Returning from the shadows (FT, Open)

[Vanloan]

A faint signal spread through space, silent and almost undetectable accept to the greatest monitoring equipment. A large vessel moved overhead in the wake of a recent invasion of a planet. The Hierarchy was not as well known as the Division Heads would like, but after the defeat of a primitive race known as Revoltar, the conquest of the planet was easy, all of the other nations turned on each other and so the planet fell sooner then anticipated. The Church class ship moved slowly escorted by 2 chapel class ships as they transversed the stars. A basic movement of the invasion forces was underway and the ship was head toward a local star base on the fringe of Hierarchy territory. An Outer Rim fleet was in patrol within the area as well so the situation was fairly staple. Abbey master Burk was at the helm of the church class ship, also known as Liberation, and he was busy monitoring the movements within his ship.

A priest looked up from his control station "Sir there is a signal, I think… our sensors can barely get any fix, we would need a Surveillance vessel to make any form of analysis." Burk looked at the priest and the minds connected again, as the Vanloan were mute but used their minds to communicate as they had a genetic connection that allowed such communication. It was not telepathy, and for those who used telepathy they could not here such conversations. They even had their own language that they used so that it was impossible to ever tell what they were telling each other. Burk spoke "Can we see if any signal in our database matches this one so we can estimate and come to a rational conclusion upon what this signal is?" The priest turned and after a few minutes he turned back "It seems that the closest thing we have to match this one is a distress signal from a colonizing ship, but the Hierarchy has not used colonizing ships in centuries." Burk nodded "We are not the ship to check this out, but we must report it and have them send some form of investigation. So with that in mind hail Starbase 14 and get us out of here."

Abbey master Fury sat on his ship Revenge and looked out, he was in command of Cathedral class ship and it was one of the most feared ones in the Vanloan fleet. Yet when a request from Starbase 14 came in to hail and investigate a faint signal he was a little put off. Yet he understood why they had chosen him. After a surveillance ship had locked the signal and transferred co-ordinates it had been discovered that this vessel was in fact some form of colonizing ship. Yet the Hierarchy used teleportation technology to send their species to a planet, along with molecular technology to build. A colonizing ship was useless to the technological superior race, and still this one was so close to Hierarchy space that it had to be theirs. Yet only visual inspection could determine if it was in fact theirs. The dangers of a false signal were great and so sending a war ship was a safe and reliable option. Revenge fired up its engines and opened a portal transferring through it. Within moments empty space where the signal came from appeared in front of them. At first Fury was curious and about to declare this a fraud, when a black vessel, definitely not Vanloan, and definitely ruined float in front of them. It was larger then expected and this would mean investigation would take a while.

Fury looked at his priests "Prepare some Robotic troops to investigate the ship, inform me of any fluctuations in our systems. We may not be the only ones searching this ship out. Maybe they own this vessel and tell us why it is floating in ruins near our space." He then waited as orders circulated the ship and the sounds of a boarding vessel's signal started to air and Fury watched it through monitors as the ship raced toward the wreck of this unknown vessel. A mystery in space, something he never fully expected to find. Especially so close to home. The weapons of Revenge were trained upon the wreck to make sure nothing would surprise them and constant interaction with the Starbase in case of emergency was also underway. Everything was by the book safe and slowly they would figure out everything they needed to know about this situation.

[The Daleks]

Scout Saucer K-G Alpha-12
Unchartered Territory

"Report!" demanded the Strategist Dalek in command of the saucer K-G Alpha-12. The ship was on a routine scouting mission far from the boundaries of Dalek space, chartering this section of space that the Daleks had not visited in centuries and researching the new powers that had established themselves in those centuries. Much had changed since the Third Dalek Empire withdrew from the affairs of the more vulgar 'lower species' of Mutter's Spiral to fight in the Last Great Time War, and the newly re-established empire now felt the need to find out more about the events that had occured in their abscence and the species that had risen to power. K-G Alpha-12 was just one of hundreds of scout saucers sweeping the galaxy, meticulously recording the new empires of Mutter's Spiral and reporting back to Skaro so that the Strategist caste could divise new ways of exterminating these lifeforms.

"Sensors detect unrecognised alien signal originating from nearby solar system," replied a red drone Dalek in a higher voice. Its luminosity dischargers flashed with each distorted, heavily emphasised syllable. "It appears to be originating from an alien vessel of unfamiliar configuration... Alert! A second vessel has entered sensor range. Data suggests that they are investigating the first vessel."

The blue-coloured Strategist glided forward, its dome swivelling to face the drone that had spoken. Trembling slightly as it spoke, the creature barked, "activate visualiser! Show me the vessels. Initiate tactical analysis."

The mysterious black vessel and the Vanloan ship that had arrived to investigate both appeared on a two-dimensional holographic display. The command strategist and the other tactical Daleks on the bridge all turned to examine the scene. Then the second-in-command turned back to the red drone that piloted the ship. Gliding over to the drone's console, it asked, "are either of the alien ships currently aware of our prescence?"

"Unknown," replied the drone. "We do not have information regarding the sensor range of the unknown vessels."

"Chart a course for the source of the signal!" ordered the commander. "An interstellar incident that may reveal the diplomatic and cultural behaviour of an unknown civilization appears to have occured in unclaimed territory. Daleks will investigate. Raise shields and arm all weapons in the event that the xenos demonstrate hostile intent. Prepare for the possibility of battle."

