance, though it remained open enough for an IRD pod to easily fly inside of for a look.

​

 

[GrieveWriter]

The Drokoi Consulate
Endoval System
Commander Burnish of the CF-Jorkhann

Interaction/Mention: RayPurchase Succuboi​

"⍙⊑⟟⌰⌇⏁ ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⌿⍀⟒⌇⟒⋏☊⟒ ⊑⟒⍀⟒ ⟟⌇ ⏃ ⏚⍀⟒⏃☊⊑ ⍜⎎ ⎍⋏⟟⍜⋏ ⌇⍜⎐⟒⍀⟒⟟☌⋏⏁⊬, ⍙⟒ ⊑⍜⌿⟒ ⏁⊑⏃⏁ ⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⍙⏃⌇ ⏃ ⍜⎐⟒⍀⌇⟟☌⊑⏁ ⏃⌇ ⍜⌿⌿⍜⌇⟒⎅ ⏁⍜ ⏃ ⌿⌰⏃⋏⋏⟒⎅ ⟟⋏☊⎍⍀⌇⟟⍜⋏. ⏁⊑⟒ ⎅⟟⌇⏁⍀⟒⌇⌇ ⏚⟒⏃☊⍜⋏ ⍜⍀⟟☌⟟⋏⏃⏁⟒⌇ ⎎⍀⍜⋔ ⍜⋏⟒ ⍜⎎ ⍜⎍⍀ ⌇⊑⟟⌿⌇, ⏃⋏⎅ ⏃⋏⊬ ⏃⏁⏁⟒⋔⌿⏁⌇ ⏁⍜ ⟟⋏⏁⟒⍀⎎⟒⍀⟒ ⍙⟟⏁⊑ ⏁⊑⟒ ⍀⟒⌇☊⎍⟒ ⍜⌿⟒⍀⏃⏁⟟⍜⋏ ⍙⟟⌰⌰ ⏚⟒ ⋔⟒⏁ ⍙⟟⏁⊑ ⏃ ⌇⟟⋔⟟⌰⏃⍀ ⍀⟒⌇⌿⍜⋏⌇⟒. ⏃⋏⊬ ⌇⎍⍀⎐⟟⎐⍜⍀⌇, ⏁⟒☊⊑⋏⍜⌰⍜☌⊬, ⍜⍀ ⋔⏃⏁⟒⍀⟟⏃⌰⌇ ⏃⍀⟒ ⎍⋏⟟⍜⋏ ⍜⍙⋏⟒⎅, ⏃⋏⎅ ⏃⋏⊬ ⋔⍜⎐⟒ ⏁⍜ ⌇⏃⌰⎐⏃☌⟒ ⍜⍀ ☊⌰⏃⟟⋔ ⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⎎⍜⍀ ⊬⍜⎍⍀⌇⟒⌰⎐⟒⌇ ⍙⟟⌰⌰ ⍜⋏☊⟒ ⏃☌⏃⟟⋏ ⍀⟒⌇⎍⌰⏁ ⟟⋏ ⏃ ⎎⍜⍀☊⟒⎎⎍⌰ ⍀⟒⌇⌿⍜⋏⌇⟒." Sir Norflux tapped at the console before him happily as the alien continued speaking, tiny hands flexing every once in a while as he hummed and cooed at what was displayed before him "⍙⟒ ⍙⟟⌇⊑ ⏁⍜ ⏃⎐⍜⟟⎅ ⏃⋏⊬ ☊⍜⋏⎎⌰⟟☊⏁ ⊑⟒⍀⟒. ⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⟟⌇ ⏃ ⌇⊑⟟⌿ ⍜⎎ ⍙⏃⍀, ⏚⎍⏁ ⏁⍜⎅⏃⊬ ⟟ ⟒⌖⏁⟒⋏⎅ ⏃⋏ ⍜⌰⟟⎐⟒ ⏚⍀⏃⋏☊⊑ ⏁⍜⍙⏃⍀⎅⌇ ⊬⍜⎍, ⟟ ⌇⏃⊬ ⏁⏃☍⟒ ⟟⏁"

And with a twist of a few knobs and a few flashing lights, comprehensible words began to ever so often filter through. Surprisingly enough, Sir Norflux found that much of the creature's tonal inflections were similar to a much softer version of the speech primarily used by the Drovakki. As a result, many of the Drovakki working on the Admiral's ship turned their heads as they took note of the translated words first.

"breach... sovereign... planned incursion...beacon... our ships... Union owned...forceful response... conflict... warship... branch... take it." came spewing out in something far more comprehensible to the Admiral's crew. All of which was still being overheard by Burnish as he paced throughout the entire conversation.

Hearing the words coming out of the translator, he narrowed his gaze before stepping forward and leaning over a rail to look down at several Drovakki and androids at a console before him, "Prime all forward facing weaponry." he stated.

"Sir?" a Drovakki asked while glancing back

"Just keep 'em ready to start firin', there was a whole lot o' shrahk in that sentence that I didn't like." he growled, hand clenching into a fist as the bridge crew moved to follow his orders. All across the Jorkhann, weapons systems that had previously been left on standby were now being brought out in full, with droids and Drovokki alike prepping munitions and generators for a combat scenario. Outwardly, lights began turning on along the Jorkhann's sides as the two sides of the ship extended ever so slightly from the central body, with a number of compartments opening among them.

This however, did not go unnoticed by Sir Norflux, who had been attempting to focus on translating the Alien creatures' and their language. When he began getting warnings that the Captain's ship had essentially entered into a battle-ready state, he reached over and reconnected him to the transmission, essentially turning his chat with the unknown aliens into a three way call. As soon as Burnish reappeared on the transmission, Sir Norflux leaned forward and went about figuring out what he was doing.

"Quoug ozusgri ulo iea jeot, Sukguyum?" he asked whilst continuing his work on the recieved translations

Burnish didn't hesitate to point towards the screen, "Theuke creaavureuk cannoav be avruukaved, trokoid! their worduk! theausan expandaumn inavo our averriavorausan wiavh warukhipuk!" he explained "noav gonna leav avhem caavch alnej parmab rog!"

It seemed the dear captain was convinced that these creatures were aggressive expansionists, and was feeling a tad uncomfortable in close proximity to them. This was not a good sign to both the Torkoid and the Admiral, who began aggresively calling for him to stand down until word from the Council came through. Sir Norflux rolled his eyes at this, everyone here knew the Council wouldn't be able to formulate a proper response for a while, the Admiral's Anti-Pirating fleet and the Nueropan Trade Union were the only sizable forces in this region thanks to that damn war with the Hivemind they were still stuck in. And in complicated situations like this, it almost seemed like the Council took longer to give any word or oversight. No, they would have to handle this themselves, and that meant Norflux would have to work quickly before any misunderstandings pushed things further.

Using what he'd translated so far, he was beginning to get a basic understanding of how the alien creatures formulated words. Its similarities to Drovakki were actually uncanny for a moment, but the Trokoid wasn't about to waste time worrying about coincidences. Instead, he hurried to type up some kind of response that they could give the creatures before Burnish's worry drove them to fire first.

"Gli chyuc, Sukguyum, iea nui hyumja yug nelo cayuguvro hel sennamyusugyuemc" he said whilst sending a hastily assembled jumble of broken Alien-Speak to Burnish.

