This is your wake-up call (FT-Closed, IC)

by **Genomita** » Mon Aug 17, 2015 2:10 pm

The OOC thread is here: https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=348190

It had all started when a team researching the origins of the Farcaster network had discovered a set of coordinates leading to a gate far away from the Star Community's sphere of influence. Such discoveries had been made before, for the Genomitans had not so much created the Farcasters so much as they had been given permission to use them by the fleet of sapient, organic ships their human ancestors had encountered ages ago. It had been a stroke of luck on both sides, for the original Genomitans had been forced to evacuate their homeworld and were running low on resources when they encountered the living fleet, while the drones that had then crewed the bioships had been dying from a mysterious illness. Thankfully, the Genomitans possessed not only the means to communicate with the living fleet but also the knowledge of organic technology to develop a cure, knowledge which their ancestors had gained through centuries of studying the organic technology and alien biology of their original nation's enemies. The cure was finished just in time to prevent the extinction of the drones, though there were still many losses. Even so, the living fleet was eternally grateful, for the extinction of their drone crews would have resulted in their own slow, agonizing deaths. Each of the living ships selected one of the Genomitan leaders as their neurally bonded pilot, with their crew joining them on their living vessel. They further taught the Genomitans how to create more of their kind and led them to the Farcasters, giant living gates that formed a vast network that allowed nigh-instantaneous travel between any two gates. Not even the Asmi'duna, the most ancient member of the living fleet was able to recall the origins of the network, though it seemed it had been discovered by the same species that had created the living fleet (or, for all the Genomitans knew, had turned themselves into the living fleet). A pact was made that the Genomitans would be allowed to use the network as they pleased, provided they would agree to look for other members of the living fleet that had been seperated from their kin.

Such thoughts occured to Envoy Valtha Aless as the Dhaina, hir assigned bioship and it's small support fleet left their port of call in the newly settled Tikka system behind. While the system's discovery had been a pleaseant surprise, the system itself was not terribly interesting to the Star Community barring the exception of it's asteroid belt which offered plenty of space for habitats and it's only inhabitable planet that currently seemed to go through the early stages of what one might consider it's dinosaur age, with large, rugged crustacean aliens braving the harsh climate and craggy landscape. However, the Genomitans' interest had been piqued by a neighbouring system, which seemed rather isolated and out of the way, yet early reports of long-range recon ships spoke of a verdant jungle world accompanied by a similarily lush moon. What's more, the recon ships had detected traces of intelligent life on the surface of both the planet and it's moon, though they had been hesitant to approach any further and risk first contact without an envoy among them. Valtha hirself had only recently completed hir training as envoy, but like all Genomitans ze had received thorough training and education in all aspects of hir role ever since ze had completed the mandatory aptitude test and it had been determined that ze would become an envoy to the high council. Now ze was ready and eager to serve in her role to the best of hir ability.

Valtha paused at the door to the Dhaina's command center to smooth the white toga-like cloth that covered much of hir symbiotic bodysuit. it was stil largely unmarked save for the seal of the high council of Qaura, the new homeworld of the Genomitans where ze had recveived hir training. However, ze was confident ze would soon be able to add the seal of this newly discovered world's government as proof of hir successful efforts to forge a lasting relationship between the Star Community and the natives. With any luck the natives would even prove willing to adapt the Genomitans' way of life as their own, though there was plenty of time to work towards that possibility once first contact had been successful. Right now ze was just eager to get to know the natives.

The door opened to reveal the small command center, with the neurally-connected pilot seated in the middle the room, while commander Rhes and the envoy's honor guard stood near a large monitor showing what the ship's many eyes saw.

"Pilot Dhaina-Magat, how long do you think will it take to get into broadcasting range of this system?"

The pilot turned hir head to greet hir with a slight smile, hir symbiosuit's eyes opening only briefly as the pilot diverted hir focus from the ship's eyes to hir own.

"Ah, young envoy Valtha. Rejoice, for we shall arrive in only few short hours. They are all eager to see the new world as well. Even now they are singing with joy. Can you feel it in your bones?"

Valtha briefly closed hir eyes at the pilot's words. Ze could indeed feel a faint vibration that betrayed the living ship's anticipation. "I can, and those are very good news indeed. Commander Rhes, any word from the others?"

"Nothing yet envoy, though I'm sure the recon ships Teri and Roa will have news for us soon. If anything happens the cruisers and star-matron class support ship should be able to deal with it."

The envoy merely nodded in reply as ze joined the other at the monitor, showing the system ahead of them growing ever so slightly as the small fleet made it's way there, the living ships looking somewhat like a grove of tall trees gracefully floating through space as they went.

by **Yos Namoi** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 2:27 pm

"Yos Namoi" is what the natives, the Zaeri, call their world. It roughly translates to "The World". Not original, maybe, but it works.

The planet is a large one, covered almost entirely by a single supercontinent composed mostly of a single wet, thick, lush jungle, sometimes accompanied by a range or two of short mountains, and maybe even a stratovolcano or two. A single ocean keeps the westernmost and easternmost parts of the continent from connecting, with a massive series of underwater tunnels connecting it and the make lakes and rivers that dot the continent together. The average day is cloudy and wet, with sprinkles of rain starting one minute and ending the next, leaving the planet cooler than it otherwise would be in tropical climate.

Within this dense jungle lie many a dangerous predators, the sheer number of which have driven many of their former prey extinct. It is because of these dangerous creatures that there is not a single inhabited settlement on the planet that doesn't have well-maintained walls protecting those that live within it. The Zaeri inhabit beautiful concrete settlements with elaborate and unique architectural designs. Gardens dot the streets, rooftops, and window seals of each settlement, bringing the lush beauty of the wild to the Zaeri without them having to venture into the dangerous wilderness. To call these settlements "towns" or "cities is inaccurate, for towns are too small and cities too large for these settlements to labelled as such. And thus, only settlement can be a true description of what these communities.

The most well-known, or at least the most notorious, of these settlements would be "Yos Vanor", roughly translating to "The Base", it is likewise nestled at the base of 4 different mountains, lying within short distance of a large lake that flows into the waterfall (and the river stemming from said waterfall) that the settlement was built around. The settlement's strategic location, combined with the fact that there are only 4, narrow entrances that directly enter to it, has contributed to the fact it remains the only settlement on Yos Namoi never to have been conquered by an opposing army. This has earned a great deal of honor and respect for those that inhabit it. With large scale attacks being virtually impossible, and the lack of interest in aerial warfare, the settlement has managed to prosper far more than it's neighbors, and has also managed to enjoy a several centuries-long period of peace. In addition, it's local temple and palace are considered two of the most beautiful buildings on the planet.

But there is more to Yos Vanor than just it's magnificent appearance. Truly it is the greatest settlement on Yos Namoi, a center for the arts, culture, science, language, wealth, and trade. The settlement would indeed make the perfect capital, and with it's large population, would undoubtedly be an attraction to a hypothetical alien arrival on the planet.

by **Genomita** » Sun Sep 06, 2015 2:46 pm

The small genomitan fleet continued to approach the planet, careful to avoid any action that might be misconstrued as aggression. By now the the Teri and the Rova had located what was most likely the world's capital, with the envoy's ship following suit. Now Valtha, commander Rhes and much of their crew had gathered in the command centre to admire the images captured by the living ship's eyes. The air was thick with pheromonal messages as some of the crew members shared their admiration of the planet's verdant beauty nonverbally, while the symbiosuits of others flashed in rapid sequences of colors and patterns, conveying complex thoughts and messages without a word to avoid disturbing the concentration of their superiors.

Captain Rhes was the first to speak up. "While their capital may be beautiful and an impressive work of craftsmanship, it is also heavily fortified. That, and it's strategic location suggest a history of armed conflict among the natives. Thankfully there seem to be no signs of recent combat in this area, but there is still the possibility that the inhabitants of this world were unified through conquest rather than peaceful means."

The envoy raised hir upper left hand to hir chin as ze pondered the commander's words. "Your concern is noted and appreciated, but i doubt we are looking at the capital of a violent dictator. No, I see a cultural hub, a place where both nature and the arts are held in respect. I'm certain they will give us a fair hearing, and if not I trust you and my honor guard with my safety." said Valtha as ze rested hir upper hands on the shoulders of hir two guardians, who responded to the close contact with appreciative nods. Like Valtha hirself the two were born and raised on Qaura, and like the envoy had the "swimmer's build" common to genomitans born in the underwater cities of their people's new home. The commander and much of hir crew, on the other hand were spacers, with largely pale skin, prehensile feet and the lean yet toned look of soldiers accustomed to living in microgravity. The commander was more than a head taller than Valtha, with strong cheekbones, fierce eyes and clad in a symbiosuit that was covered in light yet sturdy chitin-like armor that managed to look both protective and flattering. The envoy was snapped out of her thoughts when the pilot spoke up.

"Young Valtha, we are now in broadcasting range. Would you like to prepare a message to the natives?"

Valtha nodded before crossing over to the center of the room, to the communications console. Ze was about to begin when the pilot, or perhaps the ship itself adressed her once more. "A word of warning, young envoy. Neither the architecture on this world nor the desigtn of the spaceport below match anything in our database. I trust that you will keep this in mind when approaching the people inhabiting this world.

The envoy answered with a warm smile and a thumbs up with hir upper right. "Don't worry, I wouldn't be here if I didn't know what I'm doing. Now then..." Ze briefly ran hir upper left through hir hair and down the long single braid reaching between hir shoulders before straightening hir robe, normally pointless considering the message was audio-only, but it did give hir time to gather hir thoughts.

Code: Select all: "This is envoy Valtha of the Star Community of Genomita. Please do not be alarmed. We have come to your system in peace, and I believe there is much we can learn from one another. With your permission we would like to request coordinates for a meeting site of your choice so we can introduce ourselves properly and begin negotiations, wether we first meet in orbit or on your beautiful world. I look forward to hearing your reply."

Valtha's first message had been in Standard, quickly followed by two other messages in other languages ze knew were common in this quadrant. Now all they had to do was to wait for the natives' response, and hopefully a first contact team.

by **Yos Namoi** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 9:19 am

Silence befell the settlement. Eyes turned to the sky, while minds wandered, as both curiosity and fear overtook those within range of the message. Guards were put on edge, workers ran home to their families, while a large crowd gathered in front of the palace in the center of Yos Vanor. Cries came out from the crowd, attributing the voice and it's message to gods, demons, enemies, and pranksters. False prophets announced the return of the gods or forewarned of apocalyptic occurrences. Other attributed it to juvenile pranksters, or mischievous demons. While others incited fear of an impending attack by foreign settlements, using the broadcast as a distraction. Fights broke out, some turning violent. Accusations of treachery, stupidity, and heresy were flung about liberally. Some were angry, some were calm, but all were fearful.

Finally, a woman stepped forth onto the palace balcony, and the crowd went peaceful and quiet as she lifted her hand, signaling them to cease their bickering and violence. It was none other than the chieftess of Yos Vanor herself, Odaj the Young as she was called, due to her rare ascendance to chieftesshood at the extremely young age of 15, only 165 years ago. Beside her was her priestess-wife, Qayati, who spoke up first to the crowd.

"False prophets, cease your lies! The language of the gods is known to us, and what has been spoken is not it! Do not succumb to paranoia and ignorance either, for warnings of apocalypse lack substance to be taken seriously!"

The false prophets tilted their heads in shame, realizing their foolishness. The priestess then stepped back and allowed Odaj to speak. The chieftess approached the edge of the balcony, and looking out over the crowd, spoke to herself softly for a moment, giving herself the courage to speak to the large crowd of scared Zaeri. She took a deep breath, and then addressed the citizens of Yos Vanor.

"My people, be calm. These voices from the sky stem from a source out of this world, beings like us, able to travel the stars... not gods, nor demons. Their voices and languages do not bring harshness and evil, or greatness and divinity. These are beings of intelligence like ourselves, and they have chosen to speak to us rather than bring us harm. Perhaps, then, they do not bring vile intentions? Perhaps they are civilized, and seek peace with us? To share knowledge? Perhaps these are the intentions they bring? It is foolish to presume anything, for we do not know them. They can be wicked, yes, but perhaps not. Their intentions can only be determined if there is contact between us. Only if we meet face-to-face can we hope to determine their intentions, and should these intentions be hostile, we will not hesitate to drive them away from our world, I promise you this!"

The crowd remained silent and fearful, but now also thoughtful. People from another world? Was such a thing even possible? Were they friendly? Hostile? What did they want? Why were they here? What was their goal? Their intentions? Their beliefs? Whispers broke out among the crowd, as Odaj and her wife withdrew from the balcony and into the palace. Due to the silence of the crowd, Odaj was fearful that her speech failed to keep the people open-minded.

"They hated it." She said, dejectedly.

"It was fine, you should be more confident in yourself." Her wife responded, trying to reassure her.

Suddenly, a guard ran up to the two, placed her fist on her breastplate in a form of salute, and looked directly at the chieftess.

"My Lady, we have recorded and examined the message sent to us by the... the voice."

"And? Do you know what it said, or what language it was in?" Odaj asked curiously.

"Not entirely, My Lady. Our linguists determined it was in three different languages, but none were of our dialect, another dialect of our language, or the language of the gods. Still, some of the words in the second and third languages sound very close to some of our own. These were words that we borrowed over from the tongue of the gods. What this means, we are not sure of."

The Odaj and Qayati pondered.

"My Lady... are these really Other-Worlders?" The guard asked, unsure.

"...It is not impossible." She responded, also unsure.

"Then, My Lady, perhaps one of those last two languages comes from a people like us? Children of the gods? Cousins of ours?"

Before the the chieftess could respond, the priestess, visibly disgusted, barked at the guard.

"Hold your blasphemous tongue, heretic! We are the children of the gods, their only children! It is more likely that the gods encountered another people, created by other gods, and unintentionally imparted part of their language to them."

The guard, frightened, tilted her head in shame.

"My apologies, Your Holiness."

She then turned back to the chieftess.

