Offworlders [MT/PMT/FT Crossover]

[Offworlders]

“The vast silence of space poses an unanswerable question for Humanity: Is this silence because we are alone, or because those who are out there will not speak to us? And – if the latter – why is it that they hold their silence?”

“Our best hope is that they keep to themselves for our sake, to shield us in our childish innocence from their own culture and its impact on us; our greatest fear is that they maintain it for their own, as a killer maintains his while stealing up upon his prey.”

- Dr. Ali al-Masaari, Ph.D., “Meditations on the Drake Equations”, New Scientist, Vol. XI, Issue 7 (October, 2009)

The object was first spotted at a distance of just over 2 million kilometers from Earth, but moving at such a colossal speed that it appeared likely to reach the planet in a couple of hours. Yet almost immediately, the scientists tracking it saw that something was wrong. It was decelerating – something natural bodies following ballistic trajectories never do.

There was no radiant emission of energy, no discharge of gasses, nothing to explain its deceleration; no, the object was simply slowing down, and slowing fast. This made its course impossible to determine with precision. At first, it was believed that it would sail past the planet at a distance of over 50,000 kilometers – far too close for comfort, given its apparent diameter of 4½ kilometers. But as its deceleration was taken into account, it quickly became apparent that the oncoming body would not fly past the planet at all.

No, it would strike the planet dead on.

No one was precisely sure how fast it would strike, for it looked as if the object was going to match the Earth’s velocity as it traveled around the Sun. Unfortunately, that left too much room for experimental error, and if the difference in speed was even as much as a few dozen meters per second, the result could be a very nasty impact.

Needless to say, this news sent the governments and people of Earth into an an uproar.

---

OOC: Comments should be posted to the OOC thread. If you want an alien ship to set down over one of your cities, sign up there.

[Ramsetia]

"Empress, I-" The Minister for Technology, Rasmus Ermine, tried again to address the absent-minded girl, who simply held up one small hand towards him. A single finger pointed skywards in a shushing motion. The song on the stereo the source of her current distraction, a fast-pased electronic beat that was currently topping the charts in the isolated, landlocked nation of Ramsetia.
~who made up that law. What a time to have an emergency~ he thought to himself, watching as the young girl bobbed her head, singing along to the sampled voices without a care in the world. He could wait, though, Ermine had learned patience. His balding head, and short, round body was hardly the sight most would expect of a government minister. His effective intimidation was a wall of scientific fact and evidence, not the kind of tactic that would work on a thirteen-year-old girl. The song finally petered out, and the empress lowered her hand slowly. She smiled that adorable, heart-melting smile towards the scientist-turned-politician, the same smile that had melted the heart of her predecessor.

"What is it, Minister Ras?" she asked, shortening the man's name as a show of affection, a clumsy nickname for a man who was far from suited to it.
"Empress, I've received some worrying reports" He said, trying to downplay the situation as he handed across the printouts, diagrams of the likely trajectories of the incoming objects. The girl looked over the pictures, her aloof expression quickly changing. A lower lip soon the victim of perfect white teeth
"So...It's going to hit here?" she asked, looking up towards the politician with wide eyes.
"If not on us, then near us" Ermine replied, his own eyes hidden behind thin-framed glasses. "Renaissance will be spared the shockwave, at least, but other cities will not fare so well" The scientist was decided. There was no way the object could truly match the planet's velocity, there were far too many variables for him to accept such an explanation
"Begin evacuations to the caverns" The young empress said, sighing softly. She was not fond of the idea, but if all she could do was have her people retreat, then she would be certain that nothing but property would be lost "Get all the people we can out of danger. Tell them it's a drill, a practice"

Seven hundred and twenty-one million people. The whole population of Ramsetia. They were loaded into military vehicles, transport trucks, trains, anything that was available for the trip south, to the caverns of the nation. They had been lied to, and the tenseness of the Ordinators keeping watch over the crowds and traffic only served to heighten their nerves. With the volatile world around them, nations who played a little too eagerly with Nuclear and Biological weapons, such a drill was commonplace, but such a large-scale evacuations to the caverns in the south would never work in a situation without warning. Whispers began to travel through the displaced crowds, talk of the ominous object that had played across the news programmes and danced through scientific circles. The normally stoic and calm Ramset quickly started to grow agitated. The imposing, silent Ordinators, in full combat equipment despite their role as police, were all that stood between many of the people, and outright panic. people began to filter into camps hastily erected within the caverns around Renaissance, the underground capitol of the nation. Pets and personal effects were strewn about, creating the appearance of a slum more than a refugee camp.

The Ramset were ready, braced unknowingly against the impact their minister for science had decided was inevtiable, trusting in their gods and Empress to do what they could.

[Dimoniquid]

"Sir! UFO spotted up by Luisiano and Aero."
"Sir! Your wife is says she's sueing your ass if you don't get her a ring."
"Where the hell did that come from?" Josh replied, straightening his jacket.
"Sorry sir, that's what I've been told."
"Dammit. Buy her a ring, and you... uh..."
"Mitchel."
"Mitchel! Lovely name, by the way. Upfront... responsive..."
"You need to reply about the UFO spotted..."
"Ah! Very true. Send DSS on Gunthers. I want reports - size, shape, trajectory, everything."
"Okay, sir."

