Planet Grab (FT, Closed)

by **Gigaverse** » Sat Aug 16, 2014 8:30 pm

The Seran Federation wrote:-snip-

Code: Select all: To: Seran Federation MCC 20 From: Quel'Cygni As of the moment, there is only one artificial mountain we have created; otherwise, the planet's native geographic conditions are not noticeable. We are in the process of studying planetary prokaryotic life. Weather and climates are stable. Volcanic activities have been suppressed for optimal colonization activities. From what we have studied, Iron and Sulfur are currently the most dominant mineral resources of this planet in the form of various chemical compounds - which, in general, are nothing to speak of. However, those who have traded with us usually say we are nothing short of an endless source of wealth for them; so if you would like to be rich in a short time, you can forget the arduous manual mining plus the chemical separation processes that would follow, and come ask for any minerals you are in need of - your colony should be mostly used for military and/or civilian-accommodation purposes. Having said all that, the choice is yours, we will not directly interfere unless something happened. It is the greatest news knowing that the Seran Federation still regards peace as a valuable option. We also sincerely wish you the best of luck, and may our future cooperation bears the most magnificent of fruits. Regards, Tomokawa Norio Adeptor Terrarum/Administrationum Imperium Humanitatum Sacrarum

by **Lotrabme** » Sat Aug 16, 2014 10:48 pm

To 44:
Admiral Baylock was surprised to hear that the system the Sages considered an uninhabited target for outpostship was in fact a supply world along a trade route. He would have to send them a report on this, something he relegated one of his Adjuncts into doing as he contemplated his response. The Adjunct would add the information contained in the message from Komdorum Danseg into the log concerning the system, and using it determined that the 44th’s territory was nearby by corresponding to several stars. Baylock knew what he would say in response after about a minute:

I had no idea that your territory was in this region. By all means then shall I send your N.A.D. my petition for ownership of it. And I suppose I shall take your word on the Saurai factions.
We hope to receive your delegate soon, our docking bays are prepared to receive your transport, and if you would prefer teleportation those means are available to us.
Sincerely, Admiral Baylock.

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To Glovania:
Admiral Baylock made a decidedly quicker response to the Glovanians, as he knew precisely what he meant to say here.

To Admiral Alexander Gustavsson:
Our Docking bays are prepared to receive the RSS Phoenix, and likewise, we too hope the meeting between these powers will go smoothly. Your guards are welcome, and we understand the necessity of proper precautions.
Sincerely,
Admiral Baylock.

As the RSS Phoenix would approach, its captain would receive a short tramission saying: “RSS Phoenix, proceed to the docking arms in landing bay 45. Our Sen-2’s will guide you.” After which the Captain would see several small floating androids, the Sen-2s, attempting to lead the ship and slowly tractor-beam it towards the designated bay.
When the Phoenix was properly docked, and its captain prepared to disembark, they would be greeted by a Malluman 3rd Vizier and several Cy-1 Androids and Malluman minors.
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To Gigaverse:
Things on ‘Quel’Cygni’ seemed to not be going well, and therefore like the Glovanians and the 44th Legion, the Holy Human Imperials had sent a delegate to speak on the Gomorrah. However, on ‘Ar’Da Lasa’ were going smoother, and Tetro and Zylanna, the Merchant Captain and the Princess spoke to this ‘Rogue Trader’.
Tetro began to explain the principle of Red Matter as they began to enter this new rift created by Mentiar. “The speed is instantaneous, by which I mean travelling from one point to the next with the Red Matter Wormholes tends to take less than a minute.” He held his hands up and said “But, you need to understand that there is a trade-off for this speed. It cannot be maintained with the ships portal drive alone. Large portals traversing interstellar spaces require beacons at both points, or else the portals will either not stabilize properly, or you won’t end up at your desired location if you rematerialize at all. These beacons require heavy power to generate their necessary stabilizing properties as well, so your planet’s energy will have to be directed and proportioned accordingly.”
All this time Zylanna had been projecting to Mentiar the necessary imagery to follow Tetro’s words.
“Your people’s psychic ability” said Tetro to Mentiar “will come in handy with using the beacons and calculating jumps. Also, a beacon can only see another from 300 light-years away, providing a wide though limited range.”
“When not used for Warp Portals however” said Tetro “The Red matter can be used for more ‘short distance’ wormholes within a system, though a beacon at each world is still recommended for safety precautions, and it can be used as a weapon, if you know how to used black holes correctly.”
Zylanna spoke now “We are not permitted to share the weaponized version however, you would need to contact the Admiral at least to acquire that, and even he might be restricted by the Admiralty.”
She continued after briefly projecting some images of the Admiral and the Sages, all Hamans of grey skin like Tetro, though looking more ancient, and the sages dressed in ornamental robes humming psychically in chant and sitting in a great ornate dome orbiting the world of Hame. After this she spoke “I hope we have shared enough for you to consider buying our store of it. And our technological products may be of value to you if you are interested in advanced cybernetics and nano-tech, or have an interest in genetic engineering.”
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To Kobol:
“Fascinating” said Goldeye, though not visibly intrigued as he had no face, his eye glowed slightly brighter and his voice was raised. “It is likely that we share an original world of origin, as the Hamans are of old Earth. They have since changed themselves and evolved to the species you see in my Admiral and in his Haman officers.” At the offer to take DNA as a sample Goldeye said “Splendid! An experiment! Please if you would ambassador allow this probe to scrape a bit of skin and take a small blood sample, we don’t need much. I will run it against the hatcheries on board the Gomorrah and see if there is common ancestry. Hopefully our continued use of cloning and of artificial wombs has not separated us by too far of a margin. And if my initial guesses are correct, viable offspring should still be a possibility between the races.”

by **Gigaverse** » Sun Aug 17, 2014 1:35 am

Lotrabme wrote:-snip-

Mentiar Verissime
Inside Rift
Ar'Da Lasa (Cygni II), Cygni Star System

"Mm... Yes, yes, that'd be interesting...

