Missions of the Black Orchid

[Nelle Kozera]

“Took her sweet time didn’t she…” Andy said looking at that grid that they had been building. “Shut it up there…” Tiamat said as she was coming on the bridge. In the time between their arrival in the system in the arrival of the orchid, they had gone about exploring the system. When the orchid had took up orbit the Novastorm had been on the surface of the moon. They were located in a creator on the surface of the moon. “Well, well, well…” Tiamat’s voice came over the radio. “I guess the welcoming crew has arrived…” As she said this, the red striped grey hull of the Novastorm was lifting off the surface of the moon move at well beyond gravitational escape speeds. The captain of the vessel said nothing till the Novastorm was in parallel orbit with the orchid.

“So what is occasion?” The captain broadcasted on a wide band. “I didn’t think I would see you again after leaving the leviathan of a ship back there. Really captain is a ship of that size necessary? The largest vessel my people ever built was twenty four Kilometers long and that is easily five times as large. Only a star base or a dry dock is bigger than that thing…and personally I don’t even want to think of the dry dock for that thing…” She said of the com line, her voice held the slightest bit of impatience.

[Slate]

OOC: Trinity is on the transport, and won't be able to receive a video message.

[Vegas]

Vegas spun on his heel, less than ten feet from the barracks when he heard his name over the PA. Well, so much for the lounge, the husky thought to himself as he jogged down the corridor, absently checking that his sidearm was still on his thigh.

--------------------------------------

Vegas stepped through the doorway of the transport, just short enough that he could stand up straight in the bay. "Sagrasian reporting, ma'am." He gave Trinity a quick salute before taking a seat, towards the front of the craft. He strapped in, running a hand through his hair before relaxing into the seat, which was quite a feat considering how the seats were designed.

[Nelle Kozera]

OOC: Trinity is on the transport, and won't be able to receive a video message.

OOC: She doesn't know that.

[OdinAshcroft]

(Ooc: Well its good to see this RP has been renewed for another season...er...continued I mean. Yeah, thats what I mean)

As the members of the ships "hierarchy", the "visiting party", and the events unfolding farther out in the galaxy, the lounge was being occupied, post-Whisper...however...

The unlucky crewman looked less the pleased at his current duty as the out of work specialist known as Odin Ashcroft, snout deep into a waste recepticle, expelling the otherwise liquid nourishment he'd enjoyed less than an hour before. Aparently, experiencing and seeing the sensation that was Whisper transport, was NOT best advised for those not used to either one at once, much less at the same time. The anthro wolf attempts a weak apology...but goes into another set of dry heaves, his snout dipping back into the bin, leaving the poor, responsible crewman to sigh and rub his temples. It felt like 40 days had passed since they went out of the Whisper...a thought that made the crewman thinking that was an oddly specific number to use...

[macrorufus]

Huo heard the message over the comes and made his way to the transport deck. Although he could tell from Trinity's call that there were going to be jurisdictional problems in the future. He sighed as he ran over. No time to concern himself with that.

[Nelle Kozera]

OOC: I hope this isn't going to go into a two month coma again :V

[Slate]

OOC: Sorry for lack of posting, work of all kinds and a few other things has kept me pretty busy, but I still could have made room to post >,=,>

IC: There was a response to Tiamat's message, but it wasn't Trinity's voice that came over the radio. Though it was still a female voice, it spoke in whispers that were barely audible. What could be heard sounded like obscure references to things that have happened since the boarding of the derelict ship just a few hours ago, and many other calculations that seemed like complete gibberish. Even this, however was a fraction of what one could make out of the whispering voice, as the rest seemed to be in another language all together. This only lasted for about a minute before it went to static.

Once everyone was on board the transport craft, Trinity gave the order to leave. The sound of the vector engine's whirred and pulsed as it hovered a few feet off of the hangar bay floor. The large doors on one side began to open, though the shields prevented the air from escaping. The transport craft exited the Black Orchid, and began it's decent into the moon's atmosphere.

"Alright boys, I want this to go down smoothly. Keep your guard up, but don't be the aggressor should something happen. And don't forget who's Captain here." While those few words were addressed to the three, that last bit was more for Kensyr and Huo.