"My Lady, I almost forgot, the linguists believe the speaker of the message calls herself 'Valtha', and speaks of a place called 'Genomita'. This is the only other thing we can gather from the messages. Beyond this, they are unintelligible."

The chieftess pondered for a moment.

"What strange words... is there any way we can respond to them?"

"Well, My Lady, the linguists believe they might be able to create a somewhat-comprehensible message in reply. It would have to be very short, there is no guarantee it will be understandable to them."

Unsure, the chieftess looked to her wife for help.

"Be confident in yourself." She said.

Odaj thought it over for a moment, and taking her wife's words to heart, confidently replied.

"Do it."

The guard saluted the chieftess, and immediately returned to the barracks. After informing the linguists of the chieftess' orders, they began to work with what little they had. It took several grueling hours and mistakes before they were finally able to create a message that would, hopefully, be at least moderately comprehensible. They then took to a large tower and broadcasted the message, which (they believed) would inform the individual known as "Valtha" that they wished to meet with a representative of "Genomita", in the direction the original message was broadcast from. Whether the linguists' work would pay off would yet to be seen. They could only pray that their crude message was able to deliver the intended message.

by **Genomita** » Wed Oct 07, 2015 10:33 am

Valtha and hir honor guard had spent the time since the transmission sitting cross-legged before the monitors, their lower hands in their laps and upper hands on their thighs as they watched the reaction of the natives below them as recorded by the keen eyes of the recon ships. The envoy had nervously chewed hir lip when ze saw fights break out among the fearful crowd, wondering if there might have been a better way to contact the natives.

"What is going on down there? It's almost like the inhabitants of this world never received a message from another species before." said the guard to Valtha's left, hir symbiosuit mirroring hir bemused expression as ze stared at the screen.

"I think you may be correct. It would certain a few things, such as Dhaina-Magat's examination that none of the designs on this world match anything in our database. And this system is rather out of the way, with no easy way to bridge the distance to the next system without an FTL drive or a gate network like ours. Their situation is not too different from our human ancestors back when they first began to travel the stars, except that their home system is even more isolated than earth used to be. Perhaps they even thought that they were the only ones out there. And now we come along and broadcast a public message in their capital. It's no surprise that they would be surprised... Hold on, looks like they are starting to calm dowen!"

Valtha and the others leaned in as the recon ships zoomed in on the crowd as it slowly calmed down. Upon closer inspection the genomitans spotted a pair of appearantly female humanoids on a balcony who seemed to adress the crowd, though they could only guess what they said. "That must be their leaders. And it seeems they are doing a good job of calming their people." Valtha breathed a sigh of relief, wiping an imaginary bead of sweat off hir brow. "That's a relief. It looks like their leaders are well respected as well."

Valtha and hir guards spent the next few hours observing the screens. First sitting as they had done before, then while doing some light stretching to relax their muscles. Afterwards it was time for the next meal and the three moved to the mess hall, where they seated themselves around one of several large bowls of vat-grown meat with noodles and vegetables grown in vertical farms deeper inside the ship. It was only then when the pilot decided to make hirself heard via the speakers in the walls, hir booming voice echoing through the mess hall. "Rejoice, everyone aboard! We have just received a message from the natives below. Young Valtha, I trust you would like to be present during the translation, yes?"

Valtha quickly slurped down a mouthful of long, thin noodles, somehow avoiding spilling any of the sauce on hirself before rising, just barely stopping hirself from running to the command center. Hir guards followed closely behind with hir faces now uncovered. They seemed to beodentical twins in their early twenties, with pale skin, deep blue eyes and short dark hair. Each of them had a small tattoo of a stylized shield above one of their eyes, one of them on the left while the other had hir tattoo on the right. The message turned out to be short but comprehensible, stating that they wished to meet with a representative of 'Genomita'. Valtha very nearly leapt off the ground with joy when ze discovered the translated message's meaning, though ze did not bother to hide the blissful grin that spread on hir face as ze stepped to the microphone, directing the the communications officer to focus the message on the tall tower that had appearantly been the source of the reply. Hir reply was likewise brief, and this time only in the two languages common in this quadrant

Code: Select all: "Then I look forward to meeting with you. My shuttle will land at the spaceport closest to your seat of government."

Once the message was underway, Valtha and hir guards headed to the hangar to board the envoy's personal shuttle, where thy found the shuttle's pilot already fully integrated and ready for takeoff. While this shuttle was a mere seed compared to the size of the Dhaina, it was equipped with latest advances in genomitan ship technology, including a polished outer hull that seemed purely ornamental but was actually a harmonic combination of organic and what one might consider "conventional" technology that allowed the ship's hull to project high-resolution images of whatever the envoy desired to aid hir words, which would undoubtedly come in handy concidering the current laguage barrier. It was only right that this type of ship was known as the 'seed class', for they were indeed intended to sow the seeds of peace and cooperation.

Once the three genomitans had boarded the shuttle and Valtha was reasonably sure enough time had passed to allow them to translate the message and inform the personell at the spaceport it was only a few minutes until they found themselves in the grip of the planet's gravity field, upon which the ship's powerful retrorockets began their work, soon slowing the ship to a slow and graceful decent, further aided by a trio of large parachutes that unfolded from the top of the landing craft. It touched down softly on a free platform, where Valtha and hir two companions slowly exited the ship, the guards now equipped with large shields matching the tattoos that faced towards the envoy and ornate battlestaffs held in their outwards facing hands. Like the ship, these staffs were a harmonic combinationf of genomitan biotech and conventional tech, each containing a device that emitted a bright flash of light when slammed into the ground with sufficient force as well as a tazer set to deliver stunning but nonlethal shocks, though the output could be increased in times of need.

"Jumi, Kumi, remember that these people likely never met members of another spacefaring species before. So please keep your postures non-threatening and your eyes calm. Now then, I guess it is time to meet our hosts."

"As you wish, said the two guards at once, flolowing a half-step behind the envoy as ze moved a few steps away from the shuttle, their eyes already scanning their surroundings.

by **Yos Namoi** » Wed Oct 07, 2015 4:48 pm

The response was received very quickly, and delivered without delay. Linguistics allowed for no delay in it's translation, and after several minutes were able to understand the basic of the message, and that the Genomitans were coming. They quickly rushed this news to Chieftess Odaj, informing her of their impending arrival. Although specifics could not be deciphered from the message, the chieftess assumed their visitors would like to land as close to the palace as possible, and so signaled for the nearest port to be made available and strung up with large, flashing green lights to guide the Genomitans to their landing space. The Chieftess, her guards, and her priestess-wife hurried to the port to greet the Genomitan diplomats.

As the Genomitan craft landed, the port remained empty for several minutes, with the Genomitans being the only living things on it. Or so it seemed.

Before the Genomitans knew it, 8 all-female guards appeared almost out of thin air, their cloaking devices shutting off simultaneously right before the Genomitans' eyes, flanking the Genomitans on both sides with 2 separate lines facing each other. The guards calmly marched forward, stopped just short of being within touching distance of each other in front of the Genomitans. They stood there, shoulder-to-shoulder facing each other without even looking at the Genomitans. Suddenly, a door opened at the end of the hangar the Genomitans were facing, as three figures stepped out. The figures stared at the Genomitans for several seconds before marching forward.

The first figure, a female, appeared to be similarly dressed as the guards, in what appeared to be a rather comfortable jumpsuit adorned with metal plates on certain parts of the outfit, creating a sort of flexible armor, with a built in hood and a slightly armored half-skirt that covered the side and rear of the individual's legs while keeping the frontal legs exposed, in addition to a separate visor piece that covered the face. However, this particular set of armor was slightly different, the armor being gold instead of silver, set in a different style than the other armor, and likewise for the visor. On her belt hung a golden, decorated sword within a scabbard, unlike the guards who were armed with staffs.

To her right was another woman, only instead of being clad in this flexible armor, she wore a heavy set of robes, with her hood covering most of her head while a colorful, vibrant mask adorned her face. Around her neck rested a necklace which bore a strange symbol.

To her left was not a being, but a machine, that marched along with them. In addition to it's humanoid appearance, it walked like it's creators as well. It had no elaborate outward design beside it's navy blue and white color scheme.

The three figures stopped just a feet away from them. The two women, along with the machine, bowed in respect as is custom in their culture, and when finished the armored figure removed her visor and dropped her hood, while the other woman removed her mask. The women appeared almost human, with only slight differences in their appearance. For one, none of the aforementioned women were taller than 5 feet, including the guards. In addition, their skin was as white as snow on top of the highest mountains. Their eye color came in only three shades: Purple, blue, and sometimes green, though the last one was exceptionally rare. The armored woman bore purple eyes, as did the woman to her right. Their hair color likewise came in only three colors: Black, brown, and red, all usually in dark variants, with red also being exceptionally rare. The armor-clad woman herself had black hair, while the woman to her right's was brown (albeit it wasn't visible behind the hood).

In terms of composure, the armored woman was surprisingly visibly nervous, and unsure, though not necessarily fearful. It was clear, though, that she was uncomfortable, yet also somewhat curious. She attempted not to show it facially, but was slightly unsuccessful in this regard. In contrast, the woman to her right's composure was calm and collected, and her face maintained a similar composure. She showed no emotion, even as curiosity, uncertainty, and even slight fear existed within her mind. Judging by appearance alone, one would assume the women, who both appeared as if they were merely young adults, were the same age. In actuality, there was a 400 year gap between the two, with the armored woman being the younger of the two, though you could never tell just by looking at them.

Both looked at the Genomitans with interest, and finally the armored woman cleared her throat and spoke. Although what she said was most likely incomprehensible to the Genomitans, her body language easily suggested it was a greeting. She then placed her right hand on her chest, and said "Odaj" (Pronounced "Oday"). She then gestured to the woman on her right, who nodded in the Genomitans' direction, as she said "Qayati" (Pronounced "Kayati"). Then woman then gestured to the Genomitan in front, and asked, clearly puzzled, "Val-Tha?"

by **Genomita** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 3:15 pm

Neither Valtha nor hir guards so much as blinked when the native guards appeared in front of them. It was obvious that the natives had decided to try and impress them with a display of their technological prowess. The number of guards present also spoke of their hosts' caution, which seemed to further back up the envoy's theory that these people were unused to having guests of other species around.

Jumi, the honor guard on Valtha's left was the first to speak. "Impressive optical camouflage. The commander will want to know about this." ze said in standard, earning a nod from Kumi. "Ze likely saw them appear as well through the eyes of the recon ships, though we are in a better position to gain information on these devices if necessary."

"Jumi, Kumi, it's not very polite to hold conversations in lanuguages your hosts don't understand." The envoy's tone was gentle, though it had the desired effect. Both guards immediately stiffened, their cheeks showing hints of pink. Their symbiosuits likewise turned a paler shade of green at the envoy's words before returning to their usual colors as Jumi and Kumi quickly regained their composure.

Meanwhile Valtha hirself was struck by how beautiful the natives were. To the envoy it seemed as if they had discovered a species consisting entirely of petite albino women. Though Valtha had heard of single-gendered species before (and genomitans could be considered single-gendered themselves, though they were actually hermaphroditic) this might be the first time that ze encountered one such species hirself. "It's still too easy to say, though. They might actually be a matriarchal people, which would explain why all the guards here are women." thought Valtha as ze noticed a door opening at the end of the hangar.

Valtha and the twin guards made sure to carefully mirror the respectful bow of their hosts and pay close attention to every word they said. When the one in the golden armor gestured to Valtha and adressed hir as Val-Tha, the envoy responded with a warm smile and a nod before placing hir upper right hand on hir chest as Odaj and Qayati did before responding in the language most common in this quadrant. "Yes, I am Valtha." Ze then placed hir upper hands on hir guards' shoulders, gently pushing them forward until they were paralel to hirself. "Jumi." ze said, nodding first towards the guard on hir left and then towards the one on hir right "Kumi." Ze then took a few steps back towards the shuttle with the twins following beside hir. The pilot, recognizing what the envoy intended to do closed the hatch to make sure the entire surface was available for projection.

When the envoy placed hir upper left hand on the smooth surface, the polished surface briefly turned black before displaying a world like a blue jewel tidally-locked in orbit around a red dwarf star, just close enough to the star to be in it's habitable zone. "Qaura." the envoy said before the star map began to zoom out, showing other planets and star systems, some of them closer to each other, some further apart and connected by a gate network. Once the map had finished zooming out the symbol of the symbol of the Star Community appeared semi-transparent behind the different worlds, showing their sphere of influence that, while by no means massive and contained in the same general quadrant still encompassed a number of systems, with very different worlds and inhabitants. "The Star Community of Genomita." The envoy had barely finished hir sentence when the star map was again replaced by a display of many different species, some humanoid like Valtha and the twins while others were vastly different, ranging from the many-legged arboreal Ksellians to a species that could best be described as large snails with star-shaped hands. Each of them were clad in symbiosuits similar to the ones worn by Valtha and hir guards, though without the additional armor. "Genomitans."

The intended message was clear. While all of these species had their own names for themselves they were all considered "Genomitans" as members of the Star Community. The ship's hull then went through a number of pictures and short recordings of the species interacting with each other as equals before settling on a large circular room with members of the different species filling the many seats. Above each person's had was a stylized display of their homeworld, making it clear that each of the people within the room represented a particular planet within the Star Community. "The high council." said Valtha before placing hir upper hands on hir chest and adding "I am Valtha, an envoy of the high council. It is a great honour to meet you, Odaj and Qayati." The envoy briefly gestured towards the latter as Odaj had done towards hirself. "You are a priestess, yes?" The image on the ship's hull behind them changed to a stylized representation of a dignified robed woman leading a group of aliens in prayer. "We are a spiritual people ourselves, so I look forward to learning more about your faith, as well as other aspects of your culture. And you..." ze said, now gesturing politely towards Odaj "must be the political leader of your people. And appearantly the military leader as well."

