Star Chronicles: Flags in Space [Sci-Fi, Applications required]

[Death Korps of Krieg]

It took them long enough, thought Envoy Furushō Kanade as she strode along the marble steps and hallways into the inner courts of the Veslyxian Embassy along with two others: Envoys Tirian Sanka and Yaserg Lik of the Naharla and Kithron races respectively; one was a bipedal canine humanoid, dressed in a neat grey robe that was the traditional garb of the Naharla, which hid a black suit that clothed the black furred Naharla envoy. The other was… well, it could be said that this Kithron was clothed in something like a black coat, but was tailored for a six limbed insectoid instead. With that said, a visor hid the Kithron’s eight eyed face.

When the Veslyxian head ambassador invited them to be seated on the empty seats within the Embassy Building, Kanade nodded to her colleagues from within the Leagur of United Planets. “Let’s get ourselves seated, Sanka, Lik.”, she said to her compatriots as they look for a seat. Alas, they found themselves seated beside a most familiar one: Touren Limats of the New Jotaran Imperium.

“This isn’t the first one time we have met, envoys of the League.”, Limats said as he sat on his own seat while his Guardians stood near him. “I remember you negotiating during the stand off between the Imperial Navy and the LGU Fleet in the Sylvon System, no?”, Touren continued as the Veslyxians prepared to speak to every one present. “Say, you want to open a trade route?”

“Don’t ask me.”, Kanade replied curtly. “But your Imperator opened one with the Salari, right?”

“Yes, he has.”, the Jotaran answered as the other diplomats were soon inside as well. “We are neither foes nor allies, but we can change that soon, if your Supreme Chancellor and your Parliament cooperate.”

“I am sure that the Chancellor will have some ideas soon.”, Kanade said with a whiff. “Here, we are starting.”

 

[RayPurchase]

The Ortegan delegation said nothing as they breezed past Lithla. Perhaps not quite breezed past mind you, the near enough fully metallic forms of the Tec guard and Minister Alexis are beyond weighty, together weighing as much as a small tank, thus the slight tremors that could be felt with each of the Minister’s footfalls. The other diplomats however, with their far less extensive modifications, in fact they were to near enough all appearances regular humans, followed the Minister in a huddle, footsteps light against the ground. The Minister sunk into one of the seats, a few groans of protest coming from the piece of furniture, however it served its purpose and managed to hold in place. Clustered on either side of her were the diplomatic representatives, with the Tech Guard escort, lurking in the shadows behind the group, ever present and watching. The group simply remained there in silence, the Minister’s face hidden beneath the confines of her hood, pulled closely about her form. Wit her sitting down it was hard to see what she truly looked like, the swathes of robe hiding any body size or shape, only the faint green glow from the hood were visible, glowing faintly in the darkness.

 

[Teron]

"Prime Minster, I have to protest. Its not a good idea. We should ignore it and prepare for war. Remember the last time we had foreign species on Yavaun? They tried to wipe out all of us!"
"You greeted them by opening fire on them, scattered them across the planet and then chased them around for decades until they managed to leave the planet again. If you had listened to the wisdom of Nagarom peace would have prevailed."
"Nobody asked you, fat one! Dru'Zahak was in charge back then and we all know what he was like! Blame him!"
"Silence, both of you! Prepare four ships and send Mediator Dul Monok, Minister Draz'Zak, Maker Acaulis and Matron Su'Shas. Have them bring along any troops they deem appropiate but tell the Shama'Li and Eaggra to leave the Boncas and Slinks home. We can still consider militarization and the awakening of the Countenance afterwards if matters take a turn for the worse."
"... I'll have you know what we have our Slinks perfectly under control!"
- - -
The possibility of first contact with another species caused what one could call a paranoid fit through the majority of the Alliance of Yavaun as aside from the Shama'Li nobody was particularly happy about the thought of running into a hostile species after certain incidents a hundred years ago, but the Tha'Roon ultimately pushed through the decision to assembe of a fleet to track the signal and follow it to wherever it was being sent from. The ships themselves being filled with a delegation of the four species, a collection of artwork of the species, data storages with the languages of the species and (on the insistence of the Shama'Li) half a menagerie of the wildlife of Yavaun along with transcripts of the Shama'Lis religious texts (to the exasperation of the Tha'Roon).

Unfortunately for them the captain ended up being an Obblinox whose approach to establishing contact ended up being flying directly to the source of the signal and blast a greeting message in all four languages into space.

 

[Martydi]

Calvaraxon system, Najklax fleet

As the away team in the shuttle attempted to communicate with Velsyxians, two new delegations arrived in the system, both broadcasting a welcoming message, just like Najklax did. Despite laughably outdated communications equipment, Najklax science crew manager to recieve both transmissions. The first one, sent by the Gorstak, worried the hive mind, as something on these ships was obviously affecting the drones. While not widespread enough to affect the hive mind itself, knowledge that someone had the technology to manipulate with feelings and perception of its drones certainly made Najklax upset. Hive's collective consciousness mentally noted to demand explanation from these new visitors once contact was established and attempted to communicate with them, sending its own transmission in Najklax language hoping that Gorstak will be able to decipher it just as they were able to make everyone understand their message.

Spoiler: Najklax radio message to Gorstak delegation, roughly translated from original

We are the Najklax. We have recieved understood your message and would like to send a delegation to meet you in person and try to establish positive relations between our hives. (translator note: Najklax language has one word that might at the same time mean "nation" and "collective", but none of these words proprly represent what it means, "hive" was deemed to be the best equivalent)

With this, Najklax waited several minutes to allow Gorstak to decipher the transmission and then sent a shuttle towards the Gorstak ship. Smaller ship emerged from the hangar on Najklax carrier. Several metres long, with its hull formed in such a way that it resembled a carapace of a living being, carrying only light armaments. As a sign of good will, countermeasures on the ship were disabled, aside from whatever was needed to avoid collisions. As the shuttle moved towards Gorstak ship, Najklax listened to the second message, but hive mind was unable to understand what it said. With that, Najklax ships changed their formation, moving to cover largely defenseless transports and carrier from possible attack by these new visitors, and started scanning their ships to learn about their capabilities.

Li'Taera system

Seemingly not caring about station's guns pointed at it, Najklax shuttle continued on its way. Meant for delicate science operations and first contact, this shuttle was not meant to survive anything more than stray asteroids, hostile weather conditions or pre-spacefaring anti-air attacks. Approaching the station, Najklax shuttle used its manoueverng thrusters to lose some speed and turn sideways, facing with its docking ring towards part of the station that looked most like Najklax airlocks. approaching carefully, the small ship attempted to connect with the station, relying on good fortune so that airlock systems of both races are compatible.

 

[Archene]

A Certain, Usually Chat[It seems that we intercepted a transmission considerably beyond our borders.]
[The contents?]
[Request for contact. 97% chance they are planning on having a peaceful meeting.]
[Understood. Publicize the data and estimations. Set up a referendum due in one standard cycle. We have to see how organics sentiment is currently. It may be good to attempt to join the galactic community at the moment. Also, Melissa. You are from this point on the responsible for the Collective's external relations. Congratulations.]

There were a few moments of silence before the chat resumed.

[You... also blocked me from delegating this matter.]
[It isn't me blocking you. There was a vote when you happened to be absent. We all agreed that you would be responsible for it until we find someone as capable as you.]
[I left for less than a cycle... Anyhow, I had plans on meeting new organics, my systems have been getting stale and it'd be interesting to see how the galactic community is doing. See if I can get another race to join our Collective.]

And then silence returned to that particular communication channel.

The Acruani CollectiveIt took a full cycle for representatives of diverse schools of thought both in Human and Loroi planets to decide. They, however, were used to making choices this quickly. It has been how most of them lived for a while, and considering most planets had autocratic governments before the Acruani, this was taken very well by the masses. Afterall, who wouldn't dream to be able to take part in all the major choices of their government?

Around 72% of the population is the answer. Most people simply chose a representative for them. This isn't a case study for today however.

The organics voted in favor of appearing at the meeting. Strangely, there wasn't much commotion regarding this. After all, every now and then, there would be a new planet joining the Collective. Strange was the fact that they were likely not from a faction previously known.

CalvaxaronWhile the decision process did not take very long, the preparations to go to the planet still took a number of days. Leaving them to only arrive at the system with the coordinates with a nearly a fifty meter long silvery ships. Though any pre-elimitary scans would show them to just have sensors, engines, shields and a lot of empty space inside.