"Ain'av avhiuk your buukineukuk!?!" Burnish grumbled at being made designated dignitary in spite of the Trokoid's position, but Sir Norflux was positive that any speech would be far more comprehensive to the creatures if passed through a Drovakki's mouth.

"Sukguyum." he said sternly, with Burnish eventually relenting and leaning towards the console.

His words were broken and he had to pause several times to sound stuff out, but finally a message was conveyed through no small amount of effort, "Warship...d-distressed...distress our ukhip... beacon p-planned presence... broughav oversight of Captain. Captain p-presence becauuke beacon d...distress."

Sir Norflux pinched the bridge of his nose, the Captain's attempt at communication was essentially assembled piecemeal out of what the translator had managed to rip from the given communications. It was as much of a jumbled mess as one could expect for such a hastily made response, and there was far too much Drovakki slipped in for his liking. He could only hope such words could stall the coming of blows long enough for him to be able to translate more of the messages and assemble something the Captain would have an easier attempt at sounding out.

​

But for now, Burnish grumbled at the words he was sounding out. They tasted wrong on his tongue and he hated it, he flexed his fingers before taking a step back and flexing his neck muscles. But he didn't have long after his attempt at speech before the Overseer rom before called to him. Turning away from the forward console, he looked over another rail towards the Overseer just as they pulled up images from the IRD Pods. They finally had eyes inside the vessel, and Burnish was not pleased by what he saw. He had at first been entertaining the idea that the signal had been a trap set by these creatures in orderto lure them out to attack. But as he looked over the ship, he was forced to admit that the signal seemed to have been the result of some kind of brawl that took place in its halls.

Given the creature that had assaulted one of the pods earlier, and the primitive nature of a number of busted weapons found amongst the carnage, he was now under the impression that the jungle had some sort of primitive sapients that had fought something in there. Primitive sapients were much more of the Consulate's expertise, as they'd come across several in their time amongst the stars. And from visuals alone, Burnish was feeling pretty confident that he was at least close with his approximation. However, this information didn't help them identify the true nature of the creatures they were in a standoff with. It was definitely one of their ships, but Burnish had grown increasingly determined to gather some kind of tactical information the longer this standoff continued.

Instead, he got yet another drone being disabled by the jungles exceptionally hostile wildlife, a plant this time that had managed to get the machine stuck in more vines. How many had that been? Far too many in the Captain's opinions, they only had so many eyes inside that vessel now, and the signs of recent battle had convinced him that there were dangers about than they'd even seen so far. Thankfully, the drone's feed hadn't been interrupted, which he considered a saving grace, as it would still be able to catch sight of anything moving around down there. But as it was dragged off, he found himself raising an eyebrow before turning to yet another feed the Overseer was observing.

Somehow, beyond all of the expectations that had been instilled by that congested nightmare of a forest, the single damaged drone was still going strong in its survey of the area away from the ship. It showed an extremely diverse picture of animals and plantlife, with a ravine rife with life that reminded Burnish of several forest planets he'd seen before. It was such a natural and relatively tranquil sight that it almost looked completely different from the jungle that had been swallowing up his pods one after another. The Consulate could gain much from a planet like this, but it offered even less than what the ship did in terms of tactical significance.

Or at least, that was what Burnish assumed.

But then the Overseer brought something else to the Captain's attention, a structure that the pod had spotted below that was undoubtedly made by something more than mere primitives. It was in a state of overgrowth as well, and its metal build had Burnish thinking that it was a similar remains of whatever the Aliens had left on the planet. He cursed himself for focusing on the ship alone now, even though he had no way of knowing there could be more sources of intel on the planet. And with the alien ship in the way, the idea of sending more pods down was out of the question for now.

He had a choice to make here, and it wasn't easy. Though it wasn't a vessel, another source of intel was far too tempting to just pass up. And so far the area beyond the jungle had proven at least notably less hostile, but the drone was already damaged in its tussle with the avian creatures earlier. It wouldn't take much to put it out of commission, and Burnish wanted to know if there were more overgrown wrecks. But time was of the essence, and very quickly the situation up in orbit could turn bad.

"Assume direct control and get eyes in there touchin' as little of the fauna as possible." he ordered the Overseer who nodded as it brought the solo drone towards the structure with careful yet unbalanced movements due to its damage.

The Rustafan Raiders
Unknown Space, Morfus

Interaction/Mention: Nyq The Governor​

"Hey boss! We got it! Ready to transmit on your orders!" one of the raiders shouted whilst preparing to contact the vessels before them

"Get ready to fire!" the Boss shouted as she approached the head of the bridge "Send a signal to our kin in case they's filth got any tricks up their sleeves!"

Soon enough they hailed the vessels, with many grunts of eager confusion coming from the raiders as they realized the creatures they were contacting weren't Drovakki or Trokoid. But that mattered little to the Boss, who hadn't even looked at the screen and instead immediately began displaying just how royally their quarries had messed up by trying to take their pickings from them.

"Greeavinguk weaklaumn ukcum!" She greeted with the appropriate number of insults whilst pacing angrily and gesturing to herself "jiak kij katu avo delivas meukukage ro nalkren vadokan lat liwo ukoon be."

Spinning, she pointed towards them accusingly with a snarl of rage "Savealaumn pickinguk awaausan ukhall be puniukhun wiavh immediaave deukavrucavion!"

Slamming a fist into her palm, she stomped a foot on the ground before clenching a fist in front of her face, "Trausan avo mat like ukoldier, filavh!"

Gesturing to her crew, she pointed towards the ship on display "Blaukav avhem!" she ordered, and soon the Morfus opened fire with energy beams blasting from protrusions at the head of the vessel. The energy beams were obviously targeting both the Envouira and the Lwarp due to their close proximity. Collateral damage didn't seem to be much of a thought for the attackers as they moved to continue their assault.

 

[Albion]

Interactions: The Governor , ThatGoldenCrisp RayPurchase
As the last ceramic plates are fitted into place and the centrifuge begins spinning, the cheers of several construction workers crackle over the tightbeams, pleased with the progress. The construction ships spool up for the necessary hour as the workers celebrate a job well done and prepare for the ride home, warping away. All that remains is a small cluster of ships - a few frigates and seven corvettes - a small, but capable force to ward off pirates - as well as the station looming in space. Rather than an outpost to claim the system, however, it is intended as a diplomatic station, a neutral meeting ground for any nations that wish to meet with the Polities. The shuttles attached to one of the frigate's docking hatches smoothly detach, gliding to the now finished station. As the staff enters and begins turning on systems, the broad communications array attached to the top of the station begins pinging several stars, cycling through common languages as they do. The message is the same, however; "Attention. If you are receiving this message and are capable of travelling, please meet at the following coordinates to initiate diplomatic contact with the Reorganized Orionic Polities." What follows is a string of coordinates leading to the diplomatic station.

Interactions: Heterological
As the science cruiser Farfoot returns to normal speeds within the next system on its list, the crew notices several subspace signals pinging each other within. Further examination shows the habitable world within is colonized. After several minutes of discussion - fleeing is not an option, due to the fifteen minute cool down time and hour spooling time of the ship - the crew opts to send a few simple comms tests, cycling through binary as well as several Terran languages in an effort to find a common ground.

Meanwhile, in the domestic sphere...