With the formal greeting now out of the way Valtha turned hir attention to Jumi. "That reminds me, wasn't there something you wanted to tell our hosts?" Jumi understood immediately, clearing hir throat for a moment before stepping forward. "With your permission I would like to voice my respect for your people's advamced optical camouflage technology. I realize that this is hardly a topic for a diplomatic first meeting, but the envoy thought I should mention it." A faint blush appeared on the honor guards cheeks, less because of something like stage fright but because ze was not as fluent in the language chosen by the envoy as ze wished. In a culture where people strove for excellency in their assigned role being only passable at something was all the more reason to train harder, though it was not considered shameful as long as someone made an effort to improve. "Then again, she thought, "this mission might be just what I need to become better at this language." Having said what ze wanted to say Jumi resumed hir place beside the envoy, who now moved towards Odaj and Qayati until they were just a feet apart like before. "I hope that you will not hold it against hir.Though i agree that your technological prowess in this area is impressive."

by **Yos Namoi** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 6:03 pm

Odaj watched the Genomitans in awe, which also showed on her face as her eyes widened and mouth gaped, she was particularly interested in their strange suits, that appeared to change color at random - at least to her perspective. She was particularly awed at the image display, or rather, what was being displayed.

"So, these Genomitans are not one people, but many? And they have a long-stretching influence? Perhaps they are great conquerors? And these suits they wear, they change color... randomly? Or is there a purpose?"

She pondered, her mind wandering as she watched them explain about themselves, even if she did not understand it. Qayati, however, remained the same. She did not flinch, nor allow any expression to manifest itself on her face. Rather she stood there silently, watching and wondering, but other than blinking occasionally, she did not move a muscle. However, when she was addressed and the image of a alien prayer displayed itself, she nodded in confirmation. Though she wasn't entirely sure what had been said, she did understand the intended message.

When the Genomitan identified as 'Jumi' began speaking, although Odaj could not understand her, she listened with curiosity, and could tell that they were not as fluent in the language as Valtha was. She also noticed that the linguists were correct in their interpretation of the original message, this language, although too foreign to be understood, definitely had an influence from - or perhaps on - the language the Gods' whom the Zaeri worshiped had spoken prior to their departure. When the Genomitan was finished, she turned to the machine on her left.

"Did you get all that?"

She asked, the automaton then turned to her.

"Yes, ma'am. I have been analyzing the language, and have managed to ultimately gain some more knowledge from it. I believe I may be able to construct a proper sentence, if you would give me a moment."

She nodded, and then turned back to the Genomitans. She then reached for her belt, and removed a small, flat, circular object about the size of her hand. She then held it out, and pushed a small button on the side of it. As soon as she did, a large hologram of the planet appeared.

"Yos Namoi."

She said, proudly. She then clicked another button on the projector, and a hologram depicting a male and female Zaeri appeared. The female was clad like a guard, while the male was clad as a laborer, both standing proudly and triumphantly next to each other.

"Zaeri."

She said, and then gestured to herself, Qayati, and the guards around them. Shen then pressed the previous button again, and the hologram shifted to a projection of the city.

"Yos Vanor."

She said, and gestured to the many draped banners hanging from the walls of the port, which displayed the cities emblem. She turned off the projector, and then placed it back on her belt, and then turned back to the automaton.

"Have you finished?"

The automaton directed it's attention back to Odaj.

"Yes, my lady. From what I have been able to gather, these creatures that call themselves, 'Genomitans', appear to come in peace judging by their composure, their attitude, and their apparent friendliness. It is possible that this is a ruse, however I for one do not believe so. I believe their intentions are just as noble as they claim, then again I was not programmed to analyze the personalities of foreign life, so I may be misjudging them. They have also posed a question, a strange one, that has earned my personal suspicion. If my translation is correct, they are asking about our stealth capabilities. I believe they specifically mean the personal stealth fields equipped on your guards' belts, as well as your own."

Before Odaj had a chance to respond, Qayati spoke up.

"Odaj, be cautious with your reply. It may be an error on the machines part, or they may pose a military threat to us. They have already demonstrated they control a very large span of territory far beyond the reaches of their home planet. I suggest you ignore their question, pretend as if their question was lost in translation. Do not risk anything just yet, we do not know who these creatures are or what their intention are."

Qayati gave a stern look to an obviously unsure Odaj as she berated her, when finished Odaj then simply nodded in reluctant agreement.

"My lady, if I may continue?"

The machine asked, and Odaj returned her gaze to it.

"Yes, of course."

She replied, regaining her composure.

"I should inform you that error is possible in my translation, as it is difficult to fully translate what has been said with what little we have of the language. Further communication will help with this. I should also inform you that I was able to conjure a reply that should be be intelligible enough for them to understand."

Odaj thought for a moment.

"Alright then, you may proceed."

The machine bowed, and then turned toward the Genomitans, and played it's message.

"Greetings. We are Zaeri. Our home Yos Vanor. Our world Yos Namoi. We welcome you."

The message was anything but elegant. In fact, it was quite crude and likely contained grammatical errors. But it was mostly-intelligible, and that was enough. When the machine was finished, Odaj cleared her throat.

"Please, come, follow, let us show you our world."

She said, motioning for the Genomitans to follow as she, Qayati, and the automaton turned in a way that suggested they were to depart the hangar.

by **Genomita** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 2:44 pm

Valtha smiled when Odaj asked them to come with her. Finally they would get to see this world up close and learn more about the Zaeri and their beautiful homeworld. Ze could barely contain hir excitement, hir symbiosuit rapidly shifting from bright green to a brilliant yellow dotted with rapidly shifting spots of black and orange in response to hir emotions. "It will be our pleasure!"

Jumi on the other hand breathed a little sigh of relief that hir words hadn't openly soured relations before things even got of the ground. Ze quietly followed the Zaeri at the envoy's side, hir mood greatly improved by Valtha's nonvocal display of excitement. The siblings had known Valtha long enough to know that the envoy would not allow hir excitement over the situation get in the way of the task at hand, so they merely smiled and were glad ze was enjoying hirself.

They had only walked a few steps when a thought came to Valtha. The envoy slowly reached into one of the pockets sewn into hir robe and carefully retrieved a sleek headset with eyestalks ending in a complex eye on both sides. "Speaking of showing, would you allow me to record our surroundings as you do so? While your world is quite beautiful from a bird's eye view, I'm sure the other members of our small expedition fleet would greatly appreicate a live broadcast. I promise not to broadcast anything you might consider sensitive, and I will not hold it against you if you decline. Ah, you might wonder about the appearance of this headset. Our technology is actually largely organic, including the ships that brought us here and the symbiotic uniforms worn by my guards and myself. I tell you this now rather than later because some people outside the Star Community are more comfortable than others with organic technology and I hope this knowledge will prepare you for future displays of our technology. I will gladly tell you more on the subject if you wish, though I have to admit that I am no expert in the field. At any rate, I hope you will consider my request. There are many crew members who would love to see Yos Vanor and other parts of Yos Namoi up close."

Valtha patiently waited for the robotic translator to relay hir words, hoping that at least one of the two would keep an open mind on the subject and wouldn't be too disturbed. Based on the envoy's prior encounters with people from other nations most people seemed to either think of organic technology as really cool or downright disturbing with very little middle ground. Valtha dearly hoped that their hosts would turn into the former once they became more familiar with their unique kind of tech.

by **Yos Namoi** » Thu Oct 22, 2015 9:31 am

Looking at the strange object that Valtha had taken out, both Odaj and Qayati had visible looks of confusion on their faces. For a brief moment they looked at each other, neither muttering a word, only to return their attention to Valtha. They then turned their attention to the machine, which attempted to translate.

"My lady, if my translation is correct I believe they wish to relay what the... object... sees to their compatriots on their vessel. I'm... not sure if I translated this correctly, but I believe they said it was... largely organic, which is apparently also true for all their technology. I do believe there is an error here. Forgive me, but I am not programmed with the knowledge of... 'organic technology', I suppose you could call it. As far as I am aware, such a thing is impossible. But then again, I am not an expert."

This only made Odaj confused. Neither she nor any Zaeri before had heard of such a concept before. Qayati, however, scoffed and dismissed it.

"Nonsense, all of it. It's probably just ordinary technology covered by nature for beauty purposes. 'Organic technology', hah! What a story. They're just trying to impress us now. Entertain their illusions for now, Odaj."

Odaj wasn't so sure, but nonetheless decided to allow it. What harm could it bring, after all? The machine translated her response.

"It is allowed."

The translation was cruder than intended, but then again there wasn't much to work with in translating a mostly unknown language. Still, the machine was working hard in deciphering the language and working on Zaerian translations for what was being said.

When the translation was finished, the party continued on towards the exit for the hangar. They exited through the large door, coming out onto a walkway which peered out for a large view of the settlement. The walkway itself extended to the side of the local palace, connecting the hangar and palace together. In front of the palace, a massive could be seen stretching across several yards, extending from the front of the palace to the front of the local temple. Both were grand structures, with elaborate designs, that dwarfed their neighboring structures. Within the plaza were many statues, fountains, plant beds and pots, and market stalls creating a large, beautiful open-air bazaar of sorts. The plaza was naturally filled with Zaeri, many of which were vendors, traders, customers, and of course guards.

As the party exited onto the walkway, a large crowd gathered near it. Many Zaeri gathered to see the strange aliens that had come to visit them, as looks of fear, confusion, and awe took their faces. Some took pictures, or drew them, while others simply looked up in astonishment. It was a very diverse crowd. Full of a men and women, of all possible hair and eye colors, ranging from fully clothed to completely naked. Also noticeable was that both males and females varied from being clean shaven to having very visible facial hair, although for the females it was often shorter than the males. Yet all had gathered to view the aliens, and very one had a different opinion and different reaction to the Genomitans.

Odaj had stopped the party on the walkway, and gestured towards the crowd.

"Our people - the Zaeri."

She said, looking over the crowd which stood in silent stare, with only the occasional whisper to be heard. As they lingered, the crowd grew larger and guards made sure to make sure the crowd remained calm, gathering around it.

by **Genomita** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 6:27 am

Valtha couldn't help but chuckle when Qayati scoffed and and adressed the obviously confused Odaj. Though Valtha didn't understand everything the priestess said ze could still get the gist of her words based on the tone of her voice. "It seems the priestess doubts the nature of our technology." ze thought. I suppose there have been cases of that as well. Oh well, at least that can be easily rectified with a little demonstration, but how should I go about it? Hmmm..."

The envoy made sure to keep hir body language neutral as ze thought about it, knowing that very little could be taken for granted regarding the meaning of body language and gestures among different cultures. The same gesture could serve as a friendly greeting, a display of deference or a grave insult in different cultures, so it was better to restrain one's body language to a healthy level until one was more familiar with the native interpretation. So when the robotic translator told hir that ze had permission to use the device Valtha merely put it into position, causing the eyestalks to stir and focus on the Zaeri ahead of hir. Ze then touched a small button on the microphone to open a connection to the Dhaina, deciding to tell the crew the good news hirself in Standard.

Code: Select all: "Commander, this is envoy Valtha. The native Zaeri of this world called Yos Namoi have agreed to show us their world and allowed me to record what we see and relay it to you. We are currently in their capital of Yos Vanor. Please retain your current position and formation and don't do anything that could be mistaken for hostile action. Now please enjoy the show."

Valtha concluded the message by having the eyestalks move independently of each other to give the Genomitans aboard a 360 degree view of hir position before following the Zaeri out of the hangar, where the genomitans were greeted by an impressive view of the city and it's inhabitants. Both the Genomitans on the ground and aboard the expedition fleet marveled at the architecture surrounding them, though for very different reasons. Valtha, in hir role as envoy had developed something of a fascination with alien archticture, wondering at tcultural meanings of the surrounding buildings. The researchers aboard where more interested in the history of the buildings and the city itself, while Valtha's honor guard and the Defense Force personell aboard the ships admired the scale and solidity of the buildings. When Odaj gestured towards the crowd, Valtha, jumi and Kumi seamlessly turned around and bowed in perfect unison just as they had done to their leaders before. They noticed with some delight the large number of people that gathered to look at them, as well as the perceived fluidity between Zaeri genders and the various states of dress. Thankfully both Valtha and hir guards managed to avoid blatantly ogling the naked parts of the crowd as public nudity was perfectly normal among Genomitans of all species, who had no problem going without their symbiosuits where they felt safe.

The envoy took a few steps towards the translator. "I would like to adress to your people. Please try to translate my words to the best of your ability." ze said in the language ze had used the most so far before again turning to face the crowd. "People of Yos Namoi! We are Genomitans. We come in peace for all of the Star Community. Let this day mark the beginning of an era of peace and cooperation between our people as you become more aware of what is around you. Your long unfortunate isolation from the rest of the galaxy is finally over, and I feel honored to be able to answer the question that has troubled our human ancestors for ages: You are not alone!"

by **Yos Namoi** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 11:21 am

The translator was caught off guard at Valtha's request. The machine knew very well that it was considered rude to address a chieftess' people in the presence of said chieftess without asking first, but before it could inform Valtha of this they had already begun speaking. It's duty as a translator dictated it translate, but at the same time, it had not been ordered to by an authorized individual. Unsure of what to do, it turned to Odaj while Valtha spoke.

"My lady? Should I translate?"

It asked patiently. Unfortunately, before Odaj could reply Qayati had objected.

"And entertain this insult? I think not!"

She yelled, just as Valtha ended their speech. She was visibly upset, staring daggers in Valtha's direction.

"This... Genomitan speaks to our people without our permission? Disrespectful! Deliver dreams of peace, which for all we know could be lies to mask their true intentions!"

Before Qayati could finish her rant, however, the machine interjected.

"Forgive me, your holiness, but my query was not direct toward yourself. It is the chieftess who must-"

Qayati objected again.

"Very well then, machine. Odaj, I ask that you not entertain these bumbling fools. They has disrespected us, our people, our culture, with their own arrogance. We greet them with open arms, and they dare to address our people without our consent? Is this their idea of diplomacy? Rashness and ignorance? This rudeness cannot be tolerated."

Odaj merely stood there in silence, staring at Qayati as the latter glared in her direction, awaiting her decision.

