Black Holes in the Sky IC (Space Faction RP - Open)

[Personal Freedom]

OCC
Galaxy SE-01, a galaxy much like our own, spiral in shape, and teeming with stars and planets. It is a home to many, a frontier relatively unexplored by all, and full of life. Galactic Empires and prehistoric tribes, wilderness and lifelessness, solar system after solar system, each different, everything varying nothing the same, and nothing curtain. Today you play as a species, one of the many civilizations to form in the galactic sandbox. What will the universe be like? Do you go foreword as a crusader, a conquered, or a explorer?

Zhoul'Goth

The Emperor Matthias I was a much known ship to the citizens of Zhoul'Goth. Twice previously renovated, the ship had seen combat in the System Unification War and was among the first large battleships commissioned, a treasured veteran to citizens of Goth, and a symbol of foreign domination to those elsewhere in the empire. It was fitting that it would be the first ship with the capability to undertake the op much anticipated journey outside of the solar system. As the ship pulled out of the orbiting station where it had just undertaken its third major renovation, the emperor himself watched on a big screen from within the station. He had spoken with the admiral chosen to represent Zhoul'Goth earlier and found himself satisfied by the choice. A loyal servant of the empire who was not Gothian by birth or culture, yet loyal all the same. The type of person that could bring unity to the planets. No better diplomat could not have been selected, and there were very few better commanders. A perfect choice. Delaney Michaels was now gone amongst the suns of a thousand systems in the name of Emperor Constantine.

Aboard the ship, all was quiet. Thousands of people sat in complete science, finding no need for auditory communication when they simply could communicate to each other mentally, something the ship had been built to maximise. Speech was now a remnant of evolution, at least for communication among themselves. Treason too was believed to be a thing of the pass. When everyone could hear your thoughts, a thought of treason would be the the thinker's undoing before a moment had passed. In more ways than one, the ship was the future of the empire. Not only would it travel the galaxy, bringing the empire to new locations, but it also tested a new system. A system the Emperor hoped to employ. A system of perfect castes and perfect awareness, one that could remove all dissidence and make Zhoul'Goth stronger than ever before. The crew itself was blissfully unaware, quite happy for the mental connections, and not knowing that both their freedom and individuality were being curbed. No one was permitted to think this way, to know was treason, and so they didn't.

[Skaldia]

Draconian Empire
Unknown System, 1A

---

Admiral Valkir vos Nov of the Second Fleet gazed into the eye of a system abandoned to history. The Auspix, the quantum communications network that existed between the ships of all His Majesty's Imperial Ships of the Line, was garbled as the amount of billions of metric tons of wreckage proved a daunting adversary to communication between the Captains. The Second Fleet had entered the newly found system to find it a graveyard of ship parts, some nearly twice the size of the Crusader. Luckily, the Void Shields had proven their worth once again as any wreckage unlucky enough to come into contact with the Void Shields were disintegrated piece by piece. Even than, the amount of debris was proving a substantial hurdle for the Fleet to remain in formation.

Fortunately, the debris formed an artificial asteroid belt closer in than the natural asteroid belt. The prize was worth it. Three planets, near the same sizes as Draconia and Arcadia, were located in the habitable zone of their star, a Class G Star burning a near bright yellow light. It would be no different from the Draconian System if it was not for the amount of wreckage to be found as well as signs of extinct civilization on all three planets. The Atmospheric Drones had taken thousands of pictures of the surfaces of each habitable planet with the Technicians still pouring over yet more. For the moment, the planets had been dubbed Draconia I, II, and III respectively. That would change as the first prospectors and colonists arrived however. As he gazed down at one of the green surfaces of one of the planets, Admiral Valkir wondered. The Planet Valkir. What a beginning.

[Charmera]

"Ambition begets Power, Power begets Security, Security begets Ambition."
- Thoran Proverb.

Second age, Cycle 60, Day 203.
2:00 PM in human hours
Usrkassi Tower, broadcasting live
"In intercorperate news today the maiden voyage of the "Soul of Discovery" and the "Voice of Thoran" has reached its desitnation accompanied by an escort of five Cruisers. The sponsor corporations Yisshai Incorporated, Kaisha-tech, Ikassi Limited and of course Syndicate itself, have announced that they will be sharing the rewards of this expedition with all Thoran. Their first destination world has currently not yet been disclosed, however we have been told that the corporations had received a signal of unknown origin from the planet before the expidtion. which suggests strongly the presence of intelligent life... Needless to say we are all very excited by this development.

On board the "Soul of Discovery"

Meanwhile, the crew of the Soul had a view of both the news broadcast and the planet bellow. It was Icy and cool, while beautiful it would be problematic for the cold blooded Thorans.

"'We're all very excited'... Understatement of the cycle." Muttered Isshao Unisoi, with a grin that nearly covered his whole face, second helmsman of the "Soul". The "Soul of Discovery" was a fairly sophisticated and incredibly new model of starship, therefore it required an extra helmsman to control fully.

In truth, no one had any idea of the possibilities this contained for the Thoran race. But Isshao was thinking more of how this would likely send his career skyrocketing. He did not want to be a Helmsmen forever after all.

"Quite helmsman. Though I would perfer it if you kept such useless comments to yourself when on the bridge." The captain replied with some sternness. The captain, Issia Kial'lai, seemed to say. She breathed a mental sigh of relief when Isshao silenced himself afterwards. She had to assert herself quickly in the face of even the slightest infraction, less she be thought weak or inefficient, could lead to a swift change in power. Her Second in command likely coveted her chair as much as she coveted the Admirals. Though unlike her Sano Kailai was unlikely to be as patient as she.

The Cruisers lagged behind the Soul, an insanely fast ship even for the speedy yet light Thoran navy, though it would not take too long for them to catch up. It had little for weapons, but Issia doubted she would need anything naval for this ball of ice. It seemed barren enough, but as any Thoran knew, looks are almost always deceiving.

"Prepare the shuttles. We're landing." She suddenly had a use for her second. A test of the waters, if he and his landing party perished horribly, then it would inform Issia to not go down herself, but if he survived, she would want to see this world for herself. "Or rather, your landing, Sano." She said this with a mental grin that put Isshao's to shame, though she didn't dare smile physically lest she give a hint of her plan. "Choose a landing party, then find out what is down there. Report when you come across anything of interest."