With the Shipbuilder's contracts secured and their supplies quickly being moved into place, celebration takes place within the organization as new contracts for several warships are secured, a boon for the workers in the otherwise low season between quarterly projects. Already the workers eagerly begin constructing the frames for the three hulking Skysplitters as well as the seven Watchman frigates and the twelve Wavedance corvettes. The increased activity in the shipyards over Magnolia, Eutropos, and Vulcan is a welcome sight to several other unions, the increased requests for steel, tungsten and other metals needed for the ships setting the Metallurgist's Union to work as well.

Additionally, the discussion of the terraformation of Auriga, a tundra planet in a particularly mineral rich system, has set several unions buzzing, with local chapters already clamoring for the contract. The lucrative process of making terraforming equipment always leads to higher quality contracts for those chapters later on, but the lack of terraforming efforts in the past seven years have dampened the efforts of several chapters of the Geoscaping Unions, many of whom border on bankruptcy as their workers are poached by the Shipbuilders and Agricultural Unions.

The combined efforts of Magnolia, Eutropos, and Yangtze have born fruit as a new contract is issued, with plans for a research station in the aptly titled "Tiamat" system, where the interaction between the quasar and blackhole within create fascinating scentific phenomena. The science teams being hired on include some of the best and brightest, and there are hopes that the study of these interactions could lead to breakthroughs in shielding and artificial gravity technology.

 

[PixelSymphony]

Endoval System
Endoval IV
Western Lowlands
Contested Sein’Hae Land

---

Xi found herself being tossed about the bridge of the Salvatore far more than she'd expected even with knowledge of the emergency Seth was emulating. Thankfully her straps held, holding her in place as the ship ricocheted off massive trees with thick branches and surprisingly elastic vines, until finally their tumltuous decent had ended, the ship coming to rest at a less-than-reassuring angle that threatened to pitch them into the murky deep at any moment. "Well," Xi began, pulling off her straps and clambering up the no longer level deck, "if your intent was to emulate a crash landing with no control whatsoever, I must commend you on your skill in replicating such." She listened as the hallmarks of their arrival began to slowly fade away, leaving only the occasional groan from the hull to accompany her thoughts. "I will meet you in the common room; do not tarry." And with that she toggled the rear bulkhead to permit her exit from the control center.

In the common room proper, she continued to eye their last-minute addition to the mission, who seemingly stood against the fall in the far corner looking back as she began her final checks on her equipment. Many of the items she had picked up were simply survival gear; she'd been able to quickly research Endoval IV and its somewhat jungle-like environ, and had picked and packed accordingly. Water circulators, rapid self-hydrating foods, even things as simple as comm signal boosters, all had been in her kit, and in the kit she'd made up for Seth, highly suspecting that jungle survival was not on his list of proficiencies. There were aslso slightly more mission-specific items; shoulder mounted optical recording devices, auto data-drive cloners, item retrieval sacks, lock-breakers, code-cyphers, even a small arc welder in case they literally needed to cut their way through a wall for whatever reason. And then there were the things that truly indicated what kind of mission they were undertaking; armor vests, ammo pouches, explosives, and a rifle a piece: in Seth's bag an assault rifle of fairly common design, in hers a DMR suitable for longer ranges. In truth, while both were certainly effective weapons in their own right, she was very much hoping not to need them, as in pretty much any confrontation they were highly liable to be extremely outmanned and outgunned; still, it never hurt to carry protection.

Once Xi finished her check and strapped the final piece of gear to herself that she would need, she looked to the others. "Ensure your equipment is ready, then let us depart; every moment we waste we risk being found by those who intended to track us earlier." She popped open the crew hatch anew and waited for the pressure to equalize before clambering down the ladder to the ground, the humidity hitting her like a wave of steam from an iron. The ground was soft with verdant growth, and all about her the surrounding plant life threatened to swallow up any vestigate of her ability to navigate. However, the Triple-Eye had trained her exactly for these sorts of situations, there were certainly more than one way to skin a cat but for the moment she would rely on the relative positioning system she had synced up her mil-surp comp-pad she had strapped to her arm. With a wave to follow her, she slowly began making her way quitely into the jungle green. "Stay low and remain quiet."

Chuckles Thrace Succuboi

 

[The Governor]

Unknown Space, Lwarp

As the gunship took off, the pilot noticed several beam weapons firing, and spun the gunship in furious arcs to avoid them. They had just left the interior of the Lwarp, and fortunately for them, the relative safety of the Envouira's hangar was close by. Blaise could see the weapons fire through the Pegasus viewports, and wondered if the newly arrived enemies would be bold enough to board a ship filled with veteran mercenaries. Whatever the newcomers decided, Blaise would be preparing for their arrival.

He turned on a comm and said, "Oliver. I'm still outside, heading back towards the ship. I don't know who these enemies are, but get ready for them to board. I want us to be ready."

"Way ahead of you sir," replied Midshipman Oliver Banks, second in command of Lampago Company. As he spun the barrels on a rotary laser cannon, he said, "The Captain had the same idea already. We're also under fire, so your landing may be a bit challenging. See you soon."

Unknown Space, Envouira Bridge

"I didn't understand a word of that," Captain St. Clare said on the bridge. "It doesn't matter though. They've fired on us. Cut power to main engines, and to life support on cargo and storage decks. Divert it all to forward weapons and shields. Damage control teams in place, prepare the jump drive in case we need a quick exit. All hands, prepare for battle and open fire. We're about to show them we're no cargo ship!"

Although she hadn't understood the transmission, St. Clare suspected the new ship was filled with pirates intent on taking the goods from the damaged Lwarp. And although she intended to defend the Envouira, she also understood the Lwarp was probably low on supplies from the hole they had blasted into the side of it. The derelict wasn't worth taking major losses to her crew and ship over. Once the survivors were safe and the jump drive was ready, she planned on leaving the system.

For now, the Envouira's kinetic batteries and turbolasers were aimed and firing straight at the pirates' ship.

 

[Nyq]

Unknown Space, the Lwarp Survivors

With the gunship spinning in furious arcs, the survivors began to panic as they instantly knew what it meant. While they would've been relatively calm about it on a normal day, they had been stuck in a ruined ship and were waiting for their deaths just a few hours ago. The stress from being attacked, even when they were under protection now, in a completely foreign environment was their last straw. Chaos broke loose within the survivors, some screamed, some bawled, some curled up and became irresponsive, while some started attacking whoever is in sight, screaming incoherent insults that not even the eldritch translation technology utilized by the Gorstak is able to process. Those who remain strong enough to not succumb to the hysteria can only watch in silence.

 

[GrieveWriter]

The Rustafan Raiders
Unknown Space, Morfus
Interaction/Mention: Nyq The Governor​

"Look's like we's gettin' a fight, my lads!!!" the Boss shouted as the Bridge of the Morfus was drowned in roars and cheers.

As the Gunship made for the Envouira, the Morfus moved in a slight arc to get a better aim on the rear portions of the Envouira. As it was pelted by retaliatory lasers, the Morfus released several modified civilian transport ships that opened fire as they sped for the vessel in a chaotic frenzy. Of course, many were caught up in the crossfire between the larger ships, but the remainder focused on giving their quarries more lines of defense to focus on. Two even sighted the gunship as a target and attempt to manuever through the Envouira's retaliation in order to fire upon it.

