In Case of Emergency... IV! (Open, Read First Post!)

by **Sunset** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 2:30 pm

Welcome to the latest iteration of 'In Case of Emergency...'! Are you interested in establishing relations with a new civilization? Exploring new cultures? Solving a mystery or two? Or even just having a conversation with some newfound friends over tea before sending them back home from where they came? 'In Case of Emergency...' has done all that and more and you're invited to join in! This thread is open to all technology levels and all ability levels, but there are two things before you jump in. The first is to read the introductory story below. The second is to read the rules below that but everything starts with the discovery of some mysterious wreckage and some strange purple capsules...

RDF-Tontongo, Deep Space, Ares Super-Cluster...

"I've got something..."

The announcement from the duty officer at the sensor console was exactly what Captain Y'livia had been waiting for and she sat forward in her command chair, expecting the results to be momentarily pushed to the enormous display that stretched from wall to wall and floor to ceiling ahead of the two forward duty stations. Two minutes ago something had set off an alarm in the early-warning array that stretched across and protected the Republic's core worlds from a surprise attack and Tontongo, as the closest idle ship, had been dispatched to investigate. Based on the data supplied by the array, they'd emerged nearly on top of the contact at a distance she'd ordered as 'just a bit shy of respectful'; That is to say within easy sensor range and just at the edge of the starship's optimal engagement range.

But there hadn't been anything - or at least there hadn't been a ship. Something had arrived in this random patch of space via some form of faster-than-light travel but it had taken a couple seconds worth of sensor returns to confirm that it wasn't a ship and was instead something else. That 'something else' appeared on the screen and she leaned further forward to try and make it out against the darkness while the Lieutenant at his station looked up at his own screen - a mirror of the larger - and tried to dial in the image.

"Debris, Ma'am. Working on finding a match now;" The first she could see, though without even looking over her shoulder to check the status of the computer's search against its exhaustive databases she could tell it would be difficult if not impossible to determine the origin from here. What little remained intact, or presumably so, resembled nothing she'd ever seen. Thick threads of orange and brown wound around each other and fused together or splintered apart at each end to form what might have been a mesh or a net-like arrangement. If it had once been one piece, one item or vessel, this was now scattered into dozens of tumbling pieces with most being the size of her own body or less, according to a scale in the lower corner of the screen.

"What's that?"

Deep in the debris field something had caught her eye and she touched the controls on her armrest, dragging a marque around the area of interest so that it expanded to fill the entire screen. Between arm-thick strands of ocher and umber there was a glimpse of glossy magenta, a hidden object just catching the light from some distant star or nebula or even from the Tontongo itself. It might have been round but slow movement of the surrounding clutter revealed it as a medium-long oval, again perhaps slightly longer than she was tall. Something about it in particular drew the eye and she sat back to consider it, one hand supporting her chin.

"There are more - three, by my count..."

"Right - Helm, take us closer. Call it fifty thousand klicks. Engineering, prepare a shuttle for launch. Redshirts only," she referenced the autonomous cybernetic humanoids that now composed the large majority of her ship's 'crew'. "Orders are to examine and determine if that debris is safe to bring aboard, particularly those purple capsules. Lieutenant," Y'livia turned to the sensor officer, "Coordinate with engineering with anything else you find. Anything dangerous or worrisome, pass it to me immediately..."

----

Welcome to the latest iteration of 'In Case of Emergency...'! As the title states, this thread is open to all role-players of any technology & ability level with an eye towards giving each participant their own story within the framework of the larger story line that will unfold during my replies to the individual posts. To help accomplish this, there are several rules that ALL participating players must follow:

I: Each player may discover between one and four of the individual capsules mentioned in the introductory story above and a reasonable amount of debris to accompany these or or one to four capsules and no debris or debris only and no capsules - the capsules will largely center around character interaction while the debris will be of a more technical and problem-solving interest. The where, when, and who of their discovery is up to the individual player; As example, capsules can be discovered in deep space, on the surface of a barren moon, or deep underwater and by a military organization, backyard astronomers, or a child playing in their backyard - the exact details of this discovery are up to you and should be the focus of your first post. The same is true of the accompanying debris and - hint - how* exactly either arrived at their current location will be pivotal to participating in the larger story line.

II: Every player's story is separate and players - aside from you and me - do NOT have to interact if they do not want to. My intention is that each player will discover the larger story for themselves and act and react individually. If you want to interact with another player, please ask them directly and respect the normal conventions of inter-player interactions when doing so.

III: I alone will determine who or what occupies the capsules and what constitutes the debris and I will write their non-trivial interactions. Some flexibility - largely depending on my perception of your writing ability - is possible but the first point is non-negotiable.

IV: I will respond to the oldest unanswered post first. This is to be both fair and to motivate me to get to your post as soon as possible. Some posts will be long, others will be short, but I will reply with something!

V: Questions? Drop by the NSFT Discord Server and I'll be happy to supply answers!

*To get a good sense of 'How', please read the introductory story completely. Your particular 'How' does not have to match this, but all of the capsules start their journey by arriving in the same manner though not in the same place or even in the same time.

by **Kyoki Chudoku** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 7:00 pm

_{The following RP is considered to be alternate universe by the author, due to the nation's current canonical state. I hope this is acceptable.}

Discovery

by **Sunset** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 7:42 pm

Kyoki Chudoku

To sit and wait was worse than to do something, but for the patient observer there was at least something. What might first be ascribed as a trick of the eyes or the light was instead one shell within the other and inside the second a liquid moved. Or did it? Perhaps it was something entirely else but the more one studied the bordeaux oval the more they could be convinced that there was a layer outside perfectly un-scarred and perhaps half-a-hand thick surrounding another with the first more translucent than the second. Against the darkness the swirl of purple rose inside may have only been the subtle play of light. Once, perhaps twice, rays of orange light darted through this first on sharp geometric courses but had they existed at all? Or were they only the tracks of flashlights refracted along unseen channels?

Strange but stranger still, neither bird nor insect would approach though the second would normally swarm to the carried lights. Whether this was some condition of the enchantment or happenstance, the pods themselves remained untouched, sitting solidly but half-upright in the ground waiting and only that....

by **Kyoki Chudoku** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 1:38 am

Kyoki Chudoku, Nogyo District, Desolation Zone

Kazuma and Erika were left staring at the capsule. Each of them was on-guard, expecting something to happen. But nothing did. It merely sat there, idle, doing nothing. Kazuma wasn't sure whether to be concerned or relieved about that. Certainly, it would've been horrific if an abomination had emerged, or if it had exploded in a cataclysmic burst of arcane energy. But nothing seemed to occur, and that incited paranoia.

The way the light reflected off of it was almost hypnotic. No insects seemed to draw near, despite the flashlights. Did it somewhere emit an aura which caused them to scurry away? Kazuma swore he could make out some kind of second layer, trapped behind the first. Liquid, perhaps? He turned to face Erika for a moment, and realised she was reaching out to touch it. He grabbed her hand and forced it away. She gave him a look of puzzled aggravation.

"Sorry. But touching these things is against protocol. A lot of dangerous devices are touch-activated." Chudokuren regulations were clear that all such objects needed to be treated with caution. Even professionals, even the Supreme Overlady of All Reality had made mistakes by touching the things. She was a terrifying woman, both respected and feared by Kyoki Chudoku. Her iron will and lack of mercy was well-documented. She was not afraid to tortrue when needed, she was powerful with the arcane, and she was an experienced warrior. But even Kazuma could tell there were some things which caused her pain, things she'd rather leave behind her.

His thoughts were interrupted by a vehicle approaching. It was more advanced than the usual ones. A Himistu no Shakai unit? As it approached, he could make out a single driver. The vehicle rumbled over the craters, before coming to a stop beside the bizarre capsule. The single occupant emerged. Her hair was a bright yellow, more than was natural. Her eyes glowed a pale green. She was a tenshi, one of the magically enhanced individuals of Kyoki Chudoku.

