Homeworld - In Character

by **Harkback Union** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 9:32 pm

Excelsior

The Device of unknown purpouse starts spinning around faster and faster in a wide area the power source is brought online, knocking over valuable research equipment in the process. Its not too late to shut the thing down... If it is to remain turned on, it will probably keep accelerating.

by **Excidium Planetis** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 9:38 pm

Harkback Union wrote:Excelsior

The Device of unknown purpouse starts spinning around faster and faster in a wide area the power source is brought online, knocking over valuable research equipment in the process. Its not too late to shut the thing down... If it is to remain turned on, it will probably keep accelerating.

"Holy ****" one of the technicians shouts, scrambling away from the device.

"Shut it off! We might be able to save the power source!" Silverstein calls out. Several technicians reach the lab controls and activate an area Electromagnetic Pulse.

The scientists watch to see if it powers down...

by **Ralnis** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 9:42 pm

Ordos Marsa

" Scans show that ship is of unknown origin. It appears alien outside of Progenitor status. Ship indicates that it could be a true first contact with an alien species. Communications have shown that Providence has docked with the alien ship. Transport has been sent out in secondary recon and try to meet up with alien race and the transport of the Providence."

The transport has been sent outward with 2 units of crew and have been giving environmental suits, scanning drones, and provisions. The transport went in silently and docked near the one of the Providence and sent in a team as they acknowledge their arrival to the Ordos Marsa.

" Mothman to Ordos Marsa. We have docked in the alien vessel. No sign of life besides the Providence transport. Currently en route to the explore the alien ship and drones were sent out first. We have seen the Providence explores at 200 and will try to not establish contact if needed. Mothman out."
Transport fuel(-.0.5 fuel)
Transmission(-1 energy)

by **Harkback Union** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 9:55 pm

Excidium Planetis wrote:
Harkback Union wrote:Excelsior

The Device of unknown purpouse starts spinning around faster and faster in a wide area the power source is brought online, knocking over valuable research equipment in the process. Its not too late to shut the thing down... If it is to remain turned on, it will probably keep accelerating.

"Holy ****" one of the technicians shouts, scrambling away from the device.

"Shut it off! We might be able to save the power source!" Silverstein calls out. Several technicians reach the lab controls and activate an area Electromagnetic Pulse.

The scientists watch to see if it powers down...

The device stops recieving power and thus slowly stops rotating. Its purpouse still remains a mystery.

by **Ralnis** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 7:23 am

Mothman Team

" Mothman to Ordos Marsa, sidrift is being transmitted as we are current speaking. Various scouts have beaten the Providence to the punch and have notice various things in the ship. One noticeable thing is that the ship is covered in red goo that one is taking samples for when a R&D is built in the mothership. A hibernation deck has been seen and have some measurements to the ones built by us but so far nothing much has been shown. Alien Crew is no where to be found but are sending back the transport for some space tools to open some doors that appeared to be on lock down."

Transport was sent in and out with space tools that were used to try and pry open the two doors that were made out of HE but seem to be of an unknown metal. Once opened, the team will continue to explore the alien ship.

. 5 fuel to transport for 1 unit of space tools to be used to open the locked doors on the Void Toaster.

by **G-Tech Corporation** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 8:32 am

Bridge, Kharbarinth
Far Asteroid, Comet Sector

The Commander nodded as the generation ship finished her transit from the nearer asteroid to this behemoth. It massed many times the displacement of the Kharbarinth, a monolith of stone and metals that filled the entirety of the forward viewscreens. Off to one side sweeps could detect the Excelsior in close orbit to the monstrosity, a borehole beneath her position gouging down into the depths of the heart of rock; he had decided to respond to her request for assistance, and fired off a brief acknowledgement of arrival to the vessel even as the refineries dispatched their automated mining drones to the dig site. With a thrum unheard but imaging the sensors array of the Kharbarinth came online, scanning deep into the pit even as the borers began the task of grinding down deeper towards the radiation signature the other vessel had reported. If nothing else this would be a good site to stay at for a while, a good site to build up reserves of heavy metals for construction applications.