"...You may translate."

She said quickly, the machine understanding and turning to the crowd, translating Valtha's speech. Qayati became livid, her glare hardening on Odaj, who was now visibly shaken, almost on the verge of tears. After several moments of silence, Qayati grunted, and her glare loosened. She gently closed her eyes and exhaled.

"I... I'm sorry, Odaj. I need to leave and be alone for a moment. If you will allow me?"

Odaj gently nodded, and Qayati turned to leave, making one last glare in Valtha's direction before exiting. The machine finished translating, and Odaj sighed with relief. She then turned to the machine and asked it to explain the situation. It nodded, and then turned to Valtha. With this translation being less broken than earlier ones.

"The Zaeri considered it rude for a guest to speak to the chieftess' people without their consent. Forgive us for not informing you of this before. Your speech was unpredicted. We apologize. Priestess Qayati took great offense to this, and to Lady Odaj allowing it to occur, escalating their present marital problems-"

The machine paused for a moment, realizing what it had just said.

"On second though, I should not speak of such things. Please, pretend I did not mention it."

by **Genomita** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 12:35 pm

Valtha flinched as though ze had been struck when the machine informed hir of hir mistake. Ze knelt before Odaj and the assembled crowd, holding out all for of hir hands with the fingers pointing down and palms turned towards Odaj, hir eyes wide open in shock. Jumi and Kumi cringed in sympathy when they realized what had happened, each of them putting a free hand on the envoy's shoulders in an attempt to comfort hir.

"No, I should be the one apologizing. I did not know that speaking to your people without your consent was considered an insult, even though I should have expected something like this. My training taught me to take nothing for granted when dealing with other cultures, and yet I still commited a grave insult before we even began negotiations. This is a shameful failure on my part. And to think my actions imperiled your relationship with the priestess... I- I must make amends for this. If you know of any way I could make up for my mistake, name it and I shall do it."

Valtha waited until the machine had finished translating hir words before slowly rising to hir feet, palms still facing forward. Ze took a deep breath, hir cheeks bright red with undisguised embarrassment that was eachoed by spots of pink covering parts of hir symbiosuit that slowly disappeared as the envoy regained hir composure. "Speaking of the priestess, it seems she harbours some doubts regarding our true intentions. I know words of assurance would do nothing to convince her, but I will do my best to dispel her doubts one by one." A small smile crept back into the envoy's face as ze continued. Starting with her doubts regarding the nature of our technology. It is good to see that we seem to have a similar stance on nudity, so I'm fairly sure this won't offend anyone. Please consider this a gesture of trust."

The envoy spread all for of hir arms wide, and the symbiosuit that covered hir body beneath the robe slid down to hir feet before elegantly snaking it's way up Valtha's form until was at head level with the translator. Valtha hirself looked perfectly calm, hir fair, toned arms and legs displaying hir phisical fitness while hir white robe only gave the merest suggestion of the slim androgynous form underneath. After a few seconds the symbiosuit completly let go of Valtha and put it's feet on the ground before executing a flawless bow to first the chieftess and then the crowd. It then turned to face Valtha and, after a brief nod from the envoy turned it's back towards the Zaeri leaders and proceeded to open itself from neck to groin level, displaying the spongy, tan-colored layer on the inside to Odaj.

"This inner layer allows us to connect our brains and that of the suit without the need for parts that might get damaged or torn off. It's jaws and larynx are capable of adapting a wide range of configurations to allow me to communicate in languages I wouldn't be able to speak with my own. It also functions as a space suit, complete with an additional air supply, radiation shielding and vacuum sealing abilities. Each genomitan receives a suit like this at an early age and, barring death of the suit will keep it their entire lives and both will grow and learn together. We regard them as something of a cross between a treasured pet and an extension of our own bodies, and losing one's suit is a considered a tragedy. However, if the brain can be recovered in time it is possible to grow a new body for the suit, just as we are capable of restoring or cloning lost limbs or other bodyparts."

by **Yos Namoi** » Mon Oct 26, 2015 4:01 pm

Odaj wasn't quite sure what to make of Valtha's display, or her words following. If her face was any blanker, she wouldn't have one.

"I see. Well, um, no need to apologize. It was a simple mistake, after all. Shall we continue?"

She said, the machine translating, turning towards the door to the palace at the end of the walkway. Leading the Genomitans through the large door, Odaj entered the palace first with the translator behind her. The door opened up to a large hall, decorated with many mosaics on the walls and elaborate patterns on the floor and ceiling, with each mosaic telling a story in pictures rather than words.

On the left was the first mosaic, which depicted several black figures with white outlines, eyes, hair, and mouths floating in space. As the mosaic went further downward, the space faded into sky, the sky into trees, and the trees into grass. On the grass stood six nude Zaeri, three males and three females, with varying hair and eye colors. One of each sex was depicted as having a certain set of genitalia. One male had a penis, while another a vagina, and the third possessed both, and the same was true for the females: One with a penis, one with a vagina, and a third having both.

Odaj gestured toward this mosaic first, and began explain it's meaning. When she was finished, the machine translated.

"The name of this piece is 'Creation', it is the story of our planet and people, our existence, our creation, and our gods. The figures you see at the top are they - the gods - powerful and intelligent beings, beings not of flesh and blood, but of energy! We owe our existence to them. Before there were Zaeri, before there was even Yos Namoi, there was nothing here. Empty space, a aspect of the great black void that fills the sky at night. Until one day, when the gods came to this spot. They watched as the asteroids drifted peacefully around them, and they reeled them to this spot. They smashed the rocks together, and then breathed life into their hollow tunnels, creating the soil, and into the trenches and craters, birthing the ocean and lakes. A shield of oxygen was created around the planet, to protect it's life from the deadliness of space. And they grew the trees and birthed the animals. The gods watched over Yos Namoi for many centuries, until one day when they noticed the one animal that had superseded the others, one that had become smarter than the others. This was the Terrenik, a primate whose intelligence was unmatched by the other wildlife. And to match it's intelligence, the gods gave the Terrenik a higher form - and so came into being we, the Zaeri, the descended."

Odaj was quite happy with her explanation, and eagerly awaited Valtha's response.

"Do you have any questions?"

She asked, hopefully, the machine translating.

by **Neo ORB** » Tue Oct 27, 2015 8:40 pm

The Yan'tei system: A system of countless ongoing dreams, of hope and renewal... of sleepless nights and unending celebration, and of course a hard kept peace. It was a peace gained through much sacrifice at the cost of thousands of years with which seeds where sowed and grown into fruition. And then one day like a waning candle light illuminating a dark room in the harsh coldness of winter, Yan'tei was no more. Gone in a flash of brilliant luminance worthy of divine creation. But Yan'tei was not destroyed, only sealed and moved far beyond the reaches of the known universe and placed into a dead space between this and whatever came next.

Caught in a grey zone if infinite possibilities, they waited and lived away as wars came and went, as empires rose into the grand stages of supremacy or fell into history with conflict and streets filled with blood... But no seal is perfect, no cost able to hold and Yan'tei once and a while would appear once more with their flash of momentary illumination. A grand appearance fit for the individuals that were held within.

Yant'tei was your seemingly average system, a massive LaO class blue Sun shown at its center, for the few planets near it, the were nothing but dead planets unfit for any sort of life, It wasn't until one got 30AU out into the Yan'teis goldilocks zone that one had a chance to find the singular sixth super planet and its orbiting lunar moons capable of supporting life. It was however on the 19th lunar satellite, which the "Nare". Held the seat of power in this strange system. They were a unique race, a collective of species locked together by genetics and ideology. And their world called Agenisi in their musical language of birdsong and musical notes was there seat of power in this singular system that they controlled.

Agenisi was a smaller world akin to the ancient Sol systems Mars in size, but it was a world of greenery and pristine ocean with a singular large continent akin in total size to the Americas combined and many smaller continents and inlands dotting the planets surface. In total the land mass had shrunken as ocean levels changed and submerged much of the once great forests that gave the moon its once far more green color. However the ratio of land to sea was now at 2-8 from its former 7-3.

However the home of the first Nare, was a colossal forest that had survived thousands of years. However when the seas rose, the Nare were forced to watch as the homes were swallowed by the oceans. But such a thing would never hold them back, they chose to terraform with there limited technology and forced their once ancient home and remodeled it forcing earthquakes and controlling the magnetic structure of the lava underneath to rise that once grand forest out from under the sea that had claimed it. the price they paid however was the destruction of everything they knew.
Since then the forest has regrown to its former splendor, reaching miles into the sky with there thick foliage but no longer were the trees purely organic as crystal veins strengthened the trees and land as fusion made them a forest unlike any which other. something that had only been dreamt of in ages past. They called this crystal forest of greens and blues "Hyperion", and its tallest tree "Mother Hyperion". And they were the "Nare", the beings who made their homes within that forest and within the entire planet as well.

OOC: its just some information about my world. Feel free to ignore.

Yan'Tei System (Class LaO Star)
6th planet: Nora-Vas'tal
19th Orbiting Lunar Satellite: Agenisi (3,396 km radius)
Capital: Seia (Hyperion)

It was your average day within Seia, the thick foliage blocked out the sky, the smell of the earth and trees was a constant fragrance.
And all around winged humanoid beings known as the Airdren of the Nare lived out there innocent and quiet lives. Now unlike most races and species, the Nare were of the matriarch sort, that meant that they were ruled by females. This was not some radical social phenominon but only due to the fact that male birth upon Agenisi for the Nare was of a rare occurrence and that genetic evolution had eventually made males useless to the typical nuclear norm. However with the appearance of any newborn males, once could even say that massive betting wars could break out as family's vied for a male heir as it was now seen as good luck no matter the eventual personality. However pass all the female's and angel like beings resting or flying on the winds above the forests.
However within the building built into Mother Hyperion, the fused crystal castle that wrapped around the highest point of Mother Hyperion, with a slight almost Devine luminance as the sunlight danced and reflected off genteelly. A different sort of commotion was brewing within.
Now this castle built into on onto Hyperion was divided into ten levels.

The first four levels of the Castle were meant for the collectives day to day activity's, It was what one could call the most governmental part of Nare society as it organized the collectives internal affairs such as the capitals housing development, orchard development, and the classified Mountain port of the Nare, "Kaguya".
The next three levels from five to seven were a massive library, a collection of books and digitized records free to public eyes.
Level Eight was where the heads of the collective met acting as a massive senate with the floor currently being divided into several different sections of the Nare's large Collecive and Overmind nests gathered to discuss actions and problems.
The ninth floor was the smallest but was developed as a sort of planetary C.C. acting as the final chain of command if something had happened to Kaguya. Within the small floor, various rooms and armories held only lockers and dust from ages of unused. However the halls and the "Center" were cleaned daily as holograms blinked constant information and a close up of Nora'Vastal and its moon's slowly revolved showing real time movement.
The final level was the home of a little girl known as Tear Relu'na and her Mother Yulasina Relu'na who was the direct descendent of the long past "Mother Lorthous" .
It was a floor being only slightly larger then the C.C. it consisted itself of two levels with the lower serving as an official office while the upper level held within it their kitchen and adjoining living room, bedroom's, a bathroom and a large garden attached to the side with sunlight breaking through. All in all it was a small but warm abode for a family closest to anything you could call royalty for the Nare.

However the commotion was on the 8th floor loud with musical tones in all ranges while the slight crackling of growls and clicking were also less audible. Within the center most room a collective of creatures surrounded every viewable space, some were of angel like appearance with four white wings and void like black eyes, others had strange tribal tattoos covering there body's with crimson wings and pupils with color surrounded by black sclera, two others had black wings and held majestic golden pupils and were of a youthful appearance while their black hair dragged onto the floor. Then there was the Beast's... several of them a mass of brightly colored red and black flesh and dripping tentacle's writhing and thrashing to innumerable to count.
Near the beast's were small children barely the visible age of twelve. And yet their skin was as dark as the void as a single bladed tail lightly waved to and fro, there small voices a mesh of growling and musical tones.

However in the center of all this commotion sat a woman, majestic in appearance with a small child cradled tightly against her right leg near her. She was without wings and had golden hair. Her skin was white and her eyes a crescendo of colors held within the iris's. Her body held a similar tattoo barely visible against her skin tone in the exposed areas. And she wore a simple white dress like the humans of ancient Rome.

"Now... Quiet all of you... The grand migration is only a few hundred years away, and with the seal on Yan'tei having moved into its cool down phase, We will be in real space for a few thousand years anyway so this is a good chance to allow some new blood into the collective."

"WE REFUSE YOUR ARGUMENT, YOUR GRACE FORGETS WHY OUR PREDECESSORS SEALED US AWAY IN THE FIRST PLACE..."
"INDEED... OR HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THE CONTAMINATION OF GELRATH"
"Gelrath was indeed a tragedy, However, no one expected a Temptress to have been born during a migration.
And by the time we were alerted to the situation. Gelrath was but a dead world splashed with crimson with only a single inhabitant left."

Silence quickly fell over the council, some murmured known what the woman said was true, others still felt discontent until they sighed in defeat.
It was another of the council, the only male elected named Le'flare who with a heavy heart tried to get the meeting back on track.
Le'flare was a rather flamboyant man, known for his impulsiveness, his head crowned with hair akin to fire, his skin a pale white like a doll and his eyes glowed with conviction in the color of orange iris's and black pupils surrounded by black sclera.

"Mistress Yulasina, if I may, in order to get this meeting back onto topic, what are we going to do about the seal?"
"We can do nothing but wait for the Cooldown to end, its as simple as that, I don't know why you all got so worked up about it."
"Well Mistress, its just that, while the migration is only a few hundred years away. The interuniversal stage may have escalated outside our knowledge, wouldn't it be prudent to send a few scouts out to re-examine the waters?"
"Well..." sighed Yulasina, she was never really good with this man, in fact it was fair to say that she had disliked him form the moment he was elected in his regent city of Watraga, one of the three carefully constructed underwater city's that hid deep below the ocean surface. As she looked to the man, she could always see his eyes drifting towards her daughter with a sort of obsession.

