If you don't take it out (FT, ATTN: Sertian)

[Morningstar Coalition]

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NPP-1346-D System - Morningstar Coalition Fleet
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Another expedition was ordered when several old reports came to the attention of the Admiralty about another potential source of technology and trade for the Coalition. The vessel selected was the destroyer MCDF "Essence of Time", commanded by a Ssslakai named Nississ of Ssriith. Unlike the other three diplomatic missions recently dispatched, this vessel was being sent into a totally unknown situation, so was to be fitted for full combat duty. Since she was operating alone, she was fitted with a mix of close range beam weapons and kinetic cannon rather than the usual missile racks destroyers traditionally carried. Her engines were replaced with those scavenged from Outworld technology and hastily fitted into TRIAD-designed spire modules, then she was sent on her way.

The only information Morningstar had on their intended quarry was a report that had made it onto the data-grid during the height of the Exodus about one of the Exodus fleets encountering a Kilrany convoy being harassed by IRON patrols. After the situation was resolved, the Kilrany had revealed that they were en-route to colony under the name "Sertian" with food and supplies. A Sertian Plasma Trade Federation was mentioned in TRIAD's diplomatic records, so the Admiralty had decided that a mission was worthwhile. The target system was not precisely known, only the Sub-Sector. The Essence of Time was to use the IRON gate network to travel to Ithica, and from there they would travel to Sub-Sector FD41 and attempt to contact the Sertian people. The mission was given a rough estimate of three weeks from departure to arrival in the target subsector.

((OOC Note:))

This is just an intro of sorts, so refrain from posting unless you're somewhere along the route taken from Raysia to Keflek, from Keflek by IRON gate to Ithica, then from Ithica to the Sertian Occupation Zone. I'll be posting more before I actually arrive in that area, so if you're watching Sertian, hang on a moment.

[Morningstar Coalition]

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Sector FD41 - Unknown System - MCDF "Essence of Time"
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"Well that makes this the fourth system we've searched with no results. Are you sure we're in the right place Keddar?" Nississ was getting more than a little irritated, and the rattling of the quills down either side of his spine proved it. The limited FTL sensors they'd been equipped with had led the destroyer to search four different systems so far, each time readings had indicated the presence of shipping, but upon arrival, each time the systems were empty. Nississ was starting to doubt the sanity and intelligence of whatever technicians had installed and programmed the sensor systems.
Meanwhile Keddar, the Khyrolii sensor operator, was trying to ignore the barbs on the twin ends of his Captain's tail. He'd seen what could happen if a Ssslakai managed to catch you with the toxins in those barbs, and it wasn't pretty. He knew on an intellectual level that Nississ probably would kill him out of hand just because the sensor readings were in error. Still, the instinct to run from an annoyed Ssslakai captain was rather strong right now. "Yes sir. We're definitely in the right sector, just not the right system yet. I don't know what is causing all these ghost returns sir. We're going to need to keep dropping Whiskers and hope we can narrow things down as we go."

The Captain glared at the Khyrolii for a few long moments, then threw up all four arms to the ceiling and sighed deeply, "Fine! Do whatever is necessary! I am tired of waiting this out however, and will be returning to my quarters until we either find something, or run out of supplies. Do not under any circumstances bother me before then. Seneschal, you have the bridge until then!" With that, the captain gathered his coils and slid out the hatchway off the bridge.

Keddar sighed in relief, then blinked as Seneschal's holographic avatar materialized over his shoulder, "I suggest Mr. Eskal, that you concentrate less on the Captain's mood and more on trying to locate the Sertians we've been sent to contact."

The Khyrolii gulped and nodded, turning back to his displays and putting himself into his work. After ten minutes, he looked up and turned to the shipmind's avatar, Sir! I think I have another contact. I'm showing abnormal mass concentration readings coming from a blue-white star four parsecs from here. No star registry, no system name."

Seneschal's avatar nodded and turned to the Irukan pilot in the forward tank, "Very good Mr. Eskal. Helm, I have the system the sensors identified and have input navigation data. Please take us to Slipstream. All hands, Slipstream transition in two minutes." The last spoken over the shipwide comms. In just over two minutes, the ship tore a hole in spacetime and began riding the cosmic superstrings of Slipstream towards their destination...

