Star Chronicles: A New Light

[Thrace]

IC THREAD​

Introduction

All beings, once they are born, long for the stars. They look up into the dark skies, and feel the call of the small sparkles of light. They look at them and find gods, hope, mysteries, or even the future. Even as they are constrained to their own planet, entire civilizations have their existence decided by what their members see in the stars. But stars have far more to offer than religion, constellations or astrology. In their quest to reach for them, one after another, countless civilizations developed the technology to escape their homeworlds, their home systems, and finally, to become faster than light itself, only to discover that they were not alone. The Milky Way is a galaxy thriving with life, some of it more bizarre than the rest, but all of it moving ahead, following the same path of evolution and development. The galaxy is filled with countless nations traveling between the stars, or still being confined beneath their skies. A thriving galactic community exists, thriving, communicating, trading, and expanding. But when peace exists, war must also come, and this cycle is endlessly repeated everywhere. No one truly knows if something as fickle as fate even exists, but if it does, the fate of the galaxy is decided in every moment by those living in it.

You are the leader of your own nation, be it one that has already conquered the stars, spread throughout countless planets, or one that has yet to conquer the skies. Or maybe you are the leader of a faction, a group, or an organization somewhere between the stars. It is your duty to lead your people to greatness, and to ensure their survival in the vast emptiness of space. There are plenty of stars friend, and you will be the one to write your own Star Chronicles.

Description

Hello, and welcome to Star Chronicles: A New Light, the reboot of the old Star Chronicles roleplay. It is a sci-fi roleplay set in the Milky Way galaxy, where you can play as your own nation or faction, interact with others and decide the fate of the galaxy. You will create your own nation and faction and lead them throughout the roleplay. As in most nation roleplays, you will control your nation mostly through your characters, but also through normal actions. Our main focus here is to create interesting stories that all participants can enjoy. If you are new to such roleplays, do not worry - we will be more than happy to help, and if you are already used to them, make yourselves at home!

This will be the In Character thread of the roleplay, where all the actual roleplay posts and action will go!

We also have an OOC thread and a Discord server for OOC discussion, and the Discord invite can be obtained from the OOC thread or by sending a PM to one of the GM's!

GM TEAM
Thrace - Drakorphobia - Archene - The Governor

 

[Succuboi]

Endoval System
Endoval IV
Western Lowlands
Contested Sein’Hae Land

The booming crash of thunder dominated the overcast skies above this region of Endoval IV as the day was subject to another seemingly endless rain storm. Cold beads of rain fell into the dense tree line in copious amounts, leaving the terrain soggy and treacherous. The intense jungle swallowed up what little light reached it just as much as it drank up the rain too, forcing its inhabitants to rely on their low-light vision or other means to navigate.

Deep within this impossibly dark natural labyrinth, the remains of an ancient frigate lie in pieces, partially buried by plants and old nests which grew in cracks and holes in the vessel’s ruined hull. The wreck is but one of many dotting the landscape of Endoval IV, remnants of a long abandoned attempt at colonizing the planet many years ago.

The relative stillness of the rotting ship is quite suddenly broken, as the crack of gunfire rains out from its lower deck, and several bullets clang off the inside of its hull. More sounds of combat follow suit all throughout the vessel as a pitched battle between two small bands of Sein’Hae warriors breaks out over the area. Each warrior stands unique in its structure, some larger than others, but it is clear which Sein’Hae belongs to which warband by the markings they carry to distinguish themselves. One band’s warriors have weaved many bones into their masses, forming crude skeletal structures that make them almost resemble bodies made of bone and muscle. The other warband’s fighters instead resemble hunched figures wearing cloaks made of interweaving metal plates, which clatter and rustle like suits of plate armour.

The combat that ensues through the ship is quick and fierce, the combatants utilizing a mixture of salvaged technology and their own forged weapons to engage one another in close range firefights, leaving many wounded or dead on both sides. The ship is rattled and damaged often in the low visibility battlefield, with every small hole and crack being put to use as an opportunity to flank and ambush the enemy. The battle on the ship’s former bridge is particularly fierce, as two elites of their respective tribes come to blows after dispersing the lesser foes around them. The two clash in a flurry of blows, causing damage to the sensitive consoles and terminals around them.

Unbeknownst to both tribes, one failed strike manages to rouse the ship from its slumber, long enough to cause a brief spike of activity from its barely functioning emergency power banks. Detecting that it has crashed, the automatic distress beacon is brought to life, quietly transmitting an ancient cry for help to the local stars. The feuding Sein’Hae remain completely unaware of the ship stirring around them, continuing to scrap even as their numbers are depleted.

​

 

[GrieveWriter]

The Drokoi Consulate
Wesla-3
Chamber of the Council of Ordenna

Interaction/Mention: Succuboi
"Tell me, Speaker, when those conniving criminals you seem oh so willing to write off begin cutting entire planets from the Council's control, will they be a big enough problem then?"​

That query led the entire Chamber of the Council to quickly become rife with mumbles and grunts of disapproval. The one who had just spoken it, Sir Grinthel, lowered his hindlegs and reclined into the cushion of his seat with a smug expression as he watched the High Speaker look over the other members of the council with what he could easily read as cautious displeasure. The Council of Ordenna was being called into session more and more as the situation for the Consulate grew more precarious, the Councilman recognized the growing number of assemblies with a mix of humor and disgust equally. All around the chamber were various Drovakki and Trokoids, many of whom could only attend via projections onto drones or androids sent in their stead. There were not many who could join the Council's assemblies as often as he, but the Trade Union he represented had rather comfy property on Wesla-3.

As he sat back and watched the chattering continue, he found his amusement interrupted as the High Speaker of the Council, Madam Drivan, leaned up in her seat and gave a sharp hiss that silenced the other attendants. Only once she'd regained control of the conversation did she turn on Sir Grinthel.

"We have been aware of the situation for some time and have looked into methods by which we may alleviate the outer systems of their burden." the Speaker stated before narrowing her gaze at him "But surely you must know that directing a force the size of which you deem necessary away from the Zen front is-"

"Completely out of the question, you snake!"

All eyes went to a large service Robot who had the likeness of General Thorm appearing on its chest. The General was pacing back in forth within his Warship, his massive frame no doubt sounding with every step he took.

"This beast devours my men daily, and you wish to concede more territory to it?!?" The general turned to face Sir Grinthel "Perhaps your stock has taken hits, but surely you do not seek to cripple an entire portion of Consulate Space just for that! Has Admiral Yan's efforts been too little for you?!? I hear word she's captured twelve whole ships worth of smugglers in the last few days alone! What else do you demand? That she root out every fraudulent penny-pincher within your diseased carcass of a Union?!?"

His outburst only threatened to send the Council into further debate, something which the Speaker could not allow. Standing tall she raised her hands to her sides.

"Please!" she demanded attention before shaking her head at Thorm, "While I believe our dear General could've worded it better, I must agree that the risk involved with diverting troops at this stage is simply too great."

She looked back to Sir Grinthel, who hadn't lost his smirk throughout the entirety of the General's words, "Perhaps if you and the Admiral coordinated better you'd find her success at rooting out your lawless competition easier. Until then I'll have to say that this assembly will be adjourning for the moment and reconvening with the next issue for today, time is precious after all."

She leaned back in her seat and leaned down to tap a button on its side, which cast the entire council chamber in a dim yellowish glow as many of its members arose from their seats or cut off their feeds. Once about half of them had left their seats, Madam Drivan frowned before hopping from her seat and scurrying across the chamber's central table to the General's droid.

​

"What was that?" she demanded with a frown

"You know what he's been doing with those outer worlds, Madam." the General returned to his pacing "No matter how well he plays that for the people drivel, he's only looking for gaps in our oversight to exploit."

"That doesn't mean you can just rant and rave at him during an assembly!" she bit "Sir Grinthel has the ears of far too many Council members already, do not give him a chance to go for more or he will end up running you by the end of the year."

The General stomped closer to the feed and leaned down to face her fully, "You cannot allow him to pull forces from our front out here. The moment he does that blasted Hivemind will surge through the gaps and the next thing you know, he'll be campaigning against our ineffectiveness within days."

"I know General," she sighed "believe me, I know."

Thorm glared at her for a moment before his expression softened, "Then that's all I can ask for."

The feed cut out, and the drone went into standby mode as Drivan turned and made for her own carry-mech. Sat beside her seat at the council's table, this mech was only slightly taller than the chair itself. Its cockpit opened upon her approach, and soon she was hopping into it as she dug around the compartments for something. As she searched, a notification appeared on a monitor nearby, with her face falling once she saw who it was from. Setting down an oddly colored leaf, she accepted the transmission before trying to relax in the cockpit.

"Look, that portion of Consulate Space is currently under Admiral Yan's jurisdiction," she stated whilst crumpling up the leaf "if its a matter of something that does not require Military intervention then the ETU have offices there that-"

But she was interrupted by angered yelling that led to her pausing with the leaf still clutched in her tiny hands. The Speaker's head turned to look at the transmission once again, confusion worming its way onto her features. Eventually she shoved the leaf aside and stood within the cockpit as she began to type at a console built into the side of it.

"Hold on, hold on!" she shouted "I want you to repeat yourself properly this time."

​

"An unknown signal just outside of Consulate territory?" Admiral Yan laughed as she paced at the bridge of her Capital ship "And here I was thinkin' I'd be goin' mad around here!"

The majority of those in the bridge with her were Drovakki, with numerous androids moving between consoles and only one Trokoid operating a mech as he looked over a star chart. On this chart was a blinking purple light some distance out from the map it showed, with an orange light approaching it steadily. On their hunt for pirate filth, automated recon ships had picked up the signal first and relayed it back to the Admiral. After her recent battle with a faction of smugglers that had attempted to push illegally sourced resources through the planet below, Yan had been just as ready and willing to continue her hunt. Who'd have thought that she'd find something like this instead? A signal beyond Consulate Space, not similar to any signal they'd ever known before. Many of those serving in her fleet were cautious, since the last time a signal of this nature had been found they'd run into that hivemind on the other side of Consulate Space.

But the admiral was far more optimistic of something grander.

She believed they'd found it, the secret station where the numerous pirates and smugglers they'd been hunting down were based. Some of the captives had let slip rumors of it, and Admiral Yan was ready and willing to strike at the heart. They'd sent a single ship to scope things out, with Yan ready to call in more forces from across the system the moment they had confirmation. As the star chart showed this advance ship growing closer, Yan clacked her claws together as her jagged teeth stretched into a giddy smile.

Only for it to grow confused when reports came back of an entire system located, and for the signal to be tracked not to a space station, but an entire planet that reports labeled as habitable.

Murmuring broke out across the crew, of how they'd know of this if the Council hadn't slowed down exploration in favor of dealing with the Zen situation, of how close they were to a perfectly useful location. But Yan was of a different mind, pushing past another angered Drovakki and grabbing hold of the Trokoid's mech.

"Tell them to get me eyes on that Planet," she hissed to him "For all we know them pirates could be dug in all over this thing."

The Trokoid smirked at her sudden seriousness before nodding as the arms of his mech reached forward, "Captain, the Admiral demands we get IRDs on that planet as soon as possible." he relayed "Please target that signal and localize deployment in a radius around it."

The gruff tone of the Commander returned as they got a feed of IRD pods being launched, "It has been done."

These pods were quick to pierce the atmosphere far above the planet, with their armor falling away once they'd reached a certain altitude. Soon the drones broke free of their casing and slowed their descent as much as possible, eventually pulling up into flight as they began their duty of scouting out and surveying the source of that signal.