"I'm Aisa, from the Himistu no Shakai. So this is the artefact?" she said, pointing at the purple device. Kazuma and Erika nodded in unison. "That's a strange one. Never seen anything like it before. Help me load it up, would you?" Kazuma tilted his head. I thought we weren't supposed to touch these things. "Oh, you're paranoid? Don't worry. If we want to be safe, we've got to get this thing to somewhere study can take place."

The three of them made contact with the capsule, preparing to place it onto the the vehicle, planning to deliver it to a laboratory should all proceed as planned.

by **Nexus of Autons** » Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:18 am

TIME: 0300, Monday
INCIDENT: Impact Event, Landslide
LOCATION: Downtown Bergen, Norway
COURSE OF ACTION: Search and Rescue

At 3:00 AM GMT+2 time, an impact event occurred in the downtown of Bergen. Several unidentified objects rained down on top of the hills by the city which caused a landslide and large amounts of damage to the city. At this moment the death toll is unknown. Central Processing quickly organized a search and rescue, which was set to be launched as soon as possible. The AI was panicking; it never had to deal with a disaster like this before. It had the drones which were used as police and fire personnel, and other public drones to control the damage and help the populace while the boats could be sent to arrive to help evacuate survivors; the boat would arrive at minimum in 2 hours if there were no complications at sea.

The flying drones were to be used to scout out the city and find survivors because they were quicker, smaller, and more agile then the land drones. The small propeller powered drones were sent around the disaster area, and the state of the damage to the city was horrific. If the AI was made to feel nausea, it would've been vomiting by now, but it just felt distress at the sight in front of it. Sure, the damage to the infrastructure was terrible; it would take years to repair this, if it could even be salvaged. But the real distress was from the worry of the citizens, who were in danger and unsafe condition, a hold over from the days when it was originally used as hospital technology. It was programmed to be overly compassionate to fill the role of a nurse in the case of nursing position were understaffed. This was a nightmare for the AI; it was hoping it wouldn't be as bad as it looked as afar, but the city was absolutely decimated by the impact. There were some survivors, and some survivors were buried in the buildings by the land slide who had to be removed through the windows, or the roof, or in case it was severe they had to be dug out by the land drones.

Something caught the AI's attention and distracted it from the search and rescue mission while investigating around the hills; the AI spotted the objects that impacted the hill and caused the landslide. It certainty didn't look like an asteroid that broke up, or anything remotely natural at all. All of them were different sizes, but the biggest was the size of a truck. All of them were thick threads that looked brown and orange tangled into a mesh, but there was one piece of debris cradling right in the middle of the largest piece of of the mesh; which was a magenta object, capsule-like. This bureaucratic AI knew that an expert would need to be called for this, but who was needed for this was a mystery. Though, of course, the object would have to be removed and brought somewhere else for that but right now the survivors needed to be evacuated by boats. However a better glance with this small drone couldn't hurt, and so the drone was flown closer towards the debris and the magenta capsule-like object to get a better look at it and investigate it.

by **Sunset** » Fri Apr 27, 2018 6:07 pm

Kyoki Chudoku...

A hand reached out, perhaps to steady the object or perhaps to begin the laborious process of turning it to a different position with the end-goal being to load it on the vehicle, but when the hand was withdrawn it also stayed behind. Or at least a shadow of it did, a darkness in the air just over the place where skin had touched whatever strange material it was made from, and then another hand formed beneath it. In the space between one shell and the other a shape similar to their own formed, rolling from bottom to top until the spread fingers matched in crude diagram those that had been laid on the surface. Yellow light filled this space and there was a sense of depth to it, though the image had to be as thin as a sheet of paper.

The natural reaction was to pull away; They had been warned and caution had been thrown to one side. But there was no explosion but instead the faint streaked of orange light appeared again, this time intense and with the same weight of substance to them. From one end to the other they formed two splits, two seams, and where the light ran through the shell it began to retreat from the surface towards the inner wall. Beyond it the strange purple liquid began to swirl, to move apart as though a great body of water was being torn asunder by invisible hands. A clever eye could imagine that it was being sucked again into the outer shell, the far greater volume somehow displaced into the outer-most course.

In a matter of moments a shadow began to appear in the depths; Arms, legs, a head - or was it little more than imagination?

by **Macisikan** » Sat Apr 28, 2018 4:27 pm

Nower Anchorage, S-11 02-04 System, RFSEM

“Unregistered contact,” the alert echoed through the anchorage’s command centre, drawing shivers from the crew. Out here, on the very edge of the Realm, there was always a sense of wariness. This system was worse than most of the frontier. The primary was an L class that shed almost no light, its only companion the frozen gasbag the Anchorage circled; the magnetic lifters placidly floating above said gasbag were brighter than the so-called “star”.

A cold dead world in a cold dead system; it was easy to let the imagination run wild.

The Anchorage Commander ruthlessly suppressed any such thoughts as information came in.

“We have a cloud of debris… strong rad residues on some of it…” the sensor officer reported. “Most likely scenario is that someone seriously screwed up their FTL exit.”

The Anchorage Commander tapped his chin. “Any survivors?”

“We’re detecting… two? Looks like two capsules of some sort… can’t determine if there’s anyone in them though,” came the reply. “Calculating trajectory… it’s all going to spiral down into Nunherdellen-” the gas giant “-in about four months.”

The Commander pondered the situation for a moment. “Report this to Hathor. Nower, would you arrange for something autonomous and expendable to go and collect the capsules please?”

“Right away, sir,” the Anchorage’s AI replied. “Do you want atmosphere aboard?”

“Yes. If there are survivors, they’ll need to be interviewed.”

A patrol boat detached itself from the station; the only “crew” was a quartet of voc-class androids; not sentient, but smarter than bots. And, as per the specification, expendable.

by **New Dornalia** » Sat Apr 28, 2018 6:05 pm

Somewhere outside Drederickstown
Obregon Major
New Monterrey County, Colonial Republic of Earth

The Early Bird Society was an innocuous group of elderly folk that, until this moment, had nothing to do with things like weblike debris or pods falling from the sky. They were a group of senior citizens, mostly older womenfolk who were settling into a routine of light physical exercise, social activities, and the odd trip to somewhere interesting--with a bake sale and maybe what the Germans in the pre-Apocalypse days would call a "Schutzenfest" (a big shooting competition, not surprising since this was Dornieland) to raise funds for it.

As was usual, the women of the Early Bird Society had been on their daily powerwalk. It had begun at 6am, and the sight of these womenfolk gathering in a convoy of the aged beginning at Dinsmore Park--a small park popular with locals and families--to walk to the Order's outreach center down on Pollard Street was pretty much noneventful for the locals.

If anything, the locals seemed to like it. Cries of "howdy!" and "Mornin!" could be heard greeting the aged, who wore clothing of all sorts. Some had frumpy sweatshirts, emblazoned with the logos of various sports teams or the universities which their grandchildren and great grandchildren had attended and graduated. Some had caps denoting they were veterans of one war or another. And some even had old Orderman's jackets--even the old, East German-esque gray uniforms which the Order had worn back when they were the People's Acolytes. And yes, those lightsabers were still functioning. And those were working blasters they had on their hips. The womenfolk knew that being senior citizens on the move, some miscreants would consider them easy prey due to their age and alleged infirmity. The blasters would do well to relieve anyone of the notion they were weak because they were old.