"I OBEY!" chanted the bridge crew, and the dozens of brightly coloured Daleks spun around and set about their delegated tasks. The strategist who as second in command glided around the edge of the bridge, ensuring every Dalek was doing as it had been ordered, before turning and moving to the middle of the bridge to take up position alongside the Dalek commander. The commander had its eyestalk fixed on the holographic image of the Vanloan vessel. The eyestalk twitched slightly as if the Dalek was thinking about something, then it spun around to directly face the second in command.

"Tactical analysis suggests that the first vessel is damaged or abandoned," it grated. "Confirm."

"The data suggests so," the second strategist responded. "Suggestion: We may be witnessing an alien salvage mission."

The commander of the vessel turned around and lowered its eyestalk, then, within a few rels, raised the visual sensor and faced the screen once again, barking, "initiate basic scan of both ships. Report: Does the configuration of the inferior lifeforms' vessels match?" it added. Several rels later the drone responded, "negative. Scans suggest limited correlation between vessel designs and technology. These ships were not constructed by the same species."

"If this is a salvage expedition," observed the commander, "the aliens are not salvaging their own vessel."

There was a brief flash of light as the Dalek ship slowed to normal speed, leaving hyperdrive and appearing near to the other ships. Now there was no doubt that the aliens would discover the Daleks' prescence; on board the saucer, the bridge crew observed as they approached the two other ships. The first vessel- the source of the signal- was very clearly an abandoned or heavily damaged ship. The completely unfamiliar design gave little clue as to the ship's purpose. It was completely black, a dark shape drifting through the cold void of space. By contrast the Vanloan vessel was a large, impressive, and undoubtably active warship, or at least relatively well armed. It certainly outweighed the small Dalek scout saucer, although the Daleks seemed to have a technological edge.

"We should establish contact with the warship," warned the second in command Dalek. "We lack the ability to exterminate the inferior life forms if we are forced to engage in battle. As such we must appear non-hostile and feign merely scientific interest and concern for the crew of the first vessel."

"Agreed. Lower communications barrier, establish channel- audio only."

"I obey."

"Attention, unknown vessel. This is the Scout Saucer K-G Alpha-12 of the Fourth Dalek Empire. We are investigated a signal originating from the ship you appear to be salvaging or investigating. We request information on the circumstances of its discovery. Raise communications barrier!"

[Vanloan]

"Attention, unknown vessel. This is the Scout Saucer K-G Alpha-12 of the Fourth Dalek Empire. We are investigated a signal originating from the ship you appear to be salvaging or investigating. We request information on the circumstances of its discovery. Raise communications barrier!"

Fury frowned as the alien ship had been detected by Revenge moments before, yet he had assumed that they would simply pass by. Fury knew there was no way to speak to these creatures without a voice projector and so he turned to one of his priests "I need a voice projector to communicate " within an instant one was brought to him by a drone. He attached it to his throat area and tested it out. A robotic voice came out and universal language could be heard. He then motioned to bring up communications.

Code: Select all

Greetings,Alien visitors, I am Abbey Master Fury, in command of the ship Revenge,by what right do you have to request anything from the Great Hierarchy? I will inform you that this vessel was found a few miles from Hierarchy space and is being investigated and to be retained after investigation.So if this is your vessel you will not be re-obtaining it.If you wish to inquire further I suggest you bring your ship over to star base 14 for investigation and diplomacy. Otherwise I suggest you leave, though this is not a request as by the Vanloan Code you are free to watch as long as you do not interfere. If you interfere I will be forced to send your ship to Apoctis. May Order Prosper

Then turning back to the priests he motioned and part of the weapons transferred on the giant vessel towards the are where it faced the Dalek ship. Dalek technology was not uncommon in the Hierarchy and in fact extensive knowledge of it had been recorded and yet the processes to see if it was useful to the Hierarch were still underway. He spoke "Any news from the Robotics sent to the mystery vessel?" a priest nodded "Yes sir, they boarded and are now underway through there investigation." Fury nodded.

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Robotic captain X walked through the ship wielding his mirror gun and motioned so the rest of the squad would follow. The ship was something to look at, there were alien skulls decorating the interior so logically this alien race was a fan of skulls, but each skull was connected in a tube like system that seemed to fill a storage machine inside the skull. A brain like system possibly but it was impossible to tell at a glance what these things were for. The inside was as black as the vessel and yet the occasional red glowing liquid was pumped throughout the ship giving it a dim red glow. Lights were flickering so obviously this alien technology was primitive and ran of a generator and had no back up system for such an emergency. The blue light emanating off of the white and grey robotic also gave the ship and erie feel, but a Robotic had no emotion and so it felt nothing. Yet something was humming in the ship and the further in the more bones were found. All of the same species specifically and there seemed to be black crystals sitting around as well and one hooked up to the red fluid it would glow and beat like a heart.

As the information was relayed back to Revenge something was putting itself together. A word was creeping out that the Hierarchy knew about but had never encountered. The Mystery of what technology this was, was fading. yet why it was here seemed to be challenging. Who it was seemed impossible to figure out as this technology had been looked over for the most part and unnecessary in any form of technological evolution. The word was finally revealed when they entered a docking bay and giant drone ships out lined in bones, and with a skull as the sight line area. Necro-tech, that is what it was. Necro-tech was technology that revolved around using the dead and making them alive through technology,in a sense it was necromancy brought into the future. The Hierarchy had little to nothing in the field of Necro-technology and this streamlined black ship was a start, as it had all the components necessary to gain a basic understanding. A movement occurred in the ship, something was still alive, or was just not dead.