​

 

[Chuckles]

The Tel’tsu Commonwealth
First Contact Expedition
System 11927
SF-1072 Vlaycli

Persons of interest
Captain Awndhersun Toezeer



The frigate appeared out of emptiness as silently as if nothing had occurred, slipping out of warp and coasting along its trajectory without a pause. It’s massive thrusters propelling it towards its intended destination.

Vlaycli was the forerunner of Expedition group 12, a small team of ships outfitted for extended deep space deployments. SF-1084 Zamier, SF-1009 Uainscot, and MF-018 Elæseh were approximately two hours behind Vlaycli‘s schedule. Close enough to cut the time drastically and come to their forerunners defense, far enough that a mission abort could be done with ease.

ExGru-12 had been exploring systems for almost a standard year, surveying and cataloging system resources for future endeavors. They had explored a number of systems that had shown promise for life bearing worlds, and a few did in fact support life, though none of it sentient, or at least none of it advanced enough to be sure. Certainly no space fairing species.

System 11927 was different.

“Unknown craft on scope, radiation indicates piloted craft. Five marks on the board. Estimated origin unknown planet designation 11927.4.” The Officer of the Deck announced.

“Open hailing channels, begin first contact procedures, steady ahead.” Captain Toezeer calmly ordered. “Bring us to ready stations.”

Lighting flipped from white to red as a series of three steady beeps sounded throughout the ship. The crew shifted from mundane tasks to focus on stowing loose items and preparing the ship for any possible high G maneuvering. Half eaten meals were discarded into trash shoots, minor repairs were abandoned and tools stowed in boxes that would be securely fastened to the ships walls, showers were abandoned as those taking them quickly dressed and made their way to their designated stations.

Properly bringing the ship to ready stations was one of the most critical tasks a crewman was taught. It was considered such an important task that any officer of any rank on watch could call to bring the ship to ready at any time, for any reason, and that call would be considered a binding order to every member of the crew, be they Cadet-Crewman or Admiral.

Tel’tsu naval combat often involved sudden and severe course and speed changes, which would cause anything not properly stowed to apparently act as a violent projectile within the confines of the ship. In practice the object was actually just continuing on its original trajectory while the ship flung itself around it. This had caused injuries as insignificant as a minor scratch and as severe as death. It was a self inflicted risk that the Tel’tsu navy did not abide.

The ships com became a chorus of confirmation responses,

“Ready Stations Engineering Decks.”

“Ready Stations Com Decks.”

“Ready Stations Fire Control.”

“Ready Stations Combat Information Control.”

“Ready Stations Gunnery Stations.”

“Ready Stations General.”

“Ready Stations Command Deck and Conn.” The Officer of the Deck announced, “Ship reports Ready Stations.”

No more than two minutes had passed since the order was given.

Awndhersun lowered himself into the Captain’s chair and pondered the displays lining the walls of the bridge. In the centuries since first contact with the Mika the Tel’tsu had only occasionally had brushes with other space fairing races, most often they were cases of two ships happening upon each other by hundreds of thousands of kilometers, exchanging mostly unreturned hails, and moving on. The occasion shot was traded, but no more.

In this instance they were investigating a system presumed to be habited. Their initial scans had shown evidence of space fairing technology, though the full extent hadn’t been revealed. Here five ships were approaching Vlaycli and her captains intention was to make contact. The rest of the exploration group would be warping into the system within two hour, until then he was alone.

“No responses from unknowns, sir.” The Operations Specialist reported, “Coms continuing to hail. Linguistics processing prepared for incoming.”

Captain Toezeer drummed his fingers lightly on the arm of his chair. “Have they maintained course and speed?” He asked.

“Yes sir.” The Operations Specialist replied, “No change. Correction, slight change relative port. Receiving transmission. Linguistics processing is active.”

Finally, something to use. The computers would need plenty of data to learn enough to translate anything useful, but they had to start somewhere. “Continue hailing. Lets see if we can get a line of communication going before they close the gap too much. Prepare to flip and burn, let’s give ourselves some extra time.”

The ship alarm sounded again, this time three sets of three whistles signaling the crew prepare for the flip. For a moment Vlaycli‘s engines shut down and the vectoring thrusters ignited, spinning the entire craft 180 degrees. During this a period of weightlessness occurred within as the crew made sure to secure themselves by way of mag boots and hand holds. Then the engines sputtered and fired back to life, now slowing the ship as it continued on the same path, seemingly now moving backwards. A sense of gravity returned within.

Seconds ticked by as little changed other than distance. Vlaycli‘s crew stood ready throughout the ship, waiting for the next thing, the next order, the next response. Waiting. Seconds passing felt longer than the days they had spent in warp to get to the system. Some of the crew could feel the knot of anticipation growing in their stomach, a nervousness that grew in the absence of action. 285 souls waited.

Then it happened all at once.

The ships alarms started blaring “Incoming missile fire!” An Operations Specialist yelled through the ships coms. Warning lights flashed on all decks as the siren blared. “60 seconds to high G maneuvers.”

The PDB’s had already started going off, the muted sound of their cannons spitting short bursts out into the emptiness could be heard faintly reverberating through the superstructure of the ship.

“Fire Control ready all hands, ready all stations. Fire Control ready all hands, ready all stations.”

The gunnery teams shifted their seats from their ready safe positions to combat ready positions, redundant checks were called out and shells loaded into the firing tubes. “Gunnery Stations ready hot. Gunnery stations ready hot. Awaiting target.”

The Blakely’s thrusters shut down again, the ship rotating 140 degrees before commencing a hard burn. The PDB cannons continued to spit rounds at the incoming missile fire until the threat was neutralized.

“Maintain ready hot. Are we still getting a hailing signal?” Captain Toezeer asked calmly.

“Affirmative Captain, hailing signal is still being received.”

“Maintain heading and velocity. Continue hailing. Let’s remember we’re in their backyard here.” The Captain maintained his calm demeanor. It was one of the many reasons his ship had been selected as a forerunner. “Open a line to the exploration group. Update them on the situation and suggest pushing arrival back until we have a better idea of how hostile our new friends actually are.”

The ships continued to close the gap between themselves and Vlaycli. Over the next minutes they quietly maneuvered around each other in the empty space between planets until finally the sussing out tilted to aggression. The hailing signal coming to Vlaycli stopped suddenly as the five ships unleashed a barrage of missile fire at the frigate. Still a respectable enough distance away that it had little trouble picking them off with PDB fire, but the main gun fire came on the heels of the initial missile salvo.

Vlaycli spun and changed heading and velocity with dizzying speed. “Okay, Flip and burn people, we’re not here to get into a fight.” The Captain ordered. He had been tasked with retrieving linguistics data and attempting to make first contact, they had done all they could on that front, “Inform the exploration group system hostile, drop out of warp at rendezvous alpha. Let’s go people we’ve overstayed our welcome.”

Orders were relayed and the ship plotted its course away from the system. “Prepare for warp.”

“Go.”

As the space around the ship shifted and the warp bubble formed a single shot slipped through at the precise moment the electromagnetic shielding and PDB’s went offline to allow the warp field to come online. The chances would have been minuscule. Nearly incalculable. A statistical impossibility.

Vlaycli shifted from the impact as the warp drive engaged, launching itself off course at a rate of millions of kilometers per second.

 

[Thrace]

Astral Flame, Stateless Space
Once, in the past, the Astral Flame used to be a cutting-edge diplomatic space station for a nation whose name had long been lost. What peace deals had been negotiated on its hallways is a fact long lost to history, with details depending on who told the story, from evil Invaders being convinced to turn around in human tales, to ancient living stars having agreed to stop their conquests right in front of it. Not that it really mattered anyway. The space station had been damaged at some point during some sort of a battle, which large sections still bearing the marks of such combat and being uninhabitable. The station had been simply abandoned in orbit around a small solar system that lacked any inhabitable planets, its main reactors, engines, and FTL drive long dead. But someone had come upon it by chance, and had somehow managed to fix the secondary reactors, restarting the life support systems. It changed hands a lot of times, from rebel groups, mercenaries, drug traffickers, and even a few religious cults, and they all patched it and repaired it as best as they could. The Astral Flame had become sort of a legend, a space station with no ID checks, not controlled by anyone, easy to find by everyone. Nowadays, the station was part black market, part transportation hub, part secret meeting spot. Nearly anything you could desire. Xalion in a bottle, as it was sometimes known.

Today however, the space station was going to hold a particular meeting. A secret one, that is. Everyone who arrived on the Astral Flame had to go through the same beautiful experience. After either landing their ship in one of the few still functioning dockyards, or taking one of the ships that made regular runs to it and back you had to either pay an entrance tax or somehow avoid the armed humans and aliens collecting it, including a red, muscular alien armed with a huge machine gun that looked suspiciously much like one that had been ripped straight from a defensive turret. Leaving the dockyard then led to a more or less deadly maze of hallways, and only few of which still had their own lighting systems functional. Of course, few people were going to actually start a fight there, but the walls were absolutely lined with aliens and humans selling anything from weapons to slaves, with drugged people lying with their backs at the wall, more or less alive, with small mercenary bands looking for new members, to a group of old men trying to sell some crystals which they claimed could see in the future. Just the regular stuff.

But this was the regular experience. For a few people had been invited, and they would have known exactly where they would go. The door separating this particular conference room from the hallway had been scavenged long ago, but it was guarded by two sort of human looking fellows, both in pretty tattered, old, dark blue uniforms, but armed with impressive looking dual-use kinetic-laser weapons. They would have remained silent, only welcoming two people inside, and there, a woman was waiting.

She was human, sort of. She had long black hair, an overall human form, and was wearing what were clearly human forms - a military uniform, including a coat, a peaked hat and a mantle, but entirely white and colorless, from the material to the buttons. The uniform also notably lacked any sort of insiginia, no collar or shoulder patches, no sort of identifying marks. The main issue with simply describing her as human were her eyes - with golden irises, and vertically split pupils.

She didn't seem to be too concerned about that however. "Welcome", she told the two of them rather coldly, motioning for them to enter and take a seat at what had once been a fairly large, round and metallic conference table. Without waiting for a response, she took out a small cigarette box, and took out a small and rather thin cigarette of sorts out of it, with a yellow ring right at the end. She twisted the end off, right where the ring was, before she took a drag on it, exhaling yellowish smoke. The smell of lemon quickly spread in the air.

"The mission is pretty simple. There is a planet that was colonized a few centuries ago. One of the classic colonizing missions of the Human Colonial Alliance, so it was done without much oversight from Earth. Eventually, the colony was abandoned - we don't know the exact reason, it could have been before, during, or after the Long Night, depending on how much trust you place in corrupted archive data. But regardless of why it was abandoned, one thing it was sure - it was done quickly. Most of what was already on the planet remained there. Cities, ships, in short, technology. The chance of finding good, HCA technology from before the Long Night is pretty high.. high enough for my clients, and potentially yours, to be interested. The objectives are very simple. We go there, we scout one of the major settlements, see what kind of technology we can find, record it, and take back anything small enough to bring with us. Call it a.. recon mission it you will." She made a small pause, inhaling and exhaling some of that yellow smoke again, before continuing. "The payment will be substantial, even if the exact sum depends on what will be found. A part of it will be given to you now if you accept it, and the rest upon your return. One of you has a ship if the information we have is correct, and it's that ship that will be used for the mission - the clients wish to remain anonymous and will never directly interact or communicate. Any questions?"