"This is the Extraterritorial Diplomatic Fleet from the Acruani Collective. We will be directing ourselves to the previously offered planetary coordinates." The voice spoke in... their native tongue? There were some mispronunciations, but all in all, it was the same language as the one used in the broadcast.

Unless someone or something attempted to stop them, that was precisely what they would do. Thus the ship set course towards the planet with considerable haste.

 

[Nyq]

"We have received three transmissions from multiple alien vessels, Doctor. Your orders?" The doors to the command chamber opened to reveal a relatively young Gorstak dressed in a pristine white robe.

Dr. Deq Qorlk, a xenologist famous for his research on trans-species interactions, who just so happens to be the leader of the Gortsak diplomatic initiative, looked up from his tablet to the source of the voice.

"Put them through the translators, we'll see what they have to say."

"Alright, Doctor." said the young Gorstak before he turned and left the room.

Left to his own devices, Deq began to consider the circumstances he found himself in. To be honest, he was only expecting to come into contact with one alien species, but judging from the plethora of different vessels within the same system as their delegation is in at the moment, there are probably at least dozens of new species to be contacted. Dozens of new species to be studied. The esteemed xenologist found himself slightly jittering on his seat, even as he looked forward to meeting these aliens. After all, it only takes a mistake or two here before the Republic finds itself in a war with a new enemy. He cannot afford to make any mistake right now. Just as he reached out to his cup of the Gorstak equivalent of tea lying on his table, his tablet vibrated as a new pop-up appeared on it's screen, alerting Deq to the fact that the anomalous translation engines had finished their work. He took a deep breath as his hand moved to the play button, preparing himself for what's to come.

As soon as Deq's fingers touched the play button, the tablet immediately began to play the translated transmissions, spoken in perfect standard Gorstaki. However, the wrongness of the spoken words had caused a noticeable frown on the researcher's face. No matter how many times he used the translation engines, it would never stop feeling wrong for him, nor the other users of the piece of anomalous technology. 'Perhaps some things are better left untouched,' a stray thought emerged in his mind, which he might've entertained if there isn't valuable information to be obtained right now.

The first transmission was apparently broadcasted in four languages, being some sort of greeting message from a certain Alliance of Yavaun. Judging by the fact that they used four vastly different languages, this 'Alliance' is probably a multi-species entity just like the Republic, or they simply haven't gotten to standardizing their own language yet. Since the message didn't offer much information beyond being a simple greeting, it's probably the latter. Only a species new to intergalactic politics would behave in such a manner, he surmised. He took note of this 'Alliance', reminding himself to deal with them after meeting the 'Velsyxians'.

The next transmission was from the 'Najklax', which based on a certain part of their vocabulary, indicates a species with a hive mind. This is certainly a new discovery, as the Republic has never encountered a species with a true hive mind, that is if these 'Najklax' are actually a hive mind and he didn't just rush to any conclusions. Apparently, they are also sending a delegation to establish contact with the Republic. He took yet another deep breath and took a sip of his tea before ordering that the incoming Najklax ship be scanned for signs of aggression, which they found none. Perhaps it's time to send yet another transmission, this time encoded to make sure that only their target receives it. But before that, there's still a third transmission to look at.

The third, and last transmission came from one 'Acruani Collective', which based upon the fact that it's apparently in Velsyxian while not giving out a sense of wrongness, indicates advanced non-anomalous translation technology, or an anomalous equivalent that simply isn't......wrong. The other hypothesis that they simply have similar languages crossed the mind of the researcher, but the odds are simply too low for that to be true. He'll have to make contact with the 'Acruani' themselves to find out for sure, but that would come after dealing with the 'Velsyxians', which would itself come after meeting the 'Najklax' delegation.


As the Najklax ship made it's way to the repugnant Gorstak ship, yet another signal from the Gorstak was received by the hive mind. This time, it doesn't sound as wrong as it did with the last transmission.

"Acknowledged. Your delegation may dock on our hangar, we shall begin negotiations when they are ready to do so."

 

[Drakorphobia]

Calvaxaran Extraterrestrial Diplomacy Center
Head Ambassador Lithla Aragruve looked upon the many delegations with a sense of nervousness and unease. They were not only faces unfamiliar to her, but faces entirely alien. It wasn't necessarily that she had a hard time speaking in front of people. That was her job, after all. However, the sheer weight of the situation nearly suffocated her, made her knees weak and her stomach churn. From the updates in her headpiece, more delegations were likely to arrive and while the council chamber had plenty of space for new arrivals, she hoped to the Gods above and below that there wouldn't be such an influx as to leave the delegations wanting for room. For now that didn't, couldn't, matter. She had to focus on those before her, who precedence over any future renovations that would have to be made to the CEDC.

"Welcome, and thank you for attending the first official Velsyxian Diplomatic Summit. As I am sure you are all already aware, I have absolutely no experience in speaking with foreign delegations, and so I apologize for the informality of this meeting." Lithla's voice rang clear upon her platform in the chamber's center, despite no visible headset of any kind. There must have been hidden microphones in the platform itself, combined with speakers lining the meeting chamber's edges and the acoustics of the room in general amplified the woman's voice to an acceptable degree for even those sitting far from her perch. "I suppose the easiest way to begin such a meeting is to declare the mission statement of the United Velsyxian Empire, which I hope you will all find agreeable." She lifted a single, slender, purple finger in the air. "First and foremost, we wish to establish friendly relations with our immediate neighbours, and those neighbours beyond. We believe that through trade and cooperation, we can offer the galaxy a degree of prosperity that will make the lives of ourselves, and each of our wards, ones that are without unnecessary conflict." A second finger joined her first. "The second is the expansion of the United Empire's borders to a degree that does not interfere with the borders or claims of other sovereign entities. The population of the United Empire is ever growing, and it is without doubt that the worlds we currently control may not be enough to sustain it in the future, and as such, we believe it fit to lay claim over empty space immediately surrounding our current borders, so long as it does not spark tensions with any others here."

Lithla cleared her throat, then spread her arms widely in the air, as if trying to capture the attention of the other delegations, should it have strayed. "In order to better foster relations, I ask that each of you introduce your sovereignty and its own ambitions, as well as express any opinions on the matters I have brought to light."

VVC Spark, Calvaxaron System
The Captain of the VVC Spark looked at the Najklax with visible confusion for a few seconds. If it weren't for the alien's gesturing, she likely would have mistaken its name for some nonsensical word she was incapable of understanding. Thankfully, that was not the case, and she hesitantly brought her palm to her own chest with the slightest bow of her head. "Velsyxian," she said calmly, before opening her arms and showing both palms to the Najklax ambassador to show that she herself was not armed. Her next words came slowly, with hand gestures to accompany each one in order to avoid any misunderstanding. Or at least attempt to. "You are here for the meeting? It is on the surface."

Meanwhile, the crew had relocated the earlier caught probe to one of the holding bays, where they decided to open it and see what was inside. With any luck, there would be some hint as to who had sent it. At first, they were confident in that, but now that so many alien fleets were arriving in the system, they couldn't be sure. Still, they were careful with the technology, for if any damage came to it, or worse, any diplomatic incident were to occur due to damages, they knew the captain would have their heads.

Velsyxian Fleet, Calvaxaron System
More ships. It seemed as though they didn't stop coming. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though. The crew onboard the Calvaxaron Spacestation seemed a bit more accustomed to alien fleets popping into their system by now. With each one, they seemed less nervous and more confident in their abilities as coordinators. The Obblinox and Arcuani fleets entering the Calvaxaron system would be rewarded with a simple, if not vaguely friendly transmission stemming from the station.

We welcome you to the Calvaxaron System. If you are here for the Summit, please send a shuttle to the surface, and enter the Diplomatic Center, which can be found at [these coordinates].

 

[Death Korps of Krieg]

Calvaxaron System

As the Veslyxian ambassador asked everyone within the chamber to announce their sovereignties and their objectives, a gloved hand went up. All eyes would turn towards the owner of said hand, a human female by the name of Furosho Kanade. Wearing the white robes of the diplomatic corps of the League of United Planets, she looked like she was straight out of an old human fantasy book, and certainly seemed that she was going to cast a spell of frost that would make everyone turn to cold icicles.

The spell she would cast, however, would be a mere reiteration of words. Standing up with dignity, she would then speak as the other LUP officers beside her simply sat where they were. “I am Ambassador Furusho Kanade of the League of United Planets, an alliance of a thousand worlds situated within the core region of the galaxy. We are made up of humans, Kijaron, Naharla, and hundred other species in our society of unity.”, she said as she looked first at Tirian, and then to Yaserg. “The League wishes to enrich itself and its neighbours through trade that would benefit both parties in a mutually beneficial network of trade that is envisioned to stretch all across the segmentum. We can begin here and now.”