As the eighth drone began its boring process, the tunnel reaching the radiation threshold, Stoic put the Kharbarinth in a high orbit and withdrew the other drones; though it was likely just some delectable radioisotopes for processing, the vast reaches of space were littered with the graveyards of a thousand vanished civilizations. Caution, therefore, was the first order of business. The scientists had continued their observations of the goo aboard the transport remotely, but even direct testing of heat, melting, and other processes wasn't yielding much in the way of data.

by **Excidium Planetis** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 11:37 am

Refinery Room, Excelsior
Sector 2, Large Distant Asteroid
"Chief! What's the status on the Asteroid mining?" Silverstein shouted above the noise of the Refinery section as she entered.

"Seems we 'ave breeched the core, M'am!" replied Chief Mining Engineer Colin Braddock. "Thanks to the Kharbarinth, that is! But we 'ave run up against some difficulties. Seems an electromagnetic field prevents us from reaching the core."

"Have you tried setting off an explosive charge? A large force can de-align the magnetism of the core?"

"I dunna think we 'ave enough explosives M'am. But, our refinery did pick up trace amounts of radioactive fluid. 'Eres a sample for your lab."

"Thanks a lot Chief Braddock. I'll see if I can ask the other ships for assistance with the explosives."

Code: Select all: RE: Radioactive Core Material With assistance from Kharbarinth, we have made it to the core. Further mining is prevented by an electromagnetic field. We require more munitions to mine the radioactive liquid at the center. Any ships with the capability to immediately produce munitions are asked to send assistance immediately. -Excelsior out

As Silverstein was leaving the sensor array for her lab, however, she was stopped by none other than Commander Wade.

"I heard about your little accident yesterday, Silverstein. I don't care what that fool Adrian says, you are not to activate any more Alien devices without my permission. Is that understood, Chief Silverstein?"

"Yes, Commander."

by **Ralnis** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 12:48 pm

Mothman Team

" Sidrift to Ordos Marsa, we have are bring a shipment with a lot of research in the form of cadavers, weapons, cartages, and Progeintor artifacts that had been secured before the Providence team had gotten there. Scenes of fighting and a sample of a strange, red element has been taken as a sample in order to make are next step for getting a R&D prepped and ready before we leave the sector to try and get into knowing these strange items. The alien ship is still an annomoly that we wish to salvage for the best of our ability. Asking to scuttle is probably the best function we can do so far."

They loaded the transport with the cadvares, alien weaponry and depleted ammo, and the three progenitor artifacts to the Ordos Marsa as they continued to search the alien ship before they scuttle it.

- 1 energy and .5 ammo for transport of the alien corpses, weaponry, and progenitor artifacts.

by **G-Tech Corporation** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 12:56 pm

Bridge, Kharbarinth
Far Asteroid, Comet Sector

Stoic reviewed the logs from the few scientists the mining vessel had, part of his daily routine. Most of the time they were just about ongoing study projects, but of late they were very interesting; observations on the red goo and the liquid were continuing apace, and those were never dull reports. But one memo in particular caught his attention- the sensors officer was reporting some exotic particle emissions from the part of the Excelsior that was the other crew's research segment. If they had a new advance, well, it would be all to the best if the last of the Bells could be apprised of the development. At this close range barely any signal strength was needed to open a channel, so Stoic strode over to his chair and nodded to his comms officer.

"Contact the Excelsior, en-pat delta-romeo-lozier."

The video linked flickered for a few moments, and then the officer on the other end must have put the link through, for the bridge of the Excelsior and her captain swelled into view. Stoic nodded.

"Commander Silverstein, a pleasure. Forgive my intrusion, but our science officers say you've been doing some interesting research, based on the energy signatures your labs are throwing out. They'd love to get their hands on your data and research logs, a privilege for which they would be happy to share our refinery modification methodologies. Hopefully we can figure out what the secret of this asteroid is in the meantime, if you're interested in our efficient designs."

by **Aidannadia** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 12:57 pm

Ralnis wrote:Mothman Team

" Sidrift to Ordos Marsa, we have are bring a shipment with a lot of research in the form of cadavers, weapons, cartages, and Progeintor artifacts that had been secured before the Providence team had gotten there. Scenes of fighting and a sample of a strange, red element has been taken as a sample in order to make are next step for getting a R&D prepped and ready before we leave the sector to try and get into knowing these strange items. The alien ship is still an annomoly that we wish to salvage for the best of our ability. Asking to scuttle is probably the best function we can do so far."

