Making Contact (Semi open - see ooc thread)

[Assington]

OOC thread: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=117450

ASV Inquisitive
Uknown Solar System

The crew of the ASV Inquisitive waited patiently for the vibrations to cease as their spacecraft settled itself after exiting hyperspace. Their ship happened to be the oldest exploration vessel still serving in the fleet and the age was certainly noticeable. The ship was certainly safe and had served her crew well over the years but little things like vibrating in and out of hyperspace and the near constant leaking coolant pipes did get on the nerves of more than one crew member and certainly every member of the maintenance staff. Despite the little quirks, Captain Adrian Dolan loved every moment spent on board.

The Inquisitive was an exploration vessel. At 467m long it certainly wasn't large compared to other vessels in the fleet but it performed exactly as specified, most of the time. Equipped with twin plasma cannons and a number of torpedo bays, the ship was lightly armed and rarely saw conflict, although it was always ready to defend itself. More importantly, the ship possessed advanced long range and planetary sensors, a large quantity of exploration probes and a full complement of specialised crew ranging from diplomats, to biologists and astro-physicists.

Adrian waited patiently for data from initial scans to be analysed and reported to him. So far he'd been away from home for 126 days, following the directive of the Assingtonian military. The Inquisitive was to explore the galaxy and seek out possible resources, make contact with friendly civilisations and assess potential colonisation viability. If this system was deemed to be worth attention, Adrian would recommend construction of a hyperspace gate, allowing fast travel between here and Sol.

"Sir, I have an initial report. The star in this system is a blue giant. It appears to be stable and has three planets in orbit. The first definitely could not sustain life. A slim margin exists on the second for some life forms, the third is most likely foster living organisms."

This was something a little out of the usual. The last fifteen systems had shown no signs of life or no potential, making said exploration quite dull. Even a hint at potential life was something to jump all over. Adrian had obtained diplomatic credentials through military school as he had always dreamed of exploring space and meeting new people, human or otherwise. After years of study he had become qualified to make first contact with any alien peoples.

"Let's hope so. Engage sub-space engines and bring us close by."

Within the hour the Inquisitive was within viewing range of the planet in question and began more detailed scans, including launching a probe towards the planet.

"Fuller, anything new?"

"Sir. There are four moons orbiting the the third planet. Initial readings detect power sources not likely to be naturally occurring. Launching a probe to orbit a moon and retrieve more details. There's definitely something on these moons."

"Alright. Let me know when the probe data comes in."

Fuller barely had time to acknowledge the order before his console indicated previously launched probes to the planet had detected broadcasting signals and what appeared to be satellites in the area.

"Sir. Probes have found evidence of digital signal broadcasting. I think we can assume there is reasonably advanced life out there."

Sitting up in his seat a little straighter, Adrian smiled.

"Alright, let's say hello. Jarndyce, broadcast my message over all channels and in morse code."

"Yes sir."

"To those dwelling in this system. This is the ASV Inquisitive, an exploration vessel from the Sol system. We have entered your system with no hostile intent and would like to make contact. If you are able to understand my message, please make yourself known."

Silence filled the bridge of the Inquisitive as the crew awaited a reply.

[Sacrapollisis]

Captain Pik'ol Du'Mont was on the bridge of the research vessel Sacra when a communication was picked up. "Where is it coming from?" Asked Du'Mont. He had never believed life existed elsewhere. "Captain its coming from a vessel currently located on the opposite side of Sacra-2, orders?" Said a young navigator. "Send word to imperial command, and set us in position. I want a look."

The research vessel fired its engines and moved around the planet. When on the digital screen showed a picture of the alien craft. "Sir, imperial command has replied, make contact at your command sir." The seasoned communications chief replied. "Set relay for all communications to relay back to imperial command. Advise when complete." Stated the captain as he placed the headset on. A few minutes passed when the captain was prepared.

"Greetings, I am captain Du'Mont of the Sacrapollisis Imperial Navy, assigned to the Sacra research vessel. Welcome to our neighbourhood."

[The 44th Indp Legion]

Drifting seemingly lazily in it's designated location in the immaterium, the Afraxu löd Rho'tlax-gu, or 'observer ship 65' to those who couldn't pronounce the Old Saurai name, which in fact was all but one of it's crew. It's purpose was officially "emergency reconnaissance and beacon maintenance", which means all it normally did was scann, scann and perchance, to listen. Beacons did not normally require maintenance, as they tended to be stars with aquatic planets in orbit. If said aquatic planet supported life, the beacon shone that much brighter, making it all the more valuable. So, when purpose built stealth listening drones picked up a signal at a beacon of significant value but of no particular interest to anyone, a reaction was bound to ensue.