But she held her tongue and then lightly spoke once more. while lightly making a gentle motion. her clothing lightly ruffling while her daughter looked at her mother with most sparkling eyes which made Yulasina smile lightly while she then proceeded to lightly rub her daughters head.
"So then who would we send?"

Several weeks later:

Who could have predicted this turn of events. Who could have thought that the mighty Yulasina, the peak of the Collectives Republic would have been forced to be "Testing the waters..."
How long had she been in her own right... exiled into the furthest reaches of the void onboard a Nareian class Gemini Destroyer.
Sure it was a magnificent vessel, its grass covered floor, the trees that littered bays and halls while healthy vines grew along the walls was exquisite and constant reminder of her home. But when your locked in the most heavily defended portion of the vessel, watching nothing but the view of stars pass you by while playing lightly with your daughter in a room that makes you feel like your floating in the void as the crystal reflects the external view of the vessel in 360 degrees... most could see it as maddening.

And yet there Yulasina sat hovering within the void with her daughter lightly sleeping on her lap. They where surrounded by fresh grass and beautifully grown trees in a perfect and a slightly hilly like circle which marked the total distance of the large room. With them in the middle and the diameter of the room being almost thirty feet. The room was massive sixty meter circle adorned with a planet like fixings as if she was in some locked garden of Eden hurdling through space.

It wasn't all bad however, the natural food that grew around them was plentiful and the pool of water at the edge of the room ran past in constant large stream large enough for them to happily play in and out of.
Slowly with the lightest of touches Yulasina stretched her free hand and grabbed a nearby comb laying on the grass behind her. It was a wooden comb painted a bright red with flower like embroidery added in later as design. It weighted no more then a few ounces and yet held a ancient like aura as if it had been some guarded treasure. As Yulasina then with gentle almost exquisite movements stroked the hair on her daughters sleeping head. she wondered how long it would be until they were at some appropriate destination.

Yulasina looked at her daughter's sleeping exterior. Her small ten year old body wore a small white dress which looked like I was made of bandages. Under the dress her legs were also covered by the same bandage like material as if she were wearing adult like leggings.
Only the feel she gave was a patient covered in a full body cast. As Yulasina looked at the girls pale skin, she sighed looking at her daughters face. It was the face of an angel although she did look due to the pale skin to be sickly.
And unlike her mother, had inherited a mesh of solid black hair with a slow change to dark blue as it reach the ends. the child's hair was worn with a small ponytail holding the hair at the back while the sides were long reaching her small shoulders and her front cut short to keep her vision clear giving her sort of tack and field sort of feel.
Along the child's back, there grew no painful twist of flesh or bone, no feathers or wings. but the mother silently looked at her daughter with the view of pity at pain she would have to endure the coming years of puberty when her wings would start growing.

As Yulasina put the comb down after finishing the combing of her hair. She gently went back to rubbing her head while watching the stars silently pass them until a white door suddenly opened with the outline of a being stood in its center. Slowly the stars and encircling void faded and a blue metal surrounded the two showing that they were within a dome.
Slowly the sound of the gentle crunch of grass could be heard as the stranger dressed within a seductive black dress adorned with black feathering on its ends approached. As Yulasina's eyes adjusted, a youthful woman quickly sat down beside Yulasina with a small smile and looked upon the two of them.
She had black hair which draped the ground, but had been held in a braided ponytail. Her appearance hinted at a young age of maybe twenty four.
Her eyes were the most human like with white sclera and golden iris's and black pupils and from her back grew four jet black wings which were lightly folded. She was one of two only living Temptress's, the "Mistress" known as Yuli Ronqi.
If one was to think of what a "Temptress" was, one would come up with the image of a fallen angel mixed with the unnatural beauty of a vampire, As a woman she held an aura that would naturally hold the gazes of any onlooker being female and male alike.
The truth was however far more cruel because in fact the existence of a Temptress was indeed akin to the tales of a Vampire, one who gained an everlasting body with peerless strength and an uncontrollable urge for blood lust with the sole fueling impulse to find a romantic partner in order to become stable.
They held a voice that would tempt any sane person and turn them to obsession; with eyes that could enchant an individual and hold them frozen in place...
but this natural beauty that could capture anyone was a trap. A façade onto which a Temptress would latch onto the chosen prey and drain them until only a husk remained. For a temptress such a blood filled night of pleasure and pain was as natural as breathing. But for Yuli, and by extension her pair Tali who was currently at the helm of the destroyer... such ends were too bitter so they aimed to keep the victim alive by only taking the barest minimum while being passed around like some cheap toy until their thirst was filled by the price of many.

Of course their victims that were chosen also knew of the twos true nature, so it was also unsure of why they still had costumers. Maybe there obsession was indeed love or maybe it was pity for there existance, but wherever Yuli and Tali went, a night of passion and blood happily followed. Of course such end's were not of the visit that Yulasina currently enjoyed as Yuli looked upon the two and lightly spoke her expression soft while playfully closing one eye.

"Mistress, we will be arriving at the forty fifth location soon. I'm sorry that your stuck with such a voyage... if I had known what "Le'flare" was planning I might have been able to rout it with my veto."

However Yulasina siply shook her head and looked at Yuli with her clear eyes with a happy expression and then gently spoke. Her hand lightly raising to touch the delicate shoulder of Yuli,.
"No... even if you had Vetoed le'flare would have had some back up prepared... besides I've been wanting to teach Tear more about the universe anyway.

As long as she's happy I can be content."

with a small scoff more or less at herself, Yuli then lightly stretched her arms in an unlady like manner and then rested them behind her head and fell to the ground into a laying position while her wings acted like a warm pillow.
"If you say so Mistress... So would you like to see the entry into the system from here or from the bridge?, you technically have command afterall?... and well all would love to see you leave this room... and i'm sure Tear's bored of being cooped up in here as well. "

at that moment Yulasina lightly looked at her child, slightly laughed quietly and then shook her head showing a tired expression.
"I've had enough trouble just trying to keep her within the room without her learning the doors passcodes, and even then I've had to switch it a few times already... she's very carefree and wants to explore but I wanted to keep her out of the crews way."

"Don't worry about it, everyone aboard is loyal to you Mistress Yulasina, Lorthous was your ancestor, besides its my position to guard your family, its the least I can do to repay the favor for allowing myself and Tali to survive... if we hadn't lost her... maybe she would still be here today watching over us."

"those days were not your fault, the threat that "they" possessed took a toll on everyone... after that we rushed to seal ourselves away and now here we are millennia on millennia later safe because of such action... I nor does anyone blame the two of you for Mothers passing. "

Yuli lightly smiled and then simply closed her eyes... and watched as the blue dome soon slowly faded back into the void... such a response was as natural breathing, forgiveness, honesty, unending love... such traits were common within the Nare.
As Yuli watched the two fade into the darkness themselves, she silently made a promise to protect them and there descendants until they breathed their last. And with that she then silently watched as a singular incoming system was locked onto in front of them as various multicolored circles started to light up with it. As the incoming system started to gain details, the imaging started to slow down as it neared and become ever more precise until finally they entered into the edge of the unknown at nothing more then a rockets pace as the slight sparkles of dust appeared for moment around them until it disappeared.

They had arrived at location forty five in their old star maps, it had been beyond ages since this area had even been visited, even glimpsed since it was already so far out of the Nares home systems star patterns. In fact anything beyond location five was always new territory for them and her they were forty odd location after the fifth.

But what they saw was majestic in its own right as Yulasina lightly gasped... the bright ball of radioactive energy that heated the system was enlarged as distant scans brought it up with estimations of its most recent age, the various dwarf planet's or other solid bodies of planetary rock was then built. as they system quietly worked it aligned the new knowledge with the old and updated. They would spend maybe a few hours in system to continue updates and then move to the next on the list... or at least that was what had been planned until an alarm blared and changed eveything.

The Gemini Class Destroyer was a unique beast, with a large length of eight hundred and fifty four meters from tip to the furthest flank on the upper level. It held a height of three hundred meters from pyramid tip to tip with the two blade like bodies that ran the length of the vessel at eighty meters each. In width the main total of the vessel's body was made up three hundred meters while the blades overextended by one hundred and forty meters for a width of four hundred and fourty meters.

All in all it was an odd looking vessel. But unlike the typical construction of spacefaring vessels, one couldn't ignore the sleek blue crystalline metal that made the vessel look like it had been painstakingly carved out from a solid piece of stone. The reality was however that the entire vessel was made of a unique hybrid metal crystal compound which gave it a mirrored polish which allowed it to naturally fade into the darkness of the void as it copied the image around it.
But of course such stealth was only visual, it couldn't hide its heat signature as it slowly moved into the system surrounded by a slightly luminescent bubble.

However within the bubble, swirls of sliver wind danced lightly like the storms on a Jovian planetoid until they too disappeared. They left no trace or build up as if the storms simply faded away taking with it the hidden and dangerous explosive energy's caught within the bubble.
Energy that if they had been released could have easily reduced the entire system to nothing more then a cosmic memory in a brilliant but devastating flash.
And then the bubble popped and the unseen unknown within then started to move.

by **Genomita** » Fri Nov 06, 2015 12:08 pm

The powerful energy emission and accompanying heat signature did not escape the Genomitan ships in orbit. With practiced ease the two recon ships adjusted their positions and turned their keen eyes and sensors towards the new arrival while transmitting what they saw, or rather didn't saw to the command ship. Commander Rhes stared at the black screen with stern eyes, hir mind already processing all kinds of different scenarios that might ensue from the arrival of the unknown vessel. " It doesn't matter how they found this system, but their intentions are a different matter. If they turn out to be hostile we have to stop them before they begin to pose a threat to the envoy and the natives, as well as destroy any enemy missiles that might make it past our formation. That said, we don't know if they're hostile yet, though arriving with active optical camouflage certainly makes them look suspicious. Keep tracking the unknown for now. I will contact the envoy and inform hir of the new arrival before we proceed. "

The commanding officers of the other ships responded in the affirmative and Commander Rhes turned around to face the pilot, all four arms crossed before hir. "Establish a connection to envoy Valtha."

Meanwhile Valtha, still clad in only hir robe had followed Odaj into the palace and had listened carefully as the chieftess related her people's creation myth, nodding thoughtfully as ze pondered what ze just heard. "It is a beautiful piece of art, and a fascinating story. The origin of your world matches a good deal of our own research on planetary formation as well. While there are many in the universe who would scoff at the notion of divince influence in the creation of the universe or evolution, neither I nor the Star Community as a whole would rule it out entirely. While the Star Community recognizes no state religion, many of us are spiritual people in some way or another, and every Genomitan is free to follow whatever religion they choose so long as it does not call for the sacrifice of one's fellow sapients. Those are... frowned upon. I understand if this concept of religious freedom is new to you, but it is common, if not omnipresent in the galaxy. On the other hand, there are also many nations where religion is considered a matter of state, and others where religion is treated with contempt. Your people will come into contact with many different faiths as you become more familiar with other civilizations, and I hope that your people will keep an open mind on the subject. Too much blood has been shed on matters of faith, and I have no desire to contribute to this senseless loss of life. I hope you and priestess Qayati will feel the same."

Valtha cleared hir throat before moving next to the mosaic of the female Zaeri with both sets of genitals, though she did not dare touch it. Hir symbiosuit followed suit, mimicking hir stance and body language as it did so. The envoy waited until the machine had finished it's translation before speaking. "As part of my promise to be completely honest with you I'd like to share an intesting tidbit about my people. Like our human ancestors, we used to be divided into male and female, with hermaphrodites only a rare occurance. However, soon after forming what would become the Star Community we were forced into war with a hostile species that sought to drive us to extinction for being different from them to a degree they considered repugnant. This species had the curious habit of zeroing in on the males of a species in a fight, likely a result of biological and cultural heritage. In order to prevent our extinction through their attempted gendercide, the high council asked all human women who had reached the majority age to participate in an experiment that would ensure that all future generations would be born as fully functional hermaphrodites as well as increase the odds of birthing twins or multiples. Eventually we managed to beat the other species back to an extent that there would be no repeat of this event, leaving their civilization intact but without much of a military to speak of. However, I do not mean to boast about our military prowess. We are by and large a peaceful people and prefer to solve disputes through diplomacy and scientific advances over warfare, though we will defend ourselves if we must."

Valtha had barely finished speaking when a light on hir headset lit up to indicate an incoming transmission. The envoy responded by pushing a small button to make the transmission audible to hir hosts as well. "Yes commander?"

"Envoy Valtha, we have detected an unknown vessel approaching under optic camouflage. Standard protocol for unknown encounters during first contact dictates that the acting commander is to establish contact with the unknown to discern their intent. I will keep you informed of any new discoveries. In the event that a language barries prevents communication I will forward communication from the unknown ship to you. In the event that the unknown turn out hostile we will make sure to keep you and the Zaeri safe."

Understood. I look forward to hearing from you."

Valtha ended the connection with the push of a button, looking completely calm despite the new situation.

"Now then, shall we continue our tour? I trust that commander Rhes and hir fellow soldiers have the situation well in hand. Ah, speaking of religion, would it be allowed for me to visit a place of worship? Or would priestess Qayati object to that as well?"
-----

With the envoy brought up to speed the only thing left to do was to confirm the nature of the unknown vessel and their intentions. "Here we go, I just hope they speak standard." thought commander Rhes as the small expedition fleet assumed a defensive formation that would hopefully serve to intercept any potential fire from the unknown ship. "To the unknown ship currently approaching us under optical camouflage, this is the Dhaina, commander Rhes of genomitan defense force speaking. We ask that you power down your camouflage and state your intent."

by **Yos Namoi** » Fri Nov 06, 2015 8:59 pm

Odaj listened carefully as the translator delivered the first message, to which she answered immediately.