They loaded the transport with the cadvares, alien weaponry and depleted ammo, and the three progenitor artifacts to the Ordos Marsa as they continued to search the alien ship before they scuttle it.

- 1 energy and .5 ammo for transport of the alien corpses, weaponry, and progenitor artifacts.

Derrick Smith returned to the Hangar with the rest of his men to come upon Mothman loading Progenitor artifacts onto their vessel. "What is this heresy?" He called out in outrage. "Stop this instant. Progenitor artifacts are not to be held within the hands of the unfaithful!" The two hundred men all took their arms from their holsters in response. "We demand the return of these artifacts to our custody!"

by **Ralnis** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 1:25 pm

Aidannadia wrote:
Ralnis wrote:Mothman Team

" Sidrift to Ordos Marsa, we have are bring a shipment with a lot of research in the form of cadavers, weapons, cartages, and Progeintor artifacts that had been secured before the Providence team had gotten there. Scenes of fighting and a sample of a strange, red element has been taken as a sample in order to make are next step for getting a R&D prepped and ready before we leave the sector to try and get into knowing these strange items. The alien ship is still an annomoly that we wish to salvage for the best of our ability. Asking to scuttle is probably the best function we can do so far."

They loaded the transport with the cadvares, alien weaponry and depleted ammo, and the three progenitor artifacts to the Ordos Marsa as they continued to search the alien ship before they scuttle it.

- 1 energy and .5 ammo for transport of the alien corpses, weaponry, and progenitor artifacts.

Derrick Smith returned to the Hangar with the rest of his men to come upon Mothman loading Progenitor artifacts onto their vessel. "What is this heresy?" He called out in outrage. "Stop this instant. Progenitor artifacts are not to be held within the hands of the unfaithful!" The two hundred men all took their arms from their holsters in response. "We demand the return of these artifacts to our custody!"

As the last of the artifacts were being loaded up and the people started to move faster to get inside the transport in order to get out of there. One of the Mothman Team members had came to bide some time by saying," what the hell are you talking about? These artifacts will help everyone and probably trying to fix that damn space bubble that took out or homeworld." One of the team members set the drones to charge them if they were to fire as they get the last of the cargo up in the transport.

by **Aidannadia** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 1:35 pm

Ralnis wrote:
Aidannadia wrote:
Derrick Smith returned to the Hangar with the rest of his men to come upon Mothman loading Progenitor artifacts onto their vessel. "What is this heresy?" He called out in outrage. "Stop this instant. Progenitor artifacts are not to be held within the hands of the unfaithful!" The two hundred men all took their arms from their holsters in response. "We demand the return of these artifacts to our custody!"

As the last of the artifacts were being loaded up and the people started to move faster to get inside the transport in order to get out of there. One of the Mothman Team members had came to bide some time by saying," what the hell are you talking about? These artifacts will help everyone and probably trying to fix that damn space bubble that took out or homeworld." One of the team members set the drones to charge them if they were to fire as they get the last of the cargo up in the transport.

Captain Smith calmed for a moment. Perhaps negotiations could prove fruitful in this endeavor. "Men put your weapons down for a moment." Derrick placed his weapon on the ground and began walking towards the transport. "Alright let's talk this through. I want an artifact and you want to leave without a conflict right?" He addressed the Mothman Teammember, his voice going lower so tha the rest of his entourage could not hear. "Now, I am one of the moderates of this religion, and I understand where you are coming from, but there are those that object to you just touching those artifacts there and I don't mind as much, but now you have 200 witnesses to a crime by our laws. Let's say.... you give us two of the artifacts and I'll turn a blind eye to the other. You'll look good to the more orthodox among us and I'll get to come back with a victory? We'll both win, eh?" Derrick was shaking a bit. Just talking about this was treasonous.

by **Excidium Planetis** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 1:49 pm

G-Tech Corporation wrote:Bridge, Kharbarinth
Far Asteroid, Comet Sector

Stoic reviewed the logs from the few scientists the mining vessel had, part of his daily routine. Most of the time they were just about ongoing study projects, but of late they were very interesting; observations on the red goo and the liquid were continuing apace, and those were never dull reports. But one memo in particular caught his attention- the sensors officer was reporting some exotic particle emissions from the part of the Excelsior that was the other crew's research segment. If they had a new advance, well, it would be all to the best if the last of the Bells could be apprised of the development. At this close range barely any signal strength was needed to open a channel, so Stoic strode over to his chair and nodded to his comms officer.