[Sertian]

Mesce Star Cluster, Galactic Sector FD41
MCS-SC-09 Star System
S.I.V. Neveran, Ascension-Class Scout Cruiser

The system was largely absent of any Sertian presence, no trade stations floating in the interplanetary medium, no facilities being constructed on the planets or asteroids, not even a marker buoy that claimed the sun and it's planets in the name of whatever nation had currently laid claim to the star cluster at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. What the system did have was a variety of sensor ghosts, mass-shadows that seemed to move and jump around erratically in the planet as they past through, most of them seeming to move deeper into the star cluster, towards a nearby binary star system.

There was, however, one point of interest that might ease Seneschal's tension. Past the planets in star system, just beyond the outermost planet were three artificial constructs - one of would be easily detectable as a large, 650 meter long vessel that was decelerating in an effort to intersect a particular orbit. Scans from the Morningstar vessel once it arrived would most likely be able to quickly tell that the other two constructs in the system were small, and upon a deeper glance were revealed to be automated observatories, most likely designed to monitor the system to look for any intruding ships and warn the Sertian's of its presence (given that the previous four systems lacked such a system in place, it would appear that the network was only starting to be set up from the center of the star cluster outwards).

[Morningstar Coalition]

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Sector FD41 - Unknown System - MCDF "Essence of Time"
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Seneschal monitored the incoming scan returns alongside Keddar as the ship entered another system. Initial results were the same as the other six systems searched so far. A good number of seeming mass shadows, however all the other sensor systems agreed that they were ghosts. The shipmind was about to order the helm to plot a jump to the next system when Keddar shot up in at his station, "Sir! I have something! Reading three mass shadows, and FTL scans are picking up definite signatures of artificial origin. Reading one ship with active reaction drives, two smaller signatures consistent with artificial platforms, no drive emissions detected."

The shipmind patched through to the helm station and queried the navigation system, they were an estimated two hours from a realspace intercept, however there was sufficient fuel reserves to allow an immediate intercept by local space fold jump. #Helm, begin plotting fold jump, set target for twenty light-seconds from the detected ship contact. We'll launch all whiskers immediately following jump. All hands, we are now condition yellow! Captain to the bridge. Helm, execute fold jump when ready.# Seneschal handled the multiple conversations at once, monitoring the ship's crew as they moved to battle stations. The shipmind did not expect a fight, however they were about to drop a warship unannounced right on top of an unsuspecting local ship. If this was a system claimed by the Sertians, they might not take too kindly to this stunt, but it was the fastest way to confirm they were in the right place.

By the time Nississ moved back to his station on the bridge, the ship was ready for their jump, "Drives charged and coordinates confirmed. Executing fold jump!" The Irukan pilot announced, then space seemed to twist inward on itself as the ship opened a hole through the artificial fold they'd made in spacetime. For a few fractions of a second, point A and point B coexisted as a single place, through which the ship slipped, then spacetime snapped back to normal. Seconds later, bay doors opened on the sides of the destroyer and dozens of small, one meter-wide spheres began launching in all directions. The Whisker-class sensor drone was packed full of sensor systems of multiple types, a basic LD-drive, and communications gear, and did it's job very well: to extend the sensor coverage and resolution of the host-ship by several orders of magnitude. Right now these drones were fanning out into programmed patterns, forming a massive observatory array; which was focused on the spot where the suspected Sertian ship had been detected.

If the target's sensors were limited to speed of light, in twenty seconds the target ship would have an unmistakable and clear view of the ship jumping in; less if the target ship possessed any form of FTL sensors...

[Sertian]

Merces Star Cluster, Galactic Sector FD41
MCS-SC-09 Star System
Bridge of the S.I.V. Neveran, Ascension-Class Scout Cruiser

The bridge was only half occupied with most of the terminals and chairs empty except for a noted few, and even most of those officers seemed to be half asleep. The only thing that was tirelessly working was the computer, which constantly checked the passive and active sensors, displaying anything it noticed on the holographic objectives map which hovered in the mostly empty bridge. However, as the computer constantly checked any observed object against a threat assessment check list, it finally came across something that was noteworthy.

The passive sensors flagged the object as an immediate curiosity nearly 20 seconds after the Morningstar ship jumped. A variety of active sensor arrays then turned their attention towards it, beaming a variety of electromagnetic waves and beams to get back what information it could. Forty seconds after they were sent, the beams returned with information of a sizable object that was deploying small probes or missiles. This caused the ship's tactical computer to raise the threat level of the detected ship from curiosity to possible threat. It immediately diverted power towards the ship's weapons, hull sections opening to reveal protected plasma, gauss, and coil guns and raised an alert across the sleeping vessel. So far the ship hadn't pointed any weapons at the Morningstar vessel, but it was clear that it was making itself ready for a possible engagement.