Here. The options are all yours."

Tabs and screens made from bright lights floated everywhere around them. They all seemingly stood in midair, as the rift was no longer observable.

"We have arrived in the Emporium Planetarum's database. Feel free to... 'go shopping' inside this massive 'supermarket'. All you have to do is think about what you want to purchase; the commodity's screen will materialize in front of you. As I have previously mentioned, prices are negotiated after the selection."

The typical businessman's smile appeared on the face of the Merchant Baron.

by **Nyte** » Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:42 am

Cygni Star System
Interstellar Empire of Nyte

A few short, but very busy days had passed, and the defensive measures protecting the empires operations had expanded significantly. This rapid expansion was in part due to standard protocol when setting up operations within a new system, and also due to the presence of numerous foreign powers within the system; most, if not all of which outnumbered, and likely outgunned the empires forces at present. As such, most of the early batches of resources acquired by strip mining several resource rich asteroids had been put to use in the construction of an additional thirty Hades Weapon Satellites, and also the beginnings of several minefields laced throughout several 'key' areas where the empire was increasing their operations.

While these defenses were unlikely to stop a concerted assault, they were deemed to be capable of slowing down an advancing enemy and causing enough casualties; particularly when combined with ship and fighter support to make any such attack into a fairly bloody affair. This defensive network was expanded even further with the arrival of the reinforcements requested earlier which had jumped in on schedule and quickly moved to join up with the Hammer of Balos while avoiding contact with any of the other races in the system.

With their defensive measures proceeding at a rapid pace, and mining efforts proving to be more than satisfactory with an abundance of resources already being harvested, other, more benign matters could now be attended too. Already, the Admiral had recieved several requests; mostly by the egg heads in the science department to not only begin several 'interesting' experiments, but also to petition for access to several of the worlds in the system for rudimentary exploration and study.

Frowning at the logistics nightmare that such an undertaking could easily become, the Admiral immediately denied all the requests for access to foreign occupied and controlled worlds for the time being; massaging her temples with a deceptively delicate looking hand at the same time as just imagining the amount of red tape that would need to be cut through to arrange such an effort had brought on a throbbing headache. However, the Admiral did clear several experiments and tests to take place over the next week or so; many of which were in the fields of genetics research, medecine, robotics, stellar cartography, and deep space mining. While some of these experiments may be observable by other powers in the system, the more delicate (read as not nearly legal or ethical whatsoever) programs would be kept safely concealed from foreign examination; being done out of sight from all but those with a very high security clearance.

After spending several hours working through the myriad tasks required to run their operations smoothly, Admiral Harke finally came to the logged messages recieved from foreign powers within the system... Several muscles around her left eye twitched...

Reading the Mind Empires message several times, the Admiral immediately determined that it could prove to be most usefull in the interstellar empires dealings with the other nations present in the Cygni system as it would allow them to both conceal the majority of their scientific endeavors from foreign eyes, and it would also allow them to more easily conceal the extent of their defenses from being discovered by potential enemies; after all, why give a potential enemy the opportunity to learn of ones defenses early, and as such, give them the time to develop counter-measures to those defenses as well.

As such, the Admiral took the time to dispatch a reply to this Mind Empire enquiring as to the use of this "Gomorrah" as a place to hold any diplomatic meetings between the Interstellar Empire of Nyte and anyone else who may wish to meet with them.

Upon sending the message, the Admiral moved on to the message recieved from Admiral Fraya of the Imperial Republic of the Remnants of Kobol... Perusing the message, the Admiral quickly began to work on a reply.

With this final message sent, and no other pressing matters to attend to, the Admiral settled down to get a few hours of rest, and let her extensively well trained and well paid bridge crew actually earn their paychecks.

by **The Seran Federation** » Sun Aug 17, 2014 1:48 pm

Gigaverse wrote:~Snip~

Daeron sent a quick summarized message of what had transpired to his fellow Commanders, Xavier and Deidre. He then thought over the message that this "Imperium" had sent. They apparently seemed to be very advanced at terraforming. That was something the Federation had always bypassed, since the when the Serans regained the ability to travel to the edge of their system, they rediscovered the long-dormant warpgate network that connected them with a dozen other garden worlds and habitable planets that had once been ruled by the old ones, only those planets' populations had died out.

Terraforming could be useful for exploring non-connected systems, like this one was, and seeding them with colonies if they didn't have a habitable planet. Daeron wondered if the Imperium would trade that technology for the Seran's cloning and conscious-transfer technology that allowed him, the other Commanders, and a growing portion of the military to theoretically live forever.

To: Imperium Humanitatum Sacrarum world Quel'Cygni
From: Seran Federation MCC 20

You are correct that we are not in desperate need of iron or sulfur. Most likely, we will not attempt to mine on Quel-Cygni, and if we do mine, it will be in the system's asteroid fields, moons, and uninhabited worlds. again, trade between us is a likely choice of action.