Inside the Morfus' bridge, the ship's boss was grinning ear to ear as she ordered for the ship to turn on its side so they could focus aft-mounted weaponry on the vessel with ease. As the ship began to turn, blasts struck its shield over and over again. Upon seeing that their own lasers had similar effect on their quarry's shield, she cooed in delight.

"Ooh, so its to see which goes down first, eh?" she grumbled to herself, glancing away as a hand waved for her attention "What?"

The pirate who had called for her immediately pointed to his console, which blinked with a light indicative of someone attempting to contact them, "Its the missus, boss! Think we went past our check-in time!"

The boss gritted her teeth, the prospect of battle having taken her mind off of the boredom the day was supposed to be. They were supposed to be keeping an eye out for any traders who moved through this area, many of whom fled instead of standing their ground when attacked. They sailed under the Unquenchable's banner, and therefore had to report their haul and findings to her so she could coordinate their movements easier. But there was no way that they could divert attention away from the brawl before them, and the Boss yelled as much.

"Tell her we's in a scrap," she shouted before nodding "she'll understand. And somebody get those aft-blasters pre-charged, first volley's gotta be a big one!"

As it turned, moving in an arc now instead of a direct push, the Morfus' aft-mounted blasters began visibly charging as they readied to fire.

 

[Chuckles]

The Tel’tsu Commonwealth
Unknown system
SF-Vlaycli

persons of interest
Captain Awundhersun Toezeer
Major Āhmz Aikkirow

Vlaycli floated silently through space on a trajectory for a nearby planet. Her engines were dark, allowing maintenance crews the benefit of zero gravity to operate at various unorthodox angles in making ship repairs as they coasted along.

For the majority of the crew work continued as normal, whether buckled into a workstation or enjoying the freedom of zero g, there were few tasks that occurred on the ship that couldn’t be accomplished in this state. Hails continued to be sent out as computers broke down the various signals they could receive from the system, AI linguistics working to decipher a functional communication method.

A monitor on the comms deck flashed as a new signal appeared on the scans.

“Sir, picking up a ship that just dropped into sub-light.” The petty officer at the station announced, “They are transmitting multiple test signals, our computers seem to have a fix on one as binary, others seem to be native linguistics, the system is processing.”

The comms chief floated over and took a look at the display. “Doesn’t match the original sources we’ve gathered from the system. Single ship, may be another exploration vessel.” Turning she moved back to the command station and opened the bridge channel. “Unknown craft has entered the system, broadcasting signals in language patterns that do not match initial system signals. Form of binary and, from early computer models, Terran. Linguistics deciphering a direct communications protocol. Awaiting further orders”

On the bridge Captain Toezeer’s feathers flexed up slightly as he thought. They had encountered a plethora of Terran signals through the decades but had never made contact with any of the species that belonged to them. From their initial models it appeared to be a loose conglomerate of nations sharing some similar heritage. The distinction was only so helpful because they seemed to use a number of different linguistic variations with only some apparently stemming from the same base language. It had taken some years for their linguistics AI to even realize some of the signals were related at all. They had stumbled into this system by sheer chance, and now they found themselves in the unique situation of doing so at the same moment in history that another species did.

The Captain had the same thought his comms Chief had, perhaps this was an exploration vessel. “Send a hail, native binary and whatever Terran linguistics the computers have enough information to make a confident guess at ‘hello’.” He commanded, then switched his com off and turned to his aid. “Request Major Aikkirow report to the bridge.”

“On the bridge sir.” The major reported as she floated up the ladderwell. “I believe you’ve made history Captain, three first contacts in less than one day. Exciting.” She offered a quick salute.

The Captain returned the salute, “It will be more historic if we only get shot at once. In our current condition I’m not sure we’d survive another engagement long enough to have the contacts verified to fourth fleet command.”

“With your permission sir,” Aikkirow paused for the Captain to nod, “as diverse as the Terran signals we’ve picked up are, surely they are a relatively peaceful group to have such a diverse conglomeration of linguistics?”

“One would hope.” The Captain replied.

Albion

 

[Albion]

Interactions: Chuckles
Solar Space
The sleek form of the exploration cruiser hovered in space contemplatively. Then, suddenly, they received a ping from a single signal in the outer zone of the star's influence. The crew rushed about, preparing the comms relay. Several dishes slowly turned, angling towards the ship to ensure a full transfer of packets. The First Officer aboard the bridge paused, finding humor in the alien's greeting. No doubt they were just using whatever data they had available, but he still felt a sense of irony as he transferred back the other half of the greeting. "Wa alaykumu s-salam," He murmured, nodding his head as he signalled the Comms officer to begin transferring a full language docket of basic Magnolian language - very similar to Terran, but with language deviations that originate from spending several centuries in isolation. Once the transfer was complete, the First Officer waited for several seconds, looking out the viewport. Finally he turned to the screen and nodded to the Comms officer, transferring a simple video communication offer to the alien vessel, his hands instinctively smoothing down his uniform as he waited for them to accept or deny the call.
Domestic Space - Tiamat System
The construction ship slowly warps into the system, careful to stay far away. While it has emergency warp functions, it's better not to risk it. Eventually it stabilizes its orbit, then begins launching drones as well as small teams of engineers to carry the metal within its berth to the necessary spot, the framework of the research station slowly being put together with great care. it's slow going work due to the delicacy of the systems involved as well as the immense gravity they are fighting against.
Auriga System
The geoscaping union sets to work beginning preparations on Auriga, digging up natural carbon fuel deposits and beginning to fire them to start up the greenhouse gas process. Debates continue within the organization as to whether sun reflectors will be needed. Everything is still very early on, however, so there's plenty of time to decide. The residents of Auriga - mostly frontier trappers looking to collect Klaxu furs - grumble and complain, but the polities have voted on it, so there's no point but to get what they can.
Vulcan, Eutropos, Magnolia
Vulcan gets a headstart in building new ships, with their proximity to the metallurgy guilds allowing them to get started two days before Magnolia and Eutropos. The competition between the chapters is intense, as each planet hopes to be the first to complete their designated ships.

 

[Chuckles]

The Tel’tsu Commonwealth
Unknown system
SF-Vlaycli

persons of interest
Captain Awundhersun Toezeer
Major Āhmz Aikkirow

The AI display on the comms deck flashed an alert, it was receiving a massive linguistics packet. The crew exchanged celebratory pats on the back and congratulations. It was a historic moment, they hadn’t had this kind of direct communication with another sentient race since first contact with the Mika, and even they were hardly what one would call spacefaring at the time.

With the new data the AI was able to unlock puzzles it had been working on for decades, if not longer, and soon they had an entirely new mode of communication. A similar linguistics packet was returned to the vessel containing the basic Avarian language and what connections the AI had already made with both Terran and Magnolian, anything they could offer to quicken the translation process.

The news was relayed to the bridge where another round of polite celebrations occurred. Major Aikkirow gave a slight bow to her captain, the feathers on her head flaring in respect of an achievement, before a return to calm professionalism. The Vid display flickered as the direct line was hailed. Captain Toezeer activated his mag boots and stood from his chair, “It’s an honor sharing this moment with you.” he addressed the crew for a moment. Momentarily the comms deck signaled that the AI had cracked a rudimentary translation program robust enough for direct visual communication. The captain's feathers rustled with excitement, he took a deep breath, “On screen.”

