With arms wide open (FT- open)

[Agentium]

Since man first looked up to the stars with eyes wide and neck strained they he has longed for the knowledge to understand what is out there. Even after more than 100 millennia of existence man curiosity drove him to reach out to the great blackness and those glimmering gems that floated seemingly just over their heads. 1957 the first man to ever leave the bounds of earth’s atmosphere entered into space. In 1968 the first man touched extraterrestrial soil and spoke those famous words. In 1998 nations came together to begin construction of the great orbiting international space station. It was with these same ambitions and dreams that we set out from our homes in 2233 aboard the great colony ships towards a new world, an uncharted land, a home.

During our voyage we encounter a gravitational anomaly within our FTL drive that sent us an incredible, indeterminable distance from our terrain home system. We were sent to a far flung corner of the galaxy our FTL drive destroyed.

For the next 12 generations we slowly made our way to the nearest solar system on conventional drives. Within that system we found 2 planets the first of which we named Agentium, after what was still readable on the name on the side of our ship. The second we called Segmentium for our segregation from our home world. It took 60 years to terraform both worlds and another 100 after that before we could say that this was our new world, our home world.

For the past 40 years we have been trying to send out messages to the rest of the galaxy via probe and satellite but now on this day we take to the stars once again, with our new FTL drive we can for the first time reach out to the stars and say ‘We are here and we would like to meet you.”

((OOC: I know the first man made object to leave space was the A4 in 1942 but Sputnik 1 is what everyone thinks of first))

[Agentium]

((Bump for first contact ?))

[Etrontias]

(First contact request acknowledged)
The field marshal known as Winston Decker looked over the cloaked ship from the monitors above the co-pilot's chair in his war-ship. He was more soldier than pilot, but the seat was open and he felt like learning. "I know he's here." He said, eyes glued to the monitors. He was in the middle of his favorite pass time, hunting pirates, and he had reason to believe one was in this sector. The pilot didn't say a word, he just continued flying through space in search of the criminal. With all the space in the universe, it seemed impossible to find one ship, but Decker has done in numerous times before. Then, the pilot spoke up. "Hey, I found a ship. Doesn't look like the one we're chasing though." Decker pressed one of the buttons in front of him, and the AI he installed came up over his monitors. "Yes, C.O. Decker?" the asked Decker. "Run a scan on that ship. Give me all possible information."

The AI disappeared from the field marshal's monitors for a few moments. "The ship does not appear to match any known ship designs, and there are no markings that would tie it to any group we have encountered. I feel safe assuming we have a first contact situation here." Decker thought for a few moments. He looked to the pilot. "Power up the hacking equipment and one of the devastators." Then he looked to the AI, once again covering his monitors. "Lets send them a message." The AI disappeared, replaced with a speech system. Decker leaned forward to make sure his voice was picked up correctly. "Hello, this is Field Marshal Winston Decker of the Etrontian Navy. We request that you identify yourself and state your reason for being in this sector." Decker played the recording before pressing the send button. "I don't care if they say they're friendly, don't un-cloak until I say so." Decker knew the pilot wouldn't, but he was a cautious person.

(if you want and information on Winston Decker and his ship(which is a Y-2 class), please check the 'Special units and soldiers' and 'Space craft' sections of my factbook.)

[Agentium]

The RTO sat at her station dimly watching the monitor in front of her, actually to say that she was doing much beyond just sitting in her chair staring into the distance thinking about what her plans for the end of her shift were would be a bit of a stretch. Thus the surprise that overwhelmed her when a signal actually was enough to make her fall right out of her seat.

The captain turned to her and raised an eyebrow, “You alright there ensign?”

She shakily eased herself back into her chair and said “Sir, you’re not going to believe this but...” She adjusted her glasses, “it would appear that we have actually received a transmission.”

The captain walked behind her station and put a hand on her shoulder, “What does command want know?” he asked.

“It doesn’t appear to be from command,” her fingers worked the control panel, “I’m running it through the universal translator but this message is not from home. I would venture that this is first contact,” She said.

“Well then,” the captain walked over to the ships internal communication system, “Ambassador Kendor please report to the bridge,” he paused for a moment. “And bring Professor Schwartz with you.”