 

[PixelSymphony]

Astral Flame, Stateless Space

Xi Jiao Shui
~A Fateful Meeting~

Status: Nominal
Wearing: Spacer wear
Carrying: SC-2 Holdout Pistol (concealed), Mk I Field Knife (concealed)

---

"The Astral Flame... "

Xi Jiao had read about this place in many of her intelligence reports, most concerning the manner of assets and equipment that could be obtained here with little scrutiny. Documented as a lawless, anarchistic hive of scum and villainy, she doubted there was a much less reputable place for her to be chasing a lead for a potential job in the galaxy... so in a word, it was perfect. Though just now getting her feet wet with the concept of freelancing her work, there was little doubt that the kinds of places where her skills in particular would be in hot demand would rarely be in the public eye, though perhaps one day a client with an extravagant lifestyle (and even more extravagant coffers) might choose to meet her in some secluded pleasure-world where all one's desires were just a comm-call away. But for now, she would be playing on the level of back-water cantinas and (semi-)derelict space stations far, far from the lap of luxury.

As the ship settled down into one of the few remaining operational bays, taking advantage of its diminutive size to squeeze into a spot between two larger freighters, she glanced over at the other member of her traveling party, the man currently in charge of piloting the particular spacecraft she rode in. Seth Libanori he had said his name was, and Xi had no reason to suspect otherwise. Standing quite a bit taller and a fair bit broader than she, Seth was the image of a man who threw caution to the wind as a regular philosophy; adventure and recklessness were his watchwords as he went about his life, wrangling the Salvatore as he worked at a variety of odd jobs and hitting every watering hole in the sector while he was at it. She'd met him at one of those very dives as he was between jobs and she was just beginning to search around for hers; when a hit came in that required her to get to a certain particular out-of-the-way (semi-)derelict space station, she'd offered to split him in on the pay if he was willing to partner up with her.

A sudden jarring thud that reverberated through the ship's hull indicated they had touched down, stirring Xi from her rumination. She reached down with a gloved hand to unbuckle herself from the secondary command station's chair on the Salvatore's bridge; though they had not needed any particular navigational or comm-channel prowess between their last stop and here, the bridge was still a preferable locale to pass the travel time in compared to either her own small bunk or any of the various cargo compartments. Plus it gave her a chance to keep a eye on Seth and begin to observe him quietly, and boy, the wealth of information she got just from that was overwhelming. She found herself astonished that a man with as many conflicting personality traits as he was able to keep it together well enough to function as a human being, much less fly a complicated piece of machinery several times larger than himself, and yet he showed a level of prowess in piloting that she actually was able to relax slightly on the trip over, as high-strung as she tended to normally operate.

Standing and dusting off her synthhide jacket and reinforced spacer trousers, she quietly made her way towards the rear of the ship while Seth to finished up his landing procedures. As she heard the final few clicks indicating the impulse drives had successfully spun down and were now venting, she thumbed the button to open the inner crew hatch airlock doors and clambered inside, her ad-hoc pilot following suit shortly after. The process of equalizing pressure was graciously quick thanks to the docking bay's artificial atmosphere, and but a few minutes and one ladder later, they were now in the "welcoming" corridors of the Astral Flame... after paying the appropriate fee, of course. She was in no mind to go toe to toe with whatever manner of goliath felt it reasonable to arm itself with the main armament from a defensive fortification.

The Astral Flame itself was everything she had suspected it would be: dim, ill-kept, chaotic and loud. Not three steps had she taken into its confines when she had already been offered a free sample of a illicit substance banned in 95% of the galaxy. Worse, possession of the drug carried the death penalty if one was caught with it; she knew because she'd planted a vial of the substance in a mark's pockets as part of an assassination. She hadn't expected the target to go down guns blazing with the police when he realized what had happened, but as long as the target was eliminated, she considered it a successful hit. As Seth caught up to Xi's purposeful strides, she took the moment to wave him close, cautioning him him a low voice to keep an eye on his possessions lest they disappear as a matter of happenstance. Just as her contact had made sure to remark, the interior corridors was a veritable rat's nest of hallways and rooms linking to each other in occasionally illogical manner, with some corridors being blocked off either deliberately or sheerly through decay, leading to the denizens of this labyrinth to cut their own passages through previously solid walls and service tunnels. Thankfully the map Xi had been provided was clear enough to lead them directly to their destination, though she did note some of the vendors' wares for her future perusal on the way out.