The ship, although barely armed at all by Saurai standards, was fairly well armed and particularly well armoured for a ship capable of orbital landing and take off. It was a Wisom Class carrier fully repurposed for it's role. It was 3699m long, 1486m wide and 772m high, making it the largest kind of vessel that was capable of leaving a planet on it's own power and still be able to traverse the Immaterium in relative safety. It's captain, Alìjoz, had been recently reassigned to the ship and was the ship's only Saurai aboard. He was assisted by a couple of Fullbloods, but the rest of the 1149-strong crew was halfblood, the latter two of which were more commonly recognised as human, though only the last was in fact human.

"We're receiving a signal." Remarked the sensor overseer, Alice.
"Main screen, turn on" Said Alìjoz, who still somewhat struggled in speaking this quite modern dialect.
"It's a sensor drone report sir, and there is no main screen, all screens ar eequal in size.." Said Alice.
Alìjoz frowned, he had certainly been used to more...exhilarating operations than scanning and reading sensor drone reports.
"What say it?" Questioned Alìjoz.
"Unknown spatial distortions and communications detected at Omicron Theta three."
Alìjoz was intruiged, spatial distortions that were detectable were usually hyperspace tunnels or wormholes opening and closing - though he couldn't say any of that, such information was restricted.
"Heading stable?" He asked, starting the rifting procedure.
"Affirmative."
"Beacons?"
"Beacons steady sir."
"Prime reactors. Initiate shield adaptors. Alert crew. Get lock." commanded Alìjoz rusticly.
To many ears he may have sounded rude, but it was merely a translation of what would be the polite way of saying things in his mother language, and Alice, being well versed in older dialects of saurai as a fullblood, knew this full well.
"Confirming lock" Said Alice.
Nothing happened for a while. Alìjoz looked to see what was going on, a ship this size should be able to get a lock in less than half a second and be accurate within a few metres in rifting out, if it had been a proper production model. However Alìjoz had not yet taken into account that the Independent legions no longer had access to the same production facilities they once had.After a few minutes his relief came.
"Confirmed."
The ship nudged slightly in the right direction and rifted out into the materium. It dropped out somewhere halfway between the sun and whichever planet happened to have liquid water on it in the Sacra system. Within seconds the intercom flared up.

Code: Select all

"To those dwelling in this system. This is the ASV Inquisitive, an exploration vessel from the Sol system. We have entered your system with no hostile intent and would like to make contact. If you are able to understand my message, please make yourself known."
-
"Greetings, I am captain Du'Mont of the Sacrapollisis Imperial Navy, assigned to the Sacra research vessel. Welcome to our neighbourhood."

"What the blazes are they talking, get the translators on line" commanded Alìjoz, in response to the unintelligable banter in some unknown language blasting out of the intercoms

[Assington]

"Greetings, I am captain Du'Mont of the Sacrapollisis Imperial Navy, assigned to the Sacra research vessel. Welcome to our neighbourhood."

Adrian was almost surprised enough to fall out of his seat as a clearly comprehensible reply came back within minutes. This certainly wasn't his first alien contact but in his experience very few could speak English or were as welcoming upon first contact.

"Jarndyce, is that being translated?"

"No sir."

"Convenient. Broadcast my reply."

"Sir."

"Thankyou Captain. I am Captain Dolan of the Assingtonian Space Fleet. We're a long way from home but it's nice to hear a friendly voice out here. Captain, do you have an official process for making contact with those not considered locals? I would be interested in meeting your people face to face."

As Adrian spoke, Fuller pulled up an image of the Sacra on the captain's console. The craft certainly appeared to be a research vessel and did not seem to be a threat. Whilst the Assingtonians had no intention of getting into a fight it always paid to be cautious with the unknown. More than one ASV had been lost to too much enthusiasm when making contact with the unknown.

Fuller's console beeped at him once again, drawing his attention to yet another ship that just arrived in the system. The vessel was much larger than the Inquisitive or Sacra and did not appear to be associated with the natives of the system.

"Sir, we have another vessel on approach. No communications yet but initial scans indicate we're out gunned."

"Right... and I thought this was going well. Maintain shields but make no aggressive gestures. Let's see how this plays out."