"Touching down in two. One of the only craters on this rock." Said one of the pilots.
Good, Trinity thought, away from any of the colonies and mining operations. Before it was terraformed, this moon was used for weapons testing from orbit. While it's only been attacked once by the Selkis since then, the last time a ship tested it's weapons on this moon was nearly 100 years ago.

The transport landed roughly 30 meters away from Tiamat's group. However, it only stirred the wind and dust as much as an ordinary house fan would if put in the transport's place. The doors opened, and Trinity stepped out first, followed by Kensyr.

[macrorufus]

Huo nodded to affirm the Captain's orders. He'd let her win this 'battle' and save his demands for when something that did pertain to FSI occurred. He checked his weapons, which consisted of his strapped on switchblade, and a small crossbow-device. He pointedly ignored any looks that the others might give him for his weapons. FSI was more than just simple information grabbing. Sometimes one had to be.... subtle.
The crossbow wasn't a crossbow in the literal sense, as the centre line where the bolts were placed were lined by strong electromagnets. It was more akin to a magnetic rail, with the added benefit of silence.

[Nelle Kozera]

OOC: (For role play smoothness lets say the Novastorm never left the surface...)

One of the larger Cargo bays on the Novastorm opened. The party that landed, landed parallel to the Novastorm as such they were looking into the cargo bay as it opened. To them it would have appeared that the doors of the cargo bay of the Novastorm seemed normal enough. The inside was different though. The motors that opened the doors seemed more like muscles and bone covered in bio-synthetic plastic than any kind of motorized system that would be used in any normal sense. A ramp was lowered Tiamat stood at the apex of the ramp looking into the ship. Behind her, parts of the exposed superstructure of the ship seemed more bone like than metal. Tiamat was listening to the idle chatter that had filled her com lines sense she had opened it, it was in a language she had never heard before but Paschendale was putting it through a brutal translation algorithm, though she didn’t expect him to make head way with it for at least a few moments.

The Cheetah/Dragon hybrid had an impatient look about her, while she still had the apparent figure of a dragon her coloration was drastically different yellow scales with near luminescent silver spots covering her in random fashion. This included a pair of wings which she kept tucked behind her for the moment; it seemed to her that the group that was coming equaled her entire crew on board. Well, one less than her entire crew if Paschendale could be counted as a crew member but she was unsure how they would react to an AI, more so if they learned if it was modeled after her father.

“Do you wish for me to accompany you?” A course voice said to her via her Psionic implants. “No, I don’t need them to see a living weapon, they are going to see enough of our bio technology just walking around this ship, it might be best if you shadow the group while they are on board in case they try to pull something…” She responded. “As you wish…” The voice was gone there after, and her attention returned to the approaching group…

[إبن حلال]

OOC: I will make this the 100th post, because I need to do something on this forum worth noting!

[Slate]

((OOC: Oh you and your 100th post heisting =P ))

Trinity's eyes widened somewhat, as she has never seen biotechnology up close, or on this scale. Kensyr, however, seemed less impressed, and he was the first to speak.
"Hmm... I thought the Jarook'tsai were the only civilization to use organic technology."
"They aren't from here, and as such most likely don't know who they are." Trinity said, quickly switching her focus back away from the ship. The larger dragon gave her a quick glare, but she just ignored it.

Trinity put two fingers to her forehead, and then moved her hand in a downward arc ending with it being once again relaxed at her side. "I am Captain Trinity Gensaniti. Finally, we meet face to face. May we come aboard?" she greeted. However, the question was more of a formality than anything.

[macrorufus]

Huo's face took on a politely curious mask. Truly they had technology that was similar to that of the Jarook'Tsai. Although, the strangers from the Novastorm clearly were not insects. Well this ship was interesting, and it certainly would be of interest to FSI. For that reason, Huo made a show of shouldering his crossbow on its strap, as if he weren't worried about threats. This did not change the reassuring weight of his knife strapped to his thigh. He watched the other Captain with interest.