Sano bit his lip as he stood. He knew what she was doing, yet he had no choice. Disobeying a direct order meant certain liquidation. Or perhaps Issia would simply kill him there and then.

In truth he did not want her seat. He was quite content with being a second in command. The problem being that Sano had been a very successful second for a long time, however he had not been promoted. So Issia's suspicions were understandable, if somewhat false. He didn't even bear any ill will towards Issia, quite the opposite he respected her.

In fact, he was infatuated with her.

"Yes my Captain." he replied, bowing to his superior, before he moved to the elevator.

[Rynagria]

Bdaty Sector, Fiotken Territory
The Blizzard was strong, blowing large amounts of air and snow around the surface of the planet, although it didn't bother with the figures hidden in a small dug-out in the snow. Four eyes on their face, with a tube like proboscis for a mouth, the Fiotken held their weapons tightly. Not far from them was a lone animal of what the Gaxiticans and Fiotken called "Olscit." Creatures with thick white fur, roughly two and a half meters tall, stout in nature, and on four legs, while their horns were hidden. It was busy eating a small frost covered plant, one of the few that appeared on the surface of planet.

Careful not to disturb their prey, they began to surround it while it was still preoccupied with finishing its meal, their weapons at the ready. No words were said, just numbers of clicks. Once hey have done so, the leader screeched at the top of its lung and propelled his spear forward, striking it where it's body and head met, drops of bluish blood staining the snow. Now startled, the "Olscit" went on its hind legs, revealing it's belly. Seeing their opportunity, the rest of the hunters threw their spear, one of which struck the beast in one it's hearts, bringing it to the ground on its side.

Ready to claim their prize, they were momentarily stopped by a distant roar, which quickened their pace of movement. In a matter of minutes, the hunters would have called their mounts and dragged the carcass, eager to bring it into the underground kingdom. The king would be happy.

Pantora City Hangar, Gaxitican Republic
"How long before the ship is fully refueled?" Asked the Head Pilot of the Transport Frigate, her hand on her hips, her engineer in front of her holding a pad of some sort. He looked up at the Captain and responded with a deep voice.

"Captain Xunche, it should be another 30 more kelyns (hours) before it's finished, you should probably get some rest before that, relax to be more precise. Why not join the rest of the flight crew in their celebration of their last voyage? It's still going on." Replied the Engineer, before turning his back on the Captain, who was visibly peeved at the comment. It was because to her, the trips into the unknown were exhilarating, the only thing that was truly different in the Republic.

"Vsit, you know I can't do that......... I just can't wait to go out there again, see other planets, new experiences, meeting new people. It's just way more boring than staying here cooped beneath the surface." Answered Xunche, now crossing her arms across her chest, in addition if tapping her foot on the steel floor. Before Vsit, could give a response to his captain, an announcement was made over the intercom.

"All Ship Crew members, except for the engineers, are to report to the commander center in approximately ten hlioks (minutes). I repeat, all Ship Crew Members, with the exception of the engineers, are to report to the command center in approximately ten hlioks. That is all." Announced the voice.

"You should probably get going Captain, no need for you to get into trouble for staying with the ship." Said Vsit.

"Whatever, see you later."

[Corenea]

Aboard The Shield space station near the planet Seid
"I don't care if there's an abundance of natural meat in that planet, I rather eat process soy product and stay in this cozy space station then to be deployed in that icy rock," Stationaire Antion says to his friend Julo as they're overlooking Seid from the The Shield. It's been five weeks since the Imperium annexed the Seid civiliations into its empire and already many Corveni colonists were complaining about the cold.

"But Antion, think about it. All those wild beasts we can hunt for food, have you seen one of the beats in that planet, that's big enough to feed an entire legion for a week. I'm sick of eating processed crap. I want to dig my teeth in one of those creatures," Jul responded.

"Yeah but it's cold, if we're not getting shot at by the rebels or stomped by those giant animals, the weather will freeze us to death," Anton continued.

"But the colony will have the necessary heating equipments that can keep a male warm. Besides, a little cold won't mind me,"

"Figures. You're born in the coldest place in the planet,"

"Oh shut-wait, what's that?" Jul said pointing at the radar. The radar shows a couple of blips with unidentified tags, showing that they're not of Imperial or Colonial markings.

"Turn on the communicator and send out a message to whoever or whatever is coming, and notified the pilots, the marines, and the stationaires to their battle stations," Jul said to Antion. Males and females were running around, getting in their pilot gears, arming themselves, or getting onto turrets as two carriers, The Longsword and The Dragon, followed by 4 destroyers moved forward slowly at the advancing party. The Shield sent out a message to the advancing party. "You are entering Imperial territory. Please state your HR officer's name and political entity,"

[Charmera]

Aboard The Shield space station near the planet Seid
"I don't care if there's an abundance of natural meat in that planet, I rather eat process soy product and stay in this cozy space station then to be deployed in that icy rock," Stationaire Antion says to his friend Julo as they're overlooking Seid from the The Shield. It's been five weeks since the Imperium annexed the Seid civiliations into its empire and already many Corveni colonists were complaining about the cold.

"But Antion, think about it. All those wild beasts we can hunt for food, have you seen one of the beats in that planet, that's big enough to feed an entire legion for a week. I'm sick of eating processed crap. I want to dig my teeth in one of those creatures," Jul responded.

"Yeah but it's cold, if we're not getting shot at by the rebels or stomped by those giant animals, the weather will freeze us to death," Anton continued.

"But the colony will have the necessary heating equipments that can keep a male warm. Besides, a little cold won't mind me,"

"Figures. You're born in the coldest place in the planet,"

"Oh shut-wait, what's that?" Jul said pointing at the radar. The radar shows a couple of blips with unidentified tags, showing that they're not of Imperial or Colonial markings.

"Turn on the communicator and send out a message to whoever or whatever is coming, and notified the pilots, the marines, and the stationaires to their battle stations," Jul said to Antion. Males and females were running around, getting in their pilot gears, arming themselves, or getting onto turrets as two carriers, The Longsword and The Dragon, followed by 4 destroyers moved forward slowly at the advancing party. The Shield sent out a message to the advancing party. "You are entering Imperial territory. Please state your HR officer's name and political entity,"

"Captain! We've detected approximately six objects headed our way. They appear to be starships of some kind, but none of their designs seem to match anything on Syndicate records." The communications and Detection officer shouted from his position on the left of the bridge. "It's sent us a message, but it's in a completely different language.