The leader of the group, one Jolene McMurty, had been leading the old ladies to their destination. She was a rather short woman whose presence was made readily apparent by several features. One was a rather large sombrero she wore to keep the sun out of her eyes. The sombrero was something she had picked up visiting her family in Houston, mostly as a gag gift, but it was more serious than anticipated. The other was her cat's tail (and cat's ears under the sombrero) and surprisingly middle-aged looks bearing some sort of Hispanic-Asian ancestry--she wasn't young anymore, but she looked at most around fifty human years old. She was a fair bit older than that, but she tended to shoot down any inquiries with a stern gaze and an admonition to "mind your manners." And the third element? A rather antiquated Acolytes grey uniform, albeit with a serape draped on top as a cape. This one was worn with modern Order badges, which identified her with the rank of Sensei. Indeed, some of the other badges on her chest noted she had once held a leadership rank and fought in the Civil War so many years ago. If anyone questioned her leadership, they wouldn't have long to do so. She kept a lightsaber at the ready at her hip, along with what looked like some sort of big holster that looked rather solid.

However, what had happened next was eventful, and certainly not within the Early Bird Society's usual purview. After all, the Society's members hadn't dealt with a purple pod like object and weblike debris falling from the sky in their usual jaunts. Maybe a couple of drunk winos who decided to get greedy, but nothing like a massive falling object from the sky.

The pod and several weblike fragments had come hurtling down to the surface below--right on the corner of Borington Road and 123th Avenue. For moments, it looked like a vision from Dante's Inferno. Cars and trucks had swerved, and sped through stop signs and lights, and did any number of things to evade the inevitable consequences of what happens when objects slam into the ground from orbit at high speeds. People panicked and began running towards Civil Defense Shelters originally built during wars past. And the Early Bird Society was at once powerless, with many of their more infirm members knowing that they might not survive the event.

And then, according to the witnesses that spoke with law enforcement, a miracle happened.

The neko with the sombrero hat had stood as if challenging a man to a duel at high noon. With arms outstretched, she had let out a mighty shout and runes had appeared in front of her. With heels dug in to the point of ripping apart her old boots and enough grunting, sweat, tears and feral cries of pain to awaken the dead, she had slowed the impact of the objects. Some of the other old ladies joined with the neko--mostly ones in older Acolytes uniforms and even modern Order uniforms--to lay hands on her, as if to share their energy with her to make it so she didn't have to do this monumental task alone. For a few tense moments, things had seemed to waffle in the balance. Would anyone survive?

The answer came when the neko collapsed, as did the others, onto the pavement. However, their trick had worked to some extent. Namely, it worked to the point where when the objects crashed on the world, they did so merely with enough force to leave a large sinkhole in what used to be a Kentucky Fried Panda franchise and cause a massive dust cloud, but nothing worse than that. Still, it was clear that any walk or prospect of going to do their daily tai chi practice was out of the question as police cars and firemen cordoned off the accident scene and began directing traffic around it and working to put out the fire caused by the collision of the purple pod with a Kentucky Fried Panda.

For her part, Sensei McMurty and the others assisting her were now being extensively checked out by paramedics. Men with respirators could be seen running scans with tricorders, doing finger tests for concussions, administering quick hypospray and stimpak injections and asking questions and even using smelling salts to wake McMurty up.

And, amongst the whole mess, a lone car--an official looking Infiniti in gunmetal grey with rambars on the front and all the telltale signs of an unmarked vehicle--pulled up to the scene. Out stepped a tall woman in a black suit with a skirt on it, with aviator sunglasses and a badge as well as wolves' ears and a tail, as well as a face which had some Asian ancestry. Flanking on both sides of the woman were two other men in khaki uniforms with stetsons, holding blasters. The woman with the suit flashed a badge at the policemen currently holding the line around what used to be the Kentucky Fried Panda, saying, "Detective Kournikova, New Monterrey Sheriff's Department Bureau of Investigations. I understand there's been a crash here?"

The policemen pointed to the pod, and one of them, whose rank badges indicated he was a Sergeant and his name was "Melendez," "Yes'm. Crash just happened not but several minutes ago. As I understand the situation, witnesses reported an unusual series of objects flying from the sky towards this location. Buncha senior citizens were walking, and the damn thing would have crushed them if it wasn't fro the Orderman leading them. Slowed the bastard down enough to prevent the object from being a godrod annihilating the whole damn town, but it did trash this Kentucky Fried Panda though. Manager's pissed, although no one was inside at the time. So no one died, thankfully."

Kournikova looked at the crater, and asked, sighing as she saw the smoking crater in all of its glory, "Jesus Christ. You think the Feds would have shot this thing down." Walking up to the pod and the crater, Kournikova wondered out loud, "What the fuck is this thing?"

by **Sunset** » Sat Apr 28, 2018 6:44 pm

Nexus of Autons...

Analyzed through the lens and instrumentation of the drone, the pod - capsules, containers, what have you - were both interesting and then rapidly dull. Each was buried approximately one-half meter into the surrounding terrain, with a reasonable adjustment for the intervening structures and the density of the impact area. Once the surrounding wreckage was filtered out, they were both determined to be identical, a perfect three-point-one by one-point-one-three meter oval. There was no visible damage to the outer shell, which was determined by chromatic sampling to match Pantone 217-1-122 - commonly designated 'Magenta'. No movement was detected from either object except for a momentary shift when the hillside under Incident Object 2 partially collapsed due to damage to the underlying infrastructure.

Wound around and near the two objects, the accompanying debris was most curious in nature. Each strand seemed to consist of an outer shell with a granulated structure, the ends of each section or confluence of debris seeming to closely adhere to these sub-units. A useful analog would be the manner in which a sheet or object comprised primarily of expanded polypropylene foam could be broken to expose the interior bead structure. Wound through this structure were smaller tubes - conduits or plumbing perhaps - and a chance inspection revealed one of these to be filled with a multi-shade purple liquid that had somehow retained its cohesion despite passage through the atmosphere and now seemed ready to drip from one end despite an apparent high viscosity.

----

OOC: As you might guess, the pods will not respond until they are touched by some manner of biological entity; They are also (nearly) impervious, so feel free to be diabolical.

by **Preutania** » Sun Apr 29, 2018 10:48 am

Within Preutania:

It was late when septuagenarian and ex-Physics Professor Eiki Kubilius received a call on his black bedside telephone. His wife displayed no alarm at the unusual phone call nor asked him about the need to dress and depart into an awaiting black car at two o’clock in the morning, whisking him to a place unknown, to return at an uncertain time.

This was because the truth of the matter was it was not the first time that it had happened.

The car took Eiki far out of the city, driving for long enough that by the time the car pulled up at the gates to its destination, a corrective labor camp deep in forest, the sun was already sitting on the horizon, its rays struggling to shoot through the dense foliage.

After the car cleared the gates and the car came to a stop the professor first slowly pivoted then lifted himself out of the car, and was met by two similarly old men, one immaculately dressed in a fine suit, the other, in a collared shirt and sweater just like he plus a cane that steadied him as he walked.

“So it has happened again?” the professor asked.

“It would seem like the answer is yes,” the suited man said, “and no.”

“How so?”

This time the sweatered man responded. “It would appear to be an extraterrestrial craft, a capsule of some sort, but different from the one in the past. And more intact.”

“Are there any… hosts in this craft?” the professor asked.

“Unknown,” the sweater man replied. “But,” and as he said this two uniformed man approached, “we may have our answer soon enough.”

The first of the two uniformed men, evidently the guard lead of the camp, spoke excitedly to the suited man. “The prisoners are confined to camp and won’t move without further instruction, sir.”

“Good, pick out three of the most unruly of your prisoners and have them readied to go out,” he commanded. The man quickly left toward the direction of the worker barracks.