“This is Captain Awundhersun Toezeer, SF Vlaycli, exploration and first contact group, Fourth Fleet of the Glorious Union for the common wealth of the Empire of Tel’tsu. On behalf of High Lord Isoh and the Glorious Union, I am honored to make this first contact between our two species.”

Albion

Seth Libanori
Shit, meet fan.
Endoval IV
Western lowlands
Contested Sein’Hae Land

“Yeah, let’s see you park a ship this big in the middle of this mess.” Seth quipped. “Shut up Sid.“ He preempted any smart remarks from SIDNI as smacked a few switches down as the ship settled on the uneven terrain.

Making his way to the common room he sorted through the pack of equipment Xi had picked up on the Astral Flame. “Well that’s nice.” He pulled out the assault rifle. She had certainly been well prepared, though some of the things were redundant, she hadn’t known about his exosuit at the time after all. He left the armor vest, strapped the ammo pouches to various hard points on his suit, attached the optical recorder and data drivers, and strapped the arc welder to the supply rack on the suit’s back plate. Moments like this always made him glad he had procured the suit, it made carrying loads more or less effortless.

“You really came prepared for a fight.” Seth commented, “seems like you had the right idea.” He attached his plasma pistol in its holster in place on the right thigh plate of the suit. He glanced at their third member, who had been as untalkative and generally strange as Xi had been on their initial flight together, and nodded. “Let’s go salvage some goodies shall we?”

As the exterior hatch opened SIDNI wished them her sarcastic ”Hope you don’t die! Have a nice day!”

He followed Xi into the jungle.

PixelSymphony Thrace

 

[Albion]

Chuckles
Solar Space, Exploration Cruiser Farfoot
The seconds dragged on as the communications array received the linguistics packet and the computers began parsing through them, using the connections between Terran and Magnolian to translate before finally creating the necessary translation program. Then the First Officer stood, waiting before the camera as the other ship prepared itself for video communications. Once the link was established, he looked at the viewscreen. It rendered a fascinating looking creature. If the viewscreen was drawing to scale - which it should be - the captain of the other vessel was a good deal shorter than him, with strange feathers atop his head. Adil assumed it was a him, anyway - biological information was not on the screen, since it tended to clutter. Once the captain finished his greeting, Adil bowed, giving himself a moment as he considered a few things. Clearly this nation was much more centralized than their polities. Straightening his back, he offered his counterpart a soft smile without teeth, unsure if showing them would be aggressive. "I am Adil al-Mansur, elected first officer of this ship and representative of the Reorganized Orionic Polities within this system. It is my pleasure to receive your greeting on behalf of the worlds and unions of my homeland. I would be interested in docking and meeting in the flesh, if it is possible for both our species'. It is customary back on my homeworld of Eutropos to give gifts to new friends, after all." He says with easy charm (the same charm that got him elected - Second Officer Ramirez is more competent, but the First Officer is the polities' representative in any first contact scenario.) "If it is not possible, however, we will not begrudge you for it. This is an excellent day for our people regardless."

 

[Thrace]

Not a single word had escaped the mercenary's mouth between when she had joined the improvised team on board of the Salvatore and their arrival in the orbit of the planet that was to be their target. It wouldn't have been too weird to assume that she was either mute or that she couldn't speak Galactic Standard - but she was certainly more than able to understand it. She nodded along during Seth's brief tour of the ship, actually seemed to pick a room that was unoccupied, and even slightly smiled to his joke about shooting her, but said absolutely nothing in return. She just then returned to the common room and carefully tended to her rifle in silence, checking it, messing with some of its components, and cleaning it. She finished that in just a few minutes, but instead of finding something else to do, she just remained there, sitting on a chair. Not even Xi's return seemed to budge her in the slightest - giving her just as much attention as she had given Seth, and merely nodding to what had been told to her, not giving any indication as to whether she had actually been given such a duty or not. She however seemed to be pretty well prepared for the mission ahead. Besides from the armor suit that was partially hidden by her uniform, her rifle and her sword, she was also carrying a small, metallic backpack of unknown origins - the only clue being a vague symbol that had once been a twelve-pointed star.

The mercenary kept her stoic vigil as the ship finally departed, even if she did take a look at Xi's supplies now and again. She had clearly decided against sleeping or doing much, and not enough time had passed between their departure from the Astral Flame and their arrival near the planet for the others to have fully noted that, and her acting as the human equivalent of a statue did slightly help her remain unnoticed, as if she was just a part of the ship. The blaring of the alarms was the first thing that actually seemed to attract her attention seriously since her arrival, but even then, she wasn't able or willing to do much, other than strapping herself down to the her seat and being thrown around as they crashed into the planet. The experience once again didn't seem to affect her at all, and she actually remained where she was for at least another minute after Xi left the common room without moving - but as the other two were getting ready to leave, she suddenly sprang to her feet - and said something for the first time.

"Preparing for a fight is wise.", she finally mentioned, as the hatch of the ship was opening. Her voice was pretty soft - and yet somewhat hoarse, as if she wasn't that used to talking out loud - which wasn't that surprising, all things considered. "If there are others on this planet chances are that they're after the same thing we are. But we should be careful. We would be unable to return with any salvaged technology if we die - if the odds will be against us, we can leave and find another way to return." She removed the safety from her rifle, as she followed Seth and Xi into the jungle. "If such a thing happens..I shall distract the enemies and give you two time to escape.", she mentioned hesitatingly,

 

[The Governor]

Unknown Space, Envouira Bridge

As volleys of laser fire continued to connect with the Envouira's shields, the ship shook, and its shields dropped at a similar rate to those of the enemy.

"Continue the attack, redirect all non-essential power to shields and engines. Jacob, bring us around to face them."

"Yes, Captain," Ensign Larousse answered. As he did so, power was redirected, and the Envouira moved quickly through space as it turned, its white turbolasers lighting the dark vacuum before hitting the pirate shields. When the next volley impacted the Envouira, Captain St. Clare felt the impact, and almost fell to the ground. She caught herself on a tactical display though, and looked at its backlit information as the power redirects left the much of the bridge in darkness. The shields were holding, and the drive was nearly ready, but they needed to wait a little longer.

Unknown Space, Pegasus Gunship Interior

As the Gorstak began to lose their minds aboard the gunship, Blaise became concerned. Not because some of the Gorstak were attacking them. The commandos' armor could more than handle physical attacks from smaller humanoids. Some were fighting their restraints though, which would make them very unsafe if the transport actually took a hit.

He pressed a button in his gauntlet. The pilot received the signal, and suddenly the gravity of the ship increased many times its normal setting. All of the Renegade personnel hoped it would help keep the Gorstak safe for the remainder of the journey. The pilot could see the hangar, and in spite of the combat situation, they were almost there.

Then the gunship shook hard, and the port auto turrets became unresponsive. As the shields over the hangar dropped, the pilot deployed all of the emergency drag measures, as well as the reverse thrusters. The ship slowed down, although not completely, and slammed into the metal hangar deck before sliding to a halt far from its usual docking space. When it finally stopped, the doors opened, and the gravity on the ship shut off. It had been replaced by the Envouira's Earth like gravity and atmosphere.