Our colony on Quel'Cygni, while at first will be fully militarized, will eventually become a civilian agricultural colony, specializing in organic vegetation that will be harvested and shipped out to our other worlds. This will, of course, be after we complete the construction of our warpgate on the edge of the system that will connect this colony with the rest of our Federation. And, due to the multi-factional environment of this system, we are going to notify you that there will still be a sizable military force maintained on this colony and in the system. And to add, I can promise you that you will be protected as a Seran citizen would, due to our shared location on Quel'Cygni.

by **Lotrabme** » Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:07 pm

To Nyte:

1st Vizier Volelee received the message. He knew that Baylock was able to respond himself however so he ended up floating over to the Admiral’s sanctum.
The Admiral had taken his shift off, he was with a concubine and the two were sleeping on his couch. Volelee opened the door and came in, the lights slowly rising to more visible levels. The Admiral turned his head and opened his eyes. He spoke psychically to the Mind of his 1st Vizier. “What are you doing here, Volelee, I thought I told you to refrigerate the soylent wafers.”
“Your still dreaming sire, wake up some more” Said the Malluman in his deep voice as he turned to wait in the living room of the Sanctum. After a few moments Baylock exited the room, dressed again in his black uniform. After drinking a clearly medical liquid on the table near to the wall Baylock psychically spoke to the Volelee again. “As my mouth re-adjusts to being awake, let me read that message.”
“Of course Lord.” Said the Vizier handing over the data pad on which the message was displayed. With his mind he said: “This will take but a moment. I plan on letting them use the Gomorrah.”
The message he sent back read:

To Rear Admiral Katia Harke:
I see no reason why I should deny you a diplomatic presence here on my Starbase. The only thing I ask is that you only bring the smallest regular security team of your military with you to the station, as I assure you our defenses are adequate. There shall be suites provided in the habitat ring for your diplomats, and their ship will dock in our docking bays.
Please send them on their way.
Sincerely,
Admiral Baylock IV.

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To Gigaverse:

Meanwhile, on Cygni c (ArDa Lasa):

The two merchants of the Mind Empire went about their way through the Baron Traders supermarket and chose several items which they could afford.
Tetro came to him ready with their choices and said: "Our monetary system uses Gold, Silver, and Bronze coinage. Golds are 100 times the value of Silvers, and silvers are 100 times the value of bronzes. We are prepared to pay 800,000 Gold for our purchases.

by **Imperialisium** » Sun Aug 17, 2014 6:40 pm

Nearing Cygni F
Epsilan, Crucible-Class Grand Cruiser

As the Epsilan led the Expeditonary Fleet into the outer regions of the system beyond the peripheral several other space forces where noted and marked with yellow runes over the three dimensional holographic map of the system located on the main bridge of the Grand Cruiser.

Lord Ur'zarus had retired to his quarters, carefully monitoring the Fleet's approach via his quarters own personal holo-table linked to the bridges holo-lith. The plan was not to colonize Cygni f's various planetoids save for resources, but to make for Cygni e. If a proper orbital and terrestrial position could be secured then the Empire's position in the system could solidify in a much quicker and smoother fashion.

A chime sounded, "Lord Ur'zarus, passing the elliptical, we have reached destination approximately one and a half gigameter from Cygni f and maintain a matching course to the plants orbit around this systems Sun." It was the voice of Lieutenant Adam.

Pressing the communications rune on the holo table Ur'zarus replied, "Excellent, make ready for Cygni e, cruising speed. Keep the formation tight, I want civilian vessels farthest from any yellow flagged craft. Prep strike craft." Depressing the rune a comm click sounded a moment later as the order was registered by the main bridge.

Turning back to the holo table he could already bear witness to first the Epsilan and then one by one the rest of the fleet begin to alter heading towards the next planet. The mighty gas giant dwarfed the ships by a massive, utterly massive margin.

by **The Pacifican Islands** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 7:48 am

Captain Picard gasped looking at all the ships warping into the sector. Some of them had hostile intentions, some of them peaceful, like his own.

Picard: Ensign, broadcast the peace flag.
Ensign: Yessir.
Picard: Broadcast...NOW!
Picard: I am Captain Picard of the FSS Enterprise. We are here on a peaceful mission to discover new worlds. Please, state your actions.

Seeing that the "peace flag" got somewhat ignored, Picard sat back into his chair, clicking some buttons on the armrest. "All hands, raise to yellow alert."

by **The 44th Indp Legion** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 11:13 am

inside the hangar bay of SSGL Wacan the second, on board of the Argolander I
Hiran Toshikawa sat relaxed in her passenger's seat. Unlike Commodore Danseg, she was a trained politician and negotiator but lacked the military position to be even allowed on the bridge. Nevertheless, she was relieved that she finally was allowed to ply her trade instead of these war-weary combat veterans with a two-day political training. Thankfully, though politically inept, they at least weren't complete buffoons. Back in her home on rural Guron IV people were a lot less understanding of gender dysphoria, though at least state law was. She usually attributed it to how it "got her out of the draft" as only men were subject to it. In their defence, the Guron system had a reputation of civil unrest and brawny behavour when it concerned the draft - which was understandable, but not excusable. Thankfully, when it concerned their own people, the 44th were less vindictive than in international politics. Recently, the 44th had sought to combat their international reputation as vindictive and war like, with minor successes...once in a while...admist a sea of disasters. Toshikawa truly believed in peacefull relations though, and her superiors had put her on a relative fast track because of it. What she didn't like admitting was that this was mostly due because most of her peers (and superiors) suffered a grievous lack of political delicacy needed for these kind of things. Personally, she preferred to think it was her bureacratic diligence that had put her on the good side of her superiors.

"Ground controll to assistant senator Toshikawa, you are clear from the dock and cleared to commence your approach on Gomorrah."
"confirmed."

Gomorrah, This is Hiran Toshikawa of the 44th Independent Legion, we are approaching to dock. I look forward to meeting you and/or your delegates. Unfortunately, protocol demands that I bring two bodyguards at minimum, so I shall bring that number with me. I will be there shortly.

by **Deutsch-Brittannia** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 1:46 pm

Gigaverse wrote:
Deutsch-Brittannia wrote:-snip-

Atraus Bilis
Praecinctum Sivaniae, Dark Side
Cygni c (Ar'Da Lasa), Cygni Star System

"Yes, we shall. Please, come with us, take a seat for yourself."

It was a point of convenience. The Seheron Expedition consisted of familiar humanoid species: Humans and Elves; both of which the Imperium had plenty. Negotiations would perhaps go well, if culture shocks and other such petty barriers would not get in the way.

And according to the Imperium, it was only natural for the opposite side to speak their minds first; unless they themselves did not have anything to say.