After minutes of rushing around, slamming doors, putting bags into drop ships (OOC: I'm PMT), and shouting three Gunther drop ships had set off with three scientists, two assault teams, and two representatives for the ship that was heading for Luisiano.
"Okay kids, this is what'll go down. We'll be dropped off - AKA they'll blast a hole and we'll go in with class B HAZMATS. Then,we'll search the ship. Science kids, you'll give us the readings when we get in!" One man shouted over the noise. Everybody nodded, and waited to get to the ship.

[Hegstoria]

"Mr. President um... im not really sure how to say this but um..." said an aide that had just burst into the room.
"Well spit it out man, i have a meating with joint chiefs, and then the Minister of Agriculture."
"There is a, um... ship over the Liberation tower, sir."
"Stop talking jiberish son, now lets go see how the wea...." at that point he had reached the window and saw what was over the tallest building in New Tralee, well Hegstoria for that matter. He then said, "Get General Allen."
The general ordered the city guard to make a perimeter around the ship, and evacuate the area beneath it. The President would now be holding a press.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the associated press, The President of Hegstoria." The President walked in and immediately began, "Ladies and gentlemen of the press, no.. of Hegstoria. I come before you today not as the leader of a country, but as a citizen just like you, im scared just like you. But there is a difference between fear and panic. It is alright to be afraid in a time like this, but please do not panic. We must stay calm and collected to stand this challenge together. We do not know what these things are or why they are here. But i tell you right here, right now that if theses things aim are less then just, we will stop them together. But if some of you do not know what i am talking about, here i will tell you. Today at approximately 2:17 PM, Hegstoria, and the world, have just made first contact with a species not of this world. But here me now, no matter what their reasons are for coming, we will stand together as one. Thank you, and good luck."

While he was Speaking 10 V-22's were flying towards the ship in an effort to land in what ever form of docking bay it had. Inside each of these were were 24 people, some paratroopers, some marines, some engineers, some special forces, some scientists, but above all else were the Arch Angels aboard the last one. The Arch Angels are a breed of "Super Soldier" developed through genetic engineering while still in the embryo. They were breed to fight, and they were 6 and a half feet tall, so thats a plus too.

OOC: This is the wiki for the V-22 if you dont know it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-22_Osprey

[Imeriata]

Imerbürg.

Adam was one of the millions inhabitants of Imerbürg that were trying to get to one of the numerous fallout shelters under the city, but it was not an easy task as the streets were full of other people with the same plane, everyone were frighten, tired and shocked and the only thing that prohibited a full-blown riot was the high concentration of troopers flanking every sidewalk and the numerous checkpoints that had been erected over the enormous city. This however did not mean that the situation were a hormonal one; the people stood shoulder to shoulder with one another, the noise from numerous people trying to talk at the same time, trying to get some understanding of what was going on were deafening and to add to the alarm were pets and children combined by the public loudspeakers that informed everyone the same monotone message over and over again
“This is not a drill every subject is ordered to report to his or her designated fallout shelter until the situation have resolved! But be assured that the crown and the royal guard still have the situation under control!”

The situation they referred to was the giant ship hovering over the city and were single handily blocking the entire sky it would seam and darkened the night almost pitch black, they had been warned that it were coming of course as early warning systems that were used to watch for IMBC and aerial attacks had discovered the giant ship when it entered the atmosphere and when it was discovered that it headed directly for Imerbürg the city had been on the verge of full-blown panic and once more it was thanks to the army that order still remained in the city as any riots had been dispersed by teargas and by anti-riot equipped peacekeepers.

As the ship closed in and entered Imerian air space had the entire nation watched in horror as the air force had engaged it, but not because the lack of trying had they been forced to give up as the worst damage they had been able to inflict were some smaller holes and a lot of craters that now covered the hull, but as the ship made no hostile moves combined with the lack of results had the air force been ordered to give up their attempts, sure no one were harmed but the lack of result had seriously damaged the morale of the people and the king had been forced to give the order personally that no nuclear weapons were to be used. And as the ship flouted over their heads as a sign of doom and despair the terrified people of Imerbürg were making their way to their shelters.

---

The air over Imerbürg (on a direct course for the alien ship).

Trooper Hendry Gustafson sat in one of the three helicopters flew graciously over the chaotic city beneath, the crew of the three helicopters were a mixed bunch consisting mainly of the elite high guard that were assigned as guards to the scientists, diplomats and linguists that were traveling together in their noble quest, they were to attempt to land and make their way in to the ship using one of the holes left by “the air force’s heroic defense of our motherland” (as the crown and IRNN had named the fiasco) when inside were they to establish contact with the aliens and try to establish their motives. If they were hostile were they to hold the breach head until re-enforcement arrived and attempt to take the ship by force, failing that were they ordered to try to destroy the ship and every life form onboard and if they were friendly then were they to try to establish friendly contact.
Hendry were on the other hand weary nervous, this were his first mission with the legendary high guard that every Imerian kid grew up hearing stories of, and he were not to screw this up whatever the enemies where he had sworn to fight and die for his country, his thoughts were interrupted however as a voice from the loudspeaker filled the room
“T- 30 seconds to arrival!”
“All right men, we have the honor to go in first so I want every one of your ready to advance in to unknown territory the moment that hatch opens!” the sergeant in charge of Hendry and his squad roared. His order were immediately followed by nine environmental suits being readied and the nine men rising up and prepared to rope out from the helicopter in to the alien ship. The wait seamed to stretch out over a lifetime before the doors opened and before He had even time to react to what he was doing had Hendry jumped out slowly descending in to the alien ship…