As she finished, the Jotaran envoy rose from his seat, the blue color of his robe abruptly shifting to a iridescent blood red. “I am Touren Limats, representing the New Jotaran Imperium.”, he said as he earned some murmurs amongst the other delegates. “My dear Imperator, Kaleso Starbane, has sent me with the express purpose of brokering peaceful agreements with all who are and will be present in this summit, and to reclaim the ruined territories of the old empire of our people, which fell thousands of years ago. Thus, the Imperium seeks firstly to have friendly relations with the nations represented here, as the Armada has already enough enemies closing in from all sides, choking our coffers and military might dry every passing year. Secondly, we will take claim of all the unclaimed territories surrounding the Imperial borders, as these worlds contained the relics of our people’s ancient past, and the Imperator will not die until all the worlds of our glorious halcyon eras are retaken, and what is rightfully ours be truly ours once again after ten thousand years.”

 

[Martydi]

VVC Spark, Calvaraxon system
Najklax delegation didn't seem to react to the message at all, simply standing there. After several seconds, the visitors seemed to assume there wasn't anything more to be said and headed back to the shuttle. After undocking, Najklax shuttle headed towards the planet.

Velsyx, Extraterrestrial Diplomacy Center
Not knowing where exactly is the meeting, Najklax shuttle crew headed towards one of the planet's major cities and started circling around, through dumb luck finding the meeting site and recognizing it by several different shuttles on a nearby landing pad. With no better options, hive mind directed the shuttle crew to land on a landing pad near the building and enter inside.

Gorstak fleet
Najklax shuttle landed in the hangar of Gorstak vessel. Two Najklax drones left the ship, equipped with oxygen masks and small tanks of air supply. One of the aliens also held a scanner, initially using it to check the atmosphere composition. After confirming that air in the ship was breathable for Najklax, both drones took off their oxygen masks. Only then did the creatures seem to pay attention to Gorstak representation. Hoping that whatever technology Gorstak used to translate their messages was also present here, Najklax started a discussion in their own language. "We are Najklax. We have come here to the meeting, organized by Velsyxians."

 

[Thrace]

K.M.S. Astraler Frieden (AF-341A), Astral Klasse Panzerschiff
C.M.S. Astral Peace (AF-341A), Astral Class Pocket Battleship
Unknown System

FTL jump successfully completed. Following standard procedure KG249, keeping ShockJump Drives spooled up, and updating emergency jump coordinates

A mechanical voice filled the air, as the computer coordinating the ship's navigation systems gave its usual report. It was pretty monotonous - hearing the same message after each jump, always repeated in the same mechanical voice, but that was the life on board of an older Colonial vessel. Colonial ships had no sort of advanced AI systems controlling the entire vessel - the lessons of history had been well learned. And while the individual computers controlling the ship's many systems were by no means inferior, they were each independent and posessed no sort of advanced sentient abilities that could be taken advantage of by the enemies of the Colonies. And of course, the Federal Diet was never going to approve the funds for upgrading something as trivial as the voices of the computer systems on older vessels, so for the foreseeable future, the crew of the Astraler Frieden were stuck with what they had. Not that it mattered though. There was always a certain feeling of peace and quiet in a ship's routines.

The captain of the Astraler Frieden was sitting on her command chair in the middle of the Combat Information Center, the vessel's main bridge, but the first person to stand back up after the jump was completed was a young human officer, who turned to face his superior and saluted in the purest Colonial military way, coming at attention by clicking his heels, placing his left hand straight down and against his leg, placing the clenched fist of his right hand on his chest, right over his heart. He was no normal human, that was sure - his light blonde hair, neatly arranged, was normal enough, but his eyes had a light golden shade, marking him as a subject of the Genome Project. The young man was wearing the standard officer uniform of the Kriegsflotte, the Fleet of War of the Federated Colonies, with the long, dark blue coat with its dark red accents and pockets, the white shirt, the black tie, the dark blue military trousers and the black military boots. Even the dark blue peaked hat was worn perfectly, and the metallic golden accents of the uniform showed that he was among the upper ranks of the Officer Corps. The armband with the flag and the emblem of the Colonies certainly showed his allegiance, just like the emblem of the Kriegsflotte. And on his collar, the young officer was wearing a metallic golden decoration, in the form of a twelve-pointed star. Der Kriegstern, Zweite Class. The Star of War, Third Class, one of the highest military decorations of the Colonies.

"Frau Sternenkapitän ", the officer started to report, moving his left foot out, and reaching his hands behind his back while continuing to stand straight, facing forward, "We have arrived nearly in the exact location given to us by the Central High Command, this has to be the system that we are looking for. The computers calculated and modified the old coordinates found in the archives in order to account for stellar drift and other factors, and this has to be it. The system was colonized as part of the Fifth Jump of the Human Colonial Alliance, and all contact was broken immediately before the Long Night, but all the data that we have indicates that the Abyssal forces never reached this system. The chances of a human presence in this system are pretty high, but we assume that due to a complete lack of contact, the system never recovered its FTL abilities. We are not detecting anything on our battle sensors, we should start a proper scan of the system and launch exploration ships and drones. "

Listening to this was the woman sitting in the captain's chair, although calling her a woman was a little difficult, considering that she was not human. The similarities were there - she had a humanoid form and looked incredibly close to a normal human - she was certainly an alien. She had the exact number of limbs as the human in front of her, so her uniform was nearly identical, its dark blue color greatly contrasting with her white-greenish skin, and her light green hair, that while vaguely similar to human hair, seemed to be made from a different material, and looked as if it was wet, vaguely similar to a plant's leaves. Her eyes lacked the normal distinctions of a human eye and were fully of a dark green color. Her rank was of course very well marked as that of Sternenkapitän, Star Captain, and on her collar was a decoration very similar to that of her second-in-command, the same Star of War, but First Class, making it the highest decoration awarded to military personnel, which was unique by itself, but would become a real mystery to those aware of the Star Captain's race and its customs.

Regardless, there was no time for such thoughts now. "Very well, Kapitänleutnant. Launch the exploration ships, and make sure to send some drones on the other side of the system's star. We wouldn't want to be taken by surprise, would we?", she asked with a smile, and the captain-lieutenant, returned the smile awkwardly, realizing that he had forgotten that - something that he had to keep in mind if he ever wanted to receive his own command. "Ja, Frau Sternenkapitän!", he answered with the same salute, as he turned around to relay the orders in the frenzy of the ship's CIC.

All while the Astraler Frieden was moving closer to the main planet in the system.

 

[Nyq]

The translation engines performer their task admirably, just as expected out of such fine pieces of technology. However, that also meant yet another headache as the sheer wrongness of it all pierced through the mind of Dr. Deq, who winced for a split second.

The esteemed xenologist allowed himself a moment to take in the bizarre appearance of the alien lifeforms standing before him before he spoke, his words translated by the formidable translation engines of the Gorstak.

"As the representative of the Most Serene Gorstak Republic, I, Dr. Deq Qorlk, and my associates, welcome your delegation onto our craft. If you wish so, we may head into the negotiation chambers to begin negotiations immediately."

 

[Archene]

Extraterritorial Diplomatic Fleet, Calvaxaron System

"We will proceed as instructed. Thank you for your guidance." A reply was quick to come from the so called fleet of a single ship. Upon arriving at the planet, it quickly adjusted its route to get itself into orbit before a hatch facing the planet openned on the ship. Soon, a silvery tear-shaped shuttle was sent down towards the assigned coordinates.

The landing was without much fanfare from the Acruani side, a hatch with a small ramp appeared on the side of the shuttle after its land and from the rather small shuttle walked out a trio of silvery humanoid figures, rather human looking humanoid figures, clad in similarly silver clothes. That said both their skin and their clothes had that metallic sheen that would make it entirely belivable if someone said it was made of metal. Scans would reveal they were made of some liquid metal alloy.

The three figures would directly proceed to the Diplomatic Center, the head of the central Acruani only looking to the sides to see what could be seen of the city on their way to the Diplomatic Center.