"Oh no, you have mistaken us. We are the children of the gods, but there are some who disagree with this fact. We do not punish them, we do not harm them, it is their mind to speak with and we cannot force them otherwise - to do so is villainy. The mind is free of control, this is how the gods wanted it and how it is accepted... there are some who disagree, some who disagree and follow other gods or even just one god, but they are small and weak and cannot force their beliefs on others. We do not kill in the name of faith, some might, but they are not true followers of the gods. You will find our minds are free, as they should be, as the gods intended. To me, the gods are true and cannot be denied, but many disagree. It is no ones place to tell them they are wrong, not mine, not Qayati's, no ones. As for foreign gods... the gods of the Zaeri are just that, our gods. They may be the gods of some others, but we do not know that for sure just yet. For now, they are our gods only, and just because our gods exist- Pardon, what I mean is just because we believes our gods are true and real, does not mean that the gods of others are not... it is a big galaxy, there can be many gods I am sure... but it is not my place to speak of godly things."

She said proudly, listening as the translator delivered the second message. However, she noticed the translator paused at certain parts of the translation. When it was finished, it turned to Odaj.

"Forgive me, my lady, but there is a word I do not seem to be able to translate. They talk of males and females and... another sex. It is not a word I can translate, for I do not think we have a word for it. I am sorry for this, however I believe what Valtha means to say is that someone of one sex with the genitalia they do not usually have has its own word in their society."

Odaj was confused for a moment, unsure what to make of it, and then turned to Valtha, with the translator translating what she said.

"I do not understand, you mean to say that there are more than male and female among your people? I have no knowledge of such a thing, we do not have that here."

She looked at the mosaic and gestured to the Zaeri on it.

"We have males, and we have females. Do you see? The sizes are different, and the women have breasts. Their genitals do not matter. I am sorry if I have offended you, this is just how it is here. I do not know how it is among you and your kind, but here there are only males and females, not... what was the word?"

She looked to the translator, and it answered with the foreign word.

"That's right? 'Hermaphrodites', you call them? We do not have such a thing, or a word for it. For us it is simple, there are men and women - males and females. There is nothing else to us, I hope I have not offended you."

She said, confused and attempting to understand what she had been told. Her confusion worsened when the transmission began, her expression quickly changed to surprise and worry as the machine translated.

"More visitors? Why have they come? What do they want? Are they friendly?"

She said, slightly panicked, and visibly unnerved. She sucked it up somewhat when Valtha asked to see a place of worship.

"Y- Yes, of course. All are welcome in the temples of the gods, even if they are not followers of the gods, or even children of the gods. And yes, our tour will continue, we will show you much of our city, as you are our guests and our customs say we must treat our guests with hospitality and that is what we shall do. But before we go to the temple, there are several more mosaics we must view first - but fear not! There are only a certain few I think you should see. This will be quick, I promise."

by **Neo ORB** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 9:23 pm

Gemini Class Destroyer: Zweig der Einsamkeit
Mistress: Tali Ronqi
Bridge: (moments before Arrival)

The bridge was silent, clear as the void of space floated around various floating chairs filled with strange winged women. All had long waist long free flowing silver hair and voidless solid black eyes, from their back's four bright white wings with feathers as white as fresh snow grew and were lightly folded. Two larger wings from behind the shoulders while two smaller ones grew from near the ending of the ribs. For dress they all wore a uniform looking like Bandages. In fact if one were to see the eight women floating on chairs within this strange void, on could easily mistake them all for identical sisters due to the almost void differences between there bodies and looks.
In tone they were all pale white as if sickly but they never stopped moving there hands while speaking some strange musical song of tones and chirps akin to birdsong and orchestra to one another.

However the truth of the bridge in design was of a Redelux triangle only ten meters in height, width and length with a smaller tube leading to a smaller sub-bridge located more distantly outside of the core workings of the vessel reaching in truth below where the mistress Yulasina was resting.
Within the internal circular room devoid of any plant life was a woman akin to Mistress Yuli Ronqi. in fact it was fair to say they were almost identical if one discounted the tribal like tattoos that littered the exposed skin from beyond a simple tanktop and dress uniform.

As the woman lightly kicked her feet, various wires momentarily illuminated and then dissolved into the darkness that surrounded her. This woman was the pair of Yuli, Tali Ronqi, and together they made the only stable Tempress's in all of the Nare collective. Of course being stable didn't mean that they weren't dangerous as they regularly had to fed off of each other during the night so keep their thirst's at bay.

As Tali looked to the space around her she lightly moved her finger or toes tapping some wire or nearly transparent holographic console and directed the massive vessel that was align to her own body and smiled as there latest destination came into view. The fast moving space slowed until a sun and its orbiting bodies came into view.
She watched at the maps overlaid new data over the old as various near transparent circles and indicators lit up identifying nearby recourses that could be harvested. Or the orbital patterns of the planets showing what the year of the planets orbit might be as the area was further updated and eve more further detailed.

It was your run of the mill system perfect for habitation, of course the Nare weren't interested in such a thing, they were too dangerous... too contaminable for others to fully get along with. In reality to the Nare; there were only three viable options, one was co-habitation putting all risks to the back shelf and working and intermingling together, such options were generally sealed save for "migrations". The second option was utter aversion, to keep a unknown or known as distant as possible with the main task being to avoid all possible conflict sure they'd be friendly about it but one could always feel the tension...
The third was genocide... Extinction related mass events where the Nare would come in full swarm with the might of the entire collective with the single minded intent to wipe out their enemy until either or both were utterly destroyed. Such options were only taken when in utter desperation so the third option hadn't been used thankfully for millennia upon millennia.
Today was not such a case for either as Tali released re-atomizers which appeared as silver dust to recollect the built up energy's from their drive systems capture of stray particle's. As the energy was rapidly gained Tali smiled watching as not even an iota of energy was allowed to escape as internal energy levels continued to rise until they were maximized and the rest to be specially quarantined away for later use.

As the dust dissipated Tali smiled once more lightly tapping her fingers against various strings as she watched the further data appear until something caught her eye. A small twinkling easily missed among one of the planets. they say that curiosity killed the cat, for the Nare this twinkle was a beacon in the fog... Tali knew she couldn't the possibility that it was nothing was high. But something drove her forward as she lightly move her hand forward and felt the small hum of the engines blaze in forward acceleration.

You could say it was this point which started everything, this small action of continuing forward without telling Yuli or the Mistress. In most cases if something was different in a habitable system, it would be flagged as a possible migration location when the ceremonies were in progress. In fact the moment that twinkle was noticed Tali should have engaged the Alcubierre drive's and rocketed out of the system so fast nothing would have caught up to them. But she didn't and as the vessel moved forward she never would have expected the strange tingling that rippled up her spine to mean anything until a sudden voice roared round her.

"To the unknown ship currently approaching us under optical camouflage, this is the Dhaina, commander Rhes of genomitan defense force speaking. We ask that you power down your camouflage and state your intent."

Tali was instantly confused and then looked once more to the Twinkles... No they weren't twinkles of light. Quickly various windows opened and within there holograph projection's were vessels although strange ones at that.
It was then Tali recoiled and suddenly felt a cold sweat race down her spine. Her hand froze almost touching some string as she looked at the windows as a formation came into her view... three vessels were what she could perceive... they didn't look armored or armed for that matter but such assumptions were deadly if taken lightly.
Silently however the system tried to categorize the vessels searching an small but extensive database within the vessels network.
The results were crippling... nothing... not one piece of information. but that was only from clear cut data As Tali restarted the search with more variables a single picture came up, In anger however Tali sighed and then gave up as the picture was from there own database of vessel's. she decided to work on that strange screaming that had rolled into her ears prior and then sent that sequence through the database.
The results were better... a total conglomerate of five thousand eight hundred and fifty two different race points of origin... Tali almost wanted to cry, it was bitter pill to swallow as the data worked out but the results that came forward however as the message for the most part had been translated, but it was rough almost corrupted in fact as the sound of broken awful music started to play while a flurry of disorienting chirps accompanied it.

"...unknown ship ...approaching..... camouflage, ......., commander ...genomitan .....force s....... .... power down ......... ."

Tali was puzzled, truly puzzled, they would have to update the database and send it for repair later at some point, but from what she could understand they wanted them to power down there camouflage? but the vessel wasn't using any camouflage so there was nothing to power down. Tali sighed and then watched the formation again and then quickly flicked a finger as several dozen thin transparent line drew from her vision to the unknown vessels marking them in various places. Tali lightly smiled thankful for the targeting assistance as she slowly powered the weapon systems while making sure that the Reflective Area Guided Grid System was operational.
As she watched various small whips like hexagonal shields in various sizes slowly form in front of the Destroyer in a small but protective forward wall while other larger variant's floated silently above aiming for the unknowns like a mirror ready to redirect the concentrated light to their enemy should the worst case scenario happen.

But as Tali waited ready to press the primordial key to all out chaos. Yuli quickly appeared from the tunnel already aware of the ongoing situation.
"Tali... don't jump now... was there any indicator's on who these vessels might belong to?"
Yuli looked at Tali with concerned eyes and a smile while he carefully floated into the small circular room avoiding the direct mesh of strings and floated quickly to Talis side and have her a small kiss on the cheek.
However as the message was once more played even Tali was confused, but with a level headed response she quickly brought up a small window and worked out a reply in there native language since all others were practically useless to them otherwise due to there bodies.

But as Yuli finished the message she quickly looke at Tali before sending it off and spoke lightly while giving her lover a small but deadly glare.
"Actually... Lover... why did you not jump the moment we were discovered?"
"I didn't realize it was another civilization until it was too late when they pinged us, at that point escaping would have been difficult."
"Well it might be true they do outnumber us if you consider it on a purely numbers scale... but we are not so light that it would be a fair fight even if we were outnumbered. I see you already have them targeted... are they firing locks or silent assist?."
"Silent of course, why tip our hand when there's no need to cause a ripple... "
Tali quickly looke listless as she was forced to listen to her own quickly elevating heart beat within an quiet silence until Yuli spoke with a bright voice, however her face was full of blush as if lightly embarrassed.
"Well then no matter, good choice on the limited options, do we have a locational connection?"
"Negative... should we have the Mistress evacuate, I certainly don't want to see her trapped in this vessel should we enter combat."
"And yet if we do enter combat she would be no safer... we'll keep her on for now, but i'll have her and Tear move to a migration pod just in case."
at that moment Tali and Yuli sighed and the as quickly as she had come Yuli disappeared down the tunnel leaving Tali to the void surrounding her as she stared once more at the unknowns near the planet. what she didn't know however was that as Yuli left she fired off her composed message in there native lounge as a crescendo of orchestral music and birdsong rippled through the void in waves to soundlessly embrace the unknowns and even the ones on the planets below as a wondrous melody played for all who would listen if they choose to open there ear's.

"We are The Nare, do not fear children we mean you no harm as we have long watched but have been absent from your table.
But just as we have been absent from the world, we are children once more to the changes across the galactic stage, pay us no heed for we will come and go as soundless as a winter night with no lit moon.

However your presence in this system has caused a few questions with more then one truth or answer...
So we will be spending more time then we would as we update our knowledge on what we have missed...
Once again do not fear for we have come in peace. "

by **Vogega** » Sun Nov 15, 2015 8:59 am

V.E.S. Explor
Captain Makoe stood on the bridge of the V.E.S. Explor. He gazed out of the plexiglass bridge window that in the event of explosive decompression, durasteel doors would slide across and save what was left of the bridge crew.
He drummed his metallic fingers on he metal seat of his command chair. He was more robot than biological. He had lost all of his limbs and parts of his torso and skull in the final battle to conquer the end of the arm the Vogegan Empire controlled. He just knew that he had been offered to either be turned into this, or be uploaded and turned to an A.I. for a ship. He had chosen to be replaced with metal and now stood almost 25 centimeters taller than before. His four legs were made from durasteel and equipped with hydraulic jumps that he could use to leap large distances. They were also equipped with conductors that could supercharge his weapons and abilities. His arms had built in weapons and tools, as well as fully operational hands. His back was a mass of robotic parts and flesh and a plate of armor overlaid it hiding its horrific appearance. The right half of his face was covered in metal and targeting was built in. Unknown to him, a command chip prevented him from betraying the Emperor which was why he was in command.

The lightly armed exploration vessel had been traveling for six days from the edges of the Empire across of a gulf of space that splits the Empire off from the rest of the arm in its galaxy. It was not an exploration vessel though. It was a science vessel as well. It had teams of scientists and science bays and instruments to check wether the planet would support life. Long range scanners and telescopes had detected it, but they could not make out if it was habitable or not. If it was, it would be a base for the Empire to expand throughout the galaxy. If there was life here, it would have three options.
Be assimilated into the Empire, Become an Ally to the Empire, or be exterminated.

Captain Makoe had orders to try the options in order he had been presented with, but he personally wanted to ally with them. The Empire had few allies, but large amounts of resources and manpower at its disposal. They were still recovering after the devastating war with the Tyr.

The ship was a full 250 meters in length. Not a large ship, but not a small ship. It was a largely angular design, with few curves and based on practicality. It looked like old tanks with slanted armor and round turrets that stuck out from the main body of the vessel. It was mostly plasma and ion cannons, but its main armament was a two meter across laser cannon mounted on a large turret on the "top" of the vessel. Small point defense lasers dotted the hull to protect against kinetic and missile weapons which the shields of the vessel could not block.

The ship emerged into the system from the entrance of a blue vortex. It had no camouflage and would register on all scanners if there was anyone in the system. Scanners would come online within a few seconds and reveal what lay in the system...

by **Genomita** » Sun Nov 15, 2015 2:08 pm

"They are playing music at us. Is this their idea of a joke? Or do they really communicate like this?" The commander kept hir eyes on the screen showing the position of the cloaked ship as hir confusion mounted. While the orchestral music and birdsong that poured out of the speakers was pleaseant to the ears, it didn't resemble any language commader Rhes knew of. "So much for easy communication. Dhaina-Magat, send a recording of this transmission to the envoy then re-establish the connection to the unknown ship. There are at least four distinct possibilities if we assume they understood us."