As she approached the conference room, Seth in tow somewhat like a faithful canine companion, Xi caught sight of the two blue-clad sentries standing guard on either side of the door. Their uniforms said either "wannabe merc", or "former military", but the potent weaponry toted by both said there was no "wannabe" or "former" involved. In comparison, the pistol she had tucked under her shoulder was almost a laughable notion, a dangerous one undoubtedly, but utterly outclassed by serious hardware she was now facing. Two instances of being outgunned at close range in a confined environment. This job is either extremely sensitive or they're expecting an entire battalion of raiders to show up at any moment. Given the nuances of the Astral Flame, neither observation particularly stood out as the clear winner, which hinted at the entirely likely possibility of both being true. Regardless, she pressed onwards, announcing her presence to the guards before they got itchy trigger-fingers and stooped to testing out their new toys on her. As the doors slid open revealing the sole occupant within, she took a deep breath, steeling herself for what was now before her.

~~~

Well well well... she'd been out of the employ of the Triple Eye for maybe a month tops, and here she found self yet again being thrust into the world of infiltration and espionage. "Information continues to be the most valuable resource in the galaxy, I see," Xi Jiao mused aloud to herself even as she projected a stony facade, her lips a straight line of neutrality. Her arms crossed gently as she raised a finger to touch her chin in thought. The woman across from her, resplendent in her stark white uniform and coat, her hat and mantle giving her an air of refined power, like an emperor standing before the masses at a coliseum; she claimed to be a broker, but Xi knew better. The enigmatic woman speaking in civilian words such as "clients" and "payment", but Xi had seen too much, been in this business for too long to accept her as anything but someone else who was in "the trade" as she once called it. Even Her long dark hair, her glowing slitted eyes, her complete lack of identifying insignia... but for the whims of fate, Xi might have be looking at herself come some years time. This was clearly another spy, word choice be damned. Of course, Xi made no presumptions that the woman across from her, who radiated an air of complete control over this situation like a prison warden in a jail cell, had not sussed out her own history from similar observations; she didn't dare take this woman for a fool, not if she wanted to be leaving here alive with all of her organs intact.

Still, just because she knew what Xi once had been wasn't necessarily a cause for worry; the code of the trade was always professionalism until professionalism needed to be set aside. Besides, it was entirely likely that just as much as Xi had originally bitten on this job offering due to it being a good fit for her skills, the job itself had been structured as a siren song for those who considered unlawful search and surveillance a normal workplace risk. So, taking in a small breath and releasing it slowly, she gave a small nod and began to speak anew. "Very well then. The mission parameters are within my preferences, so I am agreeable to the terms. I would indeed ask for a decent amount of the payment to be up-front, as I see the equipment costs for this mission to be... not insignificant. And yes, we will be using a ship in our own personal inventory; however I do have one question concerning that." She crossed her arms fully now, leaning forwards towards the "broker". "As you have made very clear the clients are not to be contacted, and you speak of our tasks in the first personal plural. Do you and your..." She paused to lift a hand towards the doorway to indicate the bodyguards standing outside "... companions plan to join us in this journey, as if so, I fear for the internal space of our ship."

 

[Nyq]

The Most Serene Gorstak Republic
Sarap Spaceport, Qark System

A civilian freighter undocked from one of the hundreds of hangars of the Sarap Spaceport. Just seconds after it's departure, another freighter is already moving to take it's place, sending a signal to book the now empty hangar for itself. This particular freighter, the Lwarp, is currently carrying sorely needed food headed for Drak Noi, a recently founded colony on the fringes of Gorstak space. Within the craft itself, the crew are busy preparing the ship for the journey to Drak Noi, which would take an estimated 1 hour. Non-vital personnel and passengers are sent into hibernation pods to sleep out the journey, as the process can be traumatizing to those not trained to endure the harrowing experience. Meanwhile, the conscious personnel did the last checks on the Jump Drive and prayed that the journey would go well.

With the preparations done, the Jump Drive began to charge, emitting a loud, terrible screech that could be heard in all corners of the ship. Even the most hardened crewmates had a look of unease on their faces, while the greener crew started to weep and scream in terror. Then, the jumps started. The experienced crewmates took a large swig from their bottles of their preferred hard liquor before shouting at the terrified newbies to return to their posts, sometimes even resorting to beating them with batons before they finally returned to their senses. For this voyage, the Lwarp decided to take 10 light year jumps to it's destination instead of the safer 5 light year jumps, as the captain wished to get to Drak Noi faster so that he could attend his brother's wedding on Qwerk in 3 hours time. Despite how unsafe 10 light year jumps sound like, it is only 8% more likely to result in mistakes than the more commonly used 5 light year jumps.

Unfortunately for the captain, luck was not on his side. A small error in the system caused the ship to jump just 0.00000000000001 light years off it's supposed position, but it was right inside of an asteroid. Suddenly, the insides of the ship melded into the rock, alongside it's contents, both living and unliving. The unlucky crewmates' faces were frozen in terror as they realized their fates just a split second before their bodies were utterly destroyed by being suddenly teleported inside a huge space rock. However, the rear was spared the cruel fate, only to be subjected to one that wasn't any better: stranded in nowhere with no food, no water, and no life support. The surviving crew immediately activated their distress beacon, in the vain hope that someone would rescue them before it's too late.

 

[Succuboi]

Endoval System
Endoval IV
Western Lowlands
Contested Sein’Hae Land

Interaction: GrieveWriter​

Even under the thunderous rain clouds dominating the sky, the boom of engines and the crash of falling debris was plentifully heard by the jungle below. Falling armour plates left displaced holes in the treetops, and from the shaking leaves flocks of winged creatures, completely alien in appearance, took flight and scattered from their cover.

Smaller beasts more closely resembling exotic birds fled in large flocks, flying in every direction and squeaking noisily to signal danger to their peers. An IRD Pod caught just above one flock found itself battered clumsily by tiny wings as birds carelessly crashed into it in their retreat.

Though the damage was inconsequential to the sturdily built drone, it would soon worsen as terrific screeches bellowed loudly from the trees underneath it. A pack of far larger creatures, more closely resembling ancient depictions of wyverns in Terran myth, burst forth from their hiding places, jaws snapping as they dove into the retreating flock. Hungrily, the larger animals snatched up smaller ones, diving back into the trees to feed.

Two of these hulking creatures, only a little smaller than the IRD Pod, directed their attention to the hovering drone as the flock attempted to fly by it. Shrieking noisily at the alien contraption, the two beasts beat their wings and raised their talons, attempting to collide with the Pod’s hull and tear it apart with claws seemingly designed for tearing into armoured flesh.

​

 

[Chuckles]

Seth Libanori
A fateful meeting
Astral Flame, stateless space

Seth took a deep breath and let the tension release from his shoulders. He had stuffed Salvatore into plenty of tight squeezes and had long ago sussed out that the ship had been design with such maneuvers in mind. He made a few final system checks and went down the standard checklist for docking before finally exiting the bridge.

He made his way quickly through the mess and galley, down the ladderwell to the common area, checking a few minor details as he went, not breaking pace. He caught up to his client by the time he made the next ladderwell. She was cold and quiet and had spent the entire trip on the bridge just taking it all in, it had been a little unnerving if he was being honest. But there was supposed to be pay at the end of this jaunt through the void and it certainly hadn’t been unnerving enough to sour him on a good paying job.

Xi Jiao relayed some words of caution about Astral Flame from her contact, which Seth politely listened too, though he was well aware of the Station and its particular charms. The airlock hissed softly before the onboard simulated intelligence unit bid them “Hope you don’t die! Have a nice day!” Ever since Seth had acquired the ship he had his suspicions about where the unit actually fell between simulated intelligence, artificial intelligence, and self aware. Unfortunately the closest he had been able to get to figuring it out was that the original simulated intelligence unit had been heavily modified with new code to present the semi sadistic feminine persona that it now had.

Stepping onto the docking floor the hatch closed behind them. Deep in the back of his head Seth was always a little worried that it wouldn’t open back up again, but the situation had yet to arise. As the unlikely pair made their way through the various check points Seth hailed “Maxwell!” and waved at a strange mostly humanoid creature who’s name was most certainly not Maxwell well but who did respond. The creature said something toward Seth in a language he didn’t speak. “So you’re still mad about that? You’ll come around!” Seth replied casually, “She’ll come around.” He assure Xi Jiao who more than likely did not care.

He was quiet the rest of the way as he followed Xi Jiao to their destination. They were greeted by muscle at the door, causing Seth’s mind to go to the overclocked hand cannon of a plasma pistol hanging below the small of his back under his jacket. The goons let them in with no fuss and they were greeted by a mostly human woman wearing all white. “Very inconspicuous.” Seth couldn’t help but comment softly.

The conversation started, Seth nodded a confirmation when the assumption that one of them had a ship was made, having fully expected they would be using it, after all why hire a ship and its captain if you’re not planning on using it? Other than that he let Xi Jiao handle all the business, he was just along for the ride. Or, providing the ride more accurately. Either way, he was just here to get paid.

 

[RayPurchase]

Volund Station
Person of Interest: Simmion Ektashi, Chief Petty Officer, 43rd Border Flotilla, Union Fleet

The green glow of the screen illuminated Simmion’s face, the last of his youth was fading now, a few more permanent lines crossed his forehead, and the bags beneath his eyes grew by the day. Join the Union Fleet and see the galaxy they said, flashy adverts wrestling smugglers and beings from beyond and then back home in time for tea and medals. 15 years later and here he was, stuck watching tumbling piles of data and information, the vibrant green burning into his eyes. To the layman it would have seemed like purely random data, string of numbers and fluctuations on graphs, but Simmion could see the messages in the noise. There was chatter from a merchant convoy passing through space lanes further into Union Space, a small spike of background hum from some long distant supernova, the echoes of this now long dead star still echoing across the galaxy, and adding to the vibrant background noise of a living Galaxy. Out here on the very edges of Union Space the noise was pretty quiet, especially compared to the deafening roar of Union Space proper. Even the raiders stayed away from here, so far removed from the trade lanes pickings were slim, smugglers didn’t bother as the sector had a dearth of habited planets. It was a dead zone, but it came under the Federal Government’s remit, and if anything was to emerge the Principle Planets would be hollering about dereliction of duty and a failing by the higher powers. A couple would go further, try and withhold taxes or dues, break a few regulations to flash some power. That’s why he was here, the instruments of Volund Station pointed out towards the void, waiting for an enemy that would never come, not since the collapse after Earth was lost had anything been spotted, and certainly nothing since his rotation had begun. He glanced down at his watch, still another hour to go, then he could get an hour of lunch before another 4 hours back here. Would it be lunch? Time didn’t really mean anything this far removed from a planet, everything was artificial from the orbit to the perceived time, station time, didn’t mean a thing off of Volund Station.

It appeared out of nowhere. One minute there had been just the banal regularity of the readings, and next it was there. It was weak certainly, the signal just breaking through the static, a light flickering in the cold darkness of space. He found himself staring at it for what felt like hours, but in reality must only have been a matter of seconds. Lurid stories from his childhood whipped around his head, of the horrors that lurked beyond the boundaries of space, nothing ever came from out there, not in this part anyway. Simmion settled himself though as he fell into the routine of washing the background noise away and isolating the pulse, there was comfort in routine, like riding a bike, no conscious thought, just years of muscle memory. As he did the fear continued to slip away, it was a known signal, a military signal. Nothing recent though, the last time he had seen one of these was back at the training academy, and even then that was in a history lesson. The signal was old. Almost impossibly old. Happy that at first glance this wasn’t some barbarian horde of intergalactic horrors descending on them, he reached for his communicator, this sort of situation wasn’t exactly in the standard handbook, and so was well above his paygrade. This was going to have to go upstairs.



UFV Jaxtus, Rassillon G-Class Destroyer, Endoval System
People of Interest: Captain Julius M’Butu (Union Fleet), Major Joseph De Jong (Union Rifle Corps, 3rd Orbital Deployment Battalion “The Broncos”)

The Jaxtus jumped into the Endoval system, if it wasn’t for the vacuum of space, the sound of thousands of tons of metal crashing into reality would have deafened half the system and put the other on high alert. But like a hot knife through butter it simply slipped in. On the bridge the lights slowly flickered back on, the hum of computer banks began to fill the air, their absence noticeable as they began to boot up again post jump. M’Butu gripped the hand rests of his chair, the leather squeaking slightly as his fingernails dug in, this was always the hardest moment, there could be an entire armada waiting for them out there, guns trained on them and about to unleash hell, and they’d have no way of knowing. Everything had to be powered down for the jump, otherwise they’d emerge with a host of fried systems, sensors and weapons especially, the violent nature of the FTL drive would have ripped anything that was secured externally from its mountings, everything from communication equipment to gun batteries had to slowly be extended once more, and it was one of the most well drilled exercises any crew had to go through, in the last test they had gotten the procedure down to 84 seconds from the end of the jump to being combat ready. This was approaching the minimum time now, delays now more mechanical than human, but by the gods it still felt like an age. It was the main reason why the Colonial response consisted solely of them at this point, to jump an entire fleet formation essentially blind? The Admiralty were conservative and risk averse when it came to more regular operations, and this was anything but regular. The signal had been picked up by a sector station in the middle of nowhere, Volund Station, sort of place that warranted little more than a footnote on an incredibly comprehensive map. It was a distress beacon, one from the annals of history, Endoval. It had been down to the historians to dig anything up on this one, one of the many lost colonies after contact with Terra was lost, the list was long, the collapse of the frontiers beyond the formal area of control had contained thousands of worlds, survivors fled where they could bringing tales of fire and invasion, but Endoval was one of the many that simply disappeared without a trace, little more than a name entered into the database of the lost. Lost no more it appeared. Thankfully the Principle Planets had yet to pick up on the signal, and the news remained solely in Federal hands, not for long most likely and then the vultures would descend, clamouring for the right to add it to their zones of control, rights to the technology that waited there, the secrets from a time long past. The political fallout would be messy, but that was on the backburner for now, for now it would have to be secured and investigated. They weren’t exactly hopeful, a graveyard was expected, bones, dust and little more, the chances of anything having survived from those original colonists was slim to impossible, there wasn’t going to be a rescue, but there could be a recovery, clearly something was still functioning there. So much had been lost in those tumultuous years that had seen this lonely bastion of humanity besieged, this was a chance to claim some of that back.

“Sensors online,”

“Communications online,”

“Weapon systems online,”

The chorus echoed around the various bridge stations as the ship systems reported green across the board, and for the first time they were able to properly view the system as they slowly began to accelerate towards Endoval IV itself. M’Butu activated the communicator to the crew decks 10s of feet below him. Unlike most Rassillon Class Destroyers, the Jaxtus was specifically built to the standards of the Union Rifle Corps, and was one of 20 such vessels that they could rely on. Many of the torpedoes were stripped out, as well as the subsequent storage areas, in their place shuttle bays and additional crew quarters had been constructed, in theory 200 Riflemen could be transported, along with all of the support aircraft, vehicles, ammunition and miscellaneous supplies that were needed to conduct a large scale operation. They had less than half that number however with only a single company made up of 3 platoons and the Company Headquarters. The URC were an odd bunch, seen by many as a relic of a bygone era when the ground forces were the backbone of any force. As such many of the members of the URC had something of a chip on their shoulder, especially towards the naval types. Luckily M’Butu and Major De Jong had served together on a number of operations now, it hadn’t exactly bred a friendship, but there was at least a spirit of cooperation.