[Demostra (Ancient)]

Presidential Apartments,
Eos, Demostra,

Amid piles of papers regarding the outcome of various agrarian reforms and revolutionary transitions, President Alexander Philadelphios raised his voice in response to one of his smaller, more timid ministers. The man was Timothy Logeos, a scientist generally regarded as the Nations most brilliant, and recently-appointed head of the Ministry of Science and Technology. It was a ministry that was generally in the background, as the Socialist agenda did not focus on scientific advance.

"We are here, bogged down in costly and complex attempts to revolutionize the lives of the Workers, and you're blabbering on about some space mumbo-jumbo?" He asked, irately.

Logeos muttered an apology, and fell silent. And on the meeting went, the subject returning to the establishment of communal farms on the fertile coastal region of the country.

[Offworlders]

A Few Hours Earlier

The object came hurtling in at tremendous speed, yet as it approached the Earth it continued to slow, pulling an impossible number of G’s in the process. Settling over Africa, it began a steady descent towards the Atlantic coast, finally coming to hover directly above the city of New Atlanta in the Blackhelm Confederacy.



Of course, by the time it finally came to rest, Humanity’s panic had grown even greater. For more objects had began to appear in trans-lunar space, each streaking in along a similar trajectory. Over the next few hours, the vast disc-shaped objects settled in over one human city after another: Imerbürg in Imeratia, New Tralee in Hegstoria, Eos in Demostra, and Lusiano in Dimoniquid.

And more objects kept appearing, slowing to match velocity with the Earth, and then settling to hover a couple of kilometers above one terrestrial city after another.

[Hegstoria]

"Roger wilco, reception 1 inbound to the ships exterior. we will stop in front of what looks like the command deck. If nothing happens we can always cut our way through. Over." As the ospreys took a hovering pattern in front of the deck they awaited a reaction of some sort.

[Offworlders]

Over Imerbürg, Imeratia

Trooper Hendry Gustafson couldn’t know it, but he and his fellow soldiers came within a whisker of dying as the hatch opened to reveal the pitted hull of the vast alien craft before them.

As their helicopter had covered the last few meters of space in their approach to the massive vessel, almost all of the avionics on board had gone wild. Had the chopper not been hardened for use in a nuclear environment, its flight systems would have shut down completely, sending Hendry and his comrades plummeting to the ground nearly 2,000 meters below them.

As it was, it took all of the pilot’s prodigious skill to hold the craft steady as the Imerians leaped down onto the hull of the craft and began to make their way through the nearest breach. It was only after doing so that Hendry and his comrades discovered a problem with their plan.

Imerian air forces had blown holes through what was clearly an outer hull. Five meters below that hull lay a second, utterly undamaged surface – apparently, the alien ship’s main hull. Looking around, they could see numerous holes torn through the outer surface; they could also see how the material and design of the outer hull had served to dissipate the force of the impacts that had been scored against it, such that the inner hull beneath it lay entirely undamaged. Apparently, the outer hull represented some highly advanced form of spaced armor.

And – as if that wasn’t enough – there appeared to be a shimmering field of air roughly two meters thick just above the inner hull. It felt slightly soft and spongy under foot, almost like a region of superdense air. Beyond that, the entire space between the inner and outer hulls felt oddly charged, almost as it it were full of static electricity.

To get through the inner hull, the Imerians were going to need to figure out how to penetrate this force field - if, indeed, that was what it was.

[Hegstoria]

"Reception 1! Return to base immediately, Immertia has gotten a hatch open and a emp like device went of, land immediately."
"Roger wilco, we are inbound."

[Imeriata]

Imerbürg (2000 meters above the city)

As the first attempt to penetrate the ship to find out who or what violated the kingdoms airspace had been unsuccessful not only had the troopers and scientists been unable to enter the ship but also it seemed that they could not fly within more than a few meters of the ship without the ship responding with an electromagnetic pulse which meant that not only were they forced to abort the landing of more troopers at the moment but also the equipment they had brought with them were fried and they could count themselves lucky that the helicopters of the high guard were built to withstand almost anything or had they been all dead by now. As an attempt to get more of the team to the ship a different approach were taken, which forced the rest of the team to use their ropes from a much higher altitude (10 meters to be more precise) which in turn raised the chance of injuries greatly. To shield the equipment if this failed, had a large number of lead incased boxes been picked up from the ground. Also had a three man medic team been attached to the force if the possibility of wounded became a reality…

---

The ship surface

“What do you think that is?” one of the troopers standing next to Hendry said indicating to the shimmering air almost three meters down.
“I honestly have no idea; I have never seen anything like it!” the scientist, a young woman that had immediately rushed off to the closest hole when the troopers had reported what were below.
“Let’s try something, an experiment if you wish!” the trooper replied and before anyone could stop him dropped a coin and the small group watched as it fell mesmerized by its moment and filled whit wonder as it fell closer and closer the field…

[Hegstoria]

After scanning a portion of the ship with an emp scanner and estimating the thickness of the rest of the field, they sent up the reception team with strict orders to stay 15 meters away. They then began transmitting radio messages to the ship in an effort to evoke a response.

