Breaking the Long Fog (Semi-Closed, Attn. ROUS)

by **Warhaven** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:42 am

"That raises the question, why do you have power? Why be in politics, if you do not on some level, desire power? Otherwise it conjures to mind the image of a riotous mob forcing you into power against your will." Tajen said.

by **The Floor Kippers** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:46 am

"I wasn't after power, I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to Help my homeland in more effecive ways than faffing around with subtle manipulation" Sir Nigel said

by **Warhaven** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:48 am

"And yet, to make a difference on a large scale, one requires power in some fashion." Tajen countered

by **The Floor Kippers** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:50 am

Warhaven wrote:"And yet, to make a difference on a large scale, one requires power in some fashion." Tajen countered

"Yes alright" Nigel admitted "I needed the power to make a dfference but not power for its own sake"

by **Warhaven** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:55 am

"The important thing is how its used, not whether or not its desired. From what I can see, you use it quite well. People prosper and thrive under your leadership. That's what's important, not anything else." Tajen said.

by **Frenequesta** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:00 am

"Usually people who just want power don't want it for the most desirable of ends," Dr. Jupin quipped.

by **Warhaven** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:04 am

"Case in point, Mother dearest, who formed the backbone of The Bureaucracy by binding all nations to her under the Warhaven Empire, just so she could eat citizens with impunity. When I got old enough to do something, I hacked off her arms, decapitated her four times, and stabbed her through one of her two hearts, forcing her off the throne and rescuing everyone from her clutches." Tajen said, who did not describe his mother's true form, which would've given more sense to his statement.

by **The Floor Kippers** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 11:05 am

"You must have got your looks from your dad then" Sir Nigel said

by **Warhaven** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 6:54 pm

"Except for what are more or less special effects, he and I are identical in appearance." Tajen said.

by **The Floor Kippers** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:50 am

"So I was right then" Nigel said

by **New Amerik** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:03 am

"Power, heritage, looks...is that what all rulers are supposed to talk about these days, or have I let you all wait for far too long?"

The voice of one Emperor Vasqual de Sadev rang out from the far side of the room, where a previously-closed door had just been opened up not mere seconds ago. It was recognisably the same, and the actual loudness of his voice wasn't changed at all from his previous informal tone - yet, unlike twelve years ago, there was something different. It seemed to cut the air and through conversations, making everyone hear him audibly even over the voice of their own speech.

The ruler of New Amerik stood in the doorway to the stateroom, and to those that had met him in person before, he was...different. Very different.

Where once he had been relatively normal in size, standing at about a 5'7" or so in height, now he was visibly around feet tall. No extensions to the legs, no stretching of proportions, the Emperor was simply just taller and more towering than he had been before. His uniform, same as it always was, was now covered almost entirely by a cloak of dark green, gold decorative edging and the glimmering of lighter flecks accentuating the cloak. His face as well was obscured from view with a simple silver mask in an almost-perfect mold of the face behind it. With the uniform, cloak, mask, black gloves, and the rest of his normal uniform, almost no trace of the man himself could be seen.

But most different of all were the eyes. They were the same eyes as before, to be sure, but as Vasquail's gaze swept over each person present in turn those that stared back would feel as if almost there were two entities looking at them. The largest and most present was Vasquail, eyes showing a mixture of humor and relief at seeing old friends and aquaintances again, but there was a smaller one, in the back...it was small, but it was somehow far more than the man before them. Ageless, it swept over each person in turn alongside Vasquail, judging them before dismissing them one by one. The only exceptions for the entity were Nigel, for whom the gaze seemed to judge warily before turning on, and Tajen, for whom the gaze seemed to acknoweldge before withdrawing.

"Well, why the silence? I know our nation is happy to once more be back into the multiverse at large!"

by **The Floor Kippers** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:07 am

"Vasquail My Old friend" Sir Nigel said Happily "It has been twelve Years too long.

My You've changed, the new look suits you. Not sure about the mask though but that's just personal preference.