“10 minutes till we enter shuttle range Major,”

The Captain refrained from making any comment on making sure that they would be ready, that was just the sort of perceived Naval pompousness that would ruffle feathers and set De Jong on edge. As such the silence that was received was by no means a negative. Instead his focus was set on the new sensor readings that were flooding in as the planet hove into view in front of them. The verdant green of the near full encompassing jungle was lit up before them, much of it obscured by rolling grey clouds, so dark they were bordering on black in colour. Lit up only by the occasional flash of lightning.

“Focusing in on the distress beacon sir… life sign readings are going wild sir, we’re looking at single readings taking up huge areas, most likely interference from the storms, I’m not sure how much faith to put in them,”

The sensor officer was right, the readings were wild. The viewscreen of the planet was lit up like a christmas tree, but constantly in flux and moving, there seemed to be no rhythm to it, and some of the readings seemed impossible. Some of these individual readings were several kilometers wide. M’Butu shook his head, he hadn’t expected it to be easy, but the loss of accurate readings was going to make the ground operation even harder.

“Keep on working on it, I want as clear a picture as…”

He was cut off as an alarm rang out across the bridge, its harsh wail cutting above the low level conversation.

“Contact detected! Ship in orbit around the planet, maintaining a position not far off of the distress beacon. No Colonial transponder detected and I’m receiving no match of our register of known ships,”

Seems like they weren’t the only one to pick up the signal. It was about now that M’Butu would have given his left arm for some form of backup, a Union Fleet Cruiser hoving into view perhaps. But it was just them, and to be proactive and take the initiative was their best plan.

“Inform Major De Jong that our plans are accelerating, we’re going to want the area around that area secured as soon as possible, I want him making planetfall now. For now I want an intercept course on that vessel. Once the transports have entered the atmosphere proceed to hail them,”

The minutes slipped by as they approached the vessel, nearly invisible to the naked eye against the backdrop of the planet. A black dot against the rolling green and grey. Without the complement of torpedoes to calibrate, it was the multiple deck mounted gun turrets that circled round, locking onto the vessel. The size of the destroyer restricted the use of laser and plasma weaponry, which were only in place on Cruiser and Battleship class vessels, but these smaller mass drivers could still do some damage against smaller vessels, at the very least it would show that the Jaxtus’ teeth were bristling.

“URC shuttles are away Captain,”

On the viewscreen 3 smaller dots disengaged from the Jaxtus, bearing planet side. The Corvus Class Shuttles doubled effectively as both a gunship and transport, deploying troops to the ground before being able to bring their suite of support weapons and sensors to bear. For now Major De Jong would have to rely on them as the Jaxtus changed its course ever so slightly, placing itself between the unknown ship and the transports as they descended. M’Butu adjusted his uniform, straightening the navy blue tunic as he turned a steely gaze towards the viewscreen, the deep browns of his eyes unblinking as a line of communication was established.

“This is Captain M’Butu of the URC Jaxtus to the unknown vessel orbiting the Colonial Union Colony of Endoval IV. Your ship is currently trespassing in Colonial Union Space and in breach of our sovereignty. You will withdraw and and all forces and equipment from the surface and declare your presence and intentions. The Union Fleet has been informed of this breach of territory and reinforcements will be arriving shortly,”

Now the last part of this was a lie. The message had only just been sent via a high speed packet of their encounter with the unknown vessel. Without the dedicated comm buoys that dotted Union controlled space, it would take at least an hour to reach the Admiralty, then factoring response time and any decision being made to commit more resources, they were hours away from any real reinforcements arriving. M’Butu was counting on the fact that was unknown to this 3rd party however.

( Succuboi (3 Transports entering Orbit), GrieveWriter (Advanced ship is being hailed/appraoched)

 

[GrieveWriter]

The Drokoi Consulate
Endoval System
Commander Burnish of the CF-Jorkhann
​

Overseeing a recon mission was nothing new to him, he'd done it plenty of times before under the Admiral's orders. His drones had salvaged ships and sniffed out pirates for years, but that was all in home territory. What he expected to be surveillance of a Pirate owned station camped just outside of Consulate Space turned into becoming the first to examine an unknown planet in half a decade. He believed that his machines were still up to the task, unwilling to disappoint the Admiral in such a tense situation. That damned signal had led them to this planet, and he wouldn't be the one to let the trail grow cold.

So he paced amongst the bridge of his ship, the majority of those staffed around it were Droids. But beyond them, the Drovakki onboard were undoubtedly intrigued by the seemingly fertile planet below. Upon spotting it, Burnish had been enraged at the idea of such prime real estate going to waste just outside of Consulate Space. If anything, such a planet would be a magnet for any pirates hoping to continue their activities unmolested. If they had bases here than it would explain far too much about the scale of their crimes on the outer worlds.

Once the drones were deployed their activities fed intel back to the Jorkhann, where many watched from live feeds as the Drones attempted to focus in on the source of the beacon. The Lifeforms on the planet were diverse as they were intrusive, with it not taking long before one of the drones became the enemy of a number of flight-bearing creatures. The drone attempted to outmaneuver them on its way to the beacon, but those attempts were in vain as far larger creatures took note and made for it instead.

As Burnish and his crew looked over the readings they were feeding back to the Admiral, he was gestured over by one of the droids who brought up the scenario with him. Groaning at the problems those winged beasts could cause if they were led to the signal and the other drones, he ordered to divert the drone they were targeting off-course. As per his orders, the droid took direct control of the drone and began maneuvering it away from the beacon in an attempt to disengage from the flying lifeforms.

But that was not to be the end of the problems, as soon alarms flared as an unknown ship were picked up entering the system. Commander Burnish immediately called for identification of the vessel, only for all results to come back negative. There were many different types of ships that could be made by numerous manufacturers in the Consulate, but for not a single one of them to have any connection with that which had just strolled into the system, there could be only one answer.

Another Space-Faring society had picked up on the Signal as well.

Burnish was already ordering details to be transmitted to the Admiral, who would have a far more easier time funneling it to the Council themselves. As for now, Burnish had the Jorkhann's weapons readied but put into standby. This was far from an ideal situation, as most of the other species they had on record hadn't been more than primitive compared to them, all being observed on Reservation planets to study them with minimal interference. The only other time they'd encountered something that this was not, ended up with them fighting multi-system spanning war against a planet eating Hivemind. Burnish would be damned if he let himself get blindsided just because they weren't already being fired upon.

The Unknown vessel undoubtedly took note of them as well, with the Jorkhann's crew keeping careful watch of its movements as it not- so subtly placed itself between them and the Planet. From this alone he figured his idea of the Signal drawing them in was looking more and more accurate by the second. Shield were raised, and automated fighters were scrambled, but Burnish knew the Council would never overlook things if he fired the first shot. He needed to be ready for their attack, as acts of self-defense would lighten the load of Bureaucracy the General would already face from today. He had far more important things to deal with after all.

And so they waited and watched, communications between them and the Admiral's fleet with second by second playback of the scenario. Even as the Unknown vessel launched ships to the planet below, the Commander merely paced whilst waiting for either contact or word from his superiors. So far they were ordered to hold position while things were relayed back to the Council, and that was exactly what he planned to do until it finally happened.

They were being hailed, the only possible source of it being the unknown vessel before them. Burnish immediately gestured for the communication attempt to be accepted, soon finding himself looking upon a short biped wearing blue. The commander continued pacing, eyeing up everything the transmission showed him, only for his expression to change into a grimace once the unknown species began talking.

“⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⟟⌇ ☊⏃⌿⏁⏃⟟⋏ ⋔’⏚⎍⏁⎍ ⍜⎎ ⏁⊑⟒ ⎍⍀☊ ⟊⏃⌖⏁⎍⌇ ⏁⍜ ⏁⊑⟒ ⎍⋏☍⋏⍜⍙⋏ ⎐⟒⌇⌇⟒⌰ ⍜⍀⏚⟟⏁⟟⋏☌ ⏁⊑⟒ ☊⍜⌰⍜⋏⟟⏃⌰ ⎍⋏⟟⍜⋏ ☊⍜⌰⍜⋏⊬ ⍜⎎ ⟒⋏⎅⍜⎐⏃⌰ ⟟⎐. ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⌇⊑⟟⌿ ⟟⌇ ☊⎍⍀⍀⟒⋏⏁⌰⊬ ⏁⍀⟒⌇⌿⏃⌇⌇⟟⋏☌ ⟟⋏ ☊⍜⌰⍜⋏⟟⏃⌰ ⎍⋏⟟⍜⋏ ⌇⌿⏃☊⟒ ⏃⋏⎅ ⟟⋏ ⏚⍀⟒⏃☊⊑ ⍜⎎ ⍜⎍⍀ ⌇⍜⎐⟒⍀⟒⟟☌⋏⏁⊬."

Burnish immediately grunted before calling for one of his crewmates to get the commander's Translator on the line. The situation was far too tense for language barriers to be added in as well. As he did so, the bipedal creature finished speaking its unknown language, prompting Burnish to shake his head and raise an eyebrow.

"Fleukhausan liavavle creaavure aren'av avhey?" he asked half-jokingly as he turned to some of his crew "Noav auk vadokiprus lookaumn auk avhe hive hugi, noav aav gith!"

"Pleauke commandas, leav uuk allow avhe admiral'uk guausan avo handle avhiuk" One of his subordinates lowered her head before gesturing to a blinking light on the Commander's chair.

Rolling his eyes, Burnish stepped back to his seat before leaning back into it and pressing the button.

Admiral Yan, Head of the OWDR Fleet, CF-Primus
​

Reports were coming in of the Council in chaos over the discovery of a new Space-Faring Race. Arguments over what actions to take were keeping them stopped and stalled, leaving the immediate situation almost entirely in the Admiral's hands. And to say she was excited would be an understatement.

"A whole Unknown species!" she chittered whilst performing stretches in the center of the Primus' bridge, her claws flexing and unflexing as she worked off her excess energy the only way she knew how "Oh just think of the brawls erupting back on Wesla-3, they must be going absolutely mental!"

"Something we should be taking into account of as well," said the Trokoid known as Sir Drestas, her second-in-command and personal adviser "They haven't opened fire upon the Commander yet, so perhaps we can avoid another line of defense after all."

His own team of Analysts were doing everything they could to gleam information from images of the vessel alone, but that idea went right out the window once a communication channel was opened between them. Immediately recognizing that the two vessels were unable to communicate naturally due to a particularly strong language Barrier, Drestas was already calling for one of his team to prep for a transfer of communication. After encountering enough species with differing methods of vocal communication, not to mention the various minor differences the great Drovakki populations had amongst them, manners of translation became a necessity for all exploration efforts. Their war with the Hivemind had ground these to a halt, but luckily having a linguistics expert available to each fleet was still common practice.

The one they had upon the Primus was Sir Norflux, who Drestas had called upon immediately. Soon the Unknown Vessel's communication feed was transferred to him, with Norflux flexing his tiny fingers before tapping away at his console. He'd already pieced together some fragments of the Unknown creature's speech patterns through what had been said so far, all he needed was more in order to build more of a reference log, at least enough so that understanding could be accomplished.

So looking upon the blue-suited human before him, Sir Norflux proceeded to do just that very thing, "Mequ Mequ, semgyumao ckoupot hel no, Vyukojur. Yug in your ieal vocg interest geh do so."

Interactions/ Mentions: Succuboi RayPurchase​

 

[Chuckles]

Tel’tsu Commonwealth
Ecclesia System
TB-08 “Zoeteph Keeleen”
Above Eberon

Persons of Interest:
Admiral Ahlyxee Aendov
Lord Niqholaj Vrasch

The lights were low in the Admirals study except at the desk, an Avarian sat hunched over the display top sorting through a stack of files. ExGru deployments, SysPat schedules for currently unoccupied but claimed systems, future expedition routes. All the minutiae that made the 4th Fleet run. There were of course scores of crewmen under him doing the majority of the work, but Admiral Aendov still had to approve operations and sign off on plans. It made him long for the days of simply commanding a vessel.

An alert went off as a message icon appeared on the desk. Waving a hand over it the message popped open “Admiral, sir, we have received an urgent communication from ExGru-12. SF-1072 Vlaycli has gone silent following a first contact engagement.”

Ahlyxee sat up, the feathers atop his head ever so slightly raised, but otherwise in control. “Fleet command staff in the sitroom in five minutes.” He said and waved the communication window away.

They hadn’t had a ship go silent in ages. On the whole the 4th fleets mission had been uneventful, though not unfruitful, over the last few decades. He would never say it out loud, but a part of him was glad they had something real to deal with.

Leaving the study the marine on watch snapped up and fell in line behind him as he made a path through the flag decks. Unlike the rest of the ship the flag deck was polished and refined. All of the provisions of a warship were there of course, and it wouldn’t be confused for a luxury residence, but it was certainly nicer than the standard decks, even standard officers decks on most ships didn’t have the polish of the Flag deck. The small perks of being an Admiral.

He made a detour to his aide’s office, “Lieutenant.” He acknowledged the younger officer, who stood and saluted before grabbing a data pad and following the Admiral through to the briefing room where Lord Niqholaj Vrasch and the command staff were already waiting. The officers all stood to attention as the watch officer announced “Admiral on deck!”

“Admiral.” the diplomat nodded politely.

“Lord Vrasch.” Ahlyxee returned the courtesy and saluted his officers before taking a seat, the others following suit. “Perhaps you’ll be putting that diplomatic skill of yours to the test after all of our time chasing the void. Gentlemen, as I’m sure you have heard SF-1072 Vlaycli has gone silent following a first contact engagement.” Waving a hand he pulled up the dossier pertaining to the situation. A hologram of system 11927 appeared. Another officer stood, “ExGru-12 has diverted to their designated alpha rendezvous point, but have not been able to hail Vlaycli since they lost contact. Vlaycli did relay the linguistics data they gathered to the group, we are currently working this against our log of general interstellar linguistics data to find a possible match, as well as what combat data was available. The last confirmed communication any of the remaining ships had with Vlaycli was a warp vector confirmation.” The Officer sat having completed the report.

“Options.”

Commodore Jiih brought up a file, “Patrol groups 13 and 21 are within a few days warp of 11927.”

“Remember we’re trying to make contact not start a war, sirs.” Lord Vrasch calmly interjected, though his tone was not facetious, it was simply his job to preface these types of discussions with diplomacy in mind.

“Of course Lord Vrasch.” Jiih acknowledged, “But the species we are dealing with has proven to be hostile, and we must operate under the impression that they have destroyed one of our own.” He maneuvered the data to show SysPat groups 13 and 21 in the hostile system. “A show of power is not necessarily a show of force. We must send ships to investigate Vlaycli’s condition. ExGru-12 can spearhead any continued contact effort but if the locals become hostile again it behooves us to have the ability to return aggression in kind. We can not afford to throw away lives and ships. Parking SysGru 12 and 13 on the edge of the system may well be enough to deter further unprovoked aggression.”

“And if it isn’t?” Niqholaj asked calmly.

“Aggression in kind Lord Vrasch, in so far as necessary to ensure our own peoples safety. To that end we will also have Red Dragon and her escorts deploy to the current Rendezvous Alpha point. We don’t know the extent of their naval power, but we will not be unprepared if things turn to the worst.” Ahlyxee stood, the others following and standing to attention. “Thank you, may the High Lord’s Sword and Shield be with us.” He turned and exited the conference room.

Lord Vrasch followed him quickly, waiting until the command staff were out of earshot, “Admiral I do hope the long decades of peace are not spurring this response to be more than necessary.”

“Lord Vrasch I do hope you are not questioning our response to the possible loss of a Sword Frigate.” Ahlyxee replied before stopping his aide’s office, “Niqholaj, I may have spent far more time at a desk over the last years than I would like to admit, but it is not in the Commonwealth’s interest to start a war with the first space faring species we’ve encountered in earnest. You’ve known me long enough to trust me on this.”

Niqholaj nodded, “Of course, but it’s my job to ask the question.” He patted his friend on the shoulder. “Will you be coming?” Seeing the Admiral’s questioning expression he clarified, “To the Red Dragon? Surely you don’t expect me to not be there.”

“Oh, well I suppose you would go. But no, Commodore Raht is on the Red Dragon, she is more than capable of commanding this operation. I will sadly return to signing orders at my desk, and may we both hope things go smoothly enough that that is where I must stay.”

The diplomat nodded, “Of course. Well, I’ll be off soon as possible, so until we meet again Admiral.”

 

[Succuboi]

Endoval System
Endoval IV
Western Lowlands