“Message translated,” the young ensign said, “it reads ‘Hello, this is Field Marshal Winston Decker of the Etrontian Navy. We request that you identify yourself and state your reason for being in this sector.’

Ambassador Kendor stepped onto the bridge, “Captain what in gods name is going on?”

“See for yourself,” he said pointing to the message.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Kendor said, “this is incredible, where are they?”

“Hell if I know, “the captain said shrugging.

“Perhaps they have some kind of cloaking technology,” the professor said staring out at the main view screen.

“Well then, any idea how we can find them professor?” the captain asked, “Or have your forgotten that we are an unarmed research ship?”

“Now just hold on everyone, no need to start thinking the worst of these people,” Kendor said. “We would probably do the same thing if our situations reversed.” He turned his attention to the RTO, “Sarah, send them this.” Sarah began working her controls, “We are the ambassadorial Pontus of the nation Agentium. It would appear that we are at a rather bizarre situation, you see this is the first time we have ever left our home system and well we currently are just outside of our system. A bit strange that our first contact with another people would be so close to home. If possible could we arrange a meeting in person?”

The ensign finished typing the message, “alright,” Kendor said,” Shall we introduce ourselves to the galaxy?”

[Onarr]

"Lord. Messages from the dreamingspace! Whispers and moanings and eagernesses!"

The words were a chattering natter of excitement, intruding upon Æthelástigend's contemplations. He glanced over at Slipquick, whose scrawny pale blue arms were gesturing helpfully at the framework of branches in front of the Onarrán. Slipquick's three chins quivered with excitement, his foot-hands grasping the arm of his Lord's throne

Shipmaster Æthelástigend's fingers flicked toward the branch network in front of him, watching as images superimposed themselves. Information, raw data....and a message seeking first contact.

"See! Excitemented yearnings of eager anticipation, whisperings of meetings of unknown calculating entitties!"

"Slipquick, shush."

The Shipmaster's words a mere whisper, an island of calm surrounded by a boiling ocean of excited chattering from the sprite. The ship itself orbited a world well over one hundred lightyears from the point of the message's origin, its sensors reaching out far beyond its physical form. Floating above the surface of this gas giant world were half a dozen automated mining facilities, drawing off resources that the Onarrím, for whatever reason, found usefull.

"Ashaznagar - " Æthelástigend direct his voice toward a thing of shadows and claws, long fingers and stolen souls. "wake Cynewulf, tell him to bring my ceremonial rig."

Without a sound the scéad departed the control room, leaving the fusion of metal and forestry behind as it sought the Shipmaster's bondsman. The room seemed brighter for its departure, the rustling of leaves and the laughter of playing sprites slightly louder; the dark whispers inside your mind slightly quieter.

"Taischule, bring us the source of this message."

A grey creature, hunched over a control console, turned to face the Shipmaster, bowing his eyeless, horse's head in obedience before the ship moved into the void between worlds. The warcraft re-emerged a polite distance from the origin world, its shields active but cloak down. Even without its cloaking active it remains elusive to sensors, as if unwilling to admit to the material universe that it exists. The hob whisperd to the Shipmaster of another ship in this space, hidden from active sense but whose transmissions continued to bounce around the system.

...Greetings and salutations. We are the Parliamentary Warcraft Dancing Thorns Beneath A Sullen Sky. I am Shipmaster Æthelástigend nal’Messendian vail’lor’Rose, in service to the Parliament of the Boundless Realms of the Onarrím...[i/] A pause. [i]...Our greetings also to the Other present here...

As the message is transmitted a human enters the control room, a medley of sprites behind him carrying a brassbound chest. He opens it, and begins to fit his master's ceremonial armour to him.

[Etrontias]

Decker leaned back in his chair as the response was translated and displayed on the monitors in front of him. "Hmm, so it is first contact. Prepare to send a message back." Decker leaned forward again as the speech system comes up again. "Yes, we can send a shuttle up immediately if you would like," Decker paused for a moment "end message, translate, send, and move two of the GMSH1s to the shuttle. Unarmed, except for the whole claw hand thing." Even unarmed, the hulking beasts would be more than useful in close-quarters combat. The translation finished quickly with their message being used as a base for the rest of their language. It was an experimental feature in the AI. No doubt there would be spelling errors and issues with all the assumptions made, but it should be easy to figure out what the intended message was.