[Sacrapollisis]

Captain Du'Mont sat at the command console as the reply came in. He had just received confirmation to carry out what ever diplomatic or scientific decisions he needed to make.
"Sir we have another much large crawl entering the area." Stated one of the scientist on the bridge. "Is it the same group as the vessel from Sol?" Asked the Captain. "Does not appear so sir, design is different. It could be but I'm not thinking so." Replied the scientist.
"Okay send a messege to the first vessel, be prepared to get out of here if this gets hostile." Ordered Du'Mont.


Captain Dolan, verify if this vessel that just arrived is apart of your fleet. And to answer your question I have been given authority to make contact, one hour ago I doubted the exhistence of alien intelligent races. Once the intentions of the new vessel is verified, we can make contact.

[Assington]

Adrian nodded at Captain Du'Mont's suggestion, despite the man being unable to see his non-verbal response.

"Sounds like a plan Captain. The newly arrived vessel is not part of the Assingtonian Space Fleet and is nothing recognisable to myself or my crew. We shall be attempting to establish communications with it shortly."

Looking over the information on his console, Adrian hoped things didn't get hostile. Despite enjoying his time exploring the galaxy he did wish to return home at some point with his ship and crew intact.

"Fuller, run the initial data through the database of past ASF unknown encounters and see if we can get a match. Jarndyce, open a channel. Broadcast in every possible translation we can as well as the usual basic codes."

A minute passed before both men replied, initially talking over each other before Jarndyce allowed Fuller to speak first.

"Sir, the vessel is not matching any previous ASF encounters."

"Sir, ready to broadcast."

Adrian gave a brief nod, indicating to begin the broadcast.

"Unknown vessel, this is the ASV Inquisitive, an exploration vessel of the Assingtonian Space Fleet. We have noted your arrival and request you declare your intentions."

Once again, the crew waited in silence.

[The 44th Indp Legion]

Shortly after the awaited "Translators online" was reported, and with Alìjoz contemplating his next action, the newest message arrived.
"Assingtonians? Never heard of, have you?" Asked Alìjoz.
"No sir."
"Sounds human..." Alìjoz remarked.
Making a conclusion on that early assumption, Alìjoz asked "what's our backup look like?"
"Five frigates, two cruisers and maybe a destroyer if we're lucky, but why would they be needed?" Answered Alice slightly suspicious, Saurai weren't exactly known for their peace-time achievements, although they had many.
"Precaution, precaution."
Something about five minutes had passed and Alìjoz hadn't even moved.
"Shouldn't we answer?" asked Alice.
"We should." Answered Alìjoz. He did nothing.
After waiting some more waiting, Alìjoz finally started scribbling some glyphs on his command pad. Although Alice had and took the liberty to observe what he was writing, she didn’t understand any of the complex Old Saurai glyphs. Thankfully, the computer did, and it would take care of broadcasting the message as text to the ‘targeted’ ships.

Code: Select all

 “Be greeted, unknown species. We, of the 44th Independent Legion, are, for the moment, here to observe. It is recommended, for now, that you continue your operational protocols, if any, as if we had not been present, unless further contact has otherwise been deemed, in accordance with local law, as neccecary.”

Alice too could read the transmitted message, but she had her doubts. “such a convoluted message” She thought. “And what if they think the computer is hacking them rather than delivering a message?”

[Assington]

A good five minutes of silence passed on the bridge of the Inquisitive before Jarndyce received a text communication from the third ship. Every head was turned to Jarndyce as she processed what her console was telling her.

"Sir, communication from the unknown vessel. Sending it to your console now."

Nodding his thanks, Adrian pondered over the message for a few moments. It was certainly strangely worded and the intent it communicated was strange itself. Adrian assumed it had turned up because it had detected either his ship or the Sacrapollisis research vessel. Very odd to simply sit there.

"Strange... it reads like a computer wrote the message... even accounting for translation it seems odd."

Jarndyce and the others simply nodded, no one really knowing what to make of the message or the intent of those from the 44th Independent Legion. It was not a name familiar with anyone on board and the ship computers had no record of a nation or planet under that name. After a few more minutes passed, Adrian typed out his own text and forwarded it on to Jarndyce to broadcast back to the 44th.

Code: Select all

Understood. I assume you are visitors to this system like ourselves? If you have interest in further contact, we are likely to be here for a while.

With that message sent, Adrian leaned back in his chair and waited. Captain Du'Mont would likely want some time to deal with the two foreign ships that have just appeared before him. First contact is usually quite a shock when you think you're alone in the universe and Adrian wasn't in any rush.