Issia's eyes widened. "Sano, on second thought, stay here for now. I may need you on the bridge." She ordered. "Your in communications, Run the message through the decoder..." It would take a while to decode the message by breaking it down using the context and recurring characters and so forth, so Issia needed to stall for time. Had the message been spoken, it would have been much simpler to put through the computer.

"Meanwhile, the rest of you should prepare the "Cloak" and the warpdrive. We may have to make a quick retreat soon if diplomacy collapses."

"While you do that, I need you to send a message to them. A Standard indication protocol communiqué." Hopefully, they would be as confused and as busy as those on the Soul trying to decode their own message.

"Unidentified vessels. State your purpose and affiliation. If you are Syndicate star ships, state your corporate affiliation, Syn-ID and your Captains clearance codes."

[Corenea]

Aboard The Shield space station near the planet Seid
"Praetor, unknown ships are near us and they have sent us a message," Antion said to Praetor Octo as he entered the station messaging area. "We're trying to decode their message as we speak."

"Try sending them a visual message," Praetor Octo commanded. "If they can't understand our language or vice versa, maybe they can understand some simple visuals,"

"Roger that," Antion said. "Coders, try sending them some visuals," he said to the messengers. Three message were sent to the advancing party, the first containing the icy planet, the second containing the same planet but with an Imperial marking over it, and the third containing armed Imperial soldiers.

[Northern Arcadian Empire]

Reach-
Thoran looked around on the Shuttle him and his troops where off to the NAE Iron Hammer, one of the newly constructed Exploration Craft. She was a beauty it took nine months to build her form the best steel they could find, she had a 10 meter thick hull, larger cargo bay and fuel tanks for those long exploration missions. When he shuttle landed Throan was he first one off he got on top of a box and exclaimed "Today Brothers, we shall find out what the galaxy has to offer in metal, land, people, and food! We shall not return until we have filled out hold with treasure!" The other Dwarfs yelled and cheered as they boarded the ship

[Shnercropolis]

Qaal, Sazamonde Territory

Qaal Relay Station was a very busy place. Thousands of Manir scuttled around, finishing off the last activities that needed to be done for the arrival of the Ascarus. The enormous ellipse-shaped ship had entered quantum-dissociative state a few weeks ago in Zopaz system, and the great computers in the station had immediately begun simulating its return to existence in Qaal. It was necessary to simulate every possible quantum interaction and find the optimum path of re-association throughout the object, so that errors wouldn't accumulate in re-association and destroy the entire ship. Even with computing speeds orders of magnitude above what modern-day humanity could possibly devise, the process took at least a few weeks. Sometimes longer.

The actual process of quantum re-association was actually pretty fast; it took only a few milliseconds. The giant smooth ship seemed to grow out of nothing, although it was actually being re-created via quantum-associative engines. It was about 11 kilometers long and 6 kilometers wide, a perfectly smooth biosteel bubble. When the Kharwol and Ichizo had taught the Manir all of their physics, the hivemind had devised engineering marvels better than either of the other races could have imagined. Its ships were nearly impermiable, not that it mattered to a quantum dissociation drive. Internally the ship was packed optimally for the most possible cargo, with no internal structure to speak of. The ship was re-associated in a huge cradle to keep it in place, with several tubes contacting it for unloading.

Remember how I said biosteel is nearly impermeable? Well, it is permeable. When you run an electrical current through this material, it loses surface tension, which "pops" the bubble. The contact points used this trick, but in order to keep from popping the whole bubble, they have a thin layer of biosteel on their rims so that the "popped" biosteel has something to stick to.

This method of transportation was, compared to many others, was extraordinarily cheap, and it allowed for massive shipments to be done for relatively few resources. It was the basis for the Sazamonde's interstellar civilization.

As hordes of Manir swarmed to unload the ship, a few Kharwols and an Ichizo stood idly by in the control tower, looking over the latest ecology reports from planetside. Qaal was a new planet, inhabited solely by miners and ecological engineers. It was in Stage II, meaning they were just beginning to introduce an atmosphere. It was the longest stage and the one that required the most resources, so they were getting regular shipments from other planets of chemical converters, mining machinery, fusion reactors and, occaisionally, people.

Station First Commander Zazathos looked at the printouts with a disinterested air. "It looks like the Manir are starting to mien in ernest now. Look at these figures." He pointed out to Bagart, the Station Second Commander, a row on the sheet. Bagart looked at it and responded, "Yeah, I think Othyris down dirtside authorized it. Said something about, ahh, needing more silicon or somesuch." The Ichizo, Director Chi'gram, did that weird thing that passes for nodding in Ichizos and said, "Yes, they are in desparate need of ultra-pure silicon ever since they decided to switch from carbon-based to silicon-based life-forms a few days back. I still think it was a risky move." The other two nodded.

Why were they reading the ecological reports, you ask? Well, it's just about the only interesting thing that goes on in a terraforming world. Don't laugh.

[Personal Freedom]

Aboard the Emperor Matthias I
"We have the main generator online," came to the Admiral Peters as if it was a thought of his own. He smiled as he as he reclined in his synthetic fabric chair and stroked his charcoal black beard. The ship had been designed to maximize the innate telepathic abilities of the Gothan race, usually such communication was only possible in very close proximity, but the psycho-conductive nature of the metals used to coat the inside of the ship allowed for communication unlike any that had been experienced before. All one had to do was think and it would be projected and shared. Already this had lead several crew-mates to embarrassment, but for the most part it was a very useful way to communicate.

"Prepare for the opening of a gateway. Engineers, stand by and check structural support immediately after entry," Peters commanded before wondering whether or not it would have been more proper to say exiting instead of entry. It was a very complicated piece of machinery, this new way of transport, and entry and exit were to be a simultaneous event. He understood little of the technology itself. It relied on Grand Unified Theory and magnetism and gravity to propel the ship forward by distorting time and relative space around the ship, was extremely costly to build, and had proven itself somewhat dangerous when tested initially. Peters did know what types of damage a failure could result in, that had been explained.