[Nelle Kozera]

Tiamat just crossed her arms as she looked at the group. “Sure, I have a place for this meeting set up for the moment on board, and don’t touch anything, you don’t know if it will bite…” Tiamat said turning to walk to one of the doors that lead into the cargo bay. They opened with the sound of hidden muscles moving against one another, even though it was barely audible. If they had looked around there would have had seen ceiling mounted turrets in the cargo bays, each seemed more like an anti vehicle weapon to repel boarding craft but could be turned on the crew if the need was there. Though no more where visible after the cargo bay, the inside of the ship itself was hybrid between organic bio-technology and inorganic cybernetics. The walls of the vessel seemed to be thick black connective tissues with the floors comprised of a metal of the same obsidian color giving the internal spaces of the vessel a bleak gothic monochrome feel to it, the lights seemed to be a bio- luminescent in nature give the halls a deep black and white contrast.

“In here…” She said walking into the room. Inside the room was similar in color to the halls but with monitors that seemed to be totally organic in nature right down to the bundles of white neural fibers that seemed to be covered in a bio synthetic covering. There was a large table positioned in the room, it was comprised of a hard dense wood similar to that of oak. It was painted white give a sharp contrast to the surrounding room. Around the table where several chairs on wheel, the where covered in reptilian leather, weather it was real or not was unknown at the moment. In three of those chair sat three people. One was an Otter, and the person that had more often made communications and was also the engineer. One was a German Sheppard, and lastly there was a jackal though his reason for being on the ship had yet to be explained though he had the symbol of a Black Sun on his lab coat with a delta around the sun.

Tiamat took a seat between the jackal and the German Sheppard. “Well are you going to stand there or take a seat?”

[Slate]

Kensyr looked at Trinity, and gave a quick nod in the direction of the jackal.
"I think we'll stand for now." said Trinity. Kensyr stood next to her. While the demeanor of the two dragons was calm, they appeared to be on guard.
"First question, and you had better have a good explanation." Trinity pointed a clawed finger at the jackal. "Why does he bear that symbol!?"

[Nelle Kozera]

Weather it was planed, it just plain coincidence they as group blinked and as a group said. "What?" Before they looked at the Jackal lab coat. It was now the jackal spoke, "Um it signifies i'm the head medical practitioner on this vessel." He said simply and Tiamat nodded and then spoke, "He's hear because he wanted to meet the crew of your vessel if that was your next question..." She said leaning back for the moment. "What has you all in fuss? You act as if that symbol represents someone eats children..." It was the German Sheppard that spoke which caused other three of them to look at him with odd looks. "Jason...don't open your muzzle again for the rest of this meeting..."

[Slate]

"Selkis riv na'am..." said Kensyr, his tone and expression very aggravated.
"A Black Sun is a forbidden symbol. Synonymous with the fallen god Aven, and his empire of abominations." Trinity explained. She stomped one foot forward and sliced her right hand through the air. "If you want your stay here to be peaceful, I HIGHLY suggest destroying anything bearing that mark!"
"I will NOT suffer this conversation while it is present!" Kensyr interjected.
"Yes, you will." ordered Trinity, crossing her arms and relaxing to her previous demeanor.
"HMMPH..." snorted the larger grey dragon, a slight puff of smoke billowing out of his nostrils.

[macrorufus]

Huo gripped his crossbow tighter in his fist. He let out a slow breath. This could go very wrong, very fast.
It is unlikely they are related to the Selkis, else we'd have seen such technology on their ships. And now, we are in a position where there are no longer any real comprimise. On board an alien vessel, in their territory. I don't fancy my odds.
The FSI agent focused his eyes on the jackal, cooly regarding him, as he did so he consciously willed himself to relax, teasing out the tension. This jackal wished to find out more on them, well he wanted the same from these aliens. Though Huo had some new found respect for Trinity, who seemed to be holding her demeanor better than Kensyr. Although demends phrased as suggestions were still demands.

"There's goes the good-will." Huo remarked idly, a hand in his pocket. While he may have looked relaxed to a regular observer, he was in truth ready to spring. His pocket had a hole at the bottom which let him reach for the knife belted against his thigh.
Well, despite FSI's interest, there's nothing he could do if Trinity decided to declare war. For all his words, he moved closer to Trinity, signalling his support.