 

[GrieveWriter]

The Drokoi Consulate
Interaction/Mention: Albion
Empty Space, The Gourmanti
​

Far from any known planet in consulate space, a large warship drifted in the vastness of space. Many of lights were off, with others flickering as sparks emerged from others. The ship was in a blatant state of disrepair, the signs of battle evident on its entire form, in some places sections had been completely torn open and bared to the empty vacuum of space. From some of these damaged sections, the corpses of Drovakki floated out along with something else, something unnatural.

The bridge of the vessel was a bloody mess, the poisonous fluid that flowed through the Drovakki had been spilt everywhere. Bodies, heaps of mangled flesh, the entire place would be devoid of life if not for the figures lumbering around its bridge. They halted in their movements as a message reached them, empty glowing eyes turning to look forward as the Gourmanti automatically accepted the signal. The figures were unable to give a response, but could hear the alien words of the Polities' call. The message began to loop, echoing throughout many empty halls, with the lumbering figures unable to interpret it.

But they were not the only ones aboard the Gourmanti who could have heard it, for far deeper in the facility a figure peaked out from the busted auto-sliding door of what had been the munitions facility. Not too long ago, the majority of the munitions figure had been detonated from within, leaving a gaping hole nearby that had many of the lumbering figures writhing and floating in space. The airless atmosphere seemed inconsequential to the figures, who writhed even as inertia led them to float out in the great emptiness.

​

Watching several from a window was a large Drovakki coated in the blood of his own people, or at least what had once been her own people. A hulking form with numerous old wounds, this Drovakki tightened her grip on a massive cleaver that tapped against the floor beside her. She heard beeping from behind, and turned to look back at the only other surviving members of the Gourmanti's crew. An engineer who was working an extremely focused cutting apparatus on an unmoving mech, and the Trokoid who resided in said mech. With no functioning legs and only one capable arm, the mech was more of a hindrance now than a boon. Besides, the last of its munitions had been expended when they destroyed the rest of the Munitions facilities.

The mech had started beeping, something the cleaver-wielding giant knew from her years of experience meant they were receiving a message.

"That sound..." she grumbled in a throaty growl that caused the engineer to look back to her "Lady Nurstrom, are there-?"

"Stifle that hope of yours, dear cook." a voice called out from the mech "It comes not from the Gourmanti."

"What?" the Engineer returned to cracking open the busted up mech "That mean we got rescue incoming or-?"

"You know that's not it, Grus." the Cleaver-Wielder said as she turned back to look at the emptiness of space once more "This far out, I'm thinkin' pirates. Meaning we gotta blast this ship faster than I thought."

"Not quite that, either." the Trokoid chimed as the Engineer finally began wrenching open the mech's entranceway

"Then traders? If we can tell them to keep a distance we might still have a chance, Norlaq!" Grus turned to the giant "We can still blast Zen and get off this rotting hunk of metal!"

"Not that either, dear." a green Trokoid with a long-neck finally poked her head out of the mech before turning to gesture towards a broken screen inside her machine "Its aliens."

"Excuse me?" Norlaq grunted "Don't know if you've noticed but this ain't exactly the time for games, Nurstrom, Zen ain't gonna wait to turn the Swallowed on us again, we gotta-"

"No games, watch." Lady Nurstrom gestured to the screen before tapping a button on the side of it "Most of its unknown, but some of its rather promising."

"Ptaual. sjek wux re receiving nomeno charric vur re capable di travelling, petranas tafiaf sva wer wiilirkir coordinates ekess initiate diplomatic contact mrith wer reorganized orionic polities"

"Orionic Polities?" Grus looked to Lady Nurstrom as Coordinates passed along her screen "What exactly is we lookin' at here?"

Norlaq groaned, "Whoever it is, alien or not, its a fishin' line for contact with others. Ya heard that didn't ya?"

Looking over the coordinates, Lady Nurstrom turned to look up to the two Drovakki "These coordinates are closer than any Consulate Space in the area. even with the ship in its current state, it could-"

"No..." Norlaq shook her head "We'd have to bring the Gourmanti close, ain't lettin' Zen get its slimy mug anywhere close to anyone. If it even gets a chance you know it'll take it!"

"My apologies, chef, but I don't necessarily feel satisfied dying aboard this mess." Lady Nurstrom reached back inside the mech and pulled several wires, after a few trails of smoke emerged, she soon hopped out of the mech with the entire console the scree had been attached to dangling off her form with several thick cables "We get to Security and override the Bridge's control of the ship, then we make it to Emergency Avionics and get us close to those coordinates. Then we can destroy the vessel after taking our leave."

"You're mad if you think I'd ever help with that!" Norlaq stepped forward before gesturing towards the Trokoid with her Cleaver "I didn't gut my own staff and fight through a horde of Swallowed just to get a buncha prissy diplomats swallowed by that bastard! They won't even have any idea what'd be tearin' its way into they's lil' meet n' greet!"

"We could warn them?"

Both Norlaq and Lady Nurstrom turned to Grus as he slipped his cutter into a toolpack on his back and bent down to pull a large blaster out from under a nearby overturned cabinet "I ain't fit to go dyin' in here, but I ain't about to blindside them alien folk either." he said before jerking a thumb to the door "Comms is on the way from here to security. It should have a checkpoint we can stock up at. Think you can get a warning out to them xenos, Lady?"

Nurstrom reached back and pulled the console around to look at it, "It would seem their own translating equipment is rather good. The words they sent actually had vocal specifics similar to what you and yours use. So if I keep wording simple we should be able to get them something decent, I'd just need some time without Zen interrupting."

Both she and Grus turned to Norlaq, who looked out the viewport again as one of the Swallowed thrashed and swung its bloated and disfigured arms through the space around it. Even with its body molded and torn into something unnatural, she could still see the ID of one of the Maintenance Crew on its chest. Squeezing her eyes shut, she glanced back to what was the last of the Gourmanti's Unswallowed crew.

"If even one part of your plan goes south, I'm taking this ship down with us." she stated as she turned and made for the door "Keep the Trok safe, Grus, no matter what we end up doin she's the only one who can kickstart this dump's destruction."

When all was said and done, the Trio made their way back into the depths of the Gourmanti. Throughout the vessel, the Polities message echoed on repeat, with nobody on the Bridge or in Comms to to stop or regulate it, the message would continue on repeat until a new one was received. When it wasn't punctuated by the sounds of roaring Swallowed or the blasts of the Trio's weaponry, the message became the only tangible sound in many parts of the Gorumanti. It continued until half an hour later, they managed to reach Comms.

Finally, the Polities' Diplomatic Station would receive a garbled yet legible message. The Display was fuzzy and out of focus, but a small creature could be seen working a console desperately as numerous figures moved in the background.

It looked away from the console to call out to something behind it, only to be briefly lit up by the flashes of a laser weapon blasting somewhere beyond the little station it had settled at. Reaching down, it brought up a screen and leaned towards the console before speaking.

"Danger.... Danger here... Ship Swallowed... Enemy on Ship... Warning..." was what it was translated as saying, struggling to carefully word its speech "Coordinates... receive... trying escape...prepare... danger."

Eventually, its words were briefly cut off by a hulking figure smashing through another console behind the small creature. Jerking its head back, the visual feed went fuzzy as the figure chased it off. The visual feed went dark, but the audio gave the sound of a weapon firing several more times before it went silent as well.