"Commander Alenko; because of our behaviors, we would like to hear your side of the deal first. Please, speak to your heart's content.", the voice of the Adeptor Generum resonated.

OOC: I'm sorry! I'm a terrible person I know, but here it is.

"Thank you Adeptor Generum" said the Commander. "The council would like to talk to you, we will set up the holo-comm now"
As the marines busied themselves setting up communications with Seheron, the Commander carried on speaking.

"We wish for only a small part of the planet, roughly 15-20% should cover what we need. Also, we would like an alliance with you as well as a promise of non-aggression should we decide to colonise nearby planets, one moment please"

The Commander left to help the marines finish setting up the holo-comm, giving the Adeptor Generum time to think over the terms.

by **Lotrabme** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 4:48 pm

The 44th Indp Legion wrote:
Gomorrah, This is Hiran Toshikawa of the 44th Independent Legion, we are approaching to dock. I look forward to meeting you and/or your delegates. Unfortunately, protocol demands that I bring two bodyguards at minimum, so I shall bring that number with me. I will be there shortly.

Goldeye received the message through the approaching contact feed. He sent a reply as he signaled for docking bay controls to prepare for an approaching shuttle.

Greetings Hiran Toshikawa,

I am the IL series World-controller designated Goldeye. Welcome to the Gomorrah, please proceed to the bay designated 56, several Sen-2s will surround your ship and guide it to its destination. One of our Viziers will greet you after you exit your craft and escort you to the place that Admiral Baylock has designated for diplomatic forum.

Awaiting your arrival,
Sincerely,
Goldeye, IL series World Controller

1st Vizier Volelee was keen to be the one to greet the 44th's delegate at the hangar, knowing their intent in the inner worlds and the fact that the system was once their property, he and Baylock considered their diplomat's safety of prime concern. Of course there was nothing to worry about at this point but precautions were always necessary.

As the shuttle made its landing inside the Gomorrah the Vizier and his cybernetic soldiers and Malluman servicemen stood beside him near the entrance to the dock, awaiting the exit of the Diplomat.

by **Gigaverse** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 10:02 pm

Deutsch-Brittannia wrote:-snip-

"Yes, I eagerly await for the Council...", the Adeptor said excitedly.

[Meanwhile, heading for the Gomorrah...]

Code: Select all: Gomorrah, this is the delegation from the Holy Imperium of Man, headed by the Adeptor, Tomokawa Norio. We are approaching your docking bays, and are preparing for this grand occasion. We wish you and all other participants in these talks the greatest of bliss.

by **Gigaverse** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 10:06 pm

Lotrabme wrote:-snip-

Mentiar Verissime
Emporium Planetarum's Database
Ar'Da Lasa (Cygni II), Cygni Star System

After some considerations, Verissime chuckled.

"Well... while that price is no slouch all in itself, can you suggest the best price you could pay? Preferably, also in Gold. If that's the maximum price you could pay, the exchange will begin depending on how you want it: by slow transportation or instantaneous means."

In his head were the numbers of the profits he would receive... and the tithes he would have to pay.

by **The Remnants of Kobol** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 10:18 pm

Containing his surprise, the delegate simply said, "You already know my name" While he thought his name Jonathan Valorn. "You're a mind reader. I have never personally worked with one, but our nation knows of their existence. You appear to suit all of our needs for trade and information, but you sound as though you don't necessarily meet our needs for a political official of your nation. But that aside, let us see your wares. We seek water, scientific texts and works, and any star maps that you would be able to provide. Perhaps, we could also trade our medical information and nations' histories with one another. This drive I have contains our entire nation's history and our complete medical information. We are willing to trade it for your nations history and medical information. The history is merely for our scholars and the medicine will be used only to further our own medicine and to prevent any possible outbreaks between our people. In exchange for the other things we requested, we have this." He held up several cubits, of pure gold and platinum.

Taking the drive and giving it a quick glance, Calfat slipped it into his breast pocket. He then extended his hand, hoping that this civilization also shook hands as a form of greeting. While doing this, he spoke:
"You stated that you were quite busy, sir. Would you like to leave a sub-officer to continue these discussions? I'm sure while we're still learning each others cultures, really anyone onboard would be able to perform that task."

"Not at all, please take it." Halgim raised his shirt sleeve and allowed the probe to take the sample. "think though. Our races, separated by millennia, yet we might still be able to merge once again! That would pose so many possibilities among evolutionary branches. But perhaps it be best we test the sample first. Our races are so similar though. Fascinated by science, in appearance we are not to dissimilar, considering the possibilities, everything. Viable offspring or not, our races would likely work well together and of course learn from each other. I await the results of this test! Perhaps my grandchildren won't be exactly what I anticipated." He laughed and thought deeply about the ramifications of merging the two civilizations this way. Both would certainly benefit, but what might be the lash back at home?

Reading the message, Fraya smiled. This nation did have something to hide and the message proved it. To censor their history and culture was the telltale sign. No other nation encountered had done that and this nation even refused to reciprocate with medical information to prevent an outbreak. Just give me more an more so I can crack the code she thought. Sitting for a while thinking, she penned the following message.

RADMRL Harke,
A change in location is perfectly acceptable to us. Perhaps this new location will also serve to assist us better in preventing medical outbreaks as the Mind Empire seems more than capable at medical screening. We also have our most experienced ambassador currently there so he will be able to work with your team directly. We look forward to this meeting.
Pleasant regards,
RADMRL Sophia Fraya

by **Lotrabme** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 10:54 am

Gigaverse wrote:[Meanwhile, heading for the Gomorrah...]
Code: Select all
Gomorrah, this is the delegation from the Holy Imperium of Man, headed by the Adeptor, Tomokawa Norio. We are approaching your docking bays, and are preparing for this grand occasion. We wish you and all other participants in these talks the greatest of bliss.