[Ramsetia]

Renaissance Control Room
'Kamikaze' cameras took stock of the craft as it came to a halt. The object hanging ominously over the desert city of Thebasis. Minister Rasmus looked cowled, shying down slowly away from the image presented on the monitoring screens. The people would be relieved, at least, The fact that he had been wrong, however, burned him deeply. He turned to one of the aides in the monitoring station. The young woman looked up to the Minister for Research with a soft grin. It was a look of relief, though to the proud minister, it was a mocking sneer.
"Send the all clear" he said, slowly, fighting down his response. behind him, the door slowly squeaked open, and two very different sets of footsteps approached.

The heavy, thickly muffled padding of military boots, the clacking of a shield that rest over its owners shoulders. "That was...anti-climatic" the boot's owner said, a light smile across her thin lips. The gouged scar running down the left side of her face, running from hairline down to chin, and slicing chunks from her eyebrow and lips was warped with her smile
"Still. I suppose it's better than losing the surface to a meteor" Stephen Prost Tiana smiled lightly. Beside her stood Port Ramsetia Gavin. The younger male resting heavily on his cane, the one surrender he would make to the damaged bones in his leg.
"Several other vessels like thi-" He was cut short by Ermine
"Gavin, what makes you suggest these are vessels? They are alien in manufacture, and could well be some kind of probe, a kind of gigantic version of the Traveller probes we sent out" The shorter man said, swiftly and curtly. He wasn't about to let anyone else in on his glory.
"Because there appears to be an energy field around them that suggests a form of electromagnetic shielding" The minister of foreign relations said, coolly "the other nations have attempted an approach, only to have craft nearly knocked completely out of the sky. If who-" Again, the diplomat was cut off by the Scientist
"if whoever sent these things are anything like us, they would have alerted us to their presence." Ermine turned away slowly, returning his bespectacled gaze towards the screens. As far as he was concerned, the discussion was over.

Thebasis Airspace
The haunting, silent ship was slowly approached. Three zeppelins, the primitive technology finding use once again, sailing on air currents towards the alien...thing. The Minister of Research had vetoed the term 'Vessel' in regards to the object. On board the lead zeppelin, in a distinctive purple HazMat suit, sat a young girl, watching the hastily-assembled team around her, engineers testing welding torches and drills, making sure the equipment worked. Science teams testing air sensors, calibrating the units carefully. A voice came over the communications system
"We're at the distance when the interference began to affect the other's vessels" Gavin's voice called. "Everybody please be careful, hold on, and good luck" The comms. channel cut out, as the zeppelins continued their slow, cautious advance towards the craft.

Thebasis city
Thebasis itself was a ghost town. No sound echoed from the normally-busy streets, only the haunting wind whistling through the tightly-packed buildings. A monorail unit glided along the system, powered by what little sunlight wasn't blocked out by the craft overhead, the group inside the monorail train had set up sensors, attempting to identify any changes in the atmosphere at ground level, trying to ensure the safety of the Ramset that wished to return to their homes. The tightly-packed walkways and paths below were ominous in their dull grayness. debris fluttered by, it looked like a scrap of newspaper. An abandoned disco dice rolled past, it's plaintive mewls for it's owner going unheard as it searched the compact city. Onboard the train was Rasmus Ermine, keeping a personal eye on the situation, from as close as the scientist dared. If the Empress wanted to risk her life foolishly in the zeppelins overhead, that was her business.

[Hegstoria]

The sound of a man running down a great hall echoed through the palace as another aid burste into the presidents meeting, he bluntly said "Ramsetia, sir, they did it. They figured out how to bypass the EMP shield!"
Almost all the men in the room (Including the body guards)said in unison "What!? how did they do it?"
"They simply used low tech zepplins."
This time only the president spoke"Ha, those fools. They may not fall out of the sky, but all their hazmat suites and well all their equipment will stop working. But all the same keep an eye on the situation."
"Yes sir."

[Imeriata]

The ship surface

As the coin touched the field it seemed for a brief moment that it would simply fall through even if the trio unintentionally grasped for air, but the explosion they feared never came neither some sort of massive electronic shock wave so they relived looked at one another. The coin however just stopped as if it had hit some sort of invisible floor and were now simply laying there midair carelessly defying gravity.
“Do you think a human can go down?” Hendry asked
“Well there is only one way to find out?” the other soldier replied with a carless smile
Their plan was however interrupted before they had the chance to put it in effect by their female companion’s high pitched voice.
“You two can´t be serious! We don’t even know what it does! For all we know it is designed to dissolve biological matter!”
“We might want to report this to the sergeant first!” the two troopers said in unison

---

The fears of wounds were realistic it turned out as two scientists and one trooper hade actually broken their legs during their descent, and as if that weren´t enough so turned it out that the lead covered boxes proved to be of little use as the equipment immediately died as they were brought out of their protection. It was no real surprise when the message from the ground told them that the entire ship was surrounded by a large electromagnetic field. The only good news was that the field that they had observed over the secondary hull seemed not to be some kind of death trap. And without further ado were a search squad assembled to try to find an opening or some other way to enter the ship.