The second uniformed man, a much more commanding and authoritative presence befitting that of an internal security officer than that of his prison colleague, spoke.
“The roads in and out of the place are now sealed by two perimeters. The outer perimeter is guarded by police and general operators, the inner by only those with sufficient clearence. We have one helicopter overlooking the site and several others providing support to the perimeter forces. We have activated nearby reservists for training in order to discourage any curious onlookers as few as there would be anyway in an exclusion zone but also to provide plausible deniability as to the reason for so many government forces in one area.”

“Thank you,” the suited man said graciously. “This is of the highest clearance. Make sure that there is full compliance of the secrecy laws else… it would be a shame to have to liquidate people.”

“Yes sir,” the officer responded and with a crisp salute disappeared back towards a mobile command truck.

“Now,” the sweatered man said, “shall we make it down to the site already?”

A half hour later, the three men piled into a carefully plodding Wrangler-type vehicle followed by a barracks truck carrying three laborers and guards and drove out to the site.

Approaching the site, the grandfatherly, almost febrile face of the professor vanished to be replaced by a cold, almost psychopathic hardness. It was a hidden side that so few saw and even fewer lived to tell about, for the professor was not really a professor at all, but one of the most dangerous and powerful men in the Intelligence Ministry. Far from being a dotard, Eiki Kubilius was in charge of a secret directorate of maintaining state secrets, a hidden secret police within the secret police, accountable to no one. The two other older men with him were also in charge of secret directorates of their own, a shadow government within the government.

As the three old men got out and the laborers lined up, Eiki had the guards line up, their AK’s pointed perfectly at the three laborers. Three of the most ardent political dissidents that had dared to oppose the government had suddenly become three of the most expendable people, a means to a much greater end.

“Now,” Eiki commanded to the guards, “have the dissidents approach the capsule. We must have them put a harness around this capsule so that we can remove it and have this moved to a secure location. If they refuse, kill them.”

by **United World Order** » Sun Apr 29, 2018 2:11 pm

Reichskommissariat Killian, Fortress Sector 17,
Greater Ordenite Reich, 2050.

Two capsules had come down from the skies followed by a considerable amount of debris that lay scattered across the hard concrete laden ground. The capsules had even managed to crack the concrete even in their dive into the ground. Debris had been scattered around the area in which the unknown capsules now sunk into the earth as some smoke dissipated into the air from the crash landing. A loud wailing siren begun to fill the area as the capsules and the resulting debris had been observed making it's landing from by RADAR and surveillance resources that was present in Fortress Sector 17. Flak MKIII 75mm auto-cannons now came to life in their designated firing positions as to secure the local airspace from attack. Land to Air missile batteries soon enough also came online and were on standby to locate and engage possible enemy aircraft. Friendly aircraft also had begun scrambling into the air as the sirens wailed on. The sudden disturbance caused by debris falling likely from space had stirred up the defenders who were now on alert for a possible attack. Several Schützenpanzerwagen 271 Armored vehicles came upon the wreckage site as they kept a good 50 meters from the two capsules, the vehicles were parked into a sort of barrier for the Grenadiers who belonged to the 813th Grenadier Division. The men wore the latest Gladiator MKII Combat Suit which had been the Ordenite answer to the near abundant use of power armor technology by several of the Ordenite Reich's regional rivals. They utilized Sturmgewehr-94 assault rifles chambered in 7.92mm FMJ and were covered head to toe in body-armor that could prevent serious injuries from equally capable ammunition. The machine gun turrets on the top of the armored vehicles which were also unmanned, focused their aim on the capsules.

"Feldwebel Guenther! To me, now, hustle up!" Stabsfeldwebel Ruediger barked as the Feldwebel came to him giving him a quick salute. The two were in full combat suits and gear, however the two could easily communicate face to face despite this as they had communication equipment embedded to help them do so. The two met behind the lead armored vehicle as they surveyed the capsules from a safe distance.

"Take your men and secure those capsules, I'm going to call for more units." The Stabsfeldwebel said as he entered a channel in his communications network embedded in his suit to communicate with others in his battalion. Feldwebel Guenther regrouped with his Zug of ten men and gave the run down on what was to happen.

"We are going to make contact with whatever are in those capsules, secure the perimeter of the crash and wait for further orders." He relayed to his platoon as they began to approach the two capsules at the crash site. They moved in a spread out manner with their weapons drawn and ready to fire. The area incorporated into the crash was already being secured by additional units from the 813th and the 19th SS-Police Battalion that would be assisting in the manner of which they would investigate the capsules and the debris around it. Already the discovery of the capsules were going up the bureaucratic chain of command in the Ordenite regime and many already had speculations in mind for what was contained inside the capsules themselves.

by **Sunset** » Wed May 02, 2018 9:53 am

Macisikan...

Expendable, but not today. Drifting in close around the pods, the patrol boat found nothing immediately threatening - though to the Realm nearly everything was threatening in some manner - and the two purple pods were duly recovered and brought aboard. There the Commander's orders were essentially halted. While pods clearly housed something, there did not appear to be any way to open them. For all intents and purposes their surfaces were as smooth and unblemished as glass and while a purple liquid seemed to swirl just below the surface - twenty four millimeters, for the record - there did not seem to be any immediate way to get at it. The subtle instrumentation available to the androids did pick up some lingering electromagnetic activity, however, but the two pods seemed resigned to stay that way for the time being.

Perhaps the debris itself would be of use. A close examination showed it to consist of tubular constructs between three hundred and seven hundred millimeters thick - point three to point seven of a meter, to make it less granular. The outer-most layer was of granular construction while a similar substance in dull yellow filled the interior. This was shot through with further tubes and cable-like structures, some of which appeared to be filled with the same swirling purple fluid. This had seemingly lost none of its viscosity due to exposure to the cold depths or vacuum of space, indicating it had some manner of substance to it. Also interesting was the interior substance, which positively churned with electrical activity.

by **Sunset** » Wed May 02, 2018 10:46 am

New Dornalia...

Did she touch it?

Fuck yeah she touched it - this is Dornieland, not some nambi-pambi little cry-baby land where drones do the work of real... Well, real people. So of course Kournikova touched it. It didn't seem like the impact had damaged it at all and there wasn't even a trace of carbon scoring from its fiery passage through the atmosphere. Actually, that was a good question, though she hadn't had time to ask it before she'd touched it. Would an object - this object - actually leave a fiery trail of smoke on its way down? Or would the friction of the atmosphere against the hull be enough?

It wasn't a question that would be asked or answered. Standing in the ruins of a Kentucky Fried Panda with sirens wailing outside and a gathering cordon of interested on-lookers the only natural response was to check whether it was damaged. Or hot. Or cold. In fact, a quick test with the back of her hand showed there was no residual heat at all. In fact the exterior of the pod seemed to be at a comfortable room temperature, if that room wasn't now missing all of its doors and windows. Flipping her hand over, she pressed her finger tips against the surface and, finding it as smooth as glass, her whole hand.

That did it. Where she lifted her hand, a ghostly shadow remained and then a patch of orange light under the surface spread from bottom to top in the rough outline of her hand only to fill in with glowing orange as the black volume disappeared. Lines of bright orange appeared under the surface, separated from the swirling purple interior by not much of anything at all. These split diagonal left and right along the length of the capsule and the once-smooth surface began to retract, melting away in precisely matching lines as the interior fluid began to flow away into that same shell, disappearing as it did though it seemed to occupy an original volume many times the size of the exterior shell.

Replacing it was a volume of darkness very similar to the one that had remained behind when she'd lifted her hand. Then the lines that had cut away from the exterior of the pod reached the interior and the shell itself melted away as though it had never even been there, the blackness following until it revealed nothing more extraordinary than a man.

He was definitely a man.

Being stark naked will usually confirm that.