"Everything is ready," suddenly interrupted his thoughts which he had undoubtedly been sharing with the whole crew.

"We really need a way to block thoughts from being shared, an opt out system."

"Entering gateway state in 5... 4... 3... 2..."

Nothing... or at least it felt as if nothing had occurred. The surroundings however had changed in an extraordinary way. It wasn't even comprehensible. They simply were there and had been there but now they were here and had been here, but where was here? This was not the system the ship had been coordinated to reach, and it occurred to him something was wrong with the pilot's calculations. Immediately an answer was presented with the pilots stating that they had failed to adapt the scalar factor of the ship's size difference from the one used in initial experiments.

"So, where are we?" he thought as the screen showed a behemoth of a blue gas giant they had fallen into orbit around, and the stars in the background all foreign, but shining like diamonds.

[Charmera]

Aboard The Shield space station near the planet Seid
"Praetor, unknown ships are near us and they have sent us a message," Antion said to Praetor Octo as he entered the station messaging area. "We're trying to decode their message as we speak."

"Try sending them a visual message," Praetor Octo commanded. "If they can't understand our language or vice versa, maybe they can understand some simple visuals,"

"Roger that," Antion said. "Coders, try sending them some visuals," he said to the messengers. Three message were sent to the advancing party, the first containing the icy planet, the second containing the same planet but with an Imperial marking over it, and the third containing armed Imperial soldiers.

"Captain! It appears we have a response from the unidentified ships. A series of images which seem to indicate they have control over the planet in question. We are unsure if this is some sort of threat or a general statement of a claim." the communications officer told the captain. Meanwhile the five Fang Carriers had caught up with the Soul, so they were no longer outmatched. The "Voice of Thoran" trailed behind them, being a slower yet more heavily equipped ship.

Still, the Captain did not want conflict. Her orders when it came to dealing with Aliens was to establish as good a interspecies image as possible so Thoran could have potential trading partners and markets to export goods to. So she decided to play this aliens image game, though the decoder had already broke through part of the message.

She ordered a visual message to be sent back, showing both her ship and the alien ship near the planet. Arrows pointed downwards from both ships and a rough approximation of a single shuttle came from both. A second image was sent of two silhouette humanoids sitting down at a table and doing what seemed to be talking.

"Hopefully they'll understand we wish to talk, rather than fight. If not, we'll have no other choice but to retreat." She muttered out loud to the bridge. Syndicate would have me liquidated if I botch relations with a potential trading partner. This cannot go wrong.

[Turmenista]

PLANET HIVE
Lost Sector

Planet Hive, one of the prettiest, but also one of, If
Not the most dangerous Planets in the Galaxy. This tan world holds a small ring of Asteroids and old ship parts and debris, and also A dangerous native race:

Neoptermorphs. Or Neos, for short. These gigantic MBT-Sized beetle-like carnivores are Native to planet Hive, and defend it fiercely.

However, when the time comes for a new queen, the planet goes into all out anarchy, as female Neos try to get the good bits of royal jelly for a chance at molting into a queen.

Currently, this is not the case. The planet's population of 1.1 billion Neos, along with one queen for each region, are also led by a Supreme queen underground, who cannot age, but is too frail to go outisde. For now, she resides in her chambers, watching over the planet with her watchful eyes.

[Corenea]

Aboard The Shield space station near the planet Seid
"Praetor, unknown ships are near us and they have sent us a message," Antion said to Praetor Octo as he entered the station messaging area. "We're trying to decode their message as we speak."

"Try sending them a visual message," Praetor Octo commanded. "If they can't understand our language or vice versa, maybe they can understand some simple visuals,"

"Roger that," Antion said. "Coders, try sending them some visuals," he said to the messengers. Three message were sent to the advancing party, the first containing the icy planet, the second containing the same planet but with an Imperial marking over it, and the third containing armed Imperial soldiers.

"Captain! It appears we have a response from the unidentified ships. A series of images which seem to indicate they have control over the planet in question. We are unsure if this is some sort of threat or a general statement of a claim." the communications officer told the captain. Meanwhile the five Fang Carriers had caught up with the Soul, so they were no longer outmatched. The "Voice of Thoran" trailed behind them, being a slower yet more heavily equipped ship.

Still, the Captain did not want conflict. Her orders when it came to dealing with Aliens was to establish as good a interspecies image as possible so Thoran could have potential trading partners and markets to export goods to. So she decided to play this aliens image game, though the decoder had already broke through part of the message.

She ordered a visual message to be sent back, showing both her ship and the alien ship near the planet. Arrows pointed downwards from both ships and a rough approximation of a single shuttle came from both. A second image was sent of two silhouette humanoids sitting down at a table and doing what seemed to be talking.

"Hopefully they'll understand we wish to talk, rather than fight. If not, we'll have no other choice but to retreat." She muttered out loud to the bridge. Syndicate would have me liquidated if I botch relations with a potential trading partner. This cannot go wrong.

Aboard The Shield space station near the planet Seid
"Praetor, the advancing party had sent us two visuals, it appears that they want to discuss with us. Should we?" A communicator asked Praetor Octo.

"Send in a visual and some ships signifying that we're willing to talk. Also, get a shuttle for me to use for the meeting once they've sent their ship," Octo said as the messengers sent in a visual of the two silhouette humanoids shaking hands.

[Skaldia]

Draconian Empire
Unknown System, 1A

---

Admiral Valkir vos Nov of the Second Fleet gazed into the eye of a system abandoned to history. The Auspix, the quantum communications network that existed between the ships of all His Majesty's Imperial Ships of the Line, was garbled as the amount of billions of metric tons of wreckage proved a daunting adversary to communication between the Captains. The Second Fleet had entered the newly found system to find it a graveyard of ship parts, some nearly twice the size of the Crusader. Luckily, the Void Shields had proven their worth once again as any wreckage unlucky enough to come into contact with the Void Shields were disintegrated piece by piece. Even than, the amount of debris was proving a substantial hurdle for the Fleet to remain in formation.