The commander held up hir upper left hand while hir lower left pointed at the screen showing the camouflaged ship, or at least the part of the system where it was based on the sensor reads. "Either, ze said, extending one finger on hir upper left as ze listed each of the options that came to hirthey decided to ignore our request, they understood but are unable to communicate in Standard due to their physical makeup, the optical camouflage is still on due to a malfunction, which is doubtful or it is not an active stealth system but rather a passive effect of the outer hull. Options one, two and four seem equally likely, though I hope number two and four are the case."

Commander Rhes was barely done with hir explanation when the pilot chimed in, an alert undertone in hir usually fey voice. "I have sent the transmission as ordered. However, the recon ships have told me that they detected energy signatures and what looks like energy whips along and near the ship. It seems they are powering up some kind of weapon, though I have detected no active lock."

The commander stifled a groan, hir beginning frustration with the situation made visible by hir symbiosuit turning red at the wrists. "Establish the connection anyway. I will not endanger this diplomatic mission based on guesswork, and not before we have proof that their intentions are hostile"

"Understood." The pilot briefly closed hir eyes as ze reached out to the foreign ship. "It is done."

"It seems you are communicating in a language we are unfamilar with. If you understand this message, respond by powering down your weapon systems and send 'yes'. You are free to leave your point defense running if you like."

Commander Rhes barely had time to ponder hir choice of words when a new signal appeared on the Dhaina's sensors. Immediately one of recon ships shifted it's attention to the new unknown while a small popup of the ship database appeared on the screen showing the ship. The database search rapidly flashed through several ship designs based on the visual and other sensory perimeters until it eventually declared the ship Vogegan in origin. The commander bit back a curse in native genomitan at the new distration and instead motioned for the pilot to inform the envoy before initiating communication with the new arrival. "To the Vogegan ship currently approaching this system, this is the Dhaina,commander Rhes of the Genomitan Defense Force speaking. Our envoy is currently undergoing negotiations with the native Zaeriof the world Yos Namoi. We ask that you state your intent."
-----

Now it was Valtha's turn to be confused. Ze slowly shook hir head as ze slightly raised hir upper hands in a placating gesture. "It's quite alright, you did nothing to offend me. I merely meant to say that Genomitans descended from humans nowadays are neither male nor female, but something in between. I apologize for the confusion. And i would love to learn more about your culture, so feel free to show me as much as you like." The envoy was almost beaming with excitement when ze finished hir sentence, eagerly waiting for Odaj to continue the tour. It was then that the transmission from the Dhaina arrived. As before, the envoy pushed a button on hir headset to make the transmission audible to Odaj as well.

"Young Valtha, here is a recording of the transmission we received from the cloaked ship. I hope that you will be able to make sense of this language." What followed was a collection of beautiful orchestral music and birdsong that left the envoy completely perplexed even while ze marveled at the beauty of it. Try as ze might Valtha had no idea what the transmission could possibly mean, though it reminded hir of something ze heard of in school. "It reminds me of a recording I heard in history class, in a lesson about first encounters. Though I'm afraid that is about all I know. I remember the lesson perfectly, but there was no translation. I really wish I could provide more aid."

"Ah, don't beat yourself up over it young one." said the fey voice of the Dhaina-Magat. "I believe the commander is working on a way to facilitate communication. Quite the levelheaded and clever one, ze is. Hold on... it seems we have another visitor. Scanning now... Done. The new arrival seems to be Vogegan in origin. Make of that what you will. The commander has just instructed me to open communications with the new ship as well. I shall keep you informed of any new developments on our side."

"Thank you, oh wise one." was all Valtha said before the pilot disconnected. "That was our pilot speaking. It seems more guests have come to your system. This situation is turning ever more interesting, though I'm sure there is nothing to be worried about. Commander Rhes should be perfectly able to deal with this situation no matter how things turn out."

by **Yos Namoi** » Sun Nov 15, 2015 6:56 pm

"More guests? This cannot be a good sign..."

Odaj could not help but think this as she was informed of the arrival of yet another alien craft, pondering why so many aliens had arrived all at once, could it be a sign of something good? Or something terrible? Perhaps it is just coincidence? She would need to speak to Qayati about this. But first she had to deal with the Genomitans, and then the others. She only hoped, however, that the other two were as friendly as the Genomitans.

Returning to her train of thought, she masked her concern with a bright smile and led the Genomitans over to another mosaic, this one being more eventful. It depicted what appeared to be a grand city, with two central figures being most prominent. The first was just like the 'gods' that had been depicted on the previous mosaic, which stood above, and looked down upon, that of the second figure, which was a male Zaeri laying on the ground with a visible flesh wound and blood pouring out. Surrounding them was a large crowd of Zaeri, with varying faces of fear, shock, and anger. Such emotions were also visible in their body language. Odaj's smile faded as she explained this piece.

"We owe much to the gods, for they are the reason we exist. They constructed our ancient cities, the ones that now lay in ruin in the jungle. The cause for these ruins is partly their fault... as well as partly our own. You must understand the gods were not like us... they could not feel like we could, with their hearts. They did not know joy or pain or anger or sadness or humor or any such things, they did not have emotions, they could not feel for themselves... or for others. One day, many centuries ago, there was an accident... a Zaeri was killed by a god visiting one of our great cities. It was not intentional, of course, but the Zaeri was a beloved figure, and the reaction was irrational of course. Many thought it was intentional... murder, by the god. They grew angry and threw stones at the god, but the god could not understand their anger, nor did the stones harm him. However, they were a nuisance. One he wished to end... violently. To call it a fight is wrong... it was a massacre. Many died trying to fight, trying to kill the god, but they could not. They were slaughtered. The god, however, saw no end to it without wiping them all out. So he fled, and the Zaeri cursed his name - cursed all the names of the gods."

Odaj paused for a moment, a somber look on her face. She continued.

"This was not the first time the gods had angered us... they would take our people from their beds without warning, take them up to the sky and... change them. Some changes were good, some changes helped us, all of us. Sometimes they would cure disease, or even prevent it from ever returning - not only to it's victim, but to all of us. Other times... other times it was different. They altered our bodies, our systems, our minds... some did not end as intended. The gods had great power, but even they could not revive the dead. Questions were asked, and the gods answered truthfully... regardless of the consequences. You must understand that they didn't not care because they didn't want to, they didn't care because they could not. They were not monsters, they merely sought knowledge... and sometimes they acquired in less than ideal ways. Perhaps this is trying to make it sound better than it actually was, but I do not think they meant to harm us, only to help us, but they did so by harming us."

Odaj paused again, and brooded for a moment before continuing.

"This would occur for centuries, but we knew these deaths were accidental... though not all of us accepted it nonetheless. But it was not until that day everything changed. They saw this death as intentional, and reacted to it, only to witness truly intentional death. That was the breaking point. We yelled at the gods and demanded they leave us be... and they did. They left us alone, and we paid the price for it. We relied on the gods for everything back then - order, peace, prosperity. All these things were gone when the gods left. We could not work our technology, we could not maintain our cities, we could not remain peaceful. Everything collapsed - our buildings crumbled, crime came into being, and chaos swept the planet. Our cities turned to ruins, and gangs fought each other in what was left of the streets for control. Many were starved, beaten, raped, murdered, mugged, enslaved... many dreadful things occurred to good and bad Zaeri alike. We regressed, we devolved, we went backwards into savagery. It was a dark time."

Odaj sighed heavily, and then regained her composure.

"This piece is called 'The Beginning'."

She then walked over to the next piece, depicting the same city but in ruins, with fire burning across it, as smoke clouds the sky and acts of violence and brutality are depicted occurring between Zaeri.

"And this piece is called 'The End'."

Odaj almost teared up looking at the beautiful mosaic depicting such an ugly scene, such a dark time in Zaeri history, however she slowly regained her composition.

"Mistakes were made by both Zaeri and gods alike, and the result was tragedy. We managed to pull ourselves together, thankfully. We rebuilt our society - not as grand as before, and it took much longer without the assistance of the gods, but we did it. We formed new settlements, as the cities of old fell and became hideouts for the outlaw bandits and the fierce predators of the jungles made their homes in the ruins. It took many centuries to return to the level of advancement we experienced before, and we still aren't quite there yet, but we have managed to take what was left of the early technology, and unlock some of it's secrets. Though we no longer stand united as one, unfortunately. The centuries following the Dark Age is one of many conflicts with warring settlements, each competing to control each other and restore the great unified society we once had. Many settlements have changed hands, many empires have been forged and come so close to total conquest, and many more have collapsed into civil war and division. Our great settlement, Yos Vanor, happens to be the only one never to fall to a foreign army. Against all odds, we have retained our independence - unfortunately with these great defensive capabilities, we have become numb to the art of offensive warfare, and so while we have never been held by a foreign army, so true is it that our army has never conquered a foreign settlement. Thankfully, war has become rare these days. It has become far too destructive now, too unpredictable, too dangerous. Populations are booming now, such mass destruction and death is rare, and trade is becoming more common and more lucrative. These are more peaceful times now."

Odaj's faint smile returned for a brief moment, before fading again.

"You may ask why we worship those who experimented on us, killed us, and abandoned us to anarchy. You would not be the first, and I would not judge you for such thoughts. You must understand, though, that under the rule of the gods there was few horrors we knew. There was no greed, or theft, or crime. There was no chaos, nor injustice. We lived in harmony, in peace... we lived in paradise. For many years we abandoned the gods, but when the Dark Age ended we realized that their departure was as much our fault as it was theirs. We also learned that we can live without the gods in many ways, but we also long for the days when we could live without currency to burden us, or in fear that a man or woman may lie in the darkness, harboring dark intentions for whoever may pass. It may seem strange to you, I'm sure. But the gods were not tyrants, they we not villainous, they just didn't understand... they couldn't understand. It was beyond their comprehension, and we judged them for it. We pray to them, hoping they will hear us and return, so that we may teach them their errors, and live under their guidance once more. We own them our existence, our home, and so too do we owe them our lives, even if they may have abused them at one point. We hope that we can learn from each other, and teach each other. That is what we desire, and we can only hope that when they return, they will agree with us."

Odaj's faint smile returned, and visibly she was glad this part was done with.

"If you have any questions, you may ask them before we move on."

by **Neo ORB** » Mon Nov 16, 2015 6:54 pm

Gemini Class Destroyer: Zweig der Einsamkeit
Mistress: Tali Ronqi
Bridge:

The wait was painful, so very painful as Tali watched with baited breath and a hushed heart beat. How long would be take... would the possibility of communication understanding be heard like a dinner bell ringing across a vast field, or would the chaos that they so loved and hated; envelope them with the joys of war that lay siege to all civil instructions.

As tali then almost started to chew into her nails at the unending silence on the peak of hesitation a reply came back once more. the system converting its message into sounds and chirps as a crescendo of music played slowly. it was then tali lightly sighed at least they haddn't opened fire but it was still of no comforts to know and wait on the edge of your seat like this.

"... seems .... communicating ... language ... unfamil..... understand ... messa... respond ...power... down wea... systems ... send 'yes'.
...... free ....... defense running ....... like."

Once again the message was a garbled mess, but for the fragments Tali quickly understood the situation. it was a language barrier at least on their side of the fence. but the solution was then relatively simple a data packet would have to be sent out... well that or a "Messanger" but such... options were unfit for the current attitude surrounding. But as Tali had understood the main point of the message she quickly swiped along several threads while pushing others lightly away. At the same time all the main systems slowly started draining away like a full tub with no cap. the energy was sucked and then slowly expelled into the void underneath the Destroyer

It was slow, at first it was the weapon systems built into the vessel which drained and then shut off, then the majority of the protective shields peeled away as they glowed intermediately flashing and sparking like a dieing light bulb as a massive golden shield flared out until it turned and faded into nothing.
Then a bright silver sea which quickly outlined the vessel roared out, but that wasn't all as the silver light rippled and reflected the vessels true design as the brilliant blue crystal vessel appeared while bright ripples of water gave it a look found only a few feet deep under the crystal clear water. The vessel was devoid of any surface weaponry giving it a clean image. While the slight etchings of strange lettering covered the vessel from top to bottom as if it was covered in mystic spells. However every once and a while strange pictograms on the strait flats of hull and along the edges of the two cube pyramids showed various elegant designs of various circles and connecting squares and triangles while the same strange symbols etched around the circles or within them furthering a mystical appearance.

However as the seas raged violently as large waves crashed about until they too calmed and then faded away leaving the vessel visually free of defense as it disappeared back into the void with the light show over. The RAGG's couldn't be turned off as it was a passive system so there was nothing Tali could do but shatter the wall as it quickly broke back into dozen or so transparent hexagonal shields and then placed them into light orbits around the Destroyer. Of course if anything was sensed approaching the vessel the RAGGS would silently deflect it away.

Although it was an odd request, with the current difficulty's would it be seen as appropriate? she Silently wondered such things as she watched the targeting vectors shatter and then fade like dust in the wind. she wondered it that was enough? had she followed there request completely? She shrugged lightly in indifference and then started pulling up various feeds playing through the vessel and lightly watched Yuli escort the Mistress through the tree laden halls of the destroyer as there weight cause light imprints in the grass beneath them which quickly sprang back up due to its healthy condition.

As Tali then once more focused onto the vessels that had contacted her she then quickly forwarded a response. Sure it wouldn't be understood but it was still better then nothing. when she was finished she lightly sighed and watched her lover with the Mistress while she carried her sleeping child in her arms as they exited the medical bay on the way to the hangers. For a moment Tali wondered why they had been in the medical bay as she pulled up the feeds from only moments prior and then zoomed in onto her lover as she injected something into both the mistress and her child. As she went further back Tali couldn't help but lightly cringe as she read the "Medicines" label...
"ACRAGA-0"

The active cellular regenerative and growth agitator... it essence it was what one could call a hybrid fluid of hormones and the slight nanotech that they held... however the fluid was anything but nice, See for the Nare if one lost there wings due to accident, disease or too damage... there was a way to reverse the damage in the latter cases. The Nare with their natural higher regeneration could be... accelerated with the usage of ACRAGA-0 however the effects were the worst to say the least as Tali watched the flesh at the upper spine and lower waist hidden by the bandages beginning to extend outwards as small amounts of blood started to seep through.