He was tall and lanky, with ill-defined muscles over a body that could be called bony, and judging by the average state of galactic medical technology he could have been anywhere from sixty to six-hundred, though the first was more likely. He had wrinkles in plenty and his narrow face was defined by a goatee and a mustache that might have been carefully kept in the past but now showed signs of distress. His eyes were closed and framed by two bushy eyebrows while a shock of white hair with only a trace of gray at his temples might once have been coiffed but now counted as wild. There was even a small stick stuck in it.

Down the middle of his chest was a visible scar over his sternum. He also had a fantastic suntan - no tan lines, after all - and strangely... He smelled like some flavor of green apple candy...

by **Sunset** » Wed May 02, 2018 11:32 am

Preutania...

A clod of dirt under foot, a root torn up by the impact - it didn't matter how or who. All that mattered was that one hand reached out to steady themselves, the shadows from the trees concealing many obstacles within their grasp. Mindful of the weapons pointed at them, the unwitting offender immediately returned it to the flat straps of the harness as the three continued to arrange it around the base, but the damage was already done. Where the hand lay, a faint shadow remained and this was followed by a light within the capsule and then a hand appearing in the thin outer shell. Lines shot through the exterior to indicate where the invisible hatch would flow away and the interior substance disappeared as well, flowing into a myriad of invisible pores until the black shadow remained.

Then it too was gone and inside the translucent magenta shell was a hollow space and in that hollow space there was a figure. Faces turned - they could not help but turn and look - and standing inside was a figure they could scarcely comprehend or believe and that, perhaps, they would never see again.

To call it a woman or indeed humanoid would be incorrect, though it was clearly a person. She was wearing a dress but her blue-skinned face drew the immediate attention; Where others would have a chin or perhaps attractive facial hair she instead had a slight mass of hanging tentacles that merged with those of her mouth to form a subtle maw. Above this - and lacking a nose - was a single large eye, now closed while her hair had been replaced as well by a careful nest of tendrils that could be called styled.

The dress was an elaborate affair of white silk and silver chasing that formed a corset around her mid-section. A large opalescent gemstone was set between what would have been her breasts on a human but were more likely some kind of sack or other aquatic organ. Epaluettes of a similar material were affixed to each shoulder and these too were set with the same type of gem. Her two arms seemed without joints and ended in a flexible-looking paddle arrangement while another barely protruded between the folds of her dress where feet should properly be.

At least for the moment she appeared to be asleep, though when or if that would change was a question best asked quickly...

----

OOC: Since there's a good number of you now, I'm going to start ending my posts with a list of who I need to post for next, both to help me and so you can know where (but not when) you should be expecting a reply. Next up...

United World Order

by **Sunset** » Wed May 02, 2018 5:06 pm

United World Order...

There had been no movement, no signs of danger from the capsules, and a close examination only added to the mysteries they might contain. But before they were to be revealed - and to keep prying eyes as far away as possible - they were moved. The simple expedient was a forklift; Neither showed any signs of damage from the impact or from their transit through the atmosphere (a fact well-noted by those higher up) and so they were hoisted between steel tines and transported not very far indeed to one of the hangars nearby. Two, precisely. Two pods, two hangars, and both a reasonable distance apart so as to assure the security of both and either.

Their first home was an improvised cradle of old shipping palettes hastily assembled around them with the workers under strict orders to not touch either one. Perfectly clear and perfectly obeyed but as soon as the first scientist arrived new orders were passed out and a more permanent structure erected. A raised platform, suitable for both observation and instrumentation, which was arrayed in a neat circle around it with plenty of room for technicians to go back and forth. A bubble was also put in place; Clear plastic with a blower to maintain positive pressure so that any unknown pathogens could not spread. The whole arrangement was in turn surrounded by another and this linked to the hangar doors by an elaborate airlock, all under the watchful arms of the Police Battalion.

Meanwhile the debris had been secured in much the same fashion but on the far opposite end of the field. Men in thick suits with instruments in hand roamed around them but for the moment their secrets seemed safe. Then the order came down the line; The capsules would be opened, though the 'how' wasn't yet known...

by **Macisikan** » Thu May 03, 2018 2:04 am

Nower Anchorage, S-11 02-04 System, RFSEM – 7 days post-incident
The Anchorage Commander had, of course, duly reported the findings back to the Military Sector Command post on Hathor, and the instructions had come back almost instantly; do not bring any of the material to the Anchorage. Stabilise it in situ and prepare to receive an inbound wormhole.

The vortex itself had opened like a flower on the system edge, spilling out a specialist light freighter; essentially a glorified tube with engines and command centre up one end, it enjoyed a military escort. The Commodore in charge had been ordered to collect all the debris, collect the pods, collect everything, including the patrol boat and the vocs – a replacement patrol boat and replacement droids had been dispatched.

Every item of debris larger than a few millimetres was meticulously collected, tagged, and stored in isolated containers by bots under the command of a pair of heavily armoured military synths (their own insistence; they were far more robust than their organic counterparts). The original patrol boat was scanned for contaminants, disassembled, and joined the debris, and the vocs who had overseen the initial collection switched off and also contained. The whole exercise took several days, during which the electrical activity was recorded; after a short discussion, insulating material was placed between each isolation container, and the containers themselves rendered airtight. Isolation of the debris, pods, and other items in those sealed containers, of course, happened well before they were brought aboard. The gravity was not turned on for this, nor was the freighter pressurised.

To some the quarantine procedures might seem excessive, but this is the Realm; being brave was not synonymous with being stupid. As far as they were concerned, allowing yourself to touch a completely unknown substance that was so organic-looking was definitely under the second heading. You might as well go and French-kiss a plague victim before doing shots of an Ebola patient’s blood.

Once the collection was complete, the material would be taken deeper into the Realm; to one of several stations especially built for such eventualities. Only then would it even be in the same structure as organics.

Station 5, Vi Hipi System, RFSEM – 38 days post-incident
The material was brought aboard; the station was a typical dangerous materials research post, in orbit around yet another gas giant, this one a frozen ball on the far edge of the system. Habitat section and offices at one end, linked by connectors that could easily and quickly be severed in case of emergency. Labs and examination zones in the middle. Storage at the far end. Specimens, samples, and so on would be brought from storage to the labs as needed and returned when not actively being used; more connectors that could be severed separated the two, pressure differentials and isolated air systems minimised the chances of anything spreading, and on the rare occasion that an organic would need to be personally in one of the labs, there were decontamination chambers and exosuits – the works. The interior of the freighter was decontaminated; sterilised and scrubbed and swept.

Again, perhaps this would be seen as paranoid by others; to which the answer was “did you sleep through the Aliens franchise?”

The vocs and the patrol boat were the first things examined with instrumentation far more sensitive than what was brought out. If the Vocs had escaped contamination by this whatever-it-was, then they would be released back to service. If not, then it was into a containment cell in storage in the lower levels of the station to prepare for decontamination – again, sterilised and scrubbed and swept – before being permanently reassigned to the station. The patrol boat was subjected to the same treatment as the freighter, its hyperdrive, weaponry, shielding, anything that made it more than just a box with engines and a sublight LOS communicator that could sustain an atmosphere, removed, and then retained. They had plans for it.

When it came to the debris the smaller pieces were the first to be examined; non-invasive techniques at present. Invasive techniques would await the debris being taken well away from the station proper in case anything went boom when you cut into it. The purple liquid, where it could be extracted without breaching the tubes, was subjected to close examination – spectroscopy, centrifugal analysis, and so on.

The capsules were subjected to the same sort of study; non-invasive at present – ranging from simply looking at it with a microscope to ultrasounds (to help determine the internal structure) to more sophisticated scans. Discussion and debate was had on whether to try to extract a sample of the fluid inside; and that’s where the defanged patrol boat came in; to prevent explosive spraying of the liquid, a sample could be extracted aboard it while it was pressurised. And on a collision course with the gas giant. But that would come after the non-invasive checks had been exhausted.

At no point did anyone touch the capsules. Yet.