Fortunately, the debris formed an artificial asteroid belt closer in than the natural asteroid belt. The prize was worth it. Three planets, near the same sizes as Draconia and Arcadia, were located in the habitable zone of their star, a Class G Star burning a near bright yellow light. It would be no different from the Draconian System if it was not for the amount of wreckage to be found as well as signs of extinct civilization on all three planets. The Atmospheric Drones had taken thousands of pictures of the surfaces of each habitable planet with the Technicians still pouring over yet more. For the moment, the planets had been dubbed Draconia I, II, and III respectively. That would change as the first prospectors and colonists arrived however. As he gazed down at one of the green surfaces of one of the planets, Admiral Valkir wondered. The Planet Valkir. What a beginning.

[Charmera]

"Captain! It appears we have a response from the unidentified ships. A series of images which seem to indicate they have control over the planet in question. We are unsure if this is some sort of threat or a general statement of a claim." the communications officer told the captain. Meanwhile the five Fang Carriers had caught up with the Soul, so they were no longer outmatched. The "Voice of Thoran" trailed behind them, being a slower yet more heavily equipped ship.

Still, the Captain did not want conflict. Her orders when it came to dealing with Aliens was to establish as good a interspecies image as possible so Thoran could have potential trading partners and markets to export goods to. So she decided to play this aliens image game, though the decoder had already broke through part of the message.

She ordered a visual message to be sent back, showing both her ship and the alien ship near the planet. Arrows pointed downwards from both ships and a rough approximation of a single shuttle came from both. A second image was sent of two silhouette humanoids sitting down at a table and doing what seemed to be talking.

"Hopefully they'll understand we wish to talk, rather than fight. If not, we'll have no other choice but to retreat." She muttered out loud to the bridge. Syndicate would have me liquidated if I botch relations with a potential trading partner. This cannot go wrong.

Aboard The Shield space station near the planet Seid
"Praetor, the advancing party had sent us two visuals, it appears that they want to discuss with us. Should we?" A communicator asked Praetor Octo.

"Send in a visual and some ships signifying that we're willing to talk. Also, get a shuttle for me to use for the meeting once they've sent their ship," Octo said as the messengers sent in a visual of the two silhouette humanoids shaking hands.

"Captain we received a message from them of two humanoids... holding each others hands and shaking them up and down..." The communications officer shrugged. "I'm not sure what it means, but its safe to say if they disagreed with out request, we would know."

"I'l assume they want to talk then." She replied. "I'l meet them down there myself in that case. Sano, your coming with me. Bring three security officers, a communications expert with the verbal decoder and the heat suits." She commanded.

As Sano moved to comply with her orders, the Captain also moved to the shuttle. She waited for the away team to arrive, which it did in short order. She nodded to them, smiling. "I can assure you all, our names will be remembered this day. Not every Thoran has the chance to make first contact with an alien race after all."

They entered the shuttle, the vessel moving quickly out of the hanger and towards the surface of the planet.

[Corenea]

The Shield
"Praetor, should we prepare you a ship?" Stationaire Jul asked Praetor Octo.

"Yes, make sure to get two of our messengers and six pilots to follow me," Octo said. Octo also gave Jul a device. "If anything bad happens to our party, I'll press the button on my com which will give that com an alarm. If that com gave out an alarm, order the ships to open fire. I have Sub-Praetor Markus here to take command if I died."

"Yes Praetor, I hope nothing bad happens," Jul said as he saluted Octo. Minutes later, Praetor Octo and two messengers follows six pilots to the hanger. The main group went to the main shuttle, The Diplomat while four pilots went to their fighters. As the diplomatic party strapped in and made themselves comfortable, the pilots turned on the ship's fuel and after a few seconds, the party got out from the hanger and went towards the surface of Seid followed by four fighters as escort. Praetor Octo sent a message to Governor Cicer of Seid to order the Colonial Garrison to lower their planetary defense systems for a while as Seid will be expecting some out of Empire visitors. Octo received the message from Cicer that the planetary defense is powered down but the detachment from the 1st Imperial Legion will be meeting the diplomatic party and the visitors.

[Nachfolgia]

The Mazluhnek Hedonism Resort

Deep in the mountains of Mari'i's southern hemisphere, laid the monument to all things sexual, The Mazluhnek Hedonism Resort. The resort was the only place in the galaxy to find more sex, alcohol, recreational drugs, and all around perversion. The Mazluhneks, the native inhabitants of the region, started the resort thanks to a specific plant only found in the mountains of Mari'i. This plant, Flaaghra, is a very potent hallucinogenic, distorting reality for up to 6 hours and leaving the user with a sense of euphoria. The plant also has another property, a very strong aphrodisiac, increasing a user's libido for up to 6 hours, which is crucial if you want to keep up with the sexual energy of a Mazluhnek. The discovery of the plant centuries ago brought explorers to the planet and put the Mazluhneks on the map. Taking advantage of the attention and wealth of the Flaaghra plant and built up their society, thus the Mazluhnek Hedonism Resort was born.

The Resort had 3 pools, coed hot springs, 3 restaurants, 5 bars, 4 night clubs, 3 strip clubs, 3 smoke clubs, a hotel, and 2 sex shops. Truly the holy grail of Hedonism. The entire facility was owned and operated by the Mazluhnek who cater to the customer's every desire, no matter how perverted, because to them, perverted is better. It was also a good place to get information as the Mazluhnek are willing to disclose customer's information for the right price. Running a Hedonism resort is a perfect choice for the Mazluhnek, being possibly the most perverted and fun loving species in the galaxy. Despite this laid back attitude, the Mazluhnek are fierce fighters. Security at the resort is tight. Armed guards, automated turrets, roving sentry bots, surveillance systems, and several aircraft protected what the Mazluhnek worked so hard to build. They had no intentions to give up their pleasure and wealth.

Inside the main lobby of the hotel when you first enter the Resort, two twin Mazluhneks stood at the receptionist desk. The two wore skimpy dresses that showed a little too much of their skin, giving guests some eye candy when they first walked in. Suprisingly, the twins were the most dressed besides the guards, as clothing was option in the resort. The twins greeted customers, welcoming them to the resort and asking how they could fulfill their desires. The receptionists then directed the guest to any of the locations at the resort, whether it was a bar, strip club, or one of the restaurants. If the customer wanted, arrangements could be made to go into one of the private rooms on the first floor and have intercourse with the twin receptionists.