Contested Sein’Hae Land

Interaction: RayPurchase​

The jungle below the three Corvus Class Shuttles looked all the more intimidating up close, an impenetrable sea of green broken up only occasionally by jagged rock formations and particularly tall specimens that towered above their rivals. With the rain still beating down unimpeded at this altitude, visibility was low too, and each of the shuttle’s pilots would need to be on their game to avoid crashing into obstacles.

With no obvious landing sites on the horizon, the pilots would be left with no other choice but to break through the jungle’s dense tree line and attempt to land. The shrieks of scattering wildlife could occasionally be heard as the three ships sank lower and soon disappeared into the trees, shattering branches and scattering leaves as they made a careful descent to the jungle’s surface. All three shuttles were forced to land a distance away from one another, so complex and impassable was the descent. Whether all three shuttles hit the ground intact or not was completely down to the skill and nerves of each pilot, as the trees around them felt like they were ready to enclose the vessels and trap them for good.

The planet’s surface was hardly better than its skies, though a great deal more vibrant. The marines would be met with dense, vicious looking foliage that limited their visibility to their immediate surroundings. The ground below was sodden with rain and mud that threatened to trap the group’s boots forever, broken up occasionally by mossy, rocky terrain that provided a little more stability. Further afield from the immediate landing zone, the terrain dipped and rose sporadically in many places, greatly limiting the effectiveness of anything but light infantry and small machines.

Oddly, the area felt much quieter than before, with only the weather above making significant noise that wasn’t sourced from the fireteam itself. It was likely any wildlife had scattered in the wake of such large machines crashing down atop them. The distress beacon they were tasked with securing continued to transmit from several miles to the south, where the terrain appeared to be sloping downward.

​

Endoval System
Endoval IV
Skies Above Western Lowlands

Interaction: GrieveWriter ​

Above the jungle canopy, the Consulate’s deployed IRD Pods were having a far easier time locating the area above the distress beacon than the Union marines further afield. The area seemed to sink far below its surroundings, and so was likely a valley of some kind. Any Pods that attempted to descend into the trees would find themselves doing so slowly, oftentimes sending a feed of nothing but leaves and branches to the waiting vessel above. One Pod making this treacherous journey would be lost as it became entangled in a vast web hanging between branches like a net, which left the Pod stranded but still transmitting a view of very little besides the drained carcasses of creatures caught in the web. A second Pod would find itself battered by a tree-dwelling mammal of some kind, akin to a Terran ape, which assaulted the drone from its perch in an attempt at defending its territory before it scattered for cover.

Any remaining Pods that successfully navigated the terrain finally gave Commander Burnish a distant, unreliable visual of their prize, partially buried by terrain and almost invisible to those not actively searching for it, such was its naturalized state. The vessel was still and silent beyond the meek signal it transmitted, and simply looking at it would draw the conclusion of it being completely abandoned. The Commander might also note its design similarities to the ship currently pointing guns at his own, albeit this crashed ship looked a lot older and less refined, most certainly a much older model.

-----

Significantly far off course from its brethren, the lone IRD Pod that had come under attack managed to evade the flock of beasts as it left the vicinity, the creatures returning to their sudden feeding frenzy after leaving the Pod with plenty of rends and tears in its hull. Stuck idly flying in the wrong direction as the situation elsewhere drew the Commander’s attention, the solitary drone and its temporary pilot found themselves surveying the landscape a number of miles from the intended target.

It began passing out of the lowlands and toward higher ground, where the rocks turned to mountains and the skies began clearing, improving visibility significantly and allowing the drone to get a greater view on its surroundings, especially the wildlife that occasionally scattered in its wake.

 

[Heterological]

Iniia, Raila V, Consultation Chamber

Persons of Interest: Doroni '5, Heliogovernor of Raila
Ergoth '2, overseer of Terrel Task Force

"You may enter," Doroni said from her throne, peering through the crack in the door. "We something to discuss."

The door slowly opened, with another Aeeain slowly walking in and seating himself at the empty chair quietly.

Unlike the other seats, the chair was much more simple than the thrones. Five other heliogovernors, or at least their life-like holograms, sat in carefully woven thrones from the purest of woods.

Ignus nodded lazily. "Doroni, tell us, what is this about?"

Doroni nodded. "This is Ergoth '2, the overseer of the Terrel Task Force. He's uncovered some information that he wishes to share with us all."

The overseer nodded quickly and took out a few files. "Um, one of my agents has managed to infiltrate the organization known as The Fire. We've worked them up into a good position, and they've managed to pass along information about their organization."

He pushed one file to the middle of the table, where a scanner processed the object and materialized a digital form of its contents in the front of Doroni. It was labeled "RESOURCES", and Doroni started to look through them as the overseer continued. "As you can see, we've got a lot of information about their resources, including their ships, their food and ammo supply, and their technology. It seems as if they are focusing a lot on combat-related technologies, and they've surpassed us in that front."

"That's not good." Doroni murmured, looking through the report.

Rarii, another heliogovernor, spoke up. "It says here that they have five hundred ships. How's that possible?"

"It's mostly because they've got a lot of minerals and are... preparing for war a lot more than our own forces are," Doroni replied absentmindedly. "Speaking of, I don't suppose Ignus has approved of my plans, have you?"

"No," Ignus insisted coldly. "As I've said, it would be unwise to let The Fire dictate our lives. The fleet's time will not be spent unless they are absolutely needed."

At this, Doroni clenched her teeth. It was evident that they needed to squash the rebellion before it grew into an actual threat. So why did Ignus say otherwise? She almost pushed the matter but decided that it would not get her anywhere.

"Well, it looks like they're building up substantial supplies," Rarii said. "Does your agent have their plans at all?"

"It seems that at the moment, no. Most of what he's dug up does not lead to a plan at all, although there could still be one."

After that, Doroni lost interest in the conversation. It was obvious that her efforts would not get her anywhere. Ignus would not budge. Doroni would need to try to cause some action behind Ignus's back, possibly hiring some other group. Hopefully, Ignus would never find out, but if she did... Doroni would have to push back.

Long after the meeting, Doroni sent out a mission briefing to her Darknet contacts. Disrupt the faction, with a reward of 50,000 credits for taking of their HQ/leaders and a reward of 10,000 for finding crucial information. She could offer only money and information; no equipment, for if anything went missing from their stockpile, Ignus would notice.

 

[Thrace]

Astral Flame, Stateless Space

Despite the rather decrepit appearance of the conference room they were in, with what looked like the stains of smoke and even of something vaguely resembling a mix of very dried and old blood from multiple species on the walls, the air system still seemed to be perfectly functional, with the filters working silently in the background, dissipating the yellow smoke that the woman was continuously exhaling. She was at the third cigarette in the span of a couple of minutes, even if she seemed to be completely and utterly calm, a relaxed smile on her face. Even if the two ragged guards were still outside on the hallway, guarding what had once been a door, too far away to intervene if either of the two mercenaries would decide to do something, even if two armed guards were quite nothing compared to how many desperate people were normally on the Astral Flame, even if she didn't seem to have any weapons herself, she was so carefree that one might even feel like she was in her own living room.

"Of course", she replied, giggling a little. "We can not expect true professionals to their job without proper compensation now, can we? The first part of the payment is right here, in a mix of Terran credits, Colonial marks, and other League approved currencies, all with scrambled identification markers to ensure that they can't be tracked. They can also be easily converted and sent to a bank account of your choice.", the woman explained, putting a small metallic briefcase on the table. "The briefcase also contains the approximate coordinates of the planet - it shouldn't be that difficult to find once you reach its relative area. A long abandoned ship seems to have had its warning signal activated unintentionally, probably as a result of degradation. The final part of the payment will be calculated depending on what you find on the planet or bring back, and it will be payed in whatever way will be the most convenient for you. My employers appreciate professionals that can be counted upon, so you can be sure that if this mission if successful, your services might be sought again in the future. Full discretion ensured, of course."

Her aura of complete professionalism was slightly cracked by her reaction to Xi's last question, as for a moment there she seemed to be struggling to stifle a laugh. "You do not need to worry about that, me and my companions will not join you on your journey. My companions haven't set foot on any planet in years, so I doubt that they would be of any use, as for me.. let's just say that I fancy office work much more than practical applications of my skills. Now of course, neither me, nor our employers have any desire to interfere with your team, but considering the importance of the contract and the money that they are paying, our employers do wish to keep track of things, so to say, so they have gone to the extra length of hiring a third contractor."

Right on cue, another person silently entered the room, without the guards making any motion or sound about it. It was another sort of human character, a woman. At first sight, one might have seemed to notice a vague resemblance to the first woman, but only then - as it quickly became very apparent that they had nothing to do with each other. This second unknown woman had irises of a sickly, yellowish color, her skin pale and vaguely ocherous. Her pupils were completely normal however, and so was the rest of her appearance, with the exception perhaps of her long, silver blonde hair. She seemed to be wearing a uniform that was perhaps similar to the ragged uniforms of the guards outside, but it was difficult to say - hers was in perfect condition, and of a much darker shade of blue, with accents of vermilion red. Of course, the same theme of there not being any identifying marks, ranks, or patches continued, but the uniform did not seem to be there only for aesthetic purposes. Underneath it, and very vaguely visible above the collar, there seemed to be some sort of a light, black, armor suit. The newcomer was also very visibly armed, with a dual-use kinetic and laser rifle on her back and what looked like a short sword in a black sheathe.

"You wouldn't have to mind her too much - I'm not even sure if she can speak, and she doesn't occupy much space. You can just throw her in the back of the ship, and she will follow like a loyal dog.", the first woman tried to explain. The newcomer just remained standing, merely acknowledging the other people in the room with a nod and with a vague smile as a reaction to the woman's remarks. Finishing her last cigarette, the white-clad woman stood up, clapping her hands. "Everything should be alright then. Best of luck in your mission."

A moment later, it was as if she had never been there, as she left the room and disappeared on the hallways with her guards.

The planet was waiting.

 

[PixelSymphony]

Xi Jiao remained silent throughout the remainder of the exchange, continuing to examine the woman who so easily spoke, and yet so very clearly had complete control over ever aspect of their meeting that she did not even feel the need to arm herself. Her face failed to show any response when the white haired woman giggled, nor when she stifled a laugh at her query of the mission crew, such was her stoicism in practice. But when she heard that they had hired a third contractor, and said contractor walked in, even she raised an eyebrow. Hired? Bullshit. This is one of her lackeys keeping an eye on us. She bridled a little bit at the additional surveillance she was going to be scrutinity to, but acepted that she had little shoice in hte matter. If nothing else, she could at least order the other girl to relay messages to her "employer".

Yellow eyes and monochromatic hair... ill portents for certain. Regardless, a job was a job, and these funds would be a major first step on getting her back on her feat. First things first though, that suitcase on the table represented pretty much her operating budget, and there were a great many things that would need to be requisitioned. "Seth, if you would lead our new teammate to the ship, I will need to attend to some other matters first." She picked up the suitcase and strode from the room without a glance backwards.

 

[Chuckles]

Seth Libanori
A fateful meeting
Astral Flame, stateless space

Seth had remained silent through the meeting, it was uncommon for clients to have their own member of a crew, but not entirely unheard of, “Right, grab your bags ragazza.”

The Astral Flame was more of the same on the way back to the Salvatore. Seth looked more or less line one of the locals, his new friend decidedly did not, but then again that wasn’t saying much. It was a weird dichotomy of the station that most of the people on the station didn’t look like they could be considered “locals” and the ones who seemed “local” usually not.

Finally arriving back at the docks the creature Seth had addressed as ‘Maxwell’ stepped into his path. The alien was taller than Seth by half a head so the scowl on her face was somewhat intimidating. “Going so soon?”

Seth kept a respectable distance, “When ya gotta go.” He quipped. Subconsciously his had made way to his hip, ready to throw back his jacket and reach for his plasma pistol in a blink if this go turned violent. “We don’t have a problem do with Maxwell?”

The alien cocked her head slightly, eyeing the other person with Seth for a moment, gazing at his hand on his hip. “Next time Libanori. Calling your debt next time.” She stepped out of his path and returned to whatever she had been doing prior to noticing him returning to his ship.

Leading the final few hundred meters Seth smacked the crew hatch access panel. “Open up woman!” He demanded.

After enough time to wonder if he needed to hit the access panel again the outer door slid open. “I see you managed to not die. I’m impressed, I suppose.” The ship welcomed them “And made new friends.” The outer hatch closed and the chamber equalized before allowing the two into the ship proper.

“Common area is on deck two, pick any room that doesn’t have someone else’s junk in it.” Seth explained as he made his way up the first ladderwell. “Galley and mess are on third, along with the bridge, which is where I’ll be prepping for push off. If a door is locked you’re not supposed to be there. If I find you there I’ll shoot you. Other than that we’re pretty easy to get along with, feel free to poke around the common area, we’ll take off as soon as Xi Jiao gets back onboard. Hopefully this little cigarette run will be uneventful, though if your employer felt the need to send you maybe they expect otherwise.” Seth continued up to the bridge to begin prelaunch checks.

 

[Nyq]

Tolop Mak
The Astral Flame

A small shuttle suddenly appeared in the space near a moderately-sized space station, a sense of foul wrongness pulsed from the craft which could be felt thousands of kilometers away. From within his cockpit, Tolop gazed upon the station, sighing as he was forced to come here for the third time. Working for others had always sucked, as he cannot pursue his interests as freely, but he needed the money. His funds are running low recently after an experiment went south and damaged his lab.

He drove his craft to the dockyards, and carefully docked with it. There's no such thing as being too careful when your shuttle is full of precious lab equipment. After paying the entrance tax(too much of a hassle not to), Tolop headed straight for the black market, seeking for employers willing to pay for his services.

 

[PixelSymphony]

Astral Flame, Stateless Space

Xi Jiao Shui


Status: Nominal
Wearing: Spacer wear
Carrying: SC-2 Holdout Pistol (concealed), Mk I Field Knife (concealed)

---

Despite initial appearances, the purpose of Xi's sudden departure was not to make some dramatic gesture, but actually to expedite heading straight to the cavalcade of vendors she had passed in the way in. Like it or not, she was going to have to dump a good portion of what she'd been given ahead of time to get back to an operational state for the mission she was about to undertake: the only things she had on her were the paltry few items she was able to salvage from a survival cache she'd stowed in a storage locker three jumps ago. Now, purchasing items on short notice and without intel on the vendor wasn't a practice she particularly was fond of mind you, but admittedly the situation left her little other choice; she was certain all of her normal equipment contacts were well and truly burned by now. She was going to have to rely on old fashioned observation and monetary encouragement to be able to procure what she wanted. But before that, in an out of the way alcove, she broke down the piles of cash inside the suitcase into much more reasonable folds, tucking each away in one of the various pockets of the utilitarian clothing she was wearing. It wasn't that she didn't trust the woman who'd given her the case not planting a tracking device on it... in fact she ENTIRELY expected she had; but the reason for hiding away the large sum of credit was to lower her profile as she walked around the black market affair; nobody walks into a place like that with a suitcase of cash without making some waves, and those were waves she did not need. Tossing the case down a garbage chute, she adjusted the jacket to hang better, and strode into the wonderfully weird assortment of vendors of the Astral Flame.