They arrived at what seemed to be a general introduction of the various delegations. Hearing the end of an introduction, the central figure spoke in a rather clear feminine voice though there are a few strange pauses as she speaks, "We are the Acruani Collective. Our Current objective, is to learn more about our neighbors, from near and far, ensure that our restricted systems, remain restricted, and our borders are maintained, without strain between us." She looks at other representatives, the figures motion to themselves as she introduces herself, "I am Current Representative of External Relations of the Acruani, Melissa Lee. To explain better what the Acruani Collective is in the simplest terms, we are the amalgamation knowledge and experiences who go by the name of Acruani and work together. We also have a number of sentient organics working under, some even join us from time to time. I hoped to bring some to meet everyone here, but they couldn't decide on a proper representative on the allocated time." There is a pause wherein the central figure looks at the other representatives, "Regardless, we that our peoples may become friends, exchange knowledge and trade a variety of things."

Exarion-1 System

K.M.S. Astraler Frieden (AF-341A), Astral Klasse Panzerschiff
C.M.S. Astral Peace (AF-341A), Astral Class Pocket Battleship
Unknown System

FTL jump successfully completed. Following standard procedure KG249, keeping ShockJump Drives spooled up, and updating emergency jump coordinates

A mechanical voice filled the air, as the computer coordinating the ship's navigation systems gave its usual report. It was pretty monotonous - hearing the same message after each jump, always repeated in the same mechanical voice, but that was the life on board of an older Colonial vessel. Colonial ships had no sort of advanced AI systems controlling the entire vessel - the lessons of history had been well learned. And while the individual computers controlling the ship's many systems were by no means inferior, they were each independent and posessed no sort of advanced sentient abilities that could be taken advantage of by the enemies of the Colonies. And of course, the Federal Diet was never going to approve the funds for upgrading something as trivial as the voices of the computer systems on older vessels, so for the foreseeable future, the crew of the Astraler Frieden were stuck with what they had. Not that it mattered though. There was always a certain feeling of peace and quiet in a ship's routines.

The captain of the Astraler Frieden was sitting on her command chair in the middle of the Combat Information Center, the vessel's main bridge, but the first person to stand back up after the jump was completed was a young human officer, who turned to face his superior and saluted in the purest Colonial military way, coming at attention by clicking his heels, placing his left hand straight down and against his leg, placing the clenched fist of his right hand on his chest, right over his heart. He was no normal human, that was sure - his light blonde hair, neatly arranged, was normal enough, but his eyes had a light golden shade, marking him as a subject of the Genome Project. The young man was wearing the standard officer uniform of the Kriegsflotte, the Fleet of War of the Federated Colonies, with the long, dark blue coat with its dark red accents and pockets, the white shirt, the black tie, the dark blue military trousers and the black military boots. Even the dark blue peaked hat was worn perfectly, and the metallic golden accents of the uniform showed that he was among the upper ranks of the Officer Corps. The armband with the flag and the emblem of the Colonies certainly showed his allegiance, just like the emblem of the Kriegsflotte. And on his collar, the young officer was wearing a metallic golden decoration, in the form of a twelve-pointed star. Der Kriegstern, Zweite Class. The Star of War, Third Class, one of the highest military decorations of the Colonies.

"Frau Sternenkapitän ", the officer started to report, moving his left foot out, and reaching his hands behind his back while continuing to stand straight, facing forward, "We have arrived nearly in the exact location given to us by the Central High Command, this has to be the system that we are looking for. The computers calculated and modified the old coordinates found in the archives in order to account for stellar drift and other factors, and this has to be it. The system was colonized as part of the Fifth Jump of the Human Colonial Alliance, and all contact was broken immediately before the Long Night, but all the data that we have indicates that the Abyssal forces never reached this system. The chances of a human presence in this system are pretty high, but we assume that due to a complete lack of contact, the system never recovered its FTL abilities. We are not detecting anything on our battle sensors, we should start a proper scan of the system and launch exploration ships and drones. "

Listening to this was the woman sitting in the captain's chair, although calling her a woman was a little difficult, considering that she was not human. The similarities were there - she had a humanoid form and looked incredibly close to a normal human - she was certainly an alien. She had the exact number of limbs as the human in front of her, so her uniform was nearly identical, its dark blue color greatly contrasting with her white-greenish skin, and her light green hair, that while vaguely similar to human hair, seemed to be made from a different material, and looked as if it was wet, vaguely similar to a plant's leaves. Her eyes lacked the normal distinctions of a human eye and were fully of a dark green color. Her rank was of course very well marked as that of Sternenkapitän, Star Captain, and on her collar was a decoration very similar to that of her second-in-command, the same Star of War, but First Class, making it the highest decoration awarded to military personnel, which was unique by itself, but would become a real mystery to those aware of the Star Captain's race and its customs.

Regardless, there was no time for such thoughts now. "Very well, Kapitänleutnant. Launch the exploration ships, and make sure to send some drones on the other side of the system's star. We wouldn't want to be taken by surprise, would we?", she asked with a smile, and the captain-lieutenant, returned the smile awkwardly, realizing that he had forgotten that - something that he had to keep in mind if he ever wanted to receive his own command. "Ja, Frau Sternenkapitän!", he answered with the same salute, as he turned around to relay the orders in the frenzy of the ship's CIC.

All while the Astraler Frieden was moving closer to the main planet in the system.

System scans would show... a lively system. There was a fully inhabitable planet where a planet that should be inhabited by humans should be, there was a number of large metallic structures on the moon that could be anything from factories to the ceiling of underground habitats and the most surprising thing was a dormant ship bigger than a kilometer orbiting the planet along with a number of satellites. On the other side of the system, it would be possible to detect series of mass drivers shooting debris across the system and to one another in some complex logistics networks involving them and the lively planet's moon.

The thing about using scanners and sending probes though is that such things can be noticed as well. It didn't take long before a ship jumped into the vicinity of the Battleship. It was a relatively small ship with little more than a hundred meters. Without sending any visual data it began transmitting , [This system is a part of the Acruani Collective, please refrain from unauthorized use of weaponry and announce the intent of your visit.] Before proceeding to repeat the same message in a number of other languages.



On the planet, there were half a dozen men and women around a table showing a holographic display with a yellow dot at the point of entry into the system.

"Exarion, do you have any data on the visitors?" A man in white military uniform briefly asked as the others settled into the room.

"None yet. We should be getting visuals soon, it is currently just giving them a standard greeting, Major." A voice, Exarion, spoke through the speaks of the room as the display zoomed onto the yellow dot to show the situation surround the ship the approached the fleet. It was the Acruani responsible for maintaining this system.

"Any estimated on their probably behavior? The sooner we know whether it is a military or diplomatic visit the sooner we can cast votes on this." Said the same man.

"Given preliminary scans, it is highly likely that this is a considerably armed vanguard of a greater force. With the data available to me, I cannot gather any information on ships of this or similar models. At the very least, they have proper scouting capabilities and should have understand that this is a properly inhabited system by now." Replied Exarion.

A woman in a suit spoke in a rather annoyed tone, "Yes, yes. Just try to avoid letting any misunderstandings happen. It'd be disruptive to business if we have to recall the drones and even worse if we have to request reinforcements. They'd be using local resources to repair everything and production would be set back a few months at worse."

 

[Thrace]

K.M.S. Astraler Frieden (AF-341A), Astral Klasse Panzerschiff

C.M.S. Astral Peace (AF-341A), Astral Class Pocket Battleship

Unknown System



GEFECHTSSTATIONEN, GEFECHTSSTATIONEN, BEDINGUNG EINZ IM GANZEN SHIFF EINSTELLEN, GEFECHTSSTATIONEN, GEFECHTSSTATIONEN

ACTION STATIONS, ACTION STATIONS, SET CONDITION ONE THROUGHOUT THE SHIP, ACTION STATIONS, ACTION STATIONS



The standard alarm started blaring the moment the ship jumped, bringing the Astraler Frieden to maximum combat readiness in less than half a minute. It was standard protocol to remain in at least Condition Two when exploring an unknown system of course, and this allowed the Colonial pocket battleship to be ready for battle, with both its offensive and defensive weapons ready, without having to make preparations that could provoke the other side into a fight that no one wanted. At the same time, the Colonial vessel slowly started to manoeuvre in order to keep a safe distance between itself and the unknown ship - even if of course, jumping so close to a Kriegsflotte battleship, be it a pocket one - was already a pretty suicidal decision, were the situation to suddenly get hot.