Sixty seconds after the detection of the unidentified ship.

High Commander Sunder almost knocked his X/O out of the way as he ran onto the bridge, his uniform so uneven and messily dressed that it brought to mind the image of the neohuman dressing as he ran from his quarters to the bridge, "What do we have on the Un-Ob?"

"It's an unknown class apparently designed for combat engagements," a Rip'lard who was stationed at tactical replied. "Unclear of it's weapon or defensive capabilities, the T.A.C. is still running the ship through known profiles to potentially identify a manufacturer or owner for the vessel. The other objects that are expanding outwards from the ship appear to be sensor probes, unclear if they've got weapon capability though."

"So in other words, we don't know anything about the vessel?" Sunder said with a grumble as he took his seat, taking time to try and lessen his uniform's disheveled look and study the holographic image before him. It was a relatively simple image, a display of the solar system showing their objectives for it - a line displaying the planned course for the mission, points of interest including the already deployed satellites as well as windows of opportunity to deploy the other three still within the ship's hangers, and now the tactical information for the unknown ship - which composed of two images for each object, a solid representation of where the objects were known to be twenty seconds ago (due to light lag) and a ghostly image of where the ships would be now if they continued on their current courses.

"Correct sir, although the tactical computer hasn't detected any target locks or weapons aimed against us as of yet, of course there could be a laser barrage on its way and we'd have no way to detect it until it hits. Also no communications from the unidentified ship yet."

"Hmm... Continue on our path for now, keep us at our current tactical condition. Send a message back to Lareimi with the situation and a text-only communication to the Un-Ob, binary, all languages."

"Yes sir, sending messages now."

The first message would be undetectable to the observing ship for the simple fact it was sent backwards in time so that it would arrive at it's target destination seconds after it was sent. The second message, however, was easily detectable - transmitted in simple radio, microwave, and laser communicates towards the target ship and the cloud of Whisker-Drones expanding from around it. The message started off with simple mathematical equations and proofs, allowing anyone who read it a common footing in case they didn't understand any of the languages (after all, it was assumed that Euclidean math would be a universal language to any three-dimensional creature in this universe). After that was a collection of short messages in dozens of different languages, some native to the Sertian's Large Magellanic Cloud, while others were transcribed from languages discovered and translated from within the Milky Way. One such language, the first message in fact, was composed in Sert - otherwise known as English or Galactic Basic.

S.I.V. Neveran -> Unidentified Vessel
This is a military vessel operating under the authority of The Sertian Empire that lays claim to this system addressing the unidentified vessel trespassing within our boarders. Identify yourself within 120 seconds of receiving this message or you will be assumed as a hostile vessel and thus treated as an invader into our boarders.

[Morningstar Coalition]

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Sector FD41 - MCS-SC-09 - MCDF "Essence of Time"
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"This confirms it Captain, they are Sertian." Seneschal's holographic avatar stood next to the main holotank, text and spectrograph reports floating in midair.

Nissis stared at the incoming data, briefly listening to the deluge of languages, apparently all saying the same thing. "They truly do not know who we are then. Seneschal, pick a language and open an audio channel." The Ssslakai paused a moment while the Shipmind directed a microwave relay towards the Sertian ship, "This is the commander of the desroyer "Essence of Time", of the Morningstar Coalition Defense Fleet. I have been tasked with a diplomatic contact mission with your Empire, and have spent several days searching the local systems for confirmation of your presence. I must apologize for our unexpected arrival, and wish to assure you our objectives are not hostile.
Prior to our local arrival, we could not reliably identify your vessel, so we came for a closer look. Now that we have made positive identification and contact, I would like to request a formal meeting with your leaders. Our mission is to establish formal diplomatic ties and to begin negotiation for possible trade and technical exchanges. This is Captain Nissis of the Essence of Time" out."

[Sertian]

Merces Star Cluster, Galactic Sector FD41
MCS-SC-09 Star System
Bridge of the S.I.V. Neveran, Ascension-Class Scout Cruiser

“We’ve got a response, audio only,” piped another officer on the bridge, a Sertian stationed at the communication’s terminal.

“Play it,” Sunder grunted back.