Moments after the message was sent, another ship appeared. The AI quickly scanned the ship before the command was even issued. "It appears this ship also belongs to an unknown group. It appears that this one sent a message, to." the AI began to translate the message just as it did before, displaying the message on the screen. Decker once again read through it. "I guess it isn't a surprise they saw us. I made a few upgrades to the cloaking, but it's nearly impossible to hide a ship of this size completely." Decker sighed and spoke again in an exasperated tone. "Prepare another message." For the 3rd time the voice software came up on the monitor. "This is Field Marshal Winston Decker of the Etrontian Navy. As you can see, we appear to have a 3 way first contact. I recommend that we sent up a communication channel so we can talk until we can decide on a meeting place, like one of the fine looking planets in this sector." One again Decker paused. "Copy the message. Translate one into the first groups language, the seconded into the other, send them, and hope you didn't royally screw up the translation, alright?" The AI didn't bother to respond, it just got to work.

[Agentium]

Kendor stared at the monitor in near disbelief, “Well we appear to have gotten someone’s attention,” he said adjusting his tie.

“Make that two someone’s,” Sarah said watching a new transmission form on her monitor. “Different source by the looks of it, can’t tell from where though.”

“Can’t we tell anything with this blood ship,” the captain threw his hands up in frustration.

“Well what should we do,” Kendor asked, “they did want to arrange a meeting.”

“Personally I think we should invite them to Terrace Station,” Professor Schwartz said, “It is the closest thing we have to an ambassadorial station and its on the edge of our system. Perfect for a dinner party wouldn’t you say Ambassador?”

“In deed I would,” Kendor said. He turned his attention to the ensign again, “Alright send them this message, ‘We would welcome you aboard one of our space stations, there we can have a proper meeting and get to know each other better. If we all agree we will transmit the coordinates to your vessels.”

“God damn it who is in charge of this ship,” the captain sighed in annoyance.

“Message sent,” the ensign said.

“Excellent,” Kendor said, “I can hardly wait to meet our new neighbors.”

[Etrontias]

With the AI becoming more and more familiar with the new language, the translation of this new message was almost instant, and with less errors. Decker quickly read through. When he was done he nodded at the monitors and the AI brought up the speech system. "We will be happy to visit this space station of yours. Just send us the coordinates when you're ready." Once again Decker nodded, and once again the message was translated into the foreign language, this time more accurately, and sent. Decker leaned back in his chair. "Uncloak the ship." Considering the second unknown ship, the pilot was surprised for a moment, but he knew what Decker's response would be. As the cloak was deactivated, the 1000-man ship was revealed. The ship was obviously not designed with looks in mind, but it served it's purpose. The weapons on the ship were all visible, all also visible unarmed save the one devastator cannon. Decker hoped that having only one weapon armed and not immediately attacking would make sure they knew it was only a precaution, but there was no way he was keeping his ship around these foreign peoples without having at least one weapon ready to fire.

[Fantrum]

OOC: Is there a sign up thread? Or can I just jump in?

[Agentium]

OOC: Is there a sign up thread? Or can I just jump in?

((OOC: Jump in, join my first Rp. Btw nice to meet you))

[Onarr]

The Shipmaster reclined amongst the branches of his throne, his ceremonial armour (as functional as his hunting rig, just rather more ornate) gleaming softly in the pale illumination of the control room. Slipquick, all fat belly and spindly limbs, hung upside down besides its lord.

“See? Whisperings and burblings of anticipatory eagerness! Murmurings in an iron shell for parlays of exci-“

The sprite was cut off when another of its kind, this one green and furry, made a fair approximation of rugby tackle for something without shoulders targeting another thing that was upside down. The two rolled off into a corner somewhere, doing whatever it was that sprites did when not annoying their betters.