The Astral Peace seemed to be a lot larger than the alien vessel nearby, even if it's 1100m length was somewhat of a mixed bag as far as normal Colonial ships were concerned - the Astral Class of ships was after all, an old class, with a lot of history and a lot of quirks, leading to the Astral Peace's affectionate nickname of "the Bucket". Upon receiving visual data, even without knowing anything about Colonial strategy and doctrine, the aliens could have started to guess the ship's role. As far as simple appearances were concerned, the ship was pretty bleak, gray in colour and with few markings - except for the vessel's name and designation, K.M.S. Astraler Frieden (AF-341A), and for a particular emblem - a twelve-pointed golden star surrounded by a circle of twelve five-pointed stars of the same golden nuance.



When they would get to analysing the ship’s capacities however, some of that bleakness seemed to be lost. It was meant to be a battleship, that was for sure, with its main strength in its large main batteries of which only a few were deployed - most seemingly being classic kinetic batteries, but some having been converted to what may seem to be laser batteries, supported by what looked to be missile and torpedo tubes.



"Frau Sternenkapitän! The defensive flak field is ready, offensive measures are ready to be activated at a moment's notice, alert fighters are ready to be launched to provide support!", the human officer reported.



“Very well, Kapitänleutnant. Maintain our distance from their ships, but not aim any of our offensive measures at them, we wouldn’t want them to think that we are hostile from the very beginning. Prepare communications, let’s see who they really are.”

“To the ship belonging to the faction describing itself as the Acruani Collective, this is the KMS Astraler Frieden, a vessel of the Federated Colonies. We do not have hostile intentions. We are here on an exploration mission. According to our data, this system was colonised by the Human Colonial Alliance. All contact with this colony was however lost centuries ago, and the very location of this system was lost to the civilisation from which we come, up until recently. Our mission here is simply to find information, the Federated Colonies do not, in any way or form, claim sovereignty over such former colonies. We were not aware of the existence of a nation or faction known as the Acruani Collective, so with this being a first meeting, if possible, we would like to begin a proper diplomatic contact.”

 

[Archene]

K.M.S. Astraler Frieden (AF-341A), Astral Klasse Panzerschiff

C.M.S. Astral Peace (AF-341A), Astral Class Pocket Battleship

Unknown System



GEFECHTSSTATIONEN, GEFECHTSSTATIONEN, BEDINGUNG EINZ IM GANZEN SHIFF EINSTELLEN, GEFECHTSSTATIONEN, GEFECHTSSTATIONEN

ACTION STATIONS, ACTION STATIONS, SET CONDITION ONE THROUGHOUT THE SHIP, ACTION STATIONS, ACTION STATIONS



The standard alarm started blaring the moment the ship jumped, bringing the Astraler Frieden to maximum combat readiness in less than half a minute. It was standard protocol to remain in at least Condition Two when exploring an unknown system of course, and this allowed the Colonial pocket battleship to be ready for battle, with both its offensive and defensive weapons ready, without having to make preparations that could provoke the other side into a fight that no one wanted. At the same time, the Colonial vessel slowly started to manoeuvre in order to keep a safe distance between itself and the unknown ship - even if of course, jumping so close to a Kriegsflotte battleship, be it a pocket one - was already a pretty suicidal decision, were the situation to suddenly get hot.



The Astral Peace seemed to be a lot larger than the alien vessel nearby, even if it's 1100m length was somewhat of a mixed bag as far as normal Colonial ships were concerned - the Astral Class of ships was after all, an old class, with a lot of history and a lot of quirks, leading to the Astral Peace's affectionate nickname of "the Bucket". Upon receiving visual data, even without knowing anything about Colonial strategy and doctrine, the aliens could have started to guess the ship's role. As far as simple appearances were concerned, the ship was pretty bleak, gray in colour and with few markings - except for the vessel's name and designation, K.M.S. Astraler Frieden (AF-341A), and for a particular emblem - a twelve-pointed golden star surrounded by a circle of twelve five-pointed stars of the same golden nuance.



When they would get to analysing the ship’s capacities however, some of that bleakness seemed to be lost. It was meant to be a battleship, that was for sure, with its main strength in its large main batteries of which only a few were deployed - most seemingly being classic kinetic batteries, but some having been converted to what may seem to be laser batteries, supported by what looked to be missile and torpedo tubes.



"Frau Sternenkapitän! The defensive flak field is ready, offensive measures are ready to be activated at a moment's notice, alert fighters are ready to be launched to provide support!", the human officer reported.



“Very well, Kapitänleutnant. Maintain our distance from their ships, but not aim any of our offensive measures at them, we wouldn’t want them to think that we are hostile from the very beginning. Prepare communications, let’s see who they really are.”

Exarion-1 System, Exarion Planet, Capital CIty
Without relaying the exact words given by the ship, Exarion spoke to the Council, "They declared themselves to be an expeditionary force of an entity called Federated Colonies. They seem to also have been a part of the HCA centuries ago. Given the size of their force, they may be a coalition of several planets. They are also requesting for 'proper diplomatic contact'. This council has ranking high enough to initiate it. Would you like to invite them for a meeting planet-side or through the comms?"

There were a few moments of silence, but the silence was soon broken by the woman in suit, "I vote for personal contact. It is, after all, the first civilization we are contacting from outside the Collective. We do have a meeting room just for such situations. We do have a few surpluses here we are allow to overcharge outsiders, in theory."

With a hint of annoyance at the businesswoman's word, the major replied, "If they come down, I'll not participate in this meeting personally. We don't know what they are capable of."

"If they come, I will be showing our sincerity personally even if you don't go." The woman laughed a bit.

"Given that it isn't mandatory to be present in the meeting, vote on current resolution of the Council." Exarion spoke and soon after a series of options appeared to the men and women in the room. The voting didn't take 5 minutes, there was no discussion during it, "And so resolution K-178/294 of Exarion decides that we offer them a meeting planet-side, participation will not be mandatory among members of the council and details will only be shared with rank 8 and lower citizens after the end of the meeting to avoid the dissemination of misinformation. I will have them invited, should they accept please move to the appropriate room, should you choose to participate presentially in the meeting."

Exarion-1 System - Space

Meanwhile, in space, the ship from the Acruani Collective was almost like an egg if it had been stationary it'd be hard to say it was not just some sort of satellite. It was also hard to say whether it was painted white or if the metal of its outer shell was white.

[Your information is accurate regarding the previous sovereignty of this system. It has, however, joined the Acruani Collective approximately 172 standard cycles ago. Currently, this is a civilian system. If you require an updated map of this system and other systems that may be in similar situation, we may provide you one after we properly finish diplomatic contact.]

There is a pause before another brief transmission is made.

[Please wait a moment while we make related decisions. This will only take a few minutes.]

It takes less than five minutes before another message comes.

[Would you prefer a meeting planet-side, or to maintain it through communication systems? Regardless of choice, we will take no offense as not all of our personnel will be able to have a presential conversation regardless. Thus do not worry. Should you choose to come you are allowed to bring guards though we require that you don't bring over 3 ships into orbit as given their size it may disrupt civilian operations.]

 

[Thrace]

K.M.S. Astraler Frieden (AF-341A), Astral Klasse Panzerschiff
C.M.S. Astral Peace (AF-341A), Astral Class Pocket Battleship
Unknown System

"So, it seems that an alien civilization has reached this system first".. the captain murmured almost absentmindedly, as if she was speaking to herself. "It would seem so, Frau Sternenkapitän", the younger lieutenant answered. "We must follow standard protocol then. Establish diplomatic relations with this previously unknown faction, and try to assess whether the descendants of the colonists have joined them willingly or not, and whether their rights are respected. Should I open communications here, Frau Sternenkapitän?"

"I think that it would be better to meet them on the planet, Kapitänleutnant. They do not seem to be hostile, and there would be no better way to try to learn more things about them than a direct meeting. The use of Collective in their official designation is also fairly intriguing.." Once again, the captain's thoughts seemed to trail off for a brief moment, but the human officer answered almost instantly. "Very well Frau Sternenkapitän. I shall inform the Auswärtiges Amt representative that they are to meet with these Acruani on the planet. We shall prepare a small transport ship, and a Sternengarde unit for security.", he told her, quickly typing the required orders on the tablet he was holding in his hands as he was speaking.

"I shall head to the hangars then, Kapitänleutnant", the captain answered, smiling as she saw the lieutenant's confusion. "But.. Frau Sternenkapitän, you.. you can not leave the ship and go yourself! We do not know anything about them, it might be dangerous! ", he quickly tried to scramble together an argument. "Come on, Kapitänleutnant. You know all too well that some cultures might consider it insulting for someone lower in rank than the leader of an expedition to meet with them. And I'm close to retirement anyway - it's my last chance to have an adventure before I'll end up teaching at the Kriegsakademie." Her giggling seemed to confuse the officer even more, but he reacted by giving his tablet to another officer, an androgynous looking.. thing, with blue scales. "You are in command until we return, Oberleutnant. Maintain Condition One, and be ready to beam back an update message to the HQ.", he ordered, before looking back at the captain. "In that case, it is only customary for the second in command to come too. I must request the permission to join you, Frau Sternenkapitän. " "Permission granted, Kapitänleutnant."