This is the commander of the desroyer "Essence of Time", of the Morningstar Coalition Defense Fleet. I have been tasked with a diplomatic contact mission with your Empire, and have spent several days searching the local systems for confirmation of your presence. I must apologize for our unexpected arrival, and wish to assure you our objectives are not hostile.
Prior to our local arrival, we could not reliably identify your vessel, so we came for a closer look. Now that we have made positive identification and contact, I would like to request a formal meeting with your leaders. Our mission is to establish formal diplomatic ties and to begin negotiation for possible trade and technical exchanges. This is Captain Nissis of the Essence of Time" out."

“Days in our systems, how come they weren’t detected?” Sunder mused while scowling his brows.

“Most of our vessels outside the three inner systems are usually outside three-dimensional space, even if they were just a few micrometers displaced they wouldn’t detect anything larger than a dwarf planet. And as you well know, we’ve only now deploying our sensor grid across the entire star cluster,” the tactical officer stated simply enough.

The commander sighed as he started to rub his temples, his tiredness obviously starting to reveal itself now, “I guess we should just be thankful that the first ship to take advantage of our blindness was friendly.”

“Indeed sir,” The Rip’lard replied again.

“Regardless, let’s not drop our guard just yet. Keep the weapons powered but don’t take aim yet, proceed on our current course and prepare to deploy the third satellite as planned. Feress, send a copy of that message back to Lairemi…”

“Also,” Sunder said with a sigh as he settled back into his chair, “Tell the Essence of Time that they’re going to have to sit tight until we get orders on what to do with them.”

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True to Sunder’s word, it did take some time. The Neveran’s mission was a low priority one, a matter that needed to be done yet didn’t require an experienced commander. So when a message was received from the scout cruiser it wasn’t paid any attention by any actual officers (who were actually busy either setting up some vital system that was being brought online or some other important duty). It was the computer that analyzed the priority information and put it into a queue of messages needing to be responded to, which gave it a waiting time between two to three hours (after all, the computer wasn’t capable of deciding if a first-contact high priority was more important than a high priority message about the settling of refugees or other government matters the military had to have a hand in).

It was only when the second message was received did the computer immediately bump the Neveran’s message to the front of the line. An officer read the message, realized it’s importance, and immediately sent all the available data on the subject to the Emperor’s Office, where people were actually experienced in these kind of things.

It didn’t take as long as it would otherwise, but it still took thirty minutes for a decision to be reached back at home. Two messages were sent - one encrypted for the Neveran basically telling them to continue on their mission before reporting back for a debriefing, and another which seemed to appear from a point in space nearby the vessel seemingly out of nowhere (a side affect of their FTL communication technology), which went like this:

S.I.V. Alsenoth -> Morningstar Vessel Essence of Time
“Apologize for the delay in response, we’ve been a bit tied down with settling into this star cluster and our logistics are a bit tied up - as you know doubt could have guessed with the lack of communications from when you first stepped into our territory. We’ve been dispatched to act as your escort within Sertian space for your visit.”

“We’ve included a set of coordinates within this message, which should take you to a point one-thousand kilometers from our bow within the Justicar System. From here we can offer your crew some accommodations, either on our ship or via a tour of the Justicar or Lairemi systems, at least until a diplomat arrives to handle any official talks.”

[Morningstar Coalition]

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Sector FD41 - MCS-SC-09 - MCDF "Essence of Time"
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The Morningstar destroyer sent a brief acknowledgment of the Sertians' message, then the destroyer matched course and speed with the Neveran, closing to three light seconds then holding position relative. As soon as the Sertians said to "hold tight", Nissis had ordered the ship to stand down to condition green, discharging energy from all combat systems and returning to normal flight status. While his crew might have been content to wait, for Nissis himself the wait was grating. His species thrived on actions, and patience was most definately not one of their virtues.

"What in Ssakaar's name is taking them so long!" Roared the Captain, both tailtips slashing the air behind him, the fingers on all four arms tapping console and arm alike. Every now and then the double row of quills that ran down either side of his spine gave an ominous rattle. Seneschal had already relieved the rest of the bridge crew after the first fifteen minutes. Ssslakai could only contain their impulses for so long, and everyone on the command staff knew this. If things went on much longer, the Shipmind would be forced to temporarily relieve Nissis of command until he calmed down.

Thankfully things did not reach that point, for the Sertians finally replied. "Incoming transmission Captain. Unknown source. Strange, it appears to be emitting from an empty point in space."