---

The Internal hull

It was almost as he did not care what would happen to him the first soldier without any hesitation lowered himself down one of the holes. Everyone waited in silence for what seemed like an eternity before a horrified scream rung out from the lower hull
“Arggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!” and immediately everyone throw themselves to see for them self the fate of the poor soldier only to find him laying on the field laughing
“hahaha, That one never gets old!” he laughed
“Simonson you just earned yourself a month of latrine duty, and if you ever try a stunt like that again I will personally make your life a living hell!” the by now annoyed sergeant coldly informed him
“yes sir!”
To lower the rest of the nine men were no problem and soon the Imerians began their first footstep in the interior of the ship.

[Demostra (Ancient)]

Demostratos Military Base,
Eos, Demostra,

Alexander Philadelphios was a very nervous man, and he looked it. Sweat poured down his forehead and across his face, and he was breathing heavily. Sitting at a small meeting table in the bowels of an underground bunker, he barely noticed when one of his senior commanders began to address him.

"Comrade-President," the man said, standing rigidly at attention. "our air-wing is ready to strike against the Object, sir. The city is in a panic... We've done our best to keep the people calm, and evacuate, but rioting is occurring nonetheless."

"Make the strike." Philadelphios said, sighing deeply. He was regretting not listening to that damn scientist, and now he had God-knows-what sort of crisis on his hands. He could only hope the air strike would have the desired effect.

Airspace over Eos

"Stay in formation, no matter what." Wing Commander Matthew Rhodos radioed his wing mates. The group was approaching the Alien Object, drawing nearer and nearer.

"Roger." came a chorus of replies.

As the airplanes approached the Object, all suddenly lost power, and began to spiral.

"Eos Command, I'm losing control of my craft! I'm not sure what's happening!" He said, and then fell silent. All five planes crashed into the Eos skyline, adding further to the carnage brought on by widespread rioting. The people were in a panic, in Eos and across the country.

[Maxaxle]

The President's office of Maxaxle
*I am looking at my computer screen with complete shock*
"..."
*An Aerospace Defense commander runs in, panting and sweating*
"Mr. President, sir!"
*I look with surprise at him*
"'Sir'?"
"Yes, it's important. It's the object flying in from space..."
"I heard about it. Except the latest update I have is from 30 minutes ago."
"Well, I have news."
"Out with it!"
"We've sent out recons, as you asked..."
"Yes?"
"We can't scratch the surface..."
"What do you mean?"
"It literally does not scratch off! We've even tried a few bullets!"
"Not even a particle?"
"Not even an atom."
"Holy..."
"I know, sir."
"Huhmmmm..."
"Sir?"
"Give me a minute. I'm trying to decide whether to send humans near it, or bombard it with communication signals of all sorts..."
"Tough decision."
"Alright, I have it. Send in whoever's willing, but tell them to be careful. Tell them that it's not a good idea to make mistakes. But don't tell them any consequences, I don't want to freak them out into messing up."
"Alright."
"And cover them with a few squads, we don't want them to think they're doomed...(even if they are...)"
"What?"
"Oh, nothing...But ascertain that this thing is here for business only, we don't want a war."
"Got it."
"When you find those willing, send their superior into my office."
"Okay."
*he exits the room*

A few minutes later
"You wanted me?"
"Yes. All I really wanted to say was to keep your men in line. That means that, if their weapons are used at all, it'll be their head. And yours."
"But why me?"
"Because it's your job! Now go out there and make sure they don't doom us all."
"Okaayyyy..."
*he exits the room*

[Offworlders]

Several Hours Later:

More vessels had arrived.

One of the large objects had come to rest over Thebasis in Ramsetia, another over Addoliadaukiolta in Facioloiste Padenaltta, yet another over Greendale in Concordeia, and still another over Ayaddha’s capitol of Ayaddha.

And still more objects were on the way.

---

Over New Atlanta, Blackhelm Confederacy:

It pondered its options.

Undoubtedly, this planet’s inhabitants would be responding in a variety of ways to this arrival of its people over this blue-white garden world. Undoubtedly, some of them would be panicking and some would be making ready to fight. Neither of these was a desirable outcome.

In the absence of contact, conjecture would run amok. But certain things would need to be done before contact could be made.

It examined the displays before it. They showed a sparkling white city of marble and chrome, gleaming in the tropical sunshine. Offshore, the brilliant blue of the ocean was broken by flecks of foam; inland, the surreal green canopy of the tropical rain forests that covered much of the Blackhelm Confederacy was broken by dark patches of shadow and the occasional glassy ribbon of a winding river. Birds soared across the treetops and darted about the waves; in the city, vehicles crawled along ribbons of concrete like ants, flowing in lines, some all in one direction, some in another.