[Nelle Kozera]

‘You know it would be easier to use a much more direct method, a sweep would get all the information we need…’ Tiamat, if anyone looked at her face would have seemed distant as if she was listening to some else via a radio or some other communication device, that or concerned with her own thoughts on how this going.

‘No, we don’t need to do that, and besides, we don’t have the equipment for them to survive something like that, it’s not like we want to make them enemies.’

‘You know very well how I feel about this, we should had turned around and headed home…’

‘And you know what we actually did and what is going to happen so I suggest you be quite, you’re not dealing with a room full of people that don’t like the symbol for our medical core…’

It was silent in her head again and she sighed for the moment looking back at her guests which were starting to wear away at her nerves. “Felix…” The jackal looked at her, “How much medical equipment has the Black Suns emblem on it?” She asked, and he thought it over, “Most of it, the Black Sun corporation plasters a lot of their products with the logo…” He shrugged, he pointed the black sun on the lab coat, and under the black sun was a caption that read. Black Sun Pharmaceuticals.

“Not that I can influence that, or if it has something to do with their fallen deity.” He said, “You think we can avoid bringing theology into this discussion? It gets us nowhere, we had no idea that was an offensive symbol, and personally there is nothing we can about seeing as while has to do with a taboo here, it’s the symbol for our not only our medical provider but it’s the emblem for the entire medical core from our galaxy.” She said “Now, we may be able to dilute its presence in the future, but it can’t go away…” Was what she said, “Though we can limit its presence to this vessel…”

She was very glad that her ship was built by a different company than black sun. As their symbol was what was shown on the exterior of the vessel and in the room. Thought It had been built by Sky Dragon innovations and therefore the symbol for on the exterior of the vessel and on the table it was an infinity symbol with a western dragon flying in a circle around the infinity, though the meaning of it was lost on many that looked upon it. The otter pointed to the symbol on the table, “That one has any bad omen we should know about?” The otter asked, “It’s the one from the Novastorms Manufacturer.”

[Slate]

"UNACCEPTABLE!" Kensyr yelled, and reached for the hilt of the oddly shaped rod on his back. Trinity, however, grabbed his wrist before he could. The larger dragon's eyes went wide, and every muscle in his body went tense. Trinity, surprised, let go of him and he collapsed to the floor, unconscious. She looked at him on the floor, and then at her hand. She couldn't figure out what just happened, but it would have to wait.
"Huo, make sure he's alright." she ordered before turning her attention back to the others. "While I still don't approve of the presence of that symbol, it is something that we'll have to deal with later. For the moment, it would probably be best if you asked questions about where you are." She paused and took a seat at the table. "This way we might be able to better understand each other, and hopefully avoid further conflict."

[Nelle Kozera]

(I think we should wait for Huo before i post...)

[macrorufus]

Huo rushed over to Kensyr and examined him quickly. His first glance showed burns on the dragon's hand, while his head lolled unconsciously. Huo moved over to the dragon, noting his breathing nodded, then felt his pulse. The fennec nodded. It looked like an electrocution. He'd have to check the damage. He turned to his pocket and brought out the standard holo-scanner. He moved the device over Kensyr's heart, lungs and brain, nodding at the displays, adjusting them to display the organs in question. He then switched the display to the nervous system and starting from Kensyr's hand ran it over to his brain, slowly so that he could take in the information. Satisfied at seeing the default orange, and no red text he put it away.
Huo walked over to the Captain, and resisted the urge to openly berate this dragon. That would not set a good example to the other aliens. Efficiency, unity, and strength was needed. Despite the fact that Trinity seemed to be developing super powers, he would not gape like some planet-locked who'd never seen the stars.
"Captain, Kensyr is fortunate, he will recover quickly. He has recieved a macroshock from you. It appears that your body is manifesting an ability to discharge currents of electricity."
Huo reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of rubber gloves.
"You may use my research gloves so that you do not accidently discharge. I will collect my gloves from you back aboard."
Huo did not mention the unsaid, he left that to be read by Trinity from his choice of words, that Kensyr could have died, and that he would wish to speak with the Captain, privately.