Anyway How are you? How's the wife and Children? How's the Nation?"

by **New Amerik** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:20 am

"And you as well Sir Nigel. Twelve years is even longer when none of the local rulers have that same endearing eccentricty as you," Vasquail happily replied in response, "As for Tabitha and dear Theodore, Victoria, and of course Nigel de Sadev...they have been and still are a wonderful gift to me. That the children can even tolerate their dear old mother and father being worshipped by a bunch of lunatic scientists is nothing more than utter joy."

He walked further in. "Welcome all of you, who have come such long ways to greet a small and meagre nation come back from the Long Fog, to my personal stateroom in a delightful universe quite close to our own. It's been not used for twelve years, and you should have seen the dust when we finally got the link to it back up, but it's quite nice again I do believe...Oh yes, Sir Nigel, and I do believe we should have two guests soon...one of them went astray from your universe around twelve years ago I do believe, and never got the chance to return back."

by **The Floor Kippers** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:14 pm

"Ah, that'll be Miss Amanda Hislop, Her parents and Mr Simon Troughton will be happy to be able to see her again." Nigel said "Speaking of parents, Thomas, Sally, Vincent and Abigail Pertwee send you and Sir Franklin their love. And speaking of love, well that can wait for the time being"

by **Frenequesta** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:53 pm

Dr. Quine perked up at the voice while still engaged in a single-minded nostalgia of his hometown, turning to see the Emperor. He tried to smile, but his presence seemed especially overbearing. He had expected to meet a face, not a mask. He nudged Dr. Jupin, who was less trembling but equally silent.

"Is that the Emperor, Oley?"

"I think so, he has to be, sounds just the same," he said.

"Hey, this might be a good time to summon Smalls," said Pervis, coming up behind Dr. Quine.

"I don't know, it might ruin the attention of the moment--" but somehow unconsciously, he took out the hologram port from under his right arm, dialed five buttons, and set it on the floor. He knew it would take a couple of minutes for Secretary Smalls' figure to appear, so he let it boot and turned back to the Emperor.

Neither Dr. Quine, Dr. Jupin, nor Pervis were diplomats. Unlike Sir Nigel, Dr. Jupin had only seen the Emperor once, and that was in the far back of a crowd at the Exposition as Sadev stepped into the cockpit of a large cannon to create a fresh new universe for his people. Even the special on New Amerik for The Multiversal Constant only featured interviews with a few lower-level scientists at the Alchemistry, Biomancy, and Mechanology Divisions. He didn't know the Emperor personally, and Sadev may not have been even aware of the interviews as far as Dr. Jupin was concerned. But he did offer something, with a chuckle and a slight tremble.

"It's a pleasure, Emperor de Sadev. We have greatly missed the fine contact between our nations. Might I say, the costume fits the scenery well."

by **Starkindler** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:14 pm

(OOC: Sorry for godmodding, trying to speed this up, we already lagged too much because of me.)

As the Empress seen the ship, she clearly wanted to be disabled, and later repaired, blew up, she emitted some angry chittering over the subspace link, best to be left untranslated. In a world and country of perfection, she wasn't accustomed to the apparent failure of the perfect of the perfects. As the battle reports came it, she dismissed the issue by noting that the ship must have destroyed herself, for fear of enemy capture, or one of her fail-safes activating. The ships received another order as the Starfleet One prepared to enter the atmosphere of New Amerik.

She ordered 16 of her ships (with the most significant bit 1 of the current fleet arrangement) to establish circular orbits over the planet, and place themselves at each 22.5 degrees. Complying with the order, they went around the planet forming yet another cycle and precisely calculating their speed and altitudes, which were the lowest possible after analyzing the density of satellites around the planet to not collide. They appeared as if a ring was twisting around the planet if one were to connect all of them with a line.

The others of her fleet were ordered to scan the surrounding area, especially for vessels with similar energy signatures to the one destroyed, and engulfed by the Void. On the scanning mission, they went in all directions to find whoever they though to have built and sent that ship. And maybe explain themselves, if the builders were civilized enough, and it wasn't their intention to blow up the Empress' allies homeworld.