Code: Select all: To Adeptor Tomokawa Norio: Please Proceed to bay 67, Vizier Hanee will greet you once airlock proceedures have completed. We wish you the same. -IL series World Controller Goldeye

After Goldeye sent that message with his internal and ship-connected processes, Hanee went out of the bridge to go and greet this newest diplomat. Admiral Baylock wished him well and having been on the bridge for a short while, was going to prepare the conference Chamber, where talks would undoubtedly take place. He was glad that the diplomats were all beginning to arrive.

The Remnants of Kobol wrote:"Not at all, please take it." Halgim raised his shirt sleeve and allowed the probe to take the sample. "think though. Our races, separated by millennia, yet we might still be able to merge once again! That would pose so many possibilities among evolutionary branches. But perhaps it be best we test the sample first. Our races are so similar though. Fascinated by science, in appearance we are not to dissimilar, considering the possibilities, everything. Viable offspring or not, our races would likely work well together and of course learn from each other. I await the results of this test! Perhaps my grandchildren won't be exactly what I anticipated." He laughed and thought deeply about the ramifications of merging the two civilizations this way. Both would certainly benefit, but what might be the lash back at home?

"Indeed" said Goldeye, with Halgrim in his physical orb-shaped body. After the probe had completed its sample taking Goldeyes ship-connected systems would set aside a sub-procedure to run the data. Goldeye would speak to Halgrim in the meantime.

"While that takes a moment to run through I thought I should let you know that several delegations will be arriving on the station, as Admiral Baylock has offered the Gomorrah as a hearing ground for any territorial disputes. Delegations from The 'Holy Human Empire', from Glovania, and from the 44th Independent legion will be arriving. Also a delegation from the Interstellar Empire Nyte will be arriving and taking up full residence here. Apparently they feel they would get more done away from their home fleet, curious. I presume that you will stay to speak with some of these powers on behalf of your own civilization."

A moment later a short beep sounded, and Goldeye said to Halgrim: "The test has completed, and Indeed our biological form and yours share 99.89% of our DNA, with yours having traits present in our ancestral population. And hybridization is still possible, though with a degree of success being only 75%. I'm afraid the non-compatible parts were added in by Baylock IV's ancestors when we migrated to Hame and developed our biological forms to better survival in space habitats. Luckily, our geneticists should be able to produce a viable hybrid if we ever needed too. Of course, who knows what your people would say to the existence of one, and if they lived with us the determination of House and Guild would be a tricky situation."

Goldeye said also "I don't doubt our races would work together well, especially given the Hamans track record. As I'm sure you've noticed since you arrived the Hamans aren't the only race of the Mind Empire. The Mallumans, such as our 1st Vizier Volelee have been members of the Empire since its inception, and were uplifted by us at that time. They now out-populate the Hamans 3:1, and inhabit the worlds we have terraformed. The Nebulans were introduced about a century later and act as money lenders and cartel owners throughout the Empire. You would often see them and a younger race called the Yorms on the merchant vessels. The Nanottians are to a lesser degree in the Empire, and they like the Hamans are technologically integrated with us, they mostly are found in ship maintenance. A race called the Endel is under our protection on their homeworld due to their still relatively primitive state, and we have peace treaties with the Kalodo Ecumene and the Union Collective of the Luuds, and a current truce with the 19 Tribes of Ombroj that their belligerent nature in our first encounter warranted."

Gigaverse wrote:After some considerations, Verissime chuckled.

"Well... while that price is no slouch all in itself, can you suggest the best price you could pay? Preferably, also in Gold. If that's the maximum price you could pay, the exchange will begin depending on how you want it: by slow transportation or instantaneous means."

In his head were the numbers of the profits he would receive... and the tithes he would have to pay.

Meanwhile on Arda Lasa:

Tetro said: "The offer stands at 800,000 Gold as my best price for the items Zylanna and I have chosen. And the method of transport may be tricky, since we'd have to be sure our teleportation devices are on the same frequency. Let us know that, and we can accept instantaneous delivery."

Zylanna psychically told Verissime the frequency our teleporters were on.

by **The 44th Indp Legion** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 1:44 pm

Gomorrah, bay 56
Hiran deftly strode down the craft's frontal ramp. Her long, black-oilcoat dragging slightly along the bottom, but the hydrophobic, anti-static cloth remained unsoiled. She was wearing a civil uniform and a borrowed helmet, both gray, though the latter was darker. Her sleek dark hair was hidden away and she breathed fresh air from her open-front helmet. The biohazard containment unit situated in her helmet was on by default on embark, but would disperse once it had determined a baseline in a minute or so.

Though not exactly designed as a political transport, the Medaç (sometimes also 'Medatch') class had ample space for the appropriate facilities of a miniature-embassy and had been equipped as such. It's six flak cannons had been stripped, though it's low-calibre plasma projection cannon remained in place, despite being partyl dissasembled. In more common operations, the Medaç class was widely used as a strategic instertion ship. In other words: a military landing craft whose only purpose was to ferry supplies and troops from higher orbits to a landing zone. Though obsolete in the more technologically advanced fleets of the standard legions, the rugged and reliable Medaç class was irriplacable to both the 44th and it's nemesis and main opponent, the 56th. Though considerably smaller and lesser-armed than other, more modern saurai strategic insertion craft, at a little shy of 200 metres along the prow and roughly half as wide it was not exactly small, but infinitely more managable than the similarly shaped Terranoid class that was it's mothership.

Hiran briefly looked at the watch on her wrist and then approached the Vizeer before her. A bodyguard in a fully enclosing, faceless helmet stood slightly behind her, carrying a rifle-sized plasma weapon of some sort. His fully-enclosing armour or suit was powered, though it bore no resemblance to any kind of "power armour" such as employed by some factions. It carried a backback, presumably the power source and definately some other, strange, self-contained equipment. three round, eye-like things on the helmet glowed a soft red. It's faint smell was... oddly unnerving.
"Good day. First vizeer Volelee, I presume?"