[Nelle Kozera]

None of the crew seemed impressed or even phased by had happened, genetic engineering of abilities such as the ones as the dragon just displayed had been common, thought that one was unheard of. “Well, I want have to deal with his attitude…” Tiamat said giving the dragon that fell a disgusted look for the moment before looking back at Trinity, she readjusted her wings before speaking. “Ok, start with Black Sun amen thing, seeing as your friend there threw a fit over it.” He said motioning to Kensyr. “And abominations? You mean like extremes genetic engineering?”

[Slate]

Trinity took Huo's gloves, and slipped them over the fingerless cloth ones she was wearing.
"Take Kensyr back to the shuttle. I'll join you shortly." she said quietly, though not necessarily trying to be discrete. "I'll exchange a few questions, but I'm afraid I'll have to cut this meeting short." Trinity explained, turning her attention back to the group. "Now, there has been a war going on in this galaxy for just under two centuries. You remember that skirmish don't you? Their race is known as the Selkis, however, they are also known as 'Nal Cula Bel'. A literal translation is 'Dark Star Army', but it is more accurate to translate it to 'Empire of the Black Sun'. Now, for the most part, they are a draconic race, bearing close genetic similarities to our mutually unconscious 'friend'. But he didn't call them abominations without reason. Their deity, Aven, imbues some of them with large amounts of power. As a race, they are already full of hate, and their goal is nothing short of galactic genocide, but the ones with power... They stop just short of mindless. And that is what makes them dangerous. The other problem is that they cannot be killed by conventional means. When a ship is unfortunate enough to encounter one, they are to make an emergency Whisper. If a planet is invaded by one, a team isn't sent to rescue survivors, because there are none." The dragoness explained, though nothing could properly translate the gravity of the Selkis threat.

"Now for my question. Obviously your technology is... unique." Trinity paused a moment. "However, based on the skeleton crew, and lack of knowledge of where you are, I'm guessing this trip and ship was an experiment, most likely classified. So, I'll steer away from that topic... for now. Instead, I'll just ask you to tell me a bit about yourselves." Wether it was intended or not, Trinity has turned this meeting into a bit of a cultural exchange.

[macrorufus]

Huo nodded, saying nary a word to the aliens. Though he loathed missing out on the information Trinity would recieve directly from them, he made a note to himself to inform FSI that they would require a full debrief from the Captain. The fennec uttered a muted curse when he hefted the larger dragon up, and half dragged, half carried the dragon back to the shuttle. Though, as soon as he left eyesight and earshot range, he quickly took out his bio-scanner and began recording brief scans of the ship. He was unsure what good the information would do, but that was for FSI biologists. He also discretely placed a few micro-beads around, for recording purposes. He also left one just outside the room, and tuned his communication gear to it, upping the gain till he could hear the room with Trinity in. This would have to do. He also made pains to make a few of his bugs visible, not obviously so, but in a position to be found if one were looking for them. He also left a single micro-bead on the floor of the ship corridor as if he'd dropped it.

Having done so, he resumed bringing Kensyr round to the shuttle. He toyed with the idea of trying a scan of the weapons on the roof of the bay, but decided that he didn't know what security protocols the weapons ran by, he satisfied himself with taking a standard image recording from a small hand-held imager. He'd need to organise these later. Taking Kensyr aboard the shuttle, he strapped the larger dragon in, in case he awoke and decided to take it into his hand to be ... difficult.

"You really had a surprise there didn't you?" Huo smirked as he inquired the unconscious dragon. Not that he expected a response. Now he could determine much from their characters.
A military crew would probably expect bugs and find them all. A science crew might detect the obvious ones, and leave the rest. Civilian crew would leave them alone. This way he could perhaps determine the roles of this ship's crew. He hoped they would find his obvious spying equipment, as what they did with them would prove highly revealing.
If they were truly innocent, then they'd hand back his single bead he'd dropped. If they were shifty they'd remove them all, and if they wanted to prove innocence they'd leave his bugs as they were. Huo grinned. A good way to test the new aliens' intentions.