Some seconds after this, the largest and the smallest spaceship touched ground. From the largest ship, a creature went out. The Empress of Starkindler in one of her dress uniforms. She was 3200 mm tall, and mathematically engineered to represent the perfect human proportions. Her body was sleek an elegant by design, conveyed beauty and strength in one. She wore a strapless, ecru (OOC: #C2B280 for you, guys) dress, with a skirt, that had a diagonal hemline. On her right leg, it reached just over her knees, and on her left leg, it reached down to half her lower leg. The topmost of the dress, with the line just under the left shoulder, it had a white, blossoming rose made from silk, with green leaves under it. Diagonally, a scarlet band ran down to the hemline of the skirt. In the midpoint of the band, a star was sewn in, resembling the one, which could be found on the Flag of the country. Across the band, in golden color, the expression: The Empire of Starkindler was sewn in in the four major languages of the Empire: Binary, English, Quenya and Goa'uld. And over the hemline, another scarlet band, which was lined with a lace of gold ivy leaves at the top and the bottom as well. In the light, all over her skin, there could be seen small dots glowing in a faint, white color, positioned in a delicate fractal structure, and in fact, although cannot be seen in the bright daylight, the entire Clank emitted faint lighting.

The most light had been given by her hair. She had a very long hair reaching down until the middle of her back, with each strand of it being perfectly straight, and emitting a great amount of white light, which could be noticed even over the background lighting. Over her exposed decolettage, a delicate fractal pattern of diamonds were embedded onto what has been looking like skin on her, and from it, it appeared that two 'vines' of spiral made of small diamonds patterns crept out, lining where her collarbones would be.

Other jewelery was located - or embedded in - her head, the Grand Crown of the Star of the Queens, which was actually a tiara. The two bands of the royal object still continued under her hair, and in the front, they gradually ascended, but still lightly, to make sure its not overly high compared to the immense sizes of the body it's attached to. A combination of silver and diamonds, in intricate geometric patterns, and the continuation of the band, which is of the same pattern as the band around the star on the flag represented her Empire.

From her scapula, her two wings were attached. These were covered by stainless steel 'feathers', and were fully mobile, but now folded into three parts, Where she to spread them, from wingtip to wingtip, it would spread to 15 meters, which are able to lift the entire, huge body by its own thrust, flapped by high-powered engines in the upper torso, and connected through pulleys, and wires of high tensile strength multilayer 'armchair' type carbon nanotubes sewn into immensely strong ropes. However, for that feat, they would have to be flapped at near the speed of sound, so for that reason, they most of the time remain fixed, and instead, a retractable ion engine in the middle torso provides for the propulsion. Out of her skirt, as seen as a natural continuation of her spinal cord, a flexible tail pointed out, which, were it straightened, would reach down half a meter under the Empress. However, it was now loosely carried behind her.

From the other spaceship, no one exited, because nobody was inside it. The Empress reached her back, and pulled out an extensively decorated ornate wand, with which she replicated a small, silvery globe. As the process finished, the globe lit up, and produced a similar woman to her. However, she did not wore jewelery of any kind, save for two discrete earpieces of diamond crystals hanging from the bottom of her ear. Her hair was worn spread out, and with on one side entirely at the back, and on another, strands put to front. She wore a white dress, which was also strapless, but the skirt was going down to the floor. The rose below her shoulder was ecru, with green leaves, and she didn't wore bands across the dress. Instead, on the two sides, it was laced with silver ivy leaves on the entire length of the dress. The hologram also wore white opera gloves. Just under the rose, small brass plates were placed with barcodes engraved into them in black ink.