Nissis rose up from his coils and grabbed a hologram out of the tank, pulling the text of the message close enough to read, then muttering several choice curses in his native tongue, "They took thirty minutes for this? Fine! Set a course for those coordinates and prepare for fold jump. You're in command for now Seneschal, I need to work the fire out of my blood before we reach them. I don't want the murder of foreign diplomats on my record."

"Aye sir! Command officers to the bridge. All hands prepare for fold jump in eight minutes!" Each sentence by the Shipmind spoken to a different internal comms channel as Seneschal began preparing the ship for a space-fold jump, recalling the whisker drones on emergency burn.


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Sertian Space - Justicar System - MCDF "Essence of Time"
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Once again Glass Singer showed her piloting skills, and the hexagonal destroyer flashed into space exactly where the Sertian's message had indicated, plus or minus a half-meter. Seneschal took the initiative and launched a dozen whisker drones to get a basic picture of the area.

[Sertian]

Merces Star Cluster, Galactic Sector FD41
MCS-SC-03, Justicar Star System
Off the bow of the S.I.V. Alsenoth

Unlike the unnamed system the Essence of Time had just been in, the Justicar system was teaming with activity. Most of it seemed to be centered around an arid planet (which would have been ideal for habitation if it wasn't for the lack of water and extreme volcanic activity which spouted poisonous fumes into the atmosphere) and the system's two asteroid belts. The whisker drones would no doubt detect hundreds of vessels, both military and civilian/industrial, entering and exiting higher dimensional space - the metal frames of the vessels seeming to bend and warp in ways that boggled the mind as they did so. However, the largest three unnatural objects the destroyer would likely detect belonged to an orbital station around the planet (seemed to be designed to process and refine ores, as well as act as a way point between the planet and the dozens of cargo ships that came to receive the ore) and two behemoth of ships which prowled the asteroid belts - serviced by a fleet of mining vessels that scanned and tugged resource rich asteroids towards the giant industrial cityships.

Of course, the closest ship was the S.I.V. Alsenoth, an Avalon-Class Heavy Cruiser - one of the Empire's finest warships. Even though it's weapons weren't active, it was hard to miss the ship's three large plasma canons embedded in it's heavy armor, as well as its armament of point defenses and other weapons. Fortunately the one kilometer long warship floated peacefully along side the hexagonal ship, it's engines quietly burning in a slow acceleration towards the station in orbit of the volcanic planet.

Soon after the ship folded into local space, the Alsenoth sent a message to the destroyer.

S.I.V. Alsenoth -> MorningStar Vessel Essence of Time
"Welcome to the Justicar System, and a delayed welcome to the New Sertian Empire. We've been making arrangements for your crew to stay on the station if they'd like some time off boat, and your people are welcome to spend a few nights on our ship until arrangements have been made for your ship to enter the Lairemi system. Or you could wait in obit around the planet until Grand Admiral Zephra arrives to clear ship."

[Morningstar Coalition]

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Sertian Space - Justicar System - MCDF "Essence of Time"
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Keddar stared at the data coming in from the whiskers' sensors, "Would you look at that!" His voice was tainted with amazement and excitement. Already their scanners were working to classify the exotic energies witnessed coming from the traffic appearing and vanishing in this system.

"By the shell... Intelligence was right on this one. These Sertians are using some kind of Eye-Dee drives. Seneschal, make sure we're recording everything! I want a databurst prepared for the Admiralty at first opportunity. We may have found our treasure trove!" The Ssslakai captain shared his subordinate's excitement at this find. When the Alsenoth's message came through, the serpentine captain grinned like a human and opened a channel. "Thank you for your welcome Alsenoth, and thank you for the invitation, however it would be best for the moment if we did not overwhelm your hospitality with our crew. We will be more than willing to wait until the Grand Admiral arrives, however I do need to clear up one point. Will we be conducting this introduction aboard our ship, or one of yours?"

Cutting the channel, Nississ turned to the Shipmind's avatar, "Please tell me you've got a preliminary assessment of their drive systems?"

"I do Captain. While I am having some difficulty determining the precise mechanism they are using, I can confirm that they are creating three-space pockets and projecting these through dimensional membranes into four-space. Without examining their systems directly, I cannot confirm with anything higher than forty percent accuracy; however I believe their technology may be compatible with our understanding of Daedalus theory."

Nississ grinned again, his tails flickering behind him, "That may well be the best news I have heard in months. Alright Glass Singer, bring us alongside the Alsenoth. Let's wait it out for this Grand Admiral Zephra."