"Contact the Excelsior, en-pat delta-romeo-lozier."

The video linked flickered for a few moments, and then the officer on the other end must have put the link through, for the bridge of the Excelsior and her captain swelled into view. Stoic nodded.

"Commander Silverstein, a pleasure. Forgive my intrusion, but our science officers say you've been doing some interesting research, based on the energy signatures your labs are throwing out. They'd love to get their hands on your data and research logs, a privilege for which they would be happy to share our refinery modification methodologies. Hopefully we can figure out what the secret of this asteroid is in the meantime, if you're interested in our efficient designs."

(OOC: Bishop Wade is the Commander of Excelsior. Silverstein is Chief Technician, who would be then person your ship is addressing.)

"Chief, we're getting a hail from Kharbarinth."

"Patch it through." Chief Tech Silverstein reported. "Hopefully this is something I can address without needing to bring Commander Wade up here."

Silverstein listened to Stoic's offer.

"It is in both of our best interests to accept. I will transmit the Quark Physics research results. Please upload the Refinery designs when we do."

Code: Select all: RE: Research Studies on Excelsior's particle accelerator have yielded new data on quark-gluon interactions. See attached results. We await your refinery upgrade plans. -Chief Technician Elizabeth Silverstein

by **Ralnis** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 1:52 pm

Aidannadia wrote:
Ralnis wrote:As the last of the artifacts were being loaded up and the people started to move faster to get inside the transport in order to get out of there. One of the Mothman Team members had came to bide some time by saying," what the hell are you talking about? These artifacts will help everyone and probably trying to fix that damn space bubble that took out or homeworld." One of the team members set the drones to charge them if they were to fire as they get the last of the cargo up in the transport.

Captain Smith calmed for a moment. Perhaps negotiations could prove fruitful in this endeavor. "Men put your weapons down for a moment." Derrick placed his weapon on the ground and began walking towards the transport. "Alright let's talk this through. I want an artifact and you want to leave without a conflict right?" He addressed the Mothman Teammember, his voice going lower so tha the rest of his entourage could not hear. "Now, I am one of the moderates of this religion, and I understand where you are coming from, but there are those that object to you just touching those artifacts there and I don't mind as much, but now you have 200 witnesses to a crime by our laws. Let's say.... you give us two of the artifacts and I'll turn a blind eye to the other. You'll look good to the more orthodox among us and I'll get to come back with a victory? We'll both win, eh?" Derrick was shaking a bit. Just talking about this was treasonous.

The last of the artifacts were loaded up and the drones were ready. The Mothman Teammemeber had already made up his mind and he gave a sigh. " Sorry man, but finders keepers. I can't let you just steal the artifacts for your religion and it seems you are a decent guy but you won't let me go. I am sorry, but no offense to your religion." He motioned to the drones and they started to charge at the cultists in a head-long collision course and the Mothman Team member punch Derrick in the face and sprinted towards to the transport as the team started to rush into the transport as the engines start to ramp up and people started to pour in with one another helping each other as they start to get off the hangar ground.

by **Aidannadia** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 1:56 pm

Ralnis wrote:
Aidannadia wrote:Captain Smith calmed for a moment. Perhaps negotiations could prove fruitful in this endeavor. "Men put your weapons down for a moment." Derrick placed his weapon on the ground and began walking towards the transport. "Alright let's talk this through. I want an artifact and you want to leave without a conflict right?" He addressed the Mothman Teammember, his voice going lower so tha the rest of his entourage could not hear. "Now, I am one of the moderates of this religion, and I understand where you are coming from, but there are those that object to you just touching those artifacts there and I don't mind as much, but now you have 200 witnesses to a crime by our laws. Let's say.... you give us two of the artifacts and I'll turn a blind eye to the other. You'll look good to the more orthodox among us and I'll get to come back with a victory? We'll both win, eh?" Derrick was shaking a bit. Just talking about this was treasonous.