Elsewhere, Mazluhneks tended to the needs of their guests. Topless waitresses brought alcohol and Flaaghra to customers who were too busy watching naked Mazluhneks twirl around on poles at the strip clubs. Escorts bathed with patrons at the hot springs, attending to their every needs. Customers and Mazluhneks lounged around at the smoke shops, high on Flaaghra and having sex right in front of everyone with not a care in the world. Mazluhneks walked around the pools naked and skinny dipped with guests. Some where even having sex on pool chairs while passerbys looked on and cheered.

Overlooking one of the pools was the CEO's office on the top floor of the resort. The CEO was standing at the window behind her desk, looking down at her naked employees and clan members prance about the pool, enjoying life. She wore a tight black dress that showed some cleavage and had a long slit on the side that came to her hip. She smiled as she took a sip from her wine glass, enjoying the taste of the red liquid. Off to her left stood her assistant, a young Mazluhnek by the name of A'zumyn. She wore a short skirt and a white blouse with a black vest. The top buttons were unbuttoned, showing the top of her breasts. " Ahh...just look at them all." The CEO said out loud as she continue to drink from her wine glass. " What do you mean, Mistress I'llirra?" A'zumyn replied as she walked up to the window. " I'm talking about our kind, my dear A'zumyn. We're so full of life, living each day as if it was our last. We care not for the rules and decency of the galaxy, creating our destiny as we see fit. We've made quite a life for ourselves and I wouldn't change it in a million years." I'llirra said as she wrapped her arms around her young assistant. " That we have, milady." A'zumyn said as she blushed, enjoying the embrace of her mistress.

[Charmera]

The Shield
"Praetor, should we prepare you a ship?" Stationaire Jul asked Praetor Octo.

"Yes, make sure to get two of our messengers and six pilots to follow me," Octo said. Octo also gave Jul a device. "If anything bad happens to our party, I'll press the button on my com which will give that com an alarm. If that com gave out an alarm, order the ships to open fire. I have Sub-Praetor Markus here to take command if I died."

"Yes Praetor, I hope nothing bad happens," Jul said as he saluted Octo. Minutes later, Praetor Octo and two messengers follows six pilots to the hanger. The main group went to the main shuttle, The Diplomat while four pilots went to their fighters. As the diplomatic party strapped in and made themselves comfortable, the pilots turned on the ship's fuel and after a few seconds, the party got out from the hanger and went towards the surface of Seid followed by four fighters as escort. Praetor Octo sent a message to Governor Cicer of Seid to order the Colonial Garrison to lower their planetary defense systems for a while as Seid will be expecting some out of Empire visitors. Octo received the message from Cicer that the planetary defense is powered down but the detachment from the 1st Imperial Legion will be meeting the diplomatic party and the visitors.

Before they landed, the captain gave orders for the landing team to activate their personal cloaks and run if the negotiations went south. The other ships would also cloak and run if that were to happen, leaving the Soul to rescue the team. Combat was not an option at this point, after all there was little point in attacking and risking the ships were things to get violent.

There was no conceivable way for either the ships or the landing party to be detected if they cloaked, but that would hamper the ships shields and mean they couldn't attack back. The Personal cloaks have a time limit too.

Once they reached the surface, the landing party moved out of the shuttle and began preparations for the arrival of the other factions welcoming reception. Their heat suits kept their cold blood from being effected by the Freezing planet. They prepared insta tent which billowed out to form a small place where the two leaders could meet comfortably. The Captain and the security team stood outside, the Thorans armed with shard repeaters, plasma pistols and a single scimitar. Their weapons were sheathed however.

[Turmenista]

PLANET HIVE
TERRA MAGNUS VOLCANIC MOUNTAINS

At an Immense 30,000 feet, the Terra Magnus mountains are the tallest mountains on Planet Hive, as well as home to the dens of one the queens of the Neoptermorphs.

The massive 50 foot tall guard Neos, guarding the Dens carefully, are able to fling entire rocks into space, as a method of transporting smaller Neoptermorphs into orbit. While the Neos are able to physically fly up to orbit quite quickly (the process taking about 10 minutes), the Rock-launching takes seconds.

Neoptermorphs all contain natural energy, which they can expel in attacks like ranged fiery beams and such. This energy can keep the Neoptermorphs stable in space, allowing them to move around swiftly in the vacuum.

Meanwhile, one of the Neoptermorphs queens had reached orbit, and had built a den up in one of the abandoned space stations. With the intelligent queen up here, the Neos had a chance of going out into deep space and exploring past their lonely planet..

[G-Tech Corporation]

"The universe is not like a puzzle-box that you can take apart and put back together again and so solve its secrets. It is a shifting uncertain thing which changes as you consider it, which is changed by the very act of observation. A powerful man is not a man who dissects the universe like a puzzle-box, examining it piece by piece and measuring each piece with scientific precision. A powerful man has only to look upon the universe to change it."

BelowSpace Coordinates 4227:26F:2811
Timestamp: 2782:111:678:19.45 MPA
Havanian Group, Silcaru Galaxy, System 407:820:663-a [Rrf: 2390/a45 | C:n]
Tenebrae Fist Commarant, Garasov T'nameral Commanding Ascendant
Mainframe Upload purs. Pot. Con II/n

At the heart of the nexus sat Garasov, Ar-Techsin of the Praternum, and his gaze saw all. The motion of the planetary spheres about their stellar furnace, calm and deliberate as the tides of the cosmos. The shattering of stone against metal, gradually crushed relic of dead time left forlorn high above the worlds that gave it birth. He felt the gentle lapping of the solar wind against the skin of the Commarant, as a man will turn his face towards the heat of day and bask in it. In his bones the reverberations of the ethereal world pulsed, caressing waves of a lover come home after a long journey. And most of all he felt the motion of the new ships as they nosed through the debris field about System 407:820, or as he had named it, Aria. Through a thousand eyes he saw them, each faceted viewpoint a passive electromagnetic stream received by the probes the Fist had dispatched two rotations ago when it had first arrived to assess this system. Through his veins they circulated, ghostly blood composed of the matter of the Dive, each datastream a new chiming note in the symphony of existence that he observed from his obsidian-glass seat within the utterly black heart of the vessel of the Choir.