It looked at a set of graphs. This world was colder and wetter than what was optimal, and that would have adverse consequences. Still, it was within the range of what was acceptable. The priority now was to make sure that the two races – the inhabitants of this world and the newcomers – could interact without disaster befalling either one.

It looked down at New Atlanta and its surroundings through a mosaic of cameras; thousands of lenses zoomed and panned like the eyes of a vast insect. The detail captured was incredible; it had seen the inhabitants of this world magnified to the point where individual anatomical features could be resolved in considerable detail. They were not at all like its own people, these beings, and the differences would undoubtedly be more than physical.

Yet – at the moment – it was the physical differences that mattered most. Care had to be taken to avoid a situation that might result in the utter extinction of one race or the other.

And, as far as it could tell, there was really only one way to accomplish that.

---

Over Imerbürg, Imeratia

Simonson and his comrades found themselves in a vast space some five meters high, stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction. Clearly, they were between the inner hull and the outer one; two meters below their foot lay unblemished material, separated from them by the strange force field encasing it; just over a meter above their heads, like a storm-battered roof, stood the outer hull, perforated here and there by the missile fire of their comrades in Imeraita’s aviation arm. Eerily, they stood atop the invisible barrier that separated them from the hull beneath their feet, senses screaming that they shouldn’t - couldn’t possibly - be just standing there in mid-air atop... nothing.

The solidified air beneath their feet felt strangely soft and springy, like they were walking on thick carpet stretched across a concrete floor. To make the entire atmosphere even stranger, the air felt charged with static; the soldiers and scientists felt their hair alternately prickle, fly, and cling tightly to their skin in a most peculiar – and uncomfortable – way.

Looking in every direction, they could see no apparent hatches or entry ports – just hull, both inner and outer, along with support stanchions holding the latter in place.

[Clamparapa]

High Administrator Igor Giovanni sat at his desk, annoyed by the paper work in front of him. He had much better things to do besides this boring endeavor. He did his best to rush it, not paying attention to much else. So when an aide was suddenly speaking to him, Giovanni angrily interrupted with, "What is it now Wilkens? I'm very busy." Just as Wilkens started speaking, Giovanni interrupted him again. "This had better be important, as well, or your job will be going to someone else."

Wilkens finally got the words out. "Sir, massive objects are 'landing' all over the place. We have no idea what they are, but early reports from intercepted communications suggests that they are alien in design and have highly advanced technology." Wilkens was confident his job wasn't in jeopardy, but he couldn't help but wonder if the High Administrator meant any interruption would cost him his job.

Giovanni looked up, a smile slowly inching its way onto his face. "Intriguing. This could be most, helpful." He shooed Wilkens away, telling him, "Fetch me the Grand Marshall. I want him here within the hour." As Wilkens left, the High Administrator uttered one final piece of information. "And don't EVER interrupt me while I'm in the middle of paper work EVER again. Understood?" Wilkens just nodded and briskly left the room...

[Ayaddha]

Ayaddha, Islamic Republic of Ayaddha

It was one of those fateful coincidences that the alien craft would descend from the heavens to settle over Ayaddha's capitol just as the muezzin was issuing the call (adhān) to noon prayer (dhuhr ).

As the vast disk filled the sky, Ayaddhis everywhere looked up, and yet strangely continued to their mosques for the rituals of faith. One might have thought that, while noting the arrival of the alien craft, they saw it as just another remarkable event in the drama that was modern life, and indeed – in a country whose literature was almost obsessed with magical realism, perhaps it was.

Although this was not Friday, and so not the day for jumu'ah, in Ayaddha’s largest mosque the khaṭīb rose and pointed to the vast object floating above them in the sky.

Reciting Sūrah 42:29, he said:

"Among His proofs is the creation of the heavens and the Earth, and the living creatures of all kinds He spreads throughout them. He is able to summon them, when He wills."

A murmur arose among the faithful, for these words had long been understood to establish among Muslims something quite distinct from the beliefs of the other People of the Book: That it was not just Earth that held intelligent life, but that indeed it was scattered throughout the Universe.

As if to underscore this, the khaṭīb, nodding in affirmation of the peoples' understanding of his words, recited Sūrah 65:12:

"GOD created a multitude of universes and an equal number of Earths. The commands flow among them. This is to let you know that GOD is Omnipotent, and that GOD is fully aware of all things."

Finally, he spoke the words of Sūrah 1:2:

"Praise be to GOD, Lord of All Worlds."

His meaning could not be more obvious. Whoever these beings were, they were part of God's universe, made by God, bound by His laws and sent for His purpose.

His faithful could only wait to see what purpose that might be.

[Facioloiste Padenaltta]

Addoliadaukiolta

The capital of the Holy Empire, and also the most sacred city in the empire, Addoliadaukiolta was. The presence of the visitors did not go unnoticed. Panicked people filled the streets. Leniedener Roland of Laen, was the first to take concrete action. He stood out on his balcony, overlooking the square of the Addoliadaukiolta, the Holy Fortress the city was based around, and from which it took it's name. He looked up at the visitors, and said, quite calmly, "Panic not, rejoice, for Aikaltanghyfrif hath come." and as he spoke, speakers amplified his voice across the square. In fact, his voice could be heard quite well, through out most of the city, and it was not long before his statement was being played over and over again on pretty much every channel, as camera's watched the visitors.