The last of the artifacts were loaded up and the drones were ready. The Mothman Teammemeber had already made up his mind and he gave a sigh. " Sorry man, but finders keepers. I can't let you just steal the artifacts for your religion and it seems you are a decent guy but you won't let me go. I am sorry, but no offense to your religion." He motioned to the drones and they started to charge at the cultists in a head-long collision course and the Mothman Team member punch Derrick in the face and sprinted towards to the transport as the team started to rush into the transport as the engines start to ramp up and people started to pour in with one another helping each other as they start to get off the hangar ground.

Derrick was propelled back and upon seeing this the remaining soldiers fire on the people.

Derrick grabbed his nose, blood gushing in large quantities from his nose. "You have no idea what you're doing!" He yelled his assailant. "Men, focus fire on the engines!" fire was focused on the engine and as the transport headed away, Derrick got up and walked towards his men. "This isn't over."

-0.5 fuel for return of transport.

by **G-Tech Corporation** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 2:15 pm

Stoic nodded, and the sensors array pulsed invisibly, streaming the datapackets relevant to the refinery retrofit.

"A pleasure, Chief Technician. We'll be in touch if you need us to cut away more of the asteroid."

The comms channel lapsed into inactivity. Stoic paced for a moment; these technical details didn't appear to have any immediate applications, but that was down to the engineers, not him. A smile crossed his face.

"Comms? Get me the Silence. I'm certain they'll be interested in these specs and data dumps; put a data-drive on the spinners, because this is right down their alley."

After a minute of thermal dump from arrays, the sensors hummed to full bore, projecting a simple text message across the void to the listening ears aboard the Silence. Audio feed at this distance would take too much power to push through the ether, but the men there deserved to share in this discovery.

Silence, hail. This is the Kharbarinth.
We have some new technical data on quark-gluon interactions, courtesy of the Excelsior. If you're interested, we would be happy to transmit. My people on the intranet tell me you've been doing some fascinating work on securing enhanced output from your reactors- if you saw fit to reciprocate our quark data with your technical specifications, I'm certain my chief engineer would be very happy. Hoping your work on the R+D front is progressing apace,
Stoic, Commanding Officer of the Bells

by **Pac Kindom** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 2:20 pm

Place Holder

by **Aidannadia** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 2:46 pm

Upon returning to the Providence, the Director immediately asked for a report of the raid on the alien vessel.

The Director turned to face Captain Smith as he finished his account of the event in question. After a deep breath in, he turned to slap the young captain, his large hands causing Smith's nose to bleed freely once again. "You failed me and now I have to clean up your mess. I am very disappointed. In all of you!" He yelled as he addressed the rest of the boarding party. "Luckily, I am a forgiving man under Progeny. Now, all of you need to report to cryosleep. We're on fuel rationing."

As all 500 of his men returned to cryo, the Director moved to the controls. "By those before us, this better work." The Director set the ship to fly all the way back to the Hyperdrive parked right beside it.

He open the communications to the entire fleet and cleared his throat into the mic.

Code: Select all: Yesterday Earth time, we came upon an alien space ship on the outer reaches of the solar system. We boarded this ship and as my men were exploring the lower floor, a second boarding party infiltrated the alien ship, went into another corridor and found three holy artifacts. My men came back to witness them loading these artifacts, rightfully ours in their transport. Upon seeking negotiations, one of my captains was brutally assaulted leaving him with a broken nose, and my men fired to protect their captain. We quickly escaped from the influence of the aggressors and are now parked next to the Hyperdrive so that in the event that we are attacked, you ensure destruction of the Hyperdrive and the slow death of the rest of the fleet through resource depletion. Also, if we were to be attacked the chances of the Hyperdrive map being destroyed simultaneously are very likely. Do not try to steal the device, as it has been hidden among the ship. We will reveal the information privately to anyone who delivers us fuel, not including our aggressors. WE plead for defense against this threat and we hope that our Progeny will look well upon us. Praise those before us.

The Director sighed. This brought great sorry to him.

by **Ralnis** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 3:14 pm

Aidannadia wrote:
Ralnis wrote:The last of the artifacts were loaded up and the drones were ready. The Mothman Teammemeber had already made up his mind and he gave a sigh. " Sorry man, but finders keepers. I can't let you just steal the artifacts for your religion and it seems you are a decent guy but you won't let me go. I am sorry, but no offense to your religion." He motioned to the drones and they started to charge at the cultists in a head-long collision course and the Mothman Team member punch Derrick in the face and sprinted towards to the transport as the team started to rush into the transport as the engines start to ramp up and people started to pour in with one another helping each other as they start to get off the hangar ground.