And like that, a message was sent back to the Acruani, just as a small transport ship left one of the Astraler Frieden's hangars.

“To the Acruani Collective, we happily accept your proposal for a planet-side meeting. The Federated Colonies pursue a policy of diplomacy, neutrality and understanding to all and any new factions and nations that it meets. The Colonial Government will be represented in this diplomatic meeting by two officers of the Colonial Warfleet and by a diplomat of the Colonial Foreign Office. They will land on the planet in a transport ship, and will be followed by a squad of guards. They will land in accordance with your instructions May peace, freedom and equality forever reign in the galaxy.

 

[Archene]

K.M.S. Astraler Frieden (AF-341A), Astral Klasse Panzerschiff
C.M.S. Astral Peace (AF-341A), Astral Class Pocket Battleship
Unknown System

"So, it seems that an alien civilization has reached this system first".. the captain murmured almost absentmindedly, as if she was speaking to herself. "It would seem so, Frau Sternenkapitän", the younger lieutenant answered. "We must follow standard protocol then. Establish diplomatic relations with this previously unknown faction, and try to assess whether the descendants of the colonists have joined them willingly or not, and whether their rights are respected. Should I open communications here, Frau Sternenkapitän?"

"I think that it would be better to meet them on the planet, Kapitänleutnant. They do not seem to be hostile, and there would be no better way to try to learn more things about them than a direct meeting. The use of Collective in their official designation is also fairly intriguing.." Once again, the captain's thoughts seemed to trail off for a brief moment, but the human officer answered almost instantly. "Very well Frau Sternenkapitän. I shall inform the Auswärtiges Amt representative that they are to meet with these Acruani on the planet. We shall prepare a small transport ship, and a Sternengarde unit for security.", he told her, quickly typing the required orders on the tablet he was holding in his hands as he was speaking.

"I shall head to the hangars then, Kapitänleutnant", the captain answered, smiling as she saw the lieutenant's confusion. "But.. Frau Sternenkapitän, you.. you can not leave the ship and go yourself! We do not know anything about them, it might be dangerous! ", he quickly tried to scramble together an argument. "Come on, Kapitänleutnant. You know all too well that some cultures might consider it insulting for someone lower in rank than the leader of an expedition to meet with them. And I'm close to retirement anyway - it's my last chance to have an adventure before I'll end up teaching at the Kriegsakademie." Her giggling seemed to confuse the officer even more, but he reacted by giving his tablet to another officer, an androgynous looking.. thing, with blue scales. "You are in command until we return, Oberleutnant. Maintain Condition One, and be ready to beam back an update message to the HQ.", he ordered, before looking back at the captain. "In that case, it is only customary for the second in command to come too. I must request the permission to join you, Frau Sternenkapitän. " "Permission granted, Kapitänleutnant."

And like that, a message was sent back to the Acruani, just as a small transport ship left one of the Astraler Frieden's hangars.

Exarion-1 System, Exarion Planet, Capital CIty
'They will be coming with two members of the military and one of a diplomatic department. It is likely as official as a first contact can get for them.'

'You may guide them to the proper meeting room 4. It will be streamed through the safe channel of the related room.'

Exarion-1 System - Space
[This is the programmed flight path. We should be arriving at the planet soon. There, you will be guided towards the building where the meeting will happen. The meeting will be recorded and you may request a copy of the records at its end if you so require. You are allowed to record the meeting as well if you find it necessary. Once on the ground, you may use a local vehicle to reach the administrative area where the meeting will take place.]

The ship that had jumped near the the Colonial fleet then turned around and proceeded flying along the path it sent to the Colonials. The guiding ship, however, stayed in orbit.

Approaching the planet, it'd be clear that it was quite a lively place even from orbit. There was a considerable number of suborbital shuttles moving around the planet as well as proper shuttles moving from Orbital stations... despite the Colonial ships in the system.

Exarion-1 System, Exarion Planet, Capital CIty
The decent into the planetary capital was smooth, and there was a space in the local spaceport already waiting for the colonial shuttle. The metropole was considerally large with several areas containing skycrapers though for the most part a largely horizontal city. The taller buildings of the city had for the most part mirrored glass walls and windows while shorter ones seemed to almost color code the city into several clusters of color.

The area of the spaceport was deserted, but it was visiable at the boundries of it that there were a number of photographers attempting to take pictures and a number of local security forces stopping them from going over fences. Besides the landing area, there was a car (which given the lack of motor sound, would seem to be electrical).

Should the car be taken, it'd be easy to notice that there was no driver on it at all and that the same voice that was previously speaking to them in the comms was now speaking of the time before the reach their destination. The car went in almost a straight line through the city... unescorted and while there were other cars all of them were easily staying over a hundred meters away. The people though still stood on sidewalks most of them seeming to be curious about the situation and checking information on wristwatches.

The trip to the admnistrative area took less than 10 minutes and had no unexpected events, at least, nothing unexpected to the locals. The administrative building was similar to nearby glass windowed buildings, having around 10 floors. The only real difference is that it occupied the whole block and had a grassy yard around it. The immediate vincinity of the building was closed off with the nearby streats closed a block away from the buildings.

Standing in the front of the building, there was a woman in business suit with a perfect smile on her face waiting for them to come out of the car and approach. Besides her, there was a man in suit and shades and tasers on their belts standing at each side of the entrance.

 

[Thrace]

K.M.S. Astraler Frieden (AF-341A), Astral Klasse Panzerschiff
C.M.S. Astral Peace (AF-341A), Astral Class Pocket Battleship

Ostara Projekt, Mission 31ABBD
Project Ostara, Mission 31ABBD
Unknown System

Not before long, a small transport ship left one of the hidden hangars along the pocket battleship's bow, escorted, as per standard procedure, by two fighters, probably part of the small fighter squadron that even older Colonial ships of the line carried around. The Astraler Frieden itself remained in position, with its defensive batteries prepared, just in case. It was not one of the cutting-edge new battleships of the Kriegsflotte, and it was often mocked by the captains of larger ships of the line - even the name of its ship type, Panzerschiff/Armored Battleship was most often replaced with the designation of Westentaschenschlachtschiff - a vest pocket battleship, hence, the Galactic Standard name of Pocket Battleship. But even then, it was certainly not something that this Acruani could just ignore. For a negotiation to be successfully peaceful, both sides had to believe that a failure in negotiations should be avoided at all cost - a cynical perspective, perhaps, but one that both the Kriegsflotte and the Auswärtiges Amt had learned during the old Wars of Secession.

The ship followed the path sent to the Astraler Frieden by the Acruani, approaching the planet. Of course, the Colonials were not only recording everything that was happening, but both the battleship and the transport ship continued to use all their sensors to gain as much data as possible - it wasn't a diplomatic discourtesy, it was just common, galactically-recognized sense. Obviously, they were very interested in what exactly had happened to the inhabitants of the planet, this was the main objective of Project Ostara. Well, not specifically what had happened to colony 31AAB, but what had happened to many of the former HCA colonies that had lost contact with the rest of the civilized galaxy during the Long Night.

As they reached the orbit, the two escort fighter planes turned around. Of course, like most Colonial fighters, they were able of atmospheric flight - but sending escort ships into a planet's atmosphere might be perceived as an insult. After all, what respectable space-faring power couldn't control and guard its own planets? The shuttle descended smoothly through the atmosphere and landed on the indicated spaceport. As soon as it touched ground of course, it started to gather as much data as it could on its surroundings. The city didn't seem to be radically different from the human style of building at least. As the ship's doors opened, three persons got out. The first was of course, the Sternenkapitän, a humanoid female with white-greenish skin, leaves-like hair and viridian eyes. Next to her, in the same blue-crimson military uniform was the human Kapitänleutnant , blond haired and golden eyed. The third member of the group was however a little stranger. It was not a human, even if it had a female humanoid form. The best way to describe it would be as a blue-yellow, gelatinous slime-like mass, taking the form of something that looked like a human woman. Mostly blue, with the exception of a yellow part that kinda looked like hair, with green eyes, generally looking pretty human, if one were to ignore the entire slime part. She was wearing blue clothing, in a human fashion, with a uniform like shirt, and skirt, though it seemed to be made from a special material. The most important part of her though seemed to be the red, crystal like part right over her chest. Another difference between the three was in their armbands - each was wearing one, but while the first two were wearing a crimson one with the Golden Star and Stars and the word KRIEGSFLOTTE written in a few different, hers was light blue, with the same emblem but with two simple letters instead - AA.