Like all politicians, Hiran was trained to be shielded against mind reading (passive or active). This was standard procedure after a few unfortunate incidents involving veterans, but otherwise had little other cause for it within the 44th itself. Being psychicly insensitive herself, it caused her no inconvenience other than the half-day it cost her every year during revisions, though she liked overwhleming, eerie serenity of the training rooms, which surrounded her intelligent mind like a proverbial wall, thick and all-encompassing. She mentally prepared her activity log. Ideally these would be logged automatically, but this sector could not spare the resources and clout to requisition a mental auto-logger...or so they had said. She didn't like being plugged into them anyway.
Encountered first biological species of assignment. Specimen seems of importance.
Does not match known entries to tolerated species database, presuming they are a new entry.
Vaguely saurai in appearance, though assuredly not a gray reaper. Superficially they are colourfull, double-jointed and seem to be slightly less hairy.
Probably less agressive and technologically advanced and more obtuse. Hopefully less genocidal.

Then she added "Would it be preferable for us to discuss your claim bi-laterally? either way it would behoove us if multi-lateral communication could commence along the lines of the next 20 hours."

by **The Seran Federation** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 2:06 pm

OOC: Had a longer post, but it seems to have been deleted.

Xavier reached out and grasped Calfat's wrist in the Seran gesture of greeting and trust. The gesture had stemmed back from pre-Federation times when it was used to search for hidden blades in would be assassins sleeves. "Yes, you're right. Sadly, as soon as your ship takes off, my entire fleet will be taking off. I'd like to leave two personnel with you, just to make it easier on them. I'll also leave a frigate near your ships, to pick them up when needed, if you don't mind."

Xavier turned around and looked at the marine to his immediate right. "Lt. Caern, you just volunteered to go." The soldier's visored face hid expression, but his shoulder drooped and his head looked toward his feet. Xavier then looked around for a recognizable face. "Lupen! Come here." A young man of maybe twenty came to a jog and halted in front of the Commander. "Tech Sergeant Lupen, you're joining Caern to go on a little adventure with these nice men."Lupen looked at Calfat and his men and the color drained from his olive-toned face, "Y-yes sir."

The two picked personnel moved to stand and front of Calfat and offered a salute by putting four fingers to the forehead while Xavier put two to his forehead and turned to walk away briskly, obviously wanting to get back on time after the unexpected delay.

by **Lotrabme** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 5:23 pm

The 44th Indp Legion wrote:Gomorrah, bay 56

The Vizier nodded "Indeed I am, I am the military Overseer of this project, subservient to the Admiral himself who is the projects full overseer and director."

Sniffing the air he said "That smell, its from his suit" pointing to the guard. "Heightened sensitivity to smells is one skill granted by our genetic engineering, whatever you've got isn't toxic, but I doubt its healthy." After breathing out shortly, the Vizier said in his somewhat grating voice "please follow me both of you."

When asked about discussing system ownership Volelee replied: "Obviously you will need to speak to Admiral Baylock about that matter, though knowing him I doubt he would mind, I'm sure he wants that matter out of the way as much as you do. From what I've heard you all have a trade route through this corner of space yes?" He walked with a very heavy step, his suit of armor not detracting any weight anyway. When he spoke the Senator could see his carnivorous teeth in his jawline, and also see the ridges above his eyes blush ever so slighty more red, probably to do with the increased temperature of the inner hallways walking to the bridge. He had a small pony tail like peace of black coarse hair running down the back of his neck from the area where his skull presumably met his spine, but besides that he was lacking in any hair, seeming to be all scales, ranging from purple to a very beige brown on his 'underside' running up to his chin.

by **Glovania** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 5:41 am

Gomorrah, Bay 45
RSS Pheonix

As the sound of the ship docking with the starbase reached the Lieutenant's ears, her stomach dropped. She was nervous about the meeting - the Mind Empire was one of the first species the RSC had made contact with, and she was responsible for the smooth running of the meeting. She was a versatile woamn, and had been chosen for the mission for that reason. She was on alert as the doors slid open between the ship and the starbase, and stepped forward, her assistant behind her along with two guards from the ship militia. Although they were called militia, they were by no means what a standard militia would entitle - if anything, they were better trained than the main elements of the Marine Corps, as there were less of them, and during boarding actions they could rarely rely on support from other ships in the fleet. The small group stepped forwards into the hallway that extended between the two ships, and walked the distance towards the starbase. Standing in the doorway was someone who looked like some kind of officer, as well as other figures behind them. "Greetings. I am Lieutenant Charlotte Lindholm, and we are the delegation from the Free Republic of Glovania." She smiled at the officer, hoping he would recognise her sign of friendship and peace.

by **Lotrabme** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 6:33 am

Glovania wrote:Gomorrah, Bay 45
RSS Pheonix
"Greetings. I am Lieutenant Charlotte Lindholm, and we are the delegation from the Free Republic of Glovania."

With a toothy grin that would remind anyone familiar with ancient Earth fauna of a tyrannosaurus rex, the 3rd Vizier said "Your delegation is welcome Lieutenant. I am Third Vizier Thulee." He nodded his head as a sign of respect, his fellow Malluman officers and his robot guards stood silently behind. "Please follow me if you will" he said briefly, his voice sounded coarse and sometimes would make a hissing sound at the end of his words.

"Admiral Baylock is pleased that so many have heeded his word and come to the Gomorrah, its a better chance for him to familiarize himself with his lessee's, free of charge of course" laughed Thulee. The group walked through a hallway with curved walls that went into the cieling like half of an arc of an oval. "Do you have any questions for me now?" he asked turning back to look at the Lieutenant, who could see his yellow eye had a pupil that looked like a black crosshair.

by **Glovania** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 8:31 am

Lotrabme wrote:
Glovania wrote:Gomorrah, Bay 45
RSS Pheonix
"Greetings. I am Lieutenant Charlotte Lindholm, and we are the delegation from the Free Republic of Glovania."