Even as Leniedener Roland of Laen, made his first statement, the panicking began to subside. However, the Leniedener's job was far from over. He would now need to guide his flock through this. He began issuing instructions from his balcony, "All of you should go home, be with your family. Sacrifice to the gods," he continued, as he placed a log in his balcony firepit, and lit it. "Larch wood, may Hoivataener guide us through theses times." And across the city, those who were listening, or watching the Leniedener, did as he did, selecting a fine piece of Larch wood, and burning it in their own firepits. Many who did not even live in the city, joined in on the sacrifices.

The Kotitahallitus

Cymenener Phillips sat at his desk, looking over the reports, he would have looked out his window at the thing, if his view were not blocked by a thick black smoke that now obscured the city sky.

"Sir, the Leniedener has proclaimed this to be Aikaltanghyfrif," one of his aides state, a little frightened.

The old man and his superstitions, though Phillips, but he didn't hold anything against his aide. "Go home, Stanly, be with your family, burn some sacrifices," he said to the aide.

"Thank you deeply sir," the aide replied, setting a stack of papers down on the Cymenener's desk, and half walking, half running out of the room. It was clear to Phillips, that many felt like Stanly, even those who had strayed from the Gods, were probably at home, with their families, burning sacrifices, and wishing they had kept up their firepits better, or kept a better stock of wood. What else could he expect, Aikaltanghyfrif, would put the fear of the Gods into anyone.

But this wasn't Aikaltanghyfrif. Phillips was sure. It couldn't be, could it? No, that was just superstition. This was something else. He hoped.

However, there was little that could be done. Phillips had ordered a detachment of fighters to do a flyby of the object, however, there were two problems with that, the nearest airbase was closed due to low visibility due to holy smoke, and few pilots were willing to get anywhere near what had already been proclaimed a sign of Aikaltanghyfrif. So, two F-5s were inbound from, surprisingly, Laen Airbase. However, they were still 45 minutes out, and it had not yet been determined how high this smoke was limiting visibility, they man not even be able to see the think, it could be shrouded in smoke.

Philips had attempted to address the nation about the subject, however, no network would carry him, instead choosing to carry the Leniedener's step by step guide to preparing for Aikaltanghyfrif, or live shots of black smoke, obstructing the view of the object. Philips just sighed, and though about going outside for a breath of fresh air, then looking at his window, though better of it.

[Dimoniquid]

"Execute! Execute!" The captain said, and jumped into the large hole made by a rocket. After a few minutes, everybody was aboard the ship, "Maintain radio silence - everybody get to your level. Alpha, three clicks west. Delta, three clicks east. My team, we're north - two clicks. You've all been fitted with tranqs - I don't want any aliens to get killed. Not my words, Dr Hards."
"Damn right. You so much as use a bullet on these guys, they'll probe your ass."
"Correction - in the ass." Someone yelled, and some people snickered.
"Ahh, you can stay behind. Watch the copters.

[Offworlders]

In Space Above the Earth

Objects continued to appear, and the ones that had recently appeared descended over more cities: Molanadad City in Clamparapa and a second city – Aero – in Dimoniquid. Still more were on the way...

Over Lusiano, Dimoniquid

Like the Imerians, the soldiers and scientists from Dimoniquid clambered through what they thought was a breach in the vast ship’s hull, only to find themselves in a five meter space between the vessel’s outer hull and another inner one. Beneath their feet, two meters of solidified air – some kind of force field - separated them from the rest of the ship; the space itself seemed charged with static electricity. Worse, there appeared to be no way through this second hull – at least not without somehow getting through the force field.

They could, of course, search the entire crawl space – a task that would take quite some time, as it represented an area of almost 16 square kilometers – but it was not apparent how they would get any further than that until they could manage to breach the force field and the inner hull beneath it.

Over New Atlanta, Blackhelm Confederacy

It checked its calculations. The space it had ordered cleared and prepared seemed large enough for a dozen of the natives of this planet, although it could not be precisely certain of their needs with respect to movement; on that score, it could only hope that the space in question would be large enough.

Other questions filled its mind: It had no idea how long this test would take. It believed that a few hours would be sufficient, but was concerned that even several days might not be. For this reason, it used long-ranged cameras and radio waves to scan beneath the jungle canopy for a small group of natives camped out in the wild. It had noticed that several such groups existed, some moving between the city or its suburbs and the surrounding countryside, some apparently determined – for reasons it could not even begin to fathom – to remaining in the countryside and completely avoiding the more developed areas.

Selecting a group of the right size that seemed to have a large quantity of portable gear – as it hoped that this gear would suffice to fulfill the as-of-yet-unknown biological needs of the inhabitants of this planet - it locked onto their position and engaged the matter translation device, teleporting the locals from beneath the leafy jungle canopy to the isolation bay within the vast ship hovering over New Atlanta.