Derrick was propelled back and upon seeing this the remaining soldiers fire on the people.

Derrick grabbed his nose, blood gushing in large quantities from his nose. "You have no idea what you're doing!" He yelled his assailant. "Men, focus fire on the engines!" fire was focused on the engine and as the transport headed away, Derrick got up and walked towards his men. "This isn't over."

-0.5 fuel for return of transport.

Ordos Marsa

The Mothman team came back without 40 people and the captain said," damn it, at least those fucking cultists! Why would there be cultists among us anyway? Right now we have more pressing matters. They are sending a message to the other motherships in the sector and are being victims? Well two can play that game. In the mean time, we need to scuttle that ship and give our crew a proper burial after this." The Mothman team didn't want to do it but they knew they had to get the resources for their mothership so they can get a R&D set up and went off to the mothership to start scuttling it and getting the dead for burial.

A message was sent on the mothership frequency after the Providence one and showed some images from the Mothman team for proof, with the recordings.

To all Motherships in the sector,

This is the Captain Trask of the Ordos Marsa. As of today we have uncovered a derelict alien ship with our neighbor ship, the Providence. We have found a scene of fighting with various alien weaponry and unknown organic elements around with their cadavers. Among the more important foundlings were three Progenitor artifacts with one that seem to be activated with one having nine digits. The captain and crew from the Providence intercepted my crew as they were loading the findings and demanded that we hand over the artifacts in cordience to their religion. My team refused and 40 of my crew were killed in a quick retreat but the artifacts are secured in the Ordos Marsa as we are scuttling the ship to harvest the resources from it. Do not believe them and do not trust them. They have shown to be hostile to their fellow man in the dire times we are now having.
Captain Trask out

. 5 fuel and -1 energy to carry 1 unit of crew on transport to scuttle the Void Toaster and harvest the resources from it.

by **Seno Zhou Varada** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 3:36 pm

New Paradise

At the end of the day by the two messages that came it seemed shots had been fired. Either by the crazy religious people or the other mother ship. Apparently it seems that either the crazies or others had come to some sort of skirmish over some artifacts and apparently the others weren't fit to hold their god's stuff. The crew was actually kinda disturbed about it but the captain sorta knew how to handle the situation. A few messages was in the process of writing and sent.
(Given to other mother ships as if they attacked they would be attacking another fleet member who didn't hurt any of their men physically)

Code: Select all: To Providence Mother Ship Your sh*t will not be tolerated. We know a skirmish occurred with 40 people dying. As we got a message from the other ship we are unsure on the truth. However I will say you are acting like a little brat not getting what they want. You however are much worse throwing a temper-tantrum and threatening to doom the entirety of the human race. Your also bluffing as dooming the entire fleet will not bode well with any part of crew. So shut about your religious rights and act a lot like a proper human being who is rational. Any further engagement will result in your ship's destruction. We are done with this. From New Paradise

Code: Select all: To Ordos Marsa We have sent a message to the Providence on what happened with a very negative response. However as we don't really know what happened we don't trust either report. So call off all engagements and we'll try and organize a talk. From New Paradise

Code: Select all: To all mother ships (Except the Providence) As with the skirmish that happened between the Ordos Marsa and the Providence we have sent a very harsh message to the Providence and a neutral one to the Ordos Marsa. Partially because the Providence is acting like a little brat. But also we have decided to give you the technology of nano-bionics as a token of our goodwill. I know many have decided to trade instead of give freely but we will try and give more than trade. From New Paradise

by **The Burning Sun** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 3:50 pm

G-Tech Corporation wrote:Stoic nodded, and the sensors array pulsed invisibly, streaming the datapackets relevant to the refinery retrofit.

"A pleasure, Chief Technician. We'll be in touch if you need us to cut away more of the asteroid."

The comms channel lapsed into inactivity. Stoic paced for a moment; these technical details didn't appear to have any immediate applications, but that was down to the engineers, not him. A smile crossed his face.