With a toothy grin that would remind anyone familiar with ancient Earth fauna of a tyrannosaurus rex, the 3rd Vizier said "Your delegation is welcome Lieutenant. I am Third Vizier Thulee." He nodded his head as a sign of respect, his fellow Malluman officers and his robot guards stood silently behind. "Please follow me if you will" he said briefly, his voice sounded coarse and sometimes would make a hissing sound at the end of his words.

"Admiral Baylock is pleased that so many have heeded his word and come to the Gomorrah, its a better chance for him to familiarize himself with his lessee's, free of charge of course" laughed Thulee. The group walked through a hallway with curved walls that went into the cieling like half of an arc of an oval. "Do you have any questions for me now?" he asked turning back to look at the Lieutenant, who could see his yellow eye had a pupil that looked like a black crosshair.

Lessees? The Lieutenant could not tell if that was meant to mean that those the Admiral was meeting were beneath him, or if that was simply their word for such circumstances. It mattered little really. "Is this your people's main facility or structure in the system - a command post, if you will?" She asked, looking around at the interior of the structure.

by **Lotrabme** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:53 am

Glovania wrote:Lessees? The Lieutenant could not tell if that was meant to mean that those the Admiral was meeting were beneath him, or if that was simply their word for such circumstances. It mattered little really. "Is this your people's main facility or structure in the system - a command post, if you will?" She asked, looking around at the interior of the structure.

"Yes it is. It's our only facility really. The fact of the matter is we consider the system ours, however since we have no want to colonize it and really only need an outpost from which to contact the nearby powers, we have decided to give it free of charge to other powers. This starbase the Gomorrah is therefore our only colony in the system aside from the Dwarf planet we are strip mining bellow. The population has grown in recent days thanks to the arrival of merchants, I speculate we have nearly 100,000 civilians on the station at this point."

Taking a grav-lift to the upper levels, they would come to a walkway overlooking the habitat ring of the station, the Lieutenant and her accompaniment would look outside and see greenery and buildings, and hundreds of people within view going about their buisness. It looked like a planet side city but curving away either way one looked. They would pass these into a large tower like structure nearby where after entering a smaller grav-lift the Vizier would lead the group to a door with two robotic guards in gold who would turn and the door would open, revealing the Admiral standing near a large meeting table. He was looking at some of the robots, telling them in his mind the dimensions they would need to configure the chairs too.

Turning to see them the Admiral would come towards them. The Lieutenant would notice firstly that he was indeed another species than the Vizier, looking like a Human offshoot with some noticable differences, particularly the grey-beige skin tone, and the electronic appliances attached to various parts of his body, as well as the proportions looking very lanky and un-sturdy. He moved very smoothly for the way he seemed built though.
"You must be the Glovanian delegation, Welcome" said the Admiral bowing his head to them. Raising it he said "Thank you Thulee, you are dissmissed."
"Of course Lord" said the Malluman who bowed his head and turned to leave the room.

The Admiral came forth "Welcome to the Gomorrah, please have a seat we are waiting for some of the others to arrive."

by **The 44th Indp Legion** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 1:31 pm

Lotrabme wrote:When asked about discussing system ownership Volelee replied: "Obviously you will need to speak to Admiral Baylock about that matter, though knowing him I doubt he would mind, I'm sure he wants that matter out of the way as much as you do. From what I've heard you all have a trade route through this corner of space yes?"

Hiran smiled slightly. The smell wasn't toxic, true. But to say the toxiform armour her Huskarl bodyguard was wearing "wasn't toxic" was so erroneous it was almost laughable. In fairness though, the three-eyed Huskarls , unlike their normal and "cyclops" configurations, were perfectly safe toxologically speaking unless they 'armed' their suits. The faint but distinct smell, contrary to popular belief, was a side-effect of the jump (as in: teleportation) pack they were equipped with, as was the slight dusting of silicate particles in their wake.

"I think it's best I explain all this in the presence of the admiral so as to avoid wasting time, as I think it's nessecary for me to inform him on this matter regardless." The assistant-senator said, already on-route to the admiral anyway.

Sitting down on the table with the admiral and the lieutenant after the proper polite greetings and whatnot, she got down to business.
"This is not confidential information, so you may keep the present third parties here during this short briefing, if you wish." She started, leaving time for the Lieutenant to either get up or stay seated.

"The Cygni system has been part of the Paraxus-Rie Ann 0XZ trade route for a very long time, but has seen very little throughfare of convoys going through they actual system, though they stop with some frequency not too far from here -under 2000 lightyears from here I believe-. Though there are no immediate outposts in the area, there have been enemy long-distance anti-shipping patrolls going through this area for some time. In the past 50 years, these patrolls have decreased in fequency and seem to have largely ceased. The squadron to which the now present flotilla is assigned to, is tasked with scouting out a path for an initial convoy in the near future. Our efforts in this sector have largely focussed on anti-piracy and preventing enemy use of unrestricted naval warfare tactics against current and future convoys. Legally speaking, this system was claimed only to allow for the neccecary jurisdiction for said operations. Seeing as your nation is itself likely to benefit from the security of this and other trade routes, Lord Senator Hardange-Viga has recently authorised me to hand over formal sovereignty of this system and corresponding rights and responsibility, to your controll, provided that our ships may freely pass through the system, with corresponding tolls, of course."