The Rustafan Raiders
Unknown Space, The Morfus

Interaction/Mention: Nyq The Governor​

The Morfus continued to trade blasts with the Envouira, its ships flickering just as dangerously as theirs. Even so, the Pirate Boss seemed to only grow more excited the more hectic the situation become. She watched with a massive grin as the two ships continued pelting each other's shields with laser blasts. Behind her, several pirates were running around as an alarm blared throughout. Several were crowded around one Drovokki who was desperately trying to maintain the shield under prolonged combat. Having evacuated several portions of the Morfus and shutting down life support in those areas in order to keep up with the energy needs, certain portions of the vessel were getting more and more crowded.

Another Pirate was getting a denser patch of sweat forming on his brow as he watched the shields strain with all the damage they'd had to deflect, they'd be relying on the vessel's armor afterwards. But mirroring his boss, he too only sported a massive smile as he turned and called out the strained shields to his fellow marauders.

"No biggie, that dinky little tub's gonna have to turn up the heat if they want's to cut through our passion, lads!" the Boss shouted, only for a fellow marauder to reach over and clap her on the shoulder "Oi, what you doin'?"

"Lookie boss!" he pointed to another display "Some o the lads got past!"

Envouira Hangar
​

While the vast majority of the retro-fitted vessels they used as fighters had been utterly decimated whilst trying to get through the laser light show that formed between the two ships, just over half a dozen had made it through. While most had focused on attacking the Envouira's less defended flanks, two had other goals in mind.

Having just barely made it past the crossfire, the Pegasus Gunship hadn't been the only ship to slide into the Hangar. Not a second after they'd made it through, one of the Rustafan fighters careened into the hangar after them with even less grace and far more collateral damage as it just barely kept from exploding and instead crashed against the rear of the hangar in a trashy heap. The Second Rustafan Fighters that attempted this didn't make it in one piece. Having sustained damage from the crossfire, this one was unable to aim properly and instead crashed into the side of the open hangar, exploding along its edges and raining debris inside.

Meanwhile, the First ship had two doors on either sides of it get yanked open as several Raiders pulled themselves from the broken heap. One of which yanked himself out from the destroyed cockpit and called out to his comrades in glee despite bearing several notable wounds from the crash, his roar seemed to inspire the Rustafan Boarding Party to begin opening fire on anything that wasn't them with Solarium Energy weapons.

 

[Albion]

GrieveWriter
Diplomatic Station
The head diplomat, Wang Xi, watched the message with care, the cadre of diplomats on the station watching along with him. Slowly he turned to them. While the first contact between them was troublesome, it was important. "Whatever this ship has on it, it's likely not good. We're going to need to be prepared," He said, quietly. "The home guard will need to be mobilized... probably a batallion," Wang said. The diplomatic station had two batallions to protect the large structure from any pirate attacks. "EVA suits, who knows what kind of atmosphere and temperatures these aliens maintain," He added. The suits were hermetically sealed, so the troops inside would be fine in any foreign atmosphere. The diplomats nodded. "Andros, go ahead and tell the captain," Wang said. "We'll keep them in reserve on the frigate and do a run by - these aliens might have a shuttle they can use to transfer over, but if necessary we'll have them on hand."

Slowly the senior diplomat turned back to the console. He began sending a transmission. "Sending a battle group to jump point. Transfer over if possible. Might send incursion party," He said, slowly and simply. He repeated the simple message several times before ending it and sending it. The crew began preparing for a possible incursion with raiders, several members of the nonessential crew exiting on shuttles and warping out. The defensive measures of the station were put online and the station compartments were locked down for anyone but the diplomats and officers, who held the codes - that way any incursion would be halted in its tracks and the home guard could counterattack.

 

[Chuckles]

The Tel’tsu Commonwealth
Unknown system
SF-Vlaycli

persons of interest
Captain Awundhersun Toezeer
Major Āhmz Aikkirow

Captain Toezeer cast a glance at the Major standing just off screen, welcoming emissaries from other species on the ship certainly fell within their standard operating procedures, but did they risk revealing the state of their ship? These seemed to be diplomatic explorers like the Vlaycli but there was always a risk. Still, having their Captain come aboard also lessened any real threat from manifesting. His feathers reflexively moved as he processed these feelings, to which Major Aikkirow responded with a reassuring display of her own.

“We, perhaps, do not exchange gifts in the fashion of your people Captain. I would, however, welcome you aboard Vlaycli. Perhaps our mutual gift will be a budding relationship between our two great nations.” The Captain replied, “With regret I can not engage in a direct hard docking. Such maneuvers would be in violation of our operational codes, a shuttle however we can accept, either in our bay if small enough or parasitically.” Pausing for a moment he contemplated his next words carefully. “As you have no doubt detected, we are currently not running under thrust, Vlaycli is in a zero g state at the moment to facilitate minor upkeep. If this is an acceptable state we will have life support verify the compatibility of our two species and prepare to welcome you aboard. I pledge my life for your safe return, though I understand if you require collateral aboard your own ship in this circumstance.”

Toezeer was comfortable with the amount of truth as to the state of the Vlaycli, the definition of ‘minor’ may be argued but he felt confident that if this first officer al-Mansur were to become aware of their entire situation he would not begrudge the guarded approach. It intrigued him that he had referred to himself as “elected first officer.'' The concept of election was not entirely foreign to Tel’tsu society, but the idea that it might be used to determine the seniority of an officer of a ship was well beyond him. Perhaps if this face to face meeting occurred he could steer the conversation toward that phenomenon at some point.

Albion

 

[Albion]

Interaction: Chuckles
Farfoot
Adil watched the captain carefully. When he mentioned the state of his ship as being low upkeep, Adil could not help a look of worry from flashing on his face. Anything that threatened a new contact was likely a threat to the Polities, so if this was an issue he would need more information on it. However, he found himself optimistic regardless. Despite the other captain's hesitance to share gifts, he was already preparing several things in his mind - the hold had several artifacts within intended for trading in the event of an encounter. Adil nodded his head after his counterpart finished speaking. "We would of course accept. We can transfer over with a shuttle - if our biological requirements align, so be it, but if not we can always use EVA suits, so long as you are not past their extremes," He said with a pleasant smile.

"We shall bring gifts regardless, merely as a sign of our well wishes and for doing us the honor of allowing us to be guests," He added after a moment. "I shall compose my team of envoys and send another message when we begin the flight over on the shuttle. If all goes well, we should be there within the hour." Offering a polite bow, he ended the call after the counterpart exchanged his own farewell. Adil quickly began composing his team, speaking in hushed tones with his Deputy communications officer as well as the head of Biology on board. Jane Graham stepped carefully into the hallway, holding a data pad in her left hand. "So, what are we dealing with life support wise?" Adil asked, looking to her.

"Well, we're looking at largely similar life support profiles - they breathe at a lower saturation of oxygen, but their variability is high enough that they can tolerate our level for a meeting at the minimum. Should be no need for the EVA suits," She said, folding the pad into a small square and tucking it into one of her uniform pockets. Adil nodded his head, heading to engineering for a detour - several of the artifacts were stored within.