Yes the effects of the agitator was blood and pain as she watched the twist of flesh slowly grow and harden, crack and grow only to endlessly repeat as a bright white tip of bone started to protrude only to be quickly covered by rapidly growing flesh which would be punctured all the same. as the protrudes of flesh tore through the back of the clothing as they swiftly moved. The mistress made no expression of discomfort while she gently rubbed her daughters sleeping face...
It was cute in a morbid way as she watched at first as four small white wings grew rapidly, the endless amounts of feathers molting anew until all four wing's were full grown.
As Yulasina lightly flapped the new grown wings and nestled them close to her back, one could see the sweat that drenched her dress and alighted her skin as the goosebumps lightly rose making her look like she was lightly glittering in the artificial light. However as Tali watched them enter the hanger she quickly switched off the feed not wanting to watch the usage of crystallization.

As she refocused on the other unknowns a small ping rolled across her frame. For a moment she thought nothing of it until the light caught her eyes. Instantly her golden pupils flashed and bled to crimson as the sclare in her eyes was flooded black as if the blood vessels burst.
As she watched the vortex and its swirling energy, she had an inclining of what was to come, and it was a experience she wished she could forgo entirely if she was right.
However the moment "it" appeared the data base instantly aligned it to extremely old records although the vessel was very different it had inclinations to a former existence with a one in ten chance of correctness. As Tali quickly placed her hand to her face and sighed, she exasperated in annoyance.

"Oh for the love of the Mistress Lorthous no... I hoped i'd never see another one of "them" again."

However as she placed her hand away from her face and rested it once more. She looked ahead to the first ones and then sighed once more.
This ongoing encounter was going to be a hectic day. She almost wanted to re-power her weapons and open fire indiscriminately on the new arrival. Although that just might be the old grudges trying to resurface so she could vent a few millennia worth of payback...
But as she stared once more into the void and at the planets she gently increased the acceleration output hoping to achieve a more appropriate location where the passive stealth wasn't so disconcerting. But since the passive stealth was only visual it relaid on light or the lack of it for visual appearance which was still a few hours away but with the current ascending acceleration the timer to open visual appearance was rapidly winding down.

Your language is broken but hearable children... however to us there are so many who speak and yet we are unable to pin your voice down.
We are sorry, we are soo very sorry for this unease you must feel with our inability or by our presence.
I'm sure this sudden arrival of another no doubts heightens your unease... but please worry not... but i hope your readings of our power down may have helped you be at further ease.

by **Vogega** » Sat Nov 21, 2015 11:24 am

V.E.S. Explor
The had emerged from hyperspace safely. Not that he had been expecting any less, but accidents did happen.
The vessel's shields powered up, but weapons stood on standby.

"To the Vogegan ship currently approaching this system, this is the Dhaina,commander Rhes of the Genomitan Defense Force speaking. Our envoy is currently undergoing negotiations with the native Zaeriof the world Yos Namoi. We ask that you state your intent."

"How did they identify us?" he asked the ship's A.I.
"I would guess the Scavengers may have had us in their database and such a ship was captured by these aliens," it speculated.
The Captain cursed his metallic parts shining in the starlight coming through the plexi-glass windows of the bridge. The scavengers had come just after the Tyr war had ended. Only 5 years after. They had sent a fleet of 100 ships, but when the Vogegan diplomats had approached, they had been blown apart causing the loss of 17 ships and the death of envoy Marrik, the envoy assigned to this mission. All attempts at negotiation had failed and the Empire was forced to destroy them. Only 5 ships of the once 100 ship fleet escaped crossing the gulf of space into the main part of the galaxy. The Empire's ships had lacked the technology for the jump, but they used the Hyperdrive of the scavengers to improve their own and they made the leap into the galaxy. Hundreds of people, including the captain's son, had been killed in the fighting.
As it was unknown if they had holograms, he sent a simple message back.

Captain Rhes, we are here to expand our scientific knowledge and if this world was uninhabited, we would colonize it, but if there was life here, we need to make contact with it and you hold no sway over this system, so you cannot block us..

The captains sat back, but shot to his feet when he saw the data.
An unknown ship design, but made from components that it recognized was in the system. The captain gulped. A massive Nare vessel sat in the system. The exploration ship was an ant next to a giant compared to this... thing. It was doubtful the Nare could identify it, as design had changed since the last encounter with them, in which a shoot out devastated parts of their home world, and led to the death of their leader; Mistress Lorthous. They had made peace, but the two most important people in that deal, Tali and Yuli, had disappeared. Shortly after which, the new Narean leader had attacked the Vogegan Empire. They had been exterminated by the Empire after the entirety of their fleet was destroyed and they refused the surrender. The world had returned to its beginnings as molten slag.

The captain decided not to contact the Nare. It would just reopen old wounds. He sent a message to all of the cities on the planet.

Greetings, we are the Voegan Empire and we come in peace, but that depends on you. Any hostility will be seen as a declaration of war and as such, we will respond immediately. However, we would like to make friendly contact and if you could send us some coordinates to land on, it would be most appreciably.

by **30 Pieces of Silver** » Mon Nov 23, 2015 2:25 pm

Precariously over extended from the radiant warmth and energy of the system’s sole star floated a single asteroid. There were no markings, there was no indication that life existed on or within it, and there had been no indication that any sentient life—no matter how malformed—had decided upon that cold rock. After all, the asteroid was sizable but even a sizable dot is still a modest undertaking in the extensive blankness of space.

Inside the asteroid a small outpost of Clio’s society began the long process of arranging a course for the habituated portions of the system. Long ignored and ignoring the asteroid had watched patiently as ever more frequent radiation, i.e. communication loosely defined, flew from ship to ship towards the core of the system.

Smell the asteroid. It is filled with the thin and pale. In the small crawl spaces they wear a bare cloth that covers their shoulders. Each stoke inside themselves a hope that the line’s latest expression, Marsha 22 will finally awake. Or, if she has already awaken, that she will emerge. The wet gray walls have been retched from a planet not generous enough to contain such an insult. Summer’s heat has followed them to this cold outpost, inflicted on the flat planes of engineering and knows no master and bows to no man because man bows to her.

This far flung representative of Clio has been waiting, patiently, for notification from Slate Research Lab. In part for notification that the great journey to solve genetic impurity started by the planet so many years ago has finally produced success. In part notification that the Labs still existed and that they on the asteroid are still remembered. Unfortunately and perhaps inevitably many, many years have passed since the last communication from the planet. Many believe that they have been forgotten. Perhaps the Marsha line has exhausted all its genetic momentum and there is nothing to do but wait for the last days. Perhaps a final black line has been carefully laid across the name, and so the asteroid, of the Marsha sequence. They would never be told. Not directly.

For reasons only the Marsha line know this peculiar, craggy vantage point speaks to something latent in the genetic line. So the asteroid and the biological floatsam and jetsam that have conglomerated around it have drifted around this far flung star since nearly the beginning. The journal of Marsha 12 speaks to those facts. The subsequent commentaries have also spoken to a reality deaf, silent and dumb to all but the most incursive activities of the star system.

The last activity occurred nearly two thousand years ago, give or take a few decades. The life sustaining pod dispatched from Slate Research Lab to this habitation was intercepted and destroyed. Why this happened the residents do not know. The great karmic wheel turns and turns without any reason or any prediction. Most recently, as the asteroid drifted across one of the many unnoticed and innumerable square units of the system, the outburst of interspecies chatter that marred what had heretofore been an otherwise silent, respectable and meditative portion of the galaxy.

Deep inside the asteroid’s core, musical tones and birdsong—which passed as language for some of the creatures—was put on repeat by Marsha 22. Nearly on the surface the engineers that maintained the equipment for life and propulsion steered a course towards the steadily converging species. Placed prominently on the asteroid’s “helm” there was a single missive, written in the unmistakable handwriting of Marsha: “Go meet the neighbors.”

by **Genomita** » Wed Nov 25, 2015 3:42 pm

Valtha kept perfectly quiet while ze listened to Odaj's words, hir only reaction a slight raise of hir eyebrows when Odaj told her that her people were not as united as they used to be. Ze waited until the chieftess had finished, hir eyes closed as ze pondered how to best respond to the new information. To Valtha it seemed that the Zaeri had been used as test subjects by a race of highly advanced and uncaring precursors, though ze knew that saying so would likely be taken as blasphemy. After a brief moment of silent contemplation ze found a path ze was comfortable with.

"Your perseverance in the face of all the strife you have encountered is praiseworthy, as is your loyalty to your gods after all this time. The people of the Star Community hold these virtues in high regard. And it is only natural to desire guidance, unity and order. An alliance with the Star Community could grant you these things, if you wish it. All your people would have to do is ask. However, the fact that your people are split among many settlements at odds with each other changes things a great deal. Up until now we have operated under the assumption that you were united under a one world government with you as their benevolent ruler. However, all is not lost. If you would allow it I would like to contact the other leaders of those settlements and offer them the same benefits as the people of Yos Vanor to avoid making it look like we are playing favorites. I do not expect all of them to agree, but if even some of them agree to our terms we will be able to share what we have to offer. It might take some time, but I am sure that those who refused alliance with us at first will eventually come to reconsider once they begin to see the benefits of an alliance, both cultural and technological."

Valtha was practically glowing with passion as ze went on, hir symbiosuit gesturing animatedly beside hir in as it felt it's host's enthusiasm. "They will name you Odaj the wise, who recognized the signs of the times and led her people to a brighter future for all Zaeri. I believe, deep in my heart that you and your people have everything it takes to make this alliance work, even if it will take them some time to accept us. But first i must ask you this: would it be possible to contact the other rulers of the major settlements without ruining your political position among them, or would such discourse lower their opinion of you? If you know a better way to prepare your people for this alliance, i would be honored to hear it. I would rather not broadcast a message to every settlement on your world after seeing what happened when i broadcast it to your city instead of your seat of government. Your people's lack of experience with offensive warfare does not concern me because we have no intention of using force against your people. This I swear, on my name and my honor as an envoy of the high council."
-----
Meanwhile in orbit...

"Commander. It is Commander Rhes. The insolence of these imperials... ah well, I shall let it go this time. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and believe that it was a translation error on their side and not a deliberate insult. Still, that attitude won't earn him any favors from me." the commander thought as ze considered their next move. At least the cloaked unknown had proven that they understood hir words by powering down their weapons, though their response had been as unintelligible as the last one. Either their language was a great deal more verbose than standard or genomitan even for such simple words as 'yes', or their reply had contained much more than that. Either way the commander had decided not to forward the message as it would have been a waste of the envoy's time, instead only sending a quick "Situation under control. Unknown agreed to power down their weapons." when the ship's energy readings had changed accordingly. Additionally, the ship had begun to accelerate, and judging by their current course they had appearantly decided to reveal themselves to the Genomitans. Already the light from the system's star had begun to reflect off the polished hull, and the ship database had sprung to life as soon as the ship moved into the light. As more of the ship became visible the database was able to narrow the search down until a largely unfinished entry popped up, with the only real information being 'Nare(?)' and 'migration'.

The commander pushed a button on hir command console, which activated a keyboard with the typical efficient spherical font of written genomitan displayed on it's keys. Another button swapped the language setting of the writing program to Standard. "Perhaps offering a text-based conversation will yield some understanding.

If you can read this, please respond in kind from here on. Thanks to your change of course our ship database has managed to identify your ship as Nare-made based on an older design discovered, however, that is unfortunately nearly all the information we have available at this moment. The only other note mentions a 'migration', but no details. If these terms are correct, please let us know. I am sure there is stil much that we can learn about each other.

"Your orders, young one?" asked the pilot. Rhes could feel the ship's tension at the imperial captain's words. It had recognized the insult for what it was, wether or not it had been intended, and was now awaiting hir response.

"Prepare another message to the Vogegan vessel." was all ze said. The pilot just nodded and closed hir eyes.

"You are correct that we hold no sway over this system, and we have no intention of blocking you from conducting negotiations on your own. You are free to send down a representative of your own. However, any attempt to harm the envoy or hinder our negotiations with the natives will be treated as an act of war and will be responded to accordingly, as will any use of force against Zaeri that agreed to an alliance with the Star Community. Likewise, we will honor those terms in regards to your negotiations. We have come in peace. Let us keep it that that way."

There was a moment of slience as the ship relayed the message when a note from one of the recon ships appeared on hir display.

Asteroid orbiting the system'just changed course towards this world. Artificial propulsion likely. Possible space habitat of unknown origin. Closer inspection revealed writing in an unknown language on the surface. Instructions?

The commander responded immediately by writing down a message of hir own.

Keep tracking it, look for hints of life signs or structures on the surface, report any new findings.

The message was sent as quickly as possible, after which the commander took a moment to translate the message into the language the envoy used to communicate with the Zaeri and sent hir a copy with an addendum saying that they had identified the previously cloaked ship as Nare-made and had attempted written conversation. Ze also mentioned that the Vogegan ship intended to make contact with the Zaeri and would likely send representatives of their own.

"I suppose we should try to contact the asteroid as well in case there are people inside of it."

The pilot responded with a nod, pinging the asteroid in hope of establishing a connection.

"To anybody inhabiting the asteroid currently headed towards this planet. This is commander Rhes of the Genomitan Defense Force speaking. We noticed that your habitat changed course. We ask that you halt your approach and state your intent."
-----
"Well, this is interesting." said Valtha as ze held out hir symbiosuit's wrist-mounted comm monitor to the translator robot. "It would appear that at least one of the asteroids in your system might be a habitat for members of another species, and it is currently on it's way here. But do not worry. I'm sure the commander will know what to do if it refuses to slow down in time. Lastly, the captain of the vogegan ship intends to make contact with the Zaeri. If they decide to send envoys of their own, I think it would be fortunate if they sent them here. That way you could get a direct comparison and I could assist you with the negotiation if you wish it. "

This is your wake-up call (FT-Closed, IC)

This is your wake-up call (FT-Closed, IC)

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