Next to him another figure stirred, and Garasov heard her go forth; Sythia, his second in command, the fire-hearted who the First Voice had sent with the Fist to balance his more stolid nature. He didn't need to speak to her, for in the Dive her intentions were clear. At her muttered intonation the immense arms, each nearly two hundred central meters in length, of the Fabricant began to turn. The Commarant stirred beneath him, pleased at the power coursing through her latticeworks even as Garasov saw in his mind's eye the vast plumes of lightening that shot up towards the rotating coils of the heart of the Fist, only to fall back broken and shattered.

The underbelly of the Fist opened, and down a small hail of objects fell towards the planet, deftly avoiding the debris via nuanced gravitics, Sythia foremost among them.

[Corenea]

The Shield
"Praetor, should we prepare you a ship?" Stationaire Jul asked Praetor Octo.

"Yes, make sure to get two of our messengers and six pilots to follow me," Octo said. Octo also gave Jul a device. "If anything bad happens to our party, I'll press the button on my com which will give that com an alarm. If that com gave out an alarm, order the ships to open fire. I have Sub-Praetor Markus here to take command if I died."

"Yes Praetor, I hope nothing bad happens," Jul said as he saluted Octo. Minutes later, Praetor Octo and two messengers follows six pilots to the hanger. The main group went to the main shuttle, The Diplomat while four pilots went to their fighters. As the diplomatic party strapped in and made themselves comfortable, the pilots turned on the ship's fuel and after a few seconds, the party got out from the hanger and went towards the surface of Seid followed by four fighters as escort. Praetor Octo sent a message to Governor Cicer of Seid to order the Colonial Garrison to lower their planetary defense systems for a while as Seid will be expecting some out of Empire visitors. Octo received the message from Cicer that the planetary defense is powered down but the detachment from the 1st Imperial Legion will be meeting the diplomatic party and the visitors.

Before they landed, the captain gave orders for the landing team to activate their personal cloaks and run if the negotiations went south. The other ships would also cloak and run if that were to happen, leaving the Soul to rescue the team. Combat was not an option at this point, after all there was little point in attacking and risking the ships were things to get violent.

There was no conceivable way for either the ships or the landing party to be detected if they cloaked, but that would hamper the ships shields and mean they couldn't attack back. The Personal cloaks have a time limit too.

Once they reached the surface, the landing party moved out of the shuttle and began preparations for the arrival of the other factions welcoming reception. Their heat suits kept their cold blood from being effected by the Freezing planet. They prepared insta tent which billowed out to form a small place where the two leaders could meet comfortably. The Captain and the security team stood outside, the Thorans armed with shard repeaters, plasma pistols and a single scimitar. Their weapons were sheathed however.

Meeting Area, Seid
Two armored transportors, each carrying six Corvenis, and a tank drove to the designated area. Praetor Octo, along with the two of the station's best messengers, were in the second transporters. Although the Praetor assured the Governor that two transporters were more than enough for a diplomatic mission but the Governor insisted that anything could happen so the diplomatic party had to make do with the tank. The armored transporters stopped at the diplomatic area and the diplomatic party along with 9 soldiers stepped out from the transporters, each Corveni soldiers armed with assault rails. Praetor moved forward to the entrance, ready to meet the the outsiders.

[Northern Arcadian Empire]

Aboard the Emperor Matthias I
"We have the main generator online," came to the Admiral Peters as if it was a thought of his own. He smiled as he as he reclined in his synthetic fabric chair and stroked his charcoal black beard. The ship had been designed to maximize the innate telepathic abilities of the Gothan race, usually such communication was only possible in very close proximity, but the psycho-conductive nature of the metals used to coat the inside of the ship allowed for communication unlike any that had been experienced before. All one had to do was think and it would be projected and shared. Already this had lead several crew-mates to embarrassment, but for the most part it was a very useful way to communicate.

"Prepare for the opening of a gateway. Engineers, stand by and check structural support immediately after entry," Peters commanded before wondering whether or not it would have been more proper to say exiting instead of entry. It was a very complicated piece of machinery, this new way of transport, and entry and exit were to be a simultaneous event. He understood little of the technology itself. It relied on Grand Unified Theory and magnetism and gravity to propel the ship forward by distorting time and relative space around the ship, was extremely costly to build, and had proven itself somewhat dangerous when tested initially. Peters did know what types of damage a failure could result in, that had been explained.

"Everything is ready," suddenly interrupted his thoughts which he had undoubtedly been sharing with the whole crew.

"We really need a way to block thoughts from being shared, an opt out system."

"Entering gateway state in 5... 4... 3... 2..."

Nothing... or at least it felt as if nothing had occurred. The surroundings however had changed in an extraordinary way. It wasn't even comprehensible. They simply were there and had been there but now they were here and had been here, but where was here? This was not the system the ship had been coordinated to reach, and it occurred to him something was wrong with the pilot's calculations. Immediately an answer was presented with the pilots stating that they had failed to adapt the scalar factor of the ship's size difference from the one used in initial experiments.

"So, where are we?" he thought as the screen showed a behemoth of a blue gas giant they had fallen into orbit around, and the stars in the background all foreign, but shining like diamonds.

Orbital station Forge-
The sensors went all crazy a ship had entered the system and was identifiable, the commander walked over and looked at the report "By the Great Hammer, send this to the Emperor!"

Reach-
Emperor Frederick was sitting on his throne checking several ship reports when a servant walked in "My lord, we have just received a report of a ship on the edge of the Arcadian System" said the servant handing Frederick the report and bowing.

The Frederick looked at report "Send one of our Battleships with our diplomat James McCallan on it understand" replied the Emperor

"As you wish"

Reach space port-
The NAE Red Justice was pulling out of port with fully loaded, manned, and ready for a fight if the encounter went south

[Turmenista]

TERRA MAGNUS MOUNTAINS
PLANET HIVE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

Queens...

The voice hissed throughout all of the ears of every Queen and pre-queen on the planet. The raspy voice was of the Supreme queen. While extremely frail, her body never aged, she only lived to keep order among the ranks of the Heiarchs.

We, have made, discovery...

Up in the cold night sky, there were visible flashes of light.

Metal-Machines she made her voice clear. The discovery of a Working ship in the Neoptermorph orbit meant that they could finally get out of their lone system and explore the endless ocean known as space!