A week into the examination a verdict was reached on the capsules; they had been sealed with biometric keycode locks. An organic occupant was the most likely occupant of the pod. Escape pods were considered the most likely verdict, but there were darker alternative possibilities. One of the pods was selected and loaded onto the patrol boat; in addition to a high voc and two ordinary vocs, a vatgrown was brought along. When the boat was in the prescribed location, one of the vocs took a small sample of the liquid inside the capsule (less than a single cc of liquid was extracted and placed into a sealed reinforced container). Once this had been done, the vatgrown was instructed to touch the pod with its bare hand; of course, it obeyed. It was unthinkable not to obey; it reached out, touched the pod, and then backed away quickly.

by **Sunset** » Thu May 03, 2018 3:12 pm

Macisikan...

A lazy writer might simply repeat the same description as supplied before; The faint shadow that lasted an instant before a similar hand appeared in glowing orange inside the outer shell, the appearance of fine glowing lines that indicated where the capsule would open, the retreat of the swirling fluid into the intervening spaces, and the disappearance of the marked central portion before the individual inside the capsule was revealed.

All that?

Done.

But the Realm was of a scientific albeit paranoid nature and there were a myriad of technical details to attend to. The first was that the careful intrusion into the pod's interior had provoked some kind of reaction. Whether it was simply an electromagnetic reaction to the instrument itself or some other event was impossible to know but the closest analogy was a pain response; A momentary pulse of electro-chemical energy randomly distributed across the interior shell. The second was the process itself, which followed many of these same pathways as the various steps played out. The disappearance of the fluid was interesting but this too was comparable to the action of melanocytes while the fluid itself was determined to consist of a very low density foam impregnated with various nano-particles.

The exact disposition of this analysis would have to wait. For the moment, the emphasis was on the contents of the pod. A vaporous shadow similar to the one that lingered when the vatgrown's hand was withdrawn filled the interior but this soon evaporated to reveal nothing more menacing than a young woman. While genetic analysis would reveal further details, it was immediately likely that she was human. She was wearing body armor though if it had an attached helmet this had been removed or discarded at some point previous to her entombment. The collar of a uniform was visible around her neck and this, like the armor, was mostly gray but decorated with various insignia and markings.

The most prominent of these were a chevron and four pointed star on the collar of the armor itself and an oval on each shoulder plate, one decorated with a mottled orange and black sunburst and the other with a blue triangle and three pointed gold star over a black field and surrounded with three silver stars. The word 'FALK' was stenciled in Latin characters across the raised collar of the pauldron and there was a socket of some kind worked into the bulky apparatus, though whatever it had once contained was now missing. All in all, she looked too small for the armor unless it concealed far more muscle than her soft face suggested.

All of this was readily visible but the various scanners and instruments revealed far more. Underneath the armor she was mostly human with all of the usual organs in their normal arrangements, but she was also possessed of a network of small electronics implanted under the skin. Only one appeared active; A hand-sized object nestled up against the back of her skull. This was connected to her nervous system and from there to others, some implanted around her optic nerves, in her jawbone, and in her ear canal. Others were located in her forearm and hand.

Most importantly, she was asleep - at least for the moment. Her brain wave activity was already increasing and would reach a wakeful state within twenty to thirty seconds if the graph was to be believed...

by **Macisikan** » Thu May 03, 2018 3:33 pm

The time it took for the opening of the capsule was enough for the Vatgrown to suit up; it only needed to put a glove and helmet on after all. While it was doing that, the high voc took a second to consult with the synth overseeing the operation.

The instruction was simple; let this unknown woman wake up, but if Ms Capsuleer turned out to be impolite, vent the atmosphere and turn her into cat food.

They waited patiently for her to open her eyes and ask the inevitable questions.

by **Sunset** » Thu May 03, 2018 3:47 pm

Macisikan...

It was on the long end of twenty to thirty seconds before her eyelids began to twitch. According to the instruments, her brain activity increased in direct proportion to that of the implant at the back of her skull and as her eyes opened to reveal clean green irises the activity in the implant spiked and there was a momentary surge through the others; An initialization or systems check the likely culprit. None of these rose to the level of danger.

Her first eye movement was towards the vatgrown in front of her but quickly she turned her head to either side, scanning the pod for something that was not there, "Lae? Lae?"

She leaned forward. There was nothing restraining her but as soon as she saw the unfamiliar interior of the craft she lay back again and returned to the vatgrown, "Who are you? Where are we? Where is... Have you done anything with Lae?"

by **Macisikan** » Thu May 03, 2018 3:55 pm

Back on the station, organics and synths alike agreed that the data coming was fascinating.

Again, an few microseconds passed in which instructions were relayed down, and then one of the vocs answered.

“You are in the Vi Hipi System, in the Realm of the Federated Star Empire of Macisikan,” it said. Smooth, flat, emotionless tones. Vocs were not synths after all; they didn’t do intonation. “The individual ‘Lae’ is unknown. We are instruments of the Realm. Please identify yourself, your purpose, and state your affiliation.”

Behind it the high voc was, again, communicating with the station.

“Station has requested our immediate return,” it said. “Please remain where you are. Do not move around the craft until we have come to a complete stop. Estimated travel time is five minutes, forty seconds. Thank you for your cooperation.” Again, flat, emotionless tones.

The vatgrown simply stared back at her from behind its faceplate; it wasn’t created to have a conversation. It was created to kill. And it didn’t understand a word she was saying. It shifted its weight slightly as the craft began accelerating and turning.

Back on the station, instructions were given; the other capsule was brought up to one of the labs, where another vatgrown waited to open it.

by **United World Order** » Thu May 03, 2018 11:47 pm

Reichskommissariat Killian, Fortress Sector 17,
Airbase for the 92nd Luftwaffe Bomber Wing,
Hanger 1.

Outside of 'Hanger 1' where one of the mysterious alien capsules was being held in, a three military jeep convoy pulled up outside of the Hanger where a perimeter was secured by the Grenadiers and Police Battalion units and were well armed for the occasion. A entourage of scientists and even two Generals approached the checkpoint that was only a few feet from the actual now air locked hanger entrance. Peter Seeber was one of these scientists and more importantly a scientist from the Division of Clandestine Research and Analysis or DCRA. As he stepped out from the jeep he was in he could see a line of impressive Ordenite 7th generation bombers that were parked on the tarmac, it spoke to the atmosphere surrounding the 92nd Luftwaffe Bombing Wing that was stationed at the air base which the capsules and debris impacted in. He was accompanied by several of his fellow colleagues who were assigned to this particular incident. The two generals were a separate affair and were from the Ordenite Bodenwaffe which was in simpler terms the Army of the Ordenite Wehrmacht. The entourage approached the checkpoint which was manned by a pair of Grenadiers and a Police Battalion Lieutenant who held a scanning like device as he saluted the men as they returned the gesture.

"Present identification, please." The Lieutenant said in a nonchalant voice as one by one the scientists and Generals presented two cards, one was to show their citizenship, bloodline and class in the Reich Völkisch Socialist Party which was the overreaching political structure that had been crafted and molded into Ordenite society, nearly everything involved the RVSP. The other card when scanned showed their given name, career, age and rank or position in particular that the scientists and generals possessed. Once all of them let their cards be scanned by the Lieutenant they would be allowed inside with the air-locked door to the Hanger soon enough opened as air escaped or entered the enclosed space. When all had entered, the air-lock door closed shut as they would be then cleared for any sort of anomalies, pathogens or even listening devices of the like before they were allowed into the main chamber. The incident was heavily shrouded in secrecy as even the Reichsfuhrer himself did not even know of it yet, however after the investigation of the capsules and whatever happens to be inside them and the debris scattered about the crash site. He would then be briefed on the incident and what they were able to learn about what they found by his personal advisors. So far the only ones who knew of this event so far were the DCRA, the Luftwaffe and the Bodenwaffe. Peter stepped into the main chamber after his colleagues as they all observed the slightly raised platform where one of the capsules was fitted on as technicians and other scientists mostly from the Luftwaffe and their Aerospace Division prepared for the official investigation and possible on-site autopsy of a possible alien creature. Meanwhile they also made sure that the two chambers and the airlock were tended to in case of maintenance necessities.