Looking over herself, she dipped in a deep curtsey before the Empress. The hologram was perfect as if the clank herself would have went there. Every wrinkle of the cloth appeared perfectly, her hair lit and dimmed with the CPU load of the ship, on which the actual operating system ran, and controlled the small globe, hidden inside the hologram, meanwhile continously scanning the environment with the built-in ultraviolet laser rangefinders, hearing with the microphones, and speaking and physically interacting with the world using precisely calculated force fields. The hologram even emitted its own shadow, calculated from the sources of lighting around it detected by the light sensors on the globe. The compact device even included an anti-gravity drive and a small antimatter power plant to stay afloat and be self-independent.

As the Empress put back the Wand in a suitable holster opening, then seamlessly closing in her back, the cadet began to speak.
"Your Majesty, if I might notice, unfortunately, this sphere was replicated with a programming error that making me appear in the dress of a Diplomat. I will try to correct the error."
The Empress starkly replied: "Halt. By the power of Her Most Serene Majesty the Grand Crown of the Star of the Queens, acting as the supreme commander of the Imperial Armed Forces I brevet you to be a Diplomat of the Crown, acting immediately, effective until withdrawn."

Her eyes sparkling from the field promotion the young girl received, she thanked the Empress, then followed her as the Amerikan mechanical voices directed them. Firstly through the decontamination showers, then through the abandoned buildings, meanwhile looking at the suspicious skulls. The Empress' eyes, which could see all EM frequencies, could detect an energy line leading to them, and proceeded cautiously, as she supposed that they might be weapons. Or surveying and recording equipment, as she communicated them to her bodyguards. Before the credential presention, out of the sight of the processing clerk, she replicated the credentials of both of them. In the Empire, a Clank was identified by their unique coding algorithm. There, if a Clank was needed to be identified, the publicly available coding algorithm of her was used to code arbitrary data, and if the Clank could successfully decode it, with the decoding algorithm known to her only, and the coding process designed to be non-invertable, the Clank is successfully identified. A serial number just being a pointer to one's Coding function when read, and asked, and one's decoding function when referring to themselves.

Then she finally reached the small vehicle and stepped inside its open door. Over in space, every step the Empress took was followed by her soldiers in space, monitoring any suspicious activity, and trying to keep a stable transporter beam lock on her at all times. All the ships above are equipped with a reasonable buffer capable of storing one body for a reasonable amount of time. And that body will not be the Cadet, as those ships are programmed to defend the Crown actually. The diamond construct embedded into the electromagnetically plated reactive honeycomb armor under the skin of the Clank, which, for them, represented the State, the People, and the ideology. The very framework and the soul of the Imperial society.

After entering, the empress did a swallow curtsey, while the other Imperial diplomat did a so-called Texas dip,and in her curtsey, she almost reached the ground. Then they both stood up, and occupied their respective seats. The Empress started to speak.

"Your Majesty, Your Excellences, We are the Empress of the Empire of Starkindler. We would like to express our congratulations on breaking the twelve year old fog over your Empire, and re-establishing contact with your previous allies in the Realm of Unrestricted Science. We must note that your equipment has fallen into a state of disrepair. We would like to inquire about the happenings of the previous twelve years, and if you have managed to break it, or shall you require the assistance of my peoples." The royal android stated it in an exceptionally clear, and warm voice, which, by her unique frequencies, it was designed to sound pleasant to all the beings in the room.

Meanwhile the other diplomat remained silent, and did the best to learn from the authority. One time, she might be permanently promoted to diplomat, maybe even ambassador, and she needed any information she could collect.

by **Warhaven** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:31 pm

Tajen simply smiled.

"It is indeed good to have you back." He said.

Privately, he decided the Starkindler Empire must not have any manners.

"At least I had the courtesy and respect to leave MY lolhuge ship out of the system and off the planet." Tajen thought to himself.

by **The Floor Kippers** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:50 am

Warhaven wrote:Tajen simply smiled.

"It is indeed good to have you back." He said.

Privately, he decided the Starkindler Empire must not have any manners.

"At least I had the courtesy and respect to leave MY lolhuge ship out of the system and off the planet." Tajen thought to himself.