[Personal Freedom]

Aboard the Emperor Matthias I
"We have the main generator online," came to the Admiral Peters as if it was a thought of his own. He smiled as he as he reclined in his synthetic fabric chair and stroked his charcoal black beard. The ship had been designed to maximize the innate telepathic abilities of the Gothan race, usually such communication was only possible in very close proximity, but the psycho-conductive nature of the metals used to coat the inside of the ship allowed for communication unlike any that had been experienced before. All one had to do was think and it would be projected and shared. Already this had lead several crew-mates to embarrassment, but for the most part it was a very useful way to communicate.

"Prepare for the opening of a gateway. Engineers, stand by and check structural support immediately after entry," Peters commanded before wondering whether or not it would have been more proper to say exiting instead of entry. It was a very complicated piece of machinery, this new way of transport, and entry and exit were to be a simultaneous event. He understood little of the technology itself. It relied on Grand Unified Theory and magnetism and gravity to propel the ship forward by distorting time and relative space around the ship, was extremely costly to build, and had proven itself somewhat dangerous when tested initially. Peters did know what types of damage a failure could result in, that had been explained.

"Everything is ready," suddenly interrupted his thoughts which he had undoubtedly been sharing with the whole crew.

"We really need a way to block thoughts from being shared, an opt out system."
sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCkQtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DxjDfIEiU0Q0&ei=o3EOVIfCF-
"Entering gateway state in 5... 4... 3... 2..."

Nothing... or at least it felt as if nothing had occurred. The surroundings however had changed in an extraordinary way. It wasn't even comprehensible. They simply were there and had been there but now they were here and had been here, but where was here? This was not the system the ship had been coordinated to reach, and it occurred to him something was wrong with the pilot's calculations. Immediately an answer was presented with the pilots stating that they had failed to adapt the scalar factor of the ship's size difference from the one used in initial experiments.

"So, where are we?" he thought as the screen showed a behemoth of a blue gas giant they had fallen into orbit around, and the stars in the background all foreign, but shining like diamonds.

Orbital station Forge-
The sensors went all crazy a ship had entered the system and was identifiable, the commander walked over and looked at the report "By the Great Hammer, send this to the Emperor!"

Reach-
Emperor Frederick was sitting on his throne checking several ship reports when a servant walked in "My lord, we have just received a report of a ship on the edge of the Arcadian System" said the servant handing Frederick the report and bowing.

The Frederick looked at report "Send one of our Battleships with our diplomat James McCallan on it understand" replied the Emperor

"As you wish"

Reach space port-
The NAE Red Justice was pulling out of port with fully loaded, manned, and ready for a fight if the encounter went south

Aboard the Emperor Matthias I
"Sir, we are detecting a large celestial object approaching over position. It appears... It could possibly be a ship," came a voice to the admiral as he attempted to use the star-map to located the ship's current location.

"I want the screen to display to the object using the scanner modeling.... In the name of... We've discovered extraterrestrial life! Power up the shields and calibrate the weapons immediately! I want an audio message relayed as quickly as possible. No speech, try something that will not likely give off a hostile feeling as a first contact.Virtosio's Symphony #3 ought to work," Peters commanded, rather shocked by the ship that appeared before him. For hundreds of years the Gothan species had attempted to search for extraterrestrial life and never found it. Now there was living proof of intelligence out in the universe besides their own.

"Music - are you sure? We could try to communicate as if they were one of our own ships. I do not believe they would understand us, but I believe it is perhaps in our best consideration -"

"No. I have my reasons for music, and it would be wise not to question my orders, Music is far less likely to be perceived as a threat than language. Though their music or musical equivalent is likely drastically different than ours and ours likely cacophonous to them, music lacks the threatening pretext a foreign language might carry with it. As we are not at our destination and not able to be rein enforced by our fleet, I believe everyone aboard can see the logic in not entering any unnecessary conflict. Do we not all agree?" No negative thoughts pierced his mind and he found himself assured. "Exactly. We are here on a grand mission for the Emperor and we appear to have made the greatest discovery of the last two hundred years. Send the radio waves, carry the song, but stay alert. There is no telling what will happen next," and with that the message was sent across space. One wondered why the anthem wasn't selection only to be answered by a the blaring horns of the anthem inside of his head. Loud, gaudy, and aggressive sounding, it would not do. Better a symphony with a softer tune.

[Charmera]

Before they landed, the captain gave orders for the landing team to activate their personal cloaks and run if the negotiations went south. The other ships would also cloak and run if that were to happen, leaving the Soul to rescue the team. Combat was not an option at this point, after all there was little point in attacking and risking the ships were things to get violent.

There was no conceivable way for either the ships or the landing party to be detected if they cloaked, but that would hamper the ships shields and mean they couldn't attack back. The Personal cloaks have a time limit too.

Once they reached the surface, the landing party moved out of the shuttle and began preparations for the arrival of the other factions welcoming reception. Their heat suits kept their cold blood from being effected by the Freezing planet. They prepared insta tent which billowed out to form a small place where the two leaders could meet comfortably. The Captain and the security team stood outside, the Thorans armed with shard repeaters, plasma pistols and a single scimitar. Their weapons were sheathed however.

Meeting Area, Seid
Two armored transportors, each carrying six Corvenis, and a tank drove to the designated area. Praetor Octo, along with the two of the station's best messengers, were in the second transporters. Although the Praetor assured the Governor that two transporters were more than enough for a diplomatic mission but the Governor insisted that anything could happen so the diplomatic party had to make do with the tank. The armored transporters stopped at the diplomatic area and the diplomatic party along with 9 soldiers stepped out from the transporters, each Corveni soldiers armed with assault rails. Praetor moved forward to the entrance, ready to meet the the outsiders.

The Captain surveyed the welcoming party, which didn't look so welcoming. She glared at the tank, guessing it was one of this empires heavy vehicles. She moved with the communications officer, who had a floating decoder, and moved up to the Praetor, keeping a distance of seven feet between them. Ignoring the language barrier, she spoke. "I assume you are the manager of this colony. I am Captain Issia Kial'lai, acting commander of the fleet above us." She said, observing protocol. She moved to the side, allowing passage to the instant tent, which was surprisingly large "If you wouldn't mind leaving your weapons outside, I will also do the same. If you wish you may leave them with your security squad." She removed her captains blade and her Plasma pistol, placing them in front of her, the curved blade going into the ground and the pistol she left with a security officer.

She would wait to see if the aliens understood her, a gauge for how technologically advanced their communications tech was.