"Comms? Get me the Silence. I'm certain they'll be interested in these specs and data dumps; put a data-drive on the spinners, because this is right down their alley."

After a minute of thermal dump from arrays, the sensors hummed to full bore, projecting a simple text message across the void to the listening ears aboard the Silence. Audio feed at this distance would take too much power to push through the ether, but the men there deserved to share in this discovery.

Silence, hail. This is the Kharbarinth.
We have some new technical data on quark-gluon interactions, courtesy of the Silence. If you're interested, we would be happy to transmit. My people on the intranet tell me you've been doing some fascinating work on securing enhanced output from your reactors- if you saw fit to reciprocate our quark data with your technical specifications, I'm certain my chief engineer would be very happy. Hoping your work on the R+D front is progressing apace,
Stoic, Commanding Officer of the Bells

Greetings, men of the Karbarinth

Once again, we find your offer acceptable, and your ability commendable. Should you come upon any further data, please, keep us in mind. In return, we offer any developments we create in a pact of mutual benefit.

(tech transmitted via encryption)

The captain sat back in his chair, sighing. As his technicians decoded the experimental data, he reflected upon the trade, and the benefits it had brought, and would no doubt continue, to bring. Perhaps, he thought, contact with others would be equally beneficial? Suddenly, his screen lit up with the contents of the technicians' reports. Skimming through the data, one particular tidbit caught his eye. The data they had recieved had not been developed by the Kharbarinth. Rather, it bore the stamp of the mothership Excelsior

Leaning forwards, he composed another message, ignoring the silent dread in his heart.

Greetings, mothership Excelsior

We are the people of the Silence, we who wander the cold of the void. Through the Kharbarinth, we received your data on quarks, and through it valuable knowledge. As a sign of thanks, we extend our hand in trade, so that you might gain knowledge from us as we have learned from you.

Our offer is thus: artificial sentience, once forbidden, and sensor protocols, twice improved, in return for 2 sets of construction equipment and 3 units of Fuel.

Ledger:

by **Excidium Planetis** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 4:48 pm

Sensor Array Control Room, Excelsior
Sector 2, Large Distant Asteroid

Chief Tech Silverstein sighed as she read the transmissions coming in. It seems though much technological progress had been made, many mother ships were fighting and bickering rather than making progress. Ironically, despite the conflict, no one seemed to have any explosives.

"Type up an acknowledgement of Silence's offer. Tell them we will send the fuel and tools."

Code: Select all: RE: Research Agreement Greetings Silence! It pleases the crew of Excelsior that we are making such rapid scientific progress, and that information is shared freely among the fleet! We will meet you at the Hyperdrive tomorrow where we will send a transport with the fuel and tools. -Excelsior out

"Chief, it seems as if the crew of New Paradise gave us their data on nanobionics freely..."

"Send them our Quark findings as a thank you. At least one ship in this fleet shares our love of scientific cooperation."

Code: Select all: RE: Technological Cooperation In thanks to you for giving us your nanobionics technology, we have included our research into Quark Physics with this message. We will soon also have some more useful technologies, which we will give in exchange for mutual friendship and cooperation. -Excelsior out

"It seems as if now is the time where we discover who our friends truly are." said Adrian X. Velderrain, seemly appearing out of nowhere. "What do you plan to do about Providence?"

"I plan to take them up on their offer. They may be ruthless fanatics, but they have valuable knowledge of what lies ahead, and nothing is more valuable than foresight." Silverstein replied.

"Let's hope the Commander agrees."

"Oh, he will." Silverstein said with a smile.

Code: Select all: RE: Map Data Dear starship Providence, While we are wary of your intentions, we feel your information is too valuable to ignore. We will send fuel in exchange for information. However, given recent events, as I'm sure you will understand, we need to take additional precautions. We leave you a choice: 1) You send us the information before we launch the transport with the fuel Or 2) Our transport is accompanied by 200 armed men, to ensure the transport's safety. We await you answer -Excelsior out

by **Aidannadia** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 5:03 pm

Excidium Planetis wrote:
Code: Select all
RE: Map Data Dear starship Providence, While we are wary of your intentions, we feel your information is too valuable to ignore. We will send fuel in exchange for information. However, given recent events, as I'm sure you will understand, we need to take additional precautions. We leave you a choice: 1) You send us the information before we launch the transport with the fuel Or 2) Our transport is accompanied by 200 armed men, to ensure the transport's safety. We await you answer -Excelsior out

The Director stroked his closely buzzed beard, considering his choices carefully. Both options were a breach of trust, but he was wary of having armed soldiers aboard Providence. Considering that in the case that he were not to receive the fuel, he would still be in no immediate danger of violent takeover, it seemed to be the favorable of the two options.