"And at least mine can fit into any standard household closet" Sir Nigel added "And Blends in with any environment"

by **Starkindler** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 5:19 am

The smaller robot responded to the two foreign diplomats. She also had a voice, that would sound nice to the organics, however, she did lack the precisely calculated, clear and prompt voice of the Empress, because she had only a simulated voice, and because she was only a commoner.
"Your Excellences, if I may. If you are intruded by the presence of Imperial vessels on the surface, I might get them off."
As she said the last word, both of the small craft started their systems, and launched at full thrusters. Within minutes, they were in high orbit above the planet.

The young diplomat started speaking.
"However, neither I, nor Her Majesty has the right to remove Starkindler activity off the orbit of the planet. If it's undesired, however, the Empress might leave with them. However, I shall inform you that my rank does not permit me to sign any document or accept anything for my people. And as I does not have a physical body, at least my vessel must remain within orbit around this planet, because the on-board computers are required to run my operating system, and maintain this projection I am."

The Empress joined in the conversation.
"Your excellences, I must notice that the ones bringing capital class vessels into diplomatic conversation is not us."
She turned to the Floor Kippers diplomat.
"And as far as I know, a TARDIS class vessel of The Time Lords... Species number non-definite due to variable timelines have several different decks, and include amenities such as a swimming pool and a library. With my crude approximation, a TARDIS could fit an entire wing of suborbital crafts, and Stargate-capable fighters. Not to mention the enormous power consumption. As far as we know, that vessel requires a quantum singularity or equivalent power source, which is far larger than even the largest, Silverodeon-class Star Dreadnought's energy consumption.
As you might have noticed, Starfleet One has sizes comparable to Species 5618 Class 2 shuttlecraft."

by **The Floor Kippers** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 5:28 am

"Oh no, Its not at TARDIS levels yet so no Singularity power," Sir Nigel said "Its only a Semi-organic Dimensionally transcendental Multiverse Travel Casual, though the Dimensional Transcendentalism aspect does require a large amount of power it is nowhere near enough to warrant making our own Eye of Harmony and that's just the power to maintain DT the size of a Galaxy Class Starship in an area the size of a Phonebox."

by **Warhaven** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 7:45 am

"What I want to know is, why are either of you reading my private thoughts?" Tajen asked, clearly ruffled by the intrusion into his mind.

by **New Amerik** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:13 am

"Fellow leaders, do not quarrel here. Though we can expect differences, it is a time of peace, not war!" The Emperor spoke as he stepped in between them, arms held out in a gesture of friendship. "Now, let me explain a few things first..."

The mask concealed the expression of the face behind it, but as Vasquail turned to face the foreign Empress, his words took on a more serious tone. "This is not, strictly speaking, a pure diplomatic affair. Had it been, I would not be interacting with you this directly until quite some time later, after we had verified the rules official and unofficial for acting within the nation. However, my worries with your ships are not of this surface but of this planet as a whole."

He stopped for breath, before continuing, this time also circling among those present. "The Holy Technocracy is not the only nation inhabiting this planet, of course, and while we do have an increased measure of trust between...influential nations, we cannot order them to stand down their guard because of entities we have directly or indirectly brought here. Should your ships or other vehicles be contained safely on Amerikan soil, in Amerikan airspace, or within the atmospheric territory claimed by our land, then we can take full responsibility for any accidents or events involving them. However...I cannot force other world leaders to not take self-defense measures should they feel that ships in their territory are presenting a potential threat to their citizens."

Finishing, he walked over to one of the fabric chairs next to the fireplace, and sat down in it gently. "Much has changed in these past few years, to be sure. The other nations of the world will no doubt be soon expanding their own extra-versal research teams and technology, now that we have lent a bit of our own research to them. And, as we are currently in this race to the stars and beyond...I cannot begrudge them the right to govern their own part of a planet we of the UNS all share."

by **The Floor Kippers** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:15 am

"What's UNS?" Sir Nigel asked curiously "Is it anything like IAN?"

by **Starkindler** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:08 pm

The Empress was just listening on the conversation, and recording each element precisely. However, since the collective consciousness of the Clanks and the Borg, she had to constantly sort billions of voices, and even her extended processing power made a few mistakes, as confusing actual sounds with input received through the psionic interface. Even 5 years after the graduation of the first Clank from the Zarkenian Academy of Psionic Arts, Clank psionic technology is still in infancy.