Æthelástigend sent back a message to both transmitting entities:

…Field Marshall Winston Decker, such a channel sounds most suitable. I have ordered my Messenger to match your wavelength so that we do not shout across the whole solar system…

…Honoured hosts, that sounds agreeable. Kindly direct us to your station…

The Dancing Thorns Beneath A Sullen Sky (a gross oversimplification of its true name) was approximately three hundred metres long and looked roughly how you would imagine a dancer would look like if it were a ship – every curve and angle is elegant, any weaponry hidden within the superstructure and no part seeming out of place. It is as alien to the brute functionality favoured by most human nations as a duelling sabre is to a length of lead piping with a lump of concrete on the end. Just visible beneath shimmering shields; the ship’s surface is engraved with a pattern of thorns inlaid in bronze, with hundreds of flowers peeping out from behind the vines and all against the dark grey of the hull, its own surface resembling nothing so much as a sky full of roiling clouds beneath the thorn-and-flower engravings. In spite of the art that has gone into this ship there is something menacing about it as well, a sense that if it wished to fight its foes would never have the chance to strike it even once before they were destroyed.

[Fantrum]

The FNS King's Light skulked in the dark shadow of a nearby astroid. Captain Windrow Telston rubbed his chin as he watched the monitor displaying three vessels. At the front of the bridge, "Alright, I give, what am I looking at?" The captain asked in a 'get to the point' tone.

A young bridge officer timidly indicates a relatively unarmed and unarmored ship, "Well, sir, this ship here, is the human craft we have been following for some days." Frowning at the large and very obviously armed ship off to the side, "That is an Etrontian Y-2 class." Finally, gesturing to the last craft, "And I have no clue what in Luna's name that is."

"Hmmm, interesting. Comms, keep running tabs on all communiqué. Helm, maintain present course, keep that astroid between us and them. Tactical, have three Mantlon nuclear warheads primed just in case. We are staying dark people, no fun and games just yet."
As the bridge crew scrambled about following orders, Captain Telston continued to study the live video feed, trying to think of ways to stay hidden from the prying eyes of those before him, but also of a battle strategy, should the King's Light be detected needed to defend itself.

((For your information))
The King's Light is a small (just over 50 crew) Ulysses class prowler vessel that is made to avoid all sensor/visual contact, but only when running silent. Also, it has very little armament, only about 5 Mantlon class nuclear warheads, and one ion pulse cannon.

OOC: Nice to meet you too!
EDIT: Fixed some spelling mistakes.

[Fantrum]

OOC: Erm, where'd everyone go?

[Roett]

Ten'tal leaned back and considered his great fortune: the discovery of a 'new' species of space travel capable aliens. A perfect opportunity, thought the old man who appeared dark and wisened, to get acquainted with a potentially powerful ally.

His hand only accommodated three finger, and he used two of them to operate a small orb in front of him by running his finger along the object's surface and turning the fingers together whilst muttering some unholy magic words.

"AGENTIUM! Welcome. The stars are numerous but the void is even greater. We are emissaries for a great lord. He has encouraged us to contact you and open relations. We hope to hear from you soon."

[Onarr]

Rumpy-BUMPY-Pumpy

[Kistan]

"Odd." noted the Tyllic techie. "It seems that we have an unusual amount of traffic on some backwater world in region 4, sector 7, coordinates 3546, 6425."
"Well?" a supervisor leaned over his shoulder. "Ask High Command to send a ship to investigate. It could be enemy forces."
"The Swarm?"
"Perhaps. Those disgusting arthropods get everywhere. Probably the Shal 'Kad, though. Region four is still contested."

The massive ship Memory of Arados was deployed to investigate.(each Tyllic capital ship is massive and powerful, but they are fewer in number. Frigates still are used as support, as well as fighters.)

[Fantrum]

OOC: Can I get a bump bump?

[Fantrum]

*Takes the thread's pulse* *Looks up* "He's dead Jim."

[The Legion of War]

OOC: Funny, I had my eyes on this but it died before I got the chance to post. Not even sure if the OP is still around or if people want to revitalize it...

[Fantrum]

This thread was so promising too.

[Onarr]

((I wouldn't mind a restart with someone else as OP - I haven't got time to act as an OP atm))

[Kelvaros Prime]

((I wouldn't mind a restart with someone else as OP - I haven't got time to act as an OP atm))

I'd be interested in acting as OP. So long as the posters above can join also.

[Fantrum]

((I wouldn't mind a restart with someone else as OP - I haven't got time to act as an OP atm))

I'd be interested in acting as OP. So long as the posters above can join also.

Just link the IC and I will gladly join you in your intentions