Code: Select all: The Providence thanks you for your generous offer. In a file attached to this message, you will find the information that we have held secret. We trust that you will keep true to your agreement and this may be the beginning of a cordial relationship leading into the future.

by **Excidium Planetis** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 5:54 pm

Sensor Array Control Room, Excelsior
"Well, it looks like you manage to convince the Providence, but that was understandable." Adrian remarked, "But what I really want to know, Elizabeth, is how you convinced our dear Commander to give up our fuel and risk a transport for Progenitor map data... something he isn't likely to trust."

"Commander Wade agreed because our plan allowed for screwing over the Providence. If they had allowed our troops to land, we could have easily assaulted the ship, and with probable assistance from the Ordos Marsa, we might have been able to capture the ship. Commander Wade, former Hawk that he is, loved the idea."

"Clever, but rather insidious. I can't see you supporting such a plan."

"I wouldn't. I hoped that Providence would send us their information beforehand, the first option we gave them. That way, we can enact my plan, which is much nicer."

"And that is?"

"Watch and see..." Silverstein said as she turned to the transmission console.

Code: Select all: RE: Map Data Thank you Providence. Your information is more limited than we expected, but if you can do further examinations, we will continue to supply you with fuel, which we can produce in abundance. We will send 4 fuel on a transport when we return to the Hyperdrive. -Excelsior out

"And then we send a message to everyone..."

Code: Select all: RE Map Data ATTENTION ALL FLEET SHIPS Excelsior has through diplomacy attained vital information regarding our path through space. The map Providence studied revealed that the next point in the chain is a volcanic planet, then there is an outlying star system at the edge of the milky way that also has the symbol of "destruction" or "explosion" printed on the map next to its name. -Excelsior out

"Giving away all the info freely? Thus preventing Providence from using their current information as leverage further? Clever."

"I know I am."

by **G-Tech Corporation** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 7:17 pm

Bridge, Kharbarinth
Near Far Asteroid, Comet Sector

Captain Garasov stood next to the command chair where Stoic sat as the light blossomed through the viewscreens, a wash of fire and light, flame snuffed out by the void, the expanding halo of debris from the explosions washing over the forecastle of the mothership. After careful drilling on the part of the refinery drone operators, the Excelsior had planted explosive charges to propagate a tectonic collapse on the part of the hemisphere immediately around the drill site. Now a full quarter of the immense asteroid had been sheeted away by the cutting incendiaries, and drifted harmlessly off into the void.

The tall burly military man gestured at the severed city-sized mass of rock, jerking the thumb on a callused hand towards the splintered stone. "That right there is the most eloquent argument for tooling a facility to make some munitions I can give. If we can't do that, someone else will be able to, and this ship isn't built to take that type of punishment. Everybody is nicely-nice now, but there's no guarantee that will last- just look at the Techshamans and the Providence."

Stoic nodded. "I see your points, Captain, I really do." He shrugged expressively through his shoulders. "We just don't have the man hours to justify setting up a weapons rig yet though. We can't feed ourselves or even replicate our tools, and we simply have to focus on our priorities. In time, you'll have your defensive measures."

Garasov grunted and his face was impassive, but the commander could tell the man was really raising the point out of principle, not dissatisfaction; the new men were just happy to be about and stretching their legs to a large extent, and who could blame them? With a brusque shake of his head the weapons officer and infantry leader stomped away to confer with some of the military sorts that had been thawed out.

Back to business then. The commander barked out some orders to get the refiners still charged up moving- the jump was only a few hours away, and the data from the Excelsior had given him much to think about. This was not an opportunity to be missed.

At the gate a transport slipped away from the Kharbarinth, bearing fuel to fulfill a request. Humanity would need all the souls it could get, and a trade was done, negotiated in private.

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