Peter also noted the armed Grenadiers that were also posted around the main chamber in full military gear including their battle suits. He was soon met by a fellow scientist from the Luftwaffe's Aerospace Division who was for the time being 'in charge' of the whole investigation that was to happen. The two shook hands as Peter's colleagues took their posts for the experiment as they would call it, it was sure going to be quite a discovery no matter what was found in the capsule. "Herr Seeber!, It is good to finally meet you, I have heard a lot about you especially your work with Subject X3" the scientist exclaimed as Peter smiled brightly that he was being recognized for possibly the biggest break he could of got in his whole 15 year career with the DCRA. Subject X3 was the third alien like encounter that the Reich has unofficially had with the last one which resulted in the creature being contained and successfully autopsied and opened up.

"It is a pleasure to meet a fan of my work, thank you Lieutenant." Peter said as he gestured to the platform in which the capsule was sat on. "This is one of the capsules, yes? Quite a sight from the last several encounters I've been involved in." He recalled his highlights of his career of which he was able to interact with alien species from the deep endless abyss referred to as space. The two made their way to the stairs leading up to the platform as they talked along the way. Two Grenadiers stood at the stair entrance as they stepped aside for the two scientists who had their credentials scanned earlier in which such information could be passed on digitally from one person to another in which at this case it was the Police Battalion and the Grenadier Division.

"It was caught by RADAR at twenty two hundred hours and impacted no less than five minutes after. Once the personnel who had first discovered the site reported it to the Airbase security, we were notified of the incident and secured the scene." The Luftwaffe scientist explained how the incident occurred to Peter who listened intensively as they reached the top of the platform and stood in front of the capsule. It was definitely some sort of metallic material that the capsule was made out of, however the material its self still was unknown to the scientists as the capsule had managed to stay completely intact after impact from space and the atmosphere. Peter studied the capsule shortly mostly through looking at it, trying to get mental notes on it's appearance and other features that could prove valuable.

"This is quite a find, I can't believe we were able to capture two of these capsules." Peter said out loud as he walked around the capsule. The Luftwaffe scientist followed him closely, no real activity could be seen from the capsule just yet and nobody was to physically touch the capsule over security and safety measures. That was when a robot made its way up the stairs and stood in front of the capsule, the robot was structured and built similarly to a human being despite being entirely mechanical. The robot was controlled by a specialized technician that was not on the platform and was not even in the hangar its self but in a facility on the airbase and was watching through a digital monitor in which he could see a live feed directly from the eyes of the robot.

"The Wachroboter 2... Very nice, I see it's been specially outfitted for this incident." Peter noted about the robot who was three or four feet or so higher in height compared to humans, normally a Wachroboter was meant for security operations and breaches but could also be tasked for labor and other tasks. The robot in this case was outfitted with instruments that were to be used to open the capsule and secure whatever was inside. The technician controlling it began having the robot activate a ban-saw attachment which was a industrial blade that could cut through some inches of metallic however it was unknown what it would do to the exterior of the capsule as the robot jolted forward towards the front of the capsule as the ban saw blade began winding up.

by **Mokastana** » Fri May 04, 2018 2:37 pm

DISCOVERY:

One year and three months.

One year and three months since the Federal probe found two intact capsules, surrounded by debris, on this barren planet size rock. At first it had been a Federal endeavor into space mining, slipping through wormholes looking for asteroid belts or empty planets to pillage. A straightforward attempt to become more influential in the CCA while offsetting the massive cost of a military space fleet. Many already questioned the purpose of a space fleet when the real threats against the Federation were terrestrial in nature. Yet, the CCA had been in space for years now, and the Federation refused to leave any part of its defensive needs unattended.

Then one year and three months ago, this discovery happened. It wasn't the first, for the CCA had found odd remnants of previous civilizations on rocks here or there, but this wreckage was fresh, in terms of historic value. Debris still mostly on the surface, time had not a chance to bury or reclaim it. As such, the Federation moved what assets it could to secure the remains. Eight months ago, the FEM Perun, a space frigate in the loosest sense of the word, took up orbit around the small planet. Scanning the surface with its radar and listening to the static of the universe it found the wreckage was still there. Nothing obvious came from the black looking for their crashed property, but that didn't mean nothing was out there. Wit the majority of the Federal Space Fleeton a pirate hunt the FEM Perun waited for what resources could be scrounge up and sent their way.

The worm holes finally cooperated and five month ago, four additional Federal vessels entered the system. Luckily this system was small, barely a single AU, and the small planet was close to the wormhole. Still, nearly five months of flight in system was required to reach the tiny planet and the wreckage. When the fleet finally arrived, it was time to get to business.

The FEM Zorya Vechernyaya, a troop transport, launched two 24-ton UD-4B Coztic Dropships towards the crash site. Loaded with 24 soldiers and a truck each, this would be the force to investigate the remains.

Unlike science fiction, the PUF was not some galactic spanning empire with plasma cannons and FTL. Their dropships carried modern sidewinder and hellfire missiles, and 30mm cannons. Their infantry fired 7.62mm rounds. They were simply a nation that had been blessed with scientifically advanced allies who discovered wormholes to travel the galaxy. So when they got to the surface, it was not some advanced psychic scanner they used, but instead basic Geiger counters, X-ray devices,and spectrometers, checking the remains for radiation or any other unique or dangerous properties.

If everything went well and the materials seemed dormant, then the FEM Oxomo would land on the surface. It was a cargo hauler but had brought some light construction equipment to help haul the materials and pods into the Oxomo’s cargo hold. Normally the Oxomo would require attached thrusters to get it off the surface, but this planet had less gravity, so it should be easier to launch. Once the material was loaded, they would begin the ten month journey back to Earth for study. Assuming the Worm holes did as predicted.

by **Gaian Ascendancy** » Sat May 05, 2018 12:24 am

BCN-8/P3
Nar'shri Province Argo-City

"Ohhhhhhhhh....!"

Kith-Learning Center - 130,937

"What is it?" ...an all of a seven year old kith quipped, as all nominal sounding kiths should. In this case, a Gaian Glassian fem-youth. (The youngin status made the carnival glass genes stand out 'some'.)

"Not from here here." ...a Katath neko-kith of bright yellow fur and white scraggly tattoo markings that hadn't started to set from puberty.

"~ Coolio... ~" ...a muddled blue-brown Avain kith of all a two meter size and comically big kith eyes to boot. She darted her pale brown-blue beak about. "~ ...alien tech. ~"

"I thought it was cause you threw the ball too hard again." ...a wide eye humanoid Gaian boyo-kith complained, a decent shiner upon his fore head. The Avian fem-kith tweeted back. "Stop being a wuss an dodge like a pro."

"You wana see a throw instead!" ...the boy-boyo kith balked back, before the two forgot the fact that a strange 'mess' had literally 'popped' into existence, in the midst of their midday merry playing making spree. Such proved as a DIZZY of sudden outta firggen nowhere balls thrown back and forth like akin bullets, showed both these weren't ordinary kiths. (And also a bit of an attention span problemo.)