[Nelle Kozera]

"Hmm...where to start...?" She asked her self out loud. "I myself am more or less the person with wanderlust, i'm out here simply because i can be, and these are a few guys that are the same in that regard though each one of us, expect for him..." She pointed to the jackal, "Has at least a decade of military experience..." She pointed at her self and the German Shepard, "While he might be rude, me and him served on a Jump carrier called the Nostalgia For Infinity of which I later became the commanding officer off, so between me and him we have been in the naval forces of the GSA nearly a century." The otter spoke up he seemed the most mild mannered of the group so far. "I worked as a conscripted engineer on a different vessel the Timeless Undiscovery a GSA battlecrusier for about a decade when I left the military I was offered a small post on this vessel..." He shrugged feeling that he had given enough information for the moment. "I on the other hand..." The Jackal spoke up, "Was the head surgeon at the New Copenhagen teaching hospital on Pandemonium, which was funded by Black Sun and SDI..." he returned to silence.

"So I hope we have stated you interest in that regard, tell me is your entire government based on theology?" At her mention of this the others looked concerned as if they had buckets of bad blood between a former theocratic nation before...

[Slate]

"Interesting." Trinity said, interlocking he fingers and setting them on the table. "As far as our government..." she paused a moment. "It would not be inaccurate to say that." The dragoness sighed, preparing for another somewhat lengthy explanation.

"To put it simply, this galaxy is separated between three civilizations. The Empire of the Black Sun, the Jarook'tsai, and the United Factions. We don't know much about the Selkis' structure of government, except that the fallen god Aven is at the top. The Jarook'tsai are our allies, as the Selkis are a mutual threat. The enemy of my enemy, so to speak. They are a race of insectoids that have a hive-mind system. And then there is us, the United Factions. There are three Factions in the U.F. And while each planet and or star system might run itself differently, they are all governed the same way. At the very top of each faction sits one Asteran god. The faction we are in right now is the faction of Tyngvona (Tine-ga-fuana). Under the gods sits a grand council, and then the Faction Guard. The Faction Guard is the main military arm of the gods and the council. The highest rank of the Faction Guard is that of First Class. There are ten per faction, and I am number four for this one. While we are not generals, our orders override the orders of others... in most cases. You see, we get our orders from the council, and sometimes directly from the gods of our respective faction. There is one other kind of guard, the Arken Guard. Our 'friend' is one of that order. They have one rank, and there are only about fifty per faction. They are zealots in the purest form of the word, who report solely to the god of their faction.... this has served as ground for jurisdictional issues with ones such as myself. When this happens, a compromise is usually made that ensures both our goals are met... eventually." Trinity explained, pausing for a moment before she continued. "Now as far as the gods.... Do NOT make the mistake of thinking we take our orders from some statue in an elaborate temple. Honestly, I could care less if that was the case. All I know is they are very real, and VERY powerful." Trinity stood up from the chair. "It's hard to explain until you see one for yourself." she said as she started walking out. Trinity stopped when she reached the entrance of the room, and turned around. "If we're unlucky, we'll come across a Selkis abomination.... If we're fortunate, the god of this Faction will be there to save us."

[macrorufus]

Huo swore as Trinity suddenly spoke near the doorway, and yanked his listening piece off his ear, as his microbead picked up Trinity's boosted voice. He cranked down the volumne hurriedly and shook his head, before re-inserting the earpiece. He took a seat in the shuttle, and waited for his Captain. Faction Guard or not, he'd have a word with Kensyr. His actions had resulted in the Captain being without assistance. If they were hostile... this would be their best time to act.

[Nelle Kozera]

"Or, we could turn tail as fast as possible, now i want to say something before you go. We just came out of a galactic war that nearly ripped our galaxy to shreds not eighteen months ago. Our entire galactic core lies in ruin and this is the first deep space exploration mission in nearly forty years, on top of that we where carrying an experimental drive core that went supernova lighting up this entire damn quadrant. We will defend ourselves if need be, but under no circumstances are we going to involved in your war nor is what is left of the empire I repents. As a they are not in a position to help, and another war would defiantly break the back of our economy which means much more to us as we our a corporate run nation. So unless one of these Selkis vessels pose a direct threat to this vessel and its crew, and some of the experimental systems on board we are staying out this do i make myself clear...?" Tiamat leaned forward looking a trinity with a boarder glare that had a message of its own. 'Your move...' was all it conveyed...

[Nelle Kozera]

OOC: (Is anyone else of the cast going to post outside of Me, Slate, and Marco?)