~~~

A short time later she returned to the Salvatore her financial burden significantly lightened but her physical burden now far greater than before. As she jammed the button on the rear cargo hold hatch, waiting for the ramp to descend, she took a final look back to ensure she hadn't been followed out of the station proper before tromping up the steel alloy ramp into the cargo hold itself. She smacked the button to reclose the cargo hold before thumbing another one near by to open a comm channel to the bridge. "Seth, I've returned. Open the access door between the hold and the main passageways, I need to bring a lot of equipment in." The door to the interior of the ship slowly began to trundle open as Xi hefted the various duffel bags and sacks she carried, looking like some overburdened tourist returning from a soiree through a souvenir shop. She clambered her way through the halls until she got to the common area, spotting the unknown guest idly sitting on one of the provided chairs, and dropped her inventory of equipment not but a few feet from her. "You may report to your employer that our equipment purchases have been fulfilled, if that is such your duty." Without much additional decorum, she began to dig through the various containers, beginning to put together the necessary kits that they (or at least she and Seth) would need for their foray onto the planet named.

 

[Chuckles]

Seth Libanori
Shit, meet fan.
Onboard Salvatore en route to Endoval IV

Seth settled into the pilots chair and strapped in, “Alright folks, let’s earn a paycheck.” He announced over general com before easing the Salvatore out of its place on the docking floor and navigating it back through the stations access lanes. The place was absolutely jammed with ships coming and going, of every size and type. It was a wonder things managed to move at all without smashing into each other and spinning off into the blackness of space. But somehow the ever moving dance continued, a microcosm of the galaxy itself. Endless objects on their own trajectory for their own purposes with no regard to others somehow not resulting in the utter end of all involved.

At least not yet.

Seth punched in the coordinates they had been given to the planet, “Don’t say I don’t take you places.” He said to the ship around him as he engaged the warp drive. Checking the coordinates again he set the drive to spool up to max and engaged auto pilot.

“Sure, leave me to stay awake and fly the ship. Have a nice nap I guess.” SIDNI quipped. Seth gave the console a pat and left the bridge and made his way to the common area. “Well, we’ve got some time to kill so don’t everyone be silent and brooding all at once.”

—-

“You’ll probably want to see this sir.” SIDNI announced over the direct com to Seth’s quarters. He stretched groggily, “See what, Sid?”

“Navigational scanning of the plotted warp exit shows craft in orbit around the destination planet.”

Seth sat up as the information registered. Seemed like they weren’t the only ones interested in whatever was going on with the planet. He climbed quickly to the bridge from his quarters and looked at the scans, multiple ships, multiple core signatures. Looked like more than one group. He drummed his fingers on the display for a moment, he certainly didn’t want to deal with someone trying to play customs agent.

“Sid, explain to our passengers that we’ll have company upon warp exit.”

As he made his way quickly down to the lower deck and into the pressurized cargo area, making his way to a suit locker he punched in the code to open the unit. He put the eco suit on with the precision and speed of a man who had plenty of practice doing it under pressure. Testing the pressure seal he pulled the access latch for the unpressurized cargo airlock. “I hope you have your helmet on.” SIDNI warned as he stepped in and pulled the inner hatch shut behind him. The airlock purged quickly and the outer hatch popped open.

He took a cursory look around the bay to be sure everything was properly stowed as he made his way to the rear hatch. Switching on the mag boots on his suit just to be sure he pulled a large bright red lever that read ‘WARNING! DO NOT PULL!’ which opened a panel with a large red button that read ‘WARNING! DO NOT PUSH!’ Which he promptly pushed.

An alarm blared as SIDNI announced “And here I was starting to like you too.” before the rear hatch opened to the expanse.

—-

Seth returned through the airlock and made his way quickly back up toward the bridge, sealing the lower ladderwell as he went. “Sid prepare to broadcast a distress alert for hull pressurization failure. Okay ladies looks like we’re not gonna be the only ones interested in whatever it is down on this planet. We’ll be venting some pressure from the cargo area when we drop out of warp and ignoring hails if anyone tries to play traffic cop. They can’t hold us in space leaking atmo so it’ll at least get us planet side without anyone getting froggy. No promises after that but I’d suggest whatever we plan on doing we do quickly. Strap up and strap in, this elevator don’t stop until it hits ground floor.”

—-

Salvatore dropped out of Warp closer to the planet than Seth had originally intended, spurred by his desire to make the landing seem like an actual distress landing if they were spotted. SIDNI began transmitting the proper distress signals for loss of hull pressure integrity, and carefully venting just enough atmosphere from pressurized cargo to be readable on a scan. Seth flipped a few switches on the com receiver that would cause it to emit a “transponder fault” code as an auto reply to any external hails.

Strapping himself in his hands hovered near the controls, content to let SIDNI guide the ship unless something unexpected arose. Luckily they had dropped out of warp on a blind spot of the planet, ships would certainly see them on scans but they had a clear decent path, and if they were lucky maybe they wouldn’t even notice something as relatively small as Salvatore at all under the circumstances. They made a direct line to the planet, careful not to divert toward the general landing area until they were in atmosphere.

Seth pulled the cargo hatch over ride switch once they were deep enough in the planets atmosphere that they were no longer actively venting, closing the rear hatch. Scanning the planet, even from their current altitude, it was clear this was not going to be a fun landing exercise. He peeled off their direct decent trajectory and made a line toward the zone of interest.