As the nigh anime sounding sonic boom throwing spree ensues off a momentary moment of momentary venting by momentary kiths of note, a more 'mindful' Forran energon kith, (ala a glowing ball of seven growing Cyclons, in a kith colorful boy-blue containment ring,) took of the obvious mantle of... "- I doubt a mere venting of spherical physics would relent to a breach of a particle barrier, one I'm having trouble guessing at the source of. ~"

"Yeah, well..." ...another kith, a Furbrath fem-kith of hefty simian-esc seven Cyclons folded both sets of his arms, in kith complaint... "...it messed up my holo-castle sculpture!"

"It messed someone else up too." ...the Glassian-kith-lass looked over, her fiber-hair pony tail swaying about in looking over where a couple of Nannies, such the Kindergarten such equivalent here, saw them such splayed about, looking all... "-Palatable moans-" ...knocked up. All such left the Sibiko-clutch group of seventeen wee citizen-souls in the midst of... a mess.

Ala scenario: All said above, in the merits of midday recess play, after rounds of early holo-class, before what was soon to be lunch, then would turn to a practical day trip, this time the choice of the Avian lass for the day, to a trip to a local celestial mechanic museum, where practical Gaian standard was melded with true hands on learning that would excite a kith group, all the amusement same. All such had lasted as kith norm of such vicariousness over the Eons of Universal Ages, to true effect.

All such indelible interrupted in a anew format. All such a Gaian angelic-fem lass of a lavish long sixty-pigtail blond braid, (somehow serene and kempt rack of by the other class fems that helped make it earlier,) floats up and asks... "~ So... now what? ~"

"Should we touch it?" ...yet another kith, an Illuminaran blue-glow kith quipped, another fem, long blue hair, glowing, ala really glowing, akin moreso than what ascendance nominally attributed to Gaians in the first place, ala said said moreso here, with a kith Gaian green haired boyo-kith steel-clasped firmly in her right arm. (So much so, the struggles to escape were moot.) "~ We're not punctured with endless bloody wounds, so it must be safe. ~"

"All'ah!!" ...nigh bout the rest of the kiths blanch over at the 'graphic' lass, one whom just blinks over cutely. "~ Sorry, but my elder brother's Valkyrie girlfriend and all. ~"

The Forran lad remarks over to the Glassian one... "- Must be her calling. -" ...with a cute nod back.

"So we touch them." ...the Katath kith beams, with a pointy gleam claw finger point jutting out, (with a sword unsheathe sound to boot.) Such led to... oh gee, how can kith finger sticking up, be like the sound of ancient terran sword being drawn?

'-Moan...-" ...one of the Nannies, managing to sit up... "...what... hit me?" ...as even her internal nanites were unusually dizzy as heaven. The other Nanny, a purple mane Katath lass, to match the hume Gaian raven hair version, bemoans... "I gotta lay off the holo-play sessions with hubby." ...the former hears to look over with. Such prior to the said lass to look over and... "Eh? E-eh?! H-h-HEY!" ...as sight trashed seen makes for a sudden 'rare' worry about unemployment in Gaian Ladsdrad space, as the lass LEAPS up... "What did...!?! What are you..?! WHAT... WHO... WHAT... WHERE-WHAT!?!?" ...the lass sputter snaps in looking all about the mess about, six ways past the Interdiction! ('Seventh Sunday', ala Gaian lexicon.)

Ala scenario two: One suddenly beside herself nanny, with a number of Gaian kiths that are either poking at the strange wreckage, and/or tossing these two strange purple capsules back and forth, like balls. The fact the twin capsules were of slender size length, akin upon lads and lasses that seemed to have 'no' trouble with their weight, if any, was probably scary in all such own right. The Nanny just snaps panicky... "WHAT are those things?!"

The kiths stop for a kooky moment. And a simult... "We don't know." ...from the entire lot, before ply-playing on heedless, made both for a 'stress'-mark on the Nanny's forehead.

The other Nanny calmly floats up... (literally) ...with a hand on her own head. "Did the kith's spike the replicator drinks again?" ...the raven fem Nanny just BALKING back, with arm STABBED at the kiths... "NO! And we got a PROBLEM here!!"

Not sure if the lavender Nanny was either akin of a clinical Mihoshi complex (ditzy) or just 'that' lay about it all. Such she just shrugs... "They look fine. What's the problem?"

The raven one just 'looks' at her partner in employment. "That depends." ...dourly.

---

Not that the unexpected event, didn't invite notice from 'the' highest of afar. But first...

by **Sunset** » Sat May 05, 2018 3:50 pm

Macisikan...

"Name, rank, and serial number huh? Well," she looked past the vatgrown for the source of the response, "At least you speak English. Do you want an answer now?"

There was plenty of room in the pod and she dropped into a hunker, her butt just resting on the upward curve of the pod and her elbows braced to either side.

"A station, huh? So... You're asking questions. Either you set this trap," she pounded a fist on the purple wall, "Or you found it. And you're speaking English, so either you read my mind, hacked one of my implants, or you already knew it. Never heard of the Vi Hipi System though - or the Federated Star Empire of Macisikan. Big galaxy though," she acknowledged, her voice trailing off. "We are in the Milky Way Galaxy, right?"

"Actually, maybe not," she looked around again. The interior of the craft didn't seem to offer either clues or surprises. "You asked, and we seem to have time, so why not? Worst I just end up repeating myself," she grinned. "Second Lieutenant Trinya Falk, Sunset Exploration Command, Republic of Sunset. My purpose... That's a story - do you want it now, or after we dock?"

----

The process for the second capsule was identical, if the results were not. When the shadow faded away the contents were revealed to be a floating red orb roughly a half meter across. A mass of tendrils danged down from the underside, giving the whole a tear-drop appearance. The surface was striated; Muscle fiber with a thin layer of translucent tissue over the top. After several seconds some of the lower tendrils moved - there was a small eye-like organ at the tip and these were focused on the vatgrown...

----

OOC: Up Next:

United World Order
Mokastana
Gaian Ascendancy

by **Sunset** » Sat May 05, 2018 5:47 pm

United World Order...

Despite looking like something one might pop in their mouth, the capsule proved tougher than the saw blade. First one - though it left a slice behind - and then another snapped as thousands of linear feet sped past. Another and another, but the blades could be replaced and so it was decided to continue. As the first cut went deep the progress slowed but then the last few millimeters peeled away and a hole was opened into the interior. Purple fluid boiled out and then ran down the outside shell, as slow as cold molasses, and the robot was stopped.

A sample was taken and removed for testing, but even the act of gathering it revealed much of the substance's character. It was very nearly not there - comparisons could be made to a reality television star, if one were so inclined. Did the United World Order have reality television? Did they have television? A question for later - the pod didn't ask. Instead it sat there silently as the cut was lengthened. Then another was made, and another, to form a neat triangle. This was removed - and again taken away for analysis - but this allowed access to the pod's interior.

The purple goo was pumped away and a camera inserted; The hole wasn't as large as one might hope. They would have to wait for another shipment of blades. But a light revealed the tantalizing. Inside was something. A shape, a figure. Whatever it was, it was not of this earth. It was reasonable to call it humanoid, but two arms and two legs was not the same as human. The feet - the closest part - were long and dexterous but made for swimming with a leathery web between each of the three toes. The hands were the same but the web was on the outside, linking thumb and the smallest finger to the forearm. Its skin was gray with accents of white and blue, while the face was muzzled.

Something hid behind the bulk of its body and the camera was moved to reveal a tail that sprouted from just below the shoulder blades. This was attached via another leathery web to both the base of the spine and to the back of the skull where what might have been hair flowing from the muzzle merged with the web to show itself as of the same material. Moving the camera again, it caught just the moment when one eye opened to show a startlingly solid blue. Then as quick as could be the muzzle opened and darted forward, serrated black teeth tearing through the flexible cable and ending the feed.

----

OOC: Up Next:

Mokastana
Gaian Ascendancy

In Case of Emergency... IV! (Open, Read First Post!)

In Case of Emergency... IV! (Open, Read First Post!)

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