"Before that, though, it is of importance that we familiarise ourselves with eachothers nations and the extent thereof. To give you an impression what you are dealing with when it comes to us: I hail from the Paraxian Exosector, a largely autonomous part of the dominion of the 44th independent legion and it's allies. It is the closest neighbouring "homeland" region of the 44th in repects to this system, and is 4 to 5 rift sequences away, which would roughly imply Paraxus itself is situated in one of the neighbouring superclusters, though optics has yet to confirm this. We rely on intergalactic trade to keep the neccecary wartime production adequate, shorter-distance trading allows us to share and maintain the standard of living our black-hole mining and matter conversion technologies allow us to have. Historically, we are considered neo-communists, but I believe the more accurate term is this language is 'de-stratified free-market state socialism'. Probably. It does not translate very well, in my opinion, so bear that in mind."

by **Lotrabme** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 6:18 pm

"At two thousand light years being a short distance, you must have a very wide berth." chuckled the Admiral. Volelee had taken a seat next to him. Baylock continued "Of course space is quite a big place. And I appreciate you allowing us to take possession of the system from you. If you wish to run scouting missions to monitor your enemies I will not deny you that right, of course if they prove enemies of ours I should like to know as well what their intent is. Therefore I do ask that you keep me informed."

On the matter of trade he said: "I assure you that your trade ships will remain safe in our ports. We do not have a toll for travel, however we do have a import tax on products sold in market, 5% for the regular items, with variables coming into play when the items happen to be of a more sensitive nature. Port fees are a local matter but thats for overnight parking rather than simple loading and unloading. Other than that your merchant ships may travel through our void free of charge, only in a time of war against the power in question do we redact this policy. If you notice a military fleet looking particularly bellicose, just fly your colors and we will know your allegiance."

"As to knowledge of our nation..one moment please" said Baylock pulling up a holographic projector and placing it on the table, it centering itself between all present parties in the conference room.

He would speak after a web-like map of star systems appeared on the display, with different lines crossing between the systems. "This is a map of our territory, we have 4 star systems as the core of our space here" he said as they lit up "near them we have established colonies in 6 surrounding systems" those too lighting up with the same solid lines running between "and a dozen systems around we have claimed as our own yet exploration to them is still underway." He said as twelve more stars lit up but with dotted lines passing between them and the inner colonies. More stars were on the map, including a pulsar that periodically blinked. These surrounding had no lines. From the map they could tell the Mind Empire was focused on keeping its territory strengthened and well connected, the inner 10 systems did not go beyond a bubble of 20 lightyears from the epicenter of the Hame and Raegel systems, and the 12 remained in and around 50 lightyears distant.

"The system we have designated Cygni is here" he said, as a new dotted line appeared and moved toward its place 65 lightyears from the Hame-Raegel epicenter. "We have designated this system as a means to communicate with other powers in the region, and to keep an eye on political situations which may in any way involve us." He paused for a moment and then spoke again, he seemed to have received a psychic message, though nothing of major concern, simply that more guests were arriving soon.

"Concerning our nation itself" he began again "The S'relln Hamans, as my race is properly known, are a breed of mutated Homo Sapiens and our cybernetic brethren" he said pointing to the robots in the room "who left our first home due to the harshness of the times there and our own desire to build a new civilization. After over a millennium of travel, we arrived at our new homeworld from which we take our name, Hame. Our time in space and with a low population however, combined with our modifications in machinery lead to us becoming ultimately spacefairing, terraforming the world but seldom living on it, and our Capital city being the Ekkaia which orbits our new found home. We are governed by the Sage Council, a body of our psychic masters who have ascended the ranks of our orders to achieve a level of skill beyond most common psychics. Our whole race has been modified to posses some skill, except in very seldom cases, and along with our cyborg interconnected networks, we are a very collectivist race. The Sage Council is divided into the Inner and Outer councils, which serve Executive-Judicial and Judicial-Legislative purposes respectively, then we have the Chambers of Admiralty, the Chamber of Merchants, and the Chamber of Logistics and Labor. The Outer Council acts as a representative body to some degree, having the masters of the psychic schools as well as the Malluman Lords and Nebulan Hive queens present in council, and many of these representatives overlap into the chambers. As the race, we Hamans are few in number compared to our Homo Sapiens distant cousins, numbering only about 15 billion. However, as we went along and explored we discovered several alien races, namely the Mallumans like my Vizier Volelee, and the Nanottians. Unlike the latter which remains very much a servant race from complete integration with our cybernetic matrix, the Mallumans have in their uplifting become full citizens of the Empire, and while primarily our soldiers have all the rights of any Haman."

"We outnumber them 4 to 1 as well" laughed Volelee "Our equality was hard fought and happened early on about 500 years ago, but now we have our Arbiter on the Outer Sage Council."

"Indeed" said Baylock "The psychic and eusocial Nebulans, and their client race the Yorms are also full fledged members of the Mind Empire. Both are much more involved in the mercantile field however, and the Nebulan Queens have become valued members of the Merchant Guild. Now our vast commercial fleets carry the tribute of 100 worlds to market, and they will come to you as well if you so wish it."

by **Nyte** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 5:36 pm

Cygni Star System
Interstellar Empire of Nyte

Having recieved a reply from the Mind Empire, RADM. Harke decided to dispatch the frigate Bellerephon to the Gamorrah to deliver a diplomat along with a small honor guard. The Admiral took a moment to look through the records of the officers she had available for an extended diplomatic mission, and finding one with previous diplomatic experience, contacted him immediately. "Commander Draugo, I need you to report to the Bellerephon for a diplomatic assignment... Upon arrival, you'll rondezvous with First Sergeant Winters and his Nytelord squad."

The Admiral paused for a moment before continuing. "The Bellerephon will take you to the Gamorrah, a station belonging to the Mind Empire. While there, you will have the authority to act in any diplomatic matters concerning our dealings with the other nations present in the Cygni system... I understand that you are familiar with the regulations concerning such matters, and expect that you should have no major problems. Good luck Commander, you're dismissed."

Several hours later, the frigate Bellerephon pulled gracefully away from the Hammer of Balos, and activating its FTL drives for a micro jump, the ship vanished with a flash, the only sign of its former presence being a temporary distortion of the space where the ship once was.

Planet Grab (FT, Closed)

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