“I read multiple ships in the area. If you somehow have not been noticed I would suggest landing here to possibly avoid detection.” SIDNI chimed in and indicated an area on the map that had been triangulated against the ships she had picked up. “Always have to find a better parking spot don’t you?” Seth quipped as he adjusted his heading, “Sid, did you bother to determine if there was an actual landing area here?” He asked as the trees continued ahead of them.

“There is a landing area below the tree line. This ship was designed to withstand impacts inherent in asteroid mining, I assure you it will not be bothered by a few trees... unless you’re just chicken.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “Simulated intelligence my ass. Right, bumpy landing incoming.” He announced, “strap in if you’re not already.”

The Salvatore smashed its way through the tree line, forcing itself down through the foliage, the sound of massive limbs snapping under the weight of the ship and scraping along its hull echoed within. It must have been seconds but it felt like minutes to Seth as he watched the sky disappear into green. Finally a soft, firm thud and a groan as the ship settled down onto its landing gear. “You take me to the nicest places.” SIDNI mocked.

PixelSymphony Thrace Succuboi

Spoiler: Seth‘s exosuit

 

[GrieveWriter]

The Drokoi Consulate
The Bridge of the CF-Jorkhann

Interaction/Mention: Succuboi RayPurchase Chuckles​

Whilst Commander Burnish paced back and forth, waiting for either an instigation of attack or a word from the translators, an AI-controlled robot took care overseeing the IRD Pods.

Many of the feeds projected to it were of nothing but oceans of green, the Drones who had went deep into the dense foliage in search of the signal had mixed yet promising results to share. Many wound up having to manuever through the unyielding smorgasbord of a forest, with the Overseer having to take direct control multiple times to keep the drones from getting stuck. But even then there were complications, the forest's inhabitants were predictably hard to anticipate. Though one had gotten stuck in a web, the Overseer would consider such a fate a mere pittance compared to the assault another suffered at the hands of one of the forest's more bipedal inhabitants. It gained itself a wobble as a result, and required more of the overseer's attention to keep from crashing.

Yet even with these hold ups, a number of drones made it to the source of the signal. Many were still busy trying to manuever the dense forest, but now they finally had eyes on what they had been drawn to.

"Visual on source acquired." the Overseer stated, drawing Burnish's attention.

With a grunt, Burnish approached before looking over the android's shoulder towards the screens. It was a ship, no doubt. Seeing it through the distant eyes of the drone didn't give too many details, but what they did give was enough for the moment. Though he was far better at leading vessels than building them, it didn't take dockyard knowledge for one to note similarities between the ship emitting that signal and the one they were currently in a standoff with. Burnish's gut instinct screamed trap, that the vessel had lured them here using this broken wreck's signal. But no, the vessel looked ancient compared to what they were looking at. Unless he was dealing with pirates who just couldn't resist utilizing a specific part of their latest find, that couldn't be it.

But the possibility remained.

"Get eyes inside that vessel." Burnish ordered as he leaned back "Old or not, maybe it could clue us in on who we're dealing with here."

"Affirmative, Commander." the Overseer input several commands and watched as the few drones who had made it to the vessel began moving to examine the vessel "Let it be noted that the ecosystem on this planet is difficult to traverse, even for IRDs."

"Eyes on the prize." Burnish responded as he began to pace again, "As long as we don't have intel on these pink-skinned creatures, We need every advantage we can get."

The Overseer nodded in compliance before returning to its screens again, "It should also be noted that one of our IRDs has been chased far off course from the woods by the wildlife. Moving it back into position from its current location would only endanger it again, its current damages makes it unlikely to survive another encounter."

Burnish rubbed at the bridge of his nose, "Then have it perform high-altitude reconnaissance." he grunted "So far getting a picture from inside those woods has been a pain in the arse, maybe the rest of this rock will be more forthcoming."

"Affirmative, Commander." the Overseer turned and had the Lone Drone Pull up into the air before setting it on a high-altitude recon of the mountainous region it had found itself in. As the Overseer worked, Burnish watched with a grunt of annoyance as another small ship showed up on scans. With the unknown ship resting between them and the planet, Burnish assumed it was allied with them and returned to his pacing. The ships that kept getting sent towards the planet's surface were concerning, but as far as he cared they were nothing compared to the standoff they were currently engaged in.

"Keep track of any aliens spotted down there." He shouted towards the Overseer before clenching his hands into fists, "They're sending a whole lot of em down there, and I want to know what they're up to the moment we've got footage."

"Affirmative, Commander."

 

[Chuckles]

The Tel’tsu Commonwealth
Unknown system in Iniia space
SF-Vlaycli

persons of interest
Captain Awundhersun Toezeer

Alarms blared.

The helm computers were spitting out error messages and warnings so fast they were basically unintelligible.

“Sir, we are off course and the computer is failing to calculate current heading or placement.” The helmsman called over the noise of the bridge. “Should we disengage?”

Awndhersun drummed his fingers on the arm of his captain's chair “Emergency disengage warp drive.”

As orders were relayed a voice from engineering came over the ship com, “Emergency disengage malfunction, switching to manual emergency disengage. Thirty seconds.”

Thirty more seconds directionless in warp. They would travel some 50 million kilometers in that thirty seconds, on the scale of the galaxy it was barely a measurable distance, and still it was a terrifying prospect. They had already been off course for minutes, as vast and empty as space was, pointing oneself aimlessly towards the stars and moving through them at 656 times the speed of light could only end poorly, even if they were more or less safe while they actually maintained warp. Still, they needed to drop out of warp while they were still theoretically in the space between systems.

“Five seconds to emergency warp disengage. Four, three, two, one.”

Everything fell silent for a moment. There were no stars, there was nothing. Captain Toezeer studied the view intently. Was there anything? Then he saw it, a ring of light just on the edge of blackness.

A wormhole.

Suddenly the stars returned.

“Placement report?” The Captain asked calmly.

“Sir, nav computer is still in error. We can’t get a placement reading. It appears the Q. E. A. interface has been damaged. Mid range scans show a system well within sublight range.”

Without the Quantum Entanglement Array they couldn’t communicate with the rest of the 4th fleet. The array was also responsible for pinpointing the ship's location on the galactic map. The Array itself was nearly indestructible and had redundancies built in to insure Vlaycli was never completely dead in the water, but with no interface the QEA was useless. Luckily it was a repairable problem.

They also had structural damage to inspect and repair, the hit that sent them off course almost certainly did more damage than just frying the QEA interface.

“Make for the system, scan rate high, I don’t want to be surprised by any spacefaring inhabitants. Begin assessing ship damage and internal repairs, and someone get my Q E A interface back up.”

SF Vlaycli’s engines flared as it accelerated towards the unknown system.

Heterological

 

[The Governor]

RS Envouira, Stateless Space

As she slept uncomfortably in her quarters, Captain Nicolette St. Clare was awakened by a loud chirping sound. Still half asleep, she pushed a button on the wall and said, "Captain speaking. Go ahead."

"Good evening, Captain St. Clare. I'm sorry to bother you at this late hour, but we've picked up a distress signal. I have a course laid in, but wanted to get your approval to jump to its location. It isn't far from here.".

"Spool up the drive, then make the jump. I'll join you on the bridge shortly. Thank you, Lieutenant Commander." With that, she dressed in her uniform. She began with form fitting white pants and shirt, then a dark grey jacket, with three sideways silver crosses on the shoulder. Years before, the flag of the Confederacy had rested there. But she hadn't served the Confederate Navy in a long time. None of her ship's crew had.

Former Confederate Navy personnel, many of the crew had arrived in Colonial space years before after a wormhole generator sent the DCS Agincourt there. Once she stepped into her boots, St. Clare began walking through the halls of the ship, towards the bridge. Every footstep, every doorway, and airlock brought back memories. The Envouira had been purchased from a group of unscrupulous salvagers, and slowly restored. 150 meters long, the ship was relatively small, but agile, tough, and heavily armed.

Before reaching the bridge, the captain looked in a mirror. She looked presentable, if a little drowsy. She straightened her dark blonde hair, and rubbed her icy blue eyes again. Taking a deep breath, St. Clare stepped through the bridge doors, and took in the situation.

"How long until we jump?" she asked first. As her eyes ran over the different charts, she noticed the status of different ship systems, all more or less functioning at optimal capacity.

"Not long, Captain," Helmsman and Navigator Jacob Larousse answered. "Jumping in seven minutes. Like I said, the signal isn't far from here at all."

"Good. I'll be in the ready room, and be back in just a moment. Direct the signal frequency there. Continue the preparations, and jump when we're ready."

Unknown Space, Lwarp Signal Location

As the Envouira arrived in the system, they noticed the catastrophe that had befallen the freighter crew.

"Begin transmission," St. Clare commanded. "Freighter Lwarp, we've received your distress signal. The RS Envouira has arrived to rescue you. Is there a hatch or airlock we can connect to?"

 

[Nyq]

Unknown Space, the Lwarp

Within the rear section of the Lwarp, the surviving crew huddled together, their fingers crossed as they prayed for a salvation that might never come. The backup batteries for the lights had long ran out, leaving the interior in total darkness save for the very dim lights from the distress beacon. Oxygen is starting to run low, and the survivors are starting to consider killing some of their own to conserve air. However, the distress beacon suddenly emitted a beeping sound, causing all the survivors to rush towards the beacon, eyes gleaming with desperate hope. The screen displayed a pending transmission, which the crew members eagerly tuned into.

"Freighter Lwarp, we've received your distress signal. The RS Envouira has arrived to rescue you. Is there a hatch or airlock we can connect to?"

For the desperate survivors of the Lwarp, the voice might as well be from an angel. The impromptu leader of the survivors stepped up and responded to the message.

"Thank the whims of probability you're here, we've been trapped in this damned vessel for days! Unfortunately, there's no functional hatches or airlocks around, the closest one got mostly melded into the rock. Only way to get in is to blow a hole into the ship, which I'd recommend you start with the right side since we're on the left. Don't really want to risk getting flushed into space here. Be quick tho, we're running out of air and the ship's metal regenerates if left alone for too long."

The response message would be perfectly translated thanks to the Gorstak's eldritch translation technologies, but the recipients of it would feel extremely uneasy upon listening to it for a reason they cannot accurately place, as if there is just something extremely wrong with it.

 

[The Governor]

"Very well. We'll fire on the right side, then send someone inside for you." As she looked at the asteroid and the ship, Captain St. Clare wondered what the ship's real size would be. She had seen many large cargo ships, but even so, this one was massive, and the section where the survivors were was about twice the size of her light cruiser.

She pressed a button on the bridge, opening a channel to the hangar deck. "Blaise! This is the Captain speaking. I have a mission for you. We've received a distress signal, and I need you to rescue the survivors. They're in the massive cargo freighter you'll see on scanners. There aren't any airlocks, so you'll have to blast a hole and fly in."

"Understood, Captain," answered Ensign Blaise Bescond, commander of the Envouira's boarding parties. "Lampago Company, get ready. One squad goes with me to rescue the survivors. Everyone else, get in your armour. We don't expect trouble, but I want all of you on standby."

As the assorted soldiers donned their armor, a Pegasus gunship was prepared in the hangar. It was heavily armed, and it's hold would easily hold the survivors, even with the boarding team inside. The team was well prepared, with their armour able to withstand the vacuum of space for an hour. Blaise knew the rescue wouldn't take longer than that. Once everyone was ready, the gunship ascended, and flew towards the right side of the ship. With a command from Blaise, the turbolasers opened fire, and the beams connected with the metal.