"I'll meet you on the shuttle," He said simply. Graham nodded, accepting the dismissal and heading towards the shuttle bay. After picking up the necessary artifacts - several pieces of communications technology, three printed books of great importance - The Bible, the Quran, and at the behest of several of his more drama inclined crewmates, the complete works of William Shakespeare - as well as a sculpture of a phoenix in flight, made purely of laser-cut steel. The gifts prepared, Adil made his way to the shuttle bay, several Engineering crewmembers cursing at one of the broken down shuttles, trying to get it fixed up. Adil nodded to the head of Engineering, who beckoned him onto the only other shuttle in the bay with a disinterested gesture. While incredibly intelligent and handy, Fundani was not exactly a people person. Adil shrugged, stepping onto the shuttle. The pilot was going through the preflight checks, and after stowing the artifacts, Adil sat down and strapped in, watching as the rest of his delegation gathered and sat. After close to twenty minutes, the shuttle slowly drew back before turning and accelerating on a course of intersect with the counterpart cruiser. Adil breathed a sigh of relief, ready and waiting.

 

[GrieveWriter]

The Drokoi Consulate
Interaction/Mention: Albion
The Gourmanti

The Diplomats and military forces of the Station had ample time to scrounge together what defenses they could, as they received no further words from the Gourmanti. The video and audio feeds that they'd initially made contact with were essentially silent, and so no further pre-warning had been given before the Gourmanti made its warp. What seemed like open space located at the coordinates given suddenly seemed to fold in on itself before the large Gourmanti burst into existence from Sol-Space. It came to a stop not to far from where it had entered, trailing several wisps of energy that faded into nothing until the vessel's movements slowed.

The torn up ship was in even worst shape than before if possible, entering Sol-Space in its condition had led to several of the already damaged sections to be subjected to extreme heats. As a result, large portions of the ship appeared as if they'd been scorched by laser weapons, metal still glowing in some places. From appearance alone, it was easy to identify the vessel as nothing less than a warship. If it were in better times, the sheer amount of firepower such a vessel could wield would undoubtedly prove a threat to the station and its military defenders. But as it were now, the bigger question it provided was how it was still holding together at all. Most of its weapons systems seemed either destroyed or offline, and the scale of damage in some parts was undoubtedly critical. But despite its arrival, still no further signal had been sent.

Inside the vessel, pounding footsteps echoed through the halls as Grus hefted a Solarium machine-pistol in one hand whilst cradling the unmoving form of Lady Nurstrom against his chest with the other. Behind him, Norlaq was keeping pace, though her head kept turning towards the sounds of roaring and fleshy footsteps behind them. A tendril burst through the wall between the two during one of these glances, with Grus turning around in surprise only for an auto-door beside him to fly open as a pair of arms reached out to him. Knowing the ship's mechanics, the Engineer immediately swung his weapon around and fired upon the door's covered control panel set in the wall beside it, causing the auto-door to slam down and tear off both of the arms.

He looked back to see Norlaq finishing her way through the tentacle before gesturing for him to get moving, behind her the figures moving in the darkness had grown closer. Gritting his teeth, Grus turned and sprinted once again, with his eyes widening beneath his helmet upon spotting exactly what they were looking for: an Auto-lift connected to the hangar.

Grus stumbled in first, immediately dropping his pistol so he could quickly press a button for the hangar. Norlaq squeezed in just before the bulletproof glass and metal door could close on her. The two of them looked back through the clear portions of the door to see the hallway behind them had rapidly emptied itself, their pursuers nowhere in sight. The only sign that they'd been there were the torn up grates and vent coverings they'd used to crawl back into the ship's walls.

"It's trying to cut us off." Norlaq grumbled as the auto-lift began its descent "They're probably skitterin' their way to the hangar right as we speak."

"Zen ain't got nothing big enough to crack the maintenance shuttle once we're on." Grus looked up to her "Nothing it could get there fast enough, we just beeline for the shuttle and we's home free."

Norlaqu narrowed her eyes at that, "Hmmm."

But Grus kneeled down to retrieve his pistol before looking down to the wounded Trokoid in his arm, who had been hastily patched and bandaged "You hear that ya lil' tech junkie? Gonna be a pain in the arse dealin' with them xenos without ya."

Norlaq looked away from them as the auto-lift slowed, with the opposing door finally sliding open to reveal the hangar. Much of it was empty, save for three shuttles. One was in a state of disrepair, the other hadd been abandoned mid-maintenance, and the last one sat as a shining beacon of hope to Grus as he scrambled to his feet and stepped out of the lift.

"Its still in one piece!" he practically cheered to himself before looking back "She was right-!"

The auto-lift doors shut before he could get any further. Grus blinked as Norlaq stepped back from them and moved a hand towards the Lift's controls.

"Nors?" Grus said, causing her hand to hesitate "What are you doing?"

"I'm going back to the reactor," she stated, raising an eyebrow at him "I refuse to allow even the slimmest chance of the Swallowed gettin' off this ship."

"B-But we already rigged the place!" Grus slammed a fist on the door "Nurstrom said-!"

"It'll work in a best case scenario, grub." Norlaq turned away "We both know this ain't it, and I ain't fit to leave my business unfinished."

Grus could do nothing but watch as the lift carried Norlaq away, and left him cursing her as he kicked at the door. But as an engineer, he knew any attempt to stop the auto-lift at that point were meaningless. But after everything they'd gone through to get off this hunk of swallowed metal, he didn't deny how sick her actually dying made him feel. But he had other things to worry about, namely to the barely-breathing Trokoid in his grasp.

That and the sound of rending metal coming from the side of the hangar. As the sealed double doors rended open, a vent beside it burst as a figure pulled itself in. Grus stumbled away from the auto-lift before breaking into a run as the figures filed into the hangar using the vents. Even as the solarium energy blasts punched holes into the forms, they kept surging after him, several breaking into a run as he reached the maintenance shuttle. Often used for delivering large equipment to outer maintenance crews when unable to dock properly, the vessel would be more than enough to get them away from the Gourmanti.

Trying to set Nurstrom into an empty crate as easily as possible, Grus sealed the vessel's door before throwing himself into the cockpit. He tried to ignore the pounding of limbs against the shuttle's hull, hands flying between buttons and levers as warning lights began flashing along the sides of the hangar. The platform the shuttle was on rotated, with Grus spotting a larger figure pushing its way in through the busted doors. He cursed as this figure immediately began opening fire on the shuttle as it was lined up with a large tunnel which opened up. Grus piloted the shuttle into the tunnel, which depressurized as soon as it sealed behind him. Despite the literal wall behind him and the shooter, Grus was unable to calm down primarily to the pounding sounds still echoing from the outer hull of the shuttle.

The end of the tunnel approached fast, with the source of the pounding revealing itself as one of the Swallowed yanks itself onto the viewport. Grus swerved the shuttle a bit to dislodge the figure as he finally reached open space. Sailing away, his breath evened out as distance between him and the Gourmanti was attained. He didn't hold back, victoriously pounding a fist against the side of the cockpit and releasing a yell of relief before hopping out of his seat. But his celebration lasted only until his eyes fell upon the crate where he'd left Lady Nurstrom. Peaking in, he found that she'd been jostled during their escape, but her patches had held. Now with more time, Grus hurried to find the shuttle's on-board First-Aid.

It was in the midst of this search that he glanced out the viewport and took note of the diplomatic station in the distance. Hurrying over to the cockpit he tried to activate the comms to call for them to ready some kind of aid, but found that the shuttle's communications were far too short-range to reach. Eyes going from the console to the Station to the Gourmanti and finally to Lady Nurstrom, Grus groaned before activating the Shuttle's distress beacon and moving to continue giving what aid he could to Nurstrom.