[Ramsetia]

Thebasis airspace
A thick, spongey Hazmat suit sole pressed down upon the outer hull, carefully and cautiously. The suit was bunched in places, pulled tight against it's wearer's body thanks to a pair of straps around his torso, one of them held his shield, the other was the shoulderstrap of his shotgun. Slowly, the man advanced further, walking out along the hull
"By Odin's beard..." he muttered, softly. The Ordinator was soon followed, scientists and engineers slowly stepping off the zeppelin's boarding ramps. They looked over the 'horizon' that the ship's slight dome created, looking at a vessel pockmarked by space flight
"Is there any way to contact this thing?" Empress Helena, the girl in the purple suit asked, kneeling down to slowly rub over the metal.

The other zeppelins disgorged their passengers, one or two groups pulling with them hydraulic compressors, and the drills and saws that went with them. The Ramset looked out over the surface of the ship
"we should wait before trying to cut through the ship" Helena said, her voice tinted with an unusual sharpness. The engineers said nothing, merely set down the heavy equipment
"Loremaster? Could I borrow your shield?" she asked, holding her hands out towards the soldier. He complied, passing the kite shield down to the girl. Little, clumsily gloved hands took the protective item, the rough triangle of metal. She began to hit it against the surface of the ship, there was a pattern to her blows, the outer hull vibrating with the tune of the song she had been listening to earlier.

None of the Ramset knew about the seperation between the outer hull and the inner hull, they hadn't launched attacks, or begun cutting into the ship to open up the outer hull for scrutiny as yet. The HazMat suits began to spread out along the surface of the ship, inspecting the topside for any damage that may have occured

Renaissance, Imperial Palace
"the empress has landed on the ship, sir" The aide said, her face was red, and she was practically bouncing about with excitement. The report in her hands landed softly upon the Empress'es desk, currently occupied by Gavin.
"Thankyou. And Minister Rasmus'?" he asked, softly
"He's reported no adverse effects. The people of Thebasis can move back in when they're ready." The aide assured him.
"Good, They'll be glad to hear that. Tell Minister Stephen that she can order the Zeppelins to try and move the object" He stressed the word, not disapprovingly, merely more of a warning. The aide was good at her job, and he didn't want her fired just because she angered minister Rasmus. "across from Thebasis city center."
The aide nodded, turning to leave.
"Does the Minister for Communications know about this?" Gavin asked, softly
"He's a little tied up." The aide said, disapprovingly. Normally she wouldn't have taken such a tone, but she knew how important such a discovery could be
"Madame Aerena's?" Gavin guessed, with a sly little grin "Go to his second. Get them to bounce a 'hello, airman' off the ship. And then take a break. You look like you're about to explode"
The aide blushed furiously, hurrying from the Imperial office.

Gavin pushed the reports to one side, returning his attention to the computer mounted within the desk, tapping away at the keyboard slowly as he prepared a letter, addressed to all the nations who had encountered one of these Objects.

From the Desk of the Minister for Foreign Relations, Port Ramsetia Gavin
To All nations involved with the extraterrestrial objects

As you have no doubt become aware, Ramsetia is playing an unwitting host to an alien device over one of her major cities. We would like to extend the hand of cooperation to all other nations who wish to discover the nature of the craft. We have discovered that low-technology equipment, Hydraulic cutters utilising diesel motors, for instance, seem to be the only items capable of operating within the interference field surrounding these 'Objects'. Attached to this message are results of a ground-level scan, showing that there is no real danger of being beneath one of these vessels.

Any information that we share brings us that much closer to identifying these craft, and their purpouse
Sincerely, Port Ramsetia Gavin.

The E-mail was sent, and the crippled man stood, walking slowly to a makeshift monitoring station within the office
"Be safe, Helena" he said, softly, stroking the screen, as if that would help keep the Empress safe

[Facioloiste Padenaltta]

Padenalttain Airspace

Two F-5 Tigers were approaching the cloud of smoke that was Addoliadaukiolta. The thing, could be seen floating over the city. It almost seemed to be resting on a black pillow of smoke. While the two F-5s were quite similar they were not both the exact same model. While one was a standard F-5E, the other was a modified F-5L, carrying a very special payload. The markings were also different, while the F-5E bore the official markings of the Padenalttain Holy Air Brigade, the other bore different markings, those of the Leniedcwnsel, one of the major Padenalttain intelligence agencies. Snugly fit under the fuselage of the F-5L, was the Godmaker Mk. 1 air to air missile, sporting a 1 kt nuclear warhead.

For many years, Project Lifeguard had worked in secret to prepare for an event such as this. Be it the Aikaltanghyfrif, or beings from another world, Project Lifeguard, was given Level 3 Security, and charged with protecting the Holy Empire from threats such as this. As they approached the unknown, Commander Jose Perkins flying second seat in the F-5L, attempted to make radio contact with what he could only assume, was some sort of vessel, based on the design. He though such a distinct horizon on a space going vessel odd, himself, but than again he didn't design space going vessels so he didn't know much about it. He pressed down the talk button, and broadcast his message, "This is Commander Jose Perkins, we come in Peace." It was such a cliche, however his bosses had written out this script, and they liked it. He didn't get this far by arguing with the bosses.