They didn't seem to be too intimidated by the photographers or the crowd in the distance, although they stopped for a brief moment - perhaps trying to see if those were humans or not. Regardless, they entered the car was offered to them, and didn't seem to be surprised by it lacking a driver. The captain did seem to be rather delighted by the lack of an engine sound, starting to talk with her subordinate about the advantages of electrical engines, with the man simply listening, nodding, and smiling. Their car not being escorted was somewhat of a breach of protocol - Colonial standard procedures would have had a delegation meeting the foreigners at the space port and a guard of honor escorting them to the place of the meeting, something that the diplomat seemed to have taken into account as she started to quickly write something on a holographic pad, although - it lacked any kind of connectivity and was written in a language that the Acruani would most certainly not know. All three of them though, despite doing their things, carefully looked at any civilians they could see from their car - with the same question - were they humans?

They got out of the car once they arrived at the building, where a woman and a man in a suit were waiting for them. They didn't seem to take into account the tasers at their belts - probably because the two officers clearly had pistols at theirs, instead they smiled as they stopped in front of them.

"Greetings!", the captain spoke, as both she and her lieutenant performed the traditional military salute of the Colonial military, with one of their hands behind their backs and with the other one curled in fists, as if holding imaginary blades that were piercing their chests. Of course, there was a small, almost subtle difference - the lieutenant was holding it over where the heart of a human would be, while the captain's was a little more centered. Regardless, the diplomat simply lightly bowed her head. "I am Adreath Nyria, a Star Captain of the Fleet of War of the Federated Colonies and the commander of the K.M.S. Astraler Frieden. This is my subordinate, Lieutenant Achere Eticho, and this is Celrodis Delerac, a diplomat from the Federal Colonial Foreign Office. It is a pleasure to meet you."

 

[Archene]

View attachment 755814
K.M.S. Astraler Frieden (AF-341A), Astral Klasse Panzerschiff
C.M.S. Astral Peace (AF-341A), Astral Class Pocket Battleship

Ostara Projekt, Mission 31ABBD
Project Ostara, Mission 31ABBD
Unknown System

Not before long, a small transport ship left one of the hidden hangars along the pocket battleship's bow, escorted, as per standard procedure, by two fighters, probably part of the small fighter squadron that even older Colonial ships of the line carried around. The Astraler Frieden itself remained in position, with its defensive batteries prepared, just in case. It was not one of the cutting-edge new battleships of the Kriegsflotte, and it was often mocked by the captains of larger ships of the line - even the name of its ship type, Panzerschiff/Armored Battleship was most often replaced with the designation of Westentaschenschlachtschiff - a vest pocket battleship, hence, the Galactic Standard name of Pocket Battleship. But even then, it was certainly not something that this Acruani could just ignore. For a negotiation to be successfully peaceful, both sides had to believe that a failure in negotiations should be avoided at all cost - a cynical perspective, perhaps, but one that both the Kriegsflotte and the Auswärtiges Amt had learned during the old Wars of Secession.

The ship followed the path sent to the Astraler Frieden by the Acruani, approaching the planet. Of course, the Colonials were not only recording everything that was happening, but both the battleship and the transport ship continued to use all their sensors to gain as much data as possible - it wasn't a diplomatic discourtesy, it was just common, galactically-recognized sense. Obviously, they were very interested in what exactly had happened to the inhabitants of the planet, this was the main objective of Project Ostara. Well, not specifically what had happened to colony 31AAB, but what had happened to many of the former HCA colonies that had lost contact with the rest of the civilized galaxy during the Long Night.

As they reached the orbit, the two escort fighter planes turned around. Of course, like most Colonial fighters, they were able of atmospheric flight - but sending escort ships into a planet's atmosphere might be perceived as an insult. After all, what respectable space-faring power couldn't control and guard its own planets? The shuttle descended smoothly through the atmosphere and landed on the indicated spaceport. As soon as it touched ground of course, it started to gather as much data as it could on its surroundings. The city didn't seem to be radically different from the human style of building at least. As the ship's doors opened, three persons got out. The first was of course, the Sternenkapitän, a humanoid female with white-greenish skin, leaves-like hair and viridian eyes. Next to her, in the same blue-crimson military uniform was the human Kapitänleutnant , blond haired and golden eyed. The third member of the group was however a little stranger. It was not a human, even if it had a female humanoid form. The best way to describe it would be as a blue-yellow, gelatinous slime-like mass, taking the form of something that looked like a human woman. Mostly blue, with the exception of a yellow part that kinda looked like hair, with green eyes, generally looking pretty human, if one were to ignore the entire slime part. She was wearing blue clothing, in a human fashion, with a uniform like shirt, and skirt, though it seemed to be made from a special material. The most important part of her though seemed to be the red, crystal like part right over her chest. Another difference between the three was in their armbands - each was wearing one, but while the first two were wearing a crimson one with the Golden Star and Stars and the word KRIEGSFLOTTE written in a few different, hers was light blue, with the same emblem but with two simple letters instead - AA.

They didn't seem to be too intimidated by the photographers or the crowd in the distance, although they stopped for a brief moment - perhaps trying to see if those were humans or not. Regardless, they entered the car was offered to them, and didn't seem to be surprised by it lacking a driver. The captain did seem to be rather delighted by the lack of an engine sound, starting to talk with her subordinate about the advantages of electrical engines, with the man simply listening, nodding, and smiling. Their car not being escorted was somewhat of a breach of protocol - Colonial standard procedures would have had a delegation meeting the foreigners at the space port and a guard of honor escorting them to the place of the meeting, something that the diplomat seemed to have taken into account as she started to quickly write something on a holographic pad, although - it lacked any kind of connectivity and was written in a language that the Acruani would most certainly not know. All three of them though, despite doing their things, carefully looked at any civilians they could see from their car - with the same question - were they humans?

They got out of the car once they arrived at the building, where a woman and a man in a suit were waiting for them. They didn't seem to take into account the tasers at their belts - probably because the two officers clearly had pistols at theirs, instead they smiled as they stopped in front of them.

"Greetings!", the captain spoke, as both she and her lieutenant performed the traditional military salute of the Colonial military, with one of their hands behind their backs and with the other one curled in fists, as if holding imaginary blades that were piercing their chests. Of course, there was a small, almost subtle difference - the lieutenant was holding it over where the heart of a human would be, while the captain's was a little more centered. Regardless, the diplomat simply lightly bowed her head. "I am Adreath Nyria, a Star Captain of the Fleet of War of the Federated Colonies and the commander of the K.M.S. Astraler Frieden. This is my subordinate, Lieutenant Achere Eticho, and this is Celrodis Delerac, a diplomat from the Federal Colonial Foreign Office. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Exarion-1 System, Exarion Planet, Capital CIty
The planet's atmosphere seemed extremely Earth-like to the point where terraforming must have been done actively. If there is still data from the colony in the past, such fact would become much clearer. Though nothing too extreme, the planet just used to be hotter than it is. Most space-stations seemed to only have shielding and minor laser defenses, given how easy those were to spot and how small the lasers were, it is simple to surmise that it is likely to just use to deal with debris when necessary or possibly point-defense. The shuttles moving seemed mostly to be carrying people though there were cases were they seemed to be carrying cargo. It seemed just the the orbit of a small trade hub.

There was, however, a bigger one that was not accepting any shuttle from the planet itself, instead recieving bigger cargo ships from the systems asteroid belt. The station was almost 10 kilometers from top to bottom and almost 4 kilometers wide in a somewhat oval shape. sensors couldn't see beyond its outter layer which was consisted of armor and weapon arrays. If the other stations were civilian ones, this one certainly had military use. If it was a station, which given the presence, size and position of its thrusters was not a certainty.

It isn't that the city didn't differ from human style. This city seemed to be mostly made for humans or similarly sized races. The city surface seemed in sensors as it did with visuals, but the underground was another story. There seemed to be a whole city beneath it and a layer beneath it a metro connecting everything like a spiderweb. Beyond the city itself there was considerable grassy area and the city shape was so close to a perfect square that it is hard to say that this wasn't a planned city. Though the closer to its center the slightly older the buildings would be despite the similar style. Kilometers away there seemed to be other cities of smaller size, all of them connected by a network of highways above ground, and underground tunnels big enough for automobile and train trafic. One thing that was clear though is that in between the cities, there were either clusters of solar panels or wind turbines, likely the main source of energy generation of the locals.