In her mind, she quickly issued orders to disable the high-intensity psionic scanner beam, so it wouldn't explicitly read thoughts, but still be accessible for anyone who chooses that method of communication. She also enabled the input demultiplexer, separating the inputs of her interfaces. One in the room could easily notice, that her hair, and all the lighting parts began to glow brightly on her, as the separate input, a relational database construction, and parallel data cross-referencing required significantly more processing power than the serial interface she used, as she could process the data later on while she was running in the mainframe.

Then she turned to the Warhavenite diplomat.
"We are sorry for intruding your privacy. We did not realize it was a thought. We have turned off the active psionic scanner beam."

Upon hearing that the planet contained multiple factions, the two Clanks turned to each other, and shook their head. In Binary, they said between each other in a despising tone:
"Species 5618"
However, for those, who did not brought an universal translator with them, or had not meet any Clank before, this just sounded like a deep-toned chirping, however, the emotions and expressions were very obvious.

The Empress then looked into the eyes of her Amerikan colleague, then returned to speak in English.
"As the Cadet pointed out, they must remain in orbit, as even I cannot command them to leave, nor threaten them with anything in order to make them leave. The First Law of Robotics prevent them from leaving the planet, or doing anything, directly or indirectly to harm me, or any Imperial assets. Accidents and malfunctions are impossible. We are Clank, and all Clanks are built to the most stringent specifications. Our personal guard is tested against an even more strict tolerance. I can assure, those Clanks up in orbit will do their job precisely. And that's to defend us."
She kept a short pause to add emphasis to her statement of the perfection of her race. From her expression, and look, pride radiated. The Cadet radiated with a sense of patriotism, and success. As if she, personally had been complimented by her boyfriend. The Empress then continued.

"If they will be shot down by primitive Species 5618 planetary defense, then they deserved that fate. The weak shall perish." Another pause added emphasis to this sentence. The Empress looked like she won't shed a tear, even if she went home alone from this trip. In fact, no one would. Everyone knew that in the world of perfection, even the slightest error is fatal. In the literal sense of the word.

"However, the Second Law of Robotics prevent them from attacking, even if they themselves are attacked. They will evade any attempts by the other factions on your planet. We are surprised to hear that even at your level of advancement, your planet hasn't been unified under a single government. But, from the context of your speech, we determined that you are working on it, and made significant progress. If it's so, we could only congratulate."

by **New Amerik** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:41 am

"Ah...perfection.,.I still remember when I embraced the philosophy. Many of my nation still do. Must be something in the blood..." the Emperor mused, still sitting. "Unfortunately, the pursuit of perfection is always being buggered up by the multiverse it seems. Please, sit."

He gestured for the others to sit down, even as he called out, "I trust you still...exist?" He received no outward sign of acknowledgement to the question, but from the direction and tone it had been broadcast in, as well as the short nod a few seconds later, he had found it answered. "Excellent. Prepare up drinks."

As he sat, waiting for the others, a shadow came in from the room behind. It was tall, gaunt, and whispy, snaking across the wall upon which it fell, before quite flagrantly violating several laws of light interaction to jump to the fireplace, temporarily smother a small side table in complete and utter darkness, before retreating and vanishing...but leaving a single empty glass bottle, with a slim black smooth metal device attached, and drink glasses on the table.

"First of all, however, you must have surely recognized by now - we are not on Earth anymore. My home away from home may have been left to rot for twelve years in Universe 00264A, but with the Long Fog over our interversal connections are starting to become accessible once more. And, Nigel...I do refer to our very own United Nations of Sol."

Breaking the Long Fog (Semi-Closed, Attn. ROUS)

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