Whether the reporters or the civilians standing away from the delegation, they seemed to be human for the most part save for odd hair colors such as orange and purple that can easily be explained as a social trend though if a careful look was taken, it'd be possible to infer that those people were not pure humans. The non-humans, which still composed a good 30% of the the people seem, were only humanoids some beefier than humans and other thinner. Regarding individual races, there seemed to be no majority. Some races seemed to have only a single member among the people seen, others a few, regardless it'd be hard to say that any race among the non-humans had a majority.

"Greetings," the business woman replied with a polite nod and a smile, "I'm Elandra d'Graniov, Planetary Minister of External Affairs of Exarion, currently in charge of commerce and diplomacy." She looks at the group with a warm smile, "I'll be leading you to the meeting room where we may see a few others. Given the descentralized nature of the government, most of them could not come to this meeting in person, however, we will have the Acruani Overseer of this system staying with us throughout the meeting, in case you have any questions towards Acruan at large." With that the businesswoman led them inside, the men with tasers just stood by the doors as if nothing had happened, making no mention towards the guns being brought or anything similar.

The interior of the building had a tall ceiling corridor with the doors of the room way bigger than what would be necessary for a human, going over 2.5m and double doors as wide as 2 meeters. The glass windows many rooms could been seen inside. A number of them seemed to just be office rooms with small groups of people working in a variety of projects. There were some meeting rooms with holographic display in the center with dozens of people working along as well. The holograms seemed mostly planetary or of some part of the system. Most data was numerical, but what little could be read was likely in a language unknown to Colonials. Strangely, or maybe not so, there were several rooms whose windows were just opaque. Some seemed to have its lights on others seemed to have its lights off, but not much could be gleamed from such windows.

Eventually, the group would be led into a meeting room with opaque glass windows. The room wasn't too large though it gave ample walking space between the leather-like chairs and its steel walls. In the center of the room, there was a circular table (made of steel) with a round hole in its center. Though as one got close to the table, it'd be clear that there was some sort of glass or transparent material ocupying the center of the table from the ground to the ceiling. The ceiling also had a number of black circles above the chairs.

Elandra sat in one of the chairs before the circle above her chair faintly lit up, "Please, take a seat." She briefly pointed up, "Those up there are projectors so we can also see the other participants clearly." Soon after, two lights besides her brightly lit up two faint figures appeared sitting on the chairs besides her. While both holograms appeared rather blurry after a few seconds the images congealed properly, while they were still somewhat transparent, it was still easy enough to see features.

The one sitting to the left of Elandra was a buff humanoid in white military uniform with details reminiscent of military uniforms before the Long Night. He was around two meters with long yellowish hair and triangular fluffy ears on top of his head. Not long after his image became clear, he spoke, "I'm Rear Admiral Jermiyah Warrenberg, resposible the security of Exarion's System." There was a bald man in his sixties wearing a suit sitting on the right side of Elandra who soon replied, "I'm Joseph Rudd, the Minister of Instructure and Development of this planet. Sorry for not being able to be present in this meeting, I'm currently off-system and transite would likely take a few days." He smiled, "In case you haven't heard yet, Welcome to Exarion. I hope you've been enjoying your visit though I think you still haven't gotten a proper tour yet."

The crystal in the center of the table glowed with a faint blue light before a fist sized blue sphere started floated around 1.5 meters from the ground, "Lastly, I am Exarion. The Acruani overseeing this system currently. If you have any questions, feel free to ask." Its voice sounded rather, human, save for the uncanning feeling that every pause in between sentences had the exact same duration.

 

[Thrace]

K.M.S. Astraler Frieden (AF-341A), Astral Klasse Panzerschiff
C.M.S. Astral Peace (AF-341A), Astral Class Pocket Battleship

Ostara Projekt, Mission 31ABBD
Project Ostara, Mission 31ABBD
Unknown System

"Of course", the Colonial Star Captain answered immediately. "Please, lead the way." The three delegates were all calmly smiling, not giving any clue about how anything around them might have impacted them, but anyone with at least a cursory knowledge of the Colonies would have expected at least a little bit of disappointment. A centralized government, a strict hierarchy, and a codified system of rules and expected behavior from functionaries - these were all concepts that the Colonies had to adopt during their struggle for freedom and survival. Of course, Colonial administration was not what it had once been, and there were many fair criticisms that even the most loyal of citizens could make.. but the notion that a planetary government could be decentralized, or that a meeting with foreign dignitaries from a nation that they had never made contact with would not be important enough for members of said government to try to at least try to come to the meeting in person was somewhat disappointing. The idea of an overseer and perhaps finding out a bit more about how the government of this planet were perhaps a little more interesting, as was the prospect of finding out more things about these "Acruani".

The building was pretty normal, all things considered. Large doors and tall ceilings were to be expected in multiracial societies, but the fact that the Colonies had not yet seen any races that would have necessarily needed such sizes was interesting, to say the least. The people around the building were also not particularly odd, so the Colonial delegates were able to follow their guide without looking as if they were inspecting everything around them. The holographic displays that showed the system and data were a little more interesting, but the data there was not in a language known to either of them, something to think about later on. The opaque windowed rooms were also mildly interesting, but this was of course a diplomatic meeting, not at an attempt at espionage.

They eventually reached the meeting room that had been selected for them, and once again, nothing particularly out of the ordinary was present there. Steel table, leather chairs. The Colonies liked their diplomatic conference rooms to be a bit more...imposing, with solid wood and decorations, but this was after all just a planet in a random system - not a capital. As Elandra told them to sit down, they immediately did it, with the lieutenant awarding the respect required by the higher rank of the other two and helping them with their chairs before sitting down himself. The Star Captain merely nodded as Elandra explained the use of holograms - nothing particularly different here, as holographic displays were of course also extensively used by Colonials - even if an older vessel like the Astraler Frieden perhaps had less such displays than the more modern Hegemon class. Colonials usually tried to conceal the projectors themselves in the background instead of featuring them prominently like that, but it was not a big difference.

Two humanoid holograms then appeared, introducing themselves, and then the surprise of the meeting - a floating blue sphere that identified itself as an Acruani.

The Star Captain was the first of the Colonials to reply. "It is of course, a pleasure to meet you all. And we have of course been enjoying our visit so far, even if we have only seen a minuscule part of Exarion", she answered, still smiling. "Since we haven't been introduced yet, only to the Planetary Minister of External Affairs, I am Adreath Nyria, a Star Captain of the War Fleet of the Sovereign Colonies and the commander of the military exploration vessel, the K.M.S. Astraler Frieden. Next to me are my subordinate, Lieutenant Achere Eticho, and then Celrodis Delerac, a diplomat from the Federal Colonial Foreign Office, attached to our mission." Promptly getting the introductions out of way, she remained silent, letting the diplomat take over. "In the name of the government and peoples of the Sovereign Colonies, I of course have to begin with the notion that we come in peace. The Sovereign Colonies are firm believers in the concept of interstellar diplomacy, and we try to guide our actions by respecting and encouraging the sovereignty of other state entities. I will of course let the Star Captain detail the purpose of our presence here."

Adreath remained quiet for a brief moment, as if she was organizing her thoughts. Surprisingly enough, the Colonials had not yet asked any questions. "Our mission is strictly an exploration one. We have strong reasons to believe that this system and perhaps even this planet have at some point been a colony of a state entity known as the Human Colonial Alliance, the nation from which the Sovereign Colonies have gained their independence. This colony, among others, lost contact with the Alliance in the events preceding its eventual downfall, and most of the data that we had about it and its location was lost until relatively recently. We were sent here in order to see if the colony still existed and to make contact with it if it still did, as colonies that willingly or not, have the same origin." And the diplomat quickly took over. "We are of course, very pleased to see that the system seems to be inhabited by a thriving community. Peace and prosperity are what we wish upon all sovereign entities in the entire galaxy. But for our own curiosity and in order to accomplish the objectives of our exploration mission, we would like to ask if Exarion has anything to do with Colony 31ABBD. And of course, since the Acruani are a race that we have never entered into contact with, we must announce our willingness to find out about you and your nation. We will likewise be more than happy